Sweet Turned 13!

Yesterday was Sweet's 13th birthday. She enjoyed the day watching her brothers do her chores and eating the good food Dill made for her including waffles, sausage, corn bread and birthday cake! He is a good big brother.

Running low on cash we couldn't afford a big present, so she received a few small presents. Two cost $3.00 the rest cost free up to $1.00 with a final total of $13.00 plus change. Instead of packing them in a gift bag and having it be over instantly, Dill and I made up a scavenger hunt. It was fun to find hiding places and make the rhyming clues.
One of my favorite clues was this one. I didn't think she would get it in a zillion years. Not only did she get it but afterward she corrected me. Of course I didn't catch that on tape!


I love her facial expressions as she reads and figures out where the presents are located.


The scavenger hunt, though fun, was not her favorite gift. Dill not only made her breakfast AND most of supper, he also bought her a new light sabor. Darth Vadar lives and reigns once again in the pickle barrel.





A lot of great memories were created last night.  I hope she remembers it as fondly as I will.

Hippo Birdies my love!

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefrontlines

Experimental Outside Cooking

We had a hot streak that lasted about a month this summer.  It was humid and in the 90's everyday.  There was no rain to speak of.  The thermometer would show the temperature being in the 80's at 3 am each morning.  It was hot.  It was miserable.  But it gave Sweet the reason to do some outside "cooking".

Car cookies were a given.  She made dough and put some in the back window of the car with a thermometer.


She checked it each hour to see how hot the car was.  Oven like is what we were hoping for.


It was looking good and then...


The thermometer broke.  There were little pieces of glass and red liquid on our cookies.  UGH! 
Sweet also decided to see if she could bake an egg in the back window.


And why not try to cook an egg on the sidewalk and make some toast too?


The cookies turned out good enough to eat with the exception that a thermometer exploded all over them leaving remnants of glass and red liquid as a topping. We did break them open to see their gooeyness.


The other results have been put on video because a still picture didn't do it justice.

This is the baked egg from the back window of the car.


This is the egg that was cooked on the sidewalk.


We found it interesting that the white didn't turn white. It just sort of dried up.

Here is the toast.


What you didn't see in the video is that Sweet spit out her bite after I turned the camera off. She said it was horrible. It sounded like toast but that is as far as it went.

It was a good day of experimenting even though the final products were not what we had wanted. The left over cookie dough in the fridge was just the thing she needed to end of the day!

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefrontlines

Intrasquad Competition

Yesterday Sweet's gymnastics club hosted an intrasquad meet so the gymnasts could get an idea of what the judges are looking for.  They had the opportunity to have some constructive critisim from the people who are actually going to judge them this season.  Sweet was so excited to actually be able to compete since she chose not to last year.  Over all she did well.  She had an 8.7 average with a total of  34.8 total score.  This would have been higher but the judge asked her to start from a different corner for her floor routine and it totally messed her up.

Vault 9.3

Bars 9.0

Beam 9.1

Floor 7.4


Congratulations Sweet!  It was so great to see you put your talent to work.  Daddy and I wish you the best of luck this season.  We are so proud of all your hard work and dedication!  Here's to a GREAT season of fun!

Armed and Ready

...to clean the bathroom!

Spaghetti Tacos, part 2

The picklets like iCarly.  Carly, Sam, Spencer, Freddy, Gibby and Guppy....the picklets all find a piece of common ground.  That would be spaghetti tacos.  Back in '09, Chip made spaghetti tacos for us.  I reluctantly tried them and found they were pretty darned good.  They were a novelty and I thought they would pass.

I found out nothing passes quickly where there is a popular teen show on...lol.  One night last month I told Sweet I would like her to cook supper for us.  After a long thought process she decided to make spaghetti tacos.  Laughing, I let her have at it. 

The tacos were delicious with the shell adding a delightful crunch you wouldn't normally get while eating spaghetti. 

Though the tacos were good, I have to admit I am a garlic bread fanatic.  So I invented my own little sandwich. 

At spaghetti hot dog!  Now that is good eating!

Sweet's Tooth

Last Thursday night Sweet complained that her tooth hurt.  She has never had a cavity so we took this hurt quite seriously.  After looking at her gums we saw they were swollen.  We gave her some aspirin and sent her to bed, fully expecting to have to take her the the dentist the next morning.  But we found the swelling was down and the tooth was loose.  Hoping it was a 12 year molar we waited to take her to the dentist. 

