Sunday

Don't ask me how much coffee I've had this morning and I won't ask you how much you've had.
Hint: it's at least less than Voltaire.

I'm right in the middle of GWTW. Which of course means don't talk to me or expect me to do anything other than read. Holy mackerel that book is fabulous.

I'm thinking about ordering my bookshelves by putting the books that I reread all of the time together, books that I love but don't tend to reread together, and books that I haven't read yet together. That could be interesting and save time when searching for the next book to read.

I finally got control of myself and have lost a few of the pounds I needed to shed before ww weigh in. I'm not back to goal yet but hopefully will be before the end of April. How does one get control if they are Casey you ask? I filled the fridge and fruit bowl with fruit that I really like. I wrote "not for Casey" across the top of the peanut butter jar (my weakness), and hard boiled 50,000 eggs. And filled the freezer with edamame. That's about it. Voila, lost weight. I'm eating more than fruit, edamame, and eggs, but those are just good go-to things for me when I'm feeling snacky. Oh, and greek yogurt. Now I just need to maintain this control.

Disney countdown is in full swing and I'm busy squirreling away entertainment for the two day drive. I'm really looking forward to the car trip. Our last car trip was a blast. We're not a techy family and didn't watch movies on the drive or bring ipads or whatnot. I'm stocking up on conversation ideas, books, and car friendly games. I plan on getting a good audio book or two from the library as well. I can't wait!!

Nailed It

The proofs for the kids' school pictures came home and they were really cute.
Adorable.
Fabulous.
And so I promptly whipped out the checkbook, filled out the forms, and forgot about it.

Except that I couldn't "fuhgeddaboudit."

Because it was a freaking lot of money. For pictures.

So we hemmed and hawed and decided that really we live in the digital age for Pete's sake. We probably don't need to spend a bunch of money on photos in a time when, as I so elequently put it, "I could grab our camera and just take some great pictures in the backyard." So we tore up the check and then I cut up the form using the proofs for a top secret project. The next morning the kids and I had breakfast on the deck. I grabbed the camera to start "saving money in the digital age."

I think it went pretty well...

Feel free to hire me for all of your photography needs. I am available for weddings, graduations, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs.

Classic Casey

"I attended a monster truck rally once," I announced at dinner tonight. "Yep, my little brother reallllly wanted to go, so my dad took me and Hunter. I thought it was cool for about five minutes and then ended up miserable and throwing up in a trashcan."
Classic.

"I'm having a Halloween party tomorrow," I said to Kelly on Friday. "I don't have a costume. The problem is this: I told everyone I would wear a costume, I refuse to buy anything, I have an insanely limited wardrobe, annndd it can't be too terribly weird because I invited a few people I don't know."
"Don't you have some diaper boxes?" she replied. "Robot?!"
Duh. She's a genius.
And then I spent the rest of the afternoon creating the most normal costume ever if you are having a party and invited people you don't know.

Classic.

I fell asleep in Carolena's bed tonight while mid-sentence telling a bedtime story about how my dad used to fall asleep in my bed tucking me in. I over-committed myself to bringing baked goods to school this semester and have already gotten my reminder email about the next thing. Halloween decor came down today because we're done with that and onto getting excited about thankfulness. Who has any more time to spend on "creepy" and "candy"? Boooorrring. But the bat tree is staying. I love that thing. It's 8pm and my 7-730pm nap just didn't do the trick so I'm ready to hit the hay.
Classic.

See ya in St. Looey, suckers.
Damn. I haven't finished our St. Louis vacation scrapbook yet. From May.
Classic.

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and Other Assorted Things

I found Nils wearing one of Carolena's hats. I thought he looked so cute that I snapped a picture. I have tried like 800 times to upload the photos here, and it just isn't happening. The computer goes haywire (haywire? who says that?!) every damn time. Perhaps it is a message from Future Nils who has some kind of 2030 computer device that is blocking my ability to upload them. Considering the story behind the photos is that I found him wearing a big pink straw hat and took a picture and he insisted that I take about twenty-seven more, yeah, I would say Future Nils is happy they aren't getting posted. He heard the "click" of the camera, turned, posed and said, "Again! Cheeeese!" so I took another one and then smiled and got up to walk away.
And he screamed, "Again! Again! Cheeeeeese!!!"
So I laughed, he struck a pose, I took another photo, and got up to walk away.
And he screamed, "Again! Cheeeese!!!"
This went on for quite sometime eventually ending in a tantrum and fifty million photos of Nils in various pageant poses. And I do mean pageant poses.
What are they teaching this kid at school?

