Viva Obama!

If I were more computer savvy, I would put this clip right on here for you to watch directly. But I was born about 5 years too early to "get" how this all works, so . . . for fun take a moment to watch this awesome corrida. If you don't understand Spanish, you can enjoy the music, and if you don't have speakers on your computer (Mom) get them connected!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fd-MVU4vtU


We are looking for one of the "Viva Obama" bumper stickers or I've seen some cool "Si se puede" ones out there too.

Rain on the green grass . . .

The past few days have been sunny so we ordered the soil for our new lawn-to-be. The truck arrived Saturday afternoon. The driver was a friendly old man who, after dumping the mountain in our driveway, spent 10 minutes on the ground showing Sahara how to build a road up the mountainside with stones. I wished I had my camera out to capture the joy of that moment!
When Pablo got home from the panel he participated in at the law school, he (with help) moved almost the entire pile to the backyard.
Soon we'll plant the grass seed and then wait patiently with daydreams of picnics, sleep-outs and the wading pool. Last year the pool sat on cardboard.

Easter Bunny Visits


Sahara looked forward to Easter almost as much as Christmas this year. Luckily, the Easter Bunny paid us a visit and left eggs not only hidden around the garden, but a few special ones in her room. The ones outside were plastic with goodies inside like stickers, cheddar bunnies (crackers), chocolate covered almonds and jelly beans. She wasn't too fond of the jelly beans, so Papa and I got to eat all of them. Inside, our dear friend left these:



No more monkeys



Lydia gets a kick out of Sahara's antics. You can hear Sahara jumping on the bed.

Creatures

Last night a creature entered our property in the dark leaving these prints:



and causing this damage:


(formerly known as a lovely white tulip)

In a distant part of the planet this creature was spotted:


So I think I'll just stay inside and perfect my bread baking skills. I've made 6 loaves so far this week. The last one was the best.



It is a variation of the Multigrain Molasses Bread which I posted about a little while back. If you must have the recipe, let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

We're looking into buying 50 lb bags of oats, white flour and whole wheat flour. It appears more economical and efficient, as I currently fill up a paper bag once a week with all of the above.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!

Don't suffer, sulfur!

One week ago, I took Lydia to the homeopathic doctor and said "I can't take this anymore!" After lots of listening and pondering, he recommended sulfur. As in, three little white balls, crunched into a powder, once a day in the evenings. We did this for 4 nights. Now Lydia goes down around 8, gets up around 7, and only wakes up twice for nursing!!!!!



"The most important thing to have is a well-rested family"

Está mejorando.

We need to change the way our whole bedroom configuration is set up, but it is worth it.

Last night she only woke up 3 times. Yes!

Kara and Juan Carlos had their baby. I think everyone who reads this already knows that, but I'm so excited I had to mention it here. Why are all my girlfriends having baby boys?

Great-grandpa Galen has 8 (if I remember correctly) great-grandchildren - all girls. ??? So interesting.

This morning Lydia and I had 2 hours of awake time together while Sahara was at school so we went to the library. I made it all the way up to the third floor carrying Lydia and double her weight in books to look at the NEW BOOKS shelves. There are always interesting books in the non-fiction section.
Today I found these three:

(Click on the photo to see a bit more info.)






































We love the library!

Rub and rest

Sometimes it seems that I function better on little sleep. I'm accustomed to 3 - 4 hours per night now, and though I go through a weary phase in the last hour before Papi comes home, I feel pretty awake the whole day. On the amazing occasion of a 6 hour night's rest, I find that I feel incredibly tired all day long.
I do find naps appealing. Most days there is a bit of overlap since Sahara still needs a good rest after lunch. And then there are days like today, when one wakes up when the other goes down. The silver lining is that I get to spend 1 on 1 time with each of my perlitas.
Lydia has been rubbing her eyes a lot this week. Is it the dry heat of our indoor air in winter, or something else? Pray tell me your thoughts.
Pablo choose out a magnolia tree (10 feet tall + wide) with his birthday gift cert. from Down to Earth. We planted it this weekend.




Now that we have been gardening here for 6 years, we have a better sense for how big bushes and trees will get. It can be hard to imagine how something so small can grow so big.