Lime & Coconut Lamb

I seem to always be making something with lime and coconut (check my recipe index and you'll see what I mean) but darn it those flavors are really good together.

In this easy and fast recipe they're coupled with a killer lamb and curry that will guarantee me a mention in your will. Note that green curry paste, rather than regular paste, is called for which has coriander, cumin and lime as the main ingredients and gives it the spicy kick Andrew loves.

2 pounds lamb chops
8 oz cream of coconut
2 t peanut or corn oil
1-2 minced garlic cloves
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 T Thai green curry paste
grated rind and juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper
2 T chopped fresh cilantro plus extra for garnish
cooked rice for side

Saute garlic and ginger on high for 2-3 minutes then add chops and brown on both sides. Stir in curry paste and coconut milk. Add lime rind and juice. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer five minutes or until chops are tender. Stir in cilantro and serve with rice and garnished with fresh cilantro.

Technorati tags: coconut, Thai, lamb, main dishes

Somehow She Picks These Things Up

It was seven o'clock, bedtime for everyone under the age of 35, and Andrew had just called the children together for the final instructions, prayers, tooth brushings, etc.

Four year-old Lillian scooted around the corner and bounded into the kneeling position preparatory to her nightly prayer. As she slid into home, folded her arms and bowed her head she sang out a familiar four-note melody that made me look at Andrew with an "Did you just hear what I heard?" look.

Every Microsoft user knows those soft symphonic "Shutting Down" notes by heart: "Dum-dum da-dumm."

"Evidently she's shutting down for the night, " Andrew said.

Let's just hope she stays in sleep mode for the next 10 hours.

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, children

Cabin Fever

My parents have a cabin on the Kashwitna River. With the kids out of school this week and Andrew taking the week off work we figured it was the perfect time to enjoy a few days of family togetherness. Heh. Family togetherness.

The cabin is two hours north of Anchorage, depending on the traffic in Wasilla, and after packing enough food to feed the population of Peru (why Peru? I'm not sure, but that's the country that came to mind first--perhaps it's the perfect alliteration) plus boots, hats, mittens, neck warmers, long underwear, coats and snow pants we hit the road at 1pm with enough time to give us a leisurely afternoon at the cabin.

Two hours later we pulled to the gate and Andrew said, "Okay, where are the keys?"

"Right here," I said confidently, pulling out my key ring from my cool black laptop bag (yes, I planned on writing plenty over the weekend).

I looked at the key ring in my hands and it hit me like a avalanche that a month ago I had lightened my key ring by removing the cabin keys and leaving them--for safekeeping--in the kitchen drawer. A fact that would have been helpful to remember two hours earlier back in Anchorage.

"Um . . . " I paused, not sure how to reveal this information.

"Um . . . " I looked once again at the keys in my hand and practically whispered, "I guess I kind of left the keys at home."

Those situations show the measure of a man. He had every right to kick me out into the snow and make me hike it back to town, but he didn't. He took a deep breath. "You're sure?"

"Yes," I said in my meekest voice. "I'm really sorry. I mean really sorry."

Solution? We had to drive an hour back to Wasilla for a set of spare keys. By that time it was getting dark (remember this is Alaska and the sun sets around 3:30 or 4pm in December) the wind picked up and started blowing snow over the road in long misty billowing blankets, making it very difficult to drive. It was slow going.

After struggling in the dark to find the house--it's Big Lake, addresses are optional--picking up the keys and making an emergency donut run we once again headed north, keys in hand, to brave death through the blizzard.

By the time we arrived it was 7pm and everyone was starving. As I turned my attentions to preparing dinner I noticed Spencer whimpering on the couch. I felt his forehead in that magical mother way and determined that he had a fever. Flushed cheeks, watery eyes, lack of energy, stomach ache. I'm no doctor but the signs were there: he was sick. I pumped him full of Tylenol and went back to dinner.

Grace soon joined me in the kitchen and reported there was a large puddle of water on the bathroom floor. Upon a closer inspection and one horrendous, spewing flush later it was determined that the pipes had frozen and cracked, backing sewage up enough to cover the bathroom floor.

By this time Andrew was beginning to wonder if there was a reason we weren't supposed to be at the cabin, the stars seemed to be against us and the future didn't look bright. I managed to get dinner on the table and by 8:15pm when the dishes done we decided that without a toilet we were toast. It was just a bit more "roughing it" than I had bargained for so we decided to go home rather than spend the night with four kids and no indoor plumbing.

After packing everything up once again and while doing a final sweep through the cabin to make sure we hadn't forgot anything I noticed that in the bottom of the shower where I'd thrown the wet towels and rugs that had been soaked in the original flooding there was now nothing but water--well, water and sewage-soaked towels. Apparently not only was the toilet backing up but when I'd done the dishes it had backed up into the shower.

Lovely. Another moment or two of cleanup and we were fleeing for our lives. Enough already! We can take a hint--no cabin for us. I wouldn't have been surprised if, looking back in our rear-view mirror, we would have seen fire and brimstone raining down--the signs of our doomed trip were of Biblical proportions. We had tainted water, a sick oldest son, all that was missing was a nasty plague of frogs or locust.

The two-hour drive back to Anchorage put us in at 11. Seven and a half hours and nothing but leg cramps to show for it. At least Andrew and I had plenty of conversation time.

Oh, and did I mention we left Spencer's boots up there? I figure it'll be easier to buy him new ones than go back to retrieve his old ones. Family togetherness takes a lot out of you.

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, children, parenting

Christmas Surprises

Christmas is full of surprises but here are a few I hadn't anticipated:

13. Eight inches of snow on the 23rd. Then six more the next day. Apparently the woman I saw leaving the movie theater in flip flops hadn't noticed.

12. Night at the Museum. Not a bad movie, I wasn't sure what to expect. Owen Wilson was pretty funny--though that's no surprise. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

11. Norway is part of the Netherlands. Funny what you learn in a game of Christmas Eve Catchphrase, but when Melissa had to describe her word in a way that would enable her team to correctly guess it, she said "Norway is part of this." Melanie, connecting the dots in a way the rest of us could only marvel at, quickly shouted: "The Netherlands!" Funny thing is, that was it. One mind, two bodies. We were in awe.

10. Lillian begged for bed on Christmas Eve. I wanted to let her stay up for the rest of the party but starting at 6:30 she wanted to go to bed and I held out until 7 then gave in. I LOVE the Santa Factor.

9. Mom swiped her slice of sausage through the whipped cream then ate it. Ugh. Took everyone at the table by surprise and brought our Christmas Eve dinner conversation to a halt. You think you know someone . . . I guess it just proves my theory that if you sit at the table long enough you'll eat anything and everything.

8. The kids actually stuck by the "No waking up until 7am" rule. Sort of. They begged to be able to get up earlier but Andrew was firm. Seven a.m., period. I heard them at around 5:45am getting up to use the bathroom. The sounds of doors carefully opening and closing, feet in the hall, but no flushes. Spencer explained later that they were trying to be quiet by not flushing the toilet. Oh.

