Online Swap Meet

Matt discovered this fun site last week - you can go online and trade books, CDs, DVDs, and video games! I know there are other similar sites (i.e. Paper Back Swap), but I've never much been interested in trading my books. I never seem to have any that I don't want!

But Swap Tree lets us trade a variety of media source, and THAT I like...because Matt and I buy cheap movies, watch them once, then decide we'll never watch them again. Like when Blockbuster went out of business and we had $200 in gift cards :) Now, instead of tossing them or donating them, I can actually trade them for something I might use, all for the cost of postage!

This excites me very much. I can hardly wait until I can swap my first DVD - good-bye Station Agent!

Hey, I'm published again!

Check it out at the Christian Examiner, here.

I love my house :)

I didn't set foot outside of my house yesterday, and I have no plan to do so at any point today. Both days it has been in the high twenties with over a 70% chance of snow. I don't like the cold, so I prefer to avoid it as much as possible. That mans I spend most of my winters inside.

Last year, however, I was in our little 900 sq. ft. house during the blustery, blizzardy winter. For most people at 900 sq. ft. house is just fine. It would be for me...if I wasn't married to a man who owned 2000 sq. ft. of 'stuff'. Trying to squeeze all of that 'stuff' into a tiny house (with no garage or basement) darn near made me crazy. In fact, by early January I was claustrophobic that Matt shipped me out to Vegas for ten days so I could get out without being miserable in the cold.

This year, things are different :) Matt and I are spending our first winter together in our own home. Here are some of the things that I love about this house:

1) It's 1400 sq. ft., including three bedrooms. That's important for me for two reasons:

a. One bedroom is being used for storage. I'm amazed at how long it's taking to get unpacked, but I don't have to worry about it (too much) right now because we have all of our still full boxes stacked in the guest room (out of sight, out of mind!)

b. I have my own office! It's not acting as Matt's closet or the keeper-of-the-camping-gear. It's just MY office. I have it set up for optimum writing production, and it's working (I wrote 1300 words yesterday!)

2) It has doors. Technically our last house had three doors, but they were pretty irrelevant.

a. For one thing, because we had so little space, we had a lot of over-the-door storage units. By the time you have one hanging on each side of a door, it makes it hard to securely close said door. That means you can see everything from anywhere.

b. You can't really close out the clutter when the clutter is in every room (see previous description of my last office)

3) It doesn't leak. I'm not talking about water, but air. In our previous home, I was always cold. It was built in the 1950s and still had single pain, drafty windows. We added 18" of R60 insulation (that's a lot of the good stuff) when we moved in, wrapped the windows inside and out with plastic, kept the heat at 60 during the day/55 at night, and still paid $100/month (usually more) to heat the tiny place.

Our house doesn't have as much insulation in the attic, but it's only 30 years old and has new windows. We keep the heat at 65/60 now and our heating bills are averaging $95/month! There's nothing better than being warmer for less money.

There are dozens of other reasons why I love this house (I can walk to the market and school, it has a garage, I can workout in my living room without having to rearrange the furniture), but those are the biggest reasons for right now. Maybe in a few months I'll tell you about my favorite summertime aspects of my house!

Firefox vs. Chrome (vs. IE)

The only reason I even included Internet Explorer in the title is so it didn't feel left out, but I'll admit right now that I never use the browser. I find it as useful as belly button lint. My real debate is between Firefox and Chrome - what do you think?

I've used them both, and they each have their good points, they also have their bad points. I'm not sure what to do...

Firefox:
I've been using this for years, so I'm used to it. I understand its quirks and bobbles. I'm okay with that (no one's perfect). But it's usually Firefox that forces me to use Chrome - when it freezes, I close down the browser, and then try to reopen it I get the message "Firefox is already running". Really? Where...in a marathon? Because it's not running on my laptop! That's when I go to Chrome.

Chrome:
I just started using this because of the aforementioned Firefox blip. It really is faster (even with my lightning quick 3 Mbps DSL connection). I don't know what makes it faster, but I like...when it works. I'm not kidding when I say that about 20% of my URLs come up at "Oops! That link appears to be broken!", which it never is - I hit the refresh button and it will connect. So is it really any faster if I have to refresh 1 of every 5 searches?

Anyway, that's my debate. I don't have an answer (I'm not even sure if I'm looking for one), but it's been on my mind a lot recently (as Firefox freezes and Chrome can't find things). Some day I'd like to try Safari, but until Apple lowers their prices, I'm just not willing to make the switch.

I tried...REALLY!

Okay...I've been feeling pretty crummy about not subbing as much as I used to. In all fairness, I'm writing a LOT more than before, but I still feel like I should be subbing. My biggest hindrance is the last-minute job. I don't mind if it's a classroom that I've been in before, but I'm NOT interested in subbing for Mr. P's kindergarten class at Crazy Elementary for the first time with 90 minutes notice. Pass, thanks.

Since I'm not subbing today (articles to write...Monday and Tuesdays are NOT the best days for me to sub), I decided to open my on-line sub finder page and see what I could find. I logged on and - TA DA! Two high school English/Language Arts classes - one for tomorrow and one for next week. PERFECT! I selected them both, but then I heard that awful BLEEP!

Both jobs were being held for other subs.

WHAT??!!

Well, I can't really complain. Other teachers do the same thing for me...but those are math teachers and chem teachers (Hi, Kim!). While I like the work, it's not ENGLISH! And yet the English teachers don't want me :( But they don't even KNOW me!!

(Deep breath...exhale)

Anyway, I tried. That's my point. I made the effort...I can't help it that I'm not wanted. But that's okay with me...there's NEVER a lack of things for me to do at home. I just wish it paid better.

Where are we headed?

Today I subbed in a high school classroom. It doesn't matter where; it doesn't matter what subject. After four years of subbing, I've noticed one disturbing trend - students are incredibly lazy. If kids can't look online or ask a friend, then they don't know how to find an answer.

Today was an easy assignment - chapter review. Not only that, but the teacher gave the page numbers of the indices that would help them answer the most questions. The kids' first reactions were to ask the smart kid. When I put a stop to that, the whining started:

"This is too hard!"
"I don't know this!"
"We can't do this!"

Not ONE of those students had opened his or her book.

It does worry me that even with the page numbers given to them, a large number of students don't know how to look up an answer. It always surprises me how many students look at me like I've got a 3rd eye when I ask them if they've checked the glossary for definitions.

The what?

Granted I think it's wonderful that kids know how to use computers and research online, but at what expense. So a 10 year-old can create a power point. Fabulous. Can he use a dictionary? Kids are learning to be dependent on technology, but what happens when their phones lose reception?

I do a lot of reseach online because it's convenient, but before I had the internet I used the library (you know - big building, lots of books).

Techonology is a great TOOL, but I'm not so sure we should be promoting it as THE tool. I'm not convinced that it makes kids smarter, but it sure does make them lazier.

Multi-tasking

I got paid twice today: once for subbing, and once for finishing an article. Technically I won't get paid for the article until the end of the month, but the point is that I had the time to finish it today. It's times like this that I LOVE subbing in high schools!

Mornings in a Van

As I spend this week babysitting my friends' kids I've found the most entertaining moments to be on the drive to school - all five kids at the same time.

The 15 yr. old just wants everyone to be quiet - it's too early for him.

The 5 yr. old is in the far back, and she's the boss of everyone. Yesterday I kept hearing, "Don't make me come up there!", and she's even telling me how to get from point A to point B, "NO! Go that way! Momma goes THAT way!"

In the middle sit the 3 yr. old boy and the 11 yr. old girl. He brings Superman, she brings a Barbie. Most of what he says sounds like gibberish, but she is easy to understand. Yesterday her Barbie used super powers that she stole from Superman (in the crystal box from Superman II) to make him marry her. Today she asked Superman if he kissed her cell phone; Superman asked Barbie how she knew. Barbie answered, "Because my phone has a tracking device".

And the last child is the 9 yr. old girl who tries to help keep the peace...unless she has something better to do, like sing the National Anthem :)

The drive to school is really my favorite. I have so much fun listening to these guys. And they really know how to love each other: the older kids shared their candy with the little kids, the baby carried his sister's backpack (and wanted to carry my groceries), and the boss took time out at school to make a card for her classmate who had a birthday yesterday.

These kids are my favorites (next to my nieces and nephew, of course)

Slap-Happy Matty: Extreme

Poor, poor Matt. He didn't have to go into work until 5am today, but he didn't get home until after 7pm. We had very little time together, so he wanted to help me in the kitchen. Oh. Joy.

It started when I asked him to make some salads for lunches. He was putting grape tomatoes on them. As I washed dishes I heard:

"Tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to. Tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to."

