Design Flaw

Our house is full of windows and light, and I love that about it. However, it has a design flaw that is really becoming a problem. The windows in the bedrooms are the high up kind. These are great because it maximizes the wall space in the room without sacrificing light. Our room and Sadie's have five windows each, and Eden's has three. The problem with them, though, is that the only kind of window treatment that looks good on them are shades or blinds. Curtains, in my opinion, look silly, because they'd have to be really short and then they would give off that 'puppet show' effect. Plus, at this stage with Eden, it is still really important to entirelyh block out the morning light, unless we all feel like getting up at 5am. So, black out shades are a must for her room.

So, the fact that we are limited in the window covering isn't so much the issue as is the fact that if you have blinds or shades mounted, you can't put the screens on those windows. Which really stinks because it means that we can't really take advantage of the slightly cooler evenings and turn the air conditioning off and open windows for sleeping. Well, we do, sometimes have the windows in the other rooms open and run the ceiling fans in the bedrooms, but it isn't as nice as having an outside breeze directly coming in to the bedroom.

Eventually, we will need to replace the windows in the house, and this problem may go away, but for now it is my biggest gripe with the place.

Another Quiet Friday

I'm at work again, today, and there are just two of us here. Everyone else is on vacation. On the one hand, I like these quiet days. It's a good chance to catch up on work stuff as well as other pressing things (like, finding out the status of Lindsay Lohan's drug rehab stint, and how Paris Hilton is faring now that she's out of the clink). On the other hand, once 2pm or so rolls around, the time will really start to drag, and I'll be itching to get out of here for the weekend. Evan and the kids are coming by for lunch, so that will help to break up the day. It was supposed to be a beautiful day today, and he was going to take them to the beach, but it is very overcast as of 9:30am, and it doesn't look promising. It is really hard to be stuck in the house with restless kids, so I hope, for his sake, the rain holds off.

Listening

The Underdog by Spoon. Very catchy tune. This may be their breakthrough hit, after years of almost getting there.

Back at work today

I'm back at work today, after a nice long stretch of days off. As much as I've enjoyed being home with the kids, and the laid back days that come from that, it is nice to be back to work, too. It is quiet here, so I had Sadie in with me for a couple hours this morning. She's with Evan now, and they're going to play mini-golf (see my other post on the subject).

Anyway, one thing that sort of boggles me about this place is that for as big as we are, and as much of our business happens online, we don't have an intranet software solution. Why does this matter? Well, what we have is a series of serves that different groups have access to. And, it seems like I'm constantly running into the problem of trying to collaborate with faculty members on things and having no central, shared location to store them. Certainly makes collaboration difficult!

I'm not sure who makes the overall, University-wide decisions on technology here, but it seems like someone should have thought of this already. I wonder if I should suggest that we take advantage of the 30 day free trial being offered by EPAZZ?

Anyway, as far as jobs and job complaints go, this is obviously pretty minor. But, a worker bee has to find something to complain about, right? It's the American way. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Sisters

File this one under "???"

The other night, as I was putting Sadie to bed, she said, "tomorrow, let's build a golf course." "Huh?" I asked her, prompting her to say "I want to turn our yard into a golf course." I have no idea where she came up with this idea...honestly, I didn't even think she knew what golf balls were, let alone a course. In any event, Evan and I decided that maybe we should take her to play mini-golf, so she can get an idea of the game before we break ground on the new course ;-)

So, Evan is off with her on Friday. If the weather cooperates, I think he's going to take her to the mini-golf place on the boardwalk.

The Heat is On

It is supposed to hit record highs for heat and humidity today in the bayou the Garden State. One of those days when it is best to just stay indoors, I suppose. But, when you've got little ones, staying indoors all day sounds about as much fun as having teeth pulled. So, I think we're going to hit the library for story hour this morning and then, after lunch, brave 'the elements' and go down to the beach.

Edited at 8pm: The beach was, surprisingly, glorious! The heat and humidity that were blanketing the areas west of Ocean Avenue was blown away by the most perfect, ocean breeze. We had a good day, and the kids (and Mom) are wiped out. I love me some summer days!

Weekend Recap

We had another great weekend! The weather was absolutely stunning - sunny, clear, low to no humidity. Just the kind of weather that makes you want to stay outside all day. And that is exactly what we did.

Saturday we took the kids to the playground in the morning, and biked to the beach in the afternoon. We ended up staying there until six, which is late for us. It was just too nice to leave.

Yesterday, we "hit" the beach again (literally...I'll explain in a moment) and then went to a BBQ at the house of one of Sadie's friends from school. We're becoming pretty friendly with her parents, so it was a lot of fun.

As for 'hitting' the beach...I was chasing after Eden near the kiddie pool and wiped out completely. At first I thought just my pride was hurt, but lo and behold, today I am bruised, scraped and just generally battered. I haven't fallen like that since I was a kid, I think. I'll bet it would have hurt less if I was a kid. I'm totally feeling it today.

So, I think today might be a lowkey day...maybe I'll take the kids to the park, or maybe we'll just veg out at home. Happy Monday, everyone!

Summer Evening Photo Shoot

I have an opportunity to receive a free photo enlargement--16x20-- of any photo of my choice. After thinking it over, and looking through our existing photos, we decided that it would be best to do one of Eden, since I have yet to take her for any formal portraits (bad mom!). So, last evening, after an early dinner, we got her gussied up and took her down to the beach to snap away. 106 shots later and we had some really good ones. Here are just some of the really cute ones - we're going to use the last one as the one we have enlarged (we'll crop me out of it). Can't wait to see how it comes out.

The Money Shot

Like It?

This is what Sadie and I did this evening, in honor of our wonderful day at the beach. I will say, we've never managed anything quite so grand when working in the brick and mortar sand and water environment of the Jersey Shore. Anyway, Sadie got a real kick out of doing it. She loves to play on the computer, and loves to build Sandcastles, so it was a win-win for her.

The site was super easy to use, and Sadie wasn't the only one who got a kick out of making one. What can I say? I'm easily entertained. After we had made it, it found a spot in the site's gallery, so I showed Sadie how she was now an exhibited artist. I think the humor was lost on her.

I like to find opportunities for Sadie to 'play' on the computer, to practice her eye and hand coordination, fine motor skills, and ability to follow directions. We often go to some of the educational sites, but I'm always keeping a look out, too, for commercial sites that offer similar opportunities. Sadie doesn't care that this site eventually directs us to a solicitation to book a beach vacation (though, I should be careful letting her play unsupervised...who knows what we'll end up with!). She just thinks it is fun to make things with the mouse. In fact, in addition to the one I'm showcasing, she made three others (the one shown represents her 'best in show'), and I'm sure she'll want to play around with it again tomorrow. Of course, tomorrow is supposed to be a gorgeous day, so she'll practice her sandcastle building skills at the beach, but this is a nice thing to keep in mind for rainy day activities (see my post from yesterday!).

Lucky

Today was a '10' as summer days go. Sunny, clear, and dry, with temps in the 80's. I took Sadie and her friend Olivia to the beach, and Evan and Eden met us down there in the mid-afternoon. We had a great time. As much as I love the beach, I love watching my kids love it even more. The girls spent the entire day either in the pool or the ocean - they all looked pretty wiped out by the time I dropped Liv home at 5. On days like this, I'm even more appreciative of what I have and where we live. We may never drive a new car, afford that Orlando vacation home rental I've been thinking about, or have many of the luxuries that everyone around us seems to have. But, as long as we can ride our bikes to the beach on a sunny summer day, I think we have more than most.

Free Music

I'm always looking for new, interesting, and whenever available, free music to download. Because I get so sick of the canned playlists that most of the commercial radio stations play and play to death, I'm especially interested in unsigned and independent bands. So, I thought this was worth passing along - a British unsigned chart with free music downloads. Definitely worth checking out if you like to stay ahead of the curve with new music.

Because I'm sure you're dying to know...

...the rainy day ended up being very nice, actually. I ran errands with the girls in the morning, and then Sadie's friend, Matan, came over for a playdate in the afternoon. The sun even came out, and Sadie is at her riding lesson right now with Evan, and Eden has just gone down for the night, and all is well in the world.

Is your bedroom a retreat?

The way I see it, I spend more time in the bedroom than in any other room in the house. Granted, I'm not conscious for most of that time, but it is still time spent. This is the first place we've lived where I've actually put thought into the decor in the bedroom. Instead of a bland, neutral color for the walls, we painted them a calming (I think, anyway) deep olive green, and the trim and window treatments are a cream color. The result is a very serene room. The duvet we have is the one we brought from our last house. The color works (it is a muted grayish lavendar), but I'm ready for a change. So, I've been looking online for duvet covers and bedspreads and seen some nice ones. Opinions solicited...given what I've described about our color scheme, should we go for a bold (jewel tone, heavily textured) spread, or another neutral one? Suggestions welcomed!

Rainy day, stuck inside, redux

I'm home with the kids again today, and guess what? It's raining out. Pouring, in fact. This better not be a pattern. Anyone have any suggestions for good rainy day activities? I'm really struggling to find things to do that are entertaining and suitable for two kids of different ages. I can think of a bunch of indoor things to do with Sadie (baking, board games, cards, playing dolls), but those things are hard to engage Eden in, obviously. And, the things that I can do with Eden (read board books, sing songs, play tickle tickle) are not very interesting for Sadie.

I'm really trying not to spend money unnecessarily, so some of the other things I can think of (ride the rides at the mall, go to an indoor playspace) are off the table, too.

If the rain would just let up, I'd just take us all for a walk around the neighborhood, but that's not happening right now.

Somehow, rainy days seem just so much worse in the summertime, don't they?

My Guilty Pleasure

The other night, I was online when Evan came up behind me and asked what I was reading. I had to 'fess up. I was reading about how Paris Hilton is faring behind bars. He gave me a strange look. Yes, it is true...in the 17 years we've been together, I've managed to keep my dirty little secret hidden from him. Well, now it is out. My name is Deborah, and I am a celeb gossip hound. *hangs head in shame*

Well, now that you know that about me, let me tell you where I get my 'fix': CelebrityGossip.com. If, like me, you have some perverse need to know whether Lindsay Lohan's birthday party plans are still in the works, or whether TomKat are really expecting baby number two, this is the site to hit.

