Check out this website for one of my all-time favorite actors:

Jay R. Ferguson

Okay, so maybe I'm biased because I created the website.

BUT!

If you like great acting and have been missing out on this guy, head on over to the site and take a look. Aside from the many films he's been in, Jay has had leading roles in:

- Surface (the 2005 TV series about giant sea creatures)
- Judging Amy
- Sleeper Cell, season 2
- Glory Days

Right now he's playing Cooper Buffkin in the CW channel's fantastic new series, Easy Money. It airs on Sundays at 9. Go set up the VCR/DVR/TiVo! (If you've missed it so far, you can watch the first episodes in full on Hulu)

Oh, and of course, there's the whole reason I discovered this guy: Back in 1990, he played Ponyboy in Fox's TV series, The Outsiders, which was based on the book by S.E. Hinton.

Jay R. Ferguson as Rich Connelly in Surface:


Jay R. Ferguson as Ponyboy in The Outsiders:

Those Dramatic Ads

You know those ads that really go over the top with the drama to get you to buy something? The ones that make you wonder if there's anybody in real life who's as pathetic in the people in these ads? You know the ads I'm talking about, right? Right?

But if not, just take a look at this SNL video:



NOW you know what I'm talking about!

Hope everyone else got as good a laugh as I did out of that. Happy Wednesday!

Wonders of the World - Apples!

Today's post is in response to Rebecca Ramsey's Wonders of the World blog party.

Since I live in the great state of New York, I thought I'd go with something local - apples!

We've got lots of apples around here. In fact, before I moved to New York, I had no idea that so many different kinds of apples existed. There are 2500 varieties in the United States alone.

Let's check out some cool pictures from New York's Apple Country website to get everybody into an apple-y mood:




Did you know that most apples are still harvested by hand? We've got several orchards around here where we can go pick our own apples, and the grocery stores are already stocking up on the early varieties. While my oldest son is partial to Empire apples, I prefer Honeycrisp. Doesn't just the name make you hungry? Mmmm, honey . . .

Speaking of honey, did you know that if an apple flower is not properly pollinated, it will have a lopsided shape? That's why apple orchards often keep bee hives in or near their orchards.

Here's one of the little guys at work (picture from vutrax):

That's not an apple tree, but you get the idea.

I personally like all of the stuff you can get that's got apples on it. My favorites are the pie plates with lids that make them look like an apple pie:

Mine never look that good. That's okay. Everybody always eats them, no matter what they look like.

I like to make applesauce, too. Here's some from yumsugar.com:

And now that we're all in an apple-eating mood, how about a recipe to end the post? Here's one for something different - apple brownies - that I've had lying around for a while. I mean, who can resist healthy brownies? (okay, so there's a cup of butter; but they've got fruit in them!) Have a great day, everyone!

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 chopped apples, any kind
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Combine all dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, butter, and vanilla. Mix well, then add apples, nuts, and raisins. Pour into greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

Got a new rat

She's dark gray, and she's maybe five or six weeks old. I had her in a separate cage for a few days in case she was going to start sneezing or showing other signs of illness, then introduced her to the girls on the dining room table.

The girls are Vixen and Reese - beige hooded dumbo rats who are sisters. For those who aren't up to speed on rat breeds (which was me eight months ago, heheh), dumbo rats have slightly larger ears that are set more toward the side of their head:



That's Vixen when she was a baby. What a cutie!

So the introduction went very well. I let the baby go in the adults' cage to see how things would go, and they all got along just fine. The older ones groomed the baby and dragged her into their box a few times, and she went along with it like they were her mom(s).

In fact, she became more confident and animated once she was in with them than I had seen her in the three days she was in her own cage. It just goes to show how incredibly social rats are. They love people, too, so if you're looking for a pet that enjoys being handled and is great with kids (with supervision, even my two-year-old holds them), think about getting a rat. I've never met one I didn't like.

The Kites Worked

So the kites not only worked, but they worked better than some I've paid for. The boys were actually getting them up in the air from the ground just by holding the string and running fast. Very cool! Very tiring, too, which is also very cool when you've got a bunch of second-grade boys to wear out :D.

I received all of my plants, too, so the garden is growing, the honeyberry bushes are planted, and the raspberries are sending out tons of shoots. I love summer!

Hey, if you're here because you like to read and/or write, check out my newest link - Like Omg Teens Read. It's an excellent forum with a fast-growing member list. I've got a pad of paper here to jot down all of the great book suggestions.

Now, all I need to do is get to the library . . .

Have a beautiful, shining, fun summer day!

