Explaining Cassette Tapes to my 6 year old...

Me:  Singing along to a 70's song on the radio.
Keira:  Mom, how do you know that song?
M:  My Dad used to listen to it when I was growing up.
K:  Did he have it on his iPod?
M:  There were no iPod's then.
K:  Oh, just iPhones.
M:  (Laughs) No, we didn't have those either.
K:  (Astonished)  What did you have?
M:  We had radios, like the one in our garage, and our music was on cassette tapes.
K:  What's a cassette tape?
M:  You know that white rectangle with the cord on it that we use to plug our iPods into the van?  That's a cassette tape.
K:  Oh, I'm sure glad that we have iPods now when I'm growing up.
M:  Me too, Keira!  Me too!

Trying not to be so "busy"!

This has been a thought on my mind for quite some time.  I've been trying to say "No" to extracurricular activities more often and trying to make the most of time spent in the afternoons with my kids and in the evenings with my husband.  I've never been one to enjoy being busy but it just seems to happen and before you know it there is something scheduled for every evening and weekend.

I was reading this blog post today and was curious to check out mnmlist.com.  While I do find some of the things more extreme than interests me right now there's definitely some things that "spoke" to me.  While exploring the site I liked this post about 5 Simple Steps to Declutter Your Closet.  And this one about How to be less busy in a busy busy world.  I'd like to explore this a little more, especially the eBook and "finding simplicity with kids".

Edited to add:  There seems to be a trend in clearing closet clutter!  I love this humourous recap of her closet clearing!

School Snacks

I'm not a very creative person when it comes to menu planning and cooking. I have 3 fairly picky eaters (my husband included) and between us all there are many food allergies and intolerances so I just prepare very basic meals. So when the thought occured to me that I'll have to be packing school snacks and lunches for the next 12 or so years, it dawned on me that 1. that will be a lot of ziploc bags and 2. what do I pack?? During my regular blog reading, I came upon this post: http://emilygiovanni.com/?p=3170 and was very inspired by the fact that there are many, many Moms and Dads struggling with the same thing every day. I checked out the links and products that Emily had been looking at and I really liked the Laptop Lunches and the idea books that come with them. I've ordered them and they are waiting at the border to be picked up. I'm hoping that with some inspiration from others and a "Green" way of packing it up that my 2 dilemma's will be solved. Stay tuned :)