January 28, 2008
So, with the talk of New Kids on the Block reuniting, I thought I should make a confession.
I wasn't a fan of NKoTB, but I was a fan of Tommy Page. I found the video for "Turning Me On" just now. Dear Bob, what was I thinking. All though, I can hear that song as a Kylie Minogue dance song. Maybe. That is about as far as I strayed into pop music. I have to clarify that I was eleven at the time. Consider that little foray into the pop world my little form of rebellion. Work with me people, work with me.
Now I think I'm going to go clean my ears out. I'm scared of my eleven year old self.
I spent almost the entire day today working on cleaning up the debris. I got most of it done. I probably could have finished if my hands would have let me. I have to take my gloves off to get a good grip on the twine to tie it. Unfortunately, there is a lot of bundling involved in this clean up, so my hands have taken a beating. More specifically, my index fingers. I've globbed on the Norwegian Formula Hand Cream. That usually helps a great deal. I'm mostly concerned about blistering. You use your index fingers about as much as you use your thumbs, which is a lot. I can't have them out of commission. I have stuff to do!
I think if Josh decides he wants to chop anything else down, he has to help bundle whatever he chops.
My cat is being a goofball. She insists on sitting in Josh's computer chair, next to mine, but curled up under a blanket. I think it probably has to do with it being 72 degrees in here. I turned off the heater. I'm actually warm, but I think that has more to do with my body still in yard work mode. Give me an hour and I will probably be freezing.
So Josh wants a recliner when we finally purchase a sofa (you know, THE sofa). Unfortunately, I fear that we will end up with a poofy recliner like one of these. I just really don't think poofy furniture would look right in our home.
Josh and I have been busy. There is even photographic evidence. Josh took the chainsaw to a large portion of the backyard. I of course ended up with the clean up. It will probably take me two more days to clean up all of the debris he chopped down. I did a lot today, but there is still tons more to go. I'm seriously tempted to rent a stump grinder. I don't know any place that rents them though. That would make my life a whole heck of a lot easier.
I only have until next Saturday to work on the yard. Sunday is of course, the SuperBowl. I'm pretty sure I will come close to having a heart attack on Sunday.
Well, I suppose I will end this entry now. The cat has plopped herself right in front of my monitor. Her fat tuckus is blocking most of the screen.
Josh and I cleared a lot of "stuff" from around the large shed. Josh kind of went gung-ho with the chain saw and now there are a lot of branches all over the yard. I created five bundles so far and sorted some branches. Tomorrow we will bundle more and then maybe chop down more.
As I have been clearing the yard, I have been thinking about fencing. I would love to do picture frame bamboo fencing, but I can't find a local installer. Sure we could do it ourselves but the permitting and planning would be a pain. In an case, I think the location of the large shed causes as issue as well. I need to see the site plans first, but I think the shed is too close to the property line to install a fence. I'm hoping I am very wrong though.
I love my husband, but I do not love that he needed to switch his desktop mouse with the one that I use with my laptop. Normal clicking has now become an exercise in patience for me. Not cool. So not cool.
I was looking through the weekend sales ads tonight and it got me thinking. There have been a number of stories on the news about Americans cutting back on their spending, but "for some reason" flat screen TV sales have been increasing. Strange isn't it. When the stores are offering three years of interest free financing on TVs that are over $999USD, sales increase. I mean think about it. If you went the entire length of the loan (because it is essentially a loan), you could buy a $2000 TV for less than a pack of cigarettes a day! Of course people are going to buy it. Hell, I'm tempted.
Of course I don't watch television all that much. I try, but I get bored by most shows on. How many times can you watch a show about spoiled people sleeping around or someone getting revenge on someone else? How many household mishaps can one family have? Please for the love of Bob, don't get me started on reality shows. I suppose that is why I like shows like Heroes, Lost, Dr. Who and Torchwood. Superheroes crazy conspiracy theories and sci-fi. Unrealistic and oddly enough, somewhat refreshing.
On that note. I'm going to bed. I've had a headache since Wednesday. The intensity strengthens off and on, so I'm hoping that I'm picking up alien frequencies or something. That way it would just be my head expanding a little here and there from the new information. Anything else would just be crazy. Right?
It has been one of those weeks. There has been plenty of stuff going on. Preparations of things I need to do and just general cleaning up around the house and yard. I dug up a bunch of tree stumps (and the roots) and palmetto trees. I freaking hate palmetto trees. There were gigantic root masses that filled three lawn and garden trash bags. There is a stack of logs, and other tree/shrub stumps with their root masses. Just a big mess. I am sifting the sand to fill the holes.
