While I think this picture is self explanatory, I guess there’s some people who won’t get it. The Iron Bowl was a great game, and Auburn really played well, but Alabama did win in the end.  We found this poor Auburn fan half-heartedly yelling “Roll Tide Roll” at the top of her lungs in the middle of nowhere at an Exxon station. We assume that’s as close to civilization and true public humiliation that her family could come up with. I did ask her permission before taking the picture.  She sighed, “Yes, I have to do that, too.”

Bless her heart.

Behold, my powers of parenting and artistry combined!  Quake in fear!

(Also, check it!  I didn’t realize it until later, but I used lots of consummate Vs!  That’s how you can tell it’s a real dragon.)

It’s a been a slow news day, but a tiny little adventure came to us at the start of the evening. As I was getting supper together, my kids started yelling, “There’s a peacock outside our window! There’s a peacock outside our window! There’s a peacock outside our window!”

The Spousal Unit and I looked at each other, shook our heads, Naaah… and went into their room. I noticed that someone had newly decorated the windows with dark blue crayon and immediately started asking about that, as Hubby told them, “Those are people, sillies, not peacocks.  Now it’s time to wash up for… oh!  Look straight down!  There’s a peacock outside their window!”

The zoo is in our neighborhood, so I assumed it came from there.  I called to see if someone would get it, but no go.  I looked up Animal Control, but couldn’t find the number.  So I finally settled on the police department.  A very bored man told me that it happens all the time, and the birds always return home eventually.  We should just leave it alone. A crowd was gathering outside our apartment.  It finally flew up on top of the carport to escape all the humans. 

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful week.

Every year, there are two weeks of voluntary TV Turnoff Weeks. April 19 launches the first one for this year.  Is anyone else participating? Families with young children are the real target, so I’m sure most adults that are outside of the Mommy and teacher circuits haven’t even heard of it.  Grownups could benefit from it, too.  We all can be over-connected and use this in as a chance to clear out the noise and reconnect with life outside of a screen.

Laziness is the greatest of the virtues that television can teach us. A little vegging is good and relaxing, but in general, Americans are way overdoing the couch potato act. Physically, we’re becoming more inactive, and watching the TV is about as sedentary as it gets.  Nope, getting up to get a soda or some chips doesn’t count as activity, sorry.  Imaginations are actually stifled when someone else does all the thinking for us.  Children learn very little socially from watching characters on a television interact.  Even the best quality programming is no substitute for actually living life.

Another pervasive reason to watch out for the television is how cutthroat the competition is for your child’s influence over your pocketbook.  Children are extremely impressionable.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been begged to order a Buxton Bag, so I can remember — “butter, milk, eggs.”  Like I don’t already have my own homegrown mockingbirds to repeat the same phrases over and over to me.  “No, Mama, you NEED a Buxton Bag, it will make you so much better!”  Sigh.  Many kids shows are nothing but half hour long commercials for overpriced plastic toys that sit in the toy box, wasting away while the kid watches the commercial.

Personally, I am bored with a lot of current television programming.  Most of my television series or movies come to me through my Netflix queue.  While I adore NetFlix, that queue is even limited to one DVD at a time. I don’t have premium channels on my cable, and we only have one television in the house.  I am still guilty, just the same.  My own screen time is spent on the computer, and usually Mommy’s computer time lines up just right with the boys’ television time.  No, I won’t give that up entirely over the week, because blogging isn’t established firmly enough as a habit for me to completely cut off the computer.  I still will be pulling back a lot that week, and setting strict limits.  Being a good example is important, of course, but really, I’ll have little choice.  The kids will be bored and asking me to entertain them.  There won’t be room in my brain for reading articles, constant social media, playing online games, emailing friends, and whiney voices.  Something will have to give.

We’ve done this week break before, and after the initial withdrawals, it’s actually very good for the family.  Hopefully we’ll all read some books, do some family fun stuff, and get some much needed exercise and sunshine.  After about seven days, we’ll be all nice and detoxed and a lot less dependent on screen time to entertain us.    I’ll be excited to catch up on my shows, especially Survivor, but then I’ll be disappointed at Heroes again.  When we get back to plugging in, hopefully we’ll be a bit more conscientious and moderate in the way we fritter our time for just a little while.

This weekend is Imagicon. I’ve never been to any SciFi (not to be confused with SyFy), Gaming, or Fantasy conventions before. Imagicon is all three.

I was concerned that I wouldn’t find anything to do while Chris plays Dungeon Master to total strangers, but it looks like I’ll actually be strapped for time if I want to see everything.  Happily, there’s even going to be attractions for the kids. They’ll love the Jedi Academy and the Ninjitsu demonstrations.  The Barony of Iron Mountain, which is the local SCA chapter will be doing Drum Circles. There will be Pro Wrestling, Raves and Costume Balls, 24 hour gaming, a blood drive, hard science lectures, music, and an art show.  I don’t recognize the names of any of the “celebrities” on the list, with the exception of The Addam’s Family‘s Cousin Itt. Personally, I’m interested in seeing the goth belly dancing. Call it morbid curiosity. Oh, speaking of that, there’s even a blood drive scheduled!

I’ll be consumed with that for the next few days. I’ve got to get myself in the mindframe for all this much Geek Love. No, I won’t be the one in the gold bikini. I’d still love to know if anyone else is going.

Last week, there were three birthdays at the Spousal Unit’s office.  One of his coworkers really enjoys making pretty cakes, and came up with these fun creations.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock

This was a lemon cake.  The diagram is a reference to Big Bang Theory.  Rock, paper, scissors was just too predictable for them, so one character added lizard and Spock.  The cake serves as a ready reference for the rules of the game.  Alas, they all loved the Spock option so much, everyone kept throwing Spock.

Gandalf Cupcakes

Upon presenting these, the Spousal Unit told me this was Gandalf the Brown.  My immediate reaction was, “No, that’s Radagast.”

Of course, after I said that, he could not resist renewing his undying affection for me. Talk nerdy to me, baby.

When I cook, it’s usually yummy but ugly, so I’m in awe of the skill it took to create these.   The little wizards were especially beautiful in person.  They looked like they were aged copper dolls with that greenish rim.  I didn’t even realize they were edible at first because they were so pretty.   Thanks to Chris’ coworkers for such cool creations and pictures to share!

I’m late. Blogs all over Birmingham are filled with pictures of yesterday’s snow. Not to disappoint, I will post the most successful of the 200+ pictures we took on our adventures yesterday. (Not including those with rosy-cheeked faces in them.)

When it snows in Birmingham, there is a run on bread and milk. Most everyone in the city must be dining on soggy milk sandwiches. Actually, the same holds true for tornadoes, and since we had some of both in the last week, the grocers must be happy. We hole up in our homes, knowing that driving in a quarter inch of snow means madness.  Children beg to go outside, and if there are no gloves to be had in the house, Mom finds a pair of thick socks or garden gloves. Snowmen aren’t made in any conventional way, because there’s so little raw material. Mud can indeed be used to make a fair base, as every Alabama child knows years before they actually read To Kill a Mockingbird. (If you didn’t get that reference, go to a library! Now!) Pinestraw and leaves can also be used as filler.

One of my favorite childhood memories is when my father returned home from a job in Tennessee, driving all night with a bed of snow in the back of the red truck so that we could play in it.  We didn’t leave the truck bed until the last bit of it had melted away.  I’m not sure if it’s hyperbole or not, but his version of the story involves stopping and having a couple of bystanders ask if that was really snow, and where did he get it from?  His reply, “Up north,” was answered with slamming truck doors as the young fellows went peeling off, going to get themselves some of that icy goodness for their own uses.

These pictures were all taken in the space of about two hours.  After snowball fights made our skin sting,  a walk through the Botanical Gardens was in order.   My husband took this last picture on one of the rare moments I relinquished the camera.  I wanted to store up every image of beauty as my own, forever!

Naturally, it’s all very amusing to our northern neighbors, who seem to find snow to be a chore more than anything else.  Dealing with our inability to drive in the white beauty is the real nuisance… Every year I hear some Yankee transplant proclaim, “This is nothing!  It’s not even real snow!”

That’s just fine.  Southerners may be a little excitable, overreacting to what others see as just another form of precipitation, but the beauty is not lost on us.  Even if we move to a place where snow becomes commonplace, we’ll generally continue to appreciate the snow.  One inch of magic white crystals covering the world can completely transform everything.  Spring is definitely almost here, but I’m overjoyed that we actually got a few unexpected hours of winter magic this year.