Sunday Randomness #158 : Why are there inconsistencies in life?

Signs that Daisy is spending just a little too much time indoors:

Mom: Do you want to go to Savers?

D: No, I don't like Savers.  I don't like shopping.  I don't like the outdoors....what is the outdoors?  I don't like it.

Religion and drugs:
Once when H was sick, I found M kneeling by her bedside.  I remarked:
"Mica, you don't need to pray over Hedgehog.  She's not that sick and we don't believe in last rites."
(I got laughter from both of them.)

When Hedgehog returned from a trip I asked for her antibiotics and passport that she had packed.
Mica interrupted and said to Hedgehog: " So basically Mom wants your drugs and your ID."

Hedgehog and her relationship with the pets:

H: We tease the kitty.

Mom: We tease the kitty and we tease each other.

H: And we tease the guinea pig.  At least I do.

Mica piping in: How do you tease the guinea pig?

H: I scare her but in the kindest way.  I hold her and kiss her nose and she flinches!

Mom: She flinches because she thinks you're going to eat her! 

H: Our kitty has flurr.  Fluffy fur.

On Birthdays:

Daisy: A birthday celebration is like a satanic ritual.  Everyone gets in a circle and surrounds an object that they just set on fire.  Then they chant some things and cut into the object.  (She found it on tumblr but wanted to make sure we all knew about this pseudo-factoid.)

Hedgehog: In China a birthday is the day of a mother's suffering.

Food: 

Hedgehog wanted to open the Indian Jaipur Vegetables from Trader Joes.  I pointed out there were still leftovers in the fridge.  She grumbled: "Just because you're willing the eat the same animal fodder day in and day out..."  I let her open the Indian food.  (Which was quite good-we'll be buying it again.)

I bought some energy bars for school and snacks.  Mica was perusing the selections and came upon the kale bar.  

Her response?: "A Kale Bar?!?  What kind of sadist comes up with an idea like that?!?!" 

Sunday Randomness #27 : A trip to the bookstore and a science experiment thrown in

Mica and I went to the BYU bookstore in Provo before her fall semester started.  Her favorite stop?  The textbook section of course!  We found books on writing and world history along with

insects and Aural Rehabilitation and Ancient Greece to

Viscous Fluid Flow and King Arthur and Leaves of Grass, 1860 by Walt Whitman.

We couldn't go without a stop at the candy shop for some sour watermelons, gummy worms, gummy raspberries, gummy grapefruit slices and an assortment of fudge including Italian cream, rocky road, German chocolate. and caramel pecan.

 Later in the fall Mica left this note for me over the pile of dishes taking up room in both sides of the kitchen sink.  It reads:"Mama Llama- I dirtied most of these dishes, so please let me do them when I get home from work.  I know you have the strength within you to leave them alone.  I believe in you."  Aaaahhhh.... proof that the little fledglings can leave the nest and come back and still take care of themselves and their dishes even after they return to the nest.

And finally we have the summer science experiment also done by Mica.  We were intrigued by the different colors of mold that all grew on the one dish of raspberry/rhubarb cobbler.  We never intended to not finish it-it just got buried and forgotten under papers on the table until it had passed the point of safe consumption.  By then Mica wanted to see what would happen so we took it out (covered) to spend some time out in the summer air on the back patio.  This was the result after a couple of weeks.

Sunday Randomness #60: The long term affects on spandex fabric and elastic when exposed to slightly elevated levels of chlorine and other chemicals in water

This is your swimsuit.

This is your swimsuit on chlorine.

Any questions?

And now, some of the top ten public service announcements thanks to TIME: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1920454_1920455_1920449,00.html  The link specifically goes the egg/drugs number but the others are also worth a look.  (Yes, these suits were identical at one time but 5-6 months of swimming takes a toll on the vibrant colors and the elasticity.)

Author #142: A lovely alphabet soup with Scott Gustafson

Join Scott Gustafson in Alphabet Soup: A Feast of Letters for a lovely little romp when otter invites all his friends for a house-warming, soup-making party.  This particular book was published in 1994 and is just one of many examples of Scott's fantastic art.   He just won the Spectrum Grand Master Fantastic Art award for 2015!   See more of his work  http://www.scottgustafson.com/

Sunday Randomness #201: Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime!

One of our favorite drinks in the summer is lemonade and we have a new favorite recipe for lovely summertime lemonade thanks to a little book found in the JE section of the library.  Lulu's Lemonade  by Barbara deRubertis is a fantastic book to explain fractions in an easy to understand manner.  The lemonade recipe at the end of the book is marvelous!  I'm only showing a quart of the lemonade from a 2 gallon batch.  We've also made 3 gallon batches in the past-it's that good.

Recipe is 1/2 gallon lemonade, 1 qt orange juice, 1 pint lemon-lime soda, 1 cup lime juice, 1 TBSP vanilla and 1 tsp fresh mint leaves.  Mix and chill, then serve.

Author #141: Australian author Nick Bland tells us about The Very Cranky Bear

Once there was a very cranky bear.  The other animals tried to cheer him up by changing his looks to look more like them.  Does it work?  And does the plain sheep have anything to share?  Nick Bland shares a story of simplicity in this simple tale.

Author #140: Sangeeta Bhadra tames temper in this tetchy treatise

With text by Sangeeta Bhadra and illustrations by Marion Arbona, kids and adults alike can laugh and learn about how to control a pet temper in Sam's Pet Temper.  He finds the temper at the playground and together they learn how to appropriately handle temper.  Sam finds that a pet temper isn't the pet he thought it would be and is happy to let it go by the end of the story.

Author #139: McNamara and Karas playfully put poems in perspective

In A Poem in Your Pocket  by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas we learn about some different kinds of poems including acrostic and concrete. Elinor is excited about a famous poet coming to her school and sharing poems but then she can't write a poem to her liking and doesn't have one when the poet comes.  What will Elinor do?

 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/ Visit the poetry foundation for an explanation of poetry terms along with current poetry and news on poetry.  http://www.gbriankaras.com/ Read more about G. Brian Karas and see his art at his website.  More about author Margaret McNamara at: https://www.facebook.com/MargaretMcNamaraAuthor

Author #138: Elys Dolan mash-up Star Trek and Star Wars in Nuts In Space

I lost track of how many times I laughed aloud while reading Nuts in Space written and illustrated by Elys Dolan.  If you like sci-fi, this book is for you!  Ms.Dolan has a funny blog over at: http://elysdolan.blogspot.com/

Author #137: Laura Purdie Salas conceptualizes water in its many forms

Water takes many forms and performs multiple functions.  Learn more about water and its many disguises in Water Can Be... by Laura Purdie Salas with soft and muted illustrations by Violeta Dabija.  For more on water conservation, visit http://www.slowtheflow.org/

Sunday Randomness #302: Jack faces off with a zucchini

 What is this thing and why is it on my chair?!?!?!?

 I'll just ignore it.  Zucchini is a squash too ordinary for me to give it much attention-especially when it was a gift squash. If we had grown it there might have been some reflected glory but we can't take any credit for this giant chair-stealing veggie.

Ball number 6 (the little orange thing nestled in my fur) and I are just taking a little break from playing.  Most of the time I fiercely attack and chase my multiple little rubber ball nemeses.  I'm really on a roll when I bat one down the stairs.

Yes, that is correct.  One should kneel before royalty.  I approve of your abject humbleness when faced with my regal bearing and demeanor.

Author #136: The sweetness of Mutts creator Patrick McDonnell in "A Perfectly Messed Up Story"

Patrick McDonnell shares A Perfectly Messed-Up Story in this delightful tale featuring Louie and his story as it unfolds with a few words of wisdom on the proper treatment of books and to keep reading even when all is not going as you had planned.  Visit Mr. McDonnell's website for more about his books and a look at his Mutts Comic strip which has been delighting audiences since 1994 http://muttscomics.com/

Author #135: The wind has colors with George Mendoza and J.L. Powers

J.L. Powers tells the story of bling artist and champion runner, George Mendoza, in the book, Colors of the Wind which contains paintings by George Mendoza.  For more about Mr. Mendoza visit his google page at: https://plus.google.com/u/0/117285940106250317768/posts

Mr. Mendoza creates bright and beautiful pieces of life with his art and set the world record for a mile by a blind runner in 1980.  He continues to paint today.

Sunday Randomness #26: Outing to the new Culvers in Orem

Culvers! - a tasty alternative to other fast food establishments!

Culvers in Orem at  1211 West 800 North just off of I-15.

 Expansive menu

 Proof that we actually went to Culver's.  Picture kindly taken by the store manager.

Proof of the child who disappeared from the taking of the group picture.

We only got a picture of the fries (top) and fried cheese curds (bottom) since we started eating  as soon as they brought the burgers and sides to our table.  We also got some dessert in the way of  a smoothie, concrete mixer and a custard sundae.  As we were eating our desserts, the store owner came over to ask about our satisfaction with the meal (everything was very good tasting from temperature to texture to taste!).  Great clean location with wonderful food.  When we're in the Orem part of the valley we'll stop in again!

Sunday Randomness #289: Fruits and Veggies in real life and a biologically diverse candy world

Here's a couple of examples of shopping lists made by Daisy, Mica and Hedgehog for recent grocery store trips:                          

• tomatoes
• peppers
• yogurt dip
• dried fruit and nut mix
• avocado
• black beans

and the second list:

• tortillas
• bananas 
• cucumbers
• garbanzo beans
• apples
• peppers (red, green, etc.)
• milk
• large carrots
• spinach

I feel pretty secure that we eat fairly healthy and the kids know how to pick some fruits and vegetables and how to prepare them.  Then Hedgehog got an assignment from school based on a little bag of candy that she got from the teacher.  This is her take on a lighhearted assignment from biology:

"Crunch are generally found in cold environments because they are primarily composed of chocolate that would melt very easily in hot temperatures and have no secondary structure to hold them together. Crunch are well suited for high mountains terrain because the puffed rice in them allow them to store oxygen so they can survive in low-oxygen climates for long periods of time.

M&Ms  live in environments of mild temperature and low humidity. Their hard shells protect them from heat that other chocolate candies cannot, but their bright coloring can easily be rubbed off when a M&M comes in contact with moisture.

Sour Punch Straws live in hot temperatures with tall foliage.  Their long bodies allow Sour Punch Straws to reach food in tall trees and they won’t melt in extreme temperatures. Sour Punch Straws are not generally found in colder regions of the world because their soft bodies are very susceptible to chocolate based predators, many of which are immune to their sour poison.

Gobstopper live on the ocean floors of cold oceans. They are nearly unbreakable making them perfectly suited for the high pressure of ocean floors. Gobstoppers have no need for eyes in their near lightless environment but instead they use heat sensors imbedded in their most outer layer to sense pray and predators.

Starbursts are native to dry deserts. Their bodies are capable of storing large amounts of water to survive in hot, dry weather.  Starbursts are protected from the sun by their waxy wrappers so their soft flesh won’t boil in the sun.

Sweettarts make their home in tide pools surrounding oceans. Their hardened bodies protect them from the eroding tides and predators. Sweettarts’ indented center allows small sugar algae to settle there making them easy prey for the organism.

Laffy Taffy live in rainforests around the world. Their bright coloring allow them to blend in with fruit around the rainforest where they lay in wait to attack and eat their prey as they go to get fruit. On Laffy Taffy wrappers there are jokes that are meant to distract predators with laughter so the Laffy Taffy can run away or hide.

Twizzlers and Sour Punch Straws are very similar in size, structure, and environment so they are able to make viable offspring called Twaws, but they are infertile. Because this post-zygotic barrier, Sour Punch Straws and Twizzlers are unable to make a hybrid species and remain reproductively isolated from each other.

Gobstoppers and Crunch are spatially isolated from each other so they are unable to create hybrid offspring with each other. Gobstoppers live on the deep ocean floor and Crunch live on high mountain tops. If they ever were to cross paths, they would probably die before any reproducing could occur.

Almond Joys and Twix are behaviorally isolated from each other. Although they  would be physically able to create virile and viable offspring, their mating rituals are different, so they won’t reproduce with one another. To show off to potential mates, male Twix spin in very tight circles to show their strength of body and genes. In Almond Joys, males emit certain smells to attract mates and to ward off other competition for mates. Because they have such different mating rituals, they do not reproduce with one another.

Skittles and starburst both have the homologous structure of chewiness to help them store water in their bodies. Both Snickers and Twix have caramel as a homologous structure which allows these two species deter predators with the sticky substance that makes them seem as though they’re too much work to try and eat. Twizzlers and Sour Punch Straws both have lines in their bodies which help them to sweat and protect a majority of their skin from the harsh sun."

Sunday Randomness #91: Continuing Inconsistencies in life

*Mica to new roommates on their first night around midnight in response to staying up and getting to know one another: "I'm old." And then she went promptly to bed.  (She was a sophomore and they were freshmen.)

     Me: We got cheated on our chicken noodle soup! (Upon the discovery of one lone noodle in the box of soup.)
     Hedgehog: No we didn't.  It's quite literal: chicken nooooodle  soup.
     (I should have noticed it was singular "noodle", not plural  "noodles".)

*  Remark at a restaurant that caused the rest of our table to erupt in laughter:  "We're all decapitated in one way or another."   (Since everyone knows that being decapitated is so close to being incapacitated. You just lose your head sometimes.)

     Response by daughter after I hung up their coat on the new coat rack after they threw it over a chair:  "Noooo, things aren't suppose to be used for their intended purpose!"

*Mica's opinion of Daisy's lackadaisical response to doing chores:"You're only a disappointment on odd days.  On other days you're just a pet peeve."

     How high mom rates on the list of importance:  "I gave you my junk e-mail address because my other e-mail address is for people I care about."

*"What!?!"  Reaction of daughter when finding out that the family stapler was also out of staples when they attempted to use it.  They had thought to use the family one instead of their own because they would have had to put in new staples.
This is also the same daughter that told me that: "If you notice your coca-cola supply going down (the case of glass bottles that are suppose to be for headaches), it's because we don't have any clean glasses and so there's nothing else to drink."

     Hedgehog: "I didn't remember to return your headphones because I was so enamored with them. They have such good sound and they block out the rest of you outside noise."

Author #134: Springtime anytime books by April Pulley Sayre

Author April Pulley Sayre has written over several dozen books to date.  Read more about her other books at: http://www.aprilsayre.com/category/my-books/

Just to touch quickly on a couple of books pictured below: Let's Go Nuts!  features beautiful photographs of all kinds of seeds that we eat from coconuts to lentils and Stars Beneath Your Bed tells the the story behind where dust is found, its possible composition, and how it affects the way we see sunsets and sunrises.  There's a short two page informative section in the back that tells a lot more about dust.  

Author #133: Retro graphics in a hilarious book by Bob Staake

A laugh out loud take on pet ownership!  Perfect for book lovers of all ages!  He's done a commercial for Intel!  See it here: http://www.bobstaake.com/intel/ !  More info at: http://www.bobstaake.com/ !

Sunday Randomness #123: Trying some exotic new fruit

Wrinkly exotic fruit. Oval purple passion fruit on the left, oblong star shaped starfruit on the right.And this is how they appear when you cut them up.  The starfruit have hard seeds in the middle like an apple that we did not eat. We thought it had a slight pear taste and was crunchy like an apple.  The passion fruit has a unique taste all its own-slightly like perfume with a tangy bite.  You eat the seeds and that yellow pulp around the seeds and the juice is delicious.  The seeds are crunchy and great as a topping.  Surprisingly, passion fruit seeds are high in dietary fiber and they also have a fairly med-high phosphorus content.  And yes, this is what a ripe passion fruit should look like-wrinkled outer skin with the pulp and seeds coming away from the bitter rind on the inside.

Author #132: Shona Innes and the playground of friendship

Ahhhh....the ups and downs of friendship are covered in this cute little book called Friendship is Like a Seesaw by Shona Innes and illustrated by Irisz Agoces.  Read about more of their Big Hug Books at: http://www.shonainnes.com/bighug/   Ms. Innes uses insights gained through her experiences as a clinical and forensic psychologist to share thoughts and ideas about a range of subjects that can be emotionally challenging for kids, teens and adults.

Author #131: ADHD and Asperger Syndrome with dogs and cats by Kathy Hoopmann

Develop more understanding with Kathy Hoopmann and her books: All Dogs Have ADHD  and All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome.  Ms. Hoopmann was born and lived for many years in Australia but has also lived in Dubai.  For more about Kathy and her other books, please visit her website at: http://www.kathyhoopmann.com/index.html

I want to share her blurb from her website on her presentation on Asperger Syndrome in the classroom:

" It is estimated that 1 in every 80 children have Asperger Syndrome. Every teacher will have a child with Asperger’s in their classroom at some stage, whether the child is diagnosed, or not. My talk does not focus on what is Asperger Syndrome, (although, of course, I do explain it) but rather I present an insight to the mind of the child with Asperger’s, to show how they think and why they do the things they do. For many teachers, this is eye opening and will change the way they deal with children with Asperger's to the benefit of all concerned. "

These two picture books cover many similarities between the behavior of familiar animals with some behaviors of those who may fall on the ADHD and/or Asperger Syndrome spectrum.   Examples include that the mind of an ADHD child may work better when their body is moving-sitting still is not their thing and an asperger child may just say what is on their mind without thinking about what they are saying-they are honest but sometimes too honest.  We really appreciated the insight given by her books and they have helped us to have greater patience and understanding with all those with whom we interact.

Author #130: Jennifer Adams reimagines Poe's Raven poem

What happened when The Raven from Edgar Allan Poe's narrative poem was a little fledgling?  Get a little glimpse through Jennifer Adams book, Edgar Gets Ready For Bed. The book has some wonderfully simplistic illustrations by Ron Stucki.  Read more about Jennifer Adams and her take on literary classics for children at: http://jennifer-adams.com/?page_id=45
She also has a number of board books that make the classics accessible to the very young and young at heart ranging from Jane Eyre to Frankenstein to Jabberwocky plus many more!

Sunday Randomness #28: Four way bathroom flooring swap in less than four months

This it the first flooring for the downstairs bathroom-a thick ivory shag carpet with pink accent rugs.  All three bathrooms had carpet but propitiously, none of the carpet in the bathrooms was glued down and there was no pad to deal with in any of the bathrooms. We were able to just lift out the carpet pieces and throw them away.

Here's what we found under the carpet downstairs:

Tiger striped linoleum.  Really. I should have gotten pictures/video of everyone's faces and the shocked laughter when they first saw this flooring.  Including contractors.  All of whom took a picture themselves.  None of the three flooring contractors had ever seen anything like it before.
Finally, when we had some different work done, a workman said he had seen flooring of the same era once in a millionaire home up in Park City. He said that individual had animal prints for flooring and large taxidermy stuffed animals all over the home.  When we asked the previous owners of our house about this floor they laughed and said we should have seen it when they moved in.  Supposedly the owners before them had animal print flooring and animal print pictures in nearly every room.  If only we had pictures....

 Initially we went with a remnant vinyl flooring but there were problems such as under the bathroom sink as shown below.  Plus the flooring didn't get rolled out right so we had bubbles on the edges where this new flooring started to come up.

 So here we go with the final floor that's currently in the bathroom downstairs.  Just a simple stone design but it goes so much better with the new laminate wood flooring that we have in the other room.  Plus we were able to do some repair work that was missed the first time around such as new baseboard under the sink and touch up painting.

Yes, the tile work on the shower is interesting isn't it?  Wait 'til you see the inside.  But that's going to have to wait for a future post.  Meanwhile you can get a small glimpse of the hallway and downstairs living room flooring that was an early 1960's flat carpet in the second picture down and a brief glimpse of the laminate flooring that replaced it in the fourth picture down.     Despite all the work we love the new house and slowly we'll get things upgraded and updated.  This bathroom just gives a small glimpse of what we've been doing.

2015 Summer Movies #1: Finding Vivian Maier (Story of an unknown master photographer)

Just a fascinating film starting with one box of negatives bought from the estate of an obscure nanny.

I actually wish sometimes we had our current viewfinders located the same as the old cameras.  There were some advantages in some types of photography.  The movie came out in 2013, is not rated (although I would give it a "G" rating) and runs 84 minutes.  If you like black and white photography, old vintage photographs, and excellent examples of every day city life, then this movie is worth your time.

Two Trees Taken Down With Crane

Red Oaks West Tree Service headed by Adrian West removed two giant old trees from our new yard.  Their bid was right in line with other firms but they use a crane and they had the two trees taken down in a matter of a few hours rather than all day or over a couple of days.  No damage to the foundation of the house because of the weight of the tree limbs, the trunk and limbs can be moved directly over to the truck staging area for disposal, minimal debris (some small piles of sawdust), proper safety equipment used and protocol followed-what's not to like about this form of tree removal?  We're very happy with the job they did and would happily call them again for future work and to recommend to others.

 The corner tree had trunk, trunk, trunk, then large extending branches that mostly towered over neighboring yards.  You can see it's taller than the utility pole.  Plus this particular tree had been cut previously and had grown around the old cut stump as shown below.

 This second tree is an ash that was partially dead and had also been previously cut and had grown around the old cuts.  The tree also had some major branches hanging over the driveway of the neighbor to the west.  We just thought it would be prudent to take down both trees before they came down on their own due to weather or other factors.  There's maple in between the two that's in good shape and it's staying.

 They tie the crane hook to anchor the branch or trunk section and then they cut that section away from the tree.

 Then the crane lifts the section over to the staging area to be cut into manageable chunks for the chipper.  Notice the safety gear-these guys were really prepared and careful.

 Here's the crane bringing over a section of trunk that's too big for their chipper and was being taken to green waste with the other big logs.

For more information, visit their website at: http://www.redoakswest.com/     If you want tree removal done right, this is the company to call!