parenting tales

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Let's Read, Eat, Create, Live and Blog Well: The Small Victories Sunday Linkup

Something new is brewing every Sunday on the HinesSightBlog, and I hope you grab your coffee and join me. When I started this blog four years ago, it started without a purpose. I was simply a stay-at-home Mom to two children who always had big career dreams of perhaps being a travel writer, columnist, and business owner. It was a joy to have this blog as my space for a creative outlet. I didn't have any social media handles back then and very little demands of my time other than my children's needs. I had time in 2011 to write and chat with other bloggers who shared some of the same interests as me. We shared recipes. We shared travels. But, more importantly, we shared stories. It was an inspiring time. I met some of my new best friends thanks to my taking the guts to hit publish on a blog.


Coffee at La Farm Bakery in Cary, N.C. 
I enjoyed grabbing a cup of coffee, (back then it was tea, and now I'm back to coffee drinking in Raleigh), sitting at my desk and reading the internet. Truthfully, there is nothing like the early blogging days when you have the excitement of a blank canvas at your fingertips and the highs of meeting new people who have similar interests.

That feeling of nostalgia and the desire to get back to my original story sharing roots has led me to say yes to a fellow UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, Tanya of Mom's Small Victories, as a co-host for her popular "Small Victories Sunday Link-Up" where bloggers share their best content weekly. I've always liked to tell stories, but without the consistency of a schedule, those stories would always get placed on the backburner.

Small-Victories-Sunday-Linkup-banner-pink

We are all very busy people. Life is not always easy. In fact, it's hard. It can be demanding and difficult. Life is not always fun or happy. Tanya's positive theme of sharing small victories resonates with me as a way of changing the way we think toward positive inspirations.

You're with me, right? It's like on a Friday afternoon you want to celebrate the small victory of getting through  another week of school. You did it. You got there on time, all papers signed,  lunches packed, and they did not miss the bus.  But, sometimes our small victories get lost in the big picture. It's time to change that way of thinking.



For us, it really was a victory getting through school this week. We successfully completed one week of school and we all stayed alive. By the end of this week, I was sitting in the garage honking furiously as my 4th grader ran around the inside of our house trying to find his misplaced sunglasses. Thanks to that fiasco, we now have a spot in a place that his beloved glasses must rest each evening.

And the youngest child? Well, she is doing great in kindergarten, but her precious teacher saw her wrath on Tuesday when another child broke her headband when she grabbed it off of Liza's towel during rest time. I had the following Class Dojo message from her sweet teacher.

"Just a heads up. Liza's headband broke and she is so upset. She's having a meltdown and we cannot get her off the floor. I've tried comforting her."

By the time I got the message she was fine, and I received a photo of her happily putting paper dots on her name later in the day. She told me she felt better when the assistant teacher fixed her headband by putting "duct tape" on it so she could wear it the rest of the day.

Long lives the "Elsa blue" headband. It's now in the drawer where she keeps all of her other broken ones that she deems too special to throw away. It now lies in its final resting place with her beloved ivory and pearl headband. In other words, there is now more junk in her bedrooms drawers. And her teacher got a great story to tell her husband that evening.

Don't let pesky fruit flies run you out of the kitchen. Catch them with these easy tips and trap.

And my final small victory this week is that I made a trap to rid my kitchen of pesky fruit flies. I really cannot imagine life before there was "Google."  Seriously, how did we do anything? This fruit fly trap works best with white wine and a little honey. Cork the wine bottle with a coffee filter, poke a small hole into the filter, and leave the bottle on the counter overnight. The next morning, you will see fruit flies in the bottle. Pour hot water through the cone and they all should be dead. Repeat until all the pesky critters are gone.

White wine works best. I tried ripe bananas in the bottle the next day and my instructions said the "fruit flies were too dumb" to fly out of the bottle. I don't believe that because I saw fruit flies in the bottle with the bananas, but the next day they were all gone, and the same was true for when I used red wine as bait. The only thing that worked for me was white wine, but I, unfortunately, drank all of my white wine and didn't have any left to trap fruit flies on day two and three. Fruit flies are a pain in my boot.

