Paper Whiskers

me: by the numbers

I ran across this meme while re-arranging files and thought it was a good time to do another one. The last one I did was in June 2005, so it's definitely been awhile! And it's very interesting to compare the two. Especially the blogs that I read every day. There is only one scrapbooker on it now, which isn't surprising. And my impossible thing hasn't changed at all.

 

Ten Things I See Every Day:

1. my alarm clock

2. Eric’s smile

3. Superman (in various depictions)

4. 6 (my Mac mini)

5. white socks on my feet

6. the inside of my bag

7. the litter box

8. Kahlan

9. Edie

10. Eric’s Death Eater hat

 

Nine Things On My Amazon Wish List:

1. CSI: NY Season 4 DVD set

2. Anything Goes by John Barrowman (paperback)

3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer complete season DVD set

4. Cast-Iron Aebleskiver Pan

5. Wilby Wonderful DVD

6. Epson Stylus 1440 Photo Printer

7. The Andy Williams Christmas Album

8. Turning the Mind Into An Ally by Sakyong Mipham

9. Abyss by Orson Scott Card

 

Eight Things I Do Every Day:

1. put on shoes

2. brush my teeth

3. check my email

4. listen to music

5. read

6. procrastinate

7. sleep

8. drive

 

Seven Blogs I Read Every Day:

1. WWdN: In Exile (Wil Wheaton)

2. Ali Edwards

3. electric boogaloo

4. Posie Gets Cozy (Alicia Paulson)

5. allsorts (Jenny B. Harris)

6. wee and the wolf (Melanie Ford Wilson)

7. theodesign (Abigail Halpin)

 

Six Of My Favorite Treats:

1. caramel pretzels from Iowa Popcorn Company

2. dark chocolate

3. rice krispy treats

4. crackers and sharp cheddar

5. puffed corn (cheesy)

6. banana flavored taffy

 

Five Scrapbook/Stamping Supplies I Can’t Live Without:

1. Tonic 12” guillotine trimmer

2. rubber stamps (any and all)

3. black dye ink

4. Prismacolor pencils

5. patterned papers (any and all)

 

Four Comics I Read Every Day:

1. For Better Or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

2. Safe Havens by Bill Holbrook

3. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

4.

 

Three Books I Want To Read/Re-read This Year:

1. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

2. Uhura’s Song by Janet Kagan

3. Dragonrider’s of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (Current Pass)

 

Two Places I Want To Visit In My Lifetime:

1. Great Britain

2. Alaska

 

One Impossible Thing I Wish I Could Do:
1. travel to the future with The Doctor

Finally identified:

"At Long Last Love" from the "Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris" 1962 concert album (album released in 1994)

I've been looking for this song performance for ages, ever since I watched Return to Me the second time. (The first time I was recovering from the emotional rollercoaster that movie takes you on.) The soundtrack doesn't have this song on it, played during one of my favorite scenes. (When everyone's dancing at the restaurant.)

I figured out which song it was, but every version I could find online sounded different from the one in the movie. And yes, I did actually have the movie going and compared the song tracks to the clips I could find online. No dice. He usually sings it much slower and smoother than the one that is in the movie. So, I gave up the search.

Until this weekend, when I was watching the movie again, and realized I could see part of the CD that the characters are holding when starting the music. Thank goodness for Pause! It's not a clear shot, but the cover definitely had a black center, with a white border. Definitely enough to match, thanks to the Internet! And I found it. I don't want the whole CD, so unless I find a single for sale somewhere, it'll just be in my reference file. But at least I know which version I'm looking for now.

:D

Man, I love research.

Grossest. thing. ever.

Did you know that a frozen dinner, consisting of chicken w/cheese sauce and a side of broccoli smells EXACTLY like CANNED CAT FOOD when heated in a microwave?

I kid you not.

Needless to say, I'm lunching on a Micky-D's chicken sandwich at my desk.

me: by the numbers

Inspired by Denise Pauley's post today, here is me: by the numbers. I changed my lists a bit (okay, a lot), but some are the same. It was a fun exercise.

Ten Things I See Every Day:

1. Kahlan and Edie, begging for their breakfast

2. Eric, sleeping

3. My Superman poster

4. A red lobster toy that lives on my CPU at work

5. Superman hanging from my truck rear-view window

6. Picture wall in the living room

7. City parks

8. Deer/bird feeding station outside our apartment

9. Ugly orange living room drapes

10. Happy duck illustration in the bathroom

Nine Things On My Amazon Wish List:

1. The Blue Planet DVDs

2. Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects by Salley Mavor

3. The Pretender - First Season DVDs

4. Lomography Supersampler Camera

5. Around the Sun by R.E.M.

6. I Want to Live by John Denver

7. Dyson Vaccuum

8. Epson Stylus Photo R1800 Printer

9. Star Mother's Youngest Child by Louise Moeri

Eight Things I Do Every Day:

1. Hit the snooze button too many times

2. Feed the cats

3. Drink water

4. Fiddle with my charm bracelet

5. Hem and haw about what to wear

6. Take my vitamins

7. Worry about stuff I can’t change

8. Check my e-mail

Seven Blogs I Read Every Day:

1. Wee Wonderfuls

2. In Love With The Stars

3. Bits and Pieces

4. In Other Words

5. Loobylu

6. Wil Wheaton Dot Net

7. Half of What I Say is Meaningless

Six Of My Favorite Treats:

1. Chunky Monkey Ben & Jerry’s

2. New York Chocolate Chunk Ben & Jerry’s

3. Banana laffy taffy

4. Hand-cranked vanilla ice cream

5. Cherry Pepsi

6. Toasted marshmallows over a fire

Five Scrapbook/Stamping Supplies I Can’t Live Without:

1. Patterned paper

2. Helmar glue

3. Textured cardstock

4. Bookboard

5. Acrylic block for Rubbermoon unmounted stamps

Four Comics I Read Every Day:

1. Safe Havens

2. For Better or For Worse

3. Luann

4. FoxTrot

Three Books I Want To Read/Re-read This Summer:

1. Eragon by Christopher Paolini and it’s sequel Eldest

2. Zen Shorts by Jon Muth

3. The Talent Universe books by Anne McCaffrey

Two Places I Want To Visit In My Lifetime:

1. Northwest coast

2. Canada

One Impossible Thing I Wish I Could Do:

1. Travel into the future

::creeped out::

ick.

A big brown spider (not a recluse) found it's way into my office space this morning, and has got me freaked. I'm not normally afraid of spiders, but if I know one is around I'm always afraid it's going to think I'm a tree or something. But I can't kill them, so I tried to push this one away and get it going in another direction.

No such luck. I lost track of it, and accidentally hurt it with my rolling chair. So, then it was slowly walking away. :( I wish the chair had killed it outright. It stayed in one place for so long I thought it was dead, but now it's gone again. The poor thing probably crawled under the cabinet to die. But I'm still getting the creepy-crawlies, thinking it recovered and is going to show up again later.

double-ick

Oddball Favorites

Denise's post about oddball favorites got me thinking.

Of course, my first thought was for my guys. *NSYNC. JC, to be more specific. ::swoon::  LOL  I even found Joey's home movie DVD on Blockbuster Online - funny stuff. And I can't get over how young they were when they started. They were babies!

If you asked me who my least favorite actor was it would be a toss-up between Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler. But I really like the Wedding Singer and would watch it even if Eric wasn't around.

If you asked me what I like to read I'd say fantasy novels, especially Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders series. But I read online fanfiction more often than anything else.

If you asked me what my favorite television show is, I'd say C.S.I. Heh - Nothing to confess here!

If you asked me how I scrapbook, I'd say, 'with lots of embellishments'. I'm kind of known for it. But, when I sit down to do a page, the easiest part is matching the papers and putting them together. Embellishments are usually an afterthought. I have to force myself to think about what would work and where they would go, because my first instinct is to leave it flat. I usually end up pulling papers up to adhere a nailhead or brad, or decide not to use it because I can't put it where I want it. I don't think far enough ahead to put the embellishments in while I'm assembling the flat pieces. And sketching doesn't help with this, because they are just a wireframe and too little to try and draw in details. I need to find a happy medium, I think. Maybe try doing more flat pages and see what happens. Unfortunately, like a lot of scrappers, I've invested way too much into embellishments to give them up entirely. Plus, they're just so cool and fun to mess around with I'd hate to not have that option.

So, those are a few of my not-so-secret guilty pleasures and random stuff about me. This would make a good entry in the all about me book I'll do some day.

I polished my boots today

It's been awhile since I could say that. It used to be that I could say that almost every day of the week.

They were different than the ones I'm wearing now, of course. Basic issue black at first. Then came the issued steel toes in tech school, which I quickly upgraded with a much more comfortable pair, with mesh tops, and a cooler tread. They were harder to get a good shine on, though, so the instructors weren't too impressed with those.

They loved the guy in my class who wore the issued boots and had a weekend-long method for getting a killer mirror finish on them. The shine was so good, that it only took a little touch-up work every day to keep it that way. I still don't know exactly how he managed it. It involved bare feet, the shower, soap, and a big can of polish. Sounds dirty, doesn't it? lol He did explain it to me once, but I was never that dedicated of an airman, and was happy with my 'fancy' boots. There were a few guys though, who paid him to put a finish on their own boots.

Someday, I'm going to get around to writing down all the random stories I've got from those four years of hell. The trouble is, not all of it was that bad. Most of it was, and I still can't get over the fact that I actually got through it, but there were little pockets of good times.

I met some really wonderful people and some really screwed up people. I've lost track of almost everyone I knew during those four years, but recently reconnected with one of the really wonderful ones, from the best times.

And I have never forgotten what my Mom said when I complained that she put up my grad picture from Basic Training in the dining room.

"You look proud."

And that says it all, doesn't it? I was proud to finally be finished. To finally have gotten out of that place, without having to redo a week or two or three. And I guess I'm proud that I stuck it out for four years. There were a few times that I was asked whether I wanted to stay in or not (not in those exact words, of course). But looking back, I can see that that's what they were asking. If I'd given up, and said "I want out. This isn't the right place for me." I would have been out. I was still in training, and that's part of the weeding out process for trainees who are struggling and not right for the military.

But I didn't give in. I said, "I'd like to try this instead." or "I'll keep trying." And I ended up in a good place. With excellent people to work with and a beautiful Big Sky to look at every day. And when it was time to either re-up or separate, I stuck to my guns and my beliefs.

And now, five years later, I'm here. Polishing my boots again. And wondering all over again if I'm where I want to be in life.

But that's a pondering for another day . . .

My Life Made Easier

FedEx self-stick labels for online processing.

I used to have to print them on regular paper, fold in half, stuff in a  sticky plastic envelope, carefully peel the backing off, and adhere the sticky plastic envelope very carefully to the pak, box, or envelope, being sure not to let it stick to itself (it's natural tendency) or the paper.

Now I print the label on the adhesive sheet, peel it off and stick it on the pak, box, or envelope.

Easy-peasy!

Good For Business?

Yesterday, they let go one of five administrative assistants in my company. When I started in March 1999, we had seven. One retired, one switched to the accounting office, and one moved. They never had to lay anyone off, so this was a shock. Especially because business is really good right now and we keep hearing how well we're doing. So my workload is going to increase again. But not my paycheck, of course.

It's days like this that I really wish we were better off financially so we could have kids and I could stay home. Away from 'business decisions'.

Things that make me happy . . .

Bright sunny days - green grass, blue sky, yellow sunshine
Queen on the radio
Subway - the girl at the counter gave me a 50% discount because she made me wait (all of 30 seconds) while talking to the customer in front of me.
My Superman poster - it's hung on the closet door, and when I sit at my computer I can see it. :)

What makes you happy today?