life with WE

Facebook - favorite thing, or biggest time waster?

At the moment, I love facebook.

Sometimes, I hate facebook.

Other days, I am indifferent to facebook.

I love connecting with people I haven't seen in forever!  It's fun, it's great to catch up, it's great to see pictures of them and their kids and their spouses or the places they've been.

Then, I start to think of facebook as something I "need to do".  Have I updated my status in awhile?  If not, who cares?  I need to join more groups.  Why? 

Also, a random side effect.  When I update my status, I find myself talking about myself in third person for awhile.  "Jennifer is drinking her coffee."  "Jennifer is done with her children today."  "Jennifer wonders if green boogers should really be coming out of her daughter's eyes."

Do you facebook?  If so, is it a favorite thing or a waste of time?

And, I'm a little turned off by the fact that Hoda and Kathy Lee have a facebook page.  What's up with that?

Favorite things - day 4

It's a little harder to come up with favorite things this morning, as our entire household seems to be battling the same head cold.  Warren is angry he's sick - "remember I got that flu mist?"  Elaine has a fever after five days of cold.  And Mike and I are just starting with the scratchy throat and whatnot.

HOWEVER.

Favorite things for today are simple:
1 - school back in session after 2 snow days
2 - neighbors who let you borrow snow blowers
3 - school back in session after 2 snow days
4 - a bruised tailbone from serious sledding yesterday which is SO worth it
5 - hot coffee and cold ice water
6 - going to bed at 8:30 pm
7 - did I mention that school's back in session?

Any faves for you all today?

Favorite things, day 3 (snow day #2)

Earlier this week, I was visiting a favorite blog and found an interesting link in her story.  I didn't know what it was about and lo and behold I stumbled on a hilarious site about cakes.

Now I know what you are thinking - cakes?  What's so damn funny about cakes?

Well I tell you what - this lady is finding some FUNNY cake mishaps.  I started searching her site, finding her favorite posts and whatnot.  And I was hooked.

I love it when I stumble around on other blogs and find good funny stuff.  It's a favorite thing of mine.  Especially then when I tell my kids, "mom's working on the computer, give me a few minutes".  Cuz you know how working = getting no pay to surf the net, read blogs and laugh hysterically.  Totally.

So if you'd like a giggle at the expense of others' cakes, check this site.   Specifically, these entries:

The cake that started it all (you have to read the accompanying story)

Easiest cake theme ever

Wasted cakes

The problem with phone orders

Firefighter cake

Creepy baby cake (Now this one is just scary.  Who eats a cake shaped like a lifelike child?)

Do you have a favorite funny site you discovered?  Share in the comments - I need laughs people.

Also - Mike didn't find the idea of this nearly as funny as I do.  Um, are my meds too high again?  Ruh-roh.

Another of my favorite things.

SNOW DAYS!

Not ice days.  Not just a dusting of snow days.  But an honest to goodness snow day.  As I kid, I loved them.  As an adult, I love them! 

Waking up to find out school was canceled was sheer joy!  And now I get to be the one who tells my kids school is canceled.  We stay in our jammies all morning long, and then bundle up to go sledding.  And yes, while bundling up I want to scream out of the frustation of it all (as did my mother), but once we get out there, it's all worth it.

The glistening snow, the previously run sled tracks, the thrill of running and throwing your body down on a piece of foam and plastic while hurtling at top speeds toward a parking lot...nothing compares.  I freaking love it.

Snow days make the midwest tolerable.  And although winters can be long and dreary and depressing - I love me a good snow and I couldn't give it up. 

What say you?  Love a snow day?  Hate a snow day?

Let's focus on our favorite things for awhile.

I've got the winter blues, and dude, it's not even February!  So to cheer myself up, each day this week I'm going to post a favorite thing.

Today's favorite thing is infomercials.

I LOVE THEM.

They are hilarious.  They are semi-informative.  They have been known to suck even the savviest consumer into "needing" whatever it is they are selling.  They make us realize things we definitely DO NOT need.  They also provide insight into the mind of today's inventors.

Some of my favorite infomercial items:

• The Snuggie - because blankets are just too cumbersome.  Dude, your hands can't be free!
• The Shamwow - this I think we might need.  However, the name is LAME, is it not?
• The Buxton bag - Warren is just convinced I need this.  "Look how much stuff it holds mom AND TWO WATER BOTTLES.  And your arms are free!"  Really, could anything be better than this?
• Big city slider station - do you know how hard it is to make your own patties?  I mean what food would do that?  And no more flipping and flopping!
• Flirty girl fitness - totally getting that and putting a stripper pole in my house.

There are more, but I think that's a good start.  Let's hear it for infomercials!  What ones do you love?

Recharging your batteries. How do you do it?

I'm not talking about AA or C batteries.  I'm talking about your battery.

I think (and I think I'm not alone in this) that it's important for each of us to "recharge" ourselves.  You can't be your best self if you don't take time for yourself.  I know that when I have dinner with girlfriends, I feel refreshed.  Revitalized.  I can read a book to escape life for awhile, or scrapbook, but quite honestly, nothing does it for me like a girlfriend fix.  And yes, I am venting about my children/spouse/the economy while I'm with the girls, but it makes me feel better. 

(For instance, right now I just lost my shit because my cheerios are getting soggy and Elaine needs a frozen go-gurt RIGHT NOW.  Was that necessary?  Not likely.  But it's been awhile since I had a friend fix.)

Anyway, by recharging myself, I find I am able to be a better spouse, mom, sister, daughter, friend - all of it.  At least for a little while.  Mike recharges by playing playstation and/or going out for beers with his pals. 

We all have something, right?

Well what are you doing now that times are "tight"?  Don't get me wrong, times are always tight around here.  One income feeding a family of four will do that.  But it's hard to justify a $30 night out for dinner when you know you could have spent that elsewhere.  Say on groceries, or a book order, or whatever.

(And I just apologized to Elaine.  It was quite unnecessary for me to act that way.)

What do you do to recharge?  I need ideas.  And more importantly, can I come with you?

There are changes in the air or water over here.

Something has happened to Elaine.  I'm not sure how, but suddenly, she is maturing.  I mentioned how she went from soaking a pullup while sleeping to sleeping in dry undies all night.  Well, now she's talking in the voice of a thirteen year old!  "Oh that was so awesome!"  "Warren, that's hilarious!"  "Did you see that dress?  It is so coo-ool!"

That part is a little bit nerve racking.  The 13 year old business.  But also, funny.

Then there is her, stepping up the plate in terms of responsibility.  She's cleaning the toyroom.  CLEANING THE TOY ROOM.  She's straightening up her room and then STRAIGHTENING UP WARREN'S ROOM.  All of this - unprompted.  People, I don't even know how to put into words how apathetic she has been in the past when it comes to cleaning.  Beyond lazy.

And she happily helps with things.  She even OFFERS to help!  "Mom, can I set the table for you?"  "I can help you clean that bathroom!"  I'm telling you what, I don't know who this is!

Ooh ooh, and she talks about how she used to not listen.  "When I was little, I didn't listen to you.  That's not nice.  Now I'm getting bigger and I listen!"  "I messed around a little bit in fallerina class last time.  This time I will pay attention, okay mommy?"

She doesn't ask me to wipe her butt.  She doesn't ask to be carried.  She opens her car door herself.

I really think all of this happened overnight.  I have no other explanation.  Perhaps the moon is in alignment with Jupiter or something.  Maybe I'm hallucinating.  Whatever it is, I love it.  All of this maturing hasn't stopped her from loving on me nonstop, so that's good.  I still get smooched and hugged frequently and lots of "I love you mommy!"

I don't know who this kid is, but she can stay!

 

So, and some stuff.

Everyone says it more eloquently than me, but I just have to say, yesterday was awesome.  No matter who you voted for, I think you have to be happy that as a country, we've come far enough to elect an African-American president.  I honestly didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.  Yet I am thrilled beyond belief that it did. 

And now it's just another thing to try to explain to my kids later when I'm telling them how lucky they are and how easy you have it.  You know, like back when I was a kid, we listened to records and cassette tapes, we were excited when we finally got basic cable, atari was the biggest thing since colecovision, there were no cell phones, and we'd never have even thought about having an African-American president.  Kids these days.  They have it so easy.

I am ever so grateful for that. 

You can't just quit and run home when you aren't winning!

How do you teach a kid not to lose his shit over a wii game?

Yesterday Warren was "wii-ing it up" (as he likes to call it) when I heard OVER THE NOISE OF THE VACUUM an insane amount of stomping and screaming.  And just so you know, we don't have any of that dance revolution business so there was clearly no need whatsoever for stomping.  I turned off the vacuum and headed toward him.  As I neared, I heard "uhhhhhh, I hate you, I am so angry, uhhhhhh!"  I calmly began to inform him there was no need for that type of behavior but it soon escalated out of control because Warren could not get it under control, and was in that zone where you can't even get through to him.  It went something like this:

Me: Warren!  You need to chill out a...
W: THIS IS MAKING ME SO ANGRY.  I HATE IT I HATE IT I NEVER WANT TO PLAY IT AGAIN.
Me: Warren, get a grip!  Seriously man, you need a ...
W: I HATE THIS THING!  IT'S NOT ACTING RIGHT AND IT'S MAKING ME SO MAD!
Me: Okay, let's figure out...
W: ARGGGGGGGGGGG.  I HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEE IT!
Me: GO TO YOUR ROOM!
W: NO!  I HATE THIS THING!
Me: Seriously, go to your room now and sit on your bed.  No more wii for you today.
W: FINE!  I HATE IT AND I'M NOT GOING TO MY ROOM AND I NEVER WANT TO PLAY THAT AGAIN AND I AM NOT GOING TO MY ROOM.

At this point, I headed after him, and he went screaming and crying up the stairs (because I'm all scary like that).  I told him to sit on his bed and chill out and I'd be in to talk to him soon.

And I went to my room shaking my head trying to figure it all out.  I went back to talk to him about having good sportsmanship and how he will not always be the best at everything, but it's only important to have fun and try your best while doing it.  But basically I got about three words out before he flipped his lid again!  So... I left the room again.  I came back another five minutes later and tried to calmly talk to him.  But I have to tell you at this point, my calm was with fury.   I didn't scream, but it was not a nice tone.  Which of course made him cry, but people, we had a whole summer of this.  When he wasn't winning something outside with his friends, he'd quit and storm inside to pout and cry.  And who wants to play with a bad sport?

I thought I'd gotten through to him.  He apologized, I reminded him no more wii for the rest of the day. 

An hour later he asked if he could play playstation.

Back to the drawing board.  (Oh and of course, I said NO.)

*In other news... dry night number 2!  Once we get to 10, she gets to choose dinner and she's already choosing Steaknshakes (as she calls it)!

It's a monday.

We are celebrating here over the House of WE today.  Why?  Well, for one, it's Martin Luther King Jr. day and my kids seem to know more about it than me.  And two - Elaine DID NOT WEAR A PULLUP TO BED LAST NIGHT!  AND SHE DIDN'T PEE!

As you can imagine, the second is cause for much much celebration over here.  We're watching Tinkerbell right now as a reward.  Even W is sucking it up for this princess movie fest.

Later tonight, we'll watch the "I have a dream" speech.  And Warren will surely tell us how he 'already knew that'.  Because, in case you weren't aware, first graders know everything!