Shiny = Fancy

I get the privilege to see my Mom today in Warner Robbins. She's usually in Lexington, KY, but currently visiting my brother's home.

He's got 3 cute kids, and the toys to prove it. My two girls couldn't imagine a more engaging play place. So, I'm enjoying a rare respite from toddler boredom. (Its a disease that comes at intervals. The main symptoms are a toddler climbing on and/or destroying more that one valued family heirloom every five minutes or so. The other main symptom is a mother wrapping up a day at home with the kids by going to bed at 7PM on drugs and crying herself to sleep.) Yeah, we've been suffering from an acute case of toddler boredom and teething this past week.

And now, my blogging is occasionally interrupted with Grace's joyful voice,

"Look, Mom, its a mixer!"

"Isn't this pipe fancy?"

"Ooooh, isn't this fancy?"

I'll take it!

Royal's new blog away from this blog

Royal has been a little industrious lately... here's the link to his personal compilation of instructables.... or in other words, detailed how-tos.

http://www.instructables.com/member/royalestel/

The Flying Scrooge

Or, in other words, Royal's latest building project....

The Ornithopter

The Orni what-er?

Its the flying home-made gadget resembling a dragonfly that Royal constructed from office supplies. Then, of course, he posted detail by detail how to do it yourself on instructables.com!

You have got to see this! Here's a sneak peek...

http://www.instructables.com/id/E6HII1H1JREZIXCMII?ALLSTEPS

What's in a Word?

Grace has always been a talented speaker. And, when she wants for a word, she invents descriptions that are creative and clever.

So, see if you can guess what the following definitions refer to:

1. Pinching scissors

2. the Loop stick hanger

3. Nuts shaped like little hot dogs

4. Baby chewing suckers


Give up?


1. cooking tongs

2.Wire Hanger with a paper tube on the long side

3. Cashews

4. pacifiers.

Smiter Bad Guy

We have a new superhero around these days. He goes by the name, "Smiter Bad Guy."

Grace thought of this name. The term "Smiter" originates from "smite" as found in the Book of Mormon. She is frequently inspired by vocabulary we find in the scriptures. Infact, most of our daily family scripture time involves explaining definitions for all the new words in the one verse we get through. Smite was a particularly applicable word to Grace's life, and she has remembered and used it since we first came across it.

So, Smiter Bad Guy is a character, disguised as a little girl, that carries a large weapon disguised as an oversized leaf rake (don't be fooled by its innocent appearance!). He depends on local Good Guys to deliver enemies to him. The enemies are usually disguised as Lawn and Garden implements.



Then, he takes the enemy to an unoccupied part of the yard, lays him down...





and smites him once with the weapon.









That destroys any enemy we've found so far. Thanks, Smiter Bad Guy, for keeping the yard a safe place to live!

Daily Early Morning Seminary

I'm teaching Early Morning Seminary these days.

Its... real early.

So, think of me around 6:15 AM.

What's that, you say? You're still in b... NO! Say its not true!

I'm not listening... Nananana nanaaaaa.... I can't hear you....

I have to go to bed now. See ya.

Running on Chalk Fumes

Well, I dicovered an ususual source of fuel for Sienna's car. . .



Sidewalk chalk! I'm not sure who first tried it, Grace, or Sienna. But, at any rate, one stick'll last over a week of driving! Who knew?

And the other power driving that thing would be Baby power. It's about 1/5 one horsepower unit. Just adorable!

Giving Blood

Some talented Red Cross salesman called me the other day.

He told me about how special and rare my blood is. (I've given here before, so they should know!) He explained the very unusual quality it has, which allows it to be administered to infants and cancer patients. And he finally explained the shortage of this special blood in our area right now.

What could I say? I was flattered into making an appointment.

So, this morning, I marched into the Red Cross office full of self-importance and generosity.

And a pint or so lighter, I went on with my slightly light-headed day.

If you've got clean blood, Just Give!

I'm contemplating posting a pic of my wound. It looks really bad this time, but I'll spare you all.

Adventures in Gardening

I have been trying to grow a "successful" garden for a few years. My main motivation is the appeal of self-sufficiency. My secondary motivation is saving a few bucks.

Last year (2006), we were in a rental home during planting season, and put a few herbs in pots.



In May 2006, we got back home and put in some Zinnia seed. They grew for Grace! I'll try to post some wonderful pics. They bloomed through December 1st! (far left pic)















The Year before that (2005) we were in 2 different rental homes during planting season. We didn't plant.

The year before that (2004, I suppose... how time does fly!) we built 2 small raised garden beds. The only picture I have is the strings marking the squares. You may wisely note that each bed is completely shaded. Hmmm... why didn't that ever occur to me?



Grace helped me plant carrots seeds, and something else that also didn't grow. This was my poor attempt at Square foot gardening.

So, this year! 2007! No time like the present, eh!

This winter, I read the excellent book, "How to Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons. It is a "biointensive" method of gardening, which translates to 1. you plant "tightly", similarly to the square foot method, and 2. you carefully "grow" your soil so that your garden can always be self-sustainable, without fertilizers and other things being trucked in from someone else's land.

Jeavon's perspective of sustainability has really drawn me in and changed the way I look at the soil, the earth, and the things I consume. This may sound weird, but I now feel closer to understanding the earth and how all we have comes from it. Jeavon's doesn't do any preaching in his book, but I've grown so much from reading it! I recommend it highly, and please do yourself a favor and get it free from the library! It has been around at least 30 years.

Back to my garden in 2007, So, we picked a sunnier spot for this year's garden. Royal helped me prepare the soil. Along with our 6 tomatoes, 6 peppers, and one strawberry plant (thought Grace would love that), we splurged and bought 3 blueberry bushes! (I've wanted to put in some kind of fruit for about 5 years.)

Today, Royal put in some okra seed, and I tossed in a few basil and Nasturtium (flowers that repel bugs in theory) seeds.

In our remaining shady raised garden, Grace put in Cosmos Flower seeds several weeks ago, and today she put in Zinnia's from 2 years ago. Maybe they'll grow. I've kept them in the freezer carefully.

So, Wish us luck! If we live here through August, maybe we will get something. As we pray for a harvest, nourish our plants with great care, and keep the Sabbath day holy, we are very hopeful for some food blessings.

Pretty Pretty Princess

This is the toy referenced in the next post.

Here is Grace's new game, with Mom playing along. (It's actually pretty fun.) This is a dress-up board game.

Sienna's First Car

I splurged today at a consignment sale. I allowed the girls to each pick out one toy. I contributed $3 to Grace's pick, and $5 to Sienna's. This is an inordinately large amount of cash for me to blow, especially on toys. (We have very conservative views on how many toys are necessary for a happy childhood. Okay, that was an understatement...)
But, I digress...
So, anyway, here are the girls enjoying their new treasures.

And, bytheway, five bucks ain't bad for Sienna's first set of wheels. It even gets great gas mileage.