Encouragement

This is beautiful to me and I wanted to share it here.

original link: https://media.giphy.com/media/l396JXjKtDsgQSbjG/giphy.gif

I'd also like to wish a very

Happy 10th Birthday

to my Nephew, Christian!

Ten years, already! It seems like just yesterday when your Mom and I were comparing bellies on a Skype video call. We were so excited for your arrival! Love ya, buddy!

Don't Let Your iPhone Spill The Beans

I have experienced iPhone theft twice. The first time was with iOS 6 and we recovered it within 24 hours with police assistance. The second time on iOS 7, not so lucky. This is life. My hope in revealing this experience is that our loss will be your gain and maybe you'll have a better outcome.

Update: I published this piece in April when our second iPhone had been stolen by a student in a classroom several months prior. I am happy to report that I have successfully recovered the stolen iPhone! I did keep pinging it by using Lost Mode to send a message to the screen, and finally someone decided to text me and tell me they "found" it. Long story short, the iPhone was allegedly "purchased from a friend" and the person's girlfriend tried to restore it and discovered the message. We had to "pay off" this individual for a small sum of money, but we got the phone back and no data was lost or compromised. We had changed passwords just to be safe. I will write more about this story in another post because I learned a lot more about the recovery process, but I want to do some more penetration testing to document it properly. This will involve temporarily sacrificing one of the kid's iPhones then restoring it. Hey, drills are important though, right? It appears as though enabling Lost Mode removed the data from the phone, because when we got it back, it had been wiped with just my Lost Mode message on the screen. Did it get wiped when someone attempted to restore it using iTunes? It had been locked the whole time, so we're pretty sure data stayed safe as it passed between several middle-schoolers, but I still want to play hacker and see. Stay tuned!

Here are my experiences with the Find My iPhone process

I really, really wish Apple would require a passcode or fingerprint ID in order to disable connectivity from Control Center so that a thief can not do it by enabling Airplane Mode and/or disabling Wi-Fi, but sadly, that is not the case and it does not bode well for us.

I believe we were able to recover the first iPhone because the thief couldn't take it offline unless he powered it off, let the battery die or went to a location with no coverage. Control Center was not a feature in iOS 6 at that time. Lucky for us, he chose to plug it in and charge it so it remained locked and online. (We know he tried to hack it, because we got it back without its Otterbox case.)

When you suspect your iPhone has been stolen, you should immediately report the theft to police so you can be issued a police report number. Once you have that number, if you can track the phone to get a location on a map, you can call 911 (they told me it's ok) and a police officer will meet you at the location to offer assistance. They will ask you on the phone how accurate the GPS signal is and you can tell them within 10 feet of the suspect. You will need to tell them cross streets or landmarks. I found it helpful to take screen shots (command-shift-4) and note the location on the iCloud map then plug that information into Google Maps because from there, you can look up "what's here" and get local landmarks or businesses. We were able to meet the police officer at a nearby 7/11 to retrieve our phone. After this first incident, I realized how handy it was to have our family photo or something with a picture of the phone's owner on the lock screen because this way, the police officer took one look at us, knew the phone belonged to us and handed it over with no additional paperwork.

We should have more control over Control Center

While you'd think it's just as easy for a thief to power the phone off, where's the fun in that? Maybe they want an extra flashlight, timer or calculator in their pocket or they want to take selfies with the camera in case you do get your phone back so you can see all the fun you missed while your phone was away. All of those features are still available from iOS 7's Control Center while the phone is locked and offline so their friends will think they're cool. I think Apple should also make it so that the phone can not be powered off while in Lock Mode. Again, this is not currently the case, but I hope that changes in a future update!

Punks, thugs and middle-schoolers steal iPhones for the thrill of it. It's like a bug to a cat. First they pluck its legs off so it can't go anywhere and then they just bat at it to torture it.

All it takes is a quick swipe up from the bottom, a tap on the airplane icon and now you can probably get away with wiping it and restoring it if the owner wasn't smart enough to enable Find My iPhone. By the time you realize it's been stolen, it may be too late.

