I would probably say that most films have their place in the world. I do however find that when it comes to critically acclaimed films, I tend to not like them so much. I mean, artsy provocative films don’t tend to be among my top.

I’m sure a lot of people will find my list strange as some will be films that won oscars etc. But I’m me, and I have my  own opinion as do the people who liked them.

1.  Brokeback Mountain (I just didn’t like how it made me feel afterwards…I mean, I was thinking, why did I have to witness this depressing story-the homoerotic aspect didn’t bother me, it was the sad existence the two men lived)

2.  Burn After Reading (totally pointless and barely even funny)

3.  The Ugly Truth (another pointless movie, even tho I love both Heigel and Butler, I just don’t like this movie)

4.  Blindness (interesting concept, but I felt icky after watching it)

5.  Eyes Wide Shut (I wished this movie was good, but it wasn’t, it had so much potential…)

6.  Mistress of Spices (Aishwaria Rai’s attempt at Hollywood was a failure)

There are many more I’m sure, but I can’t believe how incredibly hard it was to come up with this list.

My weekend business with my bff, is Family/Event Photography Juicee Bee Productions. I got really motivated after visiting the National Bridal Show in Toronto last Friday, to re-vamp our price list. We have realized that what we offered was more hassle then it was worth, so I managed to stream-line the process, so that only the services that Brides want, they pick and pay for themselves. This is as opposed to having packages full of things they might not necessarily want, and that I might not necessarily want to do. (my time is precious)

For example, some brides are very hands-on and want to make their own photo albums and prints. This is either because they are creative, or frugal, which isn’t a bad thing. I am also a firm believer that people should have the rights to their own photographs, I mean what do I want to keep them for?! That’s why we give every customer their photos on CD/DVD with signed permission to print and share, as long as they don’t sell them.

It was interesting to see how other photographers do things. Especially those who have been in the game longer than we have. Some of them have ridiculously low prices, and offer so many things within those packages, that it makes me wonder how they manage to make any money. It also makes me wonder what quality of products they are using to make their prices so low, like photo paper quality and photo album quality etc. It also makes me wonder what kinds of photographers they really are. I mean, I have an education in Television, and let me be the first to tell you that, that doesn’t always mean it’s interchangeable with Photography, but the principles behind good framing are so similar. I mean you still have to have a photographic eye, and not all good photographers have to go to school to become such.

I actually have taken film photography classes, and spend a lot of time reading manuals, books, tips and blogs. So while I don’t have as many field hours as some, I am a quick study and know what looks good and how to use my camera with out resorting to using the ‘auto’ feature.

I also think it takes a good ‘people’ person to work on weddings. Some photographers has such poor ‘bedside’ manners, it’s a wonder that they can stay in business at all.

With that all being said, I have a couple weddings under my belt, and I do value my time as much as my partner’s, so our prices are set so that we don’t undercut ourselves. I mean, really? Would you value my services if I didn’t value them myself?

We are relying mostly on ‘word of mouth’ at this point, but we’re hoping sometime soon to be showcasing our work in Bridal Shows, preferably the smaller low key ones. The Toronto show was so over-saturated with photographers, I wonder how any bride could establish a rapport and make a decision with any one of them. I have a feeling, that most brides go to one show, and pick one of the first vendors they approach (so booth placement is key) or being fortunate enough to be the ONLY photo vendor at the show. Like the Welcome Wagon Shows. We were approached to be in one in Barrie, but it wasn’t a good time for us, but hopefully the next one, we’ll be ready for.

So in my trying to spread the word, we have donated a Gift Certificate for a Silver Family package for my brother’s Jack & Jill as a prize for auction. I am really excited about that. So after I designed the Gift Certificate for that, I got inspired to make a Price Card, for the day when we do attend a show.

And Here it is! (I would love input about the design etc. also remember these are Cdn. $)

Juicee Bee Wedding Photography Prices (click to see full size)

Bring you gently used Shoes to any Soft Moc location across Canada. They have partnered up with Sole4Souls to get shoes to the people of Haiti.

I used to work for this company while I was in College. Yes, I was a shoe-sales(wo)man. This was actually a really great company to work for and the owner was very accessible to all employees. He started the company out of his trunk selling moccasins. (I think, don’t take my word for that…it’s just the story employees told each other) He is also quite the digital guru, having implemented a chat program and POS exclusive to Soft Moc. We were able to contact other stores by simply logging on with our employee ID and ask for special orders and such…keeping our phone system free for customer calls and the debit/credit machine. I remember thinking at the time, how innovative that was, I worked there around 1999-2001.

You have to hurry though, this only runs until Friday January 22nd 2010. I’m going to start purging right now. I have way too many shoes I’ll never wear again, and at least I’ll know they’ll be put to good use. It also gets me helping even though I can’t afford to donate money.

