Tales from Creekistan

Why, it's Whyville!

2009-02-13T20:08:00.000-08:00

What can your kids do when they're at home on a snow day? Well, there are a lot of things really. But one that my family has discovered is Whyville.net.

Whyville is a kid-friendly online community where kids can explore, play educational games, chat with other citizens, and just have a lot of fun.

It's free! Of course, if you want to spend real money, you can buy "Pearls," a currency in Whyville which will allow you to purchase many things. But if you want to go a more economical way, you can learn how to earn "Clams." There are many ways to earn Clams and increase your salary.

Kids have a great time changing the way they look in Whyville. You can purchase a new hairdo, a hat, a funny nose, or even a t-shirt. The possibilities are endless! My son has discovered a way to make himself look like a cat.

Is it really safe? Yes! First of all, before anyone in Whyville can chat, they have to have a signed permission slip sent to Whyville. Once the permission slip is received, a short test is necessary which helps teach what forms of activities are not permitted in Whyville. Lastly, there is a reporting rule breakers quickly and easily. I should also mention that there are monitors that check around to see what's going on.

I say that it's fun for children, but I've had a lot of fun too! And I've learned a few things along the way.

Try it out yourself and see. If you think it's good for your child, introduce it to them. It's available at Whyville.net. My username is AmyBlack. See if you can find me!

Facts About Whyville

Whyville is a virtual world where you can travel to different places, talk to numerous people, and learn valuable information.
Whyville is based in Pasadena, California, but we have citizens who are from all over the world.
Whyville was started in 1999, and already has over 4 million members! Each day around 1,000 more join!
Our citizens are usually age 8-15.
Whyville generates between 40 and 50 million page views a month. Wow!
And last but not least, all of this is free! Anyone can join Whyville for the low price of $0!

Photos of the 2009 Ice Storm

2009-02-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

We're finally melting! But here are photos that I finally had time (and electric) to upload them.

^My nemesis tree, a Black Walnut, dropped another branch on my car. This time, it didn't do any damage. But it's getting closer to becoming a stump unless it stops throwing branches and walnuts at me.

^ As you can see, everything was covered with white snow and encased in ice. Sure it was beautiful, but dangerous too. Branches and big chunks of ice were falling everywhere. Every so often, you could hear something that sounded like a chandelier crashing to the floor or a gunshot going off as a tree finally broke in half and fell.

It was very dark at night.

My Happy Place

2009-01-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I have a very unusual Happy Place. You know what I’m talking about: when you’re just about to get a shot, you’re in labor, or you’re trying not to think about something unpleasant—you try to get your mind into another place, preferably a pleasant place, so that you don’t feel so bad.
When I was considering natural childbirth, I had to come up with a Happy Place. I considered many different spots—the playground of my youth, a beautiful overlook, an imaginary place—but those didn’t really hold my attention more than Las Vegas.
Las Vegas is where I got married. We had a great time. I’ve visited there a couple of times and each time I enjoy it more. I love the lights and the sounds and the betting and the winning (not the losing so much, but I keep it reasonable.) So, that’s my happy place—in a casino.

There are a few times when I need a reminder of the fun I had in Vegas. There’s not much around here in Ohio, since casino gambling is not legal. I’ve gone to Indiana’s silly “riverboat” gambling, where they actually built a lake to float the casino on so that they can be legal. It helps to go.

But way out here, in Creekistan, I sometimes rely on online places. Don’t get me wrong, I do not by any means have a gambling problem. I have yet to actually spend money online. But there are some places that satisfy my itch. Pogo.com is one, as well as Facebook's poker application. I’ve heard of others, like Betfair where you can play poker, but I’m not sure I can sign up for that.

Short of actually flying to Las Vegas, I guess I have to keep visiting my Happy Place in my mind or virtually, especially during these long, cold months.

Strangers on my Porch

2009-01-19T07:02:00.001-08:00

The chickens woke me up this morning. No, not the rooster, the hens! They were carrying on. Last time I heard them like that, two dogs were trying to get into their pen and succeeded, killing two hens: Shanigha and Oprah. This morning, I didn't hesitate to check. Since the dog has been in the house at night, sleeping in the warm, he followed me out. I was only in my jammies.