I think you should have a choice of what shows up in Control Center. I am not a frequent flyer and I'm fine with unlocking the phone and going to Settings to enable Airplane Mode. I mean, how hard is it? I get that it's a convenience and encourages more people on planes to disable connectivity easily, but leaving it available to disarm the wonderful security features of Find My iPhone? Is the convenience really worth the security risk? I'd like to see the ability to customize that area or disable the connectivity icons for Airplane and Wi-Fi altogether. Of course, having Bluetooth there has come in very handy for me, so I'd like to see that stay. I just think that disabling settings which compromise security should be passcode or fingerprint Touch ID protected. Make it a choice and I'll choose it.

If you swipe down from the top, you get the handy, dandy Notification Center. Check it out for yourself. What kinds of revealing information would your iPhone's thief be able to mine from the lock screen before it goes into Lock Mode? Saucy text messages? Your next appointments? Just something to keep in mind if you and your device become separated. I've heard people say they don't care much about their phone if it goes missing — it's just a thing, right? Ok, but this thing has a lot of bells and whistles turned on by default for your convenience and I'm here to tell you to take a closer look at this thing.

You may refer to me as Mistress Protector of The Experience and heed my advice or else pay the price. Muwahahahaha! (Ok, someone seriously needs to make me a new avatar now.)

Even though lack of connectivity creates a pressing problem, it's still incredibly important to set up Find My iPhone because of Activation Lock — available only in iOS 7. While your iPhone is offline, you will not be able to track it, but at least you'll know your data is safe. You can access this app by logging in on another trusted iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that has it installed or any computer where you can log in to www.icloud.com and click the Find My iPhone web app. I've even had a trusting family member on the other side of the country ask me to log in on their behalf to track their device when they had no other alternative at the time. The commands you issue will show as pending and if your lost or stolen iPhone ever resumes connectivity, it will receive the command and complete the action such as enabling Lost Mode or sounding a audible signal. Of course for ultimate, added protection, I encourage everyone to use a password manager and never store their passwords in the browser (Safari). I've said it before and I'll say it again, 1Password is good for this plus it even has a built-in browser.


Find My iPhone in the iOS App Store

It is crucial to get your iPhone into Lost Mode immediately

Siri from the lock screen is an awesome, awesome feature and I really miss using it that way, but there were some disturbing revelations during my testing. To see what I mean, try these little exercises while imagining you are the thief who has your iPhone in their hot little hands. While your screen is locked, press and hold the Home Button, wait for the 'beep beep' then ask,

"Siri, where do I live?"
If the thief gets a guilty conscience, they can always drive to your home in the middle of the night and put your phone in your mailbox, right? Um. Yeah.

If you use Find My Friends and have locations enabled:
"Siri, where is my spouse/husband/wife/child/_____?"
Now the thief knows both where you live AND that you may be home alone and for kicks, they can go stalk your spouse/child/other in the parking lot. at night.

Even if you don't use Find My Friends:
"Siri, who is my spouse/husband/wife/child/_____?"
Now the thief has the contact information for that individual if you've made the connections in your Contacts under Related Names. Of course it's not too hard once they figure out your name to start poking around in your Contacts using Siri to rat you out.

Siri will only work if there is an internet connection. Lost Mode disables Siri!

This means a thief has from the time they pilfer your phone until you initiate Lost Mode to mine your sensitive information by getting Siri to spill the beans on you. If the thief disables connectivity by enabling Airplane Mode or disabling Wi-Fi or both, then Siri from the lock screen will no longer work, but your iPhone will show as offline when you try to track it. At this point, you better hope the thief hasn't taken notes.

I still love using Siri for these features and I rely on Find My Friends a lot, but from now on I'll be doing so only after unlocking my iPhone with my fingerprint Touch ID! It's almost as fast anyhow on an iPhone 5s. (You'll still need a PIN or passcode on older models.)

