7.27.2010

sunday morning science

i confess. 

i have a strong affinity towards bugs.

surprised?
 not me.
sure, they can be nasty.


but then there are are the other times when i get all excited because i have found one.


a dang cool bug.



{isn't he "cute!"}



i get excited because i know how much my kids love them....





and i get excited for what they can learn from observing one of God's amazing creatures for a brief amount of time.


he was one huge grasshopper that looked as if he was a warrior plated with desert armor equipped with the coolest velcro feet ever!




what a fortunate thing to be able to watch my children wonder and learn and then set the marvelous creature free to once again ravage my tiny tomato crop.

i know.
not the smartest thing to free the predator of vegetables,
but it's the least we could do for all he did for us. ;)


what an amazing creature.
just one thing still perplexes me. what on earth is that large spine thing protruding from his abdomen??? the cool thing is that he can bend it and bring it all the way to his mouth and he uses it when climing. it's quite a site to see.
 


7.20.2010

Sweet Fruity Fun

I had driven past them half a dozen times on the way to the park. Two trees, heavy and full of goodness were calling my name.
Then finally, one day I did it. 

I wrote the note and it went something like this.

I was noticing that you had a large amount of fruit on you tree. If you are not going to use it, I was wondering if I could pay you for any you might not use. Just call me and let me know. 

Thanks for your consideration,
Julie

Two days went by until I got the message.

He said I could have them.

FOR FREE!

The next Saturday morning, I gathered my buckets, a ladder and a large jug of water and headed off for my adventure.



I found the "perfect" place to park.

Then I got to work.


First task: Sampling of the goods. 

We discovered that even warm grapes and nectarines are absolutely divine!!! 

Next, the fun started. This is how it went.



Pick, sweat, sample.
Pick, sweat, sample.
Pick, sweat, sample.

REPEAT

The fun lasted for over an hour and a half.
All the while I sang the song...

"Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Me. Millions of Nectarines, Nectarines for Free."

And I was happy.

I only had to escape from the 105* temps once in the air conditioned car.

It was a hot, sweaty, exciting, YUMMY morning.





I got lots of long looks from curious drivers.
Hmmm....Roadside fruit picking isn't all that common in these parts I suppose!

Then, as if there wasn't enough excitement for one morning, the cops showed up just as I had full buckets of sweet deliciousness in my hot little hands on the way to the van. One of those curious drivers had even called the cops for me.
There were lectures and threats of the confiscation of the fruits of my labors.

It's pretty sad when the most exciting thing for a couple of arrogant cops to do on a Saturday morning is to protect produce and be rude to the pregnant fruit crazy mom. They treated me as if I had just robbed a bank and was loading up buckets of gold coins instead of over ripe golden fruit.

Silly cops. 

I'm just thankful the nectarine tree owner was home to verify my story....
AND that I wasn't ticketed for parking on the curb.
AND that I didn't speak my mind and tell them how ridiculous they were behaving.

It was a fun fruit filled morning for sure!!!

It was all worth it to enjoy that real, yummy, drippy ripe fruit for days on end. 
And the dried stuff is pretty dang wonderful too!

7.15.2010

do the math.

Start with a little cabin an hour away

ADD
  
 + rocks to throw. lots of them

 
 
+ a cute big sister OR brother
  
+ hands for holding
+ lots of room to roam and GORGEOUS weather for an early morning walk. 




 + Grandpa and Grandma Julie
+ blocks 
+ a tiny barn  
+lots of little piggies.





+ the soon to be weds.

 + a bunch of trees to climb  
+ a carefree daddy  
+ his buddy 


 
+ oil pastels 
+ 1970's stationary  
 + the perfect amount of sunlight


 + 1 deliciously juicy, drippy watermelon  
+ 3 VERY sticky children


+ plenty of time to relax
+ lots of laughter
+ some very comfy retro chairs.

TAKE AWAY
-
daily chores

-
computers

the usual fighting and teasing

-
110* heat


it equals
=
tHe mOsT pErfeCtesT DaY eVeR!


  i'm just aching to go up again. 
you would make the perfect addition.
wanna come next time?

7.13.2010

today's "great" harvest

quality....not quantity. right????

yum. 
quantity does sound attractive, but this will do for now. 

7.12.2010

i did it too!

I know that this is all over the internet, but I'm going to add my 7 cents since someone asked me about it. 

My sister is getting married and is going domestic on us so it was a nice treat when she invited herself and my mom over to make laundry soap. I bought the ingredients several months ago and was glad for the company to complete the task.

I found recipes in several places but decided to go with the one that Tina shared on her blog because it had less Fells Naptha. When I first bought ingredients at Smiths I just bought random amounts of the ingredients and hadn't bought enough Fels Naptha for my other ingredients. 

This picture is of the ingredients in a large batch.
(6 cups Washing Soda, 6 cups Borax, 4 bars Fels Naptha)

BUT I doubled it and made and EXTRA Large batch because if I'm going to make the effort, I'm going to go BIG! 

(My doubled list of ingredients) 
1 4lb. 12 oz. box of Borax  (that has 12 cups)
2 3lb. 7oz. boxes of Super Washing Soda (that has 6 cups).
8 bars Fels Naptha.

Measured out, the recipe is
12 cups Borax
12 cups Super Washing Soda
8 bars Fels Naptha

 (I found all of the ingredients at Smiths on Nellis/Stewart)


"Making" the soap is dang simple. The term making is used loosely because all you are actually doing is combining 3 ingredients. There are only 2 steps.

STEP 1: Grate the soap

This is the most time consuming step by far. 


You can do it BY HAND or WITH A STRONG FOOD PROCESSOR

We did both ways.

My sister and mom got the most exercise and grated their 6 bars (since they were splitting a large batch following a recipe that used 6 bars) by hand.

It's kind of tedious.

See?
 BUT:

If you add a bit of singing, it makes the time pass quicker....even if the 3 year old thinks it a bit strange.


Since I was grating 8 bars,  I used the food processor and 3 very "helpful" children. I had to empty the processor 3 times.

Yes, I we made a BIG mess.

The soap worked my machine hard and made an awful racket at the end of every bar, but it saved me lots of elbow grease. Washing it was a pain so If I was doing a 1 or 2 bar batch I would grate by hand!

My processor doesn't grate on a fine setting so after the initial grating I ran the processor with the "S" blade to grind it up a bit more.

Then it was perfect.

STEP 2: Mix



I used a massive bucket because I made an extra large batch. It needs to be mixed well to distribute the soap as evenly as possible.

It made A BUNCH which will last just about forever, especially since you just use 2 tbs. per load.

I just use a heaping coffee scoop.

Here it is in my soap jar:

I enjoy the light yellow color...
AND the swirly look from the side. 


Here's my review after doing 5 loads:

So far, so good. 
 *****I give it  5 STARS *****

I LOVE that it is dang cheep. I don't remember how much I spent since I'm not so good at keeping receipts, but Tina did a cost analysis and said it came out to only 7 cents per load.

I enjoy the light smell especially since I usually use scent free detergent.

I have a front loading washer and it is working perfectly! It all washes out of the little tray even.

I like that my clothes came out clean for a fraction of the cost.
I will definitely be making this again when I run out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while though!


I like that I know exactly what's in it and am using less harmful ingredients next to my families skin.
For my next batch I am considering using Dr. Bronners Castille Soap like my friend Ashley and Soul Mama did since Fels Naptha isn't all that natural (I had already bought it and it's way better than your average detergent goes.)


Has anyone else tried this yet? 
What did you think?

7.09.2010

Phew!

For the past couple of months, my brain has been much like my planner:

EMPTY.

The first trimester of this pregnancy sucked all of the life out of me. 

I don't remember having been so zapped before.

Maybe it's because after taking care of 3 other children, there is not much life left in me at times.
Maybe it's because the onset of summer coincided with the 1st trimester.
Maybe I'm just getting OLD!

Well, whatever the reason is, I'm just glad to be back and feeling alive and full of energy once again!


AND

My TO DO list overfloweth as I try to make up for lost time and recoup the damages caused by my 10 week hiatus from a normal functioning life.
 

Energy and motivation started seeping into me last Friday at my 13 week mark and I couldn't be happier about it.

This week so far....

I've scrubbed down nearly every door and jam in my house, washed the kitchen cabinets down, FINALLY put away the Easter decorations (an amazing feet, I know), washed the sliding glass door, actually made homemade laundry soap from the stuff I've been storing for months, made dinner every night (except for on my birthday) AND folded the laundry all by myself (believe me, Patrick was in a state of shock.)

Phew.

All I can say is, bring it on!!!