Low-Tech High-Tech.

I love technology as much as anyone. There are certain things I don't hesitate to purchase and can't imagine doing without. Like our TV, for example. Cable. DVD players. My laptop.

There are other sparkly high-tech things, however, that don't seem as essential to me. So even though those Christmas ads are urging you to rush out and buy the latest and greatest, let me suggest several low-tech substitutes that seem to fill the role just fine.

My technology. Let me show it to you.

This is my Palm Pilot:

It's winter now -- don't forget the nose stuff!

This is my cordless phone:

It really did work at first, but it broke. I removed the cord and left it there as decoration. Why? Because I like it.

This is my cell phone:

This one is real. In use. Seriously.

This is my PhotoShop:

I use those Cut and Paste tools all the time.

This is my BlackBerry:

I find myself fresh out of blackberries at the moment, but when I have them, they look like this. Only frozen.

This is my Cricut:

FREE to good home!

This is my GameBoy:

His favorites are Probe and football.
(Ok, we actually do have one. But I'm on a roll here!)

This is my Wii Wee.

But it will be replaced by the REAL THING on Christmas morning! Let's talk about hand cream while we wait.

This is my Segway:

Speaking of personal technology...

...what about the rest of you? Any others to add to the list? (I bet you actually do have a laptop if you really think about it.)

December (Already?)

A few weeks ago, the kids were outside in short sleeves. The sky was blue, the leaves were falling...

...and falling and falling and FALLING!

Canadian Geese were flying noisily over our house every evening...

...because, unlike me, they knew what was coming:

SNOW!!

December has arrived, folks.

Happy Thanksgiving

That's cake you're looking at, by the way. (Knowing that makes it look much tastier, doesn't it?)

The main course was Szechuan Chicken & Peanuts over rice.

Just your basic, traditional Thanksgiving feast...

Brown Coat, Brown Coat, What Do You See?

(A post in which I entertain myself you by airing my dirty laundry.)

(click image to enlarge)

The Jujyfruit Family Mash! (A Very Belated Treat)

OK, I know Halloween is long past by now, but I didn't stumble across this fun video until this morning and I simply couldn't resist.

I decided that since I'm sitting here picking fun-sized Snickers bar out of my teeth, it's still current enough!

(snicker)

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

P.S. That time I meant the other kind of snicker.
P.P.S. Well, fine, you caught me -- BOTH kinds! Bwahahaaa... *sound of wrapper crinkling*

Bonkers Post: One Day Back in June...

Ready for the first blogging round of Bonkers? We're going backwards to go forward!

First stop -- this post about a zoo trip that took place back in June...

Bonkers

This morning I woke up with a jingle stuck in my head.

Apparently my brain is giving me a gentle little kick in the butt, urging me to put some things in this yawning gap of blog space. I stopped blogging for a bit -- unintentionally, really -- and then found myself unable to start back up. Do I explain my absence? Do I need to fill in the holes first? Can I use those old drafts now, even though they are from past months? Because then everyone will be so confused by the obvious chronological blips in my online diary and will therefore be unable to make sense of the world in which they live??

Heh. I might have been over-thinking it.

But you can just thank your lucky stars that a simple jingle running through my head this morning will allow all of humankind to release its collectively held breath and permit the earth to resume its spinning. (Whew! That was close, eh?)

Ready for the brilliant insight? It's this: BONKERS.

No, seriously, Bonkers -- that 70s board game? Do you remember it?

Now available in select online vintage stores near you! Only $39.95 + shipping.

The end of the commercial's jingle was:

"...You go backwards to go forwards in a Bonkers kind of fun,
You think that you are losing, when suddenly you've won!
Bonkers is fun,
Bonkers is nice,
Bonkers is never the same game twice!"

Does that ring a bell for anyone? We didn't watch much tv back in those days, so it must have been a fairly frequent commercial for me to remember it. (Though we did have the game, and I remember singing the jingle over and over while playing it, so maybe disregard that last sentence. Hmm.)

Anyway, I woke up with those lines in my head and realized that was the answer: I need to go backwards to go forward.

So here we go.....backwards! Hang on to your hats -- the next few posts will be a Bonkers kind of fun.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Greetings to you!

From:

An Old Guy,

Steve,

and one of these Fireflies.

Evil Brackets of Doom!

Here's a scary Halloween horror for you...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!! (Thanks, Picnik)

My daughter got braces. Right before Halloween. Which means not much Halloween candy for her! Evil, isn't it?!

And if that's not creepy enough for you, she also got horrid metal hooks glued to the back of her front teeth. They are supposed to keep her from accidentally biting the brackets off her lower front teeth...but the side effect is that she can't fully bite down at all. Anywhere. Which means not much chewing or biting or eating in general! I'm spooked.

And do you know what is even spookier than THAT??

...THE BILL! *blood-curdling scream*

(It's the stuff of nightmares.)

Yearbook Yourself

In case you've been wondering, even though my last post said I was "going back to bed" I haven't actually been sleeping this whole entire time.

I probably could have. (I probably should have.)

But, no, little sleeping has occurred. Instead, I've been working. Working and working and working. I'd post evidence but I'm too tired. (From all that working.)

Instead, let me just sit here and relax while I entertain you with photos of me from yearbooks past.

1952

The love child of Carol Burnett and Lily Tomlin, perhaps? I'm quite liking the dark hair on me. Or perhaps it is the 20-pounds-lighter face shape I am enjoying. I'm not sure.

*****
19601960 was a fine year for me, too. Although, getting my limp hair to do *that* on a daily basis would have been quite a challenge! (Not to mention the whole tiny waist & big pointy bosom thing.) I think my aunt might have this exact same photo in her actual yearbook. Or one that's eerily similar, anyway.

*****
1962That ultra-feminine, be-ribboned updo is fooling no one.

*****
1966Jujyfruit as That Girl.

*****
1968My cousin, Hannah!

*****
1970

And a slightly more distant cousin.

*****
1974

Add braces and pimples and a skinny tie -- it's 8th grade all over again.

*****
1978

I smell Breck shampoo.

*****
1984

I smell prom.

*****
1986

Amy, is that you? Or is it me? I'm confused!
*****

1988

My MOM! (Her sweater was greenish. Remember?)

*****
1990

I had this hair, minus the side wisp. (And my friend had those glasses.)

See?? Actual 1990! (just oddly missing some curl on the side)

*****
1992

The long nails help me remember this is not my real senior picture.

*****
1998

If I could have gotten the left side of my own hair to swoop up as high as this, I probably would have.

*****
2000

This one stumps me. Long, straight hair? Off-the-shoulder top? Totally unfamiliar. (Except for that one Halloween...)

I sorta feel like I should go dig through boxes and scan in some more old photos to document the evidence behind my comments. But that just sounds like more work.

Instead, I'm just going to give you a link so you can go Yearbook Yourself, too. It's fun!