Day 11: Transferring the Chrysalides

The furry beasties finally turned themselves into chrysalides.  I read the instructions about how to get them out of the container and then began the process.  I lifted the lid off and then had the Cobbler hold the paper they are attached to while I picked the pieces of "silk" (e.g. the cobweb like stuff they made in the cup) off of them and the paper per the instructions.  Then came the fun part---the transfer into the butterfly house.  Here are some photos pre-transfer:

The Cobbler held them up so the kids could get a closer look.  Four of the caterpillars ended up attached to the paper.  One fell off and was lying inside the cup.  First, I pinned the paper with the four chysalides to the inside of the butterfly habitat.

Then, Red moved the fifth chysalid into the house.  You're supposed to put a napkin or paper towel in the bottom of the habitat and lay any "droppers" on top of it.  

 Then, all hell broke loose.  It said in the instructions that the chysalides may shake a little in order to "ward off predators."  What it didn't say is that they would writhe like they were possessed!  That chysalid had no problem warding off me and every other living thing in the vicinity!  Here's a video the Cobbler took after I jumped out of my skin and finally stopped shrieking.  Keep in mind---the thing was thrashing about much more prior to him taking the video footage.

Don't you love the kids giggling at their terrified mother? Here we are after we (or should I say "I") calmed down.

Now we wait seven to ten days for the butterflies to emerge.  

The back of Tom Thumb's Vintage Airplane Quilt

I finally got my act together last night and finished up the back of Tom Thumb's vintage airplane quilt.  This is the first quilt I've ever made that has a pieced back so I was a little nervous about how it would look.  In the end, I'm pleased with it.  I'm glad I took a break from it for a while because I think the outcome is better than  if I'd rushed it.  Next step---quilt sandwich!

The Caterpillars on Day 10: Upside Down!

It's hard to get a clear shot into the cup now, but four out of the five caterpillars have made it to the lid and are now hanging upside down.  Stay tuned for what happens next!

On a completely separate note (even though I shouldn't have because I have too many other projects going on), I ordered some fabric last night to reupholster the seat and back of a rocking chair.  Probably a year ago, my aunt and uncle asked if I would like this old wooden rocking chair.  The upholstered part is an ugly worn out brown tweed, but the chair itself is comfortable and has good bones so I took it.  Flash forward to now---it is still sleeping in our basement, covered with cat fur because the cats have claimed it as their bed.

See this chair?  I just bought some of the pink and red fabric that is on the arms, and I'm getting ready to buy some of the bird/floral fabric and some of the teal to recover the rocking chair's upholstery.  I am so inspired by the designer Anna Maria Horner.  Every time she launches a new line I want to buy it all!  This line is from a few years back so it's been tough putting all the pieces together (i.e. I should have bought it when it came out, but I resisted because I already have too much fabric.  Big mistake!), but it will be so awesome when it's done.  Now it I can only convince myself to work on some of the other projects I have underway. :-)

Hope everyone is having a delightful holiday so far!

The Caterpillars: Day 8

Could tomorrow be the day?  It said in our Insect Lore propaganda that the caterpillars usually build their chrysalides sometime between the 7th and 10th day after they arrive.  It said they move to the lid prior to beginning.  So far, we have two at the lid and there's one on the side.  I don't know what the other two are doing.  Maybe making some more weird webs or tab globs...

 Here's the side climber.  I think he's going to make it!

So now we wait...

The Caterpillars: Days 6 and 7

The caterpillars are getting bigger and bigger by the minute it seems!  Here are some photos from days 6 and 7:

And just for point of reference, here's how big they were on the day we received them on day #1:

Amazing and crazy, right?

We've had an interesting week.  Red had a second hearing test at school this week that I attended and they determined she has some hearing loss in her left ear.  She can't hear mid to high frequency sounds in that ear.  I was pretty stunned when I was standing across the room from her during the test and could hear the beep in her ear and she could not.  They recommended a full clinical testing with an audiologist this summer to determine the extent of the loss.  The good news is that she seems to be compensating just fine with her right ear.  Her teacher told me she has never noticed an issue and quite frankly other than her being loud sometimes (which I assume is just being a 5 year old) and the occasional "What?" when we're talking I've never noticed anything that would make me think she was having trouble hearing either.  We may never know what caused it.  It could have been a high fever (she's had quite a few of those), a head injury (she's had a couple of those that have landed her in the ER), a loud noise (the Cobbler says when she was a baby he once stood too close with her to a train when its whistle was blown at a local museum.  I told him not to worry about it), or genetics (if hearing loss runs in your family, you're more likely to have it.  My youngest sister has some partial loss in one ear).  It's one of those situations where there's nothing we can do at this point other than get more information and deal with it.  So that's what we'll do...

I've also been coping with some anxiety.  It seems like I have the jitters for most of my waking hours.  I'm hoping that it's just from all the commitments I've had over the last couple of months and I'm trying to calm down.  Lots of deep breathing.  I'm going to eliminate caffeine and alcohol today and see if that helps.  Not like I'm a big drinker of either (1-2 cups of coffee per day and maybe one drink in the evening), but at this point I'm willing to try anything to get some peace.

Today's the last day of school for the week.  I'm looking forward to a nice Memorial Day weekend at home.

What are you up to this weekend?

A dance recital and more caterpillars

Here's a photo of the caterpillars on Day #2.  They were pretty active that day and spent a lot of time near the lid.  I forgot to take a photo yesterday on Day #3, but here's what they were up to this morning on Day #4.

It's amazing.  They have gotten significantly larger since their arrival.  Two of them seem a lot less active than the others and have made this spiderweb like substance around themselves at the bottom of the cup.  I don't know what's going on there.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Saturday was Red's big dance recital.  Her jazz class danced to a hip hop version of "If You're Happy and You Know It."  Needless to say, it was adorable.  We went out for dinner and ice cream afterwards.  It was fantastic!  Here are some cute photos from that day:

Papa, Grandma, and Red

Our family

Red and Tom Thumb

Cecilia (in her Hawaiian dance costume) and Red

Me and Red being goofy

This morning we're off to Chuck E. Cheese for a couple hours to celebrate Red finishing The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.  I can't say enough good things about how effective that book is!  Fifteen months (we started March 2010) and 231 lessons later, she can read words like "extraterrestrial" and "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."  She told me this morning that her favorite lesson was #151 because she liked the song in it.

Have you seen the ghost of John?

Long, white bones with the rest all gone,

Oh wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?

Got to love the 5 year old sense of humor.  Happy Monday!

The caterpillars are here!

We're planning on using R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life for summer science fun.  We're still waiting on its arrival (it's backordered at Rainbow Resource), but part of that program includes raising butterflies from caterpillars.  I ordered the Insect Lore Butterfly Garden from Amazon and redeemed our caterpillar coupon on their website (FYI if you buy the Butterfly Garden --- Insect Lore charges $5 shipping and handling when you place your caterpillar order.  This is in addition to the amount you paid for the kit).  It said it would take 1-3 weeks for the caterpillars to arrive.  I placed our order online on May 14th, and they arrived today on May 20th.  Needless to say, the kids were thrilled.  We had to open the box immediately!

There are five caterpillars inside and they all appear to have made it out alive after their FedEx transport.

Although they were initially a little sluggish, a couple of them were climbing up around the lid about 20 minutes after we opened them up.

Red decided she wants to keep a journal with her observations about the caterpillars.  They are supposed to be eating and growing for about 7-10 days before they begin building their chrysalids.

The arrival of the caterpillars was a pleasant surprise since Red had her dental work this morning.  She was sedated for it which was amusing.  Right when the sedative started kicking in, she said dreamily, "I hear music..." and started giggling.  Her behavior reminded me of when the older sister in the movie Sixteen Candles takes the muscle relaxer before her wedding.  She also had a Princess Bride moment.  Start playing the clip at 1:54 to see what I was dealing with: 

The actual procedure went well for her, but was tough for me as mom.  With sedation, they don't numb you.  I guess they figure you won't remember it anyway and since she had cavities that needed to be filled on both sides of her mouth (didn't know this until this morning) it would have taken two visits instead of one if they had numbed the area.  She cried which broke my heart, but she seems completely fine now and it's only a few hours later.  Hopefully, this will be the one and only time she needs work done on her baby teeth.  I'll be documenting the caterpillars' growth so there are more photos to come!

Satan, seitan, what are you?

I forgot to take photos of mine so you get to see the grocery store version.

EDIT: Photo added for the benefit of one of my friends who asked if seitan always looks like clay based on the first photo. :-)

Just last week I was talking to one of my childhood friends about protein options for vegetarians.  She said, "Have you tried seitan yet?"  Seitan (which is pronounced like Satan) is a protein made from wheat gluten.  You can buy it at some health food stores and grocery stores (the Kroger near us has it), but it's extremely expensive to purchase pre-made.  When I saw it at Kroger, I think it was about $5 for 8 ounces.  Not cheap!  Fortunately, I found this recipe to make it at home and I gave it a shot yesterday.  It was a little time consuming (about an hour and a half in all including cook time), but the outcome was great.  The process was actually very similar to making dumplings.  The recipe made made enough for about four meals for our family of four.  After it was cooked, I chopped it up into one inch pieces.  I used a quarter of it for a stir fry I made last night, and I split the rest between three freezer bags and put them in the freezer.  I intend to use it like I would have previously used chicken in stir fries, pot pie, etc.  The true test was would Red eat it?  I didn't tell her what it was up front.  She cautiously took a piece of seitan from the stir fry, put it in her mouth and chewed.  After a minute she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I like this chicken."  Not bad.  Not bad at all...plus it's fun to call up grocery stores and ask, "Do you stock seitan?"  I guarantee that you'll get a long pause and a puzzled "Excuse me?"

Book Review: Prodigal Summer

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver was my book club's pick for May.  And yes, I used reading it as an excuse to not complete A Tale of Two Cities and Jane Eyre yet again.  I promise I will have those two done soon...just not this month.  My book club had previously read Kingsolver's books The Poisonwood Bible and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle so expectations were high.

Prodigal Summer gradually weaves together the lives of three characters who live in rural Appalachia --- forty something forest ranger Deanna, recent widow and insect expert Lusa, and aging farmer Garnett--- during a warm and apparently very sexy summer.  Deanna, who is portrayed as a hermit who took the forest ranger job on a remote part of the mountain so she would have less time with people and more time with coyotes, takes up nearly immediately with a twenty something year old hunter named Eddie Bondo.  Other than their love of being in the woods, these two couldn't have been more mismatched.  She wants to save things; he wants to kill things.  Clearly not a good start.  In the meantime in the valley below the mountain, city girl/bug extraordinaire Lusa finds herself abruptly widowed when her farmer husband Cole is killed in a trucking accident.  Family angst ensues while his not very welcoming family tries to glean whether or not she's a gold digger, and she tries to figure out where she belongs.  And a few doors down, old man Garnett is busy battling it out with his organic apple growing neighbor Nannie over whether or not he can spray his weeds.

These stories initially seemed to be extremely disconnected (other than the characters living in the same area), but by the end Ms. Kingsolver reveals how their lives have been intertwined all along.  

Overall, I enjoyed the book.  Kingsolver's tone is always soothing to me.  While some members of my club found her long dissertations about insects to be tedious, they didn't really trouble me.  What did trouble me is the way she integrated her personal beliefs about the environment into the book.  I get it --- the author is an environmentalist who believes in organic farming and eating local.  I knew this already from reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  I agree with a lot of her personal philosophy.  My problem was with the way she spoon fed her beliefs via her characters to the reader.  There was a lot of Nannie explaining to Garnett how they were damaging the environment with pesticides.  Even more environmentalist ranting with Deanna defending the coyotes' right to exist to Eddie.  Then there was Lusa explaining to her niece in painful detail about how using a general pesticide kills predator insects too and how this just made the undesirable bugs' population grow even more.  It was just too much.  There were times as a reader where you felt like the author was treating you like a child who had to be convinced to eat her vegetables.

I took some heat from my fellow book club member Allison about why I had a problem with all the gratuitous sex in our other recent club pick A Reliable Wife (my review is here) but I didn't with the amount of sex in Prodigal Summer.  Yes, there is sex in this book.  Yes, there is a discussion with Deanna's co-worker about how many condoms she keeps in her remote cabin (handy for when Eddie drops in).  I think it comes down to Kingsolver's tone vs. Goolrick's.  Kingsolver handled it in a more emotional and relationship based fashion, while Goolrick came off like he was allowing his characters to engage in his personal fantasies.  Who knows?  Maybe Barbara Kingsolver wanted to knock boots with a young hot hunter in the woods.  Her writing just came off as less explicit overall than Goolrick's.

In the end I felt the three main characters, like the prodigal son of the Bible, had found their homes again.  If you have enjoyed Kingsolver's other books, you'll like this one too.  But even if you haven't read her books, it was an enjoyable read with a satisfying ending.  What more can you ask for?

I have purple hair!

 Yep.  I took the plunge and figured out how to install hair extensions myself.

