Feels Like The First Time

The other week we made a family trip to the other side of the planet and went to IKEA up in Georgetown. Joe's been several times already but this was the first time for the kids and for me. We were there to get furniture for Giselle's room to finish it off for her to be able to finally move in there. I had carefully gone through the catalogue several times and picked out what we wanted. That morning during school I went online and found out exactly where in the 'warehouse' we'd find what we were going to buy and how many they had in stock. No shopping for us - a quick walk through the showroom, a quick meal at the cafeteria, quick pickup in the warehouse and out of there in just 1 hour and 10 minutes.


We got these two Aneboda dressers...

and this Billy bookcase.

Here she is asleep in her pink and purple paradise the day after a sleepover where she stayed up too late.

walk a mile in my shoes

Actually not a mile, only a quarter of a mile. And Paul wasn't wearing my shoes, he was getting a piggyback ride. Our church has moved it's Wednesday night dinners to a local park for the summer and each week we're walking the 1 mile trail together as a group. Paul did half the walk with one of the Pastors, the 3rd quarter next to me and the last quarter mile on my back. Giselle chatted with a friend the whole walk. A fun time was had by everyone there and everyone is looking forward to going again next week and the week after and the week after and so on.

Day 3

Day 3 of swim lessons for Mr Paul this morning.

Craig Ferguson

Yet another person from the United Kingdom that we find highly amusing - Craig Ferguson. We're now TiVo-ing the Late Late Show. Conan stinks but evidently Joe and I are the only ones in the US that think so. Otherwise he wouldn't have been given Johnny Carson's / Jay Leno's old job at the Tonight Show.

clothes

Wondering if your little girl's clothes, or even your own clothes, would be considered inappropriate to the rest of society? Then take these 6 "Truth or Bare" tests to find out http://www.secretkeepergirl.com/Truth_or_Bare.aspx


My personal jury is still out regarding swim suits - I LOVE being tan and I prefer to wear suits that maximize my ability to get a full tan. BUT I'm 43 and don't have the body of a 27 yr old so I don't wear suits designed for a 27 yr old. I know that I shouldn't put myself out there in my bikini but I love my tan!

The same goes for Giselle, I don't see her bikinis as being sexual and I try to find affordable modest styles. But if I feel that a shirt that shows her belly is inappropriate then why don't I feel that a bikini showing her belly is inappropriate?

But it's at the pool/beach/backyard so it's different. But is it? Time to reevaluate more of my opinions.

knitting follow-up

I finished the pillow cover a few weeks ago. I've since started on another one to match it but I'm doing some color embellishing on this one. I hit a wall about 4 inches into the 2nd cover so I took a break and knitted a shawl for Giselle's animal friends. After that I was more enthused about working on cover 2 and I've got about 8 inches knitted on it so far. If I wasn't trying so hard to blow through all of my old unread issues of Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Everyday Food, Cooks Country, Cooks Illustrated, Texas Gardener, New Beginnings and Leaven I'd be further along.

A Texas Spiny Lizard.

They are super common all over Central Texas and at our house there's no exception. This one was caught laying some eggs in a hole in the ground a few weeks ago. Since it was 3 boys that saw the hole with the eggs, I felt it best if I took some of the eggs and put them in a terrarium inside for safe keeping. The eggs inside have never hatched (yet?). The outside hole was covered up by the boys and has never been found again.
I wonder if these guys eat baby coral snakes or if coral snakes eat these guys?

sleepovers

3 sleepovers in 8 days - one in, one out, one in - one tired little girl.

Recital

Last month Giselle had her second ballet recital. Four months of class time put into 4 minutes of recital time. No parents are happy about this. Every dance studio does the same thing. One of Giselle's many best friends is going to the same place again next year so we will too.

Homeschooled Teen Sails The World Solo

Zac Sunderland is a homeschool kid from California who is just about to finish (at the end of this month if all goes well) circumnavigating the globe alone in a 36 foot sail boat. You can read his story here http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=4233223 and you can follow his journey at www.zacsunderland.com .
I'm sure that my sister Angie would have reacted the same way as Zac's parents if Nick or Melinda had wanted to do a trip like this as their early years were not unlike Zac's.

1 week ago

These are Giselle's birthday roses that we got while shopping at Sam's Club on Thursday.

The 'entrance' to the party!

This is the awesome Pokeball pinata that we made. It was originally going to be filled with 800 Pokemon cards but some looser on eBay refused to complete a sale with me so I filled it with gum, lolly pops, gummy Life Savers and a few of our foreign Pokemon Cards.

The gift table.

The god's-eye making station using acrylic rainbow colored yarn and 12-inch wooden dowels that I had glued together into crosses the night before.

Giselle making one of the final swings at the pinata.

The pinata afterwards.

The trip home for some of the 15 kids at the party.

Mothers Day

Giselle had to sing at church on Mother's day so there was no chance for her to make me breakfast which is what she wanted to do. After church we hopped into the Caddy and headed out to Nutty Brown Cafe for brunch. NICE brunch! I can't remember what we did for dinner but the day was excellent!

maybe

I might post tomorrow after knitting, during test time, before going to The Park. It's been a busy few weeks and I've not had the mental ability to write out any blog posts.
I've got a ton of magazines to go through and pull out the articles and recipes that I want to keep - the magazine bin is stuffed - I got through 2 issues of Martha Stewart Living yesterday and another one today. Maybe another tomorrow and the rest this weekend. Then on Monday I'll be able to start on the stack of Real Simple magazines.
Knitting, I've started on the new pillow cover but got burnt out this last week and knit a shawl for Giselle's dolls instead.
I've gotta go to bed before that 2nd wind kicks in!
See Ya!

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.


You can't afford to miss CurrClick's Spring Back from the Recession Sale!
Now - May 15th Discounts up to 75% OFF! 40 participating publishers
Click here for a list of fantastic, recession-busting spring discounts on hundreds of great homeschool books and resources: http://www.currclick.com
CurrClick recognizes that times are difficult for a lot of people. Homeschool families, often on a single income, are especially vulnerable during this time. That's why this spring, together with our publishers, we have done our very best to bring you some of the biggest sales and discounts we have ever been able to offer. Because many of our publishers are homeschool families themselves, we sincerely hope that this sale will be a mutual blessing for customers and publishers alike.

Is factory farming the cause of latest swine flu?

I believe there's a strong connection!