Then Matt leaned over to pick something up. The skinny dude was wearing his large pajama pants, so I got to see a whole lot of crack. I pointed that out to him. As I washed dishes I heard:

"That's because I get up at the butt-crack of dawn. The hairy butt-crack of dawn. Butt-crackage. Butt-crack-a-mungus. Butt-crackular."

And then the cat walked by...

"We don't have to take it anymore. Cats should be able to lick their butt-cracks in public - lift your leg high!"

It was an interesting night...he was asleep by nine.

Read The Fine Print (and other shopping secrets)

Yesterday Matt and I spent the day relaxing (Borders and a movie) and shopping (Kmart and Lowe's). I am already a big fan of Kmart (the one in Acme). They keep a clean store and have great customer service. We've shopped there a few times when an employee forgot to pull a sale sign. When we were checking out and the prices didn't match the cashiers always honored the sale price (while another cashier ran to remove the sign).

We had the same experience last night at Lowes. They had three types of storage units for sale on an end cap: A, B1, and B2. A and B1 were the same price, even though they were different brands. B1 and B2 were the exact same things, but with different prices (B2 was more expensive). So we looked at the signs above the units. It had the sections listed as A, Clearance A, and B. Obviously, it didn't match what was actually on the shelf.

Long story short: the price tag on B1 was for the price of A, but it was on the "clearance" section of the shelf, so we figured it might actually be on sale. Having had the experiences at Kmart where the honor a wrong price, we gave it a whirl. Sure enough, they honored the price!! (52% off the original price - yeah!)

When we go home, Matt looked at the Lowe's ad from two weeks ago. On ONE PAGE it said that the sales prices were good until 1/10/10 (even though the rest of the ad expired on 1/3/10). Lo and behold - on that page there was a picture of the unit Matt bought last night. The sale: buy the unit, get a smaller one FREE!!

Matt took the ad and his receipt back to the store. The manager double checked everything and gave Matt the free unit (while another cashier ran to the back of the store to double check all of the sale signs). Matt now has two high quality garage storage units. What should have been a 30% savings ended up being a 67% savings!!

So make sure you read the fine print and don't be afraid to show a store their mistakes! It can definitely work in your favor :)

"The star, Jimmy! Get the star!"

Do you remember which great (great = cheesy) movie that's from?

I was just sitting here remembering the good ol' days (I have gray hair now...I can have good ol' days). There were some great movies back then. I remember when my dad used to rent a VCR from the appliance store so that we could watch movies (which we also got from the appliance store). My sisters and I must have watched "Wild Blue Yonder" and "Space Camp" fifty times.

What were your favorites? (And who knows the quote? My money is on Bob C...)

Nothing, really

I don't really have a topic, but I'm not ready to start on my article yet, so I thought I'd swing by and hit the keys for a while.

Matt and I watched "Barnyard" tonight. The only movie I've ever seen that's worse than it is "Highlander". I mean, I'm a movie collector and watcher. I'll even keep a disc in the player all day and let it keep repeating. But I'm tempted to use those movies as coasters. Or maybe I'll just put them in with my collection of toys for when kids come to visit...

Matty-Matt-Matt was sick today. Actually he was sick all last week, but today it kept him home. The cough kicked his butt last night, and he was still awake at midnight (not good when you have to get up at 3am). I finally caved and gave him some prescription cough medicine. It worries when Matt takes prescriptions. He's never been a pill-popper (not even aspirin), so he's incredibly sensitive.

The cough meds said to take every six hours, and that it could cause drowsiness. I had my concerns about him taking it at midnight, but he'd been coughing for so long that we had to do SOMETHING. Sure enough, he got up at 3am to be to work at 4am. We live a solid 30 minutes from work. I woke up at 3:45 and his was still sitting on the bed. I asked him if he thought he should try to go to work.

At 4:05 he was STILL sitting there! He was so drowsy and incoherent that he couldn't figure out what to do. Um, was there ever really a question?? Prescription cough meds and heavy machinery?? Yeah...he stayed home. Poor baby :(

On the plus side, we found out tonight that he gets two weeks paid vacation on his four year anniversary - that's this May!! We're so excited about being able to have to whole weeks together! Since we've been married the only time that's happened has been when he was sick - this should be fun and exciting!

And for something completely unrelated, I get to do laundry tonight! I'm so totally in love with my new washer and dryer :) I think I might swap chores with people - if you hate doing laundry, then bring it on over! I'll wash your clothes and you can clean my bathroom. Win-win!

Okay, enough procrastinating - I've got articles to write.

The Last Great Bake of 2009

I volunteered to bring the snack to church this week, but I wanted to do something different. I went out and bought a bag of small pretzel twists, some parmesean cheese crackers, one box each of wheat, cinnamon, and chocolate Chex, and a packet of ranch dressing. With everything else that I had in the house I was able to make SIX batches of Chex Mix!

As you can tell by the title, I baked my mixes. I'll take a small tangent here to let you know that I avoid the microwave as much as possible. Something to consider about microwaves: they can't be thrown away at the dump because they are considered toxic waste. That's why I avoid it now.

Back to the point - I basically used two bowls, two spatulas, two flat spatulas (for turning) and two baking sheets all morning. I dedicated one set to salty mixes and the other set to sweet mixes. And with my trust two-quart sauce pan (which received more baths this morning that it has for the last two months), I melted 33 tablespoons of butter to make my assorted flavorings.

Here's the first batch:

By the time I finished, I had Caramel Corn, Cheesy Ranch, Puppy Chow, Buffalo-Style, Snickerdoodle, and Original!

It looks like a lot now, but I don't think it's going to last long. I've already had "the talk" with Matt. Let's see if he can keep his hands off until Friday night! (And let's hope there are plenty of leftovers!)

I'll be packin'...

It's here - the busiest week of the recycling season. Normally this week is 14 hour days for five days (they'll have Jan. 1st off, but have to go in Saturday to make up for it). In case you hadn't figured it out - it's because everyone is recycling their post-Christmas wrappings and food containers. It makes for a busy week.

In past years this week was a welcome change for the winter. Matt's hours are usually down to 45-50 per week, so it's a nice week to catch up on some serious overtime. But not this year. This year it's just as long as the other weeks, but it means that next week will be just as busy (as they try to catch up). I miss seeing Matt, but we've been ridiculously blessed because of this job.

Since Matt's never worked so many hours for so many consecutive months, we're starting to see new things happen. First was the frequent appearance of Slap-Happy Matty - that's entertaining. Usually SHM turns into Cranky-Sleep-Deprived-Matt (CSDM), but we sort of jumped right over that and into an entirely new personality - ADD-Matt.

If you had been behind up is Meijer the other day, you would have thought I was there with a five year-old:

"Matt, where are you going?"

"Matt, I'm over here!"
"Matt, we don't need that, put that down."

"Matt, where are you?"

"Matt, we were just over there!"

"Matt, pull up your pants." (Seriously, the man forgot his belt...)

I tell ya, I haven't been that entertained while shopping together since I took him after surgery and he was driving an Amigo while looped out on Vicadin.

ADD-Matt is so stinking funny, but it'st not conversational (like SHM), so it doesn't translate well onto my blog. That's why I'm going to try to remember to start packin' - my video recorder. My first preference would be that Matt's hours cut back a little so he can get some rest, but since I can't control that I might as well take advantage of his silliness and share the laughs with everyone.

I'll see what I can do...

The Hollywood Challenge

DISCLAIMER: This post will spoil the ending of the movie "Avatar" for you. If you don't want to know what happens, stop now!!!

Today Matt and I saw "Avatar". I was hesitant. I'm quite the sci-fi fan, and I've never actually seen a 3D movie in the theater, but I was concerned. I was concerned that it would have great special effects and a predictable plot.

Without having seen or read anything beyond one trailer, I had this movie pegged: nature is god, everyone is connected, capitalists are heartless, and soldiers are murders.

So what happens? Read my prediction - that's the story (I read a comment on Facebook recently which hits the nail on the head. Someone said he wasn't going to see the movie because, "I saw it when it was Ferngully.")

That's the problem with it. This storyline has played out over and over and over again.

Hollywood - we get it. You love nature, you hate capitalism, and you spit on the men and women who have (and do) keep this country free. Got it. Now...could you PLEASE come up with an original plot? Honestly, the special effects were amazing, but the story was boring. We've seen it before. We GET your politics, so please get back to work and entertain us!

That's my challenge to Hollywood. Put politics aside and just make a good movie...please? And if you can't, then how about adapting the classics (and no, James Cameron, Ferngully was not a classic). Or, if you REALLY wanted to get crazy, you could try a plot from someone else's point of view (I won't hold my breath).

