Three and a half hours well spent

Also known as, "the room of unwanted items" or my favorite, my new radio studio.....

I've been involved in internet radio for a little while now and just started a radio station with a couple of friends.  It's going really well, but I really wanted to set up a proper studio instead of broadcasting from the couch or, even better, my bed.  Yup, I've done my show while sitting on my bed.

We have a room in our basement that was, at one time, the office.  We moved the office upstairs to a room attached to the bedroom, but since the router is in the basement, it makes more sense to broadcast from that room.  So.... I went back into "the room of unwanted items."  The old office has been accumulating anything we've wanted to put out of the way, but didn't have a place to put it.  It became a giant, disorganized closet.

I had been passing the room at the bottom of the steps for quite some time.  I'd peek in, become immediately overwhelmed, and quickly walk in the other direction.  I don't know what happened this morning, but I decided to tackle some of it.  Three and a half hours, several cups of coffee, four dead spider carcasses,   and a Skype conversation later and the room is clean and set up.  I can hardly believe it.  I thank my friend, Jake, for putting up with the crackling trash bags, sneezes, and dead spider freak-outs during our conversation.

I started out by tackling almost three years of Yarn of the Month club samples, still in their bags.  My mother gave me these rolling carts for Christmas because I've been talking about organizing my yarn stash for quite some time.  I filled up one deep drawer with the samples I could find.  I know there are more lurking somewhere because I rearranged quite a few bags a couple of years ago.  I hesitate to go looking for them.

I honestly thought that is all that I would get accomplished before giving up and going back to knitting, but I pushed on.

Seven bags of trash later, the room is clean and vacuumed.

Hubs came down with the table and set up all of the electronic equipment.  I still need to put up some foam to help sound-proof the room.  The acoustics are great for a capella singing, but that doesn't translate well to the radio I don't think.

Now I'm just sitting down here staring at everything and hanging out.  It's nice to have my own space.  Let's hope I can keep it clean!

A special thank you goes out to Carly Rae Jepsen and Selena Gomez for helping me to dance and sing around the chaos.

**on a side note, you can listen to me live on Wednesday evenings from 8-9pm ET for paranormal talk, Thursday evenings from 8-9 pm ET to hear music from up-and-coming artists and those that don't get much/if any commercial airplay, and Friday evenings from 7-9pm ET for discussions on a multitude of topics from paranormal to psychological on Digital Radio 103.

I hate winter

I really feel like I should have bolded that title.  I really hate it.  I mean at first it’s ok.  The holidays come in and they’re all merry and bright.  Then comes the downside to the year.  It’s dark, cold and dreary.  There’s no sitting outside in the sun or enjoying the breeze of the evening air.  It’s just cold, dark and miserable. Hubs and I are thinking of going to visit the Keys again in a month or so.  I hope it happens. 

Obviously I’ve been incommunicado for a few weeks.  With the weather making me miserable and a little health scare, I just stayed away from all social media.  Too depressed to think of anything to write about.

Good news is I’m ok and I’m baaaaack.

Since I’m sure there are other people feeling the same way about winter, below is a reminder of the warmer months.  I can’t wait for them to be back.

 

Thank God For Small Favors

A couple of years ago, my in-laws bought me a laptop for use in my new career in real estate.  That did not pan out after more than a year of struggling, but I still had this awesome laptop to use. 

I loved it.  I could edit photos, blog, surf, whatever I wanted.  Then it broke.  I just stopped working.  I thought it was the video card.  Hubs didn’t know what it was.  All I know is that it just stopped working. Consistent Blue Screen of Death dead… No Safe Mode. No passing Go. No Collecting $200 dollars.  Dead. 

We made do with the desktop. I fully realize how ridiculous this makes me sound, but our desktop was a dinosaur. You would click on something, go make a pot of coffee, come back and still have to wait five minutes for it to engage.  We really needed a faster computer.  Hubs is taking college classes online and this was not cutting it.

So, for my birthday last year, hubs bought me a netbook.  It was nice, but it was not my laptop with the 17” monitor, cd drive and the keyboard took some getting used to.  It had all the power of my laptop in a miniature form.  It worked great until the day there was a little accident.  I was having a glass of wine and tweeting, probably.  It was summer.  There was condensation.  I think we all know where this is going. 

Of course we didn’t get the insurance on the old one.  That would have been smart.  I sucked it up and went out and bought a new one.  It is still alive.  I haven’t dropped it or anything on it yet. (Knock on wood.)

So, my big, hefty laptop sat in our sitting room collecting dust until today.  I had been saying that I want to get it fixed.  Hubs has been saying that it would cost too much and he was going to chuck it if he couldn’t get it to work.  I was devising ways of sneaking it out of the house unnoticed. 

Hubs turned it on today.  It works.  It turned on, it ran some diagnostic test and it fixed the problem.  I am so excited.  It’s sad, really, that this is what it takes to excite me these days, but it’s the little things.  I love my computer.  I’m so glad it’s back.

What a nice way to wake up

I got a nice surprise when I stumbled out of bed this morning.  I generally check my email when I wake up in the morning and it's usually just random spam.  Peppered in with the spam, this morning, was an email from the Bloggers website.

I am an Editors' Pick of the Day!  My mug has been up on their website all day!

I registered there about a month ago, I guess.  I thought it would be a nice way to network and just get people to read my stuff! Don't get me wrong.  Above all, I am blogging for  me, but it's boring to me if I'm the only one reading it.  I like to get some interaction and it's exciting to know that people are actually reading this thing.

So, I have another 7 hours and 15 minutes to soak it in.   Very cool.



 

The Most Expensive Coffee I've Ever Had

Friday morning, we were hit with a smallish snow storm.  It was only going to give us a couple of inches.  No one thought anything of it.  I certainly didn't.

I left home a little early that day.  I planned on stopping on the way to work for a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich.

The roads were a little slick, but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of the year.  I opted to not go the back way to the turnpike because there are lots of twists and turns.  I didn't want to take any chances.  Last year, hubs got stuck on those back roads and a kind man drove him home in his big truck.  I didn't want to tempt fate.

The drive took a little longer than usual, but that's to be expected.  I made my way down a two-lane highway, through a few traffic lights and headed on towards my favorite coffee in the world. The Dunkin' Donuts sign was shining like a beacon in the dark of the early morning.  (Cue the singing angels. Or Monty Python...)

I turned into the parking lot of the shopping center and noticed that not a blade had touched it.  I worried for a second, but I drove on.

I stopped in the center lane or what I thought was the center lane and checked for other traffic.  There was none so I started the left turn.  I started to slide.  All of my drivers ed classes flashed through my brain.  Steer into the skid.  Steer against the skid.  Don't hit the breaks.  Don't hit the breaks?  Hit the breaks!  Hit the breaks!

I hit the breaks.  I hit the curb. A little five-inch curb...  BANG!

You would have thought a bomb went off. 
I backed up and pulled into the parking lot and got out to survey the damage.  There was no visible damage.  Tire was inflated.  No dents.  Thank you, God!

I got my coffee and my sandwich and went on my merry way. My car was driving a little funny, but the roads are icy.  I pulled into a gas station and checked the tire pressure.  It was perfect.  I figured as soon as I get to the turnpike, the roads will clear up and I'll be fine.  It's just the roads.

It wasn't just the roads.  You see, friends.  I had bent the control arm of my car to the point where I was lucky it didn't shake off of my car.  Me, the dumbass of the year, drove the next forty miles to work.  On. A. Wonky. Tire. (Mom, I'm ok.  Sorry I didn't tell you.  I didn't think it was that big of a deal.  Ok, I'm calling you now, before you read this.)

I got to work THEN I called AAA and had my car towed to my local garage.  Got to ride in a tow truck.  Thanks, Eddie!

So, a 50 mile tow (thank God for AAA), a new control arm, new strut and new tie rod later... That was the most expensive cup of coffee I've ever had.  A $600 cup of coffee.  Mmmm. Delicious.

The Year of Change

This year, I decided, was the year of change for me.  It’s not over as I made the decision on my birthday, in May, but it is zooming to a close.  I am taking the Roman New Year as a way to refresh the promise I made to myself.

This is the year for me to better myself.  Over the past few months I seem to have lost the gusto that I originally had when I made the promise to myself, but I’m getting back on track.  Slowly.

With that said, I wanted to take today to reflect on the changes that have happened this year. 

I’ve gained more grey hairs, more wrinkles, and lost and gained a little weight, but above all I’ve gained and done some real positive things.

This year I went to BlogHer with my sister, learned a lot great things, rediscovered my love of photography, and met a lot of great people,Some of whom, I will treasure for ever! I attended some great parties and danced the night away with people who were total strangers, but ended up as friends.

From left to right: Peaches and Coconuts, Reckless Sarcasm, Up Popped A Fox

I took an awesome visit to Key West.

I met Jesus in the bathroom at work.

I opened up my heart to the possibility that I could make my dreams come true.

One dream came true and I got a new camera!  Have I mentioned how much I love it?

There’s much more, and trying to outline it all in this post makes me realize how great this year actually was and it’s not even over yet!

Tomorrow morning, I will make my life list and read through/edit my Mondo Beyondo list.  I am really looking forward to 2011.  Best wishes to everyone.  I hope all of your dreams come true this coming year.

Incommunicado

I’ve kind of been MIA from my blog and Twitter for a while, obviously.  It’s been miserably cold and I’ve been feeling icky.  Nothing major, just haven’t felt motivated to do much of anything except for knitting.

I’ve been knitting a lot for Christmas and that has also taken up a lot of time. 

I also am “interviewing” to join a paranormal group.  I went on my first investigation with them last weekend.  It was a lot of fun and I hope they let me join.  I have another investigation in a few weeks.  I’m really looking forward to it.

I am working on a requested post.  One of my Twitter friends has encouraged me to post some of my experiences and I have also asked if she would like to guest post.  So that will be coming soon as well.

In the meantime, I leave you with a photo that my husband really likes.  It has nothing to do with this post.

 

Giving Thanks

Holiday Shopping and Some Rambling

I am looking forward to the holidays.  I get to see my family, get a few days off of work and have time to relax.  I will just get relaxed enough to enjoy having time off and then it will be time to go back to work.  So, I may take off on Monday.

I just found out today that I have 52 hours to use until the end of the year.  I can carry over 40 so that leaves me 12 to play around with.  I don’t have to carry any over, but I always worry about getting sick and not having any time to play with.  I also worry about being gone for too long.  Too much to catch up on when I get back. 

Speaking of the holidays, I really have to start shopping. I’ve finished knitting one gift and have two in the works, but by this time last year I was almost done!  Every year it gets harder to shop for people. 

What do you get someone that has “everything” and if they don’t and they want it, they go out and get it?!

What do you get someone that never tells you what they want?!  My mom and sister, I can figure out.  Any craft item goes over well, but my dad…  I. Have. No. Idea.  Hub’s dad is the same way and I have NO idea what to get Hub’s mom.  It’s gotten to the point that if someone has an idea, I think we all hide it from each other so no one uses it and leaves us unable to think of something else.

Rest assured, I will be grilling my family over the weekend.  Get your lists ready, family!  I want ideas!

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

I had a pretty stressful week.  I let a lot of things get to me.  Someone hit my car.  Another month passed in which my body denied me one of my biggest dreams.  It’s a crazy time at work and I didn’t feel good for most of the week, but as another week closes and I think about all the stress, I realize that I really don’t have a lot to stress about. When I think about all of the things that other people are going through, I realize that my worries are pretty trivial.  I am pretty damn lucky.

What a Way to Start the Day

I get up and head off to work like any normal day.  I need to get gas so I stop at a gas station on the way. 

As I pull in, I notice that there is a heavy-duty truck at the first tank so I start to pull around to get to the tank in front of him. He seems like he is getting ready to pull out so I stop right next to him so I don’t cut him off or get hit.

As I sit, I see him look in his rearview mirror, in his drivers side mirror, and then he starts to pull out.

“He’s going to hit me.”

I hit my horn.  He keeps moving as he looks around, confused, and keeps coming.

“What, am I invisible?”

I hit my horn again as he crunches into my car and turns to look at me, incredulously.  He throws his hands up in the air as if I have run into him!

He backs up and I hear my car groan.  I cringe and put the car in park.

He gets out of the car and yells, “Where did you come from? I checked my mirrors!”

“I was sitting right next to you.  I saw that you were going to pull out and I stopped so that I didn’t cut you off.”

He looks at the front of my car.

“Was this here before?”, he asks.

“No.”

At this point, I am shaking.  I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know what to say.  We exchange insurance information.  He apologizes profusely.  He was trying not to hit the gas tanks with his trailer (construction) and he didn’t see me.

While we are exchanging information, another truck drives by and the driver leans out the window and yells, “Hey buddy, watch where you’re going next time!”

The car assailant smiles, waves and mutters, “I really didn’t need my neighbor to see me do that.”

It was probably good for everyone that he hit me and not the gas tanks.  My day could have started out a lot worse.   

I’m ok – my car?  Well, she probably needs a new front bumper.  Thankfully he missed the front quarter panel.

Autumn in the Northeast

Here are some more photos of our walk in the park.

		Autumn in the Northeast VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I Did It!

I broke down and got the camera that I was saving for.  Today, I went and picked up my new baby, my Nikon D3000.  It's beautiful and I love it and I didn't even want to wait to charge the battery before I took some shots.

Here is one of them, but there are many more to come.

I am in love with this camera.

Am I Too Nice?

Today, while I was talking to a co-worker she mentioned that I came up in a conversation she was having with her boyfriend.

“I was talking to Mike and I said that no matter how mad Suz is, she always seems so nice.  Even when I know she can’t stand the person…  I’m so not like that.  It’s obvious when I don’t like someone and I think that’s bad.”

That got me thinking.  Am I too nice?  Do I take too much crap from other people?  I have long been the doormat choosing the “kill them with kindness” route, but then there are those times when I’ve had enough and I let some poor soul have it. This normally happens at the most inopportune times.

Did you ever get so sick of the way that someone treats you that you vow that the next time they piss you off you’re going to let them have it?  Invariably the next “offense” is so minor and you flip out making yourself look like the asshole.  I guess everyone does that, but I seem to do that a lot.  I think because I let things simmer slowly for a long time.  When I finally come to a boil, it’s a nasty i-forgot-to-turn-down-the-heat-and-there-is-milk-in-the-water kind of boil over.  It stinks.

I really do try to turn the other cheek anymore and try and kill them with kindness, but sometimes I think that the person that you’re “killing” ends up thinking you’re an idiot because they’re clearly walking all over you and you’re just taking it and smiling.  I guess that’s when you have to believe in Karma and that the universe will give that person a big old slice of Karma pie someday. 

I really want to be there when some people get slapped in the face with it.  Really.

So, am I too nice?  I guess sometimes I am, but sometimes I’m ridiculously angry for no reason and over-reactive (is that a word?), and whiney.

I guess I’m just human.

How My Day Started AKA I was in the UK?

I started my day out with an email, @DaisyPantalones and a DM from my sister on Twitter.
(Pardon the paraphrasing)
Vee – I’m sorry to contact you at work, but someone has hacked your Gmail account and is impersonating you.
I immediately freak and grab my phone and realize that someone has, indeed, hacked into my Gmail account and sent the most scandalous email. ( The red italics are my commentary.)
Subject: (BRUTAL EXPERIENCE) I NEED YOUR HELP URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am writing this mail with tears in my eye. (In the flight over 

I seem to have lost an eye. Horrible accident, I’ll tell you more 

about that in tomorrow’s post.)I thought I could reach out to you 

to help me out. I came out to United Kingdom for a short vacation 

unfortunately I was mugged at the park of the Hotel where I stayed,

all cash,credit card and cell phone ( I would kill for my phone so 

this, you can see, is a serious situation.) were stolen from me but 

luckily for me I still have my passport with me. I've been to the 

embassy and the Police here but they're not helping issues at all 

and my flight leaves in few hour from now but.

I am having problems settling the hotel bills and the hotel manager

 won't let me leave until I settle the bills. (What an asshole. 

He let me use his work computer to send this email though. 

He’s not heartless!)I need your help to loan me some money when

i get back i will refund it back asap.(I pinky swear!)

Thanks
Susannah (my last name is here too, but well…)

Now first of all, the grammar is atrocious.  No one could possibly think it’s me.  (I hope.) 

Second, I don’t have a passport.  You fail, asshole.  Third, I talk to my family EVERY 

day. (Ok, I email almost every day…  Ok, at least once a week.) They know I’m

not overseas. Oh no, you suck again!

With all that said, I’m mortified!  Someone at work told me that they saw this exact

same situation on the news recently.  Some poor sucker fell for it and sent this 

Nigerian individual (yes, he/she was from Nigeria) money. We’re talking thousands

of dollars.  Duh!  They must walk around with a neon “I’m a sucker for everything” 

sign above their head.  Sorry if you’re one of those people that falls for every email. 

You know you’re gullible. This is not news. 

Ok, back to the story.  Not only did this person have the audacity to hack

into MY email account (I’m important, you see….) they have the double 

audacity to correspond with my sister?

“OMG I can’t believe I didn’t tell you about my trip!”  

Really?  Really?  

So, since Gmail is blocked at work, I had to clumsily change my password from

my phone.Then I logged in and realized that this asshat had gone into my settings 

and forwarded my Gmail to this other email address at Yahoo. Now I feel REALLY

violated.  Thank goodness I don’t have any real personal information on that email

account, or any for that matter.  

Thankfully, my sister (being the angel that she is and yes I’m sucking up because

Christmas is coming. No really you’re an angel --Vee) sent the whole thing to Yahoo

reporting it as Fraud and Phishing.

What’s the moral of the story here, kids?  Don’t go on your iPhone when you’re in the 

Philadelphia Airport. Also, don’t get mugged outside of your hotel while visiting the 

UK for a short vacation.  The concierge at the hotel is really a jerk and will hold

you hostage until you bilk your friends and family for money to pay the bill.  

My Weekend In Pictures

Hubs and I took a drive to a local farm to get some natural meat and eggs.  Of course I had camera in hand.  We all know I love the Macro setting on my camera, but unfortunately I could not get a ton of good shots because the animals were constantly moving.  And you know I whined about wanting an SLR…  A lot.

They had enormous squash!  Some of them were over 40lbs!

I had to get some pomegranates to “enjoy” at some point this weekend.  They’re so pretty!

And then I ate one…  And it got messy…

Happy Halloween!

Seeing the Forest

I have realized that I see things as if I’m a Macro lens and while it’s nice to have focus, sometimes you don’t see the bigger picture.  Dwelling on the small stuff is often destructive.  Knowing how to switch gears sometimes needs to be learned.  I’m learning.

Out Damned Spot!

I can’t seem to get out of my own head lately.  

I have not been on medication for a year or so and I thought I was doing well, but I’m starting to think that I’ve been fooling myself.  Scratch that, I have been fooling myself.  I still think that I need a coping mechanism that doesn’t involve chemicals or spending money because I don’t think that you can totally rely on medication.  For a long time that has been knitting, but lately it seems that isn’t even helping.  I find myself messing up the pattern because I get lost in my head, in some conversation that happened during the day in which I think that I may have looked like an idiot or didn’t know what I was talking about or I used the wrong word, or I said too much or I said the same thing too much or someone looked at me the wrong way or I must be annoying and that is why my someone snapped at me or I really am not good at what I do and some day soon they will figure it out and fire me and what am I going to do with my life when this happens and what if I get pregnant and what if I never get pregnant and never have children and should I really have children because I’m clearly CRAZY and can’t get out of my own head!

So, I’ve resolved that I am going to suck it up, stop the excuses, and go back to my doctor.  I’ve never had a proper diagnosis from a mental health professional.  One doctor has said it’s anxiety and depression and another has said that I am Bipolar.  Whatever it is, I need a plan to get better because something is clearly not working.  Whew!  I feel better already!

Old friends

There are few people who know me and know me well. There are a lot of people who probably think they do, but I don't really let people in quickly.
I am erratic, flighty, but at times am super intense and emotionally demanding. I expect too much of people because I expect too much of myself.
That being said, there are a select few people that have hung in there and I am glad they tolerate my behavior and accept me, warts and all.
I'm presently on my way to my college Alma mater for Homecoming to meet up with some of these people. It's amazing that there are some people that you don't see very often and when you do, it's like no time has passed.
Of course you catch up on each other's lives, but it's incredible how easy it is to fall into that same comfortable friendship - Just as easy as your favorite, well-worn, well-loved sweatshirt.
I'll try not to get too sentimental this weekend, but it's going to be hard.
I promise many photos. Faces may be blurred to protect the "innocent."

I’m lazy

So I will post a photo.  I have some things brewing and stewing in my brain, but until then…. a photo you will get.  Or photos…. I’m indecisive.  These are some of the shots from the canning extravaganza a couple of weekends ago while I was visiting my parents.

 

Speaking of brewing and stewing…