So I decided to go out and get some new glasses. I’ve lived with same frames for seven years so I was due. I was kind of excited about it too. I was ready to change it up. Maybe try something new. So I went and sifted through frame after frame. And finally settled on a pair. They seemed so different. Eeks, could I make this leap? Well, it was time. Ok. Let’s get crazy.
And I ordered them.
And went home and worried about the price of having such horrid eyesight and I hoped I had picked something ok, something not too TOO crazy, but something fun, maybe even a little edgy.
I picked them up today. I tried them on. Oh! Ok. Not too bad! I can live with these.
And then I brought them home. And compared them to my last pair.
I went from this…
To this…
Wow, Caroline.
Way to take a risk.
I’ll pay someone in Cheese-its and Goldfish if they can find one frigging difference. It’s like those pictures on the kid’s paper place mats in restaurants where they have to find 5 things different between two identical cartoon pictures.
I don’t hate them (and haven’t for 7 years, obviously) but I’m kind of horrified at myself for failing so miserably at risk-taking. Clearly, it’s never been my strong suit. So I’ll say it again. Wow, Caroline.
(And totally promise to bring a willful friend along next time to push me a little bit further out of my comfort zone.)
I am tying up a few loose ends around here as I prepare to get back to work. And that includes this blog’s time with Insect Lore. Yep, that’s right, my time with Insect Lore is over for now.
But we have obviously loved all the goodies and creepy crawlies we’ve gotten to know along the way.
Speaking of creepy crawlies, you might remember our window sill full of caterpillars who wound themselves into quiet cocoons. Well, awhile back they did hatch over a flutter filled Sunday afternoon. The next day my family decided to release them all. And we, of course, video taped our fun.
It was truly bittersweet, we had grown used to having them around and watching them change. But, of course, butterflies must fly and a warm Florida Spring offers them the perfect opportunity to do just that.
And in the words of those wonderful Dixie Chicks, “there’s beauty in just letting go.”
Enjoy.
(Oh and p.s. Gotta love my husband’s first comments. “Don’t whack it, it’s not a bug.” Well, I guess not the kind of bug someone would actually want to whack at least… Such a fun family afternoon.)
Never deny the awesomeness of a good bag of hand-me-downs for reasons exactly like this one.
Ok so it’s a little small but he won’t take it off. And I am totally fine with that too.
Oh and before you start Googling where to get one, I’m pretty sure it is hand made (I’ll find out it’s back story and update later). The sweatshirt is Hanes but the rest looks lovingly hand sewn.
Well folks, our babies are growing up! I can’t BELIEVE the difference 2 weeks can make in a caterpillar’s life. They must be 6 or 7 times the size they were when they arrived. And I am also happy to report that we’ve had no caterpillar casualties – all 30 are healthy and viable in their dixie cups.
(Note: These cups are on a window sill that never gets direct sunlight. The Insect Lore directions explain that direct sunlight could kill your caterpillars. So far so good here.)
In fact, as you can see from the caterpillar hanging upside down, some of them are already in position to start crafting their chrysalises!
We’re so proud. I’ll post again once we have an actual chrysalis.
Oh and after winter froze and killed all my butterfly friendly shrubs, I need to get cracking and replant my garden. These guys are going to need a new home soon!
EXCITED.
And nothing yet from our Praying Mantis egg sack. It’s due to hatch soon though so I’ll post once they emerge and chaos ensues as I try and round up and release most of them before they eat each other.
This is what happens when I finally tackle cleaning my own closet while the boys are at school. And while standing under the closet’s fluorescent light, in a nest of dust bunnies, between piles of old clothing ready to be heaved, I find stuff and get distracted.
Like an enormous bag of tattered nursing bras that need to be (not given away but) thrown out. Oh but sigh. Remember when I wore these everyday? Remember when my babies were so little and sweet and snugglie? AND MY BODY NOURISHED THEM? And then I stare at that nasty bag of bras and get all philosophical about the many meanings and miracles of life.
*heaving wistful sigh*
Or how about the pin-striped, sear sucker suit my oldest boy wore to my best friend’s wedding when he was just one year old. He couldn’t even walk yet, and there are still grass stains on the knees.
Or my graduation hood or an old dress of my mother’s or pictures and letters and wrapped presents (I wonder what they are?) and toys I heaved in there because my boys were fighting over them and the shirt my husband wore on our first date.
