Enterobacter aerogenes

Enterobacter aerogenes, that's the scientific name for my unknown bacterium. The last few weeks of the summer semester were spent working on unknowns! Basically, I had a broth culture of bacteria on which I had to run a series of lab tests to determine what it was. So, after all the tests were run and my four page report documenting everything had been written, it came down to Enterobacter aerogenes. Man, is my brain tired? Okay, not really! Anyway, I wanted to actually take my camera with me to class to document the whole experience because it was rather interesting but I kept forgetting my camera. (the result of 3 children nipping at my heels all the way out the door) So, instead I thought I would show you all a few pictures from my lab atlas so you could see some of the things that have kept me busy this summer. The pictures below are of different bacterial species growing on various nutrient agar plates. Overall, I came away from this class with a better understanding of microbes, pathogens, the human bodies response to invasion and the awareness of some wicked little critters that I never want to come in contact with.

So, now it's time relax a little for a few weeks and then it's on to Chemistry! Pray for my brain please!
I'll be back to more interesting things tomorrow! Thanks for stopping in!

Backgrounds and Spider Boys!

Yeah~yeah, I know what you're thinking....."My Lord she's changed the background again!" Call me Flaky as a Grands biscuit or as unpredictable as BigFoot but the truth is I'm really just indecisive and I'm a sucker for color. Believe me when I say this probably will not be the last background change you see around here. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I just took my final exam on Thursday and have more time to do.....to do.....well, to do anything! I've been doing a variety of things that a month ago seemed unreachable like going to the chiropractor (much needed mind you), painting my toenails, I watched an entire movie, and colored my hair. It's been nice having some me time but below you will see some examples of my more enjoyable time.

You see, I've had more time to spend with these 2 and all their 2 year old antics!

More time to spend looking into these baby blues, this girl loves dress up and make up time with Mommy.

Oh and this was the most awesome pizza EVER! I think Kojak fell in love with me all over again, well maybe I'm exaggerating but I sure did fall in love with it! Um, pepperoni, canadian bacon & black olives with pesto, then you dip it in marinara! Oh bless my sweet pizza loving soul! And, among all this I had time.....

...to try and figure out how in the name of cheescake this happened! I have a few theories....either my boys have some spider tendencies or they think they belong on Gilligan's Island!
SOS, SOS, Send help soon please!

Finally!

I've been begging for one of these for a while and now I have one! I was so excited I couldn't decide what to make first. So, I made two batches of Caitlin's Super Snickerdoodles which didn't last very long here. No pictures but I did get a picture of my next project. Oh lordy it was good too. Mint Brownie Cheesecake (A.K.A....10 lbs. in a pie plate)

Yeah -Yeah, I know it looks a little done but MAN was it ever good!

Twin Talk

I found out very early after James and Cameron were born that the flow of questions would be never ending. No matter where we went people loved to ask questions about them. "Are they twins? Duh! ~ Are they identical? Yes ~ How do you keep yourself sane? I don't. ~ Do twins run in your family? Yes, but identical twins are not genetic." The torrent of questions is endless but for the most part we enjoy answering them all. We love to hear from people who have twins of their own as well and now that the boys are older I find myself asking my own questions of those people with older twins. "Please tell me, does it get better? ~ Will they ever stop fighting? ~ Will I ever be able to take them anywhere without dirt smudges and scratch marks?" The answers I get are most often all yes but occasionally I get a NO to a question or two. So, overall I have faith in a peaceful future......someday!
Anyway, I recently took a picture of the boys but noticed something awesome. Something that my Daddy has been trying to tell us all for a while. I did some research on it so lets start with some information.
Okay, we all know that there are two different categories of twins: identical and fraternal. What you may not know is the important differences between the two.
In the case of fraternal twins, two separate eggs are fertilized by two sperm and develop into two babies. These are known as dizygotic twins, they develop in two separate amniotic sacs and each has it's own placenta. They are as different as any two siblings only they were born on the same day. There is a hereditary connection in fraternal twins where the release of two eggs is passed from one generation to another.
Identical twins are something different all together. Here's what happens. An egg is fertilized by a single sperm at conception but sometime in the following two weeks that little zygote does something amazing. It splits in two. These are known as monozygotic twins and they share one placenta. They are as close to exact as you can get. They have the same DNA, fingerprints, and usually the same dental patterns.
So, here are some statistics I found. 32 out of 1,000 births are twin births. Only 1/3 of those are identical twins. Only 20 - 25% of those identical births are mirror image twins. Mirror image twinning is determined by the timing of the zygote split after conception. There are subtle differences between identical and mirror image twins. Identical twins are typically exactly the same from their cowlicks to their crooked pinky toe (if they have one). Mirror image twins have all the sameness as identical twins but show small variations such as matching reversed moles, reversed dental patterns and problems as well as opposing hairlines and/or cowlicks. Mirror twins are usually different in that one is a lefty and the other a righty. This seems to be the case with the boys. It is too soon to make a definite decision on this matter but so far we are leaning toward mirror image. Poppy is already waiting for Walmart to get in more lefty ball gloves in small. It's just too noticeable to ignore. Cameron has always favored his left and James his right. We have all noticed it but thought Poppy was just looking for an excuse to brag. Hehehe.
Take a look!