Prickly little kitten

I can't believe that my cuddly little buddy is a scaly lizard. He is so sweet. He likes to cuddle. Mostly in the evening. He is so snuggly when I sit with him. He likes to sit in the evening the most. But, he loves to sit at my desk too. He sits on a woven yarn piece I made. I set him in front of my keyboard. He sits there for quite a while. When he is done, he gets up and usually walks across the keyboard and types something. I never thought I would find such a warm little pal in a cool blooded lizard.

I think it is my time for the blog to not work. So sad. I typed the same thing 2 times, and need to move on today. I will try and do one again tonight. K~

Happy Birthday Bobbi !!

It's Bobbi's Birthday today!!
Have a special and gardeny day. I have your gift with me for South Dakota. I hope I remember to give it to you. Have a GREAT DAY!! K~

Happy Birthday Bobbi !!

Being the whole of ourselves

Ahhh.... The restful sound of kids screaming in the morning. It really loosens up those tight neck muscles, and gets you ready for the day.

I have been hopelessly doing a little of this and a little of that to begin my day, and alas, it is almost 11 AM and I am no further then I was an hour ago. Sometimes that just happens.

I need to prepare a bit for school coming. I also need to prepare for 1,000 other things too. And somehow, it all gets done one way or another.

I of course find time to do some things I enjoy. I just think that I want to do that more then the things I need to do. K~

"We can't be expected to leave the unhappy and angry parts of ourselves at the door before coming in. We all need to feel that we can bring the whole of ourselves to the people who care about us." Mr. Rogers -

(Life's Journeys according to Mister Rogers- Family Communications Inc. 2005)

Sick Again.........

Seems like I spend most of my time sick. This time Strep of all things. On meds!! Again!!. I have tried to slow down a bit, but I can't go in reverse......or can I???

Anyway, I am gearing up for the trip to South Dakota with the family. I can't wait to photograph on the trip.

I have the zoo to prepare and the family to prepare too. I don't know which on is harder.

Then there is the school shopping to be done. WoW.... kind of behind.

Well Happy Tuesday and almost Wednesday.

A nice relaxing Sunday

Going to the baseball game yesterday, was a lot of fun. We won! It was a good game and the Twins looked good. I am so glad I can knit and watch things at the same time. I started my 4th strip for my afghan. The kids ran the bases afterwards. C and D went all the way around. S got half way between 1st and 2nd and turned around. He was scared. Poor kid. They all got cool Twins lunch boxes. It really was a nice family outing. Here they are all in a row. C was dancing in her seat. So it was hard for me to get a good shot.




Fall is in the air. It is so nice to feel a crisp morning without humidity. I took some photos of my garden yesterday. As you can see, we won't be doing a lot of stir fry with that egg plant. The morning glories are just beautiful. And I hope my pointsettias are as beautiful indoors as they are now, outdoors. The stems are so red.
Here are Yuri and Shelly sharing a veggie and fruit snack. It was a rare moment that they felt they could be together. mmmmmm peas. I am sitting here with Puff on my shirt. He is sleeping away. He is like a very scaly and pokey kitten. K~

Finding the Sun!

Photo of an enormous glass sun sculpture at the MIA in Minneapolis. Quite impressive!

All my animals are up and looking for warmth. Maxwell has been particularly a pain in the but to his habitat mates. You can just tell that he thinks he is Mr. Cool.

I had Puff out on his harness yesterday. He kept falling off my slippery desk. Need to get him a towel next time.

My next challenge with the pets, is to get my land turtles more space to roam. They seem to be kind of sad these days. So, I am going to be working on that this week.

I have a full one coming up. Baseball game today, Show tomorrow, leading a meeting Tuesday, On Wednesday - Friday I will be Packing for the Black Hills, preparing 3 kids for school, cleaning all the cages etc. We leave on Saturday. Wow, I got tired just listing it.

