My Life Has Been Crazy -- But Wonderful

Things have been pretty different for me this year, but you can read this Yahoo! Voices column I wrote to catch up on a bit of it. I am doing really well, and the kids are well. I hope to post in the future, but right now, daily life is the first priority.

http://voices.yahoo.com/imperfectly-perfect-its-wonderful-life-12392095.html?cat=9

Easter Scenes

Just a few beautiful Easter memories:

The sun is finally out here.... It is a welcome sight!

Now if it will only warm up a bit, I would be very happy.

In other blog news, I am trying to work on "paying" writing assignments,

so my hope is to update this blog once a week for now. 

Keep checking back -- it always means so much to that I see people reading.

Enjoy your week!

Counting Easter Blessings

Happy Easter Week! It's a busy time. I'm trying to juggle a lot lately, so blogging continues to take a back seat. I wish I could spend more time here, but alas, life gets in the way. 

My tween has been busy-busy; she is currently getting ready for her school's Invention Convention and is involved in her school play, so I'm trying to manage the additional activities in addition to our regular happenings. 

And now the Easter Bunny is getting ready to arrive! He's ready! He's finished his shopping! And we even have new baskets, as you can see in the photo above. I have been really wanting to splurge on the Pottery Barn baskets personalized with the kids names, but it would cost a small fortune for a once-a-year use for three kids, so I have resisted. I recently came across these baskets at Michael's,  and they were priced at 40 percent off. They cost me $25-ish for all three, and I think they are a cute look-a-like. I bought the little tags in the dollar area, and tied them on for an additional accent. I would love to figure out how to add their names to the little glitter wooden shapes, but I'm still working on that.

The baskets are not huge, but that's OK -- neither is the Easter Bunny's budget! My Easter rule is that the Bunny only brings what fits in the basket. Easter is not extravagant nor crazy-candy filled -- I'm sure the bunny will drop off things like Annie's bunny-shaped crackers, a small necklace, a toy car or two, a book or DVD, etc. A half-dozen inexpensive items with a chocolate bunny or two in the mix. Oh, and he hides a few plastic eggs around the house, with coins or small candy treats or little items. A half-dozen eggs per child is the basic rule of our Bunny visitor.

If you are still searching for last-minute Easter ideas, feel free to click on these links to my articles on Yahoo Voices: 

• Easter Books for Kids
• Babka, An Easter Bread Tradition
• The Tradition of Hot Cross Buns
• Easter Baskets for Teens & Tweens
• Easter Baskets for Toddlers
• Frugal Easter Traditions for Families

I've tried to create helpful content for you! And everything I write is from my own experience and interests. In fact, I'm hoping to put my Babka recipe to good use tomorrow; we've read Easter books on a daily basis; enjoyed hot cross buns; cookie baking and egg dying (in my "frugal" article) will happen in the next two days too. I hope to make this recipe:

Source: yourhomebasedmom.com via Kellie on Pinterest

It's Bunny Cookie Bark, and you can find the recipe here. It's another Pinterest discovery, of course. My love affair with Pinterest continues!

I hope you have a Happy Easter. I know that I have been counting my blessings more than usual lately. And I am officially sick of winter. There is still bits and bobs of snow on the ground here in New England, and I am really ready for sun, gardens, flowers, green grass and warmth. It's time, Mother Nature!

See you next week! Enjoy your holiday, and cherish every moment with your loved ones.

"The Lifeboat"

I had an opportunity last night to hear author Charlotte Rogan speak about her book, "The Lifeboat." Although I am ashamed to say I have not read the book -- I had to cover her talk for my job -- I am intrigued and would like to read it.

Rogan is a late-in-life published author -- this is her debut novel, and she is in her late 50s. She has found smashing success with this book, which was on the New York Times bestseller list, and I find her story quite interesting. For starters, she is a mom of multiples -- she has grown triplets, and started writing decades ago when her kids were small when her lawyer-husband was transferred to Texas. She didn't know many people initially, but used her lack of friends to turn to her passion for writing.

"The Lifeboat" is narrated by a young lady who is on trial for a crime committed on a lifeboat after a luxury liner sinks. The castaways spend 21 days on the sea, during which many questions and events unfold.

The inspiration for the story of “The Lifeboat” was found in one of her lawyer husband's law text. Rogan spotted a story about a 19th-century case where starving castaways, stranded on a lifeboat for weeks with little food, decide to kill and eat another passenger. They were rescued four days later and convicted of murder. Her book does not include the cannibalism aspect, but will appeal to fans of survival stories and anyone with a penchant for all-things-Titanic.

Rogan's speech definitely started a few wheels spinning in my head. If she can write with triplets, I'm sure I can write with twins!

Waiting for a New Pope

Photo courtesy of CNN.com.
Vatican workers set up chimney on Sistene Chapel.
The chimney will emit black or white smoke,
which will tell the public if a pope is elected.

Yesterday, the papal conclave began to determine who the next Pope will be. It was an exciting day for Catholics. I personally hope they will pick someone who will modernize the church. Times have changed, and the church could use some change.

I wrote a very basic article for Yahoo Voices on this whole shindig. My intent was to break it down to basics so parents could answer questions for kids. Find it on the link, and perhaps it will help you.

I'm in the Hot 500

I got a message yesterday from Yahoo Voices stating that I was in the top 500 rankings of contributors for the month of February, which means I had quite a bit of page views during last month.

If you've been reading the links that I've posted, thank you so very much! Every "click" helps contribute to my success as a contributor. I plan to continue to write for this venue. It's fun, you can write about anything, and it's interesting to see what people read.

You can find all the links to what I've done so far on my account profile page, where soon a special badge will be added for my new status in the Hot 500.

Now my goal is to crack the Hot 100 rankings. Stay tuned!!

TWINS TUESDAY: Working at Home with Twins

I work from home, which is not always easy with twins. I've had more work lately, which is a blessing, but also means less time blog!

So today, I invite you to check out something I wrote about working at home with kids, because we all need tips, advice and reminders about how to manage this sort of working situation.

Happy Twins Tuesday!

Easter on the Brain

I've been writing a ton about Easter for Yahoo Voices:

• Easter Books for Kids
• Babka, An Easter Bread Tradition
• The Tradition of Hot Cross Buns
• Easter Baskets for Teens & Tweens
• Easter Baskets for Toddlers
• Frugal Easter Traditions for Families

Click on the links to read each story. I've tried to create helpful, interesting content.

Easter is not far off. I'm ashamed to say I haven't been shopping for basket trinkets yet, but I will step it up soon. The kids and I put out the Easter decor last weekend, replacing snowmen and hearts with bunnies and chicks. Our Valentine tree turned into an Easter tree.

I'm starting to get sick of dreary winter. Looking forward to spring, outdoors and gardens...

Books, Again!

A girl after my own heart.
Bunny Twin loves Lucy.

My Yahoo Voices short piece on winter and snow books was published recently (regular readers got a preview from a recent blog post on the same topic) and now it's being featured on the "Books" page! I wondered why I suddenly spiked over 1,000 hits per day, and there it was.

This is the second time one of my pieces has been featured on the "Books" page. The first was my Laura Ingalls Wilder piece, which has been my lucky subject -- so lucky that when I scrolled down the "Books" featured content page last night, there is was, again! Two pieces on the "Books" page at once... I feel lucky!

So... I am still decluttering, and still inspired to declutter, which is keeping the momentum going. Today, I didn't have a lot of time, but I did tackle one drawer and organized it. Even if it's only for five minutes, I will try to devote some time daily to this issue.

On Monday, some of the toy insanity was tackled. I got rid of about two more garbage bags of stuff, and have a huge pile for consignment. And we still have too many toys... This will be an ongoing problem. But we are a bit lighter now, and we've started the process. I still have other toy areas to sort. Big Girl and I eliminated a few bins by putting the pieces and figures for Little People and the old Sweet Streets sets inside the buildings themselves. I am not sure if I will regret this or not: We have several Little People sets (house, farm, castle, garage) as well as numerous accessories. I had a giant bin of all the people, but it just got dumped all the time. My thought is that we take down one building and play with that building, then put the building back.

That said, Fisher-Price needs to redesign these things. The buildings are so full of openings that it's practically  impossible for the pieces to be self-contained inside; everything spills out! I long for the days when I was a kid and the Little People houses locked together and everything fit inside, and they had a HANDLE! A handle! It was great because you could close it up and carry it back to its place or somewhere else, and you didn't lose anything. I miss those days. Don't know why they've messed with the design so much.

Sweet Streets were also made by Fisher-Price, but they are not offered for sale anymore. Big Girl LOVED these little houses and buildings, which were similar to the Little People concept but with tinier figures and furniture. She played for hours with them. And they did close up (at least some of them) to store things inside. We must have a dozen of these buildings and they take up a whole shelf in the playroom. Big Girl loved them so much we ended up with nearly every set, I think. They were inexpensive and kept her busy. When we sifted through the bin the other day to put the accessories with each one, it was a walk down memory lane for her. She keep saying she was going to play with them again. And play with her sister with them. I hope she keeps that promise. I considered getting rid of a few, but after seeing her so happy to be playing with them I will postpone that decision for a while.

In other Big Girl news, she received another award! She was named a Golden Bucket Filler at her school. Her teacher chose her for inspiring her classmates, having good character and filling others' "buckets" by being kind and helpful. Here she is hugging her teacher when she found out:

I was a sneaky mom that day. I knew she was getting the award, but she did not. And I knew if she saw me at school during their "town meeting," she would guess something was up. Parents are only there if their child is getting a special accolade. So I hid. And then stood in the hallway outside so she wouldn't see me. And then shoved a camera in her face when she walked by -- ha ha! She was truly surprised that she was chosen for such a special honor and I'm glad I could witness it and not spoil it for her. Again and again we are so proud of her. So very, very proud! She has another special award coming to her in a few weeks, so I will brag about that at a later date!

In other updates, my "money diet" went haywire a bit last week right after I published that post. The twins were sick with colds and time was precious and I had to succumb to the local grocery and purchase very necessary items at prices I was not happy paying. But this is what happens in life! And it's a good lesson for planning out finances. A "safety net" is necessary at times.

This week I have been good about avoiding spending on extras, for the most part. I was at Target and avoided unnecessary purchases. I've been sticking to our menu plan, despite swapping a few meals to different days. But my mom also gifted me with some groceries, which was a blessing. And she is being my laundry fairy until we get a new washer. She also helped me bring the twins to their well visit yesterday. Having another adult for this year task is wonderful because I can concentrate on one child's exam and the other is occupied by my mother. The little ones did much better than expected, despite finger pricks and hearing tests and exams and long-overdue flu shots.

The evening before I was explaining to them what the doctor would do the next day. When I said that the doctor would check their ears, Buddy Twin said:
"To see if I'm an elf?"
Note to self: Elf on the Shelf and "Elf" the movie might have put us in elf overload last Christmas. The twins ask for syrup and candy canes a little TOO much.

In other news, potty training is eminent. Buddy Twin is completely good about this. Bunny Twin is not. At all.

Wish me luck.

Yahoo Voices Update

I've been busy transforming some posts and ideas into articles on Yahoo Voices.

• Obssesed with "Once Upon A Time"
• Snow Days & Kids
• Snow and Winter Books for Children
• Easter Baskets for Toddlers
• Easter Baskets for Teens & Tweens

You can find more of what I'm written when you visit my Yahoo Voices profile page. If something interests you, please take the time to look at it and read it. "Clicks" matter! Thank you for your support. I am writing as much as possible lately! Please share the things that are helpful to you with friends, family and feel free to send me comments.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

There are only two towns separating my hometown on Newtown. Two. Only about 20 minutes.Twenty.

Friday was a normal day. Big Girl off to school; twins running around. I was trying to clean up my house, get my bedroom and bathroom back in order after our recent little remodel. Tackle mountains of laundry. I was due to be the "Mystery Reader" in Big Girl's class at 12:30 p.m. so I was trying to do as much as possible before the little ones needed to be dropped at my parents' house. The babies were watching Nick Jr. and "Sesame Street."

Nearing noon, I decided to stop at McDonald's for lunch for the twins to eat at my parents' house. I went through the drive-thru, ordered, and my phone rang. It was our schools' alert message system, informing me that "due to the shooting at a school in Newtown," the towns' schools were now on "lockdown/lock-in" with a policeman stationed outside.

My first thought was OK, safety measures; my second thought was how do I get in? I called the office and asked "Do I come? Am I allowed in?" Yes. And yes. I just need to identify myself and show ID and the teacher had notified the office that I would be coming.

The news of the shooting, at that point, did not send off warning bells in my head. I thought it might be a domestic dispute, like a estranged husband going after a wife; or something involving older kids at a high school. That is not to belittle either of those possibilities, but as I drove to my parents, I just never thought that it could be this. This bad. Kids this young. This many. This gruesome. This truly close to home.

