Lazy Rainy Day...

It was a lazy rainy day today. Not that I didn't get anything accomplished, mind you, just that I was generally highly unmotivated for most of the day to do anything productive. I spent part of it having my friend, RainMoon over for some laughs, lunch, and general chit-chat. Most of the rest of it I spent either sitting in front of my computer with my son sprawled out on my lap, being a total snuggle-bunny on me (although he'd probably prefer the term snuggle-bear I think), or tinkering with images to help the people Brian works with figure out what color they want to repaint the front of their building. Ironically enough, it looks like a color I threw in for kicks because they have shirts that color is going to win the vote. I e-mailed the pics over before the workday there was done and I guess the boss got an eyefull of them. It probably helps that it was also one of the ones where they wouldn't have to change the color of the signage too - just the paint on the building itself. We'll see how it all turns out.

It rained and rained for a good long while today. It felt like the kind of cleansing rain I like to see. I didn't go out in it today, despite Jareth's desire to do so. I just felt all warm and snuggly inside and decided that today I just wanted to watch it passively instead of actively bopping outside to get soaked and stomp in the puddles. Jareth settled for being glued to the front door for a while, where he could look out the windows pretty clearly and see the rain coming down. It seemed to lull him to sleep some later on, as he nearly took a nap in my arms. I caught it in time and despite my heart protesting that it would be nice to have him sack out in my lap, I knew I had stuff to get done and tucked him up in bed, snuggled up with his teddy bear. Brian got him this bear recently, from a promotion they had done at work, and it's soft and cute and Jareth will rarely part from it. I can usually get him to leave it home when we go places, but not always, and it's pretty much always in whatever room he's in while he's in the house. It doesn't have a name really - just "teddy bear".

There's this song, from Ralph's World called Freddy Bear The Teddy Bear. The song is catchy and Jareth seems to like it too. The teddy bear he got recently has been inspring us to sing some of the lyrics to him spontaneously. Specifically the following two lines from the song...

There was a Teddy Bear named Freddy Bear
Who lives on top of a mountain made of chocolate cake

Well Jareth sings along now. Except his version is bear-specific...

Teddy Bear named Teddy Bear named Teddy Bear named Teddy Bear ... chocolate cake

Well, at least he's singing. I love it when he sings! Some days I am just so moved by how lucky I am to have that little boy of mine. He is SO WONDERFUL!!! "Terrible Twos" my ass! I don't want to miss a single moment of this...

G'night!

Current Mood: jubilant

Better now. Thanks.

Seems that Sunday was a bit much for me. I ended up asking Brian to stay home on Monday as I wasn't sure I was actually capable of lifting Jareth up to the changing table or the high chair. I had also had one of the crappiest nights of sleep since I couldn't seem to pretend I wasn't in pain long enough for my brain to switch to unconscious mode. It's not my lower back specifically, for those who might suggest I was lifting things incorrectly. It's my hips. They are all screwed up right now in "pregnant mode" and causing all manner of painful strangeness when I least expect it. I could probably have dealt a little better if it had just been my lower back. The Tylenol helped, but not quite enough. I was only finally starting to fall asleep properly (if sleeping for a couple hours a stretch is considered "proper" for me these days that is) when he was getting ready to go to work. At that point I decided I was going to need help. I was having trouble just getting out of the bed to use the bathroom, so lifting Jareth was going to be next to impossible. He can walk and do stairs on his own just fine, but mommy still needs to lift him up for some stuff.

So some rest, a little bit of further organizing of the lighter stuff that belongs on my desk and shelves (my dozen or so candle holders and dragon knick-knacks don't weigh much if you lift them one at a time out of the box *grin*) and a nap later in the afternoon helped me recover a bunch. Today I was in reasonable enough shape to handle things again and I launched back into the routine of diaper changes, mealtimes, dishes, and other assorted chores. I also spoke to a woman that my father-in-law knows, who is going to help me get my medical records sorted out in exchange for some web design work. Even if I can't see the doctor I wanted to for this pregnancy, I don't want his faulty records following me around and preventing me from getting further insurance. This woman knows about such things and can help me get it all put right again. And she's willing to do a barter with me for a web site, which is exactly the kind of price I can afford to pay right now. I may be focusing on the jewelry thing, but I'm certainly still moonlighting in the web biz so long as I can use it to make money or as a bartering chip for something I need. One does not burn bridges when one so recently had to bail their groceries out of the store freezer. Money is tighter than I like to see it right now. Especially with me wanting to invest in some equipment for a home jewelry lab.

Tonight I also had another jewelry class. I think I'm starting to get a handle on working with the torch again. I love fire, but I also tend to be very cautious with it. I figure you've got to respect something that can so quickly destroy an entire house. I've known two families who've lost at least part or all of their homes to fire. So I may have TONS of candles about, but I'm extremely careful about leaving them unattended and where I position them when they are lit. I'm taking a similar approach to the torch with jewelry, although I needed to get past my initial timidness and get into it more. I soldered the two pieces I'm making for a pair of earrings this evening, and the second one I did entirely on my own, without asking for any assistance. I didn't actually ask for assistance the first time tonight either, but the teacher was right there and she is especially concerned about students using the torches. I may have issues with how she's teaching the class, but she is attempting to do the whole "safety first" thing at least. She watched over me (which makes me twice as nervous, mind you) and assisted some with the first one, but I handled the second earring's solder on my own and I think I did just fine. Yay me!

Oooh... I almost forgot! I have a picture from our rearranging project to post...

I've captioned this one "Whew! We found him!" Jareth has decided that that is HIS box and he is currently "storing" his two balloons in it. We still have an interesting obstacle course in the middle of the room of boxes we are in the process of emptying, so many of his usual toys that we keep down here are still upstairs instead. He's a pretty clever boy though and is making do with just a few toys quite well. I did have a hard time keeping him from checking out all the interesting things from my desk that were in those boxes until I got most of them sorted out. Now it's just boring papers. He could care less about those. The only problem is that he does like to put things IN boxes too, and we have to make sure he doesn't put toys into boxes we're taking out to the garage or throwing away.

And yes, I know, the carpet does need vacuuming. Just as soon as I get a few more boxes out of the way. The cats have been losing extra hair over the world shifting in this room.

Well, that's all for now.

G'night!

Current Mood: amused

The Great UnPlugging, and Other Rearranging Adventures...

Well, we did it. We successfully moved all but two items of furniture in this room. Admittedly, a couple of items ended up precisely where they had been before they'd been moved, but there was still effort involved so they count too. Two items actually stayed put and never required moving. We also shlepped a ton of stuff off shelves and into boxes which went first upstairs and then back down again once the furniture was in place. Brian did most of the shlepping of said boxes, for which I am extremely grateful. My own body managed to wait until after the furniture had been moved at least before starting to give out on me. I had similar problems with my legs and hips as I had back when we went to the Ren Faire a few weeks ago. It started at about the point I went to start putting computer stuff back together, which made some of the wiring tough, but everything is in working order again now.

For the first time ever while moving my computer around I managed to have the computer itself working completely when I booted it back up afterwards. The only issues we seem to have run into were in setting up the USB hub with the printers, which I had already been having trouble with in the past. In fact, a little work has the printers working better than before - at least my computer sees all of them now - which is a start. I just have to figure out why two of them aren't printing. I'm pretty sure that one of them is having a cartridge problem, but the other one needs troubleshooting. I'll look at it when I have time. It's not a big deal at the moment, actually.

I have some stuff unpacked again and set up, although I still have a slew of boxes sitting on the floor behind me, waiting to be emptied back out and sorted through. I did set up an entire area of shelves just for jewelry stuff though, and now have part of my desk set aside with a clear area that I can work at. I just have to keep myself from piling stuff there is all, which means I've got to make sure I leave myself a proper spot to put my "inbox" where I DO pile stuff.

I suddenly don't have desk drawers though, as I've swapped desks with Brian. His desk (now mine) didn't have any drawers at all, while mine was a standard office desk with drawers on both sides and a slim one under the center. I had lots of stuff crammed into those drawers. Most of it I haven't needed in ages though, or should really be in a communal "office supply" spot as it is. I've set up a communal spot for that and I plan to get rid of stuff I have no real use for. I hope. I'm not so good at purging.

Jareth seems to like the new setup. His computer moved too, and now he sits at a spot darn near in the center of the room between us when he's at it. The new layout now means that he really can't hide from me behind my desk anymore. I wanted it so that I could just turn and see him in the room - something that had been bothering me about the previous layout. He can get quiet on me sometimes and if he does that AND I can't see him, I have had to get up and look to make sure he was okay and not getting into mischief. There's more floor space for him now, and less places for him to hide from me. I think it sounds like a good tradeoff. *grin*

I suspect I'll hit the sack early tonight. I'm pretty well wiped from all this and I've still got more to work on tomorrow yet, emptying all those boxes. But we made HUGE progress, which is cool, and I didn't really have to do much heavy-lifting at all, as Brian was wonderful and handled as much as he could alone. He's gotten some "brownie points" out of this today.

