a lifetime project

Okay, tonight Tim asked Maria and me about growing a coconut. We laughed and speculated if it's anything like the avocado seeds Lydia is trying to sprout, this could take a looong time.

The avocado experiment began when Dan and Alicia sent an avocado for b.g. to eat for lunch. The kids were interested in the big seed in the middle. Would you plant that? How would it grow? What would it turn into like a garden plant, or a tree, or what?

We looked up how a person would sprout such a thing and they wanted to try it. But Dan had taken the other half of the avocado and the seed home with them in the diaper bag, so they had to call him up and ask him to save the seed. (He says this is one of the most off-the-wall phone calls he's ever received, a couple little girls asking for an avocado seed.)

So, here they are, sitting here on the shelf behind the dryer for a couple months now, not sprouted.


And notice the whole dryer situation. I sell real estate and am familiar with the concept of de-cluttering. In fact, I'm in favor of it.

Can you tell?

9/10 of what's on this dryer is stuff we haven't even looked at or used in months, possibly some of it years. It's umm...yeah.


As long as we're looking at this, I'm going to just show you the fridge too. Cute, isn't it? There's a letter on there about when Kirsten was on the Dean's List in college. Okay, that's been a year. There are grocery receipts dated since July. It's bad.

I mean the dishes get done, and so does the laundry. Occasionally I even wash the floor and wipe down the chairs at the table. But the clutter? Yep.

When Maria and I were talking about your lifetime projects, the conversation turned to this guy, Bernie. There he is, right next to the table. Appetizing, eh? (You get used to it.) We got this pet when Maria was a baby. THEN we find out how long turtles live.


I turned to Tim in the backseat and said, "When Dad and I are dead and you're a grown man, like 50 years old, do you want this turtle, or should I ask the other kids?"

He said to ask the others.


Maria said she'll take him, will pass him on to her children. That a girl.


We're having a fine Tuesday evening here, babysitting Heidi and Joe's dog while they're at their Bradley classes, which make that little baby seem closer than ever, and we are soooo glad the election ads are finally over. love, Val