7QT: Rinks Rule!

1. We have a winner!

Would Susan Kolosionek come on down! You have won the Blackberry Sage Dragon Soap from RobinsOwn (that I bought because Robin doesn't know me from Adam) and the teal soap dish (from TJ Maxx).

2. Have you seen this Reese Witherspoon movie, The Good Lie? 

So good.

Reese is not really the star of this film, but she is the headliner. The Good Lie, for those of you who live under a rock or in a cave as I do, is about three of the Lost Boys of Sudan, their journey to Kenya, and eventually to America.

There is one not great scene, the first scene with Reese. The movie is rated PG-13. I think the rating is spot on, though I did let my 12 year old watch it.

So good.

The Good Lie reminded me of the incredible children's novel I read and reviewed about the Lost Boys of Sudan by Linda Sue Park called A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story.

Edmund doesn't know it yet, but he's reading A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story in the near future.

3. Big skating party here yesterday. 

A (young, hip) seminarian-deacon came over as well as a dozen or so friends and family.

He said he couldn't skate, but he was skating backwards and whipping around the rink like nobody's business. I did hear that he can't stop though.

The little girls and I stayed in the warmth and made blueberry muffins.

It was picture perfect.

The rink definitely puts a positive spin on winter. Edmund uses the rink every chance he gets for recess and has neighbor kids or cousins over most days after school.

We've accumulated an enormous stash of skates so we can provide for just about any size, including Lucy's entire skating party of fifteen teens. We had enough hockey sticks for them all too.

I bet we have your size if you'd like to come visit!

Exercise, endorphins, and sunshine are just a few of the benefits. My kids are all good skaters now. Jill will get her first pair next year.

4. Some people have pools, some people have rinks.

Heather at Mama Knows Honeychild asked on my IG picture if it's difficult to build a rink.

Yes, Heather. It is difficult to build a rink, but if you live North of Arendelle, it's worth it.

First you need plywood and 4 by somethings to build your boards (sides). Wood is not cheap. We store our boards in our crawl space during the off season.

The boards go up Thanksgiving weekend or as close to it as we can get.

We buy a liner from Nice Rink in Wisconsin.  Patrick, or one of our rink building relatives with a large vehicle, will make the trek to the factory and pick up the liners for a few of us.

The liner alone costs about $400.  Ours is the biggest backyard rink we've seen, so it's the most expensive too.  Can't re-use the liner, because come spring, the sides are shredded and it's gross.

Then there's the water. We run a hose from our basement laundry sink to the rink for about 72 hours. It's a big rink. The deep areas fill first and the shallow areas fill last. The deepest part of our rink is 11-12 inches deep. We get billed for the water and the sewage/waste-water too, even though we put the water in the public drain. The water costs are about $200, much less for a smaller rink.

The next part is up to Mother Nature.  Zero degrees (Fahrenheit) for 24 hours makes 3 inches of ice. If the temps are above zero, but below 32, it takes longer. On average, our rink freezes in about 4 days. It won't be solid yet, but it will be skate-able.

Anytime we have a day above freezing, the rink starts to melt. It's too slushy to skate on, but a short thaw can re-surface it nicely.

Otherwise, Patrick re-surfaces the rink himself with a homemade device called a rink rake.

5. Other Important Rink Facts

Snow can ruin your rink, especially slushy, wet snow. If that slushy, wet snow freezes on your rink, the texture will be like a gravel road.

We never had a snowblower until we had to shovel our entire backyard.

Many people ask if the rink ruins the grass.

No. A thick heavy block of ice on top of the grass does nothing to it.

6. Pa! The Chinook Is Blowing!

When and if spring comes, the ice begins to thaw beyond all hope of recovery. We use an electric pump to pump the water to the curb so as not to flood our neighbors' yards.

Then we cut up the liner into manageable pieces and throw it away. This must be done as soon as possible because a heavy piece of wet plastic on a warm(ish) day will kill your grass.

Then the boards come down and go in the crawl space until next winter.

Patrick always gets sad when this happens, but SPRING!

7. Don't forget! This Wednesday is the March What We're Reading Wednesday Link-Up!

I'm late to the link-up party with Kelly and the Krew for 7QT Friday.