Okay, my brain is slowly admitting to being fried as well, so I'd better stop typing already.

G'night!

Current Mood: tired

Rainy Day People...

Rainy Day People was always one of my favorite songs by Gordon Lightfoot. Although Don Quixote was my very favorite. Mostly I just liked the music on Gord's Gold. I have it on album and cassette (somewhere) and finally got it on CD not long ago.

Not that this post is about music or Gordon Lightfoot. No, that was just one of the usual sidetracks I tend to make. Today is about rain. Or, rather, how that rain is totally screwing up our plans for yardwork tomorrow. Because it rained today and the percentage chance of rain tomorrow when I last checked was greater than the chance of rain today. And, if my theories are correct, chainsaws and rain don't generally go together unless they absolutely have to. Regardless, I am not going to be kneeling in the mud pulling weeds all day if I'm being rained upon. There's a HUGE difference between running outside to play in the rain and actually trying to do productive work in the rain.

So, instead, we will be rearranging the family room. Where the computers are. And a whole lot of heavy furniture. Ooof. At some point (long after our Quick Shtick Writing posts have been posted) there will be THE GREAT UNPLUGGING. When computer equipment gets *gasp* turned OFF and removed from both the desks they reside upon and the receptacles they are plugged into. THE GREAT UNPLUGGING is always a very scarey thing, and is NOT done often. The last time we tried it, it took me several frustrating hours to figure out that something hadn't been plugged back in correctly.

And all the RE-PLUGGING will occur AFTER the heavy furniture has been moved. Although - I recently saw the handy-dandy disky thingies I had that you stick under the legs of your heavy-ass desk so you can scoot it across the floor instead of giving yourself a hernia trying to lift it. I just have to remember which "easy to remember next time" spot I stuck them in when I found them last. Oy.

So, that's our Rainy Day Project. Some stuff will get moved entirely out to the garage, never to return. Some stuff will go bye-bye via a recycle bin or garbage can. Some stuff will merely shift from one pile to a fresh new pile awaiting my attention. Hopefully, by the end, we will have made room for a small workshop area for me to work on jewelry, as well as opened up the room more so I am better able to keep an eye on my son's antics while I work.

If nothing else, I always like rearranging rooms. Not the actual work of doing it - but the result. It frequently feels like a different room and a fresh space. Something about it is always at least temporarily rejuvinating for the area that has been changed. So that's the part I'm looking forward to.

Wish us luck. We're gonna need it. Did I mention the furniture in here is HEAVY? Yeah. Ooof.

G'night!

Current Mood:(temporarily) energetic

QSW and Working In The Garden...

We had a near-miss today on Quick Shtick Writing, when Brian accidentally managed to put today's post in where yesterday's post had been, thus unintentionally deleting yesterday's post! I adjusted the date so that today's post showed up in it's proper spot, but was unable to rescue yesterday's post myself. Fortunately, Brian remembered that Google caches stuff and offers you a link to it. It still showed the post from yesterday so he was able to steal the text back off of that and re-insert it into the proper place in the story. Which was good, or I was going to make him figure out how to write it all over again, since we can't just have a chunk of text missing in the first chapter of the story!

We also spent a chunk of time getting excited over what we want to do with this next story and have some stuff figured out about the other characters in it. For those readers who might be frail of heart - NO, Kayla is NOT DEAD! I did not kill her off today, merely ended the chapter by launching her poor, tired self into unconsciousness. We will see her again, but it is time to meet one of the next characters in the little ensemble cast we're concocting. This story is already starting to write itself, just from some of the first chapter.

I'm also finding it interesting that we've already seen signs of "religion" in this story, and will be seeing quite a bit more. In the past, I've tended to leave religion out of stories, not wanting to delve into that potentially dangerous terrain. In a fantasy setting, however, we can make up this shit as we go - god and goddesses can be as evil or good as we like, have whatever name we pluck out of the air, and be as "involved" with their worshippers as they choose to be. You think it's good to be the king? Bah! Try playing GOD sometime. Mwahahaha! I LOVE writing fiction...

In other news, I got to hang out with RainMoon and her daughter for a little while today. We've both been kinda busy so we haven't had as much time to chat, so it was great to just relax on the patio outside and catch up while the kids played. After she had to go, I got some weeds out of the back yard while Jareth kept playing until naptime. We were both so involved in what we were doing that neither Jareth, nor I remembered to have lunch! I don't feel too bad though, as I picked a bunch of cherry tomatoes while I was out there too, and he ate MOST of them after I'd rinsed them off. He LOVES my little tomato garden and gets downright unreasonable when there aren't tomatoes available to snack on! I guess next year I'll have to plant even more so we have extra yeild. That way *I* can have some every now and again too! Sheesh! Man, though - I totally would rather he want cherry tomatoes as a snack than crackers or something. Soooo much healthier for him. Yay!

But I got a small start on some yardwork finally. We'll start doing the bigger stuff on Sunday. My main thing to tackle on sunday will be the front and side beds, which are connected in an "L" shape with an evergreen tree in the corner. That tree has to go. I want to move the roses there, with some trellis stuff I've got that will hopefully not look too hokey until I find something better that isn't too expensive. The side bed will become more vegetable garden room, since we've been getting a kick out of having the fresh tomatoes, and the front bed will eventually be hosta and flowers once I get done with it. I'll do the planting in the spring. But, for now, I need to clean all the weeds and crap out of it and prep it. If we can get the corner stump out too, we'll move the roses now as well. We'll see. I just want them prickly suckers all in one spot already, instead of getting in the way of the rest of the garden. They're pretty though, so I don't want them gone altogether - just moved somewhere I can deal with them better.

Okay, that's enough rambling for tonight...

G'night!

Current Mood: contemplative

Red-headed vixen again...

After yesterday I kind of needed an "up" today. After my recent haircut I noticed that I've started to have a few gray hairs around the edges. Not wanting to actually start showing any gray until after my "childbearing years," I picked up a package of hair dye and stashed it in the linen closet until I could find time to actually use it. I have a tendency to go a bit on the red side when I dye my hair. Makes me feel a smidge more daring. I've always wanted to have naturally curly red hair and freckles. You know - that stereotypical Irish girl look? That one. I'll never actually get to achieve that look (no freckles - I live vicariously through my husband on that one) but I can at least go a bit red from time to time.

So today, I am a redhead again. It's a shade different than what I had been hoping for this time around, but I still like it anyway. I think most of the difference comes from the shorter hair, as I've usually dyed it when it was long before. I was surprised when a couple people even noticed it in class tonight.

Today is also the fall equinox. The beginning of fall, the changing of colors as summer gives way in preparation for winter. The world outside is now beginning to prepare itself for the long winter months ahead. This weekend, we'll hopefully help it along (barring rain, which it's been doing this week) by getting out in the yard and cleaning up some of the beds and such. We've got a couple of trees that need to go, one before it starts taking chunks out of the house, and another before it gets tall enough to try it's hand at the same feat. Come spring, I'm hoping we'll be planting new stuff in our beds and putting hedges and bushes where the trees will have been. After the stumps come out, that is. Brian has informed me that it will be easier to remove them in the spring, so that's the plan. But the trees themselves should really come out before winter. The one, at least, is pushing the gutter in where it rests against the roof.

Of course there's chainsaw work involved, and we'll have to borrow one first, and then I'll hide where I can't watch Brian use it and pray I don't hear any sudden loud screaming. I'm not sure he's used a chainsaw before. I know I haven't, and I sure as heck don't want to. I may looooove power tools and all, but I just kind of have a thing against chainsaws. And NO, it doesn't have anything to do with horror movies. I pointedly didn't watch THOSE. *shudder*

Anyway, this little redhead needs to get to bed early tonight. I managed to get a somewhat decent night's sleep last night for once and I want to go whole hog here and try for a second one. I know, I know - it's asking a LOT to get two nights of sleep in a row, but if I actually CAN? Oh my gosh! I bet I'd be able to get TONS of stuff done tomorrow with all that extra energy!

Maybe. It's worth hoping anyway. And certainly worth trying.

G'night!

Current Mood: hopeful

Second-Class Citizen

Oh crap. I just realized I referenced a post I posted earlier today, but somehow it didn't actually make it up on the blog. I was having internet troubles earlier and had to reboot. Somehow in the process it got lost entirely. Here's a recap...

I went to the OB-GYN today, all prepped to see about getting some issues with my records fixed, finding out what to do about my allergies and inability to get a decent night's sleep. I had my paperwork filled out (they need some fresh stuff for each new pregnancy) and then they told me that they don't take Public Aid. Since we don't have proper insurance yet, I'm having to go through the KidCare program the government has set up. Brian had made some inquiries which yielded, in part, a list of doctors that would see me. Mine was on there.

But, they tell me today, they do NOT handle people with the KidCare program. When I tried to explain that it was THEIR RECORDS which screwed me out of getting private insurance in the first place, they said I needed to speak with the office manager.

Would that be the same office manager, perchance, who told me I'd need to talk to the doctor about it in the first place? The same woman who, a few months back, told me I'd need to make an appointment (which I couldn't and still can't afford) to see the doctor in order to get my records (which THEY SCREWED UP IN THE FIRST PLACE) "amended."

If so, I don't think I want to be dealing with that bitch. That would be the same one who didn't tell me that with the request forms for me to get a copy of my records would come a slip that said "make checks payable to" on it and an obscene amount of money for their "administrative fees / copying fees." No. Fucking. Way.

In the end, they sent me away in tears with a sticky note that has two doctors' phone numbers on it who DO take public aid.

Mind you, I'd finally thought I'd found an OB-GYN I LIKED. This is the one who's RN saw my through my last pregnancy and delivered my son. I even let the doctor himself CIRCUMSIZE my kid, for crying out loud! I don't like playing russian roulette trying to find an office where I can tolerate STRANGE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SHOVE PLASTIC "INSTRUMENTS" AND COTTON SWABS INTO ME ON A REGULAR BASIS! I mean COME ON! If I'm not "comfortable" telling the doctor simple medical background info, I'm MOST CERTAINLY not going to let him shove ANYTHING up inside me! Take your latex gloves and get back in your office you inconsiderate perv... *grrrrrrr*

There's a fucking REASON why insurance companies now have to allow women to have a different gynecologist than their regular doctor if they want. It's one thing to sit while a doctor's got a stethascope on your back, a light in your eye, or an overgrown popsicle stick in your mouth. But once they start sticking the PLASTIC JAWS OF LIFE up inside my private places... Yeah. I've yet to have a general practitioner who was adept enough to not make me EXTREMELY, UNHAPPILY UNCOMFORTABLE while doing that. They just don't GET IT when you ask 'em to use "the small one please."

Oh... and the topping on the cake? When I asked how much it cost for an appointment to see the doctor anyway (hoping to at least get the records sorted out finally if nothing else) I got told that they CAN'T see me anymore. Because I'm on Public Aid they can't legally take my money, which means they won't even make an appointment for me now.

And then I got "the look." If you are lucky, you have no idea what I'm talking about. It's that look that says "get the hell out of my office now you second-class citizen who can't afford proper insurance." They gave all this news to me with deadpanned expressions after pulling me out of the waiting room as if they expected me to make a huge scene. I didn't start making a "scene" until they started treating me like they didn't give a damn whatsoever if I had to give birth in an alley dumpster. These same people who laughed and joked with me while I made my copays and set up my appointments during the last pregnancy just stood there with a look that said "you don't belong here now, so go find a doctor who still bothers with trash like you."

I HATE that look. I LOATHE it. It's not MY FAULT my husband was laid off from the job that has insurance. Hell, it wasn't even HIS fault! It HAPPENS. A LOT in today's job market, actually. But I guess ACTUAL COMPASSION is no longer a requirement for people working in a doctor's office these days. In fact, it's starting to seem the opposite is true instead.

Hmmm. This post actually managed to get a tad MORE bitter than the last time I wrote it, just after coming home from the Dr.'s office and calling Brian. So much for hoping that time would have calmed me down a little over the rest of the day. Then again, the incident at the grocery store didn't exactly help.

Well, G'night again.

Current Mood: sad

Adding Insult to Injury...

In case today wasn't already going bad enough, I stood in the grocery store today with a very full bag of groceries (them cupboards were startin' ta look bare I tell ya!) only to have my debit card be declined.

Now, keep in mind I'd just deposited more than two weeks of Brian's paychecks (I say "more than" because it was two weeks plus commissions) into the bank just this morning. I knew it was getting low in there, but the deposit slip I got back at the bank led me to believe that some of the funds I had deposited were going to be available right then and there. Had I known that, I would have asked for cash back from the deposit. I bet they would have done that, but the didn't honor the amount they told me was "available" when I used the credit card. That amount read PLENTY more than the amount for the groceries I was buying!

Not a problem right? I've got a credit card too, so I excused myself to the car after they'd hauled my cart over to the customer service area so that I wouldn't hold up the line. I ran out to the car with Jareth in tow and got the rest of my wallet as I lately tend to just bring what I absolutely need in when going to the store so that I a) don't have to haul it around on my shoulder or b) don't have Jareth rummaging through it.

Um... found out that this particular grocery store does NOT take credit cards.

Crap. Problem.

BUT! They have an ATM, and I have a savings account that is supposed to be attached to the debit card! The first inquiry I did on that ATM was of the checking account which decided somehow I only had $40 available to me, regardless of the amount I'd put in there earlier in the day NOR the amount that it told me JUST LAST SUNDAY that was considerably more than that when I went to the ATM at the bank. That same ATM refused, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, to allow me access to my savings account at all.

Crap. This day just gets worse and worse.

I do have to give the store people credit. Unlike the people at the OB-GYN's office, THEY didn't treat me like I was some vagrant trying to steal their groceries or something. They put my whole cart into some freezer somewhere until I could go get a checkbook from home that would work to pay for the groceries. I'll have to transfer some money around (once the bank allows me to HAVE my money, that is) but at least I did FINALLY get to come home with my groceries.

However, more tears were shed during that trip home and back to the store with the checkbook. This "transition period" we're in with Brian's new job is wreaking havoc on us financially right now. The checks apparently take a while to clear too, something I hadn't been aware of until last night. I was accustomed to direct deposit before. The check STUBS came in the mail, but the check *POOF* was magically deposited and the money was there almost instantaneously the day he got paid. Hell, the money was in there BEFORE we ever got the check stubs in the mail! Now, suddenly, I'm running to the bank once a week and running out of deposit slips to use.

And, car insurance hit this month. Which means any "extra" we might have had from that lovely commission Brian just got? Sucked away for more ass-coverage while driving.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

This is NOT the best day ever. AT. ALL.

*blows nose for the umpteenth time today*

I'll stop now.

G'night.

Current Mood:still sad

Buh-bye spam trackbacks!

Tuesday is Chooseday is scarey tonight. I'm not doin' it. He's gone and turned it over to his readers this week. The last question on there when I went was one I didn't want to answer - too icky! The readers are starting to go for the "shock value" effect. *shudder*

Today, Brian finally showed me how it is that he deletes comment spam and trackback spam from in the actual database that the blogs are organized within. We have a utility program on our server that lets us access the database and make adjustments as necessary, and it's a whole hell of a lot easier to delete bulk spam in there than it would be to sit and delete them one by one in our old versions of MT, since we're too broke to spring for the newer version and the free copy of the new version doesn't allow for more than one author on it. We recently got hit with over 200 trackbacks on one of the older Quick Shtick Writing stories and I haven't been able to delete them without some reference from the specific post to do a search by first. Now I can just pop them out in bulk on the database. I also had two trackback pings on this blog as well that I hadn't been able to delete yet and I dealt with them today too. All clean. I've also done the routine renaming of files. This would be a whole lot less annoying if we could have the newer MT though. I seem to recall that it comes with a built-in blacklist and I am certain it had a way to just flag a bunch of comments and such for quick deletion right there in the program. No messing around with the database at all. I always get nervous when I either mess with the database or try to start fiddling about with the program code within MT itself. Icky. Scarey. Bad. I really don't want to muck the whole thing up completely. At least I know how to safely strip out bad comments and trackback links though. No more extra Google hits for THEM! Nyah!

*spends a moment attempting to look smug*

Anyway, that's about it. Tonight's class and the last one went well enough, but then again I didn't need to ask the teacher any actual questions, which could be a big reason why. I've started on the second project and I've made myself a pretty complicated order to fill in the process. I'm attempting to file itty-bitty pieces of copper and silver into the proper shapes to fit together and form two earrings. It's tedious, but not so frustrating as I knew what I was getting into for this part of it. I think it will all be much easier once I get it soldered together. In the meantime, it's tricky as hell.

I'm also working on sorting out some stuff at home that I just don't need around my desk anymore. Brian and I are going to switch desks probably and rearrange the room to hopefully leave me an area where I can set up some workshop space for the jewelry. I was going to do it in the garage, but then I'd freeze in the winter and broil in the summer and thus, never get anything done! I'm going to make sure the workshop gets set up by the window though - as I may need to set up some ducting to vent stuff out. I'd love a proper jeweler's bench to set up on, but they are costly in and of themselves and any money I spend needs to be on equipment and supplies right now. As it is, we will probably be buying equipment piecemeal, based on budget. Without having even finished the first jewelry class, I highly doubt that any bank would front me the money to get set up right just now. Thus, I'll have to scrape along for now. I'm still figuring out how the room should best be rearranged to incorporate computers, a jewelry work area, and still have room for the home gym, the iguana cage, and a play area. Right now, we have all that except the jewelry area, but it's cramped the way it's set up. It requires further contemplation, and then muscle to move all this crap around. Ugh.