Two smaller dogs were waiting for me. One was on my porch, a beagle, trying to eat Bandit's food. The other, a black shepherd mix, was running around, upsetting the chickens.

The flock was okay, my extra security held. But now Bandit is outside, playing with the dogs. He's too friendly to keep them away! When I go out to see if there are any eggs and give the chickens non-frozen water, we'll see if the dogs are still around.

Boxing Day

2008-12-26T11:57:00.001-08:00

For most of us Americans, “Boxing Day” is a Canadian holiday noted on our calendars as the day after Christmas. I don’t think many Americans know what it is. My interpretation is that it’s a day where you give gifts to the less fortunate members of society—you box up some unneeded items and donate them to the needy.

My friend took Boxing Day to a new level.

Let me back up a bit and tell you the Tale of Two Ovens. My oven hasn’t been working for a long time. Instead, I purchased a microwave/convention oven to do my baking. That was until earlier this month when it would no longer bake. I mentioned this to my friend who happens to have two ovens: one gas oven in her kitchen that came with the house she bought, and an electric oven hanging out in the garage, waiting to be installed into the kitchen. They were trying to use up the propane in the tank before they switched ovens.

She took pity on me and decided to give me her gas oven. Yipee! I can bake again! After the guys spent a good portion of Christmas Eve doing the oven switcheroo, I was baking with gas again.

I wish I could say the same for my friends. As my husband puts it, “No good deed goes unpunished.” On Christmas, they were going to bake a ham. But while their oven was pre-heating, it became apparent that mice had made a home somewhere inside and were now becoming crispy and—to say the least—smelly.

It wasn’t good timing for them. Grandma and Grandpa were flying into town to visit them. They had even invited us to come to dinner on Boxing Day. But would my friend give up because she didn’t have a working oven? No way! She took it as a personal challenge.

She made a box oven out of a cardboard box, foil, and wire hangers. She cooked biscuits in the box oven, heated with hot charcoal briquettes. She made other items on the stovetop. We had a wonderful dinner.

Now we feel bad that we took their working stove. I guess I’ll have to have them over for dinner!

Christmas Eve Eve Adventure

2008-12-26T11:57:00.000-08:00

Don’t ask me why, I’m not sure, but we went to visit my Mother-in-Law on Christmas Eve Eve. She lives about 2 hours away. So, we got her presents together, the children dressed and went to visit Grandma for a nice Honey Baked Ham sandwich lunch. After a nice afternoon, it started raining outside. We decided, at 4 pm, that it would be best to go home before it got dark. Besides, we wanted to go to our neighbors caroling party at 6.

Everyone else had that idea too.

The roads were a slippery, crowded mess. Some bridges, exit/entrance ramps, and overpasses were closed to allow salt trucks to do their jobs. Traffic was at a near standstill. We tried to take back roads, but they were backed up too.

Two hours later, we were still only a few miles away from our starting point, and we had a long way to go. After finally getting away from the traffic, we made our way outside of the city and slowly driving down a relatively lonely highway that follows the Ohio River. We took it easy and didn’t have any problems. I probably made some people mad because I refused to drive faster than 45 mph. It was still raining and the temp was at exactly freezing. I wasn’t going to take any chances, especially with the kids in the car.

After a brief hamburger pit stop, and stopping to get beer (an essential), we finally turned onto our road after driving for 5 ½ hours. I could just see me holding that beer in my nice warm living room at any time now. Forget about the party, they’ll understand why we just didn’t feel like going somewhere else.

I was slowly driving down our road, going “the back way” as we call it, since we normally don’t arrive from that direction. It’s a winding and twisting little road that goes pretty steep at places. I wasn’t too worried—I’d never had any problems before.

The last mile or so is probably the most steep. At some point, however, my car would not go up any further. In fact, after spinning my tires for a while, the car started going backward and sideways. Not good—there are steep drop offs.

