Fall Into These Cool Websites

Little Ghost..aww..

I don't like scarey Halloween decorations. They frighten, if not traumatize little kids, and I don't get any pleasure from the site of dead bodies hanging from trees or bloody body parts strewn around a yard.  Who cares if they're Made In China?  There's are enough real macabre images on the covers of newspapers and on the Web.  I don't need polyurethane grossness. 

Our yard, right now, is full of cute little ghosts made from white plastic bags with eyes drawn on with Sharpie markers.  Watching over them is a scarecrow I bought from Michael's.  No one is going to run to their psychiatrist because of anything in my yard.

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Nevertheless, the Fall season itself is fun, so here are some of my favorite sites for an Awesome Autumn:   

http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org - This is a MUST VISIT website to find out about pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hayrides and more!  Find the best fall activities near you, plus click on their links to other wonderful Autumn and Halloween websites.  I also like the fact that visitors can make corrections to any data that may not be current. 

http://webclipart.about.com/od/seasonsclipart/ss/Autumn-Clip-Art-Collection.htm - Back when I wrote newsletters, I used clip art all the time, but there's much more you can do with it!  Add it to emails, print some out on mailing labels to decorate lunch bags, and print some out on full-size paper for great window decorations.

http://www.foliagenetwork.com - This is the site for The Foliage Network (who knew?!) which has up-to-the-minute maps showing where the leaves are turning and which areas are at their peak for color.  This site uses actual data as opposed to others websites that only use annual averages.

http://www.primarygames.com/seasons/fall/games.htm - Don't fret if the weather is bad!  This website for kids lists all kinds of free online games dedicated to this colorful season.

http://www.ehow.com/how_12076561_make-house-smell-like-pumpkin-spice.html - The folks at eHow offer a great recipe for making your house smell like pumpkin spice without the expense or chemicals found in commercial air fresheners.  Buy a store-bought pumpkin pie to accompany this because the family will be hungry when they come home and smell this!

Synthia, The Scarecrow (she can't spell)

Now, if you actually WANT to bake (why, people, why???), here's an Impossibly Easy Pumpkin Pie recipe courtesy of the bakers at Bisquick.  It serves 6, depending on the eaters, takes about 50 minutes to cook and about 10 to slam together. 

Here's what you do:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (yes, you really have do this)

Ingredients: 

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup original Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs


Directions:

1.  Spay Pam in a 9" pie plate. 
2.  Stir all ingredients together.
3.  Pour into the pie plate.
4.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
5.  Cool 30 minutes.
6.  Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled.

Store covered in refrigerator.

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Thank you for reading!  Y'all come back 'round, ya hear?

Mom's Playing Hookey

Portable hammock chair?  Check.  Fully-charged cellphone?  Check.  Tote bag packed with sunscreen, water, protein bars, books, pens?  Check.  Purse?  Check.  I gave instructions to the kids before school:  "Do NOT go to the nurse with anything less than broken bones today.  Mom's playing hookey at the beach."


I was always fond of the ocean, but my feelings grew a few summers ago when we vacationed in Cape Cod.  The ocean breeze cooled the hot flashes that had signaled the start of menopause.  The roar of the waves distracted me from the tinnitus I've lived with most of my life and made the slight hearing loss I'd been struggling with less noticeable.  I mean, no one speaks softly at the beach.  My love became voracious this summer during a trip to San Diego, which is my idea of Heaven On Earth.  There were so many pristine beaches, each more beautiful than the last!   I stood on the shores of Torrey Pines, willing my senses to memorize every sensation. The combination of sun, surf, and sand was intensely cleansing.  Leaving California was painful.

Unfortunately, my children do not share my love of the beach.  They tolerate it at best.  Although they love each other, thrown together, without video screens to distract them, my kids spend much of the time at the Shore fighting.  My husband, who enjoys the beach, though not as much as I do, tries to distract the kids, but it's no use.  It's no fun.

