Jan. 3, 2009 - Hightlights from the Holidays...

Finally got a chance to look at the pictures I took over the holidays. Interestingly enough, I didn't get ANY worth keeping of the festivities...you know decorating the tree...making the ginger bread house...wrapping or tearing off the wrapping paper. But I did get some sweet ones.

Grandma played A LOT of games with the girls...probably not as many as they would have liked. I mean seriously, as far as the girls are concerned...there are no other purposes for grandmas besides THEIR enjoyment.

 Here they are playing cribbage...

And here is one of the several games of Uno. Things got to be pretty competitive before all was said and done. Grandma ended up putting a KIBOSH on Uno eventually. They were a tad sad that Grandma, with all her fun, still had the gumption to put a kibosh on ANYTHING! All I can say, as her daughter, is that I TOTALLY knew she had it in her. Well done Grandma.

You can see where this is going in those little faces...can you guess who started it??? Her nickname MAY be Bear...but her attitude was Stink Bug.

At some point during all of this Bear had her last soccer game of the season...I got a couple with just Bubba and Bear, lucky for you...

 

Bean wasn't all that keen on watching the game...but one nice thing about the indoor "field" is that there are a few arcade games to keep her busy and most of them are old, so that makes ME happy. But they also have an air hockey table...WHEEEE!!! I love air hockey. It's probably my favorite "sport".

And this is how Grandma and Monkey Face watched the game...

I really think they had more fun than anyone else there...

See ya around...

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Dec. 16, 2008 - Turtle Girl

Look what I almost tripped over when I got out of the shower yesterday afternoon...

 

That's right...an over-turned laundry basket...or is it.

 

 

 

 May I present (the fully recoverd) TURTLE-GIRL...

 

"What are her super-powers?" you may ask. Although it should be obvious...she can stuff her entire little body inside a regular-sized laudry basket and hide in plain sight. Well, mostly....

 

 

 

So that only her twinkley little eyes show...

 

 

She is also EXTREMELY adept is sucking people into her vortex of cuteness...(Look I think his head is stuck)...

 

 

 

 

Wait, is it possible that THIS is the way she catches criminals...sucks them in and TRAPS them (or at least their heads) UNDER her mighty laundry basket?

 

 

 

 

 

Or maybe it's just goofy Daddy. He is a terrible marsh-mellow when it comes to cuteness...I, of course, have overcome the cuteness. As you well know, I am completely immune...especially to those constantly grubby, little, dancin' feet...

 

 

 

 

 

Heaven help me...

 

 See ya around...

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Dec. 8, 2008 - Oh My, Pie!

ALERT THE PRESSES!!! I, though it may not be written down, am an ASTOUNDING pie maker!! That's right, I've made THREE, count 'em, 3...IN A ROW...EGGGGGGG-cellent pies in the last couple of weeks. Therefore, no matter what future pie failings I may have...I can still claim the ASTOUNDING pie maker title.

The one in the picture above is LITERALLY the best chicken pot pie I've ever eaten. Now to be fair, it's the FIRST homemade pot pie that I've ever eaten...it's better than the Marie Calendars pies I've eaten in recent years and it plain smacks-the-snot out of those little frozen hockey pucks from the bottom of the grocer's freezer that I ate for years and years.

But I can't really tell you the recipe...because while I was looking at a recipe for the general idea...that's here...I have no idea how Ina Garten's recipe would turn out because other than eyeballing the list as I threw things in, I didn't follow her method at all...

Here is what I did...because it is what I had...

2 Frozen SOLID chicken breasts
about 5 cups of chicken stock (and I added a cube of bouillion because Ina did, but pshhhhht...I don't think it was necessary in this recipe AT ALL)
6 Tbl of butter 1 medium RED onion, chopped
about 3/8 cups of flour (seriously, I had my 1/8 cup out...No, I DON'T really know why...shhhhh)
2 good sized carrots, quartered and chopped
1/4 cup of cream (or 2 1/8 cups, just in case you are using that rare beast)
Some frozen peas...if you pressed me I'd say somewhere slightly over a cup-ish
Salt to taste
McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder to taste
Puff Pastry

So I put the chicken stock and bouillion cube AND the two frozen chicken breasts in a pot, slapped the lid on it and cooked it on high for awhile...it came to a boil...then maybe 7 minutes after that...

While that was working I chopped the onion, melted the butter in a big old high sided frying pan. Threw the onion in there, let it get soft. Then I put the flour in and mixed it around so that it would cook that raw flour flavor out. Then I threw in the carrots and the cream and let them cook for a couple minutes, cuz you know, carrots take a minute.

Then I put about 2 cups of the now boiling stock into the onion/flour/carrot mixture and mixed it around to see how thick it was...twas hokey dokey.

I pulled the now, MOSTLY poached chicken breasts out to my cutting board and chopped them into about 1 inch chunks. Threw them into the mix. Added in the peas. Mixed it around and added some more stock...maybe another 1 1/2 cups...let it reduce a bit.

