Mommy Brain

What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid’s Guide to Overcoming Anxiety (What to Do Guides for Kids) by Dawn Huebner
Garfield Spills the Beans by Jim Davis
Goblins: An UnderEarth Adventure by Royce Buckingham

I recently loved this post at Musings of a Housewife and it got me to thinking. I have a couple of book blogging friends who have said things like, “I can’t believe you homeschool and read all those books and blog, too!” One even said, “You’re a goddess!” – which made me snort my coffee all over my laptop screen.

So, yes, I do homeschool my four kids. And I read a lot. I occasionally do freelance writing – though not so much lately. I daycare my friend’s daughter after school. And I blog about books, movies, TV, homeschooling, etc; read other blogs; participate in Twitter and Facebook. I recently started going to the gym three or four times a week.

But, here’s what I don’t do:

I don’t cook gourmet homemade meals. I do cook mostly from scratch, but it’s very simple food, and Kevin grills a lot.

I don’t garden or do any yard work whatsoever.

I don’t can fruits and vegetables.

I don’t bake bread.

I don’t iron. I purposely buy clothing for my family that doesn’t require ironing.

I don’t keep my house spotless. If we’re having company – it’s clean enough. Spotless, not a chance. Up until this past summer, the house was cleaner in the summer – but this summer, I spent most of our free time at the park or pool with the kids. Deep cleaning did not get done.

I don’t scrapbook.

I don’t craft. I used to crochet, but haven’t had time lately.

I don’t volunteer.

I don’t attend women’s Bible study any more.

I don’t have a clean bedroom.

I don’t feel guilty (anymore) about the things I don’t do. Actually, that’s not true – every once in a while, when my mom or a particularly gifted homemaker friend of mine comes over, I may feel a teeny bit guilty and even try to deflect it by making excuses. But for the most part, I don’t feel guilty anymore.

When my kids are grown, I don’t think they’re going to say, “Geez, my mom wasn’t a very good housekeeper.” or “I wish my mom had baked more bread or canned more vegetables or kept a scrapbook.” I think they’re going to remember that I loved to be with them so much that I kept them with me every day. I think (hope) they’re going to remember all the books we read aloud together – laughing and crying over them. I think they’re going to remember how much fun we had learning together. And then it (the messy house, the store bought veggies and bread, the lack of pet, the lack of a second income) will all be worth it.

Well, we made it through our first week back to homeschooling – it went well, we are all still speaking to each other, so far, so good. Natalie is getting used to her bigger load – she’s in junior high now – and will start her weekly babysitting gig next week. (It’s hard to believe that the baby girl I used to take to Bible Study nursery, where a homeschooled teenager would babysit her, is now the homeschooled (almost) teenager doing the babysitting!)

I only have a couple minutes before I’m heading to the gym. Fun way to spend Friday night, right? Actually, I love the gym on Friday nights – it’s so empty and quiet.

I just finished reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner – if you like science fiction, dystopian fiction, YA fiction – actually, if you just love a mind-blowingly good story that keeps you turning the pages, you should definitely read it. It’s being released on October 13th. I was lucky enough to be sent an ARC for review – my review will be up at Books and Movies in the next couple of days.

~ A Life in Pages: Send a man to the grocery store – this video is a bit long, but so funny.

~ Mommy Brain was linked to from the Rural Health Blog, as part of the Get Fit Colville program.

~ Scribbit: Should children have allowances? Some good thoughts here.

~ A Life in Pages: Funny wedding moment – another fun video.

~ Moomin Light: For Star Wars fans – this guy is incredibly talented.

~ Don’t forget to enter my Ginger Kids giveaway – it’s a great tool for teaching cooking and geography!

