Posts Tagged ‘sister’
Holiday Cleanup
How do you clean up after the holidays? For us, it is a tad more interesting. Madison’s birthday was yesterday (she turned 5!), so we always have the quick cleanup that needs to be done from the time we get back from visiting Wisconsin and her birthday party. I usually get about a week if we are lucky. Since we have the basement now, Bill let me keep up the Christmasy decorations, but we did pull down the Christmas tree. I need as much room as we can get, and this is pretty much the only way I was going to get it. I figure everybody will hang out downstairs for her party just like they did for Christmas Eve. The sad thing is that we are the only one on the block who still has their outdoor lights up. Now, we don’t leave them up till June or anything, but it seems that it is kinda odd that on 8th of January that everyone has packed up everything already. Now, I’ve slacked this week, and I have to get all my cleaning done tomorrow with the kids underfoot. This should be interesting. My sister is arriving tomorrow, so its not quite the end of the world if she’s the only one who sees my non-clean house.
How do you clean up? Do you have a set plan? Do you just do a little bit each day?
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Dragon NaturallySpeaking and NaNoWrimo
Did you November is National Novel Writing Month (hence, NaNoWrimo). NaNoWrimo is an interesting approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1 and end November 30. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word). This requires you to write a minimum of 1,667 words a day which can be very daunting. This is why using Dragon NaturallySpeaking for NaNoWrimo would take some of the pressure off. I know my sister would love to write a novel one day. It is honestly her lifelong dream. She went to college and majored in English, so she could do it. However, she is super busy (and this is before she even has kids!). When I learned about Dragon Naturally Speaking, I knew this would be a perfect fit for her. This can definitely help her blogging (of course, she is a blogger too!). However, I personally don’t think she thinks she has the time for something of this magnitude.
If you want to see how this would help you, you have to take the Dragon’s typing speed test! I tried it with Will (my 16 month old) hanging on me (so I really do type faster, but this is what my life is like normally. That is why blogging usually takes me all day. LOL Here’s my test results:
Let me tell you, I couldn’t believe how fast the speaker was compared to my typing. Granted, I could have typed faster without Will, but I still couldn’t have kept up with the speaker. There is no way. I think I know what I am buying my sister for Christmas. She has some big changes coming her way and this would allow her to both continue blogging and to write her novel.
I may not be writing a novel, but man, I can see so many uses for myself with this software. Since I have five blogs and two little kids, I could definitely get more work done with this versus me typing out my blog posts (see score up above – lol). This would make it much easier to write posts for my travel blog when we are on the road, and I could write my posts for my cooking blog while I am cooking the recipe I am going to write about. I could take the time I save and spend it with my family instead of working. It would be nice to be able to go to bed before midnight. Do you want to see how easy this is to use?
As you can see, anyone can use this software. It is that easy. Don’t believe me? Read some of these Dragon Reviews. I actually know people who have this and they absolutely love it. I am still working on getting my hands on one of these, so I can save some of my precious time.
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Who doesn’t like the Circus?
I know that almost everyone must have a circus memory or two. I remember going to the circus with my sister and parents up in Green Bay at the Brown County Arena. I remember it being a ton of fun. Even now, I still remember the sights, sounds, and smells, and it has been a long time since I have been back to the circus. However, it is something I know that we are going to bring our kids to. Madison is at the fun age now that she would truly enjoy it and get what is going on. Will, not so much, but he just follows his sister’s lead.
When I found out that the Ringling Brothers Circus was on its way to here, I was super excited. It is nice to pass on great memories to your children, and this is one of those. If you live in the Midwest, here are the dates that they will be here:
Indianapolis, IN – Sept. 4-7, 2008
Kansas City, MO – Sept. 10-14, 2008
Grand Rapids, MI – Sept. 18-21, 2008
Denver, CO – Oct. 2-13, 2008
Boston, MA Oct. 8-13, 2008
Cleveland, OH – Oct. 24 – Nov. 2
Chicago, IL – Nov. 6 – 30, 2008
St. Louis, MO – Nov. 6-9, 2008
Auburn Hills, MI – Nov. 12 – 16, 2008
Highland Heights, KY – Feb 27 – Mar. 1, 2009
Cincinnati, OH – Mar. 4 – 8, 2008
As a family of four, I know how expensive the circus can be, so I want to pass on a coupon code I have to get you 20% off your tickets: MCC. If you end up taking your kids to the circus, make sure you let me know what kinds of memories they bring home!
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