Christmas in Antartica

I came across this interesting post about how they celebrated Christmas at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This LiveJournal entry by one of the participants tells about it. 21 people dressed in Santa and elf costumes took a trip to "The Stellar Axis" and had general fun romping around in -15 weather.

the stellar axis is a giant art piece depicting the 99 brightest stars in the southern hemisphere. blue fiberglass spheres of various yet relative sizes represent the stars - with sirius being the largest. they are arranged as they are in the sky, in forms of constellations as they are when the solstice occurs.

Here are their pictures in Flickr.

Orisinal Games

If you like quick, simple games, try these.

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

The graphics are excellent and the games take mere seconds to learn. They are deceptively challenging however! Warning: if you have an addictive personality, don't open the link.

Organization, part 2!

Ok, here are the "after" pictures!I really like his little reading nook in the corner there.

Catching Snowflakes Together

Organization!

Daniel did very well this Christmas. And since we don't really have a "play room" the living room and his bedroom are where we store the toys. In an effort to have the living room look less like a disaster area and more like a real room, we went to Wal-Mart this morning in search of something to organize it all. I'll be updating this post tonight to show you what we did!

Ok, here are the shelves and baskets. I'll have you know this was not a put-together system. I found the baskets in the laundry section, and the shelves in furniture, did the math and realized they would work beautifully together! Plus, they go with the decor....green curtains and accent wall, beige walls and couches, chocolate lamp bases.
Here is the "before" of his toys. They're not normally all grouped together like that, I just shoved the front three baskets near each other for the picture. Normally (i.e. not Christmas time) a bunch of them hide under the other end table on the other side of the couch. There are about 4 or 5 small baskets/buckets under the end table in the picture that you can't really see. We do have a wicker toy box in the corner for larger toys, but it overfloweth.
The "after" pictures will come either later tonight, when I finish organizing, or tomorrow! Ok, on second thought, looking at the clock, and gauging my energy levels, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the "after."

Brainteaser

Heather works at a place with thousands of products, some of them very expensive. People take her products without paying for them- as many as they can carry- and then just walk out. All that Heather requests of her customers is that they keep their mouths shut.

Where does Heather work?

(Answer in comments.)

Numa Numa

This is possibly my very favorite youtube video. Apparently it's the second most watched video on there, and I'm wondering how many of you have seen it before. I love his pure unselfconsciousness, and how much fun he is obviously having! Makes me grin every time his hands go up in the air.

Here's a link to a Wikipedia article on it. Here's a copy of a press release about it, on the maker's own website.

On The Road Again...

I probably won't get to do a proper post today. We're heading down to the NJ/PA border to see Doug's brother and family for Christmas. I'll be back later tonight, and will do a "real" post tomorrow!

Christmas Eve

It's almost 4am Christmas morning, and I have insomnia. So to pass the time while I wait to get tired enough to go back to bed, I'll post some pictures of yesterday.

Daniel and his new airplane.
Taking a ride in his new wagon with Grandma.
You can see his "I'm going to be a big brother" shirt here.Fell asleep just like Mommy does, in the middle of reading a book.

Heather Needs......

Here's a fun game if you're bored. Go to Google, or your favorite search engine, and enter your name and the word "needs" as a phrase. I did "Heather needs" and got these:

"Heather needs men...now!"
"Heather needs two therapists."
"Heather needs to start wearing a brassiere."
....and related to that one....
"Heather needs new boobs."


Somewhat more boring...
"Heather needs a childhood."
"Heather needs Gatorade."

If you do this, post your results in the comments.

Baby Video

One of my all-time favorite baby videos!

50 Greatest Cartoons

Thanks Fran for pointing this out to me! This is a list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons created by the animation industry in 1994. What's really cool is that the blog that posted the list found links to 44 of the 50 cartoons! I don't think they have my all time favorite one though....it's a Looney Tunes one where Daffy is Robin Hood, and Porky Pig is Friar Tuck. Yay, I found it on the Looney Tunes website!!! Here it is.

Hot Air Balloons

I can't think of anything original to post tonight, and I'm very tired from trying to speak all day. (You can't imagine how exhausting it is to try to talk without a voice until you have to do it for 6 hours!)

So anyway, here are some pretty balloon pictures I took this summer at our local balloon rally. Enjoy.

Shhhhh!

I'm getting laryngitis again. This will be the second time this year. I seem to get it at least once a year while teaching. You've gotta love this though....I went to Wikipedia to see what I could learn about it, and why I seem to get it so often. On their advice section, one of the recommendations is:

Avoid speaking when possible. Speak softly, but do not whisper.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Tell that to my 21 kindergartners.

Spray Paint Art

Well shoot, this video from Google Video won't let me post it directly to my blog. I also don't seem to be able to show you an image from his website, even if I directly link it back. Which sort of kills the visual draw factor that I was counting on.

Anyway, go here to see an amazing video of someone who creates artwork using spray paint. No, I'm not talking about your local graffiti king. I mean real landscapes, etc. So go already!

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I just came back from watching his second video.

I want that painting!

How to Market Myself?

Anyone know how I can get my blog to be more well known? I've got my 3 or 4 faithful friends who check either every day or every other day, a few from a message board I post on, and the rest seem to be random hits from Google searches. I've got tags in Technorati, but don't really know where else to list myself. Any ideas?

Mysterious Photo

Have you ever seen this photograph before? Do you have any idea why there is a man sitting on a dead horse who has been staked out in the middle of a road? If you do, contact the Sheboygan Press...they are trying to find out the history behind it. If not, enjoy the speculation of what may have prompted the picture! Perhaps a horse gone mad? A horsi-cide? Your guess is as good as mine...

Here's the whole article.

PostSecret

Have you ever had a secret, and wished you could just tell someone? Now you can. If you put your secret on a post card, and mail it to the PostSecret site, they may put it up on their blog for the world to see....anonymously. I find it very fascinating to see people's secrets here, and realize that sometimes we're not all that different. Sometimes the secrets make say "Oh, yeah!" and other times they make me want to cry. Go check it out. PostSecret

The Top Ten Most Dangerous Toys

As you're doing your Christmas shopping for the wee ones in your life, keep safety in mind. Here is a list of the 10 most dangerous play things of all time. From the obvious ones like cap gun belt buckles or hot plates to melt rubber on, to the more extreme "Atomic Energy Lab" the list is actually a pretty fun look at the more dangerous toys that have crossed the shelves in the past. Here is an exerpt from the description of a toy that I knew and loved as a child: lawn darts.

Removable parts? Suffocation risk? Lead paint? Pussy hazards compared to the granddaddy of them all. Lawn Darts, or "Jarts," as they were marketed, would never fly in our current ultra-paranoid, safety-helmeted, Dr. Phil toy culture. Lawn darts were massive weighted spears. You threw them. They stuck where they landed. If they happened to land in your skull, well, then you should have moved. During their brief (and generally awesome) reign in 1980s suburbia, Jarts racked up 6,700 injuries and four deaths.

I guess as an only child, this was a fairly safe game! The only danger I had was making sure I didn't spear the cat. Our set is still down in my mom's garage. Perhaps I should not introduce Daniel to the joys of Jarts...

Happy Hanukkah!

The first night of Hanukkah was last night. In honor of that, here is one of my favorite Hanukkah books.
It's a cute story about Baba Brayna, who is so old she is almost blind and deaf. She is getting ready for Chanukkah celebrations, and does not realize that the "rabbi" she has invited in is actually Old Bear. It's a fun, engaging story that children of all religions will enjoy.