Tuesday, October 29, 2013

5 Favorites


Hi y'all! I was slightly star struck when sweet Hallie asked me to host everybody's favorite mid-week quintuple roundup, but I quickly dusted off my casual-yet-engaged-nonchalance email response tone and said, "sure, I'd love to." Or something like that.

So welcome, Moxie readers! Link up your linear goodness below, and then go forth and celebrate the killer feast day lineup the rest of this week has to offer. My kids will be pounding the pavement Thursday night as a cousin-cast-off, hand-me-down duck and Superman in pajamas, respectively.
Dry run at the office today, complete with chocolate pre-gaming. 
I'm sorely tempted to craft my 8 month pregnant belly into some kind of regrettable costume statement too, but I suspect "haggard pregnant mother walks suburban streets in freezing temps" will have to suffice.

Without further ado, the favorites:

1. 
These curtains. 

I found them new via Goodwill (I go there kind of frequently) for around $10 a piece, and they make our family room shine. I have become more and more convinced of the wisdom of building a room around a single great piece of furniture or a fantastic print, and not the other way around. Whenever I buy something 'just because' and try to bring it home and fit it in somewhere, it inevitably ends up back in the giveaway pile or relegated to the man cave in the basement. Intentional shopping yields rooms that actually look, wait for it, intentionally designed. Mind blown.

2. 
Reading chapter books to my 3 year old. It turns out I don't hate reading aloud to my children, which is a bit of a relief. What I do hate? Most children's books. Imagine my surprise when a well-worn copy of Little House in the Big Woods made its way into Joey's little paws a couple weeks back and he fell immediately in love with the transportive literary power of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

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Tapping trees for 'pancake syrup' = totally awesome to little boy minds 
That's my boy. I mean, she does talk all about slaughtering meat and narrowly avoided panther attacks, so I guess it should come as no surprise that a little boy would find it all fascinating. But still. It's so cool to be reading something that doesn't tempt me to skip every other page. Or word. Shhhh, he'll catch on soon enough.

3. 
This stuff in mah hair. 

On the off chance that I'm showering and blow drying in a single day, I'll most likely be adding a dollop of this to my locks while still damp. It's the only product I use, actually, which isn't saying much considering I'm a paltry thrice weekly washer (don't judge, I've got a one wash per offspring ratio going here) and even more stingy with the hot air. I have fine, fine, fine baby hair, and lots of it, which equals limp and greasy looking with most any product added in. This stuff though? Does the trick without slicking me down. And it smells like environmental responsibility. And marshmallows.

4. 
Speaking of environmental responsibility, it looks like we may have been collectively barking up the wrong tree for a number of years now. Japan, a developed nation with true Zero percent Population Growth (ZPG) is reporting a crisis of "celibacy syndrome" in their under-40 demographic, in which younger Japanese have lost interest in traditional relationships and, in some cases, sex altogether.
"Japanese Celibacy Crisis"
(Oh Google image search, sometimes you get it so right.)
If that isn't a compelling argument against secular sexual ethics, I don't know what is. This piece is simply fascinating.

5. 
The "make a meal/freeze a meal" challenge. No, this is not a real thing, but it has become my personal quest to kill two hungry birds over the next two months and fill both my own freezer and those of my local and newly-delivered mommy friends with ready-to-heat goodness that doesn't start with a C and end in 'hipotle. 
That bag of two frozen pork chops? Totally counting that as a 'meal.'
I've never done much in the way of advance nesting, but maybe it's the estrogen this little lady is pumping into my system because I am all hands on deck this time around. It occurred to me sometime late last month that I could actually combine my one easy charitable activity (making meals for growing or grieving families) with some actual foresight for my own brood, and bam, the make/freeze self challenge was born. So far I've got 3 meals prepped and frozen in my freezer (and three happy families in the Denver metro area who scored some free, homemade goodness), which is three more times than I cooked in the first 3 months postpartum with either of my first two children. I'm thinking our waistlines and our bank account will benefit. 

There you have it folks, all the finest random ramblings that a Wednesday can contain. Thanks for stopping by!