Meanwhile realized that I hadn't left enough time for the puff pastry to defrost...so trusting in a bit I saw on Alton Brown's Good Eats...I threw it in the microwave. Yes, it was the wrong thing to do, I know that now. But what was I to do, I told the kids "Chicken Pot Pie"...not "Yummy Chicken and Veggie GOO"...so I pressed on.

I DO have a rolling pin. I slapped that droopy, sticky dough down on the back of one of my shiny clean cookie sheets. I rolled it out and then kinda pulled on it so that it would fit my container. I grabbed said container, put the aforementioned "Yummy Chicken and Veggie Goo" into it and eased the puff pastry over the whole shebang.

I put it in the oven at 400 for about 15 minutes...give or take...and there it is.

Now if you are cook that likes to fly by the seat of your pants you can follow me on this one...start to finish it took 40 minutes and that is WITH the microwaving debacle...I probably COULD have done it in less than 30 without that and a LEETLE forethought. If you are one that needs a strict recipe, go see Ina's, she's famous for that kind of stuff.

As to my new title, y'know "ASTOUNDING Pie Maker" (I know that you forgot.), I give you links to two more to-die-for holiday pies. Both were posted on one of the blogs I follow and so you may have seen them before.

Here is the crust I used for those...it turned out PERFECTLY.

Scrumptious Apple Pie a la Pioneer Woman - the only change I made was that I didn't have any caramel syrup, so I melted caramel candies over a double broiler, added a couple tablespoons of butter and about 1/4 cup, maybe a touch more, of heavy cream so that it wouldn't harden up when it cooled.

Sugar Pie with Nuts - oh excuse me - Pecan Pie a la Pioneer Woman - This was my first foray into the joys of pecan pie...and seriously if you've never made it yourself...you just don't know what you are missing.

See ya around...

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Dec. 5, 2008 - Sleep Baby, Sleep...

Well it's been 19 days since I posted that I'd been sick...we had ABOUT a week after that before it started running through the rest of the family. Bear first a couple days before Thanksgiving...and then she, Bean and Bubba had a really bad night the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I basically didn't sleep that night although I wasn't the one who was sick.

Bear needed me to sleep WITH her Wednesday, Thursday and Friday because every time I'd go back to bed either her ear would hurt really bad (apparently my AURA dampens ear ache pain, who knew?) or she would have really scary fever dreams...I TRIED to stay in my own bed on Wednesday night but by Thursday had given it up completely in the hope that SOME sleep would come my way. But even that was dubious at best because if I, by chance, dozed...that would cause Beanie to start that barking-like-a-seal cough that every mother dreads.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Bubba didn't tell me he was REALLY sick until that Wednesday...of course with the other two so sick, it's possible I ignored him. But by Thursday morning (3am) all the vitamin C in the world wasn't going to get rid of it...but he was OKAY as long as he slammed back about 8,000 mg every couple of hours.

Thanksgiving was kind of interesting. Now, I WAS NOT sick...just SOOOOO TIRED. (I've gotten to be such a sissy about sleeping all the way through the night. There was a time, when Bean was a wee one that I could be up 6 or 7 times in the night and still go to work the next day...BUT, I digress.) And at my house, I'm the main cooker, the main cleaner, and the main organizer, I do usually get some help with these things. But my helper, was WIPED out...He couldn't come down or go back up the stairs without needing a nap...so that made me the ONLY cooker, cleaner or organizer.

Go ahead and try it yourself...cook everything the same day (because you couldn't do it early, no, that would make things FAR too easy), clean every dish in between, put every dish away, put pretty dishes on the table (you know the ones you CAN'T just throw in the dishwasher because they are over 100 years old)...then clear the table...handwash all the dishes all on about 20 minutes worth of sleep. Oh, and don't forget to be joyful doing it.

Well, if you know me at all you probably realize there was no way I was able to do that all HAPPY. So I did as much as I could while maintaining my happiness and waited on the rest of them who were by this point pretty sick. On Thanksgiving we had Duck, Cranberry Sauce and Stuffing on paper plates with PLASTIC forks, thank you very much. On Friday, I did the greenbeans with something else and on Saturday, I'd had some time to dig out the kitchen so I made two pies.

Sunday I did NUTHIN'...except church.

By Sunday night, Monkey Face was really not feeling very well. I couldn't decide if she was really SICK...she was just REALLY crabby. So because Bubba was on the mend...still snotty, but perfectly willing to put on the Barbie movie du jour and sit around napping...I went to church at night.

