December 27, 2010

Do you Disqus?

Do any of you use the DISQUS comment platform for your blog? What do you think about it? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do I need to get it or run far far away from it?


December 21, 2010

December changes

At work I have a huge data file/program conversion/update that needs to be complete by the new year. So my days have been filled with trying to complete as many cases as I can prior to this major conversion. I don't know how I missed it but I totally did not realize that this update needed to be done BEFORE the 31st.

I had simple plans of only taking one day off this year for Christmas. The official day off for the holiday this year is the 24th, Christmas Eve. The holiday schedule at work was changed and now the 23rd is also considered part of the holiday. That now gives me two days off from work. New Year's eve and the day prior were also part of this change. So I now have 2 MORE days off from work. I had pretty much figured at the beginning of the month that there was no way that I would have all my work completed before the end of the year, so this nice surprise of 4 days off is okay with me. I thought I planned to complete what work I could and then prior to my vacation next week I could process the conversion.

Today I found out that the programmers are off for the holiday until January 4th. Yikes! Guess who is converting tomorrow? Guess who is not even trained on said conversion changes? Guess what I will be studying over this holiday weekend?

But other than that everything else is going so well it feels kind of weird. All handmade presents are complete, all the shopping is done (save one present left for the hubby), presents have been mailed, other presents are currently in the process of being wrapped (in between writing this blog post and surfing) and Christmas cards have been mailed.

Just one more day left of work and then the fun and craziness really begins.





December 15, 2010

no worries

I took the day off from work today to take the final exam for my class. I took the exam in the morning and then had the rest of the day to get a start on my Christmas shopping. After the 4th store I finally admitted to myself that it was not going to get done all in one day and made my way home.

I am exhausted but I feel good. Any stress that I was feeling before today is gone. Now that my test is over and done with I can concentrate on other things (at least until I begin my next class).

There is absolutely nothing pressing that needs to get done at this moment. Don't get me wrong, I still have Christmas presents to make, Christmas cards to address and mail and shopping left to do but all that can wait until tomorrow. Tonight I plan on doing nothing.


On a side note...

Both cats have claimed the Christmas tree skirt as theirs. Now that there will soon be presents under our Christmas tree, I think we may have a problem.


Talking about kitties & Christmas trees.....I hope you enjoy this funny (and oh so true) video.




December 5, 2010

What's in your queue?

It all started with Weeds. 

I had heard of the show and recalled it was supposed to be really funny but since I didn't have Showtime I never watched it. But Netflix's instant streaming changed all that. Because of being able to instantly stream movies and shows to my T.V. I have been able to discover (and rediscover) a lot of television shows that I either missed the first time around, didn't have access to see them or just plain wanted to watch again.

Currently in my queue:



  • Hotel Babylon (series 2). Just starting watching this last week. I like it. The husband, not so much.







      • Dexter (season 4). Instant streaming got me hooked but now I have to wait for the disks in order to start watching this particular season....and I just now found out that the disks are not available yet. B.u.m.m.e.r.



          • Parks and Recreation (season 3). Just a silly show that I probably would not watch if it were on the actual television but it is a great quickie show to watch on my iPod while eating lunch. Oh...who am I kidding? I would totally watch this. LOL!






            • Six Feet Under. I saw a couple of episodes a few months ago when one of the television channels did a full day marathon and just had to add it to my queue. It only comes on disc though so it may take awhile until I get to watch them.

               



              • Weeds (season 6). The series that started it all. This season just finished airing so I think I may have to actually get Showtime if I want to watch this any time soon.







              • Better off Ted. If you haven't seen this, Portia de Rossi is the best! It's so funny! Can't wait to watch season 2.


                      • Survivors. Okay so this is no longer in my queue but if the show had not been canceled after 2 seasons, it totally would be.



                            



                          How about you? What's in your queue?




                          December 2, 2010

                          Thursday

                          It's Thursday night and I must post something. Why? Because if I don't then this blog will become a Wordless Wednesday only blog and I just can't have that.

                          Speaking of Wordless Wednesday. Yesterday's photo seems to be making the Tumblr rounds. If only those 109 likes & re-blogs counted on Flickr.




                          I cannot believe that Thanksgiving was one week ago. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. Of course I am still getting used to the fact that it is already December. The husband is planning on cooking our own Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. It has been a tradition for quite a few years to make our own turkey dinner AFTER the holiday. It is the only way we get to eat "leftovers". :-)



                          November 23, 2010

                          Purple or pink?

                          I cannot decide what color to call this yarn. Some days I lean towards purple and other days I think it's pink. The colorway is called "Grape Jam," but that still doesn't help me make up my mind.

                          How about you? When you look at this yarn what color does it look like to you?

                          Purple?

                          or

                          Pink?



                          November 22, 2010

                          One down, lots more to go

                          I still have my silly notion of making some of this year's Christmas presents.

                          Remember gift #1? Well...I am still working on it. But while working on it I started on (and finished) gift #2. So I have one gift completed, but still have a few more left to make. I would share more details and pictures except the gift recipients have found my blog and I think they even read it. So all of that will have to wait until AFTER the holidays.

                          Lately though I have been waking up with numb hands, which actually for me is pretty normal even without all the knitting. So after a busy carpal tunnel-y week. I decided to take some time off. Time off from the computer and time off from all things knitting. I tried to take time off from other things as well but the husband needed clean socks and a person has got to eat. But other than the occasional load of laundry and a meal here and there, I didn't really do much this past weekend.

                          I did manage to watch (and get hooked on) the television show Survivors. Not Survivor, the live on an island and eat bugs show, but Survivors, the BBC show. I never watched it when it originally aired but after watching series one & two this past weekend (thank you Netflix instant streaming), I was hooked. Which is actually kind of sad since the show has already been canceled. Sigh...

                          So what did you do this weekend?

                          November 12, 2010

                          Friday?

                          Is it really Friday? It doesn't feel like Friday.

                          Too much drama at work this past week left me feeling drained by the end of each day. All my plans this past week for homework and studying went out the window, along with all my plans for making dinner, eating dinner and pretty much everything else I would normally do.

                          Add to that the instant chilly weather (about a 20 degree drop between Monday and Tuesday) and the fact that the furnace has not yet been turned on, it was just easier to sit near the portable heater and watch the cats play the most entertaining game of "How close can kitty get to the heater."

                          This past week has been a blur and now surprisingly it is Friday. The idea of homework & studying sounded good for a moment but the night is turning chilly and I must take the space-heater into the other room.

                          And since every blog post deserves a picture, here is one from April. Same kitties, same heater, just a different month. :-)

                          April 24, 2010: Snug as a cat on a rug


                          November 2, 2010

                          Got Knitting?

                          See this?

                          This may end up being a Christmas present. I am not sure.

                          I have this silly notion that maybe I will make Christmas gifts this year. This is nothing new. I have made many presents in the past. But I have never knitted a gift before. Crochet, yes. Knitting, no. But for some reason I thought it would be fun to knit. I don't know why I thought it would be fun, you see I am an extremely slooow knitter and it is already the beginning of November.

                          I had figured it wouldn't be too bad. I could knit while watching television in the evenings. Then I remembered that due to my online class, my television viewing has been reduced to almost none. But being me, I decided to give it a go and cast-on Sunday evening. I knitted as fast as I could, in between trick-or-treaters, eating dinner and while watching The Walking Dead (awesome show by the way). As you can see by the picture, I didn't get very far. I was able to get a little bit further on Monday (but not by much) before I heard the textbook call my name. Hopefully today will be better.

                          October 28, 2010

                          [Things I ♥ Thursday] Trick-or-Treaters

                          I grew up in a neighborhood where my brother and I were (for the longest time) the only kids on the street. It was the kind of neighborhood where the houses have lots of space in between and the next kid lived quite a ways down the road.

                          On Halloween we were lucky if we even got one trick-or-treater. Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood consisted of me and my brother walking across the road to the house at the top of the hill, where Mr. Ryan would open a bag of candy corn and dump half the contents into my brother's bag and the other half into mine.

                          Now that I am grown, I have always looked forward to kids coming to my door on Halloween. But no matter where we have lived, we were lucky to get even one much less two trick-or-treaters at our door. That is until we bought our house last year. Last Halloween we had over 50 kids come to our door! I spent more on candy than I did my phone bill! I am excited to see how this year will be. Only a few more days until I find out!


                          [Things I ♥ Thursday]  Trick-or-Treaters
                          1. Ruby Slippers, 2. Lonely at the Big Top, 3. trick or treat!, 4. What are you going to BEE for Halloween :o)

                          Created with
                          fd's Flickr Toys
                          All photos in this mosaic © their respective owners.



                          October 26, 2010

                          I lost him in the mosh pit

                          I have always considered myself to be an indie/electronic/songs you hear on commercials type of girl. Well lately anyway. Growing up none of the songs I listened to were on any commercials much less played on the radio. But it's not just this type of music that I like. I do have my goth (with just that little bit of punk) side that got me through those teenage years. It's all still there. It comes out occasionally.

                          So when the husband called on Sunday and said he got free VIP tickets to KFMA's Fall Ball 2010, I said sure, why not. I don't know who's playing but if the tickets are free, I am there.

                          We had to wait until he got off of work so by the time we got there we had already missed Suicidal Tendencies (one of the bands we had hoped to see), Authority Zero & Circa Survive. Sick Puppies was the band that was on the stage when we got there and I have to say that I was really impressed. They put on a great show and their bassist rocks! She was awesome!

                          As for A Day to Remember...well all I remember is the huge mosh pit. The band wanted to have the largest pit and the crowd obliged. I of course being short (and old) moved AWAY from the pit, and in the process lost sight of the husband. I figured he had gone into the pit and I was right. A couple of songs later he arrived, dusty and happy with beer in hand. That pit got him all the way to the front of the stage.

                          Now on to Bush. Let me just say....Bush was amazing! They put on a really good show. I have to say that Gwen Stefani sure is a lucky gal cause her hubby sure is a cutie (just don't tell the husband I said that).  He reminds me a bit (and I am dating myself here) of Michael Hutchence. What with the hair and the way he danced. Total flashback.

                          Then there were the Deftones. Yeah, I didn't like 'em. Definitely not a band that sounds good live. After a few songs we made our way out of the crowd and headed home.

                          Definitely all in all it was an awesome way to spend a Sunday night.




                          October 21, 2010

                          [Things I ♥ Thursday] The changing leaves of autumn

                          I have always loved the changing colors of the season. The beautiful oranges and reds and yes even the yellows. Growing up in the Southwest I have never experienced the changing of the colors first hand. I would love to one day watch as the colors changed each day. I don't even know how fast they change. Do they change fast? Slow? Does it happen overnight or does it take weeks?

                          Today it feels like fall. There is a chill in the air that makes me excited for the season that lies ahead. The heat of summer is (hopefully) gone and with that each day is just a little different than the one that came before.


                          [Things I ♥ Thursday]  The changing leaves of autumn
                          1. Choose, 2. Autumn Colors, 3. Finally, 4. #290/365

                          Created with
                          fd's Flickr Toys
                          All photos in this mosaic © their respective owners.



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