Could I please just escape for two hours and enjoy an entertaining plot WITHOUT having your opinion and politics forced upon me? Please? I challenge you...

More SHM (Slap-Happy Matty)

Matt: I should work there (pointing at the dental lab two buildings away from our house).

Karin: Why?

Matt: So I could walk to work.

Karin: You have experience in a dental lab?

Matt: No, but I have a Dremel.

Fabulous Ideas from OP, KS

If you don't receive my annual Christmas letter, then you can't participate (sorry). But just so you don't feel left out, here's the deal:

This year I sent out a Mad-Lib. That's write - pick your own adverbs and nouns, and see what kind of story you create.

A friend of mine asked if I was collecting answers and picking a winner. Nope - too time consuming. But...

...now that I've thought about it, why not? Sitting around reading silly stories and deciding which one makes me have to pee the hardest? Game on!!!

So if you got the Blessed Beery Mad-Lib, email me your story. I'll post a winner sometime next month (and you make even make it on to my writing blog - dual coverage!!)

Thanks for participating - have fun!

Slap-Happy Matty

Karin: Now there are six couple pregnant. What happens if we drink the water?

Matt: There'll be a little one running around.

Karin: Well, then my parents will stick around for Thanksgiving next year. (contemplative pause) How do you feel about that?

Matt: That's fine. I like your parents.

Creating Our Own Problems

I was a bit offended this week when some of my non-Christian friends started comparing Christmas to Solstice. I am passionate about my God, and I don't ever want anyone to assume that I am celebrating this season for any reason other than Him, but they're right. It's not non-Christians who have taken Jesus out of Christmas - it's the Christians.

Over the years I've been learning more and more about what the Bible says about things and what tradition says about them. I'm still studying, still learning, but December 25th was chosen to celebrate Jesus' birth BECAUSE it coincides with pagan holy days. The same is true about about Easter. These dates have nothing to do with Jesus and His life - my understanding is that they were selected to detract from the pagan rituals.

Now, you can say that this doesn't matter, but look at what these holidays have become. How many people, even non-Christians, are sick of the commercialism? Do parents take their kids to church on these days for photos at the nativity and cross, or to the mall to sit on the laps of two make-believe characters? Does going to church on these two days inspire you to attend more regularly, or does it make you feel satisfied that you made it twice that year?

Like I said, I'm still learning, so I'm still deciding what to do with all of this information. I do know that I'll tell my children the truth about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny - that they have nothing to do with God or the celebration of Jesus' love and sacrifice. But am I ready and willing to make the jump to celebrate the REAL days of birth and resurrection? Am I going to set myself apart and start following scripture, despite what the world does?

I honestly don't know.

What I do know, however, is that I want to learn more. I want to make sure my motives are pure, that my heart is focused on God. I don't want to follow blindly, just doing what I've always done because there ARE things that Christians do during the holidays that have no real Biblical significance. It was just a desire to fit in with the world, but to try to sanctify it by calling it "Christian".

So I don't have any answers right now, but I'm looking. In the meantime, please know this - all of my lights, my gifts, and my decorations are about one thing - God. He loves us, He always has. While people fail daily at demonstrating that to each other, He has never failed us. He sent Jesus as proof of that love and devotion to save us. THAT is why I celebrate Christmas.

I pray that each one of you will know God's love, that He will touch your hearts and eyes so that you can see Him today.

Watching it Spin Out of Control?

There was a HUGE article in the paper today about Tiger Woods - it literally took up the whole page. I didn't read it. I couldn't get past the big, bold attention grabbing (paraphrased) "Tiger Woods is watching his life unravel in front of him".

No, he isn't.

Tiger Woods is watching his mistakes catch up with him. He is suffering the consequences of his actions. The fallout from this is his fault.

This upsets me because that sentence, highlighted and set apart to grab my attention, categorizes Woods' drama with someone like Jennifer Hudson. Her family was brutally murdered. She didn't do anything wrong, but she suffered horribly. Woods and his family are suffering horribly because of his selfish decisions. Hudson watched her life unravel...Woods watches as truth catches up with him.

Don't get me wrong - I hope he and his wife can put their lives back together. I hope they can cling to love and forgiveness and that there can be reconciliation. But don't treat this like it's something that is happening TO Woods...this is happening BECAUSE of him. There's a big difference.