Butterfly Feeders

Ingredients:
Small Mason Jars w/ Canning Lids
Cellulose Sponges
Twine
Aquarium Rocks
Sugar
Water

Directions: 
To make these butterfly feeders, we cut small triangles into canning lids and pulled half of a sponge into the triangle, so that a portion hangs out and the rest stays within the jar. We half-filled the jars with sugar water (1 part sugar to 3 parts water, heated on the stove to form a simple syrup) and added aquarium rocks just for funsies. We tied the twine around the jar before adding the lids. Finally, we placed the lids on tightly and hung them in the tree! You have to check their sugar water levels every now and again, but mine have stayed pretty full and very clean for a week now.

Teacup Bird Feeders

Ingredients: 
Teacups
Saucers
E-6000 Glue
Chain
Birdseed

Directions:
Glue the teacups to the saucers, following the instructions on the tube. Loop the chain through the handle and attach to a limb. Add bird seed. It's that easy! I haven't added birdseed yet, because I live in Oklahoma and it's still super crazy high wind season right now.

Photo of the Day

Spring family photos are in!!!

All you need is love. <3

Mario Batali Is Fucking Starving

Jesus said: Feed the poor.
They said: Sorry, Jesus!
We spent $40 million on hate and fear.

“I’m [expletive deleted] starving.”

— Celebrity chef Mario Batali, while discussing his 'Food Stamp' diet, where he and his family are eating on a 'food stamp' budget (an average of $1.48 per meal, or $31 per week) in protest of potential cuts to the federal nutrition assistance program.

Unlike most people on food stamps, Mario Batali has access to a large variety of foods and has both the equipment and education to make the best use of it. This is something we should think about the next time that we're auditing what poor people eat, or their grocery purchases. I mean, this guy prepares food for a living - with every kind of equipment known to man - and he still cannot manage to do this without feeling like he’s going hungry.

On Welfare Queens

What!? No. That's asinine.

I keep seeing all of these hate graphics about poor people. They usually invoke the fantasy world wherein welfare queens receive free rent, free food, and can afford luxury items with the cash that they receive from the jobs that they don't have. It's pretty illogical, but the myth persists.

Personally, I'm really curious as to how people can tell when people are using food stamps, since it's a plastic card that looks and works exactly like the average debit card. How can you tell the difference between my brown CNB bankcard and someone else's brown SNAP card? How close are you folks getting to the people in front of you? Usually, I'm still unloading my cart while the person in front of me is checking out, and I can't really see what their card looks like, so all I can see is if they're using a check, a card, or cash.

So the next time you see a graphic like that, you should ask the poster, "Exactly how close are y'all getting, and why?".

Photo of the Day

Pioneer children!

So we spent most of Sunday at the Museum of the Great Plains. We're working on early America, so they had alot of good information and exhibits related to our current unit and then I let them loose in the science area. (The space set aside for the traveling, interactive area.)

The Darndest Things

Mike: I'm going to wear socks and shoes, so I don't get a fungus.
Me: That's smart.
Mike: I hate funguses. I saw one once; it was huge.
Me: Where did you see that?
Mike: In my dream. It was above an elephant.

I think this whole line of thought stems from our conversation about athlete's foot, lol.

Photo of the Day

We spent the day at my sister Amber's home in El Reno. My other sister, Heather, and my mother came, as well. I brought their gifts from New Orleans and we made a Louisiana-style feast with the kits that I brought home with me. Red beans, dirty rice, white rice, creamed cornbread, sausage-and-chicken gumbo, crawfish on the boil with garlic cloves and ears of fresh corn, and crusty French bread, of course. Almost everyone insisted that they wouldn't eat the crawfish, only to dig in once they were done. Rico was the only holdout, as he holds the opinion that crawfish are what you use to catch food. :P

Almost ready!

Pat O'Brien's Hurricanes.

Photo of the Day

Arts + Crafts = Margaritas! We spent the evening at an Arts & Crafts Night at the YMCA. This necessitated dinner someplace we didn't have to cook, that served alcohol. Luckily, El Chico's was having a special on margaritas...

From left: Chris, Melissa, Abigail, Liana, Angel, Micheal, Isaiah, Jody.

The Internet is for... Kids.

I was recently involved in a discussion regarding how we allow our children to use the Internet. I was surprised to see so many negative responses, especially concerning viruses and pornography. Many parents cited protective reasons to severely restrict their children’s Internet usage, and made with clear (with their terminology, concerns, etc.) that they, themselves, were not strong Internet users. This attitude strikes me as ridiculously short-sighted. Just like with other boring or worrisome topics, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves about Internet usage so that we can educate our children.

Photo of the Day

Fall Family Photos!

Banned Book Week

Remember, folks, read a banned book for Banned Book Week! We picked up And Tango Makes Three, with no problems. Also, here's a funny article about a few banned books.

Random Thoughts

"The Fukushima situation has exposed a grave danger to our world. But the danger isn't radiation, it's the poor state of science education."

and

An Austrian atheist will be allowed to wear a colander on his head in his driver's license photo after successfully arguing that it counts as "religious headgear" for Pastafarians.

As a contrast, more people are upset about the Austrian atheist than the sad state of American education.