Back to School Life Lessons from a Dyslexic's Mommy

Life Lessons for Homeschooling

Back to homeschooling dealing with brain drain. By now, most kids are back in school full-time.  As homeschoolers, we officially started August 12 with Connections Academy, since there were no scheduled live lessons we eased back into it.  Life lessons for homeschooling quickly ensued. Enjoy!

Brick and mortar schools have late start Monday, so why can’t we?  We started late (10:00) did a lesson, took a break, did another lesson, ate lunch, did another lesson, went swimming (hey, it counts as P.E), and then called it a day.  Although, it sounds easy- it wasn’t!  I’m great at giving advice, remember this post on summer brain drain?  Well, turns out, I didn’t follow my own advice.  How much brain power can one lose in a few weeks, right?  

W-R-O-N-G!

School is back in session.

Jake is doing great, on task, a little hurried so he can get back to his video games, but overall excellent.  He had a perfect spelling test, near perfect Math homework, and he was all smiles and ready to roll.  He hates school, but it comes easy.

Mayhem.  Mayhem.  Mayhem.  That’s not her given name, but that’s what we call her, Mandy Mayhem.  We woke up, brushed our teeth, freed the chickens, collected eggs and tomatoes, took a walk to the pond, and then made scrambled eggs and toast.  Everything was fine. She was excited to start school- and then we started school.  GRR.  “I can’t make this work- the page disappeared- do I have to read this?”  AND  “I can’t find my Notebook- where is a pencil? –You wrote in my sketchbook!”  On a positive note, reading her assigned story, Iris and Walter went well.  It seemed she’d retained more than I thought.

AND THEN…It was time for written work.  “Number your page for a spelling test”, Mommy politely said.  “Are you ready? This is just a pre-test”, Mommy smiled ignoring the tantrum.  “Don’t worry, it is only practice.”  There was much complaining, whining, and pencil pounding. “I’m sure those letters are backwards!”  “I can’t remember how to spell that word!”  “Which letter comes first?”  And so, it resumed.  All the work, we’d done last year, on the “it’s probably not dyslexia just age appropriate transposition of letters and numbers” was lost.

The paper wasn’t numbered from 1-15.  There were big words and small words scribbled all about, there were capital A’s and small a’s intermixed in the same word.  There were words, that had just been practiced in a worksheet, spelled on tiles, and read in the story.  Not one word was written correctly.  Although, if  you paid close attention and understood the common transpositions, backward or upside down letters, you could decode the correct spelling word.

DeKs, backward J-oB, sAD, LTis, S A backward C- K, DutS, and pockt.

I think its interesting, that the only misspelled word is the only one written in appropriate all lowercase letters.  Did you need a translator?  Desk, job, sad, list, sack, dust, and pocket.  A teacher would have taken one look at the sloppy mess and given up.  Mommy took the time to decode it.  Then, I wrote lines in pink highlighter, filled in the word 'desk' written correctly, and asked her to recopy her words with proper capitalization.  

Dust, chop, Desk, Durm, backward j-ob, t- backward a and g, letts, snack, rook, Rib, engine, mess, and list.

 She did a great job on chop, engine, mess, and list, but snack and rook aren’t on the list.  I will have to decode those later. The good news is the words are written within the lines with appropriate letter size, and numbered from 1-15.  We’ll focus on that for now-  2^nd grade.

Teacher asked if I wanted to pass her last year.  “What kind of question is that?”  She had straight A+’s in first grade.  She hated it.  It was “boring” and too easy.  Except, if the teacher and I hadn’t taken the time to decode the hand-written work…  Did you see that?  Handwritten work?  That’s right, she doesn’t transpose when typing!  Unfortunately, in second grade, she is required to turn in handwritten papers in preparation for academic testing. Bummer, next year I won’t waste those summer months.

In the meantime, she’s going to relax with some art and sensory play with her favorite medium, clay.  This is a great fun dough product perfect for sensory play for children with autism or other processing disorders.Crazy Aaron's Putty World Super Scarab Putty  is unique.  It has thermodynamic and phosphorescent properties perfect for science exploration. Thermodynamics explores the relationship between heat and other forms of energy. The putty changes colors when touched.

Thermodynamic putty.

