keep warm

Old Man Winter
Originally uploaded by waytoocrowded

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Screw all the lists. Save yrself people! Follow yr bliss!

I run Little Alouette, LLC but Joe also has a contracting business to run and lately we have been less than chilled out and calm. It really has been crazy round here. I think the most upsetting thing is the lack of family time. We have always had a good balance of work and family life even when I worked a rather stressful career path prior to our second son being born. We have done so well until this year. Life much like everything is a steep learning curve and we are dangling precariously from the curve right now.

I just wanted to put it out there to the universe and other small business owners…how do you it?

What are some good ideas for being able to separate work and life?

And the holidays!!!

I don't know about you but I am LOVING Simplemom's Holiday Guide THIS ROCKS and reminds us to look around and KNOW what is important.


I am trying to get my TO DO list ticked off so the evenings can really be free.
I am Saying NO more. (really try it is is liberating)
I am doing less Martha Flipping Stewart crafts and decor and stress this year.
I am sending NEW YEARS cards for the first time.
I am not cleaning my house like a maniac this month.
I am feeling obligated. My kids will only be almost two and 4.5 years old NOW.
I am also trying to kiss my husband passionately as much as possible.
It helps.

If I go over the edge I can reach out the these folks
or call my mom.
PBN is a good resource to for me. They are all crazy mamas too. I will just email them and we can all rock back and forth while we glue cotton balls on red construction paper together.

This Handmade Life

PBN has teamed up with Klutz, creators of activity books and other great stuff for kids ages 3 to 103. With award-winning and bestselling how-to-books for the wee ones!


I wanted to chat about about handmade presents and such that kids can make for the holidays. Last year we made soft trees and felt birds and they turned out great! This year we will make the kids blocks from our shop and let them paint them for friends and family. We also plan on making calendars too! It is always fun to create with my kids, but sometimes it makes me a bit nuts I cannot lie. My trick is to have few glasses of wine on Holiday Crafting night. It works!
I hope you take the time this season to create and give from the hand and heart! xo


COOL BEANS:
Check out this special offer from Klutz - free shipping and a free copy of the award-winning Activity Book (a $14.95 value) when you order $50+ via this link. Just click it! And feel free to share it with your readers too - the more, the merrier!

Positive Spin Press is my new GO TO for the Holidays!

The Parent Bloggers Network sent me three amazing books to review!

The three holiday books from Positive Spin Press are fabulous! There were three books to review: All Hallows Eve The Story of the Halloween Fairy, Christmas Eve The Joy of Giving, and Winters Eve Love and Lights by Lisa Sferlazza Johnson.

I sat down and read All Hallows Eve first with the boys as it was a few days before Halloween and I was hoping there would be something more than candy to think about! I was so pleased with the character Eve. She was delightful and kind and good and just what we needed during a rocky month. I try and fill my children up with good when they are being naughty. Don't you? Eve provides a wonderful alternative to scary Halloween with her toy making and I also liked the idea of celebrating other things instead of just candy candy candy! It is an adorable and engaging story. My 4 year old loved it and had to read it about ten times!

We all enjoyed the Christmas Eve book as well. I liked the message in the book of celebrating more than the Christian view of the holiday season and the idea of giving thanks. When I choose books that deal or touch upon religion for my children I like it very much when more than one view is represented. These books do this in a light and happy tone. The third book Winters Eve which talks about winter light festivals including Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese New Year was a bit over my 4 year old's head. He loved the pictures and when I stopped and explained and chatted about ideas then he seemed interested, but I think it is geared a bit more for the K-4 age group.

The author Lisa Sferlazza Johnson and illustrator Tucker Johnson have created a wonderful series within the small character of Eve. She is appealing to families that like options with the somewhat dogmatic Holiday season. I will buy more of these titles to teach my children to look beyond their home for what makes the world go round! Great books! You can purchase these books at amazon.com and check this out: PBN is giving away three copies of each book! Go find out how to win!

I want moist Breasts and Perfect Cranberries!

