Character Assassination Carousel: Arthur’s Birthday Book

September 9, 2013 By: Stephanie18 Comments

Thanks to my friend, Nicole Leigh Shaw, Tyop Aretist, for having me on her Character Assassination Carousel today! It’s a really fun series where we shine a spot light on all the crazy being presented to our children every day via kiddie lit. Like this little gem Nick brought home the other day…

Last Wednesday my kindergartener was very excited because for the first time he was able to pick out a book from the school library and he was actually allowed to bring it home. He was so proud and eager to share his book with his sisters as their bedtime story. It was all downhill from there.

What happened next was on me. I should have read the book myself first, but I didn’t.

I trusted a character we knew and the PBS sticker on the front of the book and I dove right in.

It started innocently enough…

Arthur is excited because his birthday is just days away. Hey, me too! (My birthday is this Thursday. I take presents in the form of chocolate and free babysitting.)

He takes his party invitations to school to hand them out to the kids in his class. His second grade class. We can infer this because Arthur is turning 8 during the school year. Arthur mentions inviting one girl to his party, Francine.

Francine immediately asks if they can play Spin the Bottle because, apparently, Francine is the whore of the whole second grade.

At this point my eyebrows were raised and my 4-year-old asked what “spin the bottle” meant, but we trudged onward in the name of literacy.

But oh no! Muffy’s party is going to be on the same day.

Arthur’s party or Muffy’s? It’s quite the quagmire.

The boys very reasonably discuss the situation at recess and decide to stick together. They are smiling and supportive of their friend. Meanwhile, the girls PMS all over the jungle gym. Muffy channels her inner Future Real Housewife and assertively declares, “Anyone who doesn’t come to my party can’t be my friend,” while Francine laments the lack of boys, just as every hormonally-charged seven-year-old should.

Shhhh….we’re coming up on my favorite part.

The part where all the second graders are left unsupervised after school and Francine asks one of life’s most important philosophical questions.

I mean, truly, what IS a party without boys? Especially when you are 7 going on 8. Or 18. You pick. We can’t ask Francine because she and Arthur are busy canoodling behind a fence.

Luckily, all that canoodling led to the ingenious plan to lie to all of their friends and forge Muffy’s handwriting on notes to other people. We can’t be sure why they need to forge Muffy’s handwriting since it turns out that Muffy is actually the one they are trying to surprise. One would think that we shouldn’t make it look like she is part of the plan, just in case one of those friends who received the fake note from “Muffy” tried to talk to her about it. Also, why are we trying to move everything to Arthur’s house? Muffy’s place is gigantic and she’s already told us she has a rock band lined up. Don’t think about it too hard. There’s no room for logic in this tree house. The pheromones are taking up too much space. Just look at Francine’s face. She can’t resist that musky little aardvark. I also like the not-so-subtly placed love birds over the Keep Out sign. Classy.

Still without any adult supervision, Arthur and Francine sneak around the neighborhood at the butt crack of dawn committing all kinds of federal offenses: tampering with mail, forgery, trespassing…it’s all in good fun.

Check out that note Arthur left for Muffy. “Dear Muffy, I have a special present for you. It is so big…Please come to my house at noon today to get it.” Ahem.

Lest we forget that it is Arthur’s birthday, we are told that three birthday cards come in the mail. He only opens one. The one with the money in it. Priorities, people. Get some. Arthur’s gonna need those dollar bills if he continues spending all that time with Francine.

Finally, all of their friends arrive, confused. Nobody knows how they got there. Turns out those “surprise packages” in their mailboxes may have been laced with roofies and chloroform. There’s no time for questions, Muffy is on her way!

Surprise!

Ain’t no party like a boy/girl party and these animals will go to great lengths to rock out co-ed style. Especially our favorite little skanky ferret.

Look at her being all coy as she hands Arthur that big ol’ box. “You have to promise me you’ll use it right away.”

Let’s just try to ignore the fact that Buster is blowing a phallic party favor right at this moment.

What could it be?

Am I the only one who is hearing Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg singing something about something in a box right now?

Of course!

A personalized Spin the Bottle game!

Just what every eight-year-old needs.

Sleep tight, kids! Now please excuse me while I bleach my eyeballs and brush my teeth because I just threw up in my mouth a little.

*Unfortunately, this is an actual book that my son really did bring home from the school library during the third week of kindergarten. Let credit go where it is due. All photos represented come from the book Arthur’s Birthday (An Arthur Adventure)by Marc Brown. It’s available on Amazon, where they recommend that this book is appropriate for ages 3-6. Gag me with a spoon.

If you liked seeing Arthur assassinated today, check out the previous assassin, Urban Moo Cow, and be on the look out for the next post in the series, which will be from Mommy Needs a Martini.

Let Her Say No.

September 7, 2013 By: Stephanie22 Comments

The fair is coming back to our city this week. That, combined with all the recent controversy about this post, reminded me of one of the most important parenting decisions we have had to make so far, which happened in the middle of that very fair last year.

We were exhausted. Our house was on the market, Penny was an infant and our older children were still young, ages 5 and 3. One night we decided that, in the name of providing good memories and life experiences, we would brave the crowd and the insane parking and fork over the cash to take the kids to the County Fair. We pushed our stroller around barn animals and bought cotton candy and stood in line forever for ride tickets.

Nicholas was in seventh heaven, dragging us all with him as he sprinted from ride to ride, some of them two or three times. Abby was too scared to get on the rides.

My husband tried to encourage her, but she kept saying no.

At first we were both a little frustrated. We had driven past these rides several times for the past few days, and each time she would beg to stop the car so that she go on the Merry Go Round. But now she had tears in her eyes and fear in her heart as she stood in front of the giant slide or next to the ferris wheel.

As I listened to Eddie try to coax her onto the rides, my heart sank. It was no fault of his. He was being a good dad. He just wanted to show her that she could overcome that fear and have fun.

“Come on, Honey. I’ll be right here with you the whole time. You don’t have to be scared. You can trust me. I love you.”

I knew.

I knew in ten or twelve or twenty years she would hear those same words from another boy or another man, but the stakes would be much higher.

And when my daughters hear those words, as I know they will, I want them to be able to say “No.” and say it over and over again if they have to.

Because even after they say the words there will be still be coaxing and temptation and misplaced logic, even if it comes from men with the best of intentions and with the purest of upbringings.

It is our job to teach them that they never have to do something that makes them uncomfortable.

Even if it means disappointing someone. Even if that someone is me or their father or the love of their life.

No means no. Always.

We can tell them with our words, but if they have never seen it work in practice how can they understand?

If they have always been coaxed into doing things that they did not want to do in the name of “fun” and making other people happy, how can we expect them to stand up for themselves when it matters?

We have to show our daughters (and our sons) RIGHT NOW that we respect their “No.” It doesn’t matter if she is only three or that I know she will enjoy the merry go round if she gives it a try.

The County Fair is the perfect place to practice when the stakes are low. We can plant seeds of encouragement in our girls at the same time that we let their brothers see examples of what their reaction should look like when someone says no.

I pulled my husband aside and explained what I thought we needed to do and he agreed.

Seeing the relief in my daughter’s face as her daddy hugged her and told her he would never make her do anything that made her heart feel bad was worth a million wasted ride tickets.

Yes, we walked away with extra tickets, passing them on to another family who was entering the fair just as we were leaving.

It was the best $20 I ever wasted.

Building the Dream: Getting Closer!

September 4, 2013 By: Stephanie2 Comments

This week the crew is finishing up the shingles on our roof.

The back is almost done!

Windows and doors go in TOMORROW while they finish the last of the work on the roof and the siding will be added next week. Also next week: drywall. (But not until Thursday so you’ll have to wait two weeks for the pics since I’m doing this series on Wednesdays. Bummer.) I can’t wait to see it all walled in! I think that will really help give us a good idea of how it will look when we live there.

Framing and Roofing for New Home Build

This week the crew also finished a lot of framing work, like adding supports to our roof trusses, fire stops to the chimney and sealing/insulating a lot of seams and around the electric work and plumbing. The pool company also came and painted the outline for the pool so they can start excavating next week. Eddie ran some speaker wire to the back porch so we can have music playing in the pool area and he also ran the wiring for surround sound in case we ever agree to do that in our living room. (I’m not a huge fan of spending the $ for surround sound in a room that’s not that big, to begin with, but it was way cheaper and easier to run the wires now that it would be later.)

We passed our initial framing, electric, and plumbing inspections. Yay!

Only 6 or 7 more weeks to go!

Tip: This week we went around the house and took pictures and videos of every wall so that we could document how the plumbing and electric work is run. This was a trick my Uncle Sonny shared with us. He said that he always recommends doing that when you are building new construction. That way later when we want to add built-ins or if we do something more complicated, like remove a wall, we will know what is inside the wall.

Easy 2 Minute Omelet

August 30, 2013 By: Stephanie2 Comments

Now that Nick is back in school our mornings can feel a little rushed, but I want to make sure he gets a filling breakfast because his class has the very last lunch time. He gets to school at 8:45, but doesn’t have lunch until 12:40. That’s a long time for a kindergartener to wait for lunch! (They do get a small snack in the morning in the classroom.)

We do a lot of quick but filling breakfasts like instant oatmeal or Greek yogurt, but his favorite is eggs.

This week I started making him some super fast omelets in the microwave. These babies are ready in two minutes flat. Literally. That’s faster than I can toast a Poptart.

How to make an omelet in two minutes:

Crack two eggs into a ceramic, microwave safe bowl. I use these.

Whisk the eggs with a fork and add any ingredients your little heart desires. (If you add meat it should be pre-cooked.) My favorite is spinach and feta, but today I used diced tomatoes, onions, peppers and shredded mozzarella cheese to mine. Nick likes his plain.

Stir and microwave for one minute, then pull the bowl out to check. Sometimes I flip the omelet at this point if it looks like the sides are getting too done. Otherwise, I just swirl the bowl to redistribute the part that is still runny.

Put the bowl back in the microwave for 45 seconds. At this point a plain omelet (just eggs or eggs and cheese) should be done.

If you have extra veggies or meat in there, flip the omelet and microwave it for another 30 seconds.

It will look like this. It tastes good, but it’s not very pretty.

Flip it out onto a plate and fold it in half.

Ta-da!

Building the Dream: First Week of School

August 28, 2013 By: Stephanie3 Comments

This week Nicholas was able to start school at the elementary school just across the street from our property.

Although the house isn’t finished yet, the school board granted permission for him to start the school year, which was a HUGE blessing, since transitions can be very hard for him. We really didn’t want him to have to switch schools just a few weeks into the year. Our builder expects to be finished in mid-October (only about 7 weeks left!).

So a week ago, my heart walked away wearing a little blue backpack.

As far as the house itself, the crew has been working hard to get the shingles on the roof. They finished the chimney and they are working on the front porch and the dormer that will be in the bonus room over the garage.

We have been trying to hurry and put together the IKEA cabinets because we won’t have much longer now until they can start being installed. It was kind of slow-going for a while there. I kept commenting to Eddie how much I wished we had the cordless brad nailer that I got to work with at the Haven conference. Eventually, I stopped wishing and emailed one of the contacts I made at the conference. I felt kind of selfish asking for it because I had just won a bunch of their tools through a Twitter contest, but guess what? They sent me one!

IKEA Cabinet Assembly Tip

I’m in love with my new Airstrike Nailer. Thank you, Ryobi!

It is perfect for putting together all of these cabinets while we are living in the apartment because we don’t have to worry about a noisy air compressor bothering the neighbors. (And I don’t know how we’d get the air compressor into the apartment anyway.) Previously, we had been using a hammer and nails to attach the back to each cabinet and that was taking for-freaking-ever. We have a ton of cabinets. The Airstrike makes it go SOO much faster. I already have several projects in mind for my new best friend once we get into the new house.

Now if we could just fast forward through the next 7 weeks, I’d be all set!

P.S. Yes, I still like to rock my 15-year-old (holy cannoli, I’m getting old!) cheerleading tee from high school.

*This post may contain affiliate links.

Healthier Options for Convenience Foods

August 27, 2013 By: Stephanie3 Comments

I have a feeling that the Whole Foods Moms are not going to love me after this post.

But here’s the thing, I named my blog Binkies and Briefcases because I believe in balance. Even though I’d love for my whole family to eat 100% organic whole food all of the time, at this stage in our lives that’s just not realistic. We have active kids, busy schedules, and we are in a temporary living situation until our new home is finished. 90%of my kitchen supplies are still in storage. To give you an idea, I made fried zucchini the other night using a plastic fork to flip them during the frying process. Sadly, the fork did not survive. Happily, I managed not to burn myself.

