1. A little thing that I love about Evie: anytime someone picks her up, while she is in the process of being lifted through the air she makes a little "shoooosh" sound effect. It's like a Superman flying kind of sound. Where did she get the idea to make this noise? Is this just what being picked up sounds like to her? She cracks me up.

2. I recently started composting in my very own made-from-a-trash-can compost bin (thanks to my friend Brenda for showing me how). A couple times a week I go out and stir around this mixture of food scraps and dry leaves, coffee grounds and egg shells. I don't know why, but I find this chore immensely satisfying. There's something about digging it and turning it and stirring it all around that is fun to me. Maybe I'm just disgusting and I like to watch things decompose.

3.In more "green living" news, I've also recently started buying eggs from a blog friend who happens to live locally. Thanks to Heather at Muddy Creek Creations I now get 18 farm-fresh eggs delivered to my door once a week. How cool is that?

4. I'm not really that "green," though my husband called me a "little hippie" the other day when he watched me saving the coffee grounds for the compost instead of dumping them in the garbage. I just figure if I could be turning all that food waste into something useful rather putting it in the trash (and if it will also eventually save me money on fertilizer for the garden), then why NOT? I pretty much only do "green" things if they are cheap and easy. I don't have the time to search out the sources of everything I buy to find out whether it's local, or money to buy only things that are certified organic--but if it takes only a little time and minimal effort and might actually save me money in the long run? I'm all about that.

5. I have never done Weight Watchers in my life and I'm not really into doing any specific diet or following a certain program. But I saw the new Weight Watchers cookbook on sale at CostCo for $16 a few weeks ago and I've been trying out lots of new recipes from it. So far it's a total winner. Most everything I've made has been fairly decent, and some have been stand-out hits, and everything is quite low-calorie. The sausage-and-mushroom stuffed pizza was delicious and less than 200 calories a serving.

6. It's a sopping wet today in the Willamette Valley (what's new?) but I'm letting my kids play out back anyway. That's what coats and boots are for. And I'd rather deal with muddy children later and buy myself a little silence right now.

7. I'll leave you with a link for your reading pleasure: Are kids really growing up too fast these days? See what Michelle at Scribbit thinks.

More quick takes at Conversion Diary.