My latest creations

These are all gifts for my daughter. I plan on making my son an owl as he said he would like one but mostly he wants cars and trucks and things that go SMASH!!
These are needle felted with the exception of the play silks. Those I ordered raw and then hand dyed with kool-aid for a permanent rainbow of color.

Felty Felt and the Funky Bunch

I have a new hobby! Hooray for new hobbies!!! You know, I just had so much spare time that I figured I should pick up something else to fill the hours with. Being a domestic goddess only takes about 24 hours out of your day so really you can see how I had an opening in my schedule.

My new obsession is FELTING!!! I am currently working on a top secret project. Since my kids can't read very much I will tell you. I am making a felted gnome family, some fairies, and eventually a tree house and lots of mushrooms and other felty magical things to go along with it.

This is a dangerous hobby. It involves a needle with barbs so sharp and tiny that some are microscopic. I was told I would bleed profusely if I touched them. I have to admit it scared me a little since our family now has an agreement that I am banned from using super glue (for very good reasons.)
I got a kit at our local fiber craft store and after procrastinating for a week I decided to dive in earlier this week. I made my first felted gnome yesterday and to my great surprise it was very easy and he came out rather fantastic. Way bigger than I had planned (about 7 inches instead of 3) but still he is a smooth looking fellow.
I suggest you catch the bug.... and head over to this ladies site who explains the entire thing via little videos.
I now want an alpaca of my very own but haven't convinced that dear husband of mine.
I guess I could always sheer the dog.

VOTE!!!!!

Today is the day to vote if you haven't already.
Still don't know who to vote for? You could write my name in if you want to.
Seriously though... here are the facts on Obama
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

You may click and go read or take my word for it and vote for CHANGE!!!

oh, and after you vote if you tell your local Starbucks they will give you coffee for FREE!

Get an awesome new president and a free cup of coffee in one day. How cool is that?

Get the door...it's McCain!

This a short funny little tale.
On my way to drop off my ballot the kids and I were talking. We were discussing what the president's job was, what the Mayors job was, what the county commissioners job was. They have been noticing all the yard signs and always want to know who everyone's name is and the job they want.
Anyway, I said that Barack's job will be President, and Kitty's job will be Mayor, and Rob's job will be county commissioner. So Zionna asked "What about McCain? (his name is on a couple signs.) I said, "Well, he also wants to be President." She said, "NO, He can't! Just Barack! He needs a different job." So I asked, "What kind of job should he have?" "He should deliver pizza," she replied with authority.

TAXI!!!!

I really should paint my car yellow with all the zipping around I do now that school has started. Maybe install a little fare meter in the front of the car and deduct it from future allowances my children will eventually desire.

I haven't updated in awhile, and while I could try to blame the driving to school... it ends at 11:45 everyday so I am not sure that is a good excuse. I don't know what I have been doing.
I did crochet some things, a hat, scarf, and headband, and 1 baby bootie for Ted's cousin's baby. I do plan to make another on my journey to TX.

Oh, and our family possibly saved a tree with our new avoidance of paper towels. We were using about a roll a week if not more for our messy kids. If a cup goes on the table the chances of a spill are about 95% in our house. This meant lots of trees dying to clean that up. Now we have a growing collection of dish cloths and even switched over to cloth napkins (all from the thrift store.) It has not really added to my laundry pile since I just throw them into whatever load is next in line for washing. I must give the husband kudos on this as it was his idea. Clever Ted saves the world!(or at least a tree.)

I'm getting excited about the election. My ballot comes in the mail very soon (maybe tomorrow) and I am ready to Barack the Vote!

In the words of my lovely daughter "I like Obama because he is going to save the world."
(I never said that, all her words.) Even a child can feel the Hope.

So it begins

Yesterday was Zionna's first day of school. She was eager and excited to begin her Kindergarten career. She was the first one to run to the teacher when the door opened for the start of class.
I must say that I'm sad I cannot go with her to school. Not because I cannot stand to be away from her, but because this school just sounds so fun!
It is a public Waldorf school and that means that instead of focusing on academics and pushing to keep the" every child left behind act" happy, she will be discovering nature, singing to fairies, dancing, playing music, painting, sewing, knitting, and all sorts of other wonderful things that five year olds SHOULD be doing. It feels like an extension of our home and I have no doubt that she will adjust well to the rhythm of school.
Everything in the room feels good, all fabric and wood. Not a touch of plastic and I am so happy to say that not one computer is in the room.
When I toured schools around Eugene it was often a horrid sight of 5 year olds with headphones, microphones, and laptops zoned in to there own little space and not even an ounce of interaction with each other. It scared me, and still does to know that children are going to schools like this. We are very blessed to have gotten into this school, and even more so that we are not having to pay for it since it's a public charter.
This is a very thankful post. Knowing that Zionna is in such a positive and nurturing school that will inspire her creativity and allow her to blossom even more.

