This website is a lot of fun. The basic concept it to take your mugshot every day. You can do that with your webcam at the website, with an iPhone app (search for daily mugshot in the iTunes store), via e-mail or upload a picture. It is fun to see the different looks and when I was on vacation it was a nice reminder of what we did each day. I tried to take my picture with something very interesting in the background. From all of these shots, a Mugshow is created. See my mugshow at the end of this post. You can customize the number of pictures to show and you can drop out any that you really don’t like. I am considering doing this with each of my kids, but on a weekly basis and keeping the mugshow private. It would be interesting to watch the changes in kids over the years. You can also order a Flipbook which includes 64 pictures and you design the colors and text for $8.99 plus shipping and handling. I am not sure if I will try that feature.

Yes, you could do this yourself with a camera and flickr and create a slideshow, but with the built in webcam on my iMac and the e-mail reminder that I receive every morning, this website makes it a lot easier. You add the iPhone app and there are no excuses for me to forget or not take that daily mugshot. So, go try it out, add me as a favorite and enjoy the show.

Daily Mugshot

I am a scrapbooker, so I love preserving moments in time (sounds like a Hallmark card). But I didn’t realize how many things I had forgotten until I got back in touch with some old friends. They reminded of things, place and people I hadn’t thought about in years. Some I had forgotten for good reasons. I began to wonder if the next generation of kids will keep in touch better. It’s easier to keep people in your facebook and see what they are up to than to try to write a snail mail letter to all your past friends.

Feel free to add me to your Facebook. And what do you think about keeping in touch online? Will our kids do a better job of keeping in touch?

Technorati Tags: facebook, friends

Why is it that they say “you can’t have your cake and eat it too?” I know that if you eat it then you don’t have it, but I don’t want it to just look at it, I want it to eat. So if I have it, I can eat it and that is what I want. So? Isn’t that a stupid saying?

According to wikipedia, the saying goes back to 1546 and refers to the impossibility of eating your cake and still having it afterwards. It seems I am not the only one confused by the saying. Even George Carlin did a skit on the same thing.

So, can you have your cake and eat it too?

Now, obviously, we can’t live this life always, but I think that is what makes it so nice. We are not all slackers and ordinarily are more on top of things, but letting it all go for 2 weeks to just relax and hang out was fun. In some ways I’m sorry that it’s over, but it will be nice to get back to some routine. I wasn’t even sure what day it was most days or what time.

So, tomorrow, I will somehow muster the energy to get all the kids up early and off to school and then begin my week long journey to get my house and life back in order. I think making this a yearly tradition would be good. A great way to end the year.

How did you spend your winter break?

Mom – You need to copy and fill this out too!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? … Went to Miami

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next
year? … No, I didn’t keep it and yes, I made more for 2009

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? … Not that I remember

4. Did anyone close to you die? … Yes, my Father-in-Law

5. What countries did you visit? … None

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? … Energy to get rid of clutter

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? … May 27. That is the day we found out my FIL passed away

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? … Making it through the year

9. What was your biggest failure? … I didn’t do all I planned to do.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? … I had my appendix out

11. What was the best thing you bought? … my MacBook

14. Where did most of your money go? … god only knows

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? … my iPhone for my birthday…total shock

16. What song will always remind you of 2008? … any Jonas Brothers song

17. Did you keep all of last years resolutions? … Nope

19. What do you wish you’d done more of? … decluttering

20. What do you wish you’d done less of? … wasting time

21. How did you be spend Christmas? … .At home with my family

22. Did you fall in love in 2008? … I’m always in love with my dh

24. What was your favorite TV program? … House

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? … Nope

26. What was the best book you read? … oh boy…I can’t remember one book I read

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? … I loved Brittney Spears new album, but I didn’t expect to

28. What did you want and get? … I wanted an iPhone and got it for my bday

29. What did you want and not get? … can’t think of anything

30. What was your favourite film of this year? … Nothing really sticks out in my mind

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? … I turned 41 and I don’t remember what I did.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? …If I’d managed to get more bills paid off

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? … sweatshirts, t-shirt and leggings

34. What kept you sane? … talking to Shelly on yahoo and scrapping

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? … We followed all the teeny boppers this year…Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Disney crew..

36. What political issue stirred you the most? … the whole election

37. Who did you miss? … My grandparents

38. Who was the best new person you met? … Lynn, my neighbor

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008: … Less is More

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: … oh boy…I’d like to say “party like it’s 1999,” but that is soooo far off.

41. Did you meet any online friends in person: … Yes, Shelly

42. Did you take any vacations in 2008: … yep, to Virginia Beach and Miami Beach

43. What is your blogging goal for 2009: … to actually blog

Not sure why it stopped at 43 and didn’t go to 50, but that’s my year wrapped up.

My word for 2008 was “simplify,” however I didn’t really follow it so I am continuing the word in 2009. I think it works well with my theme of less is more. I am hoping that with the monthly check ins, we will follow through with our intentions. We also plan to write out how we will make the changes. Have a short term monthly goal also. Once we have it all written out and planned, I will post the entire family list. I will keep you updated on how we are doing after our monthly check ins. If you would like to stay accountable for your 2009 intentions, post your intention here and keep us updated each month as I update you.

This is one of my favorite scenes from the movie. This is a great example of how "over the top" HSM 3 was. Bigger than life and bigger than the first 2. Sharpay and Ryan were talking about what they want in the future in this scene.

I enjoy the Disney movies even though they are so cliche. You know that the underdog always win, everyone always ends up happy and they all learn very valuable lessons. Predictable? Yes, but very uplifting. I left the theatre wanting to sing and dance my way out to my car and I felt very happy.

I’ve found myself thinking about my high school years (no singing and dancing in our halls). I went to one school and hated it. The school was made up of a lot of Sharpays (stuck up snobs). I transferred to a private school and I found a group of friends that I became close friends with. They were my life for 3 years and I’ll never forget how horrible it was when we all went our separate ways after high school. We swore we’d keep in touch forever. That lasted about 6 months until the first Christmas break. Now, I don’t know where any of them are. I’ve found a few of them through classmates.com, but other than a quick catch up e-mail, we haven’t stayed in touch.

I was trying to explain this to my kids today and they don’t believe me. They think that the friends they have now will be their friends FOREVER. I have changed friends many times. Each big major change in my life has brought me new friends and ended some friendships. My college friends are the ones I have kept in contact with the longest. I think that this next generation of kids may have an easier time staying in touch because of the internet.

Did you stay in contact with your high school friends? college friends?