Blog Idea A Day

2010-11-05T20:32:00.000-05:00

Hey, I haven't blogged.

Obviously.

I've been Tweeting. I think I'm addicted.

I have started working on my book again. I've written another chapter and sent it to Nina to read and comment. Hopefully I will continue to work on it regularly.

That's all I have in me today. It's been a very long day.

2010-06-03T14:06:00.002-05:00

I've been working on my book. You can tell how much time I'm actually working on my book, because I don't put any energy in here.

I'm here, so guess what that means. Yep, I'm procrastinating working on my book.

I do have a good start. I have three very workable chapters of a first draft and a pretty good idea what I'm going to write in chapter four. But, what am I going to do after that?

I've decided writing a novel is kind of like using a GPS for directions. I know the end point I want to get to. I know where I am now and what my next turn will be, but I have no clue where I'm going to go the after that. I keep worrying that I'm going to make the next turn and realize I just turned onto a dead end and I'm going to have turn around and start all over again.

Procrastinating is easier.

Unfortunately, until I get to the end of this road I can't really see what is on the next road. And I have no way of knowing for sure if these roads I'm taking are even going where I need them to go.

2010-05-06T19:20:00.000-05:00

A Trip to the Store
(A Poem in Free Verse)

Time is short, baby needs to nap.
In the car do up the belt.
Get out of my way! You are driving slow!
Oh, no! A train.
Car car car car car car car car car car caboose.
Wait, keep going, don't stop! @$^&@#!
esoobac rac rac rac rac rac rac ....
I'm going around.
Come on people.
Finally, at the store.
Grab a cart
Cough, cough
Need this, need that.
Cough, cough
Four of those, no two is fine.
Cough, cough, cough
Where did they move the butter?
Cough, cough
"Why is everyone coughing?"
Five more items we are almost done.
This line looks short.
Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.
Unload, unload, unload, unload
Scan, cough, scan, cough, wipes her nose
Could you please scan faster, I'm running out of room.
Scan, scan, cough, scan, scan
Unload, unload, unload, unload
Scan, cough, scan, cough
Swipe, okay, okay, okay
"Here's your receipt."
Out to the car.
Load, load, load, load, load, load.
Buckle up, we're heading home.
Here is where exhaustion sets in.
Home at last.
Time to unload.
Oh, thank goodness, Hubby is home.
"You unload, I'm going to go take a nap."

2010-04-16T08:38:00.002-05:00

Just stop!
I'm tired and cranky. My darling baby was wide awake between Midnight and 2am last night and didn't exactly "sleep like a baby" the rest of the time.

I hope this is teething because it had been getting better and the last couple of days it has been markedly worse.

To top it off my older kids are out of school for the day, again! My 5 year old came down to the kitchen this morning and wined at me for 10 minutes straight because his older brother wasn't getting up. It was 7:30am and I had already been up for an hour.

Everyone keeps screaming. I want to scream.

2010-04-03T22:25:00.002-05:00

My sister friend requested me on Facebook. I'm still deciding whether to accept.

My sister and I have a very tricky relationship. As a child I looked up to her like younger sisters do, but she kind of beat up on me and treated me like crap. People always talked about how bad we fought. They described us as being like day and night and fighting like cats and dogs. As I got older, I realized that she wasn't exactly exciting to be around and stopped really caring about what she did. She left for college and things at home were actually quite pleasant.

As adults we have never really been close. Even though I make every effort not to be a part of her life, I am still blamed if something in her life goes wrong. I don't agree with the choices she makes about anything and I get really pissed off at her because she acts like nothing she does is by choice and everything "just happens to her". I try to stay away from her as much as possible because not only do I not agree with the choices she makes about her own life, but also I don't like the person I become when I'm around her. I'm not really a petty, vindictive person, but around her I become one - to the extreme.

So back to the issue at hand: Do I really want to be her friend on Facebook?

Well, not really. I don't want her knowing what is going on in my life. I don't really want to have her posts show up in my news feed. I don't want to have one more place I have to avoid her.

Oops, I think I accidentally deleted that friend request, darn! I guess I will catch her next time around.

Spring Break

2010-03-16T10:15:00.001-05:00

My kids have been out of school for Spring Break for only one day. They were very excited for the break from school. My five year old said, "It is the best thing, ever."

I can tell they already miss school, though, because they are down in the playroom doing Centers right now. When they were on the way down the stairs I heard one say that after Centers they can do Computer and Recess before Lunch.

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Bad Financial Advice

2010-03-08T14:08:00.001-06:00

I just got back from Walmart. It wasn't so bad just long.
On the way home I saw a woman standing on the corner dressed like the Statue of Liberty dancing? gyrating? like she was having a religious experience. It was kind of disturbing.
I know from experience that she was out there to promote the strip mall tax preparation office located nearby.
I'm just wondering who thought that this was a good way to promote this business? I have never driven by one of these people (and they are all over town) and thought "wow that crazy person there on the corner makes me want to trust my financial documents with their business."
Actually, if they didn't have the crazy people on the street, I might actually think they were a reputable business. I guess maybe the crazy people are just there to warn people off.

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I'm tired

2010-03-04T08:56:00.001-06:00

My baby didn't sleep well last night. It took him forever to finally fall asleep and then he woke up at least once an hour after that.
This was my night:
10:00 baby finally asleep
11:00 I go to bed
11:40 baby wakes up
12:30 baby wakes up
1:15 " "
1:50 " "
2:30 " "
3:05 " "
4:00 " "
4:50 " "
5:15 " "
5:45 " "
6:15 " "
6:45 give up and get up for the day.

It doesn't help that my 5 year old doesn't have school today and it talking nonstop about everything.

I hope my baby is just teething or something and this is not our new sleep pattern.

Whoever coined the term "sleeping like a baby" to mean getting a good nights sleep was an idiot.

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The President and the two year old.

2010-03-01T06:58:00.001-06:00

I am going to get political just for a moment.

Is anyone but me sickened by the way the Republicans are acting about this healthcare bill?

Watching this is like watching a mother (the president) go shopping with a cranky two year old (congress). The mother is just trying to get the groceries she came for, but the two year old keeps stopping every couple of feet and asking for something else.

"No," the mother says, "we need to get what is on the list. We don't have money for that right now. We have to get the things we really need."

"But I want it," whines the two year old.

Last weeks CSPAN meeting was like the mother sitting the two year old down and explaining what they are trying to accomplish and how he can help.

Personally, I think the president is only going to make it another aisle or two before congress has a complete melt down and starts throwing a temper tantrum right there in the aisle. I just wonder if the president is going to be able to pick congress up and finish the trip or if he is just going to have to leave everything and exit the store?

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Hard Life

2010-02-23T06:40:00.001-06:00

It must be hard to be a baby. You have absolutely no control, even when it comes to your own body. My son has a stuffy nose right now that makes it difficult to breathe. He can't sit up to help his nose clear. He can barely roll over to make that help.
Just in general the only thing a baby can do is cry and hope the people who love him will be able to figure out what he needs. I feel bad for my son when I can't get to him because I am in the bathroom or something. It has to be scary being so completely helpless and not having your only tool work.
On the upside for babies, though, they are very cute and hard to resist.

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Solitaire

2010-02-20T14:52:00.001-06:00

I've downloaded Solitaire on my phone.
Lately I've been playing spider solitaire A LOT.
It occurs to me that spider solitaire is a lot like life. You work to get things in the right order then when you get everything just right, you have to deal out more cards which usually messes everything up again. Sometimes you can get it organized again. Usually, however, everything just can't be fixed. So you deal out more cards hoping it will help. It never does it just makes a bigger mess.
Oh well, MENU > NEW GAME

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Line guy

2010-02-19T20:19:00.001-06:00

Can we just take a minute to acknowledge the guy who paints the blue lines on the different courses at the Winter Olympics?
Not only does this guy have to plot the wavy course all the way down the mountain for the ski shalom, but also up the sides of the huge half pipe for the snowboarders. I can only imagines that if it snows he has to go back out and do it again.
There's someone who deserves a medal.

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2010-02-16T09:20:00.004-06:00

I think this says it all.
School Day

2010-02-15T13:15:00.001-06:00

19 Hours 7 Minutes 37 Seconds

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Chaos

2010-02-13T15:51:00.001-06:00

You remember the Tazmanian
Devil from the Bugs Bunny cartoon...

I think I might be happier having him in my house today than the two school age boys who have gone completely blurry from being stuck in the house for three days.

64 hours 22 minutes until school starts again.
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Stay in school

2010-02-12T10:26:00.001-06:00

I am really apalled at our society that we have so much difficulty keeping kids in school. You would think that after the president spoke to everyone back in September we would see an improvement.
So can somebody tell me why, in less than a month and a half since Christmas break ended my kids have had 10 weekdays off school?
Its not that I don't love my kids and enjoy spending time with them. It is the fact that we can't get into a regular routine. I like my routine, and it is really difficult to be consistant when we have a Monday off here, a Friday off there, then a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off now.
It would actually be better if they just took a three week spring break. It takes my kids a week to stop arguing with each other and play together again. This particular break we are in right now is 6 days long.
Please school district, listen to the president "just stay in school".
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Tickets to the show...

2010-02-11T19:22:00.001-06:00

I have been reading a lot about parenting styles and getting your baby to sleep. It seems that things can be divided into two basic catagories: parent to sleep or cry it out. The parent to sleep is part of the attachment parenting style (that I personally agree with) that tells parents to trust there instincts and do what feels right when it comes to their child and it is often associated with Dr Sears.
The cry it out approach basically tells parents to get their children on a schedule, put them in their crib drowsy but awake, and let them cry until they learn to comfort themselves to sleep and is usually associated with Dr Ferber.
Today I keep wondering if Dr Sears and Dr Ferber have ever met? or If they ever met what that conversation would look like? I think I would buy tickets to see that fight.
Go Dr Sears!

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Time

2010-02-10T20:01:00.000-06:00

As I sit here with my almost five month old asleep in my arms and typing this out on my phone, I have relaized how precious this time really is. Even if I never try to make him sleep in a bed, eventually he will. In a few short months he will start crawling, then walking and talking. In a few years he will be off to school and much too big for me to carry at all.
So what I have realized is I really don't care what experts think I should do or whether I'm spoiling him or he never naps on his own. This is our time and I am going to enjoy it.
This means of course that my book might take longer to write, but nobody has given me a deadline except myself.
And right now I really enjoy our afternoons where I am "forced" to sit and watch TV or read a book and sip my tea for a couple of hours.
So instead of trying to force my baby to change, I am just going to embrace this wonderful time and thank him for giving it to me.

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Woohoo

2010-02-05T16:58:00.001-06:00

It worked!
Look! I'm blogging from my phone!

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2010-02-05T12:50:00.001-06:00

I'm testing to see if I can type on my phone. I think I can do this. The only real problem is the 5 year old screaming at me because his valentine got torn when he was putting a marker in it. I think this will be an easier solution to getting my writing done because it will allow me to type while the baby sits in my lap on the couch instead of trying to do it one handed at the computer. I still think I might take next week off though while the boys our out of school.

2010-01-24T10:10:00.000-06:00

Update I'm not sure what week we are on.

http://twitter.com/BlogIdeaADay has 196 followers.

I have been tweeting blog ideas every day, but I haven't been blogging.

I decided it was too much work to retype all my ideas so you can see my post in the twitter tool to the right.

My son is still not taking regular naps. My free time is very limited, even now I'm typing one handed while my son squirms in my other arm. When I get a free moment to myself I go to the bathroom. If I have more time than that I exercise and work on my novel. Soon my son will learn to sleep without me there. I will miss it and be sad. So, I'm not rushing anything.

2010-01-04T10:22:00.000-06:00

My blogging over this school break has been less than stellar. I apologize. My baby is not yet taking regular naps and to make things worse my school age kids do not understand the concept of "BE QUIET, THE BABY IS SLEEPING". Right now for instance they are "quietly" going to the bathroom. Which means they are up in the bathroom banging around, talking loudly, turning the door knob over and over again, etc. The bathroom being right outside the baby's room it will not be long before he wakes up and screams. I can't wait for school to start back up.
I have to go now, the baby is awake.

2009-12-23T18:31:00.000-06:00

I love my children dearly.
They are out of school of Winter Break.
I love them very much.
I need them to go back to school now.
They are driving me up the wall.
And the poop, don't even get me started about the poop.
Trust me, you don't want to know.
I love my children very, very much.
Only 14 days until Winter Break is over.

2009-12-18T11:16:00.000-06:00

Week 3 Update

Blog Ideas
12/12/2009 Describe your Imaginary friend.

12/13/2009 What is your ideal job? Why?

12/14/2009 What are you reading right now? What do you like about it and why?

12/15/2009 Why do people drive on parkways and park on driveways? What other things are not named right?

12/16/2009 What chore do you hate, and why?

12/17/2009 Martians don't know they are from Mars. They've never even heard of Mars.

12/18/2009 What are your holiday break plans?

As of today http://twitter.com/BlogIdeaADay has 137 followers.

I really feel my interest waning for this project. I don't really feel like anyone is reading my ideas or blogging about them. I feel like I have to force myself to do it. For now though that is exactly what I'm going to do. I will not allow myself to quit.

My kids will be out of school the next three weeks, so I am backing off of a few of the other assignments I have for myself during that time. However, I have decided that this project is important so I will continue it through the holidays.

Please let me know if you blog about any of my ideas. If you read this, but don't follow me on Twitter you can see a live feed of my ideas to the right.

2009-12-16T15:33:00.000-06:00

I have a love/hate relationship with grocery shopping.

Under most situations I really enjoy it. I love being able to go out and spend $100 or even $200 and not feel guilty about it. I love walking around the store and looking at things when I'm not in a rush. I love finding a great deal. If I have time I love trying on clothes in the clothing section. I even don't mind putting the groceries away when I get home, if I have time.

On the other hand, I hate being rushed at the store. I hate shopping when there are a lot of people there. I also hate check out. I hate unloading my cart and making meaningless small talk with the cashier. I hate having to load everything in my car and then unload it into the house.

However lately with my little 3 month old helper, I've added a new level of complication to my shopping. So any leisurely strolling I do comes at a price. I was about 1/2 through my 3 page long list today when my darling son woke up from his nap and decided he wanted to eat. I had already picked up perishable items, so taking a break and sitting down on a bench to nurse him was out of the question. I did the only thing I could do. I turned him in the front carrier so I could nurse him and covered myself as best I could. Then I continued shopping.

I have to say, I've gotten very good at doing a lot of things one handed. I can cook, a little. I can type pretty well. I can even tie my older son's shoe while holding my baby. Grocery shopping is not something I recommend doing one handed. For starters, when you have a grocery list that is 3 pages long, the cart gets pretty heavy. Then there is trying to hold the list, push the cart, pick the items, make sure you are covered so you don't flash the old man who's coming down the aisle. Let's just say, try to avoid having to nurse while you grocery shop, not the easiest thing to do.

So today when I finally got home from the grocery store, I actually needed to shower. I smelled horrible. But, of course I couldn't shower right away because I had to unload the car and put away the perishables all while entertaining my son so he would sit for a minute while I got it all done. Then of course he wanted to eat again.

I'm just glad it's all done for another two weeks. I'm exhausted!

2009-12-11T16:41:00.000-06:00

Week 3 update

This week's blog ideas:
12/05/2009 What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?

12/06/2009 What is the smartest thing you have ever done?

12/07/2009 I forgot to post an blog idea yesterday. What did you forget to do and why?

12/08/2009 What is the most important thing on your to do list today and why?

12/09/2009 What is your favorite color? What does it make you think of?

12/10/2009 What do you feel like society is pressuring you to do?

12/11/2009 What do you wish society would consider taboo, because it annoys you?

As of today http://twitter.com/BlogIdeaADay has 129 followers.

I had one person share their blog with me this week and I added her blog to my followers blogs.

I did blog a couple times this week.

If you would like to share you blogs, please send me your website.

2009-12-10T12:59:00.000-06:00

I receive a weekly e-mail discussing the new things to look for in a developing child. My son is almost 12 weeks old. The e-mail I got this week talks about returning to work and being back in your pre-pregnancy clothes.

It makes me sad to think that this is the new standard for America. "Pop the kid out, we will give you 12 weeks, you need to be back to the size you were before the pregnancy and back at work." When did this happen?

Please understand I know that our mothers and grandmothers fought quite hard to be seen as equals and be able to work outside the home. I think it is important that if a woman wants to return to work after having a child that she have the right to do so without guilt. However, I feel like I have to fight almost as hard for the right to stay home and not feel like society is looking down on me.

The thought of leaving my son and going to work somewhere else right now makes me want to cry. Talking to my mom friends who have done exactly that, I know most moms do cry when they have to put their sweet little babies in day care and go back to work. Most of them are told they have to work, so that their family can survive.

I am so thankful that I don't have to do that. I am thankful that my husband and I agree that we would rather have someone at home for the kids and sacrifice cerain things in our lives. My baby depends on me for everything and the thought of putting my trust in a complete stranger to provide for him like I do is just appalling.

