Wednesday, January 07, 2015

5 Housebound Faves

Hangin' out with Jenna Jenna Bo Benna, Banana Fana Fo Fenna with the favorites in multiples of five.  Aw yiss.

1) The Best Laid Plans planner

This is Kelly's book from This Ain't the Lyceum.  I get a new planner every Christmas because I really like to live on the edge and this year Kelly published at exactly the right time so I snatched one up.



If there is anyone who can design a planner for me, it's a homeschooling mom of many, know what I'm sayin'?

I love the size, the weight, the layout.  I love that you can start at any time of the year because you fill in the months yourself.  I love that there are big open spaces for each day in addition to to-do sections for the week and a section for to-dos for each month.  I love that she used graph paper rather than regular lined paper (Cecilia is already enamored of the little squares, as you'll note in one of the photos.)





The ooooooonly thing I don't love (please don't be sad Kelly!) are the aesthetics.  I've gotten semi-custom planners the last two years and I was able to choose the design and colors and I really loved that aspect.  The particular design of the cover and the pics on the notes section are probably not what I would have chosen.  BUT, as Kelly so kindly pointed out, I can cover that ish in washi tape like a real blogger and pin it to win it.

Verdict: Fave

And now, four things for when you're stuck inside (my fellow midwesterners now, my Texas and SoCal people in six months) which I've probably recommended before:

2) Wii Jeopardy


Kindly note that you can get this for Playstation and DS and, I don't know, other systems 'n' junk.   Tommy and I play this with the biggest kids and we've also had a tournament with other couples and wow, so fun.  Somehow I think they have Alex Trebek's real voice, which totally makes it.  Excellent cabin fever fun.

3) Play Tent


This exact tent is currently up in our den.  Downside: enormous and cumbersome.  Upside: it's a tent!  Inside!  With a tunnel!  There are a LOT of fort games you can play with a tent, y'all.  The tunnel is like a completely separate toy that makes really small kids very happy.  Combined it's the super toy of boredom combating.

4)Binoculars

Katy got these Bushnell binoculars for her birthday last year after becoming interested in birds following our winter-time cardinal unit study thing.  When everything seems frozen and dead out there, it really lifts a girl's spirits to put out food and then find a hundred little birds chirping happily the next morning.  Naturally binoculars were required.  She loves them ( and so do all her siblings.  In fact, Paul and Cecilia each got these for Christmas so they could feel fancy and stop strangling Katy by trying to snatch hers off her neck.).  They're fun in other seasons too, of course.

5) Enormous roll of enormous paper
Let not this lametastic photo dissuade you.  This roll is four FEET tall.  There are 200 feet of paper on there.  You can unroll it and cover entire tables or floors or walls and people can make murals or maps or crime scenes.  It just feels a little decadent to have SO MUCH PAPER, you know?  No?  Maybe my kids are weirder than I thought....

Happy It's Actually Winter Now, friends.  Stay toasty!

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IE0U/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00006IE0U&linkCode=as2&tag=houseulifeun-20&linkId=F3MQFRAQQCD4YYYX">Enormous roll of enormous paper</a><img src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=houseulifeun-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00006IE0U" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />



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13 comments :

  1. We have that exact tent too, in our basement. Our kids LOVE it.

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  2. Thank you Dwija for making my planner one of your favs! Perhaps version 2.0 will offer some custom stuff. Until then, I highly recommend Lisa Frank washi tape for all your decorating needs. Check your daughter's school supply box! I made out like a bandit with that stuff!

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  3. Thanks for the tip on the play tent! Papa and Grammy are totally getting one of those for the next time our grandkids come to the house. :)

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  4. My dad brought us a HUGE roll of butcher paper for the kids. Insane fun. Color over everything, children. Everything.

    -Bo Benna

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  5. I totally thought that you said there are a lot of FART games you can play in the tent.... until I reread it I was like, well, uh, I guess that could be fun... :-/

    But forts are great!! We had a tunnel when I was a kid, and it was pretty much the best thing ever, even when we were probably a little too old for it.

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  6. Dude. Now I have to go look up 'washi tape.' Clearly I am not with the program.

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  7. We have this tent but ultimately end up having to put it away after some time because two boys... They just want to jump on it from the outside in. As if it were a bounce house?! Rare is there a pleasant time with them just innnn the tent. And when they are it's because wrestling is more fun in there. As well as head bonking. Oy! We bring it out every month and see how it goes till it just has to go back in the closet. lol

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  8. May I suggest another awesome homeschool Mom who also makes planners? It's great, after you initially buy the planner you keep it and then just buy the refills the following year. You can start the year whenever you want.....It's totally customizable with 100 different covers to choose from!!!! So the aesthetics are awesome, you can even upload family photos as your cover. You can make it really Catholic or not so Catholic and has different style of pages, calendars, how things are listed to chose from. The paper is thick, its sturdy and made really well. I can't speak enough of it!!! Check out myfaithfulplanner.com

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  9. Also check your local newspaper for paper rolls. We've bought the end of roll from a printing for a few bucks.

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  10. Inflatable bounce house essential to give kids something to keep them occupied and an inflatable bounce house is the ideal arrangement. An inflatable bounce house can come in numerous shapes, sizes and take into count various subjects as indicated by the occasion. moonwalks

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