Fun filled days of summer

R and I have done a lot the past few days-painting with watercolors, talking about weather, lots of coloring, blowing bubbles, and checking out
the yard- especially the caterpillars.
Watercolors- R likes to paint but scrubs the brush on the paper, likes washing the brush off but not drying, and enjoys painting the sidewalk, her body parts and mine. I got the paints on sale for 1.99 at the local teacher supply store and they have more paint than most sets I have seen.
Weather-We have window clings up and talk about weather when we remember. R doesn't really get it yet but she can identify sun and rainbow.
Coloring-R breaks crayons, peels the paper off and colors on anything she can. I'm thinking chunky crayons are better for toddlers. However, I have a plethora of crayons new and old. BTW-Target had the 24 pack for 24 cents, can't pass that up. I can always used them for shaped crayons later.
Bubbles- R and I blew bubbles-well, mostly me and she chased them. The bubbles were huge...one of our neighbor's kids commented-those things are as big as balloons. I used regular bubble liquid but added dish detergent and glycerin. No measuring just poured it together and stirred. I made improvised wands from pipe cleaners and used a pie pan for the container. I didn't like the pipe cleaners, too flimsy. Next time we will try metal clothes hangers bent into different shapes.
Our yard-WOW!!!! We have caterpillars. There were some on the parsley and some on the fennel-today I only saw them on the parsley. None so far on the purple passion fruit. I plan on buying a butterfly habitat for next year so we can observe the life cycle of a butterfly.

Proud to be an American

I got an email this morning from a former coworker of mine (Thanks Sara!). It was a short paragraph and link to a video. I rarely ever actually look at links in emails unless the link was sent specifically to me about something the person knew I would be interest in. However, today I did for some reason and I am glad I did. It was touching to see people-young, old, black, white, business people, laborers, fireman, military, policemen, etc- ALL showing their respect to a soldier. As some of the signs along the way said "Freedom isn't Free". I don't agree with everything about the wars going on but I agree all people have a right to be free and unoppressed. I respect our leaders for standing up to the oppressors and I respect are soldiers even more for fighting for people they don't know. As a side note-why don't you see more stuff like this on the big networks????
As a daughter, sister, granddaughter (x2), niece(x many), cousin(x3), and daughter-in-law of individuals who served our country-this video made me proud and tearful. When my brother left for Iraq, I was so scared I would never see him again. Despite our differences, disagreements and sometimes plain arguments- He is my family and I love him dearly and couldn't imagine life without him. You would think the longer he was gone, the more used to it I would get...NOPE. If he didn't email for a few days I panicked. I would search the net for info about the base he was at, watch CNN, Fox News, etc for hours, check my email incessantly and just be plain obsessed about my phone being right beside me. I thank God he made it home all in one piece.
I have included a copy of the email and the link.

Killed in action the week before, the body of STAFF SERGEANT FIRST CLASS JOHN C. BEALE was returned to Falcon Field in Peachtree City, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, on June 11, 2009. The HenryCounty Police Department escorted the procession to the funeral home in McDonough, Georgia. A simple notice in local papers indicated the road route to be taken and the approximate time. This was filmed during the procession by a State Trooper. Nowadays one can be led to believe that America no longer respects honor and no longer honors sacrifice outside the military. Be it known that there are many places in this land where people still recognize the courage and impact of total self-sacrifice. Georgia remains one of those graceful places. The link below is a short travelogue of that day's remarkable and painful journey. But only watch this if you wish to have some of your faith in people restored. Please share widely. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A. http://blip.tv/play/AYGJ5h6YgmE

Middle age, I'm there

As much as it pains me to admit it- I am officially feeling "middle age". I went to the doc on Friday and am now on a Statin drug. I even bought a pill box. You can't get much more "middle aged" than that.
My maturity level is certainly not at almost 40. That's okay by me though. I prefer to keep a little immaturity around. I can always use it for an excuse to be selfish :)

Pros and cons; positives and negatives; the good and the bad; and more

The hubby and I continue to contemplate a move to Western NC-we have pretty much made up our minds that it will happen and within the next 2 1/2 years. We even have a 4 county area picked out. HOWEVER, some people (in other words family) don't think it's a good idea. So, I used the old "make a list" way of looking at options. We, well mostly me, sat down and listed the positives and negatives of moving to a new state, specifically NC.