G'night!

Current Mood: contemplative

Need Sleeeeeeeeep...

I was too tired out to blog last night again. I had gone out to Heritage Fest again and this time saw some of it with Brian decked out in his Civil War duds. I did get some pictures, but haven't gotten around to resizing any for the web yet, and am throwing around the idea of just doing a mini-collage from the weekend instead. We'll see.

We didn't end up doing yard work when we got home, but started off by taking a short nap. Especially short for me, since I didn't actually fall asleep until the point the alarm decided to go off. I was just drifting off and then BEEP BEEP BEEP! Somehow Brian can just fall asleep and take an hour-long nap. I spend that much time just trying to fall asleep in the first place it seems. And that's when the going is GOOD. Last night, it took me several hours before I finally cashed out and then I only had nightmares it seemed, leaving me not feeling much rested at all.

I had been trying a different allergy medication - something a doctor prescribed a while back but it was so costly I didn't take it - that is supposed to be easier on a pregnancy than my usual morning Drixoral dosage. After two days, I went back to the Drixoral this morning. The other stuff was a nasal spray, Nasonex, and for some reason it made gave me an energy boost as if I'd just had too much caffeine. I was also writhing in bed last night trying to just stay still in the hopes of sleeping. It was as if my body was itching from the inside. I think I may actually be sick at this point, instead of just dealing with allergies. The nightmares are usually a clue that I've got a bug or am at least fighting something off. Today I've head a headache for most of the day but the Drixoral seems to be doing a better job than the Nasonex was for the sinus dripping and the sneezing at least. Some nights lately I've just had trouble sleeping because one nostril will be totally clogged. And I can't sleep on my back. I'm a side-sleeper, sometimes nearly a stomach-sleeper. Sleeping on my back just somehow feels wrong when I try it. Nasonex was also affecting how things smelled. Saturday I thought I smelled something burnt on my hands for some reason, and last night my pillow seemed like it smelled of some sickly floral scent that only would get used in medicine. Eeew. Considering I have a very lousy sense of smell at best, I can only figure it had to be the nasal spray doing that.

I also hate spraying stuff up my nose like that. It doesn't help when my nose is so abused that it's been bleeding on and off from my blowing it so hard and so often. That just means that I'm spraying medicine into tender, wounded areas - which BURNS! Screw THAT crap!

We'll see how I sleep tonight and tomorrow night, but on Wednesday I'm going to have to have a chat with the gal at my OB-GYN office when I go. I can't keep going on like this. Something's got to give or I'm going to snap one of these days. I'm not getting remotely enough sleep. I'm edgy, irritable, emotional, and downright miserable for a good chunk of the time. And I have a two-year-old boy who needs his mommy in better working shape than I currently am. I do NOT want to have my son see me as I did my mother - always trying to be full of energy, but generally sick with something anyway. For my mom it was always bronchitis, although I think she actually had some of the same allergies as I do. She later came home saying she was allergic to dust mites too. I'd better not have that - that being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'd either have to dust my house with a stupid mask on my face, or make Brian do it. Ugh, ugh, ugh. It's bad enough I frequently bribe him to do the vaccuming.

Anyway...

Enough bitching about not feeling good. Which, basically means enough blogging for tonight.

G'night!

Current Mood: sick

Checking out Heritage Fest...

Today, Jareth and I spent most of the day at Heritage Fest. My mother-in-law joined us and we checked out all the arts and crafts booths as well as most of the "kids area". I have to say that they have one of the best showings I've seen for arts and crafts all summer long. I've checked out several different town "festivals" over the course of the summer, specifically looking at the arts and craft areas to scope out what kind of jewelry is selling or at least what's out there for sale currently. I want my own stuff to be original, but not so different from the norm that it will never sell. The stuff I'd seen prior to Heritage Fest has been disappointing - a lot more Pampered Chef and Tastefully Simple vendors than actual artisans or crafters. I think the only show I checked out that compared at all to today was the Crafty Crafters show I went to a few months back. Looks like there is another one in Aurora coming up on the 25th, but I'm going to be busy doing that yardwork I mentioned so I won't be going to that one. Heritage fest had quite an impressive showing of original work compared to the other town festivals I've attended, however.

There was one woman, Lisa Williams whom I was especially impressed with on a jewelry perspective. Her work was high-quality original, and hand-made - all qualities I look for when I'm scoping out these shows. She had the type of showing that I'd like to emulate but not imitate if you can understand the difference. I love the work she's done, and am tempted to purchase a piece tomorrow, although I don't know if Brian will say yes, considering I'm learning silversmithing myself.

Seeing her gives me hope that I can find my own niche one day and manage to compete with all the mass-produced, quick-fixed stuff I've seen that comes directly out of the jewelry supply catalogs to be slapped together and presented to the mass public as "jewelry". At least I did see less of that today, even the people doing primarily beadwork looked to at least have beaded the strands themselves - taking the care to do it right instead of just putting out stuf they bought bulk. I got my first catalogs from Rio Grande today (wow, they arrived FAST too!) and found that they have an entire section of pre-assembled jewelry that people can buy and then turn around and resell. Personally, I'd rather wait until I have enough inventory to make a worthwhile showing of my own handcrafted stuff, than just buy something made entirely by another jeweler so that my table looks full. They way Lisa had her items displayed and the quality of her work suggested "wearable art" to me. That's where I want to be one day.

Overall, we had a great time. There were two playgrounds along the way that we let Jareth out at to run around and play. One was by the Civil War encampment where my father-in-law and friends were set up with their cannon, which they fired a few times throughout the day.

As for Jareth, do you think he's got his Grandma wrapped around his little finger yet? I think I have proof that it is so...

Not only did he hitch a ride on her shoulders for a while, but he got to wear her hat too! This kid sure knows how to work his cuteness magic, I'm tellin' ya... He pretty much wore both of us out before we finally headed home so he could have a nap. Jareth and I did go back again later, for a late dinner and to see Brian, since he'd been at work all day and gone straight to the festival afterwards. I'd forgotten how hot I think my husband is in his Civil War uniform. Made me want to take him home with me tonight anyway, but he already had plans to hang out with "the guys" and his dad at the encampment tonight. I'll remember to bring the camera again when we go back tomorrow though. He'll still be in uniform and I want current pictures to add to my collection. Perhaps I'll even share a picture here too.

I'm wiped though. Between my usual "hardly any" amount of sleep last night and all the extra walking today (and running after Jareth who kept wanting to explore whenever we let him out of the stroller), I'm hoping I sleep pretty well tonight. Especially since the neighbors a couple houses down are having a LOUD party. I can hear it in the far end of the house in my basement and it is slowly grating on my nerves. I get really, really, REALLY tired of getting next to no peace and quiet in the damned neighborhood. Really. If it's still going at 2:00 am and I'm still awake - I'm SO calling the police. Mind you, it's not even midnight yet. I'm hoping I just pass out before it ever comes to that point. *sigh*

G'night!

Current Mood: irritated

Another Upcoming Shtick...

I managed to get stuff transferred over today on Quick Shtick Writing so that the last story we wrote now has it's own section and the way has been cleared for the next one. Until a few hours ago we still had pretty much no clue what we'd be writing, and had already given ourselves the deadline to begin posting again on either Sunday or Monday. Brian has the first post this time (we take turns with each story) and I think we have a starting scenario in mind, a genre for the story to fit into, and some small measure of direction on where we'd like the story to end up. A very, very loose direction anyway. After all, it wouldn't be writing on the fly if we planned it all out in advance, would it?

I'm already looking forward to the next story, which is a good sign. I was occasionally dreading writing some of the posts in the last. If we want to keep practicing as writers this really is a good exercise in discipline, as we commit ourselves to posting each day barring small interruptions from the occasional server issue or someone having to be out of town. We each kind of see ourselves still writing in the future, even as a hobby around other ventures, and I generally find it an overall enjoyable pursuit, even when sometimes the story feels flat and I have trouble even coming up with a couple of paragraphs to throw out there. There were a few of those moments in the last story. We're going to have a few perspectives in this next one - if nothing else, we can use them to spice things up at pretty much any given point without having to specifically put a character to sleep or knock him/her unconscious just to move on. This is good. The protagonist in the last story suffered far more physical injury than I think we'd planned for him, but sometimes we just needed to knock the poor bastard out for a while or the plotline would never have moved on already.

Tomorrow, I'm going to go to Heritage Fest since it's in the township I live in. I didn't make it last year, so I'm hoping to make up for lost time. I've been living here three years now and still don't know the shops in the local downtown areas, so this might give me a chance to check some of them out too. My mother-in-law is going to join me tomorrow, seeing the sights while my father-in-law will be part of the Civil War encampment they have as part of the festival. RainMoon will also be manning a booth with a group she's part of too, although I'm not sure I'll get to see her as she's only going to be at the booth until noon and I'm not planning to be arriving until sometime after that. This thing goes on all weekend, and I'll be seeing more of it on Sunday with Brian too. It actually started tonight and there were supposedly going to be fireworks but we're still recovering from the Sandwich Fair last weekend so we can only handle so much. Especially since we're also hoping to start doing some of our yardwork on Sunday too - the beginnings of our Fall Equinox observances.

The actual Equinox itself is on the 22nd, and we haven't decided if we're doing anything special on that day yet. It won't help with me having class that night and Jareth having his gymnastics class - we'll all probably be too busy to do much more than eat and run. We'll probably observe it more properly the following Sunday when we finish up the yardwork (hopefully) and follow it up with a nice meal of some sorts. I'm not much for rituals or anything planned out that feels "put on", so we'll just sort of wing it. It's a moment marking the passage of time and seasons for me, so spending time nurturing the outdoors in some manner seems like the best plan - hence the yardwork. My yard could really use some "mothering" anyway.

That's all for now. G'night!

Current Mood: contemplative

First Project Complete!

I recently bought a really expensive book on eBay. I got a good deal, considering that the book usually retails for around $130 new *gasp, cough, choke* (although the price recently dropped at Amazon.com) and I paid $60 plus shipping *much, much smaller gasping, coughing and choking*. But it really IS the compendium of all things involving metal jewelrymaking. Yesterday, I spent some time perusing through some of the sections pertinent to the problems I've been having in class - you know, the ones the teacher won't give me any help in solving? Mostly problems buffing the nicks and scratches out of the piece - and lo and behold, tonight I was able to finally finish the first project piece! I credit the book for helping me figure it out. Thus, I am now able to give you the following picture of my finished piece:

Yipee! *bounces around the room a little*

Just for reference, the piece is approximately 3 inches in height. Since size may vary depending on your monitor and the window size within it, and I didn't exactly worry about trying to make the picture sized to "actual size" in the first place.

Now I can move on to the the complicated pair of earrings I've decided to do for my next project. I've already cut the teeny-tiny little bits of metal for it. Now I just have to make them all fit together snugly, like a miniscule jigsaw puzzle that has to withstand heat to while it's pieces get soldered togther without somehow accidentally blowing all the bits off the table in the process...

Oy. My head (and fingers) hurt just thinkin' about it! But at least it's under way...

G'night!

Current Mood: creative

Just another day...

Not much to say today. Spent part of the day trying to clear out my e-mail inbox some (down to only 18 messages now - and it's time to renew this domain name...lol), part of the day filling out advance paperwork for my ob-gyn visit next Wednesday, and calling up to get myself sent catalogs for Rio Grande, THE place to easily find all ones' jewelry-making needs. At least it was back when my mom was in the biz. A classmate reminded me a while back of them when I was asking for recommendations on places to buy metals. I finally remembered to call them today and got my customer number. They're sending me out two catalogs for my purchasing pleasure. OOoooooh! Lesseee... momma wants a flux shaft, and some sheet silver, and some silver wire, and some stones, and... Oh yeah... budget. Damn. The same reason I've yet to buy the gazillion beads I have picked out from the bead catalog from another vendor. That, and I've temporarily set aside the beading until I've gotten my silversmithing back in motion again.

I had a request for "sandbox" from my little boy today. He's starting to learn to communicate what he wants and the weather was lovely so I rewarded him by spending part of this afternoon in the back yard. I brought my big-ass jewelry book that I recently got on eBay and did some perusing on buffing/polishing, and soldering while he played happily in the back yard between his sandbox and the other toys I have back there for him. He's found the slide on the swingset is most useful to him for putting balls onto and then gleefully watching as they roll down and go bouncing across the yard with their momentum. I SO love to hear my son laugh!

Anyway, not an incredibly newsworthy day or anything, but another day nonetheless. I just wish I could get myself into gear already and have some energy again. I keep hoping that once the allergies pass I'll do much better. We've been able to pretty much determine that it is something outside, so a couple long days of heavy rain would probably help a bunch. We had a little bit last night, but not nearly enough to do the trick. My poor, poor, bleeding nose...

G'night!

Current Mood: hopeful

And now,

Yep, I know, it's been a while since I last remembered to do this. I've seemed to have plenty other things to blog about lately and originally I picked up the occasional meme to fill in when I couldn't think of what to say. But I suddenly remembered that I hadn't done it in a while, so here goes...

Would you rather:
1. lapse into epileptic seizures everytime somebody says the word "squid" OR cluck like a chicken everytime somebody says "chicken"?
Um... I would have to say that "clucking" would be far preferable to seizures any day! Egads!
2. have no bones, but complete muscular control of every part of your body OR four arms?
Four arms. No contest. I have a two-year-old. Four arms would be really damned handy!
3. your nose hair grow down past your chin no matter how much you cut it OR have earlobes twice the normal size?
Earlobes. You could at least hide that with the right haircut.
4. have people constantly mistake your sex (man v. woman) OR your sexual preference (straight v. gay)?
Seeing as how I'm happily married, I wouldn't give a damn if they kept stupidly thinking I was a lesbian. I think I would start getting annoyed if people kept mistaking me for a guy though.

In other news... my jewelry teacher is annoying me to no end. Whenever we have a question for her she looks over as if we're bothering her and says "what?" in this tone that suggests it had better be a good question if we want to stand a chance of it being answered. I've been having some problems in the final stages of my first piece. I tried to ask her what I was doing wrong, but just got a vague answer before she went back to working on her own jewelry project she's working on while teaching our class. Glad she's got her priorities straight. She's obviously just there for the paycheck and not for the warm fuzzy feeling of having actually taught more than just the basics. Oh, this is going to be an interesting class indeed. I'm already thinking about seeing just how much extra it would cost me to go to a different college that isn't in my district instead of taking the second class with her again. Grrrrrrrrrr.

G'night!

Current Mood: irritated

Warning - I'm rambling again...

Will someone please explain to my body that I'm NOT OLD YET? Between allergies, pregnancy, and my body's overall master plan to twart my attempts at having fun, I spent today napping, lounging, sneezing, and otherwise not getting squat done. I went back to the Sandwich Fair yesterday again, this time with Brian's folks. I met them there and planned to see some more of the fair with them. Unfortunately the heat and my stupid stubborn body both got to me and I actually spent more time hanging around in the shade of the tent at the area Brian was working at instead of showing my son animals at the petting zoo and stuff. Instead, my in-laws graciously took off with my little boy and got to bask in his cuteness for a while - getting him the balloon I'd promised him he'd get while we were there (yet another attempt to bribe him back into his stroller) and showing him through the petting zoo. We did all get to steal Brian away from work for a short while to catch a corn dog and relax. I tried an "elephant ear" - something I'm not sure I'd had before - as well, although I shouldn't have bothered getting the yummy apple topping on it too, as it ended up that I couldn't finish the whole thing as a result! It was yummy though.

I kept having these pains in my abdomen yesterday though. I also got so worn out that I had to keep the air conditioning in the car on FREEZING in order to keep myself awake enough to make the couple hours of drive home. Afterwards, I was exhausted enough and had some nasty enough back pain that it was all I could do to change my son's diapers and nuke up some dinner. Then I threw in The Lion King and we couched out until Brian came home to rescue me. I felt terribly guilty though, as Brian himself had just spent five long, hot days working his butt off at the fair and was pretty wiped himself to have to come home afterwards and take care of tucking both of us into bed. Fortunately the back pain had subsided by this morning and for once my tired body let me actually get a somewhat decent nights' sleep (meaning I only woke up about four times instead of once every hour). I took today off though, not worrying about more than a couple of small things, in order to build myself back up for the rest of the week. I've got piles and piles of crap to deal with here, class to attend, and some stuff I've promised Brian I'd do for him that I need to get cracking on - I don't have time for all this worn-out, bogged-down, exhaustion bullshit. But I can't be relying on a caffeine kick-start to get me moving either. While pregnant, I rarely allow myself more than one or two cans of caffeinated soda per day.

And lately I'm craving cigarettes again sometimes. I think I'm stressed. There's no way in HELL I'd break my smoke-free streak of more than three years now DURING a pregnancy! I quit July 11th, 2002. I've got it written down. I tried to wean down but eventually just quit cold-turkey and purged the toxins from my body with a mix of herbal supplements. And just in time too, as I was expecting to start trying to get pregnant about a month later. In actuality, I got pregnant at about the same time I quite smoking! Thankfully, my herbal system flush didn't seem to affect Jareth at all.

Wow, I really did ramble off topic tonight, didn't I? Oh well. My blog, my rules. As in, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of them.

