Cranky Apple and Penguin Girl

Fancy, Funky Hair

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Jul 2014 19:59:00 +0000

This year I've been growing out my hair so that it's almost as long as when I was in high school. Some months ago I thought I would try coloring my hair a funky color. I have always wanted to but never really had the chance. When I lived at home, my mom would not have allowed it. When I was a student, I never wanted to spend the money. When I was working as a lawyer, it would have been unprofessional. But seeing as how many of the other instructors at school wear jeans to work, I figure I could have colored hair. And if I didn't like how it turned out, I could just get a hair cut since I would just dye the ends.

While I was researching how to DIY, I asked Penguin Girl if she would like funky colored hair. YES! She answered immediately which is unusual for her. Usually she always has to think about her answer. What color? BLUE! Again, she did not have to stop and think. She said when she draws herself, she always gives herself a streak of blue in her hair. Well then, blue it is.

After all my research, I decided I would go to the cosmetology program's salon where I work. Since I get a staff discount, the cost would be about the same as my buying all the chemicals. Plus, I would need quite a bit of dye and I was afraid that it would stain our white shower tiles and grout when I washed it out. Since my hair is all natural and not chemically treated, it absorbed much more dye than anticipated. Instead of bright purple, it turned out very dark, hardly different than my natural hair. If you look very closely at the bottom half, you can see some streaks.

Even after washing, the effect is still very subtle. The instructor at the salon told me that it would become brighter when it oxidized and faded a bit. I suspect the fading will just look like I have brown mixed in with my hair. I'll have to wait until it fades completely and try a different dye.

I told Penguin Girl that the entire process for me took 4 hours so I would bleach her hair one day and dye it the next. She thought that was a great idea. She wanted streaks along the sides of her hair so I went with a star-shaped pattern to section her hair. Since I have no experience doing this, I knew I would be slow. I decided I'd work from the front of her head to the back so that the front sections that would show where she wanted would have the longer processing time and turn out the lightest. The mixture started to dry out a bit and did not work as well on the back, even applying heat from a hair dryer. In retrospect, I should have used a 20 volume developer in the front and then mixed up 30 volume developer for the back halfway through.

The front turned out just right but the back was too dark.

I asked Penguin Girl if she wanted me to go back and lighten up the back. She did not want to have to sit around for that so we just went ahead with the dye. She is very pleased with the results.

I warned Penguin Girl that I don't know how long the color will last since she is still going to swim practice. As it fades, it might turn to green but I've got more dye if she needs a touch up.

Moving On!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 03:21:00 +0000

At Penguin Girl's school, they make a really big deal about moving on to middle school even though the school is K-8, same building, mostly the same kids. The school counselor even came to class every other week this year to talk to the kids about next year. Penguin Girl says she is a little nervous. I asked her if she was nervous before all the visits from the counselor. She said no and she really hadn't given much thought to it because it's not really like she'd be going to a different school.

Car Guy and I both went to the Moving On Ceremony. It was similar to all such ceremonies in that it seems much longer while you are sitting there and the seat is never as comfortable as it needs to be for the length of the event. Afterwards, Penguin Girl made a beeline for the celebratory cake. J's dad was kind enough to hold her folder of certificates while she stuffed her face.

Afterwards, all her other classmates either went home early or went to a roller skating party. Penguin Girl is not friends with roller skating so she elected to stay at school and ended up being the only one left with Ms. L. It must have been a nice quiet afternoon for Ms. L with Penguin Girl as her helper. Thanks to Ms. L for a great year!

Bridging from Juniors to Cadettes!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:09:00 +0000

Most Eloquent Speaker

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 17:28:00 +0000

At the state Chinese speech finals, Penguin Girl won for Most Eloquent among the advanced speakers!

Surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 01:03:00 +0000

Last week Penguin Girl went to play at the state piano competition. We got there a little late and she had to rush through her warm-up. When she came out after her performance, she was in tears. She bawled, "I messed up so bad!" We had a long talk about how making a few mistakes was not something to cry over. Actually, she only made her mistakes in one of the three pieces so she played two very well. And we talked about things she could do next time so that she could improve.

