I finished Back When We Were Grownups last night. It was pretty good. It was kind of slow in parts, but interesting.
I'm on my way to the library to pick up my next book Little Giant of Aberdeen County, by Tiffany Baker . You can click the link under my bookshelf (to the right)to get a description from Amazon.
Happy reading!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Wednesday Wonderings
I though that each Wednesday I would share some interesting, obscure facts about our wonderful world. Here is my first installment:
*A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
*A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
*A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
*A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
*A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
*A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
*A snail can sleep for three years.
*Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
*Almonds are a member of the peach family.
*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Have a wonderful day!
*A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
*A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
*A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
*A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
*A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
*A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
*A snail can sleep for three years.
*Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
*Almonds are a member of the peach family.
*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Have a wonderful day!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Valentine Treat Bags
Just thought I'd share what I'm making for Maddie's class V-day party. I'm filling the bags with treats and trinkets,
It's still early enough that if your interested in some for your party, drop me a line! :)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Strep Saturday
Well, Maddie started complaining of her throat hurting last night. David ended up pulling out the sofa bed and letting her sleep there with him. This morning he took her to the pediatrician. I had him take her because she is SO dramatic when it comes to the doctor. She kicked and screamed while he carried her to the car.
After a throat swab, the doc pronounced that she has strep. She got a big, strong shot in the rump. She's feeling better, but I know that by tonight she will be Miss Drama again. She is a difficult sick child!
Send us some good health vibes!
After a throat swab, the doc pronounced that she has strep. She got a big, strong shot in the rump. She's feeling better, but I know that by tonight she will be Miss Drama again. She is a difficult sick child!
Send us some good health vibes!
Friday, January 23, 2009
Winning has become a four-letter word
Since when did winning become a bad thing? Isn't it human nature to try and win? That's how our human ancestors survived! If they failed, it usually meant death.
A Texas girls basketball team won a game 100-0. Quite an upset. Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory. Now we have to apologize for being sucessful????? Hold on...I've got to duct tape my head cause it's going to explode! I just can not understand the logic behind this "school official's" statement.
"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss." WHAT???
"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off." I bet she blames the teachers when her daughter fails too!
The students of the losing team are the real heroes here..."At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity." "Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."
I want my girls to experience both loss and success. You've got to be a gracious winner as well as loser, but I also want them to be proud of their wins if they have worked hard to achieve success, not be ashamed of it.
(all quotes taken from http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=903780)
A Texas girls basketball team won a game 100-0. Quite an upset. Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory. Now we have to apologize for being sucessful????? Hold on...I've got to duct tape my head cause it's going to explode! I just can not understand the logic behind this "school official's" statement.
"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss." WHAT???
"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off." I bet she blames the teachers when her daughter fails too!
The students of the losing team are the real heroes here..."At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity." "Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."
I want my girls to experience both loss and success. You've got to be a gracious winner as well as loser, but I also want them to be proud of their wins if they have worked hard to achieve success, not be ashamed of it.
(all quotes taken from http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=903780)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wednesday Wonderings
So, we have a new president. Not the one I voted for. I pray that Obama will be successful because that is what is best for our country, but I hope that he wises up. He can't possibly think that it will help our economy by creating bigger government with excess spending, or more hand-out programs that keep people in poverty. He needs to focus on deregulating businesses and lowering their taxes so that they can create more jobs and expand business.
I hope the media wises up as well. They have set this man up as the next coming of Christ. I expected him to walk across the Potomac at his swearing in. Will his presidency be one long honeymoon with the media tripping all over themselves?
Was anyone else offended over the comments of Rev. Lowrey? He said:
..."help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."
I have plenty to say on this subject, but unlike the radical left, I will keep them to myself.
I hope the media wises up as well. They have set this man up as the next coming of Christ. I expected him to walk across the Potomac at his swearing in. Will his presidency be one long honeymoon with the media tripping all over themselves?
Was anyone else offended over the comments of Rev. Lowrey? He said:
..."help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right."
I have plenty to say on this subject, but unlike the radical left, I will keep them to myself.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Great Book
Keeping up with my "unresolutions", I've finished my first book that doesn't rhyme. It was Anne Tyler's Digging to America.
Here's a brief symmary from Amazon. It's a great read.
When Bitsy and Brad Donaldson and Sami and Ziba Yazdan both adopt Korean infant girls, their chance encounter at the Baltimore airport the day their daughters arrive marks the start of a long, intense if sometimes awkward friendship. Sami's mother, Maryam Yazdan, who carefully preserves her exotic "outsiderness" despite having emigrated from Iran almost 40 years earlier, is frequently perplexed by her son and daughter-in-law's ongoing relationship with the loud, opinionated, unapologetically American Donaldsons. When Bitsy's recently widowed father, Dave, endearingly falls in love with Maryam, she must come to terms with what it means to be part of a culture and a country. Stretching from the babies' arrival in 1997 until 2004, the novel is punctuated by each year's Arrival Party, a tradition manufactured and comically upheld by Bitsy; the annual festivities gradually reveal the families' evolving connections. Though the novel's perspective shifts among characters, Maryam is at the narrative and emotional heart of the touching, humorous story, as she reluctantly realizes that there may be a place in her heart for new friends, new loves and her new country after all.
Next on my list is Back When We Were Grownups also by Anne Tyler. If you have any good title selections for me, leave me a post!
Here's a brief symmary from Amazon. It's a great read.
When Bitsy and Brad Donaldson and Sami and Ziba Yazdan both adopt Korean infant girls, their chance encounter at the Baltimore airport the day their daughters arrive marks the start of a long, intense if sometimes awkward friendship. Sami's mother, Maryam Yazdan, who carefully preserves her exotic "outsiderness" despite having emigrated from Iran almost 40 years earlier, is frequently perplexed by her son and daughter-in-law's ongoing relationship with the loud, opinionated, unapologetically American Donaldsons. When Bitsy's recently widowed father, Dave, endearingly falls in love with Maryam, she must come to terms with what it means to be part of a culture and a country. Stretching from the babies' arrival in 1997 until 2004, the novel is punctuated by each year's Arrival Party, a tradition manufactured and comically upheld by Bitsy; the annual festivities gradually reveal the families' evolving connections. Though the novel's perspective shifts among characters, Maryam is at the narrative and emotional heart of the touching, humorous story, as she reluctantly realizes that there may be a place in her heart for new friends, new loves and her new country after all.
Next on my list is Back When We Were Grownups also by Anne Tyler. If you have any good title selections for me, leave me a post!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A Visit from the Tooth Fairy
Yesterday evening Maddie came SCREAMING down the stairs with blood pouring from her mouth. Another one of her bottom front teeth came out when she was wiggling it. It scared the living daylights out of her.
She put her tooth in the tooth fairy pillow and we put it on her shelf (easier for the TF to get to ;) The tooth Fairy left her $1.00. After school, I took her to the dollar store to buy something with her money. She picked out a pair of blue pom-poms. All I've been hearing this afternoon is cheers she and Katie are making up. I've tried sneaking up on them to get video, but they run & hide as soon as they know I'm there. I hope this is all the loose teeth for awhile. We are having family pictures done at church on Friday and Maddie is missing 3 front teeth! Should make for a cute picture, if we can get her to smile that is.
J
She put her tooth in the tooth fairy pillow and we put it on her shelf (easier for the TF to get to ;) The tooth Fairy left her $1.00. After school, I took her to the dollar store to buy something with her money. She picked out a pair of blue pom-poms. All I've been hearing this afternoon is cheers she and Katie are making up. I've tried sneaking up on them to get video, but they run & hide as soon as they know I'm there. I hope this is all the loose teeth for awhile. We are having family pictures done at church on Friday and Maddie is missing 3 front teeth! Should make for a cute picture, if we can get her to smile that is.
J
Friday, January 9, 2009
A Day in the life of Katie
8:45 Falls off my bed and hurts her tailbone
9:00 Falls off her bike in the garage and hurts knee
9:25 Falls off bike and pins her arm under the handlebars(that's gonna leave a bruise!)
10:35 Turns around and bangs the corner of her eye into the handle of a shopping cart (ANOTHER blackeye!)
11:45 Gets her fingers caught in the sliding door of the van (just some redness)
12:20 Knocks her forehead into the mirror of a car in the HEB parking lot (another bruise)
Do you see a pattern? I swear i'm gonna wrap that girl in bubble wrap.
It's no wonder I have to hide my gray hairs!
Have a good weekend!
Julie
8:30pm Edited to add....after I posted this originally, I heard a loud "CRACK" and then Maddie began to scream. She hit her head on the molding of the wall (don't ask how!) and spit her forehead and has a silver dollar sized goose egg.
Ahhhh my graceful beauties!
9:00 Falls off her bike in the garage and hurts knee
9:25 Falls off bike and pins her arm under the handlebars(that's gonna leave a bruise!)
10:35 Turns around and bangs the corner of her eye into the handle of a shopping cart (ANOTHER blackeye!)
11:45 Gets her fingers caught in the sliding door of the van (just some redness)
12:20 Knocks her forehead into the mirror of a car in the HEB parking lot (another bruise)
Do you see a pattern? I swear i'm gonna wrap that girl in bubble wrap.
It's no wonder I have to hide my gray hairs!
Have a good weekend!
Julie
8:30pm Edited to add....after I posted this originally, I heard a loud "CRACK" and then Maddie began to scream. She hit her head on the molding of the wall (don't ask how!) and spit her forehead and has a silver dollar sized goose egg.
Ahhhh my graceful beauties!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Mission Impossible
Today I've started my mission of organizing the house. After 2 days of laundry and cleaning downstairs, I've started upstairs. After dropping Maddie at school this morning, I came home and culled their toys. I tossed 2 garbage bags of broken items and filled a box of items to either be donated or sold at a garage sale. Yep, I'm gonna have a garage sale in April. I HATE having a garage sale, but I'm gonna do it. The money is going in a little fund I started for Disney World.
My next goal is to clean out the closet in my scrap room so I can put the girls "toy library" in there. That will give me more room to set up another table for my sewing machine.
I've also started a new book. It's called Digging to America, by Anne Tyler. So far it's pretty good. Next on my list is Love the one your with by Emily Griffin.
My next goal is to clean out the closet in my scrap room so I can put the girls "toy library" in there. That will give me more room to set up another table for my sewing machine.
I've also started a new book. It's called Digging to America, by Anne Tyler. So far it's pretty good. Next on my list is Love the one your with by Emily Griffin.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Un-Resolutions!
Ok, so everyone makes New Year's Resolutions. How long do they last? A month? I decided this year to make a list of things I want to improve on in my life. I figured that if I publish them, I might be a little more accountable to do them. In June, I'm going to post an update as to how I'm doing.
Here goes...
1. Be more organized about keeping house.
2. Spend more time playing with the girls.
3. Plan some one-on-one time with David each month.
4. Eat healthier.
5. Cook more meals at home and eat out less.
6. Keep track of our spending in a journal.
7. Budget and save more
8. Laugh everyday and don't sweat the small stuff.
9. Scrapbook once a week.
10. Keep in touch with friends better.
Let's see how I do! How about you? Are you making any changes this year?
Here goes...
1. Be more organized about keeping house.
2. Spend more time playing with the girls.
3. Plan some one-on-one time with David each month.
4. Eat healthier.
5. Cook more meals at home and eat out less.
6. Keep track of our spending in a journal.
7. Budget and save more
8. Laugh everyday and don't sweat the small stuff.
9. Scrapbook once a week.
10. Keep in touch with friends better.
Let's see how I do! How about you? Are you making any changes this year?
Friday, January 2, 2009
Houston Butterfly Center
Today we took the girls to the butterfly center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science with our friend Jennifer and her daughter Rose. We had a blast! The girls love coming here since we raised our own Monarch butterflies this summer and fall.
We are hoping that this summer, we will have a bunch more caterpillars in our butterfly garden so that we can release some more butterfly babies.
David went to see the Body Worlds exhibit while we were there. If you aren't familiar with it, it is an exhibit of REAL bodies that have been stripped of skin and preserved in different poses so you can see how the muscles and connective tissue work. He said it was pretty neat.
We are hoping that this summer, we will have a bunch more caterpillars in our butterfly garden so that we can release some more butterfly babies.
David went to see the Body Worlds exhibit while we were there. If you aren't familiar with it, it is an exhibit of REAL bodies that have been stripped of skin and preserved in different poses so you can see how the muscles and connective tissue work. He said it was pretty neat.
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Happy New Year!
I can't believe it is 2009. It just doesn't seem possible that I'm that old! We had a pretty low key night. We spent the day in Brazoria and Sweeny with David's brother and sister. We headed home about 6pm so we could beat the drunks who were out celebrating.
Maddie & I stayed up while Katie crashed on the floor in her sleeping bag and David was making some Z's on the couch. I worked in my craft room on some scrapbook layouts and Maddie watched Kung Fu Panda for about the 100th time. At 12:15, I told her it was time to go to bed, and she fought it tooth and nail. She insisted that she wasn't tired, but once I got her tucked in and left, I heard a BIG yawn from her room. When I snuck back to her room about a minute later, she was out cold.
Even after our late night, both girls were up by 7:30. I on the other hand got to sleep in. I slept till 9:30! Thanks to my wonderful hubby!
I hope that 2009 is a wonderful year for everyone and you have a year of good health and prosperity.
Julie
Maddie & I stayed up while Katie crashed on the floor in her sleeping bag and David was making some Z's on the couch. I worked in my craft room on some scrapbook layouts and Maddie watched Kung Fu Panda for about the 100th time. At 12:15, I told her it was time to go to bed, and she fought it tooth and nail. She insisted that she wasn't tired, but once I got her tucked in and left, I heard a BIG yawn from her room. When I snuck back to her room about a minute later, she was out cold.
Even after our late night, both girls were up by 7:30. I on the other hand got to sleep in. I slept till 9:30! Thanks to my wonderful hubby!
I hope that 2009 is a wonderful year for everyone and you have a year of good health and prosperity.
Julie
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