Sturgeon stein, frankenfish

I can't believe I almost missed writing about sturgeon season. It has been a source of endless fascination for me since we moved here. The arcane rules, the family tradition, the regionality--it hooks me right in (HA).

This year I hadn't had anything new to say. Plus I was so disappointed: Our next-door neighbor speared a 68-pound fish this season, and he even came over to see if we were home so he could show it to the kids (he didn't know I would have been so much more into it than them). Alas, we weren't around and by the time we found out about his big catch, the beast was already filleted and filling up the freezer.

As a consolation prize, Jeff got me this beer glass. Now is that true love or what?

*

Over at The Full Mommy today, I have a Parent Bloggers Network review of the most adorable (unlike sturgeon--they will win no marine beauty contests) Sylvania PalPODzzz rocket-ship nightlight/flashlight. A flashlight equipped with LED bulbs and NO batteries? Very space-age.

I played Santa today

I felt very Santa-ish this morning as I lugged two bags and a box through the snow to help make a child's Christmas special (never mind the fact that yes, my belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly with every step I take).

A few months ago, the folks from Learning Curve gave me a Caring Corners dollhouse to review, with a special condition: I'd get one dollhouse for my kids and I to try out and keep, but I'd also get a second one to give away to a needy child or charity. Part of the toy's charm is its effort to teach kids about sharing, caring, and good deeds, hence the charitable twist on a product review.

I started corresponding with the house manager of a shelter for abused women in a town near Mayberry. It's part of a nonprofit group that manages an array of domestic abuse programs benefiting women and children. The shelter has 44 beds (not counting cribs), and right now every one is full; a mother and child are sleeping in the shelter's library this week because it's the safest place for them to be.

Unfortunately, because it took a while to coordinate the drop-off (note to self: When someone is clearly a bad emailer, pick up the phone), I couldn't bring the kids with me. Still, just having the extra dollhouse in our house for all this time gave us plenty of opportunity to talk about why we had it and what we'd be doing with it.

The coordinator who received the dollhouse was just thrilled, and noted that a dollhouse is an especially useful and therapeutic toy for a child who's experienced abuse. It breaks my heart clean in two to think of a child spending Christmas in a shelter, but I hope this dollhouse helps one little girl dream of the safe, welcoming home she'll live in one day.

*

I also donated a few other reviewed products: the Positive Spin holiday books, and an I Can Do That! game (since that company had also offered two toys, one to review and one to donate). Thank you, Whitney, for coordinating these efforts. It's been a pleasure to participate.

*

Also at the Full Mommy, I 've reviewed theater productions that may be coming to your area soon. Check them out: Magic Tree House, the musical and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

*

And have a very merry Christmas, if you're celebrating. Our guests arrive today, so I'll be busy chopping vegetables and serving salads for the next few days. See you next week!

Books with a positive spin

Ever wonder how the tradition of trick-or-treating got started? Author/illustrator team Lisa and Tucker Johnson have a sweet suggestion. In their book All Hallows Eve: The Story of the Halloween Fairy, they imagine a cute little fairy named Eve who loves candy, but can't seem to produce any for herself with her magic wand.

I reviewed this book, plus two follow-ups covering the winter holidays (Christmas Eve: The Joy of Giving and Winter's Eve: Love and Lights), thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network. Head on over to The Full Mommy for the full review.

V-Motion = Junior Wii?

When the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review VTech's V-Motion Active Learning System, I said "It's like a baby Wii! Send it over right now!"

Click over to The Full Mommy to find out whether it lived up to my wildest hopes and dreams.

Sleep is for suckers!

1. My review of mom-blog-thology Sleep Is for the Weak is up today at The Full Mommy.

2. Speaking of sleep, my son is trying to kill me. No matter what we try, it takes an hour to put him to bed. An hour of hands-on shushing, corraling, returning-to-bed time. It just seems to take him that hour to wind down enough to fall asleep. Short of drugs (which believe me I have contemplated), what else can we do?

Nope, still not done talking about that appendix

ITEM 1: Going home today--maybe, probably, we hope so? Fingers crossed.

ITEM 2: This hospital has been awesome. The next time I get a Zagat survey for children's hospitals I will give it consistently high marks. The only missing from our room is a reading light, for those (admittedly rare) nights when the kid fell asleep before the parents.

