going on safari with a firefox

doesn't that sound EXOTIC? it's really just the silly names of web browsers. what was wrong with something self-explanatory like, say... internet explorer? told us EXACTLY what we were to do with it.

when we got the imac, it came with the browser safari, and i noticed that blogger lost many of it's posting abilities, such as spell check (horror) and links. i could probably do this in html, but you remember how inept i am, right? someone told t that firefox is a better mac-based web browser, and will show many things on the internet that safari will not. lo and behold, they were right! so here i am on firefox, and i'm able to check spelling, link, italicize, and change colors again.. ain't life grand?

poo day

it's just one of those days.

i read this in the paper this morning. i'm SURE it's really a great learning tool for a very treatable and curable cancer, but all i could think was... LET'S GO FIND OUT WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE A POO! call me crazy, but after waking up at 4 am from insomnia, i was a little slap-happy by 8 am.

especially after last night. t had just gotten done saying goodnight to the kids when he came down to the living room where i was raptly focused on american idol. thank goodness for tivo and being able to pause live tv, because it took me awhile to recover from what he said.

"you'll never believe what s said to me."

apparently, she had told t that something stank in her bedroom. she put her fingers up to either side of her nose (smell meter) and took a big whiff. "it smells like old coins," she said. "i think it's your breath, daddy. it smells like old coins and poop."

when he told me this, i was laughing so hard that i literally could NOT catch my breath, and tears were streaming down my face. old coins? poop?! where does she come up with this stuff? it just hit me in a really strange way, and i've been laughing ever since.

by the way, he told her that he'd go brush his teeth immediately, and would never again eat old coins and poop for dinner. i have a funny feeling that this one will live on as a family legend. any of you have similar family legends?

hairy

here's a photo of my hair for all those who requested. i know it's hard to see the color, but i used the camera on the imac and the "photo booth" program that the kids have gone gaga over!

it's my first professional color job in awhile, usually i go with drugstore color as i'm a) not wealthy enough to change my color as frequently as i like and b) i'm extremely fickle with haircolor. actually, i'm extremely fickle with hair styles as well.

off to school to be with my kids! i've got some great art done by s that i need to share soon.

random

i'm feeling a bit crabby this morning (imagine that) but i have no coffee coursing through my veins as of yet, so i should just wait and see if that is the cure. been taking flonase for my Seasonal Nasal Allergies and it's really helping the sinus pressure, drainage, and general misery. maybe i just need to get some more exercise (t and i are taking the bike to the gym today and endorphins always perk anyone up. jane wants a walk this morning too but mama hates cold so mama's waiting until it's warmer outside. seeing as how it's supposed to be 84 degrees today, we won't have to wait long.

i got my hair done last week and it looks really cool. she cut it higher in the back, then chin-length in the front. luckily she had a cancellation and was able to do some fun colors in it as well, highlights and lowlights and it's kinda blonde for the first time in a long time. andrea (pronounced ON-dreea), my genius hairdresser of oh, seven years or so, agreed to sell some of my bags at her salon. since i enjoy making the bags for the time being (i'm sure i'll get sick of it soon enough) it may keep our family in "free" haircuts for awhile. the barter system... it works!

a fan of t's artwork in japan sent us a big, wonderful package chock-full of harry potter products featuring t's art from the first movie. coooool! exclusive stuff that it not available here. waaaaay cool! she also sent japanese hair accessories for s and me. she's restored even more of my faith in the kindness of humanity throughout the globe. i asked what i could send in return for her kindness, and she chose an american nasal allergy spray since they are supposedly not as strong in japan. wish i could pack her up some flonase since the stuff works so well, but i don't think i can transfer a presciption, especially across the pacific.

speaking of t, he (YAY!) started a blog. and because he's so ultra cool and stuff, he's already getting more comments than i am! what a bum. but he has an official fan club and all, so they're checking it out. he has raised over $1700 (i think) for his ride for kids. isn't that phenomenal?

the coffee pot beeped a few minutes ago, so must drink. happy week, everybody!

history meme

i was tagged by booklogged over at in season for this meme...

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birth date only -without the year.

july 10

2. List 3 events that occurred that day:

988 - The City of Dublin is founded on the banks of the river Liffey.
1821 - The United States takes possession of its newly-bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1938 - Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.

