Summer Science with Wisk

9:09 pm ByFiled UnderHome, Money & Organization, Reviews & Giveaways

If I had to rank all the subjects in school, science would come in last every time. But somehow, armed with a tiny lab coat, beaker and pipette, science became fun when I recruited Annalyn for a little laundry experiment.

The new Wisk with Stain Spectrum Technology™ fights all kind of stains. Apparently – not that I’m telling you science nerds anything – stains fall into several basic categories such as proteins, carbohydrates and oils. This week’s experiment focused on the protein kind.

Protein stains can come from eggs or baby formula, but the best-known culprit is grass. Wisk sent me a grass-stained swatch, a science kit and some simple instructions. Here’s what happened:

First of all, I put the tiny lab coat on Annalyn. To say she got into her role would be an understatement. Later in the day, she wore her goggles to the store. I guess you never know when you might run into a science experiment.

I filled the beaker with warm water. Then I poured a small amount of Wisk detergent in the cap and filled the pipette. (Pipette?! When was the last time I said THAT word? Oh yeah. High school. College chemistry. Ugh.)

Then I drew a big A on the protein-stained swatch with the pipette.

Annalyn watched carefully as Wisk’s Stain Spectrum Technology started to work.

After a minute or so, I put the swatch into the beaker of water. Then we swished it around. (Yes, that’s the technical term. Duh!)

After we took the swatch out, we could see just how well – and how quickly! – the detergent works. Where I’d drawn the A, the stain was gone.

As you can see, Annalyn was VERY impressed.
And did I mention how GOOD Wisk smells?

This post will be linked to Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family and Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

Disclosure: This sponsored post on behalf of Wisk laundry detergent was facilitated by One2One Network. While I will be compensated for this post, the experiences and opinions expressed are my own.

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10 TV Characters Who Started Out Annoying…and Grew on Me.

10:54 pm ByFiled UnderBooks, TV, Music & Movies

Do you ever find yourself watching a TV show and loving it – except for that one character? Have you ever wished a certain character would meet an untimely demise, as they say?

But what if he could change? What if she promises it will be different this time? What if they really mean it? Today’s Top 10 Tuesday is about TV characters who started out driving me up the wall . . . but ended up being my favorites (or at least bearable).

Read the rest of this post at Mama Loves Her Shows.

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We needed a weekend like this.

4:22 am ByFiled UnderMarriage, Parenting, Family & Friendship

Friday morning, unfortunately, brought a reprise of the Major Meltdown (does that make anyone else want to salute, ala How I Met Your Mother?) of earlier in the week. It wasn’t quite as bad, but I also didn’t react nearly as well.

And that’s an understatement.

I blew up. I yelled. I yelled so much I cried. That calmed HER down for a bit. She didn’t say anything, but she tilted her head and looked at my tear-streaked face and oh-so-slowly reached out to touch my cheek.

Don’t be thinking that’s sweet. Because the fit resumed just as soon as I stopped yelling. Thankfully, though, it ended before we got in the car to head out for the day.

I was determined to be positive and calm when I picked her up after work. And I was – but she was not. So I dropped her off with my husband and drove straight to the grocery store. I bought cookie dough and rented a chick flick – and began the countdown to bedtime.

Soon enough, Mark went to work and Annalyn went to bed. I broke apart the cookie dough, baked up more cookies than I really needed and popped in my movie.

By the time I went to bed, I was feeling a little better.

[Movie review side note: The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez is ridiculous. But if you’re in the mood for – or in need of – a silly romantic comedy, this might do the trick. Unless you hate JLo. Then you should probably skip it.]

On Saturday, we hung around all day, enjoying Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, naps and a trip to the grocery store. (Okay, I wouldn’t say we ENJOYED the trip to the grocery store. But we did survive without any major incident.)

Then, after naptimes, showers and a frantic surface clean of the house, I picked up our babysitter and we went on a date.

Thanks to generous friends and family, we’ve never had to pay a babysitter to watch Annalyn, so this was a first. One of our pastors’ daughter, who is in choir with me and works in Annalyn’s nursery, agreed to come over and watch our daughter, so Mark and I could get a few hours of much-needed time together.

When I asked Annalyn the next morning if she liked “New Lauren” (because my sister-in-law’s name is Lauren, and there can’t possibly be TWO Laurens!), she said, “She’s nice, but she doesn’t talk.”

I’m not really sure what that means. But I am pretty sure New Lauren didn’t eat dinner. I told her she could have anything in the kitchen and even pointed out a few good options. So I don’t know what that’s about. Aside from getting paid – and the kids. Sometimes. – the best part about babysitting back in my day was the frozen burritos. And watching Baywatch and The Commish.

I don’t know. I’m weird.

Sunday was another low-key day. We went to church, ate leftovers for lunch and enjoyed long naps. We also played a lot of pretend, watched another Mickey movie and ate a bowl full of messy chips.

The best things I heard this weekend? Annalyn looking at Mark and me, as we sat on the couch with those chips: “We’re sharing. We’re a family.”

And THAT is a good weekend.

Later this week, I’ll link this up to Tuesdays Unwrapped on Chatting at the Sky and Finer Things Friday at Amy’s Finer Things.

How was your weekend? Do anything exciting? Or relaxing? Or BOTH?

P.S. Feel free to check out my post about Cheesy Chicken from a while back. I’m linking it up to recipe carnivals this week. And even though I still don’t have a photo (what can I say? It doesn’t LOOK pretty.), it is DELICIOUS. And pretty much our family’s favorite thing to fix.

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Saturday Review: Just Between You & Me

5:48 am ByFiled UnderBooks, TV, Music & Movies, Reviews & Giveaways

During my Blog-Warming Party, I gave away a copy of Just Between You & Me: A Novel of Losing Fear and Finding God by Jenny B. Jones. And then I promised a review . . . which never happened.

Until today. It’s happening right now. In case you hadn’t figured that out.

That’s a long title, right? Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the book on a list of recent award winners, I wouldn’t have requested it from the library. It sounds serious. And when it comes to my fiction, I almost always prefer, well, NOT serious.

Thankfully, I did check out this book. It was GREAT. As soon as I finished it, I got online to stalk research Jones. I HAD to know if she’d written other books. And if she had, you better believe they were going on reserve at the library, pronto.

Sadly, her other books – which look adorable and fun – are more of the YA variety. And while I like my chick lit fluffy, I don’t typically resort to reading YA. (Typically. I’m not saying never, because I loved As You Wish by Jackson Pearce.)

With the wonder that is Twitter, though, I found out that Jones (or Jenny. Should I call her Jenny?) has another adult contemporary coming out in a few months. I can’t wait.

Until then, I’m reading Jenny’s blog (Yeah, I decided first names are better.) and telling everyone I know that if you read Christian fiction, you should read this book. And, actually, even if you just like adult contemporary, read this book. The Christian aspect is not heavy-handed at all.

So, why do I like this book so much? Well, I’m so glad you asked. I like it because the characters talk like real people. The main character even thinks like a real person, saying things like, “I’m so sure.” and “Crap.”

Yep, that’s really all it takes for me. (See: Brad Meltzer’s first couple of books and my disappointment in his later novels.)

The novel follows the usual pattern of contemporary romance, but the situations play out a little more realistically than a lot of the fairytales – I mean, books – I read. I was hoping it would end differently, but I didn’t mind the story’s resolution too much.

A few times while I was reading it, I thought that it felt a lot like reading someone’s blog. And while I never want blogs to replace books completely (The horror!), I do enjoy hearing Jenny’s characters use a genuine conversational tone.

Here’s the summary:

The only thing scarier than living on the edge is stepping off it.

Maggie Montgomery lives a life of adventure. Her job as a cinematographer takes her from one exotic locale to the next. When Maggie’s not working, she loves to rappel off cliffs or go skydiving. Nothing frightens her.

Nothing, that is, except Ivy, Texas, where a family emergency pulls her back home to a town full of bad memories, painful secrets, and people Maggie left far behind . . . for a reason.

Forced to stay longer than she intended, Maggie finds her family a complete mess, including the niece her sister has abandoned. Ten-year-old Riley is struggling in school and out of control at home. The only person who can really handle the pint-sized troublemaker is Conner, the local vet and Ivy’s most eligible bachelor. But Conner and Maggie keep butting heads—he’s suspicious of her and, well, she doesn’t rely on anyone but herself.

As Maggie humorously fumbles her way from one mishap to another, she realizes she’s going to need to ask for help from the one person who scares her the most.

To save one little girl—and herself—can Maggie let go of her fears and just trust God?

What does it take for you to consider a book great?

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With toddlers like these, who needs teenagers?

10:34 pm ByFiled UnderMarriage, Parenting, Family & Friendship

On Monday night, Annalyn woke up crying. Actually, it was technically Tuesday morning. Whatever you call it, it was dark – what we call “sleep time” in our house.

She didn’t calm down on her own (and it’s strange for her to do this in the first place), so I went in and rubbed her back. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“The PAINT on my FINGERS is coming off!” she wailed. WAILED.

You would have thought the world was, in fact, ending. I very calmly and without a hint of laughter said, “It’s okay, sweets. Just go back to sleep. It’s still sleep time.”

“But THE PAINT! Waaaahhhh!”

I finally had to tell her that if she didn’t quiet down and go to sleep, I would NOT put more paint on her fingers. It was a great way to spend an hour in the middle of the night.

Just over 24 hours later, on Wednesday morning, my little drama queen woke up early, though not technically during sleep time. Shortly after 6:30, she woke ME up, crying.

I went in, told her whiny self good morning and informed her, gently of course, that I’d get her out of her crib when she stopped whining.

So she did. And I did.

But as soon as I pulled her multicolor gingham skirt set out of the closet, she started throwing a doozy of a fit.

“I want to wear a DRESS!!!”

Normally, I indulge her. If the girl wants to wear a dress, I usually let her wear a dress. But that day, all her clean dresses (that fit) were in the laundry. So a skirt set it was.

But no. She wanted to throw a fit. Finally, in frustration, I told her that she could either quit crying or go back in her crib, naked, while I took my shower. “Is that what you want?” I asked her.

“Yes!”

Okey-doke. I put her (mostly naked, but she was wearing underwear) back in her crib, and I took my shower.

When I got out, I asked her if she was ready to behave nicely and put her clothes on. She said NO.

After that, I went back every few minutes and asked her the same thing. Each time, I got the same hateful answer. And the whole time, she was crying and hollering and pitching one heck of a fit.

Finally, we had to leave. So I wrestled her into her outfit, shoes and ponytail, and I picked her up to head out.

It was at THAT point that she decided to kick it up a notch. THAT is when the screaming started. At the TOP of her LUNGS.

She continued to scream all the way through the house into the car and all the way to her daycare. As we pulled up, I said (calmly, and I’m not sure where that calm even CAME from), “You can keep this up if you want. It’s your choice. But I’m going to carry you inside, and ALL your friends are going to see you acting like an animal.”

I know. Harsh, right? Totally mean. But IT DIDN’T PHASE HER.

She kept screaming. All the way up the sidewalk, into the daycare and down the hall. When her teacher said, “Annalyn! What is WRONG with you?” she didn’t even stop to take a breath. She just KEPT SCREAMING.

Her teacher urged me to just leave, so I did. And I only cried a little.

I have NEVER seen her act that way. She was completely out of control! I know it was a full moon this week – and even my cats were kind of spazzing out. And I know we’ve been too busy and had too little family time lately.

But seriously? More than an HOUR of the worst fit I’ve ever seen? What the heck???

Thankfully, about 25 minutes after I left her (SCREAMING) at daycare, her teacher called me at work to say that she’d calmed down. He even made her get on the phone and apologize to me.

She was fine when I picked her up that night. I told her that she’d made me really sad, and she apologized again. I told her that I forgive her and she hugged me.

But MY GOODNESS! That was TERRIBLE!

And here’s the kicker: I can’t even say, “Where on earth would she GET this?” Because, um, YEAH. I know. I can remember times not so long ago when I cried so hard I made myself physically sick.

Poor girl. The crazy comes naturally. Too bad it has to be so LOUD.

This post will be linked to Friday Fails. Because, well . . . do I have to explain?

How was YOUR week?

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