More Movies

Well, after spending most of the day at the Habitat house, painting and painting some more. I came home just as the fam was starting to watch Because of Winn-Dixie - cute movie, definitely a thumbs up.

Then I had a not-so-nice run in with our neighbors, which was basically a 20 minute clarification of what kind of person he is - (here's a clue: he's not very nice, I would even say he's mean, very mean and vidictive). 'nuf said.

We ended up watching Moulin Rouge (well, Pete fell asleep about 15 minutes into it). I just love that movie. The relationship that can never be. There is something about the bohemian ideals: truth, beauty, freedom and above all things: love. hmmm, yeah.

Today we are thinking of trying out some letterboxing. Wish us luck. :)

Movies and Music

We rented The Benchwarmers tonight - it was actually pretty good - lots of crude humor but really the overall message was pretty sweet and endearing, it wasn't even totally predictable. Of course, John Heder was hysterical.

I keep seeing all these great songs mentioned (mostly on 43T - thanks speedy!) and finding that I need to download them - it's all good tho'.

Become – Goo Goo Dolls

There’s so much more about you that you never let them see
You turn away
But not to me
And I know how they tried to take you
Held you up and meant to break you down
But you can’t be

For so long I tried to reach you
I know I’m almost there
I’m close enough for you to see

You’ve been hiding in the shadows
Have you forgotten how we used to dream
Let me remind you
The light doesn’t blind you at all
It just helps you see
Can you see

Yeah you have become
Yeah you have become beautiful

And I can’t be the stranger
That’s been sleeping in your bed just
Turn around and come to me
I feel all the pain inside
And everything you been denied you feel
It’s all you feel

You’ve been hiding in the shadows
Have you forgotten how we used to dream
Let me remind you
The light doesn’t blind you at all
It helps you see
Can you see

Yeah you have become
Yeah you have become beautiful
Yeah you have become
Yeah you have become beautiful

Brush back your hair and look around you
Feeling like the truth has found you here
You’re here with me
Let love become the mirror
With no fear where you’re from
You have become beautiful

Tomorrow I'll be doing the Habitat thing for most of the day. :) I think it will be the last day I'll be at the Crescent St. build since it will be turned over to the homeowners soon. I will be cool to see it nearly finished.

My latest Napster download

You're Beautiful by James Blunt http://play.napster.com/track/15242342

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I’m sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won’t lose no sleep on that,
‘Cause I’ve got a plan.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don’t think that I’ll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
I saw you face in a crowded place,
And I don’t know what to do,
‘Cause I’ll never be with you.
You’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.
You’re beautiful, it’s true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it’s time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

It's just so haunting.

A Random Thought: Lately whenever I look at the Weather Pixie at night, she is wearing an orange tshirt with an apple logo and carrying an orange laptop - between the laptop (looking like a jackolantern) and the colors, I keep thinking she is dressed up for Halloween. Silly Pixie - Halloween's not for another several weeks.

ZeTV?

So do you think this could mean that Ze is getting a tv deal???



the show with zefrank



Hmmmm....

More of the same

Worked in the classroom this morning. One of the dads came in to take some measurements for some carpentry stuff that needs to be done and he came up with an idea that will work really well on this really weird wall that we have. I think it will look good when it gets done. Most of the plants are in the garden boxes in the playground - it looks so good - I'm hoping that they survive - we don't have an outside water source, so if there is a tough drought that won't be good.

Did the Firm workout again today since when Pete gets home I will need to go shopping and wont' be able to fit eveything in my bike basket. Yeah, I got a bike basket (wanna make something of it?? huh???) - I keep telling Pete that if he keeps making fun of it I'm going to put a flower on the front. It is actually a cool basket, it's black and can detach from the mount attached to the front of the bike. I would have like to have gone with more of a pannier rack on the back, but they aren't easily removed and that would be a problem when I have the sidekick/tagalong on the back for Sean to ride.

One thing I've noticed recently - I seem to spin in certain circles with others. I've noticed over on 43Things that even when I am checking out other lists or something seemingly out of my norm - I run into the same people -- pretty wild. And then when I cheer someone, I see a bunch of other people either who I've cheered or who have cheered me, or we've both cheered the same person before. Odd how that happens - happily odd, but odd nonetheless.

