I am usually a pretty easy going person without a lot of ill will toward others, but that changed last week. I was ready to strangle the person who decided automatic flushing toilets were a great idea for an elementary school. What child doesn’t love very loud toilets that go off seemingly on a whim? (If this is a new topic to you, you should know that the sensors for automatic toilets in public places are usually set too high to notice children, so the toilet often flushes while a kid sits on it- terrifying!) My first grade daughter, a normally happy, well adjusted kid, was reduced to tears a few times over her absolute refusal to use the bathroom at school. That wasn’t much of a problem when she was a half-day kindergartner, but now she’s at school for 7 hours which is asking a lot of her bladder.  Read the rest of this post...

I’m new to the Zen world, which delights me since I strive to achieve balance in just about everything in life.  I’m not even sure what it means to “be Zen,” but thanks to Leo Babauta’s amazing blog, Zen Habits, I am confident I can learn.  I recently learned of Zen Habits, and it is full of practical, great ideas on how to take control of (or improve) things in life that are important to you.  And apparently its not a secret: Zen Habits has over 100,000 subscribers and was named a Top 25 Blog by Time Magazine.  Read the rest of this post...

I’m always flattered when a fellow foodie asks for one of my recipes and this is the one that keeps coming up.  While often thought of as a Summer BBQ favorite, the oven cooking method here makes Baby Back Ribs the perfect comfort food this Fall with only 6 ingredients besides the ribs, salt and pepper and it makes a homemade BBQ sauce from scratch.  It came from my grandma and I even submitted it to my Junior League of Boca Raton cookbook when I was on that committee eons ago.  It’s in there, “Savor the Moment” page 46, a gorgeous specimen of a coffee table book of which I am proud to have been a part.  Read the rest of this post...

Do you want to add a little culture to your children’s lives?  I discovered a children’s author I just love, James Mayhew.  Many of his books revolve around a little girl, Katie, who visits museums with her grandmother.

The first Mayhew book I read to my son was Katie and the Dinosaurs.   The story is about a young girl who goes to a natural history museum with her grandmother.  Her grandmother becomes tired and sits down on a bench for a nap.  Katie explores the museum by herself and discovers a door that says, “Absolutely No Admittance Whatsoever”.  She steps through the door and she is in a dinosaur land and ahead of her is a complete dinosaur adventure.  Read the rest of this post...