Contrary to the matter

Elderberry in my back yard!!

2012-09-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Common Elderberry in Flower with Immature Berries
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Elderberry.html

I am fascinated with wild edibles. I am working on one day being able to forage with out fear. Right now there is lots of fear of poisonous look alikes. Today I think I had a break through! I am 98% percent sure I have an elderberry bush growing in the woods behind my house!! Serously it was like finding gold in my backyard!!

What did we do before technology? Seriously? Thank god I had my phone with me this afternoon when the kids and I went for a trek through the woods. We were just wondering around looking at bees's nest and hunting frogs when we came upon a patch of wild flowers. Wild flowers that I'm convinced is golden seal, but that's another post. I broke out my phone and started looking through wild medicinal herbs when this picture came up.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Elderberries2007-08-12.JPG)

Wait!! What the hell I just saw that!! Kid's come back this way!!! So we walk back over to the spot where I had seen the bush, thinking nothing more of it then bird berries. OH WOW!! I think that really is Elderberry!! But then the rational brain kicks in, waaaiiiit what if that is not elderberry? What if its a look alike? What else looks like elderberry? Why is there and elderberry bush in my back yard? etc. etc.

So I took lots of pictures.

Tonight I have been scouring the internet looking for plant look alikes. The most common I have found:

Poison Hemlock:

(http://www.mdinvasivesp.org/images/conium_flwrs_klk.jpg)

Which is really only confused with elderberry in the flowering stage

Flowering Elderberry:

(http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Elderberry.html)

Another common plant that is mistaken for elderberry

Poke Berry:

(http://steveweems.com/blog/index.php?title=poke_berries&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1)

Notice the grape like cluster of the Pokeberry. Compared to the umbrella clusters that the elderberry has

I actually found pokeberry growing right next to my elderberry

Another identifying feature of the poke berry is the leaf pattern. Pokeberry leaves grow in an alternate pattern while the Elderberry leaves grow opposite of each other.

Pokeberry

Elderberry

Got all that? Don't worry I'm doing plenty of homework on the subject. Word of caution to anyone that thinks they might also have elderberry, please don't eat anything you are not 100% sure of what it is. Pokeberries and Poison Hemlock are extremely poisonous and could kill you. Do your homework too!

Oh the things I am going to do with my elderberries!! Elderberry jam, Elderberry muffins, syrups!

Wonder why I'm so excited? Elderberries are great for your immune system, full of antioxidants and rich in vitamin A and C. Actually I think I am going to save all the Elderberry info for another post. Maybe a series on elderberry. For the rest of the night I am going to bask in my elderberry/foraging goodness!

Hooray for wild edibles!!

Check out
http://www.herbalrootszine.com/articles/elderberry-vs-pokeberry/ and http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Elderberry.html

:::tap, tap::: is this thing on?

2012-09-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog,

I want to post something. So I am. I am feeling a blog re-do coming on soon. Right! I know great another random blog out on the intra-webs. Seriously there are soooo many blogs how do people keep up? Find a niche in the blog world? Find the time to keep up? I don't know. I guess I will find out.

I have really wanted to talk more about homesteading with other people, mainly herbal medicines and home remedies. I have resolved myself to not taking my kids to the doctors ever again. Ok, maybe not never, but only for serious, serious problems (i.e. broken bone). Whats the point? I have a scale, I can weigh the kids. I can see them growing. I am capable of monitoring "milestones" that they "should" be hitting. Point being I know my kiddo's. I don't need a Doctor to reaffirm what I already know. So with no doctors and a hate for all things over the counter, what is one to do when little things pop up? Fevers, rashes, bumps, general everyday kid aliments? I am in the process of researching more. I OVER research everything. Get used to it and prepare yourself for a wealth of stolen information from around the web.

