...Of mice and men and doodle bugs

What fun we had one weekend getting messy with sidewalk chalk, pulling weeds and playing with bugs...

(you might want to enlarge to get the full effect)

The doodle bug survived, but not without some serious injuries. I, too, have my own Lennie story. I kept it for a long time as one of my darkest secrets, but when I told some friends recently, I was rather surprised to find out how many people had their own Lennie stories. So here it is. Maybe this will free you to tell your own story. ;)

I was in Lubbock, living alone for the first time... well not alone, Lowly was living with me. Lowly is the Corn snake that my sister had kept as a pet in her room since I was in 4th grade. For years my sister had to buy a couple of live mice on a monthly basis to feed her little constrictor. Over the years she began to feel an attachment to the little rodents and developed feelings of guilt that she couldn't shake at feeding time. So after having Lowly for over a decade, she asked me to adopt him. (We already knew Lowly was a HER at that point but its hard to make that change after so many years... I know how Sher must feel.)

So Lowly came to live with us (me and my roommate Sara) in College Station. When we graduated, she moved on to Lubbock with me as well.

One day at feeding time I had a particularly jumpy little mouse in a brown paper sack. I was terrified of letting one of these critters get loose in my house (it had happened before) and when I saw it was jumping higher and higher I grabbed the top of the sack and closed my fist tightly over it so as not to let the little guy get out. And then, when I let my grip relax just a bit... thud... the dead mouse dropped to the bottom of the brown-paper-sack-of-death.

I'd just killed an animal with my bare hands... I was horrified and began to bawl. Though I don't care for mice and always watched with great interest as Lowly hunted, killed and swallowed her prey, I never wished to have had such a direct "hand" in the death of any animal. (Unless it is a possum on my fence threatening my baby Beans... and even then I'd like to use a weapon, not wring its neck with my bare hands!!!)

I called Kevin to come over and console me (and help me decide what to do with the now dead mouse that super-hungry-Lowly kept circling around but would not eat.) He laughed heartily at me and called me "Lennie" and "Mouse-slayer" for a while. So glad I called him.

when you need information about sheep or yarn...

If you are curious about the progress of my sister, the shepherd... you can follow her blog on her new website. Her flock will be here in about 11 days! She has a name for her farm. Most of the fences are up now and there are a few pictures on her site. She also makes really beautiful art yarns and fiber batts and they are for sale on her site if you know any knitters or spinners. Here it is: http://spinningspinderella.com/

that's my girl

Someone has been sick in our house every single day for about 3 weeks. But now we are FINALLY over it all, and by now we should be immune to every single virus in the whole entire world.

Here is just a teeny, tiny glimpse into a day in our life lately. If you take this and add about 855 similar toddler conversations, and then imagine Leah saying "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? What did you say?" approximately 9642 times, you will have practically spent the day with us!

At home...
Daddy: Who's birthday is coming up, Leah?
Leah: Mommy's and Giggle's
Daddy: Is my birthday coming up too?
Leah: Nooooo.... Your birthday is aaaaall finished!

In the car...
Mommy: Oh look Leah its starting to rain! Who made the rain?
Leah: Gawd made it!
Mommy: That's right! What else did God make?
Leah: Mommy. Daddy. Beans. Leah. Cups. Cars. Grass. Ketchup!!

At the aquarium...
Daddy: Look at that pretty bird! Isn't that a pretty looking bird?
Leah: Its a toucan, Daddy!
Daddy: (speechless...thinks his child is a prodigy...until he learns that she's seen toucans before)

At Hobby Lobby... (to a total stranger in the ribbon aisle)
Leah: Hi!!
Friendly Stranger: Well hello to you! How are you?
Leah: Do you see my Mickey Mouse ribbon? My daddy doesn't wear ribbons in his hair. That's silly. Mommy wears ribbons and Leah wears ribbons and Bibby and Giggle Giggle.
Friendly Stranger: I see. Don't you have alot to say?

Yes, Friendly Stranger, she has ALOT to say. I couldn't imagine a better way to spend my days!

