What I’m Into: March 2014

This winter SERIOUSLY WON’T END.

I thought this image was apt:

I think we had approximately two nice days this month, and for all the rest we had to bundle up in snow pants, winter coats, mittens and hats to go outside.(Not that we went outside much. I’m too bitter most of the time so we just stay inside and sulk).

The couple of sunny days we had, however, were great for maple syrup (see photos above). (Every year, we tap our big maple tree out front and boil down the sap to get a couple of quarts of syrup. So far, we’ve gotten maybe seven cups of syrup. It’s hard to keep track because we keep using it up as we get it.)

We went to the beach one Sunday morning to collect stones for a project, and there was so much snow that even though the path to the beach was gated off, the three of us easily walked right over it — the snow pile reached to the top of the gate.

(This is what we used the stones for: story stones. Fun, right?!)

Here’s hoping that April will finally bring that long-awaited sunshine, warmth, and greenery.

In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been into.

Books

WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source – Alisa Vitti

I have mixed feelings about this one.

On the one hand, I really appreciate a lot of the information in this book, especially the bits and pieces that have helped add to my understanding of my fertility issues. I’m always adding pieces to the puzzle, and this book contributed in some interesting ways.

There’s some great advice, and I’m really excited about her idea of syncing our lives with our cycles — i.e. understanding and embracing the phases of our feminine cycles, and working with them to flourish. It sounds beautiful and productive.

I guess I just wasn’t crazy about the whole “Follow my five-step program and your life will be GLORIOUS!!!!” approach. I’ve been inundated with this kind of talk from self-help books for years and it immediately makes me wary.

But if you can look past that, and don’t mind skimming here and there, I think this books has some valuable stuff to say about improving hormonal health and getting in tune with your body to enhance balance and energy.

Children’s Books

After a few rather mediocre library hauls, I finally made a list of book recommendations from people I trust and ended up with a pretty sweet haul of library books for the munchkin.

Little Hoot and Little Pea – Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace. These books are adorable in every way. Lydia doesn’t quite get the humor (Little Hoot wants to go to bed but his parents say he has to stay up and play; Little Pea doesn’t want to eat his candy but his parents won’t let him eat his spinach until he’s done); but she still loves them. And I don’t hate re-reading them twelve times a day, so that’s a bonus.

These books are all better as bedtime stories (as opposed to bathroom/reading nook books), since they’re longer and the illustrations are more detailed, inviting a more lingering gaze.

Make Way for Ducklings – Robert McCloskey — beautiful, classic illustrations; charming story. Lydia loves to shout “Qua-a-ack!” every now and then throughout the day just to catch me off guard.

Blueberries for Sal – Robert McCloskey — I don’t know why I’m so drawn to these classic, black-and-white illustrations. All I can say is this author didn’t win half a dozen Caldecott Medals and Honors for nothing. This cozy story about a toddler and a little bear getting their mothers mixed up on blueberry hill delights my daughter every time.

Stellaluna – Jannell Cannon — absolutely delightful. Stellaluna found her way into my heart upon the very first reading. So I don’t even mind that Lydia has chosen this book as her bedtime story every night for the last week.

Llama Llama Red Pajama– Anna Dewdney — the rhymes in this book are fun to read and easy for little ones to memorize, so everyone can join in. And I chuckle every time we get to the page where Mama Llama leaps from the phone and races to her screaming baby llama — almost losing her pearls on the way — just to find him sitting quietly on his bed. Hilarious.

The Story of Ferdinand –  Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson — Of course this pacifist loves this charming classic tale about the gentle, nonconformist bull who wouldn’t fight in the bullfights. And happily, my daughter loves it too.

Music

We’re going through another Walk Off the Earth phase in our family. I can’t get enough of their upbeat melodies and creative videos. Their music videos on Youtube are all Lydia wants to see.

Our favourite videos include Gang of Rhythm – Car Loop Version (so friggin awesome!!!), Royals, and Material Girl. And we all adore their newest video for Happy (featuring Parachute):

 

Television

Big Bang Theory and Parks and Rec remain staples in our weekly viewing cycle. But I cannot WAIT until it’s warm out and we’re too busy visiting the beach and taking long strolls around the neighbourhood to watch TV.

We’ve also continued to work our way through Freaks and Geeks. I just love Bill so much. I pretty much just watch it for him.

Since we don’t want to watch violent stuff in front of Lydia and since she still only goes to bed when we do, we have to save Firefly for Sunday afternoons during her naps. So it’s very slow-going. So far, it’s not quite the life-changing experience folks have led me to believe it will be, but I’m not giving up yet — we’ve only made it to episode 4 so far. (Does it get significantly better?)

Movies

Shut up. We didn’t see a single movie this month. We still haven’t seen Frozen or Lego Movie, which apparently are the best movies ever. What is wrong with us.

And that was our month in a nutshell. What have you been into? Have you had nicer weather? If so, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT.

As usual, Linking up with Leigh Kramer!

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