Do You Want To Be Our Next Featured Multi-Tasking Mom?

Do you want to be next month's Featured Multi-Tasking Mom? We're going to focus on Holiday Traditions here at MTM and we're giving you a chance to share some of your special holiday traditions with us!

And, if you're chosen as our Featured MTM, you win this adorable nativity set!

Now to enter, all you need to do is:

1. Leave us a comment on this post.

2. Send us an email by clicking on our little envelop to the right (subject line: Featured MTM) sharing with us some of your family's holiday traditions. Please add your name/username and name of blog with URL. (For those of you who entered last month, you are welcome to reenter again.)

We can't wait to hear from you! :)

Featured Multi-Tasking Mom

Summer from Summer's Nook is the featured Multi-Tasking Mom this month. Summer had some great multi-tasking ideas starting with this great recipe.

Summer says, "In our house, it's hard finding a delicious meal for mom and dad that the kids will eat too. But this is one even our picky 4 year old loves. Plus it's very easy to make. We serve the crescents with gravy on top and mashed potatoes and green beans on the side."

Chicken Crescents

2 to 3 large chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
3 oz. Cream cheese with chives
1 package garlic or herb croutons, crushed
4 ounces walnuts, very finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 packages Pilsbury Crescent Rolls

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Combine the croûtons and walnuts; set aside

3. Combine the cooked chicken and cream cheese; set aside

4. On a cookie sheet separate the crescent rolls from each other. Spoon about 3 teaspoons of the chicken mixture into each crescent and roll up. Seal the edges.

5. Coat each crescent with the melted butter, and roll in the crouton mixture, coating well.

6. Space at least 1 inch apart on cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or till golden brown.

That sounds delicious! And so easy. Next, Summer had a favorite clean-up product that I also find myself using with all too much frequency - Goo Gone. Summer calls it, "an all organic miracle cleaner. From sticker and tape residue, to sap on the car windows, to grease splatter in the kitchen, this stuff takes care of the tough stuff!" She's right. I've used it on enough sticker incidents to know. More recently I've used it for a silly putty on sheets incident and it worked!

Finally, Summer wowed me with her personal multi-tasking tip:

"Though I could list many great multi-tasking ideas, I think the one crucial to becoming a good multi-tasker is self-discipline. Before we can put great multi-tasking ideas to use, we have to have the will power to follow through. To just buckle down and do it, even when it seems overwhelming. It gets easier as you practice consistency, follow through, goal setting and establishing priorities. I love multi-tasking. I feel that it is almost a form of art for me. How much can I juggle at once, how gracefully can I do it and how quickly? I love the feeling I get when I am successful at it."

Congratulations Summer! Email us your address and we will send you your Orderly Mom Notebook. The prize for next month's winner will be a $25 gift certificate and a pair of earrings from Shana Logic. To find out more about being a featured multi-tasking mom, see this post.

My Multi-Tasking Secrets Revealed

I am honored and thrilled to be the first Featured Multi-Tasking Mom. In the blog-world, I am TCC of The Campbell Corner. I am a real mom with real kids learning how to navigate real life. Sound like you? Let's find out what else we may or may not have in common...

Do you enjoy laundry; thrilled at the opportunity to scour off a layer of skin while attempting to remove a stubborn stain from your child's clothing? Are your children naturally obedient, prepared to responsibly respond to the next request that is made of them? Do you have hot fresh meals prepared daily with apron cleanly pressed and pearls around your neck? If you answered yes to all of these questions then sadly, this post is not for you. However, if a "no" crossed your lips, then read on...there may be something that has worked for me that will work for you too.

#1 The Moldinator
Do you know what this is a picture of? It is a petri dish covered with mold. I am actually comfortable with this. I did many labs with my students where we grew colonies of common bacteria and fungi. It allowed them to become familiar with how quickly bacteria form colonies and what environmental variables impact that growth, observe and classify bacteria according to their physical properties, follow the procedure of Gram staining and determine if the colony was Gram + or Gram -. They were also able to observe differences between bacteria and fungi. It was scientific. It was in a controlled environment. Procedures were followed for the completion of the growth and disposal of material which is considered to be a biohazard. This is when I am OK with these 'germs'.

Outside of the classroom I am not a fan of bacteria - or any other microorganism. I wash my hands after I handle raw meat or crack an egg. I make sure I use a cleaner with paper towel to wash down my sink and counter tops and table and any other surface in my home. I NEVER use a sponge. Even though I zap it in the microwave to kill those microorganisms - you just never know.

You can imagine my glee when I discovered that Barber's train sweatshirt (that he received as a Christmas gift and has worn maybe 3 times) was covered with mold because it was left in a plastic bag, soaked, for about 2 weeks in the basement laundry room. I am not proud of this fact. I didn't realize it was soaked but obviously this means I hadn't frequented the laundry room for about 2 weeks...

Back to the point. It was covered and stinky with teeny reddish dots. Although those teeny dots had merged in certain areas making it simply a red patch. I was utterly disgusted and annoyed with myself. I was feeling a bit helpless too. Kind of like the time when I discovered that I had somehow overlooked a purple crayon in Jeter's clothing and only noticed it after everything was dried. Loverly. The difference was this was mold...a biohazard. Ugh.

I have no idea why but I decided to lay it on top of the washer and sprayed a little bit of OxiClean Active on a spot. I really didn't think it would help. I was looking for definitive proof to declare the sweatshirt a 'lost cause' and toss it. To my utter amazement when I went down to the laundry room the next day (to actually do some laundry) I noticed that there was a patch that was lacking red spots. NO WAY!?! Was it actually possible to clean mold out of this sweatshirt?!?


YES!!! Granted I used about half of my bottle of OxiClean Active but it was well worth it. I put the sweatshirt on an old white sheet and sprayed this all over one side - no scrubbing. Just saturated it and let it sit. 24 hours later I repeated the step. 24 hours after that I turned the sweatshirt over and saturated the back of it. After another 24 hours I sprayed the few spots that still remained. If I had a digital camera I would be showing you a clean mold-free sweatshirt that cost me $2 (to fix - I bought it at BJ's), about 15 cumulative minutes of spraying and then patience to wait for the spots to literally disappear. I do not typically advocate products on this blog but seriously, this is amazing. I also don't plan on this ever happening again but you never know... On another note, it's also excellent at removing grass stains with limited scrubbing - if you don't feel like waiting for them to disappear.

#2 Growing Up and Being Responsible
I know charts are not for everyone but these have worked wonders for our family and you never know...it could give you the peace you need as well.

Barber experienced tremendous success with the potty chart and kept asking me for a new chart. We are still figuring out what he will receive besides stickers but right now the stickers mean a lot and I have seen tremendous improvement in his behavior is just three days. I needed this. Three is an important age. I prefer to reinforce positive behavior and there has been a need to focus on areas where improvement is needed - like making good choices, quick obedience and respecting others. At the same time I added areas where he is already pretty successful but we want to continue to reinforce; brushing teeth, zero accidents and being a helper fall into this category.

Jeter's chart is set up to reinforce positive behavior, establish new levels of responsibility and teach him valuable lessons about tithing, depositing money into his savings account and saving for the purchase of something special. Each sticker he receives represents five cents. Last week was his greatest earning of $1.95. Since I recently added two categories, he has the potential to earn $4.20 per week. In a few weeks his level of obedience has improved and he is quick to complete his responsibilities and even jump in to help with things that aren't on the list. Simms and I are purposely not labelling this as an allowance. Rather, it is a tool to teach Jeter responsibility while instilling in him (hopefully) a strong work ethic.

Finally, I shop and cook in bulk. This allows me to provide healthy meals for my family amidst the busy-ness of life. It allows us to enjoy the seasons of soccer, t-ball, swimming, church activities and whatever else ends up on our schedule and still eat a good meal together as a family. If this interests you, check out the food category of The Campbell Corner. You will also see cakes and cookies that I have made (I love to bake) but if you scroll down you will find information about bulk preparation and cooking as well as some neat recipes to try.

Thank you, Multi-Tasking Moms for the opportunity to share with you today. I am still learning how to master the art of multi-tasking and appreciate the encouragement and practical resources that the women of MTM provide daily. If you are interested in being the next Featured MTM click here for more details!

Who Will Be Our Next Featured Multi-Tasking Mom?

TCC @ The Campbell Corner is our very first Featured Multi-Tasking Mom! Congratulations TCC! Which one of you wonderful women want to be next month's pick and receive an Orderly Mom Notebook?

The Orderly Mom Notebook was designed by Tiany @ More of Him~Less of Me! This is a wonderful product has everything you need to organize youreslf!!!


Now to enter, all you need to so is:

1. Leave us a comment to enter.

2. Add our button to your sidebar

<a href="http://multi-taskingmoms.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Multi-Tasking Moms"><img border="0" alt="Multi-Tasking Moms" width="151" src="http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb137/M-TMoms/MTMButton-01.gif?t=1185695771" height="98" /></a>

3. Send us an email by clicking on our little envelop to the right (subject line: Featured MTM) sharing with us how you multi-task. Please add your name/username and name of blog with URL. If you have already blogged a great tip, please send us the link. (For those of you who entered last month are welcome to reenter another tip or the same one.)

Can't wait to hear from you:)

An Announcement For All You Multi-Tasking Moms

The winner of the Body Shop Contest is
Wendy @ Adventures of MomLady

Please click on the little envelop to the right and send us your address.

Thank you everyone who participated in our contest.

We also want to let you know that next month we would like to feature one of you Multi-Tasking Moms out there on our blog. We want to know how you multi-task. Please share with us your family's favorite recipe, how you schedule your day or a wonderful cleaning product you can't live without and why. (If you need more suggestions, just have a glance under our categories section.) One of you will be chosen Friday, August 31, 2007. We will post the Featured Multi-Tasking Mom on Wednesday, September 5, 2007.

Honey Heaven and the Vineyard Tea Room has agreed to sponsor (September's Featured Multi-Tasking Mom. She will receive a Honey Heaven's 12oz. Sampler Gift Pack, which includes:

12oz Raw Ozark Honey
12oz BBQ Sauce
12oz Incredible Spreadable Honey (you choice of flavor)

How sweet is that!!!

This contest is open to ALL moms bloggers, it doesn't matter where you blog.

To enter, please do the following:

1. Leave us a comment to enter.
2. Add our button to your sidebar if you haven't already.

<a href="http://multi-taskingmoms.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Multi-Tasking Moms"><img border="0" alt="Multi-Tasking Moms" width="151" src="http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb137/M-TMoms/MTMButton-01.gif?t=1185695771" height="98" /></a>

3. Send us an e-mail (subject line - Featured MTM) including: your Multi-Tasking tip, your name/username and name of blog with URL. If you have already blogged a great tip, please send us the link.
4. You get brownie points if you help spread the word, but make sure to let us know you did.

We hope to hear from you!