Consider a Family Blog

I love blogging. I started this blog as a serious garden site and promptly lost control of it and myself. When I first began, the goal was to reach out to a few friends and my family. I never ever imagined that there were so many really nice, cool, funny, and talented bloggers out there who I would come to consider friends. My real world friends and family rarely ever comment. I can see that they come to visit by my site meter. Yet, they do not comment. I have even tried to bate them to no avail. I even posted a couple of pictures, nothing.

I have one sister who blogs. She also designed my header and template. Very talented sister. About a week or so ago this sister, Moms The Word of Just Jack, started a private family blog for us. She set us all up as contributors. It is sort of like the team blogs, but the team members are a mom and a bunch of sisters and our only readers are ourselves. The non blogging sisters jumped right in. My Mom got on board quick and is pretty funny in the comments. (She ate a sea slug, ewwwww]. I think they participate because it is private, just between us. The big bad interweb is not allowed. They don't have to worry about my scary garden blogging friends. Y'all are about the least scary online critters ever, but they don't know that.

The family blog has been a place to brag or complain about our kids, get news on an upcoming wedding, let each other know when we are sick, complete a menu for our Thanksgiving dinner, examine the love life of our only teenage girl, and figure out a few family mysteries. The sister that lives out of state can communicate with us without worrying about getting stuck on the phone for hours.

As the blog is a private blog, I cannot invite you to go visit. This is not a request for readership anyway. I really don't do that. The point of this post is to encourage you to set one up for your family or friends. It is a lot of fun and keeps us connected every day.

Things Didn't Quite Work Out

I am back home.

My one-year-old nephew, Jack, has pneumonia. We took off this morning worried because he was going for a chest x-ray. We made frequent phone calls checking on him and it seemed like he was going to be okay. However, at about 3:00, just about the time we made it to my friend's house just north of Houston, we got the call. The little guy had to be admitted. We turned around. I took Mamala to the hospital and stayed for a short visit. Mamala is spending the night with sister and Jack. He should be okay, but it is no fun to have such a little guy all hooked up to an iv and pulse ox machine. Sister says he is doing much better than he was earlier today.

So no quilt show this year. Maybe next.

I am Going to Put Their Weenies to Shame

I got the call. Will you bring beans to the cookout? My family is going to have a pot luck Memorial Day party. The meat course is hot dogs-cricket chirps. Apparently, wedding dress shopping is more important than, say, brisket.

Do I go to the store, buy a couple of cans of baked beans, and call it a day? NOOOO. I buy four cans of pork-n-beans and add BBQ sauce, molasses, spicy brown mustard, onions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, bacon, and about a pound of brown sugar. These beans are dessert.

The sour dough bread is rising on the counter. I fed the starter last night and left it out to make a sponge. The kitchen smells like yeast, yum. I have tried to teach someone how to make this bread. No one will learn, sad. The tricks are honey and kneading with a very soft hand. Grandpa M taught me how to knead bread when I was a little girl. He just couldn't stand by and watch me pound on the bread dough like it had done something bad.

Baby Monkey is home alone with me today. He had to come home from a sleepover last night because of an earache. Poor Baby Monkey, first a wasp sting and then an earache. He can't win. We are enjoying the day together. He found some ripe blackberries earlier and we are going to make cobbler.

Eat your heart out other sisters. I AM the cook.

Just so you know, the other sisters could care less about competitive cooking. All they care about is the bread. Well, eating the bread not making it.

Wedding News.

Here is Baby Sister beginning to look for a dress. She had five of us there with her "helping." She didn't kill anyone or cry. Very brave girl.

Here is Baby Monkey yesterday. It was the first day of swimming for the cousins. Somehow he was stung by a wasp on the lip. He is fine, but it hurt a lot.

An hour or so later, he was jumping with an uncle and a baby cousin.

International Compost Awareness Week

As many of you know, I am dedicated to composting. I love compost. I like it when things rot. This week is International Compost Awareness Week. Here is the link for information and the Composting Council website.

In the past I have made cold compost, which breaks down in its' own sweet time and container composted when I lived in an apartment. Now I have three different composting situations going on. There is the worm bin. The worms are feed vegetable food scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, and tea bags. The bin is a bottomless wooden box sitting on the ground by the rabbit hutch. The worms and worm compost are covered with a layer of my shredded bills. I love feeding my worms our bills.

I also have a regular compost pile. This is were I wage my war trying to create hot compost. I have not been able to heat up this pile over 105 since I started this blog. Therefore, it must be the blogs fault. As of right now, it is 100 degrees. I want it to be 120. That compost pile gets weeds, pasta, rice, moldy bread, bunny poo, and vegetable oils. I know, I know, don't but anything greasy in your compost pile. Well, I'm not buying it. The oil breaks down just like the rest of the stuff. In fact, after I poor oil into the center of the pile it heats up a little for a couple of days. That is a clear sign of microbial activity. So vegetable oil composts. The only other options we would have with oils are poor it down the drain (bad idea) or send it to the landfill (horrible idea). I feel it needs to be returned to the earth.

The third composting project I have going on is to pull weeks and lay them on the ground that has not been planted. This smothers weeds in the fallow areas and enriches the soil. After about two weeks, the pulled weeds have done there job and the areas is ready to be planted. This saves a lot of time and work. I just remove the weed mulch and the ground is pretty much prepared for me. Just a little cultivating and a little bit of nitrogen and it is good to go.

I have to add that Meme is now saving her vegetable scraps for me. She had two gallon bags full of stuff for me yesterday. Go MEME. Remember when I stole her garbage. She mentioned starting her own pile. I am so proud my Meme is growing into a gardener/environmentalist. Mamala also saves scraps for my worms. The worms are thankful. Favorite Sister and Sister #2 both have the container composting set up. They are doing well. Sister #2 actually was able to harvest about a half gallon of compost after just a few weeks. The trick to that is to freeze the scraps before putting them in the container. This damages the cell walls of the food scraps and the stuff breaks down faster after if thaws.

I should explain that the title of Favorite Sister can be applied to any sister who has done something for me. It changes as the wind blows. Favorite Sister made me my pretty header up there. If Sister #2 or Baby Sister do something nice for me, they will get to be Favorite Sister and the current Favorite Sister will become Sister #3 until she does something nice for me. Now don't think I am being selfish. We all do this. When we are together you will hear things like, "If you bring me a coke, you will be my favorite sister" or this, "If you change my baby's diaper, you will be my favorite sister. " We are all pretty fickle. Fortunately, I have a bunch of great sisters.

My Favorite Sister

Look what she did again. My favorite sister made me a new header. I just love it. Isn't she crazy creative. I am playing around with the template a little to pick a background color. Let me know what you think of this color or if you have an suggestions that you think might look good.

Favorite sister also changed Just Jack, and his site looks pretty cool too.

Sometimes, I Feel Like This

I am back home from Conroe. We had a blast. I will post more about the trip in the next few days.

Yesterday I received a few phone calls from Manly Man and the Sisters. First Baby Sister became engaged Saturday morning. Her man purposed on a hike outside of Albuquerque. Her ring is gorgeous and he is the nicest guy. It is a long story, but he managed to get a ring that was first seen in Canton, Texas but was actually for sale in Longview, Texas. He managed to buy it and have it mailed to him in Albuquerque NM. I must explain that he never actually saw the ring before he purchased it. He picked out the ring she wanted from a couple of bad cell phone pictures. He kept this a secret from our busy body family for six weeks and was able to surprise Baby Sister on a mountain. Good job West Man, GOOD JOB.

Later in the day, Manly Man called. First was the news that gasoline is being stolen from our vehicles. Someone siphoned gas from my truck while he was asleep. To top that off MY RABBIT WAS PREGNANT. As you may know, Lucy is now Mario, and Starr is still Starr. Well yesterday, Starr started pulling out her belly hair. Today I came home to three surviving baby bunnies. She is a first time mom, so we will have to wait and see how this turns out. Mario has been banished to the dog kennel for really bad behaviour and hiding his true gender for nearly a year. BAD BUNNY, VERY VERY BAD.

My Family Just Got Bigger

This may sound odd, but I know that a family member, who has not been in contact with me very often in my real life, reads this blog about once a week. I think it is an uncle, but I cannot be sure. I wish the mystery person felt okay about commenting.

On that note, I met a long lost cousin today and it was great. We reminisced and had a wonderful visit. I remembered her only as a little blond haired blue eyed girl. I recall wanting her to be at my Mawmaw's house when I went to visit. One time we got in major trouble for going to a creek and finding a snake. We have been out of contact for decades. She grew into a lovely woman and I am glad I overcame my nervousness to reconnect with her today. Families are strange creatures and ours is right up there in the weirdness rankings. I had to remind myself that we were the children when it all fell apart. It is wonderful to let go of the last generation's rancor. It felt like building a bridge back into a part of my family.

Very happy to see you S. Feel free to comment L + mystery uncle.

Thanks you sister#2 for making it all possible. Thank you sister#3 for your support. Thanks to Jack and Eman for your adorable cuteness and ice breaking abilities.

The Only Thing That Can Keep Me Out of the Garden.

This is sister #2's baby monkey Eman. Eman is amazing he was borne weeks early and weighed over eight pounds. He is 19 months old and plays the wii. I watched him and his brothers K-dur and Leeman today. We had fun.

See, isn't he talented?

Get a load of that backhand.

Earlier I watched Meme's monkeys at her house. Jakjac likes to read. We had to do a lot of sister support around here. It is great to have such a large family and actually be friends with them.

I will get back to garden blogging tomorrow. Yesterday and today were all about family.

Thanks to everyone who visited from Blotanical. I know my kid pictures have to bore you.

Here is something different. Sister #2 sent out a meme that you send to friends and they answer questions about you. Here is what I discovered that my friends and family think of me.

1. They are split on whether or not I rebel or follow rules. "Rules, what rules, nobody told me about any rules."

2. They do not know how old I am. I can still do the splits at "44"

3. My manly man does not know what color my eyes are. Apparently, he has been looking elsewhere for the last twelve years.

4. They would leave me on a desert island with: A bag of compost, one book, gardening tools, and a few beers. Obviously, I would need a euphoria inducing plant that I could grow plenty of - Hello, or maybe just grapes or hops and barley. For all of you who went THERE, no I do not grow weed. We have been over this. I am not breakin the law, at least any gardening law. But apparently I have caught the attention of CCACC. Y'all may have to hide me in your attic.

Two of the monkey's uncles actually left me on a dirt island in the middle of rock quarry one time. I got a sun burn. Thanks alot Wilburt and Guyburt.

My Favorite Sister.

Check out my new header. Sister #3 made it for me. She gave me very good instructions on how to install it. Instead of following the instructions I pasted it all over the place, gave up, then finally went back and followed the good instructions - MAGIC. Isn't it pretty? This is the nicest thing a sister has ever done for me in a blogging situation.

Let me tell you about her. She is beautiful. She is a great mom to Jack, the happiest seven month old baby in our family. She teaches English to high school punks. She never corrects my spelling , grammar, or punctuation on this blog. I know it is bugging her, but she never says a word. I can sometimes feel her cringing (I am pretty sure the colon was not there in my version of the header, oops). Obviously, she is very creative and knows her way around a computer better than I do. She is a gardener. In her backyard she has grown a butterfly garden. She taught me how to do this and now we have butterfly attracting plants also. Her husband is my monkeys' favorite toy. She is learning to sew. She knows all the best books to read. She can make our dad be quiet.

Sometimes I sneak over to her town and visit her baby while she is working. I am going to give her more plants and probably a can of worms.

Love you Buddin Anne

Today I got to be a girly girl. I went shopping with mamala, and sisters #2&4. I bought shoes. Well, baby sister(my favorite sister today) bought me the heels for my birthday, but I bought the sandals and the pretty blue pillow that the shoes are on and that butterfly magnet, and a butterfly windchime. Well, really I bought two butterfly magnets and two hummingbird magnets. We ate a big-ol-burrito. Can you see the butterflies on the sandals? They are actually a kids size 4 ( I have little feet), but I think I can pull it off. Just wait until summer, ya'll are going to be really sick and tired of me and the butterflies. Good times.

Isnt She Lovely/Sorry About the Cat

Dyed the Cat Blue

Apparently, when I was about 16, I dyed my sisiter's cat blue. I don't remember this, but about 100 of my family members confirmed it at Gracie's birthday party yesterday. Mamala said I was busted by the blue food coloring stains on my hands. I was really mean to this sister. I didn't like her getting any of the attention. Sorry sister. I will not dye any of your critters blue ever again, unless they ask me to.