I watched a video on YouTube, bought the goods from Sally Beauty Supply, and voila!  I've only put in six so far.  I wanted to see if I could manage to sleep on them without being too annoyed.  The Cobbler wanted me to do pink (ha ha!), but the pink was hot pink and I was afraid.  These are seriously hilarious to put in.  It's like latch hooking your head, but with some pliers involved. ;-)

Book Review: Other People's Dirt

The Cobbler often accuses me of spending too much time reading about cleaning and not enough time actually cleaning.  In some ways, he's right.  I'm a constant lurker in the 648 section in the library (A.K.A. housekeeping) and I'm always looking for a new book that will give me the breakthrough I need to become the Martha Stewart of my neighborhood.  Okay, not really, but I wish my house was cleaner and thus ironically I keep reading instead of cleaning.

This past week, while in the midst of my 648 browsing, I came across Other People's Dirt.  It's not the typical how to book you normally find in that section.  This book chronicles Louise Rafkin's misadventures over her years as a professional house cleaner.  She tells tales about clients like the woman who fired her for leaving two Cheerios in the kitchen sink (she forgot to wipe the sink after dumping her bucket of water), the couple she refers to as "The Hoarders" because of their propensity to buy everything in bulk, and how she and her co-cleaner would hold anti-pageants of who could find the most useless and ugly item in each house they cleaned.  I wish the entire book was like this because I enjoyed the amusing anecdotes that she included.  Unfortunately, there weren't that many.

The rest of the book is a mish mash of topics related to dirt...and not really in a good way.  Rafkin explores an art installation that is literally a room full of dirt.  She reminisces about the housekeeper Lupita her family employed when she was a child.  She briefly works for a cleaning company she refers to as "Happy Maids" (might these maids be merry?).   I assume she did so that she could get the dirt on them and slam the company in this book for paying unreasonably low wages.  She interviews maids who clean in lingerie and in the nude.  She meets with the owner of a company that cleans up crime scenes (yes, you get to hear about how to get human remains out of carpet).  And finally, she lives on a commune in Japan with a group of people who follow the teachings of Tenko Nishida, which are grounded in the concept of humble service.  In this case, a lot of feet washing and scrubbing of public restrooms.  I got the feeling a lot while I was reading that she didn't have enough material to submit the book for publication so she just kept rooting around for more until she hit the minimum amount of words needed.

In the end, I don't think I really learned anything from this book.  Yes, I was amused at times, but not enough to recommend reading this book to others.  Even the author just couldn't seem to wrap it up in the end.  She asks a Nishida disciple how she can apply their teaching in America.  The woman responds with "Live a simple life with an affluent spirit."  Sounds great....what does this have to do with cleaning again?  I think I should have just picked up my mop and bucket and used them instead of wasting my time reading this book.

My Birthday and our Mommy Camp Box

I don't know why we started calling it Mommy Camp.  Maybe because I'm the mommy and I lead the camp, but at our house Mommy Camp rules!  We usually do Mommy Camp on rainy days.  We get out some special art supplies or games and just go to town.  Red has attended science day camp for two weeks during the last two summers.  We enrolled her mostly so I could have a break and so I could have some time for just me and Tom Thumb.  This summer we have several trips planned so attending science day camp wasn't going to work this year.  Then I had an idea---why not do an extended version of Mommy Camp during the summer?  More on that in a minute...

On a separate but related note, I have some concerns about the math program that our school district uses.  Red's school uses a combination of Everyday Math (as required by the district) and the Montessori method.  I remember years ago trying to help my niece do her Everyday Math homework, and I literally had no idea how to help her.  The method is so different from how I was taught elementary school math I was incapable of showing her how to do a simple math problem the way her teacher wanted it..  Here's an article called One Step Ahead of The Train Wreck written by a parent who was struggling to help his daughter who attended a school who used Everyday Math.

Right now, math is Red's favorite subject and we want to keep it that way.  Our plan is to "stay one step ahead" by having her do 10 minutes of Singapore Math (a well respected Asian math program) a few times a week.  By having her exposed to concepts at home first, I'm hoping that this will save us a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth down the road.

So without further adieu---after much debate and research (and the selling of my cloth diaper stash on eBay so I'd have the money to pay for it), I placed the following Rainbow Resource and Amazon order of Mommy Camp supplies:

• Singapore Math Standards 1A & 1B (textbooks, workbooks, and home instructor guides) - I'm planning on starting to do a little work with this over the summer and then continue through the school year.
• R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life - I am SO excited about this curriculum.  It's a science program geared to the 1st grade level that covers life science.  Click here to see their "try before you buy" sample.  Red is very interested in science and nature, and I love the open and go easiness of this curriculum.  I just ordered a Butterfly Garden from Amazon so we'll be raising caterpillars and watching them become butterflies as part of our science this summer too. Woo hoo!  If this goes well, we'll try their Earth and Space curriculum next summer.
• Making Amazing Art - A friend of mine showed me her copy of this book last year and I was floored by the awesomeness of the projects and the low price for the book (around $10).  I had been looking at buying Artistic Pursuits because I was intrigued with the idea of teaching art by introducing the masters and then doing related projects.  After seeing it in person at a homeschooling convention, I was less than enthused with the amount of content for the price (around $43).  When I saw this book and saw that it had similar content for much less money, I was sold.  I can't wait to try some projects with the kids.
• Bastien Piano Primer Books - Red has been asking me to teach her how to play piano.  After searching my parents' house high and low for my old piano books to no avail, I decided to pick these up for her.  Amazingly these are the exact same books that I learned to play piano with 25 years ago.  I figure I already know the content and they're inexpensive.  If perchance, she enjoys playing and wants to continue I'll be on the hunt for a teacher.  If not, no harm.
• Spelling Workout Level A - Red is almost done with The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (only eight lessons left --- yay!).  When we're done, I don't think she'll need more phonics practice. She's reading fluently and reads for fun for 30 minutes to an hour per day.  She does, however, need writing practice.  Knowing my daughter, I don't see her taking to copywork willingly, but I do think she'll be interested in spelling and this book includes some writing.  Two birds---one stone.
• Story of the World: Ancient Times with the Activity Guide - I bought this a while ago.  It's a history curriculum that covers from the earliest nomads to the last Roman emperor on a 1st grade level.  The activity guide has lots of art and cooking projects that I think the kids will enjoy.  

I'm definitely not planning on trying to fit all this stuff in on a daily basis or even finish any of it by the end of the summer, but I think it will give a good variety of activities to choose from when I get the "I'm bored!" whine.  The box gets here next week.  Can't wait.

My birthday was a few days ago and I just had to share some of the rockin' birthday gifts I got from the kids and the Cobbler.  Because we were out of tape (thus, none of my gifts could be wrapped), I was sent on a scavenger hunt around the house for my gifts.  I found this in one drawer of the china cabinet and the matching silver scallop earrings in the other drawer.  Gorgeous!  The necklace is beyond amazing.  I have been coveting it for months, but refused to buy it at full price (the Cobbler wisely bought it on sale).  Both had my favorite bars of Lindt chocolate tied to them.  I adore the chili flavor.  It sounds weird, but it's strangely delicious.  Then, I was led to the freezer and found this.  Yes, that's right.  There was a giant throw pillow inside my freezer.  I am seriously in love with this pillow!  I rescued it from the kids and cats trying to rough house with it and selfishly declared it MINE and off limits.  Aren't birthdays grand?

Far Far Away Quilt---Block #3

This is my favorite block so far.  I decided to do a log cabin look in the middle and bookend it with the princesses.  I'm pretty psyched that I've been able to get a lot of princesses out of the fat quarters I bought by sewing pieces together.  Both the princesses in this block are joined in the middle.  On the right, I have Sleeping Beauty lying on the Princess and the Pea's mattresses.  I am loving mprov quilting!  It is so cool to just be sewing along and say to myself, "The birds are tweeting to me.  I need to attach a piece of bird fabric now."  Then, I just chop off a piece of bird fabric and sew it on.  Voila!

Today's my 35th birthday.  The big three five.  I'm feeling good about it though.  I'm in the best shape of my life physically and really I couldn't ask for more as far as life's going.  I could ask for a cleaner house, but as my friend Michelle and I said to each other yesterday we're the type of people who need LOWER expectations in that department.  Gotta let go my perfectionist tendencies.  Anyway---we all went out for birthday breakfast this morning because Red has dance class tonight and I didn't want her missing class so close to the recital.  I enjoyed my veggie omelette and french toast.  Oh and coffee----lots of coffee! :-)

The kids and I are off to the museum this morning.  It is raining again...sigh.  I'm looking forward to some sunny days soon.

Far Far Away Quilt---Block #2

Here's the second block in the Far Far Away quilt I'm making for Red.  I'm new to improv quilting so the freedom to just do whatever feels good was a little disconcerting at first.  I just wrapped up block #3 too (no photo yet) and I'm really enjoying the process.

On a separate note, I finally started getting the photos from 2007 in an album.  I'm giving the duplicates to Red to put in her own album.  I bought a Groupon last year for Picaboo that I need to use by July so I've got to get going soon!

Lots to do today so I must run.  Happy Monday!