hobbies
My husband is always saying he needs a hobby. I’m not sure when he thinks he’ll do this hobby, because he’s always at work, driving to or from work, or sleeping. He enjoys golf, but doesn’t get to play as often as he’d like.
He likes to go to hobby shops and dream of having one of those kinds of hobbies. Making models, RC airplanes, or model trains. He takes our son (who is almost two) and then makes purchase for said son that are completely age-inappropriate.
He came home with a radio controlled helicopter once and was so excited to take it to the park near our house and play with it. Our son was very excited too. Well, the thing is that he bought an inexpensive, small helicopter. Good plan when you’re trying out a new hobby. Bad plan when you have Santa Ana winds to contend with.
On the helicopter’s inaugural flight, the wind captured it and carried it away, over the fence surrounding the park and into this scrub grass valley - a good 500 yards away. After scampering over the fence and down a huge dirt hill, trekking across the scrub grass, the helicopter was rescued. That afternoon, it was dismantled, resettled in its original packaging, and returned to the store.
My husband is still looking for a hobby. Any suggestions?
Laziness
I am a lazy person. I do most things at about a 70% effort level. Maybe less. I rationalize everything, which probably lowers my effort level (except for the level of effort involved in creating the rationalization.) BUT, I accomplish a lot. This baffles me.
My husband seems to think I am a creative genius, and that eventually, I will pay off. He thinks I have some great talents that if I only applied them in the right areas, we’d be rich. I try to tell him that I’m just too lazy to realize any kind of real success, but he doesn’t listen. He also thinks we should put our son in commercials. My husband sees cash cows everywhere.
I don’t know where I’m going with this.
I guess my point is that I joined the quilting guild, and volunteered for a couple jobs: PR Chairperson and Newsletter Editor. These are positions for which I am trained and skilled. However, the guild people seem to think I have bitten off more than I can chew. Perhaps. I have been known to do that. But I am also decidedly less lazy when people are counting on me.
For example, I’m mostly unlazy when it comes to my son. I do not want to go to the park everyday and sit around on the concrete while he dumps piles of sand on his legs. But he loves it, so we go. (Although, we’re sick right now, so we’re not going, because I hate the look the other mothers give when he coughs. “How could you bring your sick child here within my healthy child’s airspace?!!)
So, we’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll let them all down. Maybe they’re lazier than me (God forbid) and they can’t understand why I’d take on so much.
Street Safe
My husband likes ninjas. He likes to shout “Krav Maga!” and pretend to hit things. It’s all a show. The only actual hand-to-hand combat training he’s had is the same training I’ve had. About three hours of instruction at basic training (I got to flip someone!). But its still fun to play like he’s a ninja. And he’s teaching our son these “moves”.
So we got this video from AAA-Safety First, a website that sells self defense products. The cover is a little deceiving. I thought it was going to be instructions on how to be street smart - like, “don’t talk to strangers.” I didn’t really know what to expect. It’s actually pretty cool.
The instructor, Steve Vunak, goes through eight simple moves to get you out of almost any dangerous situation. These moves are so simple that size, strength and training become non-issues. As a smallish (well, not skinny, but short) female, I feel like I could execute all of the moves to keep myself safe, regardless of my attacker’s size.
First he goes through the moves one by one, showing how to practice them in a mirror, with training equipment, and then with an actual training partner. After going through all the moves, he shows different combinations of the moves. Then, he shows real world situations where he uses those combinations. (I’m not going to spoil it by telling you the moves. You’ll have to get the video if you want to learn them :))
The video was made in the 1990s, so the clothes the people are wearing are a little dated, but the information is timeless.
Plus, the instructor does all these crazy hand movements while he’s talking that I really like. He kept my attention. I thought he was a little silly, but everything he’s teaching makes perfect sense and seems easy enough to do. You can bet I’ll be practicing my moves in front of the mirror. Who knows? Maybe I’ll move up to training on my husband. Krav Maga!
I found more coupons
Okay, people. You know I’m a fan of the online coupon code. I like shopping online. Mostly because there is not a lot of the normal inconveniences of shopping. Namely, a squirmy almost-two-year old, his toys, his sippy cup, his shopping cart cover, wipies, and pacifier. Whew. Makes me tired just thinking about it. Not to mention how much he hates shopping in the places I love to shop - i.e., every fabric and book store in my county.
Anyway, so I shop online. And before I check out, I always check for coupon codes, because you never know when you’ll find a good one. Enter NCNatural.com, and excellent resource for online coupons. The site is so simple - online merchants are listed alphabetically, so you can scroll right to the store you want and check for current deals. Looking for Dell coupons? Check under “D”. Joann Fabric coupons - my favorite? Listed right under “J”. Too easy.
The site is updated daily, and I’ve never seen an expired code. Also, they’ve made deals with the different stores, so that if you go to the store from their site, the store pays them a little money. Benefit for us? No ads on their site.
Saturday happenings
I’m way behind on my book reviews. Like about 10 books behind. But let me just say that if you liked the Traveling Pants books, definitely read Ann Brashares new book, The Last Summer (of You and Me). The title is a little long and unnecessary, but the rest is excellent. Her first adult book. Loved it. Here’s a much better review than I have time or inclination to write.
By the way, that blog I linked to, Books Are Pretty, is excellent. Great reviews that always start with a very funny, often unrelated intro.
Today, my football team (University of Central Florida) got their asses handed to them. 57 to 12. By USF of all schools. The annoying upstart football team formed 20 years after us, and already ranked #5 in the nation. Lame. Lots of mistakes, but I’m confident UCF will rally and win the rest of the season. Go Knights!
