August 5, 2008
Some major news.
I have posted some very major news on my other blog, KatScan.
Just click that link to be taken to it.
August 2, 2008
Pretty pictures at my fingertips.
I've been randomly surfing around the internet tonight, following links from one blog to a site, then from that site to another site, and then to another and another, and I don't recall what site I was on, but I saw a link for Winter Park real estate, and thought it was for homes in Winter Park Florida, so I clicked on over because it's a really nice area, and if I was going to move to another location in Florida, I'd definitely look there.
It's a nice place.
But the link was for Winter Park Colorado, where it snows, and I don't do snow anymore.
No more cold, no more shoveling, no more trapped in because of a blizzard.
But it looks like a really nice place to live for people who like the whole snow thing.
But I forgot to tell you all that the digital keychain I won from Today's Gizmos, came in the mail the other day, and it's really pretty sweet.
The company that sponsored the give-a-way, Wholesale Keychain, was even nice enough to do custom engraving on them for the winners, so I had them just put my name on it that way no one would want to steal it from me.
Heh.
The menu options look simple enough to use, the screen is bright and very easy to read.
Now all I need to do is load a bunch of photos to it so I can take all of the pictures out of my wallet, and then the next time someone asks to see pictures of my giant teenagers, I can just click and show them in all the beautiful digital glory!
July 25, 2008
Silly co-eds.
I've mentioned on here before about the local Tampa crew and their parties, that's the only reason I'm mentioning it here again instead of on my other blog.
The local Tampa people love to play flip cup and beer pong, they have their own custom beer pong tables that they've made, it's an amusing thing to watch.
I myself never partake of either game, but I do enjoy watching people mess up and therefore get completely obliterated while playing.
Well it seems that playing beer pong may be bad for your health.
There are at least 2 unconfirmed reports floating around on the internet, about beer pong being responsible for an increase in herpes, the virus that causes mouth cold sores.
I say unconfirmed because when I did a Google news search and a CDC website search, it showed zero (0) results for these stories that are finding their way around college blogs and forums.
I have a feeling someone at a college got a case of herpes/cold sores and because they didn't want to appear as being careless, they blamed it on playing beer pong.
It's amusing to me how quickly these stories go around the internet with absolutely no credible source links to back up the claims, yet everyone believes the stories.
Until it's confirmed by an actual report on the CDC site, it's still a safe and funny game for my Tampa friends to partake of at parties.
July 24, 2008
So that's where all my shirts went!
I decided to start going through Sebastian's clothes first today.
I had to dig through all of the clean clothes piled up on top of his dresser first, then I could get into the drawers.
We ended up with 2 big garbage bags of clothes that no longer fit him, and all of them are still in good shape, so I'll be donating all of those to the Goodwill.
But as I was going through his clothes, I found out where all of my missing company logo shirts had gone to.
He swiped them.
Over the last few years, I've gotten quite a bit of free t-shirts from various blogging companies, a few forums I'm a member of, and a whole bunch of t-shirts with movie and band logos on them.
Every time I did the laundry and *know* I had washed, dried, and folded those shirts, and placed them in my pile on top of the dryer until I would go to put them away, they vanished.
I was never really sure where they went, but I would always see him wearing one of them every so often during the school week, but he would always say he was just borrowing it for the day, he wouldn't take it again once he put it in the laundry basket.
But I never did get them back.
All totaled, I found 17 of my shirts in his dresser drawers.
When I looked at him after adding another one of my shirts to the pile I was taking back, he just smiled and got a little red in the cheeks, then threw his arms around me and said I was his homie.
July 13, 2008
Ok, this kind of sucks.
I really wish I could plan and force sleep to happen when I want it to.
Like have some sort of futures broker that I could bargain with, plead, beg, and whine to, when I absolutely have to get some sleep.
This is one of those nights.
Wait, it's not actually Saturday night anymore, it's officially Sunday early morning, and I need to get some sleep and be awake at 8am so that my sister can come over, pick up Sebastian, drop off and leave Skye with Mark and I for the day, and then head to work where Sebastian will play with his friend Matthew, and she'll work till about 3:30pm.
But what am I doing?
Why, I'm wide freaking awake!
I have tried 3-4 times to fall asleep and it's just not happening.
I need to be rested and awake in just under 6 hours now, and I know it's not going to come naturally or make my day easy.
Last night was the same.
I laid awake until almost 5am, then slept until about 9am, and have just been fighting to go back to sleep since.
Today is going to suck.
It's going to be a very long and very tiring day.
July 12, 2008
Birthday shopping for Mark.
Mark turns 17 this coming August 15th, it's so hard to believe my first baby boy is almost a fully grown up man.
He's 6 foot 2 inches tall, built like a linebacker, and just a really super awesome young man.
I'm so proud of the person he has become.
He's kind and caring, compassionate, generous, respectful, all the things moms want their sons to grow up to be, I really couldn't be more pleased with who he has become.
I've started looking around for the perfect gift to get him, to let him know how special he is to me, something he can have and use for a long time.
I don't want to just get him another video game, or give him money so he can buy another video game or just blow it on crap like most teenagers do.
So I got to thinking I'd like to get him a watch, a really nice one, not some cheap thing either, a really nice timepiece he can have and wear, and then hand down to his son someday.
So I went on a search for watches finding many sites with many nice ones, and one of my Google searches took me to a link for an AP Royal Oak watch.
I really like the way they all look, but my word, I'd have to win the lotto to ever afford one.
One of the watches I found had a buy it now price of $121,500.00.
!!!
I was all no freaking way could a watch ever cost that much, I know some do, but I just thought that price was far too much money for that particular watch, so I went to the watchmaker's website and I was right.
That watch brand new is only $25,500, and that ebay seller is seriously marking up the price.
It is a limited edition, but if the real site has it for a much lower price, then anyone who buys that watch at over 100 grand, is stupid.
I can't afford an AP watch, but I will find him a really nice one that I can afford.
I think he deserves something nice so I'm going to keep looking.
I know what I can afford to spend isn't really a lot compared to most people, but if anyone finds a really nice looking watch for about $150 or maybe a bit more if it's a really nice one, please let me know ok?
Thanks.
July 8, 2008
It's a blog, not a business.
I'm attempting to finish up the child support interrogations, I mean, interrogatories, for the child support hearing which has been bumped until July 31st.
I have to provide all of my personal finance records from 2005-2008, and I'm doing ok.
I have my debit card records which I copied from the Amscot site, they don't do paper bank statements because it's not a savings or checking account.
It's just a card. I deposit money into it so I don't have to carry cash, it's a pre-paid debit card.
So anyway, I copied all of those, I have my tax paperwork from the taxes I filed for 2007, the only year out of the 3 that I've been able to file taxes for so far.
SSDI isn't taxable income, so you don't file taxes on it, and last year was the only year that I earned an income and got 1099's for paid blogging.
Then I got to document question 7, and I'm like what? a business? It's not a business it's a blog, a diary, an online journal and I get paid to insert random contextual links for a couple of bucks each.
They want a copy of how many hits/visits I've had in the last year.
For what possible reason?
To see how many people read my blog?
What does that tell them?
I don't get paid per visit, or per hit, I don't get paid per click.
I get paid a couple of bucks to insert a link into a post.
That's it, but hey, they want it, I took a screen shot for them and will print it out and mail it to them so they can try and say I'm getting paid per hit.
I swear, his attorney is grasping at straws here.
I've been 100% honest about every single penny I've made.
I report it to all the proper authorities every month, it's well documented, so why he wants to see how many people visit my site is just ridiculous.
All I did was ask for my child support to be increased.
It's been at the set minimum wage since 1994, at $21.00 per week.
In the last 14 and a half years, I have not asked for it to be modified.
