Congrats to the Snack Taxi winner, Hillary, per random.org! I have not notified her via email yet, because Yahoo email is not working properly (thanks, Yahoo!). Per her profile, Hillary lives in Canada, so I believe I will actually have to stand in line in the post office, because I'm not sure the self serve machine will allow me to ship to Canada. So...There's some special effort going into this one, Hillary. Heh. I haven't mailed anything to Canada since I had a penpal there in high school, so big excitement there.
In other news, I somehow got more sore this weekend from last weekend's baseball field flop injury. Today and yesterday were the worst days, with the exception of the day after it happened. It was getting better, better and then...worse. Hopefully it will start getting better again soon.
Yesterday there was a cooking/baking competition at church. I did not participate in the cooking or baking, but I participated in the tasting, and oh yum! My favorite was a chocolate cake with the most delicious peanut butter frosting ever. Hubby and my son liked a minty/chocolatey dessert best. My son was also partial to some meatballs that were there. It was a fundraiser and raised over $1,000 for a youth mission trip, so that was great!
I feel like the bread fairy today - I returned a tupperware dish some friends had loaned us (to bring home some tasty leftover dessert they had given us last weekend). I returned it with a loaf of homemade bread inside. I left it at their child's coathook at my son's school, so hopefully that will be a nice surprise when they pick up their child at the end of the day. :)
Hope your day is full of surprise baked goods, too!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
I've been awake since 4:00, but I have a donut
Hubby had to go to work at 6:00 this morning (about which we do not complain - it is overtime, and since I seem to be on the verge of undertime, we take it where we can get it).
The alarm was set for 4:30. The plan was he would get up and feed the dog, shower, I would get in the shower at my usual time of 5:30, he would leave at 5:45, and for our son and I, the morning would go on as usual, but with one less person at the breakfast table.
Shortly after 4:00, I woke up to hear my son calling. I went in and he asked me to fix his covers. No problem. He sounded a little too alert for that time of morning (night?). I chose to get directly in the shower, because I anticipated that this would not be the only too early request from the little guy.
Sure enough, as soon as I got out of the bathroom, I heard him call again. 4:40. "Is it time to get up yet?"
I told him no, that it was the middle of the night (kinda) and asked if he would like me to turn music on. I turned on his CD. Alvin & the Chipmunks. I figured no way would he fall back to sleep, but it might buy him some time to relax.
He actually fell back to sleep and I had to wake him up when it was time to get up.
Since hubby is going to have a long day, after I dropped our son off at school, I made a quick trip to the gas station to get hubby a coffee and a donut. My commission for the transaction? Cocoa and a donut.
So, I may have been up even earlier than the original plan, but I have a donut. And cocoa. I'm a happy girl.
Oh, and the empty spot at the breakfast table was filled by a stuffed pig sitting on two books. He even had his own (empty) bowl.
The alarm was set for 4:30. The plan was he would get up and feed the dog, shower, I would get in the shower at my usual time of 5:30, he would leave at 5:45, and for our son and I, the morning would go on as usual, but with one less person at the breakfast table.
Shortly after 4:00, I woke up to hear my son calling. I went in and he asked me to fix his covers. No problem. He sounded a little too alert for that time of morning (night?). I chose to get directly in the shower, because I anticipated that this would not be the only too early request from the little guy.
Sure enough, as soon as I got out of the bathroom, I heard him call again. 4:40. "Is it time to get up yet?"
I told him no, that it was the middle of the night (kinda) and asked if he would like me to turn music on. I turned on his CD. Alvin & the Chipmunks. I figured no way would he fall back to sleep, but it might buy him some time to relax.
He actually fell back to sleep and I had to wake him up when it was time to get up.
Since hubby is going to have a long day, after I dropped our son off at school, I made a quick trip to the gas station to get hubby a coffee and a donut. My commission for the transaction? Cocoa and a donut.
So, I may have been up even earlier than the original plan, but I have a donut. And cocoa. I'm a happy girl.
Oh, and the empty spot at the breakfast table was filled by a stuffed pig sitting on two books. He even had his own (empty) bowl.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
That's a lot of dough
This is going to make me sound much more Betty Crocker-ish than I really am, but I have decided to start making the bread that my family eats.
{pause for laughter, snorts, eye rolling}
My mom gave me a bread maker as a gift over 10 years ago. Back then, I got lots of use out of it. I made lots of pizza dough, dough for cinnamon rolls, and baked bread in it. I never was a huge fan of baking the bread in it, because the entire outside got very hard, and the part that kneads the dough always left a big hole in the bottom when it was removed.
Eventually, I got too lazy to make pizza dough and started buying the pop open containers of pizza dough.
We go through a lot of bread. Hubby and I pack our lunches every day; our son likes a peanut butter sandwich or a fluffernutter on the weekend.
I stock up on bread when I find a good sale ($1 or $1.50 a loaf for wheat or whole grain bread). We put the extra loaves in the freezer. When things go smoothly, when we get down to one loaf in the freezer, I start watching for a sale. Hubby removed the last two loaves a few weeks ago without telling me. We were down to 4 slices of bread, and I needed to buy some now. The best price I could get was $2.50 for a loaf. That annoyed me.
I decided that I could make bread much cheaper. I started small - Made some dough for cinnamon swirl bread in the bread maker, baked it in the oven in the morning. Delicious.
Made some dough for white bread. Baked it in the morning. Good.
Bought some wheat flour. Made some dough for wheat bread. Baked it in the morning. Good.
This morning made a wheat/white combo that was a little less dense. Also good.
I've made three loaves so far. The sandwiches are delicious - Better than with store bought. It's less expensive, and the bread maker does the hard work. I've got to think it's a little healthier as well.
Feel free to laugh if I stop this in a week or two, but for now? I'm making the bread my family eats.
{pause for laughter, snorts, eye rolling}
My mom gave me a bread maker as a gift over 10 years ago. Back then, I got lots of use out of it. I made lots of pizza dough, dough for cinnamon rolls, and baked bread in it. I never was a huge fan of baking the bread in it, because the entire outside got very hard, and the part that kneads the dough always left a big hole in the bottom when it was removed.
Eventually, I got too lazy to make pizza dough and started buying the pop open containers of pizza dough.
We go through a lot of bread. Hubby and I pack our lunches every day; our son likes a peanut butter sandwich or a fluffernutter on the weekend.
I stock up on bread when I find a good sale ($1 or $1.50 a loaf for wheat or whole grain bread). We put the extra loaves in the freezer. When things go smoothly, when we get down to one loaf in the freezer, I start watching for a sale. Hubby removed the last two loaves a few weeks ago without telling me. We were down to 4 slices of bread, and I needed to buy some now. The best price I could get was $2.50 for a loaf. That annoyed me.
I decided that I could make bread much cheaper. I started small - Made some dough for cinnamon swirl bread in the bread maker, baked it in the oven in the morning. Delicious.
Made some dough for white bread. Baked it in the morning. Good.
Bought some wheat flour. Made some dough for wheat bread. Baked it in the morning. Good.
This morning made a wheat/white combo that was a little less dense. Also good.
I've made three loaves so far. The sandwiches are delicious - Better than with store bought. It's less expensive, and the bread maker does the hard work. I've got to think it's a little healthier as well.
