Each blanket is individually handmade by at-home American moms.

From the monthly archives:

June 2009

Piano Recital

June 30, 2009

Tyler, my 15-year-old son, has been taking piano lessons for about a year and a half. Since he is an older beginning piano student, he made me promise him if he took piano lessons that I wouldn’t let his piano teacher force him to play little kiddie songs in front of people at the piano recitals. So I made sure when I signed him up that the teacher knew about our deal, and she didn’t have any problem with our agreement.

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I Bet You Didn’t Know Coca-Cola Did This

June 26, 2009

I don’t know if all of these work, but I thought they were interesting enough to try.

1. Clean a toilet bowl. Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl. Let the real thing sit for one hour, then brush and flush clean. The phosphoric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china, according to household-hints columnist Heloise.

2. Remove rust spots from chrome care bumpers. Rubbing the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola will help remove rust spots, according to household hits columnist Mary Ellen.

3. Loosen a rusted bolt. Mary Ellen suggests applying a cloth soaked in a carbonated soda to the rusted bolt for several minutes.

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You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by Mary Ann Hoberman

June 25, 2009

I am very impressed with the “You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You” series by Mary Ann Hoberman. It would have been so helpful to have these books available to liven up the tedious (even dreaded at times) chore of sitting by a child that is learning to read.

The first line of text is purple for the children to read. The next line of text is light purple for the parent or guardian to read. And the third color, blue, is the cue for the child and parent to read together.

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Shopping Second-Hand Stores

June 23, 2009

I was pleased when Shawn, my 17-year-old, came home with a pair of good-looking plaid shorts from the second-hand store without me asking him to shop there before going to a regular- priced store. Over the years, it has saved our family money by implementing the rule: shop 2nd hand stores before shopping full-price stores so I was very happy that my son is listening to some of my advice.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

June 19, 2009

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett creatively uses foods like hamburgers, spagetti, and pancakes in this story about a tiny town called Chewandswallow.

“Chewandswallow, in most ways, was very much like any other tiny town. It had a Main Street lined with stores, houses with trees and gardens around them, a schoolhouse, about three hundred people, and some assorted cats and dogs. But there were no food stores in the town. They didn’t need any. The sky supplied all the food they could possibly want.”

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Adverse Effects of the Drug, Coumadin

June 18, 2009

Since my dad has been on the drug Coumadin for about 4 years to thin his blood so he is less likely to have a heart attack or stroke. My sister was curious and felt that we needed to learn more about the drug. It was alarming to learn that according to My Blood web site, “Blood thinners are second only to chemotherapy drugs in having the highest risk of serious treatment-related complications.” We also learned that it is very likely that the five breaks in my dad’s femur bone (one of the strongest in the body) is due to lengthy consumption of Coumadin that not only thins the blood, but thins the bones as well.

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Swine Flu

June 16, 2009

The swine flu made it’s way to our neighborhood. A 15-year-old neighbor girl attended an “Especially For Youth” event where kids gather from many different places to attend youth classes; she contracted the virus there. It is moving fast, but seems to be a mild flu so I don’t think there is need to be overly concerned.

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