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The Name of Your Game

Barb asked the question of how other blogs got their names. Hers is a very interesting story - I wasn't even familiar with the song, so I hadn't "gotten it." My story is quite boring in comparison, but I just wanted to play...

I started my first blog on Homeschool Blogger, but I didn't know what to say, didn't know anyone who blogged, basically I just didn't get it. Period. It sat there all alone for months. When I was looking around Homeschool Blogger, I saw another blog called Home Sweet Home and I really liked it; it just seemed to fit. I homeschool, have a house full of kids, I'm all about home. Also, I was so un-blogging savvy that I didn't know how important and unique a name could be. It's probably a miracle my site isn't named after gummy bears, something like "Amazin' Fruit!" So now I've confessed my horrible crime: I stole my blog's name from some other poor innocent blogger. Maybe I can start another site and get to use blogger beta, like Brenda; she was invited and I wasn't (can you tell I'm sulking?).

Y'all go visit Barb. She has a way of telling a story that makes me feel like a teenager again. It is also amazingly cool that her whole family blogs. Check out "Just Us Girls" on her sidebar!

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It's a blue (and white, and yellow, and red) ribbon day!
Pal and bow-maker extraordinaire Melissa gave my Lily-pie her first set of custom bows last night, complete with "Lily's Bows" custom bow-holder! I'm just so proud that she didn't immediately start pulling them off of her head. I think she even looks quite pleased with herself (note the newly-walking-toddler mandatory bruise in the middle of her forehead). I realize this has been very much a "Lily blog" lately, but my baby's growing up. Someday she may look back and say, "Mommy did a lousy job with my baby book, but she sure did blog about me!" and she'll know that she was loved (I really do need to get to that baby book).






















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Itza Pizza Meme!




















I was tagged by Brenda, was tagged by Kelli, for this meme adapted by Code Yellow Mom from a game she saw on a pizza box.

What was your favorite thing about being a kid?
My family was really close, both emotionally and geographically. My father and maternal grandfather were in business together and my mother did the bookkeeping. The business was on my grandparents' property, so I went to my grandparents' house after school and my parents were there, too. My great-aunts lived across the street.

My paternal grandfather helped my dad coach my softball team, and we were always around them, too.

I was really close to my first cousin, who was like the brother I never had, and I hate that I don't get to see him often now. I am really close to my other first cousin who was only eight years old when I left for college!

What was your favorite subject in school?
I liked anything literature-oriented, and biology/physiology. I also took a lot of history in college. My major was in Russian, and I love Russian literature (à la Dostoevsky, not that %&#$ Soviet stuff).

Who was your best friend when you were 10?
Laura Davenport. I met her in first grade and we were in the same class every year of elementary school. We never had another class together in jr. and sr. high school, and were never as close.

If you could be any animal what would you be?
As a child, I was fascinated by the lynx. As an adult, I'm probably more of a marsupial-type, like a koala or a kangaroo. I'm very attached to my babies and like the idea of toting them around in a pouch with me.

What would you change about your school, occupation, life right now?
I would take some classes: Photoshop, web design, and maybe a cooking class. I would love to make some money from home designing blog templates; it's a work in progress, but so am I. I wish I didn't require sleep because there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get around to all the projects I want to tackle.

What's your favorite color?
I inherited a love of pastels from my mother and grandmother. I also like apple green (both color and flavor!) and periwinkle blue.

What's your favorite type of crust and favorite topping on a pizza?
I like thick crust and lots of cheese. I loved Godfather's Pizza as a child, but haven't had one in years (they aren't local). Stuffed crust is heavenly. As for toppings: mushrooms, diced tomatoes, pepperoni, spinach. I had a great Hawaiian barbecue chicken pizza last week from Papa John's - love that garlic sauce! The more garlic, the merrier!

I'm tagging:
Melissa @ Silly Pizza
Amber @ Luvinmygirls
Melanie@ This Ain't New York
You're it!


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Solving the Crisis in Homeschooling
I just linked from Spunky Homeschool to a very long but insightful article by Reb Bradley entitled "Solving the Crisis in Homeschooling." In summary, many homeschooling parents who thought they had done "everything right" are finding that their children have not held their (parents') values after leaving the nest. The parents are not only stunned, but troubled and confused as to what they must have "done wrong," which brought about this result. In this article, the author offers his analysis of the situation, including some soul-searching about his own parenting decisions and style.

We are about to begin our fourteenth year as homeschoolers. Over the years I've both experienced and witnessed a lot of the parenting styles and beliefs so common to our breed (homeschooling parents). If I had to point my finger at two of the most prevalent but misguided ideas held by the homeschooling mother, they would be guilt, and a tendency to over-emphasize our role in what our children will "become." If your child were in public school and didn't get into the college of his choice or make a fantastic score on the SAT, would you blame his teachers? Probably not. However, a homeschooling mother will blame herself for these things.

The problem is, there's a flip-side to that coin. If we're willing to blame ourselves for our children's failures, then conversely we're likely to pat our own backs (read: puff up with pride) when they succeed. Does the child take credit for anything? And more importantly, does God? God has a unique "plan" for your child, and you're not going to make it happen or mess it up. It's between that child and Him, not you, and it probably isn't going to fit into your time table, either. Maybe your child didn't get into the college of his dreams because it really wasn't the best environment for him. Maybe God had a plan and a purpose for him somewhere else.

Isaiah 55:8-9 says:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Face it: we are not the ones in control of or responsible for what our children will become or achieve, or not achieve, for that matter. They may flounder; I certainly did. What we are responsible for is doing the best that we can to love that child, and to educate him. Show him his utter dependence on God (not himself or man). You can't do it by beating him over the head with it; let him see it in your own life. Model God's unconditional love to him - that' something the world isn't going to offer - and be ready to catch him if he needs it.

I've seen some things this summer that could have disillusioned me and shaken my faith in the homeschool community, only my faith isn't in the homeschool community. It's in God and His son. People are fallible. He isn't. We homeschool because we believe it is what is best and right for our family. Once we start to believe we are producing "model Christians" or that our kids will turn out better than their non-homeschooled friends, we are doomed to disappointment and failure because we've turned it into being about us and our expectations. The Lord knows the big picture, and it may be years in the making.


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Good results!
Although Lily's testing yesterday was very unpleasant, the doctor's office called today to say the results of both tests were negative, which is good! Thank you for praying! Posted by Picasa


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Prayers, please
Y'all please say a prayer for my sweet little girl today. Because of a bladder infection last month, she goes to Scottish Rite for a renal-bladder ultrasound (to make sure she doesn't have kidney reflux) and will have a catheter inserted to obtain a urine sample to make sure the infection is gone. Even if everything is okay (which I'm honestly expecting) she is not going to enjoy it, and neither am I. Posted by Picasa


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My Word Cloud

I would like to thank Brenda at Rocking Chairs and Rainbows for directing me to this neat idea. It pulls random words from your blog to create this word cloud for you. Go here to try it yourself! Posted by Picasa

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Lessons in Gravity: A Photo Essay



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2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11
I think most of us will always remember where we were when we heard about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I had a 5-day-old baby. I was barely home from the hospital, sleep-deprived, and in my pajamas when Christian, then 6, came upstairs to tell me about the first tower being hit. I went downstairs and watched, with the rest of the country, in horror. I took my tired, sore body back to bed, but every time I would get settled, Christian came to tell me of another unbelievable event: the second tower was hit; the first tower was no longer visible; they were both gone - it just kept coming. Sleep was no longer possible. Although the day's events had a surreal quality, they were frighteningly real.

As the days went by and the stories poured in, I held my baby tighter as I learned of each woman who would deliver her child without her husband by her side. I thanked God that my family was intact and not directly touched by these events, although my cousin was in New York City for a business meeting at the World Trade Center later that day.

I signed up for 2,996: A Tribute to the Victims of 9/11 after reading about it on Shannon's blog at Rocks in My Dryer. Currently 2754 (91.9%) of the victims have been assigned to honor. Consider joining me on September 11, to pay tribute to a victim of the attacks.

Here is a summary of this web event:

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers
will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives,
and not by remembering their murderers.

If you're interested in participating, find out details here.




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Operation Special Delivery
Today I would like to feature Operation Special Delivery (or OSD), which provides volunteer doulas for pregnant women whose husbands or partners are deployed in the U.S. armed forces at the time they are due to give birth.

Doulas are trained birth professionals who provide physical and emotional support for women during childbirth. This free service is being offered as a thank you for the service these fathers are providing for our country, which prevents them from attending the birth of their child.

Please spread the word if you know an expectant mother who could benefit from this service. If this is a program you would like to support, you can make donations through the website, or order such interesting goodies as camo baby blankets.

OSD is an outreach program of CAPPA (Childbirth and Postpartum Professionals Association), the association that I joined seeking certification as a childbirth educator, and hopefully eventually as a doula (when my kids are older).



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The Source of Happiness

Today's Breakpoint Commentary is a good follow-up to the one I posted earlier on the pursuit of happiness.

Vanity of Vanities
The Source of Happiness

August 24, 2006

Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.

Tracy Ballard turns up the volume on her new wireless iPod. She basks in the rays streaming from her bathroom skylight and admires the iridescent glass tiles beneath her feet.

Only the flush of her husband's morning trip to the bathroom could interrupt her enjoyment of this resort-like setting.

When Tracy and her husband, John, of Washington, D.C., decided that their bathroom needed a little upgrade, they didn't stop at new sinks. No, they equipped their tile-covered getaway with a 9-by-4-foot shower, fully arrayed with five shower heads, four body sprays, instant steam, and portable speakers for their iPod.

Tracy and John are just one of many American couples who now deck out their bathrooms with every amenity—including wide-screen TVs with surround sound! A Washington Post article predicted that just this year, Americans will spend $22 billion on luxury bathrooms alone—that's ten times what America will spend on AIDS research! This trend toward increasingly decadent powder rooms reflects a phenomenon author Gregg Easterbrook describes as the "progress paradox." He explains that Americans are wealthier, healthier, and safer than they were fifty years ago.

But here's the catch—the number of people who say they are "very unhappy" has risen 20 percent since the 1950s. And rates of depression are 10 times higher than they were fifty years ago.

What's wrong with our generation? Why are we so unhappy when we have so much?

Clearly, $120,000 latrines are not the answer.

J. P. Moreland, in his new book, The Lost Virtue of Happiness, says that we are miserable because we have a distorted definition of happiness. We describe happiness as a feeling of pleasure achieved through the gratification of our physical and emotional desires. Underlying that definition is the assumption that our lives are our own and it's up to us to maximize comfort and minimize pain.

According to Moreland, we've got it all wrong. The classical notion of happiness (or eudaimonia in Greek), was "a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness"—not a life consumed with self-gratification.

"Real life does not come naturally," Moreland explains. "It is counterintuitive. It is a skill we have to learn. That's because the way to real life is not something we get, but something we give."

The ancient Greek philosophers and our American forefathers understood this, but modern Americans seem to have forgotten it. We've forgotten that we obtain happiness by living out the paradox Christ lays before us in Matthew 16:25: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

A feeling of happiness may be the result of a life well-lived, but it can never be our goal. True happiness abounds when we understand that our lives are not our own and when we practice the spiritual disciplines that lead us closer to Christ—the source of our true happiness.

Maybe, then, we won't need to spend $22 billion to lace our lavatories with gold.

Get links to further information on today's topic

Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship


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What Kind of Cookie Are You?
You Are a Fortune Cookie

You're a rather normal person, except that you have extraordinary luck in life.
People want to be around you (even when they're a little sick of you), in hopes of being lucky too!


I'm not sure this quiz really pegged me. What do you think?


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MW
I found out what MW means: moi! I guess I need to teach that boy French (or at least French spelling).

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I hang with a tough crowd
I almost never cook breakfast. The only times I do are when I prepare something at night to cook in the morning; the problem is that in the evening I forget to plan ahead. Today I found the following hand-scrawled message on the refrigerator:

Make Dutch Puff
or Die
MW hahahaha
love, christian

I'm still not sure what the MW means, but I think the child wants a Dutch Puff.

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Redeeming My Time
I have a long personal struggle with scheduling my household. In my grandparents' home, you ate at noon whether you were hungry or not; lunch was always the big meal; "early to bed and early to rise" weren't just suggestions. My mother rebelled against that kind of structure, and as a result we had a very loose "schedule" during my childhood. That worked for a family of four living in a relatively small town, but I can tell you from years of experience that it doesn't work for a large family living in a big city. I want - no I need - to redeem the time that God has given me, establish priorities and give them proper attention, and actually feel that I've accomplished something by the end of the day.

Being scheduled, organized, or efficient are three very distinct and different things.

I am organized. My CDs are grouped by artist and genre; the books on my bookshelves are arranged by subject area; everything has its place in my kitchen and bathroom drawers and cabinets. Being organized is not the same as being scheduled.

I am efficient. I can cook supper while folding a load of laundry while administering a spelling test while bandaging a scraped knee while talking on the phone while installing a program on the computer with one hand tied behind my back. Being efficient is not the same as being scheduled.

I am not scheduled. Take lunch, for instance. Lunch is usually late, the menu sometimes doesn't change for days at a time (mac 'n' cheese may be fun on Monday, but after four days in a row, it gets a little old), and sometimes the table doesn't get cleaned until supper time. I have actually made a "master lunch menu" which we've started to implement this week. This is my first baby step toward scheduling. Today I trained Sabra and Christian to make Tuesday's lunch. They were thrilled and so was I. Some of you may have been doing this for years and wonder what's the big deal. I, however, have failed to delegate properly and resisted scheduling, not recognizing that a good schedule involving well-trained children should free my life, not complicate it.

Master Lunch Menu
Monday pancakes
Tuesday piggies in a blanket
Wednesday pasta
Thursday Spaghettios/grilled cheese
Friday mac 'n' cheese
Saturday sandwiches

Scheduling suppers shouldn't be too complicated with a basic skeleton schedule. Sunday nights are popcorn and cereal nights (a lifesaver, as well as a family favorite); I think I'll go back to my old routine of homemade pizza for Fridays; soup sounds good for Wednesdays; I'll need something uncomplicated for Thursdays since that will be our busiest day of the school year. I'm working on a meal list containing my repertoire of supper recipes. I've got about 20 listed so far, just working off the top of my head without looking at cookbooks. I spent a lot of time last week on the road with my Palm Pilot and keyboard in my lap, typing away Excel spreadsheets with assorted lists and schedules. I've gotten my inspiration from my 10-year-old copy of Managers of Their Homes (better late than never) and the Large Family Logistics "Do the Next Thing" email reminder loop from Yahoo. I just noticed that Large Family Logistics has a sample lunch schedule which looks much more appealing than mine. Maybe I can branch out once I establish some sort of routine.

Next time I'll share my journey toward scheduling school.

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Pictures from the trip
I've got some serious blogging to do when I settle back in from being gone last week for my grandmother's funeral. For now, I want to share some pictures from our trip. Some dear friends, Jo and Dempsey, of my cousin Blake's are raising a fawn. Dempsey accidentally clipped it with a lawn mower in late June when it was very small (this is out in the country, where you can accidentally hit a deer while mowing!). They took it to a vet and its little leg was put in a cast. The cast has been removed, but they're still raising this cute little fella, feeding him a mixture of goat's milk, baby cereal, and fresh fruit. Here Lily and I are feeding him a piece of cantaloupe. He and Lily were quite fascinated with each other. Although Jo and Dempsey are prepared for it, I know they're going to be devastated when their baby is ready to return to the wild. My cousin, Laura, and I took an unbelievable number of pictures of Lily in her car seat. Since she put in over 1600 miles on the road last week, that's a lot of car seat time. This is a picture of Lily with her new buddy, Kissed, a present from Laura. They say you've got to kiss a lot of frogs...
This picture is of my sister, Jamie, Daddy, and me.
It may be odd to include a picture of my grandmother's casket, but I thought it was so beautiful. She loved pink - even had pink carpet in her living room when I was a kid - so she would have loved those flowers.
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Cabbage Patch Dreams
A few weeks ago I found the following picture as my wallpaper. I laughed hysterically when I first saw it, and it never fails to make me smile. I call it "Cabbage Patch Dreams."  Posted by Picasa


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On laziness
I am taking an opportunity to blog from my cousin Blake's house in Tennessee on my way home from my grandmother's funeral. Although sad, funerals are wonderful opportunities to renew connections with family. They also push us to analyze our lives, motivations, and what forces and influences have shaped us into who we are today. I have had discussions with family members this week who share my lack of ability to indulge in "down time" and my obsession with not being or appearing lazy. Today my aunt told me a couple of things my Granddad Piles would often say:

I'm not going to be caught sitting on the stool of do-nothing.

I'd rather wear out than rust out.


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My Grandmother
My grandmother passed away this morning. I am so thankful we went to see her on Tuesday. There will be a visitation here on Monday evening, then she will be flown 750 miles away to our home state on Tuesday, where her funeral will be held Wednesday afternoon. I am strongly considering hitching a ride with my dad or aunt and cousin, taking Lily, and making the trip for the funeral. The other kids will stay here; between Bryan, Keith (dear friend who volunteered to help, but doesn't know I may take him up on it), and our retired neighbors, things should run pretty smoothly in my absence. I think. It seems that when a really big situation like this occurs, kids tend to "rise above themselves" and I could even come home to a house in better condition than when I left. Or not. Either way, I think I'm going. I'm not sure if I'll have much chance to check my email and my bloglines this week. Hopefully I'll be able to before leaving.

Please say a little prayer for my six-year-old. She has a purple Puffalump, Kitty Cat, which was a present on her second birthday. She is extremely attached to Kitty Cat (actually this is Pretty Kitty, Kitty Cat's "sister," but that's another story), and we've been unable to find her for about five days. Tonight she finally started crying at bedtime, which is when she really wants Kitty. I'm thinking Grandmother's passing made it worse. It's really not going to help if I leave town and we still can't find it.

Blessings to all.


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Glazed Cinnamon Apples & My Kitchen of the Future
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, but I just couldn't resist sharing what's now cooking in my Crock Pot. I got this recipe in an insert from a box of Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. On a hunch I checked their website and found the recipe online, so I don't even have to type it!

Slow Cooker Glazed Cinnamon Apples










6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in eight wedges

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2
cup granulated sugar
1/2
cup packed light brown sugar
2
tablespoons flour
1 t
easpoon ground cinnamon
1/4
teaspoon ground nutmeg
6
tablespoons butter, melted
Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Sugar, oatmeal or ginger snap cookies (optional)

PLACE apples in slow cooker; drizzle with lemon juice.
MIX
granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Sprinkle mixture over apples; stirgently to coat apples. Drizzle with butter. Place lid on slow cooker.
COOK
on LOW for 3 hours OR on HIGH for 2 hours until apples are done.
CAREFULLY
remove lid to allow steam to escape. Spoon warm apple topping over ice cream; serve with cookies, if desired.
Number of Servings: 8-9

Let me tell you, this is some delicious stuff. We are having pork chops tonight, so I thought it would be good over them. I also think I'm going to run get some ice cream. It is amazing served hot over ice cream!

Now on to my second topic:

My Kitchen of the Future

Remember on the Jetsons how intelligently designed their home was? I know it was a cartoon, but it painted a picture of a future filled with technological advances that would assist in home management. This is my dream kitchen: I want all of my food items, including seasonings and spices, to be inventoried, and a "kitchen computer" of some sort which can generate all possible recipes from the ingredients on hand. At times I'm uninspired and can't think of what to cook, and at others I'll realize that the ingredients to a great dish, like the one posted above, are sitting in my kitchen just waiting for me pull them together into some dreamy concoction. What will your dream kitchen contain?


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*UPDATED* Our new puppy...
LILY!

It was bad enough when she would merely stand by the dog crate, opening and shutting the gate, but now she actually CRAWLS INSIDE!

