A Day In My Life

My friend Jen Tucker (who also got me doing the Five Things meme), recently did a post going through one day in her life. It was fun to read and see a typical day in a friend's life. Not to mention I was part of her day! So I decided to do one of my own, because it looked like fun. Also thought it would be interesting to see exactly what I do in a day.

Turns out it's rather boring. Ok, very boring. But you know, I'm not complaining. I don't mind routine, since I have plenty of other days where I'm running around like a crazy woman. This just happened to be a slow day.

There are 45 photos- prepare yourself. Remember, if you think it's silly or stupid or don't want to read any further- then don't. I didn't do this for you. ;-)

Preparing to record my radio tracks for the day. However I've all ready been up for an hour and a half, getting the kids ready for school and out the door. Just didn't think about the camera before I had coffee in me.

The time. Coffee in hand, I head to the studio/office/storage and guest room to...

...record tracks for the radio!

Uploading... uploading... uploading...

So after that was done, I changed out of my PJ's and into my workout clothes. Then I noticed there was a message on the machine from my sister Katie. Since she's about to pop with baby #3 any day now....

I gave her a call! Turns out she is still waiting (I suggested a bike ride), but unfortunately had bad news regarding our Great Aunt Anita, who is back in the hospital (91 years old!). Once we got the sad news out of the way, we got to other topics...

Oh dear will you look at the time? I should probably get off the phone now...

*giggle*

Ok, NOW it's WiiFit time! I did pretty good this month- even with the three days we were at Disneyland.

What I've been averaging for a workout. About 30 minutes of the time has been running. I want to get that up to 45 minutes. Time to step it up a notch!

All ready thinking about #evfn (east valley friday nights) tonight. It's at my favorite place, Whole Foods Tapas Bar. I couldn't decide which top to wear, so I put three aside for later.

Showered- time check! I think I'm hungry. Of course I'm hungry- I just worked out and all I had was coffee!

Eww. I guess I need to take care of this at some point. But first things first...

Loads of protein, low fat, and really the taste isn't too bad.

Hey- how did that bagel get there? I also think I still have some Disney fever going on.

While eating, I did a few retakes of lines for an upcoming podcast a friend is doing (not going into detail because I don't know if he wants it public yet).

Finished recording before I finished eating.... so I checked in on twitter and facebook.

Finished eating, and look ma no more dirty dishes!

This pic is really just to shock my husband. I bet he didn't know I knew where it was!

Time Check! Geez... less than an hour until I get the kids. And I haven't even looked at Google Reader yet!

Ahhh.... Google Reader fix. How else would I know what's happening in the world? While I was browsing, my neighbor gave me a call to tell me about something wonderful on the TV today. So wonderful she called me from inside a movie theatre so she wouldn't forget to let me know. To the DVR Batman!

Is it true? Yes! Yes it is! Justin on Oprah! My neighbor is a true friend.

Time for carpool hour! Yes, I mean hour. You'll see...

Allison transferred up to the school's north campus this year, so I have to travel to two schools, 3 miles apart, in 15 minutes to make both car lines. With all the construction going on along the routes to the school, I leave early, and usually have to wait for a few minutes before getting in the car line. That way I'm not sitting like a dead duck on a busy stree waiting in line.

Stop #1 complete, along with her two classmates I drop off on the way home. Line went slower today- will we make it to main campus in time???? Oh the suspense!!!!!!!1!!

Whew! Made it! Good thing, I might have had to get OUT of the van to get her then...

Looks like someone got a hold of the camera...

Home. Took a little longer today because I ran into even more construction on the way home.

Sam was complaining there was nothing to eat for a snack, so I fixed it the only way a mom can.

Then we chilled on the sofa for a bit. PE days on Friday makes for a tiring end to a school week!

I chilled with her for a bit, but what am I thinking?
"evfn evfn evfn..."

Well, I had a snack. Really wanted the Doritos, but this seemed like the smarter choice. Then what do I hear? The sweet, sweet ping of skype? Why yes! It's Dave, calling conservatives maroons. I politely correct him with the proper Bugs Bunny vocabulary, stating it's actually "ultra-maroon". So he checked my facts:

Oh yeah, I know my stuff. What a gull-a-bull! So I sat through a few cartoons, then realized I should make dinner in the hopes of sneaking away to evfn.

When life hands you ground beef, you stick your hands in it and mush it around, add a few spices and...

