Favorite thing of the week

My favorite thing this week is when the weather gets cool and stormy in the middle of summer. I love it. It's a reminder of the importance of opposition in all things. (which was also the topic of this week's Sunday School lesson, it was a good one.)

Robin has a cabin in Idaho. It's a little glimpse of heaven to be there, and in the heat of the summer, there are frequently late-afternoon storms. They are dramatic and impressive and then they clear up. The only drawback is running all over the yard to pick up towels, cast-off clothing and shoes, before the rain starts to pour. But when you are sitting on the covered porch, looking out across the river at Charter Mountain, and the storm is showing off it's best moves, it's awesome.

Another related favorite thing is the smell of rain when it first hits the pavement. I guess technically it's probably the smell of the dust and the pavement, whatever it is, it takes me back to my childhood and I am grateful for it.

I hope you are all having a great summer!

Cheap Date Part 2: Poisson et Snowflake Addiction

Last week I shared some fun, free things to do with the family. Today we're headed to the World Wide Web to have some more free fun.

First, for the little kids:

Around here, we love noggin.com. It's entertaining (features all of your little kids' favorite TV characters) and it's safe for your children, educational and free.

A screen capture from poissonrouge. Every single item is clickable and leads to a game.

We also love poissonrouge, which is a great French site (and you don't need to speak French to use it). Poisson Rouge means Red Fish, fyi.

Starfall is a great educational site. Fun games teach letters and reading. They also have printable material and you can order teaching materials from them, too.

Now for the adults. Make-a-flake! Technically, your kids can do this too, but you will love it and get addicted. (You will know you are too into it if you feel annoyed when your children make inferior snowflakes, and you can't wait until it's your turn.) Give it a try. See if you can cut shapes, letters, etc into the snowflake. It's an excellent way to put off housework.

We are always looking for new babysitters educational sites for the kids and better ways to put off housework, so if you know of any, please share.

Cheap Date.

By Sally

When I was in college, I had a saying that went:

"If it's free, it's for me!"

I still like free stuff, as long as it's not junk. I especially like free craft activities that I can do with my kids because: 1. it's free, 2. quality family time, 3. if the crafty item breaks, I don't have to care because it was free!

I like y'all so much that I am going to help you go have some crafty fun for free. Yahoo!

First (and my favorite), check out Lowe's Build and Grow workshops for children. These free workshops are hosted by Lowe's every two weeks. The crafts are very cute, and this Saturday, April 25, you can make a hang glider. In my experience, the under 8 crowd will require adult help, but it really is fun and Lowe's has great employees that help out. One of the perks of the Lowe's workshop is that they will give your child a work apron (to keep), safety goggles (to keep), a certificate, and even a patch that can be sown (or hotglued or stapled if you are like me) to the apron! CUTE.

(If you go to Lowe's, or any of these activities, and you have a small child with you, too small to do the craft, DO NOT under any circumstances place the child in a shopping cart, forget to check on said child, and then find that the child has rolled away into the parking lot and been retrieved for you by a total stranger. I can ONLY IMAGINE that would be a terrible thing to do.)

Next, check out Michael's "The Knack". Starting May 2, they have free workshops every day for a week for children to make crafts for Mother's Day. I am going to encourage my husband to take my kids and make the picture plates.

Then there's Home Depot. They also have children's workshops. They are the first Saturday of the month. While the crafts haven't been as cute as the Lowe's crafts, IMO, they are still pretty great. On May 2 your kids can make a wheelbarrow (I am assuming this is a miniature w'barrow, very useful for carting cheerios or legos around).

After your craft, you can get a cheap lunch. Restaurant.com sells gift cards to restaurants for cheaper than the value of the cards. They are super cheap. There are a few restrictions on when the cards can be used, but if you find a restaurant on the site that you eat at regularly, you should try it. However, if you only find restaurants you've never eaten at, don't be like me and buy a gift card and then never use it. That would be a waste of money.

Then you can stop at Redbox and use a code to get a free video to watch that evening.

What a cheap and fun date with the family! You are WELCOME!

PS Do you know about any other fun free stuff for families?

The Story of Ferdinand

by Emily
We love The Story of Ferdinand, written in the 1930's by Munro Leaf & illustrated by Robert Lawson. The story is beautiful, the pen and ink illustrations are those of which you fall in love. Ferdinand's eyes, his mother's expressions, his surprise at a bee's sting--Lawson nails every detail, nuanced expression, and landscape.

(If you have been to Ronda, Spain, or Andalucia, you will recognize how accurate these illustrations are!)

This is a book I don't mind reading to my children again and again.

My husband loved the book as a child (a gift from a radical auntie), calling it "Ferdinand Ze Bull!" I didn't read The Story of Ferdinand until I was married to him, in my late-twenties-- his copy all tattered, masking tape on the binding so old it was crusted over, hardened, and torn. The pages completely loose.

We finally bought a replacement copy for our own children--but the original cannot be thrown out. I think we'll frame a few favorite illustrations.

I love the affirmation of the story: that just because you're a powerful, strong, and fierce bull, doesn't mean that you have to fight. More than that, though, I love the message of a mother who loves her child (minor theme). And I love the message of an individual being true to herself despite what others expect of her (in this case a "he", but it crosses gender lines easily enough).

I like to not overthink it too much, in fact, reading about all the politics that have been forced onto this story as an allegory (it lends itself easily to that) sort of turns me off.

Mostly I think it appeals to me because I've never been much of a "traditionally competitive" personality. It's not in my nature to be competitive to the point of it costing those with whom I'm competing. Plus, being a loser just feels awful--and instead of that motivating me to want to be The Winner, it made me not want to compete. Hurt feelings and all that...I'm uncomfortable with winners and losers, I tend towards wanting everyone to be happy and peaceable. So my inner child loves this story, and so does my mothering-self.










Who knew it was such a radical book? Check out rocker Elliot Smith's (RIP) Ferdinand tat on his bicep. ---> If you're going to have a tat, that is a totally cool one.

Also, Fall Out Boy (an alt-rock band) titled an album From Under the Cork Tree, an obvious reference to the book.

The Real Story of Ferdinand (the "real wiki story") can be found here.






(To Robin & my Mom: Ferdinand reminds me a bit of you, as he just loves to sit and smell the flowers)

What's for dinner

by Sally


Do you love to eat?


If so, you are going to love this site. I have already told you that I love chowhound for finding new and delicious places to eat. Today I am going to show you a part of the site that I love because it's all about home cooking. In fact, it's called 'Home Cooking'. Ever wondered what to do with polenta? Balsamic vinegar? How to make perfect toffee? What to bring to a potluck, or what to serve for appetizers? Check it out. You will love it.


http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/31

I am looking to get new knives. The cheapo Sears set that we got as a wedding gift 14 years ago ain't cutting it anymore (pun intended). I will be using the Chowhound Home Cooking site as my go-to resource for knife info.



Here are some headlines from last week:

One Dish Wonders! Simple, healthy and quick. What is your favorite?
Freeze Enchiladas with or without sauce
Sherry substitute for a tomato cream sauce?
my frosting separated
Pie Crust Problems

As you can see, it includes anything having to do with home cooking. I mean, who hasn't had pie crust problems?! Okay, but really, wouldn't you like to get some more one dish wonders?

Enjoy Chowhound Home Cooking!

My Favorite Quick Meal in a Pinch

by Emily


Dinners at our house are very important. Making the effort so sit down at the end of the day and have a meal together brings a sense of routine and security to our family. Of course there are times when dinners are less than perfect, a person may be missing, or the meal may be a bowl of cereal (this is rare).

Here is a recent favorite dinner of mine that takes little effort, but it requires something essential: Trader Joe's

We don't live near a Trader Joe's, unfortunately. But when we see one, we stop in a buy a few jars of simmer sauces. We also buy the maple granola cereal--wow! But Trader Joe's is an entirely different blog post--so back to the recipe:
Trader Joe's Simmer Sauces are pretty delicious, my favorite is the Masala sauce (a tomato based sauce used in Indian cuisine). I also like them because the ingredients are normal, they're all things you've heard of before, natural and whole. Tastey too.

