Star Wars and War Games

30 years. I can't believe I have memories that are 30 years old.

Geoff is kinda scary with the computer - figuring out stuff that no kid should know. For years we have joked with Geoff that someday the FBI would come looking for him, just like in the movie War Games. AMC channel is celebrating the 25th anniversary of War Games and we are watching it with Geoff for the first time. We watched an adolescent Matthew Broderick play a "game" with WOPR and almost initiate WW III. He gasps when he sees the "cool" TRS-80 set up at NORAD. WOW! I used a TRS-80, but I couldn't get it to play any games.

But in 1983 Brad knew all about the Comodore 64. It was the beginning of the pc. (I honestly never imagined what they would be good for!) And now we have Geoff who knows all about HTML and servers and networks.

In third grade (30 - yep, 30 years ago) I remember all of the boys had Star Wars t-shirts. And Star Wars lunch boxes. And little plastic R2D2s. And now Danny knows all 6 Star Wars movies by heart and he uses legos to build jet-wing fighters with an ejection compartment for R2D2.

I am grateful for these connections from our childhoods to our children's lives. We enjoy our memories and the boys have a frame of reference to understand the past. We see a little piece of our life experience passed down to another generation. Maybe someday they will tell their kids about Star Wars or My Space and their children will understand what was wonderful and exciting about them.

Do you share any childhood experiences with this generation? I'd love to hear!

Goalie

Danny's first day as goalie. It was a muddy one! The bottom photo is Danny after coach Jim dumped him in a giant puddle. All the boys went home soaked. That's what boys do!

Stuff I Didn't Get Done This Week

1. PTA newsletter. I guess we'll make it an April/May issue.
2. Buy dog food - I'm sure all the dog treats I gave her will keep her tummy full. Really, if she ate something that they sell at Wal-Mart I'd be o.k. But she has to have special food from the pet store that closes at 9 pm.
3. Grocery shopping - what? Pop Tarts and cereal aren't enough? At least the milk hasn't expired.
4. Hair cuts - Geoffrey has the most ADORABLE curls, but he can't do a thing with them.
5. Danny's paragraph about spring. I won't write it, but I have to supervise. Maybe we'll just skip to a paragraph about summer instead.
6. Register Danny for summer camp.
7. Address the cards that I bought last month. Why do I even buy them? I just know I won't send them.
8. Pick up a prescription. Really, I tried. But after 30 minutes of waiting for the pharmacy to get the insurance straightened out I had to cut my losses and move on.

9. Take the box of Capri Sun juice drinks off of my back bumper before I drove to pick Danny up from school. The intersection by my driveway is very sticky.

Stuff I’ve learned about Digital Scrapbooking…

1. “Designers” create digital paper, word art, frames, embellishments and more. Designers sell their work in many venues. There are two main ways that materials are disseminated. One is through web site “stores” and the other is through blogs.
2. Both stores and blogs offer “Freebies” to entice you to visit their site often. Freebies are digital elements like paper for backgrounds, paper clips, cool frames, templates, and word art. Some are in “kits” of coordinated items. I’ve collected hundreds, well probably thousands, of freebies. It is customary when downloading a freebie from a blog to leave a comment of thanks.
3. This craze is international! In one evening I visited blogs from Germany, France, Sweden, Australia and from some country that I couldn’t identify because the letters were backwards! I’m stretching to remember some French so I can find the download link and I can say Merci! What a fun sisterhood of artists. You can’t help but be inspired! I’ve found some French designers I love. They use clean lines and vivid colors.
4. There seems to be a lot more gorgeous stuff out there for scrapbooking girls than boys. I don’t know why… I guess that leafy, flowery designs are popular, just not boy-friendly. There is a trend called “grunge” that is perfect for boys.
5. There are whole communities set up around some of the web stores. They have contests and galleries for everyone to post their creations. It seems like people spend a lot of time doing this. Who could have so much time?
6. I love layouts inspired by advertisements and web sites, instead of traditional scrapbook layouts. It is awesome to not be limited by scissors and tape!
7. There is a file sharing web site called “4shared.com”. Bloggers post their files there for you to download. You just download, unzip the file and you’re done.
8. Most people use a version of Photo Shop or Photo Shop Elements. Honestly, I’ve tried. But Adobe is just not intuitive and it gives me a headache every time! I love Microsoft Digital Imaging and I can do almost everything that the Photo Shop people can do.
9. SAHM means “stay at home mom”.
10. Word art is my favorite part. I love SAYING something that captures the memory and arranging the words in an artistic way. Dr. Seuss quotes are awesome and many of them rhyme.

TGIF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's been an interesting week! I'm working full time to help out a friend who is on maternity leave. So a lot of life is a blur now, running from work to soccer to the grocery store, to school, to the police station... More on that later!

1. First, to my wonderful friends in NY, FL, CA & TX - I love you all! Even when I don't have time to write or call, I LOVE hearing what is happening in your life. I love just knowing you are out there. You inspire me, encourage me and delight me. Thank you.

2. O.K. back to my crazy week... So on top of working 2 jobs I tried to tackle a photobook this week. Shutterfly sent me an email offering a FREE photo book (worth 30 bucks - cool!). So I thought I'd love to print up some of my digital layouts. Of course, it can't just be a book of pictures, I have to have a theme. So I decided to scrapbook the 20 most memorable events of 2007 - in my spare time. The deadline was Wednesday. After 10 hours at church I worked and worked and was in the home stretch at 11:45 pm when of course, the web site went down! AHAHAHAHAHAH! All's well in the end. I begged for an extension of the deadline, finished the book and I can't wait to see it!

3. Got some interesting mail this week. A postcard from a catalogue company saying my purchase is backordered. Problem is, I never bought anything from them. When I called the company, the customer service rep. informed me that this is possible identity theft and I'd better notify the police right away. Good grief! I think the real crime is what was ordered - size 18 leapard print blouse! I keep wondering if I'll find some fishnet stockings or a tiger print skirt in the mailbox someday - grin!

4. Last year we dug & tugged & chainsawed out all of our 35 year old bushes in the front of the house. We'll plant new shrubs this spring. But in the meantime, we filled the beds with bulbs - it is amazing! You can't miss springtime at my house!

Where Oh Where?

Thursday was really one of those days. I was sad that I couldn't be in Florida for a very important adoption. (Congratulations!) We were waiting all day for a friend to have her baby (welcome to the little guy). Another friend was having some tests done that could have been very serious (grateful all was fine). We got news of a dear old friend in New York who has terminal cancer. Brad wasn't feeling great. I was struggling to find time to clean the house for company this weekend. Then the big one... the dog was gone. Poor sweet old Summer dog wandered far away and we couldn't find her anywhere. We walked, we called, we drove for hours. Finally all we could do was go to bed and pray for her to be safe.

Friday we found her at the animal shelter. Thank God she was safe, traumatized, but safe. So after a bath, she is now grounded for a month!

Anyway, I think we've recovered from all of the drama. Here's some photos of our fun weekend at the beach.