only have 10 more minutes till midnight

I only have 10 more minutes till midnight so I'll try to get this post on before that.

I think I slept till about noon today. After I got up I got a bit of work done on the computer before Dodger got up. Once he got up he drove me crazy. He had the TV blaring and kept talking to me over the TV about all sorts of things I didn't give a rats ass about. I was so annoyed. It got to the point where I had to bitch at him to get him to stop. Why won't he just respect my time and respect when I ask him to be quiet for a bit so I can concentrate? I was so flustered after bitching at him that I gave up on getting any more work done.

I took Dancer to her tennis lessons this evening. My mom picked her up and Dancer spent the rest of her evening over there. She just got home about 25 minutes ago.

Dodger and I watched the second Transformers movie. I haven't seen the first one so we kept having to pause it so he could give me some back story from the first movie and the cartoon.

I'm getting ready to watch tonight's episode of Medium and then get to bed. Dancer and I have to get up early tomorrow for her beginner horse class.

It's 2:15 am

Ha. It's 2:15 am and I just realized I didn't blog *today*.

We had co-op today so I set my alarm to get up at 10. Low and behold Dodger's damn alarm woke me up again around 8. I doubt I would have been so tired when I got up at 10 if my sleep hadn't been disturbed.

I managed a little bit of work on my other blog before we headed to co-op. Co-op went pretty quickly today. Writing class was enjoyable as usual. The kids seem a little wonky this week but I have a feeling it's because of the rainy weather around here and they are tired of being cooped up.

We had an Usborne book sale at co-op today. I guess any orders benefited our homeschool group. I love so many of their internet linked books but I just don't have $40 for one book let alone 5+. I'll have to add some of those books to Dancer's Christmas list. Maybe other people can get them for her.

Dancer got out of class late because she was finishing up a mosaic project. It was raining by the time we got done. I had hoped to go to the grocery store afterwards but it wasn't going to happen with it raining like it was. I ran down to the health club to pick up the registration form for her golf lessons that start next week and then we went home.

I got some more work done on the web after I got home. I'm still working on a weekly blog schedule. As soon as I get that ironed out I need to work on my writing skills and content.

Dancer has another dance class on Thursday nights so we had to go out in this wet mess again. While I waited for her, I searched the net for computer giveaways. I found a few. I'm hoping they pick up a bit now that the holiday season is approaching. I can't afford a laptop or desktop but I sure can enter giveaways and hope to win one.

After I got home, I spent more time working online. Dodger was asleep so that's why I got so much computer time this evening. I found a program like Photoshop and used it to make my own Twitter background. If you have a moment, go check it out.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day. I got up around 11. Dodger hadn't left for work yet. I squeezed in a little bit of computer time after I ate breakfast while he cleaned out his truck to load up the shutters he painted a few days ago for the house he's working on. He kicked me off the computer for a bit so he could write up a bid for someone and then took off to go work.

Around 3 he called to ask if he left the paint for this job sitting outside the back door. He had, so I ran it out to him. These houses he works on are so big and so nice. It really makes me want to bitch-slap someone.

I got quite a bit done on my other blog today. I worked on some posts for the next few days and have them scheduled to post automatically. I also added the AddThis code to my layout so that people could easily repost my blog posts on places like Twitter and Facebook.

I also worked on a blogging schedule. I have certain days of the week dedicated to certain types of posts. I still feel like a novice but I'll get better at it as I go and learn what works and what doesn't.

I pulled a book off my bookshelf last night before I went to bed called, "Your Simple Guide to a Home-Based Business" by Emilie Barnes and Sheri Torelli. I read a few pages last night and look forward to reading more tonight. I'm hoping for some organizational insights and I'm hoping it will facilitate some brainstorming on my part.

I also need to raid the library for writing tips. I want to feel more confident when I write my blog posts. I'd also like to get into blogging for other people, too. I've seen places that pay bloggers to write for them.

Dancer is in one of her dance classes. I'm waiting out in the truck for her. I love that the WiFi reaches outside the building to the parking lot. As long as I'm able to park next to the building, I don't usually have problems picking it up It will soon get so cold out that I will have to go inside and wait.

I guess when I get home. I'll watch a few shows, pay some bills, and read. My life feels pretty boring lately. I feel this way when it starts to get cold outside and we all are stuck inside most of the time. When the world goes into hibernation, why shouldn't we? It is the best time of year to just shut ourselves off from the outside stuff and take the time to re-evaluate, re-learn, and renue. This is a good thing. I think I just had a shift in perspective.

I miss working

I got out of bed around 11:30 today. I spent some time on my other blog. Still trying to work out some direction and schedule. I really hope to grow it into something that will help people and make an income for me at the same time. I don't really like not making any money.

I miss working. Well, I miss the purpose of work. I miss my co- workers. Working for myself is alien and I feel a little out-of-whack. I need to treat my ideas as a business, which is going to mean a schedule and goals on my part. I've never been great with that but I'm so ready to learn.

There are some blog hacks that I want to add to my blog both here and there. I guess I'll a few out on one of my test blogs. I'm also not certain that I like the layout/background on my other blog either. I might play around with that, too. I wish I had Photoshop. I could design my own backgrounds, especially for Twitter.

Dancer had dance class this evening. It's been a rainy day and I don't like driving in that especially in the dark. I was annoyed with her because I had to go in and get her. She stood in there talking for 15 min after class. I almost didn't get home before The Biggest Loser started.

For dinner we had the roast that I cooked in the crock all day. It was ok. I don't really like roast. It's just so dry tasting no matter how it's cooked.

I'm watching South Park with Dodger right now. After it's over I'll go back to my room and finish watching tonight's So You Think You Can Dance.