I am leaving a bit out - I went to a party on Saturday night. With other moms. By myself. Boy, was that ever weird - me going out socially without either my husband or son in tow! What a concept! Needless to say, I had a great time. *grin* My sister-in-law was a sweetie and babysat Jareth for me. From the sound of it, he was a good little boy too - except for the part where he inducted her into the "poopy diaper club". It's been a while since she babysat kids back in high school. And he apparently laid quite a load in those little pants. *wonders briefly what it was she'd fed him the night before* Hey - she's hoping to have kids of her own one day, so it was good training to keep her in practice for when that day comes. Right? Right. She ought to be more worried about trimming nails than poopy diapers anyway. I made Brian do that with Jareth for probably the first three months - I was terrified I'd accidentally "trim" off an entire fingertip or toe! They're so TINY when they are born!

I can't wait to have this next baby! *bounce* Little teeny-tiny fingers and toes!!! Oooh oooh!!

G'night!

Current Mood: thoughtful

The Fair, The Bear, and The Drive From Hell...

I know, I know - two days without blogging? It does happen every now and again. Wednesday night I was just too damned tired to try and write anything and yesterday was One Of Those Days.

But please, allow me to ramble elaborate...

Wednesday began with driving. Once I'd packed Jareth and anything I could think of that we might need for a day's outing into the car we popped by on a couple of freecycle pickups (a small cabinet I can make use of and some jewelry holders that can be used for display once I have something displayable) that were literally on our way as we headed out of town to Sandwich, Illinois. I'd planned the pickups that way in the hopes of conserving gas, and it seemed to work well. Of course I used all that saved gas up when I made a wrong turn on the way home, but we'll get to that later.

Around 1:30 pm we got to the fair and unloaded from the car after nearly two hours of being in it. Oof. I do love to drive, but I like leisurely drives when the destination isn't overly important and I can sit in comfort. For some reason my car doesn't seem to be comfortable for drives longer than about an hour before I start getting all crampy and cranky. Mostly it's something with the lower back - I dunno. Maybe I need one of those screwy wooden bead things on my seat or something. *shrug*

On the way to the main entrance, we passed trailers with horses that were there for the day's racing. I was pointing them out to Jareth, as all good mommies should, when one lady spoke up and said that he could pet the horse if he wanted. Lickety-split I'd scooped Jareth out and we stopped for a bit to pet "Peanut", who was all geared up for the next race. We also tried to pet the other horse she had there, who was in the next trailer (I'm not sure if I got the name, but if I did I've forgotten it) but that horse, without bit and bridle, was snuffling around checking Jareth out which freaked him out a bit and ended that little adventure. We thanked the lady and headed off to the gate where we paid the friendly attendants and acquired a map before going inside. The place where Brian works has their setup right inside the gate from the parking, so we found him pretty much right away. We chatted a bit before leaving him to do his work while we explored the fair for a few hours. It was very, very hot. Let's just say that the first thing we explored was a double-scoop bowl of chocolate and vanilla twisted soft-serve ice cream. After that, we explored in earnest.

The fair has the racetrack, rides, vendors, exhibitions, shows, and more in a very brief nutshell. In the end, we checked the place out for about three hours and didn't manage to see everything. We're planning on going back on Sunday and seeing more with Brian's family when they go. I'll need more cash. While I didn't buy any other food there than the ice cream, I was informed by a gentleman who'd grown up in Sandwich, Illinois that the best BBQ to be had was in the "Fay's" tent, and that there was some sort of corn dog that was actually called something else and dipped in a better batter that I should really try. I'm also not sure I've ever had an "elephant ear" but it sure sounds yummy. He also advised me that I shouldn't leave without picking up some of the taffy, although there was a fudge vendor in that same building that caught my eye instead. Mmmmmmm. Yup. Gonna need to hit the cash station on my way.

After exploring for a while we went back and stole Brian away to take him out for a birthday dinner. Since we didn't know the town it was a total toss-up as to whether we'd find anything worthy of our critical taste buds or not, although Brian wasn't overly critical at that point - he just wanted someplace air conditioned for a while and wasn't sure how much he'd eat as he was worn out from being hot and on his feet all day. Shows can be rough on these guys from my understanding.

We totally lucked out in the place we picked. We chose it because it had a train car on one end of it, which made it look cool - a totally superficial way to pick somewhere to eat at random, but it happened to work out. The place (which I can't find a link for) is called Kelly’s Pub and Grill and we had these wonderful things that were wrapped up in potato pancakes. Jareth seemed to enjoy them too, and for some reason took to the vegetable side - asparagus?!? - with even more zeal than he did our main dishes. My strange, strange child. Needless to say, I encouraged this odd behavior as it left less asparagus that I had to eat. Although I do have to admit that it didn't taste half bad smothered in the sauce. The main dish was yummy though, and the piece of rum cake we all had afterwards was outstanding as well. It must have been good as Brian, who'd proclaimed he probably wouldn't eat much, finished off his plate just as easily as I did!

After that, we dropped Brian off back at the show. I would have gone back and seen more but Jareth was coming up on potential meltdown from having had no nap all day. I really didn't feel like dealing with a cranky kid trying to climb out of his stroller in a crowd of people, so we turned our air-conditioned car (Yeah, I know, what I said about not turning it on now that the gas prices got so high? Oh, well. So sue me. We were hot.) back out onto the road towards home. Or, at least I thought we had. The directions getting back didn't work so well as the directions getting there, especially since the fairgrounds didn't let me back out on the street I was supposed to leave from.

Mapquest suddenly has been refusing to work with my browser, and all I get from them is a couple of Internet Explorer fixes (which don't mean squat to Opera, and a request for buttloads of information if it doesn't work. Yeah, like I have time to compile that for them right now. Except that google maps kinda sucks when I tried to use it, and yahoo maps is what got me lost coming back. Argh. I don't think mapquest would have insisted I get on the tollway for a whole minute and a half - thus costing me 50 cents on the way there either. Sheesh. I avoided the tollway on the way back, but cost myself a half an hour instead by taking a wrong turn. I did get home eventually (obviously) but it took me longer than it should have. Hence - no blog that night. I was wiped and went to bed early.

Yesterday, after totally oversleeping, I managed to have one of Those Days. You know the ones - when everything seems to just go at least a little bit wrong? There was one fun bit when Jareth's Halloween costume arrived. I ordered it off a web site and wanted it to be here well in advance in case it didn't fit or something. It fits just fine. And he loves it. I mean loves it! He was so cute I had to take him upstairs and let him see himself in the mirror. After which, he refused to take the costume off! He'll be a bear for halloween. He helped pick the costume by pointing at the picture on my computer and saying "teddy bear!" So, he's not just a "brown bear" like the packaging says. No, he's a "teddy bear" this year. I had to bribe him with food to get the costume off him peaceably. I have pictures but I can't put them up or I'll spoil the cuteness surprise for the in-laws at Halloween. So y'all will have to wait more than a month to see just how cute he is as a teddy bear. Oooh - the height of blog anticipation! Or... something anyway.

Also yesterday, Brian had arranged to leave the fair in the afternoon to come home for the evening and cover me for my class and take Jareth to his first gymnastics class for this session. Of course, because of getting up so late, Jareth had had no nap before they went, so he had absolutely NO attention span at his class I heard later.

Meanwhile, I ended up in the car for an hour and 40 minutes trying to get to class at a school that is normally only about 20 minutes away! There's a point when I have to cross the river, for one, and one of the bridges is currently closed for reconstruction making the others a bit busier than usual. That I was prepared for - I'd given myself an hour to make the 20 minute drive! But then there was construction on another road... I spent an hour on that road and another fifteen minutes on a second road I tried to take as an alternate route. I was so frustrated (and late) that I ended up in tears! Partly because I'd been late on Tuesday after having gotten stuck trying to cross the river (because I'd only given myself 45 minutes to make the 20 minute drive - trying to account for rush hour apparently wasn't enough) and the teacher had given me this attitude about it. I don't know how old she thinks I am, but obviously she doesn't think I take the class seriously or something. Then again, she's so busy chatting up her "independent study" students that she barely seems to notice those of us in the beginning class. Just because I took a class before doesn't mean I know everything - it was TEN YEARS AGO, which is WHY I'm taking the beginner class in the first place. But she tends to show us how to do something and then expect us all to have it all down pat. She is difficult to ask questions of - she's always chatting about other stuff with someone and you have to interrupt her to ask anything and then she gives you this look like "what the hell do you want now?" She's totally unapproachable, especially when you tend to be the type that doesn't get overly assertive... you know, LIKE ME! Ack! Damn, damn, damn! It doesn't help that I feel like she totally hates my project. Which is nearing completion, by the way. There may be a picture next week!

