Momnipotent

The Language of a Hobo

2012-01-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

I'm reading a book right now about a girl who decides to take to the rails and become a hobo. Now before you jump on me for not being politically correct, hobo is the term used during The Great Depression through WWII to describe people who rode the rails looking for work. Similar to migrant workers. They were looked down upon by many but in all honesty, they were just people trying to get by without stealing, harming others or the environment and without taking handouts from the government. They provided a very important service to many people who needed day laborers.

What I didn't know was they had a very intricate and well developed communication system. Back then there were no cell-phones, internet - no way to instantly communicate or to get messages to one another that others couldn't read. So they developed a system of code drawings and would leave these messages near train yards or other public places to let those who came after them know what to expect in this town or village as far as food, places to stay, police, etc. They camped, usually along a river, in places called "jungles" so this system would also point them in the direction of the jungle for that area.

I'm sure, looking back it seems romantic and maybe a bit exciting to just ride the rails all over the U.S., seeing everything, experiencing everything, living with all of your worldly possessions on your back. But in truth, it was a hard life of hunger, violence, loneliness and despair. Hobos are not the same as our homeless population today. Most of our homeless are mentally ill and do not travel around looking for work, though many homeless camps are very well organized with a social system, self-policing and a culture. Not all homeless, but the majority have serious mental health issues for which they may get sporadic treatment.

But back to the Hobos - here is a sample of the language system they had. I wonder if you look today, will you still see these symbols used? It just shows that the hobos of the past were often intelligent, educated people who, due to no fault of their own, became homeless and decided to make the best of it.

And by the way, the book I'm reading is called Line by Line and it's written by Barbara Hacha. It's the first book I've downloaded to my Kindle Fire from the Kindle Owner's Free Lending Library, a pretty cool service for Kindle Owners who are also Amazon Prime members.

Want free books?

2012-01-24T10:56:00.000-05:00

Project Gutenberg

Smart Packing Tips

2011-10-30T03:16:00.000-04:00

I travel a lot and I like to pack light, especially with the excessive bag fees most airlines are charging now for even one checked back. I often travel overseas and often during winter and to a very cold country, so this presents quite the challenge. However, on my most recent trip, I was able to fit everything into one carry-on (which included my laptop & charger, phone & charger, iPod & charger, a book, my medications (never, ever pack them in your checked bags), a pillow & blanket for the flight, plus a cozy pair of warm socks. I also always bring ear plugs and an eye mask so I can attempt to get some sleep, especially when I'm traveling across several times zones and at night. In my checked-bag (which was free since it was an international flight and I have miles on the airline) I packed 2 pairs of pants. One black and one pair of nice jeans. I packed a set of silk long underwear for warmth, 3 pair of black socks, five pair of underwear, one bra, one camisole, one pair of pajamas, three turtlenecks (white, black and black/white striped) and three sweaters. This was for a two week trip to Sweden in December. I wore a pair of boots on my feet and didn't pack things like shampoo, conditioner, etc., since it would be easier to just buy it there. I had a small ziploc bag with my Bare Minerals makeup, some chapstick, an extra pair of contacts and eyedrops, plus all of my medications sorted into a pill organizer which looks just like the one in the link, except mine is in Swedish :) I brought a couple of pens, some gum, a pair of gloves & a scarf and I was on my way.

People were shocked that I could travel so light (I can do it even lighter in warm weather, then I only have a small carry-on that holds EVERYTHING. How do I do this? Firstly, by choosing clothing that will mix & match well. I honestly never wore the same "outfit" twice, even though I was wearing the same clothes. I was staying with friends, so I could use their washer/dryer and any toiletries I didn't buy at the grocery store when I arrived. It's very freeing to not have to lug a bunch of stuff around, especially since even if you check your bags through on the way home, when you arrive in the U.S., you have to reclaim them from customs and then recheck them. This is a HUGE pain in the butt when you've been traveling for 10+ hours.

