I love this artist - so simple - so Swiss. Take a look at the NPR link to see more.
This other Swiss blog - Newly Swissed - also has an entry about him as well.
And here is his official site.
I want to order his new book....
Monday, September 12, 2011
Cool stuff
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Back to School
10 Misconceptions of Moms and Back-to-School
(another one of those emails that circulates this time of year)
Misconception Number 1:
Moms miss their kids when they go back to school :Seriously. I've had enough of you by now. Every morning with the "what are we going to do today, Mom?" is finally over!! I've looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It's time to go learn something. No more asking me about the pool, when is the next snack or if you can stay up late and watch a movie. It's over....You're going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again. There is a Christmas morning for parents and it's called "back to school".
Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping :Are you freaking kidding me? Why do I pay taxes? So I can rack up a $200 bill at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers? Why does it have to be new pencils? What's wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils that have been sitting in the bottom of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic?? If they added a couple of things for parents to that list I wouldn't mind so much...why not pencils, erasers and vodka ...or some Nyquil???
Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night :Why must we do this every year? I got it already. You're the teacher. I'm the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dots on his discipline chart, he can't get a prize from the prize box. Pretty simple stuff. Listen, I'm pretty old school. If he doesn't listen to you, you can throw something at him. I don't care. But I got a lot of work to do at home and I'm paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I've never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research. So, I got it!! We're all here for the betterment of the kids. Blah Blah Blah. Can I leave now?
Misconception Number 4: Moms like school paperwork :How many trees are you planning on killing to tell me the same stuff I had to pay a babysitter so I could show up and listen the other night? You know our name, where we live and our emergency phone numbers. He doesn't have a nickname...call him "stink butt" for all I care.We don't have any "special circumstances" that you need to know about. He lives in a home with two parents who may or may not like each other at any given time and they will fight. If that qualifies as a reason he can't get his homework done on time then he won't be able to function as an adult and have a real job so you may want to "educate" him on that life lesson.
Misconception Number 5: Moms like covering books in that annoying sticky paper :What exactly will you be doing with these books that I have to cover them in a plastic laminate? Do you often teach in the rain? Or while the children are drinking soda and eating soup? Do you know how long that takes?Has any parent in the history of education been ever able to do it without any air bubbles in it? From now on I'm covering it the old way, brown paper bags. That way I can cover the books and pack their lunches at that same time. Who says moms can't multitask? PS. Please tell my son if he can't find his lunch to look in his science book.
Misconception Number 6: Moms like helping you with your homework :What? I am scared out of my mind!! I'm pretty sure that I forgot everything I learned in fifth grade by the time I was in sixth grade. I have no idea what you are talking about most days. I don't really know my 12 times tables, I read the cliff notes to all your summer reading and I don't know how to conjugate anything but I do know that song "conjuction junction what's your function" if that helps at all. And please don't even say the words "new math" to me. What the heck was wrong with the old one?
Misconception Number 7: Moms can't wait to pack your lunch every day until we die :I hate doing laundry. Making dinner every night is the bane of my existence, so making your lunch every day for an entire year, in terms of "mom fun", lies somewhere between brushing plaque off the dogs teeth and scheduling my annual pap smear.Listen, as a child I hated what my mom packed me for lunch. But, like every kid before me, and every generation to come you will find a kid to trade with. I'm sure someone likes sardines.
Misconception Number 8: Moms love after school activities.I don't know who made up this idea of organized clubs and sports but they should be the ones in charge of carting your ass around. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against all after school programs. I just wish they would offer it during hours that would work best for me so that dinner wasn't at 8:30 at night followed by 4 hours of homework. Why not do it on the weekends and call it "after-hours activities" so mommy and daddy could actually go out one night and pretend that we have a life of our own. Don't worry about us though I'm sure that me and "what's his name" will be married a very long time.
Misconception Number 9: Moms don't mind taking you to school if you miss the bus. Your bus comes at 7:10 am...which means that you should be standing by the door at 7:05 am. Not eating breakfast , chasing the dog around the house or in the bathroom, asking me to check your homework while I'm taking a shower. Get it together! I don't like running down the street in my jammies at 7:12 screaming "Please wait" or "If you stop I'll show you my boobies."
Misconception Number 10: Moms cry on your first day of school :We do cry but they are tears of joy. I have done my job. I have successfully kept a human child alive for at least 5 years without doing any major damage. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world!! Sure, doctors save lives and CEO's run million dollar businesses but you teach a kid not to poop their pants and then you can say you've made the world a better place."
(another one of those emails that circulates this time of year)
Misconception Number 1:
Moms miss their kids when they go back to school :Seriously. I've had enough of you by now. Every morning with the "what are we going to do today, Mom?" is finally over!! I've looked at your face twenty-four seven for the last 77 days. It's time to go learn something. No more asking me about the pool, when is the next snack or if you can stay up late and watch a movie. It's over....You're going back to Hogwarts and I get to have a life again. There is a Christmas morning for parents and it's called "back to school".
Misconception Number 2: Moms like to go school shopping :Are you freaking kidding me? Why do I pay taxes? So I can rack up a $200 bill at Staples for crap that we have laying around my house in junk drawers? Why does it have to be new pencils? What's wrong with the chewed up, broken strawberry shortcake pencils that have been sitting in the bottom of the toy box for the last 6 months? And how many subject books can you possibly need? What happened to reading, writing and arithmetic?? If they added a couple of things for parents to that list I wouldn't mind so much...why not pencils, erasers and vodka ...or some Nyquil???
Misconception Number 3: Moms like back to school night :Why must we do this every year? I got it already. You're the teacher. I'm the parent. My kid is either going to be smart or dumb. If he gets a certain number or colored dots on his discipline chart, he can't get a prize from the prize box. Pretty simple stuff. Listen, I'm pretty old school. If he doesn't listen to you, you can throw something at him. I don't care. But I got a lot of work to do at home and I'm paying a babysitter right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure you are going to assign some project on wigwams made by some Indian tribe I've never heard of, so I need to get home and start my research. So, I got it!! We're all here for the betterment of the kids. Blah Blah Blah. Can I leave now?
Misconception Number 4: Moms like school paperwork :How many trees are you planning on killing to tell me the same stuff I had to pay a babysitter so I could show up and listen the other night? You know our name, where we live and our emergency phone numbers. He doesn't have a nickname...call him "stink butt" for all I care.We don't have any "special circumstances" that you need to know about. He lives in a home with two parents who may or may not like each other at any given time and they will fight. If that qualifies as a reason he can't get his homework done on time then he won't be able to function as an adult and have a real job so you may want to "educate" him on that life lesson.
Misconception Number 5: Moms like covering books in that annoying sticky paper :What exactly will you be doing with these books that I have to cover them in a plastic laminate? Do you often teach in the rain? Or while the children are drinking soda and eating soup? Do you know how long that takes?Has any parent in the history of education been ever able to do it without any air bubbles in it? From now on I'm covering it the old way, brown paper bags. That way I can cover the books and pack their lunches at that same time. Who says moms can't multitask? PS. Please tell my son if he can't find his lunch to look in his science book.
Misconception Number 6: Moms like helping you with your homework :What? I am scared out of my mind!! I'm pretty sure that I forgot everything I learned in fifth grade by the time I was in sixth grade. I have no idea what you are talking about most days. I don't really know my 12 times tables, I read the cliff notes to all your summer reading and I don't know how to conjugate anything but I do know that song "conjuction junction what's your function" if that helps at all. And please don't even say the words "new math" to me. What the heck was wrong with the old one?
Misconception Number 7: Moms can't wait to pack your lunch every day until we die :I hate doing laundry. Making dinner every night is the bane of my existence, so making your lunch every day for an entire year, in terms of "mom fun", lies somewhere between brushing plaque off the dogs teeth and scheduling my annual pap smear.Listen, as a child I hated what my mom packed me for lunch. But, like every kid before me, and every generation to come you will find a kid to trade with. I'm sure someone likes sardines.
Misconception Number 8: Moms love after school activities.I don't know who made up this idea of organized clubs and sports but they should be the ones in charge of carting your ass around. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against all after school programs. I just wish they would offer it during hours that would work best for me so that dinner wasn't at 8:30 at night followed by 4 hours of homework. Why not do it on the weekends and call it "after-hours activities" so mommy and daddy could actually go out one night and pretend that we have a life of our own. Don't worry about us though I'm sure that me and "what's his name" will be married a very long time.
Misconception Number 9: Moms don't mind taking you to school if you miss the bus. Your bus comes at 7:10 am...which means that you should be standing by the door at 7:05 am. Not eating breakfast , chasing the dog around the house or in the bathroom, asking me to check your homework while I'm taking a shower. Get it together! I don't like running down the street in my jammies at 7:12 screaming "Please wait" or "If you stop I'll show you my boobies."
Misconception Number 10: Moms cry on your first day of school :We do cry but they are tears of joy. I have done my job. I have successfully kept a human child alive for at least 5 years without doing any major damage. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world!! Sure, doctors save lives and CEO's run million dollar businesses but you teach a kid not to poop their pants and then you can say you've made the world a better place."
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Cool Sites
Now why didn't something like this exist when my children were younger?
http://thekidshouldseethis.com
http://thekidshouldseethis.com
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Summer Travel
What a day.
It all started out marginally well. fine (well, at least the part after we left the house). We got to the airport early. All very relaxing. Boarded on time.
Reading on the plane.....waiting to land when the pilot says we have been circling because of storms and we may be diverted. I almost screamed!!! What???? I have planes and trains to catch, family to see. This is not happening.
Sure enough, diverted. A is for Albany. Let's go there first!!!
Once we got there I emailed Peggy, our travel agent, so she knew what was going on. And I asked at the Delta desk if they could re-book us in the event we missed our 9:15 flight. No problem they said. There is a 9:50 Air France flight and we were confirmed. Just had to have tickets printed once we got to New York.
We waited. And waited. And waited for clearance from JFK that we could re-board and head back to JFK.
By 7:30 we were back on the plane. By 8:30 we were still circling Albany.
We finally landed at 9:00, and off the plane by 9:20. Francis had texted to say the doors were closed on his flight but they had a 30 minute delay.
We got off, spoke to a Delta rep who told us to run to the next terminal to make that Air France flight. Oh...the Delta system kept on telling us that the Air France/Delta flight was leaving at 9:50. But when we got to the counter it said 10:50.
We were golden! Wahoo!!. We could make this flight, still meet Francis and make the train. Got to the checkin counter where the woman couldn't check us in because we didn't have the actual ticket. She told us to quickly go around to the ticketing counter to get the tickets.
No can do. They would not give us tickets. We flew down on Delta. And had an American JFK-CDG ticket. What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Air France/Delta owed us nothing and would not put us on the flight.
I was on the verge of tears. A woman from behind the counter said we needed to go to the American Terminal and get on one of their flights.
We still had hope.
Once at American, we told our story and the woman said, What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Hmmm we had heard that before.
She could re-book us for tomorrow but there is a $250 fee per person. What? She then said that she. had spoken with the supervisor and that was waived. Phew!!
In the meantime Peggy made us a reservation at the JFK Sheraton.
One last question....what about our bags? I handed the woman our baggage claim checks and she said...oh...your bags were only checked to JFK!!! What???
So we had to get back on the Airtrain and go to Delta to get our bags. After waiting 20 minutes in line for baggage problems, the woman tells us that our bags were checked through to Paris and they were now rebooked on our flight tomorrow.
We don't believe her.
We walk back outside, grab a taxi with Mohammed Ramadan who is driving, while talking on the phone via bluetooth while following Mrs. Nav to get us to the Sheraton. (Mrs. Nav is a gps-he tells me he can get us anywhere on the island but out here he needs help).
The JFK Sheraton is a throw back in time. After we check in (I realize now I have idea how much it is) I went straight to the bar and take a glass of Cab Sav to our room.
It's after midnight and our Chinese takeout was just delivered.
Our plan is to sleep in, have breakfast, hang, checkout late and head right back to the terminal. We'll take the shuttle bus to save $$.
We are now on a 5:15ish flight to Paris arriving at 6:45am.
Life is NOT dull. Always something.
It all started out marginally well. fine (well, at least the part after we left the house). We got to the airport early. All very relaxing. Boarded on time.
Reading on the plane.....waiting to land when the pilot says we have been circling because of storms and we may be diverted. I almost screamed!!! What???? I have planes and trains to catch, family to see. This is not happening.
Sure enough, diverted. A is for Albany. Let's go there first!!!
Once we got there I emailed Peggy, our travel agent, so she knew what was going on. And I asked at the Delta desk if they could re-book us in the event we missed our 9:15 flight. No problem they said. There is a 9:50 Air France flight and we were confirmed. Just had to have tickets printed once we got to New York.
We waited. And waited. And waited for clearance from JFK that we could re-board and head back to JFK.
By 7:30 we were back on the plane. By 8:30 we were still circling Albany.
We finally landed at 9:00, and off the plane by 9:20. Francis had texted to say the doors were closed on his flight but they had a 30 minute delay.
We got off, spoke to a Delta rep who told us to run to the next terminal to make that Air France flight. Oh...the Delta system kept on telling us that the Air France/Delta flight was leaving at 9:50. But when we got to the counter it said 10:50.
We were golden! Wahoo!!. We could make this flight, still meet Francis and make the train. Got to the checkin counter where the woman couldn't check us in because we didn't have the actual ticket. She told us to quickly go around to the ticketing counter to get the tickets.
No can do. They would not give us tickets. We flew down on Delta. And had an American JFK-CDG ticket. What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Air France/Delta owed us nothing and would not put us on the flight.
I was on the verge of tears. A woman from behind the counter said we needed to go to the American Terminal and get on one of their flights.
We still had hope.
Once at American, we told our story and the woman said, What right did Delta in albany have to re-book us asked the Delta NY counter? Hmmm we had heard that before.
She could re-book us for tomorrow but there is a $250 fee per person. What? She then said that she. had spoken with the supervisor and that was waived. Phew!!
In the meantime Peggy made us a reservation at the JFK Sheraton.
One last question....what about our bags? I handed the woman our baggage claim checks and she said...oh...your bags were only checked to JFK!!! What???
So we had to get back on the Airtrain and go to Delta to get our bags. After waiting 20 minutes in line for baggage problems, the woman tells us that our bags were checked through to Paris and they were now rebooked on our flight tomorrow.
We don't believe her.
We walk back outside, grab a taxi with Mohammed Ramadan who is driving, while talking on the phone via bluetooth while following Mrs. Nav to get us to the Sheraton. (Mrs. Nav is a gps-he tells me he can get us anywhere on the island but out here he needs help).
The JFK Sheraton is a throw back in time. After we check in (I realize now I have idea how much it is) I went straight to the bar and take a glass of Cab Sav to our room.
It's after midnight and our Chinese takeout was just delivered.
Our plan is to sleep in, have breakfast, hang, checkout late and head right back to the terminal. We'll take the shuttle bus to save $$.
We are now on a 5:15ish flight to Paris arriving at 6:45am.
Life is NOT dull. Always something.
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