Super cheap activities to keep teens occupied

So, you are about to have a houseful of family - young and old. The men want to watch TV, the women want to talk and the kids are bored out of their minds unless they are plugged into their electronic devices.

Wouldn't it be nice to have something different to do using just the items you already have in your house?

Here are five fun and time consuming activities to occupy your tweens and teens (and maybe their parents) without costing a bundle:

1. Make this crazy paper toy. Watch the video. Good luck making this ingenious paper toy. Materials: sheet of paper, scissors a bit of tape.
2. Cool paper pop up. This requires an exacto knife for cutting and a surface that one can cut on - like a thick piece of cardboard.
3. Paper treat cups. These are cute cups that can be decorated for your holiday table.
4. Learn to draw a perfect freehand circle. This one won't take up too much time to learn, but could bring about some great pictures of round objects.
5. Origami transformer ball. This is a GREAT project. Requires a hot glue gun and patience.

Let me know if you make any of these great paper projects. Have a Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving calculator for shopping

Here's a sweet calculator to help you figure out what you need to buy to cook up your Thanksgiving feast.

You can plug in how many people are eating. You can separate into meat eaters and non-meat eaters.

It's pretty helpful. It is set up in an excel spreadsheet. Pretty cool.

Handmade present ideas that I love

I love handmade presents. I love to give them and I love to get them. My most prized possessions are handmade gifts that I have received. They are irreplacable. You can always buy a new ipod, dvd, or car. But replacing a handmade, one-of-a-kind cross stitch, sweater, picture or poem is impossible.

For those people that think that they just aren't creative or imaginative and can't think of what they could possibly make for someone, here are five wonderful ideas from one of my favorite Do-It-Yourself sites, Instructables.com.

1. Turn a picture into a picture tiles. (see picture above) This is a truly unique, inexpensive and surprisingly easy gift. This would be a great idea for someone who just purchased a house, got married or had a baby.
2. Beautiful pencil holders from recycled tin cans and styrofoam. I love it when I find a craft project that looks so much better than it should. This is one of those projects. This is an excellent project to do with your kids.
3. Make chocolate balls. This confection making recipe looks super easy and super yummy. I think I will make it without the liquor. Make up a big batch of these goodies. Package them nicely and give them as gifts to your co-workers. They will be asking for more all year long.
4. Turn a book into a clock. This is SUCH a great idea for a little one with a favorite book. Buy another copy of the book at a thrift store or get it from Swap.com.
5. Sew a Santa Hoodie. This looks so cool that I am going to go out today and get a red hoodie and white fake fur. I want to see my skateboarding son decked out in this one.

I hope these homemade gift ideas get you in the gift making spirit. Do you have any of your own favorite gift making ideas?

My very best pregnancy tip - natural heartburn relief

If you happen to be pregnant, and you known who you are, then you may be experiencing now or in the future, HEARTBURN!

You can run out and buy yourself a bulk supply of TUMS or grab one bag of this magic, all natural heartburn remedy. I really like natural health remedies like my article on How to avoid heat exhaustion.

I know lots of pregnant women who have spent their entire pregnancies buying and eating Tums. Unfortunately, if you look at the list of all the ingredients in Tums, you will see that some of them might not be exactly what you want to feed a pregnant mom. Plus, the cost of Tums keeps going up.

So, here is my tip. It's my best tip. Don't waste it.

Blanched, slivered almonds.

Yep. That's it.

My midwife told me about this when I was pregnant with my first child. What a life saver.

I had little bags (divided up a big bag into smaller bags) of these almonds in my purse, bedside table and my desk drawer. If I started to get heartburn, I'd just grab a small amount, chew them well and, voila, no more heartburn.

I've been told by several women that this was the very best pregnancy advice that they ever got. I hope it helps you. Of course, you can use this tip even if you aren't pregnant.

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This article is copyrighted by Bobbi Burger Brunoehler.