Book Review--Prague Winter

Photo retrieved from Goodreads

Impressive. Educational. Emotional. Well written. These are the kinds of things that come to mind when I think of Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright.

 Albright. Photo retrieved from Makers

The book details the history of World War II with a special emphasis on the experiences of Czechoslovakia and its citizens because, as it turns out, this is where the author's family is from. Albright's father was in that nations government in exile in London. He personally knew many key political figures of the time so that, through this memoir, the reader is able to grasp not only perhaps the reasoning behind some of the decisions that were made before, during, and after the war, but also the personalities of the men who made them.

Josef Korbel: Photo retrieved from DU Magazine

Jan Masaryk: Photo retrieved from Sunnyside Kitchen

Eduard Benes: Photo retrieved from Wikipedia

Several semesters ago I took a history class on WWII and I learned more in the first 100 pages of this book than I learned in that entire class. I was able to see and understand what the era was like on a personal level. Albright did her research and presents not only a history lessons but an entire world in which to become lost.

Prague: Photo retrieved from The Explorer

Book Review--Allegiant

I finished the final book in Veronica Roth's Divergent series last night and, honestly, I'm torn. I wanted so badly to be in love with this series but it just didn't happen. Divergent was great. It was suspenseful and had great character development and left me wanting more. But somehow the other two books in the series simply didn't have those things, or at least to the extent that I could lose myself in the story. This final installment held me in little to no suspense, even in the times when there should have been a lot of action. There were so many plot holes and it seemed like the author was just trying to find ways to keep the story going. And it's not that I think that what she came up with was bad; just that it needed more revision so that the story was tight knit and made sense when you looked at the whole picture. Because now, looking back on the series, so many things just seem forced. So for those who have read it, what did you think? Did Allegiant meet the expectations that you had for the series?

The Special Day

I kept my son home from school today. He needed a personal day and I wanted to give him all the love and attention I could provide on my day off. So I brainstormed some good ways for us to spend some time together.

When I woke the kids up this morning I told them we were going to have a special day. We started off the day by each choosing the comfiest outfit we had in our closets which, for Mazz, included an enormous pajama shirt. Then, after we did their YogaKids video, we got started on my plan for our special day.

A couple of months ago, I had a TON of errands to run and I knew there was no way I was going to get them all done in just one day. So I made it into a game. I wrote each errand on a piece of paper, stuck them in a cup and then let my kids take turns picking the next errand. They loved it! With that in mind, I came up with a list of fun activities that we could all do together and really enjoy being with one another.

 

 The kids each took turns drawing the next activity and it was another huge hit. One of the first things we did was to make Vanilla Banana Smoothies. They were super simple, just vanilla bean yogurt, a banana and some ice, and everybody loved 'em.

We also got to spend some time reading some of the books we picked up at the library a couple of days ago: Clifford's First Easter, LEGO Batman Visual Dictionary, and Sadako (which, incidentally, sparked some very serious discussion about the dangers of atomic bombs. I'm always surprised at the things Noah becomes passionate about).

So I had this grand plan to make some little jack o'lanterns out of beverage container lids and then Halloween came and went and none of that happened. I did, however, have a whole bunch of lids saved so we improvised and tried to make them Christmas-y.

The plan is to make them into ornaments later. They're not beautiful but they were a lot of fun for the kids. We followed that project up with making Christmas lists. (FYI: little boys like remote-controlled everything...and LEGOs).

The last thing we did, and the one that they were most excited about, was snowflake painting. I found this idea on Pinterest (where else?) and I wish I would have actually opened the link before planning on making them because hers are awesome! Oh well :) The biggest mistake was that I didn't think about the need to use canvas to peel the masking tape snowflake shape off because it's not going to peel off of paper. So instead I had the kids make their snowflake shapes with the tape on paper and then I cut them out to make stencils. Then they used the stencils to paint their snowflakes.

And the finished results!

Alright so they're not what they were intended to be but my babies are so incredibly proud of them and they had so much fun doing it!!

So really, all in all we did have a great day. Noah told everyone he talked to, with a great big grin on his face, that he was having a special day which made my heart swell up like the Grinch's. And to top it all off, my husband got to come home from work early and we had an incredibly nice walk to the park where Mazzy made a friend all by herself for the first time EVER. Then I made a delicious ham and some mashed potatoes.

It really was a special day and I am beyond grateful that I had the opportunity to spend that time with them.

Peppermint Vanilla Latte Sugar Scrub

I found this great recipe for a Vanilla Latte Sugar Scrub on Pinterest and I couldn't wait to try it!

Unfortunately I don't have any pretty pictures because honestly I made it in an old mixing bowl while I was sitting at my cluttered coffee table and, when I was done, I stored it in some tupperware because I didn't have anything cuter!

Anyway...I adjusted the original recipe for what I had on hand and, of course, I had to add some essential oil! So here's the actual recipe I used in the end:


1/2 cup medium ground coffee (I used Starbucks Breakfast Blend)

1/2 cup sugar

4 Tbsp Fractionated Coconut oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

15 drops Peppermint essential oil


So far I've only used it on my hands but oh. my. gosh. my hands are so smooth now!! And it smells great on top of it.

Book Review--Shopaholic Ties the Knot

I was feeling in the mood for something light and fun so I went to my bookshelves and found this third installation in Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series.

 I had to really think about whether I wanted to give this one a try. I read the first book in the series about six years ago and, more than anything, it stressed me out! But I decided to give this one a try and it actually wasn't nearly as stressful as its predecessor.

Becky Bloomwood has a big heart and bad decision making skills. Combine those with her weakness for anything grand and expensive and it's a recipe for trouble. In this book, Becky's live-in boyfriend Luke proposes. So begins her wedding planning journey.

The trouble comes when Becky's mother begins planning a wedding in her hometown in England, then Luke's mother swiftly begins planning a grand social event of a wedding at the Plaza in New York for the very same day. Determined to say no to her future mother-in-law, Becky can't help herself once she sees the venue and hears the beginning of the plans for what promises to be New York's most talked about wedding of the year.

But cancelling her British wedding means breaking her mother's heart. Soon Becky is embroiled in a dilemma so big it seems she'll never find a solution and the entire thing will end in disaster.

I think the reason I did like this book is because Becky is incredibly likable in it. She's much less selfish than I remember her being and the biggest reasons for her problem in the first place were that she was afraid of hurting anyone she loves.  I'm glad I gave this lovable Shopaholic another chance. I may even read another one some day :)

Halloween Doughnuts

This morning the kids and I set out on an adventure. The plan: pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, find some new rain boots for both of them, jaunt over to Goodwill to see what we could find in the way of Halloween costumes, and get Noah to his doctor appointment on time. But first, doughnuts!

We swung by a cute little doughnut shop that's close to our house and the kids both happily eyed the treats in the case...but then the woman behind the counter pointed out the special case of Halloween doughnuts!

Once they saw those there was no question about what they would get. Noah went for the skeleton while Mazzy had to get a taste of the spider.

She was pretty happy with herself when she ate its head off. What a fun way to start out a day of errands!

New Chore Charts!

My kids have a chore to do every day after school. Lucky for me, my son in particular actually loves doing it! The more challenging the better! He loves the sense of independence he gets when he accomplishes a tough chore on his own.

Recently, though, I realized that our old chore chart was getting a little tired. It no longer held the excitement it used to so I thought I would start from scratch with a brand new one. Or...rather...two brand new ones.

I found some great chore charts on Pinterest but you can see the ones that I finally chose to base mine on here. I loved the idea of individual charts. I feel like it makes the kids feel more empowered.

And here they are!!

I used a couple of clipboards I found at Goodwill. Then I used Elmer's glue to attach scrapbook paper to each kid's board and glued a strip of ribbon on top of the overlap.

I wanted to find colors and patterns to match their personalities and I think I was pretty successful!

I used some old alphabet stickers I had laying around from a past project to put their names at the bottom and finally clipped on some cute post-it notepads that I picked up at Wal-Mart! Nothing to it and the kids and I are all very happy with the results.

How do you get your kids to do their chores?