camping in your living room

Benefits of camping in your living room:

No tent to set up and take down.

No crying kids in the next tent over.

You don't have to make sure to feed your pets before you leave and when you get back or arranging for someone to do it for you.

When your one year old decides he would rather play than lay down with you, even when it's two hours past his regular bedtime, you can put him in his bed so he can fall asleep practically instantly.

The floor isn't as cold and lumpy as the ground.

You can use the restroom without having to unzip the tent, clamber out, and get your shoes on.

You can get changed into your pajamas in your own bedrooms instead of taking turns in a cold, dark, cramped tent.

You can brush your teeth at a real sink instead of a water jug spigot.

When your ten year old keeps wanting to play, you can threaten to send him to his bed if he doesn't lay down.

Dinner List Dilemma

What to do when you are having trouble coming up with dinner ideas.
In our house we make a list of dinners for the week and then make the grocery list for the week so that we usually only have to go shopping once a week. When I sit down to make the list, but run out of ideas, I can...
1. Ask family members what they would like to eat.
2. Consult the list I have made of dinners we frequently eat.
3. Look in the pantry for anything I want to use.
4. Look in the freezer for anything I want to use.
5. See if I have any good coupons to use.
6. Browse a cookbook for new recipes to try.
I'm currently looking for good, healthy, vegetarian recipes, if you have any. We also just planted a garden, which adds another option.
7. See which fresh produce is ready to be harvested and find meals to use it.

The Rescuer and the Captive. part 3

I remember the large one

       When the lights came back on and the large one came back, it moved my cell. It moved me outside, but higher up, probably not on ground level. I hoped if I was outside I could somehow escape and find my way back home. Maybe there were more of my kind around in this area who could point me in the right direction. Or if they had never heard of my area, maybe I could live with them for a while before traveling around to find my way back home. If the large one would go away and leave me unattended for a while I might try the door again. I guess I could have tried acting friendly in hopes that the large one might open the door, but it was safer to hide and wait for it to leave. Any time it touched me it was so big I feared it might crush me even accidentally. And who knew if it might hurt me now even though it seemed to have helped me before. Generations of hiding from the large ones can't be overcome that easily. Being a cautious race has kept us safe for the most part from the large ones. When we stay undetected, we stay safe. We've heard that those who have revealed their numbers have been hunted down and captured or killed. So I waited.
      Even after it went back in the building I waited. What if it was going to come right back? But what if I waited too long and missed my chance. I had to try now. I passed food and water as I got to the door, but I wasn't brave enough to try any of it. It might be a peace offering, or it might be a trap. I would be better off just ignoring it and focusing on figuring out how to squeeze out through this door. If I wiggled just right I might make it. For a minute there I thought the large one would come back to find me stuck half in and half out of the door, but I kept twisting and pushing. Finally my body was free. Then my suspicions were confirmed; the large one had put the cell up on a ledge or shelf, one that it could easily reach, but that was at least ten body lengths above the ground for me. Well I couldn't just sit on this ledge till it came back for me. But, could I climb down, or would I just be injured in the fall? I would have to risk it, but I would leave a note first. I wasn't sure the large one would understand it anyways since it had not responded to my attempts to communicate earlier, but I still felt I should explain why I had run. Maybe someday our races would come to understand each other and hostilities would no longer be necessary.

To my Rescuer,
Thank you for helping me in my time of need. I am very grateful for your assistance. However, since I cannot seem to communicate with you to understand your motives in keeping me here, I felt it would be wisest for me to try to find my way home on my own. If we meet again, can I count you as a friend?
Sincerely,
A Grateful Little One






Nathan and I have been reading some science fiction stories lately about the communication barriers between humans and aliens, and I got to thinking of the barriers even between races from the same world: beings that live in the same overlapping territories but can't communicate with each other because they communicate in different ways. This story is actually based on true events, but I don't want to ruin the affect by telling you what they were.

