My $5 Project of Which I am Very Proud

I pulled this picture out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog several months ago. Maybe even a couple years ago. I don't remember. Anyway, I finally got around to doing my version of it for Noah's room. I'm very pleased with the results, and it only cost maybe $5 and I had the whole thing completed, start to finish, in a week and a half. This is a record for me. The pictures aren't really that great, though--it looks better in person.

I laughed so hard I couldn't even stop.

Chloe brought this paper home from school yesterday. Her teacher had the class write some sentences without any help spelling the words. I thought the first page was pretty cute, and I liked the picture. The yellow is lightning. Not so sure about the safety repercussions of having outside recess in the middle of a lightning storm, but, there you go.


(I love recess because I like recess because recess is fun and because in recess you get to play!)

Then I turned the page over and saw what was written on the back, and I laughed so hard I snorted. Even now, after reading it several times, I still laugh. You'd better laugh too, if you know what's good for you.
(I love music because music is fun and music is lots of fun and music is lots of fun and you can't even stop.)

How do I blog thee? Let me count the ways...

I've been tagged by Adam to name the top five reasons why I blog. I have to question, however, what Adam meant by "no cheating" on the top 5. Did it mean there should only be 5 reasons? Because--hello!--he slipped in a reason 4.5! Or did it mean we couldn't copy off someone else's reasons? What constitues "cheating" in a top 5 list?

So, anyway, my reasons. I'm afraid they're not all that original, but they are true. (Truth=not cheating.)
!. Writing I love to write. This has been a fun, easy way for me to "publish" my writing, and has also provided me with an opportunity to write more. Sure, it's fluff writing most of the time, but who cares?

@. Pictures Since I hardly ever print pictures, this blog is one of the easiest ways to share pictures with my family and friends. And it's free. There are actually several pictures I've taken for the sole purpose of posting them on my blog. Ahh, digital camera, thou and I shall never be parted, and our love shall be made complete by this blog.

#. People/Relationships I enjoy the conversations, internet and real, that have resulted from blogs. It's been very interesting to see how "real" relationships have been supplemented and/or improved by blogs. Side note: when I was in college, I took an interpersonal communication class, and we had to do a project on some form of communication and how it affected personal relationships. My group chose internet communication, which was relatively new at the time, and we focused on emails and IM's. One of the things we discovered, and that I've certainly seen and experienced in blogging, is that a lot of people are actually more likely to share things in an email (or blog) that they might not say in person, deepening relationships instead of hindering them. I think it's the combination of anonymity and intimacy, with the added benefit of editing, that makes it such an effective means of communication.

$. Sanity I have several "conversations" with myself throughout the day, (seeing as how no one else in my house is over the age of 2, or, at best, 7) and blogging has given me an avenue to share those conversations and alleviate this nagging feeling that I'm a bit loopy. I guess feeling like I'm "talking" to someone is better than realizing I'm talking to myself. It's also a way to share things about my day/life/feelings that ensures I will share, rather than just forgetting or feeling too silly to say something. I guess this sort of ties in with reason #.

%. Bandwagon/Fun I really enjoy being a part of the blogging community. I like reading other people's blogs. I feel like I know my friends better from their blogs, and I "know" people that I don't even know. There are some great writers out there that I've only been introduced to through blogging. It's a very grassroots-y (there's that word again) form of information-sharing, and I think it's great.

(And, yes, I meant to press the shift button.)

I Wish I May, I Wish I Might...

There are several things that make me look forward to the time when my children are grown up. One of them is the prospect of private, undisturbed bathroom time. Bathroom time when I don't have to worry about what someone may be getting into; bathroom time where I don't have to answer 57 questions about the state of the universe and what's for dinner; bathroom time that doesn't involve visitors.

Case in point: this afternoon I went into my room and SHUT THE DOOR, of all things, to use my bathroom. Noah found this absolutely unacceptable. He cried. He screamed. He said to me, in so many words, "Nobody cares about me, and I have been abandoned and left to wither and die out here in the hallway, and on top of that my psyche is now going to be seriously maladjusted, requiring years of very intensive, very expensive counseling, which you will have to pay for because I will be so psychologically damaged that I will be unable to hold down a job." Then he discovered that the baby gate was down and he could get into my room through the kitchen, and he ran joyously into the bathroom, jumping and dancing, announcing that all was forgiven, all the while laughing a little manaically. Then, like, three other people came into my room, and all hopes for some privacy were shattered.

Seriously, people. Private bathroom time. If you have it, look on it with new-found appreciation.