TRAGEDY! And my Warranty Does Not Cover Acts of Stupidity...

Yesterday, I broke my laptop screen. Aaaaargh! It was very depressing. But then I saw this video, and now I can't stop laughing. So all is well.

I Take Back All The Nice Things I Said About Spring

Spring? TRICKS us into washing our coats and putting them away, gives us a false sense of sunniness, and then RAINS on us. Coldly. Melancholy-ly.

*Sigh*, I am actually speechless with dejection.

SPRING!

I was out and about all day today, riding my bike to get Margo's pills and go to the library, and walking to the grocery for a mega-shop, heading back in a taxi with seventy bags of stuff. The trees are flowering, pink and yellow and white. Everywhere I went, people were HAPPY! and SMILING! and saying,

"Hello! Isn't it a nice day?!" 


The weather man says, it won't last. We are all skipping about in strappy numbers and flip-flops, praying that it does.

My friend Shelly-Anne has a website that will make you drool. Head over to Simply Edible and give her some luuuurve! If you're looking for delicious cakes and baked awesomeness in Trinidad, she's your gal.

That is all. I'm going out to bring my nice, sweet-smelling laundry in. Sending Springy thoughts to all of you who are still in the grips of Slush-ter. Spring is coming your way!

WWF Earth Hour! Turn Your Lights Out!

Tonight, if EVERYONE switches their lights off, imagine how pretty the sky will look! People and businesses in Sydney, Australia began celebrating Earth Hour in March 2007, the movement went global in 2008 and David Cameron calls it "A huge symbol of global solidarity."

Go to the WWF Home Page for more, or search facebook for your local news and photos.

Don't be the only one with your lights on!


The boys and I are crying with laughter over this! Anyone who's lived in the tropics can relate!

Once you've turned all your lights off, including outdoor security lights, go outside and look at the stars.

New York!

I just want to say that all that fabulous weather we had in NY last week? That was me. Hottest day of the year so far? A birthday present. Not that I wouldn't have had a great time, even if it was sleeting, but the gorgeous weather just made a wonderful holiday COMPLETELY awesome. We were staying in Morristown, which is an hour from Penn Station on the train, and nearly every day while Sean was studying I hopped on that train and just wandered the streets of the city like a TRUE tourist, taking pictures and getting lost briefly... it's easy to find yourself again though, with the streets all numbered.

There were so many cool things to see! I went to the Folk Art Museum, which is next to MoMA and completely distracted me. I stayed so long, I never got to MoMA. I went to the Metropolitan Museum, and wandered for a whole day, agog. I took pictures. I met my cousin Ryan on my birthday (Which was on March 15th, you may send me chocolate at any time though) and he took me for a great lunch where we had to ROLL ourselves out the door afterwards.

On St. Patrick's Day, Ryan and I met up again, and went to see the parade... but couldn't get close! Throngs of people in green were packing the streets. So we went to a bar, where we met Ryan's girlfriend Siobhan, announced "We are O'Connors and we can prove it! Give us free Guinness!" And they did!

What a beautiful city, on a sunny day! I want to go back. The shopping was tempting, but I restrained myself admirably I thought... I must have walked a hundred miles over the course of the week, but I still had to wear stretchy pants to come home! I ate A LOT, and much more meat than I'm used to. I mean, I'm not going to go all the way to New York and eat VEGETABLES, right?

Central Park is great, I love the glacier-gouged rocks everywhere.

Times Square! When Sean had a day off on Sunday, we went straight to Times Square early in the morning. It was quiet! Within a few hours, there were people everywhere. We watched it happen, walked another hundred miles, and ate enough food to feed a family for a week in the Hard Rock Cafe.

I am home again, eating sensibly, catching up on work and taking care of my family. Ailis, you are the best sister in the world for baby-and-granny-sitting! But I want to go back soon... now, how can I arrange that :) ?

I'm Hooooome!

And it's Springy! I had a fantastic time. Will tell you all about it as soon as I have a minute!

St. Patrick's Day Parade, Morristown NJ

So I've landed right in the middle of St Patrick's Day celebrations. No, St Patrick's Day isn't till Thursday, but try telling that to the folks in New Jersey! There were guys in kilts, bands playing "Danny Boy"... (not that Irish, you say? No, wait for it...)

The De Lorean from 'Back To The Future', Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine...

Even the dogs got all dressed up!

There was a Carnival atmosphere, with face painting, weird cars and people on balconies around the park.

Irish Artifacts were on sale everywhere! I especially like the alien... 

