live from sublurbia

I love the verbalizations the kids come up with as they grow their little brains and practice conversing with us and each other. From first words practiced under their breaths to entire conversations about cookies overheard on the baby monitor, they continue to fascinate me.

It’s started to escalate, though. Forget tattling, and crying wolf … they’ve started throwing around homonyms. Because homonyms are fun - I remember giggling with my little six-year-old friends in grade school about “butt” and “but”. Wolfie’s got a good one, though, calling Helvi a “doody”. Of course, he insists, he means he’s only calling her a job. With a sly smile. So he knows what he’s doing.

On the other hand, he’s right. She is a duty. And a chore. And a fun little sister, but it’s a “doody” he takes on with good humor. I’m sure she’s realize he’s her “duty/doody” soon, and will gladly return the favor. :)

No Comments »

Whether it’s your first this year or your third. :)

We didn’t do the Thankful Tree a friend of mine came up with this year, but maybe for next year. We’re still planting the seeds of thankfulness, sharing, and caring with the kids and moving at hyper speed. Plus there have been a few changes in our life this year that has our routines slightly under development.

But it’s been a bountiful year of love with our friends and family near and far.

I wish you all a warm and loving Thanksgiving celebration with family, friends, or triple overtime ;).

No Comments »

Hilights from the summer and fall traveling season …

Microfiber towels and plastic baggies with complete kid clothing changes rock.

Guest passes come with lots of zoo/attraction subscriptions.

It is possible to lose extremely large land marks if you are hungry and tired enough.

Host/ess gifts are always appreciated. When borrowing a ruralish cabin stocked with supplies, make sure edible host/ess gifts are also in critter-proof containers.

The two letters before a four-digit number are usually your flight number, not to be confused with the four-digit number followed by an A or P - that one is your flight time. Confusing the two can be un-fun.

If you’ve got a digital camera along, take pictures of street signs when you get to a new area (or other readable markers). Helps you find your way back if you’re lost, and helps you identify exactly which little town a particular picture was taken in or near.

One-hour photo usually isn’t when you really want it to be.

Half-hour busses usually aren’t running when you really need them to be.

Always pack something to use as a costume, you never know when you’ll need it.

Light fleece blankets make great pillows, blankets, and boundary markers in busy airport terminals.

Crayons that don’t roll are one of the smartest inventions I’ve seen in a long time.

Airports should have portable changing board rentals (or airlines should keep them available on board!); use them on flying day, picked up at the departure airport, returned at the destination airport.

No Comments »

As our light bulbs have burned out, I’ve replaced them with more energy-efficient lights, trying to reduce the energy we expend and keep our bills down in general. Now that we have and IKEA and other stores are starting to take back Compact Flourescent Bulbs, it’s easier than ever here in sublurbia to do that sort of thing - green up a bit where we can, following that first R - reduce (recycling is the last thing you should do!).

I’ve been pretty happy with CFL bulbs. In addition to being more widely available, they’ve gotten warmer in coloration, more like the incandescent bulbs they’re replacing. The first ones I bought were blue cool bulbs; harsh at night like a bad day at the office in Joe vs the Volcano. Most of what we’ve got still require a warm-up time, but we’re getting used to that.

But for some applications, CFL are not a good choice. Lamps near little fingers. Instant-on or (shh!) all-night on applications. LED bulbs are our choice there. A few minutes of searching the other day found me this incandescent-equivalency chart but I neglected to take it to the light bulb store with me earlier this week.

Yes, a store dedicated only to lighting, light bulbs, and accessories. You aren’t going to find LED lights at Target unless they’re built into a fixture (hanging lamp, plug-in night light).

When I got there, I was greeted by an employee who offered to help me find what I needed. Great! I thought; another reason to support local businesses: friendly and knowledgeable staff. I didn’t leave thinking that way. Continue Reading »

No Comments »

Let’s see, finished the first year’s fundraiser without too many problems. Next year I’m just writing a check to PTA for our share - I’m not a big deal about fundraisers but I don’t want overpriced junk, frankly. There was a secondary fundraiser, a rummage sale; I would have liked to participate but notices weren’t sent home with our kids until the day before. I know, running PTA is hard, but I need to make the time to wade in and help.

Did Halloween, working on Thanksgiving but have been too busy to read, or scratch, or come up with good ideas to bore ya with here on the journal. Might just hibernate till after the holidays here and figure out what to do in the spring.

How’s your fall been?

No Comments »