KIA[6]

Me, Ki, and the Cat. It's a small family these days with 3 of our members away on a trip.

Ki and I are having Adventures. This little blog is about Day #6. Monday.

I like this little pace to our days we have going.
He made his breakfast, I made mine- whenver we wake up. He does his morning chores. I wash some dishes.

We read or play on the computer a bit, talk about lunch plans, go for a bike ride, do a little cleaning. I hung my laundry. WOWSERS, opur laundry and groceries are almost non-exsitent compared to when there are all 5 of here!

We do our own lunches, too. We clean up from lunch then I was on the phone making toomany phone calls while Ki went out back to make a fire in the wheelbarrow again.

He used this fire to warm the PVC pipe he was working with:

A little later he made a yummy treat for us. He toasted some almonds and then melted some chocolate with sea salt for a yummy bark snack:

I was on the phone more, read my book I styarted a long time ago and had to back track a few chapters, then Ki and I cleaned our bathrooms. It was his idea. Yesterday he said "We should clean our bathrooms on Monday." So we did.

After that we read in his Science book. We were reading about muscle types. Skeletal Muscles, Smooth Muscles, and Cardiac Muscles. I read from the book; "Cardiac Muscles is only found in one place in humans. Time Lords have Cardiac Muscles in 2 locations."

I Ad-Lib when I read to them. And, yes, I still use silly voices when reading to my high school age boys.  The section kept talking about our SUPERSTRUCTURE and I always said it like a super-hero with a deep voice speaking in a tunnel....

Ki helped me pick flowers to put in my vase then he got started making dinner. I ws going to make dinner myself, but I had told him my plan for dinner and he thought it ws fun, so he got to work on getting things ready. I was getting hungry I guess. So we both did our part to create tonight's dinner:

Compartment Cuisine -->

Ki arranged them around our centerpiece and asked what game I wanted to play. I chose Fluxx.

 Ki has his cake decorating class tonight. I'll post a picture in tomorrow's blog.

(to read about previous days: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3 and Day 4 and Day 5)

KIA[5]

Wow, has it been 5 days already?

Is it really Sunday? It feels like it should be Saturday. Except We ate pancakes for breakfast. And went to church.

Yes, Ki & I survived our No Chewing Adventures. 4 days of Protein shakes and Juicer umm, juices.

Things I learned:
1- Ki likes Blueberry. Not the actually berries, but like in a poptart or jam or even in a protein shake.
2- When I drink all my meals I forget to actually drink enough water.
3- Ki snacks mostly out of boredom. He didn't snack these past 4 days. as a snack of drinking just isn't appealing when you are already drinking all your meals.
4- Hmm, I guess I only learned those 3 things.

When I woke this morning around 6:30 Ki had a bowl of Chex Mix out on the table for us. The good kind with the rye bagel chips.

Oh, I think I missed salty/crunchy more than actual 'chewing'.

After popping a handful of salty crunchy delight into my mouth, Ki and I got to work on Breakfast. It had been decided that we would enjoy Pancake Buffet to herald ourselves back into the world of solid foods.
I chopped apples and coated them with cinnamon and put pecan pieces into a bowl. Oh, and miniature chocolate chips into a 3rd bowl. Ki mixed up the batter. We cheated and used a pancake mix.

I love pancakes with cinnamon apples and pecans!! Ki had 1 chocolate chip pancake and 1 pecan pancake. He also had a mini pancake with apple pieces, to try it. I had 2 apple & pecan pancakes. Our pancakes were small. I guess 'normal', but small compared to getting pancakes at IHOP or some other breakfast restaurant.

Yes, I know that pancakes after a 'juicer type fast' are NOT the best idea. But after we ate our 2 pancakes and were completely stuffed, we took a nap. Carb Coma. MMMmmmm!

So we ended up going to the 11:00 church service.

Ki and I cleaned out the van while listening to Mariachi Music being pipes through the air from the local fairground. Well something Mexican. It was kinda fun to listen to the 1st hour, but by 4PM we had enough!@!

Ki wanted to bend some PVPC pipe. He asked to use my oven as our firepit died (rusted out). I told him to just use the grill. Which would have been a brilliant idea had it not been for the fact that someone left the gas valve open and it was empty. So I told him to just use the wheelbarrow. He was kinda shocked. "Really??"

me: "sure, why not? It's not gonna burn a hole in it or anything."

Ki: "Our old firepit got the bottom burnt out, though..."

me: "oh, it'l be fine for 1 use."

So Ki built a fire in the wheelbarrow to warm the PVC pipe and bend it to shape.

HEY! there's my square white laundry basket! I was looking for that earlier!

** Now it is time to sautee veggies and make rice to bring to the Taco Buffet at our Gospel Community Gathering tonight.... **

(to read about previous days: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3  and Day 4)

KIA[3]

We have survived our first 3 days on our own!

(to read about days 1 & 2 click the following links: Day 1
and
Day 2


We had a relaxing day filled with computer time and knitting. Well, the knitting was just me.

We are maintaining our liquid diet. Tomorrow will be our last day, then it is back to solid foods on Sunday!!

We did some housecleaning and exercises. Ki challenged me to 40 walking lunges and I challenged him to 14 'Hip Drops'.

We played cards after dinner. I enjoyed a lovely gourmet dinner of juicer from my juicer. It contained a pear, 3/4 an apple, strawberries, blackberries, ginger, 2 small carrots, and ginger. Ki and I have enjoyed playing games after dinner.

Today we also went for a walk. It was chilly I told Ki to grab a jacket and he chose my paisley cloak. He also snagged my crocs for his feet, but I took them back. So he went sock-footed. with a cape.

**Connor asks for pictures of Socksey every day. Here is today's picture:

KIA[2]

 "Put the camera down, Grab onto the end there and pull really hard...... "
Ki needed help getting the 't' connector off of the PVC pipe.

He has some weapon planned.  Something that requires the use of the band saw, of course. I always cringe inside when they use that. I'm glad we are close to the ER.

Yes, one of our house rules is:
"Don't use the band saw before mom is awake and out of her bedroom in the morning"

There is nothing quite like be awaken at 6:30 AM but the sound of the band saw in the garage....


Ki and I Adventures: Day 2

 A quite morning nourished with fruit smoothies that have been infused with protein powder. I just added to the left over protein/fruit smoothie from yesterday.

Ki & I then spent 3.5 hours volunteering at the animal shelter. I answered the phone and made sure people signed in and used hand sanitizer. Ki folded and stuffed envelopes. He also got bags of food from out back to people coming in that feed strays. I had to stop 4 barefoot little boys from bringing a dog into the building. The oldest was carrying the youngest boy and the next to oldest was struggling to carry a black dog. 3 boys were barefoot, and 1 was walking around outside in socks. I doubt they spoke English. It was kinda sad- we had to turn down taking their puppy; which means those little boys have to tak their puppy to County Animal Services. CAS euthanizes. Hopefully those boys don't know that.

Ki & I drove through a HUGE puddle, splashing both sides of the van and coating the windshield in muddy puddle spray. This aways makes me laugh hysterically.

Then it was on to Home Depot and the Baby Bottle Clinic to drop of a bottle of coins.

I am glad it was a less busy day so I could take a nap.

Ki is at church youth group right now. I really should go clean the kitchen. I started to straighten the couch and found my lost knitting needle and that was the end of cleaning. I'm finally back to knitting the chroma scarf.

(Yes, we are still holding strong on our No Chewing Challenge... and we are planning a wonderful food-filled Sunday!!!- but no exercise today)

I'm back

I have such an "Off Again- On Again" relationship with blogging.

I decided I want to be more consistent about blogging; at least for the next few weeks.

So, you all have missed a lot in my absence. Let me tell ya....

The biggest news being that my older 2 boys are boarding an airplane today to fly to Ohio. For good. They will be living with my parents and, hopefully, getting summer jobs.
Brian's job transfers him there sometimes end of summer; at which point we will all be there as a whole family.

I had a week and half to prepare for this. That's about 8 days when the doctor and dentist offices are actually open to call about last minute plans and appointments. 1 and half weeks to get everything done at the last minute... The Last Beach Trip, The Last Amtgard, The Last Joint Computer Games in the same room, the last youth group get-together. I, being mom, was much more frantic about 'one more trip to the beach' and 'one more pizza with friends' than my boys were. They will thank me, though, one day... or not.

Brian has been working longer hours at the office, too.

With Gavin and Connor gone and Brian working longer hours, it is just Kiel and me all day. Hopefully he won't get too bored with me. Hopefully I won't turn him into a housewife with too much cleaning and gardening.

thankfully, Ki has his Amtgard where he can go and beat people with foam weapons and get beaten on my others with foam weapons, to keep him manly. or as manly as my 15 yr old needs to be.

Ki is already runing the place. He's decided we need to THOROUGHLY clean the house, starting with the kitchen. Ki the Task-Master.

Oh, not only does he have me cleaning he has me on  a diet. He decided we should take the No Chewing Challenge. So for the rest of the week we will be living on Protein Shakes and the Juicer.

And I know he has an exercise plan. His exercise plans usually involve way too many walking lunges.

I tink he just wants to wear me out so I forget to finish his math and science this school year.

Ki is taking a cake decorating class...
this is his cake from Monday's class -->

And here are some cupcakesn (League of Legends) he made to take to Amtgard for the going away party...

*** THE NEXT POSTS will be a Series of Ki & I Adventures- to journal these weeks that Ki and I are on our one. His first time as "An Only Child"...LOL So, continue reading to see if we survive with 60% of the family in Ohio.

(to read about Our days so far: click the following links:

Day 1 and Day 2 and Day 3  and Day 4)

Sometimes my children laugh at me...

[Happy Day-Before-Candy-Is-On-Sale-Day]


Often, they laugh at me, actually. But I'm sure it is a good hearted, loving way.

On My way to my doctor appointment I saw something that instantly caught my eye nd I had to pull over and snap a few pictures... I wish I had  more time, but didn't want to be late to my doctor appointment...

here is what I saw that called to me....

Yesterday I pulled over to take pictures of strawberries.....

I was wearing Gavin's sweatshirt jacket the other day. He says to me.
"Hey, you're wearing my jacket!!

I look at him and say
"you are wearing your jacket, too, so it's OK."

I love to say stuff like that to him... He just says "what???" and shakes his head.

Or like the time he came to my room and I was in bed watching a DVD. he asked me what I watching...
I replied with:
"My new Pilates DVD."

That was llast year. He still laughs becuase I was IN BED watching an exercise DVD... instead of DOING the exercises.

I tried to explain to him, that I have to watch a new DVD FIRST so I know what to do... (anandan turn down the volume and not have to listen to the annoying lady while I exercise)- he just doesn't get it.

DASH1

DAY 1 with our foreign exchange student from Mongolia. Slightly out of sequence.

KI, CONNOR, DASHNYAM, GAVIN - at Pismo Beach. It was Dashnyams first time to a beach. He and the other boys had a fun time wave jumping. Itt's too coold to swim and I am too fearful of sharks to want them out too far, The have fuun waavee jumping and if the waves are good enough, my boys will also body surf. I'm sure Dashnyam will get to enjoy larger waves some time whle he's here. Dashnyam slept on the way home. He slept on the way there, too. Jet Lag from a 15 hur time difference. Dinner was Lemon Pepper Chicken (crock pot) with bread & dipping sauce and asparagus. The asparagus had a delightful glaze of Balsamic Vinegar with a touch of soy sauce and brown sugar.

Connor & Gavin decided to make Spaghhetti Sauce Yesterday and had Dashnyam help. But Connor used too much much oregano. I told him tooo much, because I wasn't paying attention and forgot he also was using some Italian Seasoning. Dashnyam would have been better off eating the ham sandwich he packed for hiss lunch. He ended up only doing a placement test at school yesterday so he was home by noon and just ate lunch with us.

Dashnyam's family own a restaurant in Mongolia. I look forward to a Mongolian meal!

Below is Dashnyam on his first day at the high school, but iit was just testing, so not a full, real day.

And here are some pictures from the beach ....

*****************************************************

Yesterday, aftr the beach and while I was working on dinner, Gavin and Dashnyam went for a walk in the neighborhood. After dinner, they played on Xbox. I made banana bread. Dashnyam liked that a lot! with 6 of us eating, I need to make a double batch of banana bread next time! And I'lll have Dashnyam help. He says he likes cooking.

****************************************************


This morning Dashnyam slept in till 9. He didn't have school in the morning. Gavin helped me hang a load of laundry ut to dry while Ki started making pancakes. Connor made the pork bacon and Gavin made a batch of turkey bacon (for Ki). Dashnyam set the table and made scrambled eggs. I supervised and started a load of laundry.

Laundry is Ki's morning job, but during the school year he has a deal where he makes breakfast a couple days a week instead of doing laundry. This school year he is doing breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

While we ate breakfast, I read the first section in our Story of the World book to the boys. after a few weeks I'll have to ask Dashnyam how much he understands from my reading. Or maybe just have him take a quiz with the other boys.

