QOTD

At the dinner table tonight

"That's it I'm running away, I can't handle it. All the "Mom, Mom, Mommy, Mama, Mom all at once!!!!" - Me
There's dead silence except the princess pipes up
"Mom" - Lyd

"Yes Lydia" - Me (monotone)

"Do you want to hear my voice? LALALALALALALALALA "

It is on it's way

Yesterday it was 80 degrees give or take. As I walked outside I noticed there was a little breeze with that hint of Autumn that was tickling my apple tree and whisping around the tomatoes. It didn't last all day but it was there I felt it! It is gone this morning but as I was filling the feeder with the hummingbirds buzzing and twitting above my head, I glanced over at our stout apricot tree and 3 little yellow leaves peaked out at me. The earth has also shifted as the sun is not falling all over my basil plant on the deck.
Mother Nature is preparing to send out her Autumn greeting cards and I am going to try to welcome the season with open arms.

This summer has been one filled with ease and joy. I am not going to say good bye though until I absolutely have too. Hopefully not until the middle or end of September. I love sitting on the back deck or laying in the green grass and letting the sun radiate its warmth all over me. Chaiya's hammock in the back has provided lots of relaxing time. Our robins out front had a second set of little chirping babies. Monsoons raining have been just perfect, cooling each afternoon. The cicadas are merrily making their annoying noise. Mostly it has been pure bliss.

Changes are coming though. We will fling open our doors to welcome Autumn when the time comes. Not next week though.

$$$$$ wasted

A co-worker of Michael's approached him this last week with an offer. They had purchased a house and part of the deal was that they had to take all of the food storage that was in it. He wanted to know if we wanted it for free since they would never use it. They want to use the space for other things.

One never looks a gift horse in the mouth right?
The tragedy of this is that someone spent thousands and thousands of dollars ( my guess is about $9,000 to $10,000 current day prices) and then put it in the basement (crawl space) and never ever used it. It has broken my heart to know that these people thought that this food would have actually sustained them when in reality it might have killed them.

Rotate, rotate, rotate! If you store food please use it and rotate it often. Make it part of your daily diet. If you don't eat rice, don't store it. If you use spelt instead of wheat, then store spelt.

This food was purchased in the mid to late 70's. Most of it is very, very bad and should have been used within 5 to 7 years of purchasing, all the products with oil with in a year to two. There will be some things that are okay. We are still going through it. Salt, some grains etc...
It is going to cost us to take all this to the dump.

Food storage is a fabulous thing, if you know what you are doing and you use what you store.

Madness at the feeder

Our hummingbird feeder is attracting so many birds the last few days. The most we have counted at one time is about 15 but they move so fast. I hope you can see all of them in this picture. There is about 6 or 7. What fun we have had watching them and seeing how certain ones are territorial. Some of them wait in the trees for their turn. Oh I wish summer could last so much longer.

Sweet!!!

Ohhhhh I am feeling so spoiled. This morning I am eating some supreme pumpkin chocolate chip muffins given to me by Adrienne. They are divine!

Birthday bliss

I had so much fun today! I received lots of love through emails and phone calls. We had an amazing day.

Maliea got me a little teapot for my collection. Isn't it totally cute?

Chaiya made me this incredible bracelet!

Quayde treated me to some yummy frozen yogurt. Just him and me, which was very nice. Lydia made me an I Love You Mom card. Nurse Debbie treated me to a Texas RoadHouse gift card. This was a complete surprise and was wonderful and I have a subscription to Victoria magazine coming to me from Misty.

This incredibly perfect orchid plant was gifted to me by my lovely soul sister Vicky!

And drum roll please *****************My most interest present , so I can match my best friend Kristi, is this gift from my husband:

Yes ladies and gentlemen, a toilet seat! Not just any toilet seat...no this one has the removable seat that you can wash separately and a No-Slam lid. Yes, it gently glides down to shut itself. Wow. Michael even made sure to include an amazing bow. Just think, it's a gift that I will use everyday. Not many gifts can do that.

I am focused on creating an amazing year. Full of things that nurture my authentic self and create joy and happiness for all those around me.

Thanks to everyone that made my birthday an absolute wonderful day!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!

more details this evening!

We escape into fun!

Today was filled with:

Fungi
and flowers

Many hands of UNO and lots of tree climbing

They were really high up in this tree!

Tons of dragonflies. This red one actually held still long enough for a picture.

Ducks that want to eat not only the bread you brought for them but fingers too! A walk that turned into a complete hike around the lake with some rock climbing. With the littles in tow!

We even found four homes designed for either financially challenged hobbits or giant gnomes.

Michael even did some creative design around our site. It made it even more magical!

We had an incredible day around a lake surrounded by the beauty of nature. I so do not want to let summer go this year.

August is....

Fresh from the garden tomatoes!

Carbon

Today's element was carbon. We had lots of fun experiments to play with. Just by chance I happened upon the sugar one at Unplug Your Kids. It was fun but we definitely cooked it way too long to make it even slightly edible.

First you take about a 1/2 cup of sugar and heat it on med. heat. This took a long time. Longer than we expect before the C12H22O11 started to break down.

Stir, stir, stir!
Then it breaks down and you can throw about a 1/2 cup of water and watch it "explode". We then drizzled it on a plate and try to eat some.

We cooked it longer it was not good. But we learned a lot.

Next we started experimenting with some CO2. This was amazing. Not only did we suspend bubbles in mid-air, we created fog and learned all about processes like photosynthesis and how soda pop is made.

All of us had a great time. The really cool thing was there was a little bit of bubble solution in the dry ice, so when we made the 'volcano' it was in the middle of the bubbles. Then a huge bubble would form and the kids would pop it and a large amount of the fog would shoot out. We love doing stuff like this.

Waste; I'm just not into it.

We've been in Phoenix doing a wedding. The flowers were amazing and as soon as I get my throw away camera developed I'll post a picture. So last night I am throwing away hundreds of flowers. Ackkk. There is just so much waste with weddings. I offered for people to take the arrangements and only a few people did. Lydia is deathly allergic to roses. (nice irony right?) So we can't take them home and enjoy them.
I know the flowers die in a few days anyway but still. So much beauty that is only enjoyed for a few hours.

HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION - Radical Change Taking Root

In protest of the Popular Science article...there is a better way! When you have a few minutes watch what this family has done in the middle of LA and be inspired.

Parenting and depression

I have really debated about baring my soul, so to speak, on my blog
Having Baby M around here is like a little ray of sunshine and she's helped me feel like maybe I am a half way decent parent. She likes when I read and sing to her. She laughs when I play with her.
You see parenting Thayne has been really hard. With the older kids I had confidence, I knew how to create an awesome life and with Lydia well Lydia is an earth-angel.
Thayne.... well okay it is like this..... he sucks his thumb and has a blanket. No big deal to most moms but for me it is devastating. He doesn't like to be loved on or have lullabies. Hey this is the kid that has had the most stable home environment of any of them. He has two parent and a whole family who adore him.

After Thayne was born I plunged heavy into a serious post-partum depression. While everyone else was cheering, "Hey you had a 12 lb kid!!!" I felt like a failure. An absolute complete failure. Honestly it wasn't until last September that I started feeling good again. Started to feel light again. Started feeling like my old self again. It has been long and hard road. It has been an incredibly lonely road. It is not something you can just talk about. Not that anyone even cares to listen.
Especially since I exist in a "count your blessings, just be grateful" community.
Every day is a choice. Every day I choose to try my best to be joyful and happy. That is a whole separate thing from physical depression. My struggle with my health and trying to get my iron levels to stay up and blood pressure to stay down has played a lot into how my body feels.

I don't know if and when I will feel confident about parenting this very unique child of mine. He came to this earth with some heavy stuff.
Baby M at least has taught me that a little one can still smile and laugh when I'm around. Maybe I'm not so bad after all.

Protest

Here's is the real answer! Path to Freedom. Grow it yourself. You don't have to have several acres to create a real sustainable life. So there Popular Science. We don't need to build huge skyscraper buildings to fake farm in.

Baby M is back!

No matter how hard I try, my body is just not wired to be an early morning person. I even went to bed at a reasonable hour but alas that 5:15 am alarm was a rude awakening. I can be totally awake brain wise but my eyes, well one of them refuses to open. I stumble around waiting until that eye decides to greet the day. It is not that I hate mornings. I love how fresh the air is. I love to see beautiful sunrises. I love how quiet and alive everything is. My body just doesn't cooperate.

