BookAlike, and Whatever.

Do you have a kid that's learning to read, or reading independently? Have you been to Scholastic's website?

They have something on there called "BookAlike" that I've been loving for the last several months. You just type in the title of a book that you know is at your child's reading level, and then you can get book suggestions for that same reading level, or a level higher or lower. It just seems like a fantastic idea! You can also do a customized search where you click what reading level you're looking for, the type of book you're looking for (easy reader, chapter book, etc.) and then you can add in a topic or genre of book.



This has been a great tool for us, as we're always looking for something new for Malcolm to read that will challenge him but won't frustrate him.

So, it's worth checking out. Just passing that along.

Not much else to report for today. My dog stinks. As does my 20-month-old. My blender caught on fire this week. Tavis tells me he wouldn't get my name tattooed on his arm, which makes me think maybe I'm not a permanent addition to his life. And I think just to spite me he sent me a "tattoo" on Facebook, which ended up messing up a bunch of my internet settings. Stinking Facebook.

Memories. Or the Lack Thereof.

In case you're having trouble putting this puzzle together, that's me on the right--that short squinty fat kid. And not to worry, I didn't spend all of my childhood looking so chubby and grimacy, but for the sake of visual aids on this post, I had to chose one of the only two Halloween photos I have from my youth. (Oh, and whoever was taking this picture was standing at the bottom of some stairs. So what I'm saying here is that you can't normally see right up to my sister Kimberley's brain through those abnormally distorted nostrils that are pictured here.)

So anyway. Ahhhhh, 1982. That was a good year wasn't it, Tavis?

What? What's that you say, honey? You don't remember 1982, even though you were 9 years old?

Oh wait. That's right. Disturbingly, YOU DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD.

Tonight I was feeling all nostalgic about Halloweens past... the year I was 5 and fell in a puddle in my clown costume... the year I wore that cool 50s skirt my mom made... the year my best friend Lisa was a UPS Man. When I really thought about it, I could recall all but one of my Halloween costumes over the years. And of course I tried to get Tavis in on this conversation, asking what kind of costumes he wore as a kid.

You know what? HE CANNOT REMEMBER EVEN A SINGLE ONE OF HIS HALLOWEEN COSTUMES.

I even tried to give him some popular suggestions to try and jog is memory. Hobo? (Is that even politically correct anymore?) Pirate? Anything Star Wars related?

Nothing.

So, for the love of Pete, if you are related to Tavis and remember any of his childhood Halloween costumes, please leave a comment. Because otherwise I just might have to cry myself to sleep tonight, in mourning for the complete and total loss of his childhood.

May it rest in peace.

Boo.

Well, last night we had Part 1 of our Halloween celebration, as we attended the chili cook-off/trunk-or-treat at church. (Part 2 will be school parties; Part 3 will be Halloween night itself. Not that I'll necessarily post about Parts 2 & 3, unless I end up with some interesting candid photo of Dragon giving Knight a wedgie or something.)

But anyway, for anyone who's interested, just thought I'd include some pics of the kids in their costumes (and Summer is a queen, if anyone's asking.)

This naturally begs me to ask the question of whether I'm the only mom-of-more-than-one-child that ends up with most of her photos-including-more-than-one-child looking like this:



So... let's go with individual pics.



Ahh. Better.

Life Isn't Fair, Reason #414:

Your mom, camera in hand, just might let your little sister jump in your freshly raked leaf pile.













But she sure had fun.

Toddler Blues.

So for about a week or so, my good pal Asher and I just weren't getting along. Let's just say... a lot of screaming and freaking out on his part, and a lot of... orphanage researching, on my part. (Because maybe it's just me, but I'm sort of the type of person that thinks that just because the devil drops a baby on your doorstep, it doesn't mean you have to keep it.)

His problems seem to stem mostly from his sensory issues, and mine (at least recently) had to do with a case of the stomach flu that came around twice in the course of a week. And while I'd like to put the blame purely on sensory-schtuff with him, I assume he's also suffering from a severe case of... being 20 months old.