The Rescuer and the Captive. part 2

I remember the cage
      When I started to get dry and warm, I started being able to think more clearly and move. I was stuck in a cell about four body lengths long and two wide, with the fluffy stuff, but the warmer was actually outside the wall. I could see through the walls, but not very clearly. It was dark, but occasionally it would get light and a large one or two would come look at me through the walls. Were they my rescuers or my captors? I was warm and dry and could hobble around some, so I was getting better. But what did they intend to do with me when I got better?
       The large ones made their vocal noises at each other, but I couldn't determine if they were hostile or friendly, if they meant me ill or well. In all remembered history no one had ever been able to decipher their language. (But that's going on the assumption that their vocal noises were their means of communicating.) And they had never understood us, as far as we could tell. Those who attempted to live among the large ones ended up in captivity or dead. So if you wanted to be free, you stayed well away from then and didn't let them see you. Well, it was too late for that now; they already had me inside of one of their big buildings in this impenetrable cell. How was I supposed to get out of here and find my way back home?
      For whatever reasons the large one had, it moved me to a different cell. This one was larger, about five body lengths long and three wide, with a higher ceiling with small holes high up in the walls and ceiling; those would be too small even if I could get to them. However, the holes in the wire mesh door were bigger; unfortunately only my head fit out the first time I tried climbing through. Then I hid behind some more of that fluffy stuff and under a box. Was this large one intending to keep me in here? Did it heal me just to keep me prisoner? What did it expect to learn from me? Would it take me back closer to my home and let me go? Or at least let me out here to find my own way back somehow? Asking it all of these questions got no response. Maybe it couldn't even hear me. Though they respond to each other's vocal noises in a conversation like fashion, I never got any response. I was left in the dark again, literally and figuratively.

The Rescuer and the Captive. part 1

The Rescuer and the Captive
I remember the terrible storm
      What a terrible storm... So much water and wind... I woke up in a daze. My head was so foggy. My legs wouldn't work right. The large ones would come if I stayed out in the open like this, but I couldn't run, couldn't even walk. I tried to pull myself along, but it was painful going. I was too slow; they found me before I could make it to cover.
      I had been taught since my youth to stay far away and out of sight of the large ones. They dwarfed us in size, so maybe they assumed they were the dominant species. It's not like we could ask them. They had me surrounded. They were watching my distress. I still couldn't see well in my dazed state, but they were poking me with something. Then they just left, I was too groggy to fathom the reason. Maybe they'd already learned what they needed from watching me. Maybe they thought I was as good as dead anyways. I was too tired to dwell on it. I would just rest.
       Wait! I had been trying to get somewhere. What had I been doing? Oh, I needed cover, but I was so tired. It was too hard to move.
       One of them was back, or maybe it was a different one; I couldn't be sure, but I was too spent to run now anyways. Couldn't move enough to fight back. And so cold and wet. The large one picked me up and put me in box. It took me away. It seemed we were traveling somewhere faster than I was used to ever going by foot even when I ran. When we got wherever we were going, I was taken in the box into one of their big buildings. Some fluffy dry stuff was put in the box on me and something radiating heat was put next to me. I just lay there, devastated; getting taken by a large one meant you didn't come back.

Asher's quiz

given to Asher after listening to him complain.

Why should I feed my fish?
A) to bug Asher.
B) because I'm mean.
C) because it's my responsibility as a pet owner.
Why should I watch my fish after I feed them?
A) to make Asher jealous.
B) to make Asher mad.
C) to make sure I don't over feed them.
Why is it bad to over feed them?
A) it's actually not bad to over feed them; I just lied.
B) it's actually not bad to over feed them; I just made that excuse up.
C) over feeding messes up the water and can kill the fish.
If it's after 7:30 and you aren't ready for bed yet, what should you be doing?
A) getting as much play in as you can before your parents bug you about getting ready for bed.
B) doing whatever you want; eventually your parents will nag you enough to keep you on task.
C) getting ready for bed; a consistent bedtime routine helps you fall asleep faster and sleep better.
If it's after 8:00 and you aren't in bed yet, what should you be doing?
A) getting as much play in as you can before your parents bug you about getting in bed.
B) doing whatever you want; eventually your parents will nag you enough to get you in bed.
C) getting to bed as soon as you can; your growing body needs sleep to stay healthy.
Mom will want to share her fish with you when you ________
A) are rude to her.
B) accuse her of always being mean to you.
C) are respectful to her.

Poem Bouncy Balls

Random poem/song I came up with while playing with Edmund:

Bouncy Balls

Sign a song of bouncy balls.
They are everywhere:
All over the carpet,
Underneath my hair.

Edmund loves the bouncy balls;
Loves to dump them out.
He asks for them everyday,
And spreads them all about.

To the tune of Sing a song of six pence