Today was her first lesson since the competition. Penguin Girl has been known to get teary at her lessons so I thought I'd better warn her teacher in advance that she was very disappointed about how she played. Mrs. L asked Penguin Girl to describe her mistakes and also talked about things to do for next time. Then Mrs. L reached for a big manila envelope and, with a flourish, pulled out a certificate for Penguin Girl. It had a gold seal on it and a rating of Superior! Mrs. L said that typically a mistake means that you don't get rated Superior so Penguin Girl must have played extremely well otherwise. Mrs. L even made a photocopy of the judge's comments for her to keep in her scrapbook. Penguin Girl was so surprised and so pleased. She had been convinced that she did very poorly.

Mrs. L kept Penguin Girl's rating a secret all week. I think it was very clever of her to let Penguin Girl reflect on her disappointment so that she could then feel as if her hard work paid off in the end. I really enjoy lessons with Mrs. L. She's an amazing teacher. If I'd had such a wonderful music teacher as a child, I'd probably still be playing.

Superior!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 00:09:00 +0000

Penguin Girl went to her first piano competition this afternoon. After she played, she reported that she made 3 mistakes. She wanted to wait until her teacher, Mrs. L, could track down her comment sheet and certificate. Penguin Girl was pretty thrilled to see that her certificate came with the gold seal that meant she got the highest rating of superior! Mrs. L told her that not many students are given superior marks. I don't know how true this is because Mrs. L typically tells Penguin Girl very, very encouraging things. Mrs. L was a bit disappointed that Penguin Girl opted to skip another local competition next weekend to attend a swim meet. However, with her gold sticker, she can move onto to the state competition next month. Mrs. L was very firm with us. No other activities for the day of the state competition!

Taipei for the Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 19:33:00 +0000

We had a fun trip to Taipei and got to spend lots of time with Ye-Ye and Uncle A. The big highlight for Penguin Girl was probably eating conveyor belt sushi.

We also stopped at an outdoor market. The fruit is really big!

We also went to the zoo,

to an amusement park,

to an exhibit about an old comic, 老夫子,

and shrimp fishing.

On our way back from climbing Elephant Mountain, we stopped at a park.

The playground was built for little kids.

Even the trip back was fun. We got to ride on the Hello Kitty themed airplane run by EVA Air. At the check-in counter, there is a big cardboard Hello Kitty.

Me: You want a picture with it?

PG: Nah.

Me: You know you kinda want to.

PG: Yeah, okay.

There were Hello Kitty postcards, Hello Kitty barf bags, Hello Kitty toilet paper, and Hello Kitty playing cards, all of which Penguin Girl collected. The pillows they handed out to us were encased by Hello Kitty. I snagged a pillowcase for Penguin Girl. Shhh--don't tell!

When we landed at LAX, I rushed the kids through customs to make our connection back home. When we went to check-in, I ungloriously discovered that our flight was not scheduled to leave until the next day. I did not notice this when reviewing the itinerary. Luckily, I have lots of family in L.A. and was able to crash with my cousin W. And since we had the next day free, my Aunt S took charge and arranged our social calendar for the day. We had dim sum, saw all my family who were in town, and had a fantastic dinner at my cousin's house. Even though it was an unplanned stop, it turned out great. I'll have to schedule this type of layover on purpose next time!

And the winner is . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 21:39:00 +0000

Penguin Girl in the 50-yard Fly! She was so happy to win her heat. This is only the second time she has come in first in a heat. As a prize, she got a coupon for a free bagel with cream cheese which she thoroughly enjoyed.

UPDATE: Coach K handed out ribbons at practice and Penguin Girl got her first ribbon for coming in 5th overall in the 100-yard Breast!

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 02 Nov 2013 00:06:00 +0000

After about 3 or 4 years of me saying this costume would be cool and Penguin Girl saying she'd rather fashion her own costume, she finally agreed that it's a pretty awesome idea.