And then, out of nowhere, drops a sweet, fluffy winter cap my first born wore when we lived where there was real winter. A dear little powder blue cap, with pom poms, and flaps for his ears and a snap for under his chin.
This is what happens when you find that stuff.
You grab your child when he gets home from school, squeeze that infant’s hat on his head and force the snap together under his grown chin and make him stand there for a picture. And then you clutch them to you and blubber about how grown they are while they squirm and demand to see the picture and have a good giggle before yanking it off and bounding out of the house to go play zombies with the kid across the street.
This is what happens when I clean.
And it’s not pretty.
(…What is WITH me and all this nostalgic closet cleaning??? But my logic was that if I could do 3 closets and 13 bags for my mom, I could do it for myself too. And what satisfying results! Still. *eyeroll* Get a GRIP woman.)
Well, more creatures have come to our home. While our praying mantis egg sack sits quietly waiting to hatch and our few remaining ant hill ants keep burrowing away, we got this Insect Lore package in the mail.
We opened up our package to find well over 30 painted lady caterpillars collected into a small jar. However, the directions noted that we should separate them into small dixie cups right away. Ok then, we had some work to do. So we pulled the folding table out of the garage and into the driveway, invited over the neighbors kids and spent our after school hours gently rehousing caterpillars.
But before I did, I jumped onto the Insect Lore Facebook page. Why? Well, the caterpillar food we had to transfer into the cups too looked suspiciously like peanut butter. And with one kid allergic, I had to ask – so I did. They responded right away and said:
“All butterflies’ larvae eat from unique host plants, so the diet is a ‘smoothie’ of malva, hollyhock and thistle plants – no goober peas involved at all.”
Phew. Good to know. And we were off. My 7 year old did great as he carefully spooned and smooshed the food into the bottom of the cups as instructed. I spent my time carefully picking up caterpillars using an included paintbrush. Before we knew it, we had them all put safely into their new homes.
And I have to say. Those little caterpillars were pretty darn cute.
We passed a handful over to the neighbors who took them home to watch. And then brought the rest of ours indoors and set them up on a ledge which gets no direct sunlight.
So now we wait.
In the meantime, another rather large beast has decided to upstage all of my new creatures. A total diva. Laying there, thinking he’s all that.
Yes, this new addition is sunning himself on a bank off my backyard. But really, this pic is zoomed in. He’s not that big, only three feet or so. Still big or small, we love all beasites around here.
So we got our next Insect Lore item in the mail. I had no idea what it was going to be either. All I saw when I looked down on my front door stoop was a box with this on it.
Come to find out, in 3-6 weeks, we will be hatching a nest of Chinese praying mantises in our home. Yep. You heard me right. When we opened the package, we had an egg sack and a pagoda to house our new creatures.
After some careful construction (and a little McGyvering, I added some small paper edges to keep it from slipping out), our egg sack is resting carefully on it’s hanging platform in the pagoda.
So 3-6 weeks, and we have babies. Of course, the directions said we should release all but one or two or else they will eat each other. This is good news for my garden since they eat pest bugs. However that begs the question, what will our praying mantis eat? And then I read:
“Be prepared to find very small insects such as aphids, fruit flies, small caterpillars, moths, or other soft-bodied insects for them to eat. Your mantis will eat almost any live bug.”
Um. Soft-bodied?
*shiver*
Ok.
But then I also read you can pick up pin-head crickets at a pet store and they like those too. So perfect. I can handle that. I think.
(…visions of escaped crickets all over the back seat of my car and screaming, swatting children and hungry mantises waiting patiently at home…)
In the meantime, our mantis has already been named by my 4 year old. Copernicus. I swear. He picked it. I couldn’t even make that one up.
Until then, the egg sack is quiet in its new home.
My father travels a lot. I’ve never sat him down and counted exactly how many countries and continents he’s been to because I’m not sure that we could do it. There are far too many. However. As one of his many family members, we have all grown used to receiving all varieties of fascinating gifts upon his return. Tapestries, woven baskets, carved chests, coral jewelry, endless unusual things.
Cool right?
Not so fast.
This year he out did himself. He spent 6 months in the Philippines this past year and, amongst a few lovely items, he brought home some… other things… for his grandsons.
I almost feel bad posting what they are. It may be very offensive for some. For real. It is pretty damned disturbing. But of course the boys LOVED them, the oldest planning to store his tooth fairy money in them from now on.
But then again, they are too insane NOT to post. So here I go. But brace yourself. And yes. They are “real”. With googly-eyes.
GAH.
My apologies.
But you only have to live with this post. I HAVE TO LIVE WITH TWO OF THEM IN MY HOUSE. EVERYDAY. And my children TOSSING them at me, because they think my reaction is FUNNY.
A couple years ago, my oldest son was given an Insect Lore Ant Hill for his birthday. And do you know what I did with it? I immediately gave it away.
You see, ants and I have never been friends. We get fire ants here in Florida. Lots of them. And they bite and leave big welts. And I had some run-ins with some over-sized scary mean ants in Africa as a child. So ants, in abundance, were not something I wanted in my home particularly.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I learned we were getting the same Insect Lore Ant Hill to review here. Being “professional” and all, I sucked it up. I can handle it. I assured myself there was a way to “enjoy” ants while educating my children. Plus, what kind of animal, wildlife lover was I if I couldn’t handle a few ants? Sheesh. So I awaited their arrival. …I was excited! Swear.
We got the Ant Hill first. But then I learned that the ants come separately. In fact if you purchase an Ant Hill, be prepared to send away for your ants with an additional $4.00. In the meantime, you are instructed to set up your Ant Hill and have it ready to go as soon as they arrive.
A week or so later, my ants arrived safely in my mailbox tucked into a puffy envelope. I ignored the heebie jeebies running up and down my spine and ripped it open while my son cowered behind me (I’ve done a nice job protecting him from my ant issues it seems). Luckily, the ants were carefully secured in two tubes. We still had to transfer them into their new digs, however (which we translated as “setting them loose”). Thank goodness for instructions because Insect Lore suggested that we refrigerate the ants for five minutes which will “calm” them. Because these ants bite too. So into my frig they went. Once they were good and “calm”, I popped open the Ant Hill lid, slid the ants inside, and shut it. No ant escapees and we were in business.
To my astonishment, these ants have become my family’s most recent obsession. We are utterly fascinated with their daily progress. They are always busy. We’ve found new tunnels, ants carrying and depositing sand, ants eating and carrying food, interacting, job sharing – it’s all pretty amazing. After school, my son rushes through the door and into the kitchen to see what they’ve done while he’s been gone. I think we all have a new appreciation for ants and all that they do. I never thought I would say this but our Ant Hill is one of the most interesting and educational products we’ve had in our household in a very long time.
One bit of advice, however? Read the instructions carefully. They are very thorough and will help you understand and care for your ants best. The instructions also include some fun activities and facts for your kids so that you can continue to make this project as educational and interesting as possible.
Oh and I almost forgot! As I do with every item I review for Insect Lore, I get to give some away. Insect Lore will send one winner two Ant Hills – one for you and one for your child’s school. Yep, you too can suck up the courage to bring some ants into your home. Because, take it from me, you and your kids will find yourselves more mezmerised by their comings and goings than any all day The Santa Clause movie marathon. As will your child’s class.
Giveaway Rules
What do you need to do? Between now and Monday, December 20th, leave a comment below telling me about how excited you are to share an Ant Hill with your kids. OR you can comment about how fearful you are to bring a bunch of ants into your home but are willing to come to terms with those heebie jeebies for the sake of your children’s educational development. Of course. (I promise, as an ant fearing parent myself, they aren’t so bad!)
A tweet can count as an entry too (maybe something like: “I entered the @MorningsideMom @insectlore Ant Hill #giveaway here because she swears that ants are a good time. http://wp.me/ptpXZ-10N “). Just leave a comment here saying you tweeted.
UPDATE:
Congratulations to Jen and her six year old son! They have won the ant hill giveaway. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! And thanks to everyone else for your entries. This contest is now closed.
And in the meantime, are you curious to hear what my seven year old thinks of this Ant Hill? Here is a quiet conversation between the two of us while we watch our ants. It’s a little blurry but you can see them hard at work, carrying sand and moving through tunnels. Also, I called this product a “toy” in this video. Upon later review, my son corrected me. “Mom, it’s NOT a toy. It’s ants living in their house.” Right.
