Rabbit Holes & Rabbit Trails

Save Up To 60% On Organic & Non GMO Foods

2011-12-20T14:22:00.005-06:00

Shop at The Green Polka Dot Box to take advantage of this great new Buying Collective. This is a new company that has just started activating memberships in the past couple of weeks. Read on for more information about the company.

Benefits of shopping with Green PolkaDot Box:

Save up to 60% on healthy, organic foods.
Find a convenient source of delicious gluten-free, milk-free, nut-free, and other specialty foods.
Lower prices than Whole Foods® and other natural food stores.
Grocery shopping is much more convenient (no more driving around town to get healthy food!)

Resources such as healthy recipes, tips & learning sections.

Price Benefits

The prices at Green PolkaDot Box are "true" wholesale, coming in at 10%-50% lower than regular retail price. As an example:

One can of Amy's brand lentil soup is 49 cents cheaper at Green PolkaDot Box than at our local health food store.
Since buying one can of soup saves 49 cents, the price through GPDB is 82% of the health food store price. If you buy $100 worth of Amy's soup, you'd only spend $82 dollars for it!
Since you may not want to buy $100 worth of soup on one day, it's nice to know that you don't have to buy a lot of any one thing to take advantage of the savings. You don't need to buy bulk quantities of any one item (like you do at Costco) to take advantage of the discount.

Convenience Benefits

Besides saving money every month on groceries, Green PolkaDot Box will substantially decrease the amount of time you spend shopping every month. If you are selective in what you eat, you know it's hard to get everything in one place, especially at reasonable prices. With Green PolkaDot Box, everything is discounted and sent right to you for free. There will be:

Less driving to the store, parking, and lugging around a shopping cart.
No more juggling small children while shopping.
Less gasoline use (and no shipping charges).
More time to do things you enjoy, instead of spending your time shopping.
No more waiting in long checkout lines
No more searching for a parking space
You can read reviews online about products before you buy them.
You can plan meals at home, with your own recipes, your own pantry, and the "grocery store" all in one place.
Not only will you save time, but you'll save substantial amounts of money also.

Information from Rod A Smith / CEO / Founder:

The Green PolkaDot Box is a membership organization intended to grow to become the largest, most influential "buying collective" in America. Why? So we can accomplish the following objectives:

Eliminate the "organic deserts" that exist through rural and urban America allowing everyone access to "clean" organic foods. Our ability to ship to every zip code will make healthy food accessible to all.

Make clean organic food available to all health-minded consumers at affordable prices. We accomplish this by expanding the marketplace and inviting new consumers to participate, thereby increasing distribution and sales opportunities for our vendor partners.

Using a "grass roots" approach, in cooperation with our influential institutional partners, we intend to educate the public about the links between diet and disease, motivating them to seek out healthier, clean organic alternatives. We know that, through truthful education, we can influence the buying decisions of our family members, friends and neighbors. We can reverse the ravaging effects of chronic disease that are devastating our aging population and protect our children from the debilitating consequences of processed and genetically modified foods.

What is a Buying Collective?

When I write about becoming the most influential "buying collective" I'm referring to building massive bargaining power. This is essential because without the purchasing might of millions of like-minded consumers we won't be able to influence food producers, growers or manufacturers to change how they currently operate.

Until we can unite together in collective bargaining power with one voice to insist that our foods are clean and safe we will be forced to rely on the status quo—the good will of agribusiness, government regulatory agencies, higher education systems, and the medical establishment—to make changes. With this process, things would NEVER change!

What is "clean" food?

"Clean food" means certified organic foods of all varieties that are 3rd party-verified to be free of GMO. We want to protect all consumers by insuring that food production in America is designed to exclude derivates from GMO food crops and from dairy products injected with genetically modified growth hormone. In addition, we want to exclude meat from animals fed from GMO feed. As far as meats and fish are concerned, we will only accept certified organic animal proteins or 100 percent wild caught or grass fed animals. That is our definition of clean food.

