Sunday, September 18, 2011

Cookies Corpulent Cravings

Cookie the Character in our Story when she's not so Corpulent
Alex Guest Posts in conjunction with her Mother:
A story for your bedtime enjoyment!

Note: Alex is learning the techniques used in story writing in her grade this year, one of them is using descriptive words to describe the character and what is going on in the scene, hence, our hopefully entertaining story....Read and tell us what you think..






There lived a gerbil who loved to eat. Her name suited her well for her master called her Cookie. Cookie nibbled on grains and seeds, timothy hay, fruits, nuts, and sometimes for a healthy treat, spinach. One fine day when the sun was shining and the breeze rustled the treetops  a new discovery awaited the active gerbil. Her master placed a new item in her food bowl; it was a sight to see. It layed in the food bowl on its side as a sunbeam glistened through the window onto its surface. Cookie wondered, "What could this delight be?" She carefully tiptoed over to the oval shaped comestible and touched it ever so slightly with her front paw. She stared and glared intently at the colorful markings and sniffed ever so deeply with her nose close to touching the shell. Then, she lifted the treasure from its spot and placed her front tooth on the hard surface giving a little pressure on the shell causing it to crack open like an egg freshly opened by a pecking chick on Easter Sunday. For a split second Cookie felt a rush of panic at the thought she destroyed the treasure and as she began to let the feel of sorrow enter her heart she saw a tiny, smooth pearl like core inside the shell. With great excitement her little paw tore off the shell like a kid opening presents on Christmas morning revealing the glorious, most scrumptious, delightful seed in all the rodent kingdom; the sunflower seed.

As Cookies taste buds exploded with the flavor too good to compare to chocolate, her eyes were involuntarily scanning the food bowl for another packaged treasure. Her impulsive desire caused her to dive headfirst into her bowl in search for more. She resurfaced with little bird seeds stuck on her cheeks looking at her master with questioning eyes just as her master's hand entered the cage with bountiful supply of more tantalizing treats to wet her appetite. She greedily tore into the new supply like a kid picking M&M's from the mountain trail mix bag. She ravenously stuffed her mouth as if she were kin to a pig. In her gluttonous delectation, her slender body began to grow as she ate and consumed and devoured to overflowing capacity; her body mirrored the action with rapid reaction. The once slender gerbil now resembled Henry the VIII, King of various voracious appetites. Her cravings called out for more as she sat idly in the corner of her cage filling in her corpulent crevices.

What was needed was an intervention!

Her master picked her up from her comfy corner and examined her in jaw-dropping awe wondering how a gerbil could expand her size in such little time. Her master shook her finger in a motherly fashion at Cookie as the inevitable words rolled out of her mouth, "Cookie, you're going on a diet."

The End

Collaborated together with: Cookie, Alex and Chandra


Sunday, September 4, 2011

HG Research

I have a gerbil and a hamster and I wanted to see what made them alike and what made them different. So I deceided to make a list of my observations. You may be surpirsed at what I found. First, let's look at the differences between the two rodents.

The Differences List:

GERBIL                                                                                     HAMSTER
Goes Potty Everywhere                                                             Potty trained/picks a corner
Has a long furry tail                                                                   Has short stubby tail
Has Small Ears                                                                          Has big Ears
Awake on and off day and night                                               Nocturnal
Has scent glands on belly                                                          Has scent glands on hips
Does not have a cheek pouch                                                    Has cheek pouches
Does not have paw pads                                                            Has paw pads
Can hop                                                                                     Does not hop
Squeeks                                                                                     Screams (only if scared)

List of Likenesses:

My gerbil and hamster are BOTH
From the rodent family
Must chew for their teeths health
Like sunflower seeds
Are close to the same size

This is Mr.Nibbles, My hamster









This is Cookie, My gerbil



Thanks for reading my observations on HG research. (Note: HG Research stands for Hamster Gerbil research)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Making Changes


Earlier in the year I mentioned changing the decor in my daughters room to a apprehensive little eight year old. Her big eyes and resounding remark,  "I like it mom, I don't like change,"caused me to hesitate for a nanosecond before I thought, "I don't like change that much either but sometimes change is necessary."

Now changing a rooms decor doesn't necessarily fall under the "need" category in life's gamut of demands but when a room becomes cluttered with too many styles of decor and becomes a hodge podge collecting mecca without a decent eclectic model to follow, it is time to bring the chaos under control.
As a stager in the real estate field, I am constantly trying to come up with innovative, budget friendly suggestions to save my clients money, get a bang for their buck and impress the critics so the sellers property can move off the market and they can move on with life. So, I took that approach with my daughter's room. What could I do to make her comfortable with the process of change yet keep some of those "my taste only" comfort accents with the end result being an age appropriate room that could last for a few years and still have room to expand for creative projects later.

The room still has a crazy, fun feel with the bedding but can be toned down by flipping the bedspread over to a solid pink color. The bed skirt can also be toned down by eliminating the dog bed skirt and leaving the white polka-dot trimmed one on. It turned into a multi-faceted room, just about any color in the pastel range can be used and black and white furnishings will work as well. It is no longer a hodge podge mess but more of a hodge podge form . For now the wall color can stay pink, at the insistence of Alex, but Mom has plans to paint the walls a calm, ocean blue (think along the lines of Caribbean beach water blue) down the road when she is ready for a little more change.

And for anyone thinking about a little decor change but may be stuck in a rut, don't let cost stop you from trying. I scavenged supplies, figured the design and execution myself all for under $100 dollars. In fact, I hit two birds with one stone, we got a fresh new decor along with hours and hours of crafting pleasure.

Alex's verdict is still out on the change but maybe it'll grow on her.

Inspiration: "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
Scott Adams (American cartoonist)







Tuesday, August 2, 2011

The Butterfly and The Bumble Bee

Lone thistle stands among lofty pines
a butterfly lands on tubuler spines

A graceful dance as nature sings
upon sunlit transulcent curtained wings.



Purple tinge begs nectars delectation
stentorian bumble bee intends full participation.

Butterfly insists on drinks first right
as bee is ejected with mighty blight



Butterfly on a lone thistle among lofty pines
ousted the bumble bee, imbibing in supreme sublime.

Chandra Brown

Photos taken: Look Out Mountain Trail, Colorado
By: Chandra Brown
                                                                                                                        


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A Long Walk


Sixty Paces etched in time will test the demands on body and mind.
No matter the elements, terrain or aptitude;
traversing the course requires a fit attitude.
Along the way sojourners happen by,
some just wave and others stop to say hi.
The best companions on a long walk are similar in kind
and may be connected by blood or a contemplative mind.

Smart travelers on a long walk take pause
 and glean lessons that give life cause.
To mention;
Nature gives canvas to philosophic theme
and points to discussions of
The Supreme Being.
Or
An expression or two weave a web
through well traveled terrain
and some get lost on a path
between thoughts and a dream.

                                            But

Young and old on a long walk will ponder this question from time to time,
"How many paces have I till trails end?"
In causerie fashion they wonder,
"It could be a long haul or just around the bend."



For those in the know,
A long walk lends an open view to years and
measured time that focuses on true substance
and how to use the one's supplied.
Chandra Brown
"Don't just count your years,
make your years count."
Ernest Meyer


Dedicated to my Father on his 60th birthday celebration. Thanks Dad for setting the pace and showing us how it's done!
 

The Man From Dunn County

John, The Man from Dunn County and his wife

This is a tale of a man named John Robert
who in 1951 was born a twin
among a handful of other kin.

He is an all star athlete from Menomonie
who broke a leg
then asked Susan Jane to become a Debee.

Being a graduate of UW Stout
it was hightime they traveled about.
So they packed a U-Haul and drove 1,000 miles
ended up in Colorado and decided to stay for awhile.

Along comes Chandra in the August heat
and four yours later, Johnna;
a happy repeat.

Plasticrafts, night shifts, apartment care,
Alexander Dawson; the boys school for nightmares.
Beth Eden Baptist, super hero Dad;
by day a teacher, by night pushing a floor shining pad.

Rocky Flats, nuclear bombs and plutonium,
he has to keep those secrets
hush, hush and mum!

Recreation on the weekend with the boys from church league
throwing touch down passes, running the field in
"Get the Old Man" speed.

Deli owning is no vacation,
it works you to the nub
especially when ordering enough meat
to make a turkey, bacon club.

John Robert is now sixty and living life just fine
he's working on his projects
or making delicious juice from the vine.

Today we honor him with friends and family
that help add to the happy memory
and the tale of
The Man From Dunn County.

"Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a work of art." Garson Kanin

"As we grow older our bodies get shorter and our anecdotes longer." Robert Quillen


Happy 60th Birthday,
Love Your Girls


Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Cactus Flower



photos by: Chandra Brown

Cactus Flower

Bud to bloom
Brief is life;
Capture beauty
In eternities time
 Fleeting moments
Cause rapturous sublime

Pistil, Stamen, Pollinate
Wilting quickly
Death; law of nature
Seasons dictate bloom or dust
thus,
contemplate conundrum;
 from this death comes life again.

Chandra Brown