DragonBlog

Got Closet? (also known as: Shelving - Plan B)

So....

Not long after we moved into this house, we realized we'd need to redo the shelving/hanging rods in the closet for the master bedroom. They were poorly done and flimsy, and there wasn't enough room to hang all the clothes.

The master bedroom itself is only called that because it happens to be the biggest of the three teeny bedrooms we have. It's not bigger by a whole lot, and the closet is the usual double sliding door kind of thing, nothing special. The bedroom was only exciting in that it was bigger than that of our last apartment (which barely fit our king bed and dresser - Brian had to crawl over me to get out from his side of the bed - and a shelf unit that had a tv on it) and we could actually put nightstands on either side of the bed. We're planning to re-arrange it soon, after we paint the headboard we found at a garage sale not long ago. The fact that there actually is more than one possible arrangement is also a plus.

So I went to the local Wal-Mart, and found this shelf "kit" for closets. Seeing as how it was inexpensive, and I'd need two to make it work, I was happy to pay the low price of $20-$25 per kit. It seemed a whole lot better than that $500 price tag that the Elfa stuff seems to rack up to.

Silly, silly me.

Today, we redid the closet again, after it made yet another attempt at "closet suicide", wherein the topmost shelf/hanging rod took a plunge, taking all of my husband's shirts with it. This was not its first attempt, and my side has required some creative repairs as well.

We were not, however, going to pay that $500 for the Elfa stuff, seeing as how we're unemployed and all, so off to Home Depot we went, searching for other options after measuring the dimensions of our little closet.

We ended up creating a setup that looks awfully similar to that $500 getup in the catalog I had from a store that sold the Elfa stuff - but for a measly little price of $160 instead. It is a different brand than the Elfa ones, but works on a similar track system and seems nice and sturdy.

And I got to use my power drill too! I like power tools. They give me a rush.

One day I'll get my table saw. Oh, yeah baby!

In the meantime, however, I'll just have to wait for space in the garage for a proper workshop. Once we finish moving boxes and boxes out of the way.

*sigh*

But, in the meantime, at least I have a closet that finally works! Yay!!

Not only that, but bonus points today - it's the first time in the time that we've lived here that I have a place to hang dresses! They've been crammed on one of those "over the door" hooks on the back of our bedroom door. Now I actually have a space in the closet to hang them without having to bunch up the bottoms and have them get all wrinkly! Yipee!

Of course, I did just admit to owning dresses, didn't I? Pffft... there goes my tomboy image.

So today was a "project day", which was cool, since we did the project together.

Anyway, that's today.

Tomorrow will likely be different.

Yep. Prob'ly.

Yeah, I am in a wierd mood. It might have something to do with the silly image a friend of mine sent me in an e-mail today (wait for it...)

And now,

Would you rather:
1. be forced to listen to nothing but barry manilow tunes for 36 hours OR metallica?
Nothing against metallica, but I sadly have to admit that I could probably sing along to many of the barry manilow songs, so I'll have to pick that one. My mom was a big fan - just for clarification here...
2. french kiss richard simmons OR gene simmons (lead singer of kiss)?
EWWW !!! For how long are we talking here? Okay... I'll take the lead singer. *shudder*
3. wear a pink tutu everywhere you go for a week OR a big "cat-in-the-hat" hat?
Oh I am so cat-in-the-hat girl!!! That would probably be kinda fun, actually. *grin*
4. uncontrollably kick people in the shins when you first meet them OR pinch their hiney?
Well, I think that would effectively eliminate what little social life I have... I guess I might as well kick someone - I'd be pretty irritated by it anyway, and it would be easier to explain. Note to self: soft-soled shoes.

Damn you, June Cleaver!

After the decision several months ago that I want to be the stay-at-home mom, despite the fact that that means I've got the "housework" as part of my duties too, I recently found myself having to pull a complete turnaround and do the "working mom" thing for the past four weeks of temp job...

So now that I'm back home, where has all the energy I had for those four weeks gone? Or was it purely contained in the excessive amounts of caffeine I pumped into my body to make sure I was awake.

I mean, really - which vitamin is it that my multivitamin doesn't have enough of? sheesh!

I know what it was, though. I spent those four weeks focused. I wanted to cry at night for not spending enough time with my son (in fact there were a couple nights that I think I did cry, but don't ask me - ask Brian - the past month is a muddled blur for a lot of things to me), and I am feeling very out of sorts now. My husband is the one who knows when Jareth eats what and what he's in the process of learning and so on...

There's a small part of me that has to admit that I have fears of my husband having done a better job as "stay-at-home parent" than I have. Then again, some of the larger cleaning tasks are still things that he didn't dive right in and do either, no matter how much he enjoyed the chance to play Mr. Mom.

I just wonder how long this emotional rollercoaster is going to go on until a permanent job comes in (for one of us - hopefully him) and things can settle back down again. I feel as if the entire search for "me" has been put on hold until further notice. I my true fear is that I will have to redefine myself in order to be content in the working world...

I'm also starting to realize just how old-fashioned I really am. My mother wanted me to never rely on a man (because of her own issues), and really I had a lot of issues trusting one for a long, long time. Now, I'm starting to realize that I have this old-fashioned ideal that the man takes care of keeping the family afloat financially...

Someone want to tell me where the f*&k that came from?

Oh, yeah. My grandfather. He worked his butt off to provide my grandmother with whatever her heart desired. Which was no small task, if I do say so. My grandmother was pretty hard to please.

