Friday, November 13, 2009
My, How We've Grown!! When I was pregnant with Ethan four years ago, I had Trinity (from The Matrix) as my profile picture. I thought it'd be fun to make her pregnant and 'grow' with me. Unfortunately, I don't have all the pictures anymore... I only have the original, three month, and six month (although there *was* an eight month and Mondo Trinity, too... and she was VERY large, I might add.) Bummer!! But here's how Trinity progressed:   
Original Three Months Six Months
With Aaron, my profile was a little different, and I thought it would be fun to have The Woman in the Red Dress (also from The Matrix) blossom with 'new life'. LoL!! Yeah, and I got a bit wilder this time. Anyhow, many thanks to Beeyond_Sight for the latest (and largest) edition of TWitRD - aka "Spherical Anna". ((Did I just type 'twittered'? *snort!*)) Anyhow... without further ado... The Woman in the Red Dress:   
Original Three Months Six Months
 
Nine Months SERIOUSLY pregnant This time, I've opted to let the baby do the growing. We went with a Matrix Pod... well, I did, anyhow. And here has been the growth progression:   
1 month 3 months 5 months
 
7 months Crazy-ass big baby
I'm telling ya... it's a durn good thing I have an incredible sense of humor.
Because OH.MY.WORD am I *ever* pregnant these days...!!
      ROFL!!!!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Life and the Archiving Thereof
I watched a dumb movie last night. "You've Got Mail". I've seen it before, it was the end of Meg Ryan's cute movie era - she was haggard and old and ridiculous in the role, and honestly, Tom Hanks was looking old/paunchy/rough, too. It would've been a cute movie if they'd used different people in the main roles. But it's my least favorite version of that story by Laslov (the plot has been done FOUR times: "Little Shop Around the Corner" (Jimmy Stewart), "In the Good Ol' Summertime (Garland/Rooney), "She Loves Me" (Broadway musical), and then "You've Got Mail".
Anyhow, I dissolved into a messy puddle of tears as Meg Ryan took her last walk thru the little bookstore that had been her life - her mother's life. The shop was closed, the merchandise gone, the counters bare, the space empty. And suddenly they show her remembering dancing with her mother behind the counter, twirling. And I just... MAN! I can't stand that shit. I HATE that you can't freeze time, or go back and re-live those kinds of things. That memories are so fleeting... everything is so damn temporal. It drives me CRAZY!!
And I do this in my own life ALL OF THE TIME. I'll see Lydia doing this or Ethan trying that, or even just holding Aaron on my lap, and I want it to STOP. Just for a minute. I want to capture that and NOT forget, not lose it, but then it's gone, and I'm ... dammit. I live WAY too consciously. I read once that most people don't live 'in the moment' but are thinking about something else or are distracted by cellphones, TV, etc. I haven't ever had that trouble - I'm in the moment constantly. It's... a rough way to live, sometimes.
I think that's why I'm so adamant about archiving. I have fifteen scrapbooks, took 105 pictures of putting up the tree the other night. ((Of course - deleting out the ones that didn't turn out I'm down to 45, and after editing it'll be less than that, but still.)) I'm constantly taking pictures. Of everything. Cataloging. Filling out our calendar with everything we do, everywhere we go. Even this blog - I log everything that comes down the pipe, how I feel about it, special moments with my family, fights and troubles... and I'm saving them to Word, printing them out to hard copy... Call it my warped attempt to capture moments so that I don't lose them. I'm almost desperate in the effort. Always have been. And it sort of works - people always say "Time just flies!"... not for me. I fill every single damn moment, log it, archive it... have record of it. I don't lose track of time. It doesn't blow by me. Because I'm clawing at it with everything I've got, trying to slow it, grab it, steal from it. It's MY time, damnit.
I think this is why I'm trying to get off FaceBook. It's not archive-able. I'm losing things on it. Yes, they're there, but it's... elusive. Short. And at the same time, time-consuming. I don't like it. I've had nothing but malware and viruses since joining, and screens keep popping up... I keep getting redirected to advertising sites... it's a MESS. And on top of that, it feels wrong. Way more invasive than this, but don't ask me why - I don't know. I just know I have to get off of it. So I'm slowly 'weaning', dissembling. Separating. Funny how easy it is to jump into the water, but wading out takes more doing, doesn't it?
This morning I was reading FarFel's blog ('Surviving in Argentina' - their economy collapsed in 2002/3). He was going over the stages of collapse, and I thought, "here's just another reason to archive... I want my kids to remember the good times. When things were easier, when we were learning how to come out on top by being less dependent on society and on-demand delivery. While having fun doing it. Help them to preserve the memories for when the hard/scary/worrisome times come.
Life. Archiving. Memories. Lots of introspection today...
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tids N' Tads
G'morning. I am up early (have been, since 4:30am). I have been up early every single morning for the past I don't know how long. I just don't sleep anymore. Not comfortable, I guess. I ought to go back to bed and try again, but... ((sigh!)) Maybe a nap this afternoon will help. Maybe ibuprofen would help. Maybe childbirth would help. I don't know... I'm just - up.
Canning Jars! I'm on another mission. (Or two.) I found a Craigslist ad for free canning jars this morning. They'll be at the curb after 10am. So I'm TRYING to get a map on-line (dial-up and interactive screens do NOT mix) so I will know where to go. Yes, I already have some canning jars. But if they're free and available... why not? Besides, it's an adventure. I love adventures.
Dig-a-Tree. My other mission today is to go to Dig-A-Tree. Might do that at the same time and kill two birds with one stone. I found Dig-A-Tree on Craigslist, too, while doing a search for white pine. I wanted cheap(er) trees that were at least 3-4ft tall to put between my land and Hatfield's land. And they have them for $15 a piece at Dig-A-Tree. But they're only open 8-8 on Wednesdays and Saturdays... and I hate going away on Saturdays - it shoots a good project day right in the ass, y'know? Which means today is the day!
So Much for Light Duty. Unfortunately, it's also the day Brian wanted to work late. They've been bugging him to put in more hours, and he's tried to dig in his heels a little (with them, it's give an inch, they take a mile), but he wants to keep them happy and be a good employee, too. So he's pulling a 12-hour shift today. Which means he won't be home in time to help me get trees. So I had him leave me his truck for the day, and I'm off to pick them up on my own. Luckily they're in pots, but that's still.... I'd like six, so that's me lifting six trees (unless there's a kind worker who will help a 9-month pregnant woman with four small children... but I never bank on it).
Sore Ligament! I am really, REALLY sore again. That ligament I pulled at the end of September? Well it was on the mend. But then I re-pulled it Saturday moving 16ft fence panels. And re-pulled it getting the plastic flooring two days ago. And last night I ended up on the floor (stringing lights/garland around the bottom of the tree, etc), and pulled it again getting up/down, up/down... so I'm not doing s'well. Let's hope white pine are light. Brian said, "Wow, you're really waddling!" No, dude, that's limping with a beach-ball sized baby out the front. "You need to take it easier." He chided. Sure. Let me get RIGHT on that. Except you won't string lights, won't hang garland, and need help with projects, and I'm your go-to woman. I'll rest for an hour or so after delivery, okay?
Coupons! I have a coupon for buy one/get one at McD's for breakfast sandwiches. I might take the kids for breakfast. It'd be fun. We'll be out, anyhow. Why not? We also had a coupon to a new place for pizza, and used it last night. That was THE stank nastiest pizza I've had in a LONG time. Don't people use FRESH veggies, anymore? I just want a pizza with fresh veggies and LOADED with cheese (white-ish looking, non-grease-saturated cheese) for a change. When we lived up north, we found TWO pizza places that rawked. Here in the HUGE-ass city of Grand Rapids, I can't find a damn thing. Ticks me off, btw...
Xanga vs. Anna. I have e-mailed, submitted help queries, and waited (and waited) for Xanga to respond to my request for moderated commenting. I have looked for free add-ons that would do the same thing ( Enetion has closed up shop, and the only other option is HaloScan - which you have to PAY for). I don't want to pay - I already PAY Xanga... and they don't offer what I need. And they won't say 'no, we can't do that' or 'yes, we're working on it' for me... so I am strongly considering moving away from Xanga. If I'm going to pay for service, anyhow, I might as well get my own domain and have what I want. I don't like paying for something that doesn't work for me. And it ticks me off, because I've been here going on TEN YEARS, hello. I don't want to have to leave. To transfer everything. To mess with this. But... ((grrrr)) I want to ditch FaceBook. That means I need a commenting venue. I cannot utilize what Xanga offers because of bitchy-ass christian hypocrites. This means I have to do something. I just don't know what or HOW, yet.
Anna's Archives. In the meantime, I'm archiving. Most of the stuff has been made private, and could actually be deleted (once I archive it into Word, save a back-up on disk, and make hard copies so that I have them in three places). But it's a TON of work, and that's why there's just not a lot of 'meat' hereabouts, lately. I'm just swamped. BUT... eighteen more months, and I'm DONE with archiving!!
Audio Angst. Two days ago, my Callwave stopped working. Oh, it took messages while I was on-line (it's a phone-answering service for people with only one line). But I couldn't listen to the messages - it said my system didn't have the capability to play them. Funny, cuz until two days ago, I had no trouble playing them. So I did their recommended fix (updated the audio codex on my PC)... and the next morning, my Windows Media Player wouldn't work. Every single song registered an error - cannot detect audio driver. I was SO PISSED... because it's one thing if *I* mess things up by screweing with them, but this just... happened. So after searching/reading/researching on-line, I found out that MicroSoft automatically updates your computer when there are changes they want to make. They updated my system two nights ago. So I had to un-do their update, and voila! my sound works just fine. I liken MicroSoft to Medical practicioners. Their updates and vaccinations rank about the same. THAT headache only set me back three hours. ((Grr, again.))
Veteran's Day. Did you know the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh year is set aside for remembering Veterans? Did you know I don't like elevens? I never knew this, and now I'm a little paranoid about 11:11 today. I'll be on the road in Brian's truck (without my travel stash). This worries me. I need to chillaxe a little, methinks. OTOH... that's just... not right.
Crash Day! Y'know how the Mayan dude said that November 7/8 was the start of the sixth night, and that there was going to be a major crash? Well, Ure tipped me off to it and then never said another word. But last night Creekmore linked me to a Bloomberg article that had the goods! There *was* a crash... we just haven't felt the reprecussions of it, yet. And Ure *did* allude to Buffet's odd purchase of 100% of BN (largest yet-existing railroad), so that's another heads-up. I should post snippets of the article, but here's the (link), instead. I'm supposed to be headed back to bed. (Pardon me, the Bloomberg article is here, it's the other one that's meatier. Same info, not as big a name, though.)
Mama Mia. I found a computer on Craigslist (yes, I'm obsessive) that was a STEAL of a deal. It was $60 for an XP, with two printers, a monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, and hard drive, completely cleaned. Somebody's uncle was going into a home, and they wanted to ditch it, and nobody wants the big, boxy monitors and older PC units, anymore. I just needed something for the kids - their PC gave up the ghost in June (but it was summer, so we didn't need it, anyhow). Now that it's getting colder, I wanted something for them. But I'm NOT an XP person. When I got *my* PC, it took a good two weeks of finagling to un-XP it. But my mom was over last night, and she uses XP, so I had her help the kids get set up. Saved me the stress. That was really nice.
So Sew Right. I also needed help with my sewing machine. I'd gotten it (yeah, you guessed it) off Craigslist about nine months ago, but haven't used it until now. And I want to make piddle pads. But I couldn't get the string to stop snapping - I figured it was a tension problem, but I was growing frustrated. Since my mom got sewing lessons as a kid (and sews pretty durn well, I might add), I had her tweak the sucker in for me. Bonus? She's getting rid of her sewing machine, and offered it to Lydia. WoooooT! Lydia's over the MOON at the prospect! I'm just really grateful that she got my new one working for me.
Tree Trimming. We got our tree up. The kids were WOUND up, but it went okay. Weird, but okay. My brother called from Reno in the middle of it (apparently he's 33 and still checks in with mom even though he's married and on a road trip?)... and my sister only came for an hour (??) but I was kind of glad we incidentally chose a night her girls were at their dads. Last year was chaotic with too many kids, and my kids backed off to make attention room for the banshees, so it wasn't right. This year it was THEIR tree trimming time... which I liked better. Even if they were solid spazz from having Grams come to our house. ((Well... we don't have people here very often.)) Pictures pending... when I get time. Haha.
Is that All? I think that's all. I'm sure there'll be more when I get this posted, but it should do for now, no? I can always add a few, if the mood strikes. Cuz I'm that way. Besides, wasn't I going to try to go lay down a little more...? Yeah, there's not much time left for that...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
To-Do List
I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed. Okay, a LOT overwhelmed. There are things barreling at me at breakneck speed, and I just don't... am not... MOVING as fast as I usually do. So when overloaded, the obvious answer is to LIST and PRIORITIZE. And being a person obsessed with organization, this is RIGHT up my alley. Probably not yours, but then... ((grins wickedly)) who's site is it, again? ((Hrm. Lemme think...!)) Bwahahahaha!
Archiving Project:
2001 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2002 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2003 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2004 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2005 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2006 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2007 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2008 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December.
2009 - January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November
Tonight we're putting up the Tree of Life. ((I refuse to call it an 'X-Mess Tree' another day.)) Our bulbs are red for the shed blood of Christ. Our garland is white as snow, as He washes us. Our tree is evergreen, as the eternal life found in Messiah. The twinkle lights remind us that His chosen (via the promise to Abraham) are as numerous as the stars in the sky. It's topped by a 'bright morning star' - our Redeemer, our Hope, the Light of the World. Screw this 'christmas' crap.
This means my parents are coming over. ((Brian's picking up pizza from a new place we have a coupon for on the way home.)) But this means I have to CLEAN. Partly because I need stuff vaccuumed and cleaned and prepped for the Tree, and partly because my mom is coming, and she always has a comment about cleaning for me (in other words, I don't do it up to her standards)... and of course that's AFTER my cleaning blitz, so I'm quite sure she'd be appalled with the house as it is, say, right now.
Tree of Life Cleaning Blitz:
Living Room - Dining Room - Mudroom - Lydia's Room
Kitchen - Bath 1 - Bath 2 - Boy's Room - Parlor
There are other things that I've put off doing this week that I've meant to do, too. I... have things come up. Like the free flooring yesterday. And the $60 computer last night (for the kids - theirs gave up the ghost in May, and they've been without all summer, but now that it's getting colder and we're inside more...). And we get involved in other projects, and things fall thru the cracks.
Things still Pending:
Birthday invitations - picture editing - Edumatrix board
pumpkin cookies - move cider press - fix wardrobe
piddle pads/napkins - Xerox running - move crib
I... need to get off this computer. I need to work. Think. Do. Brian says, "No, you don't." He wasn't happy with how sore and hobbly I was when he got home last night. Okay... so I overdid it a little yesterday with the plastic flooring, but some things just have to be done. He says he's putting me on 'light duty' until the baby is born. Not sure THAT'S gonna happen. I just... with Thanksgiving, Birthday Party, X-Mess, baby preps... I don't have TIME for taking it easier. And he's working more than ever before, which means I take up my own slack.
Anyhow... yeah. I'm going. There's things to do and not enough time to do them in!
Monday, November 09, 2009
Bullet Blog
- Hey, yo.
- How's it going?
- I... am sore.
- Very, very sore.
- I know - it's my fault.
- But some things just have to get done.
- Nine months preggers or not.
- This morning on Craigslist someone posted outdoor flooring.
- Free, if you take it apart.
- It was downtown.
- It was... plastic and snapped together in large 'mats'
- I had to break it all down.
- With a screwdriver.
- It was prickery and in a pile of concrete.
- It took about an hour and a half, but I filled the van.
- Lydia was a big helper, loading the smaller pieces
- ... as I busted the big, impossibly heavy ones up.
- I'm hoping to use them in Critter Corner
- ... and around the hot tub/back deck.
- I hope Brian likes them.
- My hands... well, they really hurt, though.
- So does my back, but that's just... ((shrugs))
- I meant to make pumpkin penache cookies today.
- Maybe later this afternoon.
- Right now, I'm doing the archive scramble again.
- I've been archiving this site like MAD.
- My goal was to get nine years archived by this morning.
- Of course it didn't happen - I have 2.5 years to go.
- But I'm working as hard/fast as I can on it.
- Then my next project will be to privatize old NoteWorthies.
- There are hundreds of these (since at least 30/yr since 2002).
- Anyhow... yeah, I'm busy.
- Yesterday we put in the blueberry orchard,
- moved the woodpile and a TON of scrap wood,
- ... and moved 16ft long panels of chain link fence.
- It was HeaVy.
- I'm sore from that, too.
- But as you know, no rest for the weary!
- Moving the cider press downstairs Wednesday, prob'ly.
- I'm thinking I want to put my Tree of Life up tomorrow nite.
- Which means I need to carpet clean tonight.
- And invite my parents over to help.
- We always invite them to help.
- My mom's X-mess stuff went up the day after Sukkot.
- I like to wait until November.
- Anyhoo... that's what's been up.
- As I said, weekends are BUSY.
- If it weren't for the time change,
- ... I'd get more done weeknights, too.
- Well, I'm off... to archive!
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