In the market for a colander?

I paid $30 for this colander a few years ago, and I'd probably do it again if something happened to mine... it's great. The holes are the perfect size and there are plenty of them. And they're evenly distributed. I use this to sprout 6 cups of grain at a time, or other kinds of sprouts. And it's perfect for lots of other uses. And it looks the same as the day I got it. I use this thing every day, no joke.

Take control of your finances

 I've been using YNAB for over 4 years. Back when it was just a spreadsheet program I loved it, but I had to tweak it to get a bank rec. Now that they've upgraded to YNAB Pro, you can actually download your bank statements as often as needed and import the transactions to categorize them, and reconcile with the bank then and there. No more tweaking required - it does everything I need it to do! Well, one day they'll improve their reports features. But I don't really need pretty reports like I need financial security. They're just kind of fun.
Speaking of fun, so is checking my budget and seeing how my month is coming along. It's so fun to me, that I actually do it almost every day. Gets me giddy to see the balances equal out.
I know, I'm weird.
But anyway, you can read more about how I use this software on my main blog, in this post.

John Taylor Gatto

This has been on my wish list for AGES and after reading this I am even more antsy to get my hands on it!

Here's a teaser:
"I know how difficult it is for most of us who mow our lawns and walk our dogs to comprehend that long-range social engineering even exists, let alone that it began to dominate compulsion schooling nearly a century ago. Yet the 1934 edition of Ellwood P. Cubberley’s Public Education in the United States is explicit about what happened and why. "

The beginning of my unschooling journey

This book was a completely fascinating read and, though written by a woman who spent much time in (and believes in) the school system, it revolutionized my thinking on early schooling from "early and a lot" to "none at all."


I was a "whiz kid" myself and always trying to be ahead of myself. Graduated college at 16, that kind of thing. I always wanted this for my kids so the natural thing seemed to be to homeschool them early.

The Collapse of Complex Societies

My husband wrote a review of this book on his blog.

Everyone Must Read

This book really challenges the common "wisdom" of nutrition. Where's the evidence, where are the studies showing that we should be eating 6-11 servings a day of grains? Why do cereals tout themselves as "heart healthy?" What's the deal with the American Heart Association? Who made that dumb pyramid, anyway?

Swagbucks

I do my searches on swagbucks.com.  I've "earned" over $60 so far.

Flour sack towels

I love these towels. I hoard them in a zip lock back out of reach so they are always clean and ready when I need to strain my homemade yogurt. Cheesecloth is so last year.

Holiness for Housewives

I’ve always hated those guilt-tripping “holiness” books that are geared toward some imaginary type of person that the author thinks should exist but I’ve never encountered. You know, the kind of mom that has endless quiet hours for Scripture reading and daily prayer. If you don’t read your Bible for 30 minutes a day and have daily formal devotions, you aren’t living up to your calling.  Even if your calling includes waking every three hours at night and changing endless diapers and making endless meals and cleaning endless messes. (Don’t you know you’re supposed to get up at 4:00 am to do it, if the kids are too noisy during the day?!) With a wave of the hand and a “pfft!” I have always dismissed these books or sermons as completely impractical and a burden on the faithful. “God knows what my calling is and I will not feel guilty for not having devotions every single day!”
Well, this book isn’t anything like that.