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Friday, April 2nd, 2010
Over the last few weeks, I have grown up a lot. I have been my son’s biggest advocate at school, played a role in a community rally to save our school and bitten my tongue on more than one occasion. In fact, I am doing that right this minute. I had the perfect Aloha Friday question today, but am opting not to do it. The main reason is it is not worth the fall out. It will be too obvious to those that read it what I am referring to, and quite honestly I am once again going to be the adult here.
So my question for you this week:
Do you ever find yourself self censoring -er monitoring things you say/do, especially online because of who may see it and take it the wrong (or right) way? What do you do in these situations?
Please be sure to check out my Human Nature – Reach Out CD and Dove Men+Care giveaways. Stay tuned because more will be coming very soon.
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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.
Aloha #93
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Stay warm . . . where ever you are!
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Last night, we FINALLY took NHL to get his six year portraits done. Yes, he turned six two months ago, but who’s counting?! Throughout the entire thing, I kept thinking that there has to be a conspiracy. There must be more going on behind the scenes that happens when you go to these studios.
#1 – YESTERDAY, they changed the prices. Just our luck. We wait this long and they do it on the day that we finally go in. *sigh* Had the flu not gotten our house, we probably would have done this 2-3 weeks ago. Oh well, what can you do?
#2 – There has got to be something in the air once you enter the studio zone. The kids are great and cooperative when out in the waiting room. The second they walk into the actual room with the camera all bets are off. This happened in June with JSL for his 2 year portraits (had to do them twice since he would not stay still) and this time it was NHL’s turn. It was like someone was pumping sugar into his veins. He was bouncing off the walls after the first few pictures. NHL would wiggle, dance like he had ants in his pants, and look at the computer monitor instead of the camera.
#3 – Although you never really get the perfect photo, you select the best of the bunch just so you do not have to trudge back again for a second round of "fun" and excitement. I definitely felt this way last night. Even now I am second guessing what was ordered because I sort of like a different one more. Oy!
#4 – The child that is not celebrating their "birthday" is always the better behaved one. That child is the one that will pose, sit quietly and help to make the session work. I swear in May, I am telling NHL it is for him and not for JSL to test this theory.
So, you want to see some of the photos? Here are some thumbnails of the ones taken (sorry they are not the best). First up are the photos with the 6. We took dinosaur and Nintendo/Mario props with us. Two with dinosaurs made the photographers cut and only one with Nintendo.
We went with the first one because it was the best. TechyDad liked that one more than #3 because of the smile on NHL’s face. #2 was never really in the running.
Next, NHL was asked to go onto the floor. The photographer captured this gorgeous shot (this does not do it justice):
From this point on, the session started to go downhill. NHL was wired and did not listen well and could not stay still. He was looking the other way, doing a goofy smile, or something else that a six year old boy would do. Only three from this section made the photographers cut. (Please note the bad cropping was the program I used and not the studio)
Then we decided to be really brave and toss JSL into the photos. We were shocked that it was the little guy that was listening to what the photographer said (unlike at his portrait session in June). The photographer tried a few cute poses, but the little guy had a hard time balancing. Still, she sold us on this one:
Now I need to stop second guessing the sheets that we ordered and go with it. I know I did this last year as well, guess it is just a mother’s job!
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
Have you ever seen a 30 inch pizza before?
No really, I am being serious. Such a beast really does exist, and not simply on Food Network for an eating challenge. We recently found a new pizza place that is really cute. The people there are very nice and the best part, they make wheat pizza.
My mother called last Friday to see if we wanted to have dinner with her and order a wheat pizza since my father was working late. We said sure and figured we would try an experiment. Since there were five of us eating the pizza, and left overs would be great, we opted to order the Big Mama.
After walking in to pick up the pizza, we wondered if it may have been a rather large mistake (pun intended).
The gentleman had to walk around the counter to hand us the mega box holding this 30 inch pizza. I stood there in horror wondering how we were going to get that into our car. I knew it could not go on JL’s lap in the front, nor on the floor in the middle with the boys. Clearly, the trunk had to work. Problem was it was too big to simply go there. Thank goodness we have a mini-van and were able to collapse the third row. We were able to put the pizza back on that and wedge it into place with the stroller and NHL’s car seat. Here is a visual:
The pizza finally arrived safely at my parent’s house. Then another drama unfolded thanks to the size of the box. JL had to figure out how to get the box into the kitchen through the door frames.
Once on the table (where it took up the entire space) we could finally look inside the book to view our Big Mama pizza.
Lesson learned from this experience is that in the future we will leave Big Mama slice eating to the restaurant. We will not be taking home another one of these puppies any time soon.
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
When in the middle of buying a house, nobody ever thinks about all of the drawbacks. Do you know what I mean? Now a home owner for over four years, I really appreciate when we were living in our apartment. Those were the days. When something went wrong I only had to dial one number to report it. Something leaking, AC not working, drain backing up, no matter what I called the landlord. Ah, the simplicity!
Now, the problems are all ours. We have to find the problem and figure out who to call if we deem the problem above what we are able to work on ourselves. I love my hubby, but where JL can build a computer from scratch. . . . he is lacking in the home repair area. We have learned over the four years of owning this house that we do not try things when it comes to be electricity or plumbing issues. This is mainly because of the age of our house.
So back to where I was yesterday when I mentioned that the plumber was here. I asked if anyone wanted to guess how long he was here working.
The answer . . . . . just over 4 hours!
Can you see me panicking as the time kept going by?
Project #1 – The leak under the sink. This was "easy" according to the plumber. All he had to do was fix things that were done previously that were wrong. In doing this he had to remove more of the backing and wall going to the pipes.
Project #2 – I mentioned to him that that sink was constantly plugging up and has since we have lived here. I would venture to say this was where most of the time was spent. According to the plumber this clog was likely haunting this house for 8-10 years. He actually had to attack it from our attic. This was during lunch time and poor JSL was spooked when the snake from upstairs suddenly came out the wrong way. The snack actually came out of the bathroom sink when it should have continued down to the basement. Ooops! End product – the clog was fixed and the sink is working amazingly well!
Project #3 – I asked the plumber to look at our bathtub to see if he could give an estimate on how to fix the leaks in our nobs. Unfortunately, the parts are no longer made for our antiqued system. He explained what would have to be done to ultimately fix the problem. Basically it means and entire bathroom rehaul! You know spending $10-20K at least . . . . yikes! So as I tried to steady my breathing I asked if he could at least snake that drain and help us to delay the emergency of the situation. I was amazed at how quickly that drain cooperated. They were able to attack it from two spots and it was over.
This particular plumber bills later (he is very old fashioned, but so thorough). I sort of pressured him for a ball park estimate on the work done. Thankfully he was under the $100 an hour that most plumbers locally charge. Not too shabby, but we shall see what happens when the actual bill arrives.
Ah, the "joys" of owning a house . . . specifically an older one.
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Depending on where you live you may have noticed that fall seems to be quickly slipping away. The signs here are all there:
- Leaves almost all off the trees
- Frost outside in the morning – sometimes enough that you have to scrape it off the windshield
- Temperatures barely making it to the 40′s or 50′s during the day
- Temperatures below 30 in the night
- Frozen fingers
- Toescicles on the bottom of your feet
When all of this begins you start to think about heat. Will it kick on when you test it out? And, of course, the biggest question of all. . . . when do you finally give in to the numb feeling in your feet and hands and turn on the heat?
For us the answer was checking things out a few weeks ago when the temperatures started to dip. Thankfully everything went on with no trouble. Our thermostat is set at 62. The heat will only turn on when it goes below that, or when one of the kids has a tub and we turn it up slightly.
Yesterday morning it was below 30 outside. I had to take NHL into school to bring his antibiotic eye drops in. It was bone chilling outside and I know it is just the start of things. When JSL and I arrived back into our 62 degree house it seemed toasty warm. Goes to show it is all a matter of perspective. Right after JSL went for a nap it was time to put the all important flannel sheets onto our bed.
Let me tell you those were quite welcomed last night when I put my purple and blue toes into bed. Silly me, I was working on something in the living room and did not wear any socks. I think I learned my lesson. Now I just need to convince another little someone that going sans socks is not a smart thing to do for at least another 5-6 months.
While I am at it, I suppose I should tell him that includes stripping his socks and shoes while out and about in the car, restaurant, mall . . . . or anywhere these days!
BTW – Quick update on the potty kid. Yesterday our #2 did a #2 while sitting on our throne!
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
I was tagged by Sheila of Ma Vie Folle for this new meme.
So here are the instructions:
Go to your sixth picture folder then pick your sixth picture.
Try to remember the details.
Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged
My pic: This was the table at my sister-in-laws house at Thanksgiving 2000. By this time JL had moved here before we got married. I went with him to be with his family for the holiday. Ironically this is the Thanksgiving that his sister also officially declared Thanksgiving HER holiday forever more. Let’s just say that my husband does NOT agree with this and we have stood our ground some after several years of listening to this statement. We are currently waiting for the annual garbage to begin yet again.
Note: I have to admit this was a more "difficult" meme for me since we have SO many different places with photos on our network. Of course I went to our main directory and it landed me in 2000. Within that I then went to the 6th folder and found the 6th photo in that.
Tagging: Since I am under the weather I will tag anyone that wants to play. Please just come back here and leave me a link to your Meme to the 6th so I can come and visit.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
Why is it that after the first child we become so lax with each subsequent child and often put things off?
Seriously, JSL is 15 months old now and we JUST had the first family photo with all four of us in it today. We had them done regularly when NHL was a baby, but never did it before this with JSL.
Of course there is a likely reason. Perhaps it is trying to wrangle all four of us into a photo. More specifically the two non-adult members of the family. Just trying to get a photo of each of them alone is a challenge, no less with each other and then the two of us.
Case in point, it happened Monday. Late Monday morning we went to a local amusement park with my parents and Aunt L and Uncle J (in from CA). We had a fabulous time out in the nice warm weather. At the end we happened to bump into someone we knew. JL asked her to take a photo of the four of us.
*** Please be warned – YES we were dorks and all had the same basic shirt on. NO, I did not purchase them. My parents brought them back for us after they went to Disneyland in April and we wore them Sunday for the first time.
The first photo is not too bad when you consider we had been in the sun and heat for two hours and both boys were hungry. In addition to this JSL had not napped.
My friend asked if she should take another one just to make sure we had a decent one. We thought it was a good idea. The result is below.
Yes, this is why we have never attempted to do anything before this point. I believe I have now scared off a person that has volunteered to take some family photos for us. Hmmm. . . maybe I should not have blogged this! Of course if we do those it will not be after 2 hours of play without rest/nap time.
There are so many other items that I need to catch up on (like we have another walker in the family!), but this was a busy weekend and NHL starts kindergarten tomorrow. Today we have orientation of sorts for a little while in the afternoon. More to come soon! That is a promise not a threat.
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
Last week before we left to visit my brother and his family my mother gave us a mission.
Cue the Mission Impossible Music please. . .
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it is to capture a photograph of our three grandchildren together. Do not attempt to return home unless you accomplish this task!"
No recorder self destructed in five seconds, but our attempts to get photos of the three kids last weekend quickly did.
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Attempt #1 – Friday morning while all of the kids were still in their pajamas and playing nicely. The resulting photos may be seen here:
Please note no children were hurt in any of the photo taking events shown.
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Attempt #2 - Friday afternoon before heading out to the zoo. The natives quickly got quite restless. A certain one year old dear too me was not cooperative, to say the least.
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Attempt #3 – Saturday early afternoon before heading out to lunch and cherry picking. The kids were all in a good mood so we thought it would be the perfect time. Unfortunately, they had other plans.
The results from this photo shoot were the best in that the kids were quite cute with one another. Unfortunately, there is no photo with all faces visible.
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Attempt #4 – Saturday evening post tub (another "interesting" experience for another day) we gathered the kids in the room NHL was sleeping in for one last attempt at a group grandchild/cousin photo.
So there you have it, another no-go on the photo for Nana and Papa. The problem this time around was the little kids, JSL and Cousin S were just too busy and wanted to be on the move and play all the time.
We technically did accomplish our mission though. We have lots of photos of the three kids together, so we did travel back home. A few of the ones above are ok and should satisfy the mission – whew!
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
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