Seriously, this is why I've not been on social media or have written another feature. I've been too busy going back and forth to school and catching fruit flies.

Each week, I'll be sharing more things with you, and I hope we can connect a little. Tell me at least one small victory you had this week, and if you are a blogger this is your chance to link up your best content for everyone to find in one place.

 The Small Victory Linkup

This linkup is designed to share your BEST posts to inspire our fast growing community of readers. Share with us anything that will help others live a happier and healthier life. Sunday is the perfect day to reflect and celebrate the week that passed and look forward to the week ahead.

This linkup is open all week long so feel free to stop by anytime, it's never too late to linkup with us.

Ways to Follow Your Hosts:

Meet us all below and Tanya has given our blog subject interest next to our names. 
Your Small Victories Sunday Linkup Hosts: Mom's Small Victories, Sunshine & Sippy Cups, The Mad Mommy, Frugal & Coupon Crazy, GeminiRed Creations, Keystrokes by Kimberly, Tidbits of Experience, Hines-Sight Blog, Simply Save, All Inspired Mom, Oh my Heartsie Girl, O Taste and See, Shandra White Harris & One Hoolie Mama!

Tanya M from Mom's Small Victories (books, food, chronic illness)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google + 
Meagan from Sunshine and Sippy Cups (lifestyle) | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google +
Echo from The Mad Mommy (family/parenting, humor)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google +
Gail from Frugal & Coupon Crazy (saving money) | Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter | Google + 
Heather from GeminiRed Creations (crafts, handmade, small business) | Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter | Google +
Kimberly from Keystrokes by Kimberly (lifestyle, travel, entertainment) | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Crystal from Tidbits of Experience (family, entertainment, books) | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google +
Leigh from Hines-Sight Blog (lifestyle, food, travel) | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google + 
Heather from Simply Save (saving money, DIY, crafts) | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Google +
Tiffani from All Inspired Mom (family, crafts, planning)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Karren from Oh My Heartsie Girl (food, crafts/DIY, blogging tips)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Danita from O Taste and See Blog (food) |Pinterest | Facebook | Twitter | Google +
Shandra from With Heart Wide Open (life, faith, family)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Suzanna from One Hoolie Mama (family, recipes, fitness)| Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Featured Bloggers

Each week, link-up hosts select posts to feature here.  I'll be reading this week and will announce my favorite posts next week.  Look to our current hosts this week to see what bloggers they featured.



An InLinkz Link-up

Be sure to follow the Small Victories Linkup weekly. 


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Let's Read, Eat, Create, Live and Blog Well: The Small Victories Sunday Linkup
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Southern Parenting Tale: Teaching Children Body Part Names

I'm back this week with a Southern Parenting Tale. As you know, I'm traveling a lot this summer and will be back on a regular posting schedule when my kids are in school. I've got lots to share so stay in touch. 


Sometimes, you just have to be there.

In the moment.

As a writer, I can try to tell you a story, but no matter how hard I try to convey a story with written words, the story may not be the same as if it were told to you in person.

This particular story was told to me by my husband’s cousins. They witnessed this event firsthand, and I only saw their laughter and faces as they passed this story around among the family.  I missed the actual incident.

From the look on their faces, and the tears coming out of their eyes, it had be what we call a “doozy” in the South.

We attended a family reunion earlier this summer.

I took my shoepeg corn salad to the reunion. The recipe can be found in my recipe collection. 


My daughter is the youngest child in the bunch. The other children are all elementary-school-aged and older.

I guess it’s tough to be the youngest. You always want to be more grown-up than you are.
She and an older cousin were talking to my husband’s cousin’s husband. Got that? To make it simple, we’ll just call him John.

