Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Actually, I Need To Go To Work So I Can Rest

I'm tired..so tired! Once again, I was inspired (or crazy) and went at the front today like a woman possessed. The kids helped me haul all those gray bricks to the backyard, and then I spent forever digging and moving and adjusting and blah blah, and the end result is that I am finally happy with the border in the front flowerbed. I hated the gray bricks, we threw them in just to have a border, so now I am incredibly happy. This is more the "cottage garden" look that suits the style and color of house we have.


And lo and behold, the peonies that died last year? I moved my fairies away from the base of the tree and what did I find....two peonies growing. (the red little spears poking up). I am happy because they lived, but um, if this tree is still infested with ash mites, then we have to chop it down and are putting an apple tree in there instead....I wonder if I should just move them to the front flowerbed now, instead of later and replant more when the apple tree in is.....
And now that my front yard is so lovely, the backyard is a shithole :)

Now I have to put in the gray bricks as my border on the flowerbeds, and that is going to SUCK, because they are all going to be halfway into the ground because I want a very short border, only enough to discern where the bed starts, and to keep the grass out. Lots of digging and swearing under my breath will ensue the next two days (barring there is no rain)

I Need To Get Back To Working

Meep I am spending too much money LOL! I need to get back working to occupy my time instead. Or just make more that I can spend ;)

I popped to Walmart to pick up some plants, found my Northcountry blueberries that looked especially healthy and I am gonna give them a shot.I don't know many people who have been successful, they are finicky with their PH levels, but its only two shrubs that I may possible kill.

And my raspberries, which are going back, because they are only good to Zone 5/6. WTF. Can you just NOT stock plants that won't survive in Alberta? ( we are zone 3a) Please? OR at least just put it on the container or the card in the description. Blech, all the way back to return them. I am so not into babying plants that may not make it.

These MIGHT be ok in our Zone.....I am going to try them along the fence where they might winter ok.....
And my lupines with their waterdroplets after the rain...they are all coming back SO beautifully!

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Bag Book

Well Jane, I haven't yet taken a picture of my totes and my reusable bags for you, I will tomorrow post my collection lol, BUT I will also post this book that I am picking up for the kids tomorrow, and will include in the picture the bag that they get with it. Unfortunately, I was through the checkout when I saw it, and it was SO busy at Save On tonight, there was no way I was going through again! So I will pop out in the morning, because Mr K was incredibly excited about it, and so am I actually LOL! I was very disappointed that I didn't find this before all the birthdays that just occurred this spring :( I have been trying to think of some that are coming up that would like this..... WHAT a great gift!


Product Description

Help save the planet one bag at a time! Teach your child to be eco-friendly and conserve the earths precious resources! Its never too early to learn the importance of reusing, reducing and recycling. My Bag Me follows a child and his reusable shopping bag on a trip to the grocery store. By the end of the story, your child will say Paper and plastic no more!Includes a FREE reusable Tyvek shopping bag! Children can tote on their next shopping trip to show-off their eco-awareness!

Hen and Chicks

I potted this up for Mike's desk at work...he has been wanting something and I adore these plants.

And So It Begins...

And here start the gardening posts.....and my counter space is limited for the next week and half. Its almost time to plant! After a nice morning having friends over, I was inspired to dig out my new flowerbeds while the kids played outside. Then we popped to Canadian Tire to search for a de-thatcher blade for the mower, and ending up drooling over the peonies there. And I grabbed 3. my green thirst is quenched for the moment.

Mr K has completely claimed the middle one as his own, he was lugging it around the store and calling it his own from the moment we bought it, and The Princess picked the red one as hers. But Mr K loves the fact that his is named Karl :) so it will be one that goes in the backyard, I need two for the front flowerbed as well....I love how many lessons we get out of this every year, its amazing what can spark their interest. We are going to have a great summer watching the ants and discussing the symbiotic relationship between them and the peonies, he literally CAN'T wait for the ants to start eating the wax away, he is fascinated by this concept. Even tho they don't really need the ants so they can open, I think its so cool how the ants love them.




Monday, May 05, 2008

Study shows breast-fed children are smarter (this doesn't suck)

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said on Monday.

Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported.

About half the 14,000 babies were randomly assigned to a group in which prolonged and exclusive breast-feeding by the mother was encouraged at Belarussian hospitals and clinics. The mothers of the other babies received no special encouragement.

Those in the breast-feeding encouragement group were, on average, breast-fed longer than the others and were less likely to have been given formula in a bottle.

At 3 months, 73 percent of the babies in the breast-feeding encouragement group were breast-fed, compared to 60 percent of the other group. At 6 months, it was 50 percent versus 36 percent.

In addition, the group given encouragement was far more likely to give their children only breast milk. The rate was seven times higher, for example, at 3 months.

The children were monitored for about 6 1/2 years.

The children in the group where breast-feeding was encouraged scored about 5 percent higher in IQ tests and did better academically, the researchers found.

Previous studies had indicated brain development and intelligence benefits for breast-fed children.

But researchers have sought to determine whether it was the breast-feeding that did it, or that mothers who prefer to breast-feed their babies may differ from those who do not.

The design of the study -- randomly assigning babies to two groups regardless of the mothers' characteristics -- was intended to eliminate the confusion.

'MOTHERS WHO BREAST-FEED ... ARE DIFFERENT'

"Mothers who breast-feed or those who breast-feed longer or most exclusively are different from the mothers who don't," Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children's Hospital said in a telephone interview.