Off to see the Twins today. We are going to the Twins game at the Dome today. We have not been to a Twins game in about 4 years. I am looking forward to it. K~

Puff the bearded Dragon

Puff is here!! He is beautiful and magnificent. He has a very regal presence. He is a 7 year old Bearded Dragon. He is about 14" long. He is very impressive. Mike (Rick's brother) emailed me about someone needing a home for him. I inquired. Long story short. It is the same way I came about Shelly. She was no longer able to be in her home, so I said come aboard. He (Puff) was no longer able to be in his home, so I said "Why not". I told Rick that next I will adopt a horse or a small whale or something. I have truly some nut a little loose. Puff likes to be held. So today, I need to get him a harness, yes, I said a harness.I have held him a couple of times. He needs to settle in. He is temporarily in my office. I am not sure where his home will be I need to re-think my zoo locality. It is hard to clutter with a 20, 30 and 40 gallon tank in one 10x10 room. I do like that aspect of my situation. I should just turn the entire room into a vevarium. I may need to rename Puff to something more kingly, like, Ramses or Tut. For those of you who are visiting.

You can leave comments on the little yellow comment spot below each blog. Please do. I'd love to hear from you. K~

Getting healthy

I have been on a health kick for quite a while. I get off it now and again, but I have been hitting it pretty hard the last few weeks. I got a wonderful book from my sister-in-law, Janet, "The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook". The photos are incredible. I figured I would graduate from avocado and sea salt tortillas to something cooked. I started simple. Here is a photo of my results. I made the red pepper and green bean dish. I added Tofu. It was very good, but, I must admit, it tasted like red peppers, green beans and tofu. I wanted a little more zing from the $4.00 jar of Thai Chili paste I bought. If I made it again, I would use 1 tea spoon instead of the 1/2 teaspoon the recipe asked for. Now that I see the photo, does it even look good?? Maybe because it is 7:30 AM. And.... I am eating a donut.

My books.....

Working on my books.

I have been working on my 3 book ideas. I have one pretty well finished. I need to illustrate it. I am going to get some help from C. This one was not too hard to put together. I had the ideas in my head for a long time. It is a short book. The theme is Early Childhood Family Education. The format is an informative childlike thank you book. I hope to get this done by the end of the year.

The more comprehensive projects are going to take longer. I think I am going to try both of them in an interviewing format for now. I just think conversation is a better venue for me. I tend to write more seriously, and speak more humorously. I wonder what kind of personality that make me......crazy?

I am excited about the book on my adventures to Mexico. I am also excited to tell my adventures of motherhood. I am going to tackle the book that is not so near to my everyday life first. I need to keep better notes on the one that I live everyday. If I just told about my life on a daily basis.

This is a portrait of the Olson Family. I don't know if it is IN Mexico, but, it is on the way to or from there. As far as my book on Mexico, the TV cartoon "The Wild Thornberries" is not so far from true to me. If you have ever watched that, and thought it was all fantasy, it's not. I'm not even sure I can't talk to animals........K~

The kinesthetic crocheter

Here are some of the examples of what I do when I am "sitting still". I love to crochet. This is a photo of a 63 - 10 x 10 squares afghan. I call it my convalescent afghan. I started it in Nov. of 2005 when I became ill. I finished it in March 2006. I was still ill. I thought I would get a few squares started, and 63 of them later. I crocheted them all together. I liked the challenge of putting together the different colors and textures. It really brought back to my love of color theory. I had so much fun playing around with the squares. This afghan is too heavy to lift with one hand. It is almost too heavy for me to lift at all. For those of you who knit and crochet, I used double yarn in each motif in order to make it a thick winter afghan. I will need an industrial washing machine to ever get this clean. Thank goodness for the patterns!! K~

Ahhhh Spring!!

Remember Spring.
Everything fresh and colorful. Everything new and exciting.

Bobbi, I read on your blog that you had a swallowtail. We have one that comes back every year. It has been here for too many years to remember!! This is it!! Isn't he Gorgeous!! I just watched crocodile hunter last night with the kids. Steve Erwin is quite the excited personality. However, if you see this beauty, You have to say it in his voice.

The purple flowers are from my blue indigo. This is a fantastic plant. The plant is about 3' to 4' high. It is very showy. I added another one of these this spring. Next year I will have a huge population of them.

The little pink flowers are from my favorite plants, epimediums. This plant is a ground cover. It is so beautiful. The plant is so sweet and has very wonderful leaves. The flowers are small and precious. That flower is about the size of a dime. I do love my spring garden. My interest starts to wane in the late summer. I think it is because of it being so humid out. I don't spend time outside as I should. The lose of my turtles also have driven me in this summer.