We will never knowingly offer products that contain GMO. We will inform you, however, if manufacturers' and producers' products we carry are "self-claimed" GMO free and are working towards third party verification; ideally, in qualification with the NON-GMO PROJECT. We endeavor to work with all manufacturers and growers that produce certified organic foods. At first, we will allow self-verification of NON-GMO products, but,as we grow in membership and consumer clout we will insist on third party verification.

Our objective pertaining to clean organic food is intended to protect not only consumers but also food providers. If we can help insure that providers produce clean food we will protect the labors and dollars they have invested to become "organic." After all, organic is only good if it is GMO Free. We want organic to mean something.

Perfect Performance Required

The largest, most influential buying collective in America will take some time to build. Before we can even attract millions of consumer, we recognize our performance must be perfect.

If you visit our site you may notice that some things aren’t perfect; a few products are priced the same or slightly higher on our Web site than you might find elsewhere if you look hard. Don't panic. Trust me. That is going to change very soon. I realize we aren't going to attract and retain your purchasing loyalty if our prices are higher than you can get elsewhere. My promise is that we will know more about market pricing than you, and you will grow to trust our pricing—that it IS the lowest possible pricing in the market without compromising quality.

Feijoada recipe, Eat Brazilian!

2010-02-16T00:39:00.001-06:00

We had a friend over recently and she discovered that we had been studying Brazilian culture in our homeschool. She started talking about feijoada, Brazil’s national dish, and how delicious it is.

She also told me about the history behind this dish. This recipe was brought over to Brazil by the African slaves in the 16th century and it was added to by the Portuguese. For the pork they actually used every part of the pig: ears, nose, tongue, tail, foot (see below). I don’t think I will be using any of those items in my dish, *shudder*.

So, I decided to look up the recipe and give it a try. Would you like to try it with me? Here is the traditional recipe from Copacabana.info:

Ingredients:

1 lb. black beans
1 lb. smoked ham hocks
1 of each: pork foot, ear, tail, tongue
(optional)
1 lb. Mexican "chorizo," "pepperoni" or
Brazilian "linguica"
1/2 lb. Chunk of lean Canadian bacon or
Brazilian "carne seca"
1/2 lb. Smoked pork or beef ribs
3-4 strips of smoked bacon
1/2 lb. lean pork
1/2 lb. lean beef
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
salt to taste
black pepper
hot sauce (optional)

How to prepare feijoada:

Soak beans overnight in large container. Next morning, cook beans for 4-5 hours at low heat. Place ham hocks, chorizo, ribs and Canadian bacon in deep pan with plenty of water and bring to a boil. Change water and bring to a new boil, repeating the procedure at least three times to tenderize cured meats and remove excess fat.

In a large frying pan sauté‚ onion and garlic using either vegetable or olive oil (smoked bacon strips optional) for two or three minutes. Toss in cubed pork and beef. Sauté‚ an additional two-three minutes.

Mash 5-l0 tablespoons of beans and add to large pot. The resulting paste will thicken sauce. Add two tablespoons of olive oil, three garlic cloves all chopped-up or mashed, along with a tablespoon of white vinegar and a teaspoon of red-hot pepper. Stir, heat over medium fire for two-three minutes, then transfer to contents of frying pan. (You may use two frying pans, if necessary)

Let simmer for l0-l5 minutes. Add contents of frying pan(s) to the beans and let boil at medium heat for 1-2 hours.

Serve over rice, with additional red-hot sauce, if desired.

Modern Conveniences

2010-02-16T00:08:00.001-06:00

As I was sweeping my kitchen today with my new G2 Swivel Sweeper (the latest and greatest of my gadget collection) I started thinking about how I don’t like using a broom and dustpan and how grateful I am for my new sweeper. It takes all the work out of sweeping your floors!

Then that got me to thinking about what life would be like if I had had to make my own broom out of straw and then sweep the dirt floor of our one room 18th century cabin that we lived in (because if I had lived back then I probably would have been very poor, lol).

I have been reading historical fiction again, sorry, but just stay with me one this…

So, I started looking around my home at all the modern conveniences that I am thankful for and would sorely miss if someone took them away! Because, seriously, have you ever read a book about what life was like in America during the 1700’s? Can you imagine living back then, or *gasp* being a housewife back then?

First of all no bathrooms, just a deep hole dug into the ground in which a bench with a hole sat over it and hopefully a small outhouse built around it for privacy. No toilet paper, you had to choose moist leaves. And let’s not even mention “that time of the month”. Horrors!

If you wanted a new dress your first step to obtaining a that dress would be to go out to the barn and sheer a sheep. Then you spun wool and flax so that it could be woven into fabric, which you dyed yourself. Then you had to cut your pattern and sew the dress yourself. You have got to be kidding!

How about cooking? No refrigerators or microwaves. No ovens or stoves like we are used to. No frozen dinners or drive thrus. You cooked stews or soups in a kettle over an open fire. Or you roasted whatever animal you were lucky enough to kill over pits (after you skinned and cleaned the carcass). Yuk!

I would never survive in such living conditions, I am such a woos (sp?). I would end up as one scrawny, starving, half naked, constipated lady if I had to live like that. I wouldn’t even know how to go about surviving in the wilderness. You would probably find me eating leaves (not the moist leaves as mentioned before!) for dinner, or something like that. I like my gadgets and modern conveniences way too much.

So today I pay homage to my G2 Swivel Sweeper and acknowledge that I couldn’t have lived without it today.

How about you? Have you ever thought about this like me? What modern convenience were you thankful for today?

What is Love?

2010-02-15T01:30:00.001-06:00

I recently read an interesting blog at Sugar Filled Emotions asking ‘What is Love?’ She had a really good definition of what she thinks love is,

My definition of love is this. Love is feeling compelled to do the little things for someone day in and day out, without complaining or being resentful. Loving someone means that you feel compelled to lift someone up, and encourage them daily. Love means you are patient with that person. Even when you are angry or frustrated. You do not belittle them, instead you use patience in dealing with them. Love lasts. It lasts through the good times and it lasts through the bad times. It lasts when you feel like your loved one is not showing you the same amount of love you are showing them. Love is trusting someone with your heart, your emotions, and your mind.

However, when I think of what love is I remember a book I read by Voddie Baucham Jr. called Family Driven Faith. There is a chapter in this book called Learn To Love that was very eye opening to me. I learned that love is an act of the will, it is a choice. Radical concept, huh? Just wait, it gets better! If love is an act of the will then you can not just “fall out of love with someone”. If love is truly a choice then when someone commits adultery and tries to justify it by saying “we don’t choose who we fall in love with” they are in denial of their selfishness and the pain they are causing others.

The bible commands us to love our enemies. Well, love is not a natural emotion in that situation. If someone is your enemy you are more likely to feel hate, dislike and/or fear…not love. So how do you love your enemy? You will yourself to do it. Everyday you tell yourself that you love this person, you pray for God to grant you the ability to love this person and you pray for that person also.

Sometimes love does come naturally and you fall in love with someone or gradually develop a love for someone. But sometimes you have to will yourself to love someone and continually work on developing that love. And if that is the case, God bless you!

What Being a Mom Has Taught Me

2010-02-15T00:56:00.001-06:00

I ran across a poignant blog by Lolli over at Better in Bulk about what being a mom has taught her, which was picked up by Krafty Kitten who posted on being a step-mom. They got me to thinking about what being a mommy has taught me.

I am a mommy to four very different boys. Growing up and well into my twenties, I never really wanted kids. I wasn’t one of those people who ooh-ed and awed over babies or cute little toddlers. In fact, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them; they were gross and annoying.

That changed when my niece was born. I was 28 years old. She was beautiful (and still is). I would keep her overnight occasionally and “play mommy” imagining what it would be like to have my own beautiful little girl.

Then I got pregnant. I just knew it would be a girl, so I was a little surprised when the ultrasound technician told me I was having a boy. My first thought was “What am I going to do with a boy?!” And then the idea gradually grew on me and I started looking at baby things for boys and started getting excited. I thought “This is gonna be fun!”.

