I hate cats. I'm not an animal person in general, but I especially could do without cats. The great thing is that my husband shares an equal disinterest in furry felines and so I'll never have to worry about having one in my home. Even better, our mutual hatred has spawned quite a bout of conniving and trickery. Take for example the birthday cake I bought him the first year we were hanging out together...
and the t-shirt I made him a few years ago for Christmas which reads, "Real Men Love Cats."
Pretty much anything ugly or ridiculous merchandised to cat-lovers is fair game to sneak into a family gathering. And what my husband doesn't know yet? I've indoctrinated the children! How long before he figures out it's no coincidence his birthday cards, Father's Day cards, and "Daddy, I just love you so I bought a card" cards are decorated in cats wearing frog costumes or cute kitties mewing with hearts around their heads?
For more ideas on exactly the kind of images that make us vomit, and hence are fair-game for the next hideousness to make it's way into our home, check out these cats.
I started this blog four years ago, then quit this blog for a long time (like, years). Then this year rolled around and something exploded! Not only did I brush the cobwebs off of this address, I dove head-first into a world of new blog endeavours. Here are the cyberspace locales where you can keep an eye on me...
Wandering Still-That's here, so of course you know already know a whole heck of a lot about me.
6 In the Kitchen-A cooking blog project with my sisters where we share our VERY different tastes.
A Local Wander-My passion in progress. After a little re-tooling, it's going to be a contributor-oriented Utah activities blog. If you live in Utah, or visit here, I want to hear from you!
Eating the Nibbly Bibs-My newest project sharing my experiences at home preschooling and following the book Teaching Your Children Joy.
I'd love to have you check these out and let me know what you think!
We've all seen it-People out in blogworld playing a little game of A-Z. There are lots of variations, but the idea is always the same: Starting at the beginning of the English alphabet, work your way through to Z, sharing little snippets of yourself along the way. In the past I've had little interest in jumping onto the bandwagon, but something in my mind recently said, "Hey, go ahead and give it a try!" So for as long as it takes me to get through the 26-letters, here is A-Z, Wandering Still-style...
My last name growing up started with double-A's. Aa. I loved ALWAYS being the first name called on the roll-call list. No waiting around or worrying that I'd quit paying attention and miss someone calling my name. I had no sense of humor for substitute teachers cleverly trying to "switch things up" by calling out names in reverse, starting with "Z". No one else was buying it were they? If I were a Wilson or a Van Wyk or a Young I'd probably have been annoyed because I wasn't used to being first and so I did just miss you calling my name...
My married name is a good-ol' middle-of-the-alphabet name. Not too far in to bore me, but enough in that I have to stay on my toes. But,as I sit here thinking about it, there aren't a lot of moments in adult life that call for a long line of attending names to be called out in succession, are there?
Huh. Glad I had my double-A name back when it meant something.
I was contacted recently to review a new animated video project by Sun Swing Media, and though I've tried not to turn this blog into a commercial venue, I appreciate what they're trying to do and agreed to share their concept and my thoughts with you.
The concept is to take a previously published story from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' children's magazine, The Friend, and produce simple animations of the story for parent's to download and share with their families. The creator's are hoping to provide simple entertaining animations with a clean and positive message.
The first video Sun Swing Media has completed is "The Decision." The story follows three boys walking home one day, happening upon an inappropriate magazine, and their reactions as they decide what to do with it. The animation itself reminded me of the "Home Star Runner" animation clips. And at about 4 minutes long, it's short enough to keep children's attention.
I love the idea behind these videos. My little boy is 4 and loves getting his Friend magazine in the mail each month. These videos will be a great supplement to the stories he sees in there. If you're not familiar with the Friend magazine, don't be scared away. The intention is to produce animations of topics that our kids are encountering in their lives today.
I'll be upfront with you. I did not show "The Decision" to my little boy. I agree that we need to be open with even our small children about the threats awaiting them in the world. I don't feel, however, like he needs to be introduced to words like pornography quite yet. For children at the higher end of the target audience, though, (6-10ish) the video does deal with the subject tastefully and appropriately. Also, the creators are honest about not being screenwriters. The dialogue pretty closely follows the story, but I don't feel like the simple animation style necessarily lends itself well to the depth of emotion the creators were striving for.
Would I buy this video for download? For the $1.00 price tag, absolutely! Not because this particular video was 100% captivating, but because I know that as Sun Swing Media produces more and more videos, the quality will become better and we NEED more child-friendly entertainment options available for our families.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this video or anything else you want to share about the media options available for children today!
*Sun Swing Media, while having permission to work with stories from a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints publication, is an independent production company and not an official representative of the church.