I have not ever asked him to help buy the school supplies every year, or the shoes they grow out of every 3 months, or the clothes they constantly need.
I have not ever asked him to help pay for all the school field trips over the years, the before and after school child care that they needed when they were younger.
I've never asked him to help pay for the cost of summer child care every summer when they were younger.
I've never asked him for a single thing until now, and his lawyer is treating me like I'm asking for the skin off of his back.
Whenever I've discussed the amount of child support the teens get with other custodial parents, they nearly faint.
The majority of them receive no less than $400 per month in child support.
When they figure out that the teens get $84.00 per month, they simply can't believe it.
I want a reasonable amount.
I want an amount that is fair to take care of the teens since he's never had to pay for anything they've needed over the last 14 and a half years, even though it was court ordered that both of us pay 50% of all of their needs.
I've never asked him, and he's certainly never offered or just sent money and said hey, here's some money to help buy their school supplies and clothes, shoes, or whatever they need.
I don't think I'm asking too much to have it increased after all of these years, and it's absolutely disgusting that they are asking me for all of these documents.
He is the non-custodial parent, it's his income that needs to be looked at and determined if an increase is possible.
It's even more disgusting that they are asking what I might inherit when my parents die.
I can tell you it won't be anything of any substantial value.
My parents are retired, my father is disabled, my mom's health isn't the greatest either, and they struggle to make ends meet every month just like I do.
I know why that's being asked.
During our marriage, my parents always welcomed him into their home, my mother always keeps the home nice and clean, she always made him feel like part of the family, and it looks as though they have money, but that's only because my mother takes impeccable care of what they do have.
Everything is in good shape, things are treasured and taken pride in, but they've had the same furniture for like 20 years now, same with everything else in their home.
What does he think?
That when my parents die I'll inherit the house and what little they do have?
Does he think my parents can take care of my children and I?
They can't, they have trouble paying their own bills, they sit in their house during the winter wearing layers of clothes and covered in blankets because the cost of heating oil is more than they can afford, so they keep the thermostat set around 60, just to conserve what they can afford to put in the barrel.
These questions are sick, and I'm absolutely disgusted that his scumbag attorney would even go there.
July 3, 2008
It's a bit of a challenge.
First, I just want to give a screaming loud shout of thanks to Christine for installing MT version 4.12 for me over on my new blog.
It still doesn't have a name yet, but battles were never won in just a few short hours!
I swear, getting a whole new blog and an upgraded CMS, is like buying tons and tons of discount furniture and trying to cram it all into a tiny little house.
You just had to have it because the price was so dang good, but now it's going to take a few days to fit it all in the house the right way.
Version 4.12 is not like the version of MT this blog uses.
This one is still using 3.35, and I'm completely used to it, it's like a perfect fitting glove.
4.12 does things a whole lot different, and it's going to take me a few days, or a few weeks, to get the hang of just what it is they've done with everything.
For the life of me, I cannot switch up the sidebars.
I messed with it for like 2 hours I think, and got nowhere.
Oh well.
I will have plenty of time tomorrow to learn things.
Sebastian decided to go home with my sister tonight because Matthew has invited him back over to play again tomorrow, and it's just easier for Jo to take him home with her, than it is to try and pick him up really early in the morning again.
He will be home tomorrow night though.
Mark and I went and did the shopping, ate dinner, and watched a bit of tv, and now he's playing his video games again.
It's all good, he earned that play time tonight.
He picked up, carried, and put away all the heavy stuff from shopping, and then he changed out the litter boxes, took out the trash and recycles without me asking him to do any of it, so yeah, play on young man, play on!
Ok, I really need to go catch up on some work and stuff, and then maybe try and learn some more new stuff.
Later days!
July 3, 2008
Two thumbs up!
Back on the 26th of June, I told you about one of the office girls at my pain doctors office, and how she's just been melting off the weight.
After doc and I finished going over the results of yesterday's MRI, I asked him about the diet aide that she's been taking because I am just so incredibly impressed with how much weight she has lost.
At my appointment Tuesday, Lacey was the one who brought me back, did my vitals etc, and I really got a chance to ask her what she's been using to lose the weight and how it makes her feel.
I'm sure that many of you older women remember the days of ephedra, and the shakiness and that weird feeling you got in your stomach after taking it right?
It worked killer for losing weight, but it made you shaky and paranoid, and by the 8 or 9th hour after taking it, you'd get this feeling in your stomach that was never a good feeling.
It was sort of a hunger feeling, but more of a sick feeling.
Anyway, she's been taking a product called Zylene 1.1, and he sells it right there in the office.
Lacey has lost 59 pounds since February 3rd, and another office girl, Faiay, (pronounced Fy-aa) has only been taking it for the last 3 months, has lost 22 pounds.
I talked to the both of them again today, and they have both said the same things, no shakes, excellent appetite control, and major energy.
They take 2 capsules in the morning, and it last them all day long, and they have no trouble falling asleep at night.
Doc and I talked about it, I asked him if it was safe for me, he said yes, but he did some tests on me to just have a record of this, and to make sure I was healthy enough to start a weight loss plan.
He weighed me, took my blood pressure, and we already had the results of the blood work they did just a week ago, and so he went over everything and he said it looks good for me to start these if I wanted to.
When I had just seen him on Tuesday and asked about taking a diet aide, he said to hold off on it for now because of the neck issue, but today he said I was ok to go because if I am going to need the surgery, they will probably tell me I have to lose weight first anyway, just like they did 2 years ago with my back surgery.
I asked about any possible interactions with my current pain medications, and he said these will not interact badly at all with my pain meds, and if I have to have the surgery, losing weight is a good thing, and the surgery will probably be months off anyway.
So I bought a bottle of the Zylene and I am going to start them tomorrow.
He told me the bottle says it's safe to take up to a max of 4 per day, but he recommends absolutely no more than 3 per day, but to start off only taking one with breakfast for the first few days, to drink a lot of water, and then if I start feeling like I need a second pill, to take it either mid-day or early afternoon.
He said to never take them past 3pm or else I may have trouble falling asleep at night.
I already have that problem.
I had major insomnia last night, I didn't fall asleep until 6am, and then I got up with Sebastian at 7:30am, and then just stayed awake. I wasn't tired anymore anyway.
I'm very excited to start and try these out, I have medical permission and full medical supervision, so I feel good about doing this.
Annnnnd!
I bought my hosting this morning and set up the name servers this afternoon.
So as soon as I get a blogging CMS installed, katjcooper.com will be the new home of all of my medical posts, and whatever other personal "just me" stuff can go.
This blog is my life as a single mom, my parenting issues, that's what it once was anyway, and when all my medical stuff started, it just sort of took over.
I'm very happy that the two will be separated, they need to be.
Later days!
July 2, 2008
Stacey Westfall freestyle horse riding.
I first saw this video on my sister's blog, and it moved me to tears then, and it still does every single time I watch it.
It's Stacey Westfall, and her championship ride at the 2006 American Quarter Horse finals, with her horse Roxy, aka, Whizards baby Doll.
No bridle. No saddle. No reins. No traditional equestrian clothing.
Just her and her horse.
What makes this video so awe inspiring, is that Roxy does everything with just voice commands and subtle hand gestures from Stacey.
Stacey dedicated her run to her father who passed away just 24 days before, and you would have to be a very cold-hearted person to not shed a tear while watching this.
As soon as the announcer chokes up while announcing her, I choke up, and then it's nothing but tears for the entire video.
It is really beautiful and moving.
July 2, 2008
Moving on up and to a new blog.
I went and had another MRI today, it was on just my scapula and the area around it.
The new open and seated MRI machines are awesome, but these rods do not like hard and flat surfaces at all.
They had me seated, and then they tipped the whole chair up and then back, so I was completely flat on my back with my knees up in the air, and my feet dangling.