Anyway, I was grumpy-cranky last night and being pregnant doesn't exactly put a bottle-stopper on the old emotions if you know what I mean. Thus, blogging seemed like exactly the last thing I should do if I wanted to avoid just having a total whine-fest here on my web site. Yeah. Bleh. Trust me - any whining I'm doing right now is nowhere near what I would have typed up last night. Eeeesh.

Today, was a rest day. I was supposed to go to the grocery store, but I'll do that early tomorrow instead. I slept in to begin with, and then I spent half the day snuggled up with my little boy in my lap. We played and tickled and laughed for a good couple of hours. In the evening, we ate dinner on the couch in front of the television and then he played quietly on the living room floor (although we occasionally had some balloon bouncing back and forth too) while I watched TV. I wasn't going to watch our Friday night stuff, but then remembered that Brian can watch it all on Tuesday night when I'm at class. So, screw it, I wanted to watch it and did. Nyah. Besides, our DVR is acting screwy so I was also trying to tape it on the VCR at the same time and wasn't sure if it would work with the TV part off or not. I'll have to check with Brian on that for next time as he's the one that sets all that crap up. I do the computers, he does the entertainment setup.

Now, I'm blogging. Finally. I might not blog tomorrow night though, as I'm going to a party with one of my mom's groups while my sister-in-law babysits Jareth for me. I don't know what time I'll get back and how tired I'll be. We'll see.

That's all for now. Technically I've got tons more I could add, but I don't want this to go on forever and there's other stuff I'd like to do before I head to bed.

G'night!

Current Mood: tired

QSW, SAHMs, and The Gift...

So much to blog today, I don't know where to begin.

First off, we finished the third story for Quick Shtick Writing today. It was, overall, a tough one to write. The main challenge we posed for ourselves this time was that the entire story was from one viewpoint, a suggestion from one of our readers. It was also suggested we do a science fiction story, so we tried that as well.

The trick with science fiction is that there are a LOT of details that need remembering when you're making stuff up. I have a bazillion little notes in my browser program to keep me informed of which characters our protagonist had met and who the hell they were. Also, we were naming food items and other things in an alien language. Thus, we had to remember these things for reference later in the story. It was tough, and there are a few areas that could use some serious fixing. But, as rough drafts go, we did make it to the end nonetheless.

The end, however, felt entirely anticlimactic to me. Then again, we had several points throughout the story where it was like pulling teeth to get myself to drag a post out of my poor brain for the day. Sometimes we would throw some action in to make it more exciting just for ourselves - hence the short life of the first outcast representative that came to the city, for those who've read the story - as there seemed to be a lot of dry, dry, dry points along the way. Most of that was the fault of our protagonist. A new rule to add to the books - never make a diplomat your protagonist. All they do is talk. We fortunately gave this guy some sports background, but he was certainly no Rambo. *YAWN*

But, we made it through to the end. In discussion, we've decided it would be a much better story if told through more viewpoints than just Kevan's. Stories are just a whole lot easier to write (and read too, in my opinion) when they follow the people who are experiencing the more exciting bits. Lots of little details we covered seemed important, but could have been glossed over a little if seen from another perspective. It would smooth the story out overall I think.

Anyway, in other news, The Gift actually arrived today! I was so surprised I found myself standing there, bringing in the mail and suddenly saying "Holy Fuck!" right there in front of both my husband and my son. Thankfully, Jareth seemed to miss that choice bit of vocabulary. It's not one I use often, but I was so startled after having checked the mail every day for so long and being disappointed that I'd pretty much given up on the thing ever arriving. Of course that means that now I can't bitch out the company that I got it from by name here on the blog, as The Gift has been tucked away to be accessorized and wrapped for the next gift-giving occasion.

Also today was a meetup for my stay-at-home-moms group. It was supposed to be a nature walk at a forested area not too far from home for me, so I signed up to go. Once again, I ended up on my own however, as I never saw any of the other moms there. First off, the entrance to the parking area was not where it was said to be on the listing online. I was running a couple minutes late to begin with, but by the time I pulled a u-turn and got back on the other road to get to the right spot for the parking lot, I was 8 minutes late. Apparently the moms just didn't want to risk waiting a few minutes for anyone else who'd replied that "yes" they were coming, in case they were running a little late. Personally, I wait 10 - 15 minutes when I go to these things and I know someone else is coming. But, it seems, nobody wants to wait for little ol' me. Bah.

I even walked some of the trail - high speed stroller walking for nearly a half hour before I gave up the idea of "catching up to them". Either I went the wrong way or they didn't show or they went to a totally different spot. Eventually I saw a picnic table off to one side and stopped to let Jareth out to explore for a little bit and stretch his legs. Then we went back the way we'd come, to the car again, at a much more leisurely pace. At least the trail was pretty, but I was a little unhappy that I was on it alone with my son like that. I tried to not think about it, but nobody would have figured it out for a long, long while if we'd been attacked or anything. *shudder* I didn't even have anything good to whack someone with - I'd have had to find a big stick or lashed out with my car keys. Not that I thought it was a bad area or anything, but then again the variety of things carved into the picnic table was not entirely reassuring.

Well, that's enough rambling for tonight. I've got to get some sleep so I can drive out to Sandwich, IL for the fair tomorrow and see Brian on his birthday. With any luck I'll be just awake enough when he leaves in the morning to remember to wish him a happy birthday. If not, maybe he'll read this before he leaves...

For the rest of you... G'night!

Current Mood: indescribable

Mon-day... Today is Moooonnnn-Day...

I keep forgetting that it's Monday. It feels like Sunday. To remind myself, I have that song by The Mamas and The Papas, "Monday, Monday" running through my head now. It probably also has something to do with catching part of a documentary on WTTW not long ago too. See? Not everything I watch on TV is sci-fi. heh.

So my timetable is all screwed up for this week already. And the week itself is already shaping up to be a busy one. Aparently tomorrow is "United Stay At Home Mom's Meetup Day" or something like that. In other words, meetup.com wants to have all their groups to have their own holiday so they picked tomorrow to be ours. Whatever. Mostly I'm going to the group meetup because it's actually in a location that won't cost me half my gas tank to get to for once. It's been ages since I've been to an actual monthly meeting for that group, so I'm planning on going to that one. There's also class in the evening tomorrow too.

Then, Wednesday, is Brian's birthday, as I've mentioned. I've got the maps printed and all that to head out with Jareth and visit the Sandwich Fair where the place he works for will be at. The fair looks big and potentially interesting, so we'll go out a little early to scope it out and see stuff before we wisk Brian off somewhere for his two-hour break and see that he at least gets dinner with us on his birthday.

Thursday will be quiet until evening, when Brian will make his way home from the show long enough to take Jareth to his gymnastics class and wait for me to get back from my own class. Then he'll likely be heading back to Sandwich again, as the show runs from Wednesday through Sunday.

I haven't looked beyond Thursday yet, to be honest. I feel busy enough that I don't want to get too far ahead of myself and start feeling overwhelmed or something. I'm very tired again today for some reason, and I'm hoping that I'll perk back up again tomorrow.

Roleplaying today was fun though. My character even got to make a new potential friend. Which was good, as she was kind of a loner after two years of having vanished from where anyone could find her. Most of her old friends had left town, gotten themselves killed, or gotten picked up by the police-types. It's a rough little world my character lives in - these things happen. So she needs to get herself a new set of friends or she's going to live one booooorring life. Well, except for when she's off kicking bad-guy ass. That's not boring at all. And she's finding out she's pretty good at it too.

Enough for now. More tomorrow.

G'night!

Current Mood: good

And a Happy Un-Birthday to who? To YOU!

First off, remember the 310 copies of the picture of my in-laws? Just barely under a month to the date I returned 307 of them to the store where I picked them up, and two e-mailed inquiries later, I finally got e-mail confirmation that my credit card will be credited for the returned photos. Yay! So there is a human being working over at the Kodak Gallery after all! She is just, apparently, really, really busy. Ah, well. At least I did get my money back.

In other news, the Original Gift for my father-in-law still hasn't arrived. I have to check and see if we've hit the one-month mark on that yet. If so, I'm SO asking for my money back. I paid THEM within just a couple HOURS of the auction ending. But still - no package. Their eBay "feedback" keeps going further and further down the drain.

Speaking of my in-laws, we went to their place for dinner today and pre-emptively celebrated Brian's birthday. The actual birthday is on Wednesday (anyone wanting to spring for a gift that hasn't already can find his amazon wish list here or also linked on his site *grin*) but he will be working out at an RV show and faire a couple of hours away for most of next week. He originally was supposed to have his birthday off, but even if the other new guy hadn't decided to quit it turned out they were still going to need him there every day. In fact, he'll be spending the nights there for most of the show too, thus leaving me with some movie nights I guess. I'll have to look at my list for what other movies he wasn't interested in renting.

