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July 29, 2005

Cotton Candy Land
Meet Bessie. Ain't she purdy?
07/29/05 10:44 PM |  Comments


Reusathon
Are you getting sick of things 'thon yet?

My history... I participated in 2001 - the inaugural year of the event. The archives for this year seem to have disappeared, hum. In 2002, I was busy getting hitched in Reno. Back at it in 2003. Last year I was ready to pop at any minute, so no all-nighters, though I did help out as relief on someone else's blog.

This year, Spring (who has agreed to stay on after, yahoo!) and I are bringing back Reusablog. I'll be adding a forum/materials swap/teacher request board, a chat (which may or may not be a permanent periodic feature, not sure), and SpinningCam will be back (for the event only, of course).

It's all for Project Linus, which gets handmade blankets and quilts into the hands of seriously ill, traumatized, or needy children.

Come and visit during the event, sign up for the new forums, and, if you feel our cause is worthy, please consider making a small (or big, we're not picky ;-) ) pledge. The signup/donation process on the Blogathon site seems a bit convoluted, for which I apologize, but I hope that won't stop you!

If you've completed a unique recycling art or craft that you'd like to see featured during the event, please contact us! Posting every half hour for twenty-four hours straight, we'll need all the good ideas we can get.
07/29/05 11:11 AM |  Comments


July 28, 2005

Do Your Worst
Mayhaps it's time to get out the parrot hat and a pair of my old glasses. But then, that just might be too much for my gentle readers.
07/28/05 11:35 AM |  Comments


Sammitch!
The Egg and Muffin Toaster even has a warming tray for your round pre-cooked meat. Wow. Available in September at BBB/LnT.
07/28/05 08:30 AM |  Comments


July 27, 2005

Right Place
We were having lunch at the Outlets today (in the sad, one-vendor food court), when it was announced that Harry & David was selling its frozen stock at 75% off! So we went, and sure enough. We scored over $40 worth of yummy nummy gourmet stuff for a quarter that. Some kind of sinful pound cake dessert (which itself was $25), some chocolate coated cookies, and a cheese and tomato torta.

And, yes - it was because the freezers were on the verge of complete meltdown. Lucky us!
07/27/05 09:21 PM |  Comments


July 25, 2005

Le Vaccin
Yeah, it goes pretty much like that. Except I usually cry, too. And we definitely don't get to hold him - he has to lie, limbs held down, on the exam table.
07/25/05 06:15 PM |  Comments


July 24, 2005

Green Acres is the Place to Be
I've only been improving at the Real Estate Guessing Game here in Petaluma, but apparently my powers don't apply in the city. We saw a bunch of ads for some apartments near the Wharf yesterday, and I figured a smallish, nothing terribly special two-bedroom must run about $1,900.

So, so wrong.

How does $2,300 to $2,750 grab you?
07/24/05 10:19 AM |  Comments


July 23, 2005

Your Content/Commenting is Protected...
...from well-meaning idiots like me.

I love y'all and your blogs, I do. But I simply can't keep track of all the different assigned username/password combos. I have conversations in my head that go "Did I sign up for her blog? I think I did. I don't know. My usual handful of passwords... don't... work... Fcuk! I give up."
07/23/05 07:02 PM |  Comments


July 22, 2005

Reasonings
Other staying bonuses (please bear with me, I'm shoring myself up here ;-) ):

  • Our very own Michael's and Pier One opening soon
  • We can finally get bikes for the neat (and ever-expanding) trails 'round here
  • I can go hog-wild with my new Hawaiian kitchen theme (pineapple cookie jar on eBay, you are so mine)
  • No need to put away my sandals anytime soon
  • Now I can really get my organizational freak on, what with all the closet/garage space we opened up during our "moving" sale
  • I do admit that driving fast-fast on the nearby farm roads is a sweet, cherished little hobby of mine
  • Don't need to deal with the DMV anytime soon
  • I would miss our lovely new town cinema dearly
  • This neighborhood may isolate me, being filled with older folk, but it sure is quiet
  • I bet that, in WA, I wouldn't learn 75% of the street names within four months
    • 07/22/05 12:26 PM |  Comments


    July 21, 2005

    Phase Three: Profit!
    Better last-minute offer right up the street, so no move to Washington, after all. At least for the time being.

    Disappointed, yes. But, like I said - no packing. Or long drive with three cats. And now I get to do the Blogathon (more details very shortly, I'm already way stoked), and take an Illustrator class as I'd planned in the fall. And that day trip into the city via bus is do-able now, too. Maybe I'll even paint this horribly vanilla livingroom.
    07/21/05 04:24 PM |  Comments


    July 19, 2005

    Phase Two: ???
    This morning I said - and rather meant it - "At least we wouldn't have to pack."

    Still not a great time to be a control-freak Virgo, though.
    07/19/05 10:26 AM |  Comments


    July 18, 2005

    Phase One: Collect Underpants
    Law of Moving #32: When it's time to collect moving boxes, that's when all the good local ads disappear from Craigslist. Gah.

