A Room with a sm00

Dreams...

Tue, 13 May 2008 11:16:34 GMT

Since the voting for week 1 at thebrenljidol has closed, I feel safe in posting this entry here now. It's not my best writing, nor is it my worst. I believe it earned me enough votes to stay in the running, although I'm not sure how long that will last. For those of you in the contest who might be wondering, my entry was number 17 and earned 14 votes. The entry with the highest number of votes had 30 and the entry with the lowest had only 2. I think we're dropping five writers from this round, but I'm not entirely certain about that.

Somewhere in another lifetime I used to dream of the way things would be as I grew older. To say those dreams haven't come true isn't exactly correct, but they're certainly not as I imagined. Most parts of my life are better than my dreams and some parts are just different, neither better nor worse than my dreams.

I used to dream of a life with a loving husband and a houseful of adorable children, preferably at least enough for a hockey team. I always wanted acres and acres of land, enough to allow us to keep a few horses, have a large garden and a few fruit trees, a few chickens, and perhaps a few sheep and alpacas. Part of this dream has been fulfilled, part of it is still a dream, but now I share that dream with my loving husband.

I used to dream of a writing career, complete with touring and book signing and speaking at various schools across the country. My dream was to author children's literature, to be the next Judith Viorst, or Katherine Patterson, or Lois Lowry, or even the next Maurice Sendak. I still think of this from time to time, but never with the same passion I used to have, never with the same ideas floating in my head.

I used to dream of all the major events, the weddings, the funerals, the long lost loves. I know now life rarely follows our dreams the way we see them, but I've also learned sometimes our dreams are best left as dreams and not turned into reality since some of the magic can be lost. Sure, there have been times when I was pleased beyond reason when reality turned out better than my dreams, but there have been several times I was disappointed when reality didn't match up with my dreams.

Of course, now all of my dreams tend to center around my daughter. I have dreams for her to grow big and strong, for her to reach her full potential and beyond, for her to be as happy as humanly possible. I dream of a world with less crime, less war, less hatred. I dream of a world with more socially responsible people, more people concerned about the environment, more people who simply dare to be kind.

I am concerned about the state of the world as we now know it and I have to work very diligently to not let my mind wander off into the land of nightmares, to keep it filled with happy thoughts of where the future will take us. My dreams keep me sane, even if they're not always very realistic. She's too young for me to let realism set in just yet. I can only hope my daughter will one day have dreams of her own.

I will continue to dream until the day I die, I'm sure of it. I do have a loving husband and a beautiful daughter. It's no hockey team, but my heart is overflowing with love so that's a dream fulfilled. Some of the old dreams linger, but only in remnants. Some of them have morphed into greater dreams. Some of them may remain dreams and some may become reality. No matter what the situation, I will always have my dreams.

Happy Mother's Day

Sun, 11 May 2008 04:59:53 GMT

To all of the mothers, mothers-to-be, hopeful mothers, fathers who have taken on the motherly role, and fill-in mothers on my f-list (and anyone else I might have missed), I wish you a splendid Mother's Day.

To all of the wonderful people on my list who are missing their mothers, *big fweazy hugs*. I wish I had words of comfort, but I don't, and I'm sorry.

Be sure to check out this Sunday's postsecret, but also be prepared for tears if you're a sap like me.

Also, many thanks to grace_in_spades for the VG! *hugs*

I've got a fang

Sun, 11 May 2008 02:51:29 GMT

Being sick kills my desire for most things outside of sleep. Unfortunately, there was little sleep to be had this week since Sophie also wound up being sick. It seems, on top of the cold she picked up from me, she also is having issues with her molars. She'll wake up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder and it takes so long to get her to calm down. I finally had to resort to taking nighttime meds so I could actually sleep and letting B have Kritter duty. The nighttime meds kick my butt hard, though, and I wound up doing some serious dragging the past couple of mornings.

In other Kritter news, today, she was playing with her sorting blocks (wooden Melissa & Doug set) and instead of sorting them, was stacking them. No one suggested this to her and no one helped her. She stacked nine blocks before they fell over, and I think it was around block six or seven when she put the triangle on top and realized every time she added another block that she couldn't put it on top of the triangle. Color me impressed.

We painted with the paintbrushes and watercolors yesterday. It wasn't terribly exciting, but Sophie had fun. I might break out the finger paints (the real ones and not just colored yogurt or pudding) this week if she's done with the snurfs and wiping her hands on her face all the time.

I know I said I was going to do a third friending frenzy and I don't think I ever got there. Here are part 1 and part 2 of the frenzy. If anyone would like to participate in the third frenzy, please let me know! I know there should be at least two of you out there, so please remind me if I never got your names up. Lots of new people are on the f-list, so if you don't know what the frenzy is, check out part 1 especially.

Our garden has baby ladybugs! I actually saw them flying around on the plants so they're not dead as I thought. They're so tiny! We also have a few beans and at least one pepper started, and lots of blooms on other plants. Going back to the first bullet, though... no desire to do anything!

I have done nearly no housework this week. I really need to get cracking on that since my house looks like a tornado zipped through. B was thinking about having his parents for dinner tomorrow night (which we normally do every Sunday anyhow) but I just don't want to be bothered. Meh. I don't know what I want to do for dinner tomorrow night, but he also suggested we go over there, but they're supposed to be going fishing and they might be on the lake too late to want to do that.

Writing has started for thebrenljidol, and quite honestly, I am humbled by some of the entries I've read. I never thought I was an excellent writer, but I am amazed at some of the talent in that group. I know I won't make it far unless I start writing fiction, and I haven't done that in years and years. I think the most difficult part of the voting process is reading all of the different entries and realizing how many different styles people have used. Between poetry and prose, fiction and non fiction, first and third person narratives, it's difficult to compare them and pick the best entries. It's fun, though, and I'm very glad I'm doing this. The topic for this week is pain, which is a pretty broad topic. I have no idea what I'll write yet.

If anyone would care for my contact info (I've noticed quite a few friends requesting this lately), it's all located in the profile and the sidebar of my journal. Feel free to use it if you'd like, but please don't set me up for porn spam. I get enough of that as it is.

On a slightly related note, if you have your AIM name set in your profile, your AIM turned on, and have recently posted a public entry to your LJ (sometimes this works when editing or even when posting to communities, but that's much more rare), do not be surprised if you get a message from *Salmon (the * changes constantly). This has happened to me countless times. Sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it's a whip because the other person doesn't understand what's happening. For more information, check themissinghat.

A design request for my friends: I'm looking for a new layout. I prefer three columns but I could make do with two columns if the column was completely configurable. If I could make my own, I would, but I don't even have time to get my user pics set up. I'm getting there, though. If anyone has suggestions for where I could look other than communities of which I'm already a member, please feel free to share.

Sophie has started this thing where she likes to play with sock puppets now. She grabs the socks, makes me help her put hers on and then I have to put one on as well, and then the first thing the sock puppets do is high five. The next thing she does is kiss my sock puppet and then she kisses me. It's too cute, really. Then it's the same thing again but with hugs. I love that kid.

She's started singing randomly and it cracks me up. She gets most of the words but the tunes are never even close. Truthfully, though, her rhythm isn't half bad.

This bullet is mostly for me so I don't forget to make these posts... entry ideas: kiddie lit list, favorite links request, friending frenzy 3, favorite community request, favorite feed request, photo//video dump, movie suggestion request, another attempt at the miserably failed mix tape post, more polls (suggestions, anyone?), the long overdue working from home post (it'll never happen), the almost as long overdue what to do with all those Christmas cards post (also will probably never happen), the seriously long overdue hooray this baby blanket is finished post (have to finish the blanket first)....

One last thing... if anyone knows how I can get something other than solid dots, open circles, or squares for my bullet points, I'd love to know. Please and thanks very much, you lovely people, you! *Apparently the square shows up in Semagic but not on my LJ. Meh.

Edited to add: Also, for you VladStudio lovers out there, I found a feed on LJ for it! vladstudio (easy enough, right?). Enjoy!

But now, I must drink my ginger peach tea and blow my nose and pray that Sophie sleeps through the night (miracle of miracles, but bedtime was easy tonight!).

Pimping Time!

Wed, 07 May 2008 20:26:50 GMT

LiveJournal Advisory Board Elections

I support uawildcatgrl to be my representative on the Advisory Board.

Show your support at lj_election_en.

Her entry is located HERE.

All you need to add is:"I support this nomination"

To copy this banner to your own LJ for pimping (and please spread this around!!), here's the code:

Bren is one of the most wonderful people I know. Please go vote for her!

Because Polls Are Fun!

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:46:16 GMT

This is a poll basically designed to help me get a better overview of my friends list, and I thought it might be an interesting activity. My intent is not to offend anyone, so if I have, please let me know. The answers are viewable only by me, and I don't intend to share info with anyone.

Feel free to leave comments as always. Also, if you DO happen to have an Etsy site or other site (LJ or non-LJ, either way is fine) you'd like me to promote in my sidebar, please leave a comment with the link and any graphic you might want to use.

Enjoy!

Edited to add: I completely forgot Pagan and Heathen for the Religions! I thought of those while I was in the shower. Oops! Sorry guys. I really do know y'all better than I let on. I just forget. ;)

And: You guys... remind me I'm not allowed to create polls any more. I forgot about co-habitation and life partners as well (although in some states, married would work for that). I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I forgot.

