My First Tomato!

I picked my first ripe tomato from my garden today! I have another one that will be ready either tomorrow or Friday.

Sorry, no pictures. I brought it inside and ate it immediately. ; )

And it was good.

This Week So Far...

Monday I went to Mom's to help her sort clothes. BIG mess, but we got through it. ; ) There was a wonderful thunderstorm, and the power was out for a while.

Yesterday we went berry picking in the morning, then in the evening the girls wanted to go out to eat. We went to Burger King...you wouldn't believe how much they ate! Like they've been starved. lol

Today my back is feeling some better, so I did some exercises Daddy got from the dr. when his was hurt. I think it will help it...and maybe I'll be able to lose weight and it will be less stress on my back and knees. Of course, if I keep falling it won't matter *how* light I am, I'll still get hurt. ; )

I was talking about it with Daddy today, and am going to REALLY try to eat better. No more snack cakes and candy bars for snacks. ; )

Maybe if my back and knees will get better I can get the rest of me in shape. Which would help my back and knees...it all goes around in a circle....

My Back...

Last night Daddy, Anna and I (Emma was at moms) rode the three and a half miles to mom's and back (seven miles) on our bicycles.

This morning my back *knows* it. I've been going easy on it all day...

The librarians called and asked if we wanted a set of encyclopedias (I LOVE being friends with the librarians!) and I refrained from lifting any of them.

Mom wanted us to haul a cabinet she bought for her, and I refrained from lifting any cabinets.

Then I thought if I was going to get rid of the two old sets of encyclopedias we have, I'd need boxes, so I slipped around a store and picked out a few sturdy-looking cardboard boxes...and my back gave out picking up an empty cardboard box.

So now I'm in pain....worse than before when I fell, even. It's a burning pain...I don't even *want* to know why. : (

The Crystal Ball

When the girls ask me questions I couldn't possibly know the answers to (How old will I be when I die?) I tell them my crystal ball is broken and I have no idea. haha

Tonight Anna was worrying about her surgery (put off until the 11th of Aug, thank goodness), and asked, "Will everything be okay? Will I sleep through the whole thing? Will I be all right?" And I'm going, "Yes, Yes, Yes, You will be fine. Everything will be fine." And she turns around to me with a big smirk on her face and says, "SO, your crystal ball is working again, I see."

; )

I was Reading Last Night...

Yesterday at the used book store I scored on a big pile of GWS magazines ~FREE!~, and last night I was reading in one and it said this,

"I recently read parts of a book by Richard Saul Wurman, Information Anxiety which assesses the overwhelming quality of the information we are confronted with daily, and defines "Information Anxiety" as the gap between what we know and what we think we should know. He says his father taught him not that he should know everything in the encyclopedia, but that he should know how to find it."

I thought of a tool...a screwdriver, say. If I know I have a screwdriver, and I can find it quickly and easily when I need it, I wouldn't need to carry it around with me all the time.

Same with information. If my kids need to know something, say who the fifth president was, they need to know how to find the information...

What they *don't* need is a list of the presidents they memorized in fifth grade floating around in their heads. ; )

And confession time. When I thought of that last night, it occurred to me that we still have a list of the Presidents names on the wall in their room...left over from when I thought it was important to know things like that.

I told Daddy about it, and he asked why I had thought it was important in the first place (since he and I have gone more than 30 years without needing it) and I admitted that it was something *I* could show off to other people, "Say the names of the Presidents for Grandma." lol He was like, "Get RID of it!" lol

SO, even though it's Learn Nothing Day, I've learned something...although maybe it's more of a *reminder* than actual learning. Yeah, that's it. My day is still *clean*. lol

Birthday Party Pics, Natural History Museum

Anna's birthday-day first...Oscar isn't sure what she's getting, but he wants to share whatever it is...; ) Anna's birthday party, which was the 19th.

Today we went to a natural history museum...

after Anna's doctor appointment to consult with the surgeon.

First we stopped by a couple book stores..woo-hoo! lol Daddy and I got art books, Anna got a Far Side cartoon book, and Emma picked out several books...comics, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Babysitters Club...I'm not sure what all she got.

Finally we got back home, and I'm ready for a nap!

I haven't been sleeping well lately, and this morning got up at 5 after tossing and turning since 12. I finally decided if I wasn't going to be able to sleep I might as well get something accomplished.

The rest of Last Week...

Because I'm too lazy to think of a better blog title. lol

And no pictures yet, because I haven't loaded them up.

Anyway, Wednesday we went to a magic show (and both girls got picked for assistants, and I don't have pictures of that anyway, because the darn camera wouldn't co-operate). Then we went berry picking again, and I made red raspberry jam in the middle of the night. The girls went to VBS in the evening, and Daddy and I took a walk while we were waiting on them.

Thursday was Anna's birthday, and she chose to go to the pool to celebrate. So we spent most of the day Thursday at the pool, and didn't burn as bad this time, and they went to VBS when we got back, and Daddy and I took our bikes and rode while we were waiting on them, then went by the library and came home and got Mom to bring them back from VBS.

Friday was going to be an all-day-at-home day, but Daddy began it by hurting his back, so off to the doctor we went. (Unlike me, who when I hurt my back I just lay around and moan, HE trots off to the doctor to moan, whereupon the dr. gives him prescriptions, which he does not have filled because he "doesn't like to take pills", and he comes home and moans and takes over the computer because he can't do anything else, and I've spent all day at the doctor's office instead of at home doing laundry which I had planned, and since he didn't do what the dr said, what was the point in going in the first place?) Anyway, while he sat at home, I took the girls to the last night of VBS, and they both claimed to have an awful time, but didn't want to leave, and afterwards we all went to Mom's and they begged to spend the night, only to call at 1:30 and say they were tired and wanted to come home and sleep in their own beds. SO...

Saturday was Anna's birthday party, and she was tired from being up so late, and we were half-an-hour late to our own party, which wasn't too bad, considering no one else (except DH's brother and his family) showed up until 12:45 when the party was supposed to start at eleven. But the party was a success, I suppose, I don't really KNOW since I spent the most of the time walking people to the restroom and waiting outside the restroom for them.

Anna was a bit sick, and didn't feel like playing and was tired, too, so she wasn't particularly happy about it, but she survived it.

After it was over she wanted to go to the nature park next door, but she didn't feel like doing any of the things they had there, so we left and went by a store where you can stuff your own animal, (NOT taxidermy lol) and she picked out a yellow dog and a white ballerina outfit for it, but didn't feel like stuffing it, so Emma got to do that part.

Finally we made it home, and I tucked her up on the couch and Daddy found her some cartoons to watch, and she spent most of the rest of the evening there. Hopefully she'll feel better today. : )

Monday and Tuesday...

Today we went to an art show... and a Civil War camp re-enactment...and guess whose camera was on the wrong setting ~ again?
So all my pictures of today are fuzzy and generally unusable.
Yesterday's pictures, though look nice.
We went to a big blowout of kids-sorts-of-things. Emma's making a bracelet above, and below Anna is trying walking on *very short* stilts. ; )
They did lots of other things, but *I* am going to go take a nice, long bath, instead of blogging about it. ; )

Busy Weekend...Just a Quick Note

Saturday we went to a SCA thing...battle or something. lol Anna looks grouchy because she's sleepy...they stayed up until 4 at the sleepover.
Today we went to a farm that's like a living history sort of place. The girls got to wash wool...
and make potpourri...
and see sheep, horses, a cow, pigs and chickens.
Plus lots of other fun things that I'm just too tired to load up pictures of and write about them. lol I'm going to go take a nap. ; )

Water Crystals are COOL!

Anna asked me tonight how diapers worked, so I found a pack of water crystals
http://www.watercrystals.com/How_water_crystals_work.htm
to show her.

The girls thought it was *really* cool. ; )

And it IS!

If we had a large enough container, we'd try and see just how big they will get...maybe I can find a bucket to experiment in tomorrow. : )

They're very interesting...but HOW is it doing what it's doing? Chemical reaction? What? Inquiring minds want to know. lol

Last Night of VBS and Oscar

Tonight was the last night of VBS at the church my BIL and SIL go to. The girls had a BLAST!

(Note the peeling sunburn on the nose. They look like lizards right now. lol)

This morning Daddy and I went out by ourselves for a while, and left the girls and Oscar at home. *Someone* missed us.
Badly.
Tonight at VBS they did a program...everyone sang, except Emma, who scrunched down on the last bench. ; )

At the "carnival" afterwards they both had their faces painted...
(Anna's new friend Phoebe is watching intently...)
They tried throwing darts at balloons...
and won prizes...

and had a *really* good time, and were happy and loaded with new things when we left.

