I would argue that the preservation process also requires patience and fine motor skills if you don't want to end up with a mangled leaf or one that is adhered to your work surface.  :)  But once decoupaged I guarantee they'll lose any fragility.

About the reading- my grandmother was a second grade teacher and a reading specialist. She believed that what a child reads is less important than that a child reads. I remember her telling my mother to let my sisters and me read whatever we wanted, even the demon comic books, just get us reading.

A suggestion for the lad's reading list. He's about 8 or 9, right? If so, he is at the perfect age to start reading the many books written by Beverly Cleary. There are the Ramona books and the Beezus books and the Henry books and so many more.

Cleary grew up in Portland, and Portland locations appear in her books, and she is a local treasure. She was also a great writer of children's books.

Take care. We're here if you need us.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (if he likes it, there are sequels)

A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle

The BFG by Roald Dahl (or anything really but that was my personal favorite, maybe Witches)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish (might be a bit young, but fun)

Misty of Chincoteague is another good one.

I was a kid who loved to read - I would read cereal boxes and ketchup labels if there was nothing else available.  I still love to read - my idea of the ideal vacation is the beach, plenty of sunscreen, a jug of lemonade, a comfortable chair, an umbrella, and tons of books.  My Nook means that I now do not have to lug a giant LL Bean bag of books along with me!

I didn't have chemo but I found it was better to not have people around during "treatment" since I wasn't supposed to hug or even touch my children and my husband. I would imagine that it would be easier for you to have him at your sister's than home with you during this time.

BUT!  What I really wanted to say was, Calvin & Hobbes!!  My brother and I read Calvin & Hobbes obsessively as kids and it really expanded our vocabulary, got us drawing, etc.  I think you can get a lot out of it as a kid and my mom enjoyed reading it to us as well.  Then again, it may have something to do with our shared twisted sense of humor, so, keep that in mind.  Other comics are good too, Pogo, Krazy Kat, Peanuts of course, Mutts, which is newer.  We read novels too but it was always nice to be able to pick up a Calvin & Hobbes collection - and it still is today!

In the US, the course of a trial is all in the hands of the lawyers instead of the judges.  Ravi's lawyer was rather uncharismatic.  The time I watched, he spent a long time nit picking with a state investigator.  I am sure he put the jury to sleep or worse, antagonized them.  His best chance was to make Ravi into a likable person.  A reporter in one article I read, sought out a couple of gays that Ravi was friendly with and they would have been good witnesses for him.  Unfortunately, the defense only found character witnesses among friends of his father. They never discussed Ravi's views on homosexuality with him.  

Ravi should have gotten on the stand and said his tweets were just childish stupid pranks and explained that he had turned the camera away from Clementi's bed before leaving for frisbee practice.  The victim (MB?) who testified, said he didn't see the cam the second time and that backed up Ravi.  The judge also seemed miffed that Ravi didn't apologize at sentencing.

But, to your point...raise the white flag...I agree with you. But, rather than raising the 200 post maximum (Which she's explained why she can't) if a topic is very topical and has attracted an overwhelming amount of interest, she could simply have Zimmerman "A," Zimmerman "B," etc. That way the conversation flows easily and coherently. When you have 5 threads on one day people jump around and you could write a long, well thought out post but no one will read it because, zoom, everyone's moved on to the next one.

I'm not going to waste a whole lot of time trying to ascertain the actual, legal definition of "arrest." There are enough lawyers on this site that can speak to that if the wish.

The situation was this: Police responded to a bunch of 911 calls, and when they got to the scene they found a guy with a gun, and a dead body. Not knowing the facts, they did the prudent thing; handcuffed the guy with the gun, and brought him to the station where they could try to straighten things out. To my knowledge, he was not "placed under arrest," nor was he "Marandized." After getting to the station and some discussion, and disagreement, it was determined that they accept Zimmerman's version of events, self defense, and he was released.

'I observed a can of Arizona Iced Tea and a pair of ear phones, in close proximity to the victim's body.'

Sgt. McCoy also reported providing the 'CPR mask'.

When McCoy arrived the other officers had already turned Martin's body over, as reported by Ricardo Ayala (p. 14) and Anthony Raimondo (p. 16). The ear phones could have fallen from Martin at that time, if he was wearing them or if they were in his pocket. Unfortunately neither Ayala nor Raimondo mentioned the ear phones in their reports.

Raimondo did mention feeling the beverage can, 'in the center pocket.' He didn't say what happened to the can. There is no direct account in the reports of how the can came to be on top of the yellow blanket.

The evidence was collected by Crime Scene Technician Diana Smith. Her report is on pp. 79-80, but only p. 80 is pertinent here.

'According to officers on the scene, the Arizona tea can was originally located in the front pocket of the victim's jacket.'

'The victim had $40.15 in US currency, a bag of skittles, red lighter, headphones, photo pin in his pockets or on him.'

Smith seems to have done all the collecting, but she was assisted in first measuring the items by Leon Ciesla. His report is on pp. 19-25. Only p. 20 is pertinent here.

The name of Chris Serino is prominent at the top of p. 20. Because of that I incorrectly attributed Ciesla's report to Serino in comments on some recent threads. Mea culpa. I know this is complicated enough without such confusions.

Serino 'coordinated crime scene processing efforts with' Ciesla and Smith. In his report he described Martin's clothing, but he made no other personal observations of items of evidence at the crime scene. (p. 37)

Ciesla: 'The victim had $40.15 in US currency, a bag of skittles candy, a red 7-11 red lighter in his pockets, headphones next to him, and a photo pin on his sweatshirt. After making inquiries I was told that the Arizon Ice Tea Can was from inside the victim's Sweatshirt pocket and had come out while first aid was being given.'

Sgt. Joseph Santiago (p. 16): 'While Martin was in the process of being transferred to the M.E.'s office an inventory was being conducted of Martin's person. I noticed the items collected for evidence were a bag of skittles, an Arizona ice tea can and head phones.'

There is no object locator number for the ear phones, as there should be if the investigators believed their 'original position' was on the ground. But nowhere in the reports is it explained why the ear phones were believed to have been on Martin's person.