...turn around momentarily to see your daughter in a laundry basket, writing in a journal. Ok then.

as I was saying... you add some spices and make burgers! I was a good girl, I didn't eat any. I had an ear of corn. I noticed the time, it was after 5:30. Still no hubby. I hadn't changed yet, no make up. My window was closing fast. Then-

He is home! He is home!
He is tired! He is tired!
Poor thing has been a little sick all week, and just looked exhausted. So I made a decision.

No evfn for me.
It's all good though- because tomorrow I am going to lunch w/some friends, have a meeting for PodcampAZ, and next week? Big fund raiser concert for the radio station! Bret ended up taking the girls out to buy kites for a father/daughter Girl Scout event tomorrow, so I BET I could have snuck away...

What was scary though is when I looked up from the computer to realize I was alone, and Hannah Montana was still on the TV. Hmm... let's do something about this...

MUCH better. Watched the Oprah recorded from earlier while watching #evfn, #earthhour, and #tcot on the twitter feed site Monitter. Am I old enough to be a cougar yet? I think I still have a few years, but I could always be his stalker until then!

So, after that was over I did the dinner dishes, and realized I was still just sitting and browsing online. The girls were kind of doing their own thing, Bret was on the other computer doing something. So I figured that was probably it for my day. At least where documenting it was concerned.

So there is a typical day of my life. Even though this was one of the more drab ones, it was still kind of neat to look back on it and see exactly what I did (or did not) do. I might do it again in the future, maybe when I know I've got more things on my plate for the day! Thanks for sticking it out to the painful end!

Comparing Blood Types

I have been teasing my fellow Mom-friends for months about this whole Twilight phenomenon. As is my usual way, the second something becomes a bandwagon, I avoid it at all costs. I'm not sure why that is. Probably because I personally can't just jump in and think something is awesome because millions of others think so. There always has to be a catch- you know, "if it's too good to be true..." blah blah blah. I did the same thing with Harry Potter. Even when it came to now-President Obama (my jury is still out on him though), I just couldn't jump on and support him. Hell, I didn't even join Twitter right away, and fought it a long time before joining. Now I'm its biggest cheerleader. Same with Facebook, though I still don't use it as often as Twitter, but I definitely see the positives now.

Seeing how Twilight became such a big tween/teen hit, and then seeing grown women fantasize about being Edwards lamb, it just didn't mix right with me. If it appeals so much to children, why are my friends acting so weird? The books have only gotten warm reviews from them, but yet they go nuts over it. One friend even saw it seven times in the theatre. What the hell was I missing?

I finally had my chance to find out- my neighbor threw a Twilight party today, and invited me and my daughter Allison. Allison was way excited, and I figured sure, why not. I can see what all the hub-bub was about. Who knows, I might even be surprised. As with most of the bandwagon jumping I resist, I can come around. I just need to do so at my own pace. And after all I *do* like vampire movies/stories. True Blood is a great series (want to read all the books now), and I still find myself watching "Interview With A Vampire" when I come across it on the movie channels now and again. So I went in with an open mind, and wasn't even thrown off by all my friends wearing Twilight T-Shirts (It was a little disturbing though, sort of like if a grown woman was wearing a Hannah Montana shirt).

To sum up the movie, it was like watching a two-hour music video. Visual images with that goth-sounding music in the background. Mediocre acting, none of the characters really grabbed me or drew me in. Not very realistic. "How can it be realistic? It's a vampire movie!" you might say. Well, the difference is that True Blood basically has the same premise, but they set it up in such a way where vampires and humans are actually living together openly in society. They drink synthetically-made blood so they don't feed on humans (supposedly). There's a Christian/political base who is trying to keep vampires from being equal citizens. AND it also has a love story as well. A vampire and a woman fall in love, and she doesn't fear him. All in all a lot more depth and meat (and good acting) to the story than Twilight. (For the record, The Sookie Stackhouse series True Blood is based on came out first. Wonder if Stephanie Meyers read it before her dream? ;-) )

As for Twilight, I tried to enjoy it. I truly did. I think for me what it comes down to is I need more adult stories. I need something that will make me actually believe the world that is presented to me could exist, not just a long, drawn out fantasy. If it's meant to be a fantasy (like Lord of the Rings or something like that) I can deal. However, Twilight is set in a real-life present time, and it fell way short. It's a fantasy meant to appeal to the tween/teen imagination, and in that respect it was done well.

