A Pickle for a Nickle

If you have a younger sibling, this is a cute book to read to them. My 2 year old likes to offer a pickle for a nickle- real and the plastic one in her toy food. If she forgets the nickle part we ask if she wants a pickle for a nickle, because it's just so fun to say. Don't you agree?

This picture I found on Amazon.com. We have an identical copy we got at a yard sale, but I didn't want to take the time to take a picture and upload it. Thank you Amazon!

Pickles- we sure like them around here. My girls- all 4 of them, and I, eat them with a paper towel wrapped around them to soak up the juices. It makes a great snack between lunch and dinner. My husband cuts them for his tuna fish sandwiches, with Miracle Whip mind you - my daughter and I prefer mayonnaise (olive oil variety these days). I find it funny that my mother and father had the same varied opinions for which to put on their sandwich.

Another thing I like about Pickles, are pickle jars- especially the huge ones! I have tried to wash them out to get the smell out in the past, because I think they would be cute for storing stuff in, but have been unsuccessful. So today I googled "how to get the smell out of a pickle jar" and found a few good ideas, but this one had a scientific hypothesis to it so I liked it best! Little things make more sense if there is a scientific reason behind it. I am constantly thinking up my own hypothesis to things with my son. He's does it a lot more than I do though. :)

I'm going to try this:

I'd add 1 tsp. of bleach and two drops liq. Dawn, then add boiling water and let sit 1 hour. Principal is that because pickles in vinegar, a mild acid, likely added to jars while hot, the glass expanded and soaked up the odor, one reason it may not be easy otherwise to just "wash" it out with this and that. If you heat (expand the glass), and add alkaline soap/bleach, it should not only neutralize the vinegar residue, but also remove the odor. Remove that the glass will be hot at first, cooler at the end of the hour, so be careful handling when hot.

I would suggest putting the bottle somewhere safe before you put in the hot water, then just leaving it be for an hour.

I don't know what I am going to put in it if it works, but I will think of something. If it is cute enough I will share a picture of it later. If you find something you can put in a pickle jar and take a picture, send it to Suzanne! She may already have something cute in a pickle jar, you never know; she knows a lot of fun stuff! If you have a good recipe let us know too!

The Nancy Drew Cookbook

I don't know about you, but there are some books I love to read that have survived the test of time and Nancy Drew mysteries fit the bill, from The Haunted Bridge to The Mystery at Lilac Inn and many other books too. Look for "The Nancy Drew Cookbook - Clues to Good Cooking" the next time you're at the library. Read More about the cookbook and get a couple of recipes to try from Mr. Breakfast. (Recipes include: Crumbling Wall Coffee Cake, and Phantom Eggs)

Suz

Something Fantasy

The final installment of one of our family's favorite books is about to be released on Tuesday, March 23. Fablehaven Keys to the Deamon Prison is the 5th book in a series by Brandon Mull. If you are in the Salt Lake area- which WE are not- maybe you can check out the launch party at Cottonwood High School. It's free to get in and there is usually a good show, from what I have seen online. Just go to the Fablehaven website for information. Or you can find Brandon Mull on Twitter, at least that is what his Facebook wall said... I am not a tweeter, so I don't really know much about how the tweets work.

This is a series I would highly recommend to all of you Tweens and older. If you haven't started reading the series yet, now would be a great time to start. Maybe by the time you finish them you might be next on the waiting list at the library! That is, if you are not planning on purchasing a copy. I'll tell you what, it's going to be a competitive game of Rock, Paper, Scissors at our house seeing who gets first dibs! There are 4 of us waiting the arrival!

Until then, would you like to see the video we made in hopes that ours will be selected to be played at the launch party? It stars my wonderful kids, and I am the person behind the camera, as usual. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQvDNNeFuc

Something Real.

"Teach Every Child About Food"

Jamie's talk is only 22 minutes. Things to watch for:

• The sugar wheel barrow, & pile of sugar related to chocolate milk
• The "plus size" coffin both shocking and sad
• Elementary school kids who can't identify a potato (He then helped teach these kids about veggies)

Have you heard that kids will teach grown ups about things that are good for them? I've heard this a bunch. Have any you seen "Wall-E"? Remember the people? (screenshot) I just watched Jamie Oliver's talk, he's a cheeky, caring English chef who believes we can make changes that will save lives - and increase how long you will live. Jamie's not judging anyone, he's educating us about just how serious things are.

