And I'm such a dork that I started crying about it this morning before church. I just kept thinking that I'm about halfway through the time they'll be home, and it's flown by. They'll be gone before I know it, and that started freaking me out.

Fortunately, they're pretty used to my histrionics, and they just thought it was funny that I was crying about their birthday.

Right now, they're baking a cake. They've taken a white cake mix, and added purple food coloring to the batter. So, we'll be having purple vanilla cake!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

Labels: birthday, food, kids

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  I had a pretty good idea what song he was singing backwards, but I wasn't sure until the middle. Hint: His actions aren't clues to the song, just neat stuff to watch.



Happy Saturday!

BTW-Tomorrow is Maya and Sage's 10th Birthday, can you believe it?

Labels: kids, video

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  Most Literate U.S. Cities: Minneapolis and Seattle

Residents of Minneapolis and Seattle are the most bookish and well-read, according to results from a new survey released today of the most literate American cities.

The survey focused on 69 U.S. cities with populations of 250,000 or above. Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University chose six key indicators to rank literacy. These included newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.

Overall, the top 10 most literate (and wired) cities included:

1 Minneapolis, Minn.
2 Seattle, Wash.
3 St. Paul, Minn.
4 Denver, Colo.
5 Washington, D.C.
6 St. Louis, Mo.
7 San Francisco, Calif.
8 Atlanta, Ga.
9 Pittsburgh, Pa.
10 Boston, Mass.

Minneapolis, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington, D.C., have made the top 10 every year since 2003, when the survey first launched.

Yay us!

Not that the Horde is doing anything particularly literary today. We're having a Christmas celebration with some family friends tonight, and today we washed all the furry pets.

Kaywinnet, the dog, was pretty easy. She doesn't like it, but she puts up with it. She gets baths pretty regularly. Tigger and Star, however, were very upset to find their little kitty-selves under the showerhead. We've never bathed them before, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. They just seemed kind of greasy (can cats get greasy?) so we thought it was worth a try. They're still wettish, so it's hard to tell how they'll turn out. I don't think they shrunk any ;-)

Labels: newsworthy, pets

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  I wasn't sure I was going to be...but here I am. BTW-Christmas was pretty good, how was it for you? I still haven't mailed my out of town presents, I suck.

Anyhoo, the reason I wasn't sure I was going to be alive, was that for the first part of this week I was pretty sure I was dying. I wasn't sick, I just stopped caffeine cold turkey. I went from drinking 6-8+ cans of Diet Coke a day, to none. Caffeine is a big trigger for both migraines and fibromyalgia, and I decided it was time to get rid of it.

Caffeine withdrawal is awful! I had my last can on Friday, because I knew Davin would be home this week so I could have any withdrawal symptoms in peace. Man, it was bad. I pretty much slept and hurt(!) the first couple of days. Then I got hit with a migraine that wouldn't go away. I finally looked up the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal and found out that what I was going through was pretty routine:
Irritability
Restlessness
Muscle stiffness
Difficulty concentrating
Headaches, moderate to severe
Chills and/or hot spells

I also found some interesting information about caffeine withdrawal. There have been some pretty interesting studies lately, one of which led to the recommendation that caffeine withdrawal be classified in the next DSM as a psychiatric disorder!

Caffeine Withdrawal Is Real

Researchers are saying that caffeine withdrawal should now be classified as a psychiatric disorder.

A new study that analyzes some 170 years' worth of research concludes that caffeine withdrawal is very real - producing enough physical symptoms and a disruption in daily life to classify it as a psychiatric disorder. Researchers are suggesting that caffeine withdrawal should be included in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), considered the bible of mental disorders.

I believe it!

I feel pretty much back to normal today, almost a week later. I've been drinking a ton of water (which I used to do, before I started drinking DC all day!) and I think I'm on my way.

Speaking of being on my way, I'd better get on my way towards the bathroom!

Labels: cold turkey, fibromyalgia, health, holiday, migraine

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  I hope the snow will stay until Christmas, we so rarely have a White Christmas here in Denver.

We went to the party for Davin's work last night, and I'm really excited. I think I am starting to be able to pass for a grownup! I could actually talk about non kid-related things. *Not even one comment about poop.* Can you believe it? Ooh, it's like a whole new world for me!

Four days until Christmas, are you ready? Me, neither...

Labels: holiday, life, snow

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  Six days 'til Christmas
and no presents have been mailed.
Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!

I'd better get off the computer and figure out what I need to do next...

Labels: holiday

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  Peter Jackson to produce 'The Hobbit'

Jackson, who directed the "Rings" trilogy, will serve as executive producer for "The Hobbit." A director for the prequel films has yet to be named.

Yay!!!!!!! That's all I have to say about that...

Yesterday, Cube posted a video on her blog that made me cry, especially in light of what Jared's doing right now, but also I believe it is an important message in general. So, I'm going to repost it here, with a hat tip to Cube.



Pass it on, please.

Labels: beloved corps, newsworthy

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  is reporting to Parris Island today for boot camp. He will be a Marine, like my dad.

We won't know until near the end of his training what he will be doing, or whether he will go straight off to Iraq or Afghanistan. Since he's my brother, I obviously want him out of harm's way! But, he's a tough, smart kid, and I think he'll do well where ever he ends up.

I am very proud of him, and I can't wait to see photos! When I do, I'll share them.

Labels: beloved corps, family

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  When Sage was 3 or 4, she said a bad word and got in a bit of trouble (just a little talking to, nothing major). At the time, she hadn't known the word was bad, and she was upset about how she found out. She asked Davin to tell her ALL the bad words, so that she would be sure not to say any of them by accident. We got the giggles, trying to picture Davin spouting off a list of curse words for our toddler!

Well, apparently that really happened at a Catholic school last month. By a NUN no less! In the chapel after Mass!

Nun reels off list of banned curse words

Sister Kathy Avery won't put up with swearing on the playground at her school, and she's not above repeating the offending language to make sure everyone understands which words she won't tolerate.

The principal of St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School had students stay after a Mass last month and informed the fifth- through eighth-graders that she has a zero-tolerance policy for cursing.

Just in case anyone wasn't sure what she was talking about, Avery read off a list of the very words and phrases that she was banning.

"It got a little quiet in church" during her talk, she told the Detroit Free Press.

Oh man, if anyone got this on video, please post it!

Don't forget, if you're looking to send mail to some wounded service people, yesterday's post has a couple of ways to do that and know it will get through...

Labels: kids, military, newsworthy

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  I think I'm actually getting pretty close to being ready for Christmas! The trees are up, I've found a lot of the Nativities, and I'm plugging through the Christmas cards...

Speaking of, my county has a list of soldiers on their website that you can send Holiday cards to, if you're so inclined. These servicepeople are at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. You can find the address and instructions here.

Also, the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have another way to get greetings to wounded service people. You can find out all about it here.

I'm planning to send as many cards as I can, hopefully they will make at least a little difference to someone who's probably having a pretty tough time this Christmas.

Back to my manic crafting! Only 2 more weeks!

Labels: crafting, holiday, military

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  I'm still here, but I've hit the "Crap I don't have any money and I have to craft Christmas presents out of my stash" part of my year. So, I've been knitting, crocheting, crying, soaking my hands ice water, etc. But, I think I'll be done on time! Well, probably not on time to mail stuff, but done enough to enjoy Christmas, hopefully.

I'll try to check in more, though, I don't want to neglect you all as much as I have been.

Today we're having a "Collection Museum" at Girl Scouts. The kids will all bring some stuff they collect and we'll display it on tables and they can each talk about it. This really seemed like a great idea to me until I realized that I will need to get 4 kids' worth of precious breakables (plus some of my Nativities) across town and back.

I have also been reading the book that Cube sent me, The Bachman Books. I'd forgotten that not only was one of the stories about a school shooting, but another ended with the protagonist flying a plane into a skyscraper. Creepy! If his stories are going to keep coming true in some fashion, I think that Stephen King should stick to writing happy stories, maybe he could write one about finding Osama bin Laden, or me winning the lottery.

Labels: can't blog, crafting, holiday, scouts, stephen king

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