Keeping Track of Favorite Books

Every month I check out 12-20 books from the library.  So, far the majority of the time they have been related to specific themes we are doing or holidays that are taking place that month.  If possible, I renew the books for the whole month.  I then add the books that we are reading to my Shelfari account. (It is a free site that lets you share book ratings and reviews with friends.) I use this online database to help me remember what books we have read and which ones we have loved.   My favorite features of this site are the online bookshelf, the ability to rate the books we are reading and tagging the books for easy sorting.  Then next year, when we want to check out books based on specific themes or around the holidays, all I will have to do it go to Shelfari to see which ones we loved.

Besides using Shelfari, each week I am going to start posting my son’s favorite book of the week.  You know the book that he wants me to read over and over again, until I have it memorized.  I mean we all know that out of the 20 books that  I check out every month only a few get looked at twice, even though I may love them.   So starting soon, I am going to be posting my son’s  #1 pick of the week.  I will share with you the things he loved about the book.  My hope is that others will also want to join in and share their Tots Pick of the Week. 

Either way, I want to know more about the books you are reading. If you are on Shelfari I would love to connect with you or if not I hope to read more posts about the books your “child recommends.”

Drink It

While my son was finishing his lunch on Monday, I stepped out of the kitchen to pick up stuff in the living room.  As I was tiding up, he yelled out to me “Drink it?”

In which I quickly replied, “Yes, drink your milk, buddy.”

When I went back to the kitchen this is what I saw: If you can’t figure out what is all over his face…let me fill you in…its the rest of his KETCHUP.

****************
FYI: I created this blog post in Windows Live Writer (Free Software), which I learned about from Mom Tried It.  Talk about simplifying my life.  I LOVE  it!

Gratituesday- LOST

Today I am thankful that the final season of LOST will be starting.  I may not be too thankful when it ends, especially if it stills leaves me with unanswered questions, but I am happy that it is "the beginning of the end."  I love trying to predict what is happening and rediscovering clues that were dropped along the way.  

I don't know how many of you are LOST fans, but you can be sure that I will be tuned in tonight.  If you are in my boat, I would love to hear your predictions & reactions to the episode.   Just leave a comment and we can all partake in some fun theory developments.

If you would like to see what others are thankful for today (as I am sure they all are better than mine) check out, Heavenly Homemakers.

Must Have- A Love for Jane Austen

I love Jane Austen!!  I got addicted to her books the summer before my sophomore year in high school.  My future English teacher actually assigned us summer homework.  I couldn't believe it.  Seriously, she was for real.  We had to choose a book from a list she provided...a list of classics {insert annoyed sigh here}.  My summer was officially ruined...it would take me forever to read ONE book!  I contemplated how I could get out of her class, but at last she was who I was stuck with next year.  There was nothing I could do about it.  I HAD to READ a classic.  {snore} At the time, I had never heard of Jane Austen or her book Pride & Prejudice, so you might say our encounter was FATE.  Little did I know that my "whole summer" of reading, would turn into 2 days and 4 hours of can't put it down...must keep reading...tape eyelids open...BLISS!  From that day forward I was hooked from books to movies.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I heard that PBS Masterpiece Classic was airing a 3 part Emma.  I missed the first hour, but thanks to Jolanthe at No Ordinary Moments, I learned that I could catch up by watching it online.  Yesterday, I informed my husband that I would be taking over the television that evening to watch the second episode.  Yes, I love Jane Austen.  I love her characters, I love the era, I love the stories, I love it all...{sigh}!

I can't wait to see the final episode this Sunday.  If you are a Jane Austen freak like me and you missed Emma, then you can get caught up online.

Tot School- Week of Jan 25th

Lil'man is 25 months

This week we focused on the letter A. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture as many pictures. Don't you hate when you camera batteries die!

On our first day of Tot School we colored a picture of an Aa is for Alligator My son loves to color! When I got this activity out I had a couple of green crayons pulled out for him, but he wanted to pick his own colors. So, I am not going to impede his creative genius. :) I love that I was able to find a picture to match his Fisher-Price's Animal Zoo animal. I don't know how easy of a task the rest of the letters will be, but it is my goal to match them too!

 

We also did A is for Ambulance using our bingo chips.  Of course Lil'man thought it needed a little more color, so he colored it first.  He wasn't as into this activity as he was when we did the S is for Santa.

 

On the second day of Tot School, we did some more "snow" type activities.  Lil'man spooned cotton balls into a snowman muffin "tin" that I found at Dollar-Spot in Target last month (or was it November?) I don't remember. He played with this activity throughout the week, as a snow tub.  His A to Z Animals and Sesame Street figurines had a blast playing in the "snowballs."

