Camp GonnaWannaFly

Good Morning, Campers :)

I have a new plan. (ta da da da daaaa!) A new *brilliant* plan. (ta da da da DAAAAA!) For getting my house in order.

Let me explain.

Over the weekend I found myself wishing, if I had oh, two hundred dollars, I could pay someone to come over and clean my house from top to bottom. Then I thought, no, really it needs more than that. It needs clutter cleared away and closets cleaned out and shelves and drawers organized. How much would it cost me to pay someone to do that? Hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Yes, yes it would. That's how pathetic things have gotten here. (And I have to fight off adding, "pathetic and hopeless.") Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not in danger of child protective services coming knocking at my door. And I can still watch Clean House and be slightly comforted that it could be worse. But it is enough that I think about all that needs done, and I feel overwhelmed, and I don't even want to start.

Now, FlyLady would say, "You aren't behind, just jump in where you are." And she would say, "You can do anything for 15 minutes." And I considered trying to get back on the FlyWagon. I even went to her website last week to see what the zone missions were. I put "declutter for 15 minutes" on my daily top ten list.

But, I have the attention span of a squirrel and the patience of a toddler, and I want my house clean NOW. I don't want to spend all summer with the decluttering projects looming over my head. And after doing a few 15 minute stints, they seem like a drop in the bucket.

So, new plan.

Camp GonnaWannaFly.

Here's how Camp GonnaWannaFly works. (And yes, I stole the name from FlyLady.) Every day for a week, I spend an hour or two decluttering flat surfaces, corners, and edges of rooms. I'll take a different room in the house each day. By the end of the week, each room should be looking pretty good when I walk into it, and that will give me a lot of steam and encouragement to start....

Week Two. Now I spend two hours each day, while the kids are at VBS, to do some serious decluttering. I'll start with the hall closet, and work my way around the closets of the house. I won't get it all done in a week, but I'll get some real ground gained.

Week Three will be a fun week of daytrips and playdates and swimming if we can beg our way into anyone's pool.

And I haven't figured out the other three weeks of summer yet. One of those weeks needs dedicated to Sweetling's room.

Here's what my Week One will look like:
Monday: the front porch, the entry, the living room.
Tuesday: the kitchen
Wednesday: the school room
Thursday: my bedroom
Friday: fun day. order May photos and birthday photos to start scrapbooking next week.

Now, the goal each day is to spend just an hour or so in each room in the morning and so still have the afternoon free to play, watch a movie, go to the library, or go grocery shopping. So, my daily schedule for week one, hopefully, will go like this:

7am--up, stretch, dishes
7:30--breakfast and devotions
8--get kids breakfast
8:30 shower
9--devotions and phonics with Toa of Boy
10--cleaning
11--on Tuesday and Thursday--leave for Toa of Boy's speech therapy
12--(or when we get home) lunch

Anyone want to go to camp with me? I could use a little support and accountability.

And my daily top ten list--
1. Up-yes.
2. Stretch. No, I blogged instead.
3. Weigh 120.8
3a. ha ha
4. Dishes-not yet. I was still blogging.
5. Devotions and breakfast--
6. exercise--
7. Declutter--
8. glasses of water--
9. No-S--
10. Evening--

Just for Holly

When I'm completely stuck (or completely overwhelmed) on what to write, sometimes I'll do a Friday Fill-In. I don't do them every week, cause I don't do anything that regularly. But they're good for a writing quickie.

But seriously, don't feel bad about not blogging. Or at least, don't feel guilty. The blog is supposed to be, ta da, for *you*. If what you need right now is just to sit and read while you're nursing a little one, then do that. But if you *want* to blog, and just don't have time to write "perfectly", then give yourself permission to write "badly". OR (and this is what I've thought about my blog in the past) if you feel that you have to wait till you can write a long, extensive, explanation about why you haven't been blogging, cut it out.

Your blog. Not ours. You don't owe us anything. In fact, I think you should stick your tongue out at the monitor right now and blow a raspberry at us.

There. Feel better?

So, here's my Friday Fill-In. (The prompts are in regular font and my answers are in bold.)

1. I grew up thinking _I could be anything I wanted to be__.

2. _Facebook_ was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you _hmmm...I already suggested blowing a raspberry at the computer...so, why don't you write the last nice thing you did for yourself_?

4. _Hot chocolate_ helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the _clothes and ice cream, Telephone!_.

6. _____ very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, Friday I'm NOT looking forward to _gaming. Someone "doesn't know" what she wants to do. (And no, for once I'm NOT that someone._
Saturday my plans included _going clothes shopping (for me! wheee!) and out to Graeter's ice cream with Telephone and Tall Girl._
And Sunday, I want to _make Cincinnati Style Chili_!


If you don't want to do the Fill In, Holly, do number 3 :)

Take Care, Take Care.

I feel like a Munchkin now. "Good bye, good bye...."

Weight Loss

In response to concerned friends, let me explain why I'm saying I'd like to lose 10 lbs. First of all, I'm a tiny person. Its true. I think I might just be half-elven. I'm 5' 3 1/2", which isn't too short, but I have the tiniest skeletal frame imaginable. My wrist is 5 1/2" around. So, take a piece of yarn, cut off five and a half inches of it. Hold it in a little loop, there you have my wrist. Tiny.

From the ages of 19 onward, until I got pregnant, I weighed 98 lbs. I didn't diet, in fact, I lived on sweets and junk food until I got married, when the Jedi's more responsible habits and ability to cook ensured me at least one healthy meal each day. I didn't exercise, but I was active. While I was in college I didn't own a car so I did a great deal of walking. After college I worked as a preschool teacher, which also kept me active. I wasn't anorexic or bulimic or even concerned with my weight. But everytime I was weighed, I came in at 98.

When I was expecting, I changed my eating habits. Gone were the chocolates and the sweets and the junk food. Instead I really focused on eating a healthy, balanced diet for the baby. I gained a goodly amount of weight, and looked like someone had stuffed a beach ball up my dress. Observe....

And that's still with a month to go before I delivered.

I nursed Sweetling for a year, and continued my healthy eating, though a bit less stringently. About 2 years after Sweetling was born, I was in for a check-up, and low and behold, I weighed 102. Did I diet to get there? Nope. Did I even worry about my weight up until that point? Nope. Did my stomach look like a piece of dead elephant hide rudely grafted to my skinny little body? You betcha.

Now, Sweetling is 11 and I weigh 120. Don't get me wrong, 120 is not a bad weight for my height. And I don't think anyone would call me chunky. (And if they did, I've got a pretty mean round-house kick now.) But, I still have this ponchy belly gut that I don't like. And year of Tae Kwon Do, complete with stomach crunches and sit ups and the like hasn't changed that any. So, I don't think stomach "flattening" exercises are going to fix it. The only thing I think might have at least a little impact is perhaps some weight loss.

Mathematically, 120 is a nearly 20% increase over what I weighed 2 years after childbirth. It has to be on my body somewhere. Seeing myself in profile leads me to suspect at least a good portion of this additional mass might be hanging out just below my belly button. A few kind friends have reminded me that muscle weighs more than fat, or some such thing. Cause I'm so buff now, apparently.

And even if I don't lose any weight, being mindful of not eating junk food or excess sweets can't be bad for me. And my heart could certainly benefit from a little bit of activity on a daily basis. So, I think my plan is a reasonable one from a health stand point.

I did do a quick google search for other ways of looking at a body's proportion. I'm not quite sure what this one is...but I'm posting it here anyway.
Hip, Waist, Chest Ratio Calculator

Here be my measurements, I think, and their ratios. According to the brief paragraph of explanation on the site,

"Published data suggests that a WHR (waist to hips ratio) of 0.7 for women and 0.9 for men have been shown to correlate strongly with general health and fertility. Women within the 0.7 range have optimal levels of estrogen and are less susceptible to major diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and ovarian cancers. Men with WHRs around 0.9, similarly, have been shown to be more healthy and fertile with less prostate and testicular cancer. A CHR (chest to hips ratio) of less that .8 suggests the possibility of poor circulation and poor exercise habits. A CWR of greater than 1.1 also indicates poor exercise habits and suggests dietary evaluation."

hips 38
waist 30
chest 35

wth .79
wtc .86
cth .92

And my ten point check list for the day...which I'll update as I go along.
1. Up-yes. Thanks to the Jedi :)
2. Stretch. Yes.
3. Weigh 121.2 So motivational. :(
3a. ha ha
4. Dishes-yes
5. Devotions and breakfast--yes
6. exercise--wii olympics (and TKD this evening)
7. Declutter--cleared some things off the kitchen counters and table
8. glasses of water--6
9. No-S--one oreo. only one. but that one was just irresistible.
10. Evening--only 6 ounces of hot chocolate and no jelly on my english muffin.

(ps---Holly!!!! Its so good to hear from you again! How are you doing?? What are you doing? How have you been?)

New June Resolutions

Crappy Title. So sue me.

They aren't New Years Resolutions. They are June Resolutions. Here they go.

1. Get up before seven. (Yes, those of you who know me know that this was also a New year's resolution. Yet here it is again.P)

2. Stretch.

3. Weigh self. (just 10 lbs. If I could lose 10 lbs and keep it off, I'd be happy.)

3a.If its STILL before seven (ha ha)...get in the shower. Otherwise...

4. Do dishes and get a shower when Mom is out.

5. Devotions and breakfast.

6. Sometime during the day take 20 minutes to play an active wii game. I don't have wii fit, so this will have to do for a daily exercise.

7. Sometime during the day take 15 minutes to declutter one closet or storage area. (This is just a summer goal. Not a school year goal.)

8. Drink water. I think I'm better about not getting the munchies during the day when I'm constantly drinking glasses of water.

9. Follow the No- S diet. (No snacks, extra sweets, or seconds except on days that start with S).

10. Cut evening hot chocolate to 6 oz. Thats enough to feel happy and its still trimming a tiny, tiny bit of calories out.

That won't lose me 10 pounds overnight. That wont even lose me 10 pounds in a month. But it maybe will be enough for a slow loss. Likewise, it won't get my house clean and organized in a week, but maybe by the end of the summer. Maybe.

Here's how I'm doing today on each of those things:
1. No.
2. No.
3. 120.8
4. yes.
5. yes
6. Sadly, I think Happy Feet isn't quite active enough to count as exercise.
7. I put away groceries, does that count?
8. 3 glasses
9. No-S Caved and bought a Twix bar. Ate half of it.
10. Had nutty bars with kids at church so skipped hot chocolate.

Comlete Your Draft Contest!

I just need to stop visiting Nora's blog. This is why.

The thing that makes it super super tempting is...

A) This contest is half the length of NaNo.
B) This contest is in June, not in the middle of the school year.

Just walk away, Xuan. Turn off the computer, and walk away.

25,000 words. That's half of NaNo. What else am I doing in June?

Ok, official ruling. I'm invoking a rule that all ENFPs should follow. Do NOT, repeat NOT, sign up, jump in, begin, or in any way commit to a new endeavor until you have thought about it for at least a week. If, at the end of the week, it's still something you want to do, then you may join. But likely, by the time a whole week is passed, the ENFP will be enamored with something else.

Kitchen Table Conversations

It's 9:42 am.

Toa of Boy sits at the kitchen table tracing Genesis 1:27 in his copy book.

Sweetling sits at the kitchen table simplifying polymomial expressions and putting them in standard form.

I stand leaning on one of the chairs and finishing the cup of hot chocolate I've been nursing since 8:30 this morning. (And just to toot my own horn, so far this morning I've gotten a shower, done some weeding out front, had breakfast and my morning devotions, whined on Facebook, chatted with Mango, loaded breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and washed last nights pots and pans.)

Toa of Boy closes his copy book. "Wait," I say, "you aren't finished."

Toa of Boy opens his copy book and finds the page he was working on. "What?" he asks. I stay silent and let him find it. He grabs his highlighter marker and puts a period at the end of the sentence.

"Thank you!" I sing.

"Thank you!" sings Toa of Boy.

"Stop copying her," says Sweetling.

"Stop copying her," says Toa of Boy.

Sweetling gives me a look. I shrug and say, "It's like trying to hold back the tides, little girl."

("Like tying hold back tides, girl," says Toa of Boy.")

"Hmmmm..." murmurs Sweetling. "I wonder," she says, glaring accusingly at me, "where he gets that from."

("Wonder where he get tat from," says Toa of Boy.)

Toa of Boy's Fifth Year

Things Toa of Boy accomplished this year:

--is learning to read
--completed K math and moved on to first grade math
--participated and had a great time at co-op
--memorized a few scripture verses
--started working through "Leading Little Ones to God"
--mastered Club Penguin
--can work the media center guide enough to find several channels he's allowed to watch and can read what show is currently playing
--kicks butt in Super Smash Bros
--charms the socks off every member of the female gender, regardless of her age, who interacts with him
--always wants to make sure, if we have something special for dinner or dessert, that a portion of it gets saved for any family member not present
--saved up enough money, combined with some b-day cash, to get his own DS
--can do some double digit addition and subtraction and is beginning to grasp place value
--is learning how to tell time
--can count by fives
--can count by twos
--went sledding and loved wiping out the best
--likes being helpful
--loves big slides
--has made a "secret lair" behind the living room arm chair
--can put together seriously complex lego sets or bionicles by following step-by-step diagrams in the assembly booklet
--continues to make great use out of the trampoline that lives in our living room. (The Jedi says, "Christopher Robin was wise.")
--delights in tickling games and wrestling matches with the Jedi
--likes playing Webkinz games with Sweetling. Has learned that not every game needs to be "death or doom", but can compromise and give and take during the imaginary play.
--counts down the days till his next speech appointment cause he loves those sessions so much
--can usually identify the seven continents
--quickly grasped the colored temperature representations of the oceans during "Science on a Sphere"
--loves fresh fruit for breakfast
--loves homemade guacamole and can make it himself, after Mommy has cut open the avocado
--is rigorous in completing his morning and afternoon chore lists. Loves to count his dots to win the prize of his choice of a family activity at the end of the week.
--keeps his room clean
--wears through the knees of a pair of pants faster than a steam driven sand belt
--was the grand prize winner at our local branch library's end of summer drawing for a brand new bike
--is almost big enough to ride his brand new bike
--is a great climber
--delights in being silly
--prayed for wind for kite flying and received hurricane Ike
--prayed for snow and received a winter storm that nearly shut down the city
--likes to water the pumpkins and the vegetable garden
--loves blueberries and wants his own blueberry bush
--likes bubble baths and rubber ducks
--is unhappily resigned to being put back in a booster carseat for the next two years

Sweetling's 10th Year

Today my Sweetling is eleven. Last night we talked about all the things she did when she was 10.

Last year, on her birthday, we had a rehearsal for Pirates of the I-Don't-Care-ibean. Mommy was in charge and we took cupcakes to share at the end of the rehearsal. Last year, Susan had a cool science birthday party that we held in the big kitchen at church.

In June--
--the I-Don't-Care-ibean performance on Father's Day.
--a trip to Sharon Woods to witness the 17 year cicadas out in droves.
--a trip to Canton for Great-Grandma Rita's birthday and a visit with Uncle Tornado --where trampoline play happened and a game of horseshoes was played.
--the beginning of our home "space camp" and a list of what we wanted to do that summer (most of which got done and so did some cool things that weren't on the list, "like pet an alligator," says Susan.)
--a trip to Young's Dairy Farm where Toa feed a pig and Mommy petted a cow and Sweetling fed goats.
--a dance at church where Sweetling was one of three lovely angels.
--a trip to the sculpture park with Tia Missy. "Look kids, art."
swimming with Pinky and Christopher Robin and assorted families.

In July--
--swimming with Mango and Violet and family.
--the annual picnic for the TKD school.
--musuem trip with Tia Missy and Neta.
--rock hunting trip to a little park along the Miami River.
--VBS of God's Big Backyard. Pinkie came.
--Hamilton County Fair where we watched Violet's horse show (she wound up with the blue ribbon for the all-around Jr Equestrian). We had snow cones and bought ride wrist bands, cause they were only five dollars per child!

In August--
--walk along the Parcours trail with Pinkie and Mango and her family. Sweetling demonstrated her ninja skills for us all.
--school did NOT start as planned due to a serious delay in shipping.
--the Wii came and changed our lives. For two weeks there was a continuous Wii party at our house, which was fine since there was no curriculum for school.

In September--
--still no school at the beginning of September.
--fairy houses were constructed deep in Winton Woods.
--materials finally arrive and the first day of co-op was attended.
--kite flying was attempted at the beginning of the wind front that we later learned was hurricane Ike. Kite-flying was quickly abandoned as we fled for the shelter of home. Power went out and a camp out commenced in the living room. Sweetling and Toa of Boy helped with the immense yard clean up the next day. We got our power back that evening....but many families were without power for a week.
--first day of co-op classes was cancelled because of power outages.

In October
--Ren Fest where Sweetling learned how to wield a pike and march in formation with a pike unit.
--pumpkin patch outing is on a Saturday this year. We ride the church bus up to the pumpkin patch and Daddy is able to join us. Corn maze, little train ride, and straw fight are the highlights. Plus the straw maze and the farmer's market.
--Sweetling is HammerBro for Halloween and Toa is Yoshi. At the trunk and treat in the church parking lot, we decorate the back of our van like a donkey kong jungle.
--zoo trip cause Nora gave us some free passes

to be continued. Right now, we have to get ready to go to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery for Susan's birthday outing.

More Webkinz

Yeah, this is only here cause I can't get my home server to recognize me. Computers love me that way. I need somewhere to post a pic so I can post a pic on Webkinz insider. Chicken and the egg baby.

Daybook, May 18th

Outside my window...the ants have made the mother of all ant colonies under the green welcome mat by the patio door. The strawberries have completely covered the little stepping stone path. The sandbox and hopscotch path desperately need weeded. And the square foot garden sproutlings are tiny, tiny, tiny little green dots surrounded by dirt and cypress mulch.

I am thinking...most children get grounded and sent to their rooms. Sweetling is going to be grounded *from* her room tomorrow after an afternoon on little lesson progress while in her room.

I am thankful for...the opportunity to homeschool, even if I've been whining a lot lately. It is a huge blessing. We aren't going to be done by the end of May, which is really difficult for me to take, but the opportunity to homeschool is still a blessing, and I want to keep that in mind during the first two weeks of June.

From the learning rooms...Toa of Boy read his own word problems today in math. He needed help with a few words, like "does", but his actually reading!!!

From the kitchen...I got squat. We had hamburgers and french fries for dinner. The Jedi made rice krispie treats on Saturday. I wanted to make Mama a caramel pecan cheesecake, but the rice krispie treats are now in the pan I need. Keep reading, I promise the other parts will be more interesting.

I am wearing...I lied. This isn't interesting. Jeans with cool pink embroidery and a pink blouse with white socks and green and blue plaid shoes. It works. I swear it does. Even the shoes.

I am creating...a blog for a fantasy character. This is my character from the game the Jedi runs.

I am going...to Canton this weekend! Sweetling's birthday is on Thursday and Toa of Boy's birthday is on Friday. So, we're driving up to Canton and having a birthday party for them on Saturday with cousins and friends of the family at Pump it Up.

I am reading...The Little House Reader, a collection of writings from other members of Laura Ingalls Wilder's family as well as pieces Laura published before the Little House books.

I am hoping...for the courage to begin working through past issues (again). I make progress, then take a little break from the heavy stuff. Now its time to start processing again.

I am hearing...the hum of the computers, occasional trampoline bouncing from the living room where Toa of Boy is jumping and playing Wii, clicking of the keyboards, and I'm talking on the phone to Telephone.

Around the house...the laundry is all washed and dried, I'll start folding it soon. Coupons from the past few weeks are all cut and half filed. Have I mentioned I want a house cleaning fairy? Ria has offered to come over and help me clean out closets, again. I might take her up on that when we're finished with school.

From the garden....I can grow things! woo hoo! I have half an hour of weeding to do, but the areas I've focused on are doing really well. I've seen a couple of ripe strawberries and I think I'll send Toa of Boy out to pick them tomorrow. my daisies aren't anywhere close to blooming though, maybe they bloom at the end of June.

One of my favorite things...Heggy's hot fudge! I finished off my Christmas supply last week eating it like fondue on strawberries. It is, hands down, the yummiest hot fudge in the world and the only place to get it is Heggy's Ice Cream Parlor in Canton, Ohio. Guess what we'll be picking up this weekend?

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Monday--laundry, coupons, watch Enterprise with the Jedi
Tuesday--school, grocery shopping, Tae Kwon Do
Wednesday--school, help Telephone finish her scrapbook for her soon-to-be grad
Thursday--Sweetling's birthday. An outing picked by Sweetling (TBD) and spaghetti dinner.
Friday--Toa's birthday. An outing (also tbd) picked by Toa, pack for Canton, chicken alfredo for dinner, then drive to Canton.

ABC's of me (cause the third times the charm)

You can blame this one on Facebook. I am. I blame Facebook for a lot of things. Like, everyone else's profile seems to have a customized left hand column with flair or other fun stuff. Mine doesn't. Surely this is Facebook's fault. I've tried to figure out how to fix that, but can't. This is also Facebook's fault.

Anyway, I've been tagged several times about another ABC thing. I've done two already, one here and one here. (Three if you count this one, which isn't really about me, but I wrote it, and its ABCs and it popped up in a search. So nyah.)

But, since I'm so delightfully popular, I shall do another ABC list. I am, of course, totally disregarding the standard list for this.

A-Age--As Smurf will cheerfully point out, I am "rounding up on 40". I know I must be middle aged, cause recently no one has asked me which high school I go to.

B-Bed--King-sized water bed. Sadly, they don't make mattresses with different temperature settings...which means the Jedi and I have compromised on a mattress temperature which is too warm for him to be comfortable and just a tiny bit cooler than what I would like. Also, since apparently waterbeds went out with the 70s, lava lamps, and black light posters, finding new sheet sets specifically for the water bed mattress is an adventure in Googling.

C-Cats--No. I have no furry felines. Both the Jedi and Mama are allergic to them, so no cats. The last cat I had was Grendel, who was a unusually small, black, sleek, chaotic-evil creature with glowing eyes. She liked to ride around the apartment on my shoulder, like a good familiar should.

D-Dogs--No dogs. Again, allergies. The last dog we had was Sheeba, an 80 pound lawful good German Shepherd, who let infant Sweetling mangle her ears, and who would literally froth at the mouth while growling, barring teeth, and being the image of visciousness at anything that seemed the remotest threat to me or Sweetling. In short, she was exactly what a good watch-dog should be.

E-Essential start your day item. Hot chocolate. No question.

F-Favorite color---yellow. This is the only "favorite" anything that doesn't change.

G-Gold or silver. Silver. Why? I don't know. Gold is a bit 70s. And I already have a waterbed to fill that function in my life.

H-Height--5'3". Happy? Laugh now. But the girls at Dayspring all know about the chocolate tax. When they get taller than Ms Xuan, they must bring me chocolate to console me. Its a good system and its working well for me.

I-Instruments you play. None. But I dance, I think this bears mentioning. I have no rhythm, but I dance anyway. Last dance Traci had to choreograph a separate section in the middle of the dance for those individuals (me) who are "handi-clapped".

J-Job title. Homeschooling Mom. A title I am both extremely proud of and greatly satisfied with. Even though I've just ended that sentence on a compound preposition.

K-Kids. Three, even though Vaya is no longer a kid. I still get to dance on her kitchen table when I'm an old woman, so there you have it.

L-Living arrangements. (See, I'm tempted to change this one to something more interesting, but now Sweetling is here to fuss at me for breaking the rules. Wooo hooo! My corruption of my daughter is complete! She wouldn't let me serve doughnuts for dinner, but she's agreeing that she'd change this one too!) Lifestyle if you were rich and famous? (Sweetling snickered and said she guessed I could do that one.)

L-Lifestyle if you were rich and famous. A castle. A small castle is a must, complete with a maid, a chef, and a gardener. I could design the gardens, and then someone else could do the hard work of planting and tending them. A nice monthly clothing allowance. Delicious chocolate goes without saying. Maybe an RV for cross country trips to national parks, monuments, and historical sites. A treehouse schoolroom.

M-Mom's name. Changing this one to. This is pushing Sweetling comfort level. Mom's name--Debbie.
M-Mother's Day Gift--A lovely yellow box from Sweetling with an orange x on the lid, handmade, cause I can never find things with an X or my name on them, holding two bath beads. A potted flower and a card from Toa of Boy. Apples to Apples from my mother, even though the Jedi pointed out that this was totally backward. And, a day spent doing whatever I wanted from the Jedi.

N-Nicknames. We can do nicknames. Sunny, Mrs Crazy Teacher Lady, Mommy.

O-Overnight hospital--just the C-section

P-Penguins. I don't even have to check, Sweetling. P is obviously for penguins.
P-Pet Peeve. Electronic devices which seek to sabotage my day.

Q-Quote. "Cute and cuddly boys, cute and cuddly."

R-Right or left handed? Who cares? I'm typing. The keyboard certainly doesn't care.

S-Siblings--Tommy the Tornado, Smurf, Cool Dude. I am the oldest, and therefore the wisest.

T-Time you wake up. In theory? 6:30. In reality? 7, 7:20.

U-Underwear-Bikini briefs from the little girls department cause they fit me.

V-Vegetable you dislike. Lima beans. Do lima beans count as a vegetable? They are green and nasty, so I bet they do.

W-Workout style. Tae Kwon Do.

X-Xrays. Dental. A ton of these cause over half of my adult teeth buds didn't form. Wrist when I fell from a playground at Winton Woods in the second grade. Mammaw made me a yellow sling with mice and ric rac. Elbow when I fell trying to leap over a stone wall in a mad dash to the swingset. Urinary tract (Sweetling says this is TMI) when I had several infections in a row during the course of a year.

Y-Yesterdays best momments. We went to a school-choice rally in Columbus. Four thousand people turned out for it. The rain held off all day, and one of the Representative's aids was handing out lollipops for the kids when they visited the offices.

Z-Zoo favorite- Penguins and red pandas and otters.

Top 10 Reasons to Procrastinate

Top Ten Reasons to Procrastinate
1.

This is why I procrastinate. Here's my to-do list.
--clip coupons, sort, file
--grocery list for co-op picnic and baby shower on saturday
--laundry
--print and iron on co-op logos for 3 t-shirts
--clean. doesn't matter what. you name it, it needs cleaned.
--google directions for making a diaper cake
--figure out how to buy everything I need for the shower and still buy, you know, groceries
--find recipes for individual cheese cakes, or give up on that idea and make one big strawberry cheesecake
--enter last weeks receipts into the budget spreadsheet. this step involves creative accounting
--party invitations for 2 children's b-day parties

And for the next two weeks, here's my schedule:
Tuesday--school, grocery shopping, extended dance
Wednesday--school, something important that I'm forgetting--oh yes--make bday party invites, early dance, pass out bday party invites at church, cook pasta for co-op
Thursday--last day of co-op picnic, library, Tae Kwon Do
Friday--school, clean like crazy, bake for baby shower, assemble diaper cake
Saturday--morning dance practice, keep Mama sane, keep me sane, and finish "loose ends" for baby shower, baby shower
Sunday--dance in morning service, realize I've not planned anything special for Mama for mother's day cause I was busy with baby shower stuff,
Monday--school, start the paper mache for Toa of Boy's "Kirby" pinata
Tuesday--put one more layer on the pinata, school, Toa of Boy's speech appointment, grocery shopping, Tae Kwon Do, prep for columbus
Wednesday--rally in Columbus for e charter schools, get home, eat i don't even want to know what for dinner, decorate pinata, pack lunches for zoo field trip
Thursday--zoo field trip for international migratory bird days, and I'm predicted Sweetling will be too tired for Tae Kwon Do which is too bad cause she has a belt test on Saturday
Friday--bake and decorate cakes for two birthday parties, buy pinata stuffers and big bottles of bubble solutions and party favors, host Sweetling's Mario/Wii Slumber Party--which needs rescheduled cause I just realized I double booked that weekend
Saturday--Sweetling tests for her red belt...so now I need to go back and reschedule when her slumber party will be, Toa of Boy's Kirby Party at a Park

And in response to all of this, I'm blog surfing.

Homemade Tortillas

By popular request, I am posting a how-to article on making homemade tortillas. Before I begin with the nitty gritty, let me say a few things.

1) I really, really wish I had taken some pictures. When I was making them, I was thinking, wow, I wish I had some pictures of what the steps should look like. But, I had no idea that this experiment would actually work, so I saw no need to document what I thought was going to be a failure.

2) At each and every step of the process, I thought the whole thing was going to be a miserable failure. So, if you've never made tortillas from scratch before, don't get discouraged during the process. It will at many points seem desperately wrong. Keep working through the recipe and an amazing, nearly miraculous transformation will happen.

2a) Miraculous isn't not at all too strong a word. These things are delicious. Like, among the best things I have ever had sort of delicious. I don't understand how that is possible, given the little that goes in them, and how very wrong they seem at so many steps of the process. But they are amazing. Try them once, you'll see that I'm right.

3) You know I can't just write a straight-forward informative article without making my little comments. I think I'm funny, and so you all have to put up with me. (Or do your own google search on homemade tortillas.)

4) I didn't, surprise surprise, follow the directions on the recipes I found exactly as written. Here is the recipe I primarily drew from. It's called Tortillas I and I found it on allrecipes.com. However, I also read the comments following the Authentic Mexican Tortillas recipe and incorporated a tip I found there.

That being said, let me tell you why I went crazy yesterday afternoon and decided to try this. A few weeks ago, I really wanted burritos. I picked up all the ingredients I needed from the store during my weekly grocery trip. I got home and realized I had forgotten ground beef. Not to be undone, later that week I made chicken and rice quesadillas. Last week, ground beef was on sale, and I picked up a few pounds of it. Monday I thought, I really want burritos. But, Tuesday was the Jedi's birthday, and he wanted manwich for dinner. (Apparently nothing says happy birthday like manwich.) And I didn't want ground beef dinners two night in a row, so no burritos Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Thursday was coop, which makes it a leftover night for dinner...certainly not a cooking night. So on Monday I decided that Friday was absolutely definitely burrito night. Every night that week as I was making dinner, I reminded myself that Friday was burrito night. Yummy burritos. Burritos for you, burritos for me, burritos, burritos, burritos.