Broken

Liam flipped off of a swing Sunday night and broke his collar bone on the left side. He remains happy and continues to try to do daring things. The morning after the fall he asked to go to the park! He is napping right now and that is how I am able to be on the computer. I have to watch him oh so carefully because he keeps trying to do things that one should not do with a broken bone.
Should be healed in two weeks if I can keep him out of trouble for that long. On a positive note he got a rockin snoopy and the gang sling to wear while it heals. I will update with a photo at a later time.

Wet Paint!

I finally took advantage of the very short non-rainy season here in Oregon and got out my paintbrush. Originally I was planning to make my own paint out of flour and clay and other non-toxic things but after hearing about somebody in Seattle who did the same and had mold growing on the walls thanks to the damp northwest climate I decided not to.
Instead I got some no VOC paint from Dutch Boy.
Because the paint didn't have nasty chemicals I was able to paint while the kids were in the house. It took me a week and here are my results!

Children of the Corn... Syrup

Shopping for groceries with children is always a frantic and forgetful experience. I have read stories of teaching children colors and things like that by walking through the produce. That sounds like a wonderful idea, however WALKING through the produce aisle doesn't happen with my kids. It's more of a riding the cart, jump off and hope mom is looking, run towards the cookies type of trip with my two assistant shoppers. This means I don't have a whole lot of time to read ingredients. I go for as many things that say organic as possible. Recently though I had a trip to the store that required extra caution.

I went to the junky discount grocery. The one that has Pop Tarts, Trix, and florescent "fruit" snacks the moment you walk into the door. Artificial is the main word you see. They do, by popular demand of our nations "green" trend have organic things. You have to search but the prices are low enough it might be worth the battle.

I found some turkey burgers that seemed OK and went to grab some buns to go with them. The first one I picked up was pretty inexpensive so I checked the ingredients. Corn Syrup was number 2 on the list. After checking every bun they had, and some brands I had picked up at other stores without looking. Corn Syrup was on every one of them.

Next stop... "mommy can we get applesauce? I like it now!" Sure! Ground up apples sound like a great cool summer treat. Once again, corn syrup. On one of them it came on the ingredient list BEFORE apples. I'm not sure how that was even possible. After some digging I managed to find one that didn't contain that nasty ingredient. Thank you Tree Top!

Now, we are in a nation that has a childhood obesity problem. I have heard it blamed on video games and too much TV. I'm not saying they aren't to blame some, but come one! Corn syrup is in pretty much everything we buy. You have to really go out of your way to avoid it and with two children in the store it's pretty exhausting to do.

Recent studies have shown that as the use of Corn syrup in food has increased there has been a parallel increase in cases of diabetes. With all the activities that kids are signed up for these days it really is hard for me to believe that sedimentary lifestyle alone is to blame for the weight gain of American youth.

Simply avoiding products that are known sweets like cookies and cake just doesn't work. I ordered broccoli for Zionna at a market and the helpful sales person informed me that there was corn syrup in the broccoli I was about to purchase and she asked me if I was sure I wanted it. This was a rare instance of a person caring enough to tell me. I was extremely grateful for the information but mostly I was shocked.

The floods in the Midwest took out a bunch of corn fields, there is rumor of food prices going up even more because of this. Gee, do you think if they removed corn syrup from the ingredient list of all these foods maybe we wouldn't be in such bad shape price wise?

It's going to be hard, and I will have to find a recipe for hamburger buns, but my family is done with corn syrup.

Can I fix it?

YES I CAN!!!!! (Bob the Builder reference, not Obama)

This is my braggy post because I am proud of myself for being a handy gal around the house.

