june garden pictures

i can't believe it's been almost a month since i last posted pictures of the garden. these shots don't do it justice because i was using two crappy cameras. the first camera, which takes better pictures, especially close-ups, had to be swapped out because the battery wouldn't stay alive long enough to take a shot. and the second one is just overall crappy and doesn't take good pictures.

but here they are, such as it is:


dragonfly on the tassels of the corn. by the way, there are so many beneficial bugs and insects when i go out to the garden. it's such a great sign. i even have a toad who comes hopping out when i water.


these louisiana purple pod pees are just beautiful. and so tasty. they're growing up the king corn.




i think this'll be the last time i grow patsy's beans. they're doing okay, better than in years past. but they just don't do great. they turn pink when they're ready to be picked.




can't wait for these guys to ripen! i think we'll have a lot of tomatoes this year. this one plant has 7 fruits growing right now!


potatoes looking good. this is the first time i've ever grown potatoes.


the eggplant plants are huge! no fruit yet but there's a bunch of flowers so i'm sure the fruit will come soon.


kale and green peppers with cilantro growing in the rectangle pot in the back and lots of mint flowering behind everything.


the okra is slowly coming along. it's not doing too great probably because it's just kinda wedged in there between the fence and the tomatoes. but we'll get some stuff from it, i'm sure.

what are you cooking for dinner tonight?

one step closer to certification

i just found out today that we are ready and registered for the june dss foster care classes! that is (I THINK) the last big hurdle in this process. as we know, when we finish one thing they tell us to do 2 more. so we'll see if that happens in this case.

reading rainbow is so smart

erica sent this to me today. it's a reading rainbow episode on bees! and, as if i expected anything otherwise, it's totally accurate. i wish i had seen this before i actually had bees. it probably would've helped a little, especially in the instillation.



and, speaking of my bees, i emailed my bee friend to ask about his thoughts on our slow progress in hive 2. he said it sounded like that hive has a weak queen, which is what i thought too. so he's ordered me a new queen and i should be getting it tomorrow. sad for that current "weak" queen because that means she'll be overthrown and killed very soon...

june foster care update

i haven't had an update on our dss foster care application since april. so, while i'm sitting at home waiting for the fire marshal to come to our house, i thought i'd do a recap of what's happened over the past month and a half.

basically, nothing. well, not nothing. a bunch of waiting.

as i mentioned in april, we are required to have home inspections before we're cleared to attend the foster care classes, which are 2 full-day saturday classes. we were aiming to have our inspections done by may so we could attend the may classes. the dss case worker schedules the fire marshal's fire safety inspection and we schedule the dhec health and safety inspection, both of which require us to be at the house during the inspection. our case worker scheduled appointments with the fire marshal on two or three separate occasions. but because she doesn't check with us first to see our availability on any given day and because she couldn't get a time from them, the hubby and i were not able to be home for any of the appointments she scheduled so she had to cancel and reschedule. after several canceled appointments, we finally found out that the fire marshal will only do inspections in our area on wednesdays. but unfortunately neither of us had a wednesday available until june. so we tried to have the case worker schedule a june appointment (it was mid-may by this point) but the fire marshal doesn't schedule appointments until the current month (?). so basically, we had to wait a month to schedule a june appointment for the fire inspection (meanwhile attempting to keep wednesdays in june open on our work calendars, which is a very difficult task for both me and baldman's busy offices).

the dhec inspection seemed to be a bit more logical. we could easily contact dhec ourselves and schedule the appointment based on our own schedule. however, when i contacted them, he informed me that our animals (cats) have to be up to date on their rabies vaccines, which, they were not. so i had to get them vaccinated before i could schedule that inspection. it took me several weeks to get that taken care of and i didn't really see the rush anyway since we couldn't schedule the other inspection until june anyway. so, i finally got the cats vaccinated at the cheapy mobile cat clinic in late may. and was able to schedule our dhec sanitation and safety inspection for yesterday.

i wasn't too worried about the dhec visit. however, there were a few things i was a bit concerned about. namely, our bees, the fact that we have a water heater sitting in the middle of our kitchen (sort of), and a few other things. I was also concerned about lead-based paint, which i'm certain we have under layers and layers of newer paint. so we cleaned and cleaned and purged stuff, rearranged dangerous items onto higher shelve, put locks on our kitchen cabinets and outlet covers on our plugs throughout the house, and sanded and painted the 3 outside doors. the guy visited yesterday and his inspection lasted less than 10 minutes. i'm not even kidding. he checked our outlet covers. he made sure our medicines and chemicals were on locked or high shelves. he checked the cat's vaccination records and the temperature of our water. but he barely looked around the house. he did, however, say that our house was "very cute" and "very clean." so perhaps if we had a dirtier house or a house that wasn't as aesthetically pleasing he would have looked a little harder. but it just seemed so easy. the hardest part about it was getting it scheduled.

but, like everything else with the foster care certification process, once you check off one box, another box is unveiled. he didn't check for lead-based paint. he has to fax the information to another person at dhec and they have to come out and check for lead-based paint. i told him on the phone that our house was built in 1941, so you think he could've scheduled both visits at the same time. but no, apparently not.

and, yesterday (june 8) at 9:15 am our dss case worker emailed to say that our fire inspection would be on june 9 and she would let me know when she knew the time. so, thanks for the notice on that one, ms. dss case worker. by some miracle, however, june 9 happened to be the only wednesday of the month where i had no work appointments on my calendar. go figure. so i'm at work today and doing my thing, wondering when i would hear the time of today's inspection, when at 10:06 am i get an email from the dss case worker saying that the fire inspection would be between 11:00 and 12:00. so i had about 20 minutes to finish what i was doing and high-tail it home. to sit and wait. for 45 minutes now. until the fire marshal shows up. probably for will be a 10 minute inspection.

wonder if whenever he gets here he'll have to schedule another person to come out for some random thing that he won't be able to do. i'll keep you posted.


**UPDATE: the fire marshal just left. he arrived about 10 minutes late and apologized several times. apparently he's been having computer problems, which continued during his visit. his was a bit more of a thorough inspection:measure windows, check smoke alarms and fire extinguisher, check the lint trap on the dryer. we *almost* had a violation and i could feel my face getting red from frustration. even though we have smoke alarms in both bedrooms and the kitchen, we also have to have a smoke alarm in the hallway (less than 3 feet from the bedroom detectors!). and, of course, we didn't have one. well, actually, we had one but i thought it was defunct. i could've sworn i bought an extra detector but i couldn't find it anywhere in the house. so he was going to cite me with a minor violation and have to come back again. but, we decided to check the detector in the hallway again and it worked! it is too old for their specifications and it ultimately has to be replaced, but he let us slide. the only issue was that his computer wasn't working properly so he couldn't print out the record and have me sign it. so he said he would call our case worker to see if she will allow him to sign on behalf of us. let's hope that works...

june 4 harvest

it's been raining here a lot so we've not had to go out and water the garden as much as we usually do. so i was so surprised when i went out this past friday to water. everything had grown so much and it was time to start harvesting several veggies!


the louisiana purple pod peas are going gang-busters. this doesn't look like a lot, but it was a couple good handfuls. i cooked them up and they turned green and were so delicious.


i've neglected this kale for a long time. and now we've got this huge load of them. i think we'll be having kale in every meal this week. i love the kale because not only is it yummy, but it grows consistently all year round. and the same plant will last several years. a great garden staple.


the husband was happy because he loves to pull plants out of the ground. there is some sort of super-mario-brothers-sense of satisfaction in that, i guess. but he's always asking me, "is it time to pick the garlic yet?" "is it time to the pick the garlic yet?" he couldn't have cared less about the kale that was falling all over the place. he just wanted to pull out those roots. so we did. i think we've got a pretty good harvest this year.


