The Good Stuff - May 2009

I know the Good Stuff posts dropped off for awhile there - I was having a hard time keeping up with them monthly, so I'll just post them whenever I have a few things to tell about.

Kid Good Stuff

Hanna Andersson Floppy Sunhat - For my fair-skinned girls, sun protection that won't fly away. And the $10 price tag is a steal for H.A. quality. Ginger chose Blossoming Pink; Hazel chose Papaya.

Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail - Just before our England trip I took the girls to Border's to each pick out a new book for the trip. Which also gave me the chance to do some browsing. I found this book about the experience of having a tantrum, and liked it but thought it could go either way with the girls - maybe they'd relate to it, maybe not. It's the story of a girl named Katie, told from her own point of view. She explains that she's a great kid most of the time, and many of the things she does well. Then she explains that sometimes she's "Bombaloo," a name for her alternate personality when her anger/frustration gets out of control. She explains what it's like, and how, when it's over, she's sorry and a little frightened and her Mom understands, and then she's Katie again. I lucked out - my girls love the book and want to read it a lot and talk about it. And today when Hazel had a tantrum, when it was over, I asked if she had been Bombaloo, and she smiled and said, "Yes! But now I'm sorry and I'm Hazel again." Not bad, not bad at all. I think it's great to have a story - a third party - to use to talk about feelings and especially feeling out of control, and to give those feelings some validation.

I Love Chocolate by Davide Cali - We went to the dance studio where Hazel will be taking a class this summer, to get her measured for shoes. Across the hall is the cutest ever children's bookstore called Aladdin's Lamp and I will probably go there every week during class with Ginger. I walked in this week and "I Love Chocolate" was the first book I saw. I read it, thought I would die over its perfection, and bought it. Just the perfect book for a chocoholic Mom to bond with her kids over.

Grown-up Good Stuff

Benjamin Moore Paint website - Playing with paint colors has been my after-hours obsession lately, dreaming of Disco-Mom-ing the new house. I will post on results later this summer. My friend gave me a good pointer on saving a little $ - she found her colors at Benjamin Moore but took them to Home Depot to be matched and bought Behr paint which is excellent quality but less money.

Chutney - I became hooked in England when they scoop this stuff out as a restaurant condiment next to ketchup. Goes with anything! Plus they slather it on sausages and Dave makes one yummy cheddar-n-chutney panini. Got myself a jar of Carmelized Onion Chutney from Bracken Hill Fine Foods to bring home. Keep your eyes peeled at your grocery stores and farmers' markets and give chutney a new chance.

The Jeeves books by P. G. Wodehouse - (I just finished The Inimitable Jeeves.) The trivial adventures of frivolous bachelor Bertie Wooster and his ever clever butler Jeeves. Insubstantial in the extreme; also enormously entertaining and humorous. And fantastically British. I wholeheartedly second my brother Dave's suggestion: "One wonders what it might do for the verbal talents of a generation if they were required to read Wodehouse in school instead of ghastly classics like The Scarlet Letter."