Did you have some strange old toys that you just loved? One of mine was the Micronauts Aquacopter. Another thing my sister and I played with to death were our Fisher Price Adventure People. (You'll have to do some clicking to see pics, but maybe you'll remember them, too.) I remember when we went to visit my Grandma and one of her pomeranians chewed half the arm off one of my adventure women. Someone (my dad?) fixed it with a piece of a straight pin (inside her arm) and some blue-green glue. After that I always pretended she had a bionic arm. Speakinawhich, how could I forget Steve Austin?? I remember when we came to the States on furlough (or maybe it was when we had first moved back?) and we saw his Rocket Ship in a toy store for only $10. In Hong Kong it was $35 (HK) and I thought, "Wow - things are so cheap here in America!" Of course, once you made the conversion, that was $50(HK) at the time, LOL! But $10 still sounded way cheaper to me. :oP I can remember my mom showing us American money before we moved back and telling what each coin was and how much it was worth. They were so alien! And the silver dollar - I was so impressed with those enormous, heavy things! And $1 bills! Who ever heard of $1 bills?!?! In Hong Kong there were 1 cent notes (thet I never, ever once saw being used because everything was in nice round multiples of ten cents there and there was no sales tax) and the the smallest bill after that - I can't remember. It may have been a $10. We had $1, $2 and $5 coins, though there may have been $5 bills, too. I can't recall.
I miss my Adventure people. Maybe I'll buy some for my kids on eBay for Christmas.
CD of the day: O-Zone. We listened to it on the way to swimming and on the way back, then looped it when we got home - mostly track 4 - the kids' new favourite.
Right now John's listening to ABBA. There was a song that was driving me nuts a few mins ago because I KNEW it was from something I'd seen. Thank goodness I remembered - it's the one in Johnny English that he's dancing to while brushing his teeth etc. The one that gets shown to basically the whole world during the attempted coronation of Monsieur Sauvage. Nyuck, nyuck!
Swimming was fun as usual. The kids continue to learn new skills. Prawn and Fishy are working on swimming with actual breathing - coming up for air, or trying to keep their heads up. The girls were doing flips and cannonballs off the edge and working on improving their crawl strokes. The water was so warm today that Sluggie claimed it burnt her feet, LOL! I made them take a quick shower (much to the amusement of the lifeguards with some of the squealing involved, LOL!) right before we went in, so that made the water feel positively bath-tub-ish! Ahhh - I have to say that it was wonderful what with my sore bun muscles and all. Too bad the kids can't go in the hot tub - that would have been nice. They have the biggest hot tub I've ever seen.
We need to go to the comissary tomorrow and Sluggie has advanced sparring, so that kind of shoots the day. Then the 2 bigs have yet another sleepover. The floodgates have opened! Yikes!
Still writing and happy about it!
We finished The Two Towers (talk about a sudden ending!) and I need to move on to The Return of the King so I can return these flicks to our friends, so with that noble goal in mind, I'm off to the tub! :o)
Question of the day: what one thing would you definitely do if you were guaranteed success at whatever it was that you chose to do?
Friday, October 21, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Half the Kids Gone!
This is so bizarre! Half the kids are gone at a sleepover. I think this is the first time they've slept away from home without us. Is that possible? Meanwhile, the poor Prawn is missing the Slug and wanting her. Sigh. Fishy seems to be doing well, other than being tormented by the Prawn that is. Everything was fine until bathtime - Prawnie wanted Sluggie. Then it was OK during the movie (The Neverending Story) and story time, but once it was time for bed, Prawnie started melting down. Sigh. I think they have another sleepover date on Sat. Maybe Prawnie will do better by then. . .
Here's an article about a woman who tames cats with Tibetan chants! Interesting!
We actually ATE OUT last night. I know - shocking. Other than when we visit family in Madison, we NEVER eat out. I think the last time we did was about 2.5 years ago when we first moved here. Well - we've taken fast food home a few times, but not actually eaten out. Oh, hey, we did eat out sans children when we went to see Hitchhiker's Guide in June. Anyway, we totally lucked out because it turned out to be kids eat free night where we went, and not just 1 kid per adult, but ALL kids. Wowza! What a deal!! Maybe we can go back someday. . .
My phone is dying, just to prove that the fridge doesn't work harder than it does. Here's a weird communications sequence. John called home and the phone died after Sluggie andwered. I didn't want him to worry and I saw that my sis was emailing me, so I emailed her and asked her to call him and say all was well. Of course we're in different states, so that just seems very roundabout, but, hey, whatever works! And of course the monitors are both dying, as mentioned before. John says it's a monitor flu, so I recommend that anyone who comes to visit leave their laptop at home.
I'm watching the Two Towers a bit at a time. Not my recommended way of watching, but it's all I can manage right now. I'm finally ready for disc 2!
Still writing. It's the painful re-writing process that drags on and on, but I'm hoping to have this ready by Friday. Almost there!
The Librarian was entertaining, if I didn't say so already. I'm on the lookout for a really good movie, but alas, nothing is striking me as something I really want to see. Recommendations are welcome.
Here's an article about a woman who tames cats with Tibetan chants! Interesting!
We actually ATE OUT last night. I know - shocking. Other than when we visit family in Madison, we NEVER eat out. I think the last time we did was about 2.5 years ago when we first moved here. Well - we've taken fast food home a few times, but not actually eaten out. Oh, hey, we did eat out sans children when we went to see Hitchhiker's Guide in June. Anyway, we totally lucked out because it turned out to be kids eat free night where we went, and not just 1 kid per adult, but ALL kids. Wowza! What a deal!! Maybe we can go back someday. . .
My phone is dying, just to prove that the fridge doesn't work harder than it does. Here's a weird communications sequence. John called home and the phone died after Sluggie andwered. I didn't want him to worry and I saw that my sis was emailing me, so I emailed her and asked her to call him and say all was well. Of course we're in different states, so that just seems very roundabout, but, hey, whatever works! And of course the monitors are both dying, as mentioned before. John says it's a monitor flu, so I recommend that anyone who comes to visit leave their laptop at home.
I'm watching the Two Towers a bit at a time. Not my recommended way of watching, but it's all I can manage right now. I'm finally ready for disc 2!
Still writing. It's the painful re-writing process that drags on and on, but I'm hoping to have this ready by Friday. Almost there!
The Librarian was entertaining, if I didn't say so already. I'm on the lookout for a really good movie, but alas, nothing is striking me as something I really want to see. Recommendations are welcome.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Another Suburban Family Morning. . .
Grandmother screaming at the wall. . . OK, not really.
Busy day today - writing, cleaning (Monday is our big cleaning day), homeschooling, all 4 kitties to the vet for their next to last de-lousing shot, helping Mollusc with her big bookcase project (reorganising, weeding out etc.) TKD class and sparring.
The vet very kindly gave the kids a feather from a blue and gold macaw today. :o) She was talking to us about books and raving about Because of Winn-Dixie. I actually have it from the library so I can pre-read it for the kids. She also said she'll bring in her CD of the Hobbit for us to see next week because I was telling her that we'd like find a plain reading rather then the somewhat overwhelming dramatisation we have from the library. She's a really neat person - also a UW_Madison alumni like myself - quite possibly a cousin of a high school friend of mine as well - same surname and she said there are a lot of them.
I tightened up the story some more and I've been checking out the websites of the various publishers I'm researching for possible submission. I found one already that seems to be a VERY good fit. They pay £200 for short stories. That would be nice!!
I seemed to have no energy tonight. I did OK, but man was I wiped out when we were done - head-rush and the shakes after class and sparring. Someone gave me a glucose tablet thing from Wallyworld and that helped. I'm going to have to get some to keep on hand. I tend to have some hypoglycemia issues sometimes.
CDs of the day: O-Zone - mostly Dragostea Din Tei on loop, LOL! Also Sting: Brand New Day (yes, rut, rut, rut. Who cares!?!?!? I love it!) and Harry Connick Jr. - um - gotta check. . . OK "To See You" which is nice at times, but frankly got so slow I had to go back to Brand New Day (mostly track 2 - lovely!)
Trillian is getting much less bony. Hooray! She's a real purrbox - still likes the kitchen the best.
Oh, Sheila, how could I forget?? Viggo works at our vid store! Well - he's kinda like Viggo. Tried to scope out his ring finger for you but it was a no-go and I didn't want to take his hand and just stare, LOL! (well - maybe I did. . . *grin* ) Very tall Scandahoovian sort anyway. Come visit me and I'll take you to see him. :o)
Today I renewed the warranty on our lemon of a fridge since we can't afford a new one and the door is starting to fall off again. In the meantime, I've fixed most of the freezing probs by masking off the gap with some speed tape. Yay! I don't want to call every few months for a new door - figure they'll stop replacing them at some point since the door is over $800.00 (Good Grief!! The whole fridge was about a grand!)
I have movies that people have piled on me that I need to watch and return, so I'm going to try to make a dent in the pile now. Or at least in one of the DVDs, LOL!
Annyong!
Busy day today - writing, cleaning (Monday is our big cleaning day), homeschooling, all 4 kitties to the vet for their next to last de-lousing shot, helping Mollusc with her big bookcase project (reorganising, weeding out etc.) TKD class and sparring.
The vet very kindly gave the kids a feather from a blue and gold macaw today. :o) She was talking to us about books and raving about Because of Winn-Dixie. I actually have it from the library so I can pre-read it for the kids. She also said she'll bring in her CD of the Hobbit for us to see next week because I was telling her that we'd like find a plain reading rather then the somewhat overwhelming dramatisation we have from the library. She's a really neat person - also a UW_Madison alumni like myself - quite possibly a cousin of a high school friend of mine as well - same surname and she said there are a lot of them.
I tightened up the story some more and I've been checking out the websites of the various publishers I'm researching for possible submission. I found one already that seems to be a VERY good fit. They pay £200 for short stories. That would be nice!!
I seemed to have no energy tonight. I did OK, but man was I wiped out when we were done - head-rush and the shakes after class and sparring. Someone gave me a glucose tablet thing from Wallyworld and that helped. I'm going to have to get some to keep on hand. I tend to have some hypoglycemia issues sometimes.
CDs of the day: O-Zone - mostly Dragostea Din Tei on loop, LOL! Also Sting: Brand New Day (yes, rut, rut, rut. Who cares!?!?!? I love it!) and Harry Connick Jr. - um - gotta check. . . OK "To See You" which is nice at times, but frankly got so slow I had to go back to Brand New Day (mostly track 2 - lovely!)
Trillian is getting much less bony. Hooray! She's a real purrbox - still likes the kitchen the best.
Oh, Sheila, how could I forget?? Viggo works at our vid store! Well - he's kinda like Viggo. Tried to scope out his ring finger for you but it was a no-go and I didn't want to take his hand and just stare, LOL! (well - maybe I did. . . *grin* ) Very tall Scandahoovian sort anyway. Come visit me and I'll take you to see him. :o)
Today I renewed the warranty on our lemon of a fridge since we can't afford a new one and the door is starting to fall off again. In the meantime, I've fixed most of the freezing probs by masking off the gap with some speed tape. Yay! I don't want to call every few months for a new door - figure they'll stop replacing them at some point since the door is over $800.00 (Good Grief!! The whole fridge was about a grand!)
I have movies that people have piled on me that I need to watch and return, so I'm going to try to make a dent in the pile now. Or at least in one of the DVDs, LOL!
Annyong!
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Showin' Some Leg
Some bruises: (they're fading)
and
and
In other news, we got the hanging chair up!!! Woo Hoo!!!! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, say no more? Bwa ha ha ha!
We shuffled around all the bedroom furniture and I think this is going to be great! There's the added benefit of not having the bed viewable from the windows beside the front door when our bedroom door is open.
Tonight we played Harry Potter Scene it with friends, and had a great time. It made me think that we might like the new Star Wars Trivial Pursuit game after all. I had been avoiding it cuz it runs off a DVD and seemed less "board-game-like." But now I'm thinking maybe it would be cool!
Got a silly movie to watch this evening. A guy at the video store saw me getting it and said it's funny. We shall see. . .
A Great Day for Mail!
I got both the O-Zone CD AND my ring today. Cool! So now I'm married again and I don't have to stick a SOLD sticker on my butt.
I got out my dictionary today and it fell open to "hypocrite." The entry was a giant picture of Madonna. Un-be-freakin'-lievable. . . Words fail me.
And she's from this neck of the woods, it appears. Oh please, please don't let it be something in the water (which tastes really bad unless filtered.) Please, please don't let my kids grow up to be like her. Fortunately, I don't think they've ever heard of her. Madonna's not the only one who doesn't do TV, but she, and everything she spawned are much of the reason we don't.
The kids have a friend over for the night. Do you think they'll ever go to sleep? Prolly not.
Last night was sparring again and I'm all beat up! (beaten up just doesn't sound right, LOL!) One of the young guys (18ish) is getting really good and he's tall, too, so he's a force to be reckoned with. I have bruises all over the back and side of my left arm. Yes - he kicks more with his right leg, LOL! No one at the pool called the cops though. ;o) I ought to post pics one of these days. . . At least I did my share of beating. But the guys don't bruise like I do for some reason.
Saw the rest of Tomb Raider 2 and didn't like the storyline that much apart from Croft's character and Hillary, the butler (still Arnie Rimmer to me.) Terry Sheridan's a great character, so why kill him off? Argh! 2 is way more violent than 1, and just an out-to-lunch premise if you KWIM. Why not just destroy the orb if you don't want Pandora's Box to be found? Cuz then there'd be no movie. Hmmm. . . And also, how come she can open the box partway, and nothing bad escapes, but throughout the movie we're told that if the box is opened, an apocalyptic plaugue will be released? Last time I checked, viruses were really teeny. . .
Is there hope for #3? Not at the rate they're going, but I'll give it a try anyway. Not sure why they had folks speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong, but the Mandarin Spongebob bit was humorous. They didn't coach the actors in their Chinesevery well (no discernible tones) which I found odd, cuz I thought Jolie's Cambodian sounded pretty convincing in #1. But my not speaking Cambodian could have a lot to do with that, LOL! I thought her Russian was OK, too. Then again, I don't know a lot of Russian, either. . . Still, if you look at it as pure entertainment, well, no even looking at just that, the Croft character, Hillary, and TS are about all it has going for it. Sheila, you should check it out anyway since the Gerard Butler-without-his shirt scenes will more than make up for lack of plot for you. ;o) (edit from the future - ok, now I know who this guy is and appreciate the movie more, ha ha!)
Did they seriously consider Colin Firth and Hugh Grant for James Bond?!?!?!? I'm sorry - much as I love those guys and their movies - James Bond?!?!?!!? I think Craig is an excellent selection from what I've seen of his work. Or myabe I'm just smitten . . . No, he's great for it.
Back to real life. Class wasn't too grueling since we were all sore from yesterday and Master Han took pity on us. The backs of my thighs - yow! Still trying to figure out what we did yesterday. There were a couple stretches we don't do often, but I didn't thing they'd affect the back of the thigh. Maybe it was because I got into the hurdler's stretch farther than ever. (laying head on the ground) We kicked paddles tonight, which is always fun, and rarely done.
Swimming was great this morning. Everyone was happy - no goggles catastrophes, plus we had new goggles so that there were plenty to go around - even for me. It's weird because I can see underwater with goggles almost as well as if I was wearing my glasses. The Prawn was starting to swim a wee bit with her head above water. She can go a nice long way with her face in the water. Fishy can float on his back better than ever. He's experimenting with the crawl. We shall see. We had the pool to ourselves again. Actually I think there may have been a couple of older folks lurking at the end of the deeper pool, but I didn't see them until they left. The locker room wasn't as bloody freezing as it usually is, but the hot shower still felt great after the trek though there. They have a great setup - family locker roms with pump soap in the showers, toilet, sink - everything you need except an outlet. I haven't needed one yet, but it'd be nice in January to be able to use a hair-dryer before going out into the arctic winter.
Got apple cider and pumpkin doughnuts for breakfast. I do love the Fall. Today was simply gorgeous - crisp and fresh this morning when we went to the pool, and balmy when we left. Ahhhh!
Fishy battled the Slug to a stalemate in chess yesterday. He's been doing really great drawings, too. Mollusc has been inventing new creatures and drawing them. She's making a lapbook about at least one of them. Sluggie continues to shine in the physical realm. She has advanced sparring tomorrow - always fun to watch. The Prawn - well other than making illegal chess moves and painting her arms brown - has been able to crank out some nice artwork lately and is getting her math (place value) figured out pretty well. Not bad for a 3 year old! She got a tip on her belt on Thursday and so did the Fishy. I'm so proud!
The kids have gotten quiet upstairs. Hope that doesn't mean something bad. . .
Guess I'll go rest me achin' bod in the tub a bit.
Bong Sewer, as Hagrid would say. :o)
I got out my dictionary today and it fell open to "hypocrite." The entry was a giant picture of Madonna. Un-be-freakin'-lievable. . . Words fail me.
And she's from this neck of the woods, it appears. Oh please, please don't let it be something in the water (which tastes really bad unless filtered.) Please, please don't let my kids grow up to be like her. Fortunately, I don't think they've ever heard of her. Madonna's not the only one who doesn't do TV, but she, and everything she spawned are much of the reason we don't.
The kids have a friend over for the night. Do you think they'll ever go to sleep? Prolly not.
Last night was sparring again and I'm all beat up! (beaten up just doesn't sound right, LOL!) One of the young guys (18ish) is getting really good and he's tall, too, so he's a force to be reckoned with. I have bruises all over the back and side of my left arm. Yes - he kicks more with his right leg, LOL! No one at the pool called the cops though. ;o) I ought to post pics one of these days. . . At least I did my share of beating. But the guys don't bruise like I do for some reason.
Saw the rest of Tomb Raider 2 and didn't like the storyline that much apart from Croft's character and Hillary, the butler (still Arnie Rimmer to me.) Terry Sheridan's a great character, so why kill him off? Argh! 2 is way more violent than 1, and just an out-to-lunch premise if you KWIM. Why not just destroy the orb if you don't want Pandora's Box to be found? Cuz then there'd be no movie. Hmmm. . . And also, how come she can open the box partway, and nothing bad escapes, but throughout the movie we're told that if the box is opened, an apocalyptic plaugue will be released? Last time I checked, viruses were really teeny. . .
Is there hope for #3? Not at the rate they're going, but I'll give it a try anyway. Not sure why they had folks speaking Mandarin in Hong Kong, but the Mandarin Spongebob bit was humorous. They didn't coach the actors in their Chinesevery well (no discernible tones) which I found odd, cuz I thought Jolie's Cambodian sounded pretty convincing in #1. But my not speaking Cambodian could have a lot to do with that, LOL! I thought her Russian was OK, too. Then again, I don't know a lot of Russian, either. . . Still, if you look at it as pure entertainment, well, no even looking at just that, the Croft character, Hillary, and TS are about all it has going for it. Sheila, you should check it out anyway since the Gerard Butler-without-his shirt scenes will more than make up for lack of plot for you. ;o) (edit from the future - ok, now I know who this guy is and appreciate the movie more, ha ha!)
Did they seriously consider Colin Firth and Hugh Grant for James Bond?!?!?!? I'm sorry - much as I love those guys and their movies - James Bond?!?!?!!? I think Craig is an excellent selection from what I've seen of his work. Or myabe I'm just smitten . . . No, he's great for it.
Back to real life. Class wasn't too grueling since we were all sore from yesterday and Master Han took pity on us. The backs of my thighs - yow! Still trying to figure out what we did yesterday. There were a couple stretches we don't do often, but I didn't thing they'd affect the back of the thigh. Maybe it was because I got into the hurdler's stretch farther than ever. (laying head on the ground) We kicked paddles tonight, which is always fun, and rarely done.
Swimming was great this morning. Everyone was happy - no goggles catastrophes, plus we had new goggles so that there were plenty to go around - even for me. It's weird because I can see underwater with goggles almost as well as if I was wearing my glasses. The Prawn was starting to swim a wee bit with her head above water. She can go a nice long way with her face in the water. Fishy can float on his back better than ever. He's experimenting with the crawl. We shall see. We had the pool to ourselves again. Actually I think there may have been a couple of older folks lurking at the end of the deeper pool, but I didn't see them until they left. The locker room wasn't as bloody freezing as it usually is, but the hot shower still felt great after the trek though there. They have a great setup - family locker roms with pump soap in the showers, toilet, sink - everything you need except an outlet. I haven't needed one yet, but it'd be nice in January to be able to use a hair-dryer before going out into the arctic winter.
Got apple cider and pumpkin doughnuts for breakfast. I do love the Fall. Today was simply gorgeous - crisp and fresh this morning when we went to the pool, and balmy when we left. Ahhhh!
Fishy battled the Slug to a stalemate in chess yesterday. He's been doing really great drawings, too. Mollusc has been inventing new creatures and drawing them. She's making a lapbook about at least one of them. Sluggie continues to shine in the physical realm. She has advanced sparring tomorrow - always fun to watch. The Prawn - well other than making illegal chess moves and painting her arms brown - has been able to crank out some nice artwork lately and is getting her math (place value) figured out pretty well. Not bad for a 3 year old! She got a tip on her belt on Thursday and so did the Fishy. I'm so proud!
The kids have gotten quiet upstairs. Hope that doesn't mean something bad. . .
Guess I'll go rest me achin' bod in the tub a bit.
Bong Sewer, as Hagrid would say. :o)
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
I love Wednesdays! and the Dangers of Mulled Mead
Wednesdays are great! We don't have to go anywhere, don't have to get up early, just ahhhhhhhh!
We put the last coat of paint on the bedroom today and peeled all the tape. Wow! It's lovely!!
Stupid phone keeps ringing with Out of Area and Toll Free numbers. I've resorted to telling them "wrong number" when they ask for John. It IS the wrong number if they want to talk to someone who gives a shit. (oops) We're on the Do Not Call list, but all the non-profit places can use loopholes for fundraising. Hah! Fundraising. At this point we need to be on the receiving end of a fundraiser! We have GOT to do something about our financial situation. We're making headway in the grocery arena, which is our biggest area of expenditure, so that's something.
So we've been reaping unforeseen benefits from my new writing focus. As in, writing this stuff makes me randy, baby! Cool! That is a great bonus! Hope I can sell some. My first short story is going to end up well over my projeced 4,000 words. It's prolly going to be closer to 7,000 or 8,000. I've been checking out publishers and have some online places where I'm going to start.
The kids were painting pictures in the kitchen while John and I finished painting the bedroom. The Prawn decided to paint her arms brown. Sigh. Sluggie and Fishy are still working on the general mess. Mollusc is just thrilled she didn't participate.
CDs of the day: Sting: Brand New Day, Sting: Sacred Love, Children of Dune soundtrack. Don't tell me I'm in a rut. That's how it goes when I'm writing. Can you say "repeat?" Besides, you can never get too much Sting, or dare I say even enough Sting? Hubba hubba (LOL! does anyone actually say that?) Maybe I sould try to get some of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack stuff. Sheila, have you got that? Obi-Wan has a voice like an angel. :o)
I was thinking today about up-and-coming songwriters and wondering who the next generation will have that could be anything like Sting. No one else is that cerebral. No one else seems to have that kind of complexity. And all the references to classic poetry and literature - who else has a brain like that who can write music these days? Anyone? John says Sarah MacWokwok (what the Prawn calls Sarah McLachlan) has some of that. OK, maybe. But mostly it's just cuz he's hot for her. ;o)
I came up with a name for the Production Company today: "Rickety Ladder Productions." Actually, I have to Google that and see if it's taken. We were painting when I thought of it. Can you guess how it came to mind? ;o)
So, painting with your significant other in various stages of undress (to save your clothes of course) can be a fun marriage builder. I'd like to recommend to anyone who's considering having a room painted that they choose to do it themselves, even if they're rich. You hang out scantily clad, climb up and down ladders (ho HO!), help each other with tricky bits, and end up talking and laughing a lot. It doesn't hurt to be randy from penning erotica, either, LOL! Most people pay to have a good night out together, but I have to recommend this as a great date AND money saver! We're going to have to find another room to paint. Too bad paint is so expensive!
