Square Foot Gardening

I have tried planting a garden in the past, in hopes of introducing Penguin Girl to the wonders of home grown produce.  However, usually what happened is that the critters that abound outside would interfere and what we ended up with was far less than wondrous.  This year I learned about Square Foot Gardening from a friend and decided once again to give the veggie garden a try.  Car Guy made me a couple of garden squares for my birthday, with mitered corners no less!  The woman who runs the local organic gardening center said the smell of marigolds would keep rabbits away so I put in some of those.  Penguin Girl wanted to plant sunflowers and chose one packet of a mix of them and one packet of a variety called Mammoth.  The Mammoth are supposed to grow 10-12 feet.  Wowzers.  She also chose a mix of morning glories and wildflowers.  She stayed away from the veggies.  I picked out 2 kinds of tomatoes, red bell pepper, basil, and radishes.  Maybe at the end of the summer, I'll put in some lettuce.  I didn't follow the Square Foot Gardening exactly.  I just sort of packed everything we chose into the space and hoped for the best.  We'll see how quickly the critters find the new garden.

I did not see this coming . . .

Penguin Girl has a new #1 Best Friend!  I discovered this upon reading an essay she wrote for English, starring said new BFF, which came home today in her school folder.

Me:  A is your #1 Best Friend now!?!?  What happened to K?

PG:  (sheepish grin)  Yeah.

Me:  Does K know?

PG:  (more grinning)  Yeah, and she's mad!

Me:  So did you tell K?

PG:  No, she can just tell.

Me:  How?

PG:  Because I spend so much time with A.  (eyeroll here--duh, Mom)  And also E.  K doesn't like it.

Me:  How can you tell she's mad?

PG:  She's saying it's not fair that I'm hanging out all the time with A.

Penguin Girl's first best friend was AW.  They were always very sweet with each other and so cute together.  It was such a nice story to be able to tell people that they had played together since they were babies.  Which was true.  AW's mom and I brought our girls to the same playgroup since before the girls could walk.  Later on they attended the same preschool as well.  But alas, they went to different elementary schools.  I was very shocked and sort of wistful seeing how easily Penguin Girl adopted K as AW's replacement as soon as the school year started.  It was certainly convenient.  Penguin Girl and K were in the same class at school and rode the same bus home.  They were both so happy to be placed in the same class this year.  I suspect the cooling off is due to K being a domineering personality and Penguin Girl realizing that she doesn't always have to accede to her friends.  I suppose it was inevitable since little girls have fickle hearts but I really thought K's run would last longer.  

The Bad Word

This evening I took both kids to the market. One thing on my list was to get a bottle of beer for making beer bread. At this particular market, you can put together a 6-pack of different beers but you can't buy individual bottles. I was trying to pick out some that I thought Car Guy might like to try since I had to buy 5 more bottles than I needed. While I'm perusing, Penguin Girl starts reading off the names of the beers.

PG:  Why does it say Bad Penny?  Why does it say Hell's Brew?

(A woman who is also filling a 6-pack turns to me and says that it's so nice when kids learn to read but then sometimes you wish they couldn't.)

Me:  Those are the names of the beers.  Kind of like how sodas have names like Coke and Pepsi.

PG:  But hell is a bad word.

(The woman is still there and the store manager is also there stocking the shelves.  At this point I can see out of the corner of my eye that they are listening because our conversation could get so entertaining.)

Me:  Yes, it's a bad word.  You should not use it.

PG:  But why is it the name of the beer if it's a bad word?

Me:  Well, the people who named the beer are trying to be funny.  It's like a joke for grown-ups.

The manager and the woman chuckled to themselves.  They both told me they were waiting to hear what I'd come up with because they couldn't think of appropriate explanations.  They thought I came up with a good answer.  The manager told me he was especially listening for the answer because he's got a 6-year-old too and he's filing my response away for future reference.

Look, Ma, No Training Wheels!

Penguin Girl learned how to ride a bicycle!

This is the same bike Car Guy optimistically bought her over 3 years ago.  Penguin Girl was just not that interested in it until recently.  He took the pedals and training wheels off and had her glide around.  She seemed to be doing pretty well so he put the pedals back on and 2 seconds later, she was riding on her own! Sha-zam!  I see a new bike in her future.

100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson

This story takes place near or in Henry's aunts house. Most of the action took place in henry, kansas. This place was sunny and was'nt very foggy. To show that Henry led A happy life, he picked henry, kansas for the setting.

The main character of the book is Henry York. His skin is white, with Brownish blond hair, and he is skinny. Henry's personality is happy, shy, and a little bit nervouse somtimes. He is fast and smart. His fault is he is easily spooked.

The books plot is that Henry discoverd the cupboards. Henry goal was to discover what the cupboards are for. he was asking and wondering. two people were kinda working against each other. (Henry & Henrietta.)

The climax is when henry discoverd how to use the cupboards and went int the diffrent worlds. he wanted you to feel happy and brave. I liked the authors writing style. Why? Because he prints clearly.

I would recomend This book to people who like adventures into diffrent worlds.