Must Play Outside

Miles has missed playing outside. He hasn't appreciated the teaser one day warm weather followed by a series of cold and rainy days. The other day he decided that he was going outside to play, no matter the weather or temperature. It was in the mid-40's and raining; yet Miles insisted that he was playing outside. Barefoot. Wearing only a Onesie. He had a ball!

NOVA

The sixth graders at Nolan's school attend a class called NOVA for many weeks. this program has replaced the program known as DARE. NOVA educates the students about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco as well as teaching them about internet safety. They participated in challenges such as not using media for a week. Each student wrote a "NOVA Constitution" which tells how he/she will use what they learned in NOVA to become awesome citizens. Each Wednesday for the past several months, Officer Lloyd taught Nolan and Co. NOVA graduation was held last week. They got to do their NOVA cheer one last time...

24 Hours of Spam

24 hours ago I cleared my Spam folder in one of my email accounts. I was curious to see what gems I would receive in a random 24 hour period. This email account had a relatively slow day and only received 19 Spamalicious treats. Here's a G rated list of what I got!

• 1 notification of a bike parts sale (thanks, Dan; I direct all email from this company to the Spam folder because you don't need any more bike parts)
• 1 notification of a sheet music sale
• 2 offers from "pharmacies" for Viagra & friends
• 1 offer from a company that will sell me a Kindle for $8.76
• 1 notice for a sale on European food for Memorial Day
• 3 notices of local "Groupon" type deals
• 1 notice of a sale at soap.com
• 1 email from "FedEx"
• 1 email from "ROSE ADAMS" whose subject is "Pls not let this sound strange to you" (but it does so I'm not opening it)
• 1 email from "Speed Date" that says I have a new message...
• 1 email from "Dr. Silver Morgan"
  
• 1 email for some PhenFen knock-off (only $157 for 30 pills)
  
• 4 emails from random people offering me something that will "let my manhood feel better"

Does anyone actually open emails that are auto-directed to a Spam folder? Evidently some people must be so excited to get email that they'll open anything in their box... including stuff from "Dr. Silver Morgan" and "FedEx". I realize that something go to the Spam folder by mistake, but that stuff is easily identified, but if people would ignore everything from "mystery senders" then wouldn't Spam disappear because there wouldn't be a market for their junk/trojan/spyware/virus? I guess I lack the curiosity that drives people to see what "Dr. Silver Morgan" wants... I already clicked "Empty" next to the Spam folder (and the only "Silver Morgan" that I know anything about is the U.S. $1 coin minted and placed in circulation from 1878-1904 and in 1921).

Dirt Under My Fingernails

It must be spring... my nails are encrusted with dirt! It always amazes me that I am excited about dirty nails every spring. I've also got sun-kissed arms. That means that it is warm enough to prep the garden for the growing season. I spent last weekend weeding, "Preening," and expanding the garden. I can't believe the size of the weed field that managed to invade the garden it the short time that it's been warm. I love turning the dirt and finding wriggling pinkish-purplish worms. We expanded the garden by digging up a 2' by 10' of the lawn. I got two massive blisters last week (one of my palm, the other at the base of my thumb) from digging deeps weed roots out using a trowel. I bought my tomato (Roma, Cherry, Yellow Pear, and 2 types of slicing tomatoes), pumpkin, and 6 of my pepper (Golden California) starts from Timpanogos High School. Their plants were cheap and beautiful! I bought the rest of my starts (which were equally beautiful, but twice as expensive) ... red peppers, beans, and cantaloupe from Home Depot. I went out and played in the dirt again today as I planted my starts and finally got peas, more beans, and more pumpkins seeded! I love getting things going outside, but come October, I'm ready for a freeze to end the growing season.

Containing Mama Bear

Why is it that the person who has alienated my child and caused my child pain comes to me for advice when he is hurting and feeling alienated? Part of me wanted to yell, "What comes around goes around" or "Serves you right," but the other side of me was willing to listen to the person and ease his pain. I chose compassion.

Back to the Grocery Store

Another day, another trip to the store. Today I was not in the mood to play the "Look Miles, milk! Can you say 'milk?' game." I was on a shopping mission instead of a leisure trip. Miles, on the other hand, wanted to play the "identify the foods" game. He was jabbering on about everything he saw. He saw a lot of "schwaaaaa" and "oooooahhh" and "da-ta-baba". We were on the cereal aisle. I was looking for cheap Rice Cripsies cereal. We were checking out the Malt-o-Meal bags of cereal. Miles noticed the "Cocoa Roos." Cocoa Roos are generic Cocoa Puffs... brown little spheres in a see-through bag. Miles saw them and joyfully shouted "poo-poo!" He was so proud. I thought it was hilarious. I even walked back down the cereal aisle to see if he would re-identify the Cocoa Roos. He did. That's my smart boy!

Packing Cubes

Traveling with a family results in challenges. One of those challenges is suitcase sharing. We are lucky and are not subject to Delta's baggage fees, so in theory, we could check a lot of luggage. However, that does not mean we could handle all our junk if everyone had his/her own suitcase. I limited us to 3 checked suitcases, and one of those was for snacks/junk food. I've learned from traveling with my children that it is nearly impossible for them to find whatever they are looking for in a suitcase without throwing everything else out of the suitcase and onto the floor. I was not looking forward to 12 days of suitcase sharing with my boys. 12 days of suitcase chaos was something I wanted to avoid. I saw these on eBags and thought they would be worth a try. These are "packing cubes". I bought 5 sets of 3 cubes, each in a different color, one color per person. Everyone except for Dan was willing to play my packing game (Dan brought his own backpack for his clothes only). The remaining four of us packed our clothes into the cubes of our assigned color. Then we packed the cubes in the suitcase. It worked like a charm. When someone needed something out of a suitcase, they only had to remove their cube and find whatever was needed. It was amazing.