Pictures of the new kittens

One Day Old!

Fuzzy and her kittens.

Kittens, Anyone?

I was sure yesterday morning that we would have kittens appearing before the end of the day. The three kittens that I acquired last fall were all female, as we discovered when a roaming tomcat appeared back in April. He was quite busy for a one-day visitor! And it's been pretty obvious for the last couple of weeks that at least two of the three "kittens" were pregnant.

These three "kittens" who are no longer kittens became part of our household last fall. We had lost two of our older cats over the summer and it seemed like the time for a new little one. I knew my dad had some kittens at his place, so I went over there thinking I would bring home one of them. When I got there, though, I discovered that the mama cat had died and her three little ones were following the dog around. Since I didn’t' think the dog was going to do a very good job of feeding them, I brought all three home. At first, they were all identical in appearance, three longhaired gray balls of fluff! Eventually, as they grew older, one of them developed darker fur on its back than the other two, so that one I named Silkie or Selkie. She was very silky and as I was ready the Outlander series at the time, I had Scottish names and vernacular floating around in my head. So I thought of selkie, which is a seal. The other two we still can't tell apart, so they go by several names, including Fluffy, Fuzzy, Furrball and Lizzie.

Yesterday morning one of the Fluffys insisted on being inside and followed me everywhere I went. If I sat, she was on my lap insisting upon attention. If I moved to another room, she followed me, rubbing against my leg and generally tripping me up every step of the way. So I figured something was up. And sure enough, by evening she had found a spot in a dark corner of my bedroom (even though I had prepared two boxes for her in other parts of the house) and proceeded to have one kitten. She then came back out to the kitchen, making all sorts of noises, and then went back to the bedroom. That's when I discovered where she was and that she had already had one kitten. Later, we discovered that she was in the living room, giving birth to another kitten while curled up next to the dog. We took her and her kitten back into the bedroom, where she had earlier had another kitten. Eventually she had four in all.

Since I really didn't want them in my bedroom, I rearranged some furniture in my office and they are now situated in a protected corner there. Some time during the night one of the kittens died. So now we have three kittens from one Fluffy. And more on the way! Anyone need a kitten in about eight weeks? Or two? Or three?

Cooperation

Just when you begin to despair that your children will ever be able to work together, they surprise you! I told David and Charles (our two teenage boys) Monday that the gutters needed cleaning this week and that the weather would be better for it (cooler, less humid) the first part of the week. Amazingly, yesterday afternoon they just got at it and did it without me reminding them a gazillion times. Not only that, but they worked together without much disagreement and got the job done rather quickly. Of course, I did discover last night that there's some clean up that they seemed to have missed, so they'll have to do a bit of cleaning of the deck today. But all in all it was nice to see them working together, getting the job done without me having to do a lot of supervising.

That said, I have given up on having them wash the dishes. For the last several years it has been their job to do the daily dishes and clean up the table, stovetop, counters and sinks. They have done it well at times, so I know they are capable. But I've decided that the stress incurred while having them do this job is not worth it. I get too annoyed knowing that they are saving all the dishes up till 2 in the morning. And then I come out in the morning and see glasses stacked on top of all the other dishes in the drainer. Gravity put to the test each night! It's just too much. I can't take it anymore. I know they can do the job, so it's time to teach them something else, I think! And I'll do the dishes my way, washing a few several times a day, washing the glasses first and the pans last!

So what will they do instead? David will be doing his own laundry this summer so that I am sure he knows how to do it when he goes to college. He has washed things before, on occasion, so I think all he'll need is just a refresher on how to separate the loads and what temperature water to use, etc. Even so, it won't hurt him to do his own all summer and get used to figuring out how often he needs to wash. At Evansville last weekend, the Dean of Student Living told us a story about a freshman (male) who never washed his clothes. It got so bad that, after several weeks, his roommate complained to the RA in the dorm. So the RA talked to the student about the laundry situation and the student agreed to take care of it. So what did he do? Shipped all his dirty laundry to his mom in Colorado via UPS! Can you imagine the look on her face when she opened those packages?! The Dean said that the mom just repacked them up, dirty, and shipped them back to her son at college. I guess he finally got the message that he needed to wash them himself.

