T-minus 14 days until the first day of school and we’ve received my second-grader’s teacher assignment and school supply lists. Before “serious” conversation can occur, let’s dispense with the preliminaries, shall we?
First came the question of why my kids had 67 days of summer break, while Phineas and Ferb have 104. And they asked the question as if I knew the answer, when my head is jello after a two-month break from school. I say, what’s wrong with the year-round system. (Of course I say that primarily to get their …

It’s an hour till dinner.  You have no plan.  You don’t want to run to the store, but you can’t come up with anything to cook with what you have on hand.  Does this sound familiar?  Most days, this is the story of my life.
What if you could just mark a check-list of  the items you have in your cupboards and fridge, and then someone would tell you recipe after recipe of what you could make with what you have?  Sound too good to be true?
I found this cool and …

Maybe I hadn’t thought through all the details when I agreed to take my son to play putt putt golf with a couple of his friends.
So much so that I volunteered to take him to a movie, swimming for a week (assuming the temperature climbs back over that 70-degree mark), and even asked him to name his price – the price that would get me out of 18 holes of self-imposed torture.
I say torture because I know how difficult it can be to have more than two people playing putt …

My grandmother used to wish and wish for “the good ole days”, and at the time, I could not understand what made her hindsight view of “the good ole days” so rose colored. I know from stories my father has shared that those times were not, by any stretch of the imagination, always so “good”, and in fact, at times, were quite horrible. I smile now remembering what my grandfather, a much wiser man in my opinion, would say.  “The good ole days? Why we’re living ‘em, Ivy. We’re living …

Perhaps you can tell from my sunburned cheeks and my wind-blown, pony-tailed hair.  Perhaps you can tell from the sunflower seeds spilled in the bottom of my purse,  or maybe it’s the empty gatorade bottles strewn throughout my car.  Or it could be the fast food bags and boxes filling up my trash cans.  Maybe it’s  the sound of my washer and dryer humming away at odd hours of the night  in futile  attempts at removing red dirt out of stained white pants.  You see, it’s state baseball tournament time, …

This is truly an experience that, had it not been for my desire to purchase a Star Wars-themed tablecloth for my son’s birthday, would never have occurred.
I’m really not a tablecloth girl. Primarily because the ones I’m willing to pay for are usually vinyl, and I’m not industrious enough to make my own. Rarely (Christmas would likely be the exception) do I find a premade table covering made of real, uh, cloth, that I like.
And I wouldn’t have been searching for a Star Wars tablecloth had I not been desperate …

Harry Potter fans have been waiting for 2 long years and 4 days for the release of the next Harry Potter movie installment…Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It opens at 12:01 July 15, 2009. Some crazies (and I use that term affectionately) in my neighborhood, my family and myself included, had a pre-pre Harry Potter premier party…because we just couldn’t wait one more night. Click to see photos and party ideas for you own Potter Party!

Do people choose not to read signs? Do they read them, then choose to ignore them? Or, as I suspect may be the case after my latest trip to the grocery store, are people just rude, inconsiderate BOOBS?!?
Here’s the thing: I had seven items in my little basket. That’s right – I was there to get so little that I didn’t need a full-sized cart. Just a little plastic basket, thank you.
As I approached the U-Scan aisles, the first thing that caught my attention was the line. Four self-check-outs, all …

Disneyland is my favorite place in the world. I go at least once every year, and then spend the rest of the year counting down the days until I can go back again. Whenever I hear of anyone else planning a trip, especially if they have never been to Disneyland before, I get nearly as excited as I would if I were going myself. I love to offer advice on what shows to see, what attractions to visit, and how to reduce time spent waiting in lines. After they come …

When I was at the store yesterday, the price of a seedless watermelon was 59 cents per pound and the price of a seeded watermelon was 19 cents a pound…a 40 cent per pound difference.Here is my quick and easy step by step method of turning a seeded watermelon into a delicious SEEDLESS snack for you and your family. Click to read the rest of the story for step-by-step instructions with photos.