Wilmington car repair

My car was not, well, enhanced last week. However, Friday afternoon we did pick it up from CarCareHQ. These are the nicest guys and as far as we can tell, two brothers who own the shop. They do honest, careful work and we have recommended them to anyone we know who needs car care. (And I like their incorporation of purple in their logo...I mean, who doesn't like purple?!).

Itsy-bitsy? Not!

I seem to have always disliked spiders. I'm no sure why. I don't remember any reason for disliking them, but for me they have always been on par with moths. I don't like moths either.

When I lived in Prague, the locals had a belief that spiders in a home brought the members of the household good luck. That little piece of their belief system helped moved the spiders up the ladder from dislike to a begrudging admiration. Not always, but most of the time.

It has helped me to become respectfully fascinated by springtime writing spiders we see, which prompts us to bring out "Charlotte's Web" (the original, though we enjoyed the live action one.) On the flip side, our house is covered with "Irish lace" or as our kids say, "our house looks old" and "look at all the spider webs." Lots and lots of spider webs. I have been doing my best to give them the wide berth and respect they need and they seemed to be giving us ours.

This was the weekend of the spiders.

Friday the kids were in their room and started screaming: SPIDER! And it was a spider. Great thick, long legs, petite body. A beautiful spider, but huge…. To be honest, I'm not sure why the kids were screaming. It was six feet away…I think they were just enjoying a good collegial scream.

Saturday I took a break from spiders and visited a new brick-house development in Leland (Grayson's Park) for a real estate profile story. Brand new homes. Not one spider visible…anywhere. I'd move there just for that alone!

But Sunday was (to me) "Spider Day." Philip and I spent the day cleaning out the garage. A compelling variety of spiders, rejected by their Irish lace cousins of the house, have been relegated to our garage, a repository for all the elements that one day will rightfully join their wood and drywall cousins in our house. So, in full disclosure, Sunday I spent more time sweeping an array of spiders out of the garage, swatting mosquitoes (they remain on my "I hate" list) and sweating than collecting Polly Pockets pieces. [Informal score card: Spiders 28, Polly Pockets 0.]

Mind you, the spiders are welcome to find temporary housing in our garage, but they definitely need to move on once we regain superior control over that space. (And I'll give them a tip: don't join your Irish lace cousins, because do we have plans for them!)

p.s. I'm sure you are glad my camera remains broken…or this, too, would have been documented.

Polly Pockets overload

In one day, I found her cell phone, numerous bikini bottoms and some sort of scallop that I'm not sure if it is an article of clothing or not. The top to Polly's convertible has popped off and needed re-attaching…five times today and counting. And I think I've found a few bikini tops, but they are larger than some I've seen worn by the swimming pool, so I'm not too sure. (Okay, I'm sort of kidding on that last one…but just barely!)

For her birthday, Veronica (7) received two Polly Pocket, uh, what do you call them? Packages? Villages? Are they Polly Pocket-villes? There are enough changes of clothes for a tiny village of miniature people. Well, miniature people who enjoy the tiniest of high-heeled shoes.

Just when I'm ready to say, "I'm over Polly Pockets" I stop myself from tossing out all of the Polly World when I talk to my sister: mother of two boys (6 and 5). She has never experienced finding a glorified pink shoe in the nooks and crannies of every conceivable place in the house. What would that be like? I'm not sure. But she might complain about some toys her boys are obsessed with. And I watch how much Veronica enjoys Polly's miniature life and make-believe games—taking her brother along for the ride, playing a role or two.

Maybe I'm grumpy because Polly Pockets is the elementary girl equivalent to the loud music of teenagers. (Do teenagers still listen to loud music to an annoying level?) I guess I'm just becoming an old fuddy-duddy.

The annoyance passes and I revel in the fun kids have playing with these inanimate objects (just like we did when we were younger).

And Polly is back in my good graces. For now.

What Happened to Phoenix?

