>Personalize it!

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>Amigo has a new laundry bag, and he’s excited. Yes, you read that correctly. He is off to live in a dorm, and he has a new laundry bag, and it has his name on it. Literally. It’s big, roomy, and solid, and he’ll fill it with his (stinky) dirty clothes that he’ll probably bring home on weekends. Well, we won’t talk about that part.


The laundry bag came from Jasmine at Dakota’s Personalized Gifts. She asked if I would look over her site, review a product, and then post a giveaway on my blog. The product (see it on the site here, in the category of graduation gifts) is a winner. She also offers satisfaction guaranteed, described on the site as “The dog ate it” policy.

Dakota’s Personalized Gifts and The Anniversary Rose Gifts started in a spare bedroom about 5 years ago more as a part time hobby than a business with The Anniversary Rose making roses for the traditional anniversary gifts (i.e. 1st year paper, 2nd year cotton, 5th year wood etc) cutting rose petals by hand with scissors. It quickly grew from a part time hobby to a full time business, adding help and equipment to keep up. Then they started expanding into personalized anniversary gifts and started getting many requests from our customers for personalized wedding, Mother’s & Father’s Day and Christmas gifts etc. That’s when Dakota’s Personalized Gifts began. Soon the business took over a second bedroom and the garage. The following year it grew further, occupying two bedrooms, the garage & a full basement. With no room left to expand, the business moved into a commercial location in 2009. Dakota’s Personalized Gifts and The Anniversary Rose Gifts continue to expand with new products and updated equipment all the time in order to produce most of the personalized items in house.

As you’re browsing, use these discount codes. These two expire at the end of August.
code 10-AUG31 offers $10 off $50 purchase
code 15-AUG31 offers $15 off $75 purchase

Jasmine sent me a complimentary laundry bag (for Amigo) in order to review the quality of the products. I took the time to review her sites thoroughly before completing the post. There was no other compensation involved. So what are you waiting for: go shop!

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>Back to School: Are your kids ready? You can help.

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>Sometimes my teenager amazes me. A few days ago he reminded me that we should start getting adjusted to school time. Both of us have been sleeping in – me past 8 a.m., and he past 10. When we have to get up at 6:30 or earlier to get ready for school, it could be a shock to our systems.

That’s one tip for getting ready for school: start adjusting the wake-up and bedtimes a few weeks before school starts.
Here’s another: take inventory together before school supply shopping. Yes, I said Together. I did this when La Petite was young, and we kept it up for her and for her brother as they outgrew crayons and markers and grew into jump drives and cell phones. Reusing the previous year’s scissors and rulers and backpacks saved us a bundle every August. Buying a good quality backpack one year meant I could avoid that cost for the next several autumns, too. Involving the kids meant fewer surprises and less begging. They knew what they already owned and knew what they’d need to buy.
Thinking ahead is a big help. Preparing for waking up early, reading the school handbooks as they arrive in the mail, filling out paperwork as soon as possible: all save time and headaches later. If your paperwork needs a signature, such as a medication form, drop it off at the appropriate doctor’s office now. Many physicians are inundated by sports physicals and medication permissions as school starts; give them time to review files and sign the forms.
Obvious though it may sound, read the school’s supply lists and follow them. Teachers agonize over these before putting them together; there’s a reason for everything. Let me trade my parental blogger hat for my teacher thinking cap for a moment.
Brand names count. I’ve had to open generic glue bottles many, many times over the years. If the teacher suggests Elmer’s, please buy Elmer’s. Your child will be relieved to start gluing his projects right away while the others are fighting with their clogged bottles.
Details count. If the teacher requests rulers that measure to the 1/4 inch or 1/8 inch or have centimeters and millimeters on one side, the math or science curriculum probably requires those measurements.
Many teachers color-code notebooks and folders to help kids organize. Seriously, moms and dads, when I ask 28 students to take out their math and I see a sea of blue, I know they’re ready for class.
Teachers usually have a few extras, but not enough for the whole class. One of my pet peeves is the child who refuses to bring in a box of crayons, saying, “I can just use yours.” No, honey, that’s not what the teacher’s crayon box is for. That box helps when a child loses his red or his blue and has to borrow one to do the puzzle correctly. If a family can’t afford to replace a box of crayons, I have connections to get those supplies donated. But a family who can afford to buy pencils and doesn’t? That’s simply not acceptable.
Stepping off my soapbox, setting my teacher thinking cap aside, I’m back to being Mom. Making my lists, checking them twice, and remembering to make time to read. After all, it is still summer. Summer means relaxing, and reading is a big part of that. Offline I go, on to the printed page.
I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get a HarperCollins book set. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

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>Lemon Honey Chicken

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>From the cookbook 70 Meals, One Trip to the Store comes a simple chicken marinade.

1/2 cup butter
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup honey
4 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Combine melted butter, lemon juice, and honey. Using half the lemon/honey mixture, marinate chicken for at least one half hour. Grill or bake chicken, basting frequently with remaining lemon/ honey mixture. If baking, line baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
I cooked mine on a charcoal grill. I should say Chuck came home early and did the grilling; I just created the sauce and started the coals. We served this over rice, with fresh vegetables on the side. It used up the last of my local honey, so I bought a new bottle at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday. I predict this dish will become a regular on our table. I wonder which dish will emerge from this cookbook next?

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>Back to School with Paper Mate Biodegradable Pens and Pencils

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It’s (shudder) Back to School time!


It’s not easy being green when school is starting. Really. I stock up while supplies are on sale so I don’t have to spend a bundle when my pens and pencils run out in January, and that eases my frugal mind. My eco-conscious sensibilities are a little harder to please. Lunch boxes and water bottles, pencils and pens, and more – many of these items end up in garbage later. Imagine an empty pen, the ink used up in writing fabulous stories and essays, multiply by the 300 students in my school, and there’s quite a pile-up in our local landfill.

When Mom Central offered a chance to try out and review the new Paper Mate pens and pencils, I said, “A biodegradable pen? A mechanical pencil suitable for compost? Count me in!” They sent me a sample of each.

Step one: does it write well? I must admit that I do not like mechanical pencils in my fourth grade classroom. Kids spend more time loading and reloading the lead than they do writing. The pencil writes well, the leads are packaged well in a pencil-sized case (less likely to be lost than smaller cases) with leads on one end and erasers on the other. This has potential; I’ll keep mine in my main desk drawer and write my name on the pencil itself so it doesn’t *ahem* disappear into a student desk. The pens write well, too, with no warm-up time. That’s important; if you’ve ever waited for a child with ADHD to get a brand new pen working, you’ll know what I mean.

Now for the selling point: biodegradable components. Both pens and pencils come in cardboard packages – no plastic. That’s a point in their favor. On the back of the package is a diagram showing which pieces can be composted and which should go in the wastebaskets. This is also a plus, as it prevents students from throwing the entire pen in the compost only to find a rusty spring in the tomatoes next fall. The challenge is this: keeping the back of the package until the pen runs out of ink and the pencil leads are all used up. Will the student know what to do when the writing implement has reached the end of its useful and creative life?

I checked the Paper Mate website, thinking that kids are more likely to look to the Internet than to keep a scrap of cardboard, no matter how important. I found what I needed here: a video showing how to dispose of the pen properly and demonstrating the pen’s decomposition over a year’s time. Paper Mate is also very straightforward about the fact that the majority of its product is biodegradable, not the whole thing. Their honesty keeps them out of the green-washing category and in the serious eco-conscious world.

I plan to use mine before “planting” them in my garden or compost. That’s one challenge to this review; I couldn’t bring myself to waste the product itself in order to test its compost-ability. I am a teacher, though; I go through writing implements quickly. There’s a strong chance that I’ll be able to plant a pen or pencil before winter arrives.

Paper Mate’s web site states that “Every little bit helps.” These utensils may not be completely earth-friendly, but it’s a good start. In fact, it’s a great start.

Thanks, Paper Mate, for taking the time and effort to develop yet another eco-conscious product.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Paper Mate and received the products necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate. In my research for this review, I discovered that the new pens are only one of many environmentally responsible products from Paper Mate. They make recycled products, and you can read their company philosophy here and green FAQs here.

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>Another Saturday night, and we’ve got produce!

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>On Friday, Amigo and I were pleasantly surprised to find live music near downtown. We listened for a while, then went to our Funday Friday lunch, and then listened again while we waited for our bus ride home.

Saturday was more typical. Chuck and I went to the downtown farmers’ market, found an outrageously close parking place, overfilled the meter out of gratitude, and then filled up our bags and emptied our wallets to feed our family nothing but the freshest and the best.

As usual, we took the time to look over our finds. A little fun – a bag of kettle corn and a fresh Hmong egg roll – and the goodies on our list. Yes, we had a list. That’s a jar of local wildflower honey. I just used up the last of the jar I bought a year ago; it’s time to stock up.

But Daisy, where’s that big gunnysack that was in the car? I hear you asking – you’re so observant. The big sack has four dozen ears of sweet corn. Yes, four dozen ears of corn on the cob. We’ll cook some, blanch and freeze some, and we’ll have a little of summer’s bounty in soups and stews later in the year.
And next Saturday? Tunes or foods, we’ll see what else is new on Main Street.

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>Pantry Raid; it’s what’s for supper!

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>The scene: suppertime.

The situation: decision-making time. What to cook?
The cast: starting in front, clockwise. Onion & green pepper, farm market style, already diced. Call it a planned-over if you wish. Diced tomato; leftover from tacos. Sweet corn, cooked, still on the cob; another leftover, farm market style. Bell peppers (also from the market) in green, yellow, and purple.
Ah, yes, in the back: Uncle Ben’s fast and natural brown rice.
Narrator: I sense a stir fry coming up. Or perhaps a dirty rice; I think I see the jar of Creole Seasoning snugging up close to the box of rice. Stay tuned; there’s a supporting cast coming up.
Supporting cast, all leftovers, with a slight farm market flavor:
Top container: a few tart cherries left over from making mixed berry jam
Bottom container: fruit cocktail, canned, left over from lunch yesterday
On the cutting board: one apple.
And behind the cast, sitting patiently and waiting for its turn, the crock pot Little Dipper.
Narrator: The supporting cast clearly alludes to the potential for a fruit mix. The Little Dipper could star in its own show, but it’ll meld the fruit flavors perfectly with a little brown sugar and cinnamon, softening the mix for a lovely fruit compote.
Narrator: The results? A successful raid! Dirty rice, fruit compote, all delicious, all in the refrigerator just waiting to be called out for their turn participating in a good Pantry Raid supper.

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>Road Trip Sound Track

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>First, whistle the theme to “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”

It should have been an easy trip home. Drive north, pick up La Petite at her summer “home,” drive north again until home. Somewhere in the first leg of the journey, grab lunch.
First: I got dressed in the morning and realized I hadn’t packed any shirts for myself. I packed an extra t-shirt for Amigo, so I borrowed it. Sigh. I’m not a fashionable mom, by any means. The teen looks much better in it.
Next: packed to leave, realized that the minivan front seats were not damp, but soaked. I’d left them open a crack – only a crack! – and the wild and woolly storms had made my ride home, well, a wet one. Sister-in-law loaned us thick towels and plastic bags to spread on the seats. My side, as luck would have it, was wettest. Sound track song? “Rain, rain, go away.”
On the road! Public Radio on, grabbed a McDonald’s drive-through lunch and onward! Note to self: never buy a quarter pounder with cheese again. At least, dear self, never try to eat a quarter pounder with cheese while driving. Self, that lousy excuse for ‘food’ isn’t good for you to begin with, but even more so, it’s sloppy. You guessed it, readers: ketchup and mustard on the borrowed shirt. The song to this sound track: “Pound sign, question mark, star, exclamation point.” Yes, #?*! was about my speed at the moment.
Speaking of speed, the route was fairly direct – on paper. As we entered one of the lovely towns on the way, the police directed traffic off the main road. I didn’t know the town at all, which made finding an alternate route tough, to say the least. At Amigo’s advice, we turned on the navigator on my phone. It led us in what felt like the correct direction, but into bumper to bumper traffic. A traffic jam on Saturday afternoon? This was not a Chicago commuter drive. Sound track song: James Taylor’s “Traffic Jam!”
Since we were stopped, hardly moving, I pulled out my Tide to Go pen to fix the stain on my borrowed t-shirt. Song: “(Kiss him) Goodbye” by the Nylons. Remember the commercial with Kelly Ripa? Great thinking, but no follow through: the stain remover was empty. I was stuck. Stuck in traffic, stuck in a stained, borrowed t-shirt. Song: Once again, Kevin Fowler’s “#?*!” If you haven’t heard this one yet, you need to. It’s bound to become a classic.
Amigo doesn’t handle situations like this well. He put in a folk song CD and we sang along to keep ourselves relatively calm. Theme song at this point? “Puff the Magic Dragon” – oh, how we wished for a flying dragon to lift us above the jam and onto the highway!

Finally (and I do mean finally; we lost close to an hour detouring and waiting to get back on Highway 31) We headed north. Song: Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again!” We took a quick bathroom break, I changed into the shirt I’d worn the day before (a little less dirty), and we hit the road again. I considered making a quick stop for a tacky tourist t-shirt from the mini-mart or one from the thrift store down the road, but Amigo was moody and it just wasn’t worth taking the chance of another delay.