3. List 2 important birthdays:

1830 - Camille Pissarro, French painter (d. 1903)
1871 - Marcel Proust, French writer (d. 1922)

4. List 1 death: (that's all, folks!)

1989 - Mel Blanc, American voice actor (voiced Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Barney Rubble, etc.) (b. 1908)

5. List a holiday or observance:

Bahamas - Independence Day.

hey, this was a fun one, and i even learned a few things. i'll tag anyone that wants to play. thanks, booklogged!

making the switch

we're making the switch from pc to dell for our home computer. we already use mac for work and travel, but our house had a dell because we needed satellite internet when we first moved to the boonies and satellite internet needed a pc. now that the pc is 5 years old and so slow and outdated as to be nearly unusable, we have dsl internet. problem solved, we can switch back to mac.



it's an interesting transition, and is taking loads of time to get all our "stuff" from one to the other. i think in the end of it all we'll be far happier. already i'm far happier with the SPEED!

and guess who's the lucky recipient of the dell?? mom n dad when they come to visit. lucky them!

because susan was wondering...

...about my favorite song sung by ernie on "sesame street." this is it, and if you watch it, maybe you'll understand the sentiment i feel when i hear it. i've been a lifelong sesame street fan and am SO GLAD that s is showing interest in it again after a few years off. i sit and watch it with her!

there's another version of this song with aaron neville that is simply amazing, and a version sung with shawn colvin that is very nice as well.

cheater cheater pumpkin eater

a few posts ago, susan at porcini chronicles asked if i would post on this topic...

The Seven Songs I Would Pick If I Could Only Listen To Seven Songs For The Rest Of My Life, Which, Yeah, Like Someone Is Going To Impose That...

and her challenge tormented me. seven? only seven? i listened to all the 5-star-rated tunes on my ipod for a few days. i jotted, i thought. i scribbled out and re-added songs. why would this be so impotant to me? i'm not sure why, but i just couldn't narrow the list.

then, the lovely lainey-paney over at life is just so daily tagged me to post my 3 favorite songs. i suddenly saw a way out of my dilemma. 7 + 3=10, right? ten songs! i didn't have to narrow it down to seven anymore! the challenge seemed surmountable now!

here they are, the 10 songs i consider my favorite, in no particular order. difficult, because they are changeable due to mood, year, insanity... whatever. i'm so noncommittal, aren't i?

• i don't want to live on the moon by ernie from sesame street
• the rainbow connection by kermit from the muppets
• walkin' after midnight by patsy cline
• mr blue sky by elo
• you put your arms around me by sinead o'connor
• long may you run by neil young
• ob-la-di, ob-la-da by the beatles (sorry j)
• one by u2
• the obvious child by paul simon

anyone else that wants to play by my cheater's rules, be my guest. i'd love to see what y'all have to say.

kudos

i

made

an

image

link.

IT IS A MIRACLE! I AM SO HTML CHALLENGED!

look in the left toolbar at the "ride for kids" photo. it actually links to the donation site.

for real!

i am so proud of myself, so here's a pat on the back to me.

vibrating shiatsu bed with built-in footwarmer!

while lying in bed this morning, somewhere between consciousness and sleep, i thought, "how lucky am i?"

one cat on the bed purring loudly, the other cat on my back purring almost as loudly, and the two of them together making the whole bed seem to rumble. the cat on my back is massaging with his front paws, nice and relaxing.

upon my feet lies the nice, warm, furry dog.

do we live in the lap of luxury or what?

ride for kids

warning: a shameless request for a fundraiser follows!

on may 6th, my darling husband is participating in the triangle ride for kids , a motorcycle trip through our beautiful area to raise funds for the pediatric brain tumor foundation.

i'm trying to make a button to go in my left toolbar, but please be patient with me! if you'd like to make a secure, tax-deductible donation by credit card, or would like any more information about this ride, you can go to his personal fundraising page here.

thanks in advance to anyone generous enough to donate to this wonderful cause!

gripes

yesterday i started-- and almost finished and posted-- a rant about the crappy day i had overreacting to relatively small annoyances. i got distracted, i didn't finish it (you have no idea how many times that happens to me) and i'm really glad i didn't. it was a self-indulgent bitch-fest, and i'm glad to now post a happy happy joy joy entry.

first of all, last night my friend jen and i (hi jen! she is a silent reader or "lurker" here) went out for sushi for her birthday. that is, i got big ol' slabs o' raw fishies while she got the cooked stuff. needless to say, i left sated and happy. the shopping beforehand didn't hurt the situation.

today i packed it in quickly and headed to school. can i tell you, I LOVE OUR SCHOOL. i'm waiting for something annoying and terrible to happen because we have had 3 years of luck, love, happiness and community at our little country school and i can't imagine a better environment for our kids. today i was in the kindergarten (tuesday i did the 2nd grade thang) because it was the last day before spring break.

first of all, they had a "carnival" for all the kids, k-8. it was just a few inflatable bouncing thingies and some little carnival games and some cotton candy thrown in to stick everything together, but it was so sweet! and the kids loved it. i thought for SURE it was all fun & games until someone got hurt but NO! not a tear in the house.

then, s's class had won the supply drive contest... that is... they had brought in the most supplies for the pta thrift shop. that meant PIZZA PARTY! so, after finger painting, we all washed our hands and dug into free pizza instead of cafeteria food. yahoo!

after the first 2 parties, it was clearly time for a third party in the kindergarten. an easter party! they all donned their bunny ears and grabbed their easter baskets made from milk jugs and hopped out to the palyground to hunt for eggs. so cute! after that, back to the classroom for treats (dessert i guess) and goody bags. what a day!

i know i talk to people whose teachers aren't allowed to even touch the kids to give them a hug when they are crying for politically correct reasons. i am proud to say that at our school the hugs and love are spread liberally over our children and I'M GLAD. there are so many parent volunteers, assistant teachers, support staff, and lead teachers to love on our kids it's not even funny. and it's a small enough school that my kids and i know many of the teachers, parents, and students personally. i feel like each one is watching out for my kids as if they were their own... i know that's what i do!

a few more good things came of the day, mostly that the lovely music teacher agreed to give s singing lessons after school, and h won the "caricature of the art teacher" contest. it's a truly hilarious piece, and i hope i can get a scan to show you. she said, "the drawing doesn't necessarily show what i look like on the OUTSIDE but rather what i feel like on the INSIDE."

t is gone to a concert tonight... seeing "peeping tom," a group fronted by mike patton of "faith no more" of whom he is a huge fan. i'm sipping wine, listening to tunes, and belting them out at the top of my lungs. whenever i get a touch of laryngitis, i find that this helps me get my singing voice back more quickly, and it's also therapy for the soul.

aren't you glad i didn't gripe?

backfire

i've decided that i'm not only quitting this blog, but i'm going to delete the whole thing from the blogosphere forever.

april fools!

yesterday, s was all about tomorrow being april fools day. she went on and oN AND ON! about the tricks she was going to play on us... spiders crawling in the hair and the whole kindergarten nine yards. she plotted and schemed, and kept asking how much longer until she could fool us.

normally we forget the holiday entirely at our house, but since she had made such a big deal out of it, i suppose it was on our minds. while the kids were sitting on the sofa watching cartoons and eating pillsbury cinnamon rolls this morning, t walked up to s and said, "OH MY GOSH! I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH A HUGE TICK IN MY LIFE AND IT'S CRAWLING ON YOUR FOREHEAD" to s. her face flushed, she looked entirely panicked, and you could almost see as the sweat beads began to form on her pretty little brow. "HOLD ON! LET ME GET IT OFF!" he hollered at her as she flinched.

"APRIL FOOL!" he blared, right at the same moment that she burst, wailing, into uncontrollable tears. i was laughing through my own tears as i held and rocked her, soothing that it was okay, it was just a joke. bad parents! bad, BAD parents!

she and i plotted how to get daddy back, and h in the process. when they came in from outside, she bounced up to them with a big grin and blurted, "I BROKE YOUR NEW REMOTE CONTROL DALEK! (a dalek is a robot totalitarian from bbc's hit show "dr who" that both our boys are nuts for)" daddy obviously knew it was a joke, so he made a big deal out of it, but poor h was in the background, his face crumpling.

"APRIL FOOL!" shouted s as h finally caught on and daddy declared how well she had "gotten" him. a minute later, she climbed up in my lap and said," mommy? do you promise you won't tell daddy something?" "of course i won't tell him, honey," i cajoled (i'll just post it on the internet for the entire world to see). "what is it?" she started to cry as she said, "when i told daddy about the dalek, i thought i was going to get in TROUBLE!" boo-hoo-hoo.

what a mess! i'm not sure we're quite ready for celebrating april fools day at our house. we'll try it again in 5 years and i'll let you know how it goes.

p.s. she got her hair put in french braids as a special treat for tolerating our bad parenting, so now she's bubbly again.