Feel free to laugh if I stop this in a week or two, but for now? I'm making the bread my family eats.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
If there were really a snack taxi, I would probably ride in it
Hubby and I pack our lunches everyday, and we seldom leave the house without a snack of some sort on hand for our son. The result? We use lots of ziploc bags. Every time I use one, I feel a little guilty, and I try to reuse them occasionally, within reason (hubby will use the same one for crackers in his lunch every day for a week). I use reusable containers when possible, but sometimes they're too bulky.
When the people at Snack Taxi sent me one of their snack sacks and one of their sandwich sacks to try, I was thrilled. snackTAXIs were created as a way to decrease the use of ziploc bags. The owners of the company pack over 500 lunches for their family every year, and had become a little too comfortable with the easy appeal of the ziploc bag.
snackTAXIs are made in a home-based workshop by talented local people - The owners are committed to keeping their business local, and will never outsource their labor.
My own experience with Snack Taxis? I'm thrilled. I've brought snacks to work in the snack bag. They're cute, the bag keeps the snack fresh, contained, and when I'm done, I can wash it. It can be washed by hand, in the dishwasher or washing machine. It can also be machine dried. I have been washing ours in the washing machine in a mesh bag, and letting it air dry inside out. Sandwiches fit perfectly in the sandwich sack. I feel good using this product, because each time I use it, that's one less plastic bag I'm sending to the landfill.
Now the fun part - Snack Taxi sent me a second set - One snack sack and one sandwich sack - That I would like to pass along to you.
To enter this contest, please go visit Snack Taxi and leave a comment telling me which pattern you like best. The patterns in the picture are the ones I received, so that's what you'll get if you win, but I'd still like to know what you like! You must do this first or the extra entries won't count.
For two additional entries, you can:
1. Follow me on twitter and tweet about this contest
2. Subscribe to my blog and let me know in a comment
You may enter until Monday March 30 at 2:00PM EST. A winner will be chosen at random and notified by email, so please provide an email in your entry/profile. The winner will have 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen in their place.
Good luck!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Kindergarten Bound
This is a total bragging mommy post. :-)
This morning my son had kindergarten testing. Our school district has a "Young 5s" program as well as kindergarten, for kids who may not be mentally/physically/emotionally ready for kindergarten. Based on the testing, the teachers give a recommendation as to whether they think the child is ready for kindergarten. Ultimately the decision is up to the parents. I'm sure the teachers don't like attitudes like the one I'm about to share, but hubby and I couldn't think of a thing they could have said to us that would have persuaded us that Young 5s was the place for our son. We just know him, and couldn't imagine that waiting another year to start school would be the way to go for him.
They look for all categories to test at an age of at least 4 years 9 months in order to be recommended to go to kindergarten. My son tested at 4 years 11 months for gross motor skills (after my spill this weekend, I think I probably test at 1 year 6 months for gross motor skills), 6 years 5 months for fine motor skills, 6 years 11 months for language skills (top of the chart! :-) ) and 5 years for social awareness/emotional maturity (that one was an odd one - they got a picture of a man that was missing some parts and he had to fill them in). The language one was awesome. It started out showing pictures of things and asking "Which one is the drum?" and ended with him having to pick out the word "couple" out of several similar looking words - which he did! He did so well at all the testing. During the language one, I don't think I ever stopped smiling. :-) He overall tested at 5 years 7 months. His actual age is 4 years 9 months.
He enjoyed the testing, too, which of course is the most important part!
This morning my son had kindergarten testing. Our school district has a "Young 5s" program as well as kindergarten, for kids who may not be mentally/physically/emotionally ready for kindergarten. Based on the testing, the teachers give a recommendation as to whether they think the child is ready for kindergarten. Ultimately the decision is up to the parents. I'm sure the teachers don't like attitudes like the one I'm about to share, but hubby and I couldn't think of a thing they could have said to us that would have persuaded us that Young 5s was the place for our son. We just know him, and couldn't imagine that waiting another year to start school would be the way to go for him.
They look for all categories to test at an age of at least 4 years 9 months in order to be recommended to go to kindergarten. My son tested at 4 years 11 months for gross motor skills (after my spill this weekend, I think I probably test at 1 year 6 months for gross motor skills), 6 years 5 months for fine motor skills, 6 years 11 months for language skills (top of the chart! :-) ) and 5 years for social awareness/emotional maturity (that one was an odd one - they got a picture of a man that was missing some parts and he had to fill them in). The language one was awesome. It started out showing pictures of things and asking "Which one is the drum?" and ended with him having to pick out the word "couple" out of several similar looking words - which he did! He did so well at all the testing. During the language one, I don't think I ever stopped smiling. :-) He overall tested at 5 years 7 months. His actual age is 4 years 9 months.
He enjoyed the testing, too, which of course is the most important part!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Leapfrog Tag Reader Winner
Random.org has chosen Sharla as the winner of the Leapfrog Tag Reader giveaway.
I just checked out her blog, and I suggest you do, too. She sounds like a lovely person, who, like so many of us, is being hit by the dismal economy.
I hope this prize brightens her day and her family's, and hours of reading enjoyment are received while using this awesome prize!
Congratulations Sharla! Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks especially to Leapfrog for providing this great prize!
I just checked out her blog, and I suggest you do, too. She sounds like a lovely person, who, like so many of us, is being hit by the dismal economy.
I hope this prize brightens her day and her family's, and hours of reading enjoyment are received while using this awesome prize!
Congratulations Sharla! Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks especially to Leapfrog for providing this great prize!
Splitting hairs
This morning I was able to part my hair by myself.
What? You think that requires more explanation? You've always thought I was self-sufficient enough to take care of my own grooming needs, to the point where I wouldn't have to point out my ability to comb my own hair?
Yeah, you're right. Except for yesterday...
Saturday we had a lovely picnic in the park with some friends. Afterwards, we all played a little baseball. 4 adults, an 11 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old. It was great fun.
At one point, the dad in the other family was running the bases. I was stationed on third base and got the ball just as he headed home. I gave chase, realized I wouldn't catch up, and while in full run wound up to throw the ball to my son, who was at home plate. Apparently the momentum that I was creating while running and the momentum I was creating to throw the ball, while still running (why would I do that?) propelled me forward (I couldn't tell you what happened to the ball). I did a belly flop slide across the hard dirt of the baseball field. My glove went flying; I went flying. I got up, laughing with embarrassment, pain and amusement over the whole incident. When everyone saw I was mostly okay, we all got a good laugh out of it. Our friend was surprised that I hadn't slid my face across the dirt, so that was a plus. I was a little sore on my right side in the ribs, but not bad.
The game continued. I went to pick up the ball at some point, and realized there was pain in my ribs involved in bending over. I took it a little easier after that.
After we got home, I got a little more sore. When I woke up yesterday, a little more sore. In the shower yesterday, a little more sore. I thought I might not be able to rinse my hair, but I managed. I got out of the shower, tried to towel dry my hair and...um...nope. Couldn't reach up at that angle with a towel. I tried several times, because really, who wants to call up their husband who is downstairs cooking some eggs to ask him to towel dry their hair? Unfortunately, that's what I had to do.
He helped me, then ran back down to save the eggs. My hair was still dripping slightly, because boys with hair so short it doesn't require a comb don't know anything about towel drying hair. I still appreciated the effort, and really couldn't do anything about it. I got dressed and attempted to comb my hair. Nope. No can do.
I went downstairs, with the comb, and asked hubby if he could help part my hair. The man has probably never parted hair in his life, and went at it backwards and pretty much upside down with the comb. I tried to show him, the best I could as someone who could not lift her hand higher than her forehead. My son came in the room to see what all the excitement was. He cheered on hubby's efforts by saying "No! That's not how you do it." That put a smile on my face, through the pain and the mild embarrassment of having my hair combed for me.
