The four weeks before Christmas are always busy, especially what with a small herd of children to get presents and outfits for, the extra time it takes to just get through a regular shopping trip through Target, trying to get decorations up, figure out what to get the rest of the large families we both hail from, etc, etc.

This year, to add to the hectic fun, Maura has been signed up for a special four week therapy, Applied Verbal Behavior, which is at the Kaufman Center.  We're lucky enough to live about an hour and fifteen minutes from this nationally known speech therapy center, it would be a shame not to take whatever advantage of it that we could.

Of course, it means driving an hour and fifteen minutes each way every day.  It also meant that winter weather blew in just in time for me to drive through it all.  I've packed a small bag for in case we get stuck in that town, which hopefully I never need to use.

The good news is that gas prices have gone down a lot.  Enough to not make it hurt to drive the Suburban there and back.  I got all giddy the other day, filling up the tank at $1.54 a gallon - cost just under forty dollars to fill up.  Woohoo!

It's too soon to tell if any of this is taking affect with Maura, though her preschool teachers said on Wednesday that she was very chatty and verbal and whatever we were doing, to keep it up.

In the meantime, we also are getting to deal with a stomach bug, pink eye, and a poor bruised up Maura who fell down the stairs yesterday.  She's sporting a nice lump on her forehead and a bruised knee.  And then woke up with pink eye today, which Miriam was nice enough to share with her.  Poor kid. 

Which leads me to a Handy Tip - when Miriam showed us her pink eye earlier this week, I picked up this item, with the hopes that it would help a little until I could call the doctor the next morning.  I didn't need to.  This took care of the pink eye all by itself!  Oh, neither girl has enjoyed getting the eye drops, but they work.  Saved me a couple trips here and there.  Of course, I'm not a doctor, I've not played one on tv, so feel free to consult an actual doctor for advice on pink eye relief :)

Saturday, November 29, 2008 7:12:18 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

Yes, I've hit that level of crazy - I decided to try my hand at composting this year.  I'm not as dedicated as I could have been, but what I have done has turned out pretty darn decently.  It's not a big pile of moldy nastiness.  It actually smells like compost!

Someone on my diaper making board posted this link which shows you how to make a compost bin out of a garbage can.  Which is what I did...while Josh wasn't at home so I could avoid the "Uh...why are you putting holes in a garbage can?" line of questioning that could have ended up with him calling up my therapist and insisting I have finally lost it. 

But it's turned out well.  I threw in a lot of the weeds and leaves we pulled out from the areas we planted flowers this year.  Then things like leftover salad, strawberry tops, the bunch of bananas that turned bad about a day after we brought them home from the grocery store (I've never seen bananas turn that quickly!) 

Of course, then there was the "Uh...so what do we do with it now?" question.  And then life gave me the answer.  Last year, I tried growing tomatoes...which I was somewhat successful with.  They were planted in the two cement boxes that flank the side door. In the spring, I decided to pull up all the dead plants and put some petunias there instead.  The flowers did okay, but the bed got neglected and then when I went to weed it, I discovered I had tomato plants growing again!  One vine has three little green tomatoes on it this week!

So my new plan is that in the fall, I shall clear out both those boxes and make that a little kitchen garden.  The soil there is awful, so I am going to use the compost there, mix it up well, and hopefully it will do nice things in the spring. 

Monday, August 04, 2008 11:03:35 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

If you decide to buy one of those "pre-scored, easier to open" coconuts at the store...you still need to hammer that sucker open.  Just don't do it on a plastic plate, because the plate will break before the coconut does.

And if you ever are stranded on a deserted island full of coconuts, I hope you have a hammer to open those suckers.  Or at least a big rock. 

Wednesday, July 09, 2008 1:38:49 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0]