In a similar situation: There is also someone on blogger.com who has several of the same favorites listed on her profile (several books, movies, etc) that all match mine - like there is another me-ish person out there somewhere - weird. She actually doesn't have her blog listed so I don't know anything other than her favorite lists. Interesting.

...well, I'm back...I know you didn't even know I was gone. :) I had to run out for a late night trip to CVS. Pete forgot to pick up his meds today (he was now officially out), and the only 24 hour pharamacy is 4 towns over, so I headed out and they were able to give me enough to get him through until tomorrow afternoon when I can pick up his script. (Without the meds, he would have a seizure, and that would be a major bummer.)

Oh looky - I think I got the Title thing working again. :)

More of the same - working in the room to get ready for school to start.

When we got home, I decided to do the Firm video again (since I didn't get to finish it yesterday), but no bike ride today. I'm thinking that tomorrow I will be a bit sore - those workouts are Hard! Good but hard.

My goal for tonight is to get all my handwritten lesson plans into my computer template and printed out. I've discovered the problem with jump drives - you can lose them!!! Thankfully, I have back ups of most of the stuff that I need, but I do need to find that drive - hopefully it isn't/wasn't in a pair of pants that went through the wash. :(

Doin' that workin' thang....(and a little trip down memory lane)

This week marks the first week back to the unofficial work-groove for me. Nancy came in this morning to help me get things cleaned up and ready for students (and their parents) to come into the classroom. It is amazing how dirty a place can get even when noone (or fairly few folks) are around! I still have quite a bit to do, but it will all fall into place this week (at least that is the plan). I've got a couple of carpentry jobs that still need to be done, and I'm hoping that they will be finished this week - but those will require parents to help (we are a coop that is the way things work).

I'd like to get the rest of my lesson plans finished for the first month of school (I have most of the general stuff outlined, but still need to work on some of the other details) and some other things done along with finishing set up the space. I predict that sometime around Thursday I will begin freaking out.

I thought that Pete was working late tonight so I decided to do a Firm video (since I wouldn't be able to go for a ride), then he came home on time but wanted to go walk the Boardwalk, he ended up taking the kids with him, so then I ended up going on a shortish ride anyway. I think I'm going to try using the Firm videos when I can't go for a ride. They can be pretty intense, but they really do give results (in 10 workouts even - it's true!).

After I got out of the shower, I got a bonus call from Diana who is on her way to Arkansas and needed Janet's phone number. I was pleased that I could happily give her the number and got to chat with her a bit. I really need to schedule a visit with her sometime. Two years ago (just about this week) we went to Vinal Haven, Maine with Diana and two of her kids. It was a great trip. I was going along to take care of the kids (two of hers and my two) and take care of the meals while her and Lisa began working on their book. It was just so much fun (lotta work), but also a lot of fun. Usually, in life, I'm so distracted with dishes, the computer, laundry, etc. that I rarely get to just enjoy the kids. Because I needed to keep the kids out of the house so they could work, we would spend hours at the school playground and it was lovely just watching them play and work on the sweater I was knitting at the time. VH is an island, so there was a limited amount of things to do, but we went to the beach, explored some of the beautiful sites (Tiptoe Mountain), (couldn't really hike with 4 kids aged: 2, 4, 7, 9), we swam in the quarries (which was really cool!) and just hung out.

Just got a call from the Habitat coordinator at church - looks like Saturday morning I will be helping to finish up the Crescent St. house before it is turned over to it's new owners. It will be nice to see it so close to being finished. :)

Finished Middlesex!

I'd started reading Middlesex after I blew through The True Story of Hansel and Gretal and Briar Rose (both from the One Book, One Region program). So it has been a perhaps a good month that I've been working on it - it was a long book (500+ pages) and very epic in nature - following the story of a family back 3 generations. The most amazing thing was the way that it was written - just so easy to read and entertaining. I highly recommend it.

Now I'm looking to start a list of books that I want to read - because there are so many in my head that I keep thinking "hey, I want to read that!" A book store is a danagerous place for me. I will have to check out and see if either Book Crossing or Library Thing have such a feature. I'm thinking that someone from BC created an external kinda thing there, but I'm fuzzy on the details. Anywho, I'm sure I'll find something - if anyone has some suggestions (on either books or tracking methods) let me know.

