Living on the Edge

The Queen of Questions...and answers!

My dear 10 year old daughter CC is, if I hadn't said this before, full of questions.  Well and answers too!  Her latest nickname is Wikipedia.  She is spouting little known facts about huge hairy spiders in Iraq, and how an engine works, and how licorice is made, and why the sky is blue...well you get the drift.  Car rides can be very long with her sometimes.  We all just sit back and listen...and learn too!

So on our way to Silverwood yesterday, she asked...

"Dad, why do we celebrate the 4th of July?"  Notice she asked her father and not me...she must have wanted the long-winded-just-tell-me-answer and not her mom the teacher who gives the why-do-you-think-we-do-kind-of-answers.

DD and I were a bit surprised by the question.  We gave each other the what-ever-do-they-teach-you-in-school-look and then filled her in on the details.  It's funny what gaps there are in a child's knowledge.  Makes me wonder what gaps are in other kids heads...as well as in some adults too!

One of the questions she had was "what exactly did they do on the 4th to make them choose the 4th?"

I thought that was a good question so I looked it up.  (Apparently there were some gaps in our learning too...though I think it is more due to age not a lack of learning!)

Here's what I discovered:

By 1776 the colonists were fed up with Great Britain trying to make them follow more rules and pay higher taxes (wow, doesn't that sound familiar?)  People started getting mad and began making plans to be able to govern themselves.  They wanted to become an independent country.

So the Congress met in Philadelphia and they appointed a committee (doesn't everyone) to write a formal document that would tell Great Britain to buzz off.  The committee asked Thomas Jefferson to write a draft of the document (passed the buck on to yet someone else!).  So he did this in secret and on June 28 the committee read his copy. After revisions the committee  declared their independence on July 2, 1776.  They officially adopted it on July 4, 1776.  (not sure what they were doing the two days in between--shopping the sales at Safeway for the big Bar-B-Q?)

The actual signing of the official Declaration of Independence didn't even happen until August 2nd!  (Guess that would have been too close to Labor Day....actually I'm sure it had to do with the fact that it was all done by men.  You know how well they keep track of important dates!)

So that was the abbreviated history refresher for the night.  Back to paying the bills that keep coming each month in the mail.  What was that part about getting mad because of the higher taxes and more rules.  Would that be the new cell phone law?  Or perhaps the law that my 12 year old can't ride in the front seat until she is 14?  Is there somebody writing a new Declaration out there yet?  I'd sign! :-)

An Irish Point of View on the Election Race...

 

We, in Ireland , can't figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States .
On one side, you have a woman who is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, running against a lawyer who is married to a woman who is a lawyer.
On the other side, you have a war hero married to a good looking woman who owns a beer distributorship.
What are you lads thinking over there?'

 

My mom forwarded this to me this morning.  Way too funny!  I never thought about it this way.  Which one sounds like the All-American.  Maybe the choice is a bit more black and white than the color of their skins.  What is that old saying about too many cooks in the kitchen?  I think it is the same for too many lawyers in DC!!

Wow, it's the 1st of July!

Oh my goodness, June is gone.  It is now officially summer!  We started off the week with temperatures the last two days hitting 103 and 104 in our backyard here on the edge.  Today we should be at a tolerable, yet still above normal, 89!  Woohoo! 

I had to turn on the AC yesterday.  I hate doing that, but I just wimped out and couldn't take the heat another moment.  Plus CC is having terrible allergies so it helped her out a bit as well.  I was melting, along with all the plants in my yard, the trees, the chickens (nearly attacked me through the fence when I took their water can to fill it), the children, the dogs (who hid in the basement shaking with fear that I would make them go outside), and especially poor DD who has to wear a black uniform to work.

For those of you who know my DD...he's been wearing shorts!  Yup!  He actually has more pairs of shorts than I do at this point...pretty amazing for that pale Irish boy.  He keeps showing me the tan on  his legs...yes, honey, pink doesn't count as a tan and neither does red.

Today I am going to venture past the shores of the lake.  The water there is blissfully cold still.  An extreme, yet welcome, contrast to the temperatures we've been having.  So in the coolness of the night last night (78 degrees) I cleaned up the garage a bit more.  Filled the back of the Explorer with donation stuff from the garage sale we had in, yes, MAY!  And today I'm going to drop it off at a local donation drop-off spot, hit the bank, the grocery store and zip back to the coolness of our home.

While out on my travels I will NOT be talking on my cell phone.  Did you know today is start of the new cell phone law?....You can't talk on it while driving unless you have a hands free device.  You must know about the law...although they didn't put it across the top of the screen like they do with the tv changing to digital in 2009. 

Does your tv station do that where you live?  Now that cracks me up.  I can just picture some little old guy and his wife watching a show on NBC one night, the only channel they get with their roof antenna, when the announcement plays across the screen (like some urgent weather update) and they suddenly realize they won't be able to watch tv any more in 2009 because the world is going digital! 

Actually, now that I think about it, our family over near Mt. Adams won't be able to get tv anymore....what will DD do when we visit?

So back to the cell phone law.  I have spent the last two months shopping for a hands free device.  My phone isn't blue tooth compatible so I can't wear that Star Trek/Stargate Atlantis thing in my ear.  I have to get one that plugs into my phone or talk on speaker phone.  That's not so appealing...anyone that drives by will wonder why I am shouting at my car while I drive.  Have you ever tried using your speaker phone?  You have to talk LOUD to be heard by your caller.

Anyway...I have bought and returned three different hands free devices.  I can't wear those earbuds, they are either too big or they fall out because they are too small.  The third one barely picked up my voice so I found myself yelling as if I were on speaker phone.

Any recommendations out there?  I'd love to find something that costs less than the price of the ticket :-)

I've been to Best Buy, Circuit City, Target and Walmart.  Any other ideas...or online places?  Help!

Great Scrappin' Gallery

I was hopping around on my friend, Jeni's, blog.  She is an amazing artist, photographer, friend and mama.  If you want to discover some cool and wild ideas, check out her blog, Paper Piecing.

But if you are ever in Twin Falls there is a great scrapbook store called Scrappin' Girlfriends.  Love the name!  I really love their website. It's gorgeous!  And if you are looking for some creative scrapbooking ideas, go to their gallery and view the many items they have--neatly organized by category--I love that part too!

 

Their site header is inspiring all on its own!   The ideas are rolling...now I just need the time to do something!

Should you use CFL lightbulbs?

My mom sent me an email over the weekend.  It's a link to a YouTube video.  A Texas senator is speaking against a proposed energy bill that will require all Americans to change over to CFL lightbulbs by 2014.  Believe me, I am all for doing things that have less of an impact on the environment.  It's the right thing to do, but after watching this video...I'm not so sure that CFLs are the best alternative.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

We use them in our home in some light fixtures.  But I just can't read with them.  Flourescent bulbs cause eye strain for me.  Does anyone esle notice that?

Just an interesting side note.  When I was a little girl our family went to Washington D.C. and on that trip we went to Thomas Edison's workshop (I think it was the real thing).  The one thing I remember was that in one room there was a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and they told us that it was one of his original bulbs!  When he invented them he created a bulb that wouldn't burn out!  It is the lightbulb companies that made lightbulbs have a short lifespan.  Heck, how could they make money if they didn't burn out? 

Long Lake Crawdads

The weather was beautiful while we had our visitors.  They must have brought the sun with them from California!  One afternoon we went down to the lake to find the crawdad trap we had placed. (We have some kids in the neighborhood who keep taking it--not all kids have been taught manners apparently).

DD placed it under the tree...in hopes that the crawdads would crawl into it.....finally.  It had a can of catfood in it and was just ready for the little critters to crawl into it.

We found them under the dock!  But they just wouldn't crawl into the trap.

Sorry, I got sidetracked by the forget me nots growing along the river.

Still looking for the crawdads....man that river is still chilly!  You don't see me in there do you?  The girls said, "Mom, it's not bad once you don't feel your legs anymore!"

Does it mean I'm getting old when I won't walk through that cold water?

The river still is running high and looks soooo big right now.

Best Buds Since Birth

We had friends visiting this past week.  They are some of the really good friends we had to leave behind when we moved from Humboldt County to Spokane 3 years ago. 

These four girls are like sisters.  They range in age from 9 to 12 and they were together every Sunday (even in the womb-since we are good friends with their parents), they went to the same daycare, the same school and often got together at other get togethers on Saturdays as well. 

They have always gotten along well, exceedingly well.  I was worried though that it had been awhile since they were together and maybe the connection wouldn't be there...

Those fears were quelled within two minutes of piling into the car at the airport, they talked non-stop for the twenty minute ride into town.  They had filled each other in on the past year and half of their lives in an amazingly short period of time! 

And they continued to have plenty to talk about over the course of the next four days! 

The visit cut into my blog time...but we had so much fun during the visit.  And now I have lots of pictures!

My First Baby Turns 12

I'm not exactly sure how this happened, but 12 years have passed since the birth of our first baby, Q. The funny thing is that I'm not a day older!  Yeah I wish.  How did time fly so fast?  I am still working on losing the baby fat...aren't all mamas? LOL!

Her birthday was mellow this year...we told her that she was too old to have a big birthday party.  We went out to dinner at her favorite resaurant, Rancho Chico on Northwest Blvd, and got dessert at Baskin Robbins.  Then we got her a new bike at Walmart to replace the bike that was stolen from her by our neighbor, Crazy Karol.  (still no resolution to that situation..the wheels of justice move so slowly) 

Notice my favorite piece of hair hanging in front of CC's face?  Love that whisp of hair.  It tells you what her mood is.  The little strand you see is a sign that she is happy.  The more strands that hang there, the darker the mood!

No, this isn't a living creature...though it looks like a hamster doesn't it?  It's one of those Webkins.  How many do you have in your house.  Don't ask, we have too many.  I'm sure they are Star Trek's version of Tribbles.  If you leave them in a dark closet, they multiply readily!  Captain Kirk, I know how you felt! 

If it looks like we got off easy on the birthday event this year...

No way!  As a compromise to not having a party we agreed to an End of School BBQ at our neighborhood's park along the lake.  Easy enough.  No house to clean!  Buy some dogs, big cooler of pop, snacking foods, and bring all the watertoys down to the lake and let them play.

Then she came home with her guest list...hope you are sitting down...I should have been.

There were 40 names on the list!!!  ("Mom there are only 39 names, my name is on there too!")  Her closest buds from school.  Knowing her, I believe that.  And worse yet, I'm reading the names and half of them are boys!  After I took my high blood pressure medicine...oh wait, I don't have high blood pressure...yet...I let her daddy give the stamp of approval...and he did.  I was a bit surprised, but I made him swear that he would be there in uniform. LOL!  Not really, but we did invite another family we are good friends with whose husband is also a sheriff's deputy...maybe we can park a sheriff's car there too?!

Now why did we say yes?  We don't know if we will be here next school year.  If our house sells we are off to Idaho so she won't be with these friends next year.  It's also a great way to meet all these friends that she has been 'hanging' with all day and all year and see which ones we need to keep our eyes on...especially those boys!

Since it's summer and Hoopfest weekend, I'm sure the number will be cut back to a more manageable amount.  Unfortunately, RSVPing appears to be a lost art!  So we have no idea how many are coming.  We may be having weenie roasts throughout the summer...we may need to invite a few of you if we end up with too many!