So when school started, I announced that I was going to take at least one day a month to see the ocean.  The much-maligned Jersey Shore is about 90 minutes from my house, too far for my taste, but close enough to make it back in time to pick up my daughter.  Crowded and obscenely expensive during the summer, it becomes quiet is free in the off-season.  Parts of it are breathtakingly beautiful, depending on how far from the New York area you want to go.  The place I go has a new pavilion, rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy, with clean bathrooms and street parking.  It's frequented by older people and mothers carrying toddlers, so there are just enough people around in case anything was to happen but not enough to mess with serenity.

Peace is mine there.  Most often, I sit on a chair at the pavilion and read or write.  Then I take off my shoes and schlep my bag to the edge of the water.  Sometimes I wade in, the waves licking at the bottom of my capris.  Then I sit...and remember other times when I've been at the ocean.  We went to Ocean City, Maryland for a few summers when my son was little.  There, I gazed at the ocean and dreamed of the baby girl we were adopting, so far away, across the water, in China.  I remembered, when I was single, the many cruises I took, by myself, not to meet anyone but just to experience the vastness of the ocean.  I remember other trips I've taken and beaches I've been on in Hawaii, Florida, Singapore, Italy, England, and Jamaica.   I smile, thinking of my honeymoon in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands; my husband and I lieing in a hammock, looking out at the ocean, and planning our future together..

It's good that the kids don't like the ocean.  It's MY space, one the kids at present cannot appreciate.  With only a simple tote bag as luggage, my day is a mini-vacation, the ocean a retreat.  Playing hookey there is like medication for my soul, soothing it and making me a calmer mother and a better person.  It is my gift to myself. 

This is what happens when you leave a bored 7-year old alone with the cat.  Thank God  she's mellow (the feline, not the child)!

"Tough Teachers Get Results"? - So Do Tough Parents

A recent Review section of the Saturday/Sunday (9/28-29/13) Wall Street Journal contained a fascinating article by Joanne Lipman entitled "Tough Teachers Get Results" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304213904579095303368899132.html?mod=trending_now_1).  In it, she points out that recent findings indicate that old-fashioned education, the kind that employs conscientious discipline and rigid demands, works; in fact, the absence of it may explain why we trail many other nations academically.  She further explains that studies that have also shown "the benefits of moderate childhood stress, how praise kills kids' self-esteem, and why grit is a better predictor of success than SAT scores."

No shit.  We've all seen the backlash of caused by namby-pamby parents who enable their children to be soft.  These adults place so much emphasis on being politically correct and are so coddling of children's' self-esteem that the kids can't take ANY criticism,.  The littlest indication that they're not perfect sends them crying to Mommy and Daddy.  This type of parenting has contributed to the juveniles' sense of entitlement (to money, technology, awards, good grades, etc.) merely because of their presence on this sweet earth.  It's also resulted in chidren's lack of manners (not saying "please" and "thank-you") and their reactions of disbelief and anger when someone actually tells them they cannot have something they want.  These are parents who cannot utter the word "no" to their children and raise hell when someone at school tells their little darling "no" as well.

I think that educators, largely to protect their jobs, have been forced to bow to these overindulgent parents to the detriment of our education system and our society.  The future is in the hands of a society of brats who don't have the foundations of a work ethic and think that success is just going to be handed to them.

And it's not just the overindulgent parents who are affected.  My son, who hears the word "no" all the time, asked recently for a raise in his allowance.  "My friends get money without doing any chores.  Their parents get them electronics for no reason and buy them stuff.  You make me do chores all the time and I even have to pay my way when I go out with my friends," he complained.  What followed was a rousing discussion of why chores are not optional (because the Cleaning Fairy doesn't live here and I am not doing all of it) and why he has to pay for his own stuff (because it's HIS stuff that HE wants).  After the yelling died down, I think he understood, for the umpteenth time, that  he has to work for the stuff he wants.  Similarly, he knows that if his grades go down, all of his electronics get confiscated. Having electronics is not a God-given right. Period.

Lipman lists her manifesto for the youth of today which consists of eight principles.  Read the article for all of them, but the ones that resonated with me are:

A Little Pain Is Good For You - It challenges you emotionally to do better.

Failure Is An Option - Far from traumatizing kids, failure can serve as a springboard to improvement.  I think kids who aren't afraid to fail are more likely to take chances and learn from their mistakes.

Strict Is Better Than Nice - Just as Mom and Dad need to embrace their roles as parents, rather than friends, teachers need to do the same.  Being strict, without bullying (which some teacher, truthfully, do), strengthens kids' self-esteem.  It affirms that "you CAN do better.  I know you can."

Grit Triumphs Talent - Lipman says that "passion and perseverance for long-term goals is the best predictor of success."  Anyone can cruise through life; it takes more to really succeed.

Praise Makes You Weak - I would say that too much or praising someone inappropriatly is what contributes to a kid being a marshmallow.  If kids believe that everything they do is perfect, why should they try harder?  My kids are inherently wonderful and I love them unconditionally.  Sometimes, however, I disagree with their choices (they are kids, after all) and I we either discuss what could have been done better or I let them deal with the repercussions as a Life Lesson.

Stress Makes You Strong - Lipman echoes a study that found that "a moderate amount of stress in childhood promotes resilience."  What kind of "moderate stress?"  The kind that comes from a good, non-coddling teacher.  It's in the desire to get rid of the stress that lessons can sink in.  I think a child who is dealing with minor issues that produce stress and seeing that they CAN overcome them promotes confidence in their ability to handle the bigger stuff.  If I'm writing my children's assignments, they are learning nothing.  Sometimes a parent can hurt a kid by doing things for them.

Discipline is a good thing and Lipman makes a great case for some aspects of traditional parenting and teaching.  Just as parents need to step up and say "no" to kids, teachers need to get tougher and go back to some long-forgotten aspects of teaching.  It will benefit us all.

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Tip:  As I stated above, my children are absolutely wonderful but sometimes I need to remind them of some of the rules of the house.  We have chalkboards on the cupboards in the kitchen (you can buy chalkboard paper at Amazon) which tells them what responsibilities they have for that day.  Examples include:  "empty the dishwasher," "bring up the laundry," and "feed the cat."  The chalkboard serves as a visual cue to that this stuff needs to be done and if it's not, there are no excuses.

Thank you for reading!  See you soon!

Product Reviews For Today: Kirkland Vs. Name-Brand. Do You Agree?

I remember how I felt the first time I entered a membership warehouse club:  gleeful, giddy.  It was like Christmas morning.  There was SO much stuff in massive containers at such cheap prices!  Like most rookies, I bought multiple quantities of everything I usually bought (Barilla pasta, Life cereal, Horizon milk, etc.) before seeing how much cheaper the house equivalents were.  But is the quality really, truly, honestly the same?

Lots of websites say it is.  According to DailyFinance.com (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/07/13/10-products-to-always-buy-generic), the top ten things you "should" buy at warehouse clubs are:

1.  Over-the-counter medications
2.  Cereal
3.  Pantry staples.
4.  Soda
5.  Gasoline
6.  Electronic cables (?!)
7.  Make-up other beauty products
8.  Batteries
9.  Salad mix and produce.
10.  Baby formula

No, no, no, no, no!  Fresh stuff goes bad when you have a small family like I do.  Are we REALLY going to eat four pounds of oranges before they rot?  Mine won't even when they swear on a stack of Bibles or video games that they will.  I recently threw out a bunch of oranges with so much Penicillin growth it could saved half the population of Africa.  And baby formula?  My babies were done with formula while I still had boxes of that c*ap left.  Sometimes parenthood gets trumped by economic common sense.

Costco's house brand is called Kirkland Signature.  According to the website Brand Culture, Kirkland "demands superiority" over name-brand goods (http://www.brandculture.com/the-one-brand-breaks-all-rules-costco-kirkland-signature ).  And I do, in fact, buy some of the Kirkland products, so here's what I think of them, especially as they compare to name-brand items:

1.  Kirkland Facial Tissue - I don't busy fancy schmancy tissues with aloe, Vitamin E, or any other trendy stuff on them.  Tissues are where you put boogers when they piss you off (or, in the case of my kids, when Mom tells you to stop using your shirt).  The Kirkland stuff is just as good as your basic Kleenex and buying tissues in bulk is never stupid since they never expire.  Plus, you know you're going to need them at least several times a year.  If you've got the room to store them, I'd recommend you buy Kirkland tissue.

2.  Kirkland Cheese Pizza - If I'm making frozen pizza it's because I don't feel like cooking or because the teen has his mega-hungry posse over.  My kids and most I know are not fussy about what kind of pizza they eat.  Label it Pizza, make sure it has sauce and cheese on it, and you could probably cut down on what you put the curb on recycling day by using up your leftover cardboard.   Kirkland is decent, it's cheap and easy, and I don't taste much of a difference from some of the name brand frozen pizza like Tombstone or DiGiorno.  It's not everyday food; it's "just in case we have a lot of kids I need to feed cheaply" food.

3.  Kirkland Organic Diced Tomatoes - We eat a LOT of crock pot chili in the winter and I get tired of lugging individual cans home from the supermarket.  That's why I buy a case of this stuff from Costco.  The quality is the same as Eden Organic or Hunt's but not much cheaper.  If you can store it, go for it.

4.  Kirkland Bottled Water - I bought this during the summer for the kids to take to camp.  They came home and they told me they'd rather be dehydrated than drink this drek.  Compared to other brands, Kirkland has a slightly soapy taste.  Sure, it's better than drinking my town's tap water which is chemically, but here's where I'd rather spend a few extra pennies on stuff the kids will actually drink. 

5.  Kirkland Bath Tissue - Just as with tissues, bath tissue is a "keep this c** off your hands" receptacle for human waste.  I don't need it to have any bells and whistles so I buy it as cheaply as possible.  Hubby doesn't like Kirkland because it's not as gentle on his manly posterior as other brands, but the cost more than makes up for that.  I mean it's not sandpaper.  We use it, I have the space to store it in, and he deals with it. 

6.  Kirkland Canola Cooking Spray - Supposedly this stuff "compliments the natural flavor of food."  I don't care.  All I need it to do is keep meals from sticking to the pan.  It tastes like Pam, works like Pam, but was $2 cheaper this week than the name-brand stuff.  I bought it. 

7.  Kirkland Salted Almonds - BUY THEM if you like almonds!  They're crunchy, salty, and, for me,

We can't get enough of this healthy snack!

irresistible.  They're just almonds and salt and taste much better than their Blue Diamond counterparts.  Highly recommended! 

8.  Kirkland Ground Saigon Cinnamon - A "what the h**l was I thinking" purchase, according to my cinnamon connoisseur spouse, this brand is not as flavorful as McCormick's.  I wish it was because he's not using it as much as he was the name-brand (he puts it on cereal, oatmeal, cookies, in yogurt) and I may be passing this very container down to my grand kids. 

9.  Kirkland Walnuts - Same stuff as the more expensive brands, MUCH bigger package, and we consume them with gusto.  They can go bad so keep them in the fridge for up to 6 months or freeze them for up to a year. 

10.  Kirkland Baby Wipes - My kids are LONG out of diapers, but we still buy these for cleaning faces, washing hands in the car, taking off make-up, etc.  They're not as soft as some of the name-brand wipes and are a bit thinner than Johnson's.  When my kids were babies, I spent extra on the name brand wipes because these just weren't as good.  Now that we're not using them on babies, they're perfectly fine for general cleanup.

Again, some of the things to consider when you're buying these, or any products from a warehouse is whether you have enough room to store the stuff and whether you're really going to go back to the warehouse just to return one item that doesn't perform the way you wanted it to.  If you have the room and you don't need top-quality stuff, Kirkland is fine for a monthly trip.  Is the quality better?  Sometimes, but there's no guarantee.  It's up to you, as the buyer, to beware.

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Thanks for reading.  Please recommend this blog to your friends, relatives, acquaintances,  manicurist, pizza delivery person, etc.  I hope to see you again in a day or so.