Dear Facebook: I Am Not A Stalker!

I think I found the blog  Go Cheap or Go Home by typing in “frugal mom blogs” into my search bar.  A fellow redhead, she shares my love of living on the cheap whenever possible.  She also doesn’t eat processed foods, something that I have attempted and kind of sort of do when I can but not nearly as much as I should.  She’s cool, and she writes a cool blog that can help you save money, so what’s not to like?

Below is a bit about Denise.

Here’s Denise! Hi Denise!

Denise calls herself a Frugal Living blogger, but really she just likes shopping.  She is by no means a “crazy couponer” who will drop everything to throw a manufacturer coupon on top of a store coupon to pay $1 for Shampoo on sale at Target.  But she has been known to go to extreme measures to save a buck, such as making her kids S-H-A-R-E, or worse, flat out telling them NO.  Every once in a whole, she will share a good four ingredient recipe that even your kids will eat.  Denise likes wine, the cheaper the better, as long as its not Boone’s Farm.

Denis was nice enough to jump at the chance to guest blog for me even though she is pretty busy herself.  I’m planning on returning the favor as soon as possible!  Here’s her post:

There is this dude, who I dated in college. He was a nice enough guy, and we had a “fun” relationship- nothing serious, no drama, no bad breakup, whatever, and for some reason now, I am friends with this guy on Facebook. I really don’t know why? We were no longer dating for a good 7 or 8 years when I actually joined facebook, and he even later than that. We don’t live in the same town, and I’ll probably never run into him out of sheer coincidence.

He does own his own business. Maybe at some time I thought it would be a good networking tool to be his facebook friend? As if I would go and work for my COLLEGE boyfriend one day?

I don’t know. It is making less and less sense to me now. And even less because we aren’t those kinds of facebook friends that witty-banter, or like pictures of each other’s “adorable” kids (Oh, mine are soooo much more adorable. No mine are. No mine are. Just kidding. He doesn’t even have kids. I win.). I don’t know if we even throw a “Like” on any updates for each other that often.

Oh yeah, I remember. He was getting married soon. I may have just been curious about his wedding. From what I can tell, his wife is adorable. Oh wait. I really am a Facebook stalker now, huh?? Only from what I have seen that he has posted! She’s cute, she’s not fat- or what ever degrading comment people try to make about an ex boyfriend’s new fiance.

I think they had a cool wedding. I dunno. I wasn’t invited. I only saw it in facebook pictures..

Okay, hmm. I should stop now, huh? I was trying to go somewhere with this. I can’t really say where that was anymore. Oh yeah. This really doesn’t get much better though.

A few weeks ago, I noticed he posted a picture of a trip to Napa Valley. Of COURSE I looked at the picture. It was Winter and Grey and Cold and MISERABLE, and of course I wanted to see a picture of someone’s vacation to Napa. Anyone’s!!

And then…. because I looked at that picture, his next one showed up in my feed. And next one. And pretty much his whole Facebook journal of the thing, which turned out he was more or less recording and adding to Facebook in Real-time.

Hello, Gruesome accident on the interstate that no one can turn their head away from? This is the college ex-girlfriend stuck at home with her kids watching your Wine Country Vacation on Facebook. Ummm. Yeah…

I haven’t actually been to Napa, but I’ve been to Sonoma. I thought they were more or less the same when I booked the reservations, forever years ago. They aren’t, but I thought I chose the better one. I looked at his pictures, and still thought, yep, I chose the better one. And at first that just meant the Wine Country, but the more, and more, and MORE pictures he posted, I kept thinking YUP, I chose the better one, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t just mean the Wine Country vacation anymore.

On their last day, they went to San Francisco. He posted a status update and I admit, I waited for the pictures to follow later in the day. I actually expected it to feel like a punch to the gut, seeing one of the places I Love MOST in the world, and people who aren’t me having fun there.

There was no Golden Gate. No Alcatraz. No Seals, no ChinaTown, no Powell and Main Trolley cars. I don’t know what they did there; it wasn’t what I wanted to see. I closed the album. I was done. So what if he was off on a couples vacation while I sat at home, mopping, again, and potty training a 1 year old? I didn’t need his facebook version of San Francisco, I have my own little slice of heaven right here.

So maybe there is value in being Facebook-friends with an ex, after all??

Thanks to my Sadder-But-Wiser girl for letting me be a guest on her blog today! Today’s post was a vacation topic for me, as I normally right about trying to stay frugal, really, I’m just Cheap, over at Go Cheap or Go Home. We’re kicking off spring with some awesome giveaways today, so please take a minute to stop by and say hello, instead of using that time to facebook stalk someone!!

