SO much to discuss today, I'm just so excited. First, and most happily, today's the day for Jennifer's Loveliness of Gardens Fair! Jennifer is the perfect hostess for this fair. Her love of gardening is so sweet and contagious. Stop by and take time to smell the flowers here. :)
So what's this picture all about?
Well, a few things I got pretty jazzed about this weekend ...
First, in our Sunday paper this weekend was an ad (and a coupon!) for Michaels Arts & Crafts. Now there's nothing too extraordinary about that, BUT! Apparently when I wasn't paying attention, a whole new line of craft materials was introduced there - and not just any crafts, but MARTHA crafts! I cannot wait to get over there and check them out - I'll bet they are lovely! Seriously, I have never seen better craft ideas than in the pages of Martha Stewart's magazines, and to have the supplies available so readily just puts the icing on the cake. Can't you just imagine what her holiday crafts will be like this fall?
Now, in more Martha news, this week on the MARTHA television show, it is Scrapbooking Week. I haven't scrapbooked in years, but I still drool over all the supplies and slick magazines. I'll bet the shows will be fun to watch. I TiVo the Martha show every day, in hopes I'll get to sit down and watch it later at night (or on the weekends) - something I haven't done since Christmas, actually - but I will make a effort to carve out some mommy time to tune in later today.
Oh, and one more Martha thing! If you are a Martha fan like I am, she is now putting out a bi-monthly newsletter, called, fittingly, The Martha Stewart Newsletter. It's filled with personal notes, informal conversation, reviews and that monthly calendar like she used to have in her flagship magazine, Living, before people got snarky about it. I happened to enjoy that calendar. I liked seeing when Martha was, for instance, canning tomatoes and cleaning her screens. I'm nosy like that, but honestly, I loved the seasonal rhythm of it, and I loved the gentle reminders.
Oh, and the cake picture on the left is from the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. The only thing I read in there is the food section, and this weekend they featured a banana cake. Not a banana bread, mind, but a CAKE. Crackerjack literally grabbed the page from my hand and said, "Mama, you have to make this and then you have to blog about it!" Does this boy know his mama or what? We must wait for our bananas to ripen, and when they do, we'll bake, and when we bake, I'll post. :)
A few more things! (Lol, you'd better grab yourself another cup of coffee, I'm on a roll.)
I had a nice conversation late last week with Theresa about the Feingold diet, and it re-energized my commitment to making it easier to follow. I did a huge Feingold-friendly food shopping trip this weekend (see above), and I'd like to post about what I bought and what I plan to make/serve with it all. This is not any kind of expert opinion - just (as usual) me thinking aloud. I have found that on our better weeks, when I am really organized and efficient, keeping EB on Feingold is not difficult at all, but I haven't been that organized in a while.
Starting this week I plan to do the 2-week diet diary - keeping track of what he eats and his behaviors through the day. Here's my clipboard with this week's chart:
I also got a package in the mail this Saturday - a book I ordered last week:
Can't wait to dig into it - improving habits is an area I really want to work on with my boys (and me!). The company that publishes this book, Simply Charlotte Mason, is one of the Homeschool Blog Awards providers, and they recently contacted me to offer one of their e-books! I had already ordered this spiral-bound edition of Laying Down the Rails: A Charlotte Mason Habits Handbook, so I will peruse their other listings eagerly this week!
The other thing I did late last week and over the weekend was to map out the remaining eight weeks in our academic year. I've been chomping at the bit to plan next year (I always get itchy at this time of year) but I reminded myself we still have plenty to get through before July 1st! (We break for July and August.) I looked through our ed. plans and all our curriculum and figured out what we still have on our plates. Then I divvied the work up over the next eight weeks (beginning today) and tweaked our daily schedule. It does not seem quite overwhelming, but we do need to get down to business - stat! Now, though, I'm free and clear to start planning out the 2007-2008 learning year! Bring on the catalogs!
OK, I've kept you all long enough. :) One final note - our weather is going to be gorgeous this week - sunny and very warm. I'm just betting the cherry tree will break into full fuschia blossom and then - then! - we might see the Baltimore orioles! (If the sparrows don't eat all the buds as they seemed to do last year, lol.)
Have a great week, everyone! I might be a little quieter than usual (she says after a mammoth post) as we delve into our newly tweaked (i.e. heavier) workload this week. See you soon!
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