So I Stumbled on to this page this morning and I felt I had to share. It’s really cool. You plug in your birthday and gender and height and it tells SO much about what’s happened in your lifetime. There are drop down menus providing even more info.
My next birthday on Mercury is in 11 Earth Days.
I’ve travelled 309,495,913,000 km through the Milky Way.
A house fly my age would have a family 21,808 generations.
While I’ve grown a towering 1.67 meters, a Coast Redwood would have grown 15.32 meters.
Tectonic plates have moved 5.85 meters since I was born.
Check it out for yourself! How has life on Earth change in your lifetime?
I like sharing. Especially things I like that I think you’ll like, too. Here are some posts I enjoyed this week. Oh, and Happy Halloween!!
Strong Enough to Break She indirectly writes about the power of words. Glad to know Daniel grew out of that phase to become a respectful human being.
No Page Left Blank Tracey loves the horror of Halloween. Do you read scary books? Perhaps you’ve read Nowhere to Hide?
I Read Encyclopedias Jay Dee is on the road to learning numerous language. How many can you speak?
Harsh Reality Jason is one of the most selfless bloggers I’ve ever (virtually) met. Looking for the next great blog to read? Chances are good you’ll find it somewhere in his blog. Plus his blog is great, too!
Life Kids and A Glass of Red
Emma has a great project if you’re looking for a cheap, easy way to entertain your kids outside. Bonus? There’s no possibility of your walls getting drawn on. Win Win!
Ah Dad
Idiot frat boys. Geriatric white males. Homeless people. He took a stroll down Bourbon Street.
It’s been one year since Jay Dee started his “Author’s Answer” . 52 questions answered so far. This week isn’t a question, but a thank you. A thank you too all the reader of books and blogs. Keep on reading!
This is it, number fifty-two. It has been a year since I began Authors Answer, and what better way to celebrate it than to say thank you. I have some special guests in addition to our regular contributors. I hope you enjoy reading what they have to say. I would like to thank the guest authors who agreed to participate. I love authors who take the time to respond to fans and interact with them. I would also like to thank the authors who responded to me, but could not participate due to busy schedules. And of course, thank you to all of our regular contributors for sticking with this for all these months. You’ve been wonderful!
Question 52 – What would you like to say to your fans and readers?
They were stuck. In a swamp. And night was quickly approaching. Jack and Annie sat in their car, shocked that both tires had blown, sending them careening off off the road. Jack looked at his phone, but there was no service. Spotting a light in the distance and with nothing else to do, they stepped out. The water ice cold around their ankles, they suddenly heard bubbling, like boiling water. Annie, screamed. Her legs became entwined in hastily growing fiddleheads. Her screams pierced the air as she sank into the murky water. Jack pulled, but could not stop her from submerging. Then silence. Terrified, he ran for the house across the street. Frantically, he knocked. An elderly lady with an unusually long nose answered the door. A black cat circled under feet, smiling.
Here is my attempt at a bit horror. Not exactly gruesome, though hopefully scary enough. Happy Halloween!
This is a story in 100 words (oops, I many have gone a bit over this week) for Friday Fictioneers hosted by Rochelle-Wisoff-Fields based on the photo above. Click the blue frog to read more stories inspired by this photo!
I’m just a small time blogger with just a handful of regular readers, but it means so much to be thought of to be nominated for an award. I know these awards don’t really mean I won any contest, prize money, or all inclusive trips to an exotic island in the Caribbean. But it does mean someone thinks enough of what I contribute to the blogging world to nominate me for an award. That, and it gives me something to write about when I’m fishing for ideas.
Created by renowned artist Rob Goldstein, it was passed on to me by Sandra over at A Momma’s View. If you get a moment, check out some of the stuff she writes. You won’t be disappointed.
“The “Respect” Award is my personal award for fellow bloggers who consistently reach out to other bloggers, offer support, are kind, struggle to understand differences in people, and who treat themselves and other people with kindness and respect.
You don’t have to do anything for this award.
