I decided to do Wordy Wednesday instead of Wordless Wednesday because I like to talk about my photos. This little sparrow is hunting for seeds that the other birds dropped from the feeder and looks more than ready for Spring to arrive. I guess he’s afraid of some of the bigger birds, but several other little sparrows are eating right out of the feeder along with the bigger birds.

I’m also looking forward to having the Winter weather come to an end for awhile. After all, we’ve got all these lovely holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, April Fool’s Day and Cinco de Mayo coming up.

What is your favorite Spring holiday?

Post from: Blisstree

Wordy Wednesday – A Sparrow Ready for Spring

photo by me

Post from: Blisstree

Wordless Wednesday – Forsythia Buds About to Burst

Start with a very mild breakfast of tea and toast. For a child, “tea” should be made with a bit of decaf tea, a ton of milk and some honey. (A straw is mandatory. You cannot be sick and drink a beverage of any kind without a straw. It allows you to really be dramatic about how exhausted and sick you feel because you can sort of lean back against the sofa while you sip at the drink.) Cut the toast into fun shapes, like teddy bears, and then lightly butter them and dust with a cinnamon sugar mixture. The whole meal should ideally be presented on a tray with a napkin and a get well soon note from any kids who aren’t feeling sick.

Once the kids have managed to have breakfast, move on to card games. It is surprising how popular Go Fish, Crazy Eights, Memory and Old Maid are with sick kids. (If you have a table that can pull right up to the sofa, you could try a simple board game like Candy Land, but card games really seem to work better because they can play without really sitting up. We were especially fond of Old Maid for some reason.)

Next, watch a lame t.v. show that is a bit too babyish and embarrassing. The show makes kids feel like they are doing something, but while they’re trying not to act too interested in it, they fall asleep and get some more rest.

After they wake up, they get lunch, which involves soup and more toast cut into shapes. This time, my mom held the cinnamon sugar coating.

Then, it is time for afternoon sick day activities:

• We got out the craft scrap box and made bizarre creations, like purple fuzzy toilet paper roll monsters with one big button eye.
• We would pull a box of older toys out of storage and root through it.
• Tell a story or read a book. Literacy bags from the library are really awesome because after you read the story, the kids can act it out with puppets. Seven Blind Mice and Mouse Count are favorites at my local library. If you don’t have any puppets around the house, you can cut out simple shapes, like mouse silhouettes, for them to use.
• Quiet games, like I Spy or Guess the Animal wind down the afternoon so that they can rest again before dinner.

By now, if it is a 24 hour bug, they’re basically back to normal. Unfortunately, since they rested all afternoon, they aren’t very tired and won’t go to bed early. You, on the other hand, are worn to a crisp and spend the next week doing deep background checks on everyone you plan to visit. (You say that your child hasn’t had even a sniffle all year, but your cousin three times removed coughed while talking to you on the phone yesterday? Why don’t we postpone this play date until May?)

What do you do with your kids on sick days? Or if you don’t have kids, do you have any childhood memories of sick day activities?

photo by me

Post from: Blisstree

Sick Day Activities for Kids

I rarely go out on Black Friday. I don’t like crowds and I’m usually basically done with my shopping by then, anyway. However, if I did want to go, I should be able to do so without fearing for my life. I am heartbroken to hear that people were so intent on getting deals that they caused the death of a Walmart employee. Someone caught the attempt to revive the trampled employee on camera phone. I couldn’t watch it. Too sad. How can people care so much about some deals that frankly weren’t that spectacular that they’d push and shove each other around?

Someone needs to corral a bunch of deal hungry numbskulls who have somehow completely missed that Christmas isn’t about a big bunch of gifts under the tree and read them the Christmas story a million or so times. I’m really upset. Wanna make me feel better? Hug your kids and then tell them all about peace, good will toward men and how to stand in line waiting their turn.

As if that wasn’t enough, two men died in Toys “R” Us when they opened fire on each other. In a toy store filled with children and moms, somehow only the two shooters were hit. I’m glad they were good marksmen and took out their intended targets instead of wounding innocent people, but the kids and parents had to be terrified. Who takes a loaded gun to a toy store?

This year, Black Friday couldn’t be more aptly named.

