I am fairly new at this blogging thing and still continuously surprised by the process. I love getting comments, but lately (let’s say the last week or so) I have been just inundated with spam. Now I am not sure whether that just means the blog is getting a bit more well-known or if it was something I did. I mean, whatever gave anyone the impression that I would want to hype “life-enhancing drugs” - for want of a better description? Amazing.

On a more positive note, I just got my blog listed at MomDot, something I am quite excited about. If you have never heard about them before, here is their own description:

MomDot is a mom blog listing site that is run by mommy bloggers, trisha, alicia, and bridgette.They run contests weekly, reviews on awesome (and not so awesome) products for family and kids, and talk about their lives. But more importantly, they feature bloggers and mom boutiques to give them an avenue to get their name out there, also assisting in google links! You can head out and list your blog for free and talk to them about doing an interview about you. Head on over and see what MomDot is about!

Hopefully, this will increase traffic (though hopefully not spam, I have enough of that already!)

Do you know a romance lover but have no idea what book to get them for Christmas? Then read on as I share some of my all-time favorites. If on the other hand you have a weakness for romance novels yourself check to see if there is one you missed.

1. One Summer by Karen Robards

A classic romantic suspense novel with a bit of a supernatural touch thrown in. When the heroine’s former student is released from prison after serving time for murdering his former girlfriend she is the only one willing to help him. But what will everyone think about her budding relationship to a presumed murderer? And more important, was he really the killer?

2. Heaven, Texas by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

A great book! Like almost all of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ books one of my favorites. Sensible Gracie is determined to start a new life and the first step towards her goal is to escort recalcitrant ex-football player Bobby Tom Denton towards his home-town where he is slated to star in a movie. Is she out of her league? Very funny.

3. Flowers from the Storm by Laura Kinsale

A historical romance it truly transcends the genre. The Duke of Jervaux is a well-known rake but few know that he is also a brilliant mathematician. His life changes dramatically when he suffers a stroke (yep, in a romance novel). No longer able to speak, he is sent to a lunatic asylum. Quaker friend Maddy is the only one who sees behind his bizarre behaviour and determines to help him. But can she succeed?

4. The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney

The story of four women who meet regularly in a women’s group. Best friends, they still struggle with jealousy and occasional pettiness. Then life becomes even more difficult: One of the group struggles with her inability to conceive, a second member has to finally face the true nature of her manipulative husband, a third woman falls deeply in love with a married man and the last of the friends is diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease. Will these challenges destroy them or will their friendship endure?

5. The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann

The first book in the Troubleshooters Series (you know how I love series books!) tells the story of Navy SEAL Tom Paoletti who finds love while struggling to track down a terrorist. The book also tells a secondary story set during the second World War. A good book both for fans of suspense/thrillers as well as for those interested in history.

6. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie

A funny and entertaining book about two sisters filming a soft porn movie in a sleepy town. One of the sisters falls in love with the town’s upstanding mayor and a dead body adds to the excitement. A bit racy and hilarious.

7. The Four Seasons by Mary Alice Monroe

The three older Season sisters have never gotten over the accident that permanently disabled their youngest sister. Now, with Merry Season’s death, they finally have to face the secrets that have been kept for over twenty years. Will they finally be able to move on?

8. Daring to Dream by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is certainly one of the most popular and well-known romance authors and her Dreams Trilogy is one of my most favorites. In the first installment, Margo Sullivan, the housekeeper’s daughter who has made good returns to California when her world is shattered. Can she turn her life around with the help of her best friends?

9. Trust Me by Jayne Ann Krenzt

An entertaining easy read like many of Jayne Ann Krentz’s books. Desdemona Wainwright is hired to cater a businessman’s wedding but the groom is left at the altar. This turns into a piece of good luck as he then hires Desdemona to cater for his company and serve as his hostess. Soon their relationship turns into love but there are plenty of complications to keep the reader entertained.

