I was bored this evening and don't even know how I made my way to this website but . . .
check it out.
If you like cats, you'll love this.
It's called "stuff on my cat"
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/
Fun stuff!
from the absurd to the more absurd.
did you read the news today about the family that just had their 18th child?
well yes, It's the Duggar family of Arkansas. And here is something unexpected (not)
All 18 of their children have names with the same first letter. (J)
sorry to be judgmental here but I find that particular naming pattern odd.
and, how the hell do you come up with 18 good ones?
p.s., they want more children . . . .
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Shhhhhhhhh
I think I'm probably the only person walking the planet who hadn't heard of the new literary sensation "The Secret" If you, like me, don't know what the "Secret" is all about, here is a snippet from Publishers Weekly to sum it up
Supporters will hail this New Age self-help book on the law of attraction as a groundbreaking and life-changing work, finding validation in its thesis that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness...
That is probably over simplistic, and since I haven't read the secret, I have no idea what the entire thesis is. But here is the thing. Remember yesterdays post? I was lamenting the fact that I just haven't been "feeling" the Holiday's yet. Last night I was talking with Ashley on the phone and she had just read a bit from the Secret and had purposefully applied the principles of positive thought etc. Immediately she noticed a change in the attitudes of people around her- friends and strangers. I realized that this was what we had always taught our kids but somehow I had lost that myself in the recent past. I was succumbing to outside pressure to have everything done just so by date certain. When you do that you lose the important aspect of enjoying the journey!
I awoke this morning to a whole different set of goals.
I'm back to basics. If the house is decorated for Christmas, great. If the family is participating to achieve that, excellent. I will enjoy my time with my family and not stress about external "stuff".
These are not the principles of the Secret, but they work for me. Somehow I had just lost site of them. That is my secret
Supporters will hail this New Age self-help book on the law of attraction as a groundbreaking and life-changing work, finding validation in its thesis that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness...
That is probably over simplistic, and since I haven't read the secret, I have no idea what the entire thesis is. But here is the thing. Remember yesterdays post? I was lamenting the fact that I just haven't been "feeling" the Holiday's yet. Last night I was talking with Ashley on the phone and she had just read a bit from the Secret and had purposefully applied the principles of positive thought etc. Immediately she noticed a change in the attitudes of people around her- friends and strangers. I realized that this was what we had always taught our kids but somehow I had lost that myself in the recent past. I was succumbing to outside pressure to have everything done just so by date certain. When you do that you lose the important aspect of enjoying the journey!
I awoke this morning to a whole different set of goals.
I'm back to basics. If the house is decorated for Christmas, great. If the family is participating to achieve that, excellent. I will enjoy my time with my family and not stress about external "stuff".
These are not the principles of the Secret, but they work for me. Somehow I had just lost site of them. That is my secret
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
tis the season?
Okay, maybe I'm not quite that bad but . . . I just haven't gotten into the spirit yet.When Randy's work party occurred in November it was one of those incredibe unseasonably warm days . . .kind of hard to think of the Holiday's when the thermometer was at 70 that day.
We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving as is our tradition. This year we had one heck of a time finding one we all liked. We brought it home, stuck it in water outside and it cooled it's heals there until just last Saturday. Now it's in the house, but still unadorned. Christmas decorations are in the house, tucked safely in their boxes! Randy managed to hang Christmas lights up outside this weekend, just ahead of that COLD storm.
I did get the cards in the mail- more than 100 thank you very much.
I've finished all the gift shopping excepting a couple of little items.
Now I have to make the house feel "Christmasy" Maybe tonight? tomorrow? the weekend?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
boys are funny . . .
No matter how old they are, what kind of shape they are in, they simply CANNOT let a girl win.
case in point:
I was swimming today. In the lane to my left a man who appeared to be somewhere in his forties was swimming. I didn't notice him until I took a break after my first mile. As I stood at the wall and sipped water I casually took inventory of the other swimmers in the pool. 2 lanes to my left was the infamous "big bird" a man who simply cannot swim, lies on his back and makes flying motions. He kicks up a furious wake which disables breathing on that side when you swim beside him. To my right was a very old gentleman- a daily swimmer with a killer tan and a pretty good stroke. And to my left, a man who I graded a mid level swimmer. Quick assessment: jammer bathing suit (not the confidence of a speedo, yet more confident than a board short) and oversized dorky goggles (spouse probably purchased them on sale at Big-5) . I noticed too he was swimming with GIANT hand paddles for pulling and had a pull bouy between his legs. I kept taking inventory of other swimmers and then took off for my next set.
