It's growing! It's growing!

I have to admit that I was getting a little worried about our garden. It has been brutally dry here and the last time I went and checked on it, it was looking pretty bleak. But then we got a few good days of rain, and so I went down to check on it today....

He better not be eating anything...

Barely beans...

Bigger beans!

Look! Baby pee! I mean baby peas!

Look closely - there are some green onions in there.

Watermelon

Canteloupe

Squash

Anthills everywhere...

Beautiful day!

One of my favorite little dirtballs!

So hopefully everything will keep growing for the next week, since it's going to be at least that long until I get back down there to work on it. We're supposed to get some more rain, which will definitely help, but the next two days will be spent cleaning and packing so that I can be ready to run away for a few days later this week.... yay!

Attack of the Ninja Tree

Picture it. Sunday afternoon. Bright, sunny, beautiful day - perfect for yardwork, right?

Well, that's what I thought, so after church and lunch, the boys and I headed outside to get the grass cut and work on the never-ending chore of picking up branches from the yard.

The thing that really sucks about my yard is....well, actually a couple of things. The front yard is mostly dirt. And trees. Hundreds of little trees that sprout up everywhere. I don't know what they are (locusts?) but they shoot up all over the yard and get way higher than the little bit of grass out there, so I have to mow just to get rid of the trees.

After I got done with the front yard, I took the mower and headed around back. The backyard is almost as much of a challenge, because for some odd reason, the entire yard is full of holes. The only way that I can describe it is that it seems like a giant wore a pair of cleats and then danced all over the place. So pushing the mower is more of an upper body workout than it ever should be, but whatever.

As I got to the back of the yard, by the alley, I had a run-in with...

...THE NINJA TREE!!!!

See it? Do you see it? That little tree over to the right? Looks all sweet and innocent standing there beside its larger counterparts, doesn't it?

Trust me. It is evil. Pure evil.

Anyone who has done any yardwork at all knows what I'm talking about. A Ninja Tree is a tree who has branches low enough that they have to be pushed out of the way to mow under it or to walk past it. And then, at the exact right moment, the branch swings back with the speed and accuracy only known to ninjas and *THWACK!!!* hits the unsuspecting person upside the head. Or in the eye. Or in the throat (my personal favorite).

This particular Ninja Tree has used its skills on me for the last time. After getting nailed directly in the face 3 times today (no, I don't learn quickly) I got mad. And when I get mad, I tend to get even.

I parked the mower, walked around front to the garage, and grabbed the only weapon that I could find - my trusty loppers.

And I went to work.

While I was at it, I figured I'd take out some of the other Ninja-Wannabe branches from the neighboring trees.

Ninja Tree isn't so cocky anymore, is he?

Yes, I know, part of the trunk is still there. Loppers will only do so much.

Ninja Tree and his fellow Ninja-Wannabe branches are now tied up in two nice neat bundles, sitting at the curb, waiting for the trash guys to pick them up Tuesday morning. They will be resurrected into some nice mulch that will make someone else in the city very happy, I'm sure.

And I can now mow without fear of losing an eye. Or teeth. Or the ability to breathe.


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Another one from the My Kids Can Sleep Anywhere Files:

Too much fun in the sun for him today....I got him up and gave him a bath and then he looked at me and said, "Mom, I really just want to go to bed now." :)

McDonalds Happy Meals - follow up

After the debacle at McDonalds the other day, I sent them an email - actually just sent them that blog post so that they could see what happened. I got this back at 4:01am on May 20:

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Hello Amy:

Thank you for contacting McDonald's to share your comments about our recent Happy Meal toys. I'm sorry you were disappointed with the theme of this Happy Meal.

You may be interested to know that our Marketing staff reviews several different criteria when designing toys -- playability, durability, safety, quality and popularity with children just to name a few. The latter is always a challenge given the number of Happy Meal toys we offer every year. We often offer toys from kids' favorite television shows, retail toy lines and movie or television characters.

Please know that we would never intentionally upset our customers. Your comments are important and have been shared with our Marketing staff for their review. They've assured me they will consider your feedback when planning future Happy Meal offers.

Once again, thank you for letting us know how you feel. We hope you'll enjoy our future Happy Meal promotions.


Nicole
McDonald's Customer Response Center

ref#:7819945

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Typical form letter that totally does not address anything - it's not that I wasn't happy with the "theme" of the toys themselves, it's that I was unhappy with the constant promotion of sexual stereotypes on our youth.

*sigh*

Typical big corporation BS.

I called the local store and a gentleman who spoke broken English answered the phone. I asked for the store manager and he indicated that he was the manager on duty and that the store manager wouldn't be in until 10:00am. When I asked for the corporate number, he stumbled a bit and then finally gave it to me.

I called the corporate office and spoke to a very polite young lady and informed her about what happened - she thought that this was an isolated incident, and I told her that it's been happening for as long as I've been taking kids to McDonalds, regardless of location.

She assured me that they did receive the email, and that the issue would be forwarded to the "Happy Meal Team" for further review. Uh huh. Sure. I know of one place where we won't be stopping on our cross-country trip later this summer.....

On a side note, as a bit of an experiment, I took the boys to Wendy's after we got done playing outside on Saturday. We went through the drive-thru so the employee did not see if I had boys or girls with me when I ordered their kids meals. He did not ask, either. When we got to the window, he handed me the food and we left. When we got home, the first thing I did was take out the toys....

They came in a little box....

With lots of little pieces....

And then you can build stuff with them!

(It's a bird.)

(This one is a bike.)

Apparently there are 4 different sets that each make a different creation, but you can mix and match and build bigger stuff by combining the sets. I like this toy - it's not what people would think of as a "girl toy" or a "boy toy" and it encourages creativity. What a novel concept....

Maybe, just maybe McDonalds will eventually get the hint. Doubtful, but maybe.

Is anyone else as irritated by this as I am? Or am I just overly sensitive about the "girl toy"/"boy toy" issue?

Dirty pictures and broken tools

Ha! Made you look!

I spent most of the afternoon outside playing in the dirt again - one of my favorite things to do...

While I was out there, I managed to turn this:

Into this:

And this:

Into this:

I'd really like to get that lattice replaced, but I bet the landlord won't do it...

Managed to break one of my garden tools in the process:

I guess it wasn't designed to pry bricks out of the ground.

Alex battled with his bike while I was playing with the flowers:

After we ate supper, the boys got a bath and got their pajamas on, and *then* I realized that we needed a few things from the store. So we walked over.

I love days like this...especially when the world is scheduled to end, and it doesn't really happen. Imagine that.

Now, if I could just find the living room under the pile of rubble...

For the Love of Randomness

Just a bunch of pictures that I've taken over the past week or so that I haven't posted yet....

Huh. No wonder the a/c didn't seem to be cooling the kitchen...but the underside of the house was nice and chillly. >:(

Gotta' love duct tape.

Typical sight around here. I love looking at the grafitti on the cars as they go past...

Alex "graduating" from playschool. :)

Had a little bit of laundry to fold the other day - gotta' love getting hand-me-downs!

Daniel mailing a letter at the post office. :) I remember when he couldn't even reach the slot.

Fingerprint Friday - Rain

Fingerprint Friday was started by Beki, over at The Rusted Chain. Every week, bloggers look for the fingerprints of God and post about them. Go check out Beki's blog to get links to other participating bloggers and check out what they have to say too. I've "met" some wonderful people since I started participating in this - and Beki makes some really cool jewelry too!

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After the absolute brutal dryness of the past few weeks, it is finally raining! And not just that teasing rain that comes and goes and doesn't do any good - but the really good rain.

It's washing away the dust and dirt and grime, and making things fresh and clean and pretty again...leading to new growth and beauty all around us - something that is desperately needed by so many.

Comments

I have again enabled comments on my blog, with a few slight changes.

1. "Anonymous" comments are no longer allowed.
2. All comments will be moderated by me before they are posted.
3. All previous comments have been restored, with the exception of one that revealed personal information including my ex-husband's last name and place of residence. I have not revealed that, and it will not be revealed. Period.

I have no intentions of filtering out the comments so that only the ones that are positive are posted on the blog. Life isn't all about everyone agreeing with everyone else - there will be disagreements. But they can be handled in a much more mature fashion than they were today.

* I will not post them if they contain personal information about ANYONE.
* I will not post them if they are nothing but name-calling, bullying, my-shit-doesn't-stink-and-yours-does bullshit that is not relevant to the topic at hand (I did leave the ones calling me fat and ugly this time, just because at this point, I don't care).
* I welcome suggestions, constructive criticism, and even snide remarks. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I will post what I want to post on my blog. If you don't like it, don't read it. If you want to have a mature discussion about something that I did/posted that you don't agree with, bring it.
* Again, if there is something that you would like to discuss privately with me, feel free to email me at non-stopmom(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Have a nice night everyone....seriously.