Another Casualty of Facebook

Sigh.

Charlotte received some Webkinz for her birthday and Christmas. She has four cats, and we were finally getting around to officially adopting the last one. She initially wanted the name Violet, but the Webkinz site finds that name offensive in some way (even Violette.....vile, violent.....not sure how to stretch to get to the offensive word, whatever it is.) Anyway, belatedly Charlotte adopted her last cat after renaming it Rosie. As we got everything set up and got to her rooms to visit with the other three cats, Charlotte's excited little face fell to a sad frown as she realized that her cats were unhappy and starving to death. She hasn't been online much lately to play with and feed them. I hung my head in shame as I realized that Mommy's Facebooking has nearly killed her Webkinz cats.

Charlotte always lines up her Webkinz animals so they can visit their virtual selves online.

Snail Mail

In the continuing series, I Love...Part III (Part I and Part II), I want to dwell for a moment on "snail mail". One of my favorite things to receive is a letter or package in the mail. What got me thinking about this again is a package I received on Saturday from a friend of mine. She had read below about me being unable to locate a certain candy that I love to snack on, and she found it by her and dropped a whole bag of it in the mail for me. Imagine my surprise to not only receive the candy, but to know she had been thinking about me! We all receive plenty of bills, junk mail, magazines, and advertisements. But how often do you receive an honest-to-goodness letter or package in the mail? Email letters from friends are nice to receive and certainly convenient, but I can't hold it in my hands as I walk up the driveway from the mailbox, feeling how many sheets of paper might be inside, or if a photo is contained therein. There's just something about the whole surprise of seeing personal mail sitting in amongst the junk and bills that instantly brightens my day.

Just 20 years ago there was no internet, no email for the masses. I used to be a decent letter writer "back in the day" and had an assortment of stationary (I still have the remnants of some in the original boxes. They're probably considered relics these days.) At one point in my past, I was located on the east coast and my best friend was on the west coast. We kept our friendship renewed by writing letters, buying stamps, and going to the mailbox. We didn't have money for long distance phone calls, but we could swing the cost of a stamp once or twice a month. We carried on long-distance debates, the latest on our families, the trials we were facing, and the joys we felt. So it's no wonder to me that when I receive something personal in the mail, it instantly brings back good feelings.

I've also kept in touch with a pen-pal I was paired up with back in 7th grade. We've managed to stay in touch all these years.....boyfriends, graduation, college, marriages, careers, children, etc. However, she refuses to get on board with email. At first I was annoyed, because a stamp to Finland is about $1 and an email is free. But I tell ya, whenever I see one of her envelopes in the mailbox.....with her familiar hand writing....I'm thrilled, wondering what news she has to share with me. In a way, I'm glad she's content to keep writing "snail mail" letters. For sure, emails are quick and efficient and I admit I'm guilty of overusing it, but it will never take the place of a hand written note. That's probably why I hang on to them and even have notes from friends that were passed back and forth in the halls of high school.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook, and since at the moment I'm all dried up on ideas to blog about, I'm going to post this short video clip. It's so funny, probably because there's a lot of truth to it! (Just remember to first hit the pause/stop button on the "radio").

'Lil Peeps

I had to run over to Walgreens this morning for some packaging tape. I'm getting back into selling stuff on ebay, and one item needed to ship today. On the way to the "office supplies" aisle, we passed by the Easter candy aisle. Since Charlotte was with me, there was no way we were walking out of that store without a trip down the Seasonal Aisle. I secretly didn't mind because I was looking for these special jelly beans that are coated in Nerd candy. Truth be told, I don't like jelly beans, but these are different. Last year after I "discovered" them, I ate two bags all by myself. They're soooooo good. I was seriously disappointed that they didn't have my nerd jelly beans this year; however, they did have Peeps. Charlotte loves Peeps, and was nearly drooling over the selection of shapes and colors from which to choose.


Me: What do you like about Peeps?

Charlotte: The mush mellow, the pink of it all, the sugar. EVERYTHING! And the chocolate.

Me (perplexed): There's no chocolate on Peeps.

Charlotte (hear the eye roll in her response): The eyes are chocolate!

So beware of the Peeps if you're taking a sugar-crazed child into the store. They're out there.

What Defines Your World?

There's a photo contest going on locally, and the photo submitted needs to define your world as interpreted by the photographer. I'm not really sure why I wanted to enter the contest; certainly it's not the "grand prize" of $25.......maybe I just wanted a reason to challenge myself.

So, what defines your world?

I had to think about that for only a moment. It wasn't too difficult to decide that my faith and family are what define my world. However, getting my family together for a photo that would actually look good was a challenge I was not up for this week, plus it also seemed a bit cliche to turn in a photo of loved ones for a contest entitled "define your world". Maybe that's just me, but I decided to step away from that idea. I then came up with a couple of ideas for my faith, but didn't care for how it translated to a photograph, so back to the "drawing board" I went.

Long story short, the photo below is what I turned in. If I had to name it, I suppose I'd call it Plans Happily Deferred. That defines my world too.

Party Envy

When Mike and I made the decision for me to become a stay at home mom, it wasn't without some reservations. We were giving up a huge income that we had sort of come to rely on. So like a young bird taking flight out of the nest for the first time, I jumped into the world of Stay-At-Home Momness. Five years have gone by since that decision. It hasn't always been easy, but every time I crave a bigger house, I remind myself that we could have one, but I wouldn't get to spend much time in it. When I long for frequent vacations, I tell myself I'd need them to recoup from the hectic schedule of the "working" mom (I use "" because all moms work, but I'm referring to a mom who's holding down a full-time job outside of the house on top of all her other responsibilities.)

One thing I've tried to come to terms with are my kid's birthday parties. My kids have been invited to parties at these places where you show up and they do all the work. Kids play and have fun, do cool things, food is brought in, and the mess is cleaned up for you. What's not to love? My kids would love to have one like it of their own, and I'd love to indulge them......maybe even indulge myself - like I'll be the coolest Mom ever if only I could provide an equally cool birthday party. So it's somewhat with a reluctant heart that I've come to accept that spending $300 on a party for one child is not the best way to responsibly steward our money.

This month was Eric's birthday and he wanted to invite a few of his friends over for a ["on-a-budget-but-fun-anyway"] Star Wars birthday party. This isn't exactly an easy thing to plan for the winter, because any outdoor activity can't be done since it's usually 12 degrees outside. I did some research and came up with a few ideas I thought we could pull off in our living room.

I was able to score a brand new Star Wars movie off ebay for a fraction of retail. The kids played Mario Kart and snacked on popcorn, then we started the movie while they ate their dinner of cheeseburgers. Before they had a chance to get antsy watching the movie, I paused it to call all the young Jedis around me. I demonstrated their task: Using Eric's light saber that he made at Disney, they had to keep a balloon up in the air. If they could beat the clock, then I added a second balloon. While they each took a turn (one at a time to prevent them killing each other), I played the Star Wars soundtrack that I checked out from the library. They enjoyed the challenge before going back to the movie. A little while later, we paused the movie again, so that we could play another game: This time we released The Force (6 balloons) and all the balloons had to be kept off the ground. We were laughing so hard while diving for the balloons (Mike and I were right in there with them!)

The kids ate some ice cream and home-made cupcakes before returning to the movie. Mike couldn't help himself though.....he's such a kid at heart! He started "the light saber wars", using the flexible orange Hot Wheels track for the light saber. I think it was the boys favorite part of the evening! The three hours flew by, and before I knew it, their parents were here to pick them up. With all the games, only half of the movie was watched, but since they'd all seen it, it wasn't a bad thing!

Each boy went home with a little goodie bag of miniature Milky Ways, Starburst, a large bubble wand I found for a buck that looks like a light saber, plus a personalized Star Wars bookmark (this was supposed to be a craft for them to do, but they were having too much fun playing the games, so I put them together really quick and stuck them into their take-home bags.) I even threw in a Star Wars word search that I made on some educational website.

As I tucked Eric into bed that night, I asked him how he liked his party, thinking that maybe he thought it was lame. He turned to me with the most genuine smile on his face and declared it was "the best party ever, Mom! I want one just like it next year!" It was awesome to hear that the best party ever could be had right at home without spending a lot of money. Maybe one day we'll be able to treat our kids to something more elaborate, but at least for now it's nice that they're content with the tradition of a simple at-home party.