Ready, Set, Go

You know how there are some moms who are able to do their holiday shopping throughout the year -- buying the perfect gifts as they think of them instead of forgetting all their brilliant ideas, taking advantage of sales instead of flailing around desperate and hasty, stockpiling treats in a secure and secret spot rather than misplacing them? Do you know those moms?

I am not one of those moms, and it's a shame. It's not that I get incredibly stressed out preparing to play Santa Claus. I don't. Desperate and hasty are probably a bit strong for describing me. Our kids have been happy every Christmas morning so far. However, I always end up feeling a bit disappointed in myself, like I could have done better. By better I don't mean grander or more lavish. I mean better as in more creative and surprising.

My ideas and plans for Christmas this year are still foggy, but here are some ideas I'm thinking about ...

For Bub:

Make good on my promise to turn part of a basement storage/furnace room into an art studio. I'd love for him to open the door and see a rug on the floor, the easel he already owns set up with new paints and brushes, a clothes pin art gallery ready and waiting for his creations, a smock, a variety of paper, and one of those 10-packs of blank canvases they sell at Michaels for $14.99. Also, a new bulb in the overhead fixture in there so he can see what he's doing.

For Little Bit:

He's really into the puppet theater in the library's "learning garden." Hubby and I don't have the time or DIY skills to construct a wooden puppet theater, but I think I could rig up something cool with some fabric and a tension rod -- maybe for a doorway or part of the playroom. Or, if I had a giant sturdy cardboard box, I think he'd be just as excited by that. I'd buy a few puppets and also search Pinterest (I know, I know, when will I stop mentioning Pinterest? Never.) for some directions on making your own paper bag or sock puppets.

For Sweet P:

Sweet P is flat-out obsessed with babies. Each night before she goes to bed, she has me tucking in three battered and semi-naked Cabbage Patch dolls (two of mine, one of her dads), her dad's "Baby Troy," a stuffed Elmo, and a Barbie-sized Princess Leia. She is constantly bringing me various babies to be swaddled. We've made some makeshift beds out of cardboard boxes, and she gets a real kick out of taking the babies in and out of the beds. For her, I'd love to create a miniature day care center -- a corner of the playroom or basement that has some baby beds or little pack n' plays, car seats, high chairs, strollers, etc. I've seen all this baby doll stuff at toy stores, and I imagine I could improvise as well. I think she could spend hours moving the babies from one spot to the next, especially if any of these baby doll items have straps to latch and unlatch. Actually, if I can't get the child care center set up, I'm just going to find a used infant carseat (we gave ours away when I could no longer carry it and Sweet P at the same time) so she could spend her days buckling and unbuckling it.

Speaking of babies, anyone have a source for inexpensive clothes to fit Cabbage Patch dolls?

For all three:

They all love singing and dancing, and I think they'd get a kick out of a dance area with a spot light. Our CDs and digital music are pretty disorganized right now. If we get our act together in that department, we could create an atmosphere more conducive to dance parties.

Okay, I've got to end this post and get to work on these ideas ASAP. I probably should have started months and months ago.

And, just warning you, I feel like I have more semi-creative Christmas ideas percolating. Stay tuned.

Any creative surprises in mind for the kids in your life? Please share in the comments.

PFMP -- Phase One

Yesterday, I finished Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? I adored this book. Kaling is smart, hard-working, and refreshingly honest about what's important to her: her parents, her friends, her hope to one day be in a happy marriage and be a mom. Her book of personal essays is extremely well-written and genuinely funny. If I were still teaching high school English, I would offer an excerpt to students to illustrate the elusive quality we call "voice." Hers is clear, strong, and engaging. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? would make a great gift for anyone who enjoys a smart, funny read that does not rely on shock value or cheap shots.

One essay is entitled "These Are the Narcissistic Photos in My BlackBerry" and includes photos from Kaling's BlackBerry with commentary.

I don't take many photos of myself with my phone, perhaps because I seldom need to check my hair and make-up on the way to awards shows. I do snap a lot of pics with my phone though, often with the intention of sharing them in a blog post.

Here's the first phase of PFMP (Photos from My Phone), complete with commentary approximately 96% less funny than Kaling's and with insight into the accompanying posts that never quite materialized.

Okay, here we have Little Bit taking a walk amongst some still-melting snow mounds last winter. Since it snowed here for about seven minutes this afternoon, this photo called out to me today. There's my old city street -- aawww.