I feel like once the cold weather hits that my life gets really boring. It's certainly a time to mull over changes that I want to make in my life. I need to find myself a way to log my ideas. Maybe another blog is in order. I could organize my ideas with tags that way. IDK.

Italian sausage and baked beans

Today I finally crawled out of bed a bit before 1pm. I needed to catch up on some sleep. After I got up, I worked on my other blog for most of the afternoon.

Dodger arrived home just before 5. He would have worked longer but it started to rain. He had a few sacks from the grocery store when he got out of his truck. He decided he wanted a little something different for dinner then what we usually have around here. He had picked up some Italian sausage, brats, and a roast.

Dodger grilled out the Italian sausage and I heated up some baked beans and corn to go with it. I can't believe how many calories are in Italian sausage and brats. I didn't have mine on a bun so that I could save calories. That left me extra so that I could have the whole Snickers bar that he brought home for me.

Dancer helped him clean off some stepping stones that he's going to stain for a customer. He also brought in a bunch of shutters for the same customer and sanded and painted on those for most of the evening.

I washed up the dishes from dinner and then prepped the roast in the crockpot for dinner tomorrow. I added potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, chives and some spices. I'll plug it in and turn it on before I got to bed in a few hours.

I need to catch up

Let's see, I need to catch up on yesterday. It was beautiful outside yesterday. I think it got into the high 60s here. It was a perfect day for Dodger to work but he didn't. Maybe he thought it was supposed to rain. I'm not sure. Whatever the reason, by the time he got up and realized how great the weather was, it was too late to go because he would have only had about an hour at work before he need to come home to get cleaned up to go out for his birthday.

I took Dancer to Nutcracker practice in the afternoon. My mom and step-dad picked her up so she could go back and work on a card for her dad. Dancer always makes hand-made cards for birthdays. Dodger and I met them all at a little Mexican restaurant in town. We got there at 4 and we were the only people in there at that time. I had looked up Mexican food on the net before we went so I would know what to order. The websites that I read all recommended fajitas, so that's what I got. I ordered the chicken fajitas minus the tortilla wraps. It came with rice and refried beans (which I didn't eat) and lettuce w/ guacamole and pico de gallo. I asked for it without the guacamole. I love guacamole but it's too high in calories for me right now. I got so much food that I only ate half of it. The internet said that most chicken fajitas have somewhere between 330-360 calories. I logged the whole amount even though I only ate half of it. When I go out to eat, I always over budget it just to be safe.

After dinner we went back to my mom's for ice cream and cake. Dancer was full and didn't want any. I didn't have any cake and only a small scoop of ice cream. I can't believe there was 180 in 1/2 cup of that ice cream. My mom knows I'm counting my calories, so why not pick up something lighter. Ugh. We chatted and watched a little TV. Around 6:30, DH told me he was ready to go. Normally Dancer would have stayed but last night she chose to come with us. I don't think she was feeling good. I think dinner was messing with her stomach.

The rest of the night, I just hung out and watched TV. The only good thing on was Desperate Housewives. I did watch part of the A.L. series, too. I was hoping the Angels would win but they didn't. So, the Yankees and the Phillies are going to be in the World Series.

I'm too tired now

It's nearly 2am and I just realized I haven't blogged. I'm too tired now. I'll have to catch up when I wake up later today.

who's reading my blog

Sometimes I wonder who's reading my blog and if they like reading my daily ins and outs, ups and downs. I post for myself but I still wonder.

I had maybe 5 to 6 hours of sleep last night before being rudely awaken, once again (it happens way too often), by my husband's cell phone alarm. It's not like the alarm is in the same room with me. Dodger and I usually sleep in separate rooms. He's not even in the next room. Yet, it lays right beside him and he won't shut it off. Maybe he doesn't even hear it. I don't know. To get him to shut it off, I call him on my cell phone.

I didn't really have time to get back to sleep before needing to get up myself. Dancer needed to be at her beginner horse class at 10. So, I got up around 8 and woke her up. I don't like being up so early. Especially since it makes for such a long day food wise. I'm eating too early in the day for me to be able to stretch my eating out so that I'm not hungry late in the evening like I am right now.

I got Dancer to her class on time. I waited out in the truck for her. I do a lot of waiting for her now since it makes no sense to spend extra gas on running around. I read through the new Family Fun magazine and last month's Shape magazine with the special breast cancer issue. There was lots of great information in both. It was pretty chilly today but the sun finally came out and really started to warm me up, especially since I was wearing all black.

Dodger was gone to work by the time we got home. I spent my afternoon working on my blog. I changed the theme and bought my own domain. I also started to build my own Twitter background using Paint and Picnic.

I think Dancer spent most of her afternoon on her roll playing chat. Dancer has also been working on a geography project that's been in my head for months now. She had been tracing country flags off of her computer screen and I came up with the idea of traveling the world virtually since we can't financially do it physically. I thought lapbooking would be a great way to do this but I never got around to planning it out. Last week I came up with the idea that she didn't need to wait on me to be able to do this. She loves building websites and I thought she'd have fun using her website building skills to put together her own website of countries. She can post pictures and info that she finds on the net. She took that idea and ran with it. She's been doing more country flags and has started working on the website.

I hope to get some more time tomorrow to work on my site and Twitter background. There are quite a few blog hacks that I want to try out. I've also been mulling over the direction I might want to take with another blog I have. I just have ideas, nothing solid yet. I really need to be writing my ideas down because I'm afraid I'm going to lose them. I feel like I'm flying blindly in the blog world. I don't really know what I'm doing but I'm willing to learn. It just seems that the good info either costs too much or it's all scattered in bits and pieces all over the net.

crawl out of bed

I forced myself to crawl out of bed around 11:30 this morning so that I could send an email to the host of the pumpkin carving party telling her that we weren't going to make it because of I had a really nasty headache. Dancer and I will just have to carve it here. We might go hang out with some friends tomorrow evening, so maybe we'll make that get together into a carving party.

