Owner: Rocks In My Dryer URL:http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ Join Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:31:19 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: The sleep-deprived ramblings of a busy, saved-by-grace mom who does NOT have her act together. Site statistics:Click here
Aeglefin-what? 2006-12-11 20:24:00 Included in my son's list of spelling words this week is haddock. I had to look it up:Etymology: Middle English haddok: an important food fish (Melanogrammus aeglefinus syn. Gadus aeglefinus) of the cod family occurring on both sides of the North Atlantic that has a black lateral line and dark patch above the pectoral finIs this a word that a 3rd-grade boy has great need of? I suppose you never know when you might encounter a North Atlantic cod on the playground. In Oklahoma.
Let's Pause For a Moment of Silence 2006-12-12 08:44:00 Well, I did it. I bought a Dyson. Your glowing feedback convinced me. And I hope you were right, because I had to sell one of the children to pay for it.
(Joke! That's a joke!)
Once I finished hyperventilating over the fact that I WAS SPENDING $400 ON A FLIPPIN' VACUUM CLEANER I got a little excited. (It normally costs $500, but I used my 20%-off coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond--a big thanks to those of you who suggested that). When I opened the box, I halfway expected a bright light to shine down from Heaven and that British guy from the commercial to jump out.
And then I turned it on.
Oh-for-the-love-of-all-that-is-good-and-HEPA-filtered, now I get it. I think the earth's gravitational pull shifted just a little bit. Seriously--they advertise that this vacuum sucks with 100,000 times the force of gravity. This is a helpful feature, since I was able to use that suction to pick my Hubs OFF THE FLOOR when he foun Read more:Pause
, Moment
Bloggy Reminders 2006-12-12 20:30:35 Don't forget that Friday is BooMama's Christmas Tour Of Homes. I hope you'll be playing along--I am!
Also, tomorrow is Works-For-Me Wednesday. Guidelines can be found here.
And, shoot, there was some other bloggy thing I wanted to remind you of. Rats. I've just gone blank. What could it be, what could it be...?
Works For Me: Smoke Alarms 2006-12-13 07:01:00
I don't have a particularly cheerful tip this week, but it's an important one.
A dear friend of mine had a serious house fire last week; the fire started in the attic and, they've been told, may have burned for two hours before the family was aware of it. As a result, I've been thinking much about my own family's fire safety situation.
We've always followed recommended guidelines. We have two smoke alarms on each level of our home; upstairs, the smoke alarms are at either end of the hall. As I've thought about it, though, it has dawned on me that my children sleep with their doors closed. If there were an attic fire that began over their rooms, or if an electrical appliance in their room were to catch fire, it might take a very long time for the smoke to reach the alarm in the hallway outside. Quite possibly, by the time the hallway alarm sounded, it would be too late.
As a result, in addition to the recommended hallway smoke alarms, we Read more:Works
, Smoke
, Alarms
Blogs You Might Want To Know About 2006-12-14 08:49:00 I'm taking the day off--I'm wiped out. So go read the worthy things being written elsewhere...
SPOGG--A blog by the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. If you have any remaining faith in the intelligence of humanity, this blog will destroy it--but in the meantime, you'll be laughing out loud. It's perfect for a grammar snob like me. I mean, a grammar snob such as I.
It Could'A Been Worse--A hilariously funny look at life, seen through the eyes of a homeschooling mother of three. She makes vomit funny. That is skill.
A Dusty Frame--This blog chronicles the remarkable journey of a young mother whose husband is incarcerated. Her story--and her faith--will take your breath away.
A Southern Girl's Guide to Almost Anything--Y'all, this one makes me laugh out loud. Warning: she blogs a LOT abot Clay Aiken, but since I have blogged a LOT about Barry Manilow I shall not cast stones.
Go. Read. Read more:Blogs
Moms For Modesty Update 2006-12-14 20:31:17 The Moms For Modesty Movement over at Everyday Mommy now has over 900 signatures. I wonder if we could make it to 1,000 by year-end? If you've not checked this out, you really should. You don't have to be a mother of a daughter to sign your name in agreement. You don't even have to be a mother--you just have to care about what is being communicated to the little girls in our culture. Just GO! Read more:Update
Welcome To Our Ho-Ho-Home (I'm Sorry, I Know That's Painfully Cheesy, But Lighten Up, It's Christmas...) 2006-12-15 07:01:00 Hi! Come on in! Today I'm playing along with BooMama's Christmas
Tour Of Homes, in which we all show pictures of the spectacular adequate things we do to our homes for the holidays. (To make this page load faster I'm including smaller, thumbnail photos; you can click on them for the bigger version, if you're so inclined.)
So...here we go....