Another things I want to get into:
Emergency preparedness
Urban Chicken and duck raising
Canning and Fermenting
Crafty craftiness (EFFing Pinterest) I am thinking about hooking up with the Look what I did from Pinterest weekly challenges.
Financial fitness
more Montessori madness
cute pictures of my kids
general rants and raves

My Moment #10

2009-09-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

"I had a new years resolution this year to take out at least once a month. And i've not done so for the last few months. Our talk today reminded me of that. Reminded me that I don't say or remind you how much i love you or how much you mean to me. How much i feel you do for us.. How you push me, when i lose focus. How you love to hear me play music and I don't. How sometimes i'm as self concious as you . I do a bad job of showing you just how important you are.Would you like to spend a morning go to the maymont. have a picnic, go on a carefree walk. I still would like to see the poe museum downtown. maybe we can go there afterwards. I know the timing of this response your email is all wrong. But i don't want to dwell on that. I don't want this to be a once and done either. So let's have a day together and many more. i love you"

My moments # 9

2009-08-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

got to bring it back - with all the chaos I have to remember the fun/good/quality time right?

So Moment #9

Jake ROCKING out hard to Rancid
Jake lyrics to the song "under the red hot moooooon, the wheels on the bus" hahahahahah
Family dance parties in our new living room
and the Fat Rapper Dance

(not to self - video tape Jake doing the fat rapper dance! It needs to be documented)

Music - it always relives the tension ALWAYS :)

Mad Science

2009-04-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

Make Shift Activity #2 - Mad Science

Soooo this activity was suppose to be an experiment with color – Mixing primary colors to get secondary colors (yellow + blue = green), but it turned into more of a pouring activity. Which is fine! We got in some good talking in about colors; I showed him how to make green and purple and we also had a good talk about glass and how careful we should be when using it.

Supplies:

Glass Jars
(Note: Don’t be afraid of glass! One of the biggest things with Montessori is using aesthetically pleasing supplies; the sun shining through a plastic container would not look nearly as nice.)
Food coloring
(Note: you only need the 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue) don’t be a dummy like me and pre-make green….DUH!)
Water

What you might want:
A dropper of some sort (turkey baster, eye dropper)
(Note: this would probably keep this a color activity instead of turning it into a pouring activity)

What was supposed to happen was:
Take one color and add to empty jar
Take second color add it to jar.
Presto change-o you have a new color (ewwww ahhhhh)

What really happened :
Presto Change – O you have one color and a fun water mess to splash around.

I am not to concerned that the meaning of this activity was lost. In the end we had a lot of fun. We will revisit it again later, maybe with a dropper.

Make Shift Montessori

2009-04-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

So it's Saturday morning 7:00 am and your 2 year old is wide awake and ready to go...whats a mama to do?

Gear up, start the coffee and oatmeal and find something to keep his brain busy for at least two minutes.

Which brings me to Make Shift Montessori activity number 1 -

Marble Motor Skills and Muffin Tin counting:

Supplies

Muffin Tin

12 marbles

Child Sized tongs (I saved this from a Deli tray- perfect fit for little hands)

This is in no way a hard activity to master. The whole point of this activity is to help learn hand eye coordination with a little math thrown in.

We started by counting the number of holes in the muffin tray.

Then we broke out the bag of marbles and counted out 12.

I didn't have to show Jake the next step on how to use the tongs to put one marble at a time in each hole. He gathered as much

And off we went one by one

Simple, free and easy! And a great way to get his little brain pumping in the morning! We worked on this for a good 30 minutes before he got tired of it and wanted his oatmeal. Counting and showing me how he could use the tongs with either his left or right hand. This activity also got him counting things all day long on Saturday.

The number theme started in our house with this book:

The Original Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book was SO awesome in helping us with the alphabet that I couldn't not check this book out!

A lot of my ideas for "activities" come from other mamas and Montessori principals. As of right now I don't have the whole Montessori shelf set up going on (right now), but a lot of what we do around here is based off the learning principals behind Montessori. Motor skills, practical life, sensory, etc. At the same time most of what we do has to be budget friendly. There is NO way I could justify spending 100 bucks on one toy. Trust me I have thought about it and concluded that it is much more fun finding things around the house and using my crafty wit to make it into a fun activity. Coffee cans, muffin tins, lentils, pots, pans...what ever.

I have a bunch of pictures of other make shift activities that we have done before and some cool ideas for the coming weeks. I think next week we are going to start with some Geography. I just got an giant map of the world at the thrift store so I need to put it to good use.

Some Christmas Pictures

2008-12-29T10:40:00.001-08:00

The Tree at 2:00am Christmas Morning....yeah we were still up

Some of those toys are not new....but the after math

The gear machine...HUGE HIT

Animal Train

We had a hard time getting him to unwrap presents once he saw the other toys

Oh the over stimulation....Grumpy McGrumpy pants later Christmas Day

Mommy's awesome presents....Rob Zombie autographed Halloween Sticker and a TOTAL SKULL HODDIE!!!

Moment # 8

2008-12-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

Angel and Tommy - 12/17 edition

Shortly After Tommy came home from his final exam and I finished mine online
A: I finished my final...we are DONE!!
T: What do you want to do?
A: Wanna go to bed? (to sleep)
T: Yup!

We haven't gotten to bed before midnight in a long time. Being in bed at 10:00pm felt really good!

Moment # 7

2008-12-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

This morning...oh this morning, what a dumb morning!

Any whoo

Jake decided to have a fit about his coat this morning. It wasn't his coat it was a hoddie, and he DID NOT what to wear it. He wanted his coat, which Daddy left at the sitters yesterday. The coat was not an option. Why is my moment about Jake's temper tantrum, well because in the middle of his fit, he walked his little butt straight back to his room, and started trying to get into his bed. "sleep, sleep"....
Oh buddy how we all want to go back to bed!

Moments #6

2008-12-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

The ABC's

Jake - the kid blows my mind sometimes. Maybe its just me being new to this parent thing, but I didn't expect him to comprehend the alphabet so soon.

We have been reading a couple ABC books lately...and now he is pointing out letters everywhere. On his floor mat he just sits and points to all the different letters. On the ride home tonight he started yelling about letters on a billboard/sign. I have to say I am quite amazed.

He is picking things up so fast. His little mind fascinates me.

Yet all it takes to make him happy is a box with holes cut out:

My Moments #5

2008-12-15T19:26:00.000-08:00

Angel and Tommy moment : Things only we understand

Domestic Violence over some brownies.
A: "Did you really just hit me over a brownie"
T: "Brownies are the only thing I will ever hit you over"
Tommy then proceeded to stuff a whole lot of brownie in his mouth at one time.
We are such Fat kids.

One Minute Writer #3

2008-12-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Today's Writing Prompt: Scar story
from One Minute Writer by C. Beth

Share the story of how you got a scar (or any injury, even if a scar didn't result.)

My scar comes from being hit in the head with a door. When I was in High school I was trying to peak out the crack of a door before opening night of our school show "Little shop of Horrors". I was the costume and makeup director! I saw her coming I just didn't move soon enough. Then Blam! 4 stitches above my left eyebrow and I didn't get to do my costume changes.

Pictures

2008-12-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

101 Things to do with a toy drum?? Oh the things I walk in on :)

One minute Writer #2

2008-11-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Today's Writing Prompt: First Day
Describe a "first day" in your life (first day of marriage, of school, at a new job, etc.)

The first day I decided to remain pregnant was a pretty overwhelming day. I decided from that day forward it wasn't about just me anymore. I started taking the steps to become the best Mom I could ever be. It is a day I will never forget or regret.

One Minute Writer

2008-11-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this blog today http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/ and decided to try it out. What a great concept. 1 minute - write. Sounds like fun to me! So here is my first go

One minute Writer - Today's Writing Prompt: Weekend
Write about something interesting that happened this weekend.

We spent this weekend it with my family in MD. The best part of the weekend was a family game of pictoinary. We are all so bad at drawing. We played with the challenge dice, so a lot of the time we had to draw with our eyes closed or left handed. We crack each other up.

Wow thats not much writting.....but good to get the motor going. More to come

Moment # 4

2008-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Things that only make sense to Tommy and I - 11/13 edition

"I got bitches in the living gettin on and they ain't leavin till 6 in the mornin"
"6 IN THE MORNING!"

Hallway hugs and High Fives

"You better keep your COLD ass feet on your side of the bed"

ME:"Wouldn't it be cool if we had a heated blanket that went over top of our bed heater, it would be like a giant sandwich maker" "mmm grilled cheese"
T:"Panini!! grilled chicken wrap!!!"

Moment # 3

2008-11-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

Tommy and I signed up for spring classes last night. I am not fond of taking a ton of Internet classes. I don't learn with Internet classes. I am determined to make the most out of every class I am taking and learn the subject matter to the best of my ability. I figure why waste the time taking the class if you not going to get anything from it. That being said we were having a difficult time finding classes to fit our schedule. Tommy needs a couple Gen Ed classes to finish out his degree, and I need basically one of everything. What do a Physics major and an Education major have in common. History! Obviously we can't take the same lecture class together, unless the teachers are open to having a toddler area set up. And the classes we needed didn't work with the other classes we wanted to take. Leaving only the Internet class. Aghh!
After everything in me started protesting, but before I could say anything, Tommy just said "we will do it together"
Long story short, we signed up for it, and I had one of those:
We can do anything together! moments.

Moment # 2

2008-11-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Jake right now has 4 favorite books. When I say favorite I mean the books that we have to read OVER and OVER. Elmo's ABC book, Glasses for DW, Green Eggs and Ham, and Go dog Go. Now he has access to a ton of books, I have books everywhere in the house for him. Under the coffee table, in with his toys, on my bookshelf, at eye level in his room. But somehow we usually end up reading 1 if not all 4 of these books at least once a night. I'm OK with that! He enjoys reading and I love that. He is just getting to the point where he interacts (with some coaxing) with the books as we are reading them to him. EX: "Elmo loves apples" and he points to and says Apple, "Where are DW's Glasses?"

Last night we were reading Green eggs and Ham. He hardly interacts with this book, other then to say "Train- Choo choo..". As I am going though we start getting the:

"Would you eat them in a house?"
and Jake pipes up and says "Noooooo"
"Would you eat them with a mouse?"
"Nooooo"

The whole way though the book! He understands! Then we get to the end where the thing finally eats the green eggs..

"Say, I like Green eggs and ham!"
"YUMMMM"
"and I would eat them blah blah"
"Uh huh (yes)"

He understands! With out coaxing! Awesome! Makes me feel like we are doing something right!

Moment #1

2008-11-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Last night Jake woke up around 10:30 or so. I tried to comfort him and put him back in his crib, but he wasn't having any of it. He wanted to be held. So I obliged, and took him to lay in my bed with me. Secretly that's what I think he wanted all along, who doesn't love a heated bed on a cold night. While we are laying there, I started rubbing he cheek with my finger, usually puts him right to sleep! It did, or I thought it did and I started drifting off myself. When I open my eyes he is looking right at me (both our heads on the pillow). I tell him "It's Ni night time buddy", and he takes his finger and starts rubbing my cheek. Talk about something to melt your heart.

My Moments

2008-11-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

I think recently I have been taking a lot of the "good" things for granted. Sometimes we all (me) get so caught up in the day to day, that we let the good things go to the wayside and out of our brain.

I find myself being somewhat reflective almost daily. Once I get Jake off to bed, or I get home from class, or whenever I find that peaceful time. I sit outside with my coffee and go back over my day. Good things that have happened like something Jake did/learned/said, a moment between Tommy and I, Something funny my mom/sister/brother said...and even something that I did(shocking). But that's where it ends, and sometimes I need reminders of the "good" things.

So..Welcome to my moments. A simple way for me to jot down the "good" and a way not to forget. Not to take the place of regular blogging....just some notes to self to share with the world.

