Happily Ever After: Free iPod Touch

This is a quick update about my previous post.  

Janson told the Genius Bar (IT guys at the Apple store) what was going on with my iPod.  The guy looked at Janson like there was no hope for the poor little machine and asked when we bought it. 

He then handed us a sparkly new iPod.  For free. No money or plastic exchanged.  Nothing. 

Because the iPod is still under warranty, I guess they thought it was easier to hand me a new one and eventually refurbish the old one.  Or whatever they do with the old ones.  (For the Apple interested folk, it is still a first generation version.  They are probably more willing to hand out the soon-to-be outdated hardware.)

I think it helped that the Apple Genius only had 10 more minutes of work on New Year's Eve. Hurray for him. Hurray for me!

  

Mobile Efficiency

It has been over 48 hours since my iPod Touch gave up on me.  I hold no harsh feelings because it was being used between 3-8 hours a day for the past 5 weeks.  It was also the occasional victim to Mari's drooling mouth and sharp teeth (I tried hard to avoid this, but alas, I am a mother with babies surrounded).  Before that it received months of use by Janson; in a more protective manner but daily nonetheless.

Since its leave of absence, I have sorely missed my:

• email
• calendar
• address book
• Facebook
• RSS feeds (blogs)
• recipe collection
• weather updates
• maps
• scriptures
• music
• grocery lists
• packing lists
• to-do lists

The anti-tech people out there may say, "I told you so."  I understand that.  I have paper or digital back-ups of everything, so nothing is lost forever.  Yet while transient and couch-ridden (oxymoron, I know, but still true) having all of these resources condensed into the palm of my hand has been invaluable.  It's also a wonderful alternative to hauling the paper book versions of these resources in a suitcase, or stacked around the couch.  

I watched the poor iPod turn itself on and off three times in a row.  It looked so confused.  After that I took off its rubber skin and water dripped off the machine.  Oh dear.  Results of Mari's mouth or a wet kitchen table, who knows.

Hopefully the warranty will cover my poor iPod, otherwise I know where my Christmas money is going.  I have experienced the wonders of mobile efficiency, and I'm not sure if I can walk away from that.

Photoshopped Beauty

Tonight we had a Modesty Fashion Show for the Young Women. I think the girls had fun with it. Before they walked the cat-walk we had two speakers: the bishop and a sister who talked about fashionable modest clothing. The bishop showed this clip, and I wanted to share. I hear it's a popular youtube video so this may be old news to you. I think it was a great thing to show the girls, and a good thing for me to remember. Enjoy.

Mail-to-Blogger

I'm just testing out the mail-to-Blogger feature.  Now I can write an email and when I push "send" it becomes a published post on my blog.  Some of you are saying, "That was so last year," but this is new to me.  This makes things pretty convenient for me, although I doubt I'll be posting more often than usual.  (My life isn't that exciting!)  Now posting will just be a quicker process, a benefit my daughter's will appreciate.  I am realizing that when blogging I turn deaf to my children's cries.  How sad.  And something I am working to change.  Believe it or not, my children are indeed at the top of my priority list.

Private vs. Public

Yesterday I made the mistake of reading the first couple chapters of Gone Baby Gone by Dennis Lehane. Ben Affleck directed a movie by the same name (based on the book). It's about a cute four year old girl who gets kidnapped. You can imagine how such reading can affect a mother of young children. It will now take me several weeks to cure my paranoia. I show very little humility in admitting that my children are beautiful! And I'm sure I'm not the only one. I know I am not the only mother who feels this way about their own children, so you can think I'm prideful if you want. I have yet to meet the woman who doesn't think their child is wonderful, although I hear they are out there.

I am fine with flaunting my children's darling images and talents online, but now I am wary of strangers' eyes. Before opening this book I had already been toying with the idea of making my family's blog private rather than public. My creative imagination has plotted a plethora of ways the unkind but intelligent stranger could dabble in stalking or identity theft via the innocent blogs of families. I feel that I have done a decent job of keeping Holmfeet void of elements that could be handy to the unkind. But now I will be doing my own blog "deep-cleaning." Our ultimate purpose of the family blog is to share pictures and videos with family. Since I am hoping to keep the blog user-friendly, and not all of our family have a blogger account, I'm avoiding the move to private. For those that frequent our family blog, feel free to cast your vote via comments.

Tribute to Technology

I love technology. I love innovations that enable us to focus our time and energy on what is important to us. I am grateful for a God that supports a forward-moving people. Seeing that He regards the responsibility of parenthood as one of our most important roles, it seems likely that He had a hand in many technological advances that assist parents. So far in my mothering career I have been unsure how to use technology to be the best mother to my children. I will always be working towards a healthy balance of television and computer time in my home. With the birth of Mari I have begun to appreciate what I call "God-given inventions" that can help parents make it through life: bottles, formula, pacifiers, disposable diapers and sippy cups. I have read enough "hate" literature on most of these products. Here is some love literature! :) I am grateful that these inventions have enabled me to:

1. Go to the temple.

2. Magnify my church calling.

3. Focus on both of my children.

4. Get enough sleep to care for my children more safely and patiently.

5. Eat a little less chocolate! :) (see previous post)

4. Support my husband in his role as father.

That said, I could write an entire post on the benefits and joys of breastfeeding that I experience. The medical professionals are doing a fairly good job in that area, though. May we all enjoy those things in our lives that enable us to be the best parents we can be!

RSS Feeds

I love RSS feeds. When Janson first tried to convert me my instinct thought was, "Not another one of these techno things that is supposed to make life easier but is really just too complex." I am now completely converted. For those unfamiliar with RSS feeds, it allows me to "subscribe" to a website and then I am notified when a new post is added. So, when I go to check my email I also find out if any of my family or friends (or websites like LDS News, etc) have a new post. I used to go down my list of blog links every day to see if anyone has new posts, and usually there were just two or three blogs with updates. Now it's done for me when I check my email, which is something I frequently do anyways. The world wide web can do some amazing things.