Similar?

Miss M's picture reminded me of another picture of another child - it was taken almost exactly 14 years ago of another 3 year old. But that 3 year old is now 17. Where does the time go??

The Yellow Dress

This dress was given to Miss M by one of our favorite people, and we have an adorable picture of that person wearing the same dress as a toddler. So we wanted to have Miss M's picture in the dress, too. The problem is, I can't decide which picture I like best. I know that "less is more," but I have the hardest time weeding through and culling pictures of my kids.

OK, I deleted three. That was hard!

Cleaning

On one of my message boards, there was a post about the ten germiest things in our lives - would you believe that a load of clean, wet laundry was near the top of the list? Clean laundry - it topped even public drinking fountains! That led to a search of disinfectants, which led to some websites about hydrogen peroxide, which led to more natural cleaners, with the final result that my kitchen floor is cleaner than it's been for years.

I found these sites about replacing toxic household chemicals with natural products:
http://allnaturalbeauty.us/ani12.htm
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/

I haven't used a lot of different chemicals to begin with - some diluted bleach for disinfecting, and soapy water for almost everything else - but these ideas will help me to get things clean that weren't really getting clean before. I used a vinegar/baking soda paste on my floor with a little bit of elbow grease, and it made a big difference.

Set Out to Dry

Morning in the Field

Evening on the Street

My Newest Hangout

I just found this a couple of days ago. I have to watch my sugar intake, so I live vicariously by enjoying others eating stuff. This woman tries and reviews various candies on her Candy Blog. Her FAQ is interesting, she explains how she's able to work her candy samples into a balanced diet that maintains her weight and wards off diabetes. I think she tries to review one new candy a day.

Quote from Hilaire Belloc's Preface

I'm reading The Path to Rome - I was thinking it might be a useful geography text for AO Year 12, which would be nice since it's online (Goethe's isn't), but I'm not sure it will be academic enough. Belloc is a lot of fun, though, so I'm going to read it anyway.

Here's a nice quote from his preface. I've been reading aloud the funny bits to Tim. This bit isn't so much funny as it is quotable.

"Let us love one another and laugh. Time passes, and we shall soon laugh no longer--and meanwhile common living is a burden, and earnest men are at siege upon us all around. Let us suffer absurdities, for that is only to suffer one another."

Bringing up some old stuff

It's that time again - fall! Here are Tim's fall pictures although they're not from this year.

I gathered links from some of Tim's pictures and posts on our blog and put them in one easily accessible place for reference.

One of my New Hangouts

I don't keep up with news much - just enough to know the gist of what's going on in the world, but not enough to know about the latest horrific crime. On my Yahoo page, I changed my page so it shows Entertainment News instead of World News. So now I don't hear about every bomb, murder or salmonella poisoning - but I know who's getting married, having a baby or won an award. And I sleep much better.

While I was looking for something else, I stumbled onto this Celebrity Baby Blog. Pictutes of celebrities with their kids. New postings every day of the latest starlet's newborn, or famous Dad taking his toddler to the park. Very sweet.