Archive for November, 2006
Where, oh, where have my readers all gone?
Posted by: | CommentsOh where, oh where can they be?
The latest report from my stat keeper:
My So-Called Homeschool
-- Site Summary ---
Visits
Total ........................ 5,509
Average per Day .................. 1
Average Visit Length .......... 0:00
This Week ........................ 4
Page Views
Total ........................ 7,221
Average per Day .................. 1
Average per Visit .............. 1.0
This Week ........................ 4
--- Visits this Week ---
Day
Hour 11/21 11/22 11/23 11/24 11/25 11/26 11/27 Total
---- ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -------
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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8 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
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24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -------
2 0 1 0 1 0 0 4
--- Page Views this Week ---
Day
Hour 11/21 11/22 11/23 11/24 11/25 11/26 11/27 Total
---- ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ -------
1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
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2 0 1 0 1 0 0 4
Come out, come out, wherever you are!!!
Christmas Gift Poem
Posted by: | Comments
We’ve really pared down Christmas — we’ve had to over the past couple of years — and I have been pretty adamant about -one- gift from Mom and Dad per child, and about insisting relatives please only get them one gift each as well. I might as well be talking to a wall when it comes to my mother- and father-in-law, they just love spoiling the kids! I came across this poem at Dy’s blog today, though, which justifies in my mind some of the little goodies that call out to me with my children’s voices:
Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
Something to read
We’re getting the girls each a Gameboy Advance (purchased from a friend whose children have progressed to Nintendo DS’s). That was going to be their only gift. But now I’m going to think a little and discuss with Squid, what do they need? And something to wear — they have dressers full to exploding of hand-me-downs, but there is nothing like something picked out just for you. Something to read is so easy it’s hard — anything American Girls, anything Only Hearts Club, anything classic. Oh, boy, just keeping it down to one book apiece could take some willpower! As for the boy, we’re down to either a Lego Star Wars set or a Lego Batman set for his ‘want’. Again, I’ll have to pow-wow with Squid about the need one. I don’t know if we’ll do the ‘to wear’, he has 3 different hand-me-down donors at church whose mamas know how to shop the outlets! This boy is all about Gap, Hilfigger, Polo, Nautilus, and Oshkosh. Of course, he could care less — he just wants to be nakee! For his book, I’m going to try to find the Star Wars Ultimate Visual Guide from DK. Jasmine got it from the library a couple of weeks ago, and he hardly let her look at it! He has a crush on Pwincess Leia, and is quite impressed with Darth Bader and C-Fweepio. So there’s our simple gift-giving guide for this year. Now, to see if I can stick to it . . .
Say What?!
Posted by: | CommentsMy friend Tammy over at What Was I Thinking? had a funny post about her favorite Thanksgiving. She tells about what can only be describe as a surreal ER visit — one doctor tells her friend that she’s not skinny enough to have ulcerative colitis and maybe it’s just her period. If that weren’t strange enough, another doctor tells her she must have been evil in a former life and needs to set a doomed animal free!!! Yes, this was in a state hospital, not in some third-world shaman’s hut.
What’s with doctors who say whatever is on their minds? Yes, they are experts in certain areas, but really, could medical schools start teaching tact? You’d think with so many years of school, they’d be nice and socialized! I was trying to think if I have had a doctor say anything strange to me. The only time I can think of, I wasn’t the patient. Jasmine was a newborn, and I was discussing breastfeeding with her pediatrician. He had come recommended highly by my sister-in-law, and I loved how the kids in the office ran to him and hugged him while I was waiting for our turn. He was old-school, though. I forget exactly what we were talking about, I think it may have been about how long to breastfeed. He told me “Babies don’t need to breastfeed longer than a year. Most women who do it longer than that don’t do it for the baby — they just like to have their nipples sucked.” The weirdest thing — I didn’t read ANY sexual connotation into that at all at the time!!! He was serious, not leering, not being suggestive at all. I just nodded and we moved on to another topic. I didn’t think anything of it until I was telling someone else, laughing at how ignorant so many doctors are about breastfeeding. They didn’t laugh along and just stared at me in shock. That’s when it hit me how odd that was to say. We still went to that pediatrician until we moved Downriver. He never said anything that weird again!
So, what weird doctor sayings have you heard?
I Hate Jurassic Park
Posted by: | Comments . . .the movie, that is. I enjoy Michael Crichton’s writing, but I just cannot stand the movies. Unfortunately, any of the three happen to be on Squid’s list of Movies He Must Watch Any Time The Clicker Flicks Past Them (which also includes The Hunt for Red October, any Bond movie, any Star Trek movie, MIB, among others). Some on the list I actually enjoy watching with them — just not Jurassic Park. So of course as I’m sitting here vegging blogging, JP is on and he . . . must . . . watch. I did, however, find a quote that I shall adopt for my own. The one redeeming quality of Jurassic Park.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs…
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth…
The Soundtrack of My Life
Posted by: | CommentsAs told by Windows Media Player (yeah, not cool enough for an iPod)
Found at Life with 4 Kids and a Dog
Here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool and no disclaimers allowed.
Opening Credits: Forever – I Could Sing of Your Love Together Kids
Waking Up: Row, Row, Row Your Boat – demo CD from Do-Re-Me & You
First Day At School: Can I come – The Firemen
Falling In Love: Paw-Paw Patch- The Gang’s All Singing: Silly Songs Disc 1
Fight Song: You Are Holy (Prince of Peace)- Zoe Group
Breaking Up: Blind Mary - Joyfull Strings
Prom: Fiddle-I-Fee- demo CD from Do-Re-Me & You
Mental Breakdown: Make Me Kind Like You – my kids’ VBS CD (Standard Publishing)
Driving: You Are Mine – Go Fish
Flashback: La Bamba - demo CD from Do-Re-Me & You
Getting Back Together: The Night Before Christmas- demo CD from Do-Re-Me & You
Wedding: Come, Now is the Time to Worship - I Could Sing of Your Love Forever- Kids
Birth of Child: Above All Powers - Michael W. Smith
Final Battle: Goober Peas - The Gang’s All Singing: Silly Songs Disc 1
Death Scene: Offering/Lord, We Come Before Thee Now - Zoe Group
Funeral Song: Come Worship Christ the King – Zoe Group
End Credits: Superstar- Go Fish
Some were pretty good, some were pretty lame. I know, no disclaimers, but I do have to say that since I don’t have a portable mp3 player, my WMP library is mostly stuff I’ve ripped to burn to a new CD when the kids scratch the old one. Looking at this, I’m really unhappy with the way WMP shuffles — it chose from the same 3-4 albums over and over when I have a few more than that.
Still playing with the new video button
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s one Squid made a while back, just pictures of the kids to a really touching song. We need more recent pictures in it, but these are from before I blogged, so you can see how cute they’ve always been (was there any doubt?)
Let’s say thanks
Posted by: | CommentsAs Thanksgiving approaches (you Canucks already had yours, right?), I think a lot of us think about those who won’t be able to make it home again for the holiday. I have mixed feelings about the war, but my feelings are crystal clear about the soldiers — they are brave men doing a hard job. If you’d like to tell a soldier thanks, Xerox has a way to do so. Pick out a card (all drawn by children, adorable!), pick out a message, and they will print it and send it to a soldier. You can’t choose who will recieve it, but it well be sent to a soldier overseas. What a neat idea!
Trying out a new toy
Posted by: | CommentsAndrea got a video button installed, so now you can see all the So-Called cuteness right here!
Here’s more vocal percussion:
(having trouble with the upload on YouTube. I’ll imbed this one when it’s there. Sorry!)
And his musical side (the lyrics are “Every-everything’s alright, o-way-o, o-way-o”, I think):
What do you think? A music career in his future?
New look – - again!
Posted by: | CommentsYeah, I got bored and started messing around. I like the clean lines of this theme, but I’m not sure if the cutesy white flowers are really me. We’ll see.
UPDATE: Yeah, not so much. I switched to another theme called “Water”, and I really like all the customization available on this one. I may be switching colors and/or headers, but will probably stay with this layout.
So THAT’S what happened!
Posted by: | CommentsRemember when I was complaining about my washing machine not spinning out? Three different people from church called with ideas about what it could be and how to fix it. And the winner is . . . Steve, my husband’s buddy from breadbox (also the name of his blog). He called me with the name of an elder where he used to go to church who has an appliance repair shop. Once the washer finally gave up the ghost, I called. Turns out it was what I thought it was — the belt — but also the lid switch. Now, the belt alone with labor was $220! The switch would have been another $80. For that I could have bought a new washer, albeit not the one I really want. So we decided to go ahead and replace the belt and have him bypass the lid switch. So now we’re spinning. In case you were wondering just what a really old washer belt looks like . . .
Mommy-Pink Pixie Day
Posted by: | CommentsPink Pixie has been suffering from Middle Child Syndrome lately — too much attention for older sister and younger brother, not enough for PP. I was mentioning this to my friend whose son I babysit and she said “Maybe you should spend some one-on-one time with her.” Duh! I would have given this advice to anyone else having this issue, but did I think of it for myself? Noooooooo. So yesterday when I went for a haircut, PP went along. She decided on the spot that she needed a haircut as well. It turned out adorable (as if there were any other possible outcome!) and mine turned out OK too. We ran out of time last night, so today we continued the special attention time and went to Target. She’s so sweet — she decided we’d go to Target for ‘our’ time to look at possible gifts for Jasmine’s upcoming birthday. They might bicker like cats and dogs, but underneath there they really do love each other! Pink Pixie had a Bubble Yum Icee (blech!) and I had a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha with Rasberry (Yum!).
More Monkey Cuteness
Posted by: | CommentsThis boy! He certainly has talent, even if I do say so myself. I am actually considering getting him a trap set for Christmas. Not something any normal mom would do – - but he is CONSTANT rhythm. Whether it’s vocal percussion, seen here, or banging out a rhythm with part of a wooden hanger, he has rhythm in his head that must come out! They have a really cute drum set at Target for $99.99 that just might work. I’ll have to clear a special place in the playroom for it, and he’ll have to learn that there are times for drumming and times for not drumming, but I think I have to encourage a talent when I see it. I’m totally crazy, right?
P.S. Yes, I realize that M.B. is nearly nekkid in both videos. It’s next to impossible to catch him with his clothes on around here! He’ll wear them for 10-15 minutes, then it’s “I need to be nekkid, Mom!” Sigh.
Late, Late, Late Halloween!
Posted by: | CommentsYeah, I’m behind, what’s new?
I didn’t get actual Halloween pictures — of course my batteries were dying in the camera and I couldn’t find the charger! But our church has an Autumn Fest celebration the Friday before Halloween and this year all three kids wore the exact same costumes for both events. I did get one picture on Halloween night — the loot!!!
Sound of Music, here we come!
Posted by: | CommentsI can’t get the rich text editor to stop stripping out my code (and can’t remember how to disable it), so please click here to see the most adorable Do-Re-Mi you’ve ever seen or heard!
I’ve been graced . . .
Posted by: | Comments. . . by the long comment gods. This one has made its way around the web and now I’ve been honored. I feel so special!