Fill in the ____ Friday!
30 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Personal notes Tags: Fill in the blank Friday, new years
I love this idea and I’ve been wanting to do it for a whole week LOL I saw this on another blog I read and thought it would be fun to try… only I realized it was not Friday anymore so I’ve been waiting all week :O) I better hurry up or this Friday will run out too! I just woke up from another marathon sleep session and it is late already.
Happy last day of 2011 - make it a productive one!
Proud of me!
27 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in Personal notes Tags: computer, computer geek, computer issues, crappy song, fix, itunes, magical powers, paperweight, pretty colors
I have been messing with my computer all day (Well actually I slept until 6pm so that’s actually all evening and all night) trying to get things to work right. Usually when I have computer issues I just ask my husband who is a techie-computer geek-dude for a living. You know, when I used to work at the bank I used to call him at the hospital where he worked to help me with computer problems because the IT guys where I worked didn’t know as much. He always knew the answers I needed and then I’d tell them LOL Then I got a job at the hospital too and he was always close when I needed help. I have actually learned a lot about computer myself just from asking questions and playing around.
I couldn’t figure this problem out though so I went to ask him for help. He was reading and taking it easy in his room. He has to go back to work in the morning (well, really soon now) so he didn’t want to work on it. He said he would look at it later… He doesn’t like having to “work” on his day off. Well, if you know me at all you know I don’t wait well.. So all day I’ve been trying to fix it myself.
A while back my laptop fried. It was a crappy little Acer that was always freezing or going black and not turning back on. He was always able to fix it until the screen finally fried. It was cool actually. The screen turned this pretty blue and then started getting these stripes in all kinds of pretty colors…. pretty but not very functional…. like a laptop shaped paperweight. Well he was able to get the hard drive out of it and using his magical powers he connected it to the network of computers in our house. Everything in our house is networked…. even the TV. I think he would connect the toaster to the network if he could. My husband bought me another laptop and set it up with my itunes. He wanted all the music together in one place on the network to avoid duplications but my music wasn’t all there….. but I did have every crappy song everyone else in the house bought though. My music was actually still on my ipod so I tried to upload them to itunes but I kept getting these crazy errors. I was fighting with itunes which must have had a bug because it wouldn’t let me authorize my new laptop. It said I’d authorized too many computers but it wouldn’t let me de-authorize any. The button to do that wasn’t there! There was all kinds of fighting I did with that. Anyway, I uninstalled and re-installed and the button showed up. So I finally was authorized and I was so thrilled! but, I couldn’t download the music that was on my ipod – I know how but the option wasn’t there. That was a while back….. so today (or tonight) I was back to trying to fix my itunes so I could sync my music. You need to be able to sync so you can have a backup! If I tried to sync my ipod with itunes on the computer it would always ask, “Are you sure you want to do that? ’cause if you do we are going to delete all of your beloved music on your ipod and then laugh when you cry!” Well, maybe not in those exact words… but pretty close. Anyway, tonight I noticed there was an itunes update and ran it and wah-lah! The option was there to copy the music from my ipod to my itunes. Most of my music that wasn’t working because the file was missing was fixed but there was still some that were missing. I spent hours looking in folders and trying to figure out where my music went before I got smart and used the “search” function! *duh!* I searched the main computer system for a song that was missing and found all of the missing music. Ahhhhhhhhhh, what a relief! Now all my music is back.
Well, since I was on a roll I decided to look at some other things too. I kept getting these two errors on my computer but they really weren’t a big deal since it still worked fine. It was really just annoying that they kept popping up. Well, this newer laptop is actually an older laptop that my husband bought on eBay. It is still way better than what I had……. and it is a laptop that he could add memory to and play with the guts of the computer. The other laptop wasn’t designed to reopen so it could be improved later. When he got this one he added memory and who knows what else and put windows 7 on it. So it turned out the errors were caused by compatibility issues with Windows 7. There was a problem with the video card and I forget what the other thing was. There were “drivers” missing. Well I was able to find them online and download them and now, no more errors! I am so proud of myself. He could have probably done all that in 5 minutes but that’s okay.
