Pedigreed Housewife World

My wonderful friend and blog reader, Tina, emailed me a suggestion for something to do with the kids this week based on an article that she read on MSNBC.   The article is titled ‘Moms, teach your daughters about money too’ and is about a recently widowed woman who realizes that she, and hence her kids, don’t have the understanding that they need to manage the family finances when her husband passes away. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39689446/ns/today-money/ Now, I am probably the last person you should ask about financial matters.   When I first graduated from undergrad and was starting my first real job, I got some advice from a coworker with who was close to retirement that has been my investment strategy ever since: “If you don’t know what you’re doing with your money, every time an opportunity comes by that doesn’t seem too risky, if you can afford it, put any extra money you have in it.   That way, when you figure out how to invest well, you’ll have some things to start wi

My Briana has become obsessed with watching Mommy get ready in the morning. The whole 5 minutes of it. She scrutinizes my face washing, deodorizing, and quick, sloppy make-up application like she's a cosmetology student and her future career depends on perfecting her craft.   Of course she also wants to join in and every now and then I let her use a chapstick to make her lips "all shiny like Mommy's".   As a kid I could wear some makeup, but I was never allowed to wear “rouge” (ie. blush) which my Dad for some reason believed to be a catalyst to becoming a “lady of the night”, so I have a probably unhealthy fear of letting my kids wear make-up too early, but I try to let go of that this morning and get ready for some fun with chemistry. Time To Talk- But first, I stress to the kids that before you can put things on your face, it’s important to know how to take care of your face.   You have to wash it to keep it clean.   I also share my mother’s skin care secrets-

There is a national holiday this week, sort of   - Columbus Day.   Of course I say “sort-of” because neither school nor work is off and most people probably don’t even know when it is.   Unless you really needed something in the mail on Monday or you are a good shopper, who knows it as a nice sale day that unlike Black Friday doesn’t draw millions of people into the stores, you probably didn’t realize that Columbus Day has come and gone.   Since Abby doesn’t share Briana and I’s ‘shop ‘til you drop’ mentality, we skipped the malls and decided to learn all about Christopher Columbus. The most important things that I wanted the kids to know are: 1)    There was a real man named Christopher Columbus who discovered America 2)    Columbus sailed the ocean blue in Fourteen Hundred Ninety Two 3)    He had 3 ships named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria So during breakfast we talk a little about history.   I explain the basic story with a little editorializing to keep it interesting a

Inspired by the fact that Abby is starting to talk up a storm, I decided to dedicate Friday morning to learning a little bit about sound, and more specifically, sound waves. Towards the end of breakfast, while everyone’s sitting down, I ask my now three year old and my 1.5 year old what they think causes all of the sounds we hear.   I get lots of answers – “Abby screaming.” “When you bang on something.”   “The TV.” “Up abub da world so high.   Like a ningun in da sky” (Abby’s very into singing ‘twinkle twinkle’ right now). Then I explain what is really happening, in a toddler understandable way.   When anything makes a sound, it pushes the air in a wave, just like when you push the water to make waves in the bathtub.   (We love making “waves” in the bathtub.   And by “we”, I mean the kids.   For the record, the mommy does not like it when the waves crash over the side of the tub and create a mess to clean up.   Even when it happens to a fit of cute giggles.   But I digress.)   The