At my parents' house, the TV was on. The news reported it was bad. Possibly the worst. Ever. No numbers yet. An elementary school. Little kids. Babies.

I headed to my daughter's school and hit the button on the door. A police SUV was sitting in the lot. On any normal day, a buzzer would sound and the door would unlock. Today, a voice: "Who is it?" I answered and the door unlocked. The office staff were standing, talking on phones, reassuring parents as phones were ringing. Young teachers were frantic. "You send your kids to school and this happens? I got to work and I need to fear for my life?" one young teacher says to me, walking by with her lunch.

Faces everywhere are tense.

I walk down to my daughter's class, and they are waiting for me. I read them a story, a Laura Ingalls Wilder one, of course, making them laugh about how Christmas in the pioneer days seems laughably simple right now. "A penny in the toe of the stocking! A whole penny!" Wilder writes, and I read the line with a little humor -- A WHOLE PENNY!! The class laughs. I am grateful. The kids, now, seem fine. My phone is ringing in my pocket. I ignore it. I finish, get up to leave, and my daughter hugs me -- hard. Does she know? Does she know how bad it is?

In the hallway, I listen to my voice mail. It's the school alert, again. Lockdown will be lifted but police will remain outside of the school. Faces, everywhere, are still tense. My phone's beeping, beeping, messages. I walk out the school doors. I wave to the policeman, a thankful wave.

By the time I am back at my parents' house, numbers are released. My phone is beeping. I check my messages. Is everything OK? Friends around the country are sending Facebook messages. Some are just hearing "school shooting" and "Connecticut" and of course, think of me, and others. Are we OK?

Yes, we are OK. But not completely. Who can be right now?

I head home with the twins. Try to continue chores, but I'm totally distracted by the television. The twins obliviously play, and Buddy Twin eventually naps on the couch. They are too young, so young, too young to know anything other than Mommy is upset. I numbly watch continuous live coverage with the Christmas tree lit up two feet away from the television. It seems to mock the news. Stupid Christmas. Why now?

At 3:25, the bus pulls up. Big Girl comes in the house. "Mom, we had lockdown today," she says, as if lockdown is just a natural activity. (Unfortunately, it sometimes is. They practice hiding in corners now. Isn't that just absolutely sad to hear?)

I ask her if she knows why. She says a classmate saw something in the nurses' office and "something like two bad criminals got out a few towns away and killed somebody." Umm, no.

No, I tell her. It's actually much worse than that. She is 10. If I do not tell her now, she will hear somewhere else. Better to face the truth immediately. I tell her a crazy man got into a school and shot many people. Yes, kids. Yes, teachers. I tell her that this is not a normal thing; it is very rare; it is not something to worry about happening to her. It is why we practice safety drills. It is why you have lockdown.

I hug her tight. And then I sob. I don't want to scare her but I am sad because I know she will remember this day and look back on it like I remember Sept. 11. This reminds me very much of Sept. 11. I tell her this is a very, very sad event. Does she have questions? "Do we know any of the people who died?" she asks. I don't think so, I tell her. We may know people who know them, however. And that was very true.

We sit down and watch President Obama speak. Then the day continues on.

Over the course of the night, news emerges. Possible victims, connections to many friends on Facebook.
Many friends who are teachers worked under the principal at other schools. The principal's daughter lives in my town and the principal's grandchildren are in our schools. A friend works with a parent who lost a child. Another friend tells a tale of a little girl she knows who lost her best friend. Another friend lives next door to the mother of an adult victim. Stories of heroism emerge.

It's all so surreal as notable newspeople are just minutes from my home, broadcasting live on television and Twitter and online. My former news colleagues from across the country are assigned stories to cover this tragedy.

A prayer vigil is planned in my hometown.

My husband is sick; stomach bug or food poisoning or something. I leave him to rest in the bedroom and bring my pillow to the couch. I can't sleep. I doze in and out; CNN in the background. In the middle of the night, I check my phone. Messages. Facebook messages. I fall asleep in the armchair.

The sun rises. It is my twins' birthday. They are 3.

I should be happy, but I am sad. I fetch the newspaper and make a cup of coffee and sit down to read. The little ones are up. My husband is up, but not feeling great. The babies open their presents and are happy and smiling. I am happy to have them. Happy to have my Big Girl too.

