Today...

We went mushroom hunting, and Anna got a three-pointer! She found a deer skeleton, complete with skull. We didn't bring the rest home, but a skull...how cool is that!?! We also found mushrooms...forty, actually, these are just the biggest. Daddy found the two biggest ones that are as big as Anna's hand.

In other news...and with no pictures, the girls went to the last after-school program at the library. Next week they're having a pizza party, then it's all over for this year. After that, May is an open month....oh the possibilities!!

Prosopagnosia

Here's a thought....and I've been thinking it for a while, but haven't taken the time to look it up until now. I'm face-blind. While I've known it for years (when I was a kid I hated it when relatives would come to visit, because I never knew who they were...both my mom and dad had loads of siblings, and, while I eventually learned most of my mom's family, I still don't know my dad's) anyway, I've known I have a problem for years, but haven't bothered to look it up until now.

It's interesting...this is an article that is rather like what it's like...especially the part about watching movies...it may be one reason I don't like movies particularly well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031302273.html

oohh, and Harvard research...

http://www.faceblind.org/research/index.html

It's annoying to live with, but interesting to read about. lol

My SIL dyed her hair black and it took me three months to recognize her...and by that time, of course, she's going back to her normal color. lol

SO Funny

We were reading these this morning and laughing our heads off. Thought I'd share. ; )

http://www.juvalamu.com/qmarks/

http://www.apostropheabuse.com/

And this one, too, although it's not grammar related...

http://failblog.wordpress.com/

Make sure you go down to the Taxonomy Fail...it's hilarious.

I found this Amusing...

Thursday, Emma was wanting to call Bri, but Daddy had the cordless phone outside. She didn't want to go out and get it, so I said, "Oh, you can use the one in our bedroom."

It's a rotary phone Daddy dug out and put in there when the electricity was off last winter.

Emma went over, looked at it, and asked, "How do you make it work?" I had to LOL...she's never used a rotary phone! I showed her how, and she successfully called Bri. ; )

Scavenger Hunt

The library is celebrating a book that is set in the 1920's, and last evening they had a scavenger hunt with the option of dressing in costume, so Emma (of course) dressed up. I didn't have any 1920's style hats, so she just wore her hair up...it turned out SO pretty.

She and Anna won the scavenger hunt...$5 first prize and a stationary set.

I'm needing a nice big box now that we can store all our costume clothes in. Something that will hold a mink coat. lol

An Outing and Sick...

We went for a picnic today, but Daddy and I are both kind of sick. (Trust me, you don't want details...) We both ate manocotti yesterday and suspect that may be it.

Anyway, we went on a picnic today, and the darn camera went all funky...

It's kind of an Impressionistic look, isn't it? lol

Anyway, we had a good time, even though we felt a bit bad, and saw a pileated woodpecker (up close!) It was pecking on a rotten log next to the path and didn't move when we walked by...about twenty feet away!

We also saw a snake (blacksnake, about three feet long).

Then, we saw a tiny baby bunny! It was SO cute...and tiny. It would have fit in my hand...adorable...but it hopped down the bank toward where the snake was. We told it there was danger there, but it didn't listen very well.

We came home and I had laundry on the line and was really tired and went out to get it and two sweet little girls came out and helped. They're the best! ; )

Good News, and A Trial

The good news is that Anna's test results came back and the place was benign. Yay! They wanted her to go back in and have it operated on again...something about it *could* come back and if it did it would be malignant. I asked the dr. what were the chances of it coming back and she said "very, very rare", so we're NOT having anything more done to it.

Daddy was MOST adamant about not having her go through anything else. He's really sensitive about anyone hurting our babies. ; )

He drew a cartoon for the girls this morning...the early bird was being interviewed about Emma and Anna, and didn't even know who they were because they didn't get up early and he'd never met them. ; )

When Anna woke up and saw it, she drew a picture of herself beating the early bird to death. lol

So she went on trial for the murder of the early bird.

I was the defense, Daddy was the judge and Emma was the prosecution.

I used Anna's bird journal and bird food to prove that she cared for birds and wouldn't hurt them. Emma used the picture Anna drew to prove that she was acting in a malicious manner and injured or killed the early bird.

Daddy ruled that since there was no body there had been no crime and she was released.

LOL

A Couple Things I Wish We Still Had...

Most things that we lose or that disappear I never think about again. However, there are a couple things we *really* regret losing...and since it's 1:21 am, and I'm waiting for Anna to get out of the bathtub before I go to bed, they're on my mind. (Don't ask...it's a convoluted mess in there...)

The first thing...our fern fossil. (It's actually only the first thing because that's how I loaded the pics.) ; ) This picture I, of course, borrowed from online, because we never actually took a picture of ours. I can describe it, though...grey rock (if it wasn't 1:24 am, I'd tell you the kind...), about 2 ft. square and about three inches thick. Daddy was hauling paper in the back of his truck in boxes and it started blowing out on the road. He pulled off beside the road and picked up a couple rocks laying (lying?) there and threw them in the boxes on top of the paper. When he got home he tossed them out of the boxes and one broke open and this perfect beautiful fern fossil was there. We admired it for awhile, then put it up for safekeeping...then lost it. What we assume happened was that when we moved we left the bed for my brother who was moving in as we were moving out, and the fossil was under the bed, and at some point when he moved the bed he picked up the rock underneath and tossed it. He looked on the banks near the house, but never found it. The other thing wasn't technically ever ours...but it could have been. There are a pile of these on e-bay for very little, so I *could* buy one, but it's the principle of the thing...; )

Mom found one or two of these Columbian Exposition coins sewn into the lining of an old coat...or was it in an old purse lining? Somewhere like that, anyway. Wrapped up in a handkerchief. Not having the internet at the time, we could only wonder at how much they might be worth...well, until we got to the library to look in a book. ; ) When we found out they weren't worth much, she just put them in a box with some other coins...kind of the beginnings of a coin collection my little brother had. Then one of my cousins came to live with them for a while. He stole anything that looked like it might be worth anything, and of course, these were among the first things to go.

I might buy me one eventually. I still think they're interesting coins. ; )

The Thought For Today...

These Days...

Since Anna's appointment....let's see...

We went to mom's that evening and had supper there, yesterday we enjoyed the sun most of the day, just sitting on the porch, until Emma decided she was bored and wanted to go mushroom hunting. We went over to the mountain, found one, and kept walking up the mountain looking for more, until we got to the very top of the mountain...amazing views! Coming back down was rather difficult. I went what I thought would be an easier way, but it turned out to have a cliff, oh, about thirty feet high. We crossed over above it, to get on the other side, but it was rather scary and both girls were sure they were about to fall...never mind that they were a good thirty feet from the drop-off, with lots of trees to hold on to before they actually went over. lol

Anyway, we finally got over, and walked down to the bottom, and Daddy was waiting on us. It was SO nice to be given a ride home in the van, and take a hot shower and later a bath. I still feel like I've climbed a mountain, though. lol

Today we went out picking up trash again. After all that climbing yesterday, today was TORTURE!! For me anyway. The girls seem okay. Younger, I guess. ; )

We stopped for ice cream on the way home...and that was nice, too. : )

Oh, and...I have faster internet! We're finally off dial-up...yay!

Anna's Doctor Visit (Dermatologist)

On the plus side...the doctor was VERY nice. I wouldn't mind having a doctor that nice.

She went out to get a second opinion from a doctor named...Dr. Mader...and I am not kidding...he was JUST like Mater (CARS...y'know) lol I was cracking up.

Anyway, the lump was removed (with lots of accompanying screams), and is being sent off for a biopsy.

Anna was SO funny...she asked the dr what would happen to it when she cut it off...would it just fall off on the floor? lol She admitted that she HAD had that happen before.

I didn't like it...Anna was very unhappy and kept saying she just wanted to go home, and I tried to get her to calm down and she couldn't, and I couldn't think of what to do, besides just leave, and the thing needed to come off and be biopsied...and we ended up holding her down...(The numbing was lots worse than the actual removing. At least the first prick of the needle. She didn't even feel the second prick.) So we did hold her down, and I simply couldn't think *in the moment* of what I could do different. She had two options...have it slivered off today, in the office, or go to a different place where they would put her to sleep, but that would have included an IV...she was thinking ANYTHING to put it off, but we were trying to tell her that having an IV and all would be as bad or worse.

I tried to get her to do some visualization-things, remembering when we went on vacation last year, but she got to a place where she couldn't and I couldn't calm her down.

After it was all over (when the doctor said, "I'm done." Anna didn't even know she had done anything) Anna was rather embarassed that she had acted so, but it was too late then, and I think unless we can get something better for the next time it will just happen again.