this is not something you can eat, but i thought i'd show that the hydrangea from our wedding is just starting to bloom. for those who don't know, when baldman and i got married, instead of having cut flowers we did potted plants. and then we divided them up amongst the family and friends to take home after the wedding. we didn't have a home at that point so we didn't get a flower. but my grandmom took one and after several years of it unsuccessfully growing in her western pennsylvania home (due to deer eating the flowers), she passed it along to me. so 2 years ago i planted this outside our kitchen window. it grew bigger but the flower never bloomed. i was thrilled when i noticed that it was getting buds this year. i took this picture on friday and already today the blooms are much bigger and deep, deep purple. just beautiful!

we also did a bee check again on saturday. my sister was in town from nyc so she got to see us doing the check.



the status of the hives is pretty similar to what it was when i last posted- hive one going strong, hive two much weaker. in fact, i'm going to email some other beekeepers i know to see what they suggest for the slower hive. i'm not sure if hive 1 is just so amazingly extraordinary, or if hive 2 is just so amazingly slow. or maybe a bit of both. but for a minute on saturday, we thought we had no queen in hive 2 because things are progressing so slowly. i wish there was some sort of bee-keeping list serv or something so i could ask other beekeepers these types of questions more easily. hmm, maybe i'll start one...

anyways, here is what the frames should be doing:

capped and uncapped honey. they cap it for later storage (aka so we can steal it later).


closeup of the capped and uncapped honey and some bees.

veggie reuben

almost a year ago i took a trip to asheville and ate an awesome vegetarian tempeh reuben at jack of the wood. it was odd that i chose that sandwich to eat because i didn't even like reubens when i ate meat. i can't remember even ever having one. but i probably chose this item off the menu because i often get tired of eating the same-old-same and the reuben was something different. and, boy, did i enjoy that sandwich! ever sice then i've thought about it and wished i could have it again.

so the other day i looked up reuben recipes on tastespotting figuring i could just adjust a meat version and make something on my own. and sure enough i found this recipe for a seitan veggie reuben. i couldn't find seitan at the grocery story so i substituted tempeh and, OMG it was amazing! it was a little pricey to make, but totally worth it.*

we ate the sandwiches on homemade rye bread and had potato chips and sauteed yellow squash as sides. yum!


*by the way the sandwiches were really pretty looking and i totally ate it up (both nights) before i thought to take a picture of them. oh well. i'll try to remember to take a shot next time i make them ('cause you know there'll be a next time!).

Radical Reuben

1 lb seitan, thinly sliced (or 3/4 lb tempeh, sliced)
1 cup pickle juice
1/2 cup beet juice (puree a 15-oz can of beets if not available)
1 tsp pickling spice
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

For the dressing:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp finely chopped pickles

8 slices rye bread
4 slices Swiss or Provolone cheese
Sauerkraut, for garnish

Place seitan in baking dish. Bring pickle juice, beet juice, pickling spice, garlic powder, pepper, and 1 cup water to a boil in saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes. Strain marinade, and pour over sliced seitan. Cover and cool. Chill overnight.

To make dressing, combine all ingredients in bowl.

To assemble the sandwiches, preheat oven to broil. Set bread slices on baking sheet. Top 4 bread slices with drained Seitan and cheese. Broil 5 to 7 minutes, or until Seitan is hot and cheese is melted. Transfer Seitan-topped bread slices to serving plates, and garnish with sauerkraut. Spread remaining 4 bread slices with dressing, and place on top.

