Life as a Leach

I'm kind of stuck at the moment.  My mind is consumed with one topic and doesn't have much room for creativity right now.  I hope that this will pass soon...chocolate may help!  :)

So, Matt was in a bit of trouble a few weeks ago.  Feel free to go here to catch up!  Tonight, I stayed late at school and came home to a surprise:  Paint Shop Photo Pro!!!  I have been wanting this software for some time now and am thrilled to get it!  Now I can really do some cool stuff with my editing.  Some of the highlights: removing objects from pictures teeth whitening blemish removal all kinds of graphic effects color changing Ohhhh it's so much fun!!

Matt and I chaperoned Caleb's first date on Saturday night.  They had a nice dinner, chatted a bit over ice cream, played with the Handy Manny tool bench, and finished off the night with a warm bath before heading off into their (separate) beds!  :) ***Jenn and Steven had a rescheduled event to go to down our way, so we eagerly agreed to watch Emma for the evening! Right after dinner, the hugging began!  Caleb gave Emma a hug, and then she didn't want to stop!!  It was soooooo cute. She is the Kelly to his Handy Manny!  Emma was amazed with the screws and nails. The girl really is a heartbreaker....just as long as she doesn't break Caleb's! Bath time was loads of fun!  Caleb loved having a playmate, and Emma loved the plethora of bouncy balls we have in our tub. 

Barbara got me a cookie press for Christmas, and I have really started to get the hang of it!  It's very easy to use, and Caleb can even do it with minimal help from me (I just hold it steady so that it goes in the right spot!)  We've used it twice now and the second time I had many less "mess-ups" to eat!  This time around, we divided the dough into three bowls and mixed some food coloring into each one.  Voila!  We made blue, pink, and yellow cookies!  They were almost hurt-your-eyes bright, but Caleb was very proud of them!  :) My next goal is to learn how to make some non-cookie foods they have, like crackers and such.  It doesn't look too hard.... :)

Caleb:  Hide your eyes, Momma!  I'm going to hide a treat for you to find. Me:  (closing eyes) Okay!  Sounds fun! Caleb:  No peeking!  Ready?  Find it! Me:  Okay...what am I looking for? Caleb:  (in a sing-song voice) I'm not telling you! Me:  Hmmm, it might be hard for me to find then, if I don't know what I'm looking for!  Can you tell me if I'm hot or cold? Caleb:  (while I stay in one spot) You're hot, you're cold, you're in a hot spot, now you're colder... Me:  (after looking for about 5 minutes) Well, that's not so helpful.  Can you give me a hint, Caleb? Caleb:  (pointing) look behind the rocking chair! Me:  (looking) there's nothing there, Caleb... Caleb:  Exactly!  Surprise! He had no idea why I was laughing....

This poem is inspired by my principal, who had us start our own poem as a staff about this.  I call it, "And Then it Snowed." I used to wait for my phone to ring telling me we were off school...and then it snowed. I used to wait until Summer to clean out my kitchen cabinets...and then it snowed. I used to send my son to preschool instead of homeschooling him....and then it snowed. I used to have a dog that went off the porch to go potty...and then it snowed. I used to go to work in the morning...and then it snowed. I used to think I wasn't a creative and crafty mom...and then it snowed (and I got desperate!) I used to take our electricity (and heat) for granted...and then it snowed. I used to make about one meal a week...and then it snowed. I used to pray for a snow day...and then it snowed A LOT! In all seriousness, I truly did love being home.  Caleb and I had such a good time doing crafts and baking (I went through A LOT of butter!)  It was just fun to have...

As I blogged about earlier, my parents lost their beautiful dog Maggie last week.  As my mom always says, "It's not a home without a dog!"  We're just dog people.  I completely understand their yearning for a dog to pet! They are now finding comfort in their new rescue, Heidi.  She's a sweet, skiddish girl who wasn't shown a whole lot of love at the puppy mill where she was raised.  Now, though, Heidi-Who has retired to the lap of luxury! All of our boxers' middle names have rhymed (Becky Sue, Penny Poo, Maggie Moo) so I've dubbed Heidi "Heidi-Who."  Heidi didn't wag her tail until Penny came to visit!  She was happy to be around another dog for a while.  They are already good friends!

This has been an interesting Valentine's Day.  Without accusing the innocent (or not-so-innocent), I wanted to share a few things Matt and I have learned from today's experience: *  Hormones and Valentine's Day don't mix.   I am currently on some hormone therapy that is causing me to be a little hormonal, which was intensified by today's events. *  Always, always do something for your spouse on this Hallmark holiday.   If you don't, be prepared for much gnashing of teeth. *  NEVER blame your lack of Valentine's preparedness on the weather.   It doesn't matter that we had two blizzards (41 inches of snow) in one week.  That excuse with get you nowhere. *  Playing a favorite song "Apologize" does help a teeny bit.   Playing the song that we danced to at our wedding does too. *  Calling your spouse names doesn't help.   Although, it may help you feel better momentarily. *  Acknowledge that the other person ...

Our young trumpeteer has offficially begun taking lessons from his daddy.  He practiced the buzzing noise on the mouth piece for a while.  When he proved his proficiency, Matt allowed him to try out the trumpet for the very first time.  Despite Caleb's best efforts to hold it on his own, he couldn't convince Daddy to let him!  Matt has already told him that he can't play his Bach until he's in high school and has played for many years! Will he be a musical prodigy?  Only time will tell!

In a mad attempt to beat the cabin fever that is creeping in, I started looking on http://www.familyfun.com/ for some fun and easy crafts for Caleb and I to do.  I found several! This is a cute winter sun catcher that was several steps and a long wait time for an anxious 3 year old, but it was pretty easy.  Then, we gathered up our broken crayons and made star-shaped rainbow crayons out of them!  Caleb is going to use them for his valentines, but he kept a few for himself too.  :)

It's snowing.  In case you didn't know.  I have no idea how much snow we got this time because it has been drifting like crazy (the wind is ridiculous) and we already had a lot of snow on the ground from the weekend's storm!  I would guess 5 inches, but I really have no idea.  It seems like a ton, but I think it's only because it's been swirling around all day. So what have I been doing to "weather" the storm?  Today Caleb and I made dog treats for Becky, and did a Family Fun activity:  a cool ice sun catcher.  The final product will be done tomorrow, but I hope it works out okay!  I also played with my new cookie press and made a bunch of different kinds.  Caleb could even do the press, which made him very happy.  He got a real kick out of it!  We have also played loads and loads of games....Hullabaloo, Candy Land, Go Fish, Micky Mouse Yahtzee, The Duck Game, Polar Bear ABCs...you name it, we've played it! We're hanging in th...

Like I said in an earlier post....HE'S UGLY!

Snow drifting on the door Caleb standing in one of Daddy's footprints! "Helping" clean the car off Cardinal trying to hide from the snow A birdie eating the suet Caleb put out for them 23 inches and counting (it wasn't over yet!) The back deck We lost half of our tree Birdie footprints on the porch Those are our bushes! Lots and lots of icicles!

My parents' sweet Boxer Maggie passed away yesterday.  She had been sick off and on, but had been doing really well recently, so this was a bit sudden.  I want to tell you a little about Maggie Moo! M edium-sized Boxer A gressive with her playing G entle with the grandkids G obbled up her food I nside dog E ntertaining to watch play M ore to love O verly-protective of her toys O bviously the sweetest dog ever! We'll miss you, Mags.  Say hi to Parker for us!  <3

*  We definitely did not receive close to 30 inches of snow on Friday-Saturday.  We certainly aren't getting 6-10 more inches tomorrow night on top of it!  I have not been stuck in the house since Friday and am not anxiously awaiting breakfast tomorrow at Bob Evan's before tomorrow's storm!  *  In desperation to get Caleb outside for a few minutes, I didn't suggest that he take his bird caller out and try to summon the birds.  This idea didn't work like an absolute charm to get my reluctant boy to begin playing in the snow! *  While stringing Fruity Cheerios on string for the birds today, Caleb didn't eat more Cheerios than he put on the string! 

We have a LOT of snow here.  It's pretty crazy--23 inches with 32 inch+ snow drifts.  I worked on the taxes today.  I was hoping to finish, but it didn't happen.  I made a little mistake that turned into a really big mistake that is keeping me from being able to file my state taxes--either by e-file or mail.  We had homemade pizza tonight.  Just as we took the pizza out of the oven, the power went off.  Caleb loved playing with the crank radio.  We made valentines today for family members and I made gift tags for the valentines for his school friends.  There's no church tomorrow for the second week in a row.  I was supposed to have nursery duty.  I didn't have nursery duty as a result of the December storm either.  There's a good movie on tonight about a guy with Tourette's Sydrome who becomes a teacher.  Matt is refusing to watch it.  Caleb is having conversations with his trucks.  Becky doesn't like the snow an...

That Megalodon post was supposed to be on my school blog, but I accidentally posted it on this one!  If you want to do a little research on the deadliest shark to ever swim in the ancient oceans of the world, feel free! In other news....there's some snow coming, I think.  At least, that's what the 30,000 at the grocery store told me.  Um yeah, it's predicting 16-20 inches!  PLUS, it's another blizzard warning, so we're going to have a ton of drifting.  Whooooooo it's going to be a crazy weekend!  We've got everything we need and are ready to hunker down and watch the snow fall.  :)

I did the hard part for you and included some Megalodon resources that you could use for your research paper. This site has information about Megalodon's size and what he ate. This site has lots of information about Megalodon, so every group could most likely use it. This site has a little information about Megalodon's world. This is a lengthy article about Megalodon, but it has some good information in it.

I put my foot in my mouth...a lot.  I don't mean to, but I do.  The end.

We have a new pet in the Leach household.  His name is Nemo and he's an ugly fish. Let me start over.  Caleb loves his weekly visits to the pet store where he can hang out with all of the animals he's never going to be allowed to have...rats, mice, ferrets, birds, etc.  They're all his buddies! Amy got the idea to give Caleb a fish for his birthday, which we thought was great.  It would give him a little responsibility and independence with limited work for us!  So she takes Caleb to the pet store on a Thursday while Sara is at preschool and he picks out a Beta fish. When I come home and see the fish, I can't help but think about how UGLY this poor fish is!  Betas are normally pretty blues and reds.  Nope, not this one!  This one is a funky tan color...not even yellow.  Poor guy. Caleb wanted to name him Rachel.  After convincing him that he did not want to be given a girly name, Caleb decided that Nemo would be a good name....