My friend and I also share a rolling duffel that accompanies one of us back to our home country on each trip, so that way we will always know that we have an extra bag going home to carry all of the gifts we're bring back to friends & family. She took it with her in July of this year, so now I have to go back to Sweden to recover it. But maybe when it's a bit warmer this time ;)

So, here is my organizational list and my packing technique. It works!!! Tweak it a bit to fit your lifestyle but remember, pack everything you think you'll need, then take HALF of it out and leave it at home. If you're traveling out of your home country, don't forget to bring an adapter for your electronics, otherwise you won't be able to plug anything in. Most electronics now have converters on them, but double check just in case, you might need to buy a converter too (this is what you would plug into the wall to change the voltage of the electricity to match the requirements of you device). My laptop has an automatic converter, most do. Then I use it to charge my iPod, phone and camera.

Happy Trails!

How to turn your hoodie into a computer sleeve

2011-10-30T02:55:00.000-04:00

Smart, huh?

2011-09-05T10:33:00.002-04:00

Harbor by John Ajvide Lindqvist
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A real thriller. I disagree with the tag of "horror" genre, I think it will turn some people off from reading this book. Lindqvist has a way of taking a story and drawing you into it immediately. You can smell the smells, feel the textures, hear the sounds, you know the people he writes about as if you've known them forever.

Harbor is about several different people whose lives are intertwined on a small archipelago outside of Stockholm. A little girl vanishes right in front of her parents eyes, a couple whose love still burns as strong as the day they fell in love still live in separate houses next door to one another, a father keeps a tiny insect wormlike creature called a spiritus (spertus Norse mythology) in a box that requires a daily feeding or the consequences are dire and oddly, people just disappear every so often, without a trace and without rhyme or reason.

Product Description

It was a beautiful winter's day. Anders, his wife and their feisty six-year-old, Maja, set out across the ice of the Swedish archipelago to visit the lighthouse on Gavasten. There was no one around, so they let her go on ahead. And she disappeared, seemingly into thin air, and was never found. Two years later, Anders is a broken alcoholic, his life ruined. He returns to the archipelago, the home of his childhood and his family. But all he finds are Maja's toys and through the haze of memory, loss and alcohol, he realizes that someone - or something - is trying to communicate with him. Soon enough, his return sets in motion a series of horrifying events which exposes a mysterious and troubling relationship between the inhabitants of the remote island and the sea.

From the Inside Flap

They only stopped watching her for a couple of minutes. Which was all it took.

On a clear winter's day, Anders took his wife and feisty six-year-old, Maja, for a walk from his home on the island across the frozen sea to the lighthouse at Gavasten. There was no one for miles around, so they stayed to admire the view while Maja struck out alone.
They never saw her again.

Two years later and Anders' wife has left him, he's an unemployable alcoholic, so he returns to what's left of his family on the island. Moving back to the hut where he'd been staying with Maja that last time, he soon begins to feel a presence in the house. Could Maja be trying to communicate with him? Someone - or something - is leaving him messages and he can feel them getting stronger.

Before long, it's not just a feeling and Anders starts seeing people who've been missing for years. Is it the drink or is he going mad?

About the Author

John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish author, born 1968, grew up in Blackeberg, a suburb to Stockholm. He wanted to become something awful and fantastic. First he became a conjurer and came in second in the Nordic card trick championship, then he was a stand-up comedian for twelve years. John has written TV series as well as stage plays and TV drama. Two of his other novels, Let the Right One In and Handling the Undead have been translated into English and published by Quercus.

View all my reviews

Asus EEE PC 1005HAB Netbook DC power pin "quick & dirty" repair

2011-08-08T20:33:00.000-04:00

My son has a neat little Asus EEE Netbook. It's perfect for his needs, which is mostly drawing, playing Minecraft, social networking & keeping in touch with his friends.

However, he's a bit rough with it sometimes, maybe not taking care where he leaves it, so it's inevitable that in a busy house like ours, someone is going to knock it off of the footstool, sofa or some other inappropriate resting spot where he's left it.

Yesterday, he said that "someone" knocked his computer on the the floor and it landed on the power cord. Which, if you know even the tiniest bit about netbooks, laptops, etc., have the most delicate attachments known to mankind. Long story short, the pin that holds the power adapter in (so the battery can charge) broke off.

Doing a quick search online, I found that sending it somewhere to be repaired would be expensive (most quoted about $100, plus 2-3 weeks turnaround). It was almost cheaper to buy a new computer at that price!

So, I being the "hacker mom" that I am, decided to try to take the netbook apart and fix the pin myself. Two frustrating hours later, I still couldn't figure out how to separate the top from the bottom. Usually, it's pretty simple but this just would.not.budge.

Another hour searching on the internet for instructional videos, photos, SOMETHING were fruitless. A lot of puffed-up tech geeks spouting of their useless knowledge, trying to show each other up yet providing no answers.

Finally, logic hit. What was broken? The little copper pin. What was its purpose? To conduct power from the adapter to the computer to charge the battery. How did it work? The pin was soldered to the power jack inside of the computer and the external plug fit onto the little pin. Since I have no experience soldering (beyond 7th grade shop class), I wondered "what would happen if the pin was sticking out of the adapter plug instead?"

So, I asked my husband if he could find a little piece of copper wire for me. As luck would have it, he had an old piece of wire in the garage:

I cut off a little piece of it and stuck it in the end of the plug:

Plugged it into the netbook and voilà! The little green light on the charger came on and began charging the netbook. 45 minutes later and my son was back to mining and crafting.

Disclaimer: Only do this with the battery removed from your computer. This solution worked for me, I'm making no guarantees that it will work for you. I'm not a professional computer repair person, just a mom trying to save a few bucks fixing something on my own :)

Houseguests

2011-06-25T10:53:00.001-04:00

Next week a friend from europe is coming to visit and bringing along her two teenaged daughters, ages 14 and 16. We really enjoy having them visit (and going to visit them) but I always worry that it's too boring here! We don't live in a tourist spot, so there's not a lot of interesting things to do. They really enjoy going to the mall, so that's a definite way to spend a few of the days. I'm not a mall person, but I don't mind going along with them and bringing a book to read while they shop 'til they drop. I just don't want to come across as rude or unaccommodating, I'm not really sure what the "rules" are when you live in a boring place.

So far, our plans are going to the mall, having an American Fourth-of-July BBQ & watching the fireworks, going to the pool a lot (it's VERY hot here in the summer), visiting a local Conservatory, an art museum or two (and no, we don't live in Chicago or there would be no problem at all finding things to do), maybe a local working farm since we DO live in farm country. And that actually gives me another idea, visiting some Amish areas, since that is definitely a very regional thing and something they have never seen before & couldn't see anywhere else.

Food is another issue here. Obviously, there is the cultural difference in foods. She has made a lot of comments about our (and by "our", I mean American) breakfast cereals as being "gross" because they are brightly colored. I think their (and by "their", I mean Swedish) are gross, because they look like something that was scraped off the floor in the forest. We obviously have the "forest floor" cereals here too, I can't even imagine eating a bowl of that nasty. To each their own I suppose. I'll just happily munch away on my pebbles, which are healthy enough for me :) But the other food issue is that we are VERY casual in the summer months. We sleep in (she's an early riser), we eat when we're hungry, we generally just eat very light meals for dinner because it's so hot & no-one feels like cooking OR eating big meals. I know when I've visited there, dinner is always a sit-down event. Though I suspect that it's only while I'm there from what her kids have told me. We'll muddle through somehow, figuring out what to eat each day for dinner as we go along.

Our house is also VERY noisy & active. I have 6 children (only 5 of them are still at home though) and they are all 13 and under. So it gets pretty crazy here, especially when you factor in their friends hanging out here too. We are loud talkers, we argue loudly, joke around, etc. Her house is very, very quiet. When her kids come home from school, they go straight to their rooms, close the doors & that's it for the evening. They come out for dinner but then go right back. I like quiet time, don't get me wrong. In fact, I NEED quiet time several times a day or I get SUPER grumpy. But I also am so used to the (mostly) controlled chaos of our house that it is always difficult for me to adjust to all that quiet when I go to visit her. So I can't imagine how rough it will be on them to have all of this NOISE all the time. We also have 2 small dogs and 2 cats, so they add to the chaos, messes and noise.

Her spending budget is very large and mine is very small (like almost zero), so that's another issue. We budget down to the penny here. For everything: food, activities, snacks, admission costs, etc. I don't want to come across as not-fun or a tightwad, but if you don't have it, you don't have it, right?

The good thing is, she is aware of all of these things and still wants to visit me :) She's been here before, so it must not be TOO bad because this will be her 4th visit to the U.S. and each one was to visit us here in our boring old midwestern state. I just have to remember that everything is exciting when you're visiting a new place, especially a foreign country. She lives in Europe so there are lots of cool things to go see & do in her area. But I'm sure to her, they are boring & ordinary. Even going to the grocery store when I visit her is exciting, so I have to remember the same will be true of her. And this is America, we have Wal-Mart!

Someone needs to write a REAL etiquette book for REAL people when they have house guests. Real people with big, noisy, messy families who live in boring, non-touristy parts of the country & aren't wealthy (we don't even have a McMansion, just a plain old 1970's suburban house (oh the humanity!)

However, we do have 4 bedrooms and thankfully, 2.5 bathrooms and a nice sized private back yard, so we won't be that cramped. We do live in a big city. I do have a car (she doesn't have a drivers license so I'm sure it's very refreshing to her that when we go somewhere while she's visiting me, we just hop in the car & go, not having to worry about bus/train schedules, finding a seat, waiting in the cold, etc). We do have Target, Wal-Mart and four enormous shopping malls near us. So maybe we aren't so boring after all. :)

I just worry too much. I wonder what other people do when they have house guests?

Ugly Houses

2011-06-22T00:14:00.001-04:00

I'm officially addicted to this website Ugly House Photos. It's just too much of a good thing that I can't stop my eyes from seeing just one more or clicking one more page. What is it about people who love to look and see how other people live? There are a lot of us, no doubt. And the blog owner has done a great job of finding some very unique homes, then following up with some history and his remarks.....love it.

And secretly, I've found rooms in some of those houses that I would LOVE to have right now-lol! I don't know what that says about me, but I know that I like 'em!

So go check out Ugly House Photos if you have some time to kill. Or even if you don't. Just be forewarned, you won't just stop at one page.

Decorating the space above kitchen cabinet tops

2011-06-21T10:23:00.001-04:00

A few years ago, we remodeled the downstairs area of our house. We basically moved the kitchen into the space that was the dining room and moved the dining room into the kitchen space, making one large room with the sink as the divider. It's much more casual than it was before, but it suits our needs. We did the work ourselves so it's less than perfect, but doesn't look THAT bad. I'd post photos if I could get them off of my external hard drive but for some reason, it doesn't want to power on this morning.

The main difference between the old kitchen & the new kitchen is that there is space above the kitchen cabinets now. We re-used the cabinets (they were new when we moved in so no need to replace them) but the way we hung them left 2 foot gap between them & the ceiling. Right now, I just have random vases that came with flowers my husband has sent me. The good thing is, there are A LOT of them :) The bad thing is, they're all the same color & shape, not very interesting without the flowers in them. I've been wanting to put something fun & interesting up there but I just can't think of what.

I think if I had to put a label on my decorating style, it would probably be contemporary with Scandinavian influences. I don't really like fake plants and stuff, but I won't rule them out. DEFINITELY not country or cutesy type stuff, so no bears, little signs that say "Bistro" or anything French looking. I do like those wood letters that say "Home" and "Love" and stuff though. But they're not that easy to find in my price range (which is super cheap, we're on a tight budget right now saving for vacation & trying to follow the Dave Ramsey plan).

So, right now I'm on a search for interesting "above the kitchen cabinet" decorating ideas. While there are lots of forums discussing it, there aren't a lot of photos. And those who do post photos mostly have, you guessed it, fake plants, Bistro signs and cutesy stuff. Sigh.....

Top 10 Awesome Android Features that the iPhone Doesn't Have - Lifehacker

2011-06-12T12:04:00.000-04:00

Top 10 Awesome Android Features that the iPhone Doesn’t Have

10 Awesome Features the Android has and the iPhone does not

Check out this great link "Top 10 Awesome Android Features that the iPhone Doesn't Have" from Lifehacker, one of my favorite go-to sites.

Help Us Rebuild: Our Story

2011-05-30T20:13:00.003-04:00

Can you give Katey a helping hand?

Katey Needs Our Help! * Katey Needs Our Help *

Help Us Rebuild: Our Story Aprils Army Chickatey (Katey's Etsy Shop)

Please click on this link to read the story about Katey from New York who recently lost everything in an apartment fire, including her beloved pet rabbit, Olivia. She did not have renters insurance so she is left with only with only a few things she was able to retrieve from the rubbish. She and her fiance were also in the middle of paying for a very small, frugal wedding. I'd love to see people from all over the country step up and help this nice couple in some way - if you live in the NYC area, you can contact her through her blog Or, you can purchase an item from her Etsy Shop. The awesomely snarky-fun website Regretsy has also written about it (and done a much better job) and you can read about it here. Finally, a great group of Etsy artists & designers have gotten together to help too, you can see their amazing creations here where sales will benefit Katey. I know people are genuinely good and I can't wait to see how great this all turns out.

Are you obese?

2011-05-27T23:46:00.000-04:00

Illustrated BMI Categories - a set on Flickr

This is a fascinating study on the extreme differences in weight between people with the same weight/height and who is considered "obese" (when they look fine to me), "normal" or "underweight.

Morbidly Obese

Obese

Normal

Overweight

Underweight

I wonder what other people think. No wonder there are so many people in this country with eating disorders.

Steve Jobs responds to iPhone tracking concerns, and accuses Google | Technology | guardian.co.uk

2011-05-26T14:14:00.001-04:00

Steve Jobs responds to iPhone tracking concerns, and accuses Google | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Really Steve Jobs? When will people ever learn.....this Apple has worms.

U.S. Measles Cases Hit 15-Year High : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

2011-05-26T13:01:00.001-04:00

Cynthia S. Goldsmith; William Bellini/CDC

Oh my word, I hope the anti-vaccination people will LISTEN to THIS!!! This could get bad really fast and for no good reason. Thanks a lot, Jenny McCarthy. You really need to do damage control pronto, you started this mess. U.S. Measles Cases Hit 15-Year High : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

Your and You're

2011-05-26T07:04:00.001-04:00

It is now my goal in life to post this on every comment section of the entire internet of the entire universe forever and ever, amen:

Sister Wives

2011-05-25T21:56:00.001-04:00

I have been following the Sister Wives tv program on TLC. At first, I probably felt similar to a lot of people - a snap judgement about people I don't even know. As I followed their family story throughout the first season, I grew to really like the family.

I just finished watching the episode where they were forced to move from their family home, friends and everything they knew and loved because of their lifestyle choice. A choice that wasn't hurting anyone, wasn't challenging anyone, it was just a choice that happened to be, in their state, illegal.

What was this choice? Polygamy. I'm sure most people immediately associate polygamy with this man. Which is unfortunate and, completely incorrect. The Sister Wives family, a polygamist family of a man named Kody Brown and his legal wife Meri Brown and his other wives, also known as "sister wives", Janelle, Robyn and Christine, all of whom he "married" in private ceremonies. I put "married" in quotation marks, not out of disrespect, but to show that this family was not trying to defraud anyone but were trying to do the right thing by showing that each relationship is serious and meaningful. It is not a harem where there is one all powerful man who is served by a number of subservient, beaten-down women. It is a plural marriage where a group of women have adopted one another as sisters, raising their children together, depending on one another, sharing a household, child-rearing, finances, domestic duties and....a single man. Only Meri is legally married to Kody, but Kody is the biological father of all of the children, ranging in ages from under 1 year old to 16 years.

At first, Kody seems like a goofy man who doesn't put a lot of thought into anything but being on TV, driving a sports car and sleeping in a different woman's bed every couple of nights. But as you get to know him (as much as you can know someone from a TV program), you realize he is a very thoughtful, deeply religious, kind man and a very good father who genuinely loves and cares for his children and his wives. The kids are each obviously very loved and know that, well-mannered, playful, healthy and seem so happy. The wives seem like typical women who definitely have a say in what is going on in their lives, feel free to express their opinions and are in no way oppressed by their lifestyle or husband.

I felt really sad watching this wonderful family go through such harsh treatment from narrow-minded people. I could see the pain in all of their eyes and feel the fear and sadness they must have been feeling as they were forced to flee their home without even finishing to pack. But the love, compassion and sense of family they have instilled in their children was something they should be very proud of.

