Fabulous Callie and Crickets

The other day I was in Walmart and Callie got her feelings hurt. She was whimpering and making life difficult, so I was trying to cajole her out of it. I asked if she was my cutie Callie. She said (very emphatically) "No! I Fab-u-lous Callie!"

She sure is my fabulous Callie!

Now for my story. Joshua is learning about crickets in science. He had a homework project to build a 3D one, at least 3 inches long, but no more than 2 feet long. I finally decided to make play doh and let him sculpt it. I got talked into a homemade clay recipe and tried that out. I'm not sure if I can't follow directions, or if it really was suppose to be that thick and crumbly, but it was an interesting medium. I thought Joshua did a marvelous job sculpting a cricket out of it.

The darn stuff didn't want to dry and when it did, it wouldn't stick togther. The legs and apendages were falling off and if I glued them back on, they just shaved off another layer of the clay. grrr. I finally stuck tooth picks into everything and sent him off to school with it. He had come home with 3 different due dates and I wanted it to be in on time.

Aparently it went in a week early. Worse, the teacher didn't take it and hide it or grade it or whatever they plan to do. The crumbling mass of a once-cute cricket sat on his desk all week. What do 30 second graders do when they see such a thing? They must touch and poke and prod. And the once-cute cricket no longer resembled a cricket or anything cute. Joshua brought it back home on Friday and its due on Monday.

It was truly a lost cause. I gave up on domesticity and got play-doh at Walmart.

Yep, whatever one does, all must do likewise. Marian made a pretty cute cricket herself, modeled after Joshua's. (but the picture including her creation was not as cute as this one!)

Callie was there and had a great time doing what the bigger kids were doing too.

I tried to talk him into a uniform color, but he wanted each part to be visible, so the teacher could see it. Did he not do a fantastic job?! That is the cutest little cricket I've ever seen! And I learned some fun facts about them. Yep, now I know how to tell a boy cricket from a girl cricket.

This one is definately a girl cricket! Delaney had her own lump of play-doh and she had a blast hanging out with her bigger sibs.

Especially for Lenette

I got this from my uncle and immediately thought of Lenette. And so I just had to share!


A little Military humor here.

Years ago, there was an old tale in the Marine Corps about a lieutenant who inspected his Marines and told the Gunny that they smelled bad. The lieutenant suggested that they change their underwear.

The Gunny responded, 'Aye, sir, I'll see to it immediately.'

He went into the tent and said, 'The lieutenant thinks you guys smell bad, and wants you to change your underwear.

Smith, you change with Jones, McCarthy, you change with Witkowskie, Brown, you change with Schultz. Get to it!'

The moral: The political candidates may promise change in Washington but don't count on things smelling any better...

Those crazy kids!

This is what I found in my room when I went to go to bed last night. Count 'em... one in the bed, one at the foot of the bed, and one on the side of the bed! They are so silly. But at least they were alseep!

I voted!

Yes, I voted. I requested my absentee ballot and it came and I filled it out and I voted! Whoopee for me! I am such a good citizen.

Once I had it all sealed up and off to the mail, I realized I shouldn't have been so hasty. I am the Activity Day's Leader and I should have used it as a demo for the girls tonight. I spent way too long online today searching for some sample ballots for them to examine. A-Days is tonight! I found a few ballots, but none were as good as mine. Most didn't have any ammendments or anything. Mine had several. I had hoped to find some with good stuff- mine has the lottery on it again! (Hello! idn't we vote no on that already?!!) I wanted stuff that required thinking about, but that made sense. Anyway, that's not your problem. I did get some nice sample ballots- thank you NC, and LA for being so helpful on your websites!

Double Tagged Tagged

I've been tagged twice. The first one is 5 things most people don't know about me. This is a problem, since I will tell anyone anything about me. And the stuff I am not willing to share, I amd REALLY not willing to share! I do love pictures though, and I'm now in a sharing kind of mood. So, let's see if I can come up with 5 things non-family members may not know about me....

1. I raised a pig for 4-H. Yep, I did. His name was Pantry Pride Bacon Bits and I auctioned him off at the Orange County fair.

2. I was a pretty good horseback rider. I did4-H in California and Pony Club for the 3 years we were in NJ. I did my first year of school at the College of Southern Idaho and majored in Equestrian Studies. It was a blast!

3. I graduated high school in Okinawa, Japan. Yes, that is me in the red shirt on the right.

4. I was a total tom boy with zero fashion sense. Okay, maybe that's not news!

5. I had my first car accident when I was 18, driving on Okinawa. This was my car. Her name was Shelby and I loved her.

I tag no one. And to accomplish my next tag, I will go to my 4th folder and select my 4th photo.... drum roll please!

This was May 2003, when Dan graduated UALR law scool. Joshua was 20 months old and Marian was 8 weeks old.