I’ve made some changes around the blog. What do you think? 

I still have some things to tweak, but overall I’m pretty pleased with how it is coming along.  My super-duper, ooper-schmooper webmaster (aka Hubby) has helped me work through much of this, so I guess I’ll have to fix him a steak for dinner tonight.

Anyway, I have realized that I have somewhat of a fascination with books and blogs that have to do with spending one year doing XYZ.  A year in the life, so to speak…  “A Year Without: Made in China“.   “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen“.  “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle“, the book I am currently reading about a family’s one-year journey of eating local organic food.  Even though I’m not a big crock-pot user, I love the blog, A Year of Slow Cooking.  And, I’ve looked at the 365 projects of many others.

Now, I think it’s my time to start a 365 project of my own.  I’ve created a new category for these posts.  When I get things to work correctly, they’ll show up only on my 365 Project page, so if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve been photographing, click on the 365 tab.

Well, my friends.   We had our first broken bone in the TexasT household.   In a way, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before now. After all, I do have two rambunctious boys.

One evening last week the boys were playing on the swing set/fort/monkey bars in our back yard.   Apparently Woody lost his grip on one of the bars.   He stuck out his right hand in an effort to break his fall, but he ended up breaking his wrist instead.

We rushed to the Emergency Department of our local hospital, sat in the waiting room forever, finally got back to triage, had another short stint in the waiting room, and finally moved to an Exam Room.   After some Tylenol with codeine, x-rays, and a splint – we were sent home with the directions to find an Orthopedist to set it in a cast.   A couple of days later the Ortho put on the cast.   Due to the location of the break, my dear Woody has a bright blue cast that goes from fingers to arm pit.

In short, a full arm cast means no swimming, no sprinkler play, and generally outdoor activities are pretty limited.     He does play with his legos.   And, this week I gave him a roll of tin foil to make sculptures.   We’ve played lots of board games, and he’s spent plenty of time playing with Tigger.   He has also spent quite a bit of time reading.   We’ve done several of the dollar movies, and even managed a VBS.   But what makes him happiest of all, is turning into a couch potato.

We normally limit television to no more than an hour a day, but for now we’re making a few concessions.   Someone is absolutely loving Dinosaur Train, Between the Lions, and several of the free “on demand” movies.   I think he’s going to be able to recite the entire script for “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs” any day now.   We like watching “Up”, but it makes me cry.   Although, Dug’s “Squirrel!” line usually helps to assuage any tears.

So, whether I like it or not, it is looking like this will be the summer of the television.

Well, at least until the cast comes off…

Today, the boys and I were discussing possible gift ideas for their father for Father’s Day.   There was talk of cars and trucks because Daddy needs a new truck.   They mentioned books about guns because Daddy likes them, or maybe just a few gun parts.   Perhaps a new radio because he needs new music. (note to self: need to teach boys about radios/ipods/xm radios/etc.)

But Tigger really cracked me up when he said, “We should get Big Daddy a dog toy because he likes playing with them.   And we should get Daddy some matches because he likes shooting matches.”

Just to clarify:

1) Big Daddy (my father) encourages his beagle, Dixie (a.k.a. my sister), to fetch.   It’s her main form of exercise.   They play several rounds everyday.   She will pick a toy and they’ll play until she tires out.

2) Their father is into competitive shooting sports, big time.   He’s been to several shooting matches during the past month or two.

My little Tigger makes me laugh, but it’s nice to know he’s so thoughtful when it comes to selecting gifts.

I’ve been working on some of MY summer projects (a.k.a. cleaning things I’d rather not clean).

Today, I worked on the pantry.   Our pantry is small, and usually somewhat organized. But recently, things had just been shoved in there just to get them out of the kitchen.   When I started clearing shelves, I realized I had an extra container of cornstarch.   Instead of trying to find room for it, in an already small pantry, I decided to make some fun.

Here’s the run down:

• Split one box of cornstarch between two bowls.
• Add just enough water to make things interesting.
• Listen for “ooooo” and “bleck” as little hands discover strange non-Newtonian liquid.
• Then tell children they have created a new substance, “oobleck!”

• Watch for happy smiles.

• And have some fun with the boys.

We’ve finally made it to summertime!

Yay for school break time.

Yay for $1 movies and $2 movies.

Yay for Calloway’s free craft days for the kiddos.

Yay for Vacation Bible School.

Yay for park & water park days.

Yay for library days.

Yay for Half Price Books Kids Summer Reading Program.

Yay for the swimming pool.

Yay for the planetarium.

Boo for triple digit temperatures.   We don’t normally see them until much later in the summer.   I must say, I’m not too excited about their early arrival.

So, a really big YAY for air conditioning!

We just returned from a week long trip vacation.   It was probably the BEST vacation I’ve ever had.   I didn’t want to come home, but reality set in and, well, there are bills to pay, so we are home.

Do you want to see what we did?

We rented a 31 foot RV and camped in four state parks during the week. (You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)

We started out at Lake Arrowhead State Park (known for it’s Prairie Dog Town) just outside of Wichita Falls.   We spent two nights there.

We then spent a night in Caprock Canyon State Park in Quitaque, Texas (aka. Middle of Nowhere).   I can’t wait to go back there – it was just amazing.

After Caprock, we spent two nights in Palo Duro Canyon State park.   Oh, my heavens.   You HAVE to go there.   It is just stunning.   Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States (just after the Grand Canyon.)   Absolutely spectacular views.

Because Palo Duro is so close to Amarillo, we had to stop by Cadillac Ranch and the Big Texan Steakhouse.

We drove a little bit out of the way so we could see the giant cross in Groom, as well as, the smaller stations of the cross.   The cross is 190 feet tall, it’s just huge.

In case you missed the ginormous 190 foot cross, the state put up this helpful little sign.

Then we spent our final night at Copper Breaks State Park in Quannah, Texas (aka. Also Middle of Nowhere.)

All in all, it was a fabulous trip.

It was definitely my style of “camping.”   We had rain several nights but we didn’t ever have to worry about a tent flooding.

Our vacation seemed more complete because we were able to take the dogs.   We all had a good time, but we were all really happy to be back home.

If you would like to see more of our vacation photos, visit my flickr vacation page here.

I wanted to share some information that Hubby learned after the Smoke Detector Incident in January.

We’ve all heard how we should change the batteries in our smoke detectors twice a year, every time we Spring forward or Fall back.   Well, it turns out that you should do more than just replace the batteries.   According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) we should also replace our smoke detectors every 10 years.   Apparently the ion detector in them can go out and make the unit ineffective rendering your smoke detector useless.

To see the video Hubby and the boys made about how to check the date of your smoke detector, click here.

It would seem that many home owners in our area have had an experience similar to mine.   (All of their smoke alarms going off with no smoke or fire.)   I guess that is not too surprising, considering many of our homes were built at the same time.   After responding to several incidents, our local Fire Marshal published a flyer about replacing your smoke detectors every 10 years.   To see it, click here.

So, while it’s not a very fun gift, maybe we should all ask for new smoke detectors for Mother’s Day this year.

Events from this morning…

Me:   Yay!   The Women’s Retreat is in two weeks! I can hardly wait to go.

God:   Daughter.

Me:   I sure could use a Girl’s Weekend.

God:     Tanya, I need you to listen to me.

Me:   I’m going to get to visit with Leslie and Jenny and Brenda and Kelley…

God:   Tanya, listen.

Me:   and Amy and Darla and Toni and Brigid and Jamie and…oh!   I’ll be able to talk to Colleen about her…

God:   Tanya!

Me:   Oh! Yes Lord?

God:   Tanya, you need to stay home instead of going to the retreat.

Me:   What?!? I don’t think I heard you correctly.

God:   You need to stay home instead of going to the retreat.

Me:   Lord, I don’t want too.

God: I know.

Me:   I want to go have fun.

God:   I know.   You’ll have fun at home.

Me:   But, I want to go!

God:   It is more important for you to be home.

Me:   But, Looorrrrd, I really wanna go.

God:   I know, but you need to obey me.

Me:   But, Lord, what about my ticket?   I’ve already paid for it.

God:   Donate it for a scholarship.

Me:   What about Leslie?   I told her we could be roommates.

God:   She’ll understand.

Me:   Are you sure?

God:   Tanya, I’m God.   Yes, I’m sure.

Me:     So what You’re saying, is that I’m supposed to stay home instead of go to the Women’s Retreat. And that I’m supposed to donate my ticket for someone else.   And that Leslie won’t hate me for abandoning her?

God: Yes.

Me: (sigh) Okay, Lord.

Later this morning, I went to the ladies in charge of the retreat.   I let them know that I would not be attending and they could use my payment as a scholarship.   They said it would be no problem to get a refund.   I told them that I didn’t need a refund, to go ahead and use it for a scholarship.   They were so grateful and said they knew just the right lady to use my scholarship.

Me: (smiling) Thank you, God, for letting me bless someone else.   I love it when I get to make someone else’s day!

God: I knew you could do it.   And remember, there are blessings in obedience.

From boy……..

……to dinosaur……

………back to boy.

To melter of hearts…

A conversation from this morning:

Tigger:   (after inspecting the side of his yogurt container) Mommy, when will I get to have first-grade yogurt?

Me:   First-grade yogurt? What do you mean?

Tigger:   Well, this yogurt has a “K” on it, for Kindergarten.   When will I get to have first-grade yogurt?

If I thought it would keep him from growing up so fast, I would feed him “Kindergarten” yogurt forever.