And some people were not impressed. Parade? What parade? Seriously, though, it was great fun. The bands were awesome, friendly people were everywhere. It was very well organized. And the Morristown Hyatt hotel is right in the action, with gallons of Guinness being guzzled downstairs as we speak. 

St. Patrick defeated the Druids in a display of faith over magic, bringing Christianity to Ireland. He is NOT the Patron Saint of Drunks, as certain people would like to believe. He 'plucked a shamrock', or clover, from the sward, and taught the assembled chieftains of Erin the story of the Holy Trinity using the three leaves, hence the shamrock. Imagine, I never knew this before (I just looked it up on Wikipedia, because when we said "Who was St Patrick, anyway?" No-one knew). I hang my O'Connor head in shame! 

Brasso Seco's Cocoa Palace, Adventure Hiking and Family Unplugging. A Review!

This beautiful converted cocoa house house is perched on a mountainside above the village of Brasso Seco, surrounded by forests and streams with birdsong to wake you in the morning.


The house sleeps 10 with a double bedroom downstairs and a dormitory upstairs. It is self catering with a thatched kitchen and gas or wood firing options for cooking.  You need only bring your sheets and towels.  It is a serious option for stargazers, photographers and birdwatchers and there are guided hikes available from Brasso Seco to lovely waterfalls.  Meals can be catered in the village by arrangement.


If you would like to unplug, or want to take your family to a truly beautiful natural place where the rainforest is nearby and accessible, you will find Brasso Seco the perfect vacation place. Experienced guides will show you the beauty of the forest, whether you are a serious researcher, a relaxed hiker, or an adventurous family with active kids.

My own children thrive when we holiday in Brasso Seco, whether they are hiking, building, observing or just lying around wishing they had internet!

For more information please contact Kelly at trinidadkelly at hotmail dot com or Brian at brianofarrell5 at hotmail dot com. You may also leave a comment here if you have any questions.

Visit the Brasso Seco Village Eco-Tourism Website for more.

For tours further afield and more about Trinidad's rainforest and adventure holidays, visit Caribbean Discovery Tours.

This is tourism with a conscience. Learn, grow and see your ecotourist dollar encourage conservation.

100 Years of International Women's Day!

International Women's Day. Now celebrated in more than 100 countries, including Afghanistan and Nepal where it is an official holiday, Women's Day marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917.

I'm getting involved in the Women's Day activities around here, because it'll be fun and it's good to get involved. But how do these official days manage to get so big? How on earth can a country like Afghanistan, where girls have to fight to be educated, have an official Women's Day holiday? Obviously, it does not mean the same thing everywhere.

The world is mad.



Luckily, my sense of humour is intact.

The Dalai Lama Speaks

"Whatever the intellectual quality of the education given our children, it is vital that it include elements of love and compassion, for nothing guarantees that knowledge alone will be truly useful to human beings. Among the major troublemakers society has known, many were well-educated and had great knowledge, but they lacked a moral education in qualities such as compassion, wisdom and clarity of vision."

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

A Computer Program Which Nags My Kids For Me. Awesome!

This is amazing. Sam came home from his friend's house and suggested that I download this program: Times Up Kidz.

The fact that it was SAM that suggested this tickles me! Sam and I spend half our lives battling over his spending too much time on the computer, with him demanding FIVE MORE MINUTES and me saying FINE JUST FIVE which goes on for an hour every day. Or twice or three times a day. Aaaargh! One of my major parenting issues is "How can I get my kids to spend less time obsessing about the computer?" Anyway, I called Sam's friend's mum and asked her about the program, and she said it had revolutionized life in their household of computer-mad boys.

So I got the free one month trial. It's took me just a few minutes to download. What Times Up Kids does, it it lets the parent decide EXACTLY how much time your child will be allowed to spend on the computer on a sliding scale. There's 'total time for the week', daily time, and a 'take a break for 15 minutes every hour' feature if you like.

So, the older boys, for example, can have 14 hours per week each. Their daily weekend allowance is 3 hours, and weekdays they get two and a half. If you do the math, you'll realise that's more than 14 hours, so they WILL run out of time by the end of the week if they use all of their daily allowance. Max gets 11 hours for the week, because he doesn't need to do as much homework online. They need to budget their own time, if they still want to have any at the end of the week. Good skillz to learn!

Parents can set the program to not allow their kids to log in between certain hours (Like after bedtime or early morning). When kids log in, they see a little alarm clock in their toolbar which displays how much time they have in that session. If they click on it, it will show them how much total time they have left for the day, and for the week. They will get little reminders in a friendly 'Mom' voice and popup, saying "You have ten minutes left... You have five minutes left... Two minutes! Time to save your work and log out!". And then, the screen disappears and locks them out. Astounding!

It is possible to log back in, just for a few seconds, to quickly click on something or log off, but Times Up Kidz does not mess about.

I like it, because it makes the kids responsible for their computer use. I said that I was INCREASING their allowed computer time from an hour a day to two hours average because I expected them to do their homework, check email and all that in their time. I made it clear that if they ran out of computer time and had not done their homework, that was their own problem. Too bad.

The kids like it because it's different and cool, and because they are getting more official time, but also because they no longer have to ask to use the computers and I'm not nagging them about it. They have two computers: Max uses the desktop, and Chas and Sam use their laptop, where they each have their own screen and of course there are 'Admin' screens where all the parental password-protected stuff goes on.

Today, Sam and Max had a game-fest morning, used up their 3 hour weekend time (with fifteen minute breaks every hour), and spent the rest of the day making a mess with chilled puff pastry, playing the keyboard and guitar, reading, climbing a tree, jumping on the trampoline... and never said "Can I go on the computer? But I hardly went on at ALL! And HE had much more time than me! It's not FAAAAIR!!!!"

Not even once. It's really lovely!

Being locked out of their screens after an hour has made the boys more active. Instead of just sitting slumped in 'five more minute-dom', they get up, stretch, and wander off to play. When Sam is done (and Max, because they usually go on at the same time), then Chas generally gets his turn. Sam and Max play, help in the kitchen. When they are ready to go back on, I say "As soon as you've put the recycling out/cleaned the toilet/set the table", which they do cheerfully. I tell you, this has REVOLUTIONIZED OUR LIVES!

I even had a minor problem downloading, emailed them, and got a speedy reply from a real person to help me out. Now that's service!

And all for under $30 U.S, a steal! Times Up Kidz, you get five stars and an A-Plus from this family. Where have you been all our lives?

P.S, I think that this program might even help kids AND adults who are addicted to computer games? What do you think?

YES RACING FANS!!

Last night, our Esteemed Babysitter arrived, looked round and said "Good grief guys, what happened here?!" Good thing she didn't arrive five minutes earlier, to find me lying on the floor with my legs up the wall (an excellent pose if you haven't been able to feel your feet all afternoon).

While lying on the floor (instead of tidying at least one room, which was certainly an option I considered) I wondered why I can't seem to get on top of things. I seem to spend my days doing things for people: my boys, my ever more demented Gran, the charity where there are few active volunteers for many many roles and we are all so overworked that we are thinking of calling it a day. I'd like to write more, but there aren't enough hours in the day.

I am wearing too many hats, and something's gotta give. Probably the charity work, which has been a great experience... I know more about publishing and editing and advertising and fundraising than I ever could have learned out of a book or a class! And it's been successful, in that members are coming and funds are raising. But in this economy, few people want to give up their time for unpaid work. Many of the positions that need filling require someone with experience and a certain amount of professionalism. Anyone want to do that for free?

Anyone?

When I got in last night after a depressing meeting, the boys had not been anywhere near a shower and had no intention of going to bed. They were in the kitchen making cocoa with PLENTY of sugar and it was coming up on ten o'clock. I don't hold the babysitter responsible because they are big boys, and they usually play cards or something with her and then get themselves ready for bed. I yelled at them, and apologized again to the babysitter for the mess and chaos. She is a darling.

This morning there was a continuing 'discussion' about whether zero is a number or not. How can anyone get so heated about this? Chas is a creative maths guy, and won a prize at school yesterday for finding the highest number that you can make using the numbers 3, 2, 1 and 1. You can use them as fractions, to the power of, adding multiplying, whatever, but each number can only be used once.

Chas made 'infinity', breaking a school record with a fiendishly simple sum. Chas totally 'gets' that kind of maths concept. Sam was livid, claiming that neither infinity nor zero are true numbers, and giving us practical problems to illustrate his point. "if I had six m&ms, and I divided them by zero, I WOULD NOT HAVE INFINITY M&MS!"

I said "Are you eating those mushrooms? Can I have them?"

Can you work out how Chasbo did it, with all those hints?

And is it possible for 1 woman with 3 children, 1 gran and <2 weeks to go till her holiday with her 1 husband, to do everything she has to do and still be infinitely sane?