Now, I don't even want to read the books, and I had been toying with reading them after seeing how much Allison enjoyed them. I wanted to see what was making her laugh out loud and read lines to me. That desire is gone.

I will never be invited to another party at my neighbors again, I'm pretty sure. But before anyone calls me an old fuddy-duddy, I will fight any 13-year-old tooth and nail for tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert!

Cookies Gone Wild!

As most who parooze the many places I am online know, I am a Girl Scout Leader, this being my first year. I admit it was rough taking this on. I had no clue what I was getting into when I said yes. It's pretty much like running a small business, except since you're part of a bigger Borg you don't have to do taxes.

Once we actually got started with working with the girls, I have totally been enjoying showing these girls how to take an interest in the world around them. I'm also using the Girl Scouts to promote my own evil liberal agenda: Community service, taking care of the environment. I figure the more of our youth we teach to care about where they live now, well, the better chance our future has all around. We've become too lazy, too self-involved.... but that's a post for another day.

I've had to bite my tongue on a few things concerning Girl Scouts. Some are silly and easy to not make a big deal about, like the fact that they sell a shirt that says "Defy Conformity" while requiring a uniform. I mean, I get it. Teach our future women to think outside the box, while still being part of a team. All the same, it still makes me giggle. Another thing that bothered me but I can still handle, is the use of "God" in the Promise. GSUSA made it ok to substitute "God" to cover any religion, but has never officially said it was ok to opt out of saying you want to serve any Diety at all. Again, not a huge deal, easy enough to overlook for the greater good of the organization.

What I *do* have a bit of a beef about is how archaic Girl Scouts still seems to be when it comes to technology, social media and using the many online tools available to get the word out about various things related to Girl Scouts. Like, for instance, cookies. Recently a Scout in North Carolina was ordered to take down her You Tube video advertising cookies sales. Upon further investigation on this story (as the AP article doesn't really tell you bupkus), I found out that this girl, Wild Freeborn, went to her dad with what seemed like a very innovative way to generate sales. A video on You Tube, with information on how to order cookies. How awesome is that?

Not so awesome, according to GSUSA. Not only did they say it was a violation of their "no internet sales" policy, but they made her take the video down. The policy states:

"Our existing National Girl Scout policy prohibits the sale of Girl Scout Cookies® or any other Girl Scout approved product on the Internet. The safety of our girls is always our chief concern. Girl Scout Cookie Activities are designed to be face-to-face learning experiences for girls. In an online setting, there is no guarantee that the seller is indeed a girl member of Girl Scouts. We have many ways for girls to explore and experience the benefits of science and technology and the Internet, including our Girls Go Tech* initiative. "

Safety. Ok, I understand safety being the top priority, whether online or not. What is safer- selling online, or having your child in front of a store for hours? In the set up Freeborn had, she would still have to deliver the cookies- hence face to face experience. I assume her parent(s) would be with her to deliver, just like she was selling/taking orders door to door. The risk seems to be no different. Besides, why should one girl be reprimanded for having a great idea? Isn't the point of Girl Scouts to encourage "out of the box" thinking? To defy conformity?

GSUSA states that the marketing of cookies is online is allowed. I'm trying to understand the difference, since technically they were not taking any money online, and were still delivering the cookies in person. I am led to believe there would probably have been a complaint regardless, because a video online can reach a lot more people than going door-to-door. Writing all over your car about cookie sales can reach more people too, but not everyone does that. Every parent takes their cookie order sheet to work, but not every parent works. It's great to try and be fair about selling, but the fact is selling is not fair. There is absolutely no way to make something fair when the goal is to sell as many boxes of cookies as possible. This is a reason I have a problem with competition, someone always whines they are not getting a fair shake, just because someone else comes up with a great idea.

As far as selling/advertising online goes, Girl Scouts needs to learn more about social media and the online world, and become a part of it, not discourage our future from learning the advantages. I created Upcoming pages showing when our troop would be at a booth. I Twittered about and during our booths. There is no positive lesson in showing our future that the internet is a bad thing and not to be trusted. Thin Mints may never need to change, but it's time for Girl Scouts to revisit their policies for selling them and come into the next century.

Please, if you agree with what I'm saying here, contact the Girl Scouts of the USA and tell them so. The more that speak up, the more chance there is for change.

http://www.girlscouts.org/contact/




*couldn't connect to this website. Found out it's http://www.girlsgotech.org. The .org makes all the difference. ;-)