Seeing What I See

It's Saturday so I think a mindless post is just the thing. This has been going around the blogosphere so I thought I'd join in. The following is a screenshot of my desktop:

At least, that's what it looks like today. I have over 300 wallpapers and I like variety and change so I switch them once a week or so. I also like clean and uncluttered. Never more than one column of icons and never more than three or four showing on my task bar. Too much makes me feel disorganized.

So, there ya go. Feel free to share your desktops. I'd like to see them.

Check, Check

The youngest child's publishing party was neat. All the kids wrote nonfiction books about an animal and read them aloud to all the parents and grandparents. Mine chose to write about Boxers. I wonder why. ;) The sad thing is that because of my meeting, I had to leave early. I got to hear all the kids' stories, but they were having refreshments afterwards and I couldn't stay for that. It's the first time in either of my kids' lives that my work has affected them. It made me really, incredibly sad and I felt like slime. The very lowest order of slime. Now I know how my husband has felt when he's had to miss things because of work. The three years we lived in Vermont, I think he made it to 3 or 4 of their events, meetings, or appointments the entire time. I think that's what makes this job such a good one for me. Not only does it give me experience, but it's easing me back into the working world. I think if I were working full time outside of the home and missing all or most of the kids' things or having to make extravagant arrangements to go, I wouldn't last.

So, check, check. Two of my weekend things done.

Busy Weekend Ahead

Here is my itinerary for the weekend:

• Today we have to go for the youngest child's publishing party at school. All the kids wrote books and are going to read them. It should be a fun time.
• I have my weekly phone conference after the school thing.
• I balanced the checkbook and paid bills first thing this morning.
• Tonight, the oldest child is having a sleepover.
• Pick a fight with the Mister over nothing. Oops. Already did that.

Saturday:

• Mow the lawn.
• Go to the commissary

Sunday:

• Get up bright and early to go to Jacksonville for our friends' daughter's birthday party. Then we get to say goodbye to them as they are moving to Texas in less than two weeks.
• Be depressed for the rest of the day. I'm going to miss them.
• Go to bed early because this much interaction with live people in the real world exhausts me.

Dumb Men

The guy from the glass replacement place finally showed up to measure my door just a few minutes ago. While he was measuring, he starts to tell me how easy it would be to do the work myself. Then he stops and looks up and says, "Are you married?" I replied that I was and he said that my husband could fit the glass in easy enough. HELLO!!!!! I don't usually get all tied about women's rights and stuff but I would be just as capable of fitting in the glass as the Mister would be thank you very much. I'm really not big on home repairs preferring to hire a professional, but if all I need is a utility knife and a flathead screwdriver, I think I could handle it. I do own my own sander. It's mine. I bought it to refinish my deck at the Vermont house. So there. I own my own power tool. ;) Granted, I won't go near the power saw but I'm not afraid to use a drill or my sander or a freaking flathead SCREWDRIVER!!!!

And btw, it took this "efficient", "capable" man NINE days and three phone calls just to show up at all. That's just counting work days too.

Tell me I need a man....

Thursday Meme

From Booking Through Thursday:

What is reading, anyway? Novels, comics, graphic novels, manga, e-books, audio books — which of these is reading these days? Are they all reading? Only some of them? What are your personal qualifications for something to be “reading” — why? If something isn’t reading, why not? Does it matter? Does it impact your desire to ample a source if you find out a premise you liked the sound of is in a format you don’t consider to be reading? Share your personal definition of reading, and how you came to have that stance.

Reading is reading, even e-books and audio books. Whatever it takes for someone to enjoy a well written story is good enough for me. Kids (and even adults) today are bombarded with things like Nintendo DS, PSP, Wii, and other forms of easy, mindless entertainment. If they need to read manga, comic books, or listen to an audio book to become interested in stories then fine. Also, people who have poor eyesight should not be excluded from the reading world just because they cannot read with their eyes.

I was tempted to begin reading graphic novels for a challenge this year because I've never read one and some of my favorite authors write graphic novels. Then I saw how much they cost and couldn't justify spending that much on a "picture book". So, I suppose I judge them to be an inferior form of reading, but either way, I'd still consider them reading too.

Is it Time for Bed Yet?

It's just now 8 am and I've already had a full morning.

The glass people FINALLY called yesterday afternoon to say that they would be over today to take measurements for my new window. I didn't get the message until last night because I had my phone turned off since Monday, heheh. I had to get up first thing and clean my house. When we cleaned out the utility room, all the junk kinda sorta got dumped in the kitchen. ::blush:: Oh well. It's a good thing that they are finally coming though because we almost had a disaster Sunday night. The oldest child and I were playing around. I chased her into the kitchen and she was going to go outside to get away from me and realized I would just lock her out, lol. At the last minute, she went to turn around and put her hand through the broken glass. Luckily, she only had three very minor cuts on her fingers but I got the absolute scare of a lifetime. After I got her cleaned up, I sat down in the other room and cried, lol. It could have been so much worse. But we can't get the glass out of the window without making it worse so we left it and put tape over it. It didn't help when she pushed her hand through it though.

So, I finally have a brief minute to sit down and check my e-mail and blog. I had 30+ e-mails this morning and none of them were junk. 11 of those were work (I love saying that, heheh) e-mails. I had 30+ blog posts to read and I really hate to say this, but I read two of them and hit "mark all as read" for the rest. I never would have thought I'd say that I don't have time to read them all. I'd like to be able to have either breakfast or lunch at some point today.

OH OH OH!!! And I have another product review. I finally found something that killed our fleas. In ONE day!! It's called Zodiac FleaTrol. I have the carpet and upholstery aerosol spray. One can treats 2,000 sq.ft. and it worked like a gem and I didn't have to leave the house for two hours. I just opened up all the windows and vacated each room after spraying. I also put the dogs outside and all the small critters in the kitchen which is an open area with no carpeting. It totally worked and I could have weeped with gratitude. I should write these people a letter.

Okay. I really gotta go. I have no idea when the glass people will be here because they didn't bother to tell me a time in their message and I haven't had the chance to brush my hair or teeth yet. I'm off.

The Last Day

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. Well, once we got past our kid drama on Friday night, heheh.

Saturday we decided to buy a new grill. We've had ours for five or six years and between moving it to Vermont and then N.C., it was on it's last leg. Literally. This last move, the movers broke one of the legs off and it we had to prop it up on the deck railing, lmao. Enough was enough and is there a better time of the year to buy a new one? Lowes was having a 10% off sale for the military so we got us a nifty, brand new, shiny grill. It is AWESOME. The Mister is in grilling heaven. Saturday night we grilled burgers, Sunday night, chicken kabobs (which were out of this world) and a variety of sausages, and tonight we're grilling the rest of the sausages. It's all great for me because I don't have to cook, heheh.

Today, my plans are to finish cleaning out our utility room. It was being used for temporary storage. I'm also going to give my dad a call because it's his birthday. It's the Mister's last day off of work but his semester starts today and he has to mow the lawn. Did I mention that we're not having a lawn service come out this year? We're trying to be more frugal. We'll see how it goes. ;) Lastly, I have to put in some time with my job. Fun, fun.

I hope everyone had a good holiday.

Kid Drama Pt 2

I just had to tell you this last little part that the Mister and I discovered at dinner time tonight.

Last night after the kids got sent to bed for being monsters, we put Bailey in with the oldest child to sleep. We peeked in to make sure that she was actually asleep and not still being defiant. Looking at the peaceful child, I noticed that she was still wearing her shoes and fully dressed. I told the Mister that it was probably because she was planning to run away and fell asleep waiting for us to go to bed. He kinda laughed me off but what kid hasn't tried to run away from home at least once in the childhood? I did, unsuccessfully, lol. Anyway, at dinner tonight, the Mister asked the oldest child when she finally took her shoes off last night and she answered around 1 in the morning. I asked her if she had been wearing them because she was going to run away. She got all sheepish and I knew I was right, lol. Silly kid. She said she had a different plan for the next time we made her mad and I told her not to tell us so that it would be a surprise. ;)

Kid Drama

We had a rough night with the kids last night. They were fighting like cats and dogs, which is something they rarely do. Both of them ended up in bed at 8 pm on a Friday night. Much screaming and crying ensued. For their punishment today, I made them write letters of apology to each other and then to us, the Mister and me, for their behavior. They also have to clean the kitchen. I gave them a choice: It was either the letters and the kitchen or they were going to be grounded to their rooms for the entire day, no tv, no computer. They chose to write the letters and clean the kitchen. Just now, the oldest child comes in and asks me, "By cleaning the kitchen, did you mean the WHOLE thing???" I replied that of course I meant the whole thing. Then she said, "Man! I should have stayed in my room!" LMAO!!! Kids. They are so funny.

In other news...

I completed my first day's work yesterday. My hours are restricted until my boss can get a feel for what I can do so I have a light load this week. I would be willing to put in three times the amount of work, but I understand her reasoning. I really can't wait to dive in and grind the stone though.

It's raining here again. And it's COLD. It's only 61 degrees right now. I had to go around and close up my windows cuz my house was getting chilly. The rain is supposed to clear out tonight and be nice the rest of the weekend though. Yay!

Holiday Weekend

I love holiday weekends. The Mister works half a day today and has both Monday and Tuesday off and the girls have Monday off. Yay!! We don't have any big Memorial Day plans. I would like to bbq something and maybe we'll hit the beach. I can't believe May is almost over. This month really flew by. To commemorate the unofficial start to summer and because I found this on Pam's blog today, heheh, I'm posting about my flip flops. This thing is pretty close if you take the "outdoorsy" part to mean the beach. I've never been to Costa Rica so I can't say if that is true or not. The most beautiful beach I've ever been to in the U.S. would be Pensacola and the Bahamas weren't too shabby either. I hope everyone else enjoys their long weekend too! :)

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You are an outdoorsy person. You feel most comfortable in nature. Beautiful scenery and good weather always brighten up your day. Being outside allows you to feel calm and connected to the world. Problems don't seem so big when you realize how small you are in the scheme of things. Your ideal warm weather place: Costa Rica

The Flip Flop Test

Thursday Meme

Here is our Thursday meme courtesy of Booking Through Thursday.

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different
from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the
difference between a book and a movie?

I expect to be entertained by both books and movies. I don't watch movies looking for the meaning of life in them nor do I want to be preached at or have someone's political views shoved down my throat. The same can be said of books but I do look for books to have more substance than a movie if that's what I'm looking for when I pick up a book. Sometimes, I just want to read fluff so that it can take me away from my life for a bit.