Makes 4 Reubens

updated kitchen

i forgot to mention that when baldman went to vicksburg a few weeks ago he brought back a really nice kitchen island that his mom couldn't bring with her to the new apartment. i was happy to nab this little baby and i'm super pleased with how it looks in the kitchen. since we moved in almost 3 years ago (!) i've been using the top of a microwave on a rolling cart as my work space. it was less than ideal but i'd learned to deal with it. so this marble counter top is like heaven to me now!

may bee pictures

it's been a while since i posted pictures of the bees. these pictures i've got at the bottom of this post are almost a month old now so the bees have made much more progress since them. but we've not taken any more recent shots.

in these pictures you can see that they've built the comb, laid brood, and started capping honey.




not a great shot, but you can see the marked queen at the bottom.


the hubby checking out a frame. you can see that they've built comb down on the bottom of this frame. we have to clean that up periodically so they don't start building the frames together (which they did this last time we checked.)


the capped brood is all throughout the middle of the frame. capped honey is in the bottom right of this picture. the watery-looking stuff throughout the frame is honey in the process of becoming honey.

since these shots were taken a few weeks ago we have added another box (a super) with 10 more frames on top of each hive. when we checked them this past weekend the one hive was really far along in having the top box filled with honey-in-progress. the second hive is a little slower, but they're still moving along in there too. it had been over 2 weeks since our last check on the hives, so things were quite a mess. as i mentioned earlier in this post, a top and a bottom frame were stuck together, so when we went to pull the frame out it pulled the one under it too. that was a little tricky to fix. also, they attached one of the frames to the side of box so that when we took it out it ripped the entire frame. not sure if they'll be able to fix that. but we'll check this weekend and see what's happened.

zucchini!

i'm afraid to post this because it'll jinx it. but for the first time in years and years of growing zucchini i finally have a fruit growing on my plant! my zucchini and squash plants have always been devoured by squash bores. i thought they got them again this year, but perhaps not. on our one zucchini plant we have one that's about 3" long, another that's about 2" and it looks like a 3rd is coming up! woot woot!

baby strawberries

i forgot to mention in my last post that we had a bunch of baby strawberries coming up in the yard. how cute!


they were like nature's little candy!

garden progress

i've been doing a lot of work in the garden over the past weeks and weeks and weeks, not that you can really tell to look at it. it's been so much work and there's always more to be done. i mean, what did i expect when i bought all those seeds?

but i finally got around to taking some pictures of the progress thus far. check it out:


tomatoes. i had to cover them up because our rotten cats kept rubbing up against them and killing them.


either squash or cucumber. i can't remember which ones! hopefully we'll soon find out.


when i dug up the grass for the garden i put it on the other side of the house hoping to get some growth. it looks awful but maybe someday it'll spread?? by the way, i've got some shots of the bees that i'll post at a later date.


shot of the whole side garden(s).


onions, garlic, herbs and teeny tiny eggplant and green peppers in the back.


another view of that shot while mokey looks on.


the patsy's beans are doing pretty well in the back yard.


corn and louisianna purple pod peas and king corn are growing a little slow because of lack of sun.


the intent is for the peas to wrap themselves around the corn but the corn is so small it's not really being effective.

by the way, all these pictures were taken before the big rains this week. so everything's grown quite a bit this week! and this afternoon i planted some more okra because the first batch didn't really take too well. and i also planted some insectiary mix next to the garlic. more to come as well...

update on the rain barrel

this afternoon as the ominous rain clouds were descending our area, we carefully studied the roof and put the barrel in a perfect spot that was right under an eave of the roof and close enough to the garden that we wouldn't have to tote the water too far.

as the rain crashed down we excitedly peered out the window to see how much water was gushing down the roof into the barrel.

none. rain was basically going everywhere except in the barrel. hrumph! guess we'll have to relocate it and hope for better luck next time.

yo, check it!

i made a rain barrel today!



