Another Great Concert

We saw Sara Hickman do one of her kid shows tonight. She was incredible as usual.
We love Sara!

Great Concert

I saw Dwight Yoakam in concert about a hundred years ago (hardly, it was really about 15 to 17 years ago). He was Fantastic!

Dwight Yoakam   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

Onions

I can't type the word onion without mentally saying the word the way that the Cajun Chef used to say it (3:20 in the video).
I've got a LOT of onions since they're in season and I LOVE fresh onions.
Ree (Pioneer Woman) has what looks like an awesome recipe for onion strings so I think I'll make some of those this week, maybe tomorrow or Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday are already full for dinner (Nutty Brown Cafe and Pot Luck at church) so it can't be either of those nights. I'll have to go buy some oil since I don't keep that much on hand usually.
I'll let you know how they turned out.

Ikea

Mentally gearing up for the trip to Ikea that we need to take in the next 2 weeks. We know what we need, it's just the ordeal of the whole family driving all the way to Georgetown in the Big Blue Van just to SHOP! Well, it's not REALLY shopping since we already know what we're getting and we know what aisles they are in. It's still at least a 3 hour chunk taken out of the day.

busy 3 days!

Friday - 10 am knitting circle, noon test day, 2 pm get ready for party, 3:00 leave for party 25 miles out in the country, 3:30 get to party, 4 pm decide to stay at party instead of picking up Giselle at the end of the party at 6 pm, 6:55 leave the party, 7:35 get to Brownie troop meeting already in progress, 8:30 leave meeting and get dinner, 9 pm showers, 9:30 bed.

Saturday - up at 7:15 am, 8 am leave for The Market, 8:15 exactly on time for the market set-up, 11:30 am get rain poured down on at The Market, 12:15 leave Market, 12:20 get to Target but get kids into dry clothes in the car first, 1:30 leave Target, 2:30 wrap presents and make cards, 3 pm Giselle goes next door for a birthday party but Paul's asleep taking a much-needed nap, 3:30 Giselle comes home to get some Pokemon cards to trade at the party, 4 pm Joe comes home and finds that the dog has escaped and pooped in 2 bedrooms, 4:25 I finish cleaning the carpets, 4:30 Paul wakes up in time to go to the party for the last 30 min, 5:15 home from the party, TV, screaming fits about cleaning the playroom, 7:30 pm dinner, 8 pm bed.

Sunday - 8:30 am water balloons in the backyard, 9:15 scrambled eggs, 9:30 get ready for church, 10 am exactly on time for church, 11:15 am home from church, TV, bedroom cleaning, laundry, leave at 1 pm for play that 6 yr old friend has the lead roll in, 1:20 eat lunch at Taco Bell before play, 1:45 pm leave for play, 1:50 pm get to play, 2:10 pm play starts, 3 pm play over, 3:05 everyone heads next door to play in fountain play scape, 4:30 pm walk over to custard stand to get root beer floats, 5:15 get back to car and head home, 5:35 back home, TV, 7:30 pm dinner, 8 pm bed, 8:05 Thomas comes over, 9 pm kids go to bed for real.

Real Simple Magazine Quote of the Day

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony."
—Thomas Merton

Real Simple Magazine Quote of the Day

"A new dress doesn't get you anywhere; it's the life you're living in the dress, and the sort of life you had lived before, and what you will do in it later."
—Diana Vreeland

smells

While my hands smell like the basil and cilantro that I just chopped up for freezing to be used at a later date, the trashcan outside and the area around it smells like rotting flesh.
Just 3 more days until trash day!

Found: 21" Coral Snake

This guy was killed in our backyard on Wed May 6 at 7:45 pm. This picture is of him dead at the bottom of our small-sized city trash can. His tail continued to whip around for a good hour after he was killed!

Red against Yellow: kill a fellow
Red against Black: venom lack
Don't bother memorizing the rhyme, just stay away from all bright-colored snakes!



