We know what Santa is bringing the boys this year!
I know, I know, it's only March, but I just had to tell you!
This year, Santa will be bringing the boys their very first joint gift, a notebook computer.
I *THINK* that's what they are called, anyway. We are going to get them one of those teeny tiny laptops! I've been talking to different people on twitter who have bought them and like them, and I just think it's an awesome idea!
My husband was worried becuase he had heard the tiny laptops were only good for going online and nothing else, but the one I am looking at has Windows, and if it has Windows it will have a word program of some type which means Parker will be able to use it for school. Right now, Parker is sitting at the kitchen table with - no exaggeration - 40 pieces of paper I have printed off the school website working on his grade Four Saskatchewan Research project.
It was either print it out or lose the computer for hours and hours at a time while he works on his project, and we all know how addicted I am to the computer!
BUT!
After Christmas, when they have their own laptop, Parker can work right off the internet without me having to waste time (and money) printing out the pages. Plus, I've checked and the notebook memory and storage they have available will well suit their needs.
Right now, other than fooling around on a few of my Facebook apps, or playing at MiniClips, the boys don't really go online, the pictures the boys take are stored on my computer so they won't take up space, and with a flash drive (or large memory card) Parker can transfer his projects to my laptop after they are done, freeing up space on the tiny one!
Honestly, I thought it would be harder to convince Micah that this is the direction we should go this Christmas, but once he took the time to check out the notebooks I found online, he is now in agreement with me.
Of course, we won;t be actually purchasing it until closer to December for two reasons : 1. to take full advantage of the Factory Warranty, and 2. becuase I have a hard time keeping secrets from the kids and I just know that I would spill the beans if it was shit up in my closet for months and moths waiting for Christmas Morning.
I'm SO excited!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
BED TIME!
I love bedtime. Wait. Strike that. I'm not a huge fan of ending my night and going to bed, but hot damn, once I am IN bed, I never want to leave it! Crawling into my heated bed (We live in Saskatchewan and get -50 or lower temperatures six months out of the year, so a heated bed is a MUST)sliding in under my Sferra sheets (Is it just me, or is the best smell in the world freshly laundered bed linens?) MMmmmmHM I love bedtime!
My ONLY problem with bedtime is my blanket. You see, I want it to smell fresh and clean, but it's HUGE and, sure, it fits in both my washer and dryer, but it is a pain in the ass to launder. PLUS, it's fuzzy, and the dog sleeps at the foot of the bed, and the cat sleeps where ever she pleases on the bed, so not only will the washer be attacked by the fuzz, it gets full of both dog and cat hair as well.
Last week I washed our blanket, and the next load I washed, the machine sounded...weird. I talked it over with my dad and he suggested running an empty load to clear out the dog hair, that maybe the hair was clogging it up. Well. I can't wash an empty load, my particular machine won't run if there is nothing in it, so I took some clean sheets from the linen closet and washed those.
Sure enough, after a hair free load, the washer went back to sounding normal.
I'm thinking about taking our blankets to the laundromat from now on. I know we have one in town... what would you do?
My ONLY problem with bedtime is my blanket. You see, I want it to smell fresh and clean, but it's HUGE and, sure, it fits in both my washer and dryer, but it is a pain in the ass to launder. PLUS, it's fuzzy, and the dog sleeps at the foot of the bed, and the cat sleeps where ever she pleases on the bed, so not only will the washer be attacked by the fuzz, it gets full of both dog and cat hair as well.
Last week I washed our blanket, and the next load I washed, the machine sounded...weird. I talked it over with my dad and he suggested running an empty load to clear out the dog hair, that maybe the hair was clogging it up. Well. I can't wash an empty load, my particular machine won't run if there is nothing in it, so I took some clean sheets from the linen closet and washed those.
Sure enough, after a hair free load, the washer went back to sounding normal.
