Carnival of Family Life: Extreme Homemaker Edition - Now, available with more Pooh!

Welcome to the March 10, 2008 Edition of the Carnival of Family Life - The Extreme Homemaker

Everyone likes to share information about their family - YES, they do - especially parents! Here's a place where you can sit down, have a cup of coffee (or, a beverage of your choice) and share your thoughts, stories, and experiences.

Today, the carnival is making a stop at our house and I am very honored to be your hostess with the mostest...dust bunnies, that is. So, for you first time visitors - welcome to our home, don't be shy, come on in - my name is Liz and I am the keeper of This Full House. We have lots to talk about...

....so, please clean off a chair and make yourself comfortable as we tour the blogosphere and extract some Pooh....Extreme Homemaker style!

Education

A.A. Milne on education: "To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks."

The Boy (he's 9) had to make a robot (out of recycled materials) for a school project. He and his father did such a fantastic job, we adopted him, and The Boy FINALLY has a brother.

I'm looking forward to watching my children grow to be, well, very smart and well-versed in the world of higher thinking...and yet...surprisingly very down to earth and a bit hairy, like their mother!

Looking deeper into the school daze:

Lori Jewett presents Someone To Look Up To: Role Models For Girls posted at Between Us Girls, offering some ideas to help young girls find positive role models.

Kevin Heath presents Tips for Teaching Small Kids Responsibility posted at More4kids.

cate3 presents A lesson I'm trying to teach my daughters posted at Why Homeschool.

Renae presents The Barefoot Boy posted at Life Nurturing Education.

Terri Mauro presents Failure to MYOB Runs in the Family posted at About Parenting Special Needs.

Relationships and Self-Improvement

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh!" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you." ~A.A. Milne

I like to hang my laundry outside (especially, the linens, blankets and quilts) and last summer, after I broke it for the upteenth time (I do that, a lot) my husband, Garth (not his real name) ran right out and bought me a new one!

[the sound of crickets chirping]

You see, after nearly 18 years of marriage, it's the simple, silly little things that make me happy and love him, even more, and a hot pink clothes line totally rings my bell!

Chiming in:

Kerri Aldrich presents Not Tonight, Honey posted at marriageactually.com.

Alvaro Fernandez presents The Power of Hindsight posted at SharpBrains. Author Daniel Goldman asks, "When you were young, which of these did you feel more often?"

David B. Bohl presents High Maintenance Friends and How to Deal With Them posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, offering advice on how to deal with demanding friends.

Carol Bentley presents Research and Write posted at Carol Bentley.

Christine presents Is Marriage Outdated? posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France.

Carole G. McKay presents Fear Factor posted at McKay Today.

Family Finance

"One for the money, two for the show, three because uh - uh, comes before four, and here we go! ~A. A. Milne

My husband works for the bank that shall not be named - for, the meanies that they are - and he's not allowed to hang pictures on his wall, or keep pictures of us family on his desk, either.

So, for Christmas, I got him a perfectly respectable tie. It's says, "Got Revenue?" They won't allow him to wear it, either.

Stupid bank.

More about cha-ching:

Sagar presents 33 Tools to Get the Cheapest Gas Available posted at EcoTrekker.

Stephanie presents A Two Bunk Bed Family posted at Stop the Ride!.

Mark Butler presents Interview with a Millionaire: M.R., a Furniture Store Owner posted at The Butler Project. He believes that the best place to get advice about family finance is from financially independent people. In this interview, a millionaire provides insight on becoming financially free.

Kyle James presents Financial Peace Of Mind: Priceless posted at Kyle.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents What Price Are You Paying To Have It All? The Supermom Myth posted at The Digerati Life.

Family Health and Wellness

"It all comes, I suppose," he decided, as he spun round three times, and flew gracefully into a gorse-bush, "it all comes of liking honey so much. Oh, help" ~A.A. Milne

I am NOT a morning person and my husband is...well, let me just tell you...he's like a fluffy little bird happily twittering about in the early morning sunshine - scary, I know - needless to say, we go to great lengths to stay out of each other's way and try not to, you know, talk...too much.

He hands me my morning coffee and I drink it.

By dinner, he comes home pretty much spent (stupid bank) and that's when I break out the Smiley Fries - works for us!

Today's menu includes:

Taylor Coburn presents Law Of Attraction posted at Internet Business at Process To Profits. We attract what we think about, whether or not we are conscious of that fact. So if we worry, our family may worry. If we're happy, our family is happy.

James D. Brausch presents Why Don't You Just Eat Less? posted at Weight Loss Dude.

Carole Fogarty presents The Emotional Cost of Clutter: posted at The Healthy Living Lounge

Aparna presents Home remedies for PMS posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming, a collection of simple tools for dealing with the emotional, physical and psychological symptoms associated with pre-menstrual syndrome.

Michael H presents 7 Disadvantages of Mobile Phones posted at ControlYourImpact.com, one of a series of articles on the disadvantages on mobile phones, their effect on children.

Family Humor

"Nobody can be un-cheered with a balloon." ~A.A. Milne

Kids say the darnedest things. But, for my 40-something-or-anotherth birthday, they wrote me letters - here's one of them:

Dear Mom,

Happy 25th birthday. Haha! Can I ask for more of a mother? No! You are the greatest. I thank you for bringing me into this world, and for coming into this world yourself! Today is all about you, which it basically NEVER is! Today, just sit back...relax...and let your muffins do the talking. Feel free to have us spoil you...even though I might push you in the pool...just kidding, or am I? Well anyway, happy birthday Mom and even if you wake up to be a grumpy, cranky old woman, I'll still love you. Be sure to keep away from Dad, because he is sure to give you (43) 25 whacks. Stay happy! For as long as you can!