Good thing too because it was a 12 year molar ($100 saved!)  The tooth was evidently very ready to vacate it's location because early yesterday afternoon it was hanging on by one root and the other tooth was part way in.  Guess that explained the irritation Thursday night. 
It was pretty neat.  But the coolest thing was that it could be turned completely around. Seriously.  We videoed it.
 

Sweet finally pulled it out about 2, after getting tired of playing with it I guess.  She isn't obsessing anymore and life is calmer.  She set it in a cup of water to await the arrival of the tooth fairy.

Of course, the tooth fairy forgot to stop at the bank and get a golden dollar yesterday afternoon.  I wonder if the she ever leaves jelly beans that are meant for Easter baskets instead?

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

She's Been Concussed

I didn't really think that was a real word until I looked it up.

con·cussed, To injure by concussion

That would be my Sweet. Injured by concussion.

Wednesday night she was running in the gym. As she was running, a loose carpet tile slipped on the concrete and there she was...flying. Over the chains that steady the uneven bars, and BAM direct contact with her head on the floor. The cement floor. Not knocked out but dazed to the point she doesn't remember anything but running and then seeing me, screaming her head hurts and her leg is numb. Gracious Day!

We watched her closely all night. Woke her up several times. Let her watch TV to her hearts content, trying to keep her awake. The next day her head still hurt but she was hungry and eating. Cool went to work as usual and told his co-workers. You know, people love to tell horror stories. I know they were just trying to help but Cool called me at 9:00, almost frantic, and insisted I take Sweet to the ER. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

So there we were. In the ER. It is amazing how fast they "process" you when a child has a head injury and can't remember the event. Within 10 minutes (and that is a high estimate of the time it took) we were in a room. The Dr. was in there within the next 5 minutes. I was amazed. I didn't even have time to turn the TV in the room on. It was a nice flat screen hanging right on the wall with a ton of channels according to the cable guide.

The Dr., through a series of questions and answers determined Sweet "probably" did not require a cat scan at this time. \o/ It had been over 12 hours since the "incident", as he called it. He also said he felt we had done everything right from icing the bump to waking her through the night to bringing her in even if it was only to ease our minds. Whew!

That being said, he did say he thought she had a mild concussion and definitely some brain trauma but he strongly felt nothing of alarm would be found in a CT and that taking it easy for a few days was in order.

So, she has been off gymnastics for the last couple days. She is starting to go a bit stir crazy. But, she is LOVING the attention. She is still wearing her hospital bracelet and the nurse let her keep the blanket they covered her up with since she was shivering. Her new favorite word is concussed and she uses it every chance she gets.

Yes, she is milking it for all it's worth. But the way we look at it is we dodged a bullet and a little milk is in order.


(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

University of Iowa Gymnastics

We think this is pretty cool. Sweet went to the Women's Gymnastics camp at the University of Iowa last summer. The head coach, Larissa Libby, worked with Sweet on her back handsprings on the beam all week.

We got a postcard telling us camp sign ups are beginning. I went to the website and what do I see. The fatured picture is Coach Libby working with Sweet on the beam. Pretty cool!

You can see her picture here: http://www.iowasportscamps.com/sports/gymnastics-girls/

This has psyched Sweet up for another great year at camp! :-)

The Quote of the Week

"I need to go back to Grandma's and get my book. I want my book. I need my book. It is a beautiful book."

~~Sweet Pickle on Dragon's Breath~~

Alabama Pecan Logs

We are attempting to study one state a week this school year. So far we have studied one state. We should be on our fourth. I'm not too concerned about it. What will be will be.

While studying Alabama Dill make Alabama Pecan Bars. They were really good. Why wouldn't they be? There was a half pound of butter in them. ;-D They are very close to the Keebler Sandie cookie.

This recipe is from the book It's My State! Alabama by Joyce Hart.

Alabama Pecan Logs

1/2 pound sweet butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups chopped pecans
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 325. Grease a large cookie sheet. Mix butter until it is smooth. Add sugar, salt, flour and vanilla. Stir in pecans.

Roll a heaping spoonful of batter into a log and place it on the greased cookie sheet.

Bake logs for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

The logs didn't stay log form, they were more of a cookie by the time the baking was done. Sweet didn't like the pecans so she wouldn't eat them.

Cookie Mining

Sweet is studying nonrenewable resources in science. We started using Lesson Pathways but Sweet really didn't like the reading material. We are now using the renewable energy lessons from Infinite Power for our main reading with Lesson Pathways for hands on activities. This week she did a little Cooking Mining. She learned quite a bit about mining and running a business. It was an eye opener.

She started off with $19.00. She had the choice of buying land in one of three states. Each state was represented by a different kind of chocolate chip cookie. She also had her choice of "tools" to buy. Each "state" and "tool" cost a different amount.

Montana was Mrs. Field's peanut butter chocolate chip cookie and cost $3.00.
Pennsylvania was a Mrs. Field's triple chocolate cookie and cost $5.00.
Kentucky was a Mrs. Field's white chocolate chip cookie and cost $7.00.
The tools of the trade included a flat toothpick for $2.00, a round toothpick for $4.00 and a paperclip for $6.00.
Sweet chose Pennsylvania, a round toothpick and a paperclip.

$19.00
-$5.00
-$4.00
-$6.00
--------
$4.00

Her initial gross start up costs was $15.oo.
Her operating capital was $4.00.

She next took her land acquisition and traced it on grid paper. This information was to record the size of her property for later in the project.

The goal was to mine for chocolate chips using only the purchased tools. The timer was set for 5 minutes.

And she's off.

This is the only picture I got of the mining process. I didn't even get a picture of the mined chips. I guess I just got too excited! In all she mined for 5 minutes and extracted whole chips and chip pieces. After putting the pieces together we decided she had 10 whole chips.

For each minute it took her to mine she was charged $1.00 labor and for each chip extracted she earned $2.00.

$1.00
x 5 minutes labor
-------
$5.00 labor costs

$2.00
x 10 chips mined
-------
$20.00 gross profit

But we weren't done yet. At the beginning of the project, you will remember that Sweet traced her property on the graph paper and counted how many squares it covered. Pennsylvania covered 103 squares. This is where land reclamation comes in. Land reclamation is the process of restoring and/or improving the land that is mined. Basically, the land is preserved and nature protected. She had to put her property back the way it was or improve it.

Using only her purchased equipment, she reclamated the land. All of the land, minus the chips, had to be put back into the original 103 squares. It was tricky.

She stacked, pushed, pulled and stabbed the cookie pieces.
Restoring the land was hard and improving the land even harder. This gave us ample opportunity to talk about water run off, decomposition, wildlife...you get the point.

As you can see, the reclamation didn't go so well. Because she didn't reclamate the land to state and federal standards, she was fined. This part was tricky for me. I once was asked to judge a friendly gymnastics competition between Sweet and a friend of hers during class. Sweet didn't talk to me for hours afterward. I could see that happening again. So, since we were at my mom and dad's house, I called for reinforcements.

Grandma looked at the graph paper and said, "What does reclamation mean Sweet? Is this land back to normal or improved? I don't think so!" I inwardly smiled. You go mom!

Grandma concluded that the land now went outside the original claim by 2 squares by pushing all the crumbs together. And for each of those 2 squares Sweet was charged $1.00. Sweet is still talking to my mom which is more that would have happened if I were the one to make this decision.

Her final cost analysis worksheet turned out like this:

$19.00 start up money
-$5.00 land acquisition
-$4.00 equipment cost
-$6.00 equipment cost
--------
$4.00 operating capital
-$5.00 labor
--------
-$1.00
+$20.00 gross profit
--------
$19.00
-$2.00 land reclamation fines
--------
$17.00
-$19.00 start up money
--------
-$2.00 Total Net Loss

Sweet was pretty bummed by this whole course of events. Even though it looked like she had made a profit of $17.00, after she subtracted her start up money, she was actually in the hole. Thus the way a business works.

The best part of this whole activity for Sweet (and the boys) was how to dispose of the unused/unwanted land. Sweet had a pretty good idea.

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Morning Routine

This past couple of weeks the picklets and I have been riding into town with Cool in the mornings. We have really gotten into the swing of things. Sweet here is really prepared for her morning. Slippers on her feet and flipflops in her hand, hot chocolate and backpack. Too cute!

Graffiti Artist

She looks innocent, doesn't she? This angelic 11 year old couldn't possibly be a graffiti artist. Or could she?

