Blogging Versus Facebook

Once upon a time, I used to blog regularly. More or less. Then my friends all started jumping on the Facebook bandwagon. I eventually joined in the party. Which was fine for awhile. I was already well immersed in Twitter by then. But a funny thing happened along the way. The more time I spent on FB, the less I blogged. Pretty soon, it was only Wordless Wednesday images being posted. But then before long, that fell by the wayside, too. Then it was merely lamenting over the reality that I could barely manage a post or two in a month. IF that.

I've made it back to the blogosphere a couple of times. I've written a few posts. In a row, even. But I never quite get back to any sort of consistency there. Though I sure manage to scroll through update after update after update in my FB newsfeed.

Today I started looking at other blogs in my list over there on the right. One that I used to read (the second blog I frequented regularly ever) has gone private. So I removed her from the list. Another's blog is apparently gone. Which makes me a little sad. I liked what she wrote. I'm still connected with her via Instagram, FB, and Words With Friends. But still. Then I got to another blog which was always fun to read. Sometimes hilariously funny. She's still there. She's still blogging. And it made me very happy. I read her story about her father who passed away last year. Being that she's a very gifted story teller, it was a sweet and touching post. As if I were reading a novel. I really enjoyed it a lot. I also read about her son who is now 10. He was 6 when I first started reading her blog (I think). No, maybe he was 4. He wasn't in school yet, so it must've been 4 in the beginning and 6 later (cause that's how our chronological time works, no?).

And I think that's when it clicked. Facebook is like being at a big, huge party with lots and lots of people. Some you know from work, some from your childhood, some from church, some from your kids' school, and so on. You get to chat a little bit with a lot of people. Surface conversations. Good times for an extrovert (like me). But only for awhile. You don't really know anyone with those sound bites.

Blogging and reading other bloggers gives you more than 30 seconds to hear what's going in their lives and make a comment. You actually get to read more of their story. You get to know them much more than the jokes and articles they share. While I love the party, I'm really missing the move engaging venue of blogging. I've gone through my entire list blog friends and some are still there, some have left completely, and some blog only occasionally or haven't blogged in a couple of years. I've also found a couple of new blogs that I look forward to reading regularly. I know it won't be the same as it was. But I still want to go back. A little like going back to that small Nebraska town where we would visit my Grandma. Life was slower and calmer and different.

I've taken breaks from Facebook before, but I think the goal now is to minimize my time there. I don't see me leaving it entirely. At least not at this point. I'll pop into the party on occasion, I'm sure. But I'm eagerly anticipating my new adventures in blogging (again).

This is exciting to me, too. Another new beginning. My alium bulbs are sprouting and growing daily. And I can't post without a picture anyway.

Don't Be a Lemming

Sometimes we over-informed, suffer from short attention spans, and super eager to be a part of things. Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, as we.....er, I begin a new year (Hello, 2014, you arrived far too early!), I realize how SO many things sound like fun and that I should join in said fun.

• A friend posts her first image of 2014, tags it 1/365, and I immediately think, "Hey, I should do that!"
• I get an invitation to the One Little Word class for 2014 and I'm ready to register.
• Someone else shares their new Read the Bible in a Year plan and I start thinking about which plan I'd like to do this year.

But here's the thing. Or maybe two.

1. I can't do everything that sounds like fun. Oh, I can try, and often do, but it leads to being overwhelmed, frustrated, and eventually disappointed in myself for falling behind. At least most of the time it does.

2. Just because my friends, the "cool kids," or whoever else is doing it, doesn't mean I need to (I sound so parental!). Their journey isn't the same as mine. We may cross paths occasionally or even walk the same road for a time, but I don't have to follow them everywhere.

What I really need to do is stop and think about it. (Anyone else cue over to Aretha Franklin in the Blues Brothers at that moment? Or was that just me, too?) Is this something that I truly desire to do for myself? Is it something that can fit into my life? Am I already committed to another project that may be quite similar?

And how about this?

Could I just enjoy the projects that other people do without always feeling the need to do it myself, too? Read their posts, look at their images, listen to what they have to say. Then encourage them in their pursuits. Pretty simple, really. No pressure on me. And then join in only on the things that really have some sort of value to me.

I've already committed to a few such projects and I think I need to stop right there.

Before diving off the cliff.

Happy New Year!

920 is the new 1000

Yeah, that sounds a little odd. Apparently I didn't really pay attention to the numbers on this blog's dashboard a few months ago when I excitedly published my One Thousand blog post. One thousand was the number of posts I had written. The number published was actually 920.

Oops.

I guess I'll have to pay a little more attention to detail. Or something.

And since I can't seem to post without a picture, here's my Jeep.

I won't be posting another one thousand post, though, because that would be kind of silly. It's already been done. Just a little too early...eighty posts too early.

Oh well, it was still fun tracking down old posts to share. If you missed it, go check them out.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I tried to put this all into one post, but good night, Irene, it became HUGE. Plus I just discovered I need to upload more photos. But more than that, I need to go to bed. So here's the first part of it. But it will be finished in the second part, which is pretty much finished. Because I don't want to do that multi-part, never-ending blog story again. But I digress.

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We had a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. Carrie, Chris, and most of the kids came out for a visit. They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we hung out for awhile, then headed off to Bird Dog for some excellent BBQ. Mom and Dad joined us, too.

Since our house is a bit on the cluttered side, adding 5 people to the sleeping arrangements is a little interesting. So we borrowed Mom & Dad's motorhome so Chris and Carrie could have a guest room in our driveway. Unfortunately, the heater quit running in the middle of the night, so Carrie was a little too cold (fortunately we didn't have this week's weather, because it's going to be very, very cold. But that also meant that she was up and in the house much earlier than otherwise. Once I smelled the coffee and heard the talking, I joined her. Since John's an RV technician, he was able to get the furnace fixed that morning.

Everything for the Thanksgiving dinner came together nicely. Mom brought her amazing pies, delicious (or so I hear) sweet potatoes, a veggie (whew!), and cranberries. It's what she always brings. Susan (my sister) brought homemade rolls and biscuits as well as some Cool Whip for the pies. We provided turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. It's all pretty standard most of the time. Susan and her family used to spend the day in Denver, but it's been nice having the here with us now.

Apparently I'm the pie nazi because people sure wanted pie in a hurry after that big old meal and I said, "no." Because I'm mean like that.

On Friday, seven of us headed to Denver to go to the Aquarium. It's been years since I've been, so it was fun to be back there again. Our boys stayed home and while we missed them, it did allow us to take one vehicle. Had a tasty lunch at Red Robin...yum!

Plenty of leftovers for Friday's dinner and it was nice to just hang out at home after being out and about all day. Carrie and I did make a couple of small grocery runs, though.

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Saturday, Carrie, Chris, and I got up super early again as I'd heard there would be hot air balloons flying in from the west over Pike's Peak shortly after sunrise. Bundled up, we arrived before sunrise and got some beautiful pictures.

Following the live stream of the launch, I learned that they would have to move to a new location. By that time, we'd already shot the sunrise, the Peak, Garden of the Gods, and whatever else, plus we were cold and in need of caffeine. So we zipped down to Starbucks and headed back over to a slightly different vantage point for some new photos. The balloons finally were visible, but they were so far west of Pike's Peak that they were just little dots in the sky. Enough of that.

After we dropped off Chris, we picked up Jack and his skateboard and drove down to the skate park. Fortunately, it was very UNbusy, which was nice for Jack to try things out. Of course, Carrie and I walked, sat, and took pictures. It's what we do.

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Stay tuned for Part 2.

One Thousand

Holy moly! This is my one thousandth post. Who'd have thought back when I started blogging in September of 2006? Certainly not me. Of course, I'd have been here a lot sooner had I not neglected this blog so severely the past couple of years or so. But that's water under the bridge. Time for moving forward.

{randomly gratuitous photo}

I really came over here to continue my belated Dallas series (no, not the TV show - I never was a fan). But then I realized that this would be #1,000 and it seemed that I should at least acknowledge that. So what's happened in 1,000 posts over seven years? Well, here are a fewsome of my favorite posts. And because I apparently am not good at getting off the far ends of the over/under whelming spectrum, there are a bunch. Read a few. Read them all. But, please, read something. Those with asterisks are my favorite favs. Just in case you were wondering. Never mind that. I would have to asterisk all of them. Besides, 21 out of 1,000 is a pretty good culling, I'd say.

1. A little sisterly silliness from back in the day
2. My strangley inconsistent views of food expiration dates as they relate to garlic and guacamole
3. Thoughts about the little things in life
4. Hubby's Jeep
5. The phone call from my Dad about exploding eggs
6. My youngest niece dancing music at two and a half
7. The day I was brave enough to participate in the morning face challenge on my blog. Either that, or I wasn't awake yet.
8. No wonder I can never focus on anything for very long
9. The day my son wanted to put glue on the stairs
10. I seriously have a LOT OF HAIR
11. Yep, I still like listening to the Talking Heads while randomly meandering about
12. Trouble in Rivet City
13. As if my 13 year old son (at the time) really had any idea what old school meant
14. My interpretation of signs at the laundromat
15. Join Jenny and me on a trip to Crazy Tasty Town
16. The kid who wears shorts and sandals year round
17. More random silliness
18. The post in which I decide we need an extra month
19. My awesome manly man
20. Six Degrees of Fish
21. Lessons learned from a week of being psuedo-unplugged

Kudos to you if you got this far! Kudos to you if read any of these. And a big old thank you, from the bottom of my little bloggity heart.

A Week or a Year Unplugged?

Yesterday, I posted about my week of being pseudo-unplugged. I also came across a post by a gentleman who actually unplugged entirely for a year. The timing seemed rather fitting, so I thought I should share his thoughts on the issue, too.

You can read his post here.

I suppose the reality is that the internet is very much an integral part of many lives these days and I don't know that it's just a simple flip of the switch to sail off to some imagined, idyllic life. As he mentioned, part of the equation is still you and your priorities and choices. That remains whether it's on- or offline. I suppose it's like many things in life - we have to learn how to handle it in moderation, knowing that sometimes we won't succeed, but plenty of other times we will. It's just a part of life.

What I learned Being Pseudo-Unplugged

Recently I decided to take a week off from that parts of the internet which become huge, time-sucking vortices. Vortexes. Vor Texas. For Texas....

As much as I think I'd like to unplug entirely, I know that it's just not that feasible. Too much of my life is connected - banking, paying bills, proofing, setting up a website, and so on. But I posited that I could gain a lot of valuable and, hopefully, productive time if my only internet time were spent upon specific tasks. I wrote about it here.

Monday was fantastic! Of course. It was the first day and I was highly motivated. I even started making journal entries to keep track of how my week went. I also decided to implement a Three Things system for each day. Every morning I wrote down three things that I felt really needed to be accomplished that day. It's much more palatable than a five-page To Do List. I completed one and a half things (one of them involved looking through 5-6 years of photos and scanning some which were specifically requested - a hefty project). One and a half items? Okay, not too bad. I suppose. However, I accomplished a whole bunch of other things, in addition to playing games with my kids, spending time outside, and dealing with all the dreaded hand-wash dishes. I felt great at the end of the day.

On Tuesday, I pulled off two and a half items. I also got out for a walk with Caleb, remembered to pick up Mother's Day cards, got a super deal on my B Complex, and had some fun time downtown with my mom. I walked a lot more than normal, which felt wonderful.

Wednesday rolled around and we had a drizzly, cooler day. I completed one item from my list of three. Ran some errands. Enjoyed Starbucks' Frappuccino Happy Hour with my boys and a sweet time of fellowship with friends.

By Thursday, I didn't write down anything. Not three or any other number. I don't know why. Things had just begun to fizzle, I guess. Plus I still had some leftovers from the first three days. I took Zach to bowling. I sat in my chair and finished reading a book. I ordered pizza for dinner.

But I also had a light bulb moment. From my little journal:

This week is a perfect example of how I roll.

That's exactly it. Over the years, I've had a number of times when I've "taken the week off" to accomplish something or another. Every time I do, the first day is amazing. The second day is just a notch or two lower. The third day's not bad. But by the fourth day, I'm pretty much done. Maybe this means that in the future, I shouldn't take an entire week off, because days four and five are usually somewhat guilt filled. Even if I need more time, just take three days sometime soon again.

As for the internet, I did quite well at staying away from Facebook and Twitter. I also was relatively focused when I was online. All in all, this was a good experiment.

I learned that three days holds my Maximum Accomplishment Potential.

I accomplished numerous things.

I had some fun hanging out with my kids.

April?

My goodness, the time it does fly. How can it possibly be the first of April? AKA April Fool's Day. Do you pull pranks on people today? I mostly don't. Mostly because I can't think of any good harmless fun. Or I just forget and then the day's here. Last year Caleb taped the lever down on our sprayer at the kitchen faucet, hoping to get Zach to spray himself. That didn't pan out so well since I was the first one to use the sprayer. A few years ago (like five), I did pull a prank on the boys with some frozen breakfast, but it was all good fun and they ended up with a box of cereal they wouldn't normally have, so it was a treat after all.

But this year, I have nothing. Which is fine. It's just not a big deal to me.

It also would've been my cousin's birthday were she still here. She would've been 49. I think that would've freaked her out a bit. But instead of freaking out about almost hitting the half-century mark, she's rejoicing with Jesus. So while we miss her here, how could we ever want her to not be there?

On Saturday, I cleaned up the garden out front. In the fall, I always think I should clean up all the leaves and dead stuff, but I think it makes for some nice insulation for the bulbs into the next spring. It's like finding treasure as I clear everything out and see all the pretty green plants popping up. I'm pretty excited about the bulbs out in my garden. There are SO many plants. There's always been quite a few allium out there, but this year, I think it's going to be rather crowded. The tulips seem to have spread, too. I used to have none. Then I had one for a couple of years. Now there are no fewer than six tulips beginning to grow. I also have some small ornamental onions and some lilies. Hopefully this year, my lilies don't get beat to sticks by any stupid hail. That was so sad.

Our neighbor's cat uses NUMEROUS locations in our yard as a cat box. Which I absolutely HATE! This cat will not stay away, either. In years past I have poured chili powder in those areas. I'm thinking it works for a little while, but I probably didn't get it out there often enough. So this year I'm using coffee grounds. They're free from Starbucks, plus they're good for the soil. And I'm really, really hoping this will keep the darned cat away. I even chase him and shoot at him with a wimpy little airsoft gun (I don't hit him, just try to scare him), but he's rather unaffected by my efforts.

Today is the first day of water restrictions here. Sadly, our precipitation (snow and rain) has been terribly low these past few years with no relief in sight. The restrictions just apply to sprinkler watering (like the lawn). But I need to remember to get out and water my garden. Until the past week, it's been covered with snow, so it was getting a nice, slow soaking. I'm not looking forward to another super hot and dry summer. Last year was not good, so I'm hoping they're wrong (sorry weather forecasters) and that God brings some wonderful, much-needed rain to Colorado this spring and summer.

Well, there's much to do today, so I'd better get cracking. But hey, it's a post, right? And it even has pictures.

Happy April to my three readers!!

Random Update

I almost titled this "February Update" since I haven't posted since January. But as soon as I do, I'll manage to post something else this month. Even though it's short. The month, that is.

So, Happy Valentine's Day. Ours was pretty much a bust. John woke up with a headache that just got worse as the day went on. Poor guy just spent the day in pain and mostly in bed. Sigh. I took the lazy way out and bought two heart-shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy's. Actually, my sister picked them up and dropped them off at my house (she was already going there and she had to bring something else over to my house, so it wasn't like I made her be my errand slave or something and I did pay for them). So the boys and I ate pepperoni pizza and had some red and pink Starburst jelly beans for dessert. And watched How It's Made. And Psych. Do we know how to party, or what? Well, party quietly, anyway.

Life is pretty low key right now. It's the slow season for John's business and the colder weather and little bit of snow make it even slower. So we have school, free time in the afternoon, and long, quiet evenings lately. I got some sewing done this past weekend. Made a tote bag and little zipper bag for me and the same for a friend. I also have some face cradle covers to make for my massage therapist.

I've purged a bunch of stuff out of my studio. It's amazing how much space there is in here. Although it still has too much stuff. I think I'm kind of on a purging binge. That doesn't sound right. On a decluttering jag. Maybe that's better? I love it, though. It's so freeing and wonderful to pass things along that I'm not using to someone who will appreciate them and put them to good use.

Wow. My life is seriously boring right now. Which is mostly okay. I'm really not looking for some major life events or anything. I've really enjoyed some of these long, quiet days at home. And it won't always be this way. But that's probably a big part of the lack of blogging. What do you write about when you don't really do much of anything? I need a repository for blog ideas, so I have something to fill in these gaps.

What I should be doing is getting organized. Getting rid of more things. Reading books. Scrapbooking. Working on business plans. There we go - instant to do list.

Well, Happy February! I'll be back one of these days.

Six Degrees of Fish

Do you know about Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? Well, that's sort of how my brain operates.

For example, I was going to write a post just now about our morning at Starbucks with my sister and my nieces last week on the day before school started. It was also the last day of my fisheye lens rental from BorrowLenses. Naturally, I have some fishy pictures from our morning. While trying to come up with a clever post title involving Starbucks and fisheye, I thought of Fish Heads by Barnes & Barnes. Mom gave me a cassette (yes, it was a few years back) of Barnes & Barnes which had that song on it. Well, it turns out that one of the fictitious brothers Barnes is none other than Bill Mumywho played Will Robinson on Lost in Space. (He's remarkably talented in many areas, btw - interesting bio.) Not only that, but his daughter, Liliana Mumy played Charlie's step-sister (the cute red-headed girl) in The Santa Clause 2 and 3. And since it's only January, we've just come off of a few viewings of the SC movies.

Sometimes when we're watching a movie or tv show, I'll look up information on IMDB. But it's sort of like getting on Pinterest. One thing leads to another to another (Yes, now THAT song** is in my head. You know, the one by The Fixx.) and you learn all sorts of trivia about actors and actresses that may or may not be of future value to you.

Like when you try to write a blog post and become completely distracted...

** That Fixx concert was at Rainbow Music Hall in Denver in 1983. Which reminds me that John & I, along with one of his best friends, Stan, and my sister, went to Rainbow Music Hall in October of 1983 to see Huey Lewis & the News. When they were brand new on the scene and most people didn't even know who they were. But if you said, "The band who sings Heart and Soul," they knew who you were talking about. And yes, now that one is in my head. You're welcome. We bought tickets for that show the day before for $9.00 each (I am seriously old, aren't I?!?!) and we were only three rows away from the stage. Incredible show. Two years later I saw them at Red Rocks where they sold out three shows. Tickets were a little pricier, too. Probably $12.00 - $13.00. Ha! Ha!

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Oh yeah, pictures from Starbucks with the fisheye lens. That will have to be another post, because this one's already full.


And then I wonder why I forget to do the laundry or start dinner.

Random Update

My friend Melissa at A Familiar Path has been posting some weekly recaps on her blog and I think that's a pretty good idea. Now we all know that I'm nothing if not inconsistent, so don't look for this to be a regularly ongoing feature here at Bunny Trails.

So...without further ado, here's some sort of random update. It may go back beyond a week since I've been such a neglectful blogger.

1. Unlike Melissa, I am watching the Olympics. Well, some of it, anyway. I like volleyball, swimming, and gymnastics. Since my niece is quite a skilled volleyball player, I've really gotten into that a lot more. I used to play on a recreational team back before I was married. I always liked volleyball, but never pursued it beyond that. Now I just go to my niece's games, take hundreds of pictures, and yell...er...cheer her team on. Good times.

2. We have been having the hottest summer probably ever in Colorado Springs this year. There are certain places I do not live because they're too hot. I'm very much bothered by the heat deciding to move here to my own city. This is seriously not okay. On a happy note, we're blessed to have central air in our house. That has been the one saving grace of this ridiculously hot summer.

3. Now that it's almost August (WHAT?!?!), I should probably start working on homeschool plans for the upcoming year. The year which will also be known as my last year as a homeschool mom. Hard to believe we're there. We haven't done this since the beginning, but we started when Caleb began 6th grade and then Zach joined us the next year. There were eight years ahead of us if we continued all the way through high school. It used to seem so far off.

4. I had my teeth cleaned last week. I'm such a pansy. Even teeth cleaning is a big deal. There's more that needs to be done, but we won't be talking about that.

5. Recapping things makes me wonder what I've been up to. I know I've been awake this past week, so I must've accomplished something, right? We did celebrate my sister's birthday. And I helped her go buy a new smart phone the next day. No, she didn't get an iPhone, but I love her anyway.

6. John and I have been driving/riding (he drives, I ride) in the Jeep this weekend. It started to rain on us last night, so we zipped into a car wash (nobody washes their car in the rain) and put on the bikini top. It's fun to be in the Jeep again. The back seat is just too small for the boys now that they're so tall, though, so we only take it when there are two or three of us going someplace.

7. I think this next week needs to be one of sorting and purging stuff in the house. It would be nice to have less stuff distracting me before jumping back into school. I also have pictures to edit from a senior shoot which was loads of fun. And volleyball pictures to burn onto DVD.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer and not too freaked out about August showing up so quickly. Tell me how your summer has been. Anything fun or exciting or both?

Speaking of volleyball pictures...

Water and Chapstick

I've been thinking about the way we* drink water and put on chapstick.

Warning: I'm going on a rant tangent - a bunny trail, if you will - that will probably be irrelevant to people under a certain age. I will not say what that age is; I'll leave you to determine that for yourself.

We're* all so concerned about being dehydrated and not getting our daily dose of water. How much that is will vary, depending upon who you talk to and what studies you read.

* When I say WE, I am, of course, referring to our collective society of humans and those in charge who've determined that these are issues with which to be concerned

When I was growing up, we played, rode bikes, ran around (literally!), and occasionally, we got thirsty. When that happened, we either turned on the hose and got a drink out in the yard or we went into the house, grabbed a cup, filled it with water from the kitchen sink, and drank it. Then we went back outside to play for a few more hours.

Until I was in high school, marching in a parade at the State Far parade in Pueblo, I never, ever, ever heard of someone having physical problems with dehydration. Now, I'm not saying they didn't exist. But it wasn't so commonplace that everyone carried water with them. In fact, pretty much nobody did that I knew. (Thus my nearly passing out at the end of marching in the parade!)

But today? The business of water for drinking is enormous. We have bottled water, carbonated water, flavored water, vitamin water, electrolyte water, additives for water, containers for water, filters for said containers, and on and on it goes.

We carry water with us everywhere. Purses, tote bags, backpacks, camera bags - they all have a spot for your water bottle.

As I write this, I'm drinking water from a Thermos intake water bottle, snuggled inside it's groovy water bottle cover/insulator that I picked up at Target yesterday. Oh, and my water is lightly flavored with TruLime. And it came out of a filtered water distribution system located in my freezer door.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing for people to drink adequate water. I'm just saying that I find it interesting that we used to survive** just fine without carrying water everywhere we went.

And on that note, what about lip balm? Yes, I used chapstick on occasion when growing up. But now? I cannot live without it. Maybe there's actually something IN the chapstick that soothes my lips, but also makes them desperately crave more. Maybe there's a Chapstick Conspiracy going on. I carry one in my pocket at all times (Burt's Bees Repleneshing Lip Balm with pomegranate oil, if you must know). In addition, I have a spare tube in my purse. One by my bed. Another on my desk. A few new tubes in a drawer at the ready. But there have been those rare times when I've had a lip balm emergency. As in, I left the house and there's no chapstick in my pocket. Not only that, but the one in my purse has been taken out and left elsewhere.

At that moment, my uncoated lips begin to shrivel and dry up (it really is dry here in Colorado!). I can no longer focus on anything with such parched lips. They may split open any moment. It's so severe that I will drop all plans and go to the nearest known store which carries Burt's Bees and promptly purchase at least two tubes - if not more for the home stash - before continuing about my day. And the sigh of relief from my lips being freshly balmed? Well, there's just nothing like it.

But I really want to know how I got to that place? This was not a phenomenon which has been with me for my entire life. In fact, back in the day, I don't think we had much more than Chapstick, Blistex, and Carmex. And I recall only using them if there were some unusual drying circumstances. I certainly had no stash at home and never carried multiples with me at all times in case of a lip balm emergency.


What about you? Are you old enough to have grown up without depending upon a water bottle and chapstick at your beck and call? Are there other items you've noticed that fall into this category?

Just wondering. Thanks for joining me in my random thoughts.

Now go drink some water and balm your lips. You know you're thirsty and your lips are dry, right?


**Yes, I am aware that there were always people drinking water - football players, cyclists, etc. I'm referring to the general public, living their daily lives in a somewhat normal (whatever THAT is) fashion.

Paperless Ranting

I do my part to recycle, reuse, and generally try not to be wasteful. In that vein, I've gone paperless with some of our bills. That's been all fine and dandy. Until now.

We switched our home phone from Qwest (now Century Link) to Verizon recently. Qwest (sorry, I just don't like their new name - I'll get over it one of these days) is one of the companies with whom we've gone paperless. Since their account numbers are based upon one's phone number (if you have a phone with them), they had to change our account number. But they've not sent me any emails (or paper bills) with the new number. When it comes time for me to pay the bill, I have to log into our account. But the old account number (our home phone #) is no longer active. However, I don't have the new account number. So I chat online with a representative, but he can't help me without me providing the new, active account number.

Do you see my dilemma?

Some days, the technological advances and steps to go green are seriously ANNOYING. As soon as I have account access, I am promptly opting back out of this paperless nonsense. Sadly, I will not be recycling my paper bills, though. They will be shredded and I'm not allowed to give my shredding to the recycle peeps. Whatever.

Edited to add:

I contacted Century Link this morning and was very pleased with the service and outcome. I spoke with Carlie in St. Paul and she was very helpful, friendly, and cheery. She quickly provided all the information I needed to update my account, view the bill, and pay the bill. She gave us an extension for this payment, because our billing cycle changed, leaving us with a larger-than-normal bill this month.

Problems will arise in life, but it's how they're handled/resolved that makes a difference. In this case, I've gone from being very frustrated with Century Link to having a very pleasant experience with them!

Unplugged and Wordless Wednesday

All too often, my posts are just the random overflow of my brain. Which means I have no idea what to title them. Perhaps I should come up with a title AFTER writing the post. Now there's a novel idea.

Isn't this a cool shot? On the right, the Christmas lights are reflected in a glass bottle. Behind and to the left is a framed print in which the lights are also reflected. I love how the colors look in the bottle, though.

I spend a ridiculous amount of time on my computer and then lament the things I don't get done. Is it just me, or is there a problem here? I was just reading David duChemin's holiday/Christmas post and it got me thinking that I need to just unplug from all this online life. Yeah, all? Meaning I troll around on FB, read some of emails, play some games, look at some websites, and generally do nothing productive. Meh.

So Friday evening, at 6:00 p.m., I'm shutting this thing down until Monday morning. The ONLY exception will be if I need to get on to pay a bill or do something like that which must be done. I will peruse my emails on my phone, but that's it. No FB. No Twitter. No blogging (as if that will be any different!). Zero. Zip. Nada.

I think I'll schedule a couple of blog posts, so for the 2-3 people left who actually read my blog on those rare occasions I post some words, there'll be something here.

That's another thing. Wordless Wednesday. It's been fun and all, but it's kind of lost its oomph for me. I keep doing it because it's the only thing I've ever been consistent with here in the blogosphere. Maybe in my whole life. Well, other than breathing, eating, and sleeping. In fact, I have 201 Wordless Wednesday posts! Well, there are 5 more that are tagged with WW instead of Wordless Wednesday. That means 206 weeks of posting a picture every Wednesday (or late Tuesday night). If I post two more weeks, it will be an even FOUR YEARS.

Wow.

I'm a little stunned.

I don't know if I'll continue with it or not. We'll see. I am interested in participating in Darcy's Sweet Shot Tuesday, but I may do that on my photo blog.

So that's about it for now. Maybe if I survive the unplugged thing, it could become a monthly habit. Or dare I saw, weekly? I'm sure it's possible. After all, I lived without this internet once upon a time. I lived without a lot of things once upon a time. But that's another story.

Friends, Family, and Whatember

So saying it's a crazy week would be a bit of an understatement. But it's all good stuff, so I'm super excited in a crazy sort of way. My awesome friend from Kansas, Carrie will be arriving tomorrow with her kids in tow to spend a few days here in Colorado, for which I'm SUPER jazzed!! And since she's an amazing photographer, we also get to have family pix done.

I'm going to have 18 people here for Thanksgiving. It will be cozy, chaotic and loads of fun!! I'm really looking forward to it.

A big surprise is on its way to me via the UPS peeps. Well, it's a surprise to you, not to me. I can hardly wait.

I get to see the orthopedist tomorrow to likely confirm that I have a torn meniscus. Oh, joy.

For some reason, I'm having strange and bizarro dreams last thing in the morning before I get up. I think it needs to stop because it's wreaking havoc on my getting out of bed. Yesterday, I even barked at my husband because he tried to wake me up and I was very angry in my dream and yelling at some rude people. As I began to wake up, I realized I needed to apologize. Goodness.

I'll take Dreams I Don't Remember, Alex, for $200.

I was leaving a comment over at Lisa's blog - The Pennington Post and I came up with something brilliant. And I quote (from myself):

"And Thanksgiving of 2011?!?!? How the heck did that happen? Next thing you know, they'll be telling us it's nearly Christmas. And then 2012! No way, I say! We need another month tucked in here between November and December. One free of any sort of holiday whatsoever. We'll call it Whatember. So you can do whatember you want during it since there's no pressure of birthdays, holidays, and other such interruptions. Oh, and there will be 41 days in Whatember so it doesn't pass too quickly."

Don't you think we totally need the month of Whatember? Of course, with its 41 days, the little saying will have to change.

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November.
Forty-one for Whatember.
All the rest have 31,
except February.

I think it works. What do we have to do to get the calendar folks on board? And whatever other minions might be involved? I seriously need that extra-long, super-sized month this time of year. Is anyone else with me?

Catching Up

Wow. Life has sure been busier than normal. Ever since August, I've been on the go and generally quite occupied with this and that.

• Trip to Breckenridge & Glenwood Springs
• 25th Anniversary
• New year of homeschool
• Ladies retreat in Buena Vista
• 1st trip to Denver - Women of Faith with Pam
• 2nd trip to Denver - taking Pam to the airport and picking up nightstands from a friend
• 3rd trip to Denver - David Crowder Band concert with the girls
• 4th trip to Denver - Casa Bonita, Lego Store, and other such fun with my sister, nieces, and the boys
• Messed my knee up in self-defense class
• 5th trip to Denver - photowalk with D, hurt my foot
• Shot a wedding yesterday and my knee went out

In addition to the regular stuff of life. I don't think I've been out of town more than a handful times in the past year. Apparently I saved it all up for these two and a half months.

From what I've read about having a torn meniscus, I'm thinking there's a very good chance that is what is wrong with my knee. I had problems with it last year, but after some chiropractic care, kinesio tape, and massage therapy, it got better and life went back to normal. A couple weeks ago in self-defense class, it made a loud popping sound during a front kick. It wasn't terribly painful, but I was aware that my knee wasn't really okay, so I made an appointment with the orthopedist. Of course, I can't get in until closer to Thanksgiving.

But then last night at the wedding, as we went outside to shoot the First Look, it just went out. And this time it did hurt. A lot. I was totally blessed with a last-minute wedding photographer joining me and she was such a huge help. Both because I often couldn't move fast or well and she graciously shared her knowledge and expertise. Thanks, Briana, you rock, my friend!! I can't wait to see your pictures, too.

I'll be calling the orthopedist tomorrow to see if I can get in any sooner. A cancellation, perhaps? I sure hope so. It's quite uncomfortable to walk and maneuver stairs.

In the meantime, there's homeschooling, photo editing, and house cleaning to do. No more Denver trips planned for now. Time to settle in and start thinking about the holidays soon.