13 comments:

  1. I really wish I had had the energy to dress up as something with my ginormous belly last Halloween... Can you just wear blue and go as a beached whale? That's what I told everyone I was :P

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  2. Those curtains are beautiful! And I wish I had the wherewithal to make and freeze meals ahead of time... My mom was a pro at it but I lack the discipline I'm afraid.

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  3. I'll see your pregnant redneck and raise you six pregnant zombies. If I were doing anything besides trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, I just might do the Lori Grimes one.

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  4. totally spotted those curtains in your last post because I have them and also love them

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  5. You had me cracking up all the way down the list.
    1. What a concept. I am decorationally challenged to the nth degree. Mostly I end up with analysis paralysis before I even start. This concept just might be enough to get me started.
    2.Yes to everything by LIW. We've read it a handful of times and now my oldest (8) is reading it on her own for the first time. Sniff. (Most kid books are dumb. But not all! Check out Jessica @ Housewifespice for great lit reviews every Weds. Mostly for older kids, but some for the littles too.)
    4. So so sad. We recently moved back from South Korea and the same thing is going on there. The govt is throwing money at people to have kids, but it doesn't seem to be working.
    5. Just talked to a friend about this today. Must, must, do.

    Thanks for hosting in Hallie's stead! It's nice to "meet" you!

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    1. Nice to 'meet' you too! I've actually read your blog before but it must not be in my feeder, because now I realize how long it has been!
      We recently lived in Italy and it's the same situation there, except the government is actually starting to falter financially and therefore is unable to incentivize it any longer. We met a number of couples who said it didn't make 'sense' to have kids since the government wasn't able to compensate them for it any longer. Insanity.

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  6. Washing your hair less frequently is better for it, and your scalp totally adjusts, so yay! I wash mine twice a week and it is just so great not having to deal with it more than that. Plus it's all shiny and beautiful and I never get split ends! Win-win-win-win-win. :)

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    1. I actually did full on 'no-poo' with baking soda and an occasional acv rinse about 4 years ago and loved the way my hair felt...but it doesn't seem to be compatible with motherhood. I seem to need to do more than rinse it these days.

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  7. I loved, loved, loved reading chapter books to my boys when they were little. They are all avid readers now. A couple that they really liked - James and the Giant Peach and the Mouse and the Motorcycle. A friend and I have been making and freezing crock-pot meals. We pick 5 or 6 recipes and spend about 2 hours chopping and putting everything in Ziploc bags to go right in the freezer. Then you just grab and dump into the crock put. Easy-peasy. Lots of recipes all over the internet for that. And thanks for the Aveda tip - I also have REALLY fine hair. I'm going to check it out!

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  8. I'll have to try Little House on the Prairie with the kids. Also, can't wait to read that article you linked to.

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  9. I'm a HUGE fan of Aveda's Phomollient. Been using it for nearly a decade. High five to the fine-haired people!

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  10. Oh my, I would bring shame upon the world of hair goodness if I reported how (in)frequently I wash my hair. Dry shampoo is the bomb. We read Little House every year, because there's always someone who says, "You haven't read that to me yet!" Adorable kiddos, beautiful curtains, you got it good, girl!

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  11. Cool curtains! That's a great GoodWill find! Maybe I should come shop at yours. Cute costumes! I've yet to get ours put together, yikes!
    I've tried the every other day shampoo thing but it doesn't work well for me. My hair gets too greasy. I've heard of the dry shampoos but have yet to try it. I love that you make meals for others. I've been saying I'd like to do that but when I feel like I can hardly get dinner together for my own family I have a hard time committing to helping others. But you're smart to knock two birds out with one stone there.
    Your #2 reminded me of precious time with my now nine-year-old daughter. We loved reading chapter books together. We started out with Charlotte's Web and then both fell in love with the Little House books. Then I had three more babies and it's been hard to read together like we used to - which makes me feel terrible but that's life I guess. Have you heard of the Read-Aloud Handbook? http://www.amazon.com/The-Read-Aloud-Handbook-Sixth-Edition/dp/0143037390
    We also really like his Hey! Listen to This Stories... http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Listen-This-Stories-Aloud/dp/0140146539/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383186439&sr=1-4
    Thanks for hosting - what a fun honor!
    ~ Erika Marie

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