randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I’m impressed with AstroMart.com. It’s looks like a great site for astronomy fans. I’m forwarding the link to my sister, because she’s a huge fan of astronomy. In addition to the assortment of articles on astronomy, the site has a forum and a place for astronomy ads. They’ve even got a section of reviews including telescope and binocular reviews, along with reviews on the accessories for them. There are ‘how tos’ for people who need a little help getting started. On the forum you can discuss just about anything you’d like, from getting help from more experienced sky viewers to astrophotography. You can even set up meetings with other would-be astronomers. In the classifieds you can find yourself a telescope or sell your old one (among other things), and then there are the articles. So many interesting articles. Just browsing through the site, I came across about a dozen that I plan on reading.

Gage loves to watch the game Zoo Tycoon run.  He found the disks for the game yesterday and kept asking me “please?”  So I installed it and he’s having fun watching a huge pen of Bengal Tigers run and play and all that jazz.  I’ve seen him clicking with the mouse, and I’ve tried showing him how things work.  Eventually, I have no doubt, he’ll be changing the terrain and adding animals.  But right now he’s enjoying just watching.  It’s cute.

When I was a kid, we had a huge vegetable garden. It was full of all kinds of delicious veggies — spinach, tomatoes, peas, lima beans, potatoes, etc. There’s something about growing vegetables yourself that makes them extra tasty. So, I’d like very much to have a nice vegetable and herb garden. As a kid, I loved helping my mom make the plant labels that went at the end of each row, which is a tradition I’d carry on although I’d go for something more substantial than seed packets stapled to stakes. There are a lot of nice long-lasting labels for plants in the garden than paper these days. Plant labels would be especially good for helping to identify the various herbs that I’d like to grow. Since I’m not entirely familiar with how all of the ones I’d like to grow are. Come to think of it, I don’t think I could identify much besides tomatoes until the vegetables themselves started appearing so they’d be handy all over the garden.

Gage just watched his Leap Letter Factory DVD.  I never noticed before, but at the end of the DVD it says “No letters were harmed in the making of this video.”  Which cracked me up.

I did a few more online applications yesterday.  King Soopers and Burger King.  Also got what is probably my 100th rejection from Alpine Access.  What can I say, I get rejected, I apply again. It’s an endless cycle.  Over and over again.  I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have any self confidence left to lose.

Gage is so cute.  Lately whenever there’s music, whether on the radio or if it’s from TV or a movie he plays with either the acoustic guitar (holds it and strums it in rhythm to the music) or the keyboard.  I’d say it’s a clear indication of interest.  I’d love for him to be able to learn to play one or both.

No letters were harmed in the making of this post.  LOL

Black Friday, that is. The day when millions of holiday shoppers brave line, crowds and getting up incredibly early in order to get the best deal on their holiday must haves. I remember going out with my mom a couple of times and hating it, therefore I make it a point to avoid shopping on Black Friday. I do regret missing some of the deals though. I know my mom used to be able to make $50 stretch pretty far when she did Black Friday shopping. Now that technology has gotten into the picture, black friday 2007 doesn’t have to involve waiting in lines, fighting crowds or getting half trampled in someone’s mad dash for this years “must have” new toy. Now you can get an early look at what the sales are going to look like by visiting sites like Black-Friday.net — which will even email you when there are updates and new ads posted. Better still, they’re offering direct links to the products so you can take advantage of the sales on Black Friday without having to endure the crowds and lines, although getting in early would probably still be a good idea. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to do your Black Friday shopping in your pajamas with a nice hot cup of coffee?  Even if you prefer to go out and do the shopping at the brick and mortar stores, you can at least map out your plan of attack weeks in advance (as opposed to the usual days in advance).

Just listed…

Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Frame
Pressed Flowers Picture Frame
“So this is what smiling feels like” Tigger & Eeyore figurine
Pocket Dragons Best Friends figurine NIB
Hard Rock Cafe San Francisco Glass
Harley Davidson Cafe New York Glass
Simplicity 8750 Costume Pattern (Vintage Dresses)
Simplicity 4460 Toddlers Devil Costume
Winnie the Pooh Toddlers Costume Patterns Simplicity 4867 (Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger)
Vogue Pattern 2615 Women’s Jacket patterns
Mixed lot of fabric scrap/remnants
Silver velveteen 1 yard
23″ Textured Vinyl Fabric
French Maid Costume
Black Skirt XL
Heart shaped Candy Dish “Love is the sweetest of all life’s pleasures”

It’s a chilly day again.  But it’s ok.  I’m quite liking the chilliness.  It’s energizing.

I’m browsing Monster and Snagajob to see what I can see.  I’d look into a part time “office” position, but I don’t have any office appropriate clothing.  I have the skills, just not the attire.  I sold or gave away all of my office appropriate clothing.  Doesn’t that suck?  I do have a couple of tunic sweaters that would be ok, I guess.  But no pants or skirts to accompany.  And no shoes.  Good lord I have no wardrobe.  Maybe Tim Gunn should come make over my wardrobe, LOL.

Speaking of Tim Gunn, I’ve been watching his new reality show.  It’s interesting.

They had a report on one of those morning news shows recently, which indicated that doing remortgages or refinancing every 3 years or so is a common practice and helps a person get a good value for their money. I found it to be very interesting, personally. I’ve looked up information on mortgages here and there, the subject interests me — someday I’d like to own a home. There are a lot of options and “extras” you can get with your mortgage I’ve noticed. The thing that interests me the most is Mortgage Payment Protection, which is one of those “back up plans” in case you lose your job or have a serious illness or something that would cause you to fall behind on your payments. It’s a type of insurance that covers your payments for a little while, so you can get back on your feet. Much like the protection plans you can get with so many credit cards.  I definitely have a lot more research I want to do on mortgages before I actually take the plunge, but there’s a lot of good information out there.

Gage came home from school today with a bottle of bubbles and a little goodie bag.  Halloween themed, which is cute.  I’m guessing a birthday party.  He’s having a good time with the bubbles.  He spilled some, but he’s blowing bubbles and having a good time.   Did I mention that they’re pineapple scented?

I’ve been playing with the sculpey lately.  I made a couple of roses, which came out pretty nice.  They were fairly easy to do, too.  I’m thinking of trying something more ambitious.

Looking for employment.  I walked for 2 hours the other day and got all of 1 application which has been filled out and turned in.  So far I’ve put in applications at Conoco and Jersey Mikes (the only 2 places that I’ve hit that were hiring so far).  I also did online applications for Family Dollar and Boston Market.   I’m not very optimistic, to be honest.

When you need to promote a business or event, there are a lot of options. Seriously. Some of the best advertising actually comes through postcards, door hangers and fliers. I’ve just come across a site where you can get a 2500 piece custom postcard printing for only $275 — full color even. 1000s-Post-Card-Printing.com has a lot of different options for your promotional needs. Personally, I’m thinking about getting some door hangers in the future to promote my NAAW website. It’d be a good promotion tool, I think. Memo pads would be interesting as well. Pass them out with basic business info and URL, and people will be reminded every time they need to make a note.

I’m getting all of my paid blogging sites mixed up. And my blogs. Nothing like taking the time to write an entry for an opp and realizing after you’ve saved it and tried to submit it that you’ve written the post in the wrong blog.

At least there’s an “edit” option.

I took advantage of Gage being in school and went to the grocery store earlier. While I was there I picked up some hot chocolate. Maybe I’ll see how Gage likes hot chocolate a little later. I know I love it, he he. He might at least like the marshmallows.

I also picked up a couple of different protein bars for him to try. I’ll be trying them too, of course. I’m not going to ask him to eat something that I wouldn’t eat myself. The two that got the most “tasty” reviews on the boards I asked about them were Lara and Luna bars. So I got one of each to sample.

Picked up some soup and chili makings as well.  I’m gonna try putting some chili in the blender and mincing it then tossing it with pasta.  That was my mom’s suggestion, actually.  For me, I think I’m going to make some great northern bean soup.  I haven’t had any in years.  Mom makes it with ham, but I’ve got some country ribs I’m going to use instead.  I’m altering the recipe for 2-4 servings.  Making a few other changes as well.  Then it’s going into the future soups, stews and chilis cookbook.

I used to play poker every weekend with a group of friends. It was just “penny poker”, but I always thought that the only thing missing from it being a truly great set up was a nice set of Poker Chips. Someday I hope to be able to have a bunch of friends over every now and then and have a nice night of poker and laughs, and there will be chips. Not just the edible kind. In my “dream game room” there would be a nice poker table with comfortable chairs.  The chips on the table wouldn’t be the standard blue, red and white.  While that’s very classic looking I’m not much of a classic kind of girl.  I’d probably go for green, purple and black (or white), or perhaps pink, purple and red.  It would definitely be a non-standard color combination.  Why?  Well, why not?  At CardRoomSupply.com you can get any color combination you want — so why not get a combination that suits your personality or the decor of your game room.  You might even be able to match the colors of your favorite sports team.  They do have some nice high roller chips that I think are interesting.  They have values noted on them (1, 5, 25, 50 & 100) — which at my table would denote cents as opposed to dollars.  It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a night of poker with friends.  I quite miss it.

There are a number of toys that I’ve made a mental note of that I’d love to get Gage at some point when I can afford it. I was wondering though if anyone has gotten these toys for their kids and if they were well liked, etc.

Fisher Price I Can Play Piano - Gage has always had a thing for music (what can I say, he comes by it honestly). Pianos/keyboards in particular. We have a keyboard that he likes to plink away on. Sometimes it sounds like he’s trying to play something that he’s heard before. So I think something like this might go over well. It’s basically a video game system that’s supposed to teach a child how to play piano.

Triple Hit Baseball - We want Gage to have some manner of athletic experience, even just at home. Hitting a ball with a bat is also good for hand-eye coordination. This unit is supposed to allow for hitting off a tee, hitting balls that just pop up from the unit and hitting balls that are pitched from 10 feet away.

LeapFrog ClickStart My First Computer - As far as I know of, this is fairly new. I’ve noticed that Gage is fascinated with computers. He loves watching when I’m on the computer, and he’s loved using the computer at school since last year. So I’m thinking that this might be a good toy for him. And it looks like there’s a good assortment of learning programs available for it.

So tell me, are you familiar with any of these toys and what did you think? Honestly.

Saturday was not a good day to be my hands.  First, I got stung by a yellow jacket on my right pinky finger.  It swelled up and my ring finger also swelled a little.  Little sucker got me right on the joint, too.  He was killed needless to say.  THEN, while I was making dinner, as I placed some eggs in the spaghetti sauce for poaching, the sauce bubbled up and splattered all over my left hand.  So I got burned.  Yeah, it was all KINDS of fun (can you taste the sarcasm?).   The pinky finger is finally not swollen and doesn’t burn or ache like it did during the weekend, so that’s good.  The right hand is healing.  I have a pattern of red splotches from the burn which doesn’t hurt unless pressure is applied.  Nope, definitely not a good day to be my hands.