Here's the Charlie Sheen auction package at the boys' school fundraiser last year. Can't remember if I took the photo because I thought it was funny or inappropriate. Discuss amongst yourselves. Actually, don't bother.

There's my Bub holding one of the Sweet Pickles books we read at Grammy and Pop's house. I'd love to have a complete set even though some of those Sweet Pickles are more grumpy and/or depressed than they are sweet.

A Caprese Salad my mom made. Delish.

Ahoy, mateys. We took the boys on a fantastic pirate cruise when we were in Florida last March. Loved it -- one of those rare totally-got-our-money's-worth experiences!

Whoa, step back. Is that the Biebs peeking out of my sister's front door? Or maybe just the life-size Justin Bieber cardboard cutout I got my niece for her birthday (pre-alleged-baby-mama-drama). I photographed each party guest with Mr. Bieber but never ended up putting a post together.

And here is the button I sewed onto my husband's shirt ... after that shirt sat on top of our china cabinet for two months early this year. Bet you're sorry that thrilling post never came to be.

We'll end with the money shot.

For as long as I can remember, the garage door above has had Snoopy as the Red Baron painted on it. It's next to a main road in the town bordering my hometown, and I have passed it thousands of times on my way home. I snapped this from the Odyssey as I was pointing it out to my kids --the very same garage door I had looked at from the back seat of the station wagons and conversion vans of my youth!

And there you have it, PFMP, Phase One.

Any gems saved on your phone?

Picture Lady in the House

I am visiting Bub's kindergarten class as part of a parent-sponsored Fine Arts Program.

At my grade school, this program was called "Picture Lady."

Tomorrow I am the Picture Lady. I feel old and yet strangely proud because I always found Picture Lady and the picture ladies themselves to be kind of awesome.

I'd say I was worried about doing something that would embarrass Bub, but the truth is that he is still so young, innocent, eager, and sweet that I doubt I could embarrass him if I tried. He is over-the-top excited that I'm coming to his classroom tomorrow.

And so am I.
Off to get some beauty rest and dream of Van Gogh's The Bedroom in my own.

Word Up

Well, I've reached that point in November when daily posting is getting difficult. I'm too tired and uninspired to write anything worth reading, but too stubborn to give up on the NaBloPoMo daily posting challenge.

Today's solution? Borrow some wise and inspiring words from others, the collected wisdom of my Pinterest "Inspiration" board. Sources for the quotations included whenever possible.

***

If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

***

Be kind and be truthful and your life will be fruitful.

***

Comparison is the thief of joy. Theodore Roosevelt

***

Cleaning House while the kids are home is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing.

(I'd replace "home" with "awake" for my purposes)

***

Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

***

What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?

(my friend E... has started an awesome series of gratitude posts inspired by this saying)

What words are offering you inspiration and perspective these days? Which of the sayings above resonates with you? Please share in the comments.

Pick a Card, Any Card

Here are my memories from kindergarten: distinguishing myself by preferring white milk over chocolate, sitting on the rug and talking about the weather, going into the little classroom bathroom once and finding poop on the seat, being part of the group with the gold folders, hearing my teacher say she was "ready for my golden girls and boys," and calling my teacher at home to tell her that my new baby sister had just been born.

I don't remember learning any sight words in kindergarten and that may be the reason why one of my memories of first grade involves having one of the thickest stacks of sight word flashcards. It could be that kindergarteners in 1980 did not learn sight words.

Kindergarteners in 2011 do learn sight words, which I think is fantastic. Bub is so eager to learn to read, and watching him on this journey is one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of parenthood so far.

We were given a list of sight words for each quarter at the start of the year and some suggestions for helping our children learn them. One of the tips was to play games like Memory and Go Fish with the words. I bought a package of index cards at Walgreens and made two cards for each word. What I found was that the index cards were a bit too big for these games. When we played Memory, the cards took up too much room on the table. When we tried Go Fish, Bub couldn't manipulate all the cards in his hand.

One easy solution? Take the index cards left in the package, cut each in half, and make a new set of smaller, easier to handle cards.

Feel free to stop reading at this point.

* * *

I got it in my head that it would be so great to play Memory and Go Fish with the sight words if they were on actual playing cards. So, here goes.

Materials Needed: list of sight words appropriate to your child's grade level, computer/printer (though you could handwrite if you wish), full-sheet labels, playing cards, scissors, plastic container

Directions:

1. Type the sight words (each word twice) in a large, easy-to-read font. I used three columns and typed eight words per page, but there may be more efficient ways to arrange your document if you did more measuring.

