The Impossible Dream
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Almost five years later. ::shakes head::1. I have a son now. He's five. 2. I have an agent now. She's awesome and is working on selling Dead Man Stalking. 3. Dread Queen is still not done. 4. Neither is our basement. 5. Purge is still at his "new" job. 6. I'm at a new job, but I still go into the law firm on weekends for extra cash. 7. I'm still at the Dudley Farm on weekends and selling well -- jewlery, beads and scarves. 8. I don't play Warcraft anymore. I don't play anything anymore really except for Facebook games. Castleville lately. 9. I don't read as much anymore. But I'm glad to know where I left off in EE Knight's series and Jasper Pforde's series by reading the archives. 10. I still read Ladies #1 Detective Agency. I've got his new book on my kitchen table as I type this. 11. Gus is dead. He had to be put down for attacking my father. 12. Tish is dead. She died in her sleep curled into a ball on my bed. 13. The paralegal course was a waste of money. 14. I tweet: #jamiekswriter 15. I facebook: jamie k schmidt 16. I rarely livejournal 17. I lost 60 lbs in six months on a radical, medically supervised liquid diet last year. 18. I gained it all back in three months after emotional eating gone out of control after my son had to get stitches near his eye. 19. My grandfather is gone now, but never forgotten. He got to meet and play with my son. I can't remember if he ever got to hold him or if he was too scared. Thursday, August 23, 2007
Woot!I wish I understood html. But I pasted the fix and Voila! Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Wow long time no post! I guess I really like the Live Journal features much better. Still, I'm trying to get my archives up and so far no luck. Oh, I hope I haven't lost them!Monday, July 09, 2007
I haven't really felt much like writing lately. Which is sad. But the morning sickness has subsided to a once or twice a week extravaganza, mostly when I forget the rules. I can't eat a lot or eat too fast or eat anything with a hint of garlic. I need to have my big meal at lunch because I can't eat late at night. Fun stuff like that.The latest in the pregnancy pains is my back. I've lost 15 lbs since the start of my pregnancy so it's not the added weight. I think having the mattress and box spring on the floor started to bother it, then walking around Ikea for about an hour put the final nail in the coffin. The bedroom looks awesome though. While Purge put together the new headboard and bed frame, I put all the summer clothes in the closet and tidied up the corners of the room. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60109422 In the oak veneer. I wanted the medium brown but it was out of stock. These bookshelves are "hidden" by the headboard and the sides slide out to reveal the shelves. I can't wait to stock it with all my "to be read" paperbacks! http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S99839354 - the bed frame. Not too exciting, but the cats can fit under the bed again. Unfortunately, it's too narrow for any drawers or baskets, but I *think* a rhoomba can get under there. And since Purge moved the furniture and put the computer armoire from the nursery to the bedroom, I also get to bring back my writing stuff to the bedroom. I'll probably do that while he's working on the walls in the spare room. The chair that goes with the armoire is an assbuster, so I'm going to knit a cover on an old pillow and use that for a pillow pad. I wonder what happened to my nasty, but comfy fabric chair that I used to use. It doubled as a cat bed and scratching post. I typed many a night away with a cat on the back of the head rest. Thursday, June 28, 2007
I'm tired. I can't wait for this weekend when I can sleep in late. Of course, sleeping in late is 10 a.m. now instead of noon, but whatcha gonna do? Sleeeeepy. All I want to do is take a nap, but it's WAY to hot in the car for that. I'm not leaving here until 5 p.m., which is only in another 4 hours.I requested seven books from inter library loan and 4 of them are in transit to the Guilford Library. I'm hoping to get some for the weekend. Tonight's my last night with Purge before he goes away for three whole days! I'm afraid I'm going to be lonely, which is why I'm making sure I'm stocked with books! Jacknife is working all weekend and I've decided not to chase her. She knows my schedule and my number. So tonight over dinner, I'm hoping Purge and I will play a rousing game of Mille Bourne or something like that, just to get some play time in. I'm bummed I left my Phase 10 game at Irish's, that's an easy rummy like game that's quick to teach people. Maybe my Grandfather or Mom would be interested in playing. Things are going good at work. Tomorrow will be "release" Friday. Where I'll spend all day trying to track down old releases. I'm hoping to at least have 2006 done by the time I leave for maternity in December. So among the many things I hope to accomplish this weekend, I'd like to do some writing. I'm hoping there's a Virtual Lulu's going on this Sunday. Maybe if I'm feeling up to it, I'll take a road trip to somewhere there is wireless and give it a go. Thursday, June 14, 2007
Mmmm C is for cookie -- Or rather O is for Oreo - double stuffed! I found three in the lunch that Purge packed me today. Makes me happy. As did the burger patties smothered in Grey Poupon mustard.Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The Global Village Idiot?My ipod is giving me agida and my digital camera is a pain. I'm feeling MU-UCH better these past two days and I'm hoping that the morning sickness is finally over. Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The pregnancy is plodding along. I'm 14 weeks and officially out of my first trimester. 1/3 down! 2/3 to go! I can't wait for this to be over. I'm constantly sick and very tired. ::shrug:: It is what it is.Purge took down the futon and brought it downstairs last night, which was a HUGE portion of the baby's room. Next up is the misc crap on the floor and the bureau and we're done done donesky. Then it's a good vacuum and floor washing. Move the furniture into a better location to paint. Measure the room. And start painting. Then we'll put the room's measurements into our CAD program and plan out the baby's room. After that it's time to buy the crib, changing table, new futon, and shelves from Ikea and put them together. OK so maybe we're not done yet! I bought a "C" shaped pregnancy pillow from Baby's R Us this weekend. It's about 6' long and it's very comfortable. It acts like a head pillow, it supports your tummy and back, and I really liked using it. It's going to be my bedtime companion from now on I think. I've decided to definitely not do the Dudley Farm this summer. In fact, they haven't even called me, which is strange. The lady in charge was supposed to contact me after the pot luck supper that I wasn't feeling up to attending, but she never did. I'm pretty sure that the farmer's market starts this month some time. I know it's in full swing by the 4th of July because it's always a decision whether or not for me to go on that Saturday or not. But the good news is that I no longer have to feel guilty about the Scone lady's scones! Full cream and buttery goodness! And I can almost taste her ginger peach! ::happy sigh:: I finished the book Valentine's Exile last night. The ending was most dissatisfying. Mostly since the new book won't be out for another month. And I want to know what happens next! Especially, since the new book takes place at least 2-3 years later. Did some writing organization today at work on the Dread Queen and Dark Match. It felt good to get my hands in it again. The Dread Queen needs a lot more work than I thought. But the second draft is about 1/2 done and then the final draft can be polished up and ready to be sent out. Yuck, my raspberries from yesterday went bad already! I forgot to put them in the fridge and I guess the humidity at work just killed them. They got all moldy and the ones that didn't got tainted by the taste. $5 down the drain. ::pout:: Luckily, one of the girls at work went to M&M Farms and I've asked her to get me an Asian pear. It's a cross between and apple and a pear. They're really freakin' good! I'm trying to get more fruits and veggies in my diet. But it hasn't been easy. Fresh stuff goes so bad so quickly, so I have to buy it and eat it the same day and sometimes I just don't feel like eating it. I just checked the library account and it shows that I still have a book on tape that I'm almost positive I returned. I have to check around the house for a bit first before I go in and make a fuss. :/ I'm pretty sure I returned it when I got the new batch of books inter-library loan got for me. Hmmm. I hate feeling all spacy and unsure. Oh well, I have to return VE and another audio book anyway. Maybe I'll go tonight. They don't close until 8 p.m. I cleaned up the dining room table and didn't see it this morning. Ah pits! The house is still a bit of a disaster. I'm hoping to get some of the kitchen cleaned up because I want to bake a chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. The problem is that I have zero energy by the time I drive home. Last night there was a turtle in our driveway. He was really pretty. I got some shots of him with my mother's digital camera because my new one's batteries are dead already. (Something else to do tonight LOL) Thursday, May 24, 2007
OK, so my "go to" meal, when I'm absolutely blood sugar freaking out is a McDonald's cheeseburger happy meal. (My Obgyn said not to eat anything white: white bread, pasta, rice or potatoes, but fuck her if she thinks I'm going to give up eating a small fries.) Anyway, Purge and I always get the toy for the child under three years old. And they're cute. Baby Ronald on a turtle, etc.Now, with the new Shrek movie out -- OMG! The toys! I just got a baby girl ogre that cries, burps and says "Da Da". I have her at my desk at work. I love her. I'm hoping the whole set is safe for under three, because there is the dragon/donkey baby, the gingerbread man, puss in boots, the whole gang! (Tempest you have to give the baby the toys! That's the story anyway and I'm sticking to it.) I'm hoping to see a Pirates of the Carribean 3 / Shrek 3 marathon at some point this weekend. Definitely matinees, though because I'm too cheap to pay full price for a movie. Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Here's a link to the tests I'm doing today and on Monday. Obviously, not with this group. But it's the best description of what they're looking for that I've found:http://www.muschealth.com/women/firsttrimester.htm Monday, May 14, 2007
Madeleine McMann - How come no one has said if her stupid parents hadn't left a 3 year old girl ALONE IN A HOTEL ROOM, this would never have happened? The parents are bitching that the police didn't respond fast enough? Fuck them. I hope the baby is with people who will take care of her better than her parents did. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way.To quote Keanu Reeves in Parenthood: "You need a license to go fishing, you need a license to drive, but any butt-reaming asshole can be a father." I'll paraphase it to say parents. Thursday, May 10, 2007
The subway club I just ate was the best sex I've had since Valentine's Day.Just thought I'd share. I love my job. Although, the past few weeks I just wanted to stay home and sleep. But my mother put it best. That it was better that I got up and went to work, that way I wouldn't stay home and mope and overthink. Basically, if I was going to be sick and miserable I might as well be at work. And thankfully, we've been so slow that on the days that I just couldn't lift my head up and all I wanted to do was cry, I was able to just sit at my desk and sip Vitamin water and surf the web to take my mind off things. So I feel very fortunate that I'm not in a pressure cooker of a job or in a really bad place like the previous positions I held. And when I'm too sick to make it in on time, I can call in and no one has a problem with it. It really means a lot to me to be able to have a job this understanding. On the other hand, I'm jonesing for something to read while I'm work. That's pretty much all I've been doing lately while I'm home. Of course, all my favorite authors are coming out with something in June! But that seems so far away. Thursday, May 03, 2007
So the egg and hashbrown was a bad idea for breakfast this morning. But at least it got some unpleasantness out of the way early. And I wasn't driving at the time which is always a plus. Not much else going on except puking and sleeping. I've found Vitamin water and the "Revive" has B vitamins, which reduce nausea. I'm craving pinwheel cookies. (chocolate covered marshmallows on a cookie) I don't even like them.Purge started his new job. He says it's very hard. He's learning SQL. I've been watching "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," and "Notes from the Underbelly" because those are the only shows I can stay awake for. Thank God ABC let's you download "LOST" and watch it during the week. I haven't felt like playing Warcraft lately, truthfully I haven't felt like doing much lately. I get very brief spurts of energy in a pool of general tired feelings really. I've been reading a lot, although not at my usual speed. Tomorrow is Purge and my 11 year anniversary. We have nothing planned. I'm too tired to care or even try and think of something. This weekend is the last of the paralegal classes! Whoo! We don't have to be in until 2:30 on Saturday and Sunday is our final exam. She basically told us it would be a vocabulary exam, so I'm pretty sure we'll ace it. Maybe I'll do the reading. That would be novel. LOL. My nails are growing really long. I should file them and slap a coat of paint on them. But I just can't be arsed. My hands are super dry. I keep forgetting to put Lubriderm on them. Luckily the cream at work doesn't smell bad and I've been trying to use it a few times a day. I've got all these cracks in them. I downloaded a book reader at work so I could read some books while I close files and do other mindless things, but unfortunately I can't find a book I want to read. Nothing in the public domain thrills me and the ebooks are more expensive than their hardcopy counterparts. Isn't that weird? I would have thought it would be the other way around. Tuesday, April 24, 2007
So I'm working on my first memorandum of law regarding the dram shop act ::snore:: but hopefully I'll finish it today and that will be one down and one to go.I headed out to lunch today, after going to the bank for the office. I decided to get my special sandwich at the Whitneyville Food Center in Hamden. The guy behind the deli counter calls me "Coz" and I'm not sure if it's because we're actually related or not. ::shrug:: I'm notoriously bad about recognizing people from my extended family. It could be that I've been in there at least once a week for the past three years. Anyway, my special sandwich is their chicken cutlet (smashing!) with lettuce, tomato, mayo and provolone on a hard roll. The. Best. Ever. And a birch beer. Then I walked over to the used bookstore to get something to read while I ate my sandwich. I also picked up some almonds because I heard that almonds help with morning sickness. (I'll try anything) I swear my richer twin must live in the area because I keep finding books from my Amazon wish list. Today, there was "Blue Shoes and Happiness" by Alexander McCall, which is the nearly latest book in his Precious Ramotswe detective series that takes place in Botswana. The series is subtitled "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency". So I snagged that along with a Chelsea Yarbro book that I wanted to read. So I ate half my sandwich and most of my birch beer as I read the first two chapters of the novel. I really like the characters and it was so nice to sit in the sun and relax. I felt like a sunflower straining towards the sun. It's funny, I've got a ton of half read books scattered around the house. I'm currently reading: "Lost in a Good Book" a Tuesday Next novel by Jasper Fforde (Love the puns in this series!), "Best New Paranormal Romances" edited by Paula Guan, "Blue Shoes and Happiness", "A Feast of Crows" by R.R. Martin (I skipped to the end to see if we find out what the hell was the one word Brienne of Tarth said as she was being hanged. We don't know and I'm fed up until Dances with Dragons comes out. LOL) and a few others I opened up and them discarded, not feeling the story. OK back to the memo :P I want another birch beer and another hour in the sun to read. Monday, April 23, 2007
I would like to whine to you about my paralegal homework. *ahem* WHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNEOK I'm over it. I have two legal memos to write, 6 chapters to read and answer workbook questions for and I don't want to do them. I suppose, I should just shut up and do it. I did all the research for it on Friday. It's just a matter of writing the buggers up. I don't wanna! ::stamps foot like a three year old:: Luckily, we're really slow at work so I can get this done. Today and tomorrow are dead-dead-deadski. I suppose if I finish my homework I can work on my writing tomorrow. Wouldn't that be novel? Novel -- get it? I slay me. So this weekend was a waste of clean underwear. I can't remember what we did Friday night. But I was probably in bed by nine p.m. Then we had the Wills, Trusts and Estate module on Saturday. I like the Stamford Hospital -- where the class is held -- because they have vending machines and a cafeteria. Priorities. The class went long and pretty much had a ton of information. I went to sleep at 7 pm that night. Sunday, the class reviewed the previous day. We brought in our lap tops and got to play on the web during class. I opted to stay inside and play Warcraft for lunch instead of hanging outside in the 75 degree weather. We got out around 3 and Purge and I went to the CT Post Mall to look for "Grandma" pendants for mother's day, but we didn't find anything that we liked. It was nice to get out of the house for something other than work and school. I got to munch out on some bourbon chicken (awesome) and fried rice (mediocre). So that was also a change of pace. I was wearing my uncomfortable sandals though so that put a damper in the mall walking. And I left my Easter money in Buddha (We have a psuedo porcelain buddha that came with a drink special in our room that I stash my money in), so I couldn't treat myself to the book I wanted. But it was still nice to get out and mingle with people. I still couldn't stay up to watch The Dresden Files on SciFi, so I'm going to watch it on the Internet tonight during dinner. I lubes me the interweb. Since I can't stay up for Lost anymore either, I watch it the next day or so at my leisure. Best idea ever! On a brighter note, I can drink cold beverages and not be in agony. I had a cavity. The first one in eight years. But it was between the back tooth and my molar so it was tricksy. I think I need another nap. It's so tempting to just lay my head on my desk and take a snooze. Friday, April 20, 2007
Guess what?I'm pregnant and Purge found a job! I will be eight weeks on Tuesday. Purge went with me to get the sonogram today. So we have a picture of the baby. She or He is only 1/2" long and shaped like a kidney bean. But we saw the heart beat today. It was so amazing. I've known four about seven weeks now. I've been going through the most terrible morning/noon/night sickness and I can't stay awake past 9 a.m. The hardest part has been keeping it a secret so I just stopped talking to everyone. LOL! There are more details on my livejournal. I also started a pregancy live journal called CTNEWMOM. But that's only if you're hardcore into bodily functions because I talk about everything. Purge accepted a position today in Madison. He starts out a little less than what he was making before. But after 90 days, they'll give him a pay raise and that will match what he was making at his last job. And at 6 months, he'll get a $3K raise and then a yearly review every year thereafter. So we're very happy about that. Tonight we're celebrating with steaks on the grill and tater tots -- because I've been craving them! Wednesday, April 11, 2007
So it's real slow at work today. Actually, it's been real slow for awhile. The good news is everyone is clearing off their desks and I've got tons of files to close. The bad news is that's not real scintillating work, but at least it's work. For example, our last closing is at noon today and then that's it for the rest of the day. My plan is to clear off my desk of all files and then start working on my paralegal homework. I'd like to get at least the summons and the complaint done, if we're here until 5.Monday, April 09, 2007
Everybody's heating up their Easter left overs for lunch and it smells so good in here. OMFG someone dropped off cannolis from a New York bakery. ::must . . . be . . .strong:: Everytime someone opens the box, I get a great whiff of cannoli. Yankee Candle should make a candle out of that scent. OK I peeked in the box. It's assorted Italian patries -- including chocolate cannolis. Can you even imagine?I had a great long weekend. But as always, I'm glad to be back at work. For one, there's a paycheck and insurance benefits. But also there's a nice structure to my day. I feel like I'm accomplishing something. And it really helps to get my mind working and getting organized. We're still slow here, so it gives me time to get my household stuff in order as well as catch up on my life. We haven't heard that our Stamford law class next week is cancelled, so I think it's still a go. Or perhaps they're waiting until the absolute last gong to shut it down. This weekend we're off to the law library in Hartford. Joy. The only good part about that day is that we'll be having dinner that night with Beekeeper R and M and get to see little V. Otherwise, I have an assload of homework to do and unfortunately a lot of questions that I might have to ask one of the attornies here for because god forbid the instructors return an e-mail. I also have an assload of reading to do, but I'm not worried about that so much. Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Blah. I feel so achy and tired. I could not get out of bed this morning. I feel like there's this haze of fog in my head. I'm going to the bank for the office at lunch, but I forgot my book. Grrrr. So I'm eating my chicken noodle soup with saltines dunked in before I go out so I'm not tempted to buy crap. Although I'm really getting sick of ginger ale and soup. As it is, I can only eat half a can of soup before I start to feel ill.I put all four pieces of my sweater together last night. Now I just have to sew up the arm seams and the sides. Then I've got to knit the collar and it will be all done. My teacher said she doesn't think it's going to fit me and that kinda sucks. But it's not going to stop me from wearing it. (Oh, I'll make it fit . . .) It's so toasty warm and soft. I'm not sure how it can't fit. I was on gauge (I think anyway) and it's long on me. Oh well, I'll lock the cats up in the bedroom tonight and spread it out on the kitchen table to finish it. Or at least finish sewing it. I saw a really yummy salad on 30 Minute meals the other night. It's chopped escarole with red onions tossed in a homemade vinagrette and topped with cannolini beans. I'm also addicted to baked garbanzo beans. You basically drain some canned chickpeas, then mix them with your favorite flavoring spice (Mine is Dulce paprika), then bake them until their crunchy. Good Stuff! Low fat, high protein. Purge was driving us home from work last night. He had a temp job down the street from my office. Sadly it was only one day, and he finished really early. But he did a great job and they were really impressed with him. So while he was waiting for me to get out of work, he went to Lowes and got some paint sample cards so we can decide on what color to paint the spare room. Anyway, I got really hungry on the drive home and since I hadn't eaten much (since Friday when we both got sick), I needed to have one of those Kentucky Fried Chicken boxes of death. You know the ones they advertise with pretty much one of everything? Nightskye calls it a heart attack in a box. Well, Purge decides that's probably not the best thing to have with our delicate constitutions at the moment. I'm so glad he's the brains of the outfit. He talked me into the salad bar at the A&P to keep me from crying in the car. All was well. Monday, April 02, 2007
I'll be so happy when this civil litigation class is over. I so totally don't give a shit about it anymore. The good news is I got a 90 and Purge got a 100 on the quiz on Saturday. Boring. Boring. Boring. And Bullshit too. It didn't help that the both of us had terrible stomach issues this weekend. I'd almost say food poisoning, but I can't remember what the crap the both of us ate. Anyway, at least the homework for the class makes sense. We have two more sessions. The next session will be at the law library. We're going on Saturday, but I've already told Purge I'm not going in on Sunday. Unless, of course, I don't finish my research project, but I'm considering doing it at work. One of the attornies here was nice enough to give me his passwords for Casemaker, which has all the online legal research that the library has in books. Then the last weekend is our final exam. Can't. Wait. Until. It's. Over!We have this weekend completely off. I have Friday off from work and then there are no classes or anything. I'm very excited to have three whole days to myself. We got back from class on Saturday night and found that my Dad repainted the red door, black. It looks really nice. Then when we got inside, my Mom cleaned my kitchen, dining, and living room and vacuumed and mopped the floors. She did the dishes and everything. I nearly burst into tears I was so happy. Now, we've just got to keep it that way. It was so nice of her. She said, she had to wait because they took the door off the hinges and it had to dry. I told her she could have just lay on the couch and read a book, but she said "I just couldn't stand it!" LOL. Purge has a temp job today, doing some access database work for the lawfirm down the road from us. So we rode in together and will get to have lunch together, which is really nice. So far nothing permanent, but there have been a couple of nibbles so keep your fingers crossed for us. It is nice to have him home, though. He's Mr. Project around the house when he's not looking for a job. We've decided the next big project is the spare room. So after he checks the want ads and follows up on all his temp agencies and any other leads, his mission this week is to clear everything out of there. After much deliberation, we're going to keep the corner unit in there, but everything else is O.U.T. out of there. Then I think we're going to paint the room, with Nightskye's help, but he doesn't know it yet. Purge and I will probably go to Home Depot or Lowes this week/weekend and check out paint. Then we can start thinking furniture. There will definitely be a new futon with a wooden frame from IKEA, (the old one is going downstairs -- but that's another project) but that's the only definite thing I've come up with. In other news, all our animals are safe from that awful pet food tampering. Although Purge bought Meow Mix dry and Tish is refusing to eat it, so I'm a little nervous about that. But then again, she's always been a picky eater. I've got my knitting class tonight and I'm finally completely done with my sweater. I'm going to be sewing the pieces together tonight and I'm so very excited. I'm going to bring this sweater everywhere because all of a sudden, I'm always cold. I've read a ton of books in the past week. I guess I've just been in the mood. I'll probably post them to the Live Journal, 50 book challenge later today. I'm halfway there at 25. I've got to put a grocery order in to Peapod before this weekend. I don't want to waste free time at the grocery store. Although, instead of just point and click buying, I want to have some meals planned. But I just can't be arsed to do it. I don't have the energy to think or plan. I just want to open up the fridge and voila! Dinner! Which probably means more frozen dinners. Heh! Tuesday, March 27, 2007
When I was in kindergarten, my teacher had us make a time capsule. In it, we would draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be a ballerina.But dance lessons were too expensive and my mother didn't think, at five, I had a ballerina's physique or drive. I was told I was athlethic. And I was allowed to play sports. I was a good softball player, although not at the high school level. But I was a Varsity field hockey goalie and my coach thought I could be an Olympian. But my parents K'boshed that too. They didn't want me to give up my childhood working for a sport. But this isn't a rant about how my parents might have held me back from the gold medal or dancing with Barysknikov. They did what they thought was right and I'm learning that they weren't perfect beings, but humans who made mistakes. This is about taking back a dream. I love the arts. I love to paint (although I'm not very good). I love to write (in which I think I am very good). I love museums, and music and dance. I was told I was awkward and clumsy and would be referred to sarcastically as "grace." And I am. I don't have any rhythm, but fortunately I also don't have any blues either. But I do need to exercise more and I become bored very quickly. So I decided one way to solve both problems is to take belly dancing lessons at the local high school adult education program. I figure it would be entertaining at the least. I love it. I need to work on my shimmy and my hip rolls/figure eights. But we did a dance called the "Gypsy King" which allowed us to use a bunch of dance moves and arm motions (snake hands, temple arms) that we had learned. She let us borrow "veils" (2 yards of chiffon-like fabric) to dance with and it was fun and natural. Without sounding like a new age head case, I felt that it's a very "woman" and "empowering" thing to do, especially with a bunch of other women. I'd be interested in researching SCA period garb for belly dancers, because it's not the sequined "I dream of Jeannie" outfits you're thinking of. The teacher told us that belly dancers weren't for the sultan, but they were a fertility ritual dance for the women of the tribe. So I bought a hip skirt. This is the one I bought, but I went for the silver coins instead. I'm going to go to either Walmart or Joann fabrics today at lunch and buy my 'veil'. I'm very excited because FitTV on demand offers belly dancing programs that I can put on anytime I want. But most of all, it feels good to dance. Even if I'm clumsy and awkward. Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Gleeful good news: (and slightly guilty) I got my hands on an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) of a hardcover that's not going to be out for a few months from one of my favorite authors. Guilty because I bought it at a used book store for the price of a paperback (they're not supposed to resell them!) But I didn't buy another ARC that I saw there because I don't think I could stand the guilt. (And it wasn't an author I knew, but the book sounded interesting).Morose news: My car is sick! The check engine light came on on Friday and it didn't go off. (Every now and then it flickers). That and I had gotten a safety recall notice for the power steering so I decided to bring it it. Whelp, the check engine light was because my gas cap was faulty (who knew?). $84 for diagnostic and replacement. I had them look at my windshield sprayer (the driver's side wasn't working) $84 to repair and replace. And then the gem? My brakes were metal on metal (who knew?). $375 to fix. And that was just what they found at first glance. So I authorized them to take care of it (bleah!) but it's still not ready to be picked up. So Purge is going to drop me off at my belly dancing class and then I'll hang around the school for an hour and wait for him to come pick me up. Or maybe I'll stay home and read my contraband! Participating Dunkin Donuts are giving away free iced coffe -- while supplies last --today to celebrate the first day of Spring. I don't know if the stores in your area are participating or not, but I figure it's worth a look. I mean who doesn't like free iced coffee? Monday, March 19, 2007
To give you an idea of my weekend, here is are two e-mails I sent to UConn's continuing education department:Saturday's e-mail Dear Ms. P., I'm writing this e-mail to let you know how disappointed and frustrated I am with UConn's Continuing Studies paralegal litigation certificate program at Avery Point Campus in New London. The first week, Attorney C. ended class at 3:00 p.m. both days. During that time, he read from the workbook and text verbatim. I feel that the text is outdated and the workbook is rife with typos. The second week, Attorney P., thankfully, didn't read word for word out of the books. However, she let also let us out at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and then at 11:00 a.m. the following Sunday. I live in Guilford. It's at least a 45 minute drive each way to get to campus. If Sunday's quiz and review were only going to be 2 hours long, why didn't we take it on Saturday and leave at the scheduled time of 5:00 p.m.? That way, when your office failed to give Attorney P. the class materials for Sunday, (She said it was a movie.) -- the reason why we were let go at 11:00 a.m. --, we could have just stayed home on Sunday if there were no other materials to go over. Now, it is the third week and there was bad weather. Both the UConn website and the telephone hotline stated that there were classes on Saturday. We called Avery Point campus, and their message was still playing for Friday, March 16th. We called several times. As of 9:30 a.m., Avery Point's message hadn't changed. The entire class showed up, but not the teacher. There wasn't an e-mail message nor a message on my answering machine when I got home explaining why the attorney never came to class. I drove all the way up to campus and back for nothing. At this point, I have invested a great deal of time and effort in this class. I've also paid for 84 hours of classwork and instruction, which I am not getting. What are my recourses? Am I even able to get my money back at this point? I don't want to drop out of the program, but quite frankly I feel cheated and aggravated. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this matter. Sincerely, Sunday's e-mail Dear Ms. P., I'm following up on yesterday's e-mail regarding the class cancellation on Saturday. Apparently, the correct number to dial was on the order confirmations we received in the mail and you had decided to cancel Saturday's course on Friday afternoon. I had not realized this. Attorney P. did a good job of covering Saturday and Sunday's coursework today and generously offered her time on Thursday night for anyone who needed extra help. However, we rushed through the last two chapters and she let us go at 4:00 p.m. I felt that we could have completely finished the chapters if we stayed until five. Now, I realize that the attorneys are very busy. If it's better suited for them to teach 9-3, perhaps just adding an extra weekend to the certicate program would be the way around this. In any event, that's my two cents. Sincerely, *** So I feel a little chagrined about the first e-mail, but being completely rushed over Chapter 15 and 16 (the chapters Purge and I were having trouble with) because she really wanted to let the class out at 3 and we all *forced* her to finish, made me feel OK with the whole e-mail process. Especially since, two other people from class agreed with us. I'm not the flamer/hate e-mailer type. But I'm paying for this class to be taught how to do this. Anything I don't know at the end of this, works against me at my job. And certainly works against Purge who will be thrown in cold. Oh and she told us on Sunday that the movie Uconn never gave her was The Rainmaker with Matt Damon. (Hmmm that would have only have been 2 out of the 8 hours on Sunday . . . ) Now, when I did training or teaching I made sure I was prepared. If she knew on Saturday night she didn't have the Rainmaker, why didn't she go out and rent it? Or at least tell us, hey tonight or sometime in the next two weeks watch The Rainmaker and we can discuss it in class. (She also let slip that the day before our final, they want us to watch A Civil Action with John Travolta.) As Purge put it, "That's one hell of a rental fee." I put them on my Netflix list. The bottom line is we read eight or so chapters and the corresponding workbook sheets in two weeks and then go over them on Saturday and Sunday and then are tested on them the next week. If I have the wrong information on my workbook answers, then I'm studying and reinforcing the wrong information. And the workbook has poorly worded questions and the text is NINE years old. It's a joke. I suppose you get what you pay for though and this was the cheapest I've seen a basic paralegal course. So we have three more weekends. Next weekend is the quiz on the chapters we went over. The weekend after that we're in the law library. We have to go to West Hartford, but I'm not sure where. She also tells us that West Hartford doesn't open until noon on Sunday. And actually, if it's the UConn library on Elizabeth Street in Hartford, it doesn't open until one. I can't find confirmation that the West Hartford campus has a law library. The Quinnipiac law library in Hamden opens at 9 a.m. both days. But she said she didn't want to drive there. (*sigh*) I'm trying to broker a deal that we can just do our law research in Quinnipiac on that Sunday so we don't have to drive an hour both ways for some bullshit two hour class. And then the last weekend is our final exam. I can't wait for this to be over. The good news is this weekend is our final Corporate Law class. We really like the attorney teaching this module and our final exam is on Sunday. I feel comfortable with the material. We had a great two days of classes. The bad news is I still have half a book to read for it. (We spent most of our time and energy on the civil ligation course work last week) ::shrug:: Whatcha gonna do? Monday, March 12, 2007
So it's pretty weird when I've got to come into work to relax and have a good time. These all day weekends are killing me. The good news is that we generally don't go to 5 p.m., but the drive is outrageous. Both campuses are about an hour one way. It's getting really nuts and these next two weeks are going to be crazy. Knowing that, I took next Friday off from work so I could recharge.We really like our Corporate law class. The attorney is a great teacher. She let us out early both days, but unlike the attornies in the litigation class, we felt like we finished the day's work and actually learned something. Aside from that, as a treat on Sunday, we bought the new American Idol Edy's slow churned birthday cake with sprinkles ice cream. It's AMAZING!!! And the best part is it's low fat! 3 points for a 1/2 cup -- baseball size serving. I'm looking forward to a bowl of that after knitting class tonight. Purge quit his job and this Friday is his last day. I'm thrilled, even though as of yet he doesn't have anything else lined up. This job had been deteriorating for the nine years that he's been there. The management has blinders on and it's really not a nice place to work. He's had to work on Christmas and most weekends and because he was "on salary" -- which I have doubts as to the legality of that -- he wasn't compensated. In fact, they took him for granted. We would have to cut our holidays and often weekends short so he could baby sit a report while it ran. In recent years, technology enabled him to do this from his lap top at home. But it has still been hard. We worked it out and we're fortunate enough to have a good savings account to fall back on and we should be OK for a few months. I really hope he finds something good and doesn't have to settle for what he can get so that we can pay bills. Of course, this means our week in Napa is going to be used to pay taxes in July and our anniversary and my birthday celebrations will be postponed. So that's kind of a bummer. But I guess that's what being an adult is all about. So in order to keep my sanity, I've tried to segment my week so I'm not going off to have a panic attack in the corner or letting everything slip away from me so I feel like I don't have control of anything. (Us control freaks really don't like unknowns). I came up with this weekly schedule to get me through until May when all our classes are over. I call it my "Don't Think" schedule. Based off the line from Bull Durham: Crash Davis: You just got lesson number one: don't think; it can only hurt the ball club. Monday: Financial Day. Pay all bills. Check all bank accounts. Double check budget. Knitting Class. Tuesday: Domestic Day. Or to use the Flylady's term "House Blessing" (snort). In which the house gets a "good enough" go over. Vacuum, etc. Fencing Class. Wednesday: Writing Day. Catch up on Wordweft critiques. Search Ralan's etc for markets. Belly Dancing Class. Thursday: Play Day! This is the day off in all senses of the word. I can read, watch movies, play Warcraft all without guilt. Heck, even go to sleep at 7:30 p.m. Friday: Study! This is the day / night (on alternate D&D weeks) where the books are cracked open and homework is completed. Saturday & Sunday: Paralegal Class Of course, through all of this I'm alternating studying and writing on my lunch hour. I really also should throw exercising into the mix too. But I'm procrastinating that because the eliptical trainer downstairs in our gym at work hurts my knees and I can't ride the bike until I figure out the TV schedule so I can watch TV while I'm pedaling (how's that for justification?). I'm also doing the Flylady's evening routines. Basically, mine are to shower, get my clothes ready for the next day, feed & water the pets, make my lunch, and do a load of laundry (wash, dry and fold) and a load of dishes every other day. I swear we're only two people but the mess we make. . . ! So everytime I feel myself starting to lose it. I look at this schedule and I can breathe a little easier. Everything will get done on it's designated day. Of course, I could also be wearing a strait jacket by May too. You never know. Monday, March 05, 2007
I'm so disappointed in UConn's continuing education program. This week, we did have another attorney and Purge and I both found her engaging and a much better instructor than her law partner. Unfortunately, the text is 9 years old and out of date. The workbook that UConn puts together is rife with confusing typos. As we figured out, the attornies teaching the class were only selected/given the materials the week before the first class. And our Sunday quiz was given to the attorney on Thursday for that Sunday's session.Now, gaming on Friday went fine and didn't interfere with our learning on the Saturday course . We had been worried that we would have to stop playing on the Friday nights we had class because of the late night. But so far so good. The class isn't challenging at all. And as long as you read the book and do the homework/workbook questions, the lectures don't really add anything to the learning experience except for being mildly entertaining. And you have to *force* the attornies to go over the workbook answers. Which is frustrating because if I put something wrong as my answer in the workbook, that's how I study. I read the book, my notes and the workbook. If I'm wrong, then I learn and reinforce it wrong. So the classes are really poorly planned and executed and I will never again take another UConn continuing education course. Nor would I recommend them to anyone either. Anyway, Purge and I were very confident in our knowledge for our Sunday quiz, that Saturday night we went to dinner at Nightskye's house and he and TheOne cooked us a beautiful dinner and dessert. Well, after two bottles of wine, a glass of margarita and a cordial class of Chambord, it was well past midnight when we had to cut the conversation short. And we could have talked for hours more. The next morning, I quizzed Purge on all 7 chapters on the way up to class. We knew it was multiple choice so I dug around and found some obscure terms just in case we saw them, we would recognize them. I will start out by saying I got an 80 on the quiz and Purge got a 90. One question we both missed was bullshit. It wanted you tell list what county Vernon was in. What the fuzzy hell does that have to do with anything? I have a book that tells you where all the counties are. The concept was if the defendant resides in Vernon and the Marshall serves him, where does the marshall need to be from. He needed to be from the county that Vernon's in. I put down Hartford County. It's Tolland. Purge put down Vernon because the question was poorly worded that he figured that was the "close enough" answer. He also knew that the Marshall needed to be from Vernon county. So the quiz wasn't really testing knowledge as much as it was testing how you interpret some idiot secretary's idea of what the quiz should be. The other question I genuinely missed because I didn't know it. The appearance has to be filed within 2 days of the return date. I thought it was two days after the defendant receives the summons. But what was absolute bullshit was the questions, that Purge and I got right -- only because we both had to (and we did the quiz separately) reverse engineer the answers by applying logic to the future questions and crossing off anything that couldn't fit. Picture pulling high school algebra out of your ass at 9 a.m. on a Sunday morning after a night of drinking. It was painful. So, I can now say that high school algebra, for the first time in twenty years has proven useful. If X=A+B, then A-12 is X2. The answers that the questions were seeking were: (1) The marshall has 12 days from the return date to deliver the summons. (2.) Once the paralegal gets the documents back, they have to file it in the court 6 days from the return date, on a Tuesday. We were never given the return date or a calander. So we had no idea which date was a Tuesday and how far into the 12 days did the marshall deliver the summons. We were so livid by this quiz. It wasn't testing knowledge. Hell, even though it did, it wasn't testing problem solving. It was rushed and poorly written and again -- rife with typos. It pushed all the wrong buttons with us. We drove 1 hour to Uconn at Avery Point. We were given this asinine quiz. We didn't even go over the answers. Luckily the attorney agreed with the class that this was nonsense. She assigned extra assignments that make sense! So we can bring our grade up. (One person in the class got a 100, but the Bullshit questions were 4 out of the 10, so if you missed one, you missed all of them, so that would be a 60). The attorney said in previous years, the quiz was to fill out a summons and an appearance sheet, in addition to ten questions. So if we do that, we'll get 10 points for the summons sheet and 10 points for an appearance sheet. I'll do that and raise my grade up to 100. I'll also do the other extra credit which was to look up one of her court cases that she mentioned in class. (I was actually going to do that anyway because it was interesting.) Anyway, 1 hour drive up. 1 hour class -- and she lets us go home for the day. 1 hour drive back. Second Sunday class in a row we were let out early. She also let us out two hours early on Saturday. I was pissed only because, if the quiz was only going to take an hour, why not do it Saturday and not have us come in at all on Sunday? Now, I'm thrilled to have my Sunday back. I had good intentions to use the time I would have been in class to read the 8 chapters of homework (100 pages) and do the related work book assignments (I didn't count the pages but it was a sizable chunk). But I was so aggravated and the two late nights were taking it's toll, I made myself a sandwich and played WoW for the rest of the day, in bed under my covers, with the animals all around me. Lest you think we were total slugs, Purge and I folded the week's laundry as well. I set out my clothes for the rest of this week. And I went to bed early. So I'm going to study on lunch all this week. I should have stayed up the extra half hour and made myself lunch, but I had reached a wall and I plunked into bed and was asleep before Purge turned the light out. Thursday, March 01, 2007
I was a tv slug last night. Sci-Fi was running all five episodes of the Dresden Files in order. So I got to watch them from the beginning. Very interesting stuff. Not as good as Supernatural, but entertaining nonetheless. I just wish Sci-Fi would rotate their commercials. The spooky Asian chick in the Quizno's commercial made me want to jab an icepick in my ear everytime she laughed. Five hours of the same commercial makes me never want to eat Subway or Quiznos ever again. EVER.The good news is I finished the loop scarf! I'm going to block it tonight and post pictures on my LJ, so stay tuned for that. Next project is my sweater. I want to have it done to the neckline for my knitting class so my instructor can teach me how to seam it up and get the neckline done. I figure I can work on the sleeves while she shows everyone else how to knit and get them started. The Dudley Farm is having a potluck supper soon to discuss this season's craft fairs. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it this year. I may take a year off. On the one hand, it's nice to sit in the sun and enjoy seeing the people come and go and on the very rare occassion sell something. But on the other hand, the scarf trend has passed and I need to come up with something different. I was thinking of making knitted troll dolls, to use up all that fun fur I bought. I've got some sketches done but I want them to be more rounded dolls than flat and I'm not sure how to shape them. So that's puttering around in my mind. Also I'm trying to see how I can recycle the felted bowls that never sold. I was also thinking about selling felted hats (as most people liked the bowls as hats). I need to also put the tassel on Purge's gaming fez. I should do that tonight too while I'm thinking of it. It's so nice to finish a long term project! Also tonight Purge and I are going to study for our paralegal classes this weekend. I rocked the homework. So now we just have to compare answers and maybe re-read the chapters again. I might even read ahead because I'm a little brown noser, but that's just me. Then Dr. G and I are going to rock the Hellfire Pennisula group quests. Maybe we'll bring a little Cerveza with us -- if he gets his homework done. Tuesday, February 27, 2007
OwOw OW! I had my first fencing class today. I liked it. The warm up was great, not too intense so you got fatigued, but not too easy so your muscles didn't get used. The footwork drills were reminescent of Tae Kwon Do. En guarde is a modified horse / side stance. I kept wanting to switch front and back legs. It's weird how your body remembers things. It's been over ten years since I've been in a dojo, but my legs got right into position. When we had a water break I used the wall to do side kicks to stretch out my back. He taught us lunging. I unfortunately drag my back foot like I'm Quasimodo, but I think I did OK for a first night. My inner thighs are killing me! But weirdly enough it's a good ache. The absolute worst part of the night was when we got dressed. I didn't mind wearing the plastic boobies. I minded putting on someone elses sweaty and stinky arm/shoulder guard. I understand that when you borrow equipment for a class that you're not getting the best stuff. I expected it to be at least washed! If I wanted to be covered in someone else sweat and b.o. there are a lot more enjoyable activities to do that in. I was so squicked, I almost walked out. That and the fencing jacket I got had a broken zipper and it was the only XL, so that was embarrassing. Luckily, the instructor's jacket fit me. Still I felt bad. One of these days I'll never have to worry about not fitting in a roller coaster seat or an airplane seat. (The former has happened the latter hasn't happened yet) Tuesday, February 13, 2007
I cut my hair! You can see the pictures at my live journal.Have you ever had a day that defined you as a person? That's pretty much how my day went yesterday. It started off weird and then ended nicely. As Monday's go it was a really great day. It all started at 8:21 a.m. when A-1 Gutters woke us up by ringing the bell. (Yes, I now have gutters. Scratch that off the New Year's Resolution list) Gus freaked out. I hopped into the bathroom to shower (Purge put a towel up over our bathroom window for privacy). As I was in the shower, I hear the dog go ass over teakettle down the stairs. Get up. Run back up the stairs and then preceded to fall down the stairs again, this time peeing all the way down. (a 70 pound dog makes a lot of noise falling down the stairs -- twice) Purge, who threw on pants and a sweater got the gutter guys started and mopped up the mess. (Eh, the floor needed washing anyway) and Klutzo the dog seemed fine after his spills (literally). Then, the work day positively flew by. Since Purge and I were sloths the entire weekend, raising only from Warcraft and bed to do laundry and make food, I decided that I would use our workout facilities in the basement at work. I would go down at 2 p.m. because that's when Knitty Gritty is on the DIY network and that day they were making felted Princess Hats. However, it turns out that we don't get the DIY network here. So instead of working out, I went shopping for purses at TJ Maxx. The reason behind this is the zipper broke in my Dooney and Burke purse and nothing says class like trying to zip up a $300 purse with a paperclip. (Which works rather nicely, BTW). I suppose it would have been more personality defining if I went book shopping, but I already did that last week. I spent an hour and a half reading Brenda Joyce's The Prize in the used bookstore. God, she's a gripping writer. I didn't buy the book because the male protagonist, while well hung (which was described several times in graphic detail) was a, pardon the expression, a huge prick. Verbal and emotionally abusive and not a redeeming character trait except for his massive cock. Meh. Still, I read it and skipped the boring parts. I don't think he redeemed himself in the end. But as I had run out of lunch time in spades and didn't like him to begin with, I'll never know. Lest you think I was using the used bookstore as a library (I was. But some yuppie fucks commandeered the couch.), I bought Augusten Burrough's "Runs With Scissors", which they just made a movie out of. At first, I agreed with the book blurb that it was "David Sedaris meets the Hotel New Hampshire" and not as funny as David Sedaris. However, the book was impossible to put down and I finished it over the weekend and gave it to my mother. Who will either love it or hate it. I'll say one thing it addressed Pedophilia without making me squick too much or bringing the novel to a screeching halt. The utter casualty of it was chilling. It was an amazing book. So amazing that I don't want to see the movie. At TJ Maxx, I came to several conclusions. One is that I don't like Tommy Hilfiger's designs. I don't see what the BFD is with Harajuko Lovers (and this is coming from a Hello Kitty fan). That I refrained from buying a super cheap Dooney and Burke round backpack because I'm not 21 anymore. I did see a lovely Etienne Aigner straw purse that would definitely fit in with my "Guilford Matron" summer persona. However, that lovely straw would be shredded by midseason and I just couldn't do that to an unsuspecting purse. So I went back to the office after a brief stop at Stop and Shop for some bread and snacks and surfed Macy's because I have a gift card. (Thank you Boogie Shoes and Redsox!) However, the Dooney and Burke's didn't thrill me and the new Coach's while nice didn't move me either way. I'll probably check out the Clinton outlets this Friday on the way up to Wryan's for D&D. Then it occured to me that I didn't know where my Coach bag was. Surely that would do in a pinch? Or at least until I can get to Manhattan and buy a $20 Louis Vuitton rip off. This is the bag I purchased after working a Christmas season at PCD after they laid me off. Purge had been working 12 hour shifts and I wanted to be with him. I used the money I made in that season to buy this Coach bag. Huh, you'd think I'd keep better track of it. I think it's either in the attic (I always want to spell that attack, and if you'd seen my attic you would understand) or in one of the downstairs closets. When I got home, I dropped off the groceries and then went over to my Mom's house. She had made me dinner of Meatloaf (with bacon on top), Mashed potatoes and baked beans. I brought over a cranberry and pecan loaf of bread I had bought. After dinner (There's nothing like your mom's meatloaf is there?), she cut my hair and styled it. Then I was back home by 7:30 and Metrocake and I rocked Elwyn forest with our baby druids until we were almost level 9. Of course it was also 1 a.m. when we finished. Then Purge and I went to bed. The alarm came a bit early this morning. Monday, February 05, 2007
For the weekend update, especially how the Mega Meal Marathon went, check out my livejournal.So, it was a busy and fun weekend. Friday, we played D&D at Wryan's and I got to play with Hotdish's puppy! He's so cute. I love fat and furry little puppies. I wouldn't leave him alone. Just adorable. Saturday, we devoted mostly to cooking. Our modem worked for all of five minutes several times that day. It was so frustrating! I made the best of it, though, and popped in two of my Pirate DVD's from Netflix and took some really good notes. The National Geographic one on Blackbeard was excellent, the other one that looked like it was produced by high school students was less so. Although I did get a few names to search on and leads to follow up with. I was too exhausted from the cooking and aggravated from the modem to do any writing or reading. But I also watched 2/3 of a DVD on Windsor castle which was fascinating. Sunday, we were still having modem problems. We cooked some more to prepare for the big game and but still managed to get some Warcraft time in. I wanted the Colts to win because I've got a bit of a crush on Peyton Manning. So I was happy to see them pull it off. What a quirky game though. When the Bears scored on the opening kick off, I thought that would set the tone of the game. But with all that crazy rain and the fumbling, it did make things interesting. I'm a little sad to be back at work today. Only because there wasn't a lot of play time this weekend. But that being said, I usually get a lot of free time at work. So I guess it will even out. Looking ahead, this week is again the quiet before the storm. Tonight, we're finishing up on laundry. Seriously, how do two people generate so much dirty clothes???? Nightskye is coming over to watch Raw and help with the Superbowl leftovers. I think I'm going to watch some DVDs in the bedroom and have an early night. Tuesday, we're D&Ding with Cans and crew. Wednesday and Thursday, hopefully, our modem will be fixed and we can play a little in Azeroth, but even if it's not, we're going to do some tidying around the house. The kitchen isn't as wrecked as I thought it would be after the cooking marathon, but it could use some loving attention. The spare room has become cluttered again, so that's a small project and the bedroom definitely needs a shovel. But all in all, not a daunting task. The basement. Now that's a daunting task and probably on hold until May or June. Then Friday, we go to get our taxes done. I don't think we owe -- but I don't think we're going to get a nice refund either. I'll be happy if we break even. And at least if we do have to pay out, we're doing this nice and early so we've got time to get the money together. No weekend plans yet. If my modem isn't fixed, I think I'm going to be a fixture at the library for their free wireless. Gaming aside, I like the freedom to be able to look up things at my leisure. Of course, I should probably bring back those overdue library books. I really should know better not to bring research books home. I *never* return them in time. Although, now that I'm thinking about it I do have "The Kite Runner", which was fiction. I should read that one before it goes back. It looked really interesting. I've got tons of plans and preparations swirling through my mind. I'm really worried about our tough schedule in the next two months. On the one hand, I'm sure I'm over thinking all of this. But on the other hand, I don't want to be caught stressed out and not able to do well on the paralegal courses. The good news is that I'm on my second cup of tea and my head is clearing up for organization. Friday, February 02, 2007
I'm reading three books at the same time:Nora Roberts "Visions in Death" Her futuristic cop Eve Dallas Isabel Allende "Zorro" Barb and J.C. Hendee "Traitor to the Blood" I don't mean to start one without finishing, but the book is never around when I need it. For example, Zorro, is in my car. It should *not* be my bank book. The storytelling is too rich and the writing too beautiful to only read in 15 minute intervals. That's where "Visions of Death" should be. Mind candy and non stop action. However, for some reason, that's in my bookshelf where I picked it up while I was waiting for my modem to restart. I think it's time for a new modem! It keeps refusing to let me log into Warcraft at inconvenient times. Like when I told someone I'd meet them or in the middle of helping out a guildmate. And I'm not even sure where I left "Traitor to the Blood". It was supposed to be in my purse. I hope it didn't fall out and is sitting on the kitchen table because I just couldn't cram one more thing into my purse. It was my bank book, but I found I was skimming to get to the good parts. And while not as lyrical as "Zorro" this wasn't a book I wanted to rush through. But I'll probably finish all three this weekend and then I'll do a live journal post for my novel reading challenge. I believe this would bring it up to 15 out of 50. Especially, if my modem won't let me in during the superbowl. Nightskye is coming up and we're going to mock the commercials and eat stuff from BJ's that I'm going to pick up on Saturday because I really can't be arsed to cook this year. LOL. Although, we'll see. There were some really yummy looking Weight Watchers recipes kicking around the interweb this week. And it wouldn't kill me to eat healthy. And I do have a turkey defrosting in the fridge that will probably be ready to make on Sunday. So maybe I'll do a Thanksgiving type of spread with stovetop stuffing and those Shea's Spread tubs of mashed potatoes. For ha-ha's I think I'm going to make Paula Dean's Green Bean Bundles, because the three of us were watching her Christmas special and thought it was a hoot that she couldn't make anything without butter or bacon. Monday, January 29, 2007
The Quiet Before the Storm . . .The next three months are going to be super busy at the Schmidt house. Or rather not at the Schmidt house. Purge and I decided to take a bunch of adult education classes, and then more recently a paralegal course at UCONN at Avery Point in New London. I've always said that spending like 15 grand on a paralegal course was bullshit because at the end of it, you're out the money and you're not guaranteed a job. And to top it all off, you're not a real paralegal until you've worked at a law firm for two years. However, UCONN came up with this super affordable certificate course that in 148 hours gives you a nice background/base in litigation, corporate law, trusts and wills. Something that I sorely need in my day to day job if I want to better apply myself and really understand what's going on. I was bummed that there wasn't a real estate law course, because that's the main thrust of our law firm, but maybe they'll have one in the coming semesters. I mentioned it in passing to Purge and not only was he on board with me taking it, he is going to take it with me and hopefully use it to spring board into a law office. Whoot! So now I've got someone to drive with me, eat lunch with me, study with me and keep me focused! Also I don't have to spend every weekend from now until May without my husband. He'll be right beside me! Whoot again! So starting in February, our classes kick in and March is the month from hell, schedule wise. The worst is two weeks towards the end of March that works out like this: Monday: Tempest Knitting Class Tuesday: Purge Tai Chi/KungFu Class- Tempest Belly Dancing Class Wednesday: Both: Fencing Class Thursday: FREE Friday: Alternate week's D&D Saturday: 9-5 Paralegal course Sunday: 9-5 Paralegal course So we're going to be low on the socializing with friends radar until May. When I'm thinking we'll probably deserve a nice vacation. I'm tentatively *very tentatively* thinking about a cruise or something easy the week of my birthday. Something along the lines of I want to sit in the sun and read, preferably with my toe in the water. I figure the third week in May will give us a few weeks to play catch up on house work and everything. However, just taking a week off and spending it at home doing nothing has its merits too. And has the built in benefit of not costing a dime. Still, we decided to use our tax refund for a vacation this year. On the other hand, I'm not sure if we're going to get enough back! The H&R block guy that's been doing our taxes since we've moved to Guilford is no longer doing it. He told us last year. So that's a bummer, we've got to break in a whole new guy. It almost makes we want to file myself, but I think that would drive my anal retentive side crazy. It's much easier to get the "Peace of Mind" H&R block thing. The one thing I don't want to do is gain weight because Purge and I are eating on the go with fast food. So I ordered the "Mega Mailer Freezer Meals" from Leanne Ely. This is the one where you make 22 dinners and freeze them. The cool thing is they make dinner for 4 people. So Purge and I spend 3 hours this weekend and we'll have 44 meals. I figure that will go a long way to helping us eat healthy over the next three months. Especially, if we're too tired to cook when we get home from class. Friday, January 26, 2007
Been doing lots and lots of editing on The Dread Queen. I'm starting to nitpick and get a little frustrated so I'm moving on to Chapter Three and posting it for my writing group. And then I'm going on to Chapter Four, which I think is my strongest chapter.I'm avoiding a conumdrum in Chapter Four though, I introduce two really great characters from another novel in this chapter and they don't come back until the next book. Part of me wants to cut the scene they're in, but it's so fun and it saves the heroine's bacon. ::must think some more on this:: And yes, it's still super slow at work. The good news is that I'm getting a ton of writing work done. I find it's easier to edit at work and write at home, rather than try and write in between phone calls. The editing is good because I could use the ringing phone as a break to pop me out of my own writing. Sometimes I've read a line over so much I can't see the mistakes or typos because I read what's in my head and not what I've put down on paper. To paraphrase Captain Jack Sparrow, "Why is the tea always gone?" I'm down to my last few "Paris" sachets for Harney and Sons and will be forced to go back to my Republic of Tea Passion Fruit Papaya and Mago Ceylon. Both, while tasty, are not as enjoyable as Harney. So I'm a bachlorette tonight. Or at least until Purge loses his poker money. Which means he'll be home around eight. I'm going to make myself some hummus and Tzaziki (I'm pretty sure I spelled that wrong) burritos! And plop in some Inu Yashi while I finish up a present for baby Nicky. I'm knitting a new pattern for a baby blanket and since it's a new pattern I'm not sure I'm doing it correctly. Is there supposed to be these big holes on the ends? But it's consistent. So it's a pattern, even if it's not what was written. I'm deeply disappointed in the yarn. It's Lion's Brand, which generally I don't have a problem with. A lot of yarn snobs do, but I'm like it's yarn -- for the most part I don't need to spend $15 a skein. I *appreciate* the expensive yarn, but Lion's Brand makes a pretty good product. Well, this is my first experience with their homespun. It's corkscrew curly and I dislike knitting with it. If I was using smaller needles, I would be weeping in a corner. Knitted up the blanket looks nice (except for the big holes on the end, but I'm holding out that the finished product will look fine after blocking) I hope anyway. The colors and the fabric look great, just working with it isn't a joy. But I know Nicky and his Mom and Dad will like the finished product. Thursday, January 18, 2007
Funny thing happened to me today.My job description is "Answer the phone. I don't care what you do in between times." Now, I will do filing, mailing, typing, organizing, open files, close them, talk to customers, track releases, etc. etc. However, I am also pretty much on my own for time frame. I try to do a little bit of everything every day. Anyway, today most of my work-work is done and the phones aren't ringing. So I decide to work on The Dread Queen revisions a bit. I pull up my draft and the critiques of my writing group so I can address the issues. I got nailed on a "show don't tell" portion, so I'm trying to think of a way to show instead of tell. My boss comes down and looks at me and says, "Are you OK?" I blink and come out of the novel and say, confused "Yeah, why?" "Do you have a headache?" "No. . . uh . . was I scowling?" "Yeah," he said. I was going to tell him what I was doing but instead I just laughed and switched screens to the daily calander. I made sure I sounded "extra friendly" on the phone the next time it rang. LOL Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Happy Birthday Jacknife. 37. God, you're old!I've still got a recurring cough, but I think I've recovered from my lamest New Year's ever. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to completely remove my brain and immerse myself in Final Fantasy 12. It makes the boring time, grinding for gil, license points and experience go by faster when you're bombed on DayQuil. So I joined a live journal communite called 50 Book Challenge. Not because I think I need to be challenged to read 50 books in one year, but because I'm curious as to how many books I do read. I'm already ahead of the curve having read five books in three days. I wonder if I can average 365? LOL, that's just ridiculous -- but not out of the question. Hmmmm. The eating healthy resolution would have gone much more smoother today if my chiropractor didn't give the office a 2 gallon popcorn tin from Garretts. This is seriously the best popcorn I ever had. He gave us the cheese and caramel corn split. OMG! The cheese is the cheesiest and the caramel is light and sweet and so good! I promised Purge if there was any left I would try and bring him some home. Too good to be believed! Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Well, it wasn't a good year for Resolutions, it looks like. I had a bit of a mix up in my holiday rememberances. You can read more about it on my live journal. As much as I love being involved in all the communities and my flist on Live Journal. I'll never give up on blogger. I mean six years of my life have been documented on this journal.So here are last year's resolutions and how they resolved in 2006: 1. Actively work on the Flylady's housecleaning and body clutter steps Housecleaning 100%. Body Clutter 10%. I'm not zealotly about Flylady, but using her methods, my house is only about an hour away from being "company ready." I don't read her e-mails regularly, but I do get them in digest form and whenever I've feeling overwhelmed or need a lift, I read them and they help. There are still hot spots in my house. The spare room is a nightmare, but not in a messy way, just in a "I don't know what to do with this room" way. The bedroom closet, while no longer the pit of despair, really needs a good overhaul and I have to finish putting in the winter clothes. Although when it's going to be 60 degrees on Saturday, I'm not very motivated to do that. The big problem areas are the basement and the garage. I think I'm going to take advantage of the 60 degree weather on Saturday to tackle the garage. I read the Body Clutter book, but I didn't find anything I could relate too. The best thing I took from it was that she has you weigh yourself everyday. The reason behind this is not so much to get an accurate weight but to take the fear and importance away from getting on the scale. It also shows you the fluctuations that happen on a day to day basis and that you really can't rely on the scale to be your motivation to lose weight. I think Weight Watchers misses this important mark. I had fantastic weeks on WW where I did everything right and exercised, only to lose a tenth of a lb. That would destroy my motivation and self esteem. Intellectually, I knew that it could be a plethora of reasons why the scale was not moving. But emotionally, I thought to myself "Why bother?" for just a tenth of a lb. But the scale does eventually catch up if you do keep "bothering". Weighing yourself every day won't give you your "true" weight but it will let you see how not drinking enough water or intaking too much sodium fluctuates the scale. And unless you take in 3500 calories (6 Big Macs) in one day, you haven't really gained a lb. And on the flip side unless you burn 3500 calories in one day (4-1/2 hours of jogging), you haven't really lost a lb. So your true weight is probably the "once a week" one, provided that it's done at the same time, wearing the same clothes and even then the fluctuations can put that off a day or so. However, with all the ups and downs, I'm still 10 lbs lighter than I was last year and 19 lbs lighter than the year before so I'm making progress . . . slooooooowly. Still it's better than a gain. 2. Walk 15 minutes every day Bwa-ha-ha-ha! This is really embarrassing. I mean how hard is that really? I guess the problem is I just don't want to do it. I find walking boring. And even though it's good for me and I should do it, I find a hard time getting motivated for it. But this is definitely an area that I want to improve on. I have a very sedidentary lifestyle and I would like to change that. 3. Keep a food journal Eh, not so much. I did for a few months at Weight Watchers online and truth be told, that's how I lost about 20 lbs in two and a half months. Not doing it is pure laziness. 4. Get published in 12 new ezines/print magazines and maintain a presence in my regular publications. Toe digging in the sand. I don't even want to look this up. Courage! Heh, it's not on my work computer anymore. But I'm pretty sure it's on one of the two disks I have with me in my briefcase. *sigh* Well, I've got an old version. I'm pretty sure the new version on my laptop doesn't have any new markets. It looks like I got published in one new ezine: Static Movement Online in February 2006 with "Gonna Get Close to You." So 1/12 isn't so good, huh? But I did still have stories published in Anotherealm and placed in a few of the contests, so I'm proud of that. I also joined an online writing group that has had a tremendous impact on my writing. The group of writers are extremely professional and helpful and it's equally helpful to give critiques as well as receive them because you are constantly faced with what works and what doesn't. Aside from the fact, I've read some excellent fiction and watched works develop over drafts which is invaluable experience. 5. Add 30,000 words to the next draft of Dead Man Stalking and send it out to another agent / publisher. Bzzzt Nope. But I did write 50,000 words on a new novel called The Dread Queen which I think -- along with Dead Man Stalking are publishable novels. They need some more meat and some polish and then I'll be looking for an agent. I did send a 250 word hook into Miss Snark (a fellow blogger who is also a NYC agent) for her Crap-0-meter to get some feedback and out of 700 entries she received, she picked me and 47 other people to send her in 750 words for more feedback. So I'm really looking forward to her comments. 6. Finally buy slip covers and drapes for the living room and dining room. Done. Checkerooni! 7. There was also a secret resolution that I was going to let you in on. It didn't happen. ::shrug:: All day, I was trying to figure out what it was, because I had forgotten. However, it just hit me what it was. LOL. I'm going to keep you in the dark for yet another year because I'll keep it as a resolution this year too. Heh! So that leaves me with this year's resolutions. I heard on the radio today that a resolution shouldn't be a Things to Do list, but I disagree. Sure it's nice to have ones that represent long lasting change for the better, but sometimes just crossing off that one thing that was bothering you on your "Must Get Done List" that you've been putting off forever and the one thing that's going to keep you honest and get it done is to put it down on paper. That being said, here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2007: 1. Print out the 6 years of Blogger so if Blogger's servers ever go ass over teakettle, I have a record of the last half decade of my life. (I'll look into if I can download them and save them on my hard drive or a CD so I can save a few trees/toners). And maintain the back up on a weekly basis. 2. Remodel the spare room so that I'm finally happy with it and can shut up already about it. I've been putting it off because if it was going to be a nursery I didn't want to remodel it twice. But I think that's silly. I've been unhappy with the room for seven years. If and when there's a baby on the way, then I'll redo it. So I think it's going to become a spare bedroom with office accoutrements. Or maybe an office with a pull out sofa. I'll get back to you on it next year. 3. Write every day for at least an hour. I'm toying with adding a word count caveat on that as well, but Nanowrimo taught me that's not necessarily a good thing. I know that I can write 1000 really good words in an hour. I know that if I'm pressed I can write really crappy to hit a word count. I think I'll save the word count goals for when I'm stuck. Then I'll give myself permission to write crappy to bridge the gap between good writing and bad writing. So what am I going to do with all this writing? Here are goals, not necessarily resolutions, to accomplish in this writing time: a. Finish Dead Man Stalking. I want to break the book down scene by scene (chapter / chapter) so see where I can add more plot and suspense, dialogue and description. I want to target that at a polished 80,000 words. I want to get a query letter written and a summary. b. Finish The Dread Queen. I want a draft of 70,000 to 80,000 words. c. Continue to submit to Anotherealm's and Static Movement Online's contests. d. Submit to 12 new magazines and ezines this year -- half of which must be paying venues. (Not that I don't love the non-paying ones, exposure is just as good as payment some time, but I find the paying markets have more of a prestige for building reputation) e. Research five agents to whom I would like to represent me in case my first choice, Writer's House, decides not to accept me. 4. Eat healthy and get in weekly exercise. I'm leaving this one deliberately vague. Of course, I'd still like to drop 100 lbs, but I'm going to become satisfied with drinking more water (2 glasses for every 1 glass of soda), and sticking to the food pyramid (more veggies and fruit). I also, absolutely, want to not go crazy between Thanksgiving and New Year's! During that time, I resolve to only eat one treat a day. And eat three meals a day instead of grazing all day and night long. I want to do some fun exercise too like roller blading or sword fighting or belly dancing and yoga. I want to build up some wind and some upper body strength. 5. Put gutters on the house. (Like the curtains and slipcovers resolution of last year, I have a feeling this one will be scheduled if not completed by the end of this month.) I'd also like this to be the year of house renovations. But I'm not going to get too crazy. I'd like to get three quotes on black topping my driveway -- even though my father and cousin scared me with a $8,000.00 estimate. Ya know, gravel works. I don't want to roller blade and play basketball that badly. At least I don't think I do. Landscape the front yard would be nice, if we can decide on what we'd like. Redo our back decks. I hate what we have now. Landscape the back yard would be nice. Although I don't think the swimming pool or the horse barn are in the immediate future. Wire the basement and sheetrock that room. Thursday, December 28, 2006
Must . . . stop . . . eating . . . chocolate.I have no willpower when it comes to chocolate. You would think I was a 10 year old kid. I have a cold and I feel icky. I've been drinking lots of tea and I had chicken soup for lunch. I've been sucking down Dayquil caplets and airborne gummy lozenges and I still feel yucky. Bleah. The good news is that HarleyMom and Robspierre are coming over tonight for dinner and they're bringing the sprogs too. We're making Rachel Ray's Christmas Pasta, romaine salad and garlic bread! YUM-O! They asked the Food Network stars what they stocked in their holiday fridge. Here's what they said: Paula Deen "Butter, ham, cream cheese, bacon and mayo." -- LOL big surprise there • Ellie Krieger "Marinated olives, a garlicky bean dip, frozen shrimp (for a quick shrimp cocktail), red grapes and sparkling wine: all for an impromptu holiday party." -- That sounds awesome doesn't it? • Guy Fieri "Cold cuts (prosciutto, capicolla, Columbus dry salame, sopressata, and hot coppa), killer cheeses, five different mustards, a big ole prime rib, a couple bottles of Korbel champagne and some pizza for holiday cooking nourishment." -- Wow! • Michael Chiarello "I always stock prosciutto, salame, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Locatelli, Italy's most famous (and incredibly addictive) pecorino cheese." -- He did a great show where he had a holiday party where all his guests helped cook presents for people on their Christmas list. They did a group project to make Canned Antipasto, Spicy & Sweet roasted walnuts, Flavored oils and Italian cookies. It gave me a grain of an idea for next Christmas. • Nigella Lawson "Pancetta for frying and adding to vegetables, walnuts in the shell, beautiful pomegranates to add red-jewel sparkle, lychees and red grapes for gorgeous fruit displays, and vine leaves, when available, for fruit garnish." -- Neat! Giada De Laurentiis (Purge's Girlfriend) "A bottle of Proseco, panettone and frozen cookie dough for impromptu holiday gifts." George Duran "Fruit cake made with Gummy Bears, Gummy Worms, Twizzlers, and jelly beans." -- I don't like fruit cake, but this recipe might just work. The Hearty Boys "Organic whole milk for the baby, lots of champagne and a bottle of Bailey's for us (it's our tradition to drink Baileys and eat warm chocolate chip cookies when we decorate our Christmas tree), some really fine imported cheeses for drop-in guests and, if you catch us on December 23rd, at least seven different types of seafood for the Christmas Eve seafood feast." -- Nice tradition with the Bailey's. Emeril Lagasse "Artisinal cheeses, assorted salamis and sausages, Champagne and lots of wine and all the ingredients for a family holiday dinner." -- Everyone has mentioned salami pretty much. Gus ate the salami off my parents dinner table on Christmas Eve. LOL. Purge and I decided that we were going to have a quiet, low key New Year's just ourselves and the animals. I don't want to cook. I just want to have appetizers and gnoshies all weekend. So far I came up with Deviled eggs and some frozen hors d'oeuvres from BJ's, but looking at the chef's ideas I think I might have to add some red grapes, marinated olives, fresh mozzarella & tomatoes with basil, hummus, baby carrots, celery and roasted red peppers. Friday, December 08, 2006
Warcraft thoughts . . .I don't think I like my new Protection spec talent tree for my 58 warrior, Irideane. Dr. G and I (He was playing his 59 Shadow Priest, Caerlon) were grinding in the Eastern Plaguelands last night and I couldn't hold aggro from his mind flay spell or his vampiric embrace spell -- His two main attacks. Now granted, he wasn't letting me get in a few solid hits first, but I also couldn't steal the aggro away from him either. Since this is the whole idea why I switched from Arms to Protection, I'm feeling a little disgruntled. The other thing I'm going to try before spending the 10 gold I really don't have to respec is to play around with the different battle stances. As an arms warrior, I *never* got out of the Battle Stance. However, I'm finding with the protection warrior, I need to start out in Battle to do damage and switch to Protection to keep aggro. It still doesn't work with the priest, but it did work with Purge's 60 rogue. So maybe it's that clothies hit harder and there's nothing you can do about it. ::shrug:: It's also because I just got a kick ass one handed sword and I'm still training in it. I thought 200 - 250 would be good enough but I was still causing glancing blows. Little Iri used to wield twin axes until I protection specc'd and had to give up an axe for a shield. Like I said, I'll probably play around with it some more. I did make 2 gold grinding last night and went up from 58-1/4 to 58-1/2, so that's something. I might take her out of the plaguelands and bring her back to Sithilus to gain some Cenarion Circle reputation. For Niennanessa, my 60 mage, I'm excited about building her up to level 70. I can't wait for Burning Crusade to come out, although I'll probably be more focused with my blood elf mage named Lore (from Dread Queen heh heh heh ::insert nerd sounds here::) I took Nien into a Battle Ground for the first time in forever and was appalled by the mass chaos in Warsong Gulch. First of all, the Alliance never talked anyway, but now that there's not even a raid channel because of the cross realms patch anymore, NO ONE says anything. We lost, of course, and I had to redo my keyboard hot keys to put my Battle Ground spells back in. Still it was disturbing. I may have lost my taste for it. Part of what I liked about it was chatting with a strategy on the channel. *sigh* Xiomarrah is still plugging away through the late 40's and the 50's are on the Horizon. I'm running out of places to have her go. Because she grinding a lot of the 40's with a group, there's not a lot of quests still open to her. I may have to go to the UnGoro Crater with a buddy. I'm liking her imp's improved fireblast, though. Just got to avoid the big mean dinosaur that stealths around there. Maybe I should try Morgan's Vigil to see if that's more level appropriate. Betzaida the 24 priest is still waiting for Kaimeo to join her in Ashenvale so they can do some questing. Although, I'm a bit sick of the area, I want to clear out my quest log with the easy quests and go on back to Redridge. Then it's on to the Shimmering Flats and Blasted lands, both areas that are nowhere near each other but I've never gotten to do the quest chains there. Knitting thoughts . . . I wish I had four hands. That way I could finish all my projects. Purge and I are going into Manhattan this weekend. Metrocake and BytrTKD are having a holiday open house and we're going to take the train in. So I'm going to bring one skein of yarn and my hat that I'm making my Dad for Christmas. He actually asked me to make him one in hunter's orange because he lost his! Christmas thoughts . . . The tree and lights are up but not decorated yet. (Sunday and this time I mean it.) However, it is a happy little tree and I did enjoy eating dinner watching the pretty lights twinkle. Although, I was an ass hat and left the ground beef I bought for dinner in the fridge at work. So we had sausage and pancakes for dinner instead. The Christmas presents are all purchased but not wrapped. They're currently stacked in the dining room in their unopened shipping boxes. (Sunday -- maybe tonight before Nightskye comes over). No Christmas baking or cooking has been done, mostly because of the kitchen nightmare. And I keep changing my mind on what I want to do. Speaking of which, I haven't received my copy of Food Network's 12 cookies of Christmas in awhile. I'll have to go poke around on their site. It was so cold today! It snowed a bit in New Haven and it was very pretty to see. I was glad that Purge found my leather gloves to wear. Not only do they match my new jacket, but it kept me nice and warm. Housecleaning thoughts . . . My house is a disaster area! The closet still needs to be done and there is several piles of clean clothes to be either donated, put away in the closet or put away in the attic. I hate the fact that I can't find outfits to wear! Grrr! Something will definitely have to be done and soon. Then the bathroom floor needs to be disenfected and washed because the white cat still uses it as a litter box. Purge thinks it's because she's too lazy to get her fluffy white butt downstairs. I think it's because she scent marked it. The spare room is a gigglefest too. I have no strength to even look at it. I just close the door and hope that the cleaning fairies will visit us in the middle of the night. Last night while waiting for the Battlegrounds to pop, just like old times, I did a RL (real life) quest. I managed to clean off most of the island. It needs to be washed, but at least I'll feel comfortable assembling dinner and serving off of it tonight. Nightskye's coming over and I'm making Steak and Veggie Pie. I was going to make that last night, but forgot the ingredients at work. Derrrr! I'm going to quarter up some baby red potatoes and bake them with a little drizzle of olive oil and serve it up with a salad. We're going to eat on snack tables. I'm probably going to work on my Shadowrun adventure for next Wednesday while Purge helps Nightskye roll up a character for the adventure. If there's time, I'll run them through a mini adventure so Nightskye can get comfortable or at least introduced to the new rules. Writing thoughts . . . To commence after lunch. . Wednesday, December 06, 2006
I'm sorry Blogger, I've been neglecting you for Live Journal! Don't worry, you'll always have a place in my heart. So today, I got the new Ralan's e-mail. I love this e-mail. I get so excited and start planning projects around which magazines I'd like to submit too. It makes me feel like a writer. So far I've got four short stories to get out and a Crapometer submission to Miss Snark. I guess it's back to the daily writing again. I had an epiphany today. I was a bit drag assing it this morning. I think part of it was being food stoned from last night's HUGE dinner. See the LJ for more details on that. I got in to work and sat down at my desk and felt more energized and organized for the day. I think I need to set up a work station at home. During Nano I tried writing at the dining room table, which works except the chairs aren't all that comfortable. Towards the end, I'd be propped up in bed which leads itself to its own distractions or snuggled up on the couch watching TV and writing half heartedly. Not once, did I enter the spare room and sit at the desk. Oh egads, the horror of what that nightmare looks like. To give you an idea when we have to clean the crap off the dining room table to eat or if there's company coming over, it goes on the desk in the spare room. However, now that the armoire in there has been stripped of yarn, I can start passing the buck into that. I've decided to call that the hobby armoire. So I can start putting the soap making supplies in there along with the D&D and Shadowrun stuff when they're not in use. This should help out a bit with real estate in that matter. Then what I hope to do is have a desk that I feel comfortable sitting at and working. Unfortunately, I'm not too comfortable with the computer desk. It's a corner unit and impossible to sit at unless you pull the drawer way out and even then my chair makes me feel like a two year old sitting in it. I think it needs to be emptied and moved to the free corner in the dining room. Planning ahead this would be a nice "media area" for family computing. Although I'm pretty sure Purge wants to move this unit as much as he wants a sharp stick in his eye. I'm also not sure if putting it in "that" corner would block our windows or the sliding glass door. So there should be some measuring going on. However, it's not a surprise that the whole room bothers me, but especially because I need a real desk. Not a table. Not a computer armoire. A desk desk. Which leads me to Ikea. Is there anything it can't do? I'm kinda eyeballin the Galant series, but I think I need to look at my trusty catalog for better ideas. I'm feeling an overhaul coming on. ::cracks knuckles:: I also found several boxes of crap in my closet that Purge and I decided we'd go through "a box a day" until it was cleared up. I have high hopes that my two leather portfolios are stuffed inside there. The weird thing is I can't remember if I bought them or not. I know that sounds a little psychotic. But whenever we go to the Renaissance Fair in Tuxedo New York, there is a leather vendor that sells 10x13 and 6x9 artist notebooks (Black covers with bound white paper) that have leather portfolio covers in cool designs in colored leather. I bought a purple dragon 6x9 and I know where that one is. Ironically enough, it's on the desk in the spare room. Here's where it gets tricky. I can picture in my mind a 10x13 in a rust colored with Celtic tooling on it. I can also picture a red leather one with a rose pattern (Put I'm pretty sure that's all in my head and the one I was going to buy next) and a Forest Green on with a dragon on it. I know for a fact I have one 10x13. I used it to write "Jewels of Power" when I was unemployed. I'm pretty sure I have a second large one that I endulged in. I can find neither big one. The one with my writing in it pisses me off because I hope I didn't leave it at the library one day when I was researching something. Because that's the last place I remember having it in hand. Work is same ole same ole. Christmas is rapidly approaching and it's down to decorating, wrapping and knitting. More updates later, on a more regular schedule too! Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Conversations on the ride up to D&D last night:Purge: "Do we want Burger King or should we hold out for MckyD's up ahead?" Nightskye: "I don't care." Tempest: "Me neither." Purge missing the entrance to Burger King and pulling in to Dunkin Donuts. Tempest: "Dunkin Donuts it is." Nightskye: "To bad there's not a Kentucky Fried Chicken around here." Purge: "Ugh, I have to eat KFC on the toilet." Nightskye: "That's the way I am with Taco Bell. It doesn't even stay in my system long enough to digest. Which is really tough with the hard tacos. The sound of shredding anus. Tempest: I've got to e-mail UIM that with that for a band name. |