The Amazing Phil!

This is an amazing drawing my five year old, Phil, did this January. We submitted it to The Friend for publication, but they are obviously daft & blind because it has not been printed.





Philip used his picture when he gave this talk he wrote (with a little help) on February 14, 2010.

Jesus I love you because I am staying with you Jesus.
I drew something for you, here, I drew Jesus.

Jesus smiled at me.

Heavenly Father is your best friend.

We have a book about Jesus.

I can read all the books.

I can sing songs about Jesus.

I have a mommy.

I love mommy, I love Jesus, and I love daddy.

I have a family, I have kids and more kids.

Jesus' loves me and my family.

Jesus loves everybody.

backBlog

I've been backBloging lately. You see my blog is like an on-line journal of my interests, manias, and events... I'm trying to organize the things I've kept track of to better record my life.
only about 1% get on the blog, so, anyways... there are some really interesting, enlightening, and crazy posts back there.
check them out :)

Audio Books for Kids on YouTube

When the kids are doing their jobs they like to listen to books on tape (or cd) we have slowly acquired a few, but they are rather expensive. Some of our favorites are Harry Potter.
I have found that there are audiobooks on youtube.com
so far we have listen to:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (I love Jim Dale)
Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Percy Jackson & The Titan's Curse
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (the reader on this one is Stephen Fry)




We plan to find more treasures :)

Audiobooks for kids

Audio book for kids grades K-3...
My sister was looking for some recomendation for her young daughter so these are the ones I thought would be best: Witch Wendy, James and the Giant Peach, Fox in Socks, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Mouse Tails, Junie B. Jones series, Little Bear, Paddington Bear, Frogs wore Red Suspenders poems,...

and it gives me a chance to use this new Amazon link thing :)

Happy Anniversary to me...

Well, it's my 14th anniversary...
We did nothing, I am sick, Rudy is working night's this week...
bla, bla, bla,... TYPICAL!


oh, well... I enjoy my life & love my husband.  :)

*glimpse*

today, I watched the sunrise through windows with tiny finger smudges, softly singing "...I hear in my mind all this music and it breaks my heart..." (Fidelity by Regina Spektor) wearing my new knee-hi angora socks, my pants rolled up so I can see them "...and it breaks my ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha heart..." with my jean-pocket length hair twisted up into a big loose bun on the back of head "...just to break my own fall, just to break my fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fall..."

Faire Fun

 Well, I didn't get to go to the Celtic Faire :(
my three little ones had coughs too bad for a rainy out-door faire... BUT, to my great joy, my sister-in-law wanted to go and was willing to come here, get my two oldest sweethearts, then drive all the way up to Sonora! :D

they saw big dogs, heard celtic rock bands,...

... and played with wooden swords... 

they even got to watch jousting (video to be posted later)

Preparedness Fair

This coming Saturday, March 13th we will be attending a Preparedness Fair being held at the Lodi Stake Center on 1510 W. Century Blvd.

My friends in the stake have worked hard getting ready for it. The one they had last year went really well. This year they will have lots of booths and demonstrations done with the help of local public agencies and many experienced volunteers. Topics will include:
* Emergency food and waters kits for the home, car and workplace
* Alternate sources of cooking
* Home protection, home safety, security, crime prevention information
* Different facets of emergency communications
* Documents and important records preservation, child identification kits
* Basic first aid information kits for home and car
* Emergency needs for the elderly
* Gardening in small containers
* Cooking with food storage in an emergency

Co-op Order

Most months we place an order with Azure Standard.

I usually order grains like hulled barley, millet, brown rices, oat groats, rye, and wheat grains. I love the brown rice pasta, it is a wonderfully easy way to get the whole grains you need into your diet. Canola oil, normally I would say isn't a good oil, but they sell a non-gmo cold press that is an exceptional oil choice. I get allot of my staples there my flax and sunflower seeds, stevia, 5 roll, realsalt, coconut, agave, grain & nuts cereal, and oat bran (the best). If I can, I try something new- this month I'm getting arrowroot powder, I'll be using it as an alternative for corn starch.

Celtic Faire

I love history, reenactment, and costume, That's why every March we go to the Celtic Faire in Sonora.

They have a school day on Friday March 12th that is less expensive. Just one more week to go!
I LOVE me some Wicked Tinkers! I feel so like a tribal warrior, when the drums really get going I start jumping around like a leprechaun. :P

so grab you wooden sword and join us!

Highjacked

My blog was highjacked this morning... and I fixed it all by myself! Good for me :p

... are you down, down, down? ... Pick Yourself UP

As a youth and young mother I suffered with depression off and on for years. In dealing with it for so long I've learned to recognize it as it comes and the things that compound it into a big problem. There are, for me, two things that I can change that help/hurt me. I'm not going to talk about the things that I cannot change because when I focus on those things (ie. money, things that just happen, what other people do, or how they treat me) it only gets worse.

1. FOOD, what I eat. Am I eating foods that good for me? Most importantly, greens and the right types of oil.
2. SIN, you can't be happy doing things you know are wrong... for me it is mostly sins of omission, what am I not doing? prayers, reading scriptures, being loving to my family, serving others, or maybe I'm being lazy, wasting the time or talents given me by the Lord. Spending my time on the internet instead of on my children.
The problem is that I don't feel like changing those things. When I'm feeling sorry for myself I want to be lazy and eat junk...

Often I give myself a day to mope, then force myself to do better.
As an example earlier this week, Sunday, I was feeling really bad about my life, something my loving thoughtless husband had said. I could feel it coming on so Monday I was sure to drink my green drink (I highly recommend it for emergency like this) and set a goal to better myself, in this case it is to read the Book of Mormon and all of last conference before this next coming one (32 days). Now before you think I am a super hero let me just say that I will not really be reading it, but I will be listening to it online.

I'll track my progress here:
March 1st First book Nephi chapters 1-9
2nd chapters 10-16
3rd chapters 17- 22
4th Second Nephi chapters 1-8
5th chapters 9-17
6th went to Monterey :)
7th chapters 18-33
8th bad day, bad day...
9th Jacob, Enos, Jerom, Omni
10th-15th lost track :p
16th started Alma chapter 10
50% done woohoo :D
18th started my day with "O that I were an angel" Alma chapter 29, my heart almost sings with this chapter...
23rd started the Book of Helaman
30th 90% done
31st started Ether, right on track :)

What to feed the hamster?

Today a friend gave us a sweet little hamster named Geoffrey Gnaucer (like Chaucer but gnaw, get it). So, Zion Prep has a new classroom pet. We are keeping him on a trial basis for now, but, what will we feed him? so I am looking up what the right foods would be for him...

What do wild hamsters eat? :P

Ok, a hamster is an omnivore that lives mostly on seeds and nuts. I can do that.
equal parts of:
• sunflower seeds
• flax seeds
• lentils (dry)
• pumpkin seeds
• pine nuts (optional)
• sesame seeds (optional)
• soy bean (optional)
• buckwheat (optional)
• millet (optional)
• feed corn (optional)
• find other items that your hamster prefers.

Feed him about a tablespoon each day.
Supplement his diet with a variety of fresh foods like:
• apples
• bananas
• green beans
• broccoli
• cabbage
• carrots
• cauliflower
• corn
• celery
• peas
• zucchini
• sweet potatoes
another good treat is a boiled egg.
Do not feed hamsters tomatoes, garlic, onions, grape seeds, apple seeds, citrus fruits, almonds, cabbage, eggplant, kidney beans, mushrooms, pickles, potato, rhubarb, or junk food designed for humans (chocolate, chips, etc.)
I really enjoyed the inspirational food I saw at Hamster Tracker  :)