MamaManagement

So I've been working on this project to reorganize and repurpose a few rooms in our home...morphing the home office into a reading and writing library, then the dining room will grow into a dining-art room, and finally a reorganization of the family-sun-play room. I started the process with the office transformation more than a month ago. But after the initial burst of energy, in which I pulled everything off shelves and out of drawers and began sorting and recycling and whatnot, I stagnated and things just sat there in disarray. The furniture had been moved and repurposed, but all the "stuff" still sat in piles. Until one day I was playing with my son and sat down in his kid's chair (which I had moved into the library as a part of a reading and listening station for the kids). Suddenly, I looked up at the desk and shelving unit that takes up one entire wall in the office and saw it all in a completely different way. And that's what it took.

I love this book so much, I just had to share it with you all. This was a recent library find...I was genuinely sad when we had to return it this week. It's S tand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell. I absolutely adore the illustrations, and the story is lovely and sends an important message...it is both anti-bully and pro-love-yourself-just-as-you-are. I love it...and Portia did too! Kudos to both Patty Lovell and the illustrator, David Catrow (who is from my dad's hometown, Springfield, Ohio)! Check it out! And until next time, happy reading.

Okay, so I know it's not Summer yet...hell, it's just barely beginning to look like Spring around here...but this is such a tasty little salad that I had to share so you can enjoy it all Spring and Summer long. Here's the thing with salads, for me: I love a great salad when I'm out at a restaurant, but most of the salads I make at home are just "fine." I think I've finally figured out why. Store-bought salad dressing generally sucks. And every salad should have some sort of toasted or candied nut on it. I think that might be it. Here's something else I just learned: making incredibly yummy homemade salad dressing is ridiculously easy! I don't think I'm stretching the truth when I say I do not plan to buy bottled salad dressing ever again. I have had three different homemade dressings in the last month and all were both easy and DELICIOUS. So this little ditty I'm sharing with you today is a fabulous mix of flavors...strawberries + su