A little this-n-that

Friends

On Sunday we had a visit with one of my best friends from college. Tracy and I met our freshman year when she lived in the dorm room next door and we learned we were both from the same home town (well, metropolitan area - but still, it's a big deal when you're going to a huge private university out of state). I couldn't have picked out a husband better for her if I had to do it myself. Jim is awesome, and we just love him. Sadly, they live in the DC area so we only get to see them when they come to town once a year to visit family.


This year they brought something special to share with us. Their long awaited three month old baby boy! He was cute as could be. He looked like a little man with his bald head, serious demeanor and sweater vest. Of course, the loser that I am, I didn't think to pull out the camera until after they had all left.


Hey, is there anyone out there that knows a literary agent? Jim has written a novel that deserves to be published. The last time they visited, he left part of his manuscript with me to read since he'd already finished editing that part. It was a great read! Tom Clancy doesn't have anything on Jim.

DTV

We subscribe to satellite TV for the TVs in our family room and master bedroom. The only other TV in the house is in the guest room, and it just gets what we can manage to pull in with rabbit ears. It's not really a big deal because we don't have guests that often. Because we live in a kind of bowl shaped valley, we get really crummy reception. Only a few channels come in (all of them snowy), and you pretty much just have jigger it around each time you want to watch a different station - hence the need for satellite.


We haven't been able to part with enough money to buy ourselves a really nice, big, flat screen TV, so all of ours are big box analog. I ordered the government coupons and bought my first digital converter box last week, and finally got around to setting it up Sunday night (since the guest room was going to have visitors the following night). Before I hooked it up I checked to see what I could get in. Nada. I hooked it up, attached the rabbit ears, and I came up with seven crystal clear stations. I was beyond excited! The next day I checked online to find out how many digital stations we should potentially be able to receive. I don't remember the exact number, but it was a lot more than what we'd gotten. So a couple nights later I'm back to playing around with the rabbit ears. If I was excited with seven stations, imagine my reaction when I found 23! Shazaam!!! Now to be fair, nearly a half dozen of those are religious or Spanish, but still, I'm getting them.


As I was reading about the local digital stations I learned that many have been broadcasting in digital for a decade. So now I'm a little bothered. Why couldn't these digital converter boxes have been available earlier? Had this been an option when we moved here six years ago, I never would have even bothered with cable or satellite. But now I'm hooked. I'm not sure that I want to part with Nickelodeon or Disney, or TNT or TBS, and I sure as heck would be hard pressed to break up with my DVR - what a magnificent piece of technology that is. Anyway, I just don't get the reluctance to switch over to digital. The media always made the mandatory switch over sound so ominous, like it should be something to dread, as opposed to a terrific upgrade even for those of us that don't have high end TVs. We should have started this years ago rather than having to wait for the countdown.

Dancing

The girls have started their dance classes this week. I'm a little bummed because the only option was Tuesday afternoons, which I always work, so I'm going to miss all of their classes except the last one, since I'm taking a half day off so I can watch. So far P says it is a waste of money. M's creative movement class is first. She wouldn't budge from P's lap, except to take a sticker from the teacher at the end of class. C's class is intro to ballet and tap, but C didn't learn anything because she only wanted to do her own thing and wouldn't pay attention to the instructor. Luckily, P did pay attention, so he was able to show us the steps C should be working on this week. (It was pretty cute watching P doing those knee bends and trying to look all graceful - kind of like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in The Game Plan.) So far C isn't getting it at home either. I'm not sure if it's because her coordination isn't there yet, or if all kids that age would struggle to get it down.


They already had several pairs of dance leotards each from their cousin, so I bought both girls a pair of ballet slippers today, plus a pair of tap shoes for C. They are so excited! I wouldn't be surprised if they have them on in the morning when they climb into bed with us. Maybe the shoes will raise the level of cooperation in the next class.

The Park

This week we didn't manage to visit a new park. With C in "Safety Town" each morning this week (and most of next), it gives us too late of a start to visit a park (read: cranky, fighting kids) and moods after naps are often a crap shoot as well. Plus, the park that I had picked out is in downtown, so I didn't want to mess with rush hour traffic either. With the temp expected to hit 90 today, I decided we'd go to our usual park so the girls could play on the splash pad.


It's funny how the girls are so different in the water. M loves to stand in the middle of the water, with it hitting her face - even getting into her eyes, nose and mouth. She bends over to get her hair all wet too. C, on the other hand, only wants to get wet on her own terms. There is a little spot where the water pools, and she stomps quite happily in that. She doesn't like getting splashed, and she especially doesn't like getting her face wet.


Here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure, but I have to tell you about this first one. I only wish I had sound to go with it. C settled herself in on this rock, informed me she was a mermaid, and then began to sing "ah ah ah ahhaahaha, ah ah ah ahhaahaha" from The Little Mermaid. And in case you think this looks a little familiar - here's why. It bears a striking resemblance to The Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Click link for a photo & more info on the statue.)