tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5684460006230562932024-02-19T07:51:59.627-05:00{So Wonderful, So Marvelous}Michelle is a thirty something mom of two & wife to Dave, who is too-good-to-be-true. She takes pleasure in a good pinot noir, finds travel irresistible, believes in using real butter when cooking, and lives the good life.Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.comBlogger1331125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-4233113387962820772015-08-30T21:04:00.001-04:002015-08-30T21:09:12.318-04:00Parent’s Only Back To School Survival Kit {Giveaway}<iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ys4KeqeBaaI" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> <p>It’s hard to believe that summer is over and it’s back to school time!  </p> <p>Shiny new supplies are labeled and tucked into backpacks.  There are visions of straight A’s dancing in parents’ heads.  Students are groaning at the thought of homework.  Kindergarten parents are tentatively testing the waters of letting their baby grow up.  Teachers are ready to fill students’ minds with math and science and reading.     </p> <p>When Finn started fourth grade last week, mornings were a rough start.  Not for him but, for me.  Waking up early with a smile isn’t my forte.  Thankfully, Seattle’s Best remedied that by sending me a box filled with their Parent’s-Only Back-to-School Survival Kit.  They even smartly included the Tile app so I’m not tossing couch cushions in search of my keys every morning.  The best part?  It’s filled with enough caffeine to make me look like a morning-person and that, isn’t an easy feat.   I’ll be on my way from Snoozer to Maestro in no time!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qO1rrZNoVHc/VeOn8qBns9I/AAAAAAAAOtw/Fh5EgQu2Cvw/s1600-h/Parents%252520Back%252520To%252520School%252520Survival%252520Kit%25255B4%25255D.png"><img title="Parents Back To School Survival Kit" style="display: inline" alt="Parents Back To School Survival Kit" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8dogxK-mFXg/VeOn9oYwNOI/AAAAAAAAOt4/9dAB6wl1n2g/Parents%252520Back%252520To%252520School%252520Survival%252520Kit_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="292" height="480" /></a><a href="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rkt9KpYcues/VeOn_p7s8EI/AAAAAAAAOuA/3cFHJawvyo0/s1600-h/Seattles%252520Best%252520Parents%252520Survival%252520Kit%25255B4%25255D.png"><img title="Seattles Best Parents Survival Kit" style="display: inline" alt="Seattles Best Parents Survival Kit" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kCa9YI9DNVU/VeOoArU3w_I/AAAAAAAAOuI/Tb2yy-s7CbA/Seattles%252520Best%252520Parents%252520Survival%252520Kit_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="460" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Now you can pretend to be a morning person too!  Seattle’s Best is going to hook one of you up with your own Parent’s-Only Back-to-School Survival Kit, <strong>a $115 value</strong>.   </p> <p>Included:</p> <ul> <li>A signature red Seattle’s Best Coffee mug. </li> <li>A to-go tumbler. </li> <li>A Moleskine notebook. </li> <li>The Tile app to keep track of your car keys. </li> <li>A magnetic dry erase weekly planner for the fridge. </li> <li><strong>THREE</strong> varieties of Seattle’s Best Coffee. </li> <li>All tucked into a backpack. </li> </ul> <p>Simply click on the Rafflecopter box below and tell me which type of back to school parent you are from the video above!  <br />Need some help deciding?  Buzzfeed <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/seattlesbestcoffee/what-type-of-parent-are-you-in-the-morning?b=1#.atdpng81R" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">created a quiz to help you</a>.  </p> <p><a id="rcwidget_xhw6qw95" class="rcptr" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f750e3c76/" rel="nofollow" data-template="data-template" data-theme="classic" data-raflid="f750e3c76">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a> <script src="//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-33641307129863705802015-04-13T04:08:00.000-04:002015-04-13T04:08:00.157-04:00Catching the Good.<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jZJzQuV9IDg/VStBXh7ySrI/AAAAAAAAOmk/t2SJY53OJMQ/s1600-h/Catching%252520Your%252520Kids%252520Being%252520Good%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Catching Your Kids Being Good" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Catching Your Kids Being Good" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EnGJX18gdhM/VStBYducO3I/AAAAAAAAOms/sT6i3lls0y4/Catching%252520Your%252520Kids%252520Being%252520Good_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>As my mom will attest, after hearing the stories now that we’re older, parents don’t always catch every bad thing you do.  </p> <p>But, we sure try.  Don’t we?  </p> <p>Here is a secret and maybe it isn’t my finest parenting hour to admit this...  I have managed to complete convince my children that moms develop eyes in the back of their head.  It’s how I know when they’re messing around when they shouldn’t be.  Dads?  They have a magical parenting power too… super hearing.  Dave knows when it’s quiet… <em>too quiet</em>, it’s time to go searching for the reason.  </p> <p>As parents, we develop these sixth senses for catching our kids doing all of the things they aren’t supposed to do.  That is our job, right?  </p> <p>We give a warning with <em>that</em> tone.  We use their full names.  We ask them to consider whether they are doing what they should be doing.  We set limits, we catch them crossing, and put them on the right path, until they learn to do these things for themselves.</p> <p>Yesterday, Finn was frustrated, tired, and just having a tough day.  Tate was on task, being a great listener, and having a great day.  The difference was unmistakable.  I should also say, there are many, many days when this is the exact opposite in our house.  But yesterday, I found myself gravitating toward reminding him about his attitude and making sure he completed what he needed to do and it felt remarkably worse to him because there she was, doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing, without argument, smiling even.  </p> <p>I put Tate in the tub and she said something about Finn not being a good listener but, she was and it gave me pause because that isn’t the message I wanted to send.  Instead, I said loud enough for Finn to overhear, that we all have good days and bad days.  I said, there were lots of days that he was a great listener and that after a good night’s rest, is a great time to begin again with a fresh attitude.  Then, I told her that even though I was busy, I really noticed how much effort she had put into cleaning up her room and what a good listener she had been with her dad.  I promised I’d put a fresh coat of paint on her fingernails, something that is a huge treat for her, after she put her pajamas on because she had worked so hard.</p> <p>Not only did that simple little thing make her light up, but when I went to tuck Finn in for bed, he had done his stuff too.  My nagging for half an hour hadn’t remedied the bad attitude and mess that needed picked up, but overhearing our two minute conversation had.  I gave him a squeeze and told him that I really appreciated that he did those things and that I understood how hard sometimes it is, to turn your day around, but that you always can.  </p> <p>I kind of feel that way about parenting too.  <a href="http://www.kristinagrum.com/" target="_blank">My friend Kristina</a>, who has more grace and patience in her pinky than I have in all of me, reminds me constantly that even good parents, have bad days.  It’s not about what you’ve screwed up, it’s about making the choice to do it differently next time.   We’ve been doing a good job of catching the bad because we recognize the need to correct it immediately.  Making an effort to catch the good takes some thought, we have to be conscious and mindful of it.  For me, and maybe for other parents too, it doesn’t come nearly as easily, but it’s something that I absolutely think is worth it.   </p> <p>I’d love any tips on how you catch the good in your own kids.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-90644510739813284512015-04-07T18:31:00.001-04:002015-04-07T18:31:11.656-04:00Easter Weekend.<p>My little sister travels a lot.  Countless times each year since moving to Kentucky for college six years, one bachelor’s degree, and a house ago.  This year, we did the travel and went to Lexington for Easter.  In addition to our crazy crew, my little brother drove down from Ohio State and my dad was able to see Elise’s new house.  We played many, many rounds of Spot It, went to the park, they went to opening weekend at Keenland {sadly not a trifecta was won} and we also watched a suspense-filled final four game that we’re not allowed to mention.  </p> <p>We had an Easter brunch and an Easter egg hunt… the egg hiding was hilarious and luckily someone found the one in the microwave before turning it on the next morning.  That is what happens when you let 20-somethings hide eggs and then try to remember where they are in the morning.  There *may* have also been some terribly-written Easter Bunny raps courtesy of my little brother.  I used Oma’s vintage table cloth on the table, my sister’s Kentucky horse plates, fun bird <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30258885/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">napkins from Ikea</a>, and we indulged in some seriously decadent treats sent to us by <a href="http://www.berries.com/?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Shari’s Berries</a>.   The weekend was incredible and I am sure my sister and El are still recovering from the whirling dervishes that are Finn & Tate hopped up on sugar.</p> <p>Here is a peek.  How did you spend Easter weekend?</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BbjmbYvGXMA/VSRacaYhMCI/AAAAAAAAOjo/gwLRGsw0yns/s1600-h/Easter%252520Table%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Table" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Table" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-bXyWbsq2O4w/VSRadLflXDI/AAAAAAAAOjw/yzZVuROcWYo/Easter%252520Table_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="959" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-xNrUGgvf1Cw/VSRad_J0ubI/AAAAAAAAOj4/-rPLNgwPbQ0/s1600-h/Easter%252520Shari%252527s%252520Berries%252520Brownie%252520Pops%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Shari's Berries Brownie Pops" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Shari's Berries Brownie Pops" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-vXgCmaWx5x0/VSRaecawAcI/AAAAAAAAOkA/1rrAu-kV9sI/Easter%252520Shari%252527s%252520Berries%252520Brownie%252520Pops_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-1wmatNvi2Ts/VSRafBoYBFI/AAAAAAAAOkI/m3XBJpCgj9U/s1600-h/Easter%252520Basket%252520Note%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Basket Note" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Basket Note" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-XnEBF1yiKuw/VSRafqfnXXI/AAAAAAAAOkQ/ZbhzIzvgrmQ/Easter%252520Basket%252520Note_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7lgRD8xxq4I/VSRagVnxNwI/AAAAAAAAOkY/JAAzKSfqYXg/s1600-h/Easter%252520Eggs%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Eggs" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Eggs" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qOK9oSVa96U/VSRagxfakyI/AAAAAAAAOkg/EQi2HqCmCXM/Easter%252520Eggs_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-d2Zz7K-IOJE/VSRahu_rzPI/AAAAAAAAOko/BcWfcfsEubw/s1600-h/Easter%252520Table%2525204%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Table 4" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Table 4" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-onBOm_C7HUY/VSRaiJCRqQI/AAAAAAAAOkw/nUWSDJpOaXg/Easter%252520Table%2525204_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-msD23mmSjvs/VSRai_JOQyI/AAAAAAAAOk4/R00h6eH-5aM/s1600-h/Easter%252520Table%252520Bunny%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Table Bunny" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Table Bunny" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jbJiJo-l2W4/VSRajuMRP2I/AAAAAAAAOk8/I7EjOnbtumM/Easter%252520Table%252520Bunny_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-IgRlbhFSbto/VSRakO2e-_I/AAAAAAAAOlI/LhdXrC8arwQ/s1600-h/Pretty%252520Easter%252520Table%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Pretty Easter Table" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Pretty Easter Table" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-3IJsYR059WU/VSRak_NtOgI/AAAAAAAAOlQ/yvdmrUhpBbc/Pretty%252520Easter%252520Table_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NgoUB0k4BnQ/VSRalkG4qSI/AAAAAAAAOlY/YELEVUvYq_8/s1600-h/Easter%252520Shari%252527s%252520Berries%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter Shari's Berries" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter Shari's Berries" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5NAuRhp-8I0/VSRamQtmwII/AAAAAAAAOlg/f8uYsRUfP6k/Easter%252520Shari%252527s%252520Berries_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-wVuXldxwWvk/VSRanLzp4mI/AAAAAAAAOlo/FOZME-imIYM/s1600-h/Easter%252520141%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter 141" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter 141" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QBTd0scrDyY/VSRanzLZhxI/AAAAAAAAOlw/W4N1DjJNGfY/Easter%252520141_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-JbrTB3WvGeE/VSRaowc96RI/AAAAAAAAOl4/B7JdPi4Qw2M/s1600-h/Easter%252520129%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter 129" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter 129" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-PrDOBDLAtng/VSRapW7Rw9I/AAAAAAAAOmA/y8g4w7K9ypY/Easter%252520129_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-pGwd3OfvYDk/VSRaqLBCMpI/AAAAAAAAOmI/yaHZk4jO-l4/s1600-h/Easter%252520121%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Easter 121" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Easter 121" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tf_V2Yv9ANM/VSRarXrN_zI/AAAAAAAAOmQ/hwzH4PhoE2o/Easter%252520121_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="960" /></a></p> <p>Disclosure: Shari’s Berries sent the treats, all opinions of their incredible decadence are my own.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-40248186836699802442015-04-02T13:25:00.001-04:002015-04-02T13:25:25.801-04:00Snail Mail.<p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MT0xX84S_vA/VR17gbOnk1I/AAAAAAAAOjI/tpDlpNI-CmA/s1600-h/Snail%252520Mail%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Snail Mail" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Snail Mail" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-89VqCmnj5dU/VR17hA8pldI/AAAAAAAAOjQ/0f3mDyBI_qc/Snail%252520Mail_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>I have a paper problem.  Well, it’s not so much a paper problem as a paper <em>affinity</em>.  I love a pretty paper, a pretty card, gorgeous handwriting, and snail mail.</p> <p>Oh, don’t pretend that it’s NBD*.  When you get an actual <em>something other than a bill because we’re grown ups and that’s all we’re allowed to get apparently, </em>it makes you feel happy.  Multiply that by about ten bajillion if it’s not Christmas, or your birthday, carry the one, square it, and THAT right there is a card that comes just to tell you that you are incredible and you mean the world to someone.  Even when they forget to tell you often, even when you both get busy, or when you never realized that they saw that thing that you did or how hard you’ve worked, even if YOU <em>know</em> you’re awesome, but someone else not only says it, but takes the time to write it down, and it makes it so much true-r somehow.</p> <h4><em>That feeling, THAT was my mission.</em></h4> <p>Dave’s Oma, she used to send me notes in the mail.  At least once a month.  There were thank you notes, birthday cards, anniversary cards, and just because cards.  Dave and I would come in from collecting the mail, see an envelope with her handwriting, laugh, then guess what these envelopes might contain.  She’d cut out a thirty cent coupon and spend more on the stamp to send it.  I’d get a recipe, carefully cut out with a note saying that she read something in Martha Stewart that she thought I’d like.  Dave would get a twenty-five dollar check and a note of admonishment that she realized that he had tucked the twenty dollar bill that she had tried to pay him for picking up a gallon of milk, back into her things instead of taking it home.  She’d send Finn stickers in the mail, always made out to Master Finnegan J, because she was straight old school and addressed things properly.</p> <p>You do not half-ass snail mail if you are Kelly.  Even if it’s a twenty-five cent coupon or ten Box Tops for your great grand-son to take to school.  You do it right. </p> <p>In that spirit, because I miss her fiercely, I wanted to give that to someone else.  It’s been <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2014/04/oma.html" target="_blank">a year</a> today and it’s not much easier.  I spent the better part of two days, writing until my hand cramped, tracking down addresses and knowing that if she were still here,  she would have surely gotten one herself.  Loads of these cards belonged to her and came to me in stacks as we were cleaning out her things and she would have loved knowing that they aren’t sitting in a drawer, gathering dust.</p> <p>Which brings me to you.  If you could use a little love right now, <a href="sowonderfulsomarvelous@gmail.com" target="_blank">send your address in an email</a> and I’ll send one off to you, too.  </p> <p>I’d imagine, she’d love knowing she’s single handedly keeping the United States Post Office in business.</p> <p>Happy Weekend, Peeps.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-88818977988723941182015-03-23T23:41:00.001-04:002015-03-23T23:41:38.864-04:00Stick It Out.<p>When we were married in 2005, I was educated, owned my own house, had a retirement account, and a whole lot of love for my future husband.  In my head, I was an ideal age.  Twenty-nine is old enough to know better and young enough to have children, if you want them.  I had travelled, dated a sufficient number to realize that Dave was an extraordinary man, and knew how to live a happy, fulfilled life on my own.  We had done pre-Cana, adopted a scruffy rescue poodle, had discussions about future children, and a system in place for handling our finances.  </p> <p>I wasn’t just settling for Dave, I was choosing him.  And he, me.  </p> <p>I was also probably, most certainly, very much under-equipped for <em>actual</em> marriage.  </p> <p>I remember driving home from a friend’s lake house and telling Dave that <em>fine, I wanted a divorce</em> and hearing him respond in kind.  We had been married a few months.  Marriage was kind of hard work, if I am being honest.  Aren’t we supposed to say the vows, have lots of sex, get pregnant easily, have two perfect kids, do well at our careers, and love each other always?  If he was ‘the one’ it would be easy, right?    </p> <p>There was something humbling about that.   You walk down the aisle and into this life you’ve never led before.  You are completely inexperienced and yet, you think you know <em>everything</em> because we all come packing our own picture of just what the ‘good marriage’ is supposed to be.  When it doesn’t hold up to Hollywood, or your grand-parents’ marriage of 50 years or, what you see from your best friend’s marriage, or your next door neighbors’ you feel like you must be doing something wrong.  </p> <p><em>DID WE JUST MAKE A MISTAKE??</em></p> <p>Now, after nearly ten years of marriage, neither of us can recall what that first huge fight was about in the first place.  We both remember that we sheepishly faced the reality that our argument had happened in the first fifteen minutes of our trip… and that we still had an hour trapped in the car with each other.  </p> <p><em>Awkward.  </em></p> <p>We were silent for about fifteen minutes and then, </p> <blockquote> <p>Me: Do you really want a divorce?</p> <p>Him:  No.  You?</p> <p>Me:  No.  I have no idea why I even said that.</p> <p>Him:  We are idiots.</p> <p>Me:  Totally.<em>  </em></p> </blockquote> <p><em>We talked.  </em>A lot.  We realized that even though we had moved in together when we got engaged, being engaged or living together is not the same as being married.  You might like to think it is, but it isn’t.  <em>Kind of like you think that having children will be the same as life before children.  </em></p> <h4>Spoiler Alert, your life changes when you have children.</h4> <p>I learned quickly, you can’t just kick someone out when you get into an argument.  Oh, I mean, you <em>can </em>yell, “GET OUT of my house,” but then you realize that regardless of who’s name is on the mortgage, it’s their home too and <em>you will feel like an idiot</em>.   He learned that he had to communicate frustrations instead of ignoring them.  We also figured out that the only people who belong in our marriage, is us.  My sisters, his best friend, our parents, his boss, my Facebook feed… they don’t get a say, a vote, or to weigh in, and our marriage is not their business.  Ever.   </p> <p>In the several hundred arguments we’ve had since then, we’ve both learned that a little empathy for your partner goes a long, LONG way.   </p> <p>I know this in no way guarantees that Dave and I will stay married forever.  The reality is, marriages that I thought <em>for sure </em>would last forever, fail.  Marriages that were bad ideas from the start have lasted for years.  There are no guarantees, there is only the work, the love, the day to day, the fun, the hurt, the laughs, the frustration, the big stuff, the little stuff, and the fact that we’re both still willing do get up each day and choose each other.  Even on the days when that choice might not feel as fun as packing up and moving to Aruba and surrounding yourself with pina coladas and room service. </p> <p>Or so I’ve heard.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-78930923180819238172015-03-10T13:29:00.001-04:002015-03-10T13:29:51.329-04:00Mondays.<p>Since <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2015/01/gift.html" target="_blank">the stroke</a>, which Meme likes to refer to as the ‘thing that happened,’ my mom and her siblings have assigned days that everyone is responsible for calling or visiting.  She’s convinced it was my mother who cracked the whip on her siblings, but it wasn’t, though Janet is pretty whip cracking, I’ll give her that.  The daily calls and the stipulation that we could install an emergency alert system in her house, is the deal to keep her independence.  It’s all slightly BS.  Secretly, I believe that they’re all afraid of her stubbornness and she’s just humoring them by allowing these daily check ins, but whatever works...  </p> <p>Shortly after the ‘thing that happened,’ Dave was over there helping to install something and Meme was filling him in on these daily calls.  “I’ll be glad when this stage of my life is over.  Everyone is calling and checking in on me.  They think I’ve kicked it if I don’t answer the phone right away,” she said.  He chuckled a little because he already knew about the call schedule.</p> <p>Then a few minutes later, “What are they going to do about it if I do kick it, anyway?  There’s not a damn thing any of them can do.  When it’s your time, it’s your time.”</p> <p>Now though?  I think that she enjoys, or maybe just graciously allows, the intrusion into her daily routine by the brood she claims as her own.  </p> <p>Tate and I have Mondays.  </p> <p>We drop Finnegan off to school and go over and have breakfast with her.  Tate asks her for the 47th time just <em>why</em> Meme likes her oatmeal with milk and Craisins, when she likes hers more firm with brown sugar and cinnamon.   Meme fills  me in all of the family updates, including phone calls from my cousins in Chicago.  She announces at least once each visit, how absurd it is that my aunt does her laundry when she’s quite capable of going down to the basement to do it herself.  Oh, she gets it, she assures me, “They don’t want me going up and down the stairs with a basket.  It’s just not necessary when, I can do it myself.”  I tell her to enjoy it, humor her children, and to send Sue over to do mine if she doesn’t want the help.  </p> <p>The talk lately, is of March Madness.  She’s not sure how she’s going to fill out her bracket, her past winning streak means she has a reputation to uphold.  Let’s not forget the woe that her beloved Buckeyes stink this year.  Priorities people, basketball is undoubtedly in her top three... we just aren’t sure if family comes before or after it.   She asks about Bo-Bims, which is what she calls my sister, and fields in depth questions from her great granddaughter about if she <em>really</em> knows Aunt Punka and just how she does.  Apparently, she is satisfied by Meme’s answers and I am convinced that Lyndsey will never be called her real name by anyone, but me.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vlwyrtFeuGg/VP8qC5H66oI/AAAAAAAAOic/lQn-LUw7kkQ/s1600-h/cell%2525201052%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="cell 1052" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cell 1052" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-eBautNzavE8/VP8qDT98FpI/AAAAAAAAOik/ijqJCBKvtuI/cell%2525201052_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="480" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Tate has already moved on to the entertainment portion of our visit and twirls her way through the living room.  She pairs the excited whirligig with non-stop chatter about her imaginary sister, Heinje.  “We’re ice dancing!  Me and Heinje are the best ice dancers!”  Meme agrees and pays for the performance with a  belly full of Club crackers.  Then she makes a power play when I answer the phone, she turns on Disney channel for her.  When I raise an eyebrow, she simply pretends in her old age that she doesn’t see me because she’s concentrating on the remote buttons.  I now know where her loyalties lie.  They sometimes draw funny things and Meme tries to convince her to tell everyone that she is TQ’s great-grandmother, not because of her age, but her excellence.  “Tate, you can just tell everyone you call me that because I am so GREAT!  Don’t you think?”  </p> <p>Yep, Meme.  We kinda do.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-52374264400619383782015-02-24T22:08:00.001-05:002015-02-24T22:08:42.595-05:00Press (re)Start.<div class="getty embed image" style="font-size: 11px; max-width: 507px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',helvetica,arial,sans-serif; width: 100%; color: #a7a7a7; display: inline-block; background-color: #fff"> <div style="overflow: hidden; height: 0px; width: 100%; position: relative; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 66.66%; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px"><iframe style="height: 100%; width: 100%; position: absolute; left: 0px; display: inline-block; top: 0px" height="338" src="//embed.gettyimages.com/embed/107720768?et=4oukeUvzQ0Zv_xMJ08_aYQ&sig=Bz7EmiB0lWTeDwPbAwwpAUCaeNq6T4cdKVVdeiyEQx4=" frameborder="0" width="507" scrolling="no"></iframe></div> <p style="margin: 0px"></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; text-align: left; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding-right: 0px"><a style="border-top-style: none; text-decoration: none; border-bottom-style: none; font-weight: normal !important; color: #a7a7a7; border-right-style: none; border-left-style: none; display: inline-block" href="http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/107720768" target="_blank">View image</a> | <a style="border-top-style: none; text-decoration: none; border-bottom-style: none; font-weight: normal !important; color: #a7a7a7; border-right-style: none; border-left-style: none; display: inline-block" href="http://www.gettyimages.com" target="_blank">gettyimages.com</a></div> </div> <p>When I don’t want to do something, I have a really hard time starting.  When I’m stressed.  When I’m tired.  When I am embarrassed, angry, and overwhelmed.  It is easier to hide or immerse myself in something mindless, <em>have you played</em> Trivia Crack?  My mostly rational mind is clued into the fact that this is a by-product of the ADD, but my overwhelmed reaction (ding ding ding, also the ADD) sees it as a series of hurdles.  </p> <p>And you know my booty isn’t making it over any hurdles.</p> <p>The thing is, it bothers me, being away from here as much as I have been, but there are some other things I needed to spend my energy on.  It’s kind of like that put your own oxygen mask on, then your kids’ when the reality is you’re going to see their face and put their mask on first.  And I did, but it’s also a bullshit cop out excuse too.  Because everyone knows in the crazy airline demonstrations, doing that just makes you pass out while your kids are fine.  I’m pretty sure mine would just poke me with a stick because they want a snack.  </p> <p>Coming back for a quickie “hi, how are ya,” in the midst of all of that, seemed like kind of a jackass thing to do.  So, I just didn’t.  I would be like that friend who just shows up unannounced to your party, because you put it on Facebook.  Sure, you forgot that friend wasn’t under your ‘acquaintance’ list, they aren’t <em>really</em> invited, if we’re being honest but, they still show up and make it all awkward.  Yep.  That about sums it up.</p> <p>Ooooh, is that Chex mix?</p> <p>And, no, I’m not going to talk about it just yet, the other stuff, but I will.  Probably.  Just not right now.  << I also hate when people do things like that,  WHO does that?  Annoying people, on your acquaintance list, that’s who.  But, you already know that.  </p> <p>Unless you’re new.</p> <p>In which case, um, hi, I’m Michelle, you can totally come sit by me.  I’ll probably even be back here tomorrow.  Maybe. </p> <p>I am pressing the re-start button.  While crossing my fingers it doesn’t crash the system.  </p> <p>What’s new with you?</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-50531257273118818322015-01-07T05:35:00.000-05:002015-01-12T01:12:23.689-05:00Is Being a Mom Hard?<p>We were sitting at the table and I was frustrated.  </p> <p>It had been a very long day.  I was tired.  We had a snow day, on the very first day I was supposed to get two hours and fifteen minutes of blissful quiet time in two very long weeks.  They alternated all day between being the best of friends and relentless bickering.  I. Just. Wanted. To. Clean. Out. My. Stupid. Over-stuffed. Closet.  That was my goal for the two hours and fifteen minutes of quiet time while my youngest was supposed to be at preschool.  I wanted to listen to something with adult lyrics and drink coffee and pull out all of those old maternity clothes and too skinny pants that had somehow gotten tucked into the depths of the closet.  </p> <p>That, and I’m not going to lie, there are some hideous shirts I was hoping to sneak out of Dave’s side too.</p> <p>Instead, I was refereeing.  By dinnertime, I was pretty close to my exasperation limit, when Tate declared how much she LOVED her steak taco.  She wasn’t just saying how much she loved it, she was telling me that it was the BEST taco ever.  You would think, that winning dinner with a three and a half year old would be a good thing.  It might have been, but all I could do was stare in disbelief.  I wondered if maybe, an alien had taken over her body?  That had to be the answer.  She couldn’t be <em>my</em> daughter, the one who had thrown an epic, nightmare inducing, tantrum meltdown on New Year’s Eve because, that’s right, we had dared serve her steak.  </p> <p>After dinner, I was skimming Finn’s homework from the night before and asked him do a couple more math problems for practice.  Math is one of those things that we struggle with.  I say “we” because I’m trying to decipher just where his gaps in learning are from a grade skip, so new concepts don’t completely blindside him, while simultaneously not screwing him up with my ‘old math’ ways.  And he?  He’s just trying to figure out how fractions relate to measurement.  He did the problems, but I wondered if he <em>really</em> grasped it. </p> <h4>“Mom, is being a parent hard?  Like, is it a hard job?  Because sometimes, it seems like it’s really hard for you,” he asked, sliding over to give me a hug.</h4> <p>Most days, I hope as a mom that I’m doing more right than wrong.  Some days, though, I wonder if that is true.  That’s difficult for me to say out loud.  To admit, I am far from the world’s best mom.  There are two sweet faces looking to me for an answer that I don’t always have.  There are days I feel like a failure.  I am a  completely crap ‘new math’ explainer, I am a zombie in the morning, and there are days that I tell him to hustle because we’re late and he’s got four minutes to get to class.  I wonder if I’m asking the right questions, wonder if they’re <em>really</em> happy, or if they’re going to think that we somehow screwed up their childhood when they are grown.  </p> <p>See?  I assume that my parenting, will probably lead to therapy.  </p> <p>It’s not easy or for the faint of heart, this parenting thing.  Well, some days it’s easy and those days feel like a gift.  They exist, I’m convinced, to make sure we don’t eat our young, when we’re confronted with, “This is the most boring house ever!” as you glance at the thirty five choices for entertainment in your immediate vicinity.</p> <p>Almost daily, I wage a fierce debate that chocolate is not considered a ‘healthy’ snack and wonder would if it would be much easier to just feed Tate all the chocolate her belly can handle.  Have you ever examined the logic of a three and a half year old?  It’s the stuff that torture is made of.  I’m also trying not to yell because I don’t want to be that yeller mom whose kids roll their eyes and tune out, but I still swear too much.  Some days I have to consciously remind myself that it’s OK to close the door and take a minute to finish cleaning out the closet while they argue about who cut off who’s hand with a fake plastic light saber.  Then I wonder, should I be concerned that they are cutting off each other’s hands with plastic light sabers?  Isn’t that the first sign of the dark side?  </p> <p>There are days that I’d love to not be the elected vomit cleaner.  Or nag about homework.  Or break up sibling squabbles.  Or days when I’m too freaking tired to try to figure out new math, so I don’t screw up my seven year old.  As long as we’re making this list, I also, unquestionably, still mourn the loss of sleeping in on Saturday mornings.  </p> <p>I tell myself regularly, it’s normal to have failure.  It’s normal to make mistakes and admit when you’re wrong.  It’s normal to have tough days when you just want to give up and start over in the morning.  It’s normal to wonder if you’re the ONLY one screwing up your kids.    </p> <p>When your frustration is maxed out.  When you’re at a loss for how to handle something.  When you are desperately searching for that child rearing manual they MUST have forgotten to give you when you brought this baby home.  When your seven year old sees you struggle.</p> <p>I hugged Finn and considered all of these things before I replied.  I am smart enough to know that my days of unprovoked snuggles are numbered.  “Probably the hardest and best job I’ve ever had,” I confessed.  “I know I screw it up.  I probably make mistakes all the time.  But, I wouldn’t trade it for any job in the world.” </p> <p>“Well, I’m never having kids if they’re as bad as Tate,” he replied and packed up his homework.</p> <p>They will test our limits, are crazy freaking mess tornados, and bicker with each other.  They will make us worry, tell white lies, and forget their manners.  They will exasperate us, make bad choices, and probably not always be nice.  And we still have a job because of it.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-aKj24sLwDzI/VLNkHdYO22I/AAAAAAAAOgo/ite1cZwKRBU/s1600-h/1233.jpg"><img title="123" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="123" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-yvEULMfSDss/VLNkIfAhUfI/AAAAAAAAOgw/9GGGobdLVvU/123_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="480" /></a></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-77117066193132265042015-01-05T14:59:00.001-05:002015-01-05T14:59:12.302-05:00Gift.<p>A week ago, I took this picture of Tate and my Meme.  Tate would argue that it’s <em>her</em> Meme, but I have 38 years worth of dibs that I am prepared to cash in.    </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6Bf2_T7eKuk/VKrtCyx-CmI/AAAAAAAAOgM/py9SnZPoS0c/s1600-h/cell-Christmas-Omas-2052.jpg"><img title="cell Christmas Oma's 205" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="cell Christmas Oma's 205" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Hfxs1HcYjNE/VKrtDqhnyAI/AAAAAAAAOgU/z2JIhgHRyTU/cell-Christmas-Omas-205_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="480" height="480" /></a></p> <p>This night, she was laughing and rocking in her chair, as Tate poorly serenaded her with <em>Let It Go</em>.  My cousins were here from Chicago, filling her in on basketball and college acceptance letters.  Her house was full.  She was happy, that Meme of ours.  </p> <p>It was my cousin, who called me, just twenty-four short hours later.  “They think Meme had a stroke,” and that is when the pleading started.</p> <p>What would I say if I had five more minutes?  Five more days?  Twenty-five more years?  Should I have…  I wish I would have…  </p> <p>You wrestle the cold fear with the hoping… for just a little bit longer, a little more time.  You plead with the universe to make this ok.  You question how you’d even cope with this idea, this life that would feel so wrong without her in it.  Though, <em>you know</em> she’d argue with you and state, in her pragmatic, very <em>Meme</em> way, that she’s ninety and you can’t live forever.  You realize too, that not fully functioning or living on her own, is pretty much her biggest fear.    </p> <p>So, you sit.  And you wait. And you feel helpless.</p> <p>She had gone to bed, the night the photo was taken and woke in the middle of the night with a headache.  A headache that hadn’t gone away the next morning either.  My aunt had driven to her house that morning and told her that we should cancel having people over and Meme brushed her off because she wanted the kids to open their gifts.  She said she was going to rest for a little bit and by the time all of the great-grandchildren arrived in the early afternoon, things had only gotten worse.  My aunts were concerned, but Meme argued that she didn’t want anything to do with taking her blood pressure.  My cousin had asked her a question and she seemed confused and couldn’t answer.  By the time Dave and I arrived at the house a little later that afternoon, she was feeling sick and disoriented.  She tried to convince me that she’d have a cup of coffee to settle her upset stomach, until I pointed out that coffee was probably not a great choice for an upset stomach.</p> <p>She asked me the next night, twenty-four hours after her stroke, as I was sitting with her, how we knew, or thought to take her to the hospital.</p> <p>My answer to her was simple.  “I walked into your room and said, we’re going to take you over right now to get your blood pressure checked, just to be on the safe side.  Your only response to me was, OK and a little sigh.  I knew that something was very, very wrong if you weren’t pissed at me about going to the hospital.”  She chuckled a little because she’s a stubborn ox and she knows it.  She doesn’t even remember that conversation, or much of me being there at her house at all, but she vaguely remembers that Dave drove her.   She laughed when I likened getting her ready for the hospital, to the worst version of Cinderella, ever.  My cousin and I were down on the floor, each trying to wedge her feet, with her poor arthritic toes, into a pair of moccasins, the only shoes I could find in her closet.  I told her, we thought she had lost it because she had two completely different colored socks on.  She wiggled her feet, those ridiculous socks still on her feet in the ICU, and explained that she had lost one of each of the pair.</p> <p>She doesn’t remember us leaving the ER to pick up our kids.  We suspected it was just her sodium level off again.  Knowing full well when it was fixed that she’d be pissed about being there we preferred leaving that to my aunts.  Nor does she remember sitting with my aunts, still in the emergency room some hours later, awaiting test results and suddenly, not making any sense.  Or, that she couldn’t even answer simple questions from the neurologist.  She doesn’t remember the decision being made to give her the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tissue_plasminogen_activator" target="_blank">tPA</a> shot, or our visits with her that night as we waited to see if it might work.  </p> <p>But there, twenty-four hours later, it clearly had.  </p> <p>Sometimes you’re gifted with it, that beautiful second chance.  This morning, we were there, at her house, she and Tate were snuggled up in her chair again, thick as thieves, this time watching cartoons.  I’d argue that all of it makes you appreciate what you have, but then, I think <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2014/03/meme.html" target="_blank">we’ve always realized how lucky we are to have her</a>.  I’ll take five more hours, or five more months, or twenty-five more years, whatever we’re thankful to have been given.  </p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-79434006240897334852014-12-05T21:17:00.001-05:002014-12-05T21:40:18.876-05:00If You’re White, You’re Probably Part of the Problem.My name is Michelle and I’m about the whitest white girl you’ll ever meet.  I don’t consider myself a racist.  In fact, quite the opposite, racism makes me angry.  The N-word is one I wouldn’t even consider using.  I do have friends of many races, dated a black man, and voted to put President Obama into the highest office in the nation.  Twice.    <p>I am still part of the problem, the catalyst, causing rioting in Ferguson, Missouri and protests everywhere from New York to Los Angeles.  And you probably are too.</p> <p>Before you full-on, start freaking out, I want you to listen.  To <em>really</em> listen, and consider the possibility, no matter how defensive it might make you, that I just might be right.</p> <p>I woke last Tuesday morning, to a newsfeed filled with thoughts about Ferguson.  It was mostly for the business owners who were losing their life’s work because of the riots that had erupted.  There were prayers for the safety of law enforcement and firefighters.  There were admonishments too, of how absolutely stupid and pointless it was to riot and destroy things and how it wouldn’t accomplish anything.  There were disapprovals and tsk tsks over flag burning.  There was this underlying <em>anger</em> for lack of a better word, anger for what the rioters were doing.</p> <h4>What doesn’t make ANY sense to me, is <em>why</em> we have more empathy for a business owner losing their property or someone burning the flag, than we do for a black eighteen year old who lost his life.  Does anyone else find this to be a mortifying reflection of our present culture?  Because this whitey, white girl is raising her hand and frantically waving it around.</h4> <p>Now, you’ll deny the fact that your comments meant anything racist, and I will give you the benefit of the doubt.  You’ll defend the fact that, the business owners you referred to were of any race.  The greater problem that I see is, you’re not even considering the possibility that the people rioting or those protesting peacefully, might have an absolutely valid reason to do so.   For what it is worth, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party" target="_blank">Boston Tea Party</a>, was also a riot.  I’m thanking the freedom of speech that I freely use, that everyone on Facebook didn’t exist to tell John Adams that he was a destructive loser thug, too.   You’re worried about <em>stuff</em> getting burned or looted, rather than an eighteen year old who died because his skin was brown.  Marinate in that.  </p> <p>Have you considered when you, collectively, are not being heard… as black Americans <em>clearly</em> aren’t right now, you do something about that?  You stand up and speak out.  Only… for white Americans, speaking out is usually enough to be heard.  So, maybe you can’t even comprehend that for black Americans, it often isn’t.   </p> <h4>This rioting, and the peaceful protests too, it isn’t about the fact that there wasn’t an indictment last week.  It isn’t really even about Michael’s death, except perhaps, to his parents and those who loved him.  It’s about us.  It’s about a nation of people, who knowingly or not, collectively perpetuate a culture of inequality.  </h4> <h4>Ignorance shouldn’t be our excuse, you just have to be willing to open your eyes. </h4> <p>There is the very obvious problem that, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/justice/michael-brown-missouri-teen-shot/" target="_blank">we don’t shoot and kill white teenagers over a stolen pack of cigars</a>, but Michael died.  White <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21gates.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Harvard professors aren’t harassed</a> for breaking in to their own houses, but Henry was.  We don’t kill white <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/cleveland-cop-toy-gun-killing-resigned-previous-job/story?id=27352626" target="_blank">twelve year olds</a> for being the absolute idiots that we all know twelve year old boys can be, but Tamir was shot two and a half seconds after the police pulled up.  We don’t have vigilantes killing white teenagers for simply being white and <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/feature/george-zimmerman-trial-trayvon-martin-case/" target="_blank">walking in their neighborhood</a>, but Treyvon’s mom will never hold her son again.  We don’t shoot white men <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/04/phoenix-police-unarmed-man-killed-by-officer/19878931/" target="_blank">mistakenly over a pill bottle that was thought to be a gun</a>, but Rumain is dead.  That happened last week in Phoenix and it has barely made the national news cycle.  And we sure don’t <a href="http://time.com/3016326/eric-garner-video-police-chokehold-death/" target="_blank">choke hold and kill</a> a white man on video over selling a cigarette for fifty cents while he begs for his life and says over and over that he can’t breathe, as Eric did.</p> <p>Those things are in our face and we ignore them, we explain them away.  We blame the way the legal system works.  The fact is, we don’t “fear for our lives” and kill white young men <a href="http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/11/24/white-man-beats-two-cops-shots-fired-unarmed-black-man-gets-shot-reason/" target="_blank">when they punch a police officer</a>.  Not even when they are <a href="http://www.kcrg.com/subject/news/drunk-mma-fighter-sends-iowa-city-police-officer-to-hospital-20141201#t7kwEQx63beQwzZe.99" target="_blank">drunk MMA fighters with drug convictions</a>, and we certainly do not leave their bodies lying in the street for four hours.  Those men got the benefit of the doubt, where Michael, Henry, Tamir, Treyvon, Rumain, and Eric did not.  </p> <p>I’ll bet, if you’re white, you’ve never stopped to consider that simply having brown skin means the ‘rights’ that we all enjoy aren’t actually afforded in an equal manner to everyone.  Because I have heard white people say this, “It’s America, everyone has the opportunity to make something of themselves.”  White people believe this so inherently, I hadn’t even considered it not to be true. </p> <p>It is so out of the realm of anything we’re taught as a white citizen of the United States, that we simply dismiss these things by saying that people are just being sensitive, or that they are reading into the situation, or that someone didn’t mean it that way.   Just like I did when a few paragraphs above, I said, I’d give you the benefit of the doubt for your comments on Facebook.  We say, “Don’t make this about race.”</p> <h4>That is exactly the point, it already IS about race if you aren’t white.  All the time.  Every day.  It’s about RACE.</h4> <p>I don’t want to hear you say that these men and these boys who were killed were engaged in criminal activity because there are white people who aren’t even looked at twice for things like selling a cigarette for fifty cents.  If your skin is brown, there is <a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_ICCPR%20Race%20and%20Justice%20Shadow%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">racial disparity in police activity, trials, and sentencing</a>.  If your skin is brown, <a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet" target="_blank">the criminal justice system fails you</a>.   If your skin is brown, well, then, you already know these things.  It isn’t you, who needs to hear them.  To acknowledge them.</p> <p>As a white person, like it or not, agree with it or not, you still have participated in the collective problem.  By remaining silent.  By dismissing racism in your family or your group of friends.  By not questioning ALL of these things that are in your face.  By simply not recognizing that you have benefited from implicit racial bias.  Just simply because you were born into white skin, you’re granted that benefit of the doubt we’ve all taken for granted.  The ability to move into any neighborhood you can afford without worry that your neighbors might hate you at first glance.  You can smile and wave at a police officer and not get pulled over for something minor like a headlight out.  You might just be considered the best, or most hard working candidate in a stack because your resume doesn’t say Malik, or DeShawn, or Ebony, or Aaliyah.  Your parents didn’t have to consider how white <em>your</em> name might sound when choosing a name that reflects their heritage.  You can simply shut your eyes, as many of you might, and make all of this uncomfortable race talk disappear.  It’s called white privilege.  <a href="http://jamietheignorantamerican.tumblr.com/post/72154890106/go-forth-and-educate-yourselves" target="_blank">Here is a great explanation in comic form</a> from 19 year old artist, Jamie Kapp.   </p> <h4>Oh, I hear your indignant cries.  We can’t help the fact that we were born white!  And you are absolutely right, we can’t.  Not at all, in fact.  However, we do have the power to stop dismissing, or making excuses for, or being ignorant of the fact that the United States is different for peach people, than it is for brown people.  Because, it is.  And not one of us should be OK with that.</h4> <p>Truth be told, I don’t even know how we, as a nation, are going to begin fixing this.  Being cognizant of it, recognizing it, and educating yourself is a good start.  We can lend our voices to this conversation and lend our ears to those <a href="http://www.kellywickham.com/mochamomma/2013/7/16/calling-out-my-sisters.html/" target="_blank">who have been writing this eloquently for years</a>.  We can say, I believe you, this isn’t ok with me, and what can we do to change this?  We can write a check to the <a href="http://www.naacp.org/" target="_blank">NAACP</a>.  We can ask ourselves, how can we be more sensitive to issues of race.  Even when it’s uncomfortable, especially when you feel awkward.  Even when you don’t know how to begin the discussion… start it anyway.  </p> <p>It’s time.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you’re interested in doing some more reading, I recommend:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/12/04/color-blindness-isnt-helping-anything/" target="_blank">Color Blindness Isn’t Helping Anything</a>  Kristin Vanderhey Shaw for the Washington Post</li> <li>Human Rights Attorney <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice" target="_blank">Michael Stevenson’s TED Talk on the American justice system</a>. </li> <li>An <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20141203-leonard-pitts-jr.-an-understanding-of-white-privilege-is-only-two-clicks-away.ece" target="_blank">Understanding of White Privilege is Only Two Clicks Away</a>. </li> <li><a href="http://occupywallstreet.net/story/explaining-white-privilege-broke-white-person" target="_blank">Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person</a>  </li> <li><a href="http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=137" target="_blank">Tim Wise on White Privilege</a>  </li> <li><a href="https://www.isr.umich.edu/home/diversity/resources/white-privilege.pdf" target="_blank">White Privilege</a> by Peggy McIntosh </li> <li>Teaching Tolerance: <a href="http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege" target="_blank">On Racism and White Privilege</a> </li> <li><a title="http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/white_privilege.html" href="http://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/white_privilege.html">What is white privilege</a>?  From the White Privilege Conference </li> <li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/28/what-white-people-need-to-know-and-do-after-ferguson/" target="_blank">What White People Need to Know, and Do, After Ferguson</a> Sally Kohn for the Washington Post </li> <li><a href="https://medium.com/human-parts/white-privilege-checklist-fe45cb829ef" target="_blank">White Privilege Checklist</a>… less a checklist and more a brilliant commentary in checklist form </li> </ul> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-46559075160983490382014-11-03T17:09:00.001-05:002014-11-03T17:09:42.156-05:00Joules | winter Wish List.<h6></h6> <h6><font style="font-weight: normal">Disclosure: This is sponsored content on behalf of Joules.  All thoughts, opinions, and words are my own.</font></h6> <p>The weather here in the Midwest has turned chilly, blustery even.  The leaves are falling, crunching underfoot, and making everything smell like Autumn.   </p> <p>I know, I know… you summer fans are groaning at the thought.  Summer is great, but I am unapologetically, a fall and winter sort of girl.  I love sweater weather, boots, football, hot cocoa and reading a book next to the fireplace.   Even the thought of the first snow makes me deliriously happy.</p> <p>When Joules asked me to share the items that I’d like to cozy up with in my ultimate Winter Wish List, I jumped at the chance.  We absolutely love the <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Womens-Clothing/Jackets-Coats-Parkas" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joules</a> wellies, vests, and jackets, they get a ton of compliments.  If you’re not yet familiar with the Joules brand, it is a British company and the quality is fantastic.  </p> <p>Now, I only need to convince them to bring their amazing line of home items to the US!  I could definitely fill another wish list with those items.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-owv_sCBnq8M/VFf9IBxohZI/AAAAAAAAOfM/KoCK5K3zyqc/s1600-h/Joules%252520Winter%252520Wish%252520List%25255B5%25255D.png"><img title="Joules Winter Wish List" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Joules Winter Wish List" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uSNJO69NF30/VFf9JC3ndBI/AAAAAAAAOfU/hItrAYyBGDY/Joules%252520Winter%252520Wish%252520List_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <blockquote> <h6>|1| Joules | <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Women/New-In-Accessories-Footwear/Wellyprint/Womens-Print-Rain-Boot-Wellies/Red-Stripe?id=R_WELLYPRINT|REDSTRP" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Women’s Print Rain Boot Wellies, Red Stripe</a></h6> <h6>|2| Joules | <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Girls/Hats%2C-Scarves-And-Gloves/Jnr-Amiehat/Girls-Knitted-Animal-Hat/Pink-Grapefruit-Owl?id=R_JNRAMIEHAT|OWL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Girl’s Knitted Animal Hat, Pink Grapefruit Owl</a></h6> <h6>|3| Joules | <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Girls/Jackets-Coats/Jnr-Bernadette/Fitted-Hacking-Jacket/Navy-Herringbone?id=R_JNRBERNADETTE|NAVY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Girl’s Fitted Hacking Jacket</a></h6> <h6>|4| Joules | <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Men/Sweatshirts-Jumpers/Newell/Mens-Shawl-Neck-Sweater/Grey-Marl?id=R_NEWELL|GREYMRL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Men’s Shawl Neck Sweater</a>  </h6> <h6>|5| Joules | <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Women/Jackets%2C-Coats-Parkas/Moredale/Womens-Quilted-Jacket/Black?id=R_MOREDALE|BLACK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Women’s Quilted Jacket, Black</a>  </h6> <h6>|6|  Joules |  <a href="http://www.joulesusa.com/Boys/Tshirts-Tops/Jnr-Otis/Boys%27-Festive-Screen-Print-T-shirt/Grey-Marl?id=R_JNROTIS|GREYMRL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Boys Festive Screen Print T-Shirt</a></h6></blockquote> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-18609627010779758372014-10-13T11:37:00.001-04:002014-10-13T11:37:04.665-04:00Who Wants to Go to HalloWeekends?<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GT_vFPuiOvE/VDvxm5Pc5cI/AAAAAAAAOcs/iHDJXyAyuDU/s1600-h/Cedar%252520Point%252520Giveaway%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cedar Point Giveaway" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cedar Point Giveaway" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dqf7KZj_l1w/VDvxnh2xG2I/AAAAAAAAOc0/1S-nP6xVIsk/Cedar%252520Point%252520Giveaway_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>October is my absolute favorite time of the year to visit Cedar Point.  If you live in Ohio and haven’t been to HalloWeekends, you should definitely try to get there.  Not only is the entire park decked out in its Halloween finest, but the cooler temperatures make it the perfect time for coaster riding.  There are <a title="Halloweekends for Little Kids" href="https://www.cedarpoint.com/halloweekends/family-friendly" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">family friendly, mild spooky tricks and treats for your little ones</a> during the day and up near the front of the park at night.  If you’re a brave soul, <a title="Cedar Point Halloweekends Haunted Houses" href="https://www.cedarpoint.com/halloweekends/haunt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">there are scream inducing, frights for you too</a>… and that is just the coasters!  Ride all of your favorites in the morning, then hit the fright zones and haunted houses in the evenings.</p> <p>So WHO wants to go to Halloweekends for free?  <a title="Cedar Point Halloweekends" href="https://www.cedarpoint.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Cedar Point</a> wants to make that happen for one of you lucky peeps.  </p> <p>That’s right, we are hooking you up with a sweet FOUR pack of tickets (nearly $200 value!) so you can go enjoy a day at America’s Roller Coast during 2014 HalloWeekends. There are just THREE short weekends left, so this giveaway is going to be a quick one.  </p> <p>Maybe you’ll go this weekend?</p> <p>Disclaimer:  Cedar Point is one of my favorite blog relationships and I work with them several times a year.  They provided (4) tickets for the giveaway as well as tickets for my family to enjoy Hallweekends.  All opinions are my own.</p> <a id="rc-f750e3c75" class="rafl" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f750e3c75/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a> <script src="//widget.rafflecopter.com/load.js"></script> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-51748667417954091622014-10-01T16:10:00.001-04:002014-10-01T16:10:32.500-04:0020 Years.<p>I’m in the midst of planning our twentieth reunion.  </p> <p>From high school.</p> <p>As in, I graduated from high school twenty years ago.