ITEM 3: Suggestion for basement inventors: Please figure out a way to make easily removable adhesive tape for medical use. Oh the screaming.

ITEM 4: When I agreed to try out (well, have Jo try out) Hanes' No Ride Up underwear for the Parent Bloggers Network, I had no idea that we'd be subjecting the "Comfort Fit Promise"--a money-back guarantee!--to such a rigorous test.

Check The Full Mommy to find out how the Hanes undies fared against a sore post-op tummy (and two ways to get freebies for yourself).

The snack to end all snacks

Recently my husband quizzed Jo about most tradeable lunchbox items. We were surprised to learn that the hierarchy went something like:

Ice cream [unclear how this is a packable lunchbox item, but whatev] --> trumped by Chee-tos --> trumped by Fruit Roll-Ups.

And then, the very next day (I'm completely serious), Parent Bloggers Network contacted me about My Fruit Roll-Ups. It turns out that along with personalized M&Ms and Kleenex boxes, now you can customize your sticky flattened fruit-flavored snacks too!

To find out what we thought--and win your own carton--head on over to The Full Mommy (where there are other giveaways underway, too).

*

The wonder-Grandma is here and as befits a woman of her stature, we're making her help with home improvement projects, yardwork, and kid-wrangling. See you in a day or two.

Eat THAT!

I always thought it would be very cool to have a carnivorous plant. I mean, how excellent is that? It's a plant, it's entertainment, it keeps down the insect population in your home. Triple winnah. But apparently, the Venus fly trap requires more care than your average houseplant. For starters, you have to know to "Never, never, never feed your fly trap hamburger."

Seeing as how I have never managed to keep a single plant alive ever (I'm not kidding. Thumb=pitch black), it really wouldn't be a good idea for me to take on a plant that's temperamental and might bite off my finger if I made it mad.

That's why the pretend Venus Fly Trap from the Discovery Channel Store is a good idea, and why I reviewed it today on behalf of Parent Bloggers Network. Come find out more about what we thought at The Full Mommy.

Also, pls note that speaking of bugs, am heroine and stereotype-buster. Last week a kid brought a spider into my daughter's classroom after school and the teacher and other mommies were freaking out. I helped him corral it into a small, clear container with a magnifying lens on top so he could observe it for awhile and then dump it outside. Oh yeah. My kid is totally going to be at the top of her class now.

How to write a confusing review

Over at The Full Mommy today I'm reviewing Were You Raised by Wolves? by Christie Mellor, author of The Three-Martini Playdate. I had trouble deciding whether it should be shelved under "humor" or "how-to" but really, it shouldn't matter (unless you're actually running a book store or library). It's a funny, witty book that also gives step-by-step instructions for making a bed, washing dishes, and boiling an egg.

Go, see what I mean. Thanks to Parent Bloggers Network.

April showers bring cute boots

You have to agree that there is almost nothing cuter than a kid in a pair of spunky rainboots. There's something about encasing those sweet little feet in some brightly colored rubber that just makes grown-ups swoon. Maybe it's the cheeriness they bring to an otherwise crummy day, or the fact that to kids, rainy days mean puddles! and how fun is that?

All this to say that when I had the opportunity, via Parent Bloggers Network, to try out some Vincent Shoes for my kids, I went for the boots. Check out the full review (plus a discount code!) at The Full Mommy.

Almost April? No way.

I cannot believe that it is March 25 already. I feel like I have missed the entire month and do you know why? Because it is still winter. Equinox, schmequinox--we still have icy patches on our driveway, hulking piles of old snow littering our yard, and fresh flakes falling daily.

If only the Zula Patrol could whoosh in and save us. In one of four episodes we recently reviewed, one of the Patrollers uses a Weather-Matic machine to change the weather at the twist of a dial. Sigh... a girl can dream.

And a girl can learn a lot about weather, actually, from this collection of episodes of the PBS kids' science show. Get the full review at The Full Mommy.

Blast me back to the pioneer days

Recently my mom mentioned that she still has my boxed set of Little House on the Prairie books, and noted that soon I'd be able to begin reading them to Jo.