7. Moist gifts. Earlier in the week I had been watering the Christmas tree and accidentally knocked over 2 quarts of water. In two seconds not only was the tree watered but the tree skirt, rug and presents were thoroughly irrigated. Most had dried out by Christmas morning, but there's nothing like a gift that sloshes.

6. My beautiful bowl. Made especially for my cereal Spencer tells me. Mmmmm . . . Cinnamon Toast Crunch . . .

5. A broken gum ball machine. Probably shouldn't be surprised that a present broke after ten minutes, but now Spencer has a large gum ball bank that won't take any coins. Fine by him, he didn't want to have to put money in to get the gumballs out anyway, the process has been nicely expedited.

4. A new home theater system that also doesn't quite work. Well, everything works but the remote control, which is harder to figure out than a nuclear reactor. Where's Homer Simpson when I need him?

3. Batteries. Exactly 47 were needed to completely equip the toys received by my children Christmas Day--no lie. Evidently we're single-handedly guaranteeing the continued success of the Energizer Company into the next century. When will they develop a solar-powered toy?

2. My beautiful pearl earrings. My husband has good taste, isn't he sweet?

1. Hunger returning . . . eventually. I thought it impossible to ever feel hungry after all the food I'd consumed the last two days. I thought I'd never eat again.

More about the Thursday Thirteen meme.

Technorati tags: Thursday Thirteen, holidays, Alaska, Christmas

3:26 pm, Anchorage, Alaska

Technorati tags: Alaska, Wordless Wednesday, sunsets, solstice

A Startling Revelation, Capice?

While driving to school last week I had the following enlightening conversation:

Spencer: "Mom, what do they speak in Italy?"

Me: [confused] "They speak Italian. Italy? Italian? See the connection?"

Spencer: [now confused himself] "I thought they spoke English."

Me: "Uh, no, they definitely speak Italian. I have it on good authority."

Spencer: [after a thoughtful pause] "But I saw this Italian movie and everyone spoke English."

Me: "Well, that could be because our good friends in Hollywood wanted to heighten your enjoyment of the movie by making sure you could understand what was being said. If they'd spoken in Italian you wouldn't have understood a thing."

Spencer: "Yea, but couldn't they have used subtitles or something?"

Me: "Too true, but then I think their aim was to fascillitate your comprehension rather than to go for authenticity."

Spencer: "Oh."

Silence. I love those rides in the morning, you learn the most interesting things.

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, humor

Ghosts of Christmas Past #2: Red and Green Death

I've got gratitude in abundance during the holidays, and whenever I think about Christmas 1994 I'm especially grateful--to be alive. Here's a journal excerpt:

***

As tradition dictated, we got together with all the family for our Christmas Eve sub-sandwich fest with all the chips and dip and fixings: Grandma, Grandpa, uncles, aunts, four cousins, Mom, Dad, me and my six siblings plus Andrew and Grace. Eighteen people, not an insignificant detail.

Christmas fell on Sunday this year which meant Christmas dinner would wait until after church but during the service I didn't feel well. Something with my insides, a horrible gurgling-cramping-aching-nauseated feeling that should never accompany the holiday spirit, and once home I lay down to see if the feeling would pass. By the afternoon it was time for dinner at Grandma's house so I peeled myself off the furniture to get in the car, though I didn't feel like eating.

On the road it hit hard and by the time I reached the house I had enough time to desperately dash to the bathroom before deciding that I'd had enough of Christmas. However, while I was busy something strange was going on at the table. Like a bad episode of Survivor Christmas the guests were dropping one by one. First me, then Luke, then Andrew and even those who were left were eating with decidedly less enthusiasm than usual.

Cutting it short for the day and limping back home, the eye of the storm soon hit: Carinne, Dan, Luke, Andrew, Grace, Dad, Melissa, all sick. I huddled in bed, shaking and freezing--you know the kind of sick when you've got twenty layers on and still can't warm up? Where you're begging for death?

There was someone in each of the three bathrooms which left several victims without a place to go, Andrew had tried to get into the bathroom but as it was full (Luke was busy dying) he could only lay on the floor outside the door and groan. My sweet Florence Nightingale-of-a-mother, still on her feet, went from room to room distributing bags to those unfortunate enough to be without a bathroom, then made return trips to collect the used containers and redistribute new ones.

When I woke the next morning I felt shaky but alive--the hope of life filling my soul--and one by one family members crept from bedrooms and bathrooms to see who had survived the holocaust. One, two, three . . . all present and accounted for, though a little worse for wear.

It was the Christmas of Death and has been forever enshrined in memory as the holiday that wasn't. Turns out Grandma and Grandpa, plus Jim and his family were all sick too. Seventeen total because the next day Mom fell ill--and thank goodness for her delayed reaction or we'd never have made it through. The only one out of 18 people who didn't come down with our Mysterious Illness was Melanie. Very suspicious. I've seen enough "Murder She Wrote" to know that would make her the prime suspect.

Was it something we ate? Watch out for that bacon dip, it's a killer. Are there holidays that have special significance in your life?

Technorati tags: Alaska, sickness, motherhood, Christmas

Sweet Potato Rolls

Not only are these a great addition to your holiday meal they are tasty any time of the year. The rolls are tender with a delicate texture and a lovely peach color. If you're trying to sneak more vegetables and vitamins into your family's diet, this is just the recipe to try.

1 c water
1 15 oz can of sweet potatoes, mashed
½ c sugar
¼ c butter
1 egg
1 ½ t salt
5-5 ½ c flour
1 ½ T fast yeast

Combine the above ingredients in your bread machine in the order listed. Set the machine for the dough cycle. When complete, divide the dough in half and roll each half into a large circle. Make four diagonal cuts through the center of the circle, as you would slice a pizza, and starting at the back edge, roll up each slice crescent roll style. When finished, brush each roll with the beaten egg white. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until golden.

If you don't have a bread machine, modify the recipe by merely mixing up and kneading the dough as you would a regular, handmade bread recipe.

Technorati tags: recipes, breads, holidays sweet potatoes, bread machine

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at Tiffany's

How often does a woman get a gift from Tiffany's?

You know I've heard they sell these boxes for $10 on Ebay because EVERYONE loves the blue box. I'd been saving it in my little private drawer--no particular reason other than it's my Tiffany box.

Spencer didn't know this when he found the "perfect place to put the really cool cocoon he found." Notice his name spelled nicely across the top? Air holes in the sides and everything.

Sigh. It's a good thing I love him so much. That caterpillar has nice digs.

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, Tiffany, children

Christmas Songs Overheard

Lillian: (singing Angels We Have Heard on High)
"GloooooooOOOOOOOO--ria!
In-ex-pen-sive Day-O
GloooooOOOOOOOO--ria!
In-ex-pen-sive Day-AY-O!"

David: (singing Jingle Bells with his distinctive lisp)
"Oh what fun it is to ride
In a slippin' slippin' sleigh-AY!"

Spencer: (singing Let It Snow, Let It Snow and knowing full well what the correct words are)
". . . and since there's no place to go,
yellow snow, yellow snow, yellow snow."

David: (singing Frosty the Snowman and no he doesn't know what that word means)
"Frosty the Snowman was a jolly, jolly ho--
With a cock-eyed pike and a runny nose and two eyes made out of coal . . ."

Technorati tags: Christmas, carols, singing holidays

Thirteen Lucky Predictions for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Darren Rowse at Problogger has another group writing project calling for year-end reviews or 2007 predictions. It may give you an idea of how classy our household is to say this is the hottest topic of conversation today. Here's the consensus:

***

1. Dumbledore's dead. Not coming back, period. Get that straight.

2. But having said that, he's going to do what worked for Ben Kenobi and Gandalf and find a way to transcend the mortal-immortal road blocks and communicate with Harry. This could be by the holographic image, the dream sequence, or something more tangible like leaving Harry a letter, a book, a will, or--as my daughter Grace suggests--the pensieve.

3. Harry is coming back to Hogwarts. Whatever he might have sneakily led you to believe, he's going back and will be there bright and early for year number seven as will his friends.

4. However, I expect he'll not be attending as your typical student. I expect he'll be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It's literarily complete and satisfying.

5. The house elves will be called on to help in the fight against Voldemort and will play a role--perhaps not pivotal, but most likely critical. Maybe Hermione will have some satisfaction at that point.

6. The Weasley twins will get filthy rich, if not during this book, eventually and Percy Weasley will continue to be a thorn in the Weasley side.

7. Inevitably, a character will die. I'm a little less certain on who it will be, but Ron and Hermione are safe for sure. It'll be someone like Nevil--though I hope not. One of the Weasleys is a likely target too. I feel bad to put it in writing, but Mr. Weasley gets my vote as Most Likely To Die In The Next Harry Potter Novel.

8. Nevil Longbottom, my personal favorite, will have his chance to shine. I don't mean to imply that Voldemort will be conquered by a vicious herbal remedy but The Boy Who Was Almost Somebody will have his day in the sun. I used to think he'd hook up with Luna but I'm beginning to think he'll eventually be Minister of Magic. He will help Harry find the horcruxes or help destroy them or something along those vague lines.

9. And of course, Hermione will eventually (though probably not during the course of the novel) be Headmistress of Hogwarts. Ron will be an Auror. Harry might pull a Frodo and retire without renown, his future is hazier to me.

10. Tonks and Lupin will tie the wizard's knot. About time Lupin had something go his way.

11. Peter Petrigrew, the resident Gollum character, will justify Harry's mercy by helping the boy wizard out before the end. "There is some good left in him, I can feel it!" No, wait, that's Luke Skywalker's line. But it works nonetheless.

12. Snape is good and will prove himself before the end. To believe that Snape is with Voldemort is to believe Dumbledore to be an idiot and that doesn't work for me. I have to stick with Albus on this one and say Snape's good and true and will show it before the end.

13. And most importantly, Harry will live. Voldemort won't. Wouldn't be marketable as a tragedy, so it's a literary must.

Questions I have for you: What are the remaining horcruxes? Godric Griffindor's sword? That's too obvious perhaps.

Will the origins of Harry's mysterious fortune be revealed? How on earth did a ding-a-ling like James Potter amass such a horde?

Who are Harry's grandparents? I'd be surprised if this was discussed but it ought to be, where are those people? What happened to them? Why weren't they ever an issue in Harry's upbringing?

And finally, what is it that will be revealed about Petunia Dursley? There's something there. Is she just a squib? Or just an extremely vicious squib. Maybe Vernon will die and she'll remarry Filch and settle down at the castle.

Technorati tags: Deathly Hallows, lists, Harry Potter, Group Writing Project

Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

If you haven't got your presents wrapped yet, have run out of the regular wrapping paper or just want to break from a boring rut, give these creative gift wraps a try:

13. Use something different as paper. Instead, use a piece of sheet music, a map, a handkerchief or the Sunday comics, matching the wrap with the theme of the present.

12. Use something different for ribbon. Instead use new shoelaces, raffia, bias tape, plastic laces, jute twine or Christmas garland. Cut strips of wrapping paper and sculpt them into a coordinating bow.

11. Make unusual gift tags. Use a key ring and write on the circular paper tag, mount a white paper snowflake on a piece of red cardstock, write on the back of a small black-and-white photograph, write on a piece of felt with puffy paint, use a baseball card or cut a tag out of a greeting-card. Pink Chalk Studio had a good post on making gift tags as well.

10. Make your own wrapping paper. Decorate butcher paper or the paper side of freezer paper with rubber stamp prints, glued buttons, bay leaves arranged in the shape of a wreath or glued-on plastic jewels. With butcher paper look for natural things as embellishments, with freezer paper gold and silver work well.

9. Make fun package toppers. To decorate the top of the package use cinnamon sticks, pinecones, Bazooka bubble gum, balloons, glass ball ornaments, jingle bells, origami figures, sea shells or paper fans.

8. Use unusual containers in place of traditional boxes. Decorate paper lunch bags, make a corrugated cardboard tube or fill an oven mitt, teapot or breadpan.

7. Weave your own paper. Using strips of magazine pages or wrapping paper, weave your own wrapping paper and tie with a organza bow.

6. Wrap with fabric. Gather a double layer of pink satin and tulle around a package, then tie at the top with a string of craft pearls and ribbon.

5. Make your own gift case. Sew a large felt mitton as an unusual gift box, fastened at the bottom with a red ribbon. Alternately, make a large felt puppet as a covering for a gift--it works particularly well for baby shower gifts. Hello My Name Is Heather has a fun idea for wrapping gift cards.

4. Make a drum. Take an unused paint can and cover it with contact paper and diagonal strips of felt to make a drum container.

3. Make a giant peppermint. Paint a paper mache box with red and white swirls to look like a peppermint candy, then cover with clear plastic wrapping and tie at both ends with red ribbon.

2. Make a petal box. Using a 6"x9" postcard or a piece of cardstock of the same size, trace the enlarged shape at right, scoring along the edges of the square in the center and folding the "petals" toward the center until they overlap and lock together.

1. Make Chinese take-out boxes. Using a clean take-out container, trace its outline on a piece of colored posterboard and cut it out. Score the edges for easy folding and fold it up, using glue to secure side flaps if necesary. For a handle bend a piece of wire (and here you could paint it gold or even bend it to include the shape of a star or bend it to say "merry christmas") and fasten at each end by poking it through the sides and securing.

Heather Bailey has a good idea for creative containers for gift cards in her post here.

