Chick Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day = free food

Chick Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day = free food

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Easiness to Uneasiness

What happens when God or life moves us out of our comfort zone? I believe that Newton's first law of motion is being applied to my life. "A particle will stay at rest or continue at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external unbalanced net force." Some might call that outside force the poor economy while I tend to think it is God giving me a little nudge. In 2007, I spent a good portion of the year creating a photographic diary of days and doing more writing than I had been. For most of 2008, I didn't do as much creative or personal writing, but I did write professionally reviewing restaurants and hotels. It seems to me that what started out as a slow year is beginning to explode with possibility and more writing than I have ever done before. My mind is an old-fashioned slide carousel clicking through each possibility wondering if I should bring that particular slide more into focus or continue to the next one because it could be even better than this one.

Star Trek and the creative home

Sitting in the movie theater watching Star Trek this past weekend, almost brought tears to my eyes. To view a movie that actually has a plot line that twists and turns enough to not be formulaic is a rarity. Being a long-time Trekkie, I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the theater. Could new actors and a new director match the creativity and depth seen in previous Star TrekStar Trek can be a jumping off point for new stories and adventures.

How can you weave more creativity into your home life or homeschooling day? Put away the school books and get out the art supplies, the video camera, pens, pencils, papers, dvd's, and anything else that excites you or your children. When my son was eight years old, my husband started teaching him how to make stop-action animation movies and live action movies using our video camera. My son ended up making a series of three movies centered around alien life, several stop-action lego movies, and more recently, pretend Heinz Ketchup commercials (see Youtube video below). Making movies was a fantastic way to foster his skills in dialog creation and art. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing in your house: movies and tv shows? Apparently, the answer is yes. Creativity is a part of life worthy of high appreciation. Movies, like other art forms, can be used to motivate the viewer to further artistic expression. For example, well told stories like the one presented in

• Go to the library and take out music cd's in various genres such as classical, jazz, techno, etc. Get out some markers, crayons, paints and paper and have your children interpret the music into drawings, colorings or paintings. Discuss how the tempos and flow of the music can effect the lengths of the lines used and the colors chosen.

• Get out your digital camera and exit your front door. Without going further than five feet from your door, let each child choose an item to photograph in a new way. Perhaps they will focus on the doorknob close up or lay down on your sidewalk and shoot something from below. Even the most mundane objects can be made interesting if you capture them in an unexpected way. Photojojo.com is a great site to visit for photography-related ideas.

• Take out all of your old magazines, glue sticks, and cardboard or poster board. Have your children cut out squares of color from the photographs and then sort the squares by color. Next, encourage them to create a picture by pasting the squares onto the board.

• Get a large cardboard box and cut out a "window" in the front of the box. Have your children decorate the outside of the box with crayons or markers to resemble a television. Next, let your children act out their own tv shows, commercials, and interviews through their new pretend television. My children always end up making me laugh hysterically when engaging in this activity.

• If you are more daring, go out to your local hardware store and purchase blackboard paint. Choose a wall in your house and cover it with the chalkboard paint. I chose to paint a 6' x 6' square on my living room wall and have not regretted it once. Every time I look, there is a new drawing on the wall. In order to avoid conflict in my house, we have a rule that no one can erase the current drawing until it has been photographed digitally.

I hope these ideas help you start down the path to a more creative lifestyle. As an artist and writer, I'll be posting ideas on how to stimulate more creativity in your family on a regular basis. If you don't want to miss upcoming articles, click the "subscribe" button to receive emails whenever I update my column. Happy homeschooling!

Sitting in the movie theater watching Star Trek this past weekend, almost brought tears to my eyes. To view a movie that actually has a plot line that twists and turns enough to not be formulaic is a rarity. Being a long-time Trekkie, I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the theater. Could new actors and a new director match the creativity and depth seen in previous Star Trek movies and tv shows? Apparently, the answer is yes. Creativity is a part of life worthy of high appreciation. Movies, like other art forms, can be used to motivate the viewer to further artistic expression. For example, well told stories like the one presented in Star Trek can be a jumping off point for new stories and adventures.

How can you weave more creativity into your home life or homeschooling day? Put away the school books and get out the art supplies, the video camera, pens, pencils, papers, dvd's, and anything else that excites you or your children. When my son was eight years old, my husband started teaching him how to make stop-action animation movies and live action movies using our video camera. My son ended up making a series of three movies centered around alien life, several stop-action lego movies, and more recently, pretend Heinz Ketchup commercials (see Youtube video below). Making movies was a fantastic way to foster his skills in dialog creation and art. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing in your house

• Go to the library and take out music cd's in various genres such as classical, jazz, techno, etc. Get out some markers, crayons, paints and paper and have your children interpret the music into drawings, colorings or paintings. Discuss how the tempos and flow of the music can effect the lengths of the lines used and the colors chosen.

• Get out your digital camera and exit your front door. Without going further than five feet from your door, let each child choose an item to photograph in a new way. Perhaps they will focus on the doorknob close up or lay down on your sidewalk and shoot something from below. Even the most mundane objects can be made interesting if you capture them in an unexpected way. Photojojo.com is a great site to visit for photography-related ideas.

• Take out all of your old magazines, glue sticks, and cardboard or poster board. Have your children cut out squares of color from the photographs and then sort the squares by color. Next, encourage them to create a picture by pasting the squares onto the board.