On Friday afternoon I realized that in my mad burrito fix, I had neglected to get in tortillas from the store at any time that week. No burritos. Sadness ensued. To cheer myself up, I emailed the Jedi asking him what he wanted for dinner. I thought, if I can't make myself happy, I can at least make someone else happy. See how loving and selfless I am? The Jedi didn't care what was for dinner.

And then, this notion hit me. Didn't people use to make their own tortillas? And, if I'm remember my social studies correctly, didn't the Native Americans make tortillas on stones? (And I'm part Cherokee, so I can write a question like that and not be considered insensitive or politically incorrect, can't I?) Surely I could hop on the internet and find some directions for making my own tortillas. How hard could it be? Ok, ok, I know making homemade pasta is insane, but tortillas? This could even be a great family learning project with the kids.

The more I thought about it, the more pumped I became.

I told the kids my grand plans. I was super excited about this notion. I thought I did a remarkable job of delivering my pitch to them. They both stared at me blankly. Sweetling, who has experienced many Mommy projects and the results of the same, very, very, very politely let me know that this might not be a good idea. Not to be deterred, I figured I could sway my impressionable five-year old to my side. Toa of Boy was just as suspicious about this endeavor.

However, not being one to let common sense keep me from a plan, I hopped on allrecipes and started my search. I did careful reading. I disregarded recipes that had the dough rest for an hour. Who had an hour? I invited the kids to join me once again. Sweetling said she really needed to clean her room. I said, she could take a break from cleaning her room for this really fun project. But cleaning her room was preferable to the chaos she sensed would be occurring in the kitchen. I told Toa of Boy he could help mix and stir. That sold him. So, with on co-conspirator (is that a redundant word?), we started.

This is the recipe we used. It made just barely enough for 5 people. But one of those five was Sweetling. Next time I make it, I'll increase the recipe amounts, and take pictures for my blog.

FIRST
Measure out 2 and 1/2 cups flour into a large bowl. (If a small boy is doing the measuring, be sure to help him with the leveling.)
Add 1 tsp baking powder.
Add 1/8 tsp salt.
Let the boy stir it all together. (While the boy is stirring, put some water in a pan to boil.)

SECOND
Add 1 tablespoon shortening. With your hands, crumble the shortening and the flour together. Try to convince the small boy to keep the flour in the bowl. Make sure his sleeves are pushed up, cause he somehow manages to get flour up to his elbows.
Decide the single tablespoon of shortening that the recipe calls for did diddly.
Add a second tablespoon of shortening. Crumble in as before. Convince your assistant not to slam his hand into the bowl.

By this time....the recipe I almost followed said that your mixture should resemble cornmeal. Mine didn't. I thought, well, this is obviously a failure. BUT, one comment I read on another recipe said that the tortillas were more flakey then pie crust. I know how to make pie crust from scratch, thanks to Mammaw. So, I squeezed a squeezed some of the mixture together in my fist. When I opened my hand, the mixture almost stayed together, but still crumbled apart a bit. (See how useful a photo would be here?) I decided that this would make it a little more flaky than a good pie crust dough would be, so I proceeded to the next step.

THIRD
Take your boiling water off the heat. Carefully measure 3/4 cup boiling water. Be sure it has stopped boiling, (like no more bubbles breaking the surface while its in the measuring cup.) Pour some of your water into the bowl. WARN YOUR ASSISTANT THAT IT IS WAY TO HOT TO TOUCH. Warn him off this often. Stir the water in with a wooden spoon. Add a little more hot water. Warn your assistant. Stir with spoon.

Now, the recipe I was sort of following said you might not need all your water. I used all of mine, but I'm just letting you know what the woman who knows better than I do said.

This was the step at which I thought, once again, this can't possibly work. After I had, in a mad, rash act of frustration, dumped all the hot water into the bowl and stirred with a wooden spoon, I had nothing resembling any kind of dough. This is the point at which the Jedi came into the kitchen. I told him what a miserable failure this was looking to be. The Jedi, wisely, said nothing, but gave me a kiss and went back out of the kitchen.

Though the dough was still hot, it had cooled past the point of scalding. I discarded the spoon and started kneading it with my hands in the bowl. Now, the original recipe said to knead it on a lightly floured surface, but the last thing I needed was more flour. So, the next step is...

FOURTH
Knead dough by hand as soon as it is cool enough to touch. Knead it, squeeze it, convince it to hold together by sheer force of will. When it has cooled a little more, let the boy help. Roll the dough around and pick up all the crumbs in the bottom of the bowl. Squish them in. By now the dough is resembling dried out playdough. But, as you knead it, it begins to look more and more like dough.

FIFTH
As soon as it holds its shape, use a pastry brush to let the boy coat the surface with vegetable oil. It might still look like a deformed and mutant excuse for a ball of dough, but that's ok. So did mine. Cover the ball with a dish towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.

(While it rested, I browned my ground beef and added the low-sodium taco seasoning packet and water and let it simmer. I also opened the can of refried beans, which I don't like but the Jedi and Sweetling and Toa of Boy do, and put them on to warm.)

SIXTH
On a very, very, very lightly floured surface, begin to roll out sections of your dough. Now, let me say two things. One, this stuff is already super dry. You don't need nearly as much flour as you think. I put flour on my surface and then used my hand to wipe almost all of it off. Two, this stuff is already super dry. Air is your enemy. Keep your main dough ball covered while you roll out your individual tortillas.

The recipe, which I kept reading even though I hadn't quite followed it, said to pull out golf ball sized pieces of dough to roll. I did that. I got a little thing smaller than a saucer. The Jedi would have taken one look at it and asked if it was a joke. Like, the thing could have fit in an EasyBake oven. So, I went with hackey-sack pieces. I was worried that I wasn't going to have enough dough to make enough tortillas for my family, so I rolled mine out a little too thin. They need to be much thicker than the store bought tortillas. Really, they resemble soft tacos much more than tortillas. (Again, air is your enemy, keep them covered after you roll them.)

They don't roll out into perfect circles. At least, they don't when its me rolling them. And I can make a pretty mean pie crust, so I think its them and not me. Maybe there's a trick to it, but I got really, um, organic shapes with frayed edges when I did them. Once again, I thought this was a sign that I had done something seriously wrong. Don't get discouraged by how they look right now.

SEVENTH
While the Jedi cleans off the table and sets it, fry your tortillas over medium high heat in a heavy skillet. One tip I read said be carefull to have your skillet hot enough. It said if you cook them to long over lower heat, you loose too much moisture. In fact, I didn't let my pan heat up enough before throwing the first tortilla on, and the first one was really really crumbly.

So, when your skillet is hot, put your tortilla on. It only needs to cook for a minute or so on each side. The good ones, when I got the pan to the right temperature, started puffing a little with steam almost as soon as they hit the skillet. Flip them as soon as there undersides have a few little brown marks on them. (Which happens almost as soon as they get puffy.) Really, this is a quick process.

Put each tortilla in a warmer with a lid as soon as it cooks. Again, air is the enemy.

LAST
I cannot stress enough how delicious and wonderful homemade tortillas are. I always thought of tortillas as a boring wrap meant to just hold the yummy filling together. These homemade ones were nearly melt in your mouth good. I don't understand how that is, given that they are almost nothing but flour, but they were wonderful. Be warned, after having tasted the real thing, I don't think I can ever go back to the store bought variety. I think I'm forever stuck making my own tortillas every time I want to have tacos again. And quesadillas too for that matter.

Friday Fill Ins

Because I just did math with Honey Bunny.

And...here we go!

(Copy and paste into your own note, then fill in the blanks. My answers are below.)
1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is _____.
2. _____ clams.
3. When I think of carnivals I think of _____.
4. _____ my favorite spring flower.
5. Things on my desk include _____.
6. _____ makes me wanna _____.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _____, tomorrow my plans include _____ and Sunday, I want to _____!

1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is _pretending to be normal. (Actually, I've never worked in an office, but if I did, I bet I would have to pretend to be normal.

2. __Among the slimiest things in the universe are___ clams.

3. When I think of carnivals I think of _popcorn, rubber duckie ponds, little goldfish in a bowl, and sticky cotton candy_.

4. _Daffodils are definately__ my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include _ha ha ha! Are they serious? Serious? Starting from the right edge, on my desk is a red Swingline stapler that was a gift to the Jedi that I confiscated cause I lost mine; my computer, on top of which is my cool flatscreen monitor, a red stone apple with "Miss Xuan engraved on it, a porcelan panda, a jump-roping panda made of blue and yellow model magic, a valentine with a melted crayon heart and the words "you color my world," a third grade school photo of me, a glass slipper with a pearl inside, three cool rocks, two AHG swap pens, a rice filled lizard, a wooden mouse, three erasers, a paper and feather napkin holder from Thanksgiving years ago, a painted glass vase with a pipe cleaner and paper flower. And that's just on the first 15 inches. (Plus my keyboard, a squishy wrist pad, a mouse pad with Monet's water lilies, and my mouse.) Shall I go on? Oh yes, its like a train wreck...its too horrible to look away now. Right up against my computer is a plastic tube of mini M&Ms, a pez dispenser, another plastic glass slipper...this one full of M&Ms and kept neatly tied in a clear plastic bag with a little purple ribbon bow, and a star made from plastic iron beeds. Then a Digital Blue microscope and a red plastic cup full of pens and pencils. That brings us even with the edge of my keyboard. Here's where it gets funny. At the back middle of my desk is a clear plastic desk organizer so crammed full and overflowing of things it is nigh on impossible to discern what i might be holding. In front of that useful feature is a Walgreens receipt that needs saved for the Easy Saver rewards program, a clear plastic ruler with indiscernable markings, a yellow post-it pad, a a metal box which holds one magnetic stress ball...the other one is long lost by Toa of Boy. In what should be a clear work space is a yellow cup half full of cool water--yes, yes, its totally half full; a fushia flushable wipes container which now holds Toa of Boys sight word cards; a pink twelve sided dice; two mechanical pencils, one yellow, one orange; _an index card with a hand-drawn squirrel; Honey Bunny, who is laying down for a nap after her math lesson; an Elmer's glue bottle; and a empty plastic sleeve from a Webkinz tag. In the actual space left for work is Toa of Boy's phonics workbook, open to the page he is working on, a pair of scissors, and a blue tupperware sandwhich container which holds his pens. On the far left corner of the desk...which is as close to no-man's land as one can get...is an Easy button, a mangled foil wrapper holding two petrified Rolos, a blue rubber band, a wooden box with a sunflower on top, an open box of Wanka Fun Dip, a chami cloth, and a stack of April art still waiting to get displayed on the school door (but of course, March's art is still up there). And that, dear reader, is what is on the surface of my desk.

6. _The thought of summer vacation_ makes me wanna _dance for joy_.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _gaming, even though Christopher Robin and the Bear can't make it. Boo hoo. Tomorrow my plans include _a bunny party with Sweetling and then clothes shopping with Sweetling. And Sunday, I want to _either clean out the fridge...there are really nasty science experiments growing in there...OR...declutter some of the hall closet...I'm tired of being attacked everytime I open the door!

Saturday in the Park

It isn't, of course, Saturday right now. Right now its a Monday afternoon and I'm testing the battery life of my laptop. I estimate I have maybe ten minutes before it goes down. I'm also on some unnamed, unsecure wireless network. I'm sitting in the back of the van, with the seats flipped out in their "tailgate" position. It's warm, its sunny. Its wonderful. I'm outside. Toa of Boy is with me. He's hiding in the back of the van, where it is not warm, sunny, or wonderful. Its hot, stuffy, and boring back there. Why is he back there instead of on the playground or playing frisbee with other boys? I don't know. He's pouting about something. I think it might be because I wanted to sit and eat my lunch rather than play frisbee right away. The unparalleled nerve of me. Sweetling is inside. Again, no warm wonderfulness for her. She's inside the school building (whose parking lot I'm in and whose playground I'm parked beside.) She's inside taking the last of her four state mandated standardized tests.

Basically, I'm having a great day, and Toa of Boy and Sweetling are both being tortured, mistreated, and neglected.

I also had a great weekend, which brings us back around to the title of this post. The Jedi, awesomest man that he is, has decided Saturdays are for making me feel wonderful. He has excelled in this pursuit for the last few weekends in a row. This Saturday was no exception. (ahhh...Toa of Boy finally decided that going to play on the playground was much more fun than sitting in the van and pouting. Good for him.) So, we slept in a little in the morning and got up around nine. We had breakfast and got some gardening clothes on. (See, I told you Saturdays were all about me.) The Jedi mowed our yard and our neighbors yard and ran the tiller to break up the weeds growing it what remained of the strawberry patch from two years ago. While he did that, I mixed more soil for the square foot garden and had the kids pick out large sticks (4'-5' long) for supports for their cucumber vines. We put the sticks in pots and filled the pots with Mel's mix. Then we got out the tape measure and made our grid for the garden. We used large, straight sticks to divide the little plot in two down its long axis and then the kids laid white marble rocks perpendicular to the sticks to divide the garden into square feet. My seedlings have been "hardening off" since Friday. Nothing fancy, I just put the plastic container of seedlings under the kids picnic table on the patio. The carrots look a little frail, I'm not sure that they'll make it, but I have confidence in the rest of them.

We went inside and got a shower around noon. Then we all grabbed some healthy snacks and headed to the park with water bottles, a camera, and the kites. We have the perfect park for kite flying. At Parky's farm, there's a large, open, grass field that's kept mown and used as overflow parking during special events. There is almost always a good breeze there, maybe because the large open fields of the farm are surrounded by Winton Woods. I don't know. What I do know is that it is perfect for kite flying. Both the kids have cool, fancy kites that Vaya got for their birthdays a couple of years ago. No cheap, light, plastic drugstore kites. These kits are large and heavier than the dollar variety. Nevertheless, they took to the air without any effort. Literally, an adult would hold the kite up. The child would stand some distance away with a length of string already played out. The adult would toss the kite in the air, and up it would fly. No running, no struggling, no fuss. Of course, Toa's kite tried to dive bomb me a couple of times, but it wouldn't be Toa's kite if it didn't strive to be an agent of terror. After half an hour or more of kite flying, the kids played on the playground for a little while. Then we headed to Olive Garden.

We arrived at the restaurant at the perfect time. At three thirty or so in the afternoon, we were well past the lunch rush and well ahead of the dinner crowd. In we went with windblown hair and all. Lunch was *delicious*. We laughed, we chatted, we enjoyed our meal, it was wonderful. The Jedi asked for a dessert menu at the end of the meal, and Sweetling and I each ordered a dessert to go (Toa of Boy was going to share with Mommy.) We left the restaurant with a big bag of food...my leftovers, the leftover salad, Sweetling's leftovers, the two desserts, and the remaining breadstick.

