Shake it Up

I guess you can tell I gave a blog a little makeover. Nothing special, just thought it was time for a change. Blogger has SO many new options now. The choices used to be very limited, so I had to do HTML work every time I wanted to customize the blog. One day, a few years ago, I opened my blog and saw that the header was sliced up. Blogger suddenly put a limit on header size. And since I wanted my header to stretch over the posts and the sidebar, I had no choice but shrink the body and the sidebar.
Eventually the programmers at Blogger came to their senses and lifted the limit. I totally forgot about it, since I already fixed up the whole blog to fit the new standards. But now... now the level of customizing is almost unlimited, so I decided to take advantage.

I removed the blog header because now the body of the blog is too wide for it. The photo that's in it is over a year old. And without a photo header, the blog loads faster. Besides, I have dozens of photos on every page of the blog anyway. Maybe one day I'll make a new one.

The tags now show at the bottom of each post. The tags in the sidebar became a list, but I will change it back into a tag cloud soon.

Now for the fun part of the change: you can rate posts with stars! Even if you don't have time to leave a comment or have nothing to say, you can just click a star to rate each post. Fun? I think so! You can vote however you like, since I won't know who clicked 1-star anyway.

And finally, I am now able to post my photos really big. Some readers might like this, others might not. You can always express your opinion in the ratings. LOL

I had these interactive pets in my sidebar for a year or so, and now it's time for them to step down to a post. Hopefully the blog will load a little faster now.

Why You Should Follow the Milk Rule

A semi-regular occurrence in our house:

I buy milk once a week, when I get two bottles. Usually we have one half-finished bottle still in the refrigerator when I come home with two new ones.
Logic would dictate that one would not open a new bottle until the one currently in use is finished. Yes, no? I think so.

But every so often (emphasis on the often) THIS happens:

Go on, study the picture. Click on it if need be. Pay attention to the numbers.

And that is why you don't open a new bottle of milk (C) while you have one that is already in use (A). And if you are a milk snob and can't handle drinking milk that has been open for more than 48 hours, and you must open a new one...
PLEASE AVOID CREATING THE DRAMA DEPICTED ABOVE BY CHOOSING TO OPEN A BOTTLE THAT EXPIRES THE SOONEST (B).

Thank you.

F. Uni

Some people are better off writing out their full names, or abbreviating both their first and their last.

*G. Igle*

Just Some Pointers

Adel is a pro pointer. She points to things that she wants to tell me about. And she follows the direction with her eyes when I point something out to her surprisingly well!

Most of the time it's a creature that will earn "points" from Adel. A creature such as this:

Isn't he the sweetest little guy? I'll post more about him soon!

Well, hope you enjoyed the pointers. Now for some useful links!

Here you go:


Wait... don't close the page... they really are useful links lynx. Useful for entertaining a toddler for the three minutes it takes you to use the bathroom in solitude. Try it! LOL.

Shira

Meet Shira the cockatiel.



This cute little birdie used to be mine...



...but now she lives with my mother.



Isn't she a cutie?



**Just a reminder- I will choose the winner tonight! If you still haven't entered, you can do so until evening. The winner will be posted tomorrow morning, iy"H. **

Firefox Baby

Click here to view these pictures larger

Vending Machine Joys

There is a vending machine in the library that we go to that sells drinks. The boys love to buy water and Snapple there. It's not more expensive than a typical grocery store's price, so I indulge them. The front of the machine is opaque and you can't see the drink falling.

This week, in front of a toy store near Zusha's cheider, we discovered a new snack vending machine. There are even a few things that I allow the boys to have, amongst other junk. We got chocolate covered wafers for 25 cents. And the best part was that the front of the machine is glass, and the boys had a lot of fun watching the snacks being dispensed.

But this... this is cool stuff! I wonder if it will catch on.

LOLZ

For your LOLing pleasure!

Yes, I Admit It

I have an obsession with cute folders.

The boys are outfitted with enough folders to last them through cheider! Ha.

...And this is just a sampling!

Just Because I Can't Keep My Life Balanced

Just because I can't keep my life balanced at this point... what with the doctors, changing schools for my boys (so far the aren't enrolled anywhere for next year) and keeping the poor hamsters' cage clean... I figured I'll play around with white balance on my camera. Much less pressured.

Annnd, the Winner is...

Last week I posted a little contest that a whole ONE of you participated in. (Where were the rest of you? I know you saw that post! The little green box on the left told me so )

Just so happens to be, we have a winner! Yay, Hila! Keep a lookout for your prize in the mail. Hahaha.

That fun summer activity...


...was indeed chalk powder!


I even gave an inconspicuous hint in the post title.

(Sorry for stretching it all week... but after I figured I gave everyone a fair chance to guess, the issue with Adi cropped up, so, here it is now!)

New Fun Feature

Take a look at my sidebar... now scroll to the very last item. Go on. I'll wait.


...whistle...



...humhummmhmmm...



That took you a while! But it's okay, I understand. The links are just captivating, aren't they?

I put up a blog roll with some of my favorite sites and blogs. Click through them... take a peek. Some of the blogs are private or have some posts restricted to members only. Others are forums like Jewish Attachment Parenting and the famous Imamother. A blog about a sweet little boy with Down Syndrome and another one about a family whose beautiful baby girl died last year. There are money-saving blogs and humor blogs.
And a new site, Jewish Tale, run by Rivka (beilariva of Imamother) that has features like classifieds, recipes, and of course, stories.

Now have fun!

Last Year...

Just for fun... what were we doing last year this time?
Here's a peek at our week!
I hope Week #7 of Summer 2009 can rival with Week #7 of Summer 2008!

Ponder

What, oh, what can this be?
What fun summer activity were the boys busy with...?
(I'm turning on comment moderation so everyone has a chance for an original guess!)

LOL

We had a friend of Zusha's come over one Shabbos afternoon. Amongst other things, the kids played with bows and arrows. The friend put the arrow into the bow backwards; the suction cup was on the string. Zusha kept trying to correct him, but the boy was convinced that this is the right way.

Well, the next day we were out and about and saw this poster:

We all had a good laugh from it. Slight difference between a five year old boy and a graphic designer, isn't there. I also like how the string bends so evenly all across the bow, nice and rounded. Zusha wanted to know why someone threw the bow into the fire. Ha.

Fence Painting Fail

My boys think this is HILARIOUS! We take this path whenever it's an option so they can stop to look and laugh.

Gedalya pulled off a teal twig and couldn't be more pleased!

We Have Two Winners

So, we have two winners for the challenge. I wouldn't call it a contest, since there wasn't much to compete over. The choice was tough. About half of my readers commented, and I was barely able to keep up with the comments. After spending half the night going through the guesses, I came out with two of the best ones.
Bwahahahaaaa!


Our first winner:

CR said...
a- looks like a big red sucking candy
b- a shadow of jump roping

She gets the award for being first and almost the only guesser, until I pressured and threatened Hila into guessing as well. (Okay, okay. So it was just a gentle nudge. So I like drama.) CR also asked me not to mention her as the worst guesser, so I won't.

Our second winner:

Hila said...
1. Looks like something red/clear on top of a 7oz plastic drinking cup.
2. The inside looks like a patterned Children's Place vest. Is someone spinning?

She was quite accurate about the 7 oz cup detail, the fact that the article of clothing in photo #2 is indeed from the Children's Place, and that it is someone spinning.

Artifact #1:

A cup full of grape juice.

Artifact #2:

Gedalya spinning Zusha around on my computer chair. And yes, that's a Children's Place striped sweater.

Thank you all for playing!