Guidelines for airport monkey inspectors

Just when I thought flying commercial couldn't be more demeaning, they now want to inspect my monkey.

This helpful government website instantly made me think of Inspector Clouseau's questioning of the blind beggar and his "minkey" (video here).

I've never heard of a helper monkey, but I definitely want one now.

TSA saves the best for last:

"The inspection process may require that the handler take off the monkey’s diaper as part of the visual inspection."

My monkey will be completley potty-trained and will wear Batman Underoos.

Taegan! [Updated]

I have found myself saying that name a lot lately. And not in hushed reverent tones either.

Taegan! has needed a place to hang her little treasures. I came up with this:





I put the letters of her name up because she is learning to spell her name. So many people mispronounce (tay-gan) it or spell it wrong that I figured I would teach her to spell it and she can correct them if she chooses. So far, Karsten and probably even Langdon know how to spell it but Taegan! just can't figure out why it is such an important thing to know. Maybe the letters will help her, because she loves to look at them.
This is the first time I have used modge podge. I don't hate the stuff, but I might if I am forced to get in touch with my crafty side again.


Don't thumb-your-nose at my craftiness. This was the only thing that I could come up with that fit the space. She likes it and I can see my fridge again, so I like it!


UPDATE:
OK, due to popular demand (I can think of one person off the top of my head) I will explain how I made this.

My first priority was cost. I didn't want to spend any money and I had seen something like this last summer on someone's blog and thought it was clever, but couldn't find it again when I wanted to make one. So, this is my version of someone else's idea that I couldn't remember!

I measured Taegan's! space between the dresser and the corner. I believe it was less then 3' more like 33" so I went into the garage and looked at the wood I had laying around and I found a 8' x 1" x 2". I then grabbed some clothes pins and realized I no likie with the skinny board, but I was so lazy and didn't want to break out the table saw to make a wider board with some other wood I had (our garage has been clean for months, Langdon was in the garage with me and I just didn't feel like holding a baby while dust was blowing in our faces), so I made a mental note to look for mini clothes pins. Two months later, I remembered to look for mini clothes pins and they were right next to some Modge Podge. A crafty friend of mine has been telling be about Modge Podge (it is just CRAFTY GLUE) so I grabbed both, not intending to use it for this project at all. Total cost for glue and pins under $2.

I laid out the mini clothes pins on the two 33" boards and spaced them out with my eyeballs, alternated them up/down/up, took the springy out, glue them on with wood glue and painted both white. I then painted my hands white while trying to paint the other half of the clothes pins. After everything dried I put the springy thing back on the glued half and then attached the other side of the clothes pins. The next morning, after finding the stud locations, I slapped them on the wall using my nail gun.

Taegan! put her treasures in it and was happy as a clam for about 30 seconds. Then she said that they didn't look that cute and she wished they were pink. I just couldn't bring myself to pull them off the wall and paint my hands pink, that is when I remembered the crafty glue. I always read blogs with people doing crafty stuff with wood, vinyl letters, scrapbook paper and modge podge and figured it was my chance to prove to my daughter that it didn't need to be painted pink to be cute! I found some wrapping paper with polka dots in our bin and cut out little strips to fit on the top of the clothes pins. Coated each pin with crafty glue, pressed on the paper, let dry, more glue, dry, glue, dry, glue, dry, very light sand around the edge of paper, glue, dry, glue. TA-DA. Yesterday, Taegan! told me thanks and that she loved it! Well worth the $2.

Big, Bigger, Biggest

Langdon is 2 months old. Well, technically he is 2.5 months now. But better late then never, is my current motto.

He is quick to give ya a smirk, but you really need to work hard to get a true grin, and you will probably be breaking a sweat to get a giggle. He is quite vocal and loves to offer his opinions during a conversation with an Oooohh, Ahhhh, whah or just a random yelp.

He is healthy, happy and sleeping awesome. Trav' and I have obviously adjusted to him sleeping great, because this morning he woke up a couple hours early and when I pried myself outta bed I realized that he had been sleeping for 9 hours and I should quit complaining. After I fed him, he went back to bed, and I decided to go grocery shopping. I should do that more often, Winco at 6am is great. You can shop right from the pallets in the middle of the isle!

Back to the subject at hand, here's for all you number people:

Height: 25.5" --- 99%

Weight: 13#, 11oz. --- 87%

Head Circ: 16.5" --- 89%

And here is for the people that truly care:

I had him smiling and giggling, so I grabbed the camera and this is the "avoiding eye contact' look I got after I turned it on, whatever. We still like him, A LOT.

First Day of Spring

Springtime in Eugene is my favorite time of the year. It's the payoff for all the dreary gray skies and rain of late-Autumn and Winter. 

We hiked around Hendricks Park this morning to take in the warm sunshine and the beautiful scenery.

Taeg' and Karst' in a rare moment of introspection.

Local Gang

A few years ago, when we were looking for a larger home we knew the area where we wanted to buy. It was mostly older homes, the schools are great, the neighborhoods are filled with older couples and well older families too, tons of trees, gorgeous views if you get high enough on the hills. We finally found a home for sale and have been enjoying our little slice of heaven.

Until...





These turkeys are crazy. Our neighbor's dogs are scared of them. They were in our backyard a few months ago and we counted 29. Yes 29 female turkeys in my little yard. Don't get me wrong I love a little wildlife (especially to eat) but 29 turkeys in one neighborhood seems a bit much. A couple of days ago, they were at the neighbors house across the street. I was having a hard time counting them all, but I know there were at least 50. This time the boys showed up. It was pretty cool to watch the guys strut their stuff, puff out their chest, and get their tail feathers all fanned out just to get a gal's attention.

But in the back of my mind, I just kept thinking... "If I lived a few more miles south so I was out of town, I wouldn't hesitate to invite my talkin' in his sleep brother-in-law over for a little turkey shoot out. Loser cleans the birds of course.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Karsten has been asking me what we do on St. Patrick's Day for the last 3 weeks. Taegan tried to explain to him that it was just a holiday that comes after Valentine's Day and before Easter but he wasn't having any of it. I told him it is a day that we can celebrate green, like the color you crazy hippies. I just don't have the heart to tell him it was originally for a Catholic St. but some how Ireland turn it into a green wearing, beer drinking, holiday and the rest of the free world has turned it into a weird thing about green and pinching. Taeg' decided she wasn't wearing green no matter what, because green is NOT pink! whatever. Karsten freaked out when I told him he could wear his Oregon jersey because it is green. He stated that he is saving it for the next Oregon game. I didn't have the heart to explain that the basketball team sucks and finally fired Kent and are not in the tourney and that most of the football team is in jail. Maybe we will start cheering on the baseball (boring) team!

Anyways this is what we did:

YUMMY, even without frosting!

The pros call it rainbow, I call 'em tie dye. I haven't heard a word of complaint about St. Patty's Day since I pulled these beauties out!

The kids

For a guy who isn't even two months old, Lang' is a pretty easy-going fellow...

...that is, until his (overly) affectionate older sister draws near.

Grandma Shirlene visited this past weekend with her camera.  We drove an hour to Haceta Head State Park, where Cape Creek meets the Pacific, and she snapped a few pictures.  It's one of the kids' favorite places to visit.