Homemade Jell-O - No MORE DYE!

Our daughter can't have dairy.
This is difficult for adults, but it poses a real challenge for kids.  Especially kids like ours, who used to eat some dairy then had to stop cold turkey.  Our little princess has always been lactose intolerant - but that meant she could still freely enjoy yogurt and some cheeses. Very do-able.

This summer she had an unexplained, icky, blistery rash on her arms and legs that wouldn't go away.  After much trial and error, we finally linked it to dairy.  She had suddenly, inexplicably, become allergic to dairy.  Ugh.  We are very thankful she doesn't have an anaphylactic reaction, but still - a rash is no fun.

Our biggest challenge has BY FAR been lunch.  I pack her lunch every day. Thankfully, she really loves fruit, veggies and carbs.  But, without our old crutch of yogurt or cheese, her lunches are pretty boring and predictable.  Enter Jell-O.  She LOVES Jell-O.  But - it is such a nutritional wasteland.  It's not that I think everything that passes her lips must be nutrient packed.... it's really the sugar and dye that pain me.  I'm sure you could guess, like most people in their 30's & 40's, I was completely fueled by sugar and dye as a kid.  I never lacked for Jell-O or Kool-Aid.  I think I drank Kool-Aid daily in the summer (Half gallon water, packet of Kool-Aid, cup of sugar - forever in my brain).  But we live and learn and we just don't need that.  Did you know that food dyes are BANNED in Europe?  See HERE for more on that.

Well, it turns out that homemade gelatin (aka Jell-O) is no harder to make than the stuff I grew up on. And it is dye-free of course.  Knox Gelatin is the crucial ingredient (remember Knox Blox??) and oddly enough, they don't give you this recipe on the box or on their website.  There are many versions in other areas online, but here is my version:

Homemade Gelatin:
 - 1 packet unflavored Knox Geletine* *
 - 1/2 cup of 100% fruit juice**  (cherry, peach, cranberry, apple...)
 - 1/4 cup  (or a little less) sugar
 - 1 1/2 cups water or enough to make 2 cups total, including your juice.

Bring juice to boiling - either on the stove or in the microwave.  Add to the boiling juice, one packet of Knox Geletine.  Whisk until completely dissolved.  Add in the sugar.  Stir again until dissolved.  Last, add in the cold or room temp water.  
At this point, I like to immediately pour the gelatin into the smaller bowls that will go directly into the lunch box.  It's a pain to transfer a larger bowl of gelatin that has already set later on.  If you are going to eat it family style, leave it in the bowl you are using.  Cover and refrigerate until firm.  

Alternate version - Orange Dreamsicle: 

- 1 packet unflavored Knox Geletine* 
- 1/2 cup orange juice 
- 2 T. sugar
- 1/2 cup vanilla coconut milk***
- 1/2 cup water.

Follow same prep instructions from above. 

* Yes, it is spelled like that  - I double checked! Knox is sold in a box of 4 packets near the Jell-O. 
** You may have to adjust this amount, depending on the strength of the juice you choose - for example, cherry is very strong and 1/2 cup is enough.  Peach is milder - you may need less.
*** You can actually sub out some of the water in any recipe for the coconut milk, it gives your gelatin a tropical taste.  

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any great flavors to share!

Make your kids shoes look like (almost) new again.

Back to school.  New clothes, new shoes.  Well, maybe.
The old shoes still fit.  Or, sometimes, a cool older kid will hand you down a pair.
But they look kid of dingy...
Easy fix.

All you need is an old toothbrush and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Obviously, what you can do depends on the shoe.  I have the best luck cleaning up Crocs and Sneakers.

All sneakers are different, but generally, leather, faux leather and canvas can all be cleaned well with an old toothbrush.  I use whatever cleanser is convenient - hand soap, dish soap, even toothpaste works.  Get the white rubber toes and edges clean with the Magic eraser.  It works wonderfully.  I still need to wash the shoe strings....

My daughter consistently picks light pink Crocks.  They get really dirty.
Scrub these down with a wet Magic Eraser.  I used the toothbrush and hand soap again here for the fleece lining, since you can't remove it to wash it.  Excellent results and EASY.

The favorite pairs get worn the most and look the worst the fastest.  Bring back the white.

Umm... I thought this was normal?

I never had any intentions of posting this tidbit because I figured everyone did this.  However, after it came up somehow (??) in conversation with my good friend, Lisa, I discovered that I may be wrong. 

