A King Arthur Giveaway!

February 19th marked 3 years of blogging for me, and to celebrate I'm teaming up with the wonderful folks at King Arthur Flour for a giveaway. I'm so excited for each of you who have a chance to win!

As you all know, I love to cook, and especially to bake. Several months ago I checked the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion out of the library, and started trying recipes. Everything I've tried so far has been very good. I was thrilled when the King Arthur folks told me that they would help me by donating not only the Baker's Companion, but also a selection of back issues from The Baking Sheet.

All you have to do to enter to win is leave a comment telling me what your favorite baked good is. It's that easy. Everyone is welcome to enter, even international readers! Please make sure you leave a valid email address or link to a blog so that I may contact you if you are the winner.

I'll leave comments open until Wednesday, March 3rd at 11 PM, Eastern time. The winner will be announced on Thursday, the 4th of March.

Comments are now closed.

Reading Fun: The Mitten

*This is a re-print of a post that I wrote for Me and My Girl last year.



I believe that reading to your children is crucial at all ages and stages of their lives. Years ago, I would hold my tiny babies on my lap, and read softly to them each day. As they grew, we would sometimes read the same book 10 times a day, or more! I still read to my children. Abigail is 10, and cuddles up with me while I read long chapters to her. Autumn is 16, and still sits near by so that she can enjoy the stories, too.

This is the perfect time of year for this cold-weather story but, The Mitten, by Jan Brett, is a book that can be enjoyed year round. It can be enjoyed even more when you complete this fun and easy craft, and allow your child to tell the story back to you!

You'll need:

• Jan Brett's book, The Mitten
• 2 pieces of construction paper or felt
• a hole punch if you're using construction paper
• yarn or embroidery thread
• colored pencils or crayons
• a thick needle, such as for embroidery
• a printer
• this file and this file

Read the story.

Print out the files containing animals. Have your child or grandchild color the animals how ever they would like. If they are very young, you can cut them out after they are colored. If they are older, let them do it. Perfection is not what we are after.

In the meantime, freehand a mitten shape onto the construction paper or felt.


Cut around your drawing, leaving you with a large mitten.


If you are working with a very young child, you can punch holes into the construction paper mittens.


and show them how to whip stitch them together.



An older child might enjoy learning how to blanket stitch on the felt.


Abigail sat at the table for about an hour working on her mitten. She's got a pretty good attention span. Make sure the child has fun! It's okay to help them if they need it, but don't fret if the project isn't perfect.



Tell the story again. Refer back to the book if you have to.

In The Mitten, Nicki's grandmother, Baba, knits him snow white mittens. As he goes out to play on a snowy day, one of his mittens falls off. Animals come, one by one, to squeeze into the mitten for warmth.


First comes a mole.
In hops a rabbit.
Along comes a hedgehog,


followed by an owl,

and a badger!
They all make room for the fox.


And believe it or not, they find room for a bear!


The last little creature to squeeze in is a mouse.

She tickles the bear's nose, and all of the animals come flying back out of the mitten because of the great sneeze.


Once all of the animals are safely inside the mitten, make a loud, drawn out sneezing sound, and shake the mitten to release the animals. Young children will enjoy doing this over and over again!


Have them retell the story to you. And to their daddy when he gets home from work. And to Grandma and Grandpa, and anyone else that will listen!


I didn't find this idea there, but you can visit Jan Brett's website for other fun activities that revolve around reading.

Cold Tangerines: A Book Review

Not long ago, Sarah offered a chance to read and review the book, Cold Tangerines. I was excited, as I'm an avid reader, and Sarah thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Let me say that I had expectations about the book. Big expectations. Perhaps because Sarah said that this book is "so her". Perhaps because it was printed by a Christian publisher. For whatever reason, I expected to fall in love.

As I started into the book, I thought it was a pleasant read. Each chapter was short, and could be read quickly. I was intrigued with the chapter, Spark. I wanted to know how Shauna came to the Lord. I wanted the book to be a telling of how she drew closer to Him, day by day, year by year.

That's not what I found. Instead, I found myself reading about friends, and dinner parties, and vacations. I read about luck. Lots and lots of luck. And I found that to be a problem for me. I read about birth, and death, and the stuff that life is made up of, but I expected to find more of a contemplative work about how God oversees it all. I expected Scripture references, and God's plan. Instead, I found the author's triumphs and shortcomings. Not that she never mentions God, but I found the Lord to be almost an afterthought.

I won't say that I found every chapter to be unenjoyable. There were times I could relate to Shauna, but far more often I was left feeling empty. Perhaps my expectations were too high. At any rate, I'd sum this book up by saying that it's very much like Christian music today. It may not be offensive, but it lacks substance.