I can't wait! When I was 8 or 9 (and probably 10 or 12 too) I'd start with Little House in the Big Woods and continue right through to The First Four Years without stopping. Then I'd go back to the Big Woods and start all over again. My set came in a yellow cardboard box and all the spines of the books were yellow too, with cover art and interior illustrations by Garth Williams. The set looked so impressive there on my bookshelf.

I remember watching the TV show, too, but it was the books that really enthralled me. I even got to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home & Museum. I still remember I had a souvenir mug that I took to school for show and tell. I wrapped it carefully in a dishtowel for the walk, but I still dropped and broke it--a terrible loss.

There are legitimate concerns about the depictions of Native Americans in the books. I hope that I can use them to start discussions about racism and the way people feel about those who are different. I still believe that the books are an incredible window into American history. And they are a pleasure to read, which is more than I can say for many of the other books I slog through for the sake of my kids (Magic Tree House, anyone? For the love of god, Mary Pope Osborne ... you are writing for beginning readers. Why must you litter the page with sentence fragments?). I know I'll smile when I see that big yellow box on my daughter's bookshelf.

Inspired by today's blog blast on behalf of Highlights High Five (which I reviewed yesterday). Write your own post by midnight PST--that still gives you four hours!--for a chance to win a subscription to the magazine.

Gooooooo sturgeon!

Ahhh ... it's ice-fishing time again! I saw my first shanty today.

Currently cheering:

• The New York Giants. Of course.
  


• Barack Obama. Of course.
  


• yogabeans!
  


• Mayberry Moment #5: Me to stranger in supermarket parking lot: "Are you Jennifer's husband, by any chance?" After he said yes, I explained that I had gone skiiing with his wife the week before and had ridden in the very car he was driving, in which I had left my sunglasses. Why yes, there they were!
  


• My husband's heroic snow-clearing efforts
  


• My heroic cooking efforts

About which: I roasted my first chicken today. I know that's one of the easiest recipes ever but it was my first time and I am rather proud. Because although I can get by, I am really a pretty lousy cook.

Exhibit A: A few weeks ago I tried to make a steak rub from the Tea Diet* book. As I pawed through the cabinet looking for chili powder, I found some chipotle chili powder. "Must be about the same," methought. Yeah. The same hacking, coughing, sinus-clearing, tongue-numbing kind of thing. Amusingly, my husband rescued the beef by dousing it in ... tea (brewed; he had no idea there were crushed tea leaves in the rub). And a whole whole lot of butter.

The New York Times Sunday magazine yesterday contained an interview with poet laureate Charles Simic. Asked for advice for people looking to be happy, he replied "For starters, learn how to cook." Sigh. It really would be nice to enjoy a task you have to perform day in and day out for your entire life until you become superrich and can hire a cook to be at your beck and call.

(It's a good thing it's no longer NoMeatPoWeek, what with all the mentions of carnivorousness. Really, we only eat meat a few times a week at the most. The kids love tofu, eggs, and cheese and all of those I can make without poisoning anyone. Homemade pizza and Thai Kitchen stir fries are weekly staples, along with veggie pasta and grilled salmon.)

*I forgot to mention here that I am giving away a copy--a nice hardcover copy, not the bound galley I'm keeping for myself!--of the book over at The Full Mommy. Just post a comment by midnight Thursday to enter.

Art by Jann Haworth

I may be a freak, but I'm a skinnier freak

Call me a freak, but I do not like coffee. Never have and at this point, don't think I ever will. And for the longest time, I had no interest in tea either. This was very disturbing to most people I encountered in my college and post-college days.

THEM: "What do you mean you don't drink coffee? Or tea?"
ME: "Well. I don't drink coffee ... or tea."

This was difficult for them to grasp. Occasionally I would say that I drank hot cocoa just to get them off my back.

Eventually I did start drinking tea. It was either the trip to Ireland or the first Starbucks chai latte that did it, or possibly a really sore throat. I've since moved beyond the milk and sugar, and can and do drink tea straight up.

In fact, I usually drink 4 to 6 cups a day. So a book called The Ultimate Tea Diet? Was right up my alley, even though I am not dieting, have never dieted, and generally do not believe in diets.

Get the full review at The Full Mommy!

