Always Room to Learn Something New

Late last night, I was monkeying around with FeedBurner to change my RSS feed. I spent quite a bit of time reading about Atom, RSS and XML. Found out about a ton of different RSS reader services (I personally use Google Reader and love it), and generally experimented with some changes to the blog. FeedBurner has a bunch of fancy features and I'm excited about learning what it has to offer.

I tried changing the template around some, too. There were a few bumps in the road that needed to be smoothed out, but I think (we) eventually got there. What resulted was a long conversation with DH about my blog and the technical aspects behind the RSS feed. It was an enjoyable conversation and I actually felt like my brain was working. Being a SAHM, I don't get a lot of deep thought-provoking technical issues to deal with. The blog has been an opportunity for me to really push myself to learn something new. And thank goodness that DH is sharp when it comes to computer stuff. What he doesn't know, he reads about and quickly absorbs. Tech Support available just one room away for all those times when I goof things up on my computer.

I'm learning, little by little, and that's what counts. Eventually, when I decide I want to return to work, I won't feel like I spent the child raising years eating bon bons and watching information and technology pass me by. Thanks DH for all your help and encouragement!

PS: This is my first new post since switching to the FeedBurner RSS - hope it makes it to everyone safe and sound!

RSS Feed - Heads Up

I'm in the process of trying to implement FeedBurner (yet another member of the Google family) and am about to change my settings. It's my first attempt at such a customization so I'm crossing my fingers that it works!

If everything goes well, you shouldn't see any interruption! Otherwise, grab the new RSS feed link.

Thanks for subscribing!

A Reason to Watch Commercials

My DVR currently has 27 programs set to record "regularly". They aren't all shows that I watch; WordWorld and Super Why are for the kids. The main thing the DVR has done is get me hooked on more shows than I ever watched before. During the regular season, I record new shows to see how I like them. Chuck and Journeyman are my most recent additions – while others like K-Ville became victims of my delete key. I save other new shows like Bionic Woman for the rerun season. If I decide I like it, it will get added to the queue. Each year - Lather, rinse, repeat. Yeah, that strategy is how we got up to 27 so easily. Thankfully, shows like The Shield and The Amazing Race have short run periods. And Lost seems to have been, well, lost, for quite a while. Some shows like "Fore Inventors Only" and "Everyday Edisons" are up there just in case they have another season. Oh wait, Cold Case only records so that I don't miss The Amazing Race when it runs late because of football.

I enjoy being able to record a show and watch it at my leisure, regardless of whether I plan to fast forward through the commercials. In the beginning, it was simply so I could watch shows in their entirety – something that previously only occurred when the kid(s) went to bed AND stayed asleep. My first reaction when we got the DVR was "thank goodness for the pause button" because I could run upstairs to check on the kids if I heard a peep. Now that I'm addicted to the friggin' gadget, I'm not quite sure how I watched TV before.

I have the DVR and fast forward at my disposal and what do I do? I go to the computer to voluntarily watch commercials. Boy, that sounds pathetic. In actuality, it just proves I'm cheap. The reason I watch commercials on my computer is to get free stuff – in this case, free magazines. If you're curious what I'm referring to, check out AdPerk. Their current list of free magazine offers is Ode, Good Housekeeping and Popular Science but their "Coming Soon" list boasts heavy hitters like Smart Money, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire.

How it works – you select your magazine of choice, pick from a list of potential commercials, "watch" them then punch in a validation code when it ends. They range in length and have various values associated with each commercial. You can pick products that interest you or just shoot for the highest valued commercials. After you have watched a designated total, the subscription is yours. Their list of commercials was pretty small when I did my last two subscriptions (several months ago) so I ended up watching some for things I had no interest in. I'm not sure if the selection has improved at all but I did find some interesting products in the mix. I figured it was worth watching a few commercials to get a free magazine subscription and I was saving the time by fast forwarding through some on the DVR.

And yes, the magazines do come – my first Good Housekeeping just showed up the other day (the inspiration for this post) and I noticed that DH's Popular Science has another year added on to it. If you're looking for an easy way to add to your magazine library, give AdPerk a try.

If you know of other programs like this, post them in a comment so I can check them out!

Watch Milk Come Out of Mommy's Nose

Miss K can be a pistol sometimes. No matter how long we play with her, the minute we're done, she asks "Do you want to play with me?" When we tell her "Not right now, honey, we just got done playing with you." She sulks away muttering "Nobody is going to play with me" or "Who's going to play with me?" It's actually a really sad sight and sometimes works – which is why she continues to use it. Note to my future self: beware the teenage years when she has the whole guilt-trip thing mastered.

