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By Mom Unplugged, May 30, 2008 8:54 pm

The Meme of Fives

I was recently tagged by Toddler Mom Maureen for the Meme of Fives. Since I am notoriously bad at remembering to respond to tags, I thought I’d better get to this one right away. Plus, I have never done it before and it looked rather fun! Thanks Maureen!

The rules:
1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

Running around after a two year-old and a one year-old.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?

1) Put out my hummingbird feeder since the hummers are back.
2) Laundry (ho hum).
3) Give my cockatiels a squirt-bottle bath since the weather is warm.
4) Buy fresh potting soil and fill my outside pots.
5) Did I mention laundry?

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Anything chocolate - I find chocolate to be especially necessary around 2PM.
2) Whole wheat pita with hummus (nutritious too!)
3) Doritos (NOT nutritious so I simply can’t have them in the house)
4) Any kind of cheese (I have never met a cheese I didn’t like)
5) Pickled onions (that’s the British in me coming out)

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

Hmm…this one is tough because I don’t think my habits would change much, but I’ll try and answer.

1) Give a donation large enough to expand my children’s small but wonderful Montessori school through high school (it is now only to grade 4).
2) Set up a no-kill shelter for stray cats.
3) Be a space tourist and experience zero-G’s!
4) Buy a house in Hawaii for my sister and visit her often!
5) Spin a globe and go to the spot where my finger lands, no matter how remote (provided it is not in the middle of an ocean of course).

What are five of your bad habits?

I only get to pick five?

1) A constant desire to sleep late (unfortunately unfulfilled now that I have children). I am NOT a morning person.
2) Caffeine, especially in the form of tea.
3) I don’t drink enough water.
4) I hate to exercise.
5) Not putting away the clean laundry often enough. It sits in baskets around my house for days.

What are five places where you have lived?

1) France (Paris and Rouen)
2) Germany (Hamburg)
3) Oswego, NY
4) Albuquerque, NM
5) New Haven, CT

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1) Flight attendant
2) Lear jet pilot
3) Flight instructor
4) Lawyer
5) French tutor

Five people I tag:

1) Heather of Celtic Mommy
2) Michie of Seeking Imperfection
3) Gattina of Writer Cramps and My Cats and Funny Stories
4) Kate of Homeschooling in the Garden State
5) Yarrow of Yarrow of Witchwood

If any of you have done this before or would rather not do it, then please feel free to ignore the tag. My feelings will not be hurt!

7 Random Facts

I was tagged way back in February by Tomtemama for the 7 Random Facts Meme, and then again in April By Michie of Seeking Imperfection. Thank you both for thinking of me, but I am very embarrassed that it has taken me this long to respond. Sorry!

I did do this meme about a year ago (only it was 8 Random Facts back then) and since very few of you who read Unplug Your Kids these days probably knew me back then, I think I’ll just be lazy and republish my “facts” (which should be “random” or “weird” according to the instructions):

1. I have dual US/UK citizenship and am an Aquarius.

2. I have been an exchange student twice: a summer in Oslo, Norway at age 16 and, after having graduated from high school a year early, a year in Rouen, France at age 17. I also spent my junior year of college in Hamburg, Germany, but please don’t write to me in German! My French is good, my German (except for a few choice unpublishable words) has mostly disappeared.

3. I was an Air France flight attendant for two years so I have been to a lot of unusual places. My friend Wishy says that I am the only person she has ever met who can start a sentence with “On my way to Burundi….”

4. As a child I broke both my big toes and received absolutely no sympathy from my doctor-father. My sister thinks she has cuter toes than I do, but I disagree.

5. My car has a license plate frame that says: “A Woman’s Place is in the Cockpit” (I am a pilot).

6. I am “not the cheerleader-type,” as my mother used to say. Nor am I a jock. I guess I am an introverted nerd.

7. My secret favorite movie is “Dirty Dancing” because I wish I could dance with Patrick Swayze (who I actually once saw on a ski slope at Santa Fe, NM!).

8. I hate white walls in my house. All my walls are a color.

I am supposed to tag seven people, but I am not sure who has done this and who has not, so I will simply allow anyone who wants, to tag themselves. Please let me know in the comments if you want to do it, so I can stop by and read all about YOU!

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Photos thanks to morguefile.com and photographers: “5″ - imelenchon, and “7″ - keyseeker.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, May 29, 2008 10:20 pm

My first real foray in to the world of blog capitalism is open for business. No, I am not plastering Unplug Your Kids with ads for cheap narcotics, online casinos, and get rich quick schemes. It’s just my store!

All my life I have secretly wanted to own a toy store and a bookstore and fill my stores with all the toys and books that I like! (“Mines, mines, MINES!!!” as my 2 year-old would say). As a child, my toys were very meaningful to me. I am a packrat who kept many of them. I guess I just haven’t grown up yet.

Since owning a real “brick and mortar” toy or book store isn’t very practical in this day and age (especially in my small town), and there are plenty of wonderful online stores already, I decided to try setting up my own store through Amazon, just for fun. Besides, the toys and books that I like probably aren’t mainstream enough to ever be profitable anyway.

I have been fooling around with my store for over a year now, so it is finally time to try it out. I am quite proud that I managed to figure out how to fit the iframe reasonably well into my page. I feel like quite a techie!

As with all my Amazon links, I’ll earn a small percentage of any sale, even if someone enters Amazon via my store (or any Amazon link on my blog for that matter) and buys something else.

I don’t expect to become the next Donald Trump from this. My goal is very humble: to fund the purchase of a new book every month to review on my blog. I figure that in this way, I would be passing some of the goodness back to others. Of course I will feel that I have really hit the big time if I can cover the monthly cost of my web site hosting too!

This blog originally started out, long, long ago as a “shopping blog,” inspired by my friend Wishy who liked the gifts I bought her daughter. I guess my store is also a way to preserve that aspect of it, while I delve into other topics on the blog itself, as I have been doing for over a year now.

This leads to my last point…and if you have made it this far in reading my post, I am grateful! In addition to the more monetarily-oriented goals that I have mentioned above, I really hope that my store can help people cut through some of the toy and book junk out there. Having only a Walmart and Kmart to shop at for toys has made me an expert online shopper. I would like to pass along the good finds to others. Most of what I recommend, we have and love. The rest is stuff I would like to have and love!

So, I hope you enjoy the Unplug Your Kids store. If you like it, then check back from time to time because I will add new things as I find them. I also have a seasonal section that I plan on changing every so often. Knowing me, I will be tinkering with the store for quite some time.

The link is the “Shop Unplug Your Kids” tab in the upper right sidebar.

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(Photo thanks to photographer Kevin Rosseel and morguefile.com.)

Comments (11)

By Mom Unplugged, May 20, 2008 2:11 pm

Despite writing a blog for all the world to see, I actually tend to be a rather private person. I am very bad at self-promotion, but I have news that I simply can’t keep to myself any longer.

That picture above may look like any old page from any old book to you, but to me it is astonishing, amazing, and quite unbelievable. It is something that I must pick up and look at again and again in order to be completely sure it is real.

Those words on that page, and several others like it, are MY words (“Mines!” as my 2 year-old would say). My words in print, published in a real book that is available in real bookstores for anyone to pick up and read as they sit and sip their Starbucks. A fat, solid book with a lovely glossy cover and that wonderful “new book smell.”

The book is called How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids and is edited by Sarah Franklin. It is a very funny anthology of absolutely true nightmare stories about traveling with children. I feel very honored that my unusual adventure was chosen for inclusion. Suffice it to say that my contribution involves a small single-engine airplane piloted by me, and a screaming, hungry 3 month-old baby (my oldest daughter).

Anyhow, I really enjoyed reading all the tales in the collection, and I often laughed out loud! I would have recommended it as a great summer or travel read for all parents, except that now I am a bit embarrassed to do so since my piece is in it. How weird is that?

Seriously though, consider reading it this summer on your United Airlines flight to Chicago, or your cross-country car trip to Grandma’s. If your little darlings fuss on the flight or vomit cherry slushies all over your new car, this book will lift your spirits and you’ll immediately feel better knowing that it COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE.

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, April 11, 2008 11:58 am

I have had a house full of company this past week, including extra children to help give my gorgeous new wood floor a durability test run (it passed). Having spent some very pleasant time with my guests instead of blogging, I have not written some of the posts I had planned for this week, so stay tuned next week. Living life instead of blogging about it, what a novel concept!

It is a half day at school today (parent-teacher conferences) and my daughter is having a friend over tonight for a sleepover. We will also have a few extra children here this afternoon, simply for playtime. Wow, what a week!

My son was very weepy with fatigue this morning when I dropped him off at school. I would have liked to have kept him home for a nap and some quiet book reading, but he wanted to go to his half day of school. If we survive the playtime and sleepover, I really hope that this weekend can be a quiet and peaceful time to settle down and recharge our batteries.

I dream of a nice quiet morning cup of tea in bed, sitting and reading books with my children, having a fun and creative time with this week’s Unplugged Project (the theme this week is food, in case you want to join us), and perhaps a board game or two…

Comments (3)

By Mom Unplugged, March 9, 2008 9:18 am

What is happening with our weather? A few weeks ago we had some glorious warmth that made the bulbs begin to sprout and put a smile on the face and a spring in the step. Then suddenly, literally overnight, the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and it became cold again.

This morning, after a restless night spent listening to a loud coyote party in my backyard, I awoke to…a dusting of snow! What? Where did spring go? Big sigh.

Sorry for the dull meteorological post, but I just needed to vent.

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer George Bosela for this fitting photo.