What Will Become of Stenography

Do any of you remember the forgotten language of shorthand?

There is actually more than one 'type' of shorthand; for example, there's Pitman or Teeline.
And The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography.

I'll bet you've heard of that word...

Usually we think of a stenographer as the person who sits in front of the judge's bench during a trial, quickly depressing the keys on a that funny looking typewriter of hers. Her fingers seem to fly as she transcribes every spoken word. And then, when a defendant answers a question that the lawyer objected, and the judge sustained their objection, he will look at her and tell the stenographer to 'strike that from the record'.

People go to classes to learn this stuff!!

Did you know that a stenographer can write/type at speeds of up to 300 words a minute?? Fascinating!

What do you think will come of shorthand as this next generation grows into adulthood??

Do you think the stenograph will become a thing of the past, like the dinosaurs, as the upcoming language of texting takes over the world?

If you are the parent of a teen, or even a pre-teen, you know what I'm talking about.

I have a friend who doesn't allow her children to use txt, when they are texting. Her logic is that it creates problems in their schoolwork. They get so used taking txt shortcuts, that they make errors by writing the way they txt, or they forget the proper spelling of words.

Not to mention, as parents we reserve the right to view any and all of our children's text messages. And it wouldn't do us any good to review them, if we can't understand the lingo. Right??

Note to self: Next time you spell something wrong, use txting as your excuse. Yeah, that'll work!
I've not always been a horrible speller, it just happened when this texting thing came along. Y'all believe me don't you??

Okay, sorry; back to the story...

Anyway, since spelling has never been my strong suit this logic made perfect since and I Incorporated that same rule to Sugar when she got her cell phone.

The other day she texted me from the library. Our conversation was as follows:

Her: Hey moma
Me: Hey!

Her: Hey whats up i mean what you doing
Me: Working. What r u doing?

Her: Noting i am on my way to the library
Me: Okay, do ur homework and i'll let u know when i'm on my way.

Her: I dont have any homework
Me: Ok. u could get onto study island

Her: Ok love you
Me: Love u 2. ttyl :)

Her: What i am not allowed talk text talk i dont know what that means all i know iz lol
Me: Lol! I LOVE U!!!!

What??? I'm the mom, those same rules don't apply to me. ;)

Who's That in My Kitchen?

There are several things that I'm good at: Computers - check, Creativity - check, check, Organizing - check, check, check, shopping - check, check, check, check.

I am good at all of those things, as well as a few more that seem to be eluding me right now.

BUT, Domestic Diva I. am. not.

I believe that I've mentioned a time or two (or three, or four) before that cooking is not my thing.

It's not that I can't cook, I just prefer not to.

I am perfectly content so sit on my ass back, whenever the hubby's not home (I always said I would marry a man who could cook ; ) and let my twelve year old do the cooking.

She likes to cook, I don't like to cook. This arrangement works for us, right up until I walk into the kitchen and find the HUGE mess that she never fails to leave behind.

I swear, this girl is like a walking tornado. She leaves a trail of destruction everywhere she goes.

A couple of weeks ago, mom and I were shopping - at Target, if you can imagine ;) - and when we were in the book section, I stumbled across a book called Fix It and Forget It, Lightly.

I picked it up and started thumbing through it. There were several recipes in there that caught my eye. Not only did they look good, they looked easy.

Throw your ingredients in the crock-pot, turn it on, go to work, come home and voila, dinner is served. Doesn't get much easier than that.

Thinking that this would help eliminate our dinner doldrums, I bought the book.

After trying out two easy peasy and wonderfully delicious recipes, I have decided that slow cooker cooking is the way for me.

Last weekend I upgraded to a fancy-schmancy crock pot. Now, I can set the amount of time my meals should cook and when the time is out it will automatically switch to 'warm' until we get home.

Yesterday, I made my first EVER... insert drum roll here...

Meatloaf :o *gasp*

And guess what?!?!

It was eatable and, although I'm not a big fan of meatloaf - I left out all the 'yucky stuff' - it turned out pretty good. ;)

Shocking, I know.

Big Girl Benefits

For almost eight years she was an only child.

She begged for a little brother or sister.

When she found out that her life long wish was finally coming true, she was filled with excitement!

And then, the baby sister came along and she was no longer an only child; now, she was the "BIG SISTER."

Being a BIG SISTER is not as much fun as she thought it would be, back when she was an only child and begging for a sibling.

She fails to see the benefits of her position

Like the other night, she went to spend the night with one of her friends down the street.

After the squeals of delight settled, she made sure we were aware of her gratitude, "thank you, thank you, thank you." She repeated over and over again, as she ran upstairs and threw a bag together. Then she ran back in and kissed us once more, telling us how we are the "greatest parents on Earth", said her goodbye's and ran out the door - leaving the little sister behind.

The conversation that followed, went like this:

Spice: Where did Sugar go?

Me: She went to spend the night with Sarah

Spice: Okay, I'm gonna go pack my bags so I can go too.

Me: No baby, you can't go this time.

Spice, in her most disappointed 'but I want to go too' voice: Why not????

Me: Because, only the big girls are spending the night.

