This is scary!

I don't drink, honest! Must have been the messy hair that gave me a Barney ID. Thomas, his dad and I have been laughing like crazy over this tonight! You Are Barney

You could have been an intellectual leader... Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps Your life philosophy: "There's nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem."

The Simpsons Personality Test

Great things this week

In hopes of turning my half-empty attitude into a half-full attitude, I've decided to blog about great things from my week.

1) The air conditioner is fixed! Woo hoo, just in time for upper 90s.

2) I was able to turn the oven on and bake something this week.

3) A charity from the Twin Cities had a curbside pickup, so we donated five big black garbage bags of clothes and stuff. Grateful because we have to make an appointment with our one and only local charity, Salvation Army, to drop stuff off and they turn down off-season clothing. Curbside donating is fantastic, and it's a great charity. (Epilepsy Foundation)

4) I was very glad to have signed Thomas up for another go of swimming lessons. He could have officially passed the last round, but the teacher I and both felt he needed more practice to develop endurance. He's enjoying himself, he's getting better and he's having fun. I'm having a blast this time as I am the *only* mom watching!

5) I am grateful for happy snuggles in the morning. I love waking Thomas up by rubbing his back. His first reaction is always a great-big smile. I'm thankful that he doesn't feel too old for this. There's always lots of love, smiles, hugs and giggles in the morning.

6) Got my Rod and Staff English order placed, plus started downloading the Hakim series. I just have to order some science supplies, clean up the schoolroom, and we're ready to rock 'n roll.

7) This one is funny. I'm glad Thomas beat me at air hocky. We have a fantastic air hocky table in our dungeon -- uhm, I mean basement. We play every once in awhile but I always beat Thomas. For the first time ever, he beat me fair and square. Corny, but it made me happy -- he's growing up, gaining skill, getting good.

audible.com -- WOW

For school next year, I decided we needed Joy Hakim's books on CD. We have loved listening to SOTW on CD on car trips short and long and I knew Hakim would be a hit. We have already read a couple of her books, but it's nice to have something to occupy one's mind while in the car.

A few months ago I asked my handy-dandy husband to join audible.com and download the books for me. No problem, he said. We purchased the disks and they sat. They gathered dust. My husband would much rather play Runescape than anything else on the computer.

I have to admit that somewhere along the line I became behind the times. I just recently figured out what an MP3 player is, and all those other "devices". I remember in the '80s people came to me with computer problems -- shees, now I am clueless. Here's a big admission that I shouldn't make: I have never, until today, made a CD on the computer. Not pictures, not books, not music, not back-up, nothing. I use my little hard floppies because I know how to do that.

How stupid is that!!! Well, I decided today was the day to get over my stupid technological phobia and get on with life. I called Thomas down, because he has no computer fear, and we logged on. Went straight to audible.com, bought our membership, and then I got stumped. Thomas got bored and was of no help and he quickly disappeared. I got to a screen that wanted me to pick my device. Well, I have no device, I just want to make CDs. It didn't give me the option I was looking for.

I decided I'd just spent $150, I needed help. I called customer service. I was fearing the worst (or maybe I should say normal). Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong in dreading customer service.

This was, hands down, the best customer service I have ever received. I felt like such a stupid dope not being able to figure out how to do this. The rep never once made me feel stupid. He answered my initial question and then volunteered: Why don't I stay on the phone with you and walk you through the entire process. Well, bust my buffers, I was shocked. We were on the phone for 23 minutes! (My phone shows the time of the call when I hang up.) He walked me through, he showed me shortcuts, he explained all kinds of things such as what to do if I have a computer crash or lose power, how many minutes a CD will hold (77) . He was personable, he laughed at my stupid jokes I made. He was wonderful!

I hung up the phone feeling like an expert. Wow. You just don't get customer service like that and I am elated and felt like sharing it with the whole world. He even emailed me after the phone call, which was a form email, but he added a nice little personal note to it. Audible.com, you rock!

What's even more exciting was hopping in the car with my newly burned CD and finding it actually worked!

I purchased the 12 credit package for $149.50. You get all the credits up front, and I wanted the whole thing on disk to start the year. I got an extra credit for joining. So now I'm off to search for three good books to download besides Joy Hakim's series. By the way, this was a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the disks online.

I love books on CD. We "car school" often and I'm overjoyed that I have added to our collection today!

Tagged again!

Ah, getting tagged is fun. Scooby at The Maples Academy for Girls has tagged me.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

10 years ago I was working full time as a court reporter -- putting my 40 hours in weekly plus working nights and weekends on transcripts. 10 years ago today I had a beautiful baby boy who was nine months old and the joy of my life. 10 years ago today I was heartsick because I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom desperately but my husband was finishing up his degree. I was sick every morning I had to drop him off at daycare.

What were you doing a year ago?

The exact same thing I am doing now. Mom, wife, homeschooler, homemaker, zoo keeper. I'm *very* happy with this career choice.

5 Snacks that you enjoy:

1. Peanut M&Ms
   
2. Air-popped popcorn
   
3. Chocolate milk
   
4. Pretzles -- the frozen kind
   
5. No-bake cookies (I hardly ever make them because I eat them all until I'm sick)
   

5 Songs you know all the words to:

1. Hotel California (my all-time favorite song)
2. Willie Nelson's Stardust CD -- I used to sing every single song along with Willie in my car until my family finally complained enough to get me to stop
3. Dare I admit this one: Kelly Osbourne's Shut Up (Yes, I was one of the five people that bought her CD. I love that song Shut Up and wish someone good would record it.)
4. Bad to the Bone, George Thorogood (I know lots of his songs by heart, he's DH's favorite)
5. Bruce Springsteen, Dancing in the Dark

5 Things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1. Move
2. Adopt two kids
   
3. Build a big house in the country away from neighbors
   
4. Set up a college fund for my son, and then give a small amount for college to nieces and nephews
   
5. Buy new cars for DH and I -- DH gets the truck of his choice and I get a blue Mustang
   

5 bad habits:

1. cigarettes
   
2. overeating
3. napping in the afternoon
   
4. complaining
   
5. cigarettes (this is so bad it gets two spots on the list)
   

5 Things you like doing:

1. Spending time with Thomas
   
2. Homeschooling
   
3. Gardening (when it's not too hot lol)
   
4. Sudokus
   
5. Travelling

5 Things you would never wear again:

1. A bikini
2. Jumpers (I'm not talking denim jumper dresses -- never wore one so I could never wear one again. I'm taking jumper pantsuit things from the 80s)
   
3. Wire bras -- ouch, been poked too many times
   
4. pumps
   
5. pantyhose
   

5 Favorite toys:

1. computer
2. digital camera
3. CD player
   
4. telephone
   
5. caller ID
   

I am tagging:

Wisteria, because she enjoyed being tagged so much the last time!

Anyone else who isn't too busy. I love reading these so hope some people do it!

The Invasion of Invader Zim

We've had an invasion at our house. Thomas started watching TV again this summer and found a cartoon that he fell in love with. Invader Zim. I have watched several episodes with him and I just don't get the attraction, but then I'm not a 1o-year-old boy.

Thomas saved his money and wanted to buy action figures. (Not to be confused with dolls!!!) Sadly, the show is out of production and everything is expensive. So we turned to Ebay, bid on an auction and won. Very expensive dolls -- er, I mean action figures.

It was Christmas in June at this house. Thomas ordered four figures and it took us 27 minutes to open all the plastic packaging, undo all the twist ties and get everything out. I remember fondly the days where things just came in a cardboard box. Sigh.








Thomas has enjoyed his action figures very much, even though they cost him an arm and a leg. Really, what 10-year-old boy wouldn't love a cartoon that names its pop "poop pop" and its candy "poop candy"?

one night of cool

We actually had two nights of cool this week. It was absolutely wonderful. Sadly, today we're back to living in a hot house. I miss home. Home would be either South Dakota or Wyoming. Home the evenings cooled. Home there wasn't humidity.

I have a one-track mind lately. Hot, hot, hot.

Last Friday night it was so cool and nice outside I made the boys go out and play. They played a few games of horse. My nonsports-loving child will actually play basketball with his dad and is even beginning to pass a football with dad, too, although he hates it. He plays because he doesn't want to hurt dad's feelings.

Edited: What a difference a computer makes. On the boys' computer, you can actually see the photo of Thomas and his dad shooting a basket. On my old faithful computer, you can't. I guess I should have snapped the picture when it was lighter out (or learn how to photograph in the dark!)