Throughout the day I adapted to the situation and figured out which things were going to hurt the most and made every attempt to avoid them.
This morning and I am still sore, but not as sore. I was able to towel dry and comb my own hair, which is a lovely step in the right direction. I am surprising myself at work with some things that hurt that I didn't expect to, such as lifting my arm up after it has been resting on my desk using the mouse. Oddly, that pain almost seems to be more in my upper arm that my ribs, so I really can't explain that. It also hurts to answer the phone. That pain is in the ribs.
Anyway, the weekend really was lovely, in spite of this play by play commentary of an injury. The injury didn't keep me from enjoying the first weekend of spring, or even from enjoying the end of the baseball game.
My son has been kind enough to provide some pointers to avoid future such injuries:
When running and you come to an area where you might trip, jump.
When trying to catch *friend's* daddy, don't slide.
If *friend's* daddy is chasing you, stay behind him.
He also suggested that I use his ice pack bear to soothe my injuries, which was very sweet and helped.
What? You think that requires more explanation? You've always thought I was self-sufficient enough to take care of my own grooming needs, to the point where I wouldn't have to point out my ability to comb my own hair?
Yeah, you're right. Except for yesterday...
Saturday we had a lovely picnic in the park with some friends. Afterwards, we all played a little baseball. 4 adults, an 11 year old, a 5 year old and a 4 year old. It was great fun.
At one point, the dad in the other family was running the bases. I was stationed on third base and got the ball just as he headed home. I gave chase, realized I wouldn't catch up, and while in full run wound up to throw the ball to my son, who was at home plate. Apparently the momentum that I was creating while running and the momentum I was creating to throw the ball, while still running (why would I do that?) propelled me forward (I couldn't tell you what happened to the ball). I did a belly flop slide across the hard dirt of the baseball field. My glove went flying; I went flying. I got up, laughing with embarrassment, pain and amusement over the whole incident. When everyone saw I was mostly okay, we all got a good laugh out of it. Our friend was surprised that I hadn't slid my face across the dirt, so that was a plus. I was a little sore on my right side in the ribs, but not bad.
The game continued. I went to pick up the ball at some point, and realized there was pain in my ribs involved in bending over. I took it a little easier after that.
After we got home, I got a little more sore. When I woke up yesterday, a little more sore. In the shower yesterday, a little more sore. I thought I might not be able to rinse my hair, but I managed. I got out of the shower, tried to towel dry my hair and...um...nope. Couldn't reach up at that angle with a towel. I tried several times, because really, who wants to call up their husband who is downstairs cooking some eggs to ask him to towel dry their hair? Unfortunately, that's what I had to do.
He helped me, then ran back down to save the eggs. My hair was still dripping slightly, because boys with hair so short it doesn't require a comb don't know anything about towel drying hair. I still appreciated the effort, and really couldn't do anything about it. I got dressed and attempted to comb my hair. Nope. No can do.
I went downstairs, with the comb, and asked hubby if he could help part my hair. The man has probably never parted hair in his life, and went at it backwards and pretty much upside down with the comb. I tried to show him, the best I could as someone who could not lift her hand higher than her forehead. My son came in the room to see what all the excitement was. He cheered on hubby's efforts by saying "No! That's not how you do it." That put a smile on my face, through the pain and the mild embarrassment of having my hair combed for me.
Throughout the day I adapted to the situation and figured out which things were going to hurt the most and made every attempt to avoid them.
This morning and I am still sore, but not as sore. I was able to towel dry and comb my own hair, which is a lovely step in the right direction. I am surprising myself at work with some things that hurt that I didn't expect to, such as lifting my arm up after it has been resting on my desk using the mouse. Oddly, that pain almost seems to be more in my upper arm that my ribs, so I really can't explain that. It also hurts to answer the phone. That pain is in the ribs.
Anyway, the weekend really was lovely, in spite of this play by play commentary of an injury. The injury didn't keep me from enjoying the first weekend of spring, or even from enjoying the end of the baseball game.
My son has been kind enough to provide some pointers to avoid future such injuries:
When running and you come to an area where you might trip, jump.
When trying to catch *friend's* daddy, don't slide.
If *friend's* daddy is chasing you, stay behind him.
He also suggested that I use his ice pack bear to soothe my injuries, which was very sweet and helped.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The roosters are tired
Have any of you seen the Imagination Movers? If you don't spend time around young kids, I apologize for implying that you might be spending your Saturday mornings watching the Disney channel and munching on a Poptart.
My son saw this show maybe three times, over the course of several months. He likes it well enough, but it's just not on at a time that the TV is normally on.
We were at the library this weekend, and my son found one of their CDs, which he eagerly borrowed. He has been listening to it every night as he goes to sleep and every morning during breakfast. The songs are pretty catchy. We might need to acquire a copy of our own.
One of the songs has a portion that says "The roosters, the roosters, the roosters are tired." To the tune of "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire." The first time we heard it, I was startled when I heard what sounded like "The roosters, the roosters, the roosters are on fire." I asked hubby "What did they say?" Hubby didn't answer...because he was hearing the same thing I was. After a pause, my son answered, and I realized he was absolutely right: "They said the roosters are tired." That was exactly what they said. It's funny how your mind can make you think you're hearing something that's familiar to you, when really you're hearing something completely different. Someone with an unbiased ear (such as my son) is able to hear it correctly.
So, the rooster are actually fine...Just tired.
My son saw this show maybe three times, over the course of several months. He likes it well enough, but it's just not on at a time that the TV is normally on.
We were at the library this weekend, and my son found one of their CDs, which he eagerly borrowed. He has been listening to it every night as he goes to sleep and every morning during breakfast. The songs are pretty catchy. We might need to acquire a copy of our own.
One of the songs has a portion that says "The roosters, the roosters, the roosters are tired." To the tune of "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire." The first time we heard it, I was startled when I heard what sounded like "The roosters, the roosters, the roosters are on fire." I asked hubby "What did they say?" Hubby didn't answer...because he was hearing the same thing I was. After a pause, my son answered, and I realized he was absolutely right: "They said the roosters are tired." That was exactly what they said. It's funny how your mind can make you think you're hearing something that's familiar to you, when really you're hearing something completely different. Someone with an unbiased ear (such as my son) is able to hear it correctly.
So, the rooster are actually fine...Just tired.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Bread with breakfast
My family had cinnamon swirl bread fresh out of the oven with breakfast.
That sentence by itself could probably be an entire post.
I mentioned that I've been baking a little more than usual, and that I dusted off the breadmaker (literally - It hadn't been used in several years) and bought some yeast and bread flour.
Once I made the recipe in my breadmaker pamphlet for cinnamon bread. Obviously the breadmaker can not swirl cinnamon, and I was little disappointed in the final product: Bread with a slightly cinnamon-y taste. So, last night I ran the sweet dough setting, rolled out the dough, lightly basted it with water, sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it, rolled it up, put it in a loaf pan, covered it, let it rise all night, then popped it in the oven in the morning.
Result? Freshly baked cinnamon swirl bread, fresh out of the oven with breakfast. I highly recommend it.
Everyone enjoyed it, including my son, who is never a fan of a plain slice of bread. He enjoys sandwiches, breadsticks and very lightly toasted toast with cinnamon sugar. I managed to create untoasted cinnamon toast for him.
