randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

many many years ago, a livesized nude portrait of me was drawn in pastels. about 4 years ago i had to take it off of the board that backed it, and roll it up. i decided to re-roll it tonight, for a couple of reasons. since it’s so old, the pastels have dried to a chalky consistency i wanted to make sure that the rolling didn’t ruin it. i also wanted to re-roll it a little tighter and wrapped in better paper. while it was unrolled, i decided to take a few pictures of it. this is the top portion.

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gage loves the camera. he loves taking pictures of all kinds of things. sometimes he takes pictures that make you go “how did he do that?” here’s two pictures he took. they haven’t been altered in any way, except for resizing.

i *think* the one on the left is a picture of tiger, probably shaking. gage probably moved the camera as well. it’s kind of a cool picture. the picture on the right is obviously of the tv, while he was watching mulan… i’m not sure what the blue line is tho, or how he managed to photograph it.

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so… we’re watching mulan again… it’s gage’s current favorite movie.  and something occurs to me.  every family in mulan’s family was instructed to send a man to serve in the army, yes?  they were told to report to a specific camp.  the same camp that mulan goes to for her training while she’s pretending to be “ping.”

how come no one from her village points out that her father’s only child is a girl?

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got a bit more packing to do.  i need to fill every available container and see if i need more boxes.  also need to hire someone to help with the moving. found a place… about the same size as this one.  different layout.  the living room is smaller and the kitchen is bigger, but that’s not a bad thing.  the kitchen is my favorite room in a house.   the yard is nice.  and i think tiger will really like the dog who shares the yard… he’s a big old english sheep dog.  SO cute, and SO sweet.

there’s washer and dryer hook ups, so i can bring the washer.  i’ll have to get a dryer, since i sold the one we had… it’ll be easy enough to find on craigslist… just a matter of picking up.

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whenever i want a kiss from gage, i ask “can i have a kiss?” and he either puckers up and gives me a kiss or he offers me his cheek.

this morning, while we were waiting for him to be picked up for school, he came up to me and said “can i kiss?”  *melt*  he asked me for a kiss!  it’s the first time he’s ever done that.

he also got a haircut today.  he’s got nice short hair now, which is great since it’s so hot.  he’s going to be more comfortable than he would have been with that great mass of hair that he had.  actually, he went to bed last night with wet hair and when he woke up it was pretty wild.  i had to attack it with a spray bottle of water to get it to calm down a little.

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This was so much fun. I visited Virtualsandcastle.com, which allows you to build virtual Sandcastles and send them as ecards to your friends and family. So Gage pointed to the different pieces of the castle and accessories, and I positioned them. There are a bunch of different castle pieces to choose from — towers, turrets, walls and front gates. Very cool. Lots of fun. Gage and I had a good time, and a couple of laughs. You can also color you castle and add accessories, like beach wildlife, shells, flags and other fun stuff. It’s a fun way to spend a few minutes with your kids, I can assure you. It’s also very easy to use. You can resize the pieces and arrange them however you want to make your dream sand castle. I have to admit that this is as close as I’ve ever gotten to creating a sand castle of my own. In the end, you’ll have a great personal summertime e-card to send your friends and family. I’m going to send Gage’s to all of his aunts and grandparents, along with a few friends. Here’s Gage’s Palace:

It may not be the most elaborate sandcastle ever made, but I’m proud of it. I just wish that Gage and I could attempt to re-create this in real life.

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gage just told me that.  no, i’m serious.  he’s not being a brat.  mulan is his new favorite movie, and it’s one of the lines in the movie.  he’s been quoting the movie a lot the past few days.  it’s pretty funny to hear him say “recite the final admonition” and then reply to himself with “fullfill your duties calmly and respectfully… reflect before you snack.  ACT.  this shall bring you honor and glory.”  he sings it, too.

gage has also taken to having a small stack of pictures available to him whenever he wants to look at them. the pictures have me, woody, gage, carrie, jared, mandy, my mom and woody’s dad i them.

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Ok, I’m not usually big on celebrity gossip, but every now and then I just can’t resist looking into the latest celebrity gossip. Usually delivered to me by a good friend of mine who can’t get enough. Her enthusiasm for it is infectious. So it’s always fun when I can report something to her that she hasn’t heard yet. Not only for her surprise as far as the person informing her of the latest scandals, romances and divorces, but the excitement she gets from it. It’s always fun. Besides, it’s always nice to have evidence that celebs are just as human as we are. Celebritygossip.com is definitely a site for her, and for me to visit occasionally. If the latest celebrity gossip is your dish, you should definitely check it out.