This past week I....
Made two rain barrels for water catchment
took apart and fixed the washing machine (i think)
dug up bamboo from somebody's yard and transplanted to my own
harvested lots of lettuce, peas, and spinach
blanched and froze lots of spinach
killed 500 million weeds with my bare hands
planted more food
ripped up some of the lawn and turned it into a wildflower bed
fixed two pumps on our pond and gave away some of the extra plants
built an Adirondack chair (ok so it was a kit in a box and mostly done)

I think that is it.
This next week I plan to paint the kitchen and possibly make my own paint. Oh yes, fun fun!

There are no photos because I have been to tired to take any. I shall now go soak in the hot tub and drink my wine!

Dead Head

I wish this was a posting about that stinking Nutria! He is still around and after my lettuce!
This isn't a posting about the Grateful Dead, although Jerry did make a few stops in Eugene back in the day. This is about Rhododendrons.
Now if you are like me a few months ago you will be like...Rhodowhat? They are a VERY popular flowering bush that grow in just about every yard in Eugene. We have at least 6 in our yard alone.
When we bought the house they were just plain green bushes and this summer I was delightfully surprised to see flowers all over them. Pink, white, purple. Oh, they were so pretty! Then the weather got slightly warm and the flowers dried up and began to fall off.
My super helpful neighbor explained to me that it was time to "dead head" them. I think I looked at him sideways for at least a few minutes before he walked into his yard and gave me a demonstration. You pluck off the top "dead head." However, you must wear gloves and bring a bucket to fill. When you pick them they are sticky like sap and will cling all over you.
Today I ventured out to the front yard and managed to "dead head" three of the bushes.
Now, why would we do such a thing? Why not wait for a heavy rain or wind to knock them off? Well, for one they look kinda depressing once they are dead. Second, and more important...they won't flower anymore if you don't! Every year that you don't take the heads off they produce less and less flowers. If you do take the heads off then you get EVEN MORE gorgeous blooms the next spring. We will see next spring if it was time well spent today.
My gloves are sappy and it's time to listen to some dancing teddy bear music... or not.

EVOO what the?

So, I am mostly a non-tv watcher and my house doesn't get a million channels. (I would prefer not get any but the cable company insist it cost the same for internet with or without the tv.) I don't get Food Network. Maybe I am out of the Rachael Ray loop but for this should I suffer when trying to find a good recipe. Should my family suffer when I force them to eat this dried out thing once called a zucchini?
I had a recipe swap with some friends a couple years back and after flipping through the book we had created together I saw a recipe for baked veggies. One in particular for Zucchini. Looking at the recipe pretty much everything was a spice except one I didn't recognize called EVOO. I figured it must be a spice as well so I spiced up the zucchini and stuck it in the oven. What I got was a very dried out, flavorful, but odd textured thing that my kids refused to eat. (oddly enough my children actually like zucchini.)
Today I decided to make it again, only this time I was going to google search EVOO and figure out where to buy such a spice. Well, for non-food network watchers like myself. It stands for Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Rachel Ray said it one day and apparently it's all the rage among the cooks to say EVOO instead of the longer version. I don't have anything against Rachel. She seems nice enough, I saw her live on a taping of the Tonight Show when we lived in LA. I'm sure she didn't mean to ruin my dinner.
Come to think of it, I hate acronyms in general. My husband used them a lot when we were first chatting online (yes folks, we met online) and it just made me crazy! I finally told him about my hatred of acronyms and now he uses them even more. Nice guy eh?
Anyway, back to the Zucchini problem. Cooking the new improved recipe as we speak. Baking in the oven. La la la... this is what we do while we wait. We shall see how the recipe ends up with my new knowledge.
Here is the recipe for those of you wondering, and everyone who could care less too.

Oven Roasted Zucchini
---------------------
Preheat oven to 400
cut your zucchini into inch thick rounds
mix in a bowl with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (that wasn't so bad to type out really)
sea salt, ground black pepper, rosemary, and garlic seasonings.
lay zucchini out on a baking sheet
bake, uncovered for 25-35 minutes
check often for your desired tenderness.

