Happy Earth Day!!

Hello everyone.  As you know, today is (or rather Friday, the day I typed this was) Earth Day. Now, whether or not you did something to celebrate, I don't care.  Far be it for me to jump all over you for not doing something to honor Mother Earth, when I pretty much sat on my keester and fiddle-farted with my laptop for most of the day.   HOWEVER, my kids did plenty!  
They helped their grandma plant our garden for the season.  This year they planted:
* corn
* green beans
* replace one of your artichoke plants because it was trampled on
* tomatoes (in a very generic topsy turvy)
* carrots and lettuce (both using some sort of bio-degradable strip with the seeds built in so they are evenly spaced and yet some how still all cramped too close together)
*  redirected our black berry bush (re-using part of our previously delapitated gazeebo)
* added a few more "wild flower mystery seeds" to where the California Poppys took over and choked out the rest of our previously beautiful & diverse array of flowers. (sounds a bit political to me)
* and planned out where to later add our pumpkin plants closer to mid-summer. (if not, you get pumpkins in August and well... they don't keep 'til Halloween.  We've tried.)

I don't know about you, but the whole adventure makes me tired just thinking about it.   But I'll be out there to enjoy it once the weather gets warmer and it's time to eat it all harvest.   ;0)

Pictures from previous years:

Small Pumpkins. Great for scarecrow butt cheeks. ;0)

Our smallest tomato year ever, but still not bad since we didn't plant any that year. 

Rogue tomato plants!  Gotta love them.

Ivy and what WAS our wild flowers... ignore the weeds.

Maybe THATs what choked them out.  Hrmm....  Nah!

This is what happens when you don't pick your artichokes in time.

Pretty isn't it?  Scotish Thistle anyone? ;0)

Haven away from home. ;0)

Ya, warning... with the pretty sunflowers comes bees.

But they're so pretty!!!

And eventually... yummy. ;0)

Happy Earth Day!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday and a few words

I took this picture a couple months back.  Yes, I saw this sad thing on the road.  Yes, that is packaging tape.  Yes that is packaging tape you see holding the gas cap on.  And yes, the tail end was a lot worse.

And people wonder why I have such high anxieties when it comes to driving.

MESA: Where Nerds Are Grown With Love!

A few months back, my daughter joined MESA at school.  MESA stands for Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement.  Great program that helps under priviledged children (sadly, that includes our children off and on) learn the fun points of geekery in the hopes that they grow up to become the next Bill Gates and take over the world!!   Or, atleast someone who designs things that won't break.  Which is good too.  

Saturday was her first MESA Day competition.  She competed in Tetrahedral Kites and Kapla Blocks which she had to stack in a tower and balance an apple on the top. She never got to the apple part. Because the tallest/most stable towers win, she was not satisfied with her attempts and knocked them all down.






All the kids took a math test to start off with. Top 3 scores in each grade won a medal. Her school won a lot of medals! In the math test alone, their 3rd grade group sweeped! They also won medals in the kites, kapla blocks, water bottle rockets, popstick bridges, pop up books, macaroni cars, and a few others I can't recall.

Cait was not one of the winners, but she had fun. It was pretty awesome! :0)

Earth Hour 2011

Last night my family and I took part in the 3rd annual Earth Hour.  I had just learned of it on FaceBook and after doing a quick bit of research, decided it sounded like something we could do with the kids that was not only easy and green, but also free and fun.  We were already planning a game night that night. Totally made sense.  We even got Grandma to turn off her TV and join in on the fun. :0)

  Uno Stacko by Candle Light.

Family Bonding with a Cause!

Japan. My Thoughts Are With You.

Thursday, my heart sank.
I saw the water as it rushed ashore and I felt powerless.

8.3   8.8   8.9    I doubt it makes a difference the actual magnitude when you are in the midst of  swaying buildings and falling debris.  Your only thoughts are "Holy Crap!" and "How do I get out of this alive."  Heck, those were my thoughts when I was in the "Great Quake of 89" in the San Francisco Bay Area.  And it was only a 7.1.  And I was about 25 miles away from the epicenter.  I was afraid for my life during and physically ill from the shaking after.  I can only imagine how much more intense it was in Japan.  I mean, earthquakes are survivable, but if you are caught in the wrong place during one, there is nothing you can do.  It's not like they come with warnings. 

Unlike tsunamis.

Plenty of warning.  Not much in the way of surviving if you are in the way of a large wave. Or, as we saw in Japan, fast rolling water.  That just blew my mind!  The water just ... spread out.   Like an assimilating amoeba, absorbing everything in its path.  It looked like a harmless puddle spreading across the land, until it would topple a building like it was nothing more than a sandcastle.  Or you'd focus on the debris it was pushing along and realize it was a fleet of cars!! 

Were there people in those cars?  Where there people in those buildings?  My mind went there many times and for my own sanity, I lied to myself and said, "No.  Not possible.  They had warnings.  They headed the warnings.  Why wouldn't they?"  Then they'd show the water creeping towards a town.  With a road.   With cars on it.   Cars driving both ways as if they weren't sure where to go, or worse... didn't realize the water was coming.  I did all I could NOT to scream at the TV!!  A few cars turned around, but it didn't matter.  The water was coming from both directions.  What happened to those people?  Did they make it?  Again, I lied to myself. 

Why did I keep watching that night?   People describe it as watching a train wreck, you just can't look away.  Literally, a morbid curiosity.  I finally forced myself to change the channel and watch reruns of  "The King of Queens" in the attempt to get my mind off it.

