randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I’m so tired.  I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.  Dunno why.  There’s been a lot of tossing and turning and all that jazz.  So frustrating. 

I have  huge stack of bookcrossing books to release.  I’ve also got a few books I want to register and release that I haven’t gotten around to yet.  One good thing about bookcrossing… it’s an interesting way to get rid of books, and you can sometimes see where they’re going — which is kind of nice.  It would be nicer if more things got journaled when they were found though.

So, I was watching Everest: Beyond the Limit the other night.  I have to say it’s kind of cool to get to see these people making their bid for the summit and all that.  I don’t think Tim is going to make it to the summit.  He just doesn’t have the right mind set.  I don’t think I could ever do something like that.  Even if I was in good shape and had the right training.  I just don’t think I’d be able to do it.  It could be because my introduction to the idea of climbing Everest was reading Into Thin Air — which documents one of the worst seasons on Everest.  So many deaths, injuries and problems.  The weather can be volatile, to say the least.

I love Johnny Depp. He’s been my favorite actor for as long as I can remember. I’ve loved everything I’ve seen him in. Well, except for Cry Baby. I’m of the mind that this is the movie he should have been slapped back into his senses when he agreed to be a part of it. He once described himself as “addicted to losers” when it came to choosing roles to take. It’s incredibly difficult, to be honest, to narrow down my favorite characters he’s played or scenes he’s done. He’s just done so much and so much of it appeals to me. There are so many great scenes, too. In Don Juan DeMarco, for example, there’s this scene with Brando (one of many) where he says, “So, to answer your question, I see as clear as day that this great edifice in which we find ourselves is your villa. It is your home and as for you, Don Octavio DeFlores, you are a great lover like myself, even though you may have lost your way and your accent. Shall I continue?” There’s something about his delivery in that scene that’s just magical. Or in Benny and Joon, the “Buster Keaton” scene in the park — that’s funny and cool and just so amazing to watch. There are so many fabulous scenes in so many great movies that he’s been a part of. I’d be remiss if I didn’t consider Pirates of the Caribbean, but it’s so difficult to decide on a favorite scene in those films. They’re so beautiful and entertaining. Then there are films like Blow and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I love so much. Yes, that’s it. Fear and Loathing. That’s where my favorite Johnny Depp scene is. When they pull over in the desert and he looks around and says “We can’t stop here… this is bat country.” There’s something about the scene that’s comical and frightening at the same time. That’s where the movie really sucked me in the first time I saw it.

Now there is Sweeny Todd. Well, let’s be proper, it’s Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. A former co-worker used to sing me songs from the musical all the time. We were discussing favorite musicals and Sweeny Todd was his favorite, I hadn’t seen it before so he sang me a couple of songs. Hearing Johnny Depp sing these songs is great. He’s got a good voice for it. I’m about to head off for to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site. You can hear some music from the move there. It’s awesome. I’ll probably also pop by and visit Sweeny Todd on Myspace. This is one movie that I really want to see in the theater. Here’s hoping.

Well… the stuff that was supposed to be picked up and bought today is not being picked up and bought.  The snow delayed one person who has to go out of town for a few days.  The other person changed her mind.  So there’s $50 that I was expecting but won’t be getting.  Bleh.  Hopefully someone else will elect to purchase the items.  I need to find more stuff to list on craigslist.  I’ve got a bunch of clothes that Gage doesn’t fit anymore that I’ll porbably post, but I don’t have a lot of confidence that they’ll sell for anything much. 

I have to print a shipping label for the guitar port so it can be shipped.  I also have a few other items that need to be shipped, books and CDs that have been sold. 

The wind chimes are going crazy.  There’s a beautiful breeze going outside.  The snow is melting nicely, too.  There were a few inches on the ground this morning when I woke up.  Now it’s melting off and disappearing.  Of course, that’s how it usually is here.  One of the things that I love about being in Denver.  It snows Wednesday morning, by Wednesday night, Thursday afternoon at the latest… snow’s gone.  Of course that depends on the weather and how much snow.  When we had the short series of blizzrds last winter it stuck around awhile.  But by the end of January, it was gone.  In Jersey, that snow would have lasted until April at the very least.

Ever since they came out, I’ve been thinking how much I’d love to get one of those select comfort adjustable beds. You know the ones that you can make firmer or softer with the press of a button? Oh, I just think that would be so perfect for me. As much as I love a good firm mattress, every now and then, my back yearns for a nice soft mattress. To be able to change the firmness of my bed on a whim would be nice, especially when my back is bothering me. Or maybe I’d be able to find a good mid-range setting that would help prevent the back pain altogether.  Looking at the prices at SleepBetterStore.com, the prices aren’t nearly as bad as you would expect them to be.  I always figured that they’d cost upward of $5000, but they’re not nearly that expensive.  Actually, one of the queens is only about twice what I paid for the queen pillowtop that I have now.  That’s really not bad, especially since the mattress that I got about a year ago is already starting to sag in the areas that we slept on.  It’ll probably need to be replaced in a few months, actually.  Considering the 5-year warranty, I have no doubt that these mattresses will last more than twice as long as the one I have.

the Guitar port Woody gave me to sell is about to end on ebay.  It’s going for more than I thought it would, and the current high bidder has a screenname that cracks me up everytime I see it.  I also sold the HP All in One Printer today.  I’ve got someone coming tomorrow to pick up some other stuff I sold on craigslist and a few inquiries about some books I listed.  So at least there’s that.

