what we REALLY got in our CSA this week

it's always so exciting, getting our csa box every wednesday. it really gives us a feeling of being so blessed to live in this Willamette valley, where we can get all kinds of fabulous organic produce and not have to worry about weirdproduce from humongous processing plants. especially now that we are truly in our "student salad days" and we eagerly await our weekly allottment that will be stretched out for a week with the addition of rice and tofu. it is wonderful to have G read me the list of veggies that came in our box on the way home after picking it up......

cake

oh, by the way, that is a bullseye cake for her Robin-hood themed birthday party at the local gymnastics place. she is a Robin hood FANATIC!! it was a wonderful vegan scrumptuosity from Sweet life and if i could figure out how to do links, that is WHEN i figure out how to do links, i will link SW.

happy birthday

birthday girl

lots of stuff

more pictures of the cute hamster...







my cousin came to visit with her family. she has a 3 year old son. we havent seen them in 2 years! they had fun playing. we took them to fabulous Sweet Life Patisserie. they delighted in Thomas the train together. they cimbed a tree..

trip to sisters

here it is

blogger image retrograde

there something awry..im having lots of trouble uploading photos. sorry.

look what we got from our CSA!

so happy to have a hamster and if you look CLOSELY you might see her in that cage!

your hat should match your solar system poster

"we throw away lots of food"

L and i were slated to spend some time together just the two of us while G spent some time with her dad wherein she probably stared at her new hamster *see post below.

so L and i walked over to Barnes and Noble mere moments after exhausting hamster aquisition, again see post below. B & N is next door. we were going to go over to play at the Thomas train table and L was going to try to get Deisel 10 or terrence or some train for the fortythousandth time.
i alluded to a possible treat.we approached the coffee bar. there was a peculiar scene: a harried mom ( not so peculiar) a small child and a big blue shopping cart! i knew it wasn't going to be business as usual. again, see post below. starngeness was afoot, it had been hovering around us all day like the fruit flies that had been everywhere lately.
so the mom was all over the place, but i could totally understand. her daughter was freaking out. the mom was trying to move the GIANT blue shopping cart( from the nearby-ish Toy's r us) out of the b&n cafe area and couldn't figure out what was so upsetting to her daughter. ah....she had ordered the chocolate cupcake,but had gotten the VANILLA! o.k. this is where you understand why im writing about this. so the momwanted to exchange for the choc one. the barista manager asked if she had touched it. the mom said no, and i saw that she did NOT open it, the to go container. then the manager told the other barista to just toss it and give her the chocolate. wait, toss it? the mom was upset. there was no reason to toss it. the manager said she could not resell something that could have been touched. this was absurd! so i piped up. after all, i had said to L he might get a treat. perfect, save the cupcake and everyone will be happy, if they are going to throw it OUT!!!! anyway! L was happy, he was getting a cupcake.
then they said i would have to pay for it. for something they were going to throw out anyway??? a perfectly good cupcake, when people are STARVING, when mothers are watching their babies STARVING to death all over the world.???? this was so sad.
then she said "we throw food out all the time. it's no big deal"

read that statement again. now think of how many people, people you may know that are needing food. how many mothers have to watch their children die of starvation, malnutrition? it's really appalling that people can say something like that and reallynot feel the weight of it. nothing against that cafe manager, she's doing her job which is putting food on her table, and i have worked in many food environments where there are strict regulations and food gets thrown out. but, oh my god, people die for lack of food and when people are o'k with just throwing it away, people are losing touch.
so there was this big misunderstanding, as per my mental state , again, see post below and i said i would just pay for it, whatever, and i was shocked when they retrieved a new cupcake from the display case! what?!!!
because, guess what, in all the confusion they had already "tossed it"

the manager later laughingly came over to me and apologised for "all that"

and all i could even begin to say was " you know people CAN change things"

how do the mountains breathe? in Bhutan or anywhere?

we were talking about a law in Bhutan. it is illegal in Bhutan for people to climb past a certain altitutde on the mountains. this is because they are sacred and maybe more special the higher it gets. i'm not sure of the deatils, we were discussing this on the way to G's tap class. then L said "how do the mountains breathe?" good question.

G's early birthday present!

so, G wanted her very own pet, other than her fish, for her birthday. we did some research and after entertaining thoughts of a ferret(no), a dog(no, not right now), a guinea pig(no), a rat (uh, no, never ever ever) we decided a hamster MIGHT be a wonderful and easy animal for her to take care of. we have allergy issues and lack a back yard, so a hamster sounded great. and then we caved and got it for her early because she had already picked out "pumpkin" and didnt see the point in letting her sit over there at petco, when she could be keeping our daughter awake right in our very own house. hamsters are nocturnal, by the way, and now G wants to stay up and watch pumpkin in the wheel which by the way sounds the the garbage truck coming to our house and driving in reverse and driving forward and on and on again seemingly ad infinitum. this little tidbit we did not know.
we spent an hour picking out cages, opted for the one she "really wanted" because it had the pop out carrying case for all those times we would need to tote pumpkin all around town with us. this cage happened to be the most expensive one, about 5 times the cost of said hamster. we start to put the cage together in the van in the parking lot. of course it broke, it being made of that rigid plastic that breaks if you sneeze while holding it. so, i took the neon monstrosity (monstrosity in a cute way of course)and waited in a long line of people requesting flea control products that for some strange reason are kept in a vault in the back of the store. i went back to the aisle where the dad of the family, in his infinite wisdom, of which he constantly reminds me, suggested the "starter kit". it's not as flashy, much cheaper. and has everything you need, or so it seems....i found myself examing the attaching clippy thing at the back of the wheel of the floor model. this would be fortuitous!
at the register i filled out all the paperwork, blah, blah, and got $15 back. and said"i really hope i don't have to return anything else." and i really did hope that. again, fortuitous.
got back in the van, yes, it was all put together and little clippy thing was, MISSING! god, i didnt want to go back there. but i did. i explained it all, after waiting for more closely guarded flea control products to be distributed, walked to the aisle, the hamster aisle. and got a replacement! she almost paid me $5 more to never come back.

so pumpkin is home and i will post the pictures later tonight, when the garbage and/or recycling truck comes. we love her. hamsters are really cute

give baba peanut butter so he doesn't go out and step on the tar!!!

when i heard the learned astronomer

this has always been a favorite of mine. walt whitman, gemini, rocks!



When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer

When I heard the learn'd astronomer;
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me;
When I was shown the charts and the diagrams, to add, divide, and
measure them;
When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;
Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

-- Walt Whitman



hmmm...... kinda like unschooling.....

a little about the kids

"monkey" boy and "rabbit" girl
that's what they are in the chinese zodiac.
she is almost 7 and he is 2 1/2. i will be calling her G, her first initial and he is L, his first initial.
they love to spend HOURS playing together, making up plays, building things, etc.

yesterday, when we were driving, L said "i'm so lucky". G thought he said "yucky", and she said "oh, no you aren't yucky!" he said "i'm so lucky to have a big sister. i love you." G started to "happy cry", as we call it, and said"i love you too!"

this pretty much sums up their relationship. i mean, when they aren't treating eachother otherwise, of course. ah, the sibling relationship AMAZES this only child. so enviable, so exasperating!

in yachats

welcome to rabbitmonkey universe