I've learned to celebrate the small victories...and sometimes they are very small. For instance, today, I am celebrating the fact that I've found BOTH the library books I thought I lost, taking the bottles and cans in for recycling and getting yet another bag together for the thrift store. (Included in that is remembering that the DS system needed a cord to charge, finding said cord [also checking cord with DS] and putting the cord in the bag with the DS stuff.)
These have ripple effects in my house. Getting the bottles and cans in clears up the breezeway so it's not quite an obstacle course to get inside, the DS/thrift store bag clears up another square foot of space in the living room and finding the books...well, that saves me money.
Another thing I've learned is not to disparage someone else's things they celebrate. Something that I do on a regular basis may be the equivalent of hitting the peak of Everest to someone else and just because it doesn't seem like a big thing to me does not me that it is not celebration time. I still remember being made to feel like a personal victory was really something that I should be ashamed of and I try to keep that in mind. (To make matters worse, the person behind this was someone I counted as a friend pretty much right up until that time.)
Basically, as with so many other things in life, it comes down to 'don't be a dick'.
Saturday 28 February 2015
Thursday 26 February 2015
The great tragedy of 2015....
So Tuesday night, my faithful Kobo ereader (seriously, BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVAR) decided that the left (back) button was not going to back at all, and the right (forward) button was going to advance me three to four pages every time I pushed it. So I did what I usually do when electronics get the best of me, namely, said 'shit' and turned it off for the night.
It's still doing it. And since this has the feel of 'actual malfunction' rather than just a software/upgrade issue, I think I'm kinda screwed.
Luckily, I do have a lost and found acquired Kindle that is perfectly useable. All well and good, except that now I have 1000+ epub books to convert to Kindle format and sideload onto my Kindle. Sigh. I'm trying to look at this as "okay, now everything will be converted over, saved on the computer (and backed up) and organized and blah blah.". There is a little voice in my head that just keeps shrieking "OMG OVER A THOUSAND FILES TO CONVERT" though. (Possibly more than that, that's just the ones that I've loaded onto the Adobe library function on the computer, so there may be more lurking around the hard drive.)
Argh.
It's still doing it. And since this has the feel of 'actual malfunction' rather than just a software/upgrade issue, I think I'm kinda screwed.
Luckily, I do have a lost and found acquired Kindle that is perfectly useable. All well and good, except that now I have 1000+ epub books to convert to Kindle format and sideload onto my Kindle. Sigh. I'm trying to look at this as "okay, now everything will be converted over, saved on the computer (and backed up) and organized and blah blah.". There is a little voice in my head that just keeps shrieking "OMG OVER A THOUSAND FILES TO CONVERT" though. (Possibly more than that, that's just the ones that I've loaded onto the Adobe library function on the computer, so there may be more lurking around the hard drive.)
Argh.
Monday 16 February 2015
Today I am...
feeling like I've accomplished something. 3 containers of body butter (2 for others, 1 for me) in containers and ready to go, 1 batch of cuticle butter cooling in the freezer so I can whip that up as well. Kitchen not a complete disaster.
I love this body butter recipe, I've made it several times before and it always seems to turn out! The cuticle butter is new, but along the same lines of the butter, so it should come together nicely. I am somewhat astounded at the fact that every time I'm in the kitchen with my butters and oils and essential oils...everything seems to work! I am edging up on the idea of doing some soaping as well, there's a rosemary/peppermint shampoo bar I want to try and one of my favorite sites just posted a lavendar/vanilla soap that looks amazing.
I've made soap before and as long as you take your time and don't rush, it's pretty easy.
The kitchen and downstairs hallway got the flooring laid this weekend, so now the downstairs is done. We think we have enough to do the upstairs as well, and if not, I may be able to find some more laminate on the cheap. It is chilly on my toes, but I think that in the long run I will come to love it dearly. (And as I figured out, if I don't wear socks, the cold keeps my feet from swelling up, so win/win?)