Still, I wasn't going to post this.  

But after some very flattering words like "brilliant" and "amazing" (I may have made that one up... but they were flattering words...) and after much coercion, I decided I would indeed share this tip.  Just in case you don't already all know about this amazing time and sanity saver.  You really should.

But, there will be no photos.  Um, nope.  None.

I have been doing this forever.  I imagine it started one day when I had a "hand wash only" bra sitting by the bathroom sink, patiently waiting to be washed.  I hate hand washing bras - it makes a mess.  You have to use soap because of how close it is worn to your skin. So really it is 1) soak 2) soap 3) scrub 4)rinse 5) rinse again to really get the soap out 6) hang dry somewhere where all the dripping won't make a big mess.  

It's a total pain, you know it is.  

So, I imagine that I was getting in the shower and decided - what the heck - I'll just wash it while I'm in the shower anyway.  I already do swimsuits this way, after a chlorine soak at the pool.  

And you know?  It works fantastic.  I just use my shower gel and really give it a good hand cleaning. 

The mess is contained and then you can just leave it hanging in the shower to dry. 

So easy.  

Are you already doing this?  Or is it just me? 

Time to untangle

Like most women, I appreciate a beautiful piece of jewelry.
I totally get why that accessories store in the mall is named "Icing".
I figured out long ago that a pretty necklace with a nice belt and some heels can turn jeans and a t-shirt into presentable, even "you look good today" clothes! This is after all, my work uniform.

I have quite a few necklaces. Some were souvenirs of travel, some were gifts. I inherited several from my grandmothers and picked a few off estate sales from other people's grandmothers. I love a good 75% of them, but only wear the same three or four over and over. Why? Because despite my best efforts over the years, I always had a tangled up mess of chains and beads.

I have hung them on the backs of doors. I've laid them flat in drawers. I've tried jewlery boxes. Last, I used a "necklace tree". Nothing was perfect. Most attempts created a knotted mess. The necklace tree had two problems - it didn't hold enough AND it was too short, so the chains pooled at the bottom.

Lately, surfing Pinterest, I began feeling creative. A lot of people have the same problem and have soved it with a custom hanger. Right up my alley. I had been thinking for a while about using a cute multi-key hook I found, but it still didn't hold enough. Plus, I really like how those other clever pinners on Pintrest made theirs look like art.

After some pondering, here is my solution. It was easy and fits my needs perfectly.
 I used:
- one 11x18 picture frame with glass front.
- two pieces of scrap booking paper (but you could also use wall paper remnants, photos, etc).
- 15 Coomand brand removable mini- hooks.

In my mind, clear hooks were perfect, but I forgot about the white adhesive strip. So, I guess I could leave it as is and call it "adjustable for future needs", or now that I know where I want them, I could pull them off and super-glue them in place to get rid of the white strip. I'll think about it.

I hung the finished project and use it for my chain necklaces. I'm going to live with it for awhile with the ugly white strips.  Once I'm sure I have the spacing right for my necklaces, I'll go back and clean it up (see below).
The leftover "necklace tree" is perfect for bracelets and my shorter, chunkier granny bead necklaces.
I love it.

Follow up: 

After living with it awhile, I decided I did indeed have the spacing right for my necklaces.  I then went back, removed the ugly white strips and permanently adhered the hooks with some super glue.  

A much cleaner look. 

Queen of the unplanned projects.

That is me.  Queen of the unplanned projects.

Today was one of those days, when an unplanned (and totally not urgent) project got done.  I have to say it feels great to have it done, but I did overlook several other more urgent items on my to-do list to do this one. 

Let me explain.  I have a tendency to get side-tracked.  My wonderful husband just re-laquered the floor in our screen porch (it was all peel-y and ruined from water damage). I was putting the furniture back in place, now that the floor was dry.  I meant to keep that project going, but I didn't.

When we moved into this home 2 1/2 years ago, we inherited some bits and pieces from the previous owners.  One of those things was a very heavy solid brass planter. It was pretty cool, but dingy.  We keep it in the porch.  When I was moving it from point A to point B I started wondering what I would need to buy to polish it up (I have never polished brass in my life...).   Naturally, I stopped all work to consult Pinterest. Turns out, you just need to make a simple paste out of common kitchen staples!  I have these ingredients and I have the time (If you ignore the fact that I wasn't done with my original project)!

