Those were the days

I know I'm obsessed with technology, and Thing 1 seems to be following in my footsteps where that's concerned. He would spend all day, every day, in front of the computer if given the chance. Of course, I can hardly criticise. You know, pot - kettle and all that. Often dragging him away from the computer means grunts, grumbles and 10 year old attitude. The plus side of his attachment to the little white laptop is that we have the perfect punishment on the occasions that the need arises.

But today, today things have been different.

Today Thing 1 has had a friend over. This friend comes from a normal household. One where they don't all sit around tweeting, Facebooking and blogging. OK, perhaps normal wasn't the right word to use in this instance, but you get my meaning.

Today the kids played like we used to. They played outside, kicked balls, jumped on the trampoline, rode ripstiks. They even played nicely with the little kids. They played board games (classics like Monopoly and Battleship). There was no unnecessary yelling. There were no fights. There was laughter and smiles. And all this time the tv was off.

It was bliss. Pure bliss.

Now I'm desperately trying to find a way to make "play like the kids in the olden days" a regular occurrence. I'm thinking there will be many more play dates with this particular friend, or I'll have to find a way to clone him. Unless any of you are specialists in genetics I'm thinking the first option is all I've got.

I wonder what sort of miracles he can produce if he sleeps over? I'll be sure to let you know when that happens. 

I have to admit, I'm sometimes a bit hesitant to host play dates because they're often more trouble than they're worth, depending on the child. Are you a happy play date host? Or does the idea of other people's children chill you to the bone?

Of Mice and Men

I have a confession to make. Gadgets are not my only obsession. I know, you'd never believe it, right? 

Who am I kidding? More obsessions just means more ways to avoid tackling the housework. Yay for me! I think the weirdest thing is probably that my obsessions aren't at all related to each other. This obsession is mice. OK, OK, I see where you're going with this. Not that kind of mouse, this one has nothing to do with technology. Rather, in particular two special mice, and their associated counterparts.

Yes, I am a Disney fanatic. Admittedly, not as much as some others I know, but I'm fairly sure more than most people would consider healthy. I have been to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, needing to buy more luggage to bring toys souvenirs home each time. I also have friends who visit one or the other parks often who spoil me with goodies. 

With Thing 2 and Thing 3 at daycare I did some tidying up. Of course, I was only doing that because I was avoiding doing some work. Amongst my AFS* filing system was one such shipment of goodies from Walt Disney World, and something else that I'd been putting off doing. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity to avoid both housework and work, I grabbed what I needed and headed to the car.

Ten minutes later the job was done. We had joined the ranks of those irritating people who put stupid stickers on their cars. 

Introducing, my family.

 P.S. Oh My Goodness! Whilst searching for images I came across these. What were the odds?

*Any Flat Surface

Derailing the train of thought

Do you have a morning routine? Do you find when you're getting ready to leave the house that you have to do things in a particular order? I know I do. If I don't follow my usual routine something is always forgotten. If I get interrupted in the middle of my bathroom routine (teeth/moisturiser/hair) I will inevitably forget to do one of those things. Or I'll forget to go back and put my watch on, which will drive me nuts for the rest of the day. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not totally obsessive about the way I do things. I think it's more that early in the morning my brain is a bit "wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead", and any alteration to routine can't be processed. You know how your GPS gets upset if you don't go the way it tells you to? Then you get the cranky "recalculating" speech?  I guess my mornings are a bit like that. If I take the left fork instead of the right, the rest of my day can go totally pear-shaped. Alright, that may be a slight exaggeration but it can cause some hiccups along the way.

This morning was one of those days. Fortunately for the general public, it wasn't brushing my teeth or using deodorant that was forgotten. I even remembered to pack Thing 1's lunch for school. No, it was far, far worse than that. I'm just very grateful that I was only doing the school run then coming back home. There could have been tragic results otherwise.

You see, I left my iPhone at home. I know! I can hear your shocked responses from here! I may as well have left one of the kids at home. In fact, I think I might have been more comfortable if I'd left the house without pants. 

Thing 3 had been playing with my phone and had put it down somewhere other than its usual place, so I didn't pick it up on the way out the door. That hour I was without my lifeline was the longest hour of my life. The stress knowing I couldn't text, or tweet, or update my Facebook status was almost too much to bear. I just thank goodness that I don't do Foursquare. Knowing I couldn't check in to my coffee shop would have tipped me over the edge!

Luckily, I made it home without incident. And there was my phone, sitting contentedly on the coffee table where Thing 3 had left it. Phew! That was a close call. I can't imagine the consequences had I been out for the entire day!

Are you like me? Is there something that you absolutely can't leave the house without?

Meet the family

No, I'm not talking about the kids and the dog. Although these family members are almost as important as those ones (just don't tell them I said that!).

I'm talking about my toys. OK, my family's toys. They make me share :-/

Let's start from the bottom and my very first, and most treasured, item of Appley goodness. An iPod 4th Gen U2 Special Edition 20gb. It has a shiny black front with a red Clickwheel which looks fairly smart. But it's the stainless steel back, laser-etched with the band members' signatures that's really cool. I remember seeing it in an Apple Store catalogue at work one day in late-2004 and I nearly fell over at its price of near $500. That didn't stop me leaving the catalogue open on my boss's desk with a sticky note alluding to the fact that Christmas was coming and that perhaps a bonus may be in order. To my shock, he came up with the goods!

We have 2 4th Gen iPod Nanos.

One 3rd Gen iPod Touch, one 4th Gen iPod Touch.

One iPhone 3GS, one iPhone 4.

You'd think that would be enough. No, of course it's not!

There's also a 2006 MacBook, and my newish toy a 2010 13" MacBook Pro.

And finally, a 64gb iPad. 

There's also a Dell notebook but that's barely worth mentioning ;-)

Now, just to keep my blog totally on topic, I have to confess that all of these items have screens that need cleaning, and the laptops need dusting. But you wouldn't expect any less, would you?

I did say my obsession was unhealthy. Looking back at that inventory it seems I may be in need of some professional help. Although, iPad 2 is coming soon. And really, let's be serious, you never know when a girl might need one, right?

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I am a mum who has an unhealthy obsession with just about anything computer related. I love techy gadgets, social networking, and other kinds of geeky goodness. Especially anything that comes to us from Cupertino, CA with a picture of a piece of fruit on it.
 

I hate housework, and the above obsession gives me the perfect distraction from doing all the domestic things that I should be doing. Unfortunately with tiny humans in the house, even the most fastidious of housekeepers would feel like they were shoveling the path while it was still snowing, trying to keep the house in a state fit for human habitation. That means that I occasionally have to drag myself away from my beloved MacBook Pro to wash clothes, sweep floors, and scrub toilets. My 2 yr old, Thing 3, has never seen an iron. At least, not in my house. I'm fairly sure we still own one... I love that my washer and dishwasher have 2 hour cycles - they give me the perfect excuse to just have a quick look at Twitter or Facebook while I'm waiting for them to finish. Surely you don't expect me to use that time constructively? Oh, I should probably mention at this point that I am also terribly lazy.

Then there's cooking. I hate it almost as much as ironing. I can do it, and I'm reasonably capable, but I hate it. Fortunately the Universe was on my side around 16 years ago when it led me to The Chef, who soon become my husband. Clearly I knew when I was onto a good thing. No doubt The Chef had no idea what he was in for when he proposed. The Chef is also a terrible enabler of my obsession. He will say to me "Just go and buy it!", which is awesome, but since I'm the Minister for War & Finance in our household I know it's not possible. It sucks to be so responsible sometimes.

What's your obsession? How's your motivation towards housework? My guess is, if you're reading blogs right now, that you're either one of those annoying people who get stuck into it to get it out of the way, or your house has gone to hell in a hand basket while you drink coffee and stuff around on the interwebs. 

Now, it's time for me to put another load on so I can return to sit on my rear for another 2 hours...