Just wanted to share a few photos I took recently.  I attended a friend’s wedding and was able to play with a new cross star 8 pt filter I purchased for my camera.  It was $19.99 from Best Buy and one of the salesman had told me that it easily takes illumination points and turns them into little starbursts in your picture.  I was curious to see if it worked and took the following picture at the church:

This picture is of the church ceiling.  I was too far to get the candles at the altar to turn to little starbursts.  My next experiment was at the reception.  I took the following at our table:

So I guess this was a pretty decent investment.  I think the result turned out pretty neat! 

And for my last bit of sharing, I couldn’t resist in posting this picture of a little wedding prank some of the groomsmen played on the groom:

The guests discovered this when the couple first kneeled at the alter!  However the groom noticed it mid ceremony.  Thankfully the bride and groom viewed it as all in good fun!

So it is official.  My kid has H1N1.  Not only does she have it, but my husband has been sick with flu-like symptoms as well.  I have been dreading this reality for a long time.  Taking as many precautions as I could:  frequent hand washing for all, bleach bombing every surface in my house, making the kids take immediate baths as soon as they came home from school, and plenty of fluids and vitamins.  What was the weakness in my force field shield that I had tried to build up?  One of the students in my daughters preschool had it.  So of course I can’t control what happens during the 7-8 hrs my children are at school.  The result?  Here is what H1N1 has looked like in my house:

persistant coughing

runny noses

gurgling coughs…aka lots of phlegm

fevers ranging from 102-104…when we went to the doctor my kid’s temp was 104.4

no decreased appetite

lots of laughing and playing

no decrease in energy level

I’m not saying that this is what H1N1 will look like for every family, but I’ve seen my children worse with the regular seasonal flu.  The doctor did say that the flu part wasn’t the big problem with H1N1, but the possible spiral pneumonia that may come after (if you don’ t get adequate rest and recuperation).  So the doctor has given the whole family prescriptions to Tamiflu as both treatment and preventative measure.  I’m thinking this is a good thing because I heard Tamiflu really is only affective within the first 2 days of infection.  So maybe my other kid and me have a fighting chance!  Some things I definitely need to continue to look out for:

fever reappearing (possible pneumonia)

sore throat (possibly strep)

For those who are wondering about the H1N1 test, it is a basic nose swab.  The nurse really shoved a Q-Tip up my kid’s nose and swiped around.  The doc said it is only 40% accurate and only as good as the amount of sample (boogers) you get.  So it is very common to get a false negative.  Most likely nowadays if you do have flu-like symptoms, regardless of your test outcome, they probably will prescribe you Tamiflu…which is why there is a shortage. 

So my advice to everyone:  hang in there.  We can all get through this.  Be very vigilant of your child’s symptoms, after the flu is over and especially if they have any preexisting conditions.  I was thinking that we are in the clear now that it has infected my home.  However, my doc said that she still advised us to get the H1N1 vaccinations because this cold season is going to continue to get nasty.

Am I ready to be BlackBerrified???

I have the opportunity to do a blog review of the book The BlackBerry Diaries by Kathy Buckworth.  So excited.  I’m a longtime Verizon Wireless  customer and have been toying with the idea of getting a blackberry phone…primarily to be my little digital “personal assistant” and tell me what I need to do.  I’m curious to see what her experience is like since sometimes I wrestle with the idea that “being connected may be too much”.  I already feel like a slave to my computer because of my job.  Although I think overall having a smart phone can possibly make my life easier, I don’ t know if being constantly digitally “on” will be exhausting to my brain.  I sometimes regret that I even have a cell phone.  For instance, today I was trying to take a nap, and of course 20 minutes in (in power nap terms that means right when you are setting into REM/”real sweet sleep”) my cell phone rings.  Then 10 minutes after that (in power nap terms that means right when you have crossed the line of being slighly awake and unconcious), my daughter started poking me in the head so that I could get her a drink.  Seriously, sometimes I wondering if my head will explode from the constant pulls of my life. 

But can a blackberry help this?  I’m going to start reading tonight =)

Yes, I saw Dr. Cullen at the mall.  Yes he was dreamy. 

Peter Facinelli came to the local mall to raise money for the Red Cross (what a smart fundraising strategy for the Red Cross by the way).  I didn’t pay the $25 to get his autograph nor did I pay the $40 to get a picture with him, but I did snag a few from a far.  He seemed very nice and down to earth with everyone.  It’s kinda funny because Jennie Garth (his wife) came to that same mall when the 90210 craze had just started in the early 90s…and I came to witness the hysteria then.  Oh how the universe brings us full circle some times…heahea!  j/j!

My Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party post still gets tons of hits, so I thought I’d share my latest birthday party endeavor.  My wonderful godson had his 5th birthday party and I wanted to help add to the festivities.  His mom said the theme was Dragonball Z.  I thought it would be easy to go to the store and pick up some Dragonball Z themed trinkets (yes…I don’t have any sons.  I have girls who always have their favorite princess, TV character well represented in the party aisle.)…yeah right!  I used Facebook to call upon any of my friends for ideas.  One of my friends inspired me and sent tons of links.  His first idea was that I should give balls with stars in it (1-7 stars for those die hard Dragonball fans).  It was somewhat comical because I kept FBing him with messages like “what color should the balls be?”.  Anyway, this is what I came up with:

Contents:

Cellphone bags in the cake crafting section of Wal-Mart

printed Dragonball picture

origami balls (1 pack of paper from A.C. Moore)

star stickers (dollar store in the teaching section)

random candies and cookies from the international/asian store (they are very inexpensive…get anything unique or with asian character writing on the outside)

voila!

I signed up for an 8K Mud Run for next month!  Am I crazy?  Yes.  I’m chronicling my workout here.  I do not claim to be a runner at all.  I am probably the poster child of poor endurance.  However, I am determined to fight old age from setting in early.  They say the aging process begins at 30 and I’m definitely feeling the pangs of it.  Everyone tells me I’ll start to notice issues with my eyesight at 40.  50 is when I’ll notice everything else is breaking down.  60 is when I’ll give up trying to keep everything from falling apart.  Is this true?  Here is what I’ve noticed already:

1.  I’m getting more lethargic and my body doesn’t “bounce back” as well as it used to.  Physical activity takes a lot more out of me.

2. Motrin is my friend...and is starting to become my new daily vitamin during periods of increased physical labor!  

3.  I’m more sensitive to food.  Dairy is a hit or miss thing.  The creamier the more upsetting…yikes!  Sugary juices…ugh.  Spicy food…acid reflux.  oh the crisis situations!

4.  Buddha belly is now permanent.

5.  Sleep isn’t always satisfying.  Power naps now give me a headache.  Unfortunately, I heard this gets worse as I get older.

So I’m determined to better my habits in eating healthier and exercising.  I think running is jump starting my body into behaving the way it used to without effort.  I guess that’s the root of the problem…in my 20s things were effortless…in my 30s I’ve got to give a little to get some back!

Happy Belated 4th of July!  This was my best attempt at a Fourth of July dessert:  red velvet cupcakes, cream cheese icing, and blueberries.   When we were mixing the red batter, my kids said we were making “Twilight” cupcakes…heahea!

I have to say gardening is so therapeutic.   I took some shots this morning of my garden after a light morning shower.  You can see more pictures in my Flickr album =)

This year I’m also attempting to grow tomatoes.  I’m a proponent of sustainable living, but with children and a full time stressful job I’m working at it very slowly!  I’m growing cilantro and basil (herbs are easy), but this is my first venture into actual edible vegetables.  Cross your fingers.  Hope the rabbits don’t get to them!

If you still can’t seem to grasp what Twitter is, here is a great video.  I didn’t quite understand the power of my personal learning network until recently.  Installing Tweetdeck has made my use of Twitter more powerful because it has allowed me to search for individuals with like interests.  Be to ing able to search for “tweets” or Twitter postings by hash tags (for example, when I went to NECC 2009, I was able to keep up with everyone’s Twitter postings related to NECC by searching for #NECC09 on Tweetdeck).  Likewise, you can ensure that other people in and outside of your network may come across your posting if you know the hashtag for it.  More on Twitter later…

At the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2009, I attended Leslie Fisher’s gadgets session.  Leslie Fisher is the Director of Fisher Technologies Incorporated which focuses on web development for the k-12 education sector.  In the session she went over gadgets and websites to help you with your personal life and endeavors.  She’s a great speaker and I highly recommend you catching her at a conference!  Here are my notes from the session:

Websites to help keep you organized or make life easier:

Tripit.com-send travel itineraries from your email account 

Yelp.com-online reviews of business all over the country

 Jott.com-gives an 800 number that you dial that you can send to email to create a to do list.

Works well with rememberthemilk.com-another free site that allows you to create/edit your To Do List from anywhere

Evernote-web-based application that creates ocr text recognition

 Ustream.tv-free account allows you to broadcast a live video feed to anyone

Mozy.com-online backup for mac and pc

iStockphoto.com-anyone can submit a picture, but staff of site will evaluate if it is worthy of putting online…once it is posted, it is royalty free.

Edutecher.net-tons of web 2.0 apps for education

 Http://betaserendipity.com make your own flash games

 Smugmug.com-upload not limited like in flickr, allows you to sell photos, watermarks, order on t-shirt, etc. can use for sporting events.  Search for nonprofit and can have a FREE professional level account

Cool Gadgets: 

Sling Media-external box that hooks up to your home theater no matter how big or small, then uses a internet connection to broadcast the signal to CPU, phone, etc.

 Netflix roku-$99) no monthly fee if you are a netflix member with 2 + DVDs a month, allows you to instantly watch 10,000+ movies on demand

 Logitech-Harmony One-all in one remote for up to 15 devices ($249-499.00)

http://ion-audio.com ($134.00) Record player w/usb that allows you to  create an MP3 out of your old record!