Won't That Be Nice?!

Right before we moved, I had a few VHS tapes converted to DVDs.  I was afraid the VHS tapes would eventually disintegrate and all those precious memories (like our wedding video) would be lost forever.

One of the gems from that little conversion was the following video.  Some of you may or may not know that when I graduated from college I moved to Houston, TX to teach high school.  While I was there, I went to Second Baptist Church (which is where I met Kevin and got married).  Second is huge - Texas HUGE.  I mean really, really big.  It is a wonderful church and I loved going there.  But did I mention it was really big?  Overwhelming for most people when they visited there.  Not one, but two balconies.  Parking was crazy.  The campus was enormous.  You get the picture.

Well, one day a few singles were sitting around talking as we used to do when we had lots of free time before we had kids and mortgages and soccer practice and carpool duty.  We thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if we made a video poking fun at life at Second Baptist."  Now, keep in mind this video was filmed almost 10 years before youtube ever came along.  And I think that Facebook Zuckerberg guy was still in elementary school.

Disclaimer:  You've always heard it said that the camera adds 10 pounds.  Apparently, this camera decided to add all ten pounds to my face.  Yikes!  Fletcher and Luke saw this video (they think it is hilarious) and they wanted to know how I could make my eyes get that big.

Enjoy!

800

I just realized when I sat down to write today's post that yesterday was my 800th post. 

800 times I've sat down at the computer to write about our boys, our life, our home and all things random. 

Almost 4 years. 

Sometimes I go back and look at the old stuff I wrote. 

I'm so glad I wrote so much of this down.

I hope one day my boys (and their wives and their kids) will enjoy reading about their childhoods. 

Happy 800th post, Snickelfritz Lane!

Now That's A First

Kevin and I have started teaching the college and young singles Sunday School class at our church.  It is a very small group, but we are enjoying being around this age group again.

We invited them over to our house for lunch Sunday.  Kevin made gumbo.  Many of them had never had it before and didn't even know what it was.  After we told them it didn't contain anything weird like alligator or opossum, they were all willing to try it. 

One of the class members is from Nigeria.  He hasn't been in the states very long.  This was the first time he has been invited to an American's house for a "home cooked" meal.  Later he told us that he wasn't sure if he would be able to eat American food.  He thought it might make him vomit.  I had to laugh because I always wonder this same thing when I am in another country eating their food.  I never thought the reverse would be true. 

Since I grew up in Louisiana, I've seen lots of ways people eat gumbo.  Some people put their potato salad in the gumbo.  Some throw in a few eggs and have hard boiled eggs with theirs.  Others put in something called "file" which is dried sassafrass leaves.  Some crumble up saltine crackers.  Others throw on jalapeno peppers.  None of that has ever surprised me.

Until yesterday.

I was doing some stuff in the kitchen and K asked if he could have a banana.  I just figured he wanted some fruit to go along with his meal.  I feed fruit to my kids all the time at almost every meal. 

But I looked up and K had cut up the banana in slices and spread it on top of his gumbo much like one would cut up a banana and put on top of cereal.  Then he ate the whole bowl and said it was absolutely delicious. 

Hmmm.  Sweet.  Salty.  I guess it could work.  But I don't think I will be trying it any time soon.

Not Good

I think Tank is going to need a good lawyer.

Prank Calls

I've done my fair share of prank calls in my lifetime.  Of course, most of that came to a screeching halt once Caller ID was invented.  Caller ID takes the fun out of everything...sometimes. 

Last Monday was Columbus Day and our area public schools had the day off.  Fletcher was at school (since they don't have school on Fridays, they don't take all those Monday holidays).  Luke and I were at home just hanging out doing our Monday stuff like laundry.  Around noon my phone rang.  I didn't recognize the name on Caller ID, but it was a person's name not a business or telemarketing name so I answered it.  After I said "Hello", no one said anything.  Our home phone number is unique in that the last four digits are all the same number (easy for our kids to remember).  However, because those digits are all the same, we get wrong number calls all the time because people dial incorrectly. So I figured it was just a wrong number so I hung up. 

Not even a minute later, the phone rang again.  Same person.  This time when I picked up and said "hello", I heard girls giggling on the other end.  One of them said something like "your butt's on fire".  (I checked, it wasn't.)  It was then that I realized these girls were home from school and bored.  Mom or Dad was probably either at the office or working upstairs not paying a bit of attention to what the kiddos were doing.  My guess is that they were trying to call a friend/enemy of theirs.

Obviously, these girls knew how to dial a phone, but they didn't know about Caller ID. 

They called one more time.  More giggling.  More silly talk that I couldn't understand.  And they hung up. 

I happened to be at my computer.  I'm really not sure what came over me.  If they don't know about Caller ID then they certainly don't know about reverse phone number look up on the computer.  I looked up their number and found their address.  They live in a neighborhood not too far from us. 

They called again.  This is the fourth call in less than 5 minutes.  This time I answered and said in a freaky, menacing voice, "You live at 2204 Magnolia Drive* and I am COMING TO YOUR HOUSE RIGHT NOW!  I am coming to 2204 Magnolia Drive NOW."  I hear them stop giggling and suck all the oxygen out of the room they were in.  Then they hung up. 

I know.  It was so wrong.  I shouldn't have done it. 

I hope they totally freaked out.  I was imagining them cowering in their bedrooms terrified of every car that drove by.  They really were in a bit of a dilemma.  If they told their parents, they would have to admit that they were prank calling people.  If they don't tell their parents, a deranged housewife might show up at their door any minute. 

I think they must have told their parents.  The next afternoon I got a message on my answering machine from a little girl.  This time she was calling from Dad's cell phone.  She said very nervously, "I'm sorry for that calling we did yesterday.  Wrong number."  She sounded a little tired, like maybe she didn't sleep much the night before. 

Let that be a lesson to you, little girl.  I know where you live!

*I changed the address to protect the innocent.

Every 8 Weeks

After several months (years?) of having blond highlights, I decided to go back to my natural color for several reasons.  I thought I would like it, but it never really grew on me.  It was either too blond, too orange, too red or too something.  I started feeling like a calico cat.  But the main reason is because if I keep spending this much money on hair maintenance every 8 to 10 weeks, Kevin will never be able to retire and our boys won't be able to go to college. 

Luke didn't even notice a difference when I picked him up from preschool today.  I asked if he liked my hair and all he said was, "Yes, it is brown."

Fletcher?  Different story. 

Fletcher:  Mom?  It looks like your hair is blown or something.
Me:  Yes, I got my hair cut today.
Fletcher: It looks different.
Me:  Do you like it?
Fletcher:  Mmmmm.  No, not really.  It kinda looks like you've been through a fire.  Like your hair is burnt. You know, like on the cartoons. 
Me: Oh
Fletcher:  Well, you know what I'm saying.  I'm not trying to effind you (I think he meant "offend").

None taken.  (My hairdresser has two boys the exact same age as mine.  She warned me that they wouldn't like it).  It is pretty dark and a pretty drastic change.  I might get brave and post a picture soon. 

Current votes:
Luke - yes
Fletcher - no
Kevin - yes
Sadie - I'm guessing yes since she didn't bark at me like I was a stranger when I came home. 

Ouch!

Here's what our worship would sound like if we sang what we are really thinking sometimes on Sunday mornings. Ouch! Good job FBC Orlando.

Betcha Can't Watch Just Once

If you've ever had a pet and "talked" for your pet, you will love this video.  We make Sadie "talk" all the time.  We just aren't clever enough to put it on youtube. 


Seriously, I bet you watch more than once.  The kids love this one.  Took them awhile to realize the dog really wasn't talking.  This guy has talking cat videos too.  I'm not a cat lover so they aren't quite as funny to me, but you may enjoy them. 

What's Good For The Goose

Many of you know that I love a great deal.  I read a few mommy blogs that highlight great deals they've heard about online or in stores.  About February of last year, I heard of a new company called Franklin Goose.  They presented themselves as a small internet company who was into natural and organic baby products (cloth diapers, organic clothing, BPA free bottles,etc).  They purchase many of their items from environmentally conscious work-at-home-moms.  They were offering $ 5 store credit for every review you wrote about any of their products you've tried (you didnt' have to purchase the product from them).  Sounds crazy, right?  Many people asked on their Facebook page if this was a legit deal.   Absolutely.  There were no specifications as to how many reviews each person could write or how long they had to be.  They set a deadline of when all the reviews had to be completed.  They also said that instead of using their advertising budget on a "typical advertising campaign", they were doing this instead because they wanted to hear from real moms and dads.   Well, people started submitting reviews and getting store credit. 

Then the deal went viral.  Thousands of people were submitting reviews.  Some were completely bogus like "Hey, I'd like to try one of those."  But others were well written, truly helpful reviews.  I looked at their products and realized we had 13 of them (mostly books and some of their plates, spoons, cups, baby carrier, potty chairs, and I can't remember what else).  So I received my $65 credit. I only told one other friend about it because I still wasn't sure it was legit.  Other people had hundreds of dollars in store credit. 

I didn't use my credit immediately since I wasn't sure what I wanted to buy.  I thought I would wait until closer to Christmas or the kids' birthdays.  Then we got an email from the company saying that they were overwhelmed with orders so if we would "bank" our store credit for 6 months, then we could use it plus an additional 20% in interest.  Many people, including me, did this thinking that we were helping out a small company.  They had guaranteed that the credits would be good for up to two years. 

Right before Christmas they froze everyone's credits so no one could use them at Christmas.  Still promising to allow the credits plus 20% after they "caught up" with all their orders.   Well, last week everyone received this email:

To all of our loyal customers,


We are writing to update you on the status of the promotion. As you may know, we were overwhelmed by an enormous number of reviews submitted in connection with the promotion, and we thank all of you who followed the rules and wrote honest, heartfelt reviews.

Unfortunately, many of those who submitted reviews merely sought the promotion’s benefits without providing a commensurate genuine, honest review. While we initially filled a large amount of orders, we simply do not have the resources to continue vetting the reviews to distinguish those that followed the rules from those that did not.

In order to continue as a business, we must amend the promotion. This is not a step we take lightly, but one which is necessary for the health of our business. Accordingly, we have decided to take down and remove from the site all reviews which were written as part of the promotion. All open orders using store credit and partial store credit will be cancelled, as well as all remaining store credit. In their place, we are providing a one-time use coupon for 40% off of any purchase.
 
Whoa!  A single use 40% off coupon is not exactly the same as $ 65 of merchandise. 
 
Now I know some will say, "Rachel, don't be greedy. It was free.  The stuff wasn't yours to begin with." 
 
Initially, I agreed.  I thought, "Oh well....nothing lost, nothing gained." I was frustrated that they cancelled credits when so many people tried to help them out.  I blamed it on the fact that maybe this little company didn't understand the power of mommy blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.  That they didn't realize something like this would go viral.  If they knew they were in over their heads, why not cancel the promo immediately when the reviews started pouring in?  If they knew they couldn't make good, why string everyone along for a whole year and then offer a measly coupon? 
 
But then I started doing some research.  And now I'm ticked.  First, this isn't a little mom and pop company that didn't know their little ad campaign would go viral.  They are owned by a much larger company called JSA Technologies.  Franklin Goose sent out requests offering a $25000 prize for someone who could come up with a marketing campaign that would "go viral"  in order to drive traffic to their new website.  Obviously, this was the winning campaign (although now I am starting to wonder if the winner ever got his/her prize money from them). 
 
(Stay with me) Have you ever wondered when you type search terms into Google why certain websites are listed first in the search results and others are listed on maybe page 2 or 3 or 200 of the search results?  There's something called SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google doesn't like to kiss and tell how it works, but there are certain factors that influence who gets to be first on the list (JCPenney recently got in trouble for doing some things to get on the top of the list that they weren't supposed to do). 
 
Some of the factors include:

• Frequency of website updates and content change (thousands of reviews being submitted every second made it look like their website and content was constantly updating and changing)
• The length of time a user spends on the site (many people spent hours on the site writing reviews, then going back to the site to check their accounts)
• Incoming links (bloggers, Facebook, Twitter all posted links to FG's site announcing the deal)
• There's also something called "social proof" that's not related to Google, but relevant to this.  Products with lots of reviews (think amazon reviews) make other people feel safe buying the product.  (FG's lesser known products had lots of reviews now driving up sales.)

Magically, Franklin Goose rose to the top of Google's search lists.  That's exactly what the company wanted and needed for a year to drive people to their site.  Once that goal was realized, the credits magically went away.  They also removed all the reviews so no one can prove what they wrote. 

Now Franklin Goose is saying that its loyal customers and those who wrote real reviews are "greedy scammers".   I don't think Franklin Goose realizes the power of mommy bloggers.  These moms are calling the Better Business Bureau, contacting the Virginia Attorney General's office, boycotting the site, contacting vendors to let them know about FG's shoddy business practices and looking into a class action lawsuit.  Yikes! 

Live and Learn.  As someone once said, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" or in this case, free natural and organic baby products either. 

Too Cute!

I miss this age.  Can't believe it all goes by so quickly.  (What a great name, too!)

Identity Theft

It really is amazing what criminals will do to commit crimes.  If they would just take all of that effort and creativity and put it into something worthwhile and legal, then they might not go to prison.  But for some I suppose, it is an adrenaline rush of sorts to do wrong and not get caught. 

I ran across this Q & A interview of a former identity thief.  He got caught and as a part of his sentence (instead of going to prison), he has to educate the public on how to avoid identity theft.  It was fascinating and educational.  Here is the entire article: Secrets of a Former Credit Card Thief

Definitely worth the read.

So Many Questions

So I have more than a few questions:
Do you think he gave himself that nickname?
Do you think he still lives at home with his parents?
When did he decide to pursue this career?  Perhaps during the Presidential Fitness Challenge in elementary school.  "I can't do a chin up, but I can clap my hands faster than my entire third grade class." 
How many hours a day must one practice to get this good?
Is there a Professional Hand Clapping circuit similar to the PGA TOUR?
Who counts number of claps per second?
Do they have to have a slow motion camera for instant replays?
Who is his arch nemesis? 

His facial expressions are priceless. 

Follow your dreams "Toast".

Just In Case

Just in case you missed it, this was probably my favorite Super Bowl commercial. 

What Is It Anyway?

This little clip has been making its way around the web and on Facebook:



Hard to believe that was just a little over 15 years ago.

You Can Thank Me Later

http://whenparentstext.com/

I was laughing so hard last night I thought I might wake up the boys. 

There She Is...

Miss America!

I loved watching the Miss America pageant when I was a kid.  It was fun to try to pick the winner especially when they started showing the scores that the judges were giving.  I loved watching the talent competitions.  Twirling fire batons, tap dancing, opera singing, piano playing.  It was a great way to spend two hours of my life.  Oh and don't forget the hair! 

Apparently the 2011 Miss America pageant was just on a few weeks ago and I missed it.  (Kevin is so thankful).  Another blog (BooMama) reminded me of the good ol' pageant days. 

This, my friends, was quality television. And it is even better because she is from my home state (sadly, she did not win even with all of this raw talent and big hair).

Now I Know

I've said on this blog before that I am a wimp when it comes to cold weather.  If it is below about 70 degrees, I just get so cold and have a hard time warming back up.  My Maryland friend laughs at my wimpiness (if that's a word). 

Well, Friday was a Field Trip day for the kids and we went to a really cool kids museum.  They had a thermography camera there.  Think about what you would see if you looked through night vision goggles using infared technology.  This camera was similar.  The warmest parts are colored the lighest (bright white, yellow, orange), the intermediate temps are red and the cold temps are anywhere from blue to dark purple to black. 

I took pictures as proof.  I didn't believe it at first.  And I made about 10 other people come stand next to me for comparison purposes.  Now keep in mind it was a cold day, but we had been in the museum for over an hour so it's not like I just walked in from the cold. 

 My friend is on the left holding the camera in one hand and holding her hand out for comparison purposes.  I am on the right.  Note that her hands are bright yellow (as were everyone elses who came to the camera) indicating warmth.  Notice my hands are purple and black on the fingertips!!!!  Not yellow, not red.  But purple and black which means NO HEAT, NO WARMTH.  Doesn't even register.  Disturbing?  Yes.  Very. 

She then pointed out (ever so kindly) that my nose was black too.  Yes, it is always cold.  If we weren't in a public place with lots of people, I would have taken my shoes off to see if my feet were like my hands. I have a sad feeling they might be worse. 

Now I am a little freaked out.  I don't think anyone has ever died from cold hands and feet, but I suppose I need to mention it to the doctor the next time I see him to make sure there isn't anything wrong with me.  It is always a little disturbing to find out that something about yourself is not normal.  But now when people tease me, I have photographic evidence that I really am a wimp. 

Reprimanded?

I have a dream this year. Not quite as meaningful and vast as MLK's, but important to me none the less. I am really trying to get all of my Christmas shopping done as early as possible. I hoped to be done by December 1. I am very, very close. In this dream I also don't go into many stores. I sit at my computer and complete the majority of my shopping online. I like to wander around aimlessly in stores looking at things (it has always been a stress reliever for me), but I won't buy unless it is a really good deal. I've found over the years that most of the time, I can find a better deal online. As an added bonus this year, American Express now allows you to use points to pay for amazon.com purchases! How cool is that?!

So on Wednesday I was completing an online purchase and the website gave me an error message and said "Transaction could not be completed". This wasn't one of my usual shopping websites like amazon so I tried to resubmit the order. Again, same message. Then my phone rang.

Caller ID said it was an 800 service. I picked it up and said, "Hello?" An automatic voice message came on and said, "This message is for Kevin or Rachel _______.  Press or say 1 if you are Kevin or Rachel.  American Express has discovered recent activity on one of your cards that may be fradulent.  The card ends in XXXX.  Press 1 if you have that card in your possession...."  It went on to ask about that exact charge from that website I was trying to make only seconds earlier.  Talk about Johnny On The Spot!  Sort of creepy if you think about it too much.  I verified that it was in fact me and AmEx allowed me to complete the transaction. 

I really am glad that they are watching out for their customers.  Because I so rarely use my AmEx, their computer system immediately recognized increased activity and called to make sure the card hadn't been stolen. 

But I kinda felt like I was being reprimanded and the subliminal message was "Hey YOU!  Step away from that computer and quit spending so much money.  Your kids have enough toys already!"   

The good news is I am almost done so AmEx can relax.

Forever and Ever

By now you know I love a good flash mob.

Here's a great one to kick off this Christmas season.



I still get goosebumps every time I hear this song.

Someday I hope to either participate in a flash mob or be randomly surprised by one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whether you're having popcorn and jellybeans or turkey with all the fixings, take time today to be thankful to our God who has given us immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)