You know that time when you repainted the living room with a paint sprayer and then had to repaint a bunch of other things because paint sprayers don’t obey the best laid plans of tape and plastic? Kind of like Winter didn’t get the memo about Spring being here? And then you were hosting 20 people for a Seder a couple days later? And you should be cleaning and grocery shopping and cooking, but you decided blogging was a phenomenal creative avoidance?

No? Oh, shoot. That’s me. Today.

So quickly, here are 3 things I’m loving right now. Then I’m off to figure out how to roll my dining-turned-kitchen table back to the dining room and find the leaves I took out and then find room for 12 more people.

Podcasts

One week, I’ll highlight specific ones, but for now, I’m just going general. My favorite genre is the conversational ones. They itch my extrovert itch. It’s like ready-made friends in my car whenever I need them. Besides listening to them, I also like hosting them and being a guest on them. I was recently on a new one called Adoption Conversations and will am scheduled to appear with the Collared Chicks next month to chat about micro church.

What are your favorite podcasts?

Sledding

I have to confess. I actually wished for a serious enough snow event where we could go sledding at our favorite local hill. I guess I’ll have to be more specific about in which season I want said event in the future. Either way, we enjoyed getting out yesterday for some good old fashioned fun with some local families. Now it can be flip flop weather…ASAP.

Caveman Meat Bites

Ty and I do better when our bodies have a steady stream of high fat/protein snacks and water. These meat bites are great because they’re not messy, or too chewy/hard for his braces, and they pack easily. Plus they don’t have any of the filler and junk that we’re trying to avoid. So many wins. Click the banner above (affiliate link) for 20% off and free shipping on orders $50 more.

Ok, I’m off. Before you jet, too…

What are your favorite things right now?

Despite the NBC Sports app, I didn’t watch nearly enough Olympics. However, I did catch some mass start speed skating. It was complicated yet edgy. Sorry. Couldn’t resist. This weekend we’re in for an entire 3 days of sustained winds in the 30-50 mph range with crazier gusts. Schools are closed. Bridges are closed. Trees are down everywhere. I have no idea how we still have power. It’s pretty crazy. There hasn’t even really been that much snow or rain…just wind. But enough about me. Here are some things for you.

The Gas Buddy Card

It’s a card that you swipe at the pump instead of your debit card. It’s linked to your checking account but gets you 5 cents off per gallon. You won’t see the savings at the pump, but Gas Buddy deducts the discounted price instead of what the pump shows. It’s legit. Get your card here.

She Reads Truth Lent Series

Sitting and being still or taking intentional time in the Bible have not been my strong suites over the last couple years. I need to do better and even got a She Reads Truth Bible for Christmas because I was intrigued by the new translation is boasts, the wide margins, and the nifty maps. I started their Lent reading plan a little late in the game which means you can too. The truths still stand. I love being in the Old Testament for Lent. It just feels meaningful right now. I’ll write more about what I’m learning and discovering later, but for now you can jump in by clicking here.

“This is Me” Debut Video

Okay, so I haven’t even seen The Greatest Showman…yet, but I’m kind of obsessed with “This is Me.” It’s weird because I’m not usually driven by music. I think it’s because I first heard the song in its debut video. I could watch this a million times. And I cry each time I watch it. More than when I watch This is Us. Well, actually I’m not a This is Us crier. #trueconfessions

What are you loving this week?

So this Friday’s favorites:

Baking Bacon

We (I mean, “I”) try to be as Paleo as possible. I head believes and my joints are huge fans. I’m working on firing the tastebuds that absolutely CANNOT resist the giant chipless chocolate chip cookie my sister keeps making. #behindmesatan

The part of Paleo that my whole person loves is the bacon. Duh! But gone are the days of slaving over the skillet ruining that dry-clean only shirt that you couldn’t resist at the local church’s free clothing day. I bring you baking bacon.

Just line a sheet pan with foil and lay out a single layer of bacon. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until evenly crispy. Less time for thinner slices, more time for thicker. Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lines plate. Wait for the bacon fat to congeal, and then save it for making eggs or just roll up the foil and toss it. No washing dishes!

If You Only Knew

I had two amazing women on my podcast this week talking about this book. It’s a quick, but powerful read.

2 Notable Holidays

My dad is such a big kid. His favorite holidays are Groundhog’s Day and National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Not sure how it worked out, but they happen to be the same weekend usually. He’s doing extra miles on his hand bike this week to make room for the extra calories because of course Groundhog’s Day is celebrated with Dirt–that dessert with pudding and cookie crumbs and whipped cream and gummy worms and…and…and. Basically it’s like Diabetes in a flower pot. And, yes, we make it in a flower pot and serve it with a shovel. And then 12 hours later, we’ll all be eating ice cream for breakfast.

What are you loving these days?

*It turned out to only be a chilly half day.

However, I recently filed re-enrollment papers for the 2014-15 school year with our local CC Community. It’s about this time every year that I start reflecting on what worked for this year and what summer* and next year will look like. My winter list included Leigh Bortin’s The Core. I had falsely assumed that I did not need to read it because I was already sold on classical education and CC and had already read Echo in Celebration. Boy, what I wrong! While Echo in Celebration challenged me to simplify our school routine and curriculum, The Core laid out how with specifics and further challenged me to embrace more mastery and discipline in our schooling. Since we all participate in Tae Kwon Do, these principles of excellence really rang true. Plus our TKD experience will give me a jumping off point as I introduce some simple (but challenging) routines into our day.