Promises, promises

"They" are assuring us that the air-conditioning in the building will be repaired by tomorrow at the latest. I'm not holding my breath. It has been two weeks already, and today is another uncomfortable day here. I'm even more glad that today is my last day until a week from Thursday. Hopefully when I get back, we'll be back in the climate control zone.

What would you do?

Can you imagine being stranded in an unknown city with no money or resources? Do you think you could survive? Would you forage for food? Beg for money? Sleep in unlocked cars and on park benches?

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't survive for very long in this scenario! Evan, on the other hand, would probably live to a ripe old age. He's just super resourceful like that. I swear, he'd be salvaging tomato seeds from the garbage and growing plants in a corner of some public park. He'd build a shelter out of abandoned car parts. He'd, of course, be befriended by sympathetic folks and probably offered a warm bed and a hot meal, if I know him.

On June 28th USA Network is premiering a new TV series, Burn Notice, that will show us how a former CIA operative deals with a similar situation. I think it should be a pretty interesting watch. I'm sure Evan will be into watching it, if I know him.

I would imagine, in some ways, it would be easier to survive out in nature, away from a city, if you know a bit about camping and wilderness survival. So, I'll be curious to see what tricks this guy has up his sleeve to survive in the urban jungle, sans food or money.

Check out USA Network's Burn Notice and maybe, just maybe, you'll learn more than Evan knows about 'surviving'.

Wow

I cannot get over how much work Evan and his dad were able to accomplish in 8 hours today. The backyard is totally transformed. Ok, not transformed as in it is now a lush, beautifully landscaped oasis, but transformed into a spot that is obviously about to be planted. The back 'yard' is all leveled out, with new topsoil covering it. Tomorrow evening, he'll seed it, then lay straw mulch down and hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we'll have a lawn.

Linus

My aunt and uncle have the sweetest little Beagle, Linus. He's pretty young still (about five years old or so), and was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. He is currently undergoing chemo, and responding well, but I just feel so bad for him. He is the fourth dog that I know of to be treated for cancer. Back in 'the day', if your pet got really sick like this, it was just a death sentence, and the kindest thing to do was to have them put down once they became uncomfortable. Now, there are so many other options.

I think this aggressive treatment of illness in pets is a fairly recent phenomenom. I'm sure it is due, in part, to the fact that there have been so many medical advances in veterinary care that it is now a reasonable thing to consider when a pet gets sick. It seems like if you have a pet nowadays, it is a good idea to get pet health insurance. I was reading some statistics, and 2 out of 3 pets will develop a serious medical issue in their lifetime. Just as most (reasonable) people wouldn't willingly bring children into the world without health insurance, I would say that if you are considering owning a pet (or do own one), you should consider buying pet insurance. I know I would never want to be in the position of making a decision about my animal's care based primarily on what I could or couldn't afford.

Anyway, if you are the praying, meditating, well-wish sending type, keep little Linus in your thoughts.

Found...in the dirtpile

Evan is playing around with heavy machinery working hard with a Bobcat in our yard today, leveling out the yard in preparation for seeding the lawn. So far, he has uncovered a vintage glass Pepsi bottle (cool!) and a clutch of golf-ball sized snake eggs (so, so not cool). I took some pix of his progress when I ran home at lunch, but I'll wait until I can snap up the finished product before posting.

I'm surprised our neighbors weren't crowding around, cheering at the work.

wugh

The air conditioning has been out of service in my building for almost two weeks now. Last week, it was very cool, so I didn't really notice, but today it is hot, hot, hot, already (11am), and expected to get even hotter as the day goes on. We have fans running, so that is helping to move the air and keep it from being so still and stifling, but everything--from the air to the office furniture--has that damp, sticky feeling to it. It is so ridiculously quiet in the office this time of year, that it almost seems feasible that we could just take our laptops and work remotely (like, from the beach!). Ah, a girl can dream, right?

So the weekend was great...

It went by so quickly, but was a lot of fun. The weather cooperated, and we had a great day at the beach on Saturday. It was really nice because both Eden and Sadie had friends there from their respective daycares, which makes things easier on us. Both of my nieces got their first taste (literally, I think) of the sand, and two of the three babies treated their parents to nice, needed naps at the beach (Eden wanted to part of that silliness, but thankfully, she stayed happy and entertained, in spite of being exhausted). It was a good start to the season, and hopefully, a sign of the great summer we're going to have there.

Yesterday, we went for a long bike ride (I am really stiff and sore today!), then met Evan's family for brunch at a new restaurant on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. Afterwards, we all took a nap (heavenly!). It was such a hot day, that it was really nice to spend a couple of hours in the middle of the hottest part, just snoozing in the cool house. it is rare that both girls nap, and at the same time, no less, so it was a nice Father's Day treat for Evan. Afterwards, we went up to my parents' house for a cookout. The kids spent hours in the kiddie pool and were completely worn out by bedtime. So worn out, in fact, that we all overslept this morning. At 8am when they were both still asleep, I asked Evan why they can't ever manage to do that on the weekends, and his response was that it takes us all weekend to wear them out enough.