This is from 3 Things on 43Things -- yeah, I can mark something as 'Done' on my list! Go ahead, you know you want to answer them too.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:

1. Barbara
2. Mom
3. Ms. Barb

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:

1. BarbaraMomm
2. Bheaney
3. Mehere

THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. Generally, speaking I think I'm nice.
2. I'm a good teacher.
3. I spend my free time volunteering for things I believe in.

THREE THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:

1. I can be passive-aggressive
2. I have a hard time saying no
3. I try too hard

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:

1. my car going off a bridge over water (or any other way that my car would get submerged in water with me and others (especially the kids) in it.
2. my kids getting hurt - I mean really hurt.
3. some scary movies

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:

1. Diet Soda
2. Time to myself
3. My watch

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:

1. Keen sandals
2. denim wrap skort
3. tye-dyed Peaceful Parenting shirt

THREE FAVOURITE DESSERTS:

1. Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream
2. Any kind of cake mixed with ice cream (usually this is reserved for birthdays)
3. Turkey Hill Party Cake ice cream

THREE THINGS YOU WONT EAT:

1. fish
2. brussel sprouts
3. liver

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS (at the moment):

1. CJ Sister
2. Don Henry
3. John Mellencamp

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:

1. Biking to work
2. New curriculum plans
3. Do more local hiking

THREE THINGS YOU’D WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:

1. Someone I love
2. Someone who loves me
3. Someone I can have fun with

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE:

1. I am a brown belt in Judo.
2. I've never been in a car accident.
3. I was the first person in my family to graduate from college.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX (or same) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:

1. Caring eyes
2. A loving heart
3. Nice hands

THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN’T DO:

1. Keep the laundry under control
2. Plan ahead for big events
3. Sleep well - for the past several years, I've had trouble sleeping (falling asleep and staying asleep)

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:

1. bike riding
2. writing for enjoyment
3. knitting

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:

1. Have all my work done magically without having to actually do it.
2. Go for a ride.
3. Take a nap.


THREE CAREERS YOU’RE CONSIDERING:

1. Teacher :)
2. Postpartum Doula
3. IBCLC - tho' that will probably never happen

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:

1. Grand Canyon
2. Acadia National Park
3. WDW

THREE KID’S NAMES:

1. Elizabeth Ahrensfield
2. Sean Patrick
3. Angelina

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:

1. John Krasinski (from The Office)
2. Michael J. Fox
3. Jason Gedrick (from Windfall -- but I've liked him going back to Murder One)

THREE WAYS I AM STEREOTYPICALLY A GUY:

1. I don't let many people know the real me.
2. I'm pretty good with my hands and enjoy manual labor.
3. I'm good at figuring things out.

THREE WAYS I AM STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:

1. I am good at multitasking.
2. I like to talk (which translates to rambling in email) with close friends.
3. I know what I like.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

1. Hike some of the Appalacian Trail
2. Have a vacation where I'm not stressed about the money that we are spending.
3. See my children grow up happy.

Rather uninteresting day for a Saturday (which is not necessarily bad). This morning I spent a couple of hours helping to move the 2nd batch of 100 yards of mulch that was delivered to the preschool playground. It's not finished but hopefully some evening this week it will get done. The playground is really lookin' good. I can't wait to see the kids playing on it.

Then this afternoon we went up to the Rainforest Cafe, just for a fun little take-the-kids-for-lunch thing. We don't normally go out to eat very often, so when we do it's a big deal. On the way home we were planning to hit the Hamburg fair (Lamont was going to be speaking there this evening), but we missed the exit and ended up trapsing all over southern CT instead. Then we unwound with a movie: The Manchurian Candidate - good movie, very conspiracy theory kinda thing.

Tomorrow, Ahren's friend Lizzie is coming over for a sleep over, and I'm sure they will be having fun despite the expected rainy weather. :) In preparation I will be cleaning the house. :(

[BTW, if *you* are reading this (you know who you are!), you could leave a comment, even an anonymous one, if you were so inclinded. You probably won't, but you have surprised me in the (now increasingly distant) past. ;) ~me]

How cool is this: Katie Allison Granju and I have the same blog template. I think that just makes me cool by shared taste - right?

The Friday Five

1. Do you really make wishes when you blow out the candles on your cake?

I don't need a birthday cake to make a wish, but I usually do. I also consider it a kind of spellwork, which is neat, since so many people do it and don't even realize it. :)

2. Have any of the wishes ever come true, if yes?

I haven't really kept track - usually I wish for something rather simple, not earthshattering stuff any way.

3. How do you feel about birthdays? (e.g., love the attention, just another day, don't want anyone to know my real age, etc.)

For me it is just another day - for others (dh, kids, family) I try to get excited but sometimes it hard because I think it's just another day. Maybe because I'm oddly not hung up on my age - it's just a number. I've never really felt like I'm getting old (despite the increasing number of gray hairs I have and the repeated suggestions of my hair stylist for me to consider hair coloring). The one exception to this is this funny story: Recently, I was helping our hiring committee review applicants for a job opening. While looking at a resume, I commented that there must a be a typo on a particular resume --- she wrote that she was born in 1985 - HA! That can't be right - I graduated from high school in '85....oh....wait.....[doing the math in my head]....when did I get so much older??? But really the fact that I'm 38 isn't a big deal, for me anyway.

4. Tell us a favorite gift you've received, or something you'd really like for your next birthday.

This year I took the money that I got from my mom and my mil and bought a new cell phone - a Sonic Slider (VirginMobile) - it is really quite cool - has a camera, video cam, phone and mp3 player all together - I love the mp3 player part. Althought I do swoon over the new Verizon Chocolate phone -- I mean, what's not to love??? mp3, navigation, bluetooth, phone, camera and video?? hello, what more do you need? This is a phone I would actually consider switching to a monthly plan for (except that $40+/month would really hurt the pocket book, especially considering the fact I don't really use my phone as a phone terribly much, so hundreds of minutes isn't helpful for me.

5. What flavor cake?

Chocolate - as if you had to ask.

[For some reason, Blogger wouldn't let this post yesterday]

Pete was late getting home tonight, because he got a flat tire on the way home from work. So I didn't get to go out on a bike ride until later that I usually do (I don't have a light on my bike), so I went for a shorter ride - just to my most favorite scene in Niantic and then turned around and came back. It was still nice and I listen to John Mellencamp, The Best that I Could Do 1997 on the mp3 - this week it seems like this (from Jack and Diane) sums everything up:

Oh yeah life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin is gone
Oh yeah say life goes on
Long after the thrill of livin is gone,

Even tho' school doesn't start for a couple more weeks, getting the new rooms set up and the changes that I'm making to my curriculum mean that really from here on out, I will in the classroom everyday until my students join me on Sept 6 - so realistically work has begun. Truth be told, I don't mind getting back to the school groove - as I recently told someone: it keeps me busy and busy is good - it keeps me out of trouble. ;)

Moving mulch is hard work - especially on one's back. Bike riding is apparently not terribly hard on one's back. Although I'm in pretty good shape from all the riding and exercising, my back was taken by surprise by the massive amounts of shoveling mulch I did yesterday. Thankfully we won't have to go back until Saturday morning to do the next 100 yards.

The day at Nature's Art was really a lot of fun. It was, at times, boring sitting around waiting for the photographer for the next shot. But the place was a lot of fun. I especially loved the Space Web - it was this huge rope climbing thing that had two sort of peaks or mountains and then a connection thing so that you could climb from one to the other. I went on it several times, just to climb around (or help a kid who was stuck, yeah, that's what I was doin'). The Splash Pad was also really fun - Sean especially loved that - it was a huge elaborate sprinkler system/fountain/carwashy thing - that had some of those holes that shoot water up from the ground and if you stand on one, then the rest of them shoot higher. Very fun. I'll be sure to let you know if we are in any pics.

Going to be getting mulchy this week. Our new preschool playground is having the mulch delivered this week - there is now 100 yards of mulch there waiting to be spread out so that the remaining 100 yards can be delivered later in the week. I'm actually rather looking forward to it - except for the fact that I really need to be working in the classroom, too. It will be nice to get my hands dirty again (aside from dealing with the endless weeds - just the plain garden variety kind).

Okay, so not only one day but two days short for the Friday Five, here it is nonetheless:


1) What was the bravest thing you have every done?

Plan and had a homebirth.

2) Describe the meanest thing you have ever done.

That is just a mean thing to ask, of course, you are assuming that I've done something mean - and well, really I have, but I'll never tell what it was.

3) Tell us about the nicest thing anything anyone has done for you.

Gave me a note that me feel good.

4) What was the most insane thing you have ever witnessed or done?

Hmm, maybe seeing some of the crazy drivers on the road? I don't know, guess I'm just boring.

