Beads Story- Giveaway winner!

The Random Generator has spoken! Winner: Teaching Mommy
The winner has been verified, thank you to everyone for entering and for Beads Story allowing us to do this!

(Sorry for the erroneous Min/Max numbers, I truly used 2 to 55 and the box didn't copy over properly)

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:45Powered by RANDOM.ORG

From the Man- Seed Bombs

After a brief absence being the Crazy Green Mommy's backup in the War of Germs, The Man is back! 

Have you heard of flower grenades?

I can see the quizzical look through your computer screen. Not usually two words that go together- flower and grenades. Thanks to a design by Snowhome & Tony Minh Nguyen for Suck UK, they do indeed. 

Friday Frugal 101: Winter Money-Saving Tips!

It's that time again- Friday Frugal 101 at The King's Court IV!

Today we are looking at Winter Money- Saving Tips. Get ahead of Old Man Winter and save some green while staying comfortable in the blustery months. Feel free to leave your cold-weather tips on the post to share with other readers.


Interested in guest blogging on the Friday Frugal 101? Please contact Cristi of The King's Court IV. We'd love to have you!


Previous weeks:

Make Your Own Cleaning Solution

Gardening

Crazy Green Mommy reads

There have been some really awesome thing I've read this week that I'd like to share with those similarly interested:

14 Tips for Using Less Heat this Season -Check out the awesome comments some people left. No heat in MI??

365 Days of Kale -Woman after my own heart!


Jada Roo Can Do -Really fantastic ideas for toddlers. Thanks to Beth for introducing me to Andrea's blog.


Alice Water's Crusade for Better Food -Interesting! I like the term, 'slow food.'

Twitter Parties- Do you Twitter?

Twitter is a bit of a mystery to me. I'll admit, I signed up initially for more entries into giveaways after vowing I would never[sign up for twitter]. Then I looked around and realized, there is a lot of information being exchanged out there. THEN heard about Twitter parties! (In care you haven't figured out yet- Yes, I like giveaways. They're helping curb my shopping and thereby, save my budget from emotional crazy moments that happen... daily. Generally during naptime.)

Wordless Wednesday- help!

Help me name this flower! I have no idea what it is!

Almond milk peanut butter banana smoothies

My apologies, there are no pictures at the moment as I was unable to make the smoothies this afternoon! I broke the blender. At least, pretty sure it isn't supposed to smell like that. On to better things! This recipe was given to me by a friend after she made them for our family at her home and we LOVED them. It is my first experience with almond milk and dates. I'd never have tried it if it hadn't been made for me!

Grand Plans

I had grand plans to freeze kale this evening, but life just got the better of me. Well, life and this giant square of fudge from our local confection place down the street. If I were to get up and be productive with my last 30mins, it would mean leaving this delicious square that surely won't see the dawn of tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Fun with leaf blower parts! Aka, The Robot.

Happy Baby review and pay it forward

Happy Baby is a brand you'll find often in our home at the moment. I first heard about their Organic Puffs from a friend a couple years ago. My daughter was past the age of needing puffs so I didn't think much of it at the time. When my son was born the end of last year though and as he neared being ready for some baby food, they came to mind again as a brand to look for in my local stores. My son devours the banana, green and apple puffs we have tried so far! I am  ecstatic that they don't make a mess like teething biscuits.

Butternut Squash Soup with Sage

This week one of the wonderful recipes I made was based off of the Butternut Squash Soup with Sage on allrecipes.com. As my self-confidence in the kitchen has improved over the past year, I've begun playing around with recipes according to my family's tastes or what I have on hand. 
Here's how I changed this one up!

Tuesdays from the Teacher- Vocabulary and Your Child

Introduction:
Ms. B. is a 7th grade Language Arts teacher in the Midwest. She has been teaching for 15 years, having taught Special Education for 4 years and Language Arts for 11 years. Ms. B. has a degree in Special Education, Reading and her Masters in Education. In her free time she enjoys gardening, baking bread, being a grandparent and eating fine, imported dark chocolate. 

