Have you heard of the book – Who moved my Cheese by Spencer Johnson, MD?

My place of employment, should have handed out a copy of this book to all of their employees today…. when major changes are going on in your life, its a good book to read to help you stop, step back and think “what is the outcome I want, and how do I get there”….)

Much re-evaluation will be going on.  Re-organization will be taking place, just getting my ducks in a row to make sure that I fit in their puzzle….

Ahhhhh -

I think the saying is “life is what happens when you are busy making plans….”

and LIFE is happening here.

Send good thoughts my way people, I honestly can use them.

Tink's first fish of the season

Papa's "fish-call"

We went to the in-laws this weekend.  Too cold to do much.  Did try to fish off the dock, Tink caught a small mouth bass, but only after Papa got out his “fish-call”.  Tink told him it looked like a bath toy, and much laughter ensued.  Funny thing is – everything he squeaked it – they would get nibbles…. so maybe it DOES work… or maybe he knew they would get a bunch of nibbles, and not much for bites…

Pan stayed out for about an hour – not bad, considering that it was 36 degrees out there – and he only had a sweatshirt and a lightweight coat.

If you give a parent a computer, then they will expect to be able to use the computer.

If you allow the parent to use the computer, then they will want software for the computer.

If you give them software, then they will want to know how to open, save, cut, paste, etc

If you show them all that, then they will want to have the internet.

If you connect the parent to the internet, then they will want to know how to use that “email stuff”.

If you show them how to use that “email stuff”, then they will want to know….

Do you see where this is going?  Guess what I was doing at 9:30 at night?  Sleeping.  Hard to believe, but I was.

The phone rings… we all know where this is going – right?  My parents are calling.  I know I should just ignore, and not answer the phone, and just go back to sleep.  But then there will be messages on the answering machine, and the guilt that my mom is sooo wonderful at leaving…

I answer the phone… and it’s my mom.

“Fantastagirl, I know it’s late…. (yes, you can literally hear the … in mom’s voice.)

FG:  Yeah, Mom – YAaaawwwwnnn.

Mom:  Well, we are trying to upload… blah, blah, blah.

FG:  Mom – it’s not going to work due to the formatting, and it won’t accept a .doc file.  it has to be a .pdf file.

Mom:  I have .pdfs … now how to get to save as a pdf?

FG:  open the document – go to print.

Mom:  I don’t want to print – I want to save. (like I’M THE DUMBA$$)

FG:  Mom, just open the document, go to print, look at your printer options – do you have Adobe distler?  or CutePDF?

Mom:  No, I have a HP blah, blah.

FG:  Mom, email me the document.   She does.

Only it’s not the document, it’s text copied into the email.  The formatting is messed up beyond belief… so I recreate the document, and make it into a PDF.  Send the file back to Mom and call her back letting her know that it’s there.  I talk her through saving the attachment, uploading it , and through the rest of whatever it was she was doing…

Oh – did I mention she had me on speakerphone so Dad could hear what I was saying?  and then I had to listen to the two of them talk about whether or not the file actually uploaded, or if their connection timed out,  or if either of them really knew what they were doing.

I should start calling them Fred and Wilma, or something like that.

I’m not phone support, I’m not tech support, but to my parents I am.   And because I’m their daughter, I’ll probably always answer the phone, I’ll always talk them through the computer issue, and I’ll always help them any way I can… I guess it’s because that’s who I am, it’s what makes me, ME.

So a warning to all of you – if you give a parent a computer, they may just expect you to show them how to use it.  Even when you are miles away, and half asleep.

“It’s easy to die when you have lived, and I have definitely lived.” – Edie Britt

According to that statement – at this point in my life, I’m thinking it will be impossible to die, or death is really going to have to work to take me.    I am happy where I am in my world.  I just haven’t gotten my bucket list even started.

See the ocean, yada, yada, yada…

Time to start being, and doing, and not just getting by.
So being at the risk of being slightly morbid, if you died tomorrow – would it have been an easy death?    – meaning – have you definitely lived?

Start living people – life is too short to spend it, tied to a keyboard, wishing, and hoping, and praying for a better day – go get it!

Oh wow… the weekend was a busy one.

• Fish have been relocated to Pan’s room – and his room is officially “done” for now.  I don’t plan on making any changes to it for a while.  I think it looks great.   Made a trip to the big city and bought a few new ones to liven up the tank.    (tossed one small bag of garbage out on Saturday – SCORE!)
• Tink’s computer is set up in her room – and she is THRILLED!!  It’s nothing fancy – but it can play her games and really – that’s all that matters -  her room is set up to the point that I don’t think we will be making any changes to her room either. (tossed one very very full garbage bag of papers,  “happy meal toys”, and other stuff that just didn’t need to be in her room.)  Easter weekend we took a large tote to my mom’s full of books for the new nephew.  Eventually I hope he will have the love of reading that Tink and Pan have.
• The basement is getting close to how I want it to be … it’s just not … there… yet.  I have a few things I need to sort out in my head, and then I think we can make a few changes – maybe build some cabinets inside the door, and get rid of the lockers for the kids.  The lockers work, but with all the winter items they have – just not enough room.  I don’t know – something has to give, and I’m not sure what…maybe if we move the train table to where the fish tank was, or put the treadmill where the fish were?  See it’s just such an akward room, that it’s hard to get it right…no rushes, it will come.
• Speaking of winter items, I have officially declared it spring, and washed all winter items (coats, snowpants, mittens, hats etc.) and put them into closets for storage.  No MORE COLD!  And since I did that I’m an almost certain that it will snow this week – that is how life goes for me.
• Working on the mountain that seems to be made of clothes…. Can’t figure out why no matter how much I wash, dry, fold, put away – it keeps getting bigger, bigger, and bigger – someone needs to send the laundry fairy to my house, why can’t the fairy visit my house?
• went grocery shopping… bought over $100 worth of food, and yet there was nothing in the cart – how can that be?   Need to find some new meal ideas, and need to find a good source of coupons.  The Sunday paper that we looked at today – didn’t have anything useful in them.

I live a boring life… kids, housework, groceries…

Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!

Pan has wanted a new bed for several months, and we knew what we wanted.  Finding an affordable version was the trick.  We finally found what we were looking for, and ordered it.  That was over a month ago.  Last Friday Pan’s bed arrived, and two young guys put it all together, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening putting things away.

He loves it!  and loves how “big” his room is!

Now to convince him that he doesn’t need all that stuff that is on the shelves….

Important things to know about Easter.

1)  Ham is necessary for dinner.  So is mom’s mashed potatoes and gravy.

2)  Easter Egg hunt outside, and after all the eggs are found the kids will hide them again, and again, and again.

3)  and coloring Easter Eggs….

When it comes to my parents and their grandchildren… if a kid wants to color eggs, and there are eggs to be colored… they will let them color…for hours…  4 kids, one baby – 11 dozen eggs = hours of entertainment.   Pan and his older cousin discovered if you let an egg sit for about 5 minutes in the dye it will be very very bright…. that would be why when they started coloring eggs it was light out.  and when they finished – it was close to 8:30.

Pan starting coloring his eggs… good things take time, Momma, about 5 minutes is what they determined… let it soak.

Nope, not finished yet… and all this two spoons, so she doesn’t get her fingers dirty – out the window after the 3rd egg… then she was putting them in and out with her hands…

Some of the finished product…. they had a great time…. and now – who wants egg salad sandwhiches?

A public service announcement

The thing we all need to remember about the internet, email and twitter….

You can’t hear the tone in which something is said.

You can’t hear sarcasm.

You can’t hear the teasing tone, or the laughter in their voice when they call you  a “bitch”…

That said, everyone once in a while, it might be advisable to pause before hitting Send, Publish, or “go” for the text to be sent from the phone.

There are days when I wish my friends/co-workers etc. could understand this….  and some conversations are better off in person or on the phone, than back and forth on IM or whatever it is that they use.

Unfortunately the people that need to see this, never will….. oh well

The other night we were sitting at the kitchen table having supper.  (nothing unusual about that.) And somehow we got on the topic of fish, and if they have ears or not, we determined that they do not have ears….

Tink’s logic – “they have no room for them, and fish would look silly with ears”  (DUH! Momma…)

And from there it went to “do fish have brains?”

And Pans says – all living animals or humans have brains, otherwise they couldn’t function.

And I ask – What about a Protozoa?  Would it have a brain?

Pan:  uhm what’s a protozoa?

Tink:  I think it’s a type of cat.

FG and Mr Incredible:  LAUGHING our asses off….
Who knew supper could be so much fun?

********

But in case you were wondering – Answer by Wiki Answers:  Fish do not have ears like we do. They sense movement and vibrations with sensual organs on each side of their head and with their lateral line that runs the full length of their body. They use this as a defense to hide if something large comes their way or as a way of detecting food from the movements of a wounded or dying fish nearby. Some artificial lures are made to churn the water as in a spinner bait. Poppers are also used to make splashing actions and other lures like rattletraps and some diving plugs have pellets inside that make vibrations that the fish can feel from some distance away.

The protozoa are one-celled animals and the smallest of all animals. Most of them can only be seen under a microscope. They do breathe, move, and reproduce like multicelled animals. They live in water or at least where it is damp. Animals in this group include the paramecium, the euglena and the ameba – and does not have a brain per se.

(but you all remembered this from your 6th grade Science classes – right?)