 

Lil'man also created an alligator, which we found on DLTK's Growing Together.  After he finished coloring it, I cut it out.  We then glued the parts together. It was at this point that my camera died, so I don't have a picture of the finished product. 

 

Some other things we did that I wasn't able to capture pictures of were:

Letter A-

• Highway ABC Cards- A & a- Lil'man trace the shape of the letter with his cars.
• Letter Aa template- Printed it on card stock, laminated it and then hole punched it for lacing activity.

Snow stuff-

• Snowman- pom poms craft
• Snowman Button Match- I didn't have buttons so we used our bingo chips again.
• Snowball Count Activity- We matched the number on the snowman with that many cotton balls.

Thanks for stopping by and don't miss out on what other tots did this week! Visit 1+1+1=1.

The Big Bad Budget Software

As I alluded to in the previous post, I recently decided to tackle the The Big Bad Budget. {Insert shrill scream here} Oh, the never ending, always changing, numbering crunching budget! My husband asked me to take it over since I stay home and he doesn't feel like he has the time to focus on it. Me being the caring, helpful naive, wife that I am, jumped right on board! What was I thinking!

To help me transition smoothly into my new task and make my life simple, I wanted a software program that could help me keep track of how much money we actually have for various budgeted items. Shouldn't be too hard to find, or so I thought. So, I wondered through the forest of budgeting software on the web, pausing every now and then to examine the bright and colorful displays of various programs growing along the path of the fiscally responsible.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find one to suite my needs and price. After searching for quite sometime, I discovered that I was hopelessly lost! What was I going to do and how would I ever find my way. Fortunately for me, it was at that time that I happened upon a very helpful forest animal that so kindly directed me back to my path by offering me exactly what I needed. Not only that, but he offered his services to me at a reasonable rate. Yes, I had found it, cheap software that was based on the envelope budgeting system. (For a well known system, I was shocked by how the forest was lacking in software that supported the idea.) I could finally rest at peace knowing that I was going to tackle this budget head on, and I was going to show my husband just how simple it could be, with the help of this wonderful forest creature of course. But little did I know this animal actually turn out to be nothing more than a wolf in budgeting software clothing.

This wolf’s goal was to make my life miserable and possibly even eat me alive! He dressed up like a familiar design to hide his imperfections, but turned out to be a little more complex. I soon discovered that The Big Bad Wolf did not want to see me succeed in my planned endeavor. No, this wolf wanted me to see budgeting in a poor light. He wanted to make me run away from my new found responsibility. Believe me, he was almost successful. I was so confused! I was frustrated to no end!!! In short, it was driving me C.R.A.Z.Y!!!! I worked on it all day Saturday and after church Sunday. I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with this picture. However, I don't give up that easy. Oh no! I wasn't going to let that wolf deceive me.

I knew I couldn't do it alone. So, I re-read the directions, went to the forums and sought out help on how to get the software set up for an unfixed bi-weekly check.  

My husband tried to encourage me to call it a day, but I had to be the conqueror, not the conquered. And I was...In the end I was victorious!!

Ok, it was more like a truce, the wolf and I had a few misunderstandings, are communications skills weren't up to par. I was overly dramatic. But, we were able to work out our differences and now that it is all set up, it is working like a real gentleman!

You can say that I sweeten up that software with my girlish charms, now its time to see what that Big Bad Budget Software can do for me!

Gratituesday- Break & Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that I haven't posted anything in a week.  I write a lot of posts on the weekends and this weekend it was crazy in my house.  We started...and yes, we didn't finish it...going through my sons clothes, packing up the small stuff and pulling out hand-me-downs.  We were trying to consolidate some of them so we didn't have to buy another rubbermaid container.  Unfortunately, we were still working on the task when nap time rolled around.  I would have to finish it another day. So, it was at that point that I decided to try to tackle...(duh, duh, duhhh) the budget. {Insert shrill scream here}

More about that in a future post. On to...

Lately, I have been craving warm chocolate chip cookies.  They are by far one of my favorite desserts.  I have many!  Annnyway...I don't know about you, but if I have sugary treats hiding in my cupboards I will D.E.V.O.U.R them!  To help you better understand me, when I say DEVOUR...think of this guy:

Yes, I am a cookie monster.  Unfortunately, I am not as bless as the blue furry man above.  He can eat cookies day and night and his body never changes.  Like most human beings, if I ate like cookie monster my body would show it.  So, to help out in this situation I buy break and bakes.  All the warm, yummy gooey-ness, without a dozen cookies left to tempt me.  My craving gets satisfied and I don't have to go run a marathon to work off the calories.  Yep...today I am thankful for those sweet, delicious, already to pop in the oven, break & bake chocolate chip cookies.  Mmmm.  Now I am off to the kitchen to make me some!