We have a rather large problem with the not so lovely air potato in our backyard jungle. We have to sift any bulbs that may be in the ground as well as the root systems that have already grown underground. Quite annoying, to say the least.
Alfred's family has been found. I am sad to see him go, but at least I will still get to see him.
Dear Alan,
Please come back. We need you.
- The Economy
Well, the yard was cleaned up some. I think seeing me taking pictures of everything may have helped. There are still places that need to be fixed but I would rather do it myself so they don't eff it up.
We discovered last night that my little demon princess is actually using Alfred's litter box when she feels like it. The little pooper. Poor Alfred can't get a break from her. He's already recognized that she is the Alpha-est of the Alpha. That doesn't mean that he takes it lying down. He is constantly battling her. Sometimes he just does it for fun.
The pair of them slept together in the chair in the bedroom two nights ago. That was shocking. Of course they got in such a fight last night that fur literally flew! Then Alfred was in such a tizzy that he had to sleep alone in the spare bedroom. I'm not sure but I think he was perfectly fine with that.
In other news, Last night I came across someone's photos and discovered a whole new holiday... Whomas! Instead of celebrating Christmas, you celebrate Dr. Who! How awesome is that? I wonder if we could convince Josh's parents to celebrate Whomas? I'm sure his sister wouldn't mind considering she's a Dr. Who fan herself. Hmmmm.
My yard has gone from ass to putrid crap. Why? Because the effing asshats contracted to pave the road have parked all over my yard and are driving around on the grass and side walk. That is unnecessary seeing as how they are parking on the side of my house that isn't getting paved. You bet your ass that I have been taking pictures. I'm that annoying neighbor, but if they don't fix the damage they have done. I'm going to be a nightmare come Tuesday (Monday is a holiday).
Today is a dreary day. It is extremely overcast and foggy outside. Must be dementors. ;D
I went to the grocery store this morning and now that I have finished putting all of my purchases away, I am finding the cats are behaving suspiciously. I hear odd noises and then when I check on them, they are just standing in the middle of the floor. Yes, suspicious.
I think the icky weather has put me in a sour mood. I was hoping to get photos of the new curtains, but there just isn't enough light. Then when I came home from the grocery store, I found someone had parked their minivan on my property. I believe it is probably religious recruiters. /sigh. They've got twenty minutes and then I might have to leave a passive aggressive note on the windshield!
Update: They are going to be paving the side street (ours is a corner lot) and so someone needed to park their minivan in our yard. They could have ASKED first. What if I had company? What if I was planning on reseeding that area? Hrmm? Hrmm? Yeah, exactly.
Bobby Fischer has died. Didn't see that one coming. He was one um, interesting (weird) guy.
I love that my cats are worried about the fact that Josh is not home. I do not love the fact that they are taking turns in expressing their worry. One is either walking around howling or the other is pacing and eventually shredding things. I'm going nuts with these two. At least they are getting along a lot better. They still keep a little distance, but they are hanging out within feet of each other. They touched noses last night. Progress!
Yesterday morning they chased each other around the house for nearly four hours. There were a few little breaks, but those lasted no more than five minutes. That was usually to try and figure out why I was moving furniture. I moved furniture because yesterday I took down the very dated curtains* and wood rods in the bedroom and installed new rods and curtains. I didn't just take them down. I actually fixed the wall (fill, sand, orange peel and paint) and then installed the new ones.
Unfortunately, I decided I should wash and iron my curtains after I had measured and poked holes in the lovely looking wall. Why was this unfortunate you ask? Because the curtains effing shrank! Yes. They shrank a good five inches. FIVE INCHES people! I washed them carefully too! So, I had a bit of a breakdown and IMed Josh to tell him of this tragedy. As I was messaging him, I had an epiphany.
I used similar tabbed curtains in the guest bedroom and I hadn't washed them due to time constraints (guests coming). I tried them on the rod and they fit perfectly! I put the shorter ones in the guest room and they look perfect in there. So, the moral of the story, if your curtains say dry clean only, don't risk it. Dry clean only.
* See this pre-purchase photo of the guest room for the same lovely 80s style curtains.
My immune system has been abnormal for quite some time. I am always getting sick. I decided to give DanActive drinks a try. Considering how much I dislike sweet yogurts, this is a big deal for me. I am on day two of drinking them. So far everything seems fine. I am holding my nose as I drink them. If I didn't, there is a very likely risk of vomit*. I will report any noticeable changes if they occur. I'm going to give it about two weeks. I figure that should be sufficient.
So there you go folks. I'll be your guinea pig and let you know!
*Yes, I can't stand it that much.
Torchwood airs tonight on BBC2, 9pm. That's about 4pm our time. It is the closest to a bit of Who that we're going to get for a bit. Enjoy people. It begins airing on BBC America next week.
The kitties are getting closer, on their own. Alfred is exploring the places that are normally Skittles' spots. He plopped down on her carpet by the hearth and she climbed in her bed. That's when he started clawing at her bed. Not in a dangerous manner though. There was one paw swat from each of them, but no hissing. I just hope things continue to progress nicely.
About a minute after I took that photo, we heard loud cat fighting sounds outside. All three of us jumped up and ran to the window. We couldn't see anything and by the time I got the light on, the dueling parties were gone. I'll be keeping my eye out for anyone that may be injured.
Amanda, please tell me you sent Alex to bed. This game has nearly given Josh and I coronaries. I can only imagine what he is going through!
It would appear that it is afternoon bath time. Alfred is sitting on the couch with Josh and I (watching the Green Bay and Seattle) and my sweet little demon princess Skittles is in her bed in front of the hearth. They are both grooming. It is cute. They still aren't really getting along, but Alfred is getting more comfortable walking around and the demon is giving him space.
I think I'm going to leave Josh with the youngins and make a run to see about getting a dust mop. I realized yesterday that if your house is done entirely in tile, a dust mop is necessary.
Where I surf Part VII: Linkfests and the Rest:
Pop Culture Junk Mail - Links to stuff, lots of stuff. Sometimes they find links that cause childhood flashbacks. Not a bad thing.
LJ Ubergeeks - Daily ubergeek facts and sometimes just uber links.
Boing Boing - Similar to Pop Culture Junk Mail. Generally fun links found here.
MetaFilter - I've been a MeFi member for some seven or eight years and a reader for even longer.
LinkMachineGo - Links!
LJ Baaaby Animals - Pretty much sells itself
ICanHasCheezburger - LOL Cats!
The Leak Cauldron - A WB favorite, this site always has the real news.
LJ Veg Recipes - Vegetarian recipes for your consumption.
PotterPuffs - While she doesn't create them anymore, I keep this feed in my reader, just in case!
Alfred's first night was uneventful. He eventually came out from underneath the couch. He ended up falling asleep on the couch next to Josh. It was cute. He really wants to go outside, but is starting to accept that he won't be able to. He's currently sunning himself on a bench in the spare bedroom. The princess of the underworld is sunning herself in her chair. Only one hiss/paw boxing match so far. She is keeping her distance from him and he is do the same. Baby steps!
Where I surf Part VI: Crafty Blogs:
Poor Miss Finch - I have no idea how I first came across her blog, but I did and I liked it!
PumpkinKnits - I first discovered this site when I was knitting my Rogue hoodie. She had a grafting cheat sheet that was awesome.
Not Martha - The princess of craft, she always seems to find great crafty links.
Carrieoke's Knitting Blog - I found her site a long time ago when blog surfing. She always seems to be optimistic with her knitting.
The Blue Blog - Alison is awesome! She wrote Charmed Knits, but she's been awesome since before then. She's created many great patterns on Magknits.
The Yarn Harlot - If you are a knitter and surf the internet regularly, you probably know who Stephanie is. She's a knit writer and hilarious to read.
Alfred is officially ours. He came back negative for everything and he got his shots. He was an angel at the vets. Go figure. He's still nervous and my demon is chasing after him, trying to play. The vets say he has been neutered. From the sounds of it we are figuring he was someone's cat and then was either let go or got out. Considering how much I see him and how much he hangs out here, he's pretty much ours. It took all of about two hours for him to make an appearance on the cam, for those that know.
OK, I should probably go find him.
Alfred has a 3:30 appointment to get scanned for a chip. If he doesn't have a chip, then he will start the testing to make sure he is safe to be around my little demon. He will also be evaluated for a little snip-snip. I also talked to the vet this morning about dealing with the feral cats and kittens around here. They have low cost spay/neuter at their clinic and she thinks the kittens may be OK to get into a home or two. Cross your fingers that everything goes OK.
My cat's reputation precedes her. I walked into the vet's office, set the cat down on the seats and went to the desk to inform the reception desk that she was there. As I walked back to my cat, I heard mutterings between the vet techs of, "I don't want to go in with her". I couldn't help but laugh. My cat is E-V-I-L at the vet's office. Even with the opiates they prescribed her, she was still a little terror. She got her vaccinations and that was it. They said she needs to be sedated for anything else. Hey, at least I was nice enough to put nail caps on her!
The funny thing was, as soon as the vet and the vet tech left the exam room, she calmed down. I guess she senses their evil intentions.
She's staring at the brick hearth right now. She was doing that last night too. Maybe she is trying to open a gateway to hell or something? I bet the vet techs would believe it.
Be prepared to send reinforcements. In about one hour I am taking the demon cat for her physical. I'm planning to bring distractions in the form of cream cheese though. Josh and I also put soft paws nail caps on her. Let's hope that these things help and there aren't any repeat performances.
Where I surf Part V: Blogs and Groups (non full-time crafty blogs)
Josh - My husband's brew blog.
Amanda's Adventures - My friend and former co-worker's blog.
Web Goddess - Kris' blog
gadgetgirl - Amy's Blog
PacketDump - Eric, my friend from school
micrux.net - Eric's roommate Jason's linux blog.
Easily Amused - Pamela! I think she has the distinction of having the title of first blog miftik every commented on.
Olivia's Blog - Pamela's daughters site.
fivedollarshake - She makes me laugh.
LJCfyi - She's not always crafty.
Blogography - Dave makes me laugh, a lot!
Wonderbliss - I've been a reader of Erika's for a long time.
A Geek in Beantown - I'm a long time reader, sometimes commenter.
Ralphunden.net - I originally found his site while researching something for school and I discovered his photography.
This afternoon while I observed our cat being her sleepy self, I mentioned that I thought our cat needed some cat yoga. A few minutes later I found Josh at his computer at yogakitty.com, barely able to breathe. Watch the videos. Oh my.
There has been a list of not cool things going on this morning.
1. My husband coming home feeling rather ill.
2. The bank teller being pushy about trying to sell their savings accounts to me.
3. The previously mentioned Johnny Cash 40th anniversary concert at Folsom prison, being canceled.
4. The 50+ car pile up on I-4 this morning due to fog mixing with a brush fire.
5. And the whopper of them all, the router at the data center that hosts this site (and about ten other sites I work with/on) going wonky and being down for nearly nine hours!
Where I surf Part IV: Sewing and General Crafting:
LJ Sew Hip - Tutorials, tips, showing off. It's all there.
LJ Sewing - General sewing discussion, showing off and help.
Dark Threads - Gothic Sewing.
LJ DIY Tutorials - Pretty self explanatory, right?
LJ Crafty Goths - Goths that are crafty. What more can I say.
ReadyMade - They make the magazine. You can sometimes find links to their online tutorials (some the same as in the magazine).
LJ CraftGrrl - Crafts of all kinds. People post questions, tutorials and links here.
Steampunk Fashion - If you like steam punk, these folks do too.
Hogwarts Design - Making things Harry Potter style.
Sew Mama Sew Blog - Check out the archives for their handmade holiday tutorial series.
So I was messing around trying to get Jinzora working properly on the Wii. Well, I was researching and came across Wiiplayable.com. They are flash games that you can play on the Wii. That reminded me of Orsinal! So I tested it out and yep, Orsinal games work on the Wii. I completely forgot about all of the old flash games. Oh the fun!
Where I surf Part III: LJ Knitting Groups
LJ Punk Rock Knitters -
LJ Knitting -
LJ Sock Knitters -
Advance Knits - For when you know that stockinette curls.
Novice Knitters - Giving back by helping those just starting out.
Free Knits - Links to free knitting patterns
Fandom Knit - Knitting related to movies, movies, Broadway. All arts really.
Weasley Sweaters - Knitting related to Harry Potter
Who Knits - Knitting for fans of Dr. Who.
HP Knitting - More Harry Potter knitting
I just IMed Josh this, "Daddykins bought us a helicopter for Christmas."
He is in away mode, but it will be interesting to see his response. One, I don't call my father Daddykins and two, my dad doesn't celebrate Christmas.
What he got us was, a palm sized r/c helicopter. So far I have managed to intrigue and scare the daylights out of the cat. I flew it around the great room with ease.
To see what this is about, read this post.
Where I surf Part II: Computers and Technology
Lifehacker - Get yourself in order.
Lifehacker: Firefox Extensions - Extension for the Firefox browser that help make life easier.
Lifehacker: iPod - Things to do with your iPod.
LJ Web Developer - Discussing web development
LJ WebDesign - A lot of "check out my site" and "what did I do wrong" questions, but sometimes those kinds of questions will come up later in your design life.
LJ Design Community - Graphic, web, video. All types of design.
Moveable Type News - I like to see what the folks at SixApart are doing.