You can choose to copy the Award Picture and give the award to the people who have earned your respect or you can do nothing.
This is my way of saying thank you. You have earned my respect.”
I like this award for the sheer fact that I don’t have to break any rules nominating people.
But to be honest, each an everyone who is reading this right now deserves my respect as well. Thank you so much for visiting on such a regular base and liking and commenting so often (yes you! I know I did not list you but you are here again, reading this and definitely deserve this special award as well!)
We have too many books. HAHA! Best joke ever. That’s not possible! (is it?) Books may be starting to pile up on the floor because they no long all fit on the shelves. That just means our shelves are too small, right? Right?
At bedtime last night, Bang me to read books. And more books. And more books. I ended up reading 4 and DW also read at least one, possibly more. He’s already memorized “The Gruffalo”. It’s 6 minutes… feel to watch. Or not. Up to you, but if you choose not to, know that you are missing out on a good story.
So anyway, Bang was book hunting wanting me to read more and more and more books to him. Unfortunately, there was one in particular he wanted – “Jingle All the Way”. A Backyardigans Christmas book. He searched his bookshelf for it but couldn’t find it. He searched his floor but it couldn’t find it there either. I knew this already, but saw it first hand last night, there are A LOT of books in his room. Too many to fit on his 6′ tall bookshelf. There are piles of books in his room.
It’s the one thing I just can’t get rid of. Not my books. Not Crash’s books. Not Bang’s books. Yes, there are still baby books on his shelf. They are baby books from when Crash (the 8 year old) was a baby. Basically just board books with pictures. Baby’s First Colors, Baby’s First Animals, Baby’s First Words, etc…
Crash has a significantly smaller bookshelf, but it’s jam packed as well. I’m wondering if this is why he can’t stick to just one book until it’s finished. He bounces from book to book and reads a different one every night. Chapter books. He won’t finish them. Even if he likes them. Besides clothes, bed and dresser, it’s the only other things he has in his bedroom. No toys. No TV. No electronics.
DW and I (mostly I) have two bookshelves six feet high and there are so many books on it the shelves have double rows. Many haven’t been read yet. My tablet is also loaded with books. You see? It’s not just the boys shelves that are loaded with books. Asking me to get rid of books is like asking me to give away one of my limbs. Though, I suppose I could be happy donating them to the library where I could go visit them. Shared custody.
Oh! speaking of The Guffalo… here’s one of tonight’s conversations with Bang:
Me: My favorite food is scrambled Bang
B: Nooo
Me: My favorite food is Bang ice cream
B: Noooo
Me: My favorite food is Roasted Bang
B: Nooo. You’re not a Gruffalo.
Me: How do you know?
B: You don’t have purple prickles all over your back.
Me: Maybe they’re under my shirt
B: Your eyes aren’t orangeMe: Ahh okay. You got me on that one.
I’ve learned there is little I disapprove of, loathe, or angers me more than outright defiance. When someone is specifically told to do, or not do, something and they do it, or not, anyway. They do the exact opposite of what was asked of them.
In this case I speak of our rebellious little Crash. I use “rebellious” lightly. He’s not really rebelling. It’s more like “I heard you, but I don’t want to.” Defiance. For example, a few evenings ago it was time to come inside to start getting ready for bed – snack and so forth. He knows the routine. We’ve had it for years. Instead, Crash got on his bike and said he was going to ride around the house once. I told him “No, it’s time to come in.” He took off anyway. It’s not that he wasn’t allowed to ride it around. It’s not that it was dangerous or going to hurt someone. It was that I had told him not to and he did it anyway. It was that all he was trying to do was delay bedtime.
And, speaking of bedtime. Ugh. the past few morning both Crash and Bang have been waking at 5:30am. 0530. Butt crack of dawn. IT’S STILL DARK O’CLOCK!! Will they go back to sleep? HA! We can’t keep them up late because they’ll still be up oh dark thirty. You know the old adage, to bed early awake early. To bed late late, awake early. And no one wants the wrath of overtired, cranky kids.
Anyway, back to this defiance thing. Maybe it’s part of being a kid. At first, I thought he’s testing boundaries. But it’s regular. Tell him to wear a heavier coat because it’s 5 degrees (40F) outside. He puts on a spring coat anyway. Tell him to wear his boots to school because it’s raining. He puts on sneakers anyway. Tell him to go up and take a shower. He takes a bubble bath.
Of course, telling him to clean something is equivalent to telling him to cut off a hand. We’re hoping to alter this with an allowance. I told him to clean his room. All he had to do was pile his books (there’s no room on his bookshelf), make his bed, put laundry away, and put a few dirty clothes in his hamper. An hour later all he had done was put a couple books in a pile. I nagged and he at least put away his clean clothes.
Which brings me to my last exasperation. Nagging. DW and I are constantly having to nag him to get moving – to clean up his mess after a meal, to get ready for bed, to hang up his sweatshirt. Naturally, he despises our nagging as much as we despise nagging him. So I’m just going to go over to Lifehacker and reread “How I Learned to Stop Nagging My Kids and Start Motivating Them” until it sinks in and hopefully make it work.
As I sit here staring out the kitchen window wait for whatever it is I’m going to write about today to come through, I see a crow in the bird feeder. Really, it’s a bird bath, but we put food in it for the crows. He didn’t bring me any ideas either. Not even a shiny thing.
Bang had a short playdate with a friend because our cooking class was cancelled due an unforeseen emergency. So a friend came over. Instead of playing with the toys they played with the mop and vacuum. This is my kind of playdate!
We already gathered up the garbage for Kyle and Lewis. They came with their big garbage truck to pick up our garbage. The recycling truck is here now. This is also a big deal. Bang plasters himself to the window to watch. Though, he doesn’t like to get close. He says they’re too loud.
We are currently sitting here watching Justin Time and eating apples. After lunch is finished, we’ll be heading out to take down the trampoline. Time to winterize it by putting it away. While it does open a good bit of space in the backyard, it’s also an easy source of entertainment and exercise.
Halloween is coming up. We’ve received an invite to a Halloween party this weekend. Unfortunately, it’s in Australia. So I think we’ll have to decline this year. We’ll go trick or treating instead. We’ve developed a bit of a Halloween tradition since moving here.
First we go see Nanny and Guppy in the next town over. They love to see the kids and they always put together a wicked treat bag for the kids. We visit a couple friends houses while we’re there. Then it’s back to our town for supper at McDonald’s. Something fast and easy so we can get back to candy collecting. Then we visit Nanny and Pop. Again, another wicked treat bag for the kids. We’ll walk around the block trick or treating. Then drive to a few friends houses.
Back home we consolidate the loot, give the kids one small treat from the pile, then ship them off to bed. We don’t get many trick or treaters where we live. We just leave a bowl of treats on the front porch with a note instructing the treaters to take one or two. Sometime there is still some left when we get home, sometimes it’s gone. Either way works for us. We enjoy going out more than we do staying home and handing out. It’s a family event for us.
We have some fun costumes this year. It’s the first year we’ve all dressed to the same theme. I won’t give it away until after Halloween, though. Sorry, not sorry. Some have seen it since we were just at a kids Halloween party last weekend. Some parents, including DW and I dressed up as well.
So we’re just hanging out on this regular Tuesday. We have some jobs to do. But mostly we’re just anxiously waiting to go trick-or-treating.
If we were relaxing having a mocha, or tea, or coffee, or hot chocolate, or a glass of wine…
I would be telling you all about our adventure on Saturday to Riverbreeze Corn Maze. Though I have been in hundreds of cornfields before, I’d never been in a corn maze. First, we found a spot to park. It really wasn’t that difficult, we were just in the overflow parking lot and had to walk a bit. We didn’t have to park in overflow, it was just the first parking lot we found for the farm and we didn’t know there was a closer one.
Once in, we found out that “Farmer Joe” had gone missing and we were going to have to find him, find out which animal took him, and find out with what weapon the accused wielded. So off we went into the maze. Fortunately, they gave us map. DW let me be in charge of that. She knew full well we’d get lost, but I was determined to prove her wrong.
There were 7 suspects and 6 stations with picture puzzles to be solved to let you know which animal didn’t kidnap Farmer Joe. I got us all the way to station number 5 without getting lost. Naturally, and not to disappoint, we had no idea where we were or how to get to number 6. After a bit of walking, we got it and solved the mystery.
Bang got tired of the maze pretty quickly. All he wanted to do was carry a stalk around like a sword. Unfortunately, he ended up with a leaf cut (very much like a paper cut) on his hand. Nothing a couple band-aids couldn’t take care of.
After we completed the maze, we had our picture taken on a few attractions. One was a HUGE chair. The seat was wide enough for both DW and I sit “comfortably” on while Crash and Bang sat on the arms. Then there was “stick your face in the hole” boards. DW was a cute, fluffy sheep. Crash was a horse. Bang was a pig. I was an ass donkey. The boys played with the tetherball, then from there it was on the bouncy pillow. They had been on one of these on a camping trip and they loved it. It was no different on Saturday.
See the mud on Bang? He fell down in the maze. Knew that would happen.
Then we got see the pig race. The littlest piggy, Wilbur, won. They all got Oreos. I nearly jumped in the pen to steal the Oreos, but I refrained. Mmmmm Oreos! From there we slid down the Shotgun Slide. I’m assuming it’s so named because the kids are shot out the end at about 1300 feet per second. At least it seemed that fast. Of course, they slid down no less than 10 times. I only went once.
You can hear Crash and Bang laughing and screaming at the end of it. They thought it was great.
After that, the boys went on a tractor train ride pulled by a Gator. Upon their return from the train ride there was a large tractor pulling two “hay wagons” (there was no hay, but there was a bench for us all sit on). This tractor ride took us to a pumpkin patch.
I may have been pretending to drop a rather large pumpkin on DW’s head to get them to laugh like this. Thankfully, I didn’t really drop it on her head. I’m sure she would have shoved that pumpkin so far up my you-know-what that I would have been spitting seeds for days.
Afterward, Crash got to shoot some paintballs at some pots and pans. He thought that was great. Then I told him I used to have a paintball gun of my own, once upon a time. I’ve been in my share of paintball wars.
From there we went to the petting area. They had bunnies, goats, sheep, a donkey and a cow. One stall of the stable was set up as a wild west jail cell. There was an area cut out in the corn field to play laser tag using giant, round hay bales to hide behind. Lastly, we made our way back to the bouncy pillow for one more jump before heading out for supper.
We were there for about 4 hours total and we had managed to play on everything, do everything there was to do. Overall, Crash and Bang had a blast. Naturally, there were areas and times when one was having more fun than the other. Or mom and dad were having more fun than the kids.
Sunday we cleaned house. Crash and Bang were wishing we were back at the farm.
I thought I take a moment to share a few articles I read this week that I thought you might enjoy. Happy Reading!
A Momma’s View – Ode to A Playground – It’s not the kind of playground you’re thinking of. It’s a real playground, but also one created within the imagination of a child.
Tania2atee – Blue Jay Fever – Her Toronto Blue are (were) in the running for the World Series pennant. And sometimes things just make you skip that test in business class to catch a game…
Ann Grubbs-n-Critters Fabulous Friday Flavor This sounds absolutely, mouth watering, likity tasty, delicious. And I don’t even like peaches.
Coach Daddy Elizabeth, of Autism Mom – This guest post provides a few very helpful tips for Autism Parents. They’re also great for every parent. Even a Ninja Warrior parent.
Diapers and Tutus MTHFR – It’s not the swear word I thought it was and it deserves it’s share of awareness.
Nutsrok Funny Marriage Quotes Here is a good laugh for today. While these are humorous, there might be a touch to truth to them. Just sayin…
All In A Dad's Work 