Rhinos, Monkeys and a Hedgehog

25 days - Goal #2

2008-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it was official - we made it 25 days straight this year with no heat. No heater, no air conditioning, no space heater.
Nada. zip. zero. zilch.

Every year I look forward to this magical time. The moderate weather period between Texas's crazy hot hot summer, and the bitingly cold precipitation-less winter where we can turn off our largest single appliance (a 3.5ton Trane) and free ball it in the indoor environment department.
I was aiming for 1 month, but Tuesday morning it was 35degrees out, and cuddled up on the couch in sweaters and a blanket with my 3 chicas.... I gave in.

Still I feel that 25 days is a win for me. A big win for my electricity budget, and a small win for the local environment (as the majority of our electricity comes from dirty coal-firing plants).
As of today the unit is off again, however since we are nearing the turn of the year - ie. the depth of winter - I will aim for a more modest 12days this time. That should bring me to Dec. 29th.
Cross your fingers!

Ohhhhhhhhh to teh Nooooooooooes!!!

2008-11-25T12:44:00.000-08:00

My camera broke!! :(
Ugh!
I bought this camera exactly 1 year ago (I remember because we were visiting my mom who lives out of town, and our old camera broke so we got a new one at her small-town's incredibly tiny Best Buy) and already it has become a piece of crap.
What's up with that?
Is there anything that is made with real quality anymore?

Examples:
*In my 10 yrs married/ on my own I have been thru 3 vacuums. Whereas my mother bought a canister model Eureka in 1983 that lasted her 18 yrs.
* I've been thru 2 sets of cook wear. TWO sets. Shouldn't even be possible to tear thru 2 sets of cook wear in such a short span. I saw on PBS recently that the cooks at Buckingham Palace are still using pots and pans from the 1800's... and the 1600's!!!
*Last year I bought a brnad new refrigerator - that I then had to have repaired 3 times.

I was expecting this camera to last *atleast* 2.5 - 3 years before the tech was just too outdated. And I expected it to be in good working condition even then.

Oh well.
If anyone needs me, I'll be diving headfirst into camera research over here.

my kids play with knives & goal #1

2008-11-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

with adult supervision!!

I guess food taste better when you make it yourself?? I don't know, I make 3-4 meals every single day and I don't think it's all that much more fabulous coming from my own hands. But for Monkey1 and Monkey2 - it's downright magical. Any meal that they are big time players in, they automatically become big time eaters of.

Goal #1: Have Monkeys help/make lunch on all 'school' days.

Old Things are New Again

2008-11-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

So Monkey1 and Monkey2 are actually ages 4 and 3 (and actually Isabella and Eloisa). They have intense love affairs that burn bright and hot, then die out all to quickly.

A recent love of theirs, tossed to the side in favor of newer shinier things - was Dinosaurs.

Jumbled in the corner, collecting dust, I heard the Dino's cry of loneliness. Gathering all of my god given mommy abilities, I decided to try enticing the Monkeys into a renewed interest of the Jurassic. And the Triassic and Cretaceous.

Or in the very least - get them to play with the darn things!

So the other night, I stayed up gathering playthings from all over the house and put together a ...

uhm... a ... (**pulling name out my rear**) a Play-A-Rama !

The only thing 'new' in this picture was the Dino Eggs (which I got real cheap from here thanks to a heads-up from Jami) - everything else are things that the girls have just overlooked.
Well - It worked! I set this up Friday night, and they were still playing with it today.
So far a frog has gotton eaten by the orcas, Indiana Jones has been eaten by a baby T-rex, and a Stegosaurus partnered with a Triceratops to open a Crown store.

Which maybe the only store in our general area to specialize in Crowns and be owned by 2 extinct behemoths.
more pictures below...

Hola, mi nombre es

2008-11-23T19:33:00.000-08:00

Casandra... also known as wryknow. Hence the Rhino. Married to another wryknow, we have 3 girls. The older 2 are monkeys. Definatly monkeys, crazy laughs and all. The youngest is newly emerged and still becoming. We call her hedgehog in the meantime.

I've been bugged to start blogging for awhile - so here I go! Jump on for the ride. This is a blog of my life and views. Which mostly center around my family, so expect about 75% that. But this is not only a child-centered space, so there will be random musings, recipies, likes/dislikes, poems and rants sprinkled in to liven it up.