Well by Monday morning Monkey Face had the snorts and snots...and an ear ache...and my aura wasn't working. Because she is a MAJOR crab when it comes to any of the natural things I force on my other kids (vitamin C - she doesn't like it, Garlic Oil in her ears - she screams and screams) and this thing hit in the middle of the night AGAIN...I resorted to a 1/2 teaspoon of baby motrin, arguing inside my head...pffffft...I gotta sleep. Well, I took her to our chiro on Tuesday morning and she felt a lot better the rest of that day...but again...in the wee small hours she wakes up with the OTHER ear hurting...so another 1/2 teaspoon of Motrin. And the next day she is feeling worse.

Long story cut a tad shorter...I finally got a clue yesterday and dropped the Motrin...made her accept garlic oil in her ear and made her take her vitamin C and garlic DURING THE DAY. It took 2 doses of the garlic oil in her ear (about 1 hour apart) for her ear to not hurt at ALL anymore. It was amazing. I hadn't been able to touch her ears for 2 1/2 days...the motrin would make it better for awhile but then it would come raging back. After that second dose, I could tink on her earlobes again. Woo Hoo!

And something else...she slept for longer than 15 minutes at a time. She slept almost 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon, ALL NIGHT (other than wanting a drink), slept until 9:15 this morning and is going on 2 hours now for her nap.

And she started giggling this morning. Ah, what a joyful noise.

And, while I'm sorry for gushing...isn't it a beautiful sight?

See ya around...

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Nov. 20, 2008 - Time out, indeed...

 

What is that?

 

I'm pretty sure I told her to sit on the couch. I'm pretty sure she was being a tad irritating and I told her to chill out by herself. I'm pretty sure she was crying just a second ago. I THOUGHT she was terribly sad that she had misbehaved and caused her mother a frowning brow.

 

 

 

 

This is not what I had in mind. I'm sure that I meant she was to be solemn...quiet....still. She was SUPPOSED to be THINKING about what she had done and coming to some sort of repentance. Those feet are not solemn. Nor do they look repentant in the least.

 

 

 

I believe those unrepentant feet are dancing.

 

 

Sigh...sometimes the cuteness just sneaks up on me.

See ya around...

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Nov. 18, 2008 - Not Naan...but not bad...

Last night I was on and indian food kick. I'd found a recipe for Butter Chicken that resembled my favorite Indian Restaurant's Chicken Makani...and I found a recipe for Naan (with an option for Garlic Naan).

Ooooooo...I was SO excited.

And then reality hit.

The Butter Chicken didn't suck. I wouldn't throw it BACK atcha. I wouldn't grab a jar of pickle relish to eat with a spoon INSTEAD. That's really all I can say about it. Oh, I guess ONE other thing...my Indian restaurant REALLY has no cause for fear.

But the Naan. Well, for some reason I was thinking it was a quick bread...so I didn't start it until 5:00pm. As a yeast bread it was impossible to finish by dinner time. I did MAKE it to a degree...but it started getting late. You know, I had to cook the Butter Chicken, make the rice, clean the kitchen, goof off with girlies...throw things at Bubba. ANYWAY...so I got as far as punching down the dough...making it into golf ball sized rounds that I put on a cookie sheet and covered with a tea towel and stuck in my cool oven. 

In almost clarvoiant fashion, I also stuck a pink sticky note on the oven door (just in case I forgot to mess with it) to remind myself not to just crank up the broiler before checking that I'd removed the stuff. I am very wise to my own idiosyncracies...and frankly it only takes one tea towel flambe, one time, 22 years ago to remind this old girl how terribly forgetful she is. But I digress.

As is my common practice, I took the girls upstairs and completely forgot there was a lower floor to my house for the rest of the night.

I got up this morning and noticed that, indeed, I'd forgotten the Naan. Well, hmmm, they looked a little overblown...but not much worse for the wear. I pulled them out of the oven, pre-heated it to 350 F, extricated my tea towel from the couple of pieces that had grown sticky overnight. When the temperature indicator beeped, I popped them in the oven as-is and baked them for about 15 minutes...I know it was longer than 10 because I'd set the timer...but beyond that I'm not sure.

Anyway, they CERTAINLY stuck to my cookie sheet...that will be a soak job for sure...but I scraped the top part off and put a little butter and agave nectar on it and it was definately yummy.

Real Naan is usually a flat bread, you do the second rise, flatten it and cook it on the grill (or so saith my recipe)...but this was crunchy on the out side, puffy and soft on the inside...sort of like an english muffin but not quite so chewy...yummmy!

So here is what my Not Naan, looked like...

and here is a link to the recipe. I think I'm going to try it as ACTUAL Naan next time...but I also am TOTALLY going to try it as more of a biscuit again...um, adding in the greasing of the cookie sheet, of course.

See ya around...

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Nov. 16, 2008 - Breaking my own rules of anonymity...

But for a very good reason.

This post is going to all the mommas out there that have a fussy writer.

Bean was a miracle child. She could write her name when she was two and a half. She had a harder time reading...but writing she had down cold. Bear is a miracle child in many MANY ways...but writing is not one of them. Well, maybe she is...you decide.

She doesn't LIKE handwriting. As a matter of fact while TEACHING her to write I've discovered that the child CAN NOT draw a counter-clockwise circle to save her life. (to those of you not teaching children, this is a vital skill for all ENGLISH writing...try to write a lower case a, c, d, g, o, q in either manuscript or cursive and you'll see what I mean.)

And she squawks about it..."I HATE handwriting!" "I don't WANT to do handwriting"...blah blah blah.

Check this out...this child can write...obviously when SHE wants to, but still, the child can write and I certainly didn't teach her this...All I do is spell stuff "one at a time"...

I've actually known this about her for about a year. I never really taught her numbers either I just wrote them on the top of the page for her...and all of a sudden she could write them...

 This is August 2007...

This is September 2007...

This is June 2008...

And November 2008...

So even a child who can not write in lessons, might actually be able to write. Even a child who fights every opportunity in a certain subject, might still go on to learn said subject in spite of herself. Bottom line...even though I have a hard time TEACHING her to write...she's learning to write. Praise the Lord.

See ya around...

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Nov. 16, 2008 - When Momma is SICK, ain't NOBODY happy!!

I'm sick. It started Wednesday night...turned into a good old fashioned chicken soup cold...and the stupid thing won't leave.

So ANYWAY, I've not been feeling up to par this week and it TOTALLY shows in the pictures of my children. It's the weirdest thing too. You'd think they'd be happy that mom was letting them run nutty...watch t.v. ... eat more junk than usual. But NOT really... Here they are making pizza pretty much by themselves on Friday (day 2 of me being REALLY tired)...

Not a smile. I'd go so far as to say they were all rather stoic. What's with that...they got to make PIZZA for crying out loud. I swear to you, I was not shouting, "Ha SLAVES, get that cheese grated" or anything of the sort. It's possible I threated someone with gypsy selling if they didn't hurry...but it's a little hazy...still...they aren't even smiling with the pepperoni flinging.

And then there is THIS portion. We were studying Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci...so they made frescos...FRESCOS. Painting on plaster...what could be better. Terrible messy stuff...and then PAINT...I hate to paint nearish to meal time and this was AS I was making dinner...They are PAINTING just when they want to on a really cool surface...not one little crack in those faces....

Here are Bean and Monkey Face staying out of the way while Bear works on Math...listening to wonderful things of their own choosing on Bean's MP3 player...coloring, as per THEIR request...No Joy...(actually, after looking at the picture, Bean is doing spelling...but still)...

Well, here is a LITTLE joy...Monkey Face was VERY happy with her donkey and had to show her sisters. But doesn't that second one look like Bear is telling her, "Chin up baby-sister, as soon as those gypsies get here, we'll sell HER."

So just in case you are wondering if your feelings alter your home...here are some good examples of how they do. I'm a little sad that my kids weren't full of joy this week...stupid cold. Colds also APPARENTLY cause all photos to be grainy...ALL OF THEM. However, perhaps things are looking up...this was yesterday...at the very least I now have a very clean spot on the floor...

 

See ya around...

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Nov. 12, 2008 - This, That and Medieval Torture Devices....

Well we put our Medieval unit to bed about 2 weeks ago...and since then...hmmmmm...what have I been doing???

 I don't know. Nothing. Been Busy.

Actually none of those are EXACTLY true...but we haven't been doing anything interesting really...at least not photo worthy.

Let's see...okay there was Voting Day. Bubba stayed home so that I could go vote. I never manage to vote early...NEVER. Bubba usually does. I always want to, but then my flighty nature takes over and there is always something ELSE to do, until it's TIME TO VOTE. So anyway, during the primaries our voting place was VERY crowded. I didn't get there until about 6:45 pm after Bubba got home from work, and I was there until after 9 waiting in line. So I hadn't wanted that to happen again, so Bubba stayed with the girls and I went a-voting about 10 in the morning. There were EXACTLY 7 voters in the room. Pffffffft, I coulda taken the girls. Oh well, I took it as a blessing. I had Bubba all to myself all day, he had a day off AND I'd voted.

The next day was my birthday...WEEEE HAAAAW! Yes, indeed I'm another year older since you saw me last. But ANYWAY, I somehow managed to schedule a dentist appointment for both Bean and me ON my birthday. I really MUST be getting old. What kind of a person SCHEDULES a dentist appointment ON their birthday. The day AFTER, maybe, but ON?

My oral hygienist did remind me that at the very least I get to start my new year with very clean teeth. I was thankful for the sentiment, but held no guilt when later in the day I slathered those clean teeth with a Caramel Pecan Fudge Sundae from Braum's.

That sundae was only a possibility because Bear's soccer team had a little end of season celebration. It was such fun. We all went to Braum's and ate junk and visited. I had made a DVD for them all that had a simple slide show of pictures set to "Trashin' the Camp" from Disney's Tarzan...and one of the other parents had taken our team picture and gave those out. It was a pretty fun birthday all around.