Last summer—and every summer for the past 8 years—my go-to salad spot was Caffe Phoenix. So when I started on my Salad Quest 08, I immediately began angling for a lunch here. I finally managed to drag my husband there a day before we set out on our infamous road trip to Maryland last week.

It's always been agonizing for me to decide between the Phoenix salad and the many other temptations. This time I went for the Mandarini because I remembered it as delicious the last time I ate there. I also seem to be on an unprecedented "fruit in salad" binge.

Well, I am here to report that something has gone woefully wrong at what was once one of my top 5 favorite restaurants in Wilmington. This salad—pictured—was a mess. I think making a mess when you intended a salad is actually sort of hard to do. It was murky, mushy, and flavorless. How can you make canned mandarin oranges worse than the ones I get out of a can at home? The dressing was cloyingly sweet and the chicken tender but bland—as if maybe it had been boiled. Say it isn't so.

Does someone know the inside scoop on what's gone wrong here? I know that Nate and Seth (do I have that right?) sold Phoenix a couple of years ago to run The Forks Café inside the Cameron art museum (now also gone!). But the food was good last summer. Wasn't it? Was I there on a bad day this time? Maybe there was some sort of explosion in the kitchen and they were doing their best in trying circumstances?

I had another very bad salad experience on Father's Day, which I will share once I get the bad taste out of my mouth. Meanwhile, I need the skinny on the Phoenix.

Did I mention my large, mean husband?

Was today Monday by any chance? I was sure riding high from yesterday…everything seemed to work like clockwork yesterday. Even an unplanned dinner menu turned out well, adding things willy-nilly from the refrigerator. Today, well, not so hot.

My car, a 1994 Volvo, was purchased used and has held up pretty well since 2002. Last year, Mac drew on the ceiling and then graduated to pulling out the ceiling liner. When he did that, we decided that we would not try to upgrade my car until Petra, now 1, grew out of any fits she might want to take out on an automobile.

I think the car knew we decided this.

Ever so subtly, the car engine has been emitting some freaky behavior, such as shutting off at a red light or two. Today, in the frenzy of the half-hour window I had for transporting the kids from swim practice at the WAC to Simply Play, the car decided not to work. (Fortunately this time it was in the parking lot.) Oddly, a gentleman came along and offered to help and had the tools in his car, considering he said he had heard me trying to start the car from across the street where his car was parked. He tried to convince me a little too hard. Fortunately, I could use three wiggly kids as why I was staying put and calling my husband. Did I mention, my big, muscular, a**-kicking husband?

The stranger went away. By some kind of divine intervention, the car started up, we drove to the shop and met my gentle, wonderful husband. However, my mojo of yesterday was gone. The kids and I spent the rest of the day bickering to each other while I tried to explain for the 5,000-th time that "No, we can't go to Simply Play. Mommy's meeting is almost over and we now have to pay for car repairs." [Or we might need to get a new-to-us car from Sports and Imports Automotive ("quality used cars under $10,000.00"), which a friend told me about.] In any event, it was a weird energy.

Did I mention, my big, muscular, a**-kicking writing business, The Write Elizabeth…? I need to find some way to pay for the work trying to pimp my (1994 Volvo station wagon) ride and the camera to take its picture.

Rainy-World

So, lots of people got to go on vacation last week, while Wilmaville turned into Rainy-Ville. Christina jetted (if that's possible) to Maryland. We, on the other hand, spent the week entertaining three sets of friendly folks. And while it was gobs of fun to see our friends and family, I tried to get back to work today and the kids just weren't ready for that. Veronica and Mac still wanted trips to the beach, lunches and ice cream treats with cousins, and a visit to a family friend's backyard hot tub and pool. Going to swim practice and snacks at home just didn't cut it. Nor did having mom sit at her computer to try to figure out some design work or some cryptic e-mail message from one of my family members. Petra was just content to have her nose wiped and drink cup filled, as she still is fighting her cold of last week.

We did take an excursion to Howe Creek Landing next to Mayfaire so I could pick up some information for a piece I'm writing for the newspaper. (I had hoped it would encourage naps, but no such luck.) We stopped by Giggles, a drop-in childcare place, which I brought the kids in to check out. The kids were excited when I told them they could take a tour; their faces deflated when I said that we were not staying. I need to put them in Simply Play tomorrow. Wednesday, before their swim meet, it may be Giggles while I meet with another commercial real estate developer. And I'll bet that on Thursday I'll do battle about why I never take the kids anywhere.

Veronica keeps asking when we can go stay in a hotel somewhere. How do I let her know that I had intended for us to get her cousins, who live in Baltimore, to come stay in The Glenn…and then we could stay there, as well. I think my timing is just a tad off on that now. The Glenn was demolished last week.

Full house, it must be summer

S

This week was the beginning of summer, even if it wasn't officially that season yet. I used to think Philip (my husband) was joking when he said you can tell the season by the number visitors coming to visit us. I'd never lived near a beach before. What did I know? So is it any surprise that we had oodles of visitors all week with new ones arriving today. We've had family and friends, including an old friend of his from Virginia Tech.

On top of that…in one week, Veronica turned 7, Philip turned in a big project (working 44 hours before Thursday…), I participated in two conference calls (each at least an hour and a half!) and I started a training course, and Petra (1) wasn't feeling her chipper self. In the midst of it all, the kids broke my camera and then had a swim meet that I had planned to volunteer at until I realized that it would reach into the night and I would have had to miss one of the calls. The older kids were in bed by 9:30 most nights, which kills us in the mornings (and late afternoons).

One of the things I love about hosting visitors is that we get a chance to re-explore our own area and visit our favorite haunts, including Wrightsville Beach. Because one of our visitors is a furry friend, we walked to Tazy's for lunch today (dodging raindrops). As usual, Tazy's was awesome and tolerant of our baby and the pup, another adorable cousin to our three kids.

Petra is very intrigued by the dog, so much so that I need to go rescue the dog's bone from her clutches….

Road Trip

I am on a mini-break with the family at my sister-in-law's new house in North Beach, Maryland. It's a cute little town but my revelation happened on the way here. I have been fretting about the 8-hour drive for weeks. The bickering in the back seat, the relentless, "are we there yets." I wasn't sure I could handle it. But I took some of my own advice (from my GeekGirlfriends.com blog) and loaded my Sansa View music and video player up with TV shows (from Amazon Unbox), audio books (from Audible.com), and music (from Napster.com) and handed it to my daughter. And, because it's Cole's birthday too, bought him one exactly like it and did the same. I still imagined that this strategy would only get us through about 2 hours of the drive.

Was I ever wrong! Dan and I chatted, listened to music, and argued with our GPS lady for the entire drive. We did not hear a peep out of the kids for 8 hours. We were the ones who decided when it was time to stop for dinner. The kids even got annoyed when we talked to them. It was the easiest road trip since we decided to have kids!

Any suggestions for a hairstylist and camera shop?

The kids just did a number on my camera. The lens is shot. All in the interest of taking pictures of Veronica's creation in my hair. Yes, the braided one gave me a new do, complete with colorful rubberbands. And this is possibly the last photo of me put into the blogosphere....
I'll miss my old camera. Sigh.
Any suggestions for a local business where I can find a reasonably, sturdy (new-to-me) camera?

Nice idea, if you can do it!

I was talking to a friend yesterday who told me about her friend who has a couple kids. Apparently, the friend's friend has *never* taken her children (8 and 6) to the grocery store. She either hires a babysitter to watch the kids or has her husband watch them so that she doesn't have to take them.

For me, I do not mind taking my kids to Harris Teeter or some other Wilmington stores. (Okay, Learning Express toy store is big struggle to get them out without a scene.) But each time I take them to Tidal Creek Co-Op, Mac runs to the "cupcakes" (the yummy muffins by the drinks and hot food area). I end up buying at least one of those muffins or battling them in the bulk foods section or they run off to where the do-it-yourself maple syrup. (Errant luscious syrup drips, don't you know.)

Is there some place in town you do not mind taking your kids? Is there some place you wished you could have a babysitter standing by to handle your kids and keep them occupied?