I Made a Kite

Did you know you can make a kite out of just a paper grocery bag, some tape, and some twine?

I made one today because I'm going to have my cub scout den make them tonight, so I wanted to make sure I could, you know . . . make it myself. So I don't look like an idiot.

The thing flies, too, I've discovered. Yesterday would have been a great day to fly it because we had Wizard-of-Oz type winds going on that knocked out the power for over two hours, but even with just a slight breeze I got it up in the air. I'll post a picture as soon as I take one and get it on the computer.

So put away your money and dig out the scissors, folks! There's a potential kite hiding away right there in your pantry.

I Ordered Some Stuff This Morning

Okay, let me back up a few days.

Last weekend, while outside with the kids, I ventured into the usually-impenetrable-in-the-summer wooded area at the edge of our property to create some "trails." I put trails in quotes because it really isn't a huge area, so they're more like pathways. But I've been lining them with some of the larger fallen branches that were piled next to the shed and tossed along the edge of the woods, and after some fern-removal and a little raking, darned if they don't look like trails.

So since that's been going so nicely, I've been getting ambitions. You know, getting images in my head that resemble something you'd find in a magazine - rustic wooded pathways surrounded by all kinds of colorful foliage, flowers, and shrubs that I will have painstakingly (but lovingly) planted in artistically correct locations. Maybe even a little concrete bench or some old iron chairs tucked alongside the trail for those who wish to linger (and who don't mind being mosquito bait). Oh, and a string of quaint white lights draped through the trees along the pathway . . .

My kids just think it's really cool to have a place for adventures. In fact, my oldest, who is eight years old, told me this morning that it would be neat to plant some stuff all back there in the woods and then put wooden pathways up above in the trees. I told him I wasn't sure we could do that in a way that was remotely safe.

His response: "The Ewoks did it."

So anyway, I just happened to get an email yesterday from one of the mail-order plant/seed places, and there, on the front page of their buy one, get one free sale, is something called a honeyberry bush. Ever heard of it? Me neither. But wow, it looks so cool - bright-blue, oblong, edible berries on shrubs that grow from 4-8 feet tall. And, low and behold, it loves the shade! But wait, it gets better - they're originally from Siberia. First thing through my head: Upstate New York in winter will feel just like home for the thing!

Here's a picture (courtesy of ParkSeed.com):


Isn't that gorgeous?

So I ordered a couple. Well, okay . . . I ordered four. But in my defense, you need at least two of the one variety to get any berries.

I also threw in a couple of butterfly bushes, some raspberries, a couple of hydrangeas, and something else that for the life of me I can't remember right now.

I know, I know, that's a lot of stuff. But it's spring, and I'm excited to make things grow!

All I have to do over the next few (rainy) days is dig some holes, prepare some soil, clear out a wild blackberry patch, and till a strip of earth for the raspberries, all while the two-year-old is "helping" me (and for those who have had a toddler, the quotes around helping need no explanation).

Oh right, and there are the plants I'm getting this weekend from my kids' school - 48 impatiens and some herbs and vegetables for the garden. Plus a few petunias for my hanging baskets.

Oh.

I think I'll just go ahead and take some Advil right now.

I'm Bilingual!

This only occurred to me the other day, to be honest. I'm sure when it happened, or how, but I'm guessing it had something to do with the birth of my first child.

See, this whole time, I had myself convinced that 90% of the time, my children were just ignoring me. "Could you hang up your jacket please? Your jacket. It's on the floor here. Why are you walking into the . . . hey! Your jacket! PICK UP YOUR JACKET!!!"

The other day, though, it hit me - somewhere between my mouth and their ears, my words morph into another language that they simply do not understand. I'm thinking it must be something like Harry Potter speaking to snakes - I sound just fine to me, but those around me (who refer to me as Mom) either stare blankly, or continue on their way as if they'd heard nothing.

I have to say, this makes me feel so much better. They aren't ignoring me, we're just having an issue with a language barrier! And all this time I'd been worried - I mean, before I ever had children, I KNEW they would listen to me. I would say do this, they would do it (and like it), and nobody in the stores would stare at me and wonder why I was allowing my child to behave like an angry drunken person.

Now that I've gotten that one figured out, I can move on to my next parenting dilemma - how to disable the ejection device that launches my six-year-old out of his bed and into the hallway twenty or thirty times every night before he goes to sleep . . .

Very First Post

Okay, so here's something fun to kick off this blog - something fun that's going on on somebody else's blog. Check out Nathan Bransford's First Page Challenge. You only have until Wednesday, so get sending!

http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2008/01/surprisingly-essential-first-page.html