Life Updates of a Larger Magnitude

Ever read Freakanomics?  Awesome book for data junkies.  Lots of hysterical correlations that you never saw coming.  Anyway,  I'm reading this article Reger posted (by the same people) and it made me want to write about something I've been thinking about for some time now, but didn't want to say aloud. STEVENSON: I mean, the bottom line is that the data still suggests that people with kids are less happy than people without, even though among the people like us, that happiness hit is smaller, it does suggest they’re less happy. This is true for the Shea family, but something I am hesitant to write because once you put it on the internet, you know your kids are going to find it years from now and put you in a crappy nursing home. (Brynna!  I don't mean it!) It's just that the level of responsibility skyrockets so vastly that it is not possible to be as carefree and happy as no kids.  But it's also kind of like working out - I hate running, I do not en...

So we bought this house, this sweet sweet little house, but it needed a facelift inside.  The first step - paint!  The walls were "white" but hadn't been painted in years.  The kitchen is a weird ashy wood color with little cabinet space and a serious flow probem.  We painted the walls, knocked down an upper cabinet to open things up, painted the cabinets, and (this weekend) are painting the countertops with a Rustoleum product just for that purpose.  Here is a photo tribute to the wall painting: the colors possibilities (all very neutral so because we literally painted every wall except the bathrooms) and the winner is... burnished clay!  matt wanted the more brown one on the top left, but I convinced him that gray is the new brown ;) stocking up on supplies - a professional paint sprayer, some paint, tarps, and toilet paper (of course!) and the essential supplies - gatorade and Amp! the spray fest begins here ...

I should say first that I wrote the last blog a few days ago, but had it delay posting.  I didn't think it appropriate to post it right after I heard the news, but I needed an emotional outlet.  Anyway, on to something frivolous because there has just been too much sad... Is anyone else overwhelmed by the digital world and in need of a simplification?  Man! The obvious one is communication.  Email (I've got 3 addresses + work), text, phone, skype, gchat, Facebook.  Yikes!  But really what I'm on right now is digital media.  I've got a Zune pass (awesome, because it let's me listen to a variety of artists), but then I also buy some CDs or songs through Amazon which now let's me store those purchases in my Cloud (I hate Zune for buying music because it uses "Points" instead of giving you a dollar value.  No thank you.)  And because we have an iPad I have iTunes installed.  And we have a backup media server.  There are just too dar...