Although, every time Brian and I talk about it, it gets agreed that it makes sense for him to be the one looking for a permanent position right now. So I'm still only going to be looking for temp assignments and choice jobs that might have enticed me regardless. But, I know that if the proverbial shit hits the celestial fan, and we get within a few months of the insurance buffer giving out - I'll be inclined to grab the first permanent offer that comes along, if he doesn't find something first...

No wonder I'm suddenly having trouble sleeping again. I'm already feeling the fear and depression settling into my bones again.

Sorry - needed to vent tonight.

I'll do the "Tuesday is Chooseday" meme next, to lighten the mood.

After that though...

G'night.

Technical Difficulties (again)...

Server's been giving me fits today.

So much so that I accidentally posted my entry for Quick Shtick Writing four times!

It took me almost two hours before the server let me successfully delete the three unecessary ones.

It's moving again, but still slower than I'm accustomed to. Feeling frustrated, I'll not be posting much tonight. I didn't do any work on my site like I was planning to do today. Instead, I took the day off, mostly. Rewarding myself for that sudden dramatic change I've had for the past month. Also coming down from the overage of caffeine - letting my body run back down to normal for a wee bit. Also, I think my face is turning the corner and whatever the reaction I had is going away. Maybe I can still get away without having to see a doctor. Time will tell.

It will probably take me longer to post this than it did to write it.

*sigh*

G'night!

Son-shine...

Midnight...

It's been a long time since I've stayed up until the witching hours, but here it is just after midnight as I finally get around to today's blog.

So much to say, but so little I can really discuss. The fact that this isn't an anonymous blog does sometimes limit some of the things that I want to discuss as they rattle about in my mind. Things going on around me that affect other people more directly than myself, but yet I sit silently watching...

Today was a beautiful one. The windows were open, and fresh air poured through the house, bringing the scent of the sunlight in with it. Or at least it might have, if I could smell. That's how I imagine it being though, so that's how it's going to remain in my mind. I wanted to run and play, to frolic even, in the "outside". Unfortunately, my soul and my body disagreed today, and we had to settle for sitting close to the window instead. At least my allergies seemed a little better today. And, by sitting, I managed to get away without any aspirin to ease the woes that seem to want to plague me today. Maybe tomorrow they will be gone again. Mine is a fickle body like that.

We treated ourselves to the decadence of donuts this morning, and Jareth got one as well. Hopefully one of the pictures of him with sprinkles and frosting all over his face will turn out and be posted here. He was quite a mess by the time he was finished, but I managed to wheedle my way out of having to clean him up, letting Brian have that little adventure instead.

Yesterday, Brian put up the two white fans that we've had sitting in our laundry room in boxes for almost two years. The two that were on the ceiling in our family room weren't working when we bought the house. One worked, but made nasty noises, and they both had problems with their lighting as well. Now we have two working fans, with working lights, in our family room downstairs. We've got one pulling up and one pushing down and we're getting some lovely circulation. So much so that I actually had to put on warmer clothes for a while!

Overall, today was a good day. Relaxing. Which is good. Very good indeed.

G'night!

And so it goes... and so it goes...

Skipped class again last night. It was all well and good to sign up for and take a drawing class back when I was a stay-at-home mom and all, but my digestive system and I haven't come entirely to terms with the fresh intake of large amounts of caffeine again. During the pregnancy I had weened myself off caffeine nearly entirely, allowing myself the occasional Diet Mountain Dew as a boost on particularly busy days. I've even trained the menfolk around me to fresh-roast me a decaf version of my favorite kind of coffee - Ethiopian Yirgacheffe - which has an almost chocolately taste to it, especially with a smidge of sweet-n-low and milk stirred in.

Yeah, I'll admit it. I'm a coffee "snob". At least I'm not addicted to shoes...

Although, speaking of "girly stuff", allow me to segway a bit.

Last night, I took off my makeup, only to find my face has broken out in teensy bumps. I'm thinking it's a reaction to a pressed powder I used yesterday that was different than my usual one. Needless to say, I didn't used it again today, but I'll have to wait to see if the rash goes away. Now, to segway even more...

So the job I've been at, which ended today, has had a direct link to the dermatology field, despite it's html nature. So, I've gotten to see lots and lots and lots of pictures of teeny little skin bumps and "papules" and such. Were I a hypochondriac, I'd probably already have gotten certain bumps of my own checked out by now. Fortunately, I'm not a hypochondriac. I'm also not feeling too secure on our insurance situation either, so I'm trying not to see doctors for anything until I know we've got proper permanent coverage for a good long time again. This "Cobra" thing that keeps our insurance coverage going has me intimidated right now.

And, the last dermatologist I went to see - made me cry. The bastard. Needless to say, I'll be asking for another doctor the next time I make that attempt.

I'm feeling very anti-doctor today. I read some frightening things about vaccines during my lunch yesterday and today, and now I'm paranoid about my kid getting learning disorders or other problems as a result. He spiked a fever and had a hard red lump for a while with the last set, and the doctor on the phone (not my son's usual doctor) seemed to think it was all okay. It didn't feel right when he said it, but I took it on faith. After reading a couple of articles in my October issue of Mothering magazine, I'm concerned. I had Brian do some research for me yesterday, and now that I'm finished he'll be reading the articles too.

I believe in the body's ability to heal itself and care for itself on a certain level, but I also believe in some measure of preventative medicine as well. I'm not sure where to stand on this one. Then again, I find myself on the "line between" quite often, so it's still familiar ground.

Well, I appear to be having technical problems with my computer tonight, so I might have to spend some time routing out the crap that has accumulated lately. My mouse pointer is doing strange things - quivering and showing the "busy" icon sporadically for no apparent reason, and sometimes skipping it's merry way across the screen. I think it's time for a backup and overhaul again.

And, perhaps I'll vamp up the Quick Shtick Writing site while I'm at it. I've been meaning to separate the stories, for one. Then again, I might just move out of MT altogether and into another system.

Time will tell. For the moment, however, my tired brain is too fried to try and figure anything else out tonight. I ran Spybot Search & Destroy already, but it didn't seem to help the current situation. I think I've got crap running in the background that I need to kill.

Ah, well. Next week I'll give myself a little time before I plunge back into the wonderful world of "searching for temp jobs" again.

G'night!

Too Many Cooks in the Pot...?

Okay, I can no longer contain myself. Today's title comes direct from the mouth of someone I'm working with, as web pages seemingly disappear at random and folders rename themselves to prevent links from working...

My poor little brain is frequently fried by the end of the day.

But getting the "opportunity" to learn about certain medical topics is just a bonus as I help them get the new web site up and running. It is supposed to go live very soon.

I've seen a couple of the medical pictures one or two too many times, however. Pictures like the one behind the innocent little thumbnail I've made to hide unseemly pictures. I will warn you now - what will pop up if you choose to click it is both "nudity" and, well, rather "vile" if you ask me. At least it's a little copy of the picture so it won't smack you in the face, but it tends to leave a nasty impression...

The real question I have, as I know that these medical pictures I'm seeing are likely examples of "extreme" cases of the variety of problems that these doctors come into contact with, but how did someone wait that long before having someone do something for that???

*shudders*

Okay. Maybe now that I've shared I'll stop having this image occasionally haunt me from time to time...

Because, if it doesn't, I'm going to need an exorcist. Soon.

Oh, and I'll be working tomorrow again, so I'm off to bed early again!

Yay money!
Boo lack of free time!

G'night!

Another Day, Another 70¢ (after taxes and such)

So, each day at work this week, I ask the question of whether or not I will be needed on the following day. Last week I was told I'd be needed for Monday and "maybe Tuesday". As of this afternoon, I'll be working tomorrow as well. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll find out about Friday. Friday was originally the possible end date, according to the temp agency, so hey - it's all good if it goes that far. I doubt they'll ask me to go any of the following week though. Then again...

*shrugs*

So anyway, I've been busy. And totally forgot last night was a "Tuesday". In fact, my husband forgot as well, since Tuesday is not only "Chooseday", but also happens to be "Garbage Night" as well. Which means he was scurrying about getting the garbage together this morning before the garbage men came.

*sigh*

You'd think that having an actual "work week" would keep my poor little head on straight about what day of the week it is at least. I guess not. They all still seem to meld together in one long stream of events that require doses of "sleep" throughout them. The time I've been working so far has flown by far faster than I'd anticipated.

It's still no easier to get up at those ungodly hours of the morning though.

Nope. Not a bit.

What do I have to leave the "Job Fairy" under my pillow for him to bring my husband a job anyway?

*grin*

Or else he should bring me a job where I can call my own hours, get awesome pay and benefits, and play with designing people's web sites for a living or some other such entertaining stuff... Hell, the ideal is if I could do most of my work from home too...

Yeah. Like that's gonna just pop out from behind a corner any time soon.

*sigh*

Oh well.

G'night!

Jigsaws...

Some mention at another blog has recently made mention of jigsaw puzzles. Ironically enough, she mentioned that she didn't used to like jigsaw puzzles, but her life seems to resemble one on a variety of levels, in my humble opinion - a whole lot of uneven pieces are there to make up one beautiful picture in the end. Not all the pieces have been put into their proper places yet thought - she's still a work in progress. Then again, so are we all.

I, on the other hand, have always loved jigsaw puzzles with some relative passion. In fact, I've managed to find a way around most of the obstacles that had prevented me from doing them for many years. After moving out of my mother's house, it seemed that my tendency towards pack-rattage and more recently my cat have prevented otherwise perfect flat spaces in my house from becoming home to the scattered pieces while I put them together. But now, I have Puzzle Master (I actually own version #2, not #4), and I use images of my choosing as puzzles on my computer. I find it nearly as addictive as I did with the thick cardboard pieces in my hot little hands.

So, I gave it some thought today. Why is it I've always enjoyed them so much? I've come up with a few reasons...

1. I am organized when I do puzzles. Something I have a harder time doing in the rest of my personal life.
2. Puzzles have a definitive end point. Once that last piece is in, it is done and you can have that sense of accomplishment.
3. No one has ever criticized (to my face anyway) the manner in which I put jigsaw puzzles together. Nearly everything I ever did wasn't good enough for somebody or other in my life, but not this one silly little thing.
4. The images you are putting together on a jigsaw puzzle can be any range of things - I often picked things I wanted to do or see or enjoy in my real life, so it was a form of wish-fullfillment or fantasy generator for my mind.
5. There's that destructive factor in the end - "I built it, I'll damn well break it if I want to!" - and then it's there to do all over again (after you rotate through some others so you don't get bored with the same image over and over).

Not to forget - there's also that hand-eye coordination benefit, along with that memory boost (Now, where the hell did I put that piece with the red edge and the blue spot?). I'm thinking I'll have to make sure my large stack of cardboard jigsaws makes it out of storage and back into our house in time for Jareth to enjoy them. I seem to recall that that was one of the few "hobbies" that my mom and I managed to do without being competitive too, so I might even get to do some with him sometimes!

Well, at least I know now that not all my hobbies are likely to be a bad influence in some way on my kid.

*wry grin*

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going in to work again tomorrow for at least another half-day, maybe more. The end of this temp job is dangling out in front of my, but I can't decide if it's looming there or waiting there excitedly. It was supposed to end today, but I was asked if I was available tomorrow and I'm not stupid, so I said yes. Brian is still on the hunt, but none of the jobs have fallen prey to his wickedly excellent skills as of yet. In the meantime, I'll not be passing up another day's work to help keep things floating around here.

Thus, my beauty sleep is still going to be needed...

G'night!

My Guy...

Worked today. Work shall continue again tomorrow. We're basically counting down here until they don't need me anymore. Last week I was told they'd need me Monday and maybe Tuesday of this week, and today I was told 'yes' on whether or not they needed me tomorrow.

A tidbit from my drive to work...

Last week, I saw a police car turning around midair!!

Not really, but the way the road was shadowed, it looked that way, and I had to do a triple-take before I was able to assure myself that there was a hill underneath it. I was reminded of that today when I saw another car doing a similar thing while turning. I guess the lighting was the same on that stretch of road as it was when I saw the police car. It's very bizarre to see.

Instead of a gratuitous Jareth pic, I thought I'd share a gratuitous Brian pic tonight instead...

My man with his hat. What more can I say?

*swoons*

G'night!

Blog Like a Pirate, ye scurvy dog!

ARRR!!!

It be Talk Like a Pirate day!

Therefer, I may not be bloggin' much as we be brrringin' out the rum momentarrrily, along with the couple o' pirate flicks we got handy here.

So, I'll raise a pint er two fer y'all, but I don't reckon I'll be up fer much bloggin' later. I may just be flat on me arse.

Ahoy All!

Soooo Sleepy!

Blogging later than I planned to today, but my sister popped by and brought us dinner and a movie. It's apparently "cookie weekend" as she brought me some of them too. She had the advantage there though - she got them from my very favorite bakery, a place called "The Flour Barrel" in Glen Ellyn.

*munch, munch*

Although I think they've changed the formula, since they don't taste quite the same anymore. I think they're putting less butter in or something. hrmm.

She did mention they are under new management... I hope they didn't change all the recipes.

*sniffle*

So, more gratuitous Jareth pic for you tonight...

My sleepy guy! Awwww! This picture was taken just last weekend.

Enjoy!

G'night!

Wind Beneath My Wings...

Today was a nice day. I only know this because I was able to drive home with the windows open. I combed through my hairsprayed hair with my fingers at one of the stoplights so that the wind could toss it about as I sang loudly to Ralph Covert on one of his "songwriter series" volumes (which I can't link to specifically, as their website's frames setup is kinda messy over there at Waterdog Music. I could so do a better job....but I'm just sayin'... *throws hands up and feigns innocence*

Nonetheless, I sang along at the tippy-top of my lungs and enjoyed the fresh air and the day for my whole little bit of most of an hour, on the way home.

And, now I'm here. And I came home to another roll of developed pictures, and new stuff to read over at my husband's blog, and...

*sputter*

Did anyone else hear me mention that *I* wanted to put that picture of our son in *my* sidebar??? Hmmmm???

*narrows eyes at her beloved husband over the top of her monitor*

Oooohhh, you so owe me one...

Ooh! Look! Cookies! Hey, he bought me...

damnit.

*sighs*

Oh well, I guess I'll be picking another cute picture to put in the sidebar instead. I did get more wonderful ones in the roll I got back today, and they are even uploaded onto my hard drive, but I'm going to save them for days when I haven't any time to write. Heh. It's good to have backup blog fodder.

*grin*

Okay, it's the weekend now, so I'm gonna go play for a bit!

G'night!

Got Stick?

Enjoy!

G'night!

Playing hooky (I wish)...

The only thing hindering the lovely day I spent at home today with my darling little boy and my wonderful husband was...

pain.

*insert long stream of cursing here*

At 5:00 this morning, instead of an alarm clock, I woke to the excruciating pain that rips through my calves every so often. This time, it picked my right calf. Which means my driving leg. After about an hour and a half of "deliberation" where I massaged my calf, took my quinine pills (instead of drinking icky tonic water with it in it like I had to do the last time it happened - when I was pregnant) and eventually determined that the "twitching" my muscles keep doing wasn't stopping soon enough. I was not about to risk driving with my accelerator leg twitching and threatening sudden extreme pain.

I've been taking quinine all day, and I told the temp agency I'll be fine to work tomorrow. I'm not going to stay home another day, regardless, so please cross your fingers it feels better by then at least. My lower leg aches something miserable, and it's still twitching from time to time, although not as often as it was this morning. I've stayed off it, but tried to exercise it and gently stretch the muscles back out from when the clenched into agonizing knots. All I could do at the time was clutch my leg and swear a lot. I didn't see it coming in time to pull my toes back and stretch the muscles - a trick I learned during the pregnancy. I also learned it helps if I sleep with my toes hung over the edge of the bed, since it keeps my muscles taut more than curling my legs up. I wish I knew what causes it in the first place. I don't want to take a crutch with me to work tomorrow, but if it happens again like it did this morning I may have to. I'd also hate to ask Brian to drive me to work until it's better. As it is, I've asked him to take me to therapy tonight. Bah. I hate it disrupting everything like this.

At least the woman at the temp agency was understanding about it. I had one woman who got very upset with me (I think I had a broken bone in my foot at the time, but she wanted me to just get back on and walk it off or something), so I'm always leery of how I'll be received if I end up having to call in sick or something. I was very relieved when she seemed to understand, and I made sure she knew I planned to be back tomorrow regardless.

I won't have much time after therapy, so I thought I'd blog now instead. And, since I had a little time, I got those pictures uploaded. So, without further ado, I've added my favorite of the bunch to this entry on the left.

I'm thinking this image should be on my sidebar somewhere, smiling out at people when they visit my web site... maybe I'll set that up when I have some time. We'll see. *grin*

That's all for now.

G'night!

Baby Steps...

There's so many things I keep wanting to blog about...

• Work, and how some html tags are suddenly just feeling so much more natural
• Work, and how the office has no noise insulation, in fact I'm starting to think that the cubes amplify the sound instead
• Work, and how they might run out of things for me to do (oops, am I doing too good a job again? Damn.)
• Work, and how awkward I feel being "the temp" who doesn't get invited to any of the "ice cream meetings" and eats alone at lunch, and hears people in another department talk about their search for someone to fill a position that I think is the same one that Brian has actually interviewed there for...
• The drive home, and how it feels to get to sing in my car at the top of my lungs again (yeah, I've missed that)
• How I didn't miss driving in rush hour traffic
• How I'm allergic to my hairspray (although at work my supervisor said it could actually be something in the air there instead, since it happened to come up in conversation), so I'm sneezing all day
• The nasty, nasty things that wearing makeup for hours at a time daily is doing to my poor, poor complexion
• How much I really hate mornings
• How strange it is to be the one coming home after a long day at work, and how wonderful my little boy holding out his arms for me to scoop him up and hug him and hug him and kiss him until he squeals is
• and how I'm not getting enough sleep. Definitely not enough, as I spend the day yawning despite the fact that I've just about quadrupled my pre-work daily caffeine intake.

My kid walked!! And I got to see it!!!

Okay, so it was only about four or five steps before he bailed and crawled again, but I've never seen him put that second foot out without holding onto something for support before!

Wow!!

It was beautiful, and I cried. I got to see it.

Although, if I come home tomorrow to find him walking across the room to see me, I'm gonna be a little ticked off.

Unfortunately, he does have the tendancy to pick things up really quickly. Monday night was the first time I'd seen him use his activity walker thing the way they show it on the box - to walk around the room. I got all excited, and that seemed to encourage him. Then he got it stuck somewhere and didn't go back to it after it was free again. It's not entirely impossible he'll be walking by the weekend. Hrm...

Oh, and people, don't forget that the upcoming Sunday is "Talk Like A Pirate Day". We're hosting a couple of pirate movies at our place with the in-laws this year. At the very least, we'll be spouting some "arrrr"s and consuming some beer and rum while we watch them.

Also, today is Tuesday, which means, really quick (as in, I'm not bothering with the usual formatting that I do)...

Would you rather:
1. watch a known mob hitman kill your friend, turn them in, and have to go into the witness protection program OR keep your mouth shut?
turn the bastard in!!! Arrr!!
2. kick an old man in the groin OR burn an old lady's only wig?
Kick the man's nuts, what does he need 'em fer anyway? Arrrr!!!
3. eat grape-nuts cereal with live roaches in it OR ice cream with earthworms?
Them worms be goin' down slickery with ice cream, eh matey? Arrr!!
4. be united states ambassador to afghanistan OR iraq?
I always fancied me one of them warm afghans... arrrr? *shrug*

Ya. So, anyway...

Still pictures of the kid to come this week, hopefully!! But, for now...

G'night!

Blogging about... not blogging... again.

No blog tonight. Haven't uploaded pics onto my computer, so none of them either.

I think I need a category for non-blog entries, so I can figure out the ratio of real blog to non-blog later... hmm.

Nah. That would require time. And if I have time to do that, I'm more likely to spend it... well... blogging.

Or, living more of the life I so like to blog about.

But that life is just too too busy lately.

*grumble*

I envy those people who can get away with blogging from work.

*mean green envy*

It's not that I probably couldn't get away with it, it's that I'm just too darn full of that damned "work ethic" thing to do it. Besides, it would be just my luck that I'd be caught doing it and fired. And being the "temp" that gets fired for blogging at work would probably not look too sparkly on my record, so...

More blog another time, when I actually have time...

G'night!

Adventuring at Vasa Park...

We went and did a Scandinavian Days festival thing today, as part of this year's celebration of Brian's birthday. He was hoping to get a viking drinking horn (and his dad was hoping to get it for him as another birthday gift), but they didn't do the Viking theme this year. The last time we tried to attend, they had a more viking theme and some sports (log throwing???) but the weather got cold and rainy and we finally gave in and fled the park. We ended up back at our apartment, loaning out towels and clothing so that Brian's folks and sister could get warm and dry again. I think we ended up ordering pizza or something too.

But that was two or three years ago. This year, although sunny and warm (a tad too warm for me, as I forgot to change into shorts before we left the house and was in my jeans all day), there were no viking sports displays or drinking horns. The focus seemed to be quite different this year, and although we did see and hear some really interesting and beautiful things representing Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, it was still a little disappointing. I did find a really cool item for my uncle, which I'll tuck away for him as a Christmas gift, and I got some more adorable shots of my son playing in the grass and passed out asleep in his stroller, so the day wasn't a loss. I also have a couple rolls I got back recently that I will have to upload some new pics from soon, to share here, so expect gratuitous kid pics sometime this week. *grin*

I thought it was interesting to note, as we browsed the vendors, that my grandmother must have had some Swedish background. There were lots of little things that I saw in the "Swedish" styled items that I recognized as being very similar to things she had in some areas of her home. Although my mother was adopted, and I didn't get any "Sweden" in me from her side, I still thought that was an interesting bit of nostalgia to note today.

It was really nice to get out in the sun and fresh air for a while, although my body didn't seem to want to cooperate with my wishes to enjoy the little excursion. I've had trouble with my hip since I was pregnant, and it chose to act up today, along with one of my shoulderblades bothering me again. And the heat threatened to bowl me over. Thus, I got my fresh air, but I'm wiped for doing it.

Plain pooped out.
Seriously shattered.
Terribly tuckered.

So, that's all for tonight folks...

G'night!

Saturday

Took the day off.

New pics of the kid coming soon though!

*grin*

G'night!

RAWR!!! *sob* RAWR!!!

Three little words...

Pe

Em

Es

Look 'em up, they're all even really words.

And that, therefore, is the reason I feel I must not blog tonight. As think it will either be the most depressing blog ever, or the longest rant yet. I shall wait until saner hormones persevere. And also once I've had more sleep. Yeah. That'd be good too.

Zzzzzzzzzz...

G'night!

"Optimize"...

I had a blog written. Then my computer ate it. It didn't even have the common decency to *burp* or something afterwards. How unsatisfying.

But it went something like this...

I think I missed one of those little moments of opportunity today. It came upon me like a car comes upon a deer in the road. I looked up, caught frozen in the single headlight of opportunity. And then if flickered. And I dodged.

I was approached to see if I knew css. Which I do, although I don't know where my qualifications actually lie. I learned this stuff on my own, to set up the weblogs, and when I'm in the groove I feel like I do reasonably well at it. But it was mentioned that they wanted the stylesheet "optimized"...

huh? Whassat exactly?

Not entirely sure what they were going to want out of me, I choked. The headlight flickered, and I dodged. Opportunity thus passed me by.

Damnit!

Damn, damn, damn!!

I bet I would have done just fine. I really ought to have just a wee bit more confidence in myself. But how do I define my qualifications for something I learned from the hip as I needed to?

*sigh*

I looked at what I think is the stylesheet they were talking about. I have a feeling they just wanted it more organized and looking tidier within the text of it.

Sheesh. I could probably do that easy.

*grumbles and smacks self upside the head*

On an upbeat note, I got told that they're moving all the stuff we're working on to a different, faster server tonight! Hoo-rah!!! Especially considering that today's Quick Shtick Writing post by moi was brought to you over the course of the day during the lag time as I waited for the server to catch up to me. I figured I couldn't actually do the work any faster, but I could do Quick Shtick while I waited, instead of tapping my fingers incessantly while frustrated out of my skull. Besides, I had class tonight, so I wasn't going to get a chance to do it when I got home after work anyway. At least this way I was able to pull it out of a file I'd e-mailed myself, and drop it up once I was back from class.

You know, the blog that got eaten was both shorter, and less interesting...

Pah. That must be a sign I should stop typing now.

G'night!

Tuesday is Pffffffft...

Thoughts for the day:

1. You can't feel the wind in your hair when each strand seems glued together by hairspray and mousse. No matter how many windows you open in the car.

Bummer. Chalk that up to another bad aspect to being a working stiff. And to being female. Double whammy. Damn.

2. No matter how hard you squeeze your hands around the base of your monitor, you cannot throttle the slow server at the office. Kicking the CPU won't help either, so don't try it. Not that I did either, but believe me - I thought long and hard about it.

Crap. That one's just a bad aspect about being a working stiff at the particular job I'm on right now.

Oh well, at least the woman who's my direct supervisor (the one who gives me all the stuff to do each day) is pretty cool. I just wish I knew more about her, as there's a chance we'd get along really well outside of work too. Dunno. I don't seem equipped to ask people stuff about themselves without seeming pushy lately, so I generally just chatter on about whatever hoping to spark on a mutual topic of interest.

*sigh*

I think I've lost some of my social skills whilst home.

hrm.

And yeah, I forgot Tuesday is Chooseday this week. 'Cause Tuesday felt like Monday. I think that's a valid excuse. And though today feels sorta Tuesday-like, it was actually a Wednesday, and a therapy one at that. So pfffft. I'm going to bed instead.

G'night!

Death by Chocolate...

Today was just an odd day. A Monday on a Tuesday. That alone should tell you some of it...

Server hangups at work skewed the schedule, and it seemed everyone around me was chattering away about as many non-work-related things as possible. That's the problem about temping - you're not "one of the gang" - you're just some lackey who's been brought in for a period of time or a project, and everybody knows you'll be gone soon enough so people rarely bother getting to know you really well. That being said, I hear the occasional conversation that I'd love to join in on, but I don't belong...

I eat my lunch alone. In silence.

