Is This Thing On?

Hello? Anyone here? Well, I don’t see anyone, but I’ll leave this message in case anyone comes by later.

I’m coming back…..in November! I’m going to do NaBloPoMo this year. I made so many friends when I did it the first time….was it three years ago?? Wow. I’m hoping to reconnect and maybe make a few more friends.

Also, I’m looking to develop my creative side a little more. Writing, photography, cooking, crafts. Did I just say crafts?? I’m so not crafty. But I’ve become a huge fan of etsy, and have bought some beautiful things there in the past 6 months or so. I’m becoming a tad inspired, maybe. I already know what I want to try making – I just need to figure out what supplies I need and how to do it. You know, just a few little things like that. Oh, and I want to re-upholster the padded bar stools in our kitchen, which are torn to shreds. I already bought the fabric I want to use but I don’t know where to get the foam cushion things that we actually sit on. The ones JoAnn Fabrics sells are not big enough. Any ideas?

And if you’ve been here before and know our cast of characters and want to know what we’ve been up to (and don’t follow me on Facebook, where most of the details have been revealed), here’s the latest on us:

• Krystal is now in 4th grade; Belle started 1st grade – wow! Belle has not lost a tooth yet and is wondering when it will happen to her. She’s past 6 1/2 now so it should/could be any time now….
• We adopted two 8 month old kittens – brothers – in September from a local shelter. They are sweet, purring and affectionate. And they turn into hellions at night when we are asleep. I have to keep all foodstuff behind cabinet doors lest they get into them (cats like goldfish crackers, granola bars and chocolate, as they have broken packages open to get to all these things). I have yet to find a satisfactory (to me) place to keep the litter box. Conundrums.
• We adopted another Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, a 3 year old Black and Tan boy, via a rescue organization less than a week ago! Yes, that brings our animal total up to 5 (three dogs and two cats). I am happy to report he is everything I wanted in a dog and that we are done. No more pets. He is so freaking cute I can hardly stand it. Also, he is a Mama’s Boy and I love it.

I think that about covers the highlights. Hope all is well with you and yours – see ya back here on November 1st as we kick this thing into high gear!

Away

Hello everyone,

Yes, I’ve been away. No, actually I’ve been right here, but I’ve been sadly neglectful of this blog. I check in daily (multiple times if you must know) on Facebook, and I gave myself an iPhone for Christmas that is my new favorite toy (text me, baby!), but this blog has been gathering dust. I feel sad about that.

I also have had a bazillion things going on.

My  mother and I had a very big fight over Christmas. I say big fight but nothing (really) happened. However, we have not spoken since then, aside from a brief conversation when she called me yesterday. Frankly, it’s easier having her out of my life. She says she wants to talk about what went wrong, but I’d rather not.

Krystal turned nine (NINE!) a few weeks ago. While we dispensed with a big party this year, we did do a special event with a friend over the weekend and had a family dinner on the actual day.

I helped organize – no, actually I planned and executed the whole thing – a Facebook-inspired reunion with some women from my high school. I was not particularly popular (nor was I unpopular) or even that social in high school, so you may wonder why I did such a thing. I can’t really tell you, except to say that it was a ton of fun to meet a group of women for the first time, who I knew 30 years ago. We are all different now, but we will always have that common bond. We are already planning our second outing. I am happy to report that I like who I am now.

Belle will be turning six (SIX!) in less than two weeks and I registered her for first grade yesterday. Which let me say I am looking forward to immensely because my exorbitant child care costs will dry up to almost nothing (comparably speaking). And the everyday logistics will be far simpler too. One chapter will be closing, and one opening soon.

I have been dating. A lot. And it is tiring. I seem to have a knack for sending men I like back to their ex-girlfriends (it’s now happened three times. so far.) But there is one man who seems to be rising to the top right now – I may talk more about him later. Or you can check out my dating blog if you’re interested, but not this minute because that one has been neglected too.

So, I’m no longer away – if you’re still out there I’d love to know it!

A Reader!

I am probably one of the last people to figure this out.

I’ve been reading blogs via a “reader” for awhile now. I’d click the little RSS icon in the address field and add them to my “Favorite Blog Feeds” folder. I’d then be able to check to see if anyone had a new post up to read. I could never understand when people would say something like “be sure to click through to see my new design” and other things, since I always landed one everyone’s actual blog.

Over the weekend though, all my subscribed blogs said “Live Bookmark Feed Failed to Load”. All of them! What is going on?

I’m not a total idiot (truly!), so I decided to subscribe to my favorite blogs using Google Reader instead.

Wow!

After a slight “getting used to it” curve, I’m more thrilled than ever. I can immediately see whether anyone has a new post up, rather than paging through each blog separately. Blogs are listed alphabetically, rather than by the order in which I added them. True, I don’t get to see everyone’s side bars unless I click through, but it’s a nice fast way to read a bunch of posts in a short period of time. I love it!

My New Blog

Hi to my great cadre of readers (all two of you) – most of what I have written about lately has centered around my dating experiences, and since I have lots more to say about that, but don’t want to say it here, I’ve started a new blog. If you’re interested in reading about my experiences in dating, head on over, and if you’re not, you can stay here – I don’t plan to mention dating anymore over here.

One Year on Facebook

About a year ago I posted about my new obsession, Facebook. So a slightly belated Happy Facebook anniversary to me.

I do spend way too much time on Facebook. I don’t participate in any of the games (Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc), although my step-mother and I always have a game of Scrabble going which is a lot of fun. But that’s just between the two of us, no prizes or penalties for not watering your plants, or however the other ones work. I log in first thing in the morning, before bed, and usually several times throughout the day, just because I can. I do post a status occasionally, but more often I like to read and comment on other people’s status updates.

But the very best part of Facebook is the friends it’s brought me in touch with. Some of you, my readers, are now my Facebook friends, and it’s been awesome to get to know you in another way (if you’re not already my “friend”, let me know in a comment!). As cool as that is, the most rewarding component is the old friends I’ve been able to bring back into my life.

This past weekend we hosted a get-together at our house for one of my Facebook friends – someone I knew in high school, her husband and their 4 youngest children. Yes, me, the reluctant host, tripled the number of people in my house voluntarily! They came over to watch the Patriots pound the Titans (in the snow! Snow in October!?!?) and we ate and drank and made merry while the younger kids played and it was completely natural and wonderful, despite not seeing each other or even being in touch much since high school! An added bonus is that Krystal and her youngest daughter hit it off immediately.

People can sneer at social media if they want, but when it brings great people into, or back into, your life, I’ll keep using it.

Woe is work, woe is blogging, woe is me

Hey, thanks for stopping by! Doesn’t my post title sound so welcoming and happy? Makes you want to dig right in and read, huh?

Let’s take it from the top, shall we?

Work. Hey, I’m working, and that’s a good thing. I’ve been with my company for over 13 years and have done lots of different things. I enjoy a livable wage, excellent benefits and an extremely flexible (and mostly autonomous) working environment. Those things are precious to me! So why am I woeing about it? Well, I made the mistake of checking my work email on Saturday. My boss had sent out something to me and a few other people regarding a topic that he hadn’t had a chance to weigh in on the day before. In the email, I felt quite chastised, somewhat unfairly so. He also left a certain decision up to a coworker of mine, one who is nearly 20 years younger than me, and who I helped train when she was hired three years ago. I’m the oldest person on my team – a lot older than some and only a few years older than others, and mostly I’m OK with that. What I’m not OK with is being seen as the weakest member of the team, and that’s how I felt. I’m not ambitious at this point in my career – my out-of-work life takes a lot of my energy and time, and I’m happy to do my work for 40-45 hours a week, but that’s it. I need my non-work time for, non-work! But I feel odd about being surpassed. I like and respect this particular coworker a lot. She’s also young and single with plenty of time and energy to dive into work….sorta where I was at her age. If I still felt as valued as before I might not mind so much. But I don’t feel as valued and I do mind. And I don’t know what to do about it.

Blogging. I still read all your blogs (and more!), but I haven’t been blogging much myself. It’s not that I don’t have things going on that I could write about (whale watching! new dogs! new roof!) but I feel less…….inspired. Facebook has been meeting my need to chronicle and connect with much less actual effort on my part. Let’s be honest – the fun part of blogging is reading comments, and when people don’t comment it’s more like writing a private journal, which doesn’t really need to be done in public. So I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep this. Or maybe I’ll start a new one. I don’t know yet. How have you all handled lulls in your blogging muscle?

Me. Well, believe it or not,, aside from what I said above, I don’t feel all that woeful! Life is pretty OK right now, and while I’m not happy that fall and winter are here/on their way, things are good. We have some exciting things to look forward to as a family in the next few weeks and months.

How are things with you?

Finding my Funny

I love to read funny stuff. I love to laugh, whether with friends, with a movie, a book or a blog. And I think I’m pretty funny, though usually in a dry or sarcastic way. Subtle even. (Is there some missive along the lines of “If you have to tell people you’re funny then you aren’t?” If not, there should be!)

But it occurs to me that most readers of this blog probably don’t see the funny side of me. My blog tends to be a place of introspection. And while I often am in “telling a story” mode, and sometimes inject a funny (to me) thought or two, my sense of humor doesn’t really come out here.

I am wondering why that is?

At work we use an instant message application quite frequently. On any given day I have 4-14 chat windows going with various co-workers. The conversations in them range from stricly utilitarian asking and answering simple (or complex) questions, to “water cooler” type conversations about a TV show, the weather, the latest kid antics, work politics, etc. In these I am definitely very funny! Just ask my co-workers! Why am I funny there, and not here? I think it’s because of the more conversational nature of chat, versus the one-way experience I have here. I’m not a “popular” blog, and even though I know I have more readers than a casual reader just stopping by might guess based on the number of comments I get, it’s still mostly me just typing into the ether. I think I need the banter. Someone says something that sends my mind in a direction and it brings out my dry wit (she says so modestly). I can’t seem to play off myself in the same way.

I wonder if there is a place to learn to do that? I’d like to find my funny here on my blog.

Mocking Me…

I feel like my blog is mocking me.

It’s saying, “Ha ha, here I am and you have nothing to say and you can’t do anything about it!”

Ouch.

I have a lot to say.

I have nothing to say.

I’m not sure which of those is true….can it be both?

Yesterday we celebrated 3 years as a family of three – it was the third anniversary of meeting Belle in China. Krystal made her a very cute card, saying she was glad she was a member of our family, which is contrary to what she so often actually says out loud. Belle, for her part, was as excited as if it were her birthday all day.

I just cancelled the latest appointment with our counselor that I have decided I not only have no connection to, but I’m not sure I even like. I don’t think she’s doing anything special, certainly nothing different, or more, or better than I’ve read in every parenting book or article I’ve ever picked up. Not worth our time. I may try to find someone else. I may not.

Today after school Krystal went to a friend’s house for the afternoon and had dinner there. She came home complaining that she is embarrassed that she likes the TV shows “Arthur” and “Cyberchase” while her friends all watch “iCarly” and “Hannah Montana”, which I don’t allow. My rule is, the characters in the show have to be my kids’ age or younger (with some exceptions). I suggested she tell her friends her mom won’t let her watch them, and she said they then exclaim what a mean mom she has. Oh well.

We saw the new Disney/Pixar movie “Up” last weekend. I have to put it in my own personal Top 5 movies of all time. It was that good. See it. I don’t care if you have kids, or don’t have kids, or your kids are grown. It is a must-see.

And that concludes my randomness for now. My blog may go back to mocking me now. Unless I come back soon with more. We shall see!

Winner! And Thanks all around

I never win anything.

But a few weeks ago Jennifer was running a contest and…….. I won! (And all I had to do was leave a comment on her post! It couldn’t have been easier! No skill involved!)

She featured jewelry designed and made by Lisa Leonard, and two winners won a gift certificate. You really need to check out her stuff. Really.

I don’t typically spend a lot of money on jewelry, so winning a prize where I could buy some originally created jewelery, customized for me, was a dream come true. I perused Lisa’s site every day for almost 2 weeks, trying to decide what to order. I really couldn’t decide. Go ahead – think about which one you would order. Tough, huh?

Anyway, I finally decided (sort of – more on that in a minute), and my personal creation came today.

So beautifully packaged, with a simple raffia bow and tag:

Taking off the lid to find a Lisa Leonard card:

Took the card off to see which design Lisa had chosen (I couldn’t decide between two, and basically had her pick one for me). Here it is:

It consists of two silver open circles, with my kids’ names stamped, one name on each circle, with a pearl accent. I cannot even tell you how much I love this! My photos don’t do it justice. Even the gorgeous photos on Lisa’s site don’t come close to matching how beautiful, how touching, my very own necklace is in real life. Maybe I feel it is so beautiful because it features the names of my own children. Probably this has a lot to do with it. So think how beautiful you will think it is with your children’s names (or initials).

Thank you Jennifer for running the contest. Thank you Random.org for picking the number associated with my comment. But most of all, thank you Lisa, for this beautiful, one-of-a-kind, necklace that I will wear and cherish forever.

Tweet! Tweet!

OK, I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon today.

I’m not sure why, except that everywhere I turn I’m reading or hearing about people on it. So I set up an account and am looking for interesting people and organizations to follow. And drawing blanks on the specifics of all the Twitter-ific stuff I keep hearing about. I’m following a whopping 9 people at the moment.

I don’t think I plan to tweet much myself, but I’ll use it to follow others. Unless a bunch of you are big tweeters and I should follow you, and you’d like to follow me. But that’s sort of what I see Facebook being for. Sort of.

Do you follow anyone interesting you think I ought to follow? Share yourself, or your favorite Twitter users, in the comments – I’m anxious to get some entertainment out of this!

Anyway, I’m on board!