As soon as we got home from the gym today, DH and I each got something to eat. Sometimes exercising makes me hungry and today was one of those days. No sooner do we sit down to eat when Miss K starts up her "play with me" macro. My mom had just called to tell us she was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by. So I said to Miss K "Why don't you go stand by the door and see if anyone talks to you over there." I figured my mom would be arriving within a few minutes so it would work out. To our surprise, a few minutes later, Miss K shouted out to us "Nobody's talking to me here, either!" Thank goodness I was in-between bites because it totally cracked me up. DH was not so fortunate – I thought he was going to laugh his lunch out.

At dinner time, the three kids (Miss M, Miss K and DH) were being ornery, in a fun kind of way. He kept getting them all giggly and when I wasn't looking one time, did who knows what to make it worse. I'm usually pretty uptight about dinnertime because the girls take way too long to eat and it drives me crazy. Tonight was a nice change to that. Miss M and DH were showing each other their teeth and Miss K joined in. I'm happy to report that nobody's mouth was full… except mine. So when Miss K asked me to show her my teeth, I covered my mouth and mumbled "I have food in my mouth." I tried to chew quickly and just as she started to say "When you're done eating…" I reached over and picked up my glass to drink. Without losing a beat, she restarted her sentence with "When you're done drinking…" It doesn't sound that funny on paper, but when we were sitting here, having a 3 year old switch so quickly to rephrase just tickled me. I had so much trouble swallowing that mouthful of milk that DH chimed in with, you guessed it, "Hey girls, watch milk come out of Mommy's nose." He was sooo close to right. I guess I deserved it for laughing at him at lunchtime.

She's on a roll and I pray that she doesn't figure out that her whimsical little comments crack us up or we'll never be able to eat around her again!

Our Very Own Igloo

During the summer months, when I step out on my back deck, I see two trampolines, three swing sets and an inflatable water slide in neighboring yards. This past summer was the first time we felt the girls were old enough to play by themselves in the yard, so we spent some time trying to figure out what yard gear we should invest in. During a visit to see MIL in Alabama, we stopped in the Costco and found the coolest jungle gym – the perfect size for the girls. MIL purchased it, we brought it home with us, assembled it and watched the girls climb like monkeys. Here's a picture of MIL playing with Miss K during one of her summer visits.

It hadn't been in the yard very long before DH's brain started churning. He said "It will make a cool igloo this winter." I thought he was joking at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. It WOULD make a cool igloo. Personally, I've always thought it would be neat to have my own igloo!

We had our first major snowfall and were not prepared for it. Our friend Mr. Jason lent us one of his tarps after we mentioned our plans. DH and I bungied it down and waited for the next major snowfall… Voila!

And one more snowfall made it complete!

The weather is so cold right now that the kids haven't been able to enjoy it, but at least we have our own igloo now!

Back on Track at the Gym

When we signed up at the gym a year and a half ago, I never expected it to last. I signed up because I was tired of being overweight and out of shape. As I mentioned in a previous post, the weight gained as a result of having undiagnosed hypothyroidism, umpteen years of varying levels of infertility treatments, pregnancy (thankfully) and related chaos, had just become too much for me. I was unhappy and I figured the gym was a good starting point. Even if I only stuck with it a short time, I had decided that every minute I was at the gym was better than an equivalent minute sitting on my tail side watching TV or vegging at the computer. It was also a better alternative than snacking on something in hopes of feeling better. What I discovered is that exercising actually makes me feel better and my time at the gym has become exactly that, my time.

But with the holidays, things got hectic (preaching to the choir, I'm sure). I helped in the classroom or shuttled kids for a field trip. I needed to get Christmas stuff done or stayed up too late watching a movie. Oh yeah, there was also a spell of really crappy Iowa weather that made me want to stay in bed all day. What resulted was a two week hiatus that, surprisingly, frustrated me. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but who would have ever expected that to hold true for something like working out at the gym?

Today was my first day back since a week before Christmas and I couldn't be happier. It was a difficult workout, as usual, but that's the way I like it. Leah, the instructor, encourages us to work at our own pace… whatever that may be. I worked as hard as I could without overdoing it.

Even after a year and a half, I'm still out of shape but at least I have some muscle-tone now. I feel better about myself and have realized that the scale doesn't tell the whole story. I also am stronger and more confident than before and must be emitting that vibe. For the first time in I don't know how long, (maybe ever) my brother didn't make any attempt to steal my garlic bread at this year's Christmas dinner.