I got this story third-hand from my Mom. Like all funny family stories, it’s making the rounds quickly!
My nephew Chris (my brother’s son) is learning how to write sentences in school. He is a lefty so he has a bit of difficulty keeping his writing neat. His mom, Lisa, makes him practice his writing after school. Yesterday, while Chris was working on his writing she reminded him to make sure his sentences were neat, “Make them beautiful! I want to see beautiful sentences!”
Lisa went on to do her chores in the kitchen while Chris was working.
Chris: “My effin family is beautiful.”
Lisa: “WHAT did you say?”
Chris: ” I said, ‘My effin family is BEAUTIFUL!”
Lisa: “DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?!”
Chris: “Yes! My ‘f’ in ‘family’ IS beautiful!”
Categories: Family
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Tags: family story, nephew
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Our family is saddened to report that Smudgepot, our house bunny, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We had her for eight years, but we don’t know how old she was when Mike found her in the office parking lot. She was a great pet and didn’t take any guff off the dogs. She had a persnickety personality and would let you know in no vague terms when you weren’t petting her in the right place. But if you weren’t petting her at all, she’d snuggle up against you for lovings. Our family has a not-so-little, bunny-shaped hole in it today. Having house bunnies has been something we really enjoyed.
Categories: Family, News
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You may have already heard the news that the venerable id Software in Dallas had lots of layoffs. Yes, Michael was one of the victims. Basically, the company streamlined down to focus on one project, which meant they suddenly had lot of redundant positions. In the Lead Design area, Mike was the newest hire. So that was that.
The past year has been totally surreal: stressed, disaster-ridden, and fractured. Good thing our offer on that house in Dallas didn’t go through a couple of months ago! ACK!
As for what to do, Mike has a strong resume and knows tons of folk in and around the game business. We are optimistic that something will come up soon.
Categories: Family, News
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Shelf Elf from Kirkland's Email Flyer
We’ve started a new tradition around here called “Elf on the Shelf.”
Never heard of “Elf on the Shelf?” Here’s how it works: About the time that the holiday decorations come out of the closet, an elf appears on a shelf somewhere in the house. Each night, after everyone’s asleep, the elf moves to a new place. You have to be careful not to disturb him or you might mess up his elfin magic!
This happens every night until Christmas Eve, when the elf takes his final place on the Christmas Tree so he can watch everyone open presents.
I got these great poseable elves at Kirkland’s (the elf pic is from their November 18 email) about a week or so ago. I gleefully told Hannah I was going to start an Elf on the Shelf tradition in our family. She saw the appeal, but let’s just say that 15-year olds might be too mature to express enthusiasm for cutesy traditions.
At any rate, the elves found their places around the house THAT VERY NIGHT.
I have been asking her every morning, “Did you find all the elves?” Her response is usually, “Yes, mom. There, there and there.” Well, it’s not like they were HIDING or anything … but it was obvious I was having more fun than she was with the whole thing. UNTIL…
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Elves are Ready to Work
Alex is in Florida and Mike is in Dallas so Hannah and I have been working the holiday season on our own. We can do this!
As you may know, all our decorations are packed. So Hannah and I bought a 6ft. tall, 6ft. wide (ha ha) live tree and are just making a lot of little disposable ornaments to put on it and filling the gaps with tinsel and cheapy ornaments.
The real problem is ALL MY RECIPES are packed too! So is a lot of my bakeware!
Do you have a really tasty, really easy holiday recipe that I could try?
Here’s a recipe I know by heart I offer in exchange:
Alex’s Favorite Peppermint Bark
1 pkg of white chocolate morsels
24 peppermint candies
heavy duty plastic bag
wax paper
strainer/sifter
- put unwrapped candies in heavy duty plastic bag and crush to bits. Set aside
- microwave morsels in bowl on medium heat (about 70%) for about 1 minute and stir. microwave at 10 second intervals and stir until all the morsels are melted.
- pour crushed candy over the melted morsels THROUGH STRAINER (set aside the too-big pieces of candy), shaking to get as much through as you can.
- stir melted morsel/candy mixture together
- spread mixture out on wax paper as thick as you like it
- gently press some of the larger candy pieces on top
- let sit for about an hour, then break it up.
- Store in airtight container, like tupperware.
Categories: Homelife, Recipes
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Grandmother's Lotto Numbers
Sometimes “throwing away” a few dollars for lotto tickets is worth it for a couple of days of “what if I win?” daydreams. Our frugal grandparents once thought so!
While I was packing up the house, I came across a lotto request from my Grandmother (in a box of letters) and lotto cards from Michael’s Grampa Wally/Gramma Dort (tucked in a book which came down to hubby). I thought the family would enjoy seeing them and perhaps playing the “family numbers” in their own state’s lotto. Click the pics to see the cards themselves.
Grampa Wally's Numbers
The extra number on Grandmother’s lotto card are my own numbers.
The yellow advertisement was tucked in the book with the lotto sleeve, card and the ticket. Gramma or Grampa Wikan had used the advertisement to decide which numbers to use, but those numbers were not included on the purchased ticket or lotto card.
I’ll transcribe all the numbers for you below. Play them and have fun!
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Categories: Deep Thoughts
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Categories: Nature, Photos
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Tags: deer, Photos
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This is me sharing my day with my husband over instant message a few minutes ago. The video below is the one I’m referring to in the chat, taken with my cell phone.
Categories: Homelife, Outside, Video
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Tags: alex, dog, Dosh, Hannah, nature, pets, porch, puppy, Video
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Mike's Entry
A friend contacted Mike not too long ago and said, “By the way, I saw you mentioned in GamePro this month. Pretty cool!” The friend couldn’t remember the context and Michael couldn’t imagine why he was mentioned. Well it turns out that Mike’s college (The Savannah College of Art and Design a/k/a “SCAD”) was named by GamePro magazine (with help of The Princeton Review) as one of the best colleges for video game design. Michael was named as an alum with notable games.
The entry, though accurate, is a little misleading. He worked for Retro Studios when he made the listed games. After Donkey Kong Country Returns, he took the job at id Software up in Dallas, where he is still working. (I told you all about that back in May.)
The college sent Mike a copy of the magazine. Here is a scan of the full page mentioning the other alums and SCAD’s entry in the article.
All the Listed Alums
SCAD's Write Up
As video games are increasingly becoming main-stream entertainment,
Growing up Gaming
scientists have a larger subject pool on which to study the effects of video games on our daily lives. New studies are being analyzed and reported almost daily these days. Gamasutra‘s Erin Robinson has been following the trend and picked ten of the more interesting studies in the following areas to summarize:
- Games and memory
- Games and addiction
- Games and pain management
- Misreporting in the Media of the Effects of Video Games
- Games and Physical Therapy
- Self-created Game Avatars and Self Perception
- Games as treatment for Schizophrenia (and other things, like quitting smoking!?)
- Games and Sensory Processing
- Games and Aging
- Games and Brain Activity
Robinson concludes:
Games are helping us unravel things we didn’t know about the brain, from disorders like addiction and amnesia to the processing of pain and visual information. Games are tackling some of the pressing medical issues of our time, including physical rehabilitation and the challenges of an aging population. They’re also teaching us about the way we feel rewarded, and even how we define our sense of self.
But what about the bad effects of video games? I know we have all heard that violent games make kids into violent criminals. Just how true is that? Well, The Escapist has reported on a study indicating that Video Games reduce violent crimes in the US!
From the article:
The study suggests that people who game – even ones predisposed to violence – would rather spend their time playing videogames than actually committing crimes.
This surprising study goes against everything I have ever heard relating to video games and parenting. But when you read what the study found, it seems to make sense. Gamers have often told me that after a bad day, they take out their aggression in a violent video game. Better than picking a fight in a bar, eh?
So pick up a video game! Share with your friends and family and enjoy. I know I won’t feel one bit guilty for enjoying my video games in the evenings. I do it for SCIENCE!
