Army v. Navy — Best Rivalry in NCAA Football

We are thrilled to cheer for the midshipmen every year.  This year’s game is particularly sweet as Navy already handed Notre Dame a huge serving of humble pie earlier this season.

Learn more about this historic, heartbreaking, and inspiring rivalry here.

This is the last football game of the season, barring Bowl Game appearances, for these soon-to-be defenders of your freedoms.  It truly represents the best of what our nation is: patriotism, hard work, freedom, and the spirit of competition.

Enjoy the game!  Go, MIGHTY NAVY! Go, Go MIGHTY NAVY!

New exhibits at The Official MRMA

Which, of course, stands for Museum of Royal Monkey Art. 

Princess Pinky has some fine work she wanted to share with the world.

Lookee here, then check The Official MRMA page.

 The Sprout Train, Princess Pinky.  Media:  Crayola Marker/Collage

Thanksgiving Tom Turkey, Princess Pinky.  Media: Crayola Crayon.

Gotta love the never-ending art!

WM

Akismet Spam Blocker

One of my favorite features on WordPress is the Akismet spam blocker.  Like your email account, your blog can easily be spammed with “Comments” that are XXX rated junk.  And if you don’t moderate your comments, that trash might worm its way onto your blog before you know it.

Akismet gives you the option of viewing your Comments it deemed spam and listing them as not spam if they are genuine comments.  This actually helps fine tune Akismet to your needs.

Of course, as I am still quite a newbie to the blogging world, I did not actually know this until this week.  I think there may have been several real comments that had been marked as spam by Akismet and trashed before I could review them — WordPress dumps your spam to trash after 15 days.

So if you were a kind soul who commented only to see that your comment never actually appeared, I’m so sorry!  Try again – I’m getting wiser each day!

WM

Writing Wednesday, November 28, 2007: Smilebox.com

Alas, Wednesday here has come and gone without a Writing Wednesday entry from me.  I do apologize for those of you who might be disappointed.

I had planned to write a post about Christmas Letter writing, but realized how hypocritical of me that would be.  Every year, I get more than a few of these:

“WOW! Our lives were just PERFECT this past year!  Let me list our overscheduled and overtired overachieving children’s accomplishments for you — BY MONTH!”

And I read them — I read everything, even these — and usually throw my hands in the air.  Puh-leeze!  Wasting this post on how to write a better We’re So Awesome letter just doesn’t feel right.

I think the best Christmas/holiday letters aren’t letters — they’re pictures.   Break the trend; I challenge you to create a collage of pictures that tell your story for this year story, by month if that’s easiest for you, and send that out instead.   One-liners and pithy titles are fine; otherwise, let the overloaded images from your digital camera tell the tale.

Not sure how to organize all those cute pix into something worthy of an overpriced stamp?  Check out SmileBox, a free online scrapbooking layout site where you can download their software, add your pix to some very fun and funky templates, then email it or print it, or even blog it.

Have fun!

WM

Cell Phones for Soldiers

I’d heard about this program a couple of years ago when it started; they’re making news again today and I wanted to shout ‘em out for doing good.

If you have an unused, old, otherwise catching-dust cell phone, donate it to Cell Phones for Soldiers.  This charity, started by two siblings, Brittany and Robbie Bergquist when they were just thirteen and eleven, takes your old, piece-of-junk cell phone and sells it to a recycler for $5.00.  Then they take that $5.00 (multiply that by 50,000 phones a month) and buy pre-paid long distance calling cards for our soldiers serving abroad.  Over the past three years, they’ve handed out over 400,000 long distance phone cards, averaging around 25,000 one-hour phone cards sent overseas a month.

Wow…these kids are amazing!  Good job, Mama and Papa Bergquist!

Click here to see where you can send all those aged and ugly cell phones that roam the bottom of your toy boxes.  Alrighty…go get yourself a-mailing already!

WM

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Build-a-Blog Workshop Part II: Public vs. Private

So you’ve jumped right in and grabbed a piece of the Internet for yourself by blogging.  Maybe you’ve even gone a step further and purchased a domain name for your blog as you try to build a brand.  You’re posting about whatever thrills you and makes you laugh, maybe even uploading a head shot of yourself or a picture of your family.

And this is where you have to STOP and think long and hard about just how public you want your life, and the life of the family members, friends, co-workers, and people in your circle of acquaintances to be.  And whether or not those other adults would even grant you permission to blog about them online without obscuring their identity.  You might just land in a sticky legal situation, or even lose your job.

The perils of public living online get much worse: proof of this, very sad, heartbreaking proof of this – the suicide of Megan Meier.  Only thirteen and her life is over.  What’s most shocking about this case of MySpace bullying is that whole thing started as a parent’s idea –a parent.  Read more about this case here, and look at the References links at the bottom of the page for more in-depth stories, specifically, stories that name the parents responsible for setting up the false profile on MySpace.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch chose not to name those irresponsible, forever-stuck-in-their-own-ego-centered-adolescence parents.  The editor faced an impossible choice on that call, IMHO.  Either decision would have resulted in an uproar, as his decision to protect the identity of the family responsible for the false MySpace profile ultimately did.

For those of you not familiar with the case, Megan Meier ended her life by hanging herself in her closet after a “friend” on her MySpace page, a boy she thought liked her and found her pretty and attractive, turned on her, saying awful things and spreading rumors about her through MySpace using polls, surveys, bulletins, all those social buttons and networking means we use to stay in touch. 

But the boy “friend” was a fiction, created by another girl, a former “friend” of Megan’s, and I use friend in that adolescent girl meaning of today we’re best buds, tomorrow I will hate you and will talk about you behind your back to everyone you know, and the girl’s MOTHER.   And done for the specific purpose of finding out just what Megan might say about said girl on MySpace.

Before I continue, two things:

One, please, take a moment to say a prayer for Megan, and more importantly, for her family, to whatever brand of God you subscribe.  No parent should ever have to face what they have, much less have their daughter’s suicide listed as a Wikipedia entry.

Two, let’s all take moment to refresh our memory of Commandment #8 (I’m Catholic; this is where it falls for us):

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Gossip, which used to exist in person alone but has now gone high-tech, and the search for gossip online, led this poor child to believing her life was worthless.  And it wasn’t; we Mommyfolk know - without ever having known her – that she was the light of her parents’ lives, the sunshine that kept them smiling and trying even when times were tough and life full of more challenge than reward. 

May she rest in peace.

Back to topic: blogging safely.

I myself am pretty paranoid about online info, and not just for identity theft reasons.  You, your family and friends, and your children in particular can easily become prey to the kind of creepiness that only the Internet can engender.

I did have a couple of pictures up on this blog, ones that were uploaded a few weeks into the building of Writer-Mommy;  I’ve since taken all pictures down.  The risk is too great.

Just what could happen, you wonder?

Well, lots.  Like:

1.  Your images could be right-clicked, copied and used by others.  Sometimes for profit (check out Dan Heller’s long but thorough explanation on this here).  Or for something far more nefarious, like cropping your sweet child’s face into a p*orn movie, photo, or other sickening image.  If the picture isn’t personal and you’d like to retain rights, watermark your images with a copyright.

2. Blog Stalkers exist, for many reasons.  Read this article by Darren Rowse on his experience with a blog stalker and ask yourself how far on that limb of ranting and raving you want to allow yourself to go.  Maintaining a neutral to positive slant in your writing is the safest bet; rage and negativity will bring reactions you may not have antipated.

3. Blogging your Pregnancy can be fun, and a great way to share your experiences, photos, morning sickness stories, and the first time you felt baby move with family and friends far away.  But how many news stories have there been since the explosion of the Internet about pregnant moms killed in their eighth or ninth month just for the express purpose of stealing their viable unborn baby?  I know one specific case in Missouri around three years ago was ultimately traced back to conversations in an Internet chat room.  There’s even a book about this story, Baby Be Mine.  Is this rare?  Yes, and thankfully so.  Is it scary enough for consideration when you’re blogging your due date, baby shower party, or baby birth announcement?  BIG YES.

Ultimately, you need to look at the purpose of your blog and make the decision for public blogging or private blogging based on your needs, your writing skills, and your desire to share info about yourself.

Most blogging platforms offer private, password-protected blogs but you should still be careful.  Nothing is fool-safe in the Age of the Hacker.

Check out these sites for more info on blogging safely:

Wired Safety

Blog Safety

Be smart, blog smart!

WM

The fine line between “Work” and “at Home”

How do you call the day quits when your work is home and home is your work? 

I’ve grappled with this boundary for years now, over six of ‘em.  It wasn’t quite so bad when Princess Pinky was a wee babe.  Those two-naps-a-day months are a sweet memory for me.  Two naps meant two times a day, during actual daylight hours, where I could 1) take a shower; 2) catch up on laundry, dishes, and toy detail; and, 3) open the newspaper to see what was going on in the world.

Oh, and actually go to the bathroom without an audience.

Then came Prince Tatertot, arriving when Princess Pinky was 21 months old.  Now there were two babies to care for all day and all night, meaning twice the laundry, food, mess, puking, sticky noses, dirty diapers, toys, drama, and tantrums.  I tweaked my coffee consumption up a notch (ok, I was downing at least a full pot a day while nursing the Tatertot – and he didn’t grow a third arm or get the permanent twitchies so I don’t feel a bit guilty about it) and became very thankful for all my friends in my great mom’s group who loved me, with or without the benefits of makeup, a blowdryer, or even a daily shower.  I still miss you chickadees at good ole St. C’s!

Fast forward to moving in late September 2004, then in January of 2006 celebrating the near-simultaneous arrival of Sir Screamsalot and Knute’s new, better, wanted-this-job-with-this-corporation-all-along job which required a 70 mile commute one-way (yeah, do the math…and this was just as gas prices started to skyrocket) each day.  Which meant putting house #3 up for sale when Screamsalot was 7 weeks old and just coming into the full potential of his lung-power.

Now, I wasn’t just working to keep my home running at a safe and reasonably clean standard for The Royal Monkeys; I was working to sell my home, which meant making it look like no child or insane canine  had ever set foot in it!

I bought more coffee in 2006.  Lots more.

We’re now settled in House #4 and settled in our new town, which is so heartbreakingly picture-perfect, a Rockwell painting a la Midwest, that I know that the moving days, at least, moving-to-a-new-town days, are behind us for good. 

But the line between working in my home and just being at home has become finer still.  This boundary issue isn’t limited to just at-home moms; article after article I’ve read advises people who work for an income out of their home via a home office to actually keep business hours and put a lock on the office door for the purpose of instilling that boundary between work and home.

Try explaining that boundary issue to my 22-month-old, a child so clingy that his other nickname is Scotch Tape. 

When you’re Mommy, the boundary between working at home and just being at home disappears.  When one of your darlings has puked all over their bed at two am, you’re there.  When school begs for volunteers, you sign up.  When the laundry is six loads deep and threatening to explode out of the laundry room door, you do it.  The clock is of no consequence — Mommy is a 24/7 job and if you’re at home with your little monkeys, you never punch out.

After three kids in less than four and a half years, I’m starting to get it.  And starting to Get Over It.

My dryer has buzzed for the fourth time — I’m off to grab more joltin’ java, fold the laundry, and then scrape a few minutes of Me Time together before tackling the next thing on the list.

Here’s to hoping you’re winning a few minutes of Me Time in your daily war between Work and At Home, too!

WM

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

What a game!

I watched most of the end of the fourth quarter of the LSU v Arkansas game and said to my dear hubs, Knute, and his brother, Meatball -

You just know this is gonna be another OT nightmare!

Between getting Sir Screamsalot to bed, playing Legos with Prince Tatertot, and getting Princess Pinky showered down and spiffed up, I managed to see most of the OT’s.  WOW!  What a game!  And what an INCREDIBLE season for NCAAF football!

We’re on the lookout for some upsets in the Big 12 and thinking we may be in for a little Rumble Across the River, OSU v. WVU for the title!

We are ever thankful here for college football!

WM

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Writing Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The feast of the Big Bird is rapidly approaching.  My mind is filled with roasting time schedules, pie recipes, and also with the spirit of tomorrow, giving thanks.

On this Writing Wednesday, take time to write just for yourself.  A letter, if you will, for you to read next year on Thanksgiving Day.  Answer these three questions:

1.  What am I thankful for on this day in 2007?

2.  What do I hope to be thankful for in 2008?

3.  What can I do this upcoming year to be on someone else’s Thankful list in 2008?

 My answer to these:

#1.

I am thankful each and every day for my three healthy little monkeys.  They are each blessings from God and I know that I have been overly blessed in them. 

I am thankful for Knute.  After twelve years of marriage and fifteen years together, he still is the only one for me.  Every day, he makes me laugh and does something kind for me, just because he loves me.

I am thankful for my family, and thankful that I love my in-laws as much as my own family.  I know that’s not always the norm.

I am thankful that I can sit at this computer, type in my thoughts and ideas, and share them with you.  We are free in this nation because of those who have fought, those who have died fighting, and those who are willing to fight to defend the freedoms of their fellow citizens.  I am thankful for each and every member of our armed services.

I am thankful that I am healthy and whole, that I can leap out of bed in the morning, race through my days with The Royal Monkeys and still tie on my Nikes and pound out a couple of miles at night.

I am thankful for the Insane Canine Posse, as wild and destructive and hyper as they are.  They are loyal and true friends and their antics, while sometimes expensive to fix, bring me joy.  I am thankful The Royal Monkeys are growing up with them and learning all the unspoken lessons that come with loving a dog.

#2

Next year, in 2008, I want to be thankful for finishing one novel.  Start to finish, Chapter One to The End.  I don’t care if all it ever does is mildew in a desk drawer somewhere; I just want to finish writing one book and be thankful for having done so.

I want to be thankful for the continued health and presence of all my family and friends.

#3

Next year, I want all my Brownie Girl Scouts to be thankful for my presence in their lives as a Troop Leader, for giving them the chance to go camping and gain confidence and courage through Scouting.

I dare to hope and would love to be thankful for knowing that this blog has helped one other person out there, given them a place to go online for ideas and laughs, inspired them to start their own blog, or just given them a little nudge to put pencil to paper. 

So there’s my thankful letter to myself.  I can’t wait to pull up this post next year and read it again.

Thank you to all of you stopping by on this very busy holiday weekend.  I truly hope and pray you enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

WM

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Turkey Protection Detail

Or, as I’ve been referring to it here, TPD.   The turkey, much like the unfortunate bird in A Christmas Story – oh, how I love the scene where Darrin McGavin goes to war with the pack of bloodhounds for The Hallowed Bird! –is in grave danger here at the home of the Insane Canine Posse.

Our older pointer, Barnum, is a bit too arthritic in his back legs to be a threat; the present danger lies with Brownie, our frisky five-month old GSP who has not yet learned the finer doggy manners of staying down off the counters and the table.  Actually, I think he has learned, he just doesn’t care how dire the consequences of his food-snatching might be.  Darn it, those leftover chicken nuggets are worth it!  Typical pointer, he is.

Princess Pinky, who adores her new puppy but also adores turkey and gravy, has already volunteered her services for TPD on the big day.   Hopefully, we won’t need them; Brownie went in to be neutered (a la snip-snip, as we’ve been saying here) this morning.  Vaulting over the kitchen counter should be the last thing the Brown scoutdog should want to do…

But then again, it is turkey! 

WM

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::