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet
26 Dec 2011 6 Comments
in Personal goals, Personal notes Tags: 2012, new year, resolutions
New years is upon us and it is time to think of what we want this year to bring. I don’t really like to make lists of resolutions like most people because they are so easily forgotten and usually under the rug by the end of January. I have made the lists before only to find them years later still in the notebook I wrote them in. I realized that not only did I forget about them but that I pretty much made the same resolutions year after year. So, at least it is clear to me what I want…. well on December 31st anyway. I do make personal commitments that I work towards though. Not like I’m going to read 100 books this year but I’m going to read MORE. I don’t make a resolution to lose weight but a commitment to eat healthier and to exercise regularly since those things go hand in hand. I decide what is important to me and work to make it a priority – a habit! – during the year and most importantly I RESOLVE to never ever quit. If I mess up I have to get back up and go again. My piano teacher taught me that.
It takes 21 days to make a habit right? Read this blog entry titled “A New Habit” written by Steven Aitchison on his blog called ”Change your thoughts, Change your life”. I’ve read several things about this but usually books or magazines so this is what I found online. Of course you could read “The 7 habits of highly effective people” by Steven Covey. I thought this article was a little funny actually. While reading it I had this picture of trying to ”con” my conscience. He says “If you tell your mind you want to try something for 21 days it won’t be so unwilling to co-operate.” I was thinking…. can’t my mind read my mind? LOL Anyway, it’s the point that counts right?
So I’m going to work on my list (probably updating this post a few times) and use January to get started. I’m going to use my refrigerator to remind me of what is important to me and also make a journal to keep track of my progress.
My 2012 Commitments
This year I promise myself that I will…..
- Read the scriptures every day and pray.
- Attend church whenever possible, even if only for sacrament.
- Write every day (journal, blog, write poetry, write letters or send a card, write on toilet paper before I flush it… whatever it takes. [hmmm, that must be how you send a letter to hell? ya think?])
- Paint or draw (or play with whatever medium I choose) everyday possible (if I’m sick I’m not stressing about it)
- Refuse to say the “F word” (I have Fibromyalgia and it has rearranged my life but I’m not going to let it rule me anymore. My middle name isn’t Fibromyalgia and my blog isn’t about illness. Subject change commencement happening now…. Positivity deployment happening in 3-2-1….
- Keep in touch with friends and family (write letters, email, facebook, CALL!)
- Finish what I start (and all the things I’ve already started.) AND not to start new things before finishing what I’m working on.
- Read more and give away my books. I have way too many! Buy KINDLE BOOKS!
- Learn, develop, grow! (I can’t be a CNA anymore but I CAN do something and I still have the knowledge I gained. I want to work with kids, I want to be an artist! and I will.)
- Organize my stuff and stop buying new stuff until I get what I have in order. USE what I have! Especially YARN – holy crocheted baloney!
- Exercise every day if I can, even if its only for 5 minutes. Stretch when I can’t do more.
- Eat healthy and drink water.
First off I am going to write more. I’ve already decided that I’m going to join NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) for January and blog every day. Oddly enough, National Blog Posting Month can be any and every month of the year and I’m going to try to do every month this year. I enjoy writing and it is very therapeutic for me. I participated in November and really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the visits and comments from other members. Feedback is always a good thing.
I will probably join the Art every day challenge again but like I said, no stress if I’m ill that day. I can’t help what I can’t control.
Crappy Christmas
20 Dec 2011 14 Comments
This Christmas isn’t looking too good. I’ve been having a lot of bad days (health wise) and having to sleep a crazy amount of time. I got the tree up late but it is up and although I hate to decorate with the same colors/ornaments two years in a row that’s the best I can do. My hubby put my star on the top but my teen-aged boys aren’t interested in helping me anymore. I have several tubs of ornaments in the crawl space for different color schemes/themes but I’m not strong enough to lift them out anymore and everyone else is really big for going down there. My last tree got mangled too much from moving it in and out of the crawl space each year so last year when I bought a new tree and my blue and silver ornaments I had the guys store them on top of the shelving in the garage. So that is all I have to use for this year again. I can’t complain too much since I love my light warm glittery blue and silver with glittery snowflakes and ice cycles Christmas tree. I’m still putting decorations on it since I can’t do too much reaching at a time so I’ll take a picture when I consider it finished.