But those in Japan, didn't have that luxury.  It made me feel guilty.  Those in Hawaii didn't have that luxury either.  It was headed their way.  And then I heard it might reach us here in CA.  I wasn't as worried for my fellow Californians.  We had more warning than anyone else.  What killed me were the morons who just had to line up near the beaches to see the waves!  Seriously?!?!?  You're being told that a tsunami is coming and you purposely get in the way?!?  We really have a false sense of security here in the US.  Not even WATER can touch us!  WTF?  Do they not remember Hurricane Katrina?!?   Then I heard a man was swept out to sea because he was taking pictures of the waves.  *shakes head*  There was even a warning that the waves may reach up to 6 ft high and he still got in the way!!  Not to speak ill of the dead, but that had Darwin Winner written all over it.   Turns out they were wrong.  The wave was 8 ft.  No out-running that!!

One thing really bugged me about they way some of my fellow Californians reacted.  Japan was hit hard.  They are facing a potentially massive death toll, many are missing, and the damage will take a long time to clean up and recover from.  And now, they face the possible effects from the nuclear plant exploding.  Life as they know it will not be the same for quite some time.  Here in CA, we were barely tapped in comparison.  (Here's what really bugged me) Many of the people interviewed here came across and shallow and materialistic!  "Oh, my boat!  I lost my boat!"  (not a direct quote) Seriously?!?  Did you live there?  Unless you lived there, who gives a fuck?!?!  One chick said she was "devastated" by damage.   Really?   It's a boat.  Sure, it cost you a pretty penny, but still!   THAT'S.  NOT.  DEVASTATION!!"   You wanna see true devastation?   Watch the videos of Japan.  Gain some prospective! 

*steps off the soap box*

Please.  If you can.  Donate.  Japan is going to need all the help they can get from all of us world wide.  The easiest thing you can do is text a donation.  Quick, easy and virtually painless.  You can donate $10 to either Salvation Army by texting either "QUAKE" or "JAPAN" to 80888 or to the Red Cross by texting "REDCROSS" to 90999.  Both will bill your ten dollar donation to your phone bill and both are tax deductible.  

Blessings to all affected, even here in the US, but especially in Japan.

POST, YOU WANKER!!!

I got this blog set up because NORMALLY, I'm an endless windbag of chatty nonesense. 


Not so much lately.


Maybe it's the lack of sleep?  The baby?  The other 2 kiddos in school?  My recent consignment sale projects?  (more on that later, I promise)  Or maybe it's just the looming depression I've had lately?  Who knows.  Just haven't had the desire to type.  That isn't normal.   For me anyway.  Normally, I am boggin' down my girlfriends on our Mom's Site blabberin' away about pretty much everything.  But here lately, the blab-blin' brook has run dry.


It's been a month since my last post.  Wow, that sounds like a confession.  Forgive me reader for I have sinned.  It has been a month since my last post. "Post two blogs, Tweet 5 times and all will be forgiven."  I promise I will do better.  Or atleast I'll try.  Maybe I should sign up on some of those blog ring things.  An actually audience that would hold me accountable and call me names might be just what I need to post more.  Not a nice audience mind you.  They would forgive.   And I would feel fine flaking knowing I'd be foregiven.  No, I need posts like "You Wanker!!  Post Already!!"  That I would respond to.  Or atleast, I'd like to think I would.   Altough, in reality, that would probably make me shut it all up and quit all together.  Or maybe not.  


What am I trying to say... no clue.  I'm rambling.  Sadly, it's what I do best.

"I have two pants on!"

The other night, my eldest daughter came in to us because she had a nightmare.  As usual, she couldn't remember what it was about, but she was visually shaken.  And shirtless.   When I asked her why she didn't have a shirt on, she couldn't really answer. She had no idea.  It wasn't a particularly warm night, but she has been known to tunnel under all her blankets and overheat.  So, we did a quick search for her top in and around her bed with no luck.  Desperate to get back to sleep (both girls had night issues and I was beyond tired!), I gave up and got her another shirt and helped her back in bed.

The next morning, we were in the kitchen making breakfast when she looked down and exclaimed "I have two pants on!"  When I asked her why, she responded "I don't know."  Immediately, I knew what had happened and headed for her closet.   Sure enough, in her hamper, was her shirt.  On the floor was 2 more jammie shirts.  When I called her in there and pointed it out, she seemed a bit confused.  "I didn't do that." 

"Ya, I believe you did hun.  I think you were sleep walking."
"I didn't do that!"
"Well, I didn't put 2 pairs of pants on you in the middle of the night."
"Oh, ya.   But I didn't put my shirt in there."
"Ya, I think you did."

This was the first time in my daughters life she was utterly speachess.  I wish I hadn't been worried and trying to hide so I could have enjoyed the moment.  I explained what sleep walking was and how her older brother in Nevada does it form time to time.  That seemed to help, but she still seemed a bit freaked out about it.  (I was too, to be honest.)  While she was at school, she worked through it in her own way.  She talked to her classmates.   When I picked her up, she came running to me yelling "Maurice does it too!"

"Does what?"
"Sleep walks!"
"He does?  You told Maurice?"
"Ya!  I told him how I woke up in two pants and how took my shirt off with out knowing it because I slept walked.  He said he sleep walks all the time too.  He's slept walked to the bathroom before!"
"He did?  Wow.  So you feel better about it now?"
"Yup."
"Cool."
"I just hope I don't walk up with two pants on again."

Me too.  


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To the few regular readers I have and the many lurkers:

Happy Valentine's Day!