363. Sugar High

I actually don't think I've used that title before. Hm. Well, at least it doesn't feel like I have.

In all of my ranting glory yesterday, I totally forgot to mention the amazing news:

IT SNOWED!

It's the first snow at the house that I've seen since moving here over a year ago. This winter had been particularly dry too so we were just happy that the stormy cold weather brought some rain. Little did we know that a few hours later, that rain would turn into snow flurries! I don't know enough about snow to be sure that they could have been classified as "flurries" but whatever. It was there, it looked like powered sugar, and FMIL caught a few pictures before the rising sun melted it all away. At least some is still up on the mountains and I should try to remember to catch a picture of that tomorrow if it's still there.

I think that this is all amazing! Everything looks so "prettiful". :D

Speaking of sugar, I was chatting in the kitchen with FBIL (future brother-in-law, :P) and he was making a pasta salad or something in his giant mug and for some reason I was inspired to make a salad of my own. A S'more salad, that is. XD My gluttony knows no bounds sometimes. We've have a modest stash of s'more supplies for a while now but have yet to make a backyard bonfire so they have been taunting me from their little corner in the kitchen. I warmed them up a little bit in the microwave but it's not something I recommend because marshmallows like to expand rapidly when being cooked from the inside out. As quickly as milk decides to boil over the one time you look away to grab a spoon to stir the pot with. I'm not a bitter person, really. Oh no, wait I am. Lol.

Anyways, behold!

That's a pastel pink Easter themed M&M in the middle because I thought my salad needed a cherry on top? I guess I kind of lost track of the fact that it was supposed to resemble a salad and not a sundae. Lol. But FBIL was teasing me about what I was going to use for salad dressing and I have the brilliantly bright light bulb moment of tossing on some dark chocolate syrup. :D I am so pleased with myself, if/when I get sick, I don't think it'll matter to me. Lol.

Sigh, I needed these goofy little moments after all of the heavy, dramatic, and discouraging stuff we've been watching on the news lately. It's hard trying to determine how much more mature we are as a country compared to all of the ones that are revolting against their governments. The more we think and talk about it, it almost seems as if there's not much more of a difference between the societies. Reminds me of that saying that even if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig. It's pretty worrisome and frightening of what that may mean for us as a species. Sigh. Now, I'm all down and serious again and I really don't think I should have any more chocolate before bed.

Well, if you're not laughing, you're crying, so I'm off to go cuddle-harass the kitty before heading to bed. I'll see you tomorrow! <3

362. Cooking Up Trouble

I feel like I've used a similar title already. However, the past few weeks, I've been too lazy to go check my list of posts to confirm the suspicions. Come on, it's almost a year's worth of posts to comb through! :P

Oh no, I think I've nearly annihilated my laptop's left mouse button. O_O! I really hope not, I need that to scroll! T_T

The SO and I went to visit with his dad today and while we were waiting for gourmet pizza to be delivered, I was invited to rip apart the kitchen to organize it. It's something that I've been waiting months to do. Literally. I was beyond excited. He said he was half-joking about me doing it at that very moment, but I was already on my way inside to start, and the SO was left in the dust in the driveway telling his dad, "Nope, it's too late now. She's already gotten it into her head." XD

It's really great being around someone who really understands you and can serve as an interpreter to outsiders. That's one thing I love about my close friends back in Florida. A lot of them just get me when I get into certain quirky moods and just step back to enjoy the whirlwind of a show. That's a big part of true friendship, knowing better and loving you anyways. Lol.

I really don't want to say "laugh out loud" as much as I do, even though I really do physically do it as much as I type it. I often find typing "ha ha ha" sounds too sarcastic and dry and I enjoy typing in a way that portrays how I choose to think and talk. That reminds me that I think I used a lot of big words in yesterday's post. I must have been really tired. I sometimes be so tired that I don't believe anyone would understand what I want to communicate, so I overcompensate with specific vocabulary because I think it helps. But then if I'm really delirious tired (or "punch drunk" as the SO calls it), I'll start to slur and that doesn't help anyone but it is pretty funny to see me try. Lol.

But I really need to vent/ rant about the state of the kitchen and what I've done with it. I'd include pictures, but it's not my stuff and I want to check with FFIL to see if it works for him. 

Well, thanks to my yanking everything out of all the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen, spreading them all over the counter tops, and attempts to put it all  back, I do believe that we now have about 10 drawers and cabinets that are empty now. And it's not like I crammed the ones that are in use. Finally, all of the pots and pans are together in the deepest of drawers, we have the place mats and dish rags close at hand, the plates are higher up and close to the sink, and the knives are no longer in the one drawer that sticks.

Ugh, every time I went to grab one, I would get the image in my head that the drawer would come flying open and I'd impale myself five times over.

