mommy bytes mommy bytes Software geek and mom blogs about her life. I blog about the trial of parenting and work. I also review books and classical music, keep up with many podcasts and send along fun things I find on the internet. Articles
Chest Tattoos - Wasn't Our Idea
2008-05-01 06:55:00 For some reason, Adam wanted to plant his Pirates of the Caribbean temporary tattoo on his chest. We obliged and he pretended to look tough for the picture. In this one, he looked more like a drag queen. Something about those luscious lips. A week or so later, Dova wanted to put a temporary tattoo of Spongebob on her chest. We said no and were met by many why why why's. We tried to tell her that it wasn't nice for girls to put tattoos on their chests and they can't go around without a shirt. This made no sense to her as she insisted that it wasn't fair that her brother could, so we put the tattoo on (pick your battles right?). But it turned out oh-so-cute. Here she is with her Spongebob chest tattoo as well as a Spiderman tattoo on her forehead. Note: This post was written with Windows Live Writer another attempt by Microsoft to take over your life. I actually enjoyed the Polaroid Picture plug-in which make my lousy snapshots look cute and scrapbooky instead of p... More About: Idea , Chest , Tattoos
Thursday Thirteen - Things I learned from my dentist
2008-05-01 02:49:00 Disclaimer: These are opinions and stories offered by my dentist. Do your own research before making any decisions.Always brush with a soft or extra soft bristle brush. You clean wood floors with a soft broom and not sandpaper, right?Medium and hard toothbrushes should be banned like cigarettes. He thinks that the toothbrush industry keeps making them because of market demand, regardless of the evidence that proves that they damage teeth. The only thing they are good for are cleaning your car wheels.Just because the masses think something is popular doesn't mean they are right. This is why Google is bad. (He has a lot of other internet conspiracy theories as well).The Philips Sonicare toothbrush was developed by mimicking ultrasonic dental tools that are used by professionals, but they require proper technique that most people don't use. For more on this debate, see my previous post about Sonicare vs. Rotadent.Medium/hard and Philips Sonicare toothbrushes take off a thin l... More About: Thirteen , Things , Thursday , Dentist , Learned
Wordless Wednesday - More Dolls
2008-04-30 02:52:00 Poor Sleeping Beauty's head kept popping off so we tie-wrapped her neck shut. Looks like a necklace right?Here's Polly Pocket borrowing one of Cinderella's dresses. Hmm, looks like Disney took the form factor right from Polly. Disney learned though that hair on tiny dolls (these are about 4 inches high) does not work. This hair was tamed only by putting it straight up.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Wednesday , Dolls
Tuesday Toot - Adam Reads!
2008-04-29 04:18:00 Just last month, I posted about Adam finally getting over his writer's block and writing his first grade assignments. But when it comes to reading, he had been doing minimum required for his homework every night (10 minutes) and the Pizza Hut Book It program. That is until we discovered the Magic Tree House series.There was a special in the last Scholastic circular where you could buy 30 books from this series for $40. As you can see from the Amazon prices, $33 only gets you 12 books, so the Scholastic deal was really good (I did the same with the Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books long before we started reading them - can't pass up a good deal). Still, $40 is a lot to invest in books that your child may or may not like. The reviews on Amazon looked very positive so I took the bet.And suddenly, Adam has found that he loves to read these books! If he wakes up early, he stays in bed and reads. He said he woke up in the middle of the night once and read by flashlight for an hour (... More About: Tuesday
Photo Hunters - Unique/Funny Signs
2008-04-26 01:39:00 I seem to have a penchant for photographing signs, so I had lots to choose from this week. I took this picture of this "Bad Dog!" sign along the Cliff Walk in Newport Rhode, Island this month. Now, what I can't figure out is if the bad dog is inside the fence and will rip you to shreds if you get past the barbed wire. Or if the dogs you are walking are bad if they get too close to the fence. Or if you are a bad dog for thinking about trespassing. We often call our kids "bad kitties" when they misbehave so maybe that's what they meant. And they made about 20 of these signs to put around this fence. Bad Dog!This tsunami sign was in Dana Point, California. Thankfully, my hotel was right next to this sign so my company put me up safely. There were plenty of hotels and restaurants situated below the sign. This sign is located right under the 35 mph speed limit sign below:View Larger Map--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Funny , Photo , Signs , Unique , Hunters
Where are my kids?
