Seed Viewer Project

Last semester for science we covered plants and their needs. Sydnee really enjoys science, but doesn't really enjoy book work, so we compromised and created this seed viewer project.

It's really simple - we used a clear plastic cup, a few red kidney beans, a piece of brown felt and some paper towels. We cut the brown felt to fit and stuck it in the cup, placed the beans between the cup and the felt and we the paper towels and stuck them in the middle of the cup. Sydnee made two of these and kept one in the dark and place the other one next to her window. At first, the one in the dark grew much more quickly, but then when the plants started to come up above the cup it quickly died. We concluded that this was because seeds don't need sunlight, but plants do. We did discover that the roots will grow into the felt, so we would suggest using construction paper instead. Sydnee's "light" beans are still going strong, but they are in need of a larger pot - and a serious felt-ecotmy - still working on figuring that one out.

Vintage Thingy Thursday

I love vintage stuff and really as far as I'm concerned, the older, the better. I'm thrilled that Colorado Lady has this awesome meme, it's my favorite by far. For Mother's Day this year I got the most amazing present (from my most amazing husband!). This lovely item is a wood burning stove from right around the turn of the century. We found it at a wonderful junk shop in Willow Springs, Missouri on our way to Georgia. I was so excited when I saw it I almost piddled right then and there. Unfortunately, we were headed away from home and had the car, so we couldn't by it then (I did get a treasure while we were there, but that will be for another Thursday). The owners close up shop at 2 because they are also school bus drivers and on the way home we were too late to catch them. Being the awesome man he is, my husband took me back to buy the stove that Saturday. (Did I mention it's a 3 hour drive one way? Yep, he earned some major points for this one, folks.) Sadly, the store had been hit by a tornado the night before and a lot of their items were damaged. BUT, not this gorgeous piece of history. The owners were nice enough to let us go ahead and purchase the stove while we were there and let us know that all of the contents would be auctioned off later - they even sent us a flier for the auction and yes, we are going. Anyway, back to the stove. We tried doing research on it and found that it was probably made sometime between 1880 and 1911 and was sold by the Sears & Roebuck company. There is a water reservoir (which is currently home to about 250 million pine cones) which was optional and I believe the back with the storage compartments was as well. The oven door has broken over time and will need some repairs to be reattached, but at least it's there and displays the name Southern Queen. I couldn't be happier with it, but now I have find something really awesome for Father's Day. (c;

Works for Me Wednesday - Summer Boredom Busters

The challenge for this week's WFMW is to find ways to keep your kids busy when the dreaded "I'm bored" whine starts. Well, at our house my kids know those words are the equivalent of saying "Mom, please find me some chore to keep me busy and out of your hair for the next twenty minutes." Now, no kid in their right mind is going to ask for this more than a few times so I don't hear the whine of boredom, but I do see it in their faces. Summers are supposed to be lazy and carefree - but I've yet to have one of those. We have a steady stream of neighborhood kids (and those who aren't quite as local, but then I become Taxi Mom as well) in and out through the summer. DD10 also has good friend she likes to spend time with in the summer that doesn't live too far away, but during the school year their schedules just don't line up. We do the summer reading program at the library (whoo hoo for Mrs. Connie, she's the best!), visit lots of local museums and zoos and we have our weekly Girl Scout meetings and several trips and events. You would think with all that our summer is pretty full, but no, my friend, it's not full enough to keep my kids busy. But, we're not done yet. We're also homeschooling this summer. We're taking off this week and then next week we'll be back to the books. We're covering math, science, social studies and spelling. I'm counting the summer reading program as our literature through the months of June and July so we're not doing any of that and I'm giving them a grammar break after their research reports (just 'cause I'm nice like that once in while).

Some of our planned outings for this summer are

• the Joplin museum complex (free on Mondays)


• George Washington Carver birthplace (free)


• safari sanctuary & blue bell factory tour (with our church)


• precious moments park (free)


• Independence zoo and water park (with Girl Scouts)


• Prairie Days Festival (with Girl Scouts, but counting as history field trip)


• Troop camping


• Family camping


• Tulsa zoo

Granted, we won't be on the road or educating every minute of the day. For those times when the kids really need something to do we set up a fort (with the new house they can make a mondo-fort upstairs), pull out the art supplies or spend the day at the pool. Free (or very inexpensive) fun to be had with little-to-no prep time for mom.

