Drama at the hogshed...

Yesterday I was working in my office and suddenly heard our Basset hound barking like mad and sounding VERY close. It sounded like she was on the front porch, which she doesn't have access to. I ran inside to find Meri screaming and crying upstairs. Ryan's bedroom is directly above my office and Sorsha had nosed her way into his room finding the hedgehogs.

Meri was dragging Sorsha down the stairs as I ran in to check on the hedgehogs. Penelope, if you recall, is a unwed teenage mother hedgehog that JUST had babies last Friday. From our research, you're supposed to leave her entirely alone for 10-12 days because if she gets stressed out, she may eat her babies... Haven't we ALL had those thoughts???

Well, upon checking on her, she had ditched her little hoglets outside the igloo and was hiding inside, chittering like crazy. She must have been taking them on their daily constitutional when terror struck. So... this new mother has abandoned her children? I was very disappointed in her...

Meri had calmed down by this point and ran to get me a washcloth. I picked up each little hedgie gently with the cloth and "rolled" them into the igloo to get back to their mother without my scent on them. We checked on them later in the day and she was nursing them calmly again.

WHEW! What a relief!! I can't wait until we can handle them again, they are So CUTE! Looks to be next Wednesday. In my anxiousness to get them back to their mother, I forgot to check if they were male or female. Now I want to know! Darn. Oh - and there are only two of them. Ryan must not have gotten a good look on Friday.

Killer Blog!

We had a gnat problem in our kitchen and I've finally tracked it down to that over watered ivy plant next to the sink.... So it's on the porch now... and I'm getting used to the counter having more space. It may never come back.

But in the meanwhile there are gobs of gnats in my house. It drove me NUTS! So I did a search on the net and found a solution where I didn't have to get the kids out of the house and I wouldn't have to hold my breath to blog. or anything toxic... and I had all the necessary supplies....

First I dumped bleach down the drains.

Next I put some balsamic vinegar in a bowl, put plastic wrap over the top and then poked holes in it with a pen. Those little buggers climb in looking for the vinegar and can't find their way out again. HA!

And then they drown... I've ALMOST got them all...

Of course, now I'm out of Raspberry balsamic vinegar... and who said you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar?? (granted - these are gnats...) I think my mom was just talking about how I talked to boys back then.... I think.

Rumor has it! Almost completely...

I got a call from our 4H leader that some mayhem had happened at our local county fair grounds and then I heard from others. Apparently people have been playing a bit of phone tag with a deaf person... here's the rumor...

Someone had broken into one of the buildings with the Cloverkid/Sewing/Clothing/Cooking projects. The Cloverkid projects had chocolate syrup dumped on them and several items going to the State fair had been thrown in the trash soaked with the chocolate syrup. Also pillows had been slashed.

Here is reality...

Sometime between 9 and 10am, someone must have found a bottle of chocolate syrup in the buildings fridge and decided to wreck a poster and ribbon that a Cloverkid had done on Cystic Fibrosis. Some had gotten on other projects, but that was the main one. Nothing else had been damaged that couldn't be fixed easily.

But really now.... Why would someone destroy a project that a little kid (Cloverkids are 3rd grade and below) worked so hard on and was so proud of? I'm thinking some young kid around 10-15 who thinks this is funny.

You will be caught... Make no mistake...

None of Meri's items were touched. Whew! Meri & I went last night to the final announcements of special winners. We had missed Maddy's name being announced for the State Fair by only a few minutes. Darn. But we got to watch the cream of the crop do some championship herding. Meri thought they were mean to be herding the hogs around with sticks. They're just thick plastic and they weren't being mean...

We got our final fair food in the shape of cheese pizza, walking tacos and pickles. I don't think I got a single fried Oreo this year! There's always the State Fair tho I guess and there, they'll serve anything on a stick!

One Lovely Blog Award! And the winner is...

I'm blushing... Thank you so much to Heather at Madeline the Magnificent Mayhem Maker for giving me this lovely award! I think your blog is downright lovely too!

The rules of this award are:
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Envelope please!...
The winners of One Lovely Blog Award are...
Kim at Ewe & Eye - without whom I would never have thought of blogging... Wonderful friend from college. Her photos and knitting are phenomenal!
MiMi at Living in France. She doesn't really... just so you know... She has such a unique take on life in general with her boys.
Scary Mommy - Makes me feel "not so bad" as a scary mommy... lol! Fun stuff!
Karen at Sewing by the Seat of My Pants - as a sewer myself, Karen is VERY inspirational and gets me back to the machine often!
Trudy at Sewing With Trudy - Mother/daughter sewer/homeschooler. Gives me lots to think about.
The Slapdash Sewist - More inspiration for sewers! Wonderful stuff! You have WAY more energy than I've got!

There are so many blogs that I follow every day and I love each and every one of you! I guess I'm just too lazy to link to all of them... I look forward to seeing new posts every day from you guys! Thanks so much for the inspiration!

Thanks again to Heather! People read me!!! They really read me!!! And I guess you don't think I'm total nuts. If you do, please comment and let me know...

Comments from you guys make my day. If you read me somewhat regularly or even just once a month or even if this is your first time ever, please click on the follow me button. Really!! It won't bite!

Wild Memory Wednesday...

Ryan age 4 reminiscing with Mom and Dad. Ryan had had hernia surgery and on that day, I ran over to the womens clinic and found out I was expecting Maddy. That same night Ryan broke out with chicken pox. So Grandma came to stay for a week because I had to work. Ryan remembered that time well... "Oh, that's when I went poopy behind the blue chair!" Grandma failed to mention this to us...

Ryan age 4 at store arguing with dad going down the hardware aisle. "But DAD! We need a plunger in case our poopy gets stuck!"

Ryan at 5. Dad had fallen on the front steps carrying boxes to the car for Mom, landing on his wrist and knee. Three weeks later, his wrist is still bothering him, so he and Ryan went to the store for a wrist brace wrap.
Ryan - very loudly at the checkout - "Why do you need that? Is it because of when Mom beat you up?"

An original story by Ryan McMullen… written April, 2000. Age 8
“Ryan’s Magic Ring”
My magic ring can only do one wish a day. If you use two or more it will explode. I would like to be a super hero. So I can fly and use laser beam and mega punch. I would also like a billion bux. So I can buy a ptyhon. I would like a big screen TV too.
Maddy at 5 after eating ALL her Easter candy in one afternoon...
Chattering so fast you can't make out anything, except right in the middle without any pauses she blurts "blah blah blah I can't shut up for one minute blah blah blah"

Maddy at 4. Loved playing secret agent. She would slink around the house and talk to herself as if she had a walkie-talkie. If you stopped to enjoy her by watching, she got embarrassed and told you not to look.

Maddy at 2-3 in the car with a bad cold and hoarse voice says something to Dad in a very raspy voice.
Dad, "You sound like a chain smoker!"
Maddy - "I AM a chain smoker! What's a chain smoker?"

Maddy at 4. She loved to cook but refused to follow a recipe or take advice. If you asked what's she making, she'd say, "I don't know what it's called, but I know what's in it!" It usually consisted of pickle chunks and peanut butter with a bit of mayo and flour, then she'd insist you eat it.
Meri at 3. After church one night we were headed home on the interstate. On the way we discovered that she'd stuck a rock up her nose, she said it was so she could clean it. Makes perfect sense to me! As we drove, I turned around trying to comfort her tears and blow it out her nose with no success. We were almost to our exit and suddenly she gasped very loudly and yelled, "I can't breathe!!" We turned around at the exit and took her to the emergency room.

Meri at 3. Found some paint in the garage and made a skunk out of our basset hound. When we confronted her about it, she denied, of course... but the tell tale little girl footprints tracking paint thru the garage was a dead giveaway.

Meri at 4. Finding gum in Dad's shoe one morning, we decided it had to be her. She at first admitted it, but then for years later denied it and got angry whenever we teased her about it. She was on gum restriction for a long time...

Meri at 4. During a car ride, Meri insisted upon tormenting her brother and his friends with her barbies. A few minutes after the barbies were confiscated by her Dad, Meri started chuckling and says "You can't do anything without the accessories" that she was hiding in her lap...

How much sugar can you eat in one day?

Hmmmm... Meri and I went to the 4H horse arena last night and enjoyed s'mores with the rest of the club while we watched the horse show. My fire pit still sits next to the arena unless our club leader got around to pitching it into the back of their pickup...

Meri doesn't like s'mores, so she begged for some $$ to go to the other stands for some alternate sustenance. I allowed her to spend $3 on whatever she wanted. I thought she'd go for funnel cake... But my little cost conscious girl knows a bargain and how to add. She came back with...

pickle (not so bad healthwise - a bit salty, but hey! The portapotties were clear across the fair grounds...)
bag-o-cotton candy (not good at all but she did share some with me, so that makes it better)
A huge roll of chewing gum (not good at all - totally sugary... and PINK.)

I had 3 s'mores, one of which didn't have the chocolate on it, so I felt like it was free calories! And then balanced it out with a DDP (Diet Dr. Pepper for those non pepper people).

We'll be coming out of our sugar coma about Wednesday I think for the final festivities of the fair.

No 4H fair activities today!!! Meri has TaeKwondo tonight and I am going to sew sew sew!! or sleep sleep sleep!!

Is the best state fair in our state!!

Wow! Sunday was good! Ryan got up super early to help serve breakfast at the 4H food stand. Maddy headed off to detassel, Grandma headed off to work and the last 3 of us got ready for church. After that, Meri and I went back to the county fair and she stood up in front of about 100 people and told about her puppy poster.

Then at 6:30pm the Share the Fun show started.

Ryan sang Camp Out, which while he was singing it made me wonder if this was a very good choice for this event... How many people were wondering what's the real meaning behind the song and staring at the back of my head???... I may be a horrible mother.... He sang and played it very well tho and got a blue ribbon! He also got almost every single girl to come swooning to him later. "Oh Ryan!!! You sang that so nice!! You're so good!!"

The big news of the night!... Wait for it!!!... Maddy played A River Flows In You by Yiruma and only had a few mistakes that only her mother would hear. Well... maybe you will to. It was great and she gets to play it again at the State Fair in a few weeks!! She had been trying now for two years and she finally made it this year! WOOHOO!


Sorry for the quality of the video. Meri was holding the camera and jiggling as well as playing with the zoom. AND she's humming along.... lol! I just noticed it while I watched the video again.

A few shots so far so various fair stuff...
Meri at the small pets show.
All the Cloverkids and their small pets from our club.
Ryan tuning up before playing his own song for a judge Thursday.

Asleep on my lap amongst the flower exhibits.

Saturday Sights and Sounds

Saturday was exhausting! We made it to the fairgrounds by 10:30am after stopping for crickets for Meri's frog. She showed it at 11 and got her coveted green participation ribbon. (She can't wait until next year...)

We found a geocache on the fair grounds and Meri & I met the kid who had planted it. For the rest of the day whenever we saw him, he handed us more info on caches or gave us a geocoin or little cache bottle. He claims to have about 30 ready and waiting at home. I was beginning to wish we had not brought the coordinates with us...

After a great smoked pull pork sandwich, we said goodbye to my sister-in-law, niece and nephew as they were headed back home. Robb took the frog home and practiced bagpipes the rest of the afternoon. The kids and I worked at the 4H food stand for a couple hours, then explored until our next volunteer gig at one of the exhibit halls.

By this time, Maddy had ditched and gotten Robb to come get her. So it was just the two and me. Ryan took most of my fair food money and ran to Ames for some guitar thing he HAD to have before Sunday's Share the Fun show. So Meri and I were on our own for a little while. She was exhausted and had a headache, so we scrounged her up an ibuprofen and then went into an exhibit hall to find some chairs. So for 30 minutes she slept on my lap sprawled across some folding chairs. I think my legs fell asleep...

After that, her headache was mostly gone, but she was really weepy. We stood in line for the free BBQ but she was really weepy and draping on me. So I sat her on a bench, got our food and we ate in the car. Rather, I did. She wasn't feeling like it. So instead of going to the Celebrity Milk Off, I took her home. Ryan had gotten back to the fair just as we were leaving, so he went. Then he stayed for the teen dance.

Once home, Meri had woken up a little bit and we watched the rest of the next North & South episode and then I was exhausted and she was wide awake.

What a long day! Just reviewing my day yesterday makes me tired... Today is the Cloverkid Show & Tell time this afternoon after church, then Share the Fun talent show tonight. I should have some good pics at that. Maybe a video...

Have a great day!

No Hedgehogs to see here.. Move on...

Well, it's official. Ryan will NOT be showing his hedgehog tomorrow for the small pets show at the 4H fair. He went upstairs to show Penelope off to his aunt and came back down looking stunned.

"Well - I can't take the hedgehog to the fair..."

I was expecting the worse because the hedgehog had been looking pretty lethargic lately and I assumed, "It's dead..."

"Penelope just had babies! There are 3 of them in there!" Ryan is a daddy/grandfather, whichever...

Oh my! We've had her since June 25th and decided she must have gotten knocked up 4 days before we got her. The daddy is that other cute little one that was still at the pet store!

Maddy quickly looked up how to care for the babies and it says we can't even go in the room because too much stress could cause the mother to cannibalize her babies... So for 10-14 days, Ryan is going to have to camp out on my futon in my office.

He's texted all his friends and has a ton of possible names for them and already the questions of "Which one can I have?" is coming from his sisters...

Wish our little zoo luck!

This is not my picture, but a good idea of what they look like so far...

4H results so far... aka My son the schmoozer...

Yesterday shocked me with some of the results. Well - two in particular... Ryan had come home from Ragbrai late Wednesday night sunburned, grumpy and exhausted. The next morning was 4H judging and he hadn't written up his goals yet for two of his projects so I typed them while he dictated grumpily. Yes, these are the two...

Here is the goal for his clothing selection... He got a blue ribbon...

I chose this outfit because I wanted to look professional yet casual for volunteering at the local library where I played guitar for children. I purchased 3 of the items at Targe; shirt, jeans, shoes. The belt is dinosaur pattern with a seat belt buckle. I purchase it at Hastings.
Elements of Design
Color:
Name the colors: Blue, white, gray
Are the colors bright or dull? Dull outfit, but bright belt.
Are the colors light or dark? Light top, dark pants and shoes
How do the colors make you feel? I feel like I’m not myself anymore because of these awesome clothes. It makes me like a different person. I like it. Existential.

How do the colors look good together? Sometimes things can come together and be a perfect match. For centuries this perfect match has been lost for generations upon generations. But now in this era, we are governed by this new perfect match and it’s perfect color. This set of clothes can pave the way for a new era of adulthood. The blue line of the shirt accents the pants in a perfect blend. The belt ties it all together and give it a whimsical look since I’ll most likely be wearing this when I’m at the library. The kids will adore it.

Lines:
Describe the lines: Very straight up and down.
Do the lines lead your eyes: The lines lead the normal human eye up to my boyish and childlike features.
Do the lines show direction or outline an object or space? The lines on the back pocket of jeans define a space.
Do the lines create a mood? These lines create the perfect mood. A mood that could be taken to parties or on a date.

Texture:
Describe the texture: The shirt is a soft cotton that feels smooth and almost silky to the touch. The jeans are soft but a bit more coarse. The shoes are soft but firmer.
Can you feel the texture or is it visual: The shirt – I can see the lines but cannot feel them. You can see more texture in the jeans.

Principles of design
Unity: Why do parts of the design belong together? The shirt, jeans and shoes of this ensemble are like soul mates. Born for the soul purpose to be together.

Here is his goal for his guitar song that he wrote... He had scribbled the song down on a yellow notebook pad and I made a copy of it so it wouldn't be so crumpled. I think he pulled it out from under his bed. The judges LOVED it especially because he played it for them. It's being considered for the State Fair...

Jaundice
Original Song by Ryan XXXXXXXX

I was playing around with different chords and found some that sounded really good together. I decided to write this song. I didn't have tab paper for my acoustic guitar so I used notebook paper and improvised. I enjoy writing my own songs and play them in my spare time.

I named this song Jaundice for no real reason. That word just popped into my head and I thought it would be a suitable name for this song.

Maddy is SOOO mad about this. She's only gotten blue ribbons after working so hard on her booklets and goals. She is a perfectionist and worked long hours to get everything perfect.

Here's what they have so far and what's to come...
Meri
dog poster/fashion shop poster /sewn pillowcase /painted play house
felted wool scarf /bread machine loaf /choco no-bake cookies /5 photos matted
and a magnet with some artwork from school. Oh and small pet show with her frog on Saturday.
She got all greens. She's looking forward to next year when she can get colored ribbons!
Maddy
Clothing Selection /Style Show /5 or 6 photos matted one photo red /homemade bagels
Sewn pillowcases (3) /Clothing book (pictures she'd taken of her clothes to plan her fall wardrobe - really cool!)
and then also the Share the Fun Talent show this Sunday where she'll be playing River Flows In You by Yiruma on the piano.
Ryan
Clothing Selection /Style Show going to state /5 photos matted (one considered for State)
small pets Hedgehog this Saturday
and then Share the Fun Talent show on Sunday where he'll be playing Camp Out on the guitar.
Should be a busy weekend and I'm looking very forward to FAIR FOOD!!! Deep fried Oreos!!! Here I come!

Progress in the dark... Not what you think...

I managed to get a hold of my son last night around 7:30 to find out how he's doing on his big first day of Ragbrai. He's supposed to bike 77 miles yesterday. From 8am to 7:30, he had gone aprox 50 miles... My brother and his Team Marley group apparently left him in the dust. Ryan must have been stopping to flirt with the pretty girls in all the towns they passed thru. That's all I can think of that might have slowed him down so badly.

So at 7:30, he's in the town of St. Marys. A full 15-20 miles left until Indianola. At 9:30, I hadn't heard from him, so I called again. He was in a car with our friends that he was going to stay with in Indianola. It had gotten too dark to ride and he doesn't have any lights on his bike, so he called them. He'd had about 10 miles left to go.

They are SUPER! and came to pick him up. He only has 44 miles to go today, so he should get there by nightfall... He better! Robb is driving down the 2 hours to pick him up tonight. Hope he's able to find him quickly. Thousands of bikers on the roads. Should be interesting...

RAGBRAII in Iowa

I will tell you right now... When I'm on a bike, I'm huffing and puffing at the end of the 2nd block... If it's downhill. I am NOT an avid bicyclist. My son, however...

Two Christmases ago, my son was having a very difficult time in his 16th year. My brother is a big sportsman, biker, spelunker, you name it... He suggested that we buy Ryan an ungodly expensive bike for Christmas. We did. Half of the cost came out of Ryan's savings account, but he didn't know about it until after the fact.

At our personal family Christmas, Ryan unwrapped a box that had a brick or two in it along with a note to check the front porch. Waiting for him was a Raleigh bike, helmet and a gift certificate for the local bike shop. Also an invite to join my brother on the annual Ragbraii ride in the upcoming July. Ryan loves that bike!

He rode with my brother last summer for one day on Ragbrai which lasts a whole week. Ragbrai, in case you don't know, is a ride across Iowa. Starts on one side and they zigzag across the state regardless of weather and hills. It's quite an event! Check out my other posting of it.

Ragbrai started on Sunday of this week and Ryan jumped on just this morning. He's going to ride for 2 days this time. Today, he'll ride 77 miles and tomorrow is a pidley 44, with a stayover at a friends house in Indianola, Iowa. He couldn't fit a sleeping bag on his bike, so he's hoping for a bed!

He was kind of hoping to go all week with my brother, but we didn't think that would be a good idea with 4H county fair judging on Thursday and such a busy week. Next year, he'll have graduated out of 4H and can spend the whole week if he can find someone to ride with and he has the right equipment.

He met up with Mark this morning in Greenfield, Iowa and they're off and riding now. Wish him luck!

It's a SMOOTHIE Day!!

Good morning! It's 8:55am and I'm eating a smoothie! It's very cold and I'm already getting a brain-freeze...

I just went inside to move the laundry ahead and wake up the boy. Meri was in the kitchen running the blender! I asked what she was doing and guess what?? She was attempting to make the largest smoothie ever! She had just poured the blender contents into a glass and the smoothie was thick enough that it was piled about 3 inches higher than the glass.

After a few exclamations in my voice, she dumped some back into the blender and then poured some into a new glass for me. So I guess I'm having a slushy strawberry smoothie this morning for an early morning snack. I ate breakfast roughly 2 hours ago... I guess it's time for a snack.

It's actually very good! I could get used to this. Bummer that school is going to start in less than a month.

Fabulous Friday - Ruth Ann

Look at me! I'm starting a trend! This is officially Fabulous Friday! Where you have to dedicate your blog to someone who you think is fabulous. Doesn't have to be lovey dovey. Be honest.

My blog today is about my sister Ruth Ann. She is one year older than me and wow! I admire her! She has 13 kids. Compared to my piddly three, I'm definitely the slacker! Someone should do a reality program on them! But really.. maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea. Reality shows tend to curse the family to a break up...

Ruth Ann got married when she was 18 to her hubby, who later became a minister. They've moved a few times, each time further from me... I think that says something in itself.

When we were teenagers, Ruth Ann was the bargain shopper for sure! I would pay $20 for a pair of name brand jeans and she would find a better fitting pair of no name jeans for $8 or less. Between another sister and Ruth Ann, I had the best wardrobe a highschooler would want! Then they up and got married a month apart from each other and took their clothes with them. Luckily I had a good part time job at the time and had to sew and shop my way back to a healthy wardrobe again.

Ruth Ann was always kind of crazy and a tomboy, if I ever saw one. She had two boyfriends at once one time and managed to keep one of them as a friend when they both found out about it! The other one went away... Loser type anyway, she met him at a job placement office... She loaned me her car once. once! and I plowed it headlong into a dirt ditch, by accident.

We went to tons of movies, because she had a car and at that time I probably didn't. In our family, you were best friends with the next oldest who had a car... When Ruth Ann moved out, my younger sister and I became best friends as I had a rattled Ford Pinto. Weird, huh?

Now that we're married and living far apart, whenever we talk on the phone my husband can always tell. If I act a bit squirrelier than usual, he asks, "So, how's Ruth Ann?" And he's always right. She has that type of personality that always makes you smile and crack up. When I was 13 or so, she and I would have wise-crack contests. I got a little mouthy around that time. We were both pretty flat as teens and a favorite slam was "You're so flat! Your babies are going to starve!" And have you ever had a dirty (sopping) dish rag fight? Make sure your mom isn't home when you do! We would lay out and get tans on our semi flat area of our roof while listening to the radio. She showed me that baby oil works well for getting tans... :) I know better now of course. We played mean phone jokes on my younger sisters when we were at our school with mom (small church school) and the younger ones at home. Sorry Mel!

When we had study hall in the sanctuary of our church, there was a record player there and Ruth Ann would sneak in albums for us to listen to really low if it was just the two of us. That's how I got all the lyrics down for some Stevie Nicks songs and for Pac Man Fever!

Ruth Ann home schooled her kids until they moved to a small town in Illinois and she was pregnant with, I think, number 9 or 10. It was too much to handle and they decided to put the kids into public school. Of course, most of them tested ahead of the other kids in their grade, but they seem to have settled in well. Three of her kids are out of high school now and attending college, but still live at home. That says something too... about her family. No one wants to leave!

Her kids are always very helpful with the younger ones of their family. No bitterness about helping out, or maybe they just hide it real well. And such fun loving attitudes! When you've got a witty mom, how could you not?

She's writing a book about her little baker's dozen. I'll post an avert for it here when she finally gets it done. I think most of it is written in her closet on napkins while she desperately grips a wine bottle.

Ruth Ann and my uncle holding one of her babies.

GeoCaching... High tech hide and seek!

The sport where you are the Search Engine!

Yes, we're addicted now... At least Meri & I are. We have found 4 so far around our area and beyond.

Meri and I risked mosquito bites and thorny weeds tromping down as much weeds as we could looking last night for a very elusive cache. We'd been to this area 3 times already and this 4th time was going to be our last attempt, because we were going to give up on this particular one.

The GPS first set us on a few different trees about 50 feet from where it sic'ed us next. I actually called my husband and had him call a former co-worker who had found this cache before. He wasn't home... darn. And I felt Robb was mocking me...

I think the trees all above were wreaking havoc with my GPS. So we started tromping thru weeds and underbrush on the other side of the path. While we were searching, we heard voices coming down the path. We froze. Around the corner were the parents and little girl, who was a a classmate of Meris.

I smiled and waved.

The husband almost jumped 3 feet back. Apparently they were telling ghost stories about this forested area to their daughter and having a middle aged woman waving and smiling weirdly from the forest freaked him out just a little...

I explained what we were doing and they seemed a little more calmed down. This will be an interesting fall at school... "There goes that creepy woman who roams the woods!"

Anyway, on the other side of the wooded area was a soybean field. Meri had just about given up and sat down next to a row of soybeans to grumble about this being our 4th time here and no success. I started around the tree that we thought it should've been in and saw a little mud covered canister on the muddy ground in front of me. I'd found it! It should be against the law to have caches so small!

I think the winter storms must have knocked it out of the big old gnarly tree next to it because the clue for this cache was that it wasn't on the ground. The last people who had found it was in October 2008. So I wrote my little note on the paper and sealed it back up. Meri found a good spot to stick it on the tree and we stopped for ice cream on the home.

I will not refer to these little treks as a hike because Meri is adamant that they're not. Hikes insinuate that this is exercise... They are adventures! and make her feel more like Nancy Drew solving mysteries... She will forever be sleuthing!

I have a Giveaway for you!!!

A friend is doing a give-away to celebrate her 100th blog. Check it out!
Harried Mom of Four

Looking for wet felt instructions

I'm looking for some instructions online for wet felting a silk scarf that was on Uncommon Threads on June 11th, 2009. It was Tivoed, but someone erased it... I've purchased the felt fibers and Meri is going to make a scarf for the 4H fair... darn...
Here's the link to the episode guide. If anyone can find me the video or something like it, that would be super!
Uncommon Threads Episode 223 Felted Silk Scarf

I have looked all over on Youtube and on the HGTV as well as DIYnetwork sites... ARGGGHHHHG!

My son, the model

I took a 4 day weekend this week and am back to work today. On Saturday, my two oldest entered clothing selection for 4H and got judged on their shopping abilities... Then they modeled their clothes in the middle of the local mall for all locals to see. Ryan was the only boy in the group.
Maddy purchased white shorts and red top with blue and black plaid flats. Very 4th of July! She got a blue ribbon.
Ryan purchased a pair of jeans, long sleeved striped shirt, PacMan belt and blue canvas shoes, which hurt his feet. He got a purple rosette and the opportunity to take his selection to the State Fair! Whoa!!!
His first reaction after getting this was to lean over to Maddy and whisper, "Oh C!!@, I have to wear these shoes again!" We're so proud!

After the clothing selection part, Ryan MC'ed for the Fair Queen coronation. One of our 4H leaders made him a very Kingly crown from a Burger King crown decked out with glitter and a Rock Star emblem on it. It graces a shelf of his bedroom now. He wore it for the coronation and got to introduce a bevy of beauties, some of whom he pronounced their names right.
The girls and I spent Monday and Tuesday visiting family in Sioux City. Had a good, exhausting time! The girls enjoyed playing with cousins they rarely get to see.

The men folk batch'ed it at home and Ryan left the sunroof of his car open during a rain... Poor ipod and garmin...

Oh and Kshotz! The girls and I found our very first Geocache!! We're so hooked! We found one half way to Sioux City and Meri actually found it. She was so excited! What a fun way to spend some time! Thanks for the tip! Found out my brother does that too and he told us about a lot of fun ones to check out. We had lunch with him yesterday for his birthday. Good 'ol Navarrette's!

na na Na Na NA Na Na na!

It's my birthday TOO yeah!

Yes, It's my birthday!!! I won't tell you how old I am, but I was born in the same month and year that Rene Barrientos was elected president of Bolivia for the 2nd time... Not that I kept track or anything... Wikipedia is a cool thing...

I was awoken this morning with my kids and husband bringing me breakfast in bed to celebrate! It was a 7 course meal with apparently dessert, which I never saw... I think that part was a joke. Pancake, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, roast beef hash and a cappuchino.

Meri was sent downstairs for the camera so I could take a picture... below...
Then she was sent downstairs for 3 more forks so the kids could help me eat this monstrosity of a breakfast! There went my diet, I guess...

As she was leaving the room, grumpy, she said, "We should have bedroom forks! so I wouldn't have to be the one to fetch stuff all the time!" We have a little joke about car spoons for when we stop and pick up ice cream. Then a little grumpier she added "AND we should have a bedroom camera!" Then she stomped off downstairs for the forks.

I'm sorry, but we all burst into giggles after she said that and Robb mumbled, "I don't think a bedroom camera is a very good idea..."

My camera was found!!! And how to fix them....

Wouldn't you know it? It was in the basket of miscellaneous junk on our kitchen counter. Under a bunch of stuff. So Ryan took it with him that same day and it got dropped into a puddle of water...

It wouldn't start but gave a blurry screen and green light, so Robb had me do a Kim Komando trick. I took the sodden battery and SD card out of it, put the SD card on the counter to dry. Then put the entire camera with the battery door open and battery into a plastic baggy and dumped in enough rice to cover it all and zipped it up for a day or so. I didn't have any white rice, so I used instant brown rice. Did the trick too.

Then after a day or so, I dusted it all off and blew some compressed air into the battery pocket to clean out all the rice. Plugged the battery into it and it didn't turn on at all. Stuck it on the camera charger and the next day all is well with the world... I was able to download the existing photos off the SD card with it and take new pictures.

I LOVE Kim Komando now!! Apparently you can do this with cell phones too. Had I but known that when the kids dropped their phone into the dog water a few years back...

Wonderful 4th of July-tide weekend!

On Sunday after church, I took Ryan shopping to replace the Clothing selection he had originally purchased a few weeks ago for the 4H style show coming up this week. He had worn the new tennis shoes EVERYwhere and they're too stained to use now. Also the jeans were extremely tight and so was the shirt. So much that it snapped a button. WHO is he trying to impress??? So we got him a new outfit that fits and new tennies. He's been warned off wearing them until after next weekend.

After that we (minus Ryan who went out with some friends) went to visit some dear family friends that we go to see every Sunday. Went home to a great dinner.

Just before it got dark, we built a fire in our dented up fire pit, made smores and watched the kids do sparklers. Robb found some citronella torch fuel and soaked the wood in that before tossing it onto the fire, apparently to save on newspaper. I think he lost a little hair on his legs... But we DID NOT have any bugs around... That citronella torch fuel, I think, is the big secret to that...

As soon as it was dark, our little town lit off all the fireworks that it couldn't on Friday because it was too wet on that night. They were great! and the girls jumped on the trampoline yelling OOH and AHHH with each one. I think we're going to have to talk a neighbor into cutting down one of their trees for a better view for next year tho. Ryan rolled in just after the big finale but had watched it from the road.

It was so peaceful out there, with no bugs and the kids happy...

Isn't life great?

I took Monday off from work and went with the kids to a local beach in the afternoon. Unfortunately they only rent canoes and paddle boats on the weekends at this little manmade lake, so Meri went swimming in the murky, dark water while Ryan played his guitar on the beach, trying to impress the chicks... Maddy and I went on a hike until we got a little creeped out deep in the woods... on a bridge... We've been catching up on the Harper's Island episodes getting ready for the finale this weekend... If you have a theory on the who dunnits, lay it on me!!

It's been a nice weekend... A little stressful to start off, but it turned out very nice... I could get used to longer weekends...

I signed the Declaration of Independence!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!! I'm very sleep deprived at the moment. Got up around 5am to help with the 4H pancake breakfast this morning that our 4H club hosts every year, then helped the kids get to the parade float on time. Robb and I watched from the sidelines and tried to resist the urge to run into the street, pushing kids out of the way and collecting as much candy as possible. You'll be proud of me that I didn't even try that once. Oh and it was raining very hard the whole time!!

At lunch, I took the girls to Des Moines and we ate our Independence Day lunch at the HuHot! I LOVE THAT PLACE! and the food, of course...

After that, we drove downtown and attended the Tea party at the State Capitol bldg. A huge lot of people showed up! On one yard someone had set up a huge board that said Declaration of Independence and hundreds of signatures covered it. We signed it too! And took lots of pictures of the event, but the camera got left in the car and my husband just left for a bit... darn...

We also visited our nephew in the hospital for a bit before hitting the Half Price book store and Hobby Lobby for some photo frames. 4H's photography judging is coming up this week already.

I am exhausted and hit my head getting in my hubby's car during the day (my car got new tires today!) and I felt my neck crunch out of place... Headache immediately followed....

Happy Independence Day everyone! I'm going to go lay down...

da da da DA da DA! CHARGE!

(I can't find my camera - this is not the actual organ.)

Some friends from church put us in contact with someone who was giving away their late mother's home organ. My 14 year old is going to be playing for church on a regular basis and listening to her playing the church organ as if it's a piano can sometimes be painful... So we jumped at the chance!

Robb and I borrowed a pickup from a neighbor last night and drove the 20 miles to pick it up. Oh my... this is heavy...

It's a gorgeous Hammond organ with bench and tons of books with it. With the help of a couple of their neighbors, we finally got it loaded. I think I heard someone swear... Maybe that was just in MY head...

The trip over took 20 minutes, the trip back took 40. I was driving so I had to take every corner JUST so... and every bump in the road with great seriousness... Robb promised that if the organ fell off, he was leaving it where it landed. Meri was with us and kept me informed that it was still back there!

Finally we got home and Maddy had had supper done for at least 30 minutes. She had heated and reheated everything in the microwave several times in anticipation of our eminent arrival... so the baked chicken breasts were like leather. She was willing to complain about the food, but we weren't allowed to... so we drowned everything in BBQ sauce.

While eating, my son came swooping in (he delivers pizzas now - new job!) and slapped a pizza box on the table before dashing out the door. He yelled he would explain later. The girls didn't wait to ask if they could have any and devoured at least half of the pepperoni pizza, pushing their other plates out of the way. This new job of his is starting to look like there could be hidden benefits!!!

When he finally came home, we all helped moving the organ into my office, which is in our garage. Robb kept trying to send me away on errands because I think he and Ryan were going to ditch and duck inside the house.... I didn't fall for it.

Robb wants to know if this is a new exercise program that I've implemented. Making the family move heavy things every day with no real purpose.... I denied it, but...

My office now sports a beautiful wood finish organ... that doesn't work...

Chatty workers are the best telecommuters

I KNEW it! And it's been confirmed by MSNBC. Check out that link. I've worked with some people that have no ability to communicate and are definitely not chatters... They don't seem to last long in a telecommuting environment.

So.. my chatty Cathy attitude is a good one! :)

Years ago, when still working in an office environment, I had expressed an interest in telecommuting. A dear friend gave me the following cartoon and it still is pinned to my bulletin board to this day.

Chatty telecommuters UNITE!