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Not So Happily Ever After "Mad King Ludwig"If you’re a fan of “mad” King Ludwig II, as I am, you might enjoy knowing that there’s a group of like-minded people, called the Friends of Ludwig (I’d be a natural for the group, but I think they’re mainly all in Germany). The Friends of Ludwig 2013 meeting is coming up. Living on another continent, I won’t be going, but let’s experience  a bit of the eccentric king vicariously, okay?

The meetings will be held this week, from June 13 – 16 — the days when Ludwig was deposed and died in 1886.

St Colomon church, NeuschwansteinA memorial service will be held here, at St. Colomon church (see Neuschwanstein in the background?). Breathtaking!

Another meeting will be held in the crypt of the Dürckheim family. You may recall that Count von Dürckheim was Ludwig’s most faithful aide, staying with the king almost until the very end when Ludwig insisted he head to Münich to save his own reputation. A lecture that evening will be titled “Graf Dürckheim – faithful unto death.”

swan fountain gardens Hohenschwangau

Swan fountain — remember how Ludwig loved swans? — in the gardens at Hohenschwangau.

There’s a walk in the English Gardens at Hohenschwangau, the home of Ludwig’s youth, nearby Neuschwanstein.

Hopefully this little “tour” helped you feel a bit like you were there. Maybe in 2014 we can meet in person at the meeting … rest in peace, King Ludwig . You are missed.

 

A Simple Song: Review

Thanks to guest reviewer, Sophie, age 12. Post contains affiliate links. Available June 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, who provided a copy of this book for review.

A Simple Song Carlson

“A Simple Song” is written by Melody Carlson.  It is set in the present day, made obvious by a reference to “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele and a few other clues.

Seventeen-year-old Katrina likes to sing, but her strict Amish father and grandfather think that it is sinful and “vainglory” to sing for fun or to sing loudly in church.  Katrina’s grandfather has a back problem that he should probably get surgery for, but the family doesn’t have the money.  Her friend Bekka, whose family runs a soap business and therefore owns a computer, watches a show called “American Star” (American Idol?).  She thinks that Katrina should enter to sing to win the million dollars.  Katrina refuses, but soon her grandfather’s back gets worse.  She finally decides to try out for American Star.  While she competes, she learns about the English traditions, meets new people, and finally makes the decision to be baptized.

I liked the basic storyline of this book, but it was a little confusing.  Katrina was so naive that I wound up constantly forgetting that she was seventeen.  She had the innocence of a six-year-old, and reminded me of Lily in Life with Lily.  I recommend this book for ages 10+.

menuplanmondayThis week’s menu plan Monday wasn’t looking too exciting. One night I have a mystery shop so I (thankfully) don’t have to cook. Much of the rest of the week, we’re on vacation. So, I decided to do something different today. My mom visited about a week ago and brought 9 quarts of strawberries. This was awesome, since strawberries are my favorite fruit. Also, I’ve just planted a new strawberry patch, so we won’t get berries from it until next year.

Yet, what to do with 9 quarts all at once? Here are some great summer strawberry recipes to try.

Here is my mom’s favorite strawberry shortcake recipe:
3 c. flour
1 t. salt
1/2 c (plus) sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder    Mix those 4 ingredients in bowl.  Add:
1 c. shortening (I use canola oil)
1/2 c. milk
Press into 2 pie plates.  Sprinkle sugar on the top.  Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes.
strawberry shortcake
Here’s a recipe for strawberry bar cookies that Mom got from a friend. I haven’t tried them yet, but I will.
Strawberry Bars
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. quick oats (she said she’s used the old fashioned oats sometimes, instead)
1 c. brown sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 sticks COLD butter cut in cubes
She combines all the above ingredients in her food processor until it crumbles.
Put 1/2 of the above mixture in a greased 9 x 13 pan. She says she pats it down with her hands.  Cover that with 10-12 oz. strawberry jam.  Cover with the rest of the mixture.
Bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
(of course, make your own strawberry jam easily to use in the recipe!)
And finally, here’s a recipe that Mom said a restaurant in southern Indiana makes:
Strawberry Salad
Cream:  1-8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
3/4 c. sugar
Add:  1-10 oz. container cool whip
1-10 oz. pkg. frozen strawberries, thawed
Fold in:  1 can crushed pineapple, drained
2 bananas, diced
Put in a 9 x 13 pan.  Freeze.  Cut before it becomes completely solid.
What are your favorite summer strawberry recipes?
More Menu Plan Monday ideas (and actual dinner recipes :) ) at OrgJunkie‘s.

King Ludwig II Fun

Post may contain affiliate links.

Today, no childhood memories of my own, but a few that my kids made this week — and some that I made with other children. Tuesday was busy for us: last day of school!

last day of school

Awards ceremony for the youngest …
school awards ceremony

And for the middle …

school awards ceremony

The oldest was in high school, and all ya get there on the last day is a bunch of finals. Preparation for real life? :)

Anyway, my day also included something fun: a presentation at the local library about my latest book, Not So Happily Ever After: The Tale of King Ludwig II. If you know me, you know that I’m a big Ludwig fan. I’d happily talk to anyone, anywhere about this wonderfully eccentric historical character. So to have a captive audience of (very well-behaved) kids for an hour? Pure heaven.

Mad King Ludwig II program

Here we go …

library program
It was fun to see the parents and kids both enjoying sketching their own “dream castles” after hearing about the wonderful neat things Ludwig incorporated into his fairy castles. An indoor cave? A table that rises down through the floor and comes up again, set with dinner? An indoor stage perfect for Wagner operas? Check, check, and check — and that’s just the beginning of Ludwig’s magnificent homes. You really have to read about them to believe them. Even the newspaper came to the program!

King Ludwig II program kids
Here are all the finished products. I can almost hear King Ludwig saying, Sehr gut!

Read more about King Ludwig and his too-good-to-be-true life story at Not So Happily Ever After: The Tale of King Ludwig II.

What makes a great gift? I think a wonderful gift is:

  • unique — something that doesn’t look like it was picked up last-minute at WalMart
  • useful — not something that will end up in a closet or collecting dust
  • “neat” — not sure how to define this, but I know it when I see it. And I *have* seen it recently, and I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you:

Worker B lotion bar
It’s the lotion bar from Worker B. Look at the container — I just love the vintage look of the design. And when you open it up, the fun really begins.

Worker B lotion bar
This is the lotion bar itself — complete with cute bee imprinted. It’s made from organic, natural ingredients (including, as you might suspect, beeswax!), and it works great! It’s excellent for eczema, which is important in our family since one child has that. Our bar looks a bit worn, but that’s only because it’s being put to good use.

Oprah has even recommended the lotion bar in her magazine, and you know that she doesn’t lend her name to just any product.

I can’t think of a better way to congratulate a new grad, thank a hostess, or treat a friend for a birthday than with this sweet lotion bar.

Worker B is a small company made of three people. They support several beekeepers local to their Minneapolis area, and the lotion bar is just one of the fun products they make.

They have generously provided me with a lotion bar to review, and they’d like to treat one of you as well. Treat yourself, or a good friend, to a Worker B product today. Trust me, they — or you — will enjoy it!

If you’d like to enter to win a Worker B Lotion Bar, enter below with the rafflecopter form. Enter by June 14, and I’ll choose a random winner June 15.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Okay, all you moms of little kids, prepare for cuteness: Disney Junior’s Pirate and Princess Summer programming begins June 10!

Sofia the First Disney

You’ll get new episodes of Sofia the First, which will be shown daily. Did you know that it’s cable TV’s #1 series for kids ages 2-5? It’s true! The show features Disney’s first little girl princess. You can catch it on weekday mornings at 9:30 Eastern, and also on weeknights at 7.

disney jake and the never land pirates

No, boys aren’t being left out. All summer long, new episodes of “Sofia the First” and hit series “Jake and the Never Land Pirates” will alternate with Friday premieres Friday, June 14 – Friday, August 23 on both Disney Channel (9:00 a.m. ET) and Disney Junior (5:00 p.m. ET).

 

Looking for a fun summer project? Beginning Friday, June 14, you can log on to DisneyJunior.com/Summer and upload your child’s photo dressed as a pirate or princess for the chance to be featured as the “Pirate/Princess of the Day” on Disney Junior.

 

Among the premieres are an episode of “Sofia the First” featuring Princess Jasmine, Friday, June 14 (9:30 a.m. ET); a pirate genie in search of a treasure wishing well on “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” Friday, June 14; Red Jessica and Beatrice Le Beak on “Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” Friday, June 21;  Sofia’s energetic Buttercup troop leader on “Sofia the First,” Friday, July 26; and Miss Nettle, a new fairy teacher who Sofia quickly learns is up to no good, on “Sofia the First,” Friday, August 23.  All airtimes are 9:00 a.m. ET unless otherwise noted.

All this cute is making  me wish I still had a preschooler. Enjoy the summer days with your little ones — and with Disney!

 

 

I was sent a Meijer gift card and promotional items in exchange for sharing Produce for Kids info with you. All opinions and writing are my own.

Today, I’ve got a fun site to tell you about: Produce for Kids. They are launching the annual Get Healthy, Give Hope campaign with major supermarket chains across the country (including Meijer stores in my area) to help raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

produce for kids

 

Through June 22, you can help support children in need — just by shopping!  The more Meijer produce you add to your shopping list, the more hope you can give to local children. All participating fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers at Meijer stores will make a consumption-based donation to local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. I helped today, simply by purchasing produce I would have bought anyway!

Aside from the Get Healthy, Give Hope campaign, the Produce for Kids site is also worth exploring for its Ideal Meals section. Here, you’ll find 90 easy recipes that are healthy and that your kids will enjoy — not an easy combination to achieve! Produce for Kids also offers recipes at its in-store displays. You can spot them by looking for the cute “Lazy Town” TV series characters.

Lazy Town" TV produce for kids

Menu Plan Monday

menuplanmondayMenu Plan Monday arrives again! This week sees the final days of school, the dance recital behind us, and the unofficial beginning of summer. Instead of homework and piano students, there will be 4-H, vacations, gardening, and — in a month or so — band practice again. What’s happening in your corner of the world?

Monday: Make Your Own Pizza — I make individual crusts and each person puts on toppings of choice.

Tuesday: Oven Roasted Chicken and Veggies — one of my favorite easy meals.

Cut up a couple of chicken breasts, a couple of carrots, a couple of potatoes – put in a roasting pan, then top with 1/3 c. olive oil and a packet (actually I use 1/2 packet) of dry onion soup mix.  Bake 45 minutes at 450.

Wednesday: Beefy Bean Sloppy Joes — recipe in the Meijer ad this week.

Thursday: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos — may use this recipe as a starting point. I like the convenience of making things in the crockpot.

crock pot chicken tacos

Friday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches — I have made these before and they are good — and easy!

What are you eating or cooking this week? More menu plan Monday ideas at OrgJunkie‘s.

Childhood Memories FridayIt’s graduation season, so how about some graduation memories? I have a few thoughts back to my own 1983 high school graduation.

1983 high school graduation

There I am, in my official school-taken photo after walking down the steps from getting my diploma and shaking hands. I remember being so proud to wear the gold stole for honors grads. I also remember needing to wear a light-colored dress underneath, because those gowns were really thin and anything dark would show through. Also, I remember that that dumb collar-thingy kept shifting around and wouldn’t lay right. Oh well!

Graduation can be a time of tears, but I remember feeling really happy. Sure, I’d enjoyed school, but I was also happy to get on with “real” life. I remember sitting and hearing all the speakers extoll us grads as the hope of the future, etc. etc. etc., and trying to soak up the moment. Somehow, I knew that I’d never be so fawned over again in this lifetime. And that’s largely been true. So enjoy your days in the limelight, kids — they are so special, and so fleeting. And … and … now I’m feeling all King-Solomon-and-book-of-Ecclesiastes, and we don’t need that on a beautiful May morning, now do we?

record bookSo moving along, another memory associated with graduation is my record book, pictured above. I started this as a teen, probably because my mom had a similar one. I still have it, and it’s interesting to look through the pages and see the figuring of my organized youth. I list the clothes I bought (along with sizes, price paid, and store), each babysitting job, each piano student, etc.

Thankfully, I no longer continue this crazy-making ritual, but I found it interesting to locate all my graduation gifts listed on the final pages — because isn’t graduation an ending of sorts?

graduation gift record

I remember how excited I was when my parents told me they would pay for my trip to Europe that summer with the Sound of America Band and Chorus. I had been planning to pay that, and with saving for college that fall as well, my budding finances were tight (although well-documented :) ).

I love that the monetary amount of choice appears to be $5. Who says times haven’t changed?

If you’re wondering about the owl items mentioned, those would be due to the fact that our high school mascot was the owl. I never found this strange until later years, when I mentioned it to people who made fun of it! Imagine that. I’d never stopped to consider that perhaps an owl isn’t a very intimidating figure.

What about you? Any graduation memories?

 

 

Thanks to News-O-Matic for the prize offered here, and also for the prize pack given to me in exchange for publicizing their product. All opinions are my own.

News-O-Matic app

As I write my Childhood Memories Friday posts, I frequently reflect on how quickly the world is changing and how different things seem from when I grew up. Maybe not much has changed, but it sure seems that way, with the 24/7 media access and technology speeding everything up. It’s hard to unplug from the world now, even if we want to. And if we feel that way as adults, surely kids are affected as well.

 

News-O-Matic is an educational news app that can help you and your kids make sense of all the news in our ever-changing world. It covers breaking news, sports, science and much more in a kid-friendly way.

Targeted to kids ages 7-10, News-O-Matic is a week day newspaper application which includes five daily news stories, images, videos, illustrations, maps, timelines and games. It aims to inspire a generation of children to become regular news readers and well-informed citizens.

The News-O-Matic app gives children the opportunity to explore the latest current events through the app, while also giving them a voice to express their views. Children can interact with the Editor-in-Chief by rating stories, drawing pictures, asking questions or expressing opinions about current topics in the “News Room” section of the app.

Created by a skilled team—including child experts, designers and entrepreneurs—News-O-Matic aims to transform the news experience for children in a safe, interactive environment while encouraging them to become knowledgeable, productive members of society.

News-O-Matic is available  for the iPad or iPad Mini in the Apple App Store for a free, three-issue trial. Check it out — or let your kids check it out. I think it’s a great educational tool for parents and kids alike!

News-O-Matic is so excited about this new app that they’re sponsoring a giveaway to celebrate! One of you will win a goodie bag featuring a $10 iTunes gift card, backpack, hats, water bottles, and an iPad screen cleaner.

Enter with the rafflecopter form below by June 7, and I’ll choose a random winner June 8.
a Rafflecopter giveaway