I simply fry up some chicken or tofu (I like firm tofu, pat with paper towels first to soak up water, cube and saute w/olive oil until a little brown on edges), toss in the jar of sauce, add a little water, and simmer until a little thickened.

Tofu is easy to cook with because it has a decent "shelf" life (refridgerate, of course) of a few weeks, or even months. So I like to buy some and have it on hand for other quick meals. It is really easy to cook with--if you can fry an egg, you can cook with tofu. I like to use it with the simmer sauce, but I also like it for a quick stir-fry with frozen or fresh veggies on hand.

Serve with any kind of rice (basmati for a more indian flavor) and/or lentils.

Lentils.

Ever made them? Lentils are easy to cook, essentially you boil them in water until they are soft and ready to eat. Unlike rice that soaks up all the water you use to boil, lentils will only soak up some water, drain the rest. To test if they are done, simply try some to see if they are soft. They should not be chewy--cook them longer if they are. Lentils are a great source of iron which might explain why I craved them during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I make extra for leftovers for lunch (microwave and add a little pad of butter and salt). They are a dry kind of bean, so they go well with sauce.

So, lets review: fry up some chicken or tofu, add some Masala simmer sauce, serve over rice and/or lentils. Voila!

You may be able to find some other simmer sauces of other brands at your local grocery store--I would look in the asian foods isle.

My turn to post

To all our amazing and fabulous readers I would like to apologize. Today was my turn to post on Bossy! and I totally blew it.

Why would I do this?, you might ask. Well, I have no good reason at all. On Monday, I thought, "Oh, I need to do my post for Bossy! tomorrow", and I started to gather some thoughts about what to post. But perhaps Emily's Neti Pot post just pushed it all out of my mind. I don't know. Everytime I've blown my nose though, since Em's post (which is frequent as I'm getting over a cold), I think "I wish I could try a Neti Pot." This morning, that was one of the first thoughts to go through my mind after, "Why can't my 15 year old use an alarm clock? What is wrong with him? What is wrong with me that I continue to support this self-indulgent behavior?" Then my mind went straight from there to "I wish I had a Neti Pot". I don't know, it's hard to beat a post that has a woman pouring liquid into one nostril and watching it pour out of the other. Thanks Em!

Anyway, I just have one little thing to blog about today... that is time. I have a lot of time on my hands now, as I was just laid off of my job (which stinks!). And guess how I am filling my time? Yup...T.V. All the new seasons have begun. I am DVRing, among other shows, The Biggest Loser (Holy Smokes!), True Beauty (my guilty show - but my kids don't know it or see it), Psych (my favorite), American Idol (I'll decide after a few episodes if I want to continue), Ugly Betty, 30 Rock, The Office, and Superstars of Dance. Good-Grief! Like I'll ever have enough time to watch all of that.

I need to get focused. Can I justify all this TV if I do jumping jacks during all the commercials? Probably not because I fast forward through them. Maybe if I do jumping jacks during the opening theme song portion of the show?


What are your T.V. shows? Do you DVR or just watch? Do you have "guilty" shows that you watch? If so...dish!

Le's go to hav sum fun!

My first grader made this for me right before school started this year. How could I resist this request? We went to the beach, and I keep this visible to remind me to hav sum fun.

One of my favorite ways to have fun is travel. It may be my most preferred (and most expensive) hobby. Before children, I traveled extensively for education, fun, and business and also lived in Moscow, Russia; Paris, France; and various states in the US. Now that we have these crazy little people running around, we've dialed it back a lot. Still, we take trips whenever we can, and I look forward to visiting Asia and Africa and other exotic locales as soon as our family and budget allow (sounds like a long time from now). In the meantime, we mostly stay in North America.

I am not a high-end traveler. When my husband and I lived in Paris 12 years ago, we spent a whole month sleeping in our rental car as we explored all of western Europe. Even if I'm on an expense report, I don't need the most luxurious hotels or the trendiest restaurants. However, I do want a good night's sleep in a comfortable hotel, and I need to eat delicious food and see the most interesting things. Do you like to travel, too? If so, you are in luck today. Because I am super nice, I'm going to share with you how I manage: my three favorite travel-related websites.

Hotel:

biddingfortravel.com This website is a web forum that will help you get great prices on hotels (and car and air). People come here and learn how to strategically bid for hotels on Priceline, then they report their winning (and losing) bids. The first time you visit this site, ignore the clunky design and read all the instructions. Then go crazy. We have stayed at super luxury resorts for $100/night. We were in Quebec City about 2 years ago and stayed at a Loews with a killer view room that would have been $325/night, but we got it for $67! On the lower end, I've stayed in Residence Inns for $30/night. Emily just got a great room at a luxury hotel in Chicago for an upcoming trip, thanks to Priceline and biddingfortravel.com. Never book a hotel without checking here first.

Food:

Chowhound.com message boards This is my kind of place. These are people who love good food but don't care for pretension. People ask questions, write reviews, and give advice freely. There are some snobby foodies, but you're likely to see a hole-in-the-wall Thai joint recommended right alongside a tres chic, expensive French restaurant. When I am traveling to a new destination, I always do my research at Chowhound first to find out what the local specialties are, where are the best places to eat at any budget, and what to order. I've found fantastic places to eat in LA, New Orleans, Hawaii, Mexico and even Germany. This is one of my favorite websites of all time because I LOVE TO EAT GOOD FOOD.

What to see and do:
Fodors Travel Talk Forums These forums are populated by experienced travelers and locals who want to share what they know. I have used these forums to plan trips to everywhere from Rio de Janiero to Rome to Provo, UT. Seven years ago we took a cruise through the Caribbean. I planned wonderful and fun excursions for us at every port thanks to the Fodors forums. We traveled by cab, daily rental car or pedicab, got to all the sights when they were still peaceful and easy to see, and just as we were leaving to go to our next activity the cruise buses would pull up with their hundreds of passengers. We also saved money by not going with the cruise line. I will never forget snorkeling in Jamaica--we were the first ones to the reef, saw barracuda and amazing fish, and after an hour or two we left when the hordes of cruise tourists arrived. Sweet! One tip--before you ask a question, do a search on the site first to see if the question has already been asked. There's so much great info, not just on sightseeing and activities, but also hotels and restaurants.

All the Bossy Sisters like to travel. We love travel stories. If you want to share yours with us, please do! When my friends go on vacation, I always request a detailed trip report when they're home. Vicarious travel is pretty good if you're as addicted as I am.

I'm going to go to hav sum fun now.

Next Christmas Wish List

by Emily

Have you, your children, your husband, or anyone else you know, already begun to make next year's wish list?

I thought I would be gifted-out to the max. Done, done, and done. But then I saw what cool gifts others got, and to top it off, I read the Sky Mall magazine yesterday on the airplane.

The Sky Mall magazine is great, it has all the gadgets and gizmos you've thought about inventing for yourself and then realized that it really wasn't worth it. It has a way of making me feel anew in my motivation to organize every little thing in my life when I arrive home.

It is also great fodder for some hilarity during your flight. Joe and I flip through and show each other various items with our own commentary, "Now, I've always wanted one of those!" or "Seriously, is pouring yourself a glass of water so difficult that you need a machine that does it for you?" Etc. You get the idea.

Here are a few of my faves:

The "Progressive Wake-Up Clock"

I love that it isn't called an "alarm" clock, because HELLO! that would be too ALARMING which is beside the point. I've been wanting one of these for the last 6 years. As with everything in Sky Mall, I don't want it bad enough to spend the ridiculous money on it ($60+, no thanks)

The "Slanket"

Buy multiple Slankets for your guests to enjoy! Embroider them with family members' initials! Get one for the dog! These Fleece One-Size-Fits-All Slankets are FAR superior to those nasty old blankets the proletariat use. Our Slanket can be WORN! WORN, I SAY!

The "Pet Crate End Table"

Seriously? Why do you even have a dog?

And finally...

The "SkyRest Travel Pillow"
Oh Please, oh please, oh please, don't let me sit next to that guy. And do you really want to be "that guy"? You know, the one who is still blowing up his travel pillow halfway into the flight? "Ahem, excuse me while I inflate my huge drool pillow. Could you just scoot? I need some elbow room while I puff this thing up. If I pass out, I think there is an air-mask thingy you can use to revive me."

Is there a Sky Mall/As Seen on TV gadget you've pined after?

Winner - Yay!

We have a winner for our fabulous Scentsy bar .... Hilary! Congratulations! Hilary has a darling blog at http://hilaryshappiness.blogspot.com/. You should check it out. She is a very active and on-top-of-things mom. You can tell from her blog that she loves playing with her kids. So fun to read! Hilary knows the Bossy Sisters because she and Emily were roommates in college.

Congratulations Hilary! I will email you and find out what scent you want.

That brings me to a shameless plug for a fabulous product...SCENTSY!

Four years ago a good friend of mine started a wickless candle company called Scentsy. I am now an independent consultant for this company and I love it! In fact, Melissa is also a Scentsy consultant! All my sisters and mom have some Scentsy products and I've only heard fabulous things about the products. No fire danger, over 80 very high quality scents to choose from, and beautiful decor for your home!

If you want to learn more about Scentsy, check out my web page, here. Or, check out Melissa's web page here. You can order directly from either of our web pages, and if you are looking for a great business opportunity, this is it!

That's it...shameless plug is over.

My Christmas Favorites! (and a give-away!)

There's no place like home for the holidays!

(This was taken at the house we sold a year ago)

There are really too many favorites to name. Right now, my very favorite Christmas thing is the song, "O Holy Night" by Josh Groban from his "Noel" album. Oh my gosh - it gives me chills when I am listening to it cranked up loud in my car with no other competing noises. Try it...it will amaze you!

My favorite Christmas food is licorice carmels that I learned how to make - oh so yummy! I will post the recipe when I find it. (I will have to call someone because I'm pretty sure I wrote directions on the back of it and then threw it away - ooops!)

My favorite Christmas scent is Scentsy's "Cozy Fireside" mixed with "Hearth and Home" or maybe "Snowberry", I can't decide. Visit my other blog if you want to order these... click here.

My favorite decorations? Well for that, I need to show you pictures!

I love the cheerfulness of this wall hanging. And bonus, it's glittery!

This is my olive wood nativity from Jerusalem. I love it.

Robin has a "Here comes Santa" just like this one. We made them at a "Super Saturday" together many years ago.

I decorate this mirror exactly the same way every single year. The little red long johns were once Rocky's. Now he's all grown up! I also made the bushy bearded Santa.

I decorate the bookcase pretty much the same way too each year. Some of my favorite things in here are all my Christmas books, my Russian Santa (from Sally) and my white porcelain nativity (which I always get glass slivers from because I like to display it on angel hair {spun glass} with lights underneath).



Finally, and maybe our favorite of all, is Randolph, the reindeer. Randolf was acquired the year I learned to snowboard (he is a skier though), and he tends to just stay out all year long because we all love him so much!

What are your Christmas favorites? I will choose one winner from everyone who comments (you are welcome to send us pictures as well to bossysistersatgmail.com) and they will receive one of my favorite Christmas Scentsy Bars! This will go until this Monday, December 15th, so tell your friends!

It's the Little Things.

My turn to share my favorites. You'll note that Sally's faves are all very literary and smart. She is chic and classy.

My favorites aren't classy. At all. But, they are my favorites! I asked my Favorite friend what I should post, she knows me so well, she rattled off a bunch of things that I rave on day in and day out.

When she said Downy, I immediately went dreamy eyed and said in a soft voice, "ohhhh, I love Downy!" I love my Downy Ball too. I do so stinkin' much laundry it is crazy. I keep imagining what empty laundry baskets would look like, but I never get there. I love the way Downy smells. I close my eyes and it feels like my Mom's laundry. I think I could drink it. Downy keeps me happy while I continue to gather, sort (ok, I don't sort, but I know it is one of the "steps"), load, reboot, fold, put away. Rinse and Repeat.

I love to make bows and tie pretty packages! I love this site for its beautiful and reasonable selection of Ribbon.

