Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Parenting Tip: post-it's


I got this great tip from another Mom and I think it is genius!

My daughter HATES the auto-flush toilets and always asked me to cover it while she is going. So there I am twisted around her covering the red light with one hand and helping her with toilet paper, etc. with the other. It is an awkward position and if you throw in a purse and a few jackets it becomes a juggling act. I know many Mom's also go through this, well one Mom told me she carries the small post-it notes in her purse and sticks one over the light. Wonderful idea!!!! I love it, so simple, off to find some post-its!

Monday, June 28, 2010

What I'm reading: Sex Instructions, inside pages

You'll never guess where I got this book. My mother found it at my Grandparents house. My Grandparents moved into an assisted living community and mother saw this book when cleaning out the house and thought of me.... yes me... why you ask. She remembered this blog about the vintage menstruation book and thought this would be an interesting book to blog about. And was she right!



The copyright for this was 1937 and it is a book any good catholic at that time would buy to teach their children about the "Sin" of unmarried sex and "Self -Abuse" (aka masturbation). It is so interesting to read. I was really surprised how for a "How to Give Sex Instructions" book they do not use many technical names:

Seed = Sperm
Emissions = ejaculation
Self- abuse = masturbation
Nor do they ever mention the penis or vagina, not once. The whole book is really about how to stay "pure" in the eyes of God.

I also thought it was interesting how the title first reads" Sex Instructions" in large bold font to draw you in. Then you see it says in small type "How to give". I wonder how many people looked at it hoping to find some great sex tips or interesting drawings.

You should be able to click on the pages to enlarge it and read the copy, it is definitely from a time past long ago.

Friday, June 25, 2010

What I'm reading: Sex Instructions

I bet this caught your attention...

more about this book on Monday...

I know, I'm a tease!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Movie Review: Nine

Brian and I rented the Movie "Nine" at a redbox (we love the red boxes, they are so easy and $1 for a movie is great). Right after the movie we both looked at each other and almost at the same time said we were bored! Brian did like the song parts of the movie and that was the part I didn't like. I thought there was only one good song in the movie... "Be Italian" by Fergie. Overall I give it a solid C. It did a some nice visual effects, a lot of sexy girls for the guys but overall boring.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Imagination

Don't you just love kids imaginations... all they need is a rolled up blanket and a handmade paper fire and they are camping deep in the woods telling ghost stories. I'm surprised they didn't ask me for marshmallows for their camping trip.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Summer Fun - Motor Boat


Is there anything more fun at age 3, 4 or 5 than playing floaty motor boat with Grammy/Aunt Janel at her pool?... Nope!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Product Review - Bias Tape Maker


Add ImageI finally bought a Dritz bias taper maker and I am kicking myself for not spending the $5 for this sooner! This thing is awesome! You cut the strips, put it through and iron! No more burning my fingers trying to fold the fabric myself! I used it to make the straps for this dress I made for Anna. I will be buying a few more sizes of these for sure!

Anna picked out the fabric and she loves her new summer dress!


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois


This past weekend we made the 3 hour trip to the 32nd Annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois. My husband is a super hero nerd and we finally made the trip.

It was fun, we did see people dressed like this, that Thor kid was pretty cute. The down side to the whole weekend was the temperature... it was 95+, full sun beating down on you with very little shade to be found. I don't know how these people could stand to wear these costumes in this heat. They really need to hold this event in October!

Brian and Amelia loved it. Amelia wanted her photo with all the girl superheros and since she watches the cartoons with Brian, she knew them all! Hawk girl was her favorite, she came running back to tell me Hawk girl let her hold her mace!

Here is Amelia & Brian meeting the "Real Superman". While taking photos I realized this guy was the real deal, he had no padding those were his arms, chest, legs... I got a super crush on this superman! This photo doesn't do him justice, he was super fine!

So here we all are, one fun family road trip, one happy husband and one star struck daughter (aka super girl Amelia).

Also a big thanks to the Dames Family who sweated out this trip with us. Maybe we need to go snow skiing next!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Love note from Amelia



Driving home from a birthday party last week Amelia wrote me this note on the back of an envelope.

"I love you, you love me. I have love waiting for you."

All I can say to this is...
I am the luckiest mom in the world, my life is good
and I will always treasure this envelope!


Friday, June 11, 2010

Go Daisies!

Amelia has started her first team sport that includes games. Don't they look so cute in their uniforms, they are a sea of purple! It's a slow moving game but also pretty amusing when they have 6 girls chasing after a ball or when they are not sure where to run after they hit the ball. It's pretty cute all around! Good Luck Daisies!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

What we're eating - more salad

So far our new garden has produced dinner salad for three meals (4 servings a meal). The bib lettuce has grown so nicely, it taste good and the girls love to pick it for our dinner. Lucky for me they LOVE salad!

Our green beans have also done nicely but I need to plant more plants next year, we get about 10 beans at a time. I like to fry them up... so yummy!

Sadly the zucchini has end rot. I was so excited when we had two growing and then the ends started to turn brown. Now I need to figure out what the soil needs to help them grow. I'm not sure I have the energy to figure it out.

The tomatoes are starting to flower and we have one tomato growing, I'm keeping my fingers crossed! The two plants in the ground look much better than the two in the upside down planters.

The new blueberry bush has 4 berries on it... I still need to figure out where to plant it and get another bush to help it grown more in the future.

Not too bad for our first real attempt at a garden, the lettuce & beans has kept our motivation going.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Oil in the Ocean

News coverage showing photos like this brought me to tears today. Thinking of all the innocent animals affected by this disaster... it breaks my heart. Knowing that this bird and thousands of animals will likely die because of human mistakes. Being in the middle of the country I'm not sure how I can help, I want to help, but how?

Monday, June 7, 2010

Memory Monday - The Big Yellow Van

When I was young I remember three cars my parents owned, one was an old 1940's Ford truck (my Dad's toy), another was a green VW Bug that my Dad had reupholstered with shaggy green carpeting. I remember I hated the smell of that car, I think it was the glue he used to add the carpet to the sides. I also remember there was a small hole in the floor of the passenger side that you could see the road below.

The car that I really remember was a yellow van that my Dad must had bought empty and he added the seats, etc. There were two front seats and two back seat that faced the sliding door, so yes, we always were riding sideways. Under one of the side seats was an 8 track tape player that most likely was playing the Beach Boys, Kenny Rogers, or the Beatles.

This car was also custom upholstered by my father with shag green carpeting, he most have gotten a deal on that carpet. In the back half of the van he built a platform plywood bed about 4 ft high and 6ft deep, and yes it was covered in green carpet. Under the platform was a lot of storage for all our camping gear that you could access through the back doors of the van. We had the best time on the platform bed, we could sleep on long trips or pretend it was a stage and sing. But the best was roll around back and forth as the van turned back and forth and up and down on the windy roads (this was before any seat belt law). We would roll back and forth, bumping into each other and laughing. Or you could lay back there and just look out the window (which was at eye level when laying down) and watch the world go by.

This was one kooky van and we had it a very long time, I had to take my drivers license test with this beast and yes, I had to take the test twice because of parallel parking!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

What I am working on

Here is the latest project I just finished... the EA website. I'm very happy with how it turned out, it has a nice and clean layout.
Take a full size look here.