My Kids Rock

I Firmly believe that my kids are the cutest ever...this just confirms it for the world! Aiden and Sydney do The 3 Little Pigs. Listen very closely at the end right before the credits, Sydney utters a great line!

Smartest Girl Ever

We went to Sydney's school today for parent teacher conferences. This was the second conference, and this time they had test scores. Now, we have always thought she was pretty bright....but the test scores confirmed it! She scored well above average is the verbal and reading areas, and did pretty well in the math sections. All of that was on a test that was administered in the first weeks of school and was meant to measure her baseline of knowledge before starting school. Her results were so good that the teacher asked if this was Sydney's first year of preschool, or did she do a year last year. She was almost shocked when we told her this was her first go around. The teacher said that the middle and end of the year tests should only improve and her scores could be off the charts. It's pretty cool stuff, and we are so proud of her!

Picking up spares

I've been doing some real improvement to my bowling average. I started today at 126, and I bowled a 145 in the first game, and then a 140 in the second. Unfortunately, I lost my ability to pick up spares in the third game and had a dismal 105 in the 3rd game. That gives me a 130 average for the day, still above my season average...so that should go up a little. All day long I was putting the first ball in the almost perfect spot, but seemed to leave 2 or 3 pins EVERY TIME! It was very frustrating, I wanted and needed those strikes! In the first 2 games I was having a lot of success with those spares, in the last game not so much. Ahhh bowling, it's all fun until I get to that 3rd game!

Meh, whatever

From the AP:

LONDON — At least someone is excited about "meh." The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers.

Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year.

The origins of "meh" are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa.

"They both just reply 'meh' and keep watching TV," said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.

The dictionary defines "meh" as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include "the Canadian election was so meh." The dictionary's compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English.

"This is a new interjection from the U.S. that seems to have inveigled its way into common speech over here," McKeown said.

"Internet forums and e-mail are playing a big part in formalizing the spellings of vocal interjections like these. A couple of other examples would be 'hmm' and 'heh.' "Meh" was selected by Collins after it asked people to submit words they use in conversation that are not in the dictionary.

Other suggestions included jargonaut, a fan of jargon; frenemy, an enemy disguised as a friend; and huggles, a hybrid of hugs and snuggles.

Stupid Leaves

I hate leaves (this time of the year). Always falling off the tree, never all falling at once...instead prolonging the agony over weeks and weeks. I mow my fallen leaves, and just as I get them pretty well under control...a big gust of wind and more leaves on the lawn. I already think I have some form of OCD when it comes to the lawn, I like it just perfect....then the stupid leaves fall and drive me CRAZY!

31 is the new 25

My birthday was yesterday and I had a great day! Wednesday is my bowling day and I had 3 games above my average! Going into the day my average was a 122, and I bowled a 135, 156, and 145 and my season average was boosted to 126! Pretty good! Then the rest of the day was business as usual. When Bridget got home from work she asked if I wanted to do anything. And we discussed how we had a birthday dinner on Sunday so on my actual day we were just going to be good and not do anything. Funny how things change when push comes to shove. So we got a baby sitter and went to my favorite place in all of Salt Lake City.....Brewvies! We split some lethal nachos (1/2 order) and some pizza, it was yummy....but not a good part of any diet! We saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, it was pretty good. It was a little sappy and love storyish for my taste, but we had already seen Burn After Reading which was the other movie playing.

It was a great birthday, thanks to everybody who called and sent cards and e-mails. My 30th year was great, I wouldn't have changed a thing, and I'm looking forward to a fantastic 31st year! And NO, I don't feel old yet...still very much young at hart!

Prolific poster

I know this is the second post of the day, but I've had 2 cups of coffee and I have a halfway decent caffeine buzz going! I read this article a few days ago, and it really must have bugged me cause I keep thinking about it. The article is called de-bunking 5 recycling myths. And number 5 is the one that seems to me distressing me. It talks about how most recycling centers place plastics in the regular landfill, so recycling plastic is essentially pointless. There are only a few recycling plants in the country that had the technology to sort the different kinds of plastic (involves a machine that uses optical sorters and infrared light to instantly identify the chemical composition of a container, then a puff of air directs it into the right pile). Once this technology becomes more widespread I guess the recycling of plastics will become more feasable, but it is a little disheartening to learn! Doe is mean we stop putting plastics in the recycling bin, no keep it up!

Not going to make it

So I was supposed to hit a weight loss goal tomorrow, and sadly I'm going to miss it....for sure....not even close! Yeah. Um, so Halloween really killed me, I don't know why because I've been able to resist in years past....but not this year. It was a chocolate induced coma for days on end. I was also sick for a couple of weeks, kept me from exercising and from eating well.

But the good news is that I feel 100% now, and I'm back at it. I am trying to have a great 2 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, and then rolling from there. Maybe my new goal will be Christmas or New Years? I'll have to think about it!

I didn't want to keep any of my devoted readers guessing what happened, figured I'd better just come out and say it. But I keep at it and keep working at it, I guess that's the way it is going to be for the rest of my life.

Sydney learning

Sydney is learning to write her name. Check out how close she is, her y's look a bit like t's....but she is only 4 and she is supposed to be able to do this at the end of her pre school year, not 1/4 of the way through! She is BRILLIANT!

Prius Update

Last fill up the Prius has 51.4 MPG average! I was worried it was going to go down because I gave the car an oil change and I replaced the oil with conventional oil. I wasn't sure if it came from the factory with synthetic oil or not....so I wasn't sure if that change would result in a drop in MPG. My friend Justin says cars come from the factory with a special "break in" oil, but he didn't know either if it would be regular or synthetic oil.

Anyway, we still love it and we're still getting great mileage!

We Voted!

For the first time ever, Bridget and I voted. It was kind of cool, I'm glad we decided this was the year. And it was really easy! Just slide in the card they give you, punch a few buttons on the screen and wala I was done. And even at 6:00 PM there was no line, I was worried about that after work voting traffic.

I have a voting story to tell, but I think the voting etiquette says you aren't supposed to talk about voting things too much. So I guess I'll keep my story a secret...although it is funny because Bridget gave me a bunch of grief over my voting strategy and then she did what I was going to do, but she talked me out of it. Silly girl!

Last of the Halloween fun

I got these pictures from Madalyn, the organizer of the bowling league I'm in. They are obviously some more pics of me in my awesome costume, now I can say award winning costume!

Candy induced coma

Enough said!