Tag Archives: recommendations

January 27, 2012

Friday Favourites 7: till death do us part

By So Here's Us.... life on the raggedy edge.

This week I told my love story. That’s right – cue the “awwww”! Suffice it to say, it’s been a nostalgic love fest in our house all week. And it’s not my fault.

You may not know this to look at my husband, but beneath his scruffy, cynical concert t-shirt beats the heart of a real SAP. He is definitely the romantic in our relationship. I must confess, I would never have remembered our first date-iversary, but he’s not one to let these special days pass.

In high school I was the grateful recipient of not one, but a dozen “I love you” mix tapes.

Tapes are like CD’s, only they fit in a ghetto blaster…um… cassette player…it’s like a…walkman… never mind kids. It’s what we called “playlists” in the olden days.

Our song du jour is a tune I’ve always loved, but hadn’t really notice the words until Glen told me the last part reminded him of me. Eat your heart out Bryan Adams, there’s a new “our song” in town!

Quote

Then the letters all flash through my head,

with the words that I was told about the fading flesh of life and love, the failures of the bold.

I can list each crippling fear like I’m reading from a will.

And I’ll defy every one and love you still.

I will carry you with me up every hill.

The Airborne Toxic Event – from The Graveyard Near The House

Song

Not everyone will find this song about decomposing corpses romantic, but we sure do!

Blog

Speaking of death, one of my favourite bloggers is a funeral director. That’s not just a clever segue. Caleb Wilde offers a glimpse into the bizarre world of modern mourning. Nothing like unusual casket options and wacky eulogies, or Slogans for Death’s New PR Campaign to brighten my day. But most importantly, he provides an insight about life that only someone who walks with the bereaved every day can offer. Challenging and uplifting, because often life is seen most clearly in the light of death.

iPhone/iPad App

Speaking of grabbing life and sucking the marrow out of it… ya, this clever segue is not going to work. How about: in this life we all have to learn our times tables, might as well have fun doing it!

For the first time in C’s life she is not kicking arithmetic butt. No matter how thoroughly she understands multiplication, she has not memorized and deeply ingrained the times tables on her soul. Until now… we have tried a number of apps, songs, videos and good old fashioned drills, but Math Bingo is our favourite!

After playing each round you earn a “math bug” which you can use to play another game. It looks like the love child of Angry Birds and Pong to me. And the price is right at only $0.99!

Free Stuff

Personally, I don’t like audio books. Give me written word or give me nothing (or, you know, television). But my kids love it!

They still listen to Adventures in Odyssey each night. They LOVED the Narnia audio books, so I was pretty stoked to hear about Free Audio Books at booksshouldbefree.com. They have every classic I could think of, including some of my favourites: Jane Austen, Montgomery, Alcott… We are starting with Little Women and Pinocchio.

You can stream them from the website or download as a podcast. If you go through Amazon audible, it’ll cost you in the end, so be careful. Thanks for the tip Janis – everyone needs a home school mom in their pocket.

Instructional Video

Cute and funny – my kids even laughed. Okay, made a chuckling sound, maybe just a smirk, but I’ll take it! It’s a Book for anyone born in the last 10 years, and a reminder for the rest of us.

Is it ironic that I watched this on my iPhone? I’d like to buy this Lane Smith book in print. I hear people can still do that.

Book

If you are like me and need a real book in hand (or at least on the kindle) try Mennonite in the Little Black Dress. If you grew up Mennonite, or brethren (like me), or any old school church that spent a lot of time trying to be “in the world, but not OF it” you will LOVE this book. My sisters and I howled over it on our road trip. We sang all the old bible camp songs at the top of our lungs until Glen was ready to chuck us out of the car on our “sitter-downers”.

Don’t expect a devotional or some Janet Oke-ish love story, but it’s an interesting peek into both this strange little subculture and the cold world of academia.

So here’s me, with mine hand on mine self and vat is das here, das is mine tinker-boxer mine Mama dear. Tinker-boxer, tinker-boxer, ja, ja, ja, ja. Dat’s vat ve learn in der school. Ja Ja!

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in favourites, Uncategorized

January 20, 2012

Friday Favourites 6: Happily Ever After

By So Here's Us.... life on the raggedy edge.

That cute guy I sleep next to every night just got his dream job!

He already had a perfectly good (read: better paying, working from home) job, but this one offers a level of fulfillment that we couldn’t pass up. Not only will he be doing work he enjoys, but supporting a cause very near, and dear, to our hearts… and our thoughts… and cuddled in our laps… and messing up our house.

Glen is the new Director of Marketing and Development for the Down Syndrome Research Foundation.

Quote

“It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis” Margaret Bonnano

Blog

When I think of living happily ever after one ordinary day at a time, I think of blogger Emerging Mummy. She finds poetry in the everday. Her writing is beautiful, challenging and inspiring. It’s not something to skim quickly on my way out the door. You’ll need to sit down with a knife and fork and really chew through it.

She will not settle for the idea that women exist to be footnotes in the world of men. Nor did God design us to be merely ornamental. Or MERELY anything at all.

Book

Which brings me to one of my favourite books. It pushes the envelope. It is bold and unexpected. It breaks down the barriers of the fairy tale genre.

If you refuse to accept that women are merely damsels in distress, Paper Bag Princess is a must read. Plus, it has one of the best closing lines ever!

“Ronald, YOU are a bum!”

Video

I have to confess, my girls used to have a bubble gum pink bedroom with Disney Princess posters on the walls. For years we lived a love-hate affair with these fluffy characters. Neither strong or smart enough to be real heroes, but oh, so well marketed.

We spent a lot of time talking about what we do and do not like about the Disney gals. Which is probably why I like this little video so much. Despite the title, it is intended for the grown ups (language warning).

Also available: Belle on abusive relationships and Ariel on cosmetic surgery.

Show

As usual, I’m late to the party when it comes to T.V. shows, but I have recently discovered Once Upon a Time. Living in small town America, the characters are unaware that they are actually fairy tale heroes under a terrible curse. They are not only stuck in time, but denied their happily ever after (yep, sounds like small town living to me).

I’m not going to lie, I thought it all sounded pretty lame. Turns out I like both the modern and fairy tale storylines. Plus, the evil queen is satisfyingly hateable and Rumplestiltskin is deeply CRE-E-EPY. Good villains can really make the show.

What story character are you? 

So here’s me, The Old Lady who Lived in the Shoe. Because my happily ever after still includes stomach bugs, snow storms, tears, blood tests, book reports, tears, sleepovers, budget worries, more tears, snuggles, chores and Dr Seuss stories.

9 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in favourites

January 11, 2012

Friday Favourites 5

By So Here's Us.... life on the raggedy edge.

Learning to Shut Up, High Tech Family Time and British Melodrama

This week I’ve gone back to school for the first time in 17 years. I was a bit of a keener back in the day, but it’s a whole new ball game now. I like to sit at the front with my friend Beth, and I try – I really, really try – to bite my tongue and play it cool.

But we’re talking about childbirth and parenting styles in Developmental Psychology. We’re discussing the school system and learning disabilities in Life Writing. It’s fascinating. It’s controversial. It’s Totally My Area of Expertise.

Today the prof was talking about stereotyping, something we tend to do upon first impression.

“For example,” she says,

“I usually peg students in that first week: the quiet one, the shy one, and

(turning to look right. at. me.)

the one who does all the talking.”

My New Motto:

“‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Blog:

Although we may differ in opinion about the inherent creepiness of snakes, Becoming Cliche is one of my favourite blogs. I’m sure Heather has deep, deep, important thoughts… but the rest she puts online to make me laugh. On a bad day, she makes me smirk; on a good day, I’m reaching for the Depends. You can also find very important information there; for instance, the Comprehensive Guide to Passive Aggression.

iPhone/iPad App:

This Christmas, we spent a lot of time passing iPads and iPods around the room. After a few days of her wondering what on earth was going on, we managed to get Great Grandma in on it. Board games have been born again!

