Ramens Will Burn if...

you forget to add water.



Though the acrid smoke has past the smell lingers. Think...burnt popcorn smell. My dear oldest, son, Aaron, is sustained by Ramen noodles. I think he would wither and die were it not for these little wavy dried bits of carbohydrates. Oh, and let us not forgot the load of sodium. His current favorites are Chili, Chicken and Roast Chicken. When he is feeling a bit wild he mixes them together. Yes, he can take a walk on the wild side. So, why you may or may not ask, did he burn said wavy treasure? I'm sure it had nothing to do with staying up until the wee hours of the morning to play the computer and watch Dr. Who. He was a bit distracted getting ready to go mow the neighbor's grass. He wanted to grab a quick small meal, so he grabbed the Ramens like he does most every day, placed them in a bowl and popped them in the microwave. He ran to the bathroom. I had my back turned trying to put 2 boxes of frozen pizza into our freezor. After a few seconds I jokingly called out, "Aaron what are you burning?" The smell was getting worse by the second. I turned to look at the microwave and saw billowing smoke. I grabbed the door and looked at the smoldering ramen noodles sans water. I grabbed the bowl and stuck it in the sink and turned on the water. AHHH! More smoke!

I sit here with the windows open, the air conditioner off, and the door open praying the mosquitos are too confused by the burnt carbon to find my legs and arms.

Aaron opted for a bowl of Breyer's chocolate ice cream with Hershey's syrup to hold him over while he mows the grass. One must always have back up plans if you should, per chance, burn your first choice.

::::::::::::::A Just For Fun Layout::::::::


<sub>Just having some fun with the love birds.


Credits: Kate Hadfield: Love Birds, Diner Doodles, Vehicle Doodles
Jacque Larsen/Kate Hadfield Cleaning Doodles, Tea Party, Celebrate, Tooth Fairy Doodles
Jenna Desai: Doodled Border
Alpha: Darcy Baldwin's Spotty Alpha
Catrine's Chalked Alpha and Explore Solids
Font: Cheapskate Outline, Calvin and Hobbes</sub>

:::::::::::::Family Swim:::::::::::

We finally got to go to family swim time at our local pool. The kids tired themselves out and drank abit of chlorine. Rachel would like to warn against embibing chlorine. She said it made her stomach hurt.

During our last 20 minutes at the pool I was playing with Eve in a smaller circular pool inside the lazy river set up. I was on the other side of the circle and she said, "Come and get me!" So, I went underwater to grab her and she surprised me by swimming past me to the other side. She and I found this to be quite a fun game. She got so much more confidence to use her swimming skills and stick her face in and swim across. She was so proud to play and be able to swim. I am so proud of her, too!

:::::::::::::Walking::::::::::

I did my 5 mile walk and it was another situation where it took 2 miles for my foot to feel okay. Surprisingly, my foot hasn't hurt as much after the fact as it has in the past couple of weeks. Maybe my foot is getting better, or I have permanent nerve damage? Hmmm? I'm going to check the store for those Ace Bandage thingies and look for one for arch support.

There are a couple of new regular walkers at the park that smile when I pass. I call them "The Double Mint Twins". They appear to be in their early twenties, shaved heads and about 6 feet tall.

:::::::::::::Family Reading:::::

The kids and I got a kick out of last night's chapter of Tales From the Hood. Puck has an allergy that is so too funny. The Ferryport Landing librarian is great and the razzing Puck gives him is hilarious, too!

:::::::::::::Today:::::::::::

I'm taking Aaron to the store to spend a few of his hard earned dollars, I have a Yearbook meeting and the guys are leaving for a rock climbing trip/camp out.

Take care! I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...