I think that Spring is a time of renewal for me. End of summer is a time of evaluation. I have been pleased overall with what I have done this summer. I always feel I could do more. But, I know I did plenty.

I am going to work on my book this week. I am also getting the scrapbooking bug really bad these day. I think it is time to get that out soon. Have a great Wednesday.

Enjoy the day and the sun. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. K~

Unbelievable

More lilies ..... This lily has much smaller leaves. The plant, however, is enormous. The new leaf shoots and flowers are coming out of the center of the plant. All the leaves are from the same plant. Notice on the top left, the jumbo leaf from the other lily. That's a pretty big plant. Kind of a jaw dropper. Photographing plants is somewhat easier to me then my live animals. I have been enjoying taking photos of nature this summer. It is really a challenge to get a sweet photo of my water turtles. Since they are all new to me except Maxwell. They run away so quickly. I finally got a few photos of LuLu. Here is LuLu and Magellan. LuLu is 2" and Magellan is around 5". I also got an incredible photo of an orb weaver spider. My neighbor had it in her Garden. This spider is at least 2" tip to tip. It is about an 1" from the garage slat. There is really not much space between the wall and spider. I am SO glad that is in her garden instead of mine. My sister has one in her garden too. Oh Man!! God is truly working in nature. If he can work with these creatures, he can truly work with me. Yeah..... There's hope! Have an inspired day. K~

Turtles and more turtles

Here are my picture of my next 2 turtles I am hoping to get (hahaha) These are 2 Galapagos Tortoises from the Como Zoo. Very Very large. Easy ride for one of the kids.

I am just loving my turtles. I am going to spend some one on one time with Pebbles today. She likes to hide in one of my folds of my shirts. She snuggles there and it is sweet.

LuLu is coming up to sun and keeps getting too scared. She is about the size of one of those tortoises eyeballs.

Oh it is hopefully going to be a turtle day. K~

Water lilies at Como Zoo

HUGE water lilies at Como Zoo. These are about 3 to 4 feet wide each. The center of the plant is actually in the center of the photo! Look at the size of that water lily. So impressive.
Saturday. Wow what a week. It has been a full week of fun, exhaustion and family. I am so excited that I have finally finished my 3rd strip of my strip afghan. I enjoy it so much. I am also happy to say that I have finished my book too. I need to count up how many books I've read since I began the "reading" in my life. I am really enjoying books. I have been reading - on purpose since May of 2005. It has been over a year- yahoo! I had a list going, but, alas, I can't find it. I need to start again from my memory, good luck there.

Turtle Days of Summer

It must be the "turtle"days of summer. My turtles just keep yawning. It is of course so cute to me. I have been working very hard to provide a suitable habitat for my water turtles this week. The land turtles seem content with their digs. The turtles are looking MUCH better today. Their water was just getting funky so often. I think Cleo and Clyde like each other. It's nice to see they have companionship. Maxwell is still Maxwell. He will buddy up and annoy any turtle in his sight. He like Magellan but was laying with lulu this morning. Lulu is kind of young and skiddish. When I get my small painteds this fall, I am moving LuLu into that pond with them. Still no Puff the bearded dragon. Hard to connect up with his owner. And the dog seems to be on the docket. I am being SO out numbered on that front. I need to work this afternoon. It kind of feels good to have some legitimate work to do. My turtles make me smile. I do love my star wars action figures too. I have only a few select ones up now. I am still working really hard on de cluttering!! Have a wonderful Friday.

A Good Day - one thing at a time.

A good day today. My PC is going well the last few days. I have been working my business slow and smart. I feel good about the progress. I am looking forward to the fall. I am needing to focus on school and the struggles ahead. Get all my support for D in order. Lots to do, but I am only one person, and I and only do one thing at a time. It all happens whether you are ready or not. So we just have to hang in there the best we can, right? C and S will need to get all set for school too. Can't believe it is one short month away.

The zoo at home

Nala needs crazy meds. I am going to take her in September. She is SO nervous. Poor little kitty. She is primarily an outdoor cat now. She likes to come in at about midnight and go out about 2:45 am, where she stays out until 7 am. Quick snack and out until about 2 PM. Then she naps in doors for a while. What a life.


