Berlin's Whimsy

A Way to Live Giveaway.

I try...

“Try to make at least one person happy every day. If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought. Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime!” ~Lawrence G. Lovasik

And I wish I could make you all happy by giving all of you the book, Patchwork Style, but alas, I only have two to give away... Once again, thank you to Shambhala's MakeGoodBooks for offering these to you---check out the link for a couple free projects from the book!

I will draw two winners on Sunday night, May 31st, at 9 PM PST. Winners will be notified here on the blog and via email.

How to enter: Leave a comment with one happy thing; for instance, something that made you happy this day, something kind someone did for you, a kind word for someone else, something you did for someone else, a kind thought or quote.... Good luck!

***Just popping in to add a little something... Thank you all for sharing your own experiences. My world has been clouded a bit lately by a horrible toothache and the resulting stress of wondering how I will afford to fix the problem without insurance. The pain and the worry weighs heavily upon me. When presented with problems, I tend to focus on the simple things that give me pleasure and ease my mind just the littlest bit. Today the simple things that made me smile were baking this and reading your comments.

In addition, thank you for the generous compliments on the embroidery in this post. This design is on a set of linen napkins I made for a craft swap. I also plan to offer a few sets of napkins in my etsy shop soon... 

Much Ado about Nothing.

I joined the masses and created a Facebook account. That giant sucking noise you hear in the background is my time wasted away on that site---- it's very addictive. Who knew it would be so easy to keep in touch with friends and family far and wide?! Addictive and fun... Join me there if you wish.

And all of you fellow Flickrettes out there----am I alone in my dislike for Flickr's new interface? It's probably just my adherence to what I know, but I find it more cumbersome and complicated. I thought it would grow on me but it hasn't.

And lastly, I will post a full Monkey Bread recipe tomorrow (sorry it's been so long in coming for those of you that requested the full recipe)!

Growing Up Online.

I watched the Frontline episode: Growing up Online with more than the usual amount of trepidation. It hits home for me since I maintain this blog and have made many online friends------friends that I don't know in real life. For me, my online experience has been a pleasure-----a positive corner of my life.

However, when I watched that show there were a couple moments that I considered closing the whole thing down because of the example I'm showing my kids. Watching the program's examples of the internet's influence over families gave me more than a few doubts of my own. However, I'm often one to overly worry, especially when it comes to my children. I watched the program a few weeks ago and have slowly weighed it all out since then. I'm still unsure about blogging and especially children living online but I also believe in my kids. Parents face many obstacles these days but I believe that a good dose of good old-fashioned communication and judgment takes a child far in the world. 

I will continue to encourage our "unplugged" family time for I think it balances out the virtual.

And without the internet entirely, my kids wouldn't be able to giggle and laugh and virtually see their friends back on the coast.

**What about you? What do you think? I would love to hear from other mother bloggers and how you weigh it all out... Have you watched this Frontline program? (You can view it from the link above)...

Fun: Battery powered or not.

We celebrated so many birthdays this past week! Including my son's. He turned 12. 

My son loves technology and has far surpassed my ability to read diagrams and build intricate projects (well, except for projects involving yarn, I guess). In fact, he's the one we all turn to when we must switch around our audio-video equipment.

Amongst other gifts, he received a Lego robotics kit. He's been enamored with robots for many years. Last fall, during one of the many festivals here (what's up with that----is there a festival every single weekend where you live?), we visited a high school robotics club booth. I thought my son might faint when the teenager at the booth handed him the remote control to his "bot" to try out.

The downside to my son's new robot building? It requires my laptop...!

But these potato guns are so much fun without all the batteries. I guess potato guns have been around for awhile but they're new to me. Though shooting potato plugs at targets around the yard is plenty of fun, so is feeding chickens at the same time. Our chickens love those plugs and they come running each time they hear the trigger pull. The leftover potato is a little odd looking, however... I'm not sure about the following photo----it isn't very politically correct, even if they are benignly cleaning potatoes out of their guns.

And lastly, I gave my son this game for his birthday: Hyper Dash. I highly recommend it. It's a great game to wear your kids out and get a workout yourself! It has won many parenting awards and I agree with its merits----we love it!