Badbadivy Ivy says: I’ve been thinking about all the household axioms: you know, cliches or “old wives tales”. I find some of them highly suspect and/or amusing. Let’s take a look: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Well, yeah, some of them could die or something. But if you don’t count at all, how do … Read more
Ivy says: In case you haven’t noticed, life is stressful. Sometimes you have to grab your moments of zen any way you can get them. I try to catch little moments of zen, like the peace of a quiet bathroom with nobody else in it, or driving down the road and catching my favorite song, … Read more
Ivy says: My kids were joking recently that we had cleaning ninjas in our house. I had cleaned the kitchen while they were at school and they thought some cleaning ninjas had miraculously come by to clean it up. From there was born a fun way to clean house with the kids: the cleaning ninja … Read more
Ivy says: Okay, Home Eccers, let’s tap into your sources of wisdom. I want to know how you make things last longer. I’ll give a couple of examples: laundry detergent caps always have three lines to tell you how much to put in, and the bottom one is usually sufficient, but hard to see. So … Read more
Ivy says: Yes, my post title does require that many exclamation points. I was away this weekend and it appears my husband and kids decided to trash the house beyond the limits of what I can stand. Awesome. Luckily, this year my youngest son goes to kindergarten so I’ll now have the house to myself … Read more
Ivy says: As I’ve said here about 50 million times, Mr. Ivy is a restaurant manager. One of the common themes in our conversations is how other people manage the restaurant and how it meshes (or doesn’t mesh) with his own management style. Within your own household, you and your significant other will have different … Read more
Ivy says: I don’t know about your house, but mine needs some serious cleaning. As the summer draws to a close and my kids get ready to go back to school next week, I look around and see how much cleaning needs to be done. When all three kids are home, trying to get the … Read more
Dear Home Ec 101, I have a question about deodorant stains on nice clothing! I have a fuchsia pink bridesmaids dress and there is a thin line of white along the armpit seam. I need to get rid of that stain. I’m sure I could take it to a dry cleaners but do you have any … Read more
Dear Home Ec 101, How do you tell your kids there’s just not enough money for all the things they want? Especially now with school clothing shopping, my kids want $100 pairs of shoes and it’s just not in the budget. Help! Signed, Broke in Birmingham Ivy says: It’s not just the recession kids, back-to-school … Read more
Ivy says: WARNING: This post might be a classic case of overshare. Read at your own risk. So, Heather and I are sitting here in Myrtle Beach, enjoying ourselves immensely. But I have already had a couple of instances of not being prepared. The worst would be on the drive here. Nate got so excited … Read more