If the smell of beets makes you gag but you simply can’t get enough sour crème and chive potato chips, your Mom may be to blame — and not because of what she fed you growing up. Several studies show that food preferences may be set even before you’re born, as early as 13 weeks after gestation. And those preferences derive from what your Mom ate while you were in the womb. 

Read more at Jon Barron’s Natural Health Blog

Coming soon: the madcap misadventures of a NYC mama and her newly four-year-old newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

I love Broadway Musicals. If I lived in New York and had the money I would see every show on Broadway. When I win the lottery (ha! like that will happen) I will fly in for every opening night. What a wonderful luxury that would be. Once again they have produced a musical based on something near and dear to my heart “The Addams Family.” The casting is near perfect with Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia.  I hope it does justice to the Charles Addams comic strip which I love. It opens this month in Chicago and moves to Broadway in March.

I have seen a few Broadway shows that toured in California, but mainly no. “Why” you ask if I love it so. Money is the answer. Who can afford $80.00 to $200.00 a ticket. I wanted to see Wicked but I sent my kids (I got a heck of a deal) and their spouses instead as a Christmas present. I did see Phantom of the Opera (twice) and Little Shop of Horrors. The best though was seeing Yul Brenner in The King and I, twice no less. There is a funny story that goes with the first time I saw it. In fact it is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. But that is another post for another day.

Great video from a mom about baby teething. 

Belle’s Biscuits make great gifts for the little teethers in your life.  Be sure to check out our website for the latest holiday promotions.

Happy Teething!

Image from Flickr by tuchodi

Are you looking for a new Turkey recipe?  My husband thinks this is the BEST turkey recipe ever.  Only one drawback: you cannot stuff the turkey since you are putting other aromatics in the cavity.  But, if stuffing is not big on your list, this could be THE turkey recipe for you:

Champagne Citrus Turkey

• Turkey sized oven bag
• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 1 apple, cored and quartered
• 1 orange, quartered
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2/3 (750 milliliter) bottle champagne (you can also use Prosecco or Spanish Cava)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse turkey, and pat dry. Gently loosen turkey breast skin, and insert pieces of butter between the skin and breast.  Place oranges and apples inside the turkey’s cavity.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Place turkey in an oven bag, and pour champagne over the inside and outside of the bird.  Close bag, and place turkey in a roasting pan.
3. Bake turkey 3 to 3 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, or until the internal temperature is 180 degrees when measured in the thickest part of the thigh.  Remove turkey from bag, and let stand for at least 20 minutes before carving.

You can also drain all of the juice from the bag, skim off as much fat as possible and make the best gravy you have ever had.  Also goes extremely well with my killer Sweet Potato Casserole recipe.

Do you have a can’t miss Turkey recipe?

I’m a little freaked out… I’m in charge of the turkey this Thanksgiving, and I’ve never cooked one… did I mention it’s a 25-pounder, that’s frozen? As of midnight last night we moved it to the fridge… I wonder how long it takes a turkey to thaw. Should I leave it out on the counter today and then put it back in the fridge tonight? *Shakes head*

Who knows. Anyway if any of you have any turkey tips I’d love to hear them along with any turkey recipes!

I have to admit I’m feeling a lot of pressure, I mean, the turkey is the main part of the meal right? Turkey and the mashed potatoes are my favorite dishes at Thanksgiving along with rolls – yum! What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish? This week I’ll be posting my favorite recipes for yummy holiday food: rolls, pie, and I’ll report on my first turkey-baking adventure.

     This weekend was our town’s big annual holiday parade.  Now, why on earth a town would choose to have a “holiday” parade before we’ve even carved the flippin’ turkey is beyond me, but apparently, that’s how they roll in these here parts.  Normally we are out of town and miss it, but this year we got to experience all of the <ahem> “excitement” (ok, I can’t even use that word without laughing — hahahaha!).   We really didn’t have very high expectations since the only thing we had to compare it to was the Memorial Day parade, where we accidentally blinked and missed the whole damn thing.  Nevertheless, we had to put on our proud parent party hats cause our daughter’s Girl Scouts troop would be marching their little hearts out in it.

     When we pulled up, I honestly expected there to be five trucks, a police car, and maybe a fire truck or two zipping down a street staggered with a few onlookers, but surprisingly, there were floats and balloons and everything.  It was actually gonna be a real, live parade!  Who knew? And because the crowd was so large, I decided I would walk with my daughter and the other moms, so I wouldn’t lose her in all the chaos. I was truly amazed at the amount of people gathered at the starting point.  I have no earthly idea where they all even came from.  They must’ve recruited people from the surrounding towns to fill in the cracks or something.  We searched through the sea of Girl Scouts uniforms to locate my daughter’s troop and had just enough time to snap a quick photo or two before we were told to head on out.

     The girls were all jazzed up to hand out the candy they’d brought for the crowd, but unfortunately, the amount of spectators at the beginning of the parade route was pretty slim to none.  I’m quite certain it’s because the whole freaking town was marching along right behind us. Luckily, we came upon more bystanders about half-way through, and the girls went balls to the wall with their candy hand-outs.  They were completely out of sugar WAY before the ending, but they continued to smile and wave the rest of the way like they were the mother plucking Queen of England.  

     We scooched onto the curb with all the other town saps after we’d finished our walk of fame, and WOW, were there some interesting sights to see.  The most ironically funny participants were the “go green” promoters who drove a Prius through the crowd and held up pictures of CFL lightbulbs, immediately followed by a pack of Harley’s revving their engines and blowing smoke exhaust fumes all over the green movement message. Awesome timing, people, awesome timing. Santa rounded out the parade as he was the last one to finally float down the street.  And I’m not quite sure what he did to the little elves riding next to him, but they looked absolutely scared shitless for some unknown reason.  Guess they didn’t get the memo that said they were supposed to be out spreading Christmas cheer, because their petrified little faces told a whole different story.  It really put a whole new spin on that whole “Santa is watching” thing.  I suppose you just don’t mess with a man in a red suit.  Yikes!

     When it was all said and done, I had one very happy, very proud little Girl Scout on my hands.  She’s already asked when she gets to march again cause evidently, she’s completely hooked on strutting her stuff.  I’ve always heard people say that everybody loves a parade, and normally I would have to disagree.  This time, however, I gotta admit that I actually did have a lot of fun.  It appears that my town just doesn’t mess around when it comes to a holiday celebration in November cause this parade totally kicked the Memorial Day parade’s ass.

by Danielle Koprowski

If you missed Decoding Behavior Part 1 or 2

When children are not delightful to be with, their behavior is telling us they have a need that requires our help. Those needs are Physical, Emotional or Sensitivity/ Temperament Issues. Let’s take a look at physical needs.
 
Physical needs- Is my child hungry, tired, overstimulated, understimulated, hot, cold, teething/in pain, sick…? Most of us have a pretty good handle of meeting children’s physical needs, but it is always a good idea to look here first. Sometimes we might be surprised to find unmet physical needs that are driving behaviors.

I recently took my son to a holistic doctor and he did a hair analysis test. I was shocked at the results. My son is totally healthy, has never been to the doctor for any illness, never had ear infection. He has had occasional colds but he recovers quickly. He is full of energy and is developing well cognitively. What’s more, we eat super healthy, 90% organic, most of our food comes from a local farmer and we eat a lot of raw foods. So I assumed, that his results would be good at least.

Oh my surprise to see that his body was not absorbing minerals and his mineral ratios were extremely low. The symptoms of this low ratio included being out-of touch, easily frustrated/ angered and elevated testosterone. My son definitely had those symptoms. He would often become enraged. I had thought that it was a temperament issue and had learned how to handle it gently and support him though it.

We decided to temporarily supplement minerals until we can get him back in balance and address the cause of is mal-absorption. With in one week, I saw a huge difference in his frustration/anger level. Amazing! It is sad that I dealt with this issue for so long without considering that there might be a physical/ nutritional cause. But this is a great example to us all of why it is so important to address our child’s physical needs and consider physical causes for behavior.

