Can-O-Worms

Paul and I are starting a garden in the backyard. In order to get some good organic soil, we have decided to start composting. We did lots of research and looked into several compost bins, but finally settled on vermiculture composting, which is composting with worms. I know this sounds gross, but it's very natural. We chose this method mainly because we can add food as we go, rather than waiting for it to decompose. Basically, the worms eat all your kitchen scraps and poop out rich, organic worm castings. They also produce "worm tea," which is the liquid that goes to the bottom of the bin and can be drained out through a tap. This stuff is great on house plants or any other plants...it's basically natural fertilizer, rich in nutrients. I've actually seen this stuff sold at stores. It is becoming very popular as the trend toward organic foods and products increases.

This guy here is making a fortune off what these worms can do:
- Turning 'Poop' into Gold
-Here's the company's website with a video clip

Back in March, we purchased a "Can-O-Worms," from All Things Organic, and sent away for the red worms. These pictures are from the day we introduced our new pets to their new home. As you can see, Paul is very excited about these guys!
I thought they looked quite tasty!We've had a few problems, like small vinegar flies and a bad smell because we were feeding them too much too soon, but other than that, it's been relatively easy to handle. We started adding lime to the mixture, which is supposed to help keep it aerated and decrease the vinegar flies. Now it has a "pleasant, rainforest smell" like the pamphlet claims it should have. It also has a bunch of little tiny red bugs, which I think are red mites, but the pamphlet says these are beneficial to the breakdown of the foods...so we're letting them stay there. The bin stays in our garage, under Paul's workbench. It has a top on it, which keeps light out, since the worms like to be in the dark. They won't come to the top to feed on our scraps if it's too bright.
Oh, also, we're using a compost bin under the sink in the kitchen to collect kitchen scraps. I got mine as a Christmas present, but you can find them on Amazon. This is the one I have and I like it very much.
I'll add some pictures of our garden soon.

For all the moms

As you know, Mother's Day is tomorrow. Here's a fun video clip to honor all the moms out there. You've probably seen it, since it's been circulating around the internet for about a year. It's from Anita Renfroe's "Momsense" video. Allison, her mom, my mom and I were all there for the taping of this comedy DVD in January 2007 and actually made it in the video 11 times (according to Allison, who counted once as she watched it). If you pause the clip below at 2:14, you can see my mom's blonde hair and light purple sweater about the middle of the screen. I'm to the left of her (as you're looking at it), Allison is beside me, and her mom is next to her, near the left edge of the screen. It's hard to see because we're in the shadows, but we're there. Apparently this clip has been seen by 15 million people! It has travelled around the globe, and has even been translated into other languages! Anita has been featured on Good Morning America and other shows as a result of this clip getting so much publicity. Hope you enjoy it and appreciate it. Happy Mother's Day!

Additional links:
-Anita Renfroe's Website
-New York Times magazine article on Anita Renfroe
-Anita featured in May issue of Today's Christian Woman
-Women of Faith Conferences

Sorry...

I didn't post anything in April. It's not that I don't have anything to post about, because I do...and I'll try to get caught up in the next week or so. Paul and I landscaped our yard, planted a fruit/vegetable garden in the back, painted our bedroom, and have generally been pretty busy. I'll get some pictures on here so you can see the progress.

Passion Play

I've been pretty busy the last 2 weeks with the Passion play I'm in at church. This is the annual Easter production our church has been doing for 21 years! There are about 156 cast members and even more people involved with lighting, sound, and backstage stuff. I sing in the choir and play the mother of a sick baby who gets healed by Jesus. We had our first 3 performances last weekend and had a great turnout. I couldn't believe how full the sanctuary was! Our next 3 are this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Friday and Sunday performances are at 7 p.m. and the Saturday one is at 3 p.m. Please pray that everything would go smoothly and that the Lord will take over the production. It's not about us, but about HIM and the story of his life, death, and resurrection. Pray that God will move in the hearts of those who come to see this, and lives will be transformed for His glory. Thank you and Happy Easter!

Paul's back!

Well, Paul is back from his 2 month deployment. He arrived almost 3 weeks ago (I'm a little late with my posting). It's so good to have him home again! He's already deep into house projects and has started to finish the room above our garage. He calls it the "man room" and has plans to put a T.V. and pool table up there, but I tend to disagree with him about that. We'll see what happens.

Imaginative play

I don't have kids of my own yet, but today I'm going to talk about children and give you my opinion. I'm also going to reminisce a bit. Look out, I'm stepping up on my soap box!

Kids don't play like they used to. Today it's all about television, video games, and computers. Kids have all the newest toys. There is little to no imaginative play anymore. As you may know, I'm a firm believer of getting kids outside! They need exercise, fresh air, stimulation from the outdoors. When I was growing up, I played outside on my friends' swing set, hung upside-down on the monkey bars in my dress, played tag, ran around trying to kiss the little boy who lived behind me, rode my bike, tried to sell my neighbors paperweights (rocks I had painted) at my paperweight stand, went "creek-walking" in jelly shoes, ran through the sprinkler on a hot day, made up dance routines with friends and synchronized swimming routines in the neighborhood pool. Inside I played dress-up with my mom's old clothes and my nana's old costume jewelry, I played house and school and doctor, I made friendship bracelets.

Paul loves to brag about how many dragons he slayed in his backyard when he was young. His family didn't even have television...well, they had one, but it wasn't hooked up to cable, so they could only watch occasional Disney movies. Paul and his siblings read books, and they read more books. To this day, all three of them love to read. (I wish I read more growing up.) They learned how to be creative and use their imaginations.

Now I'm not saying T.V., video games, and computers are all bad. There are good educational television programs for kids. Video games do work on hand-eye coordination skills, but so does a game of baseball. Computers are important this day in age, but kids should not spend all their time on them. There are too many obese kids who don't get out and play, but instead sit in front of the T.V. like a bump on a log. Physical education needs to be taken more seriously in schools.

Most of my memories growing up do not include store-bought toys. Except my life-like baby doll...I loved my baby doll and dressed her up in my old baby clothes, walked her down the street in my old stroller, took her places. I desperately wanted a baby brother or sister. Other than that, most of my memories include active, imaginative and pretend play.

There is an article you should read about the benefits of imaginative play. It's also an NPR broadcast and it's really interesting. Click here to read or listen to the article.

If there's one thing I learned in OT school, it's that play is the occupation of children. Imaginative play is crucial for development. And one thing that sticks out from my time as a health and exercise science major is that childhood obesity is a problem. Heck, obesity in general is a problem in our country! My advice, take it or leave it, is to let your kids play outside more, don't buy them all the newest toys, encourage creativity, give them books instead of video games, limit their television time, and let them be silly and have fun! How many dragons did your kids slay today?

Ok. I'm off my soap box. Thanks for letting me share with you some things I feel strongly about. I hope that when Paul and I have children, I don't forget how I feel about these topics. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think...I'd love to hear your views.

Beach bums

My mom came for a visit about a week and a half ago. We had a great time together, as we always do. On Friday night, she took me and Jessica out to Magnolias, which was really good! There are so many great restaurants in Charleston, and Paul and I don't often make it down there to try them out (although we should). Saturday we spent pretty much all day in Costco. I got some great beach chairs and a beach umbrella, a new cooler, enough meat to feed a football team, toilet paper for 6 months, office supplies and some other stuff. On Sunday after church Mom wanted to go down to the beach to see the water. It was fairly warm out, and we enjoyed walking in the sand and lounging in my new beach chairs. We couldn't believe some kids were actually in the water...in mid-February! They were crazy. We stuck our feet in and the water was FREEZING!
Mom was planning to leave on Monday, but I got sick, so she stayed an extra day to take care of me - what a great mom! I've battled bronchitis all week and am finally starting to feel better.

Help a worthy cause

As many of you know, I am a pediatric occupational therapist and I work with many kids with autism. There is currently no cure for it, but there are ways we can help fund research. I got this email the other day and thought I would post it on my blog. It is legitimate, as you see on Snopes.com.

Please help by watching this incredibly moving video - it only take about 4 minutes.

The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks
for *each time* this video is viewed. The funding goes toward research
studies to help find a cure for autism. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your loved ones. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal. http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

It's actually more like $1.00 that is donated each time the video is viewed, so that's even better! And you can watch other videos on the site to help support other charities.

New Purse and Girls Night Out

On Saturday morning, I went to a purse making class that my neighbor taught at People, Places and Quilts. I love that place! In the span of 4 hours, we made a cute reversible bag! The pattern is the Amy Butler Swing Bag. Actually, none of us finished it in the 4 hours. I took it home and finished it later. I'm really happy how it turned out and have been using it when I go out. Yesterday I got my first random compliment on it in the bathroom at Publix. I was washing my hands and the lady next to me said "cute purse!" I said "thanks." After a brief hesitation I added "I made it at a purse making class at PP&Q." She was impressed. I don't sew a lot, but am now hooked on it and can't stop.

Saturday night, several of the military wives in the squadron went out to dinner. We went to Smokey Bones and had a nice time chatting and getting to know one another better. There are some really great ladies in the squadron, and I'm glad to be a part of it!

Visit with Heath & the twins

About 2 weeks ago, Allison and I took a trip to visit Heath and the twins. We had a great time hanging out, playing with the kids, and taking pictures. Allison brought her camera and took some professional shots while I used my old G5 and took some non-professional ones. It was good practice for me playing with the settings on my camera. The kids are so cute, it's hard to pick which ones to post! We went to a park that's in a really fancy neighborhood. There was a cute chapel, some really nice looking houses, a neat looking art piece made of twigs and branches, a bridge across a river and other pretty sights. Great place for photos! Allison and I went crazy.

Santa Paul

A few days ago, the fire department Paul volunteers with called him to help out with a project. Well, a few hours later, my husband drove down our street dressed up as Santa, sitting on top of the fire truck! I was talking to my mom on the phone and trying to take a picture at the same time, so I only realized that it was him when he said "Merry Christmas sweetheart!"
Every year the Old Fort Fire Department drives down each street in every neighborhood they serve, running the sirens, honking the horn, throwing candy and wishing everyone a merry Christmas. The kids love it! Paul came back later that afternoon and said he had fun too!



Here's a video of the truck coming back down our street after turning around at the end.

Christmas Excitement

About a week and a half ago, my mom came down from Atlanta to celebrate Christmas (early) and also to attend the Christmas performance at the church Paul and I attend. Paul played the lead role and sang a solo in the production, and I sang in the choir.
While mom was here, we dragged her around to all our Christmas parties and get-togethers. I was excited to introduce her to all our friends and neighbors. I hope she had a good time...we sure did! During our Sunday School Christmas party, she volunteered as photographer, and took this shot of the group together. Thanks for visiting, Mom...we loved having you here!

Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving Day with our friends Tommy and Jessica and Jessica's mom. It was so nice to have people to spend the holiday with. Thanks y'all for having us over! The meal was fabulous! Oh yeah, that's their cute little dog, Cooper, in the picture.

Trip back from OK

Oh my!!! I really have some catching up to do. I haven't blogged in oh so long. Things have been fairly busy since we got back from Oklahoma mid November. I started working...finally (Paul breathes a sigh of relief). So far I've evaluated 3 kids for occupational therapy and have 2 more evals very soon. I'm not too busy with it yet, but it's starting to pick up. I've also been doing many things with my Stampin' Up! business - holiday bazaars, stamping classes, Christmas card making days, etc. Paul has been busy getting the squadron ready for deployment. Thankfully, he's had some time off this week and has been able to relax. Thanksgiving and Christmas have really snuck up on me this year. Anyway, I'm going to try to post a bunch of pictures.

Random truck parked on the side of the road in Altus, OK. I haven't seen the movie "Cars" yet, but people tell me this looks like one of the characters.
My friend Vicky invited me over a few days to do crafts. I made this gift for a friend.
I made this for myself. It's so easy! Would you believe it was made with a napkin?

When we took our trip to Oklahoma, we visited people on the way there and on the way back. I posted the pics of everyone we visited on the way there. However, I have yet to do that for all the peeps we saw on the way back. So here are the pictures from the trip from Oklahoma to SC...with stops in Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, and Tennessee.

Lambert's is a famous restaurant in MO. There was a LONG line to get in, but we waited patiently.
They actually throw the rolls to you if you want more! It was great! The servers also go to each table with "pass arounds," all-you-can-eat style...we were stuffed so full when we left! This log cabin bed and breakfast, Cedar Springs Country Inn, is where we stayed one night. The couple that ran it were so kind and inviting. We enjoyed our stay.
Paul's cousin, Debbie, and her family welcomed us one night. We enjoyed seeing them again and catching up.
We had some extra time one day and decided to visit some of our favorite Missouri wineries, just outside of St. Louis. Our favorite wine, Chiaretto, came from Balducci Vineyards. So we stocked up on some of that. But we loved going to Montelle Winery for the fabulous view.
Our old Sunday School class got together at a mexican restaurant while we were in town. We were so excited to see everyone! We still miss them dearly. What a great group of folks! Of course, they seem to have multiplied since we were there last...so many babies...and more on the way!
Leah, Ben & Bailey
Cora & Mark
Jon, Anitra, Justus & Matthias
Emily & Ashlyn (daddy Mike shown later)
Me & Paul with David, our Sunday School teacher when we lived in IL
Jon and Lesly
Posing with Chelsey and Devin
Doug and Paul
Abby and Bob. They lived across the street from us when we lived in IL.

After we visited our friends in IL, we continued south to Nashville, where we saw my friend and old roommate, Adea, once again. This time we got to see her new condo!

Then we went to Knoxville and stayed with Sarah, Luke, and their daughter Natalie.
Before we left TN, we visited Mike (Emily's hubby...from a few pics back). He moved down there with his job, and Emily and the kids will join him soon when she is done with school.
And of course, we couldn't go through Greenville without stopping to see Mem. I hadn't even seen her cute house yet. We stayed and talked for a few hours, then headed home to see our pooches after almost 6 weeks.
All in all, we had a great trip and were glad for the opportunity to see friends and family along the way. Thanks everyone for being so hospitable to us!