writing assignment all scenery

The garden had grown dark. The flowers had all turned in for the night and the porch light tried its best to push the darkness away from the house. Nighttime bugs flew into it from time to time as it shone down upon one little girl marveling at her find. She had by this time scooped her sweater and its angry contents into her arms. A shriek of the screen door signaled their sudden departure and the outdoors instantly felt empty upon their absence.

to read kristens version check tuesday and click here

random shots

driving life's highways

Killing several hours in a day to go pick my mom up can, at times, feel like a mini break. My kids are still there, but they can only get into so much strapped to a car seat. When I'm very fortunate they will all simultaneously pass out and give me time to think. I do have other time in the day to think when my kids are not sleeping, such as 'cleaning the pee off of the toilet' thinking and 'didn't I just wash this load of laundry' thinking or even 'I really hate doing dishes' thinking. All this thinking is topical and tends to circulate on the subject matter at hand. For instance ' cleaning the pee off the toilet' thinking goes like this.."eeww, this smell is awful. How on earth can you miss a target this big (simultaneous flashback to Thomas peeing while distracted) I wounder when this will go away (flash forward to the boys moving out..me still cleaning the toilet) WHAT??" suddenly I hear screaming and crashing waking me from my unpleasant reverie of toilet hygiene. Car thinking is absolutely different. Its time I have to just flip through the pages of life and stare at a few snapshots. Occasionally I mull over what my life has come to compared to the plans I laid. Its nice to have peace and quiet, even if I buy it at $3.09 a gallon.

this year in homeschooling

I have started the process of signing up for Oregon's virtual online public school. It really is a process considering all the hoops you have to jump through. Its nearly as nauseating as re-applying for the state health plan (we did that while Greg was in school) But in a way its relieving. After I get the paperwork online I don't have to worry about planning next year, forcing myself to stay at it, justifying skipping days, in other words its really nice for me to have a teacher there e-mailing me if I start randomly skipping assignments and figuring my girl would be better educated counting the number of eggs I collect every day...not that there is anything wrong with that, on the contrary I love taking everyday life and stuffing it full of teaching,(not sure if my kids like it all that much) but I have to say it needs to be teamed with book learning to become complete. This year I will try the non-teacher way too, as Thomas is exhibiting interest in reading. Hannah, who lives just down from us, is starting in kindergarten soon and I want to see if its easier to teach two at once,..I think if Em lets me I will steal her a couple days a week for school. sigh, for now Summer...and the ever torturous event of remembering to keep up with reading and math so we don't FALL behind in the fall.

best dog ever

Nancy is the name of my great Dane. She is by far the best dog ever created by God and in my opinion the best breed ever. I'm a dog enthusiast by nature and have read waaayyy too many books on dog breeds, dog training and yes even doggy cuisine. Nancy is constantly proving to me she has earned the right to be 'best dog ever' by putting up with mauling by the kids (Mr. steel) and still be careful not to step on them or whack them with her tail. This august she is turning 8. Its hard to grasp perhaps next year or the year after she will be gone. (big dogs live 8-10 years) We wont get another until we have our own place again...she is the best of dogs, but Danes are very emotional and destructive puppy's.

just ribbing you..not

Its not intentional that I forget things. I have a leaky brain, created by lack of sleep and motherhood. Four days ago I noticed extreme pain in my side. Upon further investigation I found that somehow I had cracked/broken the cartilage connecting my ribs in the front. You might think it an easy task to remember what on earth could have caused such an extreme injury. It took me until yesterday when I remembered falling into the copper pointy cap on my parents stairs to their house. Now you have to understand I have a high pain tolerance so after the initial "ouch, that one hurt" I got busy and forgot it happened, not thinking perhaps this could be serious.
Its healing slowly, every time I sneeze Its like being punched in the side. Go figure!

and yes mom...I'm fine.

oh pease!

Wow, lets just say this years sugar snap peas are well....stunning. Note I am not saying my gardening is. In my opinion my gardening is normal, these peas on the other hand? I must have grabbed a different brand that grows to the sky. Note all the string, Ive been wrapping and wrapping just to keep the suckers up. Yesterday Mr. steel and I discovered the first few 'ready to pick' pea pods. Later I looked out and he was early harvesting the others he could find! I told him to stop but secretly it pleases me he is getting to enjoy his veggies fresh off the vine.

writing assignment all diolog

"Who and what are you?" Kitty asked as she lowered herself to the porch for a better look

"What are we? What are we? Who is this that asks what are we! We are..." The pocket paused to draw a breath, and to consider the question for I believe she did not even know the answer herself. "We are put out that SOMEONE chose to remove our house and dump all our things without even so much as a hello my name is!"

