Living Math Monday: Anno's Magic Seeds

We read a second book by Mitsumasa Anno, called Anno's Magic Seeds. It is another good living book, and I recommend it. Mr. Anno has written several more books, and we are going to check into them soon. I might have to just give them a blanket recommendation if they are all as good as the two we have read.

In Anno's Magic Seeds, a man named Jack is given two seeds. One seed, he is told, will feed him for a year. He is to plant the other seed, and he will grow a plant with two more seeds on it. This way, he can be self-sustaining.

He soon figures out that he can improve things if he saves both seeds one year, and plants two seeds. So he finds some other way to eat for a year, so that in the spring he can plant two seeds. The following year, he has three seeds to plant (after eating one of course.)

This book very simply explores the concept of planting and harvest, showing the geometric pattern of increase each year. The watercolor pictures are beautifully simple. Again, this appears to be a simple picture book, but the concepts are much deeper. It would be appropriate for any elementary-aged child.

Cold coffee

I put this up a few weeks ago, but I'm reposting because it is so hot. Who wants real coffee? This is fun for those of us who have espresso machines.
Basic recipe:
½ cup of fresh espresso
2 ½ cups of milk (reconstituted powdered milk works fine)
¼ cup sugar (adjust to taste. This is pretty sweet.)

Place in refrigerator to chill. Adding hot espresso to 2 ½ cups of cold milk just doesn’t cut it. You really need to chill it. If you are in a hurry, you could serve it over ice, but it gets watered down a bit.

For a mocha cappucino: add a pinch of cocoa.
For a vanilla cappucino: add a few drops of vanilla.
For a mint cappucino: add a drop or two of peppermint extract, and a drop or two of vanilla.

Funday Joke - Pet

This guy was lonely and so he decided life would be more fun if he had a pet.

He went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion, he finally bought a centipede, which came in a little white box to use for his house.

He took the box back home, found a good location for the box, and decided he would start off by taking his new pet to the bar to have a drink. Then he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Frank's with me and have a beer?" But there was no answer from his new pet.

This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to the bar and having a drink with me?" But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask him one more time; this time putting his face up against the centipede's house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Frank's place and have a drink with me?



A little voice came out of the box "I heard you the first time! I'm putting on my shoes."

Creative writing of the silly kind.

I sometimes wonder why they named an online store Amazon books?

The company was not founded in South America. Is there a stream of thought there? I am not willing to brook disappointment in my quest! Water they thinking?

Canoe think of why they would do it? It sounds fishy to me. I seem to have a flood of questions today. It is giving me a creek in my neck.

Sorry. We now return you to our regular programming. :)

Credit Card Juggling

Has anyone been hearing that it is getting harder to find a credit card with no balance transfer fee?

From my research, it may be easier if you have excellent credit. Chances are, if you are looking for these deals, you might not have excellent credit.

But it does serve to show us that debt is not the way to go.

You are always going to run into those who swear by it. By juggling things around, they are actually making money off these credit card companies. I am not sure that is going to last.

But if you need to transfer a balance, you might try to get it done as soon as possible.

Taking surveys

I keep getting calls from a market research firm. I signed up for it a long time ago, thinking it would be interesting. They mentioned that I might be asked to test products and give my opinion.

But everytime they call, they want to talk to my husband.

What am I, chopped liver? He doesn't want to talk to them. So now I just don't answer.

There are some good market research firms. I sometimes get products from Pinecone Research. It is so much nicer to try products, rather than just tell the company, "Yes, I think this product would be good." How do you know?

Extremely Cool Singer

Esperanza Spalding was on David Letterman the other night. I actually don't even watch Letterman that much, but I'm glad I was watching that time, because I would have missed this:



Ahh! I am downloading this from iTunes right now. This song is called "Precious."

Hey, I looked at her MySpace page, and it turns out she "was home-schooled for a significant portion of her elementary school years."

Cool Whip Fruit Salad

Cottage Cheese Salad

2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 small box Jello
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip
1 can crushed pineapple, drained
1 sliced banana

Stir powdered Jello into cottage cheese. Add fruit, then add Cool Whip. Any flavor of Jello may be used. Strawberry Jello is a good one to start. Different fruits may be substituted. Mandarin oranges, grapes, strawberries, and fruit cocktail are all good options. Drain any canned fruit.

This is an old standby that we always loved when we were kids. I made some the other day, and it is still wonderful!!

Furniture or not

We went to visit my brother and his wife recently because they have a new baby. My little neice is so sweet!

They have a small, two-bedroom house. I noticed a couple of things that they have done to save space.

The baby has a little closet in her room. They took the folding doors off the closet, and are using a pretty curtain over the closet. The curtain is a piece of pretty fabric that has been hemmed, and they used curtain clips to make it into a curtain. Her dresser is in the closet, along with some hanging clothes.

Then they also have their bedroom TV on the wall using a tv mount. This way, they do not have to use an extra piece of furniture.

Inside Cat

When I was growing up, all our cats were outdoor cats. You don't need to spend a great deal of money on outdoor cats. We bought their catfood, and that was about it.

My sister now has an indoor-only cat. It is more of an expense to have an indoor cat. There is the food, and then the additional cat supplies. The coolest thing my sis bought her cat is a heated bed. It is a nice, warm place for the little guy to sleep. That is important because he is a Sphinx, a hairless cat.

I think that one of the purposes of the extra supplies is to mimic the outdoor environment. The most creative thing she has is a set of shelves that they nailed to the wall in one of their bedrooms. The kitty can jump from shelf to shelf up three shelves to the top corner of the room, where there is a place for him to lie down and take a nap.