Today I received email responding to my recent article on child discipline and asking me to take a look at this article: 10 Alternatives to Saying No to Your Child. That's some good advice! I'm glad to see it on a site that helps people find jobs as au pairs (childcare providers who live with … Continue reading Saying “No!” to Toddlers
What to Do When Your Child Witnesses Bad Discipline
If you have any opinions at all about the appropriate methods of disciplining children, and if you are ever anywhere near any families with different opinions, someday you will find yourself in this situation: Your child sees another parent respond to a child's behavior in a way that your child recognizes as different, which may … Continue reading What to Do When Your Child Witnesses Bad Discipline
Fast, Frugal, Fruit-Flavored Oatmeal (or, how to use up the jam stuck to the jar)
When a jar of jam is depleted to the point that it's difficult to gather up enough jam for a sandwich or a slice of toast, it's tempting to just chuck it. If you're going to recycle or reuse that jar, though, you need to remove every bit of jam...and if you're removing it, you … Continue reading Fast, Frugal, Fruit-Flavored Oatmeal (or, how to use up the jam stuck to the jar)
Four Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (early spring)
A pesco-vegetarian is someone who eats no meat except fish. That’s what we do when we’re at home and most of the time when we eat in other places. Here's what we ate for dinner (plus weekend lunches) for four weeks in March and April, including Easter, trying to make the most of seasonal produce … Continue reading Four Weeks of Pesco-Vegetarian Dinners (early spring)
The Temporary Fate of “Cute and Thrifty Scouring Powder”
Hello, readers! Click here for the real article about how to make your own scouring powder. This post exists because, five days after I posted the original article, I noticed that it had totally disappeared!!! Because I had connected it to a number of link parties, I hastily posted an apology and attempted to give … Continue reading The Temporary Fate of “Cute and Thrifty Scouring Powder”
Cute and Thrifty Kitchen Scouring Powder
My dishwashing method gets most food to wipe right off the dishes, but some things still need to be scrubbed--tea and coffee stains in mugs, blueberry-juice stains in bowls, and bits of pasta that stuck to the pot, for example. I also like to scrub the cutting board really thoroughly after chopping onions. Baking soda … Continue reading Cute and Thrifty Kitchen Scouring Powder
What to Serve for a Big Reception or Party (specifically, Easter)
I noticed my article What to Serve for Coffee Hour drawing more readers as Easter approached--probably people looking for ideas to make their church coffee hours following the Easter services particularly festive. I have often taken charge of coordinating my church's reception after the Easter Vigil (the night before Easter Sunday), and this year's went … Continue reading What to Serve for a Big Reception or Party (specifically, Easter)
Saptappers
Happy April Fools' Day! Today we present a crosspost from our sister publication on another world, The Pyqan's Handbook. The saptapper is a small waterfowl whose long neck ends in a large mouth. Its small, glistening eyes bulge up like beads around the neck. Saptappers are purple, in bands shading darker, bluer, grayer from mouth … Continue reading Saptappers
Coffee Bags as Raw Material for Tote Bags
You know those metallized plastic bags that are often used to package coffee? Those have been bothering me for years: They're not recyclable and not biodegradable, so when I throw them in the trash I know they'll be in the landfill forever. And Daniel and I drink a lot of coffee! [UPDATE: We changed to … Continue reading Coffee Bags as Raw Material for Tote Bags
My grandmother is blogging from beyond the grave!!
My paternal grandmother wrote a lot of poetry in her twenties, some of which was published in a poetry column in her local newspaper and some of which she read on a local radio program. After she passed away in 1991, my dad compiled her published poetry into a little booklet which he printed and … Continue reading My grandmother is blogging from beyond the grave!!
How I told my child the Easter story
I am an Episcopalian, raising my son Nicholas (now eight years old) as an Episcopalian, but I was raised Unitarian myself, so I've had to figure out a lot of this Christian parenting stuff as we go along. I've talked with some other parents in the same boat, as well as some who don't belong … Continue reading How I told my child the Easter story
Mexican Pizza
I mentioned in my most recent multi-week menu post making Mexican Pizza, an easy and versatile meal that my mom makes frequently. As I wrote that, it occurred to me to ask Mom if there is a recipe for Mexican Pizza or she's just been winging it all along! She has no written recipe, but … Continue reading Mexican Pizza
My Coupon Organizer
This is a project similar to our recipe binder, using reused materials to make something that does not look perfectly polished but is cheerful and works well for our household's specific needs. One difference is that this project started with a purchase of something specifically for the project: I bought this nylon thingy (specifically marketed … Continue reading My Coupon Organizer
Liebster Award: 11 Great Blogs!
Pary Moppins nominated me for a Liebster Award! I am honored to be recognized by this perfectly practical blogger who offers such tips as a mnemonic for teaching kids to set the table and 20 very useful kitchen tools and how to make smelly shoes smell better. The funny thing is, when I received a … Continue reading Liebster Award: 11 Great Blogs!
Could you feed your family on a food-stamp budget?
In her Ash Wednesday sermon, my pastor mentioned someone's suggestion to fast for Lent by eating only what you can purchase with the amount of money allocated by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("food stamps") to needy families--approximately $4 per person per day. The suggestion had been to do this for just one week, not … Continue reading Could you feed your family on a food-stamp budget?
3 Good Books on Civil Rights
I happen to have read three books that deal with the rights of African-Americans just before Black History Month. Two of them are bestsellers I hadn't read before, but the one I'll mention first is a less-well-known book I've read a couple of times before and suddenly felt inspired to reread. The Dismissal of Miss … Continue reading 3 Good Books on Civil Rights
Shovel snow with a broom!
This is a simple tip that I can see is familiar to a lot of the natives here in Pittsburgh, but it took me many years to catch on. I grew up in Oklahoma, where winter precipitation tends to involve freezing rain, so a lot of what you have to clear from your sidewalk is … Continue reading Shovel snow with a broom!
Emergency Creamy Tomato Soup (healthier!)
Okay, it wasn't really an emergency. It was just that our eight-year-old Nicholas really wanted creamy tomato soup for dinner when both parents were recovering--more weakly than we'd hoped--from a stomach virus that the kid had several days earlier. Daniel and I both were very sick Monday, a little better Tuesday, and then I went … Continue reading Emergency Creamy Tomato Soup (healthier!)
Four Weeks of Mostly Vegetarian Dinners (winter)
I've posted several accounts of our family meals that are all-vegetarian or include a little fish. That's the way we eat normally, and it's the way we ate during most of this four-week period, but this was one of the rare times when we purchased some chicken to eat at home and ordered some in … Continue reading Four Weeks of Mostly Vegetarian Dinners (winter)
Martinopoly: What My Kid Did for Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King, Jr., has been one of my heroes as long as I can remember. Since my son Nicholas was 3 years old, I've made a point of doing something on Martin Luther King Day each year to remember Dr. King and his principles. That first year, we discussed the basics of the civil … Continue reading Martinopoly: What My Kid Did for Martin Luther King Day
The Earthling's Handbook 