How Would You Fix the Economy?

My Uncle Joe emailed this to me. I think it's hilarious and an excellent idea! Although, I think this plan should include 32-year-olds like me as well! :D

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix theEconomy?" I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America 's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. - Pay them$1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the followingStipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - AutoIndustry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - HousingCrisis fixed.

It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their Constituents pay their taxes...

Cleaning Up

The kids got new bubble machines from their grandparents for Easter and were begging to play with them this evening. After they had been outside for a few minutes, Joshua went to go check on them and caught them "cleaning up" the table on our deck.

There were bubbles everywhere, but they were having fun and looking quite cute while doing it. Now if only we could get them to clean their room!

P.S. Pay no attention to the stacks & stacks of tile flooring behind the kids!!

A Day at the Air Show

Took the kids to the air show today. We had a blast. Joshua stayed behind to get some work done in the dining room. We had a blast, and it felt so good to soak up some Vitamin D! Here's a pic of Raelee & Daniel before going into a C-5. This plane is H U G E !!

A Stealth Bomber, which was introduced in the Gulf War many, many years ago. This plane is so thin it was like a sheet of paper. And quiet, too! When compared to some of the other planes and jets.

I think the announcer said the big plane in the middle here is a T-8? Never heard of that kind before so I may have misunderstood. There's also four F-15 Strike Eagles and two F-16 Falcons.

Of all things, they had GEICO, the insurance company, flying planes! They had five bzz planes that are sky typers. They flew above the flight line at very high altitudes, and "typed" in the sky phrases like "Geico Salutes The Armed Forces." They did a really good stunt show, too, before pulling in and parking.

Daniel liked sitting on the wing of this plane. He said that he wanted to sit on the "other" wing, which was the tail! I managed to restrain him, though. :)

Using the stroller for Raelee worked out really well. She even tolerated her hat. We all still got a lot of sun. It was HOT! It didn't help that I forgot to bring sunscreen. Oops. I did manage to bring earplugs, and they happily wore those without fussing. Whew!

The Blue Angels were the highlight of the day. All Daniel wanted to do after we got there was go see the planes fly. Not just any planes, the Blue Angels. He was super excited to watch them.

This is Fat Albert, a suped-up C-130. Where the Blue Angels go, he goes.

The Blue Angels were really fast. I tried getting a picture of them in classic diamond formation, but it just was impossible! I did manage to get them in this formation. They did a really good show this year.

And finally, here's a video of Daniel. We started heading toward the car about 10 minutes after the Blue Angels started flying, and we watched them on the way to the car.

The kids had an absolute blast, and Daniel said over and over phrases like, "It's such a beautiful day," and "I'm having a really fun day." He pointed out several planes that he wanted for his next birthday. Not sure if he's going to get those planes, but I'll gladly take him to the air show again. :D

Bloomin' Onions!

Okay, so the title is a little misleading. Yes, our onions are growing...but not the onions in our garden.

These onions are growing.

Yes, the onions in my kitchen have decided to sprout. And by sprout, I mean behave as though I had stuck them in the ground, fertilized, and watered them! I promise that I have not done any of that. Now it is possible, I mean extremely likely, okay I'll admit it, I may have ignored them, considering I haven't needed to use onions in any of my recipes lately.

To say the least, I'm dumbfounded and flabbergasted. And highly amused. :-)

Our Garden Is Growing

I took a stroll in our garden, hoping and praying that a seed or two had finally sprouted. Thus far, nothing had broken ground.

And lo & behold, what appeared before my wandering eyes? Little green radish leaves!! Oh, I was so happy!!

And I looked a litte further and saw little turnip leaves, then I saw itty bitty leaf lettuce leaves, then I saw the sweet peas had also grown! Hooray! Hooray!

I ran into the house to let Joshua know. He didn't believe me and said he saw nothing when he looked through the garden earlier. So I had to take him outside and point out each & every little leaf was at.

And here I had almost given up on the garden. Patience really is a virtue!

Pick of the Crop

Well, we were able to harvest from our garden this evening. Can you believe it? Here's what we got:



Two little strawberries! They might be little, but they're perfect in every way in my book. Probably because they're mine! heeheehee

Our Easter Sunday

We had an early start to our day today, waking up at 6:30am and arriving at church at 8:15am for choir practice. At the end of the 3-hour block, we gathered the kids and headed to Newport, NC, to Joshua's aunt & uncle's house for Easter dinner. Joshua's parents, and his sister and brother-in-law and our nieces were also there. We had plenty of food and fellowship with each other. The kids were thrilled with their Easter baskets. Their Grandma, Joshua's mom, had brought some bubbles for the kids to enjoy. And enjoy they did! Raelee giggled and squealed and danced around the yard blowing bubbles. Daniel pretended to eat one. Since Daniel's birthday was just a few days ago, we had a little birthday party for him with the famiy. The kids busted open a pinata, and Grandma made a "Mach 5" cake.


When Daniel opened this picture, he said, "Hey! It's a...what is this thing?!" It was too funny. :D

But I Don't Wanna Take a Nap

DeAna: Yes, Raelee, it's naptime.

Raelee: But I don't wanna take a nap.

DeAna: You need a nap today because you went to bed late last night. I can tell you're tired, so I want you to get your rest.

Raelee: But I don't wanna take a nap.

DeAna: Come on, let's go. You only have to sleep for a couple of hours, then you can get up.

Raelee: But I don't wanna take a nap.

DeAna: I understand. I know you want to stay awake and be with Mommy, but it's important for you to get your rest so you're not cranky.

Raelee: But I don't wanna take a nap.

DeAna: Okay, let's compromise. If you go potty for me, then I will let you take a nap on the couch so you can be next to Mommy. Does that sound okay?

Raelee: Uh-huh

***two minute intermission while mommy and child head to the bathroom***

DeAna: Allright, get your blanket and pillow and take them to the living room.

Raelee: I wanna watch TV.

DeAna: That's fine, but I expect you to close your eyes and go to sleep.

Raelee: I wanna watch TV.

DeAna: What do you want to watch?

Raelee: Phineas and Ferb.

***DeAna thinks, oh no, it's not going to be on, she's going to throw a fit and she'll never get a nap!***

DeAna: Wow, it's actually on! Okay, so here's Phineas and Ferb for you. Now make sure you close your eyes, too.

***DeAna thinks, yeah right! Not with her favorite show on!***

***15 MINUTES LATER***

DeAna: It's awfully quiet in here now. What's this? No way! Is she sleeping?

DeAna: Yes! Yes! Yes! It worked! She's asleep! Uh-oh, she's in panties. What if she soaks herself? Should I wake her up and put on a Pull-up? Hmmm...wake up a sleeping child...quiet time for Mommy in the house...I'll take my chances!

***Note to readers: Raelee took a 2 hour nap and stayed dry!!!***

The Best Day Ever

4/9/2009

It's Daniel's birthday!!!!! He is now 5 years old. What a great day he had! At preschool, he got to hunt for Easter eggs, had an Easter party, and shared birthday cupcakes with his teachers and friends. School even got out early!

But the day wasn't anywhere near to being over. There was still lots of celebrating to do when Mommy came home from work.

After a yummy dinner of chicken nuggets, sweet corn, and fried apples, it was time to open presents then eat some cake.

Daniel received several presents--a new shirt and pair of shorts, new pajamas, a Lightning McQueen clock (to let him know when it's time to get up for school) and a Speed Racer lamp.

Here is Daniel, getting ready to open presents.

Daniel and Raelee sang some songs for entertainment purposes. Here are they doing a rendition of "Popcorn Popping." They are just too cute to watch!

After singing, Daniel opened up all his presents. He was super excited for each gift. Even the pajamas were a hit!

We then sang "Happy Birtday" to Daniel. He picked out his own cake--lots of ballons and white super sugary icing!

Note Raelee trying to get out of being in this picture!!

Clean-up time after the party. Cake crumbs can be a little messy! After all was said and done, Daniel came up to me and declared, "This was the best day ever!!!!!"

The Kitchen Invaders

The warm, Spring weather turned on us this evening as the cold front passed through. That meant covering up our plants and seeds out in the garden.

I have two glass garden cloches that I bought last year, but needed more, just hadn't bought any due to $$$. So I had cut up a couple milk jugs to make home-made garden cloches.

Raelee found one of these milk jug cloches as I was covering the red leaf lettuce. And voila! Instant chef's hat! Daniel, of course, had to have his own chef' hat, too.

After covering up the garden, it was time to make supper. Tonight's meal was going to be super simple--chicken noodle soup & peanut butter/jelly on toast. Daniel had his first baseball practice today, and it was 6-7pm, which meant no time for eating a real meal before or after. But lo & behold, as soon as I cracked open the can of soup, Daniel insisted he was going to cook it up. After all, he was a chef now that he had his special hat!

And who was I to argue? :)

Daniel & Raelee cooking up some Lightning McQueen Chicken Noodle Soup (with adult supervision, of course!!). :D I actually couldn't believe I allowed them to do this. I'm quite the protective mother hen, and I usally don't like the kids in the kitchen because they tend to run around, bang cabinet doors, and tell me about everything they need me to do. But they were being so good and cooperative with each other...must have been the magic hats!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

The Elders Quorum at our church did a service project this morning and delivered 4 yards of compost to our house today for our garden.

That meant we were finally able to do our early outdoor planting! We spent the afternoon trying to figure out where to plant everything (probably something we should have done sooner!), planting the seeds with the kids' help, and watering. (General Conference was on this afternoon, so we taped that and will watch it later.)

BEFORE. After all the compost was laid, but before planting. Yes, that red, white & blue ribbon in the picture is from Independence Day! We do a big 4th of July grilling day, so I put up outside decorations. I always forget to take them down. Anyhow, the left half of the composted area has a layer of cardboard underneath. The cardboard helps retain moisture, prevent weeds, and the good bugs really seem to like it. The right side does not have any cardboard. The grass over there was mostly gone for the most part, since this area is where our kids' play equipment had been and it was covered with a layer of mulch, but we will have to weed more often since there is no cardboard. Some plants don't do so well with the cardboard, one of the reasons why it's not there.

AFTER. We planted on the side that did not have any cardboard. The list: green leaf & bibb lettuce, spring mix lettuce, spinach, cabbage, carrots, celery, leeks, onions (yellow, red and green), turnips, radishes, red leaf lettuce (transplants due to the magic of Lowe's since mine died), sugar snap peas (from seed & transplants, my own this time) . Here's some of the red leaf lettuce transplants. I can taste the upcoming salad already!

I have some broccoli, spinach, and a couple other items indoors that I can transplant in a week or two. Waiting on the 2nd set of leaves to develop. The spinach takes a long time to bolt (emerge from the seed) and the broccoli, that I thought had died, actually came back to life. Woohoo! After doing the outdoor planting, I also planted some more seeds indoors for transplanting later on after the last frost, which thankfully should be in a couple weeks. They included zucchini & summer squash, green bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower (a breed that is actually yellowish/green instead of the traditional white), and Chinese cabbage.

Daniel helped Joshua plant some of the red leaf lettuce transplants, the blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes, as well as the strawberry plants we had bought (which already have some large strawberries!!!).

Raelee really enjoyed planting her seeds. She was such a great helper!