A Few Odds & Ends

This is a collection of leaves that Seth put together last fall - as in, 2006. I thought they were so beautiful. He kept them on our table until they turned brown & crumbly. He didn't want to preserve them.




One of our kitties, Turkey, explores the Christmas tree. His mom's name is Peanut Butter - named that because she has a brown spot right in the center of her forehead that color. When she had kittens (oops! She's had the operation now. I don't like to say "fixed", like being fertile is broken or something) the boys named them all food names: Macaroni & Cheese (Mac), Salad (Sally), Turkey, & Licorice. We found homes for three of them, but Evan was heartbroken at the thought of losing all of them, so we kept Turkey.


Jack is glad. So are we.


I found these at Target when we were Christmas shopping. Then I went back to stock up. They're not even on the Pepperidge Farm website. Did you see what they are?


Mmmm..... I'm hoping they'll get me through 'til the Thin Mints come in. They don't have high-fructose corn syrup... but they do have something called interesterified soybean oil. Is that what makes them so interesting?

Wednesday of last week was just *gorgeous* here. Sunny day, 70 degrees. Evan's enjoying the swing. It's something he's loved since he was a tiny baby. He told me one time it helps him think when he swings, he can come up with ideas to write about or ideas for comic books.

Once, when he was four, I was pushing him on a swing at his preschool playground. It took him a while to be able to swing by himself, I think he was six when he learned how to do that. We both loved that playground very much, it's a kind of magical place, even though from the outside it looks like any other playground. As a transition to leaving, we'd agree on the final number of pushes I'd give him. Normally, he'd say 3. Occasionally, ten, or sometimes, 20. Once, he said he wanted 128 pushes! So I pushed him 128 times. It thrilled him very much.

One time, I decided to push him until he said he was done. Normally, I'd be the one to say, "OK, I'm ready to sit down. How many more pushes?" But this time, I decided to not say anything, and I'd wait for him to tell me he was done. I pushed him for an hour and a half! I didn't count the pushes. Talk about a magical time! I wish I'd done it that way every time. My arms were a bit tired. When he was done, he just said, "OK, I'm ready to get down now." I helped him down, he took my hand and we left.

He doesn't need me to give him pushes any more.

With the aforementioned Peanut Butter.


We also took Jack to the park. Here he is, digging. He'll sniff around, then something will catch his attention and he'll dig and dig.

Then he'll stick his nose way down in there and just snurfle the dirt. (ah-choo!) He's done this since he was a puppy. Sometimes he'll just lie there, with his nose stuck way down in the dirt.

It's OK, buddy. You don't need to be embarrassed! We all do what we do to get by. Like eat Chocolate Raspberry Milano, even with the super-interested soybean oil.

That's better. Good boy! Actually, he's always been camera-shy, he never wants to look directly at it. Too many flash pictures when he was a puppy maybe? To get this picture, Seth held a stick over his head! Clever fellow.

It was warm and breezy enough that day that I washed some blankets. I love it when the clothes get dry in winter! So much better than taking them in, half-frozen. My power bill got cut by more than half when I stopped using the clothes dryer. I stopped because it broke, but now I'm hooked on hanging clothes out and the lower power bill. I hung clothes out my entire childhood, and I'm so glad to be doing it again. I love everything about it. On nice days, that is.

This was our tree topper this year. Loofy and Ice working together can conquer the tree! Seth loves making custom Bionicles. This is the second picture I took.

Because this was the first. Who knew you had to look up when you clean?

Whatchoo been up to?