View Poll: I've got friends...

Meh.

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:18:07 GMT

I don't think I have much to say...

Sophie has been going to bed without crying lately! YAY! I don't have to sit in there and rub her back or her belly or sing her songs and wait until she's asleep. What a big girl!

I'm sick as a dog. It sucks. Really. I have some 12 hour Afrin and 8 hour Halls that kick back, though. I think I'm going to lose my voice on this one. Fun!

I have pictures and videos to post, as always. I'll get to them soon, I hope.

Yeah... I was right. Not much to say. I'm fuzzy headed tonight. I think it's time for sleep. The Kritter wakes up far too early these days.

A few links from the Frogpond and other bits...

Sun, 04 May 2008 23:11:57 GMT

If you or anyone you know has ever used any of these items or is interested in using these items or has reason to not like these items, please spill! Comment away (or have your friends comment here if you'd like). I'd love to know! Some of the links below will lead to samples and/or coupons, so click!

Glade® Wisp® Flameless Candle

AVEENO® POSITIVELY AGELESS™ Lifting & Firming Products

Claritin® RediTabs®

Ziploc® Twist 'N Loc® Containers

Ziploc® Big Bags

Now, for you link lovers out there.... have fun!

72 Hours - Ever wondered what to pack in an emergency kit? 72 Hours has the answers for you!

Food411.com - This is an excellent resource for foodies and food novices. Looking for lemon curd or turducken? Looking for recipes or kitchen hardware? Stop by Food411 for advice and links!

Gamesville - For all those who love playing games!

Giveaway of the Day - Some of the giveaways here are pretty interesting and some can be rather lame. Today's is weak, but other bits of software offered there have been worth it. There's also a gaming giveaway of the day. I created a feed for this one: giveaway_ot_day

Recipe Matcher - Have ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator and don't know what to make with them? Try this site! It lets you use more than five ingredients (unlike allrecipes.com) but will not let you list ingredients you don't have (like allrecipes.com will). There is even a search for cocktail recipes.

Who is Sick? - This is so appropriate for me right now since I am sick yet again. I'm not quite sure how well it works since I wasn't able to post but that could be because I use Fx and not IE. It's certainly worth checking out.

Ditto - For all you list lovers out there... from music to movies, see lists from other people or share your own.

Stats for April 2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 05:40:47 GMT

For those of you stats/comment crazy people out there, sorry this is late. With my parents in town and Sophie's birthday and all, well... I've been a bit busy. I am behind on comments (backed up through the month of April) and am zipping through the f-list. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up soon.

1	kingdavey	32
2	louenn	25
3	ayoub	23
4	billzy	14
5	kikifitz	13
6	stellardreams81	10
6	leanbysummer	10
8	aellwynde	9
8	uawildcatgrl	9
10	msbluerasp	8
11	catscar	7
11	rredhead	7
11	holding_on	7
14	callita623	6
14	sewcute	6
16	thesynergizer	5
16	mariaslilgurl	5
16	crystella74	5
16	pensivesea	5
16	jemmind	5
21	lindalee_	4
21	parlet	4
21	chelchik	4
24	sweetdaisy.blogspot.com	3
24	thetar	3
24	nppyinzer	3
24	isyllt	3
28	dantex	2
28	sheilamarie	2
28	redrain	2
28	mrsbkwod	2
28	talismanaz	2
28	danaewhispering	2
28	mdunnbass	2
35	zyada	1
35	r3mdh	1
35	writer_lilies	1
35	munkyette	1
35	autumnwalkr	1
35	itsdavesblog	1
35	munedust	1
35	sissybunny97	1
35	refuse2bdefined	1
35	rodshark	1
35	blondieoubre	1
35	ladanea	1
35	jazzistar79	1
35	basketcaselady	1
35	missjewell	1

Generated with help from LJ Comment Stats and ljArchive

Also, a quick welcome to the following people as they're new to my f-list within the past 15 days.

r3mdh

steve_savicki

grace_in_spades

thisplacehere

I know I recently posted this... but Pay Attention, please!!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:09:37 GMT

I have a lot of very talented friends. One of these talented friends, lindalee_, makes and sells incredibly beautiful jewelry. This is stuff I'm dying to buy, but must wait until I have a job. However, that doesn't mean I can't share my love of her talent with all of my friends!!

Please, visit her Etsy site. Buy from her. Stop by her journal and tell her how awesome you think her jewelry is! :)

Do it now, please!!
AND
Tell your friends, please!!
Let's spread the love, people!

From now till the end of April, BUY ONE piece of jewelry (necklace, bracelet, or earrings) and get another piece of equal or lesser value for HALF OFF!

Quickest of all quickies

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:55:03 GMT

My parents are here and we've been fairly busy. Yesterday was Sophie's big birthday celebration (have pictures to share at a later date). Sophie was all off schedule today but we managed to squeeze a trip to the park in. Nana also gave Sophie a bath tonight and the Kritter got to paint the walls (thanks to Aunt Tracie and Uncle Rich and cousin Emy).

We're going to try to make it to the FW Zoo Wednesday for Sophie's birthday. I'm guessing we'll either do leftovers that night for dinner or we'll hit a restaurant on the way home if the Kritter isn't too pooped.

Speaking of poop... no more luck on the potty training front although she did manage a few drops in the potty this morning. It was nothing like the first time (I know most the people who read this don't care, but that's not why I write in my journal) though.

Voting request: Friends, family, whoever stops by to read this blog, please click on this link here and vote for the black and white puppy dog labeled Happy Boy. I'm trying to help a friend's mother here!! :)

I have my icons all set and ready to link to LJ... but I have something like 400ish I want to link! Well, I really have more than that, but those were the ones I liked the most. *sigh*

Ugh... Lots to catch up on still. I'll be around. This wasn't as quick as I wanted it to be. Oh well.

I am so cool, ice cubes are jealous!

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:31:21 GMT

Argh.

Seriously, my hormones are all in a rage today. I hope there's not a repeat of that tomorrow. There's too much going on! We have Dream Dinners, and then after we come home to put the food away, I'll be heading to the airport to pick up my parents and then to my in-laws' to pick up the Kritter. During my trip to the airport, B will be mowing lawns (ours and a friend's). Then B and my Dad and one or two of B's friends will be going to the baseball game. Mom and I will most likely eat leftovers after a trip to the grocery store (although she might go for a sandwich or bowl of cereal instead... I know, so exciting, right?).

Sophie and I were sitting at the table earlier and she kept asking to sweep. I thought she was saying sleep and was so confused. When I figured it out, I had to laugh. She also asked me to sign thunder and I thought she said feather. I'm losing my touch here.

Speaking of which... she's started doing that within the past few days. She loves to ask me to sign words with her. She also loves to ask for help when trying to make certain signs. It's all very cute.

I cannot believe how quickly she's growing! I am just in awe of these past few weeks, seriously. She has started to read books to us (from the illustrations, not from the words... she's not a prodigy as far as we know) and it's absolutely awesome! She really seems to remember the story based on the pictures. I love it! She's also very polite right now. She says "Yes, Mom" or "Please, Mom" or "Thank you, Mommy" all the time now! I can't get over it! My favorite is, "Okay, Mommy!" It sounds so simple, but to hear it come out of her mouth in her tiny little voice just kills me!

I made quinoa tonight for the first time and I have to admit, it was pretty good. I like it because it cooks faster than rice and isn't as starchy. It's not quite as quick as couscous, but I just can't eat couscous all the time.

I still need to vacuum but that's not going to happen tonight. I ought to mop the floor but don't plan on doing that tonight either. I will probably put together a bag of toys for Sophie as well as gather some food for her.

Instead, I'm going to post pictures of the garden. B's pretty proud of it. I have no idea if we're doing anything right or wrong here. He was too hot to plant before I could really do some reading. I guess this will be a learning year. ;)

Random update

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:44:05 GMT

I'm caught up with comments up until April. Sorry for the blast from the past. There are a few I would have responded to if I'd gotten to them earlier but the time lapse just made them seem inappropriate for some reason.

My parents will be here on Saturday for a week. I will most likely be somewhat quiet then.

Not only did Sophie not cry at nap time today, she managed bedtime without tears as well! She also was able to fall asleep without me in the room both times!

Wednesday morning (4/23/08) was another huge moment for Sophie. She managed to pee in her potty, and it wasn't just a few drops! She woke up with a dry diaper and as soon as I realized it was dry, I asked her if she wanted to use her potty. She said yes, so I grabbed the new potty books and we sat down to read. While I was reading, she managed to accomplish the task! Of course, we haven't had any other successful pees since then, but I'm unconcerned at this time since we're not working on potty learning hardcore or anything.

Sophie likes chocolate pudding and managed to eat it today with a spoon without getting much on herself other than the mess she made on her face whenever she licked her lips (pudding was all over her tongue while she was licking).

Parents of small children looking for good books. Check out Mo Willems. His books are full of awesome!

Not only did our ladybugs survive the storm last night (not sure how many), but it appears as though some of them have already laid eggs and they seem to have survived as well! Our plants also seemed to have survived, even the tiny basil sprouts. We still have to plant the lantana and the other flowers I bought for the front yard.

I need to make up a menu for this week and go grocery shopping. We have Dream Dinners Saturday morning, but I'll still need to pick up other food stuff for Mom and Dad.

Update on the ball game this Saturday night: B is going to take my father and is going to ask his father and another friend to join them. We'll see what happens. Mom and I will stay home with Sophie. Yeah, it would be a good time and all, but I don't want to leave my parents alone the first night they're in town, nor do I want to leave Sophie with a sitter.

Lots of cleaning and other fun things will be filling my day tomorrow.

Ooh, almost forgot (and this is pretty huge). There are currently two possibilities of remote work in the pipeline. I'd have to choose one over the other, but it would be doing the same exact thing, which is exactly what I did for nearly the last four years I was working as well. I'm hoping at least one of these pans out. I'm hoping for the nine-to-five job over the super-insane-schedule job, but at this point, I'd honestly be happy with either.

That's about all I've got for now. I must go to bed. I'm not tired (frustratingly enough), but Sophie wakes up awfully early and I need to be ready for it.

Pictures like whoa

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:12:26 GMT

This is a picture dump of the Kritter over the past two months. Yeah, I suck like that. All the images are 320x200 (or vice versa), so it shouldn't take TOO long to load, but for those of you on dial up, if you really want to see the pictures, click the cut link and walk away. There are 20 pictures behind the cut and one teaser out in front.

isyllt and Anna, if you want me to make this a private post, I will. Just let me know.

Other pictures previously mentioned will be uploaded at a later date. Videos will be uploaded at a later date. This is all I'm doing for now.

Edited to add: Click the pictures for high res images.

Mommy's Little Fashionista

20080309

Lilliebird @ the Galleria

20080312

More Lilliebird @ the Galleria

20080312

Lilliebird and Sophie @ the Galleria

20080312

Mommy and Sophie

20080318

Little Bunny Sophie

20080323

Sophie hunting for eggs

20080323

Another of Sophie hunting for eggs

20080323

Little Miss Crazy Hair

20080325

Sophie having a picnic

20080325

Sophie

20080325

More Sophie

20080328

Sophie napping in her room for the first time!

20080404

Sophie making silly faces

20080411

Maddy and Sophie in the tunnel at Chisholm

20080411

Maddy and Sophie on the slide at Chisholm

20080411

Sophie and her pigtails

20080412

Sophie and Maddy taking a bath - 1

20080412

Sophie and Maddy taking a bath - 2

20080412

Sophie and Maddy taking a bath - 3

20080412

Sophie and Maddy taking a bath - 4

20080412

With a little help from my friends....

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:12:37 GMT

I have a lot of very talented friends. One of these talented friends, lindalee_, makes and sells incredibly beautiful jewelry. This is stuff I'm dying to buy, but must wait until I have a job. However, that doesn't mean I can't share my love of her talent with all of my friends!!

Please, visit her Etsy site. Buy from her. Stop by her journal and tell her how awesome you think her jewelry is! :)

From now till the end of April, BUY ONE piece of jewelry (necklace, bracelet, or earrings) and get another piece of equal or lesser value for HALF OFF!

I suppose I ought to explain myself...

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:46:25 GMT

I plan to reply to the comments to the previous post individually (except those that are answered in this post), but am a bit behind on comments. Because I'm behind, I figured I might as well share the information here so people can go back to their regularly scheduled programs unruffled.

Cantaloupes do not exist in the USA. What most people know as a cantaloupe here in the United States (possibly Canada and Mexico as well, but I don't know for certain) is actually a muskmelon. I first learned of this (much to my surprise) while watching an episode of Good Eats recently (if it wasn't recent, I'd have forgotten it long ago and this wouldn't have even been brought up).

So, technically, I have two muskmelons in my garden and not two cantaloupes. Either way, I still love these and can't wait for them to be ready for picking. Most likely, I'll continue to call them cantaloupes the same as other people do.

I knew it would spark a few comments.... ;)

Earth Day

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:59:02 GMT

Yesterday, B and I ran around town picking up plants for our garden. We hit the organic nursery first, and then two other nurseries. We picked up quite a few plants but not everything I wanted. We also picked up a couple ladybugs and beneficial nematodes as well as stakes and fencing to go around the garden (to protect it from Chui Dawg and Sophie Kritter, of course).

We bought several sweet pepper plants (green, yellow, orange, red, lilac, chocolate), several tomatoes (sweet 100's, Celebrities, homely homers, and possibly others I don't remember since B picked those out), two bush bean plants, two cucumber plants (burpless hybrids), two crook-necked squash (we always called them summer squash), two zucchini, two carving pumpkins, two watermelons (don't remember what kind), two melons (Did you know there are no cantaloupes grown in the US? They're not even allowed in the US!), two everbearing strawberry plants, and two other type (forget which) of strawberry plants. I wanted some peas, carrots, celery, lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and corn. Yeah, the garden needs to be double the size it currently is (which is 10' x 15'). Our backyard just isn't big enough for everything I want. I'd love to have asparagus and artichoke but I know absolutely nothing about how those grow, so I don't know if I can even grow them in my garden.

Tonight, after dinner, he went out and planted all of the vegetables and fruits while I washed up the Kritter and put her to bed (still takes us a while to get her down, but she's getting better). By the time I got back outside, B was already watering the garden. We released the ladybugs after that (we'll wait on the beneficial nematodes), and then he put the fencing around the garden and some netting over the top. My ladybugs are all over the place! I kept trying to put them back in the garden but they want to roam!

We both came back in and sat down to watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report and someone mentioned it was Earth Day. All of a sudden, B pipes up and exclaims, "Hey, that's cool!" I had to ask him what he was talking about. He said, "It's Earth Day!" I was shocked he didn't know! We hadn't planned to plant the garden today. It simply happened that way. I told him earlier it was Earth Day since we wound up with a newspaper delivered to us (we get Sundays and holidays/special days) and he was trying to figure out why the paper had been delivered.

I'm pretty excited and just hope and pray they survive. Grow, little plants, grow! I told the ladybugs to go forth and multiply tonight. I really hope they do. Did you know they can eat up to 50 bugs in a day! 50!!! That's a lot of bugs!

Pictures will be forthcoming, although I'm sure no one believes me. ;)

Right Click to Resize

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:39:03 GMT

I used to use XP before the laptop was purchased. As a long time Windows user, I knew to install PowerToys to make my XP experience that much more enjoyable (why those features weren't just included with the OS still boggles the mind). One of the PowerToys upon which I relied quite heavily was the right click option to resize my images. All of my postings for Craigslist have been such a whip since making the move to Vista since that isn't an option (from what I can tell, there are still no PowerToys created for Vista).

However, I have stumbled upon a very clever piece of software that will resize even better than the PowerToy option in XP. Hooray!

For those of you using Windows 2000/XP/Vista and have batches of images to resize, VSO Image Resizer is an excellent tool. I highly recommend it! Best of all, it's free for personal use! :)

Yes, little things excite me.

Maybe I should take up Yoga...

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:24:12 GMT

Lots going on right now. Need to make a list. Beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed and need to compartmentalize.

Garden: We'll be going to a few nurseries in the area to find plants, hopefully some of them (or all of them?) organic. I got out the Texas gardening books today and need to dig up the websites so we can figure out what we're going to do. I know B is mainly focusing on the vegetable garden, but I really want to fix the front flower bed as well.
Guests: My parents might be here starting this Saturday for a week. They won't know until about mid-week when my mother's coworker is supposed to return to work after surgery.
.
Minnow Minnow Pea: I need to work on cutting out material to have saved up for sewing sessions. I also need to work on a design for a website, finding a graphic for the logo, deciding on a font for the logo, and laying out the pages I want to have. I'm trying to decide if I want to forward the blog there and lock this one down to friends only. If I do that, I'm trying to decide if I should bother putting the recipes over there as well. I will definitely have the crafts blog over there and then just dump ChaCha. I really need to get the tags/labels ordered, too.
Crafts: On a related note, I need to complete the boat blanket for Maddy (one cable panel left, and then whip stitching it together and knitting the border). I also have plenty of bibs to finish. They're just needing snaps. Gifts need to be given!
House: Lots of cleaning I want to get done. Our bedroom still has piles of artwork from when we moved... two years ago. I also want to make a final decision on the color in the bedroom and the dining room. We'll probably paint the dining room next since it's so easy, and I'm pretty sure we're sticking with the brown chip we picked out last year. I thought we had finally decided on red for the bedroom, but now I'm torn. I love the blue in the guest room so much I think I might want that in the room back there. I'm so frustrated now.
Job Hunt: I am still rather beat down about this whole job hunt. I have my fingers crossed on one position, but it isn't even open yet. I also received an email from a recruiter in Georgia for a remote position and I keep forgetting to call him back. I get a few minutes when Sophie is sleeping and my brain just shuts down and I forget about all the other things I need to do until she gets up again. I hate that.
Craigslist: I was able to get a few things sold from the last big listing I did, but not much. I took more pictures of items today and will be posting those soon. This stuff needs to be gone!
Weight Loss: I have been overweight my entire life. I am tired of being overweight. Unfortunately, I like food. My portion control isn't bad, nor are the foods I eat, normally. However, my metabolism is in the toilet and I really need to work on giving it a good jump start. I need to focus on drinking more water, getting better sleep at night, and cutting out the things I eat/drink on a regular basis that are detrimental to my overall health. I also need to figure out an exercise plan that I can manage with Sophie around.
LJ: This is low priority, but still something I want to work on. I changed the layout and it's okay, but I think I'd like to find a different one. I really like the three column layout, so I don't want to give that up. That limits the layouts that work for me, of course. I also really want to work on my user icons and setting up various mood themes. Of course, I'm fairly behind on comments right now, so I'd like to get those cleared up as well.
Future posts: I have a few ideas running around in my head regarding future posts. Some of these are posts I have said I'd be writing for over a year now, some of these are newer. I am horrible about writing these down or actually getting around to writing them. Meh. Some of these ideas include posts on children's books, working from home, various movie and music reviews, various tips and tricks in the kitchen (such as how I store my bacon, exciting I know), as well as the picture and video posts I keep promising.

I think that's about it for now...

[Laptop] Screenshot

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:20:28 GMT

I am absolutely in love with all wallpaper from Vladstudio. I know I've shared this love before, but here I go again. The only thing his site lacks, I think, is more red wallpapers (and perhaps more spring wallpapers...).

Yes, this really is my desktop. Don't let the lack of icons fool you. The sm00bs folder is loaded with crap, most of which I don't even recall putting in there. Also, I rely heavily on my QuickLaunch bar and have started using the search feature in Vista. All of this makes it a lot easier for me to keep my desktop neat and clean and free from messy icons that just clutter up the desktop and make it difficult for me to enjoy my wallpaper. I actually have more crap running in the systray than I normally would, but I did trial runs of some software so I could write reviews and have forgotten to remove it. Duh, me. I'll get around to that... someday (amazingly, someday still hasn't come since the last time).

My current desktop

1) Take a screenshot of your desktop.
2) To capture a desktop:

For PC: Press "Print Screen" (prt sc) button.
For Macs: Shift+Apple+4.

3) Open your graphics program-o-choice.
4) Press CTRL + V or select edit & paste.
5) Save image as a *.jpg, *.png, or *.gif.
6) Upload the screenshot to your image server.
7) Post your screenshot in YOUR blog (not mine) along with these instructions.

To view more of my screenshots, check the desktop screenshots tag.

Sophie strikes again

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:08:28 GMT

At 4:30 this morning I wake up to "Mommy, help me!" She crawled into bed with us and either needed me to cuddle her (I was facing the opposite direction) or needed the covers. I think we managed to cuddle for about five minutes before she decided she needed to get up and get some milk. Needless to say, we've been up since then, and it's not been much fun. She keeps switching back and forth between sweet as pie and demon child. Thankfully, the demon side is kept to a minimum this morning.

In other news...

I actually managed to look up the seats for the game yesterday. They're pretty decent seats as far as I can tell. The price I mentioned yesterday was a group rates. The tickets themselves are worth about $200 or more, it would seem. For you baseball buffs out there, the tickets are in section 14, row 24. That is the day my parents are supposed to come into town, so I think what I'm going to do is send B and my father to the game and ask the neighbor and his son if they would like to go along.

B and I went to dinner last night without The Kritter. We went to Texas Land and Cattle. I ordered a mojito, but the waiter informed me the mojitos they served are not the best mojitos since they use a mix. I decided to go for a pina colada instead (lucky me, it was cheaper than the mojito) and I am so glad I did. It was really the best pina colada I've ever had. Dinner for me was a ribeye (medium rare, of course), a baked sweet potato (with some sort of killer sweet cinnamon butter), and a salad. I didn't finish the steak or the potato, so that might be lunch today. We split a dessert that was somewhat similar to a chess pie (that's what it makes me think of, but it's not the same) and a coffee as well. It was nice to have a night out without Sophie and she seemed to have a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa, so it was good all around.

I'm behind on recent comments because I've been trying to take care of ancient comments first. I am trying to catch up. I'll get there eventually. I'm also going to try to find time to set up a couple of mood themes I found that I really like as well as play around with user icons and update my profile. Yeah, right.

If anyone has ideas of where I can find clip art or other images for Minnow Minnow Pea, or if there's anyone willing to be commissioned or who knows anyone who might want to be commissioned, please let me know. I should see if Katie at gronkfanclub would be interested. She was going to create some icons for me once upon a time but things got crazy for both of us...

Full of Win!

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:28:33 GMT

I never win anything, so I'm not sure how this happened. Somehow, I managed to land four tickets and four meal vouchers to the Rangers/Twins Night of Fireworks game April 26 at the Ballpark in Arlington. Go me! That's over $120 (no idea how much the vouchers are worth, that's just the ticket prices)!

Of course, now we have to decide if we are going to take Sophie (probably not) and who else we should take with us, or should we just give these tickets to someone else who might appreciate them more than us? I'm not a big baseball fan (I'd rather go to a hockey game, or even a football game), but it could be a really fun night out.

(><)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:47:11 GMT

It appears as though the terrible twos have descended upon us. For about the past three days or so (maybe less, but it seems like an eternity), Sophie has taken to throwing tantrums for no apparent reason, crying more than she has since she was an infant and adding the screaming back in as well.

On the flip side, she is so polite it hurts. She says "Yes, Mom" and "Thank you, Mom" when we're able to talk without the screaming and crying and it's positively adorable. Unfortunately, five minutes of screaming and five minutes of cute do not balance each other!

Did I mention the screams?

Sometimes, when she decides screaming is the only answer, it takes her quite a while to calm down. She will scream so loudly and for such a long time she can't hear anything I have to say, so the discovery period takes that much longer. This morning she crawled into bed with us to cuddle with Mommy (I love when she does this), decided she needed to get up for some reason, and then proceeded to scream absolute bloody murder after she'd gotten out of the bed. She refused to calm down. I still don't know what was wrong. I doubt very much if she even knows (or remembers) what was wrong. How very frustrating, for both of us.

However, while she might have only screamed for perhaps a total of fifteen minutes this morning (broken up over a period of time), we've already been awake for one and a half hours and it seems like the majority of my morning has been spent listening to screams. There's no balance at all.

*sigh*

I knew this was coming. I know we were able to hold off on the terrible twos for a bit longer than most. I know she has reached the stage of independence. She refuses help when getting into her booster chair (she climbs up and fastens it on her own). She starts to whine if she can't get the buckles fastened quickly. She then will scream if I even offer help. I don't know how long this will last or what triggers it, though. That's the worst part of it all.

Now that she's calm and being cute, I realize this morning's episode was because she wanted breakfast (far earlier than she would normally eat, too). During discovery, I was able to discern she was hungry and she wanted waffles (definitely not French toast) and grapes. She cleared that plate rather quickly, asked herself for more grapes, replied to herself with a "Sure!" and then smiled when I asked her if she wanted more grapes. I also asked if she would like another waffle or some French toast. She said no to both of those but responded with a nod and a repeat when I asked if she wanted regular toast. She has nearly finished the second plate of food.

God bless that child. She's now sitting at the breakfast table singing songs to Chui Dawg. I have no idea what she's singing, but it's beyond cute. What a silly girl. Cuddles and silliness both are great scream erasers. Now that the silliness has started, I'll go wash her up and bring her to the sofa to sit and cuddle with me for a few minutes. I'll forget all about the screams and we'll have a pleasant morning. She might scream before nap time or she might not. I'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.

Tag/Label quest - an update

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:00:49 GMT

I believe I have settled on a name:

Minnow Minnow Pea

It's how Sophie used to say "lmnop" as she was learning to say the alphabet (it actually sounds like "lmnop" now). It's not a huge story or anything, but it is something unique and special to me.

Now... I'm trying to decide on a graphic to go with the name. I'm thinking two minnows and a pea (go figure), but with the pea in the middle and the minnows facing the pea. It probably would look a little along the lines of something like this: ><> o <><

If anyone artsy out there would care to draw something for me or piece something together from clip art or whatever, I'm game for looking. I'm pretty excited about the name.

Thanks to all of you who have offered suggestions and reality checks. I appreciate it all very much. You all are so wonderful to me. :)

PSA

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:00:36 GMT

If you hadn't noticed already, I'm in the process of trying to clear some truly OLD comments out of my inbox. I've been meaning to do this, but life gets in the way. Don't feel obligated to respond to my comments unless you truly wish to do so.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled LJ....

Craigslist: baby stuff and a living room suite

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:36:17 GMT

About to be posted to the DFW communities...

I have some listings on Craigslist I'd love to see gone. Most prices are negotiable. The Sofa set is my in-laws' and I can put them in contact with you if you're interested. If more pictures or further details are necessary, please feel free to either email me through the listing or leave a comment here. Because I'm cross-posting, I'll place the list behind a cut. Please note: I am willing to make some exceptions to my rules and requirements to fellow LJers, so if you respond via Craigslist, please let me know you found the sale via LJ!

Sofa, Love Seat, and Coffee Table - $300 (NRH)

The First Years Digital Baby Monitor - $25 (76137 - N Fort Worth)

Tiny Love Gymini® TOTAL PLAYGOUND™ - Kick & Play™ Activity Gym - $30 (76137 - N Fort Worth)

Fisher Price Flutterbye Dreams™ Flutter & Chime™ Bouncer Activity Seat - $25 (76137 - N Fort Worth)

Tiddliwinks Butterfly Musical Mobile - $10 (76137 - N Fort Worth)

Lots of Baby Items - Please Read!! - $1 and up (76137 - N Fort Worth)