I am a Wal-Mart Shopper, but I always shop with a handful of munchkins. I also have to go for the best deals and this season WalMart's Site to Store is just what the doctor ordered. I can do all my comparison shopping online, then fill up my "cart", use my card or even PayPal account, then pick it all up at the store in an unmarked (read: non-Santa Spoiling) box.

Please, if you like candy canes and white chocolate don't try a bag of Candy Cane Kisses. Really, they aren't that good. Promise. Leave them on the shelf for someone else. (Me.) They make great Buttons too... (I usually use Snaps- you know the checkerboard pretzels? and Holiday M&M's.) It is a great kid project!
After the Christmas music post I got itching for some new tunes... but really, I don't need more CDs. In steps Pandora. Pandora.com is a free website where you type in what kind of music you want (I tried Amy Grant Christmas) and it shuffles music by that artist and similar artists. I Love It! Try it! (My techy husband also hooks my laptop up to my kitchen speakers, how cool is that?) I'm listening right now! Nice. The best I've found is Jim Brickman Holiday, it is very nice background music.
I love this show! I totally look at my "wardrobe" differently! I wonder if I could nominate my daughters...

Lastly, my favorite comedian. Brian Regan makes me laugh hard.

Favorites of the week

by Sally

My favorite things this week.

First on my list has to be the public library. At my library, once you have a card, you can go online and reserve anything in the entire library system. They will send it to the local library as soon as it's available, email me that it's waiting, and my local library then holds the item for me for 2 weeks.

Right now at home I have this book on CD:

Haven't listened to it yet and it's due tomorrow. The road to late fees is paved with good intentions.

These DVDs:

And quite a few children's books with CDs so the kids can listen and read along.

On hold and waiting for me at this very moment are a bunch of Christmas CDs, a cookbook, and the newest (it's not that new) Khaled Hosseini book on CD. While there is a limit to how many items you can check out, there is no limit to how many you can place on hold. I have over 40 items on hold at the moment! One of them is a parenting book one of my bossy sisters told me to read. Another is Twilight, the book everyone on the planet has read except for me. Because it is so popular it might take me, say, 2-3 weeks to get it, instead of 5 days which is often the norm for things on my holds list.

When I pick this up later today, I will put it on immediately. I'm not waiting until after Thanksgiving for Christmas music this year.

I used to buy books at Costco. I still have a huge stack of them that I've not yet read. Now I check books out for FREE and don't read them. Much better!

Today I got on a roll and added a bunch of music CDs. Mostly new age stuff--Liz Story, George Winston. Also some John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma, Ella Fitzgerald, and of course The Muppets. I get to audition all of these CDs for a week or two before deciding if I want to buy them on itunes. You can also check out movies, kid's music, any printed media, and some library systems even have amazing online resources like the Rosetta Stone language courses.

Just a small portion of my holds list.

If you don't use your library, give it a try. Most libraries have these online resources now and they are fantastic and will save you money. (Unless you are disorganized like me and you end up paying lots of small late fees...still worth it). You can't beat it for finding books on CDs for road trips (or cleaning the house), cookbooks, parenting books, and a zillion things to entertain and educate children.

Other favorite things this week:

The shark, which my kids think is an awesome toy and therefore they use it constantly. It was about $50 at Coscto. It does not have suction, but the tiny motor does sweep stuff up. I was actually underwhelmed by the performance of this purchase, but in the 3 weeks since, it's gotten used multiple times every day by les enfants, so I have to love that.




Bamboo cooking utensils. From Target. Bamboo is a very durable wood, but gentle on your cookware. You will never go back to plastic or (gasp) metal again.



Man. I spent a long time trying to find the image of these bamboo utensils, then finally gave up and took my own photo. This picture shows that 1. they are Chefmate brand (3 pack at Target includes slotted spoot and reg spoon too) and 2. I have two of the same utensil because I like them so much, I went back 6 months later and got another set.


Cold Weather. We moved recently and I wasn't expecting the warm weather to be humid for the first 5 hours of every single morning! Getting sweaty while dropping kids off for school is not fun. It was too hot for 4 months straight (no one here has A/C). I am so grateful to finally have some cool weather and have the house get cold at night.

This weather looks very appealing when you are too hot for 4 months.

And those, gentle readers, are my favorites of the week.