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GAdktLNtIM0/VCxfpV8-JxI/AAAAAAAAOao/VjybSrAAOIU/s1600-h/cell%252520433%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="cell 433" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cell 433" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-k9iyUUggWRA/VCxfqd17y9I/AAAAAAAAOaw/n8nrprYU1ec/cell%252520433_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="480" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Two thoughts permeate my brain.  One, how is that even possible?  Two, my best friend is a hoarder.</p> <p>So, I should tell you that one of my very best friends moved back to Ohio this summer.  She has lived in Florida for my entire marriage and almost all of the time I have been with Dave.  She has seen my kids grow up through pictures and visits twice a year.  I still sometimes forget that she is here permanently.  It is weird and wonderful to have her a three minute drive away.  It’s bizarre to be able to call her and ask her to come over in the middle of the week.   When we do get together, it feels a little like vacation Natalie, home for just a minute.  Let’s pack everything all into one week of shopping and dinner out and fun!  Woooo!  </p> <p>Dave just keeps saying, “Well, you DO have a lot of time to make up,” and sending me on my way.  I think he secretly loves it because Natalie tells him all kinds of stories about Fun Michelle.  That is what we call me, in the late nineties.  Fun Michelle are the stories my children won’t hear until they are old and planning their own 20th reunions.  Hopefully.</p> <p>While we’re on the subject, most of our reunion planning meetings go like this, </p> <blockquote> <p>HOW is it possible that we have been out of high school for twenty years?</p> <p><em>It can’t be twenty years.  Don’t you feel like we’re supposed to still be twenty-two?</em></p> <p>Maybe late twenties, max.</p> <p><em>Do you think so and so will come to the reunion?  I wonder what ever happened to so and so.</em></p> <p>Remember when so and so did that thing in high school that was hilarious?</p> <p><em>Remember when you dated so and so?  Ahhhahahaha!  </em></p> <p>Well at least I didn’t date so and so!</p> <p><em>We were such idiots.</em></p> <p>SUCH idiots.</p> <p><em>We didn’t get anything done!</em></p> <p>Totally, but I laughed so hard, my face hurts.</p> <p><em>Worth it.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>We also have the added bonus of Natalie memorabilia.  Now, I have a box of stuff from grade school and high school and college.  You throw in your senior pictures, some old grade cards that your mom saved, and a year book or two, right?  Pretty typical?  I feel like a lot of people have that box.</p> <p>Natalie takes it to another level.  </p> <p>She has receipts from a store where we used to work, with the cashiers’ names circled.  Did we really need to know that you bought a salad and cheese from Julie in 1993?  Probably not.  How about ticket stubs from movies she went to with names scribbled on the back… it’s important to remember that you, Jay, and Abby went to see Jurassic Park, twenty some years ago.  Have I mentioned every award and certificate she was ever given?  There is a folder full, people.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-q6ATRiL8O4w/VCxfrXd2eZI/AAAAAAAAOa4/LuYWbI6GXkw/s1600-h/cell%252520449%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="cell 449" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cell 449" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uRkLvYZ_mKY/VCxfr8xDNxI/AAAAAAAAObA/vJKS30L_4Pw/cell%252520449_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="480" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Oh, I can already hear her yelling at me while she’s reading this.  She’ll tell me it’s not fair if I don’t tell you that her parents just moved and so they went through everything that was packed away there.  She will protest that she was just keeping all of this for our twentieth reunion.  For this very occasion.  She will try to convince you, THAT was the reason she had two copies of everything from our prom program to our commencement announcement.</p> <p>I maintain that the ticket stubs speak for themselves.  And I am going to wear this 1994 vintage broomball beauty, pinned to my sweater…</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GFerXG0bBBU/VCxfsxekrrI/AAAAAAAAObI/Cr2ru5dpEYI/s1600-h/Natalie%252520Button%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Natalie Button" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Natalie Button" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ABtOG_ySGJo/VCxftmyyzlI/AAAAAAAAObQ/N2FCdU_iUXY/Natalie%252520Button_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="391" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Just so you all know, Nat is the best sport in the universe and gave her blessing for this post.  By blessing, I mean, she sighed and told me that she was going to tell you all that we’re only friends because she let me cheat off her in pre-calculus class our junior year.  </p> <p><em><font size="4">Clearly, math is NOT my forte, but choosing best friends is.</font></em></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-15124682726230290322014-09-04T12:05:00.001-04:002014-09-04T12:05:28.479-04:00I Am a Cliché. I even Know How to Spell Cliché.<p>This morning, I dropped the kids off at their respective schools. </p> <p>I know.     </p> <p>Can I explain to you how magical it is for a parent to have two hours and fifteen minutes to themselves, three days a week?  The answer to that is, pretty damn magical.  Thank you, sweet, sweet pre-school.  I haven’t been alone on a regular basis, in a silent house no less, for seven and a half years.</p> <p>Seven.  And a half.  Years.  Just the QUIET alone.  Those kids of mine are apparently a noisy duo.  The first two days, I couldn’t even bring myself to turn on the radio because the quiet was so magnificent.  </p> <p>This morning though?  I almost danced my way out of the classroom.  I was the mom in the SUV, giant smile on my face, blasting Vanilla Ice and singing every word, just because I can.  Then I got home, to my quiet house and picked twelve pounds of tomatoes from the garden.  Homemade tomato sauce?  Heck yes.    Did I mention it was quiet?  </p> <p>I might even shower before noon!</p> <p>I have much, much more to tell you.  Including explaining what I’ve been doing all summer.  I intend on doing just that, but for now, shhh… thirty more minutes before I have to pick the little one up.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-81196688503733689722014-08-20T23:58:00.001-04:002014-08-20T23:58:17.421-04:00To That Girl, In Her Twenties.<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-vphwz8EsYs4/U_VuU-2i0SI/AAAAAAAANfU/f6-fqf1eOeQ/s1600-h/That%252520Girl%252520in%252520Her%252520Twenties%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="That Girl in Her Twenties" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="That Girl in Her Twenties" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-74XkR98HrqE/U_VuV358djI/AAAAAAAANfc/ciTQKr9CQpQ/That%252520Girl%252520in%252520Her%252520Twenties_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>It’s fine that you don’t have it all figured out.  </p> <p>Hear me out.  I know you think you do, because that is how you have operated your entire life, but no, you don’t.  </p> <p>Not at all, in fact.  </p> <p>You are exactly, unequivocally where you are supposed to be in your life.  Trust in that.  Put to rest that feeling, the one that says, <em>everyone else</em> has a plan and you don’t.  It doesn’t matter that your siblings, your friends, your parents, that girl from high school, your cousins, or your mortal frenemy were married, had a job, whatever at your age… that isn’t <em>your</em> story, it’s theirs.  Stop bringing self-doubt and comparison to the table instead of your own bounty.       </p> <p>Enjoy right where you are, right at this very minute.   Your entire life is there, laid out before you, just loaded with possibility.  You can fill it with whatever you want.  </p> <p>I wish you could appreciate how unbelievably awesome that really is, but you won’t until you are old. </p> <p>You get to make mistakes.  Thousands of them.  You get to try stupid shit.  If there ever was a time to do that, it’s now.  Trust me.  You get to do that thing that you believe in, the one that puts a fire in your belly when you think about it.  You can even do the thing that everyone in your life tells you NOT to do.  Sure, sometimes you will screw it all up, but sometimes it will be magnificent.  Do it, regardless of the outcome.  Just because you can.   </p> <p>That goes for dating too.  You get to date the right ones and date the wrong ones, you don’t even have to recognize the difference right now.  You can have unapologetic {safe… goes with out saying, doesn’t it?} sex without attachment.  You can be in a long term relationship without ever having sex at all, if you like.  You can date, you can flirt, you can masturbate without shame, you can be abstinent, have a thousand partners, you can love a man, or a woman, or both.  Your body doesn’t belong to your parents, your partner, your friends, your religion, or anyone other than you.  And that is exactly who gets to make the decisions about it.  You.        </p> <p>You get to struggle and work harder than you ever have.  You will learn exactly what you are made of in the moments that you think you can’t handle.  You will flounder and you will figure shit out, or you will fall flat on your face.  The first will teach you perseverance, the second will teach you humility.  Both are hard won, valuable gifts.</p> <p>You get to figure out, sometimes it’s ok to walk away.  You can run from toxic friends, from your small town, or your big city, from the thing that you no longer want to be, but were just <em>sure</em> you wanted to do when you were twelve, and even from that relationship that no longer makes you happy.     </p> <p>Your life, it will unfold.  Faster than you ever imagined it could, in most cases.  All it will be a part of you and each piece is important.  You will have hilarious stories to laugh about with your friends, the heartaches will have softened, you will know that you lived your dream, you will be grateful for the mis-steps and mistakes and the lessons learned.  </p> <p>I know it’s hard to see right now because you are waiting for that next thing.  The person.  The career.  The house.  The kids.  The feeling that you have it all figured out.  Not unlike when you were five and waiting for school to start, twelve waiting for your first kiss, or sixteen and waiting for your drivers license.  Those things you’re waiting for, they will get there, when they get there, they can’t be rushed.  If I’m being honest, sometimes they never show up.   </p> <p>Here is a secret though, one that some people never figure out.  You don’t need any of those things, not one, to be a complete, wonderful, dazzling human being.  You’re already there.  But, you knew that already, didn’t you?</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-90749573901191652262014-08-04T15:28:00.001-04:002014-08-04T15:28:44.942-04:00So, Toledo Was Fun This Weekend.<p>Saturday morning, I woke up to this…</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Qj3jfOKQL2s/U9_eyMJGDpI/AAAAAAAANeA/Kiz--eKnXrs/s1600-h/Toledo-Water-Emergency3.jpg"><img title="Toledo Water Emergency" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Toledo Water Emergency" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bwvG7AwU5gk/U9_ezBNT2SI/AAAAAAAANeI/aJgzwYPkHZI/Toledo-Water-Emergency_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Now, two things you should probably know.  One, my Aunt Sue isn’t tech savvy, she doesn’t text me.  I have gotten exactly ONE text from her, ever.  So you can imagine I was completely confused.   Two, I am an up late kind of girl and Friday… Friday, I went to bed early.  Or I would have seen the health department post at 1:30 in the morning that we should NOT consume, boil, or even touch the water coming out of the tap.  </p> <p>No drinking.  No showers.  No cooking with it.  No washing dishes.  No hand washing.  </p> <p>Nada.  </p> <p>Don’t touch it, don’t let your kids touch it, and don’t let your pets near it.</p> <p>Which is super fun because right before bed, I downed two huge glasses of contaminated water.  And did a load of dishes on the ridiculously hot setting of our dishwasher. </p> <p>To put it mildly, people were <em>freaking out</em>.  I told Dave that he should probably hit the store for some bottled water, but by 7:20 am, when he got there, they were already out.  Dave headed to Sam’s because his dad has a business membership, which means he could go in at 7am.  There were already lines around the building and the sheriff’s department was there, so he turned around and came home.</p> <p>I wasn’t immediately panicked because we had about ten quart sized bottles and some 8 ounce bottles in the basement.  The first two quarts went right into the Keurig and I realized pretty quickly how completely under prepared we were for anything longer than a day.  Even more so when we realized that some family members didn’t have any, like my diabetic 89 year old Gram and my sister and my brother.</p> <p>We take clean, safe, potable water for granted.  Especially here in Ohio where we have access to the Great Lakes and some of the best water in the country, right out of the tap.  And we use way more than we probably should.    </p> <p>Try turning off the water to your house for 24 hours and seeing how you would cope.  Then tack on another day and a half, just for fun.  </p> <p>Now just imagine 600,000 people all doing the same.  Stores in cities an hour away were completely out of bottled water by 11 am on Saturday morning.  Just imagine that.  All of the metro Toledo area, Angola, Indiana, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Monroe, Sandusky, Bowling Green, Findlay all being completely out of bottled water in a matter of hours.  It’s sobering.  Produce departments were also completely cleared because of water spray that contaminated anything exposed to it.  Aisles of paper products were empty.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KGP8L-PpuoU/U9_e1DKpMVI/AAAAAAAANeQ/Fo_6_vQHKck/s1600-h/Produce%252520Section%252520during%252520Toledo%252520Water%252520Emergency%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Produce Section during Toledo Water Emergency" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Produce Section during Toledo Water Emergency" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bqU3z6uWfbw/U9_e2X3YcdI/AAAAAAAANeU/FvQjkBC4VRc/Produce%252520Section%252520during%252520Toledo%252520Water%252520Emergency_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YZus9RP14Lw/U9_e3BRHw8I/AAAAAAAANeg/nQUylhL_VLk/s1600-h/Empty%252520Paper%252520Product%252520Aisle%252520Toledo%252520Water%252520Emergency%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Empty Paper Product Aisle Toledo Water Emergency" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Empty Paper Product Aisle Toledo Water Emergency" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bB9OfNgRd4E/U9_e4IjH6hI/AAAAAAAANeo/UI8QcIuSt8A/Empty%252520Paper%252520Product%252520Aisle%252520Toledo%252520Water%252520Emergency_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="480" /></a></p> <p>I swear you’re going to see me on one of those doom’s day prepper shows because of this experience… </p> <p>Sunday morning, we went to my aunt’s house to shower and fill up our food grade buckets {Dave bought the last four at Lowes} with water.  We were able to bring that water home and wash dishes and our hands in clean water.  They gave the all clear that it was ok for healthy adults to shower, but didn’t provide even ONE actual scientific number to back that up.  As of Monday morning, when they finally lifted the ban, the mayors office and the Ohio EPA still had yet to release any actual data.    </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-XK7ANGXeMcg/U9_e49cvOFI/AAAAAAAANew/0zIv6r-LttA/s1600-h/National%252520Guard%252520Water%252520Filling%252520Station%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="National Guard Water Filling Station" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="National Guard Water Filling Station" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Y5UP-CV8hS4/U9_e6YK5MjI/AAAAAAAANe4/n7lG06Gb3xg/National%252520Guard%252520Water%252520Filling%252520Station_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="733" height="982" /></a>       </p> <p>We’re extremely lucky that it was only half a million people affected and not more than one major city.  If Cleveland or Detroit had also been affected, I don’t think we would have been able to have the immediate response that we {luckily} did.  By Saturday afternoon, the national guard had been mobilized and had a plan for truckloads of water to be delivered, the Red Cross had some water available to those who didn’t have any, people were calm and delivering water to those who couldn’t get out.  I saw gracious people handing out bottles of water to neighbors and friends and strangers alike.  There were calm lines and absolutely gracious, smiling, tired faces of our Ohio National Guard, Red Cross Volunteers, and store clerks.  There were people calling and offering showers and places to fill buckets in cities not affected.</p> <p>Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all handled perfectly, there were instances of price gauging.  There were altercations at stores.  There were people buying ridiculous amounts of water, that I hope were for more than themselves, but probably weren’t.  The mayors office really dropped the ball disseminating actual information and it just fueled every idiot in the city to fill in the blanks, true or not.  Every rumor you can imagine spread like wildfire on social media.  I really do think his office acted appropriately in not giving information they weren’t sure about, but they should have just said, hey… we have no idea.  Instead they said that they would have answers, test results, and continuously stalled or just didn’t show up when they said they would, it wasn’t good.  By Sunday evening pissed off people were throwing out suggestions about protesting.</p> <p>They also really need to overhaul whomever is handling their social media accounts.  Pssst… Mr. Collins, call me.       </p> <p>Cheers to clean water and the ban being lifted.  I’ll wait to drink it, until you provide those actual numbers.  </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/psIuidkkLjI" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-88327473307295898762014-07-26T14:55:00.000-04:002014-07-26T15:20:33.355-04:00Frozen Outdoor Movie Party : Frozen Birthday Party Ideas<h4></h4> <p>Disney’s Frozen is still reigning as a giant with it’s legions of pint-sized fans.  Costumes are sold out.  Good luck finding the toys.  Luck is exactly what you’ll need, unless you want to pay an arm and a leg.  There is no end in sight to the fervor for famous sisters, Anna and Elsa.  That fervor very much includes Tate, who knew without a doubt, what kind of party she’d choose for her third birthday.</p> <blockquote> <h5>So, uh, tell me.  What made the queen go all ice crazy?  --Kristoff, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>Not only did she want a Frozen party, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sugarbeanbakes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Miss Stephanie</a> would make her an Anna + Elsa cake, and she wanted an ice castle too.  Which was charming considering it is July.  I’m no Elsa, as Tate pointed out, when I tried to explain the fact that it wasn’t winter.  </p> <p>Duh<em>,</em> there would be an ice castle.   <em>Elsa</em> would just make it with her ice magic.</p> <blockquote> <h5>I’m gonna tell him!</h5> <h5>Don’t you dare!  --Anna and Kristoff, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>MOST importantly, above all else, she wanted an Elsa dress.  