Technorati Tags: walmart employee trampled to death,toys “r” us shooting

Technorati Tags: black friday shopping deaths,black friday walmart death

original photo by Asif Akbar/stock exchange

Post from: Blisstree

Tragic Black Friday

I’ve been tempted to turn a room in my home into a 24/7 Christmas themed room, but it is just too fun and exciting to decorate for the holidays each year. We clear away all the normal accessories and replace them with Christmas decorations. We ooh and ahh over ornaments from years past and drink cocoa and munch cookies as we put everything up.

We’re getting ready for our annual cookie exchange/scrapping marathon, so I’ll be sharing things with you related to that, as well as tips on finding gifts for those people that just seem to have everything and making Christmas decorations. Of course, this blog is not all about me and what I want. It is about what you want. So, tell me…what do you want to see more of? Less of? Have a question about where to find something you need, like rubber stamps with a Hanukkah theme or embroidered stocking kits? Want to know the words to your favorite Christmas carol? I’d love to put my years as a librarian to good use and track down some answers for you.

Photo by me

Post from: Blisstree

Greetings From a Holiday Lover

October 13 (2008) is Columbus Day in the United States. The holiday, celebrated on the second Monday in October, commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus and his party on the Caribbean island of Hispanola on October 12, 1492.

The first Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792, on the 300th anniversary on the landing. Since then, it has become an annual event and legal holiday. America’s Italian-American communities have also embraced the event and parades are held in “Little Italy” in New York, Cleveland, San Francisco, and other cities on Columbus Day.

^{(Photo Currier and Ives/Library of Congress)}

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This is a Blogtoberfest-sponsored post. If you would like to enter for a chance to win the surprise gift behind this blog post, please leave a comment. Prize and winner will be announced within a week. Check back to see if you’re the lucky winner and to see what you’ve won!

You have lots of other chances to win great Blogtoberfest prizes! Today, October 13th, your chances (and prizes) are hiding at the following blogs: A Creative Journal, All Holiday Café, Babylune, Blog Fabulous, Dating Dames, Hankering for Yarn, Junk Creation, Kinsanity, Layers Upon Layers, Mom Gadget, Our One Heart, Simply Home Remedies, Tangled Thread, and Tree Hugging Family. Visit them all (their links are in the sidebar) and leave a comment — you may win even more!

This giveaway has ended. The winner will be announced soon. Thanks to all who entered.

Post from: Blisstree

Columbus Day in the United States

October 1st is World Vegetarian Day, the kick-off to World Vegetarian Month. The sponsors offer a list of suggestions on how to celebrate the day, including hosting a vegetarian dinner for your friends and family, suggesting that your local library or bookstore set up a display of vegetarian titles (and offering to help), and writing your local city hall to have October 1 declared officially Vegetarian Day in your community. The site also lists a number of activities around the United States to celebrate the day. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to join in the festivities. You can be an honorary member just for the day.

If you’d like to learn more about vegetarian living, Peggy and Jennifer at our sister blog, “Tree Hugging Family” offer a number of excellent articles on the subject.

^{(photo © istockphoto)}

Post from: Blisstree

World Vegetarian Day

September 23 is National Day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The day commemorates the unification of the country on this day in 1932. Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, is governed using the principles of the Koran. Eating pork, alcoholic beverages, and even cinemas are prohibited. The country occupies around 80 percent of the Arabian Peninsula, contains the Muslim shrines of Mecca and Medina, and is home to approximately 28 million residents.

^{(photo courtesy of the CIA Fact Book)}

Post from: Blisstree

National Day in Saudi Arabia

September is National Flamingo Month. In celebration of this event, here are a few flamingo facts for you:

• Flamingos can grow to be more than four feet tall and weight more than seven pounds.
• Flamingos eat brine shrimp
• Their pink color is due to the Beta Carotene in their diet.
• Flamingos live an average of 20 years in the wild and 50 years in captivity.
• The ancient Egyptians worshiped a flamingo god, Ra.
• Flamingos joints bend “backwards.”
• Flamingos are indigenous to the Yucatan, Caribbean, and NE South America as well as the Mediterranean, Africa, and Eurasia.

Post from: Blisstree

National Flamingo Month

September 3 is Good Neighbor Day at FTD florists around the United States and Canada. In celebration, participating outlets are giving away free bouquets of fresh flowers. The idea is to keep one stem and pass the others out to friends, neighbors, and passers-by. What a great plan.

To see if there’s an FTD participating near you, visit the FTD Web site.

^{(photo © istockphoto)}

Post from: Blisstree

Free Flowers for FTD Good Neighbor Day