Recommended:


Homeschool Projects for Elementary

The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain*

Goodbye Summer, C U Next year....

Goodbye Summer, we'll miss you. You've been mild, kind, and bountiful with beauty.  School starts next Monday. The blog has missed us. We'll be back Blog, sorry you couldn't join us outside. Now that we have a new tablet, we'll take you with us during school recess. We can go on hikes for p.e. or read with you under the Walnut grove. We'll have so much more to share with you once home-school takes over our lives again. We needed a much deserved break.  See you all next week :)

Scenes from our summer.

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Great Read for eReaders: Alicewinks eBook is a modern update to Alice in Wonderland. apps

Did you know it is the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland, the legendary Lewis Carroll children's novel? 

Looking for ebook recommendations for kids? In celebration, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is now a multimedia iBook. Alicewinks brings the timeless illustrations of Alice’s Adventures to life for a new generation. Take a look and check out this interactive media book in iBooks.

Alice Winks is a great ebook recommendation for kids.

The beautiful, early 20th-century pictures include one-hundred and ninety-three original, animated illustrations from twelve different artists, and the images are brought to life by nineteen voice actors. It is more like watching a movie than reading an ebook.

What we love about the book:

• Cultural Immersion. My kids associate Johnny Depp with Alice and Wonderland. While, they love the Cheshire Cat, they thought he was the "Thresher Cat".  With Alicewinks, they learn about classical literature in it's purist form.
• The voice of Alice brings the story to life. Hearing the inflection as she speaks makes some of the subtle humor easier for kids to understand.
• The story is long, but reading the iBook version allows you to pause whenever you like.
•  In May of 2013, Alicewinks received the Kirkus Star for exceptional merit.
• The book is interactive. Kids can easily skip forwarded and back among the pages.
• When I asked the kids if they wanted to skip ahead, they both shouted "no".  Translation = 1-hour of peace and quiet.

"Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." 

- The Duchess.  

So, what is the moral to this post?  "One story is good until another is told."  The re-telling of Alice in Wonderland in digital format is a great way to share a good, classical story with your kids.

In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland, Alicewinks brings the story’s classic illustrations to life for digital audiences through animated video and rich narration. To download this one of a kind app iBook, click here.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alicewinks. The opinions and text are all mine.

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ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Healthy Living Tips and Ideas on Pinterest: Why I'm Taking Baby Steps to Change my Life

A few weeks ago, I published a post with a BMI calculator asking you to join me in my weight loss endeavor. I've been trying to shift my focus to healthy living. For me, eating isn't really the problem, but I'd like to get the entire family on a healthy schedule and diet. So, I've been visiting lots of healthy living websites looking for tips and ideas and pinning healthy lifestyle pins on Pinterest.

Tomato plants in our organic garden.

I'm too young to be a hippie and too old to be a hipster, so I guess I'll just become a crunchy mama. I lean that way for sure, but it isn't always practical for me. I am into attachment parenting though, so I am well on my way. Only... I don't look the part. I lost my way, and I am struggling to get back to an appropriate level of fitness.

Fake it 'til you make it. That's what I intend to do.

Yep, I have a little garden patch, some chickens, and a few ducks. I've been building a coop and a barn for something else. Maybe a goat or a llama? It popped into my head this week that I need to build a greenhouse for my plants. I kill Rosemary every year. This year, I didn't even bother with her!

Enter Pinterest.

Wyandotte Chickens and Pekin Ducks at 3 months old.

If you follow this blog, you probably know we're kind of Pinterest superstars. As a visual person, I love Pinterest. No, I probably won't get back to any of the things, but I sure like to look at the pretty pictures and dream. So, what are my favorite boards for healthy living?

• Crum Creek is a health food company with the motto "indulge in healthy".  They have great Pinterest boards with lots of ideas for making healthy choices.

• Vegetarian Zen is a blog about a family learning to become vegetarians with the motto "happy body, healthy mind".  This is a great place to learn all about how to be healthy. Vegetarian Pinterest Boards.

• Pure Health Girls this is a site focused on raising awareness on how to take control of your health and longevity. They provide valuable information about the dangers of pesticides, hormones, and GMO's. See the Pinterest Boards here.

• Green Rainbow Revolution is a new company dedicated to finding the best ethical, healthy, and sustainable products. They have fun, educational Pinterest boards.

For great healthy living tips be sure to hop over to Pinterest and check out all of these great pinners :)

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Meet Leila from Green Rainbow Revolution and Submit Your Creative Ideas

Green Rainbow Revolution?  What it is it?  Is it a blog? A store? A movement? Yes! GRR is all of that and more. While it is still in development stages, there is already a lot going on, and you can be a part of the revolution.   The founder Leila Goldmark has a serious background. She studied Philosophy, Religious Studies, earned a J.D./L.L.M in International and Comparative Law degree, and she has an MBA from Columbia Business School, where she focused on social-eco entrepreneurship, leadership, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.   Phew... that's the short version. You can read about her in more detail here.  The idea for Green Rainbow Revolution was first born and nurtured during her time at Columbia.

But Leila is much more!  The product of an Architect and an Artist, her story is filled with interesting, impressive opportunities.  Learn more about her artistic side here. Hmm... serious attorney vs. free spirited artist? 

This background has led to GRR's need to focus on both the left and right side of the brain. Fascinated by the connection between art and science, Leila has pulled together an awesome selection of art and educational toys that will spark both sides of the brain.  Children learn through play.  The products at Green Rainbow Revolution will help foster fun activities necessary to grow great minds.

The fun products offered on the site are sustainable or the companies offer sustainability programs. Green Rainbow Revolution is doing the hard work for you. A portion of the proceeds goes back to help NGO's that provide art, environmental science, or social justice education for youth. You can help choose just click here for more information.

When you visit the site, Green Rainbow Revolution, you might notice there is still a lot of work to be done.  This is where you can help.  Do you have a creative idea for an art or science project?  Maybe you have an idea to start your own revolution?  Hop over and drop her a note. In the meantime, you can get involved by by learning more about her favorite revolutionaries, revolutionary kids, service project for kids, and important social justice projects by visiting Green Rainbow Revolution on Pinterest.

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Pinterest 1: So, Are you one of the millions of people wondering how do I get on Pinterest?

Pinterest feels like on online gold rush. Everyone's heard of it, but no one really seems to understand it. How do you use Pinterest? How do I get on Pinterest? How do I even spell Pinterest? 

Have you noticed a lot of people spell it "pintrest" which makes me laugh. It seems they don't get the pun.

It's an online scrapbook, journal, photo album, diary... if things are of INTEREST to you, you PIN them onto your boards. Pin + Interest = Pinterest. What could be more simple?

Herein lies the problem. Newbies who log in don't understand how Pinterest works. You either see a big mess of stuff you don't really care about or a few things that are of no interest at all to you. Why?

PINTEREST is exactly the opposite from other social media. Your Facebook friends might be completely boring or visually challenged. These are some of the first people Pinterest suggests that you follow. That's okay, follow them. Maybe the will have a moment of inspiration, if not, you can get kicks out of spying on them.

Oh wait. That was in the past. Now, Pinterest lets you have secret boards. In the old days, I was shocked when complete strangers pinned the picture of the thing I planned to do some day. It felt like an invasion of privacy, and then I got a clue. Now, I'm giving you one!

First of all, I wrote THE book on Pinterest. For reals, I did. Well, I wrote a book or e book. That's right, I wrote an eBook about Pinterest. It is very helpful if you are a Blogger or a brand building a profile.

Then one day, I started building profiles for brands. (Yes, I'd love to do yours ~ let's talk HERE.) Instantly, I realized that not everyone gets it. Not everyone wants everyone else to follow them. Some people just want to find cool pictures, pin them, and save a little brain space. So, how do you get on Pinterest?

I'll answer that and all of these questions over the next few weeks:

• how do i get a pinterest account
• how do i get followers on pinterest
• how do i get recipes from pinterest
• how do i get the pinterest button
• how do i get started on pinterest

Well, the first one is easy. You no longer have to wait to be invited. Click the link to get a Pinterest account with your email address or to get a Pinterest account with your Facebook account. If you are a business go to Pinterest.com and click the "businesses" in the lower right hand corner. Got it? Good.

How do I get followers on Pinterest? Well to get them fast you should read my Pinterest eBook, How to get Pinterest followers fast. If you just want to start amassing followers you MUST follow others. Now that you have an account, click the big Pinterest logo at the top of the page. See anything you like? Click on the image and the pinner will show up underneath the picture. Follow them. Maybe they will follow you back. Maybe they won't. It depends- If they like what they see. Don't like what you see? That's okay, click the gray box with three horizontal lines in the top left hand corner. See a list of topics? Pick your favorite. Now, you should see a thing or two that is INTERESTING to you. 

Now for some secret Pinterest tips. You can choose to follow the pinner who pinned the image you like, but you can also click on the board they pinned it to, for example, "Summer Camp Ideas", click the followers of that board in the strip beneath the header on the right hand side and follow everyone. Why? Those people like the same board that you like. They like things you like. Therefore, they'll likely repin things you like. 

Your Pinterest experience should greatly improve. 

How to get started on Pinterest? Well, you're started now, but you still have a lot to learn. Check back next week for more details on what you can do to join the gold rush. And, yes, MEN should use Pinterest. It has something for everyone. I've got some great Pinterest tips and tricks to share. Some you won't find anywhere else. I've become a Pinterest guru. Hope you'll join me.

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6 Easy PINTEREST Fourth of July Activities to Celebrate Independence Day

You can have your own Independence Day parade this July 4th with these Pinterest Fourth of July holiday projects

Make these easy, fun crafts and activities with your kids and march around the house for a sparkler free holiday.

1. Build a Felt American Flag for Fourth of July ~ Easy for Preschoolers (Tip: You can make it with construction paper too.)  This craft from Little Family Fun is easy and giftable too!

Felt Flag Craft for The Fourth of July.

2.  MeloMomma has a super cute Uncle Sam paper craft perfect for Preschool Kids.


Sorry, this website is no longer active. This is a good blogging lesson. Save the images and upload them with links. If you copy the url of an image and it gets removed, you have broken links. We'll make our own soon and replace this image.

3. Craft your own RED, WHITE, and BLUE windsock from plastic tablecloths and hoop. This easy Fourth of July craft is from Multiples and More.

Make a windsock from strips of plastic table cloths like this one from Multiples and More.

4.  Use recycled shopping bags (Target is cool)  to make an Independence Day Parade like this one from The Zui Blog.

Make a baton from plastic retail bags like this one from The Zui Blog.

5.  Make a Firework Hat go to Tippytoe Crafts for the How to.

How to make a Firework hat craft for Independence Day.

6.  We've got two easy crafts from toilet paper rolls (cardboard tube crafts). Both can be filled with candy and goodies for party favors.  Uncle Sam Hat craft and Rocket Popper craft.

How to make a rocket craft for kids.

How to make an Uncle Sam hat.

Recommended Reading:

Patriotic Crafts for the Fourth of July

Primary Art: It's the Process, Not the Product

Paper Crafts for the 4th of July (Paper Craft Fun for Holidays)

Activities for Toddlers: Sensory Messy Play with Foil, Shaving Cream, and Food Coloring

Toddlers Sight Word Sensory Activity

Whether your toddler loves to get messy or hates it, sensory play activities are essential to learning. When more than one sense is involved in learning, learning becomes easier. This Sight Word Sensory Activity with Shaving Cream and Foil is Messy, noisy, and fun for preschoolers. It also makes a great high chair activity for toddlers. Enjoy!

Shaving cream, aluminum foil, food coloring, and paper confetti for 
Sight Word sensory play.

The little explorers love the sensation of feeling a new substance. They learn hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and the ability to deal with being messy through sensory play. This activity is great for young children two to six years old.

So, what senses are used?

• Hearing: The aluminum foil is noisy. Cream makes a swoosh when it comes out of the can.  Shake the sprinkles to the beat of your favorite song.
• Sight: Add lots of colors for eye candy or combine different colors of food coloring, and watch as they change into a new color.
• Taste: Use canned cream and sprinkles (see below).
• Touch: Aluminum is smooth and crinkly.  Shaving cream is cold and wet.  Dots are difficult to pick up.  Squish a little shaving cream on your fingers to make picking them up easier and more fun. 
• Smell: Shaving cream comes in lots of scents like spearmint, peppermint, or perfumes. Add scented oils or extract for more scentsations :)

One of my favorite things to use for sensory play is shaving cream. It comes in varying scents, it always feels cold, it is light, fluffy, and super fun!  For our last messy play class, we gave each child a large piece of aluminum foil, wrote the first initial of their name, squirted a few drops of food coloring in a blob of cream, and recycled paper from hole punches. 