Tomorrow I teach Little Kid class again. I can't believe it will be Thursday already. I can't get over how much better class is going since it was changed to 10:00 am. (from 11:00) Amazing what a difference one hour can make. The Prawn knows her form and blocking set now, which just blows me away.
Fishy started reading Harry Potter a while ago. Zoiks! It's funny, he seems so young at 6, yet Mollusc could have read it at 4 had I let her. Boys are so different. Last night hecame down from their room to complain that the Prawn had taken one of his pieces with an illegal move in chess. He was cracking me up. I guess Prawn is going to have to learn the rules.
Well, the laptop is making disconcerting noises, so I'm gonna post this before it explodes or implodes, or whatever. . .
I just found out yesterday (or the day before) that there are spaces between the dots in an ellipsis. I feel so stupid. . .
Oh - the mulled mead! I had a partial bottle that had been around I while, so I decided to try mulling it (it came with the spices.) I simmered it with the spices, got it nice and hot, and then I tried to drink it. Holy moly! You know how you have to blow on a hot drink and then sort of slurp it if it's too hot? Well, this was nice and hot, so I blew on it, and when I breathed in with my face in the mug (big mug - maybe that was my downfall) I nearly asphyxiated myself with alcohol fumes. It was good when I finally managed to get some in, but SERIOUSLY! How do people drink this stuff hot without killing themselves? The alcohol fumes are rising because the mead is hot, and then you blow on the surface, so they curl up even more, and if you want to be able to breathe, forget it. But now that I think about it, I bet a smaller-mouthed mug would help a lot. I'll post if it does.
We put the last coat of paint on the bedroom today and peeled all the tape. Wow! It's lovely!!
Stupid phone keeps ringing with Out of Area and Toll Free numbers. I've resorted to telling them "wrong number" when they ask for John. It IS the wrong number if they want to talk to someone who gives a shit. (oops) We're on the Do Not Call list, but all the non-profit places can use loopholes for fundraising. Hah! Fundraising. At this point we need to be on the receiving end of a fundraiser! We have GOT to do something about our financial situation. We're making headway in the grocery arena, which is our biggest area of expenditure, so that's something.
So we've been reaping unforeseen benefits from my new writing focus. As in, writing this stuff makes me randy, baby! Cool! That is a great bonus! Hope I can sell some. My first short story is going to end up well over my projeced 4,000 words. It's prolly going to be closer to 7,000 or 8,000. I've been checking out publishers and have some online places where I'm going to start.
The kids were painting pictures in the kitchen while John and I finished painting the bedroom. The Prawn decided to paint her arms brown. Sigh. Sluggie and Fishy are still working on the general mess. Mollusc is just thrilled she didn't participate.
CDs of the day: Sting: Brand New Day, Sting: Sacred Love, Children of Dune soundtrack. Don't tell me I'm in a rut. That's how it goes when I'm writing. Can you say "repeat?" Besides, you can never get too much Sting, or dare I say even enough Sting? Hubba hubba (LOL! does anyone actually say that?) Maybe I sould try to get some of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack stuff. Sheila, have you got that? Obi-Wan has a voice like an angel. :o)
I was thinking today about up-and-coming songwriters and wondering who the next generation will have that could be anything like Sting. No one else is that cerebral. No one else seems to have that kind of complexity. And all the references to classic poetry and literature - who else has a brain like that who can write music these days? Anyone? John says Sarah MacWokwok (what the Prawn calls Sarah McLachlan) has some of that. OK, maybe. But mostly it's just cuz he's hot for her. ;o)
I came up with a name for the Production Company today: "Rickety Ladder Productions." Actually, I have to Google that and see if it's taken. We were painting when I thought of it. Can you guess how it came to mind? ;o)
So, painting with your significant other in various stages of undress (to save your clothes of course) can be a fun marriage builder. I'd like to recommend to anyone who's considering having a room painted that they choose to do it themselves, even if they're rich. You hang out scantily clad, climb up and down ladders (ho HO!), help each other with tricky bits, and end up talking and laughing a lot. It doesn't hurt to be randy from penning erotica, either, LOL! Most people pay to have a good night out together, but I have to recommend this as a great date AND money saver! We're going to have to find another room to paint. Too bad paint is so expensive!
Tomorrow I teach Little Kid class again. I can't believe it will be Thursday already. I can't get over how much better class is going since it was changed to 10:00 am. (from 11:00) Amazing what a difference one hour can make. The Prawn knows her form and blocking set now, which just blows me away.
Fishy started reading Harry Potter a while ago. Zoiks! It's funny, he seems so young at 6, yet Mollusc could have read it at 4 had I let her. Boys are so different. Last night hecame down from their room to complain that the Prawn had taken one of his pieces with an illegal move in chess. He was cracking me up. I guess Prawn is going to have to learn the rules.
Well, the laptop is making disconcerting noises, so I'm gonna post this before it explodes or implodes, or whatever. . .
I just found out yesterday (or the day before) that there are spaces between the dots in an ellipsis. I feel so stupid. . .
Oh - the mulled mead! I had a partial bottle that had been around I while, so I decided to try mulling it (it came with the spices.) I simmered it with the spices, got it nice and hot, and then I tried to drink it. Holy moly! You know how you have to blow on a hot drink and then sort of slurp it if it's too hot? Well, this was nice and hot, so I blew on it, and when I breathed in with my face in the mug (big mug - maybe that was my downfall) I nearly asphyxiated myself with alcohol fumes. It was good when I finally managed to get some in, but SERIOUSLY! How do people drink this stuff hot without killing themselves? The alcohol fumes are rising because the mead is hot, and then you blow on the surface, so they curl up even more, and if you want to be able to breathe, forget it. But now that I think about it, I bet a smaller-mouthed mug would help a lot. I'll post if it does.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Yippee! I have a laptop on which to type my stories. This is important with over-the-shoulder-watching children. Ours blew up but I have a broken one from John's work that can still do word processing.
So John got the thing hooked up to our network ( so I can print) and checked it out by going to Drudge. Imagine my surprise to see this. OK, for some reason, it wasn't that big of a shock. But cool, nonetheless. Poor Pierce, though. I'll have to invite them both over for a consolation/congratulations party. :oP
I made the kitten a bed today - just fleece stuffed with fluff and serged around the edges. She seems to like it. I'll have to try to get a pic up eventually.
John got an old video of Marvin the Martian at Family Video. I have to admit to being utterly clueless in this realm since we (sis and I) couldn't watch Sat. morning cartoons as kids. It's entertaing - not stellar, but entertaining. Mollusc thought it was entertaining that he's called Marvin and is from outer space, since we've been in Hitchhiker mode lately. Twelve, huh? (If that makes no sense, read this book.)
I'm getting psyched to read the Thomas Covenant books again. Can't wait 'til they get here!
CDs of the day: A Festival of Baroque, Sting: Brand New Day, Sting: Sacred Love, Children of Dune soundtrack, Korean pop mix, Shim Tae Yoon (Korean dude)
Back to the typing!
So John got the thing hooked up to our network ( so I can print) and checked it out by going to Drudge. Imagine my surprise to see this. OK, for some reason, it wasn't that big of a shock. But cool, nonetheless. Poor Pierce, though. I'll have to invite them both over for a consolation/congratulations party. :oP
I made the kitten a bed today - just fleece stuffed with fluff and serged around the edges. She seems to like it. I'll have to try to get a pic up eventually.
John got an old video of Marvin the Martian at Family Video. I have to admit to being utterly clueless in this realm since we (sis and I) couldn't watch Sat. morning cartoons as kids. It's entertaing - not stellar, but entertaining. Mollusc thought it was entertaining that he's called Marvin and is from outer space, since we've been in Hitchhiker mode lately. Twelve, huh? (If that makes no sense, read this book.)
I'm getting psyched to read the Thomas Covenant books again. Can't wait 'til they get here!
CDs of the day: A Festival of Baroque, Sting: Brand New Day, Sting: Sacred Love, Children of Dune soundtrack, Korean pop mix, Shim Tae Yoon (Korean dude)
Back to the typing!
Monday, October 10, 2005
The Accidental Blogger
My sister accidentally started a blog today. How does that happen? It's easier than you might think!
I did some web research today and I think I'm going to start out with e-publishing in this new genre. It's quicker and seems to pay a little better, initially. Might be a good way to build a portfolio of published work for later breaking into the world of paper and ink.
Tonight was sparring - another night of bruises and injuries. Why we love it so much is a mystery, LOL! Actually, my biggest smash is from class - just a fluke during self-defense. My partner was throwing me and I somehow landed with the outside of my thigh on his heel. Poor guy - his toes were bent under instead of out straight, so he got reverse turf toes AND some ankle damage. And poor me cuz all my weight came down on his heel, so I have a big red lump that will no doubt turn technicolour. I have a lovely blueberry bruise (you know those deep blue ones?) on my hip from last sparring. Oh and I kicked someone in the elbow tonight so I have a gorgeous bruise coming in on that foot. I swear the pool is going to call Social Services someday because of all my bruises, LOL! At least we're most often there with the Master's wife and kids, and she can back up my story. :oP John did something to his foot inside - not sure what. Yikes!
We took all 4 kitties to the vet for their anti-louse shots. Fishy is fascinated by the heartworm models there and came up with the spectacularly disgusting idea of "Gummy Heartworms" today! Mollusc said they should come in a candy heart. Bleh! LOL! They obviously have my sick and twisted sense of humour. :o) (I'm so proud! Tee hee!)
CDs of the day -- Sting: Brand New Day (has been WAAAAAY too long since I listened to this) and Sting: Sacred Love I tried to put in a backup copy of Chess I actually found, but the bloody DVD player can't see it. Wah. Will no doubt be locked into the Sting music groove tomorrow, too. Children of Dune might get to sneak in while I'm writing though.
We got some Korean prase cards today and a bunch of workbooks. Oh - Sheila, one of the workbooks is for you! :o) I have quite the assortment. And the Master's wife got the full CD of one of the Korean reggae groups so I'll get to hear that soon. :o) The kids can't get enough of the one song of theirs we have.
So much to do, so little time. I'm off for now! I teach kid class tomorrow, so I need to get a semi-early start on the night.
I did some web research today and I think I'm going to start out with e-publishing in this new genre. It's quicker and seems to pay a little better, initially. Might be a good way to build a portfolio of published work for later breaking into the world of paper and ink.
Tonight was sparring - another night of bruises and injuries. Why we love it so much is a mystery, LOL! Actually, my biggest smash is from class - just a fluke during self-defense. My partner was throwing me and I somehow landed with the outside of my thigh on his heel. Poor guy - his toes were bent under instead of out straight, so he got reverse turf toes AND some ankle damage. And poor me cuz all my weight came down on his heel, so I have a big red lump that will no doubt turn technicolour. I have a lovely blueberry bruise (you know those deep blue ones?) on my hip from last sparring. Oh and I kicked someone in the elbow tonight so I have a gorgeous bruise coming in on that foot. I swear the pool is going to call Social Services someday because of all my bruises, LOL! At least we're most often there with the Master's wife and kids, and she can back up my story. :oP John did something to his foot inside - not sure what. Yikes!
We took all 4 kitties to the vet for their anti-louse shots. Fishy is fascinated by the heartworm models there and came up with the spectacularly disgusting idea of "Gummy Heartworms" today! Mollusc said they should come in a candy heart. Bleh! LOL! They obviously have my sick and twisted sense of humour. :o) (I'm so proud! Tee hee!)
CDs of the day -- Sting: Brand New Day (has been WAAAAAY too long since I listened to this) and Sting: Sacred Love I tried to put in a backup copy of Chess I actually found, but the bloody DVD player can't see it. Wah. Will no doubt be locked into the Sting music groove tomorrow, too. Children of Dune might get to sneak in while I'm writing though.
We got some Korean prase cards today and a bunch of workbooks. Oh - Sheila, one of the workbooks is for you! :o) I have quite the assortment. And the Master's wife got the full CD of one of the Korean reggae groups so I'll get to hear that soon. :o) The kids can't get enough of the one song of theirs we have.
So much to do, so little time. I'm off for now! I teach kid class tomorrow, so I need to get a semi-early start on the night.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Bittersweet
I think Dagny has finally weaned herself. I guess she got plenty of nursing since she went 3 yrs and 9 mos. It's strange to think I'll never nurse another baby after 10.5 years nearly straight, and 4 babies. But it's good to be moving on, growing up together as a family rather than out. Every stage is the best when you have kids, and I'd never go back even if I could because it just keeps getting better. How sappy of me. :o) But it's true.
Woo hoo! The second coat of Bordello paint is on. What a difference. Tomorrow night we have class and sparring, so the last coat will prolly go on on Tuesday. In the meantime I'm appreciating the more intimate atmosphere the colour has created. Can't wait to get our saari curtains etc. back up. Oh and the hanging chair will FINALLY be going up. *wicked grin*
I worked on the story all day and finished it up. Maybe I was inspired by the paint job. :) It needs a rewrite now, but I love it! John's going to be busy tonght, though, cuz I'm all inspired now. Sheila, I might need you to proof the story for me. Oh, yeah - I have a newspaper article I'm mailing you. Hopefully you haven't seen it. I just happened to catch it in a USA today John brought home from his trip to MN. It's sure to make you randy, baby!
Trillian continues to be amazingly cute. She discovered our bed today and spent many hours reposing regally upon it. She's a big fan of chicken and turkey and will eat 'til she's dangerously close to Critical Mass. The Kitchen is her favourite room by far. Like Ennie, you can tell she was abandoned because she really appreciates a fine meal - or ANY meal for that matter.
I made Potato Thing today. I'm going to have to make that more often - sure is easy and oh so good. It's basically this recipe except you use REAL cheese instead of Velveeta (I did spend most of my life - to date - in WI, you know) and mine has onion and ground pepper, oh and corn flakes instead of potato chips.
Found a nice Riesling at Trader Joe's. Same maker, same year, diff bottle, but maybe they do a diff one for TJs. Yummy.
Oh my! a kitten is climbing my back! Funny girl.
I've been playing the piano again lately. Seems to go in spurts (wink wink nudge nudge... nah...) I love the Chess album and am so glad John got the piano book for it. That stuff is great fun to play. I love the album so much that I need another copy of my original burned cuz I keep losing them all over the place (car, house, etc.) and the kids drag them all over since they love the music, too. I'm going to have to see if there's a DVD available of the play. That would be fun.
Now I have to go make an online house payment before I forget, and then we will be poor until Friday, LOL! I hate it when that happens, but c'est la Vie!
("Life. Don't talk to me about life." ~Marvin the paranoid android)
Woo hoo! The second coat of Bordello paint is on. What a difference. Tomorrow night we have class and sparring, so the last coat will prolly go on on Tuesday. In the meantime I'm appreciating the more intimate atmosphere the colour has created. Can't wait to get our saari curtains etc. back up. Oh and the hanging chair will FINALLY be going up. *wicked grin*
I worked on the story all day and finished it up. Maybe I was inspired by the paint job. :) It needs a rewrite now, but I love it! John's going to be busy tonght, though, cuz I'm all inspired now. Sheila, I might need you to proof the story for me. Oh, yeah - I have a newspaper article I'm mailing you. Hopefully you haven't seen it. I just happened to catch it in a USA today John brought home from his trip to MN. It's sure to make you randy, baby!
Trillian continues to be amazingly cute. She discovered our bed today and spent many hours reposing regally upon it. She's a big fan of chicken and turkey and will eat 'til she's dangerously close to Critical Mass. The Kitchen is her favourite room by far. Like Ennie, you can tell she was abandoned because she really appreciates a fine meal - or ANY meal for that matter.
I made Potato Thing today. I'm going to have to make that more often - sure is easy and oh so good. It's basically this recipe except you use REAL cheese instead of Velveeta (I did spend most of my life - to date - in WI, you know) and mine has onion and ground pepper, oh and corn flakes instead of potato chips.
Found a nice Riesling at Trader Joe's. Same maker, same year, diff bottle, but maybe they do a diff one for TJs. Yummy.
Oh my! a kitten is climbing my back! Funny girl.
I've been playing the piano again lately. Seems to go in spurts (wink wink nudge nudge... nah...) I love the Chess album and am so glad John got the piano book for it. That stuff is great fun to play. I love the album so much that I need another copy of my original burned cuz I keep losing them all over the place (car, house, etc.) and the kids drag them all over since they love the music, too. I'm going to have to see if there's a DVD available of the play. That would be fun.
Now I have to go make an online house payment before I forget, and then we will be poor until Friday, LOL! I hate it when that happens, but c'est la Vie!
("Life. Don't talk to me about life." ~Marvin the paranoid android)
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Paint!!!!
The painting adventure is going well!
We started with the grey primer:
Then we moved on to the COLOUR!!
It will still need 2 more coats, but I'm loving it already - Bordello colours as a friend put it. ;o) You can see our mango bathroom in that pic, too. I'm really happy with how that came out. When everything is all cleaned up, I'll post some "after" pics. :)
Today while we were painting, I heard a whistle blowing and I was wondering WHO was foolish enough to buy a whistle for my children! Then I remembered that it was ME. (argh) It came with a little survival guide from Scholastic. Maybe I'll bury it in the backyard. I can always tell them that they get to dig for buried treasure if they figure out it's missing...
We started with the grey primer:
Then we moved on to the COLOUR!!
It will still need 2 more coats, but I'm loving it already - Bordello colours as a friend put it. ;o) You can see our mango bathroom in that pic, too. I'm really happy with how that came out. When everything is all cleaned up, I'll post some "after" pics. :)
Today while we were painting, I heard a whistle blowing and I was wondering WHO was foolish enough to buy a whistle for my children! Then I remembered that it was ME. (argh) It came with a little survival guide from Scholastic. Maybe I'll bury it in the backyard. I can always tell them that they get to dig for buried treasure if they figure out it's missing...
Trillian has become quite the blogger. She really likes to hang out here in my lap while I type. I can't believe how much she can eat in one go. She's definitely getting some meat on her little bony body.
I ordered that ring I was coveting. John made me do it. He said it was either that or get a SOLD sticker and wear it on my bum. ;o) I also won a lot of 8 Stephen Donaldson books on ebay. Sadly only 6 are the Thomas Covenant books, so I'll still be missing some, but the price was right! ($10.60 shipped)
I've been re-inventing myself because - well - it was just time! So I've made a switch in style to some rather Bohemian type stuff something like this (WOW! looks like I'm not the only one!) and am actually wearing skirts (so not my usual style!) and loving it, but I'm not sure what to do about cold weather attire. I guess I still need to figure out my style there. I'm a no-shoes kind of person for the most part. And I'm DEFINITELY not a nylons person. Here's what I'd REALLY like to wear but where can you wear something like that? And I'm clueless about footwear. I've never paid attention to what women put on their feet. I know a few basics like "no white after Labour Day", and I know combat boots are a no-no, (not that I want to wear those - had enough of that in the Air Guard back in my airplane-fixing days!) but I guess I'm going to have to start paying attention. It's kind of pitiful how clueless I am about this stuff, LOL!
Had a good breakthrough in my story today. I wasn't sure where it was headed, but it suddenly came to me what needed to happen next, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm all inspired to sit down and write the next part now. It seems to be growing out of short-story length. I'm not sure what it's becoming. I think I'm going to need a Nom de Plume, though. Can't have children's books published under the same name as this adult fiction. :-O (assuming I do get published, LOL!) I'm still waiting to hear back from the publisher about my latest manuscript, and I have to work on tightening up another one I'm polishing up to send out.
Time to go be productive!
Friday, October 07, 2005
Allo, Salut!
Woo Hoo! Bought the O-Zone CD! Can't wait til it shows up!
Swimming today was a bit of a bummer for Prawn today due to a mask malfunction, but she got over it eventually.
Trillian has turned into quite the purrbox. Such a happy little bit of a cat!
I lost my wedding ring a week ago yesterday. I was pushing the kids on the merry-go-round at the park (a bunch of us homeschoolers went together after homeschool TKD class) and I must have gotten a bit too energetic - well plus my fingers have been shrinking as I shed more weight - because it just flew off. It wasn't my actual wedding ring - lost that down the tub drain years ago. This one was one I got while pregnant with the Fishy because my (replacement) wedding ring had gotten too tight. At least it wasn't an expensive one. I certainly got my $30.00 out of it. :o) I have been coveting this ring for quite some time now, so I suppose I should order it. I can't wear my 1st replacement because they soldered that to my engagement ring and the diamond fell out of that shortly after we moved here. D'oh! But I've never been a ring person and the diamond sticking out of that has always been a bother. Just think if I'd found the One Ring instead of Bilbo. The story would have ended about 2 chapters in when I lost or destroyed it!
Anyway, it's been nice for sparring, since the one I'd been wearing has cut my finger a few times (cutting into the finger beside it when I block kicks) so having no ring has been good there. I should have just taken it off during sparring, but I was afraid of losing it. The one I want to order has rounder edges so maybe it will be OK.
I watched Shakespeare in Love last night. Kinda wish I hadn't wasted my time. I kept waiting for it to get better, and then I just started fastforwarding. The acting was great, but the story just wasn't a gripper. Dame Judy Dench was a very good Queen. It was a bit unsettling when Will was making out with Master Kent (actually a woman disguised as a boy.) But that's pretty Shakespeare-ish in itself (no doubt intentionally so.) I had to follow it up with some Children of Dune just to end on a good note. I'm going to watch Tomb Raider again with John and at some point we'll get to Frequency. Mead might be required *wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean? Say no more...*
New post-Prawnie low on weight today. I've lost about 21 lbs since I got serious about dropping the rest. I don't actually know where I want to end up since I'm a lot more muscular now and I know that my ideal weight will be more than it used to be. I guess I'll just figure it out when I get there, though it's nice to know what you're shooting for... Maybe 15 more lbs...
I'm happy:
I also appear to have developed a squint in my left eye, because I think all the pictures I tried to take came out that way. ;o) <-- (squinty)
EXCITEMENT! Followed by a plunge into disappointment. I just saw some comments for the first time - people are actually READING this? OK, there was 1 real one, but the rest turned out to be SPAM (Acronymn for Super Pressed Ass Meat as my SIL explains it.)
Swimming today was a bit of a bummer for Prawn today due to a mask malfunction, but she got over it eventually.
Trillian has turned into quite the purrbox. Such a happy little bit of a cat!
