Bonkers in Barnhart

Archive for the ‘Aloha Friday’ Category

What are one or two of your favorite blogs that do not focus primarily on giveaways or reviews? 

I like to enter giveaways and often find reviews helpful but increasingly I find myself searching for those blogs  that have humor, stories, inspirational thoughts, crafts, etc. as I work towards finding my own place in the blog universe

Suggestions would be welcome!

Do you follow a blogging schedule?  If so, what does it look like briefly?

I’m trying to decide if I should set up a blogging schedule, if that makes things easier or not — hmm.

I am also taking part in this fun Friday hop:
The question there this week is:  What inspired your blog name?

Well, I live in Barnhart (a suburb of St. Louis, MO) and I wanted something that would sound good with that while also expressing the chaotic nature of life (my life as well as life in general.  Besides sanity really is seriously over-rated!

 

Sorry to have been quiet for a few days, I haven’t been feeling well at all.

Anyway, back to more interesting things! Tomorrow, March 12th, is Plant a Flower Day.  This is a good time to start planning which seeds you want to get started indoors, as Spring is just around the corner (hopefully!).

The National Wildlife Federation has a great article about creating your own seed pots out of newspaper which is a great way to not only recycle but the kids involved in starting a garden.    And Planet Green.com has a fun article that not only covers the recycling of newspaper for making seed pots but also egg shells and toilet paper rolls. We always have a lot of toilet paper roll hanging around waiting for projects so that would be a great option for the kids and I!

Some of the vegetable seeds that can be started indoors right now include:

* Spinach

*  Lettuce

*  Cauliflower

* Broccoli (my daughter’s favorite veggie!)

*  Tomatoes (my personal favorite, last year we even tried some Pink Lady that tasted really good)

*  Cucumbers (which my grandmother loved to pickle every year)

*  Pumpkins (never too early to start planning for Halloween!)

A couple tips that we learned last year about starting seeds:

*  Be very generous with the soil you put in the seed pot (to the point that it is overflowing) but only put a small amount of soil covering the seed.  And make sure you read the seed packet instructions since some seeds do not need (or like) to be covered at all!

*  You need to keep the seeds where they will stay warm and where there is bright light — fluorescent is even better for germination.

*  Use warm water for watering the first few days and then slightly above room temp after that.  Seeds like to be pampered a bit

*  Once the seeds have grown enough to have a couple sets of leaves and the danger of frost has passed they can be transplanted outside to enjoy the wonderful spring air!

KidsGardening.com has an article for about starting seeds indoors that is great at answering some of the basic questions kids have about the process.

The Old Farmers Almanac site has more  information including a link to a chart showing the Best Planting Dates for seeds based on frost dates and the moon.

While the kids are waiting for their seeds to sprout let them decorate plant markers for when the seedlings are transplanted outside and spend some time talking about where the seeds come from before they end up so neatly packaged on a store shelf!   We are going to try and save seeds this year to use next year so the kids can see, more directly, the relationship between the food they eat and the cycle that produces that food.   We also grow parsley for the guinea pigs and catnip for the furballs so the kids can enjoy sharing their gardening with the “whole” family and not just the two-legged members!

And while you are thinking about all the great ways to use those fresh veggies you are going to grow this year, check out this great Tomato and Mozzarella Salad with a Twist over at Frugal Wannabe Cooks.  This looks so good and there are few things I love more then the combination of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella!

So what kinds of things are planning to grow in your garden this year?  Flowers?  Veggies?  A bit of both?

Related articles

• Vegetable Seeds: When to Plant and How (plantrant.wordpress.com)
• 10 weeks from planting day! (1veggieatatime.wordpress.com)
• Start Seeds Now for Spring Planting (prnewswire.com)
• Maria Rodale: It’s Time to Start Thinking About Gardening Again! (huffingtonpost.com)
• planting (thisoldfarmhouse.wordpress.com)
• Starting heirloom seeds indoors (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Last night the kids and I went up to their school for a Literacy Night in celebration of Dr. Suess’s birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  There were six “bedtime stories” to listen to and then everyone had milk and cookies in the cafeteria.

We only had time to listen to three of the stories but Alex and Mac enjoyed each one.

The first was Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You by Dr. Seuss, which the kids really enjoyed because you get to make lots of silly sounds:

The next book was Goodnight, My Angel: a Lullaby by Billy Joel.  After the reading the teacher played the musical version which was very sweet:

The last story we listened to was Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss.  Alex was familiar with this one but Mac said he had never heard it before.  It was very funny as well as poignant in several spots — Horton is such a loyal, devoted elephant!

We didn’t have time to get to the rooms for Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner (a book we read this past winter and the kids really enjoyed), Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom Deluise,  and The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm by Paul Bright.

But we had a wonderful time celebrating books and reading and Dr. Suess!

If you have kids, what is one of your kids favorite childrens books?  Which one is your favorite from when you were a kid or more recently?

photo credit: katerha

Related articles

• Happy Birthday Dr. Suess! (thecsmproject.wordpress.com)
• Dr. Seuss Day (sirjohn331.wordpress.com)
• Happy Birthday Dr. Suess! Read Across America (dsgnmomonline.wordpress.com)
• Happy 107th Birthday Dr. Seuss? (freetech4teachers.com)
• Read Across America (thehappyhousewife.com)
• “Celebrate Dr. Seuss and Read Across America” and related posts (blogs.babble.com)

photo credit: miamism

Yes, this is a bit late in the month but then I think every month should be Library Lovers Month!  But it seems that February is “officially” Library Lovers Month for all public, private and school libraries.

I do love libraries — just walking into one makes me feel better — I relax, I breathe more easily and time slows down.  There is no rushing, no frantic necessities, nothing to impede upon the sense that there is nothing but me and so many books to explore at my leisure.  It’s a whole world unto itself and one that I would hate to do without.  I was raised going to libraries on a regular basis and have been taking my own kids since they were born — we go at least once a week and if we don’t, they want to know why we haven’t!

So Happy Library Lovers Month to one and all!!

In honor of Library Lovers Month here are some fun links that I discovered:

The first three links are part of the Library Support Net site:

Fun Bookmarks — to print out and mark your spot.

Bookish Email Postcards — to send to all your book loving friends!

Movies Featuring Librarians – My personal favorites are the National Treasure movies and The Librarian movies featuring Noah Wylie.

How to Love Your Library — there are several suggestions here that I hadn’t thought about, like buying a subscription to a magazine that your local library doesn’t carry yet.

Reasons to Visit the Library — My kids would tell you that it’s not just the books that they love at our local libraries, but also the dvd’s, video games, and family friendly events!

Poetry for Library Lovers

Gift Guide for Library and Book Lovers – a fun blog that features gifts that any book lovers would enjoy!

If you would like to do a library related craft I recommend making “books”.  This is a project that my kids have enjoyed since they were old enough to compose simple stories and we still do this on a regular basis.  Take several pieces of paper and fold them in half.   I staple the “books” in the center fold and then the kids write and illustrate their short stories.  When they were too young to write they would draw the pictures and then dictate the story to me.  Nowadays, Alex writes and illustrates on all her own.  Mac still needs a bit of help with his but he loves to weave complicated stories to match the pictures he creates.   I have held onto some of the books they have made over the years and we enjoy pulling them out periodically and reading them again — the kids love to hear the stories once more and to marvel at how their abilities in both drawing and writing have changed and improved.  Not to mention changes in their literary interests!

Another fun library-related craft is to make bookmarks.  These can be made out of various materials — we usually recycle pieces of cardboard and decorate them with whatever craft goodies we have available.

There are some fun printable bookmarks here as well.

A really neat photo essay about some Amazing Libraries Around the World — some of these are just so cool!

The two local library systems that the kids and I spend inordinate amounts of time at and check out stacks upon stacks of books and other media:

The Saint Louis County Library and the Jefferson County Library.

Do you love and support your local libraries?  I would love to hear your library “stories”!

Related articles:

• It’s Library Lovers Month: Consider the Library (laist.com)
• Library Lovers Day (librarylovers.org.au)
• Librarian in Black’s Gift Guide for Librarians and Book Lovers (librarianinblack.net)
• Save Our Libraries (sedenman.wordpress.com)

My question this week is — I want to have a giveaway to celebrate the restart of my blog, what would you suggest for the prize?  It will be my very first giveaway and I’m really excited about it, but can’t seem to make up my mind what to pick

Aloha Friday originated in Kailani’s An Island Life. If you would like to join in the fun, simply answer the question(s) as a comment then visit Kailani’s An Island Life for more details.  You are, of course, also welcome to leave a comment even if you’re not participating.

Kailani, at An Island Life, hosts Aloha Friday. It’s a chance to relax and get ready for the weekend. So on Aloha Friday, you ask a question and answer others’ questions.

My question today because I’m trying to remind myself to notice the small stuff:

What are the little things in life than you enjoy?  The everyday things that make you smile

Some of mine are when my kids give me hugs, when I’m cuddling on the couch with a purring cat and having hot cocoa with marshmallows!

Kailani, at An Island Life, hosts Aloha Friday. It’s a chance to relax and get ready for the weekend. So on Aloha Friday, you ask a question and answer others’ questions.

With Halloween coming up I’m trying to think about the kids costumes.  Alex wants to be a witch this year but she doesn’t want to be like all the other witches — I think she means the witch costumes you see in the stores.   She owns a black dress that I thought would be a good start, but what else to do!?!

So my question this week is:  do you have any ideas on how to make a six year old into a unique witch?  (Keeping in mind that I can’t sew well and our budget is miniscule