There was little to no common sense involved with the prior tossing together of the kitchenware. There were spices and herbs laid out in a drawer right underneath the stove that now houses the cloth place mats, washcloths, and oven mitts. All the coffee and tea things are in a pull-out tray underneath the coffee pot brewer and not taking up the drawer that was meant for pots and pans.  All the oven trays and grill trays and heaviest baking dishes are underneath that. Before, some of the trays were there but I had to pull the rest from three other spots in the cabinets. There's plenty of room to keep them all together for goodness sakes!

The same goes for the ceramic bakeware and the glass bakeware. The sets are finally all together instead of sprinkled into every flippin' cabinet right underneath the oven which is at eye and waist level as opposed to on the ground. Smaller but hardly used appliances are up and tucked away in just as small cabinets above the stove and microwave, the cups and mugs are now in the same cabinet on their own shelves, and gravy boats and tiny cute cream pots are above that. I took the plates and various bowls on a pull-out shelf in the furthest cabinet into an upper cabinet near the sink and above the silverware which are also all near the dinner table.
Heaven forbid all the serving-ware was near the area we eat at and together.

I also removed two pull-out shelves in the two skinny cabinets on either side of the side so maybe FFIL can fit future trays and taller items that don't quite fit into the typical cabinets. I also found out that two canisters that have been on a valuable spot next to the stove since they day the house was moved into were empty. Not we-used-whatever-was-in-it-up empty, but there-has-not-been-anything-inside-for-probably-the-last-few-years empty. Holy cow, really now?!

Yes, I am that worked up about this project. Being too overwhelmed because of moving or too much stuff or too much stuff to do is a valid excuse but that was not the case here. This was sheer and blatant disregard by parties that are no longer relevant to the situation anymore and FFIL has been living in the aftermath. I know he's pretty picky and fairly logical in how he likes his home and that's a big reason why I wanted to help out by doing this for him. I am so glad he was finally ready to hand over the reigns temporarily. I realize that a kitchen is often the heart of a home and nearly sacred or at the very least a sanctuary for those who can cook well/ enjoy cooking and he's that type. I feel this task is as big a deal as I'm treating it. :P

Now that I've tackled as much as I could with the sensible arrangement of what's in the kitchen, I'm off to tackle the pantry which was just as confused but just as used with the same level of frustration. Wish me luck and I'll see you tomorrow! <3

361. Saving Lives

Today was yet another Saturday. You know, the same ol', same ol', learning how to save lives and such.

:D

I was certified for CPR and first aid today in order to be a substitute teacher aide at the schools. :) It was good times in the south side of town and I'm glad I learned new things while refreshing myself on everything else too. Our instructor was a great guy who was such a fountain of practical information and real experience. I had been certified at one point but that was several years ago when I was talking an Early Childhood Education course in high school. Yeah, definitely time to brush up.

I'm really glad that they've simplified much of the process for infants, children, and adults. I'm also in awe of the growth in technology because of the ease of use of a compact defibrillator. I don't remember anyone other than the paramedics having access to one, let alone one that walks you through how to use it. What a relief and what an amazing change.

Sometimes I really worry about how advancing technology coupled with increased individualism leads us, as a race, running down the path to our own selfish and abhorrently effortless destruction. Then, I see things like that little machine plus episodes of Nova and Scientific American Frontier on PBS in ways that people everywhere have been and are using traditional and unconventional means of developing new technology or new uses for current technology. It is truly uplifting to be reminded of that.

On a completely different and irrelevant note, I made a cute printable calendar for myself to dedicate to my crafting business but I added random tidbits about various offbeat holidays that may serve as inspiration for seasonal creations. To make it even cuter, of course, I added pictures of adorable baby animals via quick digital scrapbooking to make it even more fun for myself.

Getting more on track, I hope to continue to gain skills in being self-sufficient, learn more about being more self-sustaining, and how to contribute to the betterment of the human race. Not too much to ask or aim for, aye?

^_^ I'll see you tomorrow. <3

360. Yee Haw!

I thought that actually may have been an appropriate response to today's events but I don't think I heard it once today. :P

I went to my first Rodeo and it was pretty fun. My first feelings were: I have never seen so many studs, rhinestones, and plaid in a single location before- let alone so positively supported! Not that any of those things are bad on their own or together, it was just a small revelation of mine. Lol.

Although I wore my new boots, jeans, and what I felt was a rustic-inspired top to go, I felt like such a city slicker walking around. I knew I wanted to get some pretty earrings to commemorate attending my first rodeo and checking off another Southwestern experience off of my list and not only did I end up succeeding with that mission but walked away with this:

That is indeed a snapshot of my new cowgirl hat. A white one too, of all things. I got caught up at the moment, lol. I normally don't do hats because they look odd/ don't fit on my wide head, but they actually had true hat sizes and I do acknowledge that a lighter color hat reflect more heat while covering my nearly black hair from absorbing sunlight. Lol. I learned about hat bands and stampede bands that will keep my new hat from being ripped off my head by the gusty winds. I'm a little excited about slowly but surely making this hat my own via such accessories. Yes, I really am a girly dork like that.

Those things on it are my new artisan hand painted earrings. They are so light and I love the teal color. It truly shimmers more in better lighting.