Full Disclosure, as always: I am a paid Blog Ambassador for Insect Lore since they do advertise on my site. That being said, my reviews for their products are entirely my own unbiased opinion.
So I’ve been feeling kind of cruddy. Just some stupid cold. It’s not like I’m dying or anything – regardless of what horrible hacking noises I make from beneath my jumble of blankets in the morning.
But I’ve been needing a little holiday pick me up.
Because all of these half unpacked boxes of Christmas “cheer” just seem to translate into Christmas clutter when I’m feeling all sick and sorry for myself. And that’s just not acceptable. Not with two wide-eyed wondering children in the prime of their Christmas magic years.
It’s time to buck up.
So after my husband bustled the boys off to school this morning, instead of going to my to-do list of blog tasks, writing tasks, and (holy unbought Christmas gifts) holiday tasks, I made a hot cup of tea and opened up my itunes. What was I looking to do? Well. Create the perfect Christmas music mix of course.
Because my Christmas cheer must be found. I NEEDED A CHRISTMAS CAROL…
SO. I made my Christmas mix. And you know what? I DO feel better. Buddy was right.
Speaking of Buddy, the Elf soundtrack is on my list of top ten Christmas albums. Wanna hear what my top ten list of Christmas albums are? Well, SURE YOU DO!
(A big BY THE WAY. While I was considering this post, I thought “Gee, if I only had an associates page so I could link my recs… Wait a minute. I should make one!” So I did. Each album is linked to it. But whatever. No need to click or buy or anything like that. Just sharing my favorites, that’s all…)
Ok, so there are a few cheese-balls in here (maybe its just me, but Shaggy tunes don’t exactly scream holly or jolly – just saying). But the first part is fantastic – a nice overall collection of the must-haves.
While not quite a Rat Pack crooner, there are some beautiful songs on this Harry Connick album. He sings a really fun big band version of “Frosty the Snowman” and then a really pretty “Mary’s Little Boy Child”.
What feels more Christmasy than Burl Ives? His “Holly Jolly Christmas” is the one from the animated “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” TV movie we all grew up with. (Which I own and force my kids to watch every December…)
Want to get your parents all misty with memories of Christmases past? Shoot, I well up hearing Bing Crosby croon “White Christmas” or “Silver Bells”. I think we had this original album once upon a time.
Speaking of nostalgia, are you kidding me with this? Oh how I love the songs on this album, especially their version of “O Tannenbaum” and then the wonderful “Christmas Time is Here”.
My mother used to take me to this ballet every Christmas. I remember patent leather shoes and a grand theater and peering into the orchestra pit to watch them warm up before the show. This music IS my childhood Christmas.
BNL rocks the holiday season out in this album. And I could not adore the BNL, Sarah McLaughlin “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” more. There are traditional tunes and fun, upbeat versions of old favorites. The whole album is terrific.
Yes, this is the big band, crooner, collection of holiday favorites you’ve been looking for. I adore this entire album from start to finish. And let’s take bets on how many eggnogs were passed around for the live version of “A Marshmellow World”.
Ok, you all may not share my adoration for The Carpenters but TRUST ME. Karen Carpenter has the voice of an angel. And this album gets me all kinds of choked up every year. Play “Christmas Waltz” or “Merry Christmas Darling” or “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and YOU TRY not to get all melancholy and hold your loved ones close and appreciate the wonder of this season. I dare you. (P.S. Skip the first three tracks. They’re cheezy 70s soft jazz stuff I’m pretty sure her brother did and are totally lame compared with the rest of the album.)
For all around fun, upbeat and jolly tunes – you have to get the Elf Soundtrack. I adore it. I do. It has something of everything. And oh SWOON for Zoey DesChanel’s “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. And Ella Fitzgerald’s “Sleigh Ride”? Perfection. Love it. Burn it. Buy it. Whatever. You gotta have it.
Oh and just as as bonus consideration, I did check out the new Glee Christmas Album. I don’t own it (yet). It seems pretty good though, especially if you are a fan of both the show and holiday music. Some tunes seem a bit over the top but it might be worth adding to your collection.
Ok, so that’s it from me. Here’s hoping the incessant holiday music in the stores doesn’t drive you mad or force you to repel all of it all together. Christmas music always added to the magic as a child. And now sometimes, somehow, music can bring whatever magic there is left in this holiday right back. Enjoy it.
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