(this is obviously not where it's going to go. i have to figure out which eave has a good spot.)

big moves in v'burg

the hubby has been out of town all week helping his mom move. it's been a difficult week for the whole family. but i am so proud of the work that he and his sister and brother-in-law have put in. they have successfully moved his mom from a 3 story, 2,000+ square foot home into a tiny, one bedroom apartment. they've gotten everything out of the home and it's now all but completely empty. (animals included!) what a large accomplishment!

when they started the week no one thought that they'd be able to get everything done. we just thought they'd get as far as they could and at least have his mom living in her new place. but by monday night her stuff was in the apartment and she was spending the night there. the rest of the week they spent selling, donating and purging. it's been so difficult for them, but i am just so amazed and proud of the work that they've done.

and big thanks go out to all the family and friends who pitched in and helped. it certainly wouldn't have happened if they didn't have all those hands helping!

now, if you know anyone who wants to get a steal on a cute 3 story, 2,000+ square foot house, i know where you can buy one!

happy birthday, rachel

birthday wishes go out to my cool older sister. big ups, rach!

look at doozer

about a month ago we started letting our cats outside. up until that point they were strictly relegated to inside. but we got tired of hearing their whining so we gave in and let them outside. it was probably the best thing we've ever done with them. they love going out and socializing with other neighborhood cats, chasing squirrels, digging up my garden, and having other adventures. so now we can just leave the screen door unlatched and they can come and go as they please.

this afternoon when i stepped outside for a minute i notice this black clump next to the stairs.



boy, he was out like a light!





so cute!

women be shopping

i hate shopping. it's just not how i want to spend my time. but sometimes it's just necessary.

and, because it was that time for me, this sunday i headed to the mall to get some new summer work clothes. it was just necessary. and i'm proud to say that i not only got some cute things, but i got great bargains! i got 1 skirt, 1 light sweater-thingy, and 4 blouses/shirts. it was approximately $243 in merchandise and i got it for less than $78 total! that's right, people! booya!

somehow i feel vindicated when i get those kinds of bargains. like they didn't "get" me so badly. so, take that, mall!

where did april go?

remember when i said i was going to be busy with work events this month? yea, that was no joke. plus, i had a birthday, an anniversary, an out of town trip, and all those little and big things that go into maintaining house and home. all this activity has been great, but i sure am looking forward to slowing down.

a few weeks ago i made it up to ny/pa for my niece's first communion and a visit with a friend. here are the pictures.

we've also had several bee checks. this past week we put an additional super on both hives so they can keep building comb to grow more larvae and store honey. did i tell you we got a little taste of their honey? we had to remove stray comb from various places in the hive a few weeks ago and some of the comb already had honey stores. the taste really was just that-we licked our fingers basically. but it sure was good. very honey-rific.

still haven't had a chance to get all the seeds and plants in the ground. we've got things coming up in a bunch of places though. and i picked a few eensie strawberries from our back yard earlier this week. i also got a big flat of local strawberries which are yumms. i love this time of year when everything starts coming in.

i've gotten a lot of questions about the foster care stuff. we're still moving along with it. it's just not really anything very exciting. we've had to have doctor visits, fingerprinting, and references. we're trying to schedule dhec (department of health) and fire safety inspections right now. once we get that done we can register to attend the classes. we're trying to get the classes in may so that we can get it over with but i'm not sure if we'll be able to get all those things done in time. so things are slowly rolling with that.

my husband is the best

he sent these to my office today.



thanks, babe, for the flowers. and thank YOU for 7 great years!

birthday wishes

i've had this song in my head all day. erica explains it here.

happy birthday, erica and mamaw/juanita!

busy bees

we had a very busy and accomplished weekend. in addition to having some last-minute visitors for lunch on saturday, we also did our first bee inspection after installing them a few weeks ago. and i did a bunch of gardening both saturday and sunday.

the first bee inspection went very well. they're very active hives, which is a lot more than i can say for the hive last year. we found the queens in both hives. and both hives already had a bunch of capped honey, which was really cool to see. in fact, when we installed the hives, we left out one of the frames to give them a bit more room for the first few weeks. the result, then, was that they built wax and stored honey in places that they shouldn't have. so we had to remove the wax and honey stores from those places where they shouldn't be. so we got a little taste of the honey they're making. it's very honey-rific!