Spice: I'm a big girl

Me: Yes but your a little big girl. The big girls want to play without the little girls around.

Spice, as she grabs the phone: What's Bobby's number? (Sarah's mom)

Me: It's Ms. Bobby and why do you want to know her number?

Spice: I'm gonna tell her if she'll let me spend the night.

Me: No baby, you can't spend the night with them. You're not big enough.

Spice: But I have a stool.

Now I ask you...How do you argue with that logic??

The First Dance

They grow up so fast...

It seems like only a few short years ago that I was holding my tiny angle in my arms.

Swaying back and forth when she was fussy, humming a soft lullaby as she settled down and drifted back off to dream land.

Dancing with her in the daylight hours. Spinning her around quickly, faster and faster as she squealed with giggles of pure delight.

Then, one day my little girl - the first born, no longer a baby, not yet an adult - comes home and announces that her school is having a dance. "It's a Valentine's dance!" She exclaims.

"It's semi formal. We have to wear a dress. It can't be short. It can't be sleeveless or spaghetti straps. It has to be either Pink, White or Red." She says without even a single pause for air between sentences. "So can I go?"

"When is it?" I ask. "Does it cost anything? If so, how much?"

"It's on a Friday. I think it cost $5.00"

And then, the search was on...

The search for the perfect "First Dance" dress.

One that's not too young but also not too mature. Not too short, not too long. No sleeveless, no spaghetti straps.

Keeping all this criteria in mind and after about an hour of searching, I had narrowed it down to only two choices.

Making a call or two to the kiddo, together we decided to go with the pink one.

The dance was last Friday night.

She was very excited as I did her hair. Looking at the clock every few minutes, rushing me on, ready to get there - heaven forbid she not arrive right.at.6 o'clock.on.the.dot. *Sigh* Someone needs to teach this girl about being 'fashionably' late.



Here is the end results:




She had a great time at the dance! AND she says she actually danced. :)




Oh, and apparently, we also have a 'first crush' ;)



*Sigh* Slow down child, I'm not ready for this...

Michele My Bell

If you've known me for any amount of time, you've heard me talk about her.

We go to the movies together almost every weekend.

Sometimes, I even blog about the movies we see in my other blog - Movies With Mom.

As I've grown, our interaction has matured into more than just that of a mother/daughter relationship.

She has literally become my best friend.

And now, she's blogging too. :)

So... without further ado, please welcome my mom to blogville!

You can go check her out at Michele My Bell.

What are you waiting for? Run on over and show her some bloggy love.

Love you mom! :)

Valentine's Day Night

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, things have been really busy for me at work and that usually zaps all of my creative energy - guess you could say I went into my shell for a while ;)

I've got lots of stories to tell, but let's just start with the most recent event: ♥Valentine's Day♥
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
This year, Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday♥

I'm curious to know what you all did to celebrate - and don't try to tell me you didn't do anything because it looked like everyone and their brother was doing something♥♥♥

Traffic was outrageous!

I swear, you would have thought that this event had never fallen on a Saturday before - the last time was in 2004 - BTW ;) - or that it never would again.

Us?

We didn't do much, we had another couple over and the hubs grilled out - YUM!!. He also bought the makings for Apple Martini's - you think he might have had an ulterior motive?? ;)

I drank my standard three (this time with food) and I was feeling right nice.

By 10:00, the effects started wearing off.

By 11:00, the sleepiness set in.

By the time the other couple left (around 11:30 or 12:00) all I wanted to do was get into my comfy PJ's and crawl into my warm, snuggly bed.

That'll learn him - maybe next time he should save his ulterior motives for a night when we don't have company ;)



PS. Valentine's Company: If you're reading this, please note that this is only meant to be a funny story. We really did enjoy your visit! :)

Watch out for the lightning!

They were eating their burgers at McDonald’s when the four year old suddenly announced to the table, out of the clear blue sky, that “that pin hurt my bottom!”

Of course, a comment like that elicited a few looks until dawning finally registered in her mother’s face, at which time she explained that she had a boil about a month back and that they had to use a pin to help drain it.

I have always heard that they – whoever ‘they’ are - don’t really know what causes those nasty things. Some say stress, other’s say ingrown hairs and apparently others say the cause is from low iron, as this was the statement her mother made upon hearing of this episode. “You know what causes those, don’t you?” she asked.

“No, I thought they could be caused from stress.” Her uninformed daughter replied.

“No, they’re caused from low iron.” She said, enlightening the daughter. “You need to start feeding that baby more iron.” She tells her, to which the twelve year old pipes in with: “But then she might get struck by lightning!”

Letting that thought sink in for a minute, she looked over at her oldest daughter and said, “Where in the heck did you hear that?” LOL!

Somewhat embarrassed and yet still completely clueless, she made up some story about hearing it on one of the TV shows that she watches; but, looking back on it today, I don’t think she really ‘heard’ this anywhere. I think she actually thought we were talking about feeding her sister iron – the metallic substance. ;)

And all this time I thought that the possibility of getting struck by lightning could happen to anyone; apparently though, this phenomenon only applies to those of you with a high intake of iron in your diet.

Watch out for the lightning!!