Product Endorsement

I read a bunch of message boards that have Moms on them, and sometimes I get useful information from them. Recently, there was a thread on recycling that sort of veered off course, and eventually got on the topic of the environment. One of the more "crunchy" Moms mentioned that she uses Charlie's Soap for all her laundry. I kind of skimmed by it, because I have a front loader washing machine, and that takes the HE version of most laundry detergents.

But more and more people started raving about Charlie's Soap, so I went and read up on it. It can actually be used in HE machines, because it's water soluble and low sudsing. A bag of the powder soap can do 80 loads (1 Tbsp per load) - I ordered 2 bags to try.

So far, so good. I find myself wondering why they don't have dishwashing powder.

The Massage Chair

I forgot that I took this in Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens n Things or
whatever store it was.

Advertising

I know I talk about Luke a lot, but he's my little sidekick these days - since he's not in preschool anymore.

We were in Linens n Things the other day, and they have this chair thingy that you strap onto any chair, and it will massage your back. We've been in LNT a lot lately getting stuff for the new house, and he always likes to sit in it, play with the controls, and giggle uncontrollably.

This particular day, he finally talked me into sitting in it to try it out. It was really weird at first, but you get used to it. It's actually a pretty strong massage.

Here's the conversation:

Luke: Mama you should really get one of these!
Me: (looking at the price) No, I don't need one. It's really expensive - $150.
Luke: You can get some extra cash with the Gold Kit, then you can buy it.
Me: The what? What is the Gold Kit?
Luke: You know, you get all your broken gold stuff and send it in for extra cash.
Me: OK, where did you hear about that?
Luke: On the TV.

Does advertising work? Just did! LOL!

The other night I was loading the dishwasher, and I was having trouble opening the little packet with the Electrasol tablet. Luke stands there watching, and I finally drop it in the container in the DW.

Luke: Mama! Where did you get that? It cleans dishes FAST, with the red ball!

All those advertising catch phrases definitely stick with him.

What boys do at the park

Luke and I went to the Post Office today (they don't take debit cards), then we rode around Heath, pop. 5500.  That took about 2 minutes, so I decided to take him to the park.  He got in trouble at the kindergarten roundup last night, so I'm seeing if burning off energy will help adjust his attitude.

He found a stick, of course ("the coolest stick ever, Mom!") and he is destroying some brush with it.

I hope he never notices the creek that runs behind the park.




Sent from my iPhone

Bye Bye Round Rock

As of some time today, we no longer own a house in Round Rock. The mobile notary came to our house yesterday, and we signed all the paperwork. It was supposed to be overnighted to the title company, and the rest of the closing was today.

I'm monitoring our bank account to see when our proceeds will show up. :)

Kindergarten is not ready for this

I just got back from registering Luke for kindergarten in the fall.

He starts on August 25. I should have him count the days until he starts.

God Bless Texas

When I was growing up in Mississippi, we studied Mississippi state history exactly twice. We did a unit in the spring of 5th grade year, where we had to assemble a booklet about the state. And we had to take a semester course on Mississippi history in the 8th grade. I had THE WORST teacher ever for my 8th grade course of MS History - he was a junior high girls basketball coach, and teaching was his side job. I'm pretty horrified at the thought that's he's a headmaster of a small private school in the Delta now....

But back on topic. In TEXAS, they start in on the state history in preschool. That's right, PRESCHOOL. My kids first studied the state as 3 year olds, and they have studied it every year since then. 1 week in preschool where they learned all the state symbols and had a Texas rodeo at the end of the week. 1 week in kindergarten and 1st grade, 2 weeks in 2nd and 3rd grades, and Cameron says "like a month" in 4th grade. She's currently doing a homework project - a study of Stephen F. Austin. She was asking me how much I had studied Mississippi history, and I told her - not nearly as much as you've had to study the great state of Texas.

They fly the Texas flag here everywhere. Some places even omit the USA flag and fly just the Texas one. The bigger, the better, too. People drive around with "Native Texan" stickers in their car windows.

We've lived here almost 8 years now, and I just don't get the whole Texas pride thing. But the more my kids are required to study it every single year in school, the more I understand just where it comes from. It's still a bit odd and off-puttin', though.

How many door knocks?

Luke came in while I was watching TV last night. He went in my bathroom for a little while, then he came out and said, "Mama, did you know that there are 28 door knocks in your bathroom?" Well, no I didn't.

Door knocks = knobs

Cass says he also inventoried the door knocks in the kitchen last night, but Cass didn't remember how many there were. I bet if I ask Luke, he'll remember.

At "work" on a Saturday

Butterfly visitor

Luke and I came to Round Rock last night so he could be at his old
preschool for graduation pictures today. They let him stay for the
day while I went to clean the old house. Ms. Sandy made him some
butterfly wings so he could go on the butterfly nature walk with his
class.

Friendly skies

I'm sure that it sucks to be holding an American Airlines ticket at Austin Bergstrom International Airport today. AA has canceled nearly 1000 flights today to comply with FAA inspection rules. The aircraft that they're inspecting is the MD-80. Nearly all of AA's numerous daily flights from Austin to Dallas (and back) are on MD-80s.

I know I'd be annoyed and angry if I was affected by this - but ironically I was on an American Airlines MD-80 in January 2006 when the engine outside my window blew up and rained hot metal down on downtown Austin, causing us to turn around for an emergency landing. I know it wasn't caused by the wiring that's being inspected now, but any close/repeated inspections are good in my eyes.

Still, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near an airport today.

Ms. Beasley

Looks like Ms. Beasley is in lots of trouble. A couple of weeks ago, the FBI came by looking for her. Today it was the Repo man.

Two guys rang my doorbell this afternoon. They were looking for Ms. Beasley. No, I'm not her. No, I don't know if she was a former owner of my house. They were driving a tow truck, and they had all kinds of repo paperwork. I was kind of surprised that they didn't insist/question further - but I was busy closing the door in their faces.

If they catch up with her, Ms. Beasley is gonna lose her ride!

RNFs

Your closest friends can disappoint you the worst.

Rockwall County tax office reminded me of the Sunflower County courthouse.

Lots of stuff has gone missing in the mail since we had our mail forwarded.

Cameron's new SAGE (gifted) teacher is FABULOUS. She's already gone above and beyond for us, and Cameron hasn't even started attending her class yet.

I didn't know there was such thing as a mall without a Gap store.

Cheaters suck.

Last day

Today is Cass's last day at nVidia. He's out in Santa Clara today to do his exit interviews and wrap things up out there.

When he started in May 2000, he was employee #650, so they were in the neighborhood of 500 current employees. In the Austin office, he was the 6th person. They had a tiny suite of offices with 5 rooms, so Cass's hire created a space problem for them. In December 2000, nVidia (sort of) bought out 3dfx, which had a nice office space at Riata in Austin - and they moved there. Eventually, they moved to a different (larger, expandable) space in the same office park. They filled up that space and expanded to twice the size. I think that Austin is in the neighborhood of 300 employees now (Cass will correct that if I'm wrong). Overall, nVidia stands at about 4000 employees worldwide.

Taking the job at nVidia was probably the smartest thing that Cass (and I) have ever done. He's learned a lot, elevated his career, and met some of the coolest people. It's kind of sad to think of the co-workers that he's leaving behind, but we will keep in touch with a lot of people who have become good friends.

I hope that this job move is at least as smart as the last one. :)