i also planted louisana purple pod peas, squash, zucchini, and tomato. i wanted to plant more than that, but it was just too much to do in one weekend. we're moving the garden to a different location this year, so we had to dig out a big section to make it ready. today we dug out a section of about 14'x5'. that's just for the tomatoes! i've still got cucumber, peppers, okra, and eggplant to plant. i don't know when i'll get all that done. but i'm very happy with how everything looks so far.

tonight we went for korean food with some of baldman's coworkers at dj house. i tried kim chee soft tofu stew. it was very spicy and excellent! now i'm so full and tired i just want to fall into bed.

easter in greenville

we had a great time this past weekend visiting friends, friends and friends in greenville. the highlights included great food, yummy bevs, excellent company, fabulous easter vigil service and a brisk hike. all around good times! nicole took a few shots and i posted them on flickr if you're interested.

"do you ever get stung?"

whenever i tell anyone about my hobby of raising bees i immediately get the obvious question about getting stung. "sometimes," i say. "but they're usually very calm."

well, for the record, i got my first bee sting this week. i wish i'd taken a picture of the sting because i tend to get a little bit of a reaction. i have only myself to blame, though, which is usually the case when you get stung. the bees honestly would prefer not to sting because they know it's their kiss of death, literally.

it was monday night and i needed to feed the hives*. but i didn't get a chance to go outside until after it was dark. that's rule #1: don't mess with the hive after dark. but i was stressed because i wouldn't have time to feed them the following day. so i thought i just HAD to feed them right then. so i went outside (without gear or the smoker) to the first hive and managed to successfully get the lid off the mason jar, pour the sugar water into it and screw the lid on with no problems. there were a few bees eating on the lid but i avoided them and they avoided me. done and done.

the second hive was where the difficulties started. first of all, there were a ton of bees congregating at the entrance to the hive. i wasn't sure what they were all doing there** because they should've, i thought, been inside their hive watching tv for the night or something. i was already nervous because it was past dark. and i was in a rush. and then i became more nervous because they were displaying behavior that was unusual to me. but instead of walking away and doing it later when the conditions were better, i heard the voice of my grandmother the food pusher saying i had to MAKE SURE THEY EAT!!! so i got the mason jar and pulled it out, turned it over and there were a bunch of bees on it. no problem, i work with the bees all the time. but i couldn't see very well and when i started to unscrew the lid i hit them around more than they wanted and one of them pegged me on the middle finger. oooh does that hurt!

after saying a few choice words and walking away for a minute i was able to get the food in the jar and put it back in place with no more stings. but the damage was already done. within a few minutes my finger started to swell. thank goodness it wasn't my ring finger because i hadn't taken my ring off like i normally do when i work with the bees.

tonight, 3 full days later, my finger is finally almost back to its regular size. at its most swollen my finger was so big that the wrinkles in the joints were gone. it felt like it was going to pop! and it was so warm to the touch. but no permanent damage. it's just very uncomfortable. and then very itchy! ice, ibuprofen and benadryl help a lot though.

so, to answer the question, my bees do sting when provoked. but let's hope that doesn't happy often.



*they get fed a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 sugar in a mason jar which is upside down with holes in it. it sits in a feeder that is placed at the entrance to the hive.

**the hubby pointed out in retrospect that maybe they were fanning themselves because it was a kinda warm night after a hot day and the hive has to keep a certain temperature.

32

thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes! yesterday was a really nice birthday. certainly much better than last year's when i had a car accident on my birthday. i kept remembering that all day, especially when i drove past the wreck site hoping that "lightening wouldn't strike the same spot twice."

i worked at a school all day yesterday but the kids were fairly well behaved and i thought it went well. on my break between classes i spoke with some family and got some nice emails and voice mail messages. then last night i went to a work event for my office, which was really nice. the weather was beautiful (in the low 90's yesterday) so we sat outside the cafe and had a few drinks with dinner. we had to leave a lot earlier than i wanted. but we had to get to church, which, of course, is good reason to leave. after church my hubby picked up a six pack and a cake for me at the store. so we continued to celebrate at home while i opened the rest of my presents and talked with more family and friends.

i took the day off work today so i look forward to lazing around a bit and putzing around the house.

so far 32 ain't so bad.

bee pictures

"bees nuts!"

i've uploaded our pictures from the bee instillation. check out the flickr set here.

bees (take 2)

the bees are in! and installed in their hives.

i say "hives" because we have 2 this year. after our failed attempt at one hive last year we figured we'd double our luck this year and hope to have better success.

we took some pictures of the instillation this evening but i'll post them tomorrow, i think. i want to veg out to some dancing with the stars for now.

important (and fun) april events

you may be wondering "what can i do for fun and interest in april?" well, april is sexual assault awareness month (commonly referred to as saam). it also happens to be my birthday month and my wedding anniversary month. so, come out and commemorate all of these things with me at any and all of these events that my work is facilitating.

april 1: yours truly's birthday, holy thursday, and saam kick-off day! thought you couldn't jam all that into one evening? well, think again! join me and other advocates to end sexual violence as we celebrate at gotham bagel cafe on main street. we'll be there starting at 5:00 pm and free music and dancing starts at 7:00. i'll be heading out a little before 7:00 to go to holy thursday mass. if you're so inclined, you're welcome to join me for that too. it's one of my favorite masses of the year!

april 6: i'm facilitating a free child sexual abuse prevention training at newberry county library from 4:00-7:30. this event is free and open to the public so register at our website. it truly is a really great program, if i do say so myself--very important for parents and adults who work or volunteer with children.

april 10: we're partnering with richland county sheriff's department and the ymca to provide a free self defense course for teen girls and women from 9-1:00. this event is also free and is really fun. the teens must be at least 14 years old and have to have a parent's permission. sign up here.

april 14: walk a mile in her shoes. calling all men! we need you for this event! join us in five points at 6:00 pm for this walk to raise awareness about sexual violence against women. we're asking men to literally walk a mile in women's high heal shoes. women are encouraged to join as well, but they don't have to wear heals. the event is only $10 and you get a t-shirt included in registration. it will be a fun and purposeful event, so please join us! register here.

april 21: denim day. encourage your company or office to allow their employees to wear jeans on this day to remember victims of sexual violence. denim day is an international event commemorated around the world. click here to read more about why we wear jeans on this day.

april 24: we have two things going on this day. we're hosting another child sexual abuse prevention training. this one is in lexington from 9-12:30. we're also going to have a booth at lexington kids day. lexington kids day is an amazing and fun event and if you have kids i encourage you to attend. in the park behind the courthouse in lexington they have a big festival with free games, food, and other vendors for children. stop by anytime during the day to see my agency at our booth. we'll be distributing free information about child safety.

happy birthday, david

today would've been baldman's dad's 56th birthday. in honor of that, here's a smooth picture of him with a wee baldman.

dss update

it's been a while since i posted about the fostering process, so i figured i'd just give a little update. last week we handed in the application to our caseworker. from the date that we handed that in (3/15) they have 120 days to get us through the whole process. it could take less time if we move quicker with it, but i have my doubts that it'll be anything less than that.

we have a few things that i know we must work on (i.e. medical reports, fingerprinting, references). but i'm also just waiting for our caseworker to call us with next steps. more likely, i'll be waiting a few weeks for her to call and when she doesn't i'll call her.

ok, last trip down memory lane... for now

we liked birthday parties in my family. this is my sister's 6 birthday as my dad lights her candles. of note in this picture is our long time family friend, robin, to the right. she is now married and has kids.


here's my family eating breakfast. i loved our kitchen when i was a kid. actually, i still love the kitchen. there's a lot i really like about the picture. and i wonder who took it if my mom, dad, brother and sister are all in the shot. did i take it?


look at these cuties in their uniforms. we wore those things from kindergarten till 8th grade. and then traded them out for another set through 12th grade. every year we took a picture of us on our first day of school. this shot must've been before i started school since i'm not in it.


mom and a friend in her bedroom. people say i look a lot like my mom. guess i see it here in this shot. i always loved that wallpaper, by the way. it had cool birds and flowers on it and i remember staring at it whenever i was laying on their bed.


don't know who the dude in this picture is. if any of the family knows, you can post it in the comments. my brother, of course has a cape on. that was quite usual for him as a child. actually, it wouldn't be that unusual for him now as an adult to have a cape on. and the brown corduroy couch! we had that couch until i was in high school and my mom and stepdad moved out of philly. that was the best couch in the world! so big and comfy!


we always used to sell lemonade when we were kids. i don't remember a lot of people buying (it's not like we lived on a busy street), but i do remember a few people having pity on us and purchasing a dixie cup of that sweet goodness. i love my brother's little visor. dork! and i think that might be my grandparent's car in the driveway.

more vintage waldie

here are some more shots of my childhood that the family has been passing around over the past few weeks.


my brother and sister are on either side of my mom as santa and i'm in front. i love that we're all wearing matching IUP outfits. my granddad worked for the university for many years so we often got IUP stuff for christmas. (this might be the only time you see my sister as a child not in a dress;)


me and my sister in front of the fireplace. what was up with the stockings and shorts?
notice on the left side of the mantle there's a glass-domed clock. that clock is famous for being broken at some point after this by my brother. unruly kids!


my 4th ? birthday party. mom always made a cake and decorated it however we wanted. i can't remember how this cake was decorated. one year i remember i had casper the friendly ghost cake.


my sister's 5th or 6th birthday party. i think the dining room is a different color by this time.

blast from the past

my mom sent me these pictures today. how sweet are they?


this is the house i grew up in (until 4th grade). i loved this house. it was big and old but it had some really beautiful things about it - the huge porch, the iron fence, the big trees around it (which gave me plenty of leaves to jump in during the fall). we used to play baseball in the driveway. and (though you can't see it) there were big cement steps that led up to the porch. i used to pretend that the steps were my bathtub and i would take sidewalk chalk and make a spout on the side of the step. even back then i loved baths.

speaking of baths...


AHHH! brilliant! i love that my sister is pretending to sing into the hose. that's classic "rachel." man, that was a great tub! check out the claw feet on that thing! and, gotta love the vintage 1970's towels. we used those things until they were rags.


how sweet are we with our little stuffed toys? my bear didn't have a name but he had a badge like a police bear. my brother's bear's name was geegee (is that how you spell it? correct me, ben). he has kept that bear all these years and now his daughters have it. i don't know if rachel's doll had a name. but she sure is nappy, huh? i think i remember having this picture taken. we pushed mine and rachel's beds together and we were being all goofy. i think mom had to bobby pin my brother's hair to make it stay down.


here's my sister on the swing on our porch. we later replaced this swing with a bench swing. what i love about this shot is the yellow bushes in the background. those bushes were so beautiful when they were in bloom! this shot is looking toward the front of our house onto the street so you can see the catholic school across the street. that's where i attended kindergarten through 8th grade.

ok go did it again!

i posted a while ago about the amazing videos by ok go.

check out this new one:



brilliant! it makes me happy.

free tax returns, anyone?

just finished filing my tax returns. urgh. i hate that process. but it was made all the easier and cheaper this year. beehive.org allows for free online tax preparation for households making less than $58,000/year. it leads you to an h&r block site and it's really easy to use. check it out here:
http://www.thebeehive.org/money/pay-taxes/file-your-taxes-free-online

locally, united way of the midlands also provides free tax preparation, but the income bracket is a little lower ($49,000). click here for more information on that program.