Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Eddy was helping me pick out a video for him to watch while his sister was napping. I turned the TV on to set it to video, and Bob Ross was starting a painting.
ME: Oh, this is Bob Ross. I used to watch him paint when I was a kid. Do you want to watch this?
HIM: uh uh. No.
we watch for a few seconds.
HIM: I want to watch this. It makes my body … I don’t know. It just makes my body feel funny
heh.
click the comic to make it bigger
Posted in Eddy | 1 Comment »
This post was another attempt to create revenue. The story is real, and the wart removal trick worked. It was a content affiliate promotion, with a killer sales letter and everything, with a 50% payback I think. So if someone clicked through my link and bought the secret recipe I’d get 1/2 the cost as a kickback. I don’t think it ever sold any, and the link is dead now.
So the secret to removing warts is…
make a paste with castor oil and baking soda, then smother and cover the wart until it’s gone. There, I saved you a couple bucks.
There’s also an example of a Kim Klaver lesson in there (not an affiliate link) – speak to your own experience, offer advice, and ask who might be interested.
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Back in high school, I started noticing this little bump that would form on my arm every summer. Just a little raised spot, no big deal. I assumed it was a wart and didn’t worry about it.
Then it got bigger. As years went on it got to about the size of a pencil eraser. I started cutting it off with finger nail clippers or a knife or my teeth. It grew back every time.
Then it got one of those things you’re supposed to watch out for – an irregular border. It never changed color, so I wasn’t real worried that it was skin cancer. Maybe a little, but not real worried. Besides, you can just get those “frozen off” right?
So I tried a take-home freeze kit from the drugstore. Not only was it smelly and painful, but it worked worse than just cutting the damn thing off!
Then I read an ad in a newsletter about how to “permanently remove unsightly moles and warts, without any harsh medical procedures or painful over-the-counter products!” I actually saw it a bunch of times before I decided to at least take a look.
The website went on and on about how great it was and had all these testimonials and went on and on. Now, I hate hype but it wasn’t that expensive and had a money-back guarantee. Doesn’t everything, right?
So I bought the e-book, read it, and almost went for the money back right then and there. The solution was just too simple to actually work. So I didn’t even try it.
But eventually I figured that I’d spent the money so I should give it a try before I completely wrote it off. After maybe a week or two of a band-aid on my arm covering my home-made paste, it was gone. That was May of 2006. Almost 2 years later and I can barely remember which arm it was on!
If you know someone who might want to safely remove warts, please share this post with them.
Quite some time back, we caught an episode or two of a children’s show with a focus on American Sign Language. It was well put together, entertaining, and enjoyable for all of us. Then the local PBS station stopped airing it.
We eventually discovered Signing Time at the library and have since borrowed every episode at least once. These are fantastic videos! Each episode has a theme and focuses on several signs for each topic, each signed by children and the host, Rachel. And the songs will get stuck in your head forever.
Eddy, our five year old, discovered that if he signs the things he wants, we have to actually look at him, and pay that much MORE attention to him. hmmm….
Ruth, at 18 months, is obsessed with Baby Signing Time aimed at kids “3-36 months.” She’s picked up so many signs in just the short time we had it checked out and is now very good at communicating. Her pediatrician says that at 18 months her cognitive level is on par with many 2 or 2 1/2 year olds!
Update
At 19 months, Ruth can say (pretty closely anyhow) the following:
Mom, Dad, Eddy, “Owie”, stuck, butt, asleep, red, fish, eat, “B” (for Ernie), “B” (for bird), mine, please, thank you, me, no shoes, toes, down, help, woof-woof, meow, wet, poop, hop, oops, wow, ear, noes, eyes, soup, shirt, juice, bottle, book, read, hi, bye-bye, moo, ball, hello, push, pull, hot, “ah-ah” (for count), fall, snow, nope, teeth, beautiful, back pack, pea, bite, food, stop, go, share, Here you go, hat, baby, frog, swing, uh-huh, boy, “elephant noise”, “rooster noise”.
She can sign:
Owie (hurt), asleep, red, fish, eat, bird, lease, thank you, shoes, food, stop, share, hat, baby, frog, boy, blanket, sorry, blocks, more, build, bear, car, paper, draw, bunny, cracker, potty, brush teeth, sad, awake, grumpy, bath, “StarWars (made up sign), “bottle” (her own sign), cheese, apple, candy, cold, milk, cookie, caterpillar, monkey, gorilla, tiger, train, popcorn, dirty, pig, surprised, all-done, school, play, penguin.
There’s a lot of crossover words between the two lists, and we were never worried that signing would make her speech delayed.
Since Ruth keeps asking for Baby Signing Time again and again, I had to break down and buy them.
Allison has really taken to signing with Ruth, as well. Actually, Ruth and Eddy know more signs than I do! I guess I’ll have to watch more with them to figure it before they start secretly communicating amongst each other.
See if your library has a set, or if you can find it on your local PBS station. Or browse the Signing Time Store.I hope you love it as much as we do.
Posted in Eddy, Fun, Ruth, Shopping | No Comments »
[this was the about page for my old site at one point]
The photo gallery link is on the right, and separate blogs for Eddy & Ruth are listed as well. Most of the good stuff will go here though. Eddy sometimes types his own stuff, and I’ll put updates on the others when I remember, but mostly I’m just saving their domain names to be nerdy.
Welcome friends and family. Most of you are just checking in on Eddy & Ruth, and that’s fine.
If you’d like to add comments about a particular post (or video) make sure you use the “register” link on the right. That’s to prevent unwanted messages and junk. I love to read comments … even the short ones.
I have set up some Ads by Google on the pages. If I make money great, but at least I can start “writing off” my webhosting expenses. Please don’t click on any ads unless you have a genuine interest in what is being advertised.
Some of my “product review” pages have links off-site that pay me a referral fee on sales. My reviews are honest and accurately reflect my experience with a product. If you know me, you know I have no tolerance for B.S. I don’t put up with it and wouldn’t waste either of our time with it. Again, please only follow the links if you have a genuine interest.
Thanks for stopping by.
pb
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
“Fed Cuts Rate another 1/2 Point”
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080130/fed_interest_rates.html
“The Fed’s hope is that by making credit cheaper, it will encourage more borrowing, giving the economy a needed boost.”
Tell me how the fugg that makes sense?
The “economy is in shock” due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Which is what happens when greedy mortgage brokers lend money to people who shouldn’t be allowed to borrow any, then those debts get sold as an investment package. Then the investment goes south and people who bought the debt that poor people owed are losing their money so all the wallstreeters are panicking.
So the Fed cut rates again. To stimulate growth by making it cheaper for banks to borrow money from other banks, and hoping the banks will lower the rate they charge when loaning out money to customers.
And since people borrowed more than they could afford and investors were stupid enough to take on these debts thinking they’d get paid back eventually but are not, now the government is making it easier to rack up debt, so we can buy crap and keep the economy growing.
“To combat the threat of a recession in an election year, the Bush administration has been negotiating with congressional leaders for an economic stimulus package of around $150 billion, focused on tax rebates for households and business tax breaks to spur investment. The House passed its version of the proposal on Tuesday but Senate action could be delayed by efforts to expand the relief to senior citizens and the unemployed.”
So after making it easier to borrow money, they divert taxes away from things we want to spend them on (like education and social services and OUR national defense) and give some of it back to us right before we have to turn around and give it back to them. Probably costing more in postal services than the “boost” will provide to the economy.
How about doing something that will actually boost the economy. Like keeping jobs in America. And refining corporate tax breaks to stimulate industry that actually needs help. Or how about a program to create a new infrastructure to support our energy needs. Imagine the number of jobs that would be created if an entire generation / distribution system based on solar/geo/bio energies was started RIGHT NOW. Sure, they’d be construction and manufacturing jobs, but the work would take decades and the resources / manpower / money would all stay here.
Unless we hire a bunch of migrant workers to do it because manual labor is beneath Americans. [/sarcasm]
We actually burned coal for two winters, then the soot and carbon monoxide warnings got to be more stressful than it was worth. The house has electric heat and no A.C. (we used window units) and just got a mini-split air-sourced heat pump (Feb 2022) that will give the main room A.C. and more efficient heating, in theory.
Fri, 18 Jan 2008
I’m a coal-burning Neanderthal. But my house is warm and my electric bill is tiny so… I’m good with it.
Back in college a professor reminded the class that burning a primary energy source for heat was always more energy efficient than electric heat. Why burn fuel to make steam to make electricity and pipe it across vast distances into your house to convert it back to heat with resistance coils while losing energy at every transfer and conversion? Isn’t it better just to burn it and get the heat out yourself?
So we do. Coal is regional in PA, and anthracite is hard, black coal that burns cleaner and hotter than Bituminous coal that is used in power plants.
The house is warmer that when we used all electric heat, and savings are about $50 / month. We’ll see after the cold season is over, but it’s looking good.
So I’m actually reducing global warming emissions by burning coal in my house and using less electricity (made from burning coal).
Yay me.
This was posted under the thoughts of “saying it outloud makes me more accountable”.
15 years later, that’s still my todo list.
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
home
I tried for a while to save the domain name for our kids, and run a blog about each of them. This is from Rowan’s (birth name Ruth).
Ruth Laurel
boy. I should check this more often
October 4th, 2007 at 5:33 pm (daily life)
I’ve been putting a few posts and video over at phillbecker.com.
Quick over view: she started crawling @ 6months, walking @ 9 1/2 months, running shortly after that. Spent the summer in NY at the cabin, birthday at Nana/Pop Pop’s place. Ear infection over and done while I was out of state in August, everything’s fine now. She is just now cutting molars: 4 at a time (yay).
Ruth is very physical and agile. She runs, climbs and beats Eddy up all the time. She’s a good eater and a snuggle bug. Lots of pictures and some video that just hasn’t made it online yet. I’ll get to it.
/update
pb
Comments
6 months now
February 24th, 2007 at 10:14 am (Uncategorized)
Ruth had her checkup the other day and is doing fine. Still no sicknesses, ear infections etc. Her first tooth cut a couple days after the checkup, she started crawling a little (actual crawling, not just “commando”) and decided standing was better.
Stats: 26 3/4 ” long
14 lbs 14 oz
43.7 cm head circ.
Why the heck does the medical system use 2 different systems for measurement. Go all English or give it up and go metric like the rest of the world. nevermind
She’s generally happy. Ruth definitely knows what she wants and how to get it. If she’s interested in exploring, don’t try to play. Standing and holding onto fingers or the walker is much more enjoyable than crawling. Now she can sit and play with thing. In fact, this morning was her first experience in a restaurant high chair and it went very well.
We’ve introduced spoon foods, and she still takes a bottle. She’s just about given up nursing, but not completely. Favorite food seems to be sweet peas. They spray really well when she goes “PBBbbBBBBBBBBbbbBBB!!!”
There’s this funny thing about giving her a bottle… she needs her head covered with a blanket. Otherwise she’ll grab and push the bottle away, grab your face or anything else she can reach. The blanket gives her something to hold onto and rub on her eyes. Of course, it also gives her a weapon to grab with both hands and sweep away the bottle from time to time.
Allison took her to a high school dance marathon last night. Where Eddy cowered from the noise and people and lights and mascots, she apparently grooved to the bass beat and had a grand time with all the people and stimulation.
Time to baby-proof the house, I guess
October 2nd, 2007
It’s not that dreaming is bad or I have nightmares or anything like that. It just seems that dreaming is a waste of perfectly good sleep time. In my dreams, I’m usually active or doing something or interacting… realistic dreams. I don’t have abstract, pretty color, flying / falling, or fantasy world dreams. Sci-fi sometimes, but still first-person and active.
So my brain acts like I’m doing things and thinking about what’s going on and trying to reason things out, which is difficult at times. When I wake up (or usually when I’m woken up) I have to switch gears, clear the dream out and get real-world functions going again. Since my brain has been active, I usually feel more tired after 6-8 hours of dreaming sleep than if I just crash for 3-5.
[there was probably more to this that’s gone]
