Days up to whatever day this is :)

So...I have been bad.  I haven't been posting anything new and exciting lately.  I also have not been on facebook.  At least I haven't caved in right? 

Saturday was my birthday.  It was fun.  My husband had fire training all day so, unfortunately, he didn't get to come to my "party", but we just went to my mom and dads' house for cake and such.  Nothing big, but isn't it always the small and simple get-togethers that mean the most?  They are for me.  My dad psychically knew I was in need of some new kitchen towels, which really was awesome and perfect timing! and my ex-sister-in-law (long story there) gave me a couple of shirts (of a most comfortable variety) and an ipod!  I was so shocked! 

I was, of course, super excited.  But I am a total ipod virgin and the very first thing I did was to accidentally delete all the content.   OOOPS.  The next thing was to realize an immediate problem....

The cord to the earphones gets caught on stuff.  And, unless you happen to be wearing pockets (which I was not) then you have to actually carry the thing around with you.  Not practical for my every-day usage.  So I set to work to find a way to solve said problem.

This is what I came up with:

(I was impatient....I still needed to trim the stray threads :) ) 

Not bad.  I think I may still play with some different designs and styles, but overall it does what I needed it to do.

Days 4 and 5

Yesterday (Day 4) :
 My husband had the day off so we went over to my mom and dad's house for a family dinner.  Even my sister-in-law made it.  My parents are having a long time family friend stay with them for a couple of weeks so we ate and visited and just relaxed together till about 9 p.m.

Then we went home- the kiddos were exhausted and went right to bed- and my husband and I used a free rental coupon we had for redbox and stayed up to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2.  It was sooo nice to just spend the evening relaxing together and cuddling on the couch!

Then today (Day 5):
Drake has been bugging me for a vacation lately, which is definitely not in the budget.  But this is a 3 day weekend, so I wanted to do something cool for them.  So after church today it was all about the boys.  We had a quick lunch of sandwiches, changed into play clothes, loaded the bikes and dog and everyone up in the car and headed to the park.  It wasn't very warm, but it wasn't freezing cold either so we rode a lap around the goose pond and then the boys proceeded to play on the toys.  Drake made a couple of friends and played football for a bit with them.  It even turned out that I got the dad's phone number so that we can arrange for other play dates together, since our boys hit it off so well and are the same ages!

Then we came home, played wii bowling for a couple hours, had a nice simple dinner, and then I let them watch a little t.v.  Then, after bath, we went to their room and built a fort and played crazy eights and ate popcorn till it was bedtime!  (They got to take out their sleeping bags and sleep in the fort of course!)

What a fun day it has been!

Days 2 and 3 without FACEBOOK

Day 2:   I spent some time sewing on Drake's quilt and some extra time at my mom's house visiting with my parents and an old family friend who is visiting from out of state.

Day 3:  Yesterday I worked late and didn't get home till 6:30-7ish.  I did have a good reason though.  We are getting a new massage therapist and Tracie let me audition him.  So I got a really nice massage...he'll be a good addition to our team I think....but anyhow...  I did watch a show with Drake (Terran was busy crying over not getting what he wanted for dinner) and after the kiddos were in bed I spent some time with the husband....sort of anyway.  He was at the computer and we were watching the same show....that counts right?

30 days without facebook: Day 1

So yesterday was day one without facebook.....what did I do that was different.  Well, to be perfectly honest, I really just didn't get on facebook.  Yesterday was really busy and weird since my mom was out of town.  So I didn't end up adding anything new as far as furthering my "real connections" end of this goal. 

I did however, have a full day at work and work on Drake's quilt in the evening after kiddos were in bed.  I also found back some of my crafting inspiration that seemed to vanish after christmas.  This is awesome since I have every intention of doing home made gifts again this year and I had wanted to start much earlier.   The problem is that I was thinking about my neice who is most likely moving across the country as soon as my brother gets home from afghanastan.  :0(  I'll be very very sad to see them go, and I want to get to see her open the things I'm envisioning for her.  So do I make her some stuff to give her right before she leaves, or do I force myself to save them for christmas and beg my brother to take a ton of pictures? 

Ok....anyhow...I digress.....My thoughts for day 2:   I want/need to call one of the ladies from our church and ask her some questions regarding the thurs. night bible study.  And I would like to work it out so that after we get home and have dinner maybe I can play a game with the kids.  SORRY is the fave game in our house right now, but maybe even we could play 3 holes of wii golf depending on the time it all happens.  Will update again tomarrow!