Wednesday, however, I'll be driving out there as well, so we can spend a little time with him at least on his birthday. He'll get a couple hours off each day so he will spend those with us and then hopefully we can go out to dinner afterwards before Jareth and I head back home. We'll see how it all works out anyway. Depending on how it goes and what the faire is like (since it's apparently the biggest faire in Illinois each year - the RV stuff is really just a side bit within it) I might also go on Sunday too, when Brian's folks and sister are potentially planning to go check it out. We'll see.

In the meantime, however, Brian has tomorrow off due to the holiday and has agreed that we'll relax and he'll be gamesmaster for one of our roleplaying games. We'll also probably through some laundry in there for good measure and the naturally occuring and frequent interruptions by the little guy. He loves when we roleplay. He takes turns between us, climbing up to sit with us and checking out our dice and playing with his oversized plastic ones. We allow for a LOT of interruptions to stop and play with him, which means that we get the bulk of our session done during his naptime in the end. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

I'll let Brian talk more about dinner tonight with his folks on his own blog. I can't steal ALL the blog fodder! I, at least, had an enjoyable time, and Jareth was cute as always. I may post a picture from it at another time too. We'll see.

G'night!

Current Mood: satisfied

Sandbox!!!

Today was a myriad of strangeness and energy for some reason. Early into the day we may have solved the mystery of why all of us in this house have been sneezing and blowing our noses unendingly for nearing on a week. The boxes from storage have come under suspicion once I realized that it seemed worse in the kitchen of all places and then also realized that this didn't start until after we'd been to storage. Before leaving for work, my dutiful husband shlepped the boxes out to the garage for now and I ran about opening all the windows to air the place out before collapsing back into bed (since I don't do mornings, remember?) until Jareth insisted it was time to get up a couple hours later. I did find that I already had more energy and had a slightly easier time getting out of bed than I have as of late, although I'm still sneezing and blowing my nose a bunch. I still think it's likely that we've solved it. I hope so, at least, otherwise it's something else causing my unbearable allergy situation and I couldn't even begin to guess what.

I had a couple of spontanteous interruptions as I tried to get e-mail dealt with and put in my daily Quick Shtick Writing post. They were both welcomed ones, however. The first one was RainMoon stopping by with her daughter to drop off a turtle sandbox she managed to find for me through one of the Freecycle groups that she subscribes to but I don't. I only subscribe to a couple of nearby ones as I don't want a barrage of e-mail that I can't handle, but she moves at a faster pace than I do and seems better able to sort through them all. She saw the sandbox and remembered I'd been looking for one so she snagged it and picked it up for me. She stopped by with it today and stayed for a little while so her daughter and Jareth could play together. Jareth totally loves playing with her daughter, even though there is an age gap between them.

After Rainmoon had to go, as her daughter is recovering from a small cold (yes, my kid will be fine people. Even if he does happen to get it, he can handle a little cold and it will build up his immune system. Also - they are more contagious in the beginning and she's on the mend.), I got a phone call from my sister who was considering a camera purchase. Since I borrowed her last 35mm camera a long while ago, she wanted to know if I still had her lenses for it since they would fit the new camera if she bought it. I've tried to explain to her that I've gone digital now, and why, but she seems still stuck on the romance of film and darkrooms and all that. She seems to be waiting on the purchase though, and thinking about it a bit more at least. We chatted for quite a while before she needed to get back to her schoolwork.

After that, I finally finished my QSW post and then Jareth decided it was naptime. I wasn't going to argue when my own kid seems to want a nap, so I tucked him in despite the fact that he seemed to reconsider once actually in the bed. I then relaxed for a bit before arming myself with a bottle of 409, a scrub brush, and the hose for scrubbing out the sandbox in the backyard. It came pretty clean, actually, and dried quickly too. By the time Jareth's nap was done I was ready to head out with him and fill it with sand. I think the guy at the store yesterday overestimated the size of his new sandbox, but that just means he has extra sand in there for him to scoop all over the patio. I'll just have to remember to sweep every now and again. He was totally enamored with his new setup for over an hour while I set myself up to work on jewelry stuff at the table out there. Naturally, I took pictures...

Once Brian came home it was still so beautiful out that we ate dinner out on the patio too. Jareth was in tears to leave the sandbox for something so mundane as food, but we managed to bribe him with some of the fresh tomatoes I'd picked from the garden while waiting for the turtle to sun-dry. He absolutely loves having some of those cherry and grape tomatoes as a snack! How can I say no to a snack that's so healthy? Well... actually... I can't. We managed to bribe him to eat bites of dinner in between tomatoes. *rolls eyes* Silly little boy!

We did managed to bribe him indoors with a bath... yes, I did just say that. With. A. Bath. Nowadays he absolutely loves sitting in the tub pouring water out of a mug over and over again and splashing occasionally. He seems to be at an age where filling things is the most fascinating concept EVER. The tears resurfaced again after the bath, however, until his DADDY told him he could run around the house totally nekkid for a while! What IS it about the male gender and running about with everything loose and floppin' in the breeze anyway? *giggle* I made Brian close the living room curtains as Jareth decided to stand in full view of the living room window and name the various vehicles passing by on the road in front of our house. I may not want this kid to ever be ashamed of his body, but somewhere along the line we WILL need to instill a smidge of modesty in there. Sheesh!

Overall it was a strange and neat day. One of those days that leaves you wondering what tomorrow will bring...

And today's mood icon goes out as a message to RainMoon. Thanks again for getting us that sandbox! And thanks to your hubby too, for helping pick it up!

G'night!

Current Mood: grateful

Jewelrymaking...

Well, now that we've started using stuff, the jewelry lab already doesn't look as intimidating to me, although it is still vastly different than the one I remember from the last school I took a jewelry class. Not that the tools are different, per se, just the layout of the lab and the way it's all organized. The last lab was cooler, but beggars can't be choosers. I'm already enjoying getting back into this stuff.

No, the first piece isn't done yet. I've spent more than a couple of hours working on it so far and it's progressing well enough. I'm making a rather large pendant in silver. Hopefully I won't totally screw it up at some point, but so far I don't feel that rusty after all. As I start to do some of these things, little stuff is already coming back to me. I'm also gathering some of the less-expensive tools for further work at home too. Today I picked up some files, the rest of the sandpaper the teacher wants us to have, and a tacklebox to keep all my crap in. Although I'm annoyed that I couldn't find a tacklebox like the ones I remembered my mom having. Then again, I didn't exactly go to a tacklebox store, but hit the fishing section at Wal-Mart instead. Again - beggars can't be choosers.

And, after what I spent filling my tank with gas today - I'm feelin' kinda in the beggar zone here. JEEZ! In less than ten years I've seen gas go from just under $1 per gallon to now just OVER $3 per gallon! I got lucky today in that I saw it going for $2.99 at one of the gas stations I normally wouldn't buy gas at out of fear of my car choking and gasping on watered-down gas. Today, the place was jammed with cars waiting in line to get to the pumps. I got even luckier by getting in and out of there without having a long, long wait but I still sat and watched in horror as the numbers on the pump spun higher and higher with every drop of gas that went into my tank. I just hope that the gas doesn't do something nasty to my car now, as I really can't afford to be hitting the usual gas station I go to, where it's at $3.29 per gallon (mind you, there were only three cars at their 16 shiny pumps while the cheap gas station's had less pumps and a line. Who do you think is making more money?). While $3.29 isn't as bad as the $3.43 I saw at one station I passed today, it's still $.30 more than the stuff I got instead. And those seemingly little $.30 increments can add up really damned fast if you ask me.

I guess I'd better get a move on with this jewelrymaking career of mine so I can start selling stuff. If gas prices don't come back down, we're going to need a second income just to cover gas for getting to the grocery store!

And they won't come back down you know. Not unless the government steps in and makes them bring the prices down. They've been gouging us for so long that every time they raise the prices they drop them back most of the way down afterwards, but never all the way down again. That's how we've tripled the price of gas in less than ten years. They call it "inflation" but at this point I call it downright HIGHWAY ROBBERY. LITERALLY even!

I've already decided that's the end of air conditioning in the car for this summer for sure, even if it does get hot again. Also, I'm scouting my routes to and from the grocery store based not only on shortest path there, but where the hills are too. The more coasting I can do the better. Now is not the time to be spending extra gas. Hell, I've got a KID on the way we're supposed to be saving for.

At this rate, one day I'm going to have to explain to my children how the gas companies took away their college education.

Alright, so this post was less about jewelrymaking and more me bitching about the price of gas. But it is what a LOT of people are bitching about right now, at least around here anyway. I fear that monetary donations to help out people who've lost everything to Katrina will be slimmer than usual as a result. We can't afford to send money right now. Instead, we're hoping to gather up clothes we don't need anymore and send them along to an organization that will actually truck them down there. We were planning to donate clothes as part of our Winter Solstice observance anyway, we're just going to step up the timing on that particular activity since there are people who probably could use clothes right now.

Anyway enough rambling/bitching/whatever.

G'night!

Current Mood: pessimistic