Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


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A Tub Can Be . . . Creative Uses for Everyday Items

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Taylor and Chelsie enjoy a sticky treat while lounging in a plastic baby bathtub.

A tub can be . . .

Actually, a child’s plastic bathtub can be:

  • a snacking spot
  • a boat
  • a water table
  • a push car
  • a chair
  • a sink for washing
  • an actual bathtub
  • a container for small animals
  • a storage unit
  • a reading nook
  • a garden box
  • an art project
  • a doll bed
  • a watering tub (for animals or kids)
  • a pond
  • a fairy garden
  • a mud pie factory
  • sand box
  • a cat box (if one is not careful)

Taylor and Chelsie (circa @1992) are enjoying some good old sticky lollipops as they sit in the baby bathtub. It was no longer a bathtub at this point, but instead became the object of many imaginative games.

How about you? What other uses have you found for a plastic baby bathtub?


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STORYSTORM 2018 Final Day: Doreen Cronin Makes Embarrassing Mistakes (and you can, too!)

Oh, I’ve had my share of embarrassing mistakes. Now if I only had the courage to remember them and transform them into stories…

Thanks, Doreen and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Final Day: Doreen Cronin Makes Embarrassing Mistakes (and you can, too!)


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Storystorm 2018 DAY 29: JANE YOLEN CULTIVATES THE WILD IDEA

Collecting those ideas is just like gathering eggs. You have to watch where you’re walking, keep your eyes peeled, and collect those golden orbs of inspiration and place them in a sturdy basket to incubate for hatching up a great story.

Thanks, Jane and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 29: Jane Yolen Cultivates the Wild Idea


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 28: Stacy McAnulty’s Brain if Full

Way to prime the pump! Thanks, Stacy and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 28: Stacy McAnulty’s Brain is Full


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 27: Josh Nash is Always on the Clock

Ideas wait for no clock. It’s now or never, baby! Write down those great ideas, whenever they appear!

Thanks, Josh and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 27: Josh Nash is Always on the Clock


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 26: Jeanette Bradley Invites You to Tea

I’d love to come home and find ideas on my deck, just waiting for me. But usually all I find are dead mouse parts and fluffs of bird feathers (no bird attached).

Thanks, Jeanette and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 26: Jeanette Bradley Invites You to Tea


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 22: Robin Newman Has Food for Thought

Food for thought. Ha-ha! Get it? Add food to any story you are working on – be it the main character, a walk-on part, the conflict, or part of the setting. I can see, I mean taste it now…a maple oat nut scone walks into a coffee shop…

Thanks, Robin! Thanks, Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 22: Robin Newman Has Food for Thought


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 20: Kate Dopirak & Mary Peterson Ask . . . What is Worth Illustrating?

Great post! I’ve always thought about this illustration and that illustration for my picture book manuscripts, but I’ve never considered if they’d are WORTH illustrating!

Thanks, Kate, Mary, and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 20: Kate Dopirak & Mary Peterson Ask…What is Worth Illustrating?


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 18: Worlds Collide for Jarrett Lerner

When worlds collide? Check out this fun way to come up with story ideas. 🙂

Thanks, Jarrett and Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 18: Worlds Collide for Jarrett Lerner


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STORYSTORM 2018 Day 15: Melissa Iwai Mines Her Dreams

Dreams are amazing (and weird and sometimes terrifying). But they can also be a source of ideas for stories. The important thing to do is to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up, or, POOF, the ideas will be gone. Not that my dream last night of spell-checking the name of my granddaughter’s teacher would make a good story…but still. You get the idea! Write it down.

Thanks, Melissa! Thanks, Tara!

via STORYSTORM 2018 Day 15: Melissa Iwai Mines Her Dreams