Its a wonderful day when you can have an hours worth of fun your 12 year son.
He and I fired up our WII today to play with the WII Fit that I got for Christmas.
I really enjoyed all of the games included with the WII although the soccer ball one
is not one of my favorites. I got hit with all of the panda heads instead of the soccer
balls like I was supposed to.
I think my favorites are the Yoga and the Aerobic Step Game. My son and I were
a little competitive but kept it all in good fun. He often beat my scores but then he's
a lot younger than I am ! He did great at the hulu hoop competition as well as the
3 min run both of which I failed at but will be working on as I try to lose another
15 pounds in the next few months.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Child Exchanges on Christmas Day
As I was sitting in the parking lot of McDonalds in Epping this afternoon, I observed that a number of the car's had a single adult's waiting for someone. Another car again with an adult in it and a child came into the lot parking near the first car. The children transfered from one car to another. A child exchange, on Christmas day has been completed.
I too was there for the same reason. My two kids were being "exchanged" from our home to their dads for the afternoon. My children have an advantage over some of their friends with divorced parents....my ex and I get along ok talking with each other and presenting a united front to the boys. The boys have never seen us fight or seriously disagree -- the divorce was an issue between adults and NOT our childern. I encourage the boys to respect and love their dad and their dad does the same for me.
Bonnie
I too was there for the same reason. My two kids were being "exchanged" from our home to their dads for the afternoon. My children have an advantage over some of their friends with divorced parents....my ex and I get along ok talking with each other and presenting a united front to the boys. The boys have never seen us fight or seriously disagree -- the divorce was an issue between adults and NOT our childern. I encourage the boys to respect and love their dad and their dad does the same for me.
Bonnie
Christmas Morning
I find that Christmas is very different now that my children are teenagers at 12 (going on 21) and 14 they no longer wait for Santa to arrive and bring his glee. Instead they attend Christmas eve Church Service with me and girl friends sit with us. I know they are growing up but I miss the little boys who bothered me all day for their gifts and had to be watched around the tree.
Now the only danger to the tree is the cat who loves to climb it. I have to give Shifu credit as he climbs the branches carefully and not once knocked the tree over or broke an ornament.
As my kids head off to visit with their dad for the afternoon, I think I'll take the tree down. Its been up since Thanksgiving and its time to close the season. As I carefully take the decorations down, I pause to remember where I got it from, some the kids and I made together, some made by wonderful co-workers who've now moved on, but never forgotten and the most cherished of all are the Christmas balls handed down from generation to generation.
Merry Christmas !
Bonnie
Now the only danger to the tree is the cat who loves to climb it. I have to give Shifu credit as he climbs the branches carefully and not once knocked the tree over or broke an ornament.
As my kids head off to visit with their dad for the afternoon, I think I'll take the tree down. Its been up since Thanksgiving and its time to close the season. As I carefully take the decorations down, I pause to remember where I got it from, some the kids and I made together, some made by wonderful co-workers who've now moved on, but never forgotten and the most cherished of all are the Christmas balls handed down from generation to generation.
Merry Christmas !
Bonnie
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Purchasing a Strom Radio
During the recent Ice Storm we lost power for 46 hours. During this time it became apparent that I needed a good storm radio. However, what makes for a good radio during a storm ? Obviously the radio is a form of entertainment and news, so it needed to bring in AM/FM radio stations. Even more importantly it needs to provide emergency information on weather conditions and to accomplish this it needed to bring in NOAA weather channels and there alerts.
The other critical feature in my opinion was the available methods to charge the radio and keep it running through out the emergency. The more ways that the radio could be powered the better.
I began by doing some research via the internet and good old Google. Reading through the various survival preparedness sites I came across a radio that was moderately priced and included all of my required features plus a few I hadn't realized I needed/wanted.
In reading various reviews I narrowed down my selection to the Voyager KA500 by Kaito Electronics. This radio which cost $59.95 at most websites was in my price range. It is powered by 3 AA batteries, included rechargable batteries, solar power and hand crank. It also gave me the option to use an AC adapter (purchased seperatly) for power and charging as well. This was perfect as it provided me with multiple was to keep the unit charged and ready for use. An added bonus was the ability to charge the unit via an USB port but even better this same port could be used to charge my cell phone or my son's all important Zune MP3 player ! It was critical that my cell phone remain in service as my house phone died after 8 hours. I did not realize that having a cable based phone service would limited the access my corded phone would have to dial tone. However, it does as I learned, the cable modem ran for 8 hours on its backup battery and then died taking with it ability to use any of my "house phones". So my cell phone became my primary access to the world. I happen to have a PDA phone with unlimited web access so could use e-mail to keep in touch with family members.
My next requirement was the ability to stay informed during the emergency via the radio. This unit is able to bring in FM/AM stations, Short Wave Radio (for world wide broadcasts) and the all important NOAA stations. The NOAA stations are broadcast over 7 channels and its important to determine which one is your "local" channel. This radio also offered the "Alert" feature which when turned on, allows the alert to turn on the radio for the broadcast and then turns the radio off to conserve power.
Added features are an LED flashlight, a red flashing emergancy light and a 5 LED adjustable reading light, 5 charging tips for various cell phones.
After I selected this brand of radio, I found the best price at an internet survival store called "Midwest Native Skills Institute @ www.survivalschool.com. They were offering a "speacial" price of $54.95 and a free AC Adaptor ($7.99 ) was included. I placed my order on 12/21/08 and recieved it on the 24th. Thats darn good shipping during the Christmas season !!
I've spent the evening playing with the radio and found it to have great reception on the FM band, no problem finding the local NOAA channel and the lights all function as advertised. I have not played with the hand crank function as the rechargable batteries arrived pre-charged.
