Bloxorz

GRRRRRR...I'm stuck on 26.

Don't say I didn't warn you!

Sooooo, I got online about 2 hours...ok closer to 3 hours ago...to look for some math games for Liz tomorrow. I went to a site we had visited earlier and clicked on the "math games" link. I tried one called Color Trap...pretty cool, I must say. Liz came in and tried it and then ran back outside for a tractor ride with Daddy. I scrolled down to another game...Bloxorz.
And that's what I've been doing for the last few hours.

I'm not even a game freak, but I was hooked immediately, and showed the cool new addiction to my husband so he too could become hooked. He did.

And that is what we did tonight.

Before you laugh at our foolishness, I think you should try it.

YES! Click here and try it, you'll like it...everybody does it....

hmmmmmm......

Today,
my 4 year old son
climbed on to roof of the van
and peed.

why?

Weekend Fun!

We just came back from looooooooooong overdue weekend away. Man, I feel GOOD! I rested! I had a date with my husband! I went book shopping! I drank coffee and ate homemade Banana Pudding! I didn't cook one thing! I played dominoes and lost but so what? There was minimal fighting among the little people. It was a great,restful weekend, and now I must go and catch up on laundry. I may be back later, but don't count on it because I also got a veeerrrrrrryyyy interesting new book this weekend. (The Known World, by Edward P. Jones. Check it out here.)

crud

Man, I have the crud. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Prayers, please!

Antartica

This recipe comes from a book I just love, American Family Style.

Antartica

2 C. cottage cheese
2 T. sour cream
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 small onion, grated
Seasoned salt to taste
Pepper sauce to taste.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Serve chilled.

This is a yummy veggie dip, thick salad dressing or great filling for stuffed tomatoes. Spread it on sliced ham and roll for burrito type snack. The cottage cheese and sour cream can be lowfat and it still tastes great!

Busy, Busy!

Howdy all! We have a busy weekend planned here at the Roberts Ranch. Sleepovers for the girls tonight and tomorrow, camping for the boys tomorrow, and birthday parties and movies on Sunday! I don't think I'll be blogging much...see you all Monday!

Groggy

Folks, their is just not enough caffeine in all of Mississippi for me today. I can barely keep my eyes open! I must have gotten used to a stronger brew somewhere along the line cause I'm fading fast here. Now, before any of you "caffeine is bad for you" people start getting on to me, let me say this: Yes, I know, and No, I don't CARE! In all honesty, I don't know anyone who would try to come between me and the coffee maker. I just thought I'd say that in case someone new happened by and thought they would enlighten me.

Bubbly

I heard this song on the radio a few days ago. Enjoy!

La la la Live OUT LOUD!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Guess who's coming to Mississippi? Cutey Patootie and incredible singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman!!! April 24th at First Baptist Church in Clinton...A Mostly Acoustic Evening with Steven Curtis Chapman. So, well, whatcha waitin' for? Get you some tickets! Say hey to ol' Stevie boy for me cause I'm not going. I hate big groups like that. If I could just blink my eyes and be in my seat at the concert, and then blink my eyes and be home when it's over, I'd go. But driving?? In all that traffic? ew. But you know, it IS Steven Curtis Chapman. He is one of the three I would find worth the pain and suffering. (Michael W. Smith and James Taylor being the first 2.) Then there's the whole babysitting thing. Anyone I would feel good about leaving all my kids with would not be available, because hello???they'd be with me at the concert! So, whatever, I'll catch these guys sometime. I think the last concert I went to was at a rodeo in Austin, TX. I saw....um.....give me a minute......Steve Warner. Wow, I'm sort of embarrased I forgot his name for a sec. Anyway, rodeo concerts aren't really concerts....they're almost concerts. It's a few songs between barrell racing and pole bending. Before that I think it must have been Bruce Springsteen when I was in high school. Man. Maybe I should go to this one. I think it's time.

Speaking up!

Today was Compassion Sunday and Wyatt, my truly awesome and wonderful husband, delivered a truly awesome and wonderful message about speaking up for the poor. We had info and pictures of 10 children who needed sponsors, and it looks like we only have 3 children unmatched. Yes, I was hopeful to get sponsors for them all and quite frankly I'm somewhat disappointed we didn't, but I am soooooooo excited about the 7 that will be helped!! And the month is not over yet, folks! I have until May 19th to find sponsors for the remaining 3. After that I have to send the information back, and I REALLY don't want to do that. SO......if you are considering sponsoring a child, LET ME KNOW!

Funky Earthy Cleaner

Every now and then I do something new and funky. One year I learned how to make jewelry. Another year I learned how to make and can salsa. And then one year I learned how to make household cleaners instead of buying them in the stores. (I've yet to make soap because I'm paranoid about lye. But I LOVE homemade soap, so maybe one day I'll give it a try) Anyway Here's one of my favorite homemade cleaners.

Natural Antibacterial Spray

1 T. borax
1 C. hot water
1 C. distilled white vinegar
1/2 t. dishwashing soap
1/2t. orange essential oil
1/2t. rosemary essential oil
1/2t. lavendar essential oil

Dissolve borax in water...allow to cool to room temperature. Pour into spray bottle. Add remaining ingredients. Shake well.

Good News and Bad News

First, the good news. The newest Ms. Julia book by Ann B. Ross is out! WOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO! So add that little happy to my growing list of "been-waiting-for-it and-now-it's finally-available" books to read. There are soooooo many yummy books I want to read that I don't know where to start, so I've read none of them. I'm frantic. It's just like when I get a few hours to myself to do whatever I want, I do nothing. I spend all my time thinking about what I could do..."I could go to the library...No, the bookstore!.....No, Hobby Lobby.....NO, I could BEAD!...Maybe I should just take a nap...."

Anyway, so that's the good news....Ms. Julia is back. What's the bad news? The bad news is she (Ann B. Ross, not Miss Julia) was HERE in Jackson, MS on MONDAY and I MISSED HER!!!! What a dork! My mom told me about this at least a month ago. Plenty of time to get a sitter.

WAIT! I HAD A SITTER ON MONDAY!!!! ARGH! ELYSA!!!!!!

Just so you know...

17

Excuses, Excuses

Here are some of the excuses my 4 year old son gave me for not wanting to eat his meatloaf:

1.) It's too hot
2.) It's too cold
3.) I dropped it
4.) It's too big
5.) It's smooshed up
6.) There's something wrong with me, I have BRAINFREEZE!
7.) I'm trying to get the pieces together.
8.) I can't get it on my fork
9.) Can I just swallow it without chewing?
10.) You hurt my feelings! (He couldn't even say this with a straight face.)
11.) My eyes are wet!
12.) My eyes hurt...NO EYE DROPS!

They really are a scream..

I thought this was pretty funny!

Why, I ask you?

Here's a poem that I almost love. Almost. Try to figure out what's holding me back!

Chanson Innocente by e.e. Cummings

In Just-
spring when the world is mud-
lucious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee



OK. Let's begin with the obvious. Why does it look like that? I know some times people do that sort of thing for the visual effect. It looks really jaggardy in the book....all the extra spaces between the words do not show here. In the book, there are about 5 extra spaces between the words "Spring" and "when" but they are in the same line. Also about 5 extra spaces between the words "BalloonMan" and "whistles". And the words "and the goat-footed" are stair-stepped. Fancy.
Whether you can appreciate that type of poetry or not, you have to wonder what kind of effect e.e. was going for when he chose to write the poem in this funky fashion? Ok, scroll down...





This is how looks in the book.


Does this work for anyone? I'm just not feeling it.
On a positive note, what I really liked is that this poem has some great descriptions, like "In just-spring, when the world is mud-lucious....when the world is puddle-wonderful..." But then here comes a "little lame balloonman whistling far and wee..." er...what is that? Is a little lame man whistling and weeing while he sells balloons? Does he do this every spring? What is wee in this poem? If it's "wide", couldn't the author have just said "far and wide?" I could keep going on this for while, but there's soooo much more to cover!
What about "eddieandbill" ? Does anyone know what the heck that is about? Is writing the names "Eddie and Bill" too normal? Or not poetic enough? Or are we to assume that Eddie and Bill are inseperable because their names are written as one? I guess, right? I guess that's sort of cute. Or lame. I'm seeing siamese twins. Whatever. Eddie and Bill are "running from marbles and piracies...." I love that! I can see that because my boys play marbles and pirates alot.
Moving along in the poem, we learn the whistling, weeing balloon salesman is also queer and old. Well, we knew he was queer, he's whistling and weeing. Maybe he thinks he can get away with it because he's old. Anyway...
Now here come "bettyandisbel"? I say again, why? Why no capital letters? And why is that bad grammar but good poetry?
Soooooo, Betty and Isbel "come dancing from hopscotch and jumprope." Well, we dance ALOT here at the Roberts house! And the kids play alot of hopscotch, so I've got great images in my mind. Until...we learn that the lame, queer old man is also goat-footed.

???????