A couple weeks ago, after delivering papers, Sweet went off on her bike for a morning ride. She came back a few minutes later and asked Dill if he wanted to go with her. He said yes and went outside. I looked out the window to see the two of them riding down the sidewalk, Sweet holding a box. Didn't really think twice about it.

They came back about 45 minutes later. I was just finishing up breakfast when they walked in. I asked if they had fun they both said yes. Sweet just stood there and all of a sudden blurted out, "I painted the slide."

"You painted the what??"

"I painted the twirly slide. Dill was my look out."

OK, I have to admit I wondered why in the world this child would all of a sudden decide to embark on a life of crime AND drag her brother with her. Why did graffiti call out to her when I allow arts and crafts just about any time of the day. AND why did she have to drag her brother with her? I asked the juvenile delinquents the obvious question.

"Why, pray tell, did you paint the slide?"

"Because of the graffiti." Sweet answered. Dill stayed quiet

"What graffiti?" I asked.

"The graffiti on the slide." Sweet said with a slight tone while rolling her eyes at Dill. He continued his silence.

"What did the graffiti say?"

"Oh just stuff like hi."

I didn't buy that for a minute. I turned to Dill and said, "What did the graffiti say?"

Knowing he could no longer keep quiet Dill said, "I can't talk like that."

"I give you permission this ONE time to speak like that. Spell where possible."

What he told me made me blush, and I have been married for umpteen years. The picklets found it offensive and decided to paint over it.

I took the two of them in my arms and gave them a huge hug.

Sweet said, "So you're not mad?"

"No, I'm not mad. I am very, very proud of my graffiti artist and her look out!"

They say every graffiti artist has a signature...

Do you think blue with yellow dots is taken already?


(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefrontl Lines

Level Six, First Place Floor Routine

Gymnastics competition is over. It went pretty well. Chip received first place and Sweet received second. Long story there. Here is her first place floor routine.

TGIS

Ahhh. I breathe a sigh of relief. After over two weeks of coughing, sneezing, sniffling, wheezing and other bodily functions through the "cold process", I think we are on the downhill roll. Dill, who was the latest to get sick, is feeling much better today. He is still coughing, sniffling and has a sore throat but looks, sounds and feels better than he has in almost a week. Yeah!

Cool has the next week off. We are planning on getting our Spring cleaning done. Sweet and I started work on her room yesterday. We will finish it today. She just got so tired that we couldn't work anymore. She was sitting on the floor looking at jewelry and her head was nodding. Poor thing.

She made spaghetti for supper last night. It was very good and hit the spot as we were all starving by the time 7:00 came around. For dessert we had a bowl of mint chip ice cream.

Today Sweet has gymnastics so we are about to head into town. It is cold and windy today. Really no kind of day to be outside at all. I'd much rather crawl back into bed, snuggle under the covers and sleep for the rest of the morning.

I think bagels are calling my name this morning. Or is it the frozen caramel? Either way Panera is in our immediate future plans.

Have a great Saturday!


(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Laundry

About a month ago I put the picklets in charge of their own laundry. I assigned them a day of the week that they would get the washer and dryer exclusively. You see, I got very tired of washing folded clothing.

Along with their laundry responsibiltyI gave them two towels each and told them they would be in charge of their own towels. They need to be hung up after each use and washed on their wash day. I got tired of washing towels all the time too.

So far it has been a success. My laundry day is much less stressful and the picklets are seeing what it takes to keep their clothes clean. And I am not nearly as upset when they don't put their clothes away. Took a lot of stress away. :-)

I was using the facilities when I looked over and saw Sweets towel hanging all alone on the hooks.


I noticed on the tag there was black writing. I looked closer and saw Sweet personalized her towel. How precious.


(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

Nothing says Valentine's Day here than the Daddy/Daughter Date Night.

She was given a new shirt, skirt and shoes for the special occasion. Then we spent an hour curling her hair and putting it up. She is currently going through her "flower power" stage.

She received a gorgeous rose that she must have taken 50 pictures of it to get this perfect shot. The flower has also been pressed to keep as a keepsake.
I sincerly hope Cool doesn't get his heart broken when she falls in love with someone besides him. After all Daddys are the first men we ever love.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day filled with as many memories as we have made.

(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines