Hell Hath No Fury

...like former presidents scorned. But that fury can be placed impeccably or very badly.

Take Jimmy Carter. His latest attack was on McCain, saying he is "milking" his POW experience, most notably at Rick Warren's Saddleback Debate. Just for the record, that was the first time McCain had gone into that much detail about it during this campaign...or ever, really, according to many pundits. So, "milking" must take place at the very first "udderance"? (oh, huge GROAN, but I couldn't help it). ROFL

Take Bill Clinton. The day of Hillary's speech at the DNC this week, while speaking at a conference of one of his foundations, he "riffed" (as ABC's Jake Tapper described it): "For example, you're a voter, and you have Candidate X and Candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything. But you don't think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues, but you believe that, on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver. For whom will you vote?"

Ohhhhhh, Bull's Eye. Now, THAT's a well-placed cutdown. I should note that McCain's campaign soon issued a statement stating they felt McCain was surely Candidate Y in that example. Hehe. Obama's camp couldn't say anything because the timing for the insult was brilliant -- neither Clinton had spoken yet at the convention, and there was already scuttlebutt about Bill being pissed at being told to speak on national security when he wanted to speak on economic matters, the hallmark of his presidency.

Bottom line: I can't deny it...Bill's "example" pretty much describes my take on the two candidates, so I can only assume that it connected with at least a few million other voters. Well-placed, Mr. President. Yup, back during the primary when Michelle Obama was stumping in South Carolina and kept insinuating in her speeches that Hillary couldn't handle the White House because look how she handled her own house (wink wink). This is what the insiders on the HRC campaign say egged Bill on to give his infamous comment that Jesse Jackson won SC too and then was labelled a racist for it, and curiously, Michelle never mentioned that publicly again.

Shouldn't have gone there, Michelle, tsk, tsk. Paybacks will just keep coming, I promise. Hell hath no fury like a former president scorned. Gotta love it, ya know? (Oh, and the other thing I hear from the old campaign gang is that Bill really truly only meant that sure, Obama can win SC by a landslide, but SC is a red state in the general due to a humongo amount of whites who are Republican, so an Obama primary victory means squat in the end. That's not racist, that's statistics, but the politics of smearing took over.)

McCain's VP Pick Today ...

Well, onto a different topic. I'm gonna say right off that my first druthers on this was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindahl. I love this guy! He's earnest, level-headed, young yet experienced, and he can talk a mile a minute and not let anyone else get a word in (good for debating and tv sound bites). However, he has said he's taken himself out of the running, so we are left with Romney and assorted others on the short list.

Given that, my strategic choice was Romney and my reason is a bit stereotypical, but hey, it's allowed in politics. I know from lurking on the 2peas boards and then blog-hopping that a huge amount of Mormons have moved to the Southwest states surrounding Utah...they are branching out to Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, states up for grabs right now. And Romney's a Mormon. Now, I'm not saying that Mormons would do what blacks have done with Obama and older white women with Hillary (aka blind allegiance), but WHY WOULDN'T THEY (and more power to them). In a word, Romney brings his people with him. This could be strategically brilliant, because this year, the religion vote is not automatically in the GOP tank.

But Fox just reported, it's not Romney. SO, the suspense heightens!

The outside choice was, for a while, Minnesota's Pawlenty, whom I am sure is a very fine man but there is just something about him, I'm sorry. Just my shallow impression. I've watched him speak several times, and he has seemed either angry or boring (although, not at the same time, LOL), and is kind of slow...a thinker perhaps, but not an asset in a Biden debate. Plus, it is doubtful he could deliver MN to McCain.

Pawlenty took himself out this morning, though, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We need a snazzier pick.

Then there is Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (pronounced with a long A). Hmm, will McCain bet the farm on the women vote?



And, does picking her deliver it? I don't know her at all, but she's pretty sexy looking, especially when you discover she just gave birth to kid #5. Dang, she can fry it up in a pan, fo sho. If I were an embittered Hillary Dem and on the fence, would this make me jump off on the Red side? I honestly cannot answer, but I know one thing: it's not gonna turn me off and there would be points for McCain that at least HE chose a female running mate...

We will find out later today, so I'll just leave it there. But here is my little observation: if McCain goes with Palin (McCain/ Palin...sounds good), that means the numbers are clearly showing that we Hill-Raisers are crucial, and Obama blew it with us, and it might just mean the election. Man, I would just love that if it turned out to be true. We shall see...

Storm Clouds are Coming

I don't know about you, but my week has been getting a little bit worse with every day. I want things to stay the same for a while, but no one is asking for my input. ;-) It seems like it's getting harder to stay positive, just as I decided to be positive, LOL.

So much for fate and that which we call the randomness of life. I've been keeping up with all of the challenges that have hit me these last couple of weeks, smiling through the rain, always looking at the half-full glass. So, dang, I'm really wanting things to stay the same for awhile!

Gustav's headed for the Gulf and this time we need to finally stock up and do the preparation routine, since we've been given 2 dry-runs so far. To ask for 3 would be reckless without being prepared. It might seem mindless to not have stocked up yet, but it stresses us out bigtime to go through the motions because it causes us to have to think of the worst. The current guessing game has it reaching land on Monday, so we adopt that and change as the guessing changes, because even though it may not hit us at all, we still have to operate AS IF.

Hub's mother called and just like every time she calls, our To-Do List got added to. Family stuff that I have to go to, too, for some reason. Why is that? She wants us all to meet on Sunday afternoon at the cemetery as it is his dad's birthday that day. That is totally approriate, except that it doesn't stop there. It's all fricking evening. We all go out to eat afterwards, then a quote-unquote family meeting. Oh, Brother. She doesn't want to be alone, but can you tell I'm just tired of it? Why can't Hubs just go spend time with her? I'm gonna be n-e-r-v-o-u-s by Sunday and I really don't even want to go I may be feeling too badly to go, and I say that sincerely...because whenever I think about what the heck it could be about, I feel like I'm gonna be ambushed somehow. I'm so apprehensive about it that I am halfway hoping if that storm's coming, then come on Sunday.

We're worrying about Missy. She's begins her hardest courseload yet this semester. She also begins something called Ad Fed, which is like a student advertising debate team, except it's a strategy team that does competitions. Many colleges that have decent advertising schools have Ad Fed.

So cool...except if you also have a job and you're trying to work your way through school to help mom and dad pay for it. Missy is so determined to pay her share that her logical next step should things get too hairy is to quit Ad Fed, and so I'm trying to find enough time to talk to her and make her see she needs to quit that restaurant job, not Ad Fed, if need be. Plan B is student loans which we have not yet tapped. And Hubs and I can pay help pay a little more than we are doing, we will just adjust plans we have, if need be. Or borrow from Hubs' 401K.

So, she basically does not have enough hours in the day, what with the restaurant wanting her to work 6 days a week and then take some stupid training classes on day #7. What good is having a job and earning the money to go to colage if you cannot get out of it what you need? So, I dunno, my mind is stressing over that, and for now, she's going to try to juggle it and hope they hire some more employees. Oh, yeah, and today was only her 4th day of class...

We're needing to spend some money to make a few serious household repairs, but we're afraid to! Geebus!

Just a lot of weird stuff piling on...and I want it to be last week again, even though I had a dead computer. Because I was happier then than I am now. I don't know, maybe it's a cumulative effect.

So, I bet at least some of you wanted me to write about the election, especially now that I have my blogs separated and all. LOL But, I'm just kind of calm about it all now. About the only opinions I have right now about the convention are that Hillary was awesome and it sort of made me nauseated to watch all the black people at the convention treat Bill Clinton like they used to back in the Pre-Obama Day...now that Bill's towing the Obama line...like he's not a racist now or doin' to them what he did to Monica (their words). Right...You know me, the hipocracy angle always shows itself...

I still continue not to rule out 100% that I won't vote with the Dems, unlike Hubs. It's not like the end of the world if Obama wins, but I'm still not empassioned to believe, or to stay home and not vote. Like Hubs says, this is an election year where you are voting AGAINST someone more than FOR someone. At least here it is.

I think one reason the Obama message doesn't convince me is because I just don't see things as all that bad. If just everyone would be more frugal over the long term. Bear in mind though, we live within our means totally and always have, so we are not overextended anywhere. Plus, Hubs has a job where his area and what he does is pretty freakin indispensible to the refinery process, so I think it's prudent to assume he has job security until he retires sometime in the next 5 to 9 years. Not a totally sure bet, but you have to assume one way or another, cuz what else are ya gonna do? You cannot save an alternate job in the bank, ya know?

I'm just a hopeless expense cutter, I guess. There's a lot I disagree with him about, but I see McCain being the only one of the two with any hope of actually cutting our expenses, and I feel strongly we need to do that, yesterday. This country freakin needs to live without a whole lotta crap for awhile. With Obama, I see lots of new domestic programs that are just going to cost and cost, and to what end, in the end? Plus, I feel safer with Grandpa in charge. End of story, pretty much.



So, that's that. Kinda blue, isn't it? Blame it on the dog days. It's August, after all. ;-)

Lessons in Safe Computing, Part 2

And now, the conclusion to the long, laborious and boring saga of my latest computer travails...

I am now waiting with bated breath for the arrival of my new Gateway Laptop computer, an external hard drive enclosure case, and a replacement power supply and graphics card, all courtesy of Amazon.com, whom I love deeply and loyally. Yes, you can even buy a power supply for your computer model, or atleast I did. Isn't online shopping wonderful? Here's the official photo and stats of my new baby:



*Color: Slate Grey Ridgeview™

*Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor1 T5750 (2.00GHz, 667MHz, 2MB L2 cache)

*Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit) SP1

*Operating System Backup Media: Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium Media (64-bit)

*RAM: 4096MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-2048MB modules) (Memory Capacity Maximum 4GB)

*HARD DRIVE STORAGE: 320GB 5400RPM Serial ATA II hard drive with 8MB cache (1-320GB)5

*External Ports: (3) USB 2.0 Ports, VGA Connector

*Expansion Slots: One ExpressCard™ Type 54 Expansion Slot

*Display: 15.4" WXGA Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1280 x 800 max. resolution)

*Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 with up to 384MB of Dynamic Video Memory and Intel® GM965 chipset

*Optical Drive 8x Multi-Format Dual Layer DVDRW with DVD-RAM featuring Labelflash™ Technology6

*Backup Media: Cyberlink Power2Go with Cyberlink Label Printer for Windows Vista

*Wireless Network: Integrated Intel® 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wireless Networking

*PAN (personal area network): Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR

*Integrated Modem: 56k ITU v.92 ready Fax/Modem (RJ-11 port)

*Integrated Network: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)

*Integrated Keyboard and Mouse: Full-Size Keyboard, Touchpad with Vertical Scroll Pointing Device and Dedicated Multimedia Panel

*Finished Goods: Brushed-metal precision-touch multimedia control panel, featuring smooth-cut keys and touch-sensitive volume adjustment.

*Web Camera: Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Web Cam

*Digital Media Manager: 5-in-1 Digital Media Manager (Memory Stick™ (MS), Memory Stick™ Pro, Multi Media Card™ (MMC), Secure Digital™ (SD), xD-Picture Card)
Dimensions (Box) 17" (H) x 13" (W) x 6" (D) or 432mm (H) x 330mm (W) x 152mm (D)
Dimensions (System) 1.1"-1.50" (H) x 14" (W) x 10" (D) or 28-38mm (H) x 356mm (W) x 254mm (D)10

*Battery: Primary 6 Cell Lithium Ion battery w/ 1 Yr. limited battery warranty

*65 Watt AC Adapter

*Software: Microsoft® Works 9.0, Microsoft® Money Essentials

*Warranty: 1 Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty9

*Weights: 6.29 lbs. (2.85 kg) system unit only / 10.28 lbs. (4.66 kg.) box11

l) the Intel logo, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
2) Windows Vista® 64-bit versions are intended to work with 64-bit drivers and peripherals. Windows Vista® 32-bit compatible applications work in Windows Vista® 64-bit versions. Visit Microsoft's page on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows for more information on upgrading 32-bit applications and hardware.
3) HD requires ATSC digital antenna (not included). HD signal reception depends on multiple factors.
4) Intel, the Intel logo, Centrino and Centrino Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

The best part is, I got ALL THAT for $780. Did you see, 4 GIGS of RAM and 350 GIGS Hard Drive? Vista Home Premium 64-BIT? Optical drive DVD BURNER? BLUETOOTH wireless personal network? Plus, the only other notebook I ever had was a Gateway back in 2000, and I LOVED it and the support. Missy got a lot of wear out of it as a hand-me-down, and we even took it to Europe with us in 2004. So, if this baby is anything like that one, I'm gonna like it a lot.

I did spend $230 more than my tentative budget of $550. But, for what I got with that extra outlay, I think it's a wise investment. I may even buy an additional 2 year service contract, because this thing's got the power to be around in 3 years...I think (who really knows?).



So, Life is looking good again. I am still going to be up to my ears in computer set-up, research, and instructions, but at least I'm travelling down the lit hallway to the end of the tunnel.