My boys are not fairing well this Christmas. They are both taking advantage of me not feeling well and when I don’t get up to make sure they get up for school they will just sleep in. They know I don’t have a car to take them to school right now. So both of them have missed a lot of school and I’ve already gotten several notices from school and finally the one I got the other day that I had to sign for was about truancy and fines. They count all absences, even excused absences for illness or doctor’s appointments. My oldest is a senior and I’m worried he wont graduate. That is really sad since he’s crazy smart and completely capable. He could have easily skipped a few grades and graduated already but the school district didn’t let him. So instead he got bored with school and is going into a nose dive this year. They said that kids that skip grades don’t do well since their peers would all be older and bigger and they get picked on. I wish I hadn’t listened to them now. Who knows, maybe he will make it but he sure wont get any scholarships.
My youngest son is in 8th grade this year and is doing even worse. He always has trouble at this time of year and starts failing in school because he’s not even trying! I called and got him signed up for Saturday school and he isn’t very happy about that. I also took him to the doctor (a different one this time) since I think he might get that seasonal depression that people in Alaska tend to get because of lack of sunlight. Every year that he’s been in school he does this in November. I have gotten the little booklets filled out by all the teachers in the past only to have the doctor tell me he doesn’t have ADD/HD but there is definitely something going on. Another year another doctor told me he has some kind of problem they just don’t know what or how to treat it. Another year (the year he failed the 7th grade) and said he wanted to die I took him to another doctor and they said he has a “mood disorder” and started treating him with drugs that didn’t seem to work. This year I got him in to see a doctor that people had told me in the past was really good, especially with kids like Riley. I couldn’t get him in to see that doctor before because he had closed his practice to new patients. I was shocked when I called this time and they told me he could see this doctor. I took him in and let them talk to Riley alone (since he doesn’t answer them if I’m there or he argues with everything I say) and after that they called me back. They also talked to me alone first. That is a change! They said they believe he is depressed. Wow, I was right all along! This doctor looked at what he was prescribed in the past and said he really didn’t think that was the right direction to go with him. That’s good since it didn’t work. So he prescribed something else and I was thrilled when I picked it up and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. It was only $7! Now I just have to get him to take it consistently. It takes at least 3 weeks for it to work. For now he’s been a huge butthead. Chris and I went Christmas shopping and had these great plans for presents for him but Chris said he hated to reward him for the way he’s been acting. So he decided we should wait and see how he acts for the next couple day. That same night Chris caught him playing video games at 2am. So, guess who’s gonna be singing this song this year?
Dream meanings?
13 Dec 2011 4 Comments
in Personal notes Tags: alaska, dream meanings, dreams, salmon
Someone’s gonna have to help me with this one!
I’ve been sick so I took some cold medicine and went to bed around 4pm and slept about 15 hours. I don’t usually remember dreams but this one I did. It was really…. odd. I dreamt that I came across a box of salmon left by some drunk fisherman. Okay, not so strange since this is Alaska but it was strange that they were in a box and not a cooler LOL So one of the salmon was flipping around a bit and so I hurried and put some water in the box. Apparently this was a special waterproof cardboard box. To my surprise the salmon began swimming around in the water. So I took it to work and put it in a plastic tub full of water and tried to hide it from everyone else. Then I left the room and came back to find out someone had dumped out the tub onto the floor and somehow the water from the tub was enough to fill the room to mid shin with the door open LOL It doesn’t make any since at all!! I was frantic trying to save the salmon when I woke up.
I wonder if I didn’t happen to live in Alaska if the box would’ve had puppies or kittens in it?
I could just imagine my husband’s face if I told him I brought home a stray Salmon. Honey, I’m going to need a bigger fish tank for Sammy here. I could just imagine him smack his hand to his face and say “God, please tell me I’m dreaming!”
haha, I crack myself up. I better go back to bed.
Focus! Focus!
12 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in Craftyness, Knitting Tags: bracelet, knitting, knots, pinterest, Turk's head, yarn
That is what my husband says to me all the time. I’m horrible at starting project after project and jumping into new hobbies one after another without finishing anything. What can I say? I’m a great starter… just not such a great finisher. So today I found this simple little project on Pinterest.com and I’m going to do it and finish it before doing anything else!
First I’m going to knit a simple icord. It’s just 3 little stitches a bazillion times. Sure, I can do that.. I think. Well, after I dug through my yarn stash for something to play with and found some suitable double-pointed needles to use I realized that I couldn’t really remember how to start out so I watched this video. It is really clear and easy to follow just don’t think you can keep up with her LOL Just watch the video and take notes and then try it. Really, you don’t need to take notes…. it’s only 3 stitches.