Kitty sat puzzled a moment before introducing herself. "My name is Kitty."

"Kitty! what a silly name for a giant!Silly Silly Silly! Your mother had little or no imagination. We have a much nicer name, Perissa. In our opinion it is the nicest name ever given, much nicer than Kitty. Yes yes, Quite."


Yeah I know its short but I'm crunched for time this week sooooo :) check out Kristen's writing here

two down one to go

Its like the theme of this period of my life. Two down one to go. First it was potty training. All those pooping 'accidents' in the yard. Now its something more pleasant. Yesterday Thomas got checked off my list for riding without training wheels. This means Mr. Steel is the last to go before our bike rides pick up speed. He is tall enough to pull it off, but weather he has the motivation I know not. My goal for this next week is to get Thomas really confidant for camp. I admit to misting up when my girl rode off without crashing, Thomas on the other hand, I was bursting with pride for. Things don't come easy for him...We practiced allot in February and he just didn't have it. It usually takes him a bit more time when it comes to physical feats. Alright no more of my parenting bla bla for now. have a good Sunday!

Warning spider picture

My sister reads gads of teen books. She amazes me! If you ever are in want of a book suggestion just ask her and she knows a dozen. I,on the other hand have to be in the right mood to read long fiction. That's why I constantly return to the classic section, because I know I liked it the first time. Children's picture books, now there is a medium I can get into. Goodness knows we read enough of the library's wealth. So every week from here on out I will be reviewing children's books, easy readers and picture books, so you too can have a good grasp on whats out there without having to read through the children's section of the library too.

This weeks book review will be in the non fiction category. The title is 'spiders' and its written by Nic Bishop. Its low on text and big on pictures. He has gone to great lengths to capture amazing photos of these fascinating arachnids. I It gets a 9 out of 10 for children's non fiction and is well worth renting from your local library. The only reason it gets one star less is the choice of an evaluation plug at the very beginning of the book. It only takes a moment to figure out it was Thomas who picked it off of the shelf!

fantastic recipie!!!

during a random kitchen experiment (aka cooking dinner) I made a discovery. I created a recipe all my own. It goes something like this..

Chicken burgers ala mamagriffith

feeds 6 adults

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts skinned and ground
2 sprigs of lemon thyme
fresh parsley as desired
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
2 tomatoes
2 mushrooms (optional)
1/3 cup of butter
2 tsp. salt
place butter, garlic, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms and thyme in food processor...(blender) and pulse until pureed. add to ground chicken along with salt. Fry in pan until brown on both sides. Take care not to flatten with spatula as the juice will drain out and burger
will be dry. Use a thermometer to measure internal temp and serve on a slice of toasted french bread with smashed Avocado or Swiss cheese.

misty day fun

every super hero needs a villan...thomas is clayface

what to do on a rainy day? be superheros thats what!

garden

these last few days of misty rain and sultry nights have caused a growing explosion! my sugar snap peas are at least a foot above their post and are still going. Tiny starts of yellow zuchini are apearing and my sunflower plants are making the yard look more like a jungle every day. I would post pictures but the weather is too misty. so use your imaginations for now..heres hoping yours is doing as well!!

writing assignment, give our characture an embarassing injoury

The prized frog lost its charm entirely and the small hands instantly discarded the jar as she stooped to pick up the little creature before her. The pocket, realizing her fate, jumped down from the acorn and nearly made an escape. Kitty's fingers caught hold of a significant chunk of the pockets hair, causing great squeaking screams. Kitty brought her to eye level placed the creature into her palm, but not before a large patch of hair gave way leaving an ugly red bald spot and one very unhappy pocket.



next weeks assignment is...entirely dialog!

to view kristens writing assignment click here

high noon tea

Recently, being a facebook addict, I took a quiz called "how girly are you?" and had hoped to score moderately girl. I knew it was a lost cause when they asked "how often do you get your nails done?" and also "how many pairs of heels do you own" I scored a fat zero..100% tom boy. Yeah, I kind of figured as much. I know full well that in the past 6 years I have morphed from non-girly to somewhat girly. Seriously, I go to the opera!
The desire to test out this theory of froofyness in a realistic setting, I opted to go visit a tea house with my mother and grandmother. I have been to a tea house once before and found it enjoyable, i suspected this would be near the same.....ahem, I was mistaken. Apparently all tea houses are not constructed equal.

A heavy wooden door is pushed open to reveal a cutesy gift shop filled with frilly candels, clocks, and handmade jewelry. The heavy scent of perfumed items hangs in the air as you walk back and are seated in the tea area. Quite possibly your own imagination has, at this point, painted it white or perhaps a light lemon. You must throw out your previous assumptions and think sappy mothers day card. It truly looks as if the designer walked down the greetings card isle to be inspired. The purple flowery boarder at the top also exists furthering my theory's of the plagiarism. While perusing the phamplet containing your food options, You become suddenly aware of a heavy stream of etheral music beginning to numb the mind. It becomes so overwhelming, that you couldn't be quite certain weather a pack of cherubs might be on their way to assail you with arrows made of blueberry muffins. The entire place is void of men. It happens to be a theory of mine that a an invisible sign exists, which hangs on the front door. A sign only visible to men. It reads as follows

Beware!

upon entrance to this tea house

You WILL overhear conversations pertaining any or all female

gripes, including, but not limited to, menapause...childbirth..and breastfeeding

you Will leave hungry and if you choose to complain about the lack of beef on the menu

you Will be subjected to dirty looks from ladies in embroidered aprons.

enter at your own risk!

Aha! You have now jumped to another conclusion! You think I did not enjoy myself, You are thinking I abhor tea houses and will never cross into such a thresh hold. Not so. I had a great time! besides it gave me something interesting to blog about..

.I did however go home and eat a steak!

day out

the children's museum is right next to the zoo. It holds, in this museum goers opinion, very little. What it does have, is enough to capture the mind of a 1-7 year old for any number of hours on end. My three have a tendency to run from one place to the next in any place (partially my fault...we can do the zoo in 45 min) But this trip around we took it really slow. Eds wife came with her kids and they are very contemplative with new things. I worked out a system of standing at the entrance/exit and letting everyone play without being overshadowed with a parental presence...*ahem* at least not mine (my dad hovered a bit, proving the point he makes an excellent grandfather. This also makes me appreciate the fact he didn't have any more kids this late in the game) Each kid had their favorite room and by the end were happy to eat their lunch before heading home. The car ride brought only two stops, one to Starbucks and the other to re-buckle Thomas. It was a grand day out. The only crying came from Ivan who felt it too early to leave his friends. Later that evening I dropped off his car seat. As soon as my car pulled in the driveway Ivan and Hannah had lifted the blinds and opened the window. "Its bedtime" Ivan said matter of faculty. To which I replied "yes" Hannah chimed in "Your kids are still up, they need to go to bed too." I smiled and said they were staying up late with me and placed the car seat on the porch. As I was walking back Ivan said " I have been thinking about playing trains tomorrow.." (Children are so good at non subtle hinting) I waved goodbye and told them I would think about it..While pulling out of the driveway I wondered...if I showed up in the middle of the night would there be little faces in the window inquiring why I was there? My three and I stayed at city girls house for the night in order to give my grandmother some quiet time with my mother. In all it was truly a grand day out.

lady bugs

Its been an idea of my mothers and mine to purchase friendly bugs for our garden...and my bug loving children. Last night she drove up with a tiny bag containing 1500 lady bugs and a preying mantis egg sack! We opened the bag of ladies and sprinkled them over every surface. The entire garden was crawling with them and I couldn't help but wounder if 1500 lady bugs was overzealous for one family. I packaged up the remaining 600ish ( no I didn't count them!) and ran them down the street to Eds wife for her kids to admire. Her older two have taken quite a while to warm up to holding bugs but the littlest guy, who is almost two, His little face brightened with a smile as he shouted in excitement "BUGS! MY BUGS!" for a long time he just sat there plopped in the dirt holding or swatting at them while giving out delighted screeches. The other two loved the fact they were friendly bugs that didn't bite and started picking them up and relocating them to plants. It made for a fun evening. My kids obviously loved them,..tho my girl was crying to keep them all in a jar. Mommy the kill joy. I will post pictures later when I can find the camera.

writing assignment, step back and view the surroundings

two blueberry shaped eyes popped up from the ornamental pond, the waters glass like surface ever so slightly interrupted by the tiny ripples they produced. The creature paused, his roving sight line had just happened upon a very tasty snack. He blinked twice to make sure it wasn't entirely the hunger in his never satisfied middle section seducing his greedy conscious. Simply thinking about food created an angry gurgle of which he choked back. "no need to let her become aware of my presence" He thought maliciously. He considered himself to be very clever as well as stealthy, neither of which he was. Two sticky arms grasped at the cement edge and were instantly miniaturized by a heaving, round, warty body. The only one who was indeed unaware of this approaching trouble was the pocket herself, who for the last half an hour had tugged at her acorn home to no avail. It was her squeaking in fact that awakened Spew so early in the evening and tantalized him. He calculated his next move but had the unhappy occurrence of a very large gurgle escaping into a massive croak. "errapp" His bulbous eyes froze wide open with the anticipation of the pockets quick retreat. She made no notice of the noise and kept yanking at her home. "I am such a clever clever toad," he purred, "and I shall feast oh yes I will" With no more hesitation he sprang forward and closed the gap between he and his prey. So fixed he was on his goal he neglected to remember a young girl who very much wanted him for a pet. She had heard his croaking from her window upstairs and hastened out the side door in order to grab her net and a jar. She was creeping upon him with the same swiftness that his very moment of triumph was instantly denied. Kitty's eyes gleamed as she brought up her prise to eye level. His flimsy arms struggled against the net and to her is seemed he wore a very angry look in the corner of his wide mouth. He stank badly of pond water in which she resolved a bath was in order, she set him into the jar and slammed the lid down fearing his escape, the noise was so startling loud it made one small thing jump and bring notice from the jar to herself....

new garden pictures

one of eight disgruntled chickens,..angry at a 3 ft. tall garden restriction

Soon they will file a petition with the grievance committee, they are already on strike

8 chickens 4 eggs

my grape plant, yes I am overly ambitious

you will have to forgive the fuzzy feel the pictures have, it is misty out

everything is growing really well, note the zucchini plants in the front left which need a home..hint hint.

yeah at this point, your thinking...gag more pictures of her garden. well that's why the title says the great Griffith caper. when the blogger (me) gets boring skim her posts. When the blogger (me) has nothing cool to write about, she posts pictures. I'm thinking I have nothing to write about so there.

great idea..but not very well thought through

A house full of wake full children+ one tired mommy + no daddy at home = Movie night!
Every once and a while I'm tired of our routine and want to mix it up a bit. I plopped their little 35 lb. bodies down on my bed in front of "cheaper by the dozen" and snugged them into a blanket. "Its a harmless movie, great for bedtime...maby they will all fall asleep out of boredom." That is what I had hoped at least. I went to the front room and knitted for a bit, patting myself on the back for such a great night time idea. They were so quiet that I tiptoed back in anticipation of three sleeping flour sacks. Boy was I wrong! Thomas and my girl were the first thing I saw. They hugged each other tightly. (at this point I was thinking,..."oh how cute," Then my eyes trailed to Mr. steel. His countenance read somewhere between sadness and agony, little streams of tears glistened down his cheeks. Instantly I picked him up, and viewed the scenario very differently. My girl had her arm around her brother because he was near tears! Mr. steel kept saying over and over, the frog is dead...I didn't want to the frog to die while fresh tears poured out of his eyes. The other two followed suit. Yeah, there was no saving the night. It took several minutes to calm every one down before telling them a frog story where the amphibian LIVED. Go figure, they love their classic Godzilla movies...but don't you kill the frog. That's when you loose your audience.

lost it

Last night my daughter said something so precocious and sweet I just knew it was blog worthy. It was late and booting my computer up for one little thing seemed pointless. Feeling perfectly capable to remember this momentous little thing, I went to bed.....and forgot what it was. Urgh. Why must recalling things be so difficult! Rest assured you would have been in an 'ahh that's so sweet' mood after reading this non-existent comment. Enough said about that. My garden is growing very well now that the weather is picking up. Greg is outside helping build our neighbors fence and the kids are supervising. This is a perfect opportunity to clean the house. Off to never never land (never again will I clean up these toys, after this I'm never making beds) its the place where you fantasize about a paid maid!