Playing catch-up

I have been doing some spring cleaning here at MBFCF (and at home too, but that's not important right now).

I've been making some slight changes that I've been meaning to get to for a while now.

• I made the body of the posts static instead of fluid - so the photos and type don't move around depending on the size of your screen anymore.
• I added a color (it should look sepia in your browser) to the background.
• I created a cute little favicon to the top tab. (it says MBFCF in a little brown heart - how cute is that?!)
• I changed the color of the type in my lists (on the sides there...)
• And last, but not least, I added a little widget called Linked Within.

I especially love that last feature.  I mean... I've written over 750 posts!  That's a lot of posts! You might as well benefit from all of that writing. =D

So if you scroll down to the bottom of each of my posts (like this one, for example) it will say the following...

You might like these stories:

And then it links you to 3 other posts within my blog.  Isn't that genius?
That way, on a day like today, while I'm still catching up with the week's laundry and looking for creative inspiration, you can amuse yourself by reading stuff I've already written.

Genius.

Let me know what you think. I'll be folding socks and tshirts and sheets and towels and....

*SIGH*

Since I was already playing on my computer and procrastinating because I have so much stuff to do that I really don't want to...

I also Simpsonized myself.... 

Meet Martica. The Simpsons' new Cuban neighbor.  ;-)

(Disclaimer: I don't watch this show, but someone sent me the link and I couldn't resist...)

 

I know. Shut up.

Learning to do advanced geometry

One of the beautiful things about home education is that I get to learn stuff alongside my kids. 

Seriously, I think back to when I was in high school and learning Algebra and Geometry.  Well, "learning" might be a bit of an exaggeration. 

I showed up. I kind of did what I was told to do. I parroted answers that I had stored for the moment when I'd have to regurgitate them and quickly forgot what I had been "taught."  Besides, I was busy learning the things I wanted to learn.  I read voraciously. I taught myself to write.

It wasn't until I started researching homeschooling that I began to see where my own education had broken down. I was never taught how to think.

In fact, although I did well in Geometry (because I was a visual learner, a term which I'm sure my teachers back in the late 60's and 70's had never even heard of) I never quite understood Algebra.  It wasn't until I had to teach my own kids that I learned how to even do Algebra. 

Painful Flashback Memory:  I got a "D" in Algebra my freshman year of high school from Mrs. Gremmer, bless her heart.  It was a gift, really, because I think she felt sorry for me because I was trying so hard and maybe because I kissed up to her just a little, but that's not important right now. All that to say this: I just didn't get it and nobody cared.

So now I'm learning right along with them. And I couldn't be more delighted. I feel like I can learn anything. (Italian is next on my list. =D)

We're the type of family that has a dictionary at the dinner table at all times to contest a word or a spelling or a meaning of something.  (It's a lot more fun in real life than what I'm making it sound like here....) 

I once mentioned that one of the church worship leaders had a quavery voice and Eric challenged, so out came the dictionary which of course proved me correct.  =D

qua•ver (noun)
A shake or tremble in a person's voice.
Derivative: qua•ver•y (adjective)

So this week when I had some leftover picadillo and was going to make a combination emapanada/samosa, I looked to geometry to help me solve the problem.  (I know. Shut up. Go figure!)

I call them Empanadosas.

Just to prove that yes, you can use the things I'm teaching in real life. =D

I'm challenging you to do some Advanced Geometry to make these Empanadosas. 
Following this chart (which I created with Amy 's help):

Thanks Amy Kikita for your invaluable help.  The recipe is over at Babalú blog today. (I hope you're impressed.)

The truth is that this is really more my speed:  =D

It's about TIME

Much to my Jonathan's great sadness, I read somewhere that Bill Gates only lets his kids play video games for about forty-five minutes a day.  And because even though we homeschool, I don't want my kids to grow up to be total Social Retards, (I know you were thinking it!) we have Gaming Rules.

So the rules state that they can spend as much time as they need or want on their computers doing creative stuff (ie. writing, making films, editing pictures) or doing research.  We have four stations set up in our office/studio/homeschool area and we can all see each other's monitors at all times (but that's not important right now).

But when it comes to the game playing thing, they are limited to 45 minutes a day, with exceptions occasionally on weekends.
That's right. 45 minutes.

Say it with me, "Because I'm the mom and I said so."  =D

Left to his own devices, this is how Jonathan would choose to spend his time:

So the 45 Minute Gaming Rule remains.  He'll thank me much later when he gets A Real Life. ;-)

[The show is called The Big Bang Theory. We saw this episode on an airplane and I still laugh every time. I know Uber-Geek Humor. =D]

My hero.

I've mentioned before how we don't choose to have cable and therefore don't get tv channels here where we live.  So, my kids don't get to watch tv (I know... poor, losery homeschooled kids... shut up.).

They are allowed to watch some movies, especially on our outdoor big screen, and certain approved tv shows. And yes, we do own lots of dvds. =D

So, tonight I was in the kitchen slicing up onion and peppers and garlic for dinner when I accidentally stabbed myself with one of my extra sharp kitchen knives.

I called out (or maybe I made a sort of in-human guttural noise, but that's not important right now =D) and Jonathan quickly came running.

"What happened, Mom?"

I explained about the accidental finger stab as I was putting pressure on it to make it stop bleeding.  It was a pretty deep stab and I'm a big baby, but I had my Brave Mom face on, even though I thought for sure I was going into shock and was already mentally going into an explanation to the imaginary paramedics before I slowly slipped out of consciousness... (okay, so maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but it was a pretty deep puncture.)

When I explained what had happened, Jonathan jumped into action.  He dug in the drawer where I keep the steel thing that sharpens my knives.  He quickly opened the freezer and plunged it into the ice cube bin.  He was reassuring me the whole time and telling me to maintain the pressure on the wound.

After about a minute, he asked to see the place where I had stabbed myself.  It started to bleed again and was still painfully throbbing. 

This is the part where I was left a little dumbfounded.  He reached into the freezer and pulled out the now icy steel-knife-sharpening-thing and placed the ice-cold steel on the wound. 

Within a minute it had cauterized, was completely closed up and was no longer hurting! 

Amazing. Seriously. Just amazing.

I was stunned.

"Where on earth did you learn how to do that??"

He looked at me sheepishly and answered: "MacGyver."

I looked him in the eye and simply said: "My hero."  (and no, I didn't mean Richard Dean Anderson.) ;-)

YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!

Since my parents went on vacation, my Dad needed to borrow my laptop.  Seeing as how I need a computer and internet to work (and so does he), it made sense for me to stay at their house while they're gone.  This way I can work and feed the cats and water and make sure Adam doesn't get into too much trouble. ;-)

(yes, it's me, Kikita)

Anyway, day one was going pretty smoothly.  I had fed the cats and was throwing myself into the long work day I had ahead of me.  Dad and I will instant message each other about work related stuff because it's faster than making a phone call.  In this day and age, I'm sure you understand.

So I'm quietly plugging away when POP! 

An instant message from Dad: Amy, I need a favor . . .

No problem, he needed some notes off of his desk (which is where I happened to be working).

A little while later . . . POP!

(I think the little pop sound the computer makes to let me know I have an IM is kind of fun)

Amy, I need another quick favor . . .

No problem, he needed an email address for a new contact of his.

Back to work I went because I had a lot that needed to get done.

POP!

HOLA! MAMI HERE!

She just wanted to chat . . . which was fine.  I can chat and work at the same time.  Besides, Dad is really cool and has two monitors (which makes chatting while working much easier).

POP! POP! POP!

(That pop sound is kind of stupid, who thought of it anyway?)

Now they are both going.

Dad is asking work related things, Mami is sharing about the Thermometer.

Dad is having me check something while Mami wants me to check the blog for the Thermometer picture.

POP! POP! POP!

And I'm starting to go kind of crazy and am suddenly curious as to how they are both capable of IM-ing me at the same time . . .

POP! POP! BUZZ!

WHAT NOW?!?!

My phone phone is vibrating because Mom is texting me (on top of instant messaging) . . . so I thought. 

It was Lucy, sending me a picture.

Apparently, my parents were playing Battleship . . .

 

and I just happened to get caught in the cross-fire.  =D

The game's afoot...

I'm on vacation. Truly I am. We're swimming and relaxing and I'm even doing some scrapbooking and lots of reading. Yes. A perfectly relaxing vacation.  However, I'm still connected to the world because we inhabit a world of super-techiness (is that a word?).  So, I'm sitting today by the pool and I receive a text from my friend, Gene, Pam's husband, with a picture:

"We're at  the opening of Toy Story Mania. It's phenomenal. Hoping to see you.
Where are you?"

Hmm.... unexpected. My friends are at Disneyland and California Adventures and I'M NOT.

So I reply:
"Big Bear. On vacation. For the rest of the week. So sorry we missed you."

Moments later I receive another text, this time from my niece, Helen, with a picture:

"Just got off the new Toy Story ride. No wait - was amazing. Where are you??"

Ummm, here I go again... Helen and Daisy are my tried and true Disneyland buddies. And they are there WITHOUT ME?

"Big Bear. On vacation. For the rest of the week. So sorry we missed you."

