Shopping With Noah for Outdoor Furniture

Noah and I went shopping today; while we were out we were looking at cheap outdoor furniture for him. It was really cute it was a Noah sized table with two chairs and even an umbrella. I loved it and we found it at the grocery store at all places. He sat in it for about five minutes and then I realized that he doesn’t really have anywhere to sit outside. I mean sure he could sit in a big chair but I think he would like to have something more his size. I have looked at the kids sized items that you can put outside and I think as much as we spend outside that he needs something to call his own. I think that it would be cool to have his little chair next to mine as we watch the cars go by.

When I was little my grandparents and I would sit on their front porch and watch the cars and trucks go by. We would play a game trying to figure out which color car would come by next. We rarely kept score it was just something fun for us to do. I have great memories of watching the cars going by with my grandpa. We loved being outside but sometimes you just want to relax. I wonder if Noah would just like to sit down and feel the wind through his hair and watch the ducks on the pond. We have new baby ducks! We also bought seeds to start a garden. I am not too sure how well it will work out but I am hoping it will. I would love to get some garden furniture like a bench or a swing. I love being able to swing and talk on the phone outside on nice nights.

We had our family over a couple weeks ago, although the weather was too cold and rainy to be outside it would have been really nice to sit on the patio and chat. As I have mentioned before, we have a huge patio. We have a big family so we would have to get some more furniture for the patio to accommodate them all. We had a great time and there were ten of us, which is only a small part of my family. So, to hold a get together with everyone we would definitely have to get some more seats. I remember the family visits at my grandparent’s house, they would have every chair in the house including folding chairs and there still was a few that had to stand. I am the youngest grandchild so I always seemed to have a seat.

It seemed like old times, we talked about all kinds of things. My aunt found records of my Grandpa Jim and his parents from the 20’s or 30’s. My uncle is going to clean them up and make us all copies. I can’t wait to hear them, we no longer have my little toy record player. I really enjoy spending time with all of them. I wish we weren’t all so spread out. I am hoping this summer we can spend more time with them and of course have a lot of time outside playing and relaxing.

What are your favorite things to play outside?

Wooden Toys vs. Plastic Toys

When I am picking out toys for Noah for his birthday or Christmas, I tend to buy him wooden toys. I prefer to buy him wooden toys because they seem to last longer than plastic toys. Wooden toys also have a old fashioned toy feel to them and they remind me of toys I used to play with at my grandparents. Noah loves to play with trains, planes, cars etc. He even has a wooden train set. He really likes wooden toys because they are more realistic than plastic ones. He also has wooden blocks that have come in handy before when I am putting things together and I need a wood block.

I had a wooden food set when I was little. I used to “trick” my grandparents in to thinking they were real foods. They would pretend to eat them. Of course they knew they weren’t real but it was fun to play with them. I also had a wooden cradle. That I got for Christmas from my grandparents. I still have the cradle out in the garage. It was probably my favorite Christmas present I received as a child.

My favorite wooden toy that I would play with at my grandparents was my grandpa’s wooden trucks. He was a diesel mechanic. So, he would have wooden trucks given to him as presents or as thank you gifts from one of his clients. We also played with other wooden toys that my grandparents purchased throughout the years. Some of them were old fashioned and I know that my other cousins played with them as well. I am the youngest grandchild so they went through 9 other grandkids and many years of play. I will continue to give Noah wooden toys to play with, and hopefully someday have more children to pass them down to.

What kinds of toys do you prefer to give your children? What do you think about wooden toys? I look forward to reading your comments.

I wish computers were made like they were in the OLD days even though they were slow!

I have come to the conclusion that computers are not made like they once were. My grandparents had a Commodore 64 that I used to play games on. That computer lived forever. I remember playing on it for 10 years or so. Now a days it seems like it lives for a few years and then it dies. I bought an Acer Laptop off QVC in October 2007. I remember the day I received it. It was Halloween. I remember thinking Trick or Treat to me! Well it has not been a treat. It has been nothing but tricks. I know you are thinking that maybe a 2 year computer is a long life for it. Well why? Why is it that it becomes a $729 dollar paper weight after only a couple years?

My first problem was the battery would only last 20 minutes after having it for 3 or 4 months. I called and they sent me a new one after I fought tooth and nail for it. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. My second problem was when it malfunctioned in March 2008 5 months after I bought it. I ended up losing all my pictures on it because I had to reformat it. I had pictures of the Garlic Fest and other things that can’t be replaced. Then they told me I had a back up hard drive and to save everything to it. Then in July 2008 I had my screen break. I had to send it back on my own dime for shipping. I was still under warranty. It took forever to get it back. I immediately had to reformat it again. I have had to reformat it like 15 times in two years. Now my laptop has been over heating. It has been getting so hot that it burns my flesh. It will get so hot that it will turn off after a hour of use.

I called Acer tonight and the guy was no help. I know I was out of warranty and stuff but given my history with my defective laptop from hell you would think he would want to be some kind of help. Nope. I ended up crying on the phone. He talked so fast I could barely understand him or keep up. I don’t think that Acer gives a crap about their customers and never have. Every time I have called it has left me in tears. I wish there was a good laptop out there that wasn’t crap after months of purchasing it. It was never oh your computer sounds defective let’s back up your files and give you a new one. It is always been a sucks to be you attitude and it makes me sad.

Acer really needs better customer Service when apparently the laptop is defective. The guy from Acer knew it had problems he had my “file” in front of him and he said he saw it. He agreed it sounded defective but there is nothing he could do.

It sucks because I am a blogger and a computer is vital to me and I can not afford a new one or to get this demon spawn fixed even though it rolled off the line messed up.

How many recalls has Acer had for overheating computers? Like tons!