Only one mystery remains (and it's a big one, which is why I'm trying to think good thoughts): will I be able to access my hard drive data? Stay tuned for installment #3 later this weekend.

In the meantime, let's concentrate on more pleasant quandries, like this one:

Lessons in Safe Computing, Part 1

Hey there! Well, Friends, it finally happened to me...I got caught with my computing pants down.

In other words, my computer died on me and I have no recent back up of my data. :-(((

My computer has been sharing the symptoms with me for a few weeks now, but I ignored them. My cooling fan in my desktop cpu began whirring randomly. What did I do? Banged the cpu with my fist until it stopped and went on with my life.



I was so smug. I researched and determined it definitely wasn't my hard drive, because that would be a grinding and I would not be able to make it stop like I did. But, did I stop to wonder what in the heck it could be?



Yes. I finally discovered it was my fan, but my mistake was thinking it would go on forever like that or I would know when it quit working. Wrong.



Then, my monitor began acting wonky. And my screen began to blink black, which was highly annoying, but when it started blinking every 3 seconds, I finally got scared.



You shoulda seen me. I was able, using remarkable perseverence brought on by panic, to navigate through a black screen every 2 out of 3 seconds onto the internet, find my latest video graphics card driver, download it, and then install it! After rebooting, problemo solved!



Or so I thought. It lasted about a day. Did I use that day to do a backup? Oh Hell No. No, I spent that day looking for computers online, taking my usual turtle-speed time. Then, I went to sleep for 10 hours and left the machine on. That is pure D confidence, lemme tellya.



It proved to also be stupid and fatal, cuz Monday morning the blinking started up again and when I rebooted, I got the Dell screen, then the Windows XP screen, then...a blue screen. I could hear the familiar sounds of the hard drive accessing the programs to load them at startup. Just could not see crap. Dead screen.



So, the bottom line is, I am pretty sure that my hard drive is okay, but I needed to figure out a way to be able to access it. I would have to, at the very least, replace the fan and the video card...and I also read that a few people had their ram cooked, too, so just repairing the pc innards might not let me see my info.



Missy to the rescue! I've been able to use her laptop when she is at work. I learned all about hard drive external enclosure cases that connect via usb. I learned that I could take my hard drive out of the desktop, put it into one of these cases, and then it becomes an external hard disk to my new computer. I can then access all my old files: my emails, my address book, my bill receipts, my usuernames and passwords, my photos, and last but not least, my personal and client tax return files.

Well, this concludes Part 1 - stay tuned for the exciting conclusion! ;-p

New Banner Here + New Blog #2!

Hidyhoyo!

(This is the current greeting among Missy's pals this summer...it's so hokey, it makes me chuckle every time I hear it.)

So, how do you likey my new banner? I have been wanting a banner-lift for a while, and yesterday I just rolled up my sleeves and made something I'd had in my head. I dunno, I kinda like it.

And hey, guess what? What's a year without me creating a blog, right? So far this year, I haven't done that. But, wait! LOL, yup, I did it again, hehe.

Seriously, I've been wanting to separate my life and opinions from my art. This blog has a good title for my life and opinion posts, so it became apparent the the new blog #2 needed to be the art one. That's how Paper Paisleys art journal blog was born!

There is still tons to do over there in the way of transferring links and decorating here and there, but I'll fill in those things as I go. Please go visit and see the banner I created for that blog, too. :-)

Meanwhile, here at the ranch, I need to catch up. I was blessed to have been given no less than 3 blogging awards in July, and I have them displayed on my sidebar.

Karyn awarded me the Twinks Award.








Then, Benita and Jill both awarded me the Brillante Award. Thank you very much, Ladies! (And Happy Birthday, Jill!)





The rules for the "Brillante Weblog" award are:
The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
Link to the person you received your award from.
Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
Put links to those blogs on yours.
Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.
I am giving the "Brillante Weblog" award to the following bloggers:

1. Cheryl - she needs a tiny little pick-me-up right now
2. Lynn - I've been thinking about arthritis and wrestling lately, and that fits only one person I know! ;-)
3. Noelia - I've been working on a special sumpsump for her, a year overdue {hangs head in shame}, but good things happen for a reason and ever since I decided on something I loved, I finally started it last week. Soon, my friend. And hoping you are having fun on your trip. :-)
4. Maureen - she's funny and I have so many of her posts to catch up on {hangs head once more in shame}
5. Vicki - love this woman...and she and her DH need some healing thoughts right now.
6. Theresa - because she is the only female golfer I know :-)
7. Texas Kim - this girl needs another job and maybe this will be good luck. :-)

Onto other items of note, my health has worsened a bit since the spring. The arthritis needs strong meds and then I get complications that are a pita as much as the disease.

I definitely have to close up my tax shop and there'll be no more working for the next several months. I'm embarrassed to say that I have ADD now as one of those treatment complications. Lord, I'm really glad I didn't have this my entire life. They tell me it will go away once I finish the therapy protocol, but part of me wonders about it. And I'm also told that it gets better as I learn to deal with it better. Hope so. Typing is still a real chore some days.

I've really had to re-think my involvement in almost everything in my life this year. This is why I've not been blogging so much. That saved energy works better for me if I put it into my art because that calms me down and helps me practice focussing. Since "focus" was my Word for 2007, how creepy is that, that I would be taught the following year that I was then a pretty good focusser, after all, before I really needed work now.

Making things also helps me stay more positive. It's been tough to lose your previous life-as-you-knew-it, in bits and pieces, inch by inch, slowly. It just never stops, ya know? I am going to write more frequently though. Just maybe in shorter spurts. And then just upload images to Paper Paisleys with few words. On those days that a big old post (like this one! Already breaking my rules...) seems too complicated and hard to do.

That's my cue to sign off for now...Sooner and Laterz!

I Wish

I've been thinking that a lot lately, those two little words, I wish. When I was a child, those were almost sacred words, to be used most judiciously, lest the wishes wouldn't come true. Now that I'm grown up (most of the time), I think I might want to start wishing for my desires and as many as possible.

Like, I wish we'd had these cute little cartoon graphics on sandwich baggies when I was a kid...



And I wish that every Western Gulf hurricane goes in just like Dolly...

...not that today's gonna be a walk in the park for my part of the world. Just look at that radar image, above. That's as of almost an hour ago, 5:30 a.m. See the Houston area and all the rain we are getting? It's going to be like that all day long and maybe all night. The Houston news this morning is already predicting definite street flooding for today, since Houston floods at the first sign of spit. Brownsville and Corpus are getting the hurricane, but you hide and watch, if any rain band training occurs, some areas around me will be impacted almost as badly.

There is some weird-ass "black hole" type meteorological explanation for it, but we often get pattern "grooves" like El Nino a few years back, where storm clouds travel over and then are caught up in. So, certain areas get 10x more rainfall than other areas just blocks away.



I felt the first outer bands of Dolly exactly at 3 p.m. yesterday. I was walking out the back door to go drop off some mail and a gust of wind almost pulled the door out of my hand. It was a dry very hot wind. The second I got into the car, it began to slant rain. It squalled the entire time I was travelling, and then died down the moment I pulled into the driveway. Talk about timing!

Now, as the sun is coming up, I have been up all night and am on a naturally-wired Hurricane high, even though the dang storm is going in 300 miles to my South. It never fails. I've been this way (my "hurricane high") for every storm I've lived through since my first in 1961. I'll collapse later on and sleep, no worries, but for now, I'll just be grateful that in my alert state I've decided that I want to blog, LOL.

So, I also wish I can get back into regular blogging again. It's really tough when you're out of the habit.

Hm, I wish I could continue to create like I've been recently. I'm still working on creating organization more than anything else, but I am pushing myself to do my little art like daily exercise. Sometimes I finish in a day, sometimes in 3...




The first atc with the little boy was one that Tina liked on my Flickr. Thanks for the comment, Tina! And Reba likes the Bird of Pair-a-Dice (LOL, you know how I like my puns, thank you, Reba). I made the backgrounds for all of them: 2 of them with my new crayon pastels, distress ink sponging on one, and acrylic paints on one.

As for my organizing, my little homemade Clip-It Rack is growing and filling in...



Remember the 3-ring binder spine label I made, and said I'd probably have to change it out once I found a better use for the binder? Well, haha. It happened. I just turned the label over and made a new one on the back side. Here it is:



Then, I finally found a great yahoo group to join for trading and swapping 4x6 APC's (altered post cards). That made it necessary to create a template for this new size of art, so I worked one up (got a little silly, too):





I bought one of those templates for my ATC's at European Papers, and I like it so much, I tried to replicate the idea...really helps me visualize how an image will look on smaller-sized art.

