My Lists Spilleth Over

I like having a plan and making lists. I don't normally follow my plans, but it's good to have somewhere to start. I've been making lists for each of my blogs. I may not have a whole blog worth of one thing, but put a bunch together and there you go, a whole blog. We should get on with it.

• My kids have been playing more and more board and card games. The other day, the baby and the boy were playing Scrabble. That happens to be one of my most favoritest games ever. What really impressed me was that the baby was keeping score. Correctly. So proud of her. The two of them came up with some great words. I like to use big words around my kids. Makes them think I'm smart. One of my favorite phrases is "plausible deniability". They also like to play Mancala. I like to watch their faces as their brains whirl and they plot and plan their moves. Critical thinking skills at their best.
• The grocery store had Snapple on sale. I had coupons. I bought Snapple. But that isn't the important part. What's important is that I think I am going to build some unit studies based on their Real Facts. One of the facts was that people that live in Okinawa live longer than people anywhere else in the world. So much you could do with that. Nutrition for a start. Research what they eat in Okinawa. Then research why those foods could possibly help them live longer. Do other people in different parts of the country eat the same sort of diet? If not, what is their diet? Homemaking with creating a typical meal from each region you study. Take a Japanese class. Learn about their language and customs. Contrast and compare different aspects of their country and ours. Arts and crafts could be origami. How fun is that? There was science, history, social studies, arts and crafts, and homemaking. So many cool facts on those bottles and you can look up retired real facts on the Snapple web site.
• I am glad the royal wedding is over. Glad the girl finally got her prince, but after 10 years, prince or no, I would have kicked his sorry butt to the curb. Do you love me? Then freakin' marry me. The rest will fall into place. I didn't like the dress either. And Pippa, while she looked really great in her dress, just isn't as pretty as her sister.
• I've been looking for homeschool groups and organic co-ops in Texas. I found some groups, but no co-ops. I'm not very happy about the co-op thing, but now that we have our tower, we may not need one out there. At least for what we can grow in it. There are a few things that we may just grow ourselves in a little garden. If we move. If we can grow stuff. Next.
• Big Sis and I Facetimed the other night. I've had my iPod since Christmas, she's had her iPhone awhile, but we just hadn't thought about it before. We were a couple of kids with a new toy. That just put another check mark in the positive column for my iPod. Now if Mermie would get one...there's an idea.      

There ya go. That's another list I can mark off. That feels pretty good. Now to start another.

Have a great day.

Down on the Farm, Revisited and in Pics

 This is what we started with. We expected it to be several weeks before we could even have the glimmer of a harvest. A week later we were at this...

 Look how pretty that is. It just took off and grew and grew and grew.

 This is the root system for either the watermelon or the cucumber, I can't remember which. Pretty impressive, huh? There are days I wished my roots looked like that.

 I took this one tonight. Tomorrow will be two weeks. Tonight I harvested some romaine. It was huge. The Bibb lettuce is so pretty. That will hopefully be next. It's not quite ready yet.

 See that little round thing at the tip of my finger? It's a watermelon!! We have 3!! My mouth is watering already. If I can keep the stinking birds away this time, I will be a happy camper. The last time we grew watermelons, the birds feasted while I grumbled.

 Cucumbers!! My family and I can eat our weight in cucumbers. We have two plants and they both have yumminess on them. Hurry up, hurry up!!

Look at that squash go! I never liked squash when I was kid, liked it for a few years as an adult, but now I'm back to not liking it. It's the squeakiness when I chew it. I can feel it rub against my teeth and I am done. I'm looking for some new recipes to try it in to see if I can get over that. If not, y'all want some hydroponic squash?

We also have bell peppers and kale. Our beans are starting. Just waiting on the maters now. Come on, maters, you can do it. The weird thing is that we have had no flowers. That's a first for us. My friend G, who also has a tower, has flowers and no veggies, yet. I have no idea what that is about. All I know is that I want broccoli and strawberries when the weather gets cooler. My head is filled with visions of a tower full of strawberries. I don't know if I could keep Big Sis away from it long enough to harvest.

Have a great day.

Misc. Pics

 Hubby turned 43 on Tuesday. I may be a little partial, but that man looks good for 43. This was his ice cream cake. We surprised him with it. He thought he was going to have to wait. He left early that morning to work on the phones at church, and the boy and I got it put together and in the freezer before he got back. We're sneaky sometimes.

 This is one of the puzzles that I bought at my friend Hillside Hollow's yard sale. I was going to post it when hubby and I finished the big one, but we put the big one away when we got the notice about the job in Texas. Well, that was silly. This was a really fun puzzle to put together. Hubby and I spent a couple of days working it and really enjoyed the time together. Cool pieces with weird shapes, minus one.

 Caution warming up for their performance at the FCA huddle. That's my big girl doing a mic check. Check 1, check 1, check 2, check 2, check, check, check. Mic checks are so boring. The performance was not boring. Love me some Caution. All the way to the right, with the bass, is BL. He is funny. Should have seen his rock star jump. Epic. I have it on video.

 
 Blogger freakin' out on me a little. I'm not sure why this photo is so far to the left, but whatever. These are just some of the afternoon rain clouds that build up here. This is one of a series of three. The first two show the real build up, but I really like this one for some reason. Hubby should have pulled the camera back a little to get the whole huge puffiness. They are so beautiful.

 This is proof that hubby had the high score at one time on a song on Just Dance 2. We weren't allowed to play this song until he took the picture. Took him days. Drove the kids crazy. Love that man.

 My beautiful big girl at Night of Joy. Love that look on her face. I can almost hear her, "Mama..." She draws it all out, like she's chastising me. Well, someone has to be the responsible one. Why does it have to be me?

This is our other puzzle from the yard sale. Had a great time with this one. It took a little longer because different sections look so similar. Loved it.

Just a quick one tonight. I gotta go take care of a illin' hubby. I gave it to him, so I guess I better help him get through it. Lucky me.

Have a great day.

And, Last But Not Least...

Our last field trip of the field-trip-a-palooza was to Canine Companions for Independence. This was our seventh or eigth field trip/special event in about 3 weeks. It's hard trying to shove all this in a small amount of time, but that's the way it worked. I didn't set this one up, but I was glad we went. Hubby even took the day off to join us. He saves a week of vacation so he can go on field trips with us. If we don't do field trips during the week, or we don't use all of his field trip days, we go to the beach for a long weekend. Either way, I say lucky hubby, but even better, lucky us.

CCI has five offices across the country. The facility we visited covers at least five states and focuses mainly on wheelchair bound recipients. The dogs are completely free to the recipients and the organization runs mainly off donations. The Busch (Seaworld and beer) family and Darden restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster) is a primary sponsor for the location in Orlando. They breed all of their own dogs, and do not accept dogs from the "outside". At any one time, they can have as many as 30 dogs at their facility at one time. That's a lot of clean up, if you know what I mean.

This is the family in front of the donor board. Lots of people give lots of money to keep this place running. I think it's fantastic.

 There is a dorm, complete with kitchen and living areas, for the recipients of the dogs. They MUST come for a very intense 2 week training. Part of what goes on is a matching of dog with recipient and/or family. That is one of the most important steps. Each room is decorated differently, but there is most definitely a canine theme. Can you tell the theme of the two pics above? The recipients stay for free, are educated for free, and get the run of the campus pretty much. Everything is wheelchair accessible. 

 This is one of the trainers, Jen, and she brought Cole III with her. All dogs are given a name by the corporate offices in California. Every dog born in the same litter as Cole that came to this facility has a name that starts with the letter C. Cole is a third, which means there were 2 other Coles before him. They were either retired or they passed away. Jen is not wheelchair bound, but spends a lot of time in one while training the dogs. It helps her see things from the perspective of  the recipient and it helps when training the dogs so they know what to expect.

 This is Cole working on pulling skills. Pulling skills can be used for opening doors, opening freezer doors at the grocery store, bringing a laundry basket, etc. One command can lead to freedom for so many people. Combining two or three comands can mean freedom to shop, go to restaurants or movies, and just a reason to get out in the world.

 This is Cole handing an item to Jen. They teach the dogs several ways to retrieve. That way, depending on the limitations of the recipient, the dogs can be even bigger helpers. Amazing to see the work the dogs and trainers do.

 Since the facilities run mainly on donations, this wall is part of their fundraising. You can purchase a tile, have it engraved, and place it on this wall. Some people have bought tiles for their dogs, their families, and even the trainers.

 Even dogs need to go to the park and play. These are two different playgrounds set up for the dogs. Funny to see big Labs going down the little slide.

 Ths is one of the pics that is put together using other pictures. All of the pics used in this collage is of the recipients and their dogs and families. I think they're neat, but not a project I would want to do.

 Charles Schulz, duh, is a sponsor. Who would have thunk it?

This is on the floor as you walk in. The big girl took the pictures. She liked this so I included it.

They even have a gift shop. Dolls that represent what they do and what they are about fill this place. Some of it's way cool.

It was a great field trip. I am so glad we went. They told us about trainer families. Trainer families get the dogs at about 2-3 months and keep them for a year to 16 months, depending on the dog and the training. Then the dogs go to one of the training facilities to keep up their "schooling" and eventually go to a family. A statistic I thought was pretty weird was that up to 65% of the dogs aren't able to finish training for one reason or another. Those dogs are then adopted out to good homes. Hubby, being the sucker that he is, picked up an adoption form. I am happy to say that he has yet to fill it out and I am ok with that. But, once again, they will match a dog with a family to make sure there is a good fit. I might keep that in mind if the paperwork ever gets turned in.

Our last activity was supposed to be a play yesterday. We didn't go since I have two snotty kids. We were looking forward to it, but I didn't want to interrupt anyone else's play by hacking, coughing, and snotting. So we went to the park instead. It's only a few minutes from the house if we needed to go home and nobody would be bothered by my snotty kids. That worked for us.

Have a great day. 

Down on the Farm

Hubby took the kids Saturday to a hydroponic farm. I didn't go, but hubby is going to help me write this blog, so yippee! A guest blogger. I've never done that before. There's a first time for everything, I guess.

The place they visited had a 2,000 sq ft greenhouse. Mercy, that's a lot of vegetables. Everything is grown in the towers that they sell, but theirs are modified a little. The use 5-10% of the water that a normal farm would use. Everything is organic and hydroponic. The screens on the greenhouse are metal and have small holes. The holes are big enough the bees can come pollinate, but the critters can't have a buffet.

This is one of the towers. It's smaller and set up like the home version. We have one. This one has eggplants and an extra frame for support. They are made of food grade PVC and are quite genius. The plants grow faster and are super healthy for you. They did have a snack you could put together of lettuces so you could try before you buy.

This is the family. It was hot and sunny and I'm glad they were smiling!!

The pots that they have set up for their use rotate. The power for that is from this baby. Oh, how hubby and I dream of being off the grid. They are working on some other things running off solar, but for now it's just this.  

 This is our tower going up. Hubby has been researching and looking into hydroponics for many years. This was his opportunity to see a setup that works and try a little hydroponic growing himself. Along with the tower, he brought home seedlings. They were: green leaf lettuce, green kale, romaine, red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, squash, watermelons, and red bell peppers. Wait til you see how big our plants are already.

 Up, up, and away it goes. The boy, the big girl, and the baby all helped. As did our friend T. T went with the family on the tour. He was impressed as well with the set up.

 That's most of it. We had seven sections. It comes with five and we bought two more. Quite impressive to watch it go together so easily. Even more impressive when it was done.

So there you go.

The best thing about it- it's American made. I don't get political here very often. I save that for the other blog. But this, I have to say, would have sold me on it. They had me at the sticker. Everything else is just a bonus.

We should be harvesting in a couple of weeks. You can grow a head of lettuce and eat it, from the tower, for up to 2 months. When have you ever had a head of lettuce stay fresh for two months? How often have you gone out and picked veggies and they just kept growing? Hubby said the tour took about 20 minutes and they packed a ton of information into it. You should have seen the sparkle in his eyes. He did get "debriefed" about how to set up the tower and was like a kid with a new toy. I wish it was a motorcycle, but I think I'm gonna like the tower, too

Have a great day.

This and That

I've been so busy posting about our field trips that I haven't done an update blog in awhile. It could also be because all we've done lately is take field trips. We've done school, too, but I'm trying to keep us busy and out of trouble.Good luck with that. Ready?