I lost my wedding ring a week ago yesterday. I was pushing the kids on the merry-go-round at the park (a bunch of us homeschoolers went together after homeschool TKD class) and I must have gotten a bit too energetic - well plus my fingers have been shrinking as I shed more weight - because it just flew off. It wasn't my actual wedding ring - lost that down the tub drain years ago. This one was one I got while pregnant with the Fishy because my (replacement) wedding ring had gotten too tight. At least it wasn't an expensive one. I certainly got my $30.00 out of it. :o) I have been coveting this ring for quite some time now, so I suppose I should order it. I can't wear my 1st replacement because they soldered that to my engagement ring and the diamond fell out of that shortly after we moved here. D'oh! But I've never been a ring person and the diamond sticking out of that has always been a bother. Just think if I'd found the One Ring instead of Bilbo. The story would have ended about 2 chapters in when I lost or destroyed it!
Anyway, it's been nice for sparring, since the one I'd been wearing has cut my finger a few times (cutting into the finger beside it when I block kicks) so having no ring has been good there. I should have just taken it off during sparring, but I was afraid of losing it. The one I want to order has rounder edges so maybe it will be OK.
I watched Shakespeare in Love last night. Kinda wish I hadn't wasted my time. I kept waiting for it to get better, and then I just started fastforwarding. The acting was great, but the story just wasn't a gripper. Dame Judy Dench was a very good Queen. It was a bit unsettling when Will was making out with Master Kent (actually a woman disguised as a boy.) But that's pretty Shakespeare-ish in itself (no doubt intentionally so.) I had to follow it up with some Children of Dune just to end on a good note. I'm going to watch Tomb Raider again with John and at some point we'll get to Frequency. Mead might be required *wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean? Say no more...*
New post-Prawnie low on weight today. I've lost about 21 lbs since I got serious about dropping the rest. I don't actually know where I want to end up since I'm a lot more muscular now and I know that my ideal weight will be more than it used to be. I guess I'll just figure it out when I get there, though it's nice to know what you're shooting for... Maybe 15 more lbs...
I'm happy:
I also appear to have developed a squint in my left eye, because I think all the pictures I tried to take came out that way. ;o) <-- (squinty)
EXCITEMENT! Followed by a plunge into disappointment. I just saw some comments for the first time - people are actually READING this? OK, there was 1 real one, but the rest turned out to be SPAM (Acronymn for Super Pressed Ass Meat as my SIL explains it.)
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Oy Vey!
I think Master Han was trying to kill us tonight, LOL! Man, what a workout. We did 3 step sparring and holy cow! It was a huge workout but also really good. I'm still working on that jump spinning back kick, but it's coming along, and I tried a new one for the first time - a combo af Nalyabang and inside crescent kick, so it's a kind of jumping spinning inside crescent kick - very cool once you get the hang of it, but also hard to use without hurting anyone - like spinning hook kick, it's definitely a kick to be pulled! I was lucky I threw it really high - or I guess I should say my partner was lucky! Here's a pic of the kick (last pic on the page,) but you prolly need a vid to really understand this kick. I swear my face was glowing like a nuclear test site after 45 mins of continuous 3 step with the bigger guys.
On a pretty much unrelated note, here's a great new crayon I just discovered:
So tonight I think it will be Frequency. Or will in be Shakespeare in Love? Hmmmm which one is John more likely to watch with me since he returns tomorrow?? Whichever movie it is, it's going to have to air by the Jacuzzi. :o) I have bruises in places I've never (knowingly anyway) gotten them before from tonight's session.
Swimming tomorrow! Yay! I can't believe how much the kids have all learned simply from swimming in a warm, zero-entry pool where they are comfortable. Fishy floats on his back really well now. The Prawn can do forward (double!) and backward somersaults in the water and swim about 12 feet with the current. Mollusc and Sluggie are improving what they already knew. We worked a bit on side stroke last week - had the whole fabulous pool to ourselves for much of the time. When someone else did show up, it was only a dad with his cute little red-headed baby. Plenty of room for all!
On a pretty much unrelated note, here's a great new crayon I just discovered:
So tonight I think it will be Frequency. Or will in be Shakespeare in Love? Hmmmm which one is John more likely to watch with me since he returns tomorrow?? Whichever movie it is, it's going to have to air by the Jacuzzi. :o) I have bruises in places I've never (knowingly anyway) gotten them before from tonight's session.
Swimming tomorrow! Yay! I can't believe how much the kids have all learned simply from swimming in a warm, zero-entry pool where they are comfortable. Fishy floats on his back really well now. The Prawn can do forward (double!) and backward somersaults in the water and swim about 12 feet with the current. Mollusc and Sluggie are improving what they already knew. We worked a bit on side stroke last week - had the whole fabulous pool to ourselves for much of the time. When someone else did show up, it was only a dad with his cute little red-headed baby. Plenty of room for all!
Talking to Myself
After a dearth of blogging activity, here I go making it up in one fell swoop. Thanks for the fun emailing fest, Sheila. :) Here's a little bit of what happened here today:
and then:
Awwww!
Yesterday: check out those toes!
Spot the kitten: (watching BBC mini of Hitchhiker's Guide)
That's right!
Humph! My FTP prog is refusing to upload some of my pics. Maybe that's enough for now...
and then:
Awwww!
Yesterday: check out those toes!
Spot the kitten: (watching BBC mini of Hitchhiker's Guide)
That's right!
Humph! My FTP prog is refusing to upload some of my pics. Maybe that's enough for now...
Non-sanctimonious Meditations and Links Galore
"I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a handsome man can bestow" ~not quite Mr. Darcy :o)
So Tomb Raider was actually pretty interesting - kind of Indiana Jones meets Spy Kids and Angels & Demons. I thought it ironic that Angelina Jolie had to put on a British accent and Daniel Craig put on an American one - not too bad of one, though - maybe a little cowboy twang on those "R"s. Still prefer the British one by far. :o) I did NOT expect to see good old Arnie Rimmer as Hillary. What fun! He made a great Hillary.
So thanks for the heads up on O-Zone, Sheila. Any way I can get the Romanian version? I've learned all kinds of stuff, like what a meme is, and that William Gibson has another book out I'd like to read.
I really need to do some picking up and de-clutterning. That's why I'm sitting here blogging. Tonight I have class and sparring. I've been practicing my jumping back kick and hope to try it out tonight. I think I'm getting better at the jumping-backwards roundhouse kick when separating from close sparring. I bet there's a name for that, but I don't know it yet. I need to get going on my water drinking. It helps a LOT with energy during class.
Since my monitor is going out on me yet again, I guess I'll take that as a sign that I need to blogoff.
So Tomb Raider was actually pretty interesting - kind of Indiana Jones meets Spy Kids and Angels & Demons. I thought it ironic that Angelina Jolie had to put on a British accent and Daniel Craig put on an American one - not too bad of one, though - maybe a little cowboy twang on those "R"s. Still prefer the British one by far. :o) I did NOT expect to see good old Arnie Rimmer as Hillary. What fun! He made a great Hillary.
So thanks for the heads up on O-Zone, Sheila. Any way I can get the Romanian version? I've learned all kinds of stuff, like what a meme is, and that William Gibson has another book out I'd like to read.
I really need to do some picking up and de-clutterning. That's why I'm sitting here blogging. Tonight I have class and sparring. I've been practicing my jumping back kick and hope to try it out tonight. I think I'm getting better at the jumping-backwards roundhouse kick when separating from close sparring. I bet there's a name for that, but I don't know it yet. I need to get going on my water drinking. It helps a LOT with energy during class.
Since my monitor is going out on me yet again, I guess I'll take that as a sign that I need to blogoff.
Speaking of strange music
I really am going to have to find a link to this Korean Reggae I got from a friend. It's so fun!!
Nothing as good as some numanuma!
Well thanks for the site, Sheila! :) Where do you GET these things? I have to say that I need a copy of this song now, so LMK if you can find one. :) I find myself pretty much doing the same thing along with this dude. Catchy tune! I haven't got the eyebrow thing down yet though. I'm running it the background while I post. :o) I wonder what kind of lizard he's got in the tank there... (edit from the future: the group is O-Zone, the CD is Dragostea Din Tei)
So with John gone, I went to the lib to pick up some flicks. Did I get some chick flicks to enjoy? Nope. Embarrassingly, I ended up borrowing Tomb Raider, primarily because it has Daniel Craig in it. He has the most startling eyes . Very inspirational for a story I'm writing, LOL! That's not to say that I wouldn't get Pride& Prejudice if it were out already. As it is, I think I've nearly licked all the tracks off my BBC P&P DVDs. (check out that code-work!) I actually got some other flicks, too: Frida, Frequency (Dennis Quaid *grin* ) and another one I can't recall right now. Gotta love free movies! Oh Yeah - Shakespeare in Love. Any good? I think I recall Sheila raving about the guy in it...
Oh scary! My monitor blinked off again. It has started this disconcerting habit of going black with faint rainbow shadows lately. Wah. This time a sharp rap on the right side took care of it though...
Mollusc wants to name our next 'puter Deep Thought. I think she's got something there.
The library didn't have the Stephen R. Donaldson books I needed - only vol 3 of the first set and then the 2nd set. Bummer - guess I'll have to put them on hold. Why oh why did I sell mine?? Maybe they're still at Frugal. Wanna check for me, Sheila?
I see that Trillian has been left on my bed in a baby basket. She's such a cutie! She's gotten to the point where she bursts out purring just about every time we pick her up now. And I heard her meow for the first time today. What a little voice!
We went walking in the woods today and saw some neat stuff - Dragon Eggs, deer tracks, squirrel tracks, turquoise and red leaf-hoppers - oh and we caught a baby garter snake in the yard when we got home. He was very little! Pencil-girth and maybe 8 inches long. Herbie II I guess. We were collecting leaves and trying to do some tree identification, but that kind of fell apart when I realised our book is the Western US book that we got in California. :oP Rats.
I made some pumpkin bar thinggies today and they're great. Maybe tomorrow I'll blog the recipe.
I've been writing pretty consistently, but it's tough when I keep getting interrupted. But, c'est la vie, and that's even more life experience to work into a story somewhere, right? I'm interested to see where this story is going - eager to find out what happens next! I suppose I ought to be working toward a specific ending, but sometimes that how it goes for me - I find out as I go along, then go back to fine-tune everything.
Malya HEE, Malya HOO, Malya HO, Malya HA HA!! bop bop boppity bop - Sheila PLEASE find this song for me!! Numa numa yey, numa numa yey, numa numa numa yey...
OK, I have to publish this before my monitor dies again and doesn't recover... (It went out again a second ago.)
So with John gone, I went to the lib to pick up some flicks. Did I get some chick flicks to enjoy? Nope. Embarrassingly, I ended up borrowing Tomb Raider, primarily because it has Daniel Craig in it. He has the most startling eyes . Very inspirational for a story I'm writing, LOL! That's not to say that I wouldn't get Pride& Prejudice if it were out already. As it is, I think I've nearly licked all the tracks off my BBC P&P DVDs. (check out that code-work!) I actually got some other flicks, too: Frida, Frequency (Dennis Quaid *grin* ) and another one I can't recall right now. Gotta love free movies! Oh Yeah - Shakespeare in Love. Any good? I think I recall Sheila raving about the guy in it...
Oh scary! My monitor blinked off again. It has started this disconcerting habit of going black with faint rainbow shadows lately. Wah. This time a sharp rap on the right side took care of it though...
Mollusc wants to name our next 'puter Deep Thought. I think she's got something there.
The library didn't have the Stephen R. Donaldson books I needed - only vol 3 of the first set and then the 2nd set. Bummer - guess I'll have to put them on hold. Why oh why did I sell mine?? Maybe they're still at Frugal. Wanna check for me, Sheila?
I see that Trillian has been left on my bed in a baby basket. She's such a cutie! She's gotten to the point where she bursts out purring just about every time we pick her up now. And I heard her meow for the first time today. What a little voice!
