Blog Tip Sharing Project Redux: Sidebars and Pages
Hola friends and new readers-soon-to-be-friends!   Today’s topic is a continuation of last week’s discussion of blog design.   Let’s talk about your (probably overloaded) sidebars.  I say that they are probably overloaded because, well, most sidebars, INCLUDING MINE, are.  Whether you have one, two, or more sidebars, the stuff you stick over there needs to have some sort of purpose. Generally, we want things in our sidebars to entice our readers to stick around and read more.  Your sidebars are also a good place to put information that lets your new

Choco-LOT icing
Thank goodness that’s chocolate icing and, uh, not something else. ©2009 Playgroups are No Place For Children. All Rights Reserved..

Aiming HIGH for Anissa
Anissa, I know you’d appreciate this.  4 PM, Ella still in PJ’s, John Deere PJ’s, nonetheless.  Please don’t hold it against me that she was wearing boy’s dress shoes, I aimed as low as I could.  She put the shoes on herself.  I guess to dress up her look?   (Not pictured:  Me, at 4 PM, still in PJ’s, with unbrushed hair and mascara raccoon e

Control issues? What control issues?
Since I had to take Ella to the ER on Monday morning, Tate was in charge of taking Carson to school. I had very little time to explain how the morning should play out.  Quickly I showed Tate what to fix Carson for lunch and what containers to pack them in and where the lunchbox could be found.  I rattled off what time to wake him up, what he should wear (A JACKET!!  TENNIS SHOES!  NOT his Crocs!!), and how much milk to pour into his cup.   As I was running out the door carrying Ella, I remembered that I hadn’t explained the rules of the drop off line, realizing I should have spent more time on this most important of school rituals versus how much milk to pour for Carso

Good things about Monday
Fearing the worst, I was relieved that at no time did the ER doctor ever utter the words, “Your daughter is suffering from Scarlet Fever/The Black Plague/an incurable skin condition that will leave her scarred for life.”  It certainly didn’t hurt that the doctor who diagnosed and treated Ella with an allergic reaction to amoxicillin was not only kind and he