...Oh, my I had such a fun time with Noah and his 2nd grade class! We went on a "Night Crawler" field trip to the Atlanta Zoo. We slept in the education building. We were able to pet a chinchilla (so cute and amazingly soft), a tortoise, a boa constrictor and an African millipede. We were shown the kitchen where all of the food is prepared and learned about the different dietary needs of the animals. I liked the Powerade, fruit cycle that was made for the gorillas, but they didn't offer us a taste. I wasn't so fond of the fish cycle for the otters, or the mouse cycles for the cats...not so tasty! We trekked around the park to the reptile house and used flashlights with red bulbs, so we didn't disturb the reptiles, too much.

In the morning, we toured the reptile house again, saw the elephants practicing their lessons with their trainer, the orangutans playing, the gorillas playing after breakfast, the pandas munching bamboo, cute little Muntjacks, lemurs, Golden Lion Tamarins free-ranging about on the ropes, and some really cool birds. The Zoo's, newest exhibit, is the naked mole rats. The have, almost, a hive mentality. They will work out who the queen is for their colony and she will be the only one allowed to have babies. They use their teeth to sense things around them and they kill vegetation because they eat the roots.
The children were pretty well behaved. There was the normal "he touched me", "She pushed me", and Noah got kicked in the ribs by a boy being silly. The boy apologized right away and Noah accepted the apology through streams of tears. All was to rights quickly. I was the shoelace monitor. Their was one little boy that must have been tying his laces wrong because they kept coming undone. The kids were so polite and would excitedly call out, "Ms. Taylor, come see this!" Noah was really cool, and not clingy. He was simply happy to have me along. He made sure he saved the seat next to him on our bus ride to and from the zoo. I did have a hitchhiker from the zoo. It was a jumping spider. Noah noticed him on my shoulder. I flicked him off and he went into the crack or our bus seat. Noah rode the rest of the trip sitting as far forward as possible.

:::::::::::::::::::::::Then It Was:::::

back to the elementary school for Kindergarten registration. Eve was excited to see two friends from her preschool class there, as well. She played with Fiona and Jayla after she finished her assessement with Mrs. Barclay (we love this Kindergarten teacher). We talked for a bit after the assessment. She was a superb teacher for Rachel and Noah. Eve got flustered when she lost site of me and began to cry. Luckily, one of the moms helping with registration knows me and pointed her to me right away. I hugged her and soothed her. Her friends had gone home while I was chatting and I was standing on the opposite side of the play area.

Earlier in the day my mom had taken Eve to school since I was at the zoo. Then, she and Grandpa Jim returned to read a couple of Scottish tales and my mom played the chanter for the Eve's class and the neighboring class. I heard happy reports from, Eve, a teacher at the school and both grandparents!

:::::::::::::Dawn Inskip C.T.::::::::



brand new collab by dawn inskip and heather manning ° evitangel °


also Embossed Alpha set 2 by Dawn Inskip


NDISB: http://www.ndisb.com/store/index.php...acturers_id=58


Treasures to Scrap: http://digistore.treasurestoscrap.co...acturers_id=20


ScrapScandiStyle: http://shop.scrapscandistyle.com/ind...acturers_id=43


www.digiscrapping.net


Font: DJB MESSIE AMANDA by Darcy Baldwin at www.digichick.com


Brick overlay by Jenna Desai



:::::::::::::::Karen Lewis and Darcy Baldwin::::
Check out The Digichick for some cool stuff. Also, with National Scrapbook Day, Digital Freebies is having a 50% off sale.


:::::::::::::A Happy Birthday::::::

My mom and stepmom gave me gift certificates to Cake Art for some more fun design classes, I got great cards and phone calls from family and friends. I got to hangout with my youngest boy at the zoo, got beautiful flowers from my hubbie, went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with my mom, Jim and the kids. The restaurant folks sang to me and presented me with a sopapilla with a green candle...too cool!

::::::::::::In-Gathering:::::::::::

I'm off in a little while to a Girl Scout trip with Rachel and a gaggle of giddy girls. This should be an adventure!

My Self-Professed Hippie Chick...

