Webkinz

Do your children get into Webkinz?



My kids have been obsessed with them for a couple of years now. Even my 13 year old still wants Webkinz. Now I have to admit that some of the stuffed animals are very cute, but I am so confused by the games on the computers. DS was just explaining to me that he thought the Chihuahua might be November's pet of the month and if you added him next month you would get an extra token. Of course I'm so lame that that didn't mean a whole lot to me. He said that you need ten tokens to make the wishing machine work (don't worry that didn't clear it up for me either)or more for something specific. You can get all sorts of things from the wishing machine like a quad, milk truck, and so on. At least Webkinz are better than furbies.



One night I go so fed up with furbies chatter, I actually killed it. I took the batteries out and I finally hid it. Worse than furbie were these darn virtual Pet things. I believe they were made by a couple different manufacturers.




They were cute at first, the kids could take care of their own pet, but they soon became annoying and obsessive. And then those virtual pets led to virtual pets on the computer like SimDog.net. DD became a slave to the computer. If you didn't feed, brush, wash, and exercise the animal at appropriate times,you were "killing" your animal. DD practically went into seizures when we went on a trip and did not have access to "care" for the animals. Mind you I don't think the welfare of our own animals crossed her mind once. (For those of you who think such a cyber animal teaches responsibility - my first hand research says "NO").

At least the Webkinz, let the kids "take care" of their pets, but don't penalize them for living life in the real world, nor do they make horrible repetative sounds in the middle of the night. This trend may be a keeper.

Ringtones that Adults Can't Hear

Can you believe that there is a high pitched ringtone that adults don’t hear the same way teenagers do? DD found it on a website for ringtones (She is still dreaming about getting a cell phone). I could only hear the faintest noise, certainly if it was a cell phone in my purse, I would never hear it. Frankly, I’m lucky if I hear it if on full blast. I looked up information and got mixed information, but the basic concept seems to be that adults lose the ability to hear certain frequencies. Even if adults hear it, we don’t hear it to the same extent that teenagers do. If you want to try to hear it, check out the story on NPR.

If only I could get her to talk to her friends on the phone in that tone then my house would take on a new peace. (I don’t really mean that because then I wouldn’t know what she was up to, but a woman can dream).

Congressman Courtney Responds

DS had to write to a Senator or Congressman about an issue that he cared about. He wrote to Congressman Joe Courtney about the importance of maintaining our national parks. Today, he received a reply. He was so proud. My I-hate-to-read son read the entire 5 paragraph response. While I’m sure it was written by some assistant, I can’t tell you how much it meant to him.

Crocheting for a Cause

Aside from playing games with daughter that she found in Discovery Girls magazine, what did I do today?



I made baby caps for Knit One, Save One. As I mentioned on my ltginfaith.blogspot.com on Mission Mondays, Knit One, Save One is a project of Save the Children. The program combines a need for infants with political advocacy. So I found some of my x-sister-in-laws yarn that she left behind and then had to pray that I could locate one crochet hook (I wasn't able to in my house, but I called my dad and he found one of my mom's), and off I went. Three hours and some odd minutes later and several YouTube videos later, I had three baby caps ready for mailing.

Perhaps you may be inspired to try the same, either for this program or for others. Winter is coming and the economy is getting tougher, it may be difficult for all of us. But these caps sure made me feel better, if you need a pick-me-up, pick up your knitting needles or crochet hook. If you are not sure what to do with them, YouTube is a great resources. Keep searching until you find instructions that make sense to you.

Natural Artworks

Sometime when you do your chores, you find little moments of grace. DS is fighting a nasty cold so I did his chores today. As I brought the compost up to the compost pile, I found this tree:






Isn't it beautiful.

Here are a couple other art pieces that God made to decorate my yard.




I got to see them up close as I got to leaf blow for the first time in my life. When we ran out of gas, I finished the old fashioned way with a rake and a tarp. Man, can leaves be heavy. Sadly, tonight you would not even that I worked on the yard. Ok, my muscles know, but people looking at my yard would not.

Mom Time in the Morning

Honestly, I am not a morning person, but on those rare mornings that I am up early, like this morning. I find a special bit of peace and tranquility. This morning, the dog had to go out and DH was already running late, so I got doggy duty (that wasn’t meant as a pun, but . . .). When I came back in it seemed silly to try to go back to bead, so I crushed some coffee beans, got my book, and spent some me time.

I never understood the idea of me time until I lost it when the kids were very young. It seemed that I was always spending my time for everyone else and never had a moment to think my own thoughts or follow my own interests. I finally started to enforced bedtimes that allowed me time to have after they went to bed. However, I often would be too tired to do anything. I often read of mothers who get their time before their kids get up, but not only don’t I usually like morning but, also in our home, mornings were almost impossible to glean as DD rises with the sun. I would have to get up at 4 in the morning or earlier. As she enters her teen years though, mornings are becoming more of a possibility. I don’t have to worry about DS, who would sleep until noon if he could.

There is something special about that time when all in the house is quiet. The outside world is asleep and the light is altered either the dim morning sunrise or the calming dark warmed by a single light. Right now the light is amplified and altered by the golden reflection of the leaves. I’m not sure why the light makes such a difference, but there is a comfortable warmth that fills me.

I’m not going to starting setting my alarm clock early, but I do appreciate special morning times when they come unexpectedly.

How do you glean me time? Do you think that me time is important?

Movie Review - The Forbidden Kingdom

Kung Fu is really not a genre that I am too crazy about, but DS wanted to rent a movie. As he has not been feeling well, I relented. He chose The Forbidden Kingdom and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. There is just the right combo of morality, fantasy, and Kung Fu. Obviously there is fighting, but no real blood and guts.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li co-star in this tale. As always Chan’s moves will engage you and the story will intrigue both young and old. The Chinese setting will be made new for another generation and you won’t even have to read sub-titles. This movie of good vs. evil, right vs wrong is bound to become a classic. There is even a female heroine who can surely hold her own against any man.

So pop some popcorn and dial up The Forbidden Kingdom on OnDemand or PayPerView. You may even want to add this one to your DVD collection.

My favorite quote from the movie,
“ How can you fill your cup, if it is already so full?
Empty your cup.”