*Update* - Sabra ran in this evening carrying Lily and screaming, "She's eating dog food!" I swept my finger through her mouth multiple times to get it out (yuck!). Sabra was completely grossed out, too. Lily looked a little surprised at the initial gag reflex, but didn't seem to mind the dog food itself. What am I gonna do with this girl?Posted by Picasa

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Thirteen Things I Can't Do Without
Thirteen Things I Can't Do Without

1. My boyfriend. Yes, I'm happily married, but I have a four-year-old boyfriend. I just love it when he leans in and whispers, "I love you, Mama!"
2. My Bissell Steam Cleaner. Do you know what happens when your dog gets into chocolate in the Easter baskets (after not learning her lesson from the Halloween candy)? It isn't pretty, and you'll need a steam cleaner. By the way, dogs and chocolate are not, well, compatible... (let's just leave it at that).
3. Gummy Bears!
4. Ladies' Nights Out with my church sisters - the BEST (both them and the nights out)!
5. Baby snuggles. Can anything be better than a sleeping baby snuggled against your chest? I think not.
6. DSL. I might even sacrifice the gummy bears to keep the DSL, but I hope it never comes to that.
7. My digital camera.
8. My blog - I'm addicted!
9. My Bloglines account. I was so excited this morning to see that most of my good buddies had blogged something new for me to read (Michelle, Trina, where are you? Trina's only, well, buying a house this week, so Michelle I guess that leaves you - get with it, girl!)
10. My family. My aunt told me this morning that my grandmother isn't expected to make it through the week. It's one of those situations where it will really be a blessing for her to pass on; even though the circumstances will be sad, it will be a joy to spend time with my family.
11. My pastor, my church, and my Lord. Although I can't imagine my pastor reading my blog (he really has much more important things to do), he took the time to call me yesterday and talk about a blog discussion I've read and had questions concerning. How cool is that?
12. "Popcorn and Cereal" Sunday nights. This has been our Sunday night menu for the past few months. We usually eat a big meal at lunch, and this gives me a break from cooking. The kids LOVE it!
13. My hubby's patience. I don't think I'm a particularly easy woman to live with. I keep the clothes clean, but seldom ironed; supper is almost always late, my honey-do list is usually ridiculously long; I'm obsessed with learning new things on the computer, which can be time consuming; I'm in my own little world much of the time. I love you, Bun! (One day I'm going to manage to get him to post a comment.)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


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Works-for-Me-Wednesday (Google's Picasa)

This is my public service announcement for bloggers wanting an easy way to upload photos to your blogger blog for most situations. Download Picasa, a free program from Google. I absolutely love the interface, which allows me to see all of the pictures on my computer, separated by folder, and easily drag and drop photos between folders. I choose where on my computer I want it to search for pictures, and each time I open Picasa, it imports any new pictures that I've added to those folders. It also has basic photo editing features, like crop, red-eye reduction, and a handy little button called "I'm Feeling Lucky" which is just an overall photo fixer-upper (that's the technical term, of course). You can also experiment with your photos using black & white and sepia conversion features. You can even download a version of Picasa which enables web albums.

All of this is great, but for bloggers, here's the real kicker: Click on up to four photos, which you can save in your "tray" at the bottom of the screen, and then click the "Blog This" button. Enter your blogger account settings (only once, then it will remember them) and a blogger "create new post" box will pop up, with your pictures loaded, just waiting for you to blog away! I have my digital camera set for high resolution settings, which means I have large files which might not load quickly for slower internet connections. Personally, if I have to wait too long for a picture to load, I keep moving along my merry way (I know - short attention span). Picasa resizes them for me, so I don't have to worry about resizing before uploading. There are also buttons for choosing to send your photos by email, instant message, or burn to CD/DVD.


Picasa isn't perfect. You are limited to four photos, which isn't always enough. There isn't a "back" button when you're typing your post, in case you want to switch your photos. The "add image" button is not merely disabled but actually missing on the "create new post" screen, so you can't add any other images from the internet or from your computer (if you're trying to sneak around that four photo limit). And last, but not least, you only have the option to "publish" or "discard," but not "save as draft," which is what I need right now since I'm really on the ball and typing my WFMW on Monday! What I do in that situation is hit "publish," then quickly run over to my blogger dashboard and nab it by choosing "edit post," and then "save as draft."

For this particular post, I opened Picasa, selected the WFMW logo saved on my computer, clicked "Blog This," and then typed away. After I publish it, I'll save it as a draft to post on Wednesday. I'll also go in and add the Picasa logo and "Blog This" icons from Picasa's website. Usually it isn't nearly so complicated; I just select my four photos and blog away. Maybe Google/Picasa will address these issues in the future and it will be an even better product. Regardless, it's free, easy to use, and suits my needs for the vast majority of posts which include pictures. Oh, and I like that groovy little swirl at the end of the post... Posted by Picasa

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A Full Day
My grandmother has been in a nursing home for a while. Sometimes she's doing well, sometimes not so well. Lately, however, has been worse and hospice was called in last week. The nursing home is about an hour and a half drive, and I knew there would be a good chance Grandmother wouldn't know me, but I decided Monday night that I really needed to go, especially since it could be the last time I saw her alive. I called my sister to see if she could meet me. Although I didn't want to take all of the kids with me (and possibly turn it into a stressful circus), I thought it would be important for the older three to go. Unfortunately, the younger ones really don't remember Grandmother outside of the nursing home. First thing this morning I asked my sweet retired neighbors if the younger three (minus the baby, Lily) could stay with them. They took kids and car seats, and sent us on our way.

I made lots of phone calls during the hour and a half drive. I told my dad that we had removed the back seats from the van and would drive by his house after the nursing home, to pick up a couch we left in his basement last summer. I spoke with my sister multiple times with updates about our the traffic situation along our way. I called Rob, a friend who is one of my dad's neighbors, to see if he could help us load the couch. I called my dad again and invited him to invite us to lunch (smooth, aren't I?), and also chatted with my pal, Karen, who I had hoped could join us for lunch.

I didn't know what to expect with Grandmother, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that she was sitting up in her wheelchair instead of in bed. She opened her eyes sometimes when we spoke to her, and even moved her mouth and tried to say something once. She visibly reacted when Lily would make baby sounds. I held Lily in front of her, her youngest granddaughter, whom she'll never really know. I told her how much I loved her, and I reminisced about the past: her bizarre looking dog, Pugsley; Granddad's dog, Gabby (Gabslab!); how my cousin, Blake, and I loved to pretend we had broken arms and Grandmother would use towels to tie them in homemade slings; a built-in hamper in my grandparents' home that we used for hide-and-seek.

I may not visit with Grandmother again this side of heaven, but I'm thankful for the time that my kids, my sister, and I shared with her today. My dad accepted my invitation and took us all to lunch, and even our friend, Rob, rearranged his schedule and went, too. I made it home in time to get everyone situated before I left for the second night's class in the childbirth education series I'm observing as part of the childbirth educator certification process. Afterward, I installed a mega piece of software which was kindly given to me today. I can hardly wait to play with it, but I'm saving it for tomorrow when I'm awake enough to know what I'm doing. Yes, it was a very full day...

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Hold your horses!
I was trying to change the diaper on my squirming 13-month-old, while yelling, "Hold your horses!"
My 2-year-old looked at me, baffled, and said, "She don't have any horses, Mommy. She don't have any horses in her hands." Posted by Picasa

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Things I Learned Today
Here are some things I either learned or rediscovered today:
  • A foot which has been in a cast for three weeks, even a two year old foot, has some serious foot odor.
  • My four-year-old, Clayton, at times displays masterful comedic timing; his only problem is that when he discovers a line that gets a laugh, he tends to overuse it. Today's one liner was: "This calls for celery!" Apparently this is from a cartoon he watches sometimes, Wonder Pets.
  • It is great fun to cruise down the highway belting out Earth, Wind, & Fire's Greatest Hits in falsetto, while grooving in your seat. Expect strange looks and comments from your kids, though.
  • If they accidentally give you one more Frosty at Wendy's than you ordered (even if you do actually pay for it), it isn't in your best interests to eat two of them.
  • Wendy's now has vanilla Frosties, too.
  • At least two of my kids pronounce vanilla as "banilla."

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