We Did It ! & Other Revelations

Well, the internet didn't quite explode, but I had a lot of fun! *grin*

National Blog Posting Month has come to an end, and I have managed to post every day! Despite the erratic nature of the times of the posts, I've shared something new with you, reliably, for 30 whole days in a row, with hundreds of like-minded challenge-seekers.

Among the thousands of participants, I discovered a plethora of fabulous new blogs, found many new bloggy friends, and met the goal. Hundreds of other determined bloggers have made it to the end with me; overworked, successful, and proud. My comrades in wordcrafting, I salute you.

To those who didn't quite make it all the way this year for whatever reason, there's always next year! Another challenge, another day, whereupon many more of us will succeed through the power of determination, stubbornness, or just some strange form of lemming-like insanity that seems rampant on the blogosphere. *wink*

Last year was my first attempt, and I missed a couple of days like most of us do when we first try, but this year I got it right, taking a few minutes or an hour out of each day to write something new or elaborate on something I had seeded earlier in order to create fresh content for you each day.

I learned a lot this time around. A lot about myself, about other bloggers, about time management, and about prioritizing my goals. I've decided that I should meet the small goals first, then work my way up, and that no matter what else gets in the way, even homelessness, there is always a way to do what you feel is truly important. It's the most stable and reasonable way to truly reach, and then maintain my dreams.

One down, millions more little dreams to go. Maybe next year, I'll commit to the ultimate insanity and do NaNoWriMo in addition to NaBloPoMo. With any luck, I'll be doing them both from our traveling home, our very own RV.

In the nice time, you know where you can find me. *grin*


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It's The Happy Killing Time Boys & Girls!

So...

Um...

Yeah.

*clears throat*

Today really sucked.

It all started when I woke up.

Well duh!

Anyway...

I meant to wake up at, like, oh, let's call it, morning. Instead, I didn't get out of bed and mobile until about 1pm.

My mom needed me to drive her all over town to get medical records for her and the kids so we could turn them in to the insurance company of the other (at-fault) person involved in the accident. We got out of her house about 2:30pm, mostly due to my sleeping too late, and partially due to my mother's bizarre need to not get up & dressed until everyone else is there and waiting for her.

No, I really have no clue why she does this, but it's a constant.

The car's been having trouble starting, was burning antifreeze, smoking a bit, had the battery light on, and we've been planning to take it to a mechanic as soon as we had a moment.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

With much griping, cursing, and a generalized, yet heaping dose of angst for everyone in the car, we managed to get most of the records. Some had mistakingly not been prepared, so there is some scanning, transferring, faxing, and mailing that will need to occur for her to finally get all of her things in order. I need to get Ladybug to a chiropractor to take a look at why her leg is hitching and locking since the accident so that we can get that covered too if it is going to be a continuing issue for her. My mother was about to leap out of the vehicle because she was so angry, and I was nearing readiness to drive into a tree.

Nobody had eaten by that point, but that was about to change.

Despite our high expectations, eating did not change the day for the better.

We went to Shoney's on Battlefield road and National avenue for their dinner "Backyard Barbecue" buffet. The food was pretty good, but the chocolate pudding had chunks of pumpkin pie in it, because someone had caused a spill at some point, and it hadn't been cleaned up. There were moldy grapes in with the good ones, and the sliced kiwi was slightly overripe. Now I don't usually complain about stuff in a restaurant, but this was, at the very least, something that needed to be brought up to the wait-staff so that it could get fixed. Being the type of person to help out whenever I can, I let them know discreetly.

Then I had to let them know about the fact that the pork steaks were pink in the middle, and I was seeing pantry moths all over the place. I even killed one and presented them with the corpse to prove it, nestled close to a spoon which held an artfully molded and rotting grape. It's not my fault that when I went up to the buffet, I had to pick up two plates and set them to the side before I found a third, and finally clean one that I felt safe putting my food on. After all of that, they sent out the employees to temperature check all of the food with a special thermometer, and they watched the bar like hawks, swooping in to rectify any little mistake or spill.

Methinks they thought I was an inspector or some such.