A New Teacher

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Aug 2013 14:45:00 +0000

Penguin Girl has diligently practiced for her piano lessons with Miss R for 4 years and it's time to move on. With the help of Ms. C, Penguin Girl's preschool teacher, we found Mrs. L who teaches at a nearby college. When we met Mrs. L for the first time, she asked Penguin Girl if she said a proper good-bye to her old teacher because that is very important. In response, Penguin Girl began bawling!

Miss R has been a part of our lives since Penguin Girl was 5-years-old. We got to know her when Miss R came to us one summer to give Penguin Girl swim lessons. At the beginning, those lessons were 20 minutes of crying and 10 minutes of splashing around while being held by Miss R, who was infinitely patient. By the end of the summer, Penguin Girl could swim a basic freestyle and backstroke. Penguin Girl graduated from Miss R's swim lessons to learning how to play piano with her. Penguin Girl has done quite a bit of growing up with Miss R and we'll miss her.

But Mrs. L is fantastic and after just one meeting, Penguin Girl is infused with new enthusiasm about music and is really looking forward to lessons with her new teacher, even though she is sad to leave Miss R. I can tell that Mrs. L is someone that Penguin Girl will be able to grow with for years to come.

She (finally) did it!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 03:57:00 +0000

Half the summer is over and Penguin Girl has paid off her lost library book. She undertook two mornings of pulling ivy out of the backyard and filled up 3.5 garbage bags to earn the last $7. My deal with her was $2/bag since she's too much of a slacker for me to pay by the hour. She wanted to immediately go to the library, but all branches are closed on Sundays so she had to wait until the next day. She was very relieved to have some books she could take on our roadtrip to New York.

Good-Bye 4th Grade!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 01:31:00 +0000

Penguin Girl is on her way to 5th grade. Unlike previous years when schoolwork seemed to disappear during the last couple of weeks of school, Ms. C was real old school and had the kids working until the very end. Penguin Girl was up late on Thursday night working on a presentation about how silk fabric is made. She made up a Power Point presentation in Chinese. I don't think I even used Power Point before I got my first teaching gig a few years ago. And I would have no idea how to input Chinese characters onto the slides. Assuming I could figure out how to translate my English thoughts with a Chinese dictionary in the first place.

Doh!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 May 2013 01:30:00 +0000

Since Mr. Destructo's school year has ended, I'm taking him on a road trip to visit my dad and we're leaving tomorrow. Mr. Destructo is so excited. When I asked him why, he said he was excited to go to Flushing to partake of an icy drink with rainbow jellies from the bubble tea shop.

Part of my preparations for a road trip always includes returning all library books that would be due while I am away since I am in charge of the kids' borrowings. This time, I asked Penguin Girl to provide me with the 3 books that are due tomorrow. She handed over 2 and told me the third is at school. I've talked with her many a time about not taking things like library books to school for various reasons. I told her to go look for it to make sure it's not in the house because I didn't want to wait around for her to get it at school in the morning only to have her tell me she can't find it because it's probably at home.

She disappeared to her room. I called her down for an unrelated issue and when she came downstairs, her eyes were all red and teary. Why? Because she knew that she lost the book at school weeks ago so she would not be able to produce it tomorrow morning! Of course, she did not think to tell me that she lost it. More likely, some other kid stole it. All of which could have been avoided had she kept the book at home as she should have.

As a consequence, she will have to go to the public library and report it missing herself. It will be charged to her library account. Since it's a hardcover, it will certainly cost more than $5. When you have more than $5 outstanding on your account, your borrowing privileges are suspended. She is supposed to think up ways in which she can earn the money to pay off the fine. So far her ideas are to sell some of her stuffed animals and one hardcover book.

It may be years before she can borrow books from the library again.

OUCH!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:02:00 +0000

And double ouch. I got a call from the school nurse about Penguin Girl on Monday. The school nurse calling is never good news. Penguin Girl got her index finger smashed by a door while leaving a classroom. The nurse said it was quite painful and suggested I pick up Penguin Girl if I could. When I arrived, the bleeding had slowed down. It seemed that she was in good spirits. Her condition must not have been as awful as her finger looked because she was able to recount for me the name of each child that had visited the nurse's office during her stay and almost all of their ailments. She also very gamely told me that she'd still be able to practice piano with her right hand.