Gerard Butler Has Nice Abs…Oh, Here’s The Weekly Wrap-Up

300 Likes On Facebook!

I only fell one short of my goal to have 300 Likes on Facebook by Valentine’s Day.  Saturday evening I got online and saw that I finally reached 300!  Yay!  So that means that 300 people follow me on Facebook, and 225 follow me on Twitter, and 176 people follow my blog, but some of them are the same people… Um, I don’t want to do the math to figure out how many followers I actually have.  I’m very grateful for all of the fans that I can get!

Monday  They Don’t Know That We Know They Know We Know About The Sadder But Wiser Girl  I was challenged by Menopausal Mother to answer a bunch of questions.  So I did.  This is the result.

Tuesday  Phones Behaving Badly, and The Armadillo Fairy Princess Rides Again  My phone is so smart that it runs itself down by thinking too much…

Wednesday  Wordless Wednesday:  The Real World  

Thursday Theme Thursday: Pet Peeves  It’s Valentines Day, and I celebrate by complaining about stuff that bothers me.

Friday  Fly on the Wall February 2013: The Professor Edition  Last month the princess got her fifteen minutes.  This month it’s the Professor’s turn to be quoted.  If you haven’t read the posts by other bloggers yet, you really should!  Follow the links at the bottom of the post and check them out.  Want to participate or just want to know more?  Click on the s Fly on the Wall button on my sidebar.

Saturday A well deserved day off, sort of.  I got to hang out with my Mom and had some great Chinese food.  Then she went home and I went grocery shopping.  I lead a pretty exciting life.

Besides these posts, I can’t say that I did too much with my blog this week.  It was a full week at work for me and Evil Genius.  Since The Professor had a no school day this week, Grandma came up to stay with him.  She kicked the adults out of the house on Friday so that Evil Genius and I could celebrate Valentine’s Day a day late.  We spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place that didn’t have an hour long wait.  Apparently EVERYONE was celebrating VDay a day late!

My Valentines.

Best search terms this week

Chad Knaus shirtless People, there are no naked or shirtless pictures of Chad on my blog!!!  Sheesh…

Pictures of little tornadoes in your hair  ?????

Don’t touch my elf girl  Remember that episode of Spongebob with the guy named Kevin?  “Touch!”  “Don’t touch!”  I am so, so very pathetic…

The cheapest iron man suit on the internet  You’re not going to find it here.

The five stages of pizza  There are stages?

I have no idea what’s to come this next week… you’ll just have to keep checking back to find out.  Bring some of your friends!  I may have gained more followers, but I’m sure not getting the page views!

They Don’t Know That We Know They Know We Know About The Sadder But Wiser Girl

…or an eight year old.

I spend a lot of my time answering questions.  My daughter is right at that age where she is starting to ask about everything and anything.  My son asks questions too, probably a lot more than my daughter, but I can’t usually answer his questions because they tend to be very complicated because they are about science and math.

So naturally I felt obligated to answer a bunch of questions when I was tagged by Menopausal Mother in a post this past week.  It asked a bunch of questions that I had to answer.  How this came about piqued my interest, and I had to travel back in time to the person who had tagged her and then the person that had tagged the person who tagged her and so forth and looked at the original posts.  Marcia made it easy-she pared it down to a mere 25 questions.  The original was 45 questions, and was supposedly some thing they did on Facebook long ago when it was still relatively new!  I joined Facebook because my mom was insistent.  I get aggravated with it sometimes but I’m glad I did it.

For some reason, it made me think of this scene from Friends.  Don’t ask me why…

So without further ado, here are the questions I answered.

1.  WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Not in a mental institution, as some may believe.  I was actually born in a small town in Maine.

2.  WERE YOU NAMED AFTER SOMEONE?
Not that I know of, though my mom did have a good friend named Sarah.

3.  IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?
Two, sometimes it feels like ten.

4.  HOW MANY PETS DO YOU HAVE?
Two.  Sometimes it feels like ten.  Oh, did I say this already?

5.  YOUR WORST INJURY?
It’s a toss up between my whacky post childbirth pelvic misalignment and the time I got my hand slammed and broken in a car door.  Both sucked, and both have affected me for a large part of my life.

6.  DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Not really, after all I am the least interesting person I know.  If you count the ability to sing well, then I guess that would be counted as one-but if you heard me sing lately most likely you would disagree.

7.  WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO BAKE?
Banana bread.  I’d say cookies but that has nothing to do with the baking process itself.  It has everything to do with eating the cookie dough.

8.  FAVORITE FAST FOOD?
I hate fast food.  I really do, which is bad because I’m married to a fast food fanatic.  So my favorite “fast” food is Bruegger’s Bagels.  I’m serious!  I love their Roesmary Olive Oil bagels with Garden Veggie Cream Cheese.  When we’re a little more flush in the money department, I take advantage of their baker’s dozen specials they have and throw a bunch in the freezer.

9.  WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
NO! Speed and heights don’t exactly appeal to me.  I’m not a big adrenaline person.

10.  WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
What people?  There are people?  HA HA!  Their personality and whether they have a good sense of humor.

11.  WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
When I was fretting about taking this substitute position.  As it turns out it is just what I needed-I’m getting out of the house, making a little dough, and getting my mind off of stuff.

12.  ANY CURRENT WORRIES?
You name it, I’m worrying about it.  I’m a professional worrier.  I just wish they’d pay me to do it.

13.  NAME 3 DRINKS THAT YOU DRINK REGULARLY:
Diet Sunkist Lemonade, Coke Zero, and Sutter Home White Zinfandel.  Not together, of course.  That would be gross.

14.  WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?
The Princess Bride by William Goldman.  You thought the movie was funny?  READ THE BOOK.

15.  WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PIRATE?
When I was a kid, I loved a spoof of The Pirates of Penzance called The Pirate Movie.  If I could be a pirate like that, well, yeah.

16.  FAVORITE SMELLS?
Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, Lavender

17.  WHY DO YOU BLOG?
Why do YOU blog?  I blog to have  a place to put the stuff in my head.

18.  WHAT SONG DO YOU WANT PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Either 4’33” by John Cage, or Mozart’s Requiem.

19.  WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
At the moment?  My whole body.  But I’m working on it.

20.  FAVORITE HOBBY?
Scrapbooking.  Don’t turn me loose in a scrapbooking store, you may never see me again.

21.  WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A FRIEND?
A great sense of humor.

22.  NAME SOMETHING YOU’VE DONE THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU’D DO:
Be unemployed, though I guess I’m temporarily employed now.

23.  FAVORITE FUN THINGS TO DO?
Take in a good movie, take a long walk when the weather is nice.

24.  ANY PET PEEVES?
When people ask me what my pet peeves are.  Seriously though, I can’t answer this because I’m blogging about it on Theme Thursday this week.  You’ll have to come back and read all about it on Thursday.

25.  WHAT’S THE LAST THING THAT MADE YOU LAUGH?
My daughter.  I didn’t realize that she had put together her very own costume for the preschool Mardi Gras parade.  She certainly was the most unique one there!

She’s always on, that’s for sure.

And now I get to tag folks-I think Mom’s World can do a fab job with this, but she’s already in the middle of a challenge where she is answering questions, so she may want to decline?  I’d also like to see what Amy at Funny is Family can come up with.  Just A Little Nutty would be a really fun one to read.  Black Sheep Mom is relatively new to my blogsphere-I’d love to see what she says.  The Mommy Ref could put a great spin on this.  If you ladies are feeling like this would be fun, do whatever you want with this-use the questions I have here or take a look at the older posts and see what they did with it!  (And it’s certainly ok to say “NO!” and run away very fast too!)

Here are the links to the other posts that I carefully researched:
Who the Hell is Menopausal Mother? Menopausal Mother
There Was FB Before I Joined? Baking in a Tornado
Going Old School The Adventures of the Family Pants

I was also given two awards this past week by wonderful fellow bloggers.  I’m working on that post as well, and I HOPE it will be up sometime later this week.

FINALLY-only a couple more days of the silly contest.  Please keep voting to keep me in the  Top 100!

What I Learned in 2012: An Introverts Introspective Retrospective

Hey it’s almost 2013!  Did you know I actually LEARNED stuff this year?  I honestly can say this year was an extremely valuable learning experience!  I’m gritting my teeth and grinning like an idiot as I say this, because some of the lessons weren’t so fun.  And they say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  They are wrong.

1)  Never ever use the following words in your blog, lest ye have weirdos, pervs, and pornographic spam:  Penis, naked, sparkly boobs, poop, pee, Chad Knaus.  The others make sense, not so sure about the last one.  On a related note, any time I want a laugh, I just go look at the search engine terms that people used to find my blog.  Which ones were the best, well that’s another post (in other words, stay tuned)!

He probably reads my blog. Must be a Chad Knaus fan.

2)  You can pour your heart and soul into a job, but in the end it don’t mean a thing.  Especially if it ain’t got that swing.  (Doo-wop doo-wop doo-wop…) We love you and all, but your position is being taken over by a taco.  It happened to me.  And I’m learning it’s not the end of the world.

3)  You can lead a man to underwear, but you can’t make him find it.  Ok, so I was a LITTLE behind on the laundry, but I did manage to get a couple of pairs clean.  I then laid out some of the clean clothes.  I even made SIGNS!

Some guys just don’t pay any attention!

4)  Twitter is where it’s at.  Mainly because Facebook is a total douche for the blogging population.  Pay for people to see my posts?  No thanks.

Why cats don’t use social media.

5)  Need friends?  Blog.  The ladies I have met in the blogging universe are the most wonderful, supportive community one could ever ask to be a part of.  I get all verklempt just thinking about it.  There are too many to name, but you know who you are!

What would we do without the internets?

6)  Underwear and butt are the funniest words in the universe. At least in my house.  Knock knock!  Who’s there?  Underwear! Underwear who?  Underwear Pajama Butt Pants!  Funny stuff, man.

The book the kids had to get for their little cousin for his birthday? They think it’s the funniest book ever.

7)  Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you need medication.  I probably still need it, I just can’t afford it.  Blogging IS terrific therapy, however.

Crazy ideas, crazy lady.

8)  Four year olds only appreciate chores that have an element of danger to them.  Combined with seven year olds and grumpy genius husbands, ideas for stories on here are always an imminent possibility.

This chore did not have enough danger in it.  We put in her charge of cups, therefore she tried to make us rue the day.  You can see I’m REALLY upset about this.

9) Just like in everyday life, your blog will have ups and downs.  Some days people will make you feel like you’re on top of the world, other days you’re as popular as a booger.  You just have to roll with it, just like in real life.  Oh wait, this IS real life.  Or IS it???

Amen.

I know I learned more than that, but these were the best and most interesting things I’ve learned this year.  (WHAT? Uninteresting things are in my head?  Believe it or not, I’m afraid so!)  I realize that we still have a handful of days left in 2012, but with it being almost the weekend and then a holiday, I’d rather assume that I’ve learned everything I’m going to learn this year.  Have you learned anything valuable this year?  Feel free to share!

Family. They’re important!  But I already knew that…Isn’t my family good looking?

The Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge: The Rest

I haven’t forgotten about the blogger challenge through A Little Unhinged. I’ve just been really busy with stuff like, receiving AWARDS (yes, people like me for some reason), not sleeping, and getting ready for the holidays.  Now I’m back to finish it up.  Today I’m answering all of the questions that I know won’t take a whole blog post to answer.  I realized that after we started the challenge that the questions were changed a little, so I may be answering some that aren’t on the list any longer!

What are your fears?

I also hate things that pop up suddenly-I can relate.

One of my biggest fears is something happening to my children.  I have lots of dreams where I’ve lost them.  I mean, like I can’t find them.  Dreams for me are so strange anyway.  I also dream about losing my husband.  Now as an ADD person, losing things is highly typical.  Just not children.

My other fear is natural disasters-specifically the more weather related ones.  I probably am afraid of these because it is something totally beyond my control.  My whole life seems beyond my control these days!  I actually have legitimate fear of tornadoes.  As a child we traveled home to see relatives during tornado season.  We were held up during one part of our route, and that turned out to be a good thing.  If we had been on schedule we would have been smack dab in the middle of a horrible tornado.  It was a scary night-I remember it vividly to this day.  The eerie cast to the sky, seeing all the destruction as we drove-telephone poles in the road.  And the radio broadcast-the stories they told. One woman got in her bathtub for safety and took a little ride in it.

A few years later when we were living in Maine my mother and I went shopping an hour and a half away from where we lived.  On the way back, a fuse went out and we were left in our Toyota in the dark, waiting for my dad to come help us.  It was a night of horrific weather with spectacular electrical storms.  This was very scary for me, even though we were probably in the safest place that we could be.  A lot of it probably had to do with that night in Iowa, but in Maine, thankfully tornadoes are very rare.

I can’t watch those shows about the super volcanoes or about the giant earthquakes or about giant asteroids smashing into the earth.  I just can’t!  They scare the bejeezus out of me.

What are your hobbies?

I scrapbook.  Or at least I used to.  Then life got in the way.  It was my release.  I am hoping getting my printhead ordered tomorrow so I can get back into it.  Much like my blogging, it takes up a lot of time because I am a perfectionist about it!

It’s true!  (ignore the typo)

The last couple of questions I saved for last.  This is because I am not real technically savvy when it comes to blogging.  If I hadn’t hooked up with A Little Unhinged, I’d probably still be walking around like a blindfolded person!

What are a couple of your favorite blog tools that you use?

Top blog tools that I use?  Ummmm… a laptop?  Maybe I should just say Bonnie Franks, she’s awesome at answering questions and helping you get things figured out on your blog!

Social Networks/Blog Communities that you want others to know you’re a part of.

Why cats are lousy with social media

Social Networks that I am a part of?  I have a fan page on Facebook, I use Twitter but not as much as I probably should (it is fun to do what I call “Twitterdropping”, where you read conversations that other people have on there.)  I have a Pinterest account that I’ve had for a long time, I just haven’t quite figured out how to link up to it yet.  I’ve joined SITS.  I’ve done a couple of Blog Hops.  I have an account on BlogHer and Networked Blogs.  I’m a member of the Bearded Iris’s #PMSClub on Twitter, does that count?  I created an account on Circle of Moms, but haven’t done anything else with it.  I have an account with SparkPeople through my other blog, Aluminum Girl, that I NEED to do more with but haven’t.  If you know of a social community that I SHOULD be a member of, or you WANT me to be a member of, please feel free to tell me about it!

And that’s all I’ve got for this challenge.  It’s been a lot of fun sharing.  It has also really helped me out-I’ve been inspired to change my blog to work better for me, and am trying to implement some changes that will help all of us connect better.  I have icons to load on there, and I am trying to make a blogroll on my sidebar that includes the blogs I read every day, not just the WordPress ones!  I like giving credit to people who have great blogs!

If you haven’t been participating in the challenge and want to, there’s plenty of time!  I couldn’t get the button right on my blog, but you can click on the link to A Little Unhinged and it will take you to the page where you can get going on it.

I hope you have enjoyed reading all of this!  😀  I leave you with this:

ALL THE CHALLENGE POSTS RIGHT HERE!:

This Could Be Fun:  I’m Doing The 15 Day Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge, Where I Grew Up, Favorite Childhood Memories, School, Work, Life, Friends, Family, Goals, The Why and the What, The Top Posts, The Blogs I Visit

Thankfulness With A Touch Of PMS

This is Gilda, the famous toilet paper roll turkey. I put this on here because I’m thankful for my kids. And toilet paper.

I tried the whole thankful thing on Facebook for awhile.  After a few days I just stopped.  It’s not that I stopped being thankful.  Does the world really need to know that I am thankful for yogurt?  It just seemed silly.  But really I AM very thankful.  I just feel weird voicing it.

Thanksgiving is in two days, and lo and behold I’m stricken with PMS.  It will make for some AWESOME holiday eating, if nothing else.  Here I wanted to write this post, and I’ve been weepy and crotchety all day.  Then again, this could be fun.  Let’s see what comes out of my little head.

What Am I Thankful For?

My Kids-We had a moment today.  All of the money crap came to a head today, and I lost it.  Sitting in the living room in the middle of what could only be described as a laundry stonehenge, I sat bawling my eyes out.  My daughter came in, concerned, and asked what was wrong.  I told her I would be ok, I was just having a hard time not being able to help out with the money right now.  She smiled, kissed me on the head and said “I know what you can do.”  I didn’t say anything.  “You can just do Mommy things.”  And she walked away.  Wow, what a smart, sweet, awesome kid she is.

My son makes sure that he lets me know on a regular basis that despite the fact that we eat things like pasta here, that he is very lucky to have me as a parent.  We struggle a lot with his ADD and other issues, but he is a really neat kid.  And you should see him dance-it’s like nothing you’re ever quite experienced.  No coordination, no control, just crazy arms and legs going everywhere and a great big grin on his face.  I love it.

My Husband-He works and works and works and works.  Occasionally he even spends time with us, and often the gears are still going in his head while he’s with me.  That’s ok.  Someday I hope maybe I can work too.

My Parents-If it weren’t for my Mom and Dad and all the help they have given us with different things throughout the years, I’d probably be laying out on the railroad tracks somewhere in my underwear.

Our House-It’s old, like 112 years old.  It’s not pretty on the outside- it needs painted, a new roof, windows replaced.  The inside isn’t much better-appliances need fixed, we could use new furniture, new everything.  But it’s a roof over our heads, and I’m good with that.

Blog People-These are not like the Pod People.  I’m talking about the gals (and some guys too) who do this thing too.  We all get each other.  I don’t really have any friends around close, so it’s nice to have someone who is there when you need it and will help you out.  Thanks!

Bill Collectors-If it weren’t for these guys, I wouldn’t know my phone worked.  I’m hoping they are happy for people like me.  After all, we’re what keeps them in business.

Mountains of Laundry-I am thankful for all of those heaps of laundry because that means we actually HAVE clothes.  I just hate washing them.  And folding them.  And putting them away.

Those Little Things-You know, that thing that happens when things seem hopeless that keeps you going a little longer.  I had one this past week.  Just when I thought it was the bottom rung, I got a letter in the mail reminding me that we still had $100 left in our food stamps from the beginning of the year that we needed to use as soon as possible.  I called and got another card.  That could not have come at a better time.  We really needed that.  This isn’t the first time this has happened.  Two years ago, our basement flooded with sewage and the furnace was ruined.  I was working but making very little money at the time, and my husband was laid off.  Insurance does not cover sewer back up.  This was it, there was no extra money to buy anything.  But miracles do happen.  Since we had people weatherizing our house, they were able to include a brand new furnace as well as a sump pump as part of the weatherization.

Food-In particular, comfort food and wine.  You know what I’m talkin about.

And everything else-I probably forgot about 3,529 things that I should probably also mention.  It’s not that I don’t feel gratitude, it’s just that I can’t write a blog post that long.  And there’s too many holes in my brain to retain them that long.  😀

I can most of the time.

The Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge: Friends

I’m doing the Getting To Know The Blogger 15 Day Challenge, started by A Little Unhinged.  I’ve been answering these questions a little out of order, and I apologize for that!

5) Who were your closest friends as a teenager?

Because I moved often, lasting friendships were hard to find as a child.  Since we’re talking about high school friendships, I actually attended two different high schools many states away from each other.  I started my high school years in Florida.  I hung out with a group of girls who were smart, had wonderful imaginations, and loved books and movies like I did.  When my parents had to move back to the Midwest when I was in 10th grade, I was devastated.  We all stayed in touch for awhile, but as the years progressed we lost touch.  Enter Facebook.  I have been able to reconnect with most of my good friends from that time.  That has been awesome!

As I said, we moved back to my parents hometown when I was in 10th grade.  While I never felt like I fit in like I did in Florida, I did make some good friends.  One of my very best friends was a transplant like me who was in the grade ahead of me.  What I admired most about her was the fact that she never was afraid to be herself.  I, on the other hand, as always afraid of what people would think of me when I let my true colors show.  Another friend was in the grade below me, we shared a similar crazy sense of humor.  I also had my friends from band and some of my honors classes, whom I spent a lot of time with.  Again, I haven’t been the best at keeping in touch, since I moved away from there for college and then for good when I married my husband.  I’ve found most of them on Facebook.  I never see anyone in person, just in print!

While high school wasn’t my favorite time of my life, I do smile to think about the people that I was friends with and have been able to reconnect with in the last few years.   I miss having friends like I did back in those years.  As you’ve figured out, I’ve never been very good about keeping in touch or staying in contact with people, especially in the last few years with all that has happened in my life.  Note to self:  Work on that!

Previous Blogger Challenge Posts-This Could Be Fun:  I’m Doing The 15 Day Getting To Know The Blogger Challenge, Where I Grew Up, Favorite Childhood Memories, School, Work, Life

One Mom Dragged Into the 21st Century

I’m wondering if I will have this conversation with my kids someday?

I guess I could say I’ve come a long way the last few years.  In this past year you could say that I almost am current with technology. ALMOST.  I will probably still be one of those parents whose kids understand the stuff better than I do.

I’ve had this blog set up for awhile to post on Twitter.  That’s all I’ve done with it, because I tend to shun whatever everyone else is doing.  I don’t necessarily desire to be like everyone else (not to mention I didn’t really understand it).  Like I watched Desperate Housewives until everyone else was raving about it, then I lost interest.  I don’t watch Reality TV, or anything that normal people really like.  I never even really texted until my I figured out it was the only way I could get anything through to my husband (because EVENTUALLY he would look at his phone).  Honestly I didn’t have a smartphone or a laptop for quite some time.  The most advanced thing I did for years was pay bills online.

However, I succumbed to peer pressure this weekend from The Bearded Iris, a very funny lady who writes a very funny blog.  She wrote a blog about PMS, and I shared my somewhat witty post with her.  She told me I had to “Use the Twittah”.  So I gave her my handle.  Not only did she hook me up, she even gave me a shout out on Twitter.  How nice!  In addition she referred me to  “Some Twitter Truths You Need To Know” on her blog, which is actually pretty handy. ADD me is going to have to print it out and use a highlighter to figure it all out, because that’s how I roll.  I know, how ironic is that?  People who use paper, funny, right?

So I went forward with it, made a few comments and posted a few tweets of my own.  I am now a proud member of the PMS Club.  I’m not sure what the membership cards will look like, but it’s nice to have someone to commiserate with.  I also found some new blogs to follow, as well gained a bunch of followers myself.  That’s cool!  Welcome to all the new followers, I hope I’m entertaining enough to keep people coming back, and more coming to take a look.

While I am busy not trying to get too attached to technology, The Professor is using an Ipad at school.  The school got a pretty cool technology grant, and I believe they have enough Ipads so that there is one available for each student to use in the classroom.  That’s all I have hear about are these Ipads.  I am sure they are cool, but no, we are not getting one any time soon.  I’d rather spend my money on more important stuff like, oh I don’t know, my utility bill?  He and the Princess are stuck playing games and visiting websites on the ancient Dell laptop that got me started actually doing stuff on the internets.  I bought the laptop after getting tired of fighting my husband to use the desktop computer, since I had extra money coming in at the time with my preschool music classes.  This is the computer that I swear caused the economic downturn-I ordered it off of Dell and the day it arrived my husband’s workplace announced they were shutting their doors.  Nice timing, Sarah.  I shouldn’t have been surprised that right after I got my smartphone the place I worked decided that my employed decided to downsize my job.  I should have recognized the pattern by now, I buy something for myself, bad things happen!  I really need to stop that.

I now have my husband’s refurbished laptop, while he got the laptop that would supposedly take over the world.  You have to have that stuff when you’re an Evil Genius you know.  Having a computer that actually can do stuff has been great.  That was what helped me finally get into blogging.  I actually watch stuff on YouTube.  I spend way too much time on it, but then again, I don’t have a lot else to do these days.  I’ve done a few other things with it that haven’t quite come to fruition.  Like getting Photoshop Elements when it was really cheap.  It’s great, if you know how to use it!  Instead, I continue to use Picasa.  The Grocery IQ program?  Working better than I had intended, but it’s not foolproof-if your phone doesn’t get charged like it should and it dies on you, you have no grocery list to look at.  That didn’t work so well…

While I’m raving about my new feats and good intentions in technology, the rabbit ears are revolting on us.  I publicly fired PBS on Twitter this past week for no longer coming in on the TV, even if we sat perfectly still.  How dare they!  I’m not sure if conditions have to be perfect or what.  Princess Tantrum was most unhappy, and I realized just how much I get done when she has her couple of favorite shows to watch.  I tried turning on their laptop and letting her watch her shows on the website.  She didn’t like that.  She would watch a little, play a game, and then shut the laptop off after a few minutes.  Then she would tell me she wasn’t done, and we’d start all over.  We’d have to turn it back on, wait for it to boot up, etc, etc.  Remember my great idea that we could just hook up the laptop to the TV and watch our shows?  If I could only get him to relinquish the thing for a little while, this might just happen.  Damn you, Bejeweled Blitz!

So we’re about halfway there, but I doubt we’re ever going to be the most current ones on the block.  How up are you on technology?  Do you think you could live without it?  I’m sure I probably could, but I definitely would miss it!

Well that’s certainly one way to look at it!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite… Blogs

Do you have the song stuck in your head?  Yes you’re welcome.

Today I wanted to take a break from my Idea Diarrhea a bit and share some of the stuff that I really like (not things I love so much I want to marry them, that’s a different post).  I read a LOT of blogs every day.  I guess I have to consider it research.  I just love to read, and give me a good story with a good laugh or two and I’m hooked.  I’m a Mom, so most of the blogs I follow are Mommy blogs, though looking at my list there are a few that are not.

So here are 15 of my fave blogs.  If I had an award to give, I would.  I’m kind of broke but I’m sure I could come up with something.  A trophy made out of homemade playdough?  A sculpture made out of old Cheerios?  A year’s supply of dryer lint?  Hurry and get yours today before the dog eats it.

Parenting, Illustrated With Crappy Pictures-I have said it before and I’ll say it again, she is so funny!  I love the illustrations she draws-it’s certainly unique.  This is the blog that more or less started it all for me.  Her sense of humor inspired me to use mine.  It’s good when funny people use their powers for good and not evil, don’t you think?

Scary Mommy-I love this site!  You will feel better that you are in good company of the not so perfect Mommies if you visit this site.  Read the Confessions IF YOU DARE!  You may very well feel much better about your parenting skills.

Attack of The Redneck Mommy– Here is one lady I really admire-she’s not afraid to be her own funny, original self.  She’s raising two teens and a child with special needs, all the while maintaining a wicked sense of humor.

Motherhood is an Art-An inside look at Motherhood to three adorable children.  Lots of good storytelling.  I can certainly relate to her!

The Domestic Goddess-Fellow redheads unite!  Marj Hatzell deals with life with the best sense of humor.  I found it by accident one night and have been a loyal follower ever since.  She’s awesome, you should read it sometime.

Dumb Little Man– As it says, it’s tips for life.  It is.  Good useful stuff.

Adrea in Wonderland– Ever read one of those blogs where you think, wow, I wish this person was my friend in real life because she’s cool?

Lady Or Not…Here I Come-This one is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended by stuff that is a little, um, naughty.  She is , however, one of the best humor bloggers out there!

stark.raving.mad.mommy– I follow her on Facebook.  She posts on a lot of different sites. Good stuff!

Rants From Mommyland– I just recently started following this blog.  She will make you ROFLMAO.

Super Healthy Kids– I started following this blog trying to find healthy lunch ideas for my son.  I’ve had not so great luck with him, but have found some winning dishes for the other little eater in the house.  I love fun, healthy food!

Girl On The Contrary-I found this blog through the comments on a WordPress forum about humor, I believe.  I love her perspective and her observations about, well, everything.

dirtyrottenparenting– Another blog I found through a forum, and so glad I did.  Funny stuff!

Aiming Low– This is a humor blog that is a collection of a lot of different stuff from different people.  I’m hoping to be published on here sometime soon.

My Brain on Kids–  Another great funny blog about parenting (and Adam Levine)!

I hope you maybe find a new blog to love by clicking on these links!  Is there a blog that I should be reading but am not? Let me know!  Do I follow you and you follow me and you’re sad because you’re not on my list?  I love all the blogs I follow, but I don’t have room to list them all on here!   So I picked the ones I a) comment on the most b) post frequently and c) I’ve followed for more than a month.   🙂  I don’t want anyone sad (or burning down my house).   Maybe you’ll make my next list. *wink*

Extreme Geekdom, Iron Man Style

Guess what this is?

For those of you who have read my “About” page, as you can see by the picture above Evil Genius really did make his own arc reactor.  Now it’s not real-all it does is light up, but it looks REALLY cool.  It’s LEDs and a power source, nestled into a pvc pipe vent that has been hollowed out and the design cut into metal by a laser.  Oh and vellum, that was my contribution.  It’s actually part of his cubicle sign at work, but this part he worked on for quite some time at home.

(Just in case you haven’t noticed, we are geeks.)

At some point in this process, Evil Genius promised The Professor that he was going to make him an Iron Man suit of his own for Halloween.  He wasn’t thinking at the time that The Professor would remember. He did.  I ended up buying him a cheap Iron Man costume at Target last week.  There were two different costumes.  The $20 one had muscles.  As far as I could tell, that and the glow in the dark arc reactor were the only differences that I could tell between that and the $10 one.  Needless to say, I bought the cheaper one.

Me being me, and the wife of an engineer, I had to make it light up somehow.  I jokingly asked Evil Genius to make him his own arc reactor.  Not going to happen.  Then I had a vision.  At Lowes they have these lights that look remarkably like the arc reactor in the movie.  Lowes is not a place I get to very often. It’s not like it’s out of my way, it’s just one more place to stop when I’m out running errands.  I checked the light section at Target while I was there, but it didn’t look enough like what I was going for.

Now who cares that a seven year old’s costume that happens to have the middle light up is authentic looking.  Apparently I do.

Today we finally made it Lowes after renting movies.  The light, while not exact, looked pretty darn close to the one in the movie.  So I shelled out the money, and have spent the better part of the afternoon trying to figure out how the heck to attach it.  The first idea was to sew a pocket onto the inside of the costume, and slip the light in that part.  I don’t want stitches showing.  So that idea went away.  My second idea was to use the circle of velcro that came with the light.  I had my son put on a black shirt, then the costume over it.  I slipped the light in between with the sticky side up against the shirt and stuck it on.  Then I sewed the velcro to the shirt.  Looks great, but it’s pretty obvious that the light probably won’t stay on.  The additional part didn’t work-I cut circles of velcro in half and stuck them to the light and to the inside of the shirt.  You could see the half circles of velcro through the costume when the light is on.

The light, attached to the shirt, with the velcro that I have since removed from the front.

This is kind of what it looks like shining through.

This is what I’m actually trying to light up.

So that’s where I’m at.  I’m not sure where to go next here.  Suggestions are welcome.  I’m sure I’ll come up with something, it may just take some time.

Here’s the funny thing, this isn’t an abnormal situation at our house.  We always seem to have something a little strange brewing.  Some days I don’t think we are just geeks, we are EXTREME geeks.  Now granted, I’ve seen people take it to extremes on the internet.  I’ve seen people get married in full Klingon garb and wear their Star Wars costumes around for fun.  But we get into the technical stuff, and that’s a little scary.

I think Tony Stark would be pretty darn proud of my ingenuity. Oh wait, he probably wouldn’t care. He’s a narcissist.

Halloween in my family has never had a shortage of creative costumes.  As an adult, that creativity has been stifled in me somewhat.  Mainly by a husband who doesn’t care for Halloween.  Also because I just haven’t had much opportunity to dress up.  This year, the kids are getting old enough that I can really have fun with it.  We have the house mostly decorated, we’re working on the costumes, I’m getting my geek on in a big way!

I’ll keep everyone posted on the costume.  I’ve had a couple of suggestions from friends on Facebook.  Maybe between that and the old brain, I’ll come up with an uber brilliant idea…

(Incidentally, just as proof that we aren’t just geeks, but well rounded ones- The whole family actually got to go to the football game this time.  It was meant to be.  Not only was it perfect weather, but the eagerly anticipated half-time performance from the marching band just happened to be music from Star Wars.  This was enhanced by the summary of the football season thus far scrolling on the big screen in a Star Wars type title sequence, as well as a mock award ceremony on the field with people dressed up as Star Wars characters.  It had to be one of the coolest things I had ever seen.  I don’t know if anyone else shared my enthusiasm outside of my family sitting with me, except maybe the guy who comes to the games in the Clone Trooper helmet.)