Oh yea, right, wowser, sure. Forgot to mention that my NIECES are coming to visit me. In about, say, an hour! They were supposed to be dropped off tomorrow but that plan was changed (WITHOUT consulting poor, exhausted me).

Ok, so I have to deal.

I will.

On another topic. Cammy gave me a really cute dress! I was just reading somewhere about how having a nice new dress can make you feel so good.  It’s true!

Here’s me in the dress.  I wore it when D and I went out to see a play last night.

Me, I’m tired. I’m not making much sense … and I have some websites to update tonight. Not happy about this, but I will just have to deal.

I will. Somehow .

OH yeah, and yesterday I was offered the After School Director job for next year. Yay! I’m currently trying to negotiate the terms of it a little bit. I think the whole camp thing is fun, but it’s a full time job, albeit a very short term full time job. I do not feel it’s reasonable to require a part time employee to work full time for two weeks each year, without any additional compensation. I kind of doubt my negotiation will be successful. These folks are a) stubborn and b) broke. The school really doesn’t have much to throw around.

Ever since Harley first joined our household, there has a been a lot more hissing and arching of backs than we’d had previously. But I am really pleased to say that today, for the first time, all three cats have deigned to hang out with me on my bed at once.

Thus, I am now able to try to accomplish one of my favorite activities: the Three Cat Nap.

Wish my camera were working at the moment (batteries dead!) so I could get a photo of this historic event.

I did use my laptop to get Harley and Moonlight. Harley’s the one with white ears.

I have a “spare room” which means it has been the dumping ground for a LOT of stuff. Unfortunately, part of the reason this room became a “spare room” rather than my art studio (what it once was) was that it had a huge flood of water. Actually two or three floods. Since then, we’ve had our roof and our pipes fixed (knock on wood this cold snap won’t cause any… um, wait, I won’t say it, don’t want to jinx myself.)

Alas, the spare room, formerly my studio, has been pretty bleak for oh, say, 3 years. In fact, it was so bleak that we decided to put a sign up on the door in order to warn any unsuspecting visitors that they should not enter the room.

This is the room where Cammy, our soon-to-be-nanny (wow, I feel so fancy saying that!) will be staying. So, three weeks ago, when we hatched a plan for Cammy to come and nann for the kiddos, I realized I’d better get my butt in gear and clear that room out.

For fun, I decided to take some before and after pictures. It is really hard to photograph a smallish room, but at least you get the idea.

Ah, lovely clutter in the hallway leading up to the room. (Actually, the hallway is still quite cluttered, but it will be empty by tomorrow.)

An aerial view. Notice the awful white plaster dust over everything. That’s from when the ceiling was replaced.

And that’s the lovely hole in the ceiling before the ceiling fan and light was installed.

Here’s the closet where it’s super cluttered.

Here’s the same room now! New rug. New curtains. New paint on the walls!

Here’s the bed. Notice new striped stained glass light on wall. I installed it myself!

Wow, cool! A ceiling fan and light!

All in all, I am really thrilled about how the room turned out. I emptied half the closet (sorry, Cammy, just could not get the whole thing empty!) but it’s a pretty big closet, so hopefully it will be enough room. The shelving / cabinet (pictured above) is empty and ready for Cammy’s stuff.

In fact, this room is SO nice now, it is basically the nicest room in the house. Now, which room should I renovate next?

It’s easy to forget that therapy is important, too, if you’re someone taking an effective anti-depressant for your depression.

I just realized that I got out of the habit of seeing my therapist… well, much too long ago… and now I am starting to feel the long term drawbacks of treating the symptoms of depression without also getting therapeutic support.

Taking an anti-depressant is a very helpful thing in my life.  I am honestly much better able to cope with life, be effective, and live happily. But the fact remains that I have a fair amount of emotional issues from Way Back that are still there. These issues, or hangups, or whatever you want to call them do NOT go away just because you blog about them. They don’t go away just because you pop a pill each night.

A word to the wise. If you suffer from depression, don’t stop taking your meds just because you are feeling good, and don’t stop seeing a therapist.  Each of these things would be easy to do, but each is equally a bad mistake.

Ok, speech over. Calling my therapist now and making appointment.

I’ll return now to your regularly scheduled blog-o-rama.  Here’s a picture that brings back great nostalgia for me… Here’s me, nursing my toddler. She’s about 3 years old in this picture. I just came across this photo while I was trying to do some work. I got distracted and thought, hey, I should post this photo on my blog. Stacie would like it.

It is hard to wait for the results of anything important, isn’t it? Elections, primaries, pregnancy tests, adoption referrals, job interviews…. ( my recent visitor from Option Adoption will agree, as will the expectant mom over at The Creamery–  two interesting blogs I’ve just started following.) I don’t even know when the staff will decide on who the next American Idol After School Teacher will be.
So let’s just talk about my recent visit to Manatee Park, shall we?

I was so lucky to have these two to assist me at all times. 

My girls and I saw so many manatees, and so close up. We rented a double kayak, and with Carla in the seat behind me, and Annie sitting in front of me, I paddled us around the Orange River somehow managing to steer the kayak, not capsize, and also take a bunch of pictures.

The red and black mangroves are a fascinating part of the ecosystem. 

Though manatees are very hard to photograph, I managed to capture a few bits and pieces. It was a beautiful experience.

Above: Can you spot the manatee’s nose poking up just to the side of the kayak?

And here’s the tail, just under our kayak. Curious little thing! 

I captured this tail flapping up out of the water using the zoom lens. 

While we were at the park, I was able to sit and listen to a park employee discuss facts about manatees, their habits and their ecosystem.  Manatees, also called sea cows, eat lots of different kinds of underwater grasses.  Like cows on the land, they have a specialized digestive system that is designed to break down the grasses.  Their digestive system works by employing a particular bacteria that can only break down the grasses at 68 degrees farenheit or warmer; if the manatee is in water that is colder than that, it will starve, even if its rumen is full of grass. These creatures have truly specific habitat requirements.

Annie, kickin’ back and enjoying the ride. 

I have been thinking a lot about cows and a farm’s ecosystem, because I’m still working my way through Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. 

There are quite a few words devoted to describing a way of farming that is sometimes known as “grass farming.”  Polyface Farm is described in detail as an example of this.  The grass takes in energy from the sun, and that is what fuels this kind of farm — grass which is then the food for the cows.  Chickens are the cleanup crew for the cows, as they wander the cow patty-studded grass eating up bugs that would otherwise be harmful.  The chickens leave just enough poop on the grasses to help fertilize the grass. The cows, who graze the grass in a careful pattern that does not chew it down so far that the grass dies, actually HELP the grass be healthy rather than harm it.

Photo credit: my very own seven year old. Thanks, C! 

There’s much more to the this farm’s careful use of the land, and there are many more animals that contribute to the farm’s fertility.  What kept coming back to my mind as I considered the graceful sea cows was how the grass farmers are trying to mimic nature and its cycles.  I thought about this as I listened to the naturalist speak of the sea cows and how they have no natural predators, and how man was the their only threat to survival. Nature doesn’t just place an animal into a system without making it pay its way.

Cute little lizards are all over the place in Florida. 

I was certain that the sea cows must be serving some purpose there in the waters.  They are mowing the sea grass, keeping it healthy. But if humans continue to limit their habitat, I imagine that the manatees are in danger of over-grazing the grasses that they need to survive on.  In fact, much of the rivers where the manatee would graze no longer have healthy grasses for the manatee to enjoy, even as watercraft make those waters perilous for these gentle and slow mammals of the sea.

Humans have also messed up farmlands, using energy from fossil fuels to buy fertility and then use it up at a rate much faster than can be replenished.  Even natural grasslands get overgrazed and turned into deadlands.

Who are our natural predators? I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that we share something in common with the manatee: our biggest enemy is mankind, ourselves as we seem to be making our own habitat increasingly unsustainable. This makes me unbelievably sad.

After yesterday’s long day of communing with manatees (which I haven’t finished the post about … sorry!), we rested a bit today, hitting the pool twice, and triking around again and again. We made it to the best home-made icecream shop in southwest Florida, getting there by trike!

Some photographic evidence follows, below the video.

I am putting so much stuff on here in large part because Drob isn’t with us on this trip, and it seems like the easiest way to share with him what we are all up to.

We really, really miss him, but we are managing to have a lot of fun. Today was much easier for me than yesterday in the mommy department. Some days just are easier than others.

Here’s C on the beach (yesterday) with the wind whipping her hair around. One of the things she found on the beach was a coconut, still in its husk, with the inner coconut apparently intact. We brought it home to see if it was edible.

Here is Dad with the coconut.

See its cute little face? Whosa cutie wootie coconut??!

Dad used a power drill, then poured the coconut milk into a cup.

(Note: WD-40 is not actually required to open a coconut.)

It smelled like vinegar, so I declined to taste it. Dad took a sip, but it did not seem like he liked it.

We don’t waste food! So we had to feed it to the webkins.

Bicycling was really, really fun.

A great destination, when you’re out on a gigantic tricycle, is the Monkey Tree.

This monkey sings and dances when you press his hand.

Then it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to get back home from the monkey tree. See the tall, tall evergreen way, way in the distance? I could have SWORN it was what I call a Nevergreen. But upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a real tree. What’s it doing there, among so many palm trees?

why not? here’s the video, C and A swimming on a 60 degree day. A windy one, at that!