*With ESL kids who have so much catching up to do and their emotional instability, we do modified school through the summer to keep pressing forward and maintain some structure.

1. Reading–By the end of a day, a classical student should read out loud below grade level, read silently at grade level, and be read to aloud above grade level. Leigh also emphasized that the content did not need to match the current memory work, and that a variety of print source types (e.g., magazines, books, newspapers). This summer we’ll work toward this challenging everyone to find a book from specific broad subjects such as health, science, math, art, music, and history.
2. Discipline–At the end of the day, memory work, copywork, math problems, and other seemingly rote tasks are less about the content and more about the skills of carefulness, attention to detail, long attention spans, and general excellence. Between now and next year, we will be doing more written and mental math and map drawing.
3. Accomplishment–With kids who are almost a decade behind academically, Leigh’s thoughts on the endorphins released after you accomplish a task (even one as small as a math drill sheet) really stuck with me. She uses a lot of repetition in her school routine with her kids which makes success inevitable and builds confidence. This momentum helps them tackle new skills and problems with ease.

If you’ve read The Core, what was your favorite part?

It’s supposed to be safe enough for infants to ingest while nursing, so I’m assuming it’s better than ingesting tubes of Chapstick.  Even so, it’s nice and thick so it tends to stick around longer.  We usually apply it at bedtime.  Giving it all night to work seems to do the trick.  There’s always improvement or complete healing by the next morning.

THE BAD NEWS?

1. It’s still a chemical on your clothes.
2. It’s more expensive than vinegar.
3. I don’t think it will last 6 months in our house but we have the equivalent of two households doing laundry.

THE GOOD NEWS*?

1. Installation was a breeze. It just sticks to your dryer drum. After over a month of using it, it’s never fallen off.
2. It’s really unscented…really.
3. It pops our easily in case you don’t want to soften a load.
4. It’s amazing at getting pet hair out of things.  AMAZING!
5. There’s nothing to remember each load.
6. There’s no funky residue feel on your clothes which I was afraid of since it’s a big hunka fabric softener bar.

*Don’t take my word, click on the Bounce logo in the upper left of the blog to read other reviews by BlogHer members.

THE BEST NEWS?

You can get a $5 rebate when you try one by the end of this year.

*Whether we should be striving to be “in fashion” is another discussion for another time.

Until April 8th, you can enter to win a copy of Nothing to Wear? by Jesse Garza of Visual Therapy and possibly this cool new scarf (or something else from their new VT Luxe line).  Yeah…I had never heard of them either since I don’t watch TV, but now BlogHer has graciously offered me a copy of the book so I can catch up and tell you all about their new line that just debuted on QVC.

To enter the contest, hop over here.

It is beyond me why anyone would want to stay inside to clean after being cooped up all winter.

It seems to me one should take advantage of the perfect-weather days of spring to do things like

garden

or learn how to ride a bike.

One of my favorite cleaning products that keeps me from having to clean so much is the “Kaboom” Scrub Free Toilet Cleaning System.  Excuse me sounding like an infomercial but I love this thing.  It’s safe for our septic and doesn’t eat away at our toilet innards like some other products.  It’s also NOT blue and doesn’t have a strong smell (if any smell at all).  The hardest part is installing it but that wasn’t even that hard.  We have well water that leaves nasty rings in our toilet in just days if we don’t have a Scrub Free installed or if it needs to be refilled.  I seriously never have to scrub my toilet if I keep this filled.  I tend to buy refills at Bed Bath and Beyond using one of their famous 20 % coupons.

Aside: Did you know they accept expired coupons there and you can use up to 5 or 6 as  long as you have that many items?

So what are you waiting for? Go order a “Kaboom” Scrub Free Toilet Cleaning System and then go outside and enjoy the gorgeous spring weather!

But I digress.

When PJ, and then Mia, came along, I strove to provide them with healthy choices and forced required them to eat a fruit or veggie with each meal, drink milk at dinner and water at other times, and finish a given meal before other stuff could be eaten.  Sometimes that meant eating unfinished dinners at breakfast or unfinished breakfast at snack time.  That philosphy resulted in 2 slightly picky (since they really only eat carrots and cucumbers for veggies) or 2 above average (when you consider they love sushi and other ethnic foods) eaters–depending on your perspective.

Along came Ty.  The change of culture plus his aversion to certain textures plus his inability to focus or sit still plus his ability to hold food in his mouth for an amount of time that would put a gerbil to shame had me scrambling for a new feeding philosophy.

That’s when I found…

While I don’t want to subscribe to her philosphy hook, line, and sinker (mostly because it requires too much energy on my part), I really like her philosophy a lot.  I also agree with it.  I will say it feels risky to believe her and I think it’s easy to insert our doubts and mess up the practical application of the theory.  I do love that she isn’t radical about making kids eat certain things or about eliminating anything.  I think kids that are fed her way will do well as adults in the long run.  I like that she addresses manner associated with eating as important as eating.  I like that the basis for her theory is that kids should be raised towards eventually being independent and making smart decisions on their own.

In my opinion every parent or future parents should at least read this and then decide from there.

Anyone else read this book?  Thoughts?

Introducing L-Bow.  It’s pretty genius in the why-didn’t-I-think-of-that category.  They are waterproof mittens and gloves with an attached nylon liner that goes up to your elbow…get it?  L-bow?

They’ve been great for our kids and got us through last year’s 80 plus inches.  Maybe you can even rush order a pair for the stocking this year and keep your polar bear happy!