Tag: computer

Baby on the Events

March 21, 2024

Baby on the Events

(Throwback story from December 21, 2023)

Jillian called, “Mom, I’m taking some pictures of Laud!” Lucas jumped along to help out. He loves taking pictures of his little brother.

Somewhere in their cute little thoughts, they decided our four-month-old should take a picture on each gymnastics event.

Jillian and Laud
The Tumble Track
Vault! The Vault Table
Bars! Pull-up
Floor! (Can’t walk yet)
Pommel Horse! (Yippee)
Parallel Bars! (Help!)
Beam! (Boys don’t do this!)

First there’s Jillian and Laud. He looks happy enough.

What does she have for me to play with today? Wow, that looks interesting

Then there’s the first event – Tumble Track! Jillian is very careful as he is only four months old and not yet ready for bouncing.

Big brother, what exactly is going on here, this doesn’t feel right…

Up comes the next thing… ooh, Vault! Laud has some spotting help to stand on the vault table – although that is definitely not a parent-and-tot piece of equipment.

Mom! Can you see me, mom! I’m taller than Jillian on this thing that isn’t squishy!

Unfortunately, or maybe for the pictures, fortunately, mom is busy with the computer work and although she hears her baby yelling with happiness, it doesn’t occur to her that his big sister and brother are up to something.

Floor! Sissy, I might need to tell you I can’t walk yet… um, why is this floor moving?

At least on floor there was a tumbling mat to stand on. Laud appears to begin wondering if his brother won’t save him from his sister’s silliness, maybe he should yell for mom.

Bars! Pull-up! Lucas, why aren’t you saving me?

Jillian lets him pull up on the quad bars. Once he’s up, he doesn’t seem too sure about it.

Pommel Horse! Lucas, this is really cool dude, what can you do on this sturdy thing?

Pommel Horse is probably his favorite since he can do it with only a little side spot. Lucas zoomed straight in on his face.

Parallel bars! Wait! More Bars? What happened to the horsy thing?

Beam? Um, wait, boys don’t do this… Lucas, why don’t boys compete beam? This event has Jillian smiling!

I hope you enjoyed this series of pictures and commentary!

Jillian provided the inspiration! Lucas did the photography! Laud was the subject.

How quickly they all grow! Smile and enjoy the show!

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Thanksgiving Week 2022

Much to be thankful for!!

December 6, 2022

Thanksgiving Week 2022

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for those who could come.  It lasted from November 22 (our 20th anniversary) to November 27 (Sunday).  This was our “vacation” from gym/work.  It included lots of traveling (for me, Becky, Christina, Jaquline, Lucas, and Thea), lots of fun, and lots of food!

For my anniversary, we still had to work (thank you, Hurricane Whatever in September – I don’t commit names to memory) because we had school and a make-up day at gymnastics.  This started our Thanksgiving Break because I started out just before midnight on 11/22 with Christina to go pick Becky up from college.  

This car trip was super fun!  Christina and I drove.  Lucas and Thea went with us as Kimberly had early practice (Xcel Platinum) on the 23rd (a friend played taxi), Louis still had work like regular, and Jaquline & Jillian were cleaning and cooking with Grandma Tina.  

We got home to take naps, help finish cooking, cleaning, and such.   The table was set so pretty! (Yes, that is a marble chessboard that we use as a hot plate to set the turkey on! – Louis had it when we were dating and after some “accidents” happened to the pieces over the years, it was just too pretty to toss so was repurposed.)

Uncle Buddy came.  Anastasia came.  Gavin came.  Aunt Becca sent yummy desserts! We had so much fun!  Louis brought in new chairs.  (our table was used when we bought it and was missing chairs – we originally used the piano bench, but since the piano & bench are in storage for lack of room…) We played games.  Okay, yes, most were group video games or Frogger Challenge (two players, winner takes on next player…), but there were a few Boggle games and it seems we can’t have Thanksgiving fun without a campfire!

Uncle Buddy wanted to play Age of Empires with Lucas & Becky; even Louis and I joined in on a 5-person hot-seat Heroes 3 game that lasted all day (and we didn’t finish).  The kiddos (will leave anonymous which adults joined in as well) did a super-multi-player Minecraft / Imposter with phones and computers.  The shouted directions in the living and dining room had everyone else laughing! 

My Angel Eggs were a different story.  I made two platters.  I love making food look beautiful but most of the time we are short on time so I can’t.  (I used to even make everyone’s birthday cakes from scratch & even made two wedding cakes!)  Today I made beautiful piped eggs. 

One platter was gone in T-5 minutes!  Jaquline did warn us she was going to eat more than the eggs she shelled!  I love making food people enjoy.  

Being around my family when we aren’t rushed always reminds me to be thankful for them!  Uncle Buddy had prepped his head for military service (more on that next time) and Lucas thoroughly enjoyed playing video games with and snuggling with his uncle.  I am super thankful for this life God has given me and I pray my home becomes the gathering point for family and friends always on any Sunday we have family day or any holiday.  Food and good company is always a reason to gather together!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you next time!

~Nancy Tart

Computer Gift

Repair & Yippee, it works!

November 28, 2022

Computer Gift


Louis came home with an amazing anniversary present for me: A computer!  

He’d bought a used computer that could access the internet!  I was super stoked!  Set it up, plugged it in, started and *pop* there was a sound that anyone who has ever heard it knows – a blown fuse.  

I started by taking it all apart to find the fuse.  It was not a pop in and out fuse, but an enclosed one soldered to the breadboard in the power supply unit.  A few other things on the power supply were burned and tested bad.  I considered trying to redo the power supply, but instead decided to use parts from two old computer bases we’d kept in hopes of fixing.  I ended up with a power supply and a few other small things picked from the other two bases and voila! It worked!

Messy
Range of Mess
New Computer!
Tools… Some of them
It Works!
Innards

The table looked a little messy with three computer innards scattered around. 

It reminded me of my Daddy building custom computers in the ‘90s, when I was little more than an observer asking a million questions and occasionally handing something to Daddy.  When it worked, I was super stoked.  

Now I can access the internet from home again!  

It is a slow giant (was originally too fast for the power supply I put in, but I fixed that) but that’s still okay!  Nothing has to be super fast for me.  The fact that it puts text up on the screen at the same speed I type is a major improvement over the last desktop computer we had!   The previous base had lagged a little.  I would be typing and it was a few words behind in the displaying of said words or sometimes when I was really into it, sentences behind.  It used to make Christina and Becky laugh when my computer did that.

Now, I have a working internet computer that loads everything I need!  Another thing I’m thankful for!

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Study & Playtime

August 8, 2019

Study and Playtime

Your bed.

A place of rest.  Calm.  Peace.

Unless you are a mom! 

I got the baby all ready, got myself all ready, even get Lucas ready for his bed!  Lay down and *boom* here come the troops!

Lucas does an aerial front flip onto the bed, continuing into two connected forward rolls. (I almost die each time he does that!)

“What are you doing?  This isn’t the gym?”

“Going to bed with you.”  Nice.

As I start getting him settled (someone must have shared a red skittle with him, as the equation for crazy energy = red food dye + sugar + Lucas), Christina comes in with her new laptop.  “Mom, I need help setting up.”

So this is my bed & it’s 2300:

I’m trying to sleep, need to be up at 0545 to get Thea ready, me ready, walk dogs, and beat the bits of traffic; 0615 if I don’t care about eating breakfast or packing lunch.

I smile and remember – they won’t be little long.  Soon Christina will be 16, how much longer will she even ask for my help? Lucas is 4, when will he suddenly stop coming in to snuggle?  Thea is 5 months, but I can remember Christina being that little and it seems like yesterday. I take a picture as Christina gasps, “Thea! Computers are not for eating!”

Yummy! Thea tastes Christina’s brand new laptop

No, they won’t be little long.  I choose to cherish every moment… even the late night Mom’s bed gatherings.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

New Release! The Tightrope Dare

New Squirrel Book just released! Read an excerpt from The Tightrope Dare!

August 24, 2018

New Release!  The Tightrope Dare

Today I’m really excited to announce the release of “The Tightrope Dare,” the second adventure in The Landmark Tribe (furry squirrels lighting the way)!  The illustrators have finally finished with this project!

Rebeccah did this illustration.  She drew and colored both the cute little squawler and the full background!

Kimberly accented the drawing for digital copy and enhanced the details on the computer (some digital art manipulation).

Each of the Landmark Tribe books is narrated by a different member of the Tribe.  This adventure is narrated by Nutty, a crunchie (the squirrel’s word for teenager) who may be just a bit over-confident (okay, maybe he likes to brag and exaggerate, as you can see from the excerpt below).

Our Landmark Tribe books are written for our church.  Any sales we get go straight back to church because it is our squirrely church family who inspires characters in the Landmark Tribe and this series was created during a trip to church!  (Read that story here!)

Come read a bit from “The Tightrope Dare” here:

 

This is the story of how, me, Nutty, greatest Crunchie in the Landmark Tribe and in all of the squirrel tribes in the Wooded Lands, saved the day with my big brawny arms!

“Nutty.”

And that is Walnut, whose favorite thing to do is do that deep sigh and say Nutty, like I’m really doing something wrong.  He is a Crunchie in the Landmark Tribe too, but he is ages older than me.  Walnut is almost as old as Kahoona, our great and powerful leader.

“Nutty.” Sighed Walnut again.

Okay, so he isn’t really that old, but almost.

On the day my story takes place, the winds were ripping squirrels from their nests and squawlers from their mother’s clutching paws.

“Nutty, seriously?” Walnut chided.

Okay, okay, so maybe the winds were just enough to make leaves dance, Walnut is only a season older than me, and maybe I am not the greatest Crunchie in all of the squirrel tribes and maybe I didn’t use my big brawny arms to save the day, but I’m telling the story and that sounds cool, doesn’t it?