We went walking in the woods today and saw some neat stuff - Dragon Eggs, deer tracks, squirrel tracks, turquoise and red leaf-hoppers - oh and we caught a baby garter snake in the yard when we got home. He was very little! Pencil-girth and maybe 8 inches long. Herbie II I guess. We were collecting leaves and trying to do some tree identification, but that kind of fell apart when I realised our book is the Western US book that we got in California. :oP Rats.
I made some pumpkin bar thinggies today and they're great. Maybe tomorrow I'll blog the recipe.
I've been writing pretty consistently, but it's tough when I keep getting interrupted. But, c'est la vie, and that's even more life experience to work into a story somewhere, right? I'm interested to see where this story is going - eager to find out what happens next! I suppose I ought to be working toward a specific ending, but sometimes that how it goes for me - I find out as I go along, then go back to fine-tune everything.
Malya HEE, Malya HOO, Malya HO, Malya HA HA!! bop bop boppity bop - Sheila PLEASE find this song for me!! Numa numa yey, numa numa yey, numa numa numa yey...
OK, I have to publish this before my monitor dies again and doesn't recover... (It went out again a second ago.)
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Zaphod is Trillian!
Can't do pics today cuz my FTP puter isn't working right now. Sigh.
Anyway, Zaphod has become Trillian. She sure is a sweetie-pie. And AWFUL sleepy! So far Jet is doing well with her, Emmett is NOT happy about her, and Enya is scared of her, LOL! Soon enough, Enya's mommy instincts will kick in, I'm sure.
Tonight we all watched the old BBC production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The kids are camping on the living room floor with Trillian and whatever other kitties have joined them by now, and I'm about to head off to try to finish my book.
I have to post this beofre I forget. The other day, the Prawn told me "I'm going to get a mommy horse and a daddy horse and they're going to have three babies, and I'm going to name the first one "silver" and I'm going to name another one "meat" and I'm going to name another one "ice.""
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! Classic!
Some of the kids are still awake, making paper dolls, of all things. Mollusc has created a very nice Ford on a stick, complete with satchel and Hitchhiker's Guide book. He has a full complement of people-on-a-stick-friends as well. :) No Vogon yet, though... Marvin turned out particularly well.
Oh yeah - have you seen these? Very nice!! I wonder if Arthur can vomit technicolour yarn like in the movie?? :o)
Oh oh oh!!!!! There are NEW Thomas Covenant books! Apparently the first is out and there is going to be a whole set! Wow! The 3rd Chronicles of Thos Covenant!!! I found out from a dad at TKD and am just tickled pink! Wish I'd kept my old ones. But at least I know our library has them. (note that I didn't spell that with 1 "r" like the caveman!) Soooo, if I ever finish the His Dark Materials set (won't be keeping those, but I do want to find out what happens!) I'll go on to Thos Covenant. Good thing I have a gigantic dictionary. But I want to re-read the Hitchhiker books, too. So many books, so litle time, eh?
Well, if I don't toddle off now, I'll jst be eating more reading time, and we don't want that!!
Anyway, Zaphod has become Trillian. She sure is a sweetie-pie. And AWFUL sleepy! So far Jet is doing well with her, Emmett is NOT happy about her, and Enya is scared of her, LOL! Soon enough, Enya's mommy instincts will kick in, I'm sure.
Tonight we all watched the old BBC production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The kids are camping on the living room floor with Trillian and whatever other kitties have joined them by now, and I'm about to head off to try to finish my book.
I have to post this beofre I forget. The other day, the Prawn told me "I'm going to get a mommy horse and a daddy horse and they're going to have three babies, and I'm going to name the first one "silver" and I'm going to name another one "meat" and I'm going to name another one "ice.""
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! Classic!
Some of the kids are still awake, making paper dolls, of all things. Mollusc has created a very nice Ford on a stick, complete with satchel and Hitchhiker's Guide book. He has a full complement of people-on-a-stick-friends as well. :) No Vogon yet, though... Marvin turned out particularly well.
Oh yeah - have you seen these? Very nice!! I wonder if Arthur can vomit technicolour yarn like in the movie?? :o)
Oh oh oh!!!!! There are NEW Thomas Covenant books! Apparently the first is out and there is going to be a whole set! Wow! The 3rd Chronicles of Thos Covenant!!! I found out from a dad at TKD and am just tickled pink! Wish I'd kept my old ones. But at least I know our library has them. (note that I didn't spell that with 1 "r" like the caveman!) Soooo, if I ever finish the His Dark Materials set (won't be keeping those, but I do want to find out what happens!) I'll go on to Thos Covenant. Good thing I have a gigantic dictionary. But I want to re-read the Hitchhiker books, too. So many books, so litle time, eh?
Well, if I don't toddle off now, I'll jst be eating more reading time, and we don't want that!!
Monday, October 03, 2005
Zaphod's Music Video
Zaphod has joined our family!
We have a new family member! This is Zaphod:
Like the original Zaphod, our Zaphod has some extra parts:
It sure looked like Zaphod was a boy when we first got her, even though that would have been very rare (it would have to be an XXY male) and we had already decided that Zaphod was a great name for our next cat before we were asked if we wanted this kitten, so even though "he" is a girl, I think the kids are stuck on Zaphod as a name. I thought of "Polly" for our polydactyl kitty, but blah, so I suggested "Trillian" since she has "about a trillion toes" but looks like we're gonna stick with the big Z. Although if she trills a lot, maybe we're going to have to change that!
Like the original Zaphod, our Zaphod has some extra parts:
It sure looked like Zaphod was a boy when we first got her, even though that would have been very rare (it would have to be an XXY male) and we had already decided that Zaphod was a great name for our next cat before we were asked if we wanted this kitten, so even though "he" is a girl, I think the kids are stuck on Zaphod as a name. I thought of "Polly" for our polydactyl kitty, but blah, so I suggested "Trillian" since she has "about a trillion toes" but looks like we're gonna stick with the big Z. Although if she trills a lot, maybe we're going to have to change that!
Zaphod went to the vet today and has no fleas, no mites, no Feline Leukemia - whew! What she DOES have are LICE!!! Argh! Fortunately, lice are species specific (HOORAY!!) so Zaphod gets a shot a week for the next four weeks and the other kitties do as well. That's actually not so bad as it could have been if it had been fleas. I hear those are really hard to get rid of.
We picked off one of the lice and mounted it and looked at it under our microscope (yeah - homeschoolers are a bit eccentric, I guess...) and can I just say EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you want to see what we saw under the scope, click here. I don't really recommend it, actually... Especially not if you're planning to eat any time soon.
There, now that you're all itchy (I WARNED you...) maybe you'd like to indulge in some compulsive handwashing. I know I would....
We went to a TKD tournament on Saturday. We only had Sluggie participate since no one else really was fired up to do so and it was too expensive for us all to compete anyway. She did forms and sparring (the only available options) and took gold in both! Yay! The next day we got a call about Zaphod - did we want a kitten that had been dumped at a friend's in-laws' house out in the boonies in Ohio? If so, they'd bring her back with them. And you know the rest of the story. :o)
We're painting our room - FINALLY. We've had the paint since May and are just now painting. We've got grey primer on everything and the ceiling needs one more coat of Antique Ruby and then we'll start slathering "Scarlet's Velvet" on all the walls. I think we're going to try to get one more coat on tonight before John heads off for Winona.
The girls both tested for red belt last month, so now they go to Red Belt Class on Fridays. Wow - I can't believe they're red belts! If all goes well, John and I will test for our reds next month. Fishy has 2 tips on his blue belt, so it won't be long until he tests for brown. Good grief! And the Prawn knows her form now, so maybe it won't be too long before she goes for yellow.
Money is always an issue isn't it? So I've been looking into The Grocery Game. The list for Kroger in MI just became available last month, so I'm going to sign up for the $1, 4 week trial. I'm just trying to decide if I should try to amass more coupons first. I also discovered that Target has the best prices on pasta and both Target and Walmart have much lower prices on dry goods and packaged things like flour, sugar, applesauce, granola bars, etc. So that's helping. I'd always assumed the stuff would be more expensive there since you were paying for convenience. Silly me! I've been saving grocery receipts for each month since July. September's envelope was by far the thinnest, but I have yet to break it all down and see how much was spent and where we spent the most.
I've been working on 8"X8" baby albums for the kids and that's been a lot of fun. It so non-intimidating working with such small pages, though sometimes I do wish I could cram in more pics.
Well, lots to do, and I have to go back to the vet with the other 3 kitties soon, so check in soon for your personal Zaphod update. :o)
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Pink Plastic Flamingos and God's sense of humour
It stands to reason that the inventor of wit would be a great one Himself. Here's a fun example in the form of something that happened to my sister on Friday.
My sister's co-worker was cleaning out a storeroom and found a brand new, pink, plastic flamingo - you know - the lawn variety. As soon as my sis saw it, she asked to borrow it for a few minutes so she could menace another friend with it. Off she went to D's office and poked the head of the flamingo through the doorway, letting it just kind of loom there for a bit. She stood waiting for a little while, and then D appeared, looking rather haunted. My sis thought he was just being silly and overdramatizing, but then he asked if she had time for a story and pulled her into his office. On the way to work that morning, D had passed a funeral and had had a feeling that it might have been for someone he knew (I don't know why - maybe he saw friends' cars or something, or it could have just been one of those feelings) and later that day his wife called to tell him that an older gentleman from church whom they had really liked had passed away and that had, indeed, been the funeral which D had passed. D was understandably upset that no one had bothered to tell them that this man had died or inform them of the funeral time. In their church there had been a history of planting a pink plastic flamingo in the yard of someone who was noticed NOT giving offering. This was done in good fun, don't get me wrong, but D was expostulating to his wife on the phone "sure, I get a pink flamingo if I don't pay my offering, but someone dies and I don't even HEAR about it! Shouldn't I really get a pink plastic flamingo for this?" And that was when my sister just happened to stick the pink plastic flamingo through the door. :o)
So I guess we should all keep our inner ears open to those little nudgings and promptings we feel from time to time. Sometimes we are called to do great things, but other times we are called to deliver a message that's just as important, even if it does take the form of a pink plastic flamingo.
My sister's co-worker was cleaning out a storeroom and found a brand new, pink, plastic flamingo - you know - the lawn variety. As soon as my sis saw it, she asked to borrow it for a few minutes so she could menace another friend with it. Off she went to D's office and poked the head of the flamingo through the doorway, letting it just kind of loom there for a bit. She stood waiting for a little while, and then D appeared, looking rather haunted. My sis thought he was just being silly and overdramatizing, but then he asked if she had time for a story and pulled her into his office. On the way to work that morning, D had passed a funeral and had had a feeling that it might have been for someone he knew (I don't know why - maybe he saw friends' cars or something, or it could have just been one of those feelings) and later that day his wife called to tell him that an older gentleman from church whom they had really liked had passed away and that had, indeed, been the funeral which D had passed. D was understandably upset that no one had bothered to tell them that this man had died or inform them of the funeral time. In their church there had been a history of planting a pink plastic flamingo in the yard of someone who was noticed NOT giving offering. This was done in good fun, don't get me wrong, but D was expostulating to his wife on the phone "sure, I get a pink flamingo if I don't pay my offering, but someone dies and I don't even HEAR about it! Shouldn't I really get a pink plastic flamingo for this?" And that was when my sister just happened to stick the pink plastic flamingo through the door. :o)
So I guess we should all keep our inner ears open to those little nudgings and promptings we feel from time to time. Sometimes we are called to do great things, but other times we are called to deliver a message that's just as important, even if it does take the form of a pink plastic flamingo.
Monday, August 08, 2005
The Journey - my mini-epiphany
I have really appreciated the words "the joy is in the journey" in the past, but you know, I don't think I ever consciously applied them to the biggest Journey - LIFE. As I wrote in my journal last night, I had this mini epiphany that just kind of overwhelmed me as I was writing. Here's my entry.
