Oh I need to get organized and have a plan! In the past I have been really happy and satisfied with SavingDinner.com.  There is no thinking involved!  For a fee you are emailed a set of recipes each week along with a shopping list.   I especially like the freezer meals from Saving Dinner. The ones for the grill are really great. I also like that I can choose a menu by dietary need —heart healthy, low carb .  You can even choose by which hemisphere you live in. She even has holiday menus!  One of the biggest benefits is that her recipes use a wide variety of meats, vegetables and fruits so it keeps us eating a really varied diet and keeps my kids trying new things.  But most important, all week long I can always answer that big question, “What’s for dinner?”  For some reason I have fallen off the wagon—so I am hopping back on.

If you would like to give saving dinner meals a try  then leave a comment by Friday at midnight and one lucky reader will receive a free 5 for the Freezer meal plan from  Saving Dinner!

I am also anxious to try Stacy’s recommendation for You’ve Got Supper! This service is free.

I have my recipes and shopping list printed and I am off to the store!  Have a great day!

Head on over to Vanilla Joy to enter in some fabulous giveaways!  My fingers are crossed that I will win the Cricut!!!!!

Burning up daylight around here with pink play-dough. This activity kept these two, two year olds busy for much longer than two minutes. Actually they enjoyed themselves for a very long time.

Homemade Play-dough

Mix together in bowl:
2  1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon alum (found in the spice section)
In a saucepan on the stove stir the following ingredients together.  Bring to a boil.
2 cups water
1/2 cup salt
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
food coloring (if making the whole batch the same color, otherwise knead individual colors in at the end)
(you can also use unsweetened kool-aid type drink mix packets to color and scent the dough, add in with the water)

Once mixture is boiling, add

2 -1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoons alum

Cook over low to medium heat stirring constantly until dough comes away from the edges of the pan and it becomes very hard to stir. Remove from heat and let cool slightly(until you are able to knead the dough).

Knead until smooth and elastic. Store in an airtight container.This recipe is for a smooth dough similar to the consistency of Play-doh.

Never underestimate the lure of play-dough

It also kept these three “big” boys just in from golf very busy (and it was even pink)!

Today is the last day of the Bloggy Book and craft-a-thon.  I hope you all were inspired by the fabulous guest bloggers.  Please consider joining us to Read to Feed.  We will accept donations through September 15th. If we all did just a tiny bit, together we could make a huge difference in the lives of others. Heifer International is giving the first 50 people that donate a free book!

Cassi, of Bella Dia will wrap up the week for us.  I don’t think I could ever write something that would do her and her site justice. Her blog is just as it says— simple, happy, pretty things.  She is a generous and lovely woman who shares her art so beautifully with us all.  You can also find Cassi at the Crafty Crow, a children’s art and craft collective. There you will find a wonderful collection of art and craft activities from all over the web. Cassi has choosen a book for us about somebody choosing to leave the world a bit more beautiful by the things she does. Well, that IS Cassie—-making this world more beautiful by the things she does!

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Cassi writes…

Have you read Miss Rumphius? If this is a new title for you then you are in for a treat and if you already know about Miss Rumphius then I’m sure you have fond memories of her.  What a lady!  She was a young artist, she worked at a library, she traveled to faraway places and eventually ended up living by the sea just as her grandfather did.  When she was a child she made a promise to her grandfather - do you know what it was?  She promised she would do something to make the world more beautiful!  How was she going to do that?  One day Miss Rumphius discovered some beautiful lupines in her garden and that’s where she got her inspiration to make the world more beautiful.  Now, we can’t go around scattering seeds like Miss Rumphius but we can gather seeds and give them to friends and family and help spread the seeds that way.

After you’ve read the book, go out to your garden and see what kind of flower seeds you will be collecting.  Next, print out a seed packet template.  You can do a search for one if you’d like or you can use the one that I used here.  Draw a picture of the flower on the front of the seed packet and write the name at the top.  You can include any other information, such as how much sun and water they need, at the bottom of the packet or on the back.  Cut out and glue the packet together according to the instructions at the template site.  If your seeds are available for collecting go ahead and get started!

We are lucky to have lots of lupines where we live.  Here are some pictures of our seed packets.  I think we’ll collect some sunflower, poppy and columbine seeds too.  What kind of seeds will you be collecting where you live?

draw the flower on the template and label it

cut it out

fold and glue according to the template instructions

I hope you’ve enjoyed Miss Rumphius and this seed collecting and packet activity.  Barbara Cooney is the author and illustrator and has said that this book, along with Island Boy and Hattie and the Wild Waves are the closest thing to an autobiography that she has ever written.  All of her books are brilliant and beautiful (can you tell she’s one of my favorites?) and deserve a place on your home bookshelf

I am privileged to introduce you to today’s guest blogger, Alicia.  Yes, she is as warm and sweet as her blog, Mayfly.  Alicia has a special eye for photography.  Her photos make you stop, pause and really notice. I always feel that Alicia has found the trick to getting every drop of enjoyment out of each day! I hope you will stop by and see her beautiful murals, darling dolls and tons of creativeness!

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Alicia writes…

When my son was born, my husband’s very cool cousin Chuck sent a very cool gift: Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It’s one of those books that you loved yourself as a child and thought you had outgrown, but now that you look again you realize you haven’t. It is full of spirit and imagination and beautiful artwork. I’m betting you all know this book as well as we do.

So when Cindy asked me to guest post here, I had to do something Wild Thing related. We decided to
make our own Wild Guys. They turned out pretty cute and were super easy! These little creatures are
essentially just pillows. So for you sewers, there you go. Have fun! But for those of you who aren’t, here are the steps to take:
Draw your creature. We used used fabric markers (fabric crayons or fabric paint would work too), so I cut each kid two pieces of white cotton from a thrifted cotton sheet- one for the front and one for the backing. Tape down the edges so the fabric stays tight.

I told them that they could use the whole piece of fabric, but that they needed to leave some little space all the way around for the stitching. Then they drew their guys. J wanted to use the book for inspiration, N wanted to create her Wild Guy from scratch. Next follow the directions on the markers to heat set the ink.

Now cut around the guys with about a 1” border for stitching. (We didn’t decorate the guy’s backside, but you surely could. Just be sure to do it before you stitch, so the markers don’t bleed through to the front.) Turn the drawing right side down against the backing fabric, pin and stitch around the critter leaving a space for turning and stuffing. I used my machine, but you could easily sew these by hand. An older child could even do this step him/herself. Trim to about 1/4” from your seam.

Next turn the Wild Guy right side out and stuff him full. My kids loved this step. We used polyfill so they will be washable. Hand stitch the opening closed and you’re ready for business!

You could do this with any book really, making existing characters or adding new ones for reenactments, inventing sequels, or just for snuggling.

Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing. There is nothing sweeter in the world than seeing your older child reading to the younger one. Nothing. If you haven’t experienced this yet with your kids, just wait. You’ll melt into a puddle- you’ll see.
Thank you, Cindy, for including me here and for your efforts encouraging the love of reading and raising
awareness for the Read to Feed program- such an incredibly worthwhile cause.