This week I set up a donation box in my closet. Now, every time I see something that I’m ready to part with, I can immediately take it and put it into the box. This should help eliminate the, “I’ll remember to grab that the next time I’m gathering a bag of things to give away.” Instead, I can take care of it immediately.… Continue reading
My 6-year-old decided that he wanted to paint a life-size picture of himself. He also wanted to paint a life-size picture of his brother.
To help him to accomplish this, we took two large pieces of paper from our paper roll, one sized for him and one sized for his brother. I then had him lay down and I traced all around his body, starting with his head and working my way down to his feet.… Continue reading
I feel like we’re surrounded by colds and the flu right now. Our close friends all seem to be sick. When we went to story time at the library, there were lots of kids with runny noses, and lots of people coughing and sneezing and hacking. I keep hearing talk of the nasty flu going around town. We are doing our best to avoid all of this by boosting our immunity naturally.… Continue reading
My boys and I love silly rhymes, so I was excited when I stumbled upon this wonderful book of whimsical poems and illustrations. Florian filled Omnibeasts full of delightful short poems that seamlessly combine fun, wit, and fact.
In one of our favorites, Florian writes [in successively smaller font], “The itty-bitty, pretty tetra / Is small, minute, petite, et cetra.” In another, he describes the praying mantis: “Upon a twig / I sit and pray / For something big / To wend my way; / A caterpillar, / Moth, / Or bee — / I swallow them / Religiously.”… Continue reading
“Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind.”
― Amit Ray… Continue reading
My two boys eat pretty much every two hours from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. It’s not that they don’t eat at meals (well, most of the time). They do eat meals; my 6-year-old sometimes eats more than I do. It’s simply that they’re growing so much that they’re constantly hungry.
As a result, I’m always looking for simple, healthy snacks to keep on hand.… Continue reading
Yesterday it snowed all day, and we ended up with almost a foot of snow. Today it’s in the mid-50s, and the snow in our yard is rapidly melting. The bright sun shining makes today a perfect day for painting snow mandalas.
To make snow paint, I simply mixed food coloring with water, and then sent my boys outside with containers of paints and paint brushes.… Continue reading
Today I went through my bathroom medicine cabinet. The cabinet was pretty much filled to maximum capacity. Most of the stuff in there is stuff that we want to keep around in case we need it (an assortment of essential oils, homeopathics, and herbals), but there were also many things that we no longer use.
For instance, I had a stash of essential oils of assorted brands from before I discovered Young Living.… Continue reading
If you don’t know about your local Freecycle community, you should. Freecycle is an amazing resource, both for obtaining and disposing of items.
The goal of Freecycle is to keep usable items out of the landfill by supporting and encouraging their re-use.
Over the past decade, I have given away hundreds of things via Freecycle. When I’m paring down, I frequently post items on Freecycle so that other people in my community can make use of them.… Continue reading
I love my plants. I am warmed by seeing their greenery around the house, especially when the outside plants are dormant and bare for the winter. I trust them to help purify the air in my home, as plants are great natural air filters. Plants can also help reduce stress, similar to the way that being outside in nature can help reduce our stress levels.… Continue reading