High Tech Solutions

What is the life span of a typical cell phone in the hands of a 14 year old boy? On Monday, Harold came home from a canoeing/kayaking field trip completely soaked from flipping out of a canoe. He, of course, didn't take a towel or change of clothes so he was a shivering, stinky, damp mess after sitting on the bus in cold clothes for the ride home. I see him get off the bus and he looks like a drowned rat, walking all funny because his undies are damp and cold. He is smiling and laughing until he sees me. Then he holds up his hand and in it is his new cell phone, purchased just six short weeks ago with his birthday money. It was safely contained in an airtight ziploc bag in case this very drenching thing took place. MEMO TO FILE: Ziploc baggies are apparently not air tight and are no help in keeping electronic items bone dry under water. What does work?? Anyone???

Harold said the kids on the field trip all said to put his phone in a bowl of dry rice overnight to let it dry out and that it might turn on the next day. We tried it. Didn't work. Heard you could try putting it in a ziploc bag with a slice of bread. We tried it. Didn't work. I am guess this is a pretty common problem since so many folks had heard of and used the rice and bread technique with some success.

He thinks he has enough money left to buy a new phone. Not one as nice as the one that took a swim in Barton Creek, but it will still be plenty nice. I think I am going to go against all of my father's teachings and have Harold buy the extra replacement insurance this time. I never, ever, ever buy the extra insurance for anything. BUT, in this case I will assume that the minute he pays for the replacement insurance, it is a sure guarantee that he will never need it. Phone will last him through college.

Not sure why this cell phone technology is so dang sensitive to water. We need to get Nintendo involved for a better solution. I have washed a couple of Gameboys in the washing machine. They go through an entire wash cycle and those babies come out sparkly, shiny and STILL WORK! That is the perfect electronic device for kids!

Anyway, taking any and all tips on how to keep a cell phone dry in the hands of a 14 year old boy!

Smile for the Camera Boys!

Geez - that was painful.

Happy Mother's Day

I woke up this morning with my sweet Chip turning on the bedroom light at 6:45 a.m. - beaming from ear to ear as he rushed over to my side of the bed. He said "Mom, it's Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day!" I could tell he was so proud to have remembered and to be the first one to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. He kissed me on the cheek and said in my ear "I love you, Mom". Then he went down stairs and was back in about 2 minutes with a home made card he had quickly made. It said "Happy Mother's Day. You are the best mother in the orbit and you make great fried rice. P.S. Shove spicy food up her butt." The last sentence is a joke from "The Office" that we say wwwaaayyy too much around here. There was also two five dollar bills shoved into the homemade card (I am pretty sure it was his brother's money.) He said "Mom, it is on blue paper because blue is your favorite color. You can have that money, because what is a card without money in it? You can buy anything you want with it."

LOVE THAT KID!!!!

The rest of my house is sleeping and I am revelling in how much it means to have my sweet little seven year old so enthusiastically wish me a Happy Mother's Day in the very best way that he knows how. Not what his Daddy has officially helped him buy, but just his own work with the resources he found at his disposal from his big giving heart. It is good.

But now, I need to take this opportunity to reach across 900 miles, sneak into my own mom's room, turn on the light and rush to her side of the bed with a kiss and a huge smile and say "Happy Mother's Day Mom". I hope when you open this Blog this morning and read down to this part you can feel the love, the appreciation, the joy that I am sending your way. I love you so much and as I continue to experience motherhood myself, my appreciation for you just deepens. It is astounding to know that you love me as much as I love my boys. There is no love stronger than that and to know you have it for me is like being wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket right out of the dryer.

When I asked you recently if there was anything special you wanted for Mother's Day you said "Just for my kids to be happy." Well, consider yourself in receipt of exactly what you asked for. I am happy!!! However, in addition to my personal happiness, I also have two little surprises coming in the mail for you! Be on the lookout for them!

I LOVE YOU MOM!!! I hope you have a wonderful day today!

If He Makes It...He Will Eat It!

Maybe, I just thought I was going to get into a regular routine with my blogging!! Apparently, that is not my reality right now! Hope you have enjoyed logging in and looking at Asian Bathrooms for the last several days!!

Here are a few new pictures just to keep you occupied until I find more time!

Chip makes the salad.

Complete and total concentration.

So proud of himself that he even tries the salad! He wraps up chicken in the lettuce.

His own lettuce wrap!

He eats it....swallows it....AND no barfing!! Can I get a HALLELUJAH???!! He didn't just do it once either - he did it about six more times! Way to go Chip! Your body is rejoicing!!! I wonder if he wants to learn how to cook salmon???

Parade of Bathrooms

It's time. Time to talk about some Asian bathrooms. I won't be able to tell you which country specifically these were found but just know it was in Asia somewhere.

To start with, I will give you Hubby's absolute favorite.

Please note the shower head is in the top of the ceiling and falls on you like rain. He loved this shower and has mentioned it more than once since he returned home. Please also note that there is a window in the shower that looks into the bedroom area. This allows people like Hubby, who are not ashamed of their bodies and mortified to be seen in broad daylight to watch TV while showering. This is my worst nightmare. I would never bathe if this was my only shower option. If I could maybe have complete darkness or at least some ambient candle light I might be able to do it. All lights on, middle of the day, never gonna happen!!!!

I should mention that we are having some water pressure issues after our visit from Joe the Plumber back in January. Apparently our house had water pressure that was five times more than the housing standard these days. Strong enough to like blow gaskets off of underground pipes. I loved it before. You could have the sprinkler going, the washing machine, dishwasher, a bathtub filling up and the still get a good shower. Since Joe the Plumber reduced the water pressure to closer to normal you can't do any two things at once. ONE THING AT A TIME. Heaven forbid you shower while the sprinklers are running, you can't even rinse your hair. And you should see the pitiful water spitting out the sprinkler if you turn on the washing machine. It literally looks like someone spitting. NOT GOOD. My theory is that Hubby just got addicted to good water pressure on his trip.

Let's move on to shower picture number two.

Look at this - the bathtub is inside the shower enclosure. The person who designed this has children. I can promise you that. It is genius! If you have ever seen what a mess two boys can make in a bathtub you know how cool this would be. This is a playground for bathing brothers. One could be in the tub throwing buckets of water on the one showering. The other could be showering and spraying the other kid in the bathtub right in the face with the hand held shower nozzle. And the mother could just sit outside the glass, reading her People Magazine and smile because all the water would just go down the drain. It would be a beautiful thing. I am sure my children would stay in here for hours. Bad for the environment, but totally, totally cool for kids! Now for me, along the same lines of the first bathroom I like a little privacy. I love to take a hot bubble bath, but would not want Hubby or the kids wanting to come in and shower while I was in the shower. You know any book I would be reading would be soaked, because they would not be able to stand not shooting me with that hand shower. Not for me at all.

Speaking of cool - check this out!

It's the control panel for this.

A toilet. You can warm the seat. You can splash cold water on your parts. You can shoot warm water on your parts. You can adjust the water pressure to be soft or sand blast. I guess it just depends on what kind of visit you have had to the old toilet. This scares me a little bit. It seems really complicated.

So last, but not least, let's check out the really complicated bathroom situation.

This is a bathroom at the airport in Tokyo. He said they also had these bathrooms at the business he visited. What the heck??? There are no directions, but from the looks of it, you hold on the white bars and squat over the hole in the ground - for both versions of the bathroom trip. What? How? Do you take your pants all the way off??? It is far down there. You are squatting and then trying to get the toilet paper to wipe. REALLY? Is there water in the bowl? Will it splash on you. If there is not water that seems even ickier. And, hello is there a door here??? Can't be squatting, holding on to the bar, trying to wipe while being visible to all visitors. CRAZY!!!! The sign outside is of a growup going to the bathroom and a baby sitting on a shelf. What??? Do you sit the baby on the shelf there???

I would need a lesson on what to do here and even with the lesson I am sure it would be a complete and total bathroom disaster!

I hope that you enjoyed the walk through some Asia bathrooms. I was fascinated and never more thrilled to live in the U.S.A.

Have a great one!

Welcome Home

Although it was getting dark by the time that Daddy rolled into the driveway on Friday night we were all waiting outside. The boys were just giddy. So giddy that Chip turned over a little cooler full of water in my new car (BAD BOY!) and Harold dropped his large sweet in the laundry room (BAD BOY!). I was a sweaty mess after cleaning up both of those spills that happened within about 3 minutes of each other. My horns may have come out for a few minutes.

Perfect timing for Daddy to roll in and save the boys from their mother!

Harold almost knocked him back into the car he hugged him so hard.

Look at that little boy's smile. Do you think he likes his Daddy or what?

Next up on the old Blog - Asian Bathroom Pictures and Discussion! You don't want to miss it!!!

Getting out of Hot Water

My mother is yelling at me because I am not blogging enough. I guess that is good, right??? I have been a busy girl and throw in my self imposed gag order when Hubby was out of town and I have not had much time or material to write about. Let's fix that...let me tell you everything!!!

Hubby survived Asia. In fact, maybe he did a little better than survive. Check out the sweet hotel he stayed at in Malaysia.



The view from his room.


The Pool.


More pool - couldn't fit it all in one picture because it was so big.


The beach at his hotel.

He was really roughing it, wasn't he?? And get this, he lost like 8 pounds to boot! Perfect vacation if you ask me! Hang out in paradise AND lose weight. Someone sign me up!!!

Now, we won't pretend that it was all fun and sun, because this was only one of the four or five hotels he stayed out in three or four countries he visited. I thought I was pretty decent at geography, but he went to some real tongue twisters that I couldn't begin to figure out.

He did see some wild monkeys. There were like 30 of them in tree by one of his hotel room - not sure what country he was in at the time. That is kind of cool. Probably until they jump on you or something, then game over! Monkeys would be flying. I have a big fear of a bat flying into me on my morning walks. I can see them circling the street lights picking off moths and bugs and sometimes they seem to swoop down close to the road. I know they have super sonic radar and all, but please, please, pretty please do not fly into me. It would be a damn fiasco if it ever happened. Even at 5:30 in the morning, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs! Lights would be coming on all over the neighborhood to the crazy woman beating herself to death.

Man, that was way off topic, let's get back to Asia. Some of the most interesting pictures Hubby took were of bathrooms. They will require a blog all their own! I know you will be on pins and needles until I get that up and posted.

In the spirit of filling you in on all the happenings around here, let's have a quick recap of our weekend. Chip had a baseball game Friday night and Hubby came home! He got stuck in a long Customs line and missed his connection. He caught a later flight, but then they lost his luggage. A bit of a downer when he was just trying to get home. I tried to upload some pictures of the boys greeting him, but got some kind of error message. I will try those later with the bathroom blog!

On Saturday we took it easy with just three baseball games and a flag football game. The weather was spectacular and we were out in it from 8:30 a.m. until about 6:00 p.m. A little sunburned and completely beat. Today I have tried to catch up on some work. I have three audits due and I just can't seem to get them complete. Struggling something terrible. I got two done, but still need to wrap up the third one. Then I took Chip to the pool for his first swim of the year. He was the only dork in the water. It was still way too cold for me! Worked on some Prize posters for our school carnival in the afternoon. Grilled out some steaks. Dishes, bathes, and now trying to wrap this up. I have school folders to sign, field trip forms and checks to fill out, uniforms to wash, a breakfast casserole to deliver to school in the morning. I need to go to bed and get up extra early tomorrow!

Hope this will get me out of hot water Mom! Will try to get back to something a little more consistent this week!

Good Night!