I'm thinking about taking our blankets to the laundromat from now on. I know we have one in town... what would you do?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
ZOMG YESSSSS!
A few weeks back, a bunch of people were discussing a type of ear bud called the "Skull Candy" Apparently they are "ALL THAT" and everyone should have them and blah blah blah.
Nothing is EVER as good as other people make it out to be, ya know?
In any case I followed their links and ended up on an amazon site - which - suckage people, amazon.com refuses to ship to Canada, they just redirect you to the dot CA site, and the CA site has NOTHING. Well. Nothing good, anyway.
I decided that for the price, I might as well order a pair though. To order, I have to find a US resident (Hi Sheila!!) who was willing to let me paypal her the money and order them for me! She even had them shipped to her home so that shipping was less. Sheila rocks!
Today a package from sheila came in the mail. It was filled with Fizzy Socks, weird Japanese gum, a kickass shirt and the ear buds.
As soon as I had a chance I ripped open the packaging ( I only cut myself twice!) And popped those suckers in my ear.
My first reaction was to rip them back out of my ear just as fast - the things sucktion into your ear!! I put them back in and reveled in the sudden absolute quiet. The dogs were barking, the kids were playing and Hubs was on rockband but I was off in my own little world of QUIET.
I would buy these just to use as EAR PLUGS!
So I hooked everything up to my iTouch and pushed play. Bad decision. I had been using the iTouch earlier int eh afternoon and had my volume set to high, where I normally have it, and with my old ear buds, high was fine. With the Skull Candy high was eardrum blasting PAIN. I turned the volume right down, right down people, and pushed play again. HEAVEN!
And the big thing? Not only are they comfortable, once you get past the suction feeling, but they do not fall out when I move my head, or walk around with them in.
I got the metallic blue ones, but here is a link to some pink ones on Amazon. I've heard, on twitter, that you can also find these in your local Target store - wouldn't know about that, we don't have Target stores here :o(. According to twitter the ones at Target are a wee bit cheaper. So go forth people! Find the Skull Candy.
No need to thank me!
Nothing is EVER as good as other people make it out to be, ya know?
In any case I followed their links and ended up on an amazon site - which - suckage people, amazon.com refuses to ship to Canada, they just redirect you to the dot CA site, and the CA site has NOTHING. Well. Nothing good, anyway.
I decided that for the price, I might as well order a pair though. To order, I have to find a US resident (Hi Sheila!!) who was willing to let me paypal her the money and order them for me! She even had them shipped to her home so that shipping was less. Sheila rocks!
Today a package from sheila came in the mail. It was filled with Fizzy Socks, weird Japanese gum, a kickass shirt and the ear buds.
As soon as I had a chance I ripped open the packaging ( I only cut myself twice!) And popped those suckers in my ear.
My first reaction was to rip them back out of my ear just as fast - the things sucktion into your ear!! I put them back in and reveled in the sudden absolute quiet. The dogs were barking, the kids were playing and Hubs was on rockband but I was off in my own little world of QUIET.
I would buy these just to use as EAR PLUGS!
So I hooked everything up to my iTouch and pushed play. Bad decision. I had been using the iTouch earlier int eh afternoon and had my volume set to high, where I normally have it, and with my old ear buds, high was fine. With the Skull Candy high was eardrum blasting PAIN. I turned the volume right down, right down people, and pushed play again. HEAVEN!
And the big thing? Not only are they comfortable, once you get past the suction feeling, but they do not fall out when I move my head, or walk around with them in.
I got the metallic blue ones, but here is a link to some pink ones on Amazon. I've heard, on twitter, that you can also find these in your local Target store - wouldn't know about that, we don't have Target stores here :o(. According to twitter the ones at Target are a wee bit cheaper. So go forth people! Find the Skull Candy.
No need to thank me!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
WANT
Sooooooo.
So.
I'm teetering on the edge of a VERY slippery slope right now.
You see I have this camera. A Kodac EasyShare DX7590. It's a very nice camera, I can use it as either a point and shoot or turn it to manual and use it like an SLR. The slippery slope I talk about is this. I found lenses that fit my DX7590, and I want. WANT.
Now, the wide angle and telephoto lens are each only 150.00, which is not very expensive, when you think of it. BUT, and it is a BIG but. what if I fall in love with lenses and need them like a junkie needs crack? From my research, the wine angle (drool) and the telephoto lens are the only two that fit my camera. After that I would need to venture into the world of Cannon and Nikon. And that, my friend is where the real $$$ comes into play.
In any case. My Birthday is In July, and I think I will buy a lens in celebration. I'm not sure which one yet, both of them are all kinds of drool worth for me, but I have five months to decide....
In one way, I want to love the lens, I want to be able to take pictures in a new way, but in another way, I want to hate the lens. I want to hate that I have to thread it on to take the shot, That I can't just point and click. Because If I hate it, I won't be tempted to buy more. KWIM?
So.
I'm teetering on the edge of a VERY slippery slope right now.
You see I have this camera. A Kodac EasyShare DX7590. It's a very nice camera, I can use it as either a point and shoot or turn it to manual and use it like an SLR. The slippery slope I talk about is this. I found lenses that fit my DX7590, and I want. WANT.
Now, the wide angle and telephoto lens are each only 150.00, which is not very expensive, when you think of it. BUT, and it is a BIG but. what if I fall in love with lenses and need them like a junkie needs crack? From my research, the wine angle (drool) and the telephoto lens are the only two that fit my camera. After that I would need to venture into the world of Cannon and Nikon. And that, my friend is where the real $$$ comes into play.
In any case. My Birthday is In July, and I think I will buy a lens in celebration. I'm not sure which one yet, both of them are all kinds of drool worth for me, but I have five months to decide....
In one way, I want to love the lens, I want to be able to take pictures in a new way, but in another way, I want to hate the lens. I want to hate that I have to thread it on to take the shot, That I can't just point and click. Because If I hate it, I won't be tempted to buy more. KWIM?
I Has A Happy
My In Laws came home last night.
They left Boxing Day to go to Porta Vallarta, Mexico, and they just returned home last night.
The eldest two boys and Micah met them at the airport to bring them home, then we let them rest and unpack for two hours before the five of us ran over to mob them.
It was So good!
And you know, people think I am excited about this because my babysitters are back and i can finally go out ALONE with hubs, and yes, that is a part, but even knowing that they cannot possibly take the boys for another full week ( school, etc, gets in the way) I was just so happy to sit with them and shoot the shit for hours last night.
we finally bundled the kids up at midnight and left, my mother in law was pretty much falling asleep in her Berkline lounger as we talked, but OMG. I am So happy right now!
I had asked Micah to take the camera to the airport with him to try to caprture the boys faces when they saw their Nana and Papa for the first time after 2 months, but he forgot the camera at home. That made me sad, but OMG, its nice to have them home!!
They left Boxing Day to go to Porta Vallarta, Mexico, and they just returned home last night.
The eldest two boys and Micah met them at the airport to bring them home, then we let them rest and unpack for two hours before the five of us ran over to mob them.
It was So good!
And you know, people think I am excited about this because my babysitters are back and i can finally go out ALONE with hubs, and yes, that is a part, but even knowing that they cannot possibly take the boys for another full week ( school, etc, gets in the way) I was just so happy to sit with them and shoot the shit for hours last night.
we finally bundled the kids up at midnight and left, my mother in law was pretty much falling asleep in her Berkline lounger as we talked, but OMG. I am So happy right now!
