We're Calling It The Blue Room

Oh, my heart...

I saw a shadow of my young self this morning...

Long-legged, a little awkwardly confident, a little sassy. Her thick golden-brown braid thumps heavily against her shoulders, fly-away hairs trapped, for the moment, under a red headband. Tall, straight, her skirt a bit too short and snug as to waistband-- time to buy new uniforms. Again. She fills a hot pink coffee mug with ice water, slings her hot purple backpack over her shoulder, "Sign this, Mama!" And she glides off gracefully into the early morning.

Late, of course.

What else? You're mine, after all.

But I don't remember giving you permission to grow up...






Linking up with Just Write for this Tuesday. I habit I hope to continue...

Jamie, One Year Old (the Break-Your-Mama's-Heart-Edition)

Jamie got his first haircut the week after his first birthday. It's like that buzzer just shaved all the Baby off him and left a Judah Mini-Me in it's place.

I got so many adorable pics of the two of them playing in the yard the other day, I just couldn't choose which ones to post. So I just put 'em all up :)

Fall Break

When we have a nice, slow, lazy morning, we tend to fore-go breakfast till at least 8:30. Instead we opt for a quick glass of milk and lots of playing Spiderman with the big brother...

Strange things in my grocery store.

On of the local produce places I frequent here in Orlando carries some really exotic tropical fruits and veggies. I have never in my life seen such strange looking food... It makes me feel like I'm stuck in a Sci-Fi novel. Have any of y'all ever seen, or do you know how to cook any of these?

(some of them I haven't labeled, because between the time I first started this post and now, I've forgotten what they were... :P )

Tuna Fruit:

Tamarind


Tamarind in the shell:

Rambutan:

June Plums:



Dragon Fruit:



Dragon fruit, cut open:

Celery root:

Bitter Melon:





And this last one is truly the star of the show, because what you cannot see in this picture is the really terrifying nature of this "fruit". The thing is at least twice the size of your average watermelon and all those little spiky thing are SHARP! Who would eat a fruit that looks like it is only a few short steps away from mutating into a malignant life form???!!!

Jamie's Birthday Video

Well. Third child and all... The camera batteries died unexpectedly I forgot to charge the camera batteries. Here's all we got :)



That right there is a FULL POOL!!

They say the boys look alike....

...but actually, I really think he looks more like his big sister!

The real cost of Facebook

To all you people out there who keep posting snarky comments about how facebook is free, for gosh sake and we should all just quit complaining about the constantly more invasive privacy policy changes, and the ever-evolving and ever-less appealing interface, I take issue with your basic premise.

Facebook is not free.

No way, no how. Your public library is free. Attendance at your local church is free. Food at the homeless shelter is free.

Facebook is NOT free.

If Facebook were truly free, Mark Zukerberg would not be a multimillionaire. But he is one. This is because he sells your time, attention and personal information to advertisers and spammers and makes a mint off of every minute you spend on your status updates and "likes". Mr Zuckerburg is no philanthropist. He is a savvy businessman-- some might even say a genius businessman. But he is not providing you with an opportunity to connect with friends, express your opinions, and "poke" people out of the goodness of his heart and a sense of civic responsibility. He is doing it because you are PAYING him to do it.

Facebook is NOT FREE.

The price you are paying is, as I mentioned time, attention and most of all-- your personal information. This information is the new currency of an ever-desperate advertising industry that is seeing their tv and print ad revenues diminish as fewer and fewer people watch tv and read print media. It is gold, people, solid gold.

Facebook is a service I use daily. I am, I confess, addicted. And I have no problem paying for a service that I use. I joined FB years ago and paid my upfront cost with a clear eye and an open mind. BUT. As time has gone by and that "price" has monthly increased, as changes have been made to the FB interface that inconvenience and annoy me, as more and more advertising takes up my side bars, and as my personal information is mined again and again to line the pockets of Mr Zuckerburg and his associates, I have become disillusioned. My rosy-colored glasses have come off. The Facebook honeymoon is over.

Imagine if your local gym raised it's monthly fees every. single. month. By significant amounts. Eventually you'd hit a price you were no longer willing to pay, right? What if they started replacing the workout equipment with couches and ice cream stands? Wouldn't you at some point start to wonder if this was really working out for you?

But before you eventually cancelled your membership and decided that jogging is actually a fine, cheap way to stay in shape, wouldn't you at some point complain to the management? Wouldn't you stand on your rights as a paying customer to air your opinions? I mean, it's part of the American Way.... And let me assure you once again, you are a paying customer of the Facebook franchise.

FACEBOOK IS NOT FREE.

And I reserve the right to complain about what I don't like on there. It's the American Way.