Here's our front door. Notice the wreath, and also notice the stack of Thanksgiving decorations that have been piled by my front door for three weeks. And the dead mums. We are a class act around here.
Next is our foyer. In past years, I've put garland and bows all the way up the banister, but not this year. So, let's just use our imagination and pretend they're there, okay? See that oh-so-kitschy little snowman on the front table? He's got little fiber-optic cables all over him and he changes color when he's plugged in. My kids love it.
A FIBER-OPTIC SNOWMAN! Read more:Welcome
, Cheesy
TGIF 2006-12-15 21:51:00 I'm up to my eyeballs packing up for a trip to my parents' this weekend--it's my mom's 60th birthday today (happy birthday, Mom!). I had this really meaningful post planned, telling you what a remarkable woman she is, but the brainpower, it is not there (mine, not my mom's. Her brainpower is doing just fine.)
Thanks to those of you who voted for me this week in the Weblog Awards, and for the sweet e-mails of encouragement that many of you have sent to me privately. And to Rockstar Mommy and Breed 'Em Weep, who have both soundly CLEANED MY PLATE in the polls, congratulations (at the time I'm writing this, I'm not sure yet which of them will be the winner--they've been giving each other a run for their money for a couple of days)! Hearty good wishes to all the other finalists as well--I am honored to be on a list with you.
(Speaking of the awards, Spunky Homeschool is in a neck-and-neck race for first in her category, so go vote for a blo
Product Review: Insignia MP3 Player 2006-12-17 05:36:59 Hello, my name is Shannon. And I am the last American under the age of 50 to be in possession of an MP3 player.
Or, just in case I'm not, you might be interested in this review...
Insignia let me try their 2GB MP3 player, offered for $113.99 at Best Buy. I will confess, that although I am a music buff, I am not a technology buff, and I let my Gadget Guru Hubs take the lead in assessing this.
The thing is tiny--TINY--and easily fits in my hand. It's smaller than my cell phone. The sound quality is excellent--you should hear Josh Groban sing "O Holy Night" on this thingy, ohmyword. It has 2 GB of memory, which holds 500 songs OR 2,000 photos OR 25 audiobooks OR 7 movies.
Yes, movies. Did I mention it has a little color screen? I feel so hip watching something on my handy little MP3 player. Another cool feature is the digital FM tuner (though I'm more of an AM talk-radio kind of girl, this would be a convenient tool i
Things I Am Not Buying For Christmas Gifts, but OH MY WORD, I Am Tempted 2006-12-18 07:49:00 First, we have the Left Behind gym shorts. This picture is the BACK of the shorts...get it? Left behind?
Or what about Scrolling LED Rhinestone Jewelry, seen at right? You can program in your own little message for all the world to see. Now that I think about it, this might be handy for a mom. All those sentences you repeat 439 times a day you could just program RIGHT INTO YOUR BELT BUCKLE: "Shut the door and stop heating the neighborhood!" or "Don't stand on your brother's face!" See? Classy and practical.
You might be happy to see this next thing tucked in your stocking if, like me, you occasionally find yourself a bit stessed and snippy on Christmas
morning. It's the Wash Away Your Sins Moist Towlette! How very handy.
Wearing this next gift idea, you'd be a real hit at the next PTA meeting. It's a leather bracelet embossed with a skull and crossbones! Just what all the mommybloggers tod Read more:Buying
, Gifts
, Tempted
What a View 2006-12-18 18:21:00 I mentioned that I spent the weekend in Arkansas helping to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday. Our whole family stayed a cabin atop a mountain near my hometown, and I had to share these views from our back door...
Crafty Girls 2006-12-19 08:41:00 Something about this time of year gets my crafty fever a-burnin', and I get way too ambitious. I somehow talked myself into making robes and pajamas for all four kids for Christmas Eve; a nice idea, but now I'm finding myself a bit rushed and stressed. So instead of getting in there and working on them, I thought it would be a much more efficient use of time to stare aimlessly at other craft blogs. Don't you agree?
I know that many of you are crafty yourselves, so I'm counting on the fact that you've found some crafty treasures out there in Bloggityville. Will you share them in the comments below? Then over Christmas vacation we can curl up with some hot cocoa and avoid housework scroll through some cozy blogs.
(Note: By "craft blog" I don't mean "the blog of someone who happens to craft and blogs about it occasionally"; I mean, "a blog devoted significantly to crafting of some sort". Got it?)
(Als Read more:Girls
, Crafty
"I Know Something You Don't Know..." 2006-12-19 19:19:00 Something very big is coming to Bloggityville on January 4th. And that's all I can tell you. Can you STAND the anticipation? You can guess if you want to, but my lips are sealed.