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My intention is that my Journey will bring me to the place and position in which I ultimately envision myself. However, this is an evolving path; new goals appearing as earlier ones are met. The joy is in the Journey. This is not a constant, unfulfilled striving for perfection; it is a constant spiraling both inward and outward of self-betterment. Each step along this sacred pathway is something to be treasured and enjoyed. Even mistakes and shortcomings are to be savored. Sometimes they are the best teachers, and bring about the greatest changes. Remember to enjoy the journey.
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It was a big thing for me to come to grips with not *waiting* to feel fulfilled. I'm a very easygoing, laid-back kind of person, but I still found it enormously freeing to think of allowing myself to really enjoy the Journey more than striving for "someday." You know that "someday" when you have the perfect house, or more $, or you're done with school, or the kids are older, or you've lost some weight, or whatever those things are that we tend to wait for. That doesn't mean I don't still strive for my goals. By all means, I'm as fired up as ever! But I intend to not put off that feeling of fulfillment until "someday." I intend to enjoy every moment and just add more enjoyment on top of it all as I reach my various goals. :o)
I posted that over on a message board I go to and received this amazing quote in reply (source unknown):
"Sometimes on the journey towards happiness, we must stop and allow ourselves to BE happy."
I need to put that on a plaque.
____________________________
I've been sewing again! Some birthday things for a friend's son (and I'm actually ahead of time for once) and some dolly bibs and wipes for a trade and for sale. My lucky children will score all the blems, LOL! I think some dolly clothes are in order, too.
Gogo gave us a scare with a lump on his neck. I took him in and it seems that he'll be OK as long as it keeps shrinking (lymph node.) He has a re-check in 2 weeks.
Still waffling on the vaccination issue. The diseases would be terrible, but OTOH, my 2 who don't have all their vax are my healthiest kids. If they get something we all get, they get it very mildly compared to us. Sometimes they are the only ones to NOT catch what we all have. Sigh... (seems a no-brainer sometimes, but other times, not)
Just finished Harry Potter 6 not long ago (re-read them all) and was so shocked. I was just dazed for the rest of the day. Then I googled "____(spoiler)" is really alive" and there are a lot of folks who seem to think so, and with good reasons. I'm in that camp, too, since I can't/won't accept that death. Now I need to re-read it with looking for more clues in mind...
Now I'm re-reading the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife so I can get on with The Amber Spyglass. I WAS reading Angels and Demons, but I couldn't take not having pics when I know there's an illustrated/annotated version available, so I've put it down (with difficulty) to wait 'til I have that one.
We had the library summer reading party yesterday, and for my book I chose "Walking the Labyrinth." Looks Good! It was a tough choice between that and one of the Mrs. Pollifaxes though. :o) Guess I'll try to put those on hold.
I started a scrappin' stash game on Amity's and have been doing more pages than ever! What a motivator that has been!
I don't spend much time on the computer these days, but maybe I can put in some more mins on my blog than I have been. Life is busy! But so rewarding! :o)
------
My intention is that my Journey will bring me to the place and position in which I ultimately envision myself. However, this is an evolving path; new goals appearing as earlier ones are met. The joy is in the Journey. This is not a constant, unfulfilled striving for perfection; it is a constant spiraling both inward and outward of self-betterment. Each step along this sacred pathway is something to be treasured and enjoyed. Even mistakes and shortcomings are to be savored. Sometimes they are the best teachers, and bring about the greatest changes. Remember to enjoy the journey.
-------
It was a big thing for me to come to grips with not *waiting* to feel fulfilled. I'm a very easygoing, laid-back kind of person, but I still found it enormously freeing to think of allowing myself to really enjoy the Journey more than striving for "someday." You know that "someday" when you have the perfect house, or more $, or you're done with school, or the kids are older, or you've lost some weight, or whatever those things are that we tend to wait for. That doesn't mean I don't still strive for my goals. By all means, I'm as fired up as ever! But I intend to not put off that feeling of fulfillment until "someday." I intend to enjoy every moment and just add more enjoyment on top of it all as I reach my various goals. :o)
I posted that over on a message board I go to and received this amazing quote in reply (source unknown):
"Sometimes on the journey towards happiness, we must stop and allow ourselves to BE happy."
I need to put that on a plaque.
____________________________
I've been sewing again! Some birthday things for a friend's son (and I'm actually ahead of time for once) and some dolly bibs and wipes for a trade and for sale. My lucky children will score all the blems, LOL! I think some dolly clothes are in order, too.
Gogo gave us a scare with a lump on his neck. I took him in and it seems that he'll be OK as long as it keeps shrinking (lymph node.) He has a re-check in 2 weeks.
Still waffling on the vaccination issue. The diseases would be terrible, but OTOH, my 2 who don't have all their vax are my healthiest kids. If they get something we all get, they get it very mildly compared to us. Sometimes they are the only ones to NOT catch what we all have. Sigh... (seems a no-brainer sometimes, but other times, not)
Just finished Harry Potter 6 not long ago (re-read them all) and was so shocked. I was just dazed for the rest of the day. Then I googled "____(spoiler)" is really alive" and there are a lot of folks who seem to think so, and with good reasons. I'm in that camp, too, since I can't/won't accept that death. Now I need to re-read it with looking for more clues in mind...
Now I'm re-reading the Golden Compass and the Subtle Knife so I can get on with The Amber Spyglass. I WAS reading Angels and Demons, but I couldn't take not having pics when I know there's an illustrated/annotated version available, so I've put it down (with difficulty) to wait 'til I have that one.
We had the library summer reading party yesterday, and for my book I chose "Walking the Labyrinth." Looks Good! It was a tough choice between that and one of the Mrs. Pollifaxes though. :o) Guess I'll try to put those on hold.
I started a scrappin' stash game on Amity's and have been doing more pages than ever! What a motivator that has been!
I don't spend much time on the computer these days, but maybe I can put in some more mins on my blog than I have been. Life is busy! But so rewarding! :o)
Friday, July 08, 2005
Sprayscape!
Today we went with friends to a sprayscape and had so much fun! The Prawn and the other little one would only go through when the stuff was cycling through the low-spray setting, but the others got soaked and ran through everything. Then we moved on to a nearby sand pit, and after that to the huge play structure where my friend proceeded to blow the minds of some cute Korean kids by speaking Korean to them. :o) It was awesome weather - sunny with a bit of breeze, and off to one side thunderstorms were booming and lightning was flashing but they all passed by with a good berth. We brought food and made a day of it and had so much fun. I'm sure we'll be back soon.
Right now I'm in the midst of making a pie crust to fill with Snow Ghost pudding. I'm determined to make a stinking pie crust if it kills me. (So far the few I've made have not been what you'd call great.) If this recipe works, I'll post it. So far, I'm not too impressed with the instructions, which say to use a KitchenAid blender on pulse to mix the dough. All it did to MY KitchenAid blender was jam up the works. Right now the 2 crusts are "resting" in the fridge. I guess pie crusts have a well deserved reputation for being high-maintenance. But the crumbs I scraped out of the blender tasted awfully good (if you like that sort of thing, that is) so I haven't lost all faith in this recipe. Next comes the arm-breaking task of stirring that pudding for what seems like weeks.
I have a bruise (I say, "bruise" but there's no mark yet) inside my left elbow that is spectacularly painful. I didn't discover it 'til I was toweling off after my bath last night. If it does start showing it should be rather technicolour. But I do recall that it was a great block. Of course I re-smashed my left shin and re-wrenched my right ankle, so I'm lopsided when I walk.
On June 20th, daughter #2 was evicted from her room. She was hoping to earn it back by July, but alas, her putting-away skills were not strengthened by the experience and she's now been evicted from squatting in her brother's room. (#1 has also lost squatting rights there since they both mess it up and leave it that way. Sigh. Not sure what it's gonna take...) On the other hand, her old room (now #4's room) has never looked better! (helped a great deal by the fact that #4 still Family Beds with us, LOL!)
We're counting down the days to Celtic Fest on the 16th. This time we'll have to make it back to the kids' area in time for them to make some of the cool crafts. Navan, my sister's group, will be singing there a few times, so of course we'll catch a performance and take lots of pics for my mom. I wonder if I can get inspired enough to whip up something Celtic for the kids to wear...
We found out a bit about a pool about 20 mins from our house that has a fabulous play area and is all indoors so we can swim year round. We may have to buy a year-long pass!! I'm taking the kids to check it out next week.
I think my pie crust is nearly done with its beauty rest, so I'm off to bake it. Wish me luck!
Right now I'm in the midst of making a pie crust to fill with Snow Ghost pudding. I'm determined to make a stinking pie crust if it kills me. (So far the few I've made have not been what you'd call great.) If this recipe works, I'll post it. So far, I'm not too impressed with the instructions, which say to use a KitchenAid blender on pulse to mix the dough. All it did to MY KitchenAid blender was jam up the works. Right now the 2 crusts are "resting" in the fridge. I guess pie crusts have a well deserved reputation for being high-maintenance. But the crumbs I scraped out of the blender tasted awfully good (if you like that sort of thing, that is) so I haven't lost all faith in this recipe. Next comes the arm-breaking task of stirring that pudding for what seems like weeks.
I have a bruise (I say, "bruise" but there's no mark yet) inside my left elbow that is spectacularly painful. I didn't discover it 'til I was toweling off after my bath last night. If it does start showing it should be rather technicolour. But I do recall that it was a great block. Of course I re-smashed my left shin and re-wrenched my right ankle, so I'm lopsided when I walk.
On June 20th, daughter #2 was evicted from her room. She was hoping to earn it back by July, but alas, her putting-away skills were not strengthened by the experience and she's now been evicted from squatting in her brother's room. (#1 has also lost squatting rights there since they both mess it up and leave it that way. Sigh. Not sure what it's gonna take...) On the other hand, her old room (now #4's room) has never looked better! (helped a great deal by the fact that #4 still Family Beds with us, LOL!)
We're counting down the days to Celtic Fest on the 16th. This time we'll have to make it back to the kids' area in time for them to make some of the cool crafts. Navan, my sister's group, will be singing there a few times, so of course we'll catch a performance and take lots of pics for my mom. I wonder if I can get inspired enough to whip up something Celtic for the kids to wear...
We found out a bit about a pool about 20 mins from our house that has a fabulous play area and is all indoors so we can swim year round. We may have to buy a year-long pass!! I'm taking the kids to check it out next week.
I think my pie crust is nearly done with its beauty rest, so I'm off to bake it. Wish me luck!
In which another appliance bites the dust
It's my dryer this time. Much better than having no washer, but still, WAAAAH! I had all the laundry out today flapping nicely in the breeze, went to TKD for 3 hours (big kid class, our class and our sparring) and about 10 mins before we left the do-jang, the heavens opened up and commenced pouring on my laundry. Phooey! Did I anger the Laundry Gods somehow?? Maybe I could offer some kind of stained sacrifice... ;o)
In other news, we went to the bi-annual tournament in June. I always feel like a bit of a party crasher at the Mason's temple or something, since I'm always the only woman there in my age group. So I had to fight 3 men, but I won all my matches and took a gold in forms, too, so I'm satisfied with my performance. This was Gordy's first tournament. He took 3rd in forms and first in sparring! He had to fight a friend from the do-jang as well as 2 little black belts who were really good! But fortunately, when the medals were awarded in sparring, they separated the black belts from the blue belts, so Gordy got good experience in sparring but ony competed for POINTS against the other blue belt.
Today the master's wife brought a friend from Nigeria to spar us. He's a Bo Dan (temporary balck belt) and very good. He was challenging, and fun to spar. They're going to try to have him come to sparring at least once a month, which will really be great for us. He has a beautiful jumping round kick that I have to try to imitate! (I got clobbered with it a bunch of times, LOL!)
