February 28, 2007
I have a cousin who lives in New York City. We lost touch after she moved out of her parents house, so I did a little internet stalking and found out she was working as a photographer in NYC. She’s just learning the ropes right now, but maybe she’ll strike it big someday. My sister has a cousin who worked as a photographer in NYC also, on the stock exchange. That’s got to be a neat job - she was able to meet lots of celebs. Weird how we both have cousins who worked as
New York photographers, huh? And speaking of great photographers, I wonder if our cousins ever heard of Robert Kim? He does headshots in NYC and L.A., and the before and after shots are amazing. What a difference that lighting, and the head being placed at a different angle, and the colors used can make. I’ve always enjoyed taking pictures and would have loved to be able to turn it into a business, but then I see work from an awesome photographer like Robert Kim and realize I don’t have 1/1000 of his talent. 
5:03 pm
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The big joke online in the past few months has been that I have a lucky horseshoe implanted on my rear. And it’s true, I have been extremely lucky as of late. I won the RockStartUp contest, worth $1000, and the concert contest worth $500. I got an escrow refund from my mortgage company. I got an unexpected raise. I was interviewed by the L.A. Times for a story about PayPerPost.
I think my time of good luck is drawing to a close. Besides my son getting in trouble at school today, my daughter came home with gum in her hair this afternoon. The kids were given gum by the teacher for the FCAT because “research shows it helps them focus” - direct quote from teacher in note sent home about gum in hair.
After trying to freeze the gum out, I tried peanut butter, and then oil. How do you get gum out of hair? Rub oil (I used canola) into the clump of hair and gum and let it soak for a bit - then comb the gum out.
I am sending a reply back to the teacher tomorrow to let her know that MY research shows “gum during testing leads to headaches for parents”. Stupid FCAT. Stupid gum.
4:54 pm
Filed under Bitchy-Poo
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I was lucky enough to be a stay at home mom for many years. I went back to work briefly when my oldest child was one, but I got pregnant shortly after that and only worked a few more months. I went back to work for good once my youngest entered pre-K. We were lucky to find reliable child care with friends in each instance…so we’ve never had to pay for daycare. It’s scary to think about placing your child with strangers…but I realize that for some parents, it’s the only option. The first time I went back to work, we used the same baby sitter that watched our niece. She was a stay at home mom, and she lived down the street from my husband’s sister. It helped to know that if there was a problem, family was close by.
If you’ve got more of a budget than we did at that time, another nannies are another child care option. I have a friend who worked as a nanny for several years, and it enabled her to travel quite a bit with the family and live in a nice home, and drive a nice car, as well as make a decent salary.
Our other babysitter is my mom. That’s almost as good as me watching my kids. Actually, it’s better. LOL! She takes them all sorts of places and buys them all kinds of things…she’s definitely not your average babysitter.
If you don’t have a family member or friend to watch your kids, there are some things to know beforehand. This nanny hiring guide will help you decide if daycare of a nanny is better for your child, what to pay a nanny, should you hire a live in, or live out, as well as lots of other child care topics.
3:43 pm
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Rut roh. Happy hockey boy apparently said a bad word in school today. According to him, he said “Hell” because he was telling a classmate about his trip to the town of Hell in Grand Cayman last year. Jim’s on the phone right now giving his teacher the business about it, because she seems to have a pattern of consistently riding Matthew about things that really aren’t a big deal. That is NOT the Mommy in me talking - I will punish and correct my child if he’s out of line. But her notes home are always written like this:
“Matthew had to be reminded that I am the teacher today.”
Ok, so are you the teacher, or are you a tattling 7 year old? Give me a concrete example of what my kid did wrong, not your snarky remark.
3:40 pm
Filed under Bitchy-Poo, Family Ties
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It’s funny how certain holidays inspire clothing…and others…do not. Christmas for example - people are often found wearing the festive holiday colors of red and green. It’s not uncommon to see guys in Santa ties. Heck, the stores even sell lingerie that makes a woman look like a naughty little Santa’s helper. The next big holiday is in March - St. Patrick’s Day. Why isn’t the lingerie industry capitalizing on this? I should be able to buy a green teddy set to pretend I’m a leprechaun for the evening!
If I can’t find that, I suppose the next best thing is the lingerie I found at dimout.com. They have a huge selection, and while they don’t have anything that fits the “Luck O’ The Irish” theme, there are enough sexy costumes to keep me occupied for a LONG time. You can always pair your outfit with a lime green leg garter too - it’ll keep you from being pinched on March 17th!
3:09 pm
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I was up early this morning to go to the doctor, so I was downstairs with the kids when Jim woke up and joined us. I suggested that he grab his prize from the Lightning game last night and show Matthew. Jim walked into the family room holding the goalie stick, and Matthew’s eyes completely bugged out of his head. He said, “Daddy, what are you doing with that goalie stick?!?” (That’s my boy - 7 years old and he knows the difference between a regular stick and a goalie stick!) He was SO excited and started looking for his favorite player’s autographs on it right away. It’s going to look great on the wall in his room with his other autographed hockey items.
2:55 pm
Filed under Daily Happenings
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February 27, 2007
I’m probably one of the most technologically savvy moms that I know in real life. A lot of the moms I know use the internet for email and that’s about it. That’s alright for some I suppose…but the danger in that is that your kids will be a lot more advanced than you are on the internet. My kids started learning how to use a computer in kindergarten…so yes, by the time kids are 12, they know how to disable the Net Nanny, hack into your email, and use your credit card online. Ok, maybe not all of that, but I’m sure a lot of kids out there have parents who don’t supervise them online like they should be. I read all of my kids emails and constantly keep an eye on where they’re going online. Over protective? Maybe, but with good reason. You can’t hardly turn on Dateline or an evening news broadcast without hearing about SOME sick perv who was picking up children online at MySpace. Kids just have no CLUE about who is reading what they put online, and it’s up to us, as parents, to monitor what they’re doing online. This website has put together a great selection for parents to learn about MySpace: www.myspacebooksforparents.com - if you don’t know what you’re doing online, these books will give you STEP by STEP instructions on how to use MySpace and monitor what you’re child is doing there. Do NOT count on your kids to clue you in - I could see how kids could leave our important info like how to use the search function, forums, and filters to find out what they’re up too. (I speak from experience - I was a devious child!)
10:10 pm
Filed under Family Ties, Geek Squad
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Jim’s at the hockey game right now in downtown Tampa. Sadly, the Lightning lost to the Dallas Stars tonight. But Jim was a big winner! He entered a raffle tonight before the game for $10, to benefit the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation, and he WON! The prize? A REAL hockey stick, used by a Tampa Bay Lighting goalie, and the WHOLE TEAM autographed it. How cool is that? He just called to tell me, and he was so excited. Matthew already has a stick hanging in his room, one of his old ones, that we got Dan Boyle (#22 Lightning defenseman) to autograph, so this new stick will be mounted in his room along with that stick.
10:00 pm
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I’m proud to say that after spending a lot of time organizing and rearranging the closets in our bathroom last month, they are STILL neat and tidy. That’s a new world’s record in THIS house. It’s made such a difference being able to find things when we need them. The towels are all in one spot, sheets all in one spot, and my “gift closet” has it’s own space, along with all of my wrapping paper and gift bags. Now I’m in need of storage ideas for other parts of the house, like the tech center cabinets in the alcove upstairs. It’s where the kids computer is, and we’re not taking advantage of the cabinet space at all. Jim has also done a great job of organizing his area of the house - also known as our 2 car garage. When I look into some of the neighbors garages, some of them are just JAM packed. We have neighbors who can’t even walk into the garage. I can park in mine, all the Christmas decor is up out of reach, the kids have easy access to their bikes, and the tools and lawn equipment are neatly put away. Between the two of us, we’re coming up with plenty of home improvement ideas - enough to keep us busy for a few more years, at least! Next up…landscaping! We’re getting our final estimate on landscape curbing tomorrow afternoon.
8:14 pm
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After my husband and I got done huffing and puffing last night (from moving the FURNITURE - get your mind out of the gutter) we did the same thing in the den. We moved the desk to another wall and moved the couch to the wall that the desk was on. Now I can get Jim working on hanging all of the pictures up on the den wall…a man’s work is never done!
8:07 pm
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