From there, we headed to Lowe's, where the Jedi dropped me off with Toa of Boy in the garden center. He and Sweetling headed to Walmart, where the Jedi was going to use a gift card towards the purchase of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Toa of Boy and I had an employee help us find grass for the ex-strawberry patch and the bare patch around the new sundial in front. (Did I write about the sundial yet? Hmmm...I'll have to come back to that.) I had already decided I was never trying to grow a large area of grass from seed again, and told the employee that I was looking for a seed mat. He led me to this fluffy stuff, it look's like Billy's gerbil bedding. It has seeds and fertilizer built in to the fluff. So we bought two bags of grass fluff. I spread it in the ex-strawberry patch this morning and wetted it down, so we shall see. Toa of Boy and I were finished first, so we browsed through the outdoor plant section.

Back home long enough to put leftovers in the fridge and call Pinkie. To Pinkie's house next to pick her up for a sleepover. then to another park, where we met a famiy from church met us. We hung out and talked while Toa played with their little boys and Sweetlng and Pinkie walked around holding hands and chatting. We left the park at 7:30 when Sweetling got a splinter in the palm of her hand.

(And I moved out from the van to the sun, but can't see my screen. So nyah. Typing blind so too bad on the typos. The battery has held for nealy forty meinutes now. Go it. Now you are all wishing for the return of the daybook format. See what happens when I let myself ramble?)

At home, milkshakes were consumed by children while they watched Gilligan's Isle and Sweetling soaked her hand in an epson salt solution. Mango called and wanted me to head out to eastgate with her so she could buy a new wireless router. The Jedi came up with an alternate plan that didn't involve the two ENFPs heading out at 10pm on a road trip.

All in all, an absolutely perfect day.

Daybook, really? again?

I like the daybook format. Yes, I know I'm not normally one to like pesky things like rules and patterns and directions. But on days when I don't have anything in particular I want to write about, the daybook format at least gets me sitting down and, you know, writing. It doesn't make for thrilling reading, I know, I know. So, if you want a thrilling blog, you're welcome to leave me a comment with a suggestion for a writing topic, and I'll hop right on that. Wind me up and watch me go.

But for know, you're stuck with yet another daybook entry. My blog this past month has been nothing but daybook entries and friday fill ins.

FOR TODAY, Tuesday, April 21...

Outside my window...I brief patch of cold, but welcome, sunshine quickly dissappeared behind more April rain clouds. Rain is good for the flowers. Rain is good for the plants. Rain is not so good for the Xuan, though.

I am thinking...I'm having a lull in creativity. In March I was full of plans and ideas. Why has the April showers washed my mind clear of any ambition? We need a spring break. An honest to goodness, spring break. Not the everyone is sick so we aren't doing school break that we had around Easter. Not the drive to the OAT testing site every other day for a week that we're having now. But an honest to goodness spring break. And a clean uncluttered home that just magically happens. I want that too.

I am thankful for...my husband. The Jedi has been the blog star for a couple of months now, and his track record continues this weekend. Friday night he ran a game just for me, cause Christopher Robin and the Bear ditched us to have a date night. Selfish them ;) Saturday morning he took me out to Bob Evans for breakfast and then we sat in the van afterward reading and talking. And Sunday he drove for nearly two hours (one way) to take Sweetling to a God Rocks concert.

From the learning rooms...OAT testing. We spent yesterday afternoon at the school building where we ususally have co-op. Susan did the first of four state mandated testing days while Toa and I sat in the cafeteria downstairs and did math and phonics. We made cookies when we got home in the afternoon though. Cookies make all things better.

From the kitchen...cookies, of course. I posted on Facebook that I had cookies in the oven, but no dinner in the oven. Toa of Boy thought we should have cookies for dinner. I actually considered it, and went to facebook for someone to be the voice of reason, but my Facebook buddies all thought cookies for dinner was a swell idea. But we had bbq chicken, spanish rice, sweet potatoes, and green beans for dinner. We had the cookies first of course, but dinner did happen.

From the garden....I put the first of my seedlings out today. I watered the seedlings in their little clear plastic tub on the livingroom windowsill, and I splashed just a drop of miracle gro in their water. The zucchini seedling was sending roots out of its little peat pellet and trying to invade the neighboring peat pellets, plus he looked so top heavy I thought he was in danger of breaking his stem, so he just needed to go in the ground. Because he's a big vining plant, he doesn't fit in my square foot garden, so he got to live in the butterfly garden by the garage. I had already dug up and transplanted a Sedum Autumn joy, so I just popped the zucchini seedling into the space where the Sedum was. Later, I need to pick up a white plastic chain from the hardware store. I'm going to anchor one end of the chain to the wood wall of the garage about six feet above the ground. As the zucchini vine grows, I'm going to tie it up along the chain so that I can grow the plant vertically.

I am wearing...brown cords and a beige sweater. Its cold. Cold and rainy. I am as monochromatic as the weather.

I am creating...zip. Though, on Saturday, I did get to borrow the Jedi's power drill. I made holes in some old plastic garbage cans (the big outdoor ones) and layered green and brown materials in them to make compost bins. I didn't cover them though, so I'm sure the compost is absolutely soaked. Can compost get too soaked? Who knows. I surely don't.

I am going...testing. Testing, more testing. And grocery shopping tomorrow. And co-op on Thursday. I *want* to be going to pick up vermiculite and peat moss and compost to mix soil for my square foot garden. I have my seeds nicely started, and the little seedlings need to go in the ground. But I have no ground for the little seedlings to live in yet.

I am reading...just finished For Men Only with the Jedi. Once again, let me sing the praises of this book, and its companion book, For Women Only. The Jedi and I are considering offering to lead a Sunday school class for couples using these two books.

I am hoping...for a magically clean, clutter free home. Sadly, I am the only house fairy that is going to make that happen. The house fairy needs to get off her house fairy bottom and make that happen. No, that's not fair. Its not as if the house fairy hasn't been busy. The house fairy has been busy. But the house fairy needs to go back to taking just 15 minutes a day to declutter. Maybe after testing.

I am hearing...the muffled sounds of Super Smash Bros. Toa finished his morning school work, so he was off to Wii while I took 30 minutes to blog before lunch.

Around the house...Toa is defeating Mario villians. Sweetling has just emerged from her room for lunch. In an hour and a half, she did about 30 minutes of actual work. What happened to my independently functioning daughter?

One of my favorite things... the dandelions in my yard. Yes, I know the neighbors hate me, but I really, really like the cheery yellow flowers dotting my grass. Ok, more than dotting, speckling my lawn. Why are dandelions so maligned as weeds? They are lovely and yellow and their seed heads are fun and fluffy.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Monday: testing
Tuesday: Ohio history lessons, co-op homework, Toa's schooling. Then dinner, dance, and Tae Kwon do.
Wednesday: grocery shopping, testing, maybe a quick run to the garden center. Leftovers, church.
Thursday: co-op, library, dinner, Tae Kwon Do
Friday: testing, family night.
Saturday: Oh....heres a cool one! We're going to the Ashville Viking Festival!!! The admission is canned or non-perishable food items for the local food pantry. They have a 40' replica of a viking long boat. I wanted to go in costume, but the Jedi said, wisely, that the month was already pretty booked up and I shouldn't add sewing 4 costumes to my activities.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Which I found on Caverna Obscura Fantasy Fashions by Elvina Ewing while looking for some pictures of elven chain for a character.

And Sweetling at the concert--

Numbers

253 blog posts that I have finished applying labels to. That's all of them, in fact.

11:22 in the morning and zero school lessons done.

9 Webkinz that Sweetling has dumped into my lap, cause they're cute.

2 Facebook encouraging facebook notes that I should reply to and thank the writers for their thoughtfulness.

1 Wii that has kept Toa busy for over an hour now

117.6 pounds on the scale means only 2 cups of hot chocolate a day and 6 glasses of water.

? lbs of chicken in the freezer....and I'm totally chickened out for dinner recipes

2 days till co-op again, and 2 short stories to write (one by me and one by Sweetling)

60 degrees which is good, but rainy and wet, so still no gardening.

2 days of sunny warm weather later this week, both of which are already booked up, so still no gardening.

15 peat pellets in a plastic container on the living room window sill. 3 with seeds that have started to sprout, 2 of which look like something fuzzy is starting to grow at the base of the sprout. What do I do?

3 unmotivated persons home on a Tuesday with too many lessons that need done and not enough fun creativity to get the gears cranking.

Daybook, April 13th

Outside my window...it's wet and cold, but the water droplets on the long leaves of the daylilies are glittering jewels.

I am thinking... that I'm not necessarily a "worrier". I don't fret over the usual daily worries, but I have to confess that I've just realized that while I trust God for provision, for health, for safety...I've struggled this last year or two with trusting him with my heart. It seems ironic and incongruous, but it is true. These past few months, well, maybe past month, has been a quiet, inner revival for me. I don't want to lose what I am just reawakening to. And I know we all go through seasons where we are close to God and seasons where we feel spiritually dry. Nevertheless I want to cling to the first and consciously work to avoid the latter. I really appreciated the article "From Worry to Worship" on the Heart of the Matter.

From the learning rooms... back to the books. I've said it a million times, whining to everyone who's ear was tilted even slightly towards me. We didn't have a spring break, we had a sick break. Now everyone is healthy again, and its back to phonics and algebra. As soon as the weather warms up, its out to the garden we go.

I am thankful for... this weekend. The Jedi is awesome and made sure everyone had a great weekend. We slept in on Friday and then went and got a new cargo topper for the van and ran a few other errands in the afternoon. That evening we decorated our Easter eggs. Sweetling found a rubber band technique on Family Fun that we tried. It was a little tricky, and there were a couple of casualties, but we all had a good time. Saturday was the Easter egg hunt at church, followed by a trip to Sharon Centre's indoor adventure station. We got home and I cut Toa's and the Jedi's hair, and Dear Mama picked up KFC for dinner. That night we watched Bedtime Stories together. Sunday was a pancake breakfast at church, followed by a Resurrection Service. (Oh, and a sneaky bunny tried to hide baskets in the kids bedrooms while they slept, thinking the kids would look through the rest of the house *first* before finding the baskets in their bedrooms. But the kids got up and got ready for church, like good little children, before looking for their Easter baskets, and were then rewarded by the discovery of Easter baskets in Toa's closet and hiding between Sweetling's dresser and her wall.) After church, lunch at home, playtime with new Easter bunnies, a box from Nana and Bapa, a freshly mowed yard (and grass clippings raked up for a new compost bin), and a nap. Then, Mario Party on the Wii, a family egg hunt, pork tenderloin and sweet potato casserole, Star Trek: Enterprise and Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Also on Friday and Saturday nights, the Jedi and I are reading "For Men Only" together, having just recently finished "For Women Only" together. Both are outstanding books and I hightly recommend them.

From the kitchen... we have stacks and stacks of Easter treats. Sadly, I have no idea what I'm going to make for dinner tonight. Something simple and wholesome and straightforward. Stop laughing. That's the plan.

I am wearing... brown cords, a green T with blue and pink flowers (I refuse to let go of spring, despite the cold), and a beige cardigan. Yes, it goes together. You just have to squint and make the image a bit blurry.

I am reading... "For Men Only". And I HIGHLY recommend its counterpart, "For Women Only". Did you know on a national, objective, professional survey of hundreds of men, 74% of men responded that if forced to choose between two negatives, they would rather be alone and unloved than to feel inadequate and disrespected? See, I had always heard that men needed to feel respected, but I never really understood what that *meant*. I blogged about this in an earlier daybook. Check it out. (you can just skim down to the "I am reading section.") It's obviously significant enough that a month later, I'm still blown away by the revelations in this book.

I am hoping... for warmer temperatures this week. Amen to that, sister. The Jedi has given me permission to use his power drill (with trepidation and under supervision.) So, I can get started on my idea for a compost bin soon. And the Jedi has offered to go with me to pick up bales of peat moss for the square foot garden. I haven't told him yet about the vermiculate I also need, but I bet I get that too. :)

I am creating... a web of links. Yes, yes, I'm link crazy today. I've also started to go back through and apply labels to my blog posts, so that they are nicely sorted by category.

I am praying... for obedience, discipline, and focus. “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river.” Is 48:17-18

Around the house... laundry is underway. Toa of Boy is busy drawing scenes for a puppet show, for paper puppets glued on popsicle sticks ...which will be created next. Sweetling is hopefully completing a unit review for algebra. The kitchen is clean, though dishwasher needs unloaded. All in all, not bad....especially for a Monday. And a rainy, cold, blecky Monday at that.

One of my favorite things... how the Jedi holds my hand. He did that a lot this weekend. Sitting in church, riding in the car, watching tv, he would just reach over hold my hand, slipping his fingers in between mine. While we were reading "For Men Only" on Friday, we read a few lines written by a survey respondent. She concluded her anecdote with "it just made me feel so heard." I, of course, knew instantly what she meant. The Jedi started chuckling. "Wow," says he, "I didn't even know that was an emotion." But Sunday night, as we were drifting off to sleep, he asks me, do I feel heard? I love him so much.

A few plans for the rest of the week... back to co-op on Thursday. I need to write a short story for my composition class. (Yes, I'm the teacher, but somehow that hasn't gotten me a free pass on the homework assignments.) I have the outline done, but need to put the pedal to the metal and get the story done. Back to Tae Kwon Do this week after a week and a half of sick days. That's going to be rough.

Friday on a Saturday morning

Friday Fill-in. (button on the side bar, cause I'm didn't feel like trying to copy and past the html.)

1. Anonymous..._and all I'm coming up with is men in silver body suits with silver masks posing as statues on the sidewalks of San Fransisco.

2. _Compost_ is a _four lettered word. Yes, it is, look at it again_.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, _for I shall not be defeated by an old roll of chicken wire.

4. _Sunshine, flowers, fresh air, warm weather, the end of school are all_ what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when _you have friends _.

6. _Chocolate bunnies_ MUST go into the Easter Basket! Toa of Boy informed me of this in the checkout lane of Walmart. The Easter Bunny had a differing concept for the Easter basket, but the Easter Bunny quickly amended her plans.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _dying our Easter eggs (which of course means my fingers are also an interesting hue of pink)_, tomorrow my plans include _an Easter egg hunt at church followed by more chicken wire wrestling and compost bin making_ and Sunday, I want to _dance and celebrate his resurrection !

ps---If a computer programmer/chemist tells you your clothes clash "a little bit", what you thought was a clever, cutting edge ensemble would probably do a circus clown proud.

Top 100

Ha! you thought it was going to be a list. No. Its not. How would I make a list without Sweetling here to keep me on track? Where is Sweetling you ask? In her room of course, practicing for her teen years. Did she do a literature lesson in there? Who knows. Its like a black box up there.

I do have Toa of Boy with me though. He's sitting on my lap and crying. Why? I don't know. He's been sad miserable and cranky all day. he doesn't have a fever, he isn't congested, he got a good night of sleep. BUT, he feel asleep on the couch at 11:30, right after a torture session involving sight word cards, and then he slept for 2 and half hours. When he woke up, I thought, oh good....I can have my Little Guy back. But no. He sat and whimpered and watched pooh. I came down here to the computer. He came down and said, crying, "Mommy, I want cake." I picked him up and told him we didn't have any cake, but we had cookies. Would he like a cookie? No, he would not. Cake, and only cake, will stop the flow of tears.

I don't have laundry folded, but I do have lavels applied to 100 blog posts. 101 if you count this one. Maybe this calls for baking a cake.