I Wonder Who Came Up With THESE Toys

Every once in a while toy companies try to become inovative and 'new' by coming out with toys that are truely unique.

Not all are automatic hits.



Here is one from the Star Wars collection.

Why yes, that is the dead mangeled bodies of Owen and Aunt Beru as action figures!

Okay kids, who wants to shave a baby!?







And here is something that I saw yesterday at Toys R Us.
Because kids like playing with poop and according to this guy its fun, especially for boys.

Now's the Time to Start Gardening!

I went  grocery shopping yesterday and I was shocked at high the food prices had gone up in one week! Chicken alone was $1.77 a pound when just a couple of weeks ago I was paying $1.17 a pound. You don't even want to know how much the best cut of steaks were going for! ($8.78 a pound if you were wondering.) Why is this happening?

If you have been watching CNN  or anything not to do with the Olympics you might have noticed news casters talking about how farmers have been growing increased amounts of corn. Even those who didn't usually grow large amounts of corn were starting to grow it since it was supposed to be more profitable. Now as of yesterday it was announced that about 50% of our nations farm land (mainly growing corn) is now considered a disaster area and the government is now trying to assist them. Not all the crops in that area are failing but a good portion of them are.

The drought has been so bad that the crops have failed since many of the farmers didn't have water reserves or towers for their crops. What does that mean for us? Supply and demand. Less supply, higher demand means higher prices. Yesterday on CNN it was even projected that food prices will take another leap up. Everything from vegetables to meat and to make matters worse the full effect of the drought is expected to be fully felt until 2013. So start gardening now! As you may know I am a pessimist at heart and I don't like to give up luxury food items so I am taking this seriously since I am on a fixed budget with three growing kids.




CNN: How the drought could hit your wallet.

Mommy, What Does 'Give Him an Inch and He'll Take the Whole Foot' Mean?

Mommy, what does "give 'em an inch and they'll take the whole foot" mean?


Well, remember when we were at the beach and I was trying to get sunblock on you while your sister won't stop nagging to hurry up? I told her she can only get her feet wet and not to go any further. She went in and each time a wave hit she kept on going further in even though I was telling her to get back over here but I couldn't yell because there were other people around and I didn't want to look trashy by yelling. Then I had to run in there after her because she went all the in chasing a wave after I told her not to. Then like just like Murphy's Law a big wave comes in and knocks her down!

I told her to only go far enough to get her feet wet and what does she do? She runs all the way in like a lunatic and gets hit by a wave freaking out making me look like horrible mother. We left because I couldn't handle the shame of all those hypocritical eyes staring at me. Give your sister an inch and she'll take the whole foot! and usually ends up making me look bad.

Growing Your Own Fruit & Veg For Dummies Review

Growing Your Own Fruit and Veg for Dummies, UK Edition by Geoff Stebbings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is truly the 'go to' book and should be read from front to back by anyone new to gardening. Those with a little more experience can still use this a good reference book. It covers everything from soil preparation to recommended varieties of fruits and veggies. Those not in the UK can still use this book with a little common sense as to figuring out what doesn't apply to you.

It starts with soil preparation, dealing with pests, then the rest of the book goes into how to grow certain types of plants. It does a pretty good job describing and has a few illustrations. However, for it to be a true beginner book I think it should have added more illustrations and how to encourage beneficial insects.

The non-UK specific version of this book is "Vegetable Gardening For Dummies, 2nd edition" The table of contents is similar but doesn't start logically by starting with soil preparation as the UK version does. There are other more generalized gardening books such as Gardening All-In-One, Basic Gardening, and Organic Gardening for any non UK readers. I am in the US but read this book since oddly enough this book is easier to get a hold on then the Vegetable Gardening version.

My general recommendation for this book is a must have for new gardeners, however, those with a few years of successful gardening under their belt will not get much out of this.

View all my reviews

Who's Child Is This?

Yesterday I really looked at my oldest daughter. I mean really looked. And what I saw was a long legged kid with a high pony tail and a thin face. All I could think was Is this really MY kid? When did this happen? Where was I? OMG I'm old!

To make matters worse she is starting 1st grade. At least when she was in kindergarten I fooled myself into thinking that it's not 'official' grade school since it doesn't have a number on it. (I was in severe denial)

My baby, my toddler, my preschooler is gone and all I have are pictures to remember her by. In replacement I have been given a young girl. I feel just as lost as when she became a toddler and then a preschooler.

What am I going to do with this kid? I mean, I just got the hang of that preschooler stuff and now we're moving on already? This feels so sudden to me even when it was staring at me right in the face. I know I still have two younger kids but I'm not ready to let go of my first baby.

I'm pretty sure she thinks I've gone slightly crazy by all the squeezing hugs and how I seem to randomly stare at her.

As always, I am starting a new adventure with my 1st born into another phase of life. Wish me luck and God help me!

The War on Aphids

Remember a while back when I complained about my aphid problem? Well it's not going so well. I was wondering why are those buggers still alive! I took a closer look and noticed that they weren't even on the leaves anymore, and they are flying now. WTF?

I did some research and apparently they're root aphids. I've never had this problem but it explains a lot. I noticed that my plants had stunted growth but I just thought it was from those normal aphids. Well these guys are a little harder to get rid of but it isn't as outrageously out of control anymore but there are still lots. I swear my soil looked like New York on New Years Eve, but with aphids. And if that wasn't bad enough the ants have been farming them and I have gone from two stubborn colonies to about 10 ant hills and they all bite, hard.

I couldn't get a good enough picture (they're really small and my camera sucks) but click here for a link to pictures of what they look like.

I'll be post what works and what doesn't help get rid of root aphids in a couple weeks.

Aesop's Fables for Kids

I just wanted to share this YouTube  playlist of cartoons of Aeosp's Fables. My kids really liked it and actaually sat through the whole thing.