Aw, speaking of Nils at school... poor Nils pet an asp yesterday at school. Does that just break your heart or what? That sweet little guy. He saw one of those fuzzy little devils walking by and reached out his pointer finger to pet it. That just breaks my heart in both that my poor Nils was hurt and in its sad innocent cuteness. Evidently in addition to the pain of an asp, his feelings were pretty hurt as well. He told Carolena and me all about it when we picked him up that afternoon. Oh, sweet Nils.
If you've never been stung by an asp before, then chances are you are reading this from somewhere north of the land of anoles, asps, and humid Halloweens. Asps are venomous caterpillars. Yes, really. And you only purposely touch one of those dudes once. They're like crazy mini-porcupines (Casey science, not real science) who have quills instead of fuzz (Casey science) so when you touch them the venomous fuzz gets stuck in your skin and someone has to get it out (real science). Yikes!

Yeah, Future Nils is definitely using some sort of fancy technology to ensure Present Day Casey can't post embarrassing photos. Look, that cute pumpkin one uploaded in a cinch.

Blog updates: 
Reading: I finished Into the Wild (which turned out to be almost too fast of a read) and started The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin which is going to be fabulous. The prologue was so good that I read the whole thing aloud to Chris. I then settled in to start reading chapter one and promptly fell asleep (it was 920... waaay past my bedtime).

Caffeine: I remembered the big container of 1/2 caff and this morning drank plenty of coffee but far less caffeine... so that's good... except that I had four scoops and now I'm about to get up and go make some REAL coffee. Hmph. That didn't work. 
Also, I've been thinking about how I have memories of my grandfather Clyde's (aka "Pop") coffee mug burned into my brain. The fact that all of my memories of Pop involve him with a brown coffee mug (which I wish I now owned) with the dredges of a cup of coffee in it, combined with my father's, sister's, and brother's, and my coffee... ummm shall we say "habits" (aka horrible life controlling addiction) is making me think there is something coffee related in the gene pool. Perhaps that's where the Rush name came from in the first place? I'm beginning to think someone overly caffeinated just got dubbed "Rush" somewhere back in our family history when humans were doling out last names. 
*Also, for those of you who think I'm just obsessing... you've just forgotten that I looovvvee coffee and my neurologist doesn't think unlimited pots is a good thing. So there is a legitimate medical reason for the obsession. Otherwise I would cease to drink water unless it had dripped through beans. And also I like to obsess about things. That's also in the gene pool *cough*jimmers*cough* AND also it's my blog so I do what I want. Start your own blog and talk about boring non-coffee related things. 

Hey, speaking of obsession and non-coffee related things, anyone want to talk about polar exploration?!

Tarantula holes in the front yard count: numerous. 
Number of tarantulas I'm excited to have living around our yard: all of them. That's one fuzzy bug! Those suckers eat roaches, y'all. Bring on the arachnids!

After asps and tarantulas who else is going to spend the rest of the day saying over and over, "that is one fuzzy bug!"? Well, if you clicked on that then you are now...

Social Stressing Network

My husband sometimes (kiddingly?) accuses me of being "anti-technology." I'm actually not anti-technology at all. I just don't want a Kindle as I perfer the tangible feel and smell of a book in my hands. I like to turn the pages. Books bring me comfort in a way that technology never could. Plus, screens bother whatever it is about me that is inherently "migrainey."

You should also know Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite books. It's a quick read if you've never picked it up and it will freak. you. out.

So, now that we've got all that out on the table, let me tell you the latest theory I have for which I am going to be accused of being "anti-technology" *even though I'm not.*

I think social-networking might be women kryptonite.

Women by nature are social creatures. We are pack animals. I look at my facebook page and who's active on it? Largely it's women. Women tend to have friends as men tend to look at us blankly when we say thinks to them like, "who can you lean on in this?" or "which of your friends can you call for advice?" or even "who do you want to invite to the party?" When it comes to social networking, we have Mark Zuckerberg to thank for invention, but we have women to thank for driving the bus.

And women, let's face it, we are freaking emotional beasts. So, as I see it, expanding our social network has become problematic.

Recently I encountered two different women stressed about the same thing: letting go. I spent time with a mom worried about Pre-K starting because "it's the last year she'll be at home. Next year is kkkinnnnddddergarten!!!" (and this is a mom I consider really down to earth). Then I got home to encounter a friend (well, actually "friends" plural but we'll stick to just the one in mind) on facebook who just dropped her firstborn off at college. And it occurred to me, these two particular women don't know one another, but each one of them is active on facebook. They are in totally different phases of life and yet they are feeding off of one another's anxieties.