We were supposed to go to an aquarium today, but my husband is too sick, and it should not matter because I am capable of going on my own. But I am not in the mood nor moving fast enough this morning to leave in time to drive the 75 minutes to get there for the day. I change plans. Lunch out, at Friendly's, every kids favorite place, with crayons and comfort food and ice cream. I ask my mom to go. The twins are very active so it is hard to have an outing where they have to sit still. After lunch we head to Walmart and I am a puddle of tears in the car. I am mad at me for being so mad at them for their fidgetyness at the restaurant, for wanting this one thing to be happy and nice and birthday-like when the world feels so uncelebratory at the moment. I am frustrated and tired and mentally exhausted and Walmart is not helping matters by being so busy and remodeled where I can't find anything.

We head back home to my parents' house and visit with my father. I decide to run to the local pharmacy to get a flu shot. I fill out the paperwork and wait for the tech in the waiting area. I check my phone. A former colleague's daughter is among the dead. She was a substitute teacher at the school.

I pick up the kids and we head home. My husband is feeling better. We decide to go see Christmas lights as soon as it gets dark. I feed the children something to eat, then put on their pajamas and we drive around to see lights set to music at two locations. Buddy Twin falls asleep in the car. I carry him up to his bed. Bunny Twin plays with my husband and Big Girl.

I decide to go to the prayer vigil.

It is cold. There are hundreds of people. Our town green is overflowing with those hurting for our neighbors two towns away. There is crying. There are prayers. There is song. There are candle lights, but they ran out of candles. Every clergyman and pastor and priest in town speaks. We ache. Sadness on a cold winter's night. Voices ring out: Let there be peace on earth.

Home again. I'm on the computer, writing this. But my personal story really doesn't matter when parents are mourning tiny children, days before Christmas, just a few miles away. And other children are robbed of their childhood for what they witnessed.

I don't know if I will be back to this blog before Christmas. I hope your holidays are happy. That you share time with loved ones and cherish every moment. This next week, I will be busy with a very heavy heart. Keep Connecticut in your prayers.

Holidays on the Brain

I feel like my calendar and to do list is a mile long, and I've got holidays on the brain! I thought it would be good to share a bunch of links today related to getting ready for the late December crunch.

First, I have been writing up a storm for Yahoo! Voices:

• Stocking Stuffers for Toddlers
• The Christmas Pickle
• Kids, Christmas and the Economy
• Save Money with Dollar Store Christmas Gifts
• Save Money with Christmas Gifts

You can find all those holiday stories on the individual links. I hope they are helpful to you!

One of my favorite sites is Organized Christmas -- they have so many great articles and ideas, and you can even print out a Christmas planner.

Here's another link for a Christmas planner:

Source: thecandlands.blogspot.com via Kellie on Pinterest

It's a very cute one, isn't it? I have to make one of these, I think. I would love to keep my lists in something like this, as well as things like recipes for the Christmas cookies I make every holiday, and all the clippings of ideas and inspiration I seem to acquire!

Follow my *Happy Christmas* Pinterest board!

More "Me" on Yahoo! Voices

I've been writing more things for Yahoo! Voices. The latest two articles are The Balancing Act of Work, Family and Activities and Choosing Clothing for a Family Portrait.

You can find all my articles via my profile page. My views are picking up, which is totally great for me since I am trying to make this work as a writing outlet for me -- it's something I can really do while staying home with my little ones. It's fitting that the one article that has boosted my clout so much on this site is my Laura Ingalls Wilder piece. That is so symbolic for me, as she is one of my favorite writers ever. I feel there is some deeper meaning in this; it's encouragement to continue doing what I'm doing.

It's interesting that a few things have happened via my Yahoo! Voices contributions this week: I actually got three comments on my articles -- the first comments I have ever gotten, all within one day's span. I had an e-mail from Aldi wanting to use comments from an article. I actually got paid -- finally! -- because my views reached a certain number. And this week, after submitting the two articles above, I actually had really nice feedback from the editor who checked my work.

It may seem small, but these little things matter so much when you are a writer. Writing is a very solitary job -- sometimes too solitary. The littlest feedback telling you that you are on track, or doing well with your work, or helping a reader out, or making someone feel good, is like a ray of sunshine.

And now on to another talent in my family for which I still need to share the love: My husband co-produced and filmed this awesome "Call Me Maybe" video (link here or click below). I know I mentioned late last week in a post, but it's worth mentioning again! It features employees from Connecticut manufacturing companies lip-synching and dancing and working in their industries. The video was created in honor of Manufacturing Day/Month, and I think it is so incredibly fun and wonderful! It celebrates several "Made in CT" businesses, and that is a great thing: These companies are part of our national economy, and provide jobs in a time when that is a much-needed thing to cherish.