I decided to give it a try.  Here is how it went:
1) Completely wash grime off planter in the shower.
2) Make paste.
3) Cover table with newspapers.
4) Start scrubbing planter with paste in just a small area.

Wow!  Works great!  It just makes sense to finish it now. The paste is made, the table is covered and I've already made a mess.
5) Take before photo so I can show my husband...

Brass planter - Before.

6) Get out old toothbrush to get the fancy handles and feet polished, too.
7) More scrubbing and more scrubbing.
8) Rinse clean in shower and dry.

At least 45 minutes later (it IS large), the planter looks great.
9) Quick Google what it will take to keep it from tarnishing again.
10) Depression sets in when I realize that nothing keeps this big thing from tarnishing again!
11) Take an after picture to preserve the planter in it's glory because I doubt I'll be doing this again anytime soon.

Brass planter - After.

Lessons learned:
1) I can polish brass with a homemade paste - no expensive, harmful cleaner needed!
2) Polishing brass takes a bit of "elbow grease" and my brass planter is... big.
3) Polished brass is much more beautiful than the dingy tarnished brass (it's not at all pretty like copper.)
4) Next time it's someone else's turn (read: "it will never get done again").
5) I'd recommend it for smaller brass objects.

I guess I'll finish the screen porch tomorrow.  Unless another project pops up.

If you want to try it:
Fill a small bowl with about 1/2-3/4 cup vinegar.
Mix in equal parts flour and salt for the abrasive.  You want less of this than the vinegar.
(I used a couple tablespoons of each).
Rub on with soft cloth and or old toothbrush.
Rinse clean.

Uncluttered you mailbox....

The biggest source of clutter in our home is likely the same as in yours.
Paper.

Seems like the first thought most people have is to organize it.  Put it in it's place.
That is a good thought.  But, let's leave that for our second line of defense.  For the things you do want and must have.
Your first line of defense is to stop the paper from arriving in the first place.

I'm not going to tell you something you haven't heard before.  I'm going to encourage you to take 10 minutes to do it - and save yourself hours of sorting, purging and piling for  years to come.  And I'll make it easy by supplying you the links you need to do it as fast as possible.

In our home, there are two big culprits in building the paper monster.
The school and our mailbox.

Lets tackle school first.
A few years ago our school went "paperless".  SOOOO Glad.  Prior to this, our oldest child would routinely come home from school with is folder overstuffed with newsletters, notices, announcements and other "important information".  It came from community ed, outside organizations and the school itself.  Each and every important notice would use an entire sheet of paper - maybe just to let me know that there was a play at the high school or that Karate instruction was available through community education.  Most of the notices didn't even pertain to us.  Yet, they sucked my time.
Now, almost all of the notices and newsletters are available once a week in an email.  I can pick and choose which to read and then delete it when I've read it.  Amazing.
I know that not all schools have this option - but if they don't yet, they will soon.  But,don't assume your school doesn't do this.  It's worth noting that our school requires us to "opt in", meaning we have to request this paperless option.  So call your children's school office today and find out!

The mailbox.
I have a love/hate relationship with my mailbox. Usually it just brings me things I really don't want.  (With the exception of December, when the Christmas cards start rolling in! I love getting the mail then!) Somedays I don't even bother to get the mail.  It's just a box of things to do.  Yuck.
Did you know you can stop much of this junk?

The obvious first choice is to start getting your bills electronically.  Each time a paper bill arrives, when you go to pay it, also elect to have the next one emailed to you - or better yet - auto billed.  Less paper AND less work - two for one!

Step two - stop all the other junk.
Here are some links to make it easy and quick for you.
For credit card and insurance solicitations (5 years or permanently):
       www.optoutprescreen.com
For all other unwanted junk mail (5 years):
       www.dmachoice.org
For catalogs (this is not a blanket opt-out, you get to pick and choose):
       www.catalogchoice.org

We cannot overlook magazines and newspapers.
The newspaper.
Do you have a subscription each and everyday of the week "because it doesn't cost anymore than getting it just on the weekends?"  If you do, how many of those days do you read it?  If it is you read it less days than you don't read it - it's time to examine your subscription.  On those days that you do not read it, you still have to retrieve it, and recycle it.  Waste of time, bigger waste of paper.
Try just getting the paper on the weekends.  I love to read the Saturday and Sunday newspaper.  This is worth it for me.  But would it be for you?  Would you read it on Sunday?
If you already just have a weekend subscription and you aren't getting that read either, it's time to cut the cord.  But what about the coupons????  Really?  You are spending more on the paper than you are saving in with the coupons. Or I'll give you mine.  Even if I take the time to cut them out, I rarely remember to use them.
You can always read the paper online - and if you don't have time, you won't feel guilty like you do now.
Save a tree.  Unsubscribe.

