The Hound of the Baskervilles – Book #27

My 27th book of the year was “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” This book is a classic and it does not take long to figure out why. I love Holmes and Watson! I was hooked within the first couple chapters and barely put it down! I literally was awoken by my husband trying to wiggle it free to put a book mark in because I read until I could not keep my eyes open any longer! Now from me that is a huge compliment for a book. I usually read for about an hour before going to bed. I read this book in a couple of days because I could not seem to put it down! I love how much of this book centers on Watson. I was highly impressed and suggest this book to all.

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging – Book #19

My nineteenth book of the year was the award winning “Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson” by: Louise Rennison. It follows the life of a teenage girl in journal style. It was a decent read. My 12 year old is reading it too. This was a book that we can talk about that covers big stuff (Self-esteem, friends, boyfriends, mean girls, moving, sex, school issues) in an easy going way. This is a series. I didn’t know that when I started and was totally thrown off by the ending. The book just sort of stops. I would still suggest this, especially for mother/daughter reading.

Babe – The Gallant Pig – #18

My eighteenth book of the year was Babe – The Gallant Pig by: Dick King-Smith. I read this to Bella (my 3-year-old) one or two chapters a night. It is the perfect chapter book to read to small children. It is a classic, the chapters are not very long, and there are occasional pictures for the kids to enjoy. Every parent should add this book to their read aloud pile.

Squirrel seeks Chipmunk By: David Sedaris – Book 17

My seventeenth book of the year was David Sedaris’s “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk.” This book illustrates what would happen if animals behaved like people. The results are hilarious and a little too correct! My favorites had to be the mouse who keeps a snake as a pet and the owl who learns about the world including singing leeches that live inside the rectum of a hippopotamus. The mouse story reminds me of those people you hear of who keep pet bears and let their tigers sleep in their beds. The owl story perfectly illustrates how curiosity can make you look like a real weirdo! Unfortunately people who step outside the proverbial box are often thought of as strange. Intelligence and learning are strange when you live in a world populated by stupidity.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake By: Anna Quindlen – Book 16

I just finished my sixteenth book of the year, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake – A Memoir by: Anna Quindlen. It was recommended by a patient. She made me promise to read it when I had time. I stumbled upon it last week, thought of that sweet old lady, and decided to read it now. It was a very good book about growing older. It’s one of those books I really enjoyed but I knew the entire time I was reading it that I should revisit it in say 30 or 40 years. Some books are just better at different times in life. If you are a woman facing retirement or an empty nest, this is just the book you are looking for.

Summer Challenge Notebook

This is a fun summer project for teens, tweens, and older kids. I made this for my 12 year old. I bought the little notebook at Hobby Lobby craft store. There is a small pocket in the back of the notebook for her to save tickets and things. I preferred this idea to the summer jar that we did last year because she can save this and look back on it years from now.

I split each page in half and then wrote a goal that seemed appropriate. Each goal has a small box next to it that she can place a star sticker in upon completion. There ended up being over 300 activities/goals in this book! I will now include a list of some of our ideas to get you started on making one for your child (or yourself).

1. Swimming
2. State Park
3. Bakery
4. Go to a friend’s house
5. Beach
6. Mall
7. Make cookies
8. Make a bleach tee
9. Library (Listed a few different branches that we have near by)
10. Paint
11. Make a bird house
12. Play fetch with a dog
13. See a mountain
14. Learn to sew
15. Make a volcano
16. Ice-cream cone
17. Scavenger hunt
18. Make rock candy
19. Putt-putt golf
20. Watch a movie made before 1983
21. Open a savings account
22. Borax crystals
23. Flea market
24. Farmer’s market
25. Learn how to cook an egg
26. Make a dream catcher
27. Paper plate craft
28. Ivory soap experiment
29. Draw
30. Read a book (This is listed 10 times)
31. Neighborhood walk
32. Play a video game
33. Make a snow globe
34. Make an ice cream cake
35. Make a paper or felt fortune cookie
36. Make a terrarium
37. Fly a kite
38. Root beer float
39. Toilet paper roll French knitting
40. Plant seeds
41. Make a lava lamp or bottle
42. Yard sale
43. Make something to wear
44. Flip-flop redo
45. Make paper clay
46. Play the Lego game
47. Make a “dirt” cake
48. Paint with straws
49. Make a scarf
50. Candy store
51. Tie Dye T-shirt
52. Pasta Salad (one of our summer traditions)
53. New bathing suit
54. Start a fire
55. Arboretum
56. Play a board game
57. Finger paint
58. Go out for Ice-cream
59. Visit Grandma
60. Water balloon fight
61. Drink an orange soda
62. Go to Red River Gorge
63. Go somewhere new (Listed multiple times, space left for her to fill in where she went
64. Make pizza
65. Squirt Gun Fight
66. Baseball game
67. Make Leaf Bugs (Project we pinned on pinterest)
68. Learn how to hammer in a nail
69. Make a craft you find on pinterest
70. Make a craft (listed a few times)
71. Make a bracelet
72. Make a paper star
73. Play in the hose/sprinkler
74. Pudding painting
75. Finger knitting
76. See a waterfall
77. Make a bird feeder
78. Make fudge
79. Friendship bracelets
80. Paint a rock
81. Eat a new fruit
82. Make a bunny bookmark
83. Go out to eat
84. Eat something new
85. Visit Grandpa
86. Make/decorate a letter for your bedroom
87. Make something with a box
88. Make a wreath
89. Shake and make ice-cream
90. Salt painting
91. Disney movie night
92. Eat watermelon
93. Make an eraser stamp
94. Play Bingo
95. Bake bread
96. Backyard bowling
97. Pet store
98. origami snail
99. Fly swatter painting
100. Watch “The Blob”
101. Museum
102. Spa night
103. Nail decals
104. Water slide
105. Side-walk chalk
106. Glow stick ring toss
107. Make rain in a jar
108. Walking water
109. Go to a nearby town we have never been to
110. Go hiking
111. Unpack, organize, and decorate your room (We recently moved and with school she has not had time to settle in.)
112. Do a science experiment (Listed a few times)
113. Make a tent
114. Icee
115. Have a friend spend the night
116. Pet a farm animal
117. Call a friend
118. Make a recycled bot
119. Sky parfait
120. Make homemade puffy paint
121. Leaf butterflies
122. Salad on a stick
123. Spend a day with your Aunt
124. Backyard camping
125. Make a craft with a friend
126. Pom-pom owl
127. Make a fairy house
128. Make fake snow
129. Dachshund Origami
130. Paint a flower-pot
131. Tuna can plant holder
132. Make play dough
133. Make a star light jar
134. Make a new friend
135. Sculpture
136. Make slime
137. Play a video game
138. Paint nails and toe nails
139. Walk in the woods
140. Lemonade
141. Backyard luau
142. Write a blog entry
143. Sidewalk paint
144. Go to a new park
145. Read poetry
146. Make hand monsters
147. Spend a day with your sister
148. Read a magazine
149. Eat a salad
150. Jump rope
151. Spend a day outside
152. Temporary tattoos
153. Dancing raisins
154. Go see a movie
155. Mustache on a stick
156. Eat fried chicken
157. Try a new food
158. Water Slide!
159. Family game night
160. Walk down a creek
161. Catch lightning bugs/Fireflies
162. Fun day with the family
163. Eat a Frosty
164. Drink Ice Tea
165. Water bottle penguin
166. Go for a walk
167. Make wind chimes
168. Make a cute food
169. Puzzle
170. Wish on a shooting star
171. Paint pottery
172. Go fishing
173. Tissue paper flower
174. Listen to music
175. Go out for frozen yogurt
176. Play yard scrabble
177. Hiking
178. Feed ducks, geese, or fish
179. Bird feeder
180. Draw cartoon characters
181. Cool whip painting
182. Breakfast for dinner
183. Rubber band painting
184. Marshmallow painting
185. Go downtown in a city. Which city?
186. Frisbee
187. Set off a firework
188. Build a sand castle
189. Glow sticks
190. Popcorn
191. Watch a sunset
192. Watch a sunrise
193. Catch bugs
194. Swing
195. Go down a slide
196. Watch a funny movie
197. Watch a scary movie
198. Get 150,000 points on Khan Academy
199. Go on a surprise outing
200. Color a picture
201. Campfire cookies
202. Watch Jaws
203. Make monkey bread
204. Soap carving
205. Take a class or join a group
206. Cross a river
207. Look for fossils
208. Cook or Bake
209. Make candy necklaces
210. Picnic
211. Do something fun with your sister (or brother)
212. Pipe cleaner animals
213. Make homemade pasta
214. Grow carrots in a 2 liter bottle
215. Make Oobleck
216. Make pudding pops
217. Write a poem
218. Ride an amusement park ride
219. Eat a hotdog
220. Eat a hamburger
221. Make a dissolving egg
222. Make a pet cloud
223. Make a house of cards
224. Ride a Ferris wheel
225. Sleep until noon
226. Green eggs and ham tic tac toe
227. Bouncing bubbles
228. Fossil Dough
229. Gak
230. Jello
231. Movie theater
232. Watch a new T.V. Show
233. Walk a dog
234. Cook dinner for the family
235. Chat on the front porch
236. Finish the summer reading program
237. Exploding Sandwich Bag
238. Growing & Shrinking Eggs
239. No electronics for a whole day
240. Dance in the rain
241. Lay on a big blanket outside and read
242. Watch a movie
243. Make a bookmark
244. Scrambled egg in the shell
245. Painted bread
246. Sparklers
247. Movie marathon
248. Glow dough
249. Jellyfish in a bottle
250. Eat corn on the cob
251. Broken Glass Jello
252. Dr. Seuss Cookies
253. Glitter play dough
254. Play a card game
255. Visit family you don’t see often
256. Smores
257. Climb a tree
258. Make popsicles
259. Grow beans
260. Shadow puppets
261. Have a sleepover with 2 friends
262. Foil art
263. Ice painting
264. Take at least 50 pictures
265. Help wash the car
266. Do something good for the environment
267. Watch a firework show
268. Stay up all night
269. Oil & water
270. Swim in a lake
271. Pillow fight with friends
272. Pick flowers
273. Catch a frog
274. Dance
275. Salami roll-ups
276. Put on make-up
277. Facebook chat with a friend
278. Jump on a trampoline
279. Make something to wear to school in the fall
280. Water the flowers
281. Family Walk
282. Walk around a small town
283. Watch a comedy
284. Watch a horror movie
285. Eat dinner in the backyard
286. Play a game
287. Skip a rock (something she has been trying to figure out)

There’s a whole list of options! I hope your summer is a memorable one!

 

A Year Without Cable!

It’s officially been a year without cable! Wow, time really flies by! In all honesty we don’t miss it at all. We missed it for about a month and then it was like we never had it to begin with. It’s funny that we thought we would miss it but in reality I’m much happier without it. We spend more time together, reading, and outdoors. It’s amazing how distracted our lives truly were and it’s sad that we never realized it until the distraction was gone. This was also quite a financial gain as well. We used to spend around $80 a month on cable. In the last year we have saved $960! I also know my kids better, have learned a couple of new skills, and surprisingly it lowered the overall family stress level. Now I’m not saying that during finals I was not stressed but overall our home life is calmer.