"They tend to be smarter. They tend to be more invested in their babies. They tend to interact with them more closely. They may be the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more," added Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

The researchers measured the differences between the two groups using IQ tests administered by the children's pediatricians and by ratings by their teachers of their school performance in reading, writing, math and other subjects.

Both sets of scores were significantly higher in the children from the breast-feeding promotion group.

The study was launched in the mid-1990s. Kramer said the initial idea was to do it in the United States and Canada, but many hospitals in those countries by that time had begun strongly encouraging breast-feeding as a matter of routine.

The situation was different in Belarus at the time, he said, with less routine encouragement for the practice.

Kramer said how breast-feeding may make children more intelligent is unclear.

"It could even be that because breast-feeding takes longer, the mother is interacting more with the baby, talking with the baby, soothing the baby," he said. "It could be an emotional thing. It could be a physical thing. Or it could be a hormone or something else in the milk that's absorbed by the baby."

Previous studies have shown babies whose mothers breast-fed them enjoy many health advantages over formula-fed babies.

These include fewer ear, stomach or intestinal infections, digestive problems, skin diseases and allergies, and less risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breast-feed their infants for at least the first six months, with it continuing at least through the first year as other foods are introduced. (Editing by Maggie Fox and Stacey Joyce)


Whooeee, a lot of people are going to be up in arms about some of the comments in this article, and can't say that I blame them!

"They tend to be smarter. They tend to be more invested in their babies. They tend to interact with them more closely. They may be the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more," added Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

Um, OUCH? I think that generalizes a bit too much, and they almost redeem it with saying how having to breastfeed brings you physically closer, possibly more talking, but um, that was some trash talking! I think they should have worded that a mite bit better!

This Is The Suck Too


FFS. This was one of my favorite Stephen King short stories, and they changed the ending in the movie to one that reaches supreme suckiness level. Yah yah, its all shocking and you never saw it coming (um CAUSE YOU MADE IT UP AND ITS NOT IN THE BOOK) and just a bloody horrible ending. Mike was mad at me (as he rightfully should be) for me choosing the movie and told me it was the suckiest movie ever. We are now both surfing the net filling our heads with useless crap to get "unscarred" before bed.

I wonder how many times can I blog today using the word sucks and variations of it?

Suckety Sucks Day

You know, I have had better days. Truly better, more enjoyable, happier days. Ever have a day start out nicely, then just go downhill from there? I had a nice time at the playground with friends and their kids, shopped at Superstore, then headed home, and it just all went to shit once we got there. I usually don't really complain, I don't like real whiners, but man, I am COMPLAINING now.

Mr K slammed The Princess's hand in the door and ripped her pointer finger nail off. Like OFF. I freaked of course, slapped a bandage on there, and went to the medicenter. Now, I must admit, this center is well prepared and efficient for things that are slightly more of an emergency. They asked what was wrong, pulled her file immediately, and ushered me into what must be the room saved for emergencies. The nurse cut off the bandage, took one look, and the doctor was there almost immediately after she left to get him. He snipped off the one little skin thread that had the nail attached, talked to me about how long it will take to heal, (months, but it will grow back) and what to watch for and when to come back in. . Obviously I have learned NOT to go to emerg at a hospital with things like this, that its SO efficient to go to a medicenter instead. Who knew?

Anyhow. She was all cleaned and bandaged and care for, Dora bandaids were bought to cheer her up, since she will be wearing them a looong while. We head home, kids get tv.

I take out the Broccoli Rabe that I picked up at Superstore to try for the first time ever, and rip off a piece, wash it up really well cause it looked like it had dirt on it, and try it out. Meh not bad.

Except for the part when my throat swelled up.

Now I didn't freak out, oddly enough Brazil nuts make my throat itch and swell a little, not that I eat them anymore lol, thanks, next time might be fatal. So I really didn't think much other than, ah shit, here's something else I am allergic to, and what the hell? A green plant? Nice allergy Karlynn.

Until my voice changed. I went to talk to the kids and effing freaked the mother f-ing out when my voice sounded like a man's who had something stuck in his throat and I realized that swallowing wasn't really working that well. So I called up Mike, who also absolutely freaked out because you couldn't even recognize me by my voice. So he stayed on the phone until my voice started coming back and the swelling went down enough that I wasn't terrified anymore.

A pic of the lovely rabe before it went into the garbage.


So weird, I was telling Mike that I know I washed the hell outta the little piece I ate, it had dirt on it, so I scrubbed it really well, so I actually don't think I can contribute it to a pesticide that might have been on it. I did google it and found a few people have had reactions to it, so weird.

Now tho, I think its time I teach Mr K how and when to dial 911...which actually Mike thought of first and I agree....and perhaps some benadryl kept on hand as well.

Speaking of which I was an ass and when talking to my dad later, didn't pick up on the other line when mike called like 3 times, and it didn't clue in why he would call so much. He was flipping out, thinking I am dead on the floor and ready to call 911 by the time I called him back. Whoops.

So that was my day. My throat still hurts and my chest is sore as well from it and I feel like a truck hit me, this day has officially kicked my ass.

But tomorrow is another day!

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Reading and Read....

I finished reading Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, which was an excellent book, highly recommend it! I also finished On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons, which was a pleasant surprise. It had been sitting on my shelf forever and I finally pulled it out and read it within a few days.

I am tackling this one next, so far its good. Thanks to Beckie who not only watched my kids, but let me pillage her bookshelf when I picked them up LOL!

Next is finding more of those "Women of the Underworld" series...Bitten was SO darn good, I need to find more!