As soon as it tipped back, I was like uh, this is not good.
The tech asked me what was wrong and so I told her that the rods are being pressed down into the hard back and it's hurting really badly, but I'll try it.
A test they told me was only going to be 15 minutes, was really an hour to an hour and a half long.
I lasted in that position for about 20 minutes, and then I was pressing that buzzer like mad.
The rods and my left iliac screw were seriously freaking out.
It was beyond painful.
I made her get me out of it immediately, it was that painful.
So, then we had to try it a different way.
I was now sitting normally, but she strapped this thing around me so my arms couldn't move at all, and it ended up cutting off the circulation in my arms from my elbows down.
By the time the test was over, my hands were all pins and needles.
And there is something seriously wrong with their air conditioning compressor, because that room felt like it was 120 degrees.
The tech was sweating, I was sweating, and she just kept saying sorry, I don't know what's wrong.
Kinda sucked.
Let's hope I'm done with any more tests for awhile ok?
Oh, and I will be starting a new blog soon.
I want to get all these medical and health posts off of here.
I need to look into doing that today.
Later days!
July 2, 2008
Ack! I'm running a little late!
Oops! I got caught up reading emails and forums, and then I looked at the clock.
Ack!
I need to get in the shower and get going!
I'll post when I get home.
Later days!
July 1, 2008
Entertainment Weekly's top 100 movies of the last 25 years.
I saw this over at Five Dollar Shake a few days or so ago, and kept meaning to do it.
Well, I'm going to do it now.
Entertainment Weekly came up with a list of the top 100 movies of the last 25 years. Bold the movies that you've watched and put asterisks next to the ones you liked.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)**
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)**
3. Titanic (1997)**
4. Blue Velvet (1986)**
5. Toy Story (1995)**
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)**
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)**
9. Die Hard (1988)**
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)**
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)**
12. The Matrix (1999)**
13. GoodFellas (1990)**
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)**
16. Boogie Nights (1997)**
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)**
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)**
20. The Lion King (1994)**
The other 80 are below the cut.
Continue Reading �
July 1, 2008
Rabbit rabbit July 1 2008.
I don't know why I do that some months, maybe I'm hopeful that the first words of the first day of the month, will somehow make me have a great financial month.
Even though I don't believe in superstitions like that.
Heh.
Anyway, I should be asleep right now, I have a follow-up doc appointment in the morning, and here I am, wide awake again.
I didn't sleep at all during the day today, I just laid on the couch attempting to get some rest and not upset my stomach any further.
I haven't eaten a single thing all day.
I'm afraid if I do, it will come back up.
Or come shooting out.
TMI I know, but I hate being sick like that, I have food phobias because of past stomach bugs.
Sebastian does think it was the subs, specifically the Parmesan cheese that were put on all of them.
He said his stomach was a little upset today, not like mine, but he kept burping and tasting the cheese.
I'm really hoping that everything that is supposed to come through for me tomorrow, does.
I have a lot of stuff to take care of, and so yeah, I need those payments to come through first thing in the morning.
I guess I should go and try to sleep, I have a lot to do tomorrow and the rest of the week.
Later days.
June 29, 2008
Migraines are truly the suck.
We had a really good time at Mindy's house yesterday afternoon and evening.
Good food, conversation, the kids all played video games while Mindy and I chatted and her husband leveled up on WoW.
I was way stiffened up by the time we got home, and laid down for about an hour or so, then I got up and dealt with emails and stuff.
I woke up this morning with a migraine from hell, and have been fighting it unsuccessfully all day and night now.
So seeing as I was defeated, I just laid around and watched movies for most of the day interspersed with going back and forth with a Bill Keller fan on a websites posting section.
There's nothing more fun than knowing more about the scriptures than the people who claim to live by them.
You all do know that no preacher is supposed to receive any pay for preaching the word of god right right?
Look it up, Corinthians 9:18.
The Keller fan has been refusing to acknowledge that little part of the new testament.
Keller has an income of $1million dollars at the end of the year, yet he tells his flock and tv viewers, that he only takes $60k as a salary.
He's a liar and a fraud, and it's time people start learning the truth about this very corrupt tv minister.
So anyway, today we watched the movie Funny Games (2008)
I just want to warn you that this remake starring Naomi Watts and Eli Roth, is absolute garbage.
I don't give a crap that it's a social commentary on our obsession with media violence, when at the crucial moment of the film, the bad guy picks up the tv remote and rewinds the movie to change the outcome, that's a complete waste of freaking time.
But we did watch a movie that we all really liked on Friday night, Otis
After being captured and tortured by the psychopath Otis (Bostin Christopher), teen cheerleader Riley Lawson (Ashley Johnson) escapes and informs her parents (Daniel Stern and Illeana Douglas), who quickly sidestep the sluggish FBI and take matters into their own hands. But the Lawson's revenge plan hit a snag when Otis's unusual brother (Kevin Pollak) enters the picture. Jere Burns co-stars as the FBI agent assigned to the case.
I suppose I should get back to work now.
I have some stuff I need to do before I can go to bed.
I hope when I wake up in the morning this migraine has left.
It feels like my right eyeball is going to pop out any second.
June 27, 2008
Coral and over cast.
My medical tests went off without a hitch, and much faster than the estimate they had given me.
They said it would take any where from 2.5 hours, to a possible 4+ hours.
I went in at 10:30am, and was out by 12:15pm.
I really, really liked the seated/open MRI machine.
That was awesome.
They had a huge flat panel tv in the room with it, it was on the Fox news channel, *gag* but eh, it was better than nothing.
They did my neck MRI first, then I had to sit sorta sideways while they did the shoulder MRI.
Then I went in for the CT, and when it was done I went out and waited for Mindy to pick me up.
Then we stopped off at Publix really quick so I could get the cat food, toilet paper, paper plates and trash bags I didn't go get yesterday.
Just as I was heading out the door yesterday afternoon to go, it started raining a little bit.
Rather than risk getting soaked, I just waited.
I took the above picture while waiting at the medical park for Mindy.
These bushes of flowers were all over the place, and they were just so pretty and bright in today's over cast skies.
I love that beautiful coral color of the flowers.
I have no idea what kind they are, but they are just really pretty I think.
I barely got any sleep last night, perhaps 3 hours, my alarm never went off, so I woke with a quick-start panic to my day.
Mindy's clocks at her house were all off by like 20 minutes, so she was running late as well.
We had a good laugh about that though.
It's kinda funny that we both were totally screwed up this morning.
Tomorrow, both our families will be getting together to spend some time hanging out.
Maybe the beach in the morning, a little bbq in the afternoon.
The teens can all drive each other crazy playing video games.
It'll be nice to be leaving the house to do something fun, rather than the usual leaving the house to go do sucky stuff like doctor's office visits.
I need a just take it easy kind of day.
I'm always doing stuff, so it will be really nice to just chill out for a few hours.
Well, off to try and catch up on all my blog and forum reading and stuff I do with those.
Later days.
June 27, 2008
This internet is a crazy thing.
A friend of mine on the local forums, messaged me tonight to say thank you.
She said that during all of her recent health issues, all of the pain she deals with, and all the emotions that come from living with chronic and debilitating pain, she had a really bad day a few weeks ago, and I was the only one who responded to her very frustrated post where she was ranting about it all.
She said she had been sitting there that day, was in so much pain, just wanted it all to end, and was seriously considering swallowing all of her pain medications at once and just going to sleep to never wake up again.
Because I replied, because I understood what she deals with and took the time to talk to her, she changed her mind.
"I never wanted to say that I was suicidal before but obviously there were times when I was. And you were the one there one day when I was so close to downing all my pills. You were the voice of reason and you made me feel like I wasn't alone for once.
So for that, I sincerely thank you."
I didn't reply to her that day with the thought of changing her mind, her post said nothing about what she was really thinking, it was just one of those posts where someone rants about how frustrating living with chronic pain is, and I replied because I do understand that.
I deal with it every single day of my life, and years ago, I had those same kinds of thoughts myself.
I didn't say that in her thread, I just talked about living with chronic pain, the medications I take, doctors appointments, the frustration of it all.
It was, I thought, just two people sharing a shared experience.
I had no idea that our conversation was saving her.
When I got her message tonight, I started crying.
I couldn't help it, I thought about how close I was to losing a friend, and what if I hadn't been on line that day, what if no one at all had responded to her, and that I was so happy to read that she had changed her mind.
This internet is a crazy thing huh?
It connects us to fun and games, music, movies, blogs, forums, all kinds of cool and interesting things to do and see, and most importantly, it connects us to other people and has an effect on those people we meet.
Her message still has me shaken up a bit even though it's been several hours now.
I could have lost a friend if I had not been on line that day, and that really is shaking me up.
I am so glad she is still here, so so glad, but wow, this box sitting on my desk, it's more than a toy I play my Sims on, it's more than a keyboard I do work on, it connects me to people in a way I've never experienced before tonight.
June 26, 2008
W00t! I won!
A little bit ago, I posted my entry to try and win a digital photo key chain from Today's Gizmos.com.
Well I just swung by her blog to check and see if the winners had been drawn yet, and using random.org to choose from all the entries, I was chosen as one of the 3 lucky winners!
Winning it is very cool, I've over loaded my cell phone with pictures of my kids and stuff, so this will be awesome!
It can hold up to 70 pictures, and you just add them to it using a usb cord.
What I didn't know about the contest, was that the winners would also get to add a small custom engraving to it.
Now to think of something to engrave on there.
Hrm....
Thanks again to Today's Gizmos for having this contest, and to Wholesale Keychain for providing the prizes and doing the custom engraving for the winners!
June 25, 2008
Remember Wednesday June 25th 2008.
It's time for another round of Remember Wednesday, a new-ish weekly music meme that Jade started.
This week I bring you "You Got Lucky", by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, off of their 1982 album "Long After Dark".
This album went gold by the way.
The song "You Got Lucky" was awesome by itself, but made even better by MTV, who actually played music videos back then.
None of this stupid crap they do now, it was music videos 24 hours a day, and bands outdid themselves to try and out do other bands and artists.
It was a fun time, I loved MTV.
I was awake and taping (on the VCR baby!) the day MTV launched on August 1st 1981, at 12:01am.
My parents let me stay up for that, I was only 11, but I think I begged and pleaded for weeks before it actually happened, doing chore after chore, walking the dog, raking leaves, mowing the lawn, whatever it took to be allowed to stay up and record and watch those first awesome music videos.
I still have the tape too.
I've shown it to my boys who were totally mesmerized by actual music videos, rock music, and the coolness that was MTV.
Today, MTV barely shows any videos at all.
It's all pop and youth culture shows now, "reality" shows like The Hills. *gag*
MTV used to be really great, I wish they would have never left that format, I think bands still strive to make awesome videos, I've seen them on Youtube and other sites like Yahoo video, but MTV was just awesome, ask any kid who grew up in those first 10-15 years.
By the mid 1990's, they had completely changed the format, limiting the airing of actual music videos to just 4 programs.
MTV Live, Total request, Say What? and 12 Angry Viewers.
It officially became the suck after that.
But man, those first years of MTV, wow.
I was introduced to so many bands, so many different styles of music, they played pretty much anything and everything, and in 1982 when I saw "You Got Lucky", I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, and my ears were on fire.
I know the band had been around since 1976, but it was the album Long After Dark, and this video that really got me into the band.
The opening of the video is in a future wasteland where a tent is filled with all the latest technological electronics of the time, so outdated now, tvs, arcade games, jukeboxes and guitars, and the song begins to play, that opening rift, man, it still gets me sometimes.
You'll actually have to go to youtube to see it, embedding has been disabled, but this was just such an interesting and cool video.
Check it out.
You better watch what you say
You better watch what you do to me
Don't get carried away
Girl, if you can do better than me
Go...yeah, go
But remember
Good love is hard to find
Good love is hard to find
You got lucky, babe
You got lucky, babe
When I found you
June 25, 2008
Do you straighten your hair?
I absolutely LOVE my hair when I straighten it, it is so soft and silky.
It looks awesome!
See, check it out!
Hee hee, I just love how it looks!
Anyway, if you do straighten your hair, what kind of flat iron do you use?
I have a wicked nice one that I find so easy to use, but a lot of the Tampa girls from the local forums, swear by their Chi's.
They all have a one, but a different model number.
So basically one of each of these on this page, http://www.misikko.com/fachiceflir.html.
We have several threads on the forum's 'secret' girls forum, about make-up, girly stuff, hair care items like shampoos, conditioners, styling products and flat irons.
I think I'm the only one who has a flat iron that isn't a Chi, but that's ok.
The girls are always super awesome with helpful tricks and stuff.
When I told them I finally got one, they were psyched to help me find the right styling products for me, because my hair is so thick and naturally wicked curly, they've seen it in real life, and they were always telling me to get a flat iron.
They may all use Chi's, but all the styling products can be used with all models of flat irons, and they gave me some great advice for products just right for my hair.
After they all gave me input on products they use, I went and bought the ones that the majority of them recommended, and tried them out with my hair and flat iron.
The majority of them recommended Chi styling products, and yes, they really did work awesome on my hair.
I'll have to do it again since I bought the stuff and show you, it comes out so much better now than that first time I did it.
So yeah, what kind of flat iron do you use?
Do you have a Chi or something different?
What is the best styling product you've found works best for your hair and the flat iron?
June 23, 2008
Here comes the 'he's with Jesus' stuff already.
I am still as shocked and saddened today as I was last night upon hearing the news that George Carlin has died.
Of course, people don't say someone died any more, they say they've passed on.
Carlin said that in one of his skits about words, soft language, it's wickedly funny.
But it's already started.
People everywhere in blogs today, and on the news, and there will be newspaper cartoons drawn up, about how he's in heaven now.
But no, he isn't.
George Carlin was an avowed atheist, and just because others believe in god and heaven, does not mean Carlin is with Jesus now.
That's those people's beliefs, not Carlin's.
People should just take a few minutes and read Carlin's bio.
All those jokes about religion weren't just jokes to him, it's how he felt, he really did not believe in god, jesus, heaven, hell, none of it, and by saying he's with god now is really disrespectful to him as a person.
Just watch this clip where he talks about death, it's not just a joke to him, that is how he felt.
There is no 'up there' he said, he really doesn't believe it exists, he was an atheist.
To say he's in heaven with god now is just disrespectful to him.
I mean, just imagine if after you died, if people started saying the exact opposite of what you believed?
How would you feel about that?
Well, you wouldn't feel much, you're dead, but do you like the idea of people saying the opposite of what you believed your entire life?
You wouldn't want that, you'd want people to remember you as you were in life, to say what you believed so strongly in.
If you believed in god, you'd want people to say that you are with jesus now right?
To be respectful of your beliefs right?
But if you didn't believe in it, you'd want people to say that, to let it be known that you didn't believe if people said you're with god now.
You'd want the truth to be told about you and your beliefs.
I've been reading blogs through my feed reader all day now, and so so many of them think all those jokes were just that, jokes, and they are saying he's with god now, he's at peace finally, he was such a troubled soul but now he's with god, and he'll be at peace for once in his life.
I don't think he was a troubled soul at all, he said exactly what he felt, what he believed.
He was at peace in his life, he battled his drug addictions and over came them without a higher power, he did it on his own.
Why is it that as soon as someone dies, everyone says they are with god now, they'll be at peace finally?
Why can't people respect the person who has died and what they believed in?
It just bothers me that so many people have no respect for his true beliefs.
They want to believe he's gone to the heaven they believe in, and that's not what he believed.
He's just dead.
He was here yesterday, and now he's not.
June 18, 2008
Snap Capp review.
When I saw the soda can caps, Snap Capp, posted on Dyane's blog, I was like cool, I could really use those.
I buy and drink soda from cans because it is cheaper to buy cans than it is bottles, but with a can, it can lose it's carbonation rather rapidly.
So went to the site Dyane posted, and ordered my own 3-pack.
The Snap Capps came today, and of course I had to immediately try them out.
The 3-pack we got came in 1 blue, (Sebastian) 1 green, (Mark) and 1 purple, (Me) 1 for each of us.
Click here to see how they work, they are very cool.
It was $9.99 for the 3-pack, and $7.19 for FedEx delivery, (the cheapest on the list) but in the long run it will save money over all because there will be no more wasted cans of soda when they lose their fizz.
You can also buy them at Walgreen's for $2.50 each, and at the official site, they are working on getting the on line ordering page set up.
I know that once my soda loses the fizz, I'm no longer wanting to drink it, I absolutely hate flat soda, so with a bottle cap on it, it stays fresh.
I'll be able to keep a cap on it, it won't lose carbonation, and when I'm ready for bed, I can just make sure my cap is on tight and stick it in the fridge.
Come morning, my soda will still be fresh.
I'm quite impressed with these so far, and knowing that the teens and I won't be wasting any more soda because they lost the fizzy fun, and money, I know that these will be in constant use.
They are plastic and can just be rinsed out under the faucet too, easy to clean!
Oh! And because of having an air tight seal around the can, and a good tight twist on/off cap, they do not spill!
I tested this, and there are no leaks at all, so it's perfect for your kids and teens, no more spilled sticky soda messes!
We've been using them all day since they were delivered this morning, and they really do work.
Not a single one of the 3 sodas I've had today, has lost it's fizz at all.
And maybe I'm just thinking it happens, but the sodas actually feel like they are staying colder longer.
Maybe they are because no cold can escape, and no heat get in.
I dunno.
But I really love these and will probably buy a few more just to have on hand or in case one accidentally gets tossed.
I can totally see that happening with the teens.
So yeah, love 'em, and if you drink soda or heck, even beer from cans, you should try these, they really do work.
So thanks Dyane for posting about these, I would have never even known they existed if you hadn't.
June 16, 2008
Contest deadline extended for Regalo Boutique.
My friend Mindy and her husband Chris, own an on line store called Regalo Boutique, and they are having a contest for a new sales announcement header for their summer sale.
You have until Wednesday to submit your headliners and the voting will take place this Thursday with the deadline to vote for your favorite until 11:59 p.m. EST.
The Grand Prize: Will have their headliner used in the Summer Sale and will receive their choice of Regalo Boutique (RB) merchandise totaling $50.00.
First Runner Up: Their choice of R.B. merchandise totaling up to $35.00.
Second Runner Up: Their choice of R.B. merchandise totaling up to $20.00.
I would really like to enter, but I don't want to enter and possibly be chosen as the winner, and have someone say that I only won because Mindy and I are friends ya know?
I want it to be as fair as possible, but if voters choose mine, someone may claim it's not fair.
Mindy and Chris want me to enter because they like my writing style and think I could enter a good one, but I don't want anyone to think anything bad of Mindy and Chris, or me.
Understand?
Maybe what I'll do is just submit an entry anyway, but not actually be part of the contest, just give them more options to choose from without having to award me any prize.
But YOU!
You all need to go enter!
These are great prizes, they are awesome quality and beautiful, you just have to enter!
Go! Go now and enter to win some awesome stuff of your choosing from Regalo Boutique!
June 13, 2008
Digital Photo keychain contest!
There's a contest going on over at Today's Gizmos.com, for a very cool gadget!
She is giving away 3 digital photo keychains to 3 lucky winners.
You can read the rules and how to enter, in this post at Today's Gizmos.com.
I really like this silver one, it has 4.8MB of internal memory, so it can hold up to 72 pictures.
That's very cool.
No more wallets stuffed full of pictures to show people the kids and other stuff, you can just slide through your pictures much like using the pictures folder on your computer.
Wholesale Keychain has tons of cool keychains, digital and car specific to choose from.
I hope I am 1 of the lucky 3 winners, I would love to have a cool digital photo keychain!
June 11, 2008
Truck driver's family need your help.
The family of the truck driver, Raymond Neumann, who was killed last week in that crash on the interstate, needs your help.
Raymond was a loving and devoted father of three children, he worked as hard as he did to provide for his family that he loved so much.
His oldest son David, has built a website in remembrance of his father, and they are in need of any sized donation that you can give them.
Donations can be made at any Suntrust ATM or Banking center, and must be made out to David or Karen Neumann, account #1000076140832.
You can go to the site and read about Raymond, his life and his family, and see pictures of him and his children.
When David contacted me about the site, I could tell this was a young man grieving for the loss of a man who meant the world to him, and by the way David spoke, I could tell that Raymond was the devoted and loving father that they say he was.
David is a well spoken and articulate young man, his words touched me and brought me to tears, as I read about this so very tragic and unexpected loss.
I think Raymond would be very proud of his son David, for stepping up and trying to do everything he can to help take care of his mother, and his younger siblings in this very sad time.
Instead of just being able to grieve the loss of his father, he's trying now to help take care of his family in his father's absence.
If you are able to help out, any sized donation, or even help by spreading the word on your blog, please help spread the word local Florida bloggers , please give or do what you can to help.
June 11, 2008
SEO Optimization and blogs.
It seems like everybody on line knows at least a little about SEO, and those that don't, know they want to because they want to make money.
I'm making some changes to this blog over the next few days and weeks ahead, so I've been doing a little reading on this subject tonight in between doing other things I have to do.
I promise, when I get ready to do these changes, I will let you all know.
I'm not shutting down or going on an extended hiatus, but I'm making some big changes that I think have been needed for awhile.
There are a lot of companies out there I've come across that promise you SEO results, and I know some people who paid a few different companies to increase their SEO, and promised to help drive traffic and sales to their websites, only to be ripped off.
They never saw an increase in traffic, so obviously what was promised didn't work out, and they lost thousands of dollars.
Not even making back what they paid for the service, and feeling very let down.
A way to know if the company you're going to use knows their stuff, is if they offer you a free SEO report, have plenty of information available for free for you too read, and they just have a ton of resources and links on their site for you to check out before you invest.
There's a San Diego SEO Company by the name of Best Rank, that has all of that for potential clients to check out.
Heck, they even have a blog just like most of us have, where they talk about what they do, what they are working on, and even some of the issues they have had while working for a client.
They are honest, which I find refreshing in this industry.
You really should check out their blog and read the June 9th entry.
They had some serious issues with a client's site, and had to really dig deep to find out what the problem was.
Not only was it cool to see how they were honest about the issue, but also how they resolved it.
I learned a lot from just that one entry.
June 11, 2008
Remember Wednesday June 11th 2008.
It's time for another round of Remember Wednesday, a new-ish weekly music meme that Jade started.
This week is all about the Journey.
I've always been a big fan of their music, they are a solid rock band.
Each member a master of his instrument, and when combined, they all come together with an amazing sound.
Back in the early 90's, my friend Shell and I would go down town, down to the beach clubs like Mr. Goodbar's, (where they still play) and a few other bars and clubs, and see a local band called Riot Act.
Riot Act was one of those good-time bands, they played some of their music, but they mostly played covers for the tourist crowds who came in to hear rock music they knew and loved.
Guns n' Roses, Whitesnake, Bon Jovi, 80's rock songs mostly, but nothing got the crowd going like when they would play covers of Journey.
The lead singer, Johnny, just had the voice that could pull off a damn good interpretation of Steve Perry.
Put his voice with the very talented members of the band, plus a good Journey hit like "Don't Stop Believin', Send her My Love, or Faithfully, and the crowd would eat it up, the place would be filled, over capacity on most nights, and it was guaranteed that you would have a good time.
They did an amazing cover of Separate Ways, one of my personal favorites of Journey, and wow, it was always so awesome to hear it played live, you'd get goosebumps when Johnny hit those high and long notes.
Shell and I would make a point of being there whenever Riot Act played, or as often as we could.
The both of us were young mothers of young toddlers, but we'd get a babysitter and head on down to the beach for our one night of fun and music, after a long week of taking care of kids and working, and Shell going to college.
We could let loose, and hang out with our friends, have a good time and just rock out with Johnny and the guys.
I think at one point, both of us actually worked at one of the clubs they played at.
I was a waitress at the Whitehall, and I believe Shell was a the only female bouncer at Goodbars.
It was a good time, good memories of being with a good friend.
So here is my Remember Wednesday song for this week, Separate Ways by Journey.
If you decide to play along, make sure you go to this week's post on Jade's blog, and leave a comment so other music lovers this week can come read about your music memories too!
June 6, 2008
What the heck are you looking for?!
Every now and then I like to go through my stats and see all the various search terms that bring people to my blog.
Here's some of the unusual and funny search terms.
original little mermaid cover (people like the phallic cover)
bbbbbbbbb (um, yeah)
sims having sex (they can and they do)
Las Vegas travel I was going to go to Blogasm '08, but my plans fell through.
mumenshantz. I still have the piece of art Mark made.
check n go florida settlement. This still hasn't been settled yet.
dry nail strip. These really do rock.
the walrus and the carpenter were able to get the oysters to trust them based on promises they made to the oysters then in the end they ate them. like politicians. (Dogma)
ex girlfriend child support maine 2008 may maine may (No, I'm the ex-wife, and the hearing is now July 16th, but thanks for checking on me current girlfriend. That's so sweet of you!)
i believe license plate. Shot down by the senate! W00t!
infant swimming resources. Every parent with a pool should teach their kids to swim.
And curiously, the most searched for keyword coming in at over 100 searches;
stick figures. I have no idea why people search for that so much.
June 2, 2008
Off. On. Off. On.
I have not been and may not be, around much at all.
I am having a really serious issue with my back and shoulder, I am in so much pain I can't even describe it to you.
A trip to the doctor today and an injection of some kind of pain medicine, has not helped me.
A new medicine has not helped me. I am in so much pain, I just want to curl up and cry.
It hurts to type, pee, lay down, everything.
I can't take much more and am thisclose to going to the hospital because nothing is helping, but something is so clearly wrong, this is not normal to be like this.
May 30, 2008
Attempting to take a day off.
I am so incredibly tired today, just wiped out from doing so much this week.
I keep falling asleep sitting here in my chair.
Mark is playing quietly in the other room, Sebastian is over playing with the kid next door, and the house is mostly clean.
I finally got caught up around here.
I just have a load of clothes to put in the dryer, and then I can chill out for awhile.
I want to either watch the movies I rented, or play with my Sims.
I really just need to have some quiet, yet entertaining, me time ya know?
You ever just get so drained from doing everything that everyone else wants and needs, that you completely forget to take care of yourself until you end up crashing down out of exhaustion?
That's how I feel today, completely wiped out physically and emotionally.
I need to get some rest, a nap or just laying down relaxing, and then spend some time just doing something for me for fun.
All I've done all week is take care of others, and I don't mind it, but I end up doing far too much, and I get drained of all strength and get emotionally exhausted.
I will try to catch up with emails and all my blog reading later on.
I've neglected all the blogs I read all week, I apologize, I will catch up with everyone later on, I promise.
May 29, 2008
Save money on your grocery bills.
I was sent this link today for the Grocery Game.
The Grocery Game is a website that can save you hundreds of dollars on grocery bill each month. Log in, spend a few minutes with a pair of scissors, and you're off to win The Grocery Game!
When you play, you'll get a weekly list (called Teri's List) of the lowest-priced products at your supermarket matched with manufacturers' coupons and weekly specials -- advertised and unadvertised. The Grocery Game does all the hard work and research, and presents it to you in a straightforward format.
If you don't cancel, you will begin the full membership automatically, and once your full membership is activated, you will be billed $10 every eight weeks for a single store List.
That's only about $5 a month. For each additional List add $5 every eight weeks.
Part of how this works, is that the Grocery Game not only finds the sales fliers for the stores in your zip code and matches them up to coupons from say, the Sunday newspaper, it also gives you website links for coupons you can print out, cut out, and use at your grocery store.
My problem is that the Publix where I live closest to, and have been shopping at for years now, does NOT accept any printed from a home computer coupons, due to fraud.
Apparently, these types of shopping helper websites, had so many people printing coupons in duplicate and triplicate, that the vendors were not paying the stores back on ANY of the printed coupons, because people were printing so many of them, and changing the value of the coupons using photoshop and other programs.
One of the managers at my Publix told me they lost thousands of dollars on these fraudulent coupons, so they now refuse to take any printed coupons at all.
It must be an original vendor coupon from the Sunday papers, magazines, or sales flier coupons, or you don't get to use them.
And after skimming the message board at Grocery Game, it seems quite a few people canceled their subscriptions due to how much work it was to just print out 1 list for 1 store, go to all these other websites, and print and cut out all these coupons.
And another thing I found off putting, was when you read or post to the message board, you cannot talk about anything that may be printed on your shopping list.
It's all very hush-hush information, and they have mods who will edit out any list specifics because they want to protect "the list".
O-k!
This site may be worth it to some people, but it's not something I'm going to try after reading the site over, and the message board postings from unhappy grocery gamers.
I can't use printed coupons where I shop, so most of the coupons from the internet that would be on my list, would be a total waste of my time.
___________________
What I do to save money is to look at the Publix weekly sales ad on line, (most major grocery chains have a website with their weekly sales ad on line) and then I go through my shopping list and add a check mark next to the sales items.
Then I go through my coupons and add another check mark to anything on my list I have a coupon for.
Then I go back through the sales flier, and match up my coupons to anything else they have on sale.
When I get to the store, I grab the paper sales ad, rip out the coupons they have, and also grab the coupon fliers they have in the spinning rack at the front door, and go through my list again to see if any new coupons match my list.
If not, they get tucked in my purse for my next shopping trip.
I take advantage of pretty much every in-store unadvertised special they have going on if it's an item I use or could use.
I have tons of staples items in my cupboards at any given time.
I take full advantage of all the buy 1 get 1's too, and try to match up coupons on those items as well.
I pretty much never go to the store without coupons, and I take my time going through each of the aisles so I don't miss anything, and I also eat before I go.
I do not impulse buy if I can help it, and going on an empty stomach pretty much insures you will buy crap you don't need.
Basically, you don't need to pay a website to show you this week's sales ad, it's on line and usually sent through the mail in that big stack of ad papers that gets jammed in your mailbox on Tuesdays.
Or you can make a quick swing-through to the front door of your grocery store on your way home from work or other errand running, and just grab the ad and go back home to work out your list.
May 27, 2008
Said by a man who calls himself a Christian
tonight on the local forums;
I hope there really is a "lake of fire" when we die where you burn and torture slowly for eternity, because I will definitely raise my hand and volunteer to push several of you into it and laugh loudly as you sink down into the million degree molten lava beggin for mercy.
It never ceases to amaze me how some of them just cannot wait for that day of judgment so they can watch all their enemies burn in the lake of fire.
They will sit by the side and watch, clap, and be gleeful over the pain and suffering of others.
I have a feeling this guy would get along really great with Ray Comfort.
The two of them can sit and judge others and enjoy the suffering and damnation of their earthly enemies and the heathenish blasphemers while sipping pina coladas.
May 27, 2008
So much to do, no energy to do it all.
I have so many things that I need to do, I've gotten way behind on a lot of things.
I forgot to pay my medicare supplement part D bill, so I need to do that.
I have about 30 some odd emails to reply to.
I have 2 sink-fulls of dishes to do, and I need to finish installing a few things on the boys computer.
But I gotta tell ya, it is so much better with the xbox in their room now.
I have actually been able to watch the news every day and all my "gay and boring" tv shows.
The boys said they are so thrilled to be in the other room because the tv shows I watch are boring and gay, like really gay.
Funny, they would always ask me what time such and such show comes on. *eyeroll*
I can't believe the last day of school is on Friday.
This school year has just flown by so fast.
We are gonna be up each other's butts all summer.
I need to get them both jobs. hahaha
Ok, I really need to get cracking on all those emails and other things.
Later days.
May 24, 2008
It was a nice day to play.
My niece Susan and I had a really good afternoon, she is getting so smart.
We played her computer games, it's called Learn to read at Starfall- teaching comprehension and phonics.
I was really impressed with that website, Susan reads along with the text on the screen, she says what they do, she knows how to move the mouse around and click on everything.
Kids these days are learning computers at such young ages, they are going to be so technologically ahead of even my kids generation when it comes to this stuff.
She is already using computers at school, and she is only in pre-school!
We played that for awhile, then we watched Monsters, Inc.
We colored, and we tried to play outside, but it was far too hot and humid.
Blech.
We also built some things with her Legos she brought with her, but Shahiro decided that her Lego box was the most comfortable place to sleep.
We played with "blue baby", which is just an old blue stuffed alien like toy that one of the boys won at a fair or something years ago.
Susan calls it blue baby, and she takes care of it whenever she comes over.
She changes it's diaper, feeds it a bottle, and rocks it to sleep.
Then we decided it was time to eat some dinner, so we ordered some chinese food and watched Fantasia
Then Jo and the teens came home, Susan and I picked up all the toys and packed up her little suitcase she uses to bring toys and her blankie over, and they all left to go back to my sister's house.
After that, I finished up the laundry that Susan helped me start, did some dishes, and I've basically been goofing off on line since.
I have been sort of watching National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets
It's not too bad, but I definitely liked the first one much better.
I just realized how late it is, well, it's not that late for me, but wow, the past few hours have just flown by.
I guess I've rambled on long enough.
Later days.
May 24, 2008
Saturday play day.
This afternoon, my sister is taking the teens to the movies to go see Narnia, Prince Caspian, and I'm going to hang out here at home with my most awesome niece, Susan, and play games and stuff.
Susan really likes playing games on the computer, so I have a couple of kid related websites that she already knows how to do, and we're going to play some games on those, color, read books and maybe watch a movie ourselves.
I love it when she comes to spend time with me!
She and I get along so well, and she's so much fun and silly, it makes me happy.
After the movie, the teens will be going back to my sister's house for the night, and will come back in the morning because sis has to work.
Did I tell you my sister has a blog?
She just started it in January, she doesn't update it much, *ahem* but she writes some pretty interesting stuff when she does.
You can check her out at Jo's Mojo.
She has a few pictures up, the girls, and their new kitty Binky who is just so cute!
I love that kitty!
I was going through my stats last night, I like seeing where my visitors come from, how they find me, and I found a link to my local area news website, WWSB.
I was all hrm, why is the local news linking to my blog?
Then I saw that the link went to a subsection they have for blogs, and I'm one of just 6 local blogs they have featured there.
Pretty cool!
So thanks WWSB, I appreciate the link back and being featured.
Ok, time for me to get moving and clean up a few things before Susan gets here.
I need to get the coloring supplies out, and the story books, and the movies she likes to watch.
I also need to throw some laundry in and do the dishes.
I may hold off on the dishes.
Doing dishes sucks.
May 23, 2008
I can be such a doofus sometimes.
I was on the local forums just now in the music, movies, and books sub-forum, and someone asked about the industrial rock band from France, and wanted to know their name.
I just blurted out KVM.
Um, duh-ur.
I was quickly called on my mistake too by several music heads.
It's not KVM, it's KMFDM.
KFMDM has been around since 1984, and has put out 15 studio albums, 24 singles and EPs, and 2 remix albums.
They make awesome music, so if you've never heard of them before and like industrial rock, give them a listen, it's good stuff.
Now, what is KVM?
It's a multi-user switch that allows you to control multiple computers from a single station.
It allows you to manage servers over IP, and makes it easier to move your computers to a more secure location.
I don't know why I just spit out KVM instead of KMFDM.
It could be because I had just been looking up some info on Cat5 extenders. I have this switch box here that someone gave me, and I've never been able to get it to work, so I was looking up directions on how to make it work.
I really shouldn't try to multi-task.
I know my music better than I know technology, and I just made myself sound stupid on the forums.
D'oh!
May 23, 2008
Wanna weigh in?
Do you watch tv shows on ABC?
Do you want to be able to provide feedback on your fave shows to ABC?
If you do, you should join the ABC Inner Circle.
I've been a member of the viewer panel for a little over 2 years now.
About 3 months or so ago, they totally redid the whole site, and it's called ABC Inner Circle.
It's set up like a forum, sort of.
The moderator starts all the threads to talk about, but they do take suggestions for a new topic on a show that isn't listed already.
They want your honest feedback and opinions on all of the shows they air, the good, bad, and the really ugly.
They take all of our opinions into consideration when deciding if a show stays on the air or gets the boot, and they randomly send out some show swag.
Over the last 2 years, I've gotten a keychain, a mousepad, a coffee mug and a couple of t-shirts.
Just the other day I received a magnetic refrigerator notepad for Desperate Housewives, one of my favorite shows!
I love free swag, and this is actually a good notepad.
I have it on my fridge and when I run out of a food staple, I just jot it on the very handy list, and then I rip off that page and take it with me when I go grocery shopping.
But you never know what they are going to send out or when, it's a total surprise when you get a package stuffed in your door.
But anyway, if you want to provide feedback to ABC, then just fill out this brief questionnaire, and they'll send you a login password to get you started.
I love a whole bunch of shows on ABC, so it gives me a place to share my opinions and thoughts on those shows that will actually matter to ABC and the people who make the programming decisions.
May 21, 2008
The EBS will be in effect.
The Emergency Blogcasting System will be in effect during the upcoming hurricane season.
What is that?
Well it's where I will have 2 contacts, other bloggers, that I can contact if in the event I lose power or have to evacuate due to a hurricane hitting this area.
Sarasota has not been hit in the 10 years I've lived here now, *knock on wood* but it could happen.
This year's crazy weather is making me think it could be a bad hurricane season here.
There's been a ton of tornadoes in the midwest, the earthquake in China, the cyclone in Myanmar, and flooding elsewhere in the country.
I'm concerned, but not panicking.
My 2 contacts are Christine and Holly.
If in the event I lose power or have to evacuate, I will contact the both of them to let them know, and they will post here to keep you all updated.
I may go out and check out the prices on generators now rather than wait till a hurricane is coming.
If you wait too long here, you won't get any plywood or a generator, or food and water.
I start stocking up on hurricane supplies the first week of June.
I go shopping and get canned food, batteries for the flashlight and radio, more candles, lighters, water etc etc.