It must be summer because I'm drinking more water

I drink water based on my thirst. I live in Texas where it's hot and dry in the summer and cool and dry in the winter. In winter I drink 2 to 3 to 4 liters of water daily. In the summer I drink upwards of 6 liters daily. The only times I ever get swollen feet or get a headache or get constipated is when I haven't drank enough water to cleanse my system of all the daily toxins that my body creates. My daily minimum is 2 liters, any less than that and the above symptoms can appear.

http://www.naturalnews.com/026129.html
Hydration is Vital for Optimum Health Sunday, April 26, 2009 by: Sheryl Walters, citizen journalist

(NaturalNews) The human body is made up primarily of water. In fact, approximately 75 percent of your body is water and 25 percent is solid matter. Water is essential for absorbing nutrients, eliminating waste, cellular activity and all of the actions necessary for life. Drinking enough water is vital for preventing disease and enjoying a sense of wellbeing.
Without water, our bodies are unable to remove environmental toxins that most of us are exposed to daily. Generally speaking, people who suffer from chronic diseases are seriously dehydrated since the skin, stomach, liver, kidney, heart and brain rely on proper water intake. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, cancer, Alzheimer`s, and many other diseases are often preceded by many years of not enough water. Many illnesses could be significantly improved by simply giving the body sufficient amounts of water so that toxins and waste can be removed.
When dehydrated, the body is seriously stressed, just as it would be if you were in a drought. This creates a fight or flight situation, meaning that stress chemicals are released to deal with the situation. When these chemicals are continually released over long periods of time, chronic disease is inevitable.
Unfortunately in modern society, most people reach for black tea, coffee, soda and alcohol instead of pure water when thirsty. While these beverages contain water, they are actually dehydrating. When these are consumed, the body requires even more water. Over consumption of caffeine, alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners, e-numbers and other chemicals are stressful for the body, leading to suboptimal health. It is ironic that in our society where we have access to so much, most people`s bodies are functioning as if there is a famine due to lack of water as well as lack of nutrients from healthy food.
Dehydrating drinks create a strong diuretic effect, which means that the kidneys are overworked. They create imbalances in blood sugar levels, which can lead to tiredness and even diabetes, although they seem to boost energy levels in the short term. Chemicals and sugar can even lead to Attention Deficit Disorder, foggy brain and unclear thinking. Large quantities of water are needed to process these drinks.
Instead of addressing the underlying problem of dehydration, most people turn to pharmaceutical drugs to deal with their ill health. Pain killers and medications compound the problem since they also contain chemicals that the body has to deal with, leading to even more dehydration and potentially health compromising side effects. By simply giving your body the important nutrient of water, you are preventing disease with very little effort.
Just because you don`t feel thirsty, does not mean that you are not in severe need of water. This is because when the body believes that there is not enough water, it will turn off its thirst reaction. But don`t be fooled, when there is not enough water and the thirst signal is turned off, the body is in emergency mode. You may begin to hold on to water in your legs, feet, arms and face. There may be a decrease in urination, keeping the body from excreting potentially harmful waste. You may notice that if you drink plenty of water for several weeks, your thirst signal returns and communicates your need for this vital nutrient once again.
A common excuse for not drinking more water is fear of having to go to the toilet too often. When the body is severely dehydrated for a long period of time, it loses its ability to use the water efficiently. Therefore, it will simply get rid of the water because it does not know what to do with it. After some time, it will become balanced and the constant need to urinate will disappear.
Approximately 2 liters of water per day is needed to be fully hydrated. Pure, filtered water is best, but teas such as mint or chamomile can also be counted as long as some pure water is consumed daily. When alcohol, caffeine, fizzy drinks are consumed, as well as exposure to unnatural food, drugs, cigarettes, environmental toxins and emotional stress, even more water is required for balance.
Substituting coffee with green tea or fizzy drinks with pure, fresh fruit and vegetable juices is a great place to begin. If you enjoy drinking alcohol, remember to drink one pint of pure water for every glass of wine or pint of beer. You will drink less, reduce your risk of a hangover and your body will thank you.
Tap water often contains chemicals, so buying a water filter is a good way to filter out toxins.
Remember that your body depends on pure water. Without it, you are at risk for less than optimum health, so give your body the most fundamental nutrient of pure water that it deserves.
http://www.home-water-purifiers-and...
Your Body`s Many Cries for Water by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj
http://www.watercure.com/

check YOUR hearing loss

http://audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php
http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/
These two sites are super cool for checking how much hearing you've lost from all of those loud concerts and 'cranking up the volume' on the headphones and jamming out in your car. It's added up and you're deafer than you thought! Check both ears - one may hear better than the other. BTW, this is the same test that they give kids in school each year to check their hearing - adults can usually only hear up to 15 kHz but kids can usually hear up to 20 kHz or higher.

Growing a nation of malnourished fat people

Just 3% of children's meals purchased at fast food restaurants meet current USDA dietary guidelines. Twenty-five percent of children 4-8 years old consume fast food on a daily basis.
Source: Sustainable Food News, December 26, 2009

Great Big Giant Buffalo

Up close and personal with a 4 year-old North American Bison

Sunday

This evening we got in touch with our inner Mormons.
In case Austin gets 'shut down' for the Swine Flu, Joe had me go shopping this evening and now it feels like we've got a year's worth of food put away. It doesn't seem merely coincidental that I've been getting the level of food down in the freezer over the past month and can now accommodate the extra food I purchased today.

summer

I can tell that summer is here - the coconut oil that I store in the kitchen cabinet has gone all liquid from solid like it is in the winter when the house is cooler.
French toast for breakfast this morning - hangover cure for the kids after the packed day we had yesterday.
Church in an hour.

Eeyore's Birthday Party

http://www.eeyores.com/
So much fun this year! Paul didn't remember going before, even though this was his 5th time attending.
We rushed home from The Farmers Market early, changed our clothes and headed downtown for the shuttle parking lot. Once we got to the actual party at 2, first off we had to get our faces painted, all 3 of us. Then Paul entered one of the sack races. Then we went to the Kids' Activity Section where we played games and made God's Eyes. Then we walked around, ate some snow cones, walked around some, drank some beer, walked around some, pet some horses, did some hula-hooping, did some nerf-sword fighting, did some May-Poleing, did some walking around, did some drumming in a giant-sized group of drummers, walked around some, pet a donkey named Eeyore, played on the playscape, danced to some bands, ate some ice cream, got some giant tissue-paper flowers, rode the shuttle back to our car at 5:45 and started looking forward to next year!
It was Awesome!

Oh Yeah!

Five
Try it, you'll love it.
There's only five simple ingredients in the new Haagen-Dazs ice creams: Milk, Cream, Sugar, Eggs, and flavor. Just like I make it at home!
The Mint was good.
The Ginger is spectacular!
Bought it but haven't tried the Coffee yet.

Coincidence?

Here's the quote of the day that Real Simple Magazine sent out this morning:
"The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art."
―Leonardo da Vinci

And guess what I had today for the very first time (scheduled without prior knowledge of what the quote of the day was going to be for today)
I had my first pedicure!

Thank you Cea and Charlie and Thomas and Daniel and Michael! It was great! I've even scheduled another one for 2 months from now.

I'm liking this man more and more

Here's the entire speech from Governor Perry that I quoted from last week; which, by the way, was Texas Homeschool week.

Another one bites the dust

3 teeth in one month; that's how many Paul has lost since March 13. Can you believe that Giselle is upset that he's loosing his teeth earlier and quicker than she did? Doesn't matter that she's already lost the ones that he's loosing now. This one came out while he was eating a hot dog octopus at dinner - 10 seconds after he complained that his tooth hurt too badly to eat.