I doubt this family will ever read my little blog and couldn't care less about the opinion of a woman from the midwest in a monogamous marriage with only 6 children. But I just want to be another voice out there that is saying that I wish only the best for them and we would be honored to have them as neighbors and friends - I hope they are able to settle into their new lives and find lots of friends and a community that welcomes them with open arms. Different doesn't mean wrong, evil, or bad. It just means different and maybe more people should embrace each others differences instead of finding ways to use those differences to tear each other down. That is what the God I worship teaches and it's just possible, that's not a bad thing.

morgueFile free photos for creatives by creatives

2011-05-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

Free!? Who doesn't love free? I'm always looking for free (both free in cost and free of licenses) images to use. Flickr can sometimes be a great resource, but so many people trying to restrict their images as well as the sheer number of images can make it really difficult to find something quick. So I came across morgueFile, a huge data base of free images to use as you see fit* The name morgue? I'm guessing they chose that name because it's where images that weren't used in commercial designs go to "die". Though I'm sure they all find new homes rather quickly, there are A LOT of great images on this site. Did I mention they are FREE?!

According to morgueFile, the license rules are:

*You are free:

Remix — to adapt the work.
Commercial — to use this work for commercial purposes.
Without Attribution — to use without attributing the original author.

Under the following conditions:

Stand alone basis — You can not sell, license, sublicense, rent, transfer or distribute this image exactly as it is without alteration.
Ownership — You may not claim ownership of this image in its original state.
Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the contributor.
Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.

Apple Is Evil, Too. So Why Doesn't Anyone Care? - Digital Music News

2011-05-10T10:25:00.001-04:00

Apple Is Evil, Too. So Why Doesn't Anyone Care? - Digital Music News

Well, I care. I don't understand the continued support & love for this product. It's like a bad boyfriend. You have to spend a lot of money just to be with him, then he stalks you while you're with him. He wants to know everything about you but you can know nothing about him (because you're not smart enough to handle to truth, he says). He treats other humans in countries you've never visited like animals just to make money and doesn't even act embarrassed when people find out. He's polluting the entire planet we all share and if you say anything about it, he comes back with a sarcastic, arrogant retort. Then he dumps you after you've only been with him for less than a year, saying "I just don't have the energy I used to have. I feel like I can't read your signals". You're so blind to his obvious abuse, that you beg to be able to help. He says "no, this is something that can only be handled by professionals, I need rehab, it's expensive but if you want to be with me, you're going to have to pay", so you do. He doesn't work as well as others but you are so blind to his good looks & perceived simplicity, you become creepily attached and talk about him like he's your child, crying when he's scratched, moping around for days while he's in rehab, knowing it won't be the last time. You are even in the danger of losing friends over your erratic and unstable behavior, it's a PHONE (or notebook, or mp3 player, whatever). He's not good for you or anyone else and you just can't see it. It's sad.

International Monty Python Status Day ‘11

2011-05-10T10:06:00.002-04:00

International Monty Python Status Day ‘11

I've never really been a fan of Monty Phython, but I like people who are and as I get older, I am starting to see the appeal. Sort of. So, consider this my contribution:

Paper DOES NOT Beat Rock

2011-05-10T00:42:00.001-04:00

Srsly? Who would NOT know this?

Paper does NOT beat rock!

TOMS Shoes: Good Marketing – Bad Aid | Good Intentions Are Not Enough

2011-05-09T18:10:00.002-04:00

TOMS Shoes: Good Marketing – Bad Aid | Good Intentions Are Not Enough

Now I don't have to feel guilty for not wanting to buy those cheap, ugly shoes.