The dress that was sold out everywhere.  <em>Because, of course.</em></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uRfx_NlxPHw/U9P5pGL_KZI/AAAAAAAANYQ/6f6nQnvgVFo/s1600-h/Love%252520this%252520Frozen%252520outdoor%252520movie%252520night%25255B34%25255D.jpg"><img title="Love this Frozen outdoor movie night" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Love this Frozen outdoor movie night" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-V11BygxrUrQ/U9P5qPhhbcI/AAAAAAAANYY/nT_NQ-3u5H8/Love%252520this%252520Frozen%252520outdoor%252520movie%252520night_thumb%25255B34%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-k_OpAY4hZYw/U9P5q5e6S2I/AAAAAAAANYg/pqaDhGGo568/s1600-h/Frozen%252520Party%25255B101%25255D.jpg"><img title="Frozen Party" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Party" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-oRqKQvzP1F0/U9P5sKK6R6I/AAAAAAAANYo/yXNQ0Pg0aXg/Frozen%252520Party_thumb%25255B101%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Tate didn’t doubt it for a moment.  Like icy magic, it came together exactly as she said it would.  </p> <h3>DIY Elsa Dress</h3> <h3></h3> <blockquote> <h5>Wow. Elsa, you look different. It's a good different. And this place...it's amazing.  -- Anna, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>By DIY, I mean, I am convinced that my mother-in-law is secretly a fairy godmother because this dress is spectacular.  {She also did Tate’s <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2013/10/tinkerbelle-peter-pan.html" target="_blank">Tinkerbell caplet</a> for Halloween last year.}   Sue listened to my crazy ideas, had a couple top secret fittings with her very impatient Elsa-adoring granddaughter, and gave her the best gift ever.  She wears her Elsa dress daily, you can see why.  The dress snaps on to her bodysuit which is washable. Grandma even thought to sew a bit of extra length into it so as she gets taller, the dress will grow with her.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VRzDwyEIXOw/U9P5s6nXMpI/AAAAAAAANYw/fbPS4iXi_6I/s1600-h/Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Dress%252520DIY%25255B13%25255D.jpg"><img title="Frozen Elsa Dress DIY" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Elsa Dress DIY" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-6MFZCZK0x2A/U9P5tlyHotI/AAAAAAAANY4/a0rxVwSbpKY/Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Dress%252520DIY_thumb%25255B13%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-_dhjJ4qo0PE/U9P5vaQ9P6I/AAAAAAAANZA/OLGBpbcEUz8/s1600-h/DIY%252520Elsa%252520Dress%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img title="DIY Elsa Dress" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="DIY Elsa Dress" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-yCqNRjvP1Mc/U9P5wWUk_2I/AAAAAAAANZI/_Eg0LWnjcYU/DIY%252520Elsa%252520Dress_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhbrj_efTRxcHv0W4pE24kjP507Dc-x7X7ZUtwoQiP0VcLQDLYsa8rj64LAagqLa9zDmLNw8ngZAI-l81jYbV31IHVi2rEA9EySZKke_FzBCGTByBnYu-FEl1Tlzeh4tLNZF7IOMJ5OO8/s1600-h/Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Costume%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Frozen Elsa Costume" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Elsa Costume" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-RaSVXcyL6OM/U9P5x2KY3yI/AAAAAAAANZY/Y5UPnIPO-70/Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Costume_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-e0QlGLkWy0w/U9P5y3uDUuI/AAAAAAAANZg/ztIG09UaH5U/s1600-h/DIY%252520Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Costume%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="DIY Frozen Elsa Costume" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="DIY Frozen Elsa Costume" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1VbCkt1aUY0/U9P5znciygI/AAAAAAAANZo/KwS_Kuk8jUE/DIY%252520Frozen%252520Elsa%252520Costume_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <h3></h3> <h3>Elsa’s Ice Castle</h3> <blockquote> <h5>The cold never bothered me anyway.  --Elsa, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>When I was laughing and telling my husband about the fact that she requested an ice castle, her brother suggested using a tent.  It was a stroke of sheer genius and we already owned it.  The canopy came with sides that we have never used.  They were easy to attach, so we put three sides up and made it our official Elsa’s Ice Castle concessions.  We added some icicle Christmas lights and borrowed some hanging snowflakes from my mom’s Christmas decorations and threw in an Elsa chandelier for good measure.  I made a few Arendelle-esque banners tied together with glittery, sparkly tulle.  </p> <p>Note to self: Glitter never goes away.  Ever.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-jkrNtknco0U/U9P50gocF4I/AAAAAAAANZw/Vw6TI6tbqK0/s1600-h/Frozen%252520Outdoor%252520Movie%252520Night%25255B10%25255D.jpg"><img title="Frozen Outdoor Movie Night" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Outdoor Movie Night" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-fDwxHYuLRtg/U9P51TUQOsI/AAAAAAAANZ4/kbo83TN17OQ/Frozen%252520Outdoor%252520Movie%252520Night_thumb%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="641" height="500" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-3Lw2D88ZcmM/U9P52Z_0ItI/AAAAAAAANXE/YSweWdCuBHg/s1600-h/Frozen-Birthday-Movie-Party7.jpg"><img title="Frozen Birthday Movie Party" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Birthday Movie Party" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-FtxK4niqcw0/U9P525dPFFI/AAAAAAAANXM/xVor0TRPXpg/Frozen-Birthday-Movie-Party_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a>  <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vCrSfXhlYoU/U9P53yudglI/AAAAAAAANXU/pHi8u8el3fw/s1600-h/DIY-Elsa-Chandelier9.jpg"><img title="DIY Elsa Chandelier" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="DIY Elsa Chandelier" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-gELFZmVYxXY/U9P54S0TwrI/AAAAAAAANXc/EjZJdVucQ_Q/DIY-Elsa-Chandelier_thumb23.jpg?imgmax=800" width="311" height="480" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vixALZP4JFg/U9P55K6lLOI/AAAAAAAANXk/YDt_gnb8wwg/s1600-h/Frozen-Birthday-Party-Banner11.jpg"><img title="Frozen Birthday Party Banner" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Birthday Party Banner" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVm_9JCoFavlaZjbCUtMeqbuvwWvH4vv7Ik1l_p6WDGnQRbc5LYhBPwC7d75nq3UhBlYIHoUsV4s5VxZL1jr2J0UR5bTWWHZGP8b0CQKIm6VCEweqLZU5xWw9J7ZGVM3lIbtAGyDGA2Uk/?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-OC7aeMZ9Fj4/U9P5686JnQI/AAAAAAAANX0/hmgsLOVaucw/s1600-h/Frozen-Birthday-Party-Outdoor-Movie4.jpg"><img title="Frozen Birthday Party Outdoor Movie" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Birthday Party Outdoor Movie" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-g0WBlhj0m_0/U9P57k79YZI/AAAAAAAANX8/n87FbGuDbQ0/Frozen-Birthday-Party-Outdoor-Movie_.jpg?imgmax=800" width="635" height="960" /></a> </p> <h3>Frozen Movie Menu</h3> <blockquote> <h5>We finish each other’s…</h5> <h5><em>Sandwiches!</em></h5> <h5>That’s what I was gonna say!  -- Hans & Anna, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>First up, the cake!  Stephanie at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sugarbeanbakes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SugarBean</a> created this cute masterpiece.  She melted down purple and blue jolly ranchers to make shards of ‘ice’ and she had a special surprise waiting on the inside! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kWzLR65goyg/U9P-5Pts3CI/AAAAAAAANaA/TQIIQDqYacs/s1600-h/Anna-Elsa-Frozen-Cake3.jpg"><img title="Anna Elsa Frozen Cake" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Anna Elsa Frozen Cake" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tcvhtFfBav4/U9P-5xzsXGI/AAAAAAAANaI/XrVwEmU6eUQ/Anna-Elsa-Frozen-Cake_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="384" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3UeWKzuKTCU/U9P-67JXwOI/AAAAAAAANaQ/hslA9sqZZsQ/s1600-h/Frozen-Party-Cake7.jpg"><img title="Frozen Party Cake" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Party Cake" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-kpuVg--H-24/U9P-7hpoa0I/AAAAAAAANaY/FTi26Eh328U/Frozen-Party-Cake_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-c6pZ9jShtg4/U9P-8RGBM6I/AAAAAAAANag/MPt36acGuUc/s1600-h/Ombre-Frozen-Themed-Cake4.jpg"><img title="Ombre Frozen Themed Cake" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Ombre Frozen Themed Cake" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-q83dvHcRNSA/U9P-9GzNP7I/AAAAAAAANao/G5fI4lJxYxw/Ombre-Frozen-Themed-Cake_thumb8.jpg?imgmax=800" width="315" height="480" /></a></p> <p>SugarBean also created these cute Frozen themed cookies that were a HUGE hit with the kids.  There might have been some rock, paper, scissors over who got the last Olaf.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-B9dMSzqNH8A/U9P--DQAtRI/AAAAAAAANaw/cgD-k8tRyo4/s1600-h/Frozen-Cookies-SugarBean3.jpg"><img title="Frozen Cookies SugarBean" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Cookies SugarBean" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-cAD4iCgqmPQ/U9P--5hn8JI/AAAAAAAANa4/AfH3U9gCkJc/Frozen-Cookies-SugarBean_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p>I made these Sven Chocolate Covered Oreo Pops and had summer Olaf taped to mini twirly suckers!  We threw in some of Sven’s favorite snacks, carrots cut up with ranch dip and a spicy nacho dip with chips to counteract the sugar overload.  We also had tons of popcorn and some pink Goldfish crackers because they are a favorite of the birthday girl.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2hV8uihiJVg/U9P-_huXavI/AAAAAAAANbA/LAFFvfdXejQ/s1600-h/Frozen-Birthday-Desserts7.jpg"><img title="Frozen Birthday Desserts" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Birthday Desserts" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-po3Oqdg06lk/U9P_AoETtjI/AAAAAAAANbI/yjB2UsJPiZ0/Frozen-Birthday-Desserts_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="340" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-rc_Ey5KcBm4/U9P_BVNRe6I/AAAAAAAANbQ/8wQLNz9qhXU/s1600-h/Cell-2105.jpg"><img title="Cell 210" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell 210" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JR1GTf9cuXA/U9P_CMlURVI/AAAAAAAANbY/RDopcOUoVNM/Cell-210_thumb11.jpg?imgmax=800" width="296" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4PqS2ar1tr0/U9P_CxaJQzI/AAAAAAAANbg/8TPJam1X7qA/s1600-h/Frozen-Movie-Night3.jpg"><img title="Frozen Movie Night" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Movie Night" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-vhXCtlE0q50/U9P_Dymj-QI/AAAAAAAANbo/babzPksQ5Rc/Frozen-Movie-Night_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-QN-m9wSHpHY/U9P_EZ3_LuI/AAAAAAAANbw/Id_Geen3EUs/s1600-h/Frozen-Party-Menu7.jpg"><img title="Frozen Party Menu" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Party Menu" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-7pdRBInKnig/U9P_FNdGP1I/AAAAAAAANb4/cpXT84LSVyA/Frozen-Party-Menu_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>My intention was to color the lemonade an icy blue with a packet of blue Kool-aid and I completely forgot to add it!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Z16cJq52KTI/U9P_F47aYSI/AAAAAAAANb8/0qCxKhhC8KY/s1600-h/Frozen-Birthday-Party-Drinks3.jpg"><img title="Frozen Birthday Party Drinks" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Birthday Party Drinks" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-OJ4MrMC5v9U/U9P_GnD8eVI/AAAAAAAANcE/PmEpIRgDwyo/Frozen-Birthday-Party-Drinks_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-9Jq7EhqvcZc/U9P_Hb8PWBI/AAAAAAAANcQ/k-KA_kt-hSs/s1600-h/Frozen-chandelier-and-Anna-pinata7.jpg"><img title="Frozen chandelier and Anna pinata" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen chandelier and Anna pinata" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YuPTO5zlwik/U9P_ILXTL0I/AAAAAAAANcY/lypwRykKVqE/Frozen-chandelier-and-Anna-pinata_th.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>Dave’s aunt brought this adorable Anna piñata from Austin when she came up this summer.  It was as tall as Tate and so cute we couldn’t bring ourselves to break it!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Xtjx0_UuoO0/U9P_I0vyoYI/AAAAAAAANcg/FAnSSosTwUk/s1600-h/Anna-Frozen-Pinata4.jpg"><img title="Anna Frozen Pinata" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Anna Frozen Pinata" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-LG3Oq1N-c-Y/U9P_Jqq6KWI/AAAAAAAANco/LmfvOLguMDI/Anna-Frozen-Pinata_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="639" height="966" /></a></p> <h3>Happy 3rd Birthday, Tate!</h3> <blockquote> <h5>Some people are worth melting for.  --Olaf, <em>Frozen</em></h5> </blockquote> <p>After gift opening and cake, the kids {and some of the adults} chose glittery necklaces and princess crowns.  Then everyone hit the concessions for popcorn and movie treats.    </p> <p>The main event was the outdoor screening of Frozen and the kids loved it.  We had our usual movie night set up with blow up air mattresses, blankets, pillows and tons of chairs.  The screen is just a white sheet hung on the fence, but the kids just think it’s magical every time we have an outdoor movie.  There was a lot of singing and laughing… and quite a bit of cheering when Anna punched Hans. </p> <p>A pretty good birthday, she tells me.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-bPa_a0zgyWM/U9P_KbTqx2I/AAAAAAAANcw/KIOvQ4-8GjY/s1600-h/Frozen-Outdoor-Movie-Party3.jpg"><img title="Frozen Outdoor Movie Party" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Frozen Outdoor Movie Party" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-B8yA1cyim0w/U9P_LcCYsoI/AAAAAAAANc4/_MmeiMhq0GU/Frozen-Outdoor-Movie-Party_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-mOAmO12qJyk/U9P_MIuQCSI/AAAAAAAANdA/YRPlGDSpPKc/s1600-h/Cell%252520249%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cell 249" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell 249" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Gboh1txru1g/U9P_M4LdXdI/AAAAAAAANdI/ObeDk3zk7lE/Cell%252520249_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="645" height="648" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-IpQSkoEdRJk/U9P_NzkcJ7I/AAAAAAAANdQ/WSsAt1RqjkM/s1600-h/Cell%252520245%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cell 245" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell 245" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NAnNbXfoTTg/U9P_P5OgfvI/AAAAAAAANdY/a7Tv7Gj_D90/Cell%252520245_thumb%25255B9%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="341" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-xOgg1ZrRBVk/U9P_QmoYSkI/AAAAAAAANdg/uWJYqVYp-4Q/s1600-h/Cell%252520267%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cell 267" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell 267" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-BVF4VhO5r60/U9P_Rwf1PoI/AAAAAAAANdk/-7BbNOLdJto/Cell%252520267_thumb%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="295" height="480" /></a></p> <p>There are a TON of Frozen birthday party ideas, if you need more, check out my <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/sowonderful/disneys-frozen/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Frozen Pinterest Board</a>!</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-22775881823359259522014-07-15T23:33:00.001-04:002014-07-15T23:33:13.464-04:00Margarita Melon : Margarita Appetizer.<p>These drunken watermelon bites are perfect for a summer party.  They taste like a mini watermelon margarita and they are so cute that your guests won’t be able to resist.  They have a great tequila flavor, but not enough alcohol in one to make you tipsy.  The sea salt provides a great contrast with the sour of the lime and the sweet of the watermelon.  </p> <p>It’s the perfect appetizer or amuse for a Mexican dinner with friends.  I’m currently working out dinner party details, just so I can plan around these.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-pxL4CiOFQAo/U8XycbgKxlI/AAAAAAAANU0/oM0d_3-uXg8/s1600-h/Margarita%252520Melon%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Margarita Melon" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Margarita Melon" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DBXgD4QmueI/U8XyderQ19I/AAAAAAAANU4/pxEnmzGJwv0/Margarita%252520Melon_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="513" height="768" /></a></p> <h4>Directions</h4> <ul> <li>Using a melon baller {I just used a metal measuring spoon for mine} scoop out melon.  If you don’t have a melon baller, you can also cut the melon into half inch cubes.</li> <li>Place the melon ball on a tasting spoon.  I used <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00555JIT4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00555JIT4&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=3BZK7J26XDK2UR3P" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ceramic soup spoons</a>. {amazon affiliate}</li> <li>Pour 1 teaspoon of tequila, 1/4 teaspoon of triple sec, {Grand Marnier, or Cointreau will also work} and 1/4 teaspoon of fresh lime juice over the top of the watermelon.   Make sure to use fresh lime juice, it makes a huge difference.</li> <li>Store in the fridge for at least half an hour to allow alcohol to soak into the watermelon.</li> <li>Top with a pinch of sea salt just before serving!  If these are going to be passed hor d'oeuvres or appetizers sitting out, you can have a little salt cellar on the tray for the guests to add a pinch of salt themselves just before eating.  I used a smoked sea salt that I picked up at Trader Joe’s, but a vanilla sea salt or pink Himalayan is also a great choice.</li> </ul> <p>Just be careful not to indulge too much or you’ll be dancing around with a sombrero on your head before you know it.  It goes without saying that these need to be kept out of the hands of little ones.  You could always do a non-alcoholic version with a little fresh lime juice, and sea salt… just be sure to label them clearly!  </p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-28741278263078009242014-07-02T21:54:00.001-04:002014-07-02T23:27:32.978-04:00Fun Things To Do in Ohio: Cedar Point.<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-z2aVOEpOHb4/U7S3hCci_0I/AAAAAAAANQg/PmtJoNS4lSQ/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-21025.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 210" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 210" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-n-u2cEVUhPk/U7S3iGg9O4I/AAAAAAAANQo/gVI6ZEN8OFo/Cell-Cedar-Point-210_thumb29.jpg?imgmax=800" width="542" height="755" /></a></p> <p>Located on the coast of Lake Erie in Sandusky, is perhaps one of my favorite summer activities in Ohio.  Where else are you going to have a gorgeous view from the best rollercoasters in the world?</p> <p>If you live anywhere near the Midwest, or if you are a fan of roller coasters, you have heard of Cedar Point.  We are fortunate to live a short drive from <em>America’s Roller Coast</em> and head to the park a couple times a year.  Visiting Cedar Point each summer was a highlight of my own childhood and a tradition that we are happy to pass on with our children.  No matter your age, that first glimpse of the coasters when you drive onto the causeway, still starts the butterflies in your belly and squeals of excitement fill the car.  There have been many changes over the years, but classics like the Blue Streak {celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year!} and my favorite, Raptor {celebrating it’s 20th! anniversary} never go out of style.  </p> <p>Cedar Point has really become a great place for families with young kids.  This year especially, they have added two new incredible family rides in the Gemini Midway.  The Lake Erie Eagles and the Pipe Scream are Cedar Point’s new rides for 2014 and they have added in some new seating and shaded spaces, really improving the entire aesthetic in that area of the park.  </p> <p>A change that we were also thrilled to see this year was in concession choices.  Our kids tend to eat {mostly} healthy stuff and amusement parks are notorious for overpriced junk food.  My personal favorites are those Cedar Point fries, I justify every delicious bite with all of the miles we log walking around Cedar Point.  But, man can not live on fries alone, so I LOVED seeing that Cedar Point has added healthier snack options at the park.  At the Coca-Cola drink station near the back of the park, you can grab oranges, apples, and cut up watermelon to go, along with water and juice.  We also picked up the souvenir cups, worth every penny, and re-filled iced water and lemonade all day for free.</p> <p>We hit up all of our favorite rides, some countless times, and had a great day at the park!  What is your favorite Cedar Point ride?  </p> <p>Military members, both retired and active duty can take advantage of FREE admission from June 30 through July 6th with a valid ID {military ID or honorable discharge papers} and military families will receive huge discounts on tickets as well.</p> <p>Disclosure:  Cedar Point invited us to visit the park as their guests and treated us to lunch.  All opinions, commentary, and fun having are our own.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Q6bfBVxuJUA/U7S3iwsRwdI/AAAAAAAANQw/1xSdH_QPPfg/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-2723.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 272" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 272" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-s-ZNhSazv2k/U7S3kKc1rBI/AAAAAAAANQ4/uLXfgMkmDlI/Cell-Cedar-Point-272_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="542" height="547" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-cYa2BX6czwc/U7S3k_pBtcI/AAAAAAAANRA/Ah5adzXOFbc/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-4192.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 419" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 419" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-ef3BDl2YD3o/U7S3lhjf0sI/AAAAAAAANRI/NhtZPlpacEc/Cell-Cedar-Point-419_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2-G1rrzW0PA/U7S3mSUcy4I/AAAAAAAANRQ/9LmsSWJ-9Ng/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-2293.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 229" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 229" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Sd7y9GQKDhU/U7S3nPwk2OI/AAAAAAAANRY/J_KBY1R7zCA/Cell-Cedar-Point-229_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KFCX_mNoLJU/U7S3onZdmcI/AAAAAAAANRg/HpO8_z6MtHs/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-4322.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 432" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 432" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-0CNJAC1-U9g/U7S3pbklU6I/AAAAAAAANRo/FvkhSXMHHgE/Cell-Cedar-Point-432_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Xy2EqDvMGIw/U7S3qHHsaVI/AAAAAAAANRw/UKCuDMAyNxM/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-2273.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 227" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 227" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uJCgpXWO8Lo/U7S3uYqVlvI/AAAAAAAANR4/VABpw5LyIEQ/Cell-Cedar-Point-227_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-BNCRmRSz0Vo/U7S3vT_6j5I/AAAAAAAANSA/VbeUgCkeTzE/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-2493.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 249" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 249" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5VbCMxd1gpI/U7S3wFNX2eI/AAAAAAAANSI/Ze3TalDfVVQ/Cell-Cedar-Point-249_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="543" height="548" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ri4-ryNcTDI/U7S3w_HHlbI/AAAAAAAANSQ/kooyUpppCQw/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-2803.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 280" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 280" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1D7kpJ3EXO0/U7S3xrLtMzI/AAAAAAAANSY/TZOsktPEIh8/Cell-Cedar-Point-280_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-pk7MBx4Oeqo/U7S3yWfeyJI/AAAAAAAANSg/tHFjSpgsJrk/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-3143.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 314" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 314" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YaWcGvHAZvM/U7S3zFSKF9I/AAAAAAAANSo/TdVeAxwGDz0/Cell-Cedar-Point-314_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Ur3pVP1zhA0/U7S30PsalKI/AAAAAAAANSw/nga6ulRchL4/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-3763.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 376" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 376" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-9HzxifXN91o/U7S302Bta4I/AAAAAAAANS4/IzPRnBhHsFM/Cell-Cedar-Point-376_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="542" height="547" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/--7WzkGQPY_k/U7S31lNV09I/AAAAAAAANTA/RGU2j_x4edw/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-3482.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 348" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 348" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-j8PPClavxRg/U7S32l0XDbI/AAAAAAAANTE/8h_NHMWXBxw/Cell-Cedar-Point-348_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-p2zS-QF7OAQ/U7S33i3JcgI/AAAAAAAANTQ/MVsj6cMob-I/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-3633.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 363" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 363" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-F0VrtCxOZwo/U7S34fwfOHI/AAAAAAAANTY/w--JhXvKtOo/Cell-Cedar-Point-363_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-a55CiQ9SZgw/U7S35T_VO9I/AAAAAAAANTg/XioUEhs4dFM/s1600-h/Cell-Cedar-Point-4523.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 452" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 452" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-GweaGWxVSeA/U7S36E9cPFI/AAAAAAAANTo/LyUCAcZNuSo/Cell-Cedar-Point-452_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="546" height="551" /></a></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-23709310525946496062014-06-23T13:07:00.001-04:002014-06-23T13:07:17.031-04:00Beets. Bears. Battlestar Galactica.<p>So, I’m just going to tell you this.  I feel like I’m moderately geeky, but I can’t deal with Battlestar Galactica.   </p> <p>My friend Steph, just fell on the floor, I’m sure of it.</p> <p>I might as well admit that I just can’t do Dr. Who either.  People try to talk me into it all the time.   Don’t think I haven’t tried.  </p> <p>Why would a show from ten years ago be on my mind, you rightfully ask?  Oh, because my husband has binge watched 34 episodes of it over the last two months or so.  It’s straight up craziness like Star Trek… and we all know how that turned out…</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-mbFB884-ZUU/U6hevq2L9II/AAAAAAAANQA/j1fWaosXwDY/s1600-h/Dave%252520Trekkie%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="Dave Trekkie" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Dave Trekkie" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-mNRisLb9kqs/U6hew4g7kpI/AAAAAAAANQI/fa6qUpAJ65A/Dave%252520Trekkie_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="637" height="768" /></a></p> <p>Make that 39.  </p> <p>And a half. </p> <p>Episodes.</p> <p>He’s got it bad.</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-20237459365041927632014-06-17T17:45:00.001-04:002014-06-17T17:45:19.939-04:00Favorite Beginning Chapter Books.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-uiqjpCl_4as/U6C2lWs8u_I/AAAAAAAANLg/BcGDEfG_y5I/s1600-h/Best%252520Easy%252520Chapter%252520Books%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="Best Easy Chapter Books" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Best Easy Chapter Books" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-eeQWvwP5_Tc/U6C2mZjUzrI/AAAAAAAANLo/NchftqcFR1U/Best%252520Easy%252520Chapter%252520Books_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a>  <p>Somewhere in the midst of first grade, Finn’s reading just exploded.  He has always loved books and being read to, but he pointed out that this year, he could choose <em>anything</em> & read it himself.  {The term ‘anything’ was the perception of a six year old suddenly allowed to go into the bigger kid sections of the school library.}  The fluency and more importantly, the comprehension just started to click and he’s had his nose buried in a book ever since.  Having time at the school library this year also gave him the confidence to look through stacks of books and choose things that might be interesting, completely independent of our choices.  This summer, we’re doing everything we can to keep up with the new books.  </p> <p>The challenge has been finding books that are interesting, entertaining, at the right reading level, and making sure the subject matter is appropriate.  We read Harry Potter together over winter break, but we’re pausing after finishing the second book.  He wants to marathon read the whole series but, the whole boy/girl dynamic of the fourth book makes me think it might be a little too much for a seven year old who has begun covering his eyes when people kiss.  While we both love, and will continue to read, a few of these higher {5th – 8th grade} reading level books as a team, he is finding a slew of new books that he loves in that 1st – 4th grade level for independent reading.</p> <p>If you don’t know your child’s reading level, you can ask their teacher!  Another suggestion, take the last 5-6 books that your child really loved and look up their reading levels, then average them, going down one grade level for the low and up one grade level for the range your child is likely comfortable in.  You can also do this easy ‘test’ on <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/book-selection-tips/choose-books-right-reading-levels" target="_blank">how to choose the correct reading levels for your child, from Scholastic</a>.  Have your child open a book they’re interested in to a middle page and read, putting their finger on the page for every word they don’t know or don’t understand.  If all five fingers are down by the end of the page, the book is probably slightly too advanced for independent reading, but you can always read it with them!  If less than five fingers are down, have them go for it! </p> <p>I asked Finn if he would mind sharing some of his favorite independent reading books and series here.  It is certainly a list that you can read aloud TO your early elementary aged kids, as well.  This list tilts slightly in the ‘boy’ direction,  but you’ll find we have a good mix of boy and girl protagonists represented.  Any companion series are also noted, for example the Judy Moody series are listed with her brother Stink’s series.    </p> <p>He is keeping a list of everything he reads this summer and we set up a place for him to rate the books.  If you like, you can <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlGq18X1hG3TWdZaW0yMTFPQ2c/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">download a copy</a> free for your kids!   </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-V6cF4lPZSxU/U6C2nGFG22I/AAAAAAAANLw/TIeHaaKKegQ/s1600-h/Beginner%252520Chapter%252520Books%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Beginner Chapter Books" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Beginner Chapter Books" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UHOWSxnxGEo/U6C2n37m52I/AAAAAAAANL4/BQ9r5cxs7iQ/Beginner%252520Chapter%252520Books_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzlGq18X1hG3TWdZaW0yMTFPQ2c/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank"><img title="Books I Read This Summer" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Books I Read This Summer" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-h72pH_DnKWI/U6C2onVP0SI/AAAAAAAANMA/FstoxRisFeY/Books%252520I%252520Read%252520This%252520Summer%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="606" height="480" /></a></p> <p>This is my disclosure, Yo.  All links below are Amazon Affiliates. That means if you click on a link and end up buying a book, I get pennies from Amazon for my recommendation.  If you click on a link and you don’t buy a book, that’s fine too.  Or you can avoid the links all together, of course.  The description quote under each book in the list is pulled from their site.  BAM.  You are disclosed. </p> <h4><em>Enjoy the list!  And be sure to add your favorite early elementary aged chapter books in the comments, please!</em></h4> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440428130/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0440428130&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=FXMEFGINX5SMSINE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Freckle Juice" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Freckle Juice" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkXgyAK3NhPaedhuSSxDBZff3SoDuY1hIAr03_w1jfdwRA1WZ2ZKl21jhhOKhyphenhyphenNGpJ2TGx_8c-2gy7K1NTpAbp-fN9iZK9rbPx3oEZb-AEt4FxM1q69epiXowaJuG5190o-9RBcy1FGuM/?imgmax=800" width="241" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0545505178/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0545505178&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="StarWars Jedi Academy" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="StarWars Jedi Academy" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-8byWkbt0Jhg/U6C2phHCbgI/AAAAAAAANMQ/BgzF4cKMob8/StarWars%252520Jedi%252520Academy%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061944343/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061944343&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Big Nate Book 1" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Big Nate Book 1" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-n1XLrqxYsQ0/U6C2qaMj1NI/AAAAAAAANMY/wT2ftdmDUx4/Big%252520Nate%252520Book%2525201%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="206" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440428130/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0440428130&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=FXMEFGINX5SMSINE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Freckle Juice</a> by Judy Blume  {GLE 3.6}</h4> <blockquote> <p>One day after school, Andrew works up enough courage to ask Nicky where he got his freckles. When know-it-all Sharon overhears, she offers Andrew her secret freckle juice recipe -- for fifty cents. It's a lot of money, but Andrew is desperate. At home he carefully mixes the strange combination of ingredients. Then the unexpected happens...</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0545505178/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0545505178&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Star Wars: Jedi Academy</a> series by Jeffrey Brown  {GLE 3.8}</h4> <blockquote> <p>This incredible, original story captures all of the humor, awkwardness, fun, and frustrations of middle school--all told through one boy's comics, journal entries, letters, doodles, and newspaper clippings. The setting? A galaxy far, far away...</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061944343/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061944343&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Big Nate</a> series by Lincoln Peirce {GLE 2.5 – 4} </h4> <blockquote> <p>Things don't always go your way just because you're awesome. Nate barely survives his dad's toxic oatmeal before rushing off to school—minus his lunch. He body slams the no-nonsense principal. He accidentally insults his least favorite teacher, the horrifying Mrs. Godfrey (aka Godzilla). And school has barely started!</p> </blockquote> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810993139/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0810993139&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=SAPXBFB7EIOH4ZLK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Diary of a Wimpy Kid" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Diary of a Wimpy Kid" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YMZAJ_LPHuc/U6C2q4yEY4I/AAAAAAAANMg/ooj9_q3Q3sg/Diary%252520of%252520a%252520Wimpy%252520Kid.jpg?imgmax=800" width="236" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076366426X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=076366426X&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5PAZS2I7F2G5EJKY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Stink and the Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Smackdown" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Stink and the Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Smackdown" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXD3j9g2fq-6Rg0-PwVGJedJ_NGRi1JL8RJJDkkEKcCjx1_TXH0rH3Dc7ygKPUZmfntWHX-0kahS66Np5_978rXgKLwZEk56IyxucAPaHu-LsVlTC1SRMR7NAVNaReLjcYFv0C0oPdgTo/?imgmax=800" width="252" height="346" /></a><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XpOflAe_YIQ/U6C2snWWF5I/AAAAAAAANMw/jXCXXs0Ui7k/s1600-h/Judy%252520Moody%252520%252526%252520Stink%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="Judy Moody & Stink" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Judy Moody & Stink" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-djWZ1BGdLaA/U6C2tSO_iLI/AAAAAAAANM4/3ne3T_3xqlE/Judy%252520Moody%252520%252526%252520Stink_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="260" height="343" /></a><img style="border-top-style: none !important; border-bottom-style: none !important; border-right-style: none !important; margin: 0px; border-left-style: none !important" border="0" alt="" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=sowonsomar-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0810993139" width="1" height="1" /> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810993139/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0810993139&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=SAPXBFB7EIOH4ZLK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Diary of a Wimpy Kid</a> series by Jeff Kinney  {GLE 5 – 7.6}</h4> <blockquote> <p>It’s a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you’re ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076366426X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=076366426X&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5PAZS2I7F2G5EJKY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stink</a> series by Megan McDonald  {GLE 2 – 3.7}</h4> <blockquote> <p>In Stink's first solo adventure, his special style comes through loud and strong -- enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the book. From "The Adventures of Stink in SHRINK MONSTER" to "The Adventures of Stink in NEWT IN SHINING ARMOR," these very funny, homespun sagas reflect the familiar voice of a kid who pictures himself with super powers to deal with the travails of everyday life -- including the occasional teasing of a bossy big sister!</p> <p>Companion Series:  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763648493/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0763648493&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5MPXXIRTW7N7EE2X" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Judy Moody</a> series  {Stink’s big sister}</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763665207/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0763665207&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5SH6O2U3XEPFJPMX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Judy Moody & Stink: The Big Bad Blackout</a>  by Megan McDonald </h4> <blockquote> <p>Judy and Stink and the whole Moody family hunker down with beans and batteries, ready to wait out the storm. But along with massive rain and strong winds, Hurricane Elmer throws down ghosts, squirrels, and aliens. Spooky! Just when things couldn’t possibly get any freakier —<i>flicker, flicker, gulp! — </i>the lights go O-U-T <i>out</i>. The Moodys are smack-dab in the middle of a big bad blackout! Grandma Lou proposes musical board games and some good old-fashioned storytelling. Will Hurricane Elmer go down in Moody family history as bad news, a happy memory, or simply an LBS (Long Boring Story)? </p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375856498/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0375856498&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="A Good Night for Ghosts" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Good Night for Ghosts" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-fscNhpCBeso/U6C2tyD9l8I/AAAAAAAANNA/95JEF3zRi0g/A-Good-Night-for-Ghosts3.jpg?imgmax=800" width="236" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807508527/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0807508527&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="The Boxcar Children" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="The Boxcar Children" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-qkw5sVef8xU/U6C2ugP1L8I/AAAAAAAANNI/ye36fRHhp44/The-Boxcar-Children3.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Geronimo-Stilton/e/B002L9IMP8/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&qid=1403029991&sr=1-2-ent&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=2YIOBMP2VE63YKFB" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Geronimo Stilton Series" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Geronimo Stilton Series" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-xJSahNIthRA/U6C2wBzvNmI/AAAAAAAANNQ/b2Bc6LccYJk/Geronimo%252520Stilton%252520Series.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mary-Pope-Osborne/e/B000AQ78VS/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=SUW5NZO62YSAHRSP" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Magic Tree House series</a> by Mary Pope Osborne {GLE 2 – 3.5, non-fiction ‘companion’ books are higher level} </h4> <blockquote> <p>Jack and his little sister Annie are just two regular kids from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania. Then they discover a mysterious tree house packed with all sorts of books...and their lives are never the same! Soon they are traveling through time and space in the magic tree house and having amazing adventures.</p> <p><u>Finn’s Top 3</u>: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375856498/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0375856498&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Good Night for Ghosts</a>,  <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067989067X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=067989067X&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Civil War on Sunday</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679890505/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0679890505&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Vacation Under Volcano</a></p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807508527/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0807508527&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Boxcar Children</a> by Gertrude Chandler Warner {GLE 3.2}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden are brothers and sisters--and they're orphans! The only way they can stay together is to make it on their own. One night, during a storm, the children find an old red boxcar that keeps them warm and safe. They decide to make it their home.</p> <p>This is also an entire mystery series, but he’s only read the original book.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Geronimo-Stilton/e/B002L9IMP8/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&linkCode=ur2&qid=1403029991&sr=1-2-ent&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=2YIOBMP2VE63YKFB" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Geronimo Stilton series</a> by Geronimo Stilton  {GLE 2.3 – 4.8}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Geronimo Stilton was born in New Mouse City, Mouse Island. He is the editor and publisher of The Rodent's Gazette, New Mouse City's most widely read daily newspaper. He is the author of more than 40 adventure novels, and the recipient of the Ratitzer Prize for his books The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid and The Search for Sunken Treasure.</p> <p>Companion Series:  Thea Stilton {Geronimo’s sister!}</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596430699/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1596430699&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=QVDRIEW4QIK2B2SY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Bad Kitty series" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Bad Kitty series" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-_t7fBRrpTcE/U6C2xAIcu9I/AAAAAAAANNY/oKnv-o01MoM/Bad%252520Kitty%252520series.jpg?imgmax=800" width="239" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062206850/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062206850&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="My Weird School" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="My Weird School" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-CbO1Hs9uSmk/U6C2x-_yFTI/AAAAAAAANNg/QegVtANHObM/My-Weird-School3.jpg?imgmax=800" width="233" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448426862/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448426862&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Who Was Harry Houdini" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Who Was Harry Houdini" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2x1XG1ofahI/U6C2yZ5JGKI/AAAAAAAANNo/qF-YVsI42H8/Who%252520Was%252520Harry%252520Houdini.jpg?imgmax=800" width="231" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596430699/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1596430699&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=QVDRIEW4QIK2B2SY" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bad Kitty</a> series by Nick Bruel  {GLE 1.4 – 4} </h4> <blockquote> <p>The riotous story of a cat gone berserk -- four times over an in alphabetical order each time. Kitty is not happy hen she's told that her favorite foods are all gone and all that's left are Asparagus, Beets, Cauliflower, Dill...and 22 other equally unappealing vegetables. So she: Ate my homework, Bit grandma, Clawed the curtains, Damaged the dishes, and so on, through Z. Only when tastier things arrive (An Assortment of Anchovies, Buffalo Burritos, Chicken Cheesecake...) does she Apologize to Grandma.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060507004/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060507004&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=6N75QPKGHSW2IGFK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">My Weird School</a> series by Dan Gutman  {GLE 2.3 – 4.2}</h4> <blockquote> <p>For A.J. and the gang at Ella Mentry School, weirdness and fun are all part of the routine. In this first book in the outrageously funny series that has reached millions of readers around the world, second-grade teacher Miss Daisy is in over her head. She doesn't even know how to add or subtract! But the kids have other things on their minds. Principal Klutz has promised that if they read a million pages in books, they can turn the school into a video-game arcade for one whole night!</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448426862/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448426862&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=2UB4HDBFL4B7VZSD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Who Was Harry Houdini?</a>  by Tui Sutherland  {GLE 3.4}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Every kid has heard of Harry Houdini, the famous magician who could escape from handcuffs, jail cells, and locked trunks. But do they know that the ever-ambitious and adventurous Houdini was also a famous movie star and the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia? This well-told biography is full of the details of Houdini's life that kids will really want to know about and illustrated throughout with beautiful black-and-white line drawings.</p> <p>The entire <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=who%20was&linkCode=ur2&tag=sowonsomar-20&url=search-alias%3Daps&linkId=2WSSES6MTUWXRG3J" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Who Was? series</a> covers the lives of different historical figures from Walt Disney to Charles Darwin to Queen Elizabeth.  </p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448447231/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448447231&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=E623RT6JUSNJGF3K" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448455862/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448455862&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Who Was Babe Ruth?</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0448458721/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0448458721&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=ZS4CAY7JAL2FAT4T" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Who Is J.K. Rowling?</a> on his list to read.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493527487/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1493527487&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QFRie02R0NY/U6C2zCB8lAI/AAAAAAAANNw/qo-lWmLAd08/Diary%252520of%252520a%2525206th%252520Grade%252520Ninja%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="228" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763660507/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0763660507&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Timmy Failure Series" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Timmy Failure Series" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-thZU7NSGO6Y/U6C20ETKUkI/AAAAAAAANN4/H0m-SW3hhl4/Timmy%252520Failure%252520Series%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="226" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061802476/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061802476&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=JBY76T2VYX6VVAEM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Flat Stanley Collection" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Flat Stanley Collection" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-7nyQBEJWFOg/U6C207my1AI/AAAAAAAANOA/6nehfqA7PmU/Flat%252520Stanley%252520Collection%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="235" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1493527487/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1493527487&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja</a> by Marcus Emerson  </h4> <blockquote> <p>My name is Chase Cooper, and I'm a 6th grade ninja. It's my first day at a different school and the only person I know is my cousin, Zoe (but she might be a little too cool for me). I was just another scrawny kid until a group of ninjas recruited me into their clan. It was a world of trouble I wasn't prepared for, which is why I kept this diary (or "<i>chronicle</i>" as my dad would call it) - to warn other kids about the dangers of becoming a ninja. They say history is destined to repeat itself... well, not if <i>I</i> can help it.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763660507/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0763660507&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=42LCYADMEYD52AI5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made</a> by Stephan Pastis  {GLE 3.1}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Take Timmy Failure — the clueless, comically self-confident CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps even the nation. Add his impressively lazy business partner, a very large polar bear named Total. Throw in the Failuremobile — Timmy’s mom’s Segway — and what you have is Total Failure, Inc., a global enterprise destined to make Timmy so rich his mother won’t have to stress out about the bills anymore. Of course, Timmy’s plan does not include the four-foot-tall female whose name shall not be uttered.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061802476/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061802476&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=JBY76T2VYX6VVAEM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flat Stanley series</a> by Jeff Brown  {GLE 4.4}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Stanley Lambchop is an ordinary boy. At least he was, until the night his bulletin board fell off the wall and flattened him. At only half an inch thick, Stanley can slide under doors, mail himself across the country in an envelope, and fly like a kite!</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <h1>Read Aloud with your Early Elementary Child:</h1> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-No5gBDqPiPs/U6C21ldYCRI/AAAAAAAANOI/2jtv9jG92YM/s1600-h/The%252520Secret%252520Garden%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img title="The Secret Garden" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="The Secret Garden" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bapk9JEuKRI/U6C22X_6g3I/AAAAAAAANOQ/VAKnozxVz9s/The%252520Secret%252520Garden_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="257" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061124958/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061124958&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=M2ND5SD2SSGQ5SYD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Charlotte's Web" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Charlotte's Web" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-zFNViOgD-5Q/U6C23N7Lu0I/AAAAAAAANOU/icOzy8PnHkk/Charlotte%252527s%252520Web%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="232" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312367546/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312367546&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=E2CJECPJVH5352U3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="A Wrinkle in Time" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="A Wrinkle in Time" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-gE9KDoQFVNM/U6C237z4W5I/AAAAAAAANOc/RR6GQkbdAIk/A%252520Wrinkle%252520in%252520Time%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="232" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402714599/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1402714599&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=OYP3MEEKTHLAUHYC" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Secret Garden</a> by Frances Hodgson Burnett {GLE 6.8}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Born in India, the unattractive and willful Mary Lennox has remained in the care of servants for as long as she can remember. But the girl’s life changes when her mother and father die and she travels to Yorkshire to live with her uncle. Dark, dreary Misselthwaite Manor seems full of mysteries, including a very special garden, locked tight for 10 years. With the help of Dickon, a local boy, Mary intends to uncover its secrets.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061124958/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061124958&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=M2ND5SD2SSGQ5SYD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Charlotte’s Web</a> by E.B. White {GLE 4}</h4> <blockquote> <p><em>Some Pig. Humble. Radiant.</em> These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312367546/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312367546&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=E2CJECPJVH5352U3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Wrinkle in Time</a> by Madeleine L’Engle {GLE 4.7}</h4> <blockquote> <p>A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i>, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059035342X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=059035342X&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=MIVMP75CBYUW7KER" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EO8ytRKpAeI/U6C24fSTTcI/AAAAAAAANOk/gpO_WWkL56w/Harry%252520Potter%252520and%252520the%252520Sorcerer%252527s%252520Stone%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="236" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316085278/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316085278&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=LUGU3QDGGIGQWMRK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="How to Train Your Dragon" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="How to Train Your Dragon" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-D4OwFbgOYZ4/U6C244mwo2I/AAAAAAAANOs/Sdqo3apnNX0/How%252520to%252520Train%252520Your%252520Dragon%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="235" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142410365/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142410365&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=PN5XIULO6KZTSRUN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="James and the Giant Peach" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="James and the Giant Peach" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-twn3pBNVRkU/U6C2518FLFI/AAAAAAAANO0/7S1YIxvFmUg/James%252520and%252520the%252520Giant%252520Peach%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="225" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059035342X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=059035342X&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=MIVMP75CBYUW7KER" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Harry Potter</a> and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling {GLE 5.3}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316085278/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0316085278&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=LUGU3QDGGIGQWMRK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">How To Train Your Dragon</a> by Cressida Cowell {GLE 5.7}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Chronicles the adventures and misadventures of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III as he tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan, the Tribe of the Hairy Hooligans, by catching and training a dragon.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142410365/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142410365&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=PN5XIULO6KZTSRUN" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">James and the Giant Peach</a> by Roald Dahl {GLE 6.7}</h4> <blockquote> <p>After James Henry Trotter's parents are tragically eaten by a rhinoceros, he goes to live with his two horrible aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Life there is no fun, until James accidentally drops some magic crystals by the old peach tree and strange things start to happen. The peach at the top of the tree begins to grow, and before long it's as big as a house. Inside, James meets a bunch of oversized friends—Grasshopper, Centipede, Ladybug, and more. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling away, and the great adventure begins!</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142402494/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142402494&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5VUCG6VE3SFPXKIG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Pippi Longstocking" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="Pippi Longstocking" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Entlj4TsDlA/U6C26ebYK8I/AAAAAAAANO8/kvscWEcp-J0/Pippi%252520Longstocking%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="243" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062224077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062224077&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="Fortunately, The Milk" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Fortunately, The Milk" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bSyVEFaDBUA/U6C26xQN1XI/AAAAAAAANPE/EWVGt3_TM4c/Fortunately%25252C%252520The%252520Milk%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="230" height="346" /></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062268120/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062268120&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=RGZFKKUQU3GP5AOL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img title="The Year of Billy Miller" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="The Year of Billy Miller" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9ETc-pShjJ8/U6C27YKxgwI/AAAAAAAANPM/4fQLMDfyceY/The%252520Year%252520of%252520Billy%252520Miller%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="237" height="346" /></a></p> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142402494/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142402494&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=5VUCG6VE3SFPXKIG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pippi Longstocking</a> by Astrid Lindgren  {GLE 5.2}</h4> <blockquote> <p>Tommy and his sister Annika have a new neighbor, and her name is Pippi Longstocking. She has crazy red pigtails, no parents to tell her what to do, a horse that lives on her porch, and a flair for the outrageous that seems to lead to one adventure after another!</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062224077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062224077&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fortunately, The Milk</a> by Neil Gaiman  </h4> <blockquote> <p>Find out just how odd things get in this hilarious <em>New York Times</em> bestselling story of time travel and breakfast cereal, expertly told by Newbery Medalist and bestselling author Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Skottie Young.</p> </blockquote> <h4><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062268120/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0062268120&linkCode=as2&tag=sowonsomar-20&linkId=RGZFKKUQU3GP5AOL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Year of Billy Miller</a> by Kevin Henkes  {GLE 4.2}</h4> <blockquote> <p>When Billy Miller has a mishap at the statue of the Jolly Green Giant at the end of summer vacation, he ends up with a big lump on his head. What a way to start second grade, with a lump on your head! As the year goes by, though, Billy figures out how to navigate elementary school, how to appreciate his little sister, and how to be a more grown up and responsible member of the family and a help to his busy working mom and stay-at-home dad. Newbery Honor author and Caldecott Medalist Kevin Henkes delivers a short, satisfying, laugh-out-loud-funny school and family story that features a diorama homework assignment, a school poetry slam, cancelled sleepovers, and epic sibling temper tantrums. This is a perfect short novel for the early elementary grades.</p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <h3><em><font style="font-weight: bold">Can’t get enough book lists?  Read these!</font></em></h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.this-here-now.com/awesome-chapter-books-for-beginning-readers/" target="_blank">Awesome Chapter Books for Beginning Readers</a> from Sarah </li> <li><a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/08/05/207315023/the-ultimate-backseat-bookshelf-100-must-reads-for-kids-9-14" target="_blank">100 Must Reads for Kids Age 9 – 14</a> from NPR. </li> <li><a href="http://www.nypl.org/childrens100" target="_blank">100 Great Children’s Books</a> from the New York Public Library.  </li> <li>Katie at Slutier Nation has <a href="http://sluiternation.com/books/2014/04/six-must-read-teen-novels/" target="_blank">6 Must Read Teen Novels</a>. </li> </ul> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-84258301967389422312014-06-15T02:18:00.001-04:002014-06-15T02:18:46.073-04:00Happy Father’s Day.<p>It’s a true measure of a man, in seeing who he is, through the eyes of his children.  </p> <p>You have continuously raised that bar every moment, from that first diaper change seven years ago, Dave.  I hope they realize even half of the life lessons, humor, commitment, tenacity, hope, and capacity for love that you have shown them daily.  And sure, they con you into crazy shit and they have a way for making us both feel like we’re destined for the loony bin, but I feel immeasurably fortunate to be on this parenting journey with you.</p> <p>xoxox.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-1pXQBKFc81c/U506ctnakEI/AAAAAAAANH4/p8TFyoXKzlA/s1600-h/Cell%252520Cedar%252520Point%252520125%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Cell Cedar Point 125" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Cell Cedar Point 125" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-PI8VuqdSkK8/U506dYnxnBI/AAAAAAAANIA/kNfYRiqScRQ/Cell%252520Cedar%252520Point%252520125_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-z45NYijxtyk/U506eUNWCCI/AAAAAAAANII/w3Yia6KN-vY/s1600-h/California%252520224%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="California 224" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="California 224" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VvUcrl3krGM/U506fIEI8oI/AAAAAAAANIQ/gEKWEciGTIA/California%252520224_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-FAlxoCHQGqs/U506fxCVdjI/AAAAAAAANIY/fVQEyuJ-bQ8/s1600-h/HPIM1337%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="HPIM1337" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="HPIM1337" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-qqan575z9mo/U506ggivEPI/AAAAAAAANIg/i91hKQP46d4/HPIM1337_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="361" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-CTeBy83AbuU/U506hWeqvMI/AAAAAAAANIo/twxgEjl_u4c/s1600-h/Tate%252520166%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Tate 166" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Tate 166" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-hRjUcKju1iU/U506iH-2ceI/AAAAAAAANIw/DpB39Bzk3jg/Tate%252520166_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-O3mvJ2pdkzs/U506i-L8QYI/AAAAAAAANI4/QRbGFqxKh1U/s1600-h/109%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="109" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="109" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-YGChkB6jbvY/U506jkbQxDI/AAAAAAAANJA/kFgpvTyvsPI/109_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5CuX9K8pSq4/U506kl9C2bI/AAAAAAAANJI/lst1SgfJ7ig/s1600-h/michelle%252527s%252520cell%252520481%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="michelle's cell 481" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="michelle's cell 481" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-7xKEhVmkQPQ/U506lGrT2vI/AAAAAAAANJQ/rBepsNPjCo0/michelle%252527s%252520cell%252520481_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Su0qY5Y_OZQ/U506l5ZYvsI/AAAAAAAANJY/NS8ttdWUtoE/s1600-h/michelle%252527s%252520cell%252520012%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="michelle's cell 012" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="michelle's cell 012" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Nz-sFv0vYLg/U506mfD1HCI/AAAAAAAANJg/R852i3U7qjU/michelle%252527s%252520cell%252520012_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="360" height="480" /></a></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lLvD5aawotI/U506nKIXDYI/AAAAAAAANJo/eILHD5ICYTg/s1600-h/cell%252520055%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="cell 055" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cell 055" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-RXPQnKIRLsU/U506n-kL4-I/AAAAAAAANJw/_8ohptPmv64/cell%252520055_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-8XLDDvpNz8s/U506ot1Y5aI/AAAAAAAANJ4/ZACnPFCm9a0/s1600-h/march%252520079%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="march 079" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="march 079" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TtLjhXT-1Tk/U506pbLiXtI/AAAAAAAANKA/BwrXT0XmGZ4/march%252520079_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-c7BZRHLIip0/U506qIb_uTI/AAAAAAAANKI/xlay6_hl8zE/s1600-h/park%252520%252526%252520andersons%252520103%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="park & andersons 103" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="park & andersons 103" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8JQiDNhzbCA/U506qzx1_XI/AAAAAAAANKQ/paOonmLm4as/park%252520%252526%252520andersons%252520103_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-x8Vm0mLrAeY/U506rtJWFGI/AAAAAAAANKY/mnvTZ1nbVJg/s1600-h/cell%252520196%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="cell 196" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cell 196" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JwEYyCO7tMo/U506sXU9ofI/AAAAAAAANKg/OU65zmO1I_o/cell%252520196_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> </p> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-9dbK0WWxfg4/U506tDLlvfI/AAAAAAAANKo/MMQsPvquLsE/s1600-h/061%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="061" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="061" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-W1EimON_oE4/U506t3Y0nuI/AAAAAAAANKw/6eehproQM7U/061_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Gu61M-QM8JY/U506ut9ClfI/AAAAAAAANK4/6iwSJC-8Ero/s1600-h/036%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="036" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="036" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vxRolfSmbfU/U506vSjWuJI/AAAAAAAANLA/hqBz2mQJS9o/036_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a> <p> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dzI5dZCsq4Q/U506wIcXOOI/AAAAAAAANLI/kQX-insOPdo/s1600-h/Tate%252520079%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="Tate 079" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Tate 079" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-lcXmjpuhWTY/U506wxsbTwI/AAAAAAAANLQ/SPlfvM-Zt0I/Tate%252520079_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="640" height="427" /></a></p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-73461521273258759532014-06-12T00:43:00.001-04:002014-06-12T00:45:09.884-04:005 Things To Do in June.<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-cbuHSN_rMDo/U5kv5mpr8zI/AAAAAAAANG4/QyOFxyavNsc/s1600-h/Things%252520To%252520Do%252520In%252520June%25255B5%25255D.jpg"><img title="Things To Do In June" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="Things To Do In June" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ehYLQyv2kj0/U5kv6gkZe3I/AAAAAAAANHA/ixmqBjRNBOo/Things%252520To%252520Do%252520In%252520June_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" height="480" /></a></p> <p>School is finally out and we have the whole summer ahead of us to do fun things!  We’re going to make our annual summer list soon.  Along with baseball, swim lessons, and cottage trips, we have a Frozen themed birthday for a certain little Elsa-wannabe in our house.  Summer is jam packed with all the fun, warm-weather activities we can handle.  And after last winter, we’re more than ready to take advantage!  Before we get to all that, here are five things to do this month!</p> <h2><font style="font-weight: bold">1.  </font><a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2013/06/strawberries.html" target="_blank"><font style="font-weight: bold">Pick strawberries</font></a><font style="font-weight: bold">.  Then make jam.</font></h2> <p>There is little better than eating the ripest berry on the vine right there in the field.  That is, until you open a fresh jar of freezer jam in November.  Here is my favorite <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2012/06/no-cook-strawberry-vanilla-freezer-jam.html" target="_blank">no-cook recipe for strawberry-vanilla freezer jam</a>.  You don’t even need to know how to can!</p> <h2><font style="font-weight: bold">2.   get Ice Cream from a Truck.  </font></h2> <p>As soon as you hear the twinkle of the ice cream truck music, drop every single un-fun thing you are doing and grab some cash.  Go ahead and run after the ice cream man with your kids, then sit on the front steps and eat your frozen treats.  I’d opt for the frozen popsicle with the gumball in the bottom every single time.  What kid should go without the pleasure of a bomb pop brain freeze at least once a summer?</p> <h2><font style="font-weight: bold">3.  Clean out your car.</font></h2> <p>Our cars are one of those things that get neglected in the end of school chaos, so let’s do some sprucing for summer.  Grab some cleaner, paper towels, and your shop vac and get to work!</p> <h2><font style="font-weight: bold">4.  experience an outdoor concert.</font></h2> <p>There is nothing like sitting on a blanket in the grass listening to an outdoor concert.  Throw in a picnic and some kids getting their wiggles out to great music and you have the perfect evening.  If you are local to the Toledo area, you can check out <a href="https://www.toledozoo.org/site/program/370" target="_blank">concerts at the zoo</a>, <a href="http://www.toledolibrary.org/pageselector.aspx?24010#BrownBag14" target="_blank">the brown bag library series</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152441462293431&set=a.10150665728263431.417792.52338653430&type=1" target="_blank">your local park</a>, and just about any restaurant patio in town for live, local music!  <a href="http://www.toledozoo.org/site/program/378" target="_blank">Music Under the Stars with the Toledo Symphony</a> doesn’t start until July, but keep that in mind too!</p> <h2><font style="font-weight: bold">5.  Plant your garden.</font></h2> <p>This year, we’re going to have a much smaller scale, last year we were up to our eyeballs in tomatoes.  Containers are great for herbs like mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, and chives.  We snip fresh herbs for cooking and iced tea all summer long.  We even have a lime tree in a pot that has been giving us limes like crazy since this winter!</p> <p> </p> <h3><em>What is your ‘must do’ for June?</em></h3> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-61377627845572947192014-05-23T10:58:00.001-04:002014-05-23T11:09:31.389-04:00Still Learning. And Perspective. And Other Stuff. And maybe Earworms. And Coffee. Aren’t You Happy You Stopped By?<p>Most of you have been hanging out with me for eons.  This is a straight catch-up, brain dump.  You’ve been warned.  Also, I feel like maybe, one of these days I will have it all together and then I am reminded that no, I probably won’t, and I should totally practice what I preach instead.  <strong>Be the best of who you are and let the rest go.</strong>  No, that doesn’t mean let everything else go to hell, or be lazy or quit trying or anything like that, for you read-into-everything-ers in the bunch.  I mean, mentally let it go and put your energy into something more productive.</p> <p>I should know this lesson already because my two year old sings <em>Let It Go</em> approximately 47 times a day.  It is indelibly on my brain.  You have to be the world’s luckiest blog readers.  You get an earworm!  You get an earworm!  You get an earworm!  Everybody gets an earworm!  Elsa and Anna 4-lyfe.  What!  What!  </p> <p>When something bothers me, my first inclination is to "right" whatever injustice has occurred.  This is multiplied by oh, ten million, when it concerns either of my children.</p> <p>First, I want to fix it.  Then, I want to write about it.  </p> <p>Because there are things that I won't write about in this space, I sometimes have to just shut up.  I'm learning to do that, because I know this is going to shock you, but I wasn't born with the shut up gene. I was born with the shout it from the rooftop gene until the world's ills, real or implied, are cured.  Plus, shutting up is excruciating for me.  </p> <p>Sometimes the bullhorn is effective, but not always.  I'm learning, at thirty-eight, that there are also ‘quietly put right behind closed doors’ meetings that can remedy a situation just as well.  Who knew?</p> <p>It's a hard lesson.  One that I needed desperately to learn.  Which is probably why I keep getting myself in situations where I’m forced to learn the same lesson over and over again until one day, it clicks.  I’ve been upset and preoccupied and this morning I woke up and BAM… Perspective.  </p> <p>In fun-ner news, we’re spending the long weekend doing things that are all OH. My. God.  Becky.  Look at her butt.  She’s like one of those rap guy’s girlfriends.  Summer is almost here and it’s a long weekend and the weather is crazy beautiful!  Cedar Point and Flower Days at the Farmer’s Market await.  </p> <p>I’ve told myself that before we’re doing anything fun, I need to get through the mound of crazy burying my desk and clean our room since my suitcase is still sitting in the middle of our bedroom floor from three weeks ago.  It was funny when Dave was tripping over it, but now I’ve done it twice myself.  I always tell Tate that she can’t do anything until she cleans up her crazy two year old toy messes, so I’m imposing the same rule on myself.</p> <p>It’s harder when you’re the grown up and you know that you can totally pull the airplane chute, pop a beer tab, and say <em>see ya later, Suckas</em>!  Except, I don’t drink beer out of cans, so I’d probably have to go searching for a bottle opener, but you get the point.</p> <p>Coffee and cleaning our room, it is.  </p> <p>What awesomeness do you have planned for this weekend?</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-568446000623056293.post-43565444293084524902014-05-20T00:19:00.001-04:002014-05-20T00:50:17.176-04:00The Mother-In-Law Clean.<p>I am a maniac when my mother-in-law comes over to our house.  Certifiable.</p> <p><em>Sue, you should probably stop reading now.</em></p> <p>Regardless if it’s planned or an unexpected visit, three minutes before, you’ll find me running through the house with a vacuum.  Usually, I’m simultaneously hurrying the kids along to pick up whatever mess they’re currently concocting and yelling for Dave to please grab a broom.  This is usually followed by an entertained look from him, possibly followed by an eye roll because he knows his mother, but he grabs the broom anyway.  </p> <p>Sue didn’t raise a fool.</p> <p>She really doesn’t care what our house looks like on a Wednesday at four in the afternoon.  Not even a little bit.  My brain knows this.  My brain also knows that <em>my own mother</em> cares WAY more than my mother-in-law does. If Janet walked in to a spotless house, she’d walk right back out and ask where her real daughter is being held captive… then, probably tell Clean Michelle to stay instead.</p> <p><em>You hear that, Dave?  It’s YOU who should be caring about a mother-in-law clean.</em></p> <p>It’s me, though.  I care.  It’s as if the house being clean is going to make her think, “Well, I’m certainly glad he picked a girl who can keep the house clean!  What a <strike>good</strike> great choice for a wife to my beloved son and such a pretty mother of my grandchildren!  Have you tasted this pot roast?  It’s delicious.”  </p> <p>When the house is a disaster, in my head, she knowingly glances at Dave with raised eyebrows while stepping over Legos and spit-fixing Finn’s wild, too-long hair and slowly shakes her head in disbelief.  “There are toys from one end of the house to the other, isn’t she home all day?  That’s what happens when you marry a mouthy Democrat who talks to her imaginary friends on the <em>internet</em> for a living.”  </p> <p><em>Stop smiling, those imaginary friends… that would be you.</em></p> <p>The reality is, when she calls to say she’s stopping over unexpectedly and hears me start the launch sequence of DEFCON MOTHER-IN-LAW, she tells Dave, “Tell Michelle not to worry about it!  I don’t care!”  </p> <p>But, I do.  <em>Now, be a dear and run outside and cut some lilacs for the table.</em></p> <p>Am I the only one that does the mother-in-law clean?</p> Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00860206491925165997noreply@blogger.com8