We've been busy lately! Summer brings so many great opportunities! Today we went to the park to picnic and play with friends and tomorrow we're meeting at the library and then going to a sprayscape. That should be a blast! We went swimming at a local lake last Friday and the kids loved it. On Saturday we hit the commissary and BX/PX and loaded up on groceries. I loaded a bunch of frozen and fridge stuff into our insulated bag and promptly left it in the parking lot. We figured it out when we got home, and called, and were VERY grateful to find out that someone had taken it right in and they'd typed up a list of everything in there and separated it into the fridge and freezer and were holding it for us!! Since we didn't have time to go get it before closing, we went up on Sunday and took advantage of the LOVELY base pool, then retrieved our bag of goodies and had a picnic in the park. It turned out to be a perfect day, and all because I was a bonehead, so I guess that's serendipity for you. :o)
I finally finished "Eyes of the Tailless Animals" (with much weeping - it was so depressing, I'd been putting off reading it) and am reading "Kite Runner" and "Out of the Blue," both of which are very interesting. I read "Labyrinth of Evil" (Star Wars book - remember I'm a total SW geek) last week and liked the story but not so much the writing style.
Mollusc and Sluggie have new friends at the do-jang who look like their twins separated at birth. :o) The oldest girl (Mollusc's twin) is a 2nd degree black belt and the next younger (Sluggie's twin) is a 1st degree. They have a 7 year old sister who's a green belt and is a perfect match for Gordy in sparring. They're a really neat family and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. The oldest hates sparring, just like Mollusc (though she does a great job and kicks a lot, so I hope Mollusc will learn from her) and the next one loves it just like Sluggie.
The Prawn has officially started classes. I help teach morning Little Kid classes and John helps with evening Big Kid classes in exchange for her tuition. (Hooray, cuz we had no more money to spare!) She's doing really well!
I finally mailed off a story to a publisher for the first time in a long time. Now to work on another instead of just waiting!!
Cheeto (the raccoon) has been back since it got warm. The other night she brought her 5 babies. Soooooooooo cute! She still loves Trader Joe's caramel corn and cheetos.
We found a neat softshelled turtle (BIG) outside a store in Brighton a couple of weeks ago. We were going to Wildernest next door next, so we asked the lady there what to do with her. (She rehabilitates baby bats, and knows all about birds and all kinds of wildlife.) She knew the river that the turtle had likely come from, so we took the turtle there. A guy in the store turned out to be a photographer with his AWESOME camera there with him. He was so excited to see the turtle because he didn't have any pics of that kind yet, so he asked if he could take our pic with her, and then get some natural shots before she returned to the river. He mailed us a great 5X7!
On the sewing front, I've done a couple of skirts and have WORN them. (gasp!) Next projects are some birthday things for Sluggie. (picnic set a la Magic Cabin, and a little zippered cosmetic case among other things) The kids are soooo excited that Yi-Yi will be here soon for the Saline Celtic Fest and Sluggie's birthday!
I've returned to jewelry-making lately and have sold a couple more pieces. I need to list some more goodies that I have in stock.
I found a really weird website trashing C.S. Lewis's books and was pretty sure it was a farce because the guy's website contains one of the words he criticizes Lewis for using. I emailed in good humour, and the guy REALLY took offense and wrote me a really scathing and sarcastic reply, signed "In Christ Jesus." I was really confused at that point, because that's just what you'd expect a non-Christian to do in keeping up the ruse, and certainly not what you'd expect a Christian to do (not the closing, but the hateful content of the email,) but I was a *little* uncertain at the same time. He wrote another nasty email and I Googled his name, only to learn he was a PASTOR! Good grief!!! I'm proud to say I kept my replies pleasant and I hope what I said will help him take a look at himself from the outside in, but I doubt that a person like that can be tempted to change his ways or even consider that he might ever have acted badly. Sigh - the nastiest emails I've ever gotten, and they're from a pastor. He's exactly the sort of person that gives us all such a bad reputation. If you go to the Landover Baptist Church site (which, thank goodness IS a farce!) you'll get a taste of what the guy was like. And yet still I protect him by not posting his name and emails and site. How nice am I? (pats self on back, LOL!)
Once again it's time to soak away the muscular aches and the bruises. More later!
In other news, we went to the bi-annual tournament in June. I always feel like a bit of a party crasher at the Mason's temple or something, since I'm always the only woman there in my age group. So I had to fight 3 men, but I won all my matches and took a gold in forms, too, so I'm satisfied with my performance. This was Gordy's first tournament. He took 3rd in forms and first in sparring! He had to fight a friend from the do-jang as well as 2 little black belts who were really good! But fortunately, when the medals were awarded in sparring, they separated the black belts from the blue belts, so Gordy got good experience in sparring but ony competed for POINTS against the other blue belt.
Today the master's wife brought a friend from Nigeria to spar us. He's a Bo Dan (temporary balck belt) and very good. He was challenging, and fun to spar. They're going to try to have him come to sparring at least once a month, which will really be great for us. He has a beautiful jumping round kick that I have to try to imitate! (I got clobbered with it a bunch of times, LOL!)
We've been busy lately! Summer brings so many great opportunities! Today we went to the park to picnic and play with friends and tomorrow we're meeting at the library and then going to a sprayscape. That should be a blast! We went swimming at a local lake last Friday and the kids loved it. On Saturday we hit the commissary and BX/PX and loaded up on groceries. I loaded a bunch of frozen and fridge stuff into our insulated bag and promptly left it in the parking lot. We figured it out when we got home, and called, and were VERY grateful to find out that someone had taken it right in and they'd typed up a list of everything in there and separated it into the fridge and freezer and were holding it for us!! Since we didn't have time to go get it before closing, we went up on Sunday and took advantage of the LOVELY base pool, then retrieved our bag of goodies and had a picnic in the park. It turned out to be a perfect day, and all because I was a bonehead, so I guess that's serendipity for you. :o)
I finally finished "Eyes of the Tailless Animals" (with much weeping - it was so depressing, I'd been putting off reading it) and am reading "Kite Runner" and "Out of the Blue," both of which are very interesting. I read "Labyrinth of Evil" (Star Wars book - remember I'm a total SW geek) last week and liked the story but not so much the writing style.
Mollusc and Sluggie have new friends at the do-jang who look like their twins separated at birth. :o) The oldest girl (Mollusc's twin) is a 2nd degree black belt and the next younger (Sluggie's twin) is a 1st degree. They have a 7 year old sister who's a green belt and is a perfect match for Gordy in sparring. They're a really neat family and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better. The oldest hates sparring, just like Mollusc (though she does a great job and kicks a lot, so I hope Mollusc will learn from her) and the next one loves it just like Sluggie.
The Prawn has officially started classes. I help teach morning Little Kid classes and John helps with evening Big Kid classes in exchange for her tuition. (Hooray, cuz we had no more money to spare!) She's doing really well!
I finally mailed off a story to a publisher for the first time in a long time. Now to work on another instead of just waiting!!
Cheeto (the raccoon) has been back since it got warm. The other night she brought her 5 babies. Soooooooooo cute! She still loves Trader Joe's caramel corn and cheetos.
We found a neat softshelled turtle (BIG) outside a store in Brighton a couple of weeks ago. We were going to Wildernest next door next, so we asked the lady there what to do with her. (She rehabilitates baby bats, and knows all about birds and all kinds of wildlife.) She knew the river that the turtle had likely come from, so we took the turtle there. A guy in the store turned out to be a photographer with his AWESOME camera there with him. He was so excited to see the turtle because he didn't have any pics of that kind yet, so he asked if he could take our pic with her, and then get some natural shots before she returned to the river. He mailed us a great 5X7!
On the sewing front, I've done a couple of skirts and have WORN them. (gasp!) Next projects are some birthday things for Sluggie. (picnic set a la Magic Cabin, and a little zippered cosmetic case among other things) The kids are soooo excited that Yi-Yi will be here soon for the Saline Celtic Fest and Sluggie's birthday!
I've returned to jewelry-making lately and have sold a couple more pieces. I need to list some more goodies that I have in stock.
I found a really weird website trashing C.S. Lewis's books and was pretty sure it was a farce because the guy's website contains one of the words he criticizes Lewis for using. I emailed in good humour, and the guy REALLY took offense and wrote me a really scathing and sarcastic reply, signed "In Christ Jesus." I was really confused at that point, because that's just what you'd expect a non-Christian to do in keeping up the ruse, and certainly not what you'd expect a Christian to do (not the closing, but the hateful content of the email,) but I was a *little* uncertain at the same time. He wrote another nasty email and I Googled his name, only to learn he was a PASTOR! Good grief!!! I'm proud to say I kept my replies pleasant and I hope what I said will help him take a look at himself from the outside in, but I doubt that a person like that can be tempted to change his ways or even consider that he might ever have acted badly. Sigh - the nastiest emails I've ever gotten, and they're from a pastor. He's exactly the sort of person that gives us all such a bad reputation. If you go to the Landover Baptist Church site (which, thank goodness IS a farce!) you'll get a taste of what the guy was like. And yet still I protect him by not posting his name and emails and site. How nice am I? (pats self on back, LOL!)
Once again it's time to soak away the muscular aches and the bruises. More later!
Friday, June 03, 2005
As Miss Clavel has been known to say...
Something is NOT RIGHT!!!!
And the inside:
The bloody thing is about 10% sewing and 90% origami. Aaaaaarrrrrrgggggh!
Dh is not impressed. His comment: "This is what you got after all THAT?!?"
And a matchy poo skirt for me: (I have yet to conquer the art of self-portraiture...)
This is a wrap skirt, and I have yet to put on the hook and eye. I definitely found out why that will be neccessary and won't be able to wear it until I buy a hook and eye. Unless I want to become a flasher...
This was the MOST CONFUSING pattern I've met to date. After many, many seam rippings, more sewing, more seam ripping, and finally tossing the instructions, it came out like it was supposed to:
Closed (long loop on right slips through short loop on left):
And the inside:
The bloody thing is about 10% sewing and 90% origami. Aaaaaarrrrrrgggggh!
Dh is not impressed. His comment: "This is what you got after all THAT?!?"
LOL! He has a point. *snort*
OK, other stuff:
Shorts for the Mollusc:
And a matchy poo skirt for me: (I have yet to conquer the art of self-portraiture...)
This is a wrap skirt, and I have yet to put on the hook and eye. I definitely found out why that will be neccessary and won't be able to wear it until I buy a hook and eye. Unless I want to become a flasher...
I was going to post pics of my lovely herb garden, but alas, it appears that I have yet to load them to my site, and the other computer (with my FTP program) is off for the night. Stink! I really hate having my stuff split up between different computers, but I guess I'm doomed, because every time I seem to get stuff shifted to the "right " computer, dh does something and everything's scattered again. Sigh.
Cheeto the raccoon came to our door again. She's VERY friendly and wants to come in (NOT a good idea, Patrick!) She likes Korean snacks and she still loves Trader Joe's Macadamia Nut Caramel Corn. She does not like corn. Weird, because I knew a farmer whose corn always got trashed by hungry raccoons. Go figure...
So after the 420 kick workout followed by an hour and a half of sparring last night, some of the other TKDers and I decided to pass on sparring this morning. A good choice, I think. Only 1 guy showed up, as it turns out. Bummer. We went to the library instead. My shins are so bruised it's insane. Especially considering they don't hurt that much. What hurts is my arm which got axe kicked(OUCH!) and which has no visible marks (where it hurts anyway...) and my right lower outer thigh, which also has no marks. Someone apparently kicked me in the left upper thigh/butt judging by the bruise there, but that doesn't hurt. Strange.
We watched National Treasure tonight for the first time and really enjoyed it! That one might be a keeper. :) And it was fine for the kids, which is a rarity these days.
John and I plan to try to go see SWIII tomorrow for my bday, but I don't know if it will happen since we both forgot to try to buy tix online, and I really only want to see it in digital.
Off to soak my bruises in the tub...
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