Find Friends in the iOS App Store

A note on the audible signal

This Find My iPhone feature comes in really handy when you suspect your iOS device is lost somewhere near by like a sofa, under the bed or in a child's room. You can hear the sound even if the volume has been muted or turned all the way down. The signal will sound until one of two things happens: (1) someone presses the volume button to stop the sound or (2) you unlock your phone with your code. Um, you do have your iPhone locked with at least a PIN, right? Do it RIGHT NOW if not! Tsk. Tsk. I mention this because I don't want you to be under the impression that some thief could have your phone and it will just keep wailing and dinging because, unfortunately that's not the case! Again! It's easy to just press the sleep or volume button and it will silence the annoyance. I think the damn thing should just ding incessantly until it's been unlocked so that if a thief does have it, it's obvious like that dye in pools that follows you around if you pee in it! (so I've been told)

Remote Wipe

If you think your phone is just lost, you might want to give it a little time, but if you know it's been stolen and have no hope of getting it back, then you should probably wipe it remotely using Find My iPhone. Just know that if you do this, there's no hope of ever recovering your phone using the hi-tech methods currently at your disposal. Unless you are in clear and present danger, the police will not track your phone or trace phone numbers coming from people claiming to have your phone. (I asked when I filed the police report.) They will assist you to go retrieve the phone and it is ok to call 911 for that reason. I prefer to hold out hope and try to ping it every so often in hopes it will come back online at some point. Maybe, just maybe the message will get across while I'm obsessing over something else in life.

So, of course, the answer for now is to just disable all of this stuff from showing up on your lock screen or from being accessible from Notification Center or Control Center or Siri while locked. And welcome back to iOS version 6 something or other.

If you do choose to keep these features enabled for convenience, then you had better be the type of person who treats their iPhone as an appendage and never leave it out of your sight. Only you can decide where that balance between convenience and security lies and I hope my experience, time and report here helps you make a more informed decision.

Label It

One more tip and surprise, surprise, it's something low-tech. Get or borrow a label maker and label your devices — all of them! Of course it probably won't do much good to put your cell phone number on your iPhone's label if you lose it since you won't be able to answer it right away! Put a different phone number on that label, like your spouse's mobile or your landline or even a Google Voice number that will ring or text your replacement cell or that of a friend you trust. This way, if a good samaritan finds your dead iPhone months later, they can call you or text you on a number where you can be reached. I think cell phones are best because they can receive a text in case it's someone who can't figure out that they need to tap the green number on the screen.

Here's a label maker I love. You can get thin, transparent tape for it and it looks really nice on along the side of your iPhone or on the back of your iPad — almost as good as an engraving. You could even put it on the side that has the SIM card port to deter a thief from removing it. I chose to put mine along the side with the volume buttons in hopes someone will see it there. I keep a transparent case on my phone, so this is visible through it, but I removed it here for the photo to give you a better idea. The labels are pretty strong and hard to peel off.

Do yourself a favor: stalk yourself!

To test all of this, I simulated different scenarios with and without connectivity. I disabled my home router and enabled Airplane Mode. I was able to play around with the features in the lock screen before putting the phone into Lost Mode then I could see what would happen and what wouldn't. I encourage you to do the same with your own phone. Test out these features now so that if it ever happens to you, you'll be better prepared.

 #YaMightLearnSomethin #PSA #Rant #Security #LessonsLearnedTheHardWay

Bonus Points if you got Rickrolled by reading Apple's knowledge base article on Control Center

Mother's Little Helper App: Naturespace

My littlest guy is sick right now with an upper respiratory cold. Some Vicks Vapo Rub on his chest, along with some snuggles and this app is helping to keep him calm.

Naturespace: Relax Meditate Escape Sleep with 3D Sound by Holographic Audio Theater
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/naturespace-relax-meditate/id312618509?mt=8

FitBit Stride Length Calculator

Are you a FitBitter like me? Did you get one of these little gadgets for Christmas? There is also a wristband version called Fitbit Flex. I got a FitBit One for myself for my birthday last year so I've now had it for a few months. One thing I have learned since wearing this gadget is the importance of stride length. When I went to input the number though, I wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly. I found this cool calculator widget and I thought I'd share it with you. I hope you find this as helpful as I have. I believe wearable tech will grow to be a bigger hit in the coming years.

Are you hooked up yet?

Click this link if the hosted graphic doesn't load below: Stride Length Calculator

99 Pennies for Your Thoughts?

This young man was diagnosed with bone cancer and died just this past Monday at the age of 18. Before he died, he recorded this song as a way to say goodbye to his family and friends. It's now number 1 on iTunes. If you buy this uplifting (tear-jerking) song, the proceeds go to cancer research.

Shed a tear, spend a buck, then maybe one day cancer won't suck.

Clouds - Single Zach Sobiech Pop           2167 Ratings

Insomnia

  

Sparked

I hope your 4th of July was a blast!

What did you do 1 year ago today?

Timehop: What did you do 1 year ago today?

Ever thought about time travel? Moms think about this stuff ALL THE TIME. What did I do one year ago? I can't even remember what I did one hour ago. We also think about cloning ourselves so we can get more done and get more sleep too.

Well, since cloning humans hasn't quite caught on yet, how about we just focus on time travel for a moment? Check out this service. It's a fun way to take a peek back into your recent history and reflect. Timehop makes it as easy as checking your email. If you know how to create an email rule or filter, you can just make yourself a folder called Journal, for example, and have your email service automatically deliver messages from Timehop to that folder. Then, when ever you're feeling like you need to reflect on the previous year, just click on that folder and see an archive of your previous posts. If you micro-journal your life in 140 like I do, this can be a useful way to look back and remind yourself of projects you may  have left slide. Tweets are archived with links which can come in real handy when you want to revisit a project.

They just added support for archiving your texts from your mobile phone and I'm looking forward to trying that out. Many times I get questions about how to save texts and I think this service may just fit that bill.

Just think of all those kinky little love messages you've sent to your special someone over the course of a year. When you look back on those messages, do you think you'll say to yourself, "Yeah, rock on!" or "Ew. Seriously? So gross."

I think it's an especially great service for scatter-brained moms like me who juggle so many things that a lot can happen in the course of a year. I can read a Timehop message and think, wow, seems like just yesterday when I tweeted about my kiddo's first day of school and awww, look at the snapshot I posted! Cool!

Febrile Seizures - Our Story

My aim in sharing this horror story is to bring about awareness of febrile seizures and the aftermath. If left unattended, they could become far more serious. Please take some time to learn more about febrile seizures so you can act quickly and appropriately.

A friend shared a post with me today and due to the subject, I felt compelled to read it in its entirety and comment at length on it because it hits so close to home. My comment in response to I Heard God Laugh. And It Sounded Like Screaming — Velveteen Mind is as follows (edited by me for this post):

For those of you who may not know, my son, Keagan, has had two febrile seizures during his two and a half years of life. The first happened early last year, and by the grace of God, RIGHT IN FRONT of his Pediatrician during a well checkup. We were just about to leave as it happened and he became unresponsive and then seized. I'll never be able to express how grateful I was that if it was going to happen that it happened in the best place possible! It was terrifying and it has caused a great deal of PTSD for me. I have nightmares and constant paranoia about his health whenever he gets the smallest of common colds.

If there was a silver lining with that experience it was that it helped to prepare me for the next one that happened within two months. I was terrified yet able to keep my cool knowing that I absolutely had to in order to keep him safe while he was seizing.

The doctors have assured me over and over that these seizures are mostly harmless but it's sooooo hard to believe when you watch helplessly as they look like they are dying violently right before your eyes and there is nothing you can do!

The look on his little face still haunts me. His lips turned blue so quickly and the violent seizure was so terrifying. My only saving grace was that I had witnessed it before and knew I just had to try not to fight it and just keep him safe which meant holding him, but not too tightly and laying him down gently if need be so he wouldn't fling himself out of my arms or off a chair. It's overwhelming how mighty a seizure can make a child of that size. (If you know Keagan, he is already mighty!)

The other thing that still breaks my heart to this day is carrying the guilt that I inadvertently caused the second seizure and now how I have to make adjustments like not holding him so much when he is feverish. That is very hard to do since we are both so cuddly with each other.

When your child is sick, your first reaction is to want to hold them and cuddle them and make them feel better. The fact that they too want to be held and cuddled makes it that much harder. Here is where the problem started with the second. We were all sick and tired from being sick. He wasn't feeling well and so he wanted to snuggle. I fell asleep holding him on the recliner. At all but two years old, I felt it was safe to do so since he is a robust climber and very strong.

As we both lay sleeping, his fever rose so quickly and spiked because of my additional body heat while holding him. It wasn't until he started crying and begging for me to hold him more that it jarred me awake and then he started drooling and becoming unresponsive and began convulsing and vomiting on me. I was able to recognize it was a seizure right away. I always, always have my iPhone either in my pocket or under my pillow or somewhere within reach, so I quickly loaded the stopwatch app and timed the seizure while calling 911. I held on to him, but not too tightly and while it was so hard to do, just tried to stay calm, not panic and the 911 operator hung on with me as we rode it out and she sent first responders on their way to the house just to check him out as he came out of it to make sure he was really done. Bless those EMTs and First Responders!

Fevers and common illnesses are an absolute minefield for us when it comes to Keagan. We were all about letting the fevers do their job and prior to the seizures, we never rushed to medicate because whenever we did, it just prolonged the sickness. But, now with Keagan, we watch his fevers like a hawk and medicate as soon as it gets above 100. We track both the boys health issues in a logging app so we can see patterns if needed and just to be able to answer questions doctors ask that you never seem to know when you need to!

I must take a moment to plug (again) one of my all-time favorite apps from ANDESigned called Total Baby. Much like a fine wine, this app just keeps getting better with age. I've been using it since the developer gifted it to me to review when Keagan was born, back in 2009. For the first year, I used this app every day, several times a day. I still use it now when the boys are sick and to log their symptoms, medications, pediatric appointments, growth and milestones. This app is so incredible it makes me want to have another baby just so I can use it even more intensely than I did before! Ok, I know that's crazy geeky talk, but that's how much I love this app and all the hard work and love the developers pour into their product.

While dealing with Keagan's seizures, I reached out to my online community for support and felt that lifeline connection to perfect strangers offering their moral support when I needed it most. Keagan and I were just peacefully napping together and to think that my holding him was what pushed his fever over the edge makes me rest uneasy.

I pray for all our little ones that they outgrow these seizures and that they don't come back or cause any permanent damage. My heart breaks for the parents, like my cousin and her daughter, who have to go through this regularly and with grand mal seizures and/or epilepsy. I thank God these are just febrile seizures yet it doesn't change how terrifying and haunting the image of your child's face and lips turning blue right before your eyes and the helplessness you feel.

I wish the best of luck to Megan and thank her for sharing her story. It's so important for caregivers to look out for the warning signs early and know what to do! Awareness is crucial and could really save a life!

I hope this helps someone in their time of need.

Big Girl Steps

Yesterday I bought my very first luggage set, ever! I've never in my life actually owned a suitcase. In the traveling I have done, it's always been with backpacks and duffel bags — diaper bags even.

This is major big girl stuff right here!

I'm so proud of this set of suitcases, especially because they are purple! (to match my laptop, of course) They have spinning wheels on the bottom and two-position locking pull bars. The boys love pulling them across the floor and spinning them around. Right now, Keagan enjoys hiding his toys in them and playing with the zippers.

It wasn't until I got them home that I realized they are made by Oleg Cassini. I personally care very little about brand names and fashion so I had to laugh at myself there. I just care about how durable they look and the set was under $100 so the price was right.

I have a set of purple suitcases! (doing the happy Snoopy dance!)

I also got an "Phone Pod Universal Smart Phone Holder" and I LOVE it! I clip it to Keagan's stroller and he is happy and content to play Angry Birds Space and watch Blues Clues on Netflix!

Ok, so now all I need to do is book our flights and arrange for transportation to and from the airport for us all. sigh. I just want to vomit thinking about the air fare and travel stress but I'm excited to see my family and friends in June and July. I can't believe it's been two years since we've traveled back east. How time flies. Now it's time to fly!

My Little Bird Is Angry and Blue

Grammy sent Lucian one of these plush blue Angry Birds backpack clips for Easter. He cherished that little thing! He kept it clipped to his lunch bag and I loved it because it helped him to remember his lunch bag! (In case you don't already know, my little boys are obsessed with Angry Birds and I have no place to complain because it's mostly my own fault!

Well, today something awful happened. His little blue bird has gone missing!! We fear one of the kids in his class may have unclipped it from his bag and taken it. We hope that's not the case! We're hoping it might have fallen off his bag and will end up in the Lost and Found. (I've already checked though.)

I felt so bad for him, his little heart broken and wondering where his bird could be and if someone took it, who could have done such a thing to him since he's such a good friend to everyone. There were tears and he needed a hug, but even that didn't take away the pain. I could see how let down he felt. It's only Kindergarten and already he comes home telling me that certain kids are picking on him at school. I've even witnessed a little bit of it too, but it's so hard to tell with kids this age what they are trying to communicate.

Feeling like I had to provide him with a creative outlet for his frustration, I suggested that perhaps he could create a "Missing" poster like people do when they've lost their dog.

And so I present to you his 2-sided flyer that he designed all himself. Let's see if you can "read" what it says.

I think it says, "Do not get it!" which I think means, "don't take my bird" or "don't hold my bird hostage!" I Think it's interesting that not only did he draw the Do Not circle with a line through it, but also depicts the bird inside of a cage. At 5 years old, I'm not to expect him to write his words in order. Right now he just writes out what he thinks and puts the words wherever they fit.

I think this sign says, "I want my bird and I want it new. You get it?" and then it's either "in 10 minutes or else!" or "It's mine." I think maybe the brown line is a slingshot? He also lists his room number and teacher so you know where to return it. Basically he's trying to say, "I want my bird back unharmed. It's mine and I'm mad it was taken from me. Bring it to Miss Izzo's room 10 or else there will be trouble! That part worries me a little so I'm going to ask his teacher before class what she thinks about it since Lucian's idea was to show it around to his classmates. We'll see what Miss I says about it first.

A few weeks ago, Lucian was carrying around a little trinket. It was a little, plastic, heart-shaped pendant on a string necklace with a picture of Cinderella on it. Lots of times he comes home from school with a new bauble he earned from the "Treasure Chest" for good behavior and he always proudly tells me how he's acquired his new prize. This time he didn't say anything so I asked him how he came to have it and he said he found it on the playground. I explained to him that if he found it then that means that some child has lost it and that he really shouldn't keep it.

This went on for a couple of days as he hemmed and hawed about turning it in. Finally, after using empathy to explain to him how some other child might feel having lost their little prized possession, he agreed to turn it in to the lost and found in the front office and that it was the right thing to do.

Now, it has happened to him except we both believe someone has intentionally unclipped it because it occurred during a class field trip to the zoo today. Angry Birds is a pretty popular item at his school and I've seen children with these little things clipped to their backpacks, sometimes in multiples, so I've no doubt that it's a coveted collectors' item right now. It's hard right now to think it just fell off of his bag, but I really hope that's the case and that good Karma will prevail and someone will turn it in.

Melts My Heart

This past weekend, Lucian said something that just melted my heart and I never want to forget it.

Nate and I were getting ready to go out on a date, thanks to our friends to offered to babysit for us. We have been trying to "date" more regularly now because, well, it's good for us. When you have little kids, it's really hard to find time for yourself let alone with your spouse. It feels good to take time out to shave, dress up and apply makeup or perfume once in a while.

I was sitting on the edge of our bed putting my earrings on. I had just finished most of my hair, makeup and put on some new scented moisturizer. I was feeling pretty decent about the outfit I had picked out.

Lucian was standing in the doorway staring at me. Sometimes he stares off into space like we all do, but this time he was watching me intently.

I looked over at him after a little while and he said to me,

"Mommy, I'm staring at your because you look so beautiful! And you smell so gooooood!"

Doesn't that just make you melt? I told him thank you very much and that his compliment made me feel so good.

He truly is the little boy of my dreams.

Then, Keagan barged into the room and proceeded to claw at my top and demanded to be nursed. That child has not met any cleavage he didn't like! Ah well, he won't always be a boobie boy — someday he'll wean and I'll miss it or he'll chase other girls around! I suppose I'm doing them a favor? ;)

I love to be needed and I love to be loved.

A few other little things of note from Lucian are some words he's made up that I think are just too cute.

(1) He calls hand sanitizer "hanitizer." Makes sense to me!
(2) I asked Lucian to get a pizza out of the upright freezer out back (yes, we keep our freezer, washing machine and dryer outside of the home here in the desert where those things just heat up the house unnecessarily!)

