The Crazee Chick's View of Life

I've cleaned caterpillar pooh! Oh my! Am I sinking lower in the proverbial 'chain' or ascending higher? I'm not sure. All I know is I could not look at these massive caterpillars (oh how they've grown!) starve because they couldn't get to their pooh covered food! I can not believe how much waste these larvae produce. Maybe Al Gore and the environmentalists should worry less about *our* waste output and concentrate on the insect kingdom...after all they out number humans by like a billion to one so maybe they are the main contributors to global warming! Hmmm.... Oh, by the way...the technical term for caterpillar pooh is FRASS. Use that in a sentence three times today and it's yours forever! FRASS, FRASS, FRASS....'Caterpillars produce copious amounts of FRASS!' There...now that word is mine for the eternities. How fortunate!

Zee's got a bug...a flu bug. Poor little guy, he's sick. He's had a temperature for a couple of days and he's very pale and lethargic. He's such a good sport about it --he tries to keep a positive attitude and tries to be 'chatty' but his eyes are glazed over and half shut while he's doing it. He looks like he's in the larvae stage of becoming a zombie (note the tie-in to the butterfly stuff? Ingenious eh?). So, today he's getting lots of special treatment...a bed on the floor of the living room, a stack of hand picked DVD's to watch, a toasted cinnamon-raisin bagel (that he's allowed to eat in the family room instead of the kitchen), and lots of hugs and cuddles from his family. There's always something positive to be found in any situation.

We got our butterfly larvae yesterday--more than 30 of them! The kids named them all: there's Superfly, Launcher, Caddie (as in Woodlawn), Sunshine, Marigold, Artist, Petunia, Mona Lisa (because they're Painted Ladies), Big Momma (the fat one), Einstein, Cookie, and Chocolate Chip to name a few. We had a bit of work to do after receiving them: we had to mix their food, transfer them from the 'communal living quarters' via paintbrush into their own 'condominiums' and then punch multiple airholes into the lids so they can breathe. Of course the kids want to keep picking them up and letting them crawl all over their hands but I'm not letting them (only allowed it in one instance for picture taking purposes) because I'm not sure what impact it will have on their metamorphosis. The kids are observing and diarizing the growth, the eating, and waking habits (do they sleep?) of the caterpillars each day. I'm so excited that they will be able to see the metam...

We made these beautify butterflies out of flower wire, beads and jewels this morning for our art activity. Ain't they purty? I can't wait until we get our larvae and kit from Boreal! It's going to be busy feeding 30 little caterpillars everyday but the experience of watching the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly will be worth the effort. We need to ensure that our butterfly garden is planted by the time the Painted Ladies need to be released so that they will have a beautiful home to stay in. The sunshine finally broke through the clouds and is giving us a gloriously beautiful day! The kids are outside having a waterfight, ( I'm sure it is the first of many to come!) and I'm going to grab some chocolate and a book and go soak up some rays! Oh yeah!

I have a job. Actually, I have several. I am a homemaker, teacher, mother and wife. I had this epiphany yesterday that although I am not outside of the home pursuing a paid career, that does not mean I am without a JOB. I don't think I've taken my jobs quite as seriously as I should. I vow to me more diligent with making good, homemade meals, with getting the laundry done and with spending more quality time with my family. Up until now, I think I've seen these chores as interruptions to my day...they get in the way of the other things I want to do, but I've come to realize that these are the things I need to do because they are my JOB! Does any of this make sense? Am I completely slow on the uptake? Has it really taken 16 years of marriage, 11 years of motherhood and 2 years as a homeschooler to figure this out? Yes it has...shame on me!

I celebrated my 41st birthday on Sunday, and I thought I would take this opportunity to record the forty-one things in my life for which I am the most grateful. This list is not in any particular order (except for the first five which are all of equal importance to me...they are all in my numero uno spot!) : 1. I am grateful for a loving husband who supports me in all my endeavors and encourages me to be my best. 2. I am grateful for my wonderful children who are three of the greatest blessings of my life. 3. I am grateful for my parents who have instilled in me a sense of values, have given me unconditional love and who provided me with an open-minded approach to living. 4. I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 5. I am grateful to have a Lord and Redeemer in Jesus Christ. 6. I am grateful to be in better physical shape than I was last year at this time. 7. I am grateful for all the new friends I have made this year, and for all the old ones t...

" I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Mark Twain Whoo hooo! All thirteen Articles of Faith are MEMORIZED!!! ( These are thirteen of the basic beliefs of our religion.) We approached the memorizations very slowly in the beginning (we started last September 2006) and then forgot about them for awhile, but just a month ago I made a lapbook of the remaining 8-13 articles and it put the kids' memorization powers into hyperspeed! They learned one or two a day! I couldn't believe what a great tool this turned out to be! Here are some pictures of my mini-lapbook: Lapbooks and notebooking have been a wonderful addition to our curriculum! The girls really love doing them and don't even mind the research they have to do to complete the mini-books. What a fantastic concept! I love homeschooling..I love watching the kids learn and grow in all areas but I feel the greatest amount of growth occurs in the after school hours where they are able to pursue th...