"You sould not tell da peoples dey have an assent when dey do not have an assent..."

(if you don't recognize the quote, it's from "Zorro the gay blade" and shared here courtesy of one of my college roommates...)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland   "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
Boston
The West
North Central
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The South
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Hmmm, I guess I did live in southern Indiana during the years I was learning to speak...and then in the northwest during most of my youth/young adulthood (the northwest is considered to have the mildest American accent, which is why southeast asians like to send their kids there to learn English...)

They DID neglect to ask me about "both" and "south" both of which I somehow throw an "L" into...as in "bolth" and "soulth." I don't know how or why, but it's one of my little idiosyncrasies. :-)

What Kind of Nerd are You?!

Well now, I guess nobody should be too shocked at this one, eh?

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested in bettering the world. You're possible the least nerdy of them all; unless you participate in other activies that paled your nerdiness compared to your involvement in social activities. Whatever the case, we could still use more of you around. ^_^
Drama Nerd
Literature Nerd
Musician
Artistic Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Anime Nerd

And if you think that's fun, you can take it here: http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_be_your_nerd_type
OR
if you can spare 30 min, go to http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html and see how much of a geek you REALLY are. My hubby is a fully fledged GEEK GOD according to this place, whereas I am a mere super geek.

We Love Co-Sleeping

Daddy got home from his early morning job and found us all snuggly... (this photo is an example of careful camera angles so as to be discreet about the fact that mom is 'sacked out with her rack out' nursing the little one.)
W doesn't actually spend the night in our bed with us--he doesn't fit--but he often sleeps on the floor in our room. He doesn't like being the only family member sleeping elsewhere, and we can't blame him. When dad leaves in the wee hours though, he usually lifts W into the bed so that he (dad) can get to his dresser.


And yes, S likes to snuggle with Daddy too...mmm, nothin' quite like a good finger for munching...(especially when you've already nursed and you're not hungry anymore--just teething!)

My Kids Are Cuter Than Your Kids

See? Toldja.

Timber!

Once upon a time, there were two trees in our front yard. They were very close together, and impeded each other's growth. They also dropped such a thick carpet of acidic needles that virtually nothing could grow. They also made most of our front yard shady (which was nice) and kept natural light out of our home (which was not).
So we decided to take one out. It would allow the other to grow better, open up the yard for other plants (such as blueberries, which will thrive in the still-highly-acidic soil), and let light into our house.
Daddy and Grandpa carefully made a wedge cut in the tree trunk, so that it would fall across the lawn--not hitting the house nor falling into the street...but if one looks carefully at the photo, one can see that the tree did not stand straight...
...and it did not fall straight either.
Thankfully it fell mostly on the sidewalk, baby privets (the beginning of our hedge), and the very edge of the road--only filling out as far as a parked car would have. Traffic was not detoured, and nobody called the police. Thank heaven!
Daddy and Grandpa cut it up quickly, cleared the road, and now we have light, space, blueberry bushes, and firewood for this coming winter!

Hubby and I were discussing, and he commented that while he knew it was best to cut the tree down (from the perspective of allowing the other one to grow better, also for lighting our home, planting our flowers, and just pure asthetics...), but it's still a little hard to realize that in a matter of 30 minutes, they had killed a tree that had been growing for 36 years...(yes, we counted the rings). Hopefully ecological karma will forgive us, as we planted a tree last year and one this year and plan to plant 3 next year...

May: a Photo Essay

W 's favorite passtime

S Smiles at the baby in the mirror (and shows off his fun new diapers--size medium--in colors!)

Sucking on his fists. Another favorite passtime.

Now that he rolls over, he gets quality floor time with the doggie too.

Flowers and lawn finally in in front. Those bits of color are 'wave petunias' each plant is supposed to turn into a 2-ft mound of color...we'll see how they go! They've already tripled in size in their first two weeks, so I'm inclined to believe they will live up to their reputation!

Veggie garden in in back. (including the vital 15 tomato plants!) AND the wonderful new clothesline hubby built for me! YAY!!!

Dutch oven pit and patio in back.

...and the locust tree hubby brought home...can you see the pinky-purple blossoms? It looks like a robe locust but apparently it's an Idaho Locust...whatever! It will give dappled shade to our backyard in summer and pretty flowers in spring. :-)

"Flyboys"

And here is my first movie review!
This week DH and I saw "Flyboys." I don't recall having seen any previews for it, but dh had, and wanted to see it. I was very impressed with it!
"Flyboys" is about some young Americans who joined the French Air Force in WWI, prior to the USA entering the war. Airplanes were a brand new invention, and the ariel dogfight was adding a new demension to warfare. I particularly enjoyed the training sequence, where they taught the young men how to fly a plane prior to letting them actually go up; several of their methods were very amusing.
One of the young men was black, and some of the white boys were accepting of him while others were not--but they learned to work as a team in spite of previously-held ideas. One of the young men was deeply religious--I thought that modern hollywood would write a script that made fun of him for his faith, but in fact just the opposite was true. The other boys showed him the utmost respect, even when they clearly didn't feel the same way as he did. It's something I see so rarely in film that it really stood out.
Flyboys is rated PG-13, but there is a cumulative total of about 10 seconds of visuals warrenting this rating. There is no sex, no foul language, and the violence primarily consists of planes crashing down...except that there are a few brief moments where you see a burst of red as someone is shot (and then his plane spirals down...) The subject matter is pretty heavy--one pilot in particular really struggles with the fact of killing... I would not recommend it for small children because of that content...but I WOULD heartily recommend this movie. It's a good snapshot of history, presented simply and without apology. Add it to your WWI curriculum, and to your netflix queue!

Chocolate Cake

If you have not heard the Bill Cosby bit about chocolate cake, this will not be nearly so funny.

On Friday night we made a chocolate cake.
On Saturday morning, hubby asked Wolf what he would like for breakfast. With a gleam in his eye, Wolf said "Chocolate cake?!"
Hubby looked at him sternly and said "only if you sing the song."
Well, apparently we have taught our son well, because he gleefully burst into song "Dad is great, gives us chocolate cake. Dad is great..."
Daddy danced around the kitchen a couple of times to the music before getting Wolf a nice piece of (unfrosted) chocolate cake for breakfast.


Sunday evening Wolf came up to me and said "I have a song for Bear...'mom is great, gives us miiiiilk, mom is great, gives us miiiiilk...'"

See, we're teaching our kids good things! :-)

Chester and the Prius

So, Chester died. Well, at least, he had a heart attack... Chester is our 10yr old toyota, and at 190,000 miles, he cracked a rod, and gave up the ghost. It was either a new engine or a new car...please understand that when I say 'new' I actually mean 'old-but-hopefully-slightly-less-old-than-Chester." There is no way we can afford a new car right now, and we prefer a somewhat used one anyway since cars depreciate so fast.
After exploring the options, we concluded that the $1645 for a heart transplant (ie--new engine) was the best option. After all, Chester is only 10, gets REALLY good gas mileage, and probably has a lot of life left in him...if only he can have a new heart. The shop guarantees that the new engine will have less than 30,000 miles on it, so that's practically brand new for us!

While we were out and about, looking at alternatives, we concluded that what we really want is a Toyota Prius. Yup, the hybrid. It is SO COOL!!! It gets, oh, about 60mpg. In town. (It's actually slightly lower on highway, since it has to rely on more gas for longer distances and higher speeds). We had drooled over hybrid cars before, but I think we've now made a concrete goal: next time Chester dies, we will buy a Prius.
Probably a used one of course.

The only thing better would be a true electric car, but after creating one, GM stupidly withdrew it...stupid stupid stupid. That company is working so hard to refuse to make the kind of vehicles that the public wants and that the environment needs. I hate stupid people.

Now I think I need to go put a load of cloth diapers into my energy-star washing machine and maybe I'll change another lightbulb to a compact flourescent, just for good measure. Somebody has to save the planet.

Three Meme

OK, so, I didn't actually get tagged for this...but I saw it here and I liked it. :-) Besides which, three is my favorite number (and hubby's also).

Three Things That Scare Me:
1. the local drivers (who believe that a yellow light means "hurry up" and a red one means "hurry up more")
2. someting happening to a member of my family and my not being able to help or do anything
3. the dark (yes, still, even as an adult)

Three People Who Make Me Laugh:
1. my hubby
2. my sister K
3. my dog (oh yes, she's a people--just ask her!!!)

Three Things I Love:
1. my family
2. sunrise
3. a job well done and a good day's work

Three Things I Hate:
1. Walmart
2. Vomit
3. Hate itself--c'mon people, spread a little love around!

Three Things I Don’t Understand:
1. eco-UNfriendly people--how can you not care?!
2. why I had to lose three babies before I got to keep one
3. W's logic...or his jokes ("what's so funny about a joke? A JOKE!!! hahahahaha!)

Three Things On My Desk:
1. computer
2. ledger book with our finances
3. empty cereal bowl (yup, I was naughty and ate breakfast at the desk while nursing the baby and reading my email)

Three Things I’m Doing Right Now:
1. nursing my baby
2. listening to birds outside--I love spring!
3. procrastinating doing the dishes (I'm nursing the baby!)

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. visit Scandinavia
2. own/run a Bed & Breakfast with my hubby
3. take an Alaskan cruise

Three Things I Don't Ever Want To Do:
1. skydive
2. ski
3. lose another baby

Three Things I Can Do:
1. sew just about anything
2. bake bread
3. ballroom dance

Three Things I Can’t Do:
[yet]
1. manage to get all the different parts of dinner to finish cooking at the same time
2. keep my mouth shut about stuff that matters to me
3. give up my faith

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To:
1. a baby's laugh
2. children singing (like this)
3. good advice from people who love you

Three Things You Should Never Listen To:
1. a baby's cry--pick him up and nurse him already!
2. insults or put-downs
3. songs with naughty words

Three Things I’d Like To Learn:
1. crochet (and better knitting)
2. better piano skills
3. how to be more non-judgemental

Three Favorite Foods:
1. italian
2. chinese
3. anything I didn't have to cook (I like cooking, I just get tired of it)

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid:
1. Mr Rogers
2. Square One (with mathnet!)
3. 3-2-1 Contact
yes, we were a PBS-only family. :-)

Three Things I Regret:
1. not learning piano a little better (I'm a rapid one-finger player)
2. not keeping a tighter budget, and the fact that we have two credit cards
3. I really can't think of anything else. I try to think about most things beforehand...so I rarely regret things...

Three Bloggers I'm tagging:
1. Lollymom
2. Katie
3. Kim
and/or whoever wants to, of course!
(please post a link to your post in the comments section...)