We had to abandon our car and hoof it the final ½ mile climb to home. Fortunately, I was smart enough to stuff a small flashlight into my car and just happened to have an army duffel bag in my trunk. I also checked my emergency kit, but there wasn’t anything we needed. It wasn’t that cold, but we bundled up anyway. I was a little scared because I was wearing boots that are not practical for walking. So we packed some things into the duffel bag (including the beer!), locked up the car with a note on the windshield, and started up the steep road to our house.

It was slippery. We had to walk on the side of the road as much as we can. Some places we had to walk on the road because of the drop-off beside the road. I held my 3-year-old daughter’s hand and would not let go. We walked, in the dark. The kids were doing great. My husband gave commands, and I complained about my stupid boots.

Up ahead, we saw some lights. We were scared of encountering head-on traffic, so we found a spot where we could get safely off the road and wait for them to pass. But they didn’t move any more. So we walked some more. As we got closer to the stopped vehicle, we noticed it was the cinder truck. It was stuck, with one tire off the road and uncomfortably close to a drop-off. They were desperately trying to back the truck up, and it was not going anywhere except down into the mud. If it weren’t for a retaining pole, it would be doomed.

Good thing we didn’t try to drive my car up the road further—we would have had to stop anywhere—there was no getting around the stuck truck.

We made it home, safe, and tired. Thank goodness we got some Netflix in the mail.

I haven’t left the house since, and I got rid of the boots.

Are you an Undecided Voter? Here's Some Help!

2008-10-18T07:45:00.001-07:00

Okay, the debates are over. We have three more weeks of Presidential campaigning to go, and there is still talk about those 'undecided' voters. I thought I'd help out those people by giving them tools and methods they can use to help decide between McCain and Obama.

1. Flip a coin. This may sound really easy, but you have to chose who gets heads and who gets tails. Have a friend help you. Click Here.

2. I-Ching - In Asia, the I Ching (Book of Change) has been a basis for divination. Click Here.

3. Magic Eight Ball

4. Ouija Board

5. Go with Betting Odds

6. Bibliomancy - Bibliomancy is the practice of seeking spiritual insight by selecting a random passage from a Holy Book. Click Here.

7. Chat with a Psychic Robot

8. Ask a Child - You'll be surprised with how honest they are.

9. Cow Dump. Here in Creekistan, sometimes things get decided with the aid of a cow. Here's how: Divide up a small field in equal squares. Mark each square with a red or blue mark--one for McCain, one for Obama. Feed the cow, then let them onto the field. The winner is decided when the cow leaves a pile in one of those squares.

10. Go to VoteHelp - VoteHelp is a nonpartisan candidate calculator that compares your views to those of Barack Obama and John McCain.

Thursday Thirteen #97

2008-09-11T06:47:00.000-07:00

13 Things I remember from September 11, 2001

I wasn't at work long and a co-worker got a call from her mother that a plane hit one of the towers in New York City. She thought her mother was crazy.

I checked the internet and saw a one-sentance headline on my news site. It said something like "A passenger plane has flown into the World Trade Center.".

As news came in, people were trying to find out more. I wasn't able to get a live TV feed from the main channels in the US, but I was able to get the BBC..

People stood around my computer and watched, in horror, as the towers fell. Some people couldn't even watch. I was one of them. It just didn't seem real..

A television was brought into the lunchroom so people could watch the coverage.I tried to keep busy that day. I think I had some kind of important deadline. It was important to someone else, but nothing seemed very important to me..

My boss was on a business trip to LA. He was stuck there for a few days. I remember getting messages from him via his Blackberry..

A salesman for the company was supposed to make a sales call to the Pentagon that day--for some reason, he did not..

The president of the company contacted every company associate in New York and made sure everyone was okay. He then sent a message letting everyone else know..

I remember wanting to do something for the victims--like give blood or donate blankets. But as news filtered in, we realized that it wasn't necessary..

On my way to pick up my 1-year-old son, I was struck by the lack of airplanes in the sky. It was very strange. .