At Books and Movies:

~ My ever-expanding list of must-reads
~ Literary Road Trip: Author Michael Harmon
~ Whatcha Watchin’? Wednesday: Scrubs, Season 8
~ Book Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares
~ Book Review: The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
~ My Life According to Literature Meme
~ Favorite classics (so far)
~ Literary Road Trip: Author Meghan Nuttall Sayres
~ Book Review: Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
~ Whatcha Watchin’? Wednesday: Psych
~ Found in the pages of Bookmarks Magazine, September/October 2009 Issue
~ Book Review: Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
~ Monday’s Movie Review: Stop-Loss

Halfway to Forever by Karen Kingsbury
False Notes (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #3) by “Carolyn Keene”
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Coming Attractions by Robin Jones Gunn
High Risk (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #4) by “Carolyn Keene”
Princess in the Spotlight by Meg Cabot
A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury
To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel
Beyond the Grave (39 Clues, Book 4) by Jude Watson
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Lights, Camera… (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #5) by “Carolyn Keene”

(Kitchen Basics: Rules, Tools, and Etiquette was provided to me by Ginger Kids for the purpose of review.)

Multicultural cooking company Ginger Kids’ Fun makes it simple for parents to get cooking with kids with their recently launched Kitchen Basics: Rules, Tools and Etiquette – a cookbook introducing children to the kitchen with delicious recipes that celebrate other cultures. These simple recipes let kids easily prepare meals such as Hungarian Crepes and Sushi rolls. Cartoon characters such as Jeffrey Referee, Anna Bandana and Nine Ballerina share tips throughout the book on cooking rules, tools and etiquette.

Kitchen Basics: Rules, Tools and Etiquette features:

~ The ABCs of Baking including important kitchen safety tips
~ Nutrition checklist
~ Cooking terms and tools
~ Measurement and common abbreviation table
~ Dinner table etiquette tips

This book has caused quite a bit of excitement at our house, and has made the kids want to help with dinner – which is a pretty cool thing! Jonathan was so excited to try some of the recipes that he even sat down and read all the ABCs of baking and safety tips and read through all the recipes to decide which one to try first. And he’s my “Aw, Mom, do I have to read?” kid.

The great thing about this book is that it isn’t just a cookbook; it also includes a lot of great information to get your kids familiar with the different utensils, measurements, and skills needed to follow any recipe.

Kitchen Basics: Rules, Tools, and Etiquette is available to purchase from Ginger Kids.

Now, for the really exciting part:

Passport to the World Membership Giveaway

Would you love to embark on a world adventure with your kids, without ever having to pack a suitcase? The Passport to the World Club from Ginger Kids Fun! is the perfect way to give your child an exciting, hands-on world adventure in the comfort of your home! By choosing one of two affordable monthly membership options, kids will have a blast cooking up new international cuisine, interacting with children from other cultures, learning new languages and more.

The monthly membership provides a fascinating view of the world by engaging the five senses. Children will experience a wide variety of activities in a magical, interactive online journey of each monthly destination. They will listen to a fun-filled musical tour of each cultural destination with a CD from Putumayo Kids. A hands-on cooking experience teaches kids to practice their creativity and imagination, and the result will fill their senses with delightful aromas and delicious flavors.

The Passport to the World Club membership will be available for purchase at www.gingerkidsfun.com starting September 2009. Memberships can be purchased on a month to month basis or as a twelve month VIP package. Sample destinations include Jamaica, Greece, Italy and Israel! Those that join the twelve month program will receive a FREE welcome package complete with Ginger Kids apron, Kitchen Basics: Rules, Tools & Etiquette cookbook binder, Cookbook binder with country tabs to store 12-months of recipes and a Ginger Kids Passport.

To celebrate the Passport to the World launch on 9/9/09, Ginger Kids Fun! is hosting ‘9 Days of Giveaways’ and is giving one lucky reader a three-month online membership. Kids will love the easy –to-navigate online portal providing an entertaining and educational platform to learn about different cultures. Watch a preview of the site here.

Doesn’t that sound terrific? I am really excited about this giveaway. Here are the details:

~ For one entry, leave a comment on this post.