I'm very pleased with both the radio I choose to purchase and the company I purchased it from.
Bonnie
The other critical feature in my opinion was the available methods to charge the radio and keep it running through out the emergency. The more ways that the radio could be powered the better.
I began by doing some research via the internet and good old Google. Reading through the various survival preparedness sites I came across a radio that was moderately priced and included all of my required features plus a few I hadn't realized I needed/wanted.
In reading various reviews I narrowed down my selection to the Voyager KA500 by Kaito Electronics. This radio which cost $59.95 at most websites was in my price range. It is powered by 3 AA batteries, included rechargable batteries, solar power and hand crank. It also gave me the option to use an AC adapter (purchased seperatly) for power and charging as well. This was perfect as it provided me with multiple was to keep the unit charged and ready for use. An added bonus was the ability to charge the unit via an USB port but even better this same port could be used to charge my cell phone or my son's all important Zune MP3 player ! It was critical that my cell phone remain in service as my house phone died after 8 hours. I did not realize that having a cable based phone service would limited the access my corded phone would have to dial tone. However, it does as I learned, the cable modem ran for 8 hours on its backup battery and then died taking with it ability to use any of my "house phones". So my cell phone became my primary access to the world. I happen to have a PDA phone with unlimited web access so could use e-mail to keep in touch with family members.
My next requirement was the ability to stay informed during the emergency via the radio. This unit is able to bring in FM/AM stations, Short Wave Radio (for world wide broadcasts) and the all important NOAA stations. The NOAA stations are broadcast over 7 channels and its important to determine which one is your "local" channel. This radio also offered the "Alert" feature which when turned on, allows the alert to turn on the radio for the broadcast and then turns the radio off to conserve power.
Added features are an LED flashlight, a red flashing emergancy light and a 5 LED adjustable reading light, 5 charging tips for various cell phones.
After I selected this brand of radio, I found the best price at an internet survival store called "Midwest Native Skills Institute @ www.survivalschool.com. They were offering a "speacial" price of $54.95 and a free AC Adaptor ($7.99 ) was included. I placed my order on 12/21/08 and recieved it on the 24th. Thats darn good shipping during the Christmas season !!
I've spent the evening playing with the radio and found it to have great reception on the FM band, no problem finding the local NOAA channel and the lights all function as advertised. I have not played with the hand crank function as the rechargable batteries arrived pre-charged.
I'm very pleased with both the radio I choose to purchase and the company I purchased it from.
Bonnie
Storm Reflections
It's Christmas Eve here in New Hampshire and its been a trying few weeks as I reflect back on current weather events. My family and I lost power for 46 hours during one of the worse Ice Storms on record here in the northeast. We lost power in the middle of the night but as day arrived it became evident that power would not be returning quickly.
A quick trip down the block to my 80 something mom's house found her without power and very cold. Luckily I was able to bring her home with me. My household was in many ways lucky, although we lost power we did keep city water pressure so we had drinking water and bathrooms available. For once I was happy with my gas hot water heater and stove they allowed us to have hot water and the ability to cook through out the storm.
My decorative fireplace was pressed into service to keep us all warm and it did a great job. The most frustrating thing was trying to find wood in times of crisis. I was able to find some at 5.00 a bundle and purchased all I could. The fact that we could only heat about a 10 foot radius around the fireplace necessitated a lot of family time !! We placed a hurricane lamp in the middle of the kitchen table and played board games all evening, it was actually rather fun, looking back on the evenings.
Looking back on the storm now I've learned a few lessons. We can survive in our house for a bout three days before I think we'd need to head to a shelter or hotel. We have a Cat and Dog who are just like family members and since most shelter won't accept them, we'd have tried for a hotel out of the immediate area. Cash is KING, I didn't have much in my wallet and my debit card was useless. From now on my emergency kit will include some cash. We did not have flashlight batteries...of course I had all kinds of batteries, just not the right size so now I've got the flashlight and batteries matched up. I need a stock of wood and kindling for three days. Finally I needed a good storm radio. We had to scramble for a way to keep our radio running and our cell phones charged
I'll post my experience with storm radio and my cell phone and house phone in my next post.
Bonnie
A quick trip down the block to my 80 something mom's house found her without power and very cold. Luckily I was able to bring her home with me. My household was in many ways lucky, although we lost power we did keep city water pressure so we had drinking water and bathrooms available. For once I was happy with my gas hot water heater and stove they allowed us to have hot water and the ability to cook through out the storm.
My decorative fireplace was pressed into service to keep us all warm and it did a great job. The most frustrating thing was trying to find wood in times of crisis. I was able to find some at 5.00 a bundle and purchased all I could. The fact that we could only heat about a 10 foot radius around the fireplace necessitated a lot of family time !! We placed a hurricane lamp in the middle of the kitchen table and played board games all evening, it was actually rather fun, looking back on the evenings.
Looking back on the storm now I've learned a few lessons. We can survive in our house for a bout three days before I think we'd need to head to a shelter or hotel. We have a Cat and Dog who are just like family members and since most shelter won't accept them, we'd have tried for a hotel out of the immediate area. Cash is KING, I didn't have much in my wallet and my debit card was useless. From now on my emergency kit will include some cash. We did not have flashlight batteries...of course I had all kinds of batteries, just not the right size so now I've got the flashlight and batteries matched up. I need a stock of wood and kindling for three days. Finally I needed a good storm radio. We had to scramble for a way to keep our radio running and our cell phones charged
I'll post my experience with storm radio and my cell phone and house phone in my next post.
Bonnie
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