What does a weeks worth of food look like around the world? | Curious? Read

2011-05-08T21:50:00.004-04:00

What The World Eats - What A Week Worth of Food Looks Like

My 20-something year old daughter works part-time in a grocery store. She likes to tell me about the stories she makes up in her head about the customers that come in. The single guy that just buys frozen dinners & snack cakes. The harried mom with 7 boxes of cereal, 4 gallons of milk and a 6 pack of Heineken. The "high maintenance" woman with a head of lettuce (organic, of course), a bottle of imported bottled water & a gallon of chunky monkey ice cream. But what strikes her the most are the people who come in with shopping carts heaping full of food - fresh & frozen, canned & boxed, most of it "snack size"or "convenience sized", gallons of soda, bags of potato chips & cheese doodles, etc. SO much food. She might strike up a casual conversation with them & find out those people have 2 children, shop like this every week with several extra trips during the week for things they run out of, plus eat out or order pizza twice a week. They tell her how much of the food they have in their cart usually "ends up spoiling before they use it" but how they vow to themselves that this week, they really, really mean it and will use it all.

I've seen this happen myself when I've gone grocery shopping. We have a big family & we've wasted food ourselves from lack of planning or just being too tired to cook. But money is tight now and I am very careful about spending the bare minimum and maximizing every morsel. With proper planning & organizing, it's possible! But one day, I was using StumbleUpon and stumbled across this link: What The World Eats - What A Week Worth of Food Looks Like Around the Worldand it was shocking. Especially when you look at the stark difference, not only in quantity, but in cost between the typical American's weekly grocery haul for an average family and the meager offerings of a slightly larger family in Chad. It really made me think about how fortunate we are in this country. Even if money is tight and every penny counts, most of us have exactly what we need & usually more.

I've been wanting to say this for a long time...

2011-05-08T10:57:00.001-04:00

Hello.

Well, not just hello, but it would be rude, I think, to just start in with no introduction or anything. I'm one of a million blogs out there and I guess what makes me unique is that I don't fit in anywhere in the blogging world.

I'm not a mommy blogger, not that there is anything wrong with that! I mean, I guess I am sort of one, since I am blogging and I'm a mother of 6. But I'm not just going to blog about poopy diapers, breastfeeding and Gymboree, so I don't really fit in there (my kids are way past those stages). I'm not a technology blogger, but I sort of am because I really, really love gadgets, electronics and talking about them with anyone who will listen. And I LOVE me some geek-talk. I'm definitely not a foodie since I have this fun disorder called gastroparesis, so good eats are only an observation for me right now, but I might be a little, because I still have to make sure my family eats. I'm not an organizational guru, photo blogger, crafts, art, sewing, health or really any specific main focus at all. I'm just a regular person who wanted a place to write about things that interest me. Things that make me happy, make me sad, that I find funny and even sometimes make me angry. And this is a great place for that.

There have been SOOOO many times where I've gotten an ear worm - no, not an actual burrowing invertebrate. I was referring to Ear Worms (from the German phrase Ohrwurm) those songs that weasel their way into your head like uninvited guests and then proceed to stink up the inside of your cranium by playing themselves there over. And over. And over. And over. They're those songs that just get stuck in your head, and no amount of screaming, pounding, protesting, and banging your head into your desk will get them out. They will check out any time you like, but they will never leave. Except I get the type of ear worm that was cut in half by an naughty 6 year old to see if "it really does just grow another body". So I never know the title or the words, just the tune. I felt like the best cure for this would be to find a website where you could use your computer microphone to hum a few bars of it and then voilà, technical magic would happen and the song would be identified and everyone would be happy. Except I still haven't found it. So part of my blog is going to be about things I'm looking for, in hopes that someone else will stumble across it looking for something else and know the answer to what I'm looking for.

Then I noticed this was an issue with a lot of things. I'd hear of some obscure disease or disorder, some unusual vacation spot, some unique way of organizing your entire life in 15 minutes or less but when I'd go searching, I'd come up with......nothing. And I am a MASTER Googler. I can find anything. I can find things faster than most people can even type them in. It's a gift. It's a curse. But it works.

So, for now, maybe my blog will be about finding lost things. Tomorrow it could be about organizing my book case. Then sewing a baby quilt. Or the woes of an American teenager. Or traveling with kids, traveling without kids, money issues, being an adult with ADD and a touch of OCD (though mine generally centers around house cleaning, organizing my closet & picking the font for this blog, which took TWO DAYS!!!)

Stuff like that. And even if it's just me, my family and a few loyal friend that read it, at least it's out of my head and on the computer and that has to be a good thing.