Day Twelve

I finally got the only working space in the kitchen completely cleared off only to find that our cat, Muffin, had claimed the space. That really is the entirety of counter space in my kitchen. We have been learning to hold mixing bowls while mixing, and balance cutting boards on one knee while juicing.. It's been loads of fun cooking in this kitchen with it's limited counter space, but at least it is ours and we are together. What matters most for us is that our family is together, and having fun. Everything else is transitory and easy to deal with, even cats taking over the counter!

Day Eleven

I am always taken aback by the beauty of candles, and the effects that they have on candle holders. This mother of pearl mosaic tile candle holder takes on a whole different appearance when it is holding a lit candle. This picture was taken with the room lights off, so that the only light was coming from the candles in their respective candle holders. I love the warm glow of each of the mother of pearl squares of this candle holder, and the lines between them that the grout produces. This creates an effect that is organized, yet irregular, and reminds me so much of life.

Day Ten

With the torrential rains and flash floods of today, who would have known that the boys would STILL want to go outside to play?! They donned their snow boots, and winter jackets, and headed out to play. I thought they would stay on the back porch under cover, but next thing I know they were heard running across the front porch. A little while later, they were seen out at the street playing at the edge of the water.

The water running down the house made us feel like we were going through a car wash.. we just kept waiting for the soapy brushes... This view from the front porch was repeated through every window as the rain water blurred our vision out.

This was taken through the window, so the blurriness is not the camera, but the water streaming down the window. That bush in the background of this picture actually marks the neighbor's yard across the street. Notice the lack of street in the picture. It seems that our street took the day off and chose to be a river instead. I guess we won't be going anywhere without a boat..

When the boys came in I made them go straight through the hallway into the bathroom, and climb in the tub to drip, strip and dry off. The funniest part is that this was taken after their second foray out in the rain today. They needed completely different attire the second time around.. you see those snow boots in the tub acted like sponges and currently weigh a ton.. and that was after the boys dumped the standing water out of them!

Day Nine

My daughter said this photograph reminds her of a glass butterfly. I loved the pattern within the broken glass.

This actually used to be just a small piece of my 9" x 11" glass cake pan. Do you know what happens to oven glass when you put it on a burner on the stove that is on? It explodes in a spectacular display of broken glass shards, and the most melodious sound of splintering glass. It really was a beautiful sight to take in. Cleaning it up, on the other hand, was not so beautiful. Luckily it was on the back of the stove top behind two pots on the front burners, and no one was near the stove.

This spectacular display exploded off the front of the stove and continued on the floor. There is something about broken glass which just fascinates me. The angles of the shards, the splintering pattern of the cracks, the way it sparkles with any light... It is just gorgeous to look at.

I'll just try not to remember that I need to go buy a new cake pan while I admire it.

Day Eight

Now this is a rare treat. You just don't normally see this much water on the ground here.. unless a pipe burst, or someone left the garden hose on! This was just the very beginning of the rain today. A couple of toys seem to have escaped my grasp, and slipped out to play again. Got them cleaned up after this shot though.

That sheers effect that seems to be the porch walls is created by the amount of rain puring down the side of the house. Living in a trailer is interesting in a rain storm like this. The rain that can be so gently tapping on the time roof some days, sounds more like some one has a power drill up there today! Since our trailer, like most actual trailers, is simply parked and had it's wheels removed, it sits three steps off the ground. I don't have to worry about rain coming in from the bottom up. Now getting to the car could prove to be another story. In our last house, the driveway flooded, and we literally had to wade through water to get to the car.

I am so much happier that this driveway does not seem to flood. A few puddles I can deal with. We can get to the car okay so far, and it seems that getting out of the driveway should be a simple task too.

I can say that I am very happy our yard is not flooding like the neighbors! Yes that is a gigantic puddle covering their whole driveway. No, they aren't stuck. Like most good country folk around these parts, they have three wheelers or quads that they are taking out to get around to the store and take the kids to school.

Day Seven

I can't help it. These two are just too cute! I love finding them curled up together. It seems to only happen when we aren't looking. Seems like any other sibling relationship.. they only show affection to each other when no one else is looking! These two are exactly that way. The rest of the day sees them chasing each other through the house playing chase and tackle, or follow the leader. They are quite a raucous pair.. there are times when the kids know to get out of the way when the kittens are coming.. they have been known to knock us right off our feet, literally!

Mario and Snowshoe seem to have claimed the house at the top of the cat tree, while their mother Miss Nora actually prefers the shelf below. At least in the cat tree there is enough room for all of them. It is really funny to see them all curled up together on top of the little cat condo! It looks like if any of them took a deep breath, they would fall right off. It makes me wonder what exactly possessed them to curl up there in the first place.

Day Six

This is just a normal everyday part of life for us. We are part of Neilson's HomeScan program. Everything we buy comes home and gets scanned in like this. The gift rewards you can earn are really not that great, but the satisfaction that companies are actually hearing my choice to buy organic veggies, to buy almost all fruits and veggies, to buy almond milk, to buy cheese without hormones.. that is what makes it worth it. And yes, they even find out when I give in to temptation and pick up the bag of Bugles too! The kids love them.. call them tornado chips. When you have that much fun with your food, how can you not get it occasionally?!

We had just gotten home from stocking up for the big rain storm that we have watched come across the ocean from Japan, and devastate parts of California.. best to be prepared for the worst. After all, it is a 30-45 minute drive over the mountain to get back to the store.. in either direction.

Yes, that is the little ten gallon fish tank behind me that holds our three family fish. The wire cage holds our two female gerbils. Up on the table you can see the Green Star juicer and the pitcher for our Vita-Mix.
I swear it feels like we live in a giant slider puzzle at times!