Campbell’s Soup Cures Back Pain

It’s true.  I found out today at the chiropractor!  Factual Information, I’m telling you.  It doesn’t even matter what flavor your choose.  It can be cream of mushroom, split pea or tomato.  Your choice.  You simply lie down flat on your back on the floor.  Put any Campbell’s soup can under the curve of your neck and tip your head back until it touches the ground.  Stay in this position for 20 minutes per day and VOILA!  your back pain will be cured.  My understanding is that the can puts your neck in the proper traction position and it pulls your spine in line.  (rhymey bimey!)  I started today.  I thought it was one of those wive’s tales… maybe it is?  But after 15 minutes, it really started to put pressure on my neck.  Weird, I know.  I’ll let you know if I’m cured of back pain in the next few months.  Here’s my other tidbit of advice… put the dog outside before you lie on the carpet.

Help is on the Way!

Today at church we spoke with a family who just returned from Bogota on Thursday, not for adoption though.  All her family still live there AND she offered a nephew to help us when we get there!  SCORE!  Also the kind lady said that she would be glad to come over and narrate a video of our home that we plan to show to Zaza once we arrive.  I told her I’d call when the house is clean…… yikes!  I’ve read that watchinig the video over and over REALLY helps the child adjust to their new home when they know what to expect.  The book I read suggested starting from driving up to the house and entering the front door.  Then going room by room and pointing out different things in each room.  Another family that made a video said that upon their return home, their new daughter ran straight to her room to “get at the Barbies!”  So adorable. 

Zaza’s Barbies are in a box in the garage and in a drawer in her dresser……  a doll house is definitely needed. I asked my 12 year old son if he would build a doll house when he finishes his summer program (next week!) and he said he would!  I just need to locate a plan online for him to follow.  He’s a whiz with all his power tools.

I also did the travel immunization calls this last week.  OK, I’m not real good with getting needles.  Even that picture makes me cringe.  Everywhere I called it was $165 for the five of us to get in the door and then from $30 up per shot… and we need ELEVEN.  So, for those as great with math as I am, I used the calculator and that’s $495+.  So before completely freaking out, I called our health insurance and found two “approved” shot places that only charge our $10 deductible for each person.   Period.   Thank you, Jesus!

I’m thanking God every day for providing what we need when we need it.

Sixteen Months Later…..

Any of you still around on MSJ from Feb. 2008??? Remember the magazine inspiration picture that drew me to the purple paint for the wooden, curvy canopy bed? Well, I FINALLY found bedding today! It’s been a long search, let me tell you! I did not envision lime green until today, in TJ Maxx, with birthday girl, Ginny. We found the adorable lime green cotton bedspread with white polka dots and she threw a purple blanket next to it. I fell in love. Ok, the pictures look skimpy without the other pillows (that I have yet to find) and nothing on the walls yet, but you get the idea.  I found the little “cup hanger” dealie last night.  The knobs are little dresses on hangers!  Too cute.  I’ve had the butterfly shelf for a while too.  I’m waiting until I have all the wall decorations before I put any up.

See?  It needs some more fluff on there, but isn’t the color adorable???  And I still need to iron it, but we need to get Keeve out of there before I make it all nice.  It has stitching in circles all over it and a scalloped edge. 

And I still need to find a white bed ruffle to cover the trundle bed.  Isn’t the butterfly rug darling?!  And I found that lime green frame today too, on clearance, of course.  I’m not sure what picture to put in there????

My mom and I found that perfect little bedside table at an antique store several months ago…. half off the already good price!  It needs to be sanded and re-painted.  However, it is 115 degrees outside today, and I don’t plan on sanding in the house (unless I get desperate!)  I would love to find some darling butterfly knobs for it.  I remember seeing some at Target.

I hope Zaza will love her room!  So much love and prayers have been offered up in there for over two years!  Come home, sweet girl!

My Husband’s Cell Phone Photos

I’m not sure why it just happened.  I’m not sure how it happened.  I’m not even sure what happened.  But four years worth of pictures from my husband’s cell phone just appeared in our computer’s picture file.  It was an entertaining trip for me down memory lane.  A guy’s cell phone pictures really tell the heart of the man like no other.  Please try and stick it out to the end….  a photo montage of Rick’s most important moments, captured on his cell phone!  (Feel the excitement!)

First up, the plane he flies.  (You are being spared from the 47 pictures of clouds and props and other planes.)  Twin engine Turbo Commander.  “The belly dragger”.

Our youngest son in a pot.  (This is OLD… probably four years old. I haven’t shaved his head in years.)

Me on the phone.  I don’t know who added the words… I doubt it was Rick.

Ok, had to put one landing strip on here to represent all the others…..  I have no idea where this is.  And shouldn’t he be holding the yoke with both hands???

Rick’s mum at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.  Cool Picture!

A field of wild sunflowers.  (See!  He is a romantic at heart!)

At a Capitals vs. Coyotes game.  Alexander Ovechkin leaving the ice… Keeve is the brown headed kid on the left side.  He got to TOUCH Ovie!

And of course, Sidney Crosby holding up Lord Stanley’s cup in June…. the youngest captain in the history of the NHL to win the cup.  Made Rick proud…  obviously… he took a picture of the TV with his cell phone!

Rick’s favorite place.. on Earth, I think.  Lake Tahoe.  There were MANY pictures of the lake! 

And lastly, our three darling children in amongst the lupine at Lake Tahoe.  There were probably 10 of these… and THIS really is the best one.  Simultaneous smiles without squinty eyes are hard to come by with these three.

There you have it, folks.  Out of 293 pictures, these pretty well sum it up.  The life of a pilot, hockey playing/coaching, husband and dad.  In less than ten minutes too!  Not bad.

ThE EaSy LiFe

Ahhhh, summer living.  The relaxed life.  No schedule.  Time on your hands.  No electronic games or movies (as per mom.)  What to do?  What to do?  A blanket fort, of course.  This shelter has been set up in our dining room since Monday.  The boys built it with their cousin, but Keeve is the sole soul sleeping in there, besides the dog.  Why sleep in your bed when you can sleep on the floor?  It’s not exactly “roughing it”.  Keeve brought Zaza’s lamp, his i-home, his gameboy, his hot wheels, his webkins (remember when they were just called stuffed animals?), his water bottle, his notepad and pen, and his light-up elf slippers, etc.  Luxury at his fingertips.

The other item in the photo that makes me laugh is the navy blue robe Keeve is sporting.  It was Rick’s “dorm shirt” from TWU “1&2 Lower” from 1985.  I remember him wearing it once or twice since then, but it is on the “extremely short” side of decent.  It is silky and has Chinese symbols on the collar and a big orange tiger on the back.  Keeve thinks it’s like Rocky’s boxing robe…. and ultimately cool.  Go figure!  I’ve tried to talk Rick out of keeping that robe for 24 years.   Finally, someone is wearing it and it’s not just taking up room in the closet. 

Maybe I should have kept my Michael Jackson white leather jacket???  Shoot!

Adoption News Today!

www.ZazasMama.wordpress.com

Three Bags Up at BFZ!

Yes, come one, come all.  There are three bags up for auction at Bags For Zaza this week.  We’ve been on summer holidays for a bit, but we’re back up and running, well, sewing.  There is something for everyone this week!  All the proceeds of this eco-friendly fundraiser go toward the adoption of our little Zaza from Colombia.  We have been impatiently waiting for her for over 2 1/2 years now, but with each day that passes, we’re one day closer to hugging and kissing her.

Without further ado, may I present THE BAGS:

#1 is a saucy little lavender number for a little girl or a lady who likes to pretend she’s a little girl.

#2 is a more sophisticated carrier bag that is fashioned after a “birding bag” with lots of pockets and a handy shoulder strap.

#3 is a handbag in the stylish colors of black & white with a splash of lime green thrown in there too.

So, if you please, go have a look at WAY more photos of each bag, make a bid or two, and PLEASE tell a few folks about our cause.  We are nearing the end of our wait… the thus our sewing time too, unfortunately. 

www.BagsForZaza.blogspot.com.  THANKS SO MUCH!

The Grassy Thinking Mat

Remember back when my son Keeve mowed the huge Q in the lawn?  Well, he’s back at it.  This time it is an 18″ square … the perfect size he tells me for sitting and thinking.  I saw the square about three minutes after the lawn mower shut off and I yelled out the door to get rid of the square.  But it seems the mower was already dragged through the side yard and out by the garage…. and the gate was shut and the cinder blocks were back in place so the dog won’t escape.  “Too late, Mom.”  Too late, my foot. 

The edging hasn’t been done in a long time, but WAS done while the grass was being mowed.  After the mower was put away, I took Keeve out there and showed him how the edges are all brown because the grass grew too long.  I also explained that the same thing would happen to the “thinking square”.  He just smiled.  It was 111* today, so I didn’t have the heart to send him out with scissors.  But tomorrow at 6:30 am it should only be in the high 80’s, the perfect temperature to cut grass with scissors.  Don’t ya think?

Just a Neighborhood BUG!

Keeve brought this up to me while I was sewing in the loft….. a comfy, little plastic home for his new bug.  A gigantic bug with red wings.  Of course he asked me what it was.  “I have no idea!”  I suggested looking up “red winged beetle” on google.  He couldn’t find it.  So Austin and Keeve sat at the kitchen table inspecting the big bug (and shaking the container, of course).  They did this for a long time and were very observant while noting the ‘bum movements’ and the pincers on the head.

Later last night we mentioned the big bug with red wings and my brilliant niece, Whitney, said, “OH!  I think that is a tarantula hawk wasp!”  She’s so smart.  So we looked THAT us on google and BINGO!  It is.

Aren’t the antennae in perfect curly-ques?  This is a nice photo by Paul Nylander (almost Nikander, my maiden name).  This bug is obviously dead because one of the traits of this tarantula hawk wasp is that they have a sting rated among the most painful in the insect world.  I found this enlightening explanation from a man who was stung, “…immediate, excruciating pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except, perhaps, scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations.”  Cool, huh?  The article also said the bug hardly ever stings without provocation….. hmmmmm, would that be like shaking the container???

THAT is why it is securely masking taped to the kitchen table… so as not to sting anyone.  I don’t like screaming.

Happy Independence Day!

One of our finer selections of reading material in our downstairs bathroom is a book about the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Talk about a group of men with convictions!  Talk about independent!  Holy Smokes!  They basically signed away their wealth, homes, families and property.  I don’t think any of them lived a long, happy life, like we are privileged to do today ONLY because of what they did 233 years ago.  We are indebted to these men.  Amazing men!  Men who knew the true value of freedom and liberty….  priceless!

Enjoy your day of food and fireworks… and don’t forget the fathers who made it all possible.