Well, I've returned, but only for two days then I'm off to Utah, Wyoming, and Florida!!! (which means I probably won't get to blog for about three weeks but when I get back I'll have good stories (and hopefully pictures!)
I've been gone all week .....you know relaxing, living the good life, getting a massage twice a day, eating great food, and being pampered ................in MY DREAMS!!! Actually, I was at Girls Camp eating food cooked over a fire by 14 year olds, sleeping.... but just barely, relaxing.....but only during bathroom breaks, wearing the same outfits two days in a row because my clothing rations were whittled down to nothing in the pudding/cool whip "incident", fighting off mosquitoes the size of Manhattan, and having adventures you thought only happened in cartoons!
I got to camp early on Monday hoping to score the best place for a tent before the "crowd" got there. I'd been drinking pop all the way up there so by the time I arrived I was about to pop! I was relieved (hehehehe pardon the pun) to see porta-johns right across camp.
There was a lot of work going on by the maintenance crew, spreading mulch on the paths and filling in potholes in the road with gravel but I managed to cut through all the "traffic" and make it to the potty in time. It's hard to tell this part delicately so just bear with me. I entered what would soon be dubbed by fellow campers as PortaStink #1, locked the door and had no more than seated myself when a HUGE commotion began outside.....CLOSE! Within seconds I felt my little abode moving sideways....at first I thought the fumes were making me dizzy but I could see through the little vent thingy that the earth was definitely moving beneath me.
I heard an engine rev and then Thump, Bump, AAAAGGGHHHH! The entire porta-potty was lifted into the air. I started screaming but the engine noise was so loud they couldn't hear me. In my minds eye I could see those big flat bed trucks driving down the highway carrying their load of porta-potties.......I was sure they were going to be loading me up any second......we were bouncing along down the road me screaming and pounding on the door as we went.
When I finally managed to get "decent" enough to open the door (wouldn't you know I'd be wearing my "ModesTee", great invention....but there's no hurrying it) we'd gone quite a little ways, I threw open the door and looked right into the eyes of a 20 something young man driving the bobcat that was carrying MY toilet away with ME in it! I was scared but trust me ........he nearly had heart failure! I'm not kidding.....true story!
Today I'm trying to recover a little before we leave tomorrow to go out West. Every year I think this will be my last at camp but it's a little like having a baby......hard, uncomfortable, and you swear you'll never do it again but when some time has passed you feel like it was all worth it and next thing you know you're 9 month's pregnant (or in my case sleepin' in a tent!).
Here's to summer vacation! Sure Love Ya! (P.S. More camp adventures to follow!)
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Things I LOVE Thursday....
(Yeah I know last week it was Tuesday but....I'm getting ready for Girls Camp....need I say more?)
1. Flip N Fold -
This may seem unnecessary but I got mine on a whim at Wal-mart over a year ago when they had them marked down to $4. I have an extremely narrow cabinet that I store towels in and I thought this might make it easier to fold the (MOUNTAINOUS) load of towels I do every day in a way they'd actually fit on the shelves. What I didn't expect was how GREAT it is for folding T-Shirts. My dear HH has TONS of T-Shirts. Being a wildland firefighter means you amass a boatload of T-Shirts which are emblazoned with the name of each and every fire. I can fold and stack 30 in the space of half that many when I use this little thing and they're perfect! Just like in the store! I love it!
2. Can "Things I love" be food? Sure....it's my blog and my list!!! Th
ese brownies are my cure for any sad day, the treat for any celebration and the basis for my reputation as a good cook (only in small geographic circles of course!).
The great thing about them is you make them in one pan....not a bowl, a pan.....no mixer, no mess and they're the perfect texture between cakelike brownies and fudgy brownies........mmmmmmm Now I'm hungry!
