A Rock In My Stomach...

Well...remember I said that I blog on the upswing...this last week has not EXACTLY been an upswing.



We've been pretty busy with our standards...you know, homeschool, soccer, church, random photography endeavors...and dancing...there's been a fair amount of dancing...oh, and laughing...a good portion of laughing...



But we also have an appointment on the books with Scottish Rite next week. That always puts a rock in my stomach. Sort of like the test you didn't study for in high school...I've got a mixture of fear and dread going on...and it isn't exactly pleasant. I gotta tell you, this parenting thing...it ain't for sissies.



Her? She's just fine. Looking FORWARD to it, in fact. Hmmmmm...maybe I just need a tattoo...

See ya around...

Fun with Flarp...

In the girl's Easter baskets this year, they received a product called Flarp. Ours had pretty much been used to capacity when we received a sweet care package for Beanie from a friend. Inside the care package was another, wonderful, fresh can of Flarp.



After wrestling the can from the children once or twice...I knew that it was made of something SIMILAR to the oooobleck that we made a couple of years ago.

So, being that there was only one GOOD can left...and being an extremely fair mother...I decided that nothing must do but that we see if we could make some more.

Here is that tutorial for you...

First things first, you need

1/4 cup white glue
1/4 cup water
Food coloring (optional)
1 TBL Borax (you'll find it in the laundry section in the grocery store...and one box'll last you FOREVER)
1 cup of water (yes, I've listed water twice.

Okay...first thing...get yourself two bowls...

In the first bowl mix 1/4 cup of white glue and 1/4 cup of water together...



Now mix the food coloring into the glue mixture...



Now in the other bowl mix 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of Borax...once this is mixed get out a 1/2 cup measure or something that your kid can pour easily and get ready. You want to pour a little Borax mixture into the glue mixture and massage it around until you have slime...but you don't need to use the entire 1/2 cup for Flarp. Flarp is less brittle than the standard slime...

This is what it will look like as you add it...and if you are taking pictures of the fun you really will need another hand...(perhaps my brother's friend Hans could help me next time.)



If you use too much of the Borax mixture, it will still be slime...but it'll break under too much pressure...and Flarp is all about pressure...it's total purpose is the rude noise it produces...and the giggles that overtake the children in the aftermath.

Below, my lovely assistant with the slime that got too much Borax...looks like Flarp, but it breaks...



After you mix it all up...get it out of the excess Borax mixture and hand it to some lovely assistant or other...she will knead it...and shortly it will be Flarp with which she will proceed to pose...



And then do it again with a different color...knock yourself out...do it until you run out of glue, cuz you are NOT going to run out of Borax anytime soon...



Have fun...

See ya around...

The Blur that most people call Easter...

Last weekend was Easter. Didja hear?

You know, celebration of our Lord Jesus resurrected for our sins. Big holiday over here, most years. Second only to Christmas over here, most years. Something we usually look forward to for several weeks.

This year...hmmm...not so much. Because I was helping at church, a few things kind of fell apart at home. Oh well. We'll schedule better next year. We did get a few things in and it was a lovely day over all...just not traditonal...or rather not OUR traditonal.

We did color eggs on Saturday. My girls LOVE coloring eggs. And we go it one further because we also dye paper towels...as evidenced in my last post. We dye paper towels because Bubba HATES plastic grass (with a purple passion)...so I use the dyed, dried paper towels in their baskets...

Here is the set up and the egg dying in all it's glory...


And after the fun of all that...the next morning we got up...went through their baskets...went to church...were there for two services...enjoyed ourselves. Went to TGIFriday's for lunch (not exactly Easter Dinner but I didn't have to do the dishes :) ). Came home...napped. Got up...ate dinner and watched a movie. Didn't remember until bed time that we hadn't hunted eggs, played with our Resurrection Eggs, read from the Bible or watched Cotton Patch Gospel...or any of the other things that make Easter, Easter over here.

I'm a little sad about it. But then again, it was last week and the memory is fading quickly with the fun of this week. As it should be.

See you around...

Me and Photography...

I've never been what could be considered a photographer. Actually, until I had kids, I wasn't even much of a picture taker.

But recently...I've been exploring my camera. Ever since I started reading Pioneer Woman and discovered her blog of tutorials on Photoshop and photography in general, I've gotten more and more interested. However, for the most part, I don't have the time or the inclination to sit down and really READ my manual. (I blame my past, I was an MCSE, after all, and a computer hardware girl beside...we don't READ to set up things unless it's to teach a class or pass a test...and we CERTAINLY don't look at the manual FIRST.)

But I have been learning in short bursts. Taking one thing and looking it up. Mucking about a bit. Then back to auto-point-and-shoot. Then some picture will catch my eye...or a new tutorial...and I'll take 3 minutes to see what my manual says about THAT. Then off I go again.

This makes for TONS of pictures that don't FIT anywhere...like this set from the other day...First I took it on auto...then flipped it to manual because I wanted to see the ripples...then after changing the shutter speed (ISO) and time value finally got close to what I was looking for. Of course, I'm not showing you the 6 other pictures I took as I got to where I wanted. PTL for digital photography technology, eh?



Or these two shots that simply show the difference between auto and manual/vivid...I was actually surprised at the difference...it's pretty subtle...but it's there...



Or my tiny foray into macro-photography...where else would I ever use this picture?



I stood in my kitchen the other day while the girls dyed paper towels and played with ISO (shutter speed...I think...it would have been film-speed on my old camera)...I discovered how much closer to the same light you are seeing without using a flash that you can get with this button. For instance, the first two are too light (used the flash) and too dark (no flash)respectively...The last two looked the same in the camera as what I was seeing with my eyes (I was standing with the bright window behind me and I think it was set at 400)...




I'm started to ENJOY taking pictures a little more. I'm starting to notice pictures out in the world that would be fun to take if only I could control my camera a little better. I'm even having better luck with first time straight out of the camera shots that actually LOOK like what I'm seeing...



Now if only I could figure out Photoshop. Oh how I miss my friend, The Camera King, who is always available by phone but of course knows FAR more than I know to ask him. Oh how I WISH that I'd studied less TCP/IP and more Photoshop...Guy, Gina, Dan...sorry I missed your classes...

Oh well...it'll be 2095 before I get all the way through this manual...but at least I found a place for a few of these extra pictures. PHEW!

See ya around...

Some things cause pure joy...

It's true...

I can't embed this because it's too new on youtube...but watch this clip of "Britain's Got Talent"...

It will bring you joy, I promise.

Susan Boyle - Singer - Britains Got Talent 2009

See ya around...

Drumroll, please...

Attention...may I have your attention...TAP TAP TAP...

Bear the Great...my child...the mighty...the photographer in these self and mommy portraits (6 words, "Get that old hag some makeup')...the artist formerly known as one of the ones with a full set of teeth...



The same Bear who we chased last week with shouts of "EWWW!!" "GA-ROSS!!" "You are giving me the creeps!" The one who insisted on showing us the convolutions of her loose tooth. And who, even when not actively trying to make her sisters squeal, still caused many a shudder because she definately looked a little odd...



This Bear has OFFICIALLY lost her very first tooth...She has crossed the threshold into that "I lost a tooth" status that seems so important to this set, where there are truely the haves and have nots.



Please forgive the crazed look...it was after bath, on the way to bed. Daddy had "helped" her brush her teeth and between the slight pain of the...um..."brushing" and the sheer excitement of the whole tooth fairy aspect, I was lucky to catch her on film (or digital media in this case).

And here is the tooth, preparing to be placed in the VERY official tooth cup. That cup was brought into our family from a local fast food restaurant during the first run of the LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring movie. Beanie found it WAY in the back of one of our cabinets when she lost her first tooth and it's been the official cup EVER since.



I will not go into the details of our tooth losing traditions. I know not who is reading or what they would think. But I will say, this is one of my current favorite milestones...it's nothing but funny to see how excited they are to get rid of those pearly whites.

See ya around...

The Hilarious Predicament of Skirts...

It's beginning to be spring here in Texas. This means some of the same things that it means in the rest of the country. Warmer temperatures and wild flowers are part of it indeed, but in Texas, we make these signs into a quartet of Ws by adding weather and WIND.

This story is REALLY about the wind.

Yesterday, we went to church, as is becoming our habit once again. Due to the warmer temperatures, both Beanie and I wore skirts. Because I help with the kid's song service, Bean and I left a little earlier than the rest of the family and so were alone.

Getting to the church was not that big a deal. I don't even think we noticed the wind much. But on the way home, because we were now a little later than the rest of the family (I also help with song service in the 2nd service...so Bubba takes the little girls home) we stopped to pick up take out for lunch and Bean WALKED into the store.

As she was getting out of the car, quite unexpectedly the wind blew right up Beanie's skirt. "WOOOOOOOOO", she squealed and clutched herself and then started laughing. I mean laughing so hard she could hardly walk especially with all the clutching of the skirt and the buffeting of the wind. Which, of course, got me gigglin'.

We finally got into the store...got the merriment under control and were standing calmly at the counter to order or pay or something (I truly forget at this point), when a man walked out the door behind us. The wind whipped in that open door and flipped BOTH of our skirts around...thankfully mine was longer so I mostly just got a draft...but there was Beanie, skirt flipping, squealing, clutching, blushing and now REALLY laughing because it'd happened to me, too. The man behind the counter lost it. Hilarity took over and reigned for close to a full minute...a really long time in a public place.

So hmmm...the moral of this story is ... Well, I don't know what it is. I should say that you shouldn't wear a skirt in the wind, but then the squeal comes back to my head..and the shrieks of laughter.

Maybe the moral is, you should ALWAYS get your 9 year old to wear a skirt in the wind...because it's funny, man...seriously funny.



See you around...

Further thoughts on the last few days...

Okay, so Grandma and Grandpa came and went.

This means much more than that statement says...first it means that even they can see that Beanie is stable...WOO HOO!!!

But it means something else too. It means the my Gram Marie is sick. She was admitted to the hospital because she fainted, it turned out that she had pneumonia. Apparently she just wasn't getting enough oxygen.

This has been very difficult for her...because, for one thing, she feels like CRUD. Let's lay it right out there. But for another, when you aren't getting enough oxygen, your brain doesn't work like it should, so all the stuff they are doing to help her get better is confusing to her and it makes her MAAA-AAD!

This is also hard on my Uncle K and Aunt M who are with her, helping her day by day as she struggles through this.

On the up side, there has been some progress with the pneumonia and as long as she is wearing her mask she is keeping her oxygen levels up where the doctors want them...but the levels drop if she even takes the mask off long enough for a drink or to put on a bit of chap stick.

So, I ask that you once again keep my family in your thoughts and prayers...for Gma and Gpa as they drive HOME (they should be there today) and then as they decide whether to drive or fly to Gram Marie and when. For Gram Marie herself for continued healing and that she may understand and to somehow be comforted. For Uncle K and Aunt M who are in a very joyful but difficult time living with and caring for Gram Marie. I know there is no place they would rather be than at her side, she is so loved...but I also know that these are tough days, please pray for strength as they do what they must.

See ya around...

It's a little lonely here...

The house is a little TOO quiet...

When I come downstairs at o'dark early, where is that little lady, sipping her cup of coffee and reading her book in her full length pajamas, fuzzy robe and slippers...?

When I'm up earlier than that, where is that fuzzy ol' guy trundling through the kitchen, squinching his eyes at me as he heads toward the bathroom...grumbling that I'm up too early and should go to bed...?

Where is that loud fan sound that makes me JUMP every.single.morning as they begin to shower and get going about their day...?

Where are the late night Wii bowling games where Bubba and I test our metal against two CHAMPIONS who have been bowling on leagues and such since before we were born...?

Where is the extra pair of hands that helped me with kids and a wheel chair...the one that worked SO hard with me to clear the garage so that our new freezer would fit...the same one who helped me DESTROY my school room and then did NOT help me pick it up...where'd she go???

What about that pair of hands that fixed my computer, shopped for my microphone, showed me how to set up my MP3 player with a guitar amp for accompanying the kids song service at church, AND most importantly showed me how to embed video for YOUR viewing pleasure, dear reader???

Where is the gossip? The gigggling?? The grunting???

HEY WAIT! WHY ARE THERE DISHES IN MY SINK? I distinctly remember there being NO dishes in my sink for the last 10 days...WHAT is going on here???

:(

Yes indeed, Grandma and Grandpa left on Saturday and things are a little lonely around here.

See you around...

When you are almost 4

When you are almost 4 you have a lot of opinions. You know that you don't want to marry the little boy down the street..."definately".



When you are almost 4, you know for a fact that your sister said an unkind thing for "no apparent reason"...even though you are the one holding her broken toy in two different hands...



When you are almost 4, you know that anything that happened before you last slept is in the past and can no longer be held against you. And when you wake, whether after a refreshing night's sleep or a short nap, you describe everything in that distant past as "nester-year"...



When you are almost 4, you are continually startled by the loud guffaws of your parental units as you, VERY logically, explain various elements in your life in great solemnity and physical gesticulation and the use of the expression "really".



And you are never surprised by a camera snapping during even the most inane moments of your life because you are aware that your mother loves you now as she loved you in far off nester-year, definately and for no apparent reason. When you are almost 4, you know these things...and use them to your advantange...really, really.



See ya around...