DUDE. I cannot take the pressure of Thanksgiving. It makes me buckle at the knees. I like a holiday like Valentines Day where the focus is really on my sexy self and the food is just a precursor to the evening. Thanksgiving is HARD!
It is all about the food. I watched in horror as my family ate dry turkey the first year the family dinner was in my home. You could tell they were trying in vain to drown it in gravy to resuscitate it. Agh! I should have called Butterball!

This year I am going to call. I hear you can chat this year with some famous bloggers who must have moist and succulent breasts coming out of their own kitchens. Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL to virtually talk turkey with their holiday meal preparation experts, or visit Butterball.com for Web chats with a few bloggers we all know and love - Chris Jordan (Notes from the Trenches), Susan Wagner (Friday Playdate), and Roxanna (Miguelina) on November 11, 18 and 25 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CST. They'll answer all your turkey related questions.
I love PBN for giving me cool options like this!

So- Where do I start with the perfect menu? Any suggestions?

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Butterball.

Have you been to games.com lately?

I work from home and most of my work is online. I like to be able to take a walk around my house, chat with a friend, or disengage and hang out with my family when I need a break- but sometimes I just need to open a new browser and veg out with some eye candy window shopping or a few games of solitaire. I need to not think for a few times a day. It is why we read shallow magazines or watch reality TV right? Just mindless resting really.

I signed up to check out and do a paid review for Games.com
over at Blogher and found myself quite sucked into the online gaming community. The games are pretty simple and have tutorials and I love that you can just jump right in as a guest and not have to sign up for some handle and password that you will soon forget anyhow. I swear, I spend half my life online typing out a myriad of passwords or proving to someone that I am not a robot. I digress.
I tried out card and casino type games and I discovered that I like single player games better than the community game set- up because I get sweaty pits and nervous stomach if I appear ignorant in the forum. How dumb is this as I am anonymous!? I was so nervous to play Spades that I had to study the tutorial like a test would be given. I did have fun with the Hearts game and even beat a few folks with obvious beginners luck. I loved solitaire, poker, and I did get sucked into Bingo although it was a bit campy with the old cartoon dude calling and even a chat room to chat and play? I don't know about chatting with the strangers in the online Bingo hall. Who has time to chat and search their BINGO cards? Whatever floats yr boat I guess.

I think the best part of these games are that they really take yr mind off the issues you might be dealing with and recharge you for a moment. They might even stimulate yr grey matter. I am a big game and puzzle believer. My gran is 88 years old and smart as a tack because she blows through like three puzzle and crossword books a week. She keeps sharp. Use it or lose it they say. I like the mindlessness best though, I like to escape from my work for a bit.
Don't we all? The problem with some of the games was I think I could get sucked in for quite a chunk of time. I was going nuts for poker and pretending that I was actually making that money. I was getting all kinds of depressed at the the reality of not really winning that two thousand dollars in slots.

I think Solitaire is my game. It makes me think a bit yet is not so seductive that I would pilfer too much time away from writing or my small business. I will pop in and out of games.com for a quick break every now and again. I might even play Gin rummy with ya if you ask.

Check out this roundup at Blogher!

Zoo Keeper for Hire! Must love Monkeys!

I am living with monkeys. The climb all over me and jump from the coffee table to the sofa and I even caught one on top of the table attempting to swing from hanging pendant lamp yesterday. They use their monkey toes to pinch me and they threaten my sanity. They are age 20 months and four years and they are my monkey boys.
It is funny how they cannot keep still for long before the jumping resumes. I bought books and got DVDs out of the library about monkeys for them because it is uncanny how my home seems like a jungle sometimes. I tried to show them that even monkeys sometimes sit around quietly and pick dirt and groom one another. I tell them monkey's nap and monkeys relax. My monkey boys just laugh and bounce up and down on the couch.

Since they love animals these little guys I thought we might try this:

Parent Bloggers network has teamed up with Generation Next this week to announce their brand-new product - iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds. I love how this media kit looks like a great mix of graphics, gorgeous tunes, and fun video to promote literacy and keep children mindful of the animal world and our planet. I really want this. I also really want a zookeeper some days.