I prefer books to movies because they are way more versatile. You don't need an outlet to read a book the same way you need a TV or some other device to watch a movie. Books can be transported anywhere, picked up at any time, and put down whenever you need to do something else.

Hodgepodge

Today is supposed to be whine-fest Wednesday but I've been in too good of a mood to do so. Instead, you're getting a mix of stuff that I've been wanting to talk about but have been putting off for other posts.


The hunt for a new refrigerator continues. We have to settle for a 22 cu ft instead of a 25 cu ft fridge because of our space constraints, but that's better than opening the door and having stuff fall on your feet, ice on the eggs, and water on just about everything. My landlord said that he'd pay to have a repairman come and look at our existing fridge, but that things older than dirt and I want a new one, heheh.


I'm also still on the hunt for someone to fix the window in my back door. Neither of the two places that said they'd look at it showed up. As they are the only two glass repair places in the phone book that do home and not auto glass, I'm not sure what my next step is going to be at this point. I might go and physically drag one of them home with me today. ;)


I finished reading Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover on Monday. I really loved this book about Elizabeth I and her romance with Robert Dudley. The more I read of Gregory, the more I enjoy her writing style. The way she takes historical fact and tells a fictional story around it is great. Throughout the entire book I was wondering if she'd end it the way history did or if she'd create her own ending. I do the same thing when I'm watching The Tudors, heheh.

Yesterday, Jennifer S. sent me congratulatory flowers. She must have the fastest dialing finger in the west. I was surprised to get them so fast, lol. Here's a picture:



Aren't they pretty?

The Best News

I got a job!! Well, it's an internship, but it's a paid internship and I couldn't be more excited and thrilled. It's been KILLING me not saying anything but I didn't know how I'd feel if I didn't get it so I waited. I found out this morning that I got it!! Woohoo!! ::Happy Dance, Happy Dance:: Join me!!

Okay. So the position is marketing for an ADHD company called Edge Foundation. I will be helping them to find resources for parents of children with ADHD and children with ADHD as well as finding ways to get the word out about the company. What's more, is that the position is online so I get to work from home! The company is based in Seattle, Washington so it'd be kinda hard to work from there, heheh.

AND, you wanna know how I even heard about the position??? Through Twitter. That's right people. Twitter. This whole experience is really what yesterday's post was all about in the first place. I told you the Internet could be used for good.

I get to earn some extra money, have something of substance to put on my resume, and it's such a great cause. As the parent of a child with ADHD, I know how hard it can be to find useful information and viable resources on the subject.

Online Social Life

I often joke that I've been giving up "real life" in favor of my online social life. It's easier, more versatile, and it's on demand. If I'm bored, my computer is always there unless, goodness forbid, my Internet is out. If people online are irritating me or my butt starts to hurt from sitting in my chair all day, I get up and find something else to do. When I can't sleep, my computer is there for me to find something to do at 2 in the morning. I can take as much or as little of my Computer Universe that I want. It's completely up to me. But, I'm starting to question how much of a joke it really is.

I've recently started to expand my Computer Universe by joining several online social networks such as MyBlogLog, Blog Catalog, and Entrecard, not to mention that I'm also starting to pay more attention to Twitter. Btw, I'm not linking any of that. Google them if you want to find them or click on their buttons in my sidebar. Through these various sites, I've found a plethora of new blogs to read. So many in fact, that my Google Readers rarely says, "Your reading list has no unread items." I've blogged about my blogging habits recently in a post titled, "Blog Stats". But that's not what this is about.

I found an article online (go figure) today that piqued my interest and made me feel not quite so bad about my own online habits. Read it here: The Web Habits of Highly Effective People. I figure I'm in pretty good company since I frequent many of the sites listed by these professionals and now I have even more online haunts to haunt. This article led me to another article which I found quite interesting about blogging: The Death of Personal Blogs. The author talks about how blogging has morphed from being about people's personal thoughts, feelings, ideas, and opinions to people syndicating their blogs or abandoning their blogs altogether for positions which pay them to blog for other people about certain subjects. I confess, I've looked into this before because quite frankly, I was a little surprised that people could get paid for blog posts. Big companies hire bloggers though, not just dot coms that are here one day and gone the next.

There are other online pursuits aside from blogging and social networking though. People play games online, make an honest living online, keep up with news from around the world, go to school, conduct research, and a slew of other things.

I find it amazing that there are still people in the world who consider the Internet to be a waste of time. How much is too much? That's all a matter of opinion. I think that if I didn't have my online pursuits while I lived in Vermont, also known as the land of NOTHING, I would have lost my mind or ended up divorced and I never would have gotten my Christmas shopping done. It's a portal to the world, to different people, to different cultures, to be really dramatic. I wish that I had had the Internet, as it is today, back when I was in high school. It would have made projects so much easier. I'm thankful that my own kids will have it when they are in high school. Well, provided it's still around: Full Capacity, heheh.

Two Things

I can't believe that I forgot to blog about this yesterday. My retardo dog, Hannah, busted through a pane of glass on my back door yesterday. She gets really excited about going outside and jumps at the door. This time, she broke a window. Now I need to figure out what to look for in the phone book so that I can get the glass replaced before my landlord finds out. I love my dogs but Hannah is sometimes hard to like.

Secondly, here's a followup to my whining about my business professor. If you'll recall, she gave very vague instructions on how to prepare for the exam. These same exact, word for word, instructions were all that was included with the actual exam too. It was supposed to be a six page essay with a model (that was the vague part) on leadership and change. We had to include cites from our text book as well as cites from four different websites. Well, I managed to reference my text book and two different websites but I didn't include the names of the websites (they were long and unmanageable titles) or the web addresses so they were very vague references. I also only wrote 3 1/2 pages and didn't waste my time attempting to include a model. Not my best work at ALL but I really had no idea what she was looking for. My grade? 100%. Yup. Apparently what I wrote qualified as perfect. I'm not complaining about my grade, but my professor was clearly sub-standard. She sucked. Suck, suck, suckerson. She sucked. I could have taught this class and better than she did too. Whatever. It's over and I'm done talking about it.

Busy Saturday

We started out our day making a grocery list and hitting the commissary. Yuck. I do not enjoy grocery shopping. I don't know why, but it's such a chore. While we were there, this little boy, I'd say he was 3 or 4 years old, broke a jar of applesauce on the floor. Man! His mother totally let it rip all over him. Yelling and cussing like...I dunno what a child of that age could do to deserve such a storm. It was mean.

We get home and I had a little sumpthin' sumpthin' at 1:00. After that was over, we began our hunt for a new refrigerator. Ours is old as dirt and it's going out on us. There is so much condensation built up on the ceiling of the fridge that it drips down on the food and there's a buildup of ice along the inside, back wall. Also, stuff like soda cans have sweat on them even though they're inside the fridge. It's a mess. We rent so it's my landlord's problem, but I would really like to have a refrigerator that I like and that is big enough for our family and not just some cheapo thing that he will probably put in here. Easier said than done, however. We looked in two different towns and online and can't find a decent sized fridge that will fit in the space it needs to go into. We need one that's shorter than 68 1/2 inches but bigger than 20 cubic inches which is really hard to find. In fact, we haven't found one and I'm not sure what our next step is going to be. I don't want to buy a tiny fridge just to fit it in this house where we will only be living for another year. Can't they make short, fat refrigerators instead of tall skinny ones? Sheesh.

Music

Is it just me or does music suck more nowadays than it did say, 5+ years ago? I opened up iTunes for the first time in two weeks and the same lousy songs that were in the Top 100 are still there! I don't listen to the radio for the same reason: they play the same stinky ten songs over and over and over until you wanna jab your eardrums out. Has it always been like that and I'm just showing my age or what?? I'm in a music funk and I hate it when that happens.


My Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream gave me heartburn. Good excuse to stay up late and read, heheh.

Rolling Around Friday

Guess what it's doing at my house right now. If you guessed raining, you'd be correct.

I forgot to mention that I got some news the other day that made me a little sad. I found out that they are tearing down my high school. I haven't been back since graduation day, but I'm still sad that it's not going to be there anymore. It was built in 1922 so it is a really old and outdated building . I wish that I had the opportunity to go back to Ohio and see it one more time before it's gone but that isn't going to happen. Hmm.

I have another product review, heheh. I already blogged about my recent bout of insomnia. Well, yesterday I had a migraine to go with it and we were all out of my Excedrin Migraine. I sent the Mister to the store, because by this time I was in so much pain I was a bit nauseated, and he came home with two different types of Excedrin: Excedrin PM and Excedrin Migraine. I was torn. With Excedrin Migraine, you can only take one dose in 24 hours so if I took those, I wouldn't be able to take the PM stuff. But what if the PM pills weren't enough for my headache? I decided to try the PM stuff because I figured if they didn't take away the headache, maybe they'd make me sleep through the pain, heheh. The results: I took the PM pills at 9 so that hopefully, I'd be more than ready for sleep at 11. They made me sleepy without the annoying side affects that I usually get with meds that make me drowsy like dizziness and just a generally feeling of weirdness. Still, I didn't fall asleep until about midnight and I didn't stay asleep either. I tossed and turned all night. As for my headache, they reduced it to a dull roar and I still have a nagging headache this morning. Bottom line: I don't really know. I liked that the PM pills didn't make me feel all weird, but they didn't really help me sleep all that much and they also weren't strong enough to make my headache go completely away but I didn't really expect them to. Who knows?

Oh! The shrimp burgers were really good. It's the first time that we've ever had them. We weren't really sure how to top them. Ketchup, mustard, cocktail sauce? Turns out that they're good with some A-1 and Parmesan cheese just in case you were wondering.

Happy Friday everyone.

Long Night

Sorry. No BTT today. Not in the mood.


I had so much going on yesterday. That's weird for me, lol. We went out to dinner with a friend and her parents and my friend PICKED UP THE TAB!! How nice, right? I didn't have to cook and we didn't have to pay for dinner. Also, it was good company. I really enjoyed meeting her parents.

I had a really late night last night. I went to bed at 11, tossed and turned until 1:30, got up and checked my e-mail, went back to bed at 2, and finally fell asleep around 2:30 or so. I did the same thing the two nights before that too. I don't understand it because I'm tired all day because I didn't get any sleep the night before, but as soon as my head hits the pillow my mind starts to race and I can't relax. It's a bit frustrating.

I also used Twitter to my advantage last night. I have a little something in the works that I would completely and totally appreciate crossed fingers, good thoughts, and whatever other positive vibes you want to send my way.


My Monday funk lasted through yesterday and I got to take it out on some idiot woman, heheh. She totally ran a stop sign and if I hadn't been looking, I would have been ran over. I yelled some obscenities and she had her window down so she heard everything. What is with some people??


I forgot to mention another product that I recently tried out. I think it's new too since this was the first I had ever seen it on the shelf. It's Febreze Laundry Odor Eliminator.
I have musty towels and they're not even that old. I think it's because my bathroom doesn't have a vent in it and you can't really open the window in the middle of winter to vent out shower steam. So, I tried this in hopes that it would help the situation and it didn't. Maybe musty towel smell is a permanent problem because I've tried other methods of cleaning my towels and they haven't worked either. If anyone has suggestions other than using them in the dog crate, I'd appreciate a heads up.

I read on another blog today of a woman and her family that only spend $250 a month on groceries and they're a family of five. Check the blog post out here: Antithete
I find that amazing. I use some of the same methods mentioned in the blog post, budgeting, having a grocery list, and having a meal plan even though my plan is for a week instead of a month, and we still spend about $400/month for a family of four on groceries. We're having grilled shrimp burgers for dinner tonight so that could explain why our grocery bill is a bit higher, lol. With gas prices driving up the cost of groceries, I really should try and be more frugal and keep the more extravagant meals, like shrimp burgers, to a minimum. I like to cook though. I like having a counter full of ingredients that need to be measured, chopped, sauteed, grated, zested, and combined. It's the nights when our menu consists of fish sticks that I would just rather not eat at all. What's an average monthly grocery bill I wonder?

Good and Bad

I've been trying out a lot of new stuff lately thanks to Bzz and my quest to find the perfect nail polish. I thought I would give a few of my opinions here today.

I already told you all what I thought about Logitech's Harmony One Universal Remote control. Just click here if you want to reread that post.

Next, I tried out Ziploc's Big Bags.

I have them in all three sizes: Large, XL, and XXL. At first, I had no idea what I was going to do with them. Normally when I need storage, I use Rubbermaid totes because they're heavy duty plastic, they have locking lids, and they're stackable. Then, the need to clean the youngest child's room came about. We're still having flea issues. I used the bags to bag up all of her clothes, clean and dirty, to be washed, and her stuffed animals so that they could be sealed and put outside since they can't be put into the clothes washer. The bags worked out okay but here's what I didn't like about them:

1. The blue writing on the bags came off onto me. I had big, blue, smeared ink all over my arms which, while it seemed to come off the bags easy enough, it didn't want to wash off of me.


2. After I had stuffed the bags full of clothes and stuffed animals, I picked them up to carry out of the room and the zipped seals popped open which totally negated why I was using them in the first place: to seal out as much air as possible.

Would I buy them again? Probably not. Totes stack and look much nicer than having bags sitting around and they're not as easy to puncture even though the Big Bags are thicker than your normal plastic storage bags.

Then I tried Ziploc's Twist 'n Loc storage containers.

I really liked those. The lids are nicer than the snap-on type and they have measuring lines on the side so that you can see how much stuff you're putting into them. While this isn't environmentally friendly, I love the idea of throw away plastic containers because let's face it, how much of our plastic stuff i.e., Rubbermaid or Tupperware, gets lost all the time anyway?? Also, they are made with 5 plastics which is considered to be safe.

Which brings us to K-9 Advantix flea treatments for dogs.

We've only been using it a month, but my dogs still have fleas. I'm holding off on my final opinion of this product until I use it again, so please, keep your fingers crossed for us that this works. The fleas are driving me insane and my youngest child looks diseased. I'm really surprised that the school hasn't said anything to us about it, that's how bad it is.

Next, I went on an odyssey trying to find fingernail polish that wouldn't chip after only a day or two of wear. I tried all kinds of brands, Opi, Cover Girl, etc., and it all chipped. After some research, I discovered how to first, do a manicure, and second, the miracle of all nail polishes. Here's what I found.

1. File your nails using a 240-grit nail file.


2. Then use a three-way buffer: black to refine, white to shine, and gray to seal.


3. Next, clean off any dust with warm soap and water and push back your cuticles at this time if you like.


4. Dry your nails using pure acetone.


5. THEN...Apply Revlon's Colorstay Nail Enamel following the directions on the package exactly.

This stuff totally works. I had it on for seven days with no chipping or peeling before I decided that I wanted a new color and took it off. I have NEVER had that happen. And, it lasted through washing two cars, cleaning the youngest child's room, two trips to the beach, and a multitude of other everyday activities. I don't know about everyone else, but my fingernail polish usually begins to peel off after one washing of the dishes. I am beyond satisfied with this product. Also, I'm not sure how much a professional manicure costs because I've never paid for one before (I grow my own nails naturally and I know how to use a bottle of nail polish), but all the supplies cost less than $6 at Sally Beauty Supply and the nail polish is $4.99 at Target so you can give yourself an at home manicure for less than $12, the supplies will last a while for multiple uses, and the manicure lasts.

