Author Archives: Tabetha Gedeon

About Tabetha Gedeon

Co-founder of Kdari Virtual Partners and The Kdari Network

Pet Pine Cones

The other morning while at a park, Anna brought me a pine cone and said, “My friend Hannah told me that when a pine cone is closed like this, it is going to rain.” I looked around at the sunshine and white puffy clouds and said, “Well, I don’t think it’s going to rain.” She did not argue and went to play some more.

Within ten minutes, the clouds had turned grey and the sky was dark. Anna so conveniently happened to be next to me on the bench, holding another tightly closed pine cone. She said, “It looks rainy now.” I couldn’t do anything but respond with, “Yes, it does, doesn’t it?”

Within a few minutes the sun was shining brightly again, but because I was curious, I told her she could bring the pine cones home with us. I wanted to watch them to see if they opened up later.

We got home dry, but around mid-afternoon, we had a short 10 minute shower with the sun shining the whole time. (Don’t you love sunny showers?). And by early evening, the pine cone was beginning to open again.

Still extremely curious, I did a little research and discovered that, even when pine cones are no longer receiving nutrition from the tree, they still have the capability of closing on humid days. This protects the seeds and allows the pine cone to hold onto the seeds until a dryer day when the wind is more able to pick them up and carry them to a safe place to grow. So, there you have it. Your science lesson for today.

Here are a few interesting things I learned about pine cones while researching:

They can be used as a natural way to predict weather.
An idea for clothing was taken from them.
You can boggle your friends with them.

By the way, Anna has been taking care of her pine cones like little pets, and they did open up completely over the next day or two. They are now sitting (still open) on our deck, and for some reason they are still open even though it rained today. Too bad I already admitted to Anna that she was right. I might have a case now:) Just teasing. I mean, after all, she has the internet to back her up, so she has to be right. Right?

It’s Hot in New England!!

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I am afraid the Tennessee weather followed Luke and me to Rhode Island! It is actually hot here in New England! I checked the weather periodically today, and it got up to 100 degrees! If you are not familiar with the temperature in New England, average temperature for this time of year is about 78 degrees (according to weather.com) and the record high (since 1975) for Rhode Island any time of year is 104. And this is only June! If you are curious to know what the record high is in your state, check out infoplease.

We got a new air conditioner on Saturday and just got around to putting it in today. After Luke got home, I went on a quick trip to Home Depot to get the necessary stuff to install the AC unit. While there, someone mentioned that Wal-Mart was completely out of air conditioners. So, out of curiosity, I took notice of other people’s carts as I left the store. On my way out, I counted 13 air conditioners in the carts of other shoppers (sometimes 2 or 3 in one cart!) and others standing at the (very large) display of AC units at the front of the store, still deciding which one to get!! That is a lot of air conditioners!!!

Now, our new air conditioner is running downstairs while the old one runs upstairs, and we are enjoying the coolness of them both! Ah…..relief. By the way, new air conditioners do not smell as nice as new clothes or books (or new houses, for that matter).

Hope you’re all staying cool!

A Great Mother’s Day Gift

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For Mother’s Day, we went to the park to take nice pictures of the kids. Since the kids were already dressed up after church, we ate a picnic lunch and headed to a park with water and large rocks. (I love Rhode Island’s rocks, but that is a different post). Some of these were taken a little later because Bethany slept through most of the pictures, and I could not easily get pictures of Candice alone while outdoors. Here are my favorites!

Sleepy Head

7 Things About Me

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I was tagged by Amanda to list 7 Things about myself, so here goes.

I love bananas but they have to be the perfect ripeness. There seems to be one or two days in the life of a banana when it is perfect for eating. When at this perfect ripeness, bananas are my favorite fruit!
I have a short temper. For some reason this one surprises people. I have to watch myself or I will get frustrated with someone just for not being like me. I forget that not everyone thinks in the exact same way that I do! (Praise the Lord!)
I am a middle baby. It may sound a bit confusing, but even though I was the middle child in my family, I have always been treated like and have acted like the baby. Don’t get confused here. I did not say that I act like a baby. I said I acted like the baby of the family. There is a difference, albeit a small one. 🙂
I make it a habit to stick my hand in the toilet. Well, maybe that’s going a bit overboard, but I have stuck my hand in the toilet more times than I can count. It’s just that way with 5 kids. How else are you going to get the poop out of underwear during potty training without washing it down your sink? Interestingly, my hand took a dive in the toilet last week just to rescue a nail. Hey, any excuse works!! 😉
I am becoming a geek. I guess anybody that is around Luke long enough will begin to form some geeky tendencies. I have learned to do a little with CSS (note I said a little) and am currently learning about Joomla!. I have learned to go to the computer every time I am curious about anything. I use it as a dictionary, Bible, phone, journal, TV, newspaper and several other things. I would be lost without my geeky computer (and the husband to go with it).
I like the smell of new clothes and books. I know I will probably die with some form of sickness from sniffing them, but they just smell so good!
Yes, all five are mine, they all have the same father, I do know what causes that, none of them are twins, I do have my hands full, and I’m loving it!

If you want to know more, read a previous post where I listed 5 things about myself.

Now for the fun part. I get to give you all something to blog about. I tag Luke, Rebekah, Matthew, Lisa, Paul, Butterfly Mama, and Angie.

Here are the rules:

Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog (some random, some weird).
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So Sew

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Anna and I have been taking a home ec class together. Technically it is Anna’s home ec class for home school that I am supposed to be teaching her, but in reality we are both learning side by side. This month’s project was making a dress.

Anna picked a purple floral-like material, and since there was a lot leftover, and I was given a pattern in Bethany’s size, we made a matching dress for Bethany. We had two sewing machines, so Anna worked on one machine on her dress while I worked on the other machine on Bethany’s. My friend Christy instructed both of us at the same time. (Thanks, Christy!!)

After the dress was finished, I found myself standing in the middle of the room holding up Bethany’s dress saying, “I made a dress” in wonder! Anna said she wants to wear her new dress every Sunday. I guess there’s just something special about a dress you made yourself!

Zoei Toh and Charlie

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I was introduced to the Zoei Toh videos by my father-in-law. I was very impressed with this 3 year old’s ability to remember the words to the songs and be able to carry a tune. She is absolutely adorable! Notice that there are several songs included in the video box below. Some are in English and some in Mandarin.

Charlie is also impressive in that he maintains his temper while in pain brought on by his baby brother. He is very matter of fact.

Turn Left

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The other day while sitting at a red light, I told the kids we had to turn left. Here is how my conversation went with Peter:

Peter: Mom, which way is left.

me: You’ll see when we turn. Which way do you think it is?

Peter: It’s the way we will turn.

me: Well, which way do you think we will turn?

Peter: left

I gave up at this point, knowing I would get nowhere with the conversation. It reminded me too much of another conversation with Peter. He should be a lawyer!

Denim & Silk

Life, Love, & Lots of Laughs