Tuesday, September 30, 2008

body tired

Brain needs to wind down, talk some things out. Unfortunately everyone I would talk with is already sleeping. Like they should be. I'm not going to wake any of them up, either, not even the ones close to hand. I'm hoping that the brain will let the body do what it wants...relax and sleep.

Good night.

Monday, September 29, 2008

getting home late

I'm not as good at it as I used to be. There was a time that I didn't think anything about heading to a friend's house on the way home from work, going to dinner with them and wandering around a store for a couple hours afterwards. I would get home in time to check e-mail, have a shower and sleep. That wasn't really all that long ago.

And yet it was a lifetime ago. Well, Raine's lifetime. Now that there are people to come home to, I would - I hope it's obvious - rather go home to them. Now, wait. That sounds like my friends aren't important to me. They are, you know. I'm a Taurus, remember, and we hold on to our friends. Some of my friends I would take home. But of course, there aren't any empty bedrooms. Now, I want to be able to spend time with Raine and get snuggles. I gotta soak 'em up while I can. She won't want to hang out with Mom one day.

It wasn't like I hated being home by myself, either. I could be quite content and entertained spending time on my own. Now, home is just more home-y. It isn't just a collection of roommate people, but a family there. My family. And it feels really good.

So tonight, I stayed late at school, which I will have to do once a week for a class I am taking. Then it was dinner, and going to the hospital to visit a friend. A couple more errands - thanks, Dev, for riding around with me - and finally I got to get home 13 hours after I'd left. I'm not as drained as I sometimes am after a long day like this, and I'm really glad that I got to do the things I did after work. Still, I like getting home, too.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

makin' pie

We have been thinking about our personal economy, as you could probably tell by one or two recent posts. One of the things we have decided on is eating in more often. In this "have to have it now" life, eating in takes planning and preparation... and cleaning up after. Not what we always want on our agenda. Still, I have been in a personal place where I really wanted to eat out more than I do now. A time when my mouth wanted what was "out there" more than it wanted what was here. I'm not in that place any more. We have been concentrating for a while on fresh foods, not just warming up previously prepared dishes. It makes a lot of difference. Of course, it doesn't hurt us that Carl is an excellent cook. OK, I'm not bad... I didn't get this body from horrible tasting, yucky food, OK? But Carl is GOOD. He studies things like I do not. He learns about what goes together. He tries recipes... you know like a chef!

Sometimes, we watch cooking shows. Alton Brown is awesome, and what a great show to watch to learn how cooking works. There are other cooks that we enjoy as well. Today we were watching a cooking challenge program that was a pie bake-off.... mmmmmm... Fran, you were talking about being mouth hungry? Wow, that show made me want some PIE!!!

Now, here's the thing, I'm the pie person around here. I've been in charge of the pies since Thanksgivings and Christmases in my teens. And that's about the only time I make them. What a shame, huh. I got this epiphany today about it. One of the things that will make eating at home better is making it more enjoyable. Pie is enjoyable! (if not always strictly on my diet - but then, I'm not the only one it has to be enjoyable for) So. I think pie will be on the menu more often. I'll practice up my rolling out skills, and become a "leet" pie maker. I'm tellin' ya, you're gonna wanna come over for some almond pie!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

remember

When you were a kid, and it was getting close to Christmas, and the Sears catalog came out? All those toys, and you could study the pages for hours, unlike any toy store that your parents would want you out of ASAP. Ahhhh we showed such restraint, my brothers and I, narrowing our choices down to one.... per page... Although I mostly remember the looking, I'm sure we did the sharing as well, and our folks were quite patient with our litany of possible gifts year after year. By the time Christmas rolled around, we narrowed our requests a little and it probably helped them feel like pretty much anything would do as a gift... which was close to correct.

This evening, Uncle Carl gave Raine a catalog to peruse. It was filled with fantansy weapons and reproductions. She didn't want it at first, but when she realised what was inside... woah! She was thrilled!All those things looked so very cool, and she would be ultimately cool if she owned them (oh yeah, and wore them). They were pretend, she explained to us, and although she might be too young for them right now, they would be perfect presents when she was 8. She picked out a sword, a knife, an axe, two different claw things, a gun, a mask, and I'm probably forgetting something. She said she would be wearing all of them and she would wear white, red and black boots, as well. She would get some tattoos, too. uh huh. "When you're grown up," Mama explained, "then you can get tattoos." "Yeah," she replied, "When I'm 8, and taller than Ezekiel."

She showed her choices to anyone who would sit still for it, and enjoyed herself thoroughly. We enjoyed her enthusiasm as well. See. A catalog can still do it for you...

Friday, September 26, 2008

ahhhh finances

We love them, don't we? Well, we love them when we have plenty, and we hate our situation when we don't. I've been scarily close to homeless, and I'm not there now, thank goodness. I've been over my head in debt and struggled my way out. It taught me some things and thank goodness (again) that the price wasn't as high as it could have been, nor the lesson as harsh as it might have been.

The situation is better than that now, for which I'm thankful, as you can tell. Still, not as "better" as I would like for it to be. By that, I don't mean anyone to think that I think I should be rich by now. I accepted the fact long ago that I would not do better - financially - than my parents (well, you know, unless I won the lottery or something, and while I keep hoping, that isn't very likely), and probably would not do as well as they did. Then again, they did what they did with some help that I don't have. That's OK, too. I certainly didn't learn better financial management than they knew. THAT is something I really would like to have.

Is it mostly having the discipline to create a budget that doesn't give you your luxuries when you want them? Hmmmm that might be a similar situation to loosing weight. I WANT to... that is until I actually have to give something up. I have ideas and visions of living without spending so much... and mostly all it take is work. You know, that stuff that we lazy people try to avoid? yeah. That would probably be the problem, right there.......

Thursday, September 25, 2008

spore II

So, this evening, as she is getting ready for bed, Raine tells me, she sees Spore when she closes her eyes. Hmmm ... Maybe spending too much time with a game here? I'm sure it is only the first of many for her, and I sympathize.

How many nights have I dreamed of moving Civ units hither and yon. Or clicking on buttons to use powers. Or while driving to work, wondering what something was by the side of the road, and thinking about clicking on it to find out. I know you've done it too... Come on...

But at least I'm an adult - well people keep telling me that, so it MUST be true - and I can refocus as I need to. I have the practice to be able to concentrate on the business at hand... and click later. Raine doesn't yet. So, yes, it is affecting her at school. Sounds like a good opportunity for a timer, and planning other activities. We will have to teach her moderation and balance when it comes to computers and computer games... even though sometimes it seems we don't know that moderation ourselves.

Still, I do have the realization that learning is going on in her brain. I know myself, when I am internalizing game play, I dream about it, and think about it more than maybe I intend to. She is gonna be good at Spore. Really good.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

spore

This is the new game from Electronic Arts. The one that I hadn't been able to play because of the computer issues. The one that Ron and Raine have been playing. The one that I am finally getting to try out.

It interesting, getting to create all this stuff. What you can do with all the stuff, though, is what I'm having a hard time figuring out. I'm not an aggressive player. I would rather convert the other side, or just outnumber them, than actually have to war it out. I'm not having much luck at this level with that, yet, though. I made land and sea vehicles... I captured spice geysers... but many questions still have I.

Raine would rather watch her dad play than me. I think that says all that needs to be said at this point.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

so, what do you do

When people in your family - or maybe even close friends - don't do what you would want them to do? Oh, I don't mean when you ask them to bring you a soda and they forget. I mean when they marry someone you don't like, or maybe just don't like for them. I mean when they make life choices that you would advise against. I'm sure it happens in every family, mine no less than anyone else's.

In my family, we pretty much say, "Oh well," (to ourselves of course) and go on about our own business. In some ways that is because we actually afford the adults in the family the right to make their own decisions, even if that decision makes us flinch a little, somewhere inside. In other ways, I think it is an avoidance issue, too. In my family, we avoid conflict, for the most part. No knock down, drag out fights for us. Power struggles were much more subtle at our house.

Still, there is a part of me that still wants to give advice in these cases... and a bigger part that feels the advice would not only be unfollowed, but largely unheard. It doesn't even matter how logical and good my arguments would be for my case, they wouldn't touch the decision making process at all. And I'm not really into the "I told you so" response to disaster, either... So, I'm not hoping for failure, although it is at times like suspense at the movies, when you know something is going to happen, and you don't want to watch. I keep my eyes diverted and practice not carring that disaster looms. What do you do?

Monday, September 22, 2008

new season

Tonight was the beginning of the new season of Heroes. Yes. Of course I'm geeking out about it. What would you expect??? The first season was so awesome. "Save the cheerleader and save the world." The second season, not so good. I actually enjoyed Hiro's adventures in Japan, but... Now, two hours into the new season, there are already many questions. Has Peter gone to the dark side? Has Nathan gone all 6th Sense on us? Is their mom really Sylar's mom too??? Will Clair actually find a way to be useful? Her feelings? Her humanity? Lots of promise once more.

SciFi is all set to play Lost. I've been watching the discs - no commercials of course, and SciFi and commercials? Well, I don't think we need to say anything about that. Lost was so very cool the first season. Even rewatching the episodes, I still get that feeling of potential. Not many series are that good from the first season, even some that last a long time, gel and grow to something utterly watchable. So what happened in season 2? Where was the momentum? What was the vision, and how did it go so wrong?

I'm about geeked out, here... but you can tell it was good, if I was in there watching TV, commercials and all, instead of in here bonding with my new 'puter. I'm just sayin'.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

someone loves me

This I know because he made sure I got a new computer today. We had a serious, heart-to-heart that started out something like..."OK, Ms Grumpypants, it's time to get your new computer." See? Well, OK, it wasn't EXACTLY those words to begin with, but they were in the conversation someplace. Anyway, I got the new computer today. We ended up with a pre-built which means the operating system was included in the price. AND it was really a great deal. We looked at the options and made sure it would be up to speed for gaming (which will be nice for a change - what I was using really wasn't any more - neither mine nor the computer that Carl had lent me)

The last straw was Spore, really. This is a game about evolution, really. Very cool, if you are into games like Civilization, which I really, really am. We have had the creature creator, which they released early to help get people hooked. It worked. Raine LOVES this game, too! Well, I hesitated to put it on Carl's loaner, as it was lagging with Civ (sigh). I figured I was going to have to wait for however long until I got the new box. Ron installed it for me on the other computer today, and playing it was like walking my character through molases. Slow motion. The kind where even a non-athletic slug like me is trying to use body language to help the creature on the screen. SAD. Even Raine thought it was sad and slow.

Now, I haven't fired either Civ or Spore up on this baby yet, and I probably won't get to tonight. It is tempting, but I don't want to pay for the lack of sleep in the morning, I really don't. Still... ooohhhh AAAahhhhhh that's a purty new computer...

Saturday, September 20, 2008

character generation

We all know the value of starting over. That fresh start can give you a chance like nothing else will. New, new, new.

In gaming, creating a new character does the same thing, pretty much. It's an exploration of possibilities. Who am I this time? We used a background creator to help give a little depth to the characters tonight, then off we went. Personally, I like the games, like DragonQuest, or Champions that let you really build your character. With DQ, there is a little bit of randomness involved, but not like rolling up D&D characters. If you have my die rolling skill, you would understand. Still a weakness can be as fun to play as a strength, if you let it. That is one of the things about Chapions (and other Hero games) that I liked. You choose your weaknesses along with your strengths. And yes, you better believe that the GM's I played with took advantage of them. We faced the villains who were our adversaries. Those villains usually knew our weaknesses, still with the help of the group, we could prevail! (When Pixie got turned into a newt by the Fairies, he got better!)

