• I know, I’ve been a slacker.
• I need to finish the Florence and France and Spain pics from our trip.
• Homeschooling is going well, we’re starting to get into a routine.
• G would do math all day long if he could.
• I’m not kidding. ALL DAY LONG.
• He’s just like his daddy in that respect.
• S is picking things up a long the way, too.
• She even started writing letters!
• I know, surprised me, too.
• Chris went to the driving range today for the first since I got pregnant with G.
• Almost six years ago now.
• He was amazed he could even hit the ball.
• It’s my turn next.  I think my clubs miss me.
• I hear them calling my  name.
• I signed up for Publix e-mealz at e-mealz.com.
• They make a 7-day menu for a family of four (they have other menu options and grocery stores available) and they make the menu based on sale items.  So far so good!  I’m so excited to try it.
• As well as de-stress from menu-planning.  Such a futile effort for me.
• Chris is excited to not have to eat hot dogs and breakfast 6 out of 7 nights a week.
• Chris was fixing a computer tonight for a friend and fellow church member.
• I actually noticed the problem before he did!  Hahahahahahahaha!
• Blown capacitors on the video card.
• Of course, what came out of my mouth was, “Hey, honey, are those little things supposed to be exploded like that?”
• But give me credit, I noticed it before he did.  When you live with a software engineer who is also a genius at diagnosing and repairing and building computers, it’s a monumental moment when you notice something before he does.
• I’m going to enjoy the moment for a bit.
• Thankyouverymuch.

Going Nowhere

• It’s July 4th!!
• Well, only for 29 more minutes on my side of the world.
• I’ve still got Florence and France and Barcelona to go on our Mediterranean tour.
• I’ll get there.  Because I know ya’ll just can’t wait for the next post.
• Strangely, these random posts are my most popular.
• Ya’ll are just weird.
• Or maybe it’s me.
• Don’t answer that.
• It’s been busy ’round here.
• We got a new roof.
• I’m still hyperventilating from writing that check.
• The kids are in swim lessons and loving every minute of it.  We go to the local university to the indoor pool.
• Speaking of indoor (great transition, wasn’t it?), G is doing great at indoor soccer!
• It’s so fun to watch him score a goal.
• No one is keeping score, it’s all for fun.
• Except for Chris, who is secretly keeping score.
• I wonder if all the daddy’s are doing that?
• My mom and dad (Nana and Pa) will be arriving tomorrow to visit for a week.  Yea!!!!!!!
• Because that means Mommy gets a break from playtime for a week.  Double yea!!!!!
• And….(drumroll please)….we have started kindergarten homeschooling!
• So far, G LOVES it!  He keeps asking to do more and more and more.
• He’s wearing me out, ya’ll.

Going Nowhere, Growing Up, Homeschool

Heart in the sand

Who were the true host and hostess of this little wedding rehearsal and dinner at our home last night?  It certainly wasn’t Chris and I!  Their initials were G and S.

S charmed the socks off of everyone and I suspect talked their ears off.  Chris bought them their own bumblebee and dragon party hats and I think S wore hers the whole time.   G likewise turned on his own charm and made fast friends by giving away “hearts.”  The more he liked a person the hearts he gave away.  You always know where you stand with G.

We laid down a blue tarp and spread out sand and beach toys and brought the beach to the party since we couldn’t quite have the party at the beach.  I can tell you that the kids loved that!  Even a few of the adults, truth be told…  ;)

G took his job as the ringbearer very seriously, only getting tired right in the middle and having a seat  right where he stood.  Not bad for a five-year-old.  This evening, he will hold a large seashell with the real rings inside.  We practiced this morning and I stood in for the flower girl.

Shortly, we’ll all get dressed up  and head out for a beach wedding – dragging along beach toys for S to play with during the festivities.  My only hope is that we won’t end up in the water.  I’m tempted to wear my swim underneath my sundress just in case.  My children love the ocean.  No, I mean, they really love the ocean.  They are going to think it’s a dire sin that we will be that close to the water and not be able to get in.

We just might end up back at the beach tomorrow for a real swim after my piano studio recital.

Going Nowhere

• Running a mile-a-minute these days!  Whew!
• But incredibly gorgeous weather.  It’s so nice to sit out back and enjoy it.  Last week was incredibly hot, but this week has been very mild.  Enjoyable.
• I taught my last music theory class at church last night.  That was a lot of fun!  Smart people in there.  (I had adults, high school kids and middle school kids.)
• We are hosting a wedding rehearsal dinner at our home tomorrow evening.
• Nothing like  social festivities to finally encourage one to do the decorating one has been putting off.
• Pictures to come.
• Backyard clean-up commences in mad fashion today.
• This is a last-minute change in venue for the happy couple, and we are very happy to host.
• I’m thinking for future home projects that we need to be inspired by unexpected parties and large events.
• I tend to get motivated and work well under large amounts of pressure like 30 people arriving on my doorstep within a few days time.
• You’d better believe I’ll be sharing photos of those preparations, too.
• And I have some rockin’ Pottery Barn hostess items I got as birthday gifts last year that I can’t wait to pull out!!
• The dinner is a BBQ grill-out.
• Today is Water Day at G’s school.  S and I are donning swimsuits and joining in the festivities!  We are looking forward to it.
• Then we are coming home and working on the backyard.
• Priorities, you know.

Going Nowhere

One of my late Christmas presents from Chris this year as the Barnes & Noble nook, a rival reader to Amazon’s Kindle.  I must say that I love my nook, and it keeps getting better!  Each new software update, particularly the latest, has brought fun goodies.

So why did Chris end up choosing the nook?  After he compared it to the Amazon and the Sony Reader, he ultimately choose the nook for several reasons:

• A space to add a memory card if you want to hold even more books.  This may or may not be a moot point as your entire library is stored online as well.
• The nook also has wifi capabilities, with instant access and more features when you inside a BN store.
• Over a 1,000,000 books.  At the time, more books were available at BN than at Amazon.  I am unsure if that is still true but I think it is.  I believe Sony’s books can be read on the nook as well.
• I can read e-books checked at my local library on the nook, not on the Kindle.
• Chris liked that the nook used Android software.  This means nothing to me, but it was pretty cool to Chris, my software engineer hubby.
• Navigation is handled via a touchscreen (personal preference).

My nook finally arrived the first week of February and I am thrilled with it!  I was one of the original scoffers of e-reader technology.  I thought I would miss the feel of a book in my hand and turning the pages, but no, I can’t say that I do.  I reads like a book, feels like the weight of a book, and you can swipe the touchscreen with your finger with the same motion as turning a page – and your page turns.  It’s pretty great picking up one book knowing you have just about your entire library with you at one time!

I am able to upload my own docs and pdf files to read as I wish.  Formatting may not be perfect, but it works for me.  I can also upload .jpgs to use as screensavers – I have thoroughly enjoyed this.  Opening the cover I purchased for my nook and seeing rotating pics of my family.  (I honestly had no idea if this is a feature on the Kindle or Sony products).  I can also adjust the font size to any size I’d like – nice!

The latest software update included two games:  Sudoku (yes!) and Chess.  It also included (get this!) a web browser!  Sweet, huh?  You have enable a wifi connection and be connected wirelessly, and it does work, albeit a little slow.  This latest update also made page turns a little faster as well as some other nice minor details.

Sure, sure…every rare now and then it freezes and I have to power it down and back up and then, but that happens to any tech product I own.  I don’t see it as a major issue.

Cons.  Yes, there a couple of downsides.  Any book with charts, I am not able to increase the size of the charts to a readable size (one book had this issue that I know of).  Hopefully this gets improved upon.  Also, there is a notes, highlights, and bookmarks feature.  I love marking up non-fiction books with notes and highlights, however, doing this on the nook is a bit cumbersome.  I can go much, much faster with a paper version so I don’t usually make the effort to highlight unless it’s really, really worth it.  Hopefully this improves as well.

A pro or a con, depending upon your budget and perspective:  it was way too easy to buy books!  You can download free samples to preview if you’d like, but either way all you tap is “buy” then “ok” and you have your book in seconds!  Seconds!  Truly amazing.  Just stay within reach of a cellular tower and you have a gazillion books at your fingertips.  Amazing.

A book lovers dream.

And I highly recommend a handy-dandy cover no matter which reader you choose.  It’s just cuteness!  I chose one with a picture frame on the front so I could put in a nice pic of my gorgeous family for me to look at everyday.

Going Nowhere