After brushing their teeth before bed tonight, they walked outside with their remaining Easter candy and put it all in the big trash can for the garbage men to pick up tomorrow morning. While Joe and I are glad that's the end of candy around here until Halloween, the kids were a bit sad. Until I reminded them that they can still have plenty of popsicles and fruit roll ups and other sweet things, just no more candy. Then they were OK again.

I've got laundry to do and Pirates to fight, gotta run!

Easter - happy to you!

Woke up at 6 am to close the windows since it was starting to rain and we prefer the rain to stay outside of the house.
Got up at 7:15 to make breakfast and monitor candy intake.
At church at 8:15 to prepare for choir at the 8:45 service.
Poured down rain during the church service (indoors) and caused us all to feel like school kids when Pastor Jim said to us all "Pay no attention to what's going on outside and pay attention to what's going on in here!"
Hung out at home while the rain dried up.
Went to an Easter egg hunt at the Wildflower Center, ate lunch there too - EXCELLENT food. I got the black bean soup and it was as good as mine, especially when I added the red onions from Paul's garden salad (which he loved). Giselle enjoyed her tuna salad on a croissant so much that she didn't offer us ANY of it; although she was too full to finish her pasta salad. Got a really cool new wind chime at the gift shop. Once Scott is done painting the house I'll hang it up.
Started cooking dinner while we watched Star Wars The Clone Wars the movie.
Thomas came over and we ate dinner - roast pork with carrots & onions, green beans, butter-sauteed mushrooms & onions with sour cream, and jumbleberry crunch pie for dessert.
After dinner we all went for an hour-long cruise in the 65 Caddy.
Put all the dishes in the dishwasher, cut up the veal liver I got at The Market (Claudia is big on liver lately so I'm going to give it a try with my crew), bagged up the frozen chicken for the dog, and started rendering the fat from the roast.
And here I am. Forgot to start the laundry and everyone has gone to bed so I can't get the dirty clothes out of the bedrooms. I'll have to do it first thing in the morning before the new online science class starts.

Lies, I tell you, all lies

Renovation, my ***! I lived in this house when it was the original built in 1954 house - all 800 sq ft, 2 bd, 1 bath, carport, no central air or HEAT, real hardwood paneling in the giant kitchen and 2nd bedroom and no back porch of it. THIS house was built in 2008. In the GoogleMaps picture in the ad you can see the original house!
http://www.trulia.com/property/1076517873-608-E-48th-St-Austin-TX

There's a virtual tour on this site
http://www.mlsfinder.com/tx_actris/avenueone/index.cfm?action=listing_detail&property_id=6573519

This is NOT a renovation, this is a 100% rebuild from the foundation on up!

You know what, there WAS central heat - it was one of those giant door-sized units that fit in the wall between the living room and the hallway. It was a giant hazard so we never used it for fear that the house would burn down. Oh, and it sucked all the remaining moisture out of air that was already at 20% humidity in the winter.

smoking update

Not only is the smoke from Mexico and Central America, but it's also from Pioneer Woman's ranch in Oklahoma and from wildfires in North Texas. TCEQ updated today's information to read:
Friday 4/10/09 Smoke from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America should continue, and this may raise fine particulate to "Moderate" levels in south and southeast Texas. Residual smoke from wild fires in north central Texas could cause fine particulate to reach "Moderate" levels in parts of central and east Texas. Ozone may reach "Moderate" levels or higher in the Houston area today if a cold front slows down and doesn't move through the area this morning. Elsewhere, moderate winds and low background levels should help to keep air quality in the "Good" range over most of the state.

Way to go Governor Perry!

This is why homeschooling (and living) in Texas is so awesome!!

Gov. Rick Perry at a rally Tuesday in front of the Capitol organized by the Texas Home School Coalition.
"I really do understand public education may not be the best choice for every family," Perry told a crowd of more than 200. "I believe government regulation needs to stop at your front door."

'Mexico's burning' just doesn't have the same ring

The Clash - London's Calling

There's some prescribed burning going on south of Austin - some of it locally and the rest down in Mexico. My house smells like a chiminea and we like it!

From TCEQ : Friday 4/10/09 Moderate winds and low background levels should help to keep air quality in the "Good" range over most of the state. Light amounts of smoke from agricultural burning in Mexico and Central America should continue in far South Texas and could possibly raise fine particulate to "Moderate" levels.


The southern sky is all grey/green from smoke and the smell of burning leaves is very 'fall' smelling. I'm thinking that smoke levels are more like moderate rather than light.










and here's another 2 great Clash songs Train In Vain live and Lost In The Supermarket

Today's Daily Thought from Real Simple magazine

There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings.
―Hodding Carter (Borrowed from the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher.)

Dinner Tonight

Knowing that we would be getting home late from HEB this evening I picked up dinner as we left the produce section and headed towards the checkout lanes. So tonight for dinner the kids and I had reverse-wrapped California Rolls w/ salmon roe, Prosciutto wrapped in basil and mozzarella, and large-sized salmon caviar. Joe had a bowl of Raisin Bran with milk.
Oh, I just now realized that I had hard-boiled eggs in the fridge that I should have served with the caviar. Oh well, next time I'll remember.

Now to hide it to prevent everyone from snacking on the Easter candy that I bought today.

not here

We've been doing a lot of knitting and playing outside in the sunshine and going to carnivals and riding bikes. Not too much time for blogging.

Real Simple Daily Quote

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
―Joseph Campbell

Austin Dance Instruction - teaching to the test.

Is it too much to ask to find a dance class that DOESN'T spend the last 4 MONTHS of the class season preparing for the end of season recital?! Giselle's class hasn't done bar exercises since December. They haven't reviewed the foot and arm positions since before Christmas. It's been at least that long since they've practices demi and grand plies. And I know this because I'm sitting there watching the 45 min class every week. Since the beginning of the year all they've done is learn the recital dance bit by bit and now that it's just a month away they spend the whole class doing the whole routine over and over and over. All this for 5 minute routines that all of the classes will perform for all the parents at a performing arts center ($45 performance fee per family) while wearing $58 costumes that won't ever be worn again by anybody (all new costumes every year for all new routines every year at every dance academy in town so it's no use trying to re-sell them on Craigslist).
The dance academies are teaching to the test, just like every public school in the US is currently doing up until the annual assessment tests every spring. I don't care if she passes the test, I care that she's learned what she needs to know to move on to the next level; whether we're talking about ballet or math. Either she knows it or she doesn't and no fancy performance with flashy costumes and lights and loud music is going to hide the fact that these little girls still can't do a grand plie without sticking their bottoms out.

What I would be OK with:

- I would be VERY OK with no performance at all! Just have the parents come in on the last day of class and watch the girls show off everything that they've learned over the past 9 months. No extra money needed for a performance hall or costumes, no time taken away from regular class and learning what they should be learning.

- I would be OK with each level of each dance class performing the same routine every year so that the costumes could be reused year after year after year for a $15 rental fee. Every year Beginning Ballet does a scene from The Nutcracker, Ballet 1 does a scene from Swan Lake, Tap 2 does a scene from Cabaret, Jazz does a scene from West Side Story, etc. It would be much easier for the dance academies to keep track of and it would be much easier for the parents' wallets.

