Are you right or left brained?

You Are 40% Left Brained, 60% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

A walk in the meadow

Monday, my children and I enjoyed a walk in the meadow. Here is a sampling of what a careful observer could experience. I am grateful for the great beauty the Lord has given our family to enjoy.

The fuzzy leaves of a mullein basal rosette.


The faded petals of Queen Anne's Lace fold up to form a cup shape, hence earning its lesser known name, Bird's Nest.



These berry branches keep the birds busy well into winter.


A fuzzy stem of grass.


A perfect dandelion.


A Mexican sunflower


The pollen-laden legs of a busy honeybee.


A sunflower head heavy with seeds.


A glimpse of a portion of our changing meadow.

Potato, Leek, and Kale soup

Perfect for sharing around the table on a dreary evening, this soup is thick, hearty, easy, and absolutely scrumptious. Trust me, you need to try it.
Although we LOVE bacon, we rarely indulge in it. This recipe we can eat without guilt, however. HOW can you feel guilty when eating KALE?!
Make sure you make enough for leftovers. They are even better. Oh, be sure to use your largest skillet, too.

- 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 3 leeks, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch kale, ribs removed, and cut into bite size pieces (I do this by cutting out the ribs with kitchen scissors, taking a large handful, and snipping off little bits into a bowl)
- 1 pound bacon
- 5 cups chicken broth

In a large stockpot, boil cubed potatoes in chicken broth until tender.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in your largest skillet over medium high heat until crispy.
Remove bacon, reserving 3 Tablespoons grease, and set aside.
Sautee the chopped kale and leeks in the bacon grease for 8-10 minutes. Your skillet will be VERY full, but it will reduce in size after a few minutes.
Mash a few potato chunks against the side of the pan with your spoon to thicken the broth.
Crunch bacon into small pieces between 2 paper towels. (Or you could snip into small pieces before cooking.)
Stir bacon, kale, and leeks into potato/broth mixture.
Serve piping hot with crusty rolls, and a delicious salad.

Optional: If you happen to have heavy cream on hand, adding up to one cup at the very end makes it deliciously creamy. If you do not have it, do not fret! It is scrumptious either way!

Sunday School Chair

This little chair is the most used piece of furniture in our home, I think. It is dragged everywhere by everybody and used for most any purpose. Frequently, it helps little ones reach the chocolate chip cookie dough on the counter. Sometimes, it attends tea parties. On more than one occasion, it has been the host of a great and mighty hunter lying wait in his deer stand.
Last week, it received a new coat of paint.

Marty's grandfather was given all the old and broken Sunday School chairs when his church purchased new furniture. He combined the broken pieces into "new" chairs and gave one to all his grandchildren. How we love it!

Queen Anne's lace

We're still enjoying the very last blossoms from the meadow behind our home.

Stick bug

Last Wednesday night as I was leaving worship team practice, a fellow team member brought me this stick bug he found on his car. Somehow, my reputation must have preceded me, and he knew my children and I would enjoy studying it a bit. It rode home with me in Marty's lunchbox, and spent the night on the counter in a canning jar.

The next morning, after the kids awoke and noticed the jar, we released it on our deck, took many photos, and watched a while. I realize that not many are nearly as interested in bugs as we are, but bear with us.

As we were watching our photos as a slide show on our computer, Isaiah, my tender 6 year old, didn't like this one. He said it was "too scary."

I was trying to take these super close-up shots while it was walking on my deck. Plus, it was chilly and I was shivering, so unfortunately, this last photo is not really in focus. However, it does show how the little thingies underneath it's chin open up and move around - kind of like fingers.

You know, some people keep these "Walking Stick Bugs" as pets. No, we didn't keep it. It stayed on our deck railing 'till midafternoon, then disappeared. But if YOU are curious, click the title of this post to take you to a page full of interesting tidbits about stick bugs.

So proud

is what I am of my 6 year old son. And what he is of the little "shed" he built last week with scraps of his daddy's lumber.

He gathered various scrap pieces, put them in their places, and nailed them all together. Then he added some scrap shingles.

After gathering just the right board and hinges for the door, he begged a bit of help from Daddy, and then proudly posed for picture of the finished building.

Sitting here with his own little shed in front of the latest shed my husband built is our little carpenter in the making.

Mmmm, he is a lovely gift from Heaven.

Pokers

These are NOT pretty little things.

Nope, these monstrous looking things are a frequent affliction to our family. Roughly the size of a very plump pea, they reside in our yard, especially in areas that were alfalfa fields long before we lived here.
Our poor, sweet dog brings them in on her coat, and unbeknownst to us, pull them off and leaves them on the carpet - just waiting for our footsies.
This particular one I pulled out of the bottom of my foot - you know that soft spot between the ball of your foot and heel? Yeah, right there. Ouch. They stick in and you literally have to PULL them out - and hopefully not have it stick in your fingers as you're pulling. Pliers and tweezers are our friends.
We thought when we first moved here we would eventually get rid of them by mowing regularly. No such luck. Tenacious little weeds, they decided just to hunker down and grow low along the ground instead of the high leggy plants they formerly were.
I do not know their technical name, nor do I really care to know.
"Pokers" suffices for us.
My two year old has learned to wear his shoes EVERY time he goes outside, though. Pokers have been much more successful at teaching him that than I ever could!