Gage has had a hell of an evening.  He’s finally being calm.  He got home from school and about 20 minutes later started yelling and crying as well as kicking and hitting me.  I don’t get it.  He ate his afternoon snack so he wasn’t hungry.  I tried cuddling, playing, singing, reading and everything else he likes that I could think of to do with him… it didn’t help.  He pushed me away.  He finally calmed down. 

We’re watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.  Every time Schroeder plays, Gage dances around the living room.  It’s so cute.  Right now he’s twirling around and waving his arms about.  It’s so cute.

It’s that time of year. Actually, it’s coming down to the wire, isn’t it? There’s only about 28 days left before Christmas. How scary is that? Well, close as it is, there are a lot of people out there still looking for the perfect gift. One of the reasons that CollectiblesToday.com has a page of Top 2007 Christmas Gifts for Daughters. Daughters are difficult to shop for, at least that’s what my mom tells me — she’s got 3 of them. CollectiblesToday.com has a lot of great gift ideas for daughters. A number of things that I know I wouldn’t mind getting, whether from mom or from a friend. In particular, they’ve got a really great Eeyore necklace that has Eeyore upside down and it says “some days are better viewed upside down.” There are even matching earrings. I love Eeyore, he’s my favorite character from the Hundred Acre Wood. They also have a precious blossoms teacup and saucer collection that I would love. I know it’s an incredibly girly thing, and there are probably some of you reading this and saying, “Maggie? Girly? No way!” But yes, I’m quite girly when I want to be. I’d love to receive some lovely girly things for Christmas this year — or anytime, really. After all, the site isn’t just for Christmas gifts, some of them can be used all year ’round.

I feel a bit bleh.  My sinuses are getting that feeling that they want to be mean again.  I don’t like that.  My throat is a little scratchy, too.  I don’t want to get sick again, I just got over being sick a couple of weeks ago.

Things are so upside down and screwed up.  I need to figure out what to do.  I know what a lot of people want me to do… and it’s probably what I should do.  I just… I don’t know.  It merits consideration.  Serious consideration. 

So I’m taking a break from the cleaning.  Started on the living room but I’m about to move to Gage’s room.  He’s got so many toys and stuffed animals.  It might be time to thin the herd a bit.  I did toss a few stuffed animals a couple of weeks ago.  Stuff that only ends up on the floor and gets peed on by the cats all the time.  Maybe it’s time to get rid of a few more.  Along with a few of the other toys.  Stuff he doesn’t play with much anymore.  He’s gotten back into playing with his cars.  He takes a book or two and makes it into a tunnel and pushes the cars through.  It’s cute as hell.

In 2002, shortly before Gage was born, Woody and I decided to step into the “digital age” and get a digital camera. Our first one was a refurbished Sony Mavica. Not a bad camera, to be perfectly honest. We bought flopping disks in boxes of 100 because it took those instead of a memory card. We took pictures of Gage and pictures of some local bands performing. I even got a photo pass and took some photos with it at a Poison concert. Eventually, the size and the need to keep changing the disk every 10-25 pictures, depending on resolution, lead us to buy a newer digital camera. Something smaller that came with a memory card with lots of storage. I don’t remember the model, but it was a good little camera. We liked it so much we got a second one, actually. Now I have an Olympus Camedia. I love it, and I try not to leave the house without it. A little difficult right now, since I don’t have batteries for it. I keep thinking that I’d love to get my mom and Woody’s mom some digital picture frames to load with photos of their grandchildren, Gage in particular. I think they’d like that. The one for my mom could scroll through photos of all her grandchildren, and the ones for Woody’s mom would scroll through photos of Gage. It would be a great gift either way.

Gage has been home from school the past 5 days.  While it’s been nice, it’s also been a little stressful.  He just gets so frustrated sometimes and takes it out on me.  It’s especially bad not having an adult to talk to and hang out with.  I think if there was anyone I could just vent to every now and then it would be so much easier.  He’s doing the pillow thing again tonight.  It’s cute as hell.  Tomorrow I’ll be able to do a nice thorough cleaning, I haven’t been able to since Gage has been home.  Cleaning while he’s awake is an effort in futility, and cleaning when he’s sleeping isn’t bad, but usually by then I’m so exhausted that I do the basics and give up.  Vacuuming is out of the question.  It’ll wake up Gage, for starters.  Then there’s also the exhaustion aspect.

So I’m watching an episode of the Sopranos on A&E.  It’s edited, but even edited the show is good.  I love the “conversations with the family” thing that they do.  It’s nice getting all those little tidbits about the making of the show and the cast relationships.  Really a lot of fun.

I love when cities do artwalks. Especially when they’re free. Personally, I think starting a St. Augustine Artwalk every week is a really good idea. Especially in Florida. No suffering from the cold while you browse the 20 participating galleries. Art, music, entertainment and refreshments in a nice city with beautiful weather and it’s free. It’s something I think is worth checking out when you take a vacation — so many cities do it, and it’s a nice way to expose your family to artwork and culture that they might not normally get exposed to. I’ve been to many first Fridays myself. Checking out a city I’m visiting’s local attractions and seeing if they do a first Friday or similar event is something I love doing. I’ve some lovely artwork that I might never have seen otherwise. St. Augustine appeals to me because it’s such an old city, so rich in history already. It’s also a really beautiful city.  Another added benefit  of the St. Augistine artwalk, is that they have free parking as well as a free sightseeing train and a trolley.  I have to say, they’re the only city I’ve heard of that does that.  It’s a little extra something to make it friendly to any budget.  Why should the only people who get to experience beautiful artwork, photography and other works be people who have a lot of expendable income? It’s a great attraction for locals as well as tourists.

Gage has piled up the pillows from his bed, my bed and one of the couch cushions on the floor (the aforementioned pile of pillows). He’s relaxing in the pile at the moment. It looks comfy, maybe I’ll join him in a few minutes, LOL.  What can I say, I’m a big kid sometimes.  There have been times that I’ve dragged a comforter into Gage’s room and used it along with his little table and chairs to build a “fort.”  Gage had fun when I used to do that.  He didn’t quite get it, but he had fun sitting in the fort.  Maybe that’s why he liked it when I hung sheets from the top bunk of his bed to surround the bunk he sleeps on.  I’ve even caught him making sure it was closed properly before going to bed.  Much cuteness.

So I’ve just watched the Avs lose to Calgary. It wasn’t thrilling, to say the least. It’s a shame I missed much of the pre-game show. Apparently there was a bit of an on-ice scuffle before the game even started. They showed a little of it during the 1st intermission, but not enough to see what might have caused it. I’m rather curious.

I’m obsessive when I get a printer about knowing exactly which ink cartridges it takes. Have you seen how many options there are? I’ve seen people standing in front of the ink catridge display at stores for an hour at a time trying to figure out which one their printer takes. That’s where a handy tool like Cartridge Finder could come in handy. Especially if you’ve purchased a printer used and it didn’t come with ink cartridges (even empty ones) or a user manual. It’s certainly a site that could come in handy for someone trying to figure it out, or looking to buy new cartridges.

I haveso much leftover turkey, lol.  I’ve got soup started.  At least the base for soup — broth and chicken.  I’ll freeze half and prepare the other half however my mood takes me.  the rest of the turkey will be used in recipe ideas for future cookbook.  It shall be good.  For tonight, though… I’ll be eating white meat dipped in mustard.  Yummy yummy.

Gage has an obsession with the apples.  He carries them around.  They’re still in the bag I put them in at the grocery store.  He just likes to have them close by.  He pulled one out and looks at it.  When he wants to eat it he’ll either bite into it or give it to me to cut.  So I’m guessing he just likes looking at shiny redness or he’s enjoying the sweet smell.  I have to put them back in the fridge every night only to have them get taken out again in the morning.  It’s funny and yet it’s not funny.

He just passed out about 10 minutes ago.  Sleeping on the couch all stretched out.  He’s had a busy couple of days.  Running about and playing.  He also didn’t sleep very well last night.  Woke up a lot of times.

I’ve been wondering for a few months if I could qualify for a Business Loan to get my NAAW business going. It would be tremendously helpful to have stock on hand. I could do craft fairs and events like that, as well as last minute parties and activities. One of the other reps on a yahoo group I participate in mentioned getting a call from someone whose son didn’t have school one day earlier this month because of weather and wanted to invite her son’s classmates over for an activity. She turned a nice profit by simply having the stock on hand. I’m thinking it might be worth it to visit EZUnsecured.com and see about whether I could qualify for a business loan in that regard. The site is pretty easy to navigate, and looks like it would certainly be an easy application process. The quick answer is a good thing, too. A business loan is really the only way I’m going to have the means to get the business built up well enough for it to be full time income.

Did I tell you about my turkey?  It was over 18lbs.  But I managed to cook and carve it on my own.  I was even able to drain the juice from the oven bag (which involves tipping the pan without tipping the bird off of it) all on my own.  Gage pulling the scrunchie out of my hair while I was doing it wasn’t much help, but he doesn’t know any better.  I’ve got the whole bird carved and I’ve got stock started from the bones and stuff.  I’ve just gotta figure out how I’m going to store it all.  Admittedly, I haven’t de-boned the leg quarters yet.  I’ll probably do that in a little bit and add the leg bones to the stock pot.

As expected, Gage didn’t touch any of the normal Thanksgiving foods.  No, that’s not true.  He did touch the cranberry sauce.  Literally.  He touched it and looked at me like “you’re kidding, right?”  Now he’s dancing around the kitchen with the swiffer.  He had mac & cheese for lunch and pizza rolls for dinner, with a toaster strudel for dessert.  He’s also thoroughly enjoying the cookies I made last night.  In particular, he’s enjoying gnawing off the cinnamon and sugar coating and putting the remainder of the cookies back in the dish.  Pleasant, no?