"Happy Birthday Cake"

(That is what Leah calls all cake now... maybe she's been to too many birthday parties lately?)
My sister will be getting her small flock of Cormo Sheep around the 10th of April!! And no doubt we'll have much news and excitement at that time. Meanwhile, the soon-to-be-shepherdess had a birthday and we had a little party! First, I had to share these pics of the necklace and birthday cake she got at work.

So fun!!!

Ready to go to Aunt Leslie's birthday party... Love this giggly smile.
Got the gift... now let's go get some cake!!!

Yes! Chocolate! Happy Birthday Month Aunt Les!

Who's #1?

Good times at the sporting goods store.

And then out for a little ice cream. I was so glad to finally catch this in a picture... lots of things are easier for Leah to do if her tongue is in the right position. (I know it just looks like she's licking ice cream off of her chin, but she's not that tidy, the tongue is purely there for concentration.)

let her eat cake

I have more respect for chemistry after our Colorado vacation. Since we were gone on Leah's actual birthday we talked about ordering a cake vs. making a cake for the special day. Neither I or my mother-in-law had baked many cakes at high elevations, but she happened to have a box of strawberry cake mix (with alternate instructions for baking at higher elevations) so we figured it would be fun to try.

As it turns out the instructions on the back of the box may work just fine if you are at elevations of approx. 3000 feet above sea level. Apparently there are lots of other different rules to follow if you are between 3000 and 7000 feet and once you are as high as we were... you should just order your cake from the bakery in town. (We obviously didn't realize this as we were at 10,000 feet.) This is a long explanation, but when you look at the first picture you will understand why I feel the need to do so much explaining. :)

I have to add a disclaimer that my mother-in-law is a GREAT baker of desserts... and an excellent cake decorator as well... so just remember that we were working under harsh baking conditions with very limited resources.

First Julie made a batch of brownies for the skiers who would need a snack when they came off the slopes. In the same pan, half of the brownies were just barely cooked, while the other half were so well-done they couldn't be chiseled loose from the pan, they had to be soaked off. Later that day, when both layers of strawberry cake had fallen so badly in the middle they looked like soup bowls, Julie had the idea to fill the "strawberry cake bowl" with the brownie goo and mound it up in the center so that it actually pushed the top layer up too...Would you ever know there is a huge mound of brownie goo in the middle of this lovely, perfectly flat-topped layer cake? And it was good!! I guess I shouldn't be surprised... actually... I can't think of anything that is wrong with stuffing cake with brownies. More people should do it!And just look at her face when she saw it!

So when we got home from Colorado, it had been 2 weeks since my parents had seen their little princess. They were on vacation the week we before we left and we missed them by just a few hours. So my mom made Leah a birthday cake as soon as we got home. Coincidentally, strawberry again! This one was her mother's recipe. Mmmm! And its a good one.

And Leah's very own tea-cup-cake. She is a big fan of cake at all elevations. Leah was able to catch up on all the flips she had missed while Bibby was gone. Also caught up on lots of silly time with Pops.For cake #3... (and yes I do believe this is excessive, but, I had already planned the party before the other 2 cakes were spontaneously made and eaten) ...I made a 2 layer chocolate cake and chocolate cupcakes! (Oh and chocolate mini cupcakes for the top of the cake.)

After having a mishap with my oven thermostat which ruined the first 2 batches of cupcakes, I calculated that I must have spent more than 10 hours making these desserts, at the completion of which I may have heard Kevin tell me to get a life... or a job... or something like that. This girl likes to party! And she LOVES to eat cake. I didn't get many pictures of the birthday party, but my sister did. She has been preoccupied with shepherd dreams and has been unable to get me the party pictures... I will forgive her... since she is going to let me name one of her sheep!!! :)

She's a Shepherd!

She won!!! She won!!! My sister won her own flock!!! Don't know many other details yet, but I now have a new label option for my posts! So look for more sheepstuff to come!

