How does your garden grow?

This year in my garden, we planted a sqash plant, a cucumber plant, two round tomato plants, and a cherry tomato plant. We also planted some sunflowers from seed. The cucumber plant promptly died upon insertion into the ground, but the others have thrived. I've watched their flowers for the past month wondering when something was going to happen. And it finally did! Last night for dinner, we had squash and tomatoes with our rice and gravy. Tonight we just had squash and tomatoes, to heck with the rice and gravy. A cucumber would have tasted nice with it, but oh I love that fresh-from-the-vine taste. Pictured below is the first ripe tomato plucked from the vine. Miriam has been pulling off green ones for a while, but is always disappointed in the taste. As soon as she saw the nice ripe red one, she excitedly took a big bite, which is also pictured below. And there's a picture of a sunflower in the sun. Oh harvest time is so beautiful!

Sesame Street Again!

Sesame Street is broadcast on KUED (7) at 6am, which I believe is way too early to get up and watch tv. It is on KBYU (11) at 1pm which, ever since Miriam switched to one nap days most days, is out. So I have been a little sad at not having Sesame Street to watch. And Miriam misses it too. But lo and behold, it is on digital channel KUED 7.2 at 8am! That's a great time for television! Sesame Street has returned to Midvale! And because I have learned how to put on youtube videos, here is the one of Ben Stiller and Telly Monster singing the People in Your Neighborhood. I love it! I'm not sure what the little dancing music note at the bottom is all about, but the official "sesame street" version was unembeddable. So just deal with the dancing music note.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS! We have had a marvelous two weeks watching our good friends Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Dara Torres, Misty May-Traener, Jeremy Wariner, Sanya Richards, Asafa Powell, and so many others. We were amazed at Phelps' feats of glory, shocked as both USA mens and womens 100m medley track teams dropped the baton, and could tell that even to the untrained eye the Chinese divers were a lot better than everybody else put together. Last night we bid farewell to the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube, and Beijing as a whole. I always cry a bit when the flame goes out. But here's one good thing: I will be able to go to bed at night. For two weeks I've watched NBC til all hours not wanting to miss anything. In looking up Miriam's high fever last week on webmd.com, I noticed a new malady called "Olympic Exhaustion." They say that during major sporting events, and especially the olympics, lots and lots of people go with less sleep, contributing to less effectiveness at work and in life. As Bob Costas last night was lamenting about why can't the Olympics last longer, I thought that as much as I would love that, I couldn't survive it. As it is, I'm excited to go to bed on time tonight with no fear that I'm missing a major world event.

The Queen of Clean

First of all, let me assure you that Miriam is as filthy a girl as can be. A bath is required every evening and after most meals and snacks, although it usually is just a quick wipedown. The first thing I do after she goes down is marvel how messy things can get in such a short time. But other than being a very normal 18 month old little girl who is interested in absolutely everything, she also has a clean streak. It started when she was tiny. Very often, the only way we could get her to stop crying was by turning on the vacuum cleaner. It was instantly miraculous. After I got really tired of carrying her around while vacuuming, I just plugged it in by the rocking chair. We could turn it on and Miriam off as easy as pressing a button. I thought then she might grow up to be a lover of clean things. So far, I was right. She is fascinated with the potty. She knows that if she sits on it she gets potty candy (marshmallows), but in order to sit on it, she needs mom or dad's help. She can clean the potty though, all by herself. So often I'll hear splashes from the bathroom only to come in and see Miriam with the plunger or the toilet bowl cleaner, getting everything spic and span and wash washing it til it shines, a huge smile on her face. She also loves puting things away. Once her tin of crayons were on the bed in the office. They don't belong there, but that's where I had put them for some reason. She found them and brought them to the front room where we got them out and she colored. When it was time, I told her to put her crayons away. I saw her start putting crayons in the tin and I let her keep going by herself. After she was in bed, I gathered the few crayons that were left on the floor, but could not find the tin. I finally checked in the office and there it was on the bed right where she had found it. The lid wasn't on and there were crayons spilling out the side, but she had put her crayons away. It was so sweet I teared up right there. She loves to help washing the windows, she loves to wipe the table, she always helps dad with the kitty litter, and she knows to take her diapers and throw them in the garbage. If only I could get her to wash the guck away instead of just rubbing it in...

And for your viewing pleasure, you can push play and see how immediate and amazing the vacuum cleaner was for us. I love our Kirby!

Isn't it ironic?

This has long since been a favorite of mine. So apt, so appropriate, so unfortunately true. I'm the only person that I know who has sprained an ankle in Geometry class and chipped a tooth in the library. Yesterday a girl I know was wearing a shirt with this cartoon on it. I, now being a proud resident of Midvale, was shocked to see that it reads and has always read "Midvale School for the Gifted." It almost makes me feel like it's fate that I live here now. Things that make you go hmmm...

A Major Award

Last week was Midvale's Harvest Days. Because I am a member of the Midvale Arts Council and because I had a picture I really liked, I entered the Harvest Days Art Contest. I am sure you recognize the picture as one I posted on my summary of our trip to California. I cropped it and centered it a little and entitled it "The Race." I thought it was perfect. There were four photographs in the photography section, and I got... THIRD PLACE! Which means NOT LAST! The other three photographs were taken by the same artist, so I don't feel bad making somebody else be last by me being third, because she was also first and second. So many times I think my purpose for being somewhere or doing something is so others will see that they're not the worst one. I'm no better and usually pretty proud of it. I am also proud of my first entry into an arts contest. As my 3rd place prize, I get $10. Which recovers my $5 entry fee with $5 left over. Anybody up for a trip to Wendy's?

Stimulating the Economy

We finally stepped up from our $100 garage sale washer and dryer, and just in time. The weekend before Sears was to deliver our flashy new high efficiency front loading washer and humongous dryer, our old shaky dryer quit working. We sold them as-is on ksl.com for $40. Which, if you do the math, means we got 4 years of washing and drying for $60. Not bad at all. And we are now washing and drying clothes with the best of them. My mom used to tell us how she and her sisters used to sit in front of the front loading washer and pretend they were watching tv. Now that I'm an owner, I find that it's surprisingly relaxing to watch all the clothes go around and around and around. I think it's in Jack Weyland's book "A New Dawn" where Dawn, a brilliant science student, realizes a new mathematical formula while watching the clothes spin. Maybe my mom was onto something. Anyway, I love the economic stimulus plan! And my clean clothes!