Picnic Baskets

Posted on by Mandy

Now that fall weather is upon us, it’s a fantastic time here in the South to enjoy a picnic or tailgate at your favorite football ballgame.  We don’t get too many days here in Mississippi that are pleasant enough to enjoy the outdoors.  We seem to go from one extreme to another, either it being too hot or too cool, but spring and fall are the perfect times to enjoy the great outdoors and food is definitely a part of that experience.

1001PicnicBaskets.com has so many fantastic picnic baskets and accessories to choose from to help make your time spent eating outdoors fun and easy.  From blankets and chairs, silverware, and even rolling coolers, 1001PicnicBaskets.com has you completely covered.  All you need to do is supply the food and fun!

Picnic accessories can also make fantastic wedding shower gifts.  Consider the groom the next time you’re looking for a wedding gift and keep these BBQ sets in mind. 

There are also many other products at 1001PicnicBaskets.com you can use throughout your home, like this cutting board set.

1001PicnicBaskets.com also has a great selection of coffee totes and accessories for those of you who are crazy about your java.  If there is a gift need you can think of, you can find a unique one here for just about anyone.  They also offer gift certificates.  Be sure and keep this site in mind for the upcoming holiday shopping season and enjoy your time outdoors!

Cute Baby Halloween Costumes

Posted on by Mandy

My husband and I have had so much fun dressing up our son for Halloween each year since he’s been born. My son was Superman (well, Superbaby) for his first Halloween and I can remember browsing online for hours in search of the perfect baby Halloween costume that was cute and unique. We’re still undecided about a costume for this year, but I thought I’d share some adorable baby Halloween costumes I ran across online. Almost makes me wish my little guy was this small again!

One of my favorites was this Humpty Dumpty baby Halloween costume which retails for $28.99 at Diapers.com. And of course, it really wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that I think eggs are totally cool. None whatsoever.

The Pea in the Pod costume is a classic one that never loses its cuteness. If you have a baby that loves swaddling, this looks like a definite winner.

I thought surely my eyes were deceiving me on this next one, but that really is a Baby Whoopie Cushion! This is definitely the most unique one in the bunch and I’m ashamed to say I totally would have done this to my son if this costume had been around on his first Halloween.

Parental Pixar fans will rejoice over the fact they can dress their baby as a Toy story 3 Alien! This would also have been a strong contender if it had been available when my son was this small. My love of Toy Story began years before we had him!

What was (or what will be) your baby’s first Halloween costume?

Sid The Science Kid Season 2 & Giveaway

Posted on by Mandy

Sid the Science Kid, a science show for preschoolers on PBS Kids, will return with 12 fresh new episodes starting Monday, October 4. We’re really excited about this at our house because we watch Sid the Science Kid while getting ready for school each morning. It’s fun to see which science concept Sid, his classmates, and his teacher will be exploring that day. The songs are also quite catchy, too!

The fall season features episodes where Sid and his pals leave the classroom for field trips to visit their local science center.

New segments explore science concepts including Force and Motion, Systems and Interactions and Lights and Shadows.

Sid begins each episode with a new question and spends a fun-filled day finding answers.

Season 2 Episode Guide:

During the week of October 4, Sid and his friends learn about Force and Motion, with episodes that get kids up and moving, actively experimenting with the preschool physics concepts of friction, elasticity and inertia:

•“Slide To The Side” (“Why Can’t I do the ‘Sid Slide to the Side’ dance in my sneakers?”)
Sid tries out his new dance called “The Sid Slide to the Side!” on his hardwood floor. He soon finds out his sneakers can’t slide, which leads Sid and his friends to observe and investigate friction; what makes something slow down.

•“That’s The Way the Ball Bounces” (“Why didn’t my ball bounce?”)
Sid creates a new sport called Playdough Ball! When it’s time to play, Sid discovers that his ball doesn’t bounce, it just splats on the ground. At school Sid and his friends discover that if a ball doesn’t have enough elasticity, it won’t bounce.

•“Ignatz’s Inertia (“Why didn’t Ignatz stop moving?”)
Sid pushes his toy panda Ignatz across his room on a skateboard, but when the skateboard bumps a wooden block and halts, Ignatz continues to fly forward. Teacher Susie tells Sid and pals that things keep moving until they are stopped, and that’s called inertia.

•“Sid’s Super Kick” (“Is my Super Sid Kick too super?”)
Sid becomes his alter ego Super Sid, the world’s greatest super hero. While demonstrating his Super Sid Kick!, Sid learns that by kicking a ball with more force, the ball will fly farther. Things become very clear when Teacher Susie demonstrates force with a 6-foot tall air cannon and tennis balls.

Just as Daylight Saving Time begins to make the days shorter and the nights longer during the week of November 8, Sid and his pals investigate Lights and Shadows, with episodes on light, darkness, shadows and rainbows:

•“Let There Be Light” (“Why can’t I grab the light that comes out of my flashlight?”)
Sid and his baby brother Zeke are playing a game where they try to “grab” the light coming out of the flashlight. But Sid and his friends discover that they can’t grab light, and they can’t make it bend around a corner – unless you reflect it. They also discover that not all light is the same color—it can be bright, soft, yellow, white, etc.

• “Discovering Darkness” (“Why am I getting up in the dark?”)
Sid has to wake up a bit early on a winter morning, so that means it’s darker in the morning and darker earlier in the evening. This leads Sid and his friends to investigate and observe what happens when a light source is completely blocked—creating darkness.

•“Shadow Smile” (“Why doesn’t my shadow smile when I do?”)
After looking at his own shadow on his bedroom wall, Sid starts wondering why his shadow doesn’t smile when he does. This leads Sid and his friends to investigate creating shadows at school.

•“A Rainbow Every Day” (“Oh no! What happened to the rainbow?”)
From his tree house, Sid spots a rainbow in the sky. He races down the tree, runs into the kitchen, and excitedly tells his parents and Zeke to come outside to see the rainbow. But when they arrive, it’s gone. A field trip to the Science Center shows Sid and his friends experiment with large prisms and learn how rainbows are made from light, not paint.

Each week, the programs focus on a single scientific concept based on Preschool Pathways to Science (PrePS©), a practical curriculum used in preschool classrooms that was created by cognitive researchers and preschool educators, incorporating lessons learned from developmental research as well as classroom experience.

Accompanying lesson plans and at home investigations can be found online at PBSTEACHERS.org and PBSPARENTS.org.

We were given the opportunity to preview three full episodes from this upcoming season of Sid the Science Kid and E.B. can’t stop sliding all over the kitchen floor in his socks. “Slide to the Side” was definitely his favorite episode from the preview DVD. We were also given a Sid the Science Kid Learning Kit, a Preview Party Pack, and a Sid the Science Kid microphone.

GIVEAWAY:

One lucky Mommy Cracked winner will receive a Sid the Science Kid Learning Kit (pictured in the middle in above picture)!

TO ENTER:

 Leave a comment on this post telling me what is your or your child’s favorite topic in science  by Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 11 PM Central. U.S. only and void where prohibited. Please make sure you leave a way to contact you by email in your comment. Want extra entries? Keep reading….

BONUS ENTRIES:  

After you have left a comment (see above), you can also earn up to five bonus entries!  Choose as many (or all five) of the options below as you want:

1. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked in a reader by clicking here. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so).

2. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked by email and confirm the subscription. This option is in the sidebar. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so)

3. Tweet this contest and leave a comment on this post with your link on Twitter.

4. Click here to follow me on Twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

5. Click here to become a fan of Mommy Cracked on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

That’s it!  Good luck!

Waiting on Cupcakes

Posted on by Mandy

The other night I made cupcakes for E.B. He loves them and I thought the cupcakes would be a special treat. After popping them in the oven and moving on to some housework, I heard a chair scooting across the kitchen floor. When I went to check it out, I found E.B. ever so patiently waiting and watching for these cupcakes to bake.

As Seen on TV Infomercials

Posted on by Mandy

On nights that I have trouble sleeping, I get sucked into infomericals and cannot quit watching them even though they replay themselves in loop mode over and over.  It’s like I’m afraid I’m going to miss something if I change the channel.  I suppose this is how they make their sales.  Luckily for me, once I am in bed I am just too darned lazy to reach for the phone and “ORDER NOW!!”.

