Can you tell we bought a label maker over the weekend?
He Spoils Me
I am an audiophile of epic proportions and A-Man (bless him) is my enabler. If I never saw another TV show, it would be sad, but I’d live. If I never heard music again, that would be the death of me.
I have an iPod and my car came with a great sound system.There are audio sources in the rooms of the house where I spend the most time. The most recent addition is The SqueezeBox Touch WiFi music player. It connects to our wireless network and plays local radio stations (no static whoo hoo!). Pandora (requires a subscription) and Sirius/XM. It will also access play lists from iTunes, but will not play any songs in Apple’s proprietary AAC format (a rant for another post for sure *makes angry eyes at Apple and the RIAA*).
Logitech makes stand alone WiFi Music players, but this one is a component to an existing stereo system in our bedroom. Set up seemed to go fairly quickly and using it is a snap. This model is a touch screen (it also comes with a remote). I can also manage it from any of the computers on the network. For the most part, I set up my favorites and then use about three different selections depending on the time of day, radio in the morning, upbeat country or rock during the day and mellow at night. One of the best features (and the one A-man spent the most time researching) is the dimming. The SqueezeBox Touch will go dark after about 30 seconds so we can avoid the addition of another ball cap (in the photo above, the ball cap blocks out the light from the display on the tuner).
Do you require silence to sleep? Do you prefer music of just white noise?
I am a happy camper when it comes to the Logitech SqueezeBox Touch. These opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for this post.
New Glasses
Both kids needed new glasses this year. They both have a bi-focal and both use Transition Lenses so the glasses can double as sun glasses. I always guide them towards the tallest frame possible to give them as much coverage as possible. This is not an easy feat with today’s fashions. I miss the old owl eyes of the ’80’s! A-man got glasses for the first time since he was a kid. He hates having his picture taken, but I managed to snap a shot. I will refrain from posting it because 15 years of marriage have taught me a few things :).
12
Dear Squishy Fish,
You are twelve.
You are at that stage where you are balancing maturity with childhood and you are doing it fantastically well. Me? Meh, not so much. Your transition from elementary school to middle school was very smooth. You are finding out what friendship is really about and choosing friends with good character.
In the fall, you texted me asking if you could join the math team. Has a parent (especially one as math impaired as I am) EVER refused to let a child join the math team? I texted back saying we’d talk when you got home. One of my funnier memories is our exchange about this.
You: Mom can I join the math team?
Me: Hmm, I don’t know, it sounds kind of dangerous to me.
You: Huh?
Me: I mean what if someone messes up their quadric equation and it explodes? Ugh, what a mess. Variables everywhere. You could get hurt.
You: Mommmmmm!
I held you off a few months, but you followed your brother’s footsteps, and took up karate. Your poise and precision is amazing. Your instructors all comment positively and frequently cite you as an example. Skiing continues to be one of your favorite activities and you enjoy skiing with the Hs and helping them heard their cats as the seven of you traverse the slopes. You’ve worn contact lenses for about a year and handled the responsibility with ease.
As mature as you are, you don’t hesitate to grab my hand and make me skip through a parking lot with you. Nicki, Jess and Emily are frequent companions as you while away the hours in your room, figuring out how this world works and what exactly you want your place in it to be. Thankfully you still seek me out for some snuggle time before bed
Your little brother can drive you absolutely mad, but you make time to play the Wii with him or the two of you venture into the land of make believe. He still worships the ground you walk on and you are one of his biggest fans.
The year hasn’t been without conflict. You made mistakes, but so have I. I’m not sure that will ever change. I want the best for you. I joke that you, must, stop, growing, and some days, I wish it was true. I feel like I need another twelve years just to catch up with you. Yet, I know that’s not how it works. It is your job to grow and move into your own life. It is mine to remember you are not me and support you as you find out who you are and what you want.
Happy Last-year-before-being-a-teenager. Make it a good one!
Love,
Mom
High Tech Hide and Seek
The story goes like this; my husband and I got lost walking in our own backyard, so my in-laws bought my husband a hand held GPS for his birthday. While standing in line to pay for said GPS, my mother-in-law spied a book on Geocaching, the book was an impulse buy that launched us on an addictive family activity.
Never heard of geocaching? Oh, are YOU missing out. Geocaching is a high tech treasure hunting game. “Cachers” hide small containers in various locations and post the GPS coordinates (and a hint or two) on a web site geocaching.com. You can search geocaching.com by address, zip code or by state. There are over 5,000 caches in New Hampshire alone. There are 5 within a 1-mile radius of our home and over 400 within a 10-mile radius.
Caches are rated by how difficult they are to find, and the difficulty of the terrain where the cache is located.There is usually a hint included as well (encrypted for those who want the an additional challenge). There are caches everywhere and some of the descriptions and hints can be kind of funny. Like the one in Boston that said “when you reach underneath the bridge for the box, make sure you don’t grab the rat trap”. Icons included in the description, will also note whether the site is handicapped accessible, stroller and or pet friendly.
When you choose a cache you want to find, you download the coordinates to your GPS unit. It is worth noting that may of the newer units meant for cars, can also be used for geocaching. That said, a hand held unit is more rugged and easier to carry.
GPS, in hand, you make your way to the specified location and try to locate the cache. Keep in mind that consumer GPS units are typically only accurate within a few feet of a given location, so there is definitely some searching skills involved. In my opinion, that’s half the fun. Caches can be of various sizes, our first find was a military ammunition box. Others have been camouflaged Tupperware and even peanut containers. Some caches are location caches where the originator wants you to see a great view or even a monument you may have walked by a thousand times.
Inside container caches there is a log book that you sign to confirm your find. More importantly for my kids, there are small “trinkets” to be traded. If you take something, you are supposed to leave something. Parents this is a phenomenal way to get rid of all those fast food toys.
The majority of caches are on public land, if one is on private property, it can only be placed with the owner’s consent and that fact will be noted in the description. As a rule cachers try to be respectful, though there have been some caches that have been viewed as suspicious and investigated by police. Cachers also try to leave things better than they found them, the saying goes “Cache in, Trash Out” and we’ve collected a few trash bags of littler on our adventures.
After you find the cache, you return to the web site, log your find online and leave a comment or a photo about the find.
I love geocaching because it gets us out and moving as a family and it stokes my kids’ sense of adventure and curiosity. At the same time, it gives them opportunities to practice problem-solving skills and be good environmental citizens. Most importantly, we have found locations that we otherwise might not have found. The first day we were out, we found a series of walking trails 2 miles from our house that I had no idea even existed.
In New Hampshire, there are several active caching communities that frequently place new caches and maintain existing caches. The Concord group even meet informally on a regular basis. Information on the events, called event caches, can be found on the geocaching web site.
Membership to geocaching.com is free, but a premium membership ($30 per year) supports the site and gets you added benefits like a listing of geocaches that can be found along a specified route. Also a few rare caches are available only to premium members.
For what it is worth, we didn’t really get LOST lost, in our backyard. We just couldn’t turn around and follow the path from which we came. We ended up making our way to the nearest road and came out about a mile from our house leaving us to walk back the long way. That said, I’m glad it happened as that one journey has launched many more
Award Winning Socks
A nasty sinus infection sidelined me last week. I don’t do sick well. While I catch up, enjoy this picture of AWARD WINNING SOCKS.
Mim’s school held a sock hop last week and there was to be prizes for the best socks in each grade. Mim had the idea to make cleats. A pair of socks, electrical tape, sharpies, some stickers, a little help from mom and shazam! He won a $5 giftcard to Books-a-Million (BAM!). He was very proud.
I
Right after Christmas, I put a white board wall decal up at the top of the stairs. I mostly intended it to be a place to jot quick notes. Nothing of any substance per say, but just a fun place for all of us to doodle.
After I got everyone off to school this morning, I hurried to get ready for an appointment. As I was getting ready to head out, this stopped me in my tracks. It made me smile and get a little teary.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1693" title="3 u Dad" src="https://livefearlesslee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/3-u-Dad.jpg" alt="A white board with I The kids went to Disney with their Grandparents and we went to New Orleans. We had a little over 24 hours together as a family of four and then A-man was off to a conference in Las Vegas for a week. The kids and I had a good week, but this says it all :).
Stuck in a hotel
As I write this, I am “stuck” in a hotel in Boston.
Oh, whoa is me. NOT!
Our flight from New Orleans landed late, so the plan had always been to stay one night in Boston so A-Man could have a reasonable commute. I had plans in the city today but they were cancelled and since Winter finally decided to show up, it is not fit for man nor beast outside. The next two commutes promise to be ugly as well, so now it will be two nights in Boston.
I could have gone many places in the city, but nothing appeals to me more than lazing about a hotel room. I could have gone home. but the weather made me uneasy and at home there are to-do lists and the things that have to be to-done.
Here? Here, someone makes my bed for me. There is tea available all day long and an abundance of peace and quiet is mine for the taking.
Sigh. Does it get any better than this?
No one asks me for anything. No on needs to be driven anywhere There are things I can do here. they are choices, not requirements. Did I mention there was a pool? I love to swim. I will go back to reality soon enough. but for now. I relish this time, luxuriate in the nothingness.
I am using the time to fill my well. Next week, I will be a single parent for 7 days. I know that many women do it all the time and many women do it for longer stretches. but I’m not built that way. I’ve always known it. I love my children and I can swing single parenting for short stretches, but I’m a much better parent when I co-parent. Things will be fine, but life will go much better now that I’ve had a week of non-parenting and I get to take these last few days in relative solitude.
My husband thinks I’m nuts. He doesn’t understand the appeal at all. To him, a hotel room is claustrophobic. To me, it is containment, cozy. I am free to write and read, surf and chat without interruption. The woman at the front desk gets it, a female colleague of his, herself a single mother, understands. He just shakes his head and wonders what’s to like about being “stuck” in a hotel room.
Image 3450 – 1 image, 3 photos
As soon as I snapped this shot, I was itching to get to a photo editor. There was just so much here to work with. Sadly, the compression of .jpg takes away from some of the detail, but they are fun none-the-less.
Live Fearless Lee 