And now, since I am seeing little lightning pops and hearing the rumbling of thunder, I'll close before we get any power interrupts, with a birthday photo of the most gorgeous young woman:



I am continually amazed I gave birth to this girl. Isn't she WOW to the 20th degree? Even though summer semester college algebra here at the local junior college is currently eating her lunch. Mega-homework and killer quizzes for a subject she doesn't really like and probably won't use much in advertising as a copywriter. 57 on the first quiz, yup, that's my Missy, LOL. I'm smelling a C, hopefully. Which is fine cuz the grade doesn't count, only the credit earned, if she passes. If she doesn't, she just tries again next summer. Since her aptitude in math is plenty high, having to take it a second time should be motivation enough to pass...

This is hard

Late Sunday evening --
Sorry, guys for missing my Wednesday posting day. I just haven't been feeling like sharing anything lately. Not that there's been anything really worth sharing, lol. Maybe that's it. All I can think to write about is how hot it is.

We got out this afternoon, late, 5-ish. Went down to The Boardwalk to have a birthday dinner for Missy, who turns 20 tomorrow. We tried Babin's a new seafood restaurant, but the service was so bad that Hubs insisted we leave after getting our salads. So, we went next door to Salt Grass, and had a wonderful time. Of course, I'm still stuck back there leaving a restaurant in the middle of the order, still a bit horrified, both at the audaciousness and at Hubs, who always talks about it but never does it. Till today.

After our meal, which we spent way too money on (even though it was very good), we rode the new roller coaster. Wow, that got our blood flowing! (And thankfully, no upchucking.) It was still so dang hot though, that I don't know that I'd do it again until October or November. Just standing around, with a breeze, and you feel like you've got gritty tanning oil all over you underneath your clothes. And I'd showered about an hour prior to starting out!

I'm just getting old and too fat, I guess. If I were able to cocoon in my home during the hot months down here, I could handle it alright. And that's getting more and more allowed (as in people thinking you are weird or not), what with the gas prices and the heat (cuz utility costs are rising too).

It's always funny watching a local TV news story about how to save gas, because there's really not much leeway. They shouldn't even run those kind of stories down here. Not running the a/c in your car is not an option, especially if you have children what with child endangerment and all. What else are you gonna do beside just not starting the machine up at all?

We're not speeding (anymore, hehe). We're consolidating our errands. We've forced Hubs to stop his gawd-awful grocery shopping practice of going to 3 different stores to save 5 or 10 cents on something. What made that doubly maddening once the heat set in, was that he'd poop out and not get it all bought in one outing, on account of the heat is exhausting. So, we were beginning to always be out of this or that, including stuff on my diet, which I of course have not been following religiously so I haven't lost much. Good take on that is I have not gained, either, but I digress.

Okay, well. I've been very busy mostly, back into working some on my RAK's to send out, working at finding some new yahoo groups to broaden my art horizons, and continuing to organize the snot out of my supplies. I am so slow, but I am making progress.




A couple of photos above of a 3-ring binder I re-purposed to hold empty magnetic sheets. I don't think there is anything that Crop-A-Dile can't punch through! Then, this is just like me, I decided this binder would be much more useful housing a year's worth of ATC collection when I decided to separate them by year received. So, I took that spine label and just turned it over and am now designing a title for my binder's new purpose. Oh well...and hey, shows that the label can be changed! LOL




The above photos show the other thing I've been playing with: making ring clips for my homemade clip-it-rack out of existing supplies. Again, Crop-A-Dile to the rescue! Yes, it can punch a hole in a wooden clothespin. I love the little mini ones. They're the same ones I used on my InspiraLine. Anyway, that project is going well.




I'm trying to patiently wait for the second season premiere of Mad Men on AMC, but I had to break down and rent season 1 at Blockbuster. Ahhhh! I love the over-the-top stylishness of it, like the Hollywood Rat Pack style applied to nonfamous white collar big city America. And since I know that the way they depict the sexism is pretty accurate for 1960, it blows my mind to realize how far we have come in just workplace behavior alone, not to mention marriages. The battleground for all that was the 1970's, when the nitty gritty sand lines were drawn. No wonder they were turbulent times. Geez.

Well, anyway, Mad Men's season 2 starts July 27th, and I can't wait. The season 1 finale blew me away with Peggy giving birth to a baby she didn't even know she was carrying and then refusing to take it. I'm guessing that means she wants to play with the boys and fight her way up the ladder from copywriter, and not just be a secretary. (Of course, the only chance she had back then was to be both in order to become a copywriter, but hey atleast she got that opportunity).

Journeying back...

Can't say as I'm all the way back to normal (whatz dat?), but my evil twin seems to be leaving the building lately. I actually opened up this post template and began typing like I used to do. I can't tell ya how long it has seemed like it has been since I've felt like doing that.

I finally broke down and wrote some brutally honest letters to a microscopically small handful of same-aged friends, and got it all out. That helped so so much. If we've emailed, then you know who you are and I am so not worthy...thank you to the moon. I just needed to talk it out with others my own age.

If I haven't written you back, please know I will. You're probably younger. Some of my feelings involve the younger generations and since well jeez a good many of you who read me ARE in those generations I didn't want to say anything that would personally hurt anyone's feelings. There's no snubbing or anger here. I love you all too dearly. Just needed my space in a real bad way for awhile.

You may or may not know about me that I am a fervent disciple of the Generational History theory, and 2008 has frankly blown my mind with how militant the Democrat Party has become and how they've copied both Karl Rove's and Bill Clinton's original strategies. It's happening faster than it should, too, and I don't mean to alarm, but that's exactly what happened with the Civil War crisis. I can only say, read the book. It will change your life and all the fuzzy things will turn crystal clear.

For purposes of what I'm trying to explain without producing a 23-page discertation, according to the GenHist Theory:
Silent Gen: 1925-1942 (birth years)
Boomer Gen: 1943-1960
GenX Gen: 1961-1980
Millenial Gen: 1981-??? (too early to tell yet, but probably 1998)
Homeland Gen (my nickname): probably 1998-around 2016

I'll be honest, I still have some real issues. The political primaries and the way the generations have been pitted against each other and all the respect that has been missing elder gens like we had to do when we were younger, it still causes me troubled thoughts. It's so in-your-face all of a sudden (or in MY face, anyway).

But if it were just the political expression, there would be no problem. I could handle it. What happened for me was, it was as if I awoke and everything's been shaded that way. I should qualify that. Everything in my online world almost. Nothing in my In Real Life world (except the TV). So could it be any weirder?

Being honest again, part of it is that Gen X is trying to wrestle the power away from Boomers and I don't think they are ready yet, okay? Then again, what year was the oldest Boomer at 47? Hm, 1943 + 47 = 1990. So, okay, my bad. It's just, if Bill and Dubya was all the shot we got, that sucks. Seriously.

Anyway, it's been really tough for me to accept. And then, when I look to the places art-related I hang online, it's like I'd pay money to have somewhere that wasn't so damn competetive. Everybody has a design team and everyone is workin the merchandise, on their blogs, the message boards. Look, this essay says it much better than I can. That's pretty much how I feel about it, too. I just want an environment where we are all doing this insane silly hobby cuz we enjoy it and it records our memories. I don't want to know the ScrapDiva personally, or get her advice on what to think every day. I just wanna lift a cool technique or use of product, dammit. LOL Yup, I'm all about the sharing of ideas. I don't want to crush on any famousness. This is why I'm allergic to Oprah. Why I bitch and moan sometimes instead of portraying all sweetness and light. I already read too many Stepford bloggers.

So anyway, that's out. And it leads me to explain why I was fidgeting with the blog comments. Sometimes even that gets competitive, like shades of it. I'm just wanting to give it a rest for awhile. Time's too short, at least for me. But, turning them completely off was not my only option, as a friend pointed out to me. (Duh, Aimes). I've now turned them back on, but they will get sent to my email where I can read them and respond. I'm gonna try that and see if it makes me feel happy about it.

So, okay. I'm sick of talking about it now, LOL. Probably put off posting in part cuz I dreaded that. Anyway, I don't want to jinx it but I actually created some art last night. It's still in progress, but dang, my Muse was feared lost forever. So I am feeling very relieved I found her again.

I do have some shots of my progress on my craft room. I'm just gonna throw these up in bunches, random shots, to save time, but you'll get the idea. Here's my befores of this particular corner:




Now, you might be thinking, what's the problem? Looks pretty neat. Well, it is, but it's not accessible. Too much piling on of stuff. Need to access my stuff better.



Then this lovely section. That was supposed to be just for my two big paper cutters, believe it or not. Now, it's a pile for the die cuts I haven't opened yet or haven't found a good storage option for. Enough! Driving me nuts.





Ah, my totally out of control ribbon section. It was all wrapped around 8x11" chipboard sheets, but I spent most of this year switching it to hangers. It enjoyed a home in Missy's closet until she came home for the summer. So, I had to get another shelf, but I definitely can access them more this way. Now, if I can just use some of it! LOL

Well, okay, I am going to try to get back into this. Wednesdays has always worked best for me, so I'll try to continue weekly. Thanks for checking in.

Okay, so...

...I guess I'm back, sheesh. I must confess, I took a little staycay away from the blog, the computer, the TV. I got outa the blog habit and into some health-oriented habits. I've been rockin' them lately and really kind of hesitaant to go back to devoting all the time I do to this writing and posting and reading.

Then, I got emails wondering if I was okay, (and thanks for thinking of me!). Turns out the blog entry I thought I'd posted almost 3 weeks ago to say I was taking a little time away is still sitting there saved but not posted. My bad! So, guess I should get back into blogging. Some stuff's gonna be different this time, though. I've closed blog comments. If you feel a genuine desire to comment or talk to me, please email me! I'll go into why I've done this later. It's all part of a bigger philosophy change on my part toward a lot of things.

First things first, though: thanks so much to Shirley for the blog candy she sent me! Such a gorgeous little notebook!

I love it, Shirley...thanks again!

So, anyway, to the (first - hehe) million dollar question: yes, I mourned Hillary's concession for a little under a week, but I got a heads up on it just a tad ahead of most (having volunteered on the campaign and still working the research with some of my old crew). So the first stage of my mourning ended right about the time she actually conceded. There was a little anger before and after, but then, finally, a calming whatever. I now can truthfully say I am open to both Obama and McCain, but there's no Kool-Aid drinking in my house. It's all about the issues with me now, and voting for either one is going to take some nose-holding. I pretty much think of them as McBama: Let the pandering to the center begin! Ya know?

And so now a second wave of just real sadness has hit me and it's still there behind the edges, in the shadows, under the bed, so to speak. I'm not sure that all of it is the campaign. I think some of it is the gloomy situations we as a nation and people are in, or at least many of us. The gas prices, natural disasters, the economy, the suckie states of medical care even with insurance, and hey, it's hotter than sizzle on a steak down here. There are solutions but I cannot see a clear choice as to who is going to choose the right answers and then get it bull-dozed into law. Oh, yeah, and I am finding that I can't enjoy any of the cable news channels now that I know how much some of them were in the tank and not objective and independent. I have absolutely no idea really what's happened in the world for the last 10 days or so, and for me, that is weird. I've enjoyed some good movies and a couple of those stupid Bravo reality shows.

Then, there is all the email I'm getting to join like 100 groups in the rapidly growing Nobama movement. People are pissed off, but I just want to get over being sad for the time being, LOL.

One decision I did make was that I got myself a life coach about 10 days ago. Okay, like, I wasn't looking for one, she kinda fell into my lap. We are bartering services with each other, cuz ain't no way I'm paying what she charges (and she probably thinks the same thing about me, lol). I set up her DH's payroll system for his company as my part of the barter.

Anyway, her name is Jenn and she has truly changed my life for the better. She hooked me up with an easy-to-follow nutrition-based diet and a physical therapy routine. It's all totally geared to what I will actually reach for and actually do.

The diet is calorie-based, and with my hatred of counting those buggers, this was a big challenge. She asked me a ton of questions about how I eat, what I reach for and why and when. She also recruited Hubs to help out by cooking more low-calorie fare when he gets to going in the kitchen on his days off. Basically, we decided I needed something similar to NutriSystem, but grocery store bought. I chose healthy foods that are easy to reach for and eat them over and over. So far it works pretty good most days.

I choose among Lean Cuisines, Slimfast Choc shakes, Nature Valley health bars, fresh fruits, salad greens, cereal, skim milk, and saltine crackers. None of these require me to cook them or spend a lot of time prepping them to eat. I just record what I eat and the calories, and most days I'm having trouble reaching my minimum target intake!

As for the physical therapy (which is also plain old exercise), I learned how to do tons of isometric routines in the pool, and it's very effective. I'm in there a minimum of 4 days a week and alternate that with my yoga tape and my exercise ball tape. I just added swimming laps full out today...just a few to start and build up gradually. I got Reggie some cute little Air Kong pool fetch toys that float and are made of rugged tennis ball material so that I can get him away from me when I'm swimming (he loves to zig and zag right in front of me, the little show-off, plus he accidentally scratches me sometimes as he's kicking, not fun). Reggie loves his toys and is worn out swimming and fetching by the time I'm finished.