I sketched an unintentionally fat rendition of my coffee mug today, along with a reasonably decent rendering of a drawing pencil that turned out to be too crappy to use, but made for a drawable object instead. I can't work on the book at lunch anymore, as I need to be typing when I work on it now. So the book will go back on hold until I have time again. Instead, I'm working on my drawing during lunch. When I go to class this week, I won't have to look guilty when she asks if we practiced at all.

I did, actually, want to read the magazine I had with me while I was eating...

But someone decided to turn on the television. It was just loud enough to annoy the crap out of me. Just loud enough to continually distract me from the article. I read the same four lines more than ten times before I gave up entirely, having not comprehended a word they said.

So, instead, I watched some news.

Nope, nothing has changed. People are still dying. Over here, over there - it doesn't seem to matter when it comes to location. The news seemed primarily about death. Not a very cheery thing to overshadow one's sandwich with.

*sigh*

At least after work the day cheered up considerably...

Brian and Jareth met up with me at a Bennigan's restaraunt so we could do dinner out for his birthday. We had some yummy food and took turns feeding and otherwise distracting our adorable son. Brian and Jareth were both dressed up for the occasion - I must have been the envy of every woman there...

*grin*

And, if that wasn't good enough, birthdays are wonderful justifications for dessert!!! (although, despite the title of today's blog, we did not get the dessert entitled "Death by Chocolate", but had a "White Chocolate Chill-Out" instead)

*evil grin*

Now, home again, and pleasantly stuffed, we'll be logging in a little computer game time while our little guy amuses himself with a wide array of toys. Wind-down time...

G'night!

*runs off humming the tune to "Happy Birthday"...*

Happy Birthday to Youuuuuuuuuu...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!!!

*hugs*

*pulls curtain between them and the readers*

*grins around the curtain, winking*

*sounds of kissing and ...*

Play Dates...

There's just something about the men in my husband's family. I'm noticing as Brian gets more and more like his dad who is like, well, a kid at Christmas when it comes to gifts.

Thus, I caved, and gave Brian his birthday gifts a day early. Mostly because I had to agree that I was able to enjoy giving it to him more today than I would have while half asleep tomorrow morning, as I had initially intended. One of the packages contained these comics which he'd been wanting for a while, since he'd borrowed copies from a friend of ours to read some years ago. That same friend came by today and mentioned that I did good, as he's been trying to track them down again himself for some time too (possibly to give to Brian).

I also got him a copy of the children's book entitled Tails, which he had bought for our son's birthday but Jareth destroyed it just as he was getting old enough to be read to with it. Brian was pretty crushed that Jareth wouldn't get to snuggle up in his lap, so I promised I'd get him an intact copy that we'd keep aside for "reading time with daddy". It seemed like an opportune moment to pick it up - especially with Brian playing "Mr. Mom" while I'm doing temp work this month.

The other reason I caved is so that he can spend his actual birthday blowing off all the ordinary responsible job hunting and such for the day and read his comics and play with his son and relax instead. Because I know I'd sure as hell blow off most of the work-like responsible stuff on my birthday. heh. I think he had to go to work at the office for his last birthday, so this ought to be a treat for him. At least I hope so!

We did blow off a lot of stuff today though, as I knew we would, while we hung out with a friend and played. Jareth also seemed excited that we had another friendly face to both be entertained by and to entertain him.

I cooked too. Something that I haven't done all week while working. Mostly I didn't have time, as half the days we needed to eat quickly before something else took up the evenings. This week may not be much different, but I accidentally cooked for a relative army, so we may be eating the leftovers for a bit yet. But not tomorrow. Tomorrow night we're going out for dinner for Brian's birthday, so I suppose that will at least space the leftovers out a little.

The really good news, for any who were wondering, is that my back seems to be better. Not perfect, but better, and certainly no longer keeps me from picking up my son, so I scooped him into my arms on several occasions today as a result.

The bad news? It's a work night - which means it's bedtime for me. Like, now.

Which means I'll be going to bed in 10-15 minutes, after a little solitaire or such to wind my mind down to a dull roar again...

G'night!

Ho-hum...OW...grrrr...

Once again, I find it a Sunday night and I haven't a clue what to blog. It's not that I don't have the time (like most of the rest of this week has been) but instead, it's the strange feeling that seems to settle over me at the end of each week. I guess I find myself in a flux - wondering what the next week will bring, as I review what I have planned, while also mulling over the happenings of the previous week. Some people consider Monday the beginning of the new week, while others see Sunday as the first day. I think I've always seen it as the last day of the week, as it's the final day of the weekend before a new week of magic and mayhem begins...

Then again, growing up Sunday was garbage day and laundry day. Usually that meant housecleaning, vaccuming, and lawn mowing (if required) as well.

I'm not so sure I was very fond of Sunday's growing up.

It may not be garbage day, but there is laundry tumbling away in the dryer right now, although my husband has pretty much taken over handling it once I had it sorted. I hurt my back yesterday, somehow, and I spent the first half of today sitting with a heating pad pinned to my computer chair to keep it in place against my back and aspirin coursing through my system. I think I pulled something and the way I tend to sleep may be aggrevating it, as it was much worse this morning. I'll be taking more aspirin shortly, before I head off to bed. A friend of ours is a chiropractor, and he happens to be coming to visit tomorrow, so if it's still bad in the morning I may ask him to check it out. I dunno though, I'm still not so sure how I feel about being "adjusted". *grin*

Anyway, I need sleep. Keep your fingers crossed that my back stops wussing out on me, eh? It's hard to scoop up my kid off the floor when there's shooting pains running through one's shoulderblades. Owwwww...

