Jude says Good Morning!

This is how the comic of the family woke me up this morning! There's nothing like this cuteness to start off your morning right!

This is Weird

I have just discovered StumbleUpon. If you don't know what that is, you're really missing out. It's basically a little gadget that you download onto your computer, you tell it all of your interests, and then you click the button and it "stumbles" you onto something you never knew was out there. So here are some of stumbles this week:

List of Big A*s Holes: I feel like a dummy not knowing that any of these existed....crazy what man does to get at diamonds!
The 12 year old McDonald's Hamburger. This was just put in a Tupperware, never preserved in any other way. I do believe I'll never eat at McDonald's again!

The Dollar Shirt:

Of course, these are the weird ones, there were several interesting and helpful links and blogs I found that I liked. Definately addictive, especially when you're stuck at the computer working like me!

Rhythm & Roots Festival

This weekend we ventured out to the Rhythm & Roots Festival in Bristol for the first time since we moved here. On Saturday it was free for the kids & I, so we went and enjoyed music and yummy food! Bluegrass, Country, Folk & Celtic music abounded. Sweet sounds of banjos, mandolins, and sliding guitars traveled from each of the stages on State Street. We even saw someone playing a bottle! On Sunday we decided to go as a family, and as we walked up a family about to enter gave us 2 tickets that they couldn't use. Another FREE day at the festival! What a blessing! Here are some pics of the festival:

The weather was perfect, fall is in the air, and we are eagerly awaiting the leaves changing!

p.s. L-the 2nd pic is 4 u

Toby & Zane's new blog

Toby & Zane wanted to start their own blog: http://www.fournarow.blogspot.com/. You will have to request permission to read it, and then I'll approve you. Have fun reading it!

Our new baby

No, I'm not pregnant. I know a few of you out there are sighing of relief...stop it! We have this beautiful and soo sweet kitty who decided to adopt us as her new family. She is so sweet, and the kids have named her Kit. She's outside most of the time, although we do have her in some. Isn't she sweet?!

Our little Ballerina

Oh man is she excited about her new ballet classes! One hour every Monday for girlie pursuits without stinky boys. Let me tell you, she is thrilled! We hop next door to the library to catch up on whatever homeschooling was interrupted that week, and she flitters around like a fairy! Isn't she pretty:)

Lego Maniac

Isn't this an ingenious Lego creation:

From my equally ingenious Lego Creator:

This is one handsome Lego Maniac!


This is what I love about homeschooling, I don't have to miss a beat!

On a Lighter Note...

Found this poem while blog surfing. Especially funny to me, since we only have 1 bathroom!

Attention Children:
The Bathroom Door is Closed!
Author Unknown



Please do not stand here and talk, whine, or ask questions. Wait until I get out.

Yes, it is locked. I want it that way. It is not broken. I am not trapped.

I know I have left it unlocked, and even open at times since you were born, because I was afraid some horrible tragedy might occur while I was in there, but it's been 10 years and I want some PRIVACY.

Do not ask me how long I will be. I will come out when I am done.

Do not bring the phone to the bathroom door.

Do not go running back to the phone yelling: "She's in the BATHROOM!"

Do not begin to fight as soon as I go in.

Do not stick your little fingers under the door and wiggle them. This was only funny when you were two.

Do not slide pennies, Legos, or notes under the door. Even when you were
two, this got a little tiresome.

If you have followed me down the hall talking, and are still talking as you face this closed door, please turn around, walk away and wait for me in another room. I will be glad to listen to you when I am done.

Oh ... And yes, I still love you.

Mom

Passionate Plea

Everyone of late is heated up in one form or another over their candidate of choice. We all have our issues that push our buttons and drive us to one side or the other. But one thing I've noticed is an issue VERY important to our future, our citizens, and our environment is being ignored. If you know me, you know I'm not going to hug a polar bear in order to save its life. I'm all for being a good steward, not an extremist. But the issue of "clean coal" is being ignored, and we are being fleeced. Here in Appalachia, the mountains are being strip mined to get at the coal that powers over 50% of the country. Imagine explosives the power of a Hiroshima bomb without the radiation, blowing up a mountain. Now imagine living in the town nearby. Millions of acres of mountains, the size of the State of Delaware have been decimated to get to the coal. Children have died, cancer has risen, and house values have gown down. This is truly an atrocity, as newsworthy and tragic as Katrina, Ike or any other natural disaster. But our news channels remain silent. I write about it, because most people have NO idea. If we did, this would have been a practice banned long ago. Read the facts here:

http://ran.org/campaigns/global_finance/resources/the_dirty_truth_about_clean_coal/
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/81731
http://www.radioopensource.org/coal-mountaintop-removal-in-appalachia/
And please watch this video:

After you get done crying, get outraged that this is happening, and tell everyone you know. Visit www.ilovemountains.org and sign the petition, and email it to your whole address book! We have to start demanding that big money stops funding coal, which can NEVER be clean, and start funding renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal. Thanks for listening to my rant! I wrote more on my other blog: www.mamagoesgreen.blogspot.com

Last Garden Bounty

This is the last bounty from the garden...our tomatoes did really well. Go figure! The thing I was worried about the most, produced the best! 3 eggplants-they look big and fat, and 2 green bell peppers. Although we got every common pest for every one of our plants, there were only a few plants that didn't give us anything. No cucumbers, or melons, and only tiny carrots. I've definately learned a thing or two though. We will be planting garlic and beans soon, and then plant a large plot next year, ready with row covers and beneficial nematodes in hand:)

Visiting Friends

This was us then:

This is us now:

14 years later! My friend Michele has been in Tennessee, and we've had a fun week of visiting back and forth. She lives a glamorous life in Paris for 6 months of the year and Puerto Rico for the other half. Thankfully, her parents live a couple of hours from here, so when she visits we'll be able to get together. Her little boy Lorenzo is adorable, and had lots of fun with our bunch. We visited the Knoxville Zoo, and then headed to the Smoky Mountain National Forest and saw bears and ran some energy out.

This week Michele and Lorenzo paid us a visit, and we spent some time on the trail, riding our bikes. It was lots of fun, despite the downpour that caught us 10 minutes in! But soaking wet, we kept on riding! We even got to see a deer up close as we rode:

Maybe next time we can go to Paris for our adventures!