Everyone in this video is such a good sport. I hope it brings a smile to your face. (If the window below appears restricted to you, please take the time to click over to YouTube and view it!)

Obsessed

If you knew me in real life, you would know that I have a major affinity for music, the music world, and everything connected to it. I have been writing about pop and rock music for 20-plus years.

Well, I have a new musical obsession. Meet Jake Shimabukuro. Ukelele player.



Yesterday I brought my Big Girl to her piano lesson in a local music shop. She was looking at the ukeleles and telling me how her school music teacher would be teaching her how to play one sometime this year in class. And how she wanted one of her very own.

Well, they are not that expensive, so I mentioned it to her music teacher. And her music teacher, who is a friend of mine, gave me advice on which kind to buy and showed me this video of Shimabukuro, who is considered the best of the best.



I saw that and was hooked. I think I've watched a dozen of his videos on YouTube. He is just amazing. Incredible. Who knew you could do this on a ukelele?



He is so awesome! I hope this music makes you smile today. That's what great music is supposed to do.

Checking In

I've been busy, busy, without time to write some blog posts but I promise I have lots of things to write about in the near future!

Not sure if I'll be back posting this week, but I wanted to share that my article on loving Laura Ingalls Wilder on Yahoo! Voices was just featured on the front of  their History page. This piece is very special to me, so I'm thrilled that it's the first thing I've written that Yahoo! Voices felt compelled to "highlight" on their site.

(And I wondered why suddenly the hits to that article started spiking up?)

If you haven't read it yet, check it out!

Saving Money on Kids' Birthday Parties

When planning my daughter's recent birthday party, I really wanted to make it special for her. What mom doesn't? But there was one catch: Lack of major funds. I decided I really had to stretch a buck to make her party special to her, yet not a drain on my wallet.

I'm sure many moms are in the same predicament, so I decided to try and put all my ideas into an article on saving money for kids' parties for my content on Yahoo Voices! network. You can read my tips here.

I had originally wanted to have my daughter's party outside of the home, but it would have cost nearly $300 to do so. This party was much more affordable, casual, and my daughter had a good time anyway.

Since the theme of her party was so unique -- Percy Jackson/mythology -- I had to create many ideas myself. I tried searching online for ideas, but they were few and far between. Read about how to have a mythology party in another Yahoo Voices! article I wrote at this link. 

I'm already thinking ahead to the twins' December birthday. I'm thinking about themes and ideas. Luckily we don't have the traditional two parties -- family and friend -- just yet. Just family. But I still want it to be special, and I'm already "pinning" away on Pinterest! You can find my boards on this link! Feel free to follow along. :)

Thanks for clicking on my Yahoo Voices! articles and reading them. I am truly trying to write content that helps out families and is useful. I appreciate each and every "click!" I hope my experiences help you all out in some small way.

My New "Voice"

Hi readers! I am now submitting articles to the Yahoo! Voices contributor network. This is a totally new and different sort of writing experience for me. I have written for newspapers for 20 years now, but writing for an online news site like Yahoo! Voices is much different.

I will be writing a lot more content in the next few months as I try and expand my web presence and see where this new avenue takes me. Frankly, right now this is sort of an experiment, a trial-and-error sort of thing. I have a list of ideas a mile long, many of which might overlap with posts here on my blog. The subjects include all the major upcoming events and celebrations, including back-to-school, Halloween and autumn, Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as some opinion pieces on thoughts I have swirling around in my head.

As of yesterday, I have five published articles under my name:

• A Frugal Mom's Guide to Choosing Disposable Diapers
• A Frugal Mom's Guide to Choosing a Double Stroller for Twins
• Work-at-Home Moms: Tips for Managing Home and Family
• Revisiting Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Lifelong Obsession with the Little House Author, Pioneers and Prairies (republished from this blog)
• Memories Rise from the Rubble (republished from this blog)

If you like what you read, please click on my Profile Page and become a fan, subscribe to my articles or add me to your favorites or sign up for the RSS feed. You can also find all my articles linked from my profile page.

I will let you know when new articles are published here or on The Peapod's Facebook page (come "like" it!). I'm also putting a few of the article links on this blog on the upper right side of the page.

Thank you! I promise you many enlightening features in the weeks to come!