On the positive side

- seasons

- it's cooler

- no hurricanes

- mountains

- snow

- more affordable housing

- lower property taxes

- more home school "friendly"

- closer to "rock and gem" places, a passion of mine

- variety of state parks close by

- easier to grow a garden, hubby says not important, I say it is

- closer to sisters, provided they stay in the ATL area

On the negative side

- we will pretty much know no one

-the move itself (time, expenses)

-the possibility of 2 payments if our house does not have a renter

-it's cold

-long way from the beach

-snow

-some of the roads scare me

-less visits from his parents

-possibly less visits from the sisters now we aren't close to the beach

-new job for me..at least a part time one

-possibility of moving my parents for the 2nd time (not sure what the future holds in that area)

So, bottom line, we have alot to think about. I am determined to make it happen and so is the hubby. For me, the positive outweighs the negative and I think it does for him too. I'm just scared of change. We just need to set a time plan, make a plan, stick to it, and pray about it.

Finger painting

R and I spent some time finger painting yesterday after I got home from work. She had a blast!! I alternated between putting paint on the paper and her hands. I think she enjoyed rubbing paint on her hands and on me more than putting it on the paper. We also tried footprints and hand prints-neither were incredibly successful. Since we were outside, I grabbed a few sticks, rocks and leaves and let her use those too. Fun times!
I used the crayola washable finger paints-they are a nice thick consistency and the colors are bright. They do take quite a long time to dry but it all depends on thickness of course. Baby R likes LOTS of paint so there were globs of it everywhere.
In the next few days I plan on trying the make your own version of finger paints. I picked up a box of cornstarch, and 2 assortments of food coloring to try out. I'll post about the results in a few days, well maybe weeks :)

My garden woes

SO, my garden is not doing so well. I have 1 cucumber and 1 yellow squash or zucchini still alive. Not sure if I watered too much, not enough or something else. My beans are alive-well most of them-but there are almost no beans. Plus, when we came back from our trip there were large pieces of vine gone-not dead but GONE. No clue what is eating them-I didn't see bugs or caterpillars-I'm thinking squirrels or rats (gross!!). I do have LOTS and lots of Roma tomatoes and some regular ones too. The bell peppers are taking off and I have spices (basil, cilantro), even if they do look kinda puny. I guess the carrots and onions are doing okay-I can't really tell but most of them are still alive.

I am thinking about planting winter squash and maybe some cantaloupes in one of my mostly empty flowerbeds. Not exactly the best time for planting but I'm going to see what happens. This year's garden is more trial and error than anything else so it is a learning process for me however it turns out.

Visit to Nanny and Poppa's

The hubby and I and little R went to my parent's house for a few days last week and over the weekend. This car trip was so much better than others. We stopped about an 1 1/2 into the trip and bought a portable DVD player. That thing is an electronic MIRACLE. It was great to have little R not whining and complaining about most everything after 30 minutes in her car seat. She did get grumpy close to the end both ways but nothing like the typical trip. What a relief.
We all enjoyed spending time with my parents. Plus, as a bonus, my brother and his 2 girls came and spent the night on Friday. It was nice to catch up and baby enjoyed the attention from everybody. Mom was worried R might be scared of her baldness-not at all. R just looked at her head, smiled and giggled, rubbed it a little and went on. Mom was relieved.
I spent quite a bit of time cooking and preparing food. I did get 12 meals in the freezer though-Yea!! Now I know they have some home cooked meals without alot of hassle. My Dad doesn't cook much and Mom still has very little energy and continues to have some yucky side effects from the chemo. They get alot of takeout and deli meals and eat sandwiches.
After getting that many meals done in a kitchen I'm not used to in a reasonable amount of time-I'm even more determined to do some freezer cooking for myself. Now, finding the time to do it is the key.
This week is essentially a 3 day work week for me. I was off on Monday except for court in the morning and I'm off again Friday. I could definitely get used to this!! However, no such luck for me.
Have a Happy Independence Day!