I'm not sarcastic but i play a sarcasitic person on TV

copied from...http://www.shof.msrcsites.co.uk/sarc.jpg. Thanks Beckie you always find the funnies!

Blueberries are here!

The blueberries are getting blue! And there is just something about homegrown blueberry goodness. They have a kaleidoscope of fabulous flavor that you just can't get from the ones in the store and not even from the farmers market. These are Misty Blue. I am not sure exactly how big they can get because Shraddha loves them too much to wait... or share for that matter LOL!

We also found many beautiful red Pomegranate blossoms and almost ripe cherries! We know they are almost ripe because the birds haven't stolen all of them yet.

And is it just me or does it seem that animals follow Shraddha around like she is Snow White? If she could just get them to help out around here that would be FABULOUS!

This is Buffy and Puffy, they are Buff Orphington chicks. The other two New Hampshire Reds, are yet to be named and one of them is growing a comb. Highly suspicious of maybe not having the egg laying capability....

Those flowers lasted forever mom, thanks!

Spiritual Inspirations

http://theknowledgelab.net/%28k%29now/Spirit/BuddhaDrankTequila.mp3

I love this!

Don't expect "perfection" from your teachers and rock stars. Allow
yourselves to relax enough so that you too can write, draw, play a musical
instrument and sing. Even Buddha and Jesus did things disapproved of by their
friends . "Imperfections" were part of their wisdom.
-Americ Azevedo
Lecturer: University of California, Berkeley.

Top 5 strangest things in our garden this week.

5. Now this is also one of my favorites! Black Hollyhocks! Yeah they finally bloomed and I love them. They are striking and weird and gigantic at 8-10 ft tall! Only took almost 2 yrs to see so enjoy! I am already planning where and how many more for the next couple of years.





4. Check out this brown fuzzy hairy caterpillar! I figured out from http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ that it is the larva to a ....



Giant Leopard or Tiger Moth as seen on BugGuide.net



I remember we had quite a few of these giant leopard moths....in November... here is the pic of one laying eggs on the side of my house on 11/04/07











3. Alligator Lizards! I thought this was a skink! but on closer look... it seems it is not. We do have skinks and blue belly lizards but I have never seen a lizard that big up on our house! This guy was huge at about 16 inches long. But all skinks and lizards are very welcome here!


more on Alligator lizards.










2. What the heck! Is it a spider? Is it like a potato bug? ugh! Whatever it was... it was crawling toward me while I was folding laundry....EWWWWW! But you can be relieved to know it wasn't squished. It was gently placed back into the garden.... for us to find again later I am sure.


Here is what we learned from WhatsThatBug.com:


"The Solpugid is not an insect, it is an arachnid. It is related to spiders and scorpions, hence its common names Sun Spider or Wind Scorpion. In some places they are called Sand Puppies, but they are not related to dogs. Unlike Spiders and Scorpions, Solpugids do not have venom. They are harmless unless you are small enough to be considered food, in which case gram per gram, they might be the fiercest predators on the planet. We are lucky they don't weigh 150 pounds. They will eat anything they can catch, which is a benefit in the desert. "



1. Top strangest thing found in our garden this week!!!! AHHHHH!


Opossum with a huge long nose and huge long tail...eating out of Sadie's dog dish in the middle of the night. That thing was almost as big as our 16 lb cat Chamois! Now we know who made a huge den at the edge of our play yard. This seems to be an unusually fat Opossum, with a HUGE head! Must have been munching in Sadie's bowl for the past couple of years! Would that make it our pet? EWWWW!









This is one I found in the front yard on 5/26/07 wonder if it is the same one? Here it is in my hat... i was just too chicken to hold it in my hands. It was so cute when it was tiny!

Chillin with our Peeps 2

This is Betty (4/26/08 @ 2-3 wks old?) an Amerucana she and Rose will make blue/green eggs. They are our favorite most sweet and docile hens so far. (Wonder how I came up with Rose's name?)

This is Laverne, Shirley, and Ivanna. Figured out that Shirley is a White Leghorn - a good egglayer. They are about 5 weeks old and needed their own separte brooder because they pecked on the little ones. But with Shraddha, they think she is Mama and enjoy sitting with her and being held and kept warm.















To the left is baby a little golden seabright runt. Tiny (the one in the middle), as named by Danielle, has feathery feet. She might be a Mille Fleur, or another Amerucana. Either way she is very cute and friendly and it is funny to watch her walk (on eggshells LOL) with her feathery feet. Kinda like walking in scuba flippers!

Chillin with our Peeps

So 4/13/08 is about the time that we got our first set of 3 chicks. Here is Shraddha bright and early in the morning getting into the brooder with Laverne, Shirley and Ivanna.

Shraddha holding Laverne. Here she is only a 3 wks old Barred Rock. Quite possibly a bantam. Very cuddly!

Barred Rock

Shirley is the little puffy yellow one.... Shraddha's Favorite... at least this week.

Ivanna is the one with the yellow head and she is a White Crested Black Polish. You can see a tiny little top hat in this pic...

On the left.... I included a pic of a full grown polish bantam.

Shraddha spent hours at a time with these little chicks and they think she is mama. Sometimes she would even refuse to eat because she wanted to be with the chicks!!!!

One week later....I think LOL we picked up NINE more chicks. Shaking my head in disbelief...

A bunch of cute puffy little Amerucanas. They lay blue green and pink eggs...

yes, this one is kicking back in Shraddha's hand... SEEE?

Go Green

I am so excited about starting Spiral Scouts!

- and, no, I am not Pagan....yet. Well, not a practicing one...Of course that depends on the definition LOL! I don't think I could be pigeon holed into just one specific spiritual practice or belief. But wow I am shocked by the response to people when they saw the news coverage on our new scouting troup. Shock, anger, and blank quiet nonresponses - I'm guessing that one is fear? LOL! But that is why it is so important to me. I want my kids to have a scouting experience that doesn't involve one specific religion, and to expose more kids and adults to tolerance and respect of other spiritual practices.

So in my excitement to start scouting....I started trying harder to find ways to be more green...

How green is your routine? click the go green button to pick up some great tips!

I'm thinking maybe it would be very green of me to just stay home today and uhm save gas yeah! And think of ALL the gas I would save....all those patients would stay home too! I have to do my part!

Check us out on the news!

We have tons to blog about and lots of catching up to do ... which I can easily do now that I have a FAST verizon anywhere access usb port thingy! Yeah!!! No more snails pace landline access.

So here is a quick preview.... stay tuned for more pics and info!

• See what we have been doing with our friends at Spookiez Spot.
• Check out a preview of a few of our new zoo.... uh em ... FAMILY members, that we are sharing with our friends.
• Last but not least.... check us out on the NEWS!

Ok, off to clean the chickens and feed the kitchen....or something like that!

Ohm Shanti

Trippin and falling on my astral body

Ok, so half of you are going to think I am nuts and fell off the deep end and the other 2 of you are just not going to know what to think.

So, today I was going through deleting tons of email that is clogging my account we are talking in the thousands here. This is a job I absolutely hate.... I must be feverishly working on it to avoid the dishes and laundry and toys and mail and ...... whatever other monotony my days off are consumed with...

I found a site sent to me about 9mo ago about Kundalini and mysteries of the Goddess. Maybe this is news to you but I have been known to read up on Kundalini every so often. The author, El Collie wrote some very interesting things about how thoughts manifest themselves and how people going through or are open to spiritual enlightenment tend to be more open to visitations from spirits. She spoke about how they can manifest themselves in a number of ways, sounds, changes in temperature, feelings, and especially animals and how to communicate with them or ask them to leave.

Right at that moment I was reading, the dog sleeping besides me, started running in her sleep. When I looked down at her I noticed 5 huge black wild turkeys taking a stroll through my backyard. I started cracking up. Not the "I've lost my mind" type of crack up mind you! The Oh my gosh its funny type of crack up. Thank goodness I live too far out in the hills for the men in white coats to find me. Not that I am paranoid or anything. he he he.

Some of our favorite things!

This is our favorite sweater.... made by mama just for Shraddha!

I have another one on the needles in off-white. Shraddha is excited about it but keeps asking for me to make it pink.

Shraddha says, " I love my dog!" I enjoy fussing in the

garden and playing in the yard and my favorite thing there

is enjoying the flowers and avoiding the doggie land mines.

Shraddha loves fruit smoothies that we freeze into

"ice cream" pops. AKA "Apt tap" Shraddha can you say,

"I c e C r e a m?" ..... Uh huh..... "aaaapt taaaaap".

I love to see the bottem of my clean sink first thing in

the morning! With my cup of coffee right there next to it,

many thanks to Roger!!!! Then having some time for just

the two of us to visit while we watch the sunrise over the mountains.

BUBBLES with Bubbha and not needing to have her hair brushed on Saturday morning

- need I say more?

Mama loves sweet kisses from Shraddha ......

they are waaaaayyy better then the puppy and kitty licks she likes to share.

The stupidest things I said this week.

I'm still not one that is big on Memes but this one just happened all on its own.

The top 5 stupidest things I have said this week....

5. "I'll just eat one Rice Krispies Treat." Fixed some yummy no gelatin RKTs after dinner today. So much for staying on track today.

4. Shraddha asks for her favorite Flinstone's vitamin at dinner time tonite, but we already had vitamins with breakfast. She insists over and over "I want a vitamin!". "Shraddha the vitamins are in your veggies!" Shraddha almost cries because she digs and digs in her veggies and can't find the vitamins.

3. "Ok, Shraddha, FINE. You can wear your nice shirt while you paint today, because the paints are washable." Can someone please tell me what they mean by washable? It sure doesn't mean stain free!

2. "Madhava, would you like to paint on the easel or the floor today?"
"Oh I like the floor!" Madhava says very eagerly.
"Great, I will be right back." I walk away to get his paper and come back to find Madhava painting the linoleum orange.
"You said I could paint on the floor!"

1. It's the day after Thanksgiving. I'm alone, the kids are with Daddy on the way home. There is a BIG sale, and a BIG coupon. I am really needing some Mommy time.... and I say to Roger,
"I'm just going to run into Michael's for a minute to get paint." What was I thinking?


TaDa List for today....

1. I could see the bottom of the sink all day!
2. Picked up all the toys.
3. Washed more laundry to add to the huge clean laundry pile.
4. Vacuumed, treated stains, and steam cleaned the entire front room.
5. Spent quality time doing arts and crafts with Shraddha.
6. Made a healthy dinner and Rice Krispies Treats for desert.

YAY Shraddha!

Warning... the following post has content that might be too much for sensitive viewers. This blog post is made by the proud mother of a potty training toddler. Be appreciative that I don't post pictures.

Today Shraddha was having some Daddy time while I was at work. She told him that she was getting sleepy and it was time for a nap. He helped her over to the couch and she slept for 2 hrs! Then when she woke up she told him, "Come on Daddy, it's time to go potty!"

He took her to the public restroom. Without hesitation, Shraddha let Daddy put her on the BIG potty and she peed!

I just didn't believe it. I am always asking her to use the baby or the big potty at home and she ALWAYS says "no!" That must be the difference. He waits for her to ask and I ask too many times.

In disbelief, I asked if she wanted to go to the restroom with Mommy. And not only did she say yes but she very cooperatively sat alone on the potty! And for the greatest kicker.... she POOPED! Dry... Clean... Diaper alll day long!

Funniest things I heard this week..

10. "I'll call you back just as soon as I am done cleaning house"

9. "Excuse me parents, my eye is sweating!" Madhava says after some dirt gets flicked into it.

8. Be healthy, Drink Pomegranate Sake!

7. "Angela, call and let me know what weekends you want to work" Allison - looking for Physical Therapist to cover weekend time at the hospital.

6. " I saw the picture you had of Daddy in his panties on the blog. That is just wrong!" Madhava

5. Shraddha telling me about the scenery on the way to town,

" The baby birdy eats the bugs."

"That is right Shraddha!" Mama says proudly.

"And the cow eats the ducks"

"Huh?" thinking I just didn't quite get the last word...

"Ducks Mama! You know..... quack quack!"

4. Shraddha passes gas quite loudly... looks around and says, "Mommy did it!"

3. "Fried cheese is the shiznits!", Kimmiesue on Twitter.com

2. "You need to put the new diaper on before he sticks his finger in his butt!" Beckie coaching her parental units on proper Jack-jack diapering.

1. Tiffiny says last night during desert, "I never eat the end of the Banana, that the Bananus!"

It looks slimy yet satisfying, but really it is a vegetarian roll. NO, its not made with real vegetarians!

Las Chicas

Happy Birthday Beckie!

Excuse me, my eye is sweating.

"Excuse me parents, my eye is sweating." , Madhava says, after dirt flicked into his eye.

This morning for breakfast Daddy was serving up orange juice when Shraddha shouted, "NO, I WANT PINK OOOOOJUUU!" Good for Daddy for quickly avoiding a tantrum, saving the day and figuring out that I sometimes put my pomegranate juice in her orange juice. And good for Shraddha for figuring out a way to describe it since I never really told her what it was called!

Peek-a-Boo Shraddha! With her cuter then ever hairstyle! Sure, you sit still and leave the clips in for Beckie. Oh and by the way... she is just too cute to smile in this pic.

This is Shraddha's wreath that she so proudly showed me and then gave to Daddy! Her very cute pine cone turkey made it all of 5 minutes in the car before it became a pine cone rabbit! But Shraddha had fun crafting with the craftiest Mama ever, Beckie and sidekick, Danielle.

The kids had a great time wrestling and yelling in the office while Daddy was giving relaxing messages HA HA! Madhava did his best to entertain his rambunctious sister at Daddy's office while Mommy got to go....OUT! Nice sharing the Transformer camera Bubba!