You Can't Win if You Don't Play!

I sat with My Lady during the whole meal. I even brought all her plates and checking all her garbage. During the meal she wasn't eating the Reuben. Oh No, I did leave her to walk across the dining room to get bread to make her a PB & J. I asked to see her teeth and the bottom dentures were gone!

I hurried across the dining room and asked Christine of the dining staff  call down and ask if they could pull our dining room garbage aside. Hopefully, they weren't compacting it yet. I had already learned that they run the compactor twice a day every day. I ran down to the kitchen. 

The bag had been pulled aside. I told the people in the kitchen what I was doing thanked them and asked if I could have some gloves. I put two gloves on each hand. One of the servers from our floor, Stephen was there and he took me out of the kitchen to the dumpster and the big black bag. 

Stephen and I went through the whole bag. No luck. I was determined so I went through the bag again. No luck. 

At this point, it was about 1pm, I was sitting on the ground behind the building, digging through a big black garbage bag. I stopped and thanked Stephen again for continuing to hold the bag open and told him I was going to try one more time. 

I moved everything to one side and went through everything, Styrofoam containers, cups, treat bags, paper towels, paper napkins, and food. I went through all of it as thoroughly as I could. At the very bottom, there was one last glob of garbage. I felt it. I squished it through my fingers and could see something that might be "U" shaped. I had to wipe off cake and layers of wet paper but there it was. 

I played Dumpster Diving for Dentures and I won!

Stephen said that might be the most popular game show that no one wants to be on.

HAPPY THOUGHTS

First time I saw Sonny or held teenie tiny Cora Lee
Dog Smiling
Dog Wagging Tail
Singing Bird
Laughing baby
Christmas Lights
Hugs

Top Reasons To Stain Shirt as Soon as Leaving Home

1. I Don't have to worry about how I look for the rest of the day.

2. I have interaction with more people as they point out the stain.

3. I have the perfect reason to tie-dye my shirt.

4. I can practice my bird in a birdbath imitation in the water fountain as I desperately try to rinse my shirt.

5. I have a good excuse to buy a new shirt.

I Don't Know How To Eat!!

How is it possible that I still have not perfected the art of eating? Here I am minding my own business, I take a bite out of a taco and BAMM! I have breathed in a little piece of taco, I'm choking and then luckily I start coughing. It takes several minutes for me to recover. Why don't I know the difference between breathing and eating after 50 years of daily practice? What am I missing?

I am reminded of my childhood. My elders did try to instill social graces into my life. I can remember some of them.

• Don't talk with your mouth full
• Elbows off the table (Mabel)
• Chew each bite 20 times
• Close your mouth as you chew (eat as quietly as possible)
• Sit up straight

Let's take a look. I don't think that I adhere to any of these.

Don't talk with your mouth full - I regularly talk with food in my mouth. Hopefully, my mouth is not full. I do try not to stuff my mouth full as I eat

Elbows off the table (Mabel) - I know that I have rested both of my elbows on the table while I negotiated a sandwich into my mouth

Chew each bite 20 times - Ha, funny, 20 times, ha ha, oh, they were serious. I'm probably lucky if I chew each bite 10 times

Close your mouth as you chew (eat as quietly as possible) - This one I do, except when I'm talking or singing while I eat

Sit up straight - Sit? I do sit sometimes. I enjoy the whole family eating together but it seems so difficult to get everyone eating at the same time. I'm guilty of eating while I do chores around the house, while I take the puppies out. Plus I do not have the good posture that I could. I most enjoy sitting with my hips tilted back, with my left knee up or at least my left foot tucked up under my bottom

At the time of this last choking incident, my mouth was not full, I was not talking, I was not at a table, I'm certain I had not chewed the food enough, my mouth was closed, I was undoubtedly slouching with my left knee up.

So maybe I'll try going back to these basics and see if my choking frequency reduces.

Too Ripe Bananas & Amazing Dog Treats

Yin and Yang napping. We didn't name them that but we sure could have.

I've never knew what to do with too ripe bananas. I've heard freeze them. I could use them later for banana bread-I cannot eat wheat and my daughter only likes bananas by themselves. Recently 3 ingredient dog treats was recommended on Pinterest. (Pinterest has a pretty good algorithm). The original post is Homemade Peanut Butter Banana Dog Treats at http://munchkinsandmilitary.com/2015/02/homemade-peanut-butter-banana-dog-treats.html

Ingredients I have on hand in my kitchen: an almost empty oatmeal box,
 an almost empty peanut butter jar and three very ripe bananas.

Simple enough the recipe called for: 1 1/2 cups uncooked Oatmeal, 1 large Banana, and 1/2 cup Peanut Butter. That didn't match my ingredients. I had 1 cups uncooked Oatmeal, 3 medium Bananas and 3/4 cup Peanut Butter. Also probably because of the change of ingredients, my treats could probably been cooked even longer than the 20 minutes at 350°F. Either way the pups love them. So don't be afraid of changing the proportions.

I made two big ones with my dog bone
cookie cutter and the rest about 2 inch rounds. 

Update 08/26/2017: both of the dogs loved these!!

Raking

Most of my days are spent with my daily work. There are very few activities like raking. I work hard. I give my best effort until I have blisters on my hands and my hip aches with arthritis. Then I finish up as best I can gathering the last leaves and putting the rakes and such away. When I look at my work the ground is still littered with acorns and leaves (I live in an oak hammock).

Agenda, Docket, Itinerary or Schedule

Agenda, Docket, Itinerary or Schedule

Maybe it is because I Home Educate my kids or maybe it is because I do not work out side my home or maybe it is just me but I seldom take the weekends off. That special weekend feeling of: staying up late or
getting to sleep in or
watching Saturday morning cartoons or
even going to some special place is almost forgotten.

I do not believe that my kids understand "Weekend" or why others worship it or even why people (and Orange Cats) hate Mondays.

We don't necessarily wake up in the morning or go to sleep at night but we live by my Calendar. We definitely have plans. March is always very busy for us. We weekly attend two separate Homeschooling groups. Twice a month each child attends a Camp Fire USA group for their age.  We have play dates.  We visit Busch Gardens and Seaworld frequently. Then as the weather warms we also incorporate 3-7 visits to the beach each week.

Yet, I get confused as to what day of the week it is.  If it weren't for some rather silly mother's that had all penciled in mustaches, I would have missed the fact that it was actually LEAP day February 29, 2012 this week.

You didn't know that you were supposed to draw a mustache on your upper lip for Leap Day? It was explained to me this way: draw a mustache on Leap day because a drawn  mustache looks French, frogs are French and frogs leap. I told you that they are silly.

Secular Co-op Road Trip

H.O.P. Home School Co-op

Total we spend the day at a Home School Co-op. That's what its called. It isn't anything like how I pictured school co-operatives 13 years ago when I first read about them. I pictured 4 families getting together. Three parents would stay and one parent would have that time off or something like that. In the area that I live, there are many home school co-ops. Most are based on common religions. Those families keep their children out of the school system to reinforce their beliefs. We are secular home educators. I drive all over the place. Every other Tuesday I drive an hour for Camp Fire USA. Then twice more I drive an hour to two different secular co-ops.

Wish You Were Here!

With all that driving you would think that I would be tired of driving but I have found myself lately day-dreaming of my next road trip. I have to admit I was going to try to sneak in a trip to the snow this winter. Apparently there will be no winter so that may have to wait. My daughter wants to go camping again in the Florida Keys. We went early last summer. I really wish I had sent a post card that said "Drove through the night Thursday night with the kids fighting the whole way. Friday morning, it was so hot that I thought I was going to pass out as I set up the tent. Friday night, the seam in our air mattress broke and quickly left us sleeping on the ground. Saturday morning, I got stung by a wasp on my leg. Saturday afternoon I brushed my back and arms against Fire Coral as I was snorkeling. Then Sunday morning it started to rain as we were packing.
Having a great time wish you were here."

Cleaning My Chalky Dishes in the Dishwasher

Chalky Dishes, Dishwasher, Limescale

I readily admit that housework is a challenge for me and that I use any shortcut or cheat that I can without endangering the life or well being of my friends and family. With that being said I had been using a powdered dishwasher distributed by Aldi's. I was happy for a while. Then this summer I started to notice that my dishes were chalky after they had been "cleaned" in the dishwasher. I was able to scrape the chalk off with my fingernail, it really appears as limescale. Not particularly a pleasant task to undertake. I use the dishwasher to make my life easier, not to add tasks to my day. I decided to buy Cascade. I have used Cascade over the years and I had never had any issues with it before. My first response was that Cascade has a new box. That is not really a big problem for me though. I am a firm believer in FUNCTION over FORM. I thought probably some research firm had decided that this newly designed box would entice more sales. The problem though was that my dishes did NOT improve. In fact, my previously black Farberware began to appear GRAY. My glasses and clear plastic cups all had a layer of limescale. I can remember an article, an announcement that my community had switched from using Chlorine to using Chloramine. So I decided to do some searching online. I found that many people across the country were having similar if not exactly the same issues as I was having. I asked a few local friends and they too were having trouble. I decided to try some of the solutions that I found online. I tried this first one, it works so I haven't tried any others.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
* 1/2 cup borax
* 1/2 cup baking soda
* 1/2 cup salt
* 3 envelopes unsweetened lemon drink mix (I am using Aldi's Flavoraide lemon-lime)
Use one tbsp for pre-wash and one tbsp wash.

I gave this recipe some thought. Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) and Unsweetened Lemon Drink Mix (Citric Acid) make that lovely foam (http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/baking-soda-and-vinegar.html) giving off water and carbon dioxide. If I put salt in my bath it softens the water. For that matter people pay to have Calcium and Manganese removed from their water with salt in "water softeners." Now, I am certain that the gray is in fact limescale! And limescale is often Calcium Bicarbonate and can be removed with citric acid.

I like the recipe because I can mix it up from items I actually already have on hand. I give it a try. Immediately, my dishes were clean AND less scaley. I tried adding vinegar during the rinse cycle in a load with all of my Farberware. Now my spatula and spoons look brand new again.

I am happy with this simple solution maybe you will be too!

Finally Chalky Dishes in the Dishwasher Come Clean

Arts and Crafts

I made "Jack" Pack by fashioning an emblem out of craft foam.

Have you ever figured out the difference between "arts" and "crafts?" I love art. I love to see it, feel it and create it. I love painting, drawing, carving, modeling, gluing, soldering, cutting and sewing. Most of the art I make looks much like the products your 7 year old brings home in the their backpack each Friday from school. But it is still my art. It makes me happy to create it, to look at it and to give it away. I do wish that in the end it would look better but only so that the people that I give it to could appreciate it better. So to me the difference between "arts" and "crafts" is only this: if I have created art others see it as a craft. Back to my beading now...

Knots etc

So I started to carry a few pieces of rope around. Sure enough, we have all learned to tie the Bowline. My 4 year old daughter always has a little trouble at the start but once we get that first loop right she can finish the knot. I am going to try to keep this up a while to really get it into out long term memory.

Not Knots!

A couple of days ago we were at the beach. We lost our raft. We had used a granny knot to secure the anchor line. Guess what? A granny knot will not hold an anchor line. Luckily we were able to find the line and with only two attempts I was able to recall a bowline. So I decided that we would start practicing knots. We started with the Bowline. We are practicing it everyday. My son and I are going to master these knots. I should have known better. And how cute is it anyway to see my 4 year old tying a bowline.