Blog burn-out

Jul 9th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

Well, not so much burn-out as just plain not having enough time. I’ve thought of subjects galore on which to blog, but have had neither time nor energy to get it done. I have giveaways to hold, stories to relate, input to receive, pearls of wisdom to impart, and I will. Eventually. Some time.

Because let’s face it: You can’t live very long without doing that about which you are passionate and still maintain true happiness. OK, so I just made that up, but it sounds good and is, at least in part, true. I have been spending the majority of my time the last few months working on my Herbalife business, which is in its own way very fulfilling, but I desperately miss that part of myself that makes me ME — the writer I’ve been ever since I can remember.

I hope to someday get back to that part of my life full-time again; to make real all the ideas I have running around in my head; to reclaim the part of myself that has gone somewhat missing. In the meantime, I will keep posting here as I can because it’s the one last tentacle I have out there in the writing world.

What’s your passion? Do you indulge it frequently?

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LeapFrog Leapster Explorer giveaway winner!

Jul 7th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

I finally drew the winner for my Leapster Explorer giveaway.

Congratulations to

Ria Martin, of Decatur, GA!


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Giveaway: LeapFrog’s NEW Leapster Explorer!

Jun 18th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

As my loyal readers know, I have long been a fan of LeapFrog products, so when the public relations folks at LeapFrog chose me as one of their reviewers for the as-yet-unreleased Leapster Explorer, I was thrilled. It’s absolutely awesome. All four of my kids, ages 6-11, have been using it and they love it, even though it’s technically for up to age 9. My two youngest, especially, have been using it as often as I’ll let them, since we received it.

Since it hasn’t technically been released yet, we haven’t been able to hook the Explorer up to the computer, but all the pre-installed apps are great. My kids are thoroughly entertained and educated all at once and have nothing but good to say about the games. “The games are more fun than the Leapster 2′s,” says my 7-year-old, Cody. Logan, 6,  now refuses to even touch the Leapster 2, deeming it “boring” in comparison, though knowing the temperamental nature of kids, that will change soon, I’m sure.

Kids can watch videos, read e-Books and play games via “Leaplets,” which are downloadable learning applications. They can also go online to LeapWorld, where they can turn the achievements they’ve made in their Explorer games into tokens with which to create an online character and dwelling (similar to Webkinz, if you’re familiar with that).

The Explorer is very intuitive (it personalizes games according to your child’s grade and remembers her progress) and the screen is crisp and clear. Kids can use the accompanying stylus or just touch the screen with their fingers, and the Explorer is built to run Flash, video and 3-D graphics.

Bottom line: This is LeapFrog’s absolute best product yet! I’m very impressed with it and can’t wait to see all the games and Leaplets that come out for this new gadget. I think its price is extremely reasonable for everything it does.

The only downside about the Explorer is that, unlike with all the other Leapster models, the game cartridges are not interchangeable, which means you’ll be buying a whole new set. However, its advantages more than make up for that, in my opinion, and Leapster games have long been a staple on my kids’  birthday and Christmas lists.

So, because LeapFrog chose me as a reviewer for this new product, guess what? I get to give away a Leapster Explorer too! Here’s the scoop:

THE PRIZE:

A brand new, direct-from-the-company, Leapster Explorer PLUS the Toy Story 3 cartridge game! Retail value: Nearly $95!

TO ENTER:

♣ Leave a comment telling me about your favorite LeapFrog product. Limit one comment per person.

WANT BONUS ENTRIES?

♣ Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email, then leave a comment letting me know.

♣ Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (You can do this daily.) Optional phrasing for your Tweet: I’m entered to win a Leapster Explorer & game from @MomofTwinsPlus2. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/2e69j2x.

♣ Post on your blog with a link about the giveaway and leave a comment here with a link to your post.

♣ Follow my blog on Networked Blogs and leave a comment here letting me know.

♣ Become a fan of Parenting By Trial and Error on Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know.

PLEASE READ: Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, Saturday, July 3, 2010. Any comments left after this time will be deleted. Open to residents of the U.S. only. The winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to notification with shipping info. If no response, another winner will be chosen.

GOOD LUCK!

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Review: Little House on the Prairie, the Musical

Jun 8th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

The girls and I got to see Little House on the Prairie, the Musical in Sioux Falls this weekend, thanks to the public relations folks at Mammoth Advertising. In return for the tickets, I agreed to review the play on my blog, but no other compensation beyond the free tickets has been given for this review.

First of all, I have to emphasize how excited the girls were about seeing this play. They have both long been Little House fans, as have I, but even more so because it was their Grandma Carmen’s favorite show. Not only that, but we knew that Melissa Gilbert, the actress who played Laura on the TV series, was going to be in this musical as “Ma,” an event tantamount to being in the same room with Taylor Swift or The Jonas Brothers.

We got great seats, in the front row of the balcony. We couldn’t see anyone’s faces very clearly, but we were pleased with our view. The sound was great, the transitioning between scenes was creative and seamless and the background scenes were gorgeous. I was impressed with the quality of the acting and singing as well.

A few notes: I found the feminist themes running through the story line to be a little off-putting, mainly because I don’t think the real Laura was a feminist (though her daughter, Rose, certainly was). One of the very last lines of the show is when Almanzo proposes to Laura and she says something along the lines of, “Yes. But I can’t say the word ‘obey’ to you.” I’m not super-familiar with Little House trivia, but I am familiar with the social climate of the time and I very highly doubt the real Laura would have said that. I’m all for giving our daughters positive messages about what they can do, but I’m also a history fanatic and so I don’t like it when modern themes, ideas and political correctness creep into historical contexts.

This show is a musical, so there is a lot of singing. As much as I love her, Melissa Gilbert is not a singer. That said, she’s Melissa Gilbert. I think she’s a fabulous actress and so I didn’t really care that she didn’t sing as well as anyone else in the show. It was fun just to see her live and in person.

The actress who plays Laura, Kara Lindsay, was absolutely fantastic. She was convincing as both a young girl and a young woman and really held up the entire show. I found myself getting teary during the song she sang with Mary, just after Mary went blind, about how she would be Mary’s eyes.

All in all, it was a very entertaining production with a professional set-up, talented actors and actresses and a very relatable theme. I would highly recommend this show for families, and especially for Little House fans. Andrea and Rachel thought it was the best thing they’d ever seen and raved about it all night. Since Andie is so into music, I pointed out the instruments in the box and explained that she can do the same thing if she wants someday. She found that quite intriguing. For imaginative and artsy girls like mine, this play was quite inspirational.

You can check to see if there’s a show coming to a city near you on the website.

CORRECTION: A reader much more knowledgeable than I pointed out that Laura does, indeed, say in the book These Happy Golden Years, that she can’t say “obey” in her wedding vows. See the comments below for more details, so I guess my complaint about that not being historically accurate is invalid. Go, Laura!

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Fibers.com $25 gift certificate giveaway winner!

Jun 8th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

Congratulations to

Cindi Hoppes of Edwardsville, IL,

winner of the Fibers.com $25 gift certificate giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest.

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High hopes for the future

Jun 1st, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

“Mom, you said I can be anything I want when I grow up, right?” asked Cody last night.

“Yes, you can be anything you want,” I agreed.

“I want to be a McDonald’s worker,” he proclaimed.

“A McDonald’s worker?” I stammered.

“Yes, what’s wrong with that?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” I said. “But you can do that when you’re in high school, if you want.”

“Well, I see adults working at McDonald’s and you said I can be whatever I want to be, so why can’t I be a McDonald’s worker when I’m an adult?” he asked.

I couldn’t argue with that logic.

What does your child want to be when he/she grows up?

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Memorial Day poems

May 31st, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

Rachel and Andie read the poems they wrote for Veteran’s Day at tonight’s community Memorial Day program, so I thought it would be fitting to share them with you as well, on this day when we remember those who have fought to get and keep our freedoms.

Serving Our Veterans Piece By Piece

By Rachel

Veterans all over have given their lives,
They are brave, strong people in our eyes.
Give thanks to the veterans by honoring our flag,
Love them and serve them for all they have done.

We have no idea how bad it is there,
We just know how much they care.
Some are fighting, some are hurting,
But they’re all serving us as best as they can.

We thank the veterans for all they’ve done,
They’ve served their country and won our freedom.
Pledge the flag and if you care,
You may join them over there.


Serving Our Veterans Piece By Piece

By Andrea

We say the pledge to honor them
For what they do around the world
They deserve much more love
And honor for what they do for us

They give us pleasure
To be as free as ocean waves
They deserve much more
Than we give them

We have the right for speech, voting, and much more
Because of what the veterans do for us
We should all come together
To serve the veterans piece by piece

♦      ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦     ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦      ♦

What did you do today?

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Efficiency vs. order

May 30th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

One of my favorite books as a child was my mom’s first- or second-edition, beat-up copy of Cheaper by the Dozen. If you’ve never read this gem, published in the 1940s, it’s a real laugh-out-loud family classic that should be at the top of the list of books you read to your kids.