- I would be OK with them practicing the routine once at the beginning of class and once at the end with them spending the rest of class actually learning the basics of the class.


I'm not happy about the thought of changing dance schools again but after just 2 years I'm already tired of this over-blown, over-produced, over-priced recital thing every year. I'm going to see if I can find a ballet class in town that actually teaches the girls ballet all 9 months long without a fancy recital at the end so that we can actually get our money's worth. Forget this "all fluff and no substance" stuff!

And I'm well aware that we could just not "do" the recital to save money but she'd still be 'wasting' every class for 4 months learning the recital routine instead of learning and practicing and perfecting basic ballet.

NOT in MY Backyard

It hailed yesterday http://www.keyetv.com/Photo.aspx?slideshow=ec29e62a-e210-463d-9358-e59903f81dba&photo=5809ff4e-db78-4544-986a-e61c0a6e2de9
in NW Austin which is where it ALWAYS hails. It rarely hails here in Oak Hill, yesterday was another of those days when it didn't hail here. The kids are bummed, Joe and I are not.

breakfast all around

today's breakfast

Joe - bacon and fried eggs (over easy)
Dog - a banana and a raw chicken thigh and 2 shredded carrots
Giselle - home-made sausage, egg & cheese breakfast tacos
Paul - home-made strawberry yogurt
Me - probably some green juice but I haven't made it yet.

grillin & chillin

Paul's been begging me to grill again SOON so I told him on Thursday that we'd do it on Saturday night. He was pretty mad while leaving the park yesterday because, while he was happy to be going to our usual Friday night Asian buffet, he was unhappy that it wasn't the night to grill yet. So today at the market I made a point to get some meat from Finca Pura Vida. I told Gayla that we were grilling tonight and I had nothing thawed out. She reached into the freezer and pulled out a 2.25 pound pork steak. A half inch thick, with the 'eye' bone in it, it was magnificent looking.
So this afternoon around 4:30 I filled the grill with mesquite charcoal and set it ablaze. In addition to the grilled pork steak we roasted some potatoes in the coals (science experiment), roasted some white spring onions, and tried roasting some Italian heirloom broccoli. The pork was a little bit more done than I like it to be but everyone else had seconds. Everyone wanted more potatoes, next time we'll roast 2 for each person. The broccoli was not a success and the onions could have used some more time roasting.
Now the kids are roasting marshmallows over the coals that we dumped all the dinner scraps on top of (another science experiment). Joe had to run an errand so he told the kids to each have a marshmallow for him.
Time for a beer for me!
Oh, and we ate outdoors on the deck at the round table - a fun intimate dinner for four, five if you include the dog that stood by anxiously waiting for the smallest scap to fall from the table.

La Popular is not popular here any more!

Our favorite chocolate, La Popular Mexican Chocolate Para Mesa, is now being manufactured by a different company and the recipe has been changed. It's now GROSS!

What started out with just 3 simple ingredients - Cocoa beans, cane sugar and cinnamon - is now made with 4 ingredients - Sugar, chocolate liquor, cinnamon, soy lecitin (emulsifier). The whole mouth-feel has changed from being a dry chocolate block that tasted very pure to being a greasy fake-tasting mess in my mouth. I am so disappointed about this.

Here's the nutritional breakdown of the 2 "different" bars
OLD recipe - Cocoa beans, cane sugar, and cinnamon
9 oz = 255 grams, serving size 1 square (16 g), servings per container 16, calories per serving 70, calories from fat 15, total fat 2g, sodium 0mg, total carbohydrate 12g, sugars 9g, protein less than 1g, iron 2%.
NEW recipe - Sugar, chocolate liquor, cinnamon, soy lecitin (emulsifier)
9 oz = 255 grams, serving size 1 square (21 g), servings per container about 12, calories per serving 100, calories from fat 30, total fat 3.5g, saturated fat 2g, trans fat 0g, sodium 0mg, total carbohydrate 16g, dietary fiber 2g, sugars 14g, protein 1g, iron 4%.

I'll be driving all over town to buy up the rest of the old stock where it's still available. The kids are very upset - "You mean they aren't making it this way anymore? What will we eat for chocolate that doesn't taste gross?"

Claudia and my sisters aren't going to be happy about this either - they all use it in their coffee every morning since I turned them on to it.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the import version for America and I'll still be able to get the original version from Claudia's family!

give me a break!

So now Levi Johnston says that he needs to mature some more before he considers marriage! http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/story?id=7087811&page=1

Mr Johnston, I think that you needed to have this conversation with yourself BEFORE you had unprotected sex with Bristol Palin! If you're not mature enough to face the consequences of your actions then you shouldn't do the action in the first place. Be a man and own up to your responsibilities and marry the girl who gave birth to your child!

It's not just me!

I'll have you know that it's not just me that finds it unnecessary for my 7 year-old daughter to watch a 'wholesome' TV show about a boy-crazy 15 year old girl. Yes, I'm talking about Hannah Montana.

It's been on a few times when she's gone to her Brownie troop meeting (a fact that I'm not very pleased with) but they have never watched it here at our house. I've watched the show several times myself and I do think that it's a pretty tame show (especially when compared to DeGrassi or The Secret Life of the American Teenager). I've also watched The Witches of Waverly Place which is another pretty tame show. I actually enjoy watching both shows, Hannah & Witches. But you know what? THEY ARE ABOUT TEENAGE GIRLS AND MY DAUGHTER IS NOT A TEENAGER!!!! She's not even CLOSE to being a teenager! She's a little kid and as such I will do my best to provide her with viewing material that helps to preserve her innocence, instead of encouraging the boy-crazy, status-seeking, adult-disrespecting, teen-rebellion mentality perpetuated by these TV shows.
My daughter likes Care Bears, Pokemon, Jane & the Dragon, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch, The Backyardigans, Sid the Science Kid, Wow Wow Wubzy, and such. Shows about kindness and consideration and compassion and honor and adventure and imagination and truth and friendship - these are the things I want my children to learn from television. And I'm NOT the only one!

sleep-over

One of the luxuries we have as home schoolers is that we can have sleep-overs on school nights, not just on weekends. Of course, it's only possible with other home schoolers but fortunately we have those friends available. Tonight the home schooled girl from across the street is spending the night - their first time together. Lights out at 9:30, all giggling will be over by 10:30, breakfast at 8 (waffles with jelly), goodbyes at 9, school at 10.

Paul wasn't happy about having to go to sleep alone this evening. Usually he's pretty beat by bedtime when Giselle's spending the night elsewhere or has a friend over, but this time he didn't have that active of a day to make him wiped out. But he finally gave it up and fell asleep around 9.

Night light issues - Giselle doesn't use one but the other girl does. We've had this problem before with other girls. Good thing I put up the purple velvet black-out curtains for the night. We don't have curtain rods for them yet so I just tucked them over the compression rod that the hot-pink sheers are hanging on.

