Aloha Friday | The Angel Forever

Category Archives Aloha Friday

Going to a blogging/social media conference

Posted on February 12, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I sit here typing this, we are a week away from when this will publish. I am scrambling to get everything together to head to my first ever blogging/social media conference. By the time you read this, I will be at Disney.

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration is from February 10-13 at Walt Disney World. Today I will be at the Contemporary Resort listening to some amazing people speak to those of us in attendance. Meanwhile, the boys will be out and about at Disney World taking it all in.

So my question to you this week:

Have you ever been to a blogging/social media conference? If you have which ones and what did you learn from the experience.

Hoping to meet more people at BlogHer ’10 in NYC this August.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #86

Categories:
Aloha Friday bloggy friends Disney

Winter time soups

Posted on February 5, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

No matter what the groundhog said, the fact is that winter is still here. When the winter strikes, so does our need for hearty warm soup for meals. Of course, I would love my mother’s Matzoh Ball soup every day. The fact of the matter is that although it tastes delicious, it is not "point" friendly when watching your weight (darn Matzoh Balls). At least once a week TechyDad makes soup for us, typically in the slow cooker. Two that he has written about on Cooking With TechyDad are:

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Slow Cooker Bean Soup

My favorite these days is Minestrone in the slow cooker with a TON of veggies in it. I also like to whip up tomato, barley and carrot soup on the fly. We keep a Kosher kitchen, so we often do things vegetarian style. Thanks to great veggie broth and No Chicken Chicken broth, we are able to tweak many recipes.

So my question to you on another wintery Friday:

What is your favorite soup to eat on a cool winter day? Always looking for new things to make, so list as many as you can think of.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #85

Categories:
Aloha Friday food glorious food TechyDad winter yummy

Knitting while I read

Posted on January 29, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Call it the teacher in me, but I really like to read. In recent years, I have fallen behind on reading books that are for me. When I was teaching, it was materials for the classroom. I read a lot of chapter books to keep up with Children’s Literature. Then, it was reading to my boys. I could tell you all about the latest adventure of Jack and Annie in the Magic Treehouse books, but I could not keep up with books on the NY Times Best Sellers list.

I would sit and read my friend Nancy’s blog about all of the books that has read and wish I had read more of them. Yes, I could have read if I really wanted to. After all, I read all of the Harry Potter books, Twilight Series and others since I had my boys. The dilemma that I had over the last two and a half years since having JSL is I found another past time that I love. That passion is for knitting. Hearing the clicking and clacking of my needles as I work on a project is therapeutic. I love making things for my family, friends and others.

A solution was to find books on CD and listen to them while knitting. I even used an audio book in my classroom once and the kids loved this different strategy to literature (great for listening comprehension skills). I tried listening to books on CD, but did not like them while knitting. Hauling my computer was a pain and I still heard everything else in the background.

The other day it dawned on me. There are MP3’s of books that I can get from our library. Duh, I have an MP3 player and can put them onto it. Sunday, I put The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs onto my MP3 player. I sat there and heard chapter after chapter as I knitted away on my soon to be born nephew’s blanket. As I type this, I only have a few chapters left to listen to and the blanket is onto the third skein. I already have my next MP3 book waiting to "read" while I multitask.

Since I am so behind on must-read books for adults, my question for this week is:

What book(s) do you recommend for me to try to get on MP3 to "read" while knitting? Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I really appreciate it.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #84

Categories:
Aloha Friday books decisions knitting me moments

Cousins then and now

Posted on January 22, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

TechyDad and I are both the oldest of two families’ children. His sister has two little boys that are similar in age to our sons, yet we are not very close with them. They live a few hours away, but things are strained at best. My brother has a little girl that is only a few months younger than JSL. They are also about a month away from welcoming a little boy into their growing family. We live about five hours away from Uncle I and Aunt M, but the boys adore them. They talk about Cousin S and Baby Peanut all the time. When they are together, they play really well, even NHL who is almost four years older than the current little ones.

Hubby was not very close with his first cousins; a fact that makes me sad, especially when I see what is happening on one side with our boys. My family was very different. My mother’s brother and his family lived in our city. I babysat them when they were little and was my one cousin’s Secret Pal for years. Although I am not close with them anymore, I have wonderful memories from years gone by. My mother’s sister lived cross country. We did not see Cousin M and D often, but when we were older (and I was not a bratty little kid) we really clicked. I have fond memories of them spending time during the summer here with our Nana and Papa. My father’s sister moved back to this area when I was older. I babysat for Cousin A and J and got to be very close to them. It amazes me that they are college graduates and so grown up. My father’s brother lived relatively close over the years. Aunt A, Uncle J and H, H, B and Y would come here for Thanksgiving and Passover without fail. Those holidays were always special seeing everyone together.

As my boys are getting ready to welcome a new first cousin into the family, my question for this week is:

How many first cousins do you have and are you close to them? For those with children, how many first cousins do your kids have?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #83

Categories:
Aloha Friday cousins family jl looking back photos

Girl Scouting days gone by

Posted on January 15, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The other night at a PTA meeting, one of the mothers took our a Girl Scout cookie sheet. It pulled at my heart strings. All of the memories of Girl Scouts: selling cookies, going to camp in the summer, winter camp outs in the lodge, earning badges, doing service projects and more. I started Girl Scouts as a Brownie in first grade and continued with scouting until middle school. I was lucky enough to have my mother as our troop leader for most of that time (Thanks Mom!). Our core group expanded in numbers and we all bonded as we grew and learned together from first to sixth grades. As we moved onto middle school, most of us stopped scouting. A few of us did things with another troop. By high school, most of us had moved onto other things. My new calling was Key Club – an international service organization.

Growing up, I always imagined I would one day be a Troop leader. With two little boys, Girl Scouts is not in my future. At this time, NHL is not in Boy Scouts. The troop at our school mainly does things on Saturday. As NHL gets closer to his Bar Mitzvah, he will be busy Saturday mornings getting ready for his big day. We still may look into a Jewish Pack for him in our area, but not completely sold on it yet.

So my two part question for you this week:

Were you a Girl or Boy Scout growing up? If you have children, are they into scouting?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #82