To Do List - Thursday, July 1

I got to thinking that I might be more apt to finish my to-do list if I posted it here. It's not that exciting, but I think that posting it in my blog where someone might read it will give me some extra incentive to actually finish it.

Without further ado, in no particular order:

*Finish laundry
*Clean microwave
*Finish dishes
*Go grocery shopping
*Clean stovetop

It doesn't seem like much, but after an 8 hour day I'll be happy if I can get through everything.

I'll let ya know how it goes!

My Kitchen Surprise

One day last week when I came home from work Shad met me on the front porch and told me that he had a surprise. He led me into the kitchen and revealed...the automatic paper towel dispenser! They installed these babies at his place of employment and Shad fell in love, so much so that he couldn't resist bringing one home for the fam. It's right by the stove and, if I can remember to use it, it's pretty convenient. I'm also a lot less self-conscious about waving (and waving and waving) my hand in front of the machine in my own home versus being in a public bathroom.

Speaking of being in a public bathroom, why does it seem like I always enter the bathroom right after someone who apparently had both Thai food and a hellacious stomach virus? Those people never wash their hands, either. I'm just sayin'....

Can anyone watch the shakeweight commercial without cracking up? It's just inappropriate, really.

We went on a very nice motorcycle ride this evening with some friends. It took me about a week on the back of Shad's motorcycle to decide that I need to get one of my own. I'm on the lookout.

I guess that's it for right now. Catch y'all later!

Multi-Post Sunday

Explanation for the pictures to the left is forthcoming, but first....

You'll notice that I have 1-2-3-4 posts today. The three posts below this could have been combined into a single post, or even included in this one, if I was not so adamant that the pictures should be in somewhat close proximity to the part of the post to which they relate. Okay, so I'm breaking that rule in this particular post, but I promise that it's an anomaly which won't soon be repeated. Anyway, as previously stated, I'm forced to post from the kids' laptops and I apparently am just not smart enough to figure out how to cut and paste the html to move the pictures around in the blogs. Stupid fat fingers. Yeah, we'll blame the fingers. I'll bet that the kids could tell me how to do it, but right now they're out in the front yard shooting a potato gun across the field. Country living at its finest! I digress - I posted four different posts so that the pictures would show up with the corresponding explanations.

The two pictures here show the heinous luck which our family has been having with glass lately. Earlier this week we had a storm blow through with some pretty high winds and, as a result, one of the storm windows on the west side of the front porch ended up in 10,826 pieces strewn all over the place. Two weeks ago one of the front porch windows was apparently shattered by hail while we were out and about (not pictured). This morning I was almost out of the door when I heard the distinct sound of breaking glass coming from the back porch. The cause quickly became apparent when I looked out the back door (although I don't believe it was this particular dog that caused the damage). Using my investigative skills honed from hours of watching CSI and Blue's Clues, I determined that it was most likely Big Bad Clyde that got a little too enthusiastic in his attempts to alert us that he wanted in and subsequently busted through the glass. My suspicions were further confirmed when I noted that, once allowed inside, Clyde left a minute amount of blood on the living room carpeting in the immediate vicinity of his front paws. Am I good or what?

The good news is that I have blown through yesterday's crafters block. Apparently all I had to do was to acknowledge the problem and *BOOM* its gone. I have spent hours in the craft room (hopefully soon to be known as "the office"!) and actually produced some kinda cute stuff. Since you had to read about my problems getting going I thought it was only fair to show you what I accomplished. I try to be considerate....

I've only slept about eight hours total this weekend and it's starting to screw with my brain. For the first time that I can remember I took a shower while chewing gum. At one point it was like I couldn't decide whether it was more important to shield the gum from possible soap infusion or to keep the water out of my nose - luckily my catlike ninja skills allowed me to do both.

I have to go to a golf outing tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it. I was actually supposed to organize it but I convinced everyone that if they left it to me to plan it wasn't going to happen. I guess I should be relieved that all I have to do is go out and sign people in and then hit the dinner portion of the event later. Still, if I had my druthers I wouldn't be going.

I include this paragraph to remind myself to post about my wonderful husband's surprise addition to the kitchen tomorrow. I truly didn't see it coming.....

For a few brief minutes this evening I saw a rainbow over the field across the street. Then the kids hit it with a potato. Not really. The rainbow was pretty though. My name is Susan and I....oh look! A squirrel!

Have a fantastic Sunday!

Whooo Loves Ya Baby?

I did this little embroidered owl based on an Elsie Flanagan pattern. I'm not in love with the color combination, but I occasionally have a bit of trouble breaking away from the "traditional" color schemes. I'll experiment with some wilder colors on the next one.

This project marks my first semi-successful use of the French knot in an embroidery piece. I'm not sure that I did it exactly right, but at least I got a lot closer than I usually do. Practice makes perfect, right?

Little Paper Houses (for you and me....)

I'm liking these little houses made from a template that I found online. I think I can change them up for Halloween and Christmas, too, and use them on scrapbook layouts and decorations. Perhaps this will even be the year that I send out homemade Christmas cards!

Last, My First Quilting Experiment

While I LOVE quilts, and I've got lots (and lots and lots!) of material, I had put off my foray into quilting for one reason - it's a pretty exact craft and I'm just not an exact kinda person. I'm usually pretty content to get the biggest part of the job done and then hand it off to someone else to finish up. To put it plainly, I'm not a detail kind of girl.

I was a little surprised at the amount of time that it took to prepare this project. Measure, cut, measure, cut, iron, starch, iron, arrange, pin, sew, trim, pin, sew, iron. Whew!

As you can see, that aspect of my personality has manifested in my little square of quiltedness. The lines are not at all straight and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it (I'm leaning towards making a bag) but I'm pretty pleased with the color combination anyway.

Pushing Creativity

I have a phenominal craft room on the second floor of our house. What it lacks in size it definitely makes up for in content - I have a little bit of everything in there. I can't remember a time when one of the kids have said, "Do we have....." that I haven't been able to go upstairs and pull out exactly what they need. I find, however that the plethora of things that I have is causing me creative problems. What project to start (or finish) first? Shall I sew or scrapbook? Perhaps jewelry-making would better suit me today. Not in the mood for beading? I could just paint.....

My next great idea is to start a small business to promote all of this possible crafty goodness. I think it really makes sense. I can put all of my materials to good use and perhaps see a little return. I don't delude myself into thinking that I'm going to be the next great crafter to hit the big time - frankly, I'm not quite creative enough for that - but there is a festival-type activity where I could sell my miscellaneous wares. Seems like a good idea to me.

The only problem is that since I've come up with this grand scheme I go up into the craft room and sit. And look. Sometimes I clean. Here lately though, I'm not crafting much. It's like crafter's block has dropped upon my head and I need to find a way to break out of it.

I ordered a new point-and-shoot camera today that should be here within the next week or two. Maybe that will be the catalyst that I need - after all, Malorie has promised to participate in a photo shoot and has been coming up with outfits and ideas for the last couple of months. Maybe that shoot (and a couple of roadtrips on the bike, of course!) will snap be out of my creative funk. I hope so.

On another note, I'm pretty proud of myself. We went to Barnes & Noble last night and I went to the GW Boutique this afternoon and I only bought two books (both from GW - total cost $.98) and one of them was for a craft project that I've been doing. You know it's an addiction when a "good" weekend is defined by only buying two books! I know I should fight it, but I suspect it's like those poor misguided people that are addicted to exercise - I justify my book-buying by saying that at least I'm broadening my mind.....

I've been on the kids' laptops for the last couple of posts, hence the lack of pictures. The desktop computer seems to have taken a massive data-dump (either that or it has a binary blockage! Haha folks, that's computer humor for y'all!) and is currently unusable. Bleck.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Stay cool, fool!

I'm just sayin'

Some days I feel braver than others. I'm more willing to speak my mind, take chances and admit what I really want. It seems like some of my "brave" days come when they really shouldn't - those days when my real opinion is neither wanted nor appropriate to share - and usually when I'm in a position where whatever I said would be recorded for all prosperity...

While I like my job, I would much prefer to stay at home. I don't have any of the typical reasons for staying at home - no kids that require constant supervision, no home-based business to run, not even a pesky puppy that needs to go out every hour or so - so any stay-at-home decision for me would be purely selfish. It's not realistic, but sometimes I like to think about what I would do to if I had all of that unscripted time.

Surely I would cook more, and cook more creatively. The cookbooks that I own would be perused for tasty new recipes and my spice cabinet would be in constant use. I would make grocery shopping an art form and not only would I recognize those exotic fruits and veggies by sight, but know three different ways to use them. Rachel Ray would have nothing on me!

My craft skills would grow exponentially. I would catch up on my scrapbooking within two months and find creative ways to use all of those supplies that I've been amassing for the last several years. I would sew using material that I have on-hand and repurposing clothing that we outgrow or no longer want to make amazing items.

I would plant a garden and tend it regularly. I would learn to can and to make jams and jellies and would be able to share fantastic culinary masterpieces with family and friends.

I would organize the storage space. I would know everything that we have and where it is. I would do a complete home inventory and keep it updated. I would know where every owner's manual and instruction guide was.

I would be in phenomenal shape because I would have time to exercise every single day. I could walk, bike ride, or go to the gym every day.

My house would be spotless. The carpets would always be vacuumed, the woodwork would always be dusted and the dishes would always be done. I would never, ever worry about people coming over because my house would always be company-ready.

Okay, the reality is that if I didn't work I'd probably do a lot of catching up on Maury and One Life to Live. I'd be in worse shape rather than better and I'd always put off cleaning or organizing or crafting until tomorrow.

Of course, I'd like the chance to see what I'd do if I could stay at home. I'm just sayin'......

Blah. Blegh. Bleck.

I didn't want to go two days without writing something here but I gotta say that I don't have much. I've been in one of those down kinda moods lately. I need sleep that I'm not getting and I just feel like I need something to change but I can't tell you for the life of me what the change needs to be. I'm also sick to death of the rain and the streak of crappy things that has seemed to be going on lately. Whine, whine, grouse, whine, right? Ever have those days?

Yeah, I got nothing. Later all!

Addiction

I faced a hard truth today. I am an addict. Luckily my vice is not alcohol or drugs (and certainly not exercise!) but it is one that effects my life just the same. I am an addicted, compulsive reader.

I finished Under the Dome today at 11:00 a.m. By my estimation I read just over 700 pages in two days. That's a lot, and while I was reading there was a lot of other things that were not getting done (although you'll be relived to know that I both finished cleaning the couch and saw my grandpa today so you don't have to read about that for a while!) This isn't the first time that I've gone on a marathon reading session, either. The last three Harry Potter books? Read them the day that I got them. The Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse books? I call them crackbooks because I get into them and have a hard time putting them down. It sounds ridiculous, but it really is a compulsion for me. Every time I think "I'll quit reading after this chapter" I find a reason to go on for "just one more." Luckily I was at least able to go on my bender over the weekend and while the kids were gone, although I will say that it's significantly less embarrassing to have the kids catch me with a book in my hand than it would be a beer or some other recreational pharmaceutical....

I feel compelled to add that I do read some "real" books too - so far I've slogged through On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Catcher in the Rye, along with some other classics. Although Fahrenheit 451 was not too bad, the others I kept reading mostly just so I could say that I had read them. I think I'm getting to old to read books that I'm not into just so I can say that I have read them, but on the other hand I feel like I should participate in the collective human experience that is reading these classic books. I have a couple more classics that I have on my reading list for this year, including Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but beyond that I may try to limit myself to catching up on 1-2 of the classics that I've missed every year.

Friday Randoms

First I would like to report that "No Money Friday" was a complete success! I almost blew it this afternoon when I reached into my purse for a dollar to hit the vending machine, but I remembered just in time. Now if I could have "No Money" days a little more regularly we'd be getting somewhere.

After examining our silverware drawer (okay, stainless steel drawer - we're not that fancy and I'm not polishing silver!) I discovered that a number of our tea spoons had disappeared. I imagine if I looked underneath the seats in our cars and in the kids' room, I could find one or two, but it does seem as if we run out of them before anything else. My brilliant solution? I've started buying random tea spoons from the GW Boutique (a/k/a Goodwill) to replace the missing ones. I figure that it won't be long until the random outnumbers the "regular" spoons and then I just look like I'm artsy. Right? I mean, artsy and eclectic rather than crazy, right? :)

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite time-wasting blogs and websites with you tonight. I haunt Elsie Flanigan's blog for my crafty fix and IndieJane for my photography fix. Elsie has blog sponsors that are worth checking out every month too. Other than that I'm on facebook too much (aren't we all) and the spoof sites, failbook and lamebook. I'm always amazed what people post.....

If you've seen Zombieland you probably remember the "Zombie Kill of the Week" bit. Now, I've watched a lot of zombie movies, and I must say that I'm giving "Best Zombie Kill. Period." to the helicopter pilot in the movie "28 Weeks Later." Just look at this zombie carnage...

A helicopter would be a handy thing to have in case of a zombie invasion. I'm just sayin....hit me up if you know how to fly one of these babies. I have a plan.

I'm at page 419 of my new Stephen King book. No, I didn't finish cleaning the couch. No, I didn't clean the computer room carpeting. No, I didn't go see my grandpa yet. Jeez people, get off my back! I caught up on laundry and made a lemon cake and washed dishes and took a nap (yes! Another nap for me! I have a feeling these will come to an end when the kids get back so I'm enjoying them while I can.)

I hope you're staying dry....

No Money Friday

Today I'm going to see if I can go the entire day without spending money. That means lunch at home, no shopping (either in-store or online) and, well, not spending any money. I'll let you know how it went later tonight.....

Lazy Day

For what seems like the first time in forever, I have the house to myself tonight. The kids are with their mom until Sunday and Shad worked tonight, so it's just been me and the animals here at home. I'd like to say that I took the opportunity to get all kinds of stuff done around the house, but my pants would be on fire if I tried that (from being a liar, liar you see....)

I really need to finish steam-cleaning the couch tomorrow. Three big dogs equal lots and lots of dog smell and slobber. I did half of the couch and the living room carpet on Monday night so it really won't take too long to finish the sectional and clean the computer room carpet, but I just didn't feel like doing it tonight. Instead I took a nap when I got home (oh, the luxury of a quiet afternoon nap!) and then spent some time in the craft room. I also started reading Under the Dome by Stephen King which is a massive 1072 pages. I'm 177 pages in so far and it's holding my interest, so I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it when I get the chance. I know that Steph uses the "work a little, get a reward" system of housework and it seems to work for her, so maybe I'll try that. How about this - tomorrow I'll finish the sectional then read a section of the book (probably 60 or so pages), then I'll clean the computer room carpeting, read another section, etc. Can't hurt!

I have a crazy idea about a home-based, seasonal business idea that I'm trying to work through to see if it may be worth pursuing. It would allow me an outlet for my creativity and would also let me utilize a lot of the craft supplies that I already have on hand. If I can figure out a way to work in a nice new camera for myself and write it off as a business expense, all the better for me, right?!?!?!?

Okay, I'll come up with something more creative for tomorrow's post and I'm going to try to get over and see my grandpa, too. Am I aiming to high for a Friday?

Hasta La Vista!

Answering a Random Question

I was stuck on something to write tonight so I thought I'd go random. The plan is to open "The Book of Questions" by Gregory Stock, Ph.D. to a given question and answer it, whatever it is. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe it won't. I guess we'll have to see how it works!

I asked Shad to give me a random number. He picked 197, so let's go.

What has been your biggest disappointment in life? Your biggest failure? I can't tell you how tempted I am to change the number that Shad picked or fudge on the question, but we made a deal here so I guess I'll stick with the question.

One of my biggest personal failures/disappointments is my failure to maintain close family relationships. Growing up my parents were good about making sure that we saw both my maternal and paternal grandparents. I remember going out to my mom's parents' house every Sunday evening, often meeting my aunt and cousins, and spending an hour or two with my grandparents. I don't remember how often we got to my dad's parents' house (which was catty-cornered from my parents' house growing up) but it seems like it was quite a bit. As I got older I tended to opt out of those trips and visited only on holidays and other rare occasions. Now my paternal grandparents have both passed away as well as my maternal grandmother, leaving only my mom's dad. One would assume that I would be a lot better about keeping in contact with him, but that has not been the case. For Pete's sake, he lives a mile and a half down the road and I can't think of the last time that I saw him anywhere outside of my parents' house.

I know that part of this is attributable to my hermit-like nature. For the most part, I don't like "public" very much and given the opportunity I tend to withdraw. I think I also think that my own self-expectations might be too high - like if I were to go over there I should spend at least an hour engaged in witty conversation about members of the family that I don't know, never met and/or haven't seen since I was three. Yet I know that at some point I'm going to regret not going over there more, not asking more questions about my great-grandparents, etc.

How's this - I'm letting you know that some time between now and Sunday, I will go to my grandpa's house, just to say "hi" and check in with him. I won't put a time limit on the visit and won't put any undue expectations on myself.

See, blogging can be good for you!

*Holy Jeeze! Remind me not to let Shad pick the number anymore!*

My "Celebrity" Crushes

I'll say up front that I'm not a "typical" girl in that I don't have your standard celebrity crushes. Brad Pitt? Nope. George Clooney? Not for me. Shia LeBouf? Sorry, watched him on Even Stevens and can't get past it. Taylor Lautner? Okay, maybe Taylor.... :) For the most part, though, my celebrity crushes run to the obscure.

#1 - Forrest Griffin
What can I say? I'm a sucker for a big dorky guy with an awesome sense of humor. I know that he's got that mean Howdy Doody Look going on and I just don't care. Forrest fights in the heavyweight division of UFC and held the championship for a while. I'll pay for his view anytime.....












#2 - Amir Sadollah
Amir is another one of the UFC guys. Again dorky looking, again awesome sense of humor. He's one of those guys that to listen to you wouldn't figure him for a MMA-type guy, but he tends to get the job done in the octagon. He also does some broadcasting work, most notably the online post-fight interviews following each of The Ultimate Fighter bouts.





#3 - Jeff Woywitka
Jeff currently is a defenseman for the Dallas Stars NHL franchise. Shad and the kids give me all kinds of grief about my love for the Woy-boy, but I hold my head high. He has to be a lover, because believe me, he's no fighter. (Google "Woywitka Tootoo fight" if you want to see what I'm talking about...)


#4 - David Morse
I'm sure that David's face is familiar, but perhaps not remarkable, to you. He's been in movies like The Rock and The Green Mile. He's generally one of the main supporting actors and is typically cast as the good, moral guy - apparently he's just got that look about him....




So now you can see why Shad is so secure in my love for him - he's just my type! Cute, dorky, funny, good, moral, etc., he mashes all of the things I like about all of these celebrities (I'm having a hard time not putting "celebrities" in quotes since I know that you may have recognized one out of the four guys listed here) into one big gooey ball of awesomeness. Say it with me now - AWWWWW...

(Funny, and true, story - I was trying to type AWWW and instead of getting the "W" I hit the "S" key, so it initially read "ASSSSS..." Now that I think about it, Shad does have a nice.....smile. A nice smile! Pervs!)

On another note, today at work I listened to the Doors Greatest Hits. "The End" always reminds me of the movie Apocalypse Now with Martin Sheen and puts me in a weirdly reflective and almost meditative state of mind. I was definitely digging it.

I also colored my first mandala today. It's like a coloring page for grownups - a geometric repetitive shape that you can color in any way, with any colors you choose. My instruments were limited due to my location so I wasn't particularly pleased with the results (think coloring very small areas with a blunt crayon). Yes, I was using crayons (Crayola perfect blends that are like three colors blended in each twist-up crayon) and yes, I was at work. Some people get to have crayons at work and call them "teaching aids" or "supplies." I'm woman enough to admit I just have crayons. What are you going to do about it? ;) Anyway, take a second or two and google "free mandalas" and you'll come up with a treasure-trove of coloring fun. I won't tell!

Old Love, New Love

Before I get too far into this post, I feel that I must disclose that I spent the hours between 4:00 and 7:00 this afternoon at a French Bordeaux tasting. I learned quite a bit about how the wine is grown and what how to take in the bouquet, find the legs and take the first slurpy sip to properly take in the full effect of the wine. It was really informative, but I have to tell you that it certainly made assembling the new vacuum and carpet shampooer when I got home just a little more challenging. As I told Chris, somewhere there was a monkey copulating with a greased football that was looking smoo-ooth compared to my assembly skills. I got everything together and now the living room carpet and one-half of the sectional are at least cleaner than they used to were....

So I've been thinking about my honey a lot lately. It seems like recently we've gotten a little extra time together - just us - and I've really been enjoying his company. Not that that's surprising, because he's honestly one of the funniest people I know (even though I'll deny it to his face) and we're very in sync, but I know that I'm lucky. We're lucky. Ten plus years into our relationship and I would rather be with him doing something horrible than be anywhere else. I think that we're very good at appreciating each other and with him there is so much to appreciate. He helps with the cooking and housework, he's handy around the house, he's encouraging, smart, funny, witty (and there is a difference), he spoils me for no good reason and, let's face it, he's a hottie.

As much as I love my hubby (and I'm sorry if that phrase grates on your nerves - if it does, please feel free to mentally insert whatever spousal description you like) I am a bit afraid that I've lost him, at least temporarily, to a new love....

This afternoon we picked up our "new" motorcycle. It's actually used (but not very used) but it's of course new to us - so new that we haven't even named it yet! Since it's been a long time since Shad's been on a bike, he got to ride it home on his own while I brought the minivan home. He looked Bad to the Bone, I was all soccer stepmomed out. (Can you tell that I'm not a big fan of the minivan?) I'm thinking that after riding this afternoon and tonight and tomorrow - 'cuz it's not like anything but a tornado warning is going to get him off it - he'll be ready for a passenger.

Now's the time for chillin' out to some Jack Johnson music. If you're not familiar with him, take a minute and go to youtube and check him out. He's got a beachy, laid-back vibe that's perfect for relaxing, hanging out by the pool or soaking up some sun. Seriously, take a minute.....

Until next time!

Today's Minor Irritation

Shad and I took a little excursion to a neighboring city that happens to have a Sam's Club this afternoon. It was raining when we arrived and, of course, there were no open parking spaces within about 1/4 mile of the store. We parked and were walking briskly into the store, clearly in the pedestrian right of way, when some jack*ss driving a Mercedes with personalized license plates ("Habeb 98" or something close to that) darn near ran us over. Like, swerved between us and the doors (and we couldn't have been more that 12 feet from the front door at that time) going probably 15-20 mph. Yes Habeb, it's clear that whatever you had just purchased at Sam's was so temperature sensitive that waiting even those 2.5 seconds that it would have taken us to enter the store would have ruined your entire purchase. I was so tempted to show Habeb my two little birdies, but there were three kids in the backseat of the car. I guess if Habeb wasn't going to be a good role model for them it was up to me, right?

More later.

Pondering Mortality....

Thinking of my sister on the third anniversary of her accident. Love ya Jen!

Button Bracelet Project!

For some reason lately I've been on a huge bracelet-making kick. It all started with the $2 box of beads that I bought at an unclaimed freight store. One night while I was up in the craft room (or as Shad calls it, "The Store") I noticed that I had a huge jar of buttons that I really hadn't been using very much. I played around with some buttons and Stretch Magic and the Button Bracelet project was born.

The first step is to gather and then carefully arrange (or if you craft like I do, dump out all over the table) your buttons to get an idea of possible color palates. I tend to be rather monochromatic and use medium-to-large buttons, but anything you choose should work fine. I would, however, recommend that you choose the buttons that have either two or four holes that go completely through the button rather than the "hidden" attachment buttons.

I usually pick out more buttons than I think I will need just so I'm not going back into my buttons toward the end of the project. The Stretch Magic that I used for this project was .5 but I have used the 1.0 as well. The .5 is a little easier to work with and does not show up as much, but I found it to be a little harder to safely secure at the end of the project. The 1.0 tends to distort the shape of the bracelet when it's not being worn, but it's not a problem once you get the bracelet on. I think the diameter of the Stretch Magic used is solely a personal preference thing.

It's important to remember to run the Stretch Magic starting at the back of the button so that the more decorative button elements are facing out with the least amount of Stretch Magic visible. If you use a four-hole button, it seems to work best if you use the holes that are diagonal to each other rather than using the side-by-side holes. Make sense? I like to use extra buttons for my bracelet so there is an overlap to create some additional visual interest.

After all of the buttons are threaded, secure the Stretch Magic with whatever series of knots works best for you (I won't even try to describe my knotting techniques, but suffice to say that it's more complicated than the Gorgon knot....) The bracelet should be snug, but not cut-the-circulation-off tight on your wrist.

Take a few seconds and make sure that all of your buttons are facing the right way and you're good to go. This entire project (including chasing down the errant buttons after I dumped them out on the table!) took less than 15 minutes and the results are.....interesting....if nothing else.

Whoo-hoo!

Okay, so now we've got the desktop up and running. You know what that means, right?!?!? Picture capabilities!

I've put a little thought into what my first blog picture would be, and I've decided that I will share with you (being singular or plural, depending on how personal or impersonal you are reading this blog to be) the books that I bought today.

The little book is the Tao Teh Ching. Purchased at Goodwill for the exorbitant price of $.49, this includes the classic teachings of Chinese philosophy said to be useful in developing a sense of balance and harmony in everyday life. Balance and harmony for $.49? Can't beat that!

The book on the top of the stack is Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris. This was today's splurge at $5.99. I wish I could pretend that it was some high-brow literary masterpiece, but let's face it - this is vampire/werewolf/shape-shifter/telepath smut at it's finest. I think this is the fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which incidentally is the series that HBO's True Blood tv series is based on. (I also purchased the first season of True Blood on DVD for $18.88 today, but since it's shipping from China I doubt I see it for quite awhile.)

Next down is the incomparable Uncle John's Unstoppable Reader. Another Goodwill find, this cost a whopping $.99. Yes, I do plan to read it in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure that it's required.

I'm trying out a new series with The Conqueror by Georgette Heyer. For $.49, I figured I could test the waters so to speak and see if it would be worth reading more of the books. This one is about William the Conqueror who was apparently a bastard son who ascended to England's throne. I am partial to historical books, mostly about the Elizabethan era, and I think this fits in pretty close.

Finally we have The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory, the author who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl. I'm pretty sure that I've read this before, but again, when you find a like-new hardback book by an author that you know you like for $.99, it's pretty hard to pass up. This particular book is not quite as tantalizing as it sounds - more historical than smut. I just noticed that this is a large print edition, so the good news is that I'll be able to read it 40 years from now when my eyesight is shot.

So other than buying even more books, I got to watch both The Ultimate Fighter semi-final fights and the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. I tend to watch t.v. like a guy - switching back and forth between the most violent shows currently on. I'm lucky that Shad doesn't fight me for the remote. Of course, I guess if I'm brushing up on all of the floor-checking and take-down techniques maybe he's the lucky one.....

Well, hope you (singular and/or plural as you wish) had a happy Hump Day!

Susan

Two hours we'll never get back

First, I must say that my day had a certain "z" theme to it - I had some zingers at lunch and then I went to zumba tonight. Two things probably don't constitute a theme if you're dealing with a more common letter - say "s" or "t" - because you can say that you "t"alked to someone and you ate "t"acos for dinner and it's really not that unusual. But how many things start with "z" that you might encounter in a day? I mean really, the only other thing that could have happened would have been for me to pet, or possibly get bitten by, a zebra, which would have been rather outlandish. I mean, it would have been outlandish for me to do it today, not in general. I am really the only person I know that has actually for real been bitten by a zebra and lived to tell about it.

So the two hours that I lost tonight went to the movie "Shutter Island." I won't ruin it for anyone, but it was kinda similar to another movie that came out a few years ago. That movie was okay because it was the first time that I can remember seeing that particular storyline used in a movie, although I do remember it from one of the books we had to read in high school. Now, however, it's getting old.

Short post tonight because I would really like to take a bath (I still have dried shin sweat from zumba and I'm sure that I'm kinda ripe) and then get to bed.

Night all!

My ongoing attempt to become sophisticated

Okay, so I'm trying to become a real actual grown-up type person (at least in some ways) and I've decided that Step 1 on my quest is to find a wine that I like. I already know that I'm not going to develop a palate for whiskey or scotch, so wine seemed like a much more viable option. A nice glass of red wine at the end of the day sounds like a good way to relax, no? When someone asks me what I did the night before I could say, "This and that, and at the end of the evening I sat down with a nice glass of (insert sophisticated wine name here) and just chilled" or when someone asks what I'm going to have for supper I could say, "Oh, I think we're just going to throw some steaks on the grill and open up a bottle of (insert sophisticated wine name here)." See, you're already impressed and I haven't even came up with the type of wine that I like yet!

