Emma's Mindless Ramblings

SOLD!

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Powell) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:35:00 +0000

We sold our house! We had an offer on it less than 2 weeks after putting it on the market, and after a little negotiating we closed yesterday. Sadly we feel lucky we were able to get most of what we had into it back out. In view of the recent real estate upheaval, we were able to pay the fees and commissions and walk away with a check for the amount of our down payment 8 years ago.

Now Troy has turned down 2 offers to relocate as his company here attempts to downsize without laying off any of their specialized workforce: one to NYC last week, and the other for Portland yesterday. They are trying to make Boise work as he indicated it's the only place he'd be willing to move, so we are preparing for him to get laid off after 12 years. The timing is unfortunate in that we just bought this remodel and are not very far along in that process and have the looming arrival of another baby, but he can start putting full time in at a little side job he's been doing on and off, a generous severance package, and we have a big emergency fund in the bank. The hard part is deciding how much to dip into cash to get this house progressing while he's looking for a career position in either Austin or Boise. We'll take it day by day, because long term planning right now is just too stressful and unpredictable.

House for Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:37:00 +0000

We FINALLY have our home on the market! Carpets cleaned, touch up painted, furniture staged, lawn mowed and flowers planted, and I wonder why we are moving! We love this house, but are excited to be moving onto some acreage for more room to spread outdoors. I thought having given birth to two children in this house would make me sad and nostalgic to leave it, but I find we are ready to say good-bye. Fortunately, we are close enough that we can still spend a lot of time with old friends while far enough to be making many new ones.

Children are Not Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:50:00 +0000

I love the Mother Teresa quote, "How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers." It well conveys the beauty and miracle of little children and birth in the same miraculous way a flower sprouts and blooms.

But children are not flowers.

You can have too many children, and you can have too many flowers. Certainly everyone loves flowers, and how can you not love children? They are the most wondrous gift bestowed on us by a loving God. Gardening is in a small way an insight into the miracle of God's creation second only to raising children or giving birth.

But in my yard there aren't many flowers. It's not because I don't adore flowers, but because keeping up with them is a lot of work! Sometimes I get lucky and hit on a variety that mostly takes care of itself, blooming in the most neglected circumstance and propagating on their own. But who can raise children that way? If flowers require frequent time and attendance to their position, nutrition, and care, how much more work are children with their near constant demand for time and care? It's not that I don't adore children, I obviously do given that I have 5 of my very own schooled at home. If children were easy we'd all have more! The decision is at what point does the enjoyment and fulfillment of children become outweighed by the tremendous effort? So yes, I can scarce keep up with those I have already blooming! Here we are in the flowers nearly 18 months ago, and while it does keep getting better and better and life seems easier as time passes while kids grow up, adding to the fun is a daunting thought!

Central Texas Veggie Garden Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Our local agricultural extension provides some great materials for successful landscaping and gardening in our unique Central Texas area. I had several documents detailing what time of year to plant what type of vegetable, but the formatting made them difficult to use. They were either lists of veggie types with bar graphs for what month to plant, or lists of veggies with a date range to plant each. But like most gardeners, I want to know when I go into the garden, what can I plant TODAY? So I organized the information into a list categorized by month with the appropriate veggies listed alphabetically. It's easy enough to scan to see, "When can I plant peas," if you wonder about that sort of thing, but far easier to just take a glance, grab the right seeds, head out, and put some in the dirt. I keep mine taped inside my kitchen cupboard next to the fridge, where I keep my seed packets.

On the reverse are simple instructions I prepared while teaching a local gardening class for square foot lasagna gardening, my combined version of the two easiest garden methods I've ever come across. That is useful no matter where you live. You can also copy/paste the chart into your own word processor to adjust the veggie types to you specific area if you don't live around Austin.