The weather and the sky that day was very beautiful, a juxtaposition to what was happening in New York..

We finally got into contact with our friends in New York to find out that they are okay. One, however, was in the mess in Manhattan, running away from the towers..

We didn't feel like doing much and went out to eat. We were the only people in the restaurant. Streets were empty and the mood was very grim. .

Thursday Thirteen #96

2008-09-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I just realized I haven’t posted anything up where in a while! So much has happened; I don’t know where to begin. So I’ll just do a Thursday thirteen update on Creekistan!

1. The chickens now have a permanent home. The wonderful Chicken Condo, built by my husband, is now occupied by 8 of the luckiest chickens in Creekistan. They don’t even know how good they’ve got it!

2. No, the rooster hasn’t crowed yet, and there are no eggs yet. But I’ve been giving the rooster crowing lessons and he seems to pay attention. But the egg laying . . . I’ll have to just let them learn that on their own.

3. We’ve been cleaning out the Bee House and making it a better place to store our stuff. Once we put sheets of plastic on the walls, pull out the carpet, and remove the drop-ceiling, it isn’t so bad! Except the fact that the whole house seems to lean to one side.

4. We officially own a truck now. Woo Hoo! Along with the chickens, the truck makes us official farmers!

5. My garden was a complete bust. Nothing has turned out except for a couple yellow squash and a couple cucumbers. Everything either got eaten by deer or just gave up. Oh, except for the turnips. They loved it there. But what exactly can I do with a bunch of turnips?

6. Some of my container gardens did okay—with herbs and some tomatoes. We think it’s because they get more sun than my big garden.

7. My living room hasn’t progressed for about a month. I need to work on it, but it’s too darn hot. I hope to have it done by Thanksgiving.

8. My 3 ½ year-old daughter has started preschool. She was excited and seems to really enjoy it.

9. My son started the 3rd grade. I’m always amazed by how much he has learned in 3-4 years of school. He’s already doing algebra, but he doesn’t know it!

10. I’ve started back to college. I’m taking a few classes—because I can! After putting my husband through until he got his Doctorate, I think I deserve some lernin’.

11. In the morning, we all hop into the car and drive to school. With both my kids in school, me in college, and my husband teaching, that means we are all in school.

12. For those of you curious, I’m taking Art History, a drawing class, an upper-level Ethics class, and Pilates. Oh, and I’m going to play in the Early Music Ensemble.

13. I’m loving every minute of it. Being away from home and learning (or re-learning) things has given me a wonderful opportunity a lot more “me” time.

Summer in Creekistan

2008-08-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

It’s been a very busy week or so. First, we’ve been trying to get the ever-growing chickens into their new home. As they have gotten older and bigger, it has been difficult to keep them in the temporary pen. But they seem to do okay as free-range chickens. However nice free-range sounds, it doesn’t provide them with the protection they need from predators. In fact, one morning we discovered the chickens scattered, hiding in buckets and under the house, and one missing. They’re not talking, but something scared them and took one away. We are down to eight.

My youngest niece and her friend decided at the last minute to go on a summer road trip to Ohio. Of course, they wanted to visit us in Creekistan and stayed for a few days. It was as lot of fun, even though no one had money to do anything. Who needs money when you can stay home and chase chickens around the yard and have huge campfires?

But the summer is beginning to end. Our neighbor’s pool is now freezing cold and the frogs have moved on. My son will start school in a week, and everyone else will start school in two weeks.

I love the Fall and wish it would go on until Spring. I’m not such a fan of Winter.

Thursday Thirteen #95

2008-08-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

13 Random Things

1. My daughter got accepted into preschool this week, the one on the campus of the university that my husband teaches for, as well as where I will be taking classes starting this fall.

2. Yes, you heard me right. I’m taking classes this fall. I’ll be a non-traditional student taking four classes this fall. I’m really excited about going back to school and getting out of the house during the day. So it’ll mean the whole family will be in school at the same time.

