This was just too cute to not share. I love love love this! Maybe I can find some time this week to make one!
Meal Time Organizer
Monday, March 22, 2010
Mark Bittman Video
Love this guy. Love this video. He reviews what the American diet was 100 years ago around 7 minutes 30 seconds. Then he talks about how we got to where we are today. Processed foods, canned foods, frozen foods, etc. Fantastic.
The Lunch Box
Friday, March 5, 2010
Natural birth is best
Always has been, always will be.
The rate of maternal death has TRIPLED in the US in the past TEN years. Why? C-sections. Lots and lots and lots of C-sections. This makes me so sad for all the families out there who have lost mothers.
I'm just happy that this is finally coming out on mainstream news.
ABC News
The rate of maternal death has TRIPLED in the US in the past TEN years. Why? C-sections. Lots and lots and lots of C-sections. This makes me so sad for all the families out there who have lost mothers.
I'm just happy that this is finally coming out on mainstream news.
ABC News
Monday, March 1, 2010
Rhythm of the Home
Rhythm of the Home is an online magazine, pulled together by the best of the best alternative-parenting moms. This is truly a gem. There is pages of wonderful information, uplifting quotes, and fun projects. They just released their spring edition. Here are a few of my favorite articles.
Fostering Self Esteem in Young Children
Children's Yoga for Healing
Mindfulness as a Spiritual Practice of Motherhood
The Benefits of Play
Playing With Our Children
Making A Family Home: Dining Room
The last link is an excerpt from the book, Making A Family Home. This is my new favorite book. I finished reading it a month ago, but I still find myself carrying it around as a treasure. It will be on my coffee table for a very very long time, if not indefinitely.
Fostering Self Esteem in Young Children
Children's Yoga for Healing
Mindfulness as a Spiritual Practice of Motherhood
The Benefits of Play
Playing With Our Children
Making A Family Home: Dining Room
The last link is an excerpt from the book, Making A Family Home. This is my new favorite book. I finished reading it a month ago, but I still find myself carrying it around as a treasure. It will be on my coffee table for a very very long time, if not indefinitely.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Place For Everything
We've still got a foot of snow outside, but I'm already catching the spring cleaning bug. This inspired me.
Are So Happy
While I am certainly not some kind of type-A super-organized person, I love to have a tidy home. I feel that the ease and peacefulness it creates is a true gift to the people who live here and everyone who enters our home. Keeping a tidy home used to be a constant (uphill) battle for me, but slowly along the way it became easier and easier. I'm constantly working on making my housewifery more beautiful and more joyful. I want to show my girls what a wonderful thing it is to take care of our home and the people in it!
I'm mostly going to be talking about organizing toys today, but I think you'll see how these ideas really apply to the rest of my home as well. I try my hardest to facilitate the girls' creative and imaginative spirits while appealing to their own innate sense of beauty and order. I hope that in doing so, they will treasure and take care of the things that they have. Here's how:
A Place for Everything
-For big things, try to put them in places that are the most logical. My girls love to play with their barn on the floor, so that's where I store it (instead of up on a shelf where I think it looks cute).
-For small things, baskets! Baskets, baskets, baskets. Keep like things together.
-Be sure that things always go back to their original place at the end of the day. This could mean that they help to pick things up, or it could mean that you do (we've done it both ways). Whatever works for you, just be sure that when they wake up in the morning, it's a clean start to the day.
Less is More
-One small jam jar of acorns is full of creative possibilities. A big basket of them is a mess waiting to happen. Six lids are fun! Thirty-six lids are a pile of junk. The same goes for clothespins, boxes, bolts...
-If the toys all over your house are overwhelming to you, they are exponentially overwhelming to your child. Overwhelm leads very quickly into throwing things around or general disrespect of their things.
-Even if you simply can't get rid of all the "stuff" your little ones have, you can be selective about what you keep out and in view to play with at any one time. Do they really need all the books, or just a few? What about other things that there are multiples of? Animals? Stuffies? Dolls? Keep most of it in the closet and rotate some things out (but not too frequently).
A Thing of Beauty
-If something gets marked/dinged/broken/torn/etc, take it immediately out of play until it can be mended or cleaned (or properly disposed of). If it is something they can help to mend or clean, allow them to help you. If it is not, mend or clean it where and when they can see you do it.
-Make the extra effort to display and store things beautifully and invitingly. Imagine what the most beautiful toy store in the world would look like! Can you create a little piece of that in your home?
-A sweet display of nature treasures can become clutter overnight. When it does, make a clean sweep and refresh the space by creating a sparse display, or putting out one special thing.
Are So Happy
While I am certainly not some kind of type-A super-organized person, I love to have a tidy home. I feel that the ease and peacefulness it creates is a true gift to the people who live here and everyone who enters our home. Keeping a tidy home used to be a constant (uphill) battle for me, but slowly along the way it became easier and easier. I'm constantly working on making my housewifery more beautiful and more joyful. I want to show my girls what a wonderful thing it is to take care of our home and the people in it!
I'm mostly going to be talking about organizing toys today, but I think you'll see how these ideas really apply to the rest of my home as well. I try my hardest to facilitate the girls' creative and imaginative spirits while appealing to their own innate sense of beauty and order. I hope that in doing so, they will treasure and take care of the things that they have. Here's how:
A Place for Everything
-For big things, try to put them in places that are the most logical. My girls love to play with their barn on the floor, so that's where I store it (instead of up on a shelf where I think it looks cute).
-For small things, baskets! Baskets, baskets, baskets. Keep like things together.
-Be sure that things always go back to their original place at the end of the day. This could mean that they help to pick things up, or it could mean that you do (we've done it both ways). Whatever works for you, just be sure that when they wake up in the morning, it's a clean start to the day.
Less is More
-One small jam jar of acorns is full of creative possibilities. A big basket of them is a mess waiting to happen. Six lids are fun! Thirty-six lids are a pile of junk. The same goes for clothespins, boxes, bolts...
-If the toys all over your house are overwhelming to you, they are exponentially overwhelming to your child. Overwhelm leads very quickly into throwing things around or general disrespect of their things.
-Even if you simply can't get rid of all the "stuff" your little ones have, you can be selective about what you keep out and in view to play with at any one time. Do they really need all the books, or just a few? What about other things that there are multiples of? Animals? Stuffies? Dolls? Keep most of it in the closet and rotate some things out (but not too frequently).
A Thing of Beauty
-If something gets marked/dinged/broken/torn/etc, take it immediately out of play until it can be mended or cleaned (or properly disposed of). If it is something they can help to mend or clean, allow them to help you. If it is not, mend or clean it where and when they can see you do it.
-Make the extra effort to display and store things beautifully and invitingly. Imagine what the most beautiful toy store in the world would look like! Can you create a little piece of that in your home?
-A sweet display of nature treasures can become clutter overnight. When it does, make a clean sweep and refresh the space by creating a sparse display, or putting out one special thing.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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