I'd like to think that maybe this is a time period in his life that 25 years from now we'll look back and laugh about. You know, like "Remember that time Asher threw that tantrum, turned purple and collapsed on the floor, and then ended up with blood gushing out of his upper lip? Remember that?! It was hilarious!" Or, "Remember that dinner when Asher screamed at us for 20 minutes, and then (as the other kids were holding onto their ears far more than their sanity) we put him in his room and he threw himself against the door for the rest of the mealtime? Ohmygoodness I almost shot Cherry Coke out of my nose--was that ever funny!" And forget stones, people. Babies who live in houses with mothers with stomach flu should not throw the Poptart they should be grateful for getting for lunch.

Mealtime has become an epic battle. (In this corner, baby with great aim, with fork in hand. In the other corner, mom, dad, two kids and a 60-pound dog. Cowering in fear.)

And the battle isn't necessarily over the eating itself. I'm kind of the "If he's hungry, he'll eat" type of person. The battle is just over the behaviors that mealtime seems to illicit in him. (Mostly blood-curdling screams. And removing him doesn't seem to help, because then he'll blood-curdlingly scream while hanging off of our pant legs.)

So after the throwing-himself-repeatedly-at-his-bedroom door evening, I figured I needed to start trying some things to help our nightmare that is mealtimes. The first trick up my sleeve? Candles.



And sure enough, this was one of the first dinners we've had in a month where I haven't ended up with my head in my hands saying to Tavis, "What is wrong with our boy?"

And all he ate was a banana. But there was no crying.

Candles, night #2, was also a success. He didn't eat a single bite of food--but again, no crying.

I think he'll be on to us if we keep doing the candle-thing though, so I'll have to have a few other tricks ready. And if I have to plop a TV in the middle of the kitchen table and watch the first 20 minutes of "Cars" every night until he turns 18 so that the rest of us can eat in peace? So help me, I'll do it.

So. All lollipops and rainbows? Parenting, indeed, is not.

Smarty Pants

So if you read my last post about how life has gotten a little busy lately, you just might guffaw at the project I was working on this week. (Well, has anyone actually "guffawed" since about 1959? This I do not know.)

Anyway, I made Summer some personalized underpants!



It all started when I found a 50s children's school workbook at Goodwill a few months back, and it had some adorable little images in it, including a cute little graphic of a microscope. The wheels got turning and I thought it would be great to make Summer some science-themed clothing using freezer-stencils. I finally talked myself out of going all science though, considering that images of atoms or mitosis would probably be way over her head at the age of four.

And where all of this really stems from is... the fact that I really hate princess stuff.

Really.

A lot.

And I could write a book as to the reasons why. But today I won't go there. Well, I'll go there enough to say that there are certain injustices that get under my skin.... For instance, I think it's a complete ripoff when the McDonald's "boy" toy is a cool toy truck, and the "girl" toy is a fuzzy pink mirror.

So anyway, I still made one pair of science undies with the microscope image, but then I just came up with other images of things that reflect her actual interests. (Why aren't clothing manufacturers running with this idea?)



I think I would call them SmartyPants, were I going to market them. Which I am not.

I guess the sad thing though is that when I handed her the set of new undies she saw this pair and said:



"Oooooh! A robot!!! But... robots are for boys, mom."

Interestingly, though, after she'd looked over each pair I asked her which was her favorite. Her reply? "The robot."

So... just so you know.... When your husband comes home from work and you say, "Do you want to see the feminist underwear I've been making today?!?" you just might have a conversation with your husband later that day wherein he wonders why you never have time to put clean socks in his drawer.

And in case you're wondering, the next step beyond SmartyPants will indeed be undies with images of Harriet Tubman and Clara Barton. Don't put it past me, because yes, I am that weird.

Showing My Cards.

So, it's amazing how quickly I went from quilting and making cute girly hairdos to... um, well... sending my little girl to school wearing her 6-year-old brother's underpants. And... feeding my 1-year-old M&M's for lunch with one hand, while driving with the other. And... changing a diaper on the back of my trunk in the Kmart parking lot.

Lest you think I'm just turning into a redneck, here's what's been going on in my life: I got called to be my ward's Relief Society President, about a month ago. (Translation, for my friends of other faiths: I'm now in charge of all the women in my local church congregation. Plus those in the community at large, if you're the type that likes to go there.)

