Finding My Way...

Dreaming of India...

For much of today I thought it was really Friday the 13th and someone just hadn't told me. I had to cancel our vet appointment because the cats would shred me before they would let me crate them. I had invited friends to attend a workshop with me at nearby Colonial Williamsburg, but they were out of tickets by 9:15am.

At any rate, after a few more minor setbacks in my day, my mind started to think about going on vacation. We have a timeshare week banked, so I was perusing RCI.com to look for an exchange vacation or a last minute steal. After 45 minutes of looking for someplace to take Emily in December to see snow (no luck unless I want to fly to Colorado), or a place for she and I to road trip to over Spring Break (very boring options), my mind went to fantasyland. I started a new search and clicked Asia instead of USA. On the Google Map there was one lone red marker on the Indian Subcontinent. It was in a GORGEOUS beach town on the southwestern coast of India, called Goa. One look at the photos in the PDF brochure, and I was ready to pack!

Goa was where we took our first family vacation with Emily. She was just 9 months old and we still had only temporary custody of her. Therefore we could not leave the country to travel to Bangkok as planned, but needed to remain in India. We got permission to fly a couple of hours south to Goa. A former Portuguese colony, there is a strong Catholic presence there in an otherwise overwhelming Hindu society. I wish I could say we explored the area while we were there, but Barry and I were diagnosed with mononucleosis just before we left, and we slept through most of the trip. The beach was beautiful, and we napped in cork hammocks out in a courtyard that overlooked the Arabian Sea. Emily dipped her baby toes in that sea, and had her first swim in the pool at the Taj resort where we stayed.

So it was nice to fantasize about Spring Break in India...until I went to Northwest and checked out airfares. Oof. That's about all I can say. Oof. And Spring Break isn't even a good time to go to India. At least in Delhi it was a notoriously HOT time of year! So back to reality and back to Tuesday the 8th, hopefully no longer a Friday the 13th in disguise...

Mythbusters as Science Instruction?

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters were interviewed this morning on NPR's Morning Edition. You can read the article and listen to the story HERE. The story talks about how their show demonstrates science principles, and models well the scientific process without being a "boring educational show." B and I have loved this show for years, and it really channels B's inner 12 year old. He loves it when they blow stuff up.

We have just recently started letting Emily watch it at age 10. Mostly because just about each episode has some language bleeped out. There are certain episodes she doesn't need to watch, like the one where they are deliberately getting intoxicated to test out sobering techniques. And the commercials aren't always appropriate, so we TiVo to be able to skip certain ads.

Lately Em's been watching this episode:

They tried this experiment at school, and she reported with delight that Mr. S "should have worn a raincoat" as he did not get clear of the soda fountain before it shot up. She has been fascinated with the analysis of why this reaction happens, and I love that she is seeing and hearing their thought process as they test with a control and remove and add variables to hone in on the actual cause of the reaction.

Emily loves science programs, but as the NPR article outlines, there aren't many science programs for kids out there now. They mention some new ones for the preschool set, but other than reruns and videos of Magic School Bus and Bill Nye (both of which my daughter loves), there isn't much for the tween group.

Are there any science gems out there that I am missing? What sorts of things do your science lovers get jazzed about?

Getting Creative in 2010

I have wanted to post to the blog for the past two weeks. I have clicked the link to the Typepad dashboard several times, but I have come up empty on ideas for blog posts.

I thought maybe if I surfed some of my favorite blogs, that might give me some inspiration. So I read this weeks secrets on PostSecret. I chuckled at the latest entries on Awful LIbrary Books. I indulged my wordy side with a perusal of Lexicide. All good reading, but nothing was fueling my creative side. So I headed over to a favorite creative blog: Artsyville. 

I *dream* of doodling like Aimee does. I am a big fan of her etsy shop, and this has reminded me to send a link to my Mom, who is grilling me for ideas for a Christmas present. Bewitched by Books is my current favorite, but really, I want 4 or 5 of her 5x7 doodleprints to frame and hang in a grouping near my creative space.

As I was perusing Aimee's latest doodles and photos, on December 4th she encouraged her readers to join her in Leah's 2010 Creative Every Day Challenge. My eyes lit up at this gem. I really feel that since my scrapbooking has slowed, and my writing has all but stopped, I am missing a creative outlet in my life. One is only so creative finding the right clip art for flier and newsletters for the women's club. So there, to the right there. In the right column there is a widget to her site, if you want more info.

I'm hoping to be creative in a variety of ways in 2010. I hope to start scrapping more again. I want to try doodling like Aimee inspires me to do, and perhaps integrate it into my scrapbook albums. I hope to start writing again. This morning I was getting ready and had a great idea for the start of a bit if teen fiction. I have absolutely no idea for a middle or an end, but I have a great idea for a start. I'd like to make some handmade gifts for Emily's teachers.

I will not flood this blog with a daily entry. As we discovered in 2009 with the failed attempt at Project 365 (I petered out by February-March), the perfectionist in me abandons daily reporting entirely once I miss a few times and it's no longer complete. I aim to report on the week's creativity once a week. Who's in?

Geocaching 101

Several years ago B and I talked about this neat activity called "geocaching."  We bought a GPS, I created an account at www.geocaching.com and we imagined we get more outdoorsy by taking hikes to find these caches.  Somehow that didn't happen...well, for another four years or so, anyways!

At the beginning of the summer a friend on LM posted asking questions about geocaching.  I took a few moments to explain it, and linked her over to geocaching.com and that rekindled my interest in caching.  I printed out some local caches near us here, and just after school got out for the summer, we found our first cache near Jamestown.  So far this summer, we have hunted 16 caches and found 11 of them.  Em has not shown great interest in caching.  I think it's the heat and bugs, I think she'll enjoy cool weather caching better.  B and I really love it though, and we've had some fun finds.

Here's a short video clip that introduces you to geocaching:

Have you done any geocaching?  Tell me about your favorite cache!

Fun Web Stuff

Some links to fun stuff I've found in the recent past:

Creature Comforts Blog- THIS entry has some freebie templates for library card book pockets and card inserts.  CUTE!

Through the Creature Comforts blog I found Ginko Papers, with lots of adorable stationary items from Japan!  I wish I had bought more things of this sort when we lived in Japan!  I miss the stationary stores and the 100 yen stores the most!

 

Join the Sisterhood!  I was perusing the blog of an LM pal, Heather and found a link to this site.  The WAY cute web design caught my eye at first, but I need to carve out some more time to spend over there checking out the challenges and info to see if I want to join the sisterhood!

It's a Party!

One of my favorite blogs to follow is that of my friend Angie - Many Little Blessings- and she's having a party there!  She's giving away a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com!  The party is put on by Five Minutes for Mom, and it's meant to help build on-line friendships.  So make a new bloggerific friend in Angie, and maybe win yourself a little shopping at Amazon!

60 Miles

Today I registered to walk in the Washington DC Breast Cancer 3 Day in October.  For those of you who know me in person, that may be a little surprising.  The 3 day walk covers 60 miles, and I am not in prime physical condition.  That is going to change.  For about a week now I have been back on the bandwagon with Weight Watchers, and I have been walking every day.  This coming week I am going to increase that to two short walks a day until I am ready for more.  The registration packet for the walk includes a 24 week training plan that will begin in April.  Until then, my goal is to increase my stamina and lose as much weight in a healthy fashion as I can.  The way I see it, this walk may not only save the lives of women diagnosed with breast cancer, but in making a commitment and training for it, it may very well save my life as well.

I am walking with my friend Jenni.  We're Team Dash!  We both have different motivations for being a part of this walk, but I'm so glad to be doing it with her.  She's our team captain, and already she has motivated me so much!

I'm not sure what is more daunting, training to walk 20 miles a day for three days, or raising the money necessary to participate.  You can help me with both.  To help me with the training, I would love to hear from you from time to time.  Short e-mails of encouragement are great, a text to let me know you're cheering me on would work, any way you want to show your support!  And of course, you can make a donation.  That handy dandy pink widget to the right there will take you right to a page where you can donate online.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Name that Tune

My friend Angie's birthday is today!  Wish her a Happy Birthday and play along with this meme I found on her blog, Many Little Blessings.

Here are the rules:

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.

Step 2: Post the first line (unless the first line reveals the song title) from the first 25 songs that play.  (Like Angie, I was kind in many cases and gave you the first couple of lines.)

Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and song title correctly.

Mom! I was on TV!

That's what my daughter exclaimed when she came home from the McWane Science Center the day after Thanksgiving.  She and all of her cousins went to check out all of the awesome hands-on exhibits they have there.  The local Fox affilite reports the weather from there periodically, and Em and her cousins made it into the studio for the first part of the broadcast!  That's her cousin RJ declaring "they grow up so fast." (rehearsed) She declared she wanted a DS for Christmas, and her cousin Henry clams up when they get to him (not rehearsed).  She has other assorted cousins all through the audience, I think about a dozen from our group were in there!

Can you smell snow?

As a New England girl living below the Mason-Dixon line, people don't get me when I tell them that I can smell when snow is coming.  The air just smells different on the brink of flurries of the fluffy white stuff.  But up in Connecticut, the fictional Lorelai Gilmore knows what I mean, and she sums it up beautifully here.

This afternoon I stepped out my front door and breathed deeply.  No snow.  A good snow would make me and mine so happy right now.  Oh, and not to forget Tini, since this week is all about her, here's her take on smelling snow (she's got some now, BTW):

It smells like burning and exhaust, when I have to slam my brakes because I'm skidding on slick roads.
It smells like sweat when I have to shovel the walk again and again.
It smells like frozen poop, cause that's what happens to dog poop when it snows!

BLECH. Are you getting how much I hate this?

Love ya Tini, but I also love SNOW!