Danielle Koprowski
Free To Be Parenting Support
ACPI Certified Coach for Parents
www.freetobeparenting.com

No I am not talking about the boss’s wife. It is literally about my new boss. The new lady on the block, I mean in the office.

You guys know how much I love to write about my office.. so here is one more tale in that series….

My favourite current boss got transferred to other department. As efficient as he was he deserves to get promoted and so when this challenging opportunity came his way he didn’t give a second thought  before saying ‘yes’. And that is how it should be.

Now that he is off limits of my blogging purposes as I’ll just be seeing him maybe once a day or less than that, I won’t be able to get any more interesting tales about him. Though I still have some good ‘Girlfriend tales’ of his in my kitty that I might write about some day, till then lets wave him a big “Bye Bye”

And now here I have a new specimen from my office to introduce to my blogmates..

She is an Ex-employee of our cut throat competitor, so you can guess how valuable she is. And she joined last week to manage this weird bunch. The new one needs all the help from me as I have been here for more than a year and a half.. So I am the new helper who’s working over and above her own job to help the new boss get comfortable.. (hence no time for blogging)

Professionalism and experience oozing out, I feel she will be a good asset to the company. Three days with her and I am already gelling well with her and find her ways of thinking and working very similar to mine. I especially like the way she took over so quickly and is ready for all additional responsibilities too. This is the kind of employee every company looks for.

O.K. it may be a bit too early to praise her so much but she’s a Career Woman and that is quality enough for me to praise her. Managing two fronts…  together.

But wait there is a twist in the tale.. her kids live in India, they are studying there. She’s not that old herself so that makes her kids school goers.

So how do you rate a mother who has left her kids in another country to pursue a career or just plain make money which they say will be used for the kids’ future only.

I know a couple of other moms too like that who have left the kids back in India with the grandparents so that they could work abroad without any hindrance. One of the moms left her 2 year old to study further.

This brings us to the age old debate. Should women just take care of the home and babies and stay put? Or should they explore their own life, their possibilities and find a independent identity for themselves?

Whichever it is but leaving a two year old in a different county, I can’t digest.

I am fine with working moms who come home in the evening to spend quality time with the kids, even if that is not possible the kids always know mom is here whenever needed. They see them daily, eat mom’s food (which has no substitute in the world), play with her, do homework, talk, share, fight.. or whatever they want to do..

But mom is always HERE.

But for some child who’s mom lives in a different country and calls him every second day… I am not sure how insecure the child can get. They may be living with the grandparents but still its not mom and dad. 

The famous excuse that the money earned will help in the child’s studies or needs is not worth enough reason (according to me) to have this long distance parenting.

Not only the child misses you and gets insecure. The parents also feel miserable living like this. Always worried what the child is going through… or missing the company of their bundle of joy….. 

Every parent (must) brings a child into the world have thousands of dreams in their eyes. And I find this way of raising the kids in a separate country just to fulfill the materialistic needs a bit absurd.

There is so much to share between the parents and the children. And especially as the childhood is a temporary phase.. as they grow up they might not even care for the company of the parents when these moms and dads try to re-bond after years of separation.

So..  How good an idea do you think it is..?

This past Friday was a crazy day.  There are a bunch of different things that happened that I plan to blog about this week.  Oh, so many things happened.  Too much for 1 blog.  Too many thoughts would explode this one post.

Anyway, so it wasn’t our first trip to the ER/urgicare, but it was the first time there was no indecision about going.  It had been a long day.  We had been out all afternoon.  We stayed out for dinner and came home about 8:15pm.  I told the girls to go right upstairs and get into their pajamas.  S went up first.  I went up about a minute later.  M was looking for her blankie in the family room, and my husband was just emptying his pockets.  I was gathering their pajamas when I heard a boom, followed by a quiet pause.  Then we heard screaming.  You know that screaming that just shouts pain?  It brought both my husband and I out running.  I looked down the stairs to see my husband cradling M, trying to calm her down.  She was bawling.  S ran to the top of the stairs, looking extremely curious and worried.

My husband, while cradling her, asked M what happened.  She yelled that she fell down.  He asked if she bumped anything.  She yelled the wall.  When asked what, she said my mouth.  He brought her upstairs, where she continued to cry.  M had been burying her head in her blankie.  When she pulled it away so we could wipe her tears and nose, the blankie came out red.  When I looked into M’s mouth, there was blood all over her bottom teeth and building in the pool inside her lower lip.  There was no way to tell where it was coming from.  We took her into the bathroom where she was able to rinse her mouth with a cup.  I pulled her lip down, thinking maybe she lost a tooth or bit her lip.  What I saw was gruesome.

There was a wide, very deep, jagged cut along the inside of the gums.  One part looked so deep.  I put a wet washcloth to her mouth, and told M to hold it there.  She was almost fearful of how bad it was. She asked me if it looked bad.  I said very calmly, smiling, “No, you have a booboo.  It’s not bad.”  I must have sounded like I was on drugs.  I was trying to stay non-chalant.  Inside, my stomach was churning.  I was truly grossed out.  I called my husband, and showed him.  First words out of his mouth, “Wow.  That looks pretty terrible.”  Fresh tears exploded from our 3 year old patient.  After throwing him a look, and he returned an apologetic one, he said, “We should take her to the ER.”  I agreed.

On his way down the stairs to grab his keys, my husband called out to me, asking about the urgicare.  During the off hours, our pediatrician’s office has a pediatric urgicare.  But they don’t do stitches.  There are a couple of private uricares, many of them walk-ins near us.  They don’t take a lot of insurances, but you have no wait, you see a PA (Physician’s asst) and/or doctor.  They see children, and do stitches.  Our friends had just been telling us about it last weekend.  He called to see if they were open.

I got M dressed, and sent her off with her daddy.  I stayed behind with S.  She was so tired, and asking so many questions.  She kept asking me if M was okay.  She wanted to know if Daddy was coming back or if he was going to stay at the hospital with M.  Poor thing was so worried.  When we realized that M was bleeding, S had run over with a bottle of water, telling M to drink it.  It would wash it all up.  S is not a maternal figure by any means.  She can be empathetic to others, but not so much to M.  When M is crying and having a tantrum, S gets so upset.  She stomps her feet near her, and sometimes kicks her in the legs.  I think she is hoping it will shock her into silence. We are working on that one BIG time.  Anyway, she was definitely concerned about her sister, and not just because her daddy wasn’t home, either.

I put S to bed, and just waited.

An hour after leaving, I heard the garage door open.  My husband came in with M in his arms.  She was subdued, but awake.  She got 3 stitches.  My husband became a believer in urigare that night.  He said he walked in, and they showed him to a room.  They gave him the paperwork to fill out while a PA started to examine M.  They checked her for head trauma and asked a lot of questions.  The doctor examined her, too.  My husband said that M was so good.  She nodded her head when they were talking to her.  They told her they were going to put a sheet around her arms because they didn’t want her arms to get in the way.  She nodded okay.

It was 50/50 if she needed stitches.  I still shake my head at that.  It would take 7-10 days to heal without, 4-5 days if she got them.  My husband said to do it.  M got a shot of novocaine.  Finally, the crying began.  They were dissolvable stitches.  They warned that she would probably play a lot with them with her tongue and try to chew it.

If that had been S, there is NO WAY, abosolutely NO WAY, that she would have been calm for any of that exam.  And the shot and stitches, forget it.  It would have been easier to knock her out for it!

Anyway, M is still adjusting.  She’s doing well.  Eating hurts her, depending on what it is.  She is trying to drink.  A lot of times, the liquid pools in her bottom lip and dribbles out.  She hates getting wet from that.  She doesn’t close her mouth all the way.  She’s congested from a cold she is starting to get, so her lips dry out and crack from breathing through her mouth.  Poor thing.

M needs a lot of TLC.  And let’s us know, too.

And today, she finally let us know that she was walking up the stairs with her blankie over her head.  Because she wanted to, she says.  Lesson learned.  Don’t walk around the steps with a blanket over your head.

Recebi este email do meu querido cunhado Fortini! Fiquei assustado!

I grew up on Cape Breton Island and my dad worked in the coal mine. I was about 5 years old and this Christmas I was given coal in my stocking.

Did I mention I am a twin, and when I pulled out the coal I was sure Santa had mixed us up and this was all a mistake. I cried and told my dad that Santa mixed me up with my twin sister. He said, “No”  Santa sees all and he never makes mistakes.  I still told myself that I was a good girl that year and never should have received that coal.

I found this Lump O’ Coal soap on Etsy and it’s payback to my dad. He will love it. This soap comes in a muslin bag with a draw string and a note that reads:

“I’ve heard you’ve been naughty and not so nice, and Santa even checked his list over twice.The elves are at the end of their rope, so all you’re getting is this bag of soap.”

The soap is very simple, pure and natural cold process. With sustainable oils of palm, olive, and soybean. Purified water and sodium hydroxide.I wanted to add the link but their shop is now closed for Christmas. However, there is other soap makers who also make “COAL” soap.

What is the “Coal in your stocking story”?

Have you ever asked yourself what all you have accomplished?  Are you accomplished in anything?  Have you ever done anything that you feel good about? 

These questions are difficult for me to answer.  Often times, I feel like I fail at many things, though I give everything all I have.  Am I too critical?  I have been told that I have the worst self-esteem of anyone.  Would that be my accomplishment?  That I have accomplished a low self-esteem?

Hmmm…

Back in the spring of 2008, my son and I visited a butterfly farm and purchased a caterpillar to raise into a Monarch butterfly.  It was an amazing process to witness.  I photographed every stage from the larva eating milkweed, to forming the chrysalis, and finally ”her” emergence, which I also video taped.  I definitely felt that I had accomplished something that day.

Having a child and raising him has given me a sense of accomplishment, but it requires much more involvement.  One thing has been for certain, I haven’t been able to just sit and photograph him growing and maturing into a young person…who will later become a man.  Yes, a man!  Someone recently told me that I was raising a man. YIKES! 

Raising the Monarch was much easier and quicker.

Here are the highlights of our Monarch’s metamorphosis.

This is a very new product I found and it has impressed me.  I don’t now about you and your family but our family has a lot of things that get stuck on our skin.  From my husband using plumbing grease or working on his precious antique Jeep to my kids and temporary tattoos, markers, and/or sticky residue from bandages.

Many times I use hard nail polish removers or alcohol to remove those stubborn stains.  The Removeez website says that Removeez easily takes off:

• Temporary tattoos
• Bandages
• Tape of all kinds
• Tar
• Sap
• Ink/Ballpoint Pen
• Permanent Markers
• Residue adhesive
• Wax used by beauticians
• Auto grease
• Door Grease
• Shoe Polish
• Shoe Glue
• Color Copy in /Personal printer ink
• Paint
• Spray Adhesive
• Tile and carpet adhesive
• and the list keeps going

This great product comes in different scents as well:

• Lavender/Orange
• Eucalyptus/Orange
• Coconut/Orange
• Clove/Orange

With all these nicely scented options and with all my family gets in to I had to give it a try.  Abby sent me a Removeez Sample And Demo Kit with Lavender/Orange and Eucalyptus/Orange bottles.

I took a sharpie and wrote on myself and applied the product as directed  and with a bit of massaging.  It didn’t all come off but most of it did so I reapplied a bit and it all came off this time.

It was a great time to see how it worked on adhesive as well.  My husband gave blood yesterday so I worked it around the tape and came off much easier and the residue came right off.

Win It!

Removeez is offering one NetworkingWitches their own Removeez.

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Just another great gift I found on Etsy.

The store is called Goose Grease Undone and this gift comes with a natural wooden box filled with a family of seven, 5 paint colors, varnish, 2 brushes and instructions. Our daughter is 6 years old and this becomes my #1 “art” gift to give her. After painting her wooden family, this creates hours of play. They will go great with her wooden house and other wooden family members.

I may get another for our son. Check them out here: Goose Grease Undone

Most of parents was ignoring at their child’s emotional,  therefore in sadness, anger and happiness, that can not be well-managed and have an impact on the formation of emotional mentality. Some parents are not aware her son was angry or sad, and tend to not care, but the child when it needs attention. As a result, the child will grow up to be closed and could not manage his emotions with the stable.

As a result, the child will grow up to be closed and could not manage his emotions with the stable. Education in early childhood or age zero to five years is very important because the period was the golden period of brain formation and personality of children. At that time very important for parents to provide for the establishment of educational and emotional brain cells in children to form his personality.

However, parents tend not to recognize and ignore these days, and some even provide a balanced education does not only form the intellectual intelligence and emotional intelligence to ignore. Nowadays, that it’s emotional and spiritual intelligence rather than intelligence alone.

Therefore, many experts urged parents to consider children’s education, for example by including in early childhood institutions. In addition, more parents are also advised to give attention and affection to children, so to be able to form a complete personality.

OH, I love Etsy but there is not many natural toys made for 6 and 7 year olds. But I did find some I really love.

These gifts are great stocking stuffers and my kids will love them too. Henry walks through the forest with our children a lot and they always bring home leaves, twigs, rocks, you name it. This gift comes with a cotton bag with zipper, a pad to draw or write names for the things they find. They also become a hunt through the forest with some sweet wooden pieces stamped with photos of things they need to find.

Gift Bags are called:  Nature Lovers Kit.

Found here on Etsy

 For the past few weeks I have heard nothing but praise for the movie Precious. I thought I would have gotten to see it on November 6th, but my city was not one of the selected cities. So I waited patiently and today I got the opportunity to see it. Precious is an intense drama that frankly discusses issues that we generally only discuss in whispered tones. By now most people know the premise that precious is physically and sexually abused by her mother and her father. Words can not adequately express the pain inflicted on Precious. Precious was such a broken individual she spent time yearning for her fantasy life while at the same time living a heartbreakingly broken life. At one point the character wishes she were dead and at that moment I wanted to give her the bullets. The movie is full of outstanding performances that are so riveting that you feel uncomfortable at times watching the raw emotions. I heard Oprah doing a promotion for the movie and she said we all are Precious, but after seeing the movie I can say we are not. Precious went through personal horrors that most of us will never have to endure, but she managed to come out on the other side. This film does not tie up all loose ends with a big bow, but you leave the movie believing there is still hope for her, and sometimes hope is all you have.

Image from Flickr by NatalieMaynor

My family may hunt me down for sharing this with you: Our Highly Classified Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe.  You have to trust me, this is the recipe of all recipes.  Every time I serve this, I get begged for this top-secret recipe.  This is the dish that can turn sweet potato haters into lovers.  Not joking.  And now, I will share it with you.  Shhhhh.

Highly Classified Sweet Potato Casserole

• 4 sweet potatoes (which, once cooked (I use the microwave set to potatoes to get the job done quickly) should equal approximately 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix the above together and pour into a lightly greased 9×13 pan.  Now, onto the topping . . .

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar (doesn’t need to be packed down)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter chilled, cut into pieces
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Take brown sugar, flour and butter and pulse in food processor until the butter pieces are pea-sized.  Mixture should be crumbly.  Don’t mix too long or you will end up with a dough-like topping.  Mix together with pecans and spread over the top of casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

YUM!  This is a staple at my family’s Thanksgiving table.  My husband actually requests this at other times of the year as well.

Enjoy!

     I swear, if it’s not all about the poop in my house, then it’s all about the penis.  Even with the gender ratio being split right down the middle, the focus still seems to be primarily on the shlong. Between my husband and my son, it’s a serious toss-up as to whose johnson receives the most human interaction on any given day.  I suppose it’s a real life gear shift for the male species, and they want to hold on to it for dear life.  My son, however, hasn’t had as long of a relationship with his little member, so it’s a whole world of discovery for him. Every day is like an on-going show and tell, and his “peeper” never fails to make multiple appearances throughout a twenty-four hour period of time.  

     Without fail, one such appearance tends to always take place on the crapper.  My son cannot ever seem to sit on the toilet to take a dump without poking and pulling and plucking the pecker.  I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t already had to experience the pain of chafing with all the tugging that poor thing has had to endure.  I have actually cringed on more than one occasion just watching him torture that pitiful little peter. And lately, he’s come up with even newer and even better little “skills” it can perform while sitting on the pot.  For instance, he loves to make it “dance” by flinging it around in a circle like it’s a freaking lump of silly putty or something.  He’s also decided that he can make it look like a “bobblehead” by bouncing up and down on the toilet seat until it begins to wobble.  I gotta say that the kid certainly deserves some credit, though, cause out of all the comparisons I’ve ever heard over the years, I’ve never once heard a penis being associated with a bobblehead figure.  (Why do I have the feeling that some of my male readers have suddenly taken a break from this post to test out their own bobblehead abilities?)

     Another nightly ritual that my son has instituted lately involves stripping down buck naked and running around the family room at full speed. He runs lap after lap after lap around the furniture, all while clutching his johnson as if it’s going to fly right off his body and be eaten by the dog (which, actually, is not a far-off possibility now that I think about it).  My daughter seems to find this naked display of calisthenics highly entertaining cause she laughs and squeals and claps throughout the whole five minute work out.  I don’t know about you, but exercising in the nude is something I’ve never really even thought about doing.  Perhaps it helps your endurance and flexibility to not be confined by such things as clothing?

     I guess I should be grateful that the trouser snake only comes out to play in the privacy of our home.  I suppose it could always be worse.  If I start to get phone calls from school telling me that the genie’s been let out of the bottle on the playground, well then we certainly have a problem, don’t we?  If grown men are any sort of proof at all, then it looks like my son and his penis are on the road to a long and beautiful friendship together.

Part two of two:

Seriously dishes out more tips on traveling with children this Thanksgiving and Holiday season. Kids are kids, not little adults, so how can we get kids to be on their best behavior, yet still act their age? Seriously tells how.

How do kids learn best?

It’s not by sitting down and watching a teacher.  Most of the time…NO!

Kids learn by jumping in feet first, literaly at times.

Kids learn that puddles are wet by jumping in, not by looking at pictures.

Kids learn that the sun is warm, not from watching the weather.

Kids learn about how to use manners and etiquette from watching others use them…Ahhh!

Yes, moms and dads…

Examples are other ways kids learn, positively or negatively.

So, take a listen to the show and you’ll be surprised about what you may or may not know.

I have to say I was impressed overall with the cookies… in fact they turned me into a cookie-monster and I ate EIGHT cookies and then got a stomach ache! But it was worth it! These cookies were really yummy and so easy to make you’ll probably see them on some holiday cookie plates coming from my house this Christmas! So this is a definite yes on the recommendation.

I’ve listed out the pros and cons of the cookies and then you can see some pictures of the product.

Pros:
-EASY to find and follow directions.
-You can freeze the dough and use later.
-It only takes about an hour to thaw frozen dough.
-Taste great.
-Fast, fast, fast!

Cons:
-The chocolate chunks/chips don’t seem to be evenly distributed as it cooks. (I ended up liking this because I’d get a bite or two with a few chocolate chips and then one big bite with tons -YUM!)
-The cookies are kind of small (put perhaps that’s the way the sizing SHOULD be and the reason I never get the two dozen my recipes usually say they make!)

*Don’t forget that after you take the cookies out of the oven you let the cookies sit on the cooking sheet for 2-5 minutes because they are very soft and fall apart. It says this on the directions but… if you’re like me you skim directions rather than read them! Happy eating!