Magazines.
Magazines stress me out.  Let me explain.
They arrive so crisp and beautiful.  So full of interesting good ideas!  Pages of them!  And, let's not forget that I chose them.   I paid for them to come to my house.  I imagined lounging around, paging through them and enjoying them at my leisure.  Yah right.  Now I'm not going to say this never happens, but it's rare.  And often out of guilt.  "I guess I'll take this huge stack of unread magazines along for the car ride and try to get through them...."
To be honest, once the kids are in bed for the night, you are much more likely to be sitting with a glass of red wine in front of the television, watching a good show.  Not reading a magazine.
So instead, when they arrive, I stack them somewhere until the day I have time to read them.
When I finally do read them, I find myself folding over bunches of corners (remember all those good ideas???) and tearing out recipes I'll never get around to trying.   Do you see where this is leading?  Now I have read the magazines - finally - and I still can't recycle them because they are filled with all those good ideas I want to try or do!  That just adds to my guilt.  Great things we aren't doing! Great projects we are trying!  Great recipes no one is making!  Ugh.
If you have a magazine you get, love and read - by all means keep enjoying.  But, if you are like me and have several subscriptions that are just making my paper pile bigger, cut the cord.  Many magazines are sneaky and automatically re-subscribe you.  You will have to call them.  And they will try to entice you with an even better deal.  Don't take the bait!  Unsubscribe!

Ahhh.... don't you feel better now? Maybe someone will send me a card today.  :-)

Give your Peace Lily a shower.

Why didn't I think of this before???

I only have a couple of house plants. I'm more of an "outdoorsy plant" kind of girl. I love gardening, in fact. But when it comes to house plants, well... I lose interest. But I do have a couple plants - all gifts - and the gardener in me can't bear to let them die. In the spring, summer and fall, my house plants thrive because I set them outside. In the winter, my house plants ... survive. They get kind of anemic and dusty. Probably because they just get barely enough water to make it (I empty the kids' water bottles in my plants).

 But, I feel bad.

 My plants need a boost. Then, I remembered my aunt saying she gives her plants a shower now and then. And you know what? It works like a good summer rain. Just set the plant in the shower, turn on the cold water for a couple of minutes and come back later.

 Ta-da! Clean, happy plant.

(To those of  you with a keen eye: yes, there is a dead leaf in the center of my plant.  There were quite a few underneath as well! I thought it gave it character....)

Custom made rug on a Target budget

What is the first thing you - or anyone else sees when they come through the door?

The entry is not the most glamorous room in a home - it usually gets no billing at all unless we are talking "mudroom" organization.  We don't have a mudroom (Oh, to dream!).  The mud/dirt/leaves etc. all come in through the front door of our home.

Prior to this Fall, all of the above landed on an ill-fitting rug over white tile (what crazy person purposely puts white tile in front of an exterior door???).   It looked filthy all the time - summer it was dirt and grime. Fall it was dirt, grime and leaves.  But, oh the winter.  That was the worst.  Wet, sloppy, salty boots entered and had no place to go.

The problem that vexed me, was the size and shape of the space.  When the door was opened, you had only one choice - go forward.  The space is rectangular.  Much larger than a 4x6' rug and slightly smaller than an 5x8' rug.  These are standard sizes.  I could find plenty of rugs I loved at a decent cost but none of them fit!  A small rug only accommodated EITHER the footsteps into the room from outside OR a place to put the wet boots.  Not both.  A large rug ran up the walls.  (Did I mention the room ends in a diagonal cut?)   I spent way to much time searching online for a perfect sized rug - they didn't exist.  Custom made rugs are out of the question- too expensive.  I had tried the "boot trays", but they were ugly, messy and kept getting walked all over and bumped around.  And even with those, the surrounding floor was still always sloppy.

Finally, the lightning bolt struck and I had the answer.  It's so easy - you have to try this for problem floor spaces.

I bought the rug I really wanted in the "too big" 5x7' size from Target.  Dark brown to hide dirt, easy to vacuum, durable, relatively inexpensive compared to everything else.  I turned it over and drew out my perfect sized and shaped rug on the back with a permanent marker.  Then I brought it to a local binding company.  They charge a small fee, normally, for each cut (in my case only two - one to make it shorter and one to make it narrower) and another fee for each liner foot of binding.  They matched the existing two sides perfectly.  In one week, I had a custom made rug for a fraction of the cost of any other.

In my area, I found Bob's Binding & Serging in Golden Valley (http://www.bobsbinding.com/) but this is a common business across the country.  (Who knew?) As of this Fall they charged  $10 to cut off the excess and $1.90 per liner foot of binding.  Since my project was small, I think they waived the cut cost and I paid only around $75 for the whole process.   For around $200, I had a new custom-made rug for the entryway of our home.  Now you can come in the door, use the closet and set your boots anywhere you want and it will still be dry and look clean.  Even when it's not.  ;-)

Tame your hair accessories!

How many ponytail holders do you own?  A common answer from most long-haired women is "Tons, but I can only find two." 

Have long-haired daughters?  You probably have hair accessories all over the place, right?  But can you find the one you want when you want it?  Or do you just end up buying more and losing more? 

Realistically, you will continue to have pony tail holders stashed all over the place, even after reading this.  You need to keep them handy, for heaven's sake!  (Gym bag, bottom of your purse, office desk, cupholder in the car...) But, hopefully you will tame the majority - saving you time and your sanity in the bathroom. 

Imagine this scene:  It's 7:30 am and you are scrambling to pull together either your hair or your daughters.  You have the perfect hair accessory - somewhere.  So, while holding the hair back with one hand, you begin digging in the drawer with the other.  You systematically pull out all the brushes and combs,  a handfull of mismatched barrettes and a clip.  You finally snag a rubberband, but its too small.  Ugh! Forget it.  Drop the pony and go for a headband.   Now where did you leave that?? 

I'm sure there is a fancy closet system out there you can buy that will give you tens of perfect little cubbies for all your bathroom things.  I don't have that - probably not going to get that.  If you don't have that either, than I have some simple, inexpensive ideas for you. 

Two different approaches-
If you have a bathroom (aka "Linen") closet:
Target has these fantasatic little Sterolite cubbies with three drawers.  I use these in bathrooms all the time (more ideas for these later).  They come in three sizes - small, medium and large.  You can choose what size you need based on your space available and your quantity of hair accessories.  The drawer fronts are somewhat translucent, allowing you to see what is inside - though I highly recommend labeling them as well, if you can.  I use one of these for my daughter.  In one drawer we have just barrettes and clips.  In another drawer we have only ponytail holders.  The third drawer is currently holding elastic headbands.  Tailor it to fit your needs.  The drawers completely and easily pull out so that we can grab the whole selection of barrettes and take it over to the countertop while we work.  

Because she also has a large selection of headbands, and they will not fit into a drawer, we also have a small crock.  It sits on the shelf next to the drawer cubbie for easy headband selection.  The head bands fit just perfectly around it and since they are stacking, we haven't filled it up yet! We can toss other random hair accessories (feathers, etc.) into it. 

If you have bathroom drawers:
In my bathroom, it's easiest for me to use drawers for my hair accessories.  The closet is too far away from the action.  My drawer isn't very big and needs to hold a fair amount.  I went uber simple here - I have a small box that I drop clips into and I line the edges with the opened barrettes.  I use one giant clip (that I am never going to use in my hair again anyway - remember the 90's?) to hold all my elastic headbands and one regular-sized carabiner to hold all of my ponytail holders.  That one is actually my favorite.  I stumbled upon it by accident and it works SO great.  It holds a bunch and you just flip them around until the one you want is at the opening of the clip.  You can see them all and even get them off with one hand.  Packing?  Just toss it in your bag.  EASY.

Car games for one.

In the era of iPads, DS and movies in the car, we forget that some of the best games are low tech. Of course, you could play the license plate game, the "I'm going on a picnic game" or hunt for VW Beetles. But this post is for when Mom just wants it quieter for a few miles.