I have the iPod Touch 8GB. It has wi-fi and bluetooth, so a lot of my apps only work when I’m at home or in range of a signal. So I can’t have real-time maps, but I can pre-load them ahead of time. I can also sync my calendar, address book, and email from my mac to my iPod. Pretty handy when you’re out and about, and need to check you schedule…no more PDA’s. I chose NOT to get an iPhone because since I’m home so much, the monthly data plan isn’t worth it. Besides, I like holding a real phone in my hand, it would be too weird for me to cross that threshold. -for the time being at least. Apps are available straight from you device, or by using the iTunes store and later syncing the apps to your device later.

• 10. Convert Units for Free 1.1 by Free the Apps!  -just what the name implies, unit conversion for free. Pretty much all types of unit measurement is in there. I find it useful, because even though we’re metric in Canada, some people use both, so it makes for a quick reference. Whether its weight, or length, or even in cooking, when some recipes may be from American books. No internet access needed.
• 9. Flickr 1.1.0 by Yahoo!  -as a photographer, Flickr is a great way of sharing photos. It’s useful to me as I have a partner who sometimes needs to have access to photos that I have, and Flickr allows high quality up/downloads that may be large in file size. But for iPod, it’s great to be able see what your contacts are up to, or for sharing with friends when you’re out and about.
• 8.  Flixter 3.2 by Flixter  -GREAT app for movie goers. Not only does it list what’s playing and what’s coming up, it lists nearby theatres that are showing films. The upcoming section has a list that goes a year in advance. It also provides movie info and links to trailers.
• 7.  Dictionary 976 by dictionary.com  -a huge app in terms of file size. But very concise. The reason I like to have a dictionary on hand is to be able to look up words that I don’t understand. This way I won’t forget to look it up. I like learning new things. It also has the words on file, no need for internet connection to look things up.
• 6.  Lists 1.0 By Mobility Ware  -very handy for putting together to do lists without wasting paper. You also have the ability to check off things as you complete them. It is capable of having sub-lists within sub-lists and so on. Also no internet connection needed.
• 5.  itunes remote 1.3.3 by Apple  -PRETTY AWESOME! You can use your iPod as a remote control for you iTunes on you computer. This can eliminate the need for a docking station with good speakers, if you happen to have really good computer speakers with a sub-woofer.
• 4.  WordPress2 2.1 by Automattic  -Bloggers will like this app if they’re using WordPress installed. You can approve comments & write posts all from you iPod.
• 3.  Free Apps 1.2 by PBJ Studios  -this app is cool for finding Apps that used to or are going to cost money. For example, some developers sell for free initially to get people in the door, while others have inventory clearance on things that are seasonal.
• 2.  Grocery Gadget 2.1.3 Lite By Flixoft  -REALLY great app for shopping with. I prepare my list at home and when I’m at the store I can update the prices. As I check off the items, it shows me how much money is in my cart. It also remembers prices of things you bought previously. You can also email the list to someone else. I’m not sure but the full paid version, may have transferability between iPod.
• 1.  Facebook 3.12 by Facebook  -oh how did we survive and connect without Facebook. This app is amazing. You can read News Feed, messages, comments, look at photos and more, without having to get on your computer. If you have wi-fi in your house, then you can use it for quick peeks. I love it because I can keep it with me while I watch TV and it even alerts you of new comments/messages if you are still logged in.

And some other one I like:

• -eBuddy 3.3.0 by eBuddy -can connect to a variety of different messaging programs like MSN, Yahoo etc.
• -Skype 1.3.0 by Skype Software S.a.r.l  -connect with you contacts via your iPod
• Sol Free Solitare 2.1 by Smallware  -play solitare all day long
• Mixology 2.0 by Digital Outcrop  -become and amateur bartender. Search for recipes by alcoholic product and more.
• Creepy Dolls 1.2 by Woelfel Constulting Inc.  -just for fun. Random images of creepy dolls come up on the screen. (I’m weird)

A great resource for all things App, is appcraver.

Of course there are thousands more free apps, as well as just as many paid apps, so the possibilities are endless. You’d be hard pressed to come up with an original idea. Most apps are only .99c, but be careful, downloading apps can be addictive, my DH has over a hundred on his iPhone-half of those just for my 2.5 year old son. That is a whole other article altogether.

I’ve also discovered a problem. You can only download apps with a credit card on your account. Gift Cards do not work. A real annoyance, and one that I hope Apple takes care of real soon.

We have Rogers Cable, here in Ontario. The rest of Canada has a variety of cable and satellite providers, but here in Ontario, the choice is between Rogers Cable, Bell ExpressVU, and StarChoice. (as far as I know) But the rest don’t really matter. All I’m interested in, is the Cable. Why? Because it’s dependable in snow storm, and I can have my phone and internet all rolled into one service with my cable.

Aside from all of the above, Rogers has a service called On-Demand. You can have TMN-On Demand, also MPIX, Treehouse, HGTV, and the list goes on. But on Channel 100, you have the option to watch movies (for a cost) TV shows (if you happened to miss something) and a range of other topics. But new, or maybe not new, but we just received an update email about their new On-Demand feature. On Demand Fitness! What?

They say it starts from just 1.99/mth to have this service…sure beats a $40/mth gym membership that you have to drive to use, and usually end up wasting by not going. I’d say this is a pretty neat concept, and if you’re looking for ways to trim your budget, but still have access to workouts, this is a great alternative. Mind you, I have not personally tried it out, but if you were looking for a reason to leave your satellite provider and switch to digital cable, this might do it for you.

If you want to check it out, go here and click ’see what’s on’, then ’sports’ – ‘fitness’  and you’ll see Body and Soul Yoga.

I am a Television Broadcasting graduate. What does that mean? It means I’m trained to be able to work at TV stations, do minimal graphics design, operate a video camera, edit video/audio, and some other related things. Hmm.

My first photo resto, and Old Italian portrait. (click to see larger)

Well, after graduation I worked at a duplication house, it was not very glamorous especially for someone who had dreams of becoming a director/producer. But I did learn a lot there, and was grateful for the experience, but I sent out many resumes to further my career-with no takers, and it seemed as though I was pigeon-holed. I made the decision pretty soon after my father passed away, that I didn’t like the commute and I wanted to take a break.

So my hubby, (new Bf at the time) let me quit my job to work at a daycare, which I had experience from working at summer camp and a local youth centre. While I worked at this daycare, we had purchased some equipment with the plan of starting our own business. It never took form the way we wanted it to, but I did get some little jobs doing photo restoration on Photoshop. So we decided to get me a domain and web hosting to advertise my services as a digital artist and videographer. And that’s where ‘kerridigital’ comes from.

My friends granfather...she circled his head when she was a kid (click to see larger)

I did actually get some freelance videography work for a company who recorded seminars and sold the discs for educational purposes as well as online web-casting, and this led to a full time job. Mind you I only stayed for 3 months after being hired, but I left on good terms. I ended up at a small time TV station that specialized in cultural programming. And when I say small time, I mean we bought equipment from consumer stores, and took feeds from other stations and just inserted our own commercials in place of theirs. There was minimal original content, basically only enough to meet the Canadian Content requirement, and it was thrown together with absolutely no standards. So you can understand why I didn’t want to go back there, on top of the poor treatment I received, but that’s another story. I left there for Maternity Leave and never returned.

So why do I still have my kerridigital domain? Well mostly because I use it for my main email. It cost practically nothing to renew every year, and saves me having to revise my email everywhere. One day I decided, ‘why not start a blog?!-whatever that is?’ lol Our web hosting company has one-click installation with Word Press, so here we are. It’s even a learning curve for my super tech savvy hubby who is a flash developer. I think he might even consider using one of his 20-something domain names to start one!

Cory posing as a photographer lol

I am a digital photographer who is very well versed in Photoshop CS4-in terms of uses for photography. But I started a Photography business on the side with my best friend Cory and we obviously weren’t going to capitalize on my name…I mean I’m a nobody, so we thought of a fun name that would appeal to kids, as well as make people think twice when they hear it. And so, ‘Juicee Bee Productions‘ was born.

So am I kerri:digital? yes. I live a life surrounded by technology, and digital products. I might not be up to snuff on my web development, but I believe that my extensive ‘digital’ background will lead me there very quickly.

Hmm that’s a tough one.

1. Crushed Velour Hats with big fake flowers on the front (made famous by Blossom)
2. Button down plaid shirts, tied around the waist
3. Jelly shoes
4. Toe socks
5. Banana Clips (just kidding)
6. Shirts with the shoulders cut out.

Not sure if I would want these to come back in style, but who knows, things come back re-purposed and end up not being so bad…see leggings with long shirts with belts…who knew?

Remember on Saturday Night Live when Tom Hanks was in the skit that inspired the movie “Night at the Roxbury”? Funniest skit that I can remember from that show, probably because I wasn’t a regular viewer of the show, but I do love it when I have the chance to catch it.

But I remember this skit specifically because of the circumstances surrounding my viewing of it, one particular Saturday Night. I was babysitting for Cindy, as usual, and Patti happened to be there. I can’t remember the reason why I was babysitting if Patti was there, but nonetheless, there we all were. Since I was babysitting, that meant Cindy and Sam were home from some evening that most likely involved alcohol. For the most part my uncle Sam (funny I know-and the really funny part is that is real name is Brian…hunh?) is a serious guy. But let me tell you…when he’s had a few beers, he gets so giddy and comedic. I don’t like saying he’s more enjoyable when he’s intoxicated, but really? Who isn’t more fun, when they’ve lowered their inhibitions with a few glasses of wine or drink of choice. (And please, DO NOT MISUNDERSTAND, I do not condone excessive alcoholism or drinking and driving and I certainly do NOT approve of serving to minors. Drink responsibly people!) Now that I’ve got that out of the way.

So Cindy and Sam come home and Patti and I have been watching TV for most of the night-sharing the couch between us. Cindy comes home and decides to show us this ‘throw’ (a blanket-and a super soft one I might add) that her Uncle Harry gave her that day. She plops herself down on the couch with us and covers herself with this ‘throw’ and doesn’t share. Patti tries sneaking herself underneath it, and an hysterical fight ensues between Cindy and Patti. Giggles galore. I can’t help but start laughing uncontrollably at these grown women fighting over a blanket and having the most fun doing it. Me the insecure teenager (at the time) in love with the fact that my aunts are so hilarious and how great it is that they’re mine. Can you imagine how this would’ve played out if they had been fighting over a ’snuggie’?-they weren’t invented yet. lol

Just imagine 2, 20-somethings saying this:

Cindy: Don’t touch my Throw! Uncle Harry gave it to me!

Patti: But I’m cold. Give me some. Can’t we share? (whining)

Cindy: No we can’t share. It’s mine and it’s new.

Well something to that effect, it was over 10 years ago. But just imagine that everything was said in between  hysterical laughing.

Now enter Sam, who takes the remote and puts on SNL. Since we have already been overcome by a case of the giggles, it’s only logical that any little thing could set us off. SNL is about the worst thing to watch if you’ve already split your sides laughing and are having a hard time catching your breath between bouts of the sillies.

Tom Hanks and probably Chris Kattan (I’ll have to find it on Youtube) start hitting on girls in a bar, while dancing to ‘What is Love’ by Haddaway. They’re like a pair of yappy dogs biting at your ankles and you feel surrounded. They keep trying to dance with girls, both men vying for each girl’s attention until the dancing quickly turns the girl into a ping pong ball between the 2 men. When she manages to escape they just move on to the next girl and so on, until eventually the waitress get caught in the crossfire.

I’m sure if I watch it now, it’s not as hilarious as I remember it, but it was the context surrounding me while I watched it that made it stick in my mind as being so unbelievably funny. Even Sam was LOLing-can you believe the term didn’t exist back then.

They’re just so contagious with their laughter-my aunts. It seems every time they’re together and I’m there too, silliness ensues. There are so many more stories like this. I wish I had documented them all when they were happening…now I have to really try hard to remember things….

I figured that since there is this trend of diary writing on movies and television, I’d jump on the bandwagon.

I am the oldest child, but I feel like I have 2 older sisters. My crazy aunts. Now when you hear the word aunt, it usually conjures up images of old spinsters sipping tea. Well that’s what comes to my mind. But my father’s 2 younger sisters were in fact only 9 and 6 years old when I was born. Perfectly acceptable age difference in sisters, so they are more like sisters to me than aunts. My aunt Cindy the older *cough* I mean younger one of only 29, sometimes mistakenly calls me auntie Kerri to her children. Probably because the age difference is twice and triple that of the difference between her and I. My aunt Patti lives in South Korea, teaching English for over 10 years now-with a couple years in between where she stayed home for a year at at time. She really loves it there, and since she hasn’t any children yet, she has the freedom to do things like that.

So why are they crazy? Hmm, well not in the lock ‘em up sense, more like split your sides laughing cus they’re so freaken hilarious crazy. Especially when you get them together. And both, have super contagious laughs.

I will try to dig up some funny pictures of us growing up, cus there are many, and feature them periodically. But since there are so many stories, I thought I dedicate some copy, since they are 2 of my favorite people.

When I was born, they were 9 and 6, like I said, but not only were we close in age, we were always together. My parents lived a few streets away from my grandmother’s house, so I spent a lot of time there. And they babysat me a lot as they got old enough. Then my sister was born, so we both spent time there, but I was closer to them as our ages were closer. Except that my sister and my aunt Cindy share a birthday.

So since we were always at my Nanny’s (grandmother) I felt like it was second home. So there were times when I snooped around the house as precocious kids do. One time I found Patti’s Advent Calendar and sat eating all the chocolates out of it-can you say deprived? I was a chocolate hound. I go in trouble for that, and I think Patti cried. Sorry Pad’s.

I remember one night, dancing on the couch to Toni Basil’s Mickey. Every time I hear that song, I’m reminded of that time. It’s a fond memory for me. I remember Cindy’s boyfriend David V, who I had a crush on and said he was my boyfriend. I remember there was girl who lived up the street who had a mohawk! (80’s remember) I thought that was the strangest thing, and I remember feeling a little bit scared of her.

I also remember that when my Nanny tragically died, my aunt’s were taken away from me. They had to go live with my grandfather who was estranged from my Nanny at the time of her death. It really sucked because my dad’s older sister Deb, was doing a great job raising them in Nanny’s house, until my grandfather wanted to sell it. I think that was such a crap idea since he never really wanted to raise them anyways, he should’ve just let them stay there with Deb. Because his new spouse kicked them both out when they were 16! And I think they were glad to go anyways.

I remember Cindy came to live with us when I was 9 because she was pregnant and was fighting with her boyfriend. It was cool having her there. But she had been away from me so long, that she had grown into a woman and she seemed more like an adult than I remembered and she felt like a 2nd mother while she was living with us. Not that she was bossy, but I just felt a dis-connect from her. She stayed a little while longer after Meghan was born, but she was gone again. Patti had also grown up to be a teenager while I was still a kid, and although we were closer as peers, she still lived far away from me.

When I was 12, I began to babysit Meghan for Cindy all the time. Not very good I might add. I was always on the Commodore 64, and would look up to see Meg spilling things all over the floor. I always got to sleep over which was cool, and she would let me hang out most of the day. Cindy moved closer so I began to babysit more, and then Sam moved in and they eventually got married. Then Jacob came along, and then Ryan, and I was babysitting even more. I became close to Cindy again, because now I was a teenager and the age gap didn’t seem so large anymore. I even had to come to her house at midnight to babysit Jake the night Ryan was born.

Around this time, Patti was graduating University. I had visited her a few times which was cool, cus she shared a house with a bunch of girls and they had a few parties when I was there. That was fun. One visit we left in the morning to meet my friends at Wonderland (amusement park) and every time I introduced her as my ‘aunt Patti’ she would say I made her feel so old. But what else would I call her, that’s what she is. It was after graduation that she went off to Korea, and then she became known as my ‘Aunt Patti-the one who’s in Korea’ My friends actually teased me that I always referred to her this way.

Well there is so much more, so I’m going to end there so that I can start adding entries about specific events. And maybe add some funny pics when I can. I’m going to ask for their help in remembering some funny stories.

Love you guys! Dude-who does that!

On Saturday I woke and decided “I think we’ll try this potty training thing again”. We got out the fancy CARS and Spiderman undies, and took off the nighttime diaper and crossed our fingers.

Saturday was full of accidents, especially in the morning. We decided to bribe him with playing his DS, and it worked at first until he started to play the darn thing and was so caught up that he peed his pants…this happened a few times. I realized that when he was wetting himself, it was as if the diaper was still on, he hadn’t made the connection that he was wearing underwear. So we reminded him that there are a different set of rules when wearing underwear (in a way that a 33month old would). I then also told him that he can play the game while sitting on the potty-that helped.

So late afternoon Saturday he wanted to play his game so I say, ‘go pee on the potty and you can’. He goes, sits down, and stews for a bit. He seems to be doing push ups on the handles of his potty, and then tells me he pooed! I got so excited because my sister told me my nephew Hated pooing in the potty, so I felt relieved to have jumped that hurdle.

My hubby was at the neighbours and I just couldn’t flush it without him seeing, so I opened the door, called out to him and we had a flushing ceremony when he came in! We were so happy that Riley got his ds AND some M&M’s.

Sunday was better, but still some accidents. Then just before dinner, another big loader! 2 BM’s in 2 days in the potty, I’d say is a pretty awesome start.

So today, we take off the diaper go get breakfast ready, and GO! No accidents ALL day! Sadly tomorrow he has Nursery School and since he still hasn’t mastered the toilet yet, I’m not sending him diaper free. But hopefully he tells the teachers he has to pee and he tries going with his classmates. But I think we can recover if any accidents happens, and then maybe by next week’s class, he’ll be a pro and sporting his favorite undies.

We told him that if he is out of diapers by his 3rd birthday in March, we’ll buy him a new colour DS. (since the current one is mine and I never get to use it-we also figure we’ll save that amount pretty quickly following his triumph)

On another note, my baby boy Kyle began crawling on Sunday! He’s 5.5 months old! I just can’t believe how fast he’s growing. So what a big weekend we’ve had!

Everyday I am learning more and more how to optimize my blog. How to format, how to get seen, how to use permalinks. It really blows me away how much I learn from other blogs, which is, I guess the common theme in the blogs I’ve been reading, and that is to share. Share the information you know, you learn and want to learn. No one was born a blogger, and even the most skilled Coders, be it HTML, PHP, and especially AS2 and 3, have bad days and challenges they have to over come. That is why communities and forums are a great tool to help you solve problems and learn new ideas you may not have thought of.

Every time I learn something new, it opens my mind to more possibilities and ways to organize my blog. I also find myself thinking of new topics or goals for my blog. Especially since it has no identity yet. But really, what does that mean? If a blog is a reflection of oneself, then are we to define ourselves outright? Is there no room for change, or spontaneity? Can I not change my mind 100 times a day? Is that not a woman’s prerogative?

I am a person of many talents, many views, many hobbies, but I guess in blog-land, that can spell disaster. Especially if you’re trying to gain readership. I’m a technically inclined individual, who marvels at the joy of childbirth and the natural process of it all. I guess I could go in the direction of Rikki Lake and make a documentary about it…I have the skills and the knowledge. But then I love giving advice about pregnancy and labour and the post partum period, so maybe I could start an advice column? Who knows? What I don’t want to be is a typical, mom blog, that just talks about the ups and downs of raising kids and keeping a home. Why? Because I am so much more than that.(and sometimes I think I’m not that great at it anyways…let’s be honest…I can dish out parenting advice, but I very rarely lead by example)

Whenever anyone asks me what I do, I say I stay home with my kids BUT I’m planning on going back to school. That way I avoid the looks of disinterest, as I am silently being judged for just being a mom. But on the other hand, I have no qualms about telling people about my drug free home birth. Which is a guaranteed judgement. “Oh you’re so brave….Oh I don’t know how you do it….I need the drugs…What if something went wrong?” Especially since most people don’t realize how safe it actually is (with a qualified Midwife), and how being at home doesn’t mean more painful. Quite the opposite actually. I was calm and comfortable and confident. Whereas in the hospital you have contend with the staff’s idea of what your labour is going to be. Their judgements, their advices, their ‘professional opinion’, and not to mention their ability to find pathology when there really isn’t any. Thus leading to interventions and loss of control for the woman in labour…but I digress.

Blogging is such new world for me, that I find myself losing hours everyday trying to figure it all out. I really want to conquer it, because that is who I am…a perfectionist. Well….a lazy perfectionist.

I don’t have the Original Wii Fit, so here is a page with the new Plus training. If you have the original and are wondering if the new one has enough new and exciting features for you go out an buy it. Here is a picture of them numbered for comments.

Activities New to the Wii Fit 'Plus'

I really like, so far…3, 10, and 15. I don’t remember their names, but I know I like them. 3 is a Kung-Fu game that you have to copy sequences of moves in Rhythm. 10 is a marching band game that you have to march in time to and hit the air with your remote and nunchuk at the right time. 15 is just a basic run, but it has a quiz at the end, and one of my cats acts as my guide.

Which one is your favorite, and why?

Since my Blog is called KerriDigital, I thought it would be fitting to talk about my steps into the world of Wii Fit. (As I sit here shoveling Toffifee’s into my mouth) Since the Wii fit is a ‘digital’ way of exercising…almost, but not quite, to the point of virtual weight loss.

Now quickly for those of you who don’t have interest in videos games and therefore might not know what ‘the heck is a Wii?’ It’s a videogame system that uses remotes to track movement. You can swing like a baseball player, throw like a bowler and so on. I think you get the picture, you can even hold it like a steering wheel for my favorite and my son’s “Mario Kart” (best game ever IMO)

Now it was only logical that they would move from somewhat sedentary actions (as we have all cheated and played baseball sitting down) to the more effective Wii Fit Balance Board. (which, in order to cheat, you have to use a lot of movement anyways, so why not just do it.)

Hey there's my balance board in the TV!

Now I got a Wii for my birthday in October when they dropped the prices from $279 cdn to $219 cdn. Nintendo Wii includes Wii Sports I bought the Wii Play also, because it comes with another remote for only an additional $15 to the stand-alone remote. Nintendo Wii Play with Wii Remote

Okay, I just ate the last Toffifee, and now I’m sad. Sad because they’re all gone.

Anyways, the day after my birthday was the new release of the Wii Fit Plus. Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board
It is basically the same, but the game disc has more activities, and you can personalize workouts. AND the coolest thing of all, it has Baby Stats and Pet Stats. So both my boys have Miis (Wii’s version of an avatar) and so do my 2 cats. Anyways, my hubby decided he couldn’t wait until the end of October for his birthday to start using the Wii fit, so he bought his present early. We tried it that night and then never touched it again until this week. :S

Here's me and my sleepy hubby and cats.

Okay, so every time you get on, it measures your weight and BMI (Body Mass Index) and you can do a body test to find out your ‘Fit Age’. When I did it on Tuesday, I was ‘45′ (i’m only 29), yesterday I was 31, so I feel much better. Keep in mind I’m going on 6 months postpartum after my 2nd child. Motivation is very hard to find most days, and my stomach still sticks out, even when I suck it in. It makes me wanna cry. Oh and if you already have the original Wii Fit, you can get the software (disc) only for $19.99 at Amazon. Wii Fit Plus – Software Only

Tuesday, Riley was at Nursery School so I thought I’d sneak in a workout so he wouldn’t be bugging me to have a turn. (He can’t do any workouts until he’s 3, so for now he’s stuck with baby stats.) I did about 25 minutes of different activites including some yoga and some strength training. One of my favorites is the Kung Fu, and the basic run Plus because my cat’s Mii is my guide and there is a quiz at the end.

Where you can combine goals for a routine

On Thursday I woke up and decided to try it out with Riley around and he did well and let me have MY turn. This time I decided to use the Wii Fit Plus routines that are designed for a different goal. Or you can combine them, so I combined them all for a 25 minute workout. You can choose to do each goal twice making a 55 minute workout, but I didn’t want to go that long, seeing as my children get antsie after only 25. I think I will build up to that.

I will be doing an ongoing blog about my Wii weight loss plan, so keep an eye out.

I keep meaning to write this. I just switched over from disposables for my second child. I actually used them with my first until his poops started to resemble grown up poops and then it was too gross for me to scrape it into the toilet. But for breastfed babies, who aren’t quite on solids yet, it’s the best. There are NEVER any leaks or blowouts. A-mazing!

I just finally got around to getting things organized. That’s the only reason I’ve waited so long. I love not worrying about going out an buying diapers, and after awhile cloth diapers pay for themselves.

I use Mother-ease One Size diapers with snap in liners and 2 Rikki wrap covers and 3 air-flow covers. I am going to buy some more, and try out their Sandy’s cloth diapers as I know my child is in the larger weight category already. One thing I want to try this time is disposable liners, that you can flush down the toilet. I never heard of them the first time around and I bet that I will go longer this time if I have them. Toysrus has a roll of 100 for $8.99 cdn, but Mother-ease sells them on their website also. And for those true Canadians out there, Mother-ease is a Canadian company, and for those Green-moms out their, they offer a Bamboo Stretch Terry and an Organic cotton fabric AND they use 100% Green Power at their Manufacturing facilities in St. Catharines Ontario.

Now for those of you thinking, oh it’s so much work or it’s gonna cost as much in water and hydro and my municipality takes disposables in the Green Bin so why bother? Here’s the real deal. While you will have to put out more money in the beginning to get a good stash of diapers, it won’t take long to see the benefits. Say you spend $60-100 per month on disposables and I’m being generous, then paying CDN $334.95 for a complete package and getting 3.5 months use of it isn’t too bad. Then if you continue using them for even longer, you’ll really start to see the savings.

The reason I like Mother-ease so much, is that they have designed them in such a way, that the ease of use it almost identical to using disposables. The One-Size have multiple snap button positions, including ones for adding liners for heavy wetters or for overnight. The All in One has a built in Cover, while the Sandy’s come in multiple colours and 2 sizes and additional liners sewn in. The diapers have multiple snap positions so that babies with chubby legs but small waists can still use them and vice versa.

The only difference from disposables that I can ascertain is the fact that you have wash them. Now think for second, when you need diapers you have to run out to get them, and when you’re done with them you have to put them in a pail and eventually empty that pail. I don’t see much more work in using these cloth diapers. These are not you grandmother’s cloth diapers. Gone are the days of folding and pinning and using wool covers. Now you snap, snap and go. I will say the one thing I find cumbersome, is the huge butt my baby is left with when using the One-size, maybe the Sandy’s will be different. I mean it doesn’t bother him, it does give him more cushioning, and there are no chemicals touching his skin, so oh well.

Oh and one final note on hydro and water usage, they use the same amount of water that your toilet trained child would use flushing the toilet for a month. Check out the Mother-ease site where they break it all down, and even put into perspective the affects of disposables on the environment. I mean I know disposables can be recycled, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t huge factories pumping out exhaust fumes making them, as well as the recycling facilities doing the same to break them down.

In this case, I would say it’s better to Reduce/ReUse than it is to Recycle.

Okay, so I have 3 little banner ads so far. I’m not expecting to get rich quick here, but I would like a way to supplement the cost of my blog, since I pay for my hosting and site name annually. Actually, I’ve had my ‘kerridgital’ site since 2004 when I offered freelance Videography and Photo Restoration. It then turned into a splash page I kept just so I could keep my email address.

So here’s what I learned yesterday in my blog detective work. There are a few ways to make money on your blog. I’ve chosen to just stick with ads that make you a commission if a link from your site leads to a sale. There are other ways like getting free stuff to test, or offering giveaways to your readers. But from the looks of it, those things combined with the ads links would consume too much of my time. So for now, I’ll start simple with banner ads, and including text links in my posts. Seems simple enough.

So I read a few blog posts from momdot and there were reference to a few affiliate sites. Most of them seems to be based in the US, so I dug a little deeper and found 3 so far, that are Canadian friendly.

The first one I signed up for was Amazon. They offer a few different ways to display ads and products. There are links & banners, widgets, and an ‘aStore’ which I don’t fully understand yet. They granted access to the account immediately, but took 24hrs to approve me. At which point I could simple choose the type of ad I wanted to display and highlight the HTML and copy/paste it into my ad section of my Mystique Theme. I then used a Text widget, and entered a short code to display the ad.

I then signed up for PepperJam Network, and I have yet to hear back from them. But they say it takes 24-48 hours, so we’ll see what happens.

Next was LinkShare, who immediately granted access to their network. I then could browse through a list of Canadian (because that’s what I ticked off at the application stage ) advertisers. You can apply to any and all the ones on the list, as most have an approval process and if you don’t qualify, you can always apply later. One advertiser approved me immediately, but the link wasn’t active right away, but today it seems to have something there. This morning I was not approved by one advertiser, but then I was approved by another. They send you emails that contain html code for either text links, banner ads, or button ads. I chose the button ads as it keeps my site not looking too cluttered. I think I will venture into including links in my posts, once I get it figured out.

I will be exploring more affiliate programs, and I might even look into what’s involved in freebies and giveaways, but for now I want to focus on gaining readership. A few ads to start is respectable and I don’t ever want to look like that’s the only reason I blog, because honestly I started a blog before I knew this world existed.

So today I spent the whole day, and I mean the whole day just slipped away from me, while I read blog after blog. I cannot believe how many Mom Blogs are out there! I know that I wasn’t original in wanting to blog about my experiences in parenting, but DUDE!

I found most sites totally confusing to read, and very full of content, so much so, I gave up trying to understand them. What I did discover that I was previously unaware of, was the concept of ‘monetizing your site’. Say what? I had no idea, and not only through banner ads, but through giveaways, and promotions. All this was out there, and I’ve been at home with my kids for 2 years now. What bubble have I been living in? Obviously the Facebook Bubble.

Not only was I amazed with the mass amount of blogs out there, but also how everyone seems to be experts at CSS and HTML. I know of these and know what they’re for, but I have to admit, I’m not a coder. I am however living with a Flash Developer who understand AS3 and even he admits he doesn’t know HTML. It’s a different language from what he uses, so he’s no help to me, for understanding this stuff. I don’t even know what Plugins I want to use. I have managed to figure out a few, but there are hundreds, and from the looks of what I saw out there, maintaining a successful blog is a practically a full time job.

I will admit, that this day really opened my eyes as to what I want to accomplish with my blog, but I feel bad at how much time I spent on my computer away from my kids. Well they were in the room with me, but I really wasn’t very attentive, and let my son demolish a bowl of chocolates just so he would leave me alone.

I still haven’t figured out how to include hypertext in my posts, or how to properly adjust my layout for the best aesthetic appeal, but I’ll get there. And if anyone decides to offer any tips, I would welcome them hole-heartedly.

Oh what have I gotten myself into?

Today, was a good day. We slept in, ate cereal, drank coffee and played video games. Well, my son and hubby shoveled the drive-way and tried to make a snow man, but the snow wouldn’t cooperate, so they came in for Hot Chocolate. I actually tried making ‘hot cocoa’ using the recipe from the cocoa powder I have for baking. It was easy, 1 tbsp of cocoa powder, 1 tbsp of sugar, mixed with about 1tbsp of cold milk to dissolve the powder, then fill the mug with hot milk and stir. Easy enough, but it ended up tasting just like the store bought stuff, so unless I can find a good recipe to make rich tasting hot cocoa, I’ll just stick to the ready made kind.

Kyle, my baby boy, is soooo close to crawling. He manages to get up on his hands and knees, and can move each hand independently, but he has yet to figure out the coordination needed to travel forward. He spent a long time in a sit, while playing, which is so amazing. I spend a lot of time just watching him and feeling joy to just have him in my life. I never thought that I would be happy to have 2 boys, but I really am. I still want to have a girl one day, but if it’s not in the cards for me, I’d still be happy to have my boys-even if I end up with 3 or 4 Someone told me today that Kyle has an old-soul, I believe it. He always looks at me like he has a secret, and that he’s wise beyond his years. I know it sounds kooky, but even split-second glances give me the feeling that he’s got it all figured out. He so desperately wants to get going, I just know he’ll be crawling before 6 months, and will probably walk at 9 months like I did. When Riley was a baby, people would say that their babies’ walked at 9 months and I didn’t believe them, but now I can totally see how possible it really is.

Riley is really starting to have a defined sense of self and his place in the world. He’ll be 3 in March, and I’m hoping the potty-training will just zoom by, when I finally get my act in gear. He’s very protective of his brother and his own feelings. I find him getting quite embarrassed when he’s told off by someone other than his parents. Today he woke up telling me it was a new day, how clever! Then I asked him whether he wanted chicken nuggets or a burger for dinner today, and he replied with, “I’m playing my game!” We laughed out loud when he said that. What a precocious little man! I still have the image of him rosy-cheeked, bundled up in his snow suit asking me for hot chocolate in my mind. I never thought that once he started talking, that he would still be as cute as he was when he was a baby. I mean, interesting yes, but I thought once he started to grow up more, that I wouldn’t see him as my baby any more, and the thought of losing that made me grieve for his babyhood. But it is not so, I still see my baby, even through his long-winded explanations of how he beat the bad guys on his video games. Video Games! Ah, I can’t believe how well he can already play the hand-held game system we have. What happened to the boy who couldn’t hold his own spoon?

Anyways, today has really reaffirmed the love and joy I find being a mother. I took today to relax and just enjoy the moments, and I found them to be very meaningful.

Happy New Year.