recommended eating (well, reading)

so. while i am not in the market currently to increase my cupcake intake due to the ever approaching shedding of winter skin, i am totally enjoying taking notes on cupcake week on here kitschy, kitschy. please go check out my friend veeda's new blog this week as she reviews different cupcake recipes. it's even better than doing the work yourself if you ask me...

p.s.- i highly recommend adding this blog to your daily read. a definite trust me.

Children's Book Blog-Hop..

Welcome to blog-hop number 1! I am forever in search of extraordinary children's books for my little ones. While on a trip to Texas I made a trip to Half-Price Books & found two new favorites for our collection.


The first is one in series of three by Leslie Patricelli called Quiet Loud. We were happy to add to Big Little & hope to soon buy Yummy Yucky. The books are incredibly simple & Flynn loves "reading" them to us. The book is illustrated with pictures taken of paintings which gives it a very warm touch. You can preview the books on her site.


The second is a remake of a Golden Book classic called The Telephone Book. I originally bought it to have for Sobe but Flynn saw it & fell in love. On page one it asks the child to answer a little black telephone & then proceeds to give them instruction on how to look after their friends little brother. You then go through the pages & move parts on the pages to do so. So simple, sweet & just the right amount of interactive. I suggest buying several of this book to give for gifts. I use it as a book to pull out at bedtime as a special treat.

I am really interested in knowing about your favorite children's books. Please leave a post about it on your own blog & the link to it in the comment section here. You may want to title your link the title of the book(s) you are reviewing.

For more help on blog-hopping, click here.

The Truth About Childbirth..

Courtesy of Scrubs.

www.brettstubbs.com

My husband, Brett Stubbs, has just put up a new site featuring him as the music artist. He is offering all of his songs downloadable for free. Some of you will be really excited about this & the rest of you should be.

Please make sure to listen to Outside of These Walls on the From Me or I From Her album. There are two songs that make me cry each & every time I hear them. One is Lakes of Canada by The Innocence Mission, the other is this one. I love it.
Also, that is his best album in my opinion, so if you are looking for a place to start, start there.

I love you Brett...

Cancelling your mail.

I have this obsession with clutter. More of a hatred really. My days of thrift store rummaging & the fact that I married a thrift store junkie have given me quite a run for my money as I try to become a normal adult with an orderly home. I feel like I have taken control of that aspect, but there is still one greater enemy in my quest to be clutter free: the mailman. I have talked about my different solutions in the past but it is still a constant battle I have to wage none the less. I have been discussing with Brett lately if there is some better way. Is there any way to hide from the mailman?

Turns out there is. Sort of. Brett came across a new website that actually accepts & opens your mail, then scans it for you to view in on online postal box. The site is called EarthClassMail.
There are an array of plans to choose from starting at $12.99. You are then able to trash, forward, print or save the documents. They then recycle or shred & recycle the paper document. If I understand correctly you change your address to certain parties to this new P.O. box.

Lovely idea, but I don't know that I'm quite ready for that. About a week later I received my Martha Newsletter in my email with a link to this article. It is a must read! It gives you the lowdown on resources to stop & prevent unwanted mail. I have included links below. So, I may not be able to hide from the mailman, but I can at least tell him to stop bullying me with junk mail!

Get rid of:
Pre-approved credit card & insurance offers
Ads
Valpak
Catalogs
All for free or almost free.
If your willing to spend the cash, you can pay a subscription fee to have someone do all of this for you:
41pounds.org
GreenDimes

Mario Kart Wii!

It just keeps getting better. Check out the Wii Wheel!
p.s.-ignore the cheesy speaker.

New collaborative blog!

I was recently invited to become a contributor to a blog started by my friend Megan called Backyard Farming, the Urban Homesteader. It involves our journey to reach our goal, sharing what we learn as we go. The highlight will be the "chicken journals" as Megan & Marisa share there experiences raising chickens in their own backyards! I wrote my first contribution on the new show Jamie at Home on the food network.

Hope you enjoy!

Book Review: Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld

I finally picked up this cookbook yesterday at Costco after browsing through it each time I was there. I'm sure you have heard about it on Oprah. The purpose of the book is to "sneak" vegetables into everyday food items for kids using fruit or vegetable purees. Before trying any of the recipes, I am actually really impressed with the book. While I don't have the need to trick Flynn into eating vegetables at this point, it still gives great alternatives to common staples in most children's diets.
There are a few recipes I am really excited about & that I think will really support my resolution. The homemade ketchup recipe omits corn syrup & adds carrots! She also has a recipe for ranch dressing I am excited to try because ALL ranch dressing contains MSG- except one I found but it was really gross. She even adds broccoli to homemade chicken nuggets. She provides recipes for breakfast, mealtime & desserts. A lot of the recipes are good to begin with but get an added kick of vitamins or whole grains. Besides the purees she also adds flax seed meal to a lot of the recipes. The most entertaining chapter is the desserts, of course, where she adds spinach to brownies & broccoli & carrot to a Gingerbread Spice Cake. The one I am most excited to try is hot cocoa with a sweet potato puree! She also has a recipe for baked doughnuts that are surprisingly low in sugar & fat & offer the use of whole-wheat pastry flour.
The only drawback for me is the use of margarine spread instead of butter & the silly quotes from Jerry & the kids at the bottom.
All in all I think it is an excellent book. While I do feel it would have done me much more good when Flynn was about 18 months, I am definitely excited to add a few of the recipes into the mix & think it is a great tool for adding more "color" to your diet!

An end to scrapbooking!

Thanks to Megan I now have a new obsession.

Check out Blurb to turn your blog into a book! It really is as simple as they make it sound. You simply sign up then download their free bookmaking software. This makes you an official Blurbarian! You then just sign in to your blog (it supports blogger, typepad, wordpress, ect.)& it then pulls your blog entries & places them (along with the pictures) into templates for your book. The best part is I can add pages to it for the things I never got around to blogging about this past year!

I plan to use this for making the family year books I have always dreamed about having & needless to say I will be making a lot more blog entries this coming year. What a great tool to revolutionize your journal writing or scrapbooking resolutions!
For a book up to 440 pages, hardcover, & 8 x 10 in size, it is just $80!

Another great feature is it allows you to invite contributors to your book. I plan on using this feature to invite Brett's siblings to add to a book for Brett's parents. Talk about a great Christmas gift!

If you ask me, this is one of the best things to happen to the internet!
Thanks Blurb!

update.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. After a lot of research I finally made my decisions. I purchased the Bebe Pod Plus which features a detachable tray with removable toy & 2 removable place mats. The toy is great & is flexible so Sobe is able to bend it towards her mouth to chew on it. She also enjoys having the pummel in place of the tray which I was surprised about. I think it gives her a sense of freedom. So far she absolutely loves it & so do I! While she doesn't like to spend forever in it because she love rolling around on the floor, it is a really nice change for a bit. I love it because I can have my hands free to play with Flynn while Sobe looks on. So great! I would definetely say this is a must have especially for your second child. I ended up choosing the Bebe pod over the Bumbo because (1)the tray looked sturdier & included the fun toy - I really wanted a tray. (2)the Bebe Pod was not recalled like the Bumbo because it has a higher back. Sobe actually has bucke backwards several times & the seat has not budged.
One negative review I read mentioned that the seat had a really strong chemical smell. This was true. Someone said it went away after 2 days by an open window but mine took about a week & a half sitting in an open space. It did go away though.
All in all the seat is going to the top of my "baby must haves" list.

Now about the stroller. I drug Brett to USA Baby to test them out. Baby USA (recommended by Veeda, of course) is a great place to go to try out baby gear. They had everything out to be tested which is fantastic! I was able to try out the BIG Cabboose & it was just that, BIG. I seriously felt like a was driving a bus around the store. So dissapointing but I guess to be expected. I then tried out the Ultralight & I think I will make that purchase due to Flynn's personality. I still have the complaint that Flynn is not able to sit up totally straight on the back bench seat but I don't think he really cares. All in all I think he will get the most use out of that option because I think he will spend too much time trying to get out of a stadium seat. He really got a kick out of jumping on the back to hitch a ride. & it really is lightweight. I actually tried the stroller mentioned by Jamie & it was by far the best stadium stroller I have tried. I am still holding off for a little bit but plan to purchase it in the near future.
If anyone else has any must baby haves, let me know! It really pays to listen to people's opinions. Thanks again!

survivor fans!

erin saw todd at starbucks tonight & sent us this picture text! (i guess he really does love coffee!)he wouldn't tell her if he won. he said that they don't find out until the last episode airs. does that mean he's in the final two?! i love technology...

first post-worthy..

so i have been dreading my first post on my new blog. i have not been in the mood for introductions. thanks to veeda, i found something that got me excited enough to make a post. had my mom been willing, i would have had a cupcake tower instead of a wedding cake. maybe this would have been a better alternative. tell me this isn't the greatest thing you've ever seen..

click here to view the complete genius.