This was starting to take on the characteristics of a conspiracy! I'm apparently the last Disney pass holder on the planet to ride on the new Toy Story ride. And no, I'm not jealous. I'm not. I swear...... heck, I'm on vacation! (and having a wonderful time, but that's not important right now) But the plot thickens and it's my own fault because I was the one who started the Scavenger Hunt in the first place, but that's not important right now either...

So now I'm texting with Gene and I'm texting with Helen when Gene suddenly wants to know where the thermometer is. In my original Disneyland Photo Scavenger Hunt there is a thermometer which reads 40 degrees. I took the picture in the doorway of the Coca-Cola Corner - Here's proof:

Gene and Pam are getting frustrated. No Thermometer. So I enlist Helen (after all, she was with me when I took the photos and she's already done this scavenger hunt) to help Gene and Pam find the Thermometer.

"On which side of the park are you? The Thermometer is MIA." 

It's not at the Coke Corner, she says, in fact, she's sure it's at the Carnation Cafe. I finally give Gene, Helen's number and vice versa (trying to extricate myself from the proverbial loop - I'm on vacation here, people!) but the texts kept coming:

"Not there. The Employees have never seen it before. yada yada. and you're delusional."

What?? This hunt wasn't that long ago.... (I start feeling a bit worried and responsible and a bit crazed when I'm supposed to be relaxing - did I mention that I'm. on. vacation! sigh).

Helen and Daisy let me know that they are now on their way to Main Street and the Carnation Cafe. Surely they'll find the bloody Thermometer - how hard can this be???  Okay. I admit it's a pretty difficult hunt - not for the faint of heart.

So now I get poetic: "Your Sacred Quest - FIND THE THERMOMETER."

They play right along with me: "No quest is too dangerous for the unstoppable duo of Daisy & Helen!"

By this time we're getting ready for dinner. The texting has been going on all day. My family is kind of tired of The Impossible Thermometer Quest. Gene and Pam apparently are tired of it too because they are resting and they think I'm lying and they've given up. (sorry, guys!)

Last text from Helen, way into the evening now:
"There is a nail hole, people!"  Mystery solved.

"Our Disneyland Scavenger Hunt has been sullied. The thermometer is gone, baby, gone!"

SIDE NOTE: When I send text messages with my friends we don't use text-slang (ie - CU L8TR which always sounds like bad vanity plates,but that's not important right now), we use punctuation, upper and lower case letters, and capitalize proper nouns. I know!

It cracked me up that they were furiously texting me all day over this Case of the Missing Thermometer and that yes, even though I'm on vacation.... I still got to play along!  And that makes me uber-happy! But I'm sad that my scavenger hunt is spoiled now.

I guess that only means one thing: I need to start working on a new one. (sigh. A creative-Disney-loving mother's work is never done.)

From the (allegedly) vacationing Marta - Peace out. =D

"Elementary, My Dear Watson there was a NAIL HOLE."

Excuse me, Mr. Google?

Hello, mi gente!  It's Amy again.

I'm having issues.  I need help.

The other day, I was talking with my Mom and I was messing with her a bit when out-of-the-blue and for the first time in my life she exclaimed, "San Apapusio, baja!"

Umm . . . what?? who??

Obviously, she was frustrated and asking for a particular Saint to come down . . . I understand that part, but most Saints are famous for something and that's why you call on them.

So, what is San Apapusio famous for?

Before admitting to her that I didn't know what she was talking about, I did what any modern-day Cubana would do.  I asked Mr. Google and guess what?  HE DOESN'T KNOW!!!!

El Señor Google left me hanging.  So I went to the next best source, Abuela.  But, you won't believe this, she said, "It's just something we say when someone is being difficult and we're frustrated.  I don't know why.  Ask Mr. Google."
Great.  This Mr. Google guy has only been here a couple days and already he's letting me down.

Not ready to admit defeat, I called my one Cuban friend who has only been here a couple years.  He started laughing at me and said he had no idea who it was.

Ay, caramba!

WHO IS THIS SAN APAPUSIO?!?!?

ANYONE? ANYONE?

(you get extra points if you can link him to Kevin Bacon)

Señor Google is in da house!

Hello everyone!  It's Amy.

I've been living with my Abuela for almost 3 years now and she has never had internet.  Because, really, what would a 90-something Cuban grandmother need the internet for?

(Yes, it's been hard on me, but - when I can no longer live without it - I just go to Mom's house.)

Anyway, my Abuela is slowly learning about the "in-ter-neh."  She'd heard it mentioned, but didn't really try to understand it until the whole "Depende" thing started happening to her in Miami.

What "Depende" thing?

Every time someone says the word, "depende," everyone else in the room interrupts with a loud, "DEPENDE DE QUE?"

After a year of people doing this to her, she asked me why everyone always said it the same way.  How do you explain talking eggs and bongos?  Ugh.  I promised her that, one day, I would show it to her and we left it at that.

But then, someone (not sure who) attempted to explain the concept of Google to her.  It didn't quite work.  So she started saying, "Pregunta al Señor Google."
("Go ask Mr. Google")

Yes, MISTER GOOGLE.  She thinks there is a little man sitting at a computer who is just waiting to answer people's questions and help with with their searches.  Obviously, "El Señor Google" is a very busy man.  And a good friend of "Señor Internet."

Well, now that I'm working for my Dad and most of our work is web-based, it only made sense for me to have internet at home instead of commuting the whole 10 minutes to Mom's house everyday.  ;-)

So I told my Abuela that "El Señor Internet" is coming to our house this week.  Monday morning, the Cox Cable guy arrives with a modem and gets me all set-up.  I'm sitting at the table in the kitchen letting him work when Abuela turns to me and says, "Oye, pero el Señor Internet es muy guapo!"
Great, my Abuela (who is more aware of my Single-status than I am) is thinking I should make a pass at the cable guy (who she thinks is Mr. Internet).  Mrs. Amy Internet?  I don't think so.

After the cable guy left, I told my Abuela there was someone I wanted her to meet.  I took her to Google and then typed in "huevos cubanos" as my search and we watched the following cartoon:

Her favorite is the one with the broken bongo.

Meanwhile, I'm on Yahoo Messenger IM-ing with Mom, but I have so many windows open that you can't see the whole word "Yahoo."  So Abuela asks me, "Porque dice 'Ya?'  Eso significa que ya se acabo algo?"  (For our English Only readers, "ya" in Spanish means something along the lines of "done, no more, finished."  Abuela wanted to know if my computer was telling me that Internet time was over.)

She also wanted to know why I was touching all the little buttons so much.  (She was talking about the keyboard.)  When she understood that I was talking to Mom, she told me to ask if Mom had received the pictures from some cousin.  Mom said she would forward the pictures to my email.

Once the pictures arrived 30 seconds later, my Abuela decided she wanted the laptop on top of her lap, because "that's where it's supposed to go, right?"

After she finished looking at the pictures and Mom's blog and everything else, she called everyone she knows to tell them that "El Señor Google esta en mi casa."

That's right, Mr. Google is in da house.

For Uber-Geeks only

Today is Albert Einstein's Birthday. Happy Birthday, Al!

Albert Einstein's name seems to always be connected with the word, "genius." Would it surprise you to learn that Einstein was educated at home?  He couldn't make it in public school.  He was just (by his own description) "too curious."  (I can't help but wonder what the California courts would have done with a quirky, curious kid like him, but that's not important right now.)

It also happens to be Pi Day. (Yes, Pi, but it's pronounced -  "PIE".)

Pi, Greek letter () is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  Pi = 3.1415926535
Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th. Which is today.

You're probably wondering what our Einstein's Birthday/Pi Day celebration consists of.

Well, there's chocolate, apple, and of course, pizza!

(I think Albert would have been proud. =D)

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." ~Albert Einstein

When life gives you lemons. . . Go to the Happiest Place on Earth!

Completely distracted. Completely. Because I'm in mourning. Or maybe I'm in denial. They say you do crazy things when you're in denial. . .

My PC has died an ugly, bloody death.  Here is his carcass, sitting impotently on my floor.

I did call someone to come and retrieve my documents and memory, but it's still pretty dead.

I don't know why I found that so funny.  I laughed and laughed in a kind of high-pitched maniacal cackle that gave away my frenetic state of mind.  Then I just turned it into a Monty Python sketch in my mind and it became tolerable.

'E's passed on!

This PC is no more!

He has ceased to be!

'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace!

If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!

'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, '

e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!!

THIS IS AN EX-PC!!

What was I to do? I was so unhappy. And it was raining to boot.  It was as if the universe had conspired to ruin my day.  And because the day was already shot, well, heck, let's just call the cousins and make an adventure out of it. 

So we went to Disneyland. (this is flawless logic to a crazed person, but that's not important right now.)  It was pouring rain. And it was the Best Day Ever!  It was not even a little crowded because of that whole rain thing, but hey, I was so over any fear of getting soaked to the skin. Besides, I was in a frenzy of denial over the death of my beloved PC.

So long, beloved PC!  I mourned your passing.  I celebrated your life.  But my life must go on.

I'm heading to the Apple Store now to ease my pain.  (now that's really the Happiest Place on Earth!)  ;-)