New Years Resolution-- Book style.

So I know I'll probably end up regretting that I committed to this. I may even quit it, just as some other well intentioned aspirations have fallen by the wayside. (running, weight watchers, vegetarianism anyone?)  For now though, it seems like a swell idea.

My New Years Book Resolution. A list of 11 books I hope to cover in the year 2011.

It has taken a while to make this list complete. I did a good bit of research and visited the bookstore to size them up. I will probably be reading them electronically, but it's nice to see what you're up against. (one of a few drawbacks to reading on the ipad) I'm NOT going to change it once posted. I may read other books, but I hope to somehow make it through these.

I read 17 books in 2010. (yes, I keep a journal) 10 of them being fairly short easy reads, 1 of them being the 1000 page Pillars of the Earth, so maybe they balance out. I feel 11 books is a do-able feat. Although, I have picked some doozies. And I am in a book club I will have other commitments as well. (hmm, maybe this is a bigger commitment than I realize) Oh, well, here we go...       (in no order at all)

#1 Little Bee by Chris Cleave -- Committed to it for my book club. I will read this one first because book club is at my house in January and I picked this book, before I had this list. :-)

#2 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams -- Mostly because I have a slight out of the loop feeling when I'm around people who have read this.

#3 Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell -- I'm just curious how well the movie follows the book.

# 4 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen -- I've wanted to read this one for a while now. No big reason.

#5 Interview with a Vampire, Anne Rice --  Let's see how these vampires stack up against ones that sparkle and the ones that drink True Blood.

#6 My Spiritual Journey, Dali Lama -- I think it would be good to read from someone with such a positive take on the world.

#7 East of Eden, John Steinbeck -- I probably read something of his in high school or college, but I would love to have an adult "no one is forcing me to read this" take on his stuff.

#8 One True Thing, Anna Quindlin -- Recommended by a good friend, and I LOVE that there's a movie attached that haven't seen. Can't wait! Book first, then movie, my favorite thing to do!

#9 The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory --  I loved The Other Boleyn Girl. I have been looking for another of hers to read and this is the chronologically first book. We'll see...

#10 Persuasion, Jane Austen -- I haven't read an Austen book in a while. I hope this one will be worth the work.

#11 Dead Reckoning, Charlaine Harris --  I'm obsessed with this vampire series and this new book doesn't come out until May 3, 2011. Not that I'm counting.

Ok, that about covers it. I am a little overwhelmed looking at all of these, but I know it will be a fun adventure.

I'll let you know how it's going! Now to go hover over the "publish post" button to actually commit to this. Ahhhhhh!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday week!

Cody

a year of iphone photos

Last week marked one year of the beautiful union of Cody and iphone.

Me and my beloved device have had quite a year and in looking over the pictures I have taken over the past 365 days, I thought I would share with you my top 12 favorite iphone pics. It was hard enough to narrow it down from the 333 pictures I took on my phone over the year, so don't ask me to rank them. It's like picking a favorite child.

So here goes:

                                       

This is one of the first pics taken. It sums up my boys pretty well. Both thumb suckers. Same thumbs. Two very different styles.



                                       

Oh, Jonah. Part cowboy, part fireman, part diver. Not to mention a smurf. Love this kid.



                      

I took this at Jonah's Christmas party last year at preschool. This is friend Liesl who is adorable. I didn't prompt him to do this, I don't even think he realized I was there. I also like how their heads and Jonah's elbow almost make a heart.




                                          

Ahhhh. Need I say more. My beloved vice. Don't ask me what made me take this picture, but I have always thought it turned out pretty cool, especially for an iphone pic.



                          

This is one of my all time favorites pics. He is just SO excited. You would think I had said something extremely funny, or was dangling a new toy in front of him, but no this was all over plain old Cheerios. Don't you wish plain old Cheerios made you this happy?




                                          

This just makes me laugh. Carter is still so enamored with the washer and dryer. It's cute and all, but he insists on helping and it makes things go fairly slow. But believe me as soon as he can learn lights from darks, I'm turning this job over.



                            

My big man. I love this picture. His eyes! That mouth! (no lipstick I promise.) But I do absolutely love the tint this iphone app put on this pic. One of my top favs!




                                            

I have no clue why I like this one so much. I just think she is so cute. Can you guess the color of the purse she was putting in the car? What you can't see is the red sunglasses.




                                            

We were at Hilton Head. Daddy and Big Bro had left to go down to the beach, and he knew it. I didn't think he'd really even notice. I was wrong.




                                           

The title for this one is just: The Car Wash.  Sorry little man, mommy will remember next time. (or you can just get over it)





                                            


He asked to sit on the potty. Who knows? Doesn't he just look like the poster child for potty training?  And yes, he had a big dinner, hence the belly. Must have been pasta or something. My boy loves some pasta.

Jonah and I had taken the "city train" aka light rail uptown to go to his first play. He really loves the train. I just love this picture. 

So there you go. I really love having a camera on my at all times. You never know what you'll catch. I would love to do a post of other people's favorite camera phone pictures, so if you have a really good one you would like to share please send it to me at codychase@mac.com. If I get enough good ones I'll do a really cool post. 

Also, if you have an iphone and love taking pictures and would like to up your game check out these apps:

ShakeItPhoto -one of my favs. 

Camera+

ColorSplash

Hipstamatic 

They all do different things and are all super cheap. 

Don't forget to send me your favorite Camera phone pics! I can't wait to see! Do I need to make this interesting? hmmmmm?

Later gators!

C. 

why are YOU not shopping online?

Anyone who knows me is aware that I know my internet stuff and that I can find just about anything online. I even did some side work for a company where people texted in their questions while I sat waiting by my computer to find and answer those questions for a mere $0.10 per question. ----Hey it added up! 

Lately a lot of friends have been asking me about buying stuff online, so I thought I would share my method for finding the best price for that GPS system your hunny bunny wants so badly. (or anything for that matter) 

Tip #1 Amazon is your friend! 

Even if you can't find a better price, odds are you can find it on Amazon with free shipping and no tax. AND if you do the math... (I can't believe I'm doing math this early on a monday morning) it really adds up. 

Magellan RoadMate 1700

Sears: $169.00 + tax ($14.02) = $183.02

Amazon.com: $149.00 + no tax + free shipping =  ARE YOU KIDDING!!!??? 

Are you picking up what I am putting down here? This won't always be the case but isn't it worth a try? And you would be surprised at what you can find. Most stuff on amazon ships free if your total is over $25 and let's face it, it's easy to do. I mean how dare I stay in my comfy home in my Santa slippers and have the gifts come straight to me and save money!?!?! It just doesn't seem legal! 

Tip #1 Use Google Shopping!

Go to google, type in what you are looking for. Sometimes you need to do a little leg work and figure out the exact model and name of what you are looking for. Type that in and odds are within the search results you will find "google shopping" or you can always click the link at the top of the page. Google will then compare prices from different online stores (often including amazon.com) and will even calculate the tax and tell you if there is free shipping or not. Very handy! 

Tip #3 Don't be scared, but don't be stupid. 

I'm stingy with my credit card info and you should be too. I try to use sites that are familiar. If I have to pay two dollars more for something to buy from a reputable site, so be it.

 

* use sites that on the check out page the web address starts with httpS. The "S" on the end is very important and means the site is secure. 

* avoid using your check card for purchases. It's probably fine, but that number is the link to all my cash and that just makes me nervous. 

* use your credit card with confidence. You can contest purchases made on your credit card, and credit card companies are MUCH easier to work with on problems. Believe me you don't want to argue with a bank over something like this. Credit card companies have much more experience. 

Tip #4 Search for coupon codes! 

There are great websites that store coupon codes for lots of places online. For example, when I bought my Christmas Cards from Shutterfly.com this year. I googled, "shutterfly coupon codes" and got a website named retailmenot.com which had several coupon codes for what I needed. Shutterfly is great because you can use as many coupon codes as you can find and I think I ended up using three which got me free shipping, 10% off and $10 off. Yeah! I'll take that! 

Tip #5 Misc. stuff...

* remember the everyday stuff. My favorite is diapers. I can buy them online from Amazon in bigger boxes, better prices, free shipping, and that big bulky box magically appears on my doorstep! Which is heaven! 

* Give a handmade gift! www.etsy.com is a great website where people sell their handmade items. There is good stuff on there and it is often very reasonable. Be careful here and check reviews of sellers so you don't end up with "regretsy." It happens. 

*read reviews! If you really want to know the skinny on something read everything people have to say about it. Keeping in mind that most people who want to review something often want to rant. But if your item has a flaw, you'll find out in the reviews. Whether it bothers you or not is your decision. 

*If you are a coupon clipper, there are plenty of places that allow you to print coupons to take to grocery stores. This isn't exactly shopping online, but it's using the web to save money, and that's what it's all about. Try couponcabin.com or grocerycouponnetwork.com. 

Ok, so this is really a dummies guide to buying stuff online, but on a daily basis I am surprised at the amount of people who don't do this! People who I KNOW sit and home and clip coupons, but have never purchased anything online. You really can save money, and nothing feels better than getting a good deal!  

Happy Shopping!

C. 

why I didn't vote today, sadly....

I didn't vote today.

I'm not proud of it. But not exactly ashamed. I can't say the election day surprised me. I got plenty of texts, emails, facebook prompts, reminding me to vote, but I guess I have been turning a deaf ear and now the day is upon and I am caught unaware and ignorant of the choices I have to make.

But I don't want to go in there and blindly throw my support behind a random candidate. I know the candidates are not random. They have been on the ballot for months and I chose to ignore them. Now, I regret my actions, because I cannot spend my day in a crash course in Charlotte, NC politics.

And here's my other thing. I don't want others to do that either. I'm not telling people to go vote today, because truth be told, if you don't know what you are talking about, who you are voting for, the reasons for  which you are voting, please don't vote. That's just my opinion.

And yes, I am registered as a Democrat. Why? I don't know. I am very liberal in social issues, and more conservative in financial ones, which I believe lands me somewhere in libertarian land. I don't straight party vote. EVER.  So I like to take the time to figure out exactly who I am voting for and why, and in this day and age that is just too hard. I don't even know where to go to find out TRUTH about a candidate. And I don't want to take someone's word for it.

So please, forgive me for not voting. But support me for not voting blindly. And to all you responsible people who know who and what you are voting for and why, (and I don't care which party it is) please go vote... responsibly. And thank you.

As for me, I think I will register to do absentee voting, that way I can take my time, figure out which candidate, amendment, bond, or judge I believe in on my own time.

Next time, I promise...

Cody

about unexpected friendship snail mail style

I had kind of a rough week.

School got canceled one day.

My husband had two out of town trips.

Jonah had a complete off day on Saturday which ended with me dragging two screaming and dirty children to two book stores to find and buy the book, "Raising Your Spirited Child."  (you should have seen the look on the store clerks face when I begged him to please please go find it for me in a hurry)

Then as my #1 Crimson Tide was trailing in a football death match my sweet baby Carter puked all over me. I only wish there were stronger words for "all over me." As he continued to vomit, (after all I couldn't blame him, the way we were playing was making me sick too) the Tide made their big comeback and won the game.

Then I started feeling sick myself.  And there went my Sunday.

But...

As I was sitting here this morning relishing in my misery of the past few days I saw something that I had sitting out.

Two sweet notes sent by friends last week via snail mail. GASP! You all remember that, right?

You use some sort of writing utensils with your hands and get a physical piece of paper and write on it, seal it up, place something on it called a stamp (google it if you must) and then put it in that box with the flag at the end of your driveway.

I got two of them last week. So unexpected. So thoughtful. I feel a little giddy when I look at them. I've read them both about a million times. (I usually hit delete right after I read an email) And this morning as I was sulking in my misery I saw them, read them yet again, and picked myself up by my bootstraps, took a shower to get all the gunk of the past few days off of me and felt better.

I'm sure my sweet friends Pat and Heather didn't know how much those little notes were going to lift me up. But it did. I am so grateful to them both.

So, I challenge you to go write and send a note to a friend to just say hi, or tell them how glad you are to have them as a friend, or just relay a funny story or joke. Yes, it takes longer than an email, text or status update, but you never know what the effect it could have.

PLUS!!!!!!! As an added bonus, just think..... You can't buy cute new stationary if you don't use up what you have!!!

I'm just sayin....

Happy Monday Everyone, to a happy and healthy week!

C.

about being stuck in the 80's

Something has happened to me.

I'm stuck in a 80's time warp. I don't know what started it, but I can't stop thinking about everything that made that great era of 80's radical awesomeness.

It started with music. A little Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, The Police, then it morphed into Huey Lewis and the News as some of you heard via Facebook last week.  Maybe it's because music of today really sucks. Sorry, Ke$ha. But it do. You are not rad.  Oh, but Huey.... he was one totally gnarly dude.

Hey don't knock it. I have such memories of this. I was on vacation with my dad down on the Gulf Coast and I remember as we were checking in the hotel, sitting in the lobby listening to Huey thinking I was such a cool teenager! Oh and listening on one of these bad boys....

Ohhhhh, memories. The walkman. The world's first ipod. Not to mention tapes. I still remember the feel of pushing play and having to fast forward to get to the next song. Hoping you didn't go too far, and then flipping it over to the B side. 

Before that I had the coolest toy called the Pocket Rocker. Anyone else have one of these?? I thought this was AWESOME. I remember having the Walk Like and Egyptian one and some Debbie Gibson one too. Just check out the colors and graphics on this thing. Could it scream 1986 any louder? 

They were just little tapes on a little player that played out loud if you wanted. Do I really have to explain? Was I the only one who had one of these like awesome things??? Like, totally?!

There was also a little pastel colored radio with a strap that several of my friends had. I remember it so clearly and I wanted one so bad. Because they were so rad.

And when I wasn't listening to music I was probably wearing a pair of these...

JAMS!!! Maybe it was an Alabama thing, but these were hugely popular for a while. I think I only had one pair, but they came in many, many colors. I can't wait for these to make a comeback...NOT. 

On the fashion note there were also these awesome things...

Oh these sweet little plastic charm bracelets. How I wish I still had mine. I've been trying to remember which ones I had.  I know I had a telephone and a whistle. I actually found one of these for sale somewhere online and bought it for friend's birthday. I think it was a hit. 

Then a little later there were these...

The slap bracelet! I mean, what an idea! I guess it's not that different from a silly band. Sidenote...I love the new silly bands. I can't get my kids to wear them, i've tried. But I love them! Did anyone ever take a slap bracelet apart. It was just a little piece of thin metal. Probably full of lead. 

And raise your hand if you had one of these. It's how we used to keep in shape in between MTV and Atari.

The Pogo Ball! These were so fun. I think mine was purple and neon green. Do they still sell these??? That's was kids today need more of...Pogo Balls!! 

Oh the 80's! How I miss you. Edgy yet, innocent. I feel so old thinking about all of this. And yes, I'll say it. Today we leave nothing to the imagination. Music is hardly music. MTV has turned into brain junkfood, and the stuff people wear make Madonna's cone bra look like church wear. 

And can you believe I have talked about all this without even mentioning movies??? 

Are you the Gatekeeper?

Who ya  gunna call?

HEEEEEYYYYY YOUUU GUYYYYYSSS!!

"goooood enoughhhh, for me it's good enough..."  

Oh no, I think I have more music to download now. I didn't even think about Cyndi...

Thanks for time warping with me...

C.

Mess or Impressed: A Stick Vac!

This really sucks! Truly.

A friend told me about this as I was bragging about how much I liked my new Swiffer Vac. She said she loved her stick vac and I'd have to try it next time I was at her house. So I did.

And that was the end of me.

This thing is so awesome it made the Swiffer Vac look like broom with a suction straw taped to it.

Anyway... It's called the Electrolux Ergorapido! It's sleek and well made and can do wonders on hardwoods and even get your area rugs, which is something Swiffer refused. It turns on a dime, has a great rubber gripy thing, and it's even fun to empty with a little spring you get to pop to make the dust fall off.

My hair is falling out like I'm going bald and it's everywhere. I haven't had a haircut since 1983 it seems, so it's long too. The Ergo has no problem with it at all. Admittedly, I haven't taken it upstairs to the bathroom where it's nice and fuzzy after a blow dry, but I'm not sure I want to subject it to that anyway.

My friends husband said he stepped on the Cheerios that were on the floor in order to make it "easier" for the Ergo to pick it up! Ha! I don't think that's necessary, but I thought it was kinda funny.

Another cool feature is that it has a pop out hand-held vac! I mean is that cool or what? Just pop it out, add one of the included attachments and it will make sucking the raisins from under the couch cushions a breeze.

It also glows a pretty blue when its sitting on it's charger. Its small and easy to tuck away, and so simple to just run and get it when you've spilled a little sugar on the floor.

But there is a downside. It's orange. I hate orange. I'm even in the "I hate orange" facebook group. I'm a Bama girl, and we Bama girls like red and hate all things orange. To make things worse it glows blue. Paired with the orange vac...you now have the worst offense.

I justified it though. What other purpose would something that is orange and blue have but to suck up dirt?? Now I feel better.

The Electrolux Ergorapido will run you about $99 at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and I think they have them at Costco. But... If you go to Amazon.com you can get it for $89 plus free shipping and no tax! That's huge!

Verdict: IMPRESSED! (as in, you need this now)

Ok, I'm off to find something to vacuum. The boys are awake now, it shouldn't take long.

Enjoy!

Cody