2008-04-25 07:05:00 No, I haven't fallen off the blogging wagon, I took my family on a business trip during school vacation week and left myself with absolutely no extra time or room (literally - I holed myself up in the bathroom for the sk*rt editors call-in). And I left my blog without a photograph of my beautiful kids on the front page! Obviously not keeping up with my exploitative mommyblogging. No, I don't hock their ridiculous antics for advertising cash (much), I incessantly post pictures of them for all the world to drool over (pimp!). This picture was captured entirely by accident as they were in no mood to behave as shown in these shots: Now back to your regularly scheduled program.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Kids
Thursday Thirteen #40 - Earth Day Challenge Results
2008-04-25 05:13:00 Here's my belated Earth Day post where I take up Boss Sander's challenge of trying to reduce my trash to nothing for one day. Since I knew this would be impossible, I documented every piece of trash I threw out instead, with commentary on possible options to reduce and reuse it. And somehow, it neatly fits into a Thursday Thirteen post as well.Blister package for Claritin substitute. All medication of this type, no matter how large the quantity, is encapsulated in blister packaging which is completely useless. You cannot reuse it or re-purpose it in any way and it is made from a paper, foil and plastic combination that is totally non-recyclable. What are my options here? Not take the medicine and suffer through spring time allergies? Fight this sort of packaging and endure the wrath of the lobbying group that made this sort of packaging mandatory to safeguard children from accidental overdose (moms like me most likely!)? Or perhaps it is the pharmaceutical industry covering... More About: Earth Day , Results , Challenge
Photo Hunters - Thirteen
2008-04-19 07:13:00 Here is Dova's Disney Princess collection. In the back row are her six Princess Babies: Tinkerbell, Ariel, Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Snow White and Cinderella. This was before Disney cast out Tinkerbell as a princess as she is only a fairy. You must be either born royalty or marry into it, although Mulan is neither (but she is Chinese, woot!). Since Dova didn't have Jasmine and didn't like any of the full size Jasmine dolls, she picked out the seven Disney Princess figurine set with Jasmine, Ariel, Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella and Mulan. This was also before Pocohantas was added. And poor Giselle from Enchanted was not added because she was portrayed by a real actress who needs real royalties. Oh, the turmoils of the Disney Princess cult! --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Thirteen , Hunters
Creative Play - You're Doing It Wrong!
2008-04-17 06:02:00 I heard this story on NPR, Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control, about the Tools of the Mind program which promotes creative play as a means to promote self-regulation in children. Now I totally agree that today's kids have too many structured activities and that can lead to issues with self-control. According to a companion NPR piece, Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills:It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.But the techniques outlined in the Tools of the Mind program left me thinking that they totally missed the boat. Preschoolers are asked to make a written plan before they play, making them think in advance about what they ar... More About: Wrong
Thursday Thirteen #39 - Earth Day Edition
2008-04-16 19:56:00 Here are some things that we've done to reduce, recycle, reuse and preserve our precious Earth .Install a dryer vent that can switch from venting outdoors to venting indoors during the winter. In the wintertime, the thing you need most in is warmth and moisture. This provides plenty of both, plus your home smells like clean laundry. This kit is relatively cheap (~$20) at Home Depot.Install CFL light bulbs everywhere. Not only do they save money in electricity, they keep your house cooler in the summer.Use a real cup for water at work. The amount of styrofoam cups that are used at work is mind boggling. You don't even need to wash a water cup that often and I use the extra water at the end of the day to water my plants.Use a ceramic mug for coffee. Yes you do have to wash a coffee mug out, but thankfully this just deters me from drinking coffee every day.Printed out recycling signs and posted "No Cans / No Bottles" signs over the garbage cans at work. Recycling is very new in... More About: Earth Day , Thirteen , Thursday , Edition
(Not So) Wordless Wednesday - Tea for Two?
2008-04-16 04:17:00 Since we were only one of two couples staying during our recent visit to the Cliffside Inn, they graciously delivered our tea to our room. This is more food than two people can eat for dinner! And since we were on vacation, we gladly ate almost the entire selection and then went out for a late dinner as well. NOM NOM NOM! On the top row, house blend tea, tea sandwiches (chicken salad and capers, cucumber and cheese, goat cheese and tomato, no eggs and caviar this year ), spinach, peppers and cheese on puff pastry and mini sausage quiches. On the bottom, scones with butter and jam (the only items we didn't eat), chocolate chip cookies, macadamia white chocolate cookies, carrot cake with chocolate frosting, and 7 layer coconut caramel chocolate bars. All freshly baked and prepared of course. We still can't shake the extra two pounds gained from this indulgence.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Wednesday
Keys to a Great Software Demo
2008-04-15 05:43:00 Last week I did a live demo of the software that I have developed at work to our technical group, engineering managers and application engineers. Instead of tooting myself, let me use my boss's words. I conveniently scheduled the demo in the morning before my quarterly review. Your demo was outstanding. You had to overcome a lot of obstacles, switching back and forth from the Powerpoint presentation to the software, handling the instrument, and jumping over the cord to reach inside.Your mix of slides and demo was really good.Bullet points on the slides were nice and short. (I applied the Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule of Powerpoint).Your pace was really good, everyone remained interested.You were very calm and collected and put everyone at ease.Keep up the great work.Whew! What seems like calm, collected and professional Angela is actually a nervous wreck for the few days before the demo, especially a few hours beforehand. Of course most of the work was in the preparation and her... More About: Software , Great , Demo , Keys
Photo Hunters - Twisted
2008-04-12 01:12:00 This tree can be found near the Chinese pagoda along the Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island. It reminds me of twisted trees you see in Chinese paintings.I played around in Photo shop and got this really twisted looking tree using the "neon glow" effect.Here is a detailed shot of these twisted branchesIf you don't know what I mean by twisted trees in Chinese paintings, the artist Wang Dachuan does.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Hunters
Wordless Wednesday - His and Hers Nintendo DSes
2008-04-09 01:58:00 Here is my son Adam's Brain Age 2 Nintendo DS with the free rainbow stylus pack and my Zelda Nintendo DS with the free feather stylus (we swapped games of course). I lucked out and got in on the surveys while they were still open (yes, I obsessively checked every few days). I had a tough time with the title of this post and had to determine the plural of DS from this site. Jury is still out on the plural of stylus. I would go with 'styli' and not 'styluses' and I hate that the dictionary says both are acceptable! OK, enough words for this Wordless Wednesday . This post was published five days ago using draft.blogger.com.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment!
Is it The Secret?
2008-04-09 01:38:00 I'm finally back with a Hump Day Hmm hosted by Julie Pippert: Using My Words. I've always felt that I determine the course of my life and it is not predestined as fate. It is a function of my own hard work, choices and decisions. Control control control, logic logic logic. But then, there are coincidences that are too good to be true and unexplained fortunes. Is it God at work? Is it karma? Is it the universe answering my call?Last year, a life coach come by work and give a seminar on achieving your full potential and attaining all that you desire. It sounded intriguing, so I went even though I have it all (I'm kidding of course, there's always room from improvement, especially in the child behavior department). The woman looked wacky and wild and said breathlessly "I'm going to stop talking and put on the video." We sat mesmerized for 20 minutes. She turned it off before it finished and said that you too can learn how to attain everything you desire if you fork over... More About: The Secret , Secret
Just in case we forget