And that sigh from Walnut means he agrees but doesn’t want to say I’m right about anything.  Ever.  And he certainly doesn’t want to admit that I, Nutty the Great, am cool.  But I so am.

“Why do you start every sentence with a conjunction?” Walnut said in a bookish voice.

Honestly, he sounds so much like Grizzly, a new member of the Landmark tribe, that he seems like his real son.  Grizzly talks with a gruff bear voice but through his nose like it is constantly pinched shut.  And now Walnut has walked away so he can’t hear my awesome story.  Okay, well, you will have to do.  Stay right there and don’t move.

 

If you liked that and want to see how the Landmark Tribe of furry squirrels light the way in the Wooded Lands, click on the link to buy a copy or check out my Book List to view all the available formats!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

Growing Up Gaming

When your family loves board games, nerdy movies, books, and video games, you’re probably Growing Up Gaming…

August 10, 2018

Growing Up Gaming

When you are born into a family that loves board games (Risk, Catan, Life, Monopoly, Scrabble, and Poker are serious around here), discusses Star Ocean and Nancy Drew mysteries as if they are reality (if you walk in and we’re discussing Ned, Bess, and George and whose clue to follow, that’s Nancy Drew, but if we’re debating the character traits of Claude, Dias, and Leon, that’s Star Ocean), gets into serious nerd debates (you know, book versus movie for classics and bouncing theories about Rey’s parents, Gandalf’s childhood, or what cool stories Superman had as a youngster doing chores), and it’s pretty routine to hear someone say, “no, no, he’s a book person,” (unless both parties know the book, which is more common) you are likely to grow up gaming, reading, and being rather serious about such fun.

This is a family thing, since there has probably not been a get together where the verbatim replay of “Meat’s back on the menu” by the uncles and the older cousins didn’t happen.  (It’s entertaining, but a bit freaky if you don’t know the movie!)

For me, it was Zork, Teddy Boy, and 3D Adventure (Atari, the huge ducks or dragons that ate you and the castles where you saved the blocks).

My younger siblings introduced me to Playstation (Star Ocean and Legend of the Dragoon) as an 18-year-old.  That was cool, except I kept trying to look around the monitor screen instead of turn the view with the controller!  My kids know both of those… with their Playstation 2.

We are rather old school when it comes to games… the newest is probably Minecraft.  It’s a building exploration game that the girls create elaborate homes and castles in since they can’t run out of bricks (we have a finite amount of Legos and their imaginations are way bigger than the few bricks we have).  We actually have two old computers and keep them up because they run our 90s games (and the educational software I own runs on 32 bit instead of the new 64).

It’s always easier to learn something when you smash your head in between their head and the screen…

20180803_210029.jpg

Lucas considers himself very independent.  He likes to load the girls’ Minecraft lands and explore their castles (they call it “destroy” the castles – just like with Legos).

20180719_1619206954906318018117803.jpg

He is very happy when someone discovers him doing this.

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(Game rules say electronics after dark… notice the daylight?)

Christina thinks it’s hilarious and calls him “gamer dude” when she sees him with the game phone that was put away for the daytime.

I’m going to slide back into the gaming world… a furious game of Pictionary is happening on the kitchen table right now – and even Lucas is jumping around as Becky sketches two triangles, a round thing, and dozens of dots… this is supposed to represent “Star Wars.”

 

20180805_151359-18307848812238740806.jpgAnd this is supposed to be peanut butter… Becky yelps, “Can’t you see Peter Pan?” and circled it…

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

 

Reset Button

Ever wonder about the reset button?

August 8, 2018

Reset Button

When I was a kid my dad was always bringing home (what we would call dinosaurs now) computers and rebuilding them as school and play computers.  The 286 had a flat red square that Daddy always said, “Do NOT touch this button!”  (I had dreams of one of the little ones touching the button and the computer blowing up like a bomb.)

As I learned to program, though, I realized the reset button was to shut the computer down from self-destruction.  If it was caught in a loop (bad software) or someone attempted to overload the system with applications (operator error) the user (me) would try the famous Ctrl-Alt-Del a couple of times, but as a last ditch effort, we hit that red button.  Usually, the computer would load back up without a hitch and we’d avoid or fix whatever caused the glitch.

In life, God gives us a reset button every day.

He says His mercies are renewed each morning.  He forgives all trespasses and helps set us back on the right path.  Sometimes our “road to self-destruction” is simply doing the same thing over and over and getting frustrated because we get the same results (loop?) but God wrote us an escape clause.

I imagine computer code like this: If x person gets into y then; if y (number of times around) = >2; exit loop; end if.

It’s the “Exit loop” that gets us out of danger – and that’s because God wants us to do and be our best.

Instead of continue in our self-destructive loop, we should allow God to work on our problem (attitude, perception, etc.) and help us climb out.

Thank you, God, for resets!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

 

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