Month: November 2011

Can’t Touch This

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Every once in awhile you come across a fantastic parent hack. A solution to a common problem that is so obvious, you just want to slap your forehead and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Very rarely do you find a parent hack that involves MC Hammer. Even more rare is a parent hack of both the the why-didn’t-I-think-of-that variety AND the MC Hammer variety. This is one of those hacks.

Problem: If only I had some way to easily, and consistently label the things that my kid shouldn’t touch. If only I had one icon (pun intended) that could easily signify to my child, “You Can’t Touch This”.

Please Hammer, don’t hurt ‘um.

Link via Sara

I’ll see you a 5k, and raise you a 5k

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Just a month after running her first 5k, Sara ran a 10k at Navy Pier last weekend. For some reason the chip didn’t record her time, so that means it doesn’t count and she has to do it over. No, just kidding, but it was a little disappointing. Sara’s unofficial time was 70 minutes, 50 seconds, which is pretty awesome. Especially when you consider this race was a lot more hilly than the 5k she ran.

To me, a 10k is a lot more serious that a 5k. The 5k had people who were just out for some fun, or just wanted to support the charity. This race didn’t have any jokers (to be fair, a lot of them were there to run the 10 mile, which is even more serious than the 10k). You can’t just show up and run a 10k the way you can a 5k. Therefore, I was twice as proud of Sara as when she ran the 5k. 🙂

Sara’s mom, dad and sister happened to be here, so they got to attend and cheer Sara on. And Oliver is still saying, “Go mama! Go mama!” if anybody happens to use the word “race” in a sentence.

Since the race happened to be at Navy Pier, we were basically sitting under the Ferris wheel the whole time. Evie has always wanted to go on a Ferris wheel, and talks about it whenever we go by Navy Pier. So as we were walking by, Sara figured, why not?

Did she enjoy it? More than I would have, that’s for sure!

She didn’t seem to be phased at all by it, but when she got back on the ground she told me that “Mommy was annoying me” by trying to sit opposite her to take a picture. She wanted Sara to stay put, right by her side. Every time Sara would move to the other side of the car to snap a picture, Evie would immediately move to that side of the car as well. I can’t blame her for that, though, considering I didn’t even want to get on the thing in the first place!

The world is a little poorer today

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Sad news for the family this week; my Aunt Barb passed away. Aunt Barb has been a constant in the family for so long, always present at reunions, family gatherings, and, of course, Thanksgiving, even after health problems made that difficult. She provided warmth both figuratively and literally, with the many afghans she crocheted over the years (we have one on our bed right now, and several more around the house). So, goodbye Aunt Barb. Your absence will not go unnoticed.

If anything good can come from Aunt Barb’s death, it’s this: please consider becoming an organ donor. Aunt Barb lived with a transplanted liver for over 15 years. This extra time allowed her a chance to see her kids get established, watch her grandkids grow up, travel, and spend time with her husband after he retired. It bought her time, a lot of time, and there isn’t a price high enough to pay what that’s worth.

—

Barbara, age 61, of Janesville, died on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011, at University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison. She was born in Janesville on July 25, 1950, the daughter of Raymond and Geraldine. She graduated from Parker High School in 1968, and married Bernard in St. William Catholic Church on Feb. 22, 1969. She had been a Janesville resident all of her life and was retired from the Data Shop. Barb was a lifetime member of St. William Catholic Church, actively learning Braille, and attended support groups for transplant and loss of sight. She loved listening to books, doing cross stitch and crocheting.

She is survived by her husband, Barney; 3 children: Andrea, Mike and Charlene all of Janesville; 3 grandchildren: Brandon, Samantha and Calvin; 6 siblings: Mike (Donna) of Evansville, Kath of Janesville, Mary (Paul) of Janesville, Carol (Mark) of Milton, Donna (Stephen) of Texas and LuAnne (John) of Janesville; many nieces, nephews, other extended family. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Lasting memorials may be made to the University of Wisconsin Transplant Program, Madison.

Quote Monday makes girls cry

/ Shane / 2 Comments

::Evie was interested in Italian, so Sara and I were teaching her all of the Italian words we could think of::
Me: “What do you think ‘scusi’ means?”
Evie: “I don’t know, what?”
Me: “It means ‘Excuse me’.”
Evie: “Like when you toot, or when you’re passing by somebody?”

I’m not sure Italian is that nuanced.

::Evie with her Halloween candy::
Evie: “Daddy, I just ate a zero!”
Me: “Zero what?”
Sara: “Nutrients.”

(For the record, she meant a life saver)

Evie: “Uncle Ben, you’re my only uncle with hair!” – Take that Uncle Nathan!

Me: “Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll put away the magic tricks. My magic is not supposed to make girls cry.”
Sara: “Your magic IS to make girls cry.”

Zombie PSA

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Zachary Levi from Chuck reminds us: be wise, shoot between the eyes. There’s no need for unnecessary zombie torture. Remember that zombies used to be people too!