2008-04-08 06:19:00 Adam and Dova's favorite activity is jumping off the couch.Parental amnesia is a wonderful thing because you'd strangle your kids if you remembered all the exasperating things they do. I remember that Adam had a terrible year between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, culminating right around the time Dova was born after he had turned 3. But when I try to remember exactly what he did or how he acted, nothing specific comes to mind. I only remember a conversation with my mom while I was in the hospital giving birth. She said that he was totally out of control, throwing things on top of the fridge and that we'd find all sorts of stuff behind there someday (a few years later, we sent him behind the fridge for some other reason and he fished the stuff out). And as bad as he was, Dova was much worse. And it lasted way past 3 1/2. But lately, almost imperceptibly, she has actually gotten better. During our recent getaway to Newport, she didn't have any meltdowns in front of the grandmas, where ... More About: Case
Tuesday Toot - I replaced my iPod battery
2008-04-08 04:12:00 It has been months since my iPod has gone on the blink and I have been hemming and hawing about either getting the battery replaced for around $70 dollars or buying a new iPod. What I didn't know as a self-respecting geek, was that you can just pop the thing open and replace the battery yourself. I learned this from some true Apple core geeks on my last business trip. These software engineers had really cool MacBooks running Windows XP and OS X, with custom designed graphic skins. One guy was using MacJournal to take all his notes on his super quiet keyboard, while I typed away loudly in Microsoft Word on my POS Lenovo T60 (company issue, can't complain). I almost considered getting a MacBook for about a microsecond. That evening I ordered a $10 battery from Battery Ship.com and the day it arrived I went to replace the battery.Thank goodness for the internet and the folks at ipodhowtovideo.com. The replacement went exactly as the showed and took me no more than 10 minutes. ... More About: Ipod , Tuesday
Photo Hunters - Glass
2008-04-05 05:45:00 Here are two glass vases. The first one looks like painted green glass, but it is actually a clear vase with leaves from a bird of paradise plant lining the inside. The second is from our favorite restaurant in Newport, RI, Tucker's Bistro. Every year when we visit, we are always greeted to a beautiful display of tulips in a lighted vase. I just noticed that this year's vase is different from last year's.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Glass , Hunters
Curly Hair
2008-04-04 04:49:00 I instantly fell in love with this curly haired doll that Dova got from Burger King (plus I had a blast setting up this "studio" shot). Her hair is larger than life and full of beautiful curls that I envied as a child with straight straight straight hair. For some reason, girls always want to have something different than what they are born with. My best childhood friend had curly hair and would kill for straight hair. Dova, for some reason, would rather have dark hair like her brother and me rather than her beautiful brown hair with red highlights. At least they are proud of being half Chinese. I was more ambivalent about being Chinese until I was older.Back in the eighties when big hair was in, I succumbed to perm mania, which would look simply unnatural nowadays. This photo was from 1989 when I was 22. Of course I picked a flattering picture of myself and not the horrible mugshot I had on my passport (it even scares Doug). I hope big hair never comes back and I am very hap... More About: Hair
Thursday Thirteen #38 - All out of whack
2008-04-03 03:47:00 Every year, Doug and I take a mini-vacation away from the kids and have their two grandmas watch them at our house. And these 2 days quickly set our routines upside down. Here are thirteen things that got out of whack.House - The grandmas are not quite as strict about having the kids clean up their toys. When we got back I found all sorts of things under the aquarium table: poker chips, fish from a fishing game, plastic easter egg halves, spoons, monkeys from monkeys in a barrel, and ice from Don't Break the Ice, too name a few. When I asked Dova what all that stuff was doing there, she said "that's my garbage can." I instantly hit the roof and all relaxation gained from vacation disappeared.Dova - Our daughter was replaced by a sweet girl that showers you with kisses instead of being grumpy and difficult. A welcome change!Adam - Our normally well-behaved son became totally manic and out of control. He even stepped squarely on my foot with his hockey skate after hockey prac... More About: Thirteen , Thursday , Whack
Love Grapefruit!