Indiana Brownies
1 cup butter (or margarine)
2 cups white sugar
4 Eggs
2 Tsp real vanilla (Mexican Vanilla is the BEST!)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat Oven to 350. Grease and flour a 13 X 9 inch pan (I like glass the best). In a large saucepan melt butter then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder. By now it will be cool enough to stir in the eggs one at a time till well blended. Then just add the flour, salt and baking powder and spread in the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (I always get perfect brownies at 25 minutes but every oven is different) DO NOT OVERBAKE! If you want to frost these (totally unnecessary!) do it while they are warm because they're very tender. We use these to make a Death by Chocolate Trifle that's to die for!
3. One more thing I LOVE for this week.....my most visited website? ..... www.usps.com! Did you KNOW you can create a password protected account there and store payment information, create an address book of your most used
addresses, and then just print AND PAY FOR postage right from your computer?!!! It's great. I ship things all the time (care packages to two far away girls that I miss) and this means absolutely NO standing in line at the post office. I just print out the pre-paid, pre-addressed label, stick it on the box and drop it at the post office (you can even request package pickup on-line and not go to the post office at all!). The other great thing is that I can get the priority mail boxes for free (either at the post office or order them dropped at my house....also free!) and pay only $8.10 for ANY WEIGHT that I can fit in the box! This is a great site.....there are lots of things you can order on-line there and just have your postman drop it off with the mail. I also just sign on and have my mail held when we're on vacation ....You gotta LOVE IT!!!!
1. Flip N Fold -
This may seem unnecessary but I got mine on a whim at Wal-mart over a year ago when they had them marked down to $4. I have an extremely narrow cabinet that I store towels in and I thought this might make it easier to fold the (MOUNTAINOUS) load of towels I do every day in a way they'd actually fit on the shelves. What I didn't expect was how GREAT it is for folding T-Shirts. My dear HH has TONS of T-Shirts. Being a wildland firefighter means you amass a boatload of T-Shirts which are emblazoned with the name of each and every fire. I can fold and stack 30 in the space of half that many when I use this little thing and they're perfect! Just like in the store! I love it!2. Can "Things I love" be food? Sure....it's my blog and my list!!! Th
ese brownies are my cure for any sad day, the treat for any celebration and the basis for my reputation as a good cook (only in small geographic circles of course!).The great thing about them is you make them in one pan....not a bowl, a pan.....no mixer, no mess and they're the perfect texture between cakelike brownies and fudgy brownies........mmmmmmm Now I'm hungry!
Indiana Brownies
1 cup butter (or margarine)
2 cups white sugar
4 Eggs
2 Tsp real vanilla (Mexican Vanilla is the BEST!)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
Preheat Oven to 350. Grease and flour a 13 X 9 inch pan (I like glass the best). In a large saucepan melt butter then remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder. By now it will be cool enough to stir in the eggs one at a time till well blended. Then just add the flour, salt and baking powder and spread in the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (I always get perfect brownies at 25 minutes but every oven is different) DO NOT OVERBAKE! If you want to frost these (totally unnecessary!) do it while they are warm because they're very tender. We use these to make a Death by Chocolate Trifle that's to die for!
3. One more thing I LOVE for this week.....my most visited website? ..... www.usps.com! Did you KNOW you can create a password protected account there and store payment information, create an address book of your most used
addresses, and then just print AND PAY FOR postage right from your computer?!!! It's great. I ship things all the time (care packages to two far away girls that I miss) and this means absolutely NO standing in line at the post office. I just print out the pre-paid, pre-addressed label, stick it on the box and drop it at the post office (you can even request package pickup on-line and not go to the post office at all!). The other great thing is that I can get the priority mail boxes for free (either at the post office or order them dropped at my house....also free!) and pay only $8.10 for ANY WEIGHT that I can fit in the box! This is a great site.....there are lots of things you can order on-line there and just have your postman drop it off with the mail. I also just sign on and have my mail held when we're on vacation ....You gotta LOVE IT!!!!
Friday, June 09, 2006
Pass me them there power tools Harv....
Yesterday I, (me, by myself, without permission!)used power tools!!!! (well just one actually but hey, it's a start!)
HH was gone for the day at a meeting and I decided to rearrange my breakfast nook. We have a watercooler, which I love.....(probably some deep meaning related to my 23 year tenure in Federal Government!). The only problem with it really, is that there was no "place" for it. I mean we had it someplace, obviously, but I never felt comfortable with it. It blocked the view from my kitchen into the breakfast nook (which isn't a breakfast nook anymore....it's a piano nook....but I digress).
ANYWAY, night before last while lying awake in bed not able to sleep (again!) I was thinking up new places to put the water cooler and came up with the idea of putting it in my pantry. This would mean I'd have to give up some shelf space but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.
SO.....I took down the shelves, took them right out to the garage and used the table saw to cut them down to make a water cooler sized space!!! I couldn't believe how good I was. (Of course I've watched HH do it a million times, just last week in fact, so it was fresh in my mind).
My advice.....go out and saw something to pieces if you really want to feel good about yourself! Arh, Arh, Arh! (Go on-- you know you wanna say it....give it the old Tim Taylor Try!)
Sure Love Ya!
HH was gone for the day at a meeting and I decided to rearrange my breakfast nook. We have a watercooler, which I love.....(probably some deep meaning related to my 23 year tenure in Federal Government!). The only problem with it really, is that there was no "place" for it. I mean we had it someplace, obviously, but I never felt comfortable with it. It blocked the view from my kitchen into the breakfast nook (which isn't a breakfast nook anymore....it's a piano nook....but I digress).
ANYWAY, night before last while lying awake in bed not able to sleep (again!) I was thinking up new places to put the water cooler and came up with the idea of putting it in my pantry. This would mean I'd have to give up some shelf space but the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea.
SO.....I took down the shelves, took them right out to the garage and used the table saw to cut them down to make a water cooler sized space!!! I couldn't believe how good I was. (Of course I've watched HH do it a million times, just last week in fact, so it was fresh in my mind).
HAHAHAHA, scared you didn't I girls?! .....anyway see that hair on the arm!!! It's not mine (don't think I didn't worry about something like that happening!)
You know what? ....I now know why guys like power tools....AND why they're called "power" tools. It's not because they work on power (silly girl!) .....it's because they GIVE you power! Wow! I felt like I could do anything! (Hey, am I just imagining it or are my biceps bigger today!?)
My advice.....go out and saw something to pieces if you really want to feel good about yourself! Arh, Arh, Arh! (Go on-- you know you wanna say it....give it the old Tim Taylor Try!)
Sure Love Ya!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.....
That's me, my middle sister, and my baby sister
...my favorite picture
(except for that wierd color I died my hair....is that magenta!?
We're obviously sisters huh? Let me just say that my sisters are two of the most accomplished women I know....both are very successful career women that I totally admire. We don't get to see each other often, I live in the Midwest, the baby lives in the Rockies, and middle sister lives in California. I miss them a lot and often wish they were close enough to share lunch with once in a while....
People ask me occasionally if I'm sad that I never had any boys....I tell them that with the childhood I had I wouldn't have a clue how to handle one anyway so it's probably just as well.
Here's to sisters!!! Sure Love 'em!
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Sweet Memories....
Hahahaha, today's post from "Tiny" was enlightening to say the least...I always knew she was afraid of E.T. but never knew it was because she thought her closet looked like Elliott's,.... anyway her description of her (somewhat irrational ) fear is hilarious so take a look..
She made me think back to some of my favorite things when I was a .....well, younger person (I know my kids think I've always been old but ....nope!....I was actually born young!)
One of my favorite memories was getting a nickel every Saturday. I could use that nickel for anything! Anything people!!!! Just imagine what that means to a 5 year old! .....Yup, the good life was just a nickel away back then.....I could save it, invest it in my future, or spend it.....I'm sure you know me well enough by now to know that I SPENT it....immediately!!! We lived across the alley from the creamery.....does anyone even know what those are anymore?