If I was braver, I'd ask on UB for ideas of what is better to do, but I'm a big wimp. I'll go check the archives and see if I can find anything. ; )

**Addendum~On the way home from the library (I posted the first part at the library while they were doing their program) I asked Anna if she could think of something that would be better than me having to hold her down if something like that comes up again, and she said she prefers it that way! She said, if I lay on top of her and she hugs me real tight it's okay. SO, here I was seeing it as being cruel, and she was feeling secure.

Reminder for self: Ask the KID before asking other people.

Okay. Got that. ; )

Anna's Poetry...

While sitting the bathroom this morning, Anna was moved (haha) to write a bit of poetry.


While you’re sitting here
On your rear,
You feel so relaxed…
But the tension is growing,
And now you’re knowing,
You didn’t pull down your slacks.

I'm so proud. :,,,)

lol

This Weekend...

I'm not entirely sure where I left off, and I'm not inclined to go back and see, so I might repeat a few things. : )

Daddy and the girls are playing a computer game right now, and we've just finished eating supper. I'm starting to get a bit sleepy, but thinking I might try to read a bit first. I've got several library books out I'd like to read a bit in before I take them back, and I got several magazines the last time we went, too.

Yesterday the girls went to a birthday party. One of their friends from the church turned 13, and they had her a big special party for it. The girls had fun, and Daddy got to talk to a couple friends he hadn't seen since we stopped going to church out there. I talked to a couple people...mostly one lady who kept trying to talk me into coming back to church...because she's been given my job of counting offering and kids in Sunday School. Muhahahaha...

We started walking a mile a day yesterday...all of us together. We managed to walk yesterday and today...so we're off to a good start. : ) Today we were followed by a duck, but he finally stopped. The girls petted him, and begged to be able to keep him, then cried when we said it wouldn't be in his best interest. They got over him pretty quickly, though, when we got home.

Anna is doing really well with eating low cholesterol foods. I'm learning that the main thing is being proactive in taking and making her things she likes and are better for her than some of the "quicker" things she's used to just grabbing off the shelf. She's reading labels herself, and is very pleased when she finds something that she particularly enjoys is cholesterol free.

We found 5 ticks on Oscar today! That's in addition to the 4 or so we got off him the other day. I'm wondering if those things that say they kill both fleas and ticks really work...and how they work.

The girls and Daddy have been watching X-Men for the last few days. Most of our X-men movies are on VHS, so they weren't able to watch them when the VCR tore up, and now they're making up for lost time, it seems. lol Since they're in there playing a game now, I'm watching The Andy Griffith Show just to de-compress a bit. lol

It has turned cold outside. I didn't cover my plants last night, and my tomatoes look a bit frostbitten. I hope they don't die. Something has been eating at one of them, and it only has one leaf left. We covered them for tonight, because it's supposed to be freezing. For the next three nights, actually. I'll be glad when the last cold spell is over and it stays warm outside. Spring is my favourite time of year, except the cold spells. ; )

Mushy Rooms on Toast

We picked mushrooms today! The only kind I feel safe picking and eating are morels, because they're so distinctive. We found 16! The first was a surprise...just sitting beside the road where we were picking up trash, then the other's we found in a spot we knew they've grown in the past.

We even saw a dead goat lying on a rock in the middle of a stream today. STINKY!! Anna was a bit scared of it, but we went on, and I don't think she thought of it anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. : )

Daddy and Anna fished some, and Emma a tiny bit. Emma caught the only fish, the first one of the year, and Daddy caught a snapping turtle. It was just a tiny one, and didn't snap at him when he was getting it unhooked.

Oscar went with us...and had a wonderful time. He got so tired out he was falling asleep on my lap on the way home...sitting up so funny. He was sitting on my lap facing forward, leaning up against the window and drifting off to sleep. I could see his reflection in the mirror...it was SO cute.

The doctor called back today...Anna's cholesterol is over 300! She's always been very much a carnivore...she's going to have to learn to eat differently. She did really well today, having oatmeal for breakfast, carrots and a sandwich for lunch, and mushrooms, noodles with turnip greens, gravy (from a packet so it didn't have cholesterol), and a roll for supper. I meant to look up the mushrooms to see if they had cholesterol, but I've forgotten to.

I'm supposed to be getting her some suppliments, too, but I've got to read about them some online so I'll know what I'm after in the store. I went and looked today, but it was all so confusing.

This Was Funny....

If I can tell it right.

We went to Mom's this evening, and walked down and got Diamond and Taylor. On the way back Diamond was telling us about what she knew...she was telling us about the man who was pregnant..."He was born a woman, but they didn't take out his femur...." ROFLOL!!

She's SUCH a little doll.

Doctor's Visit

Which begins with being 10 minutes late!

Shame, shame on us...

The doctor actually had the audacity to say Anna was overweight! She's just about the exact same size of most of the 7 year-olds we know (and we know several), so I really don't see how a almost 11 year old the size of a 7 year old is overweight. Anyway, we're going to make an effort to walk ~as a family~ a mile a day.

Anna has a cyst or something on her leg, and he said he'd never seen anything like it, and referred her to a dermatologist. I hate having to wait, but we won't even be able to call them until Monday. Anna is glad for the wait, though...she wouldn't mind waiting until forever. lol

And Emma has scolosis. As far as I know, no one else in our families have it. He said it's mild, and he's just going to watch it for now...she's going back in 6 months for a re-check...so I get to worry for 6 months.

Both girls got shots...and had blood taken for tests. : ( THAT wasn't fun, but they did it without TOO many tears.

The absolute worst part was....we had to get up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am!....and we were still late. lol

We did find out that our doctor is a homeschooler, too! That's always a nice discovery. Both he and his nurse were very positive about our homeschooling...even though they did ask about grades. I faltered a bit, but recovered quickly and said, "A's". lol

Working Working...always Working...

BUT, getting SO much done! I just LOVE beautiful days when I can accomplish so much. I got three or four loads of laundry washed both yesterday and today, so I'm pretty much all caught up! (I still need to do whites, which is why pretty much.)

We got the spot marked off for Emma's building, and Daddy started the digging for the blocks. So, YAY! by next week (unless it starts raining) we should have her building up and all their toys out of my building. Double YAY! : )

I've been working outside mostly, it's SO nice outside lately....even though a lady we talked to mentioned snow this weekend. What?!? Couldn't be! One more reason we don't watch the weather channel....too much bad news. lol

While it's nice, though, we're enjoying it. Oscar, even...he doesn't like to be inside if we're outside, so he comes out, too, and barks at all the other dogs..."Hey, I'm a dog too! Do you hear me barking? I'm a dog!" I read outside for a while today...nice....

Only thing I need to do still is to add a bit more shreaded paper to the worm bin...I'll get around to that before dark, though, I think.

Tomorrow the girls have a doctor appointment for checkups...and a couple other things I need to mention, which I really hate to have to do...last time we mentioned something "extra" he was grouchy about it. : ( I'll probably change their dr when they do the open enrollment thing again, and get them both a woman doctor. They both have said they'd prefer that. I don't blame them...I like women drs better, too, unless they're bigger than me...then I'm intimidated. lol

Oh, one other thing...we got fresh milk today! We stopped by a yard sale and they had a sign up "Fresh Milk $3.50 gal." cheaper than store-bought, and FRESH! Daddy and I decided we'll probably start buying from them regularly as long as they're selling...it's just SO much better than store-milk. : )

Today was WONDERFUL!!

I got SO many thing done I've been wanting to get around to!

I finally got into my compost bins...and oh, the DIRT! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my compost bins. I was really wishing I had charged the camera batteries yesterday when I thought of it, so I could post pics of the wonderful, big pile of DIRT I got. (Isn't that just the wierdest thing? lol) I put compost over all my flower beds, and set a bit aside for the girl's seeds they're starting.

I got the cabbage and tomato plants in the ground, and planted okra and radish seeds.

The girls carried brush to the backyard for a cookout tonight, and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows when it started getting dark.

Daddy worked on his car, and got it running nicely (for the most part). Now he just has to decide if he should sell it or drive it. ; ) I sat with him while he worked on it, and he liked that. : ) I had a hammer and chisel working on getting concrete off some blocks so we can use them for Emma's storage building, but squished my little finger in the process, which put a stop to that. That's when I went and started digging in dirt, so now I have a cut finger with dirt in it. I'm thinking a nice long bath might help clean it up, though. : )

Oregon Trail and Other Things

I played Oregon Trail by myself for the first time tonight. I killed everyone except myself off very quickly...we made it just past the Great Salt Lake. : ( I was snake bit, but didn't die. : )

Today, IRL, we really *did* have run-ins with snakes. We went out picking up trash again, and the road we took was next to the river, which was flooding since it's been raining so much lately. (Not really too bad, just about 5 ft. over the banks, and only over the road in one place. Daddy saw a couple boys come across it, so he knew he could make it, but it scared Anna, so she and I walked way around it, on the bank.) Anyway, Daddy parked the van, and walked back to meet Anna and I on the other side, and Emma had been with him and walked back, too, and we were messing about, and I went to spear a piece of trash...and there, right in the water's edge was a snake! My spear was only about two inches from it! It started swimming away (can't say I blame it) and I started screaming, and the girls came back from the van where they had just been about to get in. The snake came back up onto a log, and they all got a good look at it. : P Anyway, Daddy beat us back to the van, because we were talking over the snake, and lo and behold....there was one right outside the side door of the van! Either it had just recently come up, or Emma had stepped right over it when she got out! AND the girls had just been going back to get in when I saw the other one! We stayed close to the middle of the road after that...and poked with sticks before getting near edges. Gives me chills just thinking about them. And I'll bet I'll have nightmares tonight.

After that we went on down the road and took a little off-shoot road that Daddy and I both knew to be a dead-end, but we didn't know what was at the end of it, so we went up and besides the water tower (who knew? lol) was an old graveyard. Part was fenced....about 5 graves, but there were probably 20 unfenced, and lots were the really old ones, with just stones for markers. We read the readable ones, until Oscar peed on one and knocked another one over. Then we left. : (

We picked up a bit more trash, and saw 10 Canada geese swimming in the river...oh, and on the other side we saw two (not at the same place) blue herons! They're SO cool. When I was a kid I had no idea blue herons would live around here. Last year, I believe, there was even a nesting batch of them. They're amazing. : )

Weekend Beginning....

And it's NICE...: )

Today I've worked my little tail off...reading, napping, messing about reading blogs online...

I'm going to try to keep up this level of activity for at least one more day. ; )

Anna and Daddy have spent most of the day playing Oregon Trail, and Emma enjoyed herself with our new VCR. We were without one for about a month, and just got another one last week, so she had to re-visit some of her favourite videos.

They're working on Daddy's hair right now...gelling and combing...and watching Stargate again. I think I'll suggest a video we haven't see for a while. Maybe The Love Bug. : )

More of This and That...

It's been rainy for a few days, so we haven't been able to get out and pick up trash for awhile. We did, however, take the girl's cans they've picked up to sell today, and they got $26! We went out for pizza, then they bought parts in a new computer game. (Oregon Trail) They are playing their new game now. (Emma keeps saying, "WHAT should I DO?" lol)



I just discovered I have a two-day overdue DVD from the library...and so everything I was going to blog about has left me. : ( I completely forgot it. They've been watching so much Stargate they haven't thought of anything else for a while...and no one thought of the darn DVD. Waahhh...



Back to better things...



Mullein

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/veth1.htm



We've always called it rabbit tobacco...Sunday when we were out walking Anna spotted some and said, "Oh! It's KITTY CABBAGE!" lol I am sure it will forevermore be called kitty cabbage in our family. : )



While we were out today I bought Oscar a name tag. He jingles now. : ) The cats aren't quite sure what to do with a jingling dog. Even Tiger swatted at him. lol



We went to the pet store to buy some ferret food, and took a minute to look at the animals...and boas...ewww. lol I wasn't expecting them and squealed. lol



Prices have gone up SO much it's almost unbelievable. I took $300 out as usual for groceries and non-food items, and wasn't able to get everything on my list...before I could get all with about $20 left over for *incidentals* during the week. : ( Daddy fussed about "mismanagment of funds", but apologized when I pointed out that I wasn't responsible for prices going up. Honestly, if they don't stop going up we'll have to pick up cans to help pay for basic necessities, instead of special pizza dinners and games. (only half-joking...)



Rabbit food alone has gone up $3...cat food $4...animal bedding $2....cheese has gone up about .40...I tried to get things on sale, but still, outrageous!

I had something else here, but it disappeared. Thankfully Blogger saves drafts for you! I like that...my whole post didn't leave me.

It's now what was tomorrow, yesterday. That is to say, when I got cut off last night and decided to just get off the computer and left my post as a draft it was yesterday, now it's tomorrow, or today, and Daddy and I are back to happy, and the girls are having a blast traveling the Oregon Trail. Karen had recommended it a couple years ago, but we hadn't bought it before...it may have been too early for the girls to really enjoy it anyway. They certainly are enjoying it now, though. : )

Putting This Here So I can Find it Later...

http://www.archive.org/details/PeacefulParentingTalkdoddprystowsky