Category: Seen, Heard, Said

Washington State ban on cell phone use while driving
Beginning July 1st, a new law goes into affect prohibiting the use of hands to operated a cell phone while driving. As far as I know, using a hands-free headset is still allowed. I talk on my phone while driving all the time. I hate making phone calls, and for some reason it seems to be less painful if I’m also using my time to get where I’m supposed to be. Because after all, I’m just sitting there, right? I mean, during what other point of the day am I JUST SITTING DOWN?

Also? My kids are strapped into car seats and unable to climb on top of the refrigerator when I’m not looking.

Original Works – turning your artwork into professionally made products
Ruthie’s preschool used this program as a fundraiser last year, but you can also place individual orders. Prices are as low as $5.50 for a magnet, or you can spend more to get art aprons, night lights, mugs, and more. I have several projects I plan to send in this year to make presents for grandparents.

And for all you crafty types out there? You can turn your child’s art into a quilt block. If I didn’t have so many hobbies going already, I would TOTALLY make a quilt out of my kids’ art.

Baby Mine, by Rocks in my Dryer
I’ve been in a nostalgic mood lately, and this slice of life from Rocks in My Dryer hit me at just the right time. As my oldest gets ready for kindergarten and I begin the process of nudging my little birdies out of the nest, I needed to be reminded that all stages of parenting have their tender moments, even if wrapped in preteen silliness.

Jungle Beat Animation Shorts
I caught one of these animation shorts while channel surfing with the kids one Saturday morning – the one about the giraffe who bumps into the moon and knocks it out of the sky. My kids were in stitches. The animation is excellent, and the stories are entertaining and quirky. The DVD has an hour’s worth of five minute shorts. Sadly, Netflix does not carry this DVD, but Amazon does.

Don Miller and the Ride:Well Team
Remember that guy who wrote the book, Blue Like Jazz and To Own a Dragon? He’s riding his bike across America to raise awareness for the need in Africa for fresh water. When I watched the video on the homepage my first thought was, HOLY SHADOW OF YOUR FORMER SELF, BATMAN! Don’s lost a lot of weight, and he looks great! My second thought was, You go, Don. You can also follow his ride on Twitter.

Tweet What You Eat
Speaking of Twitter, Bryan sent me this link just yesterday, so I haven’t had a chance to set it up for myself. But what a brilliant idea! I’ve stalled after losing another eight pounds, and to be honest it’s because keeping track of my calories was bogging me down. I’m going to try this quick and easy way, since we all know how I heart twitter!

Use Literature Map to find that next great book
I always like it when something is functional and cool looking. I know there are many sites out there to assist in author “networking” to find books you might enjoy based on books you’ve previously read, but this one caught my attention. I entered author after author, just to see who else would pop up and how creatively they’d float around. I got this link from June’s Real Simple Magazine.

I love it when something happens to get mainstream Christianity’s undies all in a bunch. The Sex and the City movie is getting a mixed bag of reviews – both on its quality and on its morality – and as these things usually go, there is a faction of flame throwers leading the pack who have never even seen an episode of the series, much less the movie.

This sort of thing reminds me of the time Jeffrey Overstreet was invited to be interviewed for a talk show addressing the question of whether the media was anti-religious, only to have his invitation withdrawn because his opinion wasn’t extreme enough (you can read his account of that here).

I’m not suggesting you have to like the movie in order to be cool or a well-educated Believer – I’m not even saying you have to go see it. All I’m asking is that we exercise the mind God gave us to think critically about why we believe what we believe and why we hold certain opinions, rather than spouting of dogmatic reactions.

Anyhow, as you can see, I got sucked into this one big time. It all started when I left this comment on Jeffrey’s blog. He appreciated my thoughts, and asked if I would be interested in writing a review since he hadn’t seen the movie.

I obliged.

I also had these thoughts (spoiler warning).

And here are a few other links for you to peruse, in no particular order…

Other reactions compiled by Jeffrey Overstreet.

My review on Looking Closer Journal

Corrupting soon at a theater near you?

Discussion on the Arts and Faith forum.

From Hollywood Jesus – Can Sex and the City be Biblical?

From Hollywood Jesus – a movie review.

From Past the Popcorn – a review.

From Christianity Today – a review.

Feedback regarding the Christianity Today review.

And of course, how could I forget the man I have a review-crush on, Roger Ebert.

Mommyblogging and the water well
This is the best, most clearly communicated case for blogging and online community that I have read to date. It explains my love for all the people I’ve met online in a way that I’ve never been able to articulate. The next time someone tells me that online community is not real community, or that the internet is a time waster, I will reference this post. Because no, it does not replace in-person, intimate friendships, but we have many levels of relationship needs, and the internet does serve a significant purpose for many people. By the way, I just discovered this blog yesterday, and plan to add it to my reader. She’s an amazing communicator.

Writing and Living
I can’t remember how I found this blog, but I saw it in my feed reader one day with over 40 unread posts and decided to check it out. I am now hooked, and read her posts the instant I see them appear in my reader. She reads a lot of Christian non-fiction books, and writes great reviews and thoughts on them. I also appreciate her discussions on theology and issues of women in the church. It’s nice to see an intelligent, articulate, Christian woman on the internet.

We Testify: Stories of Hope
Speaking of articulate women on the internet, my friend Amy is collecting stories of hope, faith, endurance, salvation, and the like, for a new blog project called We Testify. She explains her vision on her blog here. If you have a story to tell, you should check it out.

Can women alone make Sex and the City a hit?
Thanks to Amy for sending this article to me – we have plans to see the movie together on opening night. As the title indicates, the article speculates whether Sex and the City can be successful without an appeal to a (non-gay) male audience. The male-dominated discussion over the Arts and Faith forum speculates as well.

WordPress themes by Scribble Scratch
Bryan and I were surfing for new wordpress themes for a new, yet to be announced blog, and came across these whimsical drawings. I fell in love, and you can expect to see more of one soon.

The Human Calendar
This was so cool I put it in my sidebar. I found out about it here.

How to Clean Your Screen & Keyboard, by Coding Horror.
If you want to know what it’s like to be me or anyone under four feet tall in this house, just imagine hearing a booming voice coming from a six foot one man yelling, “DON’T TOUCH THE SCREEN!” on a regular basis. I’m surprised this wasn’t one of the kids’ first string of words. How do you explain to a five year old she is to point at the Disney princess without rubbing her entire body up against it?

Dooce, on gadgets.
I snorted coffee out my nose when I read this. Not only do we have this tripod (because who DOESN’T need a tripod that can wrap around a pole?) but I also have the kind of husband who goes to Fred Meyer for zucchini and comes back with a Chic-Can.

nor breath nor motion – Finslippy
Having gone through a period of depression, having experienced a loss, I will say this is exactly how I felt. Only I wasn’t nearly as coherent about it.

The first installment of (hopefully) many posts about what I discover on the web (p.s. I made that badge up there all by myself after Bryan showed me how – go me!).

This American Life episode from 4/18/08, Mistakes Were Made.
I’ve been having several Parental Panic Attacks lately, wondering if I’m completely failing my children. More important than any behavioral modification, I want my children to understand issues of their hearts, motives, and intentions. I can spot a fake apology at 20 paces, and I can call it to attention. But can I force my child to be truly repentant?

As I was feeling bogged down with frustration this week, Bryan pulled up the above episode of This American Life for me to listen to. If you don’t listen to the entire episode, at least listen to the first five minutes or so. Ira Glass discusses true apology and remorse with a father, and this father tells the story of David sleeping with Bathsheba, having her husband killed, and his initial lack of repentance.

It was just what I needed to hear to remember I am not alone in this concern I have for my children, and that God does provide the opportunity for everyone to truly repent. I need to patiently lead and pray for my children in this way.

Twistori for Twitter art.
This is another link sent to me by Bryan, and is a very cool artistic rendering of Twitter. It draws from Twitters containing key words such as Love, Think, Hate, Believe, Feel, and Wish and displays them with colorful font scrolling over a black backround. I love checking into this site once in awhile for inspiration.

You Can’t Handle the Truth! from Practical Theology for Women.
Wendy uses two famous lines spoken by Jack Nicholson in two different movies to illustrate how we struggle between our desire to be more like Jesus, and the reality of getting there.

Stay at home moms worth $117,000 per year.
Salary.com published their 8th annual Mother’s Day study determining what mother’s would earn if they were paid to be mothers.

The Morning Becomes Eclectic show on KCRW.com
I fell in love with this Santa Monica based radio station when driving around LA at Christmas. I stream their music nearly all day every day, and I’ve never met a song I didn’t like, particularly on the Morning Becomes Eclectic show. It’s dangerous, really. I write down all the songs I like from their track list, and now my wish list of music is longer than my bank account is full.

Create and share an mp3 mix tape on Muxtape.com
Speaking of music, I had this brilliant idea to create mp3 mix tapes to embed on my blog as I discover new music. The problem is, there’s no real easy way to do this without violating copywrite (or whatever you call it). I could create an iMix, but I believe those only play a snippet of a song (correct me if I’m wrong), and you can only use mp4’s purchase through iTunes – kind of a problem if you bought the actual CD. My Last.fm account allows me to create and embed mixes, but not all songs are available, leaving holes in some of my mixes. Same with Rhapsody.com.

Bryan said Muxtape was getting talked about, so I checked it out. I can’t embed the mix code into my blog, but I can link to my mix on the Muxtape website where you can then stream it. The downside (for me) is you are only allowed one mix of 12 songs at a time (you can’t create multiple mixes under the same user name), and I’m not clear yet whether you can change out those 12 song slots for new songs or if I have to make the One Really Great Mix Tape Of All Times. Will be interesting to check out.

Sleep Deprivation Means More Drama, from NPR News.
This was an interesting article. I’m just wondering why they didn’t include MOTHERS in their list of crazed, sleep deprived reality show contestants. Because this is definitely reality, and sometimes it’s so outrageous it must be a show.

B: Does this blue cheese dressing need to be in the refrigerator?

J: Crap. It hasn’t been opened, but I didn’t think about how I got it from the refrigerated section.

B: What does the label say?

J: “Refrigerate for Quality.” Ok, so it’s not “refrigerate for not dying.”

B: Cool

Scroll down a couple posts if you missed the other one I posted.

Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for the link!

My sister knows a family whose daughter was involved in a deadly car crash in Northern Indiana a couple years ago. Five passengers in the van – Taylor University students – were instantly killed, and two survivors were taken to the hospital. In a strange case of mistaken identity, one of the dead students was identified by school officials as Whitney Cerak, age 18, and the survivor was identified as Laura Van Ryn.

As “Laura” lay in a coma for 5 weeks, family members missed the signs of mistaken identity. Her sister didn’t recognize the shoes or clothes officials said belonged to Laura, but dismissed it as a college student borrowing clothes from friends. Her brother thought her teeth looked different, but dismissed it as trauma from the accident. Her boyfriend thought her eye color was off.

It wasn’t until “Laura” came out of a coma and began mumbling strange names the family didn’t recognize, that they took their suspicions to the next level. A nurse asked “Laura” to write out her name, and she spelled W-H-I-T-N-E-Y.

As you can imagine, lots of confusing emotions around losing a daughter you thought was alive, and gaining a daughter you thought was dead. The two families wrote a book together, titled, Mistaken Identity, and will be appearing on Dateline this Friday, March 28th, and Oprah next Wednesday, April 1st.

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Photo from the Dateline website.
Whitney Cerak, left; Laura Van Ryn, right.