Every time I go shopping, I buy at least 6 more cans of spaghettios or other easy to eat, don't need to be heated food items.
If we don't use it ourselves during season, I either slowly add things to the cupboards for the teens to eat, or I take it and donate it to an area where people did get hit.
Hurricane season starts June 1st, and I'm hoping I won't have to use the EBS, but if I do, I have 2 really great blogging friends to help me keep all my readers updated.
May 18, 2008
Today is just dragging ass.
Why is today going so slow?
I've been up since 9am, and it's been painfully slow.
And hot.
I've got the AC cranked and it's just miserably hot in here still.
The teens said it's cold in here, so it's just me.
Whatever.
I'll probably go take a shower and see if that helps me cool off, then I'm going to need to start dinner, fold the laundry and move the last load over to the dryer, and then finish the dinner dishes.
Bor-ing.
But you know what's not boring?
A blog contest.
Leslie is having a contest to give away a bottle of Cynthia Rowley perfume with a matching umbrella.
All you have to do is leave a comment for 1 entry, or for 2, write about her contest in a blog post like this.
Easy peasy.
May 17, 2008
What do ya know? I'm blog of the day!
See that? You can click it for bigger, but it says that I am blog of the day for the triple P paid to blog company.
Funny thing though, I haven't worked for them since October 2007, and I left on very bad terms having a back and forth with their "customer love" department about all my issues with their company, and asking them to completely remove all traces of me from their system.
I did not want to be linked to from any part of their site, and I was assured they had removed every single link they had to me from every part of their site.
Promised actually.
But there I am, blog of the day.
How the hell am I blog of the day?
I have not taken a single post for them since the end of September and got my last payment from them in October.
It's gotta be a random selection because it's most certainly not based on me taking any posts, I haven't.
I am not the top earner, middle earner, or even low man on the totem pole, because I don't work for them.
I don't have the ability to even login to their sites anymore, so how did I find out I was blog of the day?
Several people emailed me screenshots of it.
Some of them were like "I hate to be the bearer of bad news because they promised you they removed you from the system, but obviously they lied."
Someone else said "Holy shit Kat! Don't get too pissed!"
And another simply said "LMAO! Idiots!"
Exactly my thoughts.
Idiots.
So if you're coming here from the blog of the day link on the triple P site, no I don't work for them, haven't in a very long time now, and they are clearly not people of their word.
They do not remove anyone from the system or site even if they promise you they do.
They keep every single blogger in there so their numbers of users is as big as it is to impress adverts with.
They can say they have over 100,000 bloggers, but how many of them are like me?
No longer working for them and asked to be removed from their site?
I'm guessing a lot.
I'm not mad I'm still in the system, I'm just very disappointed they lied to me about removing me.
May 14, 2008
No payment.
A day or two ago on the local forums, a young male member asked if there were any freelance workers, people who are self employed on the board, he needed help, a few questions, and one of them was about stop notices.
After no one else had responded to his question after several hours had gone by, I responded that I am self employed, a freelance writer, what did he need help with?
He said he had been doing some subcontracting work, did not want to discuss exactly which field it was in, and that he had now not been paid for over a month even though he had submitted invoices to the company he subcontracts from, what could he do to get paid?
I explained that sometimes subcontractors, especially in the field of construction, do not get paid until the people or company pay the company that he is subbing from.
That it can take weeks or longer, sometimes months, for the company and the subs to get paid.
A contractor can put out a lien on the property they are doing the work on for non-payment, and then the bank steps in and takes over, but it can still take a long time.
With a stop notice also attached, the holder of the construction funds will have a demand placed on them to withhold the amount of the funds equal to the work.
It was only after I had explained it a bit, that some other guys on the forum decided to pop in to that thread and start explaining it all over again.
They basically said what I said, but you know, female equals not knowledgeable in the construction industry, and they all danced around my answers like I hadn't posted at all.
You don't have to be in construction to understand liens and stop notices.
If you do any kind of subcontracting work, it's in your best interest to make sure payment agreements are set up before you begin the job, and if in the event the agreement is broken, you can then file a lien or stop notice to make sure that you get paid for the work you have done.
May 14, 2008
Remember Wednesday.
Jade has started a new weekly music blog participation meme/thing to do, and it involves music, so I'm all over that because I absolutely love music.
It's called Remember Wednesday.
You know those songs that every time you hear, you draw up a particular memory, or thoughts of a specific time in your life? Well I wanna hear about it!
The song I'm choosing for this week is Dead or Alive's You Spin me 'Round.
This song always makes me smile, laugh, and just have a really good time no matter what.
My friends and I used to request this every time we went out to a club, just so we could get on the dance floor and have a blast. We'd make total fools of ourselves, but we were having such a good time that we didn't care what anyone else thought.
I remember on one night we went out and the dj had now gotten used to us requesting this so he just started playing it and gave us the thumbs up, we hit the dance floor and were just having so much fun, when I glanced over and caught the drummer of a popular local band watching us and dancing along too.
We knew each other so it was only natural that if he was going to dance and watch us dance, that he dance with us.
I went over and grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out onto the floor with us.
One of my girlfriends was like head over heels crushing on the guy, and got super self conscious when I did that, and he could see she was a bit embarrassed that he was now with us, so he started grinding up on her and being all goofy which only caused her to be more self conscious.
I just started laughing, that was who he was, a big goof, and to he and I, it was hysterical, but to her, total mortification that the object of her crush was dancing all silly up on her.
She eventually ran from the dance floor to the bathroom where she stayed for about 15 minutes.
Hahah!
He and I just laughed about it, shared a drink while waiting for her to get over herself and come back out.
When she did, she was acting all prissy like, trying to impress him, but he was a goof, he wasn't into prissy, so he basically ignored her.
He whispered in my ear that my friend was cute, but lame, that if she could just relax and have fun, he probably would have asked her out, but she kinda blew it by acting like that.
We spent the rest of the night talking and having fun, and we left and headed for home.
I never told her what he said, it probably would have hurt her feelings or made her even more embarrassed.
But anyway, here's the video, it still makes me laugh and smile, and my my, have you seen Pete Burns in recent years?
Ouch Pete, ouch.
May 12, 2008
Give me five Monday meme.
I almost forgot that I told Becca I would play along, even though she sent me a reminder to do it, so here is my first attempt at her Give Me Five Monday Meme.
Give Me Five things you enjoyed about your mother's day yesterday or from prior years.
1. I got 2 seriously awesome musical cards from the teens.
One says Mom, you rock, and when you open it it plays Tina Turner's Simply the Best.
That was from Mark.
Sebastian's was so totally him.
Outside it had a picture of a chicken, and simply said Happy Mother's day, and inside it said to the woman who rules the roost.
It played the chicken dance song.
As soon as I opened it up, he sprang from the couch and did the dance.
Then every chance he got after that, he would open the card and do the dance, laughing hysterically each time.
2. It's those kinds of things that made me smile all day long.
3. My sister and my nieces came down yesterday, and she and all the kids went out for a few hours leaving me to just rest and relax, have some me time.
What did I do? I cleaned of course!
4. I ordered out for dinner.
After all that cleaning, I wasn't about to dirty any more dishes.
The Chinese was super tasty!
5. The teens later on surprised me by going for a walk, and came back with a hot fudge sunday for me from Dairy Queen, that they bought with their own money.
May 11, 2008
The winner of the Mad Money DVD is....
So that's comment #7 which is Karin A.
I will be contacting Karin to get the mailing address to send her the dvd.
Congrats!
May 10, 2008
Untapped.
In the world of blogging lately, "mommy bloggers" are getting mega attention.
Advertisers are falling all over themselves to get these moms of babies and toddlers to pimp out their diapers, baby shoes, potties and a gazillion other products on their blogs.
But what about the untapped market of the moms of teens?
