Jots

I keep a small notebook in my car where I jot down ideas.  I also keep a notebook and pencil back where N sits in the minivan so that I can dictate things to her.  If I am alone or N is not with me, I usually wait until I am at a full stop before jotting.  But there are times when I can't wait around for a red light or stop sign to get my idea down on paper.  I wish my need to write these ideas down immediately was because they are effin' brilliant.  Rather it is because if I don't get them somewhere other than my gray matter, it will be gone forever, lost in the confusion of my life outside my mind.  

For posterity's sake, here is what remains in my notebook that hasn't already been blogged or journaled about.....

* The kids and I are branching beyond Maynard Moose now, although we still get great pleasure from hearing "Socklops."  It occurred to me, though, that indulging so heavily in fractured fairy tales might not be such a good thing for the boys.  With N, I first immersed her in the original tales and once she knew those stories well then I moved along to the revisionist tales.  I will not be at all surprised if G and M get in trouble or fail tests for their Maynard Moose-inspired interpretations of The Three Little Pigs, whereby the mother pig kicks her piglets over the hedge like tiny footballs and then the Third Piggy moves back in with his mom because he was too scared to seek his fortune.  

*While I don't think about the future with the kids much, I do have to say that one of the things I do look forward to when they are little older is berry picking.  The last time I went berry picking was LONG before N was even a twinkle in D's eye.  I seem to recall contracting a weird fungal infection on my hand as a result of picking, but despite this, I do think it will be fun to do such things when the kids are older.  My enthusiasm for picking my own produce is unmatched; I wish my enthusiasm for growing my own produce was significantly greater.  

*I believe I lamented at some point on this here blog about D's GPS iPhone app that is so helpful as to give us directions on how to get out of our driveway.  Equally annoying is Mint.com, which I use to help track our spending.  I set budgets on Mint for things like haircuts and auto fuel and D's lunches, but occasionally it will send me a message about an unusually high expense.  I received some of these in June when I was planning and paying expenses for my 20th high school reunion.  The message always say something like this:

"In the past 7 days, you have been $870 on reunion expenses.  Normally you spend $4.56." 

Messages like this are truly helpful for things like fuel expenses and diapers that I purchase over and over again.  But the thing is, there is no "normal" spending for a 20-year reunion.  Normally I spend NOTHING for a 20-year high school reunion.  And I won’t normally spend anything on a 20-year high school reunion ever again.

Just a second ago, I got an email saying I went over budget on clothing.  When I checked Mint.com, it said something was purchased at Macy's for $54 on August 10.  When I clicked on the transaction, it was really ABC Mail PharMACY'S (for D's nose spray).  

Technology reminds me of myself.  Smart enough only to be highly annoying.