More Than a Week??

Wow, I'm really slacking on the blog front. My mom is here and general life things have taken over. We are headed to Garmisch Germany next Thursday so now I have to get all the laundry done, find all the ski clothes, haul out all the suitcases and start getting organized. Someday I will be back again on a regular basis.

Whose Idea Was This?

Working is really cramping my style. Really - whose idea was this to start working? While there is a computer sitting right on my desk there is not actually internet access to anything to keep me entertained. I've looked at a lot of news sites lately and a lot of real estate. That is when I can find a back door because real estate is one of those topics that is BLOCKED for content. Normally I wouldn't promote internet use while at work but this job some days it's all I have. I am working as a test examiner and the other day I had one guy come in and take a 2 1/2 hour test. It was a listening test so while he sat at a computer with headphones on I first read the newest people magazine and then looked at about 1500 houses online. Of course that doesn't count the few times I had to get up and put my hand on the guy's shoulder to wake him up. He's lucky I didn't fall asleep or we might both still be there.

I Hate the Internet!

Okay, actually I have a love hate relationship with the internet. I love it - my kids love it. This is a problem. We have the computer in the dining room, a fairly public place. I have told my children acceptable sites to visit and I am usually pretty informed at where they go. In fact - my husband is actually addicted to a game that he plays so he knows what the kids are doing when they are playing. I sat here on the couch and watched Jackson play a game with dirtbikes and racing and it looked harmless. He learned about the website at school. Fast forward to last night when Jordan sits down and says what does #*$#! mean? When I asked where she HEARD the word it was the internet. Namely the website with the seemingly harmless "dirtbike races". Seems there is another option where users can create characters and you can click on them and for example, drop rocks on Napoleon Dynomite and he will yell things like "IDIOT!". I guess someone else created a character who, when things are dropped on him, yells swear words. I am so annoyed. They miss out on a fun little dirtbike game because someone else has to ruin the website. And then I am reminded that I need to pay MORE attention to the entire websites they visit instead of just one area. Not to mention I get to go to the school and inform the headteacher of the website. I look forward to spring when they are playing outside until dark instead of trying to occupy their time inside.

Not The Original?

I was visiting over at Amazed today and she was talking about her name. Normally I wouldn't put both my first and last name but seeing as I'm pretty hard to locate at the moment I'm not all that bothered so I figured I would play along.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 325 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

There are 955,143 people in the U.S. with the first name Sandra and it is the 43rd most popular first name. More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Sandra are female. Good to know because I don't think it makes a very good name for a man. I have never met a man named Sandra - but since I go by Sandy I have had the chance to know a Sandy.

My brother's name is Larry and when my mom was pregnant with me she decided if it was a girl she would name her Lori. Thankfully someone mentioned that having Larry and Lori might be a bit confusing so we didn't have to deal with that. Sandra - Sandy was just a name she liked so no exciting story behind it. However, if I was Lori there are only 128 of them with my name out there - well if that WAS my name.

In my 3rd grade class there were 4 Jenny's, I can say that I have never had another Sandy in my class at school. The only other Sandy's I have ever known were ones I went to church with. When we moved to England the first woman I met was named Sandra. She quickly told me that she "hadn't been Sandy since 6th grade - she grew out of it and goes by Sandra." I'm not sure if she realized that was a tad insulting - or I could have the attitude that I still have a fun, young name - I'm not ready to grow up and have a more "mature" name.

My last name is Weber. Pronounced WEBBER - you might not think that is worth mentioning unless you've lived in Utah. I've still never met anyone with the last name pronounced Weeber - regardless of the county, the university or the dairy. There are 103,259 people in the U.S. with the last name Weber and statistically it is the 317th most popular last name. Before I got married I was a W as well. I did not move in my space in the alphabet. One of the Sandy's I grew up with was also a W. She married another W so I suppose we'll be stuck at the end of the queue for life.

When I put in my maiden name there are only 28 of us - that's a bit more original. Not as original as my mother in law though - this site says there are 0 people with her name.

If you feel like playing along let me know.

Birthday Present?

Jordan went to a birthday party yesterday. The 4 girls in her class at school got together for E's birthday. E had a riding party. All four girls got to ride horses and learn a little bit about taking care of them. E's mom had called and invited Jordan and said she should wear her riding clothes. Since Jordan doesn't HAVE riding close we went with a pair of leggings, a sweater and her new boots. In the states we would wear a pair of jeans to ride horses but here they wear jodhpurs so leggings were more in line with that dress. The only thing Jordan had to borrow was a helmet. Any guesses on where this story is about to go? Well, she had a great time at the riding party. Then they went for pizza and had cake. Party was a success. Fast forward to this evening - bath time. Normally I would have all 3 kids just take a shower - it's quicker. Jordan wanted a bath so I decided why not. I'm glad I did even with what we found. I washed her hair and there in the tub was this little bug. Fingers crossed I rinsed some more and the evidence was clear. The little birthday presents were there!!!! An hour and a half later I think she's clear. The laundry is being done and the kids are in bed.

Happy New Year!!

It is 1:30am January 1st here in England so Happy New Year to all of you. We had a small gathering at our home so now all of the food is put away, the table cloth is in the washing machine and the cranberry apple martinellis has been cleaned off the carpet. Nothing like starting the new year off with a stain on the carpet - that can't be a good sign.

We did have a good time. My friend and I were getting a bit too picky about who else to invite over mainly because I didn't want a bunch of kids running through the house trashing the place. We ended up with just one other couple whose children are 11 and 14. I thanked them for having age appropriate children to satisfy the needs of the party. LOL We ended up with 2 5 year old girls and an 8, 10, 11, 13 and 14 year old boys. The boys just watched tv and played the playstation so that was easy. The girls - I think they drank as much grape soda and ate as many brownies as they could. Somehow they tired themselves out though and even with the possibility of a sugar high all 3 of my kids are asleep.

One thing we will miss when we leave England are the fireworks. We had quite the display right from our driveway. Even the neighbors up the street were letting fireworks off in their backyard. We're talking serious up in the sky fireworks. Their house is so close at one point we could hear them yell and there was a loud bang because one of the fireworks didn't go off right. Fortunately whatever the issue was nobody was hurt and they continued with their display.

Hope you all have a fun new years as well!!!

Sunday Story!

I think we've reached the end of my Sunday Stories. After 3 1/2 years I have been released from my calling(job) in Primary so I don't get to spend my Sundays with the children at church. I actually had to go to Sunday school with the grown ups. We had a new family stand up and introduce themselves, they moved from San Antonio Texas. Then we had some visitors from Saudi Arabia. Then I stood up and said I was from the primary. LOL Maybe if I keep that up I'll still have Sunday Stories to tell. I currently am unemployed when it comes to having a church calling but I'm sure that won't last long. I had a hard time sitting still, having this overwhelming feeling that I should go check on the nursery or go see if all of the classes had teachers. I'm sure that will pass soon too.

Well, I hope you all have a Happy New Year! One more week with the kids out of school and then I might be back to some regular blogging once again.