It’s amazing how you can get inspired for the holidays everywhere you go. Stopping by my local post office the other day, I grabbed a copy of USA Philatelic, a catalog for stamp enthusiasts. (You can see the catalog online at the U.S. Postal website.)

With gift shopping season here, you should check it out. They have a lot of great activity books and toys that will appeal to kids (and are educational) such as:

• Disney’s Let’s Write a Letter – This 20-page book is filled with Disney characters and offers instructions on letter writing for kids. The set includes eight pieces of stationary and envelopes and eight The Art of Disney: Romance stamps. ($14.95)
• Curious George Wonders Stamp and Sticker Book – Curious George introduces kids to stamp collecting in this activity book, and is a wonderful way for kids to learn about some of the natural and man-made wonders of the U.S. Comes with eight Favorite Children’s Book Animals stamps. ($9.95)
• Space Discovery Book Inside Outer Space Collectible Activity Book – This children’s activity book takes kids on a journey through space, where they’ll discover secrets of the cosmos.  Includes five Inside Outer Space stamps and a special holograph envelope. ($9.95)

There’s also stamp collecting kits on subjects like history, famous people, Marvel Comics, travel and baseball.

Preschool Inspiration

After the post office trip, I went to pick up Lucie at preschool. The teachers had set up two large pumpkins on a table and the kids were using rubber mallets to hammer golf tees into the oversized gourds.

The boys were really loving it. After all how often do you get a chance to whack away at a pumpkin? I thought it was a very clever idea. Plus, now I know what to do with all those golf tees that I find in Nathan’s pockets after he hits the links with his dad.

Thanksgiving Fun

Golf tees in a pumpkin? How about skewers of fruit to turn a squash and a pear into a vegetarian turkey called a Fruit Gobbler? This edible Thanksgiving craft comes from FamilyFun.com.

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Summer is nearly over and school’s about ready to begin. I noticed that my readership dropped this summer. At first, I thought it was because you were all running off to the beach. But now I’m guessing that turning My Readable Feast into a mostly writing blog, with some book reviews and recipes, wasn’t as successful as I hoped. Lesson learned. (And if you have suggestions about what you’d like to see at My Readable Feast, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.)

So no more writing prompts and Tuesday haiku. Instead, let’s go back to what this blog was all about – books and food!

With that said, are you looking for some school lunchbox ideas? Last year around this time I posted information on:

• The art of the bento box – how traditional Japanese lunch boxes can inspire our school lunches
• What’s in your lunch box? – with a recipe for Rachel Ray’s Turkey and Black Bean Tostadas

Frankly, I’m a bit concerned about what to feed Nathan this year. Some of the old standbys, like fruit rollups, are going bad in the pantry. Plus, Nathan has become a “pasta-terian” this summer – he doesn’t eat meat or vegetables, only noodles and eggs.

Luckily FamilyFun.com has a whole section devoted to Back to School food ideas. I guess there’s always Nathan’s favorite PB&J, but how can I make it more exciting? How about peanut butter and jelly stars? This looks like a great way to sneak in some whole wheat bread into Nathan’s diet, too.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Stars

Ingredients:

1. 2 slices white bread
2. 2 slices whole wheat bread
3. Peanut butter
4. Jelly
5. 1 1/2-inch star cookie cutter

Directions:

This is different than the directions on the FamilyFun.com site. From the comments it seems too hard to spread the peanute butter and jelly after you cut and swap the stars. Maybe making the sandwiches first, then swapping mini-star shaped sandwiches would be better? I’d have to experiment. Maybe try a simpler shape like a circle would be easier. It’ll be messy, too, but the results will certainly be cool.

1. Make two PB&J sandwiches by spreading peanut butter on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Then spread jelly on one wheat and one white piece of bread. Make one wheat sandwich and one white bread sandwich.
2. Carefully use mini cookie cutters to cut puzzle pieces out of white and whole wheat sandwich. Swap the whole wheat shapes with the white, then press them into place.

The topic for this week’s Denver Post haiku contest is COLORADO. Sigh, you think the editors at the Post could have thought of something a little more, I dunno, universal?

I’m sure that most of you are from out of state, so if you do decide to write the haiku, maybe you could do one on the stereotypes around Colorado – ski bunnies, cowboys, John Denver, mountain men, and cattle drives. Have fun with it and make it humorous.

The deadline is midnight Thursday (Denver time). Send your one stanza (5-7-5) haiku to lifestyle@denverpost.com or go online at www.denverpost.com/haiku to enter. (You can also read everyone else’s entries there.)

The weekly winner will win a $25 gift certificate to the Tattered Cover bookstore.

I’m back from visiting friends in Chicago and attending BlogHer07. I’m exhausted, swamped with unpacking, and have a zillion things to do including a major grocery shopping trip. It’ll be a few days before I can write a post over at my other blog, A Mama’s Rant, on my experiences.

Travel writing is a little different than regular writing in that you must use all five senses to describe the scene to the reader. Was the place loud or quiet? Was it hot or cold? What did you smell – the exhaust fumes of passing trucks or the saltwater at the beach?

Tracey at ClubMom’s Picture This is having a Kid’s Photo Contest. No, not photos of the kids but photos taken by them. My daughter Lucie is an amazingly good photographer for a four-year-old, so I’ll be submitting some of her work. (Hint: they’re probably pictures of her stuffed animals or her brother – two of her favorite things.)

Click here to find out to enter. And let me know if you’ve entered, too!

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How’s the Harry Potter reading going? Have you a funny story about the lengths you’ve taken just to read a few more pages. Give us your HP confession at my other blog, A Mama’s Rant.

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Has anyone out there contributed a haiku to the Denver Posts contest? If so, comment below and share what you entered. Don’t be shy!

The topic for this week’s Denver Post haiku contest is HEAT. It’s been in the 90s here so I’m not surprised they picked that topic.

The deadline is midnight Thursday (Denver time). Send your one stanza (5-7-5) haiku to lifestyle@denverpost.com or go online at www.denverpost.com/haiku to enter. (You can also read everyone else’s entries there.) As usual, the weekly winner will win a $25 gift certificate to the Tattered Cover bookstore. Get writing and good luck!