Pumpkin Project

On Saturday we went to out local grocer who annually has Pumpkin Blowout. Local pumpkins for $2 each! We purchased three pumpkins and then planned to carve them. I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. I painted a pumpkin in college with a little girl I mentored, but that's my most recent memory, and that was almost 10 years ago. We had a carving kit that we purchased a few years ago and got underway with our Pumpkin Project. Tim carved one pumpkin and I carved another, so we each had our own unique design. The third pumpkin became Flora's. She slept through the whole project, but since she's less than a month old, I don't suspect she could have done much with her pumpkin :) The pumpkins turned out awesome! Also, we saved the seeds and roasted them. Yum! Here's some shots from the Pumpkin Project. The final night picture with them light up shows mine on the left, Tim's in the middle, and Flora's on the right :)

Real Patriots Don't Spend

While scanning through the most recent issue of Time magazine I stumbled across a "commentary" titled Real Patriots Don't Spend. Since Tim and I try to be as thrifty as possible, I was immediately interested in the article. Without becoming zealous or political, I'd just like to say that I think this article makes a brillant point! Click Here.

Going Wild at the Weidner Center!

A while back I "splurged" and bought 2 tickets to a show at the local performing arts center in Green Bay  (Weidner Center).  I did this without consulting Tim, which is something neither of us do.  The tickets were $45 a piece and I wanted to surprise Tim with the show that I decided to go to.  Well, I had the hardest time keeping the secret, even only 4 hours into it!  I couldn't stand it, so I played the guessing game with Tim and made him narrow it down for himself.  He figured it out eventually since this is an unlikely thing to see at a performing arts center.  Well, if you've seen the picture below, you've probably already figured it out.  We went to see Jack Hanna!!!  

I'm sure that I've been watching his show since a young kid and being that both Tim and I love nature and animals, what a perfect show!  Well, it was great!  Prior to the show we briefly 

met Jack, which was not something we expected.  In the picture Jack and Tim and talking and I'm trying hard to look good for the camera.  Haha!   Our seats were in the 5th row, so we had a great view.   Jack's show was entertaining as well as a learning experience.  Of course there were lots of parents with their kids, but I don't think the kids could have gotten nearly as much out of the show as an adult. Not to mention....$45 for a 3 year old to sit and eat cherrios and fuss the whole time except for when there was an animal on stage?!  Dang! Between showing some very cool animals including two-toed sloth, albino wallaby, python and cheetah, Jack showed his favorite clips from some of his shows, talked about wildlife conservation, and showed a video of him with his wife and 2 daughters coming upon a family of mountain gorillas (very endangered).    He also showed a blooper reel, including an episode with David Letterman where Jack was milking a goat and squirted the milk all over Letterman's pants.  It was a good show, and worth the$45 per ticket splurge!  Jack has two shows on TV, Jack Hanna's Animal Adventure's and Jack Hanna's Into the Wild....shows that are meant for educating kids, but is equally as good for adults!   -L

Your brain on happiness!

Have you ever had to do something that you were just dreading? You say things to yourself like "this is going to be horrible" or "I wish I didn't have to." Then as it turns out, it was a horrible as you suspected? I can be blamed of this type of behavior or thoughts just as much as the next person. I have often enjoyed learning about human psychology and I recently stumbled across an interesting article about the placebo effect. "Your Brain Is A Pharmacy" at utne.com brings up the idea that you will believe what you are told, and therefore react appropriately. In a study Utne references, participants were given two glasses of wine. The glasses had the same wine in them. The drinkers were told that one glass had a more expensive wine than in the other glass. The wine that the participants were told was more expensive taste better to them. Are you surprised? We really are very complex as humans, but yet it is so simple to talk yourself or be persuaded into believing something is a certain way. Do you think you could change the way you feel just by how you think?

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July means many things to different people.  Some of us think of it as a free day off work (yippee!).  Some of recognize it as a time to set off/watch fireworks.  Boating.  Picnic time.  And so forth.  What is it really?   Well, I'm sure we all know it's Independence Day!  Did you know back in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, there were 2.5 million people living here in the land of the free??  Seems like a lot actually.  Guess how many today? 304 million - talk about inflation! Did you know that there are 9 places in the United States that have taken on the name Freedom?  The largest is Freedom, Calif., population 6,000.  There is also Freedom, WI about 15 minutes from where we live.  Population 5,241 (2000) - watch out Calif!  I drive past the Freedom exit off the highway often, and I never even thought about what Freedom means!  Want some more trivia about the 4th? Check out this US GOV site.   It should be a credible source :) Today I leave you with a picture of fireworks over Mount Rushmore.  Looks pretty cool! (I haven't been there, found it on the internet...maybe It'll be added to places to visit in my lifetime.)   -L

www.freerice.com

I’ve heard of the site www.freerice.com several times, but didn't check it out until recently.  If you have some spare time on your hands and enjoy vocabulary or word type games, please visit www.freerice.com.

In the middle of the FreeRice Home page you will see something like:

small means:
little

old

big

yellow

To play the game, click on one of the four definitions (“little,” “old,” “big,” or “yellow”) that you think is correct. If you get it right, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice to help end hunger. In the example above, you would want to click on “little,” which means “small.” You will then get a chance to do another word the same way. You can play as long as you like and donate as much rice as you like. When you are finished, you do not have to do anything―your donation is already counted.

There are 60 levels, but they say that it's rare that people would get over level 50 (unless cheating I suppose).  In about 5 minutes, I donated 1000 pieces of rice and was at level 41. Fun!  

Check it out!  Not only can you help feed the hungry, but you'll also improve your vocabulary!

-L

State Bird of Wisconsin

Do you know what the state bird of Wisconsin is? Most people would say the robin, which is correct...if you want to be technical about it. I'm going to argue however that for the next month or two the state bird of Wisconsin is the mosquito! I'm still healing from my mosquito encounter that took place 4 days ago. We went walking to our favorite trail in So. Brown County. The wind was strong and the bugs shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, we walked down into the lower, wooded and somewhat wet area of the trail. I was immediately swarmed by mosquitos. Since it was breezy, I thought they would let up, but no luck. Through the entire rest of our walk, the mosquitos were pelting at my arms and anywhere else they could get at (a bite on my scalp...seriously?!). It felt like I was walking through the rain as they came at me full force. I couldn't take it, I walked faster and faster to get out of my misery! Well, obviously, I got out alive - but not without the battle wounds. Dozens upon dozens of itchy mosquito bites. Somehow the dogs and Tim managed to get out without more than a bite or two. Such is my luck. Next time I go prepared...slathered in all natural bug repellent.

So, fair warning - it's offically Wisconsin state "bird" season....and these mosquitos aren't joking around! Good luck out there!

-L