• Get a large cardboard box and cut out a "window" in the front of the box. Have your children decorate the outside of the box with crayons or markers to resemble a television. Next, let your children act out their own tv shows, commercials, and interviews through their new pretend television. My children always end up making me laugh hysterically when engaging in this activity.

Cupcake Love! (for little girls!)

As I make my way down the trail to discover the perfect chocolate cupcake, I have veered to the left in order to fill an order... vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting for a lovely 7 year old girl. I tried two different recipes tonight, both with tasty results. One of the recipes leans more toward tasting like a butter cake while the other one tastes more like a traditional vanilla cupcake. My client is getting the traditional version. I am also experimenting with two new products I found at the arts and crafts store... edible glitter and spray food coloring. Air brushing cakes is nothing new, but being able to do it without owning an air brush is a newer concept. Above is a picture of a work in progress. The frosting is a light spring green sprayed with blue highlights. The pink is merely a reflection from the surface the cupcake was shot on.

Stimulating your local economy

A friend of mine found this great website, The 3/50 Project, that offers terrific ideas for stimulating your local economy. The basic premise is to choose 3 different local, independently owned businesses each month to spend $50 total at. If even half of the employed population participated, it would generate over 46.2 billion dollars in revenue, according to the website. One business that I would like to feature and encourage others to support is the Doylestown Bookshop. The Doylestown bookshop is quirky and unique unlike "box" bookstores. My favorite part of the bookshop is the aisle that features the favorite books of the store employees. There is always a wide range of books to choose from in this aisle, everything from the classics to NY Times Bestsellers. The bookstore is constantly giving back to the community by hosting book signings by local authors to holding free meetings and parties.

Another local business that I'd like to feature this month is:
La Maison Cheese
51 W State St
Doylestown, PA 18901
(215) 348-7543

They don't have a website, as far as I know, but they do have the best croissants on earth. Heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth buttery croissants with either sweet or savory fillings. Of course, you have to get there early to have the best selection and they do sell out regularly before noon. La Maison Cheese also offers the obvious, cheese. I can't really review the cheese, though, because I go there for the croissants. The store also sells French kitchen items such as platters and tablecloths.

The third business I'd like to feature this month is Chalfont Hardware. It is a family owned and operated business. Unlike large home improvement store chains, the owners of Chalfont Hardware offer personal and knowledgeable assistance. I can get in and out of this store quickly, even if I need assistance, which is something I can't say about those larger stores. Currently, the hardware store is undergoing renovations, but they are still open for business.

Art and history combine at historic Rittenhouse Town

Spring is the perfect time of year to start incorporating more field trips into your homeschool routine. One memorable field trip that I have organized for my homeschool co-op has been to historic Rittenhouse Town. Located within Fairmount Park, historic Rittenhouse Town holds a special place in history because it is the site of the first papermill in North America. William Rittenhouse, who came to Pennsylvania in 1688, built the papermill and successive generations of his family continued to operate it until competition and new technology led to it's demise in the late 1800's.

Although you can visit this site as a family, it is best to organize a group in order to take advantage of the discounts and add-on classes that enhance the experience. A group can be as small as 10 people, not including chaperones. Of course, as a homeschooler, you will most likely want to participate in the program rather than be a passive observer. If you are not part of a homeschooling group, just call a couple of your homeschooling friends to create your own impromptu group.

The site offers three separate programs for groups of 10 or more to choose from. The first program includes a tour of the property and interactive discussion of the importance of historic Rittenhouse Town within American history. During the tour, visitors get to view the 1707 Rittenhouse Homestead and the restored bakehouse. Inside the visitor's center, a working model of an eighteenth century paper mill and early American kitchen are also available for viewing. This option is available for $2.50/per person. The second program includes the aforementioned tour as well as an exciting hands-on papermaking class. In this program, visitors get to make their own paper using traditional techniques. This class is great for kids and adults of any age. My children loved this class when they were in kindergarden and third grade. Each visitor leaves with their own sheet of hand-crafted paper for merely $5.00/person. To gain the full experience of early American life, you can add a German Colonial cooking class to the papermaking class and tour. In this class, visitors have the opportunity to use Colonial tools to prepare a genuine Colonial German dish cooked on the hearth. The German Colonial cooking class is only available for groups that have 25 people or more. At $10.00/person, it is a terrific way to make early American living come to life.

With or without a group, taking a trip to historic Rittenhouse Town will make early American history come alive for your children.

When Did Life Become Serious?

When did life become serious? I can pinpoint when life changed, when I grew up, but did life become serious at that point? I think it was a gradual change. One where responsibility for teaching children, worrying about bills, hating my neighborhood, wondering about the future, and not having time with my husband built up slowly from one little piece of clay to the next. By the age of 37, I had built not some beautiful masterpiece but an ugly, clunky urn. An urn with uneven walls and questionable contents. Don't misunderstand me, ugly can be beautiful. And, the process of building up anything in clay is a messy, hands-on experience with spiritual benefits which can be gained purely from the process rather than the result. But, after examining this clunky urn, it was clear that it needed to be smashed down into a ball again and rebuilt. I needed to take the old clay and, rather than discard it, form it into a more pleasing shape with a steadier foundation. The reformation started to take place in me after the realization that I needed to accept myself each day for who I am, with no regard for whether the house was clean or dirty, whether I had written my first novel or whether those around me were happy or not. Some might look at me and think that I am living in denial or dissociating from my present circumstances but that is just not the case.