Wildlife Woes...

If we're friends on Facebook, there's no doubt you're familiar with our tales of wildlife that exist in our very own animal preservation area backyard....in fact, you may have grown weary of the oft repeated groundhog sightings.  But, we've reached a new level in the circle of life that constantly turns...

For those of you that are unaware of our animal adventures, allow me to enlighten you.  We live in a fairly crowded suburb of Pittsburgh.  From our house, we've walked to the McDonald's.  Giant Eagle slash shopping center is not much further than McD's.  The streets are busy and the sounds of sirens are a daily song.  When it's nice enough to have the windows open, one can hear what the neighbors are watching on t.v. (John and Patty are BIG Jeopardy fans!).  My point is, we do not live in the country! 

But you wouldn't know it by our animal population!  Stray cats?  Check!  Deer?  Check!  Four million squirrels?   Check!  Pigeons that the Jeopardy neighbors raise?  Check!  If you listen carefully, you can hear the sweet sounds of Barry White drifting out from under our shed...this is where the ever multiplying ground hogs live.

The other night, we heard what sounded like a deer rubbing it's antlers on a tree.  However, Jay being so wise to deer habits, knew that this was the wrong season for rubbin' so we listened closer.  Turned out to be some type of animal on animal crime.  Cats chasing each other or other critters is not so unusual...but this!  This was different.  Whatever was doing the chasing was fast (so, not a groundhog...they tend to waddle), heavy (so, not a fox) and had a low, guttural growl (so, not a cat or dog).  What then?  Jay posed the question to the Facebook world and immediately responses came back voting that it was a coyote!  COYOTE!!!!????  This could be dangerous!  Should we warn the neighbors?  Maybe send out an FYI note?

WARNING!!!!  THIS PART GETS GROSS!!!

Eh. We didn't do any of those things...but what we did do was smell something awful when we were in the backyard yesterday.  I thought it was garbage.  I was wrong, but man!  I wish I had been right!  Jay discreetly toured the edge of our property looking for the source of the stench.  Sure enough, he found the culprit.  It was a rabbit only identified as such by his little cotton tail and long hind legs.  Peter didn't have much of a head to speak of.  He did, however, have a colony of maggots munching away at where his face would've been.  Sorry for the graphic details...but UGH!  I know I have a lot of weird quirks and things I don't like or that freak me out...but maggots!  I truly have a nightmare inducing fear of maggots.  UGH!  YUCK!  BLECH!

So, what should we do with this discovery?  I voted for leaving it there, letting nature takes it's course, pray that the children didn't see it and forget the whole thing ever happened.  I mean, the smell would eventually dissipate, right?  Jay voted for disposing of the body.  For fear of maggots getting on him or (gasp!) in the house I vehemently opposed this choice!  No way!  Uh-huh!  Leave it be!  Get rid of it how?  Where?  No!

This evening as I was putting the kids to bed, Jay went out to mow the lawn.  After some time had passed with no hum of the mower, Jay came in to say the he had successfully scooped Peter into a heavy duty garbage bag.  Grrrrrrrr!  But now what?  We couldn't leave it in the garbage cans.  Did I mention our raccoon friends earlier?  Plus, with the recent heat, we've just created nature's own Easy Bake Oven.  Hmmmm?  Jay said he would take care of it and left...as in, put the bag in his trunk and drove away.  I'm going with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy on this one.

Now that Jay has changed clothes and thoroughly inspected all contaminated clothing (including the seams) and his trunk for lingering maggots, we're settling in to a quiet evening of listening to the birds chirp and critters run for their lives.

What is this????!!!!???? Seriously!

I know I've been lacking in any kind of interesting post as of late.  Maybe because I've been distracted by this....

Seriously....what in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks are these orange, claw like fingers growing out of the garden????  We have never seen these before, ever.  They have just sprouted...the last pic is of what I can only assume is the seed.  The seed is soft and squishy like a marshmallow.  It didn't smell like anything, though I can't really smell at all due to congestion...and yes, I know it's weird to smell stuff, but it's what I do.   It did provide a good opportunity to teach the kids that these are not in fact carrots or witch fingers and how produce grows and the unlikely nature of buried witches in the front yard.

Anywho....they're pretty creepy.  Any thoughts?

Sure do love this kid...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY 2 YEAR OLD BABY TREY!!!!!

Do me a favor and pretend that I wasn't as big as a house when I went to be induced...thanks.

Hit The Nail On The Head...errr Toe!

My kids don't wear shoes every time we play outside.  Whew!  I feel better now that I've confessed that tidbit. 

Sometimes, they might step on something sharp like a thorn or pine needle...nothing major.  Every once in a while, a scratch may occur from running, jumping, skipping or the like...again, no harm, no foul.  Or maybe the baby will pick up this....

and drop it on his teeny, tiny, baby big toe.  Oops.