Swamp Rat

If you have ever watched Aladdin you may remember him being called a street rat. Well, I sometimes call Ted a swamp rat since he was born in Louisiana. It was a joke, he claims to be a Texan and I like to remind him that officially he is not. I thought I had made up the term "swamp rat" being the clever lady that I am.
Now the point of this post isn't to OUT him as a non-texan or prove that I am a mean horrible wife who makes fun of her husband's origins. The point is, that I met an official SWAMP RAT! It's living in our backyard, it may have friends, and despite the fact that we have given it a name it will be relocated soon.
Her name is Peggy the Lawnmower and she is also known as Nutria. Looks like a groundhog with the tail of a rat. She enjoys munching on grass, taking long dips in the pond, and living under our shed. Her habits have led to making my koi pond look more like a potty and everyone tells me that she will be tearing apart the garden next.
Now, these critters were brought into the USA (Louisiana to be exact) for the fur. Apparently they make a fantastic hat! The rule here in Oregon is that you can't catch and release, you can't shoot in city limits. So grab a cage, drag it to the country and fire away!!!! yee haw!
I plan on breaking the law and releasing it into the wetlands area. If you see me on the 6 o'clock news please come bail me out of jail. I don't like killing things, even if they are pests. I even catch mice and release them far away. I do kill spiders though, so WATCH OUT nasty little spiders!!! I will smush you in a second.

Fairy Festival

There was a Fairy festival last weekend and I took Zionna. Last month she drew what she wanted her dress to look like and then I went to work sewing it. I made it out of a pillow case, a valance, and some sheer rainbow fabric. I am thinking of making these dresses and trying to use 100% recycled material from thrift stores and then maybe sell them on etsy.
We had a lot of fun at the fairy festival wandering around the life size Candy Land board and playing with our friends. For our wings we used coat hangers, and tights that Zionna outgrew. Then we painted designs on them. I didn't get a photo of mine but I was wearing some of course!

Don't eat the leaves!

While in my garden area I discovered a very large plant that looked familiar. Turns out it was rhubarb growing from the past owners of our house. My grandmother always grew a ton of rhubarb and made the best pie. I made a strawberry rhubarb pie with mine hoping the kids would eat it. Liam and Ted loved it, but Zionna decided it was too tart despite the heaping amounts of sugar I put into it. I meant to take a photo of the pie when it was finished but I got so excited about eating it that I totally forgot to take the finished photo. I could show a photo of my tummy now that I consumed almost an entire pie, but that is just gross!

Oh Oprah..what have you done???

I just received an email about Oprah and her new church????
I was very confuses so I watched the YouTube video in the link to see what was going on. I mean, I don't watch TV so I can miss things like this if I'm not careful. Or maybe I am being careful by missing them.
Here is the video... and if you don't have time to watch it makes Oprah look like a cult leader and then at the last 2 seconds throws Obama in the mix.

My response:

My thoughts on this would be that Oprah is like so
many people today, she is searching. With her busy
life I would guess that she is very lonely and so it
makes since that she would be searching for a deeper
spirituality.  I know she was hanging out with a bunch
of Scientology people awhile back. She is lost.
 As far as the Church of Oprah, well yeah she is
teaching a web class.  She does that sort of thing
with her book club.  I think she is just excited to be
feeling something and wants to share it just like
anyone would.   Of course she is Oprah so she is
sharing it with millions.  Is she evil? Trying to
corrupt Christians and others? Nah, she is just trying
to share her experience in her personal search for
enlightenment. 
Hopefully those Christians watching will have a faith
strong enough that this won't throw them off course.
Perhaps those unbelievers who watch will continue
searching and eventually land upon Christ. 
Ok, and the Obama thing at the end was just silly.
That had nothing to do with the entire show so I'm
guessing a McCain or Clinton person put the video
together.   Oprah endorses Obama, not to be racist but
it sorta makes since.  First black president seems
like the kind of person a woman who so proudly
recognizes her heritage would endorse.  Obama wasn't
meditating or on the web conference so why stick his
name on the end? 
Did Fox news make this?  LOL!
:) 

Robotic Baby "Care"

Do you wish that you could afford a Nanny take care of your baby for you? We all know how expensive a nanny would be, especially a night nanny. Well, now you are in luck! For only 24.99 you can have your very own robotic baby timer. No longer will you have to wonder or care why your baby is screaming. Simply check the timer and it will tell you if the baby is wet, needs food, or should just be ignored because clearly it isn't TIME for it to need anything yet.
It even has a little night light to keep your baby feeling safe when you don't come in.