Engadget - Technology geeking at its best. They helped cement my love of the Archos Wi-Fi PMP.
A List Apart - Things are hit or miss for me and ALA. Some times an article is posted that I can't stop reading. Other times I have to stop after the first paragraph.
To see what this is about, see this post.
Shopping or deal sites in my feed reader:
Steep and Cheap - One item is posted and the item doesn't change until sold out. It is mostly outdoors related stuff, but they are pretty GREAT deals.
Deal Catcher - All sorts of websites. I bought my Wii by checking this feed.
Slick Deals - Similar to Deal Catcher.
Free After Rebates - Buy something and get what you paid for it, back!
Woot! - One deal, one day, until they run out. Sometimes the item sucks, other times I kick myself for missing out.
News in my feed reader:
Metblogs: Orlando - Written by local people, I find information sometimes missed by the news stations.
Orlando Sentinel: Crime Blog - When I hear a quick blurb about a crime that may have happened in the area, I check here.
National Hurricane Center: Atlantic - Allows me to keep track of tropical occurences in the Atlantic.
BBC News - Straight news.
Yahoo! Entertainment News - Pulling from multiple sources, I can find out what Britney is up to.
The Leaky Cauldron - Harry Potter people, books, and news.
I've noticed that I tend to surf the same places. Whether they are people, groups or news sites, thanks to RSS feeds, I'm not branching out. I think there are quite a few people that do this. So, what I am going to do is over the next week, I will show you what is in my feed reader. I'll break them into groups, for organizations sake. Maybe you'll find something new to read.
I have been cleaning the living room and now it looks empty. I had books and computer parts in boxes that were sitting in corners. I managed to put the computer parts in closets to get them out of the way. The task of sorting them is up to Josh. I managed to fit our books on the bookshelf. Now it looks empty in here.
Josh came home early (without calling me and frightening me to a near heart attack) because he is getting sick too. I have therefore crashed on the couch after sweeping.
Unfortunately, I'm watching Oprah. It is her green episode. The thing with the attempt at a green revolution is that more than likely, it won't last. /sigh According to the statistics Oprah stated, the average person creates 4.5 lbs of trash/waste a day. All I have to say is, someone is doing more than that because Josh and I together create less than 63 lbs a week.
Anyhow, she did have a good product on the show today.
Smart Strips - They are power strips that turn on and off all of the devices when you turn on one particular device. You plug a control device (like your computer) into a specific spot of the power strip. Then you plug in the extras (monitor, scanner, printer, etc) into the other spots. When you turn on and off the control device, the extras are turned on and off as well. It would also be useful for entertainment centers as well.
So the gigantic cat was on the front porch about twenty minutes ago. I called Josh over and he got a glimpse of it. It walked off the porch too quickly, but when I asked Josh, "So, did you see it? It's huge isn't it?" He responded with the following, "Are you sure it's a cat?" Yeah, it's big and it is a cat.
My life is so exciting when I am sick.
Alfred is curled up in a basket filled with flannel, on my back patio. I built a little protected area near the wall to the kitchen so it is far warmer than sleeping in the wooded lot next door. I wish I could bring him in to the house, but I can't risk him having something that could be passed on to my little girl.
I think I live in a cat nexus or something. There is a new cat on my front porch. We are pretty much set to adopt Alfred, should everything check out when I take him to the vet (hopefully next week if I can kick this cold). Now there is a big, fat, hairy cat on my front porch. He (or she) is not scared of me when I knock on the window. Judging by the roundness of this cat, I'm assuming that this cat belongs to someone. I'm going to attempt an approach in a few minutes. I have to work up the energy first. I still feel miserable.
Update: As I headed for the door, it bolted after a bird. Oh well. It is a Maine Coon with a bobtail. I don't know whether the bobtail is natural or from a fight or accident. Definitely distinct Maine Coon features though.
We opted for a nice night at home. We watched the Strangers With Candy Movie and the Doctor Who Christmas Special: Voyage of the Damned.
We fought our bodies to stay awake until midnight. We joked that staying up until midnight isn't quite the same when you are allowed to stay up. Oh well.
This morning I began blowing in the new year. I've apparently developed the sniffles from Josh's mom. Not fun.
I have already taken down and packed away the seasonal decor and next I have plans to spend part of the day knocking some films off of my incomplete list below (in no particular order).
Atonement
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
The Bucket List
There Will Be Blood
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Away From Her
Charlie Wilson's War
The Brave One
A Mighty Heart
The Kite Runner
The Savages
I'm Not There
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Lions for Lambs
Josh informs me that he wants to work on taxes now. Err?? o.O
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