The price of forgetfulness?

Posted on July 26, 2008 by Suzanne

So, I have this habit of losing my cell phone. Not so much losing, really, just setting-down-in-a-safe-place-which-I-can’t-remember-5-minutes-later.

I’ve been trying really really hard for the last 2 months not to lose it, and have done fairly well, actually. Making sure I’m wearing something with pockets seems to help.

On those occasions when I can’t seem to find it, I do the logical thing: I pick up the house phone, and dial my cell number. When I can hear it ring, I hang up and head for the ringing pile. I always hang up before my voice mail picks up, and then don’t think any more about it.

Well, we got a phone bill the other day. Mark was examining it and informed me that every time I call my phone in order to find it: the phone company was charging us 18 cents.

So there you have it: the price of forgetfulness is 18 cents a pop.

And the amount of grief I’ll have to endure from Mark every time I lose my phone in the future? I don’t even want to think about it.

My Guitar Heroes

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Suzanne

They take turns.

They’ve decided that they’d really like to learn how to play an actual guitar, so they’ve pulled out our acoustic guitar (which, unfortunately, is quite cheap and doesn’t work all that great). They’ve decided to teach themselves, since Mom won’t spring for guitar lessons in Waterloo (a half hour drive one way).

They know how to read music (at least the basics, thanks to their short piano lesson stint) and they can read and follow directions, so, Why not! At least to get started. If they actually figure it out, Mom and Dad might be willing to splurge on a nicer instrument.

Heck, if they both like it well enough, and keep at it, I might even be convinced to buy them their OWN guitars.

And just so this blog doesn’t descend purely into family related stuff: here’s a tiny bit of fiber content.

It doesn’t go very fast when you only do a needle’s worth at a time. It’ll hopefully turn out to be a baby hat, to go with the jacket I made when we were on vacation.

I’ve also been doing some sewing of samples, I hope to post about those soon, just not ready for primetime yet.

Make note of the notebooks piled in front of my keyboard. I’ve lost track of how many notebooks I have around that have notes and lists and STUFF in them. I’m like a chicken with it’s head cut off, I tell ya.

I’m not helped by the confusion caused by delivery people. The FedEx delivery person made a mistake and nicely apologized for it, but it’s meant I’ve been waiting for days longer than I should have for something. Gah. Of course, it doesn’t help that I should have ordered said item sooner.

Anyway. Back to work. Or first, maybe, some lunch. Then work.

Suzanne

Dishwasher duty

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Suzanne

The boys are supposed to be the dishwasher-emptiers around here. This summer,, we seem to be running the dishwasher a lot. It’s driving the boys crazy to have to empty it so often. I’ll admit to giving in on occasion and just doing it myself, but it needed to be run two days in a row, and I made them do it both times. Oh, the dirty looks.

(I don’t know why I’m noticing this summer how many more dishes we use than when the boys are home all day long. I probably thought the same thing last summer, too. They keep trying to come up with ideas of how to get around having to run it so often. I keep telling them that if they want to stop eating (and dirtying dishes), that would be OK with me).

Last night, while Mark and I were savoring our ice cream (the boys had crammed their cookies in their mouths and bolted), Joe was examining the dishwasher (prior to pulling it open and starting to empty his half).

Joe: When you guys run the dishwasher do you just push Smart Wash?

Mom: Yup. Push Smart wash and then Start. Or sometimes we push the Delay button if we want it to start later. Pretty easy, but I don’t know that you guys could handle it.

Dad: Yeah, I don’t think you are capable.

Joe and Will: Yes, we can. We can do that. That’s easy.

Mom and Dad give each other the League of Parents look.

Crickets. The truth dawns on the boys.

Joe and Will: No! Wait! We can’t do it!

Dad: Too late. I think you guys have a new job.

Color

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Suzanne

Students in the color and design class at MQR are learning about color and making their own color wheels out of fabric. I wish I had time to play along, but instead I’m processing photos of yarn.

99 photos of yarn to process, 99 photos of yarn….

I got a little bit punchy yesterday and realized that I could use some of my thumbnails to make my own color wheel. Sort of. It’s not really a wheel, per se, and some of the colors aren’t quite exactly the right….color…but it’s pretty close.

You’ve probably now got that song stuck in your head. Apologies. I don’t know what it is about my brain, but I nearly always have a song stuck. I mention them on the blog occasionally, but I try not to do it too often, or no one would read my blog anymore.

Lately, it’s been really bad. The boys have been saving for Guitar Hero III for their Wii. After their birthday, they had more than enough so we took a trip to the bank (to deposit half the dough) and took the rest to the store. The thing with Guitar Hero III is that you can’t just play the song once. You have to play it, like, about 10 times. Which is torture for a person who gets songs stuck in their head. I had Hit Me with Your Best Shot rolling around for days. Then it was Slow Ride. For awhile yesterday, I had the theme song from the TV show Malcom in the Middle running through my head. I don’t know where that one came from, as it’s not from the game.

And now, just writing about it, I’ve got Hit Me With Your Best Shot running again. Time to turn on iTunes and see if I can get something different stuck.

And I’m sort of sorry for getting one or more of these songs stuck in YOUR head. Sort of. Sometimes I feel it necessary to share my pain. Makes me feel a little bit better.

Suzanne