August 2020

The Best Halloween Games

Are you already planning your Halloween games? Oh I know I am. We are looking forward to Halloween very much. What are you planning with your family this year?

I love the classics, like bobbing for apples, which is probably a really bad idea this year even with distancing, unless everyone has their own bucket and apple! Hmm... that might work.

How do you plan on doing socially distanced games this year? Share them in the chat!

Ghostly Creatures

While my husband is a no-nonsense kind of guy who doesn't believe in supernatural things, he will tell you about the time a giant white glowing wolf ran across our path on the highway at night once. To this day we have no idea what it was. We'd been driving home from college in the middle of nowhere when it happened.

Ghostly animal encounters sound so fake to you until something happens to you yourself, don't they? And even then you don't really believe other people's stories; just your own.

What about you? Do you have any ghostly animal stories? Share them in the chat !

Empty Baskets

I've lost a fair few plants this year and am left wondering what to do with these empty hanging baskets until next season. I have lots of flower seeds but dare I try this late in the year? Should I fill them with other plants and if so, what?

I'd love to have something lovely planted in these baskets but it's not the best time of the year to plant anything... or is it? What about marigolds? They may look pretty, although I think they'd look better in ground containers.

What do you do with your empty baskets? Any creative projects? Tell me your ideas!

Read-a-Thon Updates for August

There are eleventy billion read-a-thons this month, so there's no way to do all of them (or is there? Mwahaha!), but I'd love to know which ones you chose to do, why and what you're reading. How's your thon going so far?

I'm not doing so well on mine this month. It's been a difficult month for concentrating and I'm having a hard time, which seems to ebb and flow a lot this year while we're at home. How about you? It's not easy and even if people think you should have more time to read, the truth is that sometimes you either don't or you just can't.

Teeth the Size of Bananas

While many of us wouldn't want to come face to face with a gator or croc anytime soon, we have to be thankful that we didn't have to deal with the kind with banana-sized chompers, which the dinosaurs apparently had to do!

Scientists say that dinosaurs were eaten by these "terror crocodiles," which make me think of--what else?--Lake Placid. If you get a chance to watch this video you'll see how big a single skull of one of these animals was, which is pretty impressive!

Peachy Goodness

Tis the season of the peach! Every year we try to go peach picking on August 1, and while we weren't able to this year, my aunt dropped some off on our porch for us to enjoy and I've been in peach heaven!

Peach cocktails are so delicious, especially when you pair them with brown sugar or get a nice char on them. I love them with vanilla ice cream, too, which you can easily whip up into a shake, boozy or otherwise!

What peach drinks do you love this time of year? Share them in the chat.

Alcohol-Free Beer From Budweiser

I've known people trying to kick an alcohol addiction by swapping to alcohol-free beer and I think they've had mixed results between them. Budweiser is now offering an alcohol-free beer in their Budweiser Zero, a 50-calorie, alcohol-free beverage that is sugar free and supposedly tastes just like the real deal.

This is cool for sugar-free people since they can now drink beer--sort of--while their friends do, as well as those who don't want alcohol but enjoy the taste. Even so I have to wonder how popular it's going to be.
What do you think of the beer? Would you try it?

Real Good Food

Have you ever tried Real Good food? No, I don't mean any food that just tastes really good! I mean the company Real Good, which creates high-protein, low-carb foods for people who avoid sugar to enjoy.

They make everything from pizza to pasta, and even enchiladas made from chicken! They also sell stuffed chicken. These frozen goodies aren't huge, but they're delicious and packed with protein. Pairing them with a nice dinner salad makes a great meal in my book.

Have you tried any of these? Which was your favorite? Share it in the chat!

Poetry Classes Online

Many parents are choosing to homeschool their kids right now who never thought they'd be in this situation. That's perfectly fine! Homeschooling is legal in every state and many people find it rewarding and a great fit. But that doesn't mean you have to go it alone.

There are lots of ways to find help online, even for poetry class. You can try services from Outschool, Varsity Tutors and other educational websites. You can search for tutors online who will help over Zoom or co-op classes that are doing the same. There are lots of ways to go about it.

Beetle Exits Frog Alive!

Frogs are weird, and I'd argue that animals in general are weird, but this may be one of the strangest things I've ever read about a frog. A beetle swallowed by a frog actually exited the animal's body alive via... well, the way food usually comes out!

UGH. It reminds me of The Shawshank Redemption. Just what did that beetle go through? I sure hope he lives as long as beetles can after that ordeal. It has to be a medical miracle, right? Or maybe this happens with strong exoskeletons sometimes...

What other amazing frog stories have you read this week?

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