One of the important things is, have fun with it! Gaming should be fun, start to finish. The other important thing is, don't get too tied to these characters. Sure you can feel like a failure when your character dies. It can be frustrating when you really can't make a roll that would save your life. Still, the chance to create a new character is the chance to start fresh and new. Enjoy it!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

arrrrr, matey

Did you know that today is talk like a pirate day? I did. It's not even the first one I've known about. More like the third or so. I think it is a fun thing, and anyone who thinks differently should be hoist by their own petard. No. Wait. Ummmm, something tolerant, instead. How about, anyone who thinks differently should go enjoy something else instead. Yeah. I like that better. Well, I guess you noticed that I'm not writing like I'm talking like a pirate. You would be correct. I find, when I try to do those accent-y things that I never can be consistent with them, and then it annoys me. So, there ya go. Still it IS fun.

If you don't read Wil Wheaton's blog (yeah, him. from Star Trek. Of course I'm a big nerdy fan) you should go check out today's entry. Short and sweet and piratey. Oh yeah, and enjoy what little is left of talk like a pirate day!

people...and crafting

A kind of neat thing happened at school/work today. I connected with some of my co-workers. See, I'm basically a shy, rather self conscious person. People who know me well may think whaaa? Because I'm not like that when I get to know people, but before I know them... that's me. I like people, I enjoy watching people and trying to figure them out. I also like talking to people, and sharing experiences with them, and I enjoy having friends. I enjoy having friends more than I enjoy making them. Therefore, I think it is wonderful when I can find people with common interests which I can share with them while the friendship process is going on.

That is where the crafting comes in. A co-worker friend, who loves to do crafts is putting together a crafting group. We can meet a couple times a month and talk and share ideas and work on whatever is at hand. I LOVE groups like this! She also introduced me to Ravelry, a web community for the fiber arts and crafts. It has some handy organizational elements, and places to blog and share and enjoy crafts. I put a link to it on my link list... you can look a little then decide if you want to request an invitation to join. When they invite you to join, that opens up more things, like the organization tools, and friends lists.

I'm a happy camper.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

not tolerance

I just can't stand it! This is really the other side of the tolerance coin. There ARE things that I just won't stand for. That I stand up against, you know. Protecting children is a deep dark line in the sand that one should not cross.

I really hate it when someone says "GOD wants ____(fill in the blank with whatever pet project they are supporting)" What they really mean, is _I_ want this, so you should too. Pretty much anyone who justifies doing anything they want in the name of God, is on my ignore list.

I have a problem with hate. Not that people shouldn't hate, but who or what... and why, sometimes is beyond my understanding. I hate that. Why can't we all just get along? ... to use a famous quote. wouldn't that be nice? Allow others to be different and enjoy the experience. Why SHOULD we all be the same?

So, tolerance. Not everything should be tolerated, but more things than most people are willing to let slide.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

tolerence

I lurk on a newsgroup for our local SCA group. Once upon a time, I was an officer, and had many friends in the group who have since moved on, in one way or another. I haven't been able to make myself go hang out with these new people until they are my friends. I'm sure they are perfectly nice people, and the fault is definitely not with them, but with me. You see, I'm a Taurus, and we don't let go of people easily, and I'm still healing from the "mass exodus" - my own included. This is - of course - totally off the subject. For the past couple of weeks, the e-mails in that group have been fast and furious and ended up being rather intolerant, with various people taking offense and firing back and the escalation got to be enough that I just deleted many without reading them.

Elections this year are much on people's minds, and were woven into parts of the above thread. The intolerance associated with these elections - and I mean in general. I've heard many wild opinions from a wide variety of otherwise reasonable seeming people. No, I'm not going to name names, and no I'm not going to repeat the opinions. Still, I have to wonder where the tolerance is.

I also have some friends who want to be legally married, but they must travel to California to do it, so that it will be legal, at least in that state. Perhaps in time, the state they live in will recognize their marriage, and they will be afforded the rights of other legally married couples. I hope so. I hope I live to see the day, and celebrate with them and for them. Others, I know will not look at my friends for the kind and good, loving people they are. I wish tolerance from those people.

Where does the tolerance come from? Where does it go? Must we sacrifice drawing the line between good and evil so that we may tolerate the variety that IS the human race? Where is this race without that variety? We must have evil to know good, but must we batter the good in the pursuit of the evil? Answers I do not have.

Monday, September 15, 2008

happy birthday

Tomorrow is Carl's birthday. Not that - I suppose - he is going to be as public about it as I just was, still, I wish him a happy birthday.

