Hi Ladies, been a while

I love the idea of blogging, and I love to write but some how I have lost my way. Maybe it was the coming of twitter. Or the new business, but I MISS writing and am making my rounds through my writing outlets and touching base again.

The last year has been quite a roller coaster. one year later I am in debt, a lot, and working my way to trying to figure out how to make my new business sustainable and how to manage money better in general.

Cleaning, decluttering and simplifying are my current goals. I feel like if I have less stuff I will have more time.

On the upside of the coaster, I love my little company, I am doing lots of cool project stuff, my new puppy is a joy, and I have more ideas for writing than I have in a long time. But I still feel like I lack any idea of what balance means. Walking every day is helping but this week it has gotten so hot that even that has become harder to do.

still i feel hopeful, how about you?

Be stupid

I feel so old. Today, I was looking at a magazine and came across the new Diesel Jeans ads. Has anyone else out there seen them? The theme is, be stupid.

Like we haven't already dumbed down our society enough as it is with the inane coverage of balloon boy and Heidi someone's multiple plastic surgeries, and Tiger's love affairs and...now someone out there is blatantly saying it--be stupid. Maybe it is better to have them clearly stating their purpose instead of hiding it behind something else. But it just makes me feel old because obviously they are going after a young market, and I'm sure the campaign will be successful, but I hope it fails miserably, and I don't understand the attraction of being stupid, and I can't imagine a meeting where someone said, here's my idea and then they pitched it to supposedly smart people, and then those smart people said, yeah, it's a great idea. So, I guess that means I'm out of touch. And then I look at my rant about dumbing down society and sounds like some old person complaining about the youth today, but I don't feel old, so...I don't know where I fit in.

I know it is just an ad, but ads reflect something about society--either what is accepted or what is pushing the edge. Is it possible that promoting stupidity is acceptable, and if not, then how is that pushing the edge, I mean what is it aiming for?

You can see the whole idiotic campaign here
http://adhunt.blogspot.com/2010/01/diesel-jeans-be-stupid.html

I guess the only plus is that if people act as stupid as the people in the ads, the average IQ of the population will actually increase since only the smart people will live long enough to propagate.

Linda

I love a good snow day but....

I'm not much for cold weather (anything under eighty degrees), but I'm a sucker for a snow day
The sun reflects off the snow making everything is bright and beautiful. Gary and I greet an unexpected day off like a couple of six year olds. I guess it's leftover from childhood. A snow day just feels like stolen time.

But, the novelty wears off (no worky no money). We have about 40" of snow on the ground. 28"from the weekend and 13" fell yesterday. For the second time in a week Delaware is in a "state of emergency" and driving is banned in the City. Banned!? I think anybody who can get their car throw should receive a special commendation.

We've embraced the snow day activities - sledding (makeshift with, what else, plastic lids of storage bins - thank goodness for kids who share sleds*), baking - zillions of cookies, apple cobbler, cooking - pot roast and goulash. We're going to roll out of this place ten pounds heavier.

Then there's the mismatch of clumsy people and ice. Not good. One minute I was getting out of the car with a bag of lovely jar candles, and the next I was looking up from the ground with a lovely bag of broken glass. Gary's fall was especially impressive considering it was inside on the stairs (not down the stairs.) While attempting to take out the recycling he stopped at the top of the stairs to pick something up and thud. He's still a little mad at me for laughing, not just a little - full hysterics. This is what cabin fever does. And, by the way, they have stopped picking up the trash and aforementioned recycling due to snow. They don't tell you that in the brochures.

*I think the kids greased the loaner sled because I've never experienced anything like it in my life. Greased lightning. Totally airborne several times. One gust of wind was so heavy with snow I couldn't see a thing while careening face first toward the street. It was like being caught in a wave and not knowing which end is up. It was great while been very disconcerting.

A ranting and mixed review. I'll blame the cabin fever. It's my birthday today and it would be nice to get out. There's always the weekend.

Snowpocalypse!

So for the second time in about 6 weeks, I'm hunkering down for 2+ feet of snow. The first storm came on December 19. I'm not a snow lover, but we hadn't had a snow like that in several years, so it was actually sort of fun. I stocked up with lots of food and drink, DVDs, good books, and had a couple projects around the house to tackle. My neighbors and I let our dogs run loose through the neighborhood since there was no traffic, and shared hot toddies and wine while we watched it come down and then later shoveled out. It took me 3 hours to dig out my car and a couple days after that before I really felt safe driving (major roads were ok, but side streets were a nightmare). Most of it got washed away with rain during Christmas week and by the time I returned from my vacation December 30th, the streets were back to normal.

We got another 8" last weekend (though they'd only called for a 'dusting') and then 5more inches Monday night. I wasn't thrilled with those snows, but they were pretty easy to deal with and didn't affect my ability to get around.

This weekend's snow will be a different story. They're calling for 24"-30" of snow with blizzard conditions. I'm concerned about losing power as a result of heavy snow and 30 MPH winds. I have a crazy fear of my roof collapsing under the weight of that much snow. But I'm mostly worried about losing my mind. I've got movies to watch, books and magazines to read, and two house projects on tap. I also have plenty of food, including stuff to bake bread and cookies and fixings for vegetarian chili. I also stocked up on plenty of good beer and wine. I don't think I'll be bored or without any necessities, but I already feel slightly panicked about being stuck at home for 2, 3, or even more days.

Does anyone else get this way, or do you love being snowed in?

Hey guys,

Try this game. The rules are below, as are my answers. You can add your answers by copying and pasting into the comment box.

Rules: USE THE 1ST LETTER OF YOUR LAST NAME TO ANSWER EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. THEY HAVE TO BE REAL PLACES, NAMES, THINGS. NOTHING MADE UP! TRY TO USE DIFFERENT ANSWERS IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAD THE SAME 1ST INITIAL. YOU CAN'T USE YOUR NAME FOR THE BOY/GIRL NAME.

1. What is your last name? Gould
2. A 4 Letter Word: Goat

3. A Boys Name: Gary

4. A Girls name: Gertrude (I love this name, even though it is weird, old-fashioned and I wouldn't want to be strapped with it myself)
5. An Occupation: gardener

6. A Color: green

7. Something you wear: g-string (okay, the next blog post should be whether any of us wear these things)

8. A Beverage: guava juice

9. A food: gravy
10. Something found in the bathroom: germs

11. A place: Germany
12. A Reason for being late: got sick

13. Something you shout: Golly!

Giving up something you love

My post title says it all, have you ever had to give up something you love?

Right now I'm in the process of showing my horse Beau to prospective buyers. I know selling him is the right thing to do- we've found Gerry's perfect trail horse (mule actually) and I have my Dallas. We don't have enough time for Beau and keeping would put strain on our finances. But it is killing me.

I'd really like to hear your stories.

Resolutions Anyone?

Well, 2009 is finally over! Thank the gods!

anyone make any resolutions this time around? I usually don't but this year I am going to try a few simple ones.

Decluttering! major work done by the end of January
Better money systems and assessment
Work on writing again

get some of the stress out of life, especially by doing 1 & 2 above.

How about all of you?