With the summer winding down (or at least by measure of the calendar – it’s going to be 100+ degrees where I am today) I’m getting my annual happy feels for the start of a new school year.  There’s something about seeing those displays of shiny boxes of new crayons appear in the stores that hits me with a big doses of both nostalgia and optimism every August. 

With COVID-19 surging back, I find myself a little sad too, and longing for a future less driven by this horrible virus. To cheer myself up, I did a little on-line school shopping and here are a few of my finds. I hope they make you laugh or smile just a bit – or make life just a little easier.  

• For the Lunchbox:  “The PB-JIFE” is a specially designed knife for stirring, scooping and scraping peanut butter out of big jars without getting your knuckles all peanutty.  At Bed, Bath and Beyond, Amazon etc.  
• For the Backpack: Earlier this summer when vaccines were on the rise and COVID in retreat, I got out of the facemask habit and I’m struggling to remember a mask – especially if I’m flitting from place to place. I imagine kids might experience the same and I got excited when I saw these mask lanyards. Love the functionality but also the personality!  This link https://mommypoppins.com/kids/how-to-make-a-mask-lanyard-or-chain will take you to a mom with a DIY tutorial for the beaded version you see here. Mask lanyards are also available at places like Staples and Target. 
• For the brain: We still have a little time to dust the cobwebs off before jumping back into the books. Math is one of those subjects that requires practice. Each concept builds on the one before so if a student doesn’t quite “get” something, moving on to the next level can be frustrating. Here are two free sites with math games that will help your student review. And did I mention they’re games? 

Prodigy Game https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/

Math Playground https://www.mathplayground.com/

How was your week? Plans for the weekend?

I have a new puppy so the “fringe time” I used to enjoy, especially early in the morning, has evaporated. Completely love the little guy, but he has turned my days upside down! 

As puppy is working on growing up (with the help of my constant reminders about how to do that) the thing I am missing most is time to read. I can get a few pages in here or there but the days of being able to slip 30 minutes of uninterrupted book time (aka self care) into the day are on hold. 

As I sit here at my computer I can see a stack of brand new books on the corner of my desk. Their brightly colored dust jackets and the promise of what’s inside are making it a little hard to focus. 

I’ll give you a quick tour in case you’re looking forward to a new read, too. 

Come Fly The World. The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am by Julia Cooke. The inside of the dust jacket says, “Glamour, Danger, Liberation.” I’m in. 

The Nearest Far Away Place by Hayley Long. “A story of grief, hope and brotherhood.” It is set in Wales where my family is from. Note to buy Kleenex before settling in with this one.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley.  This one isn’t the type of book I usually pick up but the promise of humor, getting my heart warmed and feeling uplifted through a story about being brave and putting your real self forward seemed like a good read right about now. 

Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause, by Ty Seidule. This book kept turning up on lists I subscribe to and in groups I belong to. It feels particularly timely to me and I’m looking forward expanding my perspective and understanding.

The Stars and How to See Them, H.A. Rey. This is the newest addition to the stack and it is on the top! H.A. Rey isn’t an astronomer or scientist. He’s the illustrator of the iconic and well-loved Curious George series. Rey was a life-long amateur astronomer and in the 1950s he began experimenting with simplified methods to learn the constellations. He substituted traditional representations of constellations with diagrams he felt more closely depicted their names. The evenings will soon be warmer and I’ll be ready!

I’m off – my little terror angel has awakened from his nap. Have a wonderful weekend.

Julie

The first three months of 2021 have just flown by and it is kind of astounding that this is Easter weekend! I adore everything about this spring holiday and have such fond memories of dying eggs, hunting the yard for the jelly-bean filled eggs my Mom had hidden, stuffed bunnies, and chocolate everything.

One thing we didn’t regularly have was Peeps. I don’t know if they weren’t available in the small town I grew up in or if my mom just never got into them. But once I discovered the Peep, it was love. I’m a fan of the Peep-tini, Peep S’mores and putting them on top of cupcakes and desserts.  But the thing I love most are the incredible dioramas and sculptures that people far more creative than I make with them.  Never fails to make me laugh and it’s a highlight of the season.

Happy Easter to you and yours. The links below will lead you to some laughs of your own.

The Official Peeps website featuring this year’s Peepsonality contest. https://www.peepsbrand.com/art-diorama-contests/

Next you’ll find a truly fabulous geeky collection of creations with a science theme – gathered under the hashtag, #peepyourscience. https://www.theopennotebook.com/peeps/

And if you’re inspired, check out this site for Peep-y science experiments. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/science-activities-peeps

Julie

It’s been a long time since my adult responsibilities were such that I could run away for Spring Break. But being around students and working with schools keeps me in tune with the rhythm of the school year and I still yearn for the days when a week off was something more than a week filled with things there wasn’t normally time for. 

Maybe next year when we can travel again, I’ll try to reclaim Spring Break, but for now here are a few sites I’m relying on for my mid-semester get away.

Radio Garden is a website (and there is a mobile app) that allows users to tune in to live radio around the world. Spin the 3-D globe, click on a glowing green dot representing a city or town and choose a radio station.  This might be the first time I’ve heard accordion music on the radio and it was actually sort of fun. 

 MapCrunch lets you browse random images of the world via Google Street View. You can generally select a country or the site generates images of the day from a variety of places. I’ve just returned from a 20 minute trip to Ireland and then I hopped over to Iceland for a bit. 

Because I love museums, my break ended with some time at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  Always something to discover there. 

What I love about sites like these is that they can be cultural/educational or they can just be fun (possibly both) and enjoyed as a quick 20 minute break or with the family or even a friend night on Zoom. 

Happy Travels,

Julie

Even with the first signs of spring and the improving outlook now that the COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed I’m still feeling a bit stressed. I think it might be because we still don’t quite know when concerts, brunch dates with friends, or going out to the movies can begin again. Are you still feeling it, too? 

Today I’m sharing a couple of tools that are helping me “over the hump” these days starting with A Soft Murmur https://asoftmurmur.com/ It’s basically a white sound machine that you can customize on the website and, download as an app for both IOS and Android. Five soothing sounds  and you’re back to zen. 

To be honest, I don’t cook often (or all that well) but I haven’t given up yet. Definitely bookmarking https://myfridgefood.com/ in case pizza delivery is ever suspended. Click on all of the ingredients that you have in your fridge and pantry and the site will kick back a group of recipes you are all set to make. Kind of fun even if you don’t plan on preparing anything.

This one is an all-time favorite for stress relief and, for getting things out of my system before they turn into an email. https://screamintothevoid.com/ is simple and brilliant. Just type in whatever is making you want to scream, click on scream and let it go!

Have a great weekend,

Julie