Funny quote I found on-line today

Who was the guy who first looked at a cow and said, 'I think I'll drink whatever comes out of these things when I squeeze 'em!'?

-Calvin, from Bill Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes"

Where's Micah?

Do you remember "Where's Waldo?" He was the guy in a red and white striped shirt with glasses that you'd have to find hiding on a page with a gazillion other images on it. Well today Micah had a Waldo moment. He quietly climbed on top of his nicely organized toys and sat nestled in between them and my desk. He blended in quite well. Kinda looked like he fit there. Then I realized it probably isn't such a good idea to let him treat blocks and Lincoln Logs (what he calls "Blinkin' Blogs") as a chair.

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to work we go!

After about 4 months of taking a sabbatical from working on our house, we're back in action. And it feels good! Motivated by our recent home plumbing repair, we've picked up paintbrushes, rollers, respirators and Spackle to complete the lower level that we've near forgotten about (2 bedrooms, a bathroom and hallway). Aside from the light fixture, we've completed the smaller room downstairs:

Crayon wrapper peeler

When Micah was first introduced to crayons, he had a fascination with breaking them in half. I picked up a pack of Jumbo Crayons to help fight his urge to snap 'em like twigs, but he was still successful in making two out of one. Thanks to Karen in CA, Micah received super jumbo crayons, and his breaking frenzy was over. But yesterday he discovered a new joy - peeling wrappers off of crayons. I knew it was bound to happen...

28-year old grandma

So the funniest thing happened today...I was baby-sitting for my church's women's Bible study (which I do every Thursday), and we were painting with water color. Last time we did water color, I was making a birthday card for my niece Lillyann, and one of the little boys wanted to make one too. So this time, the same little boy wanted to make another birthday card. I told him that I'd already sent Lillyann her birthday cards, but my sister Rachel's birthday was coming up in February if he wanted to make one for her. He agreed. The other kids at the table all started making cards and pictures for Rachel's birthday too. One of the girls piped up and asked, "How old is she going to be?" I replied "28." "Wow!" she said, "that's old." And then just a moment later, without looking up from the beautiful painting she was so carefully creating, she inquired, "Is she a grandma?"

Fun at the library

Micah and I frequent storytime at the library on certain weekdays. Today the library had an extra program - a room filled with different children activity stations themed off of a book. He loved it!! Here are some photos of only a few of the stations - there were many other things to do that my camera didn't adequately capture. :-)

Stamping:


Making a crown:


Playing with water:

Tubby paid us a visit

Our backyard squirrel, Tubby, could be seen outside our kitchen window this afternoon for a moment. His brief appearance proved that he can take care of himself and find food even in a Michigan winter. He may have even gained weight since the last time I saw him...

Our First Plumber

I am very thankful to be in our home, yet just like everything else on earth, it's not perfect and has some quirks. :-) Yesterday I was talking to my sister Rachel and I said I've been experiencing some "growing pains" of homeownership...when something goes wrong you are your own landlord and you have to either:
(a) figure it out,
(b) foot the bill to get it fixed, or
(c) just live with the problem.

I was doing laundry last week, when lo and behold, our huge cement 2-compartment utility sink in the basement was draining slower than molasses in January. I spent quite sometime digging out lint, gunk and mush from the drain for awhile, but it didn't help one bit. I realized we may have more than just an old sink, but some clogged pipes too. I made a mental note to self to talk to Scott about the issue and think about getting a plumber. In the meantime, when I would do laundry, it turned into a full work-out...

I would keep an ear out for the spin cycle, and run downstairs to begin my routine: grab 5-gallon bucket, dip in sink to get a load of water, run it upstairs to the bathroom, dump it in the shower drain, run back downstairs, repeat as necessary (several times at least). That was my way of just "living with the problem." I mentioned to Scott that the basement sink wasn't draining that well, and then kept on doing laundry the same way for about a week.

One night a threw a load in the wash and was going to begin my regular 5-gallon bucket ritual, when Scott came down to the basement too and was baffled by the whole thing! I suppose my "basement sink not draining well" comment didn't quite get my point across of it being all that bad.

The next day we hired a plumber.

Not just any ole plumber, but a friend of a friend who gave us a discount because of the referral, who did an AMAZING job, super fast, and super affordable. Oh how I am thankful for my friend and her friend the plumber!! He was here snaking pipes, putting new fixtures on, replacing our sink and faucet in less time than it takes to watch a full length feature film. Yes, he was that fast. If any of you all live in Western Michigan, look no further for the best plumber around (note: he is not the bearded man on the web-page)! :-)

As part of this whole experience I learned a whole lot, but also count it as a "God-thing" not only because of the connection to a great plumber through a friend, but because of the unknown hazard of our sink!! See, this huge, 2 compartment cement sink resided on rickety metal legs that it was not even attached to. So if those rusty legs had decided to give out (which, by the looks of it, wasn't unreasonable to think), there would have been (100? 200?) lbs of concrete smashing to the ground...if Micah had been playing near there, or one of my limbs was nearby...yikes. I am SO thankful that this little plumbing problem allowed us to see the need to get rid of our giant, dangerous sink!

I just did a load of wash, and instead of using a 5-gallon bucket, I simply watched all the water drain down our new sink and snaked pipe in a timely manner.

Out with the old:


In with the new:


The remains of our ancient sink (Scotty took a sledgehammer to it):

A Ruthism I will never have...

I am very blessed to call the Ruths my family. I get along with them. They're nice. They love Jesus. They care for each other and me. I am glad to be a part of them. But I didn't marry into everything...there are certain things that are always going to be the same - like the time in which it takes my hair to grow...

--My father-in-law gets his haircut? Every 3 weeks.
--My mother-in-law? Every 5 weeks.
--My husband? Every month (does it himself, so if motivation is lacking, he might push it to 2 months).
--My sister-in-law? A couple/few times a year, but talks about it more, because her hair grows just as fast as the rest of her family's.
--Even the 4 Pomeranians? They go to the groomer once a month or every other.
--My very own son? Every 2 months or else he looks like a mop-head.
--Me??? I haven't had a haircut in 9 MONTHS and it's only about shoulder length.

Micah got this trait by being born into the Ruth family, I tried to marry into it but it just doesn't work that way. My hairs just grows slow.

The Guy

Micah got some Duplo Legos from grandpa and grandma in California for Christmas. It included one little Lego man, whom Micah affectionately calls "guy." While playing with the duplos, Micah made sure to "hug guy" by squeezing the little plastic man up against his belly. He also traveled with Micah - "guy downstairs" - as we trekked down the basement to do laundry. However, Mr. Duplo didn't make it back to Legoland after the laundry was done...he's still in the basement somewhere where Micah set him down while playing. This of course prompted Micah to look at me and ask "where guy?" Sorry kiddo, I don't know where guy is right now, but I'm sure we'll find him soon enough...

Homemade Laundry Detergent

We made homemade laundry detergent (third recipe on the page). Kinda makes me laugh because the first time Scotty suggested it sometime last year I was totally opposed to the idea...I just wasn't ready to give up my Purex. But eventually I came to realize that it wouldn't hurt anything to at least try it out, and the ingredients are super cheap. So, we whipped up a batch of good ol' detergent last weekend and I've been using it on our clothes all week long. It works great! And it's easier on the wallet than my beloved Purex of three and a half years...

The ingredients:


The maker:


The "squid" we discovered in the morning: