Today is the first Monday of school, though the girl went back on Thursday. It feels like a new year in a way to me, too, since I was basically not working for almost three weeks while she was out of school. There are a lot of things I want to change about how I […]
How to Entertain Kids on a Trip: On-the-Go Fun for Kids
This needs to start with the big disclaimer that I know the author of this book in an online friend sense. We used to be colleagues at About.com and she has gone on to do amazing things, including writing three books and working for Understood to be an even bigger advocate for kids with learning […]
Cleaning the Craft Closet, a #projectsimplify Update
I have not been doing all that well with my One Little Word this year. Simplify is such a great word — and I did some good stuff with it at the beginning of the year — and I have every intention of seeing it through in every way I still can with what’s left […]
Learning to Write with William Zinsser
In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinsser says all writers should read E.B. White’s The Elements of Style once a year. I feel the same way about his book, though admittedly I hadn’t read either for a while. I pulled out my copy of On Writing Well — procured from a collection of used […]
How to Read More Books
It’s been almost six months since I announced my quest to read more women authors. It has not been going well. In my defense, I started with a super-long book, The Tale of Genji, which took me exactly 100 days to read. Then I sailed through — and totally loved, by the way — Portrait […]
Books to Get Kids Interested in Saving the Planet
Today’s Natural Parenting and Earth Month Blog Hop subjects are all about teaching our children about the earth. Kids need to know the importance of protecting the environment and what they can do from an early age. The girl knows all about recycling and why we use cloth bags when we go to the grocery […]
Three Great Unconventional Princess Books
It seems like princesses are everywhere these days, and if you have a girl, even if she also loves things like space and animals (like mine does), she’s probably going to be into princesses, too, at least a little bit. I’m not a big fan of the typical princess story, but I do like to […]