~ For a second entry, post about this giveaway on your own blog, with a link to this post. Then come back and leave a comment with the link to your post for verification.

~ For a third and/or fourth entry, post this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook, and then leave a comment telling me which one you did.

~ All entries must be received by 11:59 pm PST, September 6, 2009. On Monday, September 7th, I will use Random.org to draw a winner. I will then forward the winner’s e-mail to GingerKids and they’ll contact the winner with information about signing on to their free membership.

Good luck!

Whew – it’s been a whirlwind week, with no signs of slowing down. Adding in my weekly support meetings and weekly training sessions, plus three trips a week to the gym on my own, has made things feel very busy – not that I’m complaining, since it’s working. Plus we have one more week of summer vacation before our homeschooling year starts back up on the 31st, and the kids want to suck as much free time and fun up as they can, while they can, so there has been a lot of shuttling kids to the city pool and park.

Friday, the kids and I headed down to Silverwood for our once-a-year amusement park day. We went with a friend and her daughter. The kids all read their 10 hours (outside of school reading) for a free ticket. Why don’t they have a similar program for adults? My admission ticket was $43.75. Add to that snacks – not even a meal, just snacks, because they won’t let you bring in any of your own food – and it was a very expensive day. Glad it only happens once a year. And also grateful that they do have the reading program for kids, or we would never be able to afford it.

The kids were all at sleepovers last night, so Kevin and I went out to Mexican food to split an order of chicken fajitas, and then came home and watched Psych on DVD. I love that show. Slept in this morning. I have to go pick up the boys here in a couple of hours, and then this evening we head south to Mom and Dad’s to celebrate Mom’s birthday.

The upcoming week will be just as busy, but with fun stuff. We’re having an extra play date with Michelle Tuesday afternoon, because she leaves on her dream trip to Edinburgh and London on Thursday. For four weeks. Sob. I’m so happy for her that she gets to go, but what will I do without our weekly gabfests?

Then, next weekend is the fair, and Natalie is competing. She will be singing twice for auditions on Thursday, and then if she moves on, again for the Talent Show on Friday, and, possibly, the Grand Revue on Saturday. She had an extra lesson with her voice teacher on Saturday, and I cried: she sounded so beautiful and looked so grown up.

After our fair weekend, it’s time to get back into our school routine. I’m ready. I think the kids are, too, though they might not admit it.

Well, it’s almost time to go pick up the kids, and I haven’t even put my makeup on. I just have enough time to share the links I’ve been collecting:

~ Win some cool Simply Fun family games at 5 Minutes for Giveaways.

~ Sherry has a great post about Miley Cyrus’s recent exhibition of poor choices.

~ Project 2996 is a project for bloggers to help commemorate the Americans lost on 9/11.

~ Am I the only grammar geek who has dreamed of doing this?

~ This little boy is an amazing guitarist.

~ Ever feel stumped for the perfect retort? Check out this list of imaginative insults.

Here’s what’s been going on at Books and Movies lately (By the way, Books and Movies was nominated for two Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards: Best General Review Blog and Best YA Lit Blog, so thanks to anyone who nominated me!):

~ Book Review: Daniel X: Watch the Skies by James Patterson & Ned Rust
~ Literary Road Trip: YA Author Chris Crutcher
~ Book Review: Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
~ Book Review: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
~ Enter to win a copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
~ Movie Review: Lost in Austen
~ Book Review: Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
~ Some movie links and trailers
~ Author Interview: Elle Newmark, author The Book of Unholy Mischief
~ Book Review: Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume 2: The Cards with Teeth by Kazuki Takahashi

Bone, Volume 1: Out of Boneville by Jeff Smith

Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
Being Nikki by Meg Cabot
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Darkest Hour by Erin Hunter
Without a Trace (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #1) by “Carolyn Keene”
Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury
A Race Against Time (Nancy Drew: All New Girl Detective #2) by “Carolyn Keene”
Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

The Littles and the Trash Tinies by John Peterson