I swam up, but remained behind my neighbor to the left. He was pulling as would be expected. Since I've perfected the flip turn I can overtake a person doing open turns pretty easily- I did.
I then had to laugh as I felt splashing and wild swimming to my right (( had turned now remember) Mr. Jammer/big goggle had probably noticed my big pink suit, realized it was a girl and decided that there was NO WAY a girl was beating him back to the other wall. Big paddles on, pull bouy on, he kicked like a mad man to pass me. "go for it dude" was all I could think and at the wall, passed him again- Oh yikkes, he did not like that. Even more splashing as he fought to overtake me. This continued at each way for about 100 yards at which point he stopped at the wall panting. Lesson learned, slow and steady always wins the race. I kept up, unabated for another 1000 yards . . . poor poor competitive man.
(haha)
case in point:
I was swimming today. In the lane to my left a man who appeared to be somewhere in his forties was swimming. I didn't notice him until I took a break after my first mile. As I stood at the wall and sipped water I casually took inventory of the other swimmers in the pool. 2 lanes to my left was the infamous "big bird" a man who simply cannot swim, lies on his back and makes flying motions. He kicks up a furious wake which disables breathing on that side when you swim beside him. To my right was a very old gentleman- a daily swimmer with a killer tan and a pretty good stroke. And to my left, a man who I graded a mid level swimmer. Quick assessment: jammer bathing suit (not the confidence of a speedo, yet more confident than a board short) and oversized dorky goggles (spouse probably purchased them on sale at Big-5) . I noticed too he was swimming with GIANT hand paddles for pulling and had a pull bouy between his legs. I kept taking inventory of other swimmers and then took off for my next set.
I swam up, but remained behind my neighbor to the left. He was pulling as would be expected. Since I've perfected the flip turn I can overtake a person doing open turns pretty easily- I did.
I then had to laugh as I felt splashing and wild swimming to my right (( had turned now remember) Mr. Jammer/big goggle had probably noticed my big pink suit, realized it was a girl and decided that there was NO WAY a girl was beating him back to the other wall. Big paddles on, pull bouy on, he kicked like a mad man to pass me. "go for it dude" was all I could think and at the wall, passed him again- Oh yikkes, he did not like that. Even more splashing as he fought to overtake me. This continued at each way for about 100 yards at which point he stopped at the wall panting. Lesson learned, slow and steady always wins the race. I kept up, unabated for another 1000 yards . . . poor poor competitive man.
(haha)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thanksgiving eve
Thanksgiving eve.
I had to fore go my swim tonight as I had far too much to do to prepare for tomorrow.
For starters, it took 1 1/2 hours go get home from work.
Then, after throwing dinner a the boys, (literally) I made that last (hopefully) trip to Safeway followed by an evening of baking and meal prep.
It's now 11:45 pm and I've finished what I'm going to accomplish tonight.
The sauce for the yams is AMAZING, the pumpkin pies and eggnog cheesecake look to be pretty freakin good.
If all else fails . . . we have a cellar full of wine with which to fool our guests.
bon apetite'
Happy Thanksgiving.
Take a moment to be grateful. Despite temporary setbacks and difficult moments . . . .we are pretty lucky.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Current events and politics
I promise, this is the last time I'm going to discuss politics . . . (haha, did you actually believe that?)
First I wanted to tell you about the Comcast forums and proudly announce I think I have conquered my addiction to them. During the campaign it was fun, profoundly addictive, but fun.
Post campaign it was pretty nice with most folks putting aside partisan politics and deciding to accept the decisions made (except a few poor souls who thought the election was stolen). A week after the election the forum that I frequented was closed and so I wandered over to the "News and current event" section. I was so disturbed to see the number of anti gay threads, folks gloating over the passage of prop 8. Well, you know me, I'm never one to back away from a fight. I discovered quite quickly that homophobs are not going to change their minds, reasonable arguments elude them. These threads were full of bible references (funny how you can pick and chose those) and the authors of the posts became quite nasty.
I suddenly had an epiphany. I am probably arguing with people like Fred Phelps, that crazy guy that goes to funerals of gay people to put up his disgusting signs and protest. Or, maybe I'm trying to reason with some guy who lives in 
his Moms basement. Clearly, neither is about to change their mind and once I put this into perspective I felt fine walking away from the whole thing. I actually got a very nice note from another person who said she/he enjoyed my posts, my empathy to the gay community and my reasonablness. This same person was also going to walk away from the forums as they were too hateful to participate in. So, until the next election cycle, I'm done!
Now, I have an idea . . .
It seems to me that both the Republican party and Domestic car companies are having a hard time these days. Two suggestions for both. Rebranding, without significant change, isn't going to work. Change must come from the top down. Get rid of the "old way" of doing things, look at your business model (or platform) and decide if it is current. Look at the needs of the majority, not just a small population and align your goals with theirs. Sounds simple to me.
It would be nice to see the domestic car market thrive again, and people working in this industry- perhaps we could even bring Flint Michigan back to it's former glory? As for the Republicans, unless they change soon (and I don't mean to make Sarah Palin their new spokesmodel) they can be sure that they won't have power for a very very long time.
First I wanted to tell you about the Comcast forums and proudly announce I think I have conquered my addiction to them. During the campaign it was fun, profoundly addictive, but fun.
Post campaign it was pretty nice with most folks putting aside partisan politics and deciding to accept the decisions made (except a few poor souls who thought the election was stolen). A week after the election the forum that I frequented was closed and so I wandered over to the "News and current event" section. I was so disturbed to see the number of anti gay threads, folks gloating over the passage of prop 8. Well, you know me, I'm never one to back away from a fight. I discovered quite quickly that homophobs are not going to change their minds, reasonable arguments elude them. These threads were full of bible references (funny how you can pick and chose those) and the authors of the posts became quite nasty.
I suddenly had an epiphany. I am probably arguing with people like Fred Phelps, that crazy guy that goes to funerals of gay people to put up his disgusting signs and protest. Or, maybe I'm trying to reason with some guy who lives in 
his Moms basement. Clearly, neither is about to change their mind and once I put this into perspective I felt fine walking away from the whole thing. I actually got a very nice note from another person who said she/he enjoyed my posts, my empathy to the gay community and my reasonablness. This same person was also going to walk away from the forums as they were too hateful to participate in. So, until the next election cycle, I'm done!Now, I have an idea . . .
It seems to me that both the Republican party and Domestic car companies are having a hard time these days. Two suggestions for both. Rebranding, without significant change, isn't going to work. Change must come from the top down. Get rid of the "old way" of doing things, look at your business model (or platform) and decide if it is current. Look at the needs of the majority, not just a small population and align your goals with theirs. Sounds simple to me.
It would be nice to see the domestic car market thrive again, and people working in this industry- perhaps we could even bring Flint Michigan back to it's former glory? As for the Republicans, unless they change soon (and I don't mean to make Sarah Palin their new spokesmodel) they can be sure that they won't have power for a very very long time.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
still falling behind
I have great intentions, I really do.If you could get into my head you would know I'm full of great ideas and plans, it's the damn execution of those that gets in my way.
I have a lot to talk about, but it's a work night and I'm terribly behind in the sleep department.
I was just preparing to head into bed when I took one last look at online sources. Though I'm slowly weaning myself from the forums on comcast (more on that later), I still must look at Huffingtonpost.com and Politico.com before I can call the day done.
In my foray into Huffington I looked at Entertainment news. Two of my favorite shows are being cancelled! Ely Stone and Pushing Daisies are going away! I'm a little bit verklempt right now.
I know the pictures I chose are not terribly reflective of the shows, but in my current state of sleepiness, it's about the best I could muster! I love watching Ely Stone on Tuesdays, one because I think the premise is wonderful and I enjoy the musical interludes- two because Ashley always calls around 10:10-10:20 as she is headed home from Herald night. . . who will keep me company until Ashley calls if Ely is gone? Pushing Daisies is a show that Kyle and I discovered last year. It's fun, whimsical and looks visually like a Tim Burton production. I think Kyle has a little crush on Kristin Chenowith. I'm safe saying this as I am relatively certain he NEVER reads my blog- if he does- so be it, if I was a guy I'd probably enjoy looking at her too.
so, this is my Thursday night despair.
At least I still have Top Chef to look forward to . . . . .
tomorrow I'll further update you and tell you about my dark adventures into the comcast forums . . . .
Friday, November 7, 2008
modern life . . .
About 2-3 weeks ago my washing machine started misbehaving.
I don't know why, but when the boys would use it, it would overflow. This happened 3-4 times in the past several weeks. Unfortunately, not only is it a pain in the neck, it has caused some damage to the laundry room floor.
As I said, this seemed only to happen to Travis or Kyle.
The machine has a particular thing it does only to me . . it stalls. Midway through the wash it stops, hums and discontinues the cycle. It could quite literally take days to complete one load- waiting to restart and keeping fingers crossed it would finish a cycle once restarted.
I called my favorite repair man last week and he thought he could fix the overflow, but the stalling . . he wasn't t
oo sure. I was looking at about $300 just to fix one problem, who kn
ew if he could trouble shoot the second.
what to do? Should I get a washboard and tub and go to it the old fashioned way? should I go to the river and wash with stone? (no close river so that is out)
On my way home from my hair appointment I decided to stop in to Western Appliance- I found what I hope to be my next favorite appliance! Disregard the image of the dryer (my Kitchenaid is still nicely functional)
This thing spins so hard it woke Randy up last night, he thought there was a helicopter in the laundry room. Okay, it appears I need to figure out all the best settings yet!
Looking forward to washing washing washing this weekend!
I don't know why, but when the boys would use it, it would overflow. This happened 3-4 times in the past several weeks. Unfortunately, not only is it a pain in the neck, it has caused some damage to the laundry room floor.
As I said, this seemed only to happen to Travis or Kyle.
The machine has a particular thing it does only to me . . it stalls. Midway through the wash it stops, hums and discontinues the cycle. It could quite literally take days to complete one load- waiting to restart and keeping fingers crossed it would finish a cycle once restarted.
I called my favorite repair man last week and he thought he could fix the overflow, but the stalling . . he wasn't t
oo sure. I was looking at about $300 just to fix one problem, who kn
ew if he could trouble shoot the second.what to do? Should I get a washboard and tub and go to it the old fashioned way? should I go to the river and wash with stone? (no close river so that is out)
On my way home from my hair appointment I decided to stop in to Western Appliance- I found what I hope to be my next favorite appliance! Disregard the image of the dryer (my Kitchenaid is still nicely functional)
This thing spins so hard it woke Randy up last night, he thought there was a helicopter in the laundry room. Okay, it appears I need to figure out all the best settings yet!
Looking forward to washing washing washing this weekend!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I'm Back!
It's over! My self imposed exhile from blogging and into the dark world of politics has finally ended. I can stop looking at Realclearpolitics.com, Politico.com, Huffingtonpost.com and fivethirtyeight.com every 15 minutes. I WILL stop looking at the forum on Comcast, and I will stop trying to change the minds of deeply entrenched wingnuts on the same forum.
I am free at last!
Last night was beautiful. At 8:00 pacific standard time, when the networks all called the election Randy, Kyle and I enjoyed a glass of champagne, a toast to the future and the incredible video from Chicago.
John McCains concession speech was sincere and clear, Barack's acceptance speech was inspiring.
And now, we move forward.
As an aside, if she were still alive, Betsy would be celebrating her 38th birthday today.
Betsy was our poodle mix dog when we were growing up- one of the BEST dogs ever.
Happy Birthday Betsy- say "woof" to Akita for us, will you?
I am free at last!
Last night was beautiful. At 8:00 pacific standard time, when the networks all called the election Randy, Kyle and I enjoyed a glass of champagne, a toast to the future and the incredible video from Chicago.
John McCains concession speech was sincere and clear, Barack's acceptance speech was inspiring.
And now, we move forward.
As an aside, if she were still alive, Betsy would be celebrating her 38th birthday today.
Betsy was our poodle mix dog when we were growing up- one of the BEST dogs ever.
Happy Birthday Betsy- say "woof" to Akita for us, will you?
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)