When he came back in, he said,

"Mommy, I brought the pizza in from the freezerator."

Freezerator — get it? Freezer that looks like a refrigerator = Freezerator.

Yep, that's my Lucian!

Nosillacast Tucson Tweetup

Lucian and Keagan with Allison Sheridan. Does she look charmed or what?

On 20101020, a bunch of us gathered together at the Cheesecake Factory in Tucson to hang out with Allison Sheridan of the Nosillacast podcast hosted over on podfeet.com! We all had an EVER so slight Macintosh bias which we blended with cheesecake, beer, burgers, salads, other great food and even better company.

In attendance: Myself, Nate, Lucian, Keagan, Allison, Karell, Wayde and David of the Tucson NosillaCastaways! Pat Mahon was there in spirit but unfortunately the Bandwidth Gods were not smiling on us. I think we forgot to saccrifice some cheesecake brownies or something. Next time we'll choose more wisely when it comes to wifi location. Must have wifi with food when it's a Tweetup!

@Podfeet herself...in the flesh...with cheesecake. It doesn't get much better than this.
(Photo by Lucian. Not bad for a 4 year old!)

Wayde and David enjoying c&c: company & cheesecake!

David took this photo of me, Karell, and Allison with my camera.
All of our forks are in perfect alignment. How did you do that!??

Here is a slideshow of the rest of the photos including some more Lucian took by himself.

View all

Get your own

For Those About To Rock October, We Salute You

Are you thinking pink?
This past month, a few of my friends and relatives have given birth to baby girls. You know who you are: Congratulations!! (now stop reading my blog and get back to resting!) A few more are waiting to find out if they'll be registering for pink things. It's all very exciting. It's also reminding me of something very important.

I'm thinking about pink lately, not only for my own good, but for their little futures that are just beginning. You see, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of this, I'm making my personal blog pink and posting some links that will hopefully bring about awareness for this horrific disease that affects too many people we know, love and care about.

I'm also posting this photo of my rack

because it rocks and I hope it's a reminder to you and your loved ones to do your self-breast exams each month! Have you checked today?


Stop reading and do it now. Go ahead. I'll wait.


Good. Thanks.

These knockers have now fed two handsome little boys over the past 4 years and counting. I'm pretty proud of that. I worked very hard at it and I deserve to be proud. Breasts are amazing body parts and they should be respected, protected and revered. Breasts are fabulous and functional! Don't let breast cancer jeopardize them — not mine, yours, hers or his! (Men can get breast cancer too. So you dudes need to stop gawking enough to pay attention to your own health!)

(Did you know August is Breast-feeding Awareness Month?)

It would be devastating if I ever lost these to breast cancer, so I'm constantly checking and trying to be self-aware. I have a few family members who have had different types of cancer so my risk is a bit elevated.

Do you know if you're at risk?
I urge you to visit the National Breast Cancer site and register for an Early Detection Plan. I did it. It's fast and easy. It's also a good way to set up some reminders to do your exams.

Click to Donate
I'm serious. All it takes is a click, or two or seven. Tell your friends.

Donate & Get Involved @ Komen.org

Thanks for taking the time to remember and remind. Go tell your friends!

Facepaint Fun

Yesterday I took the boys to the Tucson Reptile Show where Lucian got his face painted. This time last year I tried to paint his face for a Halloween costume and he wanted no parts of it. My how much changes in a year!!

Funny how life has a way of changing things up on you. I always envisioned playing makeup and dressup with a little girl someday.

Up till now I was kind of struggling with what to do when my sons ask if they can wear makeup. Now that he digs facepainting, I have a new way to repurpose old makeup.

Next, Lucian is going to paint a snake on my leg while Keagan is napping. I'm so glad he's enjoying this craft. It's great for fine motor skills and creativity.

Do you think the moms of Mötley Crüe members thought the same?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Editor's Note: Blogger Mobile FAIL - I tried using the mobile email version of Blogger to post this entry a few days ago and it screwed it up and only posted a portion. Posterous seems to hand mobile blogging via email so much better!]

Sometimes I Think I Would Blog More if I Didn't Have to Come Up with A Fancy Title Each Time

Do you know what I mean?

Blog posts SHOULD have a title.

Emails SHOULD have a subject line.

Neither of them HAVE to, but I'd feel like I didn't brush my teeth after eating tuna fish if I didn't do it.

I think Twitter has spoiled me.

I think Twitter has conditioned me.

I think Twitter and Facebook have programmed me to post in shorter bursts and I like it.

It's like burning your bra.

Sometimes, I cheat on Twitter with Facebook. They say size doesn't matter, but sometimes I just need a few more characters.

What the hell is Twitter? It's still a best-kept secret to many. When people ask, I change the subject and wish my answer could be, "If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand." Reason being, I still believe in "ask three before asking me" in that; if you really want to know about something — go check it out for crying out loud! If you sincerely tried it, you might better understand it.

A lot of things in life are like this when you think about it. We always condemn what we don't understand. I try NOT to do that. I'm not always successful, but I do try. I wish more people would.

I think this might be why Facebook is easier to use than a "traditional" (if there is such a thing by now) blog. I just wish there were less pillow fights, farms, and fishbowls. I suppose it's all relative. People complain that there is no substitution for talking with people face to face, in the flesh. I maintain that time wasted on Farmville would be better spent planing a REAL garden. I don't see how "time wasted" socializing with people all over the world using social networking tools like Skype is wasted at all. I only see what there is to gain. I suppose if you're shooting up heroin, smoking and drinking yourself to death while doing it, then it's a waste. Perhaps you can sell your farm before you OD? I don't know.

I miss "traditional blogging," but many times it feels like no one cares, has time, been there, done that.

I don't like feeling like I've reinvented the wheels I'm spinning.

I do like original thought, but so many of my thoughts right now are fleeting.

My best blog posts, the ones that would get the most traffic, happen while I'm in the shower, on the toilette, driving, nursing, changing diapers, feeding the baby, waiting for the school bus, during sex, while listening to podcasts, while reading other blogs....

wait...

while listening to podcasts?!!!!

err, I mean....no, not during sex. I was just kidding.

I don't have sex, silly.

Well, ok, if I DO start having more sex, it will mean that my husband has read this.

If my husband reads this and I DON'T have more sex, well, then, I guess I'll have twenty more minutes to myself to blog more often.

Think Summer

My family participated in the Fresh Air Fund when I was a little kid and I have some fond memories of it. If you have some extra room in your home and heart, please consider checking out the program.

Here's hoping this gives you some warm thoughts to keep you cozy while digging out of the snow!

Brotherly Love

...because brotherly pestering just doesn't have quite the same ring to it

Got Junk in Your Drawers?

You have a dirty mind.

And evidently so does someone living in this house or an old roommate who has left a thing or two behind. Ahem.

No, I'm not excluding myself.

So I was cleaning out a junk drawer this evening -- what? You only have ONE?! -- and I discovered some magnetic poetry. You know -- the kind you can put on your fridge where they are individual magnets with words on them?

Now that I'm a parent I see things very differently. When I discovered this box of magnetic words I immediately thought, "Cool! I can use this as a learning tool for when the boys start reading words. Wouldn't it be fun to put sentences together on the fridge?"

Well -- it turns out there is the regular version and then there is an adult version. Yeah. Sure -- words like 'leg' or 'moist' or 'stroke' seemed innocent enough. Then words for other body parts started showing up.

One word rhymes with banana split and another one rhymes with double click.

Somehow two sets got mixed together and ended up scattered in the bottom of a junk drawer.

While it would be totally fun to put a scandelous message on the fridge for dear Hubby to see -- my luck we'll forget to take it off before Lucian learns to read and then we'll have some 'splainin to do!!

So, um, yeah -- I don't have the patience right now to sit and sort through all 300 little magnets to make a kid-friendly version and a beer fridge version so I'm putting them back in the junk drawer. Now that I've blogged this I can only hope we remember to think twice before attempting to play with them next time we host a playdate at our home!!

I can just see it now: "oh look! magnetic words! Ummm, Mrs. Davis, what's this word mean? Is it some kind of playdoh made from dill pickles?"

Beware of the junk drawer!

Posted via email from TheMacMommy

6 Week Smile