Doing your laundry at Evansville would be almost fun. You can go on a website to see how many washers and dryers are being used in your dorm's laundry room and how many minutes before they will be done. Not only that, but when you put a load of wash in the washing machine or the drier, you can set it so that the machine either sends you an e-mail or a text message to your phone to let you know when the load is done! Can you imagine?! For a computer science student, it seems like that would make laundry almost like a game!

So David will be doing his laundry this summer. And he's already gotten pretty good at vacuuming the floors daily, which we have to do in the summer because Penny (our dog) sheds so much. When he goes off to Evansville, Charles will have to take over that job.

Perhaps the boys should learn to clean their bathroom! That sounds like a good trade off, cleaning the bathroom once a week for washing dishes daily. And, of course, there's always the outside reclamation project with the push mower and weed eater! We didn't have a lawn mower for all of last year and so the woods has tried to work its way back towards our mobile home. It's beginning to look better since we got that push mower last month, but there's still a lot to do. I think a half an hour for each of them several days a week should do the trick.

Know Home Schooling, history, and Harry Potter

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend, telling me about a new site, Know Home Schooling. It's a homeschooling wiki. I added my blog listing to it this morning. Looks like it might be a real help to new homeschoolers as more veterans add their info to it. Check it out. http://knowhomeschooling.com

Yesterday we actually got back to reading our world history book, "The Outline of History" by H. G. Wells. It seems like we've been working on the final chapter for months! I read for about an hour yesterday and we're down to the last three pages. Hopefully we can finish it today. Then we can pick back up the Richard Maybury book(s) I want to cover this summer before David goes off to Evansville.

Darn J. K. Rowling and her announcement yesterday about her next (and final) Harry Potter book. Here she hasn't even gotten it all written and she's already telling us that two characters (main characters!) will die in the final book. And her wording was such that it certainly seems possible that Harry could be one of those. Something to the effect that no one else can write more books in the future about Harry if he dies in the last book. So whom will she kill off? My boys speculate that it will be Ron and Hermoine. Surely she wouldn't kill them off? More likely Hagrid and maybe … maybe … oh, I can't even begin to guess! I only know that I'll be extremely saddened when the series ends. And hopeful that Rowling will write more. Although topping the HP series would likely not be possible. And certainly she doesn't need the income! It would just be interesting to see what other areas her writing brain might find appealing to write about.

SOAR Part II

David pretty much got the classes he figured he would, as most were freshman year requirements for computer science majors. He will be taking World Cultures (a Freshman requirement), Chemistry, Calculus, Japanese, and Computer Science 101; 18 credit hours altogether.

When he goes back on August 19, it will be only freshmen on campus for 5 days. Those five days the freshmen are divided into small groups of 20, the members of their World Cultures class, and they do all activities, meals, etc., together. The World Cultures class is required of all freshmen. So by the end of the 5 days, they will know at least those 20 classmates fairly well.

Overall, the weekend was very worthwhile. The only part I didn't like was that, now that we've been there for a couple of days and I saw how well David seemed to fit in, how much he liked the campus and how quickly he made some friends, I'm even more apprehensive about his going. Well, not his going, but his leaving here! It seems so much more real. Two months from now he will be there full time and we won't see him for weeks on end. I'm so used to him sitting at his computer in the living room, always there with ready wit or an acerbic comment about some news item or wanting to share something he discovered on Wikipedia. I am so going to miss him!

SOAR - 2006 Summer Orientation and Academic Registration

What a busy couple of days we spent in Evansville. We left home Thursday around 10:00, which was the game plan. It's a 600-mile round trip. Factoring in a gas stop, a lunch stop, and a rest area stop, it took about 6 hours. Our first stop was on campus to find out where David was bunking. We delivered his gear to his room and then left campus to locate our motel and unload our gear. We all then had supper at Smokey Bones, which was very good and only just a wee bit on the pricey side. After supper it was back to the campus with David, as the evening "mixer" activities were scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Friday morning we met back up for the first session after breakfast. We had to call David on the cell phone to see where he was. We finally found him and discovered he had not saved any places for us and was sitting with his new friends. His first words were, "Do you mind if I don't go to supper with you?" It seemed that one of his new friends had a car and they had all made plans to go to the mall for supper. So much for any worries that David might not make any friends. Not only that, but his friends were Eric, Ashley, Autumn, Heather and . . . Do you notice a trend there? I think Ashley was definitely the leader of the group, as later on she was the one insisting that David and Eric WERE going to the evening dance.

After the first opening session, we parted ways with David. His schedule sent him to various placement tests (David had to take the math placement test) and then several interest sessions and to the security building to get his student I.D. We parents could chose 3 of 5 different sessions in the morning and then 3 of 5 different sessions in the afternoon. We did meet back up with David once in the afternoon when we attended the Harlaxton College Overseas Exchange Program session. At 3:15 we met up again for the beginning of the Academic Registration session for a short time. Then the students went to meet with their advisors and we parents got to listen to a long session titled "Letting Go" given by the Dean of Students Dana Clayton. After all this, we did get a two-hour break for dinner on our own, then to meet back for another session in the evening. And then the Dessert Reception (loads and loads of ice cream) where we did get to see David again for a brief bit! Then we went to our motel room and David went on to the Student Dance and to play Snooker in the Underground (modeled after a London Pub).

Saturday morning we did meet back up for breakfast on campus and a brief session together again. Then the students went on to receive the results of their placement tests and to register for their fall classes. The Engineering department (of which Computer Science is a part) had given their students all the scheduling info they needed (class numbers, times, etc.) and so David was able to complete the registration process fairly quickly and painlessly. Bill and I finally finished our last sessions about 10:30. We found David outside the registration area and then headed to the Bookstore and Smoothie Shoppe with two of his new friends. By the time we covered all those bases, got back to his dorm, packed up and checked him out, and loaded up the car, it was after noon. The trip home was uneventful, but long, long, long. Everyone was tired. I know we've rested a lot today, just recovering from the previous three days. In fact, I think I'll head for bed and finish this up tomorrow!

Off to Evansville!

I won't be posting much for the next few days. Bill (hubby) and I leave tomorrow morning with David for the University of Evansville. It's SOAR weekend, Summer Orientation and Academic Registration.

Evansville, Indiana, is about a five hour drive for us, so we'll leave mid-morning and arrive sometime late afternoon. David will be staying in a dorm, while Bill and I get to spend two nights alone in a motel room! Oh my!

From the looks of the schedule laid out for both student and parents on Friday and Saturday, we're going to be busy, busy, busy. David gets to meet his advisor, take a math placement test, and register for his fall classes. There's even a student dance Friday night. Bill and I get to go to presentations with such titles as "Letting Go" and "Now For College" and "Parenthood UE Style."

We'll be back home late Saturday night, so maybe I'll have a chance to post an update on Sunday. Wish us well!

An Adorable Baby!

Some have been asking for an up-to-date picture of my granddaughter Miss Munchkin. This was taken June 14, 2006. So just a bit over 3 months old. Isn't she a cutie?

Banana Snack Muffins

Last week I finally got my oven fixed! I've been without a workable oven for over two years. The very first item I baked last week was chocolate chip cookies, much to my children's delight.

I've been trying to find ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our diets, especially for my boys. Muffins are a good way of doing this, so I have been looking for some good muffin recipes. Yesterday I found a little booklet in my cookbook shelf. I'd forgotten about this recipe, which I used to make way back when!

Banana Snack Muffins From Pillsbury Fast And Healthy Magazine, Volume 7, No. 2.

Prep Time: 15 minutes (Ready in 40 minutes)

• 3/4 cup Pillsbury BEST All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Pillsbury BEST Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened
• 3/4 cup mashed banana (about 1 large)
• 1 (8-ox.) container low-fat vanilla yogurt
• 2 egg whites
• Topping
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray bottoms only of 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt; mix well.
3. In medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and margarine; beat at low speed until well blended. Add banana, yogurt and egg whites; beat well. Add to flour mixture. With spoon, stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter evenly into sprayed muffin cups.
4. In small bowl, combine all topping ingredients; mix well. Sprinkle evenly over batter in pan.
5. Bake at 375 for 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pan. Cool slightly. Serve warm.