3. I got nominated and voted into the local Arts Council. I’m excited about helping make an impact in the arts community and helping children enjoy the arts. This council has been too focused on plays for children, and needs to expand to other forms of fine art and music. I hope to help with that.

4. The chicken house is nearly ready. It’s been taking my husband way too long, but he wants it to be nearly perfect and weatherproof. It’s practically blocking my front door, so I hope it can get moved soon.

5. The chickens are doing fine. The temporary pen hasn’t kept them in—they sneak out and become free range for half the day.

6. In the evening, they huddle together in a sideways Rubbermaid box under a plastic turtle shell-looking lid from an old sandbox. Works fine to keep them cool and protected from rain.

7. The chickens know that first thing in the morning, I make coffee and will be in the kitchen. So if they want attention, they find their way to the porch right off the kitchen and look for me.

8. So far it looks like we have 1 rooster and 8 hens. Not a bad ratio! We can’t have more than one rooster, so I’m happy that we won’t have to eliminate any chickens.

9. The other county fair is this week. This is the county where my son belongs to 4H. He’s still a Cloverbud, so he can’t bring an animal, but I had him do a bird feeder. He got a wonderful participation award.

10. We spent a few minutes at the fair talking to a rancher who has Alpacas. There are small, hairy camel-looking creatures. They actually are related to camels, and come from South America. They are beautiful! But I don’t think I’m ready for an alpaca yet.

11. Alpacas can spit up to 16 feet away.

12. My youngest niece from Omaha decided to go on a road trip with a friend and plans on visiting me this weekend. Looks like I’ll have to clean up!

13. My children were punished for not putting videos and DVDs away—they were banned from watching videos for 10 days. They didn’t really care. There’s too much else to do.

Thursday Thirteen #94

2008-07-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Just a little bit of fun for this last day of July.

13 Sawyer Nicknames (you know, Sawyer from the TV show LOST)

1. Amy the Black = Rinse ‘N’ Repeat

2. My son = Avalanche

3. My daughter = Picasso

4. My husband = Professor

5. Bandit, the Dog = Jethro

6. Gracie the Cat = Ferdinand

7. Sneaky Chicken = Blonde

8. My Mother-In-Law = Spacebar

9. My Father-In-Law = Wilbur

10. My friend, Julie = Rumplestilskin

11. My friend, Drew = Capt. Lou Albino

12. John McCain = Munchkin

13. Barack Obama = Betty

Try it yourself!

Thursday Thirteen #93

2008-07-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

13 More Thursday Rants

1. My living room painting is not yet done. I'm putting off the sanding because it will be horrible! So I'm finding anything else that needs to be done instead.

2. My neighbor's big party to celebrate my husband finishing his doctorate was fun. Not as many people were able to attend as we had hoped, but those that did show up had a great time.

3. I had been hoping to enter a lot more crafts to the county fair this year. But I wasn't able to. Just hours before I was to drop everything off, I was able to create a Halloween decoration and a flower arrangement. I already had a photograph ready to enter.

4. I always complain how no one enters enough crafts at the fair. There were some categories that had no entries at all. I wish there was more competition--saying you won first prize on something may only mean you were the ONLY entry.

5. With that in mind, I got first prize on my Halloween decoration. (I was the only entrant.) My flower arrangement was pathetic compared to the other entries--Good for them! And my photograph was able to get first place in spite of fierce competition!

6. We went to the fair on the day of the Pig Scramble. It's a lot of fun--they put soap on the pig and the contestant's hands and arms. Contestants are supposed to not only catch a pig, but also put the into a specific pen. I feel sorry for the pigs, but they seem to be okay.

7. My daughter loves inflatable rides. Sure enough, at the fair there was a giant inflatable slide. KIds are allowed to climb up it and slide down two times. My daughter didn't care about the rules. Get gets to the top and jumps around for a while, refusing to slide down. My son had to grab her legs and force her down the slide. She immediately went back up. Two more times! Eventually I had to grab her.

