1000 Words

1. School started last Monday for all three of us at Foothill College. Steven and Josh are taking a Flash Animation class (the one I took over the summer) and I’m taking a class in Typography. (That’s the study of Type. Interesting so far! really!)

2. Josh is at a new, smaller high school and doing fabulously! He’s loving it. We’re all so happy about it! (ALthough it’s made our commutes hell, it’s worth it!)

3. My pal Melody Ross has release new scrapbooking products. OH MY GOSH, are they gorgeous. YOu can see them here: http://gcdstudios.blogspot.com/

4. Saturday, it was 95 degrees here. Right now, it’s 68. Ok, then, enough said?

5. The cat knocked my iron down while being chased by the naughty little dogs. I bought a garment steamer instead of another iron. I’m in love!

6. Steven’s had a really bad cold all weekend. Yuck. Feel better, honey!

7. I changed my aligner again on Friday. It hurts, but I swear it’s getting a tiny bit easier…

8. I took Josh to a career fair for folks who want to become police officers on Saturday. He wants to be a homicide detective. They took him seriously, it was great!

9. The month of September was extremely good to us. josh and I worked out at the gym together 3 times every week in September. Go us.

10. I’m in a challenge with Mary Ann to read 50 books in 2009. I’ve read 41 so far. I might make it! Yay!

I guess that’s about it for now. Thanks for stopping by, I’ll try to post more. I’m finishing up my first project for Typography class, so maybe more on that soon.

-Have a great day!

Yay! I love the month of September. I love my birthday, the weather, just everything! I always think of September as the real start of the year, I guess because of my birthday, I’m not sure. (Did I mention my birthday? LOL Maybe I should see how many times I can use that word in this post, hmmm?) Speaking of which, why is it that some people see their birthday as a negative? I LOVE mine! It means I’ve been alive for another year, and it presents all kinds of opportunities to learn more and do more and be more. What’s not to love about that? I know that sometimes people focus on the number, but for me, it’s all about options and choices. Here’s to a fresh start!

Speaking of fresh starts, sometime in August, I guess I signed up for an online scrapbooking class with Shimelle.com. I have no recollection of doing so, but I guess I did. LOL Yet another fine moment of insanity, I guess. And just when I was relaxing into a mode of reading and doing other things. ha! The class is called “Learn Something New Every day” and it requires an album page a day. I was pondering this a bit earlier, and trying to figure out how I was going to do this, when it occurred to me (you know I can be slow sometimes), that I could do a digital album, perhaps. Hmmmm. After all, I DID take Adobe Illustrator, and I have all these new Graphic Design skills, right? I’ll make at least some of them digital, I think. I don’t know if I’ll share them here or not, I guess it depends on the day and what I learned and whether I want to share it with the world or not. Sorry. Sometimes, things are just for me. I do have this vague recollection about being curious about the class, and looking into it and thinking it was a good idea, but I wonder when I signed up. LOL! Whatever. It will be great. She says you can just do your journaling each day and catch up when you can, so perhaps I’ll do that on the days when I just can’t get to creating.

About that creating. We had a sad moment this past weekend, followed by intense relief. My iMac started acting strangely. Like it was possessed! It wouldn’t go to sleep. Then, it decided that it liked being asleep and would not wake up. Then when I did a hard reboot (which you NEVER have to do with a mac) it would give a gray screen. Well, Steven’s iphone lost a button, (apparently a known problem, so they replaced the phone immediately), so we had to go to the Apple store. While there, we mentioned my problem and they said “bring it in, now. right away.” So we went back home, packed it up, and brought it in. Turns out my hard drive failed. But you know what? It’s all good. (This is the intense relief part!) Steven, being the brilliant husband that he is (I’m serious!), bought me the 3 year warranty. I’m getting a new hard drive and all it cost us was the gas to bring the iMac to the Apple store! Go me. Not only that, they are putting a LARGER hard drive into it (it used to be 320 gb and now will be 500!), AND, when we get it home, we connect it to the network, and my Apple Time Capsule (thank you, brilliant husband!), and say “restore from Time Capsule” and my new hard drive will magically look exactly like my old hard drive, except this one will work. LOL I don’t think you could ever get me to go back to a PC. I’m definitely a Mac. There was a guy wearing an “I’m a Mac” tee shirt at the store, I told Steven I want one. Seriously.