    The garage sale wasn't stellar, but we did get rid of quite a bit of big stuff, and made about $300. Still have the Link-a-Doos swing, and that big poufy frothy beaded tulle wedding dress I never wore, and all of D's tech books. Craigslisting some, donating others. I think I'm just going to call Salvation Army up.

    Nope. Property owners do not want to rent to us without meeting face-to-face. Not that I blame them much, really. But we just can't travel up there again between now and the move. Cannot. So we're probably going to have to hunt down a bland beige box apartment yet again, like we did when we moved west. I guess we'll live.
    07/18/05 09:36 AM |  Comments


    July 15, 2005

    Amazon Has a Dirty Mind
    Doing a bit of idle searching on Amazon a couple of days ago while I was trying to remember what exactly I'd logged on to find in the first place. Prompted by a recent conversation, I looked up "Pern."

    Amazon delivered the goods... but it also asked me this.
    07/15/05 07:46 PM |  Comments


    July 14, 2005

    The Fury and the Sound
    There aren't any movies playing on which I'd want to waste money, and I certainly don't need to shop at this point, so I used my Night Out to go for a walk.

    Plus, well... I just really needed a walk.

    I don't have the Garden State soundtrack loaded on my MP3 player yet, and that was all I wanted to hear, so I dug out the old Philips CD player instead.

    And, wow. I'd forgotten what a high-quality, uncompressed recording on a nice player with decent headphones sounded like. I heard instrumental bits that I'd never been able to notice before. I've enjoyed the album immensely since day one, but I think it's been pretty much ruined for the car stereo or tiny PC speakers.
    07/14/05 04:14 PM |  Comments


    July 13, 2005

    Get Your Piping-Hot, Raving Lunatics Here
    Hey, you.

    Yes. I'm talking to you, Today.

    Kiss my bootay. Then be gone. And take the sun, and residential architecture as oven, and f**king Cingular with you.
    07/13/05 04:07 PM |  Comments


    Eleven!
    Today Daniel is eleven months old. His biggest achievements this month:

  • He loves to pick up and chew Puffs or bits of banana
  • Standing up in the middle of the room - and staying up - is no problem
  • He's just beginning to use his walker toy to mosey down the hall
  • Stacking things - not just destroying them - is getting interesting
  • Car rides are rarely problematic now (even the long stints to Washington were fairly easy; I only needed to be in back with him a couple of hours)


    • I picked up a cute Cookie Monster cake pan on eBay (complete with googly eyes and special spatula). The auction even came with a fleecy CM hoodie, sweet! As our target date appears to be a couple of days before his birthday, we'll probably be celebrating a bit late. His present from us will be big, and we won't get that before moving.
    07/13/05 09:43 AM |  Comments


    July 12, 2005

    The Definition of Peaceful
    Dusk is my favorite time of day, most especially in summer. And very much especially on days in the nineties in a house with no A/C, when it's the only time to breathe.

    Yesterday, I was looking out the second-story office window into the trees, which were illuminated only by a dimming orangey-pink. My eye caught something twitch a bit at a branchtip - the tiniest gray feathery something. It rested for about ten more seconds before buzzing off... a hummingbird. I don't believe I've ever see one sit still that long. The embodiment of restlessness in repose left me feeling very peaceful.

    I am holding fast to that cool, quiet image today, as a guardian of some measure of sanity in the merciless sun and heat. And the sudden, if small, possibility of endless more.
    07/12/05 10:12 PM |  Comments


    I'm Watching You, Spammers.
    D. just set up RSS for my comments, something I've been far too lazy to even consider doing myself. Huzzah!
    07/12/05 05:00 PM |  Comments


    July 11, 2005

    Sorry, Spring...
    ...that I have to bow out of the Blogathon. As it appears that we'll be smack dab in the middle of moving madness.

    Oh, yeah - that'd be to Seattle :-)
    07/11/05 03:27 PM |  Comments


    July 10, 2005

    Little Monkeys...
    ...can be serious about their swinging.
    07/10/05 11:01 PM |  Comments


    Baby Snacks
    Thank goodness for incredibly timely development of Puffs. I can give him a highchair trayful, and he'll happily chomp away. And I needn't be obsessive about choking (merely worried), since they're so light. Learning the very first steps to self-feeding without generating a hee-uge, disgusting mess is a great bonus, too.
    07/10/05 12:52 PM |  Comments


    July 08, 2005

    Word
    From my interactive desktop countdown (7 days, 10 hours, 38 minutes!):


    07/08/05 01:20 PM |  Comments


    Libr-tarian
    The tiny visceral, socialist librarian part of me balks in horror at the sentiment. The objectivist Libertarian majority, however, recognizes and supports the moral truth.

    And, yes - speaking from too much experience - schools should absolutely be privatized, too.
    07/08/05 10:49 AM |  Comments


    July 06, 2005

    Wee Peasant
    I'm searching for handmade infant/toddler peasant costumes. Because I'm too lazy to make one myself. I'd even settle for a decent Halloween-store type outfit, if I could find one that wasn't shiny and stupid. Oddly, even eBay has been no help to me.
    07/06/05 12:38 PM |  Comments


    Organizey
    I'm having a rummage sale next weekend, something I haven't done since 1996 (when an ex and I moved to Detroit and sold off pretty much all of our worldly possessions to do it). I tired of selling bits off piecemeal via Craigslist and eBay - it just won't get done, and we'll end up moving with all the crap yet again. This way, I may make less, but I can get rid of most of the clutter in five hours and one fell swoop.

    I got stencils yesterday. Is it wrong to be this turned on at the thought of making signage? Hmm.

    What would you expect to pay for run-of-the-mill, nothing special hardcover books at a rummage sale? A dollar?

    The very barrel bottom stuff goes, too, via a freebie box. That'll make some kid pretty happy, I'd bet.

    My paring down to-do list:
  • Picked up a pretty stripey expanding file yesterday - all papers must fit inside, or be deemed not important enough to keep.
  • No more old magazines. I put my foot down! The best ideas get clipped and filed in page protectors in a three-ring binder. Something mindless to do while I watch the idiot box.
  • Keeping unisex bub clothes only (in case of bub-ette). He had waaay too many tiny beginning outfits, anyhow.
  • Time to get real re: clothes in smaller sizes. With the postnatal baby Pinstriped Pooch n' Butt Combo™, I'm probably not going to get into those jeans again anytime real soon.
    • 07/06/05 11:54 AM |  Comments


    July 03, 2005

    Happy Fourth!
    My poor numb tush. If I were only a bit more crazy/motivated, I'd go do some laps around the circle in the dark.

    Driving through the Central Valley I remembered, with painful clarity, why I hate the Central Valley so much. After a few hours, I was sun sick, even with the A/C blasting. Crossing the hills, we literally watched the car thermometer tick down the degrees. 99 to 85 within a matter of a few miles. And then down in the seventies by the time we reached Petaluma.

    At least I managed to finish my book. Though I did have to hold it right up to my face most of the time to avoid head-bursting glare on the pages.

    I was really looking forward to some bub-free time tonight, as I haven't been physically away from him in a week (no separate room in which to nap or have a different bedtime than mine), and it's beginning to show. But his schedule is all screwed up now, and he's having none of it. It took me three tries to wolf down dinner, and I fully expect to be interrupted again before I can finish this. Sigh.

    The vanity plate that has caused me to re-think my desire for a snarkier choice: "WHEEEE." Now I'm all about the whimsy.

    Note to hotel management: Do not - please! - call a box of stale donuts "Continental Breakfast." It is far too early for such disappointment, and I may just have to hurt you.
    07/03/05 11:30 PM |  Comments


    July 02, 2005

    Back Down
    Yesterday we went to the Woodland Park Zoo with Megan. We could never visit the zoo in July in Sacramento without getting third-degree burns, so anything less than seventy (and not going blind) was a true novelty. (Megan - on our way back to the West Gate, the penguins were out and about!) We got a tiny bit off-track on the way home, but it was a chance to see some more of the city, anyhow. The traffic was bad - but only because of a tunnel paint spill cleanup.

    Taking off soon. I doubt anyone in Medford has even heard of broadband, so I won't be seeing you there. Talk to you on Monday!
    07/02/05 08:28 AM |  Comments


    July 01, 2005

    One More Day
    Wednesday Daniel and I hung out with Becky at her woodsy home for awhile. She took us on a tour of the outer neighborhoods of Redmond - after living in California for five years, I couldn't help but be surprised at the home prices (less than half as much, generally). Million-dollar homes really were logically worth that.

    We also visited a small farm market, where, after the power returned, I picked up some squeeky cheese curds. Yum.

    Yesterday D. stopped interviewing with the Big Company, and found one fast downtown instead. Daniel and I hung out around the Space Needle and had some Orange Julius (apparently he doesn't like very cold things, because he went tight-lipped after one taste). We didn't ride up because $13 seemed a bit much for a touristy view. At least we scored a squashed penny for my sister, who has a huge collection. Oh, we took the monorail after D. was finished, too. On our return trip, the cars were pretty empty, so we got to sit right in the back, which was neat. Kind of reminded me of Greektown in Detroit.

    Daniel was getting sleepy-hungry-monstery, and we couldn't hang out downtown anymore, and missed Spring and co. on their interview tour. Suckery! But, as I said, hopefully we'll both be permanently on this side of the water soon - upon which she'll quickly tire of me ;-)

    Had dinner at Goldberg's Deli in the Factoria Mall with Megan and Scott. Good schtuff. Gargantuan menu, and everything sounds good. Bring an empty stomach and a random number with you when you go.

    There'll be some pics and "video" next week. We still have the two-day drive (on a holiday weekend, no less) to look forward to, after all.
    07/01/05 08:54 AM |  Comments