Who's angry now?

There's a 99-cent game on the iPhone called "Angry Birds." A bunch of green pigs tried to steal the birds' eggs and the birds are out for revenge. So they slingshot themselves (well, you slingshot them) into structures where the pigs are hiding in an attempt to get rid of the pigs once and for all. 

My boys love this game. Robbie especially is obsessed with Angry Birds. For the past month, he has been telling everyone that he's going to be an angry bird for Halloween. Specifically, he wanted to be the red angry bird. Unfortunately, despite the game's popularity -- it was the #1 downloaded app for a long time -- there is no angry bird costume in any store. 

So Mike and I thought about it and decided that we could use a red bean bag chair to create the round red body of Robbie's new favorite character. Too bad we recently got rid of one. So we bought a new giant red bean bag and after school today I went to work creating Robbie's angry bird costume. 

First, Annie helped me empty all the styrofoam pellets out of the bean bag and into a trash bag. That's how I learned that one bean bag chair can hold 39 gallons of pellets. Unfortunately, not all of those 39 gallons ended up in the garbage bag. If I had to guess, I'd say about 2-1/2 gallons spilled out onto my kitchen floor -- and quickly made their way to the dining room, the living room and who knows where else?

Once the bean bag was emptied, I cut a circle out of the base of the bag for Robbie's head. Then we slid the open zippered end of the bag over his body and popped his head through the hole I'd cut. I guestimated where to cut armholes and soon enough, he was wearing the bean bag. But the bean bag hung from Robbie's shoulders like a sack. It was time to plump it up, giving it the signature rotund look of the red angry bird.

I decided to stuff the costume with bedsheets. Six bedsheets later, Robbie looked a little like the angry bird he wanted and a whole lot like a pear-shaped apple. He wasn't at all convinced with the costume, but I told him to wait until we got his beak made. I made the beak from a yellow folder, cutting it to size and rolling it kind of like a party hat.

By the time I got the yarn taped to the beak to tie around his head, Robbie was starting to complain that the costume was too heavy, that he couldn't run in it, and that it was "too fat."

In fact, what he actually said was "Great...now I look like a fat, sad, angry bird!" 

A few minutes later, he declared that he didn't want to be an angry bird for Halloween anymore. What?! After hearing for weeks that he wanted to be an angry bird? After I tried to talk him into something a little easier to come up with ? After we spent $20 on the bean bag chair, then proceeded to cut it up so it can not  be re-used for its original purpose? 

"I think I'll just be Spiderman." 

If I'd had a mirror in front of me at that moment, I'm pretty sure I'm the one who would have looked like an angry bird.

Better than a BLINDY

Today is the third day of the Blog Indiana conference. I had to miss yesterday because of a 6-hour meeting at work (which should be totally illegal, by the way -- 6-hour meetings, not work). But I'm here today for a day of panel discussions, some of which interest me more than others.

At the end of the conference, they'll be announcing the winners of the BLINDY awards. You may remember that I am up for a BLINDY for "Best Family Blog." (Of course you remember, I told you all about it on The Best Day Ever post; you read the post then went right over to the BLINDY ballot and voted for me; and now you are waiting on pins and needles to see if The 4th Frog can pull off an underdog win.)

Now, I don't really have any expectation of winning. I'm just happy to be recognized with a nomination. I always thought those people who were up for Oscars, but who didn't win, were full of it when they chirped "it's an honor to be nominated." But maybe losers in Hollywood aren't so full of crap after all.

Anyway, last night at the back-to-school ice cream social, something happened to me that was way better than winning a BLINDY and I just had to share it with you.

There I was at the PTO table, trying to figure out how to slip away without having to sign up to chair the teacher luncheon, the Monster Mash, the school auction or anything else, when Janice came up to me and absolutely made my day.

I like Janice, which is pretty remarkable because she is cute and skinny and I tend to avoid those types. But Janice and I have worked on a couple of committees together and she's fun to be around.

I found out Janice reads my blog when one day last spring she came to me in the pick-up line after school and said, "I had my mammogram on Tuesday too!" After looking down to see if my breasts still looked like smashed chicken, I realized that she must have read about my mammogram experience on my blog.

Ok, back to last night. Janice rescued me from the PTO table and said, "Amy, I have to show you this. I had my husband put an icon for your blog on my iPhone. I even had to move some stuff to the second page to make room for it."

Are you FREAKING kidding me?! Janice iconized my blog on her iPhone?! Totally way better than a BLINDY!

(And Janice, if the PTO was able to suck you in last night, I will happily work on your committee.)

Dumb phone

Yesterday, I was one of three speakers on a blogger's panel at a social media meeting. Before it was time for the panel to begin, I was sitting in the audience listening to a Twitter presentation by @jamesburnes (if you tweet, you should follow him).

My phone began to vibrate (I'd turned the sound off for the presentation). I reached into my bag and pulled out my very not-smart Motorola Razor phone.

It was Mike calling. I couldn't really talk, so I let the call go to voice mail and then texted him that I was in a meeting. He immediately texted back a question I needed to answer. As I was multi-tapping my way through my response (you know, tap three times for the letter "c," twice for "e," etc.) I looked around at the other folks at the table who were using their "smart" phones to tweet some of what James was saying, to check e-mail and to answer text messages.

Like a kid wearing knock-off tennis shoes in a room full of kids wearing Nike and Adidas, I was embarrassed and tried to hide the phone a bit under the tablecloth as I carried on my text chat with Mike. I mean, here I was, supposedly an "expert" on this panel, clunking my way through a social media meeting with a dumb phone.

Typically, I'm not one of those people who has to have the latest and the greatest. I think I've had my red Razor phone for 3 or 4 years. And while I still love the red, I think it's time for a smart phone. Not only for texting and tweeting, but for things that will help me be more efficient -- like being able to keep our family calendar handy at all times. And, ok, for the occasional Scrabble game while I'm waiting in a doctor's office somewhere.

The contract isn't up on my phone until December. But I'm kind of thinking that maybe for my birthday next month, I can get an iPhone. Maybe a Blackberry. (I hope Mike is reading this!)

Do you use a smart phone? Which one? What do you love about? What don't you love?