Sunday Scribblings #117

This weeks prompt is VISION. I can talk a lot about vision. There is the vision to see the future and not in the whole psychic way (although I know nothing about that). I mean the vision to see what you want. The vision that I have is that we, as a society, will be better and make our world a happier place. But I know that is not going to happen in my lifetime. I want my daughter to have a vision of what she wants to be, be it a SAHM or a CEO of a mega company or the president of the USA. She can be anything she wants to be. I think my vision of her is that of a sweet, loving child that is a joy to be with.
With all of the above references to my child another important vision, especially here in AZ, is vision on the road. After my scare last week I am trying to pay a little more attention to the weather report when I am out during monsoon season. My visibility was completely shot. I could barely see the BP that was in the middle of the road maybe a good 50 yards behind me.


I guess I can't talk a lot about vision, lol.

Green reading

Ok I am a pale, light green person and I am on the lookout for green books. I came across this book twice at the Walden Bookstore, "Growing up Green" by Deirdre Imus. Now being the African American mother that I am I was offended and hurt and the whole gambit of feelings. Now I think I want to read the book, haven't really looked into it, but I don't think I want it because of her. True it's not that she said anything or did anything but she's married to him. So I need a little help her ladies, do I go ahead and get the book? Or do I find something else?

Wordless Wednesday

"Sitting pretty"

De-skunking

If you've read my tackle post you understand the title so you kinda know what I am talking about.


Halley, my wonderful, loving, 8yr dog loves to play, and sleep, and do what most dogs do. But her true love? That would be catching skunks. I mean she's done it 7 times now so I think that is her newest game. Why else would she get sprayed 7 times. But you might be asking yourself, how do you get the smell out of your dog at 11pm at night when all the stores are closed? Well let me tell you, this is what you do.

1. stop your dog from coming in the house
2. yell for husband to help you
   
3. not get an answer from #2
4. drag dog to the car to get the leash so we can keep her in one place (be sure not the let said dog get into car)
   
5. run into the kitchen and dig for the de-skunking recipe
6. un-hook dog and drag into the bathroom because dog knows that they smell and hates to take baths
7. mix the de-skunking soap and proceed to bath dog
   
8. repeat step #7
9. call hubby again to help you so you can run to the washer to grab some towels
10. wait 10 minute for hubby to get to you
11. run to get towels
12. drag dog out and put her outside (in the rain) to dry off

Not only did I tackle a pretty big thing but what worked for me having hubby around, even if it took awhile to help me, having a de-skunking recipe, and a leash close by. (If you want the de-skunking thing let me know)

What works for you?

Not what I planned

This is not what I planned for my tackled. I had planned to show you that I shampooed another carpet in my house (you can read about the other carpet I cleaned here). I did the bedroom mainly because I wanted something small to do since I was washing clothes as well that day but Halley must have thought that I needed something else to do. Something bigger and messier and smellier to do.

So she killed a skunk. Again.

It's a good thing that I found a really good recipe for getting rid of the smell otherwise she would still be sleeping outside. SO I spent a good 30 minutes giving her a bath hosing her down and getting getting myself all dirty in the process. Now that she is cleaned I have to clean the bathroom, change the shower curtains, and throw everything in the wash. So I guess instead of tackling the carpet I tackled my dog, lol!!!!!!!!

So what have you tackled this week?

Let me update for a minute

I know that my post the other day may have scared a few of you (the three that read it, lol) so I thought I better explain myself.

Yesterday there was a heat advisory for the county so I knew that being outside was a not a good thing. We went to the Farmer's Market, as usual, and showed off my new skirt (which i will show at a later date). I had plans to go to Douglas laer on in the day to hang out with friends and then do some shopping. I was trying to miss the worst of the heat but still get there but it didn't happen. I finally got around topacking up the car and heading out. And as always I spent a lot of time inside Wally world before we left. And this is what I came out to.




Now yes, this is a big parking lot but usually you can see those buildings over there without a problem. It's about a 35 mile drive to Douglas thru nothing so it wasn't until I was about 5 miles away from Douglas that I started to get worried. The sand was getting harder to see thru and there were few other cars on the road. Another 3 miles I hit a wall, not litteraly but it felt like it. I hit a wall of sand that made me hit the brakes ( I was really hoping that there wasn't anyone behind me). I tried to drive a little bit more but then I passed a few more cars and a Border Patorl vehicle and called it quits. I was freaked out. The only way I can think to describe it is a white out but with sand. I called hubby to let him know what was going on, and to get some moral support. I was almost crying but trying to hold it together for Savie. We sat there on the side of the road, with the blinkers on and the fans on because it was still like 96 outside. We saat there for at least 30 minutes and at one point Savie even said she was scared. (That broke my heart. I didn't want her to be scared. It's bad enough that we had the incident back in Nov.) I told her that I wouldn't let anything happen to her.

After awhile the cars tht I was sitting with starting ot move and instead of sitting alone I followed them. I didn't want to be there by myself even though I was about 2 car lengths away from the BP. On the drive home this is what I drove thru




I was just glad to be home.

It's offically summer here!!!!

I think every child should have a Smores and this was her first, lol. Did she have fun or what?!?!?

Sunday Scribblings

Happy endings, we all want them right? Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel, and the rest of the princesses got ones. Even a real life princess had one for awhile. But I think we make our own happy endings. It's a question of what you want. Do you want more money? A bigger house? More kids? Myself just want to be happy. Yes it would be nice to have a bigger house, newer car, more money but for what? When I die I can't take it with me so why do I need to get all of this?


My happy ending would be in knowing that my daughter and my friends know how I feel about them. That they were loved by me and will be remembered.

(I know this is a short post but I have had a weird weekend but head over here and look around)

It finally happened

A dust storm. I finally got caught in a dust storm. Now all that is left is to be caught in a flash flood.

Challenges, challenges......and the heat to

Ok so I've said it before I am trying to be green and doing my part to be good to the earth. I am also doing two challenges. I know I've talked about one all lot, the BYOB challenge, but I don't think I've mentioned the other one just yet. It's almost over and I haven't said a word about it. It's a quickie of a challenge to, a 5 minute shower. Is that possible?

Yes it is. I have been trying it for the better part of the month and most days I do take a 5 minute shower. The day that I hurt my back I took an 8 minute shower and that's because my back was hurting me and I wasn't moving as fast as I normally do. It's a little harder to get Savie, my daughter to do it but it's getting easier. Hubby is not on board with this one and still walks out of the bedroom to take his clothes off. I just don't get it. But with the heat the way it is it's easier to get her in and out without a lot of water being used.

On that note, the National Weather Service has given the monsoon an official start and end day. It's a good thing and a bad thing. It's great that we have a date to start and we know what to expect after that day. The monsoon is a big deal around here since there are a lot of washes and draws, dry creek beds and the like, and there are also flash floods. We live near a wash and last year I heard a flash flood coming down in before I ran out to see what the noise was.It's quite a site to see that much water just coming at you.

Every year there are several people who think they can cross the wash/draw and get stuck or washed away. Last year we saw on the news that a family of 3 got stuck in a wash, a mother/father/child, where the child who was about 2 or 3 yr was washed away, just ripped out of the mother arms and the body still hasn't been found. It's sad. And it's not just family's or people there are also military personal who have lost their lives because of flash floods. But I need to change the subject and talk about happier things.

Because of the heat I finally broke down and bought Savie and pool for the backyard. Now before you think that I was just being a bad mommy by not putting one in wait until you see the pictures of the backyard. I had a hard time trying to decide where to put this. There wont be a lot of posts from me this summer because our house gets to be about 99 during the day and our swamp cooler doesn't blow as well as I would like it to. But I am hoping that once I get some curtains up there will be a change in the temp in here. I am hope, lol. Well I hope that everyone has a great day and I will post/talk to you later.

Today was going to be a good day. I had planned on taking a break from preschool and go to the movies. I thought it was about time for that big event in her life. I think this is about the age that I took my niece to her first. Plus the movie was only $1, yes you read that right $1. I was in love with that. All summer long on Wednes. I was really looking forward to this. We go there late (this time it was hubby's fault) so we rushed to get our tickets and find seats. Happy Feet started and I think about 15 minutes into the movie when it happened. The filmed burned.

I thought we were past the stage of having film reels in the theater but I guess I am wrong. We waited for a good 20 minutes to see if they would get it fixed but it turns out that this was the second time that this has happened. So we left. And got a rain check and we left. We went to the playgroup area and let the kids play for awhile, then we had lunch and went our separate ways. The cost of movies today:

Movie: $2 (refunded)
popcorn: $5.75
Lunch: $8.29
The time spent with friends: priceless
(yes, very MasterCard like I know)

Well I am hoping that next week when we go that things will work out for us but it was a good first time.

She was a perfect child

I know I know, there is no such thing as a perfect child but I like to think that Savie was a really good child. She listened really well, talked a lot, loved to play with anyone, willing to talk to just about anyone but things have changed. And not for the better.

Since we have been going to preschool she has become a sassy little thing. She tells me 'no' a lot more, has temper tantrums and has just picked up some really bad habits. There is one boy there who is the picture of an only child. He is used to getting what he wants when he wants it and when that doesn't happen he throws a fit. Now myself personally I am going to ignore that kind of behavior. My theory is the more attention you pay to it the bigger it gets (you know the squeaky wheel and all that). He wants the chair that someone is already sitting in, on the swing that someone is already on,etc and when he doesn't get it right that second he huffs, crosses his arms and then throws himself on the floor crying. Savie has started doing this and I am not having that. It's one thing for the parent to treat their kid that way but when they go to school they can't do that.
Am I wrong for thinking this? I can't tell the parent this because I think I already offended one parent by telling them to drop their kid off and go instead of dragging it out for a good 20 minutes and the kid ends up crying. I just don't know how to say it without offended them. But there is no way to say that without offending them, right?

BYOB Update

It's been 3 weeks since the start of the BYOB challenge and I was doing sooooo good until I got a package from my friend Anna. (Thanks Anna) I love the package I got from her, it was so cute but there were plastic bags in there!!!!!! What are you doing to me Anna?!?!? LOL. She must have been reading THF about getting rid of plastic bags that's why they were in there. So now my count is up to 5 plastic bags. I was doing so good and only had the one bag before today. But on the upside I have to mail a couple of packages out and will be using these plastic bags for padding.

So how are you doing on the challenge?

Tackle it TUESDAY #11

I really wish that I had remembered to take so pictures before I did this. I had a very old house with very old carpet. It really needs to be cleaned, or better yet replaced. I would but for this house it's just not worth it. But I'm getting off the subject. The carpet was cleaned when we moved into the house about 4 yrs ago and since then I've shampooed the carpet about 3 times. I just don't want to go thru the hassle of renting one or trying to find a friend that I can borrow one from. It's just a living room and bedroom that have carpet. Well a couple of weeks ago I bought a stick rug to clean the carpet. I didn't think it would since there was no hot water or anything to run through. i did a small section where Halley my dog sleeps just to test it out and see how well it would work. It worked great. I had to change the height adjustment on my vacuum when I did the area!!!! The only downside was that it took a whole small can, I was hoping that it wouldn't take a lot off cans to do the whole living room but at this rate I think it will take about 6 cans to get everything including moving everything around.


Well that's my tackle how about you? What did you tackle this week?

*****edited to add the link for the rug stick*****

I need to share something

So like I said in a previous post I am trying to be green. I buy breads, veggies, etc at my Farmer's Market when it's opened, I shop at my local Co-op and I use environmental cleaners. I recycle what I can (our dump doesn't do much) and use re-usable bags. I try to be green. I walk when possible, consolidate shopping trips when I go into town, I drive with cruise control when I do go to town, turn off my car when I am at the ATM, drive-up window, getting the paper. I try to be green.


Well I hurt my back the other day and not just a I pulled a muscle hurt I mean a I can't bend over to tie my shoes hurt. I was in bad shape but there was nothing I could do about it. I was just stuck. I am not a pill taking person, I don't like taking pills and avoid it whenever I can so taking a couple of Aleve's was not the answer for me. I couldn't get comfortable anywhere. Sitting down was ok but only for a few minutes, I couldn't cross my legs because I couldn't lift my leg up that high. I couldn't stand for long, I would get shooting pain up one leg. But it's only on one side. I know if I told K she would spin it so it had something to do with her so I didn't say anything to her, not even to borrow her heating pads (even though I don't think I would use any of them since the animals have been birthed on them). Well since I had bought this sample set at my Farmer's Market last year and had been using the facial wash(which I am so in love with, it's the thrid item on the page.) I thought I might as well try the Muscle Soother Spray (scroll down it's the third item on the page). I wasn't sure it would do anything to help me but it was worth a try, right?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! This felt sooooooooooooo good. A good 10 minutes after I sprayed it on my back I was felling warm, then a little warmer, then hot. I mean hot. It started out as having a heating pad on my back while I was getting ready for school and everything but then it got really hot. Like someone turned the heating pad on high. But it felt good I was glad for the heat. I sprayed myself a couple more times during the day when I started to feel more pain then I was comfortable with. I am in love with this stuff. I am sorry to keep going on about this but I was in a lot of pain and want to share my joy with the world.

It's been 2 days since I hurt myself and my back still hurts but not as bad as when it happened. I feel a lot better.

Is it really that bad?

That my daughter licked the spatula after making our own colored sugar?? Does it sounds as bad as I think it does? Maybe I should tell the whole story.

It's hot so of course we want Popsicles and ice cream and watermelons. So being the green person that I am trying to be, I wanted to make my own. I found some good ones here and thought they were a good start so I decided to try my own recipe. It was a simple one of yogurt, fruit, vanilla extract, and water. I let Savie have one after lunch and it was a bomb. She barely ate half of one and when I tasted it I could see why, they were pretty bland and yucky. So then I thought "Well the glitter pops sounded kinda good, I want to try that." But there was a catch to the whole thing. I don't have any colored sugar in the house, just cane sugar. But then I found found this and thought it was the perfect quick project for Savie and I. I was hoping that she would make pink and something else. I knew she would want to make pink that is the color of the year. Everything is pink, the cup, the the clothes, the shoes, etc.

In all fairness I had planned on letting her make whatever color she wanted, make it as light or dark as she wanted. But that was not to be, she made it dark. It was getting pretty dark, almost blood red but I finally talked her into letting me add more sugar to help it lighten up. Got the red done and then started in on the second color. And from that you get this.





























Do you know what she is doing? Can you guess what my sweet little girl is doing? She's licking the spatula. The sugar covered spatula!!!!!!!! A green sugar covered spatula!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me things are not as bad as I think they are.

Wordless Wednesday #11

Yummy, sugar!!!!!!



For more head over here.

It's a green, green world

I love a good challenge. I love green sites like this one and this one. I've done the paper towel challenge and did pretty well if I do say so myself. I used a roll and a half for the month which I think is pretty good for 3 people and have started using napkins for meals.

I love reading Tree Hugging Family, they have some great stuff. Cleaning supplies, crafts, and stuff like that. This months challenge is BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) and I am doing pretty good at this one. A better start then last months challenge. I have at least 12 reusable bags in my car. Let's me break it down for you count wise.

1. 8 Walmart bags
2. 4 small bags
3. 2 produce bags
4. 3 coupon.com bags

I'm sorry how many is that? Is that more than 12? LOL. I have plenty of bags so this is an easy challenge. How about you guys? Can you cut down on your use of plastic bags? There are some really good articles about what happens with them when they are used. I mean we all know about how they look flying thru the air during a wind storm or just a windy day, think about what they look to sea animals, and how long it takes for them to breakdown. Just some interesting reading, head over to THF for some reading.

Sunday Scribblings #114

Nights, there are so many different things about the nights that people do. There were 1001 Arabian nights, the endless nights of zombie, sleepless nights with a new baby, bad nights when your kids are away, myself personally I like staying up at night to relax. Yes I may of had a long day but staying up is my chance to spend some me time. It may seem selfish to not go to bed at the same time as my husband but I prefer it. He snores and I don't want to have to listen to him get comfortable and shift around while I am trying to do the same thing. It's kinda nice to be up that late and not have to share the TV with anyone.

Most nights I am alone with just Halley to keep me company, watching TV maybe reading a book, maybe working on my crochet projects. I really need to get back in the habit of working on my projects since I should have finished my nieces blanket months ago, seeing as how it was her graduation present and she graduated last week, lol. Tonight is one of those nights when I am not alone, Savie is asleep on the couch and so is hubby. Every night is a new thing. Some nights it's a peaceful thing and some nights I see a parade of animals, javelina, deer, foxes, and coyotes. What do you do at night?

What a night

That's all I can say. Last night I was hoping that since I had worked all week and still had to go back and clean today that we could have a relaxing night. And for the most part it was. I cooked dinner for us, a simple thing of pasta, and then tried to wash dishes and clean the house some. It worked. Savie and I had dinner, hubby fell asleep as soon as dinner was ready of course, and then Savie fell asleep. Yeah!!! or so I thought. Savie woke me up around 2am to tell me she had to go potty so we went, and then five minutes later she threw up on me. I was really awake now, wide awake. I put Savie in the shower and re-dressed her and got back in the bed. We woke up a couple more times to make repeat trips to the bathroom but no more puking thank goodness. I was hoping that things would be a little better this morning but that was not the case. So here is the count

puked on
4 times (including the 2:30 wake up call)
change of clothes
2
change of clothes for Savie
3



I am doing this now that she is asleep again, I am hoping that when she gets up I can get her to eat some applesauce and toast, simple things to help settle her tummy not like the cheese and sandwich meat that hubby gave her, lol. Here's hoping that things get better.

ABC Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I am finally able to get some pictures loaded onto my computer. Today's letter is T and here is the tunnel that greets you and is the only way into town. Sometimes during the monsoon this tunnel is closed because of the waterfall that is coming down on both sides. Please forgive the shots since i was taking them while driving ( I held the camera out the window just so you know).

This is mule pass tunnel. I don't know a lot about the tunnel even though I have lived here for 4 yrs so forgive me if this is short.





















































To see some more T shots head over here.

"When does school start?"

That is the question I will be hearing so, in my own head of course. Savie is not in school officially so she doesn't get bored just yet. But I have a couple of things planned for us to do when we run out of the normal things to do. So far on my list

1. Go to the pool
   (we have a great pool in the next town that is like going to the beach)
2. Go to movies in the park on sat night
3. farmer's market on sat morning
4. concert in the park on Thursday nights

I think that pretty much covers our whole week so we shouldn't get bored. We will be at school everyday so we will be busy. How about you? What are you plans for the summer?

Sunday Scribblings #113

I think this might be becoming a habit for me on my Sunday Scribblings.

Curves
There are many curves in the world
the curve of your hand a child's face
the way your hand curves together
your child and you

the curve of their face
when they look up at you
smiling and laughing
it makes your own face curve
into a beautiful curve of your own

as your child sleeps
you are amazed by the curves you see
the curve of their face
of their shoulders as they rise and fall
the curve they have moved themselves into
all the little
and sometimes big
curves that you love