Leigh Steele's Blog (6)

If only life were like an iPhone, but with much better reception. Downloadable Life Apps at the touch of the button that could - VOILA - make life easier. Screaming kid? No problem, there's a Life App that painlessly jolts them into compliance. No chocolate stashed in the house? Tap, tap, tap and a downpour of M&M's befalls you. AT&T service missing bars, once again? One click and the bars are blasted larger than those conniving billboards of theirs.



Seriously, the iPhone…

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In the last four years, my TV watching experience has dwindled from slim to none. We were TIVO folks around here for many years and with the 30 second skip hack, happy as a clam TIVO folk. Forgoing ads gave us 20 minutes per hour back of our time and allowed us to save precious brain cells for the next highly engaging episode of "Junkyard Wars" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy". Seriously, that peanut shaped remote was an ergonomic gift from the heavens. Never having to miss American Idol… Continue

A dear friend of mine has often been quoted to say "If only Google could run this country, we'd be golden". And who could argue with that? The plethora of free products and simplified technologies that Google offers has rocked my mama-world in more ways than one.



First of all, Google Reader (along with iGoogle) changed my life. I went from clicking on dozens of blogs each day to having them display easily and accessibly in a tiny little box on my iGoogle home page. This alone saved… Continue

Crafty doesn't lurk in these parts. Though I'm an at-home mom to two daughters, the craftiest I get is crayoned drawings on wrinkled computer paper, stickers, and glue sticks. In a desperate attempt to stretch her creative wings, my daughter recently drew an artistic desert scene, glued tiny pebbles to the paper, and then embellished it with toothpaste. Craft-o-meter result? Mom: Zero. Kid: Three.



So, I have relied on the technology at hand to provide me with crafty training wheels.… Continue

In December, my family of four headed out on a spontaneous two week road trip from Arizona to Washington. We packed the mini-van, strapped our two young daughters in their car seats, and hit the pavement to California. We had little plans, no overnight arrangements besides the first night in L.A., and limited funds.



But what we did have was two trusty iPhones at our sides. For two weeks, we tapped buttons on our phones that helped us navigate the Pacific Coast Highway (Maps app),… Continue

I didn't get it at first. I was resistant, a near luddite.



I ribbed him for purchasing an iPhone as soon as it came out. The phone appeared to be superglued to his palm for a month. On occasion, I'd peer over during dinner and spy a game of poker going down. I'd grimace, he'd smile, and we'd finish our spaghetti. I sat on our couches, trying not to be embarrassed as I flipped open my mangled hot pink Motorola Razr and mashed the keys to text.



I ribbed him again for… Continue