The Marble Jar Channel

  Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll tell you about the tool that I use for allowance and money management for my teenagers — FamZoo prepaid cards.   I'm a big believer in giving your kids an allowance.   Not as a reward for good behavior or even for getting their chores done, but apart from that as a way to promote early money management and financial responsibility.   When my kids were younger, I used a whole host of different tools to pay them an allowance, from actual cash, to an allowance ledger, to ultimately the iAllowance app.   You can watch the series I did on kids allowance featuring iAllowance, if you are interested. As my kids got older and became more independent, they needed to be able to access their money more easily.   For a while, we were on a cash-based system where I took money out in $5 increments and would allow them to “withdraw” cash from their iAllowance ...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share how I get my kid's attention when they aren't answering their iPhone. We have all been there, right?  Sitting outside of school or outside their friend's house, calling and calling and calling.  One time I was supposed to pick my son up from sledding.  I started calling when I arrived, I had no idea where he was was, so I sat there for over 30 minutes steaming because he wasn't paying attention to his phone.  It's aggravating since 80% of why parents give their kids a phone in the first place is so that we can get in touch with them!   So, what do I do when my kids don't pick up their phone after many, many tries?  I play a n alarm on their phone that is impossible to ignore.  Here's how I do it.  I have a different Apple ID than both of my kids at this point.  However, they are both required to give me their log-in credentia...

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share some tips to ensure that your body doesn't ache after a full day of working or studying.  First I'll talk about proper posture, then switching between standing and sitting, and finally some great exercises. Over the past year, I've gotten really into exercises that promote proper posture.  I'm convinced that collectively our nation's terrible posture is the problem behind most of our over-use injuries and back pain.  I started doing Egoscue exercises -- you can see my video on that if you are interested -- and have made an effort to change my posture and as a result I have eradicated my frequent headaches, gotten back almost full mobility in my arthritic right knee, AND eliminated much of the back pain that I would get from standing for too long.   Sitting Properly Here's the bad news -- we are all almost   universally sitting at our desks wron...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share my secret for quickly formatting APA, MLA, or Chicago style references -- Citefast.com. I'm back in graduate school after a gap of almost 20 years.  I'm getting a masters in social work and all of my writing assignments are required to be in APA style.  The first semester almost did me in trying to remember all of the arcane and totally arbitrary style rules -- you know, do you spell out first names or use initials?  what part gets italicized?  when do I use an ampersand and when do I spell out the word "and"?  To be frank, I'm almost 50, I have a limited amount of space in my brain -- I sincerely do not need to clutter it up with this kind of pointless information.  But unless I wanted to continue to refer back to the handbook EVERY time I did a citation, I WAS forced to remember some of this nonsense.   Okay -- just a quick disclaimer...

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'll share how I use my vacuum sealer to organize frozen goods, thaw things quickly, and make food last longer.  I'll also show you how you can seal food in generic ziplock bags so you don't have to break the bank. I'm completely in love with my vacuum sealer.  I put off getting one for a long time, mostly because I'm cheap and didn't want to spend money on the expensive custom bags that you are supposed to use with the sealer.  But eventually, the reasons for getting one got more compelling AND I figured out how to vacuum seal somewhat successfully with cheaper Ziplock bags, so now I'm a total convert.  Real quickly, here were my reasons: Quick thaw - I'd like to tell you that I'm the kind of person who always takes meat out of the freezer several days in advance so that it is all ready to go on the night of the meal.  But I would be lying.  Someti...

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll show you yet another use for the AnyList app -- keeping track of what's in your freezer. If you've watching some of my other videos, you'll know that AnyList is one of my favorite apps that I use virtually every day.  I use it in the normal way -- for shopping and errands.  My video on that  is kind of an app overview.  I have an use that is a bit unorthodox that helps me keep track of items that I have to bring when I leave the house for multiple activities.  AND I also use Today's List as a quick list to remember to bring things, buy things, or do things today.  I have one additional use for AnyList, which I will share with you today and that is to keep track of what is in my freezer. So, I have a friend who is a "just in time" shopper.  Meaning that she buys only as much food as she needs to make meals for the week.  Her freezer is practic...

Hi, everyone. This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll show you what I keep in my minivan. I love my minivan. It’s super practical and convenient for a family with active kids and numerous carpools. I have friends who distain the very concept of a minivan — but I have news for them, just because you are driving an SUV instead of a minivan does NOT prevent you somehow from still being a suburban soccer mom. Anyway — I’m assuming I’m preaching to the choir here.  Other than my house, my minivan is where I spend most of my time.  That makes it a highly personal space — and as such, the contents are based entirely on what is currently going on in my life.  The things in my minivan looked a lot different when I had little kids, but now it is the van for a family with sports-oriented teenagers.  So, keep this in mind as I talk about the contents.  I have a 2015 Honda Odyssey.   A little while ago,...