Now let me wipe my tears for all those brave working moms out there and discuss this other issue of my weight.

I gained too much weight during my pregnancy, I know I did. I cried every time I got on the scale at the doctor's office, but the doctor didn't seem too worried about it, she just told me to watch what I ate. But still I gained 50 pounds with the pregnancy. So here I am 12 weeks later, and I have dropped 30 lbs of the 50, but that still leaves me 20 lbs over the weight I was when I started.

Unfortunately, since I started slightly overweight, I am now considered obese. Really, I looked it up on a medical height and weight chart. I'm obese.

I hate that word: obese. It sounds like lard. I think they should change it to fluffy. Fluffy sounds lighter like marshmallows. So on the nightly news they can talk about the fluffy outbreak that is sweeping the nation.

Anyway, I hate being fluffy. I would love to do something about being fluffy, but I can only do so much while I'm breastfeeding without hurting the quality of my breast milk, and I don't want to hurt my baby. Every day I go from being energized to lose the weight, to not caring, to feeling hopeless about ever losing the weight, to being determined to get it off tomorrow. I wish I knew how to deal with this.

Society take a good look here I am a fluffy non working mother, just a slacker in every way.

Is this really what our mothers and grandmothers were fighting for?

2009-12-08T09:18:00.000-06:00

I forgot to post a blog idea yesterday. I didn't mean to forget but I was laying in bed last night ready to go to sleep and it hit me that I forgot to post something. In my own defense though, my aunt called yesterday morning and wanted to talk for an hour about my cousin and her children. Also I'm kind of working on something right now that hopefully will provide me a tiny bit of income.
Still that's no excuse, this project will not go to the wayside like so many other things have before. I'm not sure why this silly project is so important to me, I don't know that anyone is really looking at this at all, except my husband. I guess I just really need to do something to force myself into writing. Over the years, as you can see if you go back and look at some of my posts from years ago, I have really want to be writer. So what is stopping me from writing? Honestly, the only thing standing in my way is me. But the thing I have put in my way in the past that has made things difficult is my job. This time I am not going to let that happen. With the support of my husband, writing is going to be my job from now on, even if I don't get paid for it. I am working on a few things now and will give myself a break that I don't have to accomplish everything tomorrow in order to still consider myself successful. In the meantime, I will continue to post blog ideas daily to my Twitter account and work to get followers. If you are reading this blog and are one of my Twitter followers, please let me know if you have used any of these blog ideas in your own blog. And if you would like to share your blog with my other readers, let me know and I will put a link to your blog on my page.
Keep Writing.

2009-12-04T18:37:00.000-06:00

Week 2 update

This week's blog ideas:
11/28/2009 When I say tell me about your childhood, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

11/29/2009 Who was your best friend as a child? Where are they now? Are you still friends?

11/30/2009 Where was your favorite hiding place as a child? When was the last time you visited it?

12/01/2009 Who is the first school teacher you had that you can still remember? What do you remember about them?

12/02/2009 What was your favorite game as a child? What did the game involve? Do you still enjoy it?

12/03/2009 When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? If that's not what you are now, why?

12/03/2009 Were you ever bullied as a child? What were you bullied about?

Obviously this week was all about your childhood. I blogged about what I wanted to be as a child. I haven't seen as much growth this week, but I am hoping things will pick up.

As of today http://twitter.com/BlogIdeaADay has 107 followers.

Please check me out and follow if you are not already, and send me your blogs, I would love to see what you have written about some of these ideas.

2009-12-03T12:22:00.000-06:00

When I was a kid I didn't really know what I wanted to be. I would answer as every kid would things like teacher, because that was the only job I could think of as a kid. I always liked playing mom when I would play, but being a mom was not a job that sounded acceptable, so I never said that's what I would be when I grew up. When I was in high school I decided (after a summer space camp) that I wanted to train astronauts for the NASA. I kept that idea through my first semester of college when I decided it was important to become a pilot. However upon beginning my training quickly learned that I really hated flying. My mother was very sad when I decided to change to something else because she thought that this was really an important dream for me. In reality, it was just like everything else I wanted to be as a child, just something I saw grown ups doing and therefore wanted to do too. Now that I am a mom, I know that this is really what I want to do. I also really want to write. What occurred to me just recently is that I don't necessarily have to have someone pay me to write to be a writer. If I want to be a writer, I need to write. I have to stop letting things get in the way and be excuses for not writing.

2009-11-27T14:06:00.003-06:00

Week 1 update

This week's blog ideas:
11/20/2009 Oprah is ending her talk show. What is the most significant thing Oprah has taught you?

11/21/2009 Spiders have 8 legs, crickets 6, mice 4, flamingos 2. Write about what creeps you out.

11/22/2009 Since we are just getting started...Write about why you have a blog and what you hope to accomplish with it.

11/23/2009 What electronic device or app to you wish you had or would be invented? How would you use it.

11/24/2009 Your vessel is taking on fluids in open water. How did you get here? How are you going to get out?

11/25/2009 Type the last paragraph you read. Write about it or just write the first 20 words that come to mind.

11/26/2009 Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for?

11/27/2009 Black Friday...Did you find a great deal? Did you have to get up early to get it? Did you have to run or fight?

As of today http://twitter.com/BlogIdeaADay has 96 followers on Twitter.

I'm not sure if anyone (except my husband) is reading this blog. Please leave me a comment if you are reading and let me know if you have a blog and I will add it to my links on the side.

2009-11-26T19:17:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful for my three beautiful children and my loving, understanding, and patient husband. I am thankful for my wonderful friends and quirky extended family. I am thankful for a roof over my head, clean water to drink and good food to eat. I am thankful for good health care and good health insurance.
And most important I am thankful to God for all his blessings.

2009-11-23T19:04:00.000-06:00

I'm sorry I can't hold it in any more. People are pissing me off. Specifically people at the grocery store.
First off I admit I'm a bit of a germ-a-phobe to begin with, and right now I have a newborn and the flu is going around. So I guess what I really need is a giant sign that says "STAY AWAY FROM ME!", but it's really hard to carry.
So when I go to the store I put my baby in a front carrier strapped to my chest. This I thought would keep those women back. You know the "Oh, what a cute baby! How old is he? Does he sleep good? Oh, I remember..." ladies. The ones who don't keep their grubby hands to themselves. I figure by using the front carrier I can avoid those type.
So, I get to the store and get him loaded in the carrier. We've already had a busy day by this point and he's tired, so he isn't exactly quiet. However, if I keep moving, he settles down. I start walking into the store to get my cart and I have an item to return so I have to wait for the greeter guy to give me a sticker. But I can't get the old women in front of me to move out of my way. I just want to walk by them but they just stop in my path and smile at me, because I have the baby. So not only is it taking too long, but also my son is screaming because I'm not moving. Then I continue on into the store trying to keep moving to keep him happy and I get comments like "You have a baby!?" What like I didn't notice there is a baby strapped to my chest or something.
I finally get a good pace going, turning down an aisles whenever someone gets in my way, so I can keep moving and my son falls asleep. I am then able to finish my shopping and get to the checkout. At this point my son starts to wake up and is crying again as I'm trying to unload my cart. I'm very distracted.
Finally I get all the stuff in my cart and get out to the car, then I'm loading everything in my trunk and I realize the grocery store clerk has given me about 30 bags for about 32 items. The point of the bag is to make it so you have fewer things to carry.
So the moral of the story is people are anoying and the grocery store clerks are responsible for the state of our landfills.

2009-11-21T13:10:00.000-06:00

I've decided to try something different. Since hardly anyone reads this blog and I don't feel like setting up a new blog I am just going to use this one.

So what is this "social experiment" that I'm starting?
As you may have noticed, I have great ambitions to write a blog, but I'm often limited on my blogging by a lack of ideas on things to write about and a daily motivation to write. I thought what I really need is something like a word a day calendar, only it gives me a blog idea a day instead. After looking for about 10 minutes and not finding anything, I decided to make one of my own.

I thought using Twitter makes since so anyone who would like a daily idea on something to blog about can just follow me on Twitter.

I know the first thing you are going to ask: Kelli if you have trouble coming up with things to blog about now, how are you going to come up with something to share with everyone else?
Truth is: I don't know, but hopefully I can come up with ideas from current events, my family, friends, and hopefully someday Twitter followers. Honestly, the prospect of coming up with an idea is a lot less daunting than actually blogging.

Hear is the plan:
I have started a Twitter account @BlogIdeaADay
On this account I will post a new blog idea each day.
I will blog with one of the ideas I posted at least once a week.
I will follow many different people on Twitter to get ideas and to get followers.
I will update this blog once weekly posting my ideas for the week and updating my progress.

What do I hope to accomplish?
I'm not sure...
I hope it will make me blog more often.
I'm interested to see other people's blogs if I inspire them to write.
I'm also interested to see if anyone follows me on Twitter, currently I'm starting fresh with no followers so we will see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

2009-03-24T18:53:00.004-05:00

I'm constantly having dreams where I am in search of a bathroom, usually because I actually do need to use the bathroom. Usually once I find a bathroom there is something wrong with it or I use it and it doesn't help.

Last night I had a dream that I was in a bathroom only there was something wrong that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Like any standard bathroom this bathroom had a bathtub/shower, a sink, and a refrigerator. Well I really needed to go, so I did the only logical thing I could think of and used the refrigerator. It seemed really wrong, but I couldn't figure out why, so I just went ahead and went, not that it helped, I still had to go.

It wasn't until this morning thinking back on it that I figured out why it felt so wrong.

2009-01-17T09:53:00.002-06:00

I'm unemployed. I haven't been unemployed and not in school or taking care of a new baby since I was 15 years old. I'm not sure what to do with myself.

2008-10-31T10:25:00.002-05:00

Top Ten Pet Peeves.
10. Gum on the ground. Hello, someone is going to step on it, throw it in the trash.
9. Not flushing the toilet. And more importantly...
8. Not closing the lid on the toilet. Hello, small bathroom, something can and probably will fall in. EW!!!
7. Not having soap by the sink in the bathroom. Hello, don't you people wash your hands. There are towels there. Where's the soap.
6. Slow store checkers. I don't need you to comment on each item I am purchasing, just scan it and stick it in the bag.
5. Checkers who put one item in each bag. Landfills are filling up fast enough, if I'm going to get a plastic bag, fill it up.
4. Driving slow in the fast lane. Move over and get out of the way.
3. Not using turn signal. That little blinking light it there for a reason.
2. Not taking responsibility for your own actions. Whether you like it or not you made choices that got you where you are today. Accept it and make better decisions in the future.
1. Chewing with your mouth open. I don't want to see it.

Okay, just had to get that off my chest.

2008-07-21T15:20:00.002-05:00

In my dream last night my good friend Nina took a job at a place called Fun City. I have never actually heard of this place before, but in my dream it's kind of a cross between Worlds of Fun, Chuck E Cheese, and Hooters. I say hooters because of the outfit they made her wear. It was a very, very, very short dress and it was orange. We discussed how uncomfortable the outfit was at one point. Also, it didn't really seem like she had chosen to work there, more like she had be kidnapped and forced to work there.
The really weird part is that all the game machines there took coins, but they all took different amounts. One took 83 cents, the next one took 11 cents. There was no rhyme or reason to it. I was very confused.
Also in another unrelated dream, I dreamed that I could get Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to let me into there house if I pretended to be from some company they do business with (like the electric company) and told them I needed them to fill out some paper work.
So I tried it, Angelina opened the door. She was hesitant, but let me in. We were filling out the paper work and Brad walked into the room. He was really pissed. I don't think he bought that I was from the electric company. Angelina was really nice and told him it was okay. Then they went in the other room. When Angelina came back I could tell the I wasn't fooling anyone, so I left.

2008-07-12T13:36:00.003-05:00

All golf courses are not created equally.
I have recently started a new job mapping out golf courses for a new program.
Can I just say that some of the people who design the layout for golf courses are either crazy or drunk or maybe a little of both. Some of these golf courses go is such weird directions: a hole here, a lake between a hole and a tee with no walk way in between it, and sometime holes that don't seem to fit in with rest of the course at all.

2008-07-12T00:21:00.002-05:00

Bathroom update....
They have finished. The came back the next day and sealed it in. To make up for the fact that we received the wrong tub and other stuff, they decided to give us a "complementary" $700 toilet, fully installed. They brought it out today and installed it in about 30 minutes. It's air powered, so there is no water in the tank. It flushes really quickly, it kind of freaks you out at first.
So I'm officially not still mad at Home Depot. They did make some mistakes, but at least the made an effort to make up for it. And everything that they did is guaranteed, so if we have any problems they will come back out and take care of it.

2008-07-10T02:03:00.002-05:00

We are having our bathroom shower redone. I'm so angry right now it's 2:00am and I'm blogging.
We needed to have our tub and shower redone because it had some plumbing issues. We couldn't get the water to go all the way to either the tub or the shower. So every time we used it we kind of had a shower bath. We looked into having my husband do it himself with the help of my step father, but my husband said he really didn't feel comfortable doing it, since he didn't have a lot of experience with plumbing and tearing down and putting up walls.
So we called to get some quotes and eventually went with Home Depot Home Services. The reason we picked them is because the seemed like the would be more reliable and more efficient than an independent contractor. They definitely were not cheap, so we figured they better be good.
Anyway in the beginning of May the guy came out to set up the order he kept telling us that we would be contacted multiple times by the contractor and project managers to verify the order was correct and to set up a timetable to when our bathroom would be done. He also had us pick the supplies we wanted out of the catalog.
After he left time passed. We got one incoherent message one day, that I believe was from the contractor. But that was basically all we heard from them until about the middle of June. On that day the contractor called and said they had us on the schedule for June 30th, less than two weeks later. Fine. We changed our plans and our schedules and got everything ready so we could be there for those days. Then 3 days before, the contractor called and said that he couldn't do that day that he needed to push it back a week until July 7th. But not to worry he was definitely going to keep that day. Fine. We rearranged our schedules again and made it work.
July 7th, we got up early, cleared out the bathroom, took down the shower curtain, moved the cars out of the way, and waited. And waited. And waited. Around 8:15am, after waiting for over an hour, I called to find out when they were going to be there. That's when I find out they can't make it that day, at all. Nice to know. If we had known that even the night before my husband could have gone to work, as it was he had already missed 3 hours. I had taken off work on Monday, but I could have picked up a few hours if I had had some advance notice that our contractor was a flake. I had a few words for the project manager about that.
So Tuesday rolls around, they don't show up until almost 10am. They, or should I say he because they only sent one guy, works all day, doesn't make a ton of progress, but I'm not sure if he could have done more because the tub had to set. Once they had the tub installed I notice that it is not actually the tub I had selected. However, I wasn't going to have him pull it out, because we only have one bathroom. They needed to finish as quickly as possible and GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! because I was already fed up with them.
Wednesday they finish the rest and it looks okay, definitely not as good as I was thinking it would, but okay. However they didn't finish sealing everything. There are gaps on the walls and none of the floor is sealed. And the really sucky part is we have to wait at least 24 hours after they finish sealing it before we can use the tub, and they don't know when they are going to be able to come out and finish it.

I am so mad at this @^%^&&$@#$#!Q!@#% company I could just scream!
They suck!

2008-06-02T18:24:00.002-05:00

I feel the need to talk about pee for just a moment.
It never seems to fail that when I need to pee the most I get a customer that wants to stay on the line for 45 minutes and discuss every detail of the hotel. Why is that?

Speaking of pee. How is it that my sons are able to get pee all over the seat of the toilet even when the seat is up when they go?

Okay I have to pee, that's all for now.

2008-03-13T21:37:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I posted. I'm going to get really shallow for a minute and bestow upon you the virtues of the new fashion item I love.
Wide legged jeans.
Have you seen them?
They are absolutely wonderful.
I don't know about you, but for some reason my thighs are unspeakable inappropriate size apparently for my body. I know this because most of the time my jeans are loose in the waist but uncomfortably tight in the thigh area. So obviously this means there must be something wrong with my body because I'm sure the fashion industry would never do anything to make women feel fat on purpose.
I'm getting away from my point. Wide legged jeans are one of those new old trends. And I love them. They have a wide waste band that fits comfortably and then it is out and down from there. They fit so comfortably in the thighs. The rock.
I bought 2 pair. I never want to this fashion trend to end.

2008-01-27T08:45:00.001-06:00

I'm incredibly sad about the passing of Heath Ledger. I enjoy his work. It's so sudden and tragic that his life has ended so young.
I'm even more saddened to find out that a group, claiming to be a Christian group, from Topeka, Kansas will be picketing his funeral because he played a gay man in a movie. This offends me in two ways.
First, Heath Ledger had a great career and his memory does not deserved to tarnished or punished by such haters.
Second, I'm a Christian and it upsets me to see a group who use to Christian religion to spout hate. Jesus taught us to love one another as he has loved us. He taught that we need to break down the barriers between people not put them up. There is nowhere in the bible that you see Jesus gather is followers to go picket a person for anything or tell his followers to hate this person or that person. It's not what he taught at all.
SO TO THOSE OF YOU WHO INSIST ON SPOUTING HATE:If you are going to hate and treat others in evil ways, then you are obviously not a Christian. Please don't use the Christian faith as your backing for doing these things awful things. It is Christian to love and serve.