Not that I got anything out of it though. Not a 'thank you for telling us', not a 'we're sorry', not a discount off our meals, nothin'. After all that, a decent place would have thanked the customer profusely for noticing the flaws, and given them their meal for free, but not this place, not Shoney's. I should have told them that the cherry tomatoes and honeydew wedges were over-ripe or going bad as well, but I didn't bother.

Maybe some other customer will complain about that. I can only hope...

While we were eating, Keeb got a call on his mobile from the hospital. They said he'd left his wallet. Good thing they'd had him write his number on that information release form. We planned to go pick it up right after mom went to look at her possible new car.

Onward to the car dealership so my mother could look at the car she thought she might want. Upon coming close to the used car area of the dealership, our poor car Eeyore just died, right there in the driveway. Was it all finally too much, or was it that he didn't like being in a car lot, and decided to protest? The world may never know, but he was good and deadski. Luckily for us, the potential new car also had a dead battery, so they needed to bring the jumper box out anyway. They were happy to give us a jump start. The new car was beautiful, fabulous, more than she had ever wanted in a car, and she looked good in it. She said it felt like home. Meanwhile, my little junkbucket was idling it's little gas tank out, waiting for her to seal the deal.

She hasn't received all of the payments from the insurance companies yet.

But after the short test drive, she did manage to get them to hold the car until Monday, when she plans to talk to the fellow at the other insurance company. Then Eeyore died again.

Battery kaput.

We cleaned the terminals as best we could, and we got him jumped again, whereupon we drove to the horrid big box store to get some fuzes we desperately needed.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we didn't have breakfast because the fuse that serves the wall where both the stove and the refrigerator reside blew, and so all of the perishables were slowly dying.

Whoops, silly me.

After much lurching and complaining on the 1/4 mile drive to the store, we pulled into a parking space intending to let the car run while Keeb ran in for the one vital purchase of the evening. Eeyore turned himself off again, just as we pulled in to a space. So we went shopping like we had planned to do before he died. Might as well, right?

Of course, this is my mother, in a large store...

Over an hour later, Keeb had managed to wrangle a person from the auto shop to test the battery and try to jump the car. No deal, so we ended up buying a new one just to get us home (a battery, not a car). Lucky us, we met some good friends at the store, who we have been missing terribly these past few weeks, and we managed to fit in a good chat. It didn't hurt the mood of the day at all that she offered to give us a ride home if we couldn't start the car either.

Man, I'd be truly lost without my friends, and random encounters. Roll me another 20-sider deity!

But the car started *insert holy choir here* and we got home. Keeb replaced the fuse, and now the wall works. The kids cleaned the eew-food out of the fridge and it's now all outside in the bin where it belongs. The morrow brings an adventure in auto-repair, involving an actual professional in a shoppe with hourly labor fees, a return to the hospital to rescue Keeb's poor ailing wallet, and a trip to the copy place to make a few hundred last-minute business cards before the party on Saturday.

I'm in a mood.

Can ya tell?

Update: Tried to look at the disc of x-rays we got from the hospital as a more personal version of an anatomy lesson, and burn a CD of the pictures of the injuries from the crash for the fellow at the other insurance company, but my I-paid-extra-cash-for-an-upgrade-on-the-most-expensive-thing-I've-ever-purchased-that-arrived-broken-so-I-had to-send-the-whole-computer-away-for-two-weeks-to-get-a-new-one-installed DVD/RWCDs! Seems the "new" part they ordered (new?) and installed was malfunctioning worse that the one they replaced (which worked great, but was literally falling apart). I didn't really check the drive a lot when the computer returned to me like I should have, because I was just so flaming overjoyed to finally have my computer back, and now the measly 6month warranty is probably over, or would be half-way through them waiting for the part to arrive. (see here, here, here, and here in order, for the previous saga of laptop computer repair.)

To get it repaired again, I will have to send it back again. That includes removing all of my data from the hard drive again, and with no CD writer, that's impossible. So I'm either forced to risk all of my valuable data, or I'm stuck with a bad machine.

Whatever happened to quality testing these things before you send them out to the public?
Know how much the part costs if I want to replace it myself? About $200. *growl*

I am SO not amused.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Feeling a Bit of Affluenza

I went against it all, and looked at the Black Friday sales ads for the first time in my life. But I looked online, in order to save both time and paper from the ads I never care to keep, so that makes it better, right? *sheepish grin*

It is amusing to see what folks wake up at 3am for these days, whereas I simply haven't been to bed yet 'cause our visit with friends was so great, we stayed WAY too long. *chuckle* First showing of a new a movie I can understand standing in line for several hours for, but the vague possibility of a random goody at half-off if you are one of the first 100 people at the door? Nah, I can wait for the other loss-leader sales that happen at other times throughout they year.

If I'm desperate for a particular item, I have learned that I can likely buy online, without leaving the house, days before the sales start in the stores, possibly even having it in my grubby little hands with free two-day shipping several days before everyone else has a chance at it. Not that we have the cash to pull that off this year, but still, it's nice to know we could if we wanted to, had the money, and actually needed something that was going to be some sort of amazing, once-in-a-lifetime kind of deal.

Not likely though, everything that goes on sale today is some sort of frivolous non-necessity. I know, I looked. *wink*

There's lots of stuff we'd just love to have, if we suffered from Affluenza, and lived like what seems like 90% of the American public. But throwing ourselves deep into hawk to get pretty little possessions that will just weigh us down so we can look cool and have the neatest new gadgets, isn't how we like to live.

We'll spend this Buy Nothing Day the same way we always do. At home, with family, spending time together; laughing, singing, and eating leftovers. For one day a year, we consume nothing except for utilities and leftover food. "cept this year, I'll also be making phone calls around to apartments, always on the hunt.

May you have a joyous and loving anti-consumerist holiday.

Happy Buy Nothing Day!

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

*"Protest Turkey" was completely hand-drawn with a mini optical mouse in Paint Shop Pro 11/06. "Protest Turkey" is about 7x8 inches and took 30 minutes from start to finish.

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Tryptophan Addiction

Every year around the 10th of November, it starts; an undeniable craving for the luscious sleep-inducing turkey-drug, Tryptophan. Now, I'm not craving turkey, I simply need the pleasant drowsiness and sense of well-being that comes on after gorging on the bird., especially this year. Turkey is the best way to get this fix of course, as it also contains chemicals that speed up your metabolism so that while you are in your stupor, you body digests through the feast quicker, so not gaining as much as you might have without the saving graces of the great bird.

All hail turkey, the master meat for all diet nuts!

Not that I really care personally, but it's nice to know that the holiday season has some built-in weight-loss. *grin*

Today, I get my tryptophan, and all will be well. *chuckle* Planning on heading over to a friend's house right after an oil change in our poor Eeyore (that'll probably include a full 2 hours' wait because we procrastinated with all the other lazy folks this Thanksgiving), but it will get done.

Later, we'll be going on over to spend a few days at Keeb's mom's house. She'll be gone until Sunday afternoon, and we have permission to not only use her high-speed internet but also sleep on her wonderful pillow-top mattress (that we gave to her when she moved from our old place). Sleep will be rich tonight! *grin*

Happy Thanksgiving all. Stay warm and safe!

Update: It didn't take two hours to get the oil changed! *grin* Come to find out, if you procrastinate longer than all the other procrastinators on the planet, they'll all be done and you'll show up to the oil change place to a bunch of bored mechanics playing some sort of ball game in the repair bays. *chuckle* Yaaay for no waiting!

And we had a fabulous time at our friends' place. *smile*

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Family Size Discriminations and the Car Insurance Blues

Are you in the mood for discrimination? Do you need more than a simple one-person serving?

Well, you're in luck!

Here in Springfield, Missouri, we have family size discrimination!

See, if your family is one or two people, you can live anywhere, in any size apartment, including an efficiency, for dirt cheap. Add another person into the mix, and the chances of getting into even a one-bedroom are pretty slim. Add yet another, and most places will try to mandate that you live in a two-bedroom, despite your desire to size down your life, because the apartment owners and managers all seem to think they know what is best for your family.

Somehow two people can live in a tiny room with a kitchenette and a bathroom, but four supposedly can't live in two large rooms with a bathroom and a full kitchen. Crazy!

I guess this type of insanity is common, or at least contagious.

Still we search.

---------

My mother has spent the last few days at my grandmother's house, helping out and visiting. This is a sure sign that she's feeling quite a bit better from her accident, though I don't expect that to last for long, as she's now out of her pain medicines she got at the hospital. At least she's had a bit of a respite.

When she got home, she was seriously ticked! The insurance company called her and told her that the loaner vehicle (that she doesn't like, and that hurts her to drive) has to go back on Monday instead of at the end of the month like they had previously told her. Seems their 'policy' states that, while the coverage amount will cover 'up to' a certain amount, when they total a car, you have literally two days to return the rental, 'cause it's not covered by the insurance anymore. *boggle* Not when you find a new vehicle, not when you get the recovery payment check, and not when you get your "total loss" letter, but two days after they declare it totaled and tell what they will give you for it, on the phone.

After much wrangling, arguing, and listening to what must've been the most long-winded claims adjuster on the planet (even my mom complained about this woman not being able to shut up!), I was finally able to get the letter emailed to me to print out, and I was able to fax the paperwork they needed to their office, so they can get at least part of her check cut for her car. Of course, for her perfectly working car with it's two brand new tires, they are giving her a grand total of about $700. Wow, that'll buy her something nice.

I seriously dislike her insurance company. Now she has to either magically find a car like hers that both runs well and she can fit into comfortably, over the holiday weekend, without any money to pay for it (they mail the check), or have me drive her all over hells' half acre to find one after she gives up the rental.

Lovely, just sunshine and flamin' candydrops lovely.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Threats of Candy

A little backstory: Yesterday, we went to the Asian food & gifts store in town and bought some goodies with our food stamps as a thanksgiving treat to ourselves. Keeb bought some white gourd juice and shrimp chips, Littlebit got a lemon soda with a marble in it and some eastern version of poppycock without the caramel, Ladybug picked out a read bean cake and some banana flavored soy milk, and I grabbed some Thai tea and Thai tamarind candy. We bought real groceries too, but I loves me some tamarind candy!

I called my eldest into the room tonight.

When I do this, usually Littlebit follows along behind, despite the fact that she was not called and we do not want her where we are at that moment. (Else wise we would have called her too.)

To prevent tagging along, I hollered to Littlebit in a semi-threatening tone; "You better not come in here, 'cause then I'll give you some candy, and you might not like it!".

With a view into the hallway, Keebler saw Littlebit try to figure this one out. She stopped, then stepped forward, then stopped, looked quizzically at him and her sister, stepped back again, then followed along behind, sure that all candy would be nice to her.

After all, it's never betrayed her before, right? Except for that one time, when mom made her try that Mexican dulce de tamarindo... It has been years since that incident, the memory gracefully faded to something far less traumatic than it was at the time.

Even if she did remember it, her safety net was seeing the package that that dreaded candy came in, a little red and white tub, with a dipping stick.

Yes, the candy would be safe, and she would be rewarded for her disobedience. Her confident stride and wide smile were proof of her surety.

So I opened up my little box of Thai candies and handed her one. "pop the whole thing in your mouth and chew" I instructed.

Then I waited. She chewed happily and did a little dance of glee, tasting first the salt, then the tangy-sweet tamarind, victorious.

Then it hit her. The red pepper. I saw her think "But mom, this is Thai candy, not Mexican!" The change on her face was priceless, like an infant's first taste of a real lemon wedge. Squnched eyes, then bugged wide in horror, her mouth open in an oval of shock, she spun on her heels and ran for the bathroom.

Oh sweet bathroom, rescuer of people everywhere who have tasted something revolting. Her sister chased her and ordered her to finish the candy instead of spitting it out.

Not sure why, really, she's bossy, that one.

A few seconds later though, out came Littlebit, showing off that she had indeed finished it, mouth wide, tongue waggling side to side, like they do on TV reality shows.

Yep, we train them for Fear Factor early 'round these parts. *snicker*

But ya can't say I didn't warn her!


*Image drawn with a touchpad mouse and my finger in Paint Shop Pro 6.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Google Fun & Surprise SEO

I've been looking at some new blogs and "meeting" fabulous new people this last week online as a break from other, much more tedious tasks, sitting on the floor and utilizing the neighbor's free-yet-nebulous WiFi. In my journeys online, I discovered that you can find out where your site visitors come from, and what searches on Google brought them to you.