I snapped quite a few video clips of the different events but fewer pictures and I'm not sure why, lol. Here are some!

Part of the program for today.

The gates.

A couple of the cowboys.

Buckin' Bronco.

Right out the gate.

For ideally eight seconds.

More of the bigger picture.

Overall, it was a pretty fun day and I'm glad to have had the experience. : ) I'll see you tomorrow. <3

359. Willy Nilly

I just looked back at the subject posts for my blogging and realized that I could not count for beans this past week. What on earth was I thinking? Oh yeah, that's right, I was just guessing and was too tired to actually check what day I was on. :P

Well, I believe that it is all fixed now and I'm glad I took the time to do so before I celebrated my one year anniversary of daily blogging on the wrong day. I would have felt pretty darn dumb. I don't think I'm going to do anything big to celebrate since it's such a weird time of the year to hold such a celebration. The end of the first week of March? So odd. I will think about it a bit more though. Lol. Sigh.

See you tomorrow. <3

358. Back To My Roots

I really miss having access to a piano tonight.

I started taking lessons when I was about 7 or 8 years old and stopped around my freshman year of high school due to personal issues. I've missed it so. I only made it up to an intermediate level and was toying with starting to delve into the more advanced playing at the tie. After that point, I tried to keep playing through learning chorale music in high school and playing the most difficult of my repertoire over and over again. When I went off to college, I pretty much became a groupie of the School of Music and used the practice room pianos that were across campus in the middle of the night.

During that time in my life, my folks started renovation their home and I ended up moving clear across the country to the desert. Needless to say, I hadn't used my old upright piano in ages. It was already about a dozen years old when we got it when I started, but with no one else to use it and it taking up space (my family lived in our house while it was being fixed up and never put a thing into storage- it was total chaos for over a year), it was sold to a family with a grandmother who had a lot of time on her hands and really wanted to learn the piano. How could I be resentful of that? I hope she is getting tons of use from it and can feel the love and joy that instrument has brought into my life and the lives of my friends.

Well, to get to this point, I was logging onto my WoW game and saw an advertisement for in game sheet music. Needless to say, I flipped out. Then, I attacked the company's website and within mere minutes, I had a wishlist created that totaled up to nearly $200. Roflmao. It's called Sheet Music Plus and I already adore it. My list is full of piano-vocal arrangements because those are the only two things I know how to do- kind of. That saying of "The more you know, the more you know that you don't know" totally applies to this, lol.

Then, I wanted to sing along with the sheet music I was finding then I became all sad because my iTunes has been screwed up for the better part of the past year with have of my +2000 songs missing somewhere in the cyber netherverse that is my computer. Well, this was the kick in my pants that I needed to hunt all of that down and I found it all in less than ten minutes! Why couldn't I have figured this out sooner?! So, here I am grooving to one of the most eclectic collections of music I've ever seen. :D I am one happy clam. Hahaha!

Speaking of getting back to ones roots, I also have planted a pepper plant that my mom gave me the... erm peppers to when I went to visit her last. I was so worried that I had waited too long to plant it (because I totally forgot I had it stuffed into a pocket on my luggage) or that I just sucked that badly at growing green things BUT!! look at what started to happen suddenly one night:

Something sprouted!

IT'S ALIVE!!!

**And not even a week later, look at what happened!**

More!!

It's now a forest!

Lol, I would apologize for my enthusiasm but I'm the type that barely keeps anything alive that doesn't warn me that it needs anything. Once it started to go, it really took off. Every night before we go to bed and once early on in the day, everyone is checking in on them because there's something new going on every time we walk by. It's crazy! XD I am so excited.

These suckers are incredibly spicy and I hope that this keeps progressing well. 

Alright, I need to head out before I explode from anticipation and enthusiasm. Ha ha! I'll see you tomorrow. These things totally made my day. <3

357. Blast From The Past

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today, so here is a blatant cop-out out of thinking of something to write about. :D

Here are some random pictures of various things I've made over the years in no particular order:

A sketch of pipes/ straws using permanent marker and what I believe are Prismatic color pencils. 

This was probably done about 6-8 years ago.

A mosaic-esque picture out of notebook paper, Crayola markers and crayons, and tons of Elmer's glue. I colored each strip, chopped them up with scissors, and glued each piece one by one.

This was done about ten years ago.

Winter festive cows (and baby penguin) ornaments for my family made from polymer clay.

These were made about two years ago.

I eventually amassed a sizable army of polymer clay snow people with different colored scarves. I ended up giving most of them away as gifts that Christmas.

Also done two years ago.

Collective Etsy inventory at the time. Friendship bracelets made form cotton embroidery floss.

These were two to three years ago.

A customized origami mobile made from various papers, beads, and floss.
Cranes, flowers, and lucky stars.

This particular one was from about a year or so ago.

I do love to dabble in simple crafts and looking at this batch of projects, I reaffirm the conclusion that I really love bright and fun colors but give nearly every hue a chance. Just to mix things up. I tend to obsess and attack each medium in phases but once I add a new technique into my repertoire, I'll always eventually come back to doing it. : ) I have this weird urge to doodle and make a bunch of snowmen for no particular occassion right now. LOL. 