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that if you write a review of any post in this blog with this image in it:

you can earn $7.50 from payperpost? it’s true. you’ll earn $7.50, and i’ll earn $7.50. i haven’t really been putting it in my posts lately, but i’m going to start. why not? i could use the money, and i’m sure you could also use the money. you don’t even have to know me. just click the button and it’ll take you to the appropriate page with instructions on how to review my post and make your $7.50. then if you want to sign up for payperpost, you can. you don’t even have to do paid blog entries to make money, you can just put the review my post link in your posts, and you’ll make money anytime someone does a review.

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With the pending premier of USA Network’s Burn Notice, ya gotta wonder what it would be like to be a spy. I used to play “spies” with my friends all the time. Pretending we had all of that cool equipment, you know, very 007. Cars with guns in the fenders that would pop out when you pushed a button, and ejector seats with parachutes for quick escapes. I always wanted one of those little tiny hidden microphones, a collection of disguises, and all those neat little gadgets: night vision goggles, listening devices and tiny little cameras for photographing secret documents. If I were a spy, I’d be a martial arts expert, and take a course in stunt driving. I could fly a plane and a helicopter, and be able stalk thru the woods in autumn without making a sound. Honestly, I’ve always thought that it would be exciting to be a spy. That’s why I love books about espionage and assassins. I don’t think I could ever be a martini drinker though, it’s just not me. But I still contend that it would be cool to be part of a top secret government agency, collecting data on the bad guys, thwarting their evil plots to take over the world and save the day. Maybe even save the girl, unless she’s prettier than me, LOL.

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it makes me a little sad that gage doesn’t get to see his daddy on father’s day, but he’ll get to see him later this week so that’s good. i had wanted to do something special, to be honest. i was gonna try and make a plaque or something with woody’s handprint on it and gage’s handprint inside woody’s. i guess it’s just as well that i wasn’t able to do that, i don’t know that gage would have been very cooperative. still, it would have been a cool thing to do.

i sent my dad a card. and by my dad i mean the man who raised me. the man who donated raw materials is a non-entity in my life. i’m fine with that. because joe (my dad) was a kind and caring individual, who took care of me and my sisters when it wasn’t his job to do so. he didn’t have to be a father to us. he could have chosen to just be a guy who happened to be living in the same house. joe has had more effect on the person i have become than my biological father. and while i may not call him dad, he is my dad.

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gage had some leftover fettucine yesterday for lunch. while i was getting him something to drink, he was sitting in the fridge nibbling on it. he was also sharing it with tiger, a la lady and the tramp.  he’s done it before, with spaghetti but the camera wasn’t close enough to get a picture, and he only did it once.  this time he did it several times and the camera was well within reach.  it was so very cute.  gage shares food with tiger all the time, actually.  mostly the crust off of his pb&j and grilled cheese sandwiches.  sometimes bites of mac & cheese.

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When I was in college, I took a piano course — I was a music major, afterall. Unfortunately, I managed to break a finger and hyperextend a couple of other fingers about 2 weeks into the class. Great luck, eh? I long to learn, so I kept my lesson book instead of selling it back to the school bookstore. As soon as I get a keyboard, I’m signing up for this Chords & Progressions Piano Tips email newsletter. 101 issues, with all kinds of tips to help me along the way sounds just about perfect. Plus information about educational DVDs. Can’t go wrong with that, I think.

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you know you’re bored when you’re watching elvira, mistress of the dark.

i still have much packing to do. also still searching for an apartment for moving to. which is difficult when you don’t have a car.

me and gage walked up to family dollar and 7-11 earlier. he did pretty good. he just keeps putting his feet on the wheels of the stroller, which makes it difficult to steer. grabbed a few things that we needed around the house. laundry detergent and stuff. also grabbed som pancake mix at 7-11 since he keeps asking for pancakes. i’m not sure why.

gage is having so much fun, playing in the backyard right now. he’s hosing tiger down, lol.

i joined mylot.com the other day. some interesting discussions over there, and apparently you can earn money for posts. which is good. i figure it’s at least worth a try.

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i went thru my stainless steel pots and pans and pulled out the ones that i don’t really use that often.  listed them on craigslist and just got $25 for them.  dryer is going tomorrow for $50, so that’s good.  i just need the rest of the stuff to sell, too.  between what it’s going to cost to rent the storage space and get everything moved, i’ll have nothing left.  nothing for a place to stay.  i’m hoping i can come up with what i need.  i’ve listed the kaboom on craigslist… and i might list the stereo as well.

i was going to keep the cd racks and 1 of the book cases, but at this point if it’ll put an extra $20 in my pocket, it might be worth selling em.
i’ve also got no idea what i’m going to do with the animals.  i can’t really afford to board them, but the place we’re planning on going doesn’t allow animals.

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