How to Care for Your Hairless Rat

2014-08-10

The Secret Garden 10 on 10

All five of my littles are five years old and under, so when they visit, they stay pretty close to home. I like to keep things interesting, and am always looking for new things for them to do. I have a long list of activities I've yet to use, but recently introduced a new game called "Secret Garden". I wasn't sure how it would go over when I pulled it out, and was thrilled to see how they took to it! In a small photo album are 24 pictures of things around the yard that they have to find. Some are big, some are small, some are in clear sight, some aren't, some can be moved around, and some are set in cement. (literally!) And they loved it so much they do it over and over........ I count this one a success!

Here are ten of the "secrets!"

The secret things belong to the

Lord our God,

But the things revealed belong to us

and to our sons forever,

that we may observe all the words of this Law.

Deut. 29:29

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

2014-07-11

Eleven on Eleven ..............oops!

Early in my blogging experience, I was introduced to the 10 on 10 project that Rebekah Gough started on "A Bit of Sunshine." I've enjoyed chronicling a day each month. Well........... yesterday, I got a message from my friend Jen at Living Life One Cheerio at a Time reminding me that BOTH of us had forgotten the 10 on 10 for this month!! She has recently moved, and I have my tribe visiting from down south, so we've both been a little distracted. We decided 11 on 11 would be just fine! Today our adventures included.....

Good Morning!!! (little #3)

Did some exploring "down town" with little miss droopy drawers and her brother. (littles #1 and #4)

We went to visit Mimi

Little #3 likes to "hold hands"

And another generation takes ownership of Mimi's antique bed

Yay for Cow Appreciation Day!! (as Jen would say, "It's Moo-tastic!)

After a busy morning, a nap sounded just right

A little play time with Grand-dude

Dinner on the porch

Giving thanks for an exceptional day!

Remember those who led you,

who spoke the Word of God to you;

and considering the result of their conduct,

imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same

yesterday and today and forever.

Do not be carried away

by varied and strange teachings;

for it is good for the heart to be

strengthened by grace, not by foods,

through which those who were so occupied

were not benefited.

Hebrews 13:7-9

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

2014-07-07

The Whistler

My dad was an amazing vocalist. He had a beautiful tenor voice and loved music. His radio station of choice was out of Los Angeles, and with as close as we were, you'd think the reception would be pretty good. Not so. Classical music, for me, will never be complete without that overtone of static. Perhaps that's why I don't really care for it. He also whistled. I've heard a lot of people whistle, but no one ever whistled as good as my dad. I sat at an old sewing machine once with my mouth full of pins while working on a project, mindlessly "whistling", though my attempt was pathetic at best. He watched for awhile and then told me his mother used to do the exact same thing. I'm sure she made much better noises than I did. I'm also fairly confident that growing up listening to my grandmother make mouth music was where my dad picked it up.

Dad was a multifaceted person. He wasn't afraid to try anything, and had an extremely mechanical mind. He would claim to be a "Jack of all trades, master of none" but his attempts were always pretty impressive. He fixed cars, built stuff, did the various and sundry home decor things that mom insisted we have but didn't want to do herself, he drew, and painted when he got a little older. His occupation was as a dental lab tech, and so he was good with his hands. He even made me a skirt one time. I had to have it for some kind of school play in grammar school, and we both knew that the only way it would come about is if he sat at the sewing machine. And it was made from taffeta. Ugh. But he managed and I really liked it. It was long, lavender, and had 3 black ribbon stripes around the bottom. When I wore it, I carried a yellow shepherds crook. That's the extent of my memory of the use for this garment.

Dad was a night owl. And he was a morning person. I'm not sure how he managed to do both as a younger man, but as he got older, an afternoon snore-fest made it possible. He could sleep through anything. He considered early morning the very best part of the day. It was quiet, and smelled like coffee and cigarettes and newspapers. It's how he started each day, but he didn't do so quietly.

For as long as I can remember, mornings started entirely too early, and included a LOT of sound along with the smells. Throat clearing, slamming cabinet doors, stomping on wood floors, and whistling. Always whistling. He never did it to be ornery. He was just a happy guy in the morning. Wide awake and wanted everyone else to be awake too.

When he got tired of waiting for us to emerge from the bedrooms, his favorite thing was to reach under the covers and grab our toes. So annoying. And our response always garnered a chuckle. I have to give it to him; his methods of getting us out of bed were much more gentle than mine were with my own children. He tugged toes, but I jumped on beds. It was way more fun.

I was talking to little brother Bunns recently, and he's also a morning person. And the older I get, the more I'm appreciating early morning. Bunns drinks coffee, but usually gets his news online. My morning drink of choice is something brown and carbonated, but neither one of us smoke. Ming did for a long time, but finally quit. I admire him for that. It couldn't have been easy. Bunns and I got the quiet gene from somewhere. Ming inherited the noisy one. But as much as Dad's "morning music" used to annoy me, I do miss it. Especially the whistling.

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

Come before His presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord, He is God;

It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves.

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving

and into His courts with praise:

Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting;

And His truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 100

The Whistler and Ming sporting the hillbilly style, complete with oreo teeth.

I miss them both.

2014-06-24

Eating a Bisquit

I grew up between two brothers and food was always an issue. Daily trips to the grocery store weren't unusual because the boys could wipe out the contents of the kitchen in one sitting. Mom was known to hide snacks so that she could actually have a treat when she wanted one. Not that she was always successful, because we were masters at ferreting out her hiding places and whatever we found wasn't safe. "Finders eaters" so to speak.

We all had our preferences when it came to meals, but we couldn't afford to be too picky. Mom and dad were extremely particular, and so the menu in our house was already pretty slim. We didn't realize it at the time. In fact, it was several years into my own marriage before I realized that the folks were picky. I was never a bright child, and evidently, not a terribly bright adult either. At one time, I went through a Trix cereal phase. It's all I would eat. I still like Trix. But I also like broccoli, which I discovered on my own as an adult.

The bigger the boys got, the more they ate. Ming was especially hungry and I think he would eat anything. Usually I found that completely annoying, because it seemed every time I went to the kitchen he had beaten me there and everything was gone. I remember seeing a movie one time when one of the main characters was magically transformed into the body of a 12 year old boy, though he was still a adult. One of the most profound observations the character made was "I am ALways HUNGRY!!" It helped me to understand my brothers were normal. Well............... at least when it came to their penchant for consuming food.

One evening found little brother Bunns, and myself in the kitchen with one of his friends just talking, and as was often the case, things turned creative when just talking wasn't enough. We had finished dinner and the leftovers were still sitting out. Mom had made biscuits from a can and the one left over was sitting in a pan on the stove. "Somehow" it ended up on the kitchen floor, and was used as a puck for a fun game of kitchen hockey. It worked really well for that purpose.

When we heard Ming pull in the drive, my little brother and I just looked at each other, scooped up the biscuit, and placed it back in the pan. It's important to note that we had dogs in our house, as well as a family of five and lots of friends in and out. And mom chose the floor we had in the kitchen because it didn't show the dirt. It didn't get cleaned, or even swept very often. So to make the biscuit look as it should we had to take a few seconds to brush off the obvious detritus of every day life before placing it back on the stove.

Just as we knew he would, Ming burst through the door and came directly to the kitchen. He was like a "bull in a china shop", walked heavily and always made noise. Nice because we always knew where he was, and we were rarely taken by surprise. Those of us in the kitchen just resumed our earlier conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Ming walked to the stove, checked out the leftovers, picked up the biscuit, and put the whole thing in his mouth.

Bunns was a master at keeping a straight face. Me? Not so much. But I was able to hide my face so that no one could see me holding my breath to keep from bursting out laughing while Ming contentedly chewed and swallowed the biscuit. It had gotten really quiet while we watched him snack, and he finally picked up on the fact that he was the center of attention. All he said was "What?" and I completely lost it, and the rest of the group quickly followed. And again he asked "What?" I don't remember who it was that told him the biscuit had spent the last 20 minutes on the floor sweeping up dirt and dog hair while it was kicked around by our bare feet. I was too busy just trying not to hyperventilate. I think that was about the same time he started licking things before he handed them to us. Yeah.......... payback lasts a lifetime.

And He said to His disciples,

"For this reason I say to you,

do not worry about your life,

as to what you will eat;

nor for your body,

as to what you will put on.

For life is more than food,

and the body than clothing.

Consider the ravens,

for they neither sow nor reap;

they had no storeroom nor barn,

and yet God feeds them;

how much more valuable you are than the birds!"

Luke 12:22-24

Ming and me before Bunns came along..............

and things got interesting.......

2014-06-10

Today I'm Looking For......... 10 on 10

I can't believe it's already June 10th!! So, time again for the 10 on 10 project. I don't have sweet little children in the house, I'm not traveling anywhere exciting, nor do I live in a cultural or entertainment "hot spot" (not to be confused with an internet hot spot that can be created on your iPhone.......... just a little extra. You're welcome.) Today I spent some time looking for stuff.

I looked online for a new quiche crust recipe for dinner. May I say, smart phones are the bomb!

And then headed to the local Farm Market to look for fruit to go along with the quiche.

I even got inspired to look for some Christmas presents! Don't get your hopes up. This isn't one of them.

Then I went in search of some new gardening gloves that would not fill up with dirt every time I used them.

I also perused the greeting cards............. and the majority of greeting cards now are SO lame! Perhaps I need to go into the business and write my own.

Off to choose some fabric to use on the patio.

Looked at some pretty posies, but none of them really caught my eye.

Then I looked for something to upcycle and found a couple of things.

And I'm happy to report that dinner was a huge success!

But from there, you will seek the Lord your God

and you will find Him if you search for Him

with all your heart and all your soul.

When you are in distress

and all these things have come upon you,

in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God

and listen to His voice.

Deut. 4:29-30

Linking up to: A Bit of Sunshine

2014-05-29

Through Your Nose

I'm a middle child. I don't remember exactly what "they" say about middle children, but it's probably all true. I grew up between 2 boys who were amply supplied with creative genes. Ming, 4 years older, drew a lot, and went through a phase that involved building models; mostly cars, and quite an assortment of them. He also spent many hours developing his musical talent. If you've ever heard anyone try to learn percussion, you understand the unique kind of torture the rest of the family endured. I remember being absolutely ...................... no words.......... shocked, for lack of a better one, when my parents bought Ming his first snare drum. I just knew, even at my young age, that things were not going to be good for a very long time. Ming spent hours practicing in several garage bands. I can't believe the neighbors never drove us out of town. He actually developed an amazing talent on the drums, as well as many other kinds of rhythm instruments, but it was painful getting there. He also played the electric guitar, complete with a Gibson amp, turned up all the way. Are you noticing the theme? With Ming, it wasn't satisfying unless it was loud. And the louder the better.

Bunns, 6 years my junior, is also extremely artistic. He's musical too, but has an appreciation for quieter things. Acoustic guitar as opposed to electric, jazz instead of all things head banger. He's quite good with water colors as well. Bunns is the more cerebral brother. Which got him into trouble over the years. Thinking too much isn't always good. Like the time he thought it would be a good idea to enter Ming's room and remove all the wheels from the models that had been so carefully built and displayed in a place that should have been out of reach. I don't think he did it to be ornery. I think he was just exploring and it turned into an archaeological dig. When Ming returned home from school to find the various pieces and parts that covered the surfaces of his room, he made a LOT of noise. I'm convinced that the only thing that spared little brother's life was the fact that Ming really loved him. Several years later, payback came at Bunns' wedding reception when Ming's toast involved a couple of tires removed from little brothers get away car.

I grew up between these two, kind of like the little steel ball inside the old pinball machines. I spent my life going a hundred different directions and bouncing off the bumpers that were my brothers. I learned along the way that there was no place in life for drama, and pragmatism is the desired state in which to dwell. Those two tidbits have served me well. I think more like a man than a woman. "It is what it is, so just accept it and get on with it" is my mantra. I never learned to draw like the boys, and just recently, I realized that was because that requires sitting still for long periods. Remember the little steel ball? Yeah, not good at the sitting still thing.

But my brothers creativity didn't stop with music and art. They were also united in finding ways to be entertained by my reactions to things. Poking me in the sides elicits a seizure like response which they found extremely funny. Jumping out from hiding places brought on near heart failure and then a quick smack if they didn't get out of the way in time. Drooling on me was always good for laughs. But their all time favorite, to this very day is getting me to pass things through my nose. Random comments at unexpected times always results in uproarious laughter and they never even have to get up from their chairs. It's a wonder I have any lining left in my nasal passages.

Behold how good and pleasant it is

for brothers to dwell together in unity!

Ps. 133:1

2014-05-10

Macro 10 on 10

With today's rain, and a yard that was decimated by an extremely harsh winter, I decided that little tiny bites of pretty things were the way to go. As a whole, it still looks pretty dead outside, but when you look really close, there's a lot of promise for beautiful things to come!