Also desperately trying to keep their sense of humor:

Riley presents Some Don't Like it Hot posted at All Rileyed Up.

WhatWorksForUs presents How To Make Dinner With A Toddler posted at What Works For Us.

Gwendel Rodriguez presents I'm Living With The Flintstones & Rubbles posted at Autism and The Empress, an article about living with an autistic child.

Jaimie presents When Did I Stop Being The Ultimate Authority… posted at Hug Twice. Jaimie says, "I knew he'd figure out I didn't know everything eventually ... I just didn't know the skepticism would come so early."

Expat Chef presents Ah, Thursday posted at The Expatriate's Kitchen in which the Chef ponders the "Terrible Twos" and dearth of plot in children's books and solicits book recommendations.

Jenny Rapson presents I’m Packing My Emergency Baby Delivery Kit! posted at Mommin' It Up!. She is about to embark on what she calls the "shopping adventure of a lifetime" with her pregnant cousin and co-mommy-blogger, about which she says, "I just hope that shopping is all that happens!"

Neena (NeenMachine) presents The Stomach Bug That Keeps On Bugging posted at A Mom's Life at NeenMachine.com. As with so many other families, the stomach bug wreaked havoc at Neena's house last week, so she observes that if she "couldn't find humor in this situation, there would be nothing left to do but cry."

Lill Hawkins presents I Am Not Cranky! posted at News From Hawkhill Acres.

Mommy G presents I should get a tattoo on my forehead posted at The Parenting Diaries, saying, "I should do something with the nanny issue already!"

mom & dad present The Challenges of Having (More) Kids posted at raising4boys.com.

Family Pets

"They come in ones and twosles..." ~A.A. Milne

Gloria presents No More Pictures!! posted at Saddeyezz Scraps & Snaps.

Family Lifestyle

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"” ~A.A. Milne

We live in New Jersey - about a 2 hours ride south of Sopranoland - and some of my most treasured childhood memories are from summers vacationing down the shore (a.k.a. going to the beach, to you bennies and shoobies) where we'd spend the day jumping thunderous waves, or - especially, those times when the tide was just too rough - my brother and I would tumble around in the foamy breakwater and search along the surf for hours, lost in the hope of finding buried treasure.

Sharing a bit more:

GP presents Montana on my Mind posted at Innstyle Montana- Come on Inn, described as "sharing Montana and a childhood dream come true."

Parenting Tips and Advice

"When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish." ~A.A. Milne

Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, there are just some things that I CANNOT get my kids to do...without a fight...or, flight...tapping into some serious negotiating skills taught in some sort of parenting class I've obviously MISSED.

[shudder]

But, that's what blogging is ALL about.

Lurking on:

Tiffany Washko presents Why Spanking Doesn’t Work posted at The Attached Parent and When Your Parenting Style Goes Against the Grain posted at Natural Family Living Blog.

Amanda Harris presents Allowing Your Children to Go Online with Video Games? posted at eFamilyBlogger.

Fathersez presents My advice to my children on traveling in the post 9/11 world posted at Father Sez. He observes that "the world has become a lot less trusting since September 11, 2001. Understanding and respecting each another's religious beliefs and rituals will help establish mutual trust and respect."

tipsandtricks presents Kid Style Cold Compress posted at tips and tricks 4 me.

Family Crafts, Recipes and Activities

"Hallo, Rabbit," he said, "is that you?""Let's pretend it isn't," said Rabbit, "and see what happens."

Never underestimating the power of collecting and saving an abundant supply of what seems to be useless crud - not to mention, never having thrown anything away since 1993 - see, I knew this crap would come in handy, some day!

Meet Humpty, the humpback whale - he's a handsome-looking mammal (though, it's hard for you to see his fins fashioned from black construction paper) happily blowing his bubbles (saved from a broken strand of Christmas beads) swimming in a sea of blue sidewalk chalk and hiding amongst the crepe paper sea weed.

Crafting right along:

HowToMe presents How to make a Custom Birthday Cake, Post II (guest submission) posted at HowToMe.

Karen presents Lion and the Lamb Craft posted at Little Fun; Little Learning, instructing how to make a cute, simple, and inexpensive craft with the kids.

Amy @ The Q Family presents 13 Things to do in or around Atlanta posted at The Q Family Adventure.

Laura Williams presents Sew Crafty Friday #1 AND Online Craft Club - Felt PB&J Sandwiches posted at Laura Williams' Musings.

Jennifer in OR presents He Makes Pancakes With Such Purpose posted at Diary of 1, saying, "Hearty pancakes a child can make!"

PHEW!

Oh, my...look at the time...thank you so much for coming - truly, it's been fun getting to know you guys - but, it's a brand new week and I bet you've got plenty more places to go.

Aaaaand I do believe I have ignored the laundry, long enough.

Next week's carnival will be hosted by Kids With a Side of Twins - submit your blog article for next week's edition of the Carnival of Family Life using this form. The hosting schedule and archive of past editions can be found here.

Have a great week, everyone!

[Please, clean off a chair and stay a while - subscribe to email updates or the RSS feed or - if you really, really like me - then Digg This, I'll love you forever!]