I had asked Micah to take the camera to the airport with him to try to caprture the boys faces when they saw their Nana and Papa for the first time after 2 months, but he forgot the camera at home. That made me sad, but OMG, its nice to have them home!!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Timing Is Everything
A few weeks ago, My husband brought home a nice bonus from work. with that bonus, we went computer shopping. At the brick and mortar store in the city nearest to us, they did not have the kind of laptop my husband wanted, so we left empty handed. I thing found another laptop on Buy.com that seemed to fit his bill, but voted no to it based on the fact it looked exactly like mine and we would "get them mixed up".
Yeah. Right.
In retrospect, I am glad he has not yet bought a laptop becuase last weekend my glasses broke. and I am totally BLIND without my specs. The money set aside for his laptop became the money to pay for my glasses.
Now, hubs gets reimbursed for eye wear through his work insurance, so if he ever remembers to bring home the insurance papers for me to fill out, we can put in to get that money back. In the mean time, I am stillwindow monitor shopping up a storm for the perfect laptop for him.
I've bookmarked the Sony Vaio , which I again found on buy.com (What can I say? I really like that store!)generally, I find and bookmark three or four laptops a day for hubs to look at when he gets off work. He then keeps or deletes as he sees fit, and hopefully, by the time our reimbursement gets back, he will have narrowed his choices down to one!
Yeah. Right.
In retrospect, I am glad he has not yet bought a laptop becuase last weekend my glasses broke. and I am totally BLIND without my specs. The money set aside for his laptop became the money to pay for my glasses.
Now, hubs gets reimbursed for eye wear through his work insurance, so if he ever remembers to bring home the insurance papers for me to fill out, we can put in to get that money back. In the mean time, I am still
I've bookmarked the Sony Vaio , which I again found on buy.com (What can I say? I really like that store!)generally, I find and bookmark three or four laptops a day for hubs to look at when he gets off work. He then keeps or deletes as he sees fit, and hopefully, by the time our reimbursement gets back, he will have narrowed his choices down to one!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Midnight Cravings
Our car is "broken" right now. There is something wrong with the fan belt and until My father can get into our town, from his town, on Monday, we are under strict instructions to not drive it anywhere.
We are not stuck at home by any means, My husbands parents are out of town (Mexico) and have given us free use of their car while they are gone. I use it Monday to Friday to take the boys to school.
If for some reason my dad cannot get our car running on Monday, Hubs can use his parents car to get to work, the boys are on Spring break for a week anyway.
What I cam online to post, however, is not that the car is a piece of crap that needs a good kick in the tires, it's that at 11:33 all of us ( the boys, the older ones at least, are up watching a movie with hubs) had a snack attack unexpectedly. Unfortunately, hubs and I neglected to pick up any sort of snackage, there is not a single chip or cookie in the house, and with the car broken ( not to mention all of our towns stores close by 11) there was no way to GET snackage!!
People, the internet is a wonderful thing!
I found this recipe online
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all, bake at 350 for eight minutes (do not overbake) cool on pan one minute, transfer to wire rack
By 12:05 I had the last of the two dozen cookies out of the oven and on a rack. The ULTIMATE of quick cookies people!
(I added the chocolate chip smiles face all by myself!)
We are not stuck at home by any means, My husbands parents are out of town (Mexico) and have given us free use of their car while they are gone. I use it Monday to Friday to take the boys to school.
If for some reason my dad cannot get our car running on Monday, Hubs can use his parents car to get to work, the boys are on Spring break for a week anyway.
What I cam online to post, however, is not that the car is a piece of crap that needs a good kick in the tires, it's that at 11:33 all of us ( the boys, the older ones at least, are up watching a movie with hubs) had a snack attack unexpectedly. Unfortunately, hubs and I neglected to pick up any sort of snackage, there is not a single chip or cookie in the house, and with the car broken ( not to mention all of our towns stores close by 11) there was no way to GET snackage!!
People, the internet is a wonderful thing!
I found this recipe online
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix all, bake at 350 for eight minutes (do not overbake) cool on pan one minute, transfer to wire rack
By 12:05 I had the last of the two dozen cookies out of the oven and on a rack. The ULTIMATE of quick cookies people!
(I added the chocolate chip smiles face all by myself!)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Who Doesn't love free stuff?
My blog buddy Kat, from My Single Mom Life is holding a contest. It's not just any contest either, For her birthday she is giving away a diamond pendant. Gem Affair is sponsoring the contest!Now, while this contest IS open to US and Canadian residents, you do have to jump through a few hoops to enter.
OK, OK, you don't HAVE to jump through the hoops, you can enter with just one comment, but if you :
You get more entries into the contest!
Am I the only one here who smells a franchise opportunity?
I should totally start up a blog advertising that I will take care of the nitty gritty details that go into entering online contests. It used to be that all you had to do to enter a contest was comment on a post - I even know one blog site that holds weekly contests and all you have to do is email the blog owner with the contest name in the subject line of the email to enter. BUT most people require the hoops and the jumping and the bending over backwards.
This isn't to say you should stop entering contests where you "have" to do multiple things to enter (becuase really, you CAN enter with Just A Comment) BUT it sure makes me stop and think, do i really want this item? Is this really something i want to put forth the effort to enter? And, if it is, like in the case Of Kat's contest for the diamond pendent, I DO enter.
I know that TIME is the number one reason I am not entering as many contests anymore, so, since time is so very valuable, there is a market for someone to take care of the details. I'm not sure how really, it could be done safely, as so many things, blogs, twitter, feed readers, all need a password to be logged into, to get the stuff done, but, ya know... it's an idea!
ANYWAY. In the mood for a very nice necklace? A Very nice FREE necklace? Go to Kat's, leave a comment - or if you have time, do more! And good luck!
OK, OK, you don't HAVE to jump through the hoops, you can enter with just one comment, but if you :
1. Leave a comment on this post and tell me which piece of jewelry you'd love to have from Gem Affair.com.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. Please give me your username so I can verify.
4. Follow me on Twitter. Please give me your username so I can verify.
5. Follow Gem Affair on Twitter. Please give me your username so I can verify.EDITED**
For 5 additional entries for each, do one or both of the following, and leave a separate comment for each 1 that you do, I will add your +5 entries to your entries.
You get more entries into the contest!
Am I the only one here who smells a franchise opportunity?
I should totally start up a blog advertising that I will take care of the nitty gritty details that go into entering online contests. It used to be that all you had to do to enter a contest was comment on a post - I even know one blog site that holds weekly contests and all you have to do is email the blog owner with the contest name in the subject line of the email to enter. BUT most people require the hoops and the jumping and the bending over backwards.
This isn't to say you should stop entering contests where you "have" to do multiple things to enter (becuase really, you CAN enter with Just A Comment) BUT it sure makes me stop and think, do i really want this item? Is this really something i want to put forth the effort to enter? And, if it is, like in the case Of Kat's contest for the diamond pendent, I DO enter.
I know that TIME is the number one reason I am not entering as many contests anymore, so, since time is so very valuable, there is a market for someone to take care of the details. I'm not sure how really, it could be done safely, as so many things, blogs, twitter, feed readers, all need a password to be logged into, to get the stuff done, but, ya know... it's an idea!
ANYWAY. In the mood for a very nice necklace? A Very nice FREE necklace? Go to Kat's, leave a comment - or if you have time, do more! And good luck!
Monday, February 09, 2009
Mood : Doh!
So. Two weeks ago Blake got his new glasses (he has bent them already :o( which isn't a big deal becuase we can get them straightened for free)(and they got bend becuase his brother and he were playing in the snow and during a routine snowball fight they were knocked off his face. I'm just happy he remembered to pick them up and bring them home!)
AHNYway. Blake was promised a trip to the dollar store every two weeks, IF he wore his glasses constantly. When Blake found out he needed his specs, he was quite upset about it, and we shamelessly bribed him into wearing them. Too late, we realized that once he put them on and saw what the world really looks like, he would wear them with no problems. But, A promise is a promise!