WWRW. 3/4/15. Must. Not. Forget.

7QT Friday: blah, blah, blah, GIVEAWAY!

1. Happiness is letting your 3 year old burst into her older sisters' bedroom to wake them up with Rebecca Black's Friday blaring from your iPhone.

2.

Theresa of Ordinary Lovely and Micaela from California to Korea (and back again) are running a blog hop called See Me Homeschool. (You can read my interview for Micaela's How I Homeschool series here.)

You can get an in-depth look into the chaos that is St. Jude's School for Kids Who Want To Read Good and Do Other Things Good Too on Monday, February 23rd.

That's Monday, Monday, better check back on Monday...

Dang song stuck in my head.

There are lots of other (better) homeschooling bloggers participating so be sure to check out their homeschools too. Here is the blog hop schedule.

If YOU have a homeschool and want to participate, there's a link-up and an Instagram hashtag (#seemehomeschool).

3. This is a short video of actress Frances McDormand saying wise things about aging and womanhood. 

4.

I've been having far too much fun over at the Twice website. Technically, it's Like Twice. Twice is another one of those online secondhand stores, but with higher end clothing and...

wait for it...

Actual Measurements of the Actual Items for sale!

Do you realize what this means?

It means a much higher chance of getting something that actually fits!

Not only that, but the Twice people include the "fit" in the description.

Lemme 'splain.

The women in this house wear Julie fit pants from LOFT. Over at Twice, if the tag says "Julie," they let the web readers know that detail!

They also have good prices and a great return policy. They'll give me a little bonus if you sign up through my link and they'll give YOU a $10 credit!

5. RobinsOwn Soap Shoppe on Etsy.

You must go to there.

Robin makes soap by hand in her home using goat's milk and a cold process method that I do not understand.

I do understand that the soap is beautiful to see, smell, and touch.

Brown Sugar Soap

Edmund uses the Cedar Bay in the shower. Patrick uses a bar of Sexy Man he got for Christmas.

We currently have a lovely sweet wine heart-shaped soap in the powder room. Who knew that wine scented soap would smell so delicate and clean?

I got wee rashy Polly the Simply Goat's Milk shown above.

Pumpkin Bier, or as I think of it, Cinnamon Goodness

Robin is always adding new scents and shapes and I have yet to receive one I didn't care for.

I don't have a picture of them, but for Christmas I gave some people Robin's Madonna and Child shaped Cherry Almond soaps.

Sunshine Yuzu

In the past, we have also enjoyed the Frankincense and Myrrh, the Pumpkin Bier, and the Sunshine Yuzu flavors too. Sunshine Yuzu is my favorite everyday hand soap scent. Yuzu is a Japanese Lemon.

I'm saving this one for summer. It's called Icky Yucky Hands.  It's so pretty, it looks like it would taste good.

Robin is a single mom who runs her Soap Shoppe out of her own home.  She doesn't have a car, so she walks to the post office to deliver her handmade products every Friday.

I don't know Robin and she has no idea who I am, but I do know her soaps and recommend them to everyone I know.  I call her "my soap lady."

6. A GIVEAWAY!

I am going to give one of you LUCKY readers this gorgeous bar of Blackberry Sage Dragon soap AND the teal soap dish pictured here.

Just hop over to Robin's Shop then come back and tell me what you think looks good in my comment box. I will choose a winner from the commenters so please make sure your contact info is accessible.

The winner will be chosen sometime in the next week when I get around to it. Probably by Wednesday because I'm planning a WWRW post for that day.

Patrick just stuck his head over my shoulder and said, "What are you blogging about? Soap! I love her soap!"

7.

I did not do a What We're Reading Wednesday post this week, but the February link-up lasts all month.  Next month's link up will be on March 4th.

Linking up with Kelly for 7QT Friday! Friday! Gotta Get Down on Friday!

Giveaway Winners and Due Date Predicting Losers

Congratulations to MOB, Lauren, and Joy who won the Children's Activities Bundles!  I sent each of you links and access codes.  Please let me know if you have any problems with the downloads.

To all those who guessed I would have had this baby by now, I really really wanted each and everyone of you to win.

To all those who guessed I would deliver late for the first time ever, you're still in the running for Most Clairvoyant Baby Predictor.

