Dress Design Contest

Christa-Taylor is having a design your dream dress contest, see her site for details.

Never Stop Moving

I saw this in an ad for Aleve and thought it was a perfect example of a Polaroid Party photo op.

Once upon a Time

Once upon a time
there was a grown-up
looking for a book
with very short bedtime stories
for a kid who wouldn't go to sleep.
So the grown-up picked up this book
and read this flap
and took the book home
and read it out loud
and they both laughed
and fell fast asleep
fast.
Just like you.
The end.

Once upon a time, the End (asleep in 60 seconds) by Geoffrey Kloske, 2005

A tired father takes only a few sentences to tell a number of classic tales in order to get the persistent listener to fall asleep.

The Country Bunny

~Two who had sweet voices were taught to sing and two more to dance and these amused all the others while they worked so that they were gay and happy. Two others were soon digging in the garden. To two she gave paints and crayons, so they could make pretty pictures for the walls.

The Country Bunny and The Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward and Marjorie Flack Larsson, 1939.

Key Lime Pie

2- 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
Sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sweetened condensed milk, lime juice and lime peel together until well blended. Pour into graham cracker crust. Bake for 5 minutes. Refrigerate 2 hours. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until well blended. Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 for 7 minutes.

Young Peacemakers

12 Key Principles:

Conflict is a slippery slope.
Conflict starts in the heart.
Choices have consequences.
Wise-way choices are better than my-way choices.
The blame game makes conflict worse.
Conflict is an opportunity.
The Five A's can resolve conflict.

Admit what you did wrong.
Apologize for how your choice affected the other person.
Accept the consequences.
Ask for forgiveness.
Alter your choice in the future.

Forgiveness is a choice.
It is never too late to start doing what's right.
Think before you speak.
Respectful communication is more likely to be heard.
A respectful appeal can prevent conflict.

Four promises of Forgiveness:

I promise I will think good thoughts about you and do good for you.
I promise I will not bring up this situation and use it against you.
I promise I will not talk to others about what you did.
I promise I will be friends with you again.

And for the youngest peacemaker:

Good thought
Hurt you not
Gossip never
Friends forever

~The Young Peacemaker

Old Favorite

From the Intro:

Did you know that at the same time of the Spanish Armada, Shakespeare was living in England and the first water closet was used? Before your very eyes the vast panorama of human experience will unfold...hundreds of important events, facts and dates in the history of mankind are included...

Designed by Christos Kondeatis

We have enjoyed this book for about 15 years and it is amazing how it has held up. I also like it because you can turn the pages like a book or unfold it to see the whole chart. The cut off date in history is 1990...closes up nicely to store.