August stuff...

The weather has been dark and cold today and pretty dreary a lot of this week. I've been inside a lot and haven't gotten photos of the garden yet.


Yesterday when my husband got the vacuum cleaner out we weren't sure how Bear was going to react to it. His sister is still frightened by it at almost 5! He loved it. He literally chased his dad around the house shouting "car car car"! It was the funniest thing I'd seen in awhile.


Last week as the Northwest Washington State Fair on we took the kids and went on Saturday. Princess' favorite thing was getting to milk the pretend cow and the souvenier she chose to bring home is a wooden King Cobra almost 3 feet long. I am so not into snakes, but she is still delighted with it (I had to kiss its nasty little head at quiet time) and that is what counts! My husband and Princess both got to be party of the Imagination Circus show and it was lots of fun.


I went back to the mouth surgeon on Monday. He thinks I have a strained muscle and possibly an infection. I'm now taking muscle relaxers (which totally wipe me out) and antibiotics (which make me feel sick), but hey! At least he actually looked at me and had an idea. I'm not in as much pain, just feeling crummy.


If you're so inclined, it would be lovely to have you pray for sunshine for Princess' birthday on the 30th!

Here and update, there an update, everywhere an . . .

Well, we're half way through August! I can't believe we only have 2 weeks until Princess' party. The creation of all things buggy are underway. I am thrilled my family will be coming up to visit again, and Mom will be here for a couple of weeks. Sadly, they just announced the church summer barbecue is happening the evening of Princess' bash and I am sad about that . . . I'm not sure people will skip free food at the lake to hit a pinata at the park with us. Plus, I am late getting the invites out--they were supposed to be out last week and last week was rough and so I didn't do it. Sigh. More cake for me.

I'm writing a lot of fanfiction these days and my goal of 1000 words of creative writing a day is proving sufficiently difficult. I hit 2550 total last week and 1484 this week. Better than it has nothing though I suppose, so I'll just keep at it. I have a couple months left to practice before NaNoWriMo.

The garden is a discouragement and a thrill . I went and picked peas and beans this morning. Lots of green tomatoes & unripe bell peppers, some not too big corn, tons of yellow crook neck squash, moldy cabbage and Brussels sprouts which I am just going to pull out and try again next year, blight-covered potato patch which I am going to mostly dig up this week and hope the baby potatoes are okay underground, nice self-seeded sunflowers and lots of rotting baby zucchini and pumpkins. REALLY unhappy about the rotting/blighted/moldy stuff.

The mouth surgeon was not helpful--told me to take ibuprofen and come back in a week if it still hurt. Did not even look at my mouth--couldn't they have told me that over the phone? So I didn't go back in because it had stopped hurting, yeah! Last night I am eating dinner and I hear this HUGE "crraaacckkkk" and feel like someone just stabbed me in the jaw with a tent stake. Not the joint, it is actually lower in the jaw where they took the wisdom tooth out . . . took the maximum amount of proscribed ibuprofen and it didn't put even a dent in the (excruciating) pain. So I suppose I get to call them again tomorrow--it has been six weeks since the surgery and it just seems like this is weird, weird, weird.

Galactastic!

Well, my mom's visit was great and Bear's party was as perfect as a party can get. I actually got everything done on my party to do list, my family was a great help with the slave labor aspects of the celebration and Baby Bear absolutely loved having the house filled with people who loved him! Frankly, I did too :) I managed to put together a scrapbook (my first clumsy attempt ever) of Bear's first year and I really like how it turned out. Here is the moon and stars cake I made (blueberry moon and strawberry stars). Stressful to make, but I'm quite proud of it now that it is all over!

Mom helped with some garden stuff and I have corn and peppers and amazing things out there right now folks--I'll take you some new photos this week!

Bear's been most happy the last few days because Saturday we took the baby gates down and he is now allowed to roam the ranch. This has resulted in taking Oscar the garbage can out to the garage to keep him out of it (the lid was no deterrent), replacing the spices back in the cupboard 4 times, putting the dishtowels back in the drawer 3 times (after removing the child from drawer), and being puzzled by the fact that the kitchen drawer latches that STILL keep his sister out of the butter knives are apparently useless in keeping him out of the butter knives. The kid has a long reach.

Last night I posted my first fanfic chapter since January! Yeah me! Close to 1800 words, so a little smaller than most, but it felt great and I was happy with it. I also have chapter eleven done and am started on chapter twelve. Maybe I can get back into the writing and reviewing groove and that will motivate me to work on more of my completely original fiction. I am plotting in my head for this year's NaNoWriMo. Or maybe even some new poetry, although I continue to feel unsettled about that these days. Should I try to be famous or just connect with the masses . . . that is the eternal question for me & poetry.

Today I was chewing pizza at lunch and I heard a loud cracking sound and a shooting pain in my jaw. I can't think this is good. Back to Dr. Oral-Maxillofacial Surgeon on Thursday. Yuck.

Okay, so more and more of my friends have blogs, and tons of interesting other people have interesting blogs on which I lurk and blogger only allows for this too-small number of blogs and websites on the side over there. Hmpf. How am I supposed to pick my favorites??? Is there a way to add more that I just don't see? It doesn't SAY there is limit, it just won't let me add more. Right now it's full and I either have to start throwing people off, or, or, something else.

My gardening wiz neighbor came over yesterday to inspect the garden problems I have been having. Apparently my potatoes and tomatoes and peppers have blight and I need to act fast. I am not supposed to water them from the top anymore. How do I not water three huge beds with the sprinkler? It will take me hours each day to soak the beds by hand. He said I need to put copper on them or maybe it was fungicide. Or maybe copper is fungicide? Hmm. I will need to check that out. He thinks my pumpkins are not getting watered consistently and that is their problem. Sigh. I don't know that I can really pull this garden thing off this year.

Here is an idea I got from another blog--it's a survey of what's going on here today.

Outside my window: The sky is clear and cerulean with no clouds. My neighbor's dark purple clematis is in full bloom.

I am thinking: About my mom coming to visit this week and finally being able to knock off the prescription meds for the wisdom tooth pain.

I am thankful: For my garden which provided enough peas, strawberries and our first tomato to go with Princess' peanut butter sandwich for lunch today.

In my kitchen: Leftover chocolate cupcakes from the batch I made for my friend Deborah's birthday on Saturday. These are the very yummiest and have yogurt and pudding in them.

I am creating: An email reminding the ladies in my writing group that we meet this week, and my assignment piece of writing for the meeting.

I am working on: Laundry, listing some things on eBay, tidying the kids' room to move the blow up bed in for mom.

I am wearing: Dark blue jeans and a pale aqua Old Navy t-shirt from the "messy" stack in my closet (as my Mama Dress Code requires). NO SHOES.

I am reading: Started reading on Friday to my husband "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. I listened to this on tape ten years ago and picked up a copy at Goodwill. It has been sitting on my shelf for ages. I was looking for something to read the other night and pulled this down and then thought how much my husband would enjoy it, so I just sat down in the office next to him and started reading. We are on chapter 8 now.

I am hearing: Bear fuss for me to get him up from his nap, Princess whispering to a toy about making it lunch and building it a house.

Out of the house: Bear had his first dental check up this morning. It went great and he had fun. The dentist said he has great teeth.

In my house: There are many messes.

I am enjoying: The breeze, the warm air and having to be anywhere else today.

Tons of Photos, Egyptian Maus and What Bears Eat

Well, some of what I wanted to blog during the Wisdom Fog is returning. As of today I am just on Ibuprofen and feeling a lot better. Still not sure I will be up to 3 hours of child hauling tomorrow, but we shall see. Anyway, I have tons of photos to share today!




These are the works of art Princess brought home from Nature Art Camp. The pottery bowl story is that I was ooh-ing and aah-ing and telling her I was so proud of the great job she did on it and she had this funny, sort of sheepish look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that she couldn't remember which one was hers to take home so they gave her an extra with no name on it even though she was positive she hadn't made this one because hers had not been round. The stuff on the pine cone is salt dough, but seriously, after all the mashed potatoes I've eaten this week I could have sworn that is what it was! I was impressed by the very cool fish prints they had made and then she told me they used rubber fish. Sheesh. We always used real stuff when I was a kid!

This is what Baby Bear is eating these days--little bits of lots of stuff. He loves broccoli, cheese, chicken, hot dogs, and most fruit (no raspberries)--I love chopping things up and putting them on his tray and watching him investigate and snarf!

My friend Lisa blogged a while back about her new cat, and finding that he is likely at least partially an Egyptian Mau. As I was reading the description she gave, I though, "Hmm, that sounds like my kitty." So I checked around online and found tons of info that confirms my sweet cat is definitely, at least partially also a (bronze) Egyptian Mau! Then my sister send photos of her new kitten and he must be too! Very cool. The quirk about these cats that fits my fabulous Mau the most is that the moves her tail constantly when she is happy or content--in most other cat breeds this is considered a sign of aggression or distress (at least this is what my vet has always said), but in Mau's it means they are at peace with the world.

Here are some photos from our 4th of July picnic at the park on the bay. The sunset was amazing and the weather that night was perfect in every way. It is the first time we have gone down there to see the fireworks and it was SOOO worth the hassle! They were incredible. I did have to carry Bear, in the stroller, up and down about 10 flights of stairs each way (and that is not an exaggeration--we parked at the top of the towers as there was no parking at the beach level), but other than that it was delightful in every way.
Are you tired of garden photos yet? I love my garden in case you can't tell.

I have peppers! These will be red bell peppers eventually :)

Can you believe there are this many tomatoes on one little vine? These will be Yellow Canary tomatoes which are supposed to be little tiny things.When my mom came to live with us a couple years back she brought me all her rose bushes. They spent almost three years in pots, and finally got planted next to the driveway during the spring before Bear was born. They spent a year in recovery from my horrific mistreatment of them and this year most of them bloomed beautifully, including this Queen Elizabeth. One day Princess came in and told me she needed to "paint the garden". After some discussion and compromise, I got out the easel and picked one rose for her to do a "study" (how cute is that?) with and she went to town.These amazing little creatures love the lavender under the driveway trellis. I can't believe I got a picture of a dragonfly!!!Here are photos of the aforementioned yard clean-up my husband did this week. This is out back yard.Happy new little pumpkin.Still happy larger pumpkin.Turned yellow but still strongly on the vine pumpkin (I even tugged on it).What happens shortly thereafter :( WHY?????See all those cute little Blue Lake beans?This was one day's harvest from only three of our pots! The strawberries are doing well this year.I have no idea what kind of tomato this is--it is one of the orphan plants I picked up on the side of the road with the "free" sign on it--but it looks as though it may be ready to eat soon!The Snap Dragons have been roaring this summer--they didn't bloom until November, and then, quite pitifully as you might imagine, so I was surprised they survived and surprised they thrived!I have corn with feathers! I have 4 corns with feathers!

Birthday stuff and lists

Today we got the kids' birthday photos back for their invitations and I love them. There are more than I remember ordering, I think since we are part of the buy-one-get-one-free club, but I am thrilled to get to send these out. I put them in these matching adorable birthday shirts--Princess' says "Birthday Girl" on it and Bear's says "1st Birthday". So I got some of them together and some of them separately. Since this was Bear's official birthday shoot there are a few more of him. Princess will have her actual birthday shoot probably in September with her new birthday dresses. Maybe we'll do them outside this time. She will also get fairy wings added to her photo digitally because she won our local Sears' photo contest with her St. Patrick's Day portrait (she has a definite little leprechaun look to her).

Anyway, tonight I will have my husband help my address the invites while we watch SciFi Friday. There are 2 cute photos of Bear we can send--in one he is standing by that huge studio prop shaped like a "1" which is neat, but you really couldn't see the words on his shirt, and in the other, he is sitting and you can see the words on his shirt pretty clearly. I think I will do the "1" picture for the invites and send the others out as Thank You's and just to family and friends in general.

I am waiting on only a couple things to be party ready except for baking cake and fixing ice water. Since Constance mentioned list making on her blog I think it's only fair for me to show I have some obsessiveness--er, skills--in that area.

Still Need for Party Prep
-Fabric pens for the star quilt friends will sign at Bear's party.
-An old pot for a double boiler to melt glycerin in to make soap favors. Does anyone out there make soap? Does the glycerin wash out of pots safely and easily? Could I use a good pan?
-Princess' invites and candy wrappers--the lady emailed and said the were sent Wednesday, so hopefully they'll arrive early next week.
-Recipe for divine carrot cake to make the ladybug for Princess' cake.
-Foil for the candy bar favors for *under* the cute wrapper--Hershey's doesn't wrap them in foil anymore so they look weird unless you have foil to wrap them in apparently. This is ordered and is coming with Princess' invites.
-Recipes for divine blueberry cake and strawberry cake (yes, 2 kinds) for Bear's birthday cake--Princess chose the flavors so I must comply :)

That's it! The rest is here and ready to be assembled. I really only have 2 weeks from tomorrow for Bear's party to be ready so I must make haste!

I come from a long and illustrious list-making heritage and have been making lists since the moment I could hold a writing utensil. I also married a list-maker. Princess is doubly cursed and has begun her quest for list supremacy by making lists of squiggles (since she doesn't write enough words yet to make a convincing list) and calling it her List. I can't decide if this is bad or good.

Post Op

Well, the maxillofacial surgeon gave me a thumbs up and a long stemmed rose at the post-op appointment today! He also gave me more medication, for which I am extremely grateful. When I explained the pain, he looked at my original e-rays again and said "Ah. Well that explains it. Considering that I had to shave off about half of your jaw bone in order to get the bottom teeth out, you're right where you should be as far as pain levels go." Wow. Way to make a woman feel better! He also commented that he was glad my husband was home taking care of me--most women are not able to take enough time off to truly heal as they should, and that from meeting my husband in the recovery room after the surgery, he could honestly say that my husband was the most concerned and interested husband he'd seen in all his years of practice :) I am so blessed :)

Today Princess finished her Nature Art class through the County Parks and Rec department. She brought home all kinds of wild art projects during the last 2 weeks and I think she enjoyed it. I am less impressed by the Creative Kids Cooking classes. No information can be found about the instructor on the website or through Google, and so far from the last 2 classes, she enjoyed "all the kids going out to his truck to meet his dog". Hmmm . . .

I started to get some garden photos tonight, but I got really woozy and the battery on the camera died, so this is all you get. Strawberry yield for the day, peppermint, basil, English thyme, peas, yellow crookneck abundance. My husband fertilized the garden last night and weed-ate and mowed tonight. He's such a trooper! The yard is not his favorite place to labor. WHY are my pumpkins getting 2 inches in diameter, turning yellow and popping off the vines??? Help!?!