I've often missed out on BIG birthday fun because I'm usually the one to make the fun...AND all of the rest of the family's birthdays are OVER by mid-June and I'm the sole end of the year standout. But luckily for me, the kid's sport's end of season parties have coincided with my birthday for the last few years, so I usually end up with an actual PARTY...I'm fairly impressed with my finagling.

So anyway...that's what I've been doing...schoolin' kids, eatin' sundaes, makin' videos, cleanin' various elements of my house, diggin' OUT the garden (so sad)... So I don't know. Nothing. Been Busy.

But I can't leave you with NOTHING. These pictures were taken in October at a little friend's birthday party. It was a dress up party and we had just purchased our costumes for the end of our Medieval unit (there will be MORE pictures of those later). The party was sort of a spa day for the little girls (9 and under), the big sisters (14 and 12) pretty much ran the show, doing make-up, painting nails...oh it was just fun...we moms threw in to help with foot massages...

We DID learn that those toe separators that come in the little spa kits are not really MEANT for 5 year olds, unless you are into torture devices...

Look at her face....

 Now look at her poor little toes...

That's what I call MEDIEVAL!!!

See ya around...

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Oct. 23, 2008 - The Garden...

Bubba and I couldn't really be called gardeners. Quite frankly, if it were completely up to Bubba, we'd have grass right up to the front door...he'd mow it once a week and not look at it again until the next time it needed to be mowed. I'm a wish-I-was-a gardener. I LOVE to read about them...visit them...look at them...PLANT them...but then I just sorta want them to grow and leave me alone and look pretty when I want to look at them.

But I WANT to be one. I WANT to have one. I sorta have this little dream in my head that we could use a garden to be more self-sufficient one day. To those of you who know Bubba and his aversion to things that are now growing or ever have been grown in or near the ground...STOP that giggling...this is MY fantasy...and you never know, we COULD save money growing green beens, snow peas and lettuce...My fantasy really DOESN'T include Bubba EVER eating eggplant, squash, beets or any type of green except iceberg, I promise. But I digress.

Anyway, for the last two years I've had a pretty good (if I do say so myself) little garden. Last year there was a little herb garden in the back under tree house part of the swing set and we had one 4' x 4' other little square foot garden of...well, can you guess??? That's right, green beans.

Also for the last about 5 years Bubba and I have been saving up for some outside stuff for the house...we wanted planter beds in the front...we still want a patio cover on the back and Bubba wants the sun-shade screens and I want honest to goodness outside funiture...heaven SAVE me from the sling back beach chairs that I keep buying.

This year, in spring, my dear sweet Bubba, the one who would rather MOW than bother, purchased for my pure joy, stone planter beds for the front of the house. They weren't much to look at in the beginning...I did take pictures of the yard all covered with stone and dust but I can't find it right now.

I REALLY should have taken these pictures about 2 weeks ago when the Cosmos weren't all gray and spent...still look at my glorious garden...

Here are some more pictures of those cosmos...every single one of them grown from cast off flower heads...Not thinking too clearly, I'd been dead-heading directly into the garden. It rained the entire time we were in Colorado seeing the new baby and when we got back over 40 new cosmos plants had grown. I only saved about 20 of them and of that 20 we lost a few to replanting...but MAN do they bloom. It's funny because the little potted plants that they came from really only had 2 or 3 flowers at a time. These plants from seed went CRAZY. At the height of their bloom, a couple weeks ago, I counted 13 on just ONE plant...Now they are a bit spent...we haven't been dead-heading and it's been dipping into the 40s at night, so the leaves have lost their light green...but they are still so pretty...

The extra blooms on flowers from seed seem to be a running theme in my garden this year because these two marigolds ALSO came from seeds. I swiped (with permission) a couple of dead flowers off my neighbor's marigolds (again, little piddly things) and look what they have wrought. I've personally never seen such a bushy marigold with so many blooms as this first one...the second one is smaller...we transplanted it when we transplanted the cosmos and it had a harder go of it...but it still is bigger again by half of the parent plants...

I also discovered that natural remedies work in the garden, too. When I got my planters I KNEW I wanted to grow roses...and not those overblown knock-out roses that everyone grows. Nope, I wanted real and true, cut-em-at-a-five-leaflet roses...more tea roses than hybrids, but if they had the right shape and smell I wasn't terribly picky.

The lady at Lowes practically CALLED me a fool and told me I'd better stock up on anti-fungals because once the summer hit I was going to have to dose them every week or so for black spot. "Hmmmm," said my California-city-girl self, "We shall see."

