A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

King Tut and Arabic Groove

We went to see Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs at the MN Science Museum over the weekend. What a great exhibit. We learned about the pharaohs of ancient Egypt and saw more than 100 artifacts from 3,000 years ago. The mind boggles. It was fascinating to hear the story of Howard Carter, who unearthed King Tut’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. His is a story of how “way leads on to way”—he started as a young artist hired to assist with recording an excavation and ended up heading the team that made one of the greatest discoveries of all time.

My favorite artifact was this shabti. We read about shabti in Rick Riordan’s book, The Red Pyramid, so it was cool to see one in real life. A shabti is a small human figurine that represents a person who would perform a given task for the deceased in the afterlife. In other words, the pharaohs and other rich folks had a bunch of these little clay figures buried with them so they wouldn’t have to do any work in the afterlife. Needless to say, I’ll be making some out of play dough to tuck in with me so someone else can wash the dishes and do laundry in Heaven.

The museum’s sound system had Putumayo’s Arabic Groove playing in the background. We first heard the CD a few years ago during a visit to the Children’s Museum. It’s the sort of music you can’t help dancing to, so I bought a CD. I hadn’t listened to it for a while, but I’ve dusted it off. The music gets me moving since I don’t have any shabti to do all my work. Yet. If you like to read about adventurers with a mission to make the world a better place, check out this interview with Putumayo’s founder Dan Storper here.

Countdown to Christmas Part 3: Sibling Gifts

For those of you just joining in, every month on or near the 25th I’m posting ideas to help us get ready for the coming holiday season. Just to be clear: I’m not trying to be cute. I just want to enjoy Christmas a little more. By spreading the insanity throughout the year, I’m hoping to feel a little more peaceful during that crazy time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

Last year we started a new tradition that I learned from Design Mom: Sibling Gifts. Our kids have always bought little gifts for each other, but I loved Gabrielle’s idea of having each sibling make something for all the other siblings. The only downside is that it added a whole new layer of stress. So. If you decide to have your kids make gifts for their siblings, prepare in advance. Decide what you want to make and then gather as many of the materials ahead of time as you can. I’m scouting ideas for next Christmas, but here are a few things we did last year if this is something you’d like to try.

Will made the Santa and snowmen bars from Martha Stewart Living for his chocolate-loving big brother. They were super easy to make and turned out really cute, don’t you think?

Will also made these festive gloves for his big sister. I helped him by holding the pieces in place, but he did the actual sewing himself. Lexie was very pleased. Who doesn’t like to jingle at Christmas? I picked up the gloves at JoAnn Fabrics for a dollar. You could use any color gloves you like with any adornments you can think of.

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R-word: Spread the Word to End the Word

When I was writing about what inspires us to do good in the world, I checked the Special Olympics International (SOI) website to make sure I was getting my terminology correct. When I worked there back in the early ’90s we said that a person “had mental retardation.” But I learned that the correct term now is a “person with intellectual disabilities” because the word “retardation” went from being a clinical description to a word of derision.

I also learned that SOI is spearheading a campaign to “End the R-Word.” Have you heard of this? Here’s how they describe the movement:

Spread the Word to End the Word™ is an ongoing effort by Special Olympics, Best Buddies International, and our supporters to raise the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using the R-word. The campaign, created by youth, is intended to engage schools, organizations, and communities to rally and pledge their support at www.r-word.org and to promote the inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities.

The R-word is INCORRECT
“When you say the ‘R’ word it makes people feel bad and it hurts my feelings and I don’t want to hear you guys say it. Instead, you can call me a leader, a hero, or a human being, but please don’t call me the ‘R’ word.” – Dony Knight, Special Olympics Oregon athlete

Sounds good to me. One of my kids called another kid the “R” word once and I nearly cried when I found out. Actually, I did cry. How could a child of mine say that? I worked at Special Olympics, for heaven’s sake. This child, who shall remain nameless, tearfully explained that he/she was just repeating back what another kid was saying, but it still shocked me. We talked about it and I truly believe X will never say it again.

Special Olympics is such a great organization. Why did I ever leave? Oh, yeah. I moved home to get married and finish school. At any rate, I was happy to see that Spirit is alive and well. When I started the magazine, who would have thought it would be entirely online one day? My baby’s all grown up.

So. Please spread the word to end the word.

A New Workout from Holly Rigsby

Holly posted a great new strength-training workout for us. Watch the video to learn the moves, then put on some good music and go. I’m going through a J-Lo “On the Floor” and Shakira “Waka Waka” phase at the moment.

You can make the workout more or less challenging depending on the weights you use. If you’re just getting started, use lighter weights (or none at all). If you’re up for more of a challenge, use heavier weights. Just do something!