I MADE this!

I made this canopy for Lucy's room today! I think it turned out really cute and it was super easy! I got the instructions and idea from Family Fun magazine, it's the best!

The End is Upon Us

Here are my teacher gifts this year. It was so last minute so they're kind of simple but I think they're cute. I know the tin says "snacks" but I think you get the idea.



The card read:"Mrs. LeBaron; "It was a real TREAT learning from you."



This is the beach bag we made for Young Women's. They took forever to do but they turned out cute!

A Size Too Small

I was perusing one of my favorite sites today and came across an add for T-shirts. These were really cute so I clicked on the ad and was taken to the T-shirt site. Of course, these shirts (out of L.A.) were stupidly expensive but what made me laugh was the size options. I kid you not...the size range was 1,2,3 or 4. Okay, so the 4 was an extra large. I thought, maybe I'm being a little harsh let me check out the size chart. Size 4 is about a size 10. When did size 10 become extra large?

Hey, T-shirt people here's a little fact; everyone who lives outside of L.A.- we actually eat food.

My Own Personal Amex Ad

One tent: $200



Six sleeping bags: $150



Fixin's for S'mores: $5




Camping in the backyard.....priceless

Do or Do Not

My son tried out for competitive soccer a couple of nights ago. He did a great job and was selected to play on an existing team taking one of three open spots. I am really proud of him and yet somewhat unnerved by the level of discipline required to participate. He is very excited about this opportunity and as long as that is the case, I will support him in this endeavor. I have lots of thoughts on the seriousness of competition at young ages but that will be a separate post.
Today I was thinking about the advice I gave my son as he was getting ready to play for the onlooking coaches. I told him "Just do your best." While he was playing, I realized that often times in the past I have counseled him to "try your hardest" and it struck me that there is a difference between these two statements. While I know that I have used them interchangeably, they really mean something very different. I think the greatest explanation of this can be attributed to Master Yoda when he says "Do or do not...there is no try."
While I think that giving things a good old "college try" is important I really believe that if someone goes into something expecting to "do" their best they will be more likely to succeed.
I am impressed that my son did his best

From an Anthropological Standpoint

My friend and I were discussing a book she was reading the other day. It is a story about women in China and it records a foot binding event that took place in the heroine's life. She, at the age of 8 (late by the standards at the time) had her feet bound to look like "lotus blossoms". It's really very disturbing to see photos of women who have had this ritual done and then to hear an actual account of how it took place. Our conversation then turned to all the different cultural rituals that take place, things from lip and ear disks to neck rings to genital mutilation. My friend made the comment about how grateful she was that our society doesn't do things like that and I couldn't help but point out that first, each culture finds those things appropriate for their members and second, Americans have their own weired ritual in plastic surgery. I think that somehow we assume that since we elect to have our bodies augmented and we do so under anesthesia that it's appropriate. I think it will make a great topic for a book in 150 years when anthropologists dig up skeletons of females with strange, gel-like disks on their rib cages. Can't you read it now? "One hundred fifty years ago, American culture valued large breasted women and it was not uncommon for women of many ages to have gel-like implants placed in their breast tissue, enlarging the breasts, often times at great personal risk to the woman participating in the procedure."

Went to Home Depot today to get some petunias. I am ashamed to even say I buy petunias because every one has them, in copious amounts. I have sadly learned though, that they are the only things I can grow.
Anyhoo, while I was perusing the flowers at the aforementioned Home Depot I was trying to calm my daughter who was freaking out (yes, FREAKING out) because there were....wait for it....BEES! My poor, poor Lulu. She almost won't come outside any more because she sees bees. (I'm sure there's something in that comment that could be spun around "I see dead people" but I'm at a loss.) I finally grabbed both sides of her face with my hands and had to look her in the eye while I went into another aisle where there were no bees.
Here I am with a cart of flowers I have to purchase (Maybe I should have just walked out, this post would have been much more exciting) and she's losing it. Finally, I got her to see that the bees just wanted to smell the flowers, not bother her. She calmed down enough to hold still and not cry while we checked out.
As we pushed the cart to the car she kept saying (whilst looking over her shoulder) "bees aren't mean, bees are happy".

It could "bee" a long summer!

I played Futsol last night and had a great time! (I even scored a goal!) They have a game every week so maybe I'll go again, see if I can get better. So fun!

Poetry, Sheer Poetry

You are listening to the ultimate love song! Title: "My Life Would Suck Without You". I mean really, who wouldn't swoon when an angry girl professes her love?

"You got a piece of me, and honestly, my life would suck without you."

ah, now that's love.

Snarkety, Snark, Snark

I am in a snarky mood. I love this mood, mostly because I love the word snarky. I feel that snarkiness is most conducive to blog posting because so many of the commercial blogs I peruse are filled with copious amounts of snark. It really is my goal to fill this post with the word snark as many times as possible and feed the growing glow of snark in my life. Really, what else is there to do today? Nothing as wonderful as sassy, snarky posts that mean absolutely nothing and fill the world with a snickety, snarkety, sass.

Here Come the Cavalry

So, in response to the questions about the homeless man in the hollow- he is gone. I called the police the following day and asked what the law was regarding camping down there and was told that there technically is no law against it so really, he could camp if he wanted. However, he cannot set up permanent residence. The police agreed to see if they could find him and ask him what his intentions were. I never heard whether they found him or not but when some of my neighbors went down they said he had vacated the area but left a lot of trash.
My children have thought this is a great adventure but I have decided they will never go down unless they are in large groups. It's a fun place but I have learned, you never know who you are going to meet.

The Man in the Hollow

We have a wooded area behind our home that we lovingly refer to as "the hollow". My children often explore there with friends and the dogs and yesterday was no different in that regard. What was different was the report they brought home; "mom, there was a guy asleep in the hollow." they told me. Immediately my mom ears perked up and I pelted them with questions. What was he doing? Was he alone? Did he have a tent? After a brief discussion, I was informed that he was alone, he did have a tent and he was sleeping.
Now, for every mom reading this, you know exactly what my reaction was- "crap, my children were in the hollow with a homeless man, alone". My second reaction was, "I need to call the police." I told my hubby that this wasn't gonna fly and that I knew something like this would happen eventually and what if he was dangerous. I resolved to speak with the police on Monday.

Last night, as I was getting ready for bed, I was thinking about the man in the hollow. I felt a little shame from my first reaction to him. (Especially since I just finished reading "Same Kind of Different as Me") Of course, my greatest desire is to keep my family safe and in this day and age, you just never know. However, after talking with my husband, we decided that we would take him some supplies tonight.
We raided the food storage and found some canned goods (I also provided a can opener) and some toiletries and my husband took them to this man's tent.
I'll be honest, I was hoping when he returned that he would have some great story about how this man broke into tears at our generosity and turned out to be a great, humble man who had stumbled on hard times. I was a little disappointed and scared when my husband returned home urging me to call the police tomorrow and to keep the kids home until he was removed.
Either way, it's been an interesting topic of discussion for our family.