5) Describe the most "out of character" thing you secretly want to do.

Well, I think most people think I'm fairly "girl next door", so it would probably be lkin ir arrlam sder psc - oh, darn, it looks like my keyboard malfunctioned - oh, well, it wouldn't be a secret if I told you anyway.

Interesting development.

Today we got a call from Liz (one of the directors of the theater company Ahren was involved with). She said that she was helping a friend who was looking for families to pose in a photo shot for new publicity material for Nature's Art. She thought of us and wanted to know if we would be interested. We will get to spend the day there and they will provide meals for all of us. They will be doing the Splash Pad, so we will need to bring bathing suits. In the past, whenever I considered taking the kids there, I always decided against it because it is expensive and I wasn't sure that they would enjoy it for the money that it cost. I asked if it would be a problem if Pete wasn't there, because he needs to go back to work and she it would be fine, unless I had a substitute in mind -- hmmmm???? no, that probably wouldn't work. ;) Let's hope for nice weather on Monday.

Today I got to go on a lovely bike ride (for the locals: I went down to Black Point and then back out and through downtown to the Boardwalk, then I walked the Boardwalk and back, and then rode home). The weather was perfect and I took this picture of what I think is the most beautiful scene in all of Niantic - the picture isn't great, but the owners of the property have let the part of the area turn to meadow and now there are all kinds of wildflowers (Queen Anne's Lace - my favorite!) and butterflies and insects and such. It is just beautiful.

 

Interesting and random facts and thoughts about the camping trip.

~Our driveway to driveway mileage on the tripometer was 1001 miles - wild, huh?

~I took a long-ish bike ride at both PK and RL and at both places my mileage clocked in at just approx. 6.5 miles - odd that they were both about same even tho' they were different places entirely.

~Both kids ended up have a bit a of 12-18 hour bug - just a fever with a funny tummy - Sean on Monday night and Ahren on Thursday night.

The day that I took the kids on the trail marked "Beach Trail" with an arrow on a post, we were in for a surprise. I was expecting a short path that would come out at the beach/swimming area. We walked and walked and walked and I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to come out the other end. Finally we did and the kids swam, Ahren made friends with a little girl from Virginia and had a nice time. Later I asked the park ranger how long the path from the campsites to the beach is and she says, "oh, I don't know 3/4 of a mile?" uh, huh. I was glad that I had only brought a blanket and a book and not much more stuff.

This was the "beach" at Rangeley Lake. I don't think they should really be able to call it a beach - there was no sand - which was fine by me - it was just grassy lawn than creeped down to the water's edge. There were also three large sets of stone stairs that you could use to walk down to the water. Very interesting.

Back at the campsite - Sean and I present: Fire! A good thing on a camping trip.

 

Here you might be able to get a sense of how steep the trail was - this part was NOT the steepest section by any means. Oh yeah, one of the few pictures of me - in the back with the green baseball cap.

 

This may be a contender for the Christmas Card picture. Ahren and Sean at Cascade Falls.

 

My most favorite thing during the whole vacation was our hike up the Cascade Falls trail. It was pretty steep but the waterfall views made it worth it. At one point, the trail was a little too close to the edge where there would be no return from a several hundred foot drop and I was a little nervous with the kids along, so we didn't get completely to the end, but pretty close. Here's a pic of some of the falls.

 

As so after spending 2 nights at Peaks-Kinny SP, we headed on out to Rangeley Lake State Park. What we didn't realize was that Rangeley Lake is HUGE! I was amazed at how big it was. The kids were very happy to arrive and be out of the car - again!

 

This was our view for miles and miles and miles - not a McDonald's in sight (much to the disappointment of the kids).

 

Here's a funny - I checked our voicemail this morning and heard that we had 10 messages - way more than we usually have after being away, but then when I checked them - ALL 10 were political recorded ads endorsing either Leiberman, Malloy or DeStefano -- interestingly there weren't any from Lamont - and he won --- way to go Ned!!!!

Back to the photolog (sorry it is a bit backwards chronologically) I'm going to try and finish it up today in between loads of laundry and while Pete is out sailing and then head out for bike ride:

This is the beach at Peaks-Kinny - the kids had fun swimming, but I was just taken with the views - can you see the mountains in the background? Just awesome.

 

The drive really wasn't too bad - long, but that was to be expected when you are driving to the middle of Maine. And of course, we did finally arrive at Peaks-Kinny State Park, proved by this photo.

