Connor, the big red dog......

Today was an interesting day to say the least. I am sick. I seem to have caught some fun virus last week while Connor was at Children's Hospital for his surgery. He lost his adenoids, but I gained a head/chest cold. Hardly seems fair!

Since I felt so bad, we were doing easy stuff. Connor likes to draw on his etch-a-sketch, so I was watching him do that when I realized he was writing sentences. I nearly fell off the couch! I've seen him write some words before, but never a whole sentence. And he spelled all the words right, too. He's going to be so bored when he goes to school in the fall.

We also did some coloring. I had to laugh at the tongue sticking out. That is a classic "concentration" move. Isaak does it, too. :)

And for a grand finale, we made some Clifford, the Big Red Dog ears. Connor has a Clifford movie, and at the end, there is a section about Clifford crafts. That was one of them. He helped me make and cut out the ears and the band, and then he wore those things all afternoon. He made a pretty cute dog if I do say so myself!

The "Blind Side" of our comfort zone.....

It's easy to see why Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for Best Actress this year for her performance in the movie, The Blind Side. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you march yourself down to the local video store and rent it. I guarantee it'll be the best two hours you've spent in front of a TV in a long time.

The movie, which mirrors the real-life drama of NFL star Michael Oher, is inspiring to say the least. While Oher has "made it" in the NFL, he started out in a pretty rough situation in life. If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it for you here by giving too much away. More inspiring than this young man's rough start in life was the part of the story where his path crossed that of Leigh Ann Tuohy, played by Bullock in the movie. Tuohy stepped so far outside what most of us would consider our comfort zones to help this young man that it left me in tears. It also left me wondering if I would have had the faith and trust to do what she did. What a wonderful testament this movie is to the Christian principal of loving one another as Christ loved us.

For more information about the movie, visit its official website at: http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/dvd/index.html

Roadies.....

Someone really needs to explain to Gabriel LeMew that being a roadie for the family's gospel band involves a lot more than sleeping in my keyboard case! LOL! I found the cats taking turns napping in it the other day. Now if I could just get them to carry it, life would be good. :)

Easter, spelling words n'at........

The last couple of days have been kind of crazy, so I haven't had a chance to blog much. So here is a quick update on things that have happened in the last week.

Connor wanted to hunt Easter eggs. So Saturday, we had an impromptu egg hunt in the back yard. We invited the neighbor kids and it was a good time. We talked about doing it again next year. It might just become an Arborwood Drive tradition!

Connor is all about writing words now. And the scary thing is, he doesn't even need me to spell them for him. He remembers them. I caught him spelling inch here.

Before I got the camera out, he was spelling quarter horse! That kid is going to be so bored in school next year. If I thought I could get them to agree to it, I'd be talking to the school about letting him skip kindergarten and going right on to first grade.

Tomorrow, Connor goes to see a pediatric ENT at Children's Hospital. His adenoids have grown back. He had them removed at age 2 because they were nearly 100% enlarged and causing him numerous issues. Apparently, they can grow back if the surgeon misses any adenoid tissue. In addition to the adenoids, it looks like the tonsils need to come out, too. Please keep him in prayer. I have told him about all of this, but he doesn't quite understand. All he knows is, he isn't thrilled about it.

Take that, Microsoft!

So, on Saturday, I turned on the desktop computer we have owned for over a year to get a lovely message from Microsoft, telling me my "evaluation" version of Vista was about to expire. I was confused at first, and thought I had not seen it correctly, because the message box disappeared before I could look at it further.

The next day, I turned on the desktop, and got the same message. Only this time, it lasted long enough for me to absorb it and understand it. I googled it and found that other people were having similar issues. When we bought the computer, it was to have included the real version of Vista, not some evaluation version. I talked to a computer tech at Staples, and he told me evaluation versions are what stores sometimes install on floor models and that if I had one, it was the store's responsibility to fix the mistake. It just so happens that we bought a floor model, so it made sense to me. So I called the store where we bought it (which was not Staples, by the way), and the manager on duty was, quite frankly, a jerk. He basically told me too bad, they wouldn't help me. Boy was I mad. I figured I was going to be out $200 to upgrade to a real version of Vista. But then I discovered that evaluation versions cannot be upgraded since they were never properly activated. BAH! Here I was, with an operating system that was about to die on me, and there didn't appear to be a darn thing I could do about it.

So on Monday, I called both Microsoft and the store where I bought the computer (again). Microsoft was no help and told me I needed to take it up with the store. The store insisted it had to be HP, the manufacturer, who installed the bogus software. However, the manager on duty Monday (who was not the same guy from the weekend), said if I brought it in, he'd look at it for free. He also said if it was their screw up, they'd fix it for free.

I was just about to pack up the tower when I got a new message from my OS, reminding me it was about to expire. But this time, it said "pre-release version" rather than evaluation version. So I googled that phrase. And guess what? It was a screw up Microsoft made on their service pack 2 for Vista that was causing the glitch for thousands of users. I came across a tech site that explained how to fix it. Now, I am not a computer genius by any stretch of the imagination. But when faced with doing it myself or letting my computer go kaput, guess which route I took? Four hours later (yes, it indeed took that long to remove the old SP2 and install a correct version without the glitch), the computer was working and the warning messages disappeared! Thank you, thank you, thank you to the tech website and the great folks on there who recognized this problem for what it was and helped people fix it for free. And shame on Microsoft for not owning up to their faulty software. They really should have recognized the issue when I talked to them. Instead, they chose to put it off on everyone else. And a hearty apology to the store where we bought it for thinking they had done something wrong.

Aside from fixing my problem (yay me!), there was an added benefit to this little adventure. I now am not afraid to do things to the computer if need be, which is definitely a step up for me. Go me! :)

The new Noah's Ark.....

This came to me via email today, and I was in awe of it. I forwarded it to everyone I knew who was a believer, but then decided I could reach more people by posting it here as well.

This is Johan Huibers, a Dutch creationist who wanted to show skeptics that the ark story in the Bible was not so far fetched after all. He used the exact measurements give in the Bible -- 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide -- to build his own version. While there is some debate as to what materials may have been used in Noah's time to build the original, Huibers wasn't concerned with that as much as he was concerned with showing the ark was capable of holding all the animals the Bible places on it.

This is Huiber with the ark.

Visitors to the ark are met with life-size replicas of the animals that were on the ark in Noah's day.

The ark will be made into a visitor's attraction area, with a main deck area with food and gift shops, among other things. Huiber said he hopes his endeavor -- which began in 2005 and took nearly 5 years to complete -- would help renew Christianity in the Netherlands.

"Now that I am old and gray . . . give me the time to tell this new generation (and their children, too) about all Your mighty miracles." ~Psalm 71:18

Zoo fun

Well, we decided to go to the zoo today since it was so nice outside. Apparently, 40,000 other people had the same idea, as it was pretty crowded! :)

This little guy was having a blast playing peek-a-boo with the people who were watching him. It was quite amusing to see. I love this particular gibbon, because he is disabled. He came to the zoo with only one arm. You'd never know he had a disadvantage from his fellow gibbons as you watch him swinging along with the others. It's very inspiring.

This is Flower, the skunk. I think it's funny her name is Flower. Wonder if she can play hockey as good as the other Flower in Pittsburgh. LOL!

This scuba diver was cleaning the shark tank. And yes, the sharks were in the tank with him. It was kind of scary to watch. I don't know about you, but that is not a job I would want.

Connor got a kick out of "chasing" this fish all along the glass barrier at the aquarium. The fish seemed to find it amusing, too, as it played along for quite awhile.

Connor and Isaak took a break after playing in the scooter area.

We've probably been to the zoo 20 times in the last 2 years, and I don't think we've ever seen the beavers out and as active as they were today. They were playing in the water and having a good time.

And last but not least are the bats. They were tricky to shoot, because I had to do it without a flash. There are a bunch of them stuck to the bottom of the bananas, eating. Enlarge the photo on your computer and you'll see them.