Today we are going to talk about vocabulary. The decrease in quality of my students' vocabulary is a trend I've noticed over the past 15 years. I have struggled to teach it in my classroom and this year finally figured out the problem! My students really do not have any idea how to learn a word, especially my struggling readers. We started an independent vocab program that requires students to record how they learn a word. Initially, almost all of the students simply recorded the definition-- whether the definition made sense or not.  Through trial and error, eventually my students realized that learning a new word has very little to do with the definition! Learning a new word requires either finding a similar word (synonym) they already know or connecting it to some kind of visual. Then they must figure out a way to review that new word 13 times to permanently add it to their vocabulary. 

New Blog Design!

I've been quiet on the post front but working behind the scenes with Tara from Our Princess in Pigtails Designs! Tara really did a great job and was so easy to work with. Our In the Garden, In the Kitchen, Cloth Diapers, etc. tabs are all tucked neatly under 'Green Around the House.' We also have a new 'Recipes' tab and 'Reviews/Giveaways' tab with separate sub categories. I just love being organized!

 Thanks, Tara!

Beads Story- review and giveaway

I first stumbled into the Beads Story shop on Etsy via another (now forgotten, so sorry!) blogger's review about a month ago. Anca's work is right up my style alley- vintage, beads and nature.  It's rare for me to find a shop and love everything in it, but Anca has managed it!

Is she on the internet, all the time!?

Never fear, I've just discovered Scheduled Posts! I've been playing around with different post times/days. Love it!

I'm not much good at secrets and have been trying to save it BUT my first giveaway is coming. Soon. Very soon. And I'm very excited! Plus there are more in the works... and of course, A Merry Fluffy Christmas in December. Five days of lots of fun and opportunities to win some free fluff from wonderful WAHM's!

The Girl is a Mom Giveaway- sustainablebabyish l sloomb

Another great giveaway to share:

The Girl is a Mom is hosting a sustainablebabyish giveaway of a FULL sustainablebabyish starter kit worth $110! I can personally attest to their fantastic soakers/covers in interlock, though we've not tried their diapers nor new knit soakers, yet.

Go enter! It's not hard, even a bed-too-late-can't-see-straight-at-6:45am mama can do it(Yes, that's me).
http://www.thegirlisamom.com/theblog/2010/10/7/reviewgiveaway-sustainablebabyish-sloomb.html

Friday Frugal 101 at The King's Court IV

Class is in session! 

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesdays from the Teacher- Writing and Your Child

Introduction:
Ms. B. is a 7th grade Language Arts teacher in the Midwest. She has been teaching for 15 years, having taught Special Education for 4 years and Language Arts for 11 years. Ms. B. has a degree in Special Education, Reading and her Masters in Education. In her free time she enjoys gardening, baking bread, being a grandparent and eating fine, imported dark chocolate. 

Making Progress!

Have you noticed the 'A Merry Fluffy Christmas' tab at the top? More specifics later, but things are coming together very nicely. I am excited to introduce some really wonderful WAHM's to you over the month of November as we gear up for the giveaway event! We have over 100 sponsors combined across the 20 blogs that have linked up. More are being added all the time.

Snack Art- Yes, your kids will eat their veggies!

I've always liked the cute bug looking snacks and cookie cutter shape sandwiches. But it either looked like too much work or I never have the right things on hand. One day while slicing a red bell in complete slices, I realized they kind of looked like an outline of a flower! So that got me to thinking. And I decided to combine easy + cute for something similar to those bug snack but a heck of a lot easier.

U.S. Cellular's World Food Festival 2010

Yesterday evening we took a break from fall yard work and went to U.S. Cellular's World Food Fesival 2010, sponsored by Nationwide!

Organizing our cloth diapers

Today on Facebook I saw Mother-Ease post a question/request to share how we organize our cloth diapers. Then realized, I need to add pictures! And hey, might as well make it a post. Feel free to share in comments how you organize your stash!

Sharing some giveaway Love: Cora Carolina at My Baby's Green

Head on over to My Baby's Green to enter this giveaway: http://www.mybabysgreenblog.com/2010/10/cora-carolina-50-visa-card.html

Cora Carolina is an eco-friendly, ethical trade company that carries some wonderful children's toys, art supplies and even cloth diapers! Check out this dapper little guy: http://www.coracarolina.com/prod/dolls/24-sam-handmade-doll. I'm thinking... perfect 1st birthday present for my son?

Go try, I did! You can't win if you don't enter!