8. I cannot even look at the "go around in a circle" rides, let alone actually ride them.

9. A black stray has come our way. She seemed okay, and we actually considered keeping her, until The Chicken Incident.

10. The Chicken Incident: Because the chickens are getting too big for their boxes but we don't have a pen yet, I made a makeshift pen for them. It is pretty safe and allows them to get out and about and scratch on the ground. They love it.

11. Moxy, the name I gave to the black stray, waited until our backs were turned and got into the pen. She was very fast. I was only able to find 5 dead chickens. But we were down to 10 from the original 24. We buried the found victims.

12. We called the Dog Warden to come pick up Moxy. As usual, the Dog Warden seems to be ignoring us, even when he says he'll be right out. "I'll be there in two hours." Two days later, nothing.

13. My husband found three more of the chicks' bodies. Seems our cat took advantage of the Chicken Incident and found and carried three of the small chicks up to our second-floor porch. How she managed, I don't know.

Two-Dozen Chicks: Cheep Cheep Cheep!

2008-07-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

The chickens just arrived. A friend's father brought them down from Columbus. Twenty-four of them! They are chicks about 1 - 3 weeks old. They certainly are cute. I love the little chirp noises they make!

For now, they are on our back porch in cages. Eventually, we'll have to build a chicken house and run for them. We have the perfect spot. We just have to find the time to build what they need.

But there is nothing like fresh chicken or fresh eggs!

Thursday Thirteen #92

2008-07-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday Thirteen Rant

1. Okay, it's been a while. I've been really busy with vacations, parties, and finally fixing the walls in the living room.

2. The living room walls are a wreck. First, there was wallpaper, but no ordinary wallpaper--it seemed like it really was just paper. Secondly, in some spots, the wallpaper was applied directly to the wallboard. When trying to remove the wallpaper, I also seem to remove some wallboard.

3. Yes, I do have to remove the wallpaper. I tried to paint over it, but the primer made it bubble!

4. The county fair starts this Sunday, but I don't have any projects completed. The only thing I can enter right now is a photograph. I would love to complete a Halloween decoration, but my kitchen is torn up.

5. You heard me right, the kitchen is torn up. My husband is trying to apply a back splash. But as everything seems to be going lately, it's not as easy as it looks.

6. On top of everything, my husband has quit smoking. He's popping nicotine candy, but he's still really grumpy. Not very good when you're trying to do construction projects!

7. There is a party on Saturday to celebrate my husband getting his Doctorate. It's at our neighbors house (thank goodness!).

8. I've started new medications that usually have unpleasant side-effects. But so far, so good!

9. All the scraping of the wallpaper has made my right arm sore. I try to use my left, but it's never as good.

10. My garden is not doing so well. Rabbits and deer are eating some things. Other things just didn't want to grow. And my daughter pulled up the id markers, so I don't know what's growing!

11. Spiders are upset because we're kicking them out of the living room. I don't care--it's not like they don't have an entire forest to live in. They've gotten spoiled.

12. Yesterday, I got to flip off the "Straight Talk Express." Yep, McCain was within 30 miles of Creekistan!

13. I hope that by the end of the summer, I'll have the living room done--complete with wall- and floor-boards. And I'll be able to sit down and enjoy it.

Wordless Wednesday #8

2008-07-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Smeagel, the Hairless Cat

Between the Storms: Our Trip to Omaha

2008-06-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

I was watching the weather updates and the road conditions before we left on our roadtrip to Omaha. Our drive takes us through Iowa, which has been hit hard by rains, tornadoes, and flooding. We mapped out two routes, just in case route "A" was still flooded. But route "B" was flooded, too. Fortunately, by the time we left, route "A" was okay.

Omaha and the surrounding areas has been pounded by Mother Nature during the past month. A tornado hit an Omaha community during the night of June 8th. On June 11th, a tornado hit a Boy Scout camp about 45 minutes from Omaha, killing 4 boys and injuring many more. Rain caused severe, post-Katrina-like flooding of several Iowa cities.

