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    Thoughts on Making a Halloween Costume and Striving for Balance

    Henry’s Halloween costume is finally done–hooray!

    My first attempt was a complete disaster. I kid you not. I tried to make a little outfit in the shape of a strawberry and it ended up looking like a three-dimensional Star of David with a slit down the back so Henry could get into it. Oy vey.
    I then decided that for Attempt #2 I would make more of a sandwich-board kind of strawberry costume with a flat strawberry on the front and back, connected by straps over the shoulder. Fortunately, the 1/2 yard that I purchased was sufficient felt for both my failed attempt and my second try (too bad I
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    Living Like a Reader

    Last week I dragged myself to a parent education event at Henry’s school, despite the fact that it was rainy, I was tired, and I didn’t think it was going to be very good. 
    Boy was I glad I went! It was awesome. It was all about the importance of crafting a literate life as a family. For example, the presenter told a story about a family who read an old book together about a pony-related festival on the eastern shores of Virginia. Years later, they found a picture book related to the same topic, which led them to suspect that the festival might be real. After a little research,
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    Natural Deodorant: Part XII

    So my natural deodorant saga continues. It turns out that I am allergic to baking soda (which one of you predicted, several attempts ago). The deodorant I made from three simple ingredients (which worked like a charm!), gave me itching and then weird, huge bumps. I won’t go into much detail. Suffice it to say that I had to return to my regular antiperspirant (which could eventually cause Alzheimer’s or breast cancer) and wait for the situation to stabilize. 
    I am now on to what I hope is a final solution: I went back to Etsy and ordered a $6 trial of the natural deodorant that I loved many attempts
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