Household tip - Bulldog clips

Here's a tip that will make you say, of course.

Do you have many potato chip, cracker or even frozen food bags that you crumble-roll the ends to close them. Well if you use a 1 1/2" bulldog clip instead, you won't have to do that anymore.

Rather than buy those oversized clips at the grocery store. [You know the ones which have incredibly weak grasping power.] Use an office supply bulldog clip instead.

It won't let you down. It's smaller


and it's easier to store when not in use. . Note: There are at least 4 large and a couple of smaller bulldog clips in that 3" x 3" storage cubby.

TAGS: Household tip | Household

My garden plan 2006

I am working on redoing my overgrown huge planter. Here are my ideas for version 2.0.

Big planter - keep/add these plants:
Black mondo grass: add along parts of the front border.
Roses: Princess Diana, Playboy, Mister Lincoln, Simply Marvelous
Verbena: keep try to add more.
Platycodus: Try to expand, add plants from seed this early spring.
Dahlias - large: shift to where sterling silver was removed.
Calla rehmani: shift to selected places along front border where there is not a rose.
Weeping pussy willow: where pink rose was removed, back, southwest area.
Marigolds: Thin out, moving extra.
Annuals in front of planter: thin out moving extra to front of house.

East fence line area:
Daylilies: add a few more
Sunflowers: smaller inedible variety this year.
Clematis: Next to piers (inside fenceline).
Planters on top of piers: Ready made color.

Remove these plants:
Roses: Sterling silver - move to a corner somewhere.
Pink rose (??) - close to sterling silver - a garden for my daughter.
Marigolds: extra ones, plant in front of gladiolus by a/c unit.
Cannas: move to along back fenceline.
Gladiolus babies: Move to cover a/c unit - put back with other glads.
Dahlia - Bolognese: Move to southwest corner planter.
Oriental/Asian Lillies: Move to front of house or along side fenceline.

Front planter boxes:
Pansies: Add.
Implement watering system in the least visible way.
Ferns or burros ears: add new hanging plants.

Mailbox planter:
Gladiolus: Remove, move to ac unit.
Clematis: Try again.

First prep:
Pull out all big planter plants.
Add full yard or two of topsoil.
Replant.
Add mulch - 3-4 yards for entire yard.

TAGS: gardening

.:end:.

Genetic roots

Our son has a strong background. Not only in terms of physical stength - but also in emotional strength. He gets a "determination" tripple whammy from his dad - who is highly motivated and determined, his Maga (his dad's mom) and his great grandpa (dad's side).

His Maga is an Okinawan World War II orphan. She managed to survive and for a short time even nurse her fatally wounded mother at 4 years old. At the same time she cared for her little brother (2-3 years old). His dad tells me stories of the stories Maga would tell Daddy about sleeping in trees to avoid the dogs. This was during and after the Battle of Okinawa. Maga is from a highly respected Okinawan family. Maga's mother and dad were teachers, which in Okinawan society is one of the most respected positions a person can hold. They were also very smart if not geniuses. Unfortunately genius doesn't count when you get hit by shrapnel or shot by soldiers as her mother and father were.

His great grandpa (Dad's grandpa) survived the Bataan Death March of World War II. Great grandpa survived by using his brains -- in this case it saved great grandpa. Great grandpa managed to escape and live. There are few of these soldiers still left in our area. Only one of them has ever talked about what happened during the march on television. Unfortunately great grandpa never told Daddy about what happened during the war. It's something that haunted great grandpa until he died in June 2000.

I can see their determination and strength in our son. He can set his mind to a task and complete it - he's been doing this for a couple of years now - he is five years old. He also is seemingly impervious to pain. That can be good and bad. He recently willed himself not to cry when getting vaccination shots for school. He said to his doctor, "I'm not going to cry". Sure enough he didn't. When he was a baby, he usually wouldn't cry when getting shots. When he was a few days old he had to have blood drawn from his heel for billiribum testing. His dad says he didn't even cry and almost didn't notice anything. His sister on the other hand did notice when she had the same test and she did cry. So our son has had this high tolerance for pain from birth.

He's actually lucky to be alive. I am positive his genetic roots have alot to do with that. When I was in labor, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. The fetal monitor was showing extreme distress. It took a few minutes to get him out. Lucky for us our great OB/GYN noticed this right away and pulled him out. When he came out he didn't make a sound, and was in bad shape. The nurses had to resuscitate him - he was almost a purple grey. I was only able to hold him for a few minutes but quickly gave him back so he could be taken to the first level ICU. I am thankful he was only kept overnight. The next morning he was pink as could be. I know that the lack of oxygen has caused some diminshment of his genius, but he's still a pretty smart kid. Plus babies are pretty resilient and almost plastic like when it comes to brain development. They can bounce back if cared for and if the damage isn't too bad.