2008-03-30 05:47:00 Here's my version of the XKCD fruit matrix. Usually I am always right in tune with XKCD, but this time, I had to take exception to their F*ck Grapefruit comic below.First of all, grapefruit is not a sickly green color. Today's red and pink grapefruit have a beautiful yellow color with a pink blush. So I prettied it up and moved it into the tasty zone. Yes, they are still difficult, but luckily I have a special grapefruit knife which has a curved blade on one end and a double blade on the other end (to cut the skin sections with half the effort).I also had to move a lot of the other fruit around and add yellow apples, my favorite apple. They may be easy for some, but I take the kid factor into account. I still need to peel and cut apples and pears as well as pit cherries before they can be consumed. And have you tried to pit seeded grapes for a toddler? Not even worth it. And bananas are easy and tasty, what happened there? The only fruit I pretty much left alone were pin... More About: Love
Photo Hunters - High
2008-03-29 01:48:00 I went to the archives this week and pulled some shots of Adam on the playground being up high.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , High , Hunters
Thursday Thirteen #37 - Dova's Sayings
2008-03-27 13:34:00 Our four-year-old daughter Dova always amazes us with the things she says. Her sayings are often funny and sometimes quite profound. She is always cracking her teachers up at school. Here's a sampling:Stop it! You're making my brain all crackly.Don't make me rip your heads off! (Speaking to one person)How come you can't control nature, you can only love it? There will be no more breaking hearts because the heart is living tome and because there is friendship all over the world.Dova: Would you be freaked out by eyeballs and blood in a bag? Mom: Yes!Dad: Dova, where do you get these ideas from?Dova: From my heart.Adam: Cool.Dova: How do you spell 'curse'?Mom: Why do you want to spell that? That's not a nice word.Dova: Well, how do you spell it?Mom: c-u-r-s-eDova: How do you spell 'evil' curse?Mom: e-v-i-l. Where are you learning these phrases?Dova: From Scooby-Doo.Mom: (note to self, no more borrowing Scooby-Doo from the library!)If Spongebob jumped out of the TV everyo... More About: Thirteen , Thursday
Wordless Wednesday - Easter Cookies
2008-03-26 02:17:00 --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Easter , Cookies , Wednesday
Tuesday Toot - Adam Finishes Zelda
2008-03-25 01:46:00 OK, I can hear the protests of parents everywhere saying that you shouldn't let your kids play too many video games, but in this case, I really believe this is quite an accomplishment and educational experience for this seven-year-old (or I've drunk too much Nintendo Kool-Aid). Prior to this, Adam played through most of his games without reading any of the text, but The Legend of Zelda : Phantom Hourglass required him to pay attention. After a while, he got stuck and kept asking me for help, which I couldn't provide so I went to Google. I printed out a 42 page walk-through from GameFAQ and showed him how to read the table of contents and navigate through the document. Now these walk-throughs are not written for first graders, so I thought that he would probably give up on the game. He did have to ask for help once in a while, but for the most part, he was able to find where he was and decipher what he needed to do. He solved puzzles, annotated maps, went fishing (his favori... More About: Tuesday
Photo Hunters - Metal
2008-03-22 03:51:00 When I saw this week's theme "metal", I thought, that will be tough as my home and surroundings are so predominantly wooden. Then I remembered my piano with its huge cast frame and hundreds of metal strings.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Metal , Hunters
Look-Alike Meters and Celebrity Morphing
2008-03-21 16:02:00 We've always thought that Adam looks more like me and Dova looks more like her Dad, but this is telling us that they don't really look like either of us! This software is pretty cool, it automatically scans the picture and crops the faces out. From the people that brought us my previous Celebrity Look-Alike.The morphing software creeps me out a bit, and here I am morphing into Christina Applegate and Josh Groban (of course I didn't pick easy morphing into Asian celebs).MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Old pictures - Free family tree software--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Meters , Look-alike
Wordless Wednesday - Peepz
2008-03-19 03:49:00 These are plush Peeps that look just like the real ones. I have to hide them from Dova because she loses them instantly. For a not so innocent peeps, check out the peep show at ICanHasCheezburger. Happy Peeps day!--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Wednesday
Tuesday Toot - Dova is a natural skier
2008-03-18 05:24:00 Two years ago, I took Adam skiing for the first time when he was five. I had seen tiny tots fly down the hill and always imagined that I would have kids that would do that. Both Doug and I learned to ski as adults, so we didn't have the experience of learning to ski before we could even remember. But during Adam's first lesson, he fell so many times and I felt sorry for him and thought he hated it. Afterwards, to my surprise, he said he liked it. After a couple more lessons, he quickly got to the point where he could bop down the bunny hill with no problem. I began to think that he was already past the age of fearlessness at age five, and simply learned to overcome it.This winter has gone by under the blur of illness for me and after finally recovering to the point of considering to ski, it was halfway through March. Oh no, ski season ends in a few weeks! I quickly signed both kids up for lessons (Dova's first) and hoped for good weather. At first the kids were excited a... More About: Natural , Tuesday
Photo Hunters - I Spy... A Mermaid
More articles from this author:2008-03-15 02:16:00 Oh my, that's a lot of food for one little mermaid! Dova helped make those sandwiches, including "apple sandwiches". Play food is one of her absolute favorite toys. For some reason, we can't find the ice cream cones, hope she didn't eat them...--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Hunters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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