From the Man- Mast Bros. Chocolate

One more week come and gone, boy what a week it was.  Actually, two weeks ago my 8 year old laptop died on me. It was a Toshiba and boy did I love that laptop! It held up better then any other computer I have ever owned, especially dell(shakes fist).  So now we are trying to juggle one laptop between the two of us.  No easy task, for sure. A new one is not on the approved budget, so I have resorted to trying to win one.

The Leaves are Falling

The leaves are falling outside of my dining room window. It's one of those can't-capture-on-camera type scenes. Or at least, best left to the professionals to attempt. We have one large tree in the front, the remaining twin to the pair that must have been planted not long after the house was built. The leaves turn a lovely yellow in the fall. Today is cool but not too cool, with a slight breeze that has been sending down those leaves in a gentle fall shower. It is very peaceful.

And despite all the woes that come with our 70 year old house, I am thankful. Our house is small but full of love. We live in an unassuming but safe neighborhood. Kids play ball in the streets, ride their bikes on the sidewalks and play games into the evening. We have space to grow food for our family and better yet, family that lives close and will help with the chore of growing and canning.

There are no smog warnings in my city. No two hour commutes. There are reasons Forbes.com voted us the Best Place to Raise a Family in the United States! As a friend that stayed with us once said, we have a simple but beautiful life. I'm certainly feeling that today.

Taken at my grandpa's farm.

Inspired by Finn Giveaway!

Go check out my friend, Awesome Mama, at her blog! She is hosting her first giveaway for Inspired by Finn- my favorite place to get amber necklaces.

http://awesomama.blogspot.com/2010/10/inspired-by-finn-review-and-giveaway.html

Go! Enter! May the winning force be with you! Or me, I'd like to win, too!

Ella's Kitchen- It's in my bag!

I first heard about Ella’s Kitchen organic baby food through a  few blog reviews I read back in August. Everyone that tried them loved the products, but I wasn’t convinced. Why would I need them if I make my own baby food?

'My, what a big kitchen you have!' Kale and allrecipes.com

Ok, not really. In my dreams, in the far future after we win the lotto or my husband is made president of his company, I may have a decent sized kitchen. Or, when I don't turn down winnings for a kitchen remodel. Yes, sure did. No, not intentionally. In the meantime, I work out of my 1940's galley kitchen and all of it's 7'x10' of glory (and I am being generous in measurements).

My half-updated 1940's galley kitchen

Exciting things in store! First product review, new guest blogger and A Merry Fluffy Christmas

We recently received our first product to review from Eufora! Look for that in the next week or so.

My mom, a 7th grade Language Arts teacher, will be guest posting soon. If you have kids in school or nearing school, you'll want to read! We are looking at Tuesdays or Thursdays. More info to come.

Adventures in Green Living has teamed up with 20 other blogs to bring you 'A Merry Fluffy Christmas' giveaway event December 1-5th! See my tab at the top for more info. I'm really excited for my first blog event. As I get sponsors together, will update it. The sweet Bonnie at Holden's Landing has signed on to help us sponsor one day!

Thanks for hanging in there, we're working hard to bring you some good stuff!

Do you have your legs? BabyLegs, that is!

It was at an online cloth diaper store a few years ago I first set eyes on rainbow stripes and fell in love! My daughter was an infant at the time, maybe 5 months old. We were getting into cloth diapers and all their fun accessories when I came across those BabyLegs. It didn’t take long after that for my baby girl to be known by her funky leg warmers and cloth diapered bum!

On the road again... to the farm! plus pictures

I’m in the truck headed to my grandpa’s farm for the weekend. You’ll be reading this after the fact, as there is no internet service at the farm. I think I’m ok with that for a couple of days. No bazillion emails to keep up with, no stressing over trying to improve my blog appearance. Just time to write! Which is why I started blogging in the first place.

Ya learn something new every day!

Apparently blogger has a 300 blog max one can follow. Except they don't tell you when you've hit that, the 'follow' thing just keeps acting like it adds blogs. Fun. If anyone is reading and I'm not following them like I should, please let me know in the comments with a link to your blog. Many apologies for this oversight!
Thanks!

From the Man- Introduction and Ed Swan/Okay Studios

This is the first time that I have ever written a blog and I have to admit, it is a little weird. I have read blogs before and of course I read my wife’s blog , but writing a blog is completely different… a little scary. Please forgive any errors that I make, I am sure that I will get the hang of this shortly.