Don't get excited.

I noticed it's been a looong time since I wrote anything on the blog. So I decided to add a thing or two.

One, I've been teaching myself to cook. FUN.
Two, I've been working on my porchtop garden. Also fun.

Things are moving slow around the farm, but that's OK. I've been mainly focused on purging the 6 years of accumulate crap from various projects that I've now decided I'm not going to do, and thinking about projects I do still want to do.

And really, I don't have much interesting going on right now, which makes me feel a little sad to say out loud, but on the other hand, I feel pretty good about most aspects of my life, most of the time. So it's only when I have to actually say that I don't have much going on that I wonder if I should be doing more.

And I feel pretty boring. :(

Laughing Out Loud, at Myself

We have a monthly e-newsletter at work where employees put information about what the different teams and departments are doing. The newsletter also has things like recipes, birthdays, etc. Your typical employee newsletter. This month's newsletter had one of those "you know you're getting old when..." messages in it. A lighthearted look at the funny side of aging, you know.

There is a dime that has been on the hallway floor for about a week now. I'm not sure how it got there, but every time I see it, I think "I should pick that up," and then I just leave it lying there. So today, when I coincidentally dropped a ponytail tie on the floor right next to it, I picked up the dime while I was already bent over to get the ponytail holder. And then I laughed out loud because one of the "you know you're getting old" sentences ended with "when you fall down, you look around to see if there's anything else you can do, while you're down there." I guess that also applies to bending over. Might as well pick up whatever else you can...

hello.

You know how, when you have someone you talk to every day, you can talk to them for hours and hours about nothing at all, and when you have someone you hardly ever talk to, you sometimes struggle to come up with enough words to fill the silence? This is like that.

I've been so busy lately that I just stopped even thinking about blogs-writing or reading them. Work is busy as always, but I also was taking a tax class, working on a big freelance project, and sometimes proctoring exams. All for money or the hope of future money. So I finished the project and the tax class. I'm going to be working at the tax place starting in January, so that is sure to bring some interesting name-withheld-type blog fodder. Also, I never would have predicted this could happen, but I now spend so much time writing and editing at work that I find myself less interested in doing it at the end of the day. That's not good for the long run but I'm hoping I'll get over that as I get more experienced at it.

Anyway, I'm planning to keep it light but hopefully more frequent for the month of December. I'm giving mostly shitty handmade gifts this year so hopefully, I'll get some pics of those up starting this week. Oh, and there is a trial starting next week about my brother's death, and my dad has surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm on 12/16, so I'm sure that December isn't going to be any quieter than any other month of my life.

Around The Interwebz

http://ugliesttattoos.com/

I love that the subtitle is "A Gallery of Regrets." People, tattoos are PERMANENT. Or incredibly painful and expensive to me made not permanent. Just think about it before you get that unicorn-humping-a-dolphin or dancing-ham job done up on ya butt ridge or wherever.

I’m in a pretty good mood today, which I believe is because it’s day 2 of the work week and we are already at HUMPDAY.

True Confessions: I always thought Hump Day was the nastiest term and then I found out it was called that because we are “over the hump” of the week. I think it happened that way because I heard the term “Hump Day” when I was in Jr. High and that’s all that Jr. High kids think about. And so I thought the whole thing was that people went around work making overt passes at one another because Wednesday is Hump Day so that day, it’s oooo-kaay. Heh. Oh, and I first figured out the “over the hump” thing approximately…24-36 months ago. That’s right. I made it well into my 30s thinking that Wednesday was America’s National Get-It-On Day.

And on a tangentially related note…every day of my life as an Editor, I thank my lucky stars that this hasn’t happened on my watch.

On a Lighter Note

I don't know which is stranger: that I'm watching Big Brother Eleven, or the fact that I'm watching Big Brother Eleven.

But as a result of this development, I found this particular news story incredibly delightful: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/animal_planet_reality_show_to_put?utm_source=most_pop_faxed

Republicans: skip this post

Last year, I moved all my political ranting to another blog, but I'm too lazy to go figure out what the login is for that, so I'm posting it here instead. Consider yourselves warned. Stop reading now if you don't want my political opinion.

If you don't think America's kids should listen to this...then you are a farking idiot.

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Read-The-Presidents-School-Speech/jrKvCI8kKU2XBXhDb_QOxQ.cspx

project update

I've taken most of the summer "off" of my various projects. But with Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, I decided to jump back in and this project was as good a place as any to start. what you see here is the pile of rubble that is currently my sofa. what you don't see is the exciting plans I have in store for this thing, and the plans I have for its little green friend. Stay tuned...

New Feature: Around the Interwebz

I've been catching a bit of flak lately about how infrequently I update this blog (ahem, Colleen, Bri, Rob...etc.), but the reality is, I am just not doing much that is interesting these days. Scratch that. What I am mostly doing is interesting to ME and would be insufferably boring to you, my beloved readers. So, I've created a new feature to get us through this slow time. I will be featuring things I have found or which have been brought to my attention that are Internet gems of all sorts. I had been putting these kinds of things as updates on my Facebook, but to be honest, I am seriously considering quitting theFacebook. That's right, you read that right, and it should be the subject of a whole nother post. But for now, here are two lovely things I found on the Interwebz today. Much like my own self, one is creative and crafty and the other is silly and funny. And in case you are ever wondering how I find the things I find on the Interwebz, it is always as a result of something I googled, so I will include the google search term that (eventually) led me to each link:

Link 1: crafty creative chick who salvages items (we all know how I love to curb-surf!) and repurposes them into cool stuff: greencricketsalvage.com found on page 15 of a google image search for "window plant shelf"

Link 2: funny guy who is presumably high school or college-aged: http://myauntishot.com/about/who-is-my-aunt-why-is-she-hot found in a google search for "how to buy a corsage." More on the corsage fiasco later. I don't know about this guy's entire blog, but the story of why the blog is called "my aunt is hot" is actually awesomely funny. Also, his summary of going to the flower shop to get a corsage is outstanding: http://myauntishot.com/2004/funny/wristlet-or-corsage

how

could it have gone so wrong, in so short a time?

sun-dried cotton

these are happy swatches of fabric for baby blocks and other sweet things. i suppoze these cotton swatches are technically not sun dried as they are still drying, and there is some shade. but i'm workong on being less of a perfectionist, so this will have to do.

tuesday night project

I've been having some problems with both Stella and Magnus up to their old tricks of inappropriate elimination. I think they are in a literal pissing contest. This is upsetting, frustrating, and actually a little costly as I spend a lot of time and a few US dollars on cleanup supplies which don't always seem to get the stains out. Not to mention countless evenings trolling around my house with a blacklight trying to find any spot that would explain the lingering odors. Sigh.

It was suggested to me that perhaps Stella's problem is that she is anxious, and that actually makes sense to me. But before we head off to the vet for another $300 visit just to find out that vet won't give me an anti-anxiety medicine for her, I decided to revamp her living arrangements. I'm moving her food out of the basement and back upstairs. Now, the reason I had it in the basement in the first place is that Magnus can and will get to it in every other location I've tried so far. But this time, I've decided to foil him by installing a gate to block his access to the upstairs. I hope this works. I think we all know that he can jump this thing. I'm just hoping he chooses not to. The other thing is, he's been slinking off up the stairs himself even though there isn't food up there anymore, and leaving little puddles that I sometimes only find out about from the smell. So hopefully this little gate will kill two birds with one stone so I don't have to kill two pets with my bare hands.

In the Pond.

ewew ew. what more to say?

why? part 2

this really makes me think they've been swimming in it. why??? the scum is right there! people, can't you see it?? augh.

why?

...is what bri said, when we saw this almost-nekkid little girl at busken today. why not just put a shirt on? we are in a restaurant, after all.

oh now.

Based on Wednesday's pic, I thought things were progressing with the pond-to-pool makeover. Now I'm not so sure. This reminds me of that scurf you see floating on top of industrial wastewater pools. ugh.

Con-blog-eration

Finally, after all these years, I have both the time and the available technology to combine all of my blogs into one singular Masterpiece. And in doing so, I have been able to go through old blog posts and enjoy the bloggy camaraderie and just general silliness that is my life. So if you are ever thinking to yourself, "remember the time Erin locked herself out of her house and tried to drive her car over to the window to climb back in," or "how, again, did Erin build that doghouse?" well, now you too can relive those moments, here in one easy-to-search location. Yay!

And this link is for Heidi: http://blackfordfarm.blogspot.com/2006/12/bah-humbug.html

Last Week

This was taken last week, after they started the de-mucking process.

Progress of some kind.

i still wouldn't get in there.

You're Going to Need a Bigger Net

Or stick, or whatever.

I clicked on this photo after I posted it to blogger and it is so gross. I am reminded of that movie, Big Fish, where the guy is leaning over the pond in the backyard and the big fish pops out at him suddenly. Argh.