Now, if you happen to be a person in my life that I actually see in person relatively frequently, feel free to just say "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard this. You're busy. I'm only here for the craft projects, so move on." But I guess I'm just saying this "out loud," if you will, just to keep The Internet informed about my current goings on, and to explain away the strong possibility of long periods of silence here on the blog. But... I suppose that the chances of me not blogging for long periods at a time are just as likely as me going through spurts of regularly updating, as I may find from time to time that I need to remind myself about what my life used to be like.

As far as what my new life is like, I'd just sum it up to say: "I'm busy." (And not like I've probably said to people in other times of my life in that casual, "Yeah... I've been kind of busy" kind of way.) Good busy, though. Useful busy. Worthwhile busy.

So, the blog may suffer. If I had more time I would probably start a brand-new blog, though--one I might title something like: "Mischief My Kids Managed to Get Into While I Was Dealing With Church Things and/or Tending to My Own Personal Hygeine."

Case in point...

Asher's mess from today:



And Summer's:



And we won't even talk about how I'm not quite sure how much diaper cream Asher ate while I was on the phone with one of my visiting teaching supervisors yesterday.

But really though, I'm not complaining, and I have no regrets. I've quite enjoyed my calling thus far, and getting to know the women in my ward better.

Anyway, here's a craft project I'll toss your way, for you crafters you.

There's just something about Halloween that makes me want to go crazy with decorating. But then I remember I'm on a tight budget and that having a lot of holiday clutter around kind of makes me freak out a bit. So when I saw cute hanging felt bats in a catalog for $15.00 + shipping I thought "I can soooo make those for about 2 bucks."



I cut those freehand from some stiff felt I bought at Joann Fabrics. They hang from both of our ceiling fans in our kitchen and living room.

And then I also revisited an project I'd done a couple of years ago where I used black contact paper to make bats for our front window.



So anyway, there you go. Halloween decorations that I don't have to dust or make table-space for. Ahh, how nice.

And, as an end-note.... I never really thought I was the Relief Society President -type. You know, the grandkid-having-type. Or the Type of Person who has ever worn a "blazer" in their lifetime. I more think of myself as the Type of Person who would use the phrase "Garbage Pail Kids" while speaking at the pulpit. (Guilty.)

'Do.

I think I'm making up for my childhood trauma of never owning a Barbie hair-styling head. (I know, I know, the starving children in China--I'll get over it already.)

I've been working on my hair-skills a bit lately, which means I've been stalking a few hair blogs. This newfangled internet thing--I tell ya, it's amazing!

Just thought I'd share Summer's hairstyle for today. (Mostly because I don't really have anything going on, and Tavis is busy watching Wolverine.)

So, Summer owns several cute headbands but they never stay in her hair. What is it with headbands, and them always creeping forward, like the Reading Rainbow guy's character on Star Trek?

Anyway. The 'do:





This kept her headband in perfectly all day. Well... from about 11:45 a.m. until bedtime. It took 10 minutes to do, and about 10 minutes to remove. (Though we did have some breakage here and there upon removal. I wrapped a few of my ponies too tight.)

Here's where the idea came from:

Ribbon Headband, from Piggies 'N Ponies

And here are two other random hair links, if you're into girls' hair ideas:

PrincessHairstyles.com


SheDoesHair.blogspot.com

Family Weekend.

Ahhhh, what a nice relaxing weekend for our family! Which meant playing baseball together...



playing in the hose...



and then going to see these beauties up close:



What an amazing sight to watch a couple dozen hot air balloons fly right over our heads!







And what isn't to love about an event that includes the wearing of bunny ears?



I love this town.

[If you're local, and have never been to this, make it a point to go one year. It's so worth it. Pack a cooler, bring lawn chairs and blankets, and just feel like a kid again.]

Works in Progress

Every crafty girl needs a place to call her own... even if it is a corner of a scary dark basement.

So Tavis is almost completely done with his wall project in our basement. We didn't "finish the basement" per se, but he built a wall that separates our living space--which is an open L-shaped area that is TV room/ exercise room (ha!)/ playroom/ craft room combined--from our laundry & storage room. And let me just say that it's an amazing feeling to not have to look at my junk anymore. (Well, at least the junk in my laundry & storage room.)

I dream about cute craft rooms, but since my budget for such a thing consists mostly of any spare change I can find in my couch cushions, I mostly have to make do.

But here's my little corner of the world:



And I wish I had taken a "before" picture, but just visualize the furnace, vents, a big silver pole, etc. that are now behind that fantastic blue wall.

I do love jars filled with pretty things....



And buckets for crafting tools....



(I got the buckets in the Target dollar spot a couple of years ago... and the shelf is from Ikea.)

While this isn't true of the entire wall Tavis built, for my particular section of wall, it is covered with a magnetic primer. If I may say a bit about that: When you're looking at a Better Homes & Gardens magazine and it tells you how lovely and easy it is to do a magnetic wall, let me caution you. It costs like $22 for a quart of magnetic primer, and that covers like a 4 ft. x 8 ft. section of wall, because you need to put on 3 thin coats. And then after you do those 3 coats, you'll find that the wall is BARELY magnetic. So don't plan on putting letter magnets up there, or holding up anything heavier than a photograph. And DON'T BOTHER with trying to hang up two pieces of paper with one magnet, because IT'S JUST TOO MUCH FOR YOUR WALL TO HANDLE, and your magnetic wall will lose its will to live.

I do hang a few things up there, though--like my planning sheets I use for my scrapbooking pages--I like to keep track of which pages I want to do, what photos I need to print, whether I need to buy any particular supplies, or whatever.



Anyway. So, I whipped up a little curtain to cover the little closet that Tavis made for me....



Even though I apparently didn't even iron it for the photo, see how nicely it will hide all of my gift wrapping supplies from Tavis? And I hated to buy fabric for that, by the way, but the black & white was in my stash (I'd intended to make throw pillows for my living room, but then it didn't match my new couch) and then I bought a $4.00 white bedsheet for the bottom piece, because 2 yards of regular white fabric would have been about twice that.

So does anyone have ideas for how to redo my craft table? It's not so much "attractive" as it was "free," considering this was the table I found on the side of the road, but it needs some love. I think I'll spray paint the legs black, but what would you do with the top surface, which is kind of like a formica counter top kind of thing? Think I can just spraypaint that too, without it getting all scratched up when I use it?



I have other little things that I'd like to do down here, like add some red storage boxes, etc., but for now the couch cushions are empty so that will just have to wait.

In the mean time... this week I've also been working on Summer's quilt I promised her, which will be a Christmas gift. The top is finished, and I just need to get crackin' on the backin'....



Well anyway. With this lovely space, room to work, and a free afternoon, you probably think I was getting to all of those pent-up craft projects, huh?

Nah. I was mostly fighting my kids to play Ms. Pac-man.

Leftovers.

Apparently I'm still not done talking about food.

Because inquiring minds wanted to know (yes, all one of you), I thought I'd make mention of leftovers.

We rarely eat leftovers for dinner. Exceptions to that statement include soups, chili, and lasagna, which I always plan to use for two dinners.

Why no leftovers?

A) I think, for a kid at least, that there's nothing more disappointing to have a meal you hate sitting in front of you two nights in a row.
B) I plan out my menus so intricately that I don't really end up with all that much "leftover" food.

1. For most meals I cook, I make about 5 or 6 servings. The 5 of us eat about 4 of those servings for dinner, and then whatever is leftover is Tavis' lunch the next day (which he's happy with.)

2. I account for all food that would be "leftovers" in my menu planning, but I just plan to use up everything from a package of food in different ways.

So...

A bunch of lettuce is... salad one night; burger toppings another night; and then whatever is leftover becomes taco toppings.

A purchased ham is... ham one night; ham strips with fettuchine alfredo another night; ham in chef salad another night; and then whatever is leftover gets diced and served as ham in scrambled eggs. [In this instance, I don't cook the whole ham on night #1. I just take out what we'll eat. Because dried up shrively ham on night #2 would just be gross.]

When I get ingredients for Mexican food, I plan 2 or three different Mexican meals for one week. So fresh salsa is... a side dish with chips one night; a topping for chicken nachos another night; and whatever is leftover gets used in chicken tortilla soup. Corn tortillas go in enchiladas one night; the leftovers get cut into strips to use in the same tortilla soup.

3. I have a plan that utilizes "every-other-day."

Every other day, I try to alternate "expensive" &/or "interesting" meals with meals that would be considered "cheap & easy," "light," or meatless.