Those people include:

Colleen 6/26
Kathryn (who didn't choose an exact date, just guessed late)
Catherine 6/24
Charlotte 6/24
Isabel who guessed one day over, so if she is to win, I must deliver before midnight tonight.

Now, I get to annoy everybody around me by saying, "This is the most pregnant I've ever been."

7QT: Still Pregnant.

1.  Forget Anna and Elsa.  Jill is only interested in Leonor and Sofia.  She's been asking repeatedly who the Real princesses are, and I was finally able to deliver some names and images besides Princess Kate.

They are lovely little girls, and they have silver shoes just like Jill's.

Also, they are Catholic.

2.  Father's Day was super lame around here.  I thought I'd have somethingone for Patrick for the big day, but it he/she has not arrived as of yet.  

I keep checking my email for tracking info, checking those baby apps hoping to see "Today you will have your baby." but nope.  Nada.

Patrick spent most of Fathers' Day re-creating our Korean Barbecue experience. Food is his recreation and his love language. 

These are Korean dumplings and the traditional 12 side dishes at the authentic restaurant we went to when our kids were out-of-town.  We don't know what most of those dishes are, and neither did our server.

His Father's Day gift to himself.  Omelet thingies here ^.

He made the Galbi beef short ribs, sauteed bok choy, pickled kimchi cabbage, Asian cucumber slaw, and those little omelet roll ups with the green onions served room temp.  Those omelet bites are incredible with a little soy/chili sauce mixture drizzled on them.  Everything was scrumptious.  Even Jill cleaned her plate, eating mostly omelet bites and beef.

Korean beers and water.  I'm pretty sure the water is Gangnam Style.

Some of the credit for that feast goes to Micaela for inspiring me to seek out the mysterious flavors of Korean cuisine.  Go check out her series of interviews with homeschoolers, including one with yours truly.

3.  Run out of summer fun yet?  Multiple rainy days in your part of the world?  

Enter the giveaway for hundreds of pages of Childrens' Activities here.  Also, check out some of the links for free downloads of dot-to-dots, coloring pages, mazes, and more!

4.  

Yesterday, I got a package from my sweet sister-in-law, Adaire.  A care package! With chocolate, and lip balm, and hair ties, and jewelry, and the cutest mug you ever saw!  The hair ties and lip balm are going straight in my birth center go bag, should I ever need to actually go there and birth someone.  The chocolate might not be with us very much longer.

The whole kit and kaboodle was adorably packaged.  You really made my day, Adaire. The package and the prayers.  Thank you!

Go check out Ruthiebox, and send someone some love in a care package.

5.  Speaking of surprises and prayers, sometimes you find things where you least expect them.

My kids know their phones are subject to random checks.  Technically, their phones are our phones, since we pay for them.  

Earlier this week I found someone's phone surreptitiously peeking out from under a sofa cushion and decided to take a peek at what she's been up to.

She had been texting a male acquaintance the usual, "hey"  "what's up" stuff.  He asked if she was going on the upcoming group trip to a theme park this weekend. She replied, "Idk.  My mom is due any day."

His response, "Oh, that's right. I've been praying for her."

Some kid who likes my daughter is praying for me?  

Sigh.  

Tears.  

6 & 7.   How to Cope with Being 40 weeks Pregnant at the End of June when Temps are in the 90s and You Don't Have Central Air Conditioning

Aside from window units, box fans, ceiling fans, and plenty of Red Raspberry Leaf Tea (iced), I rely on two very important products.

This is Culver's Lemon Ice.  Culver's Lemon Ice is my very best friend.  One scoop is 100 calories and zero fat.  For $1.99, I can face another day.  Cue One Day More theme music...

This is Dr. Teal's Lavender Epsom Salt Soaking Solution.  I put about a cup or more in my bath before bedtime and I not only watch my cankles disappear, but I can sleep comfortably until the birds start chirping at the buttcrack of dawn. The 4 to 40 bathroom trips don't even phase me.  Grace told me about this magic brew, but my midwives recommend it too.

That wraps up another whiny week with Jessica.  Go see Kathryn for people with better quick takes and better attitudes.  Do I dare to hope that I'll be in a better mood next week with better news?

