SUNDAY POETRY: "FLYING FISH"

  Sunday: The day to indulge a poetry addiction.

Flying Fish

by Carl Sandburg

I have lived in many half-worlds myself... and so I know you.

I leaned at a deck rail watching a monotonous sea, the same circling birds and the same plunge of furrows carved by the plowing keel.

I leaned so... and you fluttered struggling between two waves in the air now... and then under the water and out again... a fish... a bird... a fin thing... a wing thing.

Child of water, child of air, fin thing and wing thing... I have lived in many half-worlds myself... and so I know you.

Photograph of a flying gurnard by Elaine Duigenan

OUTTAKES: THE BACKSTORY

 
As usual in writing a book, a lot of good stuff ends up on the cutting room floor, so to speak. This outtake was hard to let go of, more so because I didn't write it:

Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

-Edna St. Vincent Millay
Dirge Without Music

THE LONG-DISTANCE WANDERINGS OF LEATHERBACKS

I'm on a leatherback sea turtle thread at the moment—not the sole focus of DEEP BLUE HOME... but recurring characters. I love their wanderings.

Seriously cool-beans stuff is coming out of satellite tagging of these awesome creatures. Check out the track maps at the Caribbean Conservation Corporation.

You can adopt a leatherback and help fund the conservation work. I just adopted the lovely Panamanian leatherback Naya.

From the CCC website:

"NAVIGATION: In the open ocean, sea turtles encounter strong currents; they have only modest vision, they can only raise their heads several inches out of the water, and there are often no visible landmarks. Even with these limitations, sea turtles regularly navigate long distances to find the same tiny stretch of nesting beach. How they do it is one of the greatest mysteries in the animal kingdom, and finding an answer has been the focus of generations of researchers. One promising new theory on how sea turtles navigate suggests that they can detect both the angle and intensity of the earth's magnetic field. Using these two characteristics, a sea turtle may be able to determine its latitude and longitude, enabling it to navigate virtually anywhere. Early experiments seem to prove that sea turtles have the ability to detect magnetic fields. Whether they actually use this ability to navigate is the next theory being investigated."

RANDOM EXCERPT FROM "DEEP BLUE HOME:" SEA TURTLES IN THE ICE REALM

"It's not surprising to see a leatherback up here
on the edge of the ice, since this is one of the most traveled
of all vertebrate species, perpetually on the move along
jellyfish highways between the tropics and the high latitudes."

DEEP BLUE HOME
-Chapter 14
The Distant Geography of Water

Photo courtesy COML.org

SWIMMING TOWARD THE LIGHT

The book is really on its way.













Working through copyediting,
proofreading, blurbing, printing,
and all the months of detail work
between typing The End
and appearing on the New Nonfiction rack.

Birth date 9 July 2010.

I'm starting to feel a flutter in my stomach.

COMING SOON!

A new book.
























A new blog.

One to elucidate the other.

Please check back.

To Indiana and Back in a Weekend

On Friday we decided to head to Indiana. Why? Well as I mentioned before the hubby found out we would be moving there later this year so we wanted to check out the cities and see what town near Indianapolis we'd want to move. I've moved enough in my life that I know that you really want to research, especially when kids are involved. So we looked up a few places we wanted to visit and decided

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome to Indy

I absolutely love this picture, honestly SoccerBoy doesn't always let me catch him so this made me very happy. We had just gathered a bunch of data from the visitor's center for Indiana since we are moving there later this year. Look at the three of them. :) Happy WW!

A Sunday Meme

1. Where is your cell phone? Currently in my left-side pants pocket.


2. Your hair? past my shoulders

3. Your mother? loving/understanding

4. Your father? always there

5. Your favorite food? lasagna/stuffed shells

6. Your dream last night? bad

7. Your favorite drink? Starbucks Carmel or Spiced Pumpkin Frap.

8. Your dream/goal? Become a PR

9. What room are you in? hotel room

10. Your

Life of a Home Mom Shares her News

Wow, can you believe today is Thursday already? Soccerboy reminded me of how fast this month has flown by too and I must say he's right. For us January is normally a slow month, or maybe that was just back in the military where no matter what you struggled to make it until payday. I've got some good news though for my readers, okay more for me but I had to share it with ya'll. The hubby got a

An Organized Kitchen

Since January seems to be “organization” month.  I thought that I would show you how I organize my kitchen.  First, I hate a cluttered kitchen because that’s where I spend most of my time and I need the space.  During the day, my counters get full of food, paper, snacks, cutting boards, books, laundry, markers, paint, crayons, glue, bottles, barrettes, etc. so I need space to put them.  If I have too much on the counters,  I feel squished!   I only have a few decorations which I am always switching out and the only small appliance that I keep on the counter is toaster oven because we use it all the time.  When we got married, we chose not to use a microwave for health reasons so we heat up all our food in the toaster oven.  The rest of my small appliance are kept in my cabinets.

Here are some more pictures of our kitchen.

