Treasured Moments 5

Do you find yourself falling into a pattern of daily grind, skipping the 'fun' activities because you don't have time or lack energy?Do creative arts, nature walks, drama, read aloud or spontaneous acts seem only a distant dream in your life?
Yet these Treasured Moments shared with loved ones uplift us, nurture our soul, remind us of the beauty and joy in our lives.
We want Treasured Moments for ourselves, for our children, for our families but how can we make it happen?
... Commitment ... Encouragement ... Support ... Ideas ... Plans.

I invite you to join us every Saturday and share your plans and ideas, your targets and goals and your stories ... your 'Treasured Moments'. In this way we may inspire one another, encourage ourselves and start achieving our dreams. Hosted by Erin at Seven Little Australians and Counting

My Treasured Moments this week are:

1. Discovering 31 Days to Clean Challenge Having a Martha House the Mary Way by Sarah Mae. I am really looking forward to starting this challenge today.

2. On Monday my friend Mrs K came over with her children and helped around the place.  They gave fresh meaning to many hands make light work.  I felt so blessed.

3. Watching Sir N enjoy learning to sew on his sewing project.  (keep an eye out for this blog post to come)

4. Discovering that the Elsie Dinsmore series I am collecting is on special at ChristianBook.com and being able to complete my collection:  $48 for 19 books!

5. Receiving a bunch of flowers from a girlfriend and then she took me out for some fellowship and lunch.

6. Watching the rain soak the garden.  I love the sound of rain.

7. I am eagerly anticipating starting Healthy Lifestyle by Careforce LifeKeys.  My sister did this course two years ago and I have been wanting to attend it.  Our church will be starting it next weekend. I did Women to Women about 8 years ago.  I remember coming away encouraged and healed.


To join in you are welcome to add your post on Seven Little Australians and Counting using the Mr. Linky form (please link to the individual post) and include a link back to Erins post. If you haven't a blog we would still love to hear your voice, just leave your stories in the comments.

Blessings

Crystal Growing

Crystal growing is a long process.  We started this project in August and only this past week have we seen our crystals in detail.  So if you want to grow crystals be prepared to grow patience!

Here is our photo journal of growing crystals.

Rain water, and crystal growing kit.

Weighing the crystal formula to be mixed in water.

Adding the powder to the water and then mixing well.

Adding the stones to the base for the crystals to grow on.

Pouring the crystal growing mix into the container over the stones.

Adding some extra crystal growing powder this is the seed the crystals grow from.

From here the crystal bath was put in a warm room on a shelf not to be disturbed.  And the wait began.

After a week - no crystals

After two weeks I was a little upset and about to throw out the mix when .....

After a few more days of patiently waiting I took the lid off the crystal bath.  This turned out to be key as now evaporation of the fluid could take place at a faster rate and we could actually see crystals growing.

Once all the water had evaporated we touched the crystals
and were surprised that they were rock hard.

A few days after all the water had dried
It wasn't as pretty but still interesting.

We took a few crystals and had a look under the microscope.  That was fun :)  More about microscopes in a later post.

Looking at crystals

Crystals through the eye piece of the microscope. 

Have you grown crystals with your children ?

Blessings

Unique Pets

Being married to a Nature Conservationist / Zoo Keeper has meant that we have had some rather interesting and unique pets in our home.

I would like to introduce you to my unique pet:

This is one of my three Hermit Crabs. We had a rather interesting week this week in that he decided to move homes and occupy a new shell. In the midst of this transition one of his flat mates got into an argument with him and evicted him! So we had the privilege of seeing a naked hermit crab. This is a very rare thing to witness as they are rather attached to their shells.

Pet shops advertise these little critters as easy to care for (and they are after you get their home set up correctly) so in haste I purchased four and brought them home only to discover they have some very unique environmental needs.  So my cheap pets ended up costing a lot more than I had originally budgeted for.

** Lesson learned :  Research BEFORE you purchase and bring home a unique pet!**

For more information on Hermit Crabs:

• Animal Care Land Hermit Crabs
• The Hermit Crab Patch
• Hermit Crab in a Glass Shell (very interesting)
• Hermit Crab Paradise
• Pet Care Information: Hermit Crabs

Although having pets adds dramatically to your work load at home and also means that you are checking on your children making sure that they are keeping up with the care of their individual pets I feel that they are a very valuable addition to any home.  The care of pets adds many wonderful life skills to any child be they home schooled or not. 

Pets provide learning support for your children, comfort and reduce loneliness,  they help add routine and structure to your day as well as reduce stress. There are many physical and emotional benefits to the child and the family in owning a pet.

Do you have any unique pets in your home ?  If so what are they ?
If you decided against having pets what were your reasons ?

Blessings

PS:  At present we have a dog whose favourite toy is a golf ball, a cat who runs the house (or so she thinks), two tropical fish tanks containing: neon tetras, bristle nosed catfish who are so happy they are breeding like rabbits, clown loaches, electric yellows, African mono's, flying foxes, redtailed shark, sword tail, Kribensis, and an aviary in the backyard with breeding pairs of  Gouldian Finches and Orange Breasted Waxbills, a fish pond in the yard with goldfish ,  a Redfin Fish in another container and some fresh water crayfish, and last but not least some Spiny Leaf Insects which are living in a glass enclosure in the dining room. We have had frogs in the past. We had a pet rabbit who sadly died earlier this year but we are looking at getting a new one later next year. My family did want a snake but I gave them the following choice:  Mom or the snake ?  You guessed right I do NOT like snakes. 

I think I will dig out some photo's and show you some of our unique pets from day gone by.