Focus on the details of life (avoiding the stress)

I don’t know where my head is at the moment. I’m trying hard not to think about anything except the various tasks at hand. Our future is so up in the air, out of control and depressing all at the same time. Sam is thoroughly freaking out, I’m trying to keep him together, keep him focused on the goal(s) : 1) Get a career, not just a job (or better yet, find a calling) 2) Get out of Utah.

In the meantime I don’t have too much else to say on the matter. All my wise advice is exhausted after repeating it to Sam several times a day and the rest of me is pretty empty. Yesterday and today I wondered maybe to fill the in-between time, I’d try to find something from my day and capture it. I really have been partial to the photos I’ve been taking with that ShakeItPhoto app – so I was going to do an experiment – not sure how long it will last – but thought it would be fun to just take a picture each day and post it. Too many days go by without notice of the details, so by doing this I’m trying to make myself focus on the details more. And focus less on the stress we’re dealing with right now. So now that I’ve said that, hopefully I can keep up with it. LOL! So many times, I have these lofty goals, and as soon as I say something I immediately fail at it. I’d really like to try and keep this one going. And since the photos will be coming from my iPhone, which is always with me, hopefully it won’t be too hard. So we’ll see how it goes.

Printable Mask Ear Hooks

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.

Road Trip Bingo iPhone/iPad Game

WBright Bunny Studios.

Road Trip Bingo (iPhone): $0.99*

Road Trip Bingo HD (iPad): $1.99*

*price at time of this writing.

Making major life decisions via eeny meeny miney moe

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.

Baby Explorer – iPad App

R

Baby Explorer was a real winner with my neighbor’s seven-month-old grandson, Elan. The App features brightly colored activities that are virtual representations of the traditional “busy box”. Elan could choose from wheels to spin, butterflies to slide, buttons to push and sounds to change. Although putting the iPad in his mouth was something he found really appealing, it is not recommended. 😉

The bright and attractive colors got his attention immediately. Many of his movements were random, but since they produced interesting sounds and visual changes, he was encouraged to keep swatting away. Soon he began to purposefully go for particular activities. The spinning wheel was easy for him to do and produced a satisfying melody. Random pokes at the objects on the central display caused eggs to hatch, frogs to leap and flowers to explode, depending upon what was selected. He had a little more difficulty making the rings move along the virtual rod. They seemed to hang up a little even when I tried them, as did the spring loaded butterfly. I was actually surprised by the length of time this App held his interest. After seeing Elan’s reaction, I have no doubt that this App will appeal to babies from about 6 months to perhaps 1-1/2. My 2-1/2 year old granddaughter, Leah, played with it for a while and then moved on to something more challenging.

Baby Explorer is well designed to stimulate the curiosity of tiny tots and does a good job of encouraging the development of hand-eye coordination. This app would make a useful addition to a parent’s toolbox of worthwhile activities to entertain and stimulate the development of baby.

Baby Explorer: $2.99*

*price at time of this writing.