Have you filled out your U.S. Census form and mailed it back yet? If not, take a few minutes to do it this week before you a) forget or b) lose the form.

Yep, that's usually my modus operandi. I open important documents and then put them someplace so Comfort and Joy can't 'help' me with them then I have to move them for some reason or I forget what I did with them.

This time instead of just looking at it for another week or two I filled it out and walked it to the mailbox. I'm sure you've already done the same thing. Right? If not, take the 10 minutes and do it now. It's a Cool Idea and you help your community get the services that it needs.

Sending the kidlets to school each day with a healthy lunch that they will actually eat has been a daily adventure. I tried sending cut fruit but it got too mushy. Then I tried to send fruit snack cups but there was too much juice in them and the package was too hard for my 4 and 3 year olds to open by themselves. This was clearly evident on the laundry.

Then I decided to take a fresh approach. What if I made my own fruit cups? The snag was finding a container that would stay sealed properly in transit yet was easy enough for the girls to open by themselves.

One day while I was walking up and down the aisles of the grocery store I saw these Rubbermaid containers and decided to give them a try. They, themselves, are not an inexpensive option necessarily but I will tell you that they work like a charm! They don't leak and they work exactly how I hoped they would.

Now, when canned fruit goes on sale and I stock up I make my own fruit cups for Comfort and Joy's lunch. I get to make sure they eat something good for them and it's a frugal options all the way around. Definitely a Cool Idea!

As regular readers to this blog know, Menu Planning was one of my New Year's Resolutions and it has been my biggest challenge. I still don't have a reliable plan. In fact, I cannot tell you what we will be having for dinner tonight and it's after 2pm. So, I'm thinking that I might be trying out something like this very soon.

Services like relish! are popping up all around. Some are free and some are subscriptions based. This one is a subscription [at $7 a month] but it it seems that you get to pick your 5 dinners from a list and they guarantee that your weekly dinners will cost less than $85. That includes entrees and sides and the prep is 30 mins or less.

So, if you are menu planning challenged like I am head on over to relish! and check out what they have to offer because it genuinely looks like a really Cool Idea!

Okay, stop laughing. Those who know me are not used to the words, "Hey, guess what I figured out how to clean today?" coming out of my mouth but I'm excited and figure I should share since I'm not like to be the only one in this position at some point. 

We had to do some renovation last year and it included put up drywall. Groan. If you've ever done this you know what I'm about to say. Drywall dust gets everywhere. I've dusted since the renovation but it still manages to be in new places. 

Today I took down the curtains to wash them and, of course, found more drywall dust. Then when I walked through the room I saw it in it's unshaded glory and realized that the walls needed to be dusted. Our ceilings are tall. Really, really tall. How was I going to get up to the tippy top corners without hurting myself?

Gosh I love problem solving like this. I really do. I pulled out one of my new microfiber towels and my Swiffer pole. I tucked the towel in where the Swiffer cleaner would usually go and voila, I had the perfect tool for dusting my walls. I was able to reach all the way up to the corners, I was able to move around pictures, I was able to easily change direction and even move directly to clean the paddles on the ceiling fan. Just amazing. In fact, I'll go so far as to say this might be my coolest discovery in recent days. So, if you have to be cleaning in the near future and you find you have to dust your walls - don't despair. Grab the Swiffer pole and a thin towel. It works great and is definitely a Cool Idea!