Tiny Talk Tuesday: An Interview

I have seen this interview with your kiddos everywhere and am totally copying Jolanthe’s idea at No Ordinary Moments and posting it for TTT. :)    Ds2 is my 13yo, ds3 my 8yo and ds4 my 4yo.  My comments are in pink. :)

1. What is something Mom always says to you?

Ds2  “Get that out of your mouth”  I actually say this to ds3, but I guess everyone hears it lol.
Ds3  “Stop that”
Ds4  “Cookies”

2. What makes Mom happy?

Ds2  Us behaving
Ds3  stop fighting
Ds4  model shows and loving cats

3. What makes Mom sad?

Ds2  When her model show is on at a later time
Ds3  Mikey getting run over
Ds4  Don’t have any chocolate  Does this kid know me or what?

4. How does your Mom make you laugh?

Ds2  Not knowing nerdy stuff
Ds3  Doing funny faces
Ds4  Reading cool books

5. What was your Mom like as a child?

Ds2  Are they aware I was not alive?  Yeah, typical teenager.
Ds3  A scooter
Ds4  Playing toys

6. How old is your Mom?

Ds2  42  Hey, not until Friday!
Ds3  I’m guessing 42
Ds4  13  love this kid!

7. How tall is your Mom?

Ds2  Shorter than me  It’s true!
Ds3  40 tall
Ds4  62, 99

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

Ds2  Watch her model show
Ds3  Make cookies
Ds4  Cooking

9. What does your Mom do when you are not home?

Ds2  exercise
Ds3  a bunch of people babysit me
Ds4  go shopping

10.If your Mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Ds2  writing
Ds3  watching model shows everyday  Maybe I should cut back on ANTM?
Ds4  playing toys

11. What is your Mom really good at?

Ds2  writing
Ds3  Tile Towers
Ds4  getting a new camera  See this post

12. What is your Mom's favorite show?

Ds2  America’s Next Top Model
Ds3  America’s Next Top Model
Ds4  America’s Next Top Model

13. What does your Mom cook best?

Ds2  soup
Ds3  soup
Ds4  cookies

When we were done the boys got out their own paper and pen and did interviews about themselves.  Copycats!  :)  For more cute kiddos head over to Mary’s at Not Before 7 for Tiny Talk Tuesday.

Book Review: The Reader

Yay!  The first book review of the first book I have read for my Spring Reading Thing Challenge!  I am also incorporating this review into 5 Minutes For Book’s I Read It meme.  Because I am all about the multitasking. :)

I’d seen The Reader on a lot of book lists and saw the review for the movie/book on 5 Minutes For Books so I threw it in on an order I placed with Amazon a while back.  I finally got around to reading it.  I actually started it about a month ago, but for me the beginning was a little hard to get into.  The writing seemed dry and the subject matter (15yo boy’s affair with 35yo woman) just didn’t sit well with me.  But once I made my way through the first few chapters I got into the book.  For me the writing improved (the descriptions of the countryside on their Easter biking vacation were excellent) and the story shifted from their physical relationship to a deeper one.  Add to that the element of discovering Hanna’s secret and the book turns into a real page turner.

The characters are well developed, but still mysterious.  It’s hard sometimes to equate the Hanna we know with the Hanna of the past…maybe because we only learn of Hanna’s past from other character’s accounts.  Hanna never explained any of her decisions and actions herself.  Michael (the “kid”) is quite the philosopher and it’s enjoyable to read his deliberations on the morality of the situations both he and Hanna have been in.  All in all a good book.  I’m just not sure about seeing the movie…I know Hollywood is going to go gangbusters on the physical relationship between the two, and I don’t know how well a movie can portray the complex emotions the relationship reveals over the years.  Plus I don’t get to watch too many movies on my own lol.  Oh well, first book down, back to the pile. :)

Cats On Tuesday: Sleeping Beauties

I just love watching cats sleep. 

They are so sweet.

And so cuddly.

This guy not so much lol.  I caught Winnie sleeping like this on our back porch.  I actually checked to make sure he was okay!  Guess he was just very tired. :)  For more cat fun head over to Gattina’s blog…can’t wait to see what Arthur and Rosie are up to this week. :)  Happy Tuesday Cat Lovers!

Happy Birthday To Me..

