I was browsing through blogs tonight and loved this so much I had to share it with family and friends. Thanks Boys 'R' Us!
The School for Animals
An old story tells of the creation of a school for the animals. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects: flying, swimming, climbing, and running. Among the students were a duck, a flying squirrel, a fox, and an elephant. These four were highly motivated, and wanted to get good grades, so they all tried very hard.
The duck did fantastically well in swimming and flying, but he lagged behind his classmates in climbing and running, so focused special attention on those two subjects. However, his feet became so sore from trying to run and his wings were so bedraggled from trying to climb that by the end of the year he not only failed both those subjects, but made C’s in swimming and flying, which had once been his two best subjects.
At the beginning of the school year, the squirrel was first in his class in climbing and running and was second only to the duck at flying. But as the months wore on, he missed so much school from catching pneumonia in his swimming class that he failed everything.
To make matters even worse, because the squirrel constantly squirmed and chattered in class, and had difficulty paying attention, he was diagnosed with a learning disorder. The squirrel eventually was placed in remedial classes and had to be medicated in order to continue with his school work.
The fox was a natural in his running class and scored well in climbing and swimming, but became so frustrated at his inability to get good grades in flying that he began assaulting his classmates. He even tried to eat the duck. His behavior was so disruptive he was expelled from school. He fell in with a rough crowd and eventually wound up in a center for animal delinquents.
I remember something about the television series Little House on the Prairie but It wasn't a show I watched. I came across a DVD at the library that was Little House on the Prairie, I thought I would rent it and watch it with Alex. To my surprise and delight it was not the TV show but a (2004) remake! I didn't even know they did a Mini-Series.
The first episode was rather long yet excitement was never far off. The girls were on the edge of their seats, the girls being Alex and my 4yr old niece. By the time the first "To Be Continued" flashed on the screen the girls were asking if it was over and complaining that it can't be over! Can we please watch some more? I would recommend this movie in a heartbeat, but you may want to watch it yourself first as there are some rather tense scenes. We still haven't decided if we should let my niece see the last half. It really got them interested in life on the frontier.
After watching the movie Alex and I made some log cabins and then Gabe knocked them down. Then we made some more and daddy kept Gabe from destroying them long enough to take a picture.
That's right, our son is 19 months old and we are just beginning to use cloth diapers. We are making an attempt to live less dependent upon modern "conveniences". If the economy is heading in a negative direction, we would like to know we can take care of our son's diapering needs even if the prices rise because we will already have what we need. I think I am going to sew on a velcro fastener instead of pins. I don't mind cleaning them up, it has to be done.
We started out with gDiapers and then put cloth inside the liners instead of the expensive inserts. The inserts are nice however because they break down in 50-150 days and can be composted in your garden versus 500 years with disposables. So I shortened a bunch of my cloth diapers to fit inside the gDiaper liner and that has been working great, but I also wanted to try some of the regular vinyl pants too.
I'm toying with the idea of sewing my own Diaper covers. There are patterns available for them or I could design my own. It would be a great project for Alex and I, especially choosing the fabric! I love being creative, even when it comes to diapers.
I can't tell you how inspiring it is, you will have to see it for yourself. For many years I have wanted to move out of the city and into the country so that I could raise my own food. Well, here is something to consider.