G'night!

Careful bad drivers... I'm taking down your numbers...

Okay, so I mentioned that I was thinking about a new blog to put up, but I did some research first and found that what I was thinking of putting up is already located online. Someone else found it first, so I've just signed in there instead. Basically I wanted a forum where I could put up reports on bad drivers. Thus, I've kindly dropped their license plates at roadragers.com instead. I've realized I'm even more vocal about people driving responsibly now that I'm a mommy, even when Jareth's not in the car - I don't need some speeding asshole keeping me from giving my kid as much mommy as he wants. Rawr!!

I had a pen and paper that I wrote the ones I've put up there with, but it's a royal pain to try and write info down at stoplights - Murphy's Law seems to work in that I don't end up with enough time to write it in! So, instead, I've got a little hand recorder for the moment, although I may put a little digital one on my wish list come Christmastime, depending on how much I use the tape one that I've got. It will be much safer to hit "record" and say their license number and stuff real quick instead of trying to scribble it down and try and read my crappy handwriting later. *grin*

So far, on the list of things to get done, I've wrapped Brian's birthday presents and... um... done some of that "resting" stuff. I didn't even get to the stain. *sigh*

On the other hand, I did get tons of really cute pictures while my kid was outside playing today, crawling all over the lawn and driveway (and getting very red and dirty knees in the process I might add) while Brian chased around after him to keep him from exploring in places he shouldn't.

One thing I noticed, while sitting in the grass, is that our yard is lumpy!

How does one fix a lumpy yard anyway?

And how the heck did it get lumpy in the first place?

How odd...

Anyway. More tomorrow.

G'night!

Did I mention needing some rest?

Oooh Oooh!!! Weekend!!

*rubs hands gleefully*

I've got so much stuff I want to do!

I just know, however, that I won't have time to get it all done...

Damnit!

• I need rest.
• I need to wrap presents (my husband's Birthday is on Tuesday - feel free to buy him stuff! *grin*)
• I really should finish the stain on my son's bedroom floor, now that I've bought the darker stain that will hopefully look right.
• I need to finish writing up a character sheet for the game we play, as one of our friends is coming over on Monday and we might start that particular campaign then.
• I want to make a change to the banner at the top of this blog
• I wouldn't mind scanning my "goblet" so I can point out my good work and my crappy bits
• And, I have a new idea for another web site/blog-thing I want to set up... although that one will not be linked here, as I'll have to keep it anonymous or I'll likely get myself in some measure of trouble. Heh. But it could prove very fun. I gotta make sure nobody else is doing it already though, before I put it up myself.
• Did I mention rest? Yeah. That involves:
  1. playing with my kid
  2. snuggle time with my husband
  3. and sleep

*wipes brow*

I'm worn out just from typing it all up.

I think I'll just go start on that "rest" part first.

*winning smile*

G'night!

101 ways reasons to smack Bill Gates...

I feel a blog coming on...

101 reasons I'd like to smack Bill Gates.

Ya.

The program I'm working with at my job is Microsoft conceived, and then "modified" for this company's use.

The poor souls in programming have already started to hack it to make it useable by us poor folk who have the job of transferring a whole lot of old web site content into the new system.

Every image file, for example, has to be uploaded one at a time. The same with all the .pdf files too...

This company uses a lot of images and .pdf files in their site.

You'd think it would be easy to just ftp a bunch into a folder or something, but this isn't Front Page. I saw Front Page. That's what they're moving out of. I like it much better than this new system, but there's reasons it will make it easier for the people in individual departments who don't need access to page design and stuff I guess.

In the meantime, it seems like it's a relative nightmare for everyone transferring the site over.

It's not actually a nightmare for me though. Oddly enough, I'm finding it kind of fun. It's still more engaging than "here, type this memo and fax it to our corporate headquarters". And far more engaging than copy. swap. copy. swap. copy. swap. coallate. repeat.

But I'm still tired. Pooped. Short on time.

Tonight was drawing class too. I drew a goblet (read wine glass with water and a spoon in it). The base still doesn't feel right, but the rest doesn't look half bad. If I ever have time again, maybe I'll scan it. More likely I'll do something better before I actually find that kind of time...heh.

Anyway. More tomorrow maybe.

G'night!

To Blog, or Not To Blog...

Sometimes I come across things I can't or won't blog about.

Tonight, at therapy, was such a topic.

Thus, I am mulling over stuff I can't put here. And, I do some of my best thinking while I'm writing stuff out too.

Bugger.

That leaves two topics now that I haven't put up on my blog now. Mostly because there are people who could possibly read it that I wouldn't want reading those particular blog posts...

bleh.

Nevermind. I'm tuckered out anyway.

Time for some wind-down and then off to bed. Expect to see longer posts on the weekends while I'm working, as I'm not brave enough to blog from work, despite the fact that I probably could. I'm just not the type to take that kind of risk, and after all - I'm just the temp. Firing me would be too easy.

So blogging remains an at-home thing, although I'm checking up on Quick Shtick Writing during my lunch to see if Brian has dropped his post on yet. That way I can post mine easier when I get home, having had some time prior to that point to mull over what I plan to write.

But tomorrow night I have class. Which, though fun, means I'll have even less time to do blogging.

Oy.

Busy, busy, busy.

G'night!