Random Friday

18 weeks down, only 22 to go. But who's counting?? ;)

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A popular toy for older infants and young toddlers these days is the Leap Frog AlphaPal. It looks like a big caterpiller, and on every foot is a letter of the alphabet. There are several settings: Saying the letter, giving the letter sound, giving the color of the foot, or playing a short little tune.

A friend of mine told me yesterday that her brother discovered something interesting about the letter sound feature. His son happened to push the letter "f", then the letter "k". This toy is programed somehow to recognize that these two sounds would make a very bad word, so after hearing the "ffff" sound, you don't get to hear the "k" sound. Instead the toy giggles and says "That tickles!". Apparantly they programed it for any swear word you could possibly do. Isn't that clever?

I also think this can go in the category "Weird Things Mormons Do When They Are Bored".

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Dallin turns one on Tuesday. I can't believe it's already been a year! It went by so quickly. Also weird to think that I am pregnant now, and I was a year ago at this time, too. Yuck.

Anyrate... I have to get Dallin a present still. Not sure what I want to get him. I love buying things for my boys, but I can easily go overboard. Ches said he ordered something online for Dallin. When I asked what, he just said it's a onesie. "What's on the onesie?" I asked. Of course he won't tell me. It doesn't seem to matter to him that it's not MY birthday!

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I am currently reading The Divine Ryans by Wayne Johnston. It's pretty good. I like it so far, but it wouldn't do for the church reading groups (I know there are several out there in one of those... like me... who are constantly looking for books to read in the group).

Aiden's favorite book right now is Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley. He discovered it at the library not long after we moved here (almost two years ago now!), and we check it out about twice a month. I really need to just buy him his own copy.

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I think I watch too much CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. I realized that a few years ago when I had a dream that someone had broken into my car, and I started to process the "scene". I even found a hair, picked it up with my tweezers, and put it in a small, yellow envelope. Of course, I was wering the fancy rubber gloves that they are always wearing! :)

Last night I had another CSI dream. This time I was an actual CSI, and there was a real crime (a murder or something. It's been long enough that it's starting to get murkey in my mind. And besides, I had another strange dream right after the CSI dream, and it had nothing to do with the first dream). I'm wondering if it is because I am watching too much CSI (although I only watch the original now!), or because that is what was on last night and was the last thing we watched before going to bed?

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Flames lost last night in overtime. We are sad, but still hopeful. The series is now tied 2-2. We're thinking of going to a local sports bar to watch the game one night. They have a gajillion TVs and will let you watch whatever game you want. And they have good food. It will be up to me to find the sitter, I'm sure, but maybe I'll get a date with my husband out of the hockey tournament! Woot!

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Ches is almost done with school! It's hard to believe. He is trying to finish up his research project, which is what he is doing instead of a Master's thesis. If all goes well with the research project, he has already had an offer to help him format it right to be published in The Instrumentalist.

That would be so cool! MY husband... published!! Of course, I would be a little jealous, too, because of the two of us I have always had the desire and goal to be a published writer. It would be okay, though. I think my pride in him would definitely outweigh the jealousy!

Anyrate... Ches' topic is something like Quality Literature for the Small Band. He found it very difficult to find quality band literature for his kids to play at festival when he was teaching in a small band program. He had less than the ideal instrumentation, and often odd combinations. The kids were very talented, so to pick out music that would accomodate smaller instrumentation was often way too easy. Besides being insulting, it's just not challenging, and how can they learn anything new? While we were in college studying things like band literature, we were pretty much always taught for the "ideal" group, but in small programs and small, rural towns, you just don't get those kinds of groups. So Ches is trying to make a good resource for these band directors as well as find out what kinds of things some directors do. He has surveyed band directors from around the country, and some of the results are really quite interesting so far. It's a good project. And I don't think I'm being biased at all (even if I really am!).

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Quote of the day:
Don't wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty. Chocolate isn't like premarital sex. It will not make you pregnant. And it always feels good.
--Lora Brody