Photo Screen Saver

Hey guys, you can set your screen saver to a photo slide show by going to Control Panel, click on Display, click on Screen Saver tab at the top of the display window. In the bottom third of the Screen Saver window is a drop down menu, and it's one of the options in there.

On our computer it's called "My Pictures" and is just below "Marquee". Anyhow, that will run a random slide show from all the photos you have stored in your My Pictures section of your computer!

Dy, who is not a computer guru by any stretch and found that wholly by accident

*WARNING* This feature can cause you to stop mid-stride and just stare at your computer screen for huge chunks of time. I can't be held responsible for the time lost in just staring at all those beautiful images floating across your day. *wink*

Morning Already?

Hi.

James came into our room about an hour ago, "so hungry, Mama". When you're not awake enough to form complete sentences, but must get the message out, that's hungry. Oats with maple sugar, sliced apples, warm cider and cinnamon toast. Yum.

He's still eating. So, I'm letting the caffeine absorb into my body. Slowly. I hope the others are still asleep when he's done so we can just sit and watch the robins in the yard, share a story and snuggle. He needs that. I probably do, too.

Last night, Zorak and I watched our screen saver for about an hour. That sounds a little strange, unless you know our screen saver is a slide show of all the photos on the computer. Then it's kind of sweet. It's random, so at one moment our boys are as they are now, and the next moment James is two, his face still round and his hair still downy soft. Suddenly John is barely walking, all wide-eyed and chubby. Smidge is a little grub again. Where does the time go? What will tomorrow bring? I don't know the answer to either, only that we need to keep these little guys in the forefront of our hearts and minds. They're so very important.

And so today we will pack the family room. It won't be a day spent solely on the boys, but we will spend time with them. More hugs. More laughter. More riddles. I think that's the key to avoiding sedation.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Moving Day -6

I think. I may need to recalculate that whole countdown thing. Obviously, I am not qualified to be The NASA Countdown Guy. That's ok, though. I've got a full-time job for the foreseeable future.

The walls are now bare, and our photos have been lovingly stuffed into an old computer box, surrounded by the sordid news of the last month.

Craft stuff has been dutifully dusted off and packed away.

Many, many bags of trash have bloomed and are beginning to ripen in the Spring Packing Frenzy. All systems are "go".

The children, however, are beginning to mutate. So far, the small one seems to be the least affected. He has three moods: happy, sad, irritated. Today he added "clingy". Of course, he was also in bed by seven thirty! (Choirs. Angels. The whole thing. It was lovely.)

The other two, though. Whew. Not sure I'm going to weather this storm terribly well. It's not that they've been bad, they've just been, well, weird. OK, there, I said it. My children did weird things today, and I don't know how to handle it. (Not weird, as in, throwing-feces-at-the-neighbors weird, just uncharacteristic-of-their-normal-behavior weird.) I'm disappointed in their choices, love them dearly, and hope to God they will someday be able to explain their behavior. This is what I told them, as well. Still no reasonable explanation from them. Ghost Winds, anybody?

So, if things progress at this rate, we're going to have to increase fruit rations and begin sedation sometime around Monday. Shortly after Zorak leaves for work.
(Recipient of sedation is classified information. I could tell you, but then I'd have to sedate you, too. Sorry.)

Zorak's Highlights of the Day:
~pulling up cost of living comparison calculators, and laughing
~comparing the cost of having movers move us vs. what-we're-doing-now, and finding that to be incredibly motivating!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Moving Day -7

So. This would be the day of the boxes. Boxes, boxes, boxes. Full boxes. Empty boxes. Shifting, heavy, taped up boxes.

We made good progress. The living room books and media are packed. The linen closets are packed. The winter clothes are packed. The master bedroom closet has been gutted and re-arranged and now looks like it ought to have looked the past 16 months. The bathrooms are all packed and we're now using only ditty bags (although that was done yesterday, but I don't remember if I blogged it or not.)

The boys ate cereal, cold cuts, and rice today. We threw grapes at them to prevent scurvy on the voyage. They are fine so far: vitals good, energy levels high, attitudes fairly pleasant although shifting slightly toward edginess by supper. No sedation required yet.

In all, not bad. I'm going to vegetate and enjoy Hussein, an Entertainment, by Patrick O'Brian (because, yes, all three of the next Aubrey-Maturin books had to be placed on hold! So far, it's a great book, though.)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Good Day With Bad Parts

I know, most days could be summed up like that. Today's bad parts, though, were really icky.

Lovely morning, plenty accomplished.

Icky meeting with Property Management Co. about terminating the lease early. (Shyah, like most of their ideas are even feasible!) It's okay, though, they don't have a key to the house so if they do decide to try to show it w/o us being home, HA! Good luck. Cretins.

We lunched with Zorak (always fun), except that as I pulled into the parking lot, I suddenly felt as if I'd been hit by a Mack truck. Full-on, no brakes. Every pore of my body hurt - not ached - hurt. Out of nowhere, I was exhausted, painfully exhausted. To give you a comparison, I have dragged my sick and severely dehydrated body from the bottom of the Grand Canyon on sheer willpower alone, and did not feel this bad. Came home and napped with the Smidge. I think the boys watched The Incredibles. Serious lack of parenting this afternoon, but thankfully I do my job 98% of the time so when this happens, nothing gets set on fire or severed.

We missed our Bible Study potluck tonight. It was for the best. Zorak came dragging in at 5:45 this afternoon, bathed in sweat, and pissed, er grouchy. Seems The Mistress is gettin' uppity and she made him walk her home... the last mile. So I asked what everyone would ask, "Why didn't you call?" This is not the question to pose to a man who has just had to push a motorcycle a mile uphill. His phone was in the Suburban, not with him.

Oh.

So, we got him rehydrated and he walked back to the corner gas station (where he'd left the ungrateful wench) to try to get her started and home. She made it 100 feet before dying again and he had to push her the other 500 feet home. *sigh* Evening of tinkering. Probably a week of tinkering.

Fortunately, since tomorrow's weather is "not guaranteed", the communal pot luck, hang-out-on-the-grass-and-eat-each-other's-food get-together with all the neighbors in our corner was moved to today. So the boys played. We ate. The boys went to bed late. Zorak relaxed a bit and hit the hay early. I'm going to join him.

Thank you for all the good wishes on the move. It will be another wonderful chapter in Our Adventures. It's going to go more quickly than I'd originally anticipated, but shouldn't be too bad. (This will be my mantra.) Anyone know if Rescue Remedy is addictive?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

3... 2... 1...

BLASTOFF!!!

Zorak and the boys launched the rocket yesterday. The mere vibe of "something happening" brought every child within a one-mile radius. The crowd was good-sized by the time they had it all set up. The anticipation was high on the maiden voyage. Pump it up. Pull the release. And the launch response was delayed by about 5 seconds... then...

WHOOSH!

The little soda bottle with the bright yellow paper fins and nose cone shot straight into the air, cleared the peak of the townhouses as quick as quick, and landed gently on the grass, all to the delighted squeals of children.

Followed by the delighted, but somewhat stunned, squeals of a few children who happened to be in what was quickly deemed "The Wet Zone".

Oh. Yes, if you fill a 2 liter bottle half-full with water, pressurize it, and shoot it into the air, well, the water does come spraying out, drenching the bystanders. I can't believe none of us thought of that ahead of time. Unexpected bonus.

Every child who showed up had a turn to use the pump, yank the cord, and re-fill the bottle. Everybody took turns and there were no incidents. It was a good hour's worth of clean, fun, supervised activity. The children had a great time. The adults had a great time (we hung out, visiting and laughing with/at the children - they were so cute!)

I'll see if I can get the directions from Zorak if anyone would like to wow their neighborhood children with a relatively inexpensive, fun "science project". (I thoroughly appreciate not being involved in the crafty end of science. I'll read it with them, but Zorak can build it with them. This, my friends, is symbiosis at its best!)

Today we're planting grass, packing linens, and enjoying a pot luck at Bible Study. Should be another lovely day.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

It's Official!

We're moving to Alabama! Zorak finally got "the call" today. The offer was better than we had dared to hope, and we've both been bubbling over all afternoon.

So, um, I have about three weeks to get packed and moved. Guess my next stop ought to be Flylady's Moving Tips, eh?

Yeah, that's about it. I can't think of a single witty thing to say. So kiss those babies, and we'll talk to you again soon.

Dy

One Grass Seed?

Will just one grass seed grow only one blade of grass? A cluster?

I don't know. There's a lot I don't know, and God has given me this child just to keep reminding me of that fact. It's beautiful, really. My Mom would say it's payback, but I prefer to think of it as beautiful.

I will, however, know the answer to this, and probably many other cosmic questions, before he leaves the nest. (Should know about the individual grass seeds in about a week.) How wonderful is that?

Kiss those babies!
Dy

Self-Educating, a Few Things

Some folks feel self-educating is akin to self-medicating; to be avoided at all costs. Some things should be administered only by a trained professional.

What a shame.

I'm not saying that if you've never known the pain-free, loopy bliss of overdosing, ever-so-slightly, on codeine, you're missing out...

I am suggesting, however, that if you haven't quit saying, "Oh, I've always wanted to read/write/study/learn *insert object of star-crossed didactic desire here*," and taken up said desire, well, yeah, you're missing out. Get on it. It's better than codeine, in any dosage. Contrary to popular belief, it's also much more beneficial.

That said, there are a few pointers I'd like to share with you. These are things I've gleaned as I've begun to lay a better foundation for my own educational experiences throughout life. (Yep, "throughout". It's an ongoing process now, Baby! WOOHOO!) *ahem*

Ok, well, anyhow, just a few things I've noticed...

Thing 1
There is a general bulk of work that is recognized as the "basics" for developing a firm understanding of your cultural heritage in Western Civilization. If you were publicly educated in the US, odds are good that you either (A) have never heard of some of these books, (B) vaguely remember some teacher suggesting you read them, but you aced the test anyway so never bothered, or (C) stumbled through an in-class read-aloud of something similar by somebody with a name that sounded like that but you don't remember much except that Jason Q. in the third row couldn't pronounce half the words and you fell asleep by the second paragraph.

Do you know what that means? It means that many of the books you are going to start reading now are not going to be found in the grown-up section of the library. They're "juvenile fiction", and they're over there in the kids' section of the library.

This might bother you. It might not. I've had to get so many from there already that the teens in that corner no longer give me a look that says, "You look so young to have a teenager!" (Or perhaps they were thinking, "I haven't seen her in English class. What's up with that?" I don't know.) If it does bother you, though, you can always just put the book on hold and pick it up at the desk. Or better yet, mumble to yourself as you browse the titles, "What was that book she wanted me to pick up for her?" Eh. Either way, don't miss out on some of those titles. There's a reason we should have read them in jr. high and high school, but there's no reason not to read them now!

Thing 2
Some of the subject matter of these books you'll be reading will really wow you, and leave you thinking, "Why didn't they let us read this in high school?" My guess is that either there's a furiously stringent censorship committee at work where you went to school, or there are very few English teachers who want to spend half their time stifling the fits of giggles that ensue from some of the older vocabulary. Nonetheless, the themes, the topics, and the phenomenal writing are well, well worth the read.

Thing 3
Your spouse may, or may not, become as enamored with this journey of self-education as you will. That's ok. You can either find some like-minded individual with whom to engage in detailed analysis and discourse over your recent reading, or you can follow your spouse around, shouting excerpts through the bathroom door and demanding commentary from him/her on whatever you've just shared before you will allow said loved one out of the bathroom.

How you handle this is, obviously, entirely your call.

Thing 4
Vocabulary. Vocabulary. Vocabulary. Get a dictionary. Use Dictionary.com. Don't be shy. Ask for pronunciations. You are not alone. Most of us don't know, either, but we can find out. The point is to rectify the Not Knowing.

I hope this comes across as the encouragement I mean it to be. This isn't preaching. This is just a booster shot of, "YAY YOU! Come on! Raise that bar! RAH RAH RAH!"
Don't lose your sense of humor.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
And don't be too hard on yourself.
If you are moving, that's good, If you're moving forward, so much the better. You can break free of the "I've always wanted to, BUT" syndrome. It's not as difficult as it may seem. (And if you spent the 80's in anything near the self-effacing denial of intellect that I did, I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that it's not nearly as difficult or "dumb" as you convinced yourself it was in sophomore humanities class.)

Anyhow, Zorak has a chile cookoff tomorrow, so he's making the kitchen smell yummy. The boys are crashed in their room (Smidge happily spread out on his teeny-tiny big-boy bed). I'm going to curl up with a good book and enjoy a quiet evening.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy