A Life in Progress

Cat in a Box

I was at my mom's for dinner and their cat did the cutesy thing, Bella got inside the empty Diet Coke case. The picture is not the greatest but that is the best I could do with my new toy. ;)

Um, I'm Over Here

I thought I should say, I'll probably be posting a bit more over here... with the goodness that is Vox. Some things will be public and some won't. So go over there... and if you need a starter invite, let me know.

Oh, and I'm more active at Product Girl too, even podcasting!

meet My Mini me

I went over to my mom's house for dinner today and I brought my laptop with me so I could work. While I was eating dinner, my little sister was using the laptop. All of the sudden she asks a question... "What extensions do you have installed?"

I was stunned my little sister was asking me this but it was great, I love seeing that she knows this much about a browser. "Oh, I have Gmail Manager too." She went on to install Colorful Tabs and Gmail Skins in my browser. She's only 10 but she already has a favorite extension, she likes drawing with Mouse Gestures.

This kid is a mini-me. My family was going to go up to Vancouver, BC this weekend but decided not to go at the last minute, I was going to drive up there and meet them. Kayla was bummed out for the rest of the weekend. She emails me and says "I really wanted to stay in a hotel..." And where does she get this from? me, I love staying in hotels. Apparently, she was begging my mom for stuff when they went shopping yesterday, also another one of my childhood traits.

And as you can see, I am the palest person in my family. I'm almost ghostly white and the rest of my family has naturally tan skin. At least I have bronzer on my side.

Is This Insomnia?

It's 4:05am and I'm still awake. I have to be up in 4 hours to work and I have yet to close my eyes for the night. Could this be insomnia? I've been in this pattern for awhile... I go to bed and try to sleep but I can't get there. By the time I actually fall asleep, it's either 4:00 or 5:00am. This means I sleep until the very last possible minute, usually noon. I have tried to take sleeping pills and they just aren't working. Maybe it's because they are over the counter pills, who knows. Oh what I wouldn't give for a decent night's restful sleep.

woopy Schmoopy

Just playing around with my cell phone. Haven't used it in months... I almost forgot how to use it.

This is Kayla, my 10 yr. old little sister... and she blogs. Now if I could only get my brother to realize MySpace sucks.

An Evening with Mom

Last time I posted, I mentioned that my mom can be funny sometimes. This evening she was my student. I gave her a mini crash course in email.

She came over this evening so I could help her pay some bills online and after we were done, she asked a few questions about email. Since she's been whining for years that she has a daughter that knows how to use a computer and hasn't taught her anything, I decided I'd help her create her own email account.

My mom does not know a lot about how to use a computer. One time she called me at work and told me she was typing something. She called to ask how to add a capital letter. I laughed... a lot, but I understood that this whole thing was very new to her. I tried to tell her to hold down shift and hit the letter she needed to capitalize but that was way too much. She got frustrated and quit. I've had to type every letter and help her everytime she wants to do something with a computer so I was envisioning being free of this responsibility. Nope, not quite.

Apparently, my mom has learned a little bit since then. I started out with the basics; I showed her how to open a browser window and explained what everything in the browser was. When I came to the address bar, she snapped at me. "I'm not stupid, I know what that is!" Just then I thought maybe she really could start paying her own bills soon.

After I set up her email account, she was anxious to send an email. I went over everything in detail and set up contacts for her to make it easier. When she was composing an email to my aunt in Portugal, it was kind of funny to watch her type. She was hunting and pecking every key on the keyboard but for some reason, she hated using the space key. After she typed her first word, she kept typing the second one without adding a space. I had to keep nagging to get her to use the space key. "Which one is the space key?" After I told her it was the biggest key on the keyboard, she hit Backspace.

Actually, it was fun teaching her how to use this. I doubt she will ever put the internet to good use but for now, she's content that she's learned how to send an email... she was thrilled about using the @ symbol. Who knows, maybe after a few more crash courses, she'll set up a blog.

My Mom is Funny

I was visiting my mom this weekend and while I was over, a movie was starting, it was Minority Report. Right when the Dreamworks logo was on the screen she said:

I think I've seen this movie before. Is Dreamworks the title?

Joking around, I said the next thing on the TV was the title...20th Century Fox. Then she realized that was just the logo for the production company.

It's little things like this and how she says Erin Brockovich that make my mom funny at times.

Recent Thoughts

When you haven't blogged for months, there's a bunch of things that go through your head during the day. "Oooh, I could blog about that..." Then again, you end up doubting if people will really care about this particular thing after you've been quiet for so long. When I say you, of course, I mean me. These are things I've recently thought about blogging about but for some reason, did not.

• It's taken me months to blog about something I was so excited about. I went to San Francisco in late January and I have not said a word about it. Maybe I will soon though, I had a great time.
• Why can't we have more episodes of Lost? With new episodes coming only every few weeks, I'm not getting enough Sawyer. At least 24 has the right idea with a non-stop season. And while we're at it, when is Alias and Commander in Chief coming back? At least The Sopranos came back.
• Having to pay more taxes at the end of the year sucks... I'm not sure why yet but I may owe a hefty sum this year. I hope TurboTax doesn't get offended if I get a second opinion... mama needs some more deductions.
• I was on the wagon and then I fell off of it. At the beginning of the year, I was kicking some ass on my diet. Then I went out of town, ate badly, got sick and wasted a month. Now it's time to go back on the wagon.
• Gay bingo is fun. It doesn't sound like tons of fun but when you combine drag queens with music, bingo and drinks, there's some huge potential there. I didn't dance and I didn't drink but I had a great time last Saturday.
• I really want to start a podcast. Christine's got a great podcast going and it's sort of inspired me to want my own. What would I put out a podcast about? I don't think anyone would listen to me going on about makeup. I may contribute to a Lost podcast though. A segment about my undying love for Sawyer could be fun.
• Working from coffee shops can get expensive, even though there's quite a few free wi-fi options. When you're there for more than a few hours and have only bought a latte, you're kind of guilted in to buying more lattes. I could park my car all day downtown for what I'd spend in one day at a coffee shop. As an alternative to coffee shops, the libraries near me all have free wi-fi so that may work out well. It would be kind of cool to work here for an afternoon.
• I need to read more, become a more cultured person. I've had the same book literally on my nightstand since I bought it... in September. I'm a slow reader but I cannot get into this book to save my life. Sure, chicklit is fun but sometimes more serious content is needed. Any suggestions?
• I need a new camera. This poor thing is really starting to bother me. I didn't play with it but I saw a Nikon camera (not sure which, D series maybe) that had me drooling, it was so pretty. I've been meaning to start taking my camera out and actually use my Flickr account. Ever see this view while watching Grey's Anatomy? I just now finally found out where to go to take a picture like this. I've been wondering what this park was named for awhile now.
• I need to stop listening to the same four songs over and over again. I need more mellow stuff like this that helps me work. If she hadn't shared the last one with me, I wouldn't be obsessing and humming it whenever I'm away from a radio.
• That Natalie Portman is a badass chick, really.

Yeah, um, these thoughts wouldn't have made very compelling posts. I'll be a better blogger now and say something more often.

And A merry Christmas to All

I hope everyone is has a wonderful holiday this weekend. I would have liked to give everyone a gift, but instead, I'll give you this... and plan to be more active here and on your weblogs. .

It Was a Good Thanksgiving

This year's Thanksgiving was partly drama free which I am extremely thankful for. Thanksgiving weekend is usually a double-whammy for my family. Not only do we have turkey day but it's also usually my dad and aunt's birthday during the same weekend. We had lots of great food this weekend, turkey with mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad and roasted asparagus on Thursday and then Prime Rib with roasted potatoes and vegetables yesterday. To quote Rachael Ray, I say yummo.

I attempted to be Betty Crocker this year and made a pumpkin pie. I've never really been a baker so I was pretty impressed with my first attempt at making a pie. What do you think? It tasted so good. Thank you Paula Deen, I couldn't have done it without you. What you can't see is the side of the pie where I spilled some of the filling while putting the pie in the oven. Oops. The other food was amazing too, my mother makes the world's best stuffing and mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese... makes my mouth water just thinking about that. We also had a few traditional Portuguese desserts to round out the selection. You can see my mom's version of Natas pictured above, it's sort of a custard-ey cupcake, very good.

The wee bit of drama we had was actually because of a guest this time. My aunt's friend Sam's nephew came over for dinner. He unexpectedly brought a guest with him so that made my mother nervous... she didn't plan for an extra person. This normally timid guy suddenly became really outgoing. He started taking our pictures and got a little flirtatious with my aunt. He even gave my mother a card, he said the card spelled the name of the holiday as they spelled it when it was first celebrated. The card said Happy Chanukah. After about 20 minutes, Richard and his friend left, saying they forgot they had their own turkey in the oven and had to go. It was just weird. He tried to invite himself to Christmas, but chances are, we won't be coming over.

I did some shopping over the weekend too. I haven't really started Christmas shopping yet, just sort of spoiled myself with some stuff from the new Who's That Lady collection (as if I needed more, my makeup cart is already full), clothes and candles but I also bought some birthday presents for my dad and aunt and some clothes for a little girl in Lousianna that my friend Jennifer is helping out. I had a great coupon for Yankee Candle Company, it was buy one and get one free for the 22oz. jar candles. I have a new project too. My parents are getting new bedroom furniture and they said I could have their old dressers. I don't know if I want them though. They are pretty ugly and are older than I am but I think with some paint and new hardware, it may look ok. I'm going to use the magic of Photoshop to see what it may look like. There's a very good chance I will be passing on this furniture.

So that was my weekend. I got to sleep a lot, I shopped quite a bit and I spent some quality time with my family. Only thing that could have made it better would be winning the lottery. For this week, I'm planning on getting a fresh tree and some wreathes. I want to have my tree up and ready by the weekend. I also want to try and make something like these wrist warmers Liz made. Don't they look fun?