• I'm trying to get as much into our days as I can, hence the field trips. We have had some really great ones lately. We have discovered these gems in our area that we probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for the trips. I'm trying to find as many of them as I can before we move (whenever that will be). I could kick myself for not going to the winery sooner. They have great festivals with live music every month. They have a grape stomp twice a year. And it's free. The only thing that would cost us any money would be the wine we buy. I could go broke with that. Since we wouldn't pay for anything else, maybe not. Find the little gems in your area and check them out is my advice to you. I'm just trying to make as many good memories for my kids of their friends and the only place they have ever known as home.
• Hubby is taking the kids to a hydroponic farm this Saturday. I refuse to go because I don't want to go to jail. So overrated, jail is. I don't like the woman that owns the place. Hubby has been looking into hydroponics for many, many years, but hasn't really done anything about it. He is interested in seeing their set up first hand and getting some new and fresh ideas. He may also come home with a tower of his own. That will be his birthday present. And his Father's Day present. And whatever else I can roll into it.
• School is going to run a little long for us. I like to start around the beginning of August and run til the beginning of May. Then we have most of May and all of June and July off. As long as we were done by the week of recital, I was good. That week was always so busy, the last thing I needed was more stuff to do. We've taken a little too much time off this year so we are going until the end of June. The kids aren't happy, but I have a feeling they'll get over it. One day. With lots of therapy. Just kidding. Maybe.
• Easter is almost here. How in the world did that happen? That means it's almost May. May means hubby's birthday, mine a month later, and then it's all down hill until we get to Christmas. Time just will not slow down. Except for my kids that have to school until the end of June. Time will not go fast enough for them. 
• Hubby and I have decided that wherever we are this summer, we would like to rejoin the YMCA. The baby did such a great job in swim lessons, but we want her to take a refresher course. We really enjoyed last summer. They had a great pool, friendly staff, and I even got to the point I almost had a love/hate relationship with the elliptical instead of a hate/hate. Almost. Zumba was fun, the kids took a yoga class every week, and many of our friends were members as well. 

I tried to warn you that there really wasn't much. Keeping our heads down and our noses clean, and I don't mean by hiding while we pick our noses. On that note, I'm out.

Have a great day.   

Smell That?

It smells yeasty and yummy. It's homemade bread. And the big girl and I made it. We went to a bread making class that my friend G was having. G even ground the wheat. She taught us the difference in the wheat, which is better for what kind of baking, and we had great discussions about our health and wellness. We had a great time and we brought home two beautiful loaves of homemade deliciousness that was actually, wait for it, good for you. Eeekk! That's all kind of craziness.

 The big girl and G adding ingredients to the bowl. This was during the mixing/kneading stage. G is adding the last three cups of flour. The big girl thinks the dough feels weird.

 These are the big girl's friends, K (turning away so you cannot see her beautiful face) and H (you can see her beautiful face). They giggled and giggled and giggled. I had forgotten that giggle was it's own language.

 The big girl has beautiful long nails. Not good when kneading dough by hand. She did not like the way it felt under her nails. Took her forever to wash her hands when she was done. She did a great job with the kneading, though.

 This is the dough after it rose the first time. Look how gorgeous that is! I told you she did a great job.

 This is my friend C's bread after rising. Our favorite part, I think, is the punch down. Got an issue with someone or something? Imagine that during the punch down. Smile.

 When we got out of the van at the house, I said "Grab the groceries, leave the bread alone." We brought the loaves home to bake since they had to rise a second time. That meant about another hour so it was easier to bring it home to bake. The boy must not have heard me or mixed it up because he grabbed the bread. And jostled it since it was heavier than he thought it was. And it fell. Not much for one, but quite a bit for the other. It baked the same, tastes the same. It's just not as tall as it's sibling loaf. Aren't siblings like that, though? When I introduce Big Sis to people I always end with, "And, yes, we have the same parents." Other than dark eyes and hair, we don't look very much alike. Must work with bread, too.

Here is the end result. Hubby came home to the smell of fresh bread. He said he almost floated into the house like the cartoon characters do, it smelled so good. Can't beat that with a stick. Even if you could, why would you? 

I got out of making bread for a lot of reasons, one of them that I couldn't find a recipe that I liked. It seemed that to make a good healthy bread, it took years to do or the list of ingrdients was longer than my name. I'm Hawaiian. I got a long name. This recipe was easy, simple, and the ingredient list is short. I like the heaviness of the loaves when they are baked. I read somewhere that the healthier the bread is for you, the heavier it will feel. Even though the bread is heavy, it is light in texture. We destroyed half a loaf at dinner last night. So good.

If you get the chance to take a bread making class, do it. It was fun, educational, and we have the beginnings of a tradition that can be handed down to the generation coming behind us. Making memories while we make bread. Very cool.

Have a great day.