My methodology for choosing wine is not a complex one - I went to UFS and wandered the aisles for a while. I ended up picking out two bottles, somewhere between $8 and $12, and brought them home. The first one I opened was The Stump Jump Vintage 2008 Shiraz. I chose to open this one first because I knew Shad wouldn't be around to help me drink it after I opened it (he's worked the last several nights) and this one had a screw-top. Yes, God help me, the first wine I opened in my attempt to become more sophisticated had a screw-top. Two steps forward, one step back my friends.....

On to the Shiraz. I cracked the ring on it last night (at least it had a metal top!) The bouquet was not unpleasant and the deep red color was very nice. I attempted to do the whole "swish the wine around in your mouth before you swallow it" thing and the initial impression was not too bad. I don't pretend to be able to discern fruits or flowers or woodsy-ness, but it seemed okay. The logical next step was to take a swallow. OMG what a swallow!

It burned. Right on the back of the tongue in what is apparently the "burny" taste zone, this wine set my mouth afire. A wholly unpleasant after-taste lingered at the back of my mouth like I had consumed some sort of hellacious cleaning product. Bad wine! Bad wine! Still, I persevered, having been advised to give the wine a chance. I even got some cheese (okay, so it was a string cheese stick, but still...) to see if that would settle the flavor down. It did not. I even tried the wine again tonight to make sure I gave it a fair shot. I find that I did and the wine still sucks.

Now's the rub - I have about $7.50 left of this $9 wine and I can't bring myself to pour it down the drain. This is truly "take a swallow and spend the next couple seconds shaking your head involuntarily in an attempt to shake the taste out of your mouth" wine and I can't bring myself to dump it in the sink. How cheap am I? More importantly, what in the hizzle am I going to do with this awful swill?

Ya Gotta Start Somewhere

Okay, I'm gonna say that this is Stephanie's fault, as I wouldn't have even considered doing a blog if she wouldn't have mentioned it a few weeks ago. Maybe this will give her something to do when she's in those boring summer school classes if nothing else...



So I've been watching "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" since I got home from work at 4:00. It's one of those shows that Malorie made me watch last year and now I am sadly hooked. It's hokey, the acting is atrocious and it's like a train wreck - I almost can't look away. Is Adrian pregnant? Will Ben and Amy get back together? Why do I care? Argh!



Speaking of bad television, I'm also sadly enthralled by Jersey Shore. How can you not be? It's so hard to fathom that there are pseudo-people out there that live their lives that way. Perhaps I'm jealous - they're not worried about making sure that a couple of kids grow into responsible, caring, mature adults or putting in the 8-4. I vaguely remember those days. I seem to recall they were back in the early 1990s...



I spent an hour and a half tonight sewing Boy Scout badges on Andrew's shirt. I think that, like the whole cooking and cleaning thing, men just assume that women have sewing skills. Unfortunately, like cooking and cleaning, my sewing skills are sadly sub-par. Seriously, who takes an hour and a half to sew on six patches? I don't think half of them are straight and I'll probably have to redo some of them, but at least I got them all on in time for the meeting tonight. It's the small victories that must be celebrated, and I choose to celebrate with some Dairy Queen. (Which directly relates to the sub-par cooking thing!)



I'm typing this on Malorie's laptop because the dogs trashed the wireless receivers for the keyboard and mouse so our main computer is unusuable. I have several complaints about the laptop - first and foremost being that my fingers are too darn fat and I keep hitting the wrong keys. Aside from that, I don't feel comfortable putting pictures on Malorie's computer so I'm limited to words only until we can get something figured out for the desktop. Finally, this darn thing is getting pretty hot on my lap and I'm too lazy to get something to act as a heat barrier. In conclusion, I'm not a fan of the laptop. (I don't know why I temporarily resorted to the high school essay type format, but I did, so there.)



As you can see, I'm a huge fan of the ellipses (...) as well as the parenthesis ( () ). Especially when you can do this ( ) with parenthesises. Parenthesi? Anyone notice that I made a butt using only parenthesis and a vertical line? Anyone?!?!?



Later!