Anyway, my SIL was kind enough to send some pix she took:

The three 2006 babies (and moms) on the beach.


Cousins


Riding home

I never dreamed I'd be a DIYer

Ok, so in reality I'm not. But, I'm married to one. I think even if we could afford to have other people do the work we need done around the house, Evan would never go for it. At any given time, though, he has more DIY projects in the queue than he can manage. Currently in progress or in the pipeline: Finish painting the exterior of the house, deal with the backyard, rebuild the firebox, mantle and surround so we can have a functioning fireplace for next winter, patch the spot in the floor in our bedroom that got ripped up from restructuring the closet, and choose colors and paint the hallway and den. Phew! I get tired thinking about it, and I'm not the one doing the work.

When I think back to what the house was when we closed on it, it really does make me proud to see how far we've come. We've got a long way to to making it our dream home, and sometimes I forget to remind myself about how much has already been done toward that end. it was too depressing to even take any 'before' pictures of the inside, but here's one of the exterior from just before we closed on it: lovely shade of green, eh?

My mother has good words of wisdom, though about all of it. She reminds me that we have plenty of time to get our house in the shape that we want it, but only a finite amount of time to enjoy our children while they are young. I do take that to heart, and make a point of pulling Evan away from his many projects as often as I can for 'family time.' The projects can (usually wait) - the children (usually) can't. :)

Tick Tock...Tick Tock

It is sooooo quiet at work today. Most of the staff is either on their summer Friday, or taking a vacation day. I swear, you can hear a pin drop. It is hard to be here when it is so empty. I have a feeling today is going to drag, so look for many blog entries from me today ;)

iContact

Part of my job involves running the "Faculty Resource Center" on campus. This is supposed to be a place where faculty can come to get help with their ideas on teaching and learning with technology. Problem is, we have a hard time getting them in the door. We offer a monthly calendar of training events, discussion rountables, and other events designed to broaden their exposure to us, and see as more than just 'tech help.' However, we seem to just see the same small cast of characters at any of these events. I have often wished I could have a way of tracking who is reading the announcement emails I send out. In addition, as we're revamping the FRC website, it would be good to know who is accessing it, and for what.

So, I'm a bit intrigued bya product called iContact. It allows you to create, publish, and track content in a variety of forms (email, RSS feeds, surveys, web pages). There is a free, 15 day trial period, so I'm going to give iContact a run and see if it would work for us. If it does, the product seems pretty reasonably priced (looks like the most basic features are available for $9.95 a month), so I think I could get iContact included in our budget for this next academic year.

Is this June?

It is so cold and damp out, it feels more like April. This weekend the beach club opens, and so this better be the last of the cool, rainy weather until September. All week, I've been amassing our 'beach supplies' (chairs, towels, sunblock, boogie boards, sand toys), so I think we're all set. My sister-in-law and her family are coming up - it is going to be great to get all the kids together in the little pool. We had such a fantastic summer last year, and really enjoyed the beach so much, that I'm really hoping for a repeat this year. So, fine...it can rain for two more days, but by Saturday at 10am, I'd better see nothing but blue skies and sunshine.

Truck Update

Evan's truck died several weeks back. Since then, my father-in-law has been kind enough to lend us one of his cars while we a) find a new truck, and b) work out how to pay for it. So, having finally taken care of the latter, I think we're pretty close on the former. Evan has been following up with a number of ads on Craigslist, and has it narrowed down to two possibilities. Now, keep in mind that we're not talking new or luxury on either of these - purely functional and CHEAP. Possibility one, the guy is asking quite a lot more than the blue book value, though Evan said it does have a number of auto accessories that are adding to the value. Possbility two, the guy is asking for a bit below blue book, as he claims he is in dire need of cash. This one isn't as nice, but again, it is about 25% cheaper than the first. Evan is feeling a bit torn, but you know, when you buy a used car, you're always running a risk, so I think he just needs to suck it up and go with one of them and be done with it.

My guess is that we'll have a new(er) vehicle by the weekend. Oh no! Does that mean I need to return the sweet ride I've gotten used to?!?

Bliss

I'm home with Sadie today, and it is a quiet, rainy day. Sadie is resting, playing quietly with her Polly Pockets and watching 'Bob the Builder' while I eat leftover Chinese food (breakfast of champions) and catch up on all things online. In a little bit, as promised, I'm going to paint her toenails and read her some of the new books we got from the library the other day. That is probably about as exciting as our day is going to get. As much as I love to be busy, it is really nice to have a quiet day like this from time to time.

More on PayPerPost

It appears that blogging for cash, in general, and Pay Per Post, in particular is really gaining momentum. I just read that PPP just secured $7mm in venture capital funding. I'm really curious to see what kind of expansion will come of this additional funding, and what it means for bloggers. In the last several weeks, I've definitely seen a lot more opportunities available for bloggers, and better paying ones at that.

Although I'm reasonably new to all of this (I just started doing it in January of this year), I guess, in the scheme of things, I'm an early adopter, since PPP's paid blogging service was only launched last June. I sort of jumped into working with PPP without doing any research on them, but having done so since beginning work with them, I have to say that I like what I've learned, so far. The company was founded by a guy named Ted Murphy, who seems to have a pretty strong background in 'viral marketing.' PPP is the preeminent 'consumer generated advertising network', so it makes sense that they're the ones securing the vc funding.

Anyway, I am constantly telling anyone I know that is interested in earning some extra, easy money, about paid blogging. If you're interested, I think PPP is the company to start with. Here's the text of the press release I read today:

The PayPerPost Revolution Accelerates, Sponsored Blogging Marketplace Secures $7 Million Series B

Draper Fisher Jurvetson leads round and joins Board of Directors

ORLANDO, FL – (June 12, 2007) – PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for advertisers to reach bloggers and other consumer content creators, today announced it has completed a $7 million second round investment led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, an investor in the company's Series A and one of the world’s leading high-technology venture capital firms. The financing brings the total amount of capital raised by PayPerPost to over $10 million, giving the company considerable resources for further development as the industry’s leading Consumer Generated Advertising marketplace. Additional participants in the round include existing investors Inflexion Partners and Village Ventures as well as new investor DFJ Gotham. With this investment, DFJ Managing Director Josh Stein also joins PayPerPost’s Board of Directors.

“PayPerPost created this exciting new advertising space and has established itself as the industry leader,” said Ted Murphy, chief executive officer of PayPerPost. “Although we’ve only used a portion of our first round capital, this added support from investors unlocks significant growth potential. Our content creator and advertiser ROI metrics clearly demonstrate the upside for PayPerPost’s model. We intend to use this capital to build the infrastructure, visibility and professional expertise necessary to reach and retain a greater network of advertisers and content creators than ever before.”

Since its founding in June of 2006, PayPerPost has signed more than 6,500 advertisers to its groundbreaking service, which has enabled Consumer Content Creators to be compensated for their efforts discussing specific companies, products or services via blogs, videos or other media. The content creators are required to disclose relationships with advertisers on their blog, providing transparency for the end reader. Over 125,000 Internet postings, most in the form of blogs, have already earned money for their creators through PayPerPost’s innovative marketplace. PayPerPost recently released PayPerPost Direct, a disruptive new service that allows advertisers to contract and negotiate directly with individual bloggers they identify through a safe, managed system.

“PayPerPost has laid a strong foundation for the future,” noted Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “It continues to attract a critical mass of participants from both the advertising and blogging communities. Analogous to Overture’s sponsored search model, we believe PayPerPost’s business model holds disruptive potential and will enable the company to thrive in the evolving paid-content arena.”

To mark the $7 million dollar funding, PayPerPost has launched a new website detailing the company’s service offering at http://www.payperpost.com. Bloggers and advertisers can easily sign up at the site and begin leveraging the self service marketplace.

You know you're a parent when...(beach edition)

You so very diligently apply sunscreen to every square inch of your child's body and forget to get your own damn self.

You pack enough nutritious snacks and juice boxes to keep the kids eating continuously from the time you get to the beach until the time you leave, and forget to bring a bottle of water for yourself.

You willingly go running into the water, even though you just put your shorts on over your suit, to rescue "my favorite" sand toy from the surf that has just snatched it and is about to send it to Bermuda.

You play endless games of paddle ball with a four year old who, for the life of her, can't manage to hit the damn ball back to you. even. one. stinking. time.

Seeing a pattern here????

Masterseek

I'm guessing you've never heard of masterseek. It is a business search engine and directory that houses information on some 45 million companies in 75 different countries. It has info on products and services as well as key contact information. This is a great B2B resource, and worth checking out.

So, did you watch?

The final--as in FINAL--episode of the Sopranos last night? If so, what did you think? I didn't watch, but read a spoiler. I actually like those ambiguous 'choose your own ending' kind of things, so I thought it sounded like the perfect ending to the series. What did you think?

Lurve me some coupons

I've blogged about this before, but it is worth repeating. If you are like me, and love coupons, check out couponchief.com. Seriously. The site aggregates all the online promo codes out there in a single location, so you don't have to search a ton of places to find the best deal on things. It has gotten to the point where I check it prior to making any online purchase. Most recently, I used it to check out the sale items at Pottery Barn and scored a couple of great deals.

Something else I want

I noticed that my sister in law has her home office residing unobtrusively in the living room in one of these. I think its a great idea, and I want one. Right now, we've got the computer set up in the dining room, but eventually we're going to get a dining set and start using that area for entertaining, at which point, we'll need to move the computer. I think we could fit a piece like this in our living room, without it looking odd.