And, two days after we left Omaha, a wall of wind and rain, called "straight-line winds," blowing at 115 mph--hurricane levels--downed hundreds of trees, power lines, and caused severe damage, especially near where we were staying with my Mother. (By the way, my Mother and her home were undamaged.)

But between the storms, we had a good time. Only short bouts of rain appeared while we were there.

Our time in Omaha was so very brief, we could only visit a few of the most important places. First, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at The French Cafe. I went shopping at the Mall of my Youth: Westroads. I enjoyed grocery shopping at Whole Foods. We took the kids to the best Zoo in the world: the Henry Doorly Zoo. I went with friends to Shakespeare in the Park to see Much Ado about Nothing. We visited the cemeteries where family are buried, especially my Father, placing flowers on every one. We even spent an hour or two, in the rain, looking for my Great-Grandparents' graves.

Most importantly, we visited with family. Some who have never met my daughter, since the last time I visited I was only two months pregnant with her.

We had fun during our whirlwind visit, and we didn't cause any damage.

Vacation!

2008-06-12T07:37:00.000-07:00

We're on vacation for a while. But I'll be back. Don't worry, the dog and the cat will be fed! I just hope the garden is okay.

Oh, and someone needs to take care of the tadpoles living in a bucket on the back porch.

And don't let the . . . . . . Oh, forget it! We need to get away for a while.

See ya!

Thursday Thirteen #91

2008-06-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

13 Random Things in Creekistan

1. A brood of cicadas has emerged. These are the loud bugs that emerge every 17 years or so. This isn't the big brood like the one in 2004, but they're still very loud. It sounds like an aerosol can that won't stop spraying, or Star Trek phasers on stun.Info.

2. My neighbor has a pesky bird that pecks at their kitchen window. In order to discourage this, they have set up a cross-dressing Mr. Potatohead in the window. It really works!

3. I hurt my back doing yard work. The yard doesn't seem to care and has just kept growing. But when I'm on muscle relaxers, I don't care very much.

4. My Wii Fit arrived and is a lot of fun. But you can't take it personally. My Wii Fit tells me that I'm obese and unbalanced. I'm hoping it means mentally unbalanced.

5. The Memorial Day parade near Creekistan started at 9am. We weren't even out of bed at that time! Forget it. Who needs to have fire engines throwing candy at you anyway?

6. While we were cleaning off the front porch, Mr. Toad snuck into the house and scared the crap out of my daughter, who was sitting time out. Mr. Toad was promptly let back outside. By the way, Mr. Toad is a toad who lives on our porch and isn't afraid of the dog.

7. We're all done with school, so everyone is home for the summer. No driving to town twice a day. With current gas prices, that's about $8 a day in savings!

8. Speaking of gas, on the Thursday before Memorial Day, I made the decision to wait to fill up the tank. I was shocked that gas was $4 a gallon. Then, on Friday, when I needed to fill up, prices were $4.20 a gallon. It's a conspiracy!

9. I went to a high school graduation party for a nephew. We didn't see him and his friends for a while until we found him and his friends in the basement playing on an Xbox and large-screen flat panel TV that a friend snuck into the basement.

10. As a graduation gift, I took that nephew and two friends to see Rocky Horror Picture Show. They were unsuspecting virgins that had no idea what was about to happen to them. On the way to the midnight showing, they asked me, "So, is this a musical?" Yep! "Is it a movie or a play?" Yep!

11. My husband has gotten addicted to Ancestry.com and has tracked a lot of our relatives into the 1700's. Seems I have both and Lewis and a Clark in my history. And my stubbornness comes from my German and Irish relatives. That's also why I like beer so much.

12. I got my hair done again--the highlights are gone and now I'm all over deep red/brown. I miss the highlights.

13. Storms all day yesterday caused a lot of downed trees, flooding, and power outages in our area. But I noticed that since moving to Creekistan, hearing reports of something happening to an area of town isn't just an area of town, but a person that I know and get worried about.

Wordless Wednesday #6

2008-06-04T05:40:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday #5

2008-05-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Wii Fit Delivers Reality Check

2008-05-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

My Wii Fit tells me that I'm obese and unbalanced. Well, it wasn't a surprise. Part of the reason I got a Wii Fit was to help me get more exercise. But the machine was a little harsh.

