Matt, the Snail Counter

Matt bought snail bait the other day and put it in our flower bed.

The next day we had 41 dead snails in our flower bed.

Yes, Matt counted each and every one.

Love ya, Babe!

What do you think about when you're scared?

Lately Caleb has been complaining about being scared when I tuck him in bed at night. He is usually one who is not easily frightened by movies, but the seventh Harry Potter movie was a little too much, I guess. (Poor youngest child! I don't think my oldest children would've seen a movie like that at age 7.)

We were out weeding the garden and I said, "Caleb, whenever I'm scared, I usually try to think about how much Heavenly Father loves me and doesn't want me to be afraid."

He replied matter-of-factly, "When I'm scared, I think about bunnies racing."

Huh??

I guess whatever works...

Tyler's Romeo and Juliet Project

Tyler had a final project for his English class on the play, "Romeo and Juliet." He decided to write and record words to a rap, create and film a music video, and then splice and edit the whole thing together. I just have to share it because I am so impressed with the 25+ hours of work he spent on this -- and it's pretty funny.

He is dressed up as Taylor Swift at the beginning. He is wearing tights under his "big boys" to make it look like a Romeo costume. The "kiss" was fake. When I told him it was too violent for school, he said, "Mom, have you read the play? Shakespeare WAS violent!" The words to the rap are listed below.

Enjoy!



Romeo and Juliet (lyrics)


By Tyler

Verse I:

This is a story of a family feud

Between the Capulets and the Montagues.

It started with a thumb bite,

Then a huge street fight.

But Romeo (A Montague) could not be detected,

He was in the meadow cuz he got rejected!

By Rosaline the girl that he thought was hot;

Yes, he liked her, but she did not

Like him, yes she thought he was drab.

She gave him a "no" and that's why he's sad.

So Romeo goes to a Capulet party

To get his mind off her, maybe find a new hearty.

That's where he meets Juliet and falls in love,

Follows her home to her balcony and looks above.

She was thinking 'bout him oh yes she was,

"Romeo, where the heck art thou my only love?"

Verse II:

She says other mushy romantic stuff,

Then creepin' Romeo appears looking buff,

They both kiss and say some other fluff.

Juliet makes sure her, Romeo really loves..

her

Their relationship is moving fast they decide to get married

It's moving so fast it is almost scary

So Romeo goes to a friar to see

If he and Juliet can get marrie-d

The friar says he'll do it, hoping to end

The feud between the Montagues and the Capulets

Tybalt, Juliet's cousin wants to kill Romeo

But Romeo won't fight him that's a big no-no

So Romeo's friend goes and fights him instead

Now Romeo's homie is shanked and dead

So Romeo fights Tybalt for killing his friend

He pulled out his sword and busted a blade in his head!

Verse III:

Now apparently killing people is wrong

If it wasn't then many folks would be gone

And now the death of Tybalt, Romeo managed it

The prince declared that he now was banished

(Wait, isn't it just banished? -- No-What? --See, Shakespeare wrote using iambic pentameter. --What? --Just go with it)

Banished! Yes that's what he was

And Juliet was grieved from the death of her cuz

And the banishment of her brand new hus-

band...

So the friar comes up with this "brilliant" plan.

So that Romeo and Juliet can be together again

She'll drink fake poison making her appear dead

Then she will be placed in a crypt, her family misled

Then Romeo and Friar will save her pretty head

And they can runaway, happily wed

She takes the poison, and is laid to rest

But the rest of the plan doesn't work for the best

Romeo only hears she is dead, you see

Decides to kill himself cuz without her he's unhappy

He gets some poison and dies next to her

She wakes up and sees her husband that were

She sees he is dead and guess what she'll grab

It was a dagger. She is dead with a stab

The families grieved they cried and cried

Their sons and daughters had needlessly died

So Capulet and Montague put their conflicts aside

In the streets of Verona they would forever more peacefully abide.

My Appliance Miracles

Is there such a thing as being a hypochondriac appliance owner? Listen how weird...

Over eight months ago I call an appliance repair place. My dryer stopped working. The man came, looked at my dryer, had me hold down the door button while he spun the metal wheel. It started. He told me I needed a new something-or-other to the tune of $350.

I told him I would need to think about it a little. So the next day when I needed to dry clothes, I had someone hold down the door button and I spun the metal wheel, just like I saw him do. It started my dryer. Pretty soon I didn't even need to do the "trick" and my dryer would just start on its own. Weird. I think I paid $65 for the visit. The dryer has worked fine since.

Three weeks ago our microwave kept going out. It finally got to the point where it didn't work more than it did work. I called the appliance repairman. This guy only charged $55. He came and looked at it. The microwave worked the whole time he was there, so he couldn't diagnose it. He said to call him when it stopped working again and he wouldn't charge me if it was within 30 days. Hello! The microwave has worked like a charm since he was here. My 30 days is almost up.

So I don't know if I should be grateful or confused!?! I'd like to chalk it up to the fact that we pay tithing and assume it's a blessing from the Lord, but I keep waiting for these two appliances to give out again and they just haven't. I am going to chalk it up as an appliance miracle.