I've been browsing various furniture sites, including Coaster Furniture, which often has stuff that looks good and doesn't cost too much. But I haven't seen anything I really love just yet. I havent' even said a word to Evan yet, because I know he'll think it would be better to make something, and then it will just be years before I get the darn thing. I'm really not looking for a work of art, just a reasonably attractive and functional piece.

three day weekend

Enjoyed another long weekend, just passed. Friday we started 'summer hours' at work, where everyone gets every other Friday off, so that was my day. It was also Sadie's pre-k graduation. It was a very cute ceremony, and even though Sadie had a crying spell in the middle of it (why should that day be any different than any other day, right?), it went off without a hitch, more or less. Here's a couple pix of the graduation girl:







Afterwards, we went to the beach. I left Eden in daycare, and just took Sadie and met my mom there. For the first time in...probably years...I was able to just sit and relax at the beach, while Sadie either amused herself or played with my mom. It was heavenly.

We met my in-laws out for dinner at Sadie's favorite grown up restaurant and enjoyed a nice dinner out on the patio, followed by some 'let's tire them out before bed' time at the nearby playground.

Saturday, we went out to visit friends and had a cookout with them. It was very cute to see all the kids playing together, and Eden was really right in the thick of it with them. She's turning into one of the 'big kids' right before our eyes.

Yesterday, we rode our bikes down to this festival and enjoyed some good food and good music. It was a great ride down there and back, too, and the furthest we've ventured with the kids in tow on the bikes yet. All in all, a great day.

I love three day weekends.

"If I had a million dollars..."

No, this is not an entry about the Barenaked Ladies --though, as an aside...I recently heard a live, acoustic version of the 80's hit "In a Big Country" and it sounded like it was BNL singing. I've googled, but can't find anything that ties them to that song. Anyone know if they've ever covered it in concert? Anyway, this entry is kind of a continuation of a conversation I had with my SIL and BIL this past weekend. We were talking about jobs where you make a ton of money and I was saying that I didn't even particularly want to have a ton of money, because I didn't think it really fixed most of the problems people have in their lives. But, that's not an entirely true statement, because one thing that having a ton of money would help us out with is getting rid of our debt. I've stated before how debt-averse I am, but as a homeowning family that needs two cars and needed educations to hold the jobs we have, debt is kind of unavoidable. So, I thought this article was kind of interesting and alarming at the same time. This one, too, is a pretty good read. I'm forever trying to figure out how to get and keep us 'financially fit', so I'm always looking for good articles and resources. Pass them along, if you will...

I'm a biking fool

The weather has been so condusive to biking lately, that I've been driving home at lunch and grabbing my bike for a ride back to work. it is supposed to get very hot starting tomorrow, so it won't be as appealing, so I'm trying to just cherish these days of perfect riding weather. I've been averaging about 35 miles a week, which isn't an amazing distance, but good enough for me, I think. I can definitely see/feel a difference in my fitness levels from when I started. I remember the first day I rode to work (April 4th), I was huffing and puffing on the ride home, and was so stiff and sore the next day. Now, I don't even break a sweat on the ride to or from work. I've been trying to go faster and faster to sort of keep the ride challenging. Too fast, though, and I'm at my destination too soon. Ah...problems, problems...

The Next Internet Millionaire

Don't worry, I don't have any delusions of grandeur with regard to my paid blogging. No matter how many sponsored posts I manage to churn out, I doubt I'm going to make a fortune off of the web. That's ok. I'll take the fun money anyway. But - a new reality tv show coming this fall will put 12 contestants up against eachother for a chance to become "the next Internet Millionaire" (!). Might make for an interesting watch....

Nine Years

Nine years ago today, on a beautiful sunny day (not unlike today) and in front of all of our family and friends, standing on a veranda overlooking the ocean, Evan and I were married.

I can't believe it has been nine years already - we are an old married couple! We didn't have a digital camera back then, so I don't have any electronic copies of pictures. I may try to scan one in later, so you all can get a good chuckle out of how young and in love we looked :) For now, you'll have to satisfy yourselves with a picture of the now-demolished hotel where we had our wedding.



At the risk of soundy overly mushy, I will say that if it is possible, I am even more in love with Evan today than I was on the day we were married. I am so lucky to have found him and I look forward to spending ninety more years together.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Rock On, Miss Paula!

Win a New York flyaway to see the Police live!

Sadie’s teacher—Miss Paula-- cracks me up. I don’t know how old she is…maybe late 40’s or early 50’s. Anyway, she is forever going to concerts…forever talking about how tired she is because she was ‘out late at a show’ last night. Recently, she was talking about seeing David Gilmore and she said to Evan, “He used to be in a band…have you ever heard of Pink Floyd?” We got a laugh out of that – I mean, has anyone over the age of 30 NOT heard of them?

Anyway, this morning she was all abuzz about getting Police tickets. I am so jealous. As I mentioned in another entry, I was cruelly denied ;-) the chance of seeing them years ago, and now, life and logistics conspire to keep me from seeing them on their current tour. I am really bummed, because, having seen Sting in concert, I can only imagine what an amazing show it will be. I’m sure they’re going to play all of their classic hits. I love, love, love their stuff from the late ‘70’s (off of Regatta de Blanc) and was happy to see that some of my favorites, like So Lonely and Truth Hits Everybody are included in the new “best of” police cd. Not only was that great music at the time, but it definitely influenced later bands, IMO. Oh well, I guess the closest I’m going to get to that tour is listening to the police cd really, really loud at home. I told Miss Paula she’d have to rock out a littler harder at the show, in honor of poor me.

Wordless Wednesday - Coming soon, to a roadway near you

As mentioned here, I am legal to drive in NJ, once more.

Stories that Scare the Pants off of You

Do you remember the scary stories you heard as a kid? The ones that you just couldn't get out of your head and used to torment you in the middle of the night? For me, the spookiest one went something like this:

A woman is driving home from somewhere after dark. She is listening to the radio in the car and hears a news story about a warning of an escaped prisoner, who is considered highly dangerous. She quickly turns the radio off, so as not to hear about it.

After a while, she turns onto a pretty deserted road. She notices a lone pair of headlights in her rear-view mirror, approaching at a pace just slightly quicker than hers. As the car pulled up behind her she glanced and saw the turn signal on — the car was going to pass — when suddenly it swerved back behind her, pulled up dangerously close to her tailgate and the brights flashed. Now she was getting nervous. The lights dimmed for a moment and then the brights came back on and the car behind her surged forward. The woman is terrified now and struggles to keep her eyes on the road. She is convinced that the escaped killer is chasing her. Finally, her exit approached but the car continues to follow, flashing the brights periodically.

She finally manages to lose the car behind her and breathes a sigh of relief. Just as she does so, the real killer, who had been in her backseat all along, leans forward and slices her throat, killing her.

In the end, the driver behind her had been trying to save her. As he pulled up behind her and his headlights illuminated her car, he saw the silhouette of a man with a butcher knife rising up from the back seat to stab her, so he flashed his brights and the figure crouched back down.

Can I just say that this story terrified me for years? To this day, I always, always, check my backseat before I get into the car.

Urban legends--stories told by friends that start out with "a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone who..." really scare me, because I always feel like there is some element of truth to them. Thank god for snopes, so I can check them out and put my mind at ease! Now scary movies or books, on the other hand...I love those! I guess because I know that their sole purpose is to scare and entertain me.

There's a new scary movie coming out, with John Cusak (swoon! but that is a topic for a completely different post...), based on a book by Stephen King, 1408. I haven't read this one, but the 1408 Movie looks good and terrifying from the trailer:



The 1408 Movie is coming to theatres at the end of this month, so if you're looking for a good scary movie, this might be a good one.

I guess we're staying

I finally--20 months after we moved here--went and got a NJ driver's license last night. So, I guess we're staying ;-). Kidding, of course, as staying was always the plan, but I am relieved to finally have that off of my to-do list. Why the delay? Well, the first year was just plain laziness. But, when I finally did get motivated to switch my MA for a NJ one, I ran into a problem. I couldn't find my MA license! This proved to be problematic for DMV, as they couldn't just look me up in some national system and see that I was, in fact, a licensed driver in MA (or, so they said). So, I actually considered just taking the damn driver test and getting a new license in NJ.

Then, I ran into the 'six points of ID' issue. My passport and birth certificate are in my maiden name, and the copy of the marriage certificate that I had wasn't 'official' enough, so I had to get an official one from Spring Lake boro hall (thanks, Mom, for running that errand for me).
Once I had that in hand, I very well could have started the process, but again, laziness took over.

In the meantime, I drove like a 75 year old woman...always a couple of miles below the speed limit, never making a right on red...all out of a fear of the hefty ticket or arrest I could incur for not having any license on me.

And then, recently, I was looking for something under my bed and what should I find, but my MA license!!! Eden has a not so cute habit of grabbing my wallet and taking everything out of it. She must have done that one time and slipped the license between the slats of the footboard on the bed.

Anyway, once I had that back, getting the NJ license was fairly painless. So, there you have it. I am legal to be on the roads in NJ once again. Watch out, world!

Summer

With Sadie's school year coming to a close, I'm getting a bit nervous about our plans for the summer. Last summer, I sent her to camp at the JCC. It was a miserable experience for her, for a number of reasons. In light of that, I've decided to kind of patch together bits and pieces of daycare coverage for her (my mom, my father in law, Eden's sitter, a reduced work week schedule for me...) to make it though the summer. We'll have to see how that works out. The plan is totally relying on the goodwill and availability of a lot of people, but if we can pull it off, I think it will be wonderful for her to have a last summer completely at home before her big transition to kindy in the fall.

I may look into other Summer Program options for her for next year, though. As much as I would love to have her home all summer, it isn't realistic to think that we can do it every year. I know I wasn't happy with the JCC program, and I have similar concerns about some of the other, like-themed day camps in the area. I may look into some sort of academic camp for her, since I really do think she'd enjoy spending part of her summer learning. And, as much as I believe that kids should be kids and that summers are for fun, part of me does feel that kids lose a lot after 10 weeks without any sort of academic stimulation. I have read about a program offered by a company called SCORE. I'm interested in any experiences or feedback anyone can offer. Am I nuts for thinking of this as an option?

Look who stopped by our yard this morning...

...and then made a hasty retreat when we went over to welcome him.

A Week of Lasts

Sadie graduates from Pre-K on Friday, so this is a week of 'lasts'. Last swim day (today), last science experiment day (Thursday), and of course, the very last day (Graduation). I'm going today to watch her swim. I'm trying not to get too emotional over all of the 'lastness' of it all, but it is hard. I have a feeling I'm going to cry on Friday. It is so hard to watch them grow up!

The Night Sky

When we lived 'inside the hub', as the close-in suburbs of Boston are known, it was almost impossible to get a good view of the night sky. Sure, you could see the moon, and occaisionally, Venus, but the rest of the stars were obscured by the orange glow caused by the reflection of the city lights back into the atmosphere.

I remember right after we closed on our current house, but before we were able to move in, we took a ride over at night to look at it. We stood outside and looked up and were astounded by how bright the stars were, and how clear the night sky appeared.

Since we have lived here, we have often sat outside in the nice weather and looked at the stars. Now that Sadie is getting older, and more interested in it, my lack of astonomical knowledge is becoming more and more apparent. I can identify a few things, but not much. I think it would be neat to have one of these Meade MySky Planetariums. How cool would that be?

Things I wonder about (inspired by our recent road trip)

1. Why can't rest stops be more attractive/pleasant places to actually stop and rest? Why not throw in a little playground equipment next to the three picnic tables set on a concrete patio so that the kiddos, who have been car-bound for a couple of hours, can burn off a little bit of energy before being restrained in the carseats as you head out on your way again?

2. Why do people feel the need to pass you and then, as soon as they get in front of you, SLOW DOWN to the point that you then need to decide to either pass them, or reduce your overall cruising speed?!?!?

3. Why don't truckers honk their horns on command anymore? We taught Sadie the universal "blow it" signal, but try as she might, she can't get anyone to take the bait.

4. Do all drivers who go a good 15 to 20 miles per hour above the 'herd speed' have radar detectors, or are they just playing with fire?

5. Does the state of Delaware exist for anything more than to be a merging and crisscrossing of a number of big highways? Well, that and tax-free shopping (as I learned from the 'Welcome to Delaware' signs).

6. What in the world did we do before EZPass?

7. Is it rude to sit in the designated food court area of a rest stop and eat the picnic lunch you packed, rather than succumb to the lure of Burger King? Because we may or may not have done this, and I want to make sure we didn't break any 'food court' rules, inadvertantly.

I'm so aggravated with Bank of America right now

without going into all of the details, let's just say that I'm somehow lost in their system...and tied up into this endless feedback cycle when all I want to do is check on the status of something. If I get redirected back through the same useless phone menu items one more time, I'm gonna blow.

Man, I really miss the small, independent banks. :(

Pay Per Post Direct

As you know, I've been doing paid blogging for a number of companies lately. I wanted to take a moment (or, an entry) to talk specifically about one of the programs that one of the companies offers. Pay Per Post (PPP) is now offering an additional way of getting opportunities...called Pay Per Post Direct. What this does is allow you to cut out some of the middle-man aspect of the pay to blog companies, and allow you to negotiate directly with the advertisers. Advertisers can approach bloggers directly with a posting request. And bloggers can then set their own minimum price for writing the opporunity.

While some of the other companies might mark up the rate as much as 50-100% when charging the advertisers and keep half of the money, PPP Direct doesn't. The majority of the money earned from blog ads you create goes to you.

I've mentioned before how much I like the ease and earning potential of paid blogging - but the potential to actually keep most of the money I am earning is a definite plus.

For those of you interested in getting paid to blog, or those of you already doing it with the usual suspects of companies, I encourage you to check out PPP Direct. There's more information available here: http://blog.payperpost.com/2007/05/part-one-of-birdo-release.html

Three days offline...

...was actually kind of wonderful. We spent the weekend down in Maryland, visiting Evan's sister and family. We had such a good time. It was very relaxing, in the kind of way that we never seem to manage at home. Lots of eating, drinking, sitting around and watching the kids have fun. My niece has gotten so big since I last saw her. She is really smiley and interactive now. Sadie got a big kick out of her, and even Eden seemed somewhat interested.


It is neat to think that soon enough, the three of them will be so excited to see eachother on these visits, and causing all kinds of trouble together. Maybe we'll even be able to convince Alyssa and Jim to join us on our Orlando vacation when the time comes.

We visited a petting zoo, which was a big hit (though, it was SO hot), and we brought along a blow up kiddie pool, so the girls enjoyed splashing around in that. Other highlights (for the girls) included ice pops after dinner and a bath in the big jacuzzi tub. Don't you wish you found as much pleasure in such small things, too?

We were planning to stop at Longwood Gardens again on the way back, but the weather wasn't cooperating, and honestly, both kids were pretty wiped out, after a weekend of not enough sleep. So, we just headed straight home and continued the theme of the weekend by relaxing and eating and watching TV once got back. Amazingly enough, I didn't even feel compelled to log on and catch up on email and news and message board posts until this morning. Sometimes, it is just nice to be unplugged for a few days.