So once I have enough I’m going to make a bracelet from this Turk’s Head (Woggle Knot).
This is the pin that led me to this craziness. I think I need one in every color of the rainbow and more.
Source: animatedknots.com via Donna on Pinterest
Well, I made an icord that would loosely wrap around my hand 4 times and decided to get it a try. At first I tried using a cable pin to hold the loops so I could avoid binding off until I knew if it was long enough but the yarn still attached to the ball just got tangled up and made a mess (duh). I snipped the yarn leaving a bunch of yarn to work with if I needed to add some more stitches. Well, it wasn’t long enough so I knit until I used up all of the extra yarn until I had barely enough to bind off with. I had to use a crochet hook to help bind off actually. I ended up with 42 inches and then I tried again. Still too short!!!! So now I’m working on another length of icord and I’m just going to sew it onto the first one. Until then….
Hair today…gone tomorrow
09 Dec 2011 9 Comments
in Charity/volunteer work, Personal notes Tags: Charity, hair, hairstyles, locks of love, pantene long lengths, pinterest
okay, maybe not tomorrow. I love my long hair but I’ve always wanted to donate my hair so that someone going through chemo-therapy could have a wig. I had planned on that when I first started growing out my hair and I was itching to cut it for that purpose well before it was long enough. I’m glad I waited though because I have heard some things about Locks of Love that have made me keep my hair on my head for long after it was long enough. Not that they are a bad charity but it wasn’t the right fit for what I wanted to do. Locks of Love is more for people with Alopecia which is balding that can be in a small area or it can be the whole head. It can also be permanent and it affect people of all ages, men and women. I read several things online that I didn’t like about locks of love but I was leery of trusting information on the internet. Then I met a lady one day that told me her daughter who has cancer was turned away by Locks of Love because she was told that after cancer treatments are finished she will regrow her hair but children with alopecia may never regrow their hair. She also said her daughter had to write an essay about why she deserved to have a wig and that even though they didn’t have enough money to pay their medical bills they would still be expected to pay for a wig. Locks of Love uses a sliding scale for payment but if you are losing your house because you are so far in debt how do they decide how much someone has to pay? I have also learned that a large percentage of the hair that is donated is sold at a cheap price to wig wholesalers to cover overhead costs. So after this I went back to the Locks of Love website and read more. Of course now it has been redone and I didn’t see where it says that now but I learned that they do sell the hair to wholesalers to cover their overhead. I understand that it may be necessary but I just can’t stand to donate my hair that I’ve been growing for years to have it sold for cheap and not used for the purpose I had intended. There were many times I wanted to cut my hair along the way but I didn’t because I wanted to do something that would help someone. I wanted to color my hair but I couldn’t because they wouldn’t except it if I did. I don’t want to help wig wholesalers, I want to help someone who really needs help. So now my hair is really long and I still want to donate it when I cut it. I’m trying to find out about more charities that help people with cancer. I’m looking into Pantene Beautiful Lengths right now which is partnered with the American Cancer Society. I still want to learn everything I can about the program before I really commit but until then I’m enjoying the fun I can have with long hair.
I wanted to add here that even though that lady told me those things doesn’t make it true. You can’t believe everything you hear or read on the internet. I am not going to donate to locks of love because I know they sell a lot of the hair they receive and that I really want to help someone with cancer because that is dear to my heart. My mom had breast cancer and wore a wig for a while and they were so expensive she couldn’t get something she really liked. That is why I’m leaning towards the Pantene program which is connected with the American Cancer Society. If you want to help someone with Alopecia I would call Locks of Love and talk to them about their program.
I just got my hair cut the other day. I used a photo of Taylor Swift’s new hairstyle (left).
Source: disneydreaming.com via Donna on Pinterest
Of course my hair is a lot thicker and dark brown so it doesn’t look exactly the same. That’s okay with me though, I can’t dance or sing either. I had to have them thin out my bangs a lot because they were so heavy and they still are a bit. Now I’m going to try the sock bun for curling my hair!
Here is a video on youtube that explains it better
In this video she shows how to actually roll your hair up with the sock donut which you couldn’t really see if the above video.
I have tried this and it turned out so pretty! My bangs were grown out to my chin at the time so I had them pulled back and I just don’t look very good without bangs. I can’t wait to try this again now that I have some!
Source: flickr.com via Donna on Pinterest
Here is a haircut I would like if I cut my hair although I don’t know if it would actually work with my hair since my hair has a mind of it’s own. When my hair is chin length or a little longer one side whips one direction in a large wave and the other side goes the same way. So it looks like I’m constantly being blown away by the wind. Even really good hair stylists have tried to fix it and couldn’t. I would just have to cut it a little shorter or longer to avoid that.
Source: varioushairstyles.com via Donna on Pinterest
I’ll have to post a picture of my haircut later after I’ve had some time to play with it. The family and I have all been sick so I haven’t even felt like taking a picture let alone looked like I should. I didn’t like the way the girl styled it after cutting it so I didn’t take a picture after I got home. She didn’t look much older than my 17 year old and she said she’d had some of the same teachers so she is obviously a new hairdresser. She took so long to cut my hair my car almost froze up in the parking lot. My hair was already like the picture except the bangs so she took 2 hours to trim my long layers and add the bangs. My lady that always cut my hair before doesn’t work there anymore :’O(
Wishy-Washy Weather and a little Pinterest Interest
05 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in Craftyness, Personal notes Tags: alaska, Fairbanks, pinterest, stocking stuffers, weather
I think mother nature can’t make up her mind what she wants to do right now. Just recently we climbed out of a cold snap of 45 below weather. Then, we got dumped on and could barely get out of the driveway because of all the snow. The trees were heavily laden with snow and it showered down from the branches and caught on the wind creating a curtain of white that blocked all vision. On Sunday when I went to church it was about 42 above and windy. The roads were wet and icy and it was a lot like driving on an ice skating rink. Before we heading home it had begun to rain. So the roads were much worse. The rain froze as it hit the ground and we took the back roads home going very slow. After I’d been home for a while I looked out the window and the snow fall was flying horizontally by my window at a really fast pace. The wind got so strong that I kept hearing things (probably branches and maybe a few cats and dogs) hitting my roof and side of the house. I was so scared that one of the large spruce trees would fall on my house or something would come through one of my windows. I hate that feeling! I always turn on some music to try to block out the screaming wind and smashing sounds from outside but just can’t shake the jumpy feeling and fear of the roof coming down on me. The tops of the large spruce trees in the park across the street were swishing back and forth reminding me of last march when two of those trees fell. The base of the trees were twisted and splintered. During that same storm several people had trees fall on their houses or on nearby power lines and I had candles ready for the many power outages we experienced.
Today, school has been canceled and the wind has lessened some. Usually they wait till 5am to decide to close school based on the rode conditions at that time but there was an accident recently involving a school bus where 6 students were injured so I think they are being extra cautious. I don’t blame them and I would much rather know my kids are at home and safe and sound. In the past, during dangerous weather like this, I would drive my kids to school myself rather than trust a stranger driving a long bus in dangerous conditions. Things seem so different this morning than they did yesterday. The trees at the park are now just swaying like giants nodding in agreement with one another. I think they are all happy to be free of their load of snow. There isn’t any snow left on the branches. The bare-limbed white paper birch standing in stark contrast to the dark spruce don’t sway nearly as much as the heavily cloaked spruce trees. They divide the darkness of the trees behind them into bite sized pieces with their thin white trunks. There is a fine glitter-like snow flying parallel to the ground but you have to look carefully to see it. At first glace it just looks grey outside.
The newspaper has a few article about the dangerous weather conditions.
I am going to snuggle up and stay inside. I am working on a crochet-edge fleece blanket to donate to the woman’s shelter for Christmas. On Saturday a bunch of ladies from my church and I went there to help decorate for Christmas. Someone made a bunch of fleece blankets for the children and several of us are providing lap blankets for the women. We are also providing stocking-stuffers and I decided that since it is easier to think of gifts for the younger kids I will be making some gifts for the older kids. The other day I made a flower pin that I learned about on http://pinterest.com/. It turned out really pretty and I just used things I already had on hand. I’m going to make some more to attach to hair bands and clips.
Source: sew4home.com via Donna on Pinterest
Another idea I may try depending on how much trouble it is
Source: raisingolives.com via Donna on Pinterest
And this just looks too fun not to try! Melted crayons poured into candy molds!
Source: homemadebyjill.blogspot.com via Donna on Pinterest
