This is the picture that I was looking for to show you, Anne-Marie.
The big dog is my sister's, the other two are ours (well, actually the middle one used to be my sister's, too!)
Monday, February 27, 2006
3 Dogs
This is the picture that I was looking for to show you, Anne-Marie.
The big dog is my sister's, the other two are ours (well, actually the middle one used to be my sister's, too!)
More Bunny Pics
For the entertainment of the bored employees of certain Pharmaceutical companies who want to see more of Old McDonald's Farm :o)
That's Holly with Neo -- and she's not even trying to eat him!
That's Holly with Neo -- and she's not even trying to eat him!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Look what followed us home....
I took my Mom and Older Daughter out this afternoon to "The World's Largest General Store". We walked through the pet department and they had Netherland Dwarf bunnies :o) I've been promising Younger Daughter a bunny since we moved in. There was one that was all black.
When we got home I mentioned cute black bunny to The Husband with a smile. He called my bluff and we went to the store to take a look, taking Holly (our auxiliary dog) along to test out her Bunny Tolerance Factor. She has done pretty well with Ben the hamster, but every so often she stands under his table staring up and you can almost hear her thinking "If only that cage was two feet closer to the floor...".
The next thing I knew we were back home making a bunny cage out of those wire cubes. S/he still doesn't have a name, but it might be either Neo or Trinity. I'll have to explain that later.
Younger Daughter wasn't with us - she was playing at a friend's house - so she was stunned when she got home and told me that now she would be happy forever!
Shadow checking out the new addition.
When we got home I mentioned cute black bunny to The Husband with a smile. He called my bluff and we went to the store to take a look, taking Holly (our auxiliary dog) along to test out her Bunny Tolerance Factor. She has done pretty well with Ben the hamster, but every so often she stands under his table staring up and you can almost hear her thinking "If only that cage was two feet closer to the floor...".
The next thing I knew we were back home making a bunny cage out of those wire cubes. S/he still doesn't have a name, but it might be either Neo or Trinity. I'll have to explain that later.
Younger Daughter wasn't with us - she was playing at a friend's house - so she was stunned when she got home and told me that now she would be happy forever!
Shadow checking out the new addition.
Science Fair 2006 Concludes
I haven't yet gotten the hang of how Blogger uploads pictures...Here are a few pics from the Science Fair today. Older daughter did a project comparing loaves of bread made with differing amounts of yeast. She did a great job and the house smelled great all week :o)
The Boy did a project about capillary action and seperated food coloring into it's primary colors on filter paper. Another great project. Next year we'll do the worm project that he wanted to do - by the time we got started this year the ground was too frozen and none of the Bait Shops we called had the right worms.
Both kids won door prizes and they all got to do some science activities (like making "Glarch")
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Lost and Found
I seem to have the annoying habit of finding a consumable product that I *really* like which is quickly yanked from the market. However, I also have the good fortune of later seeing those products restored.
The first was Wyler's Beef Boullion Granules (not powder - they're not the same). I found a recipe for "foil dinners" for the campfire and the originator swore by this product. I tried them and everyone liked it, so I began using the Granules in pot roast and beef stew as well as foil dinners.
About a year later they disappeared from the stores. When I called Wylers they told me that they had been discontinued, but sent me coupons for other stuff. Evidently a lot of folks called them and about a year after that I got a jar in the mail with a note that Wylers would be resuming production. Cool.
The second was cheap lotion that I bought at CVS called Malibu Hemp (yup - weird name, I don't know what made me try it). I really liked it, it wasn't too perfumey and it worked well - and since I go through gallons of lotion the -cheap- part was a really good thing, too. When I went back for more there was none to be found. For over a year I looked for it online to no avail. The company didn't have an online presence - the label only gave a Suite number in Minnesota. Then all of a sudden it showed up in WalMart and after a false start (I found it once then it disappeared for 3 months) they've had a steady supply. I still buy a bottle everytime I'm there just in case....