10:20 - Time to check on the girls again!

warning - personal opinion post

I'm thumbing through the latest Target catalog and I came across the latest Barbie offering. In addition to the Barbie 50th Anniversary Doll (which looks just fine although her bikini bottom is pretty low cut for a doll that is targeted to little girls aged 3 years and up), Mattel has now come out with Barbie Totally Stylin' Tattoo Doll. In blonde and brunette. I had always hoped that Barbie would somehow never fully drop into the ranks of The Bratz; unfortunately that day has come.

Yes oh yes, in this day and age of equality for all (ie, everything goes) there SHOULD be a doll for the kids of moms with tats. But you know what? I don't know of any mom who looks like 'regular' Barbie so why should they make one that reflects the tatted moms? How about they make some Barbies that look like most of the moms out there? Size 12, sweat-pants wearing, messy hair mom? Or Size 4, business-suit wearing, perfect hair and makeup mom? Or size 10, Capri-wearing, average, everyday mom? Or parapelegic mom in a wheelchair? Or frazzled, taking-care-of-two-kids-alone-with-a-job-because-Ken-ran-off-with-a-newer-model-Barbie Barbie? I guess that tattoo Barbie could be thought of as practice for the girls - they can spend the next 10 years figuring out with their Barbie where exactly they're going to get that first tattoo.

I KNOW that Barbie doesn't set the styles, that she's only a reflection of the current attitudes and styles. What a sad reflection this is of our current society. What's next? Girls-Gone-Wild Barbie that comes with her own 'personal massager'? Or will it be Anorexic Barbie that comes with some fake vomit, a toilet and some laxatives?

Friday

Paul's tooth came out last night - he pulled it out himself - and he is now the proud owner of a braided buffalo-leather bracelet.
We spent the day at an indoor inflatable playhouse place with many of our park day friends since it was too cold and wet to go to the real park.
We're late for The Market so I'm ending this now.

The 'S' word

BTW, I was talking to some other moms the other Wednesday night at church and they also were unhappy with the use of the word "stupid" in the Christmas play. These 2 had even written individual complaints about it! I almost cheered when I heard them say that! If you recall, I went off about this back before the play back in December - Grumpy Mom. I feel good about this and I like that!

Tamale Dinner

Thomas' brother Dan is in town for the week and, in our efforts to get as many of my family members to move to Texas as possible, we had him over for a tamale dinner last night followed by Joe's guided tour of Austin in one of the convertible Cadillacs. Joe's comment before bed was along the lines of "I think we just convinced another one to make the move!"

We had the usual assortment of Oaxacan tamales from Tamaleo (pork and chicken and black bean) and some of the Costa Rican ones that Gayla made at Christmas (pork) and a few standard hot pork tamales that you can get anywhere (HEB). I also had boiled up 2 pounds of shrimp the night before, made a batch of sauteed mixed veggies, and cooked up some pork cutlets with adobo seasoning. The boys brought a 6 of Shiner Bock and we were set for a feast.
We all wish that Gayla had made a whole lot more of those Costa Rican tamales! And I'm really glad that HEB lowered the everyday price on the Goya brand Salsa Verde that we use all the time!

fractions

This week Giselle mastered adding and subtracting mixed fractions with unlike denominators! Gosh it was so awesome to teach her this because I perfected them too. I remember having a hard time with them when I was a kid but I realize now that no one ever taught me the 'tricks' to mastering all math problems. Well, I've taught Giselle how all math is inter-related and gotten her to truly understand how everything really comes down to addition and subtraction of ten numbers - 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 - and remembering Place Value! We spent Monday and Tuesday 'getting' subtracting the unlike denominators so when she tried adding them today she said "Oh, this is pretty easy once you get the hang of it!"
This is one of the pages we worked on yesterday http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/viewsheet.aspx?vid=1&g=4&f=s_s_funlikea&m=p
and this is the one we did today http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/viewsheet.aspx?vid=1&g=4&f=s_a_funlikea&m=p

Don't tell her but the one that we did today will be her test on Friday, but she won't get any tips (helpful reminders) from me during the test.


I also want to plug a wonderful math blog that I read - http://letsplaymath.wordpress.com/ I have found so many tips and games and websites by reading this blog and I want to pass on the love of math to others.


Next Friday we start our knitting class together. It's during the morning so it won't interfere with Park Day. It's part of the Christian Living extra-curricular classes that our church offers. There's another homeschool family at church and I'm trying to get the mom and her daughter (Giselle's age) to take the class with us. We'll be making a shawl and we're both pretty excited about it; Paul's looking forward to hanging out in the nursery with his favorite Sunday School teachers.

grumpy!

G - "I am NOT going to bed while the sun is still out!"
P - "What in the world? It's not even dark out!"
P - "I don't wanna to go to bed! I could even stay up later than this!"
P - "But I only have to do my workbook for school tomorrow so I don't have to go to bed this early."
G - "Paul's not gettin ready, he doesn't get Pokemon cards tonight!"
P - "That's sparkles on your face, you didn't wash off the makeup before like Mama told you to!"
N - "Could y'all PLEASE put y'all's dirty clothes in the laundry basket!"
G - "Paul's botherin me while I'm tryin to get ready."
N - "Paul, get out here and sit in the middle of the living room floor until she's done gettin ready for bed! 5 - 4"
P - "I'm comin, I'm comin!"
P - "What's takin Giselle so long to get ready?"
G - "I'm ready, can I watch TV while I wait for Paul to be done?"
P - "Giselle, you're naughty."
G - "Mama, can I play on your Green Patch while I wait for Paul?" it's a facebook thing.
N - "Can I let the dog out again yet?"
N - "Sorry, y'all used up all your time. It's 7:23 and now I'm only readin one chapter."
G - "But MAMA, I was ready on time why don't I get to hear the story? It's always Paul's fault that we don't get to read Peter Pan!"

started at 7:07, ended at 7:23

early

What crazy person at our church scheduled the kid's choir to sing at the 8:45 am service on the morning of "Spring Forward"? The kids had to be there at 8:20 which meant that we had to get up at 7:20 which meant that we REALLY had to get up at 6:20! Of course I went to bed at midnight which was REALLY 1am so I wasn't happy to hear my phone alarm go off at 7:20 either. Fortunately I had gotten them to bed before 8 after a very long day so they still got a full night's rest for the most part.

Friday night they went to bed by 8 but since the puppies were going to be at the market we HAD to get up early enough to get there by 9. After the market Giselle went to a friend's house while Paul and I went to another until 6:30. A quick dinner by 7:15 and they were off to bed.

by the way - fabulous weather today for the first day of Daylight Savings!

lights

I made a lasagna for dinner tonight since Giselle's new friend was going to eat dinner with us. At the last minute she got cold feet - she's never eaten at anyone else's house other than hers or her grandparents' houses.
Starting from the bottom of the 8x10 pan (needless to say that all ingredients were organic - whatever that label is worth these days):
1 cup of homemade pasta sauce
3 partially cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
3 cups of uncooked fresh spinach - torn into manageable-sized pieces
salt
3 partially cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
2 cups of ricotta mixture (1 -16 oz container whole milk ricotta, 1 egg, 8 oz shredded mozz and Parm cheese, Italian seasoning, 1 TBS garlic puree, salt & pepper)
1/2 cup homemade pasta sauce
3 partially cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 cup diced roasted chicken
2 cups of uncooked fresh spinach - torn into manageable-sized pieces
salt
2 partially cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles
remaining cup of ricotta mixture
2 cups of pasta sauce
4 oz shredded mozz and Parm cheese
cooked at 350 in the toaster oven for 70 min, let sit for 20 min.

Dinner was ready at 6 pm which is earlier than usual for us, especially since it was REALLY only 5 pm.
Now the kids are out back racing radio-controlled cars with Joe while the dog is stuck inside staring out the screen door drooling. After all, those are HER rc cars that they're playing with!

Giselle says that it's too light outside for it to be time to get ready for bed in 5 min. Since we've already eaten dinner, I'm taking this opportunity to get them ready for bed early so that we can finally read some more of Peter Pan AND have the lights out by 7:30!

YouTube

I spent WAY too long watching someone play all the levels of Cool Spot on YouTube. In 13 parts. Each part was just shy of 10 min long. BUT I saw levels of this game that I never even knew existed since they really aren't written about very much in the instruction book. Needless to say, I'll never be reaching those levels since I have a life and so do my kids; but it was cool to see those levels none-the-less.

I've got to go to bed NOW if I intend on making Joe breakfast in the morning before he has to leave at 8:15! HA!

Oh Charles, Joe bought a new 3 lb bag of bears at Fry's this evening so we're restocked.

Night all!

In the beginning

Genesis

Sega Genesis

I still have mine and it works great! If you have old game cartridges and the manuals that go with them and you want to get rid of them please send them to me!

Paul and I were playing Cool Spot this evening while Giselle was out with Joe. Paul would play the first level and then hand me the controller to play the next several levels. We stayed up too late playing, I'm a bit of an old gamer so I have a hard time shutting it down. I'm going to have to hit eBay for some more old Sega Genesis games, maybe I'll even upgrade to... what was it called? the Sega Saturn? That's why I got a Sega back then, you could upgrade it with a plug-in instead of buying a whole new system that your old games wouldn't work on.

Joe's cranking Ace Frehley "Back in the New York Groove" from the solo album now. I'm the one that made him add that to his iTunes. That one's over, now it's "Every time I Think of You" by the Babys (or was this a John Waite solo song?).

Back to searching for Furby and Sega Genesis games.
See ya!

it was inevitable

It was bound to happen someday and tonight was the night. I was up late with the kids playing video games - I was playing and they were watching - and they finally noticed my Furby hiding in the back of the entertainment center behind the TV. Paul asked me "Mama, what's that penguin back there for?" I said "That's not a penguin, that's my Furby!" and I got him out to show the kids. Amazingly enough, since he'd been asleep for several years (about 8 years) his batteries were fine and he woke up immediately and started talking. Of course they fell in love with him and we proceeded to play with him for the next 15 minutes. Now I have to search the Internet to see if they still sell them new or if I have to go bidding for 2 of them on eBay; because of course they both want one of their own (since I'm NOT going to share mine with them!) I haven't told the kids that the Furbys can 'talk' to each other. Somewhere I've got the manual for mine but I have no idea where. I guess I'll download a new one. Wish me luck!
Thank you Al Gore for inventing the Internet so that I can find toys for my kids!


Hey Joe, I can hear you playing The Dream Academy "Life in a Northern Town" all the way up here in the main house even though you've got all the doors closed down in the shop. Love you!

almost forgot!

Oh, Saturday afternoon after The Farmers Market we went directly to a UT Women's Basketball game against Baylor with all the other Girl Scouts in Austin. Giselle rode there with the rest of the troop while Paul and I took the scenic route to the arena in our car. UT lost, although it did become a close game at the end. Afterwards I took Paul & Giselle to eat a Stromboli at The Brick Oven on Red River. While we ate, I read the closed-captioning of the speech that Rush Limbaugh gave to the Nation at CPAC. Wow!! If you didn't catch it, here's the transcript of the speech http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/01/transcript-rush-limbaughs-address-cpac/

Yeah, it was a busy day that day!

update

3/2 - Today - school day and grocery shopping - both kids got to play at friends' houses while I did the shopping, lucky for them.

3/1 - Sunday - kite festival - we waited 1 hour for our turn to get on the shuttle to go to the festival, it took the shuttle 50 min to make the normally 10 min drive, the wind was close to non-existent so we only got our kites up 3 times, the wait for the shuttle back to our car was another 45 minutes.

2/28 - Saturday - farmers market - it was sunny, 60 degrees and windy with gusts of 35 mph but we had puppies to play with the entire time! Candy the collie had puppies with a great Pyrenees and there are 7 puppies that need new homes. They're 6 weeks old and are fuzzy and fat and adorable and super mellow. They'll be at the market every week until they're all gone so we'll be at the market from 8 am until 1:30 every week until they're all gone.

2/27 - Friday - park day - 90 degrees and sunny, what a fantastic day! Test day went great so we were at the park by 1:30, stayed until 6. Picked up a pizza and watched Toy Story 2.

2/26 - Thursday - made an awesome spinach and chicken and cheese fritata for dinner.

2/25 - Wednesday - played at our friend's house after school but there was no dinner at church since it was Ash Wednesday. Giselle rode her friend's bike - with pedals and with no training wheels - time for a new bike for her. It'll be Paul's turn this week.

2/24 - Tuesday - finally updated the blog but forgot to post about the Shrove Tuesday celebration at church. All the kids decorated their bikes and had a parade and older kids threw candy AT them. Then there was a pancake supper put on by the youth group while some of us adults manned the craft tables - I was at the mask-making table. I got two miniature bags of Target brand gummy bears - there were 8 bears in each bag, that's how miniature they were!


See, I could have drawn this out and made it 7 individual posts but I condensed it down into just this one. You're welcome.

rediculous

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent looking bathroom trashcan for under $20? I'll tell you - pretty close to impossible!!!!
AND they don't make them in pretty colors with matching sink accessories AT ALL!

So, in the sand colored bathroom with the maroon shower curtain I couldn't get a coral colored trash can because there were no matching accessories. I couldn't get the green one that looked like it that DID have matching accessories because green is not in the color scheme. On to the next, next store - Bed, Bath & way-Beyond-overpriced. There we found tons of matched sets except that they all were either really ugly, or made out of wood (Why would I want a toothbrush holder that's made out of wood?), or OMG overpriced (I am NOT going to buy a juice cup for rinsing out my mouth for $9.99!), or made out of stone (a 5-lb soap dispenser is a bit silly).
I found one set that Giselle and I both really liked, then I looked at the prices, coughed, took a deep breath and said "I am NOT going to pay $40 for a trashcan that nobody ever even sees!" Giselle said "$40 for a trashcan? That is a lot of money."
I spent another 10 minutes on another set - clear acrylic with metal bases. As I was about to walk off to make our purchase I said "Why am I going to get a clear trash can when I'm just going to put a plastic grocery bag in the thing? No, this is all wrong!" So I put it all back. Giselle saw some shiny metal ones that she liked, I told her that I wasn't willing to do the work required to keep them shiny. Finally, in my desperation to get a trashcan for that bathroom once and for all I looked through the entire section again and came across some hard plastic ones that were acceptable in appearance and price. After about 5 minutes I already didn't like them. But NEXT to them were some ones that I could be content with and I knew that Joe would love them - Dark Chocolate Brown Melamie. I got the set, well, I didn't get the soap dispenser or the Kleenex dispenser but I did get the trashcan, toothbrush holder, soap dish, and rinse cup. I also got 3 other rinse cups in the other colors - pale blue, white, pale olive green. The cups were only $3.99 each (what a sarcastic bargain, but they match the set!). I really wish that I'd been able to find a matched set in coral or maroon or something a bit brighter. Oh well, maybe someday I'll trip across some; maybe on Overstock.com or someplace.