Anyway, from the other side - mine - he gets mathematic ability. My dad was called a human calculator. Our son is able to do some addition already. His dad taught him to count to a hundred by the time he was 4. I can sense in our son the same ability as my dad. I'm planning on teaching him the binary number system soon as well, like my father taught me.

The only bad thing about genetic roots, is that not only is the good inherited, but also the bad. Like our predisposition to heart attacks & coronary disease - both sides. High blood pressure - also both sides. Diabetes, bad eyesight, and the real issue right now allergies and asthma. The allergies and asthma are from me. He seems to have it worse than I did when I was little. He's had pneumonia a few times already, as much as I have had in my entire life. We have to pay attention to his allergies to ensure they don't cascade to a runny nose, that turns into bronchitis that turns into pneumonia. Benadryl is our friend.

The connection between exzcema as a baby, and allergies/asthma is one that became known in the pop media within the last few years. When he was a toddler and seemingly getting ear infections quite a bit, a doctor at patient first recommended that whenever he got a runny nose to give him Benadryl. Sure enough since that time he has only had one ear infection. He has had pneumonia a few times usually from a cold or sudden onset of allergies I couldn't catch in time. What's odd is that I am going through the same thing now that I am past 40. I have to ensure my allergies don't cause bronchitis, because bacterial pneumonia is not too far behind.

So that is our son's genetic inheritance. You get the good with the bad.

TAGS: okinawa | asthma | exzcema

.:end:.

Rewards Galore

Our son started kindergarten this year. It's funny because they use a reward system similar to what we use (see previous post). In his school, kindergarten has a 10 sticker system. When they earn 10 stickers they can pick whatever they want out of the Treasure Basket. They also earn green, yellow or red faces each day. A green face is good. A yellow face is given if the student is told twice about breaking a lesser rule. A red face is given out when a big rule or 3 warnings about a lesser rule are given out. Lesser rules are talking out of turn, not following directions and the like. Big rules involve hurtful physical contact with another student using their body or items. Yellow and red faces also mean a note is sent home to parents, which a parent then has to sign and return.

Anyway, we have piggybacked onto the green happy face system. For every green happy face, he earns $1. A week of all green happy faces earns him a star (value $4). He is paid his green happy face earnings (allowance) on Saturday mornings. He tends to save $1 each week, and given that's 20% that's pretty good. In actuality he has saved more than that as he has earned $12 so far an only spent $5.

He has earned 2 yellows and one red so far. One of the yellow and the red were earned when he went back to school after being out for 3 days sick. He was too excited to listen to the teacher and stop chatting with his friends. We helped him by teaching him to look at the teacher when she is talking. He listens only when he is looking at you, so we taught him to always look at us when we're talking to him. We're still working on that.

Tonight he earned another star. This time for politeness. He said, "excuse me" to his dad when daddy blocked his view of Teen Titans. His tone was polite and he waited patiently until his daddy realized he was blocking our son's view. Daddy of course smiled. Our son thought he was in trouble, but we explained that he had politely indicated to Daddy about his blocked view.

..:sidetrack:..
When I was in school, I paved the way for my sister. I don't ever recall being sent to the principal's office, being in detention, or even getting into a fight. Probably because I'm a big chicken. Anyway, I was one of those students who could occasionally be called teachers pet. Not because I buttered them up, but because I was polite and didn't chat in class. I'm hoping my son is the same.

..:back to our subject:..
He is shaping up to be a good student. We just need to keep motivating him to want to be that way. I frequently tell him he is a "good boy" and say "remember you are a good boy". When he was a toddler I would say to him "You must use your powers for good not evil". I know brainwashing, but I think it's working. He does have a good heart and a caring almost empathetic personality. His dad reinforces the "stand up for your self" part when needed (see post Genetic Roots). He has occasionally had to stand up for himself, but because he is one of those kids that gets along with everyone, he doesn't usually get in trouble. I of course remind him that he should use verbal warnings as much as possible when some other child is troubling him.

One of the techniques we taught him was how to deal with someone who is bothering you. We told him to loudly say, "Stop that, I don't like that". It's a way to tell the offending child to stop and also draw attention to the conflict without tattling. It also puts the other child on notice that they are being warned that continued harrassment will be dealt with. So far he has only had to go that route a few times in the past year. His verbal warnings are now rare for him to give out.

At his preschool/daycare last year he had to daily deal with a child who would try to tackle him the minute he walked in the door. My son at first tried to fight back, but after a while of initially getting into trouble and our explaining how to use verbal warnings, he learned to simply ignore that child. True that child has issues so he hasn't stopped the tackle attempts, but our son has learned patience and the ability to ignore slights or little annoyances.

Our son is learning how to deal with difficult people (troubled children) at a young age. This should help him deal with the difficult people (overgrown children = aka adults) later in life. He is also very adept at getting along with many people, which will help him socially later as well. I know the better you are at getting along with people the more successful you tend to be.

TAGS: rewards | parenting | positive reinforcment

.: end :.