Siblings are an interesting thing. You love 'em or you 'hate them, sometimes you love them AND you hate them. My siblings are not bad, as these things go. They've tolerated me bossing them around, possibly because they have no idea that it could be otherwise (I'm the oldest and I said so, that's why). None of us have seriously tried to maim or kill either of the others, although there has been yelling and hitting. We are - after all - human. Still, none of that for a very long time.

Carl and I are friends, though, as well, as siblings. It is a comforting relationship. We know what each other is like, and - generally speaking - why. We can't read each other's minds or anything, or finish each other's sentences... that would be creepy, wouldn't it? It is nice that he is around now, however. I have missed him when he has lived away - at one point in Norway (Nor-away?). It's nice for Raine as well, because her Uncle Carl is part of her daily life. He's taught her so many things, like how to argue, and what a whoopie cushion is good for.

Anyway, I want to wish Carl a happy birthday. Not really because I'm concerned that he will be on the lookout for those b-day wishes, but more that I would like to take the opportunity to celebrate the special person he is, and what he brings to our house every day - even the days when he makes me crazy! Why won't he mind me when I try to boss him around??? Oh, wait. He NEVER would...

Sunday, September 14, 2008

horror movies

and me, don't usually mix well. Well, not strictly true, but I'm not a fan of gratuitous, mindless violence just for the sake of violence. Dismembered body parts are not my thing. I'm not into the gross out that is often mistaken for scary. On the other end of the spectrum, evil scares the shit out of me, so I don't really like to watch movies about evil being, well, evil. Yes, I've sat through The Exorcist several times. That should be taken to mean I've watched every frame. I know when its time to close my eyes, and I do it. Now, the other movies in the series, not as well done, not as scary.

Then there are movies like Ju-on, or - in English - The Grudge. I watched the Japanese version AND the Americanised version. Really rather enjoyed them both. The suspense was what really made the movie. Yeah, the cinematography was nice, surprising touches here and there, but the suspense made the movie watchable for me. Then there is The Grudge 2. Ron played it the other evening, and I sat through it, and mostly crocheted. This movie was about what happened to people who were making a documentary type film about the house in the first movie. What happened to them? Well, they all got killed by the ghost, who had to do the climbing out of the stain on the floor thing - with a couple of variations, the stop action down the stairs, the creepy throat-voice and the hair thing over and over and over again. It was like they took the bits from the first movie that people thought were good, and they used them and used them and used them. There was nothing new. There were parts I didn't want to watch, and parts that startled me, but nothing that was really scary or remarkable. In fact, it was pretty predictable.

So, if you are like me, with friends or relations who really enjoy the occasional horror movie which you watch to be sociable and friendly - and sometimes they will do the same for the movies you choose - I would recommend watching The Grudge (in either version, although they are not exactly the same), I would not recommend The Grudge 2.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

tired

Gaming party was fun. We had an italian theme, and everyone brought enough food to feed everyone. We ate and visited and played board games, and enjoyed ourselves. Even Raine pulled out some toys and made up her own game. A good time was had by all, and too much food as well. So, now I am full, and exhausted and ready for a shower and some sleep. I'll write more tomorrow, but in the meantime, enjoy your weekend!

Friday, September 12, 2008

what a good idea, rule 17b

I was reading Wil Wheaton's blog this evening, and he was writing about gaming with his son, and how horrible die rolls can ruin the fun of a game, and how - when one is interested in how a child might feel about playing games - a parent might deal with that. He wrote eloquently about teachable moments, and if you are more interested in all that you should check out his blog. I find it quite entertaining, myself.

Anyway, he has a couple of house rules that apply to children in particular. Rule 17a has to do with do-overs, and that is cool.

Rule 17b deals with roll overs. The child can have a limited number of roll over markers... poker chips, beads, something like that. When they get into a string of bad rolls, then they get to spend one to reroll. They must choose their chance wisely, for when the markers are gone, so are the rerolls. His opinion was that this would be better used for strategy games instead of games like Monopoly, but that it should depend on the child, and the age of the child.

I thought that these were two nice house rules. I would like Raine to enjoy playing games, and I don't want her to cheat, but I WOULD like her to feel empowered and able to compete in the games. I also thing gamesmanship is important, winning AND losing gracefully. I think these two rules can help with both. Happy gaming!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

thank you

Writing is kind of like loosing weight. You have to be appreciate of small increments, and you have to be happy - sometimes - when you are doing anything about it AT ALL.

I love reading, and I love writing, but I don't always do anything about the writing part. It can, after all, be classified as work. (I have mentioned that I'm lazy, right?) Well, as Fran has testified, blogging has been helpful to her other writing endeavors, as well. She is much braver than I, doing the book in a weekend contests. (I know that isn't the name of it really, but I've slept since I heard &/or read it, and will soon be sleeping again) I'm not that focused. I'm not that advanced at plotting ahead. So far, things that I have written have been short, or have kind of petered out. Its ok, I still like to write them.

So, anyway, I've been writing. Only a few pages in, so lets not all jump around or anything, but its a start, and - as you can maybe tell - I'm proud of starting. I'm happy to be starting. Even that is a milestone. A book of 30 chapters must start with a sentence. A page. One chapter.

So thanks Fran, for being inspiration, and for having this conversation in writing with me. You too, Dev. Anyone else reading (?) join in on the dialog. I'm interested in where this will take me. Where it will take us.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

what do I want?

What I really want to do is comment on how extremely frustrated I am with my computer situation I am. Last night - after I posted, fortunately - I spent about an hour total, waiting on this thing to update before it shut down, and then load and configure updates when it restarted. You see, we got an external hard drive to save documents on in case the other one crashed - which it did, so it was a good thing. But even though _I_ could clearly see the hard drive (being external and all) connected to the computer, it did not want to find it. SOOooo I had to restart the thing, hence the waiting and waiting and waiting. grrrr

Actually, what I really want to do is play Civ 4 Beyond the Sword, which is really what I wanted to do last night. See, that game is loaded onto the external hard drive, which the computer couldn't find yesterday, so I had to reboot it. AHhhhh, NOW you are seeing the connection here, right? Here's to hoping I can find it today, else I may run screaming into the night.

I've had it up to here with you, computer! Grumble, grumble, frikin frakin computer, mumble grumble....

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

did you?

Did you notice that I didn't blog last night? Did you? If you came and looked, was there an aura of grumpy frustration emanating from the screen? Did that ooze through my keyboard and across the ether? Heaven knows not much else did.

I had to load service pack 1 up for Vista on this computer. Since the computer wasn't starting up right, and part of the update makes the computer restart... well, you get the idea. So, I had to leave it turned off for a while. Or break it. But I left it hopefully updating at bedtime, and this morning it had actually accomplished that.

Ahh you think, problems over. Oh, no. THAT would be too easy. I'm still going to have to look for monitor drivers, as mine occasionally stops responding. It "recovers" almost every time. Almost. So, the problems are not over, yet. sigh. I think I'll store my grumpy pants right here, for easy access...

Sunday, September 7, 2008

AHhhhhh

It has been a restful Sunday. I did dishes and we got laundry done. We cooked, some. Carl made a wonderful pasta primavera sauce with some veggies we got at the farmer's market. We'll be having Chicken soup tomorrow, and I boiled the chicken today. I'll probably bone it too. If I can talk myself into it. We have some black-eyed peas to go with that, again, from the farmer's market.

I know, I'm a day late and a dollar short on this one, but getting up and out early on Saturday morning is really not my thing in general. Still, we decided this year to support the local growers, and get some really fresh produce. It has been worth it, too. I'm also pleasantly surprised at the quality of the crafts being displayed there, too. One booth has some lovely photographs, and another beautiful tiles with a very southwestern theme, without howling coyotes (very overdone). There are soap makers, and a coffee roaster, and home-made bread, yum. I'll probably do some Christmas shopping there. I must say, if you have a local farmer's market, its worth your while to go visit it. If they don't have what you want or like then, give it a few months and try again. I finally found what I was looking for when I was looking for it!

same old saturday

More or less, with a lot of driving hither and yon for me, today. I was bad because I missed lunch, and by the time dinner rolled around, I was pretty grumpy. Low blood sugar is not a good thing. I'm mostly better now, but tired, so this won't be long. Here's hoping for a more restful Sunday.

Friday, September 5, 2008

remember

The other day when I talked about my computer being on the edge of dying? Well, yes, it happened. Last night, Ron tried to reboot it, and it wouldn't start again. It would start loading windows then never get any further. We're going with the theory that the hard drive died.

So, Carl lent me his "spare" computer. Who has a spare computer, you may ask... but then it would mean that you have never been to our house. Carl was using this machine as a music holder until the shelf it was on detached itself from the wall and the whole heavy mess tried to fall on him. Yikes! WELL, since it hasn't earned forgiveness yet, it must now do penance with me. I - however - will store it on the floor, where it will not be allowed to fall on my head.

We have a plan - no, really we do - for getting me a new box and/or replacing the hard drive in the other box. At the point where that computer is a working spare, it will be set up for Raine. She just loves creature creator, kid pix and pajama sam. Oh yeah, and sponge bob. Well, who doesn't?

Hopefully that means I should, in general, be able to keep up with my blog, although i'll be glad when we trade this keyboard for the other bigger one. I learned to type on the piano, and my fingers need their space.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

and on it goes

I got word today that my uncle passed away. It was rather unexpected and sudden, which makes it no less painful for those left behind. He was my mother's favorite brother, and we were closest to him and his family of all the aunts/uncles/cousins. We would meet on camping vacations as we were growing up, and even after everyone had retired, my parents would travel with them on occasion.

My aunt and uncle moved to Ruidoso when they retired, so they were close enough to visit and keep in touch. When one or another of my cousins would go visit them, we would plan a trip to White Sands, and have a picnic and let the children play. In fact this past summer, not that many weeks ago, Raine and I did just that. It was good to see them, and I am, right now, so very glad I went.

We all face it, don't we. Sooner or later. It is part of that inevitability. You are born, you live, you die. If you are lucky you find good people around you, and you treasure them and you keep memories of them as part of your being. It's the best any of us can hope for.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

holiday season

This upcoming holiday season is going to be a quiet one for us. At least I hope it will. We are making plans, or at least discussing possibilities. Trying not to get involved in extended family politics that threaten to make us all uncomfortable. I think this is the year that we will really miss my dad. Miss having that older generation with us to celebrate. On the other hand, we are not beyond creating our own traditions, and enjoying them.

So, we may be conveniently out of town for any extended family celebrations. Oh, we will celebrate, but probably on a much more toned down note. Not so many people, not so much fuss. Just good eats and as little stress as we can get away with.

It isn't too early to plan. Really it isn't. It may be too early to be definite about one thing or another, but not too early to start planning.

Monday, September 1, 2008

be patient

Today, I had to be patient. As I have mentioned, my computer has been running more and more slowly. Well, of course Ron and I have discussed the possibilities, including the possibility that the thing is about to crash big time. We have thought about different ways to postpone the crash, and make it less painful, so today Ron was working on them. We ended up with an external hard drive slaved to the internal drive. He reinstalled the operating system. He did other voodoo magic. It took most of the day. I tried not to stand and look over his shoulder the whole time.

Basically, I tried to distract myself with other activities. We went shopping, and out to lunch with Dev & Shannon (who we found while out shopping). I finished Carl's coffee bean shirt, which came out well, I think, although I was sad that I didn't have dark brown buttons for it. I ironed fabric in preparation for cutting out my next sewing projects. I didn't actually succeed in making myself get them cut out though, that being my least favorite part of sewing... and when I am in the mood to do it, I tend to cut out a pile, so that I will have stuff to sew any time I feel like turning on the machine.

I'm really not a patient person, when it comes to my computer. I like to check in, see what's going on, etc, but today that was not the plan. Well, the distractions, including getting Raine ready for bed, and writing the checks for bills, (yes, I was getting desperate!) were successful, in the main. Ron finished up in time for me to check e-mails, blog and even IM for a few minutes before I have to go to bed. YAY Ron!