Joel’s Scattered Thoughts

Building A Basic Work Bench
I wonder how hard it would be to adapt this for a computer desk? On a related note, IKEA: Real furniture kids can build is a good idea for projects for kids. Too bad we don’t have an Ikea nearby - I’d be tempted to get some furniture of the kids to build on dull days in winter.

Weekend Project: Flubber, goop, silly putty, and play dough - oh, my! - Lifehacker looks like a fun activity.

Kid pictures have been updated

I’ve updated the gallery with more kid pictures. Sorry it’s been so long.

QuikWars looks like it might be fun to play with Evan. Alec isn’t at the point where unit stats mean anything to him. Maybe we could play this weekend.

Hack Attack: Burn almost any video file to a playable DVD - Lifehacker

Another rainy day project - I could burn a bunch of machima to DVD for my kids.

Safe…and sorry from Macleans highlights the importance of “risky” play for children. This kind of play is exactly why we moved out to the country.

It is also why I oppose any shortening of children’s vacation time - they learn as much by going out and playing as they do in school. It’s a different kind of learning but it is still very important for their development. I want my children to learn about risks, actions, and consequences when they’re still children, not when they’re 25.

(via Mirabilis)

There are new kid pictures up in the photo gallery.

parent hacks: On taking a road trip with little ones
looks like it might have some good ideas for our next trip out to Alberta.

My mom and Callie picked up a calico kitten this weekend at a garage sale. My mom told Callie that she really likes calico kittens. Callie replied “Next time let’s get an Evan-co kitten.”

I hate getting angry. It seems that it always bites me on the butt, no matter what the outcome, no matter what I do. Here’s the most recent situation.

We share a farmyard with two other families - one the original farm owner and the other the new owner. The original farm owner recently got a dog, a young Labrador Retriever. The trouble is that the dog would jump on my kids. It wasn’t trying to be threatening, it just wanted to play. My kids haven’t been outside much since August. They would only go outside if I was with them or if I tracked down the dog and tied him him up. The dog’s owner wasn’t pleased with the dog being tied up as a couple of times I’d forgotten to untie the dog when my kids came back in. He let me know that on Friday when I was out looking to tie up the dog.

This made me extremely angry. I can understand why he doesn’t want the dog tied up and left, but now my kids can’t even play outside anymore? Grrr. I stewed and grumbled and ranted about that all afternoon and into the next day. We even did some looking to see if there was a chance we could afford to move out into a place of our own. I’d settled down by today and was going to step up my efforts to get my kids used to the dumb dog.

Now the eldest (who is used to the dog) is saying that the neighbor said that the dog has been sent away. I feel terrible. Now I feel as though I’ve deprived the neighbor of his dog just because I didn’t put enough effort into getting my kids used to having the thing around and because I shot off my mouth about the whole situation. I have exactly what I wanted, and it stinks. Sigh.

For pictures of my my kids, click here

What you’ll wish you’d known is full of more advice I’d like to pass on to my kids, assuming I rembmer it when they get to that age.

Evan is really into trains, so he’s been playing Railroad Tycoon 2 lately. That’s a prime example of a game that’s almost fun to play. When Evan plays it, I set it up in Sandbox mode, which means he has unlimited money. Basically, he builds tracks for the fun of watching the trains run on them.

The big problem with me playing Railroad Tycoon is that there’s no “undo” button. It’s very easy to make a mistake, and there’s no going back. Hours of careful play can be screwed up with one bad mouse click. I quit playing the game soon after I bought it for that reason. It’s a pity, because it is almost fun.

An article on Premarital Counseling for Parents prompted these thoughts on Roots and Wings by Hollie Atkinson (who I think of as Real Live Preacher’s dad). Hopefully when my kids grow up and get married I’ll realise that I’m done raising them and let them make their own choices for better or worse.

Rapunsel looks like it might be interesting for Callie in a few years. We’ll see what things look like then. I figure alittle background wouldn’t hurt the kids. Toontalk is another alternative.

Here’s a site for preschoolers that might appeal to my kids, if ever I can convince them that a mouse is not a yo-yo or a tug-of-war rope. Mostly their computer sits about waiting for me to repair it until I feel bad enough about it to put it all back together, then two days later they’ve trashed it again.

The section on Why I am a Mediocre Parent rings true to me. I’m always off in my own world, particularly when I’m not interested in what’s going on around me. That’s one of the reasons I like to read, so that my brain is always full of things to think about.

If you want to know what being a parent is really like, read The Story About the Baby. I’ve been reading this since before Alec was born, and it’s very accurate. Very funny, but very true. This should be required reading for all non-perfect parents. I’d really like to see what Vogel would have to say about two kids. Mind you, then he probably wouldn’t have time to write. If you don’t want to do a lot of reading, read The Three Main Reasons Being A Parent Sucks, especially if you don’t have kids yet.