   

Here is my pantry.

 

I organized it my pantry with Tupperware modular mates.  I love them!!!  They fit perfectly.  I like having clear containers so I can see what’s in it and I know if we are getting low.  I also labeled each one until my labeler stopped working. 

I hide my aprons in the corner.

Don’t forget your fire extinguisher!  Every kitchen needs one!!!

I also keep a lock on the door!   It helped for a couple of weeks until they learned how to open it.

Here is my “baker’s corner” cabinet.  I keep most of my baking supplies and mixes here.  I also keep my mixing bowls and hand mixer close by.  I don’t like going all around the kitchen looking for something.  That way everything that I need is right there.

I also went through my pots and pans.   I am only keeping what I really need.  Why do I have like 20 pots?  I keep all of my pans under the stove in the drawer so I can have more room for my pots in the cabinet.

I took out a shelf and now I can stand up my cutting boards, baking sheets, muffin trays, cooling racks, etc.

I got rid of all this…

 

and turned it into this….

I decided to go all Pyrex.  I love it!!!  It is way easier to find thing and now I keep the lid on so I don’t loose it. It is way easier to heat things heat in the toaster oven too!

So, I hope that you liked my kitchen! I will show you the rest later.  How do you organize?

Bonnie :)

Wordless Wednesday

The blue sky actually appeared today and it reminded me of the future spring we will have. With all the snow almost gone, green grass poking through and tons of squirrels running around on the ground one could only vision warmer days. Course right after this picture was taken the dark grey clouds came back and swallowed up the beautiful blue sky. Happy WW!

~♥A Bedroom Tour♥~

Hello dear friends!  Thank you all for your sweet comments on my new hutch and farmhouse table...my family and I have been enjoying it!

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Several of you had questions about the Chalkink Markers.  I purchased mine from Amazon, but if you go directly to the Chalkink website, they have a much better selection.  Click Here to be taken to their website!  Once you try Chalkink Markers you'll not use regular chalk.  I love the fact that the colors are so vibrant and that they don't smear when dry!

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Now, on with the tour!  Besides my kitchen, my bedroom is also one of my favorite rooms.  It's a very bright area even on a cloudy day because of all of the windows.

This is my sitting area.  It's a nice place for reading or watching TV.

This dresser had a huge mirror on it, but I talked my DH into removing it.  It makes a great stand for the TV.

This is an antique vanity that was given to me by a dear family friend.  My DH refinished it.

Once again, thank you for your visits.  And speaking of visiting, my new friend, Dan, that I met on the Country Sampler Forum just started a blog...why not stop over and welcome him to the wonderful world of blogging?  His home is going to be featured in the Country Sampler 2010 Home Tour Edition! 

Click Here to Visit Yesterday Once More

A Different Way to Clean

My Cleaning Schedule

Weekly

• Bathrooms
• Wash the hardwood floors
• Dust house
• Vacuum
• Organize the kids rooms
• Organize the fridge

When Needed

• Shampoo the carpet (about 4 times a year)
• Dust fans
• Wash walls/doors
• Dust baseboards
• Wash the couch
• Wash the Windows
• Wash the mirrors the house
• Wipe down furniture
• Vacuum lamp shapes
• wipe down lamps
• Wipe down cabinets
• Dust/Wash vents
• Dust blinds
• Deep clean appliances

For more cleaning tips, join me on Facebook now! 

How I Clean

I named this post A Different Way To Clean because I have NEVER bought  a Fantastic, a 409, a Pine Sol,  a Lysol, Clorox Wipes, a Tide, etc.  I have never used a toxic cleaner since being married!!  I clean differently than most people.  I only clean with ALL natural products.  I did this even before it was  cool to be green!  At first, my only reason to do this was because it was cheaper.  I used and still use Shaklee Get Clean products.  Now, after being more educated on why it is so important to be toxic free,  I am really glad that I have been using these the whole time!!!  Toxins are dangerous, as in hurtful, as in not very clean at all.

When most people think of green cleaners, they think: expensive or lack of quality.  With the Get Clean products that I found, nothing is further!  These are CHEAP!!!!  And they WORK!!!! 

Let me tell you what I use and how!

Kitchen

Let’s begin with with the  Kitchen because we spend most of out time in there!  I feel like I am in there all day!  As soon as I am done cleaning up a meal, it’s snack time!  Does that happen to anyone else?  I run my dishwasher everyday and I always  try to wipe the stainless steal appliances down every night.   I HATE going to bed with a messy kitchen!!!  I love waking up and coming down to a clean room.  I am in a better mood when there are no dishes out, the stove is clean and their are no fingerprints on the fridge!  I also like to sweep or vacuum the floor everyday (several times a day under their high chairs).  

In the kitchen I use…..

Basic H2 Organic Super Clean Concentrate and my super microfiber cleaning cloth for the appliances, cabinets, counters and walls

Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste  for my sink and my appliance deep cleaning.  Click HERE to see how I clean my oven!

