The rainy weather seems to be in full swing these days. I don’t mind too much. I like to hear the rain when I first start to wake up in the morning. I wouldn’t mind having my cup of coffee in my cozy bed on those mornings. However, the sound of kids in the living room indicate that I really can’t do that for several more years Rainy days also bring more regular hot cocoa days for the kids.

Two weeks ago we also went on our annual drive through Cheshire, Veneta, Crow and Lorane (very rural areas near where we live). We’ve been taking this drive every year at this time since we started dating (so about 14 years now I guess), and every year, we are just so fascinated with the pretty colors of the fall leaves, and at the end of each drive, we comment on how we should have brought the camera. So this year, we brought it, and took about 64 pictures (one of which is the picture at the upper left of this post). Some of them I actually tried to take while the car was in motion (I had read the blog of someone else who was traveling by motorcycle and had taken pictures while still in motion, so I thought I’d try it as well, just in the safer car). A couple of years ago, Kevin bought me a really nice camera for my birthday and it takes fabulous pictures. I just love it! Anyway, some of my pictures in motion (or “drive-by-shootings”) don’t look half bad (note the picture at the upper right). Maybe just a hint of a blur in one area but not too bad. We took the kids on this trip too. They’ve been going with us ever since they arrived, and when they were little, all we had to do was buy a basket of French fries and a soda for them and they thought it was a great trip. Not so anymore. Hopefully one day when they’re our age, they’ll actually have fond memories of it………maybe………I hope so. They are both very artistic and only one is currently interested in drawing pictures of scenery.

It seems that a cold that has been going around has made a visit to our house as well. Just as my husband is starting to feel better after a week of having a cold, my daughter has the beginnings of one. Hopefully it won’t last long. Thanksgiving is coming up and I’d really hope that our extended family will be giving thanks that we didn’t give the cold to them.

So that’s just about all there is to report. It’s evening, the kids are in bed, and it seems like a good time for a cup of tea.

Lp

Just a short post on something I saw on TV yesterday that made absolutely no sense. There was a commercial for a children’s charity for children overseas, and the spokesperson was a well known former child actress asking us to sign up and sponser a child, and by doing so, you’ll provide the child with food, clothes and an education, AND have the love and gratitude of your particular child. Now that’s all fine and good, I have no problem with that. What I found odd, was what they used as the carrot to dangle in front of the public to get them to sign up. The first 3 months you can sponsor a child for FREE! So for the first 3 months, how is this child going to get the promised food clothes and education from your sponsorship if you aren’t paying anything, thus not truly “sponsoring”? After 3 months, it’ll be $22 per month, but buy then, will person who signed up remember to budget that in. Who knows, I’m sure that there are some who will. We’re also told that we’ll receive a letter from the child we sponsor. So if we get the first 3 months free, should we expect a letter from “our child” in that first 3 months that says, “Thanks for nothing!”?

This isn’t buying a car or a piece of furniture with the promise of “no payments ’til after New Years!”. It’s rather sad that a charity feels that they need to offer this kind of motivation to get sponsors.

Ok, I’m off of my soap box for now.
Lp

of tape!
I don’t know what it is that is so fascinating about tape with kids. I know that I loved tape as a kid, but I don’t remember why. But today’s topic title was inspired by my kids when my son asked my daughter if she had any tape in her “stash”. My son has such a fascination with tape. My daughter had one when she was younger, but now sees that it’s only a necessity for wrapping gifts and fixing pages in her books. My son uses tape for building things and hanging things up. He uses it to hang up pictures on walls, to tape yarn to shoeboxes ,hoping to hook it up to one of the cats so they can pull it like a trailer, or in the case I’m seeing right now, taping it to the back of himself so as he’s picking up clutter, he can put it in the box. However, he’s realizing that the tape won’t hold the box and everything he’s putting it in.

Before my son discovered tape, there was plenty available for gift wrapping, closing boxes to mail, and preparing to paint. Not anymore. We are always rather hardpressed to find tape in the house. I have hidden it and he’s found it.

Maybe for Christmas, we should just give him a box of tape for his own……..that blue painter’s tape so as not to wreck the paint on the walls.

Lp (as I end this, he is still trying to tape a box to the back of his shirt)

My husband did this several months ago, so, I thought I’d come up with something similar. Anyway, trivial stuff about me! Enjoy!

1. Until I was married, I had had maybe 2 coffees, and I didn’t know how to make coffee. I married a major coffee drinker, and learned from him how to make it and my coffee intake is now every day, more than once per day. A friend of mine refers to it as “Mama’s Little Helper”, and I would have to agree.

2. My desk is currently covered with teacher’s manuals, school books and the kids art papers, a large printer. My desk seems to be the “catch-all” here in the livingroom.

3. I haven’t ridden a bicycle in at least 20 years

4. Current favorite soda is Wild Cherry Pepsi

5. I’ve been to a Star Trek convention (I went with Kevin when we were engaged. He got Marina Siritis’ autograph).

6. Favorite comic strips are “For Better or For Worse” and “Stone Soup”

7. When I was in 6th grade, I went to a Christian School and we went to our state capital to hear Jerry Falwell speak. There were several tv stations and protesters there as well.

8. I’ve been to Canada twice. The first time I went to Edmonton with my parents and I was about 4 or 5. My mom and I swam in a hot spring and I think that it was snowing there too. The second time I went was on my honeymoon and we went to Victoria B.C.

9. I’ve never flown on an airplane. All of my traveling has been done by car

10. I’ve visited at least 10 states

11. I took piano lessons for 2 years (most of my lesson time was spent listening to my teacher tell stories about her youth).

12. I’m not a huge cat fan, but because my husband and daughter are, we have them in the house. We have 5 of them.

13. We are organic gardeners. Actually my husband does most of the gardening and I do the harvesting and preserving.

14. I went to a taping of “Who’s The Boss” nearly 20 years ago.

15. Celebrities I’ve seen. The cast of “Who’s The Boss”, Scott Baio, as he was entering the parking lot of the tv studio, as we were leaving a taping of the show. Marina Siritis from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

16. amateur photographer (I took a photography class 20 years ago, but it would help if I took it again since we now have cool digital cameras).

17. I used to work for the 2nd largest computer software company in the world (hopefully it’s still the 2nd largest).

18. I grew up with dauchsunds as our family pets.

19. Related to Daniel Boone as I’m a descendant of his older brother Samuel.

20. My first 8 years were spent around a dairy. My granddad owned the dairy and my dad managed it. For 8 years we lived out in the country surrounded by cows. If anyone who lived in Lane County back in the 60’s and 70’s ever drank Lloyd’s Milk, that was from my granddad’s dairy.

21. There is a quilt with my name on it in the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum in Burr Oak, Iowa. My fourth grade class made a 9 patch quilt and donated it to the museum.

22. When I was in college, I studied to become a television director

23. I’m mostly Scottish, then Danish, Welsh, and a little Native American. My maiden name is an Irish one, but I think that’s about as far as it goes.

So anyway, fun little facts that you never knew, and probably never wondered about, but now you do!

Lp

I decided to postpone the beginning of the school year for us because Kevin is taking this week off as a vacation. When he’s home, it’s just harder to keep a school schedule when he isn’t following any schedule. I do have the first week’s lessons planned out and I have some curriculum ordered that should arrive very soon. So I think that I’m about as ready as I can be.

The weather is finally getting a bit cooler. It can still be sunny, but there is a bit of a chill in the air, which of course excites me, because it’s “fall-ish”, and that means long sleeves, sweaters, jeans, colorful leaves coming, and makes me feel like making soup (potato/cheddar is my favorite).

Recently, Kevin bought a 10 gallon fish tank that he found on Craigslist for $10. Yesterday we went to buy some fish to add to it and wound up needing a heater, new filter, water conditioner and a net. When all was said and done, we wound up spending $$41. About twice as much as what Kevin was expecting to spend. So we named the fish, “Hugh”, “Navarre”, “Dwight” and “Dex”, and an algae eater named “Al”. This morning I was informed that “Navarre” had already died. So once again, the pet I personally pick out winds up dying. Kevin is out running errands and he mentioned wanting to get another fish for me. So maybe if he’s the one choosing it, it’ll live!

This afternoon, I am going to make up some soup to freeze for later lunches and possibly some macaroni & cheese as well. It’ll really depend on if I have enough containers.

So, that is the plan. Hopefully I’ll have no interruptions and I can carry it out.

Lp

Well just as I was doing the last time I posted, I am enjoying a berry smoothie while I blog! Hot weather just seems to require that treat.

Yesterday, I discovered (and I don’t know why it never occurred to me) why, in the 11 years I’ve lived here, I have rarely seen a hummingbird. I was out side pulling the shade down over the window when I noticed to my left, one of our cats playing with something and I also kept hearing what sounded like a loud squeak. I thought that he had a small mouse (I’ve seen the cats play with one of those recently) and discovered a very small hummingbird. The poor thing was still breathing (barely). So then I started thinking about how we just haven’t seen as many birds as we used to. Then I started thinking how, by setting out bird feeders, I’m really setting up a buffet for the cats. Poor birds!

Heather had her birthday earlier in the week. We planned to have family over for dinner and cake on the evening of her birthday. Kevin was out of town taking a class for work, so I was parenting by myself and getting the house ready for company. It wasn’t that hard this time. Our days stayed busy and we’d hear from Kevin in the evenings. He came home two days before the birthday.

The day before the birthday was spent doing last minute shopping and baking the birthday cake. Then wrapping up the gifts and leaving them on the table for Heather to see when she awoke in the morning. Sure enough, when we got up on Sunday, Heather was already in the livingroom waiting for us so she could see her loot. She was pretty happy with her gifts, but I have a feeling that she sort of knew what she was getting. Either that or kids don’t get that excited when they’re 12. Later in the morning, we took our birthday girl to the mall to get her ears pierced. I think that has been the thing that she’s been looking forward to the most. She was rather anxious because she knew that there would be pain. She made it through, almost cried, and when all was said and done, she had a big smile and earrings in her ears.

So now that the birthdays are over, for a while, we’re taking a few weeks off from doing school. I need the break and the kids do too.

Lp

(Originally posted July 20, 2008)

I’m sitting here on a Sunday evening, enjoying a berry smoothie, made by my spouse.
Summer is cruising along at a steady pace. Heather is nearly 12 and this is the first year that she’s noticing how fast the time flies. It’s hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks, Kevin and I will have been parents for 12 years. When Heather was born, I had a 13 year old sister. My sister is now 25 and just last year, became a parent herself.

So anyway, we have a birthday coming up and the thing that Heather is looking forward to is the trip to the jewelry store to get her ears pierced. We’ve also been gathering gifts here and there, and before we know it, it’ll be the morning of her birthday. She’ll wake up to presents at her place at the breakfast table and she’ll be anxious for us to get up so she can open them. We’ll have a get together with family here at the house and then perhaps the following weekend, we’ll take both kids and hopefully one of Heather’s friends to Chuck E. Cheese for an afternoon of constant noise and arcade games. Pretty close to Heaven for kids I think.

Speaking of birthdays, this weekend, we went to my nephew’s 1st birthday party. He was pretty cute and my sister put on a great party for the little guy. I’m guessing that she and my brother-in-law were exhausted and possibly took a nap when they came home.

I guess that it’s time for me to close this entry. My daughter has brought out the game “Apples to Apples” and she’s ready for us to play.

Lp

(Originally posted in my old blog on July 11, 2008)

Summer seems to be in full swing. The required heat is here too. I don’t mind having the sun as much because we need it for the garden to produce the veggies that we planted. There’s just something about harvesting your own food and having it for dinner or at least preserving it. It’s a pretty good feeling.

The summer heat also provides us with a reason to make smoothies too. A few weeks ago, Kevin bought a heavy duty blender, that crushes ice. So on Friday nights, and sometimes other very hot weekdays, he can be persuaded to make smoothies using the frozen berries from last year’s garden. They’re very filling and very good, and not as fattening as what we’d normally get at Dairy Queen. Kevin made some smoothies tonight and they were soooooo good!

And finally, summer is bringing birthdays. Between last Saturday and the end of August, we will have a birthday party every two weeks. My grandma turned 90 last Saturday. We celebrated with a family dinner at Marie Callender’s. My aunt & uncle joined us from out of town and my nephew, who will be 1 in a couple of weeks, was the main entertainment. Next weekend is my nephew’s birthday and then two weeks after that is Heather’s 12th birthday and 3 weeks after that are the birthdays of my dad and brother-in-law. It’s a busy birthday summer.

So that’s the latest with this report. Due to the rising price of gas, we aren’t doing much traveling, so most of what we’ll be doing will be here at home.

Lp