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I am always looking for little things to make life easier (or at least manageable), and my latest discovery is something that might make a good addition for the weekly Works-for-me-Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks in my dryer. I don’t know about you but if my boys don’t get fed regularly (like every two hours at least) they turn into little monsters. Not that I am starving them. If they tell me they are hungry I will get them a snack (unless dinner is less than two minutes away) as fast as possible (or you know what will happen). But often they don’t say anything until it is almost too late or if they do it is when we are walking home from the store and are ten minutes away from the nearest food source (and ten minutes is definitely too long to wait for them).
Lately, we have especially struggled with this because of some changes in our daily routine. The first problem arises in the morning. J. has to be at the bus stop just before seven am and he is not a morning person. Which means breakfast doesn’t go so well. The second problem happens when he gets off the bus a bit before two pm. He is so starved that walking home and waiting for the ten minutes it takes me to prepare even the easiest meal are out.
Luckily, I remembered a cookie recipe that is easy to make and yields tasty and fairly nutritious (especially considering that these are cookies) treats that can help to keep hunger at bay until a proper meal can be fixed. (In a pinch the boys have also been known to just gobble down cookies!). So if you have the same problem with your kids (or if you need an easily portable snack for yourself) you might try these.

I-am-starving-cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cups butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 6 tablespoons molasses
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup nuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins

Preparation:

1. Beat butter with sugar till creamy.
2. Add molasses (coat the measuring spoon with oil first to get the molasses off easier) and eggs.
3. Mix flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and add to butter/sugar mixture.
4. Stir in remaining ingredients and drop onto greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes at 400°F.

I was going to add a picture of the cookies but the boys ate up the last batch and I am all out of moasses (which is fairly hard to find around here). So the next batch (and the pictures) will have to wait until I can make a trip to some fancy store in the city to get more molasses. But never mind, go ahead and bake up a batch of these cookies and you can make your very own picture (if the kids don’t get to them first)!

Christmas is really coming close now. I can’t believe St. Martin’s (November 11 th) is right around the corner. High time to start making our St. Martin’s lanterns for this year.
One of the nicest traditions here is the annual St. Martin’s parade that takes place right around the Saint’s special day. Usually organized by nursery schools or churches, the observance consists of some sort of family service (with the story of the Saint), followed by a lantern-lit parade through the dark neighborhood and often concludes with some sort of snack/treat.
I guess you could reuse your lantern year after year (if you don’t have a couple of boys who are likely to destroy it the first time around and if you can find it again next year). However, here most preschools/playgroups make one every year. My boys’ preschool never makes St. Martin lanterns. That’s just fine with me as making the lantern is a great activity for Family Moment Monday.

This year J. decided he wanted a Star Lantern. Instead of getting instructions and following a template we just came up with our own version:

All you need to make one of these is some stiff posterboard, transparent paper in various colors, and one of the round cardboard thingies you see in the pictures below.
And here are the instructions:

Cut out two star shapes from the posterboard big enough to cover the round paper thingies. J. was a bit impatient so his stars are a bit small - doesn’t really matter though.

Cut holes into the star shapes.

Cover the holes with transparent paper. Cut a hole in the bottom cardboard circle so that you basically end up with two “rims”. Cut a long piece of cardboard (about 2 to 3 inches wide).

Glue one star on each rim. Use a glue gun to attach the length of cardboard to the two rims (I know, I know - you have no idea what I mean by that. That’s why I have added in the pictures. Take a look at the finished lantern and you’ll see what I am talking about). Make sure to leave a space to put the light through.

And there you go, one cool St. Martin lantern. I will post later this week about our St. Martin’s celebration on Tuesday and the lantern walk which is scheduled for next Sunday.

Good morning, Christmas lovers. I just noticed that Shannon at Rocks in my Dryer is hosting a give-away for personalized Christmas cards. I already entered but wanted to give you all a chance to do the same. So if you are like me and need some extra-impetus for getting started on writing your Christmas cards or if you would like to save money this year while still sending out professionally designed cards, go right on over to Shannon’s blog and check this out.

The other day (I’ll admit it was over a week ago; I just didn’t get around to posting) I took the boys to the local children’s museum. That is always a fun trip in itself, but now, before Christmas, they are offering a special activity that I love (we already took part in this program last year): All about chocolate.

Yes, you heard right. Chocolate can be quite educational. And if you like chocolate as much as I and B., you’ll be delighted to hear it. Anyway, I realized that many of the activities could just as well be done at home, either in a homeschooling context or just for fun. So I thought I would give you a quick rundown on what we did and you can pick and choose any (or all) of the activities you would like to do with your kids.

Part One: Where does cocoa come from?
In the first part of the program they explain basically that cocoa is a main ingredient of chocolate and where it comes from. Some (and admittedly the most interesting parts) of this you won’t be able to do but here goes:

• Talk about what gives chocolate its taste (cocoa) and where cocoa grows (rainforest)
• Look at a globe or map and let kids identify where there is rainforest (right around the equator). They also put on a CD with “rainforest sounds” which was fun.
• At the museum they had a fake cocoa tree to look at. You probably don’t have one at home (though you never know). Still, you might be able to see one at a botanical garden etc. If not, just find a picture in a book (not quite the same but still).
• Then everyone got to taste a real cocoa seed. Probably you won’t get to do this at home but don’t worry - it doesn’t taste good at all.
• Here a quick info on how cocoa is made: First the fruits are cut off the trees with big knifes. Then they are put under huge leaves in the sun and left there until the fruit rots away (yuck, that may be more than you wanted to know). Later the cocoa beans are roasted to give them the right taste.



• At that point the kids got some cocoa beans that they had to grind to a powder on a huge mortar and pestle. Unless you have access to cocoa beans (we don’t) you’ll have a hard time to recreate this part of the project. If you think your kids would really get into this activity (or if you just want to show them the hard work involved in making cocoa the old-fashioned way) you could just do it with some other kind of bean
• Then hot cocoa was prepared by pouring hot water over the ground cocoa (you could easily do this with store-bought cocoa). Now, without sugar this will not taste very good. However, that was the way the Aztecs originally prepared it and “chocolate” actually means “bitter water”. The aztecs even added other spices to make it spicier.

Part Two: Make your own chocolate
Next the kids got to make their very own chocolate. All you need for this is cocoa powder, powdered sugar, powdered milk and coconut butter.
Just mix 1 teaspoon each of cocoa powder and coconut butter with 1/2 teaspoon of powdered milk and powdered sugar in a small pot and warm gently (best in a hot water bath) while stirring constantly.
Once the mixture is a smooth consistency you pour it into small molds and let it sit for a bit to harden. Voila - your very own chocolate. Of course you can experiment by varying the amounts of sugar/cocoa and by adding nuts etc.

Part Three: Tasty treats with chocolate
The kids then went ahead and made three different types of treats:

• The littlest kids used a small brush to smear melted chocolate on Graham Cookies. Yum.
• The bigger kids made some sort of chocolate truffles with ground nuts. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the recipe but I am sure you can find one you could substitute.
• My boys made almond splitters:
1. Boil some water and put a bunch of almonds in for a couple of minutes. After that the kids can easily slip off the almond skin (or of course you could buy your almonds already prepared)
2. The kids cut the almonds into long, thin slices (yes, my three year old did this but you’ll definitely have to be there and watch little ones)



3. Pour the almond pieces into melted chocolate, mix together well and drop by spoonfuls on a piece of baking paper. Let cool off (best in the fridge) until firm.
4. Enjoy!

A while ago Shannon at Rocks in my dryer announced a themed edition of her popular Works-for-me Wednesday Blog Carnival , and I have been planning to write a long, detailed review of the best children’s toys for it. I was all set to write it for next week but just realized that I got my dates mixed up and that it is already this week - oops.
But I am nothing if not flexible (right), so I will just use this opportunity to introduce the MOST FAVORITE TOY at our house (I will still write the long, detailed review of various great toys during the next week or so - stay tuned if you are looking for more Christmas gift ideas).
Let me start out by saying that we have many toys, almost all of them good quality, pedagogically worthwhile stuff. However, my kids (especially J.) really aren’t that much into toys. But there is one item that both boys love and that also consistently gets used when other kids come over to play.
In case you are wondering what I am talking about, it is Big Blocks .

Our set is a bit smaller (just eleven pieces) and not exactly the same but I think it is close enough.

I know these blocks are VERY expensive (though after hearing about the $85 baked potato nothing should shock you any more) and they do take up a bit of space. But these are really the best toys we have ever had! My kids use them in a hundred different ways. Over the last couple of years they have built ox carts, castles, tractors, horses, tents, ships, and many other vehicles with them. We use them to play store or set up a puppet theater. They are used for obstacle courses and as weapons (unfortunately). These are truly the only toys that my kids play with constantly.

If loving grandparents, aunts, uncles etc. keep asking you what to get for the youngest member of your family and you just don’t know what to say because the play room is already bursting with Legos, Playmobil and Barbies that older siblings have accumulated over the years, then this is your answer. These blocks are great for everyone: toddlers crawl over them, little ones use it vor pretend play and they can be used to sit/lie on for older kids (I actually got them instead of a small couch for the playroom).

I can honestly say that for us they were worth every penny (which is more than I can say for some of the stuff we have). Big Blocks really work for us!

One activity we enjoy as a family that is a great choice for Family Moment Monday is doing a jigsaw puzzle together as a family.
In our case a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle seems to provide just the right kind of challenge. Of course, depending on the age of your family members you may prefer more or less pieces. As a matter of fact, my three-year old is still rather intimidated by larger jigsaw puzzles and prefers to do his own, easier one, next to us.
I have found it rather difficult to find jigsaw puzzles with the right number of pieces that have a subject matter which appeals to children and is easily manageable (what is it with all these jigsaws that show only a big brown horse on a green meadow?). In my experience, more pieces do not necessarily make a jigsaw puzzle too difficult as long as the picture is composed of many different details in distinct colors.
Our favorite family jigsaw puzzle is one I picked up at Disney World last year and gave J. as a Christmas present. It shows many, many Disney characters (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Mogli, Donald, Aladdin and dozens of others) as well as some Walt Disney World features (Cinderella’s castle, Tree of Life, Splash Mountain etc.). It was a great hit and J. even took it to preschool last year where all the kids enjoyed it. Not only is it comparatively easy to assemble, but it is also a great souvenir from our vacation. We love to listen to our Walt Disney World soundtrack while we work on it (and we have assembled that jigsaw at least 15 times so far).
So if you are stuck for something easy and fun to do with the family, why don’t you get out a jigsaw puzzle and work on it together? And if a trip to Walt Disney World is in your near future, I definitely recommend you pick up the one we bought!

If you have been wondering lately what the “recipe” part of my blog’s subtitle was for you can relax. They are coming right up!

It has been a crazy busy week, not least of all because of our Halloween preparations. We actually didn’t get around to putting the decorations up (including carving our Jack-o-lantern) until the day before. Hopefully, we will do a bit better with Christmas!

I really like a very easy decoration I made out of corrugated cardboard two years ago and thought I would share it with you here. You don’t really need instructions, just follow the visual.

I used a plate to get the yellow circle for the moon. Draw on a scary face, stick on a couple of bats and there you go.

Now, for me the funnest part of Halloween are the spooky foods. I bought a little recipe booklet (you know the kind they sell at the check-out counter at the grocery store) years ago, and we’ve tried out most of the recipes by now. This year we were under a lot of time constraints and the main criteria for choosing dishes was how easy and fast they were.

Here some quick and fun ideas:

Drinks:
We like to serve “poison” (apple juice with green food coloring) and “blood” (blood orange juice). In the right containers they look suitably spooky and always garner a lot of comments. Tone the spookiness down for very little kids though as they will otherwise refuse to touch the drinks/foods!

Foods:

• Raw veggies for dipping


Always popular (a good choice for guests who are allergic, vegetarian or health-conscious) they provide some color and arranged nicely go well with Halloween. They are also inexpensive and easy to prepare. Add in a dip or two and you are all set!

• Bones and Blood

I have had a lot of success with plain breadsticks that are somewhat formed to resemble bones. Most kids love plain breadsticks whereas more complicated foods (even though really nifty to look at) are a bit more iffy. I like to serve these breadsticks with “blood” (some sort of tomato sauce, marinara works well).


• Ghost Sandwiches
  1. Lightly toast several slices of toast bread.
  2. Use a sharp knife to cut a ghost shape out of each slice (if you have a cookie cutter in a ghost shape your job will be even easier)
  3. Spread with cream cheese and put raisins on for eyes and mouth.

A really spooky and easy treat.

• Spider Web Cookies
  1. Prepare your favorite butter cookie dough (or buy some)
  2. Divide in portions, roll into a ball, flatten and use your hands to create a spider-web shape. Make sure to create a bit of a bump along the outside.
  3. Spread inside of web with apricot jam.
  4. Bake 15 minutes at 350° (or according to your cookie directions).
  5. Cool off and then use either melted chocolate or black icing to pipe on the web design.

Easy and delicious.

• Bat Cake
  1. Prepare your favorite cake (this year we were in such a rush that I actually resorted to a purchased cake mix.)
  2. Bake as per directions. Either a rectangular cake form or a heart shaped one (we used the later as I lost the rectangular one recently) work well.
  3. Once the cake is cooled off, cut into a bat shape (If you have the time, remember that cakes are best cut when frozen.)
  4. Cover with melted chocolate and decorate with icing and/or sweets.

A nice additon to our Halloween table that we made the first time this year.



All in all, our Halloween party was quite successful. The work was manageable and the kids really had a good time.

Shannon at Rocks in my dryer is hosting its weekly Works-for-me-Wednesday, and I decided to take part with a really nifty trick I learned recently.

I don’t know about you, but one of my pet peeves is the caps lock key on my computer. I don’t mind that it is practically useless (Let’s face it - unless you are really into abbreviations you hardly ever need it). What is a bit of wasted space on the keyboard; I have dozens of keys on mine that I neither use nor even know what they are for. Those don’t bother me a bit. Live and let live, I say.

Unfortunately, the lock-caps key is different. It doesn’t like being neglected. Even if you don’t (intend to) use it, it will find a way to see some action. Depending on your typing style and the lay-out of your keyboard that may be a very minor issue - or not. With my new computer it actually isn’t that bad. On the old laptop I would constantly push that key by accident. If you are in a hurry (and which mom isn’t when finally finding a moment to write a post) you end up writing several words (or more) in all capitals. Unless you just happened to be typing SOMETHING OF MAJOR importance, that means you have to go back, delete and retype. Grr. Just thinking about it is a nuisance.

Wouldn’t it be great to just get rid of that silly caps-lock key? Well, now you can. I recently found a website where you can download a small computer program that will get rid of the dratted key for you. Of course, the key will still be there, but it will be mercifully dead.

If you are getting excited at the idea, here a small caveat. First, I am not a computer expert. I used the program, it got rid of the caps-lock function for me and no disaster happened. However, I can not guarantee that your computer won’t go up in smoke if you try the same. It is a reputable website and I think the gain is worth the small risk you have whenever you try a new program on the computer. But it is of course up to you.
Also, the website is in German. That needn’t bother you though as it is quite easy to install:

1. Go to the CHIP online website and click on the blue rectangle that says “Zum Download” (You have to do this rather quickly as the website will otherwise change=
2. Install the program as you would any other.
3. Run the program. You will see an interface with various options to choose from. Click on number 8 to completely disable the caps-lock function
4. Reboot your computer.

And there you have it - no more nuisance caps-lock key. Presumably, you can run the program again and by choosing the first option regain the caps-lock function. Just in case you can’t live without A LARGE NUMBER OF CAPITAL LETTERS.