Well Ms. Lowes-lady was not entirely wrong. We did get black spot...and on my favorite peachy rose, too. But it didn't happen until the end of September. When I saw the black spot, I cut that sucker right down to the ground. I'd already been using Peppermint Castile soap and water mixed in a spray bottle for aphids...that works great. I didn't have any commercial anti-fungals but I did have Oil of Oregano in the house (great anti-fungal and all around big dog sickness buster in natural healthcare) so I put a dropperful into the half-full bottle of Soap/Water mix and sprayed everything down really well. And then I kept checking. I'd noticed a couple leaves that were infected on two of the other roses and had sprayed them too, but hadn't cut everything off of them. Anyway, here is the original rose. It is working beautifully on re-growth, no black spot to be seen...and there isn't any on any of the other roses anymore...no aphids either...I love it when I manage to do something that works...

And here are just some random shots around the garden...be warned...you might see a kid or two..(or ehem, three, if you are counting)

Anyway...so hmmm...guess I at least LOOK like a gardener this year...as long as you don't look at what became of LAST year's gardens...

Just SAD... See ya around...

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Oct. 17, 2008 - Interesting Verse

I thought this was a wonderful verse. And very apropos for my parenting of small children.

My words would be something along the line of, "NO, I do not WANT that polly pocket, I WANT you to get your naked self into the bathtub!" See ya around...

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Oct. 9, 2008 - Forts and Surries...

I LOVE not turning on the T.V. I LOVE telling my children, "NO, you cannot play on the computer." I LOVE when they are bored to offer them nothing but a quiet place to sit and think of something to do.

It produces this kind of stuff...here is their HOUSE/CASTLE...

And here is their carriage (I think it is more of a surrey, on account of the fringe on top, of course)

 

I think I'm going to ignore my children more often...

la la la la la la la-de-da-dah...when I take you out in my surrey...when I take you out in my surrey with the friiiiiinnnnnnge.on.top.

See ya around...

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Oct. 6, 2008 - Wasp Identity SOLVED...

So I hadn't even LOOKED UP that wasp that we found last week. Some homeschool mom I am. But I've been inventorying all my books for the last couple of weeks and came across my National Audubon Society Field Guide Stash (they are AWESOME for any of you interested in that sort of thing). So I started looking through the wasp section and sure enough...there it was orangey golden legs, golden body with the lower half of the abdomen a shiny black...Great Golden Digger Wasp. Here is a MUCH better shot than I got of it... Found here Found here

From 09.2008.Pics

And here is the one that I took...I wish that I'd taken some while it was in the jar so you could see the markings...but now you can compare side by side, maybe I'll get a chance to crop and enlarge this a little later, but for now...

From 09.2008.Pics

The weird thing is that these are usually farther north than Texas...many of them on the upper east coast. I know I'd never seen one and I'm one who would look. We've had a cicada killer wasp every single summer EXCEPT this summer. Sadly our new planters must have destroyed the nest and they haven't come back...those are fun to watch.

Found this picture of a cicada killer wasp here

From 09.2008.Pics

Now that I know what it is, I'm sad that I was so quick to get rid of it...sounds like they are the northern version of the cicada killer in their habits...but this one was MUCH smaller than the cicada killers we've had in the past...one year we had one that was EASILY over 2 inches long...the Great Golden Digger was maybe an inch...still big, but the big cicada killer looked like it could carry off the children.

 So there you go, your nature study moment...

See you around...

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Sep. 29, 2008 - Boxes, Baskets, Beauties and Bug Bottoms...

Yep, got 'em yesterday...so far all I've succeeded in doing is making a mess...But ah, the plans I have...

The weather has been so lovely we've had the windows open for days...I LOVE this time of year. The late night soccer games and glo stick fun and star gazing...and the all day open windows that mean that lessons can come in and go out at will. Spring and Autumn are my very favorite. Theirs, too... (Well, and Christmas/Birthdays of course.)

And here are the best pictures of the wasp through the microscope...Boy, oh BOY! It is hard to get a good shot of a couple day dead wasp under a microscope. There must be a trick to it...but I don't know it yet. Still, check out that stinger! Notice that there are no barbs on it, as there would be on a honey bee...so yep, this guy could sting over and over and over and...well you get it.

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Sep. 22, 2008 - Sehen Sie den Hut auf meinem Kopf? Es ist eine GLOCKE!

Which means, per my babblefish translation..."Do you see the hat on my head? It is a BELL." Chicken-the-bird has found her bell...she thinks it makes a fine hat...she even sleeps with it that way. Bubba and I think it makes her look a little German. If only she could speak, we would teach her the title of this post...but sadly, all she can do is whistle. I need to come up with a German song to teach her. Oh, my cousins residing it GERMANY??? Any suggestions?

On to other news...the littler girls are having a pretty good time with their preschool and kindergarten crafts...we'll have to make a few more of these because they are a hit...the one on the left is ROSE and the other is GEORGE. OH, the adventures that Rose and George have had. I must say that they've held up admirably over the last 5 days. Rose is a touched squished and you have to MAKE her close her mouth and George is good as new after the arm gluing incident. I found the craft (actually this and a ton more) at DLTK ... this is just one of the crafts on the "B" page. Fun FUN!!

We also had some excitement. As we were gardening we found this...

 

Here is a still shot...

It is a wasp of some sort. We captured it. Actually it was easier than it would seem to catch a wasp...but because it was on the ground and pretty intent on that hole, we just upended a jar over it. After the...uh...euthanization...every kid on the block got to see it under the microscope...I'll have to get a picture and show you it's eyes and it's stinger...amazing. And finally, the progress on my two rooms isn't NEARLY as much as I'd like...but there has been some. Here is the schoolroom...the books in the smaller shelf on the left have all been inventoried...the stuff on the right, and floor are still waiting to be inventoried. I did get most of the stuff out of my kitchen. The pink tabs are simply row and column references so I can put it into my inventory spread sheet. My cousin, Oddy, (Mr Dinosaur's wife see October 2007 ) is an organization guru along the lines of those people on Clean Sweep...oh how I wish she didn't live so far away. She just sent me pictures of a project in my uncle's house...and it made me a little jealous that they have that brain residing so close. Miss you, Odd.

And here is the playroom. The baskets STILL are not in. Actually, to be truthful, the inventory on line said that they were in for ONE day, but I couldn't GO that day, so I missed out. About that time I said, "FINE, FORGET IT" and went and picked up cardboard banker's boxes. They aren't permanent but at the very least we are making a touch of headway. I need to do most of it when the kids aren't looking though, because you would not believe how important odd little MacDonald's toys really ARE to the 5yo...especially if she can't remember getting them at MacDonald's. There is much more drama in the sorting than I expected.

We also have a TON of soccer pictures but you know how soccer is, a BUNCH of kids in one shot. And I don't have permission from all those kid's parents to post them. I'd rather be safe than sorry with other people's children. But, just so you know, Bubba, Beanie and Bear are having a BLAST...how's that for alliteration. Bubba is coaching, Beanie is "helping" and Bear is playing. AND Bear scored the first 5 goals of the season in our game on Saturday. She just loves it. You should see her grin as she runs in the masses...it makes me so happy.

(There I think I fixed the formatting...picasa has the ability to link to your album, which it already sort of does, all you have to do is click the picture...but the added link shows up at the bottom, skewing the formatting of everything else. Turn off the link and you can do more with the formatting. I learn sumpin' new everyday. HAZAAR!!)

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Sep. 11, 2008 - Too Busy to Blog

What a 3 weeks it's been... Remember this?

From August 2008

Well over the last couple of weeks we've gotten her fixed...now she looks like this...

From August 2008

and this

From August 2008

But I'm not going to show you what my kitchen looked like, because, well, it was unseemly. While that was going on we decided to reorganize the play room and the school room...but we don't have the proper baskets yet so even with the new shelves the playroom STILL looks like this...

From 09.2008.Pics

And because he's been so busy, Bubba hasn't been able to finish my new shelf in the school room...so it looks like this...

From 09.2008.Pics

and this

From 09.2008.Pics

And so other than wanting to live in my refridgerator which is apparently the only organized place in the house...I'm a little discombobulated. I can't wait to get it all done.

 Still, we have had the opportunity for a little fun.

From 09.2008.Pics

From 09.2008.Pics

 

And of course, life isn't really worth the living without a little bit of science...(thank heaven for other people who have time to blog, eh? "Happy Things" )

From 09.2008.Pics

From 09.2008.Pics

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Sep. 1, 2008 - Dedicated to my darling 5 year old...

Well, it isn't her birthday and we aren't celebrating anything here. But...this has been a REALLY tough week on Bear. In light of her burning desire to interrupt, burst into tears, yell and have her way...and my absolute conviction that she SHOULD NOT EVER hit, smack, pinch, grab, toss, poke or otherwise abuse, accost, annoy, assail, attack, bother, disturb, encroach, harass, harm, interfere, misuse, tease, torment, trouble, or vex ANYONE...not to be limited to her sisters and HER MOTHER...I give you ODE TO BEAR. May it dampen my yearning to seek out Gypsies who may desire a sparkly haired 5 year old for their own purposes.

 

 

 

THERE! Now I feel much better. I started writing this a few days ago...thinking that I needed a shot of cuteness to help with the stress level. What I actually needed was the time to remember. To cherish the adorable, vivacious, sarcastic, hilarious and wonderful little girl that Bear is.

For years, when I've been overwhelmed, I've written an "I love you because" list. This list comes into play whenever I'm frustrated in a relationship, ANY relationship. I sit down with a pad of paper and write down 5 things I like about the person. It usually starts with silly things, "I like your car," for instance. But, in time, when I can refocus on the things that I like/love in a person, the negative nonsense falls away and I'm left realizing we ALL have our warts, but they don't define us.

So here it is, my "I Love you Because" Ode to Bear. The tireless, energetic, precocious, sparkling JOY of my life. The pictures I've taken over the years only reflect who she is. I'm thankful that I've been right here, looking not at her reflection, but at the real her, with all her many facets. And I'm thankful to the Lord that I get to be the mother who ushers her through THIS and many other difficult times in her life. I pray that I always remember that I'm simply here to round off her edges, never to change her brilliance.

Besides, if I'm ever in a less philosophic mood, this would be a great marketing tool to send to those gypsies!

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Jul. 29, 2008 - Didja ever wonder what kisses were for???

 

Now you know.

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Jul. 25, 2008 - Sometimes they are just fun to look at...

Sometimes, when they are quiet, I find pure joy in just looking at them.  Seeing the soft, slightly fuzzy cheeks.  Marveling at the shiny curls.  Smelling the clean hair.  I pray I never forget these days.

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Jul. 24, 2008 - Tough Day at the Library

We had a bunch to do yesterday...Lots of odd chores...Swim Team in the morning...and then a major library run.  Now it would seem that a day in the library would be a lovely thing, right?  Well, yes and no.

See first we had to go home, gather all the books (we never have less than 50), decide what HAS to go back today, what we want to keep, what we've already read even if it's not due, separate the piles into "stuff to go BACK" to Library A, "stuff to RE-check out" at Library A, "stuff to go BACK" to Library B and "stuff to RE-check out" at Library B.  Then we have to choose who is having which color library bag (we use reusable grocery bags), gather those up, make sure every one has water for the car, get buckled and go...well get buckled and realize someone has to use the facilities...AND then GO!!

At Library A...we have to deal with snarky librarians who A.) feel that we shouldn't be allowed to check out a book more than once (???HUH???), and B.) Don't feel that it's THEIR job to check the book back in so that it can be checked out again...said librarian WOULD RATHER that we checked the books in, put in a request for them and came BACK again...(um, I live approximately 30 minutes away, my thoughts are "Sure, no problem, sweetie, I completely understand that you would rather me drive away AND drive back so that you don't have to CHANGE SCREENS on your computer"...okay really thought, "GET A GRIP"). 

Anyhoo, during THIS lovely transaction, the girlies were checking out a COOL fish tank (thankfully) and so were none the wiser.  I DID get to recheck my library books and I DID make her go get my holds for me in the other room. After which I went to look at the fish with the girls.  Bean, understandably, got a touch bored with the fish and asked if she could walk into the children's department that shared a wall with the tank...basically it was on the other side and I'd be able to see her THROUGH the fish tank.  I said, "Sure, no problem"...off she went.  So we stood there for 5 minutes or so, checking out the wonders that a wall-sized fish tank hold for small children.  I decided it was time to go...waved to Bean and started to head out.  She came along at first, BUT THEN, Bear had another question or two and Bean thought she'd head back.  Well, I ANSWERED the question, grabbed Monkey Face's hand and said, "Let's go"...and we went.

This is the part that gets a little fuzzy.  I counted heads...walked away from the fishtank...then outside the doors to the little "friends of the library" shelves in the hallway outside the library, but still in the building. I counted heads again.  I told them I was going to see if there was anything of interest and turned to ask  Bean to hold hands with Monkey Face...looked again...spun in a circle like I was chasing my tail...she was nowhere.  So I dropped EVERYTHIHNG (library bags, books) grabbed the two I HAD and raced back inside...as she was RACING out.  Bless her little heart, she had been feeling SO independant and then well, not so much.

I discovered as we turned BACK around, all three children firmly IN HAND, that there HAD been another kid sort of WITH me...but it was just a little girl that was the same approximate size as Beanie.  At least I felt better that I wasn't losing my mind and technically we didn't LEAVE her...had she LOOKED out the door she could have seen me, but you know that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you think all is well and then realize that it's not...well she is still stickin' close to me today.  S'okay, with me, my heart dropped a little, too.

Now that we were all together, I was able to gander through the shelves...and I did find a little gold...Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent by Bill Peet (we love Bill Peet) in hard back and My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara for a quarter each.  WOO HOO.  And for just a little more icing on that cake, I found out that my library is having it's BIG sale in a week or so...WOO HOO...I LOVE BOOKS!  But I REALLY love CHEAP books.

Then off to Library B...where things went more smoothly with the staff, but where Bear decided that she had had ENOUGH and THEN decided that completely obnoxious was a personality she would try.  When I said, "Okay, no books, we're going home", she melted down.  Thankfully, I'd reserved some Strawberry Shortcake books for Monkey Face, so I didn't lose her, too. 

But I've learned my lesson...this is what happens when you do a BIG library trip after lunch and it crosses that 1:00 pm hour.  Now quiet time is NOT until 2:00 pm here...but apparently 1:00 has it's own special KIND of magic for little girls.  Bean was just glad that they FINALLY fell asleep. :D

See ya around...

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