• snow day
    book review,  Books

    Stuck Inside? 5 Great Middle Grade Snow Day Reads

    The Polar Vortex is back, the weather is keeping everyone inside, and it’s possible you are being subjected to another day of “Mom/Dad, I’m bored!” The weekend ahead looms, cold and dreary for much of the US. If this sounds familiar, I have just the thing to keep your kiddos occupied – check out my list (Part 1) of some entertaining middle grade books – perfect for a snow day. (This roundup of some of my favorite books from 2018 contains affiliate links.) These books all share a general theme of overcoming obstacles of one sort or another. A few of them are laugh out loud funny while tackling topics…

  • Recipes

    Thai Pork with Peanut Sauce

    I’m lucky. My kidlings are tweens/teens now and are completely capable of entertaining themselves, so a snow day (or two) doesn’t seem to be the challenge that it once was when they were younger. We hang out in our PJs, they make their own snacks, and it’s all quite low-key if I can keep the squabbling to a minimum. Then and now, when we have a snow day, I tend to reach for comfort foods and well-loved slow cooker recipes, the kind that you put together in the morning with little fuss and with ingredients that I generally have in my pantry. This, my friends, is one of them, and…