I didn't do much until about 3 when I decided that I'd better get in the shower so that I could take my car title into the junk yard and get my check from them. After I picked up the check, I ran it to my credit union and then headed home to check on Dancer who had started to get ready for tennis lessons before I left.

My evening has flown by. I meant to watch Medium earlier but missed a little bit of the beginning so I just let the VCR finish taping it and I'll watch it later. I'm watching a few episodes of Forensic Files now and will be heading to bed soon. We have an early morning tomorrow. Dancer is taking a Learn About Horses class that a dear friend is teaching at her horse farm. She offers equine therapy services in our area. She merged her love of horses with her desire to help people. She's a true inspiration.

only 4.5 hours of sleep

Well, I woke up this morning at 8:30 after only 4.5 hours of sleep. I have no idea why I woke up after so little sleep. I got up and ate breakfast. Then played on the iTouch for a bit before waking Dancer up to get ready for co-op.

Co-op went pretty quickly today. It helped that I had a few people to talk to during 2nd hour. Dancer finished up another mosaic project in Hobbies class. She did this one on a piece of wood and used decorative marbles that you would find in the floral section of a hobbies store. It was raining by the time we left. I'm so sick of this rain, it was just another day that kept my Dodger from finishing this job.

After co-op, I ran the title of my car to the junk yard so that they could write a pick up order for it. They'll probably pick it up tomorrow and then call me so that I can bring the title back in and sign it over to them and get my check. After stopping by the junk yard, I ran my super overdue books back to the library.

I ran Dancer home and picked up my shopping bags and then ran to the grocery store to pick up a few items and a pumpkin to carve tomorrow with some of the members of our homeschool group. On the way home, I stopped and filled up the truck. My fuel gage doesn't work, so when I put gas in, I have to fill it completely up. I put almost 9 gal in.

Dancer didn't have dance tonight. Her teacher sent me a text last night that class would be canceled. She must be sick and couldn't find another instructor to fill in for her.

I've spent most of my evening flipping between the American League playoffs and the Saw movies on SyFy. I'm pretty tired and definitely have a headache from lack of sleep. I'm watching the first Saw movie right now but will probably head to bed soon so I can catch up on some sleep.

Tomorrow I will try and call the Social Security office again to see what it will take to get new cards. I also need to do some more research on opening an IRA. I also want to study up on blogging for a living and finding some good HTML/CSS courses online. I really want to build my blogs up into a working income. I even have hopes that my daily blogging here could be a part of that. If Dooce can do it, why can't I?

I FINALLY called the junk yard

I went back to bed this morning around 7:30. I ended up sleeping till 1:30. Dancer never went back to bed, poor thing. When I got up she was making more country flags by finding them on the net and then taping a piece of paper over her computer screen and tracing them.

It was super nice out today, do I got the windows with the air conditioners taped up today. I ran out of duct tape, so Dodger picked some up on the way home from work so I could finish up the last window.

I FINALLY called the junk yard about towing my car that broke down back in April. The car that has been sitting at the auto shop since April! Why in the world did I wait so long? What was I afraid of? I called and the guy said I'd probably get about $100 for the car. Then I called my mechanic to tell him to quit looking for a motor because I was just going to junk it. He sounded relieved. LOL. So, once I take the title into the junk yard, they'll get it picked up and write me a check.

I've been putting things off lately and this week I'm getting all of those things done and off of my shoulders. I called my public aid caseworker a few days ago to let her know that I'm no longer working. She'll get that message tomorrow. We'll see if she has a need to call me.

I still need to find out how to open an IRA and get my ESO transferred over. I need to get confirmation of mine and Dancer's Social Security numbers because I can't find our cards and I need them to sign up for heating assistance. I also need to try and sign up for a 0% APR credit card offer that has expired but I still need to try because my 0% that I have now is up and I need to transfer that balance.

I will have all of those things done by the weekend. I will STOP putting things off! Oh, and next week we WILL start going back to the Y and making use of the scholarship membership that we have there.

the meteor shower this morning

So I went to bed just after midnight last night so that I could get up and watch the meteor shower this morning. I set my alarm for 4. I got up and threw on a jacket so that I could go outside and see how the sky looked before I went in to wake up Dancer.

It was really cloudy. I was bummed. I could only see two stars in the north east sky and after watching for a bit, even those got covered with clouds a time or two. At around 4:20, I decided to head back to bed.

I was just starting to fall back asleep when I heard two dings on my cell phone. It was the friend that I had texted last night asking if they all were going to be up watching the meteor shower. She must have just gotten up to watch, it was right around 5. She asked if I was watching and I told her about the clouds. She said that they were out and they could see the show. So, I decided to get back up and check the sky again. And what do you know, it was totally clear.

I watched for a few minutes and saw one streak across the sky. So, I went back in and woke Dancer up. Dodger was still up from earlier. We all went outside to watch. I got the umbrella chairs out of the truck for myself and Dancer. Dodger decided to go back in to grab a pillow and blanket and laid down in the bed of my truck.

We saw some little ones and some great ones streaking across the sky. Dancer and Dodger even saw one that exploded. I missed that one, bummer. The stars were just beautiful and the weather was decent enough to be outside for a good period of time without freezing.

About 30 in, Dodger decided to go back inside and Dancer took over the spot in the truck. She was chatting it up, talking about what she knew about the stars and planets. I was having a hard time hearing her from where I was sitting and she was amusingly annoyed to have to repeat herself to me so many times.

It was weird to hear the world start to wake up. The trains started to rumble and blow. We saw more and more plains, well their lights anyway, as the time progressed. I could hear horns start to honk and the beeping from a truck backing up We had what we're certain was an owl fly over the top of us and land in one of the trees in the front yard and start hooting.

Dodger came back out for a few minutes after the owl flew over. We told him about the owl and the other meteors we had seen. It was right around that time when I started smelling cinnamon rolls backing. One of my older (elderly at this point) neighbors was obviously up and making breakfast. Man, that smelled so good.

Dodger went back inside and Dancer and I probably stayed out for another 10 minutes or so. We saw a few more little ones before we decided to go in. I'm certain Dancer was happy that she got to see that. We've never done anything like this before. I can't say for sure, but I probably haven't done this before because of my work schedule in the past. It was certainly a beautiful night for it. I'm so glad that my friend texted me back and woke me up. We would have missed it yet another year if she hadn't.

making a yummy dinner

I woke up at 11:30 today. I didn't get a whole lot done today. Not what I wanted to get done anyway.

Dancer woke up around 9 and hoped right back on to The Khan Academy and finished up Module 4. Dodger thought it was really cool that when he woke up, that she was working on that.

I also had her do the MEP tests today. She did really great. By the time she got to test 3, she got through it fine but she said it was getting pretty hard for her. We might start at level 3 so that she can feel more comfortable with the concepts.

I ran her to dance class and browsed the net on the iPod for awhile. When we got home Dodger was making a yummy dinner. We had polish sausage, broiled onions and potatoes. I heated up some corn and baked beans (which I didn't eat because of the calories).

I watched The Biggest Loser and The Good Wife, while Twittering. :) I taped Dancing With The Stars since So You Think You Can Dance wasn't on tonight because of the American League playoffs being on.

I watched DWTS just a little bit ago and joined in The Darla Show on Twitter. I was supposed to spend some time with Dodger tonight but he's crashed out in the recliner and Dancer and I want to get up for the meteor shower at 4. So I think I'm just going to go to bed. I haven't been to bed before midnight in nearly forever. LOL.

it made her brain hurt

I got up around 11 today. I spent part of my day adding a few things to my blogs and most of my day watching the how to videos on Homeschool Skedtrack. I can't believe such an awesome program is free. I am going to use it to make a loose schedule and outline of the things we want to accomplish and use it to track what we've done.

I introduced Dancer to the Khan Academy and the online program that goes along with the videos. She played on that for an hour or two. She made it through the middle of module 4. She quit because it made her brain hurt. LOL. She enjoys it and I could tell she enjoyed the challenge. She said that I need to work through it, too.

I also signed up for Live Mocha today. It's an online foreign language program that has a free option as well as a paid option. I'm going to try it out tomorrow.

Most of my evening has been filled with watching TV. House was on late because of the baseball game. Then I watched the last little bit of DWTS before CSI Miami started. I taped all of DWTS and The Big Bang Theory. I've been watching Forensic Files since 10. I'll probably go catch up on my taped shows in just a bit.

I got lots done today

I got lots done today. When I woke up around 11, Dodger was gone to work. I spent most of the morning getting some work done on a few of my blogs. I personalized another blog header on Picnic again. They turn out so cute. I love Picnic and am seriously thinking about getting a years subscription for the upgrade.

Dancer had Nutcracker practice this afternoon, so I dropped her off and her grandpa A. picked her up. DD spent the rest of her afternoon and evening with my mom and step-dad.

I spent the rest of my afternoon doing some more blog layout work. Around 4:30, I decided to get the pile of dishes done. Dodger got home while I was still working on them, just before 5.

I've done a lot of housework done this evening. I cleaned up and swept the laundry room. The recyclables have been taken out to the curb. All of the towels and throw rugs are washed, dried, and put away. Most of my bedroom floor is swept and a load of my clothes is in the wash right now.

The only show that is a must watch on Sunday evenings is Desperate Housewives. That was my only TV time today until it hit 10 pm and Dodger told me Forensic Files was on. So, I've been getting up and doing little bits of housework during the commercials.

CSI Miami will be on in about 10 minutes. It's one of Dodger's favorite shows. I will probably watch it with him and then head to bed. I'm working on getting my sleep schedule worked around so that I don't sleep too much of the morning away. This will help me weather the seasonal depression that usually happens as the days get shorter and it gets too cold outside to do much of anything except to hibernate inside.

went bowling with my dad tonight

Last night I went to bed at 4am. Today I woke up at 10:30. Wow. What's with that? I always need more sleep than that but obviously not today.

I ate fairly soon after I woke up. I spent some time entering bloggy giveaways until Dodger woke up and kicked me off the computer.

Dodger went to the store, unexpectedly, around 3pm and came back with fixings for taco salad. He bought everything low fat and lean. :) The salad only ended up being about 425 calories. That's a pretty good total for something with chips, sour cream and cheese in it. Dodger later told me that he was reading through my Shape magazine (an online freebie I signed up for) and in the interview with Jennifer Love Hewitt, she mentions how she loves taco salad and Dodger thought it sounded good so he went out and bought the fixings. LOL.

Dancer went bowling with my dad tonight and went out to eat at Hometown Buffet afterwards. I had a few coupons for the bowling alley and for dinner that I sent with her.

Before she left, we got her dresser moved out of her room. She's been bugging me for about a week now to trade dressers with me. Mine is smaller than the one she has and she's trying to make the most of her small space.

After she got home this evening, she was right on me about getting the one out of my room moved to hers. This was no small feat. I have my TV, VCR, DVD players on top plus tapes and other things. So, Dodger helped me move stuff off of it. He also got his clothes out of it since he's the one who uses it. We got stuff moved around and dusted. The dust was really think.

Before Dancer got home I took a shower and then chopped about 5 inches off of my hair. It was down to the middle/lower part of my back. I don't mind it being that long but as it starts getting colder my hair has a tendency to break more. I wanted to give my hair a break and give it a new start. It's still long, a few inches past my shoulders, but short enough to help stop the breakage. When I cut my own hair, I just pick where I want it and whack it off. Dodger always evens it out for me. He's always so particular to get every little uneven piece trimmed. It was killing my neck to hold still for so long. There was a lot of bitching coming out of my mouth tonight while he was trimming. LOL. He kept pricking me with the end of the scissors, brushing my hair too hard against my back and killing my neck to hold it still.

Dodger gave me some more time on the computer this evening. I spent it entering a few more bloggy giveaways and I started another blog. It has to do with all of the free homeschool resources available on the net. I found a super cute blogger template but couldn't get the title to show up how I wanted it. So I looked through the code and found the link to the header picture. Once I had that, I was able to save the pic to my computer and then upload it to Picnic and add the blog title how I liked it. It's super cute now. I think I may do this with some of my other blogs.

Now I'm just watching TV. Rosanne is the only decent thing that's on right now. I think I'm going to grab up some bloggy addys on Blogger so that I can use them in the future.

I spent my evening watching Medium and Forensic Files

I spent most of my afternoon entering bloggy giveaways. I probably entered about 15-20 today. Dodger slept until around 4pm, which gave me plenty of time on the computer.

Dancer had tennis lessons this evening. My mom picked her up. Dancer usually spends most Friday evenings with my mom and step-dad.

I spent my evening watching Medium and Forensic Files. I cleaned up a few piles of stuff in my room, too. I've also been adding community activities to our homeschool support group website via the iTouch. It's not the fastest way to enter information but it's all I have access to in the evenings. I really want a laptop but I just don't see that happening anytime soon because we don't have the money.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day. I'm a little apprehensive because of my mess-up a few days ago. I am now back under my weekly calorie budget but not by much. I'm hoping for at least 1 lb.

what do you know, I actually got up

I set the alarm for 9:30 this morning, and what do you know, I actually got up. Dodger was already up which I was not expecting. Seems that he had to run an errand. I ate breakfast and then spent most of my morning entering bloggy giveaways.

We had homeschool co-op in the afternoon. Writing class was fun, I cleaned out my purse while listening to the kids have fun in class. Then while Dancer was in Hobbies class, I sat in the lobby and paid my bills via the iTouch.

After we got done with co-op, Dancer and I ran errands. I had to deposit money in my bank account, pay the mortgage, and take Dancer to the dollar store to get her some hangers. She's reworking her room and has resided to use her closet to hang clothes in instead of store stuff in. I also stopped to cash in some scratch offs but the line was way too long, so I left.

I took Dancer to dance class this evening. I waited in the truck, even though I had to start it a few times because it got too cold, and played on the iPod. On the way there and back we talked about the things she wants to study and how Scrabble gives her spelling and math practice. She is interested in doing a few math programs that I've talked to her about before. They are both free programs that are available via the Internet. So, we may start that tomorrow.

We also talked about her virtual travels, we have plans to travel the world virtually since we can't afford to do it physically. I told her that she doesn't have to wait on me to get started. She knows how to build simple websites and she can easily research each country she wants to visit by using the Internet and record the information she's found on her own website.

Although I'm not a fan of over-scheduling our lives. I do see a need for us to at least have an outline of ideas and goals as well as a small action plan to get us going. I'm busy working on building blogs on topics that interest me, hopefully I can build them into something that matters and maybe something that can help support my family someday. Dancer is busy doing her thing, so we both need a reminder of where it is that we want to go.

When we got home from dance I made Sloppy Joes for dinner. Yum. I managed to adjust today's calorie intake so that I made up for yesterday's mistake. I am now 35 calories under my weekly goal. I have 3 more days in my week, so I should be able to adjust and be under a bit more.

Now I'm going to head to bed so I can get to work tomorrow in getting some sort of goals and schedule hashed out with Dancer and get my own goals and schedule worked out.

I screwed up on my calories today

Ugh. Dang it. I screwed up on my calories today. I am 145 calories over my budget today. This is my wake-up call... always always always log my food RIGHT AFTER I EAT IT. Grrrrr. I kept thinking "wow, I can't believe I have that many calories left at the end of the day" and then I remembered the spaghetti I had earlier in the evening. Grrrr.

I went to the grocery store earlier today. We were running low on a few items, so I just did a regular shopping day and replentished everything. Thank goodness the grocery store was pretty dead. Sometimes Aldi is busting at the seams and it makes grocery shopping difficult.

Dancer didn't go to her dance class tonight. Her stomach has been a little funky since this morning. Dodger decided he was going to nap today (his sleep is always screwed up) so I took advantage of not having to be out of the house and entered a few more bloggy giveaways.

I guess right now I'm going to watch tonight's episode of SYTYCD and do a little more surfing the net on the iPod.

Yesterday was another nice and slow day

Yesterday was another nice and slow day. It is rather nice to not have our lives over-scheduled. I played around on Facebook and with some of my other blogs. I also entered a few online giveaways.

Dancer had dance yesterday evening. I waited in the parking lot after dropping her off and played on the iTouch. The WiFi was being a little wacky. I'd lose it every-so-often and have to stop and reconnect again. Tuesday dance night is a good night because Dancer's class is early, it's only an hour long, and we get home just in time for me to not miss any of The Biggest Loser.

I decided not to join in The Darla Show last night on Twitter. I guess I just needed a break. She had some really great questions, though. I did find and follow many of the Dancing With the Stars cast as well as had a few small conversations with Ali Sweeney (Biggest Loser hostess) and Kristin Steede (former BL contestant from past seasons).

Today I need to make up my grocery list and go shopping. Dodger just took my truck to go do a bid for work. So, maybe by the time he gets back I'll have my list made out.

Dodger isn't working today because of the rain. Guess I won't get much computer time today. I'd better grab this time and go enter a few giveaways. I'll blog later this evening while Dancer is at another dance class or after she's gone to bed.

do you ever wonder...

if you're doing enough?

Meaning, are we making our unschooling lives full enough that there is no need for curriculum?

After a few months of seemingly nothing really going on in our lives but the daily grind, I wonder if I'm doing enough.  Dancer spends many of her days online, working on building websites for her *other* worlds (mainly The Warrior series and Naruto), talking on chat pretending to be cats in this Warrior world, and chatting with friends on the website set-up as our homeschool group's social network.  She found a Paint-like program online and drew some digital pictures on there for her sites and last week I showed her the Paint program on her computer, and she's been taking pics from the web and altering them and then adding them to Photobucket and sometimes to her websites.  She's also been making a scrapbook to put her ribbons and awards in from stuff she's participated in, in the past.

She's back to her weekly routine of dance and sports.  Dance 3 nights a week (T, W, Th), tennis on Fridays, Nutcracker practice on Sundays and in Nov, golf on Mondays.  She also has co-op on Thurs afternoons.  Other than that, we haven't been doing much.  Heck, there's no money to do much more than that.  I used to be the queen of free... I knew what was going on in the area to do that didn't cost any money or very little but I haven't kept up on that.  Maybe I just got burnt out.  IDK.  I guess I've just been feeling like I haven't been doing enough facilitating.

We've had great ideas of things we want to do, but just haven't done them.  She'll get busy doing her thing and I get busy doing mine and we just never get to doing these other things.

I know this is stuff that I can change.  I suppose that I'm just venting my worries so that they don't overwhelm me.  I'm very visual.  I need to write things down.  I think that writing things out so that I can see them helps me to focus and get back on track.

What a lovely day at the park with friends

What a lovely day at the park with friends. It was a little cool. Probably in the mid 50s but we bundled up and the sun even showed up for a bit to warm us all up.

We got home from the park around 4 and Dancer picked out what she wanted me to make for dinner. She chose lasagna skillet dinner (i.e. hamburger helper), corn muffins, and I added green beans for our veggie.

We spent the rest of our evening hanging out. Dodger and I watched our Monday night line-up: House, The Big Bang Theory, and CSI Miami. Dancer spent most of her evening talking to and playing with a few homeschool friends via the net. I taped Dancing With the Stars since it's not possible for me to watch two shows at once. I'll have to catch up on that show tomorrow.

I caught The Darla Show on Twitter. It's always a highlight of my evening. It's a little kinky but it's all in good fun.

heading to bed in an hour or so

Today I got up at 10:30. I'm so glad I didn't feel the need to sleep later than that. I really had my sleep schedule messed up last week.

I got my weight loss blog updated and back online today. I really want to keep it updated and begin to add more elements to it. It's a work in progress, for sure.

Dancer had Nutcracker practice this afternoon. My mom called last night to ask if she wanted to come over after practice, so my mom picked her up today.

Dodger and I spent some child-free time together after he got home from work. Then he took a nap and I played on my blog and the net a bit more.

I watched Desperate Housewives. It's the only *must see* show I watch on Sunday evenings. I'm a little annoyed where Gabby's character seems to be headed again. I guess once a drama queen, always a drama queen.

I've spent the rest of my night watching Forensic Files on TruTV and tuned into Twitter for The Darla Show (@thedarlashow).

I'll be heading to bed in an hour or so. Dancer and I are meeting some friends at the park tomorrow noon. We've missed being able to hang out with them.

Maybe a crochet project would be good to escape to

I think I got up around 12:30 today. I stayed up way too early last night, again. My back hurt and I was bored. That's my excuse.

I spent some more time looking for an online meeting place/social network/message board that would meet the needs of our homeschool support group. I didn't have much luck. We may just have to go back to Yahoo Groups, bah humbug.

Right now I'm watching a really great Italian cooking show on the Create PBS station. I think the lady's name who does the show is Lydia or Lidia. I enjoy her cooking style and how she gives a bit of a history lesson during the show.

I still have about 400 more calories to eat today. My eating schedule has been a bit off since Thursday.

I'm also worried about the upcoming holidays and how that will affect my progress. I guess I'd better start working on a holiday action plan, so that I can get through the holidays without going crazy. I really don't expect certain members of my family to support me during this time and I fully expect to get razzed for not eating anything and everything put in front of me. I will need to thicken my skin before then, so that I don't let that trigger me.

I may have healed from my past food addiction, but that doesn't mean that certain situations and certain people don't still trigger me. I guess a good thing for the holidays would be to put together a bag of tricks, so that I can have a healthy escape if need be. Maybe a crochet project would be good to escape to, it would keep my mind and my hands busy until I could get back to my comfortable home environment.

Maybe it all won't be that bad. My aunt is counting her calories, too. Maybe if they all know ahead of time that a healthy holiday is preferable, maybe they'll welcome it. Maybe just maybe my family could be supportive.

I can't believe we're dealing with adults

Today I woke up a little after 1 pm. Jeez. But I did catch up on some of the sleep I lost yesterday.

Dodger didn't work again because it's still been raining throughout the day. I really hope the rain stops so that he can get back to work.

The homeschool support group that I help run has decided that the online program we've been using, Groupsite, is not meeting our needs, so I'm back to looking for another place to host us. I really like Qlubb but it's missing a few of the things that Groupsite has. There doesn't seem to be one place that has it all.

Our co-op is also having some issues. Members aren't stepping up when there is a need because of illness or emergency. We use a Yahoo Group for our co-op communication and from what I can tell, people aren't checking their email daily like we've told them they needed to. Teachers are also not posting what the students need each week. Grrrr. I swear sometimes I can't believe we're dealing with adults, adults who homeschool no less.

Dancer had tennis lessons today. My mom and step-dad picked her up afterwards and Dancer spent the evening with them.

Dodger made grilled salmon for dinner. I heated up some sweet corn and baked potatoes for sides. We would have normally taken advantage of a child-free evening but heck, after 3 nights in a row, we are worn out. So, I watched 'Medium' in the bedroom and then came out to the living room to watch some episodes of 'Forensic Files' with him.

Now we're watching 'South Park' and he's also playing his online flying game. I think it's called Aces High. They have squad ops on Friday nights. More episodes of 'Forensic Files' will be on in a bit. I'll probably end up watching those and then head to bed.

Turning Wheels

Man, I went to bed late last night and got up way too early. It was all Dodger's fault. I stayed up to spend time with him and then his alarm woke me up around 7:30 and I couldn't get back to sleep.

I ate breakfast around 9:30, which is way earlier than I'm used to and didn't prepare a lunch before we headed to co-op today. HUGE MISTAKE. I was so hungry by the time we got done with co-op that I thought my stomach was going to eat itself. It was all I could do to keep myself from overeating once I got home.

I didn't eat dinner before taking Dancer to dance class tonight either. Again, not good. My system is so thrown off today by the lack of my regular schedule that I'm still hungry and only have about 80 calories left to use today.

I'm going to spend some time with Dodger again tonight. I guess The Darla Show on Twitter just gets my wheels started in motion. So, I'm off to munch on an apple and then put the wheels into full drive.

Be all things to all people

After I blogged last night, I ended up chatting with an online friend via AIM about the fact that I feel like a fraud in certain circles now because I'm not a Christian anymore and could for sure say that I'm a non-theist although not altogether an atheist. She's one of the only people I trust to talk about these sort-of things with.

It was really great to get some of this off of my chest. It's really been nagging at me lately. I've always been an introspective person but I'll go crazy if I have to be in my head for too long without some respected feedback.

The one thing that my friend said that has been sticking with me all day is, "be all things to all people." Wow. That's quite a challenge for someone who's more likely to separate herself from other people so that they don't get too close and find out that there are big issues that we don't agree on. I guess I'm up to the challenge, being that my whole purpose of writing all of this out here in this blog is acceptance. Acceptance of myself and of others. I just am baffled at how I could relate to an evangelical Christian at this point? Sure other religions come into play, too, but not so much in the homeschooling circles around here.

Today has been another lazy day. We really didn't do much but play on the computer. I thawed out steaks for dinner at Dodger's request. I'm sitting out in my truck, as I type, at Dancer's dance studio while Dodger is at home cooking up those steaks. I hope he grills them. There's nothing like the taste of grilled food. Yum.

SYTYCD is being recorded on my VCR. I'll be watching that later. I'm taping a few shows on CBS tonight, too. I'll have to watch those another day. Maybe on Saturday, there's not a damn thing on TV on Saturday night.

I'm looking forward to another episode of The Darla Show tonight on Twitter. You can join in by following @thedarlashow and then being on Twitter Sun-Thurs starting at 10:15pm Central time.

Tomorrow we have homeschool co-op. Pictures are being taken for the yearbook (new thing the kids are putting together this year) during co-op time. Dancer was a little grumpy when I told her about the pictures today. I'm not sure if I'm going to buy a packet of pictures yet. That will depend on the price.

It was a rather boring day today

It was a rather boring day today. Dodger didn't work because of rain. It needs to quit raining!!!! I couldn't do much around the house because he slept all day and I didn't want to wake him.

I ran Dancer to dance class around 5:30. I waited for her out in the truck and used the net via the free WiFi access there.

When I got home, I watched the next episode of The Biggest Loser and chatted on Twitter during the show with other viewers. I taped SYTYCD while watching, since their times overlap. I also watched The Good Wife, it's a new show on CBS. I think it's really good. Out of the 3 new shows I tried out this season, it's the only one I find worth continuing to watch.

I got to participate in The Darla Show on Twitter tonight. It's a ton of fun. Great adult humor. All you have to do to join is is follow @thedarlashow on Twitter.

Now I'm going to hang out with Dodger for awhile since Dancer has gone to bed.

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day

Let's see, I guess I need to catch up on yesterday first.

Yesterday was a fairly lazy day. I got up early to send Dancer off. She headed out for the day to spend time with my mom and step-dad. They went to a flea market and found some goodies, they also went to Rural King and the Dollar Tree and bought some things there, too. She was gone pretty much all day.

Dodger worked for a bit. He helped his old business partner on a job in the morning and then went out to his own job in the afternoon. He came home early to spend some child-free time with me.

I played on Facebook most of the afternoon. There is a new game on there that has sucked me in. I.must.stop.playing. Ugh. I think I'm getting sucked in because of the weather outside being chilly.

Today hasn't been much better. Another day of not doing much. Ok, I guess, but there are things I want to get finished up and then other projects I want to get started on. I played on Facebook again for most of the afternoon but I have managed to pull myself away to get the dishes done and the kitchen wiped down.

I did do a few things on our homeschool co-op sites and edited a few things on my blog. I'm wondering if I should move this blog. I haven't decided yet. I just had an issue yesterday and realized that I need to be more careful with making sure that this stays anonymous.

I asked Dodger to stop by and get a movie on his way home from work. I think I'll make pizza for dinner. Pizza goes good with watching a movie. I can't believe it's almost 6:30 already. A new episode of House will be on at 7. Time to get off of the computer and get dinner made.

Circle of Online Friends

Aren't there situations in life where you just feel so helpless to help. I'm feeling like that right now. I have a dear online friend who's husband has been out of a job for about a month or so now and she emailed me yesterday to tell me that she's about at her breaking point. Her husband just can't find work and they can't pay their bills or buy food. She went to the food pantry yesterday but they were closed by the time she got there. They are also on the verge of having their power shut off, too. I did rally the troupes... I emailed our group of online friends and asked them if they were able to help. Well all have sent money via PayPal and a few of them are ordering food from Amazon to be delivered there on Monday. I just know that they are in need of food now and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. She lives more than 7 hours away from me. I'm not financially well off by any means and having just quit my job, we're even more tight with money than before. I sent her Christmas money that I had been saving back because their well-being is more important than some gift for Christmas.

::sigh::

I don't really feel like posting about my day but I will because I don't want to let that go by the wayside. I need an outlet. This writing is my outlet. I'm feeling very hungry today. I know it's because I feel helpless to help my friend. So, instead of eating, I'm going to write.

Yesterday, I got up around noon again. That's really starting to bug me. I woke up around noon today, too.

I spent my afternoon not doing much. Dancer had tennis lessons at 4:30. My mom called around 3 and made arrangements to pick Dancer up from lessons. Then around 5:30 she called and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with them. Because I try and do the monthly dinner out appeasement with my mom, I said yes. Dodger and I usually spend Friday evenings together because it's our alone time but since my back has been a big huge pain, there wasn't going to be anything happening there. So, they ended up picking me up on the way to get Dancer from tennis. We did a little shopping at the Dollar General. My mom purchased a few things for us. I'm not a big shopper, BTW, so I really only picked up a few needs and I let my mom buy me a cute decorative scarf.

My mom always sees me wearing the same things. That's because I'm fat and I don't have money. lol. She mentioned a few times about dressing the body I have but again that takes money. And again, I hate shopping. If you've ever been overweight, you know how much of a pain in the butt shopping for clothes is. It's not fun at all. I have plenty of cute clothes waiting for me as I lose this weight and get back into them. She doesn't think I have any style, which isn't true, I love clothes and fashion. I just don't have the money or the body to think about that for myself right now.

After shopping, we went to eat in a little diner in Macon. I was a little worried about going out to dinner without having food information first. But they did have a few things that were worth eating. I had the grilled tilapia, steamed baby carrots, and a salad. That reminds me, I don't think I logged my salad yesterday. Not that the calories amount to much with some iceberg lettuce, a few slices of tomato and onion but it still needs to be logged. It was good food. Yummy.

After dinner they dropped me off at home and Dancer went back to their place to play games. Scrabble was mentioned, icky. I'm more of a card game player. I don't like those word games at all. I watched the last half of Medium (still need to go back and watch it from the beginning) and some Forensic Files.

Around 11 is when I checked my email and got the email from my friend that I mentioned above. If I could have grown wings, I would have been there in a heart beat to help her out. If was hard for me to respond because I can see how she's at her breaking point spiritually. She mentioned how she's been thanking God daily for feeding them and keeping a roof over their head, she was doing good until yesterday when it all just started crashing down. When her prayers and thanksgiving weren't being answered like she expected them to be... like the hope of religion says they will. I told her that I had lost my faith after praying for years but that I didn't want to discourage her from doing whatever was necessary for her to get through this. But, you see, for me, it's no longer about prayers and answered prayers... it's about action and asking and reaching out for help. It's now about people and helping each other. It's about friendship and love. I'm not sure that prayers are answered, but I do know that calls for help are answered. I do know that humanity still cares for one another and wants to help each other out. No one wants to see a family struggle and not have food or power or a place to live.

So, I rallied the troupes. And my call for help on the behalf of my friend are being answered. We've been there for each other before. I felt compelled to give money to one of them before and then ask the others to help, so that she could get out of an abusive situation. We've been there for each other before. I just wish there was more I could do. I feel like calling some of the churches down where she's at and asking them for help but I'm afraid of them taking it as a way to try and get them to come to their church. They don't go to church and don't want to, even though they still believe in God. Would you do it anyway, just to get your friend some help?

I told her about the public assistance programs that we have in my state and county and asked her if there was anything like that near her. I think she may have found a few places to ask for help. And said she also looked into getting public food assistance (she needs to apply for medical and cash, too, while she's at it) but said she doesn't even have the gas money to get there. I asked if there was a plasma donation center near her because that's a quick way to get some cash. I tried to think of everything that I have available in my area, because I hope that she has those options near her.

I guess I'll go ask the troupes if calling the churches around there are a good idea. Many of them are non-churchers, too, but they may say that we should do it because it's such an immediate situation. I am more than willing to get up early tomorrow and start calling churches. By now, I'm sure that no one is around on a Saturday evening. Maybe I could start with some emails. IDK.

So, anyway, the majority of my day today has been searching getting in touch with our online group of friends and searching online for help in her area. Dodger called earlier and asked me to thaw some chicken. I cleaned up the bathroom and kitchen a bit. I replaced the string of lights in a decorative light that Dancer made, since the light has been burned out for some time now. My feet are freezing and I need to go put on some socks. I guess, first I'll go and send out another email about contacting churches in my friend's area.

Lightening & Lights Out

Today we had co-op classes. Afterwards, we stopped by the grocery store for a few items. I finally bought myself some skim milk to eat on my cereal for breakfast. I'll save 50+ calories by using skim instead of whole milk.

Dodger didn't work today because of the rain. Big bummer. I know how badly he wants to finish up this job.

I took Dancer to dance this evening. There was a bit of a lightening storm while I was waiting. The power in the whole place even went out for a few minutes. I was going to get my flashlight and go in after her but I was afraid to step out of the truck with the lightening still going on around the place.

Dodger was crashed out and taking a nap when we got home. I spent most of my evening in my room. I did eventually get up and go do the huge pile of dishes from lunch and dinner.

I did get in on the last 15 minutes of the @thedarlashow on Twitter. It's a ton of fun. Her show schedule is Sun thru Thurs, 10:15pm CST.

Now, I'm contemplating having a late evening snack and seeing what's on TV for the next few hours.