Sandy shores here we come. . .

We went to Atlantic Beach, we have never been there before.  We usually go to Oak Island or somewhere close to that.  We chose Atlantic because it is near Beaufort.  Our trip centered around a ghost tour we wanted to do with Big T.  He has been studying NC history and ghosts and lighthouses. The tour we wanted to take was a walking tour through historic Beaufort that would take us right by Black Beards' house.  We ended up not taking that tour because they took Black Beards' house off the tour.  It has been purchased as a private residence.  That was a big let down for us all, we were all looking forward to that.  The tour we did was great though, it was centered around the Webb Public Library building.  It is one of the most haunted buildings in eastern North Carolina.  There have been many paranormal investigations done by professionals, some have been on the Discovery channel.  This building is the only one with an intact basement in the county.  I don't think I got any paranormal pictures but I will have to check once I get them loaded on the computer.  We learned to sword fight, how to load and fire a cannon, and what medical treatments the pirates received on board ship.  This was quite fun and educational too.  We learned about Agnes, the original owner of the property this building was on.  She is one of the spirits that haunts this building.  She is an angry spirit too, she has left marks on several people, including the lady that was our guide. We went into one room "highly" active according to our guide, there she told us the stories of those that had died there and those that had seen Agnes.  Right when we got to a very intense part of the story our guide yelled for emphasis and a very pretty young girl grabbed Sprat.  We all jumped but Sprat was the only one with a close encounter.  I wanted to get a picture of them together but, you know that did not happen.  It was a great tour, we all had fun.

Knitting mysteries. . . .

I went to a used book store today with the family.  This is not a local store so I was excited to see what they had.  I really should have gone by myself.  I could not find what I was looking for but I found something I didn't realize I wanted.  Big T got a book on strange tells of the Civil War, it tells of strange phenemenon during the war.   Big T also got a book on Black Beard, he and hubby are going to share that one.   Sprat got a Mad magazine, I guess he figures he can waste his time till school starts.
I picked up one of my knitting mystery books, "Skein of the Crime" by Maggie Sefton.  I know they have the cookiest names for the books but, I really like the characters.  I have already read, "Knit One Kill Two"  and "Fleece Navidad" and "The Killer Stitch."  These we're really good.
I was looking for the new James Patterson book.  I only found it in hard back.  I guess I will have to wait or check it out at the library.  I have to finish my Jack Reacher first though.

What is everyone reading??????

What has everyone been reading this summer?  I am looking for some new books to read.  I have a little break till school starts and I have to start reading text books.   I am still in my book club but I read this months book so fast I am looking again.  I have one of the "Jack Reacher" books  and I am reading it now, should be finished with it soon.  I enjoyed the distopian books Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  I was not sure I would like them, but they were very interesting.  I read some Maggie Seftin books, they are mysteries that are set around a small town in Colorado.  They are centered around a group of women that knit and crochet.  Each book has a recipe and a knitting pattern.  I loved these.  I may have to pick me up some more of them.  Happy reading to all.

Summer School is done . . .

Took my last test yesterday and class is done.  I did want to share something I found interesting with this class in security.  The last chapter dealt strictly with risk.  It even had one section for social networking, Facebook.  Here are some of the things you need to be aware of, as far as security goes, while using Facebook.  This next part is out of my book, Security + Guide to Network Security Fundamentals, by Mark Ciampa.

"Social Networking sites like Facebook, are popular with attackers for several reasons:"
They provide a treasure trove of personal data.  Your profiles contain employment history, where you have lived, birthdays, spouse and child information.
Users are generally trusting.  Someone joins the network and after several weeks you are sharing most everything with them, including when you are going out of town.  How many times have you seen people post things like, "On our way to the beach for a week, loving life."  I have to say that one I could figure out with out the book.  You think that only your friends can see what you post but, who ever your friends have friended can also see what you post.  I have had people comment on something I posted that I did not even know.
"Consider carefully who is accepted as a friend."  I do not accept people as friends if I do not know them face to face.  Sometimes this is bad because I have a terrible memory and people I went to high school with have tried to friend me and I have not done it because I don't recognize the name or their face.  Attackers pray on this in the hopes that you will think you know them and accept their friend request.  I have had this happen and I know I did not know this person.  I pulled up their profile and they had 3 friends that made me very suspicious so I did not accept the friend request and blocked that person from asking again.
"Disable options and then reopen them only as necessary.  Users should disable options until it becomes apparent that option is needed, instead of making everything accessible and restricting access after it is too late.  Many attackers engage in Facebook scraping by gathering personal information from a user's Facebook site that may appear to be harmless yet may be very valuable."  Here is a good example, if an attacker is trying to steal a password they could very easily find out your challenge password answer to the question, What high school did you attend?"   This course gave a lot to think about.
Per the book, you should limit who knows when you are online, who sees your profile, and pictures.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that we went over for this class but, I thought this needed to be shared.  I want everyone to be safe on the net.

Tax Free Weekend Ending. . . . Really?????

Is tax free weekend really ending?   Did anyone really get that great of a deal during tax free weekend?   I got rather ill last year when I went shopping for school stuff on tax free weekend.  I went to Staples to try and find some notebooks and pencils.   There were a lot of people in there just throwing stuff in their cart and basket.   I was looking at the mechanical pencils and they were like 3 for $5 on a big sign in front of the display.  What made me ill, was the fact that under that big sale sign was a regular price sticker for those same pencils 3 for $2.  I started looking around and checking their other "Sale" signs and their regular price stickers and 6 of 10 were like that.  I put back everything I had picked up and left.  I hate having to go to Walmart but that is where I ended up getting the majority of their school stuff.  I will never go to Staples, that is low down and a crime as far as I am concerned.  I do not agree with ripping off people in the name of tax free weekend.  I will be doing school shopping just like we do everything else, the Dave Ramsey way, with cash.  We did this last year and paid cash for the kids shoes, clothes, and school supplies.   If you have not heard of Dave Ramsey you need to check him out.  You can get his books at the library, The Total Money Makeover or Financial Peace University.  Even if you don't follow everything he says you might get a tip or two from him that will start you on your way to financial peace.  We are paying cash for vacation this year, it is the first for us.  It is quite exciting to think about.

Getting ready for the Beach. . .

We are trying to get ready for the beach.  We have not been on a true vacation in probably two years.  The kids were busy with sports and camps and we didn't really have the money to go.  We decided last year we were going to the beach and we were going Dave Ramsey style.  That's right, our vacation was not going to follow us home.  We started saving last year, a little here and there.  We are also going to make this an educational trip.  We are going to visit a few light houses and see some other historic sights.  Just for Big T we are going to do a ghost tour or two.
It really takes a lot to get a family of four ready for a beach trip.  I guess I had forgotten all the stuff you have to take, all of the just in case stuff.   I remember going to Florida every year when I was little.  My mom packed everything.   Most of the time we drove that 13 1/2 hours, some trips dad would fly us out.  We never flew commercial, dad had his pilots license and he and his business partner shared a plane.   When we drove we left at 4 am.  I never understood that until we drove to Orlando for our trip to Disney several years ago.  I always thought we left that early so we would get in before dark to get the house ready.  I realized on our trip that dad left that early in the hopes that us kids would sleep a good portion of the way.  I have an older brother and an older sister so you can imagine the arguments that would go on when we were cramped in a car for 13 1/2 hours.  Our trip this year will not be near 13 hours but I would still like to leave early.  The new technology makes things a lot easier for parents now.  We have the portable DVD player for the car so our kids are completely entertained for most of the trip.
On our road trips to the beach, once we were awake, we played the alphabet game.  You had to find the letters of the alphabet in order on license plates, billboards, and buildings.  Q was always a problem and Z was not that easy either.  I have taught my kids that game and we play it when ever we are going to be on the road more than 30 minutes.  We also played punch bug.  Our kids play punch bug and cruiser bruiser for the PT Cruisers.   When I was little we played the true "punch" bug, we did not teach our kids to hit each other when they saw one, we just yelled out.  Ahhh the memories. . . .
I hope my kids will remember our vacations and the times we have done things as a family as fondly as I remember my own.  I hope they will pass on some of these little traditions to their kids.  

I found some old camera cards . . .

I found some old camera cards and decided to see what they had on them.  They are from a couple years ago and they have brought back some fond memories.  They covered  spring, summer, and fall for three years ago.  I found Halloween pictures and football pictures, lake pictures and baby pictures of precious Basil.

Mission Camp. . .

Mission camp began yesterday with ground breaking and pot luck and we left Sprat at Church.  They are sleeping at Church and will be working on their project all day for the next week.  Sprat will be running back and forth though because he has football camp in the evenings this week too.  He is really going to be working hard.  Our youth have planned a project for a Labyrinth or a prayer garden type thing in our side yard at the Church.  It is supposed to be a surprise for our Church so shhhhhhh mums the word.   We got to see kind of what it is going to look like last night at the pot luck.   Please keep these kids and the adults in your prayers this week.  A lot of work has already gone into this project and a lot more will go into it this week with the grunt work.

Summer School is winding down. . .

I only have two weeks left of summer school.  I am already trying to figure out which classes I am going to take.  I think I will be taking a criminal justice course in the fall.  It looks like both classes will be online rather than on campus.  I guess that will be good I can do a few things around the house I have been neglecting.   I hope I will be able to handle two online classes.  This summer course has really been kinda crazy.  We have been tackling two chapters a week to get through the text book.  I am not sure I am getting what I need from just looking at power point presentations and reading the chapters though.  I kinda miss that student - teacher interaction and the interaction between students.  I think I have done well according to my grades but I am not sure how much I have retained.  Sometimes hands on is the way to learn.
This next session is going to be more challenging with the criminal justice courses.   I look forward to the challenge though, it keeps me on my toes.  I will be posting more about this in the future.  I hope with my classes I will be able to share some good information to help protect others from the cyber criminals out there.

Scary new thing kids are doing . . .

Dear hubby came home last night and as we all came together for dinner he talked with us about a disturbing new trend he heard on the radio.  This is something that high school and college age kids are doing for fun.  They are taking alcohol (liquor) and pouring it over dry ice then inhaling the vapors.  This sends the alcohol in its' purest form straight to the lungs.  This causes alcohol poisoning and death, sometimes with one attempt.  We talk to our kids about all the dangers of drugs, smoking, drinking and driving but sometimes you really need to talk with your kids about common sense.  I pray every day for my kids safety and that they will make good decisions when we are not around.  If you don't talk with your kids about these sort of things now it might be too late when you think they are ready.  My kids are 13 and 10 and we talk about most things that go on in the news.  We talked about teen suicide when it happened to a doctor friend of my husbands.  I hope that by talking with our kids about everything, that they will feel they can talk with us about anything.
I have said numerous times that I want my kids to be weird, this is what I am talking about.  I want my kids to be the weird ones that walk away from this situation.  I know there are a lot of kids out there that would just follow what ever the crowd is doing.  It is my hope that if I encourage my kids to be weird that they will have the courage to walk away and be weird.  Please talk with your kids about drugs, everyday there is something new the kids are doing to get high.  Our kids need to know so they are able to just walk away.

Approximately five weeks till school starts. . .

School starts in about five weeks.  How are you keeping your kids brains working this summer?  I have been a bit slack this year about encouraging them to read and making them do educational stuff.  They have been busy with camps and going to the pool so they have not been completely lazy.  I am afraid their brains may be turning to mush though.   We have been having good dinner conversation about world events and we are going to use our vacation as a learning experience.  We hope to check out a few lighthouses while we are at the beach and visit a few other historical spots along the way.  What are you doing to keep your kids brains from going to mush this summer?  I would love to hear your ideas.

Dr. Pepper Cake. . .

I saw this post on Facebook about  a Dr. Pepper cake.  I decided I would make it for Big T to celebrate him making it the whole week at camp this year.  His favorite soda is Dr. Pepper.  Here are the ingredients:  yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup oil, 1 box vanilla pudding, and 10 oz. Dr Pepper.  Combine all ingredients and pour in a bunt pan and bake 350 for 1 hour.  Prepare a glaze with 1 cup of powdered sugar a teaspoon of vanilla and enough Dr. Pepper to make a thin glaze.  The cake looks good and came out fine.  The glaze I am not sure about.  I poured it over the cake and usually a glaze you can see after you pour it over but this one disappeared.  Now the picture that was with this post was of a Dr. Pepper can sitting beside a piece of this supposed cake.  The cake in the picture was chocolate and covered in chocolate icing.  The cake I made looks quite simple compared to the one in the picture.  I think the recipe may have called for nuts but, since my kids do not like nuts I did not use them.  I guess you should be careful about getting recipes off of Facebook because they may be a lot different looking when you fix them than their pictures appear.   I knew it would not be a chocolate cake and I knew the glaze would not be chocolate because there was no chocolate in the recipe what I cannot figure out is why post a picture of a chocolate cake?  Here is a picture of what the Dr. Pepper cake really looks like.

I have no doubt it will be good but I am afraid my kids may not like it  Until we eat again. . .

Life is back to normal. . . . ha ha ha ha ha. . . .

What is normal, exactly?  I don't think my house has ever been normal and I am ok with that.  My house is clean it is not neat or orderly.  I have two wild and crazy boys so I have at any time during the day at least 3 pairs of shoes in my living room floor (none of which are mine).   I have at least 4 sweatshirts hanging by the front door.   I always have laundry just waiting to be washed and also waiting to be folded and put away.   I have magazines stacked in the floor that I want to read and don't have time.  I have bags of yarn laying around to knit and crochet prayer shawls, scarves, and dish cloths.  I have books stacked on my stairs going up to the boys bedrooms.  These are books we read and look at during the day and before bed.  I have at least 3 Bibles and 3 different devotional books on my coffee table in my living room.  I have 3 computer security text books in the floor by my end tables in the living room.  We are book loving family.  We all have our own taste in books and of course have a plethora to choose from around the house.
I guess what I am saying is my house is no neat and is no show place.  We live here.  I do not want to live in a museum and I don't want my kids to grow up that way.  Yes, I wish my house were more neat and orderly but, I would rather spend time with my kiddos than clean my house.  I guess when they go back to school I will have to get to cleaning.   Some say, hire a cleaning lady.  I would have to clean my house before I let anyone in to clean.  That kinda defeats the purpose of a cleaning lady.  
For now both boys are back home and the craziness resumes.    We will have a week of down time and then the following week starts football camp and mission camp.  Sprat will get to participate in mission camp this year and he is really excited about it.  Check back for updates on mission camp.

Big T comes home. . .

Big T came home from camp.  I was so excited that he was able to stay the whole week.   We had two phone calls at the beginning of the week but none after that.  I was so relieved, I told my hubby that it was either they got tired of calling or he was walking home.  I have to make jokes or I would just spend all of my time crying.   Big T is the baby and this is the first time he has been this far away from home and for this long. I think he had a good time and I think the phone calls were just over reactive on the part of the nurse.  Big T is a very sensitive child.  He cries at sad movies, commercials, and Amazing Grace.  He is just like me when it comes to these things.    Dear hubby says he will be 38 and still living in our basement.  I don't think it will be that bad, but in his defense I did not want to leave home either.   I see a lot of myself in Big T and his blooming personality.
He did have a bit of a tummy problem while he was there.  Funny, how the nurse never mentioned he had tummy trouble.  That is something I would have liked to have known.  They gave him some medicine and now he has the other end of the spectrum.  My kids do not react well to medicine, again they get that from me.
I asked Big T if he was ever really miserable at camp?  He said, only one day and then he got over it.  I think he was sad when they had down time.   He also said they sang Amazing Grace at camp fire and that was enough to do him in.   I am so glad he is home.  Now both boys are downstairs fighting over the X box.  ahhh things are back to normal.

Neat things you can do for your kids. . .

I saw this on Facebook, so it is not mine.  Each year write a letter to your child and put it in an envelope also add a little money to your envelope.  When they graduate high school give them the letters.   A great gift of what you were thinking about when they were growing up and some cash to boot.  Even though my kids are older I still think I may do this.
I don't remember where I saw this one.  On February 29th get your kids to write down what they think they will be like in four years.  They should also write what they think they will be doing in four years too.  Put these in an envelope and they open them on the next Leap Year.    I did this one last year cannot wait to give it back to them.
If your kids are young do a time capsule for them.  Put in things that are relevant today and write down popular songs, popular movies, things they have done, pictures of them and you, money from this year, a note to them on your hopes and dreams for them, make a note of what things cost.  I did this for Sprat when he was a baby we sealed it on his first birthday and I am going to let him open it when he turns 20.  I am ashamed to say I did not do this for Big T.  I know, bad mommy, Big T has second child syndrome.
I saw where someone posted to buy a book, a kids book like a Dr. Seuss and have each one of your child's teachers write a note in it to them.  Then give them the book  when they graduate high school.  I did not do this one, quite frankly I am not sure Sprat would want to know what his teachers would write about him.
Have a water balloon fight with your kids to commemorate the last day of school.  I did this several years ago with my kids.  We had a blast, they loved soaking me with the water balloons and chasing each other all over the yard.   Sometimes it's good for you to be a kid too.
AC Moore and Michael's stores sell, make your own stepping stone kits.  Those are fun to do and great to put in your garden or flower beds.  We made some a couple of years ago for each child and put their hand prints in it and their initials.  They had a blast and I have some pretty decorations in my flower bed.

Husbands and relationships. . .

I have seen previews for the Bridezilla marriage bootcamp program, I have not ever watched it and don't plan on watching it.  This weeks previews prompted a good question.  Their dilemma according to the previews is each couple must decide if there is only one seat in a life raft which one of them will get it?  I thought that was an intriguing question for a married couple.  I decided I would have a little fun with my hubby.  I sent him a text asking; "there is only room in a life raft for one of us what would you do?"    He replied back saying, "hang on the outside and tread water."   I asked him which one of us would do that?   He said, "me in the raft."   I thought that was so sweet.   I told him I was thinking the same thing only him in the raft and me treading water.  I am much better at treading water than he is.  I do it all summer long with the kids at the pool.   He sent back another text and said we could alternate in and out of the raft.   We have been married 20 years now and I love him more and more every day.  I keep him on his toes.
From what I have seen of the previews for the show these couples do not see things this way.   They just don't get it.  You have to sacrifice when you love someone and you have to compromise when you love someone.  Marriage is always a work in progress, it is a living organism and it requires constant love, nurturing, and attention.   These shows you see on TV, the so called "reality" shows are anything but reality.   Most people know this but there are some that follow these as the truth.
Ladies throw some crazy in on your men every now and then to keep them guessing.   Ask them this question and see how they respond.   Make up your own question and see how he responds.  I would love to hear your questions or comments about how things turn out.  Good Luck!!

Great afternoon with Sprat. . .

Spent the day with my oldest yesterday.  I had a dentist appointment and that got us started.  After the dentist, it is off to the MALL, yes I said it MALL.  The mall and a teenage boy don't usually go together well.  We were looking for a bathing suit for our beach trip.  They were having a pretty good sale so we picked up some shorts and shirts too.  Did not find a bathing suit.  All of the suits had a velcro fly and Sprat just did not like that.   We looked at shoes but the sale was not that good.   After the mall it was off to grab a quick bite to eat and then to the barber.  Sprat got his hair all fixed up for the rest of the Summer.  Then it was home, boy was I beat.  It is exhausting picking out clothes for a teenage boy.  It was a good day.  It was so nice to spend it with my son, he is growing in to such a handsome young man inside and out.  You really don't know your kids until you see them interact with other adults in everyday activities.   I am thankful to the good Lord above for these little glimpses in to the person he is molding my son to be.  Blessed.

Am I too strict or is everyone else too lenient???

I know I am pretty strict when it comes to my kids and their behavior but, lately I feel like I have to be.  During the school year my kids come home and get straight to their school work after a good snack though.  They don't go to the TV, video games, or phone until all of their work is done.  That has always been a hard rule in our house.  From the time Sprat started 1st grade there has been these kids in the neighborhood that insist on ringing the door bell to get him to go play as soon as they get home from school.    I told Sprat to tell them he could not play until his school work was done and he had finished his reading.  Everyday the same thing so finally I just set a time limit, that the boys could not come out and play until 4pm. that way these boys would know.  That did not do any good, they still were ringing the door bell as soon as they got off the bus.  Sprat was a straight A student and I was going to keep it this way.   One day Sprat had been grounded and could not go out and play and one of the boys came over and I told Sprat he could go out and tell the boy he could not play.  They went out on the porch and I was taking the trash out.  I was in the driveway and could hear their conversation when, the little boy (3rd grader) told Sprat, "when you are 18 you can tell your parents that you aren't going to take any more of their sh$#."  I just about stroked out right there.  I resisted the urge to go and snatch my child up.  I listened patiently, this is when you find out if you have done any thing right raising your kids.  The moment of truth.. .   Sprat responded by saying, "no, no, no,  I would never talk to my parents that way."  That is all I had to hear and I knew in my heart I had done something right.  I went to the porch and I said, " you are right you would not speak to us that way."   I told the little boy he needed to go home right then.  A few other things happened that year, my driveway was egged and  Sprat was mooned by this little boy while the other neighbor boys watched and laughed.  That was the year I told that little boy he was not allowed at our house again.
I am now the scourge of the neighborhood because not one of the other neighbor boys parents or that boys parents asked why he was not allowed at my house.  Isn't that funny?  If my son had been told that he could not play at someones' house I would call to find out what he had done.  Not one person has asked me what happened.  I am sure there are many rumors going around as to why but nobody has asked me.
Of course Sprat is now a rising 8th grader and we still live around these people and they are still just as ugly and nasty as ever.  The little boy that egged my drive way and mooned my child now is being left by himself at all hours of the night.  I know what my kids are capable of  and I know that I cannot leave them alone for more than thirty minutes at the most and certainly not in the middle of the night.  I realize people work and their kids have to be left alone but, being left alone during the day is a whole other thing.   I am very fortunate that my dear hubby has a good job and I am able to be here for my kids but, we do not live like this without sacrifice.  We don't do lavish vacations and we are on a tight budget.  We have not been on vacation in two years but, we are going this year.  My Dave Ramsey plan has kicked in and we have been saving to pay for this trip since last year.   This trip will not follow us home.  That is for a later post.
I would love to hear your opinions on this subject.  I know my friend Beth will post and I thank you Beth for keeping my comments alive.  Even if you have a different opinion than my own I am open to hear what you have to say.  Am I too strict?

Big T and camp. . .

Dropped my baby off at camp yesterday.  I cried on the way home.  I am going to miss him so much this week.  I hope he will be able to stay a week.  He only stayed two days last time and that was two years ago.  My hope is that he has grown and will be able to stay the week.  I am going to miss those bright, happy, big eyes, and that beautiful smile.  He always makes me laugh, even when I am fit to be tied with him.  I hope the weather will hold out.  Cabins, storms and my poor baby do not go together.  A friend from the baseball team is in his cabin and I am so relieved for that.  He will at least know someone there.  They have big plans for them each day and he signed up for wood working, sports, and music for his extra activities.  They have a big slide into the lake and a bouncy thing in the lake to jump off of .  If they can keep him busy I think he will make it.   I did not sleep last night listening to the thunder and seeing the light flash before my eyes.  I know you might think I am being silly but, he has never been away from us this long before.  Please remember him in your prayers.

Book Club. . . Insurgent. . .

New book for the club is Insurgent, the second in the trilogy by Veronica Roth.  I liked the first one, Divergent and I really like Insurgent.  I read it in record time.   It is really one that you cannot put down.  These are all based on Dystopian society.  They are very violent books so if you are the least bit iffy on violence I would not recommend them.  Certain parts of the first one did bother me just a bit but I was able to move on.  I am not sure when the third book is due out, but I cannot wait.  I like these characters they seem like real people.  They battle with their own emotions and their own demons just like anyone has to in life today.  Their demons may be a little more far fetched than what we face but I could relate.  
I don't like the Vampire books or movies, have never been able to get in to those.  I don't like mushy romance novels.  I guess I like the mystery, murder, and gun blazing novels.  I do like a little romance in my gun blazing novels though, just a little.  I don't know if book club will pick the third one to read or not, but I am hooked and will have to read it when it comes out.  I heard that they are making a movie about this series too.  I might have to check that out.

Family Day. . .

The first Saturday we have not had a baseball game or practice in quite a while.  We slept in, well, everyone else did, I never sleep in.  Today we are going and doing things family style.  Dad fixed chocolate chip muffins and Sprat learned how to start his own biscuits in the oven.  We are going to see an early movie, "White House Down."   We are then running errands and later grilling out.  I made some fresh sourdough bread last night.   One of facebook friends gave me her recipe for cinnamon rolls, I may try this one out tonight since we will be home at a decent hour and not traipsing all over the county to play ball.   I will do anything to make my kids happy, with in reason.  I would go to the ends of the earth for my kids but I will not lie, it is exhausting and I do enjoy the down time.  Today we enjoy down time and maybe a good game of dominoes.

Happy Fourth of July. . .

Ok, so today is the 5th, yesterday was crazy.  We had an All Star game for Sprat that lasted for 6 hours, not a good night in baseball for our clan.  We lost in a crazy game.  Kinda glad it is over now we will move on to football.  Sprat has already been attending summer workouts for the middle school and is getting geared up for that.
As a child I used to love the Fourth of July.  We enjoyed cookouts and fireworks and celebrated the Independence of our Country.  Now that I am older I do not like the Fourth as much.  I think people have lost sight of what it means and why we celebrate.  Today it is just a reason for loud, obnoxious people to be more loud and obnoxious using dangerous fire works.  Oh, and let's not forget the alcohol consumption that goes along with the fireworks, because those two go so well together.  My dear hubby heard on the news this morning all the accidents that happened last night because of fireworks.  These were professional fireworks you can only imagine how bombarded the hospital ER was last night by all the "non-professionals" out there.  Hubby said, 28 spectators were injured when fireworks flew into the audience in California, and a 7 year old boy shot in the head walking through a parking lot in Virginia to go to the fireworks display.    The little boy in Virginia is still in the hospital they don't think the shot was intentional.  They think someone was "celebrating" by shooting a gun randomly near the parking lot.
So I am glad to see the Fourth go away.   Unfortunately the fireworks in my area will probably last well into the next two weeks.  They start at 10:30 am with random firecrackers and this will continue until dark when they can start with the bing, bam, boom.    Is it August yet?

Good talk with my oldest. . .

Sprat is 13 and will be in 8th grade next year.  Yikes!!!  Only one year left in middle school.  They do grow up so fast.  Night before last we had a great talk just sitting in the dark, because we were both to lazy to get up and turn on a light.  We talked about school starting and how he will be in high school in another year.  We talked about scary movies and I told him some funny stories about his dad and I when we were first married.  Sprat does not usually want to talk about stuff, he is pretty closed mouthed when it comes to his life.  I have to capitalize on the time I have with him because I feel like that quality convo time is slipping away.  Soon his dad and I will be an embarrassment to him and he won't want to have anything to do with us.
We sat in the dark on the couch and talked for a good hour or so.  My hope is, that should something serious come up, that he will feel comfortable coming to one of us to talk about it.   We talked about people and how some people are pretenders.  Like some people are pretending to be something they are not.  I told him I want him to be the best "him" he can be.   I am so afraid he will get mixed up with the wrong crowd.  There are so many wrong crowds out there these days for kids to fall into.  We talked about how you have to be careful who you hang around with because you could be lumped in to whatever they are doing.  I used the example of vandalism.  There are some kids in our neighborhood that like to be out at all hours of the day and night and do things that they know they are not supposed to do.  I told Sprat if he is seen with them he could be accused of doing some of those very things even though he was not out with them.  My mother always called this "birds of a feather flock together."   It took me 22 years to realize my parents were always right, I hope it does not take as long for my kids.  That does not mean I did not listen to them but, I just was more skeptical about what they said.  My parents saved me from many a heart ache by giving me good advice.

Password protection. . .

Did you know that the average person has 12-17 different passwords to remember?  Our chapter we are working on this week is dealing with account management.  I had to interview three people about their passwords and how they remember them.  Did you know that unless your password is at least 12 characters or longer it is considered weak?  Hackers have programs that use a dictionary to run words to find out passwords.  Here are couple of things to keep in mind when picking your passwords.  Don't use personal information like:  kids names, birthdays, and pet names.  It is not good to use words, even spelled backwards because the dictionary program will run all words forward and backward.   You should also use a password with numbers and characters like:  !, @, $, and upper and lower case letters mixed.  
There are programs that you can download to help you keep up with your passwords.  I was a little skeptical about these.  Part of our work in this chapter we had to download a program like this to try it out.   One of these programs can be found at  keepass.info.  This can be downloaded to a USB so that it is not left on your computer all the time.  I like that feature very much.  Check this site out, they have good information about all of this too.   I like the USB feature because you could keep work and personal passwords together.  The draw back is that if you lost your USB then you have lost ALL of your passwords.   Tip for the day; look at your passwords if they are less than 12 characters consider changing them.   As more and more information moves to the computer we are going to need better security to protect our selves.

Book Club. . . Divergent. . .

We had book club on Saturday night.  We always have a blast.  This group of ladies are the best.  We have a great mix of women younger with young children and older with older children.   To be a diverse group we all get along well and we are not afraid to voice our opinions on any subject.  No shock there I am sure.  This month we read Divergent by Veronica Roth, it was good we all enjoyed it.  We are going to read the second book in this series for next month, Insurgent.  These books are on the Dystopian world after everything falls apart.  At the rate we are going these are looking more and more like a fore shadowing of our fate.  Ahh, but that is for a month of posts.
I enjoyed this book, it is not one I would have picked for myself.  I am glad I read it and I am sure I will enjoy the second one as well.  I personally prefer murder mystery books.  I would recommend this one though, it does have suspense, twists, some romance and mystery.  I like being in a book club because this encourages me to read other things and spread my wings to venture in areas I would not normally go.   So far we have read:  Water for Elephants, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, Wicked, and Divergent.  All good books, I think my least favorite was, The Memory Keepers' Daughter, just because it made me cry so much.    I am also reading Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.   This is in the series that the movie Jack Reacher was based on.  It is good, I have not seen the movie but I think I would like it.
I like to read the books before I see movies.  When I was younger I always heard people say; "oh, the book was so much better than the movie."   Back then, I could not imagine a book being better than a movie, but now I see what they are talking about.   Your books give you more insight into characters that movies just do not have time for.   Sprat seems to be like me on this subject.  He read all of the Hunger Game books and read the first one before he saw the movie.  He agreed the book was much better than the movie.  He is anxiously awaiting the second movie.
I did not like to read when I was growing up, I did not begin to enjoy it until I found my murder mystery books.  The first author I got hooked on was Robin Cook, I think I like him because he wrote medical mysteries.  I am so glad that my kids have found subjects and authors that they enjoy at such an early age.   Both boys love to read and read well above their age level.  The each have very different interests when it comes to reading too.