Alexa

My husband got a new piece of technology that's sitting in our kitchen.   When he told me about it months ago, I was—as I commonly am—skeptical.   It was an internet aware device from Amazon.   I could do things like tell you the weather, your commute time based on current traffic condition, play music and even tell jokes.    The thing is, you couldn't get it yet.

My husband signed up for something like, "put me on the list to be invited to buy one of these cool Alexa things."  That was, literally, last year sometime.   He told me the other day he had, "been invited to buy one" and that the product wasn't generally available yet, but that during this trial period, some Amazon Prime customers who had expressed an interest could buy one and see how they liked it.

We're doing all sorts of things with Alexa.  My favorite is to have her put something on our grocery list.  By saying, "Alexa, put green peppers on the shopping list," the shared shopping list my husband and I use is updated.     You can tell her to do this while listening to music you're having her play too.

We're having fun with Alexa and I think she's going to be both useful and helpful.   This morning I got a glimpse of that when my daughter came into our bathroom and told us Frozen was playing on Alexa.  My son had figured out how to ask her questions and make requests and sure enough, when we came back into the kitchen, Alexa was playing songs from the Frozen soundtrack.

The Big Boy Update:  Poopy.   My son is overusing the word, "poopy" right now.  It's something that happens at his age and through hearing older classmates say impolite words.   Next week with our star chart, it's his next star activity:  Not saying "poopy."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter was helping me bring in the groceries the other day when she discovered the five-pound bag of sugar.   She said, "mm, thanks for getting some more sugar for my dad."  I didn't want to tell her it was for me so I could make more candy.

Fitness Update:  Eighty-nine degrees this afternoon and Uncle Jonathan and I still managed to run six miles without becoming too dehydrated.