As I was playing catch with The Bigs, I saw Trey monkeying with the 2x4 and thought not much of it.  Why is there a 2x4 in our front yard?   He had it in his hands for approximately 5 seconds before he dropped it.  He knew and I knew immediately that it was going to be bad.  I rushed over to him, scooped him up and his toe was already bleeding...a lot. 

After convincing Joe and Bella that no, Trey was not going to die, I shuffled everyone inside and put my non existent nursing skills to work...this included grabbing the nearest, cleanest wash cloth and calling Jay.  I just couldn't tell if Trey needed to go to the emergency room or not.  So, following Jay's advice, I put Trey in his high chair and gave him some blackberries and turned on some rockin' Fresh Beat Band.  He stopped crying, but his toe didn't stop bleeding.

Let me preface this next part with a disclaimer.  I LOVE our doctor's office.  The nurses are always helpful and make time for us, plus all the doctors are great with our kids.  But the following conversation was comical.  Being a tad flustered, I was tripping on my words at first trying to describe the situation.  This is what Jay heard from my side of the convo.  "Yes, he was barefoot." "Yes, a 2x4." "Right, outside, no shoes, a 2x4." "He'll be 2 next week." "Yep, barefoot."  Sigh...."We'll be right there."

The doctor and nurse were great, though, despite Trey's crying and screaming "HAVE A NICE DAY!" and waving Bye-Bye incessantly.  We were home in no time.

I took him this morning to get an x-ray...which was none too pleasant to keep a 2 year old occupied in an adult oriented waiting room and an hour long wait.  But all's well that ends well...no broken bones.

Trey is not bothered at all by his toe and look where we were tonight after dinner....

Outside...barefoot...again.  Don't tell on me, please.

No Love For The Ugly Ones....

At the recommendation of this girl I read this book.   "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers is admittedly my first foray into Christian fiction.  I LOVE to read!!!!  But, my true written love is gritty, crime solving, who-done-it type mysteries.  I had some reservations about this book from the get go...for one, I'm not a huge fan of period pieces (Redeeming Love takes place in the 1830's-50's).  I like my crimes to be solved using the latest technologies available.  Plus, I was worried that since it is a Christian novel complete with a study guide and group discussion section, it would be "watered down", "fluffy" or predictable...that the language would be juvenile, rife with "Gosh darn its" and "Oh mys".

But!  This was a GREAT read!  Rivers based the story off of the biblical story of Hosea, and immediately captures your emotions as she tell how young Sarah becomes a broken shell of a girl sold into prostitution at the tender age of 8!!!  As a young woman, Sarah, now known as "Angel", makes her way to gold country California where she continues to do the only thing she knows how and the men are willing to pay for it.  Yikes!  Along comes Michael, who has prayed for a wife and much to his surprise, the Lord leads him to Angel.  I don't want to give too much away...read the book yourself!!  Just know that it was hard to put the book down at night and I would look forward to the next time I would get to read more.

After I finished the book, I taunted Crafty P for her recommendation of a book with a HUGE flaw!  Truth be told, the book didn't have a big flaw...I just have a big chip on my shoulder.  Allow me to explain...throughout the book, Angel is described as beautiful.  More than just regular beautiful, but stop and stare beautiful...with long, silky blond hair, clear porcelain skin, all the right curves.  You're telling me that a hooker in the 1850's would be beautiful????  Let alone have all of her teeth???  I'm thinking more along the lines of lice infestation, bloated with infection (STD's aren't just modern day scare tactics, people!), missing teeth from lack of nutrients.  I want to yell that this reeks of a stereotypical romance novel, the beautiful girl, the handsome rugged man!  It's not fair, I say!  The other girls who "worked" with Angel were not portrayed as being as pretty...in fact they were described as fat and ugly and drunk.  Rivers clearly used more delicate language than that, but you get the point.

I get it though, no one wants to read about unattractive people getting together...can you imagine?  "His chubby, gnarled fingers stroked her scarred and pitted cheek as she looked down at his stout, bald frame."  Doesn't quite do it for ya, does it?  But for once, just once, couldn't an author create a less than gorgeous, quite regular looking main character and make the story work?  Why can't the ugly hooker get rescued?  I mean, if God is going to lead you to try to save a hooker, why not an ugly one?  However, Rivers writes in a way so that it IS believable.  She makes it crystal clear that while Angel may be beautiful on the outside, she looks more like Quasimodo on the inside.

I guess I have just always been jealous of the beautiful blonds.  Just now I fixed my ponytail and almost started a fire with my dry as kindling, knotted mess of dark curls.  As a kid, I would wrap a yellow blanket around my head and pretend I had long, flowing locks.  While all the girls were feathering their hair a la Farrah Fawcett, I was stuck with a stylish Gilda Radner look.  Alas, I tried being a blond for about 6 months a decade ago...and it just didn't work...plus, it burned a lot.  So, I have resigned myself to the fact that if I were to be cast in a movie of this book, I would be the drunk hooker that gets killed in a fire.

Oh well.  It's still a good book.  I think I'll read it again...which I never do.  That's how much I enjoyed it.

Security Blankets

As spring is gloriously upon us, I've been inspired to do some unusual cleaning.  Today, I cleaned the plastic silverware tray!  Jay saw that I had cleaned it and said "Finally!"...before you jump to a feminist conclusion, he meant that he had been wanting to clean it for some time, too.  I had just beaten him to the Magic Eraser.

My next target of cleanliness is a bit more vulnerable for me to share.  And, you'll probably think it's a funny thing to be worried about....it's....my....make up box!

It's a silly thing to feel vulnerable about, dontcha think?  But, still...I don't like for people to watch me put on my make up, or to dig through my stuff, touching the brushes, testing the colors...whatever.  To me, it's a private thing.  But!  My word for the year is progress, right?  So there you have it...my box of make up.  And, occasionally, it needs to be cleaned.

I wash the brushes with a special brush shampoo, wipe off all the pots, and wash out the box itself.

Ahhhhh, so much better, right?

Whenever I clean my make up and put the box back in it's drawer (safe from prying eyes), I remember that starting in junior high, I would carry in my purse every make up item I owned.  Leaving the house without it just simply never happened.  What if I had a make up emergency?  What if I needed to reapply?  What if I wasn't going to make it home by morning and would need it for the next day?  The latter actually happened quite a bit, but I never thought to carry a toothbrush with me...or clean clothes...or a sense of responsibility.  What are the chances that I would find myself in a situation that would wash every speck of make up off my face while in a public place?  Zero!  I don't recall a single situation that required a reapplication of all my make up.  

It has only been a few years since I got over carrying that security blanket with me.  Now, I'm strictly a lipstick and mirror girl!

However, I've realized that I have another security blanket lurking in my purse, right now.  I always, always, always check to make sure I have an extra hair band with me.  If I think I don't have an extra band, I immediately check my hair to see if my current band is coming loose or if pins have shifted.  What hair catastrophe is around the next corner?  What could I use as an alternative hair accessory?  Do I have a pen I could use to pin up my unruly hair?

Why do I torment myself with these seemingly unnecessary burdens?  What's the worst that could happen?  Logically, I know the answer is nothing, but still I cling to a small ring of elastic to provide comfort....oh, and chap stick and sunglasses, too!  Woosh!!!  More progress to be made, my friends!

Care to share any security blankets you're carrying around?

Finally! He is Risen!

So, my Easter post is a week late...can't be worse than last Easter , right?  This year, every single one of us was healthy enough to enjoy the celebration of our risen Lord...and chocolate bunnies. 

In the past, I have lamented my lack of creativity surrounding holidays.  It's as if I'm always caught unaware...like I didn't know the holiday was coming up.  It would seem we were heading down the same path for this Easter...UNTIL, my super creative-only needs a few hours of sleep-can do anything-sister-in-law, Cathy, saved my oblivious-over whelmed by laundry-distracted by Facebook-beeehind.  She mailed the kids coloring pages and a recipe for Easter cookies.  But not just any Easter cookies.  As you follow the recipe, there is Scripture to go with each step and the final results aren't revealed until Easter morning!  How cool is that?  Saturday night was filled with coloring eggs and cookie baking....

Here's what Stinky Lee MaGee decided to occupy himself with....

Trey kindly threw all the Tupperware from the drawer into the sink before standing in it...

Joe did a great job reading from his Bible while we followed the recipe for these special cookies.

Good thing Bella wanted to help hold the mixer...the recipe said to beat the mixture for 12 to 15 minutes!!

When the cookies were on the sheet, we put them in the pre-heated oven, turn the oven off (what?), waited till morning...when viola! The cookies are hollow!  Empty!  Just like Jesus' tomb!

As I was reading the corresponding Scripture, Bella interrupted me by yelling "I GOT A CHOCOLATE BUNNY!" and running out of the kitchen....her lack of attention may explain why she woke us up that morning by whispering (very loudly) "God is prison!"..."What, Bella??!!"..."God is prison!"..."Oh, you mean 'Jesus is risen!'"...."He is risen indeed!"..."Right, go back to bed, Bella."

We played our cards right by waiting until before dinner to try to get a nice picture instead of before church when we're rushing and cranky.  Pretty cute, I'd say.

And no day in the Mitlo house would be complete without some kind of "incident"...

I thanked him for his patience while I ran to get the camera.

Happy Easter!