Today will be going through all the stuff that got shoved into the dining room from the hallway, possibly sending at least 1 box to the thrift store and pondering again the fact that I so need to get all my recipes together so I can start to draft out a monthly meal plan and get ready to do some freezer cooking. And getting ready to work tomorrow...there's a button calling my name somewhere.
I love this body butter recipe, I've made it several times before and it always seems to turn out! The cuticle butter is new, but along the same lines of the butter, so it should come together nicely. I am somewhat astounded at the fact that every time I'm in the kitchen with my butters and oils and essential oils...everything seems to work! I am edging up on the idea of doing some soaping as well, there's a rosemary/peppermint shampoo bar I want to try and one of my favorite sites just posted a lavendar/vanilla soap that looks amazing.
I've made soap before and as long as you take your time and don't rush, it's pretty easy.
The kitchen and downstairs hallway got the flooring laid this weekend, so now the downstairs is done. We think we have enough to do the upstairs as well, and if not, I may be able to find some more laminate on the cheap. It is chilly on my toes, but I think that in the long run I will come to love it dearly. (And as I figured out, if I don't wear socks, the cold keeps my feet from swelling up, so win/win?)
Today will be going through all the stuff that got shoved into the dining room from the hallway, possibly sending at least 1 box to the thrift store and pondering again the fact that I so need to get all my recipes together so I can start to draft out a monthly meal plan and get ready to do some freezer cooking. And getting ready to work tomorrow...there's a button calling my name somewhere.
Saturday 14 February 2015
Happy Valentine's Day!
I'm pretty sure that once you've been married (or cohabiting, I make no judgements here) for over 10-15 years, new flooring is just as romantic (or possibly more) than flowers, chocolate or other accoutrements.
I scored the deal of the year in January, enough boxes of laminate flooring to do our house for $100. The living and dining room got done right away (since that's where most of the heavy stuff [read: filled bookcases] are) and today it's the kitchen/downstairs hallway's turn. This is tremendously exciting to me, as the carpet in the kitchen is SO GROSS OMG! As an acquaintance of mine said when I told her "I had carpet in the kitchen too at one time, you could have boiled it and lived off the broth for a year probably". Yeah.
We're not doing the bathrooms or porch (although depending on how much is left, I may advance the possibility of doing the porch just to have it done) but the bedrooms are on the list as well.
So, flooring>flowers in my book.
I scored the deal of the year in January, enough boxes of laminate flooring to do our house for $100. The living and dining room got done right away (since that's where most of the heavy stuff [read: filled bookcases] are) and today it's the kitchen/downstairs hallway's turn. This is tremendously exciting to me, as the carpet in the kitchen is SO GROSS OMG! As an acquaintance of mine said when I told her "I had carpet in the kitchen too at one time, you could have boiled it and lived off the broth for a year probably". Yeah.
We're not doing the bathrooms or porch (although depending on how much is left, I may advance the possibility of doing the porch just to have it done) but the bedrooms are on the list as well.
So, flooring>flowers in my book.
Sunday 8 February 2015
Sunrise
So I have had a case of the 'creeping blargh' as I call it. Not quite sick, not quite "well", just blargh. I felt bad enough to call in sick at work Friday (trying to save up the energy to go to work Saturday when there is no backup) and that seemed to work.
Overall, though, I have been feeling blargh-y (or, as a coworker's brother says "malaise", which is a lot nicer and perhaps a little more grownup, especially if one is talking to one's doctor) for a very long time. I have come up with a plan, though. (You know me, I'm all about the plans)
Step one -- unplug from that thar intartubes as much as possible. (Which is funny, considering that I've just started this blogging thing. Haha. My brain has great timing.)
Step two -- up my water intake. Some of the blargh feelings could very well be subtle dehydration. I have a very nice 3 litre jug with a pouring spout that I will very soon be filling up with water, a couple of Meyer lemons and maybe some mint leaves if the mint doesn't look too bad. I'll start on that soon and we'll see how that goes.