12 muffins Nutritional information for 1 muffin 150 calories 35 calories from fat

Okay, now for my notes about the recipe:

1. I use applesauce rather than butter
2. I use whole eggs rather than just the whites, so only 1 egg
3. Instead of 1/2 cup sugar, I generally use less, like 1/2 that amount
4. They work well in foil cups, but will stick terribly to the paper muffin cups.
5. The topping is good, but I leave it off and instead ...
6. Add pecans, walnuts, frozen blueberries, raisin, etc.
7. Flavored yogurt works fine, as does sour creme or a mixture of the two.

And it's even not too bad without the bananas! I totally forgot to add the bananas to yesterday's batch. They still were eaten up by today, so got the chance to try again!

Cars, the movie

Saturday we went to see the movie "Cars." What a hoot! I've not laughed so much in a long, long time. You wouldn't think a movie that was totally cars, with no people in it at all, would work. But it did! Of course, the fact that I'm a NASCAR fan might have helped, but even those who are not race fans would find it funny and get many of the jokes and character associations. At least my son's girl friend did.

What I loved the most, besides trying to figure out who's voice was doing which character, was the way well-known real-life individuals were woven into the plot. And I loved the way that the cars were created to "BE" like those persons. Larry the Cable Guy certainly did an excellent job with "Mater," but then he has a face (& body) made for animation (or, in the old days, radio!).

I could have easily sat through the movie a second time. I'll need to watch it a second time just to catch all the credits, since they put them side by side with outtakes and other pieces of animation. Too busy watching to be able to read! Oh! And be sure to stay for all the credits. There's a cute little surprise at the very end of the movie.

The sound track was excellent also. Several of the songs were very haunting, making one long for days gone by. I don't often buy sound tracks to movies, but I may very well make an exception this time.

All in all, an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours!

Shopping

God, I hate grocery shopping! Let me list some of reasons why I hate shopping for groceries:

1. Prices. You can't even buy a decent loaf of bread anymore for under $2.00.
2. Meat. After living on the farm and raising our own meat, I always feel like I'm gambling when I buy meat. And the prices! It used to be I could buy something fairly decent and edible for under $2 a pound. Not anymore! Who can afford $8 a pound steak?!
3. Sales. Again, I feel like I'm gambling whenever I pick up something on sale. The last time I bought frozen fish on sale it was all dried out and tasted terrible. I had to feed it to the cats.
4. Choices. Too many of them! The cereal aisle alone is like buying a new car. A new make and model out every time your turn around.
5. Coupons. I never find coupons for the items I prefer to purchase. And the coupons I do find are for items full of corn syrup. Which brings me to my next reason…
6. Corn Syrup! It's in everything! Everywhere! It takes two and three times as long to shop just because you have to look at every item's ingredient list.
7. And just when you find a brand or item you like, the store quits carrying it.

But, it was payday, so grocery shopping was the item of the day. Let's see … I spent $175. Think that will last us very long? I'll guarantee we'll be out of yogurt, bread and juice within three days!

And, as if grocery shopping wasn't going to be painful enough, what do I do but decide I'll pop into the clothing store next door first and see if I can find a new top. Hah! Who was I kidding?! Nothing like trying on clothes to make one think they should buy less food! Hey! Maybe I just found a good way to save on the grocery bill! Somehow, though, I don't think my teens will approve of my economy. They seem to like to eat. What's up with that, anyway?!

Black Belt Tests

Last night our two boys (Charles and David) participated in a friend's Jujitu Black Belt test. They were two of the three ookies (sp?), the helpers in the test. Charles just did his own jujitsu black belt test about a month ago, with most of the same group of kids participating. Last night's test resembled a "last man standing" competition, with one ookie gone from injuries, a second somewhat impaired, and blood coming from the nose of the third. I know our two will be moving a bit slower today. Whenever I see our boys volunteer to help out with a black belt test, I am amazed. They know they are volunteering for a minimum three hours of kicks, rolls, punches, grappling and sparring. They know that in all likelihood someone is going to get hurt (although usually not seriously). And yet they always step up and say yes. What makes someone do that? But then, I've never quite understood why they (and our daughter Kat) enjoy karate as much as they do. I'm usually one to avoid doing something that I know could end up being painful! Karate and Jujitsu have been very positive experiences, though, for all three of our children. It has been one of the few sports that David, the least competitive of the three, has been willing to participate in and has enjoyed. We were all, David included, quite pleased and just a bit surprised when he tested for his Black Belt in Karate last year and passed. It was quite an accomplishment for our non-physical child! Kat has been practicing the moves she remembers from when she took karate/jujitsu to get herself back into pre-pregnancy shape. And, of course, Charles still plans to make martial arts his career in some way. So I guess karate has been a welcome addition to our lives, even though I feel sometimes like I've put in way too much seat time in the dojo! But then, I use that for my reading and crocheting time, so I guess that's a good trade-off.

A New Beginning...

Today, while I was reading another blog, my daughter told me I should begin my own blog. I've thought of it. I even began one a couple of years ago on my own website, but it was a lot of work to write something, put it in html format, and then upload it to my website. I enjoyed the freeform writing and it did spur me to write other things, but the mechanics slowed me down and it's been too long since I even looked at that first blog.

I named my first blog "The Writing Well" and I almost named this one the same. Here's the very first entry from "The Writing Well:"

March 1, 2003

Why "The Writing Well" you ask? Because I am a well of writing that needs priming. I know I have writing ideas and material just waiting to be brought to the surface, waiting to be put on paper, but for some reason they are just not coming to the surface.

When I was a young girl, my grandmother's home was the most magical place. Even though it has been over fifteen years since I was last there, I can still smell and almost taste the unique perfume of Grammy's house: molasses cookies, fresh wildflowers, and that musty, damp smell that comes from a house that is closed up all winter. Outside her flowerbeds were in colorful bloom, the grass always needed mowing, the maple trees spun their helicopter seeds, and the profusion of lilacs scented the air for weeks.

What I remember the most, though, was the water well and its pump, an area conversely fraught with danger and delight, fear and fulfillment. The well pump was on a small shady knoll. As I would walk up the path to the well, I had to be careful not to slip on the moss covered stones that surrounded the well's wooden platform. Even more dangerous to me, though, was the possibility of snakes. On any day there could be several snakes enjoying the cool shade and dampness of the well platform. They were nothing more than green garter snakes, but for a child petrified of any snake they might as well have been boa constrictors or rattlesnakes. The mere sight of them would cause me to freeze with fright, back away slowly, and run for the house. And the next time around I would be doubly apprehensive about going to the well. And yet, go I would, because there was nothing better on a hot summer day than a drink of cold well water!

Some days, though, the water didn't come simply by moving the pump handle up and down. It needed priming, which meant that I had to go back down the slippery stone path, keeping an eagle eye out for snakes, get a glass of water from Grammy's house, make my way back to the well, and then pour the water down the pump while moving the pump handle up and down. If I was lucky, one glass of water would do the trick and I'd cup my hands to catch the cool, sweet water. If not, I would have to run back inside and get another glass of water and prime it again!

You might wonder why I didn't just drink the water from the house instead of going through all that effort to get the well water. After all, it was the very same water! As a child, though, I knew there was a difference. The well water from the pump was sweeter and colder, more refreshing. Or maybe it was just that the danger and excitement, the sense of accomplishment, made the water taste sweeter and feel colder.

My writing needs priming … a few common words trickling down the well to get the steady flow of cool, sweet words flowing again. Ahhh …how welcome that would be!

We'll see if this blog fulfills it's purpose better than my first effort. Quite honestly, I've not written much in the past couple of years other than lots of e-mails. Maybe I should spend less of my energy on the homeschool e-mail lists and more on my own writing!