Here is my sweet girl. She made this mask and won the most creative mask award. Who is the stocker in the back. Does he think I am taking his dumb photo? C is so special. she is a light in and of herself. I just love this mask and it is a perfect example of the detail she takes on all of her work. Note the Power Puff ice cream in her hand. Yum.

I am watching my 2 year old nephew today. I am so excited. Actually, C is watching him. She does so good with him. I kind of scare him. I am hiding so he can have some fun with her. The boys still sleep.
My adult turtles are driving me crazy. They swim at me all day. I need to find a better shelter and basking area for them.
I am waiting for the time I need to pick up my last adoptee. Puff is a bearded dragon that needs a home. He is a 7 year old dragon. Apparently he likes to be held. I'm a little nervous about that. It has been a long time since I held a large lizard. (does that sound funny?)
I just love my animals. They are A LOT of work. But work that I find rewarding and enjoyable.
Lose is inevitable. I am down to 2 betta fish now. They have a 2 year life span. I also lost my male toad. Very unexpectedly. That was sad.
I am trying to be encouraged today. The house is a mess but I have a long long way to go. I need to keep up with my home, family and business. I am just taking a lot of deep breaths. SIGH..........

You're in my private business!

She sighed in disgust and said. "Mom, you're in my private business!" What did I ask her? "What is your skirt doing 1/2 way under your bed?" I laughed out loud, not the thing to do, she was serious (all be it ridiculous). She is 9 years old. Am I prepared for what is ahead? AAAAAAHHHH???? I don't think so. She is officially her own little person through and through. It happened so quickly. She said to me just a 2 years ago, "Mom, I will always want you around!!" After I told her that "Some day, you will think I'm a geek and a royal pain in the neck, you won't want me hanging around!!" Interesting. Kind of a reality check of sorts.

I am a Daisy What Flower Are You?

I want a bottle!!

For the past 15 minutes I have heard, " I want a bottle" from my 4 year old.

Here's the 2 sides of that..... 1. If you can demand a bottle, you are too old for a bottle. 2. If I can go EVERYWHERE with my iced coffee and water, what is the difference between that and a 4 year old having their bottle, aren't they both pacifiers??

I have been working hard for the last few days on clutter. I have mentioned it before on my blog. I am still working on decorated surfaces only or they are gone. No more clutter piles!! Boy do I have my work cut out for me.

Was I exaggerating about Maxwell?

Here is my tank set up in my office. I am really working hard on cleaning out the mess and adding only things that are pleasant. Do you see Maxwell.... He is just on Magellan!! He had done this since I introduced them. Magellan has been so patient with him. Map turtles must be the laid back type!!


I was quoted as saying today......"Well at least I know it's still July!" This coming from someone's who's birthday is on July 31st. WOW!!

I have had a full week of changes (animals), old anxieties / habits of the past (my son not going to school) and pressures (business).

Torn between desires and responsibilities, I think that my reactions are common, when overloaded I shut down to rejuvenate and rest, in order to rebuild. I know that my days are getting to crazy when I forget what day it is. Or even month. A friend of mine with 5 children, wrote a personal check to me this spring and dated it April 2004. HMMMM.......

I am enjoying looking at my turtles . My turtles give me peace and happiness. I think that is what pets are supposed to do for us and why we have them. Making room for companions has been truly releasing. I enjoy getting rid of excess. I am enjoying space and progress in my endeavored. I enjoy finding new room to move around and clearing up my messy house. I suppose I am taking joy in the small day to day things. I think that is a good thing.
(ok Martha!!)

I will try and download some photos, not too successful, though.

2 new arrivals

I have my new family members. They are too exhausted for photos tonight. I will try and get some photos out tomorrow. Yuri is the Russian Tortoise. He had a rough ride and is resting comfortably now. Cleo is large. She is now with Clyde ( a temporary member of the family). He seems to like her, but I need to figure out housing for her. Now just one more adoptee this week ( a seven year old bearded dragon) and then I will rest and hope I can get some babies this fall. I wish I had a video of Maxwell and his friend I have yet to name. He is just relentless! However, the map turtle doesn't seem to mind, so why change what is working, for now?

On other news, I am getting organized to continue writing I am working on all 3 book ideas. I hope that I can get excited about at least one of them. I am considering changing my approach, thanks to advise from Lisa. I am going to try and write in a conversation form. I hope that will help me loosen up a little.