Funkiness

I read a lot about Monday funkiness around the Net yesterday which made me feel somewhat better that it wasn't just me. The Mister came home from work in a bad mood and the kids were a bit touchy too. Everyone in our house kept to our own corners last night. Posting my post yesterday (which nobody seemed to want to touch, you chickens) didn't help in the least. It also didn't help that a friend called out of the blue, said she was coming over, and three hours later called to say she had a contagious illness and couldn't come over after all. At least she gave me three hours to bust my ass (pardon the French) to clean my house for no good reason. Holy cow!! I'm still in a bad mood, lol. Trying to move on...

Did anyone catch last night's Medium? Was it or was it not AWESOME!! I won't give anything away in case someone has it waiting for them on their DVR but I LOVE that show. And Bones!! OMG! I had read online at TVGuide that it had a surprise ending but I totally didn't see that coming. The Big Bang Theory was positively hilarious too. I am so glad that it got renewed for next season and didn't become a victim of the strikes.



Something to make us all laugh. I just took this picture of Hannah. The girls dressed her and brought her in for me to see.


Now didn't that make you giggle a little?? I truly hope everyone has a good Tuesday.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

People seem to be saying things before they think about them lately.

Over the weekend, the Mister and I were watching a news report on the drug raids in San Diego at SDSU. One moron said something to the effect that he felt sorry for the accused students because they didn't sell the drugs with the intent to kill people. Wth kind of thing is that to say?? So, it's okay for drug dealers to sell drugs as long as they intend for their customers to live long lives? Umm. Okay. That makes total sense.

Lastly, Stephen King. I'm sure everyone heard the bonehead comment he made about reading and the Army. Here's a link in case you missed it along with his remarks regarding the backlash:

Stephen King Story

First off, for him to make the statement in the first place was appalling. I get so sick and tired and fed up beyond belief at all the implications that if you join the military it's because you had no other prospects and were too stupid to do anything else. People who think that are prime examples of ignorance and yes, I take it personally. It's an insult to my husband, my father, my brother, uncles, cousins, and some of the best friends that I've ever had or will ever have in my life. I'm not saying that every person who has been or is in the military is a Rhodes scholar. I've seen some of the greatest displays of idiocy from a few of the Marines, sailors, and soldiers (I've only known three people in the Air Force and they were all family members and they were pretty smart ;)) that we've known over the years. But you know what? The military doesn't own the rights to having idiots working for them. Idiots are freaking everywhere.

Furthermore, for King to defend what he said by replying that he meant that children should learn how to read, is insulting. That, in itself, is implying that we are all idiots. This statement: "I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's not as bright, " and stating that we misunderstood it, saying that he really said this: "That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt," is also contemptible. That is not what he said in his first statement. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Check out Laurell K. Hamilton's May 6th blog entry: LKH Blog Does anyone ever stop to think, when they're insulting our men and women in uniform, that the freedom that they possess to say these ignorant and offensive things are defended by the same people that supposedly aren’t smart enough to do anything better with their lives?

I’m disappointed. Stephen King was one of my favorite authors and I have always been impressed by his abilities. Being thoughtless and then unwilling to own up to what he said doesn’t take away from his talents in the least, but I’ve lost all respect for him. I know that I’m just one small and insignificant person ,but I won’t be buying anymore of his books and I’m trading in the ones that I currently own at my favorite used bookstore for something better. For me, it’s the end of an era.

Beach Bums

We made our first official trip of the season to the beach today. Yeah, the Mister and I went the other day but we didn't bring any of our beach stuff and we didn't stay that long. Today, we took all of our gear, bought new beach chairs, and took the kids. You couldn't ask for a more perfect day to go to the beach either. Perfect temps with a nice breeze to keep the heat off. The only bad thing was that Atlantic Beach is revamping the beach area which means that there were only two parking lots open and they were packed to the max. We ended up driving to the end of the road out to Ft. Macon which has a very nice beach area but you can't swim there because there are always dangerous currents. Still, you could get your feet wet, watch the boats cruise by, and enjoy the sand. I'm now sporting some healthy color in my cheeks and I'm invigorated. The beach invigorates me. I love it. I can't fully express how much I love it. If there is something in this world that speaks to my soul, it's the sound of the ocean. Hmm. Anyway, I got some reading in while we were there and I'm really liking Neverwhere. It's not exactly a beach read, but oh well.

I'm not sure what's on deck for tomorrow. It's weird not having a paper or a project hanging over my head, lol. At the end of every semester, I always have to get used to not having any deadlines. It's a nice feeling though, don't get me wrong. I'm making chicken and dumplings for my Mother's Day dinner. I know. It's traditional to go out, but I really want chicken and dumplings and I want them how I make them, so there ya go.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. I hope you have a wonderful and quiet day.

My Summer Plans (edited)

Now that the semester is over and I don't go back to school until September, I figured it would be necessary to do something with myself over the summer. Also, my kids will be heading to their grandparents' in Ohio at the end of next month, so I really won't have anything to occupy my time other than the dogs. Here's how I plan on keeping busy.

The local community college here in N.C. is offering some courses that are right up my alley. Neither of them would be for credits but they will be fun and interesting. One is an editing class. Yeah, I just finished up an editing class but that was for technical documents and such. This class is for fiction and non-fiction novels, articles, and things of that nature. The other class is about publishing. Both classes sound really cool to me and they have five different start times so I can stagger them to make them last longer.

Another endeavor of mine is to help the Mister finally get his cheesecake deal off the ground and moving forward. He needs some help with the particulars like finding a box supplier, figuring out something for a website, things like that. I'm also going to see about approaching some of the local restaurants around the area as well. We figured out how to ship them and it is not cheap. Of course, the customer would pay shipping, but still. This could, potentially, be quite a bit of work in the end.

We're also going to try and find the time to go to Texas this summer for about a week or so. We're considering the Houston, San Antonio, Austin area as a future place of residence. Do you know how amazingly inexpensive real estate is down that way?? It's nauseating.

Then I have the usual odds and ends. Things like my blog, catching up on some reading, Readers Anonymous, a new blogging project, and the beach. I've been keeping my nose in the classifieds but the job market here is dismal to say the least. I'm not qualified, nor am I willing, to work in construction or sales and that's about all there is. Sometimes living in small, rinky-dink, rural America can be a drag.

That's about it. Now that I'm over the disappointment of my unplanned break from school, I'm actually looking forward to it. Really looking forward to it. I can see now that I was starting to feel burned out.

**Edited to add that I forgot to mention that I'm also participating in a volunteer proofreading project. I'm sure you've all heard of Project Gutenberg. Well, they have an affiliate website called Distributed Proofreaders where volunteers edit pages of the books that are uploaded to the Internet for people to read. My editing prof mentioned this at the end of class and I think it's a worthwhile activity. Plus, it gives me some editing experience even if it's not a paying job. Plus, you can do as much or as little as you want so there's no pressure. Me likes. ;)

Thursday Meme

I have a bazillion things on my mind today, but decided to go with Booking Through Thursday's post for today.

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

Being an English major, I read writing guides, grammar books, etc., all the time. Some are more helpful than others but with my major and the line of work that I'm hoping to get into, they are going to be a mainstay on my desk for the foreseeable future. How many do I have? We'll, let's count them...I counted 11 that I can see. Oh. And I also have a Spanish/English dictionary. Does that count for the purposes of this post, lol? I also have a reference book that is for the aspiring screenwriter which isn't me at all but it was required for a class. My favorite manual is The Little Brown Compact Handbook because it has MLA, APA, Chicago and CBE, and Columbia guidelines all jam-packed into one reference book which comes in really handy. And just for the record, it is really beyond me why it is necessary to have fifteen million ways to cite references. Does the placement of a comma or period really make that much of a difference in your list of references or works cited depending on what your professor prefers??? Mmm, no. I don't think so. I would like to find an all-encompassing reference manual for the copy editor but I haven't had any luck. Maybe they don't make one specifically for copy editors.

Hump Day

And what a day it has been. I can't believe it's not even 1:00 yet.

My morning started out well enough. I got up on time, got the kids up, and checked my e-mail. I went back to my bedroom, and realized that I had left the cotton balls in the living room. On my way to the living room, I accidentally kicked the leg of my bed. I kicked it so hard that I tore the nail off of my middle toe and bled all over my floor. I either tore a muscle in my foot or I have a hairline fracture because it's pretty sore. I hate my bed. I was so tired and stressed out from finals and life, that I started crying and couldn't stop which makes it hard to put your makeup on, lol. Eventually, I stop my blubbering, get myself and the kids ready to go, and the Mister and I head off to our finals.

I decided to take my business management final first since all of my classmates said that it sucked. It wasn't too awful but I'm definitely not expecting an A on it. I took my Spanish final after that and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I kept staring at words that I knew I should have known what they meant but it just wouldn't come to me and they were simple everyday verbs that I know. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind this morning.

After finals, we went to Morehead City for lunch and to buy a new shower curtain liner at Bed, Bath, and Beyond which improved my spirits somewhat. BB&B is one of my favorite stores.

On the way home, we decided to stop at the furniture store on base to see if they have one of those movable island things for the kitchen. I need extra counter space in the worst way. But they didn't so we headed home. At an intersection leading to the main road on base, we were at a red light waiting to turn left and this woman (I wish I could draw a picture of the intersection so you'd understand better) pulled out behind us to go straight and another car was coming through who had the right of way and totally slammed into her right behind us. Scared the freaking bejeezus out of me. It was LOUD! The guy hit her so hard, he spun her car around. Nobody was hurt though but the front ends of their cars were pretty messed up.

I have had enough excitement for the day. The Mister and I have one last final in the morning, then we're going to the beach to relax. We're exhausted.

Harmony One

The Mister and I received our Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote controls last week. If you'll remember, we received them from Bzz as part of their campaign. After trying them out for about a week, here are our initial thoughts:

First of all, it's really neat looking. Sleek, shiny, black with a color touch screen makes it look very classy and the touch screen is easy to read. The buttons are in convenient locations. Also, it came with a charging station so that we won't constantly have to change batteries which is an issue at my house with all of our various electronic gadgets that we can't seem to get enough of.

Things that I don't really like about it, is that it's hard to get the Harmony One to "talk" to our old remote to learn its functions. See, you have to point them at each other, infrared sensor to infrared sensor so that the new remote can learn the old remote's functions. I only had to do this with my cable box remote because the Harmony One was able to program functions for my other devices (the receiver, DVD player, TV, etc.) by entering in their respective model numbers into the program that you install onto your computer from the CD-Rom that comes with the remote. Funny thing, I accidentally pushed the "7" button when trying to program the "6" button so I can't change the channel to channel 6 with just pushing the button. Trying to get the darn remotes to talk to each other to fix this problem has been a royal PITA. Another thing that I don't like about it is that for $250, it really doesn't do a whole lot that my universal remote that came with my cable box didn't do and it was free with the box.

Bottom line...I'm a gadget freak so I really like having such a nifty looking remote but if I had had to pay for it out of my own pocket, I would have been disappointed. I would only recommend this to someone who has so many remotes that they need something to streamline their electronics. If you already have a universal remote that works for you, don't bother paying $250 for this one.

End of the Day

Today was odd. The Mister is on leave this week because we have finals and it's just weird to have him home when it's not a holiday. We didn't do much other than lounge, study, play Mario Kart, and cook the kids dinner.

Tonight, we watched Big Bang Theory and I watched Bones. I really enjoy both of those shows. BBT is so hilarious that it's a great show to watch when you just want to veg. I was also excited to see that Showtime is rerunning season three of Weeds on Monday nights to catch people up to when they begin airing season four. That's another show that I can't get enough of. We Netflix'ed seasons one and two and I don't think season three is out on DVD yet.

Also, I have started RA's May book, Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. We have some skeptics this month since Gaiman's books are a little...out there. I think it's a good thing to stretch your literary wings every once in a while though. Plus, isn't that the point of being in a book discussion group, to read books that you might not have picked up on your own? That's how I found Gaiman in the first place, in another book group. So far, I've read American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Stardust, which they made a movie out of and I have yet to see. I can't wait to see where Gaiman takes us in Neverwhere.

I just sat here and stared at the screen for five minutes so I think my brain is done for the night.

Post Anniversary Post

Thanks to everyone who called, left comments, or sent e-mail happy anniversary wishes. It was much appreciated. We had a really good night. Had time permitted, we were going to go to The Little Dipper which is a fondue restaurant in Wilmington but it's a drive and we didn't have the time to get down there. So, we went to the Lobster instead which is always a winner with me. The food was great and we had really excellent service (always do at this one) and I got to make fun of Miss Big Boobs while I ate. If I could have discreetly gotten a pic of her with my phone, I would have because believe me, she was a sight to behold.

After dinner, we went to the new Barnes and Noble and the Mister and I each bought two new books. Is that bliss or what?

Then we came home, played Mario Kart for a bit (heheh) and went to bed. Both of the dogs slept with us because they normally sleep with the oldest child and she wasn't home. They were lost and pathetic without her. So between the Mister's snoring, Hannah's snoring, the rain, and the heat, I didn't get any sleep last night. We have had a most awesome weekend so it's all good.

I have my final project of the semester that I'm working on so that's it for today. Laters.

Happy 12th

Today is my 12th anniversary. We managed to wrangle an overnight babysitter for the kids so we're going out to dinner tonight. We were thinking of staying overnight in Myrtle Beach but don't have a dogsitter for the dogs, lol. You wouldn't think it, but dogs impede travel plans more than kids do. But that's okay. Dinner alone is just fine with me. We already exchanged gifts which was AWESOME. I got the hubby an OSU front license plate (we don't have to have front license plates here in N.C.), an OSU license plate frame for the rear, and OSU tire valve covers, hehehehehe. He really liked them and immediately went out and put them on his car. He got me a bottle of Valentino perfume which I have been wanting for about two years now. I LOVE it!! It smells so good. I even like the box that it came in, lol. He ordered it from Sephora since none of the stores around here sell it.

We're not dropping the kids off until about 6 tonight so we're going to wash both the cars this morning (we still have pollen issues) and pick up the yard. Not very romantic but I just want to do something that involves being out of the house. It's an absolutely gorgeous morning and I want to enjoy it.

I'm off. I hope everyone enjoys their weekend as much as I am going to.

Blog Stats

This came up the other day in my book discussion group and now I'm curious so I totally expect comments on this post and I've never said that before.

1.) How many people consider reading blogs a hobby? 2.) How many blogs do you subscribe to or read on a regular basis? 3.) Is there a such thing as too many? 4.) Comments. Do you leave them or not?

1.) For me, I think blog reading could be considered a hobby separate from regular reading. I sure devote enough time to reading updates from the blogs I subscribe to and more recently, hunting new blogs to read.

2.) I subscribe to 67 blogs in my Google Reader but 12 of them have not updated recently ranging in date from 3/2/07 - 1/31/08. With that amount of time, I have to wonder if I'll be hearing from them in the blogoshere ever again.

3 and 4) Just like I don't think it's possible to read too many books, I don't think it's possible to subscribe to too many blogs. I admit, some blogs I skim more than I read but I still pay attention to what they are saying. Also, feeling obligated to leave comments on so many posts can get really overwhelming which makes me feel neglectful when I don't. Sometimes I also feel like I'm just saying the same thing that 10 other people have said on the more popular blogs. So, I suppose that leaving comments just because you feel like you have to makes the sentiment and empty one but some bloggers are so comment hungry that they probably don't care. I say, leave comments when you really want to and not just because you feel like you should.

I would like to ask more questions about blogging but they would be too gossipy so I won't, lol. Like I said, I'm curious though.