If Only They Had People Power, Too...

This product rocks.  If I don't win it in Super Jenn's Give Away I'm totally buying it.

iGo PS00273-0001 Charge Anywhere Universal Power Extender (Black)

Now, if only they had people power, too... There are some days I'm just so run down at the end of the day...

Kid Stuff

Kids grow so fast, and even though some items like scarves and hats can be reused from year to year, now is a great time to check on wear and tear and if it still fits.  Consider donating gently used items to your child's school or pass them on with freecycle.org.  High value items can be sold at a consignment store, eBay, or through Craigslist.org.  Whatever you do, stay warm!

Dead Batteries

I really enjoy checking in on foursquare and gowalla.  Unfortunately the internal GPS runs my phone battery down in a heartbeat.  My charger was a 1/2 mile hike away so I had to live with a dead phone. 

Life is kind of like that, too.  We can sometimes do the things we really enjoy, but we have to see if the toll they take on our mental, physical, and spiritual batteries is worth it.  

And sometimes we can get an external boost.  I need to break down and finally buy the iGo charger that @superjennblogs raves about.

Listen to Your Self

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. These interactions are very interesting to me as she's reintroducing me to a person I've known for years: me. My chiropractor serves as a combination translator and medium for my body. She takes what I'm feeling (I feel bad) and clarifies it (where, when, how bad). She also has me move in certain ways and then listen to my body to see what it tells her.

I've been very insensitive.

That's the only conclusion I can come to. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I can clearly attribute to the collision. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I only notice when she has me pay attention and feel for them. It really makes me wonder what other messages my body has been sending me that I haven't been paying attention to.

Thanks to her, I've realized I need to schedule more conversations with myself.

I used to meditate fairly regularly. I had some deep relaxation sessions on my mp3 player and I'd use the time during kid practices or my lunch to just completely and totally immerse myself in my breath. It really helped me refresh and renew my focus. It looks like it might be time to start meditating again.

I'll look for the links to the meditation podcasts I used to use. If I can find them again I'll share them in the comments.

Oh, and my chiropractor has one more very important job: she makes me feel better.

Busy = Happy?

I think I'm happiest when I'm busiest. With a few footnotes...

• I need to be working on something I believe in
• I need to maintain my work/life balance

Other than that, life never seems quite so good as when I'm knee deep in stuff to do. It even makes the infrequent days on the beach so much sweeter because I can appreciate the feel of a job well done.

I hope you are happy with the level of busy-ness that today finds you at.

Do the Pieces Fit Together in Your Life?

Making My Own Touch Screen Gloves- Take 1

Tectouch Gloves

I love my phone. I hardly go anywhere without it. But there's a small problem. It's getting cold outside and my hands really hurt when the temperature drops. I'd love to buy a pair of touch screen gloves, but I'm a little on the cheap side (If you're not, check these out!) I read this Instructables post a while back and have been planning to make my own touch screen gloves.

Gloves, Thread, Needle, Phone

I was so excited about this project because I figured it was a perfect project to blog, too. It's simple, it's a good way for me to demonstrate some of my living with ADD steps, it's tech-y, and I figured it would also photograph well.

I've learned that it's a really good idea for me to practice Mise En Place aka "Everything Set Up." The process of gathering my materials and getting them in one spot seems to center my mind. It also ensures that I have what I need at hand. Today that meant getting my gloves, the roll of thread, and a needle. I put my phone in the pic because I knew I'd be testing the gloves on the phone.

It Didn't Work!

A couple of quick stitches and I was ready to go!

Actually, I wasn't. Even though I followed the Instructables guide, my "new" touch screen gloves didn't work.

And I'm still blogging it.

I'm taking this as my daily lesson in humility. I figure it's much more interesting than telling you about how I messed up dinner because I forgot to get the super important ingredient that was whole reason I went to the grocery store in the first place. Plus that kind of story doesn't have cool pics.

What? Still reading? Well, as you probably expected, there's more to this story. I found a neat overview of the different types of Conductive Thread at Fashioning Technology. As for me, I'm thinking about buying a 10 ft thread card from Lamé Lifesaver.

That's it for today. Have fun and thanks to #NaBloPoMo I'll see you tomorrow, probably right around this same time.

#NaBloPoMo

Sunday is Funday

More pics from the photo contest.  He's not entering these, and I know they're not perfect, but it warmed my heart that my son stopped to smell the roses.

Blinded by the Brilliance

A Rose by Any Name Would Smell as Sweet

I hope you have a wonderful weekend