The Mongols are coming!

WOW, I bet that was VERY VERY UN-P.C. of me. Very... UN.
on Sunday we will go to the local airport here in Santa Maria to welcome DASHNYAM to the States and to live in our home for 2-4 months. He is an Exchange student from Mongolia. He's 17.

I am googling and Wikipedia-ing all about mongolia. Becuase.. now this is where my ignorance REALLY starts to show... all I think of when I think of Mongolia are nomads dressed in layers of furry tunics with their mountain goats. and how can a family like that afford to send their kids to America for 10 months??

another very NOT P.C. thing to say or think I guess. But, how was I to know??

Wikipedia says that half the population in Mongolia is nomadic. It also says that Mongolia is a Parliamentary republics with a non-executive President. I am not fully sure what that means. I guess they are ruled by a prime minister that can not carry out the laws or make new ones??? one more thing to research....

But the house is pretty clean. This was all last minute. I got a phone call Monday- got the OK from Brian Tuesday, Gina told me we needed pictures of the bathroom, boys room, kitchen, etc- to put in our application. . . that night. So the boys and I cleaned like mad.


HERE is the online profile for Dashnyam, the student.



here are the pictures we posted on our application...

KITCHEN:

Why, yes, that is a stuffed turtle we rescured from a scummy pond hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen picture on our application... Every Well Decorated Kitchen has a pond rescue turtle hanging from the ceiling, don't you know...

Living Space:


after I uploaded our Living Rom picture to the application site, I noticed the picture of Gavin's eyeball in the table. That's just how we roll. I am just glad I removed the 2 skulls from the kitchen shelf before I took that picture.



Family Members:

The hot pink streaks in the hair don't send the wrong message do they??

this has me all choked up and teary..... from all the dust that was flying in the air from them moving junk off the floor and fromo under the desk....

and now, here are some random picture I took recently that make me smile:

oh, how'd this get here.. this is the boys' bathroom.

How To Tuesday: make a seed starter greenhouse

I begin with a story. A Dialogue between a hungry 17 yr old boy and his mother.
SON: "Mom, do you know where the small pan is??"MOM: Eating Chocolate Covered Almonds while Watching Netflix -(thinks to self. "oh, no. I totally forgot about that!)
MOM: :"ummm. In the back yard."SON: "WHAT?? Why is it out THERE??"MOM:" I took it out to clean it. It was super dirty."SON: "So, is it clean?"MOM: "no."SON: "ARG!"
I had it out back my the compost pile squirting the moldy spaghetti sauce out with the hose- but got distracted.
NOW for my HOW TO mini-Instructional. (and, don't worry, it won;t be how to clean dishes. That'd be like the Blind leading the Blind. THIS How To is for a mini-greenhouse to start your seeds.
Well, not an actual house.
and it is not actually GREEN.
But you get to use a knife and a soldering iron.
and tape.
And before I begin I must apologize for the quality of the pictures. I used Connor's video camera- that takes stills, but not that well. I was too lazy to find my good camera:
So, choose your seeds. For my first project I went with Bell Pepper Seeds.
Then get some 2 Liter bottles, knife, scissors, packing tape, soldering knife, and dirt.
take the lid off of your bottles and rinse them. (my just had Club Soda, so I didn't bother rinsing them)Then pinch the side a bit and make a small cut:
Then Use scissors in the cut, and cut around the entire circumference of the bottle:
I just follow the label. And I advise leaving labels on to protect the roots from the sunlight..
I like to cut a few slits in the lid. I find this helps them fit on better:

Then I use a soldering iron to put the holes in the bottom. WAY EASIER then when you had to poke them with your safety scissors in 4th grade.


Next add the dirt:
I like to start with some type of gravel for drainage. I had some clay spheres I got at a Hydroponics Store- so I used them:

Just a handful to cover the bottom.
Then I took a mixture of: Compost/Garden Soil & Potting Soil & Sphagnum Moss. I filled the containers to about 2 inches below the top of the label.

Added my seeds, watered with added fertilizer, put the lids on, and then the packing tape around the seam.





I misplaced the lids, do I added more tape to cover the opening.

I bought some apples at Costco. They came in this plastic bubble container:
I thought I'd try using it as a seed starter. I filled with the dirt mixture.poked holes, through the dirt with my scissors- because I forgot to to make holes first.

then added the seeds.
and watered and snapped the lid closed.


I hope it works.


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