My oldest was born and I realized I was totally out of my element. I didn’t bond with him right away. I loved him because I was supposed to, but I didn’t have that immediate attachment that some moms have as soon as they see their baby. So that was shocking to me. I was worried that I was a bad mother and that I was selfish in not falling head over heals for this beautiful little baby. I did eventually learn that many mothers go through this and that it is only temporary. It took a month or two before I really started bonding with my son.

I also learned that breast feeding does NOT come naturally. I tried nursing my son but I didn’t know what I was doing and the nurses at the hospital sent me home believing that I was doing it correctly, when in fact I was not. He was not latching on properly and was not getting enough to eat and my milk supply plummeted very quickly. He was very fussy all the time (obvious now, but no then). When I took him in for his 2 week checkup he had lost weight. The pediatrician informed me that I was not nursing him correctly. So I gave up and started formula feeding him.

I have learned that I do not handle child birth well without an epidural. My labor with my second son went so quickly that I was still in the registration process when I had to start pushing. I didn’t get any drugs or anything. IT HURTS! I ended up in surgery with them taking the baby via c-section because he wouldn’t come out, the cord was wrapped around his neck.

I have learned not to be disappointed or to feel like a victim when someone tells you your child is autistic. I learned to accept it and focus on the blessings of that child. I have learned patience . I have learned that it is ok to walk out of a store leaving a full shopping cart parked out of the way when your child has a massive meltdown. I have also learned how to tuck said child under one arm and pick up a car seat with the other while comforting my oldest child because you are not going to be able to buy the toy he picked out that day. I learned to walk out of the store with my head up, with dignity and a apologetic smile on my face as people watched the spectacle we were making.

I have learned that accidents are accidents. I care more about my kid’s feelings than I do about whatever they may have broken. I have learned to discern between accidents and non accidents. I have learned how a kiss can heal a bo-bo and how to acknowledge my kid’s feelings. I have learned that I am not that fond of sharing my drinks with my kids.

There are so many things I have learned that it would take me all night to write this post and probably bore everyone to death in reading it. But there are two more things I have learned that I want to share; 1. I have learned that I am not super mom and that’s ok, my children love me regardless; 2. And I have learned that I have so much more learning to do before it is all said and done! Hopefully it will never end :)

Pennywiselearning.com

2010-02-12T23:59:00.001-06:00

I get a regular newsletter from Pennywiselearning.com that I enjoy. The newsletter is done by a homeschool mom named Kristen who has her own blog called KristensTwoCents.com, the official "mommy blog" of PennywiseLearning.com.

She has a neat giveaway happening right now that you can get in on if you are interested: the Blunders Board Game Giveaway!!! This board game would definitely be greatly appreciated in my household (by me). The game is supposed to make leaning manners fun.

Well, as I have said before, I am a homeschool mommy of 4 boys, 3 of which are old enough to have developed bad manners. Our dining table has become a den of crudeness lately. Smacking, food throwing, slurping and burping, you name it and I have to suffer through it :-~. Never heard of this game before but I am ready to try it. If I don’t win it, I may just go out and buy it! Go check it out and decide for yourself.

Technorati Tags: Kristenstwocents.com,Pennywiselearner.com,Blunders board game,learning manners

SeededBuzz

2010-02-12T23:28:00.001-06:00

I was browsing my Facebook page when I saw an advertisement for a really great way to advertise your blog and find some really interesting new blogs. The website is called SeededBuzz for all you bloggers out there. I just submitted my application in the hopes that it will be accepted. They are very picky about which blogs they are accepting. Even though my blog is new, I hope they will accept me; I have been working very hard on my blog.

I just started my blog a couple of weeks ago, but I have BIG plans for it. In the future you can expect posts on the education system, homeschooling, religion, crafts (kids and adults), drug addiction, health tips, food/recipes, music (kids and adults), book reviews (kids and adults), autism and special needs children, the vaccination controversy, potty training, scrapbooking, sign language, organization and many more topics later to be discovered!