Stay tuned...
Works For Me: Spaghetti Sauce 2006-12-20 06:01:00 This week's tip is a bit on the wimpy side, but I'm too busy for anything big and creative! MUST. FINISH. CHRISTMAS. EVE. PAJAMAS.
If you have a big family and one jar of spaghetti sauce isn't quite enough, add some tomato soup to it. Stretches it out nicely (and cheaply), and adds a good flavor to boot!
(And if you're shaking your head saying, "one jar of spaghetti sauce? I would never feed my family spaghetti sauce from a jar!" then, um, I'm afraid you're reading the wrong blog...)
Want to share your helpful tip with Bloggityville? Leave a link below. First-timers, please read through the guidelines here before posting.
Read more:Works
, Spaghetti
Wonder 2006-12-21 11:39:00 Earlier this month I was putting out Christmas decorations with a lot of interference help from the kids. Five-year-old Joseph unpacked a box containing rolled-up fabric; he gently un-rolled it to find the ceramic figurines of our nativity set. He gave a long and dramatic inhale and whispered reverently, "Look...they're God's people."
A Little Christmas Meme 2006-12-21 19:04:00 I saw this one on BlogHer and I couldn't pass it up.
1. What is guaranteed to make you smile over the holidays?The thundering roar sound of my children exploding running down the stairs on Christmas
morning.2. What makes you weepy during the holidays?I'm not generally a weeper, but there is one thing that gets me EVERY TIME. Do you remember the movie Santa Claus Is Coming To Town? And remember when Kris Kringle meets the Abominable Snowman and teaches him to walk, and they sing that little song, "Just Put One Foot In Front Of the Other"? That song has always made me cry like a baby.3. How will you spend Christmas Eve and Day?Christmas Eve it will be just my little clan--Hubs and the four kids. We'll go to church at 5, drive around and look at lights, come home to a pork roast, open pajamas (which I finished, thankyouverymuch), do our last Jesse Tree ornament, and go to bed. Christmas morning there will be much shrill screaming and tossing of
To You and Yours.... 2006-12-22 08:53:00 Around the Dryer house we're busy decking the halls and dashing through the snow and, in all of it, hoping (unsuccessfully so far) for JUST ONE silent night (could I possibly have squeezed one more Christmas cliche into that sentence?).
Anyway, I'm stepping away from this bloggy business for a while to enjoy the festivities with my family. I'll see you back here on Monday, January 1st (no Works-For-Me Wednesday next week).
Whatever you're doing, wherever you are, may you step a little closer to that Baby in the manger to breathe in the hope that only He can bring.
Merry Christmas, friends. See you next year. Read more:Yours
So Much For a Bloggy Break 2006-12-25 03:40:24 Okay, so I couldn't stay away. It's a sickness.
I had to show you the boys decked out in the pajamas/robes I made for them. They loved them--it was worth all the frantic, last-minute effort.
Hope your Christmas Eve was as lovely as ours. If you have never taken a five-year-old boy to a candlelight service, you have missed pyromania at its finest.
Merry Christmas, y'all. Read more:Break
A Little Blue 2006-12-26 18:54:09 December 26th always finds me battling melancholy.
After about five days of magic, the Real World comes roaring back in. I come down off my sugar high to find that my pants are a little tighter and my counters are sticky. There are piles of toys pushed against walls, and I have no idea where they will live. The children have that glazed look of overconsumption. Somewhere, under all these stray bits of wrapping paper, I think I might have carpet.
My family is back at their respective homes. Hubs is back at work. I turned on the news just now for the first time in five days, and they're still fighting in the Middle East and hollering in Washington D.C. My city's parking lots, which yesterday had a breather from the crushing weight of holiday traffic, are once again bursting at the seams with shoppers waving gift cards.
And I'm a little blue.
I want to shout at the world to Go Back! Life stopped momentarily, all because of a tiny litt
Her Love For Sparkly Things Is Genetic 2006-12-28 17:55:00 My grandmother gave my daughter these ruby red slippers for Christmas, and WOE BE UNTO THE PERSON who tries to remove said slippers from my daughter's feet. "Shooooooooooe!" she will wail and greedily stuff them back on her chubby little appendages (even at bedtime).
But OH, it's cute.
Is It Just Me... 2006-12-27 17:14:10 ...or has your Internet been creeping along at a snail's pace the last two days? I've just figured that everyone and their dog is out spending gift cards online, because every site seems like one big trafficy mess. Are you having this problem?
Evidently This Stuff Is More Dangerous Than I Thought 2006-12-28 01:01:18 Five-year-old Joseph overheard his big brothers discussing the fact that grown-ups sometimes kiss on New Year's Eve. His heart was quite heavy at this disturbing news, and he came to find me. Here was our discussion:
Joseph: Are you going to kiss Dad?
Me: Yes.
Joseph: Will you be wearing lipstick?
Me: Probably.
Joseph: Will you wipe it off first?
Me: I don't know--why?
Joseph: Well, you wouldn't want to kill him.
The Best Cure For the Holiday Blahs 2006-12-28 21:34:18
Now if only the weight I've gained could be put away that efficiently...
Oh, and just in case you're tempted to leave a comment complimenting me for being so organized, let me reassure you that A)this is the first time my Christmas decorations have made it down this early, B)the only reason they're all in plastic tubs is because last year's cardboard boxes were literally falling apart, C)the only way I could accomplish this was to let my kids watch TV all day, and I mean ALL DAY, and D)the rest of my house still looks like a bomb exploded at Toys R Us.
Feel any better? Read more:Holiday
A Good Deed For the Day 2006-12-29 04:53:05 Kelly at Pass the Torch has a corporate sponsor who has agreed to donate $1 (up to $500) to the St. Jude's Children's Hospital for every comment she receives on this post. So go, leave a comment! At the time I'm writing this, she only has 132 comments. Spread the the word, bloggirls!
Don't Laugh, I Saw It In a Magazine 2006-12-29 16:58:00 I know, I know...for someone on a bloggy break, I'm sure posting a lot, right? Moving right along...
Wanted to show you this centerpiece I made for a New Year's Eve get-together we're having here with friends (notice I didn't call it a party. Real New Year's Eve parties involve cleaning your house and having no children present. These are the kind of friends who don't mind stepping over all the toys you have yet to find a home for, and they all bring their kids, because who in the heck can find a babysitter on New Year's Eve?)
Anyway, I saw this in a magazine and decided to try it. The concept is great, but the reality? It's either very cute or it looks like something my second grader made in art class--I can't quite decide. Still, it's a nice attempt at being festive. In case you're wondering, that's tinsel (on clearance!) in the glass vase, and craft foam (with a cardstock backing) sprayed down with glitter for the stars and Read more:Magazine
Just One More Reason To Be Excited About 2007 2006-12-30 17:41:55 From MSNBC.com:George Lucas said Friday that filming of the long-awaited "Indiana Jones" movie will begin next year.
Harrison Ford, who appeared in the three earlier flicks, the last one coming in 1989, is set to star again.
Lucas said he and Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film.I can hardly wait! Read more:Reason
I'm Not the Only One Who Knows... 2007-01-01 08:27:19 Go see what my buddy Chilihead has to say about the earth-shattering arrival of something on January 4th.
Here's To Friendship! 2007-01-01 07:39:02 My kitchen is a disaster, my voice is hoarse (from laughing) and my belly is oh-so-incredibly full of the unhealthiest food imaginable. We just rang in the new year with a house full of dear friends, and I feel very blessed (and to K and S, who are reading this, AND WHOM I DOUBLE-DOG DARE TO ACTUALLY LEAVE A COMMENT, I love you girls!)
And as if that weren't enough, after my friends left I sat down at the computer to find that I'd been selected as winner of the Friendship
Award in the Christian Women Online Blog Awards. I am humbled and tickled beyond words--thank you so much for your votes. One of the most unexpected blessings from blogging has been the friendships I've formed in the last year--friends from all over the U.S. and even the world, friends who are teaching me about being a better friend, a better writer, a better mother, a better wife. My 2006 was all the richer for having these new friends. Thank you, girls--you know who you are.
The Obligatory, New Year's, I'm-Going-To-Lose-Weight Post 2007-01-02 18:08:25 I know, I know. A weight-loss post. Blah-blah-yadda-yadda-whatever.
But seriously, y'all.
I knew I was going to have to do something Big, because lately I've found myself fitting a little too snugly into That Size. You know, the size that is absolutely, un-debatably the highest you're willing to go? I'm there. Snugly.
Then, as if that's not enough, I weighed myself this morning, and the scale read 1_9.5. That's one-hundred-and-blankety-nine-point-five. (You didn't really think I'd tell you, did you?) Suffice it to say that the number in the blank is way too high, and if I add another half a pound, I'm in uncharted waters, weight wise.
And then...THEN...as if all of the above wasn't motivation enough, I noticed over the last few weeks that my pants have been kind of sliding down. And I've been a little smug, thinking that perhaps I was miraculously losing weight even though I was eating holiday food like Read more:New Year
, Weight
, Going
Back In Business 2007-01-02 23:09:00 Works-For-Me Wednesday is back this week, so be getting your clever ideas ready... Read more:Business
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