m.o.M - mother of Michael

Is This the End or Another Beginning?

I have been so inspired by all the new blogs I've been reading as a result of NaBloPoMo. There are sewing blogs, environmental blogs, gardening blogs and lots of knitting blogs. Here are a few (a VERY few) of my new favorites:

Nikki-Shell - I've also subscribed to her magazine, MixTape and I'm loving that as well!
Sew Mama Sew - Her crafting lists make my head explode!
Schnozzfest - She just cracks me up!
The Domestic Diva's Disasters - Another bunch of great ideas!
Black Dog Knits - I think this is one of the nicest looking blogs I've ever seen!

The list goes on and on and on and on!

I'll miss having some of these to read every day, but I'll definitely read them whenever they update.

I have learned this month that I can do this every day. I don't know if I need to or not, but I may try to continue. I have enjoyed thinking about what to write; it's become part of my daily routine. Some days I had to search a bit and other days the posts just seemed to write themselves.

Oh well, in the meantime I think I'll work on my craft room/office (what a dump!) so I can get on some of these great ideas I've read about this month.

The End is Nigh!

And thank God for that!

I often wonder why anyone would want to be a weatherman (weather predictor, weather person, weather guesser). You're rarely right and everyone hates you. It must be difficult not to respond to criticism and jokes with, "Then you look out the window yourself and you decide what the weather's going to be like today!"

The initial 2007 hurricane forecast:
17 named storms, including nine hurricanes, five of them major.
The adjusted August 2007 hurricane forecast:
15 named storms, including eight hurricanes, four of them major.
The actual 2007 hurricane season:
14 named storms, including six hurricanes, two of them major.

Okay, so they were wrong again, but how arrogant must we be to think that we can really predict the weather so far into the future.

I, for one, am thrilled they were wrong.

As they say, "Been there. Done that."

Port St. Lucie, Fl. September 2004

Little Fingers, Little Hands

Bob Villa's spirit is possessing my son.

I don't necessarily want an exorcism. I can see some great benefits to having a Bob Villa around. The thing is, I would like to have all the latches, knobs and other items that are affixed to something else via a screw to remain that way. Call me silly, but having a door knob fall off into my hand is only cute the first several times.

In a stroke of genius, my dear husband, father of this child, turned the un-building activities into building activities.

Now I have a wonderful new birdhouse. The first, I hope, of many to come.

It's Not Just a Job, It's My Duty!

Cheesecake? - Check
Pumpkin Pie? - Check
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie? - Check
Mincemeat? Apple? - Check and check

Well, someone has to eat the leftovers!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

I try to be a good citizen of the earth and do all I can to protect her.

We compost and recycle like it's a religion. Heck, I even have composting worms in their own special can in the garage. They eat my lint and old phone books and I harvest the castings and worm tea (read pee) that my plants love so very much. When one of my large koi died, I turned him into fertilizer and now have a rosebush with the biggest leaves I've ever seen on a rosebush. (A little too much fertilizer...all leaves and no flowers.)

So, as soon as I learned about compact flourescent lightbulbs and their impact on the environment, I started replacing burnt out incandescent ones with CFLs. I do miss the healthy, pink hue of the old lightbulbs, but it's a small price to pay.

Today, as I reached for a new bulb, this thought occured to me. Why do we need so much packaging? It's just crazy! What happened to those nice, little cardboard boxes? They were compostable and no larger than the bulb they contained! Now everythings packaged in this rigid plastic clamshell stuff that no one can get into without tearing themselves to shreds! It's nuts!

This led me to doing a quick bit of research on the topic. Here's what I found:

The percentage of all landfilled waste that is just packaging material. - 33%
The amount of packaging that each American disposes of each year. - 440 pounds.
The percentage of all plastic packaging and plastic containers made in 2000 that were recycled. - 9%

Frightening, isn't it.

On the flip-side, however, I found the following:

If every one of 110 million American households bought just one CFL, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people.
They use so little power compared with old reliable bulbs, a $3 swirl pays for itself in lower electric bills in about five months.
Compact fluorescents emit the same light as classic incandescents but use 75% or 80% less electricity.

Ironic, isn't it. We can save money and save electricity, but the cost is more landfills to contain the excessive packaging from the very items that will help to save us from ourselves.

Is there any hope of getting it together enough to really make a difference?

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/108/open_lightbulbs.html

http://www.co.douglas.or.us/recycle/JeopardyQs.htm

What Does It Mean?

• Bad weather coming because the squirrels are stocking up.
• Bad weather passed with a dry, windy spring causing excess pollination.
• More deer in the future due to an abundant food source.

Around here it means sweeping, sweeping, sweeping. The acorns fall like rain and on we sweep.

It's Uncle Michael!

And where there's an Uncle Michael, there's a Grandpa Michael, but there is no Grandma m.o.M.! Hmmm, sounds like the fixin's for a country song!

Welcome to the world, little Miss Ava!

Whew! Glad That's Over!

In the end we got through the day alive and almost sane. A quick shift of venue, a rushed packing of all the parts and pieces, three trips home to retrieve forgotten items and dinner was served.

Turns out that the day after Thanksgiving is not only "Black Friday" for the stores, but plumbers as well! While my conscience was clear that I had not stuffed up the sink by shoving five pounds of potato peels down it, I could hear the skepticism in the plumber's voice. Unfortunately, the equipment he would need for the job was awaiting a part so he gave me the name of a plumber buddy of his.

Not willing to wait for a return call from the second plumber, Michael (the elder) went out and purchased a 50 foot snake to clear the clog.

Up to the roof climbed my two intrepid DIY guys.

Into the vent went the snake.

Out of the vent came a scream!

A scream! Can you believe it? Quickly, Michael pulled the snake out! What could it be? It sounded like a cat, but it was only a two inch pipe...all I could think of was Baby Jessica caught in the well. It was awful.

There weren't too many choices on how to handle the situation. My choice was move. Michael's was to use water and blow the unfortunate critter out. This was the logical solution which made neither of us happy.

Michael (the younger) thought the whole thing was quite exciting...first the sinks overflowing, then washing pots and pans in the bathtub and finally the scream. He became information central and had all the girls entranced.

For better or for worse, depending on who you are in this story, the clog finally cleared and the sinks drained.

As I cleaned the crud out of the kitchen sink, the plumber returned my call. At first he sounded disappointed that the problem was solved, but when I told him the part about the scream, the relief in his voice came through loud and clear.

Well, once the bathtub is cleared of parsley, the holiday will be behind me. In the meantime, I think I'll go work down some of those left-overs!

Reality Check

Before Blogworld floods with Norman Rockwellesque pictures of happy families and friends sitting down to laden tables, I bring you:

Reality

Have I mentioned lately just how much I hate this fucking holiday?

Fowl Mood

So in the end, I went out in my pajamas and bought a fucking turkey.