“Here we mark the price of freedom.”
The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the World War II memorial. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.
Archive for the ‘ Uncategorized ’ Category
Barbie in a paper towel tube
Author: Kool AidDec 22
I haven’t given an update on the hip problem I needed physical therapy for in a while. There has definitely been improvement. The therapist I had this time around is much better than the one I had in Oklahoma and after a few weeks, I could go a whole day without very much pain at all – even no pain for parts of the day. Yes, she “broke” me at least once, where the pain from the therapy was more than the pain from the injury, but then she “fixed” whatever it was she broke and we moved on to the next thing.
But the bursitis would still come back. My hip and leg was getting stronger and the stretching was helping keep my hip joint loose, but busy on-my-feet days, or even sitting in the wrong position, would make the bursitis flare up. So, she told me to go back to see the Dr. and talk to him about it. Her suspicion was that there was a tear and scar tissue of the labrum.
So, the doc sent me to get an MRI, which was scheduled for yesterday.
Now, THAT was an interesting experience. Thank goodness I’m not claustrophobic. And thankfully, since they were only imaging my hip, I didn’t have to go completely into the tube. I was in all the way to my shoulders, but with the way the machine is made (think donut on it’s side), even with my head out of the main part of the tube, I still couldn’t see the ceiling, just the side of the machine as it curved outward from the tube.
Now, I’m no Barbie, but trying to explain to a 7 year old what an MRI is like, the only comparison I could come up with was to tell her to imagine sliding one of her Barbie dolls through a paper towel tube.
My cousin warned me to take ear plugs (he had to have one for his shoulder a while back) because it was noisy. I am so thankful he did. Let me tell you, the MRI is a LOUD machine. Think jackhammer, plus emergency broadcasting system test, plus diesel engine (of a TRAIN!). I can’t imagine what kind of noise it would have been had I not had the ear plugs.
But overall, the experience wasn’t that bad. My body core got really warm but my toes got cold (I didn’t have socks on). I had the strange sensation that my body was swelling a little, like – I don’t know – like the blood in my body was expanding. Strange, I know, but I can’t really explain it any better than that. I did start to feel a little nervous about it at the very beginning. The idea of being confined in a tube and told “don’t move” is a little nerveracking but a few deep breaths calmed the nerves a bit and closing my eyes helped a lot. Honestly, I think I may have even dozed a little. Odd, I know, but I was in a prone position with my eyes closed for about 30 minutes and the noise of the machine, muffled with the earplugs, became almost a white noise for me to doze off to. Really loud white noise.
Now comes the fun waiting part. The radiologist will review the MRI today and get the info to the doc tomorrow, I hope. Unfortunately, my followup appointment isn’t scheduled until January because of Christmas and New Year’s but since I don’t want to wait that long, I’m hoping I can get at least a little info over the phone. I’m guessing I’ll still have to wait until after Christmas, though.
Filed under: daily life, Uncategorized
The Devil Wears Prada, or at least a doggie costume
Author: Kool AidOct 23
Monkey has an idea – a little venture, shall we say. I’m not sure where the idea originated from but she came home talking about it on Monday from her enrichment class. Several of the kids in her class, including her and her good friend, C, are designing dog costumes to sell. Nevermind that the pet stores are chock-full of doggie costumes, but she started working on her drawings and her “business plan” on Monday.
Being the loving mom that I am, fully supportive of all my children’s ventures, I thought – nay, hoped – that she’d be “over it” by Tuesday.
Nope. She continued to draw and plan out her costumes. Actually, I loved that she was drawing them. I’m all about drawing on paper because that doesn’t really involve that much involvement from me other than a “that’s nice, honey” every once in a while. Wednesday, she returned from her enrichment program with even bigger plans and more accomplices. Now they’re planning on selling the costumes in the driveway and asking people to measure their dogs so the costumes can be a custom fit.
Hmmmm….. so it’s not going away, is it?
Wednesday night, at church during drop off, Monkey wanted to approach a friend of mine and ask if she had dogs and if she would like to buy a costume. I know this mom and she’s very sweet and sincere and told Monkey as she looked at her drawings that she would think about it. I know it doesn’t sound like it because intonations can’t really be interpreted over the monitor, but I promise, she was sincere.
Ok, let me stop here and explain something. I’m a crafty person. I like to scrapbook, make cards, make jewelry, knit – I really should open up my own little etsy shop, but I also have a streak of laziness. Sometimes I don’t WANT to be creative. This is where my quandary lies. I don’t want to discourage Monkey with this idea. She’s really into it! But I really don’t want to have to “deal” with it, you know? I’m not a good mom that way. Last year, she wanted to have a dog show. She was so excited about it and wanted to invite people and such, but I dragged my feet until she forgot about it. Yay me, great mommy award there, right?
So, after dropping Monkey off to her class, I approached another friend who was asking me what Monkey was selling. I explained to my friend, D, what Monkey was doing and how she was so enthusiastic about it. I told her my issue and she, very gently, I might add, scolded me. ”You have to support her on this – come on!” And she was right. So, Wednesday night, after picking up Monkey, we talked about some logistics with her idea. Maybe designing them for live dogs wasn’t the best idea. What about Webkinz? All her friends have those while not everyone has a live dog. Also, dogs can be really big and making a costume for one big dog would be, cost-wise and effort-wise, as much as two or three little ones. Webkinz are all close to the same size. We also talked about how successful she was at pre-selling her costumes to her friends and that it might be easier to just sell them to her friends instead of setting up a “garage sale” for them.
Monkey pondered those ideas.
Yesterday, she got her money together and asked me to take her to the fabric store. She’s ready to start making some of her designs. She’s going to use some of her Webkinz and other stuffed animals as models. We got fabric for a mummy, a fairy and a vampire.
I’m guessing we’re gonna get creative today.
Filed under: Monkey, Uncategorized
soon there will be pictures
Author: Kool AidJun 14
I love taking pictures. Digital cameras are the greatest thing ever. Yes, I’m a convert. Not too long ago, I didn’t want a digital SLR camera and I got the regular film kind. I don’t see it as a mistake I made at the time, just a learning experience. I was a little leery of digital SLRs and I had a pretty decent point-and-shoot digital camera so I figured, why bother?
Almost two years ago, I made the transition to a digital SLR. I researched and researched and finally decided upon a Pentax k100d for an anniversary present. Last year, I got a telephoto lens for it and Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Let me just say that I LOVE my digital SLR. And I love having Photoshop.
You are probably wondering why I’m talking about cameras when I said I was going to be posting about our vacation. Well, in our house, cameras and vacations go hand-in-hand. I mean I took over 500 pictures when we went to Disney World last year (over about 3 days in the parks). In true form, I snapped lots and lots of pictures last week. After the first day, I noticed when I was looking back over pictures taken that there was a big black dot on all my pictures. The infamous dust on the sensor.
Had I had a film camera, I would never have known until I had the pictures developed and I would have a bunch of ruined pictures. However, with the digital, I’m able to use Photoshop (yay!!) and fix the pictures. It’s time consuming, though. I’m thinking there has to be a way to cover up the spots that isn’t pixel by pixel, but I’m getting through them.
So that is what is taking so long getting my posts and pictures up. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Humidity
Author: Kool AidMay 6
hu·mid·i·ty (hy??-m?d’?-t?) 
n.
- Dampness, especially of the air.
- Relative humidity.
[Middle English humidite, from Old French, from Medieval Latinh?midit?s, from Latin h?midus, humid; see humid.]
I don’t like humidity. Right now, humidity is the bane of my existence, my nemesis, if you will. Humidity is something that I have lived with all my live. I’ve always been in climes where humidity started in the early spring and lasted until late fall, and at one point in my life, humidity could be found in some percentages all year ’round.
Humidity sucks.
If you are among the hundreds of thousands of people in this world who have wooden doors, like we do, then you know when it’s humid, the doors expand and stick. Oh? You live in an arid landscape? So you don’t know what it’s like? Ok. Here’s what you do: Take your door off the hinges and go throw it in the pool or a nearby lake. Let it float for a while. Then bring it home and hang it back in the door frame and close it. Can’t do it, can you?
Oh, so you don’t want to remove the door? Ok, I guess I can understand that.
When it’s humid, clothes that are hung to dry don’t dry. Dishes that have been washed take twice as long to dry off. Don’t have that problem? Well, here’s what you can do to remedy not having that problem. Take your clothes and hang them on those typical wooden drying racks. You probably had them in college because you couldn’t afford the $2 in quarters to dry them. I know I did. Put the rack in the same room as your dryer. Take another load of wet clothes (this is an experiment remember? ’Sides, unless you’re single, you probably have more than one load to wash anyway) and put them in the dryer. Disconnect the dryer vent. Turn on the dryer. See all that condensation on the inside of your window? Humidity. Expect an additional 2-4 days for your hanging clothes to even come close to drying out. And for the dishes? Take as many pots as will fit on your stove, fill them with water and bring them to a boil. Let them boil. And boil. That water that’s dripping off your cabinets? Humidity.
I am not a fan.
Want to go work out? You don’t really have to. Just take a short walk around the block and you’ll come home looking like you’ve run a half-marathon (or in my case, a 5k) dripping with enough sweat people start asking you why you jumped in the neighbor’s kiddie pool.
But the worse thing? Frizzy hair. And I don’t just mean the “finger in the socket” look because I get that every morning when I tumble out of bed. No. I mean the look I get in the afternoon, having showered that morning, “done” my hair that morning, and gone about my day. By the time afternoon rolls around and I catch a glimpse in the mirror, I see Susan Boyle looking back at me. Only I can’t sing like that – unless I’m in the shower.
I. Hate. Humidity.
Filed under: random rants, Uncategorized
Outsmarted again
Author: Kool AidApr 27
Yes, I have been outsmarted. Not by my husband, although he is quite intelligent. Not by my clever six-year old daughter. Nor by my three year old son. No. This time, I have been outsmarted by me.
“Huh?” You ask. Yes, I know. Sounds odd, doesn’t it. But it’s true. Here’s the story.
Several months ago – almost a year in fact – I started looking at other outlets for my blog. Blogger works, and is sufficient, but I was really liking the appearance of some of the blogs I follow regularly and thought I’d try Word Press. I went as far as setting up an ID and claiming the “Butterflies in my hand” name on Word Press. Then I made a fateful decision.
I decided that instead of trying to move everything over, since I’m not that computer/blogging savvy, I would just stay where I was.
Well, since I entered into the writing contest over at Collective Inkwell, I decided I would try and access my Word Press account in case I won the contest. Yes, I am forever hopeful that I’ll win things I enter, even when I know I probably won’t.
It’s been too long and I was apparently too clever with my ID and pas sword. How do I know this? Because I have two – yes, TWO – accounts with Word Press. One, I can access. It uses the same email as my blogger blog. The other, I cannot access because I can’t remember the email address I created specifically for that place. And to make things even better, the “butterflies in my hand” domain is under that ever-so-cleverly-hidden email address.
Yes, I am outsmarted again. And it’s no fun. So if any of you out there knows how I can access the memory in my head of the address I was using for Word Press (surely SOMEONE out there can get me to Fringe’s lab in that basement at Harvard) I would greatly appreciate it. Otherwise I might be stuck on Blogger forever. Even if I do happen to win that writing contest.
* * * * * *
Just as an update, I have figured out what happened and which account I need to use. I’m hoping the powers that be over at Word Press can help me merge these two accounts or something.
Oh, and thanks for laughing with me on this. All I needed to do was sign in under that other account. I didn’t need to try and figure out the email address through yahoo. Again, outsmarted by myself. I didn’t think of just trying to sign in until a few minutes ago.
Filed under: other stuff, Uncategorized
Alive and kickin'
Author: Kool AidApr 22
I’m still here. It’s been an incredibly busy couple of weeks and it’s not over yet. I just thought I’d pop in to let those readers that haven’t abandoned me know I’m still alive and well.
I do have plenty of things to update on later: The Dead Show, Easter, the kids, homeschool updates and a writing contest I’m entering.
I hope you’ll still stick around for me, or at least come back when I post again. And for those of you who write blogs that I normally visit, I promise, I’ll be back. I haven’t had time to read, either, so I hope you’ll forgive me.
Here’s to a peaceful few weeks – and soon!
Filed under: other stuff, Uncategorized
Hello world. I have about 40 minutes left to complete this post and catch up on my reader from Sunday morning, which means there are probably 235 more entries that I won’t get to read before the night is done. You see, people, I’m visiting family and we’re staying with my uncle who is still in the … ummm … pre-computer age? I don’t even know which decade to fill in there, but he has no computer, thus no internet.
Do you have any idea how strange and frustrating it is to not have access to the internet? I had to resort to using a phone book for goodness sakes! And actually CALLING someone to get directions to their location, find out how much admission is, and so forth. Wait, I think I may have lost some of you. We’re visiting family, which means we’re also in a house that doesn’t have anything to keep a 6 and a 3 year old entertained but the TV. Not to mention the family driving in to visit and bringing twin 4 year old cousins to see Monkey and Little Man.
Thank goodness dear ol’ mom had a crack-I mean-Blackberry, so that I could sorta google indoor play for children in the city where we are. I was able to at least get a name and a number of a bounce house, although the number on the webpage wasn’t the right one. Hence, needing the phonebook. Since I’m not all that familiar with using her blackberry, I just called the location to verify what little info I was able to get from mom’s phone and get directions and such.
I decided to go early to the bounce house because it was 9:30 am and I was already being driven crazy by the boy. I grabbed my laptop on a whim and guess what? They had Wi-Fi there! YIPPEE! Only, I couldn’t get it to hook up to the computer right. I still don’t know what happened but it wouldn’t work. Not even on my iTouch. Bummer. So after a little while longer we went back to my uncle’s to meet Mawmaw and Pawpaw and Aunt Pat (not her real name) who were bringing my nieces.
So after lunch with the family, we went back and stayed until closing. I’m so glad they were able to make it. I hadn’t seen them since last summer some time and so I was able to talk and catch up with them and Monkey and Little Man had great fun with their cousins and seeing their grandparents and great aunt.
So, it’s been more than 24 hours without internet. Thankfully, the kids, after today’s running and jumping, went to bed and I was able to escape to the local library. I owe Hayden big time for pointing me in the right direction (thanks, girl!!). So, while I’m able to update on my blog, time is running out and I’m having to divide my time between this, facebook, twitter and homeschool research. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for any of these things.
Isn’t it amazing how much we have come to rely on the internet? Not necessarily for social stuff like social network sites and blogs, but for simple things like finding something to do or getting directions to a certain place. I was shocked, and a little ashamed, that I was so lost without internet access today when I was trying to think of something to do on a rainy day. I admit, I’m an internet junky. This week just goes to show me how much I’ve come to depend on it. I follow my friends on social network sites, read status updates and blogs and use it for simple information retrieval.
So, could you go without the internet? And for how long? Well, I have to go. They’re kicking the library patrons out – it’s closing time…. (oh, and Hayden, when I have more time, I’ll come back and link to you 
).
).
Filed under: other stuff, Uncategorized
Hello world!
Author: Kool AidOct 30
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
Filed under: other stuff, Uncategorized
I'm a twit
Author: Kool AidOct 23
yeah, I did it. I joined twitter. As if I don’t have enough to distract myself with. I’m not entirely sure how long this will last since I won’t be using my cell phone for updates, but I wanted to see what it was all about.
So, if you’re interested, or just bored and looking for something to do, my twitter link is on the sidebar.
******
I’m updating this to say that I’m not so sure I’m going to keep up with the twitter. Yeah, I know, how flaky am I to give it about an hour or so to try it out, but I just don’t see that my life is interesting enough to warrant a twitter account. After an hour, I couldn’t really come up with anything more than I’m worthlessly spending the entire day at home, on the computer. I still have the account, but I’m not leaving the badge on my blog. And since I don’t have a cool new iPhone to keep it up while I’m out and about, I just don’t see the point for me.
If you decide you must go looking for me over there, try Kool_Aid16.
Filed under: other stuff, Uncategorized