Collectors-R-Us

Are your kids collectors? Do you know any that are? (And how can I tell if they are learning this from me? Or if collecting is, well, just something kids do?)

Veronica (7) is a collector. Wow. The things she could bring home from school astound and amaze us when we think about it. Every acorn within a five-block radius of the blacktop playground has passed through this house. Countless "gems" of chunks of black tar have found their way into our washing machine. My husband has joked that sticking one's hand into Veronica's backpack is taking a risk…you never know what you may find. So, when cleaning her room, it wasn't really a surprise as much as curiosity running across a concrete pyramid weight (that secures balloon arrangements) that she had stashed away in her clothes drawer. She had "borrowed" it from a family anniversary party.

Now Mac (4) seems to have become a collector as well. One of the kids' cousins is staying with us this week and she was helping them get ready to go to the beach. Mind you, I have sorted and cleaned and stocked Mac's dresser forever. His cousin, who has been in our house for less than 12 hours, walks out asking if there was a reason he had a piece of charcoal in his drawer. A piece of what? Sure enough, his contraband was a briquette of Kingsford charcoal with the telltale 'K' on it. From where and when, I have no idea.

I guess we need to start frisking them at the door.

We went to Two Guys Grille tonight and I forgot to pat them down when we got home. I'm assuming that the origins of any banana pudding remnants left in their pockets will be easier to wash out than a block of Kingsford charcoal. But somehow I'm sure they will find a way around even that….

Free Movies in Wilmington!

I don't know about you, but I almost cried my eyes out when the inexpensive movie theater on Oleander shut its doors…and we had finally started going to Cinema Grill when they closed. Those were sad days for parents in Wilmaville, a town that prides itself on being the Hollywood of the East. Then, it was a lot easier to take a young kid to a movie if you are only paying a couple bucks or you are able to have a few beers and pizzas. (I remember running a bathroom shuttle during "March of the Penguins." I think I saw more of the bathroom than the movie, but who cares for three bucks?!)

My sister who lives in California just e-mailed me about free movies for the summer as part of the Free Family Film Festival. What a great way to beat the heat?! I thought this was too good to pass up. Don't worry, you don't need to move to California. Mayfaire is participating.

I have yet to see the "Bee Movie." And I am definitely going to "Wallace and Gromit," as I am one of their hugest fans. (I hoard their gear, as well as Paddington the Bear gear.)

This is great for those of us whose kids are too young to take in the free movies at Carolina Beach or the Battleship movies.

So, as they say, I'll see you at the movies! (Is it mandatory to take the kids?)

Here's the info, straight from Regal's Web site (Wilmington is at the very bottom of the list…).

When school's out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres for the Free Family Film Festival. It's a fun-filled nine weeks of movies for kids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to the community, and best of all it's FREE! Selected G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity. The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer.

Mayfaire Stadium 16
900 Town Center Drive
Wilmington ,NC 28405
910-256-1857

06/17/2008-06/19/2008 Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G) Surf's Up (PG)

06/24/2008-06/26/2008 Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Veggie Tales (G) Firehouse Dog (PG)

07/01/2008-07/03/2008 Rugrats The Movie (G) Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (PG)

07/08/2008-07/10/2008 Everyone's Hero (G) Bee Movie (PG)

07/15/2008-07/17/2008 Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G) Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep (PG)

07/22/2008-07/24/2008 Charlotte's Web (G) Bratz (PG)

07/29/2008-07/31/2008 Wallace And Gromit (G) Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)

08/05/2008-08/07/2008 Peter Pan (PG) Shark Tale (PG)

Check Movies and Showtimes

Squid Makes it to Salad Quest ‘08

Elizabeth nominated this one and I could not wait to get there to try it. My kids are the WAC day camp today so I took my husband to lunch at Catch. This Crispy Calamari + Florida Pink Grapefruit salad ($8.50) was yummy. The dressing is a little spicy with a hint of red Thai curry. You can just see the tangy grapefruit nestled in there. And the fried calamari was perfect. But there's the rub. Fried? On a Salad? Where's the virtue?

Well, virtue or no, I'd order it again. Though next time I plan to try the Ho Chi Min salad (mandarin oranges, Thai basil). That looked pretty delectable too.

So this unusual squid salad is on the ballot. (Yes! There will be voting. Stay tuned.) Unless you nominate something to throw it off. Anyone else know of a good salad? There are prizes if you nominate the winner!

Just put your recommendations in the comments. If you really get into it, though, you could send us a photo and a review and we'll post it for you.

Paranoia or Safety?

I've been reading the exploits of these two Moms in Ohio since I met one of them (Jenny) at a Mommy Blogger event hosted by Sony that I was lucky enough to be invited to. This morning, Emily wrote a post about something I thought was cool: Tottoos. These are temporary tattoos you use to plaster your kids with a phone number, emergency medical information, or food allergy so that if you get separated at, say, Disney World, you don't have to hope your distraught tot can remember your cell number. All she has to do is show her arm to another mom or park personnel. You could also brand the kids with a school or day care to keep kids field trips organized.

I suspect my kids (9 & 11) are too big for them. But when they were smaller I was always trying to stash a phone number in their shorts. They could not be counted on to remember one—especially if they were lost or scared. I think I would have happily ordered these. In fact, I am toying with getting some for my spacey 11-year-old simply because he can't remember his own phone number. (He gives his friends my cell because he can't remember his.)

I think they are a great idea. Am I paranoid?

Salad Quest ‘08

 

Are these the salad days of summer? They are for me. This heat makes me crave salad. And I am on a quest for the perfect one. So far, this Grilled Chicken salad ($9.50) from Nofo is a top contender. I know the oranges may seem strange but, trust me, it rocks. Mmmm. Yummy. And those candied pecans? Delicious! But it's the dressing—a perfect balsamic vinaigrette—that really makes it. (That's why I ask for extra dressing.)

So? Anyone else know of a great local restaurant salad I should try? I am on a quest for the best.

Oh, I have an idea. We'll make it a prize! Send us a picture of your favorite salad. Or just tell us about your favorite salad in a comment. The winning salad will get one of our cool, new Wilmaville.com t-shirts. (Photos soon.) These are sexy, white cami shirts, not one of those lame men's t-shirts you'll never wear.

Move to Wilmaville, please.

I have a request of my sister. I want her to move to Wilmington. And I have a great reason for her to move.

Cathy, my middle older sister, has always had a sense of style that I could never imitate. Ever. In adulthood, she has underscored that by becoming a (successful) fashion designer. (And, yes, here's the plug: she designs for lucy.com, which is based in Portland, Ore.)

She's three years older than I, so in junior high I could borrow her clothes and no one at her high school needed to know and affect her cool. Thankfully, she is a generous sister, as well. She would loan me her stylish clothes. For the most part, I looked well put together for my junior high years. But my hair has always needed help. I mean always. (You should see my wedding pictures…the style was plainly nice, the wind was cruel…and I looked a mess in a lot of the photos. Just for clarification, I chose not to wear my hair up, although if she had offered to do it, who knows?)

So my hair was probably the one thing I recall my sister and I arguing about. (If she claims there was a lot more that we argued about, I am going to repeat "she's older" much more loudly.) I could never do my hair. I think she always thought I was faking it and that I could easily make a French braid. Instead, I would wear a ponytail. I always wanted her to do my hair (daily); she wanted to do it sparingly (first boy-girl party, prom…maybe my 65^th birthday party). One could look at this as the main reason we live so far apart. My hair still needs help and I would still probably ask her to do it, if she lived nearby. Now I have the ultimate reason to ask her to move here (besides the balmy June weather we are having…I mean, really, compared to Portland's freezing 50-60 degree weather).

My sister needs to move here so she can braid my daughter's hair. Don't you agree?

(In case you can't tell from this photo, Veronica's braids are at two levels, never mind that her part is all over the place. I created a living and breathing Pippi Longstocking this morning. Veronica (6) was thrilled. I immediately thought of ways to lure my sister and her family to Wilmington.)

Re-connecting with people

A while ago, Christina started explaining and encouraging me to explore a lot of neat social networking sites to me. She's gotten me hooked on LinkedIn and Facebook, among others. It has been incredible to re-connect with former colleagues, especially since, before moving to Wilmington, I spent a number of years jumping in and around different parts of the world. I could spend hours trying to learn about where a lot of people are and what they are doing. Okay, so big yawn, that's the point, right?

Today I received an e-mail from someone I found on Facebook. He is the brother of someone I went to high school with, we spent summers on the same swim team, our families had similarly aged kids. You know the routine. And, he writes that his younger sister married last fall, works for the Denver Public Schools and is the "star" of the family and, by the way, here's her Web site. Kind of one of those, "Great, I'm happy for you all" moments.

What I read on her Web site blew me away. I am humbled by her courage, her stamina and, golly, she still has her brilliant smile!

If I could have half of Trish Downing's attitude and determination, I would be content. She is incredible.

(And worth the price of admission for going on the networking sites for hours. I've found a new hero.)

The Art of Laziness

I think Elizabeth touched the surface here of what might be entire philosophy of laziness. But that's not the right word for it. It's more like freedom. I've been thinking about it for years…

For us, our second child was born, when we still lived in the San Francisco area. Before her, we'd been trying to keep up: gadding about to press parties, arty loft parties, dinner-at-the-new-Tuscan-or-Thai-place events, crazy themed events involving mini-golf or scavenger hunts. We didn't want to miss anything. We were even trying to be on time for things—or what passes for on time there, which is an hour late—even though we had a toddler and a million things to do to get out the door. And then Ava was born and napping seemed like a better idea than most things. I still remember the first time we used the excuse, "We can't get a sitter," when it wasn't even true. It worked beautifully. Dan and I looked at each other—light bulbs going off over our heads, "We can do anything we want. We have kids: The perfect excuse!"

It started as an excuse. And then it became a way of life. We would say the kids were acting up or we couldn't get a sitter just because an event suddenly seemed like too much trouble, we'd just gotten in a good movie, we didn't want to end the bliss of a sleeping baby, or no one wanted to take charge and get the kids' gear packed. We didn't bail on things if it would inconvenience anyone, of course. We aren't rude. But so often, it doesn't really matter. And no one ever seemed to mind too much when we didn't show up.

Now it's a habit—I think it might also be a form of liberation: We are free of self-imposed obligation.

About the pool on Saturday….You know, Elizabeth when you didn't show up? It was nice. Really nice, actually. There was a breeze. The kids played together without killing each other. We drank Newcastle's. It was one of those times, for us, when getting out of the house is the right thing to do. We'd both had a long week and rushed to hit deadlines in time to get there before the pool closed. But when I filed that last article, I wanted to run from my home office. And our kids wanted to go enough that they packed their bags and jumped in the car.

It would have been nice to see you but we didn't mind that you didn't come. You have kids: The perfect excuse! And we have kids. So we get that.

Making commitments

Commit.

I try. I try and try. I want to commit. I want to follow through. And just when I find myself committing to going somewhere or doing something, well, it seems that "something" happens. Not a better offer, mind you, but a meltdown. Or a child falls asleep. Or the weather. Or a parent naps. [Please note: In my 20s, napping never really cut it for an excuse for not attending a party, mind you. In my 40s, well, it's no longer an excuse, it can be a badge of honor with some fellow parents.]

But in the past week it seems that we have committed to several events, only to find non-alternatives to going. Some days it feels as if we are letting the kids down by not taking them. (I've tried to remember youthful trips my parents may have committed to take my siblings on and any disappointments I may have carried into adulthood and I can't think of any.) Maybe our kids will be okay, buffered from any disappointments by moving along to play with blocks or reading a book or chasing each other around the house.

