Swimming Fun

Again...at the parents in Big D. This girls had a blast in my mom's old pool under the trees. Ty got in on the fun too! Can you tell I'm digging the collage feature of Picasa (it's a free photo editing software).
There'll be another post one on here soon!

Coolio Nephews

This past weekend we went to Dallas to my parents house. Kendall could not wait to see her cousins Ryland and Nick (my sister's boys). She adores them - so much that I really wished that we lived closer and could see them more. She thinks Ryland is "so funny" - don't we all!? He is such a ham. And Nick is so sweet to her - as he is to everyone. As soon as they left on Saturday night she burst into tears and was already reminiscing over how much fun she had with them and she was really going to miss them...did i tell you she's my emotional one?

Huff and Puff

This is my first time using Picasa to do a photo collage. Yeah for me - if you don't mind me tooting my own horn. My friend Selene does it on hers all the time and I figured it out. On. My. Own.

So the other day Kendall - age 4 1/2 - learned to blow up a balloon ALL BY HERSELF! No, it's not brain surgery, it's not reading (working on it), or algebra but it's hard to do! And these were REAL balloons. We'd bought a bag of them for a craft I was going to do (didn't happen). And then Kendall's friend Avery (not sister) came over and they wanted me to blow up all 50,000 of them (okay 25, but it felt like 50K). However my lungs were shot. I got some weird chest something or other and with each balloon I blew up, I about blew out a lung so after 10 balloons I said "look girls, if you want another balloon blown up, you are going to have to do it yourself." Secretly laughing inside knowing that they'd be huffing and puffing themselves into a fantastic NAP (pass out? nap? same difference right?)

But no. Those silly little giggle boxes learned to blow up balloons. There is nothing like the satisfaction of something HUGE like that.

And isn't everything a BIG DEAL at this age?

Avery - 16 months

She's my thumbsucker. Early on she was SO opinionated - even about a poisonous pacifier.

With Kendall I freaked out about having a thumbsucker and MADE her take a paci.

But jeez louise, with Avery it has saved my shoulder. I was reflecting the other day - no fiddling around the back of the car trying to get it back to her when she flings it. No getting up in the middle of the night to pop it back in.

Granted I'd hate to do a swab of it on any given day and then see what grows in a petri dish
.

One day I looked over and she had her fingers in her ears - and she was screaming. Yeah kiddo...that's what we all want to do too. It was funny to me though that she noticed that it sounded different when she had them in, then out.

Pure genius.

Am I allowed to post naked booty shots on the internet? She'd just gotten out of the bath. No, I should say she about leapt out of the bath when she heard the opening song of Yo Gabba Gabba...I think that the creators of this show smoke a lot of something.

Knock-off Wood - 1st Project!

Yeah! 1st Knock-off Wood project complete. I've been eyeing this shelf for years but could never bring myself to pay the $40 Pottery Barn Kids price. Then a friend of a friend sent me the link to this blog that is going to change my life as I know it! Anyway, this is just my first little project. I think I'm going to make a nother that is a taller/wider one. Then I'll move this one up, then put the other on the bottom.

I took longer to paint the darn thing than it did to build it! Click here to see the tutorial. She says it can be built for less than $5 but starting all new, it cost me around $15 (nails, paint, wood). It doesn't have the nicely routered edges of the PB one, but it's okay - I like it just fine!

I've got to figure out how to hang it closer to the wall though. The "hangers" make it pull away from the wall at the top so it doesn't hang flush - and that drives me just the tency-wency little really bit okay REALLY crazy.

Avery loves it! It is just the perfect height for her to go and grab a book. Of course they never get put back...that's about as probable as the big-bang theory.

further thought...

...of course if I say I'm not going to go to Sea World (see the previous post), then I suppose that I should also abstain from the zoo, the aquarium, and the circus...that's probably not going to happen...especially the zoo...

Again, listen, as my mother pointed out and I tried to stress in my previous post - I'm not a "jump on the bandwagonner." I DO believe that most documentaries are created totally one sided. We NEED to vaccinate our kids, but I think that it is just up to us to be more informed/educated about all things - food, vaccinations, being earth friendly, etc.

We as humans DO humanize animals WAY too much. This is what my mom (in her infinite wisdom) says, "I have absolutely no qualms with eating organic...but did you know that "organic" doesn't mean the animals are treated any better? Did you know that simply washing most fruit and veggies well takes nearly everything off of the skins? And the fact is there is little to no oversight of organic ofarmers, so you often aren't getting what you think you are.
Yes some people treat animals with cruelty. Yes, chicken and beef is pumped full of hormones, etc. Yes, that bothers me. But I spent a lot of years on teh farm with Ed and I saw that cows aren't people. Whether they are standing in a field in Nebraska or in a feedlot, they eat and chew. No emotion, no cares. Then they are killed, for the most part swiftly and pretty painlessly. The documentaries show you the worst of the worst of the worst."

Anyway, I just wanted to throw a little of my own personal retrospect in there. I agree...these movie makers have to sensationalize it to get ratings and oohs and aahs. BUT still, just the way that these people in The Cove movie, rig the stuff to get the secret hidden cameras in and set up...it was pretty cool.

The Cove

Watch this documentary. What? Documentary? Ho-hum...booooooooring. Let me just tell you as a sometimes watcher of documentaries that they have come a LONG WAY and most of them are freaking incredible. This one - The Cove - is awesome. It has humor, suspense, terror, drama, makes you laugh at parts, then cry, and gasp at the horror. I was TOTALLY worried that it was going to be bloody horror the whole way through but it isn't, it's just a little bit at the end. Just enough to make me want to throw up that brownie I just ate. Okay, I didn't throw it up but it is pretty disturbing. I don't care if they were slaughtering ladybugs - nothing deserves to be tricked, manipulated, trapped, and slaughtered like that.

Let me just say that if you don't know me - I'm a "take it with a grain of salt" person. I never take a crazy activist like person. BUT I do believe that there is a little truth in most of these things and if I can do just a little bit to help out a cause - I'll do it. If we all do a little - it helps a lot.

Again, I AM NOT AN ACTIVIST PEOPLE but just like being a Christian - you either AREN'T or you ARE so while I'm not dedicating or risking my life to protesting to save the dolphins I WILL tell you that you need to watch this movie. I'm pretty sure I'll never visit Sea World again. I'm only one person but I've got a family - and I'm more than happy to show them what dolphins are on TV (through safe documentaries) and in nasty Galveston Bay in the wild.

I'm on a soap box-bear with me. So let's get this straight, I can't eat chicken...because they are treated inhumanely and contain insane amounts of hormones. Can't eat beef - [same story > see chickens]. Oh and this documentary pointed out the massive amounts of mercury that are found in fish because of the ocean being the dumping grounds for power plants, etc. Uh, yeah, that includes TUNA - like SUSHI people...which I've started to really like - OF COURSE. Now I can't eat it. And now, I can't eat or feed my kids un-organic (in-organic?) what's the word here peeps...because some/most? veggies/fruits are treated with a pesticide that interferes with a bugs nervous system - so HELLO. WHAT IS IT DOING THEN TO MY CHILDREN?

According to this study (if the link doesn't work Google "Today Show, pesticides" and one from May 2010 will pop up) - creating much higher instances of A.D.D. GRRRRRRRRREAT. and what do we do to treat A.D.D.? Well, well, well...we treat it with DRUGS. The other out of control industry that is eating us financially and mentally as we know it. We all LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE our prescription drugs don't we?! It's not fair. Who are the geniuses that are spiraling us into this fast-food dependency > drug dependency > food dependency?

So the more I learn, the less I eat. Seriously. Have I lost 10, 20, 50 pounds? Nope. [Dangit] But I eat a lot less. A lot less. What's that old adage? "Eat to live, don't live to eat." I'm trying and day by day - it's working. But my kids are growing and for 2 girls - they eat a LOT. I'm not kidding. I tell my BFF that my girls could totally go head to head with her 2 boys that are the same age [which she "claims" are eating her out of house and home]. So what do I do? There is the ever constant battle of "oh dear God I am so exhausted and tired of making food for my children here just eat this okay stop crying just eat some goldfish i don't feel like cooking AGAIN" and then there is the opposite nuturing side thinking "what am I feeding my kids?"

And then there is the cost issue - organic is pretty pricey - but so is a life of being on drugs to treat A.D.D. Not too mention just the mental stress that comes from "being diagnosed." And the other issue is availability. JUST THIS WEEK [ok last night] I really paid attention to see what they sell that is organic at HEB and they've probably got one of the better selections I think. Bananas? no. Strawberries? no. Tomatoes? yes. No cucumber, no zuccini, no "wild" fruits like blackberries, raspberries (again no strawberries which are supposed to be the MOST chockful of pesticides). Apples, pears, potatoes, some tomatoes, yes, yes, yes... Anyway, so it's cost, availability and just one more dang place for me to have to "go" to hauling 2 young kids. Oh and the pesticide is found in your frozen foods too!!!!!

So have I covered everything? Is anyone tired of me bitching? It's frustrating I tell you. What CAN I eat? Can I consciously continue to eat badly truly knowing of the chemicals and hormones in food not too mention the ruthless slaughtering? Do I really care if stupid (really - not an insult, chickens are pretty darn dumb) are dying literally "cooped" up? Am I going to go broke buying organic? If we fry it, will that kill all of the bad stuff because Kentucky Fried Chicken just came out with their "Double Down, there's so much chicken there wasn't room for a bun" chicken sandwich (540 calories). Please note: I still love my fried food.

So to wrap this up, I think I'll live on miniscule amounts of organic fruits, veggies - supporting my local farmers hopefully and then also cheeses - cheese doesn't hurt anyone right? and a little bit of wine - just to kill any remaining bugs/pesticides. Yep, sounds like a plan. I'm willing to support the ruthless massacre and fermentation of grapes for the betterment of life and health and my own personal sanity.

So what can you do about the dolphins? Check out this site. It's good to be informed people...that's all I'm sayin.

www.takepart.com/thecove/