So... M--Lasagna/Tu--Grilled cheese & canned soup/W--Lasagna leftovers/Th--French toast/F--Beef enchiladas (A 2-pound pkg. of ground beef gets used two ways, cheap & easy meals fill in the gaps, with one or two loaves of bread used two ways.)

4. One of my tricks is something I'm not sure if I should be proud of or ashamed to share. It's my completely "free" meal that I use occasionally. If I DO end up with leftovers of some kind, it goes in my Soup Bag in the freezer.

I keep a ziplock bag in the freezer, and throw all kinds of things in there, mostly of a vegetable nature. So, basically whatever odds and ends are left in the serving dishes, I throw in the bag--green beans, peas, broccoli, marinara sauce, etc.

Rule #1: I don't dig around for forgotten stuff in the back of the fridge. Everything goes in there and is frozen on the night it was originally prepared.
Rule #2: I wouldn't ever serve this to a guest. Not that it's nasty, but there's just some sort of decorum about leftovers, I think.

So in my last post, when I had "homemade vegetable soup" on the menu, that was Veggie Bag Soup.


In that particular soup, I had leftover marinara sauce, leftover rice, leftover peas, and leftover veggies from grilled veggie kabobs. After the bag defrosted in the fridge overnight, I heated some canned chicken broth to boil, added fresh carrots and celery from the fridge, and threw in some tomatoes and a finely diced jalapeno from my garden. I cooked that until tender, and then adjusted the seasonings a bit (though it didn't need much with the marinara sauce that was already in there). I tossed in the contents of the Veggie Bag and heated it through. I'm always impressed with how it turns out, and it's different every single time--my current veggie bag in the freezer contains leftover penne with meat sauce, a few different veggies, and leftover french onion soup.

So, the bottom line:

I HATE FOOD GOING TO WASTE, whether it is by reason of money or principal.

(Just think of the starving children in China!!!!)

More about Menus

I get in modes where I'm really focused on something. I wish I was in a crafting mode, because I have projects backed up. Instead, I'm in a food and money mode.

My friend Holly posted her month of menus on her blog recently, and I thought that was pretty rad. I'm always interested in peoples' real lives and dinner is such a true reflection of home, isn't it? Anyway, because apparently I want to be Holly when I grow up, I thought I'd post our month of menus--not what's planned, but what we actually had for the last month. (Hamburger Helper included.)

The other night in a fit of we-need-to-get-out-of-our-food-rut kind of way, I wrote down all of the various dinnertime meals I can make. I came up with somewhere around 170. (I'm not sure if that's all that impressive or not, because I have no one to compare it to, but keep in mind that I included things like "chicken enchiladas" and "beef enchiladas" as two separate items. So, impressive is probably not the right word there.) But I'm bound and determined to do my best to go through all 170 before I start doing repeats. I wonder how that will go. Because I'm sure I'll cave and still do spaghetti night every other week like we always do.

Anyway. The last 31 days of meals: (And everything is "homemade" unless otherwise indicated.)

8/12 Buffalo chicken strips; mashed potatoes; salad (T's B-day dinner)
8/13 Hamburger Helper; corn on the cob
8/14 Hot dogs; smoothies
8/15 (Breakfast for dinner): Ham & eggs; toast; OJ; applesauce
8/16 Pork Chops; fried potatoes; peas
8/17 Grill--steak, chicken; baked beans; broccoli; garden tomatoes
8/18 Bacon sandwiches; homemade vegetable soup; blueberries
8/19 Red beans & rice (leftover soup for J. Beans, yuck!); corn; jello
8/20 Chef salad with steak strips (for T) & ham (for J & kids); cottage cheese
8/21 Hot ham & cheese sandwiches; carrot & celery sticks; smoothies
8/22 Penne w/ meat sauce; (frozen) toasted ravioli
8/23 [T's Company Picnic]
8/24 Chili; cantaloupe
8/25 Minestrone Soup
8/26 Grill--steak, chicken; boxed noodle mix; cherry tomatoes
8/27 Leftover minestrone soup; garlic cheese toast
8/28 [@ T's Parents for Dinner]
8/29 (frozen) chicken nuggets; peas; honeydew
8/30 Roast; potatoes; carrots (Eggplant parmesean for J. Roast, yuck!)
8/31 Pesto chicken hoagies; cantaloupe
9/1 French onion soup; toasted french bread w/ swiss cheese; apples
9/2 Steak fajitas (J had a frozen dinner. Steak, yuck!)
9/3 Crockpot Italian chicken served over noodles; watermelon
9/4 (Breakfast for dinner) Bacon; eggs; biscuits; watermelon
9/5 Spaghetti w/ meat sauce; garlic bread; green beans
9/6 Ravioli w/ pesto sauce; corn on the cob; broccoli
9/7 White chicken & hominy chili; homemade bread
9/8 Chocolate chip pancakes
9/9 Grilled cheese; chicken noodle soup (canned)
9/10 Mini turkey meatloaves; mashed potatoes; peas
9/11 Grill--burgers (Turkey burger for J); boxed mac & cheese; broccoli