Step three -- get back to going to the gym. I would like to be hitting the gym six days a week -- Fridays I peel out of work as fast as I can to get out before all the crazy weekend people show up, and I'll be challenging a coworker and joining a work challenge if they run it again this year.
Step four -- plan out the meals a little better, up the vegetable/fruit intake. I do not believe that carbs are evil (aside, I also have a hard time believing that carbs=sugar, despite the many hours of increasingly high-pitched debate) I also like real butter, cheese and salad dressing. Yum yum.
I'll do that for a couple of months and if I still feel like I should be draped over a fainting couch...well, then I can go for my annual checkup and at least say "Dude, I'm drinking lots (sadly not alcohol, but I can if you think it would help....), going to the gym and I'm still blargh-y...can we do some sort of in-depth test here?"
In case any of you were on the edge of your seat about the pattern knitting from yesterday...the yarn is all wound up neatly waiting for me to start again. I had a brief flirtation with the idea of knitting socks but have put that aside for right now. (I have, somewhere, a pattern for chunky yarn socks. Much more my style, although I may sneak back up on the actual sock pattern. Maybe. Or maybe I will just side-eye it until it grovels in submission.)
Overall, though, I have been feeling blargh-y (or, as a coworker's brother says "malaise", which is a lot nicer and perhaps a little more grownup, especially if one is talking to one's doctor) for a very long time. I have come up with a plan, though. (You know me, I'm all about the plans)
Step one -- unplug from that thar intartubes as much as possible. (Which is funny, considering that I've just started this blogging thing. Haha. My brain has great timing.)
Step two -- up my water intake. Some of the blargh feelings could very well be subtle dehydration. I have a very nice 3 litre jug with a pouring spout that I will very soon be filling up with water, a couple of Meyer lemons and maybe some mint leaves if the mint doesn't look too bad. I'll start on that soon and we'll see how that goes.
Step three -- get back to going to the gym. I would like to be hitting the gym six days a week -- Fridays I peel out of work as fast as I can to get out before all the crazy weekend people show up, and I'll be challenging a coworker and joining a work challenge if they run it again this year.
Step four -- plan out the meals a little better, up the vegetable/fruit intake. I do not believe that carbs are evil (aside, I also have a hard time believing that carbs=sugar, despite the many hours of increasingly high-pitched debate) I also like real butter, cheese and salad dressing. Yum yum.
I'll do that for a couple of months and if I still feel like I should be draped over a fainting couch...well, then I can go for my annual checkup and at least say "Dude, I'm drinking lots (sadly not alcohol, but I can if you think it would help....), going to the gym and I'm still blargh-y...can we do some sort of in-depth test here?"
In case any of you were on the edge of your seat about the pattern knitting from yesterday...the yarn is all wound up neatly waiting for me to start again. I had a brief flirtation with the idea of knitting socks but have put that aside for right now. (I have, somewhere, a pattern for chunky yarn socks. Much more my style, although I may sneak back up on the actual sock pattern. Maybe. Or maybe I will just side-eye it until it grovels in submission.)
Saturday 7 February 2015
Really, logic? Really?
You would think that, in a knitting pattern that is 4 rows (2 knit, 2 purl), there would not be a way to SCREW THIS UP!
You would be wrong. I may have to actually follow the pattern as written instead of using logic to get to my 2 knit, 2 purl. This makes no sense to me.
But a lot of things make no sense to me and I'm usually okay with that, so I shall carry on.
(If the pattern approach rather than the logic approach works, I may be muttering to myself for a while)
You would be wrong. I may have to actually follow the pattern as written instead of using logic to get to my 2 knit, 2 purl. This makes no sense to me.
But a lot of things make no sense to me and I'm usually okay with that, so I shall carry on.
(If the pattern approach rather than the logic approach works, I may be muttering to myself for a while)
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