The nurse said she thought the fingernail would fall off. Neither Car Guy nor I have any experience with this type of injury so we shall see what happens. Penguin Girl is definitely on the road to recovery. She went to a birthday sleepover last night and participated in a pillow fight. Since she has no problem in using the injured hand for vigorous physical activity, I presented her with a rubber kitchen glove so she could resume her dishwashing duties.

Fireball!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:25:00 +0000

A certain girl was quite pleased with herself today. Her coach told her that right after spring break, she is going to be moved up to the next skill grouping. Good-bye Nova and hello Fireballs. I asked her why she's so happy about it and she said it means she has really improved her swimming.

The new coach runs a tougher practice. Hopefully Penguin Girl will be able to pay close enough attention to catch the drills she's supposed to do. Last year she had the same coach for her Saturday practices and quite a few times I noticed Penguin Girl would be doing her own thing while all the other kids swam the drill as described by the coach. It was not surprising to me at the time. Hopefully her attention has improved along with her technique.

And the winner is . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 01:08:00 +0000

At the last swim meet of the short course season, Penguin Girl swam 4 races. The first was the 100m freestyle. She started out strong but seemed to lose a lot of steam. She was very upset afterwards because she misjudged a flipturn and ended up too far from the wall to touch. She knew that would mean a DQ and no official time and getting an official time for each of her races was her goal. We had a talk about how she can't let something like that get her down, that she should still focus and swim the best she can.

Next she swam the 50m butterfly and WON HER HEAT!!!!!! Good comeback! Then she swam a 100m backstroke and got really tired out.

Her last race was the 50m breast, the stroke she likes the best. Soon after the start, her goggles filled with water. I couldn't see that. All I saw was that by the time she was about two-thirds of the way down her lane, she started veering to her right and almost went into the next lane. Then she stopped, pulled the goggles off her eyes, almost got all the way turned around while orienting herself, and then continued the race with her eyes closed. Since she did that bit of turning around, she got DQ'd but even with all that drama, she was the second swimmer to finish. Way to maintain focus!

Web Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Last summer Penguin Girl used Khan Academy and did a bunch of math. Until she started messing around too much on the internet and then she got banished to Workbook City. Maybe we'll try again this summer and watch some college lectures, too: edX, Coursera, Udacity, and Class2Go.

Music Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:12:00 +0000

While we were in New York for the holidays, I bought a used violin for Penguin Girl from a guy on Craigslist. It's taken a beating over the years but it sounds okay. I cleaned it up, put on new strings and a new bridge. This past weekend I gave her an introduction to the parts, showed her what you do to maintain the bow, and what rosin is for. I cut little strips of painters tape to show where her fingers go. I recall having 3 different colors of neon tape when I started learning. Hers is not so fancy--all 3 strips are just blue.

I told her we're not going to have scheduled lessons. I'll give her a lesson and material to practice. When she feels like she has practiced enough so that her playing somewhat resembles what I demo'd for her, we'll have another lesson. Yesterday, I gave her her fist lesson wherein she actually put bow to strings and played. At the end I asked her if playing violin is more complicated than she envisioned. She responded with some vigorous nodding.

Career Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:13:00 +0000

Penguin Girl volunteered with some girls from her Girl Scout troop to work at the annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser--all you can eat salad, spaghetti, and drink for $7. Her troop was signed up to clean and bus tables for about 2 hours. She told me that she received some compliments from the diners about what a good job she was doing. I saw her wiping tables very industriously and taking plates back to the kitchen. Afterwards, she reported that she had fun at the event. I told her I was glad to hear it because that meant she'd be able to get a job waiting tables and earn her own money.

WRAM

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 00:40:00 +0000

The video broadcasting system at Penguin Girl's school is called WRAM because the ram is their mascot. There is a video broadcast every morning for the day's announcements. All 4th and 5th graders may apply to be on the broadcast team. When they handed out the application forms a few weeks ago, Penguin Girl was soooo enthusiastic. She had a week to write her application essay. But during the week she had to think about it, she got so anxious about the whole school watching her that she chickened out. She said she didn't want to do it after all.