No more lost pieces, no more dishonest bankers taking unauthorized “interest payments” (you know who you are), no more table-clearing brawls over who gets to be the top hat, and no more heated debated over the word Q-A-T (yes, that is a real word). Board game apps are the best thing since sliced bread – not absolutely necessary, but a whole lot less work! Our favourites are Scrabble, Monopoly and Risk.

Video:

Getting tired of weepy celebrities pimping sad, sad stories of the third world? Slide shows of dying children set to makes-me-want-to-slit-my-wrists soundtracks? There’s been a lot of talk lately about poverty tourism and condescending attitudes within charities. This video represents a new way of doing things. It brightened my day and made me excited about giving again – as a partner, not a patron. Plus, I love the tagline: Keep the Pity; Unlock the Potential.

Cheesy British Series:

For the past three years, BBC’s Robin Hood held this place in my heart. It petered out in the third season, but we had a good run. I was content.

THEN, my sister-in-law Erin introduced me to Downton Abbey. And now I see it everywhere I turn around. This Jane Austen-style soap opera is strangely addictive. Honestly, I have important things to do like housework, studying, talking to my husband, maybe even sleeping. But instead I’m glued to the screen desperate to find out if Lord Grantham can break the entail or if that weasel of a footman is promoted to valet. All that Regency-era historical fiction I read in my teenage years is FINALLY paying off. I knew it would some day!

Book:

Things are busy and I’m feeling overwhelmed. As much as I’ve been enjoying “A Life-Span Perspective on Human Development” (and who wouldn’t) there may come a time when I have a spare moment… I live in hope. When that moment comes, I will spend it with a familiar old friend – Valancy Stirling. Literary comfort food for hectic times in the form of The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery.

Valancy is unloved and unwanted, a spinster by age 29 (we’ll call that the bad old days), who gets some alarming news and decides to reinvent herself. You can’t help but love her and hate pretty much everyone around her. I have read this book at least once a year since puberty, and you should too.

So here’s me, playing my new game: WWDCD? What would the Dowager Countess Do? It involves a lot of sniffing disdainfully and saying things like, “We can’t have him assassinated… I suppose.”

4 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in favourites, Uncategorized

December 9, 2011

Friday’s Favourites

By So Here's Us.... life on the raggedy edge.

Just doing my part to fill the gaping hole left by Oprah. Here are some of MY favourite things. I just might make this a regular thing…

Favourite quote: “Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” – Eric Hoffer

Favourite “Mom” phrase: “Oh ya… this is happening.”

Favourite non-sentient being: my new iPhone.

Note – NOT the iPhone-S. I have finally found something that happily does what I want without talking back. I fully expect that one day “Siri” (the voice of iPhone-S) will turn on us, a la skynet. Me and my quiet, well behaved phone will be far, far from the trouble.

Favourite App – Remember those photo booth picture strips? I have one of me and hubby from when we were 16. We look all cute and sweet and we’re slobbering all over each other. Now I can take one anytime (and I do). So easy and only $0.99: Incredibooth.

Favourite Blog: This one is hard to narrow down. There are so many amazing/interesting/weird/compelling writers out there. She was one of the first I started to follow, based on the name alone. Funny, humble, inspiring and she has revitalized the word douche in our house. Jamie the Very Worst Missionary

Favourite Books: This week, it’s a toss up between Stephanie Meyer’s The Host and Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Suess. Both brilliant. Both by authors who are famous for other work. Both are the best they’ve ever written IMHO. So if you like intriguing sci-fi with great character development (and a dash of romance) pick the first. If you like clever political satire and/or absurd rhyming words, read the second. Better yet, read both.

Favourite Christmas cookie – most difficult category on my list. Do I honour my scottish roots and go with shortbread? Plus, it is made up almost entirely of butter and sugar, can’t go wrong with that. OR do I throw my support to the sugar cookie? Which, now that I think about it, often comes with icing which IS entirely butter and sugar. Done, sugar cookie it is, sorry Grandma.

NEW Favourite Christmas song – I heard this song on the radio and immediately tracked it down on youtube. Maybe I’m late to the party, but seriously, the AMAZING Justine Hines will be reaping most of my iTunes dollars in the new year.

So here’s me, peddling other people’s brilliance.

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in christmas, favourites