Puzzle Pieces Christmas

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Childhood All Over Again

I didn't realize that when my kids competed in activities it would be like I'm doing it all over again. Here I sit waiting for results from Kealey's Academic Fair. She competed in Spelling. I'm so nervous that I can't stop shaking my legs. I remember many band competitions where I was bouncing off the walls waiting for results. I thought I was past all of that. LOL

I enjoy cheering on all the participants from our wonderful Mary Immaculate School, but man I'm ready for lunch. You see where my brain is today.

Family Dinner Time

This concept seems so obvious. As mentioned in this article: "Parenting: Sit-down dinners bond, build family," kids who sit down with their family for at least one meal a day are better adjusted and have stronger relationships with their parents." I honestly think this is because it gives families a chance to hear what's going on in each other's lives. I believe the family becomes better connected.

When I was growing up, the only time we sat down at the dinner table was when we were eating at my grand-parents's house or for holidays. I always wanted to have a family that sat at the table. Maybe it was because I wanted a captive audience that would be required to listen to me..........at least as long as they had food on their plate.

I have tried to change this with my own family. Now that the girls are all old enough to sit at the table together, it is such an awesome sight. I love to see my family gathered around the table.

One of my absolutely favorite things is when we say Grace. Either Jay or I will clap our hands to show that we are praying. Our 1 year old has figured out that we're doing something special and she'll clap her hands too. As we do the sign of the cross and say our prayer, she is grinning and clapping her hands. Our 3 year old claps her hands and tries to do the sign of the cross with us. It's so exciting to see them learning such a special part of being a family.

Did Oprah really ruin Twitter?

Why are people so worried about Oprah ruining Twitter? I understand that she's bringing a lot of newbies with her, but what does that matter? I guess some are concerned that a large influx of people can do damage to Twitter as it seems to have done to My Space. What really surprised me is that some people are very adamant about stating that they were on Twitter BEFORE Oprah. Is there something I'm missing there? What is the point of that statement?

I am a Twitter convert. I never thought I would really like it, but I have found some very cool uses that are fun to me. I love to get news on Twitter. They're little bursts that I can handle and if I want to go read the whole story I can. If I can't read it right when it comes through, it's in my account and I can go back to it anytime. I follow our local traffic person who sends tweets about problem areas! I don't have to go hunting for the information, it just comes to my account. Awesome! I also follow a local weather guy and news anchor. Each of these people are fun individuals that write interesting posts (at least interesting to me).

Besides these things, I use it as the social community that it is. I love connecting with people on the internet that have the same interests as I do. It brings back memories of being in the old chat rooms of the 90's. Those were fun and I would spend hours playing and talking to people. That was before kids, of course.

What do you use Twitter for? Do you use it for marketing, social networking, news? What do you hate about Twitter? I'd love to hear your opinions.