I asked her why she changed her mind and she was really inarticulate about her reasons. Really the only thing that she said was that she was nervous about having everyone watch her even though she would be in a room in the school media center with a few kids and a teacher. I gave her a big lecture about how she can't be afraid of trying to achieve her goals or she will never get anywhere. She happened to get a fortune cookie the night before when her grandparents took her out to dinner for her birthday that pertained to taking advantage of opportunity. Since she was being all wishy washy, I got all tiger mom on her and told her she had to write the essay. It turned out way better than I thought it would--she actually wrote about quite a few attributes that would be important to have for this activity and gave a relevant example to show that she possessed each quality. And only one misspelled word!

A week ago, she came home from school and said that she was chosen to do a screen test. She read a script with a partner and the librarian videotaped her delivering the info. She was very pleased to have been chosen. I had no idea there was even going to be an audition in addition to the application. Her reading partner said that 10 kids would be eliminated.

Today I picked her up, took her to the park so she could do homework, and then we went across the street for her swim practice. It wasn't until we'd gotten home and she'd showered up that she remembered to mention that SHE'S ON THE WRAM TEAM!!!!!!

Way to go, Penguin Girl! I'm so proud!

Happy Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:31:00 +0000

Penguin Girl followed her stomach and decided on birthday fondue. I picked up Penguin Girl and W after school and went to have frozen yogurt to kill some time. Then we headed off to pick up A whose school lets out a bit later. After that, it was off to the Melting Pot.

I made a reservation and told them it was for a birthday so they put us in a private room. I told them that the plan was to first have cheese fondue so they could report to their parents that they ate some real food. The cheese would be followed by dessert fondue. They could pick two flavors of each. The whole experience was beyond thrilling for them.

They chose cheddar and a spinach-artichoke for the cheese course. The girls were very captivated by the server's tabletop preparation of the cheese mixtures. The dippers consisted of fresh veggies, green apples, bread, and tortilla chips. Although they sort of balked at the idea of spinach-artichoke, that turned out to be the favorite. The cheddar was just too beer-y tasting for them.

After much deliberation, they decided on s'mores and cookies-n-cream. Again, the preparation was very impressive. It included the pouring of flaming liquid into each pot of chocolate. Once they saw the dippers, they all agreed that they were in heaven. There were pedestrian items like graham crackers, bananas, and strawberries. There were also brownies, cheesecake, rice krispie cubes, cinnamon dusted marshmallows, and chocolate crumb dusted marshmallows.

Towards the end, it was pretty obvious that we could not possibly finish. W asked if we could bring it home. Can you bring fondue home? Why, yes you can. The server brought some boxes and we took home a box of cheese with tortilla chips and a box of chocolate with a little bit of everything.

We were supposed to go to the movies but it turned out the only kids' movie available was Finding Nemo in 3D. The girls opted to watch videos at home. They basically had an all-nighter of Harry Potter movies. At 4:30 in the morning, I woke up to thumping around upstairs. I put the kibosh on that pretty quickly. They got up for the day at a decent hour. After pancakes for breakfast, they ran around outside until it was time to go.

Happy birthday, Penguin Girl! I can't believe you're 9!

Multiple Choice Question

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 21:47:00 +0000

If you were Penguin Girl and had a birthday coming up, which would you choose:

A) Party at an indoor rock climbing gym with 3 friends

B) An outing to a giant corn maze with assorted amusements including a cow train, corn cannon, and giant mountain of hay, with 3 friends.

C) Movie, dessert fondue at the Melting Pot, and sleepover with 2 friends.

A Tough Summer

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:02:00 +0000

It's been a really tough summer for all of us. The day after school let out for the summer, I hit the road with Penguin Girl and Mr. Destructo to stay with my folks. My mom was about to start hospice care and she had been looking forward to seeing Penguin Girl. My mom's condition had seemed fairly stable for the past few months but within a week or so of our arrival, it was obvious that we were nearing the end. As July started, the whole situation was very difficult. We were all trying to get her to eat more but she just couldn't. She looked so very thin and listless. When she stopped eating, my mom slept all day but in the evening she would become very restless and cry out in pain and fear. I couldn't tell if she even knew we were there. It almost seemed like when a child has night terrors. The hospice nurses called it terminal agitation and equated its appearance in the evenings with Alzheimers patients sundowning.

Penguin Girl has known for a long time that Po-po had cancer and that she was dying. But seeing the terminal agitation made it very real for her. The first night that Penguin Girl witnessed it, she dissolved into tears as she was getting ready for bed. I gave her the choice of going back home since at that point Car Guy had taken Mr. Destructo home to take care of some things. Penguin Girl said she'd think about it. Ultimately, she decided to stay. I'd often find her sitting quietly at Po-po's bedside while she slept, which was so sweet and heartbreaking to see.

My mom left us on Thursday, July 12. Her funeral was a week later. Penguin Girl decided she wanted to stay with Po-po until the very end when she was cremated. It was very hard to see Penguin Girl so sad but I'm proud of how much love and compassion she showed her grandmother in those last days. A while ago, Penguin Girl gave Po-po an art project she made at school. It looked like a tiny handwoven rug. I tucked that into the pocket of my mom's purse, the one my dad chose to be cremated with her. So she'd have something from Penguin Girl to hold onto in her next life.

Bye-Bye Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:32:00 +0000

Hello Juniors! Penguin Girl and her Brownie troop bridged over to Juniors.

The girls had a very fun camp out. Penguin Girl toasted marshmallows for the first time over a campfire. And she ate the most marshmallows of all the girls. Ms. D was afraid she was going to make herself sick from eating so many. But nothing bad happened except staying up late while all sugar-crazed. Their leaders probably need a stiff drink and a long nap. It was a busy year. They visited the animal shelter, wrote their pen pal troop in California, participated in a food drive, sold cookies, and earned lots of patches.

As part of the bridging ceremony, the girls sang some goofy songs. There was one about a shark attack with some amusing choreography and another that sort of made fun of Boy Scouts. I asked Penguin Girl where they learned the songs. She said that a troop of Juniors came to one of their meetings and taught them a bunch of songs. Good role modeling.

Veggie Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 29 May 2012 01:48:00 +0000

This year each student in Penguin Girl's class was given a cabbage seedling to grow at home. The seedlings were provided by Bonnie Plants as part of a program to teach 3rd graders about the plant cycle. The variety of cabbage meant that if you took care of your plant well, you would end up with a giant cabbage. The program's promotional materials included photos of kids who had successfully grown their humongous cabbage. Penguin Girl was very excited to get started. Back in March, I let her take over one of my garden squares since she hoped her cabbage would grow as big as possible.

After a few weeks, it was obvious that bugs were chomping away at the cabbage plant. The plant looked pretty sad when we got back from our trip to New York for spring break. She asked how we could keep the bugs from eating the plant. Car Guy told her we'd need to use pesticide. She looked like she was going to cry and said, "But I really wanted to grow an organic cabbage!" That's my Penguin Girl.

I consulted someone at a local organic gardening center and got an organic pesticide. It contains some sort of bacteria that you spray onto the cabbage. When the bugs continue to eat the cabbage, the bacteria interferes with their digestion and they die. It worked somewhat but did not completely kill off all the bugs.

In the end, we harvested a 17-pound cabbage. I geared up with a whole bunch of cabbage recipes in anticipation of having all that cabbage to prepare all at once. But alas, the interior of the cabbage was full of slugs and millipedes. I decided it was too gross to take inside to chop off the buggy bits to get at the nice parts so we composted it. Well, we composted half of it and then had to stop because the compost bin was pretty full. Then Mr. Destructo hacked away at what remained of the head of cabbage over the next few days. Then we composted the rest. Nevertheless, Penguin Girl was pretty pleased to have grown such a big cabbage.