Goodbye Heath Ledger you will be greatly missed.

2007-11-25T14:14:00.000-06:00

I'm back from Thanksgiving. We traveled and visited and traveled and visited, etc.
I'm motivated to complain again, but I realized the last time I posted it was to complain. There is really nothing I can do about this, because this is too much not to complain.

My sister.
Let's start with the fact that my mother just had her hip replaced 2 weeks ago. She is currently on a walker because she has to keep the weight off the side that was replaced. This makes getting around difficult. She cannot drive and she's really slow going down stairs. She has to use the walker for 5 weeks and then use a cane for a week. However she seems to be recovering well at this point.
Anyway, my sister called my mother up before thanksgiving asking when my mom was going to have a Thanksgiving dinner. My mom tried to explain to her that she isn't getting around to well and if my sister was wanting to have a Thanksgiving at my mom's house that she would need to plan and take care of it herself. After I found out about this I told my mom that we (my husband and I) would take care of it. And since my mom's husband would be out of town at that time we would be happy to help her with anything else around the house.
So we finally get our thanksgiving plans ironed out and we head out. We get to my mother's house and my sister is already there. (Luckily she was just stopping in on the way out to my dad's house and was not staying.) However the house was absolute chaos. The TV was blaring, there were toys everywhere, and the kids were bouncing off the walls. After a while, mom, my sister, and I went to the store to get the stuff that we needed to cook the meal. My husband watches all 4 children while we are gone. And then thankfully my sister and her family left. It was much more calm after that.
While we were there visiting my mom had told us that my sister had asked (on more than one occasion) if my mom would take her children for a couple of days. She thought that since my mom was taking 8 weeks off work (you know to recover from her hip replacement) that my mom had plenty of time to take the kids so that my sister could have a break. ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!!!!!!
Then my mom also told us that my sister also thought my mom should come up and babysit her children in December so that my sister can go to her company's holiday party.
I might also mention that my sister is married and it seems that it never occurs to my sister that if she needs a break she might ask her husband to give her a hand with the children.
Anyway after finding this out, my husband and I were a little perturbed with my sisters lack of compassion for anyone but herself. So when my sister came back to my mom's house for the Thanksgiving dinner that she wanted prepared for her, we probably were not in the best spirit to be celebrating. We kind of looked down on every move she or her husband made during their two hours there.

I can't believe my sister can be so tactless. I think she seems to be missing a common sense gene that rest world receives at birth.

2007-10-20T11:41:00.000-05:00

I'm going to rant for a minute. You can't stop me. I just thought you should be prepared.
I am "Room Parent Coordinator" for my sons' school's Parent Teacher Club. Which basically means, among other things, I am in charge of planning, organizing, and carrying out a dinner for all of the teachers at the school during Parent Teacher conferences. I guess you should know that at the school my kids attend we kind of suffer from a lack of parent involvement. However we can usually get people to donate food, as long as we do not ask them to participate in any other way.
So, as you can guess, this teacher dinner was basically up to me to do everything. Which is fine, I have come to terms with it.
So, someone told me that I should do something easy. "Just have a baked potato bar." Okay whoever thinks "just having a baked potato bar" is easy never had to clean and cook 50lbs of potatoes and find a way to keep them warm until the dinner. Also the ease of this also depends and how well you can get people to donate the other items for the bar besides the baked potatoes.
So the week before the dinner when everyone had sent in their forms stating what items they would be donating for the meal. I had 12 people donating pop, 12 people donating desserts, 1 person donating a crock pot of soup, and 2 people donating potato toppings. So I tracked down some of the other parents and tried to get a couple more soups and some more potato toppings. And I got some people to agree to bring them.
This one woman, who I could write a whole blog about but won't today, who we'll call Jamie said she would bring butter, sour cream, bacon bits (all of which no one had volunteered to bring up to this point) and a crock pot of potato soup (hey beggars can't be choosers).
So I thought great we have a good amount of stuff coming now, so we should be okay. So the day before the dinner I went to the store and picked up my potatoes and a few other items I still needed for the dinner and washed up about 10lbs of potatoes the night before so I could be ready to start baking the next morning.
That night I had a dream that I was hosting the teacher dinner. I was there setting up and brought the potatoes and crock pot of soup I donated. And it was getting close to dinner time and the rest of the items people had donated hadn't come, so I was a little nervous. Then I realized, in my dream, that I had forgotten to attend my own children's Parent Teacher conferences. So I ran and found my son's teacher and she said she would squeeze me in. We had a rather long conference. By the time I got back to the Teacher dinner it was just getting over. Apparently there were no toppings for the potatoes and the one crock pot of soup that I brought was the only one there. And I had apparently made the soup wrong and it was disgusting. So the teachers all decided to order pizza instead.
Seriously, I woke up in cold sweat and could not go back to sleep.
So the the day of the dinner arrives. I have told everyone who will listen about my anxiety and my horrible dream. I'm baking potatoes all day. Two o'clock comes around and my wonderful husband comes home from work early so I can go the my kid's conferences and get the teacher dinner set up.
I went to my own kids conference and they are both doing wonderful.
I start setting up for the teacher dinner. A few items for the dinner are in the teacher's lounge. Mostly pop and desserts. Around 4:00 a few more items arrive. One of my friends who offered to donate chili and broccoli with melted cheese had her mother bring it over. On the way to the school the broccoli with cheese crock pot tipped over in her car and is now covering the back of her vehicle.
Now it's getting close to 4:30 when the dinner is about to begin. The only potato toppings we have for our baked potato bar are the salt, pepper, and chives that I brought. So I'm starting to become a little concerned.
No that's not true. I am freaking out.
I call my husband at home, and he gives me the number of another member of the PTC that I know is home. I call her she has butter, bacon bits, salsa, and a little sour cream in her fridge and she'll bring it right over. I call my husband back and tell him to bring some butter and the cheese I had bought for something I was going to cook later in the week. Then I ran down to the teacher's lounge and did find some black olives, mushrooms, and onions, that had been donated that I had missed before. Then I went back to the dinner and apologized profusely to the first people through the line because the toppings were very sparse. Luckily the other PTC member and my husband arrived not to much later and we had a decent amount of toppings. I sent my husband, with our kids in tow, to the store to buy a few more things. It all turned out okay. The teachers were very understanding.
Deep breath it's over now, it's okay. Whew, hee, hoo, hee, hoo. Okay I'm better now.
Anyway, the potato toppings and soup that "Jamie" said she would bring never came. Nothing. And she was there at the school attending her parent teacher conferences, so it's not like she would have even had to go out of her way to bring them. She just completely flaked. I can't believe her. I'm so pissed at her.

Anyway, it's over now. Seriously next time I'm going to have it catered. I cannot do this again. I need a drink just thinking about it.

Okay, I'm done.

2007-10-11T19:38:00.001-05:00

The hardest part about my husband being out of town is that my eldest child and I are too much alike. Which, unfortunately, is not exactly a good thing. For those of you who know me, you know I can be a tad high maintence. I like to have my way. I like to be right. And I usually tell people when I think they are wrong.
So take that. Double it. Multiply it by the reasoning of a 5 year old. And lock it in a house together for 5 days with only a very impatient 3 year old to referee. And you have my life.
I miss my husband.

2007-10-10T21:33:00.000-05:00

I guess I"ll post. I have some free time. I'm sitting in bed watching America's Next Top Model. I recorded it from earlier, but the only working VCR we have in the house is in the bedroom.
It's been a rough week. My husband is out of town. I really miss him. I don't like doing it all by myself. I really like having him around. I miss having someone to talk to and be with. I'm tired.
My kids aren't going to sleep they are laying in their beds talking and trying to keep each other awake.

2007-09-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

As I am sure you noticed, (unless you are completely blind, then sorry) I have changed the colors on my blog. I didn't really like any of the other templates so I just changed the colors. I felt it was time for something a little less black. I have gotten over my day by day obsession of Harry Potter and now feel I can broaden my horizons and talk about other things as well.
What, I don't know.
So how's the weather where you are?
Seen any good movies lately?
The last couple of weeks we have seen all of my husbands college roommates. It's been really weird they seem to come out of the woodwork.
Speaking of woodwork I think we are going to take the wood panelling down in our kitchen, it doesn't look that great. We're just afraid of what might be underneath. This house has a bad habit of hiding things you probably didn't want to know were there.
Well, I am going to go now. This was a pointless post.

2007-09-06T20:36:00.000-05:00

This isn't mine. It's just been a long time since I've heard it. I wanted to share it. Enjoy

The lyrics to Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen, by Mary Schmich:
"Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen."

2007-09-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

(Sorry this is old news to some of you). I was very concerned about my sons school. He's in Kindergarten now. The teacher sent home a newsletter that talked about what they would be doing in school during the coming month.

Math:
- Shapes: circle, triangle, rectangle, square, and ellipse
- Colors
- Sorting: by color, shape and size
- Counting to 10

Reading:
- Recognizing Alphabet letters
- Listening to stories

My son has been doing all of that since he was two. What's really funny is that it's actually the same stuff my 3 year old is working on in preschool.
So I sent his teacher an e-mail. She said that she is giving him some supplementary stuff to work on and that she sometimes gives him more advanced worksheets to do as well.
So hopefully my son will not get bored. Otherwise we will be asked to come to school to discuss his discipline problem.

2007-08-31T20:15:00.000-05:00

Can I take a moment to talk about why people suck?
It is Friday night of Labor Day weekend. The last weekend of the summer. When everyone is trying to get their last minute travel out of the way before school, life or whatever.
Also, it is 8:30 on Friday before Labor Day.

EVERYTHING IS SOLD OUT!

If I do happen to have a hotel available it's expensive, because it is the Friday before labor day and everything else is sold out.

It's not my fault that you are an idiot and waited until the absolute last possible second to book a hotel room.

What the @%#%^^ did you expect?!!!

2007-08-30T13:31:00.001-05:00

It occurred to me today when I saw that people were acknowledging the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death, that it has been 10 years.
I remember hearing about Diana's crash when I was in the dorms the first few days of my college career.
That means I started college 10 YEARS ago this month. I'm struggling to understand how that happened.
I also met my husband for the first time during the first few days at school.
10 years!
Wow!
Does that seem like a long time to anyone else?

2007-08-12T18:00:00.000-05:00

We ripped up our carpet. Our living room looks so much better.

Do you know how hard it is to find those little trim pieces that go between the kitchen and the living room. We went back and forth to home depot all day on Saturday.

2007-08-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

Here it is, my list of unanswered Harry Potter Questions. Understand that this list was created after rereading book one. So I might find the answers to these questions by rereading the other books again. Also, if you have the answers to any of these questions please post a comment with the answer. Whenever possible I included a page number where I got the information to form the question.

1. Was Dumbledore's nose broken more than than once, if so when was the second time? (SS 8) {We learn in book 7 that Dumbledore's nose was broken once by his brother during his sister's funeral.}

2. How does Dumbledore's watch work and what information does it give? (SS 12)

3. What exactly was written in the letter that Dumbledore left of the Dursley's? (SS 13)

4. What do Lily and James Potter do for a living?

5. When and how did Harry's grandparents pass away?

6. If Godric's Hollow is a wizarding community, why did the "muggles started swarming around" after the house was destroyed? (SS 15)

7. How did Dumbledore get the scar of on his left knee of the london underground? (SS 15)

8. Where was Sirius's bike when he was in Azkahan?

9. How did James become Head Boy? (SS 55)

10. Who visited Hermione whe she was eleven to tell her she was a witch?

11. What were the cores of Lilly and Jame's wands? (SS 82)

12. How does Hagrid's wand/umbrella work if his wand was "snapped in two" ? (ss 83)

13. Why was Ron allowed to bring a rat as pet to school?

14. Why was Snape having Filch help him bandage his "bloody and mangled" leg instead of going to Madam Pomphrey? SS 182

15. What are the twelve uses of Dragon Blood?

16. How were Charlies' friends able to fly broomsticks on the Hogwarts grounds?

2007-08-05T18:05:00.000-05:00

I'm reading the Harry Potter series again.
I know. I'm lame. Oh well, it's too late for me save yourself.
Anyway, I'm rereading the series and I'm going to come up with a list of questions I have that have not been answered by the final book.
So if you come up with any questions to add to my list I would like to hear them.
I will be posting my list after book one tomorrow or the next day.
If you have the answer to any of these questions please respond.

2007-08-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

I took the "What book are you quiz?" From Mommy Bee's Blog
Apparently I'm:

You're Watership Down!by Richard Adams
Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.

I have never read this book, but I feel it is a fair assessment.

2007-07-24T12:17:00.000-05:00

Wow!!!!! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has arrived!
I've already finished it.
This is absolutely the best book in the series. If you have not read it yet, what the heck are you waiting for. READ IT RIGHT NOW! That's an order.
This was probably the best book I have ever read.
It is an absolute roller coaster of events and emotions to the absolute end.
I can't stop thinking about it.
If you see me standing around staring into space, I am thinking about this book.
Why are you still reading my blog? Go, now, get the book and read it.

2007-07-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, I have seen the movie.
First of all the book is 870 pages long. So, yes, obviously, they left some things out.
That being said, I thought they did a good job of conveying the major points of the book.
Yes the book is better, by a long shot. But I thought the movie was very good in it's own way.

On a side note. My sister who asked me to babysit on Saturday didn't even show up. No phone call. No e-mail. Just stood me up. I don't mind not babysitting her children, but it would have been nice to have been called to say that I wasn't needed instead of planning our day and sitting around our house wondering if she would ever show up. Which she didn't.

Today she called and didn't seem to think there was any problem with the fact that she didn't call. Unfortunately, this is probably just a sneak peek at the lack of consideration for my life and my time that awaits me.

2007-07-09T19:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, there is a thought.
House elves can do very powerful magic. They are the only ones that I know of that can apparate inside Hogwarts. Also they are able to make things happen that seem to otherwise be difficult for witches and wizards to do.
I think the house elves will serve a very important role in book 7.
Think about it.
They are very powerful.
Many wizards disregard them as vermin.
Hogwarts has hundreds of them dedicated to service.
Imagine if Harry were to get the house elves to fight on their side. They are very loyal.
Just a thought.

2007-07-06T17:30:00.000-05:00

My sister is moving to town.
I'm not at a loss for words. Just ask Nina.
However, I'm not sure how many of those words I wish to put into print.
This is very frustrating for me. My sister and I get along much better when there is at least an hour between us.
My greatest fear is that my sister will take our close proximity as an invitation to drop by unannounced or ask me to babysit her children on her whim.
And my fear seems more real in the fact that my sister is moving to town next weekend. She called me this morning asking me to babysit her children next weekend while she moves.
I agreed, with stipulations.
After all it is Harry Potter weekend.
By the way, the movie comes out on Wednesday.
I have plans. I have had plans for for months. I have a blog dedicated to it.
I have agreed to babysit for 3 1/2 hours, that's it.
And this will not happen again. There is no way I would swap babysitting with her.
I would not trust her to babysit my plants, let alone my children.
I'm not sure what to do.
Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-20T18:10:00.000-05:00

I've finished book 5, and now I am taking a short break because I got Jodi Picoult's latest book Nineteen Minutes. It is very good, I can't put it down. And I only have a week to finish it.

2007-06-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

Progress report: Who cares

I'm blogging. I'm tired. I'm sore. I'm done.

2007-06-04T21:06:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 5, blah, blah, blah, blah (like you care....)

Okay if you haven't noticed, I have changed my Avatar. I'm wearing my pajamas as I often am when I am working. And this office looks scary like my own. Except it is much cleaner.

I'm reading book 5 as I said before, and I have to say it is absolutely the hardest one to read. I find myself getting so frustrated in this book. I just want to punch Umbridge. She just seems so evil. And she and the ministry are completely denying the Voldemort has risen. So I guess this is once again a nod to J.K. Rowling. I mean how great of an author do you have to be to incite this kind of anger and frustration in your readers.

2007-05-27T17:59:00.001-05:00

Progress Report: Book 5, somewhere, i don't have time to look it all up.
Harry is on the train back to Hogwarts.

I know I've gotten through an entire book and have not blogged. Sorry I have been really busy. It seemed like the with the school year ending things would be less busy, but quite the opposite is true. Over the last few weeks I have barely had time to eat dinner with my family. I have had something going on almost every evening for the past two weeks. Luckily, I think I have some down time coming up. I think I have a week between now and when the summer programs start up. This summer my boys are taking a summer preschool program, one of my boys has a birthday, we have a family reunion, and I some how got put in charge of the Science area of our church's vacation bible school.

Sorry I've been neglecting my avid readers I know how lonely your life is without my daily ramblings. I will try to do better, but who am I kidding.

2007-05-09T19:43:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 4, Chapter 17, "The Four Champions", page 282.
Harry's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. The Judges are all discussing what to do.

2007-05-05T13:09:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 4, Chapter 4 "Back to the Burrow", page 45
I believe Mr. Weasley says it best, "...I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see - just for an afternoon, you so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking - but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire and send the boys back, then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."

If you don't understand the above, then you have obviously not been reading your Harry Potter.

I haven't blogged in a bit. Sorry. I've been reading. As you can see I didn't blog at all about book 3. It is not because I don't think it is important, because it is. It's just I didn't have time for such things, I was reading. Also, I have a sinus infection and I've had a headache for about a week now. Don't worry though, I have some antibiotics and should be better soon.

2007-04-26T19:22:00.000-05:00

I've finished book 2. I had to spend an extra 10 minutes on the elliptical to finish reading.

I think book 2 is highly underrated. In book 6, we learn that Voldemort split is sole into 7 pieces in order to make himself immortal. In book 2, we actually get to see the one of these pieces. So after book two there are only 6 pieces left. One piece is the part of Voldemort that took over Professor Quirrell in book 1.

The fact that Harry could defeat a portion of Voldemort at such a young age, means that he has a very good chance defeating the rest of Voldemort when the time comes.

Only 85 days, until we find out what happens.

2007-04-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

SSSHHHHHH!

I'm reading!!!

I'm almost finished with book 2.

2007-04-23T17:52:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 2, Chapter 12 "The Polyjuice Potion", page 215
Harry and Ron just gave Crabbe and Goyle each a cupcake filled with sleeping potion, and stole some hairs for the Polyjuice Potion.

This has nothing to do with Harry Potter.
I got an e-mail today from a former high school classmate, through classmates.com. I was very surprised to hear from someone, because I rarely ever do. I guess my class will have ten year reunion after all. From what I understand we will be meeting several times during Labor day weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to.

2007-04-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 2, Chapter 11 "The Dueling Club" page 188
Harry, Ron, and Hermione distracted Snape with a firework so they could steel ingredients out of Snape's private stores to make Polyjuice Potion.

Here are a few questions that I have that have as of yet have not been explained in my rereading. If you know the answers please respond below.

If electronic devices do not work (book 4), why does Colin's camera work? In this book they just say something about developing the photos in special potions to make the pictures move.

If you cannot apparate at Hogwarts, how does Dobby disappear and reappear?

If you cannot fly a broomstick into Hogwarts without out hitting some sort of barrier, how can the flying car freely get through?

2007-04-19T17:53:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 1, Chapter 17, " The Man with Two Faces", page 290
Harry has just passed all the blockades that guard the Sorcerer's Stone (with the help of Ron and Hermoine) to reach the final room and find Professor Quirrell is trying to obtain the Stone.

Here is the order of the Trials and the people who set them up.

1. Three Headed Dog - Hagrid
2. Devil's Snare - Sprout
3. Flying Keys - Flitwick
4. Life Size Chessboard - McGonagall
5. Troll - Quirrell
6. Table of Potions - Snape
7. Mirror of Erised - Dumbledore

2007-04-18T14:31:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 1, Chapter 12 " The Mirror of Erised", page 211
Harry just discovered the Mirror of Erised, and saw his parents for the first time.

It has been bothering my for a while I that I couldn't figure out who Ravenclaws house ghost is. I found a website that says that it is not mentioned in the books, but the movies say it is the Grey Lady. Maybe we will have this clarified in the last book.

For those of you who are interested, this is the info on all the houses.

Gryffindor House
Head of House - Minerva McGonagall
House Ghost - Nearly Headless Nick
Founder - Godric Gryffindor

Hufflepuff House
Head of House - Pomona Sprout
House Ghost - The Fat Friar
Founder - Helga Hufflepuff

Ravenclaw House
Head of House - Filius Flitwick
House Ghost - The Grey Lady?
Founder - Rowena Ravenclaw

Slytherin House
Head of House - Currently (as of book 6) Horace Slughorn; previously (in books 1-5) Severus Snape
House Ghost - The Bloody Baron
Founder - Salazar Slytherin

2007-04-17T17:43:00.000-05:00

I know this is a phenomenon, me blogging twice in one day, but I am very angry. About a month ago we were experiencing a lot of problems with appliances and what not in our home. It seemed odd to us that everything was breaking down so close together over a number of days, so we called an electrician. When then electrician arrived he found that the electric company was sending 300 volts of electricity into our house instead of the normal 240 volts. Needless to say this is not a good thing.

We called the electric company and they came out a replaced a transformer on the pole, because it had apparently gone bad. Then I filed a claim with the electric company to pay for the repairs to the items in my home that had been fried by the extra electricity. Most of the items that had to be repaired were less than a year old, some only a months old.

Then came today. I got a letter from the electric company saying that they are not liable for anything because nobody at their company willfully did anything to cause this.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shouldn't they be responsible for monitoring how much electricity they send into a customer's house? It's not like we have any way of monitoring that ourselves. I could completely understand it being my responsiblity if it was something wrong with the wiring or something in my house. However, this was a problem with the power they were sending into my house. It was on their end and it was going on for days.

I am sooooo ANGRY!

I've already submitted a complaint with a local tv station that loves stuff like this. If the power company is not responsible for monitoring the electricity, then I think everyone should know.

2007-04-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

Progress Report: Book 1, Chapter 11 "Quidditch", page 182
Harry and Ron just finished saving Hermione from a Troll in the girls bathroom.

It has come to my attention that I have very bad grammar and punctuation. I know this. I also know that I often have run on sentences, hanging participles, and misused commas. If these are are the kind of things that drive you nuts, I apologize. I suck at punctuation. However, I really don't care.

Now on to more important things. I think that I have figured out Ron's role. In the tradition of action adventure stories, Ron is what we call a sidekick. Ron is Robin to Harry's Batman. He is Xander to Harry's Buffy. Watt to William Thatcher. Barney Fife to Andy Griffith. Really he is just someone hanging around so the main character has someone to interact with. Not that I don't like Ron. I think he is a great character. He always adds a bit of comedy to the scene, like a good sidekick. I just hope that in the final book he will get an opportunity to shine a little.

2007-04-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

Progress report: Book 1, Chapter 9 "The Midnight Duel", page 146
Harry is apprehensive about his first flying lesson.

I'm wondering about whether Ron will really show his true talent. Thinking back on previous readings that he doesn't really show a true talent. He's not incredible brave like Harry and he's not incredibly smart like Hermione. So far his only real talent has been to be a good friend to Harry. Maybe this has something to do with the power of the magic of love. More about this later.

P.S. You can click on the clips in the right hand column and see clips from the movies and other fun Harry Potter stuff from YouTube.

2007-04-15T14:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, for those of you who have been here before, I'm sure you noticed a little change to my blog. For those of you who don't know, I'm a Harry Potter fan, one of many actually. And for those of you who don't know something big is happening this summer. The final book of the Harry Potter series comes out on July 21st. Hence the countdown box on the side of the blog. Also on July 13th the 5th movie in the series comes out. As you can see for us Harry Potter fans this is a big summer.
In dedication to the the books and the movies I have reformated my site a little. I have also started re-reading the books, again. These books are definitely better the second, or third time around. If you haven't started re-reading them, or if you haven't ever read them at all, now is definitely the time to start.
I will probably be blogging a lot about the books since they will probably be the main thing on my mind, and if I forget to blog, I am reading, so leave me alone.
Happy Reading.

2007-03-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged for a while. And for those of you who are about to ask I haven't finished my short story either. I've hit a wall.

But on to bigger and better things, do any of you sleep walk or sleep talk? I have to admit I have a bad habit of sleep ... reacting I guess is the best word for it. About once a week I do something in my sleep in reaction to something I'm dreaming I have done everything from get out of bed and turn on lights, to attacking my husband, to running screaming down the hall. I don't always remember these events, sometime my husband tells me about them the next day. Other times when I'm freaking out in some way my husband will yell at me to stop and it will wake me up enough to stop. Last night for instance I sat up and started screaming. My husband yelled, "Kelli, what? Stop screaming!" and I said, "Oh, okay." and laid back down and went to sleep. This morning he asked if I remembered what I did, I vaguely did. I remember I was dreaming something and I had a legitimate reason for the screaming, but I can't remember exactly what I was dreaming.

Does this happen to anyone else?

2007-03-13T18:47:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have not heard the horrible news. I guess I have the unfortunate job of telling you.

Rob and Amber were kicked off the Amazing Race.

I know, I know. I cried too.