Fun activity for toddler shaving cream on aluminum foil.  Messy, sensory play is a great tool to use to aid in sensory processing disorders. Starting a sensory play regimen early gives children the best chance for improvement.

What do you think happened?  It was quite surprising. No one messed up their letter.  They played and mixed the blob with food coloring, they picked up the dots and moved them around, but not one preschooler smooshed their letter!  

I demonstrated by decorating my letter with the pieces of paper and mixing in the colored shaving cream.  After this, they were still reluctant to ruin their letters, but eventually one or two began to decorate their letters.  Finally, everyone joined in making faces with the paper and swirling the cold cream around.

This is a great way to teach your toddler the alphabet.  Gently, take their finger and trace the letters.  Focus on a new letter each day.  Add an alphabet coloring sheet.

Tip:  For an EDIBLE option, use refrigerated, canned whip cream, food coloring, and candy sprinkles or colored sugar. 


Recommended Reading:


Learning Sight Words with Scrabble Tiles

Letter B Printable Coloring Page 

100 Write-and-Learn Sight Word Practice Pages: Reproducible Activity Pages*

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ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Fun Things to do in Indiana with Kids: Bounce U in Fishers ~ A Jumping Good Time

Fun Things to do Indoors in Indiana: Bounce U is a Great Rainy Day Activity

Are you looking for fun things to do with kids this summer? Maybe you have a little cash set aside for summer camp or maybe you need something that is next to FREE for those much needed rainy day activities?  Either way, Bounce U has the answers for you!  In Fishers, Indiana the Bounce U is completely renovated and under new management. I've been to many of these play places with kids. Oh yeah, I even briefly operated a play place for kids (The Play Connection, Inc.).  So, I have a pretty good idea what works and what doesn't. 

Rainy Day indoor Activities in Indiana: Bounce U in Fishers.

Here's what I LOVED about BOUNCE U:

• OPEN BOUNCE!  Come bounce for a 3 hr. session for only $8 per child. That's great huh, but wait there's more.
• SESSIONS are led by a staff member (think camp counselor). Mom or Dad or Grandparents can sit back and relax in the lounge area with FREE WIFI. From your vantage point, you can see all the action and keep an eye on your kids.  The staff keeps them entertained and safe.
• BOREDOM BUSTERS.  Bored with this play space? The staff starts in one room and moves to another room with different bounce structures and recreational games.
• SNEAKY PE!  Get your physical activity credit hours for homeschool and health while having fun!

Giant Boxing Ring complete with headgear and oversize boxing gloves.

 Oh yeah, and they get tuckered out fast! 

Inflatable Bounce Houses

Lots of inflatable jumping options in each room.

It is perfect for Summer Camp, Birthday Parties, and Playdates. 

Recommended Reading:

Ten Little Monkeys: Jumping on the Bed

Things to do in Indiana


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Six Fun Things to do with Fla-Vor-Ice Pops: Recipes for a Cool Kids' Birthday Party

Fun Things to do with Frozen Pops and Shaved Ice for Kid's Party

Remember when you were a kid, and your mom sent you outside with a Fla-Vor-Ice Pop?  To cool down in the hot summer, we'd eat our pops and then run through the sprinkler. The best thing about Fla-Vor-Ice is they are "mom approved".  Did you know they are gluten free, low in calories, and sugar?  Each standard pop has just 5 grams of sugar.  Like Fla-Vor-Ice on Facebook for more information and tons of fun ideas. 

This post brought to you by Jel Sert.  All opinions are 100% mine.

Kids like Fla-Vor-Ice Pops, because they are a fun and refreshing treat with great tasting flavors.  They come in original fruit flavors, Tropical flavors, and even a sugar-free variety. There is a Fla-Vor-Ice Pop for everyone.  During summer camp, we always have a box of freezer pops in the ice chest.  Since  ice-pops are portable fun for everyone, you never know when one might come in handy for one of these fun things to do with Fla-Vor-Ice Pops.