To give proper credit, some of these ideas came from Martha Stewart, some from Better Homes and Gardens, some from Family Fun Magazine though I collected the ideas too many years ago to properly link. Some of the ideas are my own.

More about the Thursday Thirteen meme.

Technorati tags: Thursday Thirteen, holidays, gifts, Alaska, Christmas

Tiny Gift Boxes

These are cute and easy and are the perfect size for a tiny tree ornament or a chocolate truffle.



1. Take a Christmas card and cut along the spine to make two rectangular halves.

2. Cut each half along one edge to make a square.

For the box top
3. On the half that was the front of the card and using a ruler, draw light pencil lines diagonally from point to point on what was once the inside of the card (see picture #1).

4. Fold the four corners in toward the center, the points meeting at the crossing of the two pencil lines (see picture #2).

5. Fold the left and right straight edges in toward the center, each edge about 1/8" short of the center point. It doesn't matter which sides you designate as left and right (see picture #3).

6. Unfold the straight edges and repeat step 5 with the top and bottom straight edges, folding them now into the center, but also 1/8" short on the center on either edge.

7. Unfold the entire piece of paper and lay it on its back.

8. Along the fold lines for guides, make four cuts, two on each side (see picture #4).

9. Refold the points in toward the center, tucking in the sides (see picture #5).

10. If necessary, glue the points down to the inside of the lid to keep things in place.

For the box bottom
Repeat steps 3-10 using the other half of the card, varying only in that when you fold left, right, top and bottom straight edges in toward the center (steps 4 and 5), make sure the edges meet directly over the center point rather than 1/8" short of it. This will make the bottom ever-so-slightly smaller than the lid, allowing them to fit together more comfortably.

Check in with Rocks in My Dryer every Wednesday for other good tips.




Technorati tags: WFMW, Christmas, holidays, gifts

Blogging 101: Ten Technorati Tips

Recently bloggers have asked me questions about how to do various things on their blogs so I'm answering these questions in a series of posts over the coming month or two. If you're new to blogging or to reading blogs and wonder how some of these things work, I hope this is enlightening, read it and pass it on. If you're an old pro-blogger with years of experience, sit back and feel superior in your knowledge and then leave a comment that might benefit the rest of us newbies in this wonderful thing called blogging.

1. What is Technorati? Technorati is a blog search engine that explores approximately 62.9 million blogs (as of this posting), then sorts and ranks them based on how they link to one another and how popular they are.

2. How does it help my blog? If you are part of Technorati, then people who go there to search for blogs on a particular topic can find your blog, bringing you more traffic.

3. How do I join? It's easy enough, go to this link here, fill out the information and then "claim" your blog. Just follow the steps.

4. What do I do next? Add Technorati tags, also called social bookmarking, to your blog posts. This means manually adding the html to each post and tailoring tags for each post. Go to this page on Technorati and scroll down for various ways to generate the code. Then, once installed, if someone clicks on one of those tags it will take them to Technorati and list, according to most recent activity or "freshness," blogs that use those same tags--another way to draw readers.

5. What kind of tags should I use? Well, that really depends on two things: what you're post is about and what is popular. An example of a "tag cloud," showing popular tag words, can be found on this link here, the larger the word, the more popular it is.

However, just because a tag is popular doesn't mean you should jump on the wagon with the other 8,390,465 blogs that use that tag. For example, "parenting" is a very popular tag, so when you use it you are competing with an enormous number of blogs. "Motherhood" is still popular, but not as well used, so it may be a better option, as it means less competition for you but still a lot of search possibilities.

Here is a page at Technorati that lists its top daily searches. Keep an eye on what's popular and then tag accordingly and wisely. I will often tag with "Alaska" and "motherhood" because they're popular but not too popular. Go to this page on Technorati and type in "Alaska" in the search box and see how it works.

When you're ready to post, first go to Technorati and do a search using possible tag words and see which might work better, just make sure that whatever tags you use do apply to your content. There's nothing more annoying for a reader than to waste time searching for something that's not there.

Finally, be careful. As my friend Lori at Fun Play Dates found out, tagging a post with "fun playdates" may bring up video blogs you don't want to be associated with.

6. How does Technorati know when I've updated my blog? If you use blog services like Blogger, Moveable Type, Typepad or Wordpress then you are set up automatically. Your blog "pings," or notifies Technorati every time you publish if you allow it to do so. In Blogger this is done by going to your "Settings" page and selecting "yes" under "notify weblogs."

If you aren't using one of these services you may have to ping Technorati manually every time you post, which is also easy to do. If you have questions go to this page on Technorati and it will walk you through the process.

7. What are Technorati favorites? Once you have an account with Technorati you can pick blogs to be added to your personal favorites list. There are two ways Technorati ranks blogs, first by the number of incoming links and second by how many times the blogs are "favorited." Here's the list of 100 Most Favorited Blogs.

If you want to facilitate your readers marking your blog as one of their favorites go to this page on Technorati for the code to paste in your template, making a button on your blog for your readers to click if they want to "fave" you.

If you want to see if you're listed as a favorite you can go to your blog's main info page on Technorati, once you've joined, and near the top of your info page are two tabs, one marked "Favorited By." Clicking on that tab will show you who has favorited you. As an example you can see who has favorited me by clicking here.

8. How can I find out my Technorati ranking? Go to the Technorati home page and type your URL in the search field and click "search." Technorati will give you a ranking compared to 62.9 million of your closest blogging friends. You will see how many blogs link to you and the number of links they give. Give it a try before going on to questions nine and ten which constitute the Big Secret.

9. Why does this matter? Well, I'm not sure it does, my blog doesn't get as much traffic from Technorati as it does from Google, but the theory is the higher your ranking, the greater your visibility, and if you're trying to build your blog, every little bit can help.

10. How can I improve my Technorati ranking? I get this question the most and I love answering it because it's so simple. Remember I said your ranking is based on linkage? Technorati records every link to and from its blogs and updates the number regularly. The more blogs linking to your blog, the higher your ranking.

This means you need to join blogrolls such as Christian Bloggers, Blogging Chicks, Crazy Hip Blog Mamas, etc. whatever fits your blog and niche. You need to be commenting on other blogs because every time you do your name becomes a link back to your URL. You need to be spending as much time as possible leaving your little bloggy footprints in the blogosphere for Technorati to find.

But it also means you need to have great content, writing posts that are worthy of being linked to, and focusing on providing information that others will want to connect to.

Be patient, it does take time. When I started blogging seriously and looked at my ranking I was around 100,000 but three months later I'm at 2,500. Remember the higher you go the slower the progress because competition gets stiffer and other bloggers are collecting links right along with you.

Does this help? Leave me a comment with more questions, advice that I've missed, or an indication whether this was helpful. If it is I'll offer more Blogging 101 tips next week. If not, it's back to the recipes for me.

