Not Waiting For Thanksgiving

November 6th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (3 Comments)

Can you eat just coleslaw for dinner?

Coleslaw for Dinner

I can.

You can too if you want, I won’t tell. Here’s how you do it.

First, spend your afternoon at a child’s birthday party that you didn’t intend to stay at. When your sometimes-shy-sometimes-not 5 year old persuades/begs you to stay because today she’s feeling shy, you stay.

But that means instead of heading home for a couple hours to prepare a real dinner and then coming back later to pick them both up, you sit around chatting with some of the other moms who stayed too, snacking on pretzel sticks and a particularly beautiful fruit salad.  Read more...

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Puppet Run

October 28th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (5 Comments)

So I hurt my wrist.

Wrist Hurt

I know. It’s always something, right? Left pointer finger. Left knee. Left wrist. What’s left?

I’m not even sure how I did it. I think it’s keyboard/ergonomics related, so I’ve changed some things up on my desk, but the pain went from “niggly” to “bad” to “awful” in a matter of days. Dr. Google suggested a wrist brace and it’s helping! The real doctor today said the same thing about the brace, but didn’t agree with my self diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome.  Read more...

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The Easiest Way to Teach Your Kid to Ride a Bike

September 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (8 Comments)

Last summer I wrote about Ava learning to ride a bike with the “balance bike” approach.  I’m here now to sing the praises of this method once again.  It’s worked just as well for Thing 2 – but this time two years sooner!

The balance bike approach is exactly that; no training wheels.  It’s about learning to balance first, pedaling comes later.  A “real” balance bike has no pedals – but we just used a regular, very small bike for Ava.  You don’t need a special bike, what matters is that they can easily catch themselves when they lose their balance.  Ava was 6 when she learned, so her legs were long enough that the pedals didn’t get in her way while she was learning to balance.  Read more...

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Cookies, Finally

September 11th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Party Time - (4 Comments)

A week or two ago, the PR folks at Newman’s Own Organic asked me if we’d be interested in trying out the newest additions to their Family Recipe Cookie line.

Newman's Own Organic New Ginger Snap and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

And given I’m not the kind of girl who typically says “no” to cookies made with organic ingredients and real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup – not to mention cookies from a company who’s products I’ll happily toss into the shopping cart anyway – it was easy to say,

Why sure! Of course we’d love to try your latest cookies!  Read more...

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Movin’ to the Country, Gonna Freeze Me A Lot of Peaches

August 20th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (7 Comments)

We’ve gotten a slew of peaches from the CSA share in recent weeks – more peaches than we can eat.

Or really, more peaches than I am currently in the mood to eat.

Don’t get me wrong – summer peaches are fabulous. But frankly, I am peached out. I’ve thrown enough Peach Pits into our compost pile this month to change my zip code to 90210.

Cast of 90210

(it’s possible I had a poster of Luke Perry hanging on my bedroom wall from approximately 1992 until 1994…)  Read more...

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Dressed to Clean

August 6th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (1 Comments)

It’s Saturday morning.

It’s been a long week.

Translation: I’m cleaning today.

But first!  I need to say good morning to my cup of coffee, my laptop, Barbie and a Fashion Fairy Tale Easy Reader, dress up shoes that should not be on the table in the first place, a broken slinky and a pink knit snake named Hissy that are all about to be trudged back upstairs to the playroom in a moment here.

Coffee First

Get Motivated

When it comes to getting motivated to clean house, getting dressed to clean is an amazing trick.  Read more...

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How to Make Awesome Hummus

August 4th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (57 Comments)

Have you ever run your finger along the side of the near empty Sabra container and wondered:

“how the heck do they make hummus so dang smooth?”

Have you then stuck that hummus covered finger in your mouth and wondered:

“how the heck do they make it so dang creamy?”

Well wonder no more.  I’ve busted two of Sabra’s smooth and creamy secrets and I’m here to spill the beans.

The naked beans, that is.

Secret #1 – You’ve got to peel the skin off your chick peas.

Naked Beans  Read more...

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I Hate To Burst Your Bubble

August 2nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Parenting - (5 Comments)

This is the only time you are ever going to see a recipe here with corn syrup – so this is serious business. It’s time to sit up straight and pay attention.

Karo Corn Syrup for Making Big Bubbles

(aren’t I bossy?)

Actually, if you don’t have kids – never mind. Skip this post.

On second thought – wait. Don’t go just yet.

I suppose if you don’t have kids but are yourself sort of playful and/or laugh a little too loudly/hysterically/obnoxiously with your spouse/partner/friends/dead goldfish when you’ve had just a little too much to drink/smoke/eat – keep reading. This recipe/activity has the potential to be pretty entertaining.  Read more...

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Lovin’ My Crack Wrap

July 31st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (3 Comments)

As a family of four living on one income, part of my role as our Domestic Engineer is to be frugal and cut corners whenever I can.

Given that we love to read, I get the majority of the books we devour from the library. It saves us money, clutter – and saves me time too. One less book on the shelf is one less thing I have to dust.

Who am I kidding.  I never dust.  And I pay enough late fees to the library they could open a new branch in my name.  Read more...

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Your Fridge Looks Good Naked

July 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Healthy Habits - (4 Comments)

A clean refrigerator feels really good.

A Clean Fridge

Like a sneeze, only better.

I just cleaned out my fridge (and I just sneezed). It wasn’t even that bad (the fridge), but I can’t deny that it looks and feels pretty amazing now that I’m done. Putting away groceries was an extremely pleasurable, mind blowing, out-of-body experience.

(ok, I admit it.  I’m trying to make this post climactic.)  Read more...

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