 I stumbled upon something fun by accident when my kids were little. The car is a great place to keep little handheld games - some battery operated and some not. Everything from the freebies and birthday party goodie bag fillers to the cool search game that someone got for Christmas years ago. These are the games no one will ever play with at home , because they are "too boring".   Funny thing happens - once a child is strapped into a seat in the car, these games suddenly become "fun"! My son's favorite is the little battery operated Connect Four game. My daughter likes Twenty Questions.  Other tag-a-long kids really like the freebie games like the battery free "baseball", which is just the chance to fling little metal balls into the plastic outfield for points. We also have battery operated Sodoku, Battleship, some marble mazes and various tic tac toe games. Don't get me wrong, we can't escape a long trip without a movie or two. But for some of those short errand running trips or carpool runs, a box of little handheld games is surprisingly "old school" fun!

Duck University - the syllabus (aka recap)

Everytime we think we got it down, the ducklings grow and we are back at square one (just like parenting children!!). 

 Here is a quick recap of the whole summer, followed by a bullet point list of what we learned.
 This list we just compiled over Christmas Break as our daughter is doing her science fair project on our "Duck Days of Summer". Cute, isn't it?

Recap by date:
- Beginning of May:  A fox ate Mama Duck and was carrying off her eggs one by one. We took the eggs inside to protect them with no knowledge of what was coming! - We candled an egg (held it up to a flashlight in a dark room to see inside) to determine how old they were. We did a lot of Google research. Is it weird we didn't even consider the library?
See related photos here

- May: We are taking care of 10 duck eggs in an incubator we found on Craigslist. They need to be kept humid and at just the right temperature: 99 degrees. They need to be turned daily. What did we get ourselves into??

- End of May: We can hear peeping coming from inside the eggs!  Listen on this video
- Within days they begin to "pip" (first signs of hatching). Over several days, 9 of the 10 eggs hatch.  This is the best learning experience for the children and the adults.  I had never seen a bird hatch from beginning to end before.  Usually when there is a display (like maybe at the fair) of eggs hatching, you only get to see a tiny bit of the process, since it can take hours.  Hatching videos
- Nine healthy ducklings move to the brooder (tricked out Rubbermaid container) in our dining room. They stay there for about a week. See related photos here

- June: Location, location, location! The ducklings move around our house a lot as we don't have a coop (and we don't know what we are doing). When they outgrow the brooder, I find a portable dog yard on Craigslist. It's not perfect. For a couple of weeks the ducklings are small enough to fit between the slats so it needs to be lined with newspaper on the bottom 18 inches. At different points they are out in our screened porch (but it is June, so the temperature rotates between too cold and too hot for ducklings), in our basement with quick access to the patio (too stinky!), and in our garage. The garage location lasted the longest. It provided relief from the smell, ease of cleaning and the most space for our growing ducklings in their dog pen. Should have started out there!

- The ducklings start growing in feathers.  For awhile they are part down, part feather - quite comical looking.  (They will all look like females until late in the summer when the males will finally get "Male" feathers.  Its a guessing game until then!)

- We cannot have 10 ducklings. We found several willing families to adopt 5 in total. One family took two, another took three (ducklings should not be adopted out alone - they will peep nonstop).

- June/July: Multiple daily outings to the backyard to swim in the elephant baby pool and walk around the yard. It is so fun to watch them swim and play! We set up an outdoor play area that is fenced in our elevated landscaping for them to hunt for bugs in.   They love it.  Unfortunately they cannot be left alone outside for fear of predators - fox, dogs and even big birds.

- We found out that ducks eat frogs - big ones even - whole.  While they were out foraging in the yard, one of the ducks caught one.  This was the first of many.  The kids like to catch the little frogs (we had an over abundance in our yard this year) for "duck treats".

- July: The ducks have started quacking - which is really funny.  Sounds just like a teenage boy with a changing voice.  They start to quack around 6 weeks old.
- One of our ducks got "angel wing".  It's a condition where one wing turns out funny and it will eventually prevent them from flying.  We have to bandage her wings up for a few days.  Not fun.

