Heber Springs Cont.

We had a lovely visit. Chilled on the porch with Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Dad wanted to take Dylan to church and show her off, so I obliged. Here's us in church. It's a bit blurry. I think that guy was coming to convert us.

Dylan cried for most of the trip. She is going through that freakishly attached/stranger anxiety stage. Unfortunately she doesn't see my family enough to recognize them yet, so she screamed bloody murder anytime they tried to hold her.

All in all, though, it was a good trip. We will be going back in July!

Heber Springs

Dylan and I are making the trek to Heber for a couple of days to visit family. We will be back with pictures!

Homemade Babyfood

When I first had a baby I had every intention of making all of my own babyfood. Since then, between working, going back to school and general life, I've realized that it isn't feasible for me. I still try to make it when I have time though.

All you have to do is mush up regular food and freeze it in an ice tray. When it's frozen, take it out and place it in baggies and you have babyfood! Just thaw and eat!

I had some extra time today so I made a few things with a it of mixed fruit we had.

Strawberry-Kiwi! Cantaloupe and Honeydew Mellon! Grapes!

Harold and Maude

My favorite movie of all time ever. Regardless of whether or not you want to watch it, do it. You will love me for it.

Outfit

This is the outfit I wish I was wearing today. You can find it all at Ruche. It's a great store.

My Favorite Way to Use Vintage China

My sister-in-laws baby shower is soon. I am having a ton of fun planning it. For the food, I plan to use tiered dessert trays that I make from vintage china. Here is the china I found.

And here is the finished product. I just epoxied it all together! Cute huh?

Camping with a Baby

Camping:
This was a trial run for camping with an infant. We wanted to see what it would be like in a place with running water and electricity that was close to home before taking her into the wilderness with us. It took most of the day to get everything packed and ready. When we were finally at the campsite, Dylan spent most of the time crying and trying to make us miserable. But we ended up fishing and roasting marshmallows and having a pretty good time.

Infant Engineering

This is Dylan the very minute she figured out how to put a thing inside of another thing. 

I just happened to have my camera close. Up until now she had only been able to take things out. Another developmental milestone reached! It's pretty amazing to watch them figure out what they are capable of. Here are some more pics just for the hell of it.

Religion Quiz

 

 

The book I'm reading recommended this quiz. It was very interesting. It matches your answers about your spiritual beliefs with whichever religion (or non-religion) fits it most closely. Here are my results.

Your Results

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.
Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

How did the Belief-O-Matic do? Discuss your results on our message boards.

1.	Secular Humanism (100%)
2.	Unitarian Universalism (91%)
3.	Nontheist (77%)
4.	Liberal Quakers (74%)
5.	Theravada Buddhism (68%)
6.	Neo-Pagan (62%)
7.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (57%)
8.	Orthodox Quaker (46%)
9.	New Age (46%)
10.	Taoism (42%)
11.	Reform Judaism (40%)
12.	Sikhism (37%)
13.	Mahayana Buddhism (36%)
14.	Baha'i Faith (35%)
15.	Jainism (31%)
16.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (31%)
17.	Scientology (25%)
18.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (24%)
19.	Seventh Day Adventist (24%)
20.	New Thought (23%)
21.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (22%)
22.	Hinduism (22%)
23.	Eastern Orthodox (22%)
24.	Islam (22%)
25.	Orthodox Judaism (22%)
26.	Roman Catholic (22%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (15%)

Relax

Some people just know how to relax.

Speaking of which, since having a baby and becoming a family, Nick and I have become aware of the fact that we do not have a local support system in place to reinforce and provide support and encouragement for our non-religious lifestyle. I would love to raise Dylan with a sense of community. It would be great to have a group of people who share our beliefs (and non-beliefs) who we could spend time with. You know, cook-outs, play-dates for those with kids, celebrations of secular holidays (Darwin Day, Earth Day, etc.), trips to museums and lectures and such. Now doesn't that sound like fun? I have found a group of Freethinkers who get together in Conway, but with work schedules, school and rising gas prices, it doesn't seem like that would work for us. Is there such a group in existence here that I am not aware of?

Adventures in Babysitting

We are babysitting our nephew today. He is a year and a half old. Much more mobile and rambunctious than Dylan. It has been an adventure.

 

Dylan has some shenanigans of her own, though. Like spilling the Cheerios all over the place.

How To Be Awesome

Lesson One:

Own a Dolly Parton album.

Nick got me a record player for Christmas and I've been working on a collection of cheap records from thrift stores. So far I have this one, Stevie Nicks and Cat Stevens. It's a slow process.

Space is Rad

So I'm kind of into outer space right now. Look how awesome it is! Does anyone know any super interesting books about space phenomena that wouldn't be difficult to understand for someone whose worst subjects in school were science and math?

Is the Bible Forged?

I found this article very interesting.

Dumpster Chair

I have always had an affinity for free things. Who can blame me? I have recovered many great pieces of furniture from dumpsters. I clean them and make repairs, reupholster, repaint etc. as needed and I give them a new home. With me. Here is my latest.

It's a child sized chair that was in the dumpster behind my apartment. The fabric would indicate that it is from the 80's. It has obviously seen better days. I removed a few screws and the seat fell out. I removed the old fabric and padding and replaced them. I used fabric that my mother gave me. I spray-painted the rest of it with a can of paint that cost $3.00. The shimmer doesn't show up well in the photo, but it is a metalic gold color. Voila!

 

It is lovely! And it cost me $3.00! It has a lovely place in Dylans room now.

Let Me Introduce Myself

I'm Shawna Elise. I will be blogging about various things, mostly as a chronicle that I can look back on when I'm older. Like a public diary with pictures. Sounds nice, huh?