I started a new quilt today. The pattern is from Denyse Schmidt’s book Quilts, and it’s coming along nicely. I’m using Moda charm squares from the Fall Back In Time line. Beautiful. Pictures coming soon. I also finished (yesterday) six lavender eye pillows and two lavender and rosemary heating pads. Pictures coming soon also.
Wealth Expo
From Oct. 19 - 20, investors and entrepreneurs are invited to attend this year’s Wealth Expo, sponsored by MyWallSt.net: Your Financial Social Network. This three-day conference, located at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City, features keynote speeches from well-known investment professionals including Money Coach Jean Chatzky, seen on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Founder, CEO, and Chief Analyst of Wall Street Strategies, Charles Payne, and CNBC Senior Analyst Ron Insana. Also included are exhibitions by some of the largest public and private companies in the world, and opportunities to network like no other investment seminar today.
The seminar schedule really includes something for every type of investor. If you’re an entrepreneur looking for a wise business venture, seminars like “Building a Unique Energy Business” presented by Provident Energy Trust, and “Top Five Things to Consider Before You Buy A Franchise” presented by Colleen De Baise of SmartMoney could be very beneficial.
There are investing seminars for every level of investor, whether you’re just getting started learning the market, or you’re looking for expert tax advice and off shore banking information.
As we move towards different energy options, new markets are emerging. Several of the seminars deal directly with energy issues, including “Fueling the World’s Possibilities” presented by BP and “Cyclone External Combustion Engine” presented by Cyclone Power Technologies.
The Wealth Expo’s schedule is as follows:
- Friday, 10/19: 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. EDT w/ a cocktail hour to follow
- Saturday, 10/20: 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. EDT w/ a cocktail hour to follow
- Sunday, 10/21: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. EDT (no cocktail hour)
Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize
Woo hoo! Congrats, Mr. Gore. Thanks for continuing to raise awareness about global warming!
Read all about it here.
North Carolina
Something funny is going on. I guess since I’ve been talking about our upcoming vacation to Alabama and North Carolina so much on here, it seems the folks at PayU2Blog think this is a North Carolina blog. By posting this link for Raleigh personal injury attorneys, I have now completed four North Carolina-related sponsored posts. Let’s just hope I don’t need the services of those attorneys on my vacation!
Playground etiquette
We went to our favorite park today. There seemed to be more kids than usual. My first thought was that it was a little chaotic - what with at least ten kids between ages 2 and 4 running, climbing, screaming and laughing all over the toddler play structure. Their mothers seemed to be divided into two camps. The fit, attractive, cool moms wearing sunglasses and military style caps sitting around the edge of the play area, talking with each other. The less fit, less fashionable moms walking around keeping their kids within eyesight. I’m not sure why it was divided so, but I’m just the observer of the story.
So a little boy (aged 2.5 years, I heard his mom say later) barrelled around the twisty slide, chasing a little girl of probably 3.5 years. The little girl kept saying, “no! no!” as the little boy pushed her from behind. She was clearly trying to get away. She ran up the big stairs of the structure, and he was right on her heels. She turned around once more to say, “no!” and this time he slapped her across the face. Hard.
I was sitting with my son in the sand, filling and dumping the dump truck for the 50th time, watching the whole scene unfold. At the slap, and because I was the only adult in the immediate area, I offered, “no, no, we don’t hit,” as the little girl’s mother rounded the corner looking for her loudly crying daughter. Meanwhile, the violent little boy had scampered up the steps and was happily headed towards the twisty slide.
When the little girl’s mother asked the distraught girl what happened, I pointed a finger at the boy and said, “that boy pushed her and slapped her.” The park got a little silent. The cool moms glared at me, aiming their stylish sunglasses my way with obvious disdain. I went on. “She was trying to get away from him.”
The mean little boy’s mother finally came over to see what happened. “Andrew did this? The one in the red shirt.” I offered a decided (if a little accusatory) “yep,” and returned to scooping and dumping with my good boy.
I continued to watch one mom carry her crying daughter away from the scene, while the other mother half-heartedly followed after her son. “Andrew. Andrew. Andrew, come here please.” After walking over to where he was, she looked down at him and said, “Andrew, we don’t hit.” Meanwhile, Andrew had plopped down in the middle of a circle of three kids and their sand toys and proceeded to pick up buckets and shovels, throwing sand and toys in every direction.
That was the extent of his reprimand.
Future criminal?
Should I have tattled? Who knows, but I don’t want that kid hitting my son, and clearly, his mom isn’t aware that she needs to monitor his behavior. But you can bet the other mothers - glaring or not - kept a little closer eye on their own kid when Andrew was around.
This isn’t the first time that I’m noticing that staying close to your small child seems to be the uncool way to parent. Oh, well. I never was very cool anyway. I was always better at being responsible.
Model Homes: Free entertainment
It seems like we go to model homes every weekend lately. We really want our own house. Yesterday, we saw one great one, and a lot of crappy ones. Our favorite was a four bedroom, two-story house with one bedroom downstairs kind of behind the kitchen, and the other three upstairs. This behind the kitchen thing seems to be a trend. I think it’s a perfect spot for a guest room. The house also had a big dining nook and a formal dining room. I’m not a fan of the formal dining room. I can see the benefits, but I don’t think we need that yet. First step, eating at a dining room table, not a coffee table.
Anyway, as usual, the conversation progressed from what we want to what we can afford. Basically, anything more than what we’re renting for now will require something like a monthly payday loan or a serious windfall.