I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you tomorrow. <3

356. Photo Op

I thought I almost forgot to do something today. Was getting ready for bed when I realized the blog that I only posted onto one of my blogs. Good game, me.

Thankfully, I did manage to download some pictures from my camera (finally) so that can be what's up today. Lol. 

I may have already blogged about this one, but isn't he cute?! 

Snuggling to get warm in my fluffy pink robe and his daddy's favorite red sweatshirt.

 His cousin got an afghan made for him by grandma.

He has been obsessed with her alpaca yarn for weeks.

Such a long sausage-looking boy getting all comfy.

What the freezing weather has done to the plants. :( 

The desert was not at all prepared. We brought in what we could and covered up the rest.

Pretty mountains looked reddish in the morning sunlight.

Yesterday, the weather started acting up again. This place usually has clear skies.

The SO spotted a wide rainbow and let FMIL and I know so we could run out and see.

Lol. Not mine but I thought these were great too. 

And this is how I've been feeling lately. XD

Mmk. See you tomorrow! <3

355. Party Planning

Remember Superbowl Sunday? I wrote about getting an exhilarating feeling from having to throw a party snack spread together at the last moment. I might take that back now. Ha!


After some discussion today, I'm theoretically going to be teaching at a crafting party in two weeks. If this helps clarify the panic that is setting in: the invitations have yet to go out. Oh yes. We are in for a roller coaster ride.

The plan is that we shall confirm the event tomorrow, finalize the guest list, and prepare all of the invitations tomorrow. Next comes me gather all of the supplies and without getting into too much detail, it'll be a solid afternoon running around town and probably paying for express shipping. Then comes paperwork planning and research; some grocery shopping; hardcore cleaning of the house; tons of phone calls, texting, and emailing back and forth; and hoping that the supplies come in time. After, I guess I just hope that people show up and have a good time! Lol.

You know what another kicker is? That I may be doing that all over again two weeks after the first. Oh yes, I do believe that I'm that insane. I'll be sure to let you know if it goes well. I may just be all sulky and a sad panda in subsequent postings if it doesn't. :P Makes sense, doesn't it?

All right, I'm off to mentally freak out some more. See you tomorrow. <3

354. Distracted

I'm catching up on sleep and crossing my fingers that I don't get sick with a flu that seems to be going around now.

We watched the Arizona vs. Washington college men's basketball game today and I have to say that even though I often wandered off to the other side of the room to use my laptop, it was a pretty intense game. Truly down to the wire and I'm glad that we won but they played a heck of a game. Kudos to the Huskies but Go Wildcats!

We ordered some yummy lasagna and pizza from a local Italian place and my eyes were actually bigger than my stomach. That hasn't happened in a while, lol. SO's brother felt bad for making push the grocery cart full of drinks and snacks at the store. However, that was only happening because he broke his shoulder last week but was told by doctors to stop using a sling. They don't want it to freeze up since it's a versatile joint, so he's encouraged to do his best to regain full motion. Pushing a cart full of heavy stuff doesn't help though, lol, so here comes little ole me doing all the dirty work. XD

I was reading a few of the blogs that I follow and looked into a Kpop (Korean Pop) group called SHINee ("shiny"). I don't know why, and I'm sure I'm like the many other people that stumble upon Kpop and then quickly find themselves obsessed, but I am utterly fascinated by them tonight. So here's one of their music videos:

Since I really don't know what's going on with the music and more or less in the video, the sprinkling of English words out of context makes for an awkward but fascinating experience. Just like watching a fabulous train wreck. @_@?;; How was that for an emoticon?

Lol, see you tomorrow. <3

353. Pools of Fire

Today was an intense day with the kids, but I'm yet another step closer to being a substitute aide and that's pretty exciting. However, I'm running on hardly any sleep over the past couple of days and am pretty sleepless-drunk right now.

Made the mistake of laying down while read something around 8:30pm and almost nodded off. It was very tempting to just let myself go but I really don't want to be up at 4am and going insane.

I've developed a nasty habit of leaving my half-eaten quesadilla leftovers in the classroom microwave because it's so good that I don't have the heart to just throw it out when I don't have enough time to finish it at the moment. Then, I end up at home realizing that it's still in there and... yeah. So ridiculous and the idea of what would happen if we didn't go back and take care of it asap is gross.

We had a checkup appointment for Mr. Kitty Cat today. The vet gave his health a thumbs up and answered every little question we had about him and his cousin. That's another great thing about going there. Not only do they have a factual answer, but they have yet to make us feel foolish for asking anything. She even gave us tips on how to slow down his cousin's eating so he stops instantly hacking it up and whining for more. One of the tricks included spreading the proper amount of food in an ice cube tray. We're kind of mean because we stood around to tease him about his inability to figure out how to scarf his food in a nanosecond. XD I'm sorry, but it's for his own good, the house's own good, and was hilarious. He tried everything he could think of which was really three things: try with his face that couldn't fit, now only try to scoop it out piece by piece while trying not to let it merely drop into another pocket, or look up at us, then flop on his side and whine to give him is "real" food. Pets are hysterical. It really is the little things. Except this cat has been battling getting obese because of his fixation on food. He's chunky.

When the SO was hunting down certain materials in our game this evening, I finally realized that they were more or less "Earth, Wind, & Fire" and I found that to be quite the hoot. He didn't quite connect them with their songs so I ran to YouTube and started blasting songs like "Boogie Wonderland" and "After the Love is Gone". So much fun! Probably more fun than it should be because I'm delirious but hey, it really is simple things in life that prolong it. XD

Depending on whether or not that's true, I'm either living well into my 80's or dying within the next decade.

We just heard a noise and I totally lost my train of thought. I'm going to listen to more disco before heading to bed. Lol. See you tomorrow! <3

P.S. This song has nearly nothing to do with anything about what I wrote today besides the fact that it's awesome:

352. Achy-Breaky

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned it before, but it's been another one of those days that I've understood the saying: "Who keeps lowering the floors?!" I subbed for an aide today and with all the new kids starting right after one another, even with all the kids we had absent, it was pretty insane in terms of herding.

As many things we each did at every 30 seconds (Once, upon a time- A, fingers out of your nose please, we don't want you getting sick from the germs- B, stay in your seat so your friends can see too- C, turn around and look at the story or you'll miss the giraffe- D & E, we're done with clapping and listening now- Okay, F, go to the bathroom- G, thank you for sitting so nicely- H, this is the third time you've asked for a drink now, you're missing the story- The forms are on the table!- In a land far, far away...) There just didn't seem to be enough eyes and bodies to do what's best by the kids since we've gained quite the hectic dynamic lately.

One more day. Lol. I'm sure it would help if I could regulate my sleep, caffeine intake, and had time for lunch. Even though they don't desperately need me tomorrow, but could always use extra help, I am so determined to go in for a different reason. It's the last day for one of the students tomorrow. He's ready to move on, but is a bit young to start kindergarten just yet and unless the family finds funds for a typical preschool program around town, he's out of school until school starts next year. The technicalities of this frustrate me so. I personally feel that he should be allowed to finish this school year in his class. Grrr. Sigh.

I need to seriously rest up, we have Freaky Fridays in class where our schedule and activities are wonky and different from what they do every week. It's truly insanity on our behalves and for the kids but they tend to have a lot of fun. Then we can send them all crazy for the weekend! Hooray! Lol. See you tomorrow. <3

351. Subs

I just really took a look at what day of daily blogging I was on and it hit me that I am currently 14 days or two weeks away from my year long goal. It hasn't been perfect but I'm almost there and there is ton of stuff I want to change but this was a really good start, in my opinion.

I am, however, beyond exhausted right now to the point of trying not to talk to avoid hearing all the dumb things that are spewing out of my face hole today. That's when you know you should probably call it a night.

I did get to go in and learn more about subbing at school. We'll see how that goes. I'll see you tomorrow. <3

350. So [S]Tweet

It's hard to tell what I love more: the internet or crafting.

As much as I suffered phantom limb pain because I haven't been on my laptop today until now, I managed to keep away while working on a crafting project. I haven't volunteered in the classroom lately and I guess the kids have really begun to wonder about my existence. Apparently, I was a hot enough topic in class that FMIL let the kids call me at the end of the day and I missed talking to them by 1-2 minutes! Argh! Lol.

Some of the comments were: "Where is she anyways?" "When is she coming back?" "She's gonna come back on Friday!" "She's never coming back!" Awww! Doesn't that break your heart in so many ways?

Well, the good news is that I decided to go in to surprise them on Friday, but found out that I could be hired on as a substitute aide that they need pretty badly right now, so I'm going for the remainder of the week starting tomorrow.

Get this, next week, they're only going to have two school days. Wednesdays is more of a planning- meeting day for this program and next Thursday and Friday all of the kids in town have the day off because the rodeo is in town. You read that correctly. It's such a big deal here, they get school off. Got to love perfect convention-event weather, right? This state really needs to find more ways to attract big bucks like this more often.

Anyways, since I decided to magically appear in class for them, I wanted to provide an extra little surprise. I made them all little 3"x 3" pop-up cards of little birdies. I was thinking about putting a "You're so tweet" pun on there, but that's just complicating things for these kids. So instead, I wrote: "Hello ___" and added their names so each child will get their own customized card. I can't believe we started this school year with about 11 kids total and are now toying with 22. Each week, they're getting information about at least one new potential student. Half of them finalize the process and start within a week or so and some never do. I had heard about this but hadn't quite experienced it last year when I was volunteering about 30 hours a week for a few months. It's really a revolving door type of deal in there!

The cards are drying and being squished under a box right now, but I'll try to remember to snag a picture before I hand them out. Nothing fancy, but a cute and simple little gift that I hope they like.

