The Working Mom » family

Coolest Geek Toy (that my daughter is loving right now)

Jennifer — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:05:44 +0000

One of the things Rachel got for her birthday was a set from the Snap Circuits line. Basically they’re these pieces that very easily snap together, and you build various electronic devices. A fan, (that also doubles as a flying saucer with the right set up), an alarm, a music box, a light switch, etc. etc. It makes building circuit boards as easily as playing with Lego’s. They have a little booklet with easy to follow diagrams showing you how to build the various projects. There are symbols on the pieces that show you how it would look on a “grown up” diagram. As well, the booklet explains what is happening with what you’re building – so it’s teaching you as well. My daughter cruised through the first set she got for her birthday (something like 100 projects). So we ran out and got an add-on set that had 300. For a kid that normally has a fairly short attention span, she is playing with this toy way more than I expected.

If you are looking for a really cool science type toy – this one is a great idea. The site says it’s good for kids aged 8 and up – but it is simple enough I think kids a little bit younger than that could even do it.

Click here to see the larger Snap Circuits SC-300 set on Amazon.com (you’ll notice it has 5 stars and something like 469 reviews. I’m not the only one that thinks this is the coolest toy ever)

Here’s a video of her playing with one of her circuit projects:

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A Good Friend Gone

Jennifer — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:47:58 +0000

Late in the middle of the night, Charlie’s (our dog) spine suddenly ruptured. Most likely from all the various ailments he’s been dealing with, and the medication to help him. He was in terrible pain, more pain than I’d ever seen any animal in. I didn’t want to see him suffer anymore and decided to put him down. I didn’t want to stay to see the vet do it, but he’s been faithfully by my side for the last 12+ years, I couldn’t bear to let him die alone. I can’t really get the picture out of my head of my dear friend dying before my eyes. I know he’s at peace now, even though I am not.

All this on the eve of my daughter’s birthday. At first we weren’t going to tell her, but I don’t like deception so we told her in the early afternoon. She’s definitely handling it better than I expected, (and certainly better than I am)

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10 Years ago…

Jennifer — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:00:42 +0000

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Then:

and now:

Seriously, 10 years?? Who put life on Fast Forward mode?

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Sure Sign of Overtiredness

Jennifer — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:09:39 +0000

Zach was throwing up most of the night last night. When he wasn’t throwing up, I spent the time trying to fall back to sleep, a wasted effort. So I’m really short on energy today – and brain power. While I was driving Rachel to her day-camp, Sam stayed with Zach back at the house. In my head I was mentally listing off what I needed to do that day, how I would juggle it all with Zach staying home. On one mental item, I thought “we should feed him the BRAT diet today – I think that’s what they usually have you do with a kid that is recovering from vomiting, etc. Ok. BRAT diet… Bananas… Rice… Apples? No Applesauce, right…? And something starting with a “T”. What the hell is it. Tofu?….Turkey?… Tepid water… How many foods could possibly start with the letter “T” – what the hell is it??

I kind of gave up thinking about it and figured I’d just look it up on Google when I got home. So I get home, Zach asks for some toast, I say sure. I’m making him the toast and while I’m getting it all together I start thinking again… What the hell is the “T” word??? GAH!! Why can’t I remember what it is?!

Yeah.

It wasn’t until I finished making it and handed it to him… TOAST!

Oy. It’s going to be a long day.

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Dog Update

Jennifer — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:02:28 +0000

Just so I don’t leave you hanging about the dog…

Friday was a really bad day. I went to see him in the morning – he was still not doing well, getting worse. He looked horrible. I looked in his face and silently pleaded with him to hang on and get better. I talked to the vet over the phone in the afternoon and he suggested one last treatment before we gave up. All along we were treating his problems like they were ulcers – except the medication that should have worked simply wasn’t working. If it wasn’t ulcers – the other options it could be was cancer or inflammatory disease. He suggested giving him steroids to see if it helped.

A few hours later, I stopped in to see him. I brought the kids with me because I wasn’t sure if they were ever going to see him again, and I was getting ready to tell them to say goodbye to him. But when they brought him out, they put him on the floor, and he ran over to us, wagging his tail. Before he was shaking non-stop (most likely from pain), but he was hardly shaking at all – this was only hours after they started him on the new treatment. I couldn’t believe my eyes. We took him outside so he could pee, he did, then pulled towards the car like he wanted to go HOME. This is not the behavior of a dog that is giving up!

The next morning he looked even better. They told me if everything continued as is, he could come home that night. I couldn’t believe it! The dog had literally come back from the dead. That night I brought him (and about a dozen medications LOL!) home and he’s pretty much back to his old self now.

I’ve been told this is not a “cure” – his stomach is diseased. What this buys us is some more time with him. Whether it’s cancer or inflammatory disease, the steroids will eventually stop working. In the meantime, we are so glad to have him back with us for however long we can keep him. I still don’t know how I’m going to cope when the eventuality comes. He’s like my daemon / animal spirit. He’s always by my side and I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to say goodbye to him.

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Climbing Camp

Jennifer — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:08:25 +0000

The last two weeks, Rachel has been going to a “Climbing Camp” that Momentum offers. (They’re an “Indoor Rock Climbing Gym” here in Utah) If you live near by and are looking for a cool camp for your kids, definitely check them out. Rachel loved it. She did it last year too, and I can’t believe how quickly she scales those walls now! She’s like Spiderman. LOL! They run weekly and on the last day – they have a pizza party and a “reptile show”. When I went a little early to pick her up on Friday, I got to see one of the huge snakes they regularly bring to this show. HUGE. Amazing to look at… from a few feet away.

As for an update on our dog: He’s still at the vet/hospital. Yesterday morning I thought he had given up – but we started a new treatment last night, and it’s given me a little hope. We’ll find out for sure tonight whether this will hold him for a while. He’s an old dog, so we’re on borrowed time – but I would really love to have a few more months with him.

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The Dog

Jennifer — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:31:34 +0000

This is our dog, Charlie. He’s a 12-year old Cairn Terrier. We’ve been visiting the vet quite a bit recently because he’s been extremely sick. He’s hardly eaten at all in the last two weeks, despite all the medications the vet has given us. I finally caved in and agreed to an ultrasound which of course didn’t produce any significant results, except to tell us his stomach is filled with fluid. With everything else that has been going on with him, they think this means it’s an ulcer – which they say they can treat with medications and make him almost as good as new. He’s spending the night at the vets, hooked up to IVs of fluid and other medications. He’s the smartest dog I’ve ever known. I’m really hoping this helps him. It’s heartbreaking to see him suffer like this.

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Ladyfingers and Popovers

Jennifer — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 23:51:58 +0000

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Printable Mask Ear Hooks

Jennifer — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:16:51 +0000

Zachary has been fascinated with printable masks recently. He colors them in and then wants to wear them, of course. The problem I’ve run into though is making it so the mask will stay on his face. We’ve tried string, but it doesn’t take much to pull the string right off the mask – usually ripping the paper (and inducing much crying from Zachary). And the string is just a pain to work with in general.

Side story: A few months ago, I had taken Rachel in to get her eyes checked. (She had been complaining about vision issues) They put drops in her eyes and then gave her these “disposable sunglasses” to wear until the drops wore off. Basically it was just a flimsy shaded piece of plastic with these adjustable (and detachable) cardboard “ear hooks.” For some reason, the contraption fascinated me so I saved it. Those sunglasses were lying on my desk when yet another one of Zach’s printable masks ripped.

*Lightbulb moment* – what if I used those ear hooks as a template, and cut out new ones (so I’d be able to keep the original), and just taped the ear hooks on the paper mask so they’re in just the right place to fit over his ears. (You can cut little slits – just the size of the ear hook arm, and adjust the size then tape in place.)

It worked perfectly! I scanned the ear hooks in and recreated the outline using Illustrator. If you use them for your kid’s masks I would recommend printing them onto card stock. (Or printing them out and then using it as a template to cut out the shape from something sturdier than regular paper).

Here it is for your downloading pleasure

Here is Zachary proudly modeling his latest fun mask:

If you’d like to find some fun printable masks for your little one to use with the ear hooks here are a few:

Moshi Monsters – These are very cute little monsters. On that page, if you scroll down, you’ll see the color-in / printable masks. Zach is modeling Diavlo in the picture above.

Activity Village – There’s a few cute animal masks on there – and the site has a bunch of other fun printable activities. Of course, this only helps feed Zach’s printing obsession. (Did I already mention He LOVES printing from the computer!!)

childcareandbeyond.com – There are a bunch of safari themed masks there. My favorite is the Tiger Mask – that one looks really cool.

Fantasy Jr. – Somewhat creepy – but right up Zach’s alley. (Also clicking around there, I found this Dragon Mask – on Animal Jr. (which had a few more cool animal masks) On that Dragon Mask page, it also showed a very cool looking Chinese New Year dragon craft! I know it’s not currently the Chinese New Year, but that dragon looks WAY COOL. We are SO making that very soon!!! – that last site is on Craft Jr., which, as you can imagine, has a bunch of fun kids crafts!)

Nick Jr. has a bunch children masks too, but they’re kind of spread out in different sections. Doing a search on their site though you can see a compiled list.

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Making major life decisions via eeny meeny miney moe

Jennifer — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:19:45 +0000

Portland, OR? San Jose, CA? San Diego, CA? Denver, CO? and now Washington, D.C.? In any particular moment, any one of those places looks like a place we might end up. For someone that likes to have everything under control, this process of figuring out where we’re going to go next is killing me. It all depends on things completely out of my control. And even though, my first choice would probably be Portland, it’s not really up to me or my preferences at all. Where we will go next all depends on where Sam gets a job – and where the best places for what he wants to do will be. Thankfully, I think he’s figuring out a path for what he wants to do. It’s not exactly what he’s doing now, but it’s in the same general field, and I think with some studying, certification test taking, he can transfer his experience. But everything else is up for grabs at the moment. He’s determined to have us out of Utah this time next year – so that’s encouraging. But where we’ll be… I have no freaking clue.

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