Technorati tags: Alaska, tips, blogging

Carnival of Family Life #32

Thanks to the 17 contributors to this week's carnival. Don't miss Carnival of Family Life #33 hosted at Career and Kids on the theme of "Favorite Christmas Day Memories." Submit your entries to Blog Carnivals by 11pm CT December 23rd. If you are interested in hosting the carnival on your blog see Be A Good Dad for details.

Enjoy and have a great holiday season.

Parenting

My Wealth Builder submits a post called My Parental Responsibility-Be A Good Role Model on teaching children the value of money. It's short, to-the-point, and worth your time.

Henry Cate at Why Homeschool posts about Teaching Children to Anticipate. This well-written post doesn't just apply to parents involved in organized Homeschooling and I liked what it had to say.

Kate Baggott at Babylune (and if you haven't visited her by now, what are you waiting for?) writes about a parenting tip you may not get from Drs. Spock or Brazelton. Her post, Parenting Advice: To Be Used in Case of a Whining Emergency is the cure for holiday stress. I promise it'll cheer you up.

Erica Douglas, a creative mum-blogger who writes at GNM Parents, poses a few tough questions in her post Answering Santa Questions: A Mom Needs Help! See what she says, read what others have said in the comments and leave a comment of your own.

Holly Schwendiman at Holly's Corner reflects on a visit to Santa in her sweet post To Be a Child. Gratitude, Christmas, innocence and childhood, it's all there so go take a look.

Parenting Tips and Crafts

Erica Douglas, who I also read regularly at Littlemummy.com, has snack ideas for the hungry kid in your life with her post Ten Favourite Baby Snacks. I love dried apricots.

Laurie Bluedorn at Trivium Pursuit submits a post called Newspaper Craft. If you're interested in ideas for using all those old newspapers, this post puts the fun back in recycling.

Lisa Mitchell at Let's Talk Babies, a must-read blog for those thinking about pregnancy, sets down a few Common Cures for Morning Sickness.

Employment and Careers

Local Girl, one of the nicest bloggers around, posts on An Island Life about parental influence over children and a child's choice of careers. Her post, A Great Pay Job vs. Being Happy, is a thought-provoking read that generated some good comments.

Mike Miller, who not only writes at Be A Good Dad but also at Career and Kids, our host for next week, has a thought or two about his daily commute to the office in his post The Importance of Job Location. Let's hope he gets another at-home assignment soon.

Family Relations and Activities

Stacey Schifferdecker is a contributor at Family Portal--a blog new to me but one I'm sure to visit again--and writes about facilitating holiday traditions in her timely post, Simple Holiday Joys.

Doug at KidFaves, in a charming post entitled General Cappuccino, shows us how the parenting thing is done. It's like his house is a mirror of mine: boys and Legos. I'm going to remember his tip, I'll need it.

Patricia at A Better You Blog has a long and thoughtful post titled How to Get Along with Family. She has ten specific tips that may not be easy but will improve family interaction and dynamics not only during the Christmas season but any time family gets together.

Lori Cooperstein at Fun Playdates, an excellent blog for ideas on children's activities, has some simple suggestions for helping Dads be involved with their children during the holidays in her post, What Dads Can Do with Their Kids over the Holiday Break.

Miscellaneous Happenings

Shamelle at Enhance Life submits a post with the intriguing title, Who Borrowed Your Time Today? Make time for this one, you'll be glad you did.

Author Chris Dolley writes of his kittens' attempt at Hide and Seek in his post The Art of Camouflage: A Kitten's Guide, a must-read for all kitten lovers. And if you're not a kitten lover what's wrong with you?

Hsien-Hsien Lei, one of two moms blogging at Play Library, posts their first video clip of a toy that may be on a few Christmas lists, The Little Mommy Play All Day Toddler Doll. This blog is a wealth of information on subjects from potty training to healthy snacks.

Technorati tags: Carnival of Family Life, humor, motherhood, parenting

Seven Layer Cookies

These beauties couldn't be easier. Rich and tasty, make sure you have plenty of milk on hand. Oh! And a secret (shush!) if I'm ever short graham crackers I've been known to use Nilla Wafers, cookie crumbs or even cold cereal (like Honey Nut Cheerios) in a pinch.

1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 c coconut
1 c butterscotch chips
1 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped walnuts
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
½ c butter, melted

Layer the first six ingredients in a lightly greased 9x13 pan and pour the melted butter over top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until golden on top. Let them cool completely before cutting into squares or you'll have one gooey mess. Couldn't be faster or be tastier.

Technorati tags: Christmas, holidays, bars, Alaska, baking

Ode to a Portobello Mushroom

What was I thinking? They looked so pretty, sitting there at the grocery store, their perfect brown caps awaiting the culinary possibilities, and I drooled over the ways I could cook them. Stuffed? Sauteed? Grilled?

What part of giant mushrooms did I think they'd like? One look at the delicate slices sauteed with garlic and sweet onions in olive oil and it was as if a sudden stomach flu had struck. No one would touch them.

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, mushrooms, portobello

Someone I'd Like You To Meet: Liz Strauss of Successful Blogs

This week I did something I rarely get to do: talk with another blogger about blogging. Liz Strauss from Successful Blogs called and I got to hear from someone who's been blogging much better and much longer than I have.

Liz grew up in Chicago then lived in Peoria and Indianopolis briefly before returning to the Windy City to settle for good. With 20 years of experience in print media it's no wonder she's taken to blogging where she attacks issues such as blog writing, branding, marketing, linking and designing alongside meatier issues like net neutrality and SEO--and sprinkled with an occasional interview or forum with fellow bloggers.

Here is a list of her more popular blog posts but I would especially recommend reading this week's post A Holiday Gift: The 31-Day Calendar of Blog Post Ideas for January where she outlines a whole month of ideas for your blog.

And as Liz herself said, "If you like me you stay, if you don't you move on." I'll be visiting her frequently.

And by the way, I'm hosting the 32nd edition of the Carnival of Family Life on Monday. If you would like to submit a post related to family life please send it to this link here by midnight Saturday night.

Technorati tags: Carnival of Family Life, Alaska, Liz Strauss

Christmas Gifts Kids Can Make

Three years ago I tried to realign my kids' view of Christmas from receiving to giving by encouraging them to make gifts. After they made a list of recipients I helped them come up with ideas and gave them five dollars for supplies. It was successful enough to have become tradition. Here are some of our favorites:

13. Covers and cases. Almost everyone has collections, toys or gadgets that they use regularly that can benefit from a case or cover. The kids have sewn felt squares together to make a cases for digital cameras, laptops, Lillian's Fashion Pollys, or the boys' laser tags equipment. I think Martha copied her idea here from me. It's a good thing for them to make because 1. it gets them thinking about the other person's likes/hobbies and 2. sewing is a good skill to practice.

12. Flower pots. Paint terra cotta pots or cover them with tiny pieces of tiles, buttons and pieces of glass to make a mosaic. Beautiful and useful.

11. Books on tape. For a good gift for siblings, have older children tape record themselves reading a picture book. They can also make up a book, draw their own illustrations and have it spiral bound if they're feeling ambitious.

10. Coloring/activity/puzzle books. Download coloring pages, puzzles and activities off of the Internet, have children make a cover and have it bound for a sweet gift for younger children.

9. Beaded bracelets/ear rings. Wire, clasps, needle-nose pliers and beads are all that's needed to make beautiful homemade jewelry. Grace and I made a bunch during a girls' night while Andrew was gone on business. Children could also make their own beads using Sculpey polymer clay, poking through with a needle and then baking according to directions.

8. Felt Slippers. Another great idea from Queen Martha, the link with the directions is here.

7. Fleece hat/scarf. Requiring only a small amount of fleece and a minimal amount of sewing, it's a practical gift that doesn't gather dust in the back of the closet. Here's the link for the directions.

6. Painted T-shirts or book bags. Decorate a plain T-shirt with puffy fabric paints for the cool aunts and uncles on the shopping lists. Book bags, though expensive to buy at craft stores, can be made inexpensively and decorated as well.

5. Chess set. Using Sculpey clay (or alternately and more cheaply, salt dough) to make the pieces. See my instructions for making a chess board here.

4. Christmas pin. Once again, Sculpey clay to the rescue with a simple holiday candy cane pin. If kids can make a playdough snake, they can make this. And it's something you could actually wear.

3. Soaps. Glycerin soaps are elegant and easy for children to make with a little guidance. See Martha's link here.

2. Lip balm. Empty pill bottles purchased from Wal-Mart in the travel-sized toiletries section can be filled with home made lip balm from this recipe:

2 T grated beeswax
1 1/2 t coconut oil (add 1 more teaspoon if the solution is too stiff for your liking)
Contents of one vitamin E capsule
3-4 drops of coconut, peppermint, or pineapple extract

Melt together beeswax and coconut oil gently over low heat. Stir well. Add vitamin E. Add flavoring. Pour into container, makes 1 1/2 ounces.

Notice to my Mom and Melanie: Stop reading at this point! Spoiler ahead! Do not click on the next link!

1. This is the greatest, most useful gift we've done yet. I can't show you a picture or tell you what it is because it's on the gift list this year and family might be reading (but you'd better not be Mom). Anyone besides my Mom and Melanie have permission to click on the link and scroll down to the bottom of the page to see it.

See Family Fun Magazine and Kidley for more craft ideas for kids.

More about the Thursday Thirteen meme.

Technorati tags: Thursday Thirteen, holidays, gifts, Alaska, Christmas

Christmas Checkers

1. Paint a 13 inch X 13 inch sanded square of plywood, front and back, with red craft paint.

2. Lightly mark 8 (1.5 inch) lines vertically and horizontally, leaving a .5 inch border.

3. Using masking tape, tape off .5 inches for the border, then tape along alternating vertical then alternating horizontal lines. This will only give you half of the squares to paint, it will have to be done in two steps.

4. Paint the open green squares, then when the paint is dry, remove the tape and tape off the alternating vertical and horizontal lines to give you the remaining squares and paint those too.

5. Cover the entire board with a layer of protectant, such as Mod Podge or Varnish.

6. If desired, glue squares of felt to the back to prevent scratching on the table surface. I also made a fabric pouch in which to store the pieces for storage after the holidays.

7. For playing pieces, I painted wooden stars and trees and, using the head of a pin, made dots of red and yellow for tree ornaments. Pieces could also be Hershey's kisses, buttons, M&Ms, peanuts, even Cheerios if you wanted. Using different things will make it new and exciting each time.

Here are some other great links for Christmas ideas:

Amy at Motherload has a list of Christmas called, appropriately, Every Post You Need for the Holiday Season.

Melissa at Buzz Off has her own crafty ideas for the holidays, her post is Please Save Yourself from Trouble and has some good suggestions about games.

Two Moms In A Blog share great tips on running a buffet. Their Holiday Buffet Tips link is here.

Check in with Rocks in My Dryer every Wednesday for other good tips.



Technorati tags: Christmas, games, WFMW holidays

An Alaskan Christmas Tree for Me

My family has always cut our own Christmas trees. Yes siree, no wimpy fake trees or bound-and-gagged trees off some lot--it's nothing but free-range, homegrown, Alaskan spruce for us.

There's nothing like harvesting a tree in a blizzard or four-wheeling through the back woods and nearly plunging into a ravine to imprint the Christmas season indelibly in your mind, but ever since my own little branch of the family has been here we've followed the tradition with a couple improvements. Here's what you could expect should you ever join us for the Annual Christmas Tree Hunt:

1. We go on a weekday and take the kids out of school. I know we're probably irresponsible parents but they love it. Something about skipping school makes the whole thing feel forbidden and exciting.

2. We go to breakfast. We rarely take the kids to restaurants so a meal at Village Inn is something special and they plan what they're going to eat weeks ahead. Andrew always orders Chicken Fried Steak which puzzles me: Is it beef? It is chicken? Is it meat at all? It's Coronary a la King as far as I'm concerned but he treasures his yearly date with death like no other.

The picture doesn't even include the four pieces of toast. Gluttony thy name is Andrew. I'm feeling superior for sticking with the veggie omelet and side of fruit whereas Andrew was so stuffed afterwards he had a hard time reaching the steering wheel. We suggested he use his new gut to steer.

3. We drive an hour south of Anchorage into Chugach National Forest for a tree. If there's lots of snow remember the snow shoes, but if the ground is bare then dragging our prey over the barren ground de-needles it faster than anything.

And the result of our day's labor? A Charlie Brown tree only an Alaskan could love. It's not much to look at but represents a lot of fun and memories.

Technorati tags: Christmas, holidays, Alaska, Christmas trees

ROFL Award for November

I've awarded an ROFL award to Days to Come for a hysterical double dose of her son, Dawson in her post, Bond. Dawson Bond. I like the serious, poignant, heart-wrenching, zen-seeking, universe-delving posts and all that, but give me something that makes me laugh and I'm yours forever.

(And ROFL stands for Rolling On the Floor Laughing--I see the question frequently. For future reference if you see unknown internet acronyms check Urban Dictionary. It seems to have all the answers to life's tough questions.)

For other recipients see Izzy Mom and Mommy off the Record.

Technorati tags: ROFL Awards, humor, motherhood, Alaska

Grandma and Grandpa's House

My grandparents left Washington state in 1949 and moved as far as their money would take them: Alaska. Anchorage was in its infancy and was little more than a tent city; they lived in a one-room log house until Grandpa, a self-employed contractor, could build them the house which the city eventually grew up around, the same house that they live in today.

In the basement is a two-room apartment where my parents lived while they were home between college semesters. One summer my mother gave birth and that little basement became my first home. Later Grandpa built a four-plex on a third of the property for retirement income and it was successful enough that he built another apartment building with six units on the remaining third next to his immaculately organized wood shop.

When my parents were ready to settle permanently in Anchorage they lived in one of those apartments while they saved money for a house and when Andrew and I came back to Anchorage ten years ago we lived in the same apartment while we too saved for a home. Two of my children were born while we lived there.

I celebrated my fifth birthday in Grandma's garage with a long folding table and all the relatives gathered around a drooping teddy bear cake. While running in new patent leather shoes I tripped on the pebbled walkway that ran between the her house and our apartment and cut my eyebrow--my first time getting stitches. I started kindergarten during that time and each day made the two-block trek of which the highlights were feeding the neighbor's pet, Star the Reindeer, a carrot on the way to school and then visiting Grandma on the way home.

Every year at Christmas my family and my uncle's family gathered at Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and a chance to play with the cousins. When I was in high school I had to write an entrance essay and I wrote about my Grandmother's house and how she mopped her garage floor and had a fabulous Button Box, an ancient hand-cranked ringer washing machine and plastic chickens and ducks she put out in her garden every year.

But this year will be different because Grandma and Grandpa have decided that they can't take care of the apartments any more, the taxes on the place are killing them and they won't raise rents enough to cover the rising costs. Grandpa can't take care of the maintenance issues like he used to and can get dizzy when he stands for too long. They've decided that it's time to move.

Because the property is one big piece of land they can't sell the apartments separate from the house. So the whole lot is on the market and they have bought a condo in a senior retirement community. One of the brand new complexes going up around town with a swimming pool, an elevator, a garage, even a woodshop for Grandpa to putter around in. It's very safe and has all the amenities a octogenarian couple could want.

I'm glad they've found someplace comfortable that fits their needs, where they can relax from the stress of maintaining apartments, where Grandma won't break her hip while trying to shovel her front steps, but to leave the home they've known for fifty years where they've raised their three children and where at least five of their fourteen grandchildren have lived is an upheaval that hurts to watch.

Grandpa will have a shop but it won't be his shop, with his screws organized and labeled in baby food jars on the peg board and his own jar of candy by his own radio playing horrible country western music. That really twangy, Patsy Cline variety.

They're trying now to sort through fifty years of treasures, trying to figure out how to live with less--for Grandma this means giving up her empty 1976 Mason jars that she's sure must be worth too much to just give away to charity. I've taken as many as I can but I just don't do as much canning as she did.

The darkest secret is that when the land sells, and if not this time then the next time around, the value of such a prime piece of downtown property will be too much for a developer to resist and the house will be demolished--and possibly the other buildings too--to make room for the fancy town homes that are mushrooming around town. Someone will knock down a $60,000 house and replace it rows of condos that will sell for $600,000 apiece. I don't think I want to be here to see that. I hope it doesn't happen in Grandma and Grandpa's remaining time.

Technorati tags: Alaska, family, motherhood, grandparents

Chocolate Truffles

Our family makes these all the time for holidays, parties or wedding receptions. They're easy and taste more fabulous than this poor blog can describe.

If you're feeling particularly ambitious you can make a Truffle Tree (sounds like Dr. Seuss I know, but bear with me here) where you take about 70 small truffles, put them on toothpicks and use them to cover a Styrofoam cone. Insert a dowl into the bottom of the cone and "plant" it in a decorated terra cotta pot. I've lifted this picture from Reader's Digest where they've used a Styrofoam ball instead, but it looks similar to what I've made and you get the idea.

The thing to remember is to cover the Styrofoam with aluminum foil first and tightly pack the chocolates. I insert gold or silver leaves, pink rose buds, whatever coordinates with my theme, with straight pins in between the chocolates to hide the silver underneath. The benefit to using a cone over a ball too is that in warm weather the chocolates won't get soft and drop off the bottom of your tree like it's harvest time.

½ c heavy whipping cream
1/3 c granulated sugar
6 T butter (no substitutes)
1 c semi sweet chips
1 t pure vanilla extract
fine quality milk chocolate for dipping

Melt the cream, sugar, butter and chips over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until smooth and bubbly, being very careful not to burn. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Chill in refrigerator over night. Form truffle centers by taking 1 T chocolate ganache mixture and rolling between your hands into a ball (you'll get very messy, just plan on it). Try not to overwork the centers and place them on a wax-paper covered cookie sheet. Chill overnight. Dip centers in melted milk chocolate with a fork. It'll be tricky and take some practice to do it so that you cover the ball completely but keep at it. It always takes me a few "throw-aways" to get the hang of it again. Bummer.

Note: if your centers are unusually soft, try freezing them overnight instead of chilling. Also, cut back a little on the butter if you're still having trouble. You can add a 1/4 t mint extract for variety, just stir it in with the vanilla at the end. You can dip in dark chocolate or white chocolate as well, though white chocolate can get messy because the hot melted white chocolate will begin to melt the dark frozen center and become marbled the farther along you go in the dipping process.

Cover finished truffles with finely chopped nuts, thin lines of a contrasting color chocolate, or sprinkles.

Technorati tags: Christmas, holidays, chocolate, Alaska, truffles

A Lesson Learned

Reminder: The next time you try to fix an earring by supergluing the post back on, wait until the glue has dried before putting the earring back in your ear.

That is, if you ever care to remove them again.

Any other idiots out there who have superglued their earring to their ear?

Technorati tags: Alaska, motherhood, earrings

Hazards of Motherhood

Spencer has been grounded the past week and it's nearly killed him--eight inches of new snow and he's in stir. Today he made parole and as there's only an hour of daylight after school's out, he quickly grabbed his snowboard and David and headed for the neighborhood hill. It's a ten-minute walk and the boys have made the trip tons of times, summer or winter. Though I had had reservations at first about letting them go by themselves I reassured myself by saying, "Didn't I do things like this when I was a kid? Heck, we used to play by the train tracks." This afternoon I hardly gave it a second thought.

Half an hour later I got a phone call. A man's voice introduced himself and said he had my boys with him in his truck, that David had been hurt and could I please come and help them?

Five minutes later I was there. They'd been sledding and David (why is he always the victim?) took a snowboard to the face. There was blood. Lots of blood, as only head cuts can bleed, and I found the two boys sobbing from the trauma. I am good under that kind of pressure. Something in me makes me look carefully and quickly at an ER moment and say, "You do this, I'll do this, and then we'll do this." So it wasn't more than a second before I had them and their gear in the car and was on my way home.

In the light of the living room I had a hard time telling what was cut and what was blood but once I got him washed up I determined he had an inch-long clean cut across his lower lip, the kind that just pop open and might need stitches but could probably be handled by a butterfly and some superglue. However, the real damage was inside. His lower gums were blood-red from the bruising, his teeth had punched through his lip from the inside, and his upper mouth was cut and bleeding where his baby cuspid had been knocked up into his gum.

