-
Five Finds Friday (four.)
FUNNY Looking forward to the delicious treats that are being prepped for Thanksgiving, Otto had a unique (and admittedly a tiny bit bizarre) response. When he saw a tray full of homemade peppermint patties, he exclaimed, “That makes me so happy I’m going to toot!” FASHIONABLE I mean, I don’t want to just keep endlessly talking about all the fashion over at Noonday so I’ll spread the love around. About ten or twelve years ago I purchased a lot of my clothing (and clothing for children) from Old Navy. And then their style, for kids in particular, got kind of weird and I stopped purchasing primarily from them for a…
-
Five Finds Friday. (three)
FUNNY Is this funny? When you hear a child calling you from upstairs with this phrase, “Mom – is broken glass upstairs a bad thing?” Yeah. I think I’m filing that under the wrong category here. FASHONABLE I mean, it would be silly of me to not take this opportunity to point out to you these fashionable Noonday (made in Rwanda) bags. Naturally, they aren’t an Achilles, but they are made for different purposes than my pal is. Actually – I’m thinking his name will no longer be Achilles. Which is perfectly fine with me as long as we can still take long walks together and he can carry all of…
-
Go Set A Watchman: A Book Review
Since the dawn of the age of time I have made deals with myself about the books that I read. (It’s like I am always trying to trick myself into following some convoluted rules. Be careful. If you are my friend for long I will try to trick you into playing along.) After Allume, my stack of want-to-read books is on the verge of toppling across the floor so I decided to refocus my reading intentions. Generally my go-to reading pattern looks a little like this: fiction. fiction. non-fiction. fiction. classic. fiction. non-fiction. And then repeat. (This list is, of course, steadily interspersed with young adult fiction with the kids…
-
Game Night: Apples to Apples
I’ve been a little MIA this past week I guess. And it was good. But I’m back now and it looks like the sun is back too and I am incredibly grateful to see blue sky. (Rainy weather. It always gets me down.) Last week I taught the kids how to play Apples to Apples. We’ve been trying to learn new games together and I love introducing them to other games that they are just now old enough to enjoy. I guess I forgot how outdated Apples to Apples is. And how little old school pop culture my children actually know. (Which is a lack of knowledge I am perfectly happy to…
-
That Plexus Review
Confession: I stink at follow through right now. (I say right now to pretend that this won’t be a problem in my future. To imply that I have this issue under future control.) So. Here I am. I don’t even know how many days later, writing about my Plexus experience. Day One I drank the pink drink around 2:30 in the afternoon. We had a late lunch and my friend had suggested post lunch for consumption if I was hoping for afternoon energy. (And – I really am. I have never been a coffee drinker so when fellow mothers claim their lifeline to be the caffeine found in coffee, it’s a…
-
The Pink Drink, Plexus and Peddling Your Wares
If Facebook has taught us anything it’s that there are about one hundred and thirty two bazillion ways that people try to start their own businesses and promote their own products. And that there are approximately eighty two gazillion products that we can try to get fit, stay slim, reverse aging, feel younger, look younger, turn back the clock, be our best self, survive on almonds only. You get the idea. I don’t know if you’ll believe this or not, but I’m a skeptic. More of cynic than a quick-to-believe what I hear and what I read. But I am currently also a person trying to make a living through the peddling…
-
the winner …..
You guys. I think giveaways are really fun. I’m so glad the kind folks at FoodWorks said yes! to sharing their clever product of the IcePop Makers. I let Piper draw the number for the winner this time. And the winner of their very own set of IcePop Makers is ……… (Man. In writing, this is pretty anti-climatic!) Gretchen Phelps! Yay G! Now you can have your very own popsicle molds. E-mail me your address and I’ll forward it to the staff at FoodWorks and the molds will be on their way to you. If you didn’t win and you still want these handy dandy molds, just click on the link…
-
Ice Pop Makers: A Review & A Giveaway
Ah summer. I know we think of summer as ending when the yellow buses start driving the roads and altering our schedules. But the calendar says summer isn’t over until mid September and the day time temperatures haven’t dipped into the 70’s yet so I think we can still treat these days like summer days in a couple of ways. Sure, the kids are back in school and the late nights have abruptly halted and the free flowing, free living, free thinking attitudes have been put to slumber and schedules and routines are rising back to the top of the pecking order. But – you guys – there are still…
-
Sound Block: A Review
First Jo had one. Then Hilary. And, like a follower, I knew I wanted one too. Cool little wireless speakers. Just turn on the music on your phone and then, like a special kind of air magic, that same song would suddenly be playing at a louder volume through your little speaker. A speaker that you can carry anywhere. The kitchen. The front porch. The table. Wherever. I searched the Amazon and saw this little creation. I was drawn in by its lower price tag. I was also drawn in by its endless color options. (Naturally I chose red.) I was skeptical because I did not recognize the brand and…
-
The Adventure Center of Asheville
Last week the kids and I took the kind of adventure you just want to share with everyone you know. (You guys – it is just so fun to have big kids!) This adventure involved helmets and heights and wires and harnesses and conquering fears and pulling together as a team. And it was pretty close to home too. The Adventure Center of Asheville is just a couple of minutes from downtown Asheville, NC. As soon as I heard about their brand new KidZip, the first zip line in the country to be built especially for kids ages 4 to 10, I wanted to try it with my kiddos. (Our family…
-
As You Wish
No more rhymes now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut? I’m not a movie person per se. But I have an emotional attachment to a handful of films. One in particular. The Princess Bride. This attachment is based perhaps on my one hundred plus times viewing this film one summer in the the late 1980’s. I blame it on my framily. We watched it on VHS on a television that was placed on the floor. I think we watched it every day for one entire summer. (Not exactly watched so much as had it on for background noise.) We acted it out, dressed up as the characters, rolled down…
-
Calico Critters – a practically perfect toy
“I call those years The Golden Age of Parenting,” she said. That’s what a fellow mom told me this weekend when I told her the ages of the bulk of my children. You know – I agree. I already think the exact same thing. Yes – home schooling FIVE kids is literally my day’s labor. But these kids are just a capable, funny bunch of humans. And I love creating magic for them because they are so readily satisfied with tiny do-dads and small treasures. Last year for Mosely’s birthday she received our family’s first set of Calico Critters. Have you heard of these toys? At the…
-
we all scream.
Kevin has always been our family’s largest consumer of ice cream He will probably one day lose that title to a teenage son or two. However. Right now I’m afraid he might lose it to me. Ice cream has never been my top dessert choice. I’d rather have pie or cake or pudding. Until now. Every summer we pull out our faded yellow plastic ice cream bucket with the goofy penguin printed on the side and load it up with rock salt and ice and wait all afternoon for our cold dessert. (The noise. The steady upkeep of ice.) It was worth it. But it was so much work that…