I made the mistake of being a little too proud of myself and saying "This must be much better for us than store bought bread - There are only about seven ingredients."
Hubby's response? "Bread flour isn't all that great for you."
If he hadn't already eaten his slice, I would have taken it away from him. Instead, I packed him another slice to have at work with coffee. I guess I'm getting back at him for that comment by feeding him additional bread flour.
That sentence by itself could probably be an entire post.
I mentioned that I've been baking a little more than usual, and that I dusted off the breadmaker (literally - It hadn't been used in several years) and bought some yeast and bread flour.
Once I made the recipe in my breadmaker pamphlet for cinnamon bread. Obviously the breadmaker can not swirl cinnamon, and I was little disappointed in the final product: Bread with a slightly cinnamon-y taste. So, last night I ran the sweet dough setting, rolled out the dough, lightly basted it with water, sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it, rolled it up, put it in a loaf pan, covered it, let it rise all night, then popped it in the oven in the morning.
Result? Freshly baked cinnamon swirl bread, fresh out of the oven with breakfast. I highly recommend it.
Everyone enjoyed it, including my son, who is never a fan of a plain slice of bread. He enjoys sandwiches, breadsticks and very lightly toasted toast with cinnamon sugar. I managed to create untoasted cinnamon toast for him.
I made the mistake of being a little too proud of myself and saying "This must be much better for us than store bought bread - There are only about seven ingredients."
Hubby's response? "Bread flour isn't all that great for you."
If he hadn't already eaten his slice, I would have taken it away from him. Instead, I packed him another slice to have at work with coffee. I guess I'm getting back at him for that comment by feeding him additional bread flour.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Water: The fruit snack stain remover
We had our meeting last night for parents of incoming Kindergarteners. It's hard to believe this has come upon us so quickly. I still have the picture of my son on his first day of daycare on the fridge. He was 9 weeks old and wearing a cute little outfit with bugs on it.
~~~~~~~
Several years ago, we got a new couch and loveseat. This might not be such a huge occasion to you, but to us? Major. The couch and loveseat that we had before I bought 12 years prior, used. It wasn't in great shape then, so after 12 years and three moves, once from Connecticut to Indiana, from Indiana to apartment in Michigan, from apartment in Michigan to house in Michigan...well, it was in rough shape.
When we got the new furniture, the first thing that amazed us was how high up we were. We were actually at "normal couch height", I'm sure, but our old couch sagged so much and we didn't even know it.
The new couch, although 4 years old now, gets babied. We don't eat while sitting on it like we did the old one. We usually don't even drink while sitting on it.
Yesterday my son happened to be leaning on the couch while eating red fruit snacks. Then he happened to say something while chewing a red fruit snack. Then a little chunk of wet red fruit snack happened to fall on the arm of our light beige couch. I gingerly picked up the piece of fruit snack and saw a red stain underneath. I was a tiny bit proud of myself for neither weeping nor raising my voice. I simply called into the kitchen to hubby "Any idea how to get a fruit snack stain out of the couch?" Our son went upstairs to get something from his room, and hubby brought a wet towel. He gently dabbed the couch, and the red stain came out. Amazing! Then my son came downstairs and I said "Daddy was able to get the fruit snack stain out of the couch." My son immediately went into the kitchen and gave his dad a big hug. When I saw that, I realized I felt the same way about the stain being gone, so I gave hubby a big hug, too. The thing that surprised me is that my son thought that removing a stain from the couch was even that important. We take a very casual attitude about his clothes: "If we don't get that spaghetti sauce stain out, I guess your shirt will have a little red on it, too." Somehow, without even saying anything, he realized that an extra color on the couch wasn't necessarily a desirable outcome.
~~~~~~~
The Spiderman toys at McDonalds are one of the things my son is most interested in right now. This has to be the longest promotion ever, but we haven't been able to snag the one he likes most - The red spiderman with a web (not the one with suction cups). I think we're running out of time on that one.
~~~~~~~
This week I bought yeast and bread flour. I own a breadmaker that has not been used in years, but I used to use it all the time. I've got plans to make pizza dough, bread...Lately I've been doing a lot more baking than I have in years.
~~~~~~~
There are still a few days to enter the Leapfrog Tag Reader contest!
~~~~~~~
Several years ago, we got a new couch and loveseat. This might not be such a huge occasion to you, but to us? Major. The couch and loveseat that we had before I bought 12 years prior, used. It wasn't in great shape then, so after 12 years and three moves, once from Connecticut to Indiana, from Indiana to apartment in Michigan, from apartment in Michigan to house in Michigan...well, it was in rough shape.
When we got the new furniture, the first thing that amazed us was how high up we were. We were actually at "normal couch height", I'm sure, but our old couch sagged so much and we didn't even know it.
The new couch, although 4 years old now, gets babied. We don't eat while sitting on it like we did the old one. We usually don't even drink while sitting on it.
Yesterday my son happened to be leaning on the couch while eating red fruit snacks. Then he happened to say something while chewing a red fruit snack. Then a little chunk of wet red fruit snack happened to fall on the arm of our light beige couch. I gingerly picked up the piece of fruit snack and saw a red stain underneath. I was a tiny bit proud of myself for neither weeping nor raising my voice. I simply called into the kitchen to hubby "Any idea how to get a fruit snack stain out of the couch?" Our son went upstairs to get something from his room, and hubby brought a wet towel. He gently dabbed the couch, and the red stain came out. Amazing! Then my son came downstairs and I said "Daddy was able to get the fruit snack stain out of the couch." My son immediately went into the kitchen and gave his dad a big hug. When I saw that, I realized I felt the same way about the stain being gone, so I gave hubby a big hug, too. The thing that surprised me is that my son thought that removing a stain from the couch was even that important. We take a very casual attitude about his clothes: "If we don't get that spaghetti sauce stain out, I guess your shirt will have a little red on it, too." Somehow, without even saying anything, he realized that an extra color on the couch wasn't necessarily a desirable outcome.
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The Spiderman toys at McDonalds are one of the things my son is most interested in right now. This has to be the longest promotion ever, but we haven't been able to snag the one he likes most - The red spiderman with a web (not the one with suction cups). I think we're running out of time on that one.
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This week I bought yeast and bread flour. I own a breadmaker that has not been used in years, but I used to use it all the time. I've got plans to make pizza dough, bread...Lately I've been doing a lot more baking than I have in years.
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There are still a few days to enter the Leapfrog Tag Reader contest!
I'll print it on a t-shirt and it'll make you want to be with me
The mustard has officially been returned. The cashier's response? Yuck. I have been known to use an expired condiment or two; I just don't want it to be a quarter of a year expired when I first bring it into my house.
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Both of my grandmothers were Irish, and hubby's paternal grandparents were, too. At my son's daycare, they like to talk about Leprechauns and their shenanigans. We had some shenanigans at our house this morning. I generally get my son's breakfast ready before he gets up and dressed. Today it was a bagel with cream cheese. I spread some lovely white cream cheese on the bagel. I got my son up, he got dressed, we went downstairs, hubby had been upstairs all the time, and the bagel now had bright green cream cheese on it!!! My son accused me of putting the green cream cheese on the bagel, but I showed him the package of cream cheese, and it was still white. We're pretty sure we had a visit from a Leprechaun while we were upstairs!
I have a completely non-partisan thing to ask you. When people would make rude comments about our last president, or I would see bumper stickers that said rude things about him, it bothered me. Partly because I voted for the man and supported him throughout his presidency, and mostly because I think being the elected president of the United States of America deserves respect, whether you voted for the man or not. So, someone was talking about anti-Obama t-shirts. I did not vote for President Obama, but as I said, I believe the fact that he is our President deserves my respect in spite of the fact that I did not vote for him. I find it disrespectful and tacky to have anti-president t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. Freedom of speech, I understand...But honestly, I think it's pretty darn tacky to wear anti-anyone t-shirts. So, politics aside, what is your opinion or wearing and displaying things that are anti-our president (no matter who that president happens to be at the time)?
Don't forget the Tag Reader giveaway!
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Both of my grandmothers were Irish, and hubby's paternal grandparents were, too. At my son's daycare, they like to talk about Leprechauns and their shenanigans. We had some shenanigans at our house this morning. I generally get my son's breakfast ready before he gets up and dressed. Today it was a bagel with cream cheese. I spread some lovely white cream cheese on the bagel. I got my son up, he got dressed, we went downstairs, hubby had been upstairs all the time, and the bagel now had bright green cream cheese on it!!! My son accused me of putting the green cream cheese on the bagel, but I showed him the package of cream cheese, and it was still white. We're pretty sure we had a visit from a Leprechaun while we were upstairs!
I have a completely non-partisan thing to ask you. When people would make rude comments about our last president, or I would see bumper stickers that said rude things about him, it bothered me. Partly because I voted for the man and supported him throughout his presidency, and mostly because I think being the elected president of the United States of America deserves respect, whether you voted for the man or not. So, someone was talking about anti-Obama t-shirts. I did not vote for President Obama, but as I said, I believe the fact that he is our President deserves my respect in spite of the fact that I did not vote for him. I find it disrespectful and tacky to have anti-president t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. Freedom of speech, I understand...But honestly, I think it's pretty darn tacky to wear anti-anyone t-shirts. So, politics aside, what is your opinion or wearing and displaying things that are anti-our president (no matter who that president happens to be at the time)?
Don't forget the Tag Reader giveaway!
Monday, March 16, 2009
The cheese stands alone
We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night. My son got to choose the main dish for the kids, which, of course, was macaroni and cheese. For the adults, I decided we would all make our own "big sandwich". Hubby and I used to do this every once in a while, but hadn't in years. I bought a big loaf of french bread, some sliced ham, chicken breast and turkey breast, come colby jack and pepper jack cheese (in chunks, because it was on sale - remember this for later), onion, tomato and as a splurge, some delicious cranberry honey mustard we used to buy, but that isn't necessarily budget friendly. After the sandwiches get made, they get baked in the oven.
When hubby spotted the fancy mustard he jokingly chided "Don't let it go bad!", because the last one we bought sat in the fridge so long it expired. I said "I won't - I'm going to enjoy this stuff." I then checked the expiration date to see how long I had to enjoy it. "Sell by 12/31/08" 08. 2008. 3 months ago. I get that sell by doesn't necessarily mean consume by, but I'm not starting out with something that's already overstaying its welcome. The mustard will be returned. All jars on the shelf had the same date. Sigh. I bought some generic honey mustard instead. Fancy mustard: Fail.
Saturday afternoon I got our 4 sided slicer/grater out to slice the cheese. Somehow it rusted since the last time we used it. Fail #2. Hubby said he would slice it by hand, and proceeded to cut some small rectangular bits. As much as I appreciated that, not what I had in mind. It doesn't melt quite the same, and since I had already given up my fancy mustard dream, I wasn't ready to give up the thin cheese dream. I wanted to slice it in lovely thin rectangular slices. I called our friends and asked if they had a slicer they could bring when they came over, and they did. Hubby rolled his eyes as I made the call. I think my friend completely understood, though, and we had lovely, thinly sliced cheese on our sandwiches.
I set out all the sandwich items when our friends arrived, noting the two types of cheeses. I knew hubby didn't like pepper jack cheese, but it turned out our friends don't either. A whole brick of cheese for myself. I can't decide whether or not that is a fail. On the one hand, a whole brick of cheese for myself. On the other hand, it felt kind of selfish to have cheese that only I would eat...
The rest of the meal was delicious. Asparagus - Yum! It's really true what they say about having kids try things a number of times before they start to like them. We had asparagus a lot last summer, and my son would grudgingly try his required "one bite". Now he eats it all. Pasta salad and doritos rounded the meal out, and 3 types of cookies for dessert - One I made, and the others made by our guests.
Wonderful weather here this weekend. We got to spend lots of time outside. We drove past three different parks after dinner last night trying to find one that had its soccer nets set up already because my son wanted to practice his soccer moves before soccer starts in a few weeks. We finally settled for a field with some tree rows that worked pretty well as a goal. We could have just stayed home and set up our own little goal, but we had a blast anyway. :-)
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Don't forget to check out the Leapfrog Tag Reader giveaway!
When hubby spotted the fancy mustard he jokingly chided "Don't let it go bad!", because the last one we bought sat in the fridge so long it expired. I said "I won't - I'm going to enjoy this stuff." I then checked the expiration date to see how long I had to enjoy it. "Sell by 12/31/08" 08. 2008. 3 months ago. I get that sell by doesn't necessarily mean consume by, but I'm not starting out with something that's already overstaying its welcome. The mustard will be returned. All jars on the shelf had the same date. Sigh. I bought some generic honey mustard instead. Fancy mustard: Fail.
Saturday afternoon I got our 4 sided slicer/grater out to slice the cheese. Somehow it rusted since the last time we used it. Fail #2. Hubby said he would slice it by hand, and proceeded to cut some small rectangular bits. As much as I appreciated that, not what I had in mind. It doesn't melt quite the same, and since I had already given up my fancy mustard dream, I wasn't ready to give up the thin cheese dream. I wanted to slice it in lovely thin rectangular slices. I called our friends and asked if they had a slicer they could bring when they came over, and they did. Hubby rolled his eyes as I made the call. I think my friend completely understood, though, and we had lovely, thinly sliced cheese on our sandwiches.
I set out all the sandwich items when our friends arrived, noting the two types of cheeses. I knew hubby didn't like pepper jack cheese, but it turned out our friends don't either. A whole brick of cheese for myself. I can't decide whether or not that is a fail. On the one hand, a whole brick of cheese for myself. On the other hand, it felt kind of selfish to have cheese that only I would eat...
The rest of the meal was delicious. Asparagus - Yum! It's really true what they say about having kids try things a number of times before they start to like them. We had asparagus a lot last summer, and my son would grudgingly try his required "one bite". Now he eats it all. Pasta salad and doritos rounded the meal out, and 3 types of cookies for dessert - One I made, and the others made by our guests.
Wonderful weather here this weekend. We got to spend lots of time outside. We drove past three different parks after dinner last night trying to find one that had its soccer nets set up already because my son wanted to practice his soccer moves before soccer starts in a few weeks. We finally settled for a field with some tree rows that worked pretty well as a goal. We could have just stayed home and set up our own little goal, but we had a blast anyway. :-)
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Don't forget to check out the Leapfrog Tag Reader giveaway!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Leap Frog Tag Reader Giveaway!
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We absolutely love Leapfrog products at our house. My son had the Little Touch Leappad, he had a couple of their other educational toys, including a little piano and an alphabet ball toy. He now has the Leapster. Their products are fun and educational.To celebrate National Reading Month, LeapFrog has started a One Million Hours Reading Pledge and is also sponsoring a giveaway of their Tag Reading System on ten selected blogs.The Tag Reading System has won 16 awards in 8 countries and the Toy Industry Association named it the Best Educational Toy of 2009.
Leapfrog has generously offered to send one of my readers a LeapFrog Tag Reading System bundle, which includes Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham. This prize has a $77.97 value!
To enter to contest, read the review on About.com of the LeapFrog Tag Reading System. Come back and leave a comment telling me something you learned from the review. You must complete this first entry, or the other entries won't count.
For additional entries:
1. You can receive a bonus entry by signing up for LeapFrog’s One Million Hours Reading Pledge, where you can earn discounts and prizes, as well as download a coupon for $10 off the Tag Reading System. After you have signed up, leave me additional comment telling me how many minutes you pledged to read to your child per day.
2. Receive another bonus entry by leaving a comment confirming that you have linked to my contest on your blog.
3. Receive a third bonus entry by subscribing to my blog, and leaving a comment letting me know you have done so.
4. Receive one last bonus entry by following me on Twitter and tweeting about this contest.
That's 5 opportunities to win! This is a great prize, and I would love to win one myself! Even if you aren't a parent, this would be a great gift for a niece, nephew, child of a friend...
You may also enter the contest on one of the other 9 blogs LeapFrog has chosen:
If any of these blogs has not yet posted the contest, keep checking back, because they will!
My contest will end Monday March 23rd at 2:00PM EST. After that, I will randomly choose a winner. The winner will be posted on this blog, and notified via email, provided you have left an email in the comments/in your profile. You will then have 48 hours to respond, or another winner will be chosen instead.
Good luck!!!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
It was bound to happen sometime...but I hoped it wouldn't
So, we had a 2 hour meeting at work. Three employees and two bosses remain who are not on some type of layoff. It may not stay that way for long. The meeting basically said that they could no longer afford to pay us 40 hours per week and to "think about a reduction in hours". I thought about that. I thought about it for the last 22 hours. I thought about it on and off for the last two months.
The other two employees and myself didn't really know if we were being asked to step forward and cut our own hours, or if we were literally just being given the opportunity to think about such lovely things.
I talked to hubby about it last night...and again this morning. We came up with an idea that basically would be a baby step. Hubby suggested that I ask one of the bosses what exactly he meant by think about it; ask if he would like us to step up and volunteer to cut some hours. If that was what he wanted, I was going to offer to cut a half day. Probably less than the bosses wanted, but a symbolic step in offering to be a team player who understands what needs to be done.
The boss has told me that he was not asking for volunteers, just letting us know that this is probably coming. It may be 8 hours cut; it may be 16 hours cut; it may be all of us taking a month layoff. For now, we wait and keep going as normal.
So...That's what's going on. I don't have much more to say about it right now. It's scary. We'll manage, whatever happens...But job security would be great.
Not to be all doom and gloom, I've got a real cool giveaway coming up soon that parents of young children (or aunts and uncles of young children) are going to be excited about! Stay tuned!
The other two employees and myself didn't really know if we were being asked to step forward and cut our own hours, or if we were literally just being given the opportunity to think about such lovely things.
I talked to hubby about it last night...and again this morning. We came up with an idea that basically would be a baby step. Hubby suggested that I ask one of the bosses what exactly he meant by think about it; ask if he would like us to step up and volunteer to cut some hours. If that was what he wanted, I was going to offer to cut a half day. Probably less than the bosses wanted, but a symbolic step in offering to be a team player who understands what needs to be done.
The boss has told me that he was not asking for volunteers, just letting us know that this is probably coming. It may be 8 hours cut; it may be 16 hours cut; it may be all of us taking a month layoff. For now, we wait and keep going as normal.
So...That's what's going on. I don't have much more to say about it right now. It's scary. We'll manage, whatever happens...But job security would be great.
Not to be all doom and gloom, I've got a real cool giveaway coming up soon that parents of young children (or aunts and uncles of young children) are going to be excited about! Stay tuned!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
chicBuds giveaway winner
Congratulations to DCMM, who according to my random number generator is the winner of the chicBuds giveaway.
Thanks to everyone else for playing. :-)
Thanks to everyone else for playing. :-)
Some people aren't meant to have wheels on their feet
When I was around 10 years old, my parents got me roller skates. That didn't work out well. I remember skating in the parking lot of my dad's work and falling so hard that I couldn't speak. I remember skating down the street in my neighborhood and nearly falling, so I grabbed the neighbor's mailbox, and my mom got upset because she thought I was going to pull their mailbox down. So, yeah. I'm not a skater.
When my son got invited to a roller skating party, and I found out that parents were allowed to be out on the rink with their child without skates, I was overjoyed. He took to skating much better than I ever did. After about 10 minutes of fumbling, he took the hand of one of his friends, emulated what she did, and suddenly was more comfortable. Oh, he fell plenty of times, but he always pulled himself back up. He was even able to do the roller limbo. He squatted while skating to get under the limbo bar. I can only imagine the disaster that would follow if I tried to do something like that. So, the first roller skating adventure was a success. Good thing, because there's actually another roller skating party coming up in a few weeks. It's kind of funny...The majority of my son's friends have birthdays between March and June. Last spring there were actually 5 consecutive weeks with birthday parties.
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Today is the last day to get in on my chicBuds contest! It ends at 2:00PM EST.
When my son got invited to a roller skating party, and I found out that parents were allowed to be out on the rink with their child without skates, I was overjoyed. He took to skating much better than I ever did. After about 10 minutes of fumbling, he took the hand of one of his friends, emulated what she did, and suddenly was more comfortable. Oh, he fell plenty of times, but he always pulled himself back up. He was even able to do the roller limbo. He squatted while skating to get under the limbo bar. I can only imagine the disaster that would follow if I tried to do something like that. So, the first roller skating adventure was a success. Good thing, because there's actually another roller skating party coming up in a few weeks. It's kind of funny...The majority of my son's friends have birthdays between March and June. Last spring there were actually 5 consecutive weeks with birthday parties.
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Today is the last day to get in on my chicBuds contest! It ends at 2:00PM EST.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
It won't be long until we switch to AT&T
Remember my high speed internet blues last month? And how they were solved and everyone lived happily ever after? As a part of all that, Charter Communications offered me a digital cable box at a one time cost of $4.00. I would have access to channels that were essentially stolen from us when they "moved them to the digital tier to make room for other programming". I confirmed several times that our cable rate would not increase as a result of having this box, because we already pay entirely too much, in my opinion, for cable. I was assured it would not.
Today the bill arrived, and our monthly rate went up by $5.00. I spent the majority of my lunch break on an excruciating call with Charter. The first person essentially kept repeating the same thing, telling me what the rate was on the bill that was right in front of me. I asked to be tranferred to a supervisor. I held for 10 minutes, and then the supervisor must have had her phone on mute or something, because she could not hear that someone was on the other line. She kept saying hello, I kept answering her, and finally she said "As I am getting no voice response, I am ending this call." I called back, and had to explain the whole story again, and about 10 minutes later, convinced the rep to transfer me to the supervisor I had been asking to speak with in the first place.
She told me that I was given the wrong information when I was told there was no additional monthly charge, that my bill should indeed be $5 more per month. But, since I was given the wrong information, she would give me a $5 credit for the next 6 months. Nifty.
Also, the $13 credit I was supposed to get for my internet outage? They applied taxes and fees, and the credit ended up being about $8. How they tax money you are credited when you were taxed to pay it in the first place is beyond me. She assured me my $5 monthly credit would be an actual $5 credit.
Meanwhile? At the end of 6 months, if they can't offer me something pretty sweet, we will be switching to AT&T Uverse. I hear people don't have as many problems there.
Remember the little girl who was providing way too many details about her parents breaking up? This morning she informed me that her "daddy makes special brownies". Please tell me those are just particularly tasty brownies.
Also - You want to win a set of chicBuds, right? Don't forget to enter my contest!
Today the bill arrived, and our monthly rate went up by $5.00. I spent the majority of my lunch break on an excruciating call with Charter. The first person essentially kept repeating the same thing, telling me what the rate was on the bill that was right in front of me. I asked to be tranferred to a supervisor. I held for 10 minutes, and then the supervisor must have had her phone on mute or something, because she could not hear that someone was on the other line. She kept saying hello, I kept answering her, and finally she said "As I am getting no voice response, I am ending this call." I called back, and had to explain the whole story again, and about 10 minutes later, convinced the rep to transfer me to the supervisor I had been asking to speak with in the first place.
She told me that I was given the wrong information when I was told there was no additional monthly charge, that my bill should indeed be $5 more per month. But, since I was given the wrong information, she would give me a $5 credit for the next 6 months. Nifty.
Also, the $13 credit I was supposed to get for my internet outage? They applied taxes and fees, and the credit ended up being about $8. How they tax money you are credited when you were taxed to pay it in the first place is beyond me. She assured me my $5 monthly credit would be an actual $5 credit.
Meanwhile? At the end of 6 months, if they can't offer me something pretty sweet, we will be switching to AT&T Uverse. I hear people don't have as many problems there.
Remember the little girl who was providing way too many details about her parents breaking up? This morning she informed me that her "daddy makes special brownies". Please tell me those are just particularly tasty brownies.
Also - You want to win a set of chicBuds, right? Don't forget to enter my contest!
chicBuds Giveaway
Once upon a time I had some really cool headphones. They were retractable, at least manually so. I used to bring them to the gym with me (back when I was a member of a gym), and then wind them back up in their little compartment when I was done. Those headphones have long since disappeared, and the ones we have now for the ipod are simply earbuds on a cord. Keeping them from getting tangled is a chore.
So, when I was given the opportunity to review chicBuds, I jumped right on it. Totally by coincidence, I was sent the exact ones I would have liked to have - They were a little less bling-y than the rest, and I'm nothing if not subtle. So, I was happy right away with the look. As cute as the other colors are, they just aren't me.
The retractable function took me a little time to figure out - Because I didn't read the directions that were attached to the cute little bag they came in. You have to pull the side with the earbuds and the side that plugs into your device at the same time, or else they can get tangled and they don't retract properly.
When I used them, I found that they had great sound, and retracted easily when you do it right. The only complaint I have is in design. The clip that you can put on your shirt/waistband/wherever is on a little loop on the center of the unit. This results in it flapping around a bit if you want to exercise while wearing them. If one change could be made, I would suggest that the clip be attached firmly to the back of the center of the unit, so the unit isn't left hanging.
Other than that, it's cute, it works well, and if you aren't planning to run around in it, it should suit you perfectly. Even if you are going to run around with it, you might be able to find a better way to clip it (and if you do, let me know - I'll be working on that myself).
Now, the good part. They also sent me a pair like this. My second favorite ones that they offer. They could be yours! All you need to do to win them is go to the chicBuds site, and come back here and let me know which ones you like best.
For an additional entry in the contest, follow me on Twitter, and tweet about this contest.
You may enter the contest until 2:00PM EST on Tuesday, March 10th. After that, a winner will be chosen randomly. Good luck!
So, when I was given the opportunity to review chicBuds, I jumped right on it. Totally by coincidence, I was sent the exact ones I would have liked to have - They were a little less bling-y than the rest, and I'm nothing if not subtle. So, I was happy right away with the look. As cute as the other colors are, they just aren't me.
The retractable function took me a little time to figure out - Because I didn't read the directions that were attached to the cute little bag they came in. You have to pull the side with the earbuds and the side that plugs into your device at the same time, or else they can get tangled and they don't retract properly.
When I used them, I found that they had great sound, and retracted easily when you do it right. The only complaint I have is in design. The clip that you can put on your shirt/waistband/wherever is on a little loop on the center of the unit. This results in it flapping around a bit if you want to exercise while wearing them. If one change could be made, I would suggest that the clip be attached firmly to the back of the center of the unit, so the unit isn't left hanging.
Other than that, it's cute, it works well, and if you aren't planning to run around in it, it should suit you perfectly. Even if you are going to run around with it, you might be able to find a better way to clip it (and if you do, let me know - I'll be working on that myself).
Now, the good part. They also sent me a pair like this. My second favorite ones that they offer. They could be yours! All you need to do to win them is go to the chicBuds site, and come back here and let me know which ones you like best.
For an additional entry in the contest, follow me on Twitter, and tweet about this contest.
You may enter the contest until 2:00PM EST on Tuesday, March 10th. After that, a winner will be chosen randomly. Good luck!
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
In which my blog material is provided solely by others
The past 24 hours have been filled with little happenings that set off the little alarm in my head that says "I could blog about that!".
1. Coworker returns from lunch yesterday and proclaims "I hope our bathroom is working, because I really have to go!" I chuckled, and he said "I'm serious. I really have to go." First of all, our bathrooms have always been functional, second of all, if it's that urgent, just go. No need for commentary.
2. The local McDonalds has $1.50 hamburger happy meals on Tuesday evenings. We occasionally take advantage of this. We took advantage of it last night because there are Spiderman toys in them that my son is very excited about. So excited that he has been drawing very realistic looking Spiderman pictures. I went in, so I could ask which toys were available. My son only had one of them so far, but I didn't want to duplicate it and I didn't want to take up the drive thru people's time by asking them which were available. I was second in line. Behind me was a grandpa with a grandson very eager for a cookie. The employee was a young lady with a crew cut. I don't know if McDonalds employees wear special shirts when they are trainees, but regardless, this is what the grandpa said when his grandson said "I want my cookie!": "There are other people in line ahead of us. Plus, he's a trainee, so this could take a couple of hours." Really? You get her gender wrong and then flat out say she's slow? Nice.
3. Hubby and I have a conference with my son's preschool teacher this afternoon. Preschool is in the same building as daycare. I reminded my son that if he was on the playground and saw hubby and I arrive, we wouldn't be headed right to get him because of the conference. A girl in his class heard this and said "Just my dad is picking me up, because my dad and my mom broke up. It's my mom's fault, because they had a fight on Christmas Eve." Parents? If you split up, try not to assign blame, at least not as information to be shared with a 4 year old. Whatever happened to "Mommy and Daddy both love you, but sometimes two people just don't get along..."
4. I stopped at the store to pick up a couple of items before work and the cashier asked "Aren't you getting any milk?" I wondered what on earth would make her think I needed milk, then she told me they were having a 12 hour sale with $1.69 gallons of milk! I didn't actually need milk, but I can assure you I ran to the back of the store to get a gallon. Milk never goes bad at our house! I informed a coworker with more than 5 but fewer than 10 children that milk was such a good price, and he said his wife had asked him to get some, too, but he wasn't driving out of his way (5 minutes) to save two dollars on two gallons of milk. That's like getting one free! I would have gotten a couple for him if I knew it were such a big deal.
1. Coworker returns from lunch yesterday and proclaims "I hope our bathroom is working, because I really have to go!" I chuckled, and he said "I'm serious. I really have to go." First of all, our bathrooms have always been functional, second of all, if it's that urgent, just go. No need for commentary.
2. The local McDonalds has $1.50 hamburger happy meals on Tuesday evenings. We occasionally take advantage of this. We took advantage of it last night because there are Spiderman toys in them that my son is very excited about. So excited that he has been drawing very realistic looking Spiderman pictures. I went in, so I could ask which toys were available. My son only had one of them so far, but I didn't want to duplicate it and I didn't want to take up the drive thru people's time by asking them which were available. I was second in line. Behind me was a grandpa with a grandson very eager for a cookie. The employee was a young lady with a crew cut. I don't know if McDonalds employees wear special shirts when they are trainees, but regardless, this is what the grandpa said when his grandson said "I want my cookie!": "There are other people in line ahead of us. Plus, he's a trainee, so this could take a couple of hours." Really? You get her gender wrong and then flat out say she's slow? Nice.
3. Hubby and I have a conference with my son's preschool teacher this afternoon. Preschool is in the same building as daycare. I reminded my son that if he was on the playground and saw hubby and I arrive, we wouldn't be headed right to get him because of the conference. A girl in his class heard this and said "Just my dad is picking me up, because my dad and my mom broke up. It's my mom's fault, because they had a fight on Christmas Eve." Parents? If you split up, try not to assign blame, at least not as information to be shared with a 4 year old. Whatever happened to "Mommy and Daddy both love you, but sometimes two people just don't get along..."
4. I stopped at the store to pick up a couple of items before work and the cashier asked "Aren't you getting any milk?" I wondered what on earth would make her think I needed milk, then she told me they were having a 12 hour sale with $1.69 gallons of milk! I didn't actually need milk, but I can assure you I ran to the back of the store to get a gallon. Milk never goes bad at our house! I informed a coworker with more than 5 but fewer than 10 children that milk was such a good price, and he said his wife had asked him to get some, too, but he wasn't driving out of his way (5 minutes) to save two dollars on two gallons of milk. That's like getting one free! I would have gotten a couple for him if I knew it were such a big deal.
Palpitate
I was sitting at my desk this morning, and suddenly felt weird little butterflies in my throat. Not actual butterflies...Do you know what I mean? I let it go for a bit, but they were annoying me while talking to a coworker, annoying me while on the phone, and annoying me while bringing something to my boss. I sat down and felt my pulse. I was getting a weird triple beat with a pause. I googled "Fluttering heartbeat". Heart palpitations. It actually described an irregular heartbeat coming in three or more beats. Scary. As I pondered whether or not to call the doctor, they stopped. I took my pulse, and it was normal. According to the reputable health websites I consulted, I do not need to worry about a one time thing, I should just keep track, so I wrote it down. If it happens again, I will call the doctor.
A former coworker came in yesterday and informed all of us that he had shared our names and phone numbers with some financial advisor person he is working with part time. Thanks for that, guy. My personal opinion? You should never share someone's number, address, email address or shoe size without getting permission from them. But hey, that's just me.
A former coworker came in yesterday and informed all of us that he had shared our names and phone numbers with some financial advisor person he is working with part time. Thanks for that, guy. My personal opinion? You should never share someone's number, address, email address or shoe size without getting permission from them. But hey, that's just me.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Camping, anyone?
We have never camped on a holiday weekend before, and I know the sites get filled up fast. I checked out what was available this morning, and the two campgrounds we would be most likely to go to are almost filled up already. I had no idea people had their summer holiday weekend camp trips planned by the first week of March!!!
One of our local high schools has an annual event as a fundraiser that features pizzas from most of the local pizza places (chains and otherwise). Everyone gets to vote on the best pizza in three different categories, and the winners can call themselves "the best pizza" for the next year. We've been going to this event for several years with the same family. This year was kind of weird, though. As much as I hesitate to badmouth pizza, and I'm not really badmouthing it, none of them were particularly good. They weren't bad by any means, just not spectacular. We all had to struggle to come up with our choices. All of us, that is, except my son, who confidently declared cheese pizza from Papa John's the best. I ended up voting one of the local places as the best, also for their cheese pizza, interestingly enough. None of the specialty pizzas particularly wowed me. I think the problem is that I didn't even want to try lots of them. I don't much care for sausage on my pizza, and I'm losing my taste for pepperoni...one with feta and ham was pretty decent...Even though the pizza wasn't particularly wow-ing, it was still a fun time. We had plans to get together with the other family at either their house or our house afterwards. We ended up at their house, but we both commented that as we each cleaned our respective house in anticipation of possible company, it occured to us that we "could be cleaning our house for nothing" if we didn't end up at our own house. We all acknowledge that a clean house is a good thing no matter what, but it was funny that we all had the same thought - Like cleaning needs to be for a purpose. Well, now I have a clean house for no reason. Better plan for some company next weekend. :-)
Hey - It's March. That means I made it through the second year of 2009 without any changes being made to my employment situation. That is some great news, and I am thrilled beyond belief to report that. I am hoping to give you the same news on April 1st!
This is my last day with the pedometer for this time around. Apparently I will be wearing it once a week for a year as a part of the study. Something really weird: My steps for both Saturday and Sunday were about half of what they were for the weekdays. What the heck? Apparently I am more active at my desk job than in my free time. The funny thing is, I felt very busy this weekend, and it's not like we just park ourselves in front of a TV or computer all weekend. Weird.
One of our local high schools has an annual event as a fundraiser that features pizzas from most of the local pizza places (chains and otherwise). Everyone gets to vote on the best pizza in three different categories, and the winners can call themselves "the best pizza" for the next year. We've been going to this event for several years with the same family. This year was kind of weird, though. As much as I hesitate to badmouth pizza, and I'm not really badmouthing it, none of them were particularly good. They weren't bad by any means, just not spectacular. We all had to struggle to come up with our choices. All of us, that is, except my son, who confidently declared cheese pizza from Papa John's the best. I ended up voting one of the local places as the best, also for their cheese pizza, interestingly enough. None of the specialty pizzas particularly wowed me. I think the problem is that I didn't even want to try lots of them. I don't much care for sausage on my pizza, and I'm losing my taste for pepperoni...one with feta and ham was pretty decent...Even though the pizza wasn't particularly wow-ing, it was still a fun time. We had plans to get together with the other family at either their house or our house afterwards. We ended up at their house, but we both commented that as we each cleaned our respective house in anticipation of possible company, it occured to us that we "could be cleaning our house for nothing" if we didn't end up at our own house. We all acknowledge that a clean house is a good thing no matter what, but it was funny that we all had the same thought - Like cleaning needs to be for a purpose. Well, now I have a clean house for no reason. Better plan for some company next weekend. :-)
Hey - It's March. That means I made it through the second year of 2009 without any changes being made to my employment situation. That is some great news, and I am thrilled beyond belief to report that. I am hoping to give you the same news on April 1st!
This is my last day with the pedometer for this time around. Apparently I will be wearing it once a week for a year as a part of the study. Something really weird: My steps for both Saturday and Sunday were about half of what they were for the weekdays. What the heck? Apparently I am more active at my desk job than in my free time. The funny thing is, I felt very busy this weekend, and it's not like we just park ourselves in front of a TV or computer all weekend. Weird.
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