As of my typing this, Joe still hasn't noticed them in the bathroom.

dog

The dog is doing pretty well for a 14 year old dog. She's back on an all-raw diet like she used to be before I had kids. Every morning I shred 2 small-ish carrots into her bowl, add in some crushed egg shells, cut up a 1/3 lb bone-in chicken thigh, sprinkle on some Super Food powder, add in her Proin and a fish oil capsule, stir it up and watch her inhale it in about 45 seconds. At bedtime she's getting 1/4 lb of raw ground beef and her Proin again. These last 2 days I've given her a raw chicken liver in her breakfast and she's been farty in the late evening. I'm going to continue to give the livers to her for the rest of the week and keep a nose on the gas to see if it goes away. I figure that if her system hasn't gotten used to the liver in a week then I'll take it back out.
She TOTALLY loved the cow foot I gave her the other week and she's been enjoying the beef ribs that I've given her a few times a week. This evening I heard her out there crunching on the bones some more. Tomorrow's supposed to be a nice day; I think I'll thaw her out another foot for a snack.


I hope that Joe'll be around for dinner tomorrow night - I need to cook that pork roast that's sitting in the fridge. Or maybe I'll cook it anyway and turn it into pork sandwiches. Oh yeah, Paul can't bite. Well, I'll figure out something.

gone

With a LOT of help from the kids and Joe, the 5-pound bag of gummy bears was finished off yesterday afternoon. And all that's left of those ones from Target is about 25 bears.

BUT, we were at Target today and I had NO desire to restock the pantry with new bags of the little bears. I am SO tired of there being candy around the house! Thankfully St Patricks day isn't a candy holiday and Easter is 40 days away so we'll have a break for a bit once I throw out the gingerbread houses Thursday morning. And after Easter there're no more candy holidays until Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There'll be a birthday party in there but I'm filling the pinata with just gum and toys, no candy!

Hard Tack

You would not believe how hard the gingerbread houses are! Paul's got some loose teeth and so I've been getting him to eat it to help loosen them more - THAT's how hard it is!! So today after they had some blackberry yogurt for lunch, I was wiggling Paul's bottom tooth that has the new tooth growing in behind it and we got it to break loose. The gum is still holding on to it but it's no longer attached down below. This being Paul's first tooth he was a little freaked out - he remembers how reluctant Giselle was to wiggle her own teeth out.
He eventually calmed down but he can't eat much of anything. Dinner tonight was at church for Shrove Tuesday and fortunately for Paul it was pancakes with tiny disks of sausage. When we got home he tried to eat a hard boiled egg but it hurt so much to bite into that I had to cut the rest of it up into pieces with a spoon for him to eat.
At Target the other day we bought a small blue silk covered jewelry box that we're going to use as a temporary tooth box - as soon as tomorrow night!
Goodness, the top 2 teeth are awfully wobbly too! Good thing the tooth toy box is fully stocked!!
I'll keep you posted!

motorcycles

I know that this would be better with pictures but I don't feel like downloading then editing then uploading right now.
Giselle went for her first motorcycle ride last week and on Sunday Paul went for his first ride and Giselle went again.
To say that they loved it would be an understatement - they both cried when Joe said that his hands were too cold to take them on another ride.
Now maybe they'll get motivated to become better bicycle riders so that they can ride the electric kid-motorcycle that's been sitting in the shed for 8 years, waiting for them to REALLY want to ride it.
BTW, all of Paul's tennis shoes have become too small since the fall so he borrowed a pair of Giselle's. My barefoot, Croc-wearing kids have feet that are too wide for 'normal' width shoes.

buying American

As I was eating directly from the bag of frozen shelled soybeans this evening I got to reading the label. Did you realize that fresh soybeans are about 20% fat? I found it especially irritating that the Born-and-still based-in-Texas HEB Grocery store organic edamame comes from China. Why can't they grow it here and if they do then why doesn't HEB Central Market buy AMERICAN?! Don't give me the crap line that the demand is too high for the American farmers to keep up with; the stuff is stockpiled and either sold overseas or given to the 'organic' cows and pig for feed. The pollutants used to get that organic product from China to Austin TOTALLY negates the 'purity' of the product. Not to mention the fact that you pretty much can't trust ANYTHING that comes from China these days.
I feel a letter writing campaign coming on. If you feel like joining me in my efforts to let HEB know that I prefer my organic products to be grown in AMERICA, here's the information:
Mailing Address
H-E-B
Attention: Customer Relations Department
P.O. Box 839999
San Antonio, TX 78283-3999

Telephone Numbers
San Antonio, Texas 210-938-8357
Toll-free number 1-800 432-3113
Customer Relations office hours: Mon. - Fri., 8am - 5pm

Just passing this on, I signed and so should you.

Help Send a Message to the USDA – 100,000 Americans for a Sustainable America
Next week we’re delivering your signatures and comments to Secretary Vilsack at his offices in Washington DC.
Please forward this message to 5 of your friends to help us reach our goal of over 100,000 Americans for a sustainable USDA.We want to thank you for helping us make this petition a success. To date over 84,659 Americans have signed the letter calling for sustainable change at the USDA.
Original signers to the letter include Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Marion Nestle, Francis Moore Lappé, Bill McKibben, Alice Waters, Dan Barber and Rick Bayless among many others.
So far we know that we’ve had success in changing the debate in how agriculture is being discussed in the 21st century. Since his confirmation, Secretary Vilsack has made a number of forward-thinking statements that prove he understands the urgent need for change in our nation’s food policies.
Let's make sure the administration understands how much support the idea of sustainable practices in U.S. food and farm policy we’re asking that you forward this message to 5 friends to have them sign the petition and help put us over the top.
Thanks again for all your help, we look forward to creating a sustainable food system for the 21st century.
Best,David MurphyPaul WillisLisa StokkeAaron Woolf
Food Democracy Now!

Come Fly With Me!

Not this Sunday but next Sunday it's the 81st annual Zilker Kite Festival!!!!!

Fun, Family and Free

Sunday March 1, 2009 from 10 am to 5 pm is Kite Day at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas
Presented by H-E-B, The City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department and The Exchange Club of Austin.
Free Shuttle Rides & Parking at two locations: Downtown at 1604 Colorado Street, State garage E and South at the Tony Burger Center at 3200 Jones Road Shuttles begin at 10am (last one leaves park at 5:30 pm)

done

Made pizza quesadillas for the kids' dinner, washed dishes in the dish washer, washed dishes by hand, portioned out and froze 5 lbs of ground beef for the dog's food, separated and froze turkey cutlets for Joe's food, deboned Saturday's roasted chicken for the kid's food, cleaned up the icing mess on the counter to get rid of any potential ant food, made room in the fridge for 6 pounds of apples and put them in, made room in the fridge for the chard so I could put the big cooler away, washed and dried the cover to the dog's bed, will possibly put away all of the clean dishes AND posted about it on the blog.
A well-spent evening.

teeth

In addition to Paul already having 2 of his 4 6-yr old molars, his first primary tooth has popped through today. It's on the bottom, coming in right behind his front tooth; just like Giselle's did. We REALLY need to get that tooth box!

warm-ish rainy day

How do we spend a 70 degree rainy day in February after we've finished school and gone to ballet? We decorate gingerbread houses, that's how! What kids would rather eat sugar than play with friends? Joe's kids.

Natalie is...

not posting regularly anymore. No reason other than I've gotten lazy about updating. My brain hasn't been focused enough in the evenings to post and I've been busy in the mornings and afternoons. I'll get back in the swing soon enough.
See ya!

Dinner tonight

So this recipe came in the email today and the kids were open to me making it for dinner tonight so I put it together for them while Joe's 1.5 lb pork loin was cooking (seared on the stove first then baked in the toaster oven at 425 for 25 min). It came out looking exactly like the picture and they enjoyed it. I didn't use any nutmeg and I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen.

Cheesy Baked Shells and Broccoli

http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1840523

3/4 pound medium pasta shells (about 5 cups)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups coarsely grated Cheddar or Gruyýre (8 ounces)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 16-ounce bag frozen broccoli florets, thawed

Heat broiler. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and stir until melted. Stir in the nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper.

Add the pasta and broccoli and toss to combine. Transfer to a broilerproof 8-inch square or another 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining 1⁄2 cup of cheese. Broil until golden, 3 to 4 minutes.

Yield: Makes 4 servings
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 697; FAT 26g (sat 15g); CHOLESTEROL 82mg; CARBOHYDRATE 78g; CALORIES FROM FAT 34%; SODIUM 650mg; PROTEIN 34g; FIBER 6g; SUGAR 9g

Sara Quessenberry
Real Simple, OCTOBER 2008

blood

I'm finally going to go give blood again this month. It's been since April of last year since I last gave and I'm feeling a bit bad about that. Since I got declined by the blood drive bus in June for having low iron I've felt a bit leery of making an appointment to go in and donate but I'm feeling OK about my levels so I think I'm good to go this time.
And by giving around Valentine's Day I'll get double points to be used for buying treats from the donation store. We got a cool GIANT backpack last year (although there's a small problem with one of the small zippers) and I'm not sure what we'll go for next; maybe a hoodie sweatshirt or another backpack.
You should consider giving blood this month too! The pint you give could mean the difference between life and death for someone in need.



EDITED TO ADD:
I just finished ordering my 1-gallon of donations commemorative mug. In another 2 years I'll be able to get the next one!

dinner

Even after all those gummy bears (no, we didn't eat them all...yet) we still needed to eat dinner so I made the kids some excellent chicken quesadillas using the roasted chicken from The Market, some salsa, shredded Mexican cheese, slices of mozzarella cheese and fresh uncooked tortillas. I had the leftover caldo de pollo from last night, the dog had some raw turkey and after the kids went to bed I cooked up some turkey cutlets for Joe. Paul's been asking for hard boiled eggs again lately so I boiled up a dozen of them while I cooked Joe's meat. This week I'm not putting them in the back of the meat & cheese drawer. That's where I put them last week and they got frozen. It was a bit odd to eat a hard boiled egg that had slivers of ice it. It changed the texture some but they still tasted ok and that's all that mattered to the kids. But still, I'm going to be more careful this time.

thanks friends!

In response to my plea for more gummy bears, a wonderful friend sent me a 5 lb bag of Haribo gummy bears!
Thank you!

Although after seeing this picture http://io9.com/photogallery/gummi/1001966280 I'm not as enthused about them as I used to be. I guess that's a good thing; maybe the bag will last longer than a week this way.

Pssst!

We still have 10 boxes of Thin Mints available for sale! And 1 case of Carmel Delites and 2 cases of Peanut Butter Patties.

spelling words

Here's our new batch of spelling words for the next 6 months; courtesy of www.time4learning.com. And yes, that means that we'll be schooling through the summer months; albeit on a lightened work load.


FORTH GRADE SPELLING WORDS
1 - above fifth praise across flock ranch account finger race addition flour range
2 - advice flower ready ahead foggy regular against flute recover alert follow remain
3 - among forget remark anger fraction remind amount forth remember angry frame remove
4 - annoy freeze repair another fried return annual freight report answer frown riddle
5 - apiece froze rifle argue furniture rough apple funeral roast arguing gallery royal
6 - arithmetic garbage scale author geese scowl arose gather scarce avenue general scrap
7 - avoid genius scrape aware ghost scream award gentle scratch badge giraffe seashore
8 - basic glacier season basketball governor shallow basket glory serve battle gravy shave
9 - beast grill shear beggar grove shrimp beetle grind sheet blame growl sidewalk
10 - blank guess sideways boast hatch skate board happensimple borrow height skill
11 - bottle helpless slain branch hollow slave brain hoist slate brave honey sleet
12 - breath hope sleeve bubble hopeless smoke bridge hoping slept bucket hydrant sorry
13 - burst icicle stage calm image statue cactus ignore station canal inches steam
14 - cannon include stockings cattle insist strange careless income stole caution invent stretch
15 - celery invite strong center issue stung cellar island stump central ivory sweat
16 - century jeans swim chase judge tenth charge journal target chimney juggle terrible
17 - chose juice themselves circus kitchen thrill chute kept thirsty close lace throat
18 - cloth lack throne coach lame time clothing laid ticket coast lamp timing
19 - collar laugh title coming lecture tomorrow come least toils continue ledge toothbrush
20 - cough lettuce torch court local trace couple little tough cousin loyal tried
21 - crane manage trouble crate market turtle crash marble turkey crawl match twist
22 - craze measles unable creation middle understood cream mention understand cried midnight underwear
23 - crowd monkey unhappy dainty narrate unkind crush month unfair daily narrow unknown
24 - daughter nation unlikely death newspaper unlock deaf naughty unload decorator nineteen unlucky
25 - destroy noise untie direction north unusual device noisy until doctor notion unwilling
26 - dollar ocean use double often usual donkey offer using drank order vacation
27 - drug palm value enough pebble visitor earthquake patch vegetable equal people vocal
28 - evening pillow voyage everyone playground weave everybody plane wander everything plight whenever
29 - excuse poise which explode porch width exercise poison whole fearless portion wonder

good day / bad day

It was a good day for the Steelers but not a good day to be selling Girl Scout Cookies out front of Blockbuster Video. I need to remember that for next year.