Finally! We crossed the border (it’s okay, we’re legal Wisconsinites) and enjoyed driving along highways surrounded by corn “…as high as an elephant’s eye!” Yes, our sound track at this point was “Oh, what a beautiful morning!” from Oklahoma! Wisconsin farmland is really gorgeous in July.

We made it to La Petite’s temporary home away from home, picked her up, packed the van, and hit the road. I changed into a dry pair of denim capri pants; despite the towel, I was still soaking up the overnight rain and I was close to adding a few new verses to “#?*!” as the trip went on.
At last! The home stretch. I could almost quote from Over the River and Through the Woods; my “horse” knew the way to carry the sleigh, or at least the way to turn the minivan wheels. Homeward bound! (Wait, that’s another song. Maybe another trip.)

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>Yet Another Favre Post

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>And on it goes, the never-ending saga of Brett Favre’s retirement – or not.

Let’s see. He debated and thought it over and, for a few years, made his fans happy with One More Year. In the off season, we called it the biggest non-story.
Then he took a deep breath, shed a few tears, and called it quits. Packers fans waved goodbye, paid tribute to the quarterback and the man, and started looking ahead to the future with Aaron Rodgers.
Then Brett panicked. Without football, who was he?
Let’s jump ahead, past a season with the New York Jets and one with the (hated) Minnesota Vikings. Let’s look at the big picture.
Brett Favre has always played football. He doesn’t remember a life without it. Even his childhood revolved around the game.
Brett Favre, bless his heart (my Southern friends know what that means), never really had a chance to grow up without that pigskin in his hands and in his heart. Dare I say it? Yes, I do: Brett is still a kid. He still hasn’t grown up. Think about it.
He’s 40 years old and he works out with the local high school football team.
When he doesn’t get his way, he blames others (Ted Thompson, Green Bay general manager, can vouch for this).
After it’s clear that he won’t get in, he badmouths those who supported him in the past.
He has trouble making decisions. This has made him a laughing stock, even as it’s gained endorsements (Sears television commercials, anyone?).
He publicizes his decisions or pseudo-decisions by text message. Text messages, people! In any field, sports or business, text messaging is not a serious form of communication. I don’t even want to know if he abbreviates his spelling teen-text style.
For years, we fans have praised the gun-slinger, the play maker, the childlike athlete. It’s time for that youngster to grow up. What will he do now? Here are a few suggestions:
  • Open a bakery and specialize in turnovers!
  • Join the BP management. They could use a good ole boy from Mississippi to handle PR.
  • Cell phone company spokesperson: for plans with unlimited texting, of course.
  • Waffle maker.
  • Shoe manufacturer, specializing in flip-flops
Other ideas, people? Suggest in the comments, please!

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>Tex Mex Chicken over Rice

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>This was almost a raid – a pantry raid. The back of the chicken package suggested a Tex-Mex chicken pizza. I was all out of pizza crusts (spinach-basil pizza Wednesday night), so it became simply Tex-Mex chicken. Rice? I always have several varieties around the house. Sides? A few multi-color carrots and peas that were fresh a few days ago and needed to be eaten. Yum. I mean, oh, such a sacrifice!

Anyway, here goes. Tex Mex Chicken!
1 lb. chicken breasts
Onion and peppers, to taste (fresh if you have them!)
Corn, cooked in advance
1/2 cup salsa
olive oil
In a large skillet, cook chicken in olive oil until browned on both sides. Remove from skillet. Add a little more olive oil if needed; cook diced onion and peppers until soft. While this is cooking, dice chicken. Add corn (mine was cut off the cob, a left over, of course). Stir in salsa and chicken. Heat through, about 15 minutes – just enough time to cook up a pot of fast-cooking brown rice! Serve over rice. Optional: add chili powder or hot sauce to your own hotness scale.
Meanwhile, during this fabulous meal creation process, the steamer was cooking up a side dish of multi-colored carrots and about a cup of peas, both vegetables from the farmers’ market, of course. How will I cook when winter comes along and I no longer have the downtown market to supply me? I don’t even want to think about it. Maybe it’s time to buy that second freezer.

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>Math, math, math.

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I spent my days last week learning more and more and more about math – teaching math.
Here’s what my group’s table looked like at one point. These are Secret Code Cards for teaching place value.

If you’re wondering, there were two coffee cups just out of picture range. I’m holding mine. The training was good, but we teachers do what we have to do to stay focused in the final days of July.

While we’re at it, can you identify the two numbers illustrated below? Write them in words; no fair using numbers.

Get your coffee, and let’s get started. Math time!

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