I have I have done extensive research to learn how to set up a blog which has been really fun. As my blog grows I would really enjoy some recognition (who wouldn’t, right?!) along with helping others who would benefit from my knowledge and humble (sometimes not so humble) opinions. So let’s get busy!

Technorati Tags: Seededbuzz,blog advertising

Our Homeschool History – Kindergarten

2010-02-12T15:46:00.001-06:00

When Snazzybug turned 5, he was ready for Kindergarten. At the time I had several friends who used and recommended the A Beka curriculum. I looked at their stuff and liked the look of it and decided to use A Beka. It just so happened that when we made the decision to homeschool a year-and-a-half before, I encountered a church garage sale on my way to work. So I stopped in and bought a huge box of flashcards and books and other stuff. Come to find out it was all A Beka stuff. Then I went to the local homeschool store and found some of the books in their used books section and then I ordered the rest from A Beka.

I had also found the Hooked on Phonics program at a different church garage sale. So as I was doing the A Beka program with Snazzybug, I was also trying to teach him to read using Hooked on Phonics. However, I noticed one day that he was not looking at the flashcards as he was flipping through the stack and saying the letter names and sounds. Instead he had memorized the audio on the tapes. After trying to correct him and failing I gave up on the Hooked on Phonics idea and just concentrated on A Beka.

He did learn to read and now he reads very well… when he is in the mood. He is a reluctant reader, though; He doesn’t like reading out loud very much, but he loves being read to. I love listening to him read the bible and knowing that I helped him learn. How encouraging it has been to see the fruits of our labor!

Stay tuned, my next post will be about our adventures in first grade :-)

Technorati Tags: homeschooling,homeschool. kindergarten,Abeka,A beka,hooked on phonics

Our Homeschool History - Preschool

2010-02-12T01:15:00.001-06:00

Our homeschooling history has been quite eclectic. I started homeschooling Snazzybug when he was 4 years old. I bought the Sing, Spell, Read & Write curriculum for pre-k because he loved music and singing. It was cute and fun, but I didn’t feel like it was enough.

So I started searching on the web for pre-k alphabet worksheets and I ran across a site called Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum. I really liked that it had a list of things to do to teach each letter, but I still didn’t think that and SSRW would be enough.

So I continued to look for a site that had coloring pages and crafts to reinforce each letter and I found DLTK's Crafts for Kids . This site has letter crafts, coloring pages, mini books, letter templates, handwriting sheets and games and puzzles.

With these three resources I built a curriculum for him each week. I printed a lot of stuff! But he enjoyed it and learned his alphabet well.

With Doodlebug and Cuddlebug I have taken a different approach having been inspired by a workshop I attended by David Hazell, the creator of My Father's World curriculum. He advocates a more hands on approach to preschool and no worksheets. So we bought the MFW Preschool Package for the boys.

I also discovered a truly wonderful website called Tot School. Carissa, the creator, has developed Tot Trays, so I took her idea and ran with it. I bought some trays like hers, a huge bag of craft buttons, counting and sorting bears, mini erasers, beads, and toddler tongs. We also went on a trip to the local thrift store where we bought all kinds of containers,funnels and spoons and old board games like Scrabble, Rumikub, Mancala (sp?) and a few others to be used for game pieces only.

The boys LOVE doing school; they beg me to do school everyday, including weekends. Each day I put out 5 or six of the trays with a different activity on each tray. They rotate through the trays each day.

This is a tray with some of the mini erasers that Doodlebug sorted.

More sorting of the mini erasers with tongs.

Doodlebug knows his alphabet, which he learned by me reading him a Thomas the Tank Engine Alphabet and Sounds book each night around the age of 3. He has been writing the first letter of his name a lot lately and wanting to know how to write other letters.

Encouraged by his desire to learn I went on a search again and have a new favorite website for preschool resources called Kid's Soup. In fact I was so impressed with their printables I paid for the yearly membership, which I never do with there being so much free stuff on the web now.

