A Mom’s Year – Page 14 – Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

March 7, 2014

Happy Friday + Weekend Links

Lily Snowy Self-Portrait

Self-portrait by Lily.

Happy Friday! How was your week? Mine was good—and it got even better when the mercury crept up past 30 degrees. The first trickles of melting snow are just starting to flow. Are you familiar with the sound of melting snow? I think it’s one of the most beautiful noises in nature.

Do you have plans for the weekend? We have a tournament here and there and the last night of ski club, but it’s not looking too crazy. Which is a good thing because I get cranky if there’s not enough white space in my life. Maybe you can relate?

I’ve finally taken the plunge into revising the book I drafted last November during NaNoWriMo. Man, it can be hard for me to get started on things like this. How long has it been? Three months? I will, of course, share anything I figure out about the revision process for those of you who are interested.

So while I try to get a handle on where the heck I was going in Chapter Two, here are some fun links for you:

+ Gabby is never afraid to tackle difficult subjects, and this discussion on teaching kids about race and racism got me thinking. We’ve certainly dealt with our share of, um, misguided comments. I’ll have to write about it one of these days. In the meantime, the self-portrait Lily made at school makes me so happy.

+ How do you catch a leprechaun? With tiny donuts, of course! Be sure to check out the free donut box printable.

+ I’m obsessed with this video of Idina Menzel and Jimmy Fallon performing “Let It Go” using only classroom instruments. Just ask my family. Luckily, most of them are obsessed, too.

+ Inspired by Farrell’s Happy project, these folks want to spread the happy. (My tap class is dancing to “Happy” and I’m over the moon.)

+ Lily would love these projects using watercolor tape.

+ Please let this study about coffee be true!

+ I decided to lose a few pounds before our trip and immediately gained two. Maybe this is why.

+ Stamp yo face! Look! It’s you on a rubber stamp!

+ I appreciate stories that celebrate the art of honing one’s craft: A Useful Reminder: Louis C.K. Was Bad Before He Was Good.

+ Fascinating animated map showing the evolution of Europe from 1,000 AD to the present.

So there you go. Have a great weekend and I hope to see you back here next week!

March 6, 2014

To Wallpaper or Not to Wallpaper? And Other Decorating Dilemmas

To be honest, I’m not even sure I’m allowed to talk about wallpaper. You see, the walls of our old house—our first home—were literally covered in wallpaper. Every. single. wall. Living room, kitchen, bathrooms, family room, hallways…even the laundry room had wallpaper. But it was a charming house and we weren’t planning to stay for long, so we ignored the wallpaper.

Until it was time to sell. Conveniently pregnant with Will, I took Andrew and Lexie off to a family reunion one weekend at the Wisconsin Dells and left Tim to tackle the wallpaper. To this day, his eye starts to twitch at the word. Seriously, the next time you see him say “wallpaper” and watch what happens.

So I feel kind of bad bringing it up. But look at that photo up there. Isn’t the room beautiful? Doesn’t it invite you to curl up and relax in front of the fire with a good book, a cup of tea, and your labrador? The wallpaper provides such a soft, subtle background.

(The room is featured in a British publication called The Simple Things. I could live in this magazine. Since I can’t actually do that, I’m working up the nerve to pitch them some ideas.)

Anyway, I’m thinking about wallpaper because something has to be done about this room:

March 5, 2014

Pilgrimage to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe

It’s March 2004. We’re in Tomorrowland, seated at a table just outside Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe. Over the weekend we attended a cousin’s wedding in nearby Cocoa Beach and now we’re spending a few days at Disney World before heading home to the frozen tundra. Andrew is 5, Lexie is 3, William is 1. We’re enjoying our lunch and soaking up the glorious warmth and sunshine.

At a table near us, a young girl, about three years old, is holding court. She’s wearing a blue princess dress and a crown that’s perched precariously on her head. She has three older brothers who are wiggling and falling out of their chairs and causing a polite ruckus, but she sits calmly amid the chaos. She is focused on her lunch. Every now and then she reaches out for a french fry and someone hands her one. Occasionally, she laughs at her brothers. This has the effect of egging them on to act even sillier. It’s a happy scene and they look like every other happy family at Disney World.

Except that the girl is Asian and the rest of the family is not. The mother is blond, the father has light brown hair. The brothers are fair like their parents. The girl has a birthmark that runs down the side of her face and onto her neck where it disappears under her dress.

I’m trying not to stare. I’m not suffering from idle curiosity. It’s just that this family looks so much like us. Or at least us as we could be.

March 4, 2014

10 Fun Ways to Connect with Books

When I worked full-time as an editor for EMC Publishing’s literature and language arts series, one of my favorite tasks was coming up with activities to connect students to the texts in our books. The idea behind these activities was to make the novels, plays, stories, poems, essays, and even grammar lessons accessible to kids no matter what their learning styles were. We played to students’ individual strengths through projects that involved painting, drawing, writing, acting, games, you name it.

As a parent, making those connections between readers and stories is still one of my favorite things to do! Whether it’s a Harry Potter-themed birthday party or our own little summer reading program, I really enjoy finding ways to help bring characters and books to life.

So here are 10 of our favorite ways to connect with books:

1. Cook something. Lily and her friend Abi are co-leading the Mighty Girls book club discussion today on Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. At one point in the story the main character, Minli, eats a turtle-shaped cake filled with red bean paste. Lily and I thought that might be a little too adventurous for a group of hungry third-graders, so we decided to make turtle cupcakes instead.

Sometimes specific foods are mentioned in a story, but if not, why not make something you think the characters would be likely to eat? You could prepare a treat from France to serve while reading Madeline or re-create a meal from one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books.

March 1, 2014

2014 Printable Oscar Ballot and Bingo

Holy frijoles, I forgot all about the Oscars! But there’s still time to stock up on popcorn and milk duds and print out some ballots before the show airs tomorrow night at 7:30 pm CST.

Jessica at How About Orange is once again sharing a printable ballot and a fun version of Oscar Bingo to make your evening more exciting. You can go here to print out your ballots and bingo cards.

We’ve done slightly better on our Oscar movie viewing this year. For the past few years, it seems like the only nominated movies we saw were the animated ones! But we managed to watch Captain Phillips, Blue Jasmine, The Hobbit and Star Trek sequels, and Gravity. And, of course, Frozen and The Croods.

Are you planning to watch the Oscars? Anything special you’re hoping to see? (I’m looking forward to seeing Idina Menzel perform “Let It Go.”)