DOWNLOAD the PDF file HERE then click File>Download Original to Save to your Hard Drive

Blue Hole

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:09:00 +0000

We joined our local homeschooling group for another day at the Blue Hole on Cypress Creek in Wimberley. Two words: GOR-GEOUS! Old growth bald cypress trees line the banks of the newly improved park with paved stroller/wheelchair access down to the hole, full and lush flat shaded lawn area with picnic tables, and controlled access points to control the erosion and mud problem of past years. An attendant even overheard me telling the little kids they had to walk down because we had so much stuff to carry, and took all my gear and little kids down on his UTV; what service! Since public school had started a few days prior, the place was virtually empty as opposed to the riotous week before. That is, until school let out, which let the kids enjoy watching the older boys trick out on the rope swings. They got brave and did some tricks of their own, while Julia, finally having learned to swim, and Zoey, equipped with her awesome Coast Guard PFD approved water wings tooled around. I sat in a camp chair in the cool water or hung out on the docks taking photos and chatting.

Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 03:58:00 +0000

Taya got her braces off the end of July (after 12 months, thank you Fast Braces! so I don't feel quite so old as to have a child with braces OFF), so to celebrate I took her to the beauty school for a hair cut with bangs added, a manicure, and a much-needed eyebrow wax. Her friend's mom had put a henna on her hand the night before, so the manicurist student had fun playing with nail paint to match the design. Zoey couldn't be left out of any photo as insanely jealous as she was of her sister's fancy new nails. Olivia also came with us and got a mini mani with blue sparkly polish that had mostly chipped off by the time we got home! Troy took her for her birthday a few days later and got her a real acrylic hot pink with flowers nail set that lasted for weeks!

Julia turns 5

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 01:04:00 +0000

Do kids actually get younger the more you have? When Taya turned 5, she seemed so old, so mature and ready to take on not only kindergarten, but the world. Today, Julia's 5 years seem like a malfunction of the calendar rather than the actual passage of time. Yet it also seems as if we are old best friends and have known each other for ages. Perhaps we have. Happy birthday, little one! We are glad you enjoyed your cake and ice cream dinner, your special night out with Dad, and you Barbie dolls!

Joplin, MO

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Taya and her girl scout troop made a weekend field trip to St. Louis, a 14-hour drive, and I tagged along as a warm body to chaperone. We passed through Joplin on the way, and stopped to gawk like tacky tourists at the utter and horrendous devastation that went on for miles and miles. The girls were satisfyingly somber at the shock of the scene. We drove to the top of a hill and saw this sadness and madness for miles around. The area most hard hit was residential, although an enormous number of businesses were also destroyed, and I shudder to wonder how many survivors' homes were under or not insured at all. The roads had been cleared enough to drive on, but there was no escaping the impact that street after street with not a home intact had on us, especially as the tornado warning siren was the only thing left standing. There was FEMA grafitti on every house marking it cleared of bodies and cleared for final tear down. A haunting sight, one we will never forget. Any effort to send aid is truly needed if you feel moved to do so.

Wild Birds

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:08:00 +0000

No, I'm not talking about my 5 wild little ducklings, but the wild bird Troy caught in the parking lot after work this afternoon and brought home to be nursed back to health by aforementioned ducklings aka our children. Thanks a lot, Troy. Personally, I'm kind of disgusted by wild birds, but because I am the main caregiver for our chickens somehow now I'm the bird vet around here. I love animals from the farming perspective, not because I enjoy pets. I suspected it was some sort of mockingbird, which as the Texas state bird would have either earned me a commendation or gotten me sued, but it is in fact a juvenile mourning dove of the type that poops on our car everyday, so I am conflicted about saving it!
This bird is also in pretty rough shape, rescued from attacking grackle birds who did a lot of bloody damage visible when it pathetically flaps its wings, and after recently losing an entire nest of wren hatchlings my kids were watching in a birdhouse they built at Home Depot, I'm not particularly looking forward to a dead bird in the house. Oh, well, we've dealt with larger dead birds when Julia killed one of our chickens. That's a story for some other day, and no, I don't have any photos to go along with it.

Death Wish Fish

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:17:00 +0000

Troy decided a year or so ago that fish as pets would be a good idea, but has recently decided that fish as pets are no longer a good idea. So when our friend Betty brought over her big cichlid to move into the tank with our significantly smaller cichlid, this was inevitably the result. Our little scrapper took him on, wish we had video of that bout, biting onto the larger fish's mouth until he won (thanks to our intervention with a large fish net). Large evil fish now resides in our neighbor's empty (now temporarily occupied) tank awaiting sale at our local cichlid store or a ceremonious dumping into our community pond. Don't tell Betty! Hope the little guy lives through that disastrous blind date.

Atlantians in Austin for 30 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:44:00 +0000

Taya's best friend Shivani from elementary school moved to Atlanta 2 years ago, and today stopped by for a quick visit on a trip to Dallas that landed them in Austin for the afternoon. Taya and her friend Brianna were so excited to see her, especially since I hadn't told them that she was going to be in town until right before she showed up! We also held onto her adorable twin sisters so Julia could visit with her long-lost buddies again too!

Pool Acrobatics

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Tue, 31 May 2011 03:09:00 +0000

Is our dad cooler than your dad? This activity always earns us comments about how our monkeys need to be in a gymnastics class. We also fortunately had a near miss with the metal pool stair railing. Fortunately in that her face didn't actually hit it, and Troy learned a little bit caution. And check out our buddy Chris photo bombing in the last one making it look like he was the one who got all the exercise throwing those kids around. Probably more exercise than I got sitting on the side trying not to get my camera wet.

HAARP?

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:29:00 +0000

I merely saw some cool cloud formation in the sky last night and took some photos of it. Along with about half a million other Austinites. The next day clients were asking if I saw it, talking about HAARP, or aliens, or whatever. Well, I'm pretty sure HAARP is in Alaska if you can believe anything on their homemade looking web site, and Texas is literally as far the other way as one can get in the US if that pesky Florida were out of the picture. But who knows, maybe they'll get their hands on a photo like this to study and be cool like me. Or maybe Cumulo-Fracto-Nimbus escaped from Xanth for a visit, even though, as previously stated, we're no where near Florida.

Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:22:00 +0000

Our old Idaho college buddy Sammie, (with whom I was friends with first while dating Troy, he then became Troy's best buddy after we became engaged), just happens to have grown up in Houston and moved to Austin with his wife Melissa several years ago (Sammie's real name is Ben, not to be confused with my brother Ben and his wife Melissa who were married around the same time). A few days ago Sammie emailed to invite us to Easter dinner at their house. We only see them once a year or so because they live so very very far away (35 minute drive ;), so Troy replied, "You do remember that we have 5 kids, right?" I told him to ask if they had tornado-proofed their house.
Apparently they had, so we all trotted up there (after skipping church) for prime rib roast. We ate the entire thing if you include their baby surreptitiously feeding his portions to the dog. I brought up our hard-boiled and plastic eggs (because with all the skipping church we certainly had no time to color them before dinner), and the kids had a hunt in their back yard. I wish I could claim the immaculate lawn as our own, but sadly we have no grass this year, only an awesome garden. I bought an extra chocolate bunny for Troy and I to share, and I said, "I will eat the..." and while pondering which body part I would choose, Troy added, "the chocolate part. I'll end up with the box." He has obviously realized he's married to a woman!
This is the day we reflect upon how grateful we are that Christ gave his life to save us from our sins, and since I stubbornly harbor so many sins, doubts, and lack of will to much change that, I am especially grateful to have a Savior who loves me in spite of it all. Happy Easter to you, and may God have mercy on our souls!

Idyllic Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:22:00 +0000

Don't these photos just make you want to punch me in the face? My idyllic little life with the spring garden and toddlers joyously learning about the miracle of life with scratching chickens hinted at in the background; it's enough to make you think my life really is just this perfect. That's what blogs are supposed to do. Take photos of the best times and make all the readers feel inadequate. Just remember, that while life is certainly almost this awesome, that this entire episode only took about 5 minutes after trying to get the kids out during perfect sunset light for at least 5 days, and that the chickens took twice as long to lure to that spot with poultry treats. All of it fits nicely between whining and too much TV, but since most of you just look at the photos and don't read those of you who made it this far know me the best now.

Easter Egg Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:33:00 +0000

Easter just wouldn't be the same without picking up tiny plastic colored eggs off a lawn...er, I mean wouldn't be the same without Jesus. Franklin Family Ranch off Middlecreek Rd in Johnson City held its annual Easter Festival sponsored by a local church. I very much appreciated that all my kids said Jesus is what Easter is all about even before we got there to experience a religious bent on a secular celebration. They had a praise band, a sermon, and a scavenger hunt with Bible clues in addition to free food, candy, and giant blow up jumpy things as far as the eye could see! You can see how sad they were when they were deflated at the end of the craziness.
I can't believe we've lived here so many years and never heard of this party, but we'll be making it an annual event! Next year I'm going to do my best to not get sunburned again, nor add stress by rushing out for having too many photo shoots scheduled afterward. I'll just bring a lounge chair, sunscreen, and chill out all afternoon while my kids wear themselves out.

Barton Springs Dog Pool

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 23:08:00 +0000

The kids wanted to go swimming, they've been bugging me for days. I may have mentioned the worst spring ever in my whining, complainy voice in previous posts. The cold winter wind turned into hot summer stagnation literally overnight. But it's Austin, so we're sure to get another cold snap or ice storm soon before the real dog days set in, right? Please? They predict a scorcher, which means even worse than the usual habitat of demons we typically suffer from June-August. After the bugs, the snow photos, and now this, I'm sure no one will ever pay us a visit again.

But I think this is the part I'm supposed to talk about the photos themselves. Barton Springs Pool is a natural spring-fed pool in downtown Austin, free all winter for polar bear swimmers. But they're charging again now, so the disappointed kids opted to wade in the creek at the end of the pool: free and therefore full of dogs despite the No Swimming and Pets on Leash signs posted all over. You'd think Christmas came in April they were so excited! I am a hero for the day!

I apologize no dogs made an appearance in the wide photo; they're never around when actually wanted. And yes, spell checker did catch the word complainy, yet I chose to leave it in there.

Park Day

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 01:07:00 +0000

Our longtime friend Brittany is having her third baby girl, and we spent the afternoon celebrating with a baby shower at Johnson City Park. Fun party, good food, great friends and conversation, and the kids got to check out a new place that was worth the 40-minute one-way trip despite all the pinching, poking, and yelling during the trip. Zoey would only play on the purple dinosaur because it matched her outfit. The heat wiped them out, and most of them were asleep on the way home. Someone find out where spring went and how we possibly went from winter straight into summer? Worst springtime ever thanks to La Nina. Texas, gotta love it.

BLT

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:35:00 +0000

Sunday morning before going to the Zilker Kite Festival as is our annual family tradition, I got a horrendous email that our young friend Trevor Searle had passed away in a skateboarding accident Saturday afternoon. He was 18, just about to graduate, begin college, and serve a church mission.

http://www.facebook.com/trevor.searle.loves.bass

While skateboarding down a long hill in a local subdivision, he was being towed by a car back up the hill, lost his balance, and hit his head on the pavement while not wearing his helmet.

Troy and I both taught Trevor in Sunday school for several years when he was 11-13, and despite our best efforts remained one of the only kids in the class who seemed to not only remember who we are but always struck up a conversation when he saw us. He was charismatic, fun loving, lived big and loved life, a spiritual and moral young man. As this photo taken by my friend Shawneen Williams clearly shows, he found a way to be a strong upstanding Christian and still have an amazing good time, and was a shining example of this to his friends.

I find the experience for me as a mother has been very telling of some parenting issues and expectations I didn't realize that I had and need to address. I haven't been able to speak with his parents yet, which is wonderful because they are surrounded by incredibly supportive family and close friends, so I have had an opportunity to look through my own lens and work through some emotions. I go between desperately hugging and cherishing my sweet children to anger at the power I have given them to hurt me. Yet with all light there must be darkness in order to know joy from pain, and coupled with our intense and desperate love for our children is the risk of crushing pain or loss.

Trevor honored his parents and his god by being an outstanding young man, and that is the most comforting thought at his loss. He packed more into his short life than many of us are able to do in a lifetime, yet we still grieve for the loss of him in our lives, for missing him, and for all the experiences he'll never enjoy.

This is such a difficult age to lose a child, on the brink of beginning his own life after years of careful preparation, and Trevor made such high quality choices there is no doubt his life would have become even better than most. In a moment of irresponsibility that he would warn us all against if he now could, he finds himself in another place with a new set of experiences and goals to set. We are certain he will fulfill his new obligations with excellence per his usual flavor. BLT, Be Like Trevor, is what all his friends and family are wearing on their crazy skater shoes, and that is the lesson he taught us. As his grandfather concluded at Trevor's funeral today, he would tell us to go and do likewise, my friends.

Daddy Daughter Dance

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 05:38:00 +0000

The annual daddy-daughter dance at church is turning out to actually be an annual event! The last few years hasn't missed a dance. This year's theme was in true Texas fashion, literally, with cowboy attire. As I'm the mother, I don't fit into the daddy category (and even though I am a daughter, my daddy and I are a little too old for the regular company), so I've never actually attended one of these dances. Thanks to whichever anonymous photographer provided these pictures. Instead, Levi and I went out for haircuts and a stuffed-full buffet dinner. I'm pretty sure I got the better end of the deal.

Pinewood Home Depot

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:23:00 +0000

The Home Depot ritual: yell while kids doing chores, "Hurry, hurry, or you'll miss Home Depot building!" They look at us like we're idiots, finish chores slowly, and we pretend a free trip to Home Depot is a big prize for finishing chores. Then we get some hammered and glued fingers and haul all the kids home. Or to Costco for a big Saturday free sample fest. But today we got to build orange race cars, and instead of glued fingers got only hammered and Cheeto orange fingers. This store showed some initiative and built a race track for them all to show off their driving down a ramp prowess. If your car doesn't spill off the edge, you win. And no, that extra kid isn't ours, just really excited to race once my 5 were finished falling off the sides.

Face Paint

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:59:00 +0000

My girls LOVE getting their faces painted by our friend Michelle from On the Spot Body Art. We spent the afternoon there while Michelle painted a maternity body art session for a gift to an expectant friend that I photographed for our portfolios. Of course the girls could not be left out of any portfolio action! They hassled her until she relented. Wouldn't you? They are so cute!

Preschool

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:26:00 +0000

If you think of preschool as homeschooling, I guess we started about 12 years ago when our oldest was in preschool. We have still not decided whether our current preschooler will go to public school for kindergarten or bypass the system altogether, but for now she is having a blast in our little preschool co-op. We swap days meeting at others' homes. Here she is making play dough at her buddies' house!

I am teaching math and general numbers, which at the preschool level is pretty challenging for me, lol! I found an online math curriculum from PK-12 that I adore, mostly, and have been using that for all the kids.

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mepres/primary/default.htm

The web site is pretty rough, and the curriculum itself has a learning curve, but I promise if you get over that it's fantastic. I love the progression of concepts taught, not your average drill to mastery worksheet approach and high level critical thinking skills are taught right from the start. I love the ability start with PK and see how it progresses into the older grades with my other children.

But in the end, it's really all about having fun and getting messy, in school and in life.

Holiday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:43:00 +0000

Troy does a little IT support for a software development firm called Enthought, so I provided the photos for their annual holiday party. They catered the Zilker Clubhouse with a great view of the Austin nighttime skyline.
The kids had to pose alone because I was holding a camera while dad fiddled with something electrical; he can't control himself. They are a little more difficult to pose than clients' kids because they're my kids. I hope it's because they're used to me and not because they're more bratty than the average child. They are pretty rowdy! But I think it's because I like it like way.

Santa Claus Shops at Malls

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Giles Powell) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 04:54:00 +0000

We were at the new mall because someone told us Santa shops there. And rides in fire trucks. And in some of the worse photographic conditions ever I managed to capture the elusive Mr. Claus, almost in focus! The kids got to watch a dance school full of little girls wiggle around on stage, cry while talking to the nice man that only sort of looks like friendly grandpa, eluded being trampled by the crowd and still were first in line! The night ended in irritation by dad, but he still lent his headlights to the "Levi Contemplates the True Nature of Christmas" photo at the end. Or "Levi is Mesmerized by Glowing Lights." I'm going with the Jesus theme because asking Santa for a zillion and two gifts certainly brought on such pensive reflections.