Mmk, I need to get some rest so I'll see you tomorrow! <3

349. Love Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Or Single Awareness or Batman Sticker Day or whatever the nonsense you prescribe to in order to make it through the day.

I think I've come to a conclusion about today, the people who often gripe about it being a horrible commercial monster are logically right, but are the most jaded. It's kind of like how people who convert to more extreme religions often have stronger outspoken faith, but the opposite. They believed it the traditions of today but have had a string of negative experiences that had led them to lose any faith in what today is meant for: celebrating love. Granted romantic love seems to be the forerunner in all of this, but I find that many modern families seem to spread that all around. On the other hand, it may be because the parents can't orchestrate time to make it special for just themselves. Lol. Either way, from all the posts and notes I've seen today that spoke against Valentine's Day, those people were hurt the deepest by it.

I'm the type to try to do both. Something special and potentially romantic with a significant other, if possible, plus something sweet with loved ones and sometimes people I don't know. I'll go nuts with the themed decor, heart-shaped foods, handing out chocolates to any one I meet, creating tons of note cards, and generally embarrassing those close to me once I start my own family (I'm guessing.). XD

I think I've talked about future ways I plan on embarrassing those I care about pretty often. :P I can't wait!

Ha ha. See you tomorrow! <3

348. Note-taking

Studying and note-taking can kind of suck in a it gets pretty boring kind of way. Eloquent, I know.

I'm attempting to write a basic reference guide for myself for the game since I'm typically the information hound that everyone decides it's faster to inquire and wait for the answer to magically appear rather than digging for it themselves. I admit that I often doggedly pursue the answers to random questions and I have get this sick kind of enjoyment out of it more often that not.

I unfortunately do not have a computer that is up to snuff for such a thirst and I do like jotting down notes everywhere. I thought I should finally bite the bullet and collect it all in one place. I found an old composition notebook that I had hardly used and started to meticulously document my research in there. Then it hit me, many of the basics in game change every few months. If I pair up this treasured notebook with a desire to make minimal corrections to it... that's friggin' impossible.

I'm not quite sure why I wanted to use a notebook in the first place. Maybe it was because I got all excited about the idea of having my own notes on hand and that I like writing things that got me into this mess. So, the SO "gently" pointed out that I should just bite the bullet and compile it all on my computer. If anything, I can eventually print out the pages, three-hole punch it, and put it all in binder for me to flip through and change out individual pages when the information on them becomes obsolete. I think he only consented with those latter ideas because he knows that I'm a sucker for that kind of tedious and meaningless organization. Sweet of him, right? Lol.

So, I started and it's kind of frustrating having to rewrite all these notes that I've already meticulously and painstakingly taken. Couple that with doubting what I wrote and re-confirming by looking more than half of it up again. Sigh. This is exactly why I hardly get anywhere with anything. Detail-oriented to a fault. I'm making pretty charts and everything.

It sounds kind of ridiculous, but this game has been such an anchor in my life during some of my toughest times. It just feels right and nearly logical to take it this far. Plus that binder idea is awfully appealing for when my computer decides to have a conniption or when people call/ text me their questions and I'm not near my computer. You'd probably be pretty surprised as to how often that happens.

Rawr. I'm nearly all ranted out about this. :P I'll see you tomorrow. <3

347. Yesterday

I didn't do much else today besides go visit with sick family and come bearing get-well-soon gifts like Emergen-C, dried apricot snacks, and a Snuggie. We ended up ordering Chinese take-out for dinner which we ate on actual plates. I feel kind of bad that I haven't had too much substance or whatnot to post to this blog since I'm usually fried by the time I get to writing here.

To sort of make up for that, I'm sharing this music video from YouTube of a new artist I'm obsessing over since I haven't done that in a little while either.

This is Conor Maynard from across the pond featuring Lily Violet Springall covering Toni Braxton's "Yesterday" featuring Trey Songz. There is just something so musical about the melody and emotion that I just can't tear myself away from.

I hope you enjoy and will see you tomorrow. <3

346. My Funny Valentine

I've dabbled in researching a few new card-making techniques and finally chose one to try out. That was a day and a half ago and I finally finished it earlier this evening. I'm fairly pleased with the results, my major beef with it is that I felt pretty limited in terms of supplies.

Okay, coming from me, that sounds a bit insane. However, I was trying to work with purely SU! items that I owned. I'm limited in ink and card stock and don't have too many (if any) fancy embellishments. I really tried to treat it as a challenge and opportunity for me to get really creative but I am just so stuck with doing the prescribed. However, that's a whole 'nother story/ rant.

I did get my first Valentine for this year today. : ) FMIL delivered it from my preschool boyfriend. XD Isn't that so sweet? They put together two characters that she cut out last night and made cards with them and he chose to make one for me!

 

Isn't that freakin' adorable?! 

The message he wrote on top was: "[insert my name] LOVE I" XD Aw!! How on earth does the SO expect to top that? Lol. 

