Good Times
Yes, sometimes it's 'keeping our heads above water' but other times, it's pure 'ain't we lucky we got 'em'. And despite a few events to the former, including turning on what-I-thought-was-the-right-burner only to lay plastic on the actually-turned-on-burner (quick actions and calm heads prevailed, thank you), tonight ended up so very much the latter.
There are just a few things sweeter in life (IMHO) than singing with your kids in two, and sometimes three, part harmony.
Tears were definatly brewing when we finished our spontanious singing.
Lovin' Every Minute of it
As I'm getting to 'know' my new (loaned) iMac, here are a few of my favorite things:
Watson--TV schedule, weather, recipes, and more.
NetNewsWire--I may never blog-roll again. (Just kidding)
iCal--If I can get my family to check it out, it will work great!
iTunes--Almost too many songs.
and of course,
Burning Monkey Solitaire.
There's more I'm trying out slowly, next to try out the art and photography programs!
Edit
Also love that the kids can each have their own profile. They've bugged me about doing that on the PC, but it's such a hassle. The Mac logging in and out is so easy.
Buy Nothing Day
Or another Soda
I don't know if I will try Mashed Potato
Jones Soda this year, but I sure as heck won't be drinking any more
Pepsi Holiday Spice, especially after reading
this blog.
Happy Turkey Day!
You Are Mashed Potato Soda |
Like sucking on a stick of butter...
|
A whole new world
Well, I am writing this post from 'my' mac. I have joined the world of the elite, no more blue screen of death for this puppy.
Granted, the computer is officially a 'loan' (thanks, baby), but an indefinate loan, so it's not officially 'mine'. But I can still join the cult, can't I?
Error
I am in the middle of day two with no computer. At work. Where everything I do is on computer. Almost. So I've gotten caught up on a lot of stupid filing...ooo, good use of my valuable time.
Today, at least, we have an extra person hanging out, so I can go to another computer to try to get some things done. But I am so dis-jointed. I didn't even know what day it was yesterday. I almost forgot major important 'Wednesday' business, my computer reminds me everything.
The upshot is, Computer Dude says he has to find me a replacement one. It might actually be better than the one I had.
emphasize MIGHT.
My boss teased me yesterday, before we knew I did have to have a replacement, that if they had to get me a new one, it was coming out of my salary. I knew she was joking, but I was nervous to tell her that it was true, since we are in the biggest budget crunch ever. But the budget has money for replacement computers, and maybe I'd get a cool flat screen, she said. We'll see.
Funniest part of the computer being down, when I got to work yesterday, it was at the normal 'white' level error. I called the help desk as usual, I've seen 'white' level before, no big deal. Later in the afternoon, while something was running to try to fix it, I was startled to see 'red' level, and then it went to purple. 'Barney' error level. Those computer help desk dudes sure have a good sense of humor. I told help desk chick I got to 'Barney' and she said, at least it didn't start singing!
Yikes.
Floor Plans
As long as I can remember, I've read the Sunday paper in it's proper order, including the house design. (yes, I'm admitting that as long as I can remember, the Sunday paper has had a 'proper order' and yes, I'm a bit anal) (just don't mess up my paper!) I love looking at house designs. And critiquing them. And deciding where all the furniture will go.
I've designed dozens of houses in my life, including the one where all my secret brothers and sisters would live. When I was sick a couple weeks ago, I 'worked' on the floor plan of my latest dream house between feverish sleep. It's my latest version of my if-I-win-the-lottery-house. (kinda hard to win, since I never play)
So I had the idea, is there a site out there where amateur architects submit their designs, and other amateur architects critique them?
Well, I didn't find that exact thing, but I found a
couple cool
sites with house plans.
And as far as "Is my house hot-or-not??" that will have to wait for another day.
Lamp Project
The next step in the
lamp project is deciding what beads to use. There's a whole sub-album of my favorite choices. It was hard to pick beads, as the color of the lamp isn't quite what I thought it was when I was in the store. You know, you're looking at the choices at the store, and you're trying to remember what you have at home to go with it? I didn't want to buy more beads just for this project, I've got a metric-butt ton of beads. My 'extra kid' had a great idea, though when he was looking over the pix with me. I told him the top netting, at least, will be loose hanging over the shade, and he said I could always make the netting and take it to the store to see if it works better with another color. I might try that. Click the pix to go to the album, no commenting there right now, so come back here to leave comments.
New Pix
Thirteen needed some pix for his
blog. He probably likes the headbanging ones, but I like the artistic ones better. He is looking for others' opinions, too, so feel free to vote when you
check them out.
I love being a mom (and I'm not being sarcastic this time)
I got home last night to find that my computer wallpaper had been changed. From
Television Without Pity, to
The Muppets with Wheezer.
I have loved and do love every stage of life with my wonderful sons, and at 11 and 13, this picture defines the moment we are in right this minute.
I do kinda wish they wouldn't make changes to MY computer without asking, but no biggie.
Perfect Food
I have come to the realization that
Triscuits with cream cheese are the perfect food. Whole grains, calcium, low fat, aswome flavor. It's a daily snack or even a meal for me. The whipped and flavored chream chease tend to be pricey, so here's my 'recipe' for flavored cream cheese. Taste the perfection.
- Buy cream cheese in block form, it's cheaper. Buy a few at a time, if they are still in their tinfoil wrapper, they'll stay fresh for a few weeks. (learned the hard way--don't freeze and expect the consistancy to be the same. still works well in recipes, though) You can also buy Nufchatal cheese, which might be slightly cheaper, and is lower fat or something, but the taste is basically the same. Buy the plain lable kind whichever you get, the plan is to save money here.
- Plan ahead: When you want to flavor the cream cheese, it will need to sit out on the counter for a while ahead of time. Plan a couple-three hours. Leave it in the wrapper and in the box. If you forget about it, or change your mind, you can put it back in the fridge and it will still be ok (I'm talking hours, here, NOT days!)
- You'll need to decide what flavor-type you are headed for. The two types are 'sweet' and 'not-sweet'. I am in the 'not-sweet' catagory, as far as cream cheese is concerned, as you probably realized since I'm putting said cream cheese on triskits which are salty. But if you like it sweet, please, be my guest.
- Since we started with a block and want to make it spreadable, we'll need to add some liquid. Depending on if you went sweet or 'not-sweet' there are several things you could use for the liquid. Sweet: Honey, Milk, Jam, Maple Syrup, Chocolate Syrup, Apple Butter, Fruit Juice. Not-Sweet: Ranch dressing, Blue Cheese dressing, Any dressing, Barbeque sauce, Milk, Hot Sauce, Olive Juice, Mustard, Tomato Juice or sauce.
- Now for the dry goods. Pick for Sweet: fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, candy sprinkles, mini-marshmellows, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, any combination. Not-Sweet: Cajun spice, Garlic or Garlic Powder (better yet--both!), Olives, Onions or Onion Powder, Ramen Packet (we have a lot of that at our house-Eleven could eat Ramen every meal for a week!), Jalepenios, Pickle Relish, Bacon Bits, Tomatoes, Any Veggie, Any not-sweet cooking spice.
- Mix it all up, don't put in too much liquidy stuff or it'll be runny. (duh!) I mix it in a seperate bowl than the one I store it in, then the storage container looks nice.
- Put it back in the fridge. Eat whenever. On Triscuits preferrably. Oh P.S. to Impulsive Buy Guy: don't bother to review the new Olive Oil and Rosemary Triscuits. They suck big time.
BaNaNoWriMo?
That would be "Baby" NNwM. I'm thinking of lowering my expected word count. This looks much better, don't you think:
I think it's all in the choosing of what's important. This is a fun exercise, and I will finish a story, but I shouldn't let myself get too caught up in it all. Finishers are called 'winners' but I will 'win' by finishing a story. Just like Kirk, I'll change the rules.
After all, aren't there a few other things I've already been procrastinating? ;p
So last night, instead of writing, I finally figured out PayPal, and how to use it with Dreamweaver, and here is my first '
for sale' page. It is so not much to look at right now, but it's a start. I have 5-7 more pairs finished to photograph, and getting the pix at just the right distance is a tad tricky, I'll have to do some heavy measuring and documenting, so I don't drive myself crazy. After the first of the year, I will be adding a few more items. Slowly, but surely.
(And love the colors!)
Comfort Queen
I have tried out many a newsletter; quotes, inspiration, organization reminders, creativity, health, astrology, relationship advice. Most, I try out for a while, and get tired of, or realize there's really nothing interesting about it. Some I keep subscribing to, even when I don't love, love it, just to glean the good bits every once in a while. But I just like to try new things, so no big deal.
One I've stuck with, and liked emmencely, is the
Comfort Queen's
Daily Dollup.
Here's part of today's nugget:
"You each have a limited amount of energy and time to create a life with. You have to choose," CQ interjects. "You must be willing to make the arduous, austere, and often painful choices to stay true to the life unfolding within you."
It just hit me right today, and I wanted to share.
A little more
My kids left this afternoon to go to a dinner for thier 'service group.' Waited patiently for my 'extra kid' to get picked up, so I could get undressed and start in the writing. I'm still not loving the very beginning, but I'm getting to a better part.
I've decided I don't so much care if I hit the 50,000 words, but I want to finish the story. I'm feeling a little like I'm painting a wall of a house and I have to paint the whole house, instead of painting a painting. But the houses need painted, too.
And while I was waiting for my 'extra kid' to leave, I got a few more pix up in the Gallery.
Bloggery Goodness
One new thing to the Blog Universe, is
Blog Explosion. Taking over the internet by storm, or well, explosion, I guess.
I have really liked it so far, I earn more traffic by doing one of my favorite internet things: surfing random blogs. (Of course, traffic is one thing, reader retention is another
;p)
It also has a multi-level marketing aspect to it. Join as my referral, and I'll get a bonus, sign up more referrals, and you'll get a bonus, too.
One blog I found through BE has already been added to
my reading list,
The Impulsive Buy, with witty reviews of all sorts of things.
And I found a fledgling web design group, and got in on their special offer to get a redesign on my blog!
Ciao! My Bella will be updating my design when I get to the top of their list. They were so generous, they've had enormous response. I'm happy to be part of the Bella family!
A dollar's worth of inspiration
My new favorite
Russ's store is the one out on West A. It's just as close as the big south store, and has the gas station, plus it has lots of good stores next to and on the way to it.
So, in addition to a good weekendful of groceries, I picked up a game, a couple paperbacks, a brand new purse, (all at the Goodwill) and a dollar's worth of inspiration at Joe Dollar. (everybody drink.)
I found these cute-but-cheap-looking glass mini lamps, that hold a tea light candle. I saw potential. My first thought was that I didn't have anywhere to put it when it was done, so I decided I'll make it a Christmas present for my mom. (I don't think she reads the blog very often, if at all, so I should be safe posting about it.)
The plan as it stands right now, is that I'm going to make a bead netting around both the shade and base (seperately) with dangles. The other part of the plan is that I will take pix and post a kind of step-by-step of this project. So check out the gallery.
Update: I have put the first pix into the gallery, here's a direct link to the album.
Dreams
Had a couple strange dreams last night. One was very vivid, I was hitting the snooze button (again) and I could clearly see the time, which is impossible without my glasses. And when I did get up, it was earlier than the time in my dream.
The other dream was pretty big, I don't remember all of it, but I know there was more to it. It was a big fantasy adventure story. Part LOTR, part Time Bandits, maybe a little Narnia in there, too. The part I do remember, was the 5-7 characters were looking for the portal into the magical realm, and figuring out who would go through first. They drew straws, and found the door to the other world in the toilet. Literally. They put some magic junk into the bowl, the water turned funky colors, and they were supposed to jump in. Luckily, I didn't have the short straw, and woke up before I personally had to jump in.
When I woke up, my first thought was that it may be an idea for my NNwM novel. But then I realized, it is my take on the current state of our union.
Blah.
PS, I do not consider this to be a political blog, really, but trying times...
Anyway, if you want to read some good political rants, check out Just Cheap Dirt.
Thursday Things
Still recovering from the stupidity of America, but glad it's finally over at least.
Thinking about the novel, I'm right now going with
Matt's comment about using my set-aside time and letting my mind wander. That's what I do with my other creative outlets. I'll ponder a project, and brew it until it's ready. Like the earrings last week.
I'm not far enough into the writing that I couldn't just go another way, but this weekend starts the big writing push, so the wandering has to be finished soon. I guess there's a couple different things going on. 1) I want to do the NaNoWriMo challenge, and actually come out with a finished novella by the 30th. Which I think I can do. And B. I'd like to write an actual novel that is actually good, but that's not what this is about right now. It's an exercise. So I'm thinking I'm going to keep plotting along. But I'll sleep on it, and 'wander' on it more tomorrow.
And a couple links:
Cool Balloons and
Free Internet Stuff
What a day.
Yes, I voted. I know third party votes take votes away from the main two parties, but I did vote green. Locally only. Because I know him, he's a nice guy. 3% ain't that bad for green in Nebraska. Everything is still too close to call, but my kids went to bed upset that the news maps were a little too red for their tastes. But I'm glad they are interested in politics, I barely knew who Richard Nixon was when he was president, until there was some worry about some tapes.
And I haven't written a word on the NNwM today. For one, I found out yesterday that my kids will be gone all afternoon/early evening Sunday, so I plan to really use that time to write. But also, I'm feeling like it's only the second day, and I hate my novel.
I told my older son that I like my idea, and I'm still excited about writing the story, I'm just not liking the starting. In his often-zen-like-wisdom he told me "don't start." Good point. Maybe I should just jump into the middle, but something is telling me I am supposed to write from beginning to end.
Anyway, I don't feel very creative right now, just reactive.
Other things
I don't intend to only write the NNwM Novel, or post about only the NNwM novel, and how I'm doing with the writing of it, I promise. I posted about it a lot before November 1, just getting excited about the beginning. Now that it's begun, I'll post the normal drivel, with a shot of my meter a couple times a week.
In other news...Halloween was fun for the two younger ones. (My own younger one, and my friend's only one, who is my third one, tho not my own) We got rid of all the candy, and the glow-in-the-dark flies.
Work-wise, some days are better than others. I try not to complain too awful much about my office-mate, but when she has a bad day, look out! She actually told me I'd better not 'sass' her. Um. Hello? (She's probably just stressed about the election)
On a better note, the newest Bead & Button came in the mail today. Almost makes up for being called incometent and a liar.
I'm saving the mag until I've met my writing goal for the day. Wish me luck.
Here We Go!
Found Money Update
My scientific New Year's Resolution is collecting found change.
This month's updated total:
.69
