Serve Day, School, and Sales

I don't really have anything interesting to say, but Joshua has been outblogging me like crazy, so here is some miscellaneous information from me. Saturday was Rock Harbor's Serve Day (a day to be the church instead of going to church). Joshua signed up to do computer networking while I chose labeling library books. We both worked at the Maple Learning Center in Costa Mesa. I's a very interesting set-up: a rented apartment with a tutoring room in the living room, office in the kitchen, and computer and art rooms in the bedrooms. The staff there works with elementary students in the community providing homework help as well as Bible stories and lessons. If we didn't need my income, I might enjoy working somewhere like that.
Speaking of working, I am off to school tomorrow to prepare for the new year. Tomorrow is cleaning day in my classroom, then Wednesday meetings and Thursday and Friday planning and prep. I get to meet my new students on Monday! How many days until the break in November??? I am really going to miss my mornings of sleep until 7:30 followed by coffee and crafts and lunch with my sweet husband. It had to end sometime I guess.
To celebrate the new school year I decided to do a little wardrobe update. Macy's had a 50% off of their 50% off sales racks, so I took my time sorting through every one! Joshua enjoyed the fashion show when he came home and he also enjoyed hearing that I saved $145.00! That sure makes spending $60 seem like nothing.
So there you have it: Serve Day, School, and Shopping. And you thought you were not very interesting people ...

GPS fun

I've been researching GPS' for our trip to the East Coast in November to visit Tommy and Tara, and boy is there a lot of stuff you can do with 'em. If you're into exercise you can use them to track your progress as you jog or bike, and trace your custom made trails using MotionBased.com. Since a GPS can track Latitude, Longitude, and Altitude others have found they are fun for drawing pictures on the earth like a giant etch-a-sketch at GPSDrawing.com. Included are pictures of a giant Tic-Tac-Toe game on city streets, and a guy who rowed out the word "WATER" on a blow up rubber raft.

But the one site that intrigues me the most is GeoCaching.com. This site is a collaborative effort of all those involved. People leave these "caches", goodies stuffed in amunition boxes, and post the coordinates online for others to find. When you find a cache, you take what's inside and leave something else behind. They are typically all found on public land. I think this makes for a great way to explore new areas, or just get out of the house.

If you're interested in getting a GPS, I would recommend Garmin. But if you're in for some research, GPSInformation.net is the place start.

How would you use your GPS?

Life imitates Art

Sometimes, through maintaining a job and building up savings, we forget that we live in Southern California. Home to some of the most innovative and creative displays of art and entertainment in the world. Erin introduced me to one this week that absolutely stopped me in my tracks. The Pageant of the Masters, which is part of Laguna Beach's Festival of the Arts, is a sight to be seen. Completely unassuming, this show caught me offguard. I thought this was going to be a snoozer, but Erin insisted.

What they do is take famous paintings and put real people into them. It's like a living art museum, outside in the warm evening coastal air. The narrator guides you through time and art history of each reproduction among the background of a 20-piece orchestra. Over the course of two hours they displayed over 30 living pieces. It was amazing to see these images as two dimensional--and then they would move, breaking the barrier, sending your mind into a warp. All of the people in the paintings or statues were volunteers; there were over one hundred of them.

At the end I was hooked, I would see it again, but next time I'd be a little closer. It's hard for me to hold those binoculars steady. And if I were to volunteer, I think I'd want to do a nude.

http://www.foapom.com/

Weather

In the morning it's normal to turn on the TV and find out the weather for the day. The national weather service is all over telling us that we are having extreme heat warnings and North Los Angeles County is having Flash Flood warnings. Our temperature today should be about 103 degrees, but with humidity it should feel about 114 degrees. That's how it was yesterday too, but this morning there are deep rumbling sounds in the sky. All the sky that I can see is clear and some white clouds. The electricity is going haywire, all I can do is hope that the coffee brews fast enough before we lose all power.

Stocking up

In today's volitile society, you never know when World War III may strike; or, perhaps, the Y2K bug took an eight year detour and will finally come out to sting us. If that day ever happens, we'll be ready. Will we have ample supply of water, clothes, fuel, batteries, etc.? I don't know, but I do know that we will have enough Fluffernutters until the Lord returns. "What if Albertson's stops selling fluff? What would we do?" This is the beginning of a lifelong addiction. I'm not a drinker, smoker, or druggie; but fluff is the stuff of which I cannot get enough.

If you haven't yet had a Fluffernutter, don't start. Unless you want to turn into a white puff of sweetness, whipped to perfection. Erin and I have become followers of the creamy treat, and I can say for myself that I feel like I'm getting a fluffer-butt-er!
Seriously, we are using the fluff for life group snacks and family gatherings, and Costco only sells Peanut Butter in two jar packs.

Vacuum Kaboom

When I turned on the vacuum the other day, it made a really loud horrible sound. Kaboom! Now we are in need of a new vacuum. No big deal, I'll search the internet and find one I like. Wow! There are more vacuums on the market than I knew existed! How do you go about choosing one that will last a while, do the job, and not cost an arm and a leg? Does anyone have a cleaner that they really like (or one that they really dislike) so I can narrow my choices? I have to act fast because we have a cat and when it's hot, he sheds like a maniac! Please help!

