Otherwise known as 15 years! FIFTEEN YEARS. It’s gone by in a flash and I can’t wait for more!
Today marks 7,884,000 minutes, 131,400 hours, or 5,475 days.
Category Archives: Websites
My very first Facebook post.
If you remember back then, it posted your name followed by “is” so this should read Jennifer Hudson is
Nope, doesn’t surprise me. 🙂
Naturally Slim let me be a kid again!
I couldn’t have done this 130# ago! #ropeswing (I did it a few days ago as well but these pics were better.) Photo credits to my stepsister Beth who happened to arrive for a short visit!
I posted on Instagram tagging Naturally Slim and they wanted to share it! 🙂
This popped up in my feed again today.
It’s now up to 1100+ likes!
This pretty much sums up vacation thus far. Oh, and non-vacation days, too.
Find the original cartoon at Fowl Language Comics.
Owen became a pirate today!
Owen went to a pirate-themed birthday party today—the same family that had the knight-themed party last year! He had SOOOOO much fun! He told us every single thing they did…which we actually confirmed when the mom posted all the pictures on Facebook! (These are all her pictures.)
Getting the “boat” set up—the kids had to stay on the boat (not fall off) while they moved it around. Passing the test earned a treat!
The birthday boy’s older brothers helping out—reading the Pirate Oath (below):
They used a Pirate Name Generator to assign names to all the boys—Owen was Lazy Jack Keys!
Getting ready to hunt for treasure!
A real treasure map!
Walking the plank!
Popping “canon ball” balloons (they sounded like firing canons)!
They were hitting the skull heads for treasure bags!
Searching for bags of gold!
Feeding [plastic] rats to the alligator! (The mom had her arm inside the mouth and would grab the rats or toss them back out. You had to stay until he “ate” your rat!)
X marks the spot!
They found the treasure and everyone got to divvy up the spoils—jewels, necklaces, and coins!
Some of his haul, which he promptly put in his own treasure box when he got home! (He also got a pirate bandana and two bombs which he’s in love with!)
Xander, the birthday boy!
And…Patchwork Pizza is born!
We really need a name for the pizza where we use miscellaneous leftovers from the fridge. I like garbage pizza but that doesn’t really have a good connotation. It’s not technically leftover pizza so I don’t like leftovers pizza. Kitchen sink pizza isn’t much better than garbage and doesn’t roll off the tongue. (I actually recall having a very similar conversation a few years ago and can’t remember what was decided.)
So I posted on Facebook asking for suggestions…and boy did people come through!!
So Patchwork Pizza it is! 🙂
FYI tonight’s toppings were:
- Kids: butter/garlic salt, homemade mac and cheese, fresh mozzarella, and Italian blend shredded cheese
- Adult: homemade bacon-y 1000 Island, leftover grilled hamburger, chopped green onions and bacon, and fresh mozzarella
Time traveling.
I have an app (Timehop) that shows me pictures from years ago, so every day I get to time travel. Some days are boring but some days have good options for a Then & Now (with recent photos I still have on my phone that match angles or hairstyles). Today was the latter. (Also, sometimes I share them on Facebook if it’s a perfect comparison; sometimes I don’t.)
She outgrew her baby fat.
I’m blown away by 847 likes!
Not only did Naturally Slim post my recent photo and weight loss update on Instagram, I just discovered they posted it simultaneously on Facebook as well…and it currently has 847 likes! I’m just blown away!
This HOA newsletter blurb makes me sad.
This was in our HOA newsletter. It makes me very sad. I’m normally a rule-follower, but this is one that I won’t be paying attention to.
Technically I guess the HOA could fine us (there are signs at the playgrounds saying children under 12 must be supervised) but I looked up our county rules and there are only Child Supervision Guidelines. (See also: “Virginia state statutes do not set a specific age after which a child legally can stay alone.“) So they’d likely have a fight on their hands if they tried to cause any issues.
