What Do You Do When You Don't Have Access To The Internet?

I remember (in the dark ages of blogging - circa 2006) when everyone would write a post on Monday detailing all the things they had done over the weekend. We would all log in on Monday morning to catch up with our friends. It was newsy - like sitting around a table in a coffee shop together. Minus the coffee and the often obnoxious music.

This is going to be one of those posts. Sit down at the table, pull your cup of coffee (or tea) close, grab a few cookies, and let's catch up. My computer had a slight breakdown last Monday, and I have been without computer or internet since then. It will hopefully be up and running soon. This is what I have been doing while I wait for it to be fixed...

What do you do when you can not use your computer or internet?
- Read more books than usual (this is not a bad thing).
- Watch the entire series of As Time Goes By. Twice.
- Watch Dr. Who.
- Let your daughter give you a fancy, cat hairstyle.

- Read more chapters out loud to your daughter than usual.
- Agree to read books out loud to your husband in the evenings.
- Find yourself losing your voice because of so much reading aloud.
- Read more.
- Watch Cranford.
- Watch episodes of the original Star Trek.
- Be thankful for the library which makes all of this free DVD watching possible.
- Watch way too much news.

• Air Force's sex-abuse prevention honcho charged with sexual battery
• Army sergeant assigned to sex-abuse prevention being investigated for pimping, sexual assault
• Three women rescued in Cleveland

- Compose blog posts in your mind about said news stories.
- Think of a dozen things you would like google search, but can't.
- Make a list of those things. Lose the list. Start another list. Lose that list.
- Give up on lists.
- Spend three hours braiding your daughter's hair, so it will look crimpy the next day.

- Read another book.
- Think about how you would like to update your Goodreads to reflect all of this extra reading.
- Sneer at the tv when the news reporter asks you to tweet your opinion about an important story.
- Talk in short sentences to a bird that is chirping outside of your window, to see if it feels like tweeting. It doesn't.
- Marvel at the fact your mother has spent more time on social media in the last week than you have.
- Feel emotional when Candy Crush commercials come on tv.
- Eat all of the cookies in your pantry.
- Clean everything in sight.
- Watch episodes of Black Adder. Feel disappointed that it is not that great.
- Watch more episodes of original Star Trek.
- Read another book.

In other news, this is the view outside of my window:

It is hard to be unhappy when you walk outside, and see a beautiful blue sky like that sitting above you.

What do you do when you are separated from the internet for a long period of time?
(I need suggestions to help me make it through the rest of this week)
(a week is a long period of time when you think of it in internet hours)

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Celebrate Prom With Olive Garden

*This is a sponsored post.

I have great memories from prom. I wore a dress that reminded me of an updated Cinderella dress (more sparkles, less sleeves) and glass slippers. They weren't actually glass. But they were clear, and they looked just like glass slippers.

I wonder if my mom secretly hoped I would be so inspired by my Cinderella thoughts to come home by the time the clock struck twelve? It did not work out that way, but I did arrive home safely by curfew, shoes intact. Which is good, because the shoes were borrowed from my mom's boss, and I don't think she would have been happy having one of her shoes left behind at the Transportation Museum.

Borrowed shoes aside, one thing I remember clearly about prom is that it was expensive.

Dress. Hair. Flowers. Limo.
The list goes on and on.

It leaves you opening up your wallet on the big night to find nothing but dust bunnies left to greet you.

Olive Garden wants to help teens have a nice dinner on prom night without forcing them to take on extra sifts at their after school jobs or ask their parents for a loan. Now through June 2nd, Olive Garden will give you a free dessert - just arrive for pre-prom dinner dressed up and ready to party, and mention the word "prom" to your server. Salad, bread sticks (I love their bread sticks), pasta, and free dessert - that is the beginning of any truly magical night.

One more thing to think about when you are getting ready for prom:
Olive Garden is hosting a Picture-Perfect Prom photo-sharing contest on Instagram with a weekly grand prize of a $500 prepaid credit card. Every week of the contest, Olive Garden will also give away restaurant e-gift cards valued at $50. Guests can enter through May 14 by sharing their prom-themed photos on Instagram with #OGProm and following @OfficialOliveGarden. Rules: OfficialOliveGardenRules.com.

Prom is the night when you will take hundreds of beautiful photos, so it will be simple to tag your favorite one on Instagram to enter the contest. Good luck.

What did you do for your prom?

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Strings Of Peace

My days go by in a blur - math problems, reading pages, science websites, lunch and snacks, news watching, blog post reading, emails with friends, Bible study time, social media work, book reading, and (on good days) writing.

I can feel the strings of peace stretched over my day. They weave a net over and around me - something to grab hold of when the day feels unmanageable. I measure those strings of peace in hours, sometimes minutes.

Two minutes to read a blog post, and leave a quick comment. I wish it could be more, but the emotions are overwhelming, and all I can bear is a short, "I am praying for you today." Short, but very real.

Minutes for that prayer...for more prayer...names flitting across my mind demanding attention.

Five minutes to listen to a song while I wait for nine o'clock to arrive.

Four minutes to make the oatmeal. Add a splash of milk. One minute to stir. Breakfast is ready.

Thirty minutes for math pages. I sneak in a few emails, read the closed captioning on the news, answer a question, peek at facebook. I feel the connections in these minutes - my daughter working, the world spinning on, updates from people I love and people I don't really know. Sometimes those updates feel like a punch in my stomach; sometimes they bring a small smile or a huge laugh; sometimes they bring tears.

I grab out for the strings of peace. I count the minutes. I think of prayers prayed in order. "A script" the judgmental voices in my mind mock. "Peace" the whisper of my soul answers.

I hold on to the strings of peace. Hand over hand. Swinging from string to string throughout the day; they deliver me safely to the shore on the other side - to sleep, and quiet, and time to recharge for the new day that is coming.


Stream Of Consciousness Sunday Prompt: How do you deal with things? My mind thought of dealing with life, and this was what my heart wrote. I passed the five minute mark, but I could not stop typing until my heart was silent.

What brings peace to your life?
How do you deal with the moments that are less than peaceful?

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Nature's Bakery Fig Bars

You know by now that I love food. Desserts are my favorite, and snack food comes in a close second. When Nature's Bakery contacted me about trying their all natural Fig Bars, I said yes. They provided me with a box of free Fig Bars to try, and at the end of this post I am going to be giving away one box of Fig Bars.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that these fig bars are heavy. Not 100 pounds heavy, but heavier than those popular fig bars I grew up eating (the ones in the yellow box). The Nature's Baker Fig Bars have a substantial feel to them, and they are very filling.

The most important thing when it comes to food is taste.

Sure ingredients are important, and these Fig Bars aren't slouchy in the ingredient department - all natural, cholesterol-free, dairy free, and kosher - they are even made in the USA. But if you are going to get me to eat something, you have to win me over with the taste.

Taste wins with the Nature's Bakery Fig Bars. They are yummy.

We tried the Peach Apricot, Vanilla Raspberry, Whole Wheat Fig, and Raspberry flavors. Thomas and I liked Vanilla Raspberry the best, and Katarina's favorite was the Peach Apricot, but they were all good.

Are you feeling hungry now? Great!
Nature's Bakery is going to send Fig Bars to one of my readers.

To enter:
- Leave a comment telling me which flavor of Fig Bars sounds good to you. They also have other flavors like Blueberry and Apple Cinnamon that I haven't tried yet.
- Tweet about this giveaway, and leave a separate comment with the link to your tweet.

I will choose a winner at midnight on Sunday, May 19, 2013.

The giveaway is open to US residents only, 18 years old or older. The winner will be chosen at random, and the winner will be notified by e-mail. Make sure to leave your e-mail address in your comments, or have your contact available on your blogger profile.

*Legal Stuff: I was provided with Fig Bars to taste by Nature's Bakery. I was not compensated in any other way, and I was not required to say nice things.

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This Is The True Candy Crush Saga

When I saw the name Candy Crush Saga, my first thought was, "'Saga?' Really? It is a facebook game. I think 'saga' is a bit of an overstatement." The first levels were easy. It was like playing Bejewled Blitz - with bigger pieces and sudden sugar cravings thrown in for fun.

When I hit levels in the 30's it started getting harder. I needed to ask for lives. I discussed strategy with Katarina. The word saga was starting to make a little bit more sense.

On Level 97, I got desperate. Two weeks in on 97, I was on twitter asking @deana_bo to come to my house, and beat it for me.

Asking random people on twitter to come to your house and play Candy Crush Saga, isn't like riding around in a van and offering candy to kids, is it? It feels a little too close. Now I am thinking Deana might have cause to be afraid of me, since apparently I tired to kidnap her via Twitter.

Is "Candy Crush made me do it" a legitimate defense?

I took a break for a couple of days to prove that I did not need Candy Crush in my life. Then I came back to beat Level 97. Now I am stuck on Level 107. (Hey Deana, what are you doing this weekend?)

I thought I understood the saga of Candy Crush...until I tried to teach Thomas how to play, and learned the true saga.

He did fine in the early levels (that is how they pull us in), but the jelly levels proved to be a struggle.

I started giving him advice. He was receptive, if a little disgruntled by the amount of progress I had made since we started playing. I was happy to help him.

I told Thomas he needed to cross two special candies to clear more of the board in one move. He did not know this was possible, so we spent several lives setting up a great move. He was very focused on seeing something blow up or a lot of pieces disappear.

Can you see the move?

It was perfect. I pointed at the screen, "Match the three yellow candies, and you will finally have your big move." I tapped on the appropriate pieces for emphasis.

"Okay. I'll match the yellow pieces..." he said as he reached for the mouse.

"NO! No! No! NO! What did you do? Why would you do that? What is wrong with you?"

He had moved the green stripy piece sideways - connecting the three yellows, and making it impossible to cross the stripy green and polka dot chocolate pieces.

It was a tragedy.

All those moves. All those lives. Wasted. Lost. No big clearing of the board.

Thomas looked up at me, and said, "We can try again, right?"

"Yes. But you can't do that again."

We both started to giggle at the absurdity, and I said, "This makes me think of that scene in The Office when Erin did not use the word apoplexy in her Scrabble game."

The Office scene: Oscar and Pam help Erin play Scrabble. They play until she has one turn left. Pam wants her to get the satisfaction of playing the winning move. Oscar reluctantly agrees, and gives her a big hint," Erin, I will have apoplexy if you lose. Do you understand? Apoplexy is what I will have." She nods happily, gives Oscar a look of understanding, and makes the move. A sad sound comes from her phone, indicating her loss, and Oscar begins to have a breakdown. It cuts to Erin saying, "I played ape."

I helped Thomas set up another perfect move, and pointed carefully at the correct pieces on the screen. "You want to get the stripy piece by the polka dot chocolate one."

Time slowed. In my concentration, I forgot to breathe for a moment.

This was it.

Thomas' hand moved the mouse. He clicked.

A quick swipe of his wrist, and....he moved the wrong piece.

He moved the wrong piece, y'all. I could hardly believe it.

I screamed. He screamed. Katarina screamed. There might have been tears.

And then I had apoplexy.

Do you play Candy Crush Saga?
Who wants to come to my house, and beat Level 107 for me?

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