Dawn Langstroth

Dawn is my friend from High School. She recently finished her first cd (I say first in hopes that she'll do plenty more) and here's a link to some of her performances http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=DawnLangstroth

Her own website is http://www.dawnlangstroth.com/.

Dragon Fruit

Or 'Strawberry Pear'. From Vietnam. I saw this at the grocery store today, and was intrigued! I did NOT expect the inside to look like that at ALL. It tastes great, like a cross between a pear and a kiwi.

Sage On The Floor

Sage was being really cute and looking like he wanted to start trying to crawl. I shot some video of him.

Simple Math

A friend of mine is a teacher for junior grades, and she recently received this in her pile of marking.

I thought that was frigging hillarious!

Sage Eats Bread Bits

geeze

Gardening is HARD WORK, man.

I should've taken before and after photos, cuz the dirt and sod from the garden I am digging out at the front is filling the holes that Lacey dug at the side of the house. In one spot the hole was 18" at LEAST. We bought some "critter ridder" stuff to sprinkle on after I'm all done transferring dirt, but I didn't get done. It's supposed to deter dogs and skunks and other animals from digging. Wonder if it works. It was hella expensive! ($14) I worked for about 45 minutes digging and moving dirt around, and it was a workout for SURE. [Incidentally, if anyone knows why Curves isn't open on Sundays, could you tell me? Also if anyone reads this who has any clout with people AT curves, and could influence them to have it open on Sundays, that would be great. Thanks.] Since I don't have a wheel barrow, I used a lid to a fake rubbermaid bin which we don't use (the lid, not the bin) and piled the sod and dirt onto it and then pushed it across the lawn and gravel driveway with my feet. I used alternating legs and also alternated using my adductors (inner thigh muscles) and quadricepts (outer thigh muscles). Yahoo! Work in that resistance training! Most of the garden is dug out, just a little left to do, and then when I can (probably Tuesday after Jake gets home from work) I will go get some peat and poo (can't spell manure) and work that into the soil. I'm not going to plant yet, don't you fret, but my dad said it's good to give the peat some time to de-fluff (my word, not his) before I plant.

An update on my mom: She's doing well. They moved her to a nursing home "holding tank" at Laurentian Hospital. The floor she's on is not a hospital floor, it's a place for people who are waiting for beds at nursing homes. She might be there a short time, or a long time, depending on when a spot for her becomes available. It's a very large room, and it's nice. She's got a dresser and a bed-side table, and the wall behind her is purple! The other walls are off white and the curtains are a nice tangerine, and all together it's very soothing and calm. From her angle, she's got a beautiful view of the bricks of the building next to her *snort* but at least it's a big window and lots of light comes in. If she weren't limited by the fact that she needs the oxygen on that side of the room, if she changed sides, she would be able to see Ramsey Lake. But unfortunately the room's not set up for patients to be on that side. Too bad! She has a nice roommate, a lady named Margarite. The physical therapist said that as soon as my mom can stand unaided, and transfer herself into her wheelchair from her bed, she'll be taken to the hospital's POOL and they'll do aquasize with her! I couldn't believe the hospital has a pool, but they do! She's very excited about that, and it's a really good motivating goal for her to have.

Hayden of the Many Shirts

The other night there was a basket of laundry in the living room, and while I was at Curves and Jake was on the computer, Hayden decided to re-organize it. Then he decided he wasn't wearing enough shirts and pulled 6 more on over his head. And yes, that is a pair of my undies he's got on him as well. LOL What a nut!

Domestic Jennifer

Lookit what I did. I not only planted some spinach seeds that I'd forgotten the other day, but I made Sugar Cookies too! AND didn't even wimp out on the decorating-them step. Which I was going to do, but then they looked so plain and lonely... I had to dress 'em up.

So here they are, enjoy. (Although we'll probably enjoy them a lot more than you.)

I think the middle guy in the top row is wearing a Richard Simmons' outfit. And two of 'em aren't wearing pants at all by mistake.. hehehe, opps!

Hayden the Wonder Kid

On Friday while Jake was at work, I was putting Sage down for a nap. While doing so, Hayden not only found the camera, he turned it on and took a picture. I'd thought I heard the little bleedle-beep of the camera being turned on, but I was SURE what he was doing when in the next couple of seconds I heard the shutter sound effect. Lucky for me Sage was out, so I was able to go right away and check on Haydo. Here's his masterpiece. Not bad for his very first photo! Not even blurry.

And now I can see why kids think mothers have eyes in the backs of their heads. You have to get good at discerning what a kid is doing by the sounds he or she is making if you can't see them. Also of note: an unseen kid playing silently needs to be checked on immediately.

Inch by inch...

..row by row, gonna make this garden grow. All I need is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertilzed ground.. and a place where Lacey won't dig 'em up.

Ever see that commercial for Tomatos In A Bag? Jake and I want those. Tomatoes you grow indoors, in a bag you hang on the wall! Where pets can't get at 'em! Alas, they are an american product, and you can't ship soil and plants across the border. However, I was not about to be thwarted from tomatos for a second year in a row. I'd started a bunch of tomato seeds last year, but they died when they were a few inches high cuz I didn't know you had to KILL, er, I mean thin out, all but one of the seedlings in each peat pot. Anyway this year I know better. While researching a canadian version of the TIAB (tomatos in a bag) I found out that there is a hydroponic organic green n clean store right here in town, on Barrydowne! Hey that rhymes. My friend Sabrina and I were feeling equally green-thumby and we went there and bought a whack of supplies for our indoor gardens. We then went to the dollar store and got a large assortment of flowers, herbs, and veggies. I planted mine last night and I'm pretty proud of the fact that it looks so organized! Even if I only get ONE plant out of the whole deal, I'll be pretty stoked. I just hope it's a tomato......

Nice plastic dome, eh? It's 6" high so the seedlings can stay in there till they're bushy and tall, and the cat can't nibble on 'em. I have in the back row: coleuses, phloxes, petunias, periwinkles, and johnny jump ups. In the front row I have peas, tomatos, basil, mint, and garlic chives.



OOoohhhh! I'm so excited!

At the Nerpin's House

We tried to get a family photo. Hayden cries if we're all in the same shot. It's like he's got a sixth sense about cameras about to capture all our images at once. It was like that at Walmart too when we tried to get portraits done a few weeks ago. Sage was squirmy then as he is in these pictures, and Jake looks sleepy. Well, take your pick of the "best" of these LOL.

Kid TV

An old friend of mine brought this to my attention. If you're around my age, and you watched TV, you're sure to remember this show. It makes my heart burst with joy and glee :o)

Alanis Morrisette - My Humps

Poop story - don't read if you don't want to hear about poop.

This morning Hayden came up to me and said "poop onna potty" and I said "you want to poop on the potty?" and he said "Yeah! Yeah!" which really, doesn't mean much cuz he'll ALSO say "more?" and I'll say "more what?" and he'll say "Yeah! Yeah!" BUT to give him the benefit of the doubt, we whisked off to the bathroom and he said "pants oooofffff" and then "diaper ooooffff" and then he sat on the toilet. He said "penis doooowwnn" and then played with a little bath toy for a few minutes. I was being patient, but reminded him that he wanted to poop on the toilet. After a few minutes I was kinda thinking this had been a false alarm, AND THEN, LO AND BEHOLD, he made his pooping face and he POOPED! YAY HOORAY!! It was then I realized I don't have much experience wiping someone else's bum while they're sitting on a toilet. But I did done good. LOL. Hayden got a lolly pop and I think I should've gotten a gold star too :o)

Counting Hayden

Hayden spontaniously counted to 13 while I was on the computer this afternoon, so I grabbed the camera to see if he would do it again. He got into it, and the minute-long vids are cute :o) Oh and sorry for the swaying, just pretend you're on a ship. I thought he would participate more if I mimicked his body movements.

Saturday Night Bath

The Szabbies came over on Saturday afternoon in order to be in town for Sunday morning Brunch with my family and my dad at Cranky Joe's. Jake was working but popped out of the kitchen every once in a while to see us. It was really fun, and a great buffet. The food was expertly prepped :o) And cutest of all was that while I was at the buffet, all the dish labels were in Jake's handwriting.. he's so loveable! I just love him. But back to the night before. I gave the three older kids a bath before bedtime. They had so much fun! And afterward, Anya's hair got soooo curly! It looked like a baby perm!

I thought the kids looked so cute wrapped in their towels, like clothes pegs with kid heads :o)

Hayden is about to pee on the floor in this picture.
Zee Curls...
An awesome shot of Anya and Hayden

Ball Bopper Video

Easter Friday

We didn't want to wait till Sunday to give Hayden and Sage their Easter presents because Jake's working and we wanted to have a leisurly morning. I "hid" a bunch of plastic easter eggs around the living room into which I'd put chocolates and candy, and I put their toys on the coffee table for them. Hayden didn't quite get the concept of finding ALL the easter eggs before digging into the treats inside, but he eventually found them all. The cat helped. I made him eat part of a banana before any chocolate, for all those nutritionally concerned. We got Hayden a little Bob the Builder doll, cuz he loves to sing the song "Bob uh billler YES I CAN" and since Sage is too little for chocolate, we got him a little bit more extravagant toy: a ball bopper. We don't have any batteries for it, but when we do we'll take some video. Basically when the kid pushes the big button the balls shoot up into the air and then fall back down into the track and back down into the toy to go again. If the balls fly farther than the top of the toy, the kid can have fun picking it up and putting it in the track himself. We'll see how fun it is when there's batteries in it, but so far it was a big hit, even when it DIDN'T do it's thing.

Also you may have noticed our living room is re-arranged. Jake had some inspiration two nights ago and yesterday we *cough* ok HE moved everything around. I helped move the couch and computer.

Jake is only pretending to be asleep.

Good Bye Tracker, Good Bye...

We'll miss you...



Incidentally, today (April 4th, but it's 1am now so the date on the posting will be tomorrow's) was Jake and me's 4th anniversary. Yay! Happy us!

Aaaaallmost...

Jake got his passport in the mail yesterday! Yay! Step 937 of 940 steps completed towards his permanent residencey! Now all that's left, technically, is to pay $475, and get his medical re-done ($150 + bloodwork). They also sent us another form for him to complete, including any jobs, where he's worked, and other such info since October of 2005. So I guess it's 941 steps. Oh and his work visa expires in May, so if we don't get all this done and his card doesn't come through before the end of April, then we'll have to reapply for his work visa ($175) as well. So I guess it's a possible 943 steps. (Order new receipt from gov't, pay at bank, fill out form, oh and get new passport photos taken, oh and we need some passport photos for the medical also, send forms and receipt and photos to gov't...) I think there might be more than two steps left.

THIS IS A NEVER ENDING BATTLE BETWEEN US AND THE RED TAPE OF THE GOVERNMENT.

cripes.

But we're on the home stretch! [she said, optimisically]

The other good news is that a guy at Jake's work (whose name is Dennis, but he looks exactly like Syler from Heros) wants to buy the tracker from us! I have a few reservations selling the tracker to the evil dude from my favorite tv show, but we need the money for Jake's card, so HEY. WHY NOT. Also it'll save us the $50 or so a month for the insurance. It's really his mom who's buying it, for $500, as-is. Syler borrowed the car a few weekends ago to pick up his kids from Sturgeon Falls, or drop them off.. they live there with their mom. We lent it for free but a few days later at work, he offered Jake $50 cash for the use of it, and Jake didn't say no. We'd had to buy the licence sticker for him to use it, so we considered it a fair deal. We weren't going to renew the plates, and had just not gotten around to taking the insurance off it yet when Syler borrowed it in early March. I'm sad to see it go! I've always wanted a tracker/sidekick ever since I first saw 'em back in the 90's. And to have a purple one to boot! Well. A girl's dream! It'll be the first time this car is out of Jake's family in 10 years as well. They've got a lot of memories in it. It surely will be missed!