1.  Make a homemade, rainbow slushy for your next summer party. 

Summer Party Recipe Ice Pop  Rainbow Slushy.

2.  Keep frozen Fla-Vor-Ice pops in an ice chest during outdoor play dates or summer vacations, and use them as a quickie first-aid ice-pack for head bumps and boo-boos. They also help with hydration.

3.  For a fun, outdoor game use ice-pops and party cups.  Line the children up, so each one stands two feet in front of a party cup, cut-off the end of their ice-pop, and count to three.  On three, everyone tries to squeeze their frozen ice into the cup without missing.  The winner is the one who flings the most frozen Fla-Vor-Ice into their cup.    

4.  Squeeze your frozen Fla-Vor-Ice into plastic Easter Eggs and then refreeze them to make a fun Easter Egg shape ice-pop treat like these from Play Eat Grow blog.

Picture from Play Eat Grow blog.  Hop over for more great ideas.

5.  Use Fla-Vor-Ice freezer pops in a homeschool science lesson about the changing states of matter.  Time the ice-pop to see how fast it freezes.  Compare it's freezing time with that of other liquids like milk, water, or yogurt.  Let it melt in a bowl on the counter, leave it out, and then track how many days it takes to evaporate.  Does it completely evaporate?

6. Before your freeze your pops, pour the liquid into fun ice cube molds, and use them to flavor your favorite clear soda.  Yum!

It's your turn, what will you do with your Fla-Vor-Ice pop? Hop over and share your ideas on Fla-Vor-Ice on Facebook! 

Recommended Reading:

55 Recipes for Ice Pops and Shave Ice
     

Country Sayings, Words of Wisdom, Inspirational Quotes: Children Teach Us About Life

Words of Wisdom: Quote about Children Teaching

Summer is time for play! Is there a more fun form of sensory play for children than running through a sprinkler? Kids have so much to share. They are born with a natural wisdom that adults soon forget. Here is an accurate saying to keep in mind during the monotonous day to day activities.  

Hey Mom, take a break and go run through the sprinkler. It's refreshing, fun, and your kids will cherish the memory for the rest of their lives. Remember, "While we try to teach our children about life, our children teach us what life is about."

While we try to teach our children about life, 
our children teach us what life is about.

Life is meant to be enjoyed. Take a break and play this summer. Think about it; these words of wisdom could change your little ones life.  Stop and pay attention :)

Recommended Reading:

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

A Child's Book of Character Building

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A BMI Calculator Can Give You the Motivation to Lose Weight

Online BMI Calculator

Been indoors packing on the pounds? It's time to shed the layers of clothing and get outside and play. Growing up, I was chronically skinny except for a brief time in 5th and 6th grade. Due to health issues and medication, as I got older, the weight crept up every couple of years. When motivated, it's easy to get the weight off and drop pounds. Now, as the aging mommy of two kids, the motivation rarely comes and the weight sticks around. I did find a little motivation by plugging my numbers into a BMI calculator. Scroll down to use it, the first BMI Calculator picture is a just pinnable image for Pinterest.  Enjoy! 

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

Pin this image to save to Pinterest.

Below is the actual, interactive, online BMI CALCULATOR.

The Food Pyramid

 
Free Online BMI Calculator.

Online Weight Loss Tracker

Ditch the The Food Pyramid?

Motivation. I've worked on upping my food intake. Yes, upping. I never ate more than once a day. Now, I try to eat three times a day with snacks. I've reinvented meals. I rarely sit down to eat, and I don't fill my plate in a food pyramid with one "meal." For me, that means a yogurt here, a banana there, a peanut butter sandwich, or veggies with dip spread throughout the day. I do eat everything in the food pyramid, but not in one sitting.  Should you eat dairy? at 45, I found out I was allergic to milk (not lactose intolerant.) I ditched milk and rarely eat ice cream. Yogurt and cheese don't cause me problems, so I'm able to fulfill my dairy needs. I also discovered a had hyperparathyroidism, so now I take vitamin D softgels every day.

I tried to ditch the pop, but that didn't work. However, I've made little changes. Food before pop in the morning. One soda or less per day. You'd think I'd gain weight, but I didn't gain a pound. In fact, I lost a few. I tried to find a picture to share, but I run from the camera.  Below, is the best I can do for a before picture. On the positive side, the weight always seemed to keep me looking younger. These days, aside from being old, I'm fairly healthy. Unfortunately, the BMI calculator doesn't agree. Another option is to find a good Weight Tracker App. With an app on your phone, you can track everything on the go.

**UPDATE (2016) 
I've lost over 30 lbs. and kept it off. My biggest tip is to stop eating bread (any sort of gluten). Also, take a daily probiotic. I've ditched the pop! Started by swapping Mountain Dew for Sierra Mist (natural sugars and sweeteners) and then I switched to Coca-Cola Zero. I'm working on swapping this for Propel. I drink a lot of Propel, but I want my caffeine. My go to snack is Vanilla Oikos Triple Zero try it in a Strawberry Smoothie. In the past, I was too sick to exercise. The weight loss was all diet related. Bread, cereal, cake, cupcakes, doughnuts, bagels, pizza, pasta- all gone from my diet during the weight loss. Since I've been able to exercise, I do eat them occasionally. I plan to lose 20 more lbs. this year, by adding exercise.

*I'm not a doctor. These are what worked for me. No health advice is implied.

2010

2016

What do you wish you could do differently to improve your health?

Positive Weight Loss Goals

**UPDATE (2019)

I'm 50 now and look better than I've looked in years! Still eating while on the move and using resistance bands for stretching every day. Working on losing 10 more pounds. I'm able to walk, do squats, bike ride, etc. I've even started kayaking! If you told me 10 years ago that I'd be kayaking, I would've laughed in your face! Getting fit allowed me to get healthy. So many health issues have disappeared. I'm thinking about running marathons. Not sure my knees can take it. We'll see.

What are you waiting for?

2019

2019

Recommended:

Best Daily Probiotic

Healthier Recipes that helped me. 

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DIY Design with Collage Building: Outdoor Gardening Space and Patio Room Ideas

Outdoor Gardening Space and Patio Room DIY Design Ideas

Do you dream of designing your own space? DIY Design ideas are easy to come up with when you use an online collage builder program. The collage template below is a lot of fun. Enjoy!

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When you go shopping for new furniture for a room design are you one of the lucky ones who can visualize exactly how the room will go together? Can you tell if colors and patterns coordinate without holding fabric swatches or paint samples next to each other?  When designing an outdoor living space, the same factors come into play. 

You will love Picmonkey.com. Just upload your images to the collage templates or use their sample photos to create your own collage builder. I wanted to design an inviting, fun outdoor space that coordinated with my patio room. I chose Adirondack seating and natural finishes to give the space an Americana style. For great tips on landscape and outdoor design projects visit outdoors.org.

With a landscape collage builder, you can flip and rotate items for the exact configuration of your desires. The collage above mixes and matches indoor and outdoor items perfect for the avid gardener or outdoor entertainer. When you're ready to get serious, you can sketch your design on graph paper. Did you know you can even buy landscape drawing templates like the pros use?

Just imagine the playhouse's window box filled with cascading flowers with your little one peeking out the window, the bookshelf covered in cute planters full of herbs and edible flowers, and you lounging on the oversize chaise after a beautiful summer morning spent gardening. Now, if you're space is overrun with trees, you may need to call a tree service so that you can start designing with a clear palette. In California, Tree and garden experts Roseville can help prep your backyard space.

Be sure to store unsightly gardening equipment in stackable baskets or wooden crates. No need to hide your watering source or red wheelbarrow. They give the space a sense of purpose and a punch of color. Above, the green frog on the pillow and wall hanging help define the space as an outdoor refuge. Are your creative juices flowing?

Ready to design your own space? Check out these outdoor gardening design templates and start experimenting today. 


Recommended:

Universal Design Tips for Nursery

Ideas for Great Kids' Rooms

Cardboard Tube Crafts (Hey, it's a Toilet Paper Roll) Turned Holiday Hat Craft Activity

Cardboard Toilet Tubes turned Holiday Hats

How many rolls of toilet paper do you go though each month? We've got to recycle that cardboard for something. How about these cardboard roll holiday craft mini-hats. They are an easy craft for kids that can be used for birthday party favors, holiday place settings, or Ken and Barbie on a holiday parade. Enjoy!

Cardboard Tube Crafts: Toilet Roll Hats!