My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected. If not, visit
http://simplyamusingblog.com
and update your bookmarks.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

So you say it's your birthday...na na na na na naaah

My oldest daughter will be eleven on March 4th and I'm having a really tough time deciding what to get her for her birthday. She loves music and art, so the world is my oyster (so to speak) when it comes to finding the right gift. Personally, I want one of these:retro record playerFrom Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles, an online store owned by Janice and Susan -- (the two moms that run 5 Minutes for Mom), it's one of the coolest things I have found. But I can't get it for her, because honestly? My husband and I would get more use out of it than she would. (Yes, we still use cassette tapes and we even have a large record collection that we are working at getting digitized)

There's always one of these:apple ipod playerBut I have issues with the whole ipod thing. What if she leaves it in the pocket of her jeans and it gets washed? (It happens, you know) What if she leaves it lying around somewhere (as she's so prone to doing with everything) and one of the younger kids (or worse, the cat) destroys it? I know, I know..."the Lord hath not given us the spirit of fear"...but at eleven, is she old enough for a $200 gadget? I think not.

I digress...I may have issues deciding which gift to buy, but one thing I know that we will be doing for K's birthday - it's become a sort of family tradition - is we will be taking the day off of school and baking together. Baking is a time of great bonding for us and I love teaching her. Though we have thrown many a batch of cake, cookie, or brownie batter away because neither of us were paying attention to who was adding what, we have come up with a fairly simple solution to this problem. We tape a piece of transparency paper over the recipe and then with a marker, we mark off what we've already added. That way, no one adds the baking soda twice (not that it has ever happened to us, you understand). The other thing we do is when a recipe calls for, say, half a cup of shortening - we fill the cup up halfway with water and then add the shortening until the water line reaches the cup mark. (And of course we dump out the water before adding the shortening to the recipe!)

So what works for you when it comes to birthdays? And what am I going to get my daughter for hers? Any ideas? Shoot 'em to the comments for me. For more WFMW tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer.
Photobucket

Look on the bright side! Subscribe via RSS.

Technorati Tags: , ,

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Karen! My daughter will be 11 in May and I was thinking a little cd player for her room (boombox type) would be GREAT!! If your daughter is anything like mine. I am concerned though, about CDs they are not cheap, but I do make sure I listen to their latest likes of music to make sure it is appropriate! So most of it I will download at walmart music.com and then put it on a cd, that way if it gets ruined, then it is still on the computer readily available to put on a scratch-free cd. Hope it helps a little bit!!!

Kathy in WA said...

Let's see, a cute girlie basket might be fun with lotions, bath wash, and some lip gloss. That's nice and sort of "grown up."

A subscription to a magazine can be a nice gift. There are several Christian publications that would be nice for a 11 year old girl.

We got the Dance Praise game for our oldest when she turned 12 this December. It's the Christian version of the Dance Dance Revolution. You hook it up to the computer and it plays praise songs with dance moves. That's certainly a big hit and wasn't too pricey.

Good luck! Have fun baking.

Unknown said...

Your last commenter had good ideas, some that I may have to borrow. My middle child (daughter) will turn 11 on April 20 so they are nearly the same age. She just wants a trip to King's Island, a big amusement park in Cincinnati, but I don't think it's open then, so I'll be thinking about this a lot more! I homeschool too...it's my fifth year. I have 3 too, but my oldest is in 8th grade and we are sending him to the public high school for high school next year. I came over from All Rolled into One. I love the new header that you designed! Nice to meet you!