Irritated yet?

Yes.

Why, you ask?

I think the number one thing that irritates me is when I can't connect to the wi-fi network.  Primarily it's when I'm at home ... but when my lovely little mac says "Yup! There's a signal here and YOU can connect to it!  Look! It's boasting a nice 3 or 4 bar connection and EVERYTHING! C'mon.. you wanna just jump right on here!"

So I click on it, and I wait...
and wait..



and wait.

*s.i.g.h.*

and the longer I wait, and the more times I have to click the 'connect' button... the MORE irritated I get!


And you know - that's the moment I'm trying to complete a task... anything!  Look something up, read or reply to an email that I would consider urgent at that given moment... and unfortunately for the rest of the people in my world... they TOO are now going realize how completely and irrationally irritated I am over this.

One morning, I was in a rush to get out the door, get TK to school and help with Hot Lunch.

Side Note: For those of you that aren't aware of what Hot Lunch is, at school, once a month, the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) puts together a fun menu of food items from somewhere like McDonald's or other 'fast food' vendor and charges a little bit more than the rate they get in order to raise funds for the school fun stuff. ...  My jobs on this team over the past three years have been the computer person - the one that creates the menu into print form that is sent home with each child to order from, create and manage the tally sheets - the accumulation of the entire school's orders that is the main source of information for the ordering and delivery of each and every lunch ordered - and then to help on Hot Lunch day in the kitchen with a few other moms.  Sorting out each classroom's ordered items and helping to get them delivered to each child that placed an order.

Now.. its hard enough to get TK up, ready and out of the house without much fuss.  On Hot Lunch day, there are fewer chances - as I must also get myself up, showered, and human before we can walk out the door  - which is much less than I have to do any other school day.  Those days, I can get out of bed, get her ready, and take her to school with my unbrushed hair and in my pyjamas because I simply drive to the drop off loop, let her out, and come right back home again.

So this particular morning, I realize that I didn't print off the extra copy of the tally sheets - each and every classrooms order sheets.  I realize that they are sitting in my email - which is online.  I don't have an email program that downloads my emails so I can look at them whenever I feel the need... I have to log on, sign in and go see them there.  This requires an internet connection.

And without an internet connection.... I can't get this done.  Fighting with getting online is pretty much the most frustrating thing I could need first thing in the morning before school.

TK on this particular morning, is less than cooperative.

I'd be more accurate to summarize this particular morning as to say she was moving slower than molasses in the middle of winter.  And my ability to GET on the internet was going just about as well.

And the more the internet was going to keep screwing me around ... the more TK was doing just about ANYTHING else other than get ready for school.

*face.palm*

When I finally got my stuff printed, got us both ready and out the door and off to school, I could NOT contain myself when encountering my fellow volunteering mother friends in the kitchen...

I must say that I did learn from this particular morning... that I need to let go of that extreme frustration and NOT share it with others. The looks on their faces when they asked the one thing they didn't realize until it was out of their mouths was the absolutely last thing they wanted to ask... "Wow, you're a bit later than we expected... Is everything alright?" The look on their faces was "How could the woman that seems normally so organized and easy going all the time - be so completely unglued???"

Yup.   Unglued, unhinged and at least one other 'un' word that you would deem 'scary or fragile' (depending on how you're seeing this right now.. lol)


Tonight I wanted to write a few blog posts and get the train of thought on the track to come back to later... but do you think I could get online?   N.o.p.e.

And in all that time of waiting to get online so I could start some of those blogs... I lost a few ideas completely, and almost all of the rest of them lost their rails.  *sigh*

Ahhh... tomorrow is a new day... and hopefully tomorrow morning I won't need to get online for anything.. at least until I get to work.

Feeling like a grown up again.

It's been 8 months since I broke up with my ex and moved out.

When my husband and I split up in 2003, he knew that I needed to keep a fair amount of the furniture etc. since I was keeping our daughter with me full time.  We discussed and shared the furniture as best we could so that neither of us were really "without".

When I moved out 8 months ago, I asked for one of the three couch sets, and a coffee table/end table set.

I didn't get any of them.

So, since moving in with SO, we've slowly realized that we need to (and have been) upgrading the stuff he had.

We bought a futon to go under TK's loft bed.
We bought a brand new sofa and loveseat set.
We bought a headboard for our bed.

And this past weekend - we bought a dresser/armoire .. which luckily matches quite beautifully with the headboard.

Being home for the past 2 wks with the sick one - I've been looking around our house, and even SO said it too.... I'm starting to feel like a "grown-up" again.

I'm not knocking what he had.  But it's like going from this...

to this..

ok, ok... lol ...  yes,  I know, an exaggeration.. I'd love that.. but its the best way to describe the feeling.

But really... at least it's not, and has NEVER been something you'd see at http://uglyhousephotos.com/.



Alright.. 

Here's the new armoire / dresser piece.

I don't have 'old' pics of the bedroom because.. well ... just go back and imagine the mismatched couches  as a bedroom.   *smirk*

I broke my blogger...

I have been thinking over the past couple weeks about blogging.. I even mentioned it to my S.O...  "I feel a blog in that right there.."

But I didn't do it. 

Nope.  Not once. 

Didn't even log in and attempt something and just leave it in the drafts for later when I felt more inspired / had more time to to devote to the train of thought behind it..

So that of course, got me wondering WHY!?   And got me coming around to figuring it out.

Gossip.

The past week and a bit with my being home with the sick one, I've had a bit more time to talk to a few of my friends.  And I've heard a few things that have upset me. 

Even right now, as I sit here, I can feel that I'm angry with one of them for the way she's been making a few of us feel; that what we consider our 'crafts' isn't worth the monetary value we put to them where she's concerned. That if she were to recommend us and our craft to another of her friends in need for our service, that she would also recommend that they not pay full price for receiving this service from us. 

Huh?

So for example .. say I offer the service of story-telling, and her friend the librarian is looking for a story-teller - she'd tell the librarian that my rate of $35/hr is NOT what she/the library should pay. 

[insert gasp here]

What's really not fun is that the librarian told me that my friend told her not to pay full rate.. but instead she paid me MORE than even what I expected to charge. (Which was a 'YAY' moment... but sure made me question my 'friend').

About a week ago, another friend said that she needed to "talk" to me.  But right that moment wasn't a good time for either of us (too many people around etc..) ..and you know that line is just a kicker for your brain right?  OMG!!!!  Did I do something wrong?  Do I smell funny?

So when I finally got a chance to pin her down so we could talk - she said that a mutual friend shared a confidential conversation between her and I that made my other friend feel like I wasn't being completely honest about something we're dealing with together.

Okay.. really?

I'm not a fan of gossip.

When friend A tells me that she's having issues with, or mad at friend B, I don't go running off to friend B and get in the middle of it.  And I don't go off to friend C and tell HER all about it either.   I think I have a pretty good handle on the difference between someone having a need to vent to me, and someone telling me something about someone else.  Ick... and I usually don't really absorb it.  Sure, it's kind of interesting to hear about what so and so is up to... but it's still just heresay.  And somewhere along the line... gossip tends to hurt.

And that's where I figured it out.  I realized that *I* wasn't blogging because someone in my world just MIGHT have an issue about what I write - and either make me feel that it's of lesser value than I put on it, or turn around and decide that they should SHARE it with someone else!!!

So I hadn't written a single thing. And I could feel how something that only a few short weeks ago was freeing my brain of some junk that needed to be sorted out and cleaned up and making me feel really really good - was being controlled by an outside force that shouldn't have anything to do with what or why I blog.

So .. to those feelings I let sneak into my subconcious and get in the way - Out you go, and good riddens!

 

Home time...

Been hanging at home with my 'sick' kid the past couple days... I think she's fine to go to school, but I can tell she doesn't feel all that great. Wouldn't want her to go and try to be at school and feel crappy anyway. I feel bad for her, and there's not much I can do other than tell her to lie down and relax.  There's too much going around at school anyway... a number of kids in her class and the student teacher are m.i.a.  so I can't really ignore it either.

But whatever it is she's got on tv right now... is annoying.. because I'm not watching it with her, I'm trying to do some work for a friend...

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit... I promise I'll have something for you right quick. :)

How's things with you?

Anti-Bullying Flashmob January 2011

Random things our kids find...

the kid and the kid upstairs  Hereby now stamped as TK and TKU..

and our ALL time favorite!

Keenan Cahill..

*insert WTF face here*

update of the shift...

Yay!! We are officially on the hunt for another home!  It will be both families that currently live in this house, and it will be cheaper than here.  Those are the base standards for what we're looking for, and we're ALL on the same page! :)

Today I packed my car full of the stuff for donation.  (No, you don't want anything I'm giving away - you are NOT missing anything! I promise!) The problem right now, is that I still have to drop the kid off in the morning for school... lol  she'll only be a little uncomfortable.. and thank goodness that it's a short trip! ;)

I've also, very happily, paid off two of the three personal debts I have had sitting in the background to get paid off.  That just leaves my Visa and the Brick card. Not bad.  Next big pain in the butt will be car insurance in March - so hopefully my S.O.'s (significant other) T4 will be in before then, so we can do his taxes right quick and cover the car insurance, and throw a chunk onto at least one of the two cards. By then, we should be packing to move - and I will feel a million times better.

So... now we are sitting here at the kitchen table trying to get through the kid's homework.

and ... 

 heh.. heh... heh.. 

I was watching a movie...

I was watching "Moonstruck" with Cher, and a handful of other big known names...

I didn't realize I actually hadn't seen this movie before. It's terrible.. but the story line isn't half bad. Maybe because of my life experiences I am just 'relating' to it more now than I would have before. 


There's a commercial for "Ghost"..which is of course making me want to find out when it's on and watch that too.

So.. I'm sitting here.. awake at an ungodly hour because I had a nap after work because of a headache... but I'm watching.. and Cher's character goes into the salon to take the grey out of her hair, and the salon girls go crazy!  Mani, make up, hair-do... and her eyebrows!  Now, other than the fact that I've never seen anyone do this, but how in the world could anyone (I would not be able to possibly stand to sit through it) pluck so slowly!!  


However - please note.. that I am absolutely and 100% pleased to see that Cher has eyebrows that are as completely unruly as mine. 


yup.   I said that. 


We can't all be perfect right out of the box.  I mean, we ARE - but we, and the social status and fads as they go, push us in directions to fix, change, alter ourselves to the "how they'd like to see us" version of ourselves.


And be damned if I don't have a inclination for some nice pretty simple eyebrows.

Wax, thread, tweeze, electrolysis, laser ... what exactly is the way to go.. and if any of them is more on them permanent side... what if BIG bushy 'Brooke Sheilds' is the way to go in a few years???

Even Demi Moore's got some brows goin' on!

Yes.. I would have to say Brooke, and Demi around the Ghost era, are way more in line with what my brows are doing.

I don't think I was totally sold on just the brows... I was actually thinking of something else when I started out writing.. but this is where I went today. 

It was either that or the Extenze commercials... and I'm not so sure you needed me to go there.. did you?

 okay ... so since we're there... 

From Wikipedia:

Pysical

The main function of the eyebrow is to prevent moisture, mostly salty sweat and rain, from flowing into the eye. The typical curved shape of the eyebrow (with a slant on the side) and the direction in which eyebrow hairs are pointed, make sure that moisture has a tendency to flow sideways around the eyes, along the side of the head and along the nose. The slightly protruding brow ridges of modern humans could also still play a supporting role in this process in this way it helps them make expressions. Together with the brow ridges, the eyebrows also shade the eyes from sunlight. Eyebrows also prevent debris such as dandruff and other small objects from falling into the eyes, as well as providing a more sensitive sense for detecting objects being near the eye, like small insects.The name for one hair of the eyebrow is the browy.

Psychological

Eyebrows also have an important facilitative function in communication, strengthening expressions, such as surprise or anger. Many makeup artists view eyebrows as a major feature in defining the face. The eyebrows shape the human face and give definition to one's eyes and forehead. Depending on the shape of the eyebrows, it sometimes can cause what is known as a false facial expression (such as a person's eyebrows shaped to seem as if the person was angry, but really isn't).

Eyebrow modification

A woman's eyebrow that has been modified via waxing

Eyebrows are a major facial feature. Several cosmetic methods have been developed to enhance the look of one's eyebrows, whether the goal is to add or remove hair, change the color, or change the position of the eyebrow.

Several options exist for removing hair in order to achieve a thinner or smaller eyebrow, or to "correct" a unibrow, including tweezing, waxing, threading and electronic tweezer. The most common method is to use tweezers to thin out and shape the eyebrow. Waxing is also becoming more popular in recent times. Lastly, there is the option of threading eyebrows, wherein a cotton thread is rolled over hair to pull it out. Small scissors are sometimes used to trim the eyebrows, either along with another method of hair removal or alone. All of these methods can be painful for some seconds or minutes due to the sensitivity of the area around the eye, but, often, this pain decreases over time as the individual becomes used to the sensation. After a certain period of time, hair that has been plucked will stop growing back. There are some who completely wax or shave off their entire eyebrows, then, either leave them bare, stencil or draw them in with eye liner, or tattoo them on. In Western societies, it has become more common for men to pluck part of their eyebrows as well.

To create a fuller look, eyebrows can be cloned in an eyebrow transplant, wherein individual strands of the eyebrow are mimicked to create a natural looking eyebrow of the desired shape. Eyebrow brushes and shaders are also used to further define the eyebrow. A fairly recent trend in eyebrow modification is in the form of eyebrow tinting, in which permanent dye, similar to that of hair color, is used on the eyebrow, often to darken them.

An eyebrow-lift, a cosmetic surgery to raise the eyebrow, usually in order to create a more feminine or youthful appearance, is a new phenomenon. They can be affected during a face lift or an eye lift. More recently, doctors inject patients' eyebrows with botox or similar toxins to temporarily raise the eyebrow.

Shaving lines in eyebrows is another cosmetic alteration, more common among younger people in the 1990s and 2000s.

Okay.. so now you have tweezing, waxing, threading and laser...   what's YOUR "go to"...?   

Do you shape/change/style your brows? and... how?  Because... of course, I wanna know! :) 

I forgot...

We all do it. It's not an age thing.. but it certainly doesn't get any BETTER with age.

You know .. you are doing a bunch of different things, you're pretty focused on everything - laundry's on, dinner's on the stove, your child is doing their homework and you're answering questions as they go, you're looking up the next step of the recipe on the computer, checking the time, and you realize you have to go get something... you immediately stop everything and venture in the direction of the laundry room and you stop... kind of mindless..  as soon as you entered the room - you can't remember what on earth you came in here for.   You look around, hoping for a clue.. maybe you were flipping the laundry from one machine to the other...  Was there something you keep in here that you came in for?  ... and you stand there ... looking around the room, your mind racing --- trying to find a tiny thread of a reminder... Nope.  G.O.N.E.

So you go back into the kitchen.. you can't remember what step you're on in dinner, your child asks you for help on the next question and suddenly  --- you can't remember what you're making for dinner, the question asked is almost like a topic you've never heard of before, and you STILL can't figure out what you needed. *sigh*

I have been trying to remember to post an ad or look online for a medium sized pet carrier. We got a dog a few weeks ago - she's a 3 yr old Yorkie /Scottie terrier cross - so she's quite small.  The previous owners thankfully gave us the carrier they kept her in during the day. But, being that I think we probably have to keep her in there a little longer than they used to, I feel terrible putting her into it when I leave for work in the morning, so I would just like to get a bigger one so she has some room in there to bust a move if she feels like it.

The problem is not that I can't find one..  it's simply that I keep FORGETTING to try to look for one.

This morning when I left for work, I noticed the time and was rushing more than usual, scooped her up, telling her what a good girl she is, that it won't be long until the child is home to play, and bent down and got the reminder once again.

GET.BIGGER.CARRIER.PLEASE.MOMMY.PLEASE.AND.THANKYOU.

And this morning, she must have just known that I was thinking of her and wanting to do something to change the situation, because not once did she bark like she normally does, as I still rattled around the bedroom and the kitchen for things, hoping I wasn't forgetting anything (Yes, I did actually get all the way out the door and get it locked, only to unlock it to go back in for something I have been meaning to remember to return.) ... and still not a bark as outside I walked past the window of the room her tiny carrier sits in. 


So I think today I will finally remember to do some searching for it. 

Hopefully I get a lead today, because I can't guarantee that tomorrow will be as good as today. 

Giving up...

No.. this isn't a sullen plea for help...

I mean... THIS...

No... really. I mean it.

You know why.. you don't have to ask this question.

It's kept me amused on long, slow moving, boring days.. but it's taken me out of where I should be instead.. mentally - and sometimes physically.

I will admit, I have been doing MUCH better than I was over the last 9 months - but that's not enough.  I need to challenge myself to do better to be where I should be.  Doing laundry, making supper, cleaning the bathroom.. all those things I dislike doing... I should be doing THEM (because no one is going to do them FOR me) instead of farting around on that.

The biggest reason?  Because I hate that my wall gets filled up with my posts (and the ones from FV friends)
to share FV things with others (because you know, I love to share / help others)... and pushes all the relevant and what I think is worth sharing posts off the page.  So I spend more time cleaning off my wall and deleting things than I do anything else anymore. Seriously.... ? That's just ridiculous.

So, it won't be immediate..  it will be something I kind of wean myself off of.  But I won't be thinking in the back of my head when its time to get my daughter settled into bed that I have to log in and harvest my FV crops... I'll be more focussed on actually settling her down and putting her to bed and looking forward to spending time with my S.O. ... because THAT is where I'm supposed to be... And then -  if the laundry doesn't get done.... at least I had a better excuse. *snicker*

The Warning label...

Whoops!  I totally forgot to give you all a little insight to how I see this working (my blog)..

1) Feel free to share info / news / links or even the blog itself to your friends.  I actually WANT to tell you about things I know or learn because my greatest pleasure is that stuff that comes into my head / across my path could somehow help someone in some way.

2) Do NOT take what I say personally.  Everyone has bad days and it is completely possible that I (or someone else) could say something that pushes one of your buttons.  If you're offended or your feelings get hurt because you read something here (be it something *I* say, or something someone ELSE says - it's OK to be upset (because that is your human right!), but it ISN'T okay to get into a fight about it - with me or someone else.  At least not _HERE_.  Take it up with me/them via email or something.

3) I absolutely WELCOME comments!  I would LOVE to hear that you read/learned/used something here that has worked or hasn't worked.  That being said - no bashing me or others.  You know exactly how that will be handled (insert waving of finger).

4) Just a reminder - that if you do not have a blogger account or a gmail account, you can sign up for one to become a member and your posts will give you an option to post anonymously or with your ID.  If you are not a member, I believe you can still post anonymously, but I won't know who made the post - so it would be great if you remember to add your name or a handle at the end if you want a reply etc.

Have a SUPER day!  and Thanks for reading!