John, who is in his 50s, is an avid cycler, volunteer fireman, and all-around good guy. He’s never had his own children, but he has a kind and loving way about him that kids just like. They like to be around him.

John’s niece and my daughter had his full attention at this particular moment. 

Who knows really what they were talking about, but my little one said something to him that caused him to ask her a question.

I’m sure he wondered how a 4-year-old could be so astute to know things about another country at her age. 

He asked, “What do you know about China?”

She must have known he misunderstood because she innocently remarked, “No, I said girls have Vachinas.”




I think that conversation ended pretty quickly, and John got a little more education than he needed at this family reunion.

And I guess that is what I get for trying to teach my child the proper names for body parts.


Oops!  But I’m sure it will be one for the storybooks for generations to come. 
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Southern Parenting Tale: Teaching Children Body Part Names
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The Rural Pit Stop

North Carolina, USA
Updated: December 2022
Shortly after writing this blog, I began a weekly parenting column with the News and Observer. These are those stories. I love to look back on these posts because they are so real with exactly what we went through at that moment in that stage of life. I would one day like to chronicle some of the challenges I've faced in parenting during my kid's teen years, but that's going to have to wait a while. If you are a parent of a young one conducting a road trip during the holidays, have fun and remember to cherish these memories as hard as they may be in the moment. 



I'm sure many parents remember the first time it happened to them. They probably remember right where they were. So it was bound to happen to us sooner or later, right? 

Of course, it will happen when you're driving in the middle of nowhere. We weren't in the middle of nowhere, but we were in rural North Carolina on a highway by-pass between the city of Raleigh and Farmville.   Highway 264, to be exact.

It's the type of by-pass where you see an exit for Hardees, but when you take the exit, you don't see the restaurant. Could it be five miles down the road or ten miles? It was like this exit after exit.

Meanwhile, we hear from the backseat, "I can't stand it. I need to pee-pee quickly."

We ask, "Can you wait? We have about 15 more miles til we get to our destination?"

"I've got to pee pee right now. Quickly!"

I ask my husband, "Do you think he's just bored and wants to get out of the car?"  We were on an hour road trip.

We just need to figure it out. We see nothing. No signs ahead. Just an exit to a rural country road! We pull over on the shoulder of the exit ramp. 

We hear, "What are you doing?"   We tell our 5-year-old that he has no choice but to use the bathroom on the side of the road if he really has to go. As I unbuckle his seat belt, I'm confident he really does have to go.   He wasn't kidding.   We're going through with this unexpected pit stop.

As I walk with my son toward a grassy area,  I hear from the driver's seat, "Tell him to aim toward the woods!"  What? You've got to be kidding me! Why didn't you get out of the car?

Even though we were off the highway, we could still be seen. Of course, we knew passengers in their cars were probably giggling at us or looking down on us in shame, but at least no one honked their horns.   I have to admit I laughed, too.

Little boy peeing in the woods

When we were in the middle of potty training, I took a potty with us on the road. I'll soon be potty-training again, so I guess I"ll be more prepared next time. But you are talking about parents who didn't even have a portable DVD for their car. That is until last night! We lasted five years without one, but we decided that was five years and one minute TOO LONG.

Hopefully, on our next road trip, we'll be cruising in peace and see a fast-food restaurant every few exits.









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The Rural Pit Stop
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Satisfy Your Summer Cravings with these Refreshing Fruit-Inspired Salads!

North Carolina, USA
Hello. Thank you for finding the HinesSightBlog. You have landed on a very old post, perhaps from my first year of blogging in 2011.  Fifteen years, you may still find me pulling into a Wendy's drive-thru. The salad featured below is no longer a menu item, but Wendy's is still one of the better fast-food chain for fresh salads. You may also like some these fruit-inspired salads found on the blog. This simple green salad with berries from Taste of Home magazine is also the perfect salad recipes with berries. I prefer strawberries and blueberries over raspberries. Enjoy! Leigh 







I have been a fan of Wendy's for years. A lot of years, really! When I worked in television in the small, southeastern town of Whiteville, NC, from 1991 to 1996, a Wendy's was about three blocks from my news office. I kid you not when I tell you that my TV news would pull through the drive-thru every week around 3 PM before heading back to the office to edit that day's news. I always ordered a "Biggie Iced Tea." They were number one in my book for iced tea and burgers.   It almost got to the point that I didn't even have to order because my tea was waiting for me at the same time every day.  

It's amazing how things go full circle sometimes.  This past weekend, Wendy's and The Motherhood, a national social community for moms, invited me to attend a Blogger picnic to try the new Berry Almond Chicken Salad.  I usually opt for a cheeseburger with mustard and pickles (since they're made to order) or a spicy chicken fillet sandwich at Wendy's, but my metabolism isn't what it used to be, so I may give salads a try more often.


It was an honor to be included in this event, and it was fabulous to meet such talented and successful bloggers who welcomed this newbie blogger with open arms. I've been blogging for years.  I'm five months old.  My son, who is always eager to eat in a restaurant, went with me for a great mom-son date!   We need those from time to time.


All the tables are filled with local bloggers and my. son

Author of "My Messy Paradise" and her family

My salad.  I ate half of it before I remembered I should take a photo for you.  St. learning!

Wendy's has a berry good idea with this gourmet salad. It's filled with in-season strawberries and blueberries, tender grilled chicken, roasted almonds with sea salt, shaved Asiago cheese, and eleven types of mixed greens, all tossed with a delicious, fat-free raspberry vinaigrette. Yes, I said eleven greens; not just the usual iceberg and romaine!   The salad is not only gorgeous, but truly delicious.   It comes in either a half-size or whole size.  As the hearty eater that I am, I ordered the entire salad and ate it down to the last bite.  It was THAT good.

Photo by my 5-year-old
I also ordered the new Wild Berry Iced Tea to go with my salad.  You knew this southern belle was going to order tea, right?   It wasn't in bigggie size, but let me tell you, I asked for a refill and went back the next day to get another one at a different location.  There is no doubt that Wendy knows how to make good iced tea and a fresh salad! 

I now have a new summer craving, and have met some great new friends, too.  You can find me at one of my local Wendy's this summer.




Disclosure: I was compensated by Wendy's and The Motherhood to try the new Berry Almond Chicken Salad. All opinions are my own and were not influenced by the company.












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Satisfy Your Summer Cravings with these Refreshing Fruit-Inspired Salads!
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Icing on the Cake

July 2019 update: We're still buying cakes in my family. Nothing has changed there in eleven years. I still love Whole Foods cakes.  However, I discovered Carlie C's, and the IGA grocery store in Garner, NC a few years ago, and they have the best 12-layer chocolate cakes so now we get that about 99 percent of the time.  The price is right, too. You can get half a cake for less than $10 and a whole cake for like $20. That's a bargain!  Now that my children are older, we have less cake crumbs than before on the floor, but if you have younger children then you may want a Roomba 675 by your side.  

Custom Cakes from a Grocery Store for Celebrations. Whole Foods and Carlie Cs in Raleigh, NC have some of the best for a good price.




Sometimes I just crave a good piece of cake. I think cake is my favorite dessert. I love cupcakes, too, because they are like mini cakes in my book. I am a cake girl instead of a pie girl.  I like pies, also, but I prefer cake.  I have such fond memories of my Grandma Powell's cakes when I was a little girl in the late '70s. I would stay with her a week at a time because we did not live in the same town, and we would make her delicious pound cake, upside-down pineapple cake, carrot cake, devil's food cake with vanilla icing, and plain vanilla cake with chocolate icing. 




My favorite part of the baking was licking the mixing bowls, but isn't that the favorite part for every child? It may even be better than eating the cake itself.  My grandmother, Pauline Powell, died in 1983, and my family certainly has missed those wonderful, southern sweet creations that she made with such ease.

Recently, my mom found some of grandma's recipes in her own handwriting, and since a coffee maker is the only thing that gets turned on in my mom's kitchen, she gave them to me. I think she is secretly hoping that I will serve one of grandma's cakes when she comes over to play with the kids.  In all honesty, I want to keep these recipes for posterity, but the recipes intimidate me!  It says to use Crisco and Swansdown cake flour, and then there are explanations about "sad streaks," and details on when it is okay and not okay to open the oven while the cake is baking.  It might as well be in a foreign language! It all seems so complicated for a person who didn't even make my own chocolate buttercream icing until this month because I wanted to give my children some of my same baking memories.

In the past, Duncan Hines made my icing.  When ordering cakes for events, it was not uncommon for me to look at a bakery worker puzzled when he would ask me what type of icing I wanted on my cake order. The baker would say, "Fondant, Cream Cheese, or Buttercream?" I would think, "Ah, icing that is good and similar to what country, southern ladies make for their cakes?" My cake icing needs to delicious, but not so sweet that you can't eat it. You know? The kind just like my grandma made. 

It's no surprise that when I find a cake that I like, I become obsessed with it, and it becomes my "Go-To" cake for any event I host. I'm proud to say I have found a cake that I think would get Grandma Powell's seal of approval not only for taste but also for looks.  I learned about this cake at a birthday gathering for my sister-in-law. At the end of dinner, her friend debuts this gorgeous cake.  It was so beautiful, and when I took that first bite, it took me back to days in the kitchen with my grandma.

My son's birthday cake from Whole Foods Bakery

I couldn't stop talking about the cake or its icing. It was a chocolate layer cake with white icing, and together the two merged into a gastronomic delight. I'm sure that my sister-in-law's friends thought I was quirky. I started putting my college journalism education to use, and asked my sister-in-law's friend on the "Who? What? When? Where? And How? Specifics of this gourmet delicacy that not only rivaled a southern woman's homemade cake but looked as if it had been designed and decorated by a top gourmet pastry chef. I just knew this cake had to break the piggy bank.

I about jumped out of my seat at the restaurant when she told me it came from our local Whole Foods Bakery. It was a double whammy when she told me the price was $24.99 for a cake that would serve about fifteen people. Let me tell you, I have paid a lot more for cakes in the past, even at another grocery store, and none of them even came close to topping the taste of this budget-friendly delight. That equals less than $1.75 a slice.  Whole Foods specializes in an all-natural, no artificial ingredients type cakes so you won't find Grandma's Crisco in it, and truthfully, it's hard to find a cake of this caliber under $25 so kudos to them.






I also served a Whole Food's cake at my daughter's baptism, my son's birthday, and the bakery even did a different design for my daughter's first birthday.  I also told my best friend about the cake, and she used it at her daughter's baptism, and even as a guest at that event, I still couldn't stop talking about the icing. She finally said, "We know you love the cake, Leigh !" And at my son's birthday party, the guests raved about this cake just like I did when I first tasted it.

So my thoughts are if Pauline Powell was here today, I can guarantee that she would be a fan of my local Whole Food's Cosmic Design Chocolate cake, and to quote her favorite game show host, Bob Barker, who came into her home every day at 11:00 am on WRAL TV, "The Price is Right!"

My memory is also a little fuzzy, but my grandmother always had a cake stand with a fresh cake displayed in it weekly. I do not remember ever seeing the stand empty. Seriously, she made one or two cakes weekly.  I have a plastic cake stand that I use to take places, but if I were to buy a glass one now, I think these marble baseboard cake stands are neat because you could also use it as a cheese platter. 



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Icing on the Cake
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With this Ring, I’ll take a Day Off and a Cup of Tea





It’s dreary January, and even though North Carolina is not typically that cold, and Carolina Blue skies do peak through the clouds from time to time, it’s still a long, lackluster month.  I credit the dullness to the let down of the post-holiday hoopla.  Let’s face it!  December, even though it can be crazy, is a fun and festive month.  You go to parties with your friends, visit with family, the house is all bright and cheery, and you have an excellent excuse to be merry with a snowman cookie in one hand, and a glass of red in the other.  After all, red is Santa’s favorite color!   But after you stay up late on December 31st, comes January.  Sure, there are parades and football on the first day of the month, but then what?    You have to bundle up to go the mailbox, and you have no mail to look forward to once you get there because holiday bills replace the joyful Christmas Cards.  If you are like most, you also try to tighten your pocketbook this month, and that only adds to the dreariness.

To add some pizzazz to January, you may be thinking about vacations or days off from work, and are about to approach your boss with your selected dates.   My situation is different. I’m sure my oldest boss, five-year-old "JH," would love to go on vacation, but we have different agendas.  I would like a day off from him and his sister.   When I took this job five years ago, I didn’t know that meant I would forfeit all sick days and vacation days.  I know what working parents are thinking!!!!  You’re probably saying,  “you don’t have to make deadlines, be in meetings, and you can set your own schedule daily.   That sounds like a vacation!!” You’re right!  There are some great perks to being a stay-at-home mom, but at the same time, you never get away from your boss.  They are with you by our side morning, noon, and night, and actually outside your bathroom door yelling, “Mama” while you try to take the time to go to the bathroom.

Children of any age can be mentally exhausting when you can’t get away or hide from them.  When I was in the working world, I could close my office door and let the phone go to voicemail if I wanted to eat my Café Carolina Cobb Salad.   Now, I find myself not even sitting down to eat lunch, but rather nibbling off of the two lunches that I made for the kids while standing at the kitchen sink.  With the time and effort it took to make two different lunches because of the kid’s four year age difference, I have no desire and energy to make a third lunch for myself.   And on the flip side, taking two children out to lunch isn’t exactly the most tranquil experience either.

This all brings me to New Year’s Day.  I was standing in my family room with the TV remote in one hand, and with one-year-old Little L crawling up my pant's leg, looking at me with her big, beautiful eyes.  She wanted to be held.  At the same time, JH was yelling at the top of his lungs, which is his rendition of quiet, indoor play.  I was actually trying to watch some of the Rose Bowl Parade.  No one in the house had any interest and chaos was all around me while I was trying to focus on the beauty of the floats and the marching bands,  one of which was from my hometown of Cullowhee, NC.   Just at this exact moment of craziness, my husband, Big W, walks from our home office to the kitchen via the family room.   As he gets past the TV, I say to his back, “You’ve got to take April 29th  off, please.  I don’t think I can stand it if you don’t take that Friday off.”

My husband, who is genuinely a blessing says, “What?”  And I proceed to tell him that there is no way that I can watch the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton if it is like this, and I won’t be able to stand it.  Big W doesn’t even blink an eye.  He says, “Sure!” in less than three seconds.  He didn’t hesitate or roll his eyes.  He knows that I love a wedding like he loves finances, that I have been a follower of the British Royals since watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 when I was 13 years old, and that my collection of Princess Diana books clutter our bookcases.  We even chose London for our honeymoon.  You get the idea.

I’ve grown up a lot in 30 years, and I will not buy any William and Kate books to clutter our house, but I do want a day off to see this British historic event unfold live on my HDTV at 4 am in the morning with a cup of tea in my hand.   And thanks to my King, my little prince and princess will be upstairs with their daddy in the bonus room playing Wii while this Anglophile enjoys the British Royals putting on their best pomp and circumstance.

Prince William and Kate Middleton


So as Wills and Kate say,  "I do" on April 29th  and enter into a world of wedded bliss, I will be living my own fairytale that same morning----a day off with a nice cup of English Breakfast with one scoop of organic cane sugar, and a splash of milk.

Till next time….I'm off to get a cup of tea!

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With this Ring, I’ll take a Day Off and a Cup of Tea
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