Yesterday (Sunday) I took Blake to the Dollar store here in town to pick out his prize. With a five dollar maximum, he spent quite a bit of time searching the isles and reading the backs of packages before settling on a paint by number dog picture. He was happy with his choice, and I was happy that he did not, yet again, pick some plastic gun that would break ten minutes after we got it home.
Up to the till we go to try to pay. I only carry debit, I very rarely carry cash. The cashier swiped my card, and we waited. And waited. And waited. The machine timed out, so we swiped again. And Waited. And Waited. And waited. Again the machine timed out. We tried five times in total to pay for Blake's Paint By Number before we gave up.
As we were walking out of the store, the cashier told us that if we come back in a week, they will have a new POS system and our purchase will not time out. I was all "Whatever" to that. But in the car, I kind of giggled that she had called her machine a POS. (Piece of shit), I told hubs the story when we got home and it was then that I learned that POS also stands for point of sale. Opps.
When Blake finishes his picture and it dries, I will attempt to either scan it on the scanner, or take a picture of it to show you all!
AHNYway. Blake was promised a trip to the dollar store every two weeks, IF he wore his glasses constantly. When Blake found out he needed his specs, he was quite upset about it, and we shamelessly bribed him into wearing them. Too late, we realized that once he put them on and saw what the world really looks like, he would wear them with no problems. But, A promise is a promise!
Yesterday (Sunday) I took Blake to the Dollar store here in town to pick out his prize. With a five dollar maximum, he spent quite a bit of time searching the isles and reading the backs of packages before settling on a paint by number dog picture. He was happy with his choice, and I was happy that he did not, yet again, pick some plastic gun that would break ten minutes after we got it home.
Up to the till we go to try to pay. I only carry debit, I very rarely carry cash. The cashier swiped my card, and we waited. And waited. And waited. The machine timed out, so we swiped again. And Waited. And Waited. And waited. Again the machine timed out. We tried five times in total to pay for Blake's Paint By Number before we gave up.
As we were walking out of the store, the cashier told us that if we come back in a week, they will have a new POS system and our purchase will not time out. I was all "Whatever" to that. But in the car, I kind of giggled that she had called her machine a POS. (Piece of shit), I told hubs the story when we got home and it was then that I learned that POS also stands for point of sale. Opps.
When Blake finishes his picture and it dries, I will attempt to either scan it on the scanner, or take a picture of it to show you all!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Gah
So my sister in law is going to be here in approximately two hours. Maybe less.
I had to spend the day cleaning house, which I hate. It's not that the house is dirty dirty, just.. cluttered? Dusty? Disorganized?
probably the worst chore is dusting the tv stands, not becuase of the dust, but becuase the boys always leave artwork on the TV VIA the dust and some of the art is really well done! I've tried int eh past to take pictures of their art, but the pictures never turn out, which is a drag. I wouldn't mind washing the TV off as much if I could record their work!
But hey, at leas the house is clean. Can I call this a head start on spring cleaning?
And, because it is So Very Rarely like this, here is a shot of Logan's room, CLEAN for once!
I took this picture becuase I am going to take a picture a day of his room and then after a week or so, put them all together in a slide show to show you how quick he takes his room from neat and tidy to a war zone!
I had to spend the day cleaning house, which I hate. It's not that the house is dirty dirty, just.. cluttered? Dusty? Disorganized?
probably the worst chore is dusting the tv stands, not becuase of the dust, but becuase the boys always leave artwork on the TV VIA the dust and some of the art is really well done! I've tried int eh past to take pictures of their art, but the pictures never turn out, which is a drag. I wouldn't mind washing the TV off as much if I could record their work!
But hey, at leas the house is clean. Can I call this a head start on spring cleaning?
And, because it is So Very Rarely like this, here is a shot of Logan's room, CLEAN for once!
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