TEXAS CORAL SNAKE, Micrurus fulvius tener
This snake has red, yellow, and black bands encircling the body, with the red touching the yellow. It is a slender snake averaging 2 feet in length. These snakes feed mainly upon other snakes and sometimes lizards, so they are attracted to yards landscaped with timbers or flagstones, since that tends to attract the other smaller snakes on which they can feed. In other parts of Texas, there are found several other snakes which mimic the coral snake's colors, but these snakes are not common to this area. In Austin, if it looks like a coral snake, it probably is one, as they are somewhat common to this area.
Though locally common in suburban neighborhoods throughout all of the state but far West Texas, M. fulvius is so secretive and nonaggressive toward human beings that only those who handle the snake are often bitten. Although venomous, these snakes have a hard time injecting venom into a human because of their small head and their short, fixed fangs. The rigid fangs are less than one-eighth inch in length and are unlikely to penetrate shoes or even most clothing, although corals can pierce a pinch of skin anywhere on the body. Bites usually occur only on the hand on or between the fingers. They are usually encountered by people gardening or weeding. Wearing thick gloves is the safest way to avoid problems with the coral snake while gardening. Snakes do not prey on humans and they will not chase you, in fact they usually retreat or escape if given the opportunity. The danger comes when they are either surprised or cornered. If molested, the coral snake is a quite determined biter that flips its head from side to side and snaps sharply. Do not play around with a dead snake, they have been known to bite and envenomate.
Coral snake venom is largely composed of neurotoxically destructive peptides and is, therefore, more deadly than the venom of any other North American reptile. A lethal dose for an adult human being is as small as five to ten milligrams, dry weight-several times more virulent than the venom of the western diamondback rattler (see RATTLESNAKES). Since its toxic peptides spread rapidly through the blood stream, the application of a tourniquet and immediate hospital administration of antivenin are probably appropriate in cases of severe poisoning. Although intense pain usually accompanies a bite, heavy envenomation is often difficult to determine because the central nervous system may not manifest symptoms for several hours. No deaths related to coral snake bites have been reported in the United States since coral snake antivenom became available. Before that time, the estimated case-fatality rate was 10%, and the cause of death was respiratory or cardiovascular failure. Patients who survive the bite may require respiratory support for up to a week and may suffer persistent weakness for weeks to months.

too much caffeine

Once again, I drank too much of Chuck and Billie's iced tea and lemonade! Thankfully many of my facebook friends are in later time zones so I still have someone to hang out with instead of working on my knitting. Oh, there's a message from Julie, gotta run!

success

After a 40 mile round trip, we have the 'required' pair of Capezio tights for tomorrow night's dress rehearsal and Friday's performance.

Card Making

Check out the beautiful Mother's Day card I made for my mom. Giselle and I are taking a card making class at church and we had so much fun last night learning how to make collage cards! Of course the first one I made had to be for my mom!

Cinco De Mayo

Oaxacan tamales for dinner with some Corona. Maybe some tacos for the kids. The perfect menu for celebrating Cinco De Mayo with some friends. That's what we're doing and that's what we're having!

Monster

My neighbor's kid is making a movie. Here's the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUkmS6EHy7w

Field Trip

Homeschool Field Trip Co-Op event at our nearest Krispy Kreme on Tuesday morning!!!!
Time to make the donuts! Oops, that was part of the ad for Dunkin Donuts not KK.
Hopefully this will qualify as a birthday trip for a certain person in the household.

Latest knitting project - Trinity Stitch

Here's the knitting project I'm working on currently, it's a throw-pillow cover.

I'm using this fairly cool acrylic yarn that's 20% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. It's really soft, won't be itchy to lay against on the sofa, and it's washable.

The Trinity Stitch

Works on multiples of 4 stitches.
Row 1 (right side): Purl.
Row 2: Knit 1, *(Knit 1, purl 1, knit 1) all in the same stitch, purl 3 together. Repeat from * across. Knit 1 for last stitch in row.
Row 3: Purl.
Row 4: Knit 1, *Purl 3 together, (knit 1, purl 1, knit 1) all in the same stitch. Repeat from * across. Knit 1 for last stitch in row.
Repeat these four rows for pattern

IMPORTANT NOTE: Many of the instructions that you find on the web for this pattern omit the knit stitch at the beginning and end of the pattern rows. Omitting the knit stitches makes the edges 'wobbly' instead of nice and straight if you are JUST doing the trinity stitch for the entire project.

This pillow cover calls for a cast-on of 82 stitches for a 14 inch pillow.

Mexican Import

The climax of the smoke from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America is during the next 2 weeks. The daily particulate level is in caution every day but it sure feels higher. If the rains keep up down there it may not be so bad for much longer. This is from TCEQ's site "Long range forecasts indicate continued above normal rainfall over much of the smoke source area, which could help to keep smoke levels below normal for what is normally the peak of the smoke season the next two weeks." Our headaches around here would certainly be happier if the levels dropped.
Oak and grass pollen is low but mold is creeping upward from medium levels; the mold is the one contributing to the headaches.

GREAT states game

This is a WONDERFUL US geography game!
http://jimspages.com/States.htm

Sale!!!

I get a lot of workbooks and ebooks from this company. I hope that you can benefit from this sale as much as I will.


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Is factory farming the cause of latest swine flu?

I believe there's a strong connection!