I can't help but mention the awe-inspiring turn of events that has happened today over in Egypt. I wish them all the best in finding their footing and restoring peace and order.

How many times could I have said "however" in this post? Ha ha, I can feel myself become more delirious by the second. I'll see you tomorrow. <3

345. Go Fish

After a great business meeting/ training session today, I... am not quite sure what I ended up doing. Needless to say, I've crashed hard from another caffeine high and have the amplified attention span and memory retention of a goldfish.

I haven't been able to attend to anything for more than a minute and a half and am looking at something else every 3 seconds. Even writing today's post is taking a kajillion times longer than normal (which is actually a decent amount of time since I keep wandering off).

Earlier, I finished my root beer, decided I was still thirsty, walked into the kitchen, pulled out the jug of apple juice, set it on the counter, got called away to look at something on the computer for no more than two minutes, commented on a craft project that FMIL was working on for the classroom on her Cricut, and walked back into the living room. Who knows how long later, I reach for my root beer, re-realize that the can is empty, walk through the kitchen to recycle the can in the garage, and see the container of apple juice on the counter. Whoops.

It's not that bad to have one decent brain fart in an evening, however. I went into the other room to ask the SO if he wanted anything to drink, he said yes and handed me his empty can to recycle, I grab it and as I'm walking away to recycle it ask if he can hear the laundry going on the other side of the wall, he says no so I should have kept going out into the garage and grabbed the laundry but instead commented on FMIL wrapping up her project, and wander back into the living room. Not even five minutes later, the SO walks into the living room and asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I stare at him all confused and then he keeps repeating the question while cracking open his own drink. After half a minute of staring blankly at him, it hits me. I forgot to do what I said I was going to do again. Not only that, that's the second time that's happened in this week and the third in the past two and a half weeks.

I tend to be a fiend about remember the little details and nuances of what people say but apparently, I'm some special breed of moron. XD

I'm trying hard to think about the balance that I want to find for myself in everyday life before I start making extracurricular plans. Wish me luck! See you tomorrow. <3

344. Holiday Spirit

Um. Okay, although that may sound a bit confusing at first, there are still fun celebrations going on right now. Namely, (in game) the Lunar New Year and Valentine themed events. :D

This year, the SO had finally gotten into the spirit after a few years of not caring and I couldn't be happier about it. Usually, I'm the only one from our circle of friends that freaks out and enthusiastically tries to drag everyone around with me to do everything that they seasonally set up. I haven't been able to pay attention enough to the activities this past year, but luckily he's caught the bug and has helped and done everything he could to have me achieve those goals. It's very much appreciated and pretty amusing to see the determination and excitement coming from someone else while I'm doing chores. Hooray for living vicariously!

Another aspect of the holidays is the spirit of giving. Alright, now I'm probably really messing with your internal clocks, aye? Well, a coworker of a friend recently lost all of their possessions in a house fire. Luckily, all of the kids and grandchild made it out safe too. However, while waiting upon the insurance company to do their thing, they had nothing but the shirts on their back. As a family, we'll be going through our things and making a delivery soon. I hope that they are paid out as soon as possible. I know they have their physical lives and health, but this is such a mentally and emotionally catastrophic situation. I would be so heartbroken if I would lose my collections of things in a flood, fire, or storm. I cannot imagine their struggle and we wish them all the best.

Oh no, I just saw the headline that the closet I have to a favorite author just passed away last week! :( Argh! This day is getting sadder by the minute. Roar!

Sigh. I should go. I have an early day ahead of me tomorrow. See you then. <3

343. Participation

If there was an award for participation for today, kitty and I would not have received one.

I still had the case of the dumb today, but I refrained from caffeine for the longest time. Maybe all of the sleeplessness had finally caught up today and kitty got a little sick this morning, but he and I just conked out for as much time as we could. The good thing about today was that it didn't seem to phase the SO who pretty much spoiled us. : )

So, um... not much to report today. I'll see you tomorrow! <3

342. Family Affair

I have a little bit of headache since I decided against having any caffeine today. Had such a hard time with sleeping last night despite being tired as heck. I'm kind of out of it today so all I can think of to talk about is that the SO, his brother, and I have been playing our game together and that's been kind of fun. Plus, he's a pretty quick learner.

We also managed to catch some of those trashy talk shows and oye are those things insane. It gives a whole new meaning to "family affair" and I can't look away. It's like watching a train wreck happening. O_O

Probably should go before I just fall over. See you tomorrow. <3

341. Fingerfoods

I'm not entirely sure that "fingerfoods" is a word. Nope, typing it in the body versus the title bar has confirmed that suspicion. Well, too bad spell checker, it is now!

