I watched The Academy Awards [hereafter referred to as The Oscars] like many people. It was my last hurrah to cable. Yep, I finally got rid of it. We’ll still have internet but I’ve stopped paying for the TV and phone which we never use.

Anyway, this is about the Oscars and the celebration of movies. Wait, is that what they were celebrating? I wish I thought to count the number of times they said the words “big screen” because I think there was a not so casual subliminal message going there. Either that or they were playing a different drinking game than everyone else in America.

I agree that watching movies on the Big Screen is something to be celebrated. I know that there are some movies that just need to be seen on a big screen. Of course, I watch shows and movies on Netflix all the time but we also go to the movies and by going to the movies I do mean the Big Screen.

You see we have a really Big Screen in our neighborhood. TheByrd Theatre, Richmond’s Landmark Movie Palace is right around the corner from our house and this is, for better or worse, what the kidlets are learning to appreciate as a movie going experience. It is true that the seats are less than comfortable but we cut them some slack as they are original to the theater which was built in 1928. The screen at The Byrd is very large, the curtain is red velvet and they use real butter on the popcorn!! Oh, and did I mention that tickets are only $1.99. It’s true that you need to wait a few weeks to see a show, but that’s okay with me. We saw “Hugo” Saturday night as a family and it cost us $8 – we leave the pennies in the jar. How many families can go see a movie on the Big Screen without using a credit card? Yeah, The Byrd is strictly a cash establishment but there is an ATM in the lobby now which is very helpful. But wait there's more....On Saturday nights there's an extra treat when they play the Mighty Wurlitzer! Yep, it still works and they play it every week. This, my friends, is not an experience that you’ll find at the multiplex no matter how much you pay for your ticket.

I realize that no one makes theaters like this anymore and that we are extremely lucky. It's one of the reasons we chose to live in our neighborhood. In fact, I'm not even sure this is what they had in mind during the Oscars when they kept referring to movies on the Big Screen. I think they meant going to a theater that would charge between $8 and $12 to see a movie on opening weekend. Personally, I think I'm getting a better deal even without the drink holders or extra leg room.

Yep, It's been a couple of weeks, maybe a month, my friends and I've pretty consistently been planning our meals. I know. Quelle Surprise. Believe me, it was a necessity, not a choice. Once again I found the kidlets home from school in the afternoons surrounded by the 20 minutes of homework that they get and yet in that limited time they can go from fully functional to ready to eat a small mastodon. 

This meant there was no time to stare into the fridge and think, "I wonder what I can cook today." I was more like, "I wonder what I can put in their mouths RIGHT NOW." This is especially the case when Joy gets a particular idea in her head. Then that thought becomes a one word litany. "Juice. Juice. Juice. Juice. Juice." Sometimes she stops to breathe. Sometimes she acknowledges that you are speaking to her and letting her know that there is a) juice on it's way or b) there will in fact not be juice for some reason. Sometimes it's just best to make sure that food appears at regular intervals so that this doesn't happen in the first place.

Recently, I've taken and rolled all of my ideas up and I'm using everything I've got. We have a chicken night, a pasta night, a breakfast-for-dinner night, and a crockpot night. There's also usually a 'shopping at Costco night' or leftover night in the rotation each week depended on which week of the month it is. That's the basic structure and I grabbed hold of this with both hands when I saw this outlined in Erin Chase's $5 Dollar Dinner cookbook!

Once I have a structure then I just fill in the blanks with meals. I can usually get about a third of the way done without breaking a sweat. It's the rest that really makes me work. I know that this is probably not a hard thing for most people but trying to find meals that my kids with like and eat one any given day seems to actually cause me stress.

But now my stressful work comes with a shiny new package. I'm talking about Pinterest. If you haven't been over to Pinterest then let me entice you to the land of many pretty and shiny things. It's an Internet corkboard so that as you travel through the blogosphere you can put a 'pin in it' and type a description and it goes on the board. Other people can follow you, you can follow other people, or you can travel Pinterest in solitude. Mostly I've used it to gather ideas for meals to make.

Today I made the luscious garlic knots for fellowship at Church. These have been pinned for quite a while and they turned out exactly as they looked online. I'm not sure this has ever EVER happened to me, especially when I was cooking with the girls. Yep, they helped me make the second batch and they looked exactly the same as the first batch. Delicious, too.

And for dinner tonight we made the one pot macaroni and cheese. It did take a bit longer than expected but that was probably due to the fact that I used rotini and not elbow macaroni. Lesson learned. I can say that Joy was humming while she ate and this is a sign of supreme contentment and enjoyment.

I have several more recipes pulled from Pinterest already and I'll let you know how they turn out. I had definitely recommend Pinterest for brainstorming but if you only have a few minutes at your disposal don't go there. It's full of beautiful, shiny things and you'll never EVER want to leave. I promise.

It's declutter/ Fall Cleaning time at my house and along with that I'm Purging the Plastic! This has been an on-going mission of ours to remove the plastic and BPAs from our home.

First, we got rid of the kiddie plates and started using the small plates in our IKEA dishware set. They're just the right size and, like most IKEA dishes, practically indestructible. Then, over the summer, I made sure all of our water bottles for camp were either stainless steel or BPA-free plastic. The kidlets had new BPA-free plastic bottles for their adventures since they wanted cute colors and something a bit lighter. I already had BPA-free bottles.

Now, the food container drawer is getting the purge. It needed decluttering anyway. I think those plastic tops get up to some funny business when the drawers are closed! So, no more plastic. It's all gone.

We have one set of glass Snapware and I've added another. The new set [THANKFULLY] has been upgraded so that it can go from oven to fridge/ freezer to microwave and it's dishwasher safe. The previous set could not be put in the over. Ridiculous, I know. 

The next cabinet to get the plastic purge was the kids cups. Oh my, the leaning tower of kids cups!! We had a couple of colorful stacks of plastic IKEA kids cups. Yes, it was time to move on. I'd been checking out the Duralex Bistro glasses after seeing a post on someone's blog. I wish I could remember where I saw it because it was a fantastic post about these really fantastic glasses. Well, I priced them on Amazon and thought, sure - they're unlikely to chip or ding and the small glasses are light and are perfect for a kids hand. Let's get them! Then I saw them at Costco and for the price of the 6 Tumblers on Amazon I actually got a set of 18. So, the 12 larger glasses are still in the box in my basement until we need them and the kidlets are doing great with the bistro glasses!!

Not only do I now have three cabinets/ drawers that have less plastic in them but the glass is less cluttery which just helps me feel better. It'll also help us feel better in the long run, too, and that's such a Cool Idea!

We're very lucky for the most part that our kids don't ask for snacks and toys in the checkout aisle. Well, not in earnest. They are at an age now that they notice these items and they will mention them to me but since we've never started the habit of buying them they don't expect me to do anything about it.

The exception is the Farmer's Market. I let the girls help pick out our purchases during the CSA season at the Market and I see no reason to change now that the season is over. Well, except that it's real money so I have to be prepared with actual currency before we go shopping.

The good news is that these impulse purchases are for things like eggplant and raspberries. Isn't that amazing! My kids are begging me - yes, begging me for eggplant. Mind you, they haven't begged me to eat it yet:) but they know what it looks like and they wanted to take it home. I figure that's the best first step to getting them excited about eating it and there's something tremendously cool about that.

Each year we buy our honey at the Virginia State Fair because it gives us the opportunity to taste different varieties and support local apiaries. We've done this for almost a decade now and we've learned which flowers we like our honey to come from and which we don't. This year we decided to try something a little different. After we picked the varietal we wanted we decided to make sure it came from an apiary in a zip code local to us.


Why? Our family suffers from season allergies in varying degrees and our doctors have mentioned that taking a teaspoon of local honey a day can help build immunity to our local pollens - which in central Virginia are many.  We've only just started this but I've already seen an improvement in Comfort's seasonal allergy issues and for that I am very grateful.

There are other medicinal uses for honey, of course. When I was little I got honey for a sore throat. For some reason Moms stopped doing that when 'better' medicine came out. It turns out that honey is just as good - so say the new docs. And article in last month's Parenting Magazine included this dosage information:

Honey can also help relieve coughing. A study in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that honey at bedtime was more effective at quieting coughs than honey-tasting cough medicine (flavored so the kids wouldn't know which they were getting). The AAP recommends half a teaspoon for children 2 to 5 years old, a teaspoon for ages 6-11, and two teaspoons 12 and up. (The brand of honey "doesn't make any difference", says Dr. Fisher, but make sure your child has fluids or brushes her teeth afterwards to avoid letting the honey sit on their teeth). Never give honey to babies less than 1 year old.

So, honey - it's a lovely, tasty treat that has many uses. If you can try to buy local honey so you can explore the flavors from the land around you and take advantage of extra health benefits 'cause I just happen to think this is a super Cool Idea!

I almost typed "Happy New Year!" because it is that time of the year again. It's September and it feels like the beginning of a new beginning.

In fact, Comfort starts First Grade tomorrow. We've set out her outfit. Her lunch is ready. Backpack is cleaned out and a new name sticker has been affixed.

It's a new year. Enjoy.

This is one of my favorite holidays - after Christmas, Easter and my birthday. Dr. Seuss's Birthday is celebration of reading and a good reminder of things we learned as kids.

There are lots of great activites on the NEA Read Across America's website. I know that schools like to incorporate the event into the day, too. I used to volunteer at several school and always went to read to classes on Dr. Seuss Day. At Comfort and Joy's schools they'll be having Green Eggs and Ham during breakfast.

Another way we use the Dr. Seuss books at our house is by reminding the kidlets to try new things. Reminders to not be a 'Sam I Am' often get them to try new foods. So, take a moment to wish Dr. Seuss a Happy Birthday today and read a book to someone in celebration. As a bonus, try a food that you might not normally eat. These are all Cool Ideas!

Whew! The year is flying by. I hope that this finds everyone well and that you are warm. Virginia may or may not see snow and it may or may not be a huge snow. Apparently you don't have to worry about being right if you are a weather-person:)

But it doesn't matter. The Adventure Girls are enjoying the day and playing together. It sounds great. ~enjoy.

Fall has finally descending upon Virginia and it's time for us to get out our long pants and sweaters. Yep, you guessed it -- Comfort and Joy were wearing the same couple of outfits everyday few days because they'd outgrown all their warm weather clothes- that is until the package from Nana and Grandpa arrived. Thank You!

But that won't keep us going all season. And sadly they have now reached the size where I have a problem with buying much of the clothes that are available in the stores. You know this. You've been there.

So I procrastinated, bought a couple of long-sleeved shirts to add in the rotation, and just did another load of laundry. Until I remembered that there were other options.

Locally, we have several consignment stores for children's clothes. I'm sure there are some in your area. I also figured at this point in the season they'd probably be tapped out but I'll be making a run out there for sure. But that's quite a drive for me and I have to schedule it around carpool and my other work.

But last night I let my fingers do the walking - or the bidding, I should say - and I got a good headstart on their fall/ winter wardrobe by checking out eBay. Yep, I don't know why I always forget it exists until my brain is just tapped out but I do. It was the same way when I got the Dansko shoes, remember? So far I managed to get some very nice Hanna Andersson sweaters for the girls at an incredible price - and for those of you unfamiliar with Hanna Andersson products you should hop on over and take a look. You'll fall in love and let me just tell you that these things will never fall apart and the quality is amazing even though the prices are staggering.

I still have some other bids out there waiting and I'll be patient. I have a maximum bid in my head and I make sure to keep postage in mind because otherwise it might become a huge vortex of 'bad idea' - instead of a labor and time saving option.

Any other ideas you have that you'd like to pass along because I'm ready to call this a wonderfully Cool Idea!

Finally there are no apples in my house. Whew!! But it took fierce determination and a lot of time, patience, and recipe help from some friends.

So just how many apples met their match? Well, I couldn't rightly tell you except to say that I bought 40 pounds of gala apples from my CSA - which gets them from an organic orchard near Charlottesville. Yep, I needed to debit my account quickly and large purchases like apples are the easiest way to do it.

At first I started out making applesauce and apple butter. I love both of these but Comfort and Joy won't eat either one so I don't make but so much. Some of the applesauce got repurposed into applesauce bread which I then took to a variety of social functions - a party, church, and used for a small group meeting at our house. I'm pretty sure this would freeze well but I haven't tried it yet.

But I still had a LOT of apples. So I made more apple butter and I cut several dozen into slices and flash froze them to store in the freezer for use in our Thanksgiving Apple Pie. I learned last year that a one gallon Ziplock bag of apples works for my recipe.

And yet there were more apples. I put out a call to some friends on an email loop and someone suggested apple cider and I thought they had lost their ever lovin' mind. Then I did some research - mosty confined to a quick Swagbucks search and learned that while you could invest in a press and yada, yada there was way to make apple cider in your kitchen with just items that I had on hand.

I will say that the cider doesn't taste like store bought, or even what you might get at a fair, likely because I only had one type of apple. I'll also tell you that I used the remaining 30 apples and ended up with 1.5L of apple cider. It was a great way to use up the apples and I'm glad that I have a new skill but if you're really interested in doing this you're going to need a LOT of apples. And invest in the cider press. Using the food processor worked for a small batch but if I were going to do this often I might think about something more efficient.

That's our apple adventure from this past month. Do you have interesting ways to get through bountiful produce at your house?

Personally I love learning about food especially yummy snacks like Rt. 11 Potato Chips. I first tasted their Sweet Potato chips years ago and fell in love immediately. Then I learned they have some other extremely yummy varieties like barbecue, sour cream and chive, and lightly salted. They also have a Chesapeake Bay flavor and Dill Pickle that people think are outta this world but I can't vouch for them 'cause I don't eat 'em.

But back to the chips. While we were the Adventure Family this summer we went to visit Rt. 11 Potato Chips. Heck, it's right around the corner from Shenandoah Caverns so it makes a nice day.

Here are some of the first things you'll notice:

1. It is a small operation. The first day we were there we saw 1 person cooking the chips, 2 people seasoning the chips, and 2 people were putting the bags into boxes. Oh, and 2 women were assisting people like us who'd walked in from the street. I imagine there were other people about but this is not a vast operation.
2. That said, they get a tractor-trailer truck of potatoes from the Eastern Shore of Virginia every week. That's 55,000 pounds of potatoes and they cook them EVERY WEEK. That's a lot of potatoes. And it's nice to know that not only is the end product made in Virginia but the root, ahem, product is from the Commonwealth as well.
3. Sweet potatoes are cooked at the end of the week. So if you're visiting and you're interested in watching them cook the sweet taters you might want to time your visit for Friday and Saturday.
4. One Hundred pounds of potatoes will give you 25 pounds of potato chips. Yep, that means that potatoes are 75% water. [I didn't do the math. I remembered this from the tour.]
5. They only cook chips that have already been purchased by a buyer so none of the chips are just sitting around their building waiting for a home. Not only is this good business but it's nice that the chips aren't getting lonely:)
6. You can freeze potato chips. You know, just in case you want to buy the big 1 1/2 pound bag while you're visiting and you're worried that they'll go stale before you can finish them. If you don't have a freezer you can feel free to invite me over;)
7. All potato peelings are feed to a herd of cows down the road from them. How's that for recycling!!

Want to find where to find Rt. 11 Chips near where you live? You should!! These are wonderful chips made in small batches, with wonderful flavors.

This was a great stop for the family, too. It's just a few minutes off the interstate and I didn't feel like I needed to worry about the girls' behavior. We went twice it was so much fun and we needed refueling before we came home. There are large viewing windows so that everyone can see. Stairs lead up to the second level where large windows allow viewing of the seasoning process. Stairs mean that the entire process isn't exactly accessible but like I said, this isn't a large operation.

So, if you're in the vicinity, or even passing through, I think you'll really enjoy a stop at Rt. 11 Potato Chips. It is definitely a Cool Idea!!

Two thoughts came to my mind. The first was ... thank goodness it's older than me:)
The second was about the actual book of GE&H that I got for my 5th bday from a girl in my neighborhood that couldn't come to my party. I still have that book, too!

Green Eggs and Ham has always been a favorite of mine and this summer we used 'Try New Things' and 'Don't be a Sam I Am' as the mantra for Comfort who has taken to not trying new foods because, well - she's a four year old.

In case you didn't know just how brilliant this book is go back and read it. It uses only 50 words throughout the entire text. Dr. Seuss wrote it on a dare that a coherent plot couldn't be written in that many words. Well, we know differently and we are thankful for it.  And for those of you about my age, ahem, you might remember the SNL sketch with Jesse Jackson also you can see clips of President Obama reading Green Eggs and Ham at the 2010 Easter Egg Roll.

Actually on that site you can see lots of different people reading GE&H. Go and enjoy. It's a great day to enjoy a wonderful book with our kidlets and that is defintely a Cool Idea!

We visited Shenandoah Cavern with Comfort and Joy twice this month and they absolutely loved it. Comfort is our budding photographer so I've included some of her pictures here.


Some things of note: 
1) There are no stairs to worry about and strollers are welcome.
2) Kids under 6 are free.
3) It's very cool in the cavern so this is excellent as a summertime destination. In fact, it's a constant 56 degrees so bring a jacket and maybe long pants.
4) They were fine with the kidlets consuming snacks and drinks along the way and the older kids in our group all had their water bottles. Trash cans are provided along the 1-mile walk through the cavern.


The Magic Cave has some fantastically beautiful formations.


Bacon

Capitol Dome



Fried Eggs





Diamond Cascade



Pictures of Mirror Lake, The Archibishop and Popcorn didn't turn out well. I think Comfort forgot the flash. But you get the idea. It's an amazing cave and at just a mile of walking it's doable for small legs.


Yep, there's a lot of food and Joy really got into that. The bacon was her favorite. She pointed it out everywhere!!


Interested in visiting with your family? Kids 6-14 are 1/2 Price [Kids under 6 are free] if you mention the Humdinger Deal.  Print the ad and take it with you. What could be a better deal than that!!

We have truly been Adventure Girls this summer and it's time to begin to report back on the many wonders we've encountered. The memory card in the camera will get dumped and edited and I'll put together some fun facts along the way to document some interesting things we've learned. Stick around and see what we've learned especially if you're interested in travels through Virginia or are looking for new adventures for your own kidlets.

If you've ever had a little girl you know how trying it can be to keep Little Girl Hair from getting tangled. Then please imagine Little Girl Hair that has not been allowed to be combed for a month. Notice, I said allowed. Yep, each morning and usually several times a day I try to comb Joy's hair and there are meltdowns that take place. Sometimes there is biting. Yes there are issues.  So I wash it and condition it and hope for the best.

But she has nice curls in her hair. Ringlets in fact in several places and I finally realized that the baby hair conditioner wasn't going to really help me as the mats and tangles kept growing.

We have postponed the required haircut for Joy all thanks to Pantene Pro-V Conditioner. Whew!! And this is after she hadn't let us comb her hair for a month. Yep, I gotta say it was pretty amazing although it still took some work.  The haircut will still need to take place before too long most likely but now it won't need to be one that cuts out the worst of the tangles. Instead it can be a real haircut that makes the most of her beautiful face and is easy to care for.

And in case you think I'm the only one that has thought of this amazing cure for Little Girl Hair I can tell you that I mentioned it to a couple of other mothers and they said they use the same thing for the very same reason so it sounds like a very Cool Idea and one which should be passed along.

Comfort ran errands this morning with dh at Wal-Mart and apparently as they walked around she made an astute observation. "There are no walls here!"

Very true and cleverly said.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! What rituals do you have or do you do something different every year? Did you do something different this year?

Comfort and Joy are still young but we have some traditions that are becoming entrenched in our family. For many it's the fireworks. We're lucky that we live within walking distance of the city's firework display so we leave the house when it gets dark, having put the girls into their pjs, find a spot and have a snack on our blanket while we wait.

Last week my mom sent an email to my brother and I to remind us to make our brownies for the day. Yep, brownies are a 4th of July ritual in my family. Growing up we had a full day on  each July 4th - from parades to be marched to brownies to be baked to family to be rounded up for fireworks. The brownies were our snack as we sat and waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to begin, just like they are at our house now.

But why brownies? My guess is that it's because it was something that my brother and I could make together and it didn't take very long to bake. Oh, and it's chocolate. Yum! My brother and I were always in the kitchen when my mom cooked and we were expected to help and being tall ourselves it wasn't long before we could do a lot to help.

Brownies are wonderfully collaborative. There's a little bit of measuring, some stirring, pouring, and then there's the best part - licking the bowl. Comfort and Joy have started helping me with the stirring. Growing up my brother and I got to where we could do it all by ourselves. I think having some activity in the kitchen that your kids can learn to do by themselves is wonderful. As they grow kids can learn to do more and more by themselves, under supervision.

The funny part is that our 4th of July brownies have to be from a box. I know I've blogged about Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies recipe. It is fabulously rich and well, I'm drooling as I type. However, it's box brownies that bring me back to my childhood and for this day I stick with what the nostalgia.

This is the role of brownies, or whatever the equivalent is in your family. It a traditon on a holiday for sure, but it's also an opportunity for our kids to find a way to be part of the collaborative process of cooking and baking. It's a way for them to learn measuring - which is a great form of math. It's a way for them to learn how to follow instructions. It's a way for them to learn independence and self-worth and isn't definitely a Cool Idea!

Yep, today is Joy's half-birthday and we are up to our elbows in potty training. Still. Again. For REAL. It's not that she doesn't understand the concept or that she can't 'do' it but she chooses not to stop what she's doing to - you know.  This is especially a problem at home with me. At school she's a champ. Even on car trips. Heck, five out of seven nights she'll stay dry.

So I know it's about sticking to it and summer seems to be a great time to run around the house in fewer clothes and make sure we are more about sticking to it. We bought cute underwear - she loves monkeys so she now has Paul Frank monkey undies from Target - and thankfully they came in a 7 pack. Yep, one for everyday of the week. I've done laundry twice in two days!!

Some things were expected. Like accidents. And laundry. And I've cleaned the floor more than I have since we had a puppy. What I hadn't expected was how wonderful it would be that she is wearing her Crocs around the house.

Not only are these shoes easy for her to get on and off on her own but they are super easy to clean. In fact, they even hold some of the 'accident' in their structure. Then I put them in the sink and wash them with anti-bacterial soap and wipe with a Clorox wipe and set to dry and they're ready in an hour or so. This would not be the case with a sneaker or a regular sandal and a flip flop wouldn't help me with containment.

So even in the midst of the drama of potty training I've found a new silver lining and it is the Croc shoe. Which helps remind me that a woman, no matter how young she is, should never underestimate the power of having a shoe for the right occasion.

Happy Birthday, sweetie. Enjoy those purple Crocs!

You know, I haven't actually thought much about the pressure that moms, and women in general, find based on real and perceived pressure that is felt from other moms and women. I know it's there. Heck, we were all in middle school. I figure it's pretty much the same thing. The fact that I don't notice it doesn't mean that others don't or that it doesn't exist.

"Bad Mother", a post on Lucy March's blog delved into this. I'd venture to guess that there's something there that most every woman has felt at one point in time.

But it begs the question - what do you do instead of getting on the hamster wheel of things you feel you should do? Either for yourself or for your kids?

When I was on maternity leave this was the first time I'd not worked outside the home. I tried to do everything. After a day or two I came up with a new plan - One Thing A Day! Some days all I got done was brushing my teeth or cooking dinner. Some days we made a trip to Target for essentials. Most days we took a walk. Everyday we read.

Now that the kidlets are older it's harder to stick to the One Thing A Day rule because they move too fast sometimes. Looking ahead to the beginning of summer vacation it'll be a challenge to keep the girls busy but not overwhelmed. Our goal is still to be intential about what we do and not to get on the hamster wheel any earlier than we have to, if at all. Personally, I think this is definitely a Cool Idea!

Sending the kidlets to school each day with a healthy lunch that they will actually eat has been a daily adventure. I tried sending cut fruit but it got too mushy. Then I tried to send fruit snack cups but there was too much juice in them and the package was too hard for my 4 and 3 year olds to open by themselves. This was clearly evident on the laundry.

Then I decided to take a fresh approach. What if I made my own fruit cups? The snag was finding a container that would stay sealed properly in transit yet was easy enough for the girls to open by themselves.

One day while I was walking up and down the aisles of the grocery store I saw these Rubbermaid containers and decided to give them a try. They, themselves, are not an inexpensive option necessarily but I will tell you that they work like a charm! They don't leak and they work exactly how I hoped they would.

Now, when canned fruit goes on sale and I stock up I make my own fruit cups for Comfort and Joy's lunch. I get to make sure they eat something good for them and it's a frugal options all the way around. Definitely a Cool Idea!