I have a million things to blog about and for some reason, no time to blog them.Weird.Rather than throw a million random things out there all at once, slap my hands and call it a post, I figured it’d be better if I just choose ONE topic for today and write about it.So…today…you…get…BABIES!!!Alright, not all babies, just birth announcements.No, I’m not having more kids, but EVERYONE around me seems to be.I’m awash with pregnant people and they all need advice.No, I don’t dole it out randomly, they ask…a lot.Maybe it’s because my kids are younger and I still remember a lot of the details that parents of teens may have forgotten, who knows.Because of all the prego hormones near me, I’ve got babies on the brain and products that I really have no use for are suddenly interesting to me again.That’s how I found the coolest birth announcements EVER!
Rattle-N-Roll makes concert poster style announcements.How cool is that!?!Two of the pregos I know are musicians and these would be perfect for them.But, they’d be perfect for any concert/music enthusiast.
Proud Parent Publications makes newspaper style announcements.Baby can be the cover of the sports page as the “New Acquisition”.
Sorry it's been a while. Not only are there a million crises in the lives of those around me, now my kids and I are all sick. Whooboy, this is fun stuff. My house is filled with booger filled tissues and red noses. On top of the cold, I had the flu the other day so I felt like I had been run over by a truck...everything hurt.
I love Cynical C's blog. He always finds the most interesting internet stuff. This time, he found a post on a forum and this "Mom" infuriated me. It's an older post (like 2 years old) but it has enjoyed some recently renewed attention. Here's her dilemma:
"Here's a wrinkle I don't think we'd planned on. I just dinged 60 on the server that my husband has been playing on since he started playing. Long story short, my first character was on a different server so that I could play with a female friend of mine. I'd made an alt type character on my husband's server but didn't play her much. When I finally got fed up with the server my main was on (the only decent person there was my friend as far as I could find) I moved over to Stonemaul permanently. I ditched my half-assed attempt at an undead mage, rolled up my druid and was good to go. Well, now months later I'm finally level 60 and my husband and I are both in the same guild. I'll be starting my raids with them this week actually. The problem? We have two small children who need to eat dinner and raids start at 5pm. Ack! How are we going to make dinner?! There are no problems with the kids running around playing and such while we raid. They're already used to that, they play in the computer room and we can get them things that they need (you know, cups of juice, snacks, what have you) when we have breaks. Before it was easy because if I was running an instance and in the middle of combat my husband might be in a a space between pulls where he could safely go afk for 30 seconds you know. But now we'll be on the same schedule essentially. We both play support classes too (he's a holy priest, I'm a resto druid) so the guild ideally would want us to both be in a forty man raid. It's not like we can easily switch off any raid nights other than say, ZG and AQ20 runs. It's more of a logistics problem than a real stressor. It's just that it hadn't really occured to me when I joined his guild that eventually we'd both be raiding on the same nights and thus on the same schedule game-wise. For tonight, since dinner is already thawed out, I'm just planning on eating with the kids at 4pm (about two hours earlier than our normal dinnertime) and letting them snack when they get hungry later one. We'll make a plate for my husband (who doesn't usually get home from work until just about invite time) to heat up and that will take care of tonight. But what about the rest of the week? The rest of the time I'm raiding. I suspect that it will be me who shows up to fewer raids, because I'm the mama after all and that's who the kids often want. Ack, who'd of thunk that the social problems of parenthood in America would follow me into Azeroth :o"
Holy Cannoli! I don't care how old this thing is, I'm sure she's not the only "parent" who puts gaming ahead of their kids. I love this line: "who'd of thunk that the social problems of parenthood in America would follow me into Azeroth" Is she kidding!?! The SMALL kids are USED to being ignored while their parents jerk around playing a game!?! The SMALL kids are considered by this mom to be an interference in her "social life". WTF did she think being a parent meant. Maybe I'm more pissed about this than usual because I'm sick, but Jiminey Christmas! I am a gamer mom, I love video games, BUT I love my kids more. You know when I play? WHEN THE KIDS ARE IN BED! I'm in a pretty active guild in Vanguard and my guild pretty much knows not to expect me on until after 9pm WHEN THE KIDS ARE IN BED! If I miss a raid, oh well...if I miss a great group, oh well...it's a GAME! I'm so sick of people acting like kids are an inconvenience. I see too many people treat their kids like a pet...feed them, ignore them, occasionally pat them on the head.
You want to know why there are Britneys, Lindsays and all the other brats? Look at their parents! I'm fed up with this garbage.
Sorry f0r the insane, cold medicine fueled rant. This sort of thing just pisses me off.
No, I'm not posting about food today. This is just basically a mishmash of everything...like a fruit salad...it's a stretch.
The basic story is that things have been fine for me, but I'm watching so many people around me struggle. Struggle with jobs, struggle with money, struggle with family, struggle with health, struggle with addiction. It's just tough because most of the time there's nothing I can do to help. I'll touch on a couple of those things today, maybe I'll do more tomorrow.
Apparently, you can become a Video Game Tester. I looked around the site a bit and it sounds a little like being a mystery shopper. More of a pain than it is worth, since you have to front some cash.
Want to become a Mystery Shopper? Don't waste your time. I've done it. Most companies reimburse you only for the purchase. Some will reimburse you and pay you a small amount on top so: I go to McDonald's, buy a meal, record an insane amount of information (without them noticing), then write a report and scan/email receipts so I can be reimbursed for the $5.00 meal AND make a whopping $7.50 on top. Phew. If that didn't talk you out of it and you MUST learn for yourself, here are a few companies. (NOTE: NEVER PAY TO BECOME A MYSTERY SHOPPER! THE INFO I AM GIVING YOU NOW IS THE INFO YOU PAY FOR) Shop N Chek Apex Spies in Disguise Ann Michaels & Associates J.C. & Associates BMA Mystery Shopping
Money
I have no idea what they're saying, other than "Money", but it's something
I have no money advice or money in general. I get by and that's about it. My only financial advice is "Get a Job", if that doesn't get you enough money, "Get a Second Job".
