Thursday 13
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It’s Halloween, and I’m busy reading…
scary books. This post is from 2009, and I still don’t quite feel like it’s Halloween until we pull out these books and at least take a glimpse. It’s hard, really, to sip a mug of pumpkin chai latte without thinking of Too Many Pumpkins. And wondering, what would it be like to not like pumpkins? Of when the boys fight, it’s hard not to think of the sibling-like qualities of cooperation in Pumpkin Soup.
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The Best Place to Hide Presents
When it comes to Christmas presents, kids have a sixth sense; they can smell presents the way a Mom can smell chocolate. You’ve worked so hard to find them the perfect gift, and then, they find the gifts and spoil the whole surprise. The spots listed here are stealthy ingenious because they are, as Poe’s purloined letter, so obviously right in front of your nose, yet still concealed. Not under your bed — but under your child’s bed. They’ll never check there. In the Valentine’s Day Decoration Tub. Your neighbor’s attic. That Special closet with the lock. In the laundry room, under a bag that says “To Fold.” Behind the cans…
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Turn a footprint into a ghost in 13 steps
Make a keepsake ghost from cornstarch. Using your chid's footprint and turn it into an inexpensive halloween decoration that can last as a keepsake.
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There are 13 dark, dark things …
I am crazy busy getting these kids ready for Halloween, and also busy with a little surprise about a new writing gig (more later). So, here’s an archive post from last year. Happy Halloween! You would think that after spending the summer at the lake that I saw just about all there was to see. How wrong I was. I found something hiding behind these trees. The same trees I looked at across the lake all summer; the same trees you saw in the photos of all of those lake pictures I posted. Right there, in the tree line, something sinister is hiding. Maybe, this is that Nancy Drew Mystery…
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13 Fixes for Tired Moms
At my annual check-up this week, my doctor pulled out that little stick, drew the blood like a vampire and certified that I am low in iron levels; a major contributor for my exhaustion. So, together, we worked out a plan of foods, herbs and supplements, she approved of, to help me feel energized and happy. So far, I’ve emailed portions of this list to many friends, other tired women who say the same thing, “I’ll do anything to feel better.” And they mean it. We’re sick and tired of walking around exhausted, while our kids are running circles around us. So here, is the list, hammered out with the…
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Ice cream in a can, teaching science
This summer, our hill at the lake will be used in yet another ingenious way: to make ice cream for our root beer floats. I was tempted to buy the traditional ice cream maker, but there are so many choices; I quickly became overwhelmed looking at all the bells and whistles. And besides, I have all that boy power just dying to get put to use. Plus, the process of making ice cream by hand… literally…. in the can… is is a great way to introduce some lessons in science. There is the ice cream in a bag method; my boys would surely break the bag in the mixing process.…
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Make Fair-Style Lemon Shake Ups at Home
How to make lemon fair style lemon shake ups at home. Recipe and instructions
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How to sync your MP3 player to ITunes
The good thing about MP3 players is that now many of them come free with cell phones, giving you the power of the 2GB Ipod Nano with your phone in one single device. The bad news is that Itunes does not recognize most MP3 players and won’t sync the music to the device. Here, I’ll show you how to work around that quirk, and load songs from Itunes onto any MP3 Player in just a few minutes, probably seconds. How do I know this? Verizon gave me a $100 credit toward a new phone, so I picked up The Juke, primarily because it works like an I-Pod Nano. Then, my…
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Hot pepper, toilet paper tubes and Irish Spring
A list of 13 ways to deter pests and creatures from your garden. This is what it all comes down to. A few simple items that will either make or break our summer garden fort, made with Jack and the Beanstalk beans. I’ve been reading with horror about the varmints and diseases that will likely attack my pests once I place the plants for our 20-foot bean fort into their final growing spot at the lake. Lord knows, there are plenty of creatures up there willing to take a snack out of our foilage. The list includes deer, skunk, rabbits, groundhogs — all hungry, and ready to eat the plants.…