Worried about your kid leaving for college? Escape to facebook. Brew a cup of coffee, turn on the computer, plop down that metaphorical suitcase full of problems you lug around, and hit up your homepage. And what will you find there? Other people's insecurities just waiting to feed into your own. You'll find photos of newborns swaddled safely in the arms of new mothers wearing hospital gowns. Scroll down your newsfeed as you see dad's playing tee-ball with their little ones, first day photos of every age, and... hey... all of your own child's newborn photos are just one or two little clicks away. See it... right there on the left... that little folder icon contains in it years of photographs just waiting for you to weepily reminisce. An hour or so social networking and your rolling suitcase of worry is a little bit heavier instead of lighter.

Or perhaps you're a young mother. Your child spends pretty much all of her time with you, breaking only to hop in and out of preschool a couple of times a week. You are emotionally worn thin as you sleep little and are needed constantly. Don't worry, facebook is a great escape. Plop down on the couch with a Diet Coke and your own metaphorical hiking backpack of worry and flip on over to facebook. Note the number of times older friends have commented on your child's photo saying things like, "Keep them this young forever!" and "It goes FAST! Savor it!" Scroll through your newsfeed and worry with all of the mothers in agony over sending their children off to college or even worse... kindergarden. You get up to leave the couch and swing that backpack full of worry back onto your shoulder. Did someone add a few rocks into it when you weren't looking?

Moms, what are we doing to ourselves? We are worriers by nature. Yes, it is good for us to worry about our kiddos. That's what keeps them from playing in traffic. But enough is enough. I don't need to be worried about sending my four year old to kindergarten, much less college. I need to be worried about keeping her alive and well today. Period.

I'm not lessening the validity of these worries. I think that worries over "leaving the nest" are incredibly valid. What I'm saying is that long long ago in a galaxy far far away before facebook women actually turned to one another for support and advice. They didn't have the internet. If they felt anxious and worried, they turned to their elders. Now, thanks to the beauty of social networking, the elders are the ones making us anxious. You young moms know what I'm talking about - the friend of your parent that is constantly getting on facebook and telling young moms they barely know to "savor it" or "stop time." Boomers, we love you but you're killing us here. You are adding little pebbles of worry into our baggage, little notes of anxiety telling us that life is better here where we are now than it is there, where we will someday be.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that we shouldn't hide our concerns and fears or pretend they don't exist. I'm just saying that we need to be aware of the fact that facebook is a dumping ground for everyone else's stress and we don't need to pick up theirs. We don't have to delete our facebook accounts or hide from the internet. We just need to be careful to not add to everyone else's anxiety to our own.

Dumping your worry onto facebook doesn't make your worry go away. It makes everyone else anxious too. If you are worried about sending a kid off to college, invite over someone who has been there and done that and make them a cup of coffee. If you're stressed out over kindergarten, don't pour your anxiety over everyone who might also be anxious about that. Call a mom who has passed those days and pick her brain. Facebook is fun. It is social. But pouring out your anxiety on facebook doesn't rid your life of the anxiety, it just spreads it. Real life interactions with real life people, face to face or on the phone at least, that's what will alleviate some of your stress.

I can see all of this anxiety that facebook causes because I get sucked into it. But then I shake my head back into the present and remember that those are not my problems. I've got my own 1950s style clutch that I bring with my cup of coffee when I sign in to the internet, and it doesn't involve anxiety about college. Well, perhaps it does. But for now at least that folder is neatly labeled, fairly empty, and tucked in the back for later.

iMommy

It occurred to me recently that my children will be considerably behind their peers when it comes to technology. I'm not that into tv so we don't watch much. I purchased the cell phone that is marketed to parents as the phone to buy for preteens who are allowed to text but not have internet access. We don't have an ipad or even an ipod for that matter. And... truth be told... I use Windows Media Player. *gasp*

And while I'm confessing... I plan to purchase a walkman for Carolena to use on our upcoming roadtrip. Not an ipad. A walkman. hahahaha. Seriously though! They're like fifteen bucks on amazon. Sold! Plus, thanks to some awesome friends I have a Jem and the Holograms tape squirreled away that is going to change her life.

Ahem. What year is it again?

All this is to say, it recently occurred to me that my kids might be behind their peers when it comes to technology so I started teaching Carolena how to use our computer. Sure, it's a laptop and not an ipad, but it's better than the wooden spoons I've allowed her to play with thus far.

I jest.

Kind of.

So, Carolena is now versed in PBS games and how to use the mouse and how to click on the red X to close the window. Badda bing badda boom.

And someone refuses to be left out...