I also want to do some of the Tot Books and Packs from Tot School. So we will have lots of things to do everyday without anyone getting bored or not having fun (hopefully).

Stay tuned, my next post will be about Kindergarten and learning to read.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling,homeschool,pre-k&C Company,preschool,MFW,David Hazell,My Father's World,Sing spell read & write,SSRW,Letter of the Week,DLTK,DLTK's Crafts for Kids,Kid's Soup,Tot School

Teaching My Children At Home

2010-02-11T13:37:00.001-06:00

A lady from church shared this poem. She said she put it on the cover of her homeschool binder. I liked this poem so much that I think I will do the same as a reminder everyday of why we are homeschooling. Let me know what you think. Do you have any poems you would like to share?

Our Teaching Home

The Father has blessed me with many things, And one of the dearest to me
Is the gift of helping His children
To be all that God wants them to be.

Our family may seem a bit different
When compared to the norms of today, But in looking at Jesus’ example I believe that it should be that way.

Our children are really just children, Not unlike many others you know, With laughter and tears, good times and bad, Just living and learning to grow.

Their schoolroom is often our kitchen, And we don't own a big yellow bus, There are no good byes every morning at eight
For our home brings the teaching to us.

Indeed, our Lord has commanded
That we teach His children His way, And so we are striving to impress upon them
His statutes and precepts each day.

For I want what they learn to stay with them
Wherever they one day might roam, That’s why, my friend, you will find me
Teaching my children at home.

By Lisa L. Easterling

Technorati Tags: homeschool,homeschooling,our teaching home,Lisa L. Easterling,Lisa L Easterling

Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 Creative Memories

2010-02-11T11:01:00.001-06:00

I went to an all day Creative Memories crop (a scrapbooking get together) recently. I brought pictures of Doodlebug’s first year to scrapbook traditionally (not digitally). I am almost finished with his 1st year album. (I am soo behind!)

Snazzybug’s 1st year album is almost finished, all I need to do is scrap all the paperwork and memorabilia for him and add it to his book. I had all of his in two post bound albums, but decided to put them in 3-ring binder albums from K&C Company that way I can add to them without having to take apart the whole album, how easy is that?!

I have even started Cuddlebug’s 1st year album with traditional scrapbooking because we had printed most of the digital pictures from that time period (along with the older two’s).

But I decided to do Sweetybug’s 1st year digitally because we are so behind with printing his pictures (actually only the hospital pictures have been printed) that I thought it would be more cost effective AND time effective to buy the digital scrapbooking software and print the bound books rather than print the pictures and scrap them traditionally.

So at the crop I purchased Storybook Creator Plus 3.0. Creative Memories does have a free version of the Storybook Creator 3.0 and I have created a scrapbook with this software. I created a 50 page scrapbook in about 3 hours. The difference between the free version and the plus version is that with the free version you can not change anything on the predesigned pages, all you can do is drag and drop your pictures into the pre-arranged pages.

However with the plus version you still have predesigned pages, but you can change all the elements on the screen, add to or delete. It’s scrapbooking heaven :-).

So, if you have thought about going digital I highly recommend The Storybook Creator Plus 3.0 from Creative Memories. If you do not have a Creative Memories consultant in you area you can contact mine. Her name is Susan and she is a homeschooler. This is her link http://www.mycmsite.com/sites/shillegeist. She will be able to help you out with any questions or ordering.

If you are currently using Storybook and you have any tips, tricks or warnings I would love to hear from you!

Technorati Tags: digital scrapbook,digital scrapbooking,scrapbooking,traditional scrapbooking,Creative Memories,Storybook Creator,Storybook Creator Plus 3.0,K&C Company,Creative Memories consultant

Windows Live Writer

2010-02-10T23:19:00.001-06:00

I have just installed Windows Live Writer to use with my blog. This is my test run to see how everything will look. After reading Mom Tried It: One Stop Blogging about how much she likes Windows Live Writer I was convinced I needed to try it.

