there was a time when – if it existed – I had it. At first it was easy to keep up with technology. There just wasn’t that much of it, and I had disposable income. We had TV VCR, stereo, and car stereo. It was rough for a minute when CDs came out because it was frustrating to merge a record collection and CD collection. The switch was eventually made, though and all was well. I was one of the first people I knew to have a home computer and later to get on the internet. I was an early owner of a cell phone and a Pal Pilot. But then ipods came along and confused me. To this day I don’t own an Apple products. I’m really not sure why.

Anyway – I have a PC, a laptop, and a netbook. I made the switch to smart phones and eventually Android very early. I was texting before I had hardly anybody to text TO. I use swype typing and voice services to make my phone hands free. I have been tweeting since day 1.

See? Ahead of the curve in some ways. But painfully not in others. While I was chasing all this communication technology and social media, my home media technology fell behind. My TVs are dinosaurs with big protruding backsides and deficient in modern hookup thingies. i don’t know the difference between plasma and LCD tvs. I don’t understand Blu Ray And mp3 is taking down CDs and I have no plan B.

My phone does play mp3s however, I just need to learn how to get music onto it. If I understand correctly, streaming video will eventually take the place of of dvd AND Blu Ray so there’s probably no rush to get into that game either.

But what about TV? O dpm

t watch much so it’s understandable that it has been neglected, but also – they’ve been out of my price range since the newer technologies kind of coincided with my becoming a parent. High prices plus less disposable income don’t make a good pair. But I have noticed prices dropping lately and have found situations where I could buy TWO Samsung Tvs for the price that I would have paid for one a few years ago.

Whether these price drops are part of the normal decline in pricing of technology when the newness wears off, or a sign of the recession times, I don’t know. Probably both. Either way it looks like this is the perfect time to upgrade my big old TVs.

We have good days and bad days in our household. I imagine that’s the same for most families. Sometimes the only thing to bring us out of our funk is a family movie night.

It doesn’t matter how mad or pouty any of us get – we never turn down snacks. Without being asked, the moment my daughter realizes we’re headed for a fmily night she begins prepping the living room – moving candles, making room for place settings, getting plates, napkins, drinks, etc.

The snacks soften our mood but still might not be very talkative. That’s where the movie comes in. It talks to us and for us. And makes us laugh. That’s the biggie. My favorite movie for breaking the ice is “RV” with Robin Williams.

The family is drifting apart- disconnecting. They were supposed to go on vacation in Hawaii but because of Dad’s work, they end up taking a family trip in an RV instead. Robin Williams is hilarious and so is the rest of the cast. You won’t believe some of the messes they get into. He is sneaking and doing work behind his family’s back, they run into some crazy stalker travelers, and suffer so many bumps, crashes, and wrong turns that there is no amount of RV repair that can get that rolling turd back on the road.

Yes, I said “rolling turd.” You’ll have to see it to understand why- but I will just say that that is the part that I can always count on breaking down everyone’s walls and bringing us back together. Not only because of the actual content, but also because we now have memories of having shared it before and the warmth associated with it.

Movies are powerful – in good ways and bad. Watch more like this and you’re bound to have lots of laughter together. We need that to get us through the tougher stuff in life. What’s your favorite shake if off/bring the family back together movie?

So we’ve been in school for just over a month now and I think we’re going to make it. Grades are good, attitudes are good. My son never has trouble with friends and that seems to be the case this year, as well. If you remember from earlier posts, it is my daughter I was really worried about this year. 11 years old, just starting middle school, trying to perfect her personal style. As a rule, she never feels like she fits in anywhere. This year might be the start of something good though.

Over the summer she was dabbling in terms like “emo” and “goth.” And there was one instance a couple weeks ago where someone called her an “emo freak.” We had that terrible summer though, with the death of my Father in Law and then my Son spending all summer in the hospital, so naturally she wasn’t feeling chipper. But as we got back into some normalcy at home, she became less withdrawn and less insistent on wearing only black. She is becoming bright and cheerful again, and I doubt she is still drawing negative attention to herself.

She has done some soul searching and has realized that she doesn’t necessarily only like the dark gothy clothes, she just doesn’t like the pink girly girl stuff. I hated pink when I was a kid. I love it now. She says she will never change to that extent, but is opening up to the possibility that we just have not been able to find any girls clothing stores that appeal to her. It’s my fault really. I dolled her up in princess pink and purple all these years, and even as she has started developing her own style and rebelling against my shopping choices, I never really ventured out of our usual stores.

Recently she has been dropping names of different stores that her friends have told her about and she is looking forward to checking them out and perfecting her look, which she describes as Not girly. Not glam for sure. But sporty. Hoodies and such. And skateboard styles.  It’s funny to me. Because she is 11 and that seems like still a baby to me! But then I think back to 11 – and 6th grade – I thought I was grown! It does me good to remember that and go back to those times because I am much more sympathetic to her issues. Sixth grade was really hard. I remember. Do you?

Both of my kids have aged out of the dress up phase, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of dramatic play all together. The costumes may be gone, but we still have pretty close to any classroom supply of school furniture, tools, and accessories. They use them to play…. duh… school!

They never announce “Hey! Let’s play school!” I don’t even think they realize they’re doing it. But when they have homework- especially if my youngest has it and my oldest doesn’t -they just morph into character. To make the whole process of doing homework less miserable, of course. They get situated in a classroom like setting, get all the school supplies, and get to work. The oldest checks the work of the youngest and gives her praise for good work done.

Now let me say right there – that my kids don’t get along. They don’t encourage one another UNLESS some outside source is involved, then they become protective. So to see them interacting in such a positive way makes me very happy. The bonus is that with them working together on homework, it lets Dad and me off the hook.

My kids have been doing role play since they were very young. Right after the adoption – when the kids were 4 and 7 – our therapy included play therapy. The therapist used it to get the kids to open up, and to help us build bonds that we missed out on, having not been together in those early years. So for them to continue to use it even older in life makes sense.

I remember when I was a kid when I was cleaning the kitchen and doing dishes I used to pretend that I had my own kitchen show and I talked about cooking and cleaning tips to an imaginary camera. Or audience, I guess. ANYTHING to make the stupid job more fun. Have you ever used role play to make something more enjoyable. (Keep it G rated!!!) Do your kids?

Guest post written by Pheobe Watson

It seems like I’m always having people over entertaining them at my home for a number of various reasons. I know that over the next couple of months all those little visits from guests are just going to keep increasing, so I need to make sure that my home is always ready for that. Having my home be presentable, in my opinion, includes having some really cute seasonal decorations.

I wanted to get a head start on the season’s decorations before my sister’s coming and visiting in a few weeks, so I did some research online for it with my Tampa wireless internet.

I found all kinds of ideas for fall table decorations and decided to go with something that I’d be able to use next year too. I found a way to preserve real leaves in wax and created a wreath to lay on the table with orange and cream colored candles inside of it. Understated, yet seasonally appropriate. When it comes to seasonal decorations, I like to make sure that they fit in with the look of the rest of my decor, just a cool version of it.

When my basement flooded in 2006, drowning a village of Polly Pockets and ruining my home office, I took the opportunity to move my office upstairs so that I wasn’t so separated from my family when I worked.  You would think that getting away from the fam would improve productivity but no. When I was downstairs they forgot about me and went wild. When I am upstairs they remember to behave. So I thought I’d give it a try. I shoved everything in an armoire in the corner of the living room so that when I am not working I can shut the doors on the cabinet and have the illusion of order and beauty. Opening those doors though – it was quite the opposite inside.

I overestimated its storage power of the armoire and didn’t consider how much space would be taken up by wires, modems, routers, and such. It gets really hot in there which slows my PC down. I also have trouble with my speakers because the wires are all tangled up with all the other wires rendering them unable to be moved around where I need them. They’re constantly falling down and in the way.  What would be nice is something like a set of wireless home theatre system speakers that I could mount up high – they would be out of the way and produce the best sound. The “tinny” sound of my speakers grates on my nerves sometimes so that will be a nice improvement to the office space. Maybe I will ask for that for Christmas. =)

I did break down and buy a wireless printer which has been awesome because it eliminated a few wires and increased functionality with the PC AND the netbook. I really can work from anywhere in or around the house now with the wireless netbook and printer.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with these piles of notebooks.

Where is your home office? Is there something you love about it that makes your work day especially enjoyable and efficient?

This might sound odd but I have never been much for flowers. As a kid I would throw a fit if Mom tried to make me wear a shirt with flowers on it. For a short time I had a floral comforter that made me itch all night because I felt as though my skin was crawling with bugs from the flowers. I appreciate the sentiment behind roses, but I don’t find them particularly beautiful. The landscaping around my house consists of clean lines of neatly trimmed greenery and assortment of particular flowers. Day lilies, Asters, Gerber daisies, Purple Cone flowers, Clematis… these are all lovely and make me smile. But still I prefer my hens n chicks, herbs, and tomato plants. In fact, if I had my way, my home would be landscaped in herbs, vegetables, and succulents. How fun and tasty would that be?

My favorite plant was discovered while staying with a friend in San Francisco. Jade. I was immediately drawn to it when I saw it potted all over the house. I tried to smuggle some home but it didn’t survive much beyond the trip. I later learned it was often referred to as a money tree or a friendship tree. Succulents, such as Jade, retain water. That made sense to me too, since I am very comfortable and soothed around water, rain, waterfalls, rivers, and so on.

About 15 years ago my house was filled with plants. I went through a spell of having lost a lot of people and receiving lots of funeral plants … peace lilies, ficus, umbrella tree… I loved them all.  After the adoption, though, my time and organization no longer had room to care for so many plants so I gave them away to new homes. We have had a tough 8 years getting to know one another and nurturing the kids to health – never taking time to smell the roses – more specifically to even notice that there was nothing “living” or “flowing” through the house. I notice now and I don’t like it. I have a vision of filling up some spots with succulents and succulent arrangements but so far haven’t been able to find just what I want. I bet I could get what I needed from a custom flower delivery place, but that might be pricey. I’m still working on it.

It’s a gloomy rainy day today and I just thought for a second that it’s a weird day to have been inspired to write about flowers. But seeing how it brought me around to craving some water holding succulents in my home, I guess it makes perfect sense!

How about you? Is your thumb green? How do you direct the energy traveling in your house? What makes your house feel like a home?