5 days early lol.  Since I dropped my camera on Mainstreet at Disney World on our last trip, dh bought me a new camera for my upcoming bday.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but he saw me researching cameras on the internet one day and I was looking at the exact one he was going to get me!  Turns out we couldn’t find one in stock anywhere so we did a little more research and settled on this baby.

A Canon Powershot SD 790 Elph.  And don’t ask, because I don’t know what any of that means lol.  All I know is I was frustrated too often with my old Kodak and wanted to try a different make of camera this time and we found a lot of great reviews for this one.

Well, we just picked it up today and I’ve been trying it out.  It may be just a bit too advanced for this old bird. :P  I’m slowly figuring it out, though.  You know, right now I am just in the “this is what is different than my old camera” mode.  My Kodak just plugged right into a charger, no need to take out the battery.  This one you have to take out the battery.  My Kodak is a bit more “user friendly” (or maybe I should say blonde friendly lol) but I’m sure after a while I’ll figure it all out.   At least I have 36 days until our Disney trip to do so!  Hey, anyone out there have experience with Canons?  I’m up for tips and tutorials! 

Who Ordered The 2 a.m. Wakeup Call?

Not me!  And for the record, it would have been much nicer if the alarm had been set to music and not HAIL.

Check it out, that is a huge pile of ice on my doorstep.  It all came out of nowhere!  Dh and I heard the hail hitting the roof over our bedroom but when we went out into the hallway the noise was deafening!  I thought it was something else it was so loud and it felt like the house was being attacked.  Turns out the hail was coming down sideways and hitting against the front of the house…we really thought it was going to bust some of the windows.

Just freaky!  The backyard looked like it was covered in snow.  After a while things calmed down and we got everyone back to bed…it took a little longer to actually get back to sleep of course.  Right now we actually have blue skies, although they say we aren’t out of the woods until later this afternoon.  What an experience! 

Mouse Troubles

No, not that kind silly…I do have four cats lol.  I’m having trouble with my computer mouse!  It’s a funny back story actually.  When dh bought me the laptop he wanted to get me a little mouse to go with, but I adapted to the touch pad pretty well so I declined.  Then we found a wireless mouse on sale at Target around Christmas time and bought one for a dirty Santa gift (I tell ‘ya, that was the most fought over gift lol!) and dh bought me one, too.  A cute little pink one.  This one.

I love this mouse!  You just plug in the little usb thing and boom it works.  You take the usb out at night when you are done for the day, slide it into the back of the mouse and it turns itself off…saving batteries!  It’s just the right size and has helped me to greatly improve my game scores against the kids on Webkinz. :)  Anywho, yesterday ds3 said he “dropped it.”  I don’t know where or how, but now my mouse won’t work. :(  I am constantly reaching over to use it and realizing over and over that it’s not working!  Sigh.  What a silly thing to be upset over.  Yeah, I just need to get a life. :P

Outdoor Wednesday: Rain

I missed the last few weeks of Outdoor Wednesday, but I remembered today!  It rained this morning.  I grabbed the camera and just made a trip around our backyard to observe.

A big bee on our screened porch.  Actually, he is stuck in a spider web.  Go spider!  Dh isn’t convinced, but I know that’s the bee that attacked me a few weeks ago.

The kids’ Little Tikes car.  The trunk is filled with water…my cats will be bellying up to the bar this afternoon.  :P

Dh’s latest project.  One of those “topsy turvey” tomato plant growing thingies.  He bought one for himself and for my mom.  They both watch too many infomercials.

My azaleas.  Pretty in pink.

For more of the beautiful outdoors visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Can You Teach An Old Disney Dog New Tricks?

A.K.A. you learn something new every day!  I’ve mentioned before that, even though we live 7 hours away, we are Disney World veterans.  We’ve been over 20 times (again, I really need to make an effort to find out exactly how many times!) So it comes as no surprise that I figured planning for our trip this May would be relatively easy and, well, even a bit routine.  Not so. :)

1. I was reading the weekly newsletter from allears.net and discovered that the carpet for the eating area of the Four Seasons in the Land actually represents the four seasons!  When we ate there last Feb. we were in the “winter” section and didn’t even know it!  Note to self for this trip…look down at carpet lol.
2. Apparently now, if you give a Disney reservations agent your email address, your reservation info gets emailed to you and not sent in the snail mail.  I’ve been waiting and waiting for that letter in the mail, and then discovered, upon closer reading of the email, that there was a link for me to print up the reservation.  Duh.  And I miss getting that letter. :(
3. I also discovered on said reservation, that you can go to http://mydisneyvacation.com and do a ton of personalized planning there!  When I logged on it said, “Hi Julie, your next vacation is 40 days away!”  How cool is that?  It’s like they know me. :P

What’s the point here?  Wait, I have to have a point?  Yes, even for Disney World veterans, the planning process can be fun and informative.  Let’s face it, Disney World is changing every day, so each visit will be unique in some way.   Better to be ready for it.  Back to my planning.  :)

Cats On Tuesday: Mimi Vs Googles

Poor Mimi was just innocently sleeping one morning when she woke to find a Googles in her face!

She tried to politely ask Googles to move over, but I’m afraid it turned to violence.

In the end, Mimi, queen of world peace, decided to let bygones be bygones.  Finally, cats and Webkinz exist in harmony. :)  For more cat fun please visit Gattina’s blog.  Happy Tuesday cat lovers!

Planning a Disney World Trip

Yep, you read that right!  We are headed back to “the World” this May!  We are all excited.  :)  May is a great month to go, it’s warm but not super hot, you can swim, Epcot has it’s Flower and Garden expo going on, it’s just a fun month at Disney.  So, since this time I have a little more notice about the trip, I can do a little planning.  And let’s face it, planning is half the fun!  (Especially for Disney veterans like ourselves.)  To begin with, I like to put together a folder.  This is very handy for storing info you will need on the trip, and for collecting paperwork while on the trip that you can use for scrapbooking or other mementos.  Here’s my folder for this trip.

Front and back.  I had some Disney World themed scrapbooking paper leftover and used it to decorate my covers.  Btw, this is just a plain folder with pockets.  I like using these because they aren’t too bulky.

The inside.  So far I have the calendar for each park for May with opening and closing times as well as Extra Magic Hours noted.  I printed this up from the Disney World website.  It’s super handy to know the closing and opening times for your trip…you’d be surprised at the odd schedules Disney has sometimes.  A park may close very early for a special event and you need to be in the know!  I haven’t gotten my resort reservation paperwork in the mail yet (don’t know why, it’s been over a week) but when I do that will go in the folder as well.  Okay, we’ve gotten this party started!  I’ll update as I add more planning techniques. :)

Gone Fishing…

For vampires. :)  So don’t worry if I’m not around for a while.

Spring Reading Thing 2009

Woo Hoo!  Just another reason to love spring…the Spring Reading Thing challenge at callapidderdays.  I really need this kick in the behind challenge, too, because I haven’t read a (new or different) book in over a month!  GASP!  I have been re-reading again, something I love, but something that will not help me with my 50 book reading challenge at Shelfari lol.  I hope you will join in, it’s lots of fun, you “meet” lots of fellow book buffs and get lots of ideas for future reading.  How many times can I use lots in one sentence?  Too many. :)  Oh, and there are giveaways and all that good stuff, too.  Enough chatter…here is my challenge list!

These are books that I have bought or borrowed and have put off for too long.

Amy Knapp’s Family Organizing Handbook

Get Your Act Together

Absolutely Organized (I see some kind of trend here…)

The Devil In The Junior League

Miss Read Over the Gate

Miss Read Village Diary

The Reader

The Friday Night Knitting Club

I hope to have reviews on these as I finish them.  I look forward to seeing everyone’s list for this spring. :)  Happy Reading!!

St. Patrick’s Day Fun

Well, we kept it simple, sweet and fun for our St. Pat’s celebrations.  We started yesterday with some craft prep and a few lessons on St. Patrick.  We painted some Styrofoam bowls green and added rainbow colored chenille sticks for handles for our “pots of gold.”

Geesh, creativity is messy.  I found this neat idea at FamilyCorner.com.  It didn’t really work like it said it would for us, but we enjoyed it anyway.  Basically you put some Styrofoam cups on dark cookie sheets and bake them for 3 minutes at 250.  They not only shrink, but the bottoms “puddle” and form the brim for a leprechaun hat.

This is what they were supposed to look like.

This is how ours turned out.  Oh well, a couple of them slightly resembled hats so we did paint and decorate them. 

Keeping it real, folks!

I found a printable mini book about St. Patrick at EnchantedLearning.com and had the boys each do a different page…ds2 colored the map of Ireland, ds3 colored the cover, ds4 colored a page, etc.  That way we all learned a little something and all contributed. 

Today ds4 placed Fruit Loops on a rainbow chart…eat breakfast and learn colors at the same time lol.  Isn’t that a cute little ceramic bunny egg holder in the background?  Got that for 2 bucks at the antique shop. :)

We all played a game I found at Kidssoup that was fun and helped teach addition and subtraction.

Our gold was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups lol.

I was surprised at how well the younger boys did when they landed in a leprechaun hole and had to put all their “gold” back.  Ds4 cried a little, but didn’t give up.  In the end we all won a little “gold” and enjoyed our treat.

We dressed up the lunch table with a green tablecloth and our little decorations.  See the cute rainbow and pot of gold ds2 crafted?  I made the cupcakes last night and just sprinkled green sugar on top…boys are so easy to impress lol.  We also had some Irish punch (lime sherbet and Sprite.)  A fun day that was relaxed and not too hard on the teacher.  Success!

Fun In The Rain!

We had about 3 days of non-stop rain over the weekend and Monday.  Fortunately there were no storms with the rain, just a steady dose of wet. :)  We live at the top of a hill, and when we get a good rain a nice little river runs down our street.  The boys and I took advantage of it with an impromptu boat race.

Here ds2 crafts his boat with a Styrofoam bowl and some chenille stems.

Good job!  His entry represents the good old U S of A.

The starting line.

My entry had the Irish colors for St. Patrick's day.  For the record, I won. :)  Ds3 and Ds4 put their Webkinz in their boats, so they were slowed down a little.

There’s just nothing more fun than running down the street in the rain in your undies.  Well, at least when you are four.

Ds3 has been wearing a green shirt for days now…he really doesn’t want to get pinched lol.

Ds’s American entry was in the lead for a while.  Eventually his flag got too wet and the Irish overtook him.

We looked like fools (yes, some of the neighbors stood at their windows and doors looking at us) but we had a lot of fun, learned a little, and made memories.  Who says rainy days can’t be fun. :)

Cats On Tuesday: Winnie

If I don’t take him out of the dryer right when the cycle ends, he gets all wrinkled and I wind up having to iron him. :P

For more cat fun head over to Gattina’s blog.  Happy Tuesday Cat Lovers!

Oops I Did It Again

It’s a lame title, I know, but the post is about a lame event so there. :P  Last year I broke my pinky toe.  Yesterday, I did it again.  And added another toe in for good measure.

I guess the toe next to the pinky felt left out or something so it joined in on the fun this time.  It’s all bruised and swollen, but doesn’t really hurt that much.  The pinky, however, is ‘a hurtin. :(  There is a bruise at the base of it that worries me, makes me think maybe this may be a new break.  I’m holding off on the dr visit.  I mean last time they did all the hoopla of x rays and specialists and such just to tape the toes together and say “Stay off it.”  Uh, yeah.  Homeschooling mom to 4 boys, stay off your feet.  Not going to happen.   So I’m wearing my little “boot” again and trying to catch some couch minutes when I can.  My kids think I’m crazy because the first thing I did after it happened was shave my legs lol.  Hey, just in case, you know? :)  Sigh, just when I was getting into my exercise routine again.  If this keeps happening I’ll have to set up a category for it lol.

Outdoor Wednesday: Because I collect memes

I saw this fun meme through Pam’s blog and thought I would join in.  We are having a wonderful spring like week so far, some would even call it summer like as the temps are in the 80’s lol.  Ds1 has already hit the beach a few times.  But for us that’s spring!  Here are some signs of spring in our yard.

It’s hard to tell, but my hibiscus are coming back to life!  Trust me, there are little buds there…I check every day.  :)

Early azaleas.  I was attacked by a bee for this shot, so forgive the blurriness.

I have no idea what flowers these are…they are on a vine that has been growing up the azalea bushes.  Sure is pretty, though.

Okay, so visit A Southern Day Dreamer for more of the great outdoors.  :)