I really believe in backyard bird feeders. The sound of birds makes a place cheerful and our feeder is BUSY! If you don't feed birds in your back yard, click on the link and get going. Enviro Girl is big on promoting diversity.
Speaking of diversity, I don't care nor am I surprised to hear that Jodie Foster is a lesbian. That's old news, really. I do, however, think if you're going to receive an award for a lifetime of work you knew about it beforehand and had plenty of time to write a clear, organized and eloquent speech. Jodie, you also had time to consult with a speechwriter. Shame on you and every other lifetime achievement awards recipient who gets up on the stage and blathers incoherently. It's insulting to your audience and reflects poorly on you as a professional. There. I said it. I've read other people's views on her speech--how moving it was, how touched they were--but I am the straight-talking Midwestern gal saying "The emperor isn't wearing clothes!"
You want to see diversity, step into a 4K classroom and watch the little nippers draw pictures. It's adorable. And it demonstrates a range of ability and interests. One kid draws a picture, but it's really about the whole narrative around the picture and he starts giving me the whole back story--the drawing itself is a vehicle for storytelling. I have 3 kids at home who do the same thing. One girl draws a person, adds grass at the bottom of the page, sun at the top. Classic. Another girl uncaps a marker, scribbles a tiny bit, caps the marker, selects a new marker, uncaps the marker, scribbles a tiny bit, caps the marker...and so on. She's not sure what to do, but she sure likes the smell of markers. One kid draws a football field, complete with goal posts and yardage lines. Another kid draws a zombie, so the kid next to him tries to draw a zombie. Each kid takes their own approach with the same tools in hand and it's fun to watch. Parents, your kids don't need a Leapster or educational CDs or games. They need TIME and PAPER and MARKERS OR CRAYONS. That's where the magic really happens and their imagination and creativity and small motor skills develop. (And also where the marker sniffing starts--parents, if your kid comes home with a rainbow of colors between their nose and upper lip, you might want to stage an intervention. KIDDING! They were smelly markers. Totally safe and nontoxic way to get your huff on, yo.)
My new smart phone is very different from my old flip phone. The battery lasts a fraction as long, for one thing. I've figured out how to answer calls (good) and tried using the phone camera at Mr. G's basketball game. I was all Oooooh! Video camera! Let's do that! Then I can show my bloggy friends how great he is with ball handling and stuff--give them photographic evidence of his athletic prowess. You know what's coming. I get it to work and start filming. His buddy makes a basket a couple seconds later while Mr. G stands watching. I say as much to his buddy's mother (sitting next to me) and she's all "Oh! I missed it!" so I tell her she can watch the video feed of instant replay that I'm holding in my hand. I wait a beat and set up the camera again. Mr. G stands watching as his buddy makes another basket. The third time, after the exact same thing happens again, I draw two conclusions:
1. This is what I get for being proud and braggy--my intentions SMITED.
2. If our basketball team's ever in a cold streak and we need to score, I should bring out the smart phone video camera and start filming. Then Mr. G's buddy will start racking up points while he watches.
It's January and we're on the cusp of shutting down one freezer. As part of our whole "grow our own food" and "eat local" and "save money" regimen here at Chez Green Girl, our two basement freezers are chock-full in the fall. We have a quarter beef, bags and bags of tomatoes and stuff from our garden, and various containers of frozen soups and casseroles. Once a month I try to get by with a minimal shopping list and really hit the freezer hard so food doesn't get lost, forgotten and (inevitably) wasted. A few years of practice have made me better at managing this. I know by January we should be down to about 7 jars of jam, 10 jars of applesauce, 7 bags of tomatoes and so forth. If we aren't, then we haven't been making the most of our resources and we're also not eating as healthy. In another week I should be able to go down and consolidate food into one freezer and unplug the other. I should see more clean, empty canning jars than jars full of preserved fruit. We'll from one "meat" freezer" and one "produce" freezer to one freezer for all the food, tenderloins to blueberries and everything in between. No more segregation of the food groups, one freezer to rule them all and encase their nutritional diversity at zero degrees Fahrenheit.
Spill it, reader. Any kind of commentary on wild birds, frozen food, braggy moms, poor speechifyin'. We're open to all kind of comments here at Green Girl in Wisconsin, Inc.
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