I guess that’s about it. That’s more than I’ve blogged in a month, huh? Speaking of months, it’s September, and my birthday is Friday. Oh, sorry.

Make it a great day!

About 4 years ago, we switched to front-loading washer and dryer. We went to Sears, as we always do for appliances, and we asked for the best. Our dryer had not been drying clothes properly for about 2 years, so we were pretty emphatic about wanting something that was really going to dry our clothes. We ended up with a great set.

As I told a friend about our purchase, I learned something that every owner of a front loader needs to know. They get mold inside them. Ew! She told me that even though she has a very large family (like 5 kids, if I remember correctly!), when she isn’t using her washer, or when they go on vacation, she has to make sure the door is left open or the washer will develop mold inside the workings. You can’t see it, but when you open the door, you can sure smell it. Armed with this knowledge, I designated a thick old towel to act as the mold deterrent.
We were judicious about using the towel. I can’t think of a time when the towel wasn’t there if the machine wasn’t used. However, about 6 months ago, our towels started to not smell great after they had been washed. We tried just about everything, but nothing helped.
Why am I telling you this? I’m sharing because I received a sample, a few weeks ago, of a product called Smelly Washer (www.smellywasher.com) that has really improved things. While it didn’t miraculously make our towels smell fresh and new again, it did improve them to the point where I can actually use them now, without being grossed out. I’m happy to say that, after using this product 3 times, our washer smells much better, and so do our towels, after being treated with it.
The product is very simple to use and cost effective as well. Each container will do 24 treatments. You simply put a capful into the washer and run it according to the instructions. You can also do a treatment on your towels. I guess we aren’t the only ones with icky towels.
While it has not completely and absolutely destroyed the problem, which I had hoped it would (always have to have the highest expectations!), Smelly Washer really has made a vast improvement in our towels and washer, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a front loading washer. I think that if you used it from the start, you could avoid the problem completely. I think this product should be sold with every front loading washer, in fact!
If you want to try Smelly Washer yourself, go to www.smellywasher.com and use this promocode to save 10%: 1000words
Enjoy!

California, a beautiful state, with tons of promise, tons of people, and no money. What’s wrong with this picture? We personally pay $4,000 a year in property taxes. I have a friend who just bought her home a year or so ago and they pay $12,000 in property taxes. We pay a ton in income tax, and 9.25% in sales tax.

Why am I bringing this up? I’m angry. Really angry. Seething might even be a good word for it.

Last night, our school district made a brilliant (please note my sarcasm) decision to keep team sports and ELIMINATE 80 teachers. HELLO? What is the purpose of high school? It is NOT to raise athletes. It is to prepare our youth for the future. Explain to me how that will happen with larger class sizes, fewer teachers, and keeping team sports. Rah rah. Go sports. Don’t get me wrong, I was a varsity swimmer for 3 years in high school. I know and well understand sports. But, give me a break. Josh is in a summer school class that has FIFTY students. Can you please explain to me how a teacher can *teach* English to 50 students? I didn’t think you could.

I’m so frustrated. We live in a decent area and our high school is decent. Not great, but not bad either. (Supposedly.) Having said that, I recently learned that of 550 seniors, more than 100 did NOT graduate this year. What’s wrong with this picture?

You know what’s wrong with this picture? We’re not teaching the way kids learn. Steven keeps telling me that our educational system is archaic. At first, I just rolled my eyes at him, but now, really opening my eyes and looking at everything, and watching how my own son “lives”, I think Steven is right. When I was in high school, there were lots of electives, lots of options, small classes, and the teachers taught. Not only did they teach, but, if you were like me, and you were completely bored out of your skull, they found ways to engage you and help you grow to your potential. Now, teachers teach to the lowest level of the class. Last year, Josh went to summer school and they discussed verbs. Verbs. That’s ALL they did for THREE weeks. Can you even imagine? I can’t!

Students of today literally have the world at their fingertips. The internet has brought globalization not only to businesses but also to education. Yet it is almost completely untapped. Maybe it’s time to look at how we teach our kids and WHAT we teach them, and explore a whole new world of learning. Maybe it’s time to re-examine the subjects and re-examine the delivery methods. Is it perhaps time to admit that shoving kids into big schools and having them stagnate, sitting in rooms with underpaid, intelligent teachers who are not motivated because they are worried about losing their jobs is not working? In May, there was a special election. The initiatives, which would have cost taxpayers even more, lost. Josh came home from school a couple of days after the election and announced that all they were doing in all of his classes was watching movies. Huh? Wait. You mean, instead of doing school work you are watching movies? “Yes, Mom. The teachers are tired of trying to get everyone to behave and we’re watching movies. I hate school.”

How can you hate school? School is an opportunity to learn all about the world of math, literature, history…. oh wait, when and how will you use this in the rest of your life. Um, yea. Um, let me think. Geometry…. er, I use it when I quilt. But, I don’t actually DO the geometry, that’s why I have a computer.  Hmmmm.

The more I think about it, the more I really believe that home schooling and even unschooling are a far more viable alternative for our children than traditional education. The system is broken. It is time to develop a new, brighter, better way to teach our youth. Think about this for a minute. In 40 years, we will be senior citizens (ok, sooner than that, I know, I’m just throwing out a number!). Our kids of today will be in charge of the world. How’s that image working for you? Liking what you see? I don’t know that I so much do!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for education. Everyone has the right and deserves a good education. But, maybe our system needs to be completely trashed and we should start over. California has something called “Virtual Academy”. It looks like a great program. It’s all online, and offers tons of classes. Proponents say that the children learn more and learn better. Opponents say that there is a lack of socialization. Hmmm. Perhaps we need to take off our blinders and involve our kids in other activities that provide socialization. Did you know that you’re sending your child to school for socialization? I always got in trouble for socializing in school! I didn’t know that was the PURPOSE! How come no one ever told me that! I’d have gotten an A in that too!

With all the money we are paying in taxes, one would think we could figure out a way to educate our children. Instead, we’re doing things that, to be honest, don’t matter to me. I want someone to wake up and smell the coffee. Get a grip and help build our future. Stop hiding your head in the sand and saying “oh no, we need to save sports” and instead say “oh no, we need to save OUR FUTURE!” Won’t it be a proud day when the state and country are run by athletes? Hmmmm, unless it is Phil Jackson, no! Oh wait, he’s a coach. Never mind.

Okay, well, I’m sort of done with my tirade, for now, but I haven’t found a solution. We’re looking into a charter high school for this Fall, for Josh, to get him some semblance of a real education and smaller classes, but for now, Virtual Acadeny is not for us. We both work so we aren’t sure how you supervise a kid while you’re working. Hmmm. I don’t know what the answer is, to be honest, but what we’re doing now isn’t working. The kids are failing and falling through the educational cracks. We need to come up with a solution and we need to do it fast. Here in Califorinia at least, our government is NOT working to raise children who will be able to run this state (and our country). We’re raising kids who have street skills, learned in school, and know how to survive. What the heck is that all about?

-Take care and have a great weekend.

This morning, Josh and I headed to the Santa Clara American Legion hall, where we spent 3 hours helping to pack up 200 boxes of socks, personal hygiene items, and more for our troops overseas. It was an exhilarating but humbling experience.

At one point, we were seated at a table sorting groups of 20 qtips to be sent in a box. From a huge container, each soldier gets 20. What could you do with 20 qtips? Personally, qtips have always been something that was highly disposable, but now I guess I’ll look at them a bit differently.

Sorting qtips isn’t exactly difficult, so there were two young boys, a 4th grader and a 6th grader, who sat with us. The 6th grader was extremely personable and talkative. He was the cutest blonde kid. He explained to Josh and  I that his brother was 20 and was in Iraq and due to come home in August. He was quiet about it, but admitted he’d be happy when his brother was home. He explained that his brother is a weapons specialist, and rattled off about 5 three letter acronyms that I was completely baffled by. Josh tried to quietly explain what they were, and the little guy said “Gosh, every boy knows what those are.” I think it wasn RPG. Whatever. It was touching to hear his pride when talking about his brother. While he was talking, I quietly heard, from the younger boy, “My brother is 19 and he is in Iraq too.” He didn’t know when his brother was coming home, and had a hard time sorting and bagging up qtips, but he was determined to help and do whatever he could. It was very humbling, again.

As we were leaving, they were loading people’s trucks with the boxes. I noticed that the older blonde boy was right in the thick of it, and actually loaded an entire pickup bed of boxes. Impressive young man.

As for us? Yea, I felt old. I’m so tired right now. Standing and sorting for 2 1/2 hours and then shlepping boxes and putting heavy chairs back at the tables where they belonged was hard work. Josh is taking a nap, he must have personally moved 100 boxes in some manner or another, and he put more of the chairs back in place than any other person in the place. I was proud to be his Mom.

We’re looking forward to Fall, when they will do this whole effort again, for more soldiers. Between now and then, Josh and I plan to go shopping for sample size containers of shaving cream, Off bug spray, and eye glass cleaner, because those were just a few of the things that they were running really low on.

Well, I’m off to work on my final for Adobe Illustrator class, and also my last (I hope) Web Design class assignment, which has me stuck. Hopefully I’ll finish it up soon.

-God bless you and yours, and of course, God bless our troops. May they come home soon and safe.

This post was written last night. I could not find the photo that I wanted to add, so I am just uploading it now, on Wednesday.

Josh and I just got home from the vet. One of our cats, Eyebrow, (who was well over 12 years old), seems to have had a stroke or a brain tumor or some such. He couldn’t walk properly, or see out of his left eye, or control the left side of his face. We took him to the vet and we’ve had him euthanized.

I’m not a big fan of euthanization, but at the same time, I’m also not a fan of a lifelong friend being in pain. Eyebrow was an awesome cat. In his prime, he weighed 23 pounds. He could take on anyone. LOL He was down to 10 pounds at the vet’s office yesterday. His time had come.

As you can see from the above photo, (he is the one wearing the lovely coat hanger outfit), Eyebrow had a sense of style, a great sense of humor and a true cat’s proclivity toward curiosity. I felt this was the perfect photo for his eulogy, as it really captures his personality. We never had a dull moment with Eyebrow.

When we had guests, Eyebrow would get on the sofa behind them and run a fang in their hair, up and down the back of their skull. Nice, huh? Everyone found it a little unnerving to say the least.  When I would sit, he would crawl up into my hair and purr. He was a great cat. Truly.

We were blessed to have the time we had with Eyebrow. Godspeed, buddy. I’ll miss you… and I’ll always love you and remember you for the loving, faithful friend you were.

Is it just me? Is everyone as busy as I am right now? Between work, classes, and life, I feel like I’m on a treadmill with no control over it. I seem to plan something and then have to re-plan because other things come up.

While I realize that I’m blessed to have a job, a family, and a life, I’m kind of wondering what happened to my balance.  For a while, I really thought I had a handle on each of the above items. I must be delusional. hahaha

I have no photos or graphics to share this time. Sorry, too busy. I have a post that I NEED to write. A friendly blogger has blessed me beyond belief with some beautiful things that I need to share with you, but I need to take photos to do it all justice. (I haven’t forgotten, Lorrie!) It is supposed to be a nice weekend, maybe I’ll find a few minutes for a photo shoot.

I can tell you that I received an A in the Graphic Design class that I just finished up on Monday. I’m completely jazzed. This is my “off” week between quarters. On Monday we start back up with the Adobe Illustrator class and the web design class. I’m also taking a couple of one day classes in May, trying to get as much learning under my belt as possible. I’m close to the graphic design certificate… I can smell it. I just need to make sure my tools arsenal is fully loaded before I take the hard last class. LOL!

In other news, on Sunday, my fabulous son Josh helped me build a raised planter bed (4′ x 8′) in the backyard in a corner that isn’t really used. He even filled it with all of the heavy bags of potting soil for me. Then, my wonderful husband helped me with weed cloth. Finally, I have been working on filling it with plants. So far we have:

1 yellow squash plant

2 yellow bell pepper plants

1 yellow tomato plant

1 plum tomato plant

1 SF Fog tomato (kind of a salad tomato, grew really well last year!)

1 cantaloupe

1 brandywine tomato

1 beefsteak tomato

1 Asian cucumber (the long ones)

and another tomato, but I can’t remember what kind, but I think it’s similar to the brandywine maybe

I still have room for a couple of Zucchini plants, but I haven’t found any yet, so that has to wait. Once I do, I’ll put them in and it will be waiting time. I hate that! I want to plant and grow and eat the bounty!

We also have the little planters that I used last year. This year, I’m going to move those down by my new raised bed and plant lettuces and spinach in them. Yum! I might put herbs in one, I’m not sure yet. We seem to not use as many fresh herbs as we used to, unfortunately. None of us has the inclination to get fancy with the cooking these days!

I’m also hoping to still participate in the community garden with our neighbors. We grew terrific spaghetti squash up there last year, but I haven’t had a chance to get up there yet. Mike’s been doing a bunch of work up there, so I’m excited to see what he’s up to!

I’ll try to get the photos done this weekend. I’m really proud of the work Josh did in building the bed. I think he could sell them on Craigslist as kits, but have not been able to get him convinced of that. Hmmm, maybe *I* should sell them! (in my spare time!)

On that note, I’m going back to my sandwich.

-Take care and get your garden planted! I think it is so therapeutic to water in the evening, and i also think its nice to pick my OWN bounty instead of paying for it!

Friday night I went to dinner and the movies with my buddy Karen. We had a great time. A glass of sangria and dinner at Aqui, our local margarita and Mexican food hangout. Then, we headed over and saw Duplicity. Really good movie. It was nice to see Julia Roberts in a role that required a bit more than usual. I have always liked her, so it was fun to see her playing a smart woman for a change.

Then, after dinner, Karen treated me to Italian Gelato, one of my very favorite foods from way back when I went to Italy in 1982. While it wasn’t quite as good at the mall as it was in Venice, it was still yummy! While we ate it, we sat at the food court and people watched. I sat us so we could see a booth where they are selling, no joke, “electronic cigarettes.” The more I watched, the more appalled I was, and Karen too! If you look in the photo, (I’m sorry it isn’t clearer, but I took it with my iphone), you can see that the lady working the register (blonde) has a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. There were NO older people looking these things, only teens and young adults. The screen, which isn’t legible in any of the photos I took, flashes photos of people smoking “everywhere”, like restaurants, etc. This booth touts that it is to help people quit smoking, but the goal of all of the videos was how cool smoking is. How these electronic cigarettes can contain 4 different levels of nicotine, and come in 8 flavors. Come on, these are not about quitting…

Anyhow, I was underwhelmed by the booth, and frankly, a little angered by it, because I certainly don’t want my son or anyone else’s teen, for that matter, to think  that smoking is cool. I’ve watched too many friends battle to quit. Smoking is just not a good habit, nor does it make one look cool!

So that’s my rant for today. I’ll try to post about Graphic Design class in the next day or so. I’m done. All done. With my 2nd class. So relieved to have a brief break. Next quarter starts on April 6th. Hmmm, yea, next Monday. LOL A very brief break, indeed.

-Take care and have a great day!

I took this quiz from my friend Pam’s blog this morning. Somehow, I am totally NOT surprised by the results. If you know me at all, you know I love nothing more than good chocolate!

You Are Chocolate

You are dramatic, charming, and downright addicting. You have a strong personality, and and people are drawn to your fabulousness. You are stimulating and exciting. It’s hard to get tired of you. You are incredibly likable and popular. You live a glorious life.

My favorite candy bar is not readily available in the US. It is by Cadbury and is called Bourneville. It is called Classic Dark Chocolate according to the label. I learned about these about 10 years or so ago. I had a manager who was on “loan” from the UK. He would bring me back huge Bourneville bars whenever he went home. He was such a sweetie! Once he returned to the UK forever, he periodically sent me a couple of bars for several years. Yesterday, we stopped at this little store called “Powell’s Sweet Shop” in Willow Glen, and I found a Bourneville bar there! It’s sitting right here. So far, I’m just savoring the fact that I have one!

It’s Wednesday! Yay! The work week is half over and we’re almost to another weekend. In fact, I’m kind of excited that we’re almost to the weekend because I have grand plans of cleaning out my closet and moving my sweaters out and into storage for the warmer weather and moving in my Spring and Summer clothes! This is always fun because it’s kind of like getting a new wardrobe, you know? LOL

No new wardrobes here. I’m joining everyone in the quest to be more thrifty. I’m really trying to think before I buy things. On the news this morning, they were talking about how shoe repair folks are doing a booming business right now. If you think about it, for the most part, the folks who do repairs of almost any kind are the ones who are thriving right now. People are not replacing if they can repair.

One of the things that most bugs me about the financial world (I guess and the world in general too) right now is that everyone keeps saying “gee, if we reduce interest rates, people will spend more.” Um, hello? *What* exactly will we spend? Is it just me who is finding it more and more difficult to find that extra money for the fun things? It can’t be. I don’t believe it. I’m watching all of my friends pinch a little here and a little there to do the things they want to do. None of us are taking vacations. Yet, Hawaii is offering spectacular rates. I’d love to go, but since costs of everything keep going up and incomes are NOT going up (unless of course you are one of the amazingly lucky (dumb?) individuals who works for AIG and got a bonus from *ME* (face it, WE backed that bailout).

Am I angry? You bet. Am I frustrated? More than you can imagine. Am I doing okay. Hell yes, I’m an American. I come from New England, where we are so thrifty we can make a penny squeak. I’m giving up things I had given up and just recently put back into my life, but that’s fine. I don’t need a gym membership that I don’t have time to use. I think it is much better to MAKE a half hour of time 5-7 nights a week for a walk through our neighborhood with my teenage son who is still willing to be seen with me (thankfully!).

I’m not buying hardly any scrapbooking stuff now. Those who know me know that I love scrapbooking. The papers, the embellishments, just the whole kit and kaboodle. I’ve got a stash, just like I had when I quilted, and I’m going to start really digging into it. Seriously. It’s there, and I’m going to really get using it. I don’t have nearly as much as some folks I know, but I have probably got enough to keep me going for a couple of years.

I’m also trying to think about things that I make, craft wise, that I could sell on Etsy. I know lots and lots of folks who have Etsy shops. Why not me.

I know, I’m talking a good talk, and I know, it’s all probably going to get worse before it gets better, but, for now, I’m planning on keeping my head above water and trying to continually improve my family’s life. And, I do NOT plan to start spending because some dumb a$$ thinks that if he reduces interest rates, I’ll spend money. HELLO. It takes money to make money. Instead of bailing out all of these companies, maybe they should think about giving every American family (citizens only, thank you very much), $20,000. You want to see spending? That’s how you “stimulate”. What would you do with $20,000? Leave me a comment.

-Take care and hold onto your dreams.