- We are fortunate to have a pond in our backyard.  I guess that is why we had eggs in the first place! We take the ducks down to the pond to see if they like it.  They are petrified.  They need to be literally tossed into the pond.  Within minutes they seem as if they will never return.  First order of business, harassing the locals.  Turns out our ducks are not socialized an become pond bullies in a group of four.  That won't be tolerated long!  Eventually they return.  They must, they can't fly yet and are vulnerable to predators still.
- The ducks are starting to do some pre-flight hops.  They are trying out their wings.  This timing makes me very nervous as they are too young to live out in the pond on their own, but are starting to want to escape - right before our vacation!
- We can no longer contain such messy ducks in the garage - they are too messy and it is too hot, even with access to a baby pool and a fan.  I found (through pure coincidence) a used duck coop nearby - for FREE.  We hurry to get it.  Needs a little love, but its not bad.  It has a couple of windows for ventilation, a lift open top for cleaning and a door.  We  put it in the backyard by the house and rig up the dog pen for an outside "run".  Days before our vacation.  They need either wood chips or wood shavings for bedding.  Cheap and easy to clean.
- We are very lucky to have found two willing neighbor girls who will feed, water and clean the ducks coop while we are gone.  Unfortunately, since they are just starting to learn to fly, we cannot have the girls let them out to swim while we are gone or they may disappear and that would be just too sad for our kids.  We just need to hold them off a few days until we return.  It is, of course, the hottest week of the summer.  Ducklings will have to make due with a rubbermaid container to swim in inside their pen.
- When we return from vacation, the ducks take the first opportunity to get out of the coop and explore.  They take full flight directly down to the pond and that is that.  About 9 weeks old.
- The ducks come back to hang out in the yard daily and eagerly eat the food I put out for them, but they never return to the coop.  They don't need the food I put out, they hunt well, I just enjoy seeing them come back.  And perhaps they are a little hungry for the familiar crushed corn.
- They now have lots of friends - about a dozen other ducks.

-August: The ducks continue to come up to the house each day for the food I put out for them.  I have to physically block all their friends from partaking.  (Hey, I'm only feeding the ducks I know!)  It's actually pretty comical.  The neighborhood children really enjoy seeing the ducks.
- We only see three of the four ducks consistently anymore.  We like to think the fourth duck went to live in a neighboring pond.

-September and beyond:
- Slowly but surely the ducks have totally assimilated into the local group.  We can still tell which ones we raised as they are willing to let us come near them, while the totally wild ones fly or swim quickly away.
- Eventually we only see two ducks that we raised... guess another found out about that neighboring pond.
- I am really hoping the ducks migrate - I hear its instinct, but still I worry about the little guys.  They are hear through the freeze - still walking on the ice to get to the open patch, but they are with their friends.  Hopefully they will teach them when it is time to go!
- We are certain the two ducks we still see are female.  The other two moved on before we ever knew, but I suspect they were female as well.
- By the time the pond fully freezes, there are no more ducks - and it froze really late this year.  December.
It will be fun to see if any familiar beaks return to lay eggs in the Spring!  We can only hope.

What a fantastic experience for our family, rescuing eggs and watching them grow into adult ducks!  I never fully quantify how much we learned.

Recap of things we learned (as compiled by my daughter, with help from Mom):  
- A Mallard duck can lay 10-14 eggs. 

·          - Eggs take about 28 days to hatch.

·          - Eggs need to be kept warm and moist.

·          - Eggs need to be turned everyday so the duckling doesn’t get stuck to one side of the egg as it grows.

·          - Soon before they hatch, you can hear them peeping inside the egg.

·          - When they first start to hatch, the beginning is called a “pip”.

·          - It can take many hours for a duckling to hatch.

·          - Ducklings and young ducks don’t quack – they peep.

·          - Young ducks don’t start to quack until they are about 6 weeks old.

·          - Ducklings have down, not feathers, so they can get very wet.  Only adult ducks with feathers can stay   dry in water.

·         - You cannot tell if ducklings are male or female until they are much older.  All ducklings and young ducks look like females until the male’s feathers change late in the summer.

·        - Ducklings and ducks DO NOT like to be alone. 

·        - Ducks sleep all piled together.

·        - Ducks always “follow the leader”.  If their leader is a person, they will follow them.  Or, they follow each other when they are older.

·        - Ducks are VERY curious.

·        - Ducks begin to learn to fly when they are 7 or 8 weeks old.

·        - When ducks are old enough to fly, they can live on their own.

·        - Ducks are omnivores – that means they eat plants (corn) and meat (fish, bugs and frogs). 

·        - Ducks can swallow big frogs whole.

·        - Ducks can dive and swim underwater. 

·        - Ducks are very fun, but very messy and they eat all the time.