Pumpkins!!!!

2008-10-31T05:21:00.000-07:00

Cujo

Dead Cheerleader
Dracula

That's Mr Rob Zombie to you!!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-10-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Teaching the kiddo

2008-10-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have recently become very interested in different teaching methods for toddlers/preschoolers. For obvious reasons.

I have been working on making the most of the time we do have together, being less restrictive, and letting Jake explorer and learn in his own ways. But at the same time providing him with some structured activities. Essentially methods to the madness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori

The way I understand it - learn by playing, doing, not lecture. Allow for creativity, free thought, and experimentation. All the while making sure that the resources available serve a propose and that you are available to help and explain if need be.

We have a Montessori school right around the corner. The are a bit pricey, but I have them sending me info and they offer aid. Sooo I definitely need to do my homework and make sure its the right fit for us as a preschool. Check um out http://www.richmont.org/

Reading up on this teaching method has been pretty inspiring. Granted I have just been doing some Internet searching. Montessori books are one the amazon wish list this year for Christmas.

Jake and I have been quite the crafty duo lately. Thanks to all the wonderful blogs to the right. I started a couple weeks ago doing a color of the week. I was looking for something to fill the time between when we got home and before we ate dinner. We started by learning the sign for the color of the week, then we went to color collages, painting with one color, searching the house for color, sorting color all sorts of things. Jake gets so excited now when he tells you about blue or red. BLUE!!!! that all I here some nights. I love it. I have some ideas for things I want to make, clothing boards, activity bags, felt boards...omg the things I have planned :). Poor Tommy.

Red:

working on a red color collage

Blue:

Finger Painting with BLUE!!

This I think is also helping in the area of discipline. Not Jake so much but me. Working with him more and having controlled projects and play helps me not yell "no, no, no don't touch that, stop that, JAKE" . I mean I still do. We haven't go the whole positive discipline things down yet. Me being a mommy is still a work in progress. Patience is not one of my strong suits and Jake is a normal toddler with an attention span of a flea. I see a lot of parents that take toddler hood as a miserable time in their life. Oh the terrible twos...etc. I take pride what my child is a curious little boy. He is full of energy, playful, loving, adventurous and not a Satan spawn on a rampage of destruction.

Please don't get me wrong. I don't have every hour of every day planned with some sort of activity, or learning experience. I have to get things done too. But I am definitely out of the mind set of just entertaining the beast until nap time.

Jake, Tommy and I we do what we do. If that's just a walk around the block with a few pit stops to stare at the clouds, birds, or trees then that's what it is.

Anyway more Pictures.

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!! So our crafts lately our Halloween based. Halloween crafts, Halloween books, pumpkins, bats, witches, ghosts....did I mention I love Halloween. So here are the projects we have done thus far. Thanks to No Time for Flashcards for the ideas!!!

Markers are always a hit. Making the background for his hand bat.

Painting with pumpkins

Pumpkin Prints

We have done a couple more different things, I just didn't get the camera out soon enough.

Bottom line, we are having fun!

2008-10-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

Daily Horoscope for Gemini - Wednesday, October 8, 2008

You may feel a bit restricted in your ability to control your own destiny today, especially if you want to travel or spend more time learning. Your attraction to increasing your knowledge through education or direct experience can run into the hard, cold truth of your family and fiscal commitments. Don't take your frustration out on anyone else. Work with what you have for now and consider changes down the road.

Email from Tommy this morning-

Thomas Carlson to me
show details
7:35 am (47 minutes ago)

you seem extremely overwhelmed, stressed. I'll be on around 9, lets talk

I guess it's time to re-evaluate....
:::sigh:::

I should be able to make a real post later

New pics

2008-09-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

It started out as us both reading the newspaper(couldn't get the camera out fast enough), then he got bored with the paper and moved to seed catalogs....yumm squash

If he wasn't a Rock Star he wouldn't be my boyfriend

Come here and give your mother a kiss!!!