Not just for Pre-Schoolers Busy Time Giveaway!

Maria at Math Mammoth asked me if I'd like to check out her daughters' activity packs designed with pre-schoolers in mind.

Heck Yes!  Anything to keep Jill occupied for a few minutes is more precious than jewels to me.

Abigail and Hannah Miller have designed hundreds of pages of coloring sheets, dot-to-dots, mazes, spot-the-twin, word searches, and more.

Many of the activities are beyond Jill's abilities. However, because these are documents saved on my computer, I can print what is age-appropriate now, and save the rest for later, perhaps during the school year, or even next summer.

Some of the activity sheets are very advanced.  In "Medium to Hard Dot-to-Dots," some of the images use Roman numerals or skip counting.  In Star Polygons, you can learn how to make a dodecagram star!

I confess.  I printed up some of the sheets for Edmund.  C'mon.  Anything that says "Ax Maze" was made for him.

The mazes and word searches could come in handy on a road trip, or a rainy day.

The coloring pages range from extremely detailed images of dinosaurs and other animals to very simplistic drawings of kittens, or ponies, or mothers baking with children.  Sometimes, it's refreshing to have something to color that's not a licensed image from television.

You can purchase your own bundle of 14 activity books via Currclick right here.

You can also download FREE dot-to-dot pages right here.  This site does a better job explaining the variety and skill levels of the various pages.

Then check out some of the other activity e-books over here, where you can print up some of the other activities such as Copy the Pictures, Mazes, Coloring, etc.

Or you could enter to win one of three bundles right here with this Rafflecopter drawing below!  Winners will be chosen and announced on Sunday, June 22nd (which is also Baby Thornton 6.0s official due date).

Full disclosure:  I received an Activities bundle to review and some credit at one of my favorite homeschooling stores, Math Mammoth, in exchange for my review and giveaway.  I was a Math Mammoth fan long before this though.  I can't recommend Math Mammoth enough for skill building or just review work.  I first heard about Math Mammoth from Cathy Duffy's book 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum.

I'll be choosing 3 winners, and you can bet that if I don't get these winners announced Sunday evening, it's because I'm real busy making a new birthday.  I know you'll understand.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blueberries for Jill and a Berry Good Giveaway

We are big time berry lovers here.

More than one of us is allergic to tree fruit, so berries, pineapple, kiwi, and citrus are our staples.

Berries are so very, very good for you too!  Vitamins and fiber!  They taste good in cereal, yogurt, salad, and just plain.

I eat a bowl of fruit every evening for dessert and it usually looks like this:

That dish there is blueberries, bananas, blackberries, pineapple, and kiwi (peeled because I'm a baby). Sometimes, my evening bowl has strawberries or raspberries or a drizzle of Hershey's syrup.  It's on the couch because that's where I do my best eating, knitting, and laundry folding.

I love that Driscoll is offering organic berries now.  Sometimes the price difference between their organic offerings and the regular fruit is negligible.  Score!

The berry people at Driscoll's sent me a storybook and send coupons to use in berries a fun and delicious way.

First, the book. The Scary Blueberry (written by Jaden Shelton and illustrated by Livia Jovanovic) is about a boy who is afraid to try a blueberry.  After his father points out all of the things he is not afraid of:  pirates, aliens, monsters, etc, the boy tries tasting a blueberry.

But he doesn't like it.

He keeps trying them however, and eventually realizes they are delicious.

Jill enjoyed the book.  She "reads" it to herself now because the minimal text matches the illustrations perfectly.

Now for the dish.  We had some excellent French toast, made with Costco baguette. That baguette makes the best French toast.  Jill had hers with syrup and blueberries.

Guess which part she liked best?

That mini glass of OJ is served in a votive candle holder, an idea I stole from my sister-in-law.  Jill loves her tiny glasses.

Lastly, the fun part!  Giveaway Time!

Driscoll sent me the book and some coupons for myself, and they have some coupons they want to send to one lucky reader!  $15 worth of coupons!

One of those $3 coupons paid for one of those berry boxes.  That means free berries! Sorry not sorry but the blackberries "accidentally fell into my mouth" before their photo op.

a Rafflecopter giveaway