Admittedly, last weekend, I was the reason my husband and I couldn't go to a fundraiser in Landfall for the Airlie Gardens' 3,000 square foot Butterfly House. I'm not ashamed to admit that I fell asleep (…I'm just incredibly sheepish around the nice person who invited us).

Friday we were supposed to bring the kids to a beach party after the final (half-) day of school. But it was hot. Unbearably hot. And the party started at 12:30…and it was hot. When we arrived home, it seemed justified that we didn't go. A flashing heat advisory taunted me on my computer. Friday it was in the mid-90s. (Today in the high-90s…I could go on about where did our gentle weather go, but I won't.)

Friday night we agreed to meet people at the swimming pool. The idea of sipping cool drinks while submersing our feet in the chlorinated water seemed radically appealing. We rallied. But then the evening drifted aimlessly. At one point my husband noted that the pool closed in less than an hour and the kids desperately needed sleep.

No swimming trip. No beach visit.

And Saturday night, we meant to head to Carolina Beach. The baby was oddly cranky. The children immersed themselves in library books. And I shifted my piles of work from one side of the table to the other.

Are these the lazy days of summer and is it okay to float through these days and nights (before the stream of summer visitors)? Or, worse, do we just need to admit that *we* are lazy and shouldn't try to make any plans?

A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

About an hour after I read Elizabeth's post yesterday asking for suggestions for keeping the kids occupied all summer, I got an email from k12.com. I used this terrific online school to home-school my son for a year in fourth grade so they send me announcements. Here's what got my attention:

Build a website. Pick up a new language.

Learn Flash animation. Earn high school credit.

Keep their minds engaged.

With the K¹² Power-Glide World Language courses

and Giant Campus cybercamps and courses, your children can do all this before summer ends!

We have been toying with sending our geeky 11-year old to ID Tech camp this summer. They offer outstanding residential camps on college campuses that teach game and Web design. He went once before and it changed his life: He came home sure he wanted to go to college and excited to learn things like programming. But it's very expensive and five hours away. So I immediately headed over to the Cybercamps link. These teach kids (11-17) Web design and programming. And he can attend this class while sitting at his own computer. He was pretty excited about this because he doesn't want to break the bank, loves the idea of an online class, and has been asking me to find him someone who can teach him Flash and Java. (I told you he was geeky.)

Then his little sister (9) didn't want to be left out of the online class thing so she actually begged to take one of the language classes: French. She insists she must learn French. She toyed with Latin for a few minutes but then insisted it had to be French.

So that's one way I plan to keep the kids occupied this summer.

But there are 10 weeks of summer. Anyone else got ideas?

 

One more day…

One more day and Veronica (6) will be home for the summer.

The tension is palpable. Mac (4) is wearing his Superman pajama top around town and keeps repeating, "I want a toy." Is this to prepare me for what is to come? Is this a sign of solidarity with his sister? Goodness knows we appreciated that Veronica didn't have homework last night. But what will the four of us do every day for the next several weeks? I can't afford to go to Target and OfficeMax everyday, which certainly entertained the mini-masses today and only cost me a package of gum.

And, after a relatively cool spring, the heat is kicking in, so coaxing the kids outdoors will work until the biting bugs and the heat co-mingle, which seems happens earlier each day. (I have a cute new tool bar A LOT that can now confirm for me how hot it actually is at 7 a.m. According to it, we should see the 90s again today. Early June. Yikes!)

This will be the first complete summer I will be working from home and I just heard from one client that they have a lot of work for me. Anyone else having a bit of a freak out about your kids being home for the next several weeks?

How many weeks is this summer break anyway? Any survival techniques you recommend? (Maybe we'll run a top ten list of suggested techniques/cheap places to go…if we get enough responses!) Okay, Wilmington, what do you do to keep your sanity during the dog days of summer?

Getting Greener All the Time

Our new car was our big green move. We got a Honda Fit and love it. All four of us fit perfectly into this subcompact and it's fun to drive. A week later, we are still running around on the free tank of gas they gave us at Stevenson Honda.

It's been more than a decade since we bought a car so now we have a very sad old car in the driveway. (That is not actually our car in the photo.) We decided to donate it because the tax deduction is worth more than we would get on a trade-in and I already listed it on Craigslist and got no response.

And that's when we discovered that there is a huge scam surrounding car donations. If you Google "donate car," you get a lot of places that will pick up your car and claim to donate it to charity. But according to the group of Moms that run Car-Donation-Scams.com most of these outfits sell these cars for profit. To make matters worse, you probably can't even take the tax deduction on those donations because of updated tax law designed to foil these operations.

So what's a green girl to do? Donate to a real charity. Many of them take cars as well as other goods. We chose Habitat for Humanity. Our car will help actual people in need and we'll get the tax deduction.

Energy savers?

o, Christina's shoe recycling got me thinking green. (Especially since we don't have the spare rubber to send off.) What are you doing this summer to save money, to be green or to try to fill up your gas tanks? One thing we started doing to save money, be more green and save time in the clothes folding/ironing department: Besides, hanging the laundry gets me away from the computer (using less air conditioning!) and, if the neighbors are also outside, I get to socialize. It's a win-win-win-win-win. (Now, if we could figure out what to do with the clothes dryer since it's collecting dust...). Obviously I'm not only not a runner, but we don't have the spare rubber to donate.

Run Responsibly

Okay, so I'm more of a walker than a runner. But I got a new pair of running shoes last week. I was all frisky and happy about them till I got home and my old pair looked me right in the eye and accused, "What are you going to do with me, now? Put me in the trash?"

It's like this every time. And because of it, I have a box of tired running shoes in the attic. Sometimes they look spiffy enough to take to Goodwill (if they didn't fit right) but most of the time I know that taking them there would be passing my trash to someone else to deal with.

"Does anyone recycle running shoes?" I asked my husband because he was the only one in the room—not because he was likely to know.

"They should!" I knew he was thinking about my box in the attic. But, hey, that's two of us who think this is a good idea. That means there will be a Web site. So I looked it up.

And sure enough. Nike just does it! The company has a worldwide recycling program that grinds up old running shoes and turns them into a material called Nike Grind. Grind is then used to make playgrounds, basketball courts, and running tracks. There is a drop-off location locator at the Nike's Reuse a Shoe site but I looked and there isn't a single location in North Carolina.

Come on Wilmington! Isn't there a sporting goods store—or someone—looking for a little green karma out there?

Meanwhile we can ship beat-up old running shoes (no wet shoes, no cleats, and no metal parts) to:

Nike Recycling Center
c/o Reuse-A-Shoe
26755 SW 95th Ave.
Wilsonville, OR 97070
(Nike will not accept shoes delivered with postage due)

 

Now I know what to do with that box in my attic.

Book giveaway: dogfessions

Free book!

Dogfessions, Compiled by Nikki Moustaki (HarperCollins Publishers, 2008)

Wilmaville is a wildly dog-centric town. (Why is that?) I've heard that New Hanover County has more dogs than any other place...on earth? this country? this state? Not sure where the comparison is.... (Gee, these statistics and comparisons can be important, especially during cocktail parties. For instance, I always try to work into a conversation that during the time in which I grew up in Denver it had the highest rate of drive-thru windows per capita. Who knew?!)

Back to the freebie book: Let me know if you live in Wilmington (NC) and are interested in a book that the PR material says is a blend of "Marley and Me" and "Postsecret" that takes an intimate look into the hearts and minds of dogs and their owners--told through postcards anonymously submitted to dogfessions.

E-mail me and we'll get it to you.

Pondering a couple questions today: cement and birthday party plans

Is anyone going to the meeting tonight about the Titan America (cement plant) meeting tonight?

And, on a mundane note, planning a birthday party for a soon-to-be 7-year old. Any suggestions? And do I allow her to invite boys (that she obviously has a crush on)?

A Night at the Beach

 

It was a beautiful night. We swam in the warm surf. The band played late. People danced—even on the beach. And the weather did not interfere with the fun. I think that means that it is officially summer. If you missed last night, there will be other opportunities.