The Wii Fit is an ingenious game that uses a balance board as it's controller. The board can be used to control fun games and exercises. But before you start playing, you first need to get measured--your Body Mass Index (BMI). I entered in my hight, birthday, and stepped on the board. It measured my weight versus my hight and determined, with a loud and accusing voice that "You're obese."

I had heard about the 10 year old that got her feelings hurt when the machine told her she was fat. [Article here].

I was ready for the insult. The Reality Check. The truth that I knew deep down--that I was overweight and need to address this health issue. When the machine loudly announced in it's cute little computer voice "Your Obese" and, to bring insult to injury, it made my Mii fat, I was a little hurt.

But the game is a lot of fun, and I can see myself using this to exercise on a daily basis. Even if it tells me I'm unbalanced and my fat Mii hangs her head down and looks very sad. I know I'm obese and unbalanced. You don't have to keep reminding me!

I should take heart. According to the Wii Fit, I'm also a Yoga Expert when it comes to some of the yoga poses. Even though I'm not what you think of when you hear of someone doing yoga, I have done a lot and have good control of my balance.

So, right now, I'm an Obese, unbalanced Yoga Expert. I should be on Oprah. Thanks Wii Fit!

Funny Baby Videos

2008-05-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

I made these videos when my son was just a few months old. I'm finally releasing them to the public on YouTube. Please be sure to watch and rate them!

Thursday Thirteen #90

2008-05-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

13 Things That My Coma Clinic Can Do For You! (results may vary)

1. Our Coma Clinic can help you become more fit--We'll hook your muscles up to our state-of-the-art stimulator system that simulate extra-hard workouts. You'll wake from your coma with that fit muscular body you've always dreamed about.

2. Lose weight--You'll be in a coma so you won't have to worry about your food intake. In fact, you'll get exactly the right amount of calories through your feeding tube. No more. No less.

3. Help you train to run a marathon--Just like our muscle-stimulator program, this program will specifically get your body ready for that marathon you've always dreamed about running. You might even wake up with runner's high but not the foot pain usually associated with running.

4. Get the sleep you so desperately want. In fact, you'll get to sleep for weeks, awaking refreshed and ready to rebuild your life.

5. Help that anxious father-to-be survive the last couple months of his wife's pregnancy, and perhaps the birth of a baby. Enter a coma when the stress gets to be too much and awake a new Father! Or try our special Father-In-Law To Be wedding package. Awake a new Father-In-Law, once the wedding bills are paid.

6. Quit smoking the Coma way! Have your last smoke just minutes before you go to sleep. Awake, take a deep breath, and don't worry about the withdrawal symptoms. *Can also be used for other addictive substances.

7. Can't stand waiting those long months between TV seasons? Watch your favorite program's season finale, go into a coma over the summer, and awake in time to see the next season's premier. It'll be like you were never gone!

8. Want to look great for the summer? Why not try our ComaTan! Our special rotisserie will give you a nice, even tan while you sleep.

9. Need to learn a foreign language? We can subliminally teach you a language with our immersive language tapes and programs. (Warning: can't guarantee that you'll be able to speak or read the language, but you should be able to understand it when spoken to you.)

10. Need cosmetic surgery but don't like the pain and discomfort? Let us take care of everything while you're in a coma. Awake to a new you!

11. Hate winter and the snow and can't afford to travel a long distance just to get away from it all? Try a coma for the winter. You'll "thaw out" at the same time as much of the ice and snow.

12. Can't stand all those political ads? Go into a coma! Skip all those long months with boring debates and mudslinging commercials. Wake up just days before election, ready to vote.

13. Better yet, send in your absentee ballot early, go into a coma, and avoid the whole up-all-night-watching-the-news-as-more-results-come-in game. Awake two days after election day, when results are final, or by January 15th, whatever comes first.

Wordless Wednesday #4

2008-05-21T09:21:00.000-07:00