Please, if you find that you are distraught and cannot get out of bed, can't eat, or cannot go about your daily life. Please talk to you doctor and find support.

This is truly a tough time for all of us.

Good bye, Rob and Amber. :(

2007-03-02T15:02:00.000-06:00

No One To Call...

My kids are driving me nuts,
And there is no one to call.
I've seen Cars 4,000 times,
And there is no one to call.
My son keeps asking me pointless questions,
And there is no one to call.

My friend's phone doesn't work,
so there is no one to call.
My husband is working hard and cannot talk,
so there is no one to call.
My other friend decided to get a job,
so there is no one to call.

I think I'll go beat my head against the wall.

Oh, the phone is ringing, I have to go.

2007-02-27T13:01:00.000-06:00

I found this in a book I'm currently reading.

"Lena remembered a summer lightning storm when she was in middle school. she was wide awake at midnight and bravely made her way down the stairs in her nightgown to side on the front porch and watch. A burst of lightning flashed, midnight became noon, and Lena was jarred to see that all the things in the mysterious night world were exactly the same as they were in the cheery, prosaic day.
" After that she spent a lot of time convincing herself that what you saw, even what you felt, had an unreliable relationship to what was actually there. What was actually there was reality, regardless of whether you saw it or how you felt about it. "
--- Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares

Isn't that so true though. Every event you experience is tainted in relationship to the world it happened in. This is why two children who grow up in the same house can view their childhoods very differently because of the different events that occur at different ages for each child

2007-02-25T17:51:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder....
Another episode of the Amazing Race is on tonight. I know it conflicts with the Oscars, but you know they don't give out the awards everyone cares about until the very end.

Go Rob and Amber. Kick some reality tv butt!

2007-02-23T18:05:00.000-06:00

My story is going much better now. I have revised my story to revolve around characters I much better understand. My issue now is that I need to do some research. I know very little about crime scenes. (Just what I know or think I know from watching crime dramas). Anyway for the those of you hoping to see the story posted today. I'm sorry I promised to post as soon as possible. But I want it to be good and I want it to be write, so I will not be done until I'm done.

2007-02-22T14:22:00.000-06:00

Okay, here is my issue. I have my setting. I have my murder weapons. I can kill off my characters no problem. I just can't figure out how to get there. What is going to drive my characters to murder? I need to watch more Law and Order.

2007-02-21T14:01:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm working on my short story, but it's going to take a lot longer than I had thought.

2007-02-20T20:47:00.000-06:00

Here is tomorrows topic (from Writer's Digest.com):
Pick one closet in your house and explore. Take four of the items you find and use in a short story. Let one item designate your location (Hawaiian shirt, vacation photo, etc.), one be your murder weapon, one be used for cleanup and a final item to be used any way you see fit.

2007-02-20T17:57:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to everyone!

Amazing Race All Stars started this previous Sunday evening at 7:00pm on CBS.

Go Rob and Amber!!!!

2007-02-20T13:37:00.000-06:00

Before I begin let me add this disclaimer. This is free writing. I have been emotionally scarred by a three-part thesis in high school and I refuse to write another one. If my thoughts stray oh well, too bad, this is my page if you don't like it start your own page critizing mine :)

Topic: What invention would you like to see in your lifetime?

I have been thinking about this since I chose this topic yesterday. At first I thought of things from the Back to the Future movie such as flying cars, hover boards, etc. But the more I thought about the invention I would really like to see is a non-corrupt society. It really saddens me to to see information that we have evidence on supressed because it hurts a large business. It happend with information on smoking and cancer because super power cigarette companies wanted to keep up big business. It happened with global warming because car companies and gas companies didn't want to lose money by creating more efficient cars.

It don't know if free acurate information is something that is possible with our government. I don't remember a lot about economics and history but I remember that we chose as a government to limit governments involvement in business. So theoretically the government doesn't involve itself with free enterprise. However it seems that the government seems to protect big business and allow them to spread theories that make real seem silly, or inaccurate.

Really what bothers me is not knowing what to believe. How do you distinguish the facts from the myths? How do I know who is telling the truth and who is lying to me just to get my business?

I know that in the past attempts have been made to make a utopia type environment. We have seen from examples that this doesn't work. I think to live in Utopia you have to agree to live in ignorance. What I want is a better way to figure out what is true and what is not.

Why can't we all just get along?

2007-02-19T20:09:00.000-06:00

In order to became a better writer, I am going to start finding a topic each day and write about it. Please feel free to submit possible topics for me to write on by adding a comment to this page. My first topic will appear hear tomorrow. My topic will be "What invention would you like to see in your lifetime?"

2007-02-19T19:46:00.000-06:00

I writing today because I think i have decided. When I grow up I want to be a writer, or maybe a professional reader.

My son is always asking me what I want to be when i grow up, now i have an answer.

2007-01-29T18:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, so i haven't blogged like I said I would. I don't really have anything to blog about today either. I've been watching the OC on DVD. It's actually kind of an interesting show. I can see why it is so popular.

2007-01-11T11:37:00.000-06:00

Here is something for our president to ponder...

When you stick your finger in a light socket and get shocked, how many times do you have to repeat this action before you figure out you need to turn the breaker off?

In the immortal words of Dr. Phil, "and, how's that working out for ya?"

2007-01-09T14:53:00.000-06:00

It is 2007, here is my To Do List:
- Blog more often
- Figure out a way to style my hair
- Find and execute a workout that will help me lose 10 pounds and flatten my stomach with minimal effort and without having to change my food habits
- Keep in better touch with my friends
- Avoid having any surguries or major medical events
- Continue fixing up my house so that someday we can sell it.

2006-12-19T11:07:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure what I gave my e-mail address out to in order to get signed up for this, but lately I've been getting some very odd e-mails. Things with headlines like "Become a hero in bed" or "Enlarge your penis size by 3 inches"
I'm pretty sure I haven't been to any sights lately trying to find answers to my penis problems, especially since I don't have one. I can honestly say I have had absolutely no problems at all with my penis, ever.
I never open these e-mails and I report them as spam, but somehow every day I get a new one from a new sender. What I really want to know is what website signed me up of this? And how can I get them to stop?

2006-10-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

I really getting annoyed with the hypocracy of the Christian religions. I hate to lump everyone together, because that is really unfair, but for the sake of this lets just say I am very unlucky with the people I meet.
The other night I went out to dinner with a couple of other women from a christian organization that I am a part of. Some how we got around to discussing the gay marriage act that passed a couple of years ago, and not realizing it I stumbled into a mind field. These women were telling me how it sickened them how accepting society was of gays and how they saw a commercial that made a gay family seem normal and they were outrage. I couldn't believe my ears. I thought these women were Christians.
I have always been taught that following Christian is all about loving one another as Jesus has loved us. Didn't Jesus make his company of less desirables and show them nothing but love and respect? I just don't understand how you can be both ways.
The reason this frustrates me so, is because it is not the first time I have come across such hypocracy. We left a church full of people we loved because we didn't agree with what was being taught. It is so sad that Jesus' name is being tainted with such hate.

2006-08-17T16:00:00.000-05:00

Well, I have completed my surgery. My surgery was suposed to take about an hour, but the nurse came out after about an hour and told my husband that I had a lot more stones than they expected and so my surgery was going to take longer. It ended up taking about 2 hours. After they woke me up the asked me if I felt nauseous, and I did so they gave me a medication that made me sleep more. My husband said I kept waking up and asking random questions and then drifting off almost before I got an answer. After I did wake up I was in pain and so the doctor gave me demoral and I fell asleep again. So that was pretty much my day yesterday.
I'm not completely up and going yet, but I"m feeling much better today than yesterday. I have high hopes that I will be feeling much better soon, and hopefully not have as much trouble as I was having before.
TTFN

2006-08-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

Gallstone Attacks hurt. Enough said.

2006-08-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Tuesday nights are a great night to eat out I've decided.
I found a website I've posted at the side. It lists all the places that offer free or cheap meals for kids. Check it out.
You have to scroll down a bit to find the message boards, so don't let that throw you, and you'll have to create an account to be able to view the really good information.

2006-08-09T13:31:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official. I'm going to have my gallbladder out. My surgery is scheduled for August 16th. So one more week. I'm glad that I might finally be able to feel better and not have to worry about having an attack at any random time.

2006-08-07T21:39:00.000-05:00

I don't know what to write, so I'll sing my little song tra la la la la.

I don't know what to write,
I don't know what to write,
I'm just sitting here a typing, but I don't know what write.
So I'll just type like my son
aja;ei;oaigbnaklngvaoeiypqbeabdlkfhaoeir

Okay I'm done.