A few people have mentioned that “The Nerd” doesn’t feature much on the blog. There isn’t any specific reason for that. It’s just a lot of Mac on the blog and I fill in the blanks with myself. But I couldn’t do it all alone. Right now, this blog is almost like my second full-time job. Andrew understands my passion and helps create the time and resources for me to work on it.
I have realized that having a supportive partner is the key to a strong family connection. Here are four qualities a great partnership has.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
From the beginning of this gardening adventure, I have been excited, but I have kept a little place in the back of my mind that says we might get absolutely no produce out of straw bale gardening. So imagine my surprise when not only do we have pots upon pots of plants on our deck, but we also had a few things growing out of our straw bale garden.
If you want to read about straw bale gardening, I highly recommend “Straw Bale Gardens Complete” by Joel Karsten. It is very informative with amazing picture.
Isn’t it great when toddlers finally start to talk and you can have conversations with them? (Although sometimes you can’t understand them.) They say cute things and are excited to converse with you. But then comes the dreaded phase: your toddler asks why all the time. It is enough to drive anyone nuts! Here are three things you can do to keep your sanity.
Last week, Andrew, Mac, and I started a challenge that I called “Paring Down the Pantry” which consisted of only buying $25 worth of food for the week. We combined that food with all of the random odds and ends that were stuffed into our full fridge, freezer, and pantry. Read more about week 1 by clicking here.
So how did we do? Great! After our Aldi run, we stuck to our budget and didn’t buy anything else. None of the meals were particularly photogenic, so I didn’t take any pictures. It went so well, in fact, that we decided to do it again this week. The only difference is that we raised our budget a bit to compensate for the food we ate out of our stock last week. Here is what we bought and are eating this week.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
My family is incredibly accident prone. Broken bones, surgeries, and partial amputations are just a few of the incidents that have taken place. I am the least accident prone and even I cracked my head open falling off of a waterski pyramid. So having my own family has been a refreshing change from hospital visits. Until last Friday, that is.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.
There are many toys that I think are worthwhile to give to a toddler. (Read my post about what a Montessori kid plays with.) Some are good for gross motor skills and some are good for fine motor skills. But one thing that I feel is so worthwhile to give to a toddler is a book. But what makes for good toddler books? There are two important qualities that toddler books should have.
I will throw in my usual disclaimer here that I believe in all things in moderation. Are a few books that don’t have the qualities listed below going to mentally damage your toddler? Of course not.
This week, Andrew and I set up a new challenge for ourselves. See, we tend to buy in bulk and when things are on sale. Most of the time, it works great. But right now, we have a pantry and fridge full of food and yet we still buy a bunch of groceries each week. Something isn’t adding up there. We need to start paring down the pantry.
So as part of some cost-cutting and decluttering we are doing around here, we decided to cut down on our groceries and eat what we already have. We set our weekly grocery spending limit at $25. That is for any food or beverages we are going to eat this week. Here is how we set up the first week.
Toddlers are so adorable when they are babbling. That is, until they are trying to tell you something and you have absolutely no idea what they are trying to tell you. Take it from someone who speaks toddler language, there are four strategies that I use when I can’t understand what a toddler is saying. (Now, if your toddler just won’t stop asking you “Why?” then read here.)
When Mac was born, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with her. She slept and ate, but how in the world do you play with a baby? I discovered that there are four very easy activities that should be done with every Montessori baby.
I might seem like a well-adjusted adult, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I was one of the weird kids. In high school I went through phases where I dressed like an emo kid and then a hippie. I was both a band kid and a cheerleader. Through it all, I was a weirdo. A fun weirdo, but a weirdo nonetheless. Thankfully, I have friends who accepted my weirdness and are a little weird themselves.
This might sound like I’m writing a negative post, but let me fast-forward to my message before I post the pictures: It is okay to be weird. You can be weird and unpopular and still go on to become an adult fulfilling whatever sort of life you want to live. Weird people settle down and have families. Weird people travel the world and live out of their suitcases. Weird people start their own successful businesses. When you march to the beat of your own drummer, it is easier to hear the direction of the music.
My close group of weirdos liked to have a fun time in our small town doing whatever we could think of. We played on the playgrounds and got stuck in the baby swings. We played hide and seek in cars where you hid somewhere in town and called everyone else with a clue. It was all harmless fun and amazingly, we did it all without alcohol. People who sort of knew us will probably be shocked to figure out we weren’t drinking, just weird.
The night before we left for college, two friends and I were hanging out trying to figure out what to do with our time. Somehow we came up with a plan that ended up going something like this:
- Put on weird costumes
- Kidnap Amanda when she was done with work and make her come along
- Take enough pictures to fill 2 disposable cameras
- Stop at the gas station for a gallon of ice cream to split 4 ways
- Go to Wal-Mart for a posing session before developing the film
- Stay out as late as possible before going off to college the next day.
Here I am in a Renaissance fair costume. Eating a candle? and holding flowers? We thought we were really funny. After this, we piled into my friend’s old beater and drove to the coffee shop where Amanda worked. Once we knew she was done with work, we walked in, pushed her into the bathroom, shoved a dress in her hands and told her to get changed. She describes it as “Get in loser, we’re going to Wal-Mart.” It was like Mean Girls, but the indie film version.
Here we are walking around. Nothing to see here.
I think we were pretending to ride a broomstick? I mean, we were just pumping gas like normal people. P.S. this is my hands-down, favorite picture of Amanda and I. And we have some real doozies.