Withdrawals and Other Random Stuff

My computer took a giant shit. That's really the best way to describe it, because it's not working. Hubby reloaded the OS and it still doesn't work. So I guess this time I'll actually have to pay someone to fix it. And really this is very unfortunate. I mean, is there ever a time when one can be without a computer? So I'm using Hubby's laptop. I've discovered I hate laptops, because I don't like the touch pad mouse thing. It keeps moving my cursor while I type which me lose my train of thought, which hangs in the balance 100% of the time. There are 5 computers in this house (I'm not kidding), but I can't only access my blog from 2 of them. And one doesn't currently work. And I'm having withdrawals. My kids attend a cyber school, so their laptops are net-nannied to death. If it's not an educational website, the school's system blocks it.

Speaking of school, there are two major announcements! One is that Little Man is officially in 3rd grade. He finished 2nd grade early, and because of the self-paced platform he's enrolled in, he can move on to the next grade. We already have his books and have gotten started. Divine is less than thilled that her little brother is on her 'turf'. She's been doing fairly well, but isn't very motivated this year. Perhaps this will spark some. The other major school announcement is that Hubby is back in school! He left college just shy of graduation, so he is completing his bachelor's and is looking to get his master's. He's aready completed his first semester with straight A's. We're very proud of him!

School and other end of year things have kept me very busy. Divine has many end of year projects due, and Little T has been plugging away at Kindergarten. We just finished Girls Scouts for the year. It seems everyone needs my attention, which leaves little time for blogging. :-( The sad thing is I have TONS of ideas to write about, little things that happen that are so blog-able. BUT...drumroll please...I AM going to the BlogHer conference in August! Kristin and I will both be there together (be afraid, be VERY afraid), and we're counting down the days until the conference!

Speaking of Kristin and blogs, she bestowed upon me an award that is completely COOL! It is the Nobel Award for Awesomeness! It means a lot to me because I never really thought of myself as awesome. Strange in a bizarre, sick and twisted way maybe. Yeah, that's probably how I'd term it. Anyway, she told me I need to pass on this award. That will have to be a separate post (I think it deserves that), but I wanted to thank Kristin for it!

IF YOU KNOW A CHILD, PLEASE READ

If you've ever bought a toy for a child, chances are it was from Fisher-Price or Mattel. You may not be aware of a massive recall of many popular toys in 2007 due to lead paint. I wasn't, and was shocked to see which toys were part of this recall. This has now turned into a class action lawsuit, which Mattel is settling. To see exactly which toys are in this recall, what dates are affected and what to do about it, visit the Mattel Settlement website. Think this isn't a big deal? I'd like to share just some of the character series involved:

Dora the Explorer
Diego (Go Diego Go!)
Sesame Street
Blues Clues
Geo Trax
Barbie
Polly Pocket
Batman
and MORE

My daughter is a huge Dora/Diego fan. I literally rummaged through her toy box last night, pulling out toy after toy affected in this recall. Maybe you're the type that don't like to participate in class action lawsuits. I'm not either, but PLEASE at least view the affected toys so you can GET RID OF THEM. A great number of these toys cater to small children, who stick everything in their mouths. My daughter was tested for lead levels a few years ago, and I was shocked when the results said her levels were high. We combed through our house thinking it could be paint in the house or something. Now that I've read this it makes me think otherwise.

PLEASE don't brush this aside. Please look at the affects of lead poisoning. Considering young children are at high risk, and the fact that MANY of these toys are for this very age group is scary!

Governmental Irony

The Postal Service is losing money at an enormous rate. The Wall Street Journal reported on it today in this article. Now there are many reasons for this, but I figure if they stopped advertising on TV, they may be able to save a couple of bucks.

A few moments ago, there was a knock at my front door. It was a representative from the census bureau, handing me our census form. The government paid someone to personally hand me my census form. It comes with a postage paid return envelope. Now I'm not complaining, the way I figure it there would be some people who wouldn't return it based on that. But to send it out? Wouldn't it cost less to send it in the mail?

Puppies

Meet Justice. At just 10 weeks old, he's a ball of cuteness, energy and trouble. When we went to look at the entire litter, this little guy was a standout. He was alert, curious and playful. The owner was trying to help by removing any of the pups that weren't on my short-list. So while he was picking up the others to bring back to their pen, Justice stood at attention and watched. As soon as his back was turned Justice flipped around and aimed for some packaging that contained food. This guy's a thinker, I thought and that sealed the deal.

He was really great in the car. Divine held him in the backseat with a pad covering her lap while I drove to pick hubby up from work. It was working well until he got car sick on her arm. I have to say Divine was wonderful about it. Despite the stench emanating from the backseat, she remained calm, petting him saying "it's alright, sweetie...it's okay..." while the cold wind blew through the car to air it out. Thank goodness for pet stores! We ducked inside so she could wash off the best she could. The kids thoroughly enjoyed parading their new puppy around the store, lapping up all the oohs and aahs from passers by. Since we had planned on getting a puppy we had all the necessary supplies, but couldn't resist getting a few toys for him.

Hubby was very happy with my choice. My cats weren't nearly as thrilled, hissing and running off as soon as we came into the house. LOL!

2010 Snowstorm

So the 2nd snowstorm in a week's time is finally over. The cleanup is just beginning! I thought I'd share some of the pictures.

To get an idea of how much snow we got, here is a shot of my picnic table. The left side represents how much we have total from both storms, the right is how much we got with this storm alone:

This picture is a measurement of how high the snow pile is left by the plows. It's actually a bit higher than this, but I had trouble stuffing the tape measure down into the snow.

This picture is the best estimate of how much we really got...22 1/2 inches!

After I uploaded these I took a few more which I can share later. I'm just thankful we didn't lose power this round, which is what happened last week! The kids can't wait to get out and play in it!

Bread Farts

So this weekend I was cleaning out the fridge. Not my favorite job, but it was pretty bare and hubby decided to do the grocery shopping. His mantra is 'he who shops decides what we eat.' Since I don't feel like dragging the monsters three with me, he can do it. As usual, my mini crowd congregates while I'm elbow deep in suds cleaning the various parts and drawers. My oldest holds up my container of yeast and asks what it is.

"It's yeast, honey."

"Okay, what does it do?"

"You make bread with it."

She gets a quizzical look on her face and asks how.

"You have to wake them up."

"Like this?" violently shaking the container.

"No, honey. You have to put some in warm water to wake them up. Then you use it in the dough."

"Okay mom...then what?"

Honestly, I didn't know how to tell her about the science of making bread in a simple way. So I said,

"It farts."

"It FARTS?!?!" (Laughs hysterically)

"Yep. You know those holes in the bread you eat? That's created when the yeast fart."

She gallops off to tell her siblings about this, cracking up. I only hope there's a good amount of time between now and the next time we visit my in-laws. I have a funny feeling this new found science of theirs will come to revisit. You see, my MIL is a lady. And when I mean lady, I mean there's no such thing as a fart in her house. She's informed my children they do not fart, they pass gas.

Not skipping a beat, all three come running back into the kitchen.

Little Man: "Mom, does bread fart?"

Little T: "NO! It PASSES GAS! (doubled over in laughter)

Me: "Yeah, you wait and think about THAT the next time you eat lunch!"

Honestly they seem to be delighted with the idea. My kids are as sick and twisted as I am.

The Best of Intentions

Yesterday we went shopping. On one of the endcaps were beach towels on sale, a large stack of them were of the American flag. I looked over at Hubby and said, "There's just something wrong about that." Knowing me as well as he does, I didn't have to explain it. He just nodded with a slight smile and said "yeah". The reference went right over a nearby gentleman though, who got his huff on:

"There's nothing EVER wrong about the American flag!"

Me: "To wipe your wet butt on?"

He drew in his breath to continue on his soapbox, then halted. The mental connection must have clicked as the wind went right out of his sails.

I'm sure the product was made with the best intentions and all, but perhaps they didn't think it through. Maybe that's why they were on sale.