The last few days have been hectic in my life…so fellow Bloggy Friends, I wish to apologize for 1) Not writing like I could BUT MOSTLY 2) For not taking the time to visit your blogs for the last couple days.

I have missed you! And I promise it is on the TOP of my “to do” list for tomorrow.

Wanted to post but am SO tired…. So will have to put down thoughts tomorrow…

It is a yearly tradition that I go Black Friday shopping with my sister. There are some rules involved. The biggest one is that there is no looking at the sales flyers until after Santa appears in the Macy’s parade. After that the ads get read and re-read as we plan…

This year, there were no BIG items that we wanted (there weren’t last year either but for the plain FUN of it, we camped out overnight at Staples)…This year, we decided to get up at 2am and go to the local outlets that had opened at midnight and stayed open all night.

A couple of the teens got to come with us. They were so excited but have crashed most of today! They loved the deals they found at Pac Sun–especially the skinny jeans (not a look I like but?! guess it is the ‘cool’ thing right now–oh, and hoodies lined with faux fur…)

After our outlet experience (and a triple grande soy caramel machiatto for me), we headed to the ‘rest’ of the stores–think in all we went to about 10 stores this morning (most before the sun came up).

Did we get anything “good”?  Well, not overly exciting stuff…but a couple of cool things. Finished all my ‘big’ items (although had done some online before today). The thing we did find, though, was that most of the BIG TICKET items were available with free shipping Thanksgiving day on the stores’ websites…

All in all, we have a lot of fun. Enjoying the experience, more than the sales.

And like a really crazy person, I am off to JoAnn’s at 6:30am for more doorbusters

So…have taken up this hobby of making bags….kind of crazy as have so many other things I should be doing…but here are the two bags I have made in the past 2 days. (It is a lot of fun).

This is my favorite iPhone game…I think this is an amazing story and would love for one day this to work out for my children…

Trism spells success for iPhone developer
Puzzle game lands quarter-million jackpot

By Mike Smith
ADVERTISEMENT

Turning your passion into your profession is the dream of every hobbyist, but one amateur game developer turned that dream into reality with a smash hit iPhone puzzle game, CNN reports this week.

Steve Demeter wrote “Trism”, a sliding-block, color-matching puzzle game, in his spare time, and put it on Apple’s App Store for $4.99. Just two months later, the game had earned Demeter over $250,000, and prompted him to quit his day job at a bank and start a development studio.

Demeter’s studio, Demiforce, is working on five new games, including the sequel to Trism.

Want to get in on the action yourself? Go right ahead: companies like Apple and Microsoft (with the Xbox 360’s new Community Games channel) have begun to provide bedroom developers easy, low-cost ways to develop on hardware that was once closed off to all but the biggest games makers. But with low barriers to entry comes lots of competition. Over 1,500 games are currently available on the iPhone’s App Store, according to CNN, compared to about 900 two months ago.

Every once in a while I blog from my phone…checking the Wordpress application to see if it works.

So I decided to move from Typepad to a Self-Hosted Wordpress. It was an ALL day process…and I lost two posts in the process (so I technically did not miss NaBloPoMo because there were posts for the last two days).

I still do not have this complete but I can sleep….because it is pretty much better. Still haven’t totally solved my comment problem…I am having some issues leaving comments on the blogs I like. That is my goal to figure out next.

I hope commenting on here still works.

The design also still needs some work…but it is OK for now. Getting late and been obsessed with this almost all day, so better get ready for bed and work on it tomorrow.

One of our boys just returned from about a year's service in Afghanistan. He is in the National Guard–signed up as a cook–but ended up as a transportation/convey driver….and in some very scary situations. Having watched him grow up, I am beyond words proud of him.

Before the movie last night…This 3 Doors Down video played. Had to post it here!! Don't forget to Thank our soldiers for all they do for us!

Here is one way you can show your appreciation for all that our brave soldiers do for us. Click HERE for more information:

Just returned from the midnight showing of Twilight. LOVED IT! And my teen boys loved it, too. Which was kind of funny because was showing at two movie theaters in our town and PACKED with girls! Only boys (other than mine) that I saw were with their girlfriends

Boys talked all the way home about how great it was! Two of them had read the book. Two had not. All enjoyed it.

As a "mom" what I liked best (and best about reading the book), is that it is good, 'clean' entertainment. Get past the fantasy of vampire…and so much room to talk to my boys about the value of 'waiting'–for one.

Also…I do not remember swear words being used at all. Another great thing–teach the boys, movies can be good without the use of 'those' words.

The setting was beautiful, the music was incredible. The story line stuck fairly decently to the book–obviously not 100%…and as good as the movie was the book is SO MUCH BETTER!

One of my boys who really loves Stephanie Myers was so excited that she makes a cameo appearance in the movie.

Been asked if it was 'scary?'  I did not think that was too bad either. Definitely no gore; obviously (if you have read the book you know the scene near the end is intense)–but think it was handled theatrically well without much scare to it.

Also been asked what age it is appropriate for? That is a parent judgment call–but I would let my daughter (age 11) see it if she was interested–she is not. I think some of the things she has seen on the Disney channel or Nic have more suggestive tones, etc. Again, my opinion! And I would urge parents who aren't sure to preview it first themselves.

Bottom-line: I am so appreciative of Stephanie Myers to have written a great story, while implanting so many lessons, and a link to classic novels–which make those even fun to read for my boys. There are a lot of good discussions we have had…AND I am appreciative to the movie makers for keeping it 'clean', not too gory/scary, and pretty true to the book.

ONE COMPLAINT: without spoiler–the vegetarian line was a little over the top says I the vegetarian Imagine they (movie writers) will hear about it!

OK!! Must sleep….because do still have to get up at 6am which is now only 3 hours and 10 minutes away