Anticipation

As part of preparing for hours of airplane travel with his children, my Dad always bought us each a book to read during the flight. I was always so excited about getting on the plane and then cracking open my travel gift. And despite often having a new book in my hands days before departure, I never peeked inside it. I loved the anticipation.

Invariably, I would choose a collection of fairy tales or short stories, often written by my favorite author, Enid Blyton. Which is probably why the blue, leather bound collection of fairy tales I found at the bookstore yesterday came home with me. And accompanied me on my journey to the mountains. It was covered in plastic, but I refrained from unwrapping it until after our road trip was well underway. Anticipation is still fun.

Solar System Hoop Jam

There are many different hooping styles. Here are some interpreted in planetary terms.

A new hooping image! Note cards are available in the store right now. In a few days, the "Solar System Hoop Jam" will be available on other product types.

Meanwhile, get your note cards for 75% off! Use code CARDDEAL4YOU at checkout. The net sale price is the price of the product excluding shipping and taxes. Offer is valid until September 21, 2013 at 11:59pm PT.

I'm back!

I haven't discussed it at all publicly, but a shoulder injury required that I scale back my hula hooping activities. Really scale back. As in, just thinking about lifting a hoop was painful. Despite the pain, though, I continued offering my monthly Intro-to-Hooping classes through May of this year, and then took a break over the summer to focus on physical therapy.

I honestly didn't think my shoulder was going to get better, but now I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel! So I've updated my blog with lesson information and I'm ready to schedule time to help local budding hoop enthusiasts get started on their new fitness activity.

Both private and group lessons are available, but I highly recommend setting up a private party at your home or local park! Gather up some friends and let's hoop and laugh together! There's nothing like hula hooping with friends to bring joy and laughter to a forever memorable get-together!

Kids and online hooping tutorials

There are a lot of awesome hooping tutorials on YouTube, but I ALWAYS caution parents to screen what their children are watching. 

Did you know that you can LOCK the YouTube Safety Mode on your browsers? EASY instructions are here: 

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/174084?hl=en

(Curious about some of the hooping tutorials on YouTube? This page points to a few.)

How to pack a Pocket Pie for school lunch

My kids enjoy Hot Pockets. I'm not a big fan of processed foods, but I will happily admit that last school year, Hot Pockets were an occasional life saver...especially after I figured out how to pack them for lunches.

I was so excited about my new school lunch option that I, of course, told all my friends about it. Which is when I discovered that some people are intimidated by the lunch packing how-to's. So I'm sharing the process here. It's not complicated. Really. And your kids get a hot meal without having to spend precious lunchtime minutes waiting in a cafeteria line.

Hot Pocket packed in a Thermos for school

How To Pack a Hot Sandwich for Lunch

What you need:
1 Wide-mouth Thermos
Hot water, enough to fill Thermos
2 parchment paper or aluminium foil rectangles. Large enough to mostly cover half a sandwich.
1 hot sandwich (e.g., Hot Pocket or a grilled cheese sandwich)

1. Fill Thermos with boiling water. Let sit for a few minutes.
   I do this before I make breakfast for the kids thereby giving the water plenty of time to heat up the Thermos.
2. Cut two pieces of parchment paper or foil into rectangles. They should each be large enough to cover half a sandwich.
3. Warm up Hot Pocket in microwave. (Or prepare your warm sandwich.)
4. While sandwich is warming, quickly drain and dry Thermos. Resealing the lid when you're done.
5. Working quickly, cut warmed sandwich in half and wrap each portion in paper or foil.
   (Wrapping the portions individually makes it easier to pull them out of the container.)
6. Place in Thermos and seal.

I've asked my kids how warm their sandwiches are by lunchtime and one responded that they were still "hot." But that's my sensitive one. I doubt the sandwiches are "hot," but I'm confident that they are, at the very least, warm.
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Okay. I wasn't being entirely honest about how often I fed my kids Hot Pockets last year. They were waaayyyyy more than an "occasional" life saver. Which is why I'm spending the summer looking for an alternative that will lessen my mom-guilt, if even just a little bit. And I've found some options! I'll share them later.

A beautiful landing

Magnolia Pearl 

Such a pretty landing page on this web site. Birds flying by! Trapeze artists swing in and out of sight! A ballerina twirls! Click through the pages; they're all pretty. And the music that plays at each one?! I'm speechless.

But...who wears this type of clothing? And how do they incorporate it into mundane daily life? I need to know. Because I want how-to lessons.

Sister laughter is the best

I know the point of this video is the two year old, but I love the sister-laughter the best. And the sister dancing. Good for a smile!



The video was posted at Maybe Matilda and is of the site owner's sister and son dancing to a Just Dance video.