Techie Gadget Combo

Hello Friends! I have been messing with the sidebars here and not posting. So now I will dazzle y'all with a post about my sidebar. I've changing and un-changing some stuff there (you might not have even noticed unless you check everyday)

It began as a quest for a simple hit counter (which I still haven't found) and the only thing I have made permanent is the countdown to my Birthday. I love this countdown more than any other because is is accurate to the sec! *laugh*

I was blown over one day 2 weeks ago. I had posted some - i thought - funny stuff in posts and hadn't gotten any comments. *hears crickets* I thought maybe that no one was peeking and that I was, once again, talking to myself.

I made some reference to some story in front of my YW and one of them laughed and said "yea, I read about that one your blog." *open mouth shock* I didn't even know she even knew about it. She followed the link on my Facebook account. wow. I wonder who else has been reading my stuff? Hence, the hit counter quest.

Blogger has a new list of gadgets and this one caught my eye... it is a Follower list. Haven't seen how it works yet. I was kinda hoping for a guest book but I dunno what this one is yet. If it is a tattle tale about how often people look then I don't want it. But if it let's you sign a howdy then I'll keep it.

If the Follower isn't in the sidebar by the time you read this then I'm sure I've found another toy to put in it's place....

5/29 Update: Well, that didn't last long.. It WAS a tattler and when folks signed up it changed their own blog and dashboard... in the word's of my brother: "LAME!" so it's ouuta here...

I guess y'all will just have to fess up about checking in on me by making a comment and saying hello. *winks*

and don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page and feed my virtual fish! *cheeses*

Creative Kids

So I went on a field trip with my son's first grade class to the zoo. While we were eating lunch the kids spied balloons that had gotten tangled up high in the trip. I asked them how they thought we could get them down and out of there. Someone said "just pop them and they'll fall down." "Yeah!!!" yelled everyone else. They got so excited I asked them "How could we pop them?" With a few promptings from me they came up with quite a list. It started out kinda ordinary, but then really got creative. The future is in good hands.

Here are the ones I remember best:

Shoot them with a gun.
bow and arrows
throw a knife
Indian hatchet
jet pack up there with a pin (my son's *grin*)
long ladder and a sharp poky thing
train one of the zoo's monkeys to go poke it.
rockets
parachute down to it with a knife
long stick
throw darts at 'em
put sharp pins in a cannon
stack buses on top of each other (my idea)
stack the tables to reach them
take bags of popcorn stand on them when they pop it'll lift you up (also mine)
trick riders on motorcycles on trick ramps
tall monster trucks
RC cars that could go up the tree
Velcro / sticky hands
Spiderman
Batman
(pause for debate about which super is more super)
boomerang
spray with fire hose
really big fans
tract hoes with the sharp diggers
cherry pickers (made a joke about how we'd have to change its name...*blank stares*)
power pole guy's truck with the bucket that lifts people up
train a bird to poke them with its beak
sling shots
ride a giraffe
throw a spear
use Indiana Jones' whip
boomerang
leave them until they fall down
chop down the tree
blow up the tree
climb the tree like a rock wall
ninja stars
tight wire and unicycle
trampoline could bounce us up there or springy shoes
Jaguar could get them with sharp claws

Waves of Technology

My family and I have been going through a difficult time this past week. There has been a death in our family. The microwave. It has been ill for a month or so. Strange arching lights occur randomly. This happened most commonly whilst popping corn. (maybe, because we have popcorn often) Wailing could be heard on these occasions because once you start a bag of microwave popcorn you can't really finish cooking it if interrupted. And, we buy the good "Butter Lovers" variety, too. Such a tragedy.

We've been cursing this dastardly fickle appliance and then it croaked. And, out of revenge, it did so on a weekend.... a weekend that we had a new movie to watch. *gnashes teeth* Luckily, we have good neighbors that rescued us. The girls were a bit embarrassed to ask, but, Hey! It was either go begging of go snackless! (Yes, I know that we could have air popped and buttered.. but it's just not the same - *shrug* and how on earth would we have melted butter??)

That was the weekend but then we've had to wait for the part to come in the mail. It is a little 3x5 piece of cardboard that is spray painted metallic silver *rolls eyes* and costs $11.95 plus $7.95 shipping *ugh* I think they can charge more for this do-hickey because it has a big name. It is the "Wave Guide Cover" *oi*

Yesterday, I had to cook dinner without it. It was a soccer night (*translation* quick small meal in a giant hurry) I had tons of great leftovers and dug them out buffet style then remembered that my microwave was dark. No plan B and the game in 30 minutes so I had to re-heat things - like the pioneers - ON THE STOVE! *shakes head*

I can now add burning leftover chicken to the long list of anti-accomplishments in the Kitchen.

I didn't realize that my particular cooking style was so dependent on this machine. I am sorely repenting taking it for granted. This morning I had to heat water in a pan for my breakfast! It's like the dark ages over here.

I cannot wait to hear the UPS truck today! *sings* Mr. Postman... bring me a dream...make it the bestest that I've even seen... (Not the actual lyrics. but I am really singing them...)

More Sense

Anita Renfroe is the mom/comedian that made up that "Momsense" song to the William Tell Overture. It packs everything that a mom says into 2 minutes. Awesome.

She has some of her other great stuff that I stumbled on when I was looking for the first thing. Here are my 2 new favs:

Don't Breathe (parody of Faith Hill's Breathe) Video is HILARIOUS! I wonder if that is her good husband... the mask scene split my sides!

and

You Raise Me Up. (Love this! Found this coincidentally, on the day I had been bra shopping - Sorry Josh! Bs to Cs * snork*)

WARNING: These are great songs that I love and, like Wierd Al wonders, I can no longer enjoy them in their original forms... but these are definitely worth it -listen to the women cheer!! *gufaws*

Bonus: If you want more here is another good one with a nod to Carrie Underwood and her Cheats song & video. It is called Before I Eat.

All in a Daze work...

I was coming out of Sam's club yesterday and I saw a little 2 or 3 year old straining against his mom trying to run away from her while she held his arm at their car. He was doing his utmost to wiggle out of her grasp. She was bending down over a baby carrier (the kind that snaps into the car to be a car seat. She was using one hand to fiddle with the straps to get the baby buckled. He was resorting to the "go limp" tactic. them scooting on his behind to get as far away from her as possible. She didn't say anything to him just focused on the baby seat. Then scooped him up and hauled him into the car to strap him into his restraints. (love that word!)

As I passed her car I looked back to see the baby reach out for what mommy had set precariously on the edge of the car seat. It was Her lunch - a to go salad from Costa Vida. It was probably a finish lie reward for surviving a shopping trip with children in tow. I wondered as I got into my car if she made it (and if the salad made it into the car. *smiles* If she had luck like I do she probably had to scoop half of it off the pavement.

I can remember days like that when just going to the store was exhausting - just gearing up and making sure everyone was changed and fed and napped so that we could go would do me in. Never mind actually surviving the store and returning with some of my sanity.

I started contrasting that old version of me to what life is like these days.

Here is an example of a typical Thursday these days:

I won't detail the part of the day where I get up at 6 to get everyone off to school with their permission slips found and signed, their lunch accounts up to date, their homework in their bags, and they have a well balanced breakfast (meaning their bagel is in one hand and their banana is in the other). I won't bore you with the hours of tedious monotony of cleaning and laundry and de-cluttering that I do everyday or the phone calls to insurance companies, and repairmen. I won't detail the hours of volunteering at the school and to make YW reports and calenders for my calling. Just know that it was a regular full day.

And then the children come home and the work begins.

2:21 T is home. We chat and have after school snack. I try to build our relationship She tries to evade questions, keep her privacy, and argue her way out of homework (cuz it's not due for 2 more days!)

2:41 Try to help T with 6th Grade Math. The area of a circle is "Pie Are Squared" right?

3:06 S is home. I explain mystery of the universe and why abortion is wrong (She is studying Big Bang theory science and taking a Teen Living class.)

3:14 Realize that T has escaped and is straitening her hair in front of the TV instead of finishing homework. "But I needed help with number 7." *rolls eyes*

3:18 Help S with 9th grade Geometry. The surface area of a cylinder is 2*¶r(squared) + 2¶rh and volume of a trapezoid is L * (b1 + (b2 - b1) * h1 / h + b1) * h1 / 2

3:36 J opens door wide enough to chuck his back pack inside, yells to me that he is going to play, slams door and jets down to his friends house.

3:39 I drag a crying 7 year-old back into the house and explain (again!) that kids have to hug their mother and do their homework before they can play.. Yes, even if.... Yes, and no buts.

3:40 - Drag T to the piano. Once she is there she plays wonderfully. She has a gift, me thinks. Thank goodness that we have a piano with headphones, tho. otherwise the other 2 homework doers might not... (doer that is.)

3:41 Listening to J read while I think about what to fix for dinner. He does math while I peel carrots. 6 + 4 = 10. I can handle 1st grade math.

4:01 - Rounding up J's soccer things, doing 9th grade math, and critiquing piano solo all at once. "Where is my other cleat? Does an isosceles triangle have a hypotenuse? Is this note flat-ed or natural?" Did you wash my sweatpants? (I should have looked under the boots jammed in the closet for dirty clothes I guess. *shrug*) Where is the calculator that does trigonometry? But, that shin guard makes my leg itch. Listen to this scale, mom. I forgot to tell you that these cleats are pinching my toes. But, Mawwwwwwwwwm! I don't WANNA wear a sweatshirt - I'm not even cold and it makes me look puffy."

4:18 Phone rings. It's Jerry calling for evening detail of who-drives-who-where-tonight coordination. Love him for that. Sure couldn't do this without his help.

4:21 Gather library books to turn in (they are only 4 days overdue). We are missing one of them, of course.

4:25 T remembers that she needs a special costume prop for concert rehearsal that starts in 20 minutes.

4:26 Digging through boxes and closets for a non embarrassing (and clean) robe while still keeping an eye out for that other cleat.

4:32 Check calendar for where the soccer game is and realize that it is our turn to bring treats for the team. I load soccer chairs into the Jeep.

4:42 Js done with homework and he and his friend tear through the house playing sword fighting spy game.

4:48 I try not to tear my hair out and take a few big breathes.

5:02 T done with homework. Races to dress for concert rehearsal.
litte friend is booted. Stacie helps J with shin gaurds. I fill water bottles.

5:09 Hand Jer the lost and found cleat. Leave with T for rehearsal.

5:16 Drop T off. Only one minute late! YES!

5:22 Slow down enough to drop off Library books. Can't get new ones.

5:27 Stop at my mom's to pick up genealogy book for tomorrow's project. She is looking at owl's in her back yard. My brother is showing off pics of his sky diving trip.

5:32 Phone call from Jer. (How'd we live without cell phones?) I've told him wrong field for soccer. No one is there and now they are late. I Correct that and find out that J decided he DOES want a sweatshirt cuz the wind is cold *rolls eyes*

5:33 Have to leave Mom's in a whirlwind without seeing the owls or the sky dives.

5:41 Hit the store for treats and juice boxes for 11 soccer players. This means I have to buy 2 boxes of 10. *sigh*

5:45 Race to pick up T and head to game.

5:49 Stop by the house to get Sweatshirt and umbrella.

5:58 Get to game in time to see J block a goal with his body as goalie. *cheers*

6:01 Half-time and clothing change inside of a blanket. (J does, not me! *cheese*)

6:08 Sit and chat with a friend while we cheer on the team! Go Yellow!

6:31 Break out the treats and race for home.

6:42 Help Jer get Ramen noodles on the table for everyone and throw a bowl of soup in the microwave for me.

6:48 Run downstairs to print the YW calenders.

6:59 Race to Young Women activity with the girls.

7:02 Remember that my dinner is still in the microwave.

*big breath* Sadly, this is what more than one night per week looks like for us during soccer season. It really is a blast and I am not complaining but, MAN, sometimes that hammock in Hawaii calls to me *laugh*

I remember when friends with older-than-mine kids would laugh at my baby adventure stories. They'd say life just gets harder as the years go by and as the after school activities pile up and then it is multiplied by the number of kids you have.

They would tell me this while I was wearing spit-up & food-stained sweatpants; while my hair was in knots and I hadn't had a chance to shower in 2 days because my husband was out of town; when the baby was up 7 times in the night just for "fun"; and while I was in the middle of loads of laundry and diapers and nap schedules and feeding times. I could NOT understand how things could possibly get busier….

But I was wrong. Now things are crazy times 3 and it is harder because all of the busiest stuff is not spread out through the day but concentrated in the 3 or 4 hours after school.

God bless mothers of the world for the work we do at all the stages.

*smiles* He does bless me... I get to hold hands with a rice-crispy sticky goalie, receive grateful hugs from a glittery song bird, have helpful and funny daughters and a husband I can steal kisses from over a hot stove, super students, tons of hilarious moments, precious bedtime prayers...

and most importantly, a comfy pillow to crash onto at night.

I wouldn't trade this for anything! I love my crazy life! and my kids are worth every minute of work! I only wish that I had twice as many of them... can you imagine?? *shakes head*

But, then I definitely wouldn't have anytime to write about it! *grins*