Free phone calls

Here's a tip for those of you still paying for long distance calls on your home phone or if you have free incoming calls on your cell phone.

http://local.live.com

This website is maintained by microsoft as an alternative to Google Earth; an exceptional alternative, if I might add. If you want to search for a type of business in a certain area just click the name of the business (eg. Home Depot, or Bed and Breakfast) and it will show you all the locations within your current map view. The results that come up are based on Phone Book entries in the area. When you find the business that you want you can view all the listings for it: name, address, phone. As an extra service the site provides you can click "call for free" and put in your phone number. The site will then call the business and you to connect you. The call looks to your phone company as an incomming call and you won't be charged (unless you pay for the minutes anyway).

It's a very cool site if you want to find stuff. I think far more useful than Google Earth, because you don't have to know what you're looking for in advance, and has more detailed arial shots in more areas. The site provides three different views: regular map, satellite map, and (in certain areas) bird's eye view. Bird's eye view is a great feature, they hired pilots to fly by certain areas and take pictures with their camera to get a closer side-type view of the area. Excellent for getting to know your surroundings.

Other features: A Scratchpad to save all your favorite destinations, email your scratchpad to a friend or your blog, nothing extra to install on your computer.

I've Got Jury Duty!

Can you believe that in my almost 10 years of being an adult, this is the first time I have been called for jury duty?! I had to postpone my assignment because they wanted me to go on my 6th day of school. Every teacher will tell you it's not a good idea to be out so early in the year. So, instead, I get a mid-February day away from my class. I'm actually pretty excited and hope I get to be on a jury. Unless it's one of those big deals where you have to stay in a hotel and not talk to anyone for months on end. Hmmm... I'll let you know how it goes.

One More Thing ...

I forgot to add this project to my last post, so here it is. I cross-stitched the hydrangea on linen (I think I've done some permanent eye damage) and sewed the fabric over a pillow. Pretty cool, huh? I love having months off at a time. 

Hot Deals!

Believe it or not, the new school year is right around the corner for me. So I have been doing small things here and there to get ready. This weekend, Joshua saw in the Staples ad that boxes of pencils, sharpeners, and folders were all just 1¢! Amazing! Even better than that, today I found primary composition books (you know, the black and white ones) that havestorybookk paper! Perfect for little writer's! For under $20 I was able to outfit each of my students to be with a book and save myself the trouble of counting out stacks of papers, hole punching, and fighting with the brads to get them in a folder. What a day! I am now ready for school to start. Ok, not quite yet. I'll take my last two weeks of freedom please. :)

Childhood Memories

For some reason I had a flashback to when I was 7 years old. I was on my back laying on the floor between the couch and the coffee table in the living room reading a rectangular shaped Garfield book when I smelled the most horrible smell. I turned my head to the left and found the missing egg from last months Easter hunt hidden behind the couch leg.

Summer Projects

Here is a sample of my projects this summer. I have always wanted to make a 4th of July dessert, so this year I did! Doesn't it look patriotic? And it tasted good too!
Knitting summer wear is not so easy to do, so I got a head start on winter wear. Jackie requested a headband to keep her ears warm, so here it is. I even knit the little flower decoration! Looks great with a tank top, eh? Jackie wore it while floating in the pool. I guess she liked it.
Last but not least, here is the baby sweater and matching booties I have been working on. It's my first big knit project, so it's got some funky areas, but overall I'm pretty pleased. Anybody having a baby girl soon? (In case anyone is wondering, we are not!) 

Delicious new snack or meal

Erin and I were walking through the grocery store bakery isle for some items for our Independence Day celebration. I was hot and ready to go home when Erin said, "It's here!" with all the excitement of a nine year old who just received her gift package in the mail. "What's here?" I asked, thinking she's being a little obnoxious. "They have Fluff!" I feel clueless, I've never heard of the stuff. She proceded to explain to me that it's been in the news because some parent at some school decided to cause a stink about serving Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwiches at the school. The judge in the case liked the sandwiches and had the "Fluffernutter" named Massachussetts' State Sandwich. Intrigued, I grabbed a jar off the shelf and went home to try it out. Erin made the sandwiches, extra crunchy for me and creamy peanut butter for her. Yum, and it's great with popcorn too.

For further reading on the news story click on these links:

http://www.marshmallowfluff.com - Fluff Official Website
ABC News
The Boston Globe

Bill Gates' Exit from Microsoft

In lieu of recent news that Bill Gates is leaving his day-to-day role at Microsoft to pursue a life of philanthropy. I thought it was interesting to note how much he is worth. It is said that every four seconds he makes $167, but I'm sure that number is bigger now. Sometimes I think, "If only I could have a nickle for every person in America, my fincancial troubles would be over." Bill can say, "I have $4.19 for every person in the world."