Reporting for duty

Have you ever served on a jury? I think everyone should. When you live in Manhattan, you get a summons every two years on the dot. Luckily, mine was for a criminal case (civil case = snore) and I didn't yet have any kids or big job responsibilities. This was back in the days when jury duty meant a lot more "sitting around in the courthouse reading magazines waiting for your name to be called" and a lot less "call this automated voice to see if we need you."

So I got put onto a case. The perp was an alleged drug dealer. A bike cop--why that detail sticks with me, I don't know--watched him holding fort inside a pizza place (or a pizzeria, as true New Yorkers always call them) over the course of several hours. The cop described customers entering, money changing hands, and each customer being apprehended, a few blocks away, with drugs in hand. The bike cop summoned a squad car and the dealer was arrested, given a quick pat-down, handcuffed, and put into the car for a ride to the station.

Once at the station, the car was thoroughly searched and a bag of drugs was found under the seat in the back. The question was, could we the jury be certain enough that the dealer had ditched his goods there to convict him? Or was it, as his lawyer argued, possible that they belonged to some other person who'd ridden in that car that day?

What struck me most, then and now, was how seriously we all took our job. We were a real cross-section of New Yorkers (well, we lacked some corporate titans and skinny socialites but we were at least of all ages, races, and education levels). It was a really straightforward case but we took our time discussing its merits and debating the guilt of the accused. The best part was when we considered whether the man could have sneaked his stash under the seat of the squad car while handcuffed. A tiny old lady volunteered that she had tested this out at home by putting on her own handcuffs and stuffing something under the cushion of her couch!

We voted to convict and I still remember how my heart pounded as I affirmed my vote aloud in the courtroom. I knew it was the right decision (the judge, in thanking us for our service, agreed as much) but it still felt scary to be in a position to send someone to jail. It took me a week to breathe normally again.

*

I posted at The Full Mommy about our holiday hits and misses -- click over to find out what we liked and didn't.

*

What are you reading tomorrow? I have too much to choose from: Sunday's New York Times, a pile of magazines, this month's book club assignment (Jane Austen's Persuasion), or my next PBN review title. It might depend on the weather. If it snows, as is predicted, I think Persuasion is the way to go. And if I read it with a cup of tea, I'm killing two birds with one stone.

Go on, I dare you

When The Dangerous Book for Boys came out earlier this year, I was unmoved by the "but what about the girls?" outrage. Maybe because the kid population in my household is evenly split between the pink team and the blue team, so I have my own little stereotype experiment under my nose every day; but I don't have a problem with a book declaring itself "for boys."

Still, it seemed like an awesome resource, so I was pleased to review The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz. Much like the boy book, it's really less about danger and daring than about those tidbits of information, instruction, and inspiration that your girl might not pick up in school or at the playground -- but that are really cool for her to know.

For the full review, visit the Full Mommy!

Blue is the new apple

When I was pregnant with Opie, after I got past the 18ish weeks of wanting to hurl everytime food or drink crossed my lips (or didn't, which really sucked), I luuurrrrvvvved juice. My favorite breakfast was an Egg McMuffin with a tall glass of iced cranberry juice. (I had a whole rationalization worked out, whereby the healthful benefits of cranberry and protein cancelled out the grease and the ... whatever else is in an Egg McMuffin that I really, really don't want to know about.)

But oh, fruity fruit juice, I loved it so. And McMuffins notwithstanding, I did still want to make a weak attempt at at least try to eat healthfully, despite the obvious ingratitude of mini-Opie. So I spent a lot of time reading labels at the supermarket and hyperventilating over sugar content and phrases like "10% juice." Seriously, juice, why you gotta be that way?

Too bad I didn't know about TrueBlue juices back in the day. This stuff tastes good, it's got a ton of antioxidants (surely enough to do battle with the occasional McMuffin) and it comes in all kinds of fun flavors (blueberry pomegranate, anyone? Doesn't that just scream "cocktail"?). We like it on the rocks, in our freezer popsicles, and swirled into plain yogurt. While it does have some added sugar, it's real stuff from the cane, not from corn. I'm working to reduce our family's consumption of processed foods (this excellent summary from Magpie explains why and how) and products like this can help. I mean, I guess it would help the most if I grew my own blueberries in the backyard (organically, of course) and then crushed them into juice with my own two hands. But I do have my limits.

If you want to try TrueBlue for yourself, you can find a retailer and print a coupon.