Oh, do you have a feverish, bored, restless kid, too?  We should form a club!  Here are some ideas for keeping sick kids occupied, at home or in the hospital:

1.  Knitting spool.  It’s fun when something from my childhood is still around in basically the same incarnation.  This is one of those things that makes a long knit rope, and my mom gave me one when I was a feverish, bored, restless child back about…well, no need to do the math.  I bought William a $3 Boye version at a craft store (I think Walmart has them, too), plus…

2.  Yarn.  I bought a $2.50 skein of Red Heart multicolored yarn, which I found at Walmart.  The multicolored yarn results in a STRIPED rope, which is significantly cooler than the Hippie Natural Unbleached Yarn rope I made as an ill child in the 1970s.  I like #950, which makes a rainbow.  Who’s a hippie NOW?
Read the rest of this entry

I suppose that the one night a year when no one really NEEDS a special holiday treat would be Halloween, since it already features a metric truckload of individually wrapped cavity-bombs, but what are we, GRINCHES? No we are NOT.

Here’s some cooking inspiration for your Halloween evening, if you can put the fun-sized Butterfingers down long enough to spend time with a recipe or two:
Read the rest of this entry

It seems wrong to look forward to Breast Cancer Awareness Month just because of all the pink stuff, but THERE IT IS. Breast Cancer Awareness has done a really good job of getting a ton of fun pink fundraising products on the market. For those of us who would buy pink stuff ANYWAY, it’s awesome pink riches—and a nice way to donate a little money here and there.

I was reading Lora’s post about cervical cancer and how it doesn’t get quite the parade breast cancer does. Uterine and ovarian cancer get left in the shadows, too. I’m guessing it’s because you can check yourself for breast cancer so it’s a good idea to make everyone aware of it. Other kinds, it’s more like Annual GYN Office Visit Awareness.

But it’s also a SHOPPING problem: I looked around and there are sites for the non-breast forms of Girl Cancer awareness, but they don’t SELL STUFF. If I can’t buy a pencil or a t-shirt for it, I’m not as aware, is my feeling about it.

Luckily, places like Etsy and CafePress step in where non-profits forget to tread.
Read the rest of this entry

We’ve done a Halloween costume round-up before (along with, if you’re feeling topical, a list of cool Etsy-made treat bags, some fun craft ideas, and cool Halloweeny stuff in general), but I keep coming across the WEIRDEST kid costumes this year and thought I’d share. Behold, inspiration for your little trick-or-treater:

Read the rest of this entry

We have family in town this week, specifically ONE family member, specifically my mother-in-law. I’ve been trying to think of some fun shopping-type things to post about here, but it feels like I’m attempting to surf the online stores while clinging to a piece of shipwreck: I am a little distracted by the SHARKS nibbling my TOES.

Some of us have lovely, lovely family members who are a joy to be around, but it seems like most of us have at least SOME family members who drive us batcrap crazy. Surely we can combine forces on this—if not to drive all those family members into a barbed-wire enclosure, at least to make their visits more bearable. I will share my tips with you if you will share yours with me.
Read the rest of this entry

The ongoing news with the H1N1 virus has me thinking a lot about vaccinations lately, and I thought it might make a good topic for this blog. Not anything controversial, mind you, just some ideas for making shots hurt less. Most of us know about trying a children’s pain reliever before the injection and rubbing the site afterwards, but here are a few more tips for easing the Woe and Angst:
Read the rest of this entry

Love Etsy. Love fall.  (Don’t despair if the individual item I’ve linked to has sold out:  the sellers often have more of the same item listed in their shops.)

Draft snake in “Lush” by Oh the Cuteness! on Etsy. Draft snakes help keep the chill out, but can we call them something less slithery-sounding?  Swiss cake rolls are long and thin, too.
Read the rest of this entry

Do you tend to carry the same things in your bag, whether you’re heading to the office or to the playground? I know this isn’t really a thrilling topic for a blog post, but I was noticing recently as I shoveled the contents from a milk-stained “casual” purse to my fancier “work” clutch that no matter where I’m going, I drag the same inventory along with me. Here’s my can’t-leave-home-without-it list:
Read the rest of this entry

I’m going on a flight this week to see my baby niece, and I am super looking forward to it. Not just because my niece is 6 months old and thus fully ripe for cheek-kissing and tum-nomming, but also because a flight means TIME BY MYSELF.  Here’s what I’m bringing with me for this lovely, lovely time:

Dove Milk Chocolate Almond Promises.  Uh muh guh, these are so yum.  They have little tiny bits of almond in them instead of big huge chunks, so not only is the almond more evenly distributed throughout the chocolate, it’s like having someone else chew it for you!

I’m also bringing apples and pecans, because OMG with the “Please Do Not Feed the Passengers” thing airlines are doing.  Also:  dental floss.
Read the rest of this entry

Between a four-year-old, a toddler, and a husband who routinely peels off his dirty socks while he’s watching the evening news and tosses them on the living room carpet, since apparently that’s the cue for his personal magic cleaning fairy to swoop in and whisk his laundry away to the hamper, my house has a bit of a clutter problem. Toys, books, shoes, crayons, and forgotten half-chewed waffles tend to accumulate on every available surface throughout the day, making it a real challenge to do the deep-cleaning I so greatly enjoy.

(Note: by “deep cleaning” I mean “sitting on the couch eating pretzels”. But the point is, if I really did want to vacuum, it would be hard to do so when the floor is three inches deep with LEGOs.)

I like to exact revenge on my husband by 1) power-nagging in that oh so attractive fish-wifely tone, and 2) draping his various discarded clothing items over his computer monitor (sometimes with a note: “OH HAI WE GOT LOSTED CAN YOU HELPS US FIND THE WASHING MASHEEN?”), and as for my four-year-old, I’ve started being more strict about having him pitch in. He’s definitely capable of putting away his things and carrying out other small tasks around the house, and I’ve been thinking it would be helpful to have a chore chart for him.

In poking around online, I’ve noticed that chore charts tend to have one common theme: they are butt-ugly. I know the home decor aspect of a chart isn’t really the point, but still, it doesn’t seem like it should be so hard to find a chart that’s both useful and non-hideous.

Here are a few chore-organization-solutions I eventually came across that I think are pretty cool-looking:
Read the rest of this entry