And my 3rd success story thrilled me to no end this week. I found a fabric freshener called Caribbean Mist. It works like Febreeze but it smells much better and is half the price. I bought a bottle to try last summer at the supermarket (Giant). The next time I went there was a 'Discontinued" sign on the shelf so I bought all 6 bottles. I looked in vain for it for 6 months and finally contacted the manufacturer. Someone called me at 7:30 the next morning to tell me that Giant would be carrying it again before Christmas. Well it took until past Valentine's day but it finally showed up so I bought 4 bottles and plan to monitor it's presence at the 3 Giants around here.
Hard to believe that 4 bottles of fabric freshener could make me positively giddy....
The first was Wyler's Beef Boullion Granules (not powder - they're not the same). I found a recipe for "foil dinners" for the campfire and the originator swore by this product. I tried them and everyone liked it, so I began using the Granules in pot roast and beef stew as well as foil dinners.
About a year later they disappeared from the stores. When I called Wylers they told me that they had been discontinued, but sent me coupons for other stuff. Evidently a lot of folks called them and about a year after that I got a jar in the mail with a note that Wylers would be resuming production. Cool.
The second was cheap lotion that I bought at CVS called Malibu Hemp (yup - weird name, I don't know what made me try it). I really liked it, it wasn't too perfumey and it worked well - and since I go through gallons of lotion the -cheap- part was a really good thing, too. When I went back for more there was none to be found. For over a year I looked for it online to no avail. The company didn't have an online presence - the label only gave a Suite number in Minnesota. Then all of a sudden it showed up in WalMart and after a false start (I found it once then it disappeared for 3 months) they've had a steady supply. I still buy a bottle everytime I'm there just in case....
And my 3rd success story thrilled me to no end this week. I found a fabric freshener called Caribbean Mist. It works like Febreeze but it smells much better and is half the price. I bought a bottle to try last summer at the supermarket (Giant). The next time I went there was a 'Discontinued" sign on the shelf so I bought all 6 bottles. I looked in vain for it for 6 months and finally contacted the manufacturer. Someone called me at 7:30 the next morning to tell me that Giant would be carrying it again before Christmas. Well it took until past Valentine's day but it finally showed up so I bought 4 bottles and plan to monitor it's presence at the 3 Giants around here.
Hard to believe that 4 bottles of fabric freshener could make me positively giddy....
Monday, February 20, 2006
Kitchen Tip O' the Day
When you double the Macaroni and CHEESE recipe don't forget to double the cheese as well as all of the other ingredients.
Science Fair
Once again the Science Fair snuck up on us. Fortunately, it's next Saturday and we don't have much going on this week. So Older daughter wants to make several loaves of bread with various changes in ingredients. Yesterday she set out to make the loaves and met with 3 failed attempts at doing so (the bread machine wouldn't mix the dough the way it should). So today I've been fighting with the machine while she's at work with Daddy (no school for President's Day). At the same time I've been helping The Boy experiment with M&M dye and capillary action. The first attempt didn't do what we expected, nor did the SweetTarts. I finally realized that we were using red M&M's which, being a primary color, wouldn't seperate out into other colors (duh!). Of course, the M&Ms I bought were Valentine's leftovers (.44 per bag!) and the rest were pink or white.
So we went to plan B - food coloring in Secondary Colors . And I think it's working - which it a really good thing because I don't have the energy to come up with another project. As it is, we were ready to do an experiment with composting but we couldn't find a bait shop with red worms and the ground was too frozen last week to dig any up.
As my sister once asked - why can't they have History Fairs instead?!
So we went to plan B - food coloring in Secondary Colors . And I think it's working - which it a really good thing because I don't have the energy to come up with another project. As it is, we were ready to do an experiment with composting but we couldn't find a bait shop with red worms and the ground was too frozen last week to dig any up.
As my sister once asked - why can't they have History Fairs instead?!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
More cards
Apparantly I'm in card-making mode - here are some more. Most of them are sitting in envelopes now awaiting a trip to the mailbox. I made these in between helping older daughter with her science fair project (bread with various ingredients changed/omitted) and playing Muppet Party Cruise with everyone on the Game Cube.
You can click on the photos for a larger view.
(this note is for my "Senior Systems Analyist" husband who didn't know that...)
You can click on the photos for a larger view.
(this note is for my "Senior Systems Analyist" husband who didn't know that...)
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Our Winter Wonderland
So younger daughter has been wanting to build a snowman since it snowed on Sunday. Since she and I are alone today until we pick up the boy at 4 and the older girl at 4:30 we went outside to build Frosty before the snow melted (it's 51 degrees out now).
The stick in Shadow's mouth is Frosty's original left arm.
Younger daughter with Frosty and the Auxiliary Dog.
The stick in Shadow's mouth is Frosty's original left arm.
Younger daughter with Frosty and the Auxiliary Dog.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Cards
Here are a few cards I've made recently. Angela, one of them will be headed your way tomorrow :o)
Sunday, February 12, 2006
It's beginning to look a lot like...Thanksgiving
This is what I woke up to:
This is the first significant storm we've had since before Thanksgiving. We only got about 8" - the InLaws had 17". I'm really glad we have a short driveway to shovel, but this year's tax refund will be going toward a plow for the tractor!
Here are a few pictures of the kids sledding off the mound
Yes, those are the dogs, not the kids, but Blogger is giving me grief about posting photos. I've been trying to accomplish this for 3 hours....
That's the younger daughter going down the hill backwards...
This is the first significant storm we've had since before Thanksgiving. We only got about 8" - the InLaws had 17". I'm really glad we have a short driveway to shovel, but this year's tax refund will be going toward a plow for the tractor!
Here are a few pictures of the kids sledding off the mound
Yes, those are the dogs, not the kids, but Blogger is giving me grief about posting photos. I've been trying to accomplish this for 3 hours....
That's the younger daughter going down the hill backwards...
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Candy is dandy, but...
We watched the olympic opening ceremonies last night (well, I made it to 10:30 and the girls both fell asleep long before that). Mom came over to spend the night and brought pizza and we had "party food" in the living room for dinner. I thought I'd surprise the kids with Rice Krispie Treats made to look like Olympic torches. Would you believe that I have made bread from scratch; I have made pasta from scratch; I have made bacon and eggs in a paper bag over a campfire -- but I have never made rice krispie treats. How hard could it be? Even my least-domestic SIL can make rice krispie treats!
Well I failed my first ever attempt at melting marshmallows and stirring in cereal. Apparantly the longer you cook sugar (of which marshmallows contain 99.98% sugar) the harder it will be when it cools. So when I turned my back for 4 seconds and looked back there was a little browning action happening in that pan. Everything seemed fine, though. I didn't even burn myself too badly when I picked up the molten marshmallow stuff with my bare hand to stuff it into the ice cream cone. But when we actually bit into the torches we nearly broke our teeth! They actually were edible, but they were more the consistency of two week old rice krispy treats that have been sitting out on the counter.
The Husband reminded me that I can't make toast, either. Our new stove has a 'toast' setting and twice now I have literally set bread on fire trying to make croutons.
Well I failed my first ever attempt at melting marshmallows and stirring in cereal. Apparantly the longer you cook sugar (of which marshmallows contain 99.98% sugar) the harder it will be when it cools. So when I turned my back for 4 seconds and looked back there was a little browning action happening in that pan. Everything seemed fine, though. I didn't even burn myself too badly when I picked up the molten marshmallow stuff with my bare hand to stuff it into the ice cream cone. But when we actually bit into the torches we nearly broke our teeth! They actually were edible, but they were more the consistency of two week old rice krispy treats that have been sitting out on the counter.
The Husband reminded me that I can't make toast, either. Our new stove has a 'toast' setting and twice now I have literally set bread on fire trying to make croutons.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
And so it begins
I've been reading lots of blogs for the past year or so and I finally decided that the time had come to start one of my own. So here I am!
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