Now they're at their cousin's for a sleepover birthday party. Their first sleepover somewhere besides my mom's. ; ) They were a little unsure, but must be having a good time, because it's almost 1:30 and they haven't called yet. lol

We Won!! (Well, Anna did.)

Yesterday was the final program for the *far* library, and they had their prize drawings, and Anna won tickets to a theme park!

Emma won the past two years...and Daddy was *really* hoping we didn't have to go this year, lol...but first they called a boy's name..."Oh, he's not here." Okay, Next....Anna! Yay!

It's gets better...Daddy was telling his brother about it, and his brother said, "When are you going? We've got a cabin near there rented for the last week in September, but we're only going to stay Thursday through Sunday, so if you wanted to use it the first part of the week you can." SO, free tickets AND free lodging!

Yay and double YAY!!!

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming!

Guess what we did today. lol

Swimming! How'd you know?

It didn't rain on us, it was actually a very lovely day, and even at it's busiest there were only about 50 people in the pool, so we had lots of room to splash about.

We (we girls, anyway) learned how to dive for pennies...information that may come in handy someday when we uncover a shipwreck. lol

We are SO burned...my legs, and Daddy's legs are painfully burned, where we usually have them covered or mostly covered...I bet his legs haven't had more than 20 minutes of sun in almost 10 years! lol

Both girls dressed more sensible than us...Emma did her usual "over dressing", then felt really self-conscious because she had on so many clothes, but once she got in the pool she forgot about it and had fun. I swear, she'd wear a burkini if she had one.

http://www.ahiida.com/index.php?a=results&subcat=65

No, maybe not. She'd say they're too revealing. And I'm not joking. She'd wear a t-shirt over it. Maybe an extra skirt, too.

One of these might do...except for the last one...

http://www.agelesspatterns.com/swimwear_2.htm

Anyway, it kept her from getting burned as bad as the rest of us.

Yes, I know sunscreen exists. And we had some. And we would have used it, too, except I thought Daddy had put it on them, and he thought I had...neither of us thought of putting some on ourselves. ; )

You Know...

You know your garden is too weedy when you go out to pull weeds and uncover a rabbit nest with half-grown bunnies in it.

If I hadn't disturbed them so much before I realized they were there, I would have gotten the camera and taken a picture, but I stayed inside hoping they would all come back to their nest. Or their momma would make them a nice new one.

Tomorrow, we have plans to go swimming if it's not raining. It's supposed to rain all week, so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Cookouts, Reunions, and Fireworks

Yesterday was my family's annual cookout...today is the reunion.

The cookout is for my mom's brothers and sisters and their families, the reunion is for all the relatives.

So, I get to see lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, and my kids get to try to figure out who everyone is.

Last night Emma asked me if were related to *everyone* there...we were, except for one cousin's boyfriend...who should be in the family in December. ; )

Today I need to be getting things ready for the reunion...but I'm putting it off. Staying online longer than I need to. Shame on me. ; )

We got to see some fireworks last night, although not many. Our town's fireworks were cancelled, but a couple of our neighbours had some....most of which we missed, being not home. ; ) We did get to see a some, though, which was nice.

When we got home from mom's we all went for a bike ride. It started raining when we were still 1/4 mile from home...fun, fun, fun! lol

I've finally bought everything for Anna's birthday party, which is coming up in two weeks. I had the hardest time finding the things for the tops of the cupcakes, but eventually did.

She's having a princess party, and I had to search all over for little princess-ey edible cake decorations. I found them, though, so now I just have to buy hot dog buns and chips closer to the big day, and we're all set.

I got her present, too...but I'm not telling, just in case she reads my blog. lol

First Vet Visit

We took Oscar to the vet for the first time today.

He was fine in the waiting room...there were two little pomeranians waiting, too, and people coming in and going out, and a cat wandered by...lots to see. lol

As soon as we took him back to the room, though, he was scared shivery! How did he KNOW?!? He's never been to the vet before...how did he know something bad was coming? Actually it wasn't that bad. She gave him three shots, and trimmed his toe nails. (After putting a muzzle on him...which was a *really* good thing. He was unhappy to say the least. He hates having his feet messed with.

It cost more than I had expected...$78! I guess everything has gone up.

On the home front today, I got a lot done. I got up early and started doing laundry, then did lots of those niggling *little* things that add up to a clean house...things like cleaning litter boxes. lol

The girls are gone to Mom's with Rachel. They LOVE Rachel. She's a good influence (for the most part) so I like them liking to hang out with her. She's really sweet...if she just wasn't so boy-crazy! ; )