I think it is interesting how a few choices that a person makes can dramatically change their life, lifestyle and the lives of others around them. I usually think of this from the negative perspective. When people make bad choices, there can be a pretty severe domino effect from their behavior that can reach farther than they will ever even know about. Our sin does that. It multiplies with very little effort.

But our good choices can have a similar domino effect. For instance, a few months ago Leah was just being raised in a loving family with a doting (and slightly eccentric) aunt who cares for her very much, and now she has an aunt that is a shepherd to a small flock of fiber animals! Weird! Leah will no doubt learn all that my sister is about to embark on right along side her. And who knows how this will effect our family, Leslie's friends and her whole community? It is fun to think about the possibilities.

So we know there are good and bad choices. But then there is a special designation for some good choices that can be called.... well... perfect. And these are the choices we are guided to make by the hand of our loving Father when we are listening to His voice and abiding in His great love and perfect purpose for our lives. They may not look perfect to the world... but thank goodness for that! What looks perfect to the world will age, and shrivel and fail and can be burned up in an instant or less. His love will never end. And He has never failed, not once.

That is what makes this contest and prize so special. My sister loves the Lord. And she is looking for His purpose for her life. She is not perfect and has made her share of bad choices just like every one of us. But she has been learning to set aside her own will --what she thought was best for her life...what she thought it should look like-- and see what her Maker had in store for her from the very beginning. And the abundance of blessings He has poured out and is pouring out and will continue to pour out on her is so much more than she could have even thought to ask for. A dear friend just said to me "Maybe I would know my Shepherd a little better if I had raised some sheep myself." And I wonder if that is not exactly what the Lord has in mind for my precious sister!

The one true God doesn't just do that for Leslie or me or my family, but he does it for ALL of His children. Any person in the world who searches for Him with their whole heart WILL find him. And what you thought was ok... or even good... will be drenched and drowned in the most unconditional love and hilariously, matchless joy. You will find perfect peace and be overwhelmed with the most relentless mercy and kindness you can imagine. You will have an abundance of things you would not dare to dream of!

Perfect. That is what He is. That is what He does. His love will never end.

The Lord is my shepherd. I have EVERYTHING I need. Psalm 23:1

.

Angelina Curley

Com Post

My husband did the unthinkable! Something I thought he'd never do in a million years! He bought me my very own COMPOST MIXER for Christmas! I was so excited! And I think its awesome that he knew I would love it. :) Not all girls would be as excited about this.

I've been talking for a while about planting a vegetable garden in our backyard. We just got a new fence that will hopefully keep the ZILLIONS of rabbits in our neighborhood out of our yard. So now the digging and planting can begin! And hopefully the homemade fertilizer will be ready pretty soon!

Here she is! We put her together about 4 weeks ago.

Then I had to learn how to make compost! The brown/green ratio should be at least 2:1 and not more than 3:1.

Brown: All we had was leaves and twigs in the yard
Green: Kitchen scraps (guts of a spaghetti squash, carrot peel, old celery, egg shells etc...)

I want my first batch to be completely unadulterated, organic compost. So only organic scraps.

I went out to add some more scraps one day when we had all the snow and ice, and the mixer (plus all the compost inside) was frozen solid. I couldn't turn it or open it. Freezing temps are not good for the decomposition process. So my 4-6 week project will probably take double the time since we are just now getting a little sunshine and warmer temps. Just for cuteness sake... Leah calls it "Mommy's Compost" and she desperately tries to turn the handle on it, but it's too heavy. She will be helping me spread it on our "crops" this spring and summer though! I can't wait to get good and dirty!!!

I checked on it this week, and the contents are now nice and black like they should be, but everything is still recognizable. I'll take some more pictures of it soon. I know you can't wait!!!

I was slightly disheartened by the fact that the instructions that came with the mixer warned against putting dog, cat or human feces into your compost. Some things just don't need to be said, right?!? Though I guess it could be a little confusing since you CAN add the waste of vegetarian animals like chickens and cows. But I don't have much of that lying around.

I hope you enjoyed my compost post! Happy March!

(If you haven't voted for my sister's sheep yet, make sure you read the previous post and go vote! The voting ends today, March 1!)