As you can see, I am new at the blogging game, so it took me a little while to even figure out how to download it and then find it on my computer. *sigh*, sad…I know. But I am learning!

I did make a mistake and initially downloaded all the other programs they suggested you to download. I later decided I didn’t need or want any of them so I went back and uninstalled all of them except Live Writer.

I also found a wonderful video tutorial on how to use Live Writer on Remarkablogger. If you are ready to start blogging the EASY way then you should really look into Live Writer. Are you using Live Writer to blog? If so, do you have any tips, tricks or warnings you would like to share?

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer,blogger,Mom Tried It,Remarkablogger

Meet the Family

2010-02-07T14:14:00.001-06:00

My name is Melissa. I am 37 years old. I am wife to a wonderful man, whom we will call Daddy.

And I have four wonderfully unique sons. My oldest is Snazzybug, he is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade.

Next in line is Doodlebug who is 4 years old and is a preschooler.

My third son is Cuddlebug, he is now 3 years old and believes himself to be a preschooler.

And the baby is Sweetybug, he is 11 months old right now.

We also have a Mimi (my mom) whom we are blessed to have living with us at the moment. However, I do not have a good picture of her at the moment so you will need to trust me that she does exist :-D

And that my friends is all of us!

Rabbit Holes & Rabbit Trails

2010-01-31T02:47:00.003-06:00

Rabbit Holes & Rabbit Trails... That title really defines my days! As a homeschooling mommy of 4 boys I never know what the day will hold. So waking up everyday is like jumping down a rabbit hole - what kind of wild and crazy adventures will we create today?

I also find myself going down rabbit trails all day long. You know what rabbit trails are don't you? When you are on your way to the baby's room to get a change of clothes for the baby but you see a sippy cup in your older son's room so you detour (rabbit trail #1) and grab the sippy cup because you know that if you don't it will get forgotten in there and not get washed that day. Instead it will be found several days later once the mold has really set in and the milk is so thoroughly curdled that you will have to just throw the cup away.

So now you have cup in hand and are once again on your way to baby's room for a change of clothes when your potty training child informs you that he needs to go to the bathroom so you promptly take him to the bathroom (rabbit trail #2) and help him go potty.

While helping him wash his hands afterwards you discover that you are out of handsoap and the hand towel needs to be replaced, so you go to the linen closet to get a fresh hand towel (rabbit trail #3) put it in the bathroom, then you grab the empty soap container along with the sippy cup and dirty hand towel and once again head to the baby's room for a change of clothes.

However, you smell a poopy when your diapered son runs up to you begging for more juice, so you usher said child into his room and change his diaper (rabbit trail #4) but then you have to take the dirty diaper and throw it away in the trash can outside and then wash your hands (rabbit trail #5).

In the mean time diapered son has followed you expecting you to get him more juice, so you ask him for his juice cup, but he doesn't know where it is, so you start looking for the missing juice cup (rabbit trail #6).

Your older son yells at you from the bathroom to let you know that the soap container is gone and there is no soap to wash his hands so you go back to the bedroom you left it in (rabbit trail #7) grab it, the sippy cup and the dirty towel that you forgot to grab when you went to throw the dirty diaper away and head back to the kitchen (rabbit trail #8) to fill the soap container, put the dirty towel in the laundry and the sippy cup on the counter.

Diapered son finds his sippy cup and brings it to you triumphantly so that you can reward him with juice (rabbit trail #9).

The baby starts crying and you realize that you never made it to the baby's room to get a change of clothes for him. So you head down the hallway once again to fetch a change of clothes for the baby (rabbit trail #10) and as you pass the bathroom you realize that you forgot to bring the newly refilled soap container and your older son is standing there playing in the water in the sink waiting on you, so you turn around and go back to the kitchen to get the soap container (rabbit trail #11).... :-D

Ever have one of those days that are just chock full of rabbit trails and you feel like you can't get anything thing done but you can't figure out why?!

Well, welcome to my world. Come, join us as we take the advice of The King in Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop".