Progress and Pumpkins

First off, a report on my new endeavor. After much ado and a slow internet connection, I think I finally have the software downloaded and installed to start my app creating process. I know I said that a couple of days ago, but found myself downloading and installing more platform stuff last night. But... I finally created the infamous 'hello world' (or in this case 'hello android' app, and ran it successfully. Boy, my Droid simulator pulled up and posted the text and everything. I know, big deal, but that just means I'm ready to go! Now it's off to reading all this grand text about how to get a little more creative than 'Hello'. Laugh all you want, but it's a start and I'm on my way!

Now for the pumpkins... my little daughter and I picked a pumpkin out of our squash patch today. Just a little fellow, only slightly bigger than a softball, but bright orange and handsome. Now how a pumpkin got there is bit of a mystery. We're talking about a raised bed that was the home to watermelons last year. We started the seeds indoors early this spring and planted the plants a couple of months ago. I don't know if the place we ordered the seeds from got a seed into the wrong package or if my daughter (my seed-starter helper) grabbed a seed out of the wrong package. Either way, it was a pleasant surprise. I'm kind of amazed that it grew so quickly. The actual pumpkin plants we started at the same time (the ones we put in the pumpkin patch) are growing right along, but don't even have baby pumpkins yet. Who knows, but she was excited today and so was I!

Happy day to all.

Pictures

I have been noticing for a while now that every picture hanging up in this house is crooked. How can that be? Don't you think that at least one of them would be straight? They all started out ok. My husband says 'at least they all slant to the right'. What a comedian. I'll add fixing them to the list of things I have to do.

So, the big question is .... how did I do getting my act together last week? So, so. I did work on my web site a bit. I was very enthused for a short time, had several pages going (yes, at the same time), and would just get going when one of the kids would walk up wanting something and then another would snag the computer as soon as I got up to go take care of the first. Now I do realize that I could do this after the kids went to bed - but are you ready for it - I've been busy trying to download all the software necessary to get going designing apps for smart phones. I'm thinking the Droid. After three nights of downloading over a slow internet connection (and falling to sleep at the computer waiting for them to complete at least one night) I think I'm ready to see what I can do. I'm going to start with some small sample apps just to make sure I can compile and take it from there. Hope it all works out!

Father's day was nice, even though my husband spend most of his day working outside at the family farm out in West Texas. We got to play with grandma in the nice air conditioned house. He did get back early enough to enjoy dinner with us and play a game or two outside with the kids and I before heading back in for the evening. Just for the record, the kids beat us at Bocce (he got it new for Father's day and the kids were itching to try it out). We didn't even let them win, they just outplayed us. The little stinks!

Here's to another great week!

Getting my act together

I've been very slack at blogging lately, but not to worry, I've been very slack at everything lately. I seem to have gotten myself into a rut of nothingness. This has been going on for some time, and it needs to stop. NOW! I have recently been trying to pull myself out of this pit and get myself back in gear. Now mind you, I have kept the kids clean and fed and still do a bit of housework (when absolutely necessary), but my creativity has been on hold.

So here's the plan: I'm going to treat my evenings like I did when I was still working. I have a web site to get up and running, a business to start, a book or two to finish writing and many crafts projects to start and/or finish. It seems that when I keep my mind busy, my body follows suit. Who knows, maybe I'll start keeping the house a little better too!

So, by this time next week, I plan to be able to report progress. Maybe I'll even have my website up. You know, they're not even hard to do if one sits down and actually works on them. Sigh.

Now I'm off to fix lunch - my munchkins are hungry!

Survivalist blog

Ok, so my husband saw a blog the other day that was giving away some things. Looks good to me.

M.D. Creekmore over at the The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – is giving away a Go Berkey Water Filter System (a $139.00 value)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.

The blog looks pretty interesting. I haven't visited it much yet, but I plan on correcting that situation. It's always good to be prepared and it looks like this blog might help in my endeavors to become so.

My house is turning into a zoo

When my youngest turned four in January, she announced that she wanted a snake for her birthday. Well, being the open-minded mom that I am, I said ok. We took her to the pet store and she picked out her snake. A lovely red and white corn snake. She was happy. Her brothers, not to be outdone, cleaned out their piggy banks. We came home with a red-eared slider and an anole. Then the daughter decided she wanted a bird. She still had the money her grandmothers gave her for her birthday, so back to the pet store we went. She now has a zebra finch in her room. And a small catfish. Let's see, that means that in the house we have a fire-belly toad, a leopard gecko, a corn snake, a finch, a fish, a red-eared slider and an anole. That's enough for me. Add that to the two dogs, five rabbits and thirty or so chickens outside, and I'm beginning to think I live at the zoo. The good news is that the kids are out of money now, so the zoo isn't going to be expanding any time soon.

I'm sure that when the kids are in college, I'll look back on this time and chuckle, but for now, I'm tired of running to the pet store and feed store every week!

Ahhh, isn't life an adventure!

A good day for the boys

Along with all the other things the kids do around here, the oldest three take piano lessons. Their teach offered to prepare them for a competition this year. You're essentially competing against yourself. The child must preform an age appropriate piece in front of the judges. Any child who plays their song correctly (or at least close enough) wins a medal. Well, today all three of our boys went to the competition and came home with gold medals. Good going boys!

We rushed right from there over to their soccer game and let them go to it. The older two play and are on the same team. They usually play defense, but the coach saw the opportunity to let some of the kids play offense that usually don't get the chance. Son #2 got his chance and scored his first goal! As this is his fourth season to play on the same team, this was quite an accomplishment.

We got home very content with the way the turned out and also very tired. I guess that's a fair enough end to a great day!

I'm out of shape!

Can I blame it on the cold weather that I am so out of shape? I don't think so, as this is Texas and the weather really doesn't get all that cold here. I might try it anyway.

My husband and I went traipsing around the back acres yesterday in search of firewood. Mind you, the whole property is only 18 acres, so we didn't have miles to hike. We found several fallen logs, one standing dead tree, and one great big tree that the power company cut down a couple of years ago when they were clearing the lines. A few minutes with the chainsaw and we had a nice pile of wood to drag back up to the house. That's where the trouble began. A garden wagon load of wood is heavy, and the trail was muddy. I would say steep too, but that would be a bit of an exaggeration. It was uphill though and we had to make several trips (read that with a bit of a whine). Talk about getting tired! I had to rest time and time again pushing that stinkin' wagon back up to the house. My husband was pulling, and had the harder job. My eight year old son proved to be more help than I was! The good news is that we did get the job done, and now have a nice stack of wood on the back porch, as well as a dandy fire. The bad news is that I'm obviously somewhat of a wimp.

I've got to start getting more exercise.