Animals are SO smart

I have no idea why, but I am still surprised when I see proof that animals have a sense of adventure that is remarkably similar to ours. Watch this cute video and let your heart melt with happiness. See you next week!

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Instruction manual for a Percy Jackson party

Ever decide to save money on a child’s birthday party and just throw the party yourself? Year after year our parties graduated from hiring clowns and magicians to renting the go-cart range. This year we wanted to put all the money into his present (a new computer since the old one was driving US crazy), and just have a nice at-home gathering of his friends. The biggest problem- and I can see that now- is that I put myself in charge of planning it. Stephen still wanted a cool party and...wait for it.... I am competitive. Challenge Accepted! (I am also jonesing for the next How I Met Your Mother, if you hadn't caught onto that!) As I tried to decide on a theme, my soon to be ten year-old came up with the theme for me. He wanted the Percy Jackson books to come to life. Yay! Then I spent nearly two weeks coming up with Camp Half-blood ideas, scouring the internet for patterns and creating the items needed. ...

Old Fashioned Taste Test: IBC or St. Arnold?

St. Arnold Brewery Stephen can't wait until school starts and his teacher asks the students what they did over the summer. He insists he is going to stand up, pump his fist in the air, and proclaim, "I went to a BREWERY!" The Parent of The Year award is always just outside of my grasp. When Grandma came to visit, my husband Eric made arrangements to amuse her. One of the things on the list was to take her to St. Arnold for a tour on brewing. It IS educational, so we brought Stephen along, and I was amazed at how many others came to the same conclusion. There were more kids on that tour than adults! Which may be why they served root beer free, while charging (on a 'chip' system) for their other brewed items. So that's the setup for how we decided to do this week's activity. While trying out their root beer, Stephen decided it was the best he had ever tasted. Eric said IBC was still his favorite, and Grandma and I were undecided. So...

DamNation Prologue

Congratulations! I finished the second Piggy book and now it's up to the editor to determine what stays and when it is available...although the 'publish date' is about a year later than promised since I spent so much time watching the deadline go whizzing past. I am currently working on DamNation, a young adult end-of-the-world book. I am considering adding in an unusual prologue (unusual because it is three chapters) but can't decide how I feel. Can I get some opinions? I will post the prologue here, then reveal the first chapter of the book. You will notice the prologue is past tense, third person. Here's where it gets tricky. Both the tense and the voice change. Because the first chapter is Dara's explanation of where she is what what had JUST happened, it is past tense, first person, and from there on, it is present tense, first person. If it weren't for all these changes, I wouldn't even call the first three a prologue and I would...

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