Saturday night was one of those bad, restless nights.  In my defense, I had receieved a Decadron shot for this horrible sinus infection that will never end and was warned it could probably mess my sleeping up real bad.  And honey, it wasn’t just the sleeping.  I woke up at 1:30 A.M. feeling “Deca-drunk”, sweating, and just feeling gross all over.  Lovely.  I figured the TV would help lull me back to sleep, but instead I saw infomercials I had never seen before.  By the time 5:30 A.M. rolled around, I was convinced I had to have the following:

Ouidad’s Curl Confidence–  Yes, I straighten my naturally wavy hair everyday.  Apparently, all I need is some Curl Confidence and I can have lucious, touchable curls instantly.  Must remember this for my Christmas list.

Zumba– Apparently, all I need to do to lose weight is ditch my workout (*snort!* what workout??) and “join the party!!”.  Everyone on the infomercial was skinny with “Situation abs”, save for this one overweight, middle-aged woman.  Bless her heart, she had gone from a size 22 to a 14.  I’m proud for her, but if I’m going to Zumba my way to being skinny, I want to at least be a size 2, ok?  The music is enough to make me want to poke my eyes out anyway.

NuWave Oven–  I can bake, broil, BBQ, steam, and roast delicious, healthy meals 50% faster than a conventional oven, reduce the fat of regular cooking, and all with EASY clean-up!  This reminds me of the George Foreman Grill, and I can tell you personally what sweet memories I have of the really easy clean-up on that one.

Slap Chop– OK, I’ll admit that I’ve seen this one before, but the guy in the commercial cracks. me. up.  Anybody that can say, “You’re going to love my nuts” with a straight face is hysterical in my book.

6 WordPress Plugins For Your Blog

Posted on by Mandy

Imagine being able to fight spam, choose a winner for your blog giveaways, and improve your blog’s SEO all with one click of a button.  If you’re using WordPress for your blogging platform and you haven’t implemented plugins into your blog, you’re really missing out on some great time-saving secrets of blogging.

What exactly is a plugin?  A plugin is an extension you can download and insert into your blog to make it do almost anything you can imagine.  There are plugins to fight spam, as I mentioned above, manage you social networking from your blog, and manage your comments section of your blog.  If you can think of anything you’d like your blog to do better and faster, there’s probably a plugin for that.

The WordPress Plugin Directory is filled with over 10,000 plugins.  Once you’ve found a few you like, I’ve found it easier to go directly to your Admin panel in WordPress, click on “Plugins” in your sidebar, and search and install from there.  Once you find a plugin you like, you can click “Install Now” and it will begin doing the download.  You will then see a message that looks like this:

Downloading install package from http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/broken-link-checker.0.9.6.zip…

Unpacking the package…

Installing the plugin…

Successfully installed the plugin Broken Link Checker 0.9.6.

Actions: Activate Plugin | Return to Plugin Installer

You will then click on “Activate Plugin” and you should be good to go.  Some plugins might require some extra tweaking, such as putting in information you want tracked, but they will also display instructions for doing that easily.

Below are six plugins I am currently using to make my blog work better for me.  Some of these may not apply to what you need for your blog, but some are pretty basic that every blogger can benefit from.

Akismet–  If you have a big problem with spambots leaving spammy comments on your blog, Akismet is great for catching any comment it recognizes as Spam and holding it in a folder until you have time to go through and take a look and delete them.  Suggestion:  If you hold giveaways on your blog, you will want to check your comment folder regularly.  Sometimes giveaway entries end up there in spam and you don’t want to lose those entries.

And The Winner Is– If you hold giveaways regularly on your blog, this is a fantastic plugin for choosing a winner.  All you have to do is install this and the next time you make a post, be sure and mark the box to the side of your admin panel that it’s a giveaway post and how many winners will be chosen.  Once your giveaway is over, simply click a button on this plugin and your winner is picked for you.

WP-Ban– If you’re trying to rid yourself of online trolls and spammers, WP-Ban can ban their IP addresses from seeing your blog.  It’s not always 100% effective, but if they have a static IP it can be very useful for preventing anyone you don’t want to have access to your blog from reading and commenting.  I haven’t had to use this feature yet, but I’m glad it’s there if I ever need it.

CommentLuv–  CommentLuv is a plugin that will visit the site of anyone who leaves a comment on your blog and post a link to their most recent post at the bottom of the comment they leave.  This is just a nice way of giving a link back to someone and showcasing their last post in case someone else may be interested in reading it.

Share This– This plugin will insert social network icons at the bottom of each post so readers can share your post via Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, and Email.  You can see mine at the bottom of this post.  I think they look pretty sharp and just make sharing super easy for your visitors.

Disable Check Comment Flood–  Again, if you hold giveaways on your blog, this is another great plugin to make entering more user-friendly for your readers.  If people try to enter your giveaway through several different ways of entering, they will start seeing a message telling them they are posting comments to quickly and to wait.  This plugin will make that message go away and help them enter your giveaways much quicker.

The above plugins are the ones I use most often, but they’re definitely not the only ones I use.  There are so many more plugins out there to fit any blog’s needs and they’re worth checking out to make blogging easier for you and your readers.

I have read online recently that more plugins might make your site run slower and impact the way Google crawls your site for indexing purposes, so you might want to keep them at a bare minimum if you’re worried about page rank and indexing stats.

I’d love to hear what plugins you use on your WordPress blog and what they do to make blogging easier for you.

The Sanity-Saving Facebook “Hide” Option

Posted on by Mandy

I see many, many things on Facebook that annoy me on a daily basis.  Sure, we all have bad days and probably complain once or twice on our status updates.  I’m definitely guilty as charged on that one.  However, I have recently come across probably the most annoying personality trait ever on Facebook.

It starts with someone sharing a little too much information.  Maybe they are having marital problems, maybe their child is being mistreated at school, maybe it’s some other relationship issue or job issue going on.  Whatever the case, they share a little more than the average person would probably feel comfortable sharing in such a public setting.  And then, they invite everyone on their friend’s list to play armchair psychologist to “help” them.

And this is where the fun starts.

People will either tell you what you want to hear, what they think you want to hear, and some brave souls will tell you the truth even when it hurts. 

And this is where it starts getting good.

After a myriad of helpful (and not so helpful) suggestions are made, the person will finally get so exasperated that they get mad, take their toys, and then leave.  But NOT without the million dollar question:

“Gah!  Why can’t everyone just STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS???!!!!”  Then they stomp off to their angry chair.

Why, indeed!

I don’t ever respond to these types of people because it’s just funnier to sit back and watch.  But, it eventually gets so annoying and clogs up my feed that I have to hide them for my sanity’s sake.  I am so glad Facebook has that option.  It’s just less obvious than deleting them from your friend’s list and they are none the wiser.

Share Day Anxiety

Posted on by Mandy

Let’s talk about share day (or show and tell day) at school.  I swear, nothing makes me sweat bullets on a Wednesday night like trying to come up with something appropriate for my son’s Share Day, which is on Thursdays every week.  It would be different if he could just pick out something random around the house he wanted to show his classmates, like a toy or something, but no, Share Day has stipulations. 

On Share Day, whatever my son brings to share must start with the letter of the week.  Easy enough, right?  However, it must also be put in a brown paper bag with three clues as to what is inside written on the paper bag.  And this is where I start to panic, because I want him to bring something interesting, but I also don’t want him to bring something everyone else has brought that week.  (I know…that’s a complex I am working on)  I wonder how many apples were brought on letter “A” day?

So this week he brought a cookie cutter for the letter C to share.  Groundbreaking stuff, y’all.  Have you ever tried to describe a cookie cutter by giving three clues without giving away what’s in the bag?  Think on that. 

But mostly?  My brain just draws a complete blank when trying to choose something for Share Day.  I’m not too great at thinking on my toes about stuff like that and then I overthink, which gets me nowhere fast.  I have issues on that, too.  The other big problem is that I can think of a million great things for him to take that starts with the letter he is working on that week, only, everything I think of won’t fit inside a brown paper bag.  Hmph!

I thought I had it really bad until a Facebook friend just this morning shared her child’s Share Day dilemma.  Halfway to school and too far to turn back for home, her child realized it was Share Day and she had brought nothing.  The requirements for HER child’s Share Day?  The item had to be something with the short “e” sound.  THE SHORT “E” SOUND!!  Because my friend is such a sharp thinker (and also used to be a teacher), she quickly fished out a Spanish coin she had collecting dust in her car that had “Espana” written on it, and said, “Because doesn’t everyone have  money from Spain lying around in their car?”.  Well played, Mom.  Well played, indeed.

So, what are the stipulations for YOUR child’s share day?  Is it a free-for-all, or are their stringent guidelines about what is to be brought in?  Any funny Share Day stories to share?  Near misses like my friend almost had?  I’d love to hear them!