Can you tell that I'm a little off my rocker tonight? I may have overdone it on the caffeine today seeing as how I haven't had any in a little too long and then chugged a Mountain Dew. Yeah... I'm really not the brightest hammer in the pool hall. Imeanwhat? :P

It was Superbowl Sunday day today. This is a newsflash, I'm sure. We were going to a family friend's party, but had issues arise and ended up staying home and watching it together. To me, that meant that we had to have snacks asap. So, zooming around cleaning I went and then about an hour before the kick off, I started getting all the food together. Raiding the fridge and our pantry-corner while making calls to have food picked up. I'm proud at what I did. I did miss the first few minutes going back and forth between the TV and the kitchen though. :(

Popcorn, pretzels, various cheese and crackers, sodas, summer sausage, peanut butter and chocolate fudges, olives, hot homemade salsa (from a family at school), dips, potato and tortilla chips, and a homemade (thrown together) pseudo-trail mix of peanuts, white chocolate chips, walnuts, and orange-flavored dried cranberries. That last bit was awfully confusing but surprisingly good. Lol. Add to that some hot buffalo wings, a meat lover's and a veggie lover's pizza. There was only five of us. XD Yeah, I may have overdone it a tad, but I'm still proud of myself for putting together such a spread on little notice, and my mom has been a "Go big or go home" kind of lady. She doesn't play around when it comes to having good food at a party.

None of us were crazy about either team and this game didn't really have anything memorable about it, in my opinion. We were shafted on commercials, but I caught up with them after online and was still disappointed. The SO did make a point when he said that at least the promoters and companies were being hit heavily by the low economy/ wary of frivolous spending on making new advertisements.

It also kind of killed me a little that none of the game systems that we have in the house work with the family-main TV. It has been a tradition with my friends and I to play a Mario Party game when the game or commercials started becoming boring. Sigh, maybe next year.

In other news, kitty is still on the mend. He really isn't self-hydrating nearly as much as he used to/ we would like him to. Regardless, he's been pretty friggin' cute lately. He has been letting us bundle him up when he normally dislikes being confined.

"No more cuddling, Mommy! You're so embarrassing! Daddy, make her go away! I wanna go back to sleep! >_<"

That's pretty much what he's been saying to me the past two to three days. I can't no love around here! Lol. He actually does nap like this sometimes. It's disgustingly cute! How could I not want to smother him to pieces?! Sigh. Lol. 

Alright, I'm going to stop myself now. :) See you tomorrow! <3

340. Satisfaction

That song: *I can't get no! Satisfaction!*? Well, substitute that with "motivation".

After last night, I really wanted to get past feeling sorry for myself or being frustrated for things that are out of my control/ insignificant. I felt that maybe trying to do something that was not only pleasing to me but somewhat productive at the same time would boost my confidence and positivity. My plan is to ride on that accomplishment high and take on bigger projects around the house.

That saying along the lines of "If something bothers you- fix it" is what I'm pushing myself to do and... I'm just going to need a lot of caffeine and music to get me by until it becomes a habit.

The project I chose to work on tonight was the scrapbook that I started on roughly a year after the SO and I started dating. Our third anniversary is coming up now and it's still not done. Ninety-five percent of the pictures and layouts are actually done and I've actually had writer's block about the journaling and final touches. With both card-making and scrapbooking, each step I'm on- I keep swearing that it's the hardest step to get through! Developing layouts, choosing pictures, matching colors, developing focal points, adding embellishments, journaling, etc. Yet, once I get over the hump, it goes so smoothly and quickly- I'm constantly surprised by that-and then the cycle starts over again.

I've also had quite the day on the phone talking to family and friends. I'm pretty sure that there was more time spent today chatting that I have during the past month. Really weird, lol.

I need to go continue seeking my muse. :) See you tomorrow. <3

339. Snapshots

Today was my love's birthday and after a while I got frustrated over conditions that were out of my control. Then, I became a sour-puss for the rest of the day. Great way to make the day special, aye? I thought so too. /eyeroll. Regardless, we had a nice and yummy family dinner out.

Bah, I'm still a tad grumpy (but at least I more or less understand the root of the issue) so here's is some music that I recently happened upon. I'm really feeling this right now:

The original song is "Price Tag" feat. B.o.B. by Jessie J:

This is a cover of said song by Tyler Ward & Eppic:

I'm going to keep blasting music into my brain until my issues melt away. :) See you tomorrow. <3

338. Year of the Rabbit-Cat

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Tis the Year of the Rabbit (or Cat for us Vietnamese) and either way it's my year! Woohoo! :D This is the first year that I haven't really done anything Asian for the occassion. :P That rhymed. I tried really hard last year by making fried rice for the family and attempting so many ways to make red (but really pink) fortune cookies. Maybe I feel that I got in my quota of Asian-ness when I went back to visit my folks for Christmas and New Year's. Hm, idk. Oh wait, maybe because I'm a tad distracted because the SO's birthday is tomorrow. It's a semi-important one and he's not exactly thrilled about that fact. I'm trying to do something special but it's pretty difficult and I'm super frustrated and borderline upset but I'll figure something out.

Oh! In the meantime I can share an SU! project that I did:

 

They are luminaries/ luminarias/ luminarios that are Asian-inspired. :D

Here's wishing all of you happiness, health, and wealth! I'll see you tomorrow. ♥