(Oh, and in case you care, our grocery expenses for this time period was $420.)

My friend Gwen mentioned a chicken recipe that I'd submitted to the church cookbook that she'd just tried, and I've been craving it ever since. I may have to work that in for next month....

Wheatie.

You know who loves breakfast cereal?

We do. We love it; we want to marry it; blah blah blah.

You know who feeds her family breakfast cereal almost every single morning of their lives?

I do.

But I'm trying to kick the cereal habit, in an effort to get my kids out the door every morning with something healthy and satisfying. So I'm trying to cut back their cereal intake to about once a week. Ish.

You know what's been really hard?

Kicking this cereal habit.

You know who turned up their noses at made-from-scratch blueberry muffins, made with real blueberries?

My kids.

You know what my oldest said to me?

"Are these real blueberries? Because I think I like fake blueberries in muffins better."

Punks, I tell you.

Anyway, here's what I put in front of them for the past two weeks of school. (Some breakfasts were more successful than others. Don't even talk to me about the yogurt and berry parfaits.)

M: cereal
Tu: eggs & cereal
W: homemade blueberry muffins, OJ, applesauce
Th: oatmeal w/ applesauce mixed in
F: ham & eggs
M: yogurt and berry parfaits (yogurt + granola + berries)
Tu: applesauce french toast
W: cereal
Th: bacon, oatmeal
F: cereal, watermelon

This week's menu includes things like homemade bread*, breakfast burritos, and whole wheat pancakes.

Speaking of whole wheat pancakes, I found myself a great recipe the other day that I'm in love with. I made whole wheat pancakes years ago and they were awful. They tasted a bit like Nerf balls. These, however, are sooooo good:



Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 large egg
3 T. butter melted
2 C. buttermilk (or 2 C. regular milk with 1 T. lemon juice added; let sit for a few minutes.)

Whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and butter, then buttermilk. Make a well in dry ingredients, add wet into well, whisk very gently until incorporated (a few lumps should remain.) Don't overmix.


*On Sunday evening I revisted something I hadn't made in some time--homemade bread. These loaves aren't especially beautiful (it looks like I need to perfect my craft) but they were divine. Crusty on the outside, soft and yummy on the inside, and topped with butter and drizzled with honey--mmm-mmm-mmmmm.


So what kinds of non-cereal breakfast items do your kids like?

Pages...

First off, just something totally random: So, what song do you get stuck in your head most often?

Why is it that for me it's "Downtown"? ("When you're alone and life it making you lonely you can always go--downtown.")

That being said, here are my latest scrapbook layouts. None of which have anything to do with either going or being downtown.

PJs.

Last night I finally thought, "If half the internet can do it, why can't I?" so I went ahead and made myself so pajama pants out of a vintage sheet. And I just may end up making Summer a pair, in our efforts to be just like the Von Trapp family.



Oh, and if you ever attempt to make yourself a pair of pajama pants (out of anything, really) using an existing pair of pants as your guide, make sure you stretch out the elastic on the existing pants. If you don't, you might end up with waist-problems. Not that I did that or anything.

Oh wait, of course I did. So, I lopped some inches of the top, and it ended up working out. But I'd like just ONE of my sewing projects to reach completion without me having to use the terms "lopped" or "seam ripper." (Though I suppose those are preferable to such sewing terms as, say, "Jack Daniels" or "antidepressants.")

So anyway, I'm now the proud owner of a pair of weirdish 50-cent pants. And when I wear them to bed tonight, I can only assume Tavis will be thinking "Va-va-va-voom!"

Q

So... what exactly makes Minestrone Soup Minestrone Soup? I understand that it's soup, of a brothy nature, with veggies, beans, and some smallish noodles. But what is/are the one (or two) ingredients that clearly define it as Minestrone, versus any ol' vegetable soup?

That question is just baffling me today.

Parenthood. Lesson #839.

Never ask your four-year-old the question: "Did you cut your hair?" because she will probably answer with: "I don't know."

Instead, ask the question: "What scissors did you use to cut your hair with?"

The answer might just be: "The orange ones."

Project #2.

#2, as in: This is the second project I'm talking about in the past couple of days. No actual "#2" is involved.

Okay, so while we were so very unintentionally having our TV-Free Summer project happening right under our noses, this summer we've also quite intentionally been thinking about money. Mostly about how I love it, and want more of it, and how I wouldn't be ashamed to roll around in it a little bit if I had even fifty bucks to spare.

So anyway, raise your hand if you're trying to save money these days? Oprah, put your hand down. (I swear.)

So blah blah blah, the economy, blah blah. Yes, I think everyone is thinking about money lately, in some way or another.

Personally, I've been tracking our grocery expenses for the last 4 months, and I've also started a new project of tracking every single expense down to the tiniest stick of bubblegum, from August 1st until the end of the year. I'm a few weeks into it, and it's a bit tedious, but I like to know where my money is going, so that's that. We've also been on a "purposeful spending" kick lately, too, which is great. If you've ever shopped because you're bored or for entertainment, or if you've ever bought something "because heck, it's only a buck," or whatever, then purposeful spending is a great concept to practice.

So a couple of things happened in this past month that were kind of eye-opening to me.

1. I borrowed the movie Charlotte's Web from a friend. We had just finished the book and we wanted to watch the movie. We borrowed it, we watched it, (we neglected to return it, it's still sitting on top of my TV), the end.

A week later, in the Target ad I noticed that Charlotte's Web was on sale--$7.50. So, we'd just watched the movie... the kids liked it... and $7.50 for a good kids movie? What a great deal! I started to make a note in my handy-dandy notebook that I should get that movie and save it back for a Christmas gift or something. What a great idea; what a great deal; look at how forward-thinking I am, with Christmas months away. But thankfully, something stopped me from jotting that down just then. It was then that MY BRAIN TOOK OVER AND TALKED SOME SENSE INTO ME. As I just mentioned the other day: WE DON'T WATCH TV! If I DID buy the movie, it might get watched maybe once a year or something. (The movie I bought for them last Christmas--Horton Hears a Who--has been watched twice since then.) I just felt like such a fool just then, that my gut reaction to an enticing sale was to go ahead and spend $7.50 to put more "stuff" in my home for no good reason. And for crying out loud, this friend that I'd originally borrowed the movie from isn't all that uptight with her belongings. I DO BELIEVE THAT IF I WANTED TO BORROW THE MOVIE AGAIN, SHE WOULD PROBABLY LOAN IT OUT AGAIN.

Oh, I'm such a fool. Even though I'm pretty practical with money, it's amazing how easy it is to do stupid things.

2. As we've been tracking expenses, and in the spirit of being purposeful with our spending, I talked myself out of buying Malcolm a new outfit for his first day of school. I mean, the kid has clothes, and he really doesn't care, so no biggie. Well Wednesday afternoon I started feeling pangs of regret that every kid ought to have a new outfit for the first day of school, shouldn't they? I mean, I think there are laws of social conduct that deal with this very issue. Besides that, I didn't think that I'd bought him any new clothes for this school year which was sad in and of itself.

But with school starting in just over 12 hours, some babysitting to do, a church activity to attend, and a trip to the grocery store to make, I knew I couldn't right this wrong of mine. Mournfully I wandered into his room just to make sure he at least had some clean clothes for tomorrow. Upon checking the drawers, I found nothing clean and in a bit of panic (as this was just as I was leaving for church) I glanced through his closet wondering if I might have stashed something there that I'd saved for this school year.

Okay. THERE WERE 7 SHIRTS IN THERE, NEW WITH TAGS ON, THAT I'D SAVED FOR THIS SCHOOL YEAR. (Results of prior clearance-sale shopping or whatever.)

What a relief that he would have something new to wear after all, but more importantly--what a relief that I didn't let my guilt compel me to make a last-minute trip to the store to pick up some new school clothes for no reason!

Ahhh, that felt nice!

(Not as nice as the rolling around in money that I secretly with to do, but it will suffice.)

Anyway, as a completely random side note: If I ever do win the lotto, just so you know, I do plan to buy a bajillion toothbrushes so that I can have a brand new one every day. Isn't it disgusting to think about the gunk and morning breath that a toothbrush deals with day in and day out? That would definitely be my frivolous expense I ever became filthy rich. Oh, and that would be my question to Oprah if I ever meet her in person: "How often do you change your toothbrush?"

Our Accidental Summer Project.

(Summer, as in the season. Not the daughter of mine.)

Okay, first a note: Don't get your panties in a bind about what I have to say here, if you are the type to do so.

Now then.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. And it pleases me to say... that my kids didn't watch TV all summer long.

They spent a handful of afternoons playing video games. We had a handful of evenings spent watching some DVDs for Family Movie Nights, and they watched some movies while they were at their grandparents'. But other than that, no TV.

What pleases me more about this concept is that we didn't do it intentionally.

If you've been around here long enough, you might remember our little project from about a year and a half ago--a TV- and Media-free week. (No TV, video games, computer, etc. for the children and the adults in the household for 7 days.) We weren't TV addicts at the time or anything, but we definitely had "our shows" and at some point I realized that those were interfering with "our life."

I cannot emphasize enough that that week changed our lives. Over the next year and a half, it changed us from channel-flippers to purposeful TV-viewers and now to infrequent TV-viewers.

Now we don't say, "I'll help you at the next commercial," or "Quiet down, we're watching Our Show."

And the kids barely even know it exists anymore.

TWO TIMES, the subject of TV-viewing came up this summer. A month after school let out, Malcolm asked, "When are we going to start watching TV again?" and that's when it dawned on me that we hadn't all month long. The second time, at the library he saw a book based on the PBS show "Super Why" and he said, "Super Why. We haven't seen that in a long time." (Me: "Hm. I guess you're right." End of conversation.)

Tavis and I still watch some TV. After bedtime, we'll sometimes watch latenight talkshows or whatever. (TMZ, anyone?) And once the fall TV season starts, we have a few shows we watch that we always record and watch after the kids are asleep. (Biggest Loser starts back up in September--I'm so excited! And then there's Survivor, and CSI.) But overall, it is such a freeing feeling to be living our own lives, instead of sitting around watching other people live theirs.

And as for the kids, instead of being glued to a screen for any portion of the day, they rode bikes, wrote books, drew pictures, made messes, read hundreds (maybe thousands?) of books, did housework, played Twister, asked thousands of questions, fought like cats and dogs, got into mischief, learned how to cook scrambled eggs, threw tantrums, played hide-and-seek, and built forts. Sometimes, they were bored. And today, after a particularly tiring day of bickering, when Tavis walked in the door I believe I said something along the lines of "That's it, I'm done with them! Thank goodness school starts tomorrow!" (though that's not normally my attitude on that matter.)

So I'm still not Supermom. (Or Cindy Crawford, that matter. But I digress.)

I don't have anything especially profound to say to wrap up here, but just know that my intent has nothing to do with trying to evoke Mom Guilt.

My intent is just say: What an amazing summer.

A Layout to Share.

See, I got all hot-headed when I got so many pics on the last scrapbook layout I made for Asher's album (21) but I think I got greedy. I tried to do one 2-page layout that contained Summer's entire year of age 3, and I don't really think it was that successful in the "see how many pics I fit on there without it looking cluttered" kind of way.



But even still--one year, one layout, not too bad. (And dang--29 photos!) If you happen to be an individual that carries around Scrapbook Guilt, I highly recommend this as therapy. Just gather a bunch of photos, even if they don't necessarily "go" with one another. Then think generally--like "Favorite Photos of 2008" or whatever. Resize, change to black & white if the clashing colors bother you, and just go with it. I think I'll end up doing more layouts like this in the future. It seems to be a great way to get photos off the computer and into a physical album for the family to touch and see. (I'm also an advocate of that in general--getting photos into albums, of any kind. Phooey on all this "scrapbooking" stuff, if that's not your thing.)