Why bother listening to your baby or reading the clues that it gives. You know that little uncomfortable wiggle and cry when the diaper is wet. Well, don't bother yourself with that. In fact, with a little luck you won't have to even look at your baby for most of the day. Just make sure the timer is close enough to hear it go off and enjoy your day.

I saw this product when I was cutting through the baby section to dodge the toy aisle. I must say that I was horrified and then just really sad because I am sure a million of these things will be sold. When you think about how babies are born today it makes since as the next step.
The entire pregnancy and birth is timed and measured and women are told when they should be dilating, when they should be pushing, and when when should be cut open since it's taking too long and dinner is getting cold. It only makes since that someone would try to continue this pattern of technology intervention.

Good News!

If you watch the evening news, or really any kind of news then you know that Good news just isn't in style as far as the media goes. Today I discovered a great website for some good news.
I could go on and on but... why not just let you go there yourself. Check THIS out!

My dead microwave

I have to say that I am glad it's dead. I had trouble with the loss at first and thought I would replace it after a couple of days. I knew warming things in pans would be healthier for keeping the nutrients in the food, but I have been surprised that it seems to be healthier too in other ways.
It's been interesting, the pace has changed in our house from the lack of micro waves dancing in the kitchen and zip zapping our food. It forces patience and a slower more relaxed rhythm to our day.
The kids can't just come in and say they are hungry and demand and expect something to be sitting in front of them in 30 seconds. Now they are learning that it will take some time and the requests seem to be filled with less haste and urgency by the day. (Unless Liam just woke from a nap, then LOOK OUT!)
Tonight we had leftover Jambalaya that Ted made yesterday. (Thank you honey, yum yum!) Instead of doing the normal ZAP, I put it in a pan and let it steam and warm and fill the house with all the delicious smells that come from a yummy Cajun dish. Dinner was more special, better than a nuked leftover. It had taken planning and time and yes, patience. I believe I heard "I'm hungry" three times while it was heating up. What a great way to teach patience to my kids, and to myself!
So the votes are in, the microwave will not be replaced by another. The toaster oven took it's spot and now I have more counter space for preparing those healthy slow cooked meals.
Any good recipe ideas?

Trash talk

It seems America is slowly becoming aware of how important recycling is. Our local trash company switched to one GIANT recycle bin that we can throw everything with the little arrow symbol into except glass, that goes in a little bin instead.
Anyway.... we have been averaging only 1 tall kitchen bag of trash a week. Everything else is either composted or recycled. I am pretty proud of that and think we are doing good for a family of our size.
Recycling and giving away things instead of tossing them work but I think for us composting has been a surprisingly significant reduction in our trash. We had lots of forgotten leftovers and food scraps going in the trash bag and now they are getting our garden ready.

So, how many bags of trash does your house produce? Any tips on reducing trash? I would love to see some helpful comments

Piano Concert

This is my bragging post. My daughter started piano lessons a couple months ago and had her first performance. I am very proud of her for getting up on stage without any hesitation. She was so excited and practiced the song all week long before the concert.
If you listen to the song she is playing the high notes. I think she plays a total of 18 notes.

Oh the places you will sleep...

When fussy children are about,
you will sleep strange places, there is no doubt,
On the floor beside the bed,
quietly, don't wake Ted.
On the couch half way sitting,
don't dare lay down, I'm not kidding!
If you do that child will wake,
Oh, the awful sounds that he will make.
Don't think at Two they will sleep all night,
If you do, you are in for a fright.
Maybe gas? A tooth? A bug?
All I know is he needs a Mommy hug.

Liam has began night/early morning waking again this week and while I'm not sure exactly what has been going on I have been sleeping in some odd places to keep him back in dreamland where he belongs. On weekends Ted always helps out but since I know he has long days at the office I try to give him a break during the week. Come Friday night though, I will not be leaving my cozy warm lovely bed. Can't guarantee that it won't have an extra 2 year old occupant though.