2. Print on full-sheet labels (these are labels the size of a piece of printer paper -- available at any office store). Cut each word out (tedious).

3. Pull the sticky back off each word off (more tedious) and stick that word on the face of a playing card. Since I did not measure precisely, some words did not fully cover the original face of the card but this does not seem to matter.

4. Shuffle and play Memory with your sight word cards.

Memory is my favorite even though Bub clobbers me every time. And, yes, he has a pencil attached to his shirt collar.

5. Play Go Fish with the sight word cards.

6. Store in a little plastic container (could use the cardboard boxes to sort by level).

Things to Consider:

* if your child's sight words are sorted by quarter or level, you may consider using different colors of ink for each level.

* these sight word cards would be a great way to re-use playing cards from an incomplete deck -- be aware that it might make sense to make sure words from the same quarter/level are adhered to the playing cards from the same deck

* you don't need to throw out the Jokers as they just get covered

* you can buy a two-pack of playing cards at the dollar store for ... a dollar!

* probably best to make playing these games totally optional and not a chore/obligation

Remember that I said you could stop at this (* * *) point? Just checking. There are tons of great ways to learn and review sight words that don't involve cutting and adhering full sheet labels. I'm just sharing something we've had fun with at our house in case the project appeals to you.

I do this kind of stuff because I enjoy this kind of stuff. I think Bub gets a kick out of having the words on actual playing cards, and I don't regret the extra time and effort it took to assemble them. Bub and I both genuinely enjoy playing cards with the sight words. When the second quarter began, Bub knew all the second quarter words (NTB) just from playing these games a couple times a week.

Fun and learning together? Win-Win. I'll play those cards. Deal me in. I'll bet on that. A winning combination however you shuffle the deck. Okay, I'm stopping now.

Any sight word tips or success stories in your house?

What Rhymes with Lame?

Here's another round of the Favorite Game:

Favorite New Television Show
New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel

Favorite New Christmas Album I Haven't Even Heard Yet
A Very She & Him Christmas ("She" of this duo is Zooey Deschanel)

Favorite Variety of Chobani Greek Yogurt
2% Pineapple

Favorite "Female Story" I've Read
My bloggy friend Dusty's post "The Best/Worst 'Female' Story You Will Ever Read"

Favorite Books Read in October 2011
Kevin Wilson's The Family Fang and Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad

Favorite Male Television Personalities
Tom Bergeron and Regis Philbin

Favorite Class/Program for Young Children
Music Together

Favorite Blog Tag Line
Wendi Aaron's "they're not all gems" (seems quite applicable to this post)

LEAST Favorite Candy Bars (had to tweak category since I am abstaining from candy)
KitKat, Three Musketeer, Nestle Crunch, Hershey's

That's it for now. I'm finding it trickier to come up with categories in which I have clear favorites than I thought. Feel free to offer your own answers in the categories above and/or additional categories for consideration.

Pretty Perfect Morning

Sweet P was up and at 'em early ... so I took the early train into the city and caught the sunrise.And on that train, I read this book and laughed aloud at least five times.
When the train arrived in Chicago, I walked the almost-empty streets and enjoyed the rare freedom of having no stroller to push and no little hands to hold.
Then all of a sudden on that almost-empty street, I crossed paths with two of my sister LAP's good college friends. LAP's roommate's son took a picture so we had a record of this happy, surprise meeting. They were headed to run in the Hot Chocolate Race.
As they headed toward their race, I kept walking but paused to admire the Chicago River.
Then I walked into that Hot Chocolate Race. And guess what? I needed to cross that street. I'll wait it out, I thought, surely the runners can't keep coming forever. Twenty minutes later, I got up enough nerve to Frogger my way across the road. No one was injured, and I felt strangely exhilarated.
A little more walking, and I knocked on the door of the hotel room of one of my very favorite people in the whole world. I captured this city view from the room's window as she dried her hair and we talked in that very comfortable way you talk with someone who already knows you and loves you and appreciates you just the way you are.
Then we walked a bit to earn our tasty breakfast. Matching bowls of oatmeal, Diet Coke, and the croissant (which we split). And more talking.
Then some browsing and some analysis: Kit's scooter? Bitty Baby or Bitty Twin? Does Julie indeed have a pet rabbit? We gave each other the nudges we needed to give Santa some help. Then we got in a cab, met her hubby back at the hotel, and loaded up their sleigh.

Pretty good picture for a parking garage backdrop. A few pretty, perfect hours with a pretty stinking awesome friend.

That was my Saturday morning. And yours?