 

Getting ready to leave now. Sean was very unhappy at being up so early, but Ahren seems pretty perky.

 

And here's one with the bikes on the back and the kyack on the top.

 

Day 1 - Sunday - Traveling to Peaks-Kinney SP

Well, we had planned to leave at 5am, but didn't end up leaving until 7:30am. Not too bad, considering everything. Here is a picture of the inside of the back of the van - I'm amazed that everything fit!

I'm baaaack! With loads of laundry to do and a van and house to clean, but back nonetheless. I haven't checked my voicemail, but first needed to just sit for a minute. Overall, despite some, uh, challenges, we had a really good time. Maine was great - the kids loved camping, the scenery was amazing and everyone survived. I will try to post some of the highlights with pictures over the weekend.

Drats is now upgraded to Holy Shit - We're leaving in 7 hours??? Still have to pack my clothes and finish up packing the kids and finish loading the van - but I can't do the rest of that until the am, because of the frozen foods to go in the cooler which will need to go in the back, but can't be done until the am and then the bikes on the back and the kyack on the top.... Argh!!!

ommmm......ommmmm.....ommmmm

Drats!

So earlier in the week, I thought that we were leaving for our camping vacation to Maine on Sunday morning. On Thursday, Pete told me that we weren't leaving until Monday - ok, that's good, more time to get stuff done and an extra weekend to do my absentee voting for the Democratic Primary (Go Lamont!) and stop the mail and all that other stuff. Then this morning, he tells me that actually we need to leave between 5 and 7 am SUNDAY MORNING!!!! It is a good thing that most of our camping stuff is together (tent, stove, lantern, etc) and can fairly easily be packed up. I have not even started the clothes packing or grocery shopping/freezing/packing. And today Ahren has a birthday party in Rocky Hill that I told 2 other parents I would be happy to do the driving to the party - there goes 4 hours of the day! I think I will be doing some midnight grocery shopping tonight.

And the most frustrating thing is that now I can't vote in the primary - argh!!! If anyone is voting on Tuesday pull the lever for Lamont for me, please?

Tryingnottostressout, tryingnottostressout, tryingnottostressout....

A day late, but here is the Friday Five.

1. How much time do you spend on the Internet daily?
depends on the day - usually a couple of hours - but then again, I do work online, so that is where one of my paychecks come from.
2. What are your favorite 3 websites?
zefrank (just cuz he's hysterical), gmail and a toss up between napster and youtube.
3. Do you eat at your computer?
I think if I didn't I'd starve.
4. Pick one and why - Reading the news online or in a newspaper?
neither, I get my news from NPR - usually in the car, sometimes online
5. How many people are on your instant messenger buddy list?
yikes 162 -- but truth be told, most of those are from the days when I was leading breastfeeding chats - so the real number of 'real buddies' is more like 25 that I chat with occasionally.

Since I'm still wasting time (well, I did take a break from wasting time and took Ahren to a friend's house and finished the back lawn and did some laundry), I just have to share this awesome video clip. Thanks, Jennifer!

This one is also great - ya gotta stick with it through the end. Too funny!

So here I am procrastinating all the stuff I really need to do - clean the house, finish mowing the lawn (oh wait, it just rained, I think I'll have to wait to do that anyway), packing for the camping trip, working on school stuff. Do I want to do any of those things? nah, at least not at the moment.

Yesterday as I was driving home from PA, I was thinking about how when I was a kid I really wanted to be a truck driver. I really, really wanted to. I thought it would be so cool to not have one place that you had to go to everyday (like an office) and get to travel around and be your own boss. Ok, so that's not exactly an accurate picture of a truck driver, but it was my 10 year view of them. My favorite show was even, BJ and the Bear, remember that one?

Okay back to something productive - laundry.

Okay, I just can't wait to get Cleo's Theme song as a ring tone - it's just so catch-y. Chicka-quack-quack - love ya Ze!



the show with zefrank

Here she is: Katie Lynn Stevens. What a cutie-pie! I was so happy to get to see my newest little niece. I'm also happy to report that she is happy little nursling who is being really good for her mom - so far.

Here are all the grandkids with Memom. Sean is on the left, Memom is holding Katie Lynn, Ahren is hugging Devon on the left and Madison on the right. We had a nice visit seeing everyone and noone wanted to leave.