Meet Fry Guy

I am pleased to announce that I will no longer be buying gas!!!! We just got this handsome little car (1981 Datsun) and he runs on recycled veggie oil. He also came with about 600 gallons of veggie oil to get me started and a filter/pump and everything else I will need to go cruising down the road. If you smell Chinese food it might be me and Fry Guy driving by.
I'm so excited about this! I have wanted a grease car forever. It takes 60 bucks to fill up the tank of my mini-van and then I only get around 18mpg. Soon I will be driving Zionna to school everyday and the thought of that made me become very motivated to find an alternative solution to our transportation.
So, here he is folks....
Meet Fry Guy (I plan on a personalized plate soon)

The death of a microwave

My microwave died today and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my family isn't next in line. I have said often that we might starve without it. I could go get a new one, or maybe fix this one. I instead decided to see this as a challenge and try to live without a microwave. Heat things up in the toaster oven or *GASP* on the stove!
Anyone who knows me understands that I am not a cook. Microwaves kill nutrients though and we need those good things so I'm going to give it a try. This means planning ahead on my part.... like guessing when Liam might start screaming 'HUNGRY MAMA HUNGRY" and starting to cook before that point.
Goodbye to my super-fast-molecule-moving friend. You will be missed, and possibly replaced soon upon my imminent failure as a cook.

Super Deligates

I just finished writing a letter to the Super Deligates in support of Obama and wanted to share it:

Two years ago, I gave up reading the newspaper and paying attention to politics, the war, health care issues, everything. It was out of my hands, and so I gave up hope that I could do anything to change it.
I am a wife, and mother of two children. Worry is always in the back of my mind. I worry about how we will pay our high insurance premiums, I worry when my daughter coughs due to the polluted air we must breathe, I worry if my children will have recess when they go to school since the No Child Left Behind act doesn't leave time for it.
Over the past two months I have started watching the news again. I have stopped worrying and started getting really excited. There is now someone leading and taking charge that is sincere in his mission. Someone who wants the same changes that my family and our country desperately needs.
That someone is Barack Obama.
Being that I am the mother of two young children you can guarantee that I would not be taking the time out of my day to write this if I didn't think it was of the most importance to my family.
We need a leader who is not only genuine, but is ignited with passion to make a difference in the troubles our country is facing. With Obama leading us I believe hope doesn't have to be given up for America. When he says, "Yes, we can" I know he is right.

If you would like to write your own letter please do so here

Knit-Wit

Knit-wit... That is what my dear husband calls me. Isn't he a catch ladies?
Actually, what he is referring to is my new hobby.
The first thing I started knitting was a grocery bag made out of plastic bags. I am still working on it right now. Turns out that knitting plastic is really difficult and so I ended up teaching myself how to crochet via a google search. Crocheting plastic is a lot quicker but now that we have a cat it becomes difficult. You know how cats love balls of yarn? Well, now imagine it's a crinkly, plastic ball of yarn. Oh yeah! She loves it.


I decided to try to use regular yarn to knit something for a Mama knitting group that started up. I had the help of people already knowledgeable in knitting to guide me. I made a sweater for Liam using 4 rectangles and then piecing them together. Looking back at it now I really should have tapered down the top so it wouldn't be so boxy. I still love it anyway.



My next project was a gift for my new baby niece. I had originally planned to finish it while on my trip over Christmas but time slipped away and it never got done. I mailed it off to her about a week ago. Hopefully she is snuggly and warm in it.







I got a bargain on some funky yarn and after looking at knitting and crochet patterns for 30 minutes my head started hurting and I decided to wing it and make Mama Booties! When you knit these type of things you need 4 double pointed needles. Since I can barely use two I opted to crochet them instead. I am so happy with these things. They are sooo comfy. I have been wearing them over my socks around the house to keep my toes extra toasty.

Dirty Jobs

We are composting for the first time and it has been a learning process for us. First, figuring out what to put in the compost and next figuring out what exactly to do with all of it.
Last weekend we got some very helpful info from our local community festival on how to compost properly and discovered we needed to turn and mix our compost bucket. Ewwww!

Our house came with a compost container called Earth Machine. We are very lucky to have it as it contains the mess and the smell and keeps the bugs out too.

After mixing and stirring I discovered our mix of leftover food and grass we have been putting in the bucket has already started turning to soil. We just started using it a couple months ago and we were pretty excited to see that it was already working.

I thought I would be grossed out but after a few stirs I started having fun. It's messy but it's just so cool to see how the food turns into nutrients that will eventually help our food grow.
The compost mix was very dry so we had to add water. The kids of course helped carry the heavy bucket so I wouldn't strain my back.

Be mine, valentine

It's fun to think how Valentine's Day has changed for me over the years. My memory of it starts out with my Mom always making me a card and giving me a special treat.
As I got older I remember our school doing a carnation fund raiser where you could buy flowers for people and they would be delivered to the classroom. I think I remember my friend and I sending flowers to each other so we wouldn't feel left out but I never got one from a boy (oh sob sob.)
There were other Valentine's Days to follow involving jitters and giggles and jewelry and chocolates purchased with the help of someone's mother.
I can't say I ever remember having a date on Valentine's day but I do remember a card from my soulroommate Ali. I still have it actually! It said Boys PHOOEY and it was terrific.
Of course now I'm married so I always have a sweetheart but we don't really make a big deal out of the holiday. I do however, require chocolate. It doesn't have to be Valentine's day for him to give me chocolate though. Any day will work, for example...Tuesday. I LOVE CHOCOLATE!!!
I spent the afternoon making cards for and with my daughter. She had some stickers we were given by a hotel maid (that is what happens when you live in a hotel for awhile,) and so she has been covering the construction paper with them. The funniest so far is to her friend's baby sister and the stickers read:
Fabulous My Forever Sweetheart Passion perfect Sexy Sweet lil'hottie
cutie be mine special moments stolen moments.

The perfect card for any 1 1/2 year old don't you think?
I hope that her mother doesn't stop talking to me after this.

Making friends with the worms

Yesterday we had a day of sun and it was almost 60 degrees outside. I put my boots on and got started on the garden!
I am really excited about this project and Zionna is interested in helping me this year. Last year she really didn't care for it. Maybe it has something to do with being able to use bigger garden tools now?
Anyway we are getting the soil ready and then I plan to have some plants starting in the greenhouse this weekend. We covered half the plot with old carpet from Ted's garage office to kill the weeds and make less work for us. I discovered that the soil is fantastic and full of worms. The kids were creeped out by the worms at first but after a talk they now know the worms are working hard to make sure our veggies have good soil to grow in.

Things I would like for the garden include:
fantastic garden stakes from uncommon goods. I think I will be getting some paint and scrap wood and making my own. I do love them though!

The other thing would be CHICKENS! I'm not sure when we will get them but we are allowed up to 3 chickens in our neighborhood. Maybe more if nobody complains. Fresh eggs, pest control, weeders, and an interesting pet. I'm still researching them to figure out everything I will need. If anyone has any tips or advice please contact me!

Must see video

This video was created by supporters of Barack Obama using his speech from the New Hampshire Primary.
If you live in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, or Utah...
Then Tuesday Feb 5th is YOUR day to shape the future of our country.

It's a big mess right now and I don't plan to leave it this way for my children. I will be doing what I can to fix it and that includes supporting someone who has a goal to bring hope and to bring change.
Yes We Can!

It's almost over!

We are almost done being ruled by the crazy Texan idiot! Oh, I cannot wait to be free of him.
Typically I could care less about either opponant and just try to vote for the lesser of the 2 evils running, but not this time. This time I'm actually a pretty big fan of somebody running and so I decided it was worth a blog.
Obama brings hope to my thoughts on politics in America and makes me think that maybe he could fix some of what our current leader so badly screwed up.
Learn more about what he stand for here

Something Important

Recently I was told by a family member that they felt I should be doing something important, perhaps OUTSIDE the home. Thinking on this more led me to wonder should I volunteer somewhere, find some sort of job, become a birth activist, run for mayor (he he he.) If I did any of these things it would of course leave my kids in the care of someone else during the time I'm out doing "something important." Then I realized, what could possibly be more important than loving, caring for, and shaping my children as they are at such a critical age.
There was a big campaign when we lived in California about FIRST FIVE. The first five years are so important and it was big on promoting preschool. I have to disagree with the school of thought that preschool is the best place for my kids. I don't think it's a bad place, but it certainly doesn't top being with Mom. We play with other kids, we go to all kinds of places like science museums, dance, music, the playground. It's obvious to me that my almost 5yr old daughter is learning because she is now reading books herself and doing simple addition/subtraction.
I am not really interested in academics at this age anyway, that was just something that she reached for on her own and I embraced as I do anything she shows interest in (assuming it's not something like painting the wall with food.) The things they are soaking in right now are my values, my love, and the calm and security of home.
They will have plenty of years to explore the big world without me but I would like to think I will leave a little of me in them to help them on the journey. So for now I will continue this important job as they grow and need me less I am certain I will find other important things to do.