Good Books

Back to the Damn Soil I love this book. Written by a woman describing life in WWII Tulsa County. She and her husband and three kids moved to the family farm. As far as I can tell from what I remember of Tulsa (a lovely town, really!) the farm is pretty much in the middle of a housing subdivision.

Dear Earth: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow A very well written book. This is the experience of a couple moving from 1980s Tulsa to the Ozarks. I think she does a marvelous job of writing about her love of the environment.

A Very Small Farm I really can't say enough wonderful things about this book. The experience of a 1990s college graduate who didn't know what to do with life so he bought a small farm in Oklahoma and lived on it. It's a nice collection of essays about how he lived his life.

Breaking the Oklahoma theme (hey, to a lot of people Oklahoma is wheat fields and empty plains, to those of us who grew up in the hills, it's a siren call):

Mountain Time: A Yellowstone Memoir Oh My GOD!!! I love this book. This has been sitting on our shelf for years. Mr. Gaia bought it before we even met. I never thought to pick it up. But once I did, I couldn't put it down. It's written in the early 1980s (so before the big fire) and I really want to have a conversation with the author to find out how the administrations since he wrote the book and especially since the fire have changed his views. This book has helped me see what I want to be when I grow up. I really want to be a park interpreter. Unfortunately, you can't support a family on the measly salary interpreters get.

Biking:

84.9. 91% humidity. 10mph SE wind. 3.46 miles.

Goals Update

Biking - 2.45 miles. The temp was 84.9F with an 11.5mph ESE wind. Stupid me biked on a completely empty stomach. I couldn't figure out why the biking was so hard tonight. Duh!

Exercise - I've had to give up the "mountain climbing" because it hurts my back too much. I've added reverse crunches instead. So far I'm staying on top of it.

Gardening - things are getting watered and that's about it. The weeds are growing back way too quickly. I think I may have to go see the doc about my back. It hurts too much to do much gardening. I did try some mowing last night and I paid for it today.

Energy - Mr. Gaia switched us to renewable energy today. It will actually start at the end of the month.

MEME

Tanya tagged me with a Meme (I always read that as Me! Me!)

One-Word Responses
1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Relationship? happy
3. Your hair? pony-tailed
4. Work? exhausting
5. Your sister? nonexistant
6. Your favourite thing? nature
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favourite drink? tea
9. Your dream car? efficient
10. The room you're in? family
11. Your shoes? off
12. Your fears? illness
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? healthy
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? husband
15. What are you not good at? sports
16. Muffin? turnover
17. Wish list item? windows
18. Where you grew up? Oklahoma
19. The last thing you did? biked
20. What are you wearing? scant
21. What are you not wearing? lots
22. Your pet? cat
23. Your computer? essential
24. Your life? tiring
25. Your mood? ennui
26. Missing? kids
27. What are you thinking about? kids
28. Your car? aging
29. Your kitchen? ugly
30. Your summer? HOT
31. Your favourite colour? green
32. Last time you laughed? tonight
33. Last time you cried? forgotten
34. School? someday
35. Love? necessary

This was harder than I expected. I tag Rani and Grace.

Fresh bread!

The solar oven bread turned out perfect, nice chewy crust and a great texture. So, here's what I did - I mixed the dough up at about 1:30am and left it in the fridge. At 7:00am, Mr. Gaia punched it down and put it in the loaf pan (he suggests making a change and letting it do both rises in the loaf pan). Mr. Gaia set up the solar oven to start gathering some heat (but he had to set it up to face west, so it wasn't that hot at noon). I came home from work at noon, put the bread fresh from the fridge in the oven (it was about 150F at that point). I left the bread in the oven until I got home at about 5:30. So it had a little over 5 hours of cooking.

My reciped adapted to be only one loaf (I think in the new loaf pans, we can get 2 loaves in, but we couldn't in the stoneware pans):

1 7/8 c water (bottled water works best if you have hard water or lots of chlorine)
1 heaping T yeast
1.5 T oil
2 1/4 t honey
2 1/4 t molasses
2 1/4 t salt
1.5-2 T flax seeds (freshly ground in a coffee grinder)
2.5 T vital wheat gluten
3-5 c whole wheat flour (I don't actually measure the flour)

Heat the water to 100-120F, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add oil, honey and molasses (a little tip - I use one the shot glass measuring cups, measuring the oil first will allow the honey and molasses to slip right on out, no sticking at all). While the yeast is proofing, grind the flax seeds (I throw the salt in with the flax to help it grind a little more finely). When the yeast has proofed, add the flax and salt. Add the vital wheat gluten. Add the flour 1/2 c at a time. I use the kitchen aid with the dough hook. I add flour until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and there is no dough on the side of the bowl at all. I then pull the dough off the hook, turn it over and add a little more flour. I mix until the dough is stiff and not really sticky. At this point, I take it out of the mixer, I knead it a few times just to be sure it is uniform and then put it in an oil bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.

Biking update -

Temp was 84F with an ESE wind of 13.8mph. We rode 2.45 miles.

Solar Oven Update No 2

It was hot today - a high of 94. So Mr. Gaia decided to cook in the solar oven. First he made brownies (yummy!), then lasagna and finally steel-cut oats.

So that whole "takes twice as long to cook" thing? Yeah, not so much if the temps are high enough. The brownies aren't nearly as moist as we like and the lasagna noodles are beyond overdone. I haven't tried the oats, yet.

It occurred to me, too late, that if the temp was boiling or above, there's no reason to think it will take twice as long. I think this will take some getting used to.

Tomorrow I plan to bake more bread. It's supposed to be 30% cloud cover tomorrow, but I think that will be fine. It's still supposed to be hot. I'll mix up the dough tonight, let it rise in the fridge overnight, then first thing in the morning, punch it down and let it rise in the breadpan in the fridge. I'll come home at noon and put it in the oven (which Mr. Gaia will set up and leave to preheat before he goes to work).

We did buy a cheap loaf pan that is dark colored and should absorb less energy from the oven (thereby letting it stay hotter to actually bake the bread).

Goals update:

We biked tonight at about 8:00. It was 83F with a SE wind of 16.1 mph. We biked 1.71 miles (according to google earth) a good portion of it facing a headwind (I'm not up on vectors enough to figure out how strong of a headwind when we were riding due east and due south).

Mexico

I hadn't been across the border to Mexico in over a year. I mean, I took a vacation to the Riviera Maya last summer, but to just go across the border? Over a year.

Mr. Gaia and I had tacos had a great little taqueria and then shopped. All we bought was the tequila for my father-in-law. I found we can only legally bring back one liter of alcohol each as Texas residents (unfair say I!).

Going into Mexico reminds me how incredibly fortunate I am. As I watched the little kids begging and peddling trinkets, I thought about my own kids. My kids who get a decent, free public education. Who will never be forced to sell little trinkets on a dusty road in torn and dirty clothes. My kids who simply by the luck of the draw, were born in a country where they will have advantages these kids will never have.

As I walked the streets, I began to think of all the illegal immigrants in the US. I can't blame them. I know that not all parts of Mexico are like border towns - some are much better and some are much worse. But for the most part, the people in Mexico can only dream of the advantages we see as part of our every day life.

Oceanus gets it on the primal level. We can't take him into the border towns with us. His sensitive soul simply can't handle it. He will sob for nights afterward - his brain returning to the poverty and sadness he saw everytime he lets his guard down.

Finally the weekend!!

It was a long week at work. One big project for one big client took most of my week. I probably spent 20-30 hours on it alone.

The rest of the time was spent trying to fill in the emergencies that were ignored while I worked on the project.

Today I spent some time cleaning my desk - filing lots and lots of documents and using windex to wash it (it was so disgusting, I found a lot of cockroach droppings - yuck!). I also tried to clear some more of the backlog. My main boss is back from vacation on Monday so I wanted to be sure to have some of his work done to show him. And failing that, have a clean, organized desk for him to see.

Tomorrow we're taking a trip into Mexico. Father-in-law has requested we bring him some tequlia when we come visit next month. As Texas residents, we can only bring one bottle across each month (other US citizens can bring two/month). Well, we can bring more but we have to pay a lot more to get it into the country.

I hope to have a relaxing weekend and get lots of sleep. Last weekend I was doing mystery shops both days. I don't have any more scheduled until next week.

I hate these decisions

All other things being equal, it is more energy efficient and environmentally sound to heat with natural gas (if you live in a state where NG exists). Living in Texas, most of our electricity comes from coal plants. I can, of course, get renewable energy through wind power, but that has its own set of problems.

So, here's the decision. My AC. I can fix the really old air exchanger in the attic for $280. I can replace it with its exact counterpart for $2000 or I can add electric heat for $2000 (different companies). OR, I can add gas heat for $3800.

Everything being equal, the gas is the better environmental choice. I have no idea how the extra materials usage will affect it (a new electric line, pipes for the gas and a vent) but it's probably negligible. I just can't justify the doubled expense considering that we will probably only run the heater for a couple of weeks each year (it's the subtropics!).

Eventually, I'd like to get my own mini turbine and some photovoltaic cells. Then, I won't feel so bad about choosing electricity over gas.

Solar oven update

So we baked bread today. Let me say that there were some limitations because the oven only holds one loaf and my recipe is for two loaves, so I had to cut it in half. This would not normally be a problem, but I mixed it up last night at 1:00am, so I suspect my math might have been off.

Mr. Gaia set the oven up about 2:00pm and it got up to around 300F. When he put the loaf (in its stoneware loaf pan - it's recommended that you use black cookware, but we don't currently have any) in the oven, the temp dropped to 250F and stayed there.

We let the loaf bake for about 3 hours (it looked done after about an hour, but food doesn't burn in the solar oven, so we left it).

The results - a smallish loaf (it could be that I didn't use enough yeast because it just didn't rise well at all) that is dense. But it is moist and tasty.

I would definitely bake bread in the solar oven again - but I would be a lot more careful about my math.

I'm especially glad we have it because our AC is broken. It waits until it's almost 100F and then breaks. Sigh. Luckily, we held onto our window unit AC and FABULOUS Mr. Gaia was able to rig it up in the bedroom today so we could at least have a cool room for sleeping (after 2 nights of 87F temps). I can't even imagine running a regular oven when the house is as hot as it is now. I doubt we will be cooking much inside until we get it fixed/replaced. Mr. Gaia grilled tonight (yummy steaks from Sun Harvest Foods along with grilled onions and grilled jalapenos stuffed with garlic cream cheese).

Solar oven cooking

Rani asked if cooking in a solar oven takes longer. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is "it depends". Generally, the oven I have (the Global Sun Oven)will not get hotter than about 350F and ours tends to hang out at about 250F (which is sufficient to cook meats and brownies). I'm thinking that if we would get it out during the hottest part of the day it would easily hit the 350F threshhold.

Mr. Gaia cooked the corn and salmon in 2 separate batches (it would have been big enough for both, but I don't think he thought of it) and it took about 2 hours long. So, probably he could have cooked both in about 1 hour.

The way the oven is made holds in the moisture (like a baking bag) and so even as food cooks for long periods of time, it doesn't dry out. We've had sausage and salmon cooked in it and they were both very tender and moist.

Wednesday is supposed to be sunny and hot (hitting 100F) so I'm going to mix up a batch of bread dough tomorrow night which Mr. Gaia will put out to bake at noon. That will mean it will cook for 4-5 hours, but the cookbooks we've looked at say that in the sun oven, this will be okay.

I'll report more after I've tried it. So far, our experiments have been successful - we've done roasted corn, sausage, salmon, roasted almonds and brownies.

Random

1) I miss my kids horribly and I'm rethinking letting them have a cellphone. We sent MIL's new cellphone with them on this trip and it's been nice having them call us and being able to call them whenever we wanted. Hyperion has seemed to enjoy it a lot. He's called several times just because he missed us. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not going to get them their own cellphone, but it is nice while they're traveling.

2) Tonight's dinner was roasted corn on the cob and baked salmon - both done in our solar oven. They were delish! I love the solar oven, only solar energy required, and the food is tender and moist.

3) We finally got on our bikes tonight. A very short ride - probably just a little over three-quarters of a mile, but it was enough to make my legs shake. I am so out of shape.

4) I love our grocery store. They have special combo deals that help save me money. But why, why, why did they have to pair the ice cream with the frozen pizza we buy for the boys (natural, low fat and healthful)? I now have 3 quarts of ice cream in my freezer - well 3 quarts less 4 servings. This is not going to help me to lose weight.

5) Coupons.com has very annoying ads, but they do have good coupons. We've been able to buy items we like to buy anyway and get the name brand for quite a bit cheaper than the store brand.

6) EVERYONE who likes Kashi products should RUN to sign up at Kashi.com. I get the best coupons from them - buy one get one free plus a ton of $1 off coupons (which I hand out). Plus free samples! Can't beat that.

7) Postsecret always makes me think and makes me sad. I anxiously await each week's new installment and then check back several times during the week to read the comments.

It's June! Time for Goals.

School's out for the summer. My kids are on their way to Camp Gaga (aka "the farm") for the month so I'm free (and missing them already).

Having them gone enables me to increase my hours at work to 40/week (normally I work 30 to work around their school schedule) and make a little extra money.

Mr. Gaia and I have talked about our June goals some. We do not plan to eat out unless I have a mystery shop or something wonderful happens. If this June is anything like last June, we'll mainly live on watermelon for our evening meal - which is a pretty inexpensive meal, all things considered.

My other goals are:

1) Stop buying snacks at work (we have a guy who comes in and sells the most delicious mexican wedding cookies),

2) Stay out of stores unless I'm mystery shopping,

3) Expand my mystery shop horizons and add a new type of shop/store. I'm not sure what this will be, but having an actual lunch hour should help,

4) Finally order my study materials for my Certified Arborist test. Mr. Gaia thinks I can pass it without studying, but I think he forgets how long it's been since I did a lot of this stuff and just how much information has been pushed out of my brain in order for me to do well at my current job,

5) Bike at least 4 nights per week, working up to 6 miles per night. We quit biking when soccer started and I can tell the difference in how my clothes fit, so it's time to get back into shape so we can bike with the boys when they come back home,

6) Start my exercise routine again. I slacked off this week because my lower back hurts so bad and I was cleaning,

7) Keep my house in its current "company clean" state and maybe even work it up to "mom clean". Not that she'll be back anytime soon, but my inlaws plan to come in August (and bring us the furniture they are storing, maybe I can finally get some furniture in my front room),

8) Use the clothesline exclusively. I broke down and used it a few times in the last couple of weeks - we had so much rain that it was hard to get anything dry and then I put off finishing the kids' laundry until about 18 hours before they wanted to leave (in my defense, they had originally planned to leave tomorrow morning and changed their minds),

9) Get the oil changed in my car (I know this should be a "to do list" item and not a goal, but I'm a horrible procrastinator).

I hope the end of June finds us healthier and wealthier.

Clean at last, clean at last!

Okay, so I didn't get my closets organized at all ("oh you need a towel, hold on a minute, I'll get it for you!"). So I didn't get the recycling taken to the recycling center and it's still piled up on my carport. So, I didn't get my lawn mowed. So what? It's clean enough and they're here.

I completed my first mystery shop and am gearing up for two tomorrow evening. My mom asked me if the store where I did my mystery shop sold athletes foot spray, I agreed that it probably did, but I didn't really want to go back this evening when I need to go to it again tomorrow. Talk about suspicious! So we went to K-Mart instead.

My cat almost managed to get a juvenile golden-fronted woodpecker. Poor thing was an early bird and left the nest just a little too soon. Luckily for him, her lead was too short for her to reach him. I kept trying to get it to go up a tree (it could climb just fine), but he ended up flying/coasting to the bushes in the neighbor's yard. I hope his parents are able to get him to a safe place before the neighborhood cats start hunting. This is why my cat is a house cat and only allowed outside with a harness and lead. I know it seems strange to tie up your cat when you let it out, but it's really the only environmental thing to do.

Oy! It was one of those days

I knew it was going to be when I opened my Yogi Tea bag and the quote inside said "Keep Up". I get this one regularly and it's NEVER a good day.

So, we had a couple show up to sign their will this morning. Had I finished the will? Had I even started the will? No. Luckily, they had a very, very simple will and I just made the quick changes to our standard form and printed it on the will paper. So it turned out well.

I got the files ready for the hearings tomorrow. But right after I shut down my computer to come home and pick up the kids, I remembered this rush file I had worked on Thursday and Friday and thought "isn't there a hearing on something tomorrow?". So I went into my boss' office and asked. Yes! There is a hearing tomorrow, no idea why it isn't on the calendar. So, rush to find the file, turn my computer back on and quick finish the few little things needed on the file.

Phew, done for the day. Rush home to change into shorts and t-shirt and sandals to go pick up the kids from school. Hope that the check we are waiting on appears in the mail (we don't necessarily need it right now, but it would really, really come in handy) and sit down to eat my "lunch". Rrriiinnnggg. My boss calls. "Client is here to sign the document, where is it?" Crap! I don't think we finished it, I was thinking he was coming in tomorrow. Crap, crap, crappity crap crap. I offer to come in and finish it, he says no big deal, they'll fix it (now, in all truth, I have been pulled in to finish/fix things for my coworkers, so it isn't anything new, but I really, really hate it because I feel it is largely because I am part time).

Realize my mom and dad will be here tomorrow! How much have we cleaned? It's now "we live in a sty, a sty I tell you" clean and edging toward company clean. But it isn't there yet. Decide the living room looks good, clean the dining room and then sit down to recover from the heat (MAJOR humidity after our 10" of rain over the weekend). Mr. Gaia comes home and changes the AC filter and turns it on (first time this year, yay us!). In between this, I decide that it seems like a good time to henna my hair (little tip, if you have naturally dry hair and are soaking in a bath with epsom salt, DON'T soak your hair too, it completely strips all the natural oils and your hair comes out like straw!).

So, still to do: Clean kitchen (clean counters and sweep, Mr. Gaia will mop tomorrow), clean bathroom (Mr. Gaia did the toilet as per our agreement - he cleans the toilet and I don't make the boys sit to pee) and sweep, sweep the hall and the boys' rooms, dry the futon cover and guest sheets.

Completely unnecessary cleaning I did? I bathed the cat. It seemed like a good time to do it, I was showering and not bathing, so the tub wasn't full of bubble bath or shaving cream, etc.

The urge to buy

I've been using hotel bottles of shampoo to save some money and to stop waste. I'm not even halfway through my stash and yet every time I walk into a store, I gravitate to looking at the shampoo aisle. I *know* I don't need shampoo, but not having that big bottle is freaking me out.

We went to Sam's yesterday (yeah I know, I don't like Wal*Mart either). The whole trip was a struggle to not buy anything I don't need. We did manage to get out with just a couple of items - cat litter and pajama pants (which I don't exactly need but they were really cheap and this will let me save my yoga pants). I looked at the aprons because I use them when I bake bread, but decided that my two are enough (and it isn't like they were on sale and a really good deal).

I wonder when I will be able to go into a store without feeling the urge to spend money we don't actually have (or money we do have but which could be better used elsewhere)?

Today was a cleaning day. I got all but one load of laundry done but none of it put away. The boys cleaned their rooms. Mr. Gaia filed the paperwork and started cleaning off the counter. I cleaned my desk and the floor in the family room. Still so much to do and only tomorrow to do it. And I have to work! Sigh.

Religion

The rules of polite conversation say that you should never discuss religion or politics.

When you live in a small town, eventually (okay, right away) people ask you what church you attend. If you don't attend a church, they ask you what you believe and why you don't go to church. It can get pretty darned uncomfortable.

I've explained several times that I grew up Southern Baptist but can't handle the way they treat women. Eventually most have come to accept that, even the preacher's wife. Every so often, I get accused of hating God and christians. I get accused of persecuting christians when I call them on their lies.

Newsflash - kids can pray in school. The only thing not allowed is teachers leading them in prayer. Why can't people see that this is a good thing? Are they going to accept a wiccan prayer or a jewish prayer? Well, of course not. They only want christian prayer. But even more - the baptists don't want a catholic prayer and the catholics don't want a baptist prayer and neither want a "holiness" prayer.

More news. The ACLU represents everyone, including christians. And Rush Limbaugh.

So what do I believe? I believe in the teachings of Christ. I believe "Blessed are the peacemakers" and that this war is the antithesis of christian belief. I believe "do not be like the pharisees and pray loudly but go into a closet" (paraphrased). I believe that God did not give women brains and then expect them not to use them. I believe God gave scientists the ability to produce birth control so that women can live longer and that if using birth control is playing God, then so is having a C-section or using fertility treatments or basically using any other kind of medicine to live longer.

Housecleaning

My mom comes Wednesday (well, my mom and my dad, but I always think "my mom"). So, I need to clean my house. We have several stages of cleaning:
1) Normal life - cluttered, floor needs swept and picked up, some dishes in the sink, counters need wiped, clean clothes are on the couch and in the basket.

2) "I'm sick of this, we live in a sty, a STY I tell you, a STY". The dishes are done, the laundry is folded (but not necessarily put away), the floors are picked up (but not necessarily swept) and the counters are wiped.

3) Company clean - the above but the laundry is put away and the floors are swept. The counters are not only wiped but washed down and the obvious spots on the floor are scrubbed up.

4) Mom clean - all of the above, plus the whole house gets vacuumed and mopped, the books are dusted, the futon cover is either washed or changed, all the sheets are changed and freshly laundered, the linen closet is reorganized and everything is neatly folded, the cabinets are organized, picture frames are dusted and the glass is cleaned, windows are washed if there is time.

This is all complicated by the fact that I'll also have to pack my kids for their month spent at "Camp Grandma". And did I mention that I have 4 mystery shops while they're here?

The only question is when to start doing all of the above. Clearly, it takes time, but if you do it too soon it looks like nothing was done at all. At least that's my excuse for not doing it today.

Flash Flood

I had to reschedule my mystery shop today. We got 5 inches of rain in less than 8 hours. This on top of 1.5 inches last night. I live in a flat area, we just can't absorb this kind of rain fall.

I made it home from work - just barely. My car almost stalled going across an intersection. My tires actually threw water up over my sideview mirrors (and I was only going 10mph). I saw a car stall out in front of our house right when I had to be leaving to do my shop. I just couldn't get there.

I hate having to cancel things, it makes me feel unreliable.

I wish I had gotten pictures. We have a grass strip of about 5' wide between our sidewalk and the road. The water was all the way up over the sidewalk and into our yard. The people across the street had their soaker hose float down the street. Trash cans were floating down the alley (and these are the huge trash cans - 200 gallons or so).

But 3 hours later? Just the barest puddles on the road.

Things I would like to tell my boss

1) Lack of planning on the part of our clients, should not result in panic and emergency on our part. If they didn't plan ahead and give us some lead time, we shouldn't drop everything (including things that are important) so we can do same day or next day turn around for screaming clients. And doing this? Is resulting in emergency and panic on our parts for clients that DID plan ahead.

2) Asking why something isn't done right after you dropped 3 "emergencies" on me? Not helpful. And if I could really tell you what I want to say, I'd tell you EXACTLY why it isn't done.

3) Morale seem low? It could be because you can't say no to clients who want way more than we can provide in the time we have available and we're all freaking out with the overwork.

4) Yes, I deserve that raise. The mistakes you've seen is merely a function of the overload you've piled on. It isn't a reflection of me, it's a reflection of needing to get more done than is fully humanly possible.

Gratitude Post!

1) It's Wednesday, I'm halfway through the week and it's a long weekend.

2) My kids made straight As for the last 9 weeks.

3) I'm almost done pulling johnsongrass (the last area to go is in amongst some oleander that needs to be removed before I can really get it) just in time, because my back is about to give out.

4) I've been able to pick up more mystery shops so I should meet my goal by June 15 (of course, I won't actually get the money until July).

5) Due to the arrival of some checks, we shouldn't have to dip into savings for this month's bills.

6) Hyperion's "ugly" tooth is about to fall out.

7) My mom and dad are going to be able to come visit us next week and take my boys back with them for their month on the farm (saves us a LOT of gas and gives us a chance to visit).

No Child Left Behind

Jon Stewart had Secretary of Education Spellings on his show tonight. She actually said that she's not heard a single parent say that they want their child removed from the program.

I can't say I'm surprised. It isn't that parents aren't saying "this is nuts!", it's that the administration doesn't listen to anyone who might criticize them. It is completely nuts the stress they put on our kids and the class time that is wasted is criminal.

I can't count the number of benchmarks my child took to get them ready for their TAKS.

Plus! Because scores are the be-all end-all, recess is almost nonexistant. So kids are getting fat. They get gym 3 times per week (if they're lucky) and about 10 minutes of recess each day. Nevermind the studies that show that students will remember what they learn if the learning is broken up by periods of aerobic exercise, running around wastes valuable class time. And because there aren't enough hours in the school day to make sure kids really get it, they send home an hour or more of homework each night (starting in 1st grade). So kids can't even exercise once they get home.

Count me in as a parent who would opt out given the choice. And frankly, I know lots of parents who have opted out - they simply put their kids in private schools.

This week in Bug Hill

I got to see and snuggle with the babies. They are sooo cute. I, of course, offered to babysit with them, but Marcia really needs me to help with the other kids (I understand).

Mrs. Miller finally got the results of her liver biopsy. She apparently has chronic hepatitis, but she didn't pay attention to know if it was hepatitis B or C or even if it is for sure viral and not autoimmune or some other cause. She's still in the process of coming to grips with the information. She has an appointment with the clinic to figure out next steps and hopefully to get more information. Well wishes and information would be greatly appreciated.

Megan is still so freakin' skinny it isn't funny. She's starting to complain about weight gain "I gained 4 pounds in two weeks!". I just smile and say "I know" and "I understand" and remember that I was once the super skinny pregnant woman who alternately embraced the weight gain and despaired of ever being thin again (I did get thin again, it just didn't last). She's still nauseated and calls in to be late more often than not. By my reckoning, she should be entering the 2nd trimester soon and so maybe the nausea will abate (I suspect not, she's enjoying the excuse too much, in my opinion).

Edna at Curl up and Dye is still gambling and had a decent win this week. Haircuts are not going well. Get your hair cut at your own risk.

Lizzie at the diner wants everyone to know that they are bringing back "Blue Plate Specials" featuring a meat, 2 veg, drink and dessert. This is one of those things that most of us thought were gone with the dinosaurs. She says that the prices can't compare to the original prices on a blue plate but reminds us that she is doing what she can to keep eating out affordable and help us remember bygone days. Then she adds "without the whole 'whites only' thing, so nobody better suggest it".

The FHA and 4-H group cooperated to have a rummage sale/fashion show this weekend. We're proud to say that they raised $1,000 and had people drive as much as 100 miles one-way to come. They send thanks to everyone who donated items for the rummage sale and all the help with the fashion show. I think we all had a great time and some of us even got some neat items (okay, I didn't buy anything, I'm saving money and trying not to get too much clutter in my home).

Sunday - rest day

We had planned to bike to the library today, but I slept in. When I woke up, I reminded Mr. Gaia that we needed to go to the library, so he grabbed his keys and went out to the storage building to claim the extra bike tire. By the time he got the flat fixed on that tire and got it on his bike, I realized it was raining.

Now, it's been threatening to rain for over a week now (I haven't done laundry in all that time because I thought it was going to rain) so when it was cool and cloudy, we figured it wouldn't rain and we could bike to the library anyway. Of course, we finally found the tipping point for making it rain. Hyperion heard the rain and came outside to run around in it.

Mr. Gaia and went and sat on our porch swing to watch the rain and enjoy the cool air. When we were shopping for a house, the big thing we wanted was a porch. One of the first things we bought for our house was our porch swing. Today reminded me why it was important to us. As we enjoyed watching Hyperion dance in the rain, I looked around and realized almost all of our neighbors were missing this wonderful day. The neighbor waaay down on the corner was out with the kids and enjoying it. Everyone else was stuck inside because they had no porch.

Since we clearly weren't going to the library, I used my day to take care of some business. I bagged up another bag of cans for the recycling center and then I baked bread. We still haven't been able to use the solar oven for baking bread - Murphy's Law dictates that as soon as we have time, the sky will be cloudy.

Best laid plans and all that ...

So we didn't bike today. It was cloudy and looked like rain. Instead, I used the chance to take some more items to the recycling center (the party was very near the center). We say we recycle but the reality is that we have a pile of recyclables under our carport. So, I'm working at taking the chance to take a couple of bags every chance I get. Today it was a bag of bimetal cans and a bag of plastic bottles.

I still have a ton of cardboard, but we'll use some of that around the house. We'll lay it down over the grass, wet it heavily and then pour mulch over it. This will kill the grass in areas we want for flower/vegetable beds. Of course, it attracts cockroaches, but everything does here.

Help Identify a bird

We have parrots in our neighborhood. They're red-crowned parrots and we're used to seeing them (but we still get excited to see them).

Tonight we heard a different sound than normal. I thought it was either the whistling ducks that are thinking of nesting in our Washingtonia palm skirt and then maybe a grackle. But it just sounded like a parrot, but not our parrots.

We finally spotted the pair of them. They were parrots, but they had a yellow head. Their call was less harsh than the red-crowned parrot and they almost seemed to laugh (I think they were laughing at me thinking they were whistling ducks, but well, I tend to be insecure, so ...). They did appear to be smaller than our red-crowned parrots, but only marginally so. They had the squared off tail we are used to seeing in our parrots (in other words, when they flew off, they had a noticeable "parrot profile").

Honestly, if it wasn't for the yellow head and softer voice, I'd have thought they were our normal parrots.

Anyone know what we saw? Alas, we didn't have a camera to get a pick.

Gas!!

Our previously "cheap" gas has spiked in prices. It's now $3.09/gallon (making a driving trip into Mexico to buy gas an attractive proposition).

We've been changing our lifestyle over the last year, but I've seen us fall into a pattern of driving more than we should. Mr. Gaia's bike developed a tendency to actually slit tire tubes (making patching an impossibility) and soccer got in the way of our training/conditioning/maintenance rides. We still walked but found ourselves driving places we had originally planned as "biking distance".

The prices are spurring us to reevaluate. We have an extra bike, we should be able to swap out the rim that is apparently slitting the tires (and maybe finally figure out the issue). We will still have a problem we've had all along - no good places to park and lock a bike (bike racks are almost nonexistant), but we figure we can always use a tree or convenient ice machine (as much we hate doing anything that might damage a tree).

One of Hyperion's classmates has a party tomorrow, and not being ones to ease into things we plan to bike to the party. We figure we should be able to find someplace to lock the bikes and the party isn't until noon, so Mr. Gaia should be able to replace the tire.

I once read a poster who had "no gas days". That's where we want to go. Clearly we will always have to use some gas (well, at least in the foreseeable future). Mr. Gaia's job requires him to drive 40 miles roundtrip and my job, while relatively close, is not really bike friendly, but there's no reason we can't make our weekends gas-free.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

how does your garden grow?

The ginger root we stuck in a bucket of soil is putting up all kinds of new shoots which means we'll have fresh ginger before we know it. I can't wait.

The freesia nub that Mr. Gaia brought home and left on the counter for weeks and then finally shoved into a bucket of soil has 5 fully grown leaves and is sending up new leaves all the time.

The birds of paradise "liberated" from the neighbor's yard are 50/50. One has sent up a new leaf but the other hasn't (but is still green, so there's still hope).

My bengal tiger rose has been blooming but the darn things don't last long at all. I swear they must bloom first thing in the morning and then by the time I see them in the afternoon they're already overblown. But my belinda's dream has had a beautiful bloom for several days now. My cherokee rose is holding its own with one green stem and a few green leaves with only a little bit of brown on the margins. My peace rose is recovering from its transplant shock and is putting on lots of new growth.

My kale is just starting to bolt, but is still edible, so I'm holding it for now.

My cannas have lots of greenery and may actually bloom this year.

My aloe is reproducing at an alarming rate, and is going to have to be moved out of the pots and put in the ground.

I have what Mr. Gaia tells me are garlic chives filling a 5 gallon bucket (sense a pattern here with the buckets? We have a ton of them full of good topsoil and compost).

I have a volunteer watermelon growing in the bucket I used for compost over a year ago (so I'm sure it's fully composted now). I swear I can almost watch it grow.

One of my rosemary plants is still alive and will probably stay that way if I keep the bindweed off of it.

The friggin' oleander and tepeguaje sprout faster than I can keep up with. But I'm keeping on keeping on with the johnsongrass (completely eradicated in one bed and the alley).

Good week

So, yesterday I got a surprise check in the mail. It was only $5, but it was $5 I hadn't expected to get. One of my survey sites does screening surveys. If your answers on the screening survey indicates that you fit the demographic the customer wants, then you get the longer survey which pays. But if your demographics don't match, you get entered into a drawing. I always just figured it was one of those things where no one ever wins. Surprise, surprise, I wound up having my name drawn.

Then, I signed up for a bzzcampaign (BzzAgent) and got a huge bottle of Eucerin lotion and 10 samples size tubes each with a coupon for $1 off a full size bottle. The samples are to give out when I talk about the product. And I also got a chance to sign up for coppertone sunscreen (which we use) and al fresco chicken sausages (this one is interesting, I hope I can find it locally).

I tried the Eucerin tonight. I put it on one leg, but not the other (no real reason, really, mainly because I was cooking and needed to go check on the food and then because I thought it would be interesting to see the difference in my skin). When I went out to garden, it seemed like the mosquitoes paid a lot less attention to the lotioned leg - at least at first. I don't know if it was a texture issue, a smell issue or maybe even just my imagination, but I plan to check it out further.

Garden woes

I haven't been able to garden an hour every day as planned because the mosquitoes are really, really thick right now. The bad thing is that part of the reason they are thick is because the weeds are thick and high - see the problem? I can't get rid of the weeds because the mosquitoes are too thick, and the mosquitoes are so thick because I can't get rid of the weeds. So I do 5-10 minutes at a time and just hope that it will eventually get done.

I don't worry about the mosquitoes because they make me itchy. I don't react to them. I worry about them because of mosquito-borne illnesses. Living in the subtropics, there are diseases I need to worry about. I'm not invincible, as much as I would like to be.

And today I walked out and my Belinda's Dream rose looks like lace. The diagnosis? Leafcutter bees. The good news is that the bee (they tend to be solitary so it's probably just one female) probably won't do any major damage to my rose, it's mainly cosmetic. The other good news, since this rose is under my clothesline and close to the house, is that leafcutter bees tend to be nonaggressive.

Happy Mother's Day

What would a holiday be without a few minor hiccups?

My day was wonderful. Mr. Gaia and the boys woke me up with pancakes (not in bed, but ready for me on the table) and gifts. Wonderful gifts.

Then we left the house to go to the butterfly garden. I looked up the directions last night, but Mr. Gaia didn't look at them saying "I'll check it out tomorrow". Needless to say, he didn't look it up and check it out. So we were stuck with my half-assed remembrance (it's somewhere I don't go so the roads didn't make sense to me and didn't really stick in my mind). We did eventually find it, only to find that right now it's really not much of anything. Not even any real trails to hike (not that we felt up to hiking in the 93F temps).

Okay, so that was a bust. So off to the new birding center. Oops, not open today.

Okay, so let's go to Target and get Oceanus the posterboard he needs for his school project due tomorrow (which he mostly forgot about and I reminded him). He picks out the last blue piece and we make our way to the checkout stand. At the checkout stand, the cashier mauls the poor thing and creases it to hell and back and it won't scan. So she calls for help and then clears our previous purchases out of the register and starts scanning the people behind us. We were in the express lane, so I mostly understand. However, the people behind us kept adding items, two here and two there until there was no end in sight and well after they had called with the correct scan information (or so we assume). At the point where they were adding 5 more items, I looked at the cashier and said "nevermind" and we left. I really do understand her ringing up the next people in line, but when it was clear it was waaaaay more than the 10 items, she should have figured something else out for us, rather than leaving us standing around forever and a day. So we came home and went to our local Target and the things we were going to buy were actually cheaper.

Between Target trips, we went to eat. Oh my goodness. Talk about noisy and crowded and pricy. They added an addition $3/person for the meal (it was a buffet and their normal prices were also posted). This wouldn't have been so bad, except it was the same exact food and it was stale. Yes, stale. It was a chinese buffet and the eggrolls were cold. The wonton soup had no wontons. The fish was ice cold.

But it was still a good day.

The preacher's wife had her twins Thursday. Esther and James were born at 9:39 am and weighed 7lbs4oz and 8lbs3oz respectively. They're absolutely beautiful and healthy as can be. They nurse like champs and adore their older siblings (thank goodness, Marcia (preacher's wife) needs all the help she can get).

Thinking Blogger

Tanya tagged me as a thinking blogger a week ago. I've been thinking about this for the last week. I didn't post much all week - not because of this but because Mr. Gaia was travelling and I'm not good at the single parent gig. It took it all out of me to keep house and hearth together.

Here are the participation rules:
The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote

The hard part is 5 blogs that make me think. Most of the blogs I read get 1000s of hits a day, they won't recognize me at all. The others have already been tagged.

Grace always makes me think. Her recent posts on fire take me back to college and my first summer out of college working for the forest service. I had my red card (for forest fire fighting) except for passing the physical (my resting heart rate was too high to even come close to passing for the physical part).

Tikvahgirl's posts always make me think. She hasn't posted a new post in a while, but I know that it's a busy time of the year for her and when she does post again, it'll be a thought provoking post.

Jenny is a wonderful resource for me. I'm trying to live a life more green and she has so many wonderful ideas.

Mathew draws a 4 frame comic strip that says more in 4 short frames than most people say in 10 pages.

Rani has one of my new favorite blogs. Soon, I'm going to post some pics of some items of clothing I own that I have no idea how to fix/refashion and I hope to goodness she'll weigh in.

Goals update

I'm not going to make my May 15 goal. I'm not terribly short, moneywise, but I am still short. Mr. Gaia is looking into ordering the study materials for his office. I can't push him on it, he wants me to do this, but he can't be pushed. I'm going to move my original goal to June 15.

I should be able to pick up more shops in June because the kids will be staying with their grandparents for that month. Mr. Gaia and I have set a goal of not eating out during the time they're gone, so if a chance comes up, I'll grab a restaurant shop.

My save money for April goals have gone fairly well. I did not use the dryer at all. Mr. Gaia did for his work clothes because they wrinkle so much worse than my work clothes (which are hung up fresh from the washer). I went through the drawers and the cabinets and pulled out all my samples. I have shampoo samples that will last until fall (if not later). I have a ton of lotion samples (and by samples I mean hotel freebies). I don't really use lotion much, so I have no idea what to do with all of this. I didn't, however, get any garden planted.

May is tight because April was expensive. So we're having to watch May as well. June will be much better (with the kids gone, I'll work full time).

I've added some exercise goals (because I now have 2 skirts and 2 pair of slacks I can't wear because they're too tight and I don't have that many clothes). M-W-F I do tricep dips, T-Th-S I do "mountain climbing". Throughout the week I do garden and yard work for about an hour. The next step is to simply stop eating so much. I don't really drink soda any more - just when we eat out, which is rare. I think it's the sweet tea that's doing it. I go through half a gallon of sweet tea every other day. I don't "do" artificial sweeteners (they aren't organic).

Faith the size of a mustard seed

Today was a good day. I slept in while Mr. Gaia worked to prepare yet another side of the house for painting.

When it cooled off, I decided my bok choy had died enough that I could harvest the seeds. Bok choy is in the mustard family. Most of us have heard the bible quote "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed". Let me tell you, they're not the smallest seeds I've seen, but it takes a HUGE lot of them to look like you have any. I gathered enough to have two planting next year. The research I've done indicates the seeds won't need any special treatment.

After I gathered the seeds, I pulled out the plants. I now have a mostly open garden bed. The aphids had been having a field day on the bok choy and it was quite disgusting messing with the stalks. I should have caught some of the ladybugs that were feasting on the aphids and taken them to my poor Bengal Tiger rose in the front yard.

I cleared the johnsongrass out of the main bed I've been working on. There is still one plant that I need to get from the other side of the fence, but I've got to clear the alley area so that I can close the gate to get at it. AND the stupid thing is in the trunk/roots left after an oleander was removed, so it's going to be a pain to remove.

Unloading thoughts

1) When will I figure out what I want to be when I grow up? Mr. Gaia has suggested I look into a master's of biology which is probably offered online. I know I would enjoy the classes, etc, but what would I do with it?

2) Mr. Gaia has found an online degree program he thinks would be great for him - $50,000 plus he would have to travel to the school 2-3x year. Part of me thinks "it's only money" the other part of me thinks "we have 2 kids who will start college 10-12 years from now, if we take on this debt now (and this is almost as much as our first mortgage) how will we possibly help them with their education?"

3) I get a solar oven and we finally get rain. I'm not saying the two events are connected, you understand, but it does stand to reason that our unrelentingly sunny days would suddenly become cloudy days as soon as I need/want sun.

4) Mr. Gaia and I have been married 12 years now. That's a really long time. I'll bet a lot of people are surprised that we're still married (okay, sometimes I am too). We clashed a lot at the beginning as we figured out our respective roles, and we're still working on what roles we play in the partnership, but I think we're probably happier for having hashed out our expectations and desires.

5) I'm tired of my negative self image with my body. I have a healthy weight. Yes, I have some fat around my belly, but some of it is loose skin from carrying big babies. But why did I have to be afflicted with cellulite even when I'm at my thinnest (and have a BMI that sends up alarm bells)?

6) The preacher's wife is "full term" now. She's hit 38 weeks and her OB is pressuring her to have an induction. As uncomfortable as she is (and she is) she's holding strong with the "are my babies okay? Am I okay?" line.

7) My blog's google hits mostly come from people asking "is Michelle Duggar pregnant again?" Well, this is the best source I can find. Their family website is very bare and doesn't say anything at all. Supposedly the new baby (babies?) is (are?) due July 27.

8) Things have been quiet in Bug Hill lately. We're all mostly waiting for the preacher's wife to have her twins. The knitting needles have been flying and the babies have more things than they can ever need - especially in our current heat.

9) While things have been quiet, there was a minor excitement 2 weeks ago in our office. Megan, our office assistant (for lack of a better title) took a pregnancy test at work (this one boggled my mind) and then proceeded to announce her positive result to everyone. She then hared off to Planned Parenthood (I'm still amazed we have a chapter here) and took another test and got prenatal vitamins, etc. She's about 7 weeks now. Geez, I actively denied my pregnancy at work until I was about 15 weeks along and hiding it was getting difficult. She's embraced her pregnancy - she's called in sick several times - once for excessive nausea and once for swollen feet. If she thinks her feet are swollen now, well, it's going to be a loooooong 33 weeks.

Sun Oven Report

We got it yesterday, but didn't have time to try it out then (and it was a little overcast).

Tonight, we cooked bratwurst in it. Within 30 minutes it was 310F (the outside temp was 89F). This was at 4:30, so not at the sun's full strength.

One mistake we made is that we didn't use a covered pan. The moisture from the bratwurst condensed on the glass lens and blocked some of the sun's rays. The temp dropped to about 210F. They cooked for 1-2 hours (I'll admit it, I took a nap) reaching an internal temp of 150F. The final temp of the oven at 6:30 was 150F.

This was a great success. The brats were moist and well cooked. The next experiment will probably be cornbread. I'm not sure how to handle the covered pan issue, maybe cornbread won't be as big of a deal. Cast-iron isn't the most suitable for a solar-oven, but I'm thinking heating the pan to melt the butter won't use that much energy and once the pan is heated, it will work fine in the solar oven.

Garden for your Health

I swear, gardening is the best exercise. I exercise for a specific reason - to shrink my belly and stay in my clothes. If I don't see results in a week, I lose interest and eventually quit when something else comes up.

But with gardening - well, you may not see results in your physique (and I haven't) but you definitely see results in your garden. I'm happy to report that one bed is 95% Johnsongrass free. I flat ran out of steam before I could get that last little bit.

Of course, the bad part is that this leaves my compost pile (and I do mean pile) exposed to the view of anyone driving down the alley (see completely off topic rant below). Mr. Gaia decided that the boxes our salad comes in decompose, so we should compost them. We store the compost in them in the kitchen and when they get full or stinky (or fruitflies) we just take the whole thing to the pile and leave it there. Now, in theory, this is a good idea. In practice? Yeah. The plastic (made from veggie starch, supposedly) doesn't decompose in anything resembling a halfway timely manner. So my compost pile looks extremely trashy. So I foresee a few days with a garden fork mashing and crushing and somehow making them hide.

Okay, now for my completely off topic rant. People are such assholes. Apparently the people on the corner are moving out or moving in. The CORNER - which means they can park any number of places. They decide to park a huge minivan (and really, it was the biggest minivan I have ever seen) about 2 feet from the curb and about six inches encroaching on our alley, on the other side, they parked a truck, so you had to pull all the way into the traffic lane, no driving on the shoulder to merge into traffic. I literally could not see around it to get out of my alley this morning. I tried inching out and almost got hit many, many times. I could see a huge group of people on the other side of the moving van (in the driveway), so I roll down my window and yell, very loudly, "Could you please help me get out, you're blocking the sightlines". They ignored me. I yelled louder, I see feet turn toward my car and then I hear laughter. Assholes. I should have called the cops. I ended up having to back down the alley to my driveway (there was one a little closer than my house, but not enough for me to be rude enough to use their driveway) and then go down the alley the other way and get caught in traffic there. I started out being early for work, I ended up late, this added about 7 minutes to my 7 minute commute.

And the kicker? We have trash cans to serve 4 homes. They filled their can and now have filled our can. I actually saw him wheeling a kitchen can down the alley looking for a can he could use. Now, we're pretty loose with our cans, if one is full, sure you can add a bag or two to another can, but you just don't fill it up. You just don't. When Mr. Gaia took our one small bag out (it was starting to smell) he had to walk down 2 trash cans to find one empty enough to put it in. So, they fill our garbage cans and they block our alley. I hope they are moving out because if they are moving in, this does not bode well.

Gratitude Post

It's been a while since I did a gratitude post, so here goes.

I am grateful for:

1) Mr. Gaia who did paint the front of the house while I slept in. I love it. It's a bit lighter than I really wanted, but I still love it.

2) Hyperion who is turning into a great little helper. He helped scrub the house and paint.

3) Oceanus who knows how to have fun and rope everyone else in with him. He got us all involved in playing mini-soccer (I have no idea if that's an actual game, but we use a mini soccer ball and a very small goal).

4) Beautiful weather that has enabled us to paint and to use the clothesline almost exclusively (Mr. Gaia feels he has to use the dryer for his work clothes).

5) Strong arms and legs to pull out the weeds (not done and not even close, but you can see the difference).

Busy Saturday

I love living in a neighborhood. Love, love, love it.

This morning, one of the kids' friends from school came over to play. They played for a couple of hours and then we walked him home and visited with his family for half an hour or so. It's so nice.

Then, we came home and started working on ... painting Chez Gaia. Right now the house is a beige brick with beige siding on the front of the house (covered by the porch) and this green-ish brown (pond scum brown) on the eaves and soffits. I've picked out what I hope is a sage green, but it looks more like it will be a bit on the mint side.

Our hope is that by using a lighter (much lighter!) color, the attic will absorb less heat and stay just a bit cooler. Of course, for the money, we would have been better off installing radiant heat barriers. But it's already too hot to consider crawling into the "attic" space.

All we've done so far is scrub the old paint with a wire brush to roughen it up and get it ready to take the new paint. We've rinsed off the dust created by that. I suspect Mr. Gaia will work on painting while I'm napping tomorrow.

While he was getting the highest spots, I worked on the beds around our trees. I cut off the root suckers, pulled out the dead leaves and weeded out the st augustine grass (a grass that is nice in the lawn, but persistant as all get out when it's in a flower bed).

April 19

I wonder if there will ever come a time when I don't get that weepy, stone in my gut feeling when I read something about April 19?

I accidently saw the memorial in OKC twice while I lived there (stupid one way streets) and both times I had to pull over because I couldn't see.

I don't see how people who live in NYC can handle it. A major part of their skyline gone. I would cry all the time.

I don't know if it's something you just deal with and accept. I mean, eventually we get used to visiting places where departed loved ones lived and which necessarily remind us of them.

Mr. Gaia's family planned a trip to the memorial and couldn't understand my issue with it. I couldn't explain it myself. They're normally very accepting, so I was a bit surprised that they had such a problem with me not going. I told them Mr. Gaia had a cellphone, he could call me when they were done and I would meet them at their next activity, but still, somehow, I was spoiling their plans. Eventually (and this is how they are so different from my own family) we worked it out and they did their thing and I met them at the end. They even agreed with me that maybe it was a tad bit too much for a new mother (Hyperion was about 18 months old at this point). The pictures of the babies, etc.

Tanya has a post up with the most gorgeous pictures. Breathtaking, really. Including one of her son at a memorial for the children of April 19.

Mystery Shopping and other goals

I've been shopping for Speedmark Vision. I've done 4 shops so far - which totals $53. I have another 3 scheduled for the next week which will add $41. For a total of $94.

Through Opinion Square, I've ordered a $5 Target gift card (if you want to join, I'd appreciate it if you'd let me refer you, but it's no big deal if you don't).

Through My Points, I've ordered a $25 Target gift card (again, I'd appreciate the referral, but no biggie if you just join on your own).

I received a $15 rebate from paypal - I hesitate to count this, but I will for now.

So for now, I have a total of $98 with a guarantee of $139. It is short of my goal, but it's getting there. I've applied for 4 more mystery shops which (if I get them) would add $48 and I would top my goal. But none of them will happen before May 15.

Mr. Gaia is supposed to look into ordering the study materials to have in his office. There's some local legislation that, if passed, will greatly increase the demands for Certified Arborists. So it's a good time to get started. Of course, the city with the pending legislation is 4o miles away, so it is farther than I want to travel.

Johnsongrass!

I've been trying to get rid of johnsongrass. I swear I had it gone last year, but it's back and stronger than ever this year. I suspect I missed a bunch because I just didn't want to see it. And now I'm paying the price.

I'm organic (and making every day Earth Day), so I don't want to spray anyway. Plus, I won't use a Monsanto product even if they paid me, so that leaves out round-up and many other common herbicides. But I started doing some research on how to control and eradicate it and found that it is rapidly becoming resistant to many common herbicides. So even if I wanted to spray, and didn't mind that it might kill all my plants, it might not do much good anyway.

My legs and hands are so sore. Even with gloves, I'm getting friction spots on my hands. My calves are cramping all night long and yet I've only cleared about 1/4 of what I have to clear. Sooo frustrating.

The good part of all this is that I feel like I'm burning some extra calories.

No More Soccer!! (for the season)

Soccer is over for the season. They've played their last games, they've had their end of season parties, they've gotten their medals.

Hyperion so wants to play again next year. His team ended up really small - about 5 kids would show up at a time - so he got to play A LOT. I can really see a huge improvement. He's much more focused when he's playing the game. He's starting to think ahead and plan ahead and know where the ball will go and be.

Oceanus says he doesn't want to play again next year. I think it's because he thinks his friend is going to be on a more elite team and he doesn't think he'll make the cut. It doesn't matter how much I encourage him and tell him he was one of the better players, he doesn't think he'd make the cut. I did pass on comments from the other parents that he was the most improved player this year, but I suspect he's a lot like me and thinks that means that he was really bad to begin with and now is only marginally bad.

I'm in the position of making the decision of "do I let my child quit, or do I push him to do something that he could enjoy and be fairly good at, if he'd only let himself?" He'll never be a star and probably won't even make the high school team, but he's pretty good for his age. And if we continue to live in this area, knowing how to play soccer will be important. Here, kids don't have pick-up baseball and football games like they did when we were kids, they have pick-up soccer games.

Towards Energy Self-sufficiency

We did it. We ordered our Global Sun Oven tonight. This is - officially - our anniversary gift to each other. The hope is that when summer and 90+F temps come, we'll continue to bake bread. The fear, as always, is that we will feel the major heat and say "I don't want to make the house even hotter!"

Plus! This means we will use less energy to cool our house. Less energy to bake bread and less energy to cool the house? Maybe our summer electric bills won't be sky-high this summer.

This is part of our effort to "make every day Earth Day". I know it's a very trite phrase, but it's one my kids can understand and internalize. They did a very good job of explaning Earth Day yesterday and knew exactly why we were planting a tree and a rose bush. They were even able to list some of the benefits of green plants.

Earth Day

One last tip from Stonyfield Farm

SUPPORT LOCAL FARMERS
Find a Farmer’s Market near you.
Join a Community Supported Agriculture project. Local Harvest can help you find locally grown organic food.CONSIDER ORGANICS
Learn about the National Organic Program.
Stay on top of news from and about the organics industry, visit the Organic Trade Association.
Learn what the EPA has to say about pesticides in your food.
Find suggestions for sustainable agriculture, and controlling pesticide use in the home at the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
OPPOSE GMOs
Learn what Genetically Modified Organisms-- GMO -- can mean to you and your family.
Join the campaign to require GMO labeling in the United States.

So for Earth Day we planted a tree (a Satsuma Mandarin) and a rose (Peace). We went to the library (rather than buying new books) and shopped for organic groceries. We had planned to take our plastic grocery bags back for recycling but had a minor issue with the vehicle (not driving would have been even more environmentally friendly, but I had a mystery shop at the grocery store which was too far away for walking) and ended up having to leave it at the library while we walked home and got the other car (it was just a battery malfunction, I'm happy to report it is now running fine).

Countdown to Earthday

Again, from Stonyfield Farms

SWEEP YOUR HOME FREE OF CHEMICALS
Determine whether your home poses a health risk for your children by assessing the chemicals you may have around the house. The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition pages include information on safe household cleaning products, a healthy house quiz, and a list of chemicals commonly found around the house.
Take the virtual tour of your house at The EPA, with its web resources on household chemicals of your house.
Keep pests out of your home garden without resorting to toxic chemicals.
Consider organic gardening. Organic gardening requires home composting. Here are fact sheets with all the basics—one from Ohio and one from Cornell University.

Several years ago, before we had kids, Mr. Gaia and I switched to using baking soda and vinegar almost exclusively for cleaning. We do still use laundry detergent and dish detergent, but we've committed to cutting back on that too. Looking for houses without carpets have probably done the most for helping us to stay committed to no harsh chemicals.

Countdown to Earth Day

As usual, from Stonyfield farm

Choosing Organic Food
Buying organic is one way we can leave a better world to future generations. Organic refers to the way food is grown and processed. It is an ecological system that relies on healthy rich soil to produce plants that resist pests and diseases. Organic farming prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemicals in favor of cutting-edge practices that work with nature, instead of against it, such as crop rotation, cover crop planting, beneficial insect release, and composting.
Organic farming can be catalyst for rural economic development by offering an alternative market where small farmers can receive a premium for their crops.
Pesticide use in the U.S. has increased ten-fold from 1945 to 1989, yet total crop loss from pests nearly doubled in that period from 7% to 13%.
By refraining from using toxic chemicals, organic farmers may contribute to the survival of populations of songbirds, bees, fish, bald eagles, wetlands species, and many other species that have been hurt by chemicals in the environment.
Since organic practices prohibit the use of toxic and persistent chemicals, there is no risk of pesticide-contaminated water sources.
Organic is one of the fastest growing trends in the food industry. With annual sales of about $6.6 billion, and growth rates of at least 20% annually throughout the 1990's, there's no slow down in sight. As more companies produce it and more stores sell it, buying organic is becoming one of the easiest and most valuable things we can do to reduce the impact that food has on our world.
- To learn more about organic, click here.- To learn more about organic farming methods, click here.- To find out about organic options in your state, click here.- To understand the labeling of organic food, click here.- For the latest news on organic food, click here, here and here.- To see what you and your family should know about pesticides on food, click here, and here.- To learn more about the danger that pesticides pose for children, click here.- For more information on pesticides, check out EPA, NCAP, NCAMP and Panna.

We buy organic whenever we can. We do pay a lot more for it and I'm grateful we can afford it. For people who can't afford it, a good resource for veggies is local farmers' markets (which we don't have here, unfortunately). If you live in Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Food Coop is a great source.

I've found that organic gardening is actually much less expensive than conventional gardening. It does require a little more work, but really not that much more. What it does take more of, is acceptance of "blemishes". You won't necessarily have perfect lettuce with no bug holes. These things don't affect the flavor at all.

Difficult Day

April 19, 1995

I was in college at Stillwater. It was a Wednesday, so I had lecture classes. Mr. Gaia and I had a break at the same time and we would meet in our department's student lounge for lunch. We walked in to hear students upset. They were being more racist than normal and using slurs I had never heard before (yes I was sheltered). I heard "sand ni----" "rag-head" "camel jockeys". Once we got people to shut up and tell us what happened, we were staggered.

Oklahoma is a small state. It's a small-town state. A bombing of that magnitude was sure to touch us in some way.

The next two weeks are still a blur. We were finishing the last minute plans for our wedding in 2.5 weeks, we were studying for finals, we were trying to finish our senior capstone project, we were packing up our apartment to move right after our wedding.

Every day the school paper printed stories of people who had lost family members in the bombing. I watched the news every minute I wasn't in class. I cried daily. I sank into a depression that lasted for months.

Mr. Gaia and I were lucky. We didn't lose any family members or friends. Even now, we only know a few people who did lose family members and friends.

It's been 12 years. I look at my kids and I hug them even closer and remember all the babies who didn't get to live this long. I think of all the parents who lost their babies much too early. I'm not sure if I'll ever write April 19 without remembering those babies. 9/11 is our national tragedy. April 19 is our personal tragedy.

Countdown to Earthday

Again from Stonyfield Farms

GET CLEAN POWER
Clean power -- energy for our homes, vehicles, businesses, and schools –- doesn’t require polluting fossil sources to make it or replace it. By buying clean energy, you encourage local utilities to build more solar panels, wind farms, and other clean-energy resources -- and to cut back burning fuels that contribute to climate change.
There are two easy ways to get clean power:
A. Buy clean power from your local utility. Click on the map below to see if your utility offers a clean power program. If they don’t have one, demand that they do! And be advised that while some utilities do offer clean energy, it’s a time-consuming process. Rest assured---you can always return to this page and opt for Plan B, if that’s more to your liking.
OR
B. Invest in clean power by buying CoolWatts. You can “green up” your power use -- at home, at work, or on the road -- for just a few dollars a month. To learn more, Click Here.

This is next on our list. The electric rates in Texas are sky-high, but surprisingly we can get green energy for less than our current rate. If you do have a choice, you might be surprised that it isn't as expensive as you might think.

Countdown to Earthday

(Again, tip from Stonyfield Farms)

CHOOSE YOUR COMMUTE (OR NOT)
Convince your employer to try Commuter Choice, a group funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation to help company’s solve the transportation and commuting problems or their workforce. The site contains resources for commuters in some of the nation’s most congested areas.
Calculate the cost of the fuel you’re using in your car and compare fuel efficiencies of the cars on the market to help you make an informed car purchase.
Check out this list of the “greenest” cars on the market at GreenerCars.com.
Consider telecommuting to save time, energy and money.

The plan is that when my car craps out (or when we save the money) I will buy a little scooter. My commute is 2 miles (give or take, depending upon what errands I need to run) all on neighborhood streets. It's just a tad too far to walk, but it seems silly to drive. I can't bike there because it's an office and I'm expected to wear business clothes. So a scooter seems the best idea.

Whenever I get tired of my job, I remember that one of the benefits is how close it is to home. A different job would most likely require a much longer commute.

A tip I wish more people would consider here is walking the kids to school. We live half a mile from the school. It takes 10 minutes to walk it with the kids. We're getting good exercise and not using fuel. Most people literally live within 1 mile of the school. I've seen people drive 3 blocks to pick up their kids from the school. Yes, it's hot, but it's not that hot.

Countdown to Earth Day

Sunday is Earth Day. So, in preparation for that, I'm going to (try to) count down to Earth Day with a daily tip to help the environment. Because I'm feeling extremely uncreative, I'm going to borrow these from Stonyfield Yogurt.

Tip 1:
CONSERVE AND RENEW YOUR HOME ENERGY
Read up on energy efficiency and renewable energy with fact sheets from the U..S. Department of Energy.
Conduct a do-it-yourself home energy audit, with information on how to make your home more energy efficient and the profitability of making energy upgrades.
Energy Savers
Evaluate your home’s energy usage with the tools available in this Energy Department website.
Compare and contrast homes appliances and learn about home improvements at Energy Star, a government-backed program that can help you choose appliances and other home improvements based on their energy efficiency. In 2004, enough power was saved through Energy Star efforts to power 24 million homes, greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by the equivalent of 20 million cars, and saved $10 billion.

The things we have done include growing used to warmer temperatures. We slowly bumped up our thermostat until we had it as high as it would go (88F) for a good portion of the day. The programmable thermostat we have really helps, we can set it to be 84 during the evening when we're all home, eating supper and being active. Then gradually go up when it's time to go to bed. We are lucky that our climate is such that it gets much cooler at night, even in the hottest days of summer, so most nights we can turn the AC off completely and open the windows and use fans.

Of course, the clothesline makes the list. This did require getting used to stiffer clothes and planning ahead. It takes longer to do the laundry when you don't use a dryer (well, most of the time, on the hot windy days I find that the clothes on the clothesline dry in less than an hour - the amount of time they would take in the dryer).

We do buy energy star appliances, but most of our current appliances were in the house when we bought it. We'll replace them with energy star when we get the chance. We plan to replace our current water heater with an on-demand heater. We'll replace the stove with a gas stove when we replace it. For our anniversary, we plan to buy a solar oven, probably this one.

Spring!!!

Here is where I was going to talk about gardening and hanging clothes on the clothesline, but Grace beat me to it and I don't want to look like a copy-cat.

So, ummm, what to talk about?

Shall I rant about TAKS and how it is reducing Oceanus (my GT kid) to a sniveling pile of insecurity? Nah, that's just too painful to talk about. It will be over after tomorrow, until next year.

I can brag on Hyperion. We got his progress report and he is thisclose to making the all A honor roll and his behavior has been amazing lately (even at home). Both kids won their soccer games and Hyperion was really focused during the game.

One last soccer game. Tonight was the last practice and Saturday is the last game. Until fall. I am so ready for the break. I skipped practice last night to finish some weeding and get a nap.

I finally did my taxes. I used TaxACT and filed for free. I hope it goes through fine. We owed this year, so I'm afraid that it won't go through and we'll be hit with penalties.

My TV is in Texas, so maybe it will be delivered tomorrow. That would be nice. The Wii has been signaling new messages for days now (it glows blue and is really freaky to see), so I'm ready to get it hooked to a TV and have the messages reviewed.

I'm trying to eat less candy. My plan is to do house or yard work whenever I get a candy craving. We'll see how long it lasts. Tonight I ate leftovers rather than candy, so maybe I'll kick my sugar addiction (if you don't count the sweet tea).

Okay, was this random enough? Sheesh.

Stepping out of my comfort zone

I've always been socially awkward. I tend to say the wrong thing and to be unable to let silences happen. I'm the one always trying to get conversation going. Sometimes I'm successful, I've gotten pretty good a pairing people at parties (not my parties, I don't give parties, but kids' birthday parties), introducing people who will have interesting conversations, but when I fail? Yeah, it's not so pretty.

So, I was invited to a margarita night the other day. Ordinarily I make excuses, but I stepped out of my comfort zone and agreed to go.

It was at one of the mother's homes. She invited the kids and she lives in the neighborhood (about 7 blocks away). So I take my boys and I go. They had a ball, I had a ball. Mr. Gaia had to call to drag us away at 10:00 - the boys had soccer today.

I'm going to work on doing more stuff like this.

Nature!!!

I need a camera. I have one, but it eats batteries like mad, so it's like not having a camera at all.

Today I got pissed at the vine on my trellis, it grew way too fast and now it's just a mess at the top and hardly any on the trellis. So I decided to be ruthless and cut it off at the top. While doing that I managed to uncover some anoles. Poor things, they were in the middle of some lizard love.

Then being the freak I am, I ran to get my boys to show them. Okay, what kind of mom shows a 6 & 8 year old two lizards having sex? A freaky nature mom, that's who. They were interesting though, they didn't move while having sex, the male just moved her tail aside, clamped on and then they sat there.

There was another, smaller male hanging out. I don't know if he was waiting his chance or what.

I knew this was mating season for the lizards, I've been seeing them EVERYWHERE. The other day, I walked out and saw two on the siding of my soffits (which are brown). They were bright green. I walked down to look at the one that was a little lower. By the time I turned around, the other one had turned brown to match the soffit color.

April Woes

April financial showers (downturns) bring May financial flowers (upturns)? I hope so.

So this month is expensive. Income taxes, car insurance and now our television died.

I'm actually embarrassed how tied to the TV I am. I mainly use it for background noise while I'm up late. I'm only up late to have my alone time. But, the thought of being without TV bothered me enough that I made Mr. Gaia rig something so that we can watch TV. He rigged our projector (don't ask) to make a HUGE television. He's ordered a new one from Costco so that we can take back our living room from the overpowering television. For right now, we truly have a big screen TV.

Car insurance. Well, I'm actually kind of overstating it. We have Progressive and they allow you to put it on your credit card. So it will actually be due next month. By putting it on the credit card (even though we did actually have the cash) we bought another month interest free and will get some bonus cash. I love rewards cards.

Income tax. First let me say that it is great to not qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit. This is only the second year since Oceanus was born that we haven't qualified. It was nice to have it when we needed it, but it's really nice to make more money now. That said, I don't wanna send them a check that they'll use to wage war. I try to tell myself that *my* taxes go to social programs and environmental tax credits, but I'm not sure I believe it.

April feels expensive, and it is, but we're deferring a good portion of it interest free until next month.

I had to set some financial goals for April so that when the bills come due in May we'll have enough to cover it. My goals:

1) More mystery shops. They only pay about $12, but it's better than nothing.

2) Use my samples. No more buying new until all the samples are used up. I have enough samples and hotel bottles of shampoo to last at least through May.

3) Use the clothesline 100% (which has been difficult because April is proving to truly be rainy)

4) Commit to my garden. I need to go ahead and pull out the bok choy and arugula which have bolted and plant some tomatoes and peppers and okra. Yummm, fried okra - there's nothing better in the world. I have seeds for all of these. They may not be the most viable, but it only takes a few plants of each to have more than I can use.

Gotta Get Goals

I've been asked to think about my Gotta Get Goals by Jenny at Green Mommy (you can check out her goals here).

I've been thinking about this and I think my goals are fairly common.

1) Financial Independence. I read Your Money or Your Life and I really want the life they describe. The idea that I can cut my expenses and increase my income so that at some point my investments are creating enough income that I don't have to work unless I want to? Heaven.

2) Peace. Mr. Gaia and I have always had very different money management styles. He does research carefully and get the best deals, but in the past he would buy things we didn't need because it was a good deal. Something changed in the past year and we are beginning to actually have peace in our home.

3) Travel. I really want to travel. Last year we were blessed and my father in law invited us to join him on a trip to Mexico. He gifted us with a place to stay, meals while there and paid for most of our activities. We only had to pay for airfare for the four of us. We had such a great time together and learned so much. I really want to do this more. I want to get to Europe and Asia. Australia, New Zealand and the Galapagos.

4) Sustainability. I want to make our lifestyle sustainable. We are working towards this by making our home more energy efficient, adjusting to warmer and cooler temps (so that we don't have to run the heater or air conditioner) and buying organic foods. We don't have a large lot, but it is large enough to supply at least a fairly good portion of our vegetables, if I will just do it. Eventually we will have solar panels and perhaps mini-turbines and rain barrels.

5) Giving. I want to be able to set up a foundation that will supply solar panels and/or mini-turbines to (eventually) anyone who wants them, starting with lower-income levels. Many people down here do not have electricity at all and other people pay 25-50% of their monthly income for electricity. The plan will be to supply them with the panels/turbines and then help them use the money they save/make to increase the energy efficiency of their home.

6) A Vocation. I have a career, but it isn't my calling. I'm not sure what my calling is, but I want to find it. I don't want to wake-up at retirement age and realize that I've spent all my time working at something I didn't like because I needed money and didn't have any better ideas.

7) Learn to speak Spanish. It's embarrassing that I don't speak more than a smattering of Spanish. I hate that I'm a typical American in this way (but I do at least have my passport).

If I can accomplish these, I will look back on my life and realize that I lived a great life.

I tag Tanya and any lurkers out there (I see you, but I don't know who you are, come forward and let me know)

Real Woman meme

Tanya, the art butcher tagged me with this meme.

This is surprisingly hard. What is a Real Woman™? Most days I feel like it's something I'm not.

So, here goes. To me a Real Woman™:

-Isn't afraid to jump in and be physical. Whether it be helping carry heavy items or getting dirty, she knows she can do it and anyone who thinks doing so makes her less feminine can suck it.

- Isn't afraid to go after what she wants. The corner office, her own business, the "male job", etc.

- Accepts that she can't actually have it all, but figures out what is most important and manages to fit in many of the less important items.

- Isn't afraid to admit when she isn't typically feminine. If she doesn't like to shop, isn't into shoes, purses, or makeup, she isn't afraid of being judged when she admits it.

- However, a real woman doesn't judge her friends who are into the typically feminine things. If they like it, that's good enough for her.

- A real woman helps her friends be strong but isn't afraid to let them see her when she's weak.

I know there are more things I want to say and I'm not stating what I want to say as well as I would like, but my muse, she has left. I tag Jenny and Grace if they wish to be tagged.

Ecotourism - Sabal Palm Sanctuary

We rarely get to play tourists in our area. Okay, let me rephrase that, I rarely get to play tourist. I never manage to have the chance to take a day off. Anyway ...

I had the day off for Good Friday and it was too cool for the beach today so Mr. Gaia suggested a trip to the Sabal Palm Sanctuary. Mother in law tells us that step-brother recently sent them a newsletter from their waldorf school talking about birding being the activity "progressive families" are pursuing these days. I'm assuming this is a work in progress, since I know very few kids who are capable of being quiet and still enough to see many birds. But, we're a family that figures kids won't learn without practice.

The Sanctuary is gorgeous. Sabal Palms are related to palmetto palms (found in Florida) but in the US are only native to the Rio Grande Valley and grow excrutiatingly slowly. It takes a sabal 12 years before it has even grown enough to have a trunk.

My only disappointment in the sanctuary was the large number of non-native plants. I understand that it isn't their mission to remain native only, but there were so many non-native plants that it was fairly distracting.

But, oh my was it gorgeous. I saw a green jay carrying straw for its nest. We heard and then saw a long-billed thrasher hiding in the tree top. It has a beautiful song and it is very loud. The kids never managed to see the birds (well, other than kiskadees, which are show-offs and can't manage to stay hidden no matter what), but sharp-eyed Hyperion managed to spot and point out several striped lizards (probably this) and lots of ants. He managed to spot a damselfly which was patient enough to let us examine it carefully. We also saw several dragonflies (my favorites).

Mr. Gaia got quite a few good pictures of a tepeguahe just sending out new leaves and flower buds. He also got some nice shots of the damselfly Hyperion and I examined and a butterfly that was willing to pose for a good long while. And the coolest wasp lookalike I've ever seen - it had the best colors and really did look like a wasp until you looked and realized it didn't have a "wasp waist".

I'd recommend this as a site to visit, but I warn you, you need insect repellant - the mosquitoes are quite thick.

Rain!!!

We went weeks without rain and finally got some this weekend. All the flowers are blooming so nicely, the trees are fully leafed out.

And the grass has sprung up. It already needed mowed, but I got lazy. I went out to work on it tonight. I only succeeded in making a couple of paths.

Reel mowers are marvelous as long as you mow regularly. I suspect I'll be burning a lot of calories this week while I work to keep the house clean for my mother-in-law and uphold my half of the mowing (Mr. Gaia does the front yard and uses the weed-eater). I have to admit, it's lazy times like this that make me wish I had a gas powered or electric mower.