Kung Fu Panda

I saw this movie yesterday with thirty or so middle school kids.  My oldest, Q, earned the reward field trip from raising a certain amount of money in their school fundraiser.  So for raising $150 they earned a day off from school and a trip to the mall which included Baskin Robbins ice cream, lunch (on their own), 45 minutes to wander around the mall, and a movie at the theater.  It was a nice reward for the kids to have a day off.

OK, so I went as a chaperone.  There were 35 kids going and 3 teachers.  As someone who rarely goes to a mall...our kids are not the kind of kids who get dropped at a mall to wander around on their own.  So the idea of the school dropping my child off at a mall to wander around was a bit unnerving for my husband and I. Since my dear hubby has probably only entered that mall a total of 3 times since we moved here, it was left for me to go.  Keep in mind that I've only been there maybe 8 times myself in 3 years!  I have to grab a map every time I go or I get lost.

Ice cream, lunch and store wandering went without a hitch...I think.  It looked as though a few kids brought a bit of money to spend.  We saved ours for treats in the movie.

The movie we saw was Kung Fu Panda.  Now I like the actors who did the voices in the movie.  I also liked some of the words of wisdom in the movie.  I particularly liked when the wise old turtle said:

"Yesterday is History,

Tomorrow is a Mystery,

Today is a Gift,

that is why they call it the Present."

But I don't know if it was the pace of the movie, the time of day or something in the popcorn, but I had a very hard time staying awake in the movie.  I am sure Q dozed off a bit too!  Maybe it was the animated-ness of it.  But it was cute...a bit overdone on the heftiness of the main character I think.  I think they crossed the 'emphasizing big' vs. 'flaunting fat' line.

When you read the description of the movie it mentions that he

"is a clumsy bear.....just another portly panda bear....lumbering panda bear" 

Call a spade a spade for heavens sake.  He is a fat bear who is eating every chance he gets during the movie.  To use his inner power he imagines the enemy to be food!  The movie description says:

"if the noble Po can master the martial arts and somehow transform his greatest weaknesses into his greatest strengths, he will fulfill his destiny as the hero who saved his people during their darkest hour."

So now Hollywood has made a politically correct movie by creating a fat hero.  That's great!  But call it what it is...don't give it fluffy names to mask what he is....a 300 pound teenager who lives on McDonalds fries and shakes.  Dressed in a Panda Suit, calling him portly and lumbering, he becomes socially acceptable to Hollywood.  Think about this:  If this had been a movie with real people and not animated...would it have worked?

The Garden is Planted

Earlier this week we finished getting the vegetables into the ground.  The last things we put in were the bush beans and snap peas (those rarely make it into the house!  Usually we eat them right there in the garden or on the way into the house. LOL!)

Here's the first vegetable to come out of the garden:

Fall was so long ago this year that I have no memory of planting any onions.  I don't know if these are supposed to be green onions or very crowded onions that volunteered...but I have a bunch of them.   I also have some garlic that must be volunteer as well.  It's a nice surprise however they got there.

This is what the garden looked like a month ago.  Lettuce, carrots, and jalapenos in the greenhouse bed.

wimpy broccoli.  It just doesn't grow as well as in Eureka.  I think it prefers to thrive in the coastal temperate region much more than here.

This is the potato bed.  It looks totally different now.  They are growing so fast you can just about see the leaves grow.  We think we might get two crops out of this bed this summer.

The strawberry bed has taken over their part of the garden.  We have strawberries already!  well they are green right now...but they are getting big!  Hopefully we can stay ahead of the critters and get to eat them.

CC and Q wanted to have their own corner of the garden.  CC is growing a variety of things.  Q lost interest when she had to pull weeds.  So now it's my zucchini bed! 

oops!  this isn't from the veggie garden.  This is from one of my flower beds.  Rather than try to delete it and lose my whole post (as I've done previously) I'll leave it.

If it's not raining tomorrow, I will take pictures of the garden after a month.  It is totally different now!