I’m all about being a helicopter parent when it’s warranted. But this is not that time. I’m pretty sure I was cruising around my neighborhood by age 7 and biking to town by late elementary school. Blah blah blah things are different now blah blah blah but I refuse to be a helicopter parent over playing in the yard or going to the neighborhood park.
I’m sure nothing will come of it, and I’m sure those guidelines have always been there…I just overlooked them because we weren’t at that stage yet.
Owen saw a cow at school!
Owen came home telling us they saw a cow in a truck at school today! We did get a few more details, but I’ll let the Facebook photos (that were posted this evening) tell the story instead. 🙂
We had a great morning at Halley when Sally the Jersey cow and the Mobile Dairy Classroom visited Halley to teach us a little bit about our food sources. The students were very excited to learn more about raising cows and even got to see a milking demonstration, provided by Instructor Amanda Griffith! The students asked great questions and learned a lot together! 🙂
Can you find Owen in these last two photos? Hint: he’s wearing his green MSU hoodie. 🙂
It’s a little disconcerting to come home to this.
However, there was a Fairfax Water truck on the street so I wasn’t worried. Owen asked the guy what was happening and was told they do this once a year to make sure they work. We must have missed it last year.
Edited to add: If I had been reading my Twitter feed, I would have found this:
Does Your Water Taste Funny? Spring Flush on Tap
Each spring, Fairfax Water flushes its water mains by opening fire hydrants and allowing them to flow freely for a short period of time.
My Naturally Slim testimonials are online!
I just got word that my produced videos were uploaded to Naturally Slim’s YouTube account…
Thanks for sharing your story and being our first testimonial in our Organic Success Stories series. We wanted raw, unscripted success stories and you gave us just that.
And linked on their Facebook page…
They’ve chopped my 10-minute video down into four snippets, which will play in a playlist one after the other here:
And since I really did grow to like my original, full-length, unedited testimonial submission…it is now public on YouTube as well:
Look at me getting all Pinteresty.
A friend shared a video on Facebook showing how to make a no-sew bag from a T-shirt. I normally bookmark these types of things with grand plans to do them but then never actually go back and do them. Amiright? But since I happen to have an abundance of T-shirts and 10 minutes to spare, I decided to make me a bag. 🙂 I actually think no-sew was the key term for me.
I used a really big tee (3X) and consequently had a really big bag:
Unfortunately I don’t think it came out looking quite as cute as I had hoped. (It will still work, of course, but just doesn’t look as cute.) It’s also hard to find a tee without graphics on the front/back that will most likely get cut into and ruined. I thought this one was low enough down but it looks funny. Again, it will work…it’s just not exactly right. So I’d suggest plain tees.
It was also very confusing when tying the second layer together—it was hard to tell which strips were supposed to be tied. Maybe it was because it was all black or maybe it was just my old eyes. Or maybe it would have been easier if I had cut the strips longer. (Yes, probably that one.) But it was a valiant first effort and only took maybe 10 minutes so I’ll likely try again.
The video originally posted was in Japanese and didn’t give full instructions so I searched YouTube and found this one which is a bit better.
Welcome to my life.
See original comic here: Fowl Language Comics – Irony
Bingo Night
Katie was frustrated that I wouldn’t let her play and stamp the bingo sheets…so I gave her the pizza box. Which kept her busy for a whole 10 minutes.
Pics the principal took (the lights were off so we could see the overhead projector…which made for not-great pics):
We thought Owen won the last game but one of his stamp marks was a little overzealous so he was one short. 🙁
100th Day of School
My first-ever attempt at making Owen 100 years old for his 100th day of school:
Oops! Forgot the glasses!
Typical Owen. 🙂
And of course little sister had to grab the glasses. 🙂
Pictures from the school’s Facebook page:
Crazy Hair Day
He was super excited for this day. He remembered we had the colored gel—and exactly what colors we have!
I’m not sure where he got this pose, but it was the very first thing he did. 🙂
Green on one side…
Orange on the other…
And pics from the school’s Facebook page:
Same hat and same kid: 2010 & 2016
The old pic popped up on Tom’s “On this day” Facebook timeline and I knew I had to do a side-by-side with a recent pic!
Cats can be dumb.
Why lay there? Why not get IN the bed?
As usual, my Facebook friends had great responses.
Q&A with the kids
A friend posted this on Facebook and I did it with the kids: Without ANY prompting ask your kids these questions. It’s a great way to see what they think. (I asked them separately but they were in the same room at the same time.)
Owen, 6
Katie, 3
1. What is something I always say to you?
Owen: I love you.
Katie: Be polite.
2. What makes me happy?
Owen: Being nice.
Katie: Being polite.
3. What makes me sad?
Owen: Not being polite.
Katie: Not being polite.
4. How do I make you laugh?
Owen: Telling jokes.
Katie: Like this <cackles>. Donuts.
5. What was I like as a child?
Owen: Reading.
Katie: Playing dinner.
6. How old am I?
Owen: 42
Katie: I don’t know.
7. How tall am I?
Owen: 4.5 inches.
Katie: I don’t know. You’re big.
8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Owen: Going to the beach.
Katie: Play games with me.
9. What do I do when you’re not around?
Owen: Watch Ellen Degeneres.
Katie: I don’t know.
10. What am I really good at?
Owen: Reading.
Katie: Putting the tv on.
11. What am I not very good at?
Owen: Playing video games.
Katie: Making dinner.
12. What do I do for a job?
Owen: You don’t have any jobs.
Katie: Something amazing.
13. What is my favorite food?
Owen: Pizza.
Katie: Chicken dog. I mean pizza.
14. What do you enjoy doing with me?
Owen: Playing board games.
Katie: I don’t know.
Cool. I’m a Unicorn Mom!
This was shared on one of my favorite mommy blogs today. I thought it was perfect.
My 15 minutes of fame?!
Do you recognize anyone on Naturally Slim’s Facebook page? 🙂
A week or so ago I Tweeted my current results (81# lost after 26 weeks) and today they Liked it, retweeted it, and messaged me to ask if they could use it on their other social media accounts as inspiration for others. Of course I said YES! A little while later, it appeared on their Facebook page!
Of course, I’m completely embarrassed that my bedroom is such a hot mess in the Before photos…but I’m hoping that the After photos take people’s eye’s away. 🙂
Veteran’s Day Part 2
The school posted a slew of pictures on Facebook from the assembly today and I snagged these:
I knew from some of the faces it was Owen’s class but it took me a minute to find…his head. 🙂
Two of the three marines in the audience (they played each branches song while the appropriate members stood up).
And lookie here. 🙂
Dear strong-willed child…
Throwback Thursday + Brothers
We found LOTS of good pictures while cleaning out Marsha’s apartment. I posted a few of the best ones. The Facebook comments were all basically “WOW! That’s Owen!” 🙂
School pics from 1981-1983. Always in blue. Always matching. 🙂
Kind of blue and still matching. #unearthedtreasures #theboyshateme (Rob commented that they probably even had the same underwear.)
#MomLife
Hallelujah and amen.
Taking 1st grade math…to Facebook.
As briefly mentioned in the last post about Owen’s homework, Tom and I were both somewhat baffled by the supposed answers for his pattern homework.
I actually had to ask Tom about the first incorrect one because I read it (and answered it!) the same way Owen did! 🙂 But, the teacher was right—there should have been one number on each line (he did the same thing with the third line—put too many numbers on the lines, even though he had the right numbers!). But Tom and I still weren’t sure about the wrong triangle and why it should be a square. So I took the question to Facebook. My question was answered, but you can see the types of discussion it brought about. Egads. All this over first grade math homework. Can you imagine what it will be like going forward?!?!?
Here was the worksheet.
And here’s the Facebook discussion!
Patriot Day and first Morning Program of the year!
And from the school’s Facebook account (back in class):
Elsa vs. Robot
Edited to add: I posted this picture on Facebook and these were the great responses:
