Uh, What Do I Do With This?

Do I name it and call it my own? It's as tall a my 3 year old.  Or do I eat it, torturing it slowly. If I do that, do I start at the ears, stop and the head, and go back for the toes, or do I just nibble with abandon?

I will save the bow as a trophy for the kill, whichever I decide :P

Dinner And Hijinks At The Morton/Quinn Household

Mom, take my picture!











What's for dinner?  Grilled cheese sandwiches...











 ....and cupcakes!  Noah, you better eat at least three cupcakes.  No, really.  And the grilled cheese, only eat half.

 Yum! (They were really meatloaf with mashed potato frosting and pound cake with orange icing)

 What did you do to my computer?  And here I was nice and made you cupcakes and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Gimme back the sandwich.

Oh, right, even the murloc is wondering what is going on around here.  Both screens?  Yeah, you try selecting something with your mouse when it moves the exact opposite of what you meant it to.

Mmmmm, black cherry soda.  Wait, why won't it come out of the glass?




Because it's Jell-o !

April Fool's!

Moooo!

I got a letter today, and though it wasn't addressed to my blog specifically, I wanted to post it and my response, edited to protect the innocent, of course.

Hello Shawndra...It is I...your favorite cow shaman ever.
Just thought I would kick out a hello to you since I haven't spoken
with you in forever. Let me know how things are going in your world.
Iraq is boring as hell, which I am sure none of you can complain about
:-P
Hope to hear from you soon.

---JJ

I had wondered where my favorite cow had got off to! I would hope that the most Iraq throws at you is boredom. Here, not much has changed. It is still, for the most part, twiddling with alts and the occasional important run. Our favorite pally tank got antsy and, with two kinda new(I've been hanging out with them for months now!) members (his roomies) we are raiding Icecrown at least once a week, sometimes twice when we have the people. Getting 10 KNR on at the same time is a feat in and of itself. This past week was kinda fun, in that we got one wing of the citadel done, but got stuck in the next wing (our dps needs some help). So, two days of ICC in(pictured below us just walking in on Lady Deathwhisper), and the next night we did Trial of the Crusader. We got all the way to the Twin Valkyrs before we called it a night...they're a fight we're gonna need to practice!


In the times that KNR is not raiding (Mr. Pally tank's roomie, the hunter, found a new meaning for KNR; Krap! No Raiding!), I have been raising a druid in the looking for group random dungeon tool. Healers are second only to tanks in getting fast groups, so I made her a healer, and it is sooo fun! Our pally tank ran my druid and his roomies and our discipline priest's alt through Maraudon today, but it wasn't as fun, because, really, the pally did all the work. In the randoms, at least you feel like you are doing something! The last group I was in, while I was typing to you, one of the members pulled Scarlet Champion Mograine before we finished clearing, and if not for my astounding feats of healing and innervating, we would not have lived. Of course,by then, all the mobs were green to me, too, so I had better have been able to pull it off! Right after that, with about a 5 minute queue time, I was back in Maraudon, on the purple side. I even helped a new shadow priest. Go me! I am a contributing member of the blog-o-sphere now, actually helping people with mana issues. How exciting :) (For those that care, I suggested the glyph of Shadow Word:Pain, and that hope was in the discipline tree under Meditation and Mental Agility, when she had the talent points to go into that tree.)



I also decided I was going to take my two that were hanging out in Thrallmar and get them to Northrend. Gwenna, my troll mage, is sitting in Warsong Hold, waiting further instructions, with some auction house Northrend gear to help her along. Maiera, my only blood elf that hasn't been axed, got to 63 tonight with the loan of Gwenna's heirloom shoulders, and expects to blow the dust of Outland off her pretty pedicured toenails by the end of this week. Then, it will be Niranjani the druid's turn. After that, I guess the game will be to level all my toons that are in Northrend. Maybe I'll start with Lulubelle, in honor of my favorite bovine shaman(yeah, that is you!). She's been sitting idly by, making inscriptions in Dalaran. I believe she is second in level order behind my 80's (Shawndra finally got there) after Maura, the rogue. I honestly can say that, unless they make pick pocketing gain experience, she may never get past where she is. I'm a terrible dps rogue, but I love seeing what they have in their pockets. Shiny things, dirty handkerchiefs, a loaf of bread (how did that fit in there?), naughty romance novels, whatever, I just get excited when I see a bunch of humanoid mobs with room to sneak in between them. Those Chill Nymphs in Howling Fjord even let you walk up, say hello, stealth, pick their pocket, and then goon your merry way to the next. I know they are supposed to be allies, but they asked for it! They have pockets!!


Hubby and his buds have me trying out Star Trek Online. I could spend hours in the character creation screen alone. I settled for 20 minutes, and started playing, because the hubby and his buds wanted to make a fleet("You are now part of Old Geek Fleet."). The game itself is alright, it just doesn't seem very multi-player, even though you can see the other ships. And speaking of ships, I cannot turn one quickly enough to save my shields or my crew. I have not been a big fan of space combat ever since SWG when they put it in. I would like to choose to be a desk pilot in the colony of my choice, assisting in research and away team duties, but leave the flying to someone else. No emotes when you are in ground mode, what? Loot's about the same. My character got herself a nice bit of armor makes her look soo hot! But most of the loot is ship loot. I'm not sure if dressing myself and my crew is enough Barbie time for me, if the only times I get to see them in person is if I a) go to the bridge, or b) have one of those seemingly rare away missions. I need to have a closet full of useless dressies, and for other people to see me in them. Stardock in the Sol Sector didn't seem like the social hub I had hoped the entertainment deck would be. I miss the days of dancing in the cantina to the sounds of slitherhorns played by aspiring musicians, where everyone would clamor for just a few seconds of my attention, and they weren't NPC's. No, having a tribble just isn't enough. Damnit, I wanna play Tri-Con, or Dam-Jat, or match up with someone in some holo sports. Even if all I could do at the bar on Stardock was buy some synthohol, I would be happy. You can't even sit in the chairs! To me, there seems to be almost nothing but imagination and a stage for any role players. No props makes for some sad players, at least I think that way.


You caught me at a good time in my home life. I'm on Spring Break, but my children are not. This is leaving me all sorts of time to try new and old games, go out to eat, buy things at Wal Mart I don't need (okay, I really needed that shirt, and the magazine with the codes for the free in game sword for my Wizard 101 in the picture below, but the rest I didn't need), and do some spring cleaning, and write back to you, of course! I admit to being a gamer first and a housewife second, and that you have seen if you login at raid time (which falls during our dinner), and me yelling,"I'm almost done. Go ahead and start the trash without me!", as I am slinging something unimaginative at the kids to eat. They get the shaft so often for dinner, this week has been a little different. Corned Beef and Cabbage, Breakfast for Dinner, Fajitas, Steak and veggies and baked potatoes, Pork Chops and mashed potatoes, and Tacos have actually been served here in the span of two weeks. That is pretty good for me. They are usually lucky to get one during the week and one on the weekend from me. That, and I have done some spring cleaning. I can find my towels now, I am doing mass amounts of laundry that has been hiding in a kids closet and mascarading as carpet, and I have straightened out my kitchen. Tomorrow, I may even tackle my bedroom, as this is week two of my vacation, and I hope to spend at least one day in a perfectly clean house. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?


Miss you bunches! How long will you be gone? When will you be back? Does anyone who loves you send you goodie boxes? Because, this can be arranged, if you are being slighted :) Send me a list of things you'd love to have to much on and to keep you comfortable, and the family will pitch in and send it.'

Write back often, or as often as you can. I'm looking forward to hearing from you again! If typing is a burden, we have a phone, too. xxx-xxx-xxxx (it's a Skype number).


Jen(hiding behind food and plushies since 2008)
(you know I'll answer to whichever silly game name you know me by!)

Sorting Through The Sock Basket.

Obvious Non-WoW Title is really obvious Non-WoW post. Keep reading if you dare!

I looked for an image of a sock basket, but the internet doesn't have the equivalent of mine up anywhere, and my camera battery is not recharging, so I just have to paint a picture for you with words. My sock basket is large, rectangular, and white, repaired with black duct tape, overflowing with socks. No one in their right mind has a sock basket this large except me.

I have been up since 2 this morning. I woke up with a dry throat and tonsils that feel like they are the size of tangerines. Blah. What better way to spend a sleepless night (during my spring break!) than do laundry. You see, I have 7 kids (4 full time, 3 more on what works out to be a little over half the year sharing plan), and laundry here is serious business. Daily, if I would actually get my kids to do it, we should be doing 2 loads, at least. Just when I think I have caught up and am all proud of myself (because my little laundry room isn't groaning under the weight of unwashed towels), I find a full time daughter (they are interchangeable in this role) has been stashing dirty laundry under the bed/on the floor/on the bed/in the closet/wherever they can hide it, and I am pressured to run the washer and dryer overtime.

This time it is full time child number three, otherwise known to my husband as number 6. She is a cute little thing who has starred in such lame videos as,"Look at us cleaning out the bomb shelter" and done some model shoots in such articles as "I Lost Some Geek Cred Today"(don't worry, number 1, t-shirt model extraordinaire, also is stashing I-don't-know-what in her room. She just really isn't as cute or as fun to tell on, because she is a teenager). So, I am awake, and doing laundry, and have run out of things to fold while the laundry runs. This, during the normal daytime hours, would mean that I would switch up to something noisy like cleaning out cabinets (because kids never put things away the way you told them to 20 times already) or swearing like a sailor while I attempt to organize the linen closet (same reason, kids cannot seem to follow the example set before them). Since it is way too early for that kind of noise, I am settling for sorting through the sock basket, one of my favorite chores. By favorite, I mean that I am only tackling it because mom #2 (known to the part timers as mom, but hey, she hasn't got near as many loads of laundry to deal with, so, yeah, number 2) is missing an amount of socks if not equal to amount of socks regularly produced by Hanes in a month, then pretty darned close. My lovable step son has a habit of wearing socks here, and sneaking home without them, or if caught, putting on two totally different socks from the sock basket and wearing those home. They tried recently making him pay for a set of socks out of his own money. I don't remember seeing many new socks here, so I am guessing either this is working, or he is coming to my house without socks. What? Tell me you look at every person you meet and notice right off if they have socks on or not. Go ahead. Make up an excuse. You don't. Neither do I.

Well, back to where I was going with this. Having 9 pairs of feet in this house, and 2 different people buying socks for all these different feet(we won't get into well meaning grandparents), you can imagine the assortment I have in my laundry basket. This is how I mean to tackle this monstrosity.

Before you start, don't make the mistake of trying to pair up anything before starting with step one. You will waste precious time trying to find the one sock you knew you just saw, and will become so frustrated that you will pile the socks back into the basket and let the cats sleep in it for another week or month. This is unacceptable, as mom #2 (who is just labeled so for convenience, and not because she is any less of a mom) should really get her socks back before the youngest of her three are in college.

1. Take out all black socks and put aside. These all belong to hubby, and if they don't, we'll find out later. 98% of all black socks in the house belong to him, because he decided that he would like to be able to find a pair of socks any time he wanted to. Silly man. But guess who is ready first when we are going somewhere. Mhmmmm.
2. Take out all colored and patterned socks and put to the other side. These are probably kids socks, but I throw my bootie socks with the colored tops into this pile to, if they present themselves easily.
3. Take out all socks with colored toes and put them off until last. They are a pain, because just when you think they match because the toes match, you notice one has lettering on the toe, or one has a ribbed cuff while the other is smooth, or that grey color isn't manufactured but stained. Work on these when you are overly thrilled at how good you are at matching socks. It will take you down several notches.
4. Take what is left,which should be all white, and pair them up. Put aside any that don't match to put in a new, smaller sock basket.
5. Match up the black socks. Put aside the one that doesn't match because it is hiding up one of hubby's pant legs.
6. Match up colored socks. My dad and his wonderful wife bought my girls these neat socks that come three to a pair. I forgot that they were like this and was all bent out of shape when, out of the three girls that I was pairing up for, one pair was of two different sized feet, and I still had one left over. Well, now that I remember that, the rest were rather easy, especially since I don't care if the color on the top of my bootie sock matches. Put odds with the white odd socks.
7. Get a drink, preferably hot tea or chocolate. Something soothing will be necessary for the last few steps.
8. Match up the colored toe socks. Sometimes, I separate these further into pink, grey, and other colored toes, then tackle them. This is sometimes easier. This category spawns the most odd socks, unfortunately. We'll deal with the odd socks later. Don't mix them into the other socks, because most of them aren't ours.
9. Put all your paired socks in a pile on the couch. At the full time children's next convenience, have them take theirs to their room. Don't try to figure out whose socks are whose. With the exception of number 7, all the other feet are about the same size. They know what socks are theirs, and will complain loudly and at length if you try to hand them any socks but their own. This is why I leave them piled and have them choose out their socks.
10. Before they run away, have them choose out their colored toe socks from the odd pile. Put these in the new, smaller sock basket.
11. Make sure your socks and those belonging to number 7 have been taken out, then bag up all remaining pairs and odd colored toe socks and send them home with the boy this coming Sunday. This should either delight mom #2, or really annoy her. I'm seriously hoping for the first response, because I generally end up annoying her, and I don't usually aim to displease. Really! Well, maybe just once....

There you have it. What I have been doing for the past 3 hours (you can discount the last 20 minutes of me blathering on about socks.) No, I am not done with the colored toe socks. I stopped to inform you of the pleasure that is my sock basket. Now, I get to go back and finish, or go to bed, or eat breakfast. It's 5 am. I think I'm going to leave the rest until tomorrow and curl up with the hubby. Here. kitty, kitty! I put all the socks back in the basket for you....

Scooter

Last night Scooter passed on. I don’t think I have paused to mention him, or any of the other 5 cats for more than it takes to shoo one off my desk. Scooter couldn’t hop onto my desk. He couldn’t pounce, he couldn’t join the nightly cat stampede(well, he could, but for him it was a slither), couldn’t use the litter box. When he was just barely out of the super secret kitten stash, two of my kids were having an argument involving the slamming of the bathroom door, and he got caught in the middle. Despite cortisone shots and some working with him, he didn’t fully regain the use of his hind legs. When he got bigger, he used them a little to push as he dragged himself across the floor. Since he couldn’t use the litter box, and I’m not entirely sure he knew he was doing it, we were constantly cleaning up after him. He got bathed almost daily, because he only cleaned the parts he consciously used. In short, he was challenging to care for. My house smelled like a litter box, and I hated it. I kept asking my husband to put him down, to take him to the vet and put him out of his misery. Who was I kidding? He wasn’t miserable, I was.

He more than paid back this attention by being the absolutely sweetest cat around. When hubby and I were at our desks, he would wind himself around our ankles and purr, sometimes switching off between us several times. When the kids were on the floor in the living room he would come up and play with them. When the kids camped out in the living room for the night, he would find room next to the youngest and sleep there. He chased bits of paper and strings more enthusiastically than any of the other cats did. He would even find a way to sit next to you on the couch if no one else was on it. Yeah, and all I could do was complain about how he smelled and worry about the next cat bomb my feet would find.

Last night, hubby came into the room to tell me he had died. The last couple days Scooter had been listless, sleeping a lot, not moving far from the food dish. I think I remember hearing him hacking, but I thought nothing of it. Hubby says he had done it more than once in the past three days. Sounds to me and him that he found a bone and it got stuck. I was sad to hear it, but it wasn’t enough to keep me awake. Now I am sitting here at my work computer, boo hoo-ing over him. As much as he was a pain in the butt to take care of, damn it but he had a great heart. I’m going to miss that cat.

Awkward Silences

I'm still here. I've been kinda sick, kinda pretending to raid (sorry I missed tonight guys), and really dealing with a teenage daughter. See, she likes these things called boys, and, well, she likes to tip toe around and pretend she doesn't, and sneak visits with them while telling mom how she is being a wonderful daughter and retaking tests. Sorry, mom was a teenage girl once, and those excuses have been used. Not by me, I was too busy working and hanging out in a digital world to really date until I was nearly 18, but I saw them used by friends. Nope. It took me a day or so, but we got this all figured out. Mom now officially knows daughter is dating, knows boyfriend, has verbally pounded both over the head for being shifty and doing things both know are inappropriate, and they are both grounded until the girl gets out of the nunnery. All that done, it was too late to log in and try out Lady Deathwhisper (is that the boss after Lord Marrowgar? I forget) with everyone else, so I turned to suitor number two, Wizard 101.

Wizard 101 is so forgiving of someone who has to take seconds away from the keys, or minutes. The three year old was having problems staying in bed, so between the hubby and I we got up and put her down at least 4 more times. There are no safe zones in WoW, except for Shattrath and Dalaran. You can't kill anything but time in those two areas, anyhow, so why bother? In Wizard 101, I can hop to the walkway, swat a toddler, grab a drink, and hop out into the street to collide with another mob. Fantastic!


Unfortunately, I have hit a wall. I guess I bought an area for my second youngest last year sometime, so I didn't run out of content right away. Now, I am stuck needing everything for 4 quests that come from a certain area, and a dungeon I have to unlock and the teleporter to unlock Krokotopia. I will have to grab the calculator and decide how much I need to unlock it all. This still isn't running me near as much as my World of Warcraft addiction, but I can see it getting close to it if I decide I need a pony/dragon/cat/wings and that I need my outfit to look like the rogues gear (so cool!). I have been content, so far, with just coloring my items to match.

That iPod game is a real blast, and the kids have sent a bunch of gold and elixirs to my account while playing it. I played it, changed the wizard to my daughter's, and won an evil snowman transformation. I read a certain blogger is giving away codes for gold and the like from his play time of the WizardBlox game. Leave him a comment, you may get lucky. Or, you could ask me nicely, and I could dedicate an hour of my time (or a bored kid's) to trying to win something neat for you. Sorry, seems since I read this this afternoon and into tonight, he has gifted all his codes out, but stay tuned to his blog. There is more that just the codes to read, and you never know. I may have two or three codes to spare by Friday night, so comment if you want one of mine. I'll even leave it a surprise at what you get!

Well, enough of the awkward silence. I will make an effort to keep you all posted on what is going on in game for me and my guild in WoW. I will also be posting a bit more about this newest fling. If you are playing and want to add me, my favorite character is Rowan Trollstalker, a level 14 life/fire wizard. Just whisper in my ear first. All these random friend requests are unnerving!

Just Dance!

I saw this Wii game at Gamestop today, and I thought, how silly is this? But, I had an extra 20 bucks, and they begged. I talked them out of a Karaoke title (we have Rock Band titles out the ears, why another sing along?), and after much shopping, we brought it home. The boy got Batman: Arkham Asylum with all his birthday money, so everyone left the game store happy.

We got home, and they wanted to play this over Batman. All but two got into it. Julia is a bit young, and Marissa thinks she is too old. Whatever. I'll be playing this one when they are sleeping one night. It looks like fun!

Looks like Julia isn't too young, and Marissa may yet change her mind :)

Thanks For Going For Me!

I have had a very informational weekend watching people on Twitter, Facebook, and my rss reader. I doubt I could have seen as much if I had actually been at Blizzcon myself. I'm still a little bit jealous, but that will pass. I'll just have to bone up on my ticket ordering skills for next year.

While all of you have been having fun at Blizzcon, I was having real life fun. My sister in law and her husband are away at the river enjoying some much needed adult only time. Their babysitter came down with a bad case of pregnancy (thankfully, it was in its end stages), so they needed us to watch their boys. Our house is bursting at the seams now, with 9 kids and two adults, a cat and her 6 kittens, and any of at least 6 neighbor kids that drop by to play.

So, yes, full house, full of happy giggling and some bickering, a little drama (I have mostly girls), dirty faces and scraped knees. We went to the park yesterday with grandpa and played in the playground, had a baseball game, and performed death defying stunts on caterpillar climbers (3 and 5 year olds make you swallow your heart when they climb!). Then we ate pizza and drank Dr. Pepper (sorry Noah), and threw the frisbee around. Oh, and all that happened after we took the second oldest to the hospital for a broken toe. She missed out on the park, but she was happy enough, plugged into her laptop, Cookie Crisp and cold water nearby, foot propped on the couch arm. We brought her pizza. I think she had as much fun as we did.

Today, I'm catching up with blog posts and twitters I missed yesterday. What a wealth of new things to dream on! Well, at least look forward to. Thanks to all the people that went that shared their experiences or will be sharing them soon. I look forward to enjoying the con through your eyes and ears!

Where's The Cake?

Been busy the last few days, and today is just one in that same run. Yesterday our family drove out to spend time with some guild mates and their family who live close by. Who would have thought, on an East Coast realm, you would find West Coast friends? We had a barbecue, the kids played with the Wii and the several computers in the house, and we chatted about everything, with a little WoW splashed in. I got drowsy around 5, so we left, grudgingly. When we got home, we loaded up WoW and headed out to kill Archavon, then tried out Ulduar for giggles.

Today, I am rushing out a post to say I have posts waiting on the back burner, but it's my birthday, and we are going out for dinner, then maybe dessert! Sorry to the pug Nexus run Halinka ducked out of prematurely. She explained first! After all, I didn't know I was going out until I told them. I hope you were able to find another healer.

I'll be back tomorrow with something fun. Working title? "I'm Not That Kind Of Hunter!"

Exploring Free Kid Friendly Online Games.

It's Summer. We live in Southern California, and it is hot. The kids are in the house, and they are bored. What to do? We only have two WoW accounts running right now, as my eldest daughter is out with her grandfather on an RV trip and can't play. So that leaves 4 children, begging to use the computer, the Playstation 3, and the Wii. Since they are all connected to the same monitor, My husband rounded up the three laptops he had kicking around that needed some work and made two working units. One of them has WiFi, the other doesn't. So, two kids can be playing online games. Here are there games of choice, starting from the youngest.

Wizard 101 is a great game, very easy to jump into, and free for a portion of it. You can gain access to other areas of the game with a one time gate fee or by paying for a subscription. They have family subscriptions, too, so if you have a few kids like I do, this can be some really inexpensive fun! It is really nice that the sidewalks are a safe zone, so if a kid didn't finish a chore and had to get up, they don't come back to a corpse run. Mini games are a fun part of the play, allowing you to gain mana and health as well as gold. If you aren't a big fan of mini games, you can chase down floating blue and red clouds and run into them for a recharge. Battles are very easy, and easy to find groups for. You play cards to attack or heal, which take their mana cost away from your bar. Your opponent casts, then the next in your party plays their card, then back to the mob, in that order until the job is finished. There are neat mini pets to collect, and you can recolor any armor drops you get. I hear they even have player housing. What fun!

Adventure Quest Worlds is the follow up game to Adventure Quest, which in itself was a fun game that did things with flash that no one else had done before. In their new, browser based flash mmo, you can join friends in killing monsters and doing quests, or just chatting. Other titles by these extraordinary developers are Dragonfable and Mechquest. The games are all free to play, but I would hope that you would want to pay the fee they offer to unlock special weapons, just because the game is so cool! Marissa had bought her lifetime membership to Adventure Quest, and I read that they are going to enable you to "transfer" special characters from any of their older three titles to their new mmo soon. From the about page, "The best part is, in an upcoming release, you will be able to import data from your existing AQ/DF/MQ characters and accounts, making all of your old hard work and effort really mean something." I know Marissa will want to do that, and I foresee a membership request for her birthday present in November.

Battlefield Heroes has been another favorite in this house, and not just amongst the under 16 set. Many nights hubby will be playing against one of the kids in a battlefield. Yay for griefing the kids! This is a free to play game that gets its funding from the sale of Battlefunds, which you can use to buy outfits, emotes, and other things to enhance your gameplay. I would advise that, if this game becomes as addicting to your family as it has to mine, that you turn off the music. It's repetitive and annoying. It is a first person shooter with leveling involved.

Of course, there is Free Realms. They have all tried it and like different parts of it. The cooking mini games are right up Sammy's alley, where the brawler quests really keep Noah involved, and Alex likes the pet training. It is free, up to a point. If you want to be a tank or a healer, you'll have to pony up, because members only can play the medic and warrior classes. But, pure damage classes are a dime a dozen, really, and you can learn two types free, the ninja and the brawler. If you want to be a wizard or an archer, you have to be a member. You can gather ore and gems for free, but if you want to do things with them, you have to be a member. So, for a casual player, the free options are really all you need. One day you might feel like playing the cooking and gathering mini games, another day you might feel like driving in the demolition derby. You only need one character, they just switch roles and outfits according to your whim.

I have a lot of girls, and most of them are the girly type. They seem to enjoy i-Dressup.com. There are lots of mini games on the site that allow you to earn iCoins to buy clothes and accessories for your own character to wear or decorate their house with. You can even use iCoins to buy your membership.

Under the category of sites that are ok if you are watching, I give you these suggestions. They like Y3, a flash game site. If you let your kids visit this one, please check what they intend to play. I found my daughter playing a dirty hobo game. I won't go into details on it, but it was awful (and offensive). Another site they frequent is AddictingGames. Again, this one should only be played with parental supervision, as it has some questionable titles, but there are many paper doll type games on both sites, as well as cutesy flash games.

I have to go. Hubby is making me sign up for Battlefield Heroes. But I want to play a girl!!!!

Of Pedicures and Polar Bears

This past weekend there wasn't enough time for me to play WoW. I'm sorry, I went out and had some real life. I would have invited you along, but most of you don't live anywhere near me, so I'll just tell you what fun I had!

It all started last Monday, when my father in law asked me to check on union prices for Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios. He wanted to take all the family out for a little fun before he set off on his real life gold farming expedition. So, I found a great deal on Knott's tickets and had them sent UPS to our doorstep. Ordered on Wednesday, they arrived on Friday, and we were on the road at 8 am Saturday. An hour and a half after piling all 7 kids and 3 adults into vehicles, we parked and walked past all the tourist trap shops and Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant (I always though it was funny that you had to line up for the restuarant like you have to line up for a roller coaster)to the entrance.

The entrance was sparsely occupied, deceivingly so. When we got in, the place was mobbed with high school and middle school kids, girl scouts, and big brothers and sisters escorting their little brothers and sisters. The lines were still mostly short though, and we got to go on such great rides as the Pony Express (you sit on what looks like a playground horse, and the ride clamps you in by the back and the legs), the Calico Mine Ride, Boomerang, the Log Ride, and some new ride that looked like a less scenic version of the log ride on steroids. The kids went on several more rides than that, all the kind that turn your legs into rubber and make you wish you hadn't eaten so much cotton candy.

We ended our day pitching mini whiffle balls into glasses in the midway. We walked out of there with at least 2 small stuffed animals per person, and a huge polar bear. Yup, me who never wins anything pitched a winner. Not sure where I'm going to put the thing. But I won!

During our all day trip to Knott's, we also managed to look at all the old gold town sets (the assaying office, the jail, the schoolhouse, and the graveyard). We visited the blacksmith shop and some of us walked away with prairie diamonds after we chatted up the blacksmith. I looked longingly at the Birdcage Theatre, but no showtimes were listed. If you ever go to Knott's, try and find a day where there are shows scheduled there. It is the best thing in the park, in my opinion. Nothing like an old town show, complete with cheers for the hero and boos and hisses for the villain from the audience.

Well, the day before our trip, a gal from my guild who we recently met in real life suggested we go out for pedicures. I had never had one before, not being very girly. To explain what girly means to me, I'l tell you what I am, and girly is everything opposite. I don't fix my hair. It either goes in a pony tail or bun or hangs straight. I wear jeans and teeshirts, no makeup, and rarely remember to put on my earrings. Fingernail polish is a no no in my field. The last manicure I had was before my junior prom. So all this pedicure stuff is foreign to me. "Sure, sounds like fun!" I typed in Facebook chat. Sunday afternoon, we met at Olive Garden, a little late due to horrible traffic on her end. We chatted over lunch about everything but WoW, then headed over to the salon. I had no expectations, and I was floored. This place had these neat chairs with massage controls, and a "foot jacuzzi" at the foot. We sat down, watched some CNN, chatted some more with a tiny bit of WoW sprinkled in, and enjoyed our pedicures. I could probably go in for another one in a couple of months or so. Would that make me girly? I hope it doesn't become a turn off to the husband. He married me, after all, because I was so low maintenance, and for my bomb shelter, but that is a story for another post(he is cleaning it out, sprucing it up and adding the creature comforts for an office/get away room for my birthday!).

New Project

In the interest of cleaning up my drafts folder, I am completing them, or deleting them. This post was started early in June. Boy, am I behind. Italics following will be updates on this post.

Hubby has this idea that I should do a podcast. Not we but I. I have no qualifications. I talk so fast sometimes I stumble over my own tongue. Reading my blog it should be obvious I have interruptions so frequently that the only coherent posts are the ones I write either at work during my break or late at night when the kids are sleeping and the husband is distracted by Battlefield, in any of its many forms.

So, he has decided that we need a place to escape the interruptions(speaking of interruptions, I just left the keyboard for twenty minutes to yell at the kids and clean up cereal my 3 year old helped herself to). We have a place, but it needs some work. It's a bomb shelter, probably built during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's not huge, probably about the same size as my smallest bedroom. It has a weird door on it, made of plywood covered with tin. It won't shut all the way, and the hasp to lock it is on the outside. Kinda inconvenient and scary at the same time. When I moved in to the house 4 years ago, it had twinkle lights strung in an "x" across the ceiling, a velvet poster on one wall, a nasty mattress on the floor, and indoor-outdoor carpet on the ground. My sister helped me gut it, and now it is just plain concrete floor, with a light plugged into the one socket. Is it time to fix it up into a hide away? Definitely!


A problem we have is the way the entryway works. The door opens, and there is this narrow entry that goes down into a small corner of the shelter. Husband believes this was put in place as a blast wall. Who am I to argue? After all, he is the expert when it comes to all things apocalyptic in this house. Anyhow, this makes it hard to get any furniture that isn't made of small parts into the interior. I'm hoping we can get the two office chairs and all the desk parts in there. For floor covering, I have a bunch of scatter rugs I think would do fine until we find a good area rug. He managed to escape the major spring cleaning going on in the house to go shopping at Home Depot with his dad, and picked up a few fluorescent lights to hang from the ceiling, and some paint to paint the walls white(they are currently brick red). He also has plans to run a cable out to the shelter for internet access. The wireless works well outside the shelter, but the signal isn't strong enough to get inside.

I'd like to get a couch and some shelving in there, so there is a good place to stretch out with a book, and store some canned goods, water, and other supplies.

Here is where the updates start. It is now mid July, and we have some furniture in there, some throw rugs I had from the last place I lived (no bare floors here to use them on!), the walls have a base coat applied, and hubby strung up some fluorescent lighting. He also added a "light switch" to the socket, with a remote, so we can turn the lights on and off without unplugging them. Cable for internet is still in the works, but we have a source for it that won't cost us anything but the labor to dig the trench and the pvc pipe to protect it with. Perhaps by Christmas I'll have a cozy hideaway/disaster supplies storage facility to run to! Please enjoy our short film of our progress, starring Sammy, with the breathy Shawndra as narrator. :)

Long Distance Relationships Stink.

My story isn't new. It's so old, it will drive you from my blog looking for fresher posts. I just have to write about it. Why? Because it's bothering me, and this is my outlet, my place to work things out, my escape. So here goes.

I live on the west coast. 95% of my guild lives in the middle of the country and on the east coast. So, it makes sense that raid times and events are centered around them and not me. Raids fall right when I am frantically plating up dinner for the kids and hubby. If I decide to raid with them, I have to serve dinner by 4:45, so that I have 5 minutes to repair and send myself consumables and purge my bags of the garbage I've collected the day before. This doesn't work, and I have demonstrated how well this doesn't work on a few occasions to my guild, by showing up late, with a fish as an offhand and a fishing hat on, and not changing either out for the entire raid. So, because it isn't fair for them to expect me to be on time and prepared when I clearly can't, I don't sign up for raids. Now, it's also not fair to my family to get a half fast attempt at dinner out of me, just to watch me drag my plate to my desk so I can grab bites between boss fights. So, I have also started logging in later at night, closer to my eight in the evening then theirs. This has me logging in when they are well into their raid, sometimes after they have even finished. There are sometimes other people online for me to chit chat with, but more often, it's the raid group, me, and a few off in their own PvP world. When guild chat is quiet, I often type a "shhh" to try and get some response, but even that has lately been ignored. It's not their fault. It's not my fault either. We just live in different time zones. But I have been feeling less and less a part of my guild that I have been in since before hubby and I were married and playing Star Wars Galaxies. I even thought, for about a nanosecond, about finding another server with people that lived closer to me. Then I shook myself, slapped myself for thinking such horrible thoughts, and went on with whatever inanity I was doing in game that day.

So, it's almost April Fools Day, and my joke is set to be sprung on my somewhat oblivious audience. I know it will be seen. I look forward to the mayhem it should cause. For a while I will feel useful and like I'm a part of things. Then, April 3rd will show itself, and the site will go back to somewhat normality, and I will slowly get back into my funk. I just wish I had some idea of what to do about it.

There's a chocolate muffin calling to me from the kitchen. It's telling me I need to take it and a glass of milk and log in Rowena and check my auctions. I may just do some of that. Rowena will be disappointed. I think I'll just grab a book instead. Any good ones out there on long distance relationships?

Some Resolutions For The New Year

It's time to resolve to do, and not do.

Before I get into what mine are, I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and remind you to find a designated driver and chain them to your hip tonight! Have fun out there, but not so much that you forget to act responsibly.

Now, my resolutions are few. I have my one eighty. I am happy with her.

Number 1- Take time off for a walk or to play Wii fit with the kids at least 4 times a week. For some reason they really like to do the jogging game with me. Weird kids...

Number 2- Pug more often. I need to develop a thicker skin. Most of my guild before this expansion hit had pugged places in many raids. My skills and gear when they started this were comparable. Priest For Hire. Yup, that's gonna be me!

Number 3- Blog more often. I have noticed on a good week I may post 3 times. There are many weeks I don't post at all. Perhaps I can tie this one in with number one, and dictate my post to my mp3 player as I jog. In between huffs and puffs.

Number 4- Lure the hubby back into game with whatever I can, and find a way to keep him playing with me. Anyone got any suggestions?

Number 5- Cook dinner more often. I think I'll aim for 4 times a week, with at least once on the weekend. Tuesday and Thursday nights are leftover nights, for obvious reasons (are they obvious? Tuesday is reset day, and Thursday is day 2 of raiding. for some reason our guild had a hard time getting Wednesdays going).

That's it. Too many and I feel bad that I didn't accomplish all of them. Keep it short and simple, and you're more likely to succeed!

Happy New Year everyone!

Leftovers...

There are no leftovers quite so sought after as Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. Yum! They are not very eat-while-questing friendly though. Green bean Casserole and turkey wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with cranberry sauce? Perhaps mashed potato latkes with reheated gravy to dip in, or my personal favorite, cold turkey with mayonnaise and a salt shaker. No, no, I had to go for the green bean casserole, turkey, a roll, and a soda. Thankfully, my questing buddy, Laeola, is overpowered. Didn't need my help much. Sorry I held you up! I know, I blamed it on my laptop overheating, which it did. But I fell behind more times trying to grab a bite off my plate then I did going afk to grab my three year old out of whatever she was not supposed to be getting into.

As much as BRK complains about them cockroach-like paladin, I was very very thankful to have one around these past two days.

Now, I know I have some smart readers. Tell me how to eat my leftovers and quest effectively at the same time. Use that comment button!

Giving thanks on Thanksgiving

I enjoy Warcraft Bloggers site. Even though I have given up on my blog ever showing on one of their pages, I still find great bloggers and wonderful ideas through clicking through the little pre-blurbs on their site. Tonight, or rather, Thanksgiving morning, I happened upon Rick's Place. The link is to post, inspired by his pastor, to give thanks to the people closest and most important to him. I thought it would be a great idea to take up his pastor's challenge tonight before my head hit the pillow.

Thank you, Tom. Without you I would never be so happy. Amanda, Melissa, and Samantha would not be what they are today without having had you in their life. I would not have the joy of our youngest, Julia, without you. Thank you for putting up with me when I am not how you would want me, engrossed in whatever part of Azeroth I am conquering. I look forward to spending many more Thanksgivings with you.


Thank you, kids. For helping out with Julia, for doing your chores, even in the sporadic way you all get to them. For being sweetness and light when I am too tired to deal with your more frequently displayed darkness and insanity. Thank you for keeping me drilled in obscure mathematic equations and other little used subjects through your need for homework help. And, even though I may complain about that friend of yours that sends me numerous tells in game, thanks for bragging that I am the most uber destroyer of Alliance, clothed in epic robes and wielding legendary weaponry. Just don't let them armory me. I can't imagine life without you. I can, however, imagine what it would be like with stepford children. Don't change much, alright?

Thank you, KNR. In you I find I have a social life, when most times I cannot manage to get out of the house. Thank you for making me stay with you all when you left Star Wars Galaxies, even if it was on a PvP server. There are times in my leveling that I curse that decision, but then, we wouldn't be KNR on a PvE server. We would be ... We would not be. Thank you for hours of laughter, and for not being too racy for my children, at least during the day.

Thank you, Inconceivable. I never thought I'd enjoy playing the other side of the fence as much as I enjoy playing with you. Milli, I cannot believe that you have as many alts as I do Horde side.

Thank you, all 5 of you that read this blog. I hope that you have many more people to be thankful for, and a spread that puts the first Thanksgiving feast to shame!

I think that covers it. Happy Thanksgiving! Now, off to start the baking...

I've been bad...

I have been pretty busy with the real world these last few weeks. Go ahead and tell me that is no excuse. Go on, I can take it (ducking and cringing).

Anyhow, that will all change this next few days as I stand in line impatiently waiting for my goodie bag and passport to Blizzcon. I was originally planning to attend with my husband, but family matters are more important than any convention, so I am taking my eldest daughter instead. I am looking forward to meeting all sorts of people there, hopefully even the 5-7 people who actually read this blog!

I will post an entry every night after the con, with highlights of what I was able to see, and maybe even some teenage perspective from my daughter. If you have read this and are attending, feel free to comment below. Maybe we can stand in a line together!

Have you ever...?

Ever try to move the camera angle with your mouse while watching a video on your computer? I watched my hubby do that tonight, and I giggled, because I'd done it before, too. I have also found myself wishing I could /follow the car in front of me when I am in a traffic jam and want to dig something out of my purse. How about around the house, faced with the epic quest of getting it clean? I know the lfg channel is supposed to help find people on the same quest, but it seems noone else is doing the "Dishes are Piled High" quest when I am. I imagine finding a group for that dungeon crawl through my teenage daughter's room will also be a failure. Seems noone likes the dig in the garbage quests.

I Lost Some Geek Cred Today

My sister-in-law had us all out to the coolest park today. Sure, a park has all the basics; picnic tables, trees, grass, play sets, grills. But this park had a water park, too. For free! Whee! So, I am now sporting about a jillion more freckles and an unhealthy rosy red burn on my nose and forehead. Ahh, well, it's all for the kids anyway. Bill Amend, the man who puts out the comic Foxtrot, said it all this last Sunday...
Here are some fun pictures of kids playing, so those of you with the healthy pasty glow about you can live vicariously through me!My second to last kiddo, and her "baby".
My oldest and my youngest. Boy, is she tired!
My middle two blasting away at each other, with the second to last running off screen.

All I have to say is, besides "OW! I'm burnt", is yay for free summer fun!

Ahh, the scent of freshly sharpened pencils...

School is back in session, and I am finding that work, getting kids ready for the new school year, and the task of making more level 70's for my husband has edged writing out of the way. I have to squeeze this in before my hubby gives me the evil eye and takes my laptop from me. You see, it's WAAAAAYYYY past my bedtime. I'm such a bad girl!

Anyhow, to commemorate my ticket purchasing fun, I found a t-shirt with the failoc on the front and the mech on the back, and purchased one I thought would be reasonably roomy. Well, I have learned my lesson, and will be making my own. My high school age daughter is now the proud owner of my shirt. She keeps hugging herself and saying,"I love murlocs!".

I got caught! Mostly because I was falling asleep at the keys. I promise to try and take more time out of the game to write. See how I didn't promise to do it, just to try? I have so much I have been wanting to accomplish before the expansion that sometimes I feel overwhelmed. I want to get all the non combat pets that have been eluding me. I want to grab a few more tabards. I want to learn how to heal on my recently brought to the light priest. I want to get my almost 60 rogue to 70 and get some Karazhan runs under her belt. I want my Alliance magess to get to 70 and experience end game on the other side of the fence. I want my husband to get into playing a character other than his rogue and his 19 warlock twinkette.

I'm going to stop now. As I was rereading the above text I saw the bratty 10 year old shining through with the gimmes and wants. I'm going to send her to the corner now. Think about that for a while!