Basic G- Concentrated Germicide for disinfecting my sink, counters, knobs, floor and whatever else I want germ FREE!

Dish Wash Concentrate for washing pots, pans or anything else by hand.  I only use 1 drop per dish!  This stuff is really powerful!!!!

Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate for my dishwasher.  I only use 1 teaspoon of this stuff and I NEVER pre-rinse  my dishes.  CHEAP!!!!

Here is a before and after of the fridge…

After

Here is a photo of my polished sink using Scour Off…

Here is a before and after on my window… 

before

 after

Bathrooms  

Next,  I’ll tell you about the bathrooms because everyone likes start with the grossest area and get it out of the way.   I use… 

Basic H2 Organic Super Clean Concentrate for the windows and mirrors.

This stuff works…..with NO streaks!!!   I mix 2 drops of the concentrate to my 32oz. water spray bottle. (It costs $.02 per 32oz.  That’s right, it costs me only a 2 PENNIES  for a 32oz. bottle)  

CHEAP!!!! I told you. 1 bottle of Basic H²equals the cleaning uses of 5,824 bottles of 26 oz. Windex. WOW!!!! 

Here is a picture of the awesome window and mirror super microfiber cleaning cloth that I use. 

Here is a picture of my mirror.  NO STREAKS!!!!

Basic G- Concentrated Germicide for the sink, toilet, floors and bath/shower 

I really like to disinfect!!!  I have three kids who put there hands everywhere and I don’t want germs everywhere!!! 

Here is a picture of my bathroom cleaning bottles. I put this  on the door.  I have these bottles in every bathroom.  It is simple , neat and easy! 

Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste for the bath/shower, floor and sink when needed. 

This stuff takes off rust, mold, hard water residue and other build up.  

And it SMELLS like cherries!!! And totally safe! 

Here are before and after pictures of some hard water residue on my sink drain. (I know it’s gross!  Don’t hate me!) 

WOW!!! Look at that sparkle!!! 

I think that is pretty much it for the bathrooms, lets move on to floors     

Floors

I try to vacuum or sweep everyday.  I don’t know if it is just my family but we REALLY need to do this everyday!  We get kinda totally dirty here!  I found a floor duster that I really like and the dusts the baseboards too!  YAY!!!  It is by o-cedar. 

Here is a picture of it at work!!! 

I also love to use my BFF aka my Dyson vacuum.  I love it!  Now that my son is crawling and trying to eat everything he sees, I have just been leaving it out all the time.  Anytime I see something on the floor, I just turn on my Dyson and suck that baby up before my son finds it! 

I use the attachments to get baseboards, lamp shades and furniture.

I have the Dyson Ball Slim and it’s great because it is so easy to move around and it’s lightweight! 

For washing my floors, I use…..guess….. 

Basic H2 Organic Super Clean Concentrate

This awesome no rinse, no residue, streak-free formula works great on any floor!  It seriously makes my wood shine.   For floors,  mix 1 tablespoon of Basic H + 1 gallon of water.  Apply to floor with sponge or mop.  I just put it in a spray bottle, spray it on the floor and wipe it with a microfiber mop. 

Here is my little helper!  Look at the floor shine! 

Dust

Now, how do I dust?  I don’t!  LOL, I wish!  This family makes a lot of dust or at least we see it more because of all of our dark wood  floors and furniture.  Usually I dampen my super micro fabric cleaning cloth with my Basic H.  I also use a really long duster to get my fans, vents, light fixtures, stair railing, walls and ceiling. 

Here is another picture of my helper.  I find it best to give the kids their own set of cleaning tools to keep them busy.  It’s never too early to teach the art of cleaning! 

Laundry

Laundry for 5 is not an easy thing to do!  I have a system that works for now until I can get the kids to do their own.  Right now I put ALL the the dirty laundry  form everyone in our family in my side of our closet.  I have 3 laundry baskets for  whites, lights and darks and 1 basket on my hubby’s side for his work clothes.  I also keep a laundry basket in my laundry room for hand towels, wash cloths, etc.  All of my laundry products are concentrated and NON-Toxic.  It is totally safe for your skin.  It is great for sensitive baby skin! 

I use… 

Fresh Laundry Concentrate

Soft Fabric Concentrate

Soft Fabric Dyer Sheets

Nature Bright

Here is a picture of the baskets in our closet… 

  

Here is a picture of our laundry room basket… 

            

Extra Tips

Have your kids ever drawn on your furniture with pen?!?!?  Mine have,  a normal mom would probably freeeak out! But not me.  Basic H gets it right out!!!!  AND in less than ONE MINUTE!!!!!  I just put in on straight and scrubbed in right out! 

Here is a before and after of my chair with pen on it… 

I also really like the Magic Eraser for scratches on the furniture.  

Here is a before and after of white paints scuffs on my dresser. 

                     

And that is how I clean and what I use!!!!

For more cleaning tips, join me on Facebook now! :)