Text: Rachel is a 10 year-old that loves earth colors, Prairie skirts, and flip-flops (No Shoes Required is best). She worries about the feelings of others and befriending the underdog. No Gossiping! She believes in recycling and being kind to animals. She loves to write and illustrate her stories that often involve mysteries solved by intelligent and witty girls.
(Caricature was drawn by her art teacher)
_{Credits: Darcy Baldwin: DJB Kira at The Digichick
Holly McCaig: Pop Alpha
Jenna Desai: Bracket doodles
Jen Beschinski: Aunt Karens Kitschyn
Anne DeJong: paper strip from MSA free kit
Kate Hadfield/Tiff Brady: Wordybits, baby word doodles and chick doodles.
Vanilla Hush: Frame from Dress Me Up freebie
Audrey Neal: black and white notepaper alpha}

I'll be back to post more later! :)

Catching Some Shut-Eye...

not me! It's just the name of the layout I did for our reunion.

::::::::::::A Layout From the Family Reunion::::

My nephew, Elliott, with his Aunty Teashy.



_{Darcy Baldwin: DJB For ANNIE/ DJB MICHAEL / DJB KARENscript at The Digichick
Jenna Desai: Whimsical heart doodles
Gina Miller: Canvas Of Colors
Lisa Whitney: Chalked Full of Color
Kate Hadfield: Newspaper Doodles
Catrine: Chalked Alpha
Holly McCaig: Doodle Frame
Emily Merritt: Bubble Wrap Brush
Natalie Braxton: Cardboard Cut-Out
Christina Renee: Punch label alpha}
My recent downloads from Spiral Frog :

India Aire: Video
The Little things

Billie Holiday: As Time Goes By
Embraceable You
On The Sunny Side of The Street
I'll Be Seeing You
I've Got a Man Crazy Bout Me (He's Funny That Way)

Spike Jones: Entire Christmas Album

Blues Traveler But Anyway

Cher: Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves

Ringo Star: Octopus' Garden


::::::::::::::::::::::Emotions Revealed:::::



This book was a fascinating read! The use of memorable news photos, study photos and personal accounts made this a very approachable work of psychology. Dr. Ekman was able to explain the many emotions that we experience in a practical, as well as, a clinical way. He also used words from other languages since some emotions didn't have a descriptive enough English word. He explained how surprise is the briefiest of all emotions and that startle is different from surprise. He showed how the eyes really help you determine a genuinely happy smile from one only done with the mouth. There is so much amazing information in this book! Two thumbs up!

My next book is by Paul Ekman, as well. Why Kids Lie

::::::::::::::::Aurora County All-Stars:::::::


We just finished this book on Thursday night. The kids were a bit luke warm on this one. I think that our kids don't get into sports stories, so there is a bit of a bias about the story. The thread binding the story was part of the poem "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. The author never loses the thread and the story is tied up nicely at the end. The concept of how we are all connected and valuable is such a wonderful message. I recommend the book even if you have non-sports fans like my kids.


::::::::::::::::School Reading::::::::

Aaron has chosen for his next reading assignment for school to read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. We read it as a family a couple of years ago, so I wonder what new insight he will glean this time around.

::::::::::::::::Spelunking::::::::::::

Michael, Aaron and a couple of friends from Church have gone caving today. They are planning to get back to the waterfall in the back of the cave. Since Aaron has no body fat Michael made sure Aaron had plenty of synthetic clothes to keep him from soaking up the cold water. He was joking that he looked like Mickey Mouse because his leggings were black, his long sleeve shirt was white and his shorts over the top were red. We all laughed about that one.

::::::::::::::::Indexing:::::::::::::::

I worked on marriage certificates from Barbour and Jackson counties in West Virginia, then I was sent a 1900 Census. I am having a bit of trouble with certain letters. Argh! The census I'm working on is from Merrimack, New Hampshire. The information is really interesting. This is a great program if you are interested in being altruistic with your down time. :)

Smile!