Communication Issues and Spiders, Oh My.

Last night, I piled my younger son and the big dog
into the car to drive to the high school to pick up my older son from football practice.

(Miss Annie, the big dog, refuses to jump into the car now,
so I have to heft and heave her big boned body into the car.
And end up covered with hair.
BTW, she jumps in for my older son.
And I'm the one who feeds her and takes care of her.  Ahem.)

Anyway, the weather was unseasonably cool,
so we had the windows down and were cruising through the dark,
somewhat quieter part of town.

It was peaceful.
Serene.
Destined to be interrupted by noise and chaos.

And, of course, the calm is broken by my younger son yelling out, "Spider! Ahh!"

And then I respond with a "Ahhh! no!!!  Where?!"
as I slam my foot to the brakes.

There's no response from the backseat,
so I turn around and find ...

my younger son deep in his Minecraft game on my iPad,
battling digital spiders.


Good grief.





 

Sucked In

I have a secret to share with you.

A secret addiction.
Ok, I admit it, one of many addictions.

I've finally found my green thumb.

For the last few weeks I've been tending to my own garden.

It's amazing.
I dig holes, bury the seeds, water them and watch it grow.
I can add fertilizer for bonus growth.
I've grown buttercups, daisies, turnips and pumpkins,
blackberry bushes, water lilies, apple trees and banana trees.
and many, many more.

And, I've learned what plants attract which animals.
taking the many required steps to tame the wild animals and let them live in my garden.

I have bees that produce honey in my honey hive.
I have sheep that produce wool and cows milk.

I pay helpers to come work for me.

I build houses for the animals, so they can romance and make babies.

Now I have a mine, with diggers who find treasures.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about,
then you need to get on board quickly.

This game is the best I have ever played.

Viva Pinata!

We discovered it two years ago and played it all the time.

and then this fall the newest version came out,
so the boys and I have been sucked back in again.

We play together, each having our own gardens.
We share money, so we have to balance out who spends what and who works on making more money for the collective.
We all work together at attracting the hard-to-get animals
and figuring out how to keep them.

You can put up decorative accents in your garden, fences and such.
and there are lots of secret ways to do things that you have to figure out.

And you have to be creative about keeping the bad guys out of your garden.
They're called Ruffians, and they like to destroy things.

And then there are the sour pinatas you have to turn good.

It's a game for all ages and all types.
The boys and I have a blast playing it.
It's seriously addictive.
We've been sucked in.

And it's the only place I don't seem to kill plants.