Author: admin

How to convert your favorite headphones to bluetooth

I have a favorite pair of headphones. They fit my ears perfectly, they don’t hurt, they don’t fall out, and they have great sound. They have a mic and sound controls. There’s a button to pause my music. They are wired so it’s one less thing to charge. And because they are wired, people can immediately see when I have them on and are less likely to interrupt me. The only con is that sometimes, I just need to be further than 2ft from my phone – which is about the limit on wired headphones.

I have tried multiple low-end, low-cost and high-end, high-cost bluetooth headphones but none of them fit me well. I also realized while traveling, that if I only had my bluetooth headphones I would have run out of battery and the portable DVD player I was using did not have bluetooth support.

Enter the bluetooth audio adapter. A google search returned more than 230 Million results. So I did my research, and decided to try out the Apexx Audio Adapter.

This tiny device is slightly larger than a quarter but works fantastic! All you have to do is plug in your wired 3.5mm headphone and step away from your phone.

It charges via micro USB and lasts for about 7-9 hours. I was able to pair it quickly with my Samsung Note 8. The controls allow me to pause my media, skip or reverse and control the volume. I can answer and end calls with a push of the middle button. It has a clip on the back if you want to clip it to your shirt or jeans pocket, or just drop it into your pocket.

I can now leave my phone on the counter and move around the kitchen while still listening to my music or audiobooks. No more accidentally dropping the phone when I have to rush to save a glass from tipping over the table. The phone can also stay safely in my purse vs falling out of my pocket when I’m out and about. I can leave the phone plugged into the charger and still be able to step away from it listening to my tunes.

Finally, I like having this option vs bluetooth only, so that I still have the option to use a wired headphone which doesn’t require batteries to charge before I can use them. The best part is I don’t need to try out another hundreds of pairs of bluetooth headphones and pay more to find ones I like. I already have them!

Leftovers fried rice

The kids and I enjoyed a super easy, quick and delicious lunch before we left to go swimming. This fried rice recipe used up our leftovers from dinner and breakfast consisting of white rice, soy sauce, garlic salt, peas, spam and scrambled eggs.

The trick is to use leftover rice, not fresh rice. Refrigerated rice is best so it’s dry.

Try our recipe! 
1. Heat olive oil in nonstick pan. I used enough to cover half of bottom of the pan and spread it around once it was warm.
2. Add about a tablespoon of minced garlic from a jar.
3. Crumble refrigerated rice into the pan. We had about 2.5 cups of cooked rice.
4. Pour about 1/4 cup of soy sauce on top of the rice.
5. Add garlic salt and pepper to taste. Stir until rice is heated through. 
6. Set rice aside in a bowl or serving dish
7. Reheat previously cooked spam, eggs and peas in the pan. Remove from pan and spread over rice in serving dish. 

Enjoy!

About Us – We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 10,10,9,5,5. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls.

Come on summer!

The kids and I couldn’t wait. As soon as the weather hit 70 we hit the pool. Fridays in summer are way better at the pool!

We don’t have one by the way. We are lucky to have found a members only pool. For the price of monthly pool service, we get to use this pool every day, even in winters when it gets to 90. Starting on Memorial Day to Labor day they have a lifeguard so this mom can actually swim with the kids too and not just be a mommy lifeguard.

Tips for large families: See those towels? They’re color coded, of course. There’s no confusion as to whose towel it is so there’s less fighting over them. In summer they are great since microfiber dries fast. No matter how many times they’re in and out, they always get a dry towel. Bonus points for the built in loops and snaps to keep them from flying away.

Looking forward to more pool days once school is out.

About Us – We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 10,10,9,5,5. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls.

A new puppy!

Well they broke me down. For years the kiddos wanted a dog. We’re surrounded by robot dogs and doggie stuffed animals. This little guy melted my heart and I couldn’t say no. Meet Chip, the Maltipoo. The newest member of our family!

MaltipooPuppy

About Us – We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 10,10,9,5,5. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls.

Water Bottles

Feeling annoyed about washing the water bottles again, but my weird brain justified it by calculating how many water bottles I did NOT buy my kids and take to school everyday.

Since 2013 we’ve sent the kids with stainless steel bottles, adding up to 3200 plastic water bottles we did not have to throw away! This school year between the 5 of them it’s 900 plastic water bottles we did not contribute to the landfill (I’m so anti-plastic these days).

Here’s my “back of the napkin” math I did using the Evernote App handwriting note.

Family Calendar – take 3

Well, we’re back to paper. Nothing can beat it’s simpleness, not even multiple linked, color coded electronic calendars. The #1 reason for going back to paper is – everyone in the house can see the calendar! The kids don’t get to use electronics during the week, the little ones don’t even have calendars and electronic calendars were out of sight, out of mind. My husband and I literally forgot about a lot of things even though they were in our phones. Reminders are harder to ignore when it’s on the wall.

If you remember, the whiteboard mentioned in this post lasted a mere 4 months. It was messy, the inks ran dry, and a pain to clean.

The calendar we’ve been using is a paper one. It’s larger to allow more space for annual events like birthdays, school schedules and individual kid schedules.

To save space and time writing each kid’s name, I use their designated number. A number 1 with a circle means it’s for the oldest kid, and number 2 is the next born and so on. My kids know their numbers and when written with their designated color, even the kindergardeners know which calendar item is for them.

About Us – We have five children including 2 sets of twins. Currently ages 10,10,8,5,5. That’s 2 fraternal twin girls, a single boy, followed by 2 identical twin girls.