Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Songs for Dodger: We Belong


So many of us have been here, in this place, in our love-relationships.  Dodger and I have gone through some pretty big growing pains together in the nearly 22 years we've been together.  Staying together, long-term, is no easy task.  I can honestly say, that if two people really love each other and there is no kind-of abuse then all of these obstacles and growing pains can be overcome.  Dodger and I are in a very good place right now but we've been "here".  So this song is for never giving up.

I'm crying now... so let's just listen to the song.


Many times I've tried to tell you, many times I've cried alone
Always I'm surprised how well you cut my feelings to the bone
Don't wanna leave you really, I've invested too much time
To give you up that easy, to the doubts that complicate your mind

We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better
We belong, we belong, we belong together

Maybe it's a sign of weakness, when I don't know what to say
Maybe I just wouldn't know what to do with my strength anyway
Have we become a habit, do we distort the facts
Now there's no looking forward, now there's no turning back, when you say

We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better
We belong, we belong, we belong together

Close your eyes and try to sleep now, close your eyes and try to dream
Clear your mind and do your best to try and wash the palette clean
We can't begin to know it, how much we really care
I hear your voice inside me, I see your face everywhere, still you say

We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better
We belong, we belong, we belong together

Daily Quote: April 30, 2013

"Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus, unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie."
~ Alexander Pope, Ode on Solitude

Welcome to the Jungle

Limbs from last fall that still need cut up and put in the yard waste bins.
Also, "someone" needs to mow.  ;)

I got another late start to my day today.  I didn't get up until almost noon.  Good grief!  Again, I stayed up too late.  I do suppose that the headache I've had since last night, due to the pressure from the impending rain expected to hit us tomorrow, didn't help matters much.  There was also Rick waking me up early this morning and trying to chat my ear off about something he saw on Yahoo News this morning about people having near death experiences and claiming to have been to heaven during those experiences then coming back and changing their lives.  He was all like, "do people ever have near death experiences of hell?"  Good grief.  Not what I want to be talking about when barely awake and have a headache, to boot.

I got my workout and review done right after getting up.  There was no time to be wasting.  Then I ate breakfast, which was really lunch if we go by time of day.  I had scrambled eggs with some of my leftover spicy fajita innards mixed in plus some mild salsa and cheese to make it less spicy.

Most everyone reading here by now knows I have plantar fasciitis in my feet, with my right foot being the worse.  Yesterday during one of my workout videos, I had to stand in one place too much to do the upper body segment.  Anyone with any knowledge of it knows that standing in one place is what hurts plantar fasciitis the worst (other than anything high impact which no one with plantar fasciitis is trying to do).  I had to stop in the middle of the video and figure out what to do because the arch in my left foot was killing me, even in my super awesome, soft and squishy, Nike tennis shoes.  I remembered that I bought some Dr. Scholl's super-duper inserts for Dancer last year when she was dealing with plantar fasciitis due to dance.  She never used them because she didn't like how they felt in her shoes.  Well, I put them in and other than my feet sitting higher in my shoes they are fabulous!  The difference is like night and day!  I should have tried them sooner.  Call me a slow learner... or super stubborn... whichever you wish.  ;)


Dodger mowed the front yard yesterday after he got home.  It did, indeed, look as bad as the back yard.  Yes, we are "those" neighbors.  You know, the ones with the messy yard and a little too much junk everywhere.  But at least I can say we aren't "those kind-of" neighbors.  You know, the one's who have the police as fairly regular visitors.  The ones who let their little kids hang out in the middle of the street.  The ones who you hear yelling and screaming at each other.  The ones who you lock your doors at night because of.  Yeah, we aren't "those kind-of" neighbors and we do have those here on this block and in this neighborhood.

The neighbor to the right of us, looking at our house from the street, died a few month ago.  Her husband died years ago.  So now that house is empty and their daughter has been working hard to get it sellable.  Dodger and I both hope and pray that we don't get "those kind-of" neighbors moving in next door.  We both want so badly to move.  I want so badly to move to the country again.  Actually, it's my dream to move back to the spot where I grew up and build a house there.  I'd be happy with moving a trailer back on to the place but Dodger doesn't want to live in a trailer.  I don't know why.  It was pretty roomy, much more roomy than the house we live in now, and it was comfortable.  So now you know why my blog is named what it is.  I want so badly to be in the country again, where neighbors are sparse and nature is close!

Daily Photo: No Filter

Yesterday's #dailyselfportrait #nofilter Instagram photo.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Daily Quote: April 29, 2013

"I am a man, and nothing human can be of indifference to me."
(Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto.)
~ Chremes in The Self-Torturer, a play by Terence




Spicy Weekend

Me, without glasses and slightly flakey skin from the tretinoin cream.
Instagram #dailyselfportrait April 25, 2013.

It is a lovely 74 degrees out right now at 4 pm.  This day has gone by far too quickly because I got up far too late.  I like to be up by 9:30 everyday but today I had a tummy ache and I didn't feel like getting out of bed before 11.  The reason for the tummy ache will be explained below.  I got my workout done earlier, after getting up, and did my workout review.  Now, while laundry is going, I'm making time to blog.


Just a few pictures from outside my back door this afternoon.

Thursday was the last day I updated, so let's catch up on the days since.

Friday evening, Dancer had a dance company performance at Imboden Creek Living Center.  I have those videos uploaded to my YouTube, so I'll embed them below.  Dad came to watch.  He comes almost every time.  Afterwards, she went to my mom & step-dad's and Dodger & I had a late starting date night.





Saturday was a pretty lazy day.  It was rainy and chilly, so I decided to start working on my workout schedule for May.  I made up some printable scheduling forms and uploaded them to my workout site.  Dodger called in the afternoon and asked if I would come help him clean up at the job he was working on so that he could continue painting.  So I went out there for a bit to help him.  Then that evening, I began searching YouTube for videos to fill up my workout form.  I got the first week schedule done that night.

Yesterday afternoon, Dancer had another dance company performance, this time at McKinley Court Care Center.  Dad came again because he couldn't be out in the fields.  It was too wet from the rain on Saturday.  I don't have any pictures or video from this day.  I just wasn't the place for it.

Afterwards, we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant down the road.  My belly started hurting right before we ordered.  Then I got brave (and stupid) and ordered the Spicy Fajitas.  Oh my.  It was spicier than I was expecting.  My brain and taste buds were having a war while my mouth and lips were on fire... and my nose running... my taste buds were saying, "this tastes good," while my brain was saying, "ouch, ouch, ouch, this is hot!"  I had my dad laughing pretty good.  It was so spicy that I had to order a glass of milk before I even finished my first fajita.  Yes, I'm quite aware of just how funny this is.  :P

Last night, I spent more time looking for workout videos on YouTube.  My biggest challenge is to find low-impact workouts because of my plantar fasciitis feet issues.  I filled in a few more blank spaces in my schedule and got my playlists organized.

Daily Photo: Soldier Doll Dreams

Dancer, December 2012, as the Soldier Doll in The Nutcracker.
She's been wanting to do this dance for years because she loves
all of the turns, jumps, and leaps.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Little Sunshine

Me, looking super cute, on Instagram last night.

I'm starting to get my groove back after a rough day on Tuesday.  The sun has been out all day and there's no hint of rain but it's still chilly... too chilly to open the windows again.

Last night, I started to clean up my laptop.  It runs super slow, so I'm seeing what I can remove, don't need, or can store in the cloud to free up some space.  I've also run CCleaner to clean the registry and to fix errors and I'm now defragging it.  I'd like a new one but with a too-large-for-comfort credit card balance, I refuse to get a new one until that's paid off.  Then I'd actually like to get a new-to-me truck, so a new laptop isn't really at the top of my priority list right now.

Today, I'm about half-way through catching up on the housework and soon I think I'll sit down and write up some goals for May.  My Facebook break ends in less than a week and I'm still deciding what I'm going to do about my use of Facebook. It's a time-suck but I miss my friends.  My time on there will be limited, for sure.  Not only self-imposed limitations but also because I plan to be too busy with other things.

I'm having a blast blogging.  It's getting easier to share who I am and about my life like this.  I still have moments of "who gives a crap" and "I'm not really that interesting" but then I let them pass because I know how much I enjoy reading other blogs where their sole purpose is to share their days and their interests.

A little color outside today.  I love dandelions.  They are so bright and cheery.
I must read more about eating them.

Daily Photo: The Birds Are Returning


I caught this little guy up in the tree outside our back door just a little while ago.  One day I'll have a better camera and be able to do some justice to what I see.

Daily Quote: April 25, 2013

Come, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come;
And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud,
While music wakes around, veiled in a shower
Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend.
~ James Thompson, The Seasons

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Daily Quote: April 24, 2013

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
~ Howard Aiken

When the World Deflates

Yesterday's #dailyselfportrait on Instagram.

Yesterday was rough for no real reason.  I'm ready for warm spring days but it's been cold, dark and rainy here too much lately.  The limitations of having severe plantar fasciitis in my right foot also weighs on me.  I have set a goal to lose the last 50 lbs of weight I've been hanging onto for far too long by this Christmas.  I refuse to have one more year where my Christmas pictures are fat pictures.  It just frustrates me that my feet hurt almost constantly and that makes exercise difficult and very limited in what I can do.   I love HIIT workouts but they are a no-go with my feet the way they are.  I'm trying not to be down about this and think outside of the box but I'm still more frustrated about it than I think I'm allowing myself to feel.

Today I packaged up 9 more books to take to the post office tomorrow.  That's 22 books gone within the past week.  I feel really good about that.  I've even let more books go off of my hold shelf.  I have lots more.

Daily Photo: Tap Tap Tap

From Sunday's dance company performance at
the Lincoln Rehabilitation Center.



Monday, April 22, 2013

Daily Quote: April 22, 2013

"When a child hits a child, we call it aggression. When a child hits an adult, we call it hostility. When an adult hits an adult, we call it assault. When an adult hits a child, we call it discipline."
~ Haim G. Ginott

I'm a Keek, I'm a Weirdo

From Sunday's dance company performance at
the Lincoln Rehabilitation Center.

Saturday, I went thrifting with my friend Sarah.  I thought I made some pretty good purchases but only a few things fit Dancer and I properly.  Oops.  I had the most fun walking through the flea markets and antique shops.  One of them had live bluegrass music playing (think Oh Brother Where Art Thou style), so we were serenaded while we shopped.  That was really cool.  The two of us had lunch at Jimmy John's and then walked across the street to the grand opening of Cherry Berry.  Shhhh... we haven't told anyone in our family that we went without them.  ;)  I spent over $7 dollars on my frozen yogurt sundae and it was worth every cent!

After we were finished with lunch, she dropped me back off at home and I picked up Dancer and we head over to her house to visit with her and the kids and to have dinner.  She made her fabulous cheesy chicken casserole and I brought banana bread for dessert.  It didn't really bake up right (it fell a bit) and I thought it tasted strange but everyone else swears it tasted like banana bread should taste.

Sunday afternoon, Dancer had another dance company performance.  I didn't take video of anything this time because I was sitting at in an awkward spot.  Dad came again and we went out to eat at Hometown Buffet afterwards.

When we got home, I just vegged in my room the rest of the evening.  Dodger kept teasing me and calling me anti-social.  I think he wanted me to come out and hang out with him in the living room but he was watching basketball (yuck) and painting more shutters.  I just wasn't feeling like hanging out.  I watched the first episode of the new Netflix original series, Hemlock Grove, and made my first Keek.  Keek is like Instagram only for video.

I mention the daily self portrait project.  I started that on Instagram when I started my Facebook break at the beginning of April. It's loosely based on and inspired by what Kyeli talks about in this video on her blog.


When my friend, Deanna, joined Keek, I thought I'd give it a try, too.  It's far more uncomfortable for me to take video of myself than taking pictures of myself.  You can see that uncomfortableness written all over my face and in my voice in the video.  It's authentic.  It's real.  It's ok.  I am my worst critic and I'm working in all ways to be better about that and see my beauty both inside and out.

I want my view of myself to match up to what others see and to always put my best out into the world.

Daily Photo: On Pins and Needles

Dancer being supported by 3500 nails.

From our visit to the WonderWorks museum in Panama City Beach, FL last fall.  My sister, Kara, and nephew, Sage, drove up for a visit while we were down painting a house.  The four of us went to this awesome "children's" museum while they were here.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Messy Baking


After sleeping most of the evening after dinner and turning the lights out for good at 10:30 pm, I was up this morning just before 6 am.  Right now there is banana bread in the oven.  It mixed up funny this morning and I made quite the mess.  It remains to be seen if it bakes up right, too.  I had planned to bake the bread a few days ago to take on our planned visit to my friend Shanna's but Dancer didn't feel good that day, so we didn't go anywhere that day until her jazz class that evening.  So I'm baking it up today so that we can take it to Sarah's later.  Sarah and I are going thrifting later this morning and then Dancer and I will drive over to visit at her place with the kids.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Songs for Dodger: Let's Hear It for the Boy



This one is perfect to start my Songs for Dodger series.
This song is perfectly him.  :)

-----------

My baby, he don't talk sweet
He ain't got much to say
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
I know that he loves me anyway

And maybe he don't dress fine
But I don't really mind
'Cause every time he pulls me near
I just wanna cheer

Let's hear it for the boy
Let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Maybe he's no Romeo
But he's my loving one-man show
Whooa, whooa, whooa-oh
Let's hear it for the boy

My baby may not be rich
He's watching every dime
But he loves me, loves me, loves me
We always have a real good time

And maybe he sings off-key
But that's all right by me, yeah
'Cause what he does, he does so well
Makes me wanna yell

Let's hear it for the boy
Aaaah, let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Oh-oh-oh, maybe he's no Romeo
But he's my loving one-man show
Whooa, whooa, whooa-oh
Let's hear it for the boy

Swallowed By Books

Spoken for!

The past few days have been a whirlwind of getting my groove back after a rough start to the week.  There's still no sun to speak of.  It rained again Wednesday night  and all through the day yesterday.  Lots of areas are flooded.  Luckily our regular path to the dance studio didn't have any large areas of water that would force me to turn around and find another way.  It's still dark and dreary outside today but the rain has stopped, for now.

Wednesday night, I organized my greeting cards, note cards, and stationery.  I have way too much.  I'll blame it on working at Hobby Lobby for 4-1/2 years of my life.  I also shoved a bunch more keepsake papers into a few boxes with some others to go through soon.  That night I also started going through the books on the shelves in my bedroom and listing them on PaperBackSwap.

Then yesterday, I was busy all day long.  I listed the rest of the books on my bedroom bookshelves, dusted, organized, and I am now ready to tackle the boxes and bags full of keepsake papers and pictures.  I had a total of 154 books listed.  15 of them are already spoken for.  55 of them are listed to swap and 84 of them are on my hold list.  I have a book list "a mile long" that I will schedule to read the rest of this year so that I can post them to swap when I'm finished.  Some books I will never swap but I put them on my hold list anyway just to have a visual record of them.

It feels fantastic to have that all done and know that I can, in short order, get to a project that I've been wanting to do for years... get my photos and keepsake pictures organized into scrapbooks and photo albums.

Books I'm keeping, for now.

Books I want to be rid of and some of the keepsake stuff.

All pictures and keepsake stuff... my next big project.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Daily Photo: Not a Book Worm

When I was a teen, this bookshelf was bright yellow
and right below it was one of my wooden cassette tape holders.

As I was updating my about me page, a little over a week ago, I mentioned the stereotype that all introverts love to read.  I'm a pretty big introvert but I really don't even like to read. Love and reading haven't ever gone together in a sentence , for me, as complements to one another.  I have five bookshelves full of books, most of which I will NEVER read.  This seems rather ridiculous to me.  I'm taking up space that I could be using to store things that I do love to do, like fabric for sewing.

So I spent part of my evening yesterday listing books on PaperBackSwap.  When I came across a book that I actually do want to read and will make a point to read this year, I added it to my holds list on PaperBackSwap, so as soon as I'm finished with it, I can easily list it as available.  I also like that putting an item on the hold list shows me when someone has that book on their wish list.  This way if I need a credit for a book that I want to get, I know that I can list that book as available and probably get rid of it pretty quickly.

When I woke up today, I already had three requests for books I had just listed.  All of them are ready to take to the post office this evening.  I still have lots more to list.  It's a job I'll take care of by the end of the month.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Daily Quote: April 17, 2013

"Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,
it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
~ Albert Einstein

My Dishes Are Sheepy


Lately I have found myself listening to chillstep and light dubstep music almost daily.  My favorite channel to queue up is MrSuicideSheep and his other channel, SuicideSheep.  There's something very meditative about the music.  Some of the tunes have become favorites that I must listen to every day.

I also find that it's much easier and much more enjoyable to do housework while this music is playing.  You just might find me dancing while doing the dishes... the dishes that I used to hate doing... and now find some strange sort-of enjoyment in because not only do I get to take frustrations out on the dishes while scrubbing them, it's also work that allows some white space back into my life.

Just had to update this post with this awesome SheepyMix!

Daily Photo: Do the Tretinoin Flake


A picture from my Instagram last night.  The Tretinoin flake is starting.  It's just old, dead skin being urged to let go so that the new stuff can come to the surface sooner.  Tretinoin cream is to the skin like HGH is to the body.  It helps everything rejuvenate at a faster rate.  The flaking will eventually stop.  I'm only applying the Tretinoin twice a week {Sundays & Wednesdays} to start with.  Any more than that would just be too much for my skin.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Daily Quote: April 16, 2013

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny." ~ Albert Ellis

Chilly Rainy Blahs


It's been raining off and on most of the night last night and all of the day today.  It brought some pretty chilly temps with it, as it's only 47 degrees right now at almost 2 pm.

I have noticed that the lack of sunlight the past two days really has affected my energy levels.  I thought it was just because I had a busy weekend but I don't think that's the case.  So I'm turning on the light therapy lamp (aka. sun lamp) on to see if that helps pep me up.  I still have plenty of things on my to-do list for April that I mean to accomplish or at least get started on and I don't want a few days of the blahs to get me in a slump that lasts any longer.

Daily Photo: Nightswimming



I absolutely love how this before and after turned out.  This is the picture I took of one of my back steps after the rain yesterday morning.  A little bit of time and the aid of Ribbit and I turned it into art.  :)

Monday, April 15, 2013

Daily Quote: April 15, 2013

“I’ve always been a sort of self-imposed outsider, not a geeky outsider or a snobby outsider, but I just have a natural desire to live on the fringe. I’m not like a weirdo with a trench-coat, but I just prefer to be alone or minimally surrounded by people.”
~ Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara

Just a Little Rain Dance

Rain on the back steps.
This picture is going to be fun to play with on Ribbet.
I'm so grateful to have another bit o' rain this morning.  Our city lake is still hurting from the drought we've had here the past two summers.  It would be so great to have a summer where plant life continues to thrive, instead of wilt and die because of the water restrictions brought on by the heat and lack of rain.

The rain has stopped and the sun is peaking through.  It's just warm enough to open up the windows again this afternoon and get some fresh air in the house.

I had a busy, busy weekend.

Friday was date night with Dodger.  Yay.  I love date night.  Sometimes we go out to eat but we usually just stay in and fire up the grill.  I tried vodka with Diet Squirt, because Dodger said his grandma always kept Squirt around to drink her vodka with.  Ew.  It was disgusting.  I won't ever drink that mixture again.  I'll stick with Screwdrivers, vodka with orange juice.  I've heard of vodka with cranberry juice, too.  Maybe I'll try it sometime, too.  I'm usually a rum drinker but my friend JoAnn mentioned having a Screwdriver a while back and Dodger found me some good and very distilled vodka, so I've been sticking with it for the past few weekends.

Saturday, Dancer had her second dance company performance of the spring season. This time they performed for the residents at the Rehabilitation Health Care Center.  Here are two videos from Saturday.  Please excuse the lighting issues, my camera didn't like that huge window in the background.  Dancer choreographed her lyrical solo herself.  She's really pleased with how it turned out.  Choreography is a skill to be mastered and each time she's allowed to do it, she gets better.


After the performance, the two of us went out to my dad's for dinner, games, and to visit.  My uncle Steve was up for the weekend, so that made it more fun, too.  It's always good to see him looking so good.  :)

Sunday, Dancer and I went to watch Gavin, my best friend Sarah's oldest, in his school play.  They did a very fractured interpretation of a few of the most famous of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  It was a hoot.  After it was over, we waited until they all cleaned up the set and gym and then we went out to eat with the cast and crew at Monical's Pizza.  I had a big salad 'cause I didn't want to pay the price for a gluten-free pizza.  It was over $10 just for a 10 inch cheese pizza.

I ended up making pizza stuffed peppers later for dinner anyway.  Then Dodger made one of his homemade, crust-to-die-for, pizza's and I had some of that, too.  :)

Daily Photo: Desire


This is another one from my archives.  I find it ironic that we had a lotto ticket behind the Marilyn Monroe magnet.  I'm pretty sure that's why I named it Desire.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

The second edition of Cruisin' for a Bruisin'.  It's all about those things I found interesting while cruising the Internet this week.

~Enjoy.


- EyePoetryPhotography.  Sells this beautiful hot air balloon photography print and tons of other absolutely stunning photography prints

- The print reminds me of this song by The 5th Dimension.


A few of my favorite Tweets this week:


Airing of Grievances

3 things each week that are driving me nuts,
because anymore than that would just be rude.
Who says I have to wait until Festivus to air my grievances?

1.  Taxes!  Taxes!  Taxes!  Business instructions and forms that took me days to decipher and figure out if I was doing them right.  Hello, IRS, there are REAL PEOPLE filling these things out.

2.  Companies that don't put everything you need in the box!  Come on, HP, like it would have killed you to put the USB cord in the box and just charged an extra $5. The least you could have done is put bright, big letters on the front of the box declaring that the USB cord is not included and we must hunt one down.

3.  Mother Nature harshin' on my springtime buzz.  From 70 degrees to less than 50 in less than a day.  I'm not amused!  My toes are cold again and it's all your fault.  Would you please tell your son, Winter, to get lost for awhile?  Thanks!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Daily Quote: April 11, 2013

"Take no offense. That which offends you only weakens you. Being offended creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the first place - so transcend your ego and stay in peace." 
~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

Blister In the Rain

Newly painted toenails all ready for sandals season.

After lovely weather all week, yesterday it started to rain and the rain brought the cold temperatures with it.  I went from dripping sweat while working out and doing housework to cold toesies and spaces heaters in the span of a mere 24 hours.  It kind-of sucks.

Yesterday, I traipsed out in the rain to run to Walmart for printer ink, so that I could finish up my taxes.  When I got there, I opted to buy a new printer instead.  On one hand, I could have bought a new black cartridge for my old printer for $27 dollars or I could buy a new printer for $34.  The replacement cartridges for the new printer are only $15.  So it seemed like a no-brainer.

Then I stopped at Hobby Lobby for a red t-shirt for Dancer for her dance company tap dance.

Then I came home because the wet shoes I ended up with during the run from the car into Walmart caused me to get a blister on my left pinky toe.  I had other errands to run but they'd have to wait.

Lunch and a workout later, I started to figure out how to move the old printer to a different spot (keeping it because it has a scanner on it) and the hook up the new one.  Much to my surprise and dismay, I find out that the new printer doesn't come with the USB cable to hook it up to my computer.  Wha?  So.... I called the hubs to ask him if he would stop at Walmart on the way home to pick one up.  He forgot.  Oops.

So at around 9:30 pm, I decided that I was bored out of my mind, not being on Facebook and all, so I was going to run back out to Walmart (since it's open 24 hours) and get the cable and pick up a few other things... like soup for Dancer because she's been asking for some different types.  A few hours and too much more $ later and I get checked out.  I start to head towards the doors that I was parked by.  Sorry... those doors close at 10 pm every night.  Hmmm... I almost never shop at Walmart, so I didn't know.  So I had to walk all the way back down to the other doors, outside in the pouring rain, and then all the way back to my car. Flip-flops aren't much better in the rain than the shoes I was wearing earlier that gave me a little blister.

When I got home I painted my toesies with the new nail polish I bought during the second trip.  :)

Today I got the new printer all set-up and ready to go.  I've been working on finishing up my taxes most of the day.  They're ALMOST finished!  All I have to do is get my handwritten information from the forms typed into the PDF forms, print them off, and then prepare them for mailing.  We're getting money back from federal and paying state.  It pretty much evens out.  I miss our huge tax returns we got when we were dirt poor.  I was hoping to get the credit card paid down a bit.  Oh well.  C'est la vie.

UPDATE:  They're finished until you see that you've made a few errors and you have to edit nearly every form you've already filled out!  Ugh!

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:  THEY'RE FINALLY FINISHED!  All that's needed is Dodger's signature!

Daily Photo: Decay



Dipping back into my archives for a few days and pulling out some of my favorite pictures.  Back before Ribbit, there was Picnik.  I'm sure you remember the whole Google bought Picnik and shut it down hoopla.  Ribbit is Picnik, reinvented, and giving us the whole shebang for free right now.  Anyway, my point is that this picture was edited and altered in Picnik, before Google closed it down, but I could do the same now with Ribbit.

I'm going to put photoart on my list of things to get back into this year.  I had a lot of fun doing this.  I have a few others, too, that I'll be sharing here soon.

Cool Company Shout Out: Ducti's Lifetime Replacement Warranty

It's just a little worn out, yo.

A few nights ago, during our jam session, I cleaned a stack of paperwork off of my record player in my bedroom.  Stuff gets done around here when I'm not on Facebook.  ;)  Amongst those papers was a padded envelope with Dodger's old duct tape wallet in it.  I've been meaning to send that back to the company for a replacement for over 6 months now.  Ducti, the company who made the wallet, has a lifetime replacement warranty on all duct tape wallets.  No receipt, no problem.  Worn beyond belief, they don't care.  Whatever shape it's in and no matter how long it's been, they will replace it for free plus the cost of shipping which is $6.50.

I was so excited to find this out last September that this is what I wrote on their Facebook page and shared with all of my friends.

September 2, 2012 
"I woke up today with my husband's worn out wallet on my mind. He's had this wallet for at least 10 years now. It's a duct tape wallet I found him wayyyyy before they became a "thing". I saw it in a little shop in central, IL while shopping with my mom. I instantly bought it for him because it reminded me of how he used to cover his binders and clipboards with duct tape when we were in high school and I had never seen a wallet made out of duct tape before and thought it was perfect for him.

So 10+ years later, the thing is seriously worn out. We've used pieces of other duct tape to repair it here and there but it's time to retire it. So I do a search for original duct tape wallet (because all that's left of the label on the wallet that's readable is duct) and end up figuring out that it's a Ducti brand wallet. they still make the wallets! I was going to buy him a new one ($17.95) but as I'm reading the description, I notice a link near the bottom of the page that says... Lifetime Replacement Warranty. So I click on it. They will replace any worn out wallet (with no receipt, no matter how old) for free. They only ask for the $6.50 shipping & handling costs! I just ship the old one to them and they'll send me a replacement. :) How cool is that!"
^^^^
What I told my friends just now in my excitement over not only finding the company that made my husband's awesome wallet and it's still in business and making the same wallet... but also because they stand by their product and offer a Lifetime Replacement Warranty!!!! Hello!!!! Could there be any better advertising!? You guys rock! :D

In comparison, the new HP printer I bought yesterday only has a 90 day warranty.  90 DAYS!  Wha?

Hey, Ducti, YOU ROCK!  This old wallet is heading your way soon.  I'm dropping it off at the post office tonight.  :)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

New Tunes: Izzy Stradlin


During our jam session last night, the hubs came across this gem.  It's a pretty recent tune from Izzy Stradlin, of Guns & Roses fame.  I LOVE that thing he does with his guitar at the very beginning of the song and at 1:47.  Dodger says that Angus Young (AC/DC) has been doing that for years but I think he always rips it.  I love how slow Izzy does it in this song.  We both just think the song kicks ass because it's just good ol' rock & roll.

Daily Quote

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." ~ Nelson Mandela

All Night Jam Session

Dodger painting a client's shutter while we were jamming out to
John Bonham killing on the drums, live,  in Moby Dick.

Dodger and I had such a great time hanging out last night.  We had a full-on jam session all night long with the help of YouTube and great music.  Dodger has such a range of musical tastes that we heard everything from NWA to Blink 182 to Pink Floyd.  It was 7 hours of pure musical bliss and I mostly agreed with his song choices.

I'm going to link up just a few of the epic songs that we ended the night with.  We are so lucky and blessed to be able experience these things.

John Donham
Best drum solo ever!

Epic guitar solo by David Gilmour.
When the song was over, I liken it to amazing sex.
The type that takes you to another plane of existence.

Zakk Wylde killing the guitar.
"Guess you guys aren't ready for that yet
but your kids are going to love it." - Marty McFly

Daily Photo: Treasure In the Trash


I found this beauty growing out of our junk pile in the fall of 2010.  FYI: the pile is no longer there.  ;)  I cleaned it up last year.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Daily Quote

"Life is based on awesome immutable laws. Ignorance of those laws does not excuse anyone from the consequences of their non application or the breaking of those laws." ~ Joy Gross, author

All That Glitters Is Gold

Dancer made this for her Grandma Joyce for Christmas 2012.

Dancer loves cross-stitch and she's getting pretty good at it.  I don't think she's yet to keep one for herself.  She always gives them away as gifts.  She does the stitching and I mat and frame them for her.  We put this one in a gold frame because her Grandma Joyce loves gold.  Her house is full of it.  She even has metallic gold ceilings in a few rooms.

Yesterday was a lovely day here.  After Dancer finished up her studies for the day, she decided that she was going to go out and work in her gardens and pick up sticks in the front yard.  She filled up two 32-gallon yard waste bins and started filling up a third.  She trimmed back the dead stuff from her flowers and greenery, so that it would be ready to grow and bloom soon.  She's had a flower garden out front for years and last year she added another one.  There's one on both sides of the porch now.  She'll have to leave the backyard for me because I want to eventually start a vegetable garden.

Ballet was painful for her last night.  She's pretty sure she pulled a muscle in her foot at Saturday's performance.  She said that's made her plantar fasciitis flair up.  Dear girl needs to really focus on taking better care to prevent injury if she wants dance to be a part of her life for a long time to come.  Last year on top of the plantar fasciitis, she also had shin splints in both legs, and an issue in both knees.  They all have pretty much healed but she's going to have to take care to keep from reinjuring herself.

I think I finally have all of the small business taxes thing figured out and have all of the paperwork available.  The next few days will be filled with crunching numbers and completing forms.  I can't wait until this is done.  On top of it, I'm out of printer ink, so I can't print out any more forms and have to read tax information from the computer screen.

Daily Photo: Sexy Instagram

From my Instagram feed.

The hubs says I look sexy.  I'll take that compliment.  :)

Monday, April 8, 2013

Daily Quote: April 8, 2013

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning." 
~ Catherine Aird

Catharsis Is As Catharsis Does

First Dance Company performance of the spring season on Saturday at Eagle Ridge.

So along with finally getting into my taxes on Saturday, Dancer also had her first dance company performance of the spring season.  Everyone did a great job and I'll be sure to catch some of it on video this season to upload here.

Yesterday, Dodger got some wild hair and decided to clean up a lot of his painting supplies that have been hanging around in the house for at least a year now... I'm being gracious with that timeline.  ;)  All of the paint cans that were under the kitchen bistro table are now gone.  Yay.

Most of my weekend, I spent in my bedroom on my laptop.  I figured out that all of my old blog archives were downloaded to that hard drive.  So I spent quite a bit of my time over the weekend going through old posts and reposting them here, with a few edits here and there for content, links, and privacy.  I have a few more years and a few more old blog archives to go, still, and I'll be working on those soon.

I really can't explain how cathartic it's been to go through all of my old posts, read each one, and transfer them over to this blog.  I woke up today with almost a weightless feeling.  I realized that I am not ashamed of my past struggles and I am amazed at how much I've grown healed since the start of my blogging years.

p.s. - I realized that "wild hair" is slang and it's possible that not everyone has heard or used that term, so I linked up a definition to it.  As I looked for a good link, I also found this one that had me totally cracking up.  "So is it a wild 'hare' or a wild 'hair'?"

Daily Photo: My Crooked Ways



One of the crazy squashes my uncle Steve gave to me last fall.  I ended up using this one, a Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck, as a substitute for the butternut squash in this awesome Bacon Wrapped Butternut Squash Bites recipe from Living Low Carb One Day At a Time.

It was a serious hit at the holiday gatherings!

p.s. - That's my beautiful new stove in the background.  See how white and new it was.  ::sigh::  It just doesn't stay looking that way once it's used.  :(

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Knee Deep In It


I'm knee deep in taxes and sinking fast.  This year, more than ever, I'm overwhelmed by doing our taxes.   I still do it old-school, by hand, on printed out forms with a pen and pencil.  This is the only way I can make sense of it all and still keep the costs down.  With a new-to-us truck and computer last year, I'm learning the ins and outs of depreciation, and it's not pretty.  There is so much jargon on these forms and instructions that it takes some time for me to wrap my brain about what they mean.  Do they realize that regular people are filling these things out?   Some of us still do, anyway.

It's maddening trying to figure out which business deductions we can take. You can take this, only if you didn't do that... blah, blah, blah.   I really should take a class on this so that I can start to maximize the business options we have or at least understand it all better.   I also realize that we should have taken more care with the business trip to Florida last year.   A lot of what we spent down there could have been used on our taxes. It was, indeed, a working vacation.  We were there to get a house painted.  I'll know better for the future.

My dad says that I can come out to his place to check my figures.  He purchases the TurboTax for Businesses each year.  I should do that next Saturday when we plan to be there for a visit and dinner.

taxes=meh

Friday, April 5, 2013

Music Monday: Rush for You



Would you have come here to see what it was if I had posted that it was Depeche Mode?  ;)

I got to see the concert tour from the album this song is from.  OMG.  Dave was so damn hot then.  The long hair and waif-like look suited him.

Airing of Grievances

3 things each week that are driving me nuts,
because anymore than that would just be rude.
Who says I have to wait until Festivus to air my grievances?

1.  I hate, hate, hate, with all the passion I can muster, the new look of Hotmail/Outlook.  They have followed in Google's footsteps and gone VERY minimalist with the way it looks.  I'll just say it... GRAYSCALE SUCKS!  I don't know who these people are that only see the world in shades of white and gray but some of us like color and obvious distinctions between areas on our computer screen.  All of the white is hard on my eyes.

2.  Costuming plans 3 days before the first performance = not cool.  Thinking I'm going to run out and buy a bunch of stuff 3 days before the first performance = you're crazy.

3.  Being sick on date night.  Need I say more?  Especially after last week's fiasco.

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

This is my first edition of Cruisin' for a Bruisin'.  It's all about those things I found interesting while cruising the Internet this week.

~Enjoy.


- Winestone Birdhouses. sells fantastically gorgeous birdhouses on Etsy. {Hot damn, I want one.}

- PostSecret. an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.  Updated every Sunday.  Archives here. {Some are powerful. Some are weird. Some are just sad.}

- The Vegetable Orchestra. instruments out of vegetables, played in an orchestra. {I'm most impressed with the carrot recorder!  Have a listen.}

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Daily Quote: April 4, 2013

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

Driving Miss Buttah

Capturing the fact that I'm at home but there is
more than one vehicle missing from our driveway.

A few mornings ago, I awoke from a hazy cold-induced sleep, to a twitter from the home cell phone ringing.  It was Dodger asking me to meet him at the auto repair shop to pick him up because he had just arrived at Caroline and John's place to find a big puddle of transmission fluid from his truck on their driveway.  Oops.  So he's been using my car, well it's really Dancer's car but she doesn't drive yet.  It will be repaired and picked up soon to the tune of almost $500.  Cha-ching.  The flow of money comes and goes.  But like he said, it's better than having the transmission overhauled to the tune of a couple thousand bucks.

I'm hoping I'm over-the-hill and on the downward slide of this cold.  Needless to say, I was not planning on being sick during the first week of my Facebook break.  It's slowed me down a bit.  I had to skip yesterday's workout because I was just too heavy in my head and chest.  I'd love for it to be gone by Friday, which is usually date night with the hubs.

I have been having quite a fun time of it with the blog.  Adding few hacks to the coding here and there to make it look how I want it to.  Working on content and fun stuff to come.  Seeing what Ribbit.com is made of.  Fun, fun stuff.  It's been awhile since I've expressed my creativity anywhere.  I want it to continue and to spread all around like melted buttah.

Daily Photo: Head Cold

From my daily self-portraits on Instagram.
Head colds are no fun.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

More Than a Mom

The blogging world is flooded with "mommy bloggers"... those bloggers who's platform is about being a mom, raising kids, saving money, and all that jazz.  So many of them are carbon copies of each other that I wonder why they are blogging in the first place.  That's really none of my business but it does make me want to be sure that my blog doesn't turn into one of them.

When I read many of them, I wonder, "Who are these women outside of being a mom?  Is their life so consumed with motherhood that now that's how they define themselves?  I know I'm more than just a mom, do they?"

What I mean is that I don't define myself through this season of my life.  A mom is not all that I am, that I do, and it's not all that I ever wanted to be.

I think I'm a good mom and do this job pretty well but there is more to me than just that.  I've got a great daughter that makes this job as mom pretty easy going.  I really have no complaints at all.  I love my daughter very much but she's her own person, just like I am.  She is no more defined by me than I am by her.

So what am I...

I am alive.
I am love.
I am in-love.
I am human and spirit combined.
I am doing the best that I can in each moment.
I am blessed.
I am one that never gives up.

I am always growing, changing, and challenging myself.  I am defined in ways that can't be expressed in words.  Hopefully my actions will do me justice and my triumphs outshine my defeats.

Daily Quote: April 3, 2013

‎"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need". ~ Kahlil Gibran

Daily Photo: How High is Your Love?


Dodger, on one of the last days in July 2012, just starting the paint job at the beach house in Florida for one of his clients who lives up here where we do.  That ladder he's on is a 40 ft ladder.  Oh my.  This was our first ever vacation as a family.  It was a working vacation but a vacation nonetheless.  It rained a whole lot, though, and then there was that hurricane that came through.  That was just a little nutso.  Just beyond that house in the distance is the Gulf of Mexico, so we were really close to all of the action.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

How We Define Ourselves


It is human nature to define ourselves by what we do or the rolls we play: mother, wife, daughter, friend, nurse, accountant, painter, etc...

But what if we started to define ourselves by the truth of our existence: miracle, light, beauty, love, sacred, etc...

Would this make a difference in how we interact with the world around us and within us?



How would I treat myself if I thought I was sacred?
How would I love myself if nothing was wrong?

I'd be in the moment, enjoying what's inside
And sing to the world a glorious song.

How would you treat yourself if you thought you were sacred?
How would you love yourself if nothing was wrong?

You'd be in the moment, enjoying what's inside
And sing to the world a glorious song

You are sacred
You are sacred
You are sacred
You are sacred

How would we treat ourselves if we knew we were sacred?
How would we love ourselves if nothing was wrong?

We'd be in the moment, enjoying what's inside
And sing to the world a glorious song