Last Minute Halloween Costume

Sometimes kids are wonderful. As you tell from my recent posts, life is a little crazy around here. Poor DD has felt the stress. She has really wanted to be Sarah Palin for Halloween, but without a car, getting the glasses, shoes, and outfit has not fit into our schedule very well. Instead of throwing a fit, she came up with an alternate plan which I think is genius and simple.

At first she was thinking about being a specific singer, but who could tell one from another. Then she came up with the idea to be an American Idol Contestant. She printed up an American Idol number to pin to the front of her shirt and a golden ticket to carry around: A costume with a total cost of about 10 cents. Genius, I say. . . GENIUS.

Leaf Blower For Hire

It snowed yesterday. Not a pile of snow, but a few flakes. Winter is coming. DH called to say in was snowing in MA and then DS called me outside to see that it was snowing here too. Of course, my reaction was a little different than most . . . I took my son’s boots, fired up the leaf blower, and blew the leaves. I know this seems like an odd reaction, but one year we got caught with the leaves on the ground when it began snowing and we didn’t see the ground again until spring. What a mess!

So I have now become a leaf blower professional. I have now done it three times this year. I am quite proud of this new talent, so I’m thinking I may add it to my resume – educator, office manager, & leaf blower. Ok, maybe not, but if the economy continues perhaps I could use it for a couple extra dollars (let’s hope not ; ) ).


My prior favorite one to add was hot dog cooker. Each year we would have an open house at my father’s company and I always got stuck in the refreshment area which meant that I was in charge of the hot dogs. The hot dogs cooked on a Ferris wheel type rotator. Now, one would think that this would be an easy job, but it was actually quite complex. You had to figure out proper loads, because the machine could not be off balanced or it would start throwing hot dogs out the front as the baskets that the hot dogs sat in started to sway. And you better have tip top reflexes because you had to get the hot dogs off the wheel while it was moving, but without disturbing the flow of the machine. I think had this been a paid job, I may have been fired, but after several years of practice, I am now an official hot dog cooker too.

What cool talents can you add to your resume?

Political Opinions Wanted

What do you think about Obama buying a half an hour spot on the major networks?

Have campaign costs gotten so out of this world that the idea of an average person ever running has disappeared forever?

Do you think given this economic time it is reasonable to spend millions on air time for a campaign?

Do you think that you can buy an election by just overspending your opponent?

Does this go against what our forefathers had envisioned?

Books - One good / One bad

I enjoyed “The Year of Living Biblically”so well that I have begun AJ Jacobs “The Know It All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World”. As I tend to be interested in doing strange things like this, I was intrigued by the topic. Also, I really enjoyed, the conversational tone of the “Year of Living Biblically” and was kind of sad when I closed the book, so I look forward to entering AJ’s and his family’s life again (It is kind of like a book form of reality tv).
I’m only a little way into it, but it is interesting and it has given me little talking points without actually having to read the encyclopedia myself. I’ll let you know what I think of it when I am done.

FYI – The worst book that I ever read. Ok, not worst in writing, I could appreciate his writing style, but the worst in complete and utter depressiveness was The Road. I was reminded of this the other day when my father and I were in a book store and we came by it. It has kind of become an inside joke. His friend, Nancy, had given it to him to read. After reading it and realizing how depressing it was, he thought he could pull a fast one on me. He gave me the book and gave it very high ratings indeed and made sure to mention that Nancy had read it. Nancy and I had discussed many good books and often had similar reading interests, so I looked forward to this new one. On the positive side, I will say that it was a quick and easy read. I will say that he created a fine example of an apocalyptic novel. However, I found it a very depressing and disturbing book. Frankly, I have enough of that in my own life and don’t need it at that level in a book. Most books go in and out of difficult stages. This book goes for depressing and never rises above it. I will give the father credit for his staunch support for his son and his unfaltering hope. Anyway, when I saw my father after finishing the book, I could not help but question his recommendation. His response was laugh and laugh and laugh. He then explained that Nancy had gotten him and so had to get someone else. I have not opted to “get” anyone with this book and instead have put out a warning unless for some reason you are an overly optimistic person and need a downer, you better make sure that you have Prozac with you when you read this book. Actually, unless you have read every other book in the world, I would recommend staying away from it altogether. (Sorry Cormic McCarthy. Sometimes art can be great, but I may not want to hang it in my home.)

Mental Games for the Brain

As many of you have heard recently, surfing the web helps to stimulate the brain and possibly decrease the odds of alzheimers. (This is good news for all of us bloggers.)

Puzzles and other mental games are also another great way to keep the brain active and work out our mental muscle. So until we all get our Nintendo DS with Brain Games,




here are some online Sudoku for you to work out with.

(For those of you who homeschool like we do, you will find that these mental exercises have a double benefit because you will work out your brain, but at the same time you will inspire your kids. I have my Sudoku book out and guess who I found working on it this morning. Math practice without even an assignment : ) )

What do you do when you break down on the side of the road?

Yup, I broke down. The overheat light came on, I hoped I could get of the next exit, but I could feel the loss of power and pulled over. The oil light came on.

Step One: Pull over to a safe area if possible, as I sat in the car I wondered if there really was a safe place as I could feel the car shake as cars zoomed by. (It is amazing to me how many cars can go by without anyone stopping to help)

Step Two: Say a little prayer to thank God that one it happened on the way home from your new job and two that you did not breakdown in the city.

Step Three: Call your husband, who in my case proceeded to ask me what I wanted him to do about it. Although it is hard to talk when you clench your teeth, I was able to get out, “Perhaps, you can come get me.”

Step Four: Get the oil and anti-freeze out of the box in the back and check under the hood to see if you can do anything. Of course when you see fluids all over the road, there was not need to go any farther.

Step Five: Call AAA and wait for help.

Now I just have to wait for a call to see if this is a demise of my 12 year old van.

Computer Access for Kids

It is a love hate relationship! I personally love the internet. It allows me to learn and find out things that either I would never know or it would take me forever to access. On the other hand, I hate the internet. It is the portal to ruining your teenager. They have access to everything. Even when you give them a little leash and freedom, they access more – sometimes without you even understanding or knowing what they are doing.

As the experts recommend, our computer is in a public place in the house, but apparently they are quick to minimize. I do appreciate reflections in dark windows though.

It is funny, to us old folks, we are afraid that every keystroke is visible to someone else on the web. To the younger generation, I think they think of the computer as a shield that no one can identify themselves through.

I’m not sure that the good outweighs the bad. It used to be that you could protect your children if you just kept them away from the bad characters or the bad sections of town. Now those things have direct access to your own living room.

I have now changed the access to our computers so that only I can log the kids in. Therefore they can only use it with my direct absolute supervision, as opposed to reasonable oversight, but unfortunately I’m sure it is only a matter of time before they figure out how to get around that. Hopefully, their frontal lobe will have developed by then.