Earl at lunch

One of the reasons this picture warms my heart so much is because of how rascally this sweet little boy of mine is. :)

On my window sill

I love this tiny bottle that holds the precious flowers my children bring me. We are savoring every last one of the season.

I have the most wonderful family in the world - a personal post

So I had that tooth surgery yesterday morning, remember? Well, yesterday evening, I decided to go watch my husband's softball game like I usually do. Well, although I felt fine at the game, I think it was too much activity and talking, cause I felt AWFUL on the way home. I walked in the house and went straight to bed. My daughter, Emma, held my hand on the way home to help me feel better, and came in the house hot on my heels - all concerned, giving me lots of hugs and kisses, and asking how she could help me. She got me all tucked into bed, heated up my hotsock for me (a long tube sock filled with flax seeds that we heat in the microwave and use like a heating pad - I LOVE IT) since I strangely had the shivers, even though it was nearly 80 degrees. Then she and Marty helped the boys get their evening snacks/supper since I hadn't really fixed supper. In a while, she came in with a very soft snack for me to eat because it was time to take my medicine again and it makes me really queasy. What a dear.
My one and a half year old, Earl, was happy as a clam and went around the house singing at the top of his lungs in his own little baby language. It is SO precious when he does that - justs puts his head back and lets it all flow out. He sang ALL evening.
Marty helped Isaiah, my 5 year old, look up jack knives on ebay, and just browsing through the listings entertained him for quite a while, and boy, did he have a lot to tell me about them later! :) Isaiah LOVES to learn, and he studies things very intently. Just by looking at the pictures he learned a lot.
And sweet Eli, my 3 year old, just played happily, laughed along with a Little Bear video (which he pronounces Yiddle Bear), and cuddled with Earl and Daddy in the lazyboy.
Marty just was a super daddy, like he always is. He got everybody fed, diapers changed, washed, and ready for bed, and played, and laughed, and loved on everyone.
I just lay in my bed listening to the happy, sweet sounds of my family, my heart full of love and joy, praising the Lord for the enormous blessings He has given me - FAR above what I deserve.
PS - I had a good night, slept well, and feel okay right now. Haven't even had my medicine yet - trying to hold off since it makes me feel very strange, queasy, and drowsy.

Completed charm

Last night I finished soldering my anniversary charm and took some pics this morning to share with you.

In honor of my 10th anniversary

Tomorrow, my husband, Marty, and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage! Gasp! It doesn't seem possible that time could have passed so quickly. He is my dear, true love, and our love is stronger and sweeter than ever. What a tremendous blessing the Lord has given me in him!
In honor of this event, I created two little pieces of art with a dual purpose in mind. I scanned them into my computer, reduced them, and am in the process of creating a little charm for a necklace for myself. I also plan to mount the original works on an ATC blank, and give them to Marty. He has several times dropped hints that he'd like me to make some ATC's for him, so here are the first two.

















I plan to eventually make 9 cards for him so he can have an entire page full. When the charm and ATC's are completed, I'll post them. :)
Cara

Landscaping - one of my favorite art forms

I spent nearly the entire last week out of state (in Ohio) helping my brother with a big landscaping job he had to do -quite a change from my stay-at-home-mom life. My children played with their cousins while I was working as the official "plant lady".
How I LOVE to "paint" with plants!
A yard is such a wonderful canvas! The dirt is the the base for the artwork. It can be pepared by removing sod, adding compost/manure to enrich and soften the soil. Oh, the delicious smell of good, fresh dirt - I love it!
Now, the great fun begins - the planning, shopping, and adding the lovely colors, textures, shapes, and bloom seasons of a variety of plants. Then, add an embellishment or two, or three, or more (a boulder, a statue, a sculpture, an edging, a trellis), and you have a lovely, ever changing work of art!
With plants I can express so many moods - here a bright, bold, and splashy corner, there a quiet, subdued, gentle, and contemplative little grove, here a stark, rigid space, there a soft, sweet, secluded romantic spot, etc.

I think landscaping is one of my most favorite art forms - certainly one of the ones I feel most comfortable with!
Oh, yeah, these photos are from my perennial beds.

Cara

Camera

Unfortunately, our old camera went for an unexpected swim in a local marsh as we were feeding and photographing the swans. What an awful feeling to watch it sink and see the bubbles coming up - bloop, bloop, bloop. Groan.
After the initial horror, we took some time to think about how to replace it. Ebay, of course!
With a bit of patience, we were able to find a great deal on a camera exactly like the one we lost. Perfect! I know how to use it, it has all the features I want, and I didn't have to break my budget by spending money on features I don't really need/want. Finally, it arrived in the mail yesterday. Now I can get back to listing some things on ebay, take photos of my growing children, and gets lots of pics this weekend at my workshops!