The Story Garden with Mrs. Sandoz

It's cold and flu season and I am excited to tell you about a book that I love this time of year. If you've ever bought a Traditional Medicinal Tea like "Throat Coat" or  "Gypsy Cold Care" you are using a version of something you can make right at home.  Traditional Medicianals was started by Rosemary Gladstar a prominant herbalist.  She wrote a book called Herbal Recipes which has been published for many many years now.  That, however, is not the book I am reviewing today.  Today I want to introduce you to  A Kid's Herb Book; for children of all ages by Lesley Tierra.  If you are a beginner herbalist this is a great book for you, especially if there are children in your life.  Tierra covers 16 basic herbs used for treating illnesses and injuries. Herbs like Mullein; the ear and lung herb, Comfrey; the bone knit herb, Dandelinon; the weed that strengthens, and Licorice; the peace making herb. On this adventure you are accompanied by...

I am about to begin a great adventure with you.  An adventure that is about courage, faith, love, perseverance, and all good things that heroes and heroines must have.  It will not be easy but the journey will be worth it.  I am about to share with you some very personal stories I made up for my boys.  When Thing One was just a wee babe I kept myself busy thinking up stories about a blind boy name Justly while I nursed him late at night.  I gave Justly all the things I hoped for my newborn son.  As he got older I began to tell him these stories in hopes of shepherding his character. I don't know if it will work but I know he, as well as his younger brother, and hopefully his still younger brother to come, beg me to tell them more Justly Stories, as they have come to be known in our home.  I hope you love them too! Happy Tales! Kristen Ch. 1 The Justly Stories: a mother's bedtime tale By Kristen S. Sandoz 2012 Once upon a time in ...

Sometimes we get to laughing an awful lot during our story telling.   Other times a great story is created that we hope to remember for the future.  I have found myself wishing I could immediately capture these moments for posterity.   But alas!   The dishes or laundry or poopy mess in the bathroom calls and I don’t have time to write it all down.   Then the moment is gone.   It’s so sad! Enter my smart phone.   I discovered it has a voice-recording app.   How cool is that!   So now all I have to do is turn it on while we play story games at dinner or when I tell my boys a bedtime tale.   So simple!   Of course if you don’t have a smart phone I don’t know what you could do.   Perhaps a good ol' fashioned tape player? Enjoy! Kristen

Tonight during dinner try playing a game I invented called Not a Box.   (We do games during dinner because if we don’t somehow things go wrong and poop is always the topic of conversation. Blah!) To Play: For demonstration purposes an adult starts by picking a simple object like a box, stick, blanket, bowl, toilet paper, (Maybe not that.  I see poop in the future.) or a pillow.   Then go around the table and have everyone tell what they could imagine the object being and what they would do with it.   When everyone has gone the youngest playing family member picks an object and play continues till all have had a turn picking the object. I love this game because even the youngest players have great ideas.  In fact sometimes they are the best players! Enjoy! Kristen

It always amazes me how my boys can turn anything into a gun from a stick to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For the first 6 years of Thing One’s life we didn’t even have guns around the house.   I don’t even know when he first saw a gun but it apparently left an impression because one day guns entered his world of imagination.   This past Sunday we had a nice change up though.   The boys turned their marshmallow shooters into musical instruments during church.   I was so stoked!  (What were they doing with marshmallow shooters during church? Please don’t expect me to answer that.   When you have three Things to deal with sometimes you find yourself saying yes to some crazy stuff.) My point in all of this is that a child’s imagination is very impressive.   Some how we loose all of that power as adults.  Thankfully having kids brings it back just a bit.     The book Not A Box by Antoinette Portis is ...

Okay all you storytellers grab your iPod, iPad, smart phone, or whatever you use to read your blogs and head to the toilet.  Why the toilet? Because for me that is the only place I can find two minutes of peace and quiet, and sometimes not even then.  During that couple of minutes of peace I have found the perfect blog to fill my time.  I thought I'd pass it on to you just in case you need a little toilet time reading. It's called The Daily Grammar Blog .  It's a blog that posts a short grammar lesson a day, 365 days a year, minus Sundays.  I love a blog the respects the Sabbath.  The lessons are perfect for a two minute job and are easy to follow.  I've been eating them up.  I like them so much I often sneak in a whole weeks worth of archived lessons.  Just this week I learned about superlatives and let me tell you it is the best lesson I've ever had on that form of adjectives.  Possibly the only lesson. If you're looking to im...