November 22, 2007

Share some good stuff

Well, the good stuff has been going on all day in my house, as I know it has in many of yours. My holiday guests are still here and I have decided not to neglect them in order to put together a post. To those of you who shared some good stuff this week, your posts will be featured next week, along with any new submissions. I hope you have all been enjoying a happy Thanksgiving Day filled with family, friends, good food and good times. I also hope you’ll forgive me for placing those things above the entry you were expecting from me. I think most of you will. I’ll see you all back here next Thursday. Until then, keep looking for the Good Stuff. It’ll do you good!

Technorati Tags: apology, good stuff, holiday hiatus

November 19, 2007

Are posties the best or what?

I didn’t get to go to PostieCon. I’d like to have gone. There were a lot of speakers addressing ways to become a better blogger, a lot of revelations about new features coming to PPP (Argus, IZEA, SocialSpark!) and a lot of good times to be had. The primary reason I wanted to go was because it would have been an opportunity to actually meet some of the people I’ve been interacting with online for over a year now. I don’t want to imply that the sessions weren’t an attractive draw or that I’d not have appreciated all of the blogging tips. Those are good things too that I’d like to have partken of, but it’s the people that make PPP special and it was the chance to spend some time with them that made it tough to not go. I’ve enjoyed all of the pictures and blog posts they’ve shared which made it seem more real to the rest of us, but, let’s face it: being there would have been better.

Most of the folks who attended PostiCon also attended BlogWorld, so they were there for a couple of days before PostieCon actually started. And they were posting stories and pictures before PositeCon. I started seeing all of the goodies they were gathering in their swag bags and realized there was yet another good reason for going. Stuff! I saw some stuff with the new IZEA logo on it and my stuff detector started ringing loud and clear. I really, really need more stuff! I really, really wanted something, anything with that pretty new IZEA logo. So I swallowed hard and shot off a couple of PMs to posties I had spotted online during the gathering and I asked. Could I please, pretty, pretty please have one fo those IZEA mousepads if they could get an extra one? I figured it would be rude to ask for all of the stuff, so I pretended I don’t have a greedy heart and asked for just one logo item, one that would be easy to shove into an envelope and mail to Hawaii. I gotta tell you, these are folks who know all about me and stuff, lol! It seems several of them got together and, acknowledging my greed and my love of stuff, decided to be incredibly accommodating and generous. They filled up a swag bag for me and persuaded Techie to deliver it personally when he came to island after leaving PostiCon.

There you see that beautiful new IZEA logo on my shiny new mousepad. You also see a long-sleeved SocialSpark tee, a Car Guys tee packaged up in a block shaped like a car, a SocialSpark button (on the mousepad,) an IZEA cup cozy and a Travelodge Sleepy Bear complete with pajamas, nightcap and slippers. I ask you, did I score? I scored!

Mahalo for Robyn and Lisa who responded graciously to my greedy PMs. And to Cass and Jules (Happy Anniversary, Julie & Michael!) who were, I think, in on the conspiracy. And to Techie and Mrs.Techie for bringing the goods and for sharing their beautiful keiki and a wonderful afternoon with me. If anyone else was involved I hope you’ll let me know so I can give you some of my worthless linky-love and a big mahalo! Y’all da bes!

Technorati Tags: friends, postiecon, posties, stuff, swag

November 17, 2007

What’s on your desktop?

My pal Sprite at Homespun Honolulu has tagged me to tell you what’s on my desktop. No one who knows me will be surprised by my choice. Books are an important part of my life and I love quirky art. It was only natural that I fell in love with Written Worlds by Ron Gonsalves the first time I saw it. Its depiction of a library offering entry into the worlds of our imagination speaks to my heart and my intellect, besides being delicious eye candy. Canadian artist Gonslaves, though inspired by the works of Magritte and Escher (my “other” favorite artist) has a style distinctly his own, blending the surreal with the mundane to create what he says is best described as Magical Realism. I don’t care what he calls it. I just love that he does it!

I’ve been hesitant to tag folks in the past, not wanting anyone to feel that they “had to” respond in kind. These are perilous times to be linking anyone to my blog, which the Big G has apparently identified as a “bad neighborhood” because I’ve had the audacity to write for sponsors through networks other than their own. They’ve become quite concerned with how I keep my checking account healthy and have demoted me to a zero. I’d be flattered at their personal attention if I didn’t know that I was only one of thousands thus blessed. The call is yours, my friends. I won’t give you a “valuless link” unless you request it. If you’d like to play along just let me know in your comments and I’ll hook you up. Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you!

And Cass is the first to step up to the plate. She ain’t afraid of no g-monster! Line forms to the rear, folks. Who else has the courage to thumb their nose at G by asking me to link them? (This is not a slam at the courage of anyone who is avoiding risks until the dust settles. We all understand and I know that many are not so much scared as they are confused as to what’s “allowed.” I’ll still respect you if you avoid links for a while! )

And I’m happy to report we have two more players. I honestly didn’t know what to expect this time around, considering the recent carnage. Beth, about whom I will have something to say soon, will boldly share her desktop with the world! So will Val, who plays my games and lets me play at her place! Yah! Are we all getting back to “life as usual” in the blogosphere?

Edit:

Since Blueyes was bold enough to criticize me in my own home I thought I should take a look at what she had to say. Well, yes, Blueyes, I had way too many icons on my desktop, especially considering that I rarely use any of them. I’ve repented. I’ve kept the icons for a few trouble-shooting programs that I like to get to quickly when things go wrong. I’ve kept Rhapsody because I’ve just installed it and it’s convenient to have it right there as I explore. I’ve kept my Netscape icon because I use it frequetnly to compare browser views of my blog. Everthing else was just fluff & stuff and is gone.

Technorati Tags: art, desktop, meme

November 16, 2007

Oh, the tangled web we weave

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Sir Walter Scott

If I were still young and perky I wouldn’t need enhancements. Perhaps there are women in their fifties who don’t need the “slightly padded” look supported by straps of iron. I’m not one of them. Giving birth while still in my teens gave me a lucious fullness which promptly deflated to a reasonably firm but slightly sagging chest once my mammaries were to longer needed for their designed purpose. I fooled myself for a while, but my mirror refused to allow me to live the lie. I gave up strapless in my thirties and never went back. I’ve gotten a little fuller in the last ten years or so, but without support you certainly can’t tell it. So I have straps, nice sturdy hardware to hoist the slightly padded feminine features back up to where they belong. Straps that dance around each other inside their net bag on laundry day, pair up and entangle their fates one with the other. An hour of so of frustrated pulling and tugging and tracing of sources usually restores order without the need to resort to scissors. I’m tempted to chuck them all, but as I approach the possible need for plus size lingerie I suspect I’ll need more rather than less of them. Yeah, I could handwash them separately and solve the dilemma, but I’m not quite aggrevated enough to make that change yet.

How do you do it? Toss them in loose with everything else? Throw one in each washload to minimize the risk of permanent melding? Net bag? Surely there’s a solution that won’t require me to go the handwashing route? Isn’t there?

Technorati Tags: bras, laundry nightmares, lingerie

November 11, 2007

Broke my favorite kitchen gadget

I love kitchen gadgets. Peelers and slicers and dicers and ricers, strainers and things that make stuff easy to pour, whisks and bottles openers - love them all! A couple of years back my son and I were having a conversation about stocking stuffers for Christmas. I get pretty imaginative with such things, but he admitted to having no clue. So I did what any good mom would do (or at least any mom who likes stuff, lol) and I made him a list. Right at the top of the list - kitchen gadgets! So what did he get for stocking stuffers that year? Two large Pyrex measuring cups and a set of scoops for my canisters. Now the scoops kinda qualify as gadgets, but the cups - no way. I use them a lot and am really glad to have them, but they don’t feel like “gadgets” to me. I’m not sure how to define a gadget, but I know one when I see it. They’re utensils and tools (as are measruing cups) but they’re specialized and different from the everyday stuff. Maybe someone can come up with a definition for me?

So anyway - the picture. That’s my oil sprayer. I use it every day. Well, I did until I dropped it right on the button that you depress to spray. It broke the little plastic chamber that forces air into the bottle, so it’s no use now. I’m going to town in a few hours to see a play, so I’ll have to stop at the really huge, gazillion-square-foot mall that I hate and get me a new one. I’d rather pull all of my teeth without anesthesia or climb the North Face in my underwear than go into the teeming masses at that place, but the only store I know of that carries my oil sprayer is there. So I guess I have to go. Totally aside from hating the mall, though, that presents a real dilemma. I love the kitchen gadget store. It’s got all of the best stuff. I’m trying to cut back on stuff, thank-you-very-much, but I already know I’ll see things I didn’t plan on buying when I get there and will realize that they could change my life forever and I just have to have them.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, folks. I’m going in and this may not be pretty.

Technorati Tags: gadgets, just stuff, kitchen gadgets, kitchen tools, oil sprayer

November 8, 2007

Lights out!

The power went out tonight just at sunset and was out for a couple of hours. The power also went out last night around the same time and was out for about an hour. I hope this isn’t the new pattern of our lives. I’m beginning to wonder. Sunset is around 6:30. Dinnertime. Maybe someone at the power company is plugging into the wrong thing to heat up their frozen entree? Perhaps someone is worried about the corrupting influence of prime time programming on TV and is exercising a new form of censorship? Maybe there are ghosts in the machines and they come out to play at sunset? What’s your whacky reason for such a bizarre occurrance? How worried do you think should I be if the lights go out tomorrow night right around sunset? Cue the music, Rod Serling!

Technorati Tags: dark night, power outage, strange phenomenon

November 3, 2007

Storage for my stuff

I can’t pretend that I don’t have too much stuff. That would be rather pointless since I’ve fully confessed that fault numerous times. If I had a huge house with walk-in closets in every room, a finished basement and a real attic my stuff wouldn’t be a problem. I have, instead, a small house, no basement and an attic that requires a ladder for entry and knee-pads for crawling because there’s no overhead space for walking around. I live alone (except for the furkids, of course.) I have three sheds, six closets and numerous cabinets and lockers in my house, so you’d think that would be enough storage space for me and the boys. It probably would be enough space if I weren’t so disorganized. My archived office files are organized. My Christmas stuff is packed away neatly in bins. The rest of my stuff just kind of spills over various surfaces and even out into the yard beside one of the sheds. So maybe it’s not the stuff that’s a problem, but rather my lack of organization. I have none. I’m always envious when I inspect someone’s home and see that they have a storage container for everything, and that they’ve organized all of their containers in neat and logical fashion. A place for everything and everything in its place. A simple concept that I can grasp but can’t quite seem to implement.

When I needed a hat for my Halloween costume I knew just where to look. I had to move the old drapes and a quilt off of the top shelf of my closet and there they were, right where I knew they’d be. Squished. That was the deciding factor as I finished off my costume. The beret was the only hat that still had its original shape. My cluttery ways are costing me money again, because several of my hats can’t be re-shaped and will have to be tossed. I really need to get a couple of sets of storage containers and start organizing my stuff. It would save me money (on things like hats) and make my life a lot easier. My friend cooked her famous chicken and dumplings at my house last week so we could eat it while watching a movie. She knows my house almost as well as I do, but she couldn’t find the garlic powder in my pantry. Neither could I. It’s so frustrating to live like this, especially when I know what to do to make things better. We’ve all seen those Neat Containers on TV. Well, I have, anyway. You can click either link to see them if you’ve been living in a cave and don’t know what I’m talking about. Those are the closets I want. That’s how I want my pantry and storage sheds to look. I want clear storage containers that let me see where my stuff is. I need containers that can be pulled out like drawers so I don’t have to unstack them ever time I want something. A fifteen-piece Starter Kit is just $33.00 and would be just right for organizing my pantry. That would keep us from having to start the movie over next time (it took forever to find that garlic powder!) and will protect my food the next time the mice invade (and you know they will!) Yeah, I need to get off of my duff and order those containers so I can start getting organized. I wouldn’t have to change the name of my blog if I did that, would I? I’d still have stuff. Actually, it might even improve my blogging if I could find the stuff I want to blog about. Now if I could just get beyond my procrastination problem … but that’s another post. Right now I’ll concentrate on stuff.

Technorati Tags: containers, organization, storage containers, stuff

October 31, 2007

Did you paint your face?

If you painted your face or costumed for Halloween, I know you took pictures because - well, that’s what bloggers do, right? So post your pretty putz and send me the link (click “email skeet” on the right) and I’ll link you up right here.

Hooray for Julie! She won a hundred bucks with her Geek Squad Girl costume! Go take a look - she’s everyone’s dream techie, lol! Way to go, Jules! Congrats!

