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  • July 31, 2012

Archives For July 31, 2012

Seven facts about myself

August 19, 2012

Taking a cue from one of my favorite bloggers, Kate from 365til30.com, I’ve accepted the challenge, “share seven unknown facts about yourself.” Enjoy the randomness of my bean spilling below and then repay me by sharing your list.

1. I am a borderline trypophobic. No idea what trypophobia is? Neither did I until I searched “pattern phobia” on Google and viewed pictures that made my skin crawl. My cousins and I have talked about our shared squeamishness for clustered patterns. An image of bees crawling out of honeycomb gives us the dry heaves. Then there’s crap like this…

…I can’t explain it. If you can look at this photo and have absolutely no reaction, then congratulations for not being a freak. If the above image deeply disturbs you, well, welcome to my world.

2. I check my purse at least twice before I lock my van. Even when I am absolutely positive I have my keys in there, I still feel compelled to double-check. I have only locked my keys in the inside of an automobile once in my life. I also unbuckle my seat belt before coming to a complete stop when parking my car. If I’m lucky, that saves me two seconds in my day. Weird, right?

3. I get teary eyed every time I see a baby being born or any athlete (at any age) making a huge play.

4. I often trap flies in my house and then take them outside to release them.

5. I don’t miss my children being babies one bit. I secretly feel like that makes me an awful mom. But I don’t care. Parenting is a lot easier when children can sleep through the night and control their bowel movements.

6. I have grown to distrust the medical community. My grandmother passed away in a nursing home due to negligence. I had a botched c-section by a trusted OB-GYN. And my son just had his “waterproof” cast removed, revealing his bone had healed but his skin was severely blistered and irritated.

7. I love sleep over almost anything else in life.

In Awareness, Brain dump, Crazy, Just for Fun, Reflection , ,
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Plugins for Dummies

August 16, 2012

Here’s my desperate shout-out to my fellow Word Press bloggers: How on earth do I play an .mp3 file on here?

I’ve read that I need to install wordtube. And that I need to choose this plug-in from under the “Media” menu on my dashboard.

PROBLEM: Once I downloaded wordtube, a bunch of files just cozied up in a random folder knowing I haven’t the slightest clue as to what to do with them.

And I quote (this is supposed to be spelled out for even the dumbest users to understand):

== Installation ==

1. Upload the files to wp-content/plugins/wordtube

2. Go to the web page http://www.longtailvideo.com and download the JW FLV Media Player 5.0 or higher and unpack the content

3. Upload the file player.swf and yt.swf to the WordPress upload folder

4. Activate the plugin

5. Upload a .flv video file or an mp3 sound file to the WordPress upload folder or use the Upload form at Manage -> wordTube

6. Optional you can upload a image to show a preview of the video/mp3 file

7. Go to your post and enter tag [media id=”media id”] or .

That’s it … Have fun

I am NOT having fun. I can’t even get past step 1. Am I supposed to copy/paste that address in my URL? (I already know the answer to that question because I tried and it doesn’t work.)

AAAGHHH!! Frustrated. Whatever. I am going to bed.

In Uncategorized
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Pssstttt…I’m leaving an impression on you boys

August 11, 2012

I don’t have a good memory. I couldn’t tell you the names of half the people I attended college with or even what my last course was.

My recollections of early childhood are scattered at best. I’m sure my parents sacrificed much to take me and my sister on family vacations and I honestly don’t remember where we went or what we saw.

But here is what I do remember…

I remember my dad pulling our car into a parking lot when I was quite young because he witnessed a man getting aggressive with a woman. He told me to stay put, proceeded to get out of the car, and intervened in a situation that many would ignore.

I remember my mom always being more concerned about others’ happiness over her own. She cleaned countless houses to earn enough money to pay for the prom dress of my dreams. Same for my wedding dress. Yet I cannot recall her ever buying something pricey for herself.

Now that I’m a mom, I often wonder if I’m concentrating on the right areas of emphasis when it comes to parenting…especially when it comes to my two boys.

(My daughter is a whole different ball-o-wax and I’m simply trying to survive her overly dramatic phase. And, yes, I realize the chances are pretty strong that she will NEVER grow out of it.)

Last week, I took my boys with me to help stuff school supplies for a backpack giveaway event. They didn’t know what to expect in terms of time commitment. And I was anxious to see how they would respond to a grown-up volunteer opportunity. I knew what my expectations were in terms of their behavior and, fortunately, they met them.

I had a woman pull me aside at one point and tell me, “You have some very nice boys.”

How do I articulate to them the pride I felt upon hearing this feedback? They know I love it when they excel in the classroom and on the athletic field. But the act of being a compassionate individual trumps all.

May they always remember how it feels to help others and never lose sight of what’s important.

We also used some quiet time in the car to talk about goal setting. I personally got a late start when it comes to documenting and working on goals, but I believe this practice is one of the best lessons I can instill in my boys.

I may ask their permission to share a few of their goals in a future post and I will do the same. Stay tuned.

In Family, Kids, Love, Memories , , , , ,
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