A trip down memory lane…
In 2008 at Garden of the Gods in Colorado:
Last week, almost exactly two years later (this time with Gramma):
My, how she’s grown!
And, yes, we’ve been away on vacation! More on that soon…
The Book List
Inspired by the miriad of Life Lists floating around the web, I feel compelled to create a list of books to read before I turn 40 (in just over nine years).
On this list are books that I’ve always wanted to read, books that I feel I need to read, books that sound like a lot of fun, books that are thought provoking, books that I own but haven’t cracked open, books that I read once upon a time but can’t remember, and books I started or have read excerpts from, but never finished.
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
1. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
2. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights
3. On the Origins of Species by Charles Darwin
4. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (currently reading)
5. Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth
6. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
7. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
8. Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail
9. Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs ans Steel
10. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
11. Sharon Shinn’s The Shape-Changer’s Wife
12. A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (yet to be written, due to be published in 2012)
Clearly I have many more books to add to this list and so I need your help! Do you have any suggestions? What must-read books would you recommend?
Most importantly, please don’t suggest any heartbreaking books! Real life (in the news! on the radio!) is depressing enough, I don’t need to cry while reading. (Unless it’s happy romantic tears. I am completely okay with those!)
I’m excited to see what you suggest.
Favorite Board Books for Kids
We’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, trying to plan ahead with presents and decorations to limit the last minute scrambling that inevitably happens each December. This year instead of our typical Week of Design, we’re talking about holiday gifts, presenting items we love and recommend, as well as items from our wishlists for fun splurge items.
We love children’s books and especially appreciate board books for little ones. The thick pages allow toddlers to turn the pages themselves (how empowering!) and are strong enough to stand up to lots of daily use (kids love repetition!) and drool. Here are some of our most treasured board books, which we’re read over and over and over again. (Yes, we have them all memorized!) Enjoy.
– Baby Love: A Board Book Gift Set/All Fall Down; Clap Hands; Say Goodnight; Tickle, Tickle
– Blue Hat, Green Hat
– Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
– The Carrot Seed
– Chicka Chicka ABC
– Forest Bright, Forest Night
– Global Babies
– Good Dog, Carl
– Good Night, Gorilla
– Goodnight Moon
– Gossie and Friends
– Hands Can
– Harry the Dirty Dog
– I’m as Quick as a Cricket
– Jamberry
– Mama, Do You Love Me?
– Mommy & Daddy Hugs & Kisses
– The Owl and the Pussycat (stunning illustrations by Jan Brett!)
– Planting a Rainbow
– Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
– The Very Hungry Caterpillar
– Won’t You Be My Kissaroo?
In the Kitchen Gift Ideas
We’ve been busy getting ready for the holidays, trying to plan ahead with presents and decorations to limit the last minute scrambling that inevitably happens each December. This year instead of our typical Week of Design, we’re talking about holiday gifts, presenting items we love and recommend, as well as items from our wishlists for fun splurge items.
Today we’re talking about items for the kitchen.
Kitchen gadgets I own, use, love and recommend (perhaps for stocking stuffers?):
– Chef’n FreshForce Citrus Juicer, Lemon
As someone who squeezes fresh lime or lemon into my water everyday and loves to make mojitos all summer long, it feels imperative that we own an easy to use and easy to clean juicer. I LOVE this one. We own just the lemon size and it works well for both lemons and limes. This gadget works so well I can easily push the peels inside out to get every last drop in three seconds flat.
– Stainless Steel Straws
Dishwasher safe, BPA-free, reusable, durable, recyclable, perfect for hot and cold drinks. We love them and use them every single day!
– Oxo Good Grips i-Series Y-Peeler
I’ve used many crappy peelers in my lifetime and, believe me, they are so not worth it. This one is easy to use and not just for easy to peel vegetables either. I use it to peel more typically difficult items like butternut squash, no sweat!
– Harold Mini Measuring Glass
I own several of these and keep meaning to pick up a few more. They are wonderful liquid measures, so much easier to clean and use than measuring spoons.
Kitchen gadgets I’m lusting after:
– Oxo Good Grips Lemon Zester
After years of zesting citrus on our six-sided grater (SO not what it’s meant for!), I am ready to zest easily. For under $10 each, I may just have to buy these for myself.
– Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch Nonstick Baking Pans
We own two Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch loaf pans and they are completely nonstick. Not nonstick now and then not so much two years later once you’ve used them a ton and the coating has rubbed off. Our pans are as nonstick now as they were when we bought them several years ago and I LOVE THEM. I keep hoping that David will buy me these Goldtouch Mini Loaf Pans or perhaps this fabulous Goldtouch 6-Piece Essentials Bakeware Set that contains a muffin pan, a cookie sheet, a half-sheet pan, two 9″ cake pans and a cooling rack. With the breads, muffins, and cookies I would whip up, David would benefit from this gift too. Sigh.
– KitchenAid Mixer Accessories
I love our KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer
By the way, we also own this great cover
– Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron Casserole in Caribbean Blue
We love Lodge’s cast iron pans, but have you seen their new affordable enamelware?! I’m so in love.
Let’s get cooking!
Yarn Cone Holiday Trees Craft Project
No surprise that our craft projects have been taking a holiday spin lately. Today we’ll share a simple kids holiday tree project.
Note that this a messy project (lots of glitter!) and takes several days to complete (because of all the layers that need to dry)… You have been forewarned!
We started with these free empty yarn cones, picked up at a local craft resale shop (that benefits our town’s senior center).
We painted the yarn cones with crayola washable paint in green and purple. (Because doesn’t purple just scream holidays?! Miss Leyba thinks so and I quite agree with her.) Please learn from my experience and don’t use washable paint. We used it simply because cause a toddler was involved, but the paint was somewhat thin.
I only got a second coat on half of the cones (impatient toddler and who has time for second coats these days anyhow?!), so you can tell from the photos which ones received just one coat of paint. Regardless I think they turned out just fine. We’re all about the process versus the product here in Spritzer Leyba Land.
After letting the cones thoroughly dry, we used craft glue to made patterns on the trees and then covered them with glitter. For our first coat, we used green glitter (also from the craft reuse shop).
We then added patterns with glue and silver glitter, after the layer of green glitter thoroughly dried.
We glued on embellishments. We used silver stars, but you could easily use buttons, mirrors, felt pieces, dried flowers or leaves (and turn it into a fall craft, rather than a winter holiday craft).
I zig-zagged glue and then rolled a cone, shown below, in the glitter on our newspaper for a more tree-boughs-covered-in-snow sort of look. (Who knows if I was successful but it was fun!)
Here are our three trees drying:
We then covered them with mod podge
Here’s when I thought I messed up and that the trees would be snow covered if the mod podge
Imagine my relief when I found them the next morning, all glossy and dry, with no hints of white left over.
Phew!
Now to store them in a safe spot until December…