I doctored him up, calmed him down and called the dentist. Everything will be fine, though it'll take a bit of healing but my point is this: one of the first things to go through my mind when I saw his injuries and could think a clear thought was, "I shouldn't have let them go up there."

I wondered if the man who'd called me thought I was Attila the Mother, who let her boys wander through the neighbor doing things as dangerous as snow boarding without a license and getting picked up by strangers. I thought, "Maybe I'm letting them do too much too soon. Maybe they need to be closer to home. Maybe . . ." But then something else happened.

While David and I were doing our emergency run to the dentist we didn't say much--he was hurting and nervous and kept to himself . When he broke the silence he sullenly said (with a great deal of difficulty), "I'm never going sledding again."

"Well you can't stop sledding because of one accident." I paused, "You like sledding, wouldn't you miss it?"

"But this was scary," he insisted.

I said as gently as I could, "I know, but it's just part of life. Sometimes these things happen. Luckily you weren't hurt too badly but winter wouldn't be much fun if you stayed inside forever."

He wasn't entirely convinced, but I was. They hadn't been behaving foolishly, it was just a silly accident that couldn't have been prevented and with all that blood and panic and screaming from his brother Spencer had had the sense to stem the bleeding, walk up the hill, find an adult, ask him if he had a cell phone and give him our number to call me. Not a bad response for a ten year-old.

He curled up on my lap with his ice pack for an hour and I ached to see him in pain. I'll protect them as best I can but I don't want them viewing the world from their bedroom window. But maybe I should invest in some mouth guards.

Technorati tags: Alaska, sledding, motherhood, Christmas

Christmas Toys My Kids Love

What kid doesn't lust over a mini battery-powered Hummer? But even if they didn't cost more than my own real-life minivan I wouldn't get one because the kids would play with it for all of 15 minutes before boredom set in. Here's what's been successful with my kids--with an emphasis on budget--are there great toys you've discovered?

13. Rescue Heroes The boys loved these guys when they were younger, and I thought the names were a hoot (Willie Stop the police officer and pictured at left is Marshall Law). Perfectly sized for small hands, they stand up easily and come with moving accessories. Most are priced under $10, and I've even got them on sale for $7 with a bonus Rescue Hero cartoon video. Caution: don't get sucked into the big stuff like the aircraft carrier, I got one on sale for $30 (normally $70) and they hardly played with it. It's all about the figures.

12. Fashion Pollys Also a figure toy these are tiny plastic dolls with removable rubber clothes--sounds rather risqué I know, but they're great. Kids love tiny, girls love dressing things and these are perfect. They start at about $3.60 and Disney has a line that has been especially popular with our four year-old that is slightly more expensive (of course). Beware, they do break: heads pop off, normal wear and tear, but they last long enough to get your money's worth and then break, which is a great thing because if toys didn't break once in a while we'd be swimming in them.

11. Paper Airplane Books Spencer and David love their books and fancy paper for making airplanes. Simple, creative, instructive, what more could I want?

10. American Girls If you aren't already familiar with this mega-merchandising nightmare you must have spent the last decade lost in the desert. It's the dolls and the books and the clothes and the accessories and the vacation packages and . . . you get the idea. The dolls are $100 (gasp) and I hear people claim to buy them for their heirloom quality. To me, we buy toys for playing not for passing down so I refuse to pay that much for a doll. However, the stories are great and the girls love them so if she has to have one, go with the mini dolls (less well advertised because they want you to buy the big stuff) which are tiny replicas of the bigger models and come with tiny books. As I said, kids love tiny and though at $20 they're still a rip-off, at least you won't have to take out a second mortgage. Also, Grace used to get the catalog and cut up pictures and paste them on cardstock to make her own paper dolls. It kept her busy for hours. Just a thought . . .

9. Wood box My boys love to rip apart and to build, kind of a yin/yang thing, so we got Spencer a little tool box through Toys to Grow on ($30) and a box of wood pieces to build things with. We replenish the wood box from my Grandpa's garage where he always has pieces laying around. It's for all those MacGyvers-in-training out there.

8. Camping gear With four kids and so many relatives giving gifts it feels like my kids have too many things for their own good so I really enjoy giving them practical stuff such as camping gear. The kids love pretending with it when they're young and using it when they're older. We start with $5 mess kits at Walmart, headlights, rain ponchos, space blankets, camping pillows and camp stools then work up to sleeping bags, air mattresses and back packs. It's practical to have as emergency equipment for your family--you don't want to be caught in a winter power outage in Alaska without emergency gear.

7. Art supplies A Tupperware container filled with new crayons, glue, stencils, glitter, colored pencils, their very own scissors and markers are great for small kids. Older kids love books on how to draw things, drawing paper, pastels, fancy colored pencils, water color paints, even this fabulous easel Costco had on sale last year for $37 (with rebate) which I can't seem to find online now. Kids love creativity and having their own supplies.

6. Puzzles These are very popular. The young kids start with the 24 piece varieties, work up to 60, then 100. Now the boys love these puzzles from Tamagami that are colorful and interesting to look at and are hard enough to keep them occupied for many many MANY hours. Big bonus. They retail for about $7. If your kids aren't into puzzles, try sitting down and doing one with them, get them started with the border, hand them all the pieces for a specific area. They'll catch on and get into it.

5. Kid Knex This is another toy for younger children, the big colorful pieces are fun to put together, they come with buggy eyes and feet and are great for making tiny rocket ships. The price is right, most sets are under $15. They have Knex toys for older children (age 7-ish) and then for older children (10+) too. We have two different sets and the Kid Knex got more play time than the older kid set.

4. Books on tape My kids love having a child-sized portable tape recorder and books with tapes. They'll carry them around from room to room, listening to their favorite stories. Favorites include the Curious George series, anything Disney, Nice New Neighbors by Aliki and Bill Peet stories.

3. Dishes and pots and pans A big Tupperware container with dishes, wooden spoons, cookie cutters and teapots is her favorite toy. Kid Connection at Wal-Mart has reasonable prices (usually under $10) for various kitchen sets such as a toaster/blender combo or a stove top that really lights up and makes sizzling sounds. Now does it also make an authentic burning smell?

2. Games: Loot, Memory, Battleship, Clue, Monopoly The best games are cheap and have been around for ages. The children probably play chess more than anything but every once in a while I'll see a new card game that they like, like Loot Uno or Labyrinth. I just found a Pirates of the Caribbean version of Life which the boys will love. The original was fine, but with a pirate theme I see great possibilities.

1. Legos What could I say about Legos that hasn't already been said? Don't buy Legos. They're outrageously expensive. Go with Mega Bloks, a cheaper knockoff. You may find a Mega Bloks set that's expensive, like this Pirates of the Caribbean set (once again, thanks to Disney merchandising) but the basic sets are reasonable like this one.

More about the Thursday Thirteen meme.

Technorati tags: Thursday Thirteen, holidays, toys, Alaska, Christmas