"I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." - Jamie Oliver, Ted 2010

If you have a Family Game Night, Family Home Evening, Family meetings... whatever your family calls it, see if you can be in charge of it for a night and watch Jamie's talk (and maybe Wall-E for fun after!) brainstorm how you can make changes. We have choices - we can cook at home, we can eat fresh food.

Share the link to this movie with your friends and family: http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

xoxo, Suz

USB Robot Owl - "Cuuuute!"

USB Robot Owl at ThinkGeek.com

A Shirley Temple to drink while reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians!

hi guys! lauren made me jealous by her AWESOME post (i love that series!), so i decided i had to share a super delicious drink to drink (sounds weird, doesn't it?) while reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series!

Shirley Temple

1 can of Sprite or Sierra Mist
a jar of maraschino cherries
a big glass

optional:
ice cubes
fancy little umbrella :)

alrighty, to begin, take the big glass (if you're going to add ice cubes, now is the time to do that) and pour the can of Sprite into it. then, open the cherry jar and pour about 1-2 tablespoons of the cherry juice into the Sprite. take a few cherries and drop them into your beverage and ta-da! you have made yourself a Shirley Temple! feel free to add a fancy umbrella to your glass! :)

Cheers!
Em

Sorry guys, I have really been slacking with this whole book review thing. Oops :) But now, for the review, one I'm sure Em will be VERY happy about! So, for quite a while, Em has told me to read this series. I was going to, but then my little brother told me to read them. If you know me, then you know that if someone tells me to do something (especially my brother) it just makes me want to do whatever it is less. But then my friend Henry told me to read them, and I think very highly of his opinion (he loves the Fablehaven books too;) So I finally got the first one (borrowed from a friend), then bought the second one, and my brother got 3 and 4 from his GATE library and, thanks to Em, we have five. Now on to the review!!

*PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS*

These books are amazing! Between books 1 & 2, when I couldn't get the second one, I was dying! Luckily, I didn't have to go through that again. But anyways...these books are SOOO good!!! There are five, Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth, and Last Olympian. I would *highly* recommend these books to ANYONE!!

Instead of doing a review for all five books, I'm just gonna do one for the whole series. But first, a little background info. Percy is a demigod, or a half-blood, which means he has a mortal parent and an Greek god parent. He happens to be the son of Poseidon, who wasn't supposed to have any more kids, because the kids of the "Big Three" (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) were super powerful. Now...

In all five books, Percy, Annabeth (daughter of Athena), and Grover (a satyr) go on quests to save Olympus. In the first one, they have to get Zeus's main lightning bolt back. In Sea of Monsters, they have to get the Golden Fleece to save their camp, and save Grover from a cyclopes. In Titan's Curse, they team up with Thalia (daughter of Zeus) and have to escape an old friend turned enemy. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, is coming back to power. Time is running out. Then in Battle of the Labyrinth, the Titan army is growing stronger, and it's again up to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover to save Camp Half-Blood. They travel through the labyrinth, and eventually, they end up back at camp and then have a battle with part of the Titan's army. And in the Last Olympian, Kronos is back in power and it's up to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood to protect Olympus. The gods are fighting Typhon, trying to keep him away from Olympus, and they are having a very difficult time. With some surprise twists, and the help of some "party ponies", the final book in this amazing series ends amazingly.

I was pretty upset when I finished Last Olympian because the series was over. Honestly, these books were the most amazing books I've ever read, after Harry Potter of course. ;) Fablehaven also is up there with these two series, but I'm not sure where quite yet. That depends on Keys to the Demon Prison. That'll definitely be a review I will do! Anyway...READ PERCY JACKSON. That's all I have to say.

Till next time, peace out!

*lauren*

p.s. who else is insanely excited for the movie???? Feb. 12 baby!! one week from today!!! AAAHHHHH!!! here's a trailer for the movie from

ASIMO

Meet a real robot http://asimo.honda.com/

Sesame Street's Top 10 Environmental Videos

Walk down memory lane with Sesame Street, with a "green" take on things. Cute short videos courtesy of Tree Hugger. Follow a soda can through it's recycling journey, watch "Fur Jam" sing about saving water for the fish, and the first lady plants a garden.