So, now I'm no longer even envisoning a man with balloons, I just see a goat. An old male goat weeing on himself to attract the ladies. (yes, they really do that, and why on earth it works is beyond me.) Then the thought occurs to me, maybe he's not selling ballons, maybe he gives people rides in a hot air balloon. You think? If that's that case I certainly hope he's not weeing, whether he's a goat or man. Also, please note that he is now a balloonMan. Capital M. Unlike eddieandbill and bettyandisbel.

And then the poem ends. With the word "wee".

Call me shallow, but I don't get it. I could have loved this poem, if only it was "wide" and not "wee". I could've even gotten past the goat-footed thing. Sigh!

Puuuh-leeeeeaaazzze!!!

As it turns out, I do have something else to blog about tonight! I was searching the web for a picture of someone measuring their waist for my previous post, and all of the pictures looked like Wendy Workout here.




Now I ask you, do people who look like this even need a tape measure? For crying out loud, if you can wear those clothes and not gross anyone out, you don't have to measure. You're good!

Watch me shrink!

Well friends,although I have enjoyed each and every bite of my present weight gain program, it's time for something new. I've been watching my weight increase for about a year now. I'm finally satisfied with my progress and am now ready to return to my pre-pregnancy body. Which pregnancy, you ask? Well, quite frankly, whichever one I can get down to will suit me fine! Unlike the folks of an online weight loss program who shall remain nameless, I do not feel like my ideal body weight for my 5' 4" frame is 115 lbs. I haven't seen that weight since highschool, ok? I'm aiming to lose about 30 lbs. And to save any of you the trouble of trying to figure out how much I currently weigh, I think it's about 160-165. (I broke the scale, remember? So I don't know for sure.) See, I ain't skeered. That's my weight, deal with it, baby, I had 5 kids in 8 years. I will admit the youngest is now 18 months, so the past year leaves me with no excuse for any excess eating. I pretty much have just been having a ball!

Anyway, why do I tell you all this? Because I have nothing else to blog about tonight. So, there you have it.

Make April A Month of Compassion

HELLLLOOOOO my friends! I'm very excited this evening because check it out, today my husband and I received our packet for Compassion Sunday. What is Compassion Sunday? Well, I'm glad you asked! Compassion Sunday is the day when Compassion International sponsors share their stories with their church. Wyatt and I have been sponsors for several years. We sponsor a child in Ethiopia and a child in Columbia. What that means is we write a $32.00 check each month for each child, and 83.5 percent of that money goes to provide these children with education, health screening and monitoring, developmental activities and delivery of the gospel. Best of all, we can communicate with our children with letters, postcards and pictures, and we get letters and pictures back! So, we watch them grow. We have not been to visit them yet, but that is an option. (If you're not familiar with Compassion International, check it out here. It's a great way to make a difference in a child's life.)
ANYWAY, Wyatt and I will be hosting a Compassion Sunday at our church on April 13. And today, we recieved our box-o-stuff! So that's what I'm doing tonight, checking out the goods for the lil' boogers we hope to find sponsors for. (poor grammar, i know.) I guess that should be, "for whom we hope to find sponsors." whatever.
So, I 've been going through the papers and forms and seperating the stuff for Wyatt and I from the Church Staff stuff, and I came to the Child Packets. Pictures and info on 10 children in desperate situations and you know what happened then, right?

"Oooh, Honey....look at this guy!" and "Look at her, isn't she sweet?" and "Ooooh! His eyes, look at his eyes! Honey, look!" (at which point Wyatt replies, "Uh...he's not a puppy.")

Well, obviously, we can't adopt them all, folks, so I hope and pray people will step up to plate this month and sponsor a child. Because really now, would you be able to send these pictures BACK to Compassion and say, "uh, sorry. We couldn't find anyone for these children." Hm. No, I just don't want to do that. I would MUCH rather email them to send us more packets because all the children we have info on have been adopted! So, be praying y'all.

In the meantime, here are a few stats to consider.

*Americans spend over $2 billion per year on chewing gum---eight times what they gave to children in need globally, through UNICEF, in 2005. (pitiful, don't you think?) (www.heartlandscience.org/agrifood/gum) (www.unicef.org/about/annualreport/2005/finances/income.html)

*More than 170 million children in developing countires are malnourished; 115 million do not attend school. (www.unicef.org/media/media_36237.html) (www.unicef.org/media/media_35905.html)

*Before today is over, nearly 30,000 children under the age of 5 will die from preventable diseases and related causes. (www.unicef.org/media/media_35898.html)