This is the first time I’ve painted my face since I was a child. May I say, first of all - ICK! The inside of a foam clown’s nose? Smells pretty much like I would think the inside of someone else’s nose would smell. The paint? Not itchy, but heavy and oily. I feel very unclean. When you’re “mature” and your skin has lots of wrinkles, the paint collects in the wrinkles and does weird things, but clowns should be weird, right? I did get some smiles from the TWO trick-or-treaters who came by, and the gal at the Pink Market where I went for a bag of ice thought I looked “cute.” I should mention that it started raining pretty heavily just before dark. The kids in costume who had been hanging around waiting for the sun to fade disappeared when the rains came. I met several parents escorting their keiki on their rounds when I went to the store and I saw two more on the road - that’s it. Pretty much a bust as Halloweens go. It’s almost eight o’clock now. The rain has stopped. I’ll keep my face on for a while longer, just in case. But the boys aren’t barking, so it’s a pretty sure bet there aren’t any little ones out there anywhere on the block. I hope they’re all happily trick-or-treating at a mall somewhere or getting themselves scared silly at haunted houses.

And I hope I can wash my face soon.

Technorati Tags: clown, clownface, costume, Halloween, trick-or-treat

October 22, 2007

Paint your face!

I’m not much of an impulse shopper, but I saw the Halloween stuff last time I was at WalMart and tossed some clown paint into my cart on a whim. It’s just a couple of bucks a pack and I thought it might make for a fun self portrait some time soon. I haven’t costumed for Halloween for a long time. The last few years I even turned off my lights on Halloween night and didn’t have candy for the keiki. I’m not an old Scrooge. There just haven’t been many kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. There are kids here, but I think most of them go to the malls or haunted houses deemed “safe” instead of going door-to-door. My home, like most in my neighborhood, has a gate at the street. The only reasonable way to pass out candy is to secure the dogs, open the gate and drag a chair outside, where I sit for several hours waiting for the occasional little moster to come begging. I like Halloween, though, and I hate it that the few kids who do go door-to-door aren’t finding many grown-ups willing to play along. I mentioned it to my friend this weekend and showed her the clown paint, expecting her to shrug it off. Well, she thinks it would be grand to sit outside for hours on end making the keiki smile at our silly faces. I guess that means I’m committed. Or should be committed, maybe.

I guess I have contests on the brain, because this thought intruded just now as I was typing. Shall we have a face-painting contest for Halloween? I’ll paint mine, you’ll paint yours and we’ll all post a picture and link each other up. Send me a link to your post and we’ll find some independent judges to declare a winner. The champ will get a winner’s badge for their blog, with a link up in a post announcing their win. What do you think? Shall we all re-visit childhood this year and have a little fun?

Technorati Tags: clown paint, contest, face-painting, Halloween

October 19, 2007

Stray cats

I’m not a cruel person. I’m actually pretty tender-hearted and cry much too easily. I’m not a cat-hater, either. I’ve had cats before (or maybe I should say they’ve had me) and it’s certainly possible that I may have another some day. I am, however, an advocate of responsible pet ownership. My friend Tina posted an article from the London Daily Mail about a man who “relocated” his neighbor’s cats after he had his fill of them soiling his yard and destroying his garden. Tina thinks that those of us who don’t want to be annoyed by others’ pets should invest in an electronic fence. Um, yeah. Have you priced those things? I replied to Tina on a message board:

I’ve trapped cats in my yard and will continue to do so. I’m on the waiting list for cat traps from the Humane Society, who will pick up the cats after they’re trapped. Whether the owners get them back is up to them, but if they come in my yard, they will be trapped. When I was on the Association Board I also trapped dogs and cats off of the streets of our community. The House Rules are very clear in stating that any stray animals will be trapped by the Board and turned over to the Humane Society, and that owners will be fined (if they can be identified.) It’s also against City/County ordinance to allow any animals to roam free. I keep my animals confined in my own yard, where they are welcome and (should be) safe and don’t annoy the neighbors. I expect my neighbors to show the same concern for their neighbors and their pets.

The only problem I have with the catnapper is that he may have done it illegally.

I didn’t think to mention, when writing the above, that Lance wakes me (and the neighbors) at least once a week when a cat starts raising a ruckus in the crawl space under the house and he attmpts to rout it. Or that Buddy caught, mutilated and killed two kittens in the yard when he was younger and more spry.

It’s a controversial issue, to be sure. I mean Tina no ill will in posting a dissenting opinion. I merely seek to engage in some civil debate. Perhaps Tina will convince me that the agony of a child missing a pet outweighs my rights (and the boys rights, too) to enjoy full use of my own property. The floor is open. Where do you stand?

Technorati Tags: cats, cat-trapping, pets, responsible pet ownership