X Factor Contestant

Well, the fan came in today for my laptop and dh is performing open fan surgery on it so hopefully will be out of the laptop icu soon. I miss it so.

I just stumbled on this You Tube vide of a contestant on Britain's X Factor (their American Idol) and this guy who Simon Cowell said gave the best first audition of anyone he has ever seen. I personally liked this, but I saw from the You Tube comments there were some folks who weren't overwhelmed. I think the guy gave a smooth and entertaining performance and I can see why he got such high praise from the judges.

So, enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zLkailhsqk

We wait and pray. With our tap lights.

Well, the fan has still not come for my laptop so dh can preform open fan surgery. So all we can do is sit and wait and pray that it will come soon. And try to live life with one laptop in the family.

I saw mums in the store the other day and I felt that dread I get about this time every year. The dread that means fall is just a few weeks away and that winter is close on its heels. With fall getting here and hurricane season in full swing, I've tried to think about what I'd need to do to get ready for one. You'd think I live in the Gulf Coast with all my big talk of hurricane preparations, but I don't. I just hate the thought of getting stuck with two little kids with no power and figuring out how to live without technology for a few days. I can't even handle not having my laptop not working let alone not having electricity and running water. I'm no Ma Ingalls.

So to get ready for power outages, I decided to go to Wal Mart and buy some of those tap lights to use. I figured I'd include a picture in case y'all are scratching your heads trying to figure out what a tap light is. They are battery run lights and you just press on the center of them. I thought that these would be a safe option with having two little ones. I remember when one of the hurricanes came through during the day a few years ago and we lost power that the house was dark. Little ones are going to want to play and I'll need a safe way to have lights on for them. So this was my solution. You can get four small ones in a pack for around $3.95 at Wal Mart. My package actually came with the batteries so it was a great deal.

We just fixed it so Sawyer is in a toddler bed and I haven't wanted to have a night light plugged in for him, so I've put one of these tap lights in his room so he can turn it on and off during the night if he wants a light on. This has made me feel better to give him a night light that doesn't need to be plugged in for him to potentially mess with the electrical plugs.

So, that is what is going on in our neck of the woods today. Hope you are having a good day.

No laptop = the vapors

As my great grandmother used to say "I've got the vapors". Just before we went to leave on vacation my laptop fan decided to go on strike. So, dh wasn't able to take a look at it until last night. He has ordered a new fan and can hopefully perform open fan surgery on my poor laptop soon. I've been able to swipe his laptop for brief moments.

Once I can get in recovery mode from returning from vacation and having my pc in the pcicu, I plan to do a bunch of posts on our trip to North Carolina's Outer Banks. I've got a number of great suggestions in case you and your family decide to visit the area. It is a wonderful place that I love to visit. The beach is my favorite place to vacation and I'd stay all summer if I could.

So, that is what is going on here. I hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods.

Darn technology

Whelp, what a crummy end to the week it was last week. Thursday morning I booted up my computer and all seemed well and then it shut off. I ran some errands and got back that afternoon intending to post and then the darn computer kept shutting down. So, my computer is in the ICU for computers and I don't know when it will get out. So, for right now I'm giving myself a blog vacation this week and I will return the following week. I'll have lots to share about my vacation to the beach. After the computer blowing up and trying to get us all packed, my vacation couldn't come at a better time.

So, you have a good week and we will catch up next week. I hope.

p.s. Please say a prayer for my computer.

George was a good little monkey and always curious...

I've been wanting to share this for a while and I thought today is the day! Both of my sister's in law graduated from college in May. While out looking for gradation gifts for them we discovered that there is a Curious George graduation book called "Curious You". We were delighted and thought this was the perfect gift for them from us because in case I haven't mentioned, Sawyer is President of the Curious George fan club. It all George all the time at our house. He loves the PBS cartoon and when he picks out which stories we will read, he always chooses George books.


I decided that I wanted to personalize the gifts and one night when I was up in the middle of the night with the baby, it hit me that it would be nice to include the following:


10 Life Lessons for you from Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat.

1.) Always be curious about the world around you, but not too curious that it leads to trouble.

2.) Observe the world around you with wonder and amazement.

3.) A good banana always helps fuel you for the day ahead.

4.) Find a mentor that can give you good advice and provide a good example.

5.) When dealing with naughty monkeys, patience and love is a must.

6.) When you are feeling lost, step back and climb a tree to get a bird's eye view of the situation. It will provide clarity and show you the way.

7.) Surround yourself with knowledgeable people. They can help your curiousity grow and blossom.

8.) Learn from your mistakes.

9.) Yellow is the new black.

10.) Always be a good little monkey.

Two Tip Tuesday

Tuesday shmooz day. Another Tuesday. Now that August is here the summer will fly by quickly. In about two weeks I'll get that anxious feeling I do every year knowing summer will be over. Summer is my favorite season and I hate to see it come to an end.


A lot of folks I know are headed to the beach this month to get in their vacation plans before kids go back to school. We are also doing that. I love going to the beach. If money were no object, I'd own a beach house and stay at it all summer. There is something relaxing about the sound of the waves, the smell of the sea and some sand between my toes.


Tip#1

For today's Two Tip Tuesday, I thought I'd pass on two tips for traveling to the beach with infants. I learned the first summer we had Sawyer that when you have a little one who is sitting up, but not walking yet you need a way to keep them entertained and cool at the beach. Getting a small inflatable swimming pool is a great solution.

I got this pool back around Easter and it went in Logan's Easter basket. It is a Fisher Price and was $5 at Wal Mart. The thing I love about this is it is the perfect size for traveling and you won't pass out trying to blow it up. In the future if you know anyone having a baby and they'd be at the age where they are sitting up during the summer, file this away as a baby gift idea. I had mentioned this to my neighbor and she did this on her vacation last month and said it worked wonderfully.


This picture of Logan in his pool was taken on a quick beach trip we did at the end of June with some good friends. As you can see, he was very happy to be splashing away. I didn't have to worry about the waves knocking him over. And if the ocean is really cold, putting a small amount in the pool will allow it to warm up quicker so your little one isn't freezing. Of course my little fearless guy doesn't care if the water is warm or cold. He is ready to splash.



Tip#2
My second tip is to get a beach cabana/beach shade if you don't own one. I thought I had a picture of us in ours, but I couldn't find it so I pulled this one off the Internet. My parents gave one to us for Christmas and that first year we had Sawyer at the beach it was perfect for us. The one we have is so big that I was able to fit in it as well as dh, Sawyer, and our Boston Terrier. And we were all comfortable. It was wonderful to have a way to get ourselves out of the sun and let the baby take a nap without having to leave the beach right away. And it is very easy to put together. It pops open just like a pop up camping tent. Since it has the flexibility of a pop up, it folds down into a box that doesn't take up a lot of space which is nice.



So those are my beach recommendations for you this Tuesday. Hope you are having a great day in your neck of the woods. Oh, and don't forget the sunscreen!

Wii like this Resort

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. The weekend always seems to go by so quickly. We've had rain showers in and out. You never know if you need an umbrella or sunglasses.

I thought I'd share with y'all one of our newest activities at my house. We got this new game called Wii Sports Resort. We got the Wii a few months ago and we have had fun playing the sports games that came with it. It has been especially fun when we have family get togethers and the Wii provides great entertainment. We especially like playing the tennis and bowling.

When this new game came out, dh suggested we get it. He always keeps up on that kind of stuff. So, he went and bought it about a week ago. We finally had a chance to open it over the weekend and it is a lot of fun. There are 12 different games. They have really unique things like: wave boarding, fencing, and there is a game with an airplane. There are also some of the usual things you'd find like: golf, basketball, and bowling.

We really enjoyed playing this game and I'd recommend it. The thing I like about the Wii and this game is that it requires you to get involved physically. You can have fun and get a little bit of exercise in at the same time. The new Wii Motion Plus add on really makes the controller sensitive and for a few of the games like the golf, it make take a little practice to get used to it. And the new fencing game is a great way to get out the stress. LOL

I was recently talking to another mom who was wanting to work on doing some exercising, but she wanted to be able to do it at home. That is one really cool thing about the Wii is that they have the Wii fitness available. There is a balance board adaptor that you buy and you can do various exercises. The machine can assess where you are and will make recommendations on exercises for you to do. It has a personal trainer and it helps you set fitness goals to reach in a recommended time. There are various exercises such as strength training and aerobics. There is another one, but I can't think of it now.

So, if you don't know much about the Wii you might want to check them out. I was amazed at all the stuff it can do. And with a lot of folks doing staycations these days, having a fun game like the new Wii resort can provide hours of entertainment for your whole family. So get your family moving.