Well, they were like "Coldstone" except they only had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberrry AND the most important difference?.....they got their delivery of fresh cream (I mean, for goodness sake it was right from the COW!) every morning from a big truck. It even smelled like cows in there!
I spent my weekly nickel on a strawberry ice cream cone....just one dip (if I could have saved up for 2 weeks I could have had a DOUBLE dip!!!!). Ahhhhh, those were the days. Sometimes my kindergarten teacher would walk us down to the creamery and they'd give us all a little jar of cream to shake and make into butter (I had a weak shaking arm so usually just put the cream on my oatmeal for breakfast).
We also had "milk men" back then. We had a little silver insulated box that sat on the porch and mom would leave the order slip inside and voila! when we got up the next morning the "milk man" had filled our order....milk, eggs, butter, cream....mmmmmm!. It was like the tooth fairy (only I'm pretty sure mom and dad had to pay for it). Magical!
Funny how so many of my good childhood memories revolve around.....food! I mean Gosh, we had penny candy, for real! (Now they have penny candy that costs 5 cents.....what the.....?) Every cent I made babysitting went into bags of penny candy that I'd hide as "scavenger hunts" for my sisters.
You know what else we had? We had movies that cost a quarter!!! (Add an extra dime for the popcorn unless you brought your own from home in a bag that you hid under your sweatshirt! Thanks mom!) In one of the towns I lived in we were close enough for my friends and I and to walk to the theatre on Saturday mornings for the matinee....and guess what? They had CARTOONS before every movie!!! No previews of nasty, scary adult movies, no wierd hollywood trivia, no ads for local hair salons, just.......CARTOONS....the kind that made you laugh...it was great!
I guess my favorite outfit back then would have been that wild and crazy thing called a "sunsuit".... kind of a little one piece thing with ties at the shoulder and elastic at the waist......my mom was a great seamstress so I had them in every color and fabric imaginable.....I was lookin good!!!
As for scary things in my young life.....well there was one thing.....it was.....the "incinerator"! I don't remember having one at any of our houses but my cousins had one in their backyard, it was this square concrete thing (like a big trash can) with a steel flap on the lid...you put all your burnable trash in there and then lit it somehow.....I was absolutely terrified of it....everything that went in came out ash and that LID!!! It was heavy and scary!
I was so afraid that I'd push it open and flames would shoot out of it and burn me up, but you had to push it open to put in trash, oh, the dilemma..... I'd stand there on the brink of tears, scared to death, then push in the trash real fast and run.............honestly, I hated that thing! (I vaguely remember Grandma talking to Grandpa about a person burning up a body in one.....that story stuck with me forever!!!!) That's no INCINERATOR, that's a MURDER WEAPON!!!!
(And on a side note, can I just say I'm SICK of not being able to upload pictures!!! Blogger what are you doing to me!!!!!!)
She made me think back to some of my favorite things when I was a .....well, younger person (I know my kids think I've always been old but ....nope!....I was actually born young!)
One of my favorite memories was getting a nickel every Saturday. I could use that nickel for anything! Anything people!!!! Just imagine what that means to a 5 year old! .....Yup, the good life was just a nickel away back then.....I could save it, invest it in my future, or spend it.....I'm sure you know me well enough by now to know that I SPENT it....immediately!!! We lived across the alley from the creamery.....does anyone even know what those are anymore?
Well, they were like "Coldstone" except they only had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberrry AND the most important difference?.....they got their delivery of fresh cream (I mean, for goodness sake it was right from the COW!) every morning from a big truck. It even smelled like cows in there!
I spent my weekly nickel on a strawberry ice cream cone....just one dip (if I could have saved up for 2 weeks I could have had a DOUBLE dip!!!!). Ahhhhh, those were the days. Sometimes my kindergarten teacher would walk us down to the creamery and they'd give us all a little jar of cream to shake and make into butter (I had a weak shaking arm so usually just put the cream on my oatmeal for breakfast).
We also had "milk men" back then. We had a little silver insulated box that sat on the porch and mom would leave the order slip inside and voila! when we got up the next morning the "milk man" had filled our order....milk, eggs, butter, cream....mmmmmm!. It was like the tooth fairy (only I'm pretty sure mom and dad had to pay for it). Magical!
Funny how so many of my good childhood memories revolve around.....food! I mean Gosh, we had penny candy, for real! (Now they have penny candy that costs 5 cents.....what the.....?) Every cent I made babysitting went into bags of penny candy that I'd hide as "scavenger hunts" for my sisters.
You know what else we had? We had movies that cost a quarter!!! (Add an extra dime for the popcorn unless you brought your own from home in a bag that you hid under your sweatshirt! Thanks mom!) In one of the towns I lived in we were close enough for my friends and I and to walk to the theatre on Saturday mornings for the matinee....and guess what? They had CARTOONS before every movie!!! No previews of nasty, scary adult movies, no wierd hollywood trivia, no ads for local hair salons, just.......CARTOONS....the kind that made you laugh...it was great!
I guess my favorite outfit back then would have been that wild and crazy thing called a "sunsuit".... kind of a little one piece thing with ties at the shoulder and elastic at the waist......my mom was a great seamstress so I had them in every color and fabric imaginable.....I was lookin good!!!
As for scary things in my young life.....well there was one thing.....it was.....the "incinerator"! I don't remember having one at any of our houses but my cousins had one in their backyard, it was this square concrete thing (like a big trash can) with a steel flap on the lid...you put all your burnable trash in there and then lit it somehow.....I was absolutely terrified of it....everything that went in came out ash and that LID!!! It was heavy and scary!
I was so afraid that I'd push it open and flames would shoot out of it and burn me up, but you had to push it open to put in trash, oh, the dilemma..... I'd stand there on the brink of tears, scared to death, then push in the trash real fast and run.............honestly, I hated that thing! (I vaguely remember Grandma talking to Grandpa about a person burning up a body in one.....that story stuck with me forever!!!!) That's no INCINERATOR, that's a MURDER WEAPON!!!!
(And on a side note, can I just say I'm SICK of not being able to upload pictures!!! Blogger what are you doing to me!!!!!!)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Things I love Tuesday....
Actually I was going to write this post on Thursday (Things I Love Thursday sounds better) but because I'm lacking in interesting life experiences I thought I just go ahead and use it today......maybe I should call it Top of my List Tuesday!
Sometimes there are things in your life that you just know you'd miss if you didn't have them.....like "Tiny" I am easily influenced by commercials so I usually try something once but it takes something great to make me a loyal fan!!! Here's a few of my favorites....
1. Ceiva Digital Receiver! I got this from my husband for Christmas (or maybe it was a birthday....anyway) and it's become one of the things I'd save if the house
was burning down (okay, after the kids, HH, the cat, my pictures, and my makeup!) Basically it's a way to share digital photos without a computer over the phone line. Since I got mine we've bought one for both daughters, my dad, Stewart's Mom and Dad, and both of my sisters! There's nothing better than getting new pictures from someone far away! Here's a link to their site if you're interested...Ceiva Logic, Inc
2. ROOMBA!!!! I love my roomba! When HH and I got married I told him not to
EVER buy me anything practical and try to pass it off as a present. That meant I had to beg and beg to get him to even consider buying me this for Christmas two years ago. It was one of my favorite presents! What could be better than having a vacuum that comes out at night, vacuums the living room and then puts itself away before you even get up!!! Love it, Love it! (P.S. They have a new "Scooba" now that MOPS!!!! Can you believe it!)
I know this makes me sound terribly unambitious but if you can give up vacuuming just think what you can do with that time......skydiving, painting a masterpiece, writing a novel....
3. My last thing for this week.....(I may have shared this before but I can't help touting it again)....There's something wonderful about climbing into bed when the sheets smell fresh and clean.....wouldn't it be great to get that EVERY day (without the washing and remaking part?).....
I discovered at my local K-Mart, something called "ironing spray" (in some places it's now labeled linen spray). I don't iron my sheets every day but I do spray the top sheet (the part nearest my face) and both sides of the pillow. (My favorite scent? Serene Dawn) Trust me it's wonderful! One bottle costs about $5.99 at K-Mart but it lasts me almost a month. Mmmmmmm, Magnifico!!!
Have a happy day!
Sometimes there are things in your life that you just know you'd miss if you didn't have them.....like "Tiny" I am easily influenced by commercials so I usually try something once but it takes something great to make me a loyal fan!!! Here's a few of my favorites....
1. Ceiva Digital Receiver! I got this from my husband for Christmas (or maybe it was a birthday....anyway) and it's become one of the things I'd save if the house
was burning down (okay, after the kids, HH, the cat, my pictures, and my makeup!) Basically it's a way to share digital photos without a computer over the phone line. Since I got mine we've bought one for both daughters, my dad, Stewart's Mom and Dad, and both of my sisters! There's nothing better than getting new pictures from someone far away! Here's a link to their site if you're interested...Ceiva Logic, Inc2. ROOMBA!!!! I love my roomba! When HH and I got married I told him not to
EVER buy me anything practical and try to pass it off as a present. That meant I had to beg and beg to get him to even consider buying me this for Christmas two years ago. It was one of my favorite presents! What could be better than having a vacuum that comes out at night, vacuums the living room and then puts itself away before you even get up!!! Love it, Love it! (P.S. They have a new "Scooba" now that MOPS!!!! Can you believe it!)I know this makes me sound terribly unambitious but if you can give up vacuuming just think what you can do with that time......skydiving, painting a masterpiece, writing a novel....
3. My last thing for this week.....(I may have shared this before but I can't help touting it again)....There's something wonderful about climbing into bed when the sheets smell fresh and clean.....wouldn't it be great to get that EVERY day (without the washing and remaking part?).....
I discovered at my local K-Mart, something called "ironing spray" (in some places it's now labeled linen spray). I don't iron my sheets every day but I do spray the top sheet (the part nearest my face) and both sides of the pillow. (My favorite scent? Serene Dawn) Trust me it's wonderful! One bottle costs about $5.99 at K-Mart but it lasts me almost a month. Mmmmmmm, Magnifico!!!
Have a happy day!
Monday, June 05, 2006
Clean internet?....
Whew! After three days I'm able to get back into my blogger account which was blocked by my filtering service "NetMop" for "Pornographic or Recreational Nudity Content".....(you're shaking your finger at me aren't you.........well believe it or not I couldn't get into any of yours either!)
Some weeks after I began my blogger account and let Daughter #3 open one on the Xanga site we discovered it could be pretty scary to look for google images to put on our blogs, it happened more than once that we were "surprised" at the images that came up when searching for a seemingly innocent picture.....(don't ever search for old woman washing .... I was hoping for a picture of a grandma type with a washboard or even a rock in a stream but .....well, as I said I got surprised!)
Some weeks after I began my blogger account and let Daughter #3 open one on the Xanga site we discovered it could be pretty scary to look for google images to put on our blogs, it happened more than once that we were "surprised" at the images that came up when searching for a seemingly innocent picture.....(don't ever search for old woman washing .... I was hoping for a picture of a grandma type with a washboard or even a rock in a stream but .....well, as I said I got surprised!)
Anyway, in response I immediately signed up for a filtering service called "NetMop" that was recommended by LDSLiving. It did seem to block a lot of things but there were also some images that came through and when we couldn't get into our accounts at all last week I decided I would have to do something else.
Basically I'm going to be reduced to posing for my own pictures ............hmmmm "Old Woman Washing?.....I could totally do that!" It is a sad thing when there is so much free filth out there huh? I guess that's why we hear over and over from our church leaders about the dangers of the internet. Very frustrating that it can be so hard to control.
Speaking of graphic images, my dad, concerned for "Nutella" in her new Florida digs (aka Alligator Alley) has forwarded this little item......
Vicious Dog Pack Kills Gator in Florida --
Basically I'm going to be reduced to posing for my own pictures ............hmmmm "Old Woman Washing?.....I could totally do that!" It is a sad thing when there is so much free filth out there huh? I guess that's why we hear over and over from our church leaders about the dangers of the internet. Very frustrating that it can be so hard to control.
Speaking of graphic images, my dad, concerned for "Nutella" in her new Florida digs (aka Alligator Alley) has forwarded this little item......
Vicious Dog Pack Kills Gator in Florida --
Dogs savage Florida alligator
At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty. The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the "apex predator" in it's natural ecosystem, can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and "survival of the fittest pack mentality", bred into the canines over the last several hundreds of years by natural selection. Scroll down to see the attached remarkable photograph courtesy of Nature Magazine... Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while the remainder of the pack prevents the beast from rolling.
Warning: Not for the squeamish!
Click Here for Picture
At times nature can be cruel, but there is also a raw beauty, and even a certain justice manifested within that cruelty. The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, normally considered the "apex predator" in it's natural ecosystem, can still fall victim to implemented 'team work' strategy, made possible due to the tight knit social structure and "survival of the fittest pack mentality", bred into the canines over the last several hundreds of years by natural selection. Scroll down to see the attached remarkable photograph courtesy of Nature Magazine... Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold on the gator preventing it from breathing, while the remainder of the pack prevents the beast from rolling.
Warning: Not for the squeamish!
Click Here for Picture
Friday, June 02, 2006
History, it's a Family (Home Evening) thing!
I was reading Sweet Mama Entropy this morning, she wrote about memes and how she's used them to come up with questions to use for a family reunion she just had.
It reminded me of some special family home evenings that we did a few years ago. Each Monday night when we held family home evening we would end the lesson and then hand out a "My History" page. The page had three sections.....Then, Now, and My Spiritual Life. Under each heading I would type a question for each person to answer, or a statement for them to finish with their own thoughts. As time progressed I started sending the "My History" page by e-mail to our extended family and they would e-mail it back so I could add it to our Family Home Evening Book.
Here's an example:
And here's another example ...
It reminded me of some special family home evenings that we did a few years ago. Each Monday night when we held family home evening we would end the lesson and then hand out a "My History" page. The page had three sections.....Then, Now, and My Spiritual Life. Under each heading I would type a question for each person to answer, or a statement for them to finish with their own thoughts. As time progressed I started sending the "My History" page by e-mail to our extended family and they would e-mail it back so I could add it to our Family Home Evening Book.
Here's an example:
- Then....
- I consider myself an optimist (or pessimist) because......
- Now...
- If satisfied with your present attitude explain how you maintain it (optimism), if not satisified list some ways to improve your outlook.
- My Spiritual Life....
- I'm counting my blessings....here are some of them...
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- etc...
And here's another example ...
- Then...
- Some of the best advice I ever got was...
- Now...
- A piece of advice I'd like to pass on to my children, friends, etc. is....
- My Spiritual Life....
- I am grateful for so many things but a few of them are.....
It was like a meme for family home evening. We kept all the pages in our Family Home Evening Notebook which includes:
- Monthly calendar pages with FHE assignments written on the appropriate night,
- An Outline Page for the night stating the title and objective of the lesson, who gave the lesson,prayer, scripture, and activity,
- Notes about the lesson and any family discussion
- Pictures taken if we had an activity, and
- Recipes for the refreshments, etc.
(I actually have pictures to share of our family home evening book but for some reason can't upload them....I'll keep trying)
Getting the "My History" pages from extended family members really added something special to our Family Home Evenings and gave us something to look forward to during the week. We only did it for a year (now that I've looked back through the book I want to do it again) but it gave us pages of Family History that we wouldn't have gotten any other way.
If you only have young children at home consider asking the questions out loud and then just writing down what they say, or if they are really young, just fill out the pages for yourself and your spouse.....someday those young children of yours will LOVE reading about your family home evenings and getting to know mom and dad by reading what you've written!
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