You get the idea. Anyway, the point is, sometimes we just need the, well, convenience of convenience food.

I’ve been really paying attention to the labels at the store lately, and I’ve found a few products that we really like because they are easy, not any more expensive than their less-healthy counterparts, and they taste good.

This is not a sponsored post (although I wouldn’t mind if these brands decided they want to send me a check), I just wanted to share because we’re crushing on them right now.

Utz Potato Chips

These are a local product. They are made right in my grandparents’ neighborhood. If you’re not in the mid-Atlantic region, then I’m sorry for your loss because these really are yummy. We have always bought these chips anyway because they taste good and we grew up on them, but even after I started worrying about switching our family to whole foods I just kept right on buying them because…

They only have 3 ingredients: potatoes, oil, and salt. I only buy the original or ruffled version, which has the same ingredients list, because the other flavors have more ingredients. Granted, cottonseed oil isn’t the best kind of oil in the whole universe, but I’m okay with giving these to my kids as a sometimes food.

The next convenience food I wanted to share with you is

Annie’s Homegrown Mac & Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is my middle daughter, Abby’s, favorite food in the whole entire world. She would eat it every day. Often, she does. It’s MUCH cheaper, not to mention easier and faster, to buy a boxed version than to make it from scratch.

I buy this at Target.You can also buy it here. This week at Tar-Jay the stove top kind was on sale for $1/box, which is only a few cents more than other well known brands. I also really appreciated that they had a box with a character my children recognized. It can be hard to explain why we aren’t buying “the Monster’s Inc. kind” or “the one with the Transformers on it.”

I like that the pasta is organic, the cheese is real (“Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Non-Animal Enzymes” as opposed to “WHEY, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PALM OIL, MILKFAT, SALT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CITRIC ACID, GUAR GUM, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, LACTIC ACID, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE); MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, MALTODEXTRIN, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ACETYLATED MONOGLYCERIDES, SALT, MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES, APOCAROTENAL (COLOR).”-actual ingredients for the “cheese” in the other brand.) and that there aren’t any hormones or artificial colors or flavors.

Abby and Penny both ate the microwavable kind for lunch today. I believe it was $3.50 for a box of 5 pouches, which is about $0.70 per serving. I tasted it and was surprised that it tasted very familiar, much like the stove top version of the brand in the blue box.

I also buy other Annie’s products at Target, although I do find that many of them are more expensive than the non-organic versions of the same snack food.

I’m sending 3 boxes of Annie’s snack mix bunnies for the kindergarten class snack tomorrow. It would have been cheaper to buy something else, but I feel better knowing that I’m not giving the kids hormones and chemicals.

Have you tried any of these products or are there others that you can share?

Chicken Corn Soup Recipe

August 23, 2013 By: Stephanie8 Comments

We’ve had a few rainy days lately. Perfect soup weather! I love this time of year when the weather starts to cool down, the kids are getting back into a routine, and I start to have a little more down time to cook and craft and do things I actually enjoy. Here in Pennsylvania chicken corn soup is really popular. Firehouses will even sell it on the side of the road as a fundraiser. It’s one of those things, like chilli or spaghetti sauce, that every family does a little differently and everyone thinks their own version is the best. It’s often referred to as a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe, so I guess credit is due to our Amish community. I have no idea if there is a “right” way to make this soup, but this is my version. 🙂 I think, traditionally, there should be egg noodles instead of rice, but I use the brown rice because it’s healthier.

Chicken Corn Soup

2014-06-14 12:22:56

Serves 8

Turn your leftover chicken into a delicious soup that originated with the Amish.

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Ingredients

The carcass (bones) of a roasted or rotisserie chicken
Water
2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken
2 ears of corn
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 egg, beaten and tempered

Spices (to taste)

Sea salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
*Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
*Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
*Tastefully Simple Italian Seasoning
*These are what I use because my friend is a Tastefully Simple consultant. Feel free to substitute with whatever versions of these spices you have on hand.

Instructions

1. Fill a heavy medium stock pot (I use my Le Creuset) with water and the carcass of a roasted chicken that has been picked clean.
2. Simmer the chicken bones over low heat for a minimum of two hours. (This can also be done in a slow cooker overnight)
3. Remove bones and season broth to taste.
4. Shuck and clean two ears of corn and add to broth. Increase heat and cook corn in chicken broth.
5. After 7-10 minutes, remove corn from broth. Allow to cool until it can be handled. Use a sharp knife and cut corn kernels from each ear.
6. Return corn kernels to broth. Also return empty corn cobs to broth.
7. Add cooked, shredded chicken and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. Remove corn cobs and add 1/2 cup of uncooked brown rice.
9. Cover pot and continue to simmer until rice is cooked. (About 15 minutes)
10. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg. Temper the egg with warm broth and then add it to the pot.
11. Stir to incorporate egg.

Notes

Like all soups, this one is best if left to sit overnight.
Try making the broth overnight in a slow cooker!

By Stephanie {Binkies and Briefcases}

Binkies and Briefcases https://binkiesandbriefcases.com/

Backyard Photo Shoot

August 22, 2013 By: Stephanie2 Comments

This week my friend Korie let me take some pictures of her adorable little girls. They are about the same ages as my girls, so while Nick was in school one day we met up for a play date and showed them our new house, followed by a trip to a local playground.

Our neighbor has an old shed that backs right onto our property line. I’m in love with the barn wood so we used it as a backdrop. I hope my neighbor never paints this shed!

The girls were all more interested in playing with their friends than having their pictures taken, and I was having trouble getting the camera to focus. I was really irritated because some of my best pictures from the beginning of the shoot were out of focus, but I got it together eventually and we still got some good ones.

I was really trying to play with texture for this shoot with the barn wood and the old wooden playground.

That one on the left was one that I was really sad wasn’t more in focus. We’ll just pretend I did that on purpose because I have such a great artistic eye (stop laughing).

If you are local to Central Pennsylvania and interested in having family pictures done, you can find out more about my rates on my photography page.

Building the Dream: Shingles and Lights

August 21, 2013 By: Stephanie3 Comments

This week there has been a lot of progress inside and out.

The crew has started to lay the shingles on the roof and the electrician and his guys were in for a few days running all of our wiring. We got to walk through and decide where every switch and outlet and recessed light would go, which was fun and a little overwhelming.

The kid’s tub and the shower in our master bath are in place.

The stairs have been built.

We received special permission from the school board for Nicholas to start school in the neighborhood where our house will be (even though we obviously don’t live here yet). School starts today.

Only about 8 more weeks until we move in!

A Letter to My Son On His Second Year of Kindergarten

August 20, 2013 By: Stephanie6 Comments

Dear Nicholas,

Tomorrow will be your second first day of kindergarten. Daddy and I are just as proud of you as we were this time last year. More proud, actually, because we’ve seen you struggle and come out the other side with a smile on your face.

You were my “Kindergrad” in 2013 and you will be my Double Kindergrad in 2014.

Son, there is never any shame in dusting yourself off and trying again.

But you already knew that, didn’t you?

We are your third family, after all.

Sometimes it takes more than one try to get it just right.

And that is more than okay.

That’s the measure of a good man, a man like your daddy, who will never quit, but just keep trying until he gets good results.

I believe with every fiber of my being that you will love school this time around. We just needed some extra time to get the kinks out.

Yesterday you and your sister were in the backseat of the minivan talking about how you would be back in school in just a few more days and she told you, “Some of the other kids might be scared, but you will be like their big brother.”

Being a big brother is one thing we already know you excel at doing.

The letter sounds and math concepts will come in time.

Your heart is good and your soul is sweet and new friends can’t resist the energy of kindness.

All of the kindergarteners in Mrs. B’s class are going to love their new big brother.

I know I do.

Love,

Mommy

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Character Assassination Carousel: Arthur’s Birthday Book

Let Her Say No.

Building the Dream: Getting Closer!

Easy 2 Minute Omelet

How to make an omelet in two minutes:

Building the Dream: First Week of School

Healthier Options for Convenience Foods

Utz Potato Chips

Annie’s Homegrown Mac & Cheese

Chicken Corn Soup Recipe

Backyard Photo Shoot

Building the Dream: Shingles and Lights

A Letter to My Son On His Second Year of Kindergarten

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