So I decided to give it a try. *grin*

Single most popular search term that brings new folks in right now: anything relating to the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer. Anything at all.

fly fusion review
Fly Fusion Pentop Computer
fly fusion reviews <- First Page! fly fusion pen reviews <- First Page! reviews "fly fusion pentop computer" <- First Page! fly fusion pentop computer reviews <- First Page! fusion like pen <- First Page! LeapFrog FLY Fusion Pentop Computer reviews <- First Page! flyworld pen <-First Page Higher Up! FLY Fusion Pen Top Computer reviews <-First Page Higher Up than the last! fly word products <-First Page Higher Up than the last! does the fly fusion pentop computer work <- Third on the list! what can the FLY fusion pen do <- Second on the list!! fly pen that hooks up to computer <-TOP Google Rank!!!

Of course all of those lead to my thorough review of Leap Frog's newest product.

I don't blame them though, that thing is fantastic, and to top off the amazing, no lead paint! (They put the lead in the white paint see, so even without special testing, I know that my gray pen with a black icon has no lead, a quality that is increasingly rare in popular holiday toys this year.) I do so love this thing! Heck, I'm practically gushing! *chuckle* No, really, buy one. Even better, buy one by linking from the Amazon ads on this blog. *conspires* You'll be glad you did.

These next ones didn't come in on the front page, likely because there are several different versions of this online, and some of the websites they are on actually pay huge marketing firms for advertising. *wink*

thanksgiving tree craft
hands tree crafts thanksgiving

Where you can discover how to create lasting memories and thought-provoking, compostable fun for the whole family while taking up no floor space whatsoever, or the two smaller versions that I created and posted about later that month.

But it is the season for such searches, and with winter coming on fast, the next one was a no-brainer as well.

cardboard faux fireplace
recyclable fireplace
temporary fireplace
faux fireplace instructions <- First Page!
large cardboard fireplace <- TOP Google Rank Again!!!!!

Where you find instructions for creating the most simple and easy, eco-friendly recycled fireplace craft on the planet.

Ending up the lot is a bit of green to remember the past season.

guerilla gardens planting seeds in ugly places <- First Page!
steps to addiction <- TOP Google Rank Once More!!!

Which lead our lucky searchers to my tutorial about how to easily get addicted to beautifying your city with Guerilla Gardening, a process that relies on regular people reclaiming neglected places through horticulture.

Of course, then there are the folks who just Google "Whimspiration", as well as the token obligatory "I forgot I was typing in a search box instead of the browser window" full URL search. *chuckle*

I've never checked my page rankings for various search terms before, and this was both really fun, and enlightening. Can you tell by all the exclamation points that I am excited about my newly discovered search engine rankings? *grin*

Where'd you find me?

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Stink Free

Quick household tip: Gently crumpled newspaper can get even rotted-meat stink out of almost anything that closes, from microwaves to cabinets, freezers and refrigerators. Gently crumple, stuff, and close the door for about 8 hours. If it doesn't work all the way the first time, replace the paper and wait some more.

Spraying the air with a little Ozium air freshener works wonders (Created for use in hospitals, Febreeze is nothing compared to this stuff). Spritz the furniture, drapes, and surfaces with a spray made with mostly cheap vodka and a splash of white vinegar. No stains, no odor, and it evaporates in minutes!

Burning candles in the house along with a couple nag champa sticks of incense in each room will overpower nearly anything, including you if you aren't careful.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Unforseen Returns

When we left the old place, we abandoned Ladybug's old bicycle nearby for some other little kid to find and cherish. She had outgrown it, and Littlebit was still a bit too small for riding alone, so we decided to just get her a trailer-bike so she could learn to ride while we traveled as a family, riding in the city streets, and still be safe.

We didn't tell Ladybug about our convenient loss, mainly because we weren't in the mood to hear her angst about it when we were already so stressed about moving when she already had another (bigger) bike of her own.

Well, mother took the kids out shopping for a bit today and when they came home, they were all about leaping out of their skins with glee, and demanded that Keeb and I come out to mom's loaner car right away to share in the joy of their fabulous discovery.

Guess what was in the vehicle?

Yep, that danged bike!

They told me that they were driving by a resale shoppe and saw it standing there and had to stop. After checking it out thoroughly, they told the curator of the shoppe that the bike had been stolen. They didn't know otherwise, and I hadn't said anything about it, so assumptions abounded I guess. The curator, being a kind and generous type, let my poor little girl have her beloved bicycle back.

How sweet.

Of course I just had to tell them what they had done as I laughed and wondered what in the flaming heck we were going to do with yet another extra bicycle.

Anybody want a well-used and somewhat banged up 20" girl's bicycle with a sticker on the handlebar pad that says "perform random acts of kindness and senseless beauty"? It's got one tire flat, a stained and mangled designer seat cover, and a lovely thin coating of grime. What a deal!

Trust kids to bring on the unexpected.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Bad Ballad

Woke up this mornin'. 'Nother day breathing, w00t!

*laugh*

We didn't do a lot today, just went and looked at a new place, and discovered that there are indeed places that will let a family of four life in a one bedroom apartment. Unfortunately, those places are crawling with insectoid verminm and not close to good enough for my family.

There is yet hope!

Let the phone calls commence.

I am a participant in NaBloPoMo.

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Blogs In Space!

Everyone was feeling a bit off recently, so I spent most of the day browsing the blogosphere and making new friends.

Easiest way to find new blogs you will like: click on the links listed on the blogs you know you like and go from there.

I commented on about 6 new blogs, Blogrolled about 15 to come back to later, and found all sorts of new silliness like the above, sending my blog into space, and below, fantasy blog stocks and who links to me. Fun stuff, 'eh?

Who links to me?

I Drive a Small Car

Changed the tire on Sheldon and moved him into mom's old car's parking space with the help of one of the neighbor's jacks, as ours are all still packed away and the landlord wanted him moved. We were still standing outside chatting when we saw one of the neighborhood strays get hit by a car. Big Grey/Pencil (named separately by different neighbors) died within seconds of being hit, so at least he didn't suffer much, and the person who hit him came back to check on him, so that was something anyway. He was a really good cat, and many in the neighborhood will miss him. He was buried by some who knew him well.

Later in the evening, one of the neighbors who knew the cat better than we did came over and chatted for a while. Nice feller, if a bit of a beer-hound. Harmless and friendly, just how I like folks who drink heavily and know where I live. *laugh*

Had breakfast at McYeah today, 'cause we were in a hurry. I got a fish sandwich, which I haven't had in years, and got punished for my frivolity with a stream of boiling oil in the face. When I bit into the sandwich, it shot hot oil onto my cheek. Yeah, the coffee is hot, but I didn't see any warning about evil oil-spitting sandwiches!

First order of the day after feeding time was getting my mother to the junk yard to clean out her car. Her insurance company has decided to total it due to it's age and the damages. When I tried to drive to where it had been towed on the lot after checking in at the office, there were two giant tow trucks in the way. No worries though, I drive a small car! *grin* With a mere 3" leeway between them and us, my little car fit neatly. Hands and arms inside the vehicle please.... I've got talent, and confidence in my little Eeyore! I freaked out my passengers a bit tough, and they insisted at the next tight squeeze, that I just let the other vehicle move out of the way first. *chuckle* Mom had me take some more photos of the damages, just in case they were needed for any reason. The car looks a lot worse from the front.

Visited my grandmother to drop off her toilet paper & paper towels that mom had had in her car during the accident. (My mom shops for my grandmother pretty often) We also wanted to go over for a little visit so she could see everyone for herself and see that nobody was seriously damaged goods. She worries like that, and I'll take any little reason to be able to go visit her.

Had a fun little story time with the family, reading bedtime tales from the internet. I love when we can choke some family time out of a spare moment. *smile*

Didn't get any of our family's things done, completely missing both of the girls' special things for the day in order to finish the errands for my mother, and ended up missing almost all of Heroes in the process. Good thing I can catch it online later.

For now, me and my searing migraine are going to lie down and try for some good sleep.


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