30 Days without FACEBOOK

As a few of my less fortunate friends and family members know, I have a new soap-box regarding facebook.  I've tried very hard for the most part, to NOT bombard everyone with my rant...but since this blog is partially my self-centered vent zone, all of cyberspace gets to have the opportunity to hear it.  And then I will get to the fun part of this post. (I won't be at all offended if you want to skip past my rant!)

A couple of things happened recently that started all of this:
 
First, my aunt died.  Not that we were super close or anything, but the ONLY reason I even heard the news was because my brother happened to see a random post about it on facebook.  It was burried 3/4 of my page down, lost between peoples' game status updates.  No one from that end of the family tree even called my mom.  Not one single phone call!  If my brother hadn't called to ask if my aunt had died, we never would have known.  This was a terrible slap in the face to me.

Let me insert here, that I DO get it.  At least to some degree.  My cousins were grieving enough.  This isn't something you feel like doing probably when you have just lost a close loved one.  And how easy is it to just post it on facebook, anouncing in one single fell swoop the tragedy.  Now, surely, everyone knows and you didn't even have to deal with all that messy, emotional business of actually telling anyone.  But there are just certain things that are unacceptable to me here.  At the very least, all of the sisters should have been notified.  That has always been how the family newsline has worked.  The sisters (meaning my aunts) are notified and then they tell their children, and on down the line. 

Then, and this happened like 1 week later, I found out, from a random post, that one of my cousins' wife had left him with their 5 kids (only 1 of which was actually his, btw) and had a new boyfriend!  Ok....now I DO realize this is family gossip.  And in HIS defense, he doesn't actually facebook that I know of.  It was one of his wife's random posts that I saw.  But this is still family news. 

These 2 events led me to questioning the general reliance on facebook.  Are these "friendships" even real?  Are we becoming so lazy, that real communication is becoming obsolete?  Are we sacrificing our ability to effectively interact with the other humans on this planet all for convenience?  I believe YES.  YES WE ARE!!!

When was the last time you called your best friend?  Or wrote a letter by hand to someone you love?  Better yet, when was the last time you actually spent some time actually making new friends?  Look at the lives around you.  Seriously, it makes me want to cry!  Especially teenagers, but society in general is falling into a pattern of non-interaction.  It's all digital.  From dating, friendships, even sex is a digital affair that no one really has to come face to face with anymore.  You can have an entire alternate life on facebook.  New job, games, friendships, and up to the minute updates on anything anyone in your virtual world is up too.  "my dog pooped on the carpet" "my kid is so cute" "my job sucks" etc. etc. etc.

And that makes me wonder how many of my facebook friends and family actually care about me, or if it is simply convenient to stay "in touch" without the messy business of real interaction.  Am I just their friend so they can tell me all about their life?  Is it all just a digital facade?  At least if we were communicating via email I would know they were talking to me and not just cyberspace in general. 

*Sigh*  So there you have it.  My Facebook Rant.

Now....for the real purpose of this post!  30 days without facebook!
I'm going to extricate myself from facebook for 30 days.  I'm not even going to check it.  Instead I'm going to fill that time with more meaningful connections.  I'm planning on posting as I go so that may be I can inspire anyone else who wants to do this with me too.  If you do join me, let me know what you do with your "facebook" time.  How do you plan on substituting your digital relationships for forming real ones?  I'm curious.  Anyone wanna do this too?

Here are some of my ideas so far:
Call a friend and make a plan to spend time together
Do some projects with my kids
Spend some time with my husband
clean my house
reach out to others and try to make some new friends

Those are just a few thoughts to get me started....I'll let you know how the reality sets in as I go!

My 5 am Baking Obsession

Does anyone else wake up at 5 am with the urge to bake something? No, I'm not smoking crack. ANYONE else? No? Ok...fine. But in my defense it was more about spacing terran's valentines day party until Fri night and then procrastinating the baking of the cookies all weekend. Now that I know you can relate to!

This pretty much sums up my morning:

(I'm saving empty coffee cans for several future projects......in case you were wondering...)

And the results of my early morning spree were, of course, totally worth it......

Fyi: These are supposed to be sandwich cookies....but I just couldn't be bothered to make the filling on such short notice.....even if I did have a week and a half to plan this whole thing. ;) You understand....

Oh....you would like to know what kind of cookies these are? AND the recipe? Oh fine.....

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 TB. unsalted butter, soft
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. oats

In small bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder and salt. Stir with fork to combine. In bowl of electric mixer cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars on med-hi till light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients on low speed till just incorporated. Stir in oats till evenly blended. Use small scoop to portion dough...I use a 1 tsp measuring spoon...and roll into ball. Place on parchment lined, or lightly greased, cookie sheet a couple inches apart and flatten slightly. Bake 10 min at 350 F.

*This recipe is slightly modified from www.annies-eats.com.