Baby M has come to visit again probably off and on for the next month. This child is the epitome of perfection. You know the Gerber baby cuteness, add on an amazing disposition and lots of laughter equals the perfect kid. Obviously not mine. She is a little faster than when we had her last. Did you know no matter how metiously one cleans and vaccums, an 11 month old baby can find stuff on the floor to pop into her mouth.

Thayne was a little jealous yesterday. At one point though he did offer to share his blanket (his "needs" as he calls it) for about 30 seconds with her. We will see how today goes.

Tonight Michael and I were sitting and reading at the table. In my hands was an issue of Natural Awakenings healthy living healthy planet. In Michael's was Popular Science.
All of a sudden he wants to share something he has read that he thinks is just amazing...... " Farming in the Sky.....Agriculture is broken...one fix: skyscrapers filled with robotically tended hydroponic crops and lab-grown meat"

ACKKKKKKK With complete love in my eyes, I told him obviously we are diametrically opposed. Boy, I still have a lot of work to do on this man. lol

Art! Carrie's picture

Mama, will you make hearts with me? This morning Lydia requested that I help her create. Perfect picture for Carrie. I love making things with my kiddos.

Gone too far? No way

So lately I have become a CVS freak! You see they have this extra care card program and you can earn extra care bucks to use on your next visit, plus you can use manufacturer's coupons and store coupons!

So tonight I bought 2 tubes of Colgate and Crest toothpaste, 1 Dawn dish washing liquid, 1 Pert + shampoo, 1 Sure deodorant, 1 lg pkg of Huggies 232 ct. wipe refills, 2 Lg. boxes of Post cereal, and Welches 100% grape juice.

Total with tax : $12.93 Saved: $23.74

Plus earned $6.50 in EC bucks to use next time. I also received a coupon for a free toothbrush on my next visit.

So I'm scanning coupons and see a rebate for $5 if I buy the Pert and Sure and school supplies. I get all excited and turned to Chaiya and exclaim loudly," Guess what I will get if I send in this receipt with the school supplies receipt?"

Chaiya in her way says," What....... a free pencil?"

Someday she'll understand.

Mold, past lives and coffee?

It started as a pleasant Sabbath day! Then about a hour before church (we go at 1:00 pm) Michael went in to our closet to get his clothes. I heard him call for me.

Several weeks ago we had a problem with the bathroom that shares a wall with our closet. Well, let us just say that there was a leak that had gone to the closet that we were completely unaware of. We then spent the next 50 min pulling everything out and ripping the carpet and padding out. Before we needed to leave for church.
This is a major concern because of Lydia's health!

Michael was kind enough to "pose" for this picture that was taken as we have spent the remaining part of our Sunday trying to make sure this doesn't create a serious breathing problem with our daughter.
The dry wall has been cut out and all the pieces and parts that had any mold are gone. Bleach is now the fragrant smell wafting through our home.

Now the fun part!!!! We had a lot of stuff in this closet. Lots of boxes of Michael's past life. Medical supplies , 72 hour kits and our normal clothing stuff.

This is where it gets good. Michael pulls out a box full of shoes of every sort and size but that is NOT ALL this pack rat has been carrying around. Prior to becoming LDS, he had lived a worldly life but apparently I never realized how (snicker snicker heheheheheh) colorful a life he had lived.
At the bottom of the box there were a few male apparel items that held Fredrick's of Hollywood tags on them. I tried to scan them to show you but my scanner is not being co-operative. I think it's on Michael's side. He of course is wildly embarrassed and has thrown them all away except the one pair I have taken (and hidden)to use as blackmail if I ever need to.

Later this evening he had to go through all the important papers box. It had gotten wet on the bottom and we couldn't risk those things getting moldy. He was pulling out all kinds of important stuff and ran across his dog tags from when he was in the USAF.
In the military on your dog tags , it has a line at the bottom for your religious preference. After Michael joined the church, he went and got new dog tags. Well.... apparently the airman who made them up for him had never heard of our church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Instead of putting an abbreviation of LDS or Mormon; Michael's dog tags read:

The Church of Latte

I think that breaks our Word of Wisdom. We are laughing so hard and wondering if we should get a giant coffee cup as our idol.

Hope your Sunday has been as fun as ours!

Carrie's weather pic