Daily Dose

Deja Vu

1 Comment / Daily Dose, Travel Log /

We’ve been staying in the Austin Hilton for BlogHer Food and it’s kind of freaky.

The decor is very, very similar to the decor of the NYC Hilton where we’ve stayed twice for the main BlogHer conference.

We’re on the right side of the hallway, walking away from the elevators. Our room is just about the same place as the room we stayed in last time in NYC.

And… Sassymonkey isn’t here. That’s weird enough — Sassymonkey is ALWAYS here when we’re at BlogHer Food. Always. And she should be in that room, closer to the elevator.

When I carried my coffee back to my room this morning, it seemed super odd not to be bringing her (and the fake husband) a cup.

So weird.

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BlogHer Does It Again (Warning: Menstruation Ahead)

6 Comments / Daily Dose, Health and Wellness /

My periods have been irregular, to put it mildly, for a good long while now. I haven’t actually had a period since JMP was here. I really thought that was going to be my last one… but, I did hold out just a little hope that either seeing Michelle Belle or attending BlogHer Food might, MIGHT, spur a cycle. (Michelle and I are often sort of synced and I almost always menstruate at BlogHer conferences, whether I’m scheduled to or not.)

And today… tada… spotting!

Yippeee! My menopause countdown gets pushed back another month.

Not that I’m not looking forward to my old age (I totally am and have no problems being almost 50) — I just like menstruation. I know, most of you think I’m weird (if you’ve managed to get this far in the post.) I’m ok with you thinking that. I’ll just enjoy this period and we’ll see what happens next month… there is another BlogHer conference in July, you know…

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Ooops. I Did It Again

Daily Dose, Travel Log /

I forgot to blog yesterday.

Sigh.

So dumb.

I almost blogged in the morning, before we went to the airport — just in case. But I didn’t. I figured I’d have plenty of time and plenty of things to say.

Then, last night, shortly before I shut down for the night, I was heading here to write something and then… I got distracted and didn’t do it.

So here I am, six days into June and I have already missed two days — after blogging every day for more than seven months.

Poop.

~~

Austin is nice. I like it here. It’s hot. And oddly enough, the sun doesn’t come up at 4am like it does in not sunny Chicagoland. Why is that? So I slept (badly) til 5:30. An improvement but not an improvement. Which makes no sense to anyone except TW probably. Sorry about that. You’d have to be here.

Seeing Michelle is nice. Meeting her boyfriend is nice.

It’s all nice. Except apple maps which sent us on a wild walk to a bakery that was actually a mile in the opposite direction. But hey, it was fun wandering around a little bit of the Ladybird Park Trail and the lobby of the Four Seasons.

Later today… hmm… I”m not sure what’s in store but I’m pretty sure it will be nice. And, hot. I like it hot.

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Now That’s Sexy!

3 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

TW: Oh! I ordered soap today.

Me: Huh?

TW: Soap. I ordered soap.

Me: Huh?

TW: Soap. Like to wash with?

Me: Umm I know what soap is but why did you order soap? Where did you order soap?

TW: Haldesoap.

Me: Oh. That makes sense.

TW: It was on sale! And it was the manly scents that were on sale.

Me: OK. Cool.

TW: And we are getting a little low on Haldesoap, believe it or not.

Me: Yes, we are. Which scents did you order?

TW: I don’t know. Those manly holiday ones. Like Pirates Plank and Musk Ox in Heat. Something that sounds sexy.

ME: Musk Ox in Heat?

TW: Yea, something sexy like that.

Me: Musk Ox in Heat does not sound sexy. What in the hell would Musk Ox in Heat even smell like?

TW: I don’t know, one of those manly scents. You know.

Me: I really don’t know. (And I’m thankful for that, sexy or not.)

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I Hate Holidays

5 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

I don’t really hate them but then again, I do. They make coming back to work a whole lot more complicated.

No matter how many times I tell myself that today is Tuesday, at some point, I’m going to confuse myself by thinking it’s Monday. Or Wednesday. Or some other day of the week that it’s not.

And this will happen all week long.

What’s worse is I realized this morning that… I did not blog yesterday.

Yea. Sadness.

I’ve blogged every single day, at least once, since mid-October of 2012 — and I didn’t blog yesterday.

I thought I had. Probably because I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Sunday and I knew I had blogged on Sunday.

This is why it’s good to blog holidays — even if everyone else in the damn world is blogging those holidays and nobody really wants to read another post about that holiday from anyone except maybe their adorable grandchildren.

Sigh.

Lesson Learned.

Starting over again now. Blogging EVERY DAY. AGAIN.

May 27 will be the day that lives in my memory forever. (Or for as long as I am able to hold onto my memories.) The day my blogging streak died.

Poop.

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Ouch: On Crock-Pots, Band-Aids and Hyphens

7 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Health and Wellness, Money Talks, Personality /

It is still cheaper to buy a replacement crock for a crock-pot than it is to buy a new crock-pot. This disappoints, TW. I don’t know why since I like our crock-pot.

(I find it difficult to hyphenate crock-pot, don’t you?)

When you’ve sliced open a couple of finger tips on the crock-post stoneware, you should really put band-aids on them if you’re going to paint a couple of pages in your altered book. Or if you’re going to use gesso and chalk pastels in a couple of pages of your altered book. It kind of hurts to scrub the paint/chalk out of those cuts.

I should have listened to Ken Jennings when he said I should keep my cuts covered and moist rather than listening to TW (and my own hatred of band-aids.)

(Band-aid is another word I have trouble hyphenating.)

~~

If you broke the stoneware in your crock-pot, would you order a replacement stoneware or buy a new crock-pot?

If you cut a couple of fingers on the stoneware of your crock-post, how long would you leave band-aid(s) on the cut(s)?

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Missing This and Of Course, There’s That and TW is Nuts

2 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day /

Oops.

With the art journaling moved to the nice little dedicated corner of the family room… I’m not actually remembering to journal. hahah. When they were on my desk, I could pick them up and doodle. Or throw down a layer of paint. Or at the very least, remember to do something with the calendar a day thingy.

Out of sight, out of mind — I skipped four days of calendar journaling because the altered book is in the other room. I also haven’t done anything with The Pocket Scavenger because that book was also in the other room.

If only I didn’t mind prairie dog goo in all of my pages, then I could move the red table in here and the expedit into the other room and … but no. Not happening. I just need to develop a new habit — and maybe get back to taking those work-day breaks I’m supposed to be taking.

~
But not taking because work is weird and I can’t seem to find a good long stretch of time that works. Maybe it’s just this week that’s the problem and next week will be better.

I hope.

~
Speaking of weird work – TW has a new job so she’s doing that thing where she tells everyone all about how awesome her job is and how they should do THAT thing because DID YOU KNOW…?

It’s amusing but it can also get a little tiring.

Poor Annie, the librarian. TW tried very hard to convince her she should come over to BlogHer and enter sweepstakes and giveaways. We used to be Annie’s favorite library patrons — now, I’m not so sure. Hah.

~
In two weeks we’ll be in Austin. Where it’s warm. Where my baby girl will also be. TWO WEEKS! I’ll also get to hug some co-workers and some friends and listen to food bloggers talk about food and food blogging. Food bloggers are fascinating creatures. I always feel like I’m gawking at the exotic birds and flowers when I go to BlogHer Food. So awesome. I can’t wait.

And did I mention it will be warm there?

~
I’m back to wearing two pairs of socks and two jackets IN MY HOUSE again.

Damn Chicagoland. Can’t we just move to Savannah and be done with it?

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Dog Food is Complicated

4 Comments / Daily Dose, Day to Day, Personality /

When DID dog food get so complicated?

I’ve had at least one dog for most of my life and I’ve never spent more than two minutes choosing a dog food. What’s the cheapest? Have I bought it before, only to have the dog turn up her nose at it, (though honestly, this has always been more likely to happen with cats)? Have I bought it and the dog had any weird stomach things happen around the same time that might be attributed to this dog food.

And that’s it. End of thought process.

So why in the hell am I not only asking people on Chatter/Twitter/Facebook about dog food but also considering only higher priced dog foods — dog foods you can’t get at the grocery store?

Hell, I even asked the damn vet if he had a dog food recommendation.

And when did dogs start having gluten problems? Is that new? Because I’m almost 50 years old and for a good 40+ years of that time, I’d never seen a single gluten-intolerant dog. I worked at a KENNEL for three years and we never had a dog come in with a special gluten-free/grain-free food. EVER.

Skeeter will LITERALLY eat anything at all. It might not do her tummy any good to eat Elly’s sock or the Hershey’s chocolate bar wrapper she dug out of the trash — but she’ll eat it but here I am wondering about what food to buy. Whether we should just stick with the brand she’s used to, just in adult formula, in case she doesn’t “like” a different kind. Then again, she’s thrilled when she can break into the shih tzu’s room and eat his Kibbles n Bits (or whatever inexpensive food HE is eating.)

I’ve become one of those dog owners. I have to just admit it – to myself, and to all of you (who have already figured that out.)

It wasn’t the making of the dog toys last weekend that cinched it. It is the indecision over dog food.

Hell.

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Rearranged

Daily Dose, Day to Day, Personality, Pet Peeves /

TW has been threatening to rearrange furniture and she finally did it.

It made me and Skeeter very nervous.

Neither of us are fans of the furniture moving.

We are both creatures of habit and we like our spaces to stay OUR spaces.

Skeeter will probably go pee on the floor or chew something up.

I’ll just bump into things for awhile. Maybe have a few weird dreams or nightmares.

Gah.

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Art Journaling, Altered Book, Tag Book, The Pocket Scavenger — Gah!

2013, Altered Book, Art, Books in Bed, Daily Dose, Non-Fiction /

I’m seriously into the art journaling thing right now. Big change from the how many years I’ve had this unaltered altered book and the one year that I’ve had two tags of a JMP tag journal and … yea. Totally into it. I think it was the Doodle a Day in April that helped spur me into it.

I did the daily doodle in my altered book, which means I moved away from the idea of turning the book I hated into a book on the topic that I loved. Instead, it turned into art journal, junk journal, inspiration journal — just journal journal.

Giving myself “permission” to play with that book, that way — and keeping it on my desk every day so I’d remember to doodle, well, that did it. I’ve done some type of art journaling or doodling every day since April 1.

And it’s awesome.

I blogged about a review copy of The Pocket Scavenger over at BlogHer and I’ve watched about a zillion youtube videos of art journal techniques and flip throughs. I’m totally into this. My only problem is… my stuff is everywhere. I don’t have one good place to art journal (particularly if I want to keep my stuff safe from the darn dog.)

I’m almost tempted to let TW re-arrange the furniture in hopes of finding a space that allows me to paint a bunch of pages or gesso a bunch of pages or glue a bunch of pages all in one place — and be able to leave them alone to dry. Or be able to leave them out, open, with art materials out so I can walk past or get up and add something/change something whenever the mood strikes.

Blah. It’s such a production to do anything more than doodle with gel pens or markers (the only two mediums that are on my desk all of the time.)

OK enough griping, I’m off to gesso some tags or something.

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