Tag-a-long Tuesday: Girl Power Patch Program

Tonight's meeting is going to be the first with our new crop of Juniors from last week's bridging ceremony. I'm not sure how many we will have since some will wait to start meeting with us until next school year so we are opting for a fun get-to-know-you kind of meeting. While searching for just the right activity I came across the Girl Power patch program from Patchwork Designs. You can take a look at the entire program here (PDF) We won't be doing all of the requirements as a troop, we're going to try to hit on the six that make up the wording of the patch. Tonight's meeting planner looks like this:

Horseshoe (Opening) - LAUGHTER - Toliet Paper Game: Roll starts on one side and works it's way around the horseshoe. Girls are instructed to "take as much as they will need" and once everyone has their desired amount the girls are told that for each square they took, they will need to tell the group one thing about themselves.

Project 1 - CARING - Bullying Scenarios (from the packet): Girls volunteer to read the scenarios and everyone responds as the the choice they would make. Related badge: Being My Best #7

Project 2 - FRIENDS - No Sew Hair Scrunchie (from the packet): Girls make hair scrunchies by tieing different ribbons (cut to 10 inch lenghts) onto plain elastic bands. Related badge: Art to Wear #10

Next week we will do three more projects to complete this program. If you are joining us next week, be sure to bring a can of your favorite pop (and your own vanilla ice cream if you are part of the virtual troop) so we can make ice cream floats. Yum!

Tag-a-long Tuesday Introduction

In the world of Girl Scouting, the term "tag-a-long" can mean one of two things. First, some councils refer to their peanut butter patty cookies as tag a longs, we are not one of those councils. The other meaning simply refers to a person who is not a Girl Scout but tags a long by joining in the fun at an event or meeting. Well friends, here's your change to be an official tag-a-long at our troop meetings. It makes no difference to me if you are 5 or 50 or 500 (however, if you've hit that mark I'd love to know your secret!). Each week I'll post a fun tidbit that our troop is doing. You are welcome to join in and do the same project or activity at home - or post about what your own Girl Scout troop is doing. Either way, grab the Tag-a-long Tuesday graphic and add a comment so I can come check out what you are doing!

Me - In a Word

So I found this on another Jen's blog (there are so many of us, after all) and wanted to do it too. The trick is that you can only answer with one word. Leave a comment if you add it to your blog and I'll come and visit. (c:

1. Where is your cell phone? purse


2. Your hair? ponytail


3. Your mother? Momma


4. Your father? Daddy


5. Your favorite food? Chinese


6. Your dream last night? forgotten


7. Your favorite drink? tea


8. Your dream/goal? teach


9. What room are you in? office


10. Your hobby? web


11. Your fear? dark


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? teaching


13. Where were you last night? here


14. Something that you aren’t? skinny


15. Muffins? banana


16. Wish list item? house


17. Where did you grow up? Oklahoma


18. Last thing you did? pack


19. What are you wearing? clothes


20. Your TV? off


21. Your pets? traveling


22. Friends? world-wide (yes, it is too one word, it's just hyphenated)


23. Your life? busy


24. Your mood? nervous


25. Missing someone? sometimes


26. Vehicle? cute


27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes


28. Your favorite store? teachers'


29. Your favorite color? purple


30. When was the last time you laughed? today


31. Last time you cried? week


32. Your best friend? Joe


33. One place that I go to over and over? library


34. One person who emails me regularly? Jeanne


35. Favorite place to eat? Chinese

Sometimes You Just Can't Win

Normally I don't post about politics or current events, however, I feel almost outraged about the current goings-on with the Cambridge police. Have you read the article? Apparently some nosy neighbor of a "Harvard scholar" called the police when she saw what she thought were two guys trying to break in. Two guys with backpacks trying to break down the door. Now, you be the judge, does that sound like, oops, my door is jammed to you or would you automatically think the home of your neighbor who had been out of the country was getting broken into? I, friends, would presume the latter, and apparently so did this woman. Now, to make matters worse, after the police showed up they wanted proof that the guy belonged there and the man got all upset. Not just a little upset, but enough to get himself arrested. Really, how hard is it to pull out your ID and say, sorry for the misunderstanding, officer, but this is my home. Apparently it's too tough for a Harvard professor. The part in all this that really upsets me is the fact that the president - who is apparently friends with this guy - said that the actions of the police were "stupid". Um, really? Stupid? Charges weren't even filed and dare I repeat myself, but all the guy had to do was be civil and show proof of ID. In my opinion, it's pretty poor leadership to publicly attack a city's police department when your friend gets himself into trouble. The photo with this post is of the responding officer Sgt. James Crowley as the media ask him questions at his home.