planning ahead

I unsuccessfully tried my hand at using a planner multiple times throughout my teenage years.  It never lasted more than a few days.  Using a planner clicked at some point during graduate school.  The first couple of years I had different planners.  However, I soon found a planner I loved by Gallery Leather and have [...]

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cafe van gogh…

Last Summer we ordered some prints when they were on sale for $5.  We haven’t had frames for them, so they have been stashed in the back of another print (which I’ll share some other time).  Today we used some gift money to purchase a frame for one of the prints – Cafe Van Gogh.

I [...]

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simple living = simply, living

Simple living means many different things to many different people. For me, simple living is simply – living.  It means living with deliberation and making choices for what I truly want to do and truly value.  It means cutting out all of the extraneous items which clutter my world and distract from it, whether they [...]

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I made my father-in-law cry…

My husband’s parents came over today to exchange gifts with us. To say the fact that we choose to celebrate the Solstice rather than Christmas has caused contention would be an understatement.  We’ve even been accused of “killing baby Jesus.” This year my father-in-law never referred to our celebrations as Christmas, which I knew was [...]

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S.A.L.V.E.

Naomi Aldort has a technique in her book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, called SALVE.
S = Silent self-inquiry/ separate yourself
A = Attention on your child
L = Listen to what your child is saying or what his actions may be indicating
V= Validate yur child’s feeling and the needs he is expressing without adding or dramatising
E = Empower [...]

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how children learn manners

How Children Learn Manners
by Naomi Aldort
Our son Yonatan came home last Christmas from the theater and related an observation. On the way from the theater to the lobby he noticed that parents were instructing the children to ask the Santa Claus for candy with a “please”, and after getting the treat say “thank you”. Yonatan [...]

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Yule books…

Happy Holidays, everyone!  We had a wonderful Yule (Winter Solstice) this year.  I thought I would share some Yule books with you.  These are the best ones I’ve found so far.  I’ll continue my search and hopefully find some better books in years to come.
A Solstice Tree for Jenny by Karen Shragg
From Booklist
Ages 5-8. There [...]

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farewell, Selecta….

Selecta is pulling out of the US market.  They make such good quality toys.

Farewell Selecta
9:37 AM PST, December 12, 2008

Selecta Spielzeug, a German-based toy manufacturer and favorite of many eco-friendly toy consumers, has announced that it will no longer sell toys in the United States after December 31, 2008. An article on zRecommends explains that [...]

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handmade toy alliance

The Handmade Toy Alliance has set up a website to further explain the CPSIA and gives ideas about what you can do to help save handmade toys in America.
Here is an article from Change.org :
Save Handmade Toys From the CPSIA
A Proposal From the handmadetoyalliance.org:
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other [...]

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go easy with the Arrrrgggghhhsss….

Don’t be afraid to be silly with your children.  Sometimes that is exactly what you need.  It can be a great way to re-connect with them.
Last night I was a pirate.  I walked around speaking pirate lingo.  If you choose to be a pirate, you can add some pirate slang to your vocabulary from The [...]

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