“Dad,” the character around whom this memoir written by two of his twelve children is based, is an efficiency expert. Evidently I was born with efficiency DNA because Dad’s experiments, such as determining whether it takes longer to button a shirt from the top to the bottom or the bottom to the top, really spoke to me. I was completely fascinated with his attempts to shave seconds off of the most mundane tasks, mainly because I found myself naturally doing the same thing.

You see, even as a little kid, I hated to waste time, energy or movement. Ever since I can remember, whenever I’ve been on my way to another room in the house, I’ve done a little check to see if there’s anything I should take with me in order to save time, movement and energy. Going somewhere in the house empty-handed is usually a big no-no in my brain.

As I folded laundry this afternoon, I realized how ingrained this time-saving thinking is in my head. There are certain items I never, ever fold: underwear and pajamas. When I first got married, it just killed me that my then-husband would always neatly fold up freshly-washed underwear, as did his mother. My theory is that no one who views these items is going to care if they’re wrinkled, so I just stuff them in my drawer, yet another time saver. It just seems like such a waste of time to bother.

So I’m curious: How many of you fold underwear and/or PJs? If you do, why? Is it just some innate need for order, similar to my innate need for efficiency?

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The burial

May 29th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

This morning we finally buried my former mother-in-law, Carmen. It was a hot, blustery morning and the small country cemetery was green and pretty. The service was low-key, simple and short, and afterward, five of Carmen’s grandsons, ages 2-7, diligently helped their grandpa throw shovelfuls of dirt into her grave.

When she died in early March, the ground was far too muddy to bury her, so we had to wait. We planned to do it the first weekend in May, but my former father-in-law ended up in the hospital and nearly died himself. Now that he’s on the road to recovery, he rescheduled for today instead.

I really didn’t think the burial would affect me much because I feel like I’ve already dealt with her death, for the most part. There’s something so raw about watching a loved one’s body being lowered into the ground though; it definitely gives a sense of finality, a sentiment echoed audibly by Cody’s wailing. I wasn’t prepared for the waves of sadness and loss that I felt all over again at seeing her put into her final resting place.

As illustrated in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, the impact of one person’s life cannot be underestimated. The little group gathered at her graveside today was just a fraction of the many people she’s touched, and we will all forever be profoundly affected by the life that was hers.

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Giveaway: $25 Gift Certificate to Fibers.com

May 28th, 2010 by Sarah E. Ludwig

You may remember my post from January asking readers to help me design a shirt with a gift certificate I received from Fibers.com. Because it was so much fun, I ended up with two. Check them out:

Since I am one of the most un-photogenic people on the planet, I decided against photographing myself in these adorable t-shirts.

Two comments on my experience with Fibers.com:

1. The shirts run VERY small. I normally wear a S or M shirt, but I ordered L because I like my t-shirts to be a little loose. They weren’t. First of all, I accidentally ordered one of them in a S, which barely even fits my relatively small 11-year-olds. The L was pretty much like a second skin. So just be aware when you order that you need to order at least two sizes bigger.

2. That said, Fibers.com has impeccable customer service and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. After several months of letting the shirts sit and gather dust, I wrote to my contact person there and explained the situation. He immediately had two XL shirts sent to me in the same designs I had ordered to begin with. Impressive!

THE PRIZE:

$25 gift certificate to Fibers.com. You can design your own apparel or buy one of the many ready-made designs. Some links to get you started:

I Love T-Shirts
Dad T-Shirts
Mom T-Shirts
Big Brother T-Shirts

They are also running a Father’s Day contest to win an iPad, so check that out if you’re interested.

TO ENTER:

♣ Leave a comment on my blog. That’s it! Limit one comment per person, per day.

WANT BONUS ENTRIES?

♣ Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email, then leave a comment letting me know.

♣ Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the link. (You can do this daily.) Optional phrasing for your Tweet: I’m entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Fibers.com from @MomofTwinsPlus2. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/3xk5m42.

♣ Post on your blog with a link about the giveaway and leave a comment here with a link to your post.

♣ Follow my blog on Networked Blogs and leave a comment here letting me know.

♣ Become a fan of Parenting By Trial and Error on Facebook and leave a comment here letting me know.

PLEASE READ: Giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time, Friday, June 4, 2010. Any comments left after this time will be deleted. Open to residents of the U.S. only. The winner will be chosen by using random.org. Winner will have 24 hours to respond to notification with shipping info. If no response, another winner will be chosen.

GOOD LUCK!

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