Weekend Playlist January 20

I know I always start the talk about my weekend playlist with the fact that my musical taste is about as eclectic as my tastes in pretty much everything. I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't like to limit myself to any one type of anything. Of course sometimes deciding between flavors of ice cream or what to have for dinner and the restaurant can you make me a bit of a pain. The truth is, and I know this is an expensive way to go, but ever since I was little kid I would rather order a few things off the appetizer menu than an actual dinner anyway. Of course as an adult unless I won the lottery on the way, I tend to try to stay away from appetizer menus as much as possible. LOL

So here are the last five songs from my music library on shuffle:

September Morn, Niel Diamond

You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone, Brooks & Dunn

Grenade, Bruno Mars

Brand new me, John Michael Montgomery

Kansas City, The New Basement Tapes

I did just notice that out of 1970 songs in my library (thank you Apple music subscription) Buddy Bat, which is the name of my iPad where I put my library on shuffle for my Weekend Playlist, sometimes get stuck in the favorites mode. Last night when I started this project it seemed like every third song was either Neil Diamond or Night Ranger. Yes, I do happen to have a lot both of those artists in my library. But I970 songs and the whole catalog is on shuffle. It sounds to me like a musical mood and sometimes I just wonder how smart our smart devices have become? My Apple devices talk to each other and I swear they know as much about me as I do and if I press the right buttons I can have a conversation with Siri for a while. I'm eventually going to have to talk about that Brooks & Dunn song because it really seems Buddy Bat wants me to. But I usually write my blog on Joey, my main computer, and Joey seems to still allow me to be in charge. 😉

This week's song is Kansas City by The New Basement Tapes. I can tell you that this is one of a bunch of song lyrics Bob Dylan wrote after a car accident… Whatever. I'm not a huge Bob Dylan fan but I just happen to really like this song. The lyrics of the song don't really speak to me but I enjoy the rhythm of the song the music and Kansas City makes me think about two things.

The first and only time I have ever flown into Kansas City I got to see my name on a sign with the NBC peacock on it because I was flying in for an interview with the NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kansas. The creative services director picked me up and we drove into downtown Topeka and he took me to lunch at a very nice upscale salad bar. I don't mean salad bar as in put your lettuce and all your stuff on your lettuce and take it back to your table. I mean salad bar as you look at all the different types of salads that they have choose the 3 or 4 that you would like and they put them on a plate for you. I was thinking to myself at that time, if I get this job I'm going to spend a lot of time in this restaurant. We enjoyed lunch and talked about the job and the Topeka area including the importance of how close the Kansas City Royals are.

There were a couple of things that didn't sit so well about living in Kansas. The gas prices were just a little higher than they were in Detroit and based on the value of my car it would probably cost about $600 a year for a license plate. My gas mileage wasn't that bad but for the price of the license plate tag? Yeesh! I was not giving up my only six years old Camaro to be a creative services producer in a small market. But we hadn't discussed salary yet it was still early in the day.

The next part of the day I worked very hard to keep myself from laughing, because the NBC station was smack dab in the middle of a cornfield. I mean you saw the building and the antenna and nothing but corn anyplace else. Once we walked into the station it was an incredibly modern building and in the production area it was totally state-of-the-art. It was better equipment than I worked with at the cable company and even at Tiger Stadium and it was very comparable to the production equipment where I was currently working as a video librarian. We did lots of talking about the type of commercial production that was done there. I got to meet a lot of potential coworkers they seemed like decent and very creative people. I even got to play with a couple of pieces of the equipment and recorded the voiceover while I was there. The job sounded great. The toys were fun. Downtown reminded me a lot of Royal Oak, Michigan, a city I absolutely adore. If the apartment rental in the area was decent and the pay was okay I was ready to start packing if they offered me the job.

Unfortunately the salary the job paid was a FEW THOUSAND dollars LESS then I was making as a video librarian and I lived in a suite in my parents home rent-free and paid just under $100 a year for tags for the plates on the Camaro. The CS director brought me back to the airport in Kansas City complementing my skills and raving about my voice and still trying to sell me on how great the area was. I did realize that that meant very good things about my standing in the finalists for this job. He even brought up that although it was more expensive for registration the gas prices were better than Detroit, which they word but I didn't say that, and the weather is better so it's better on the car. It still wasn't enough to make "I'm at creative services producer and a barista with a really great roommate who I met a day ago" very attractive. I sent an email later in the day of the next day explaining that I'd given it some thought and for financial reasons I just couldn't consider the position. But on the flight home I already needed extra peanuts because I felt so bad.

I do want to go back to Kansas City though! There are two things in Kansas City that I absolutely have to see. First off, of course, I want to see a baseball game there. The other thing that Kansas City has that no place else in the world does is Shuttlecocks! Note the capital S on Shuttlecocks. I'm not talking about stopping in a sporting goods store. Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen, built and installed four 18-foot badminton shuttlecocks on the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, it can be done in one day but if I go to Kansas City I must see a Royals baseball game and Shuttlecocks. And I mean I've got to power wheel out there and get my picture taken just to show you how much taller than my wheelchair the shuttlecocks are.


And that's what Kansas City is to me and it's what this song makes me think about. You may get something completely different from the song. In fact it would be really weird if you didn't. It a nice song. Hope you enjoy the video.

Goals and Projects For 2014

BRRR… I’m cold. It’s cold outside and we have a drafty door near where I’m sitting. But, I feel otherwise good and not at all sick. 2013 ends better than 2012 did and it promises a better January 1 for 2014!

As I say goodbye to 2013 it’s time to set up my goals and projects for 2014. Looking over 2013’s goals and projects I can say that I’m pleased with how well I did in some areas and I know I definitely disappointed myself in some. In some areas I nailed the “or something better.”

“We aim above the mark to hit the mark.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Clean and Organize Project:

Well, last year I dropped the White Tornado idea for 2013 and well, I must say we did a good job of not moving forward on that front. Looking forward now however, I’m less mobile and more clumsy and that makes everyday things more out of reach and clutter more dangerous. In the first couple months of 2014 I’ll be researching and asking questions. After suggestions from friends (hi Edna!) and other family members I’m going to look into avenues for daily living assistance for people with disabilities. I understand there are even people who will help with serious cleaning and organizing a more accessible house.

Like I said research first. I need to find out what assistance I can get, if I am an eligible candidate for disability assistance and how much it will cost/if I can afford it. I figure initially there will be a lot of work to get our house truly organized and safe, then maybe just someone who can help tidy up once a week or so. We’ll see; this is entirely new territory for me. I’ll talk to my doctor too to see if he has any suggestions.

One thing that I must get done is the door jamb on the entryway to the kitchen from the dining room has to come out. There is snuggly enough space to drive the power chair through but if the jamb is removed it will give an extra inch. In all the years David’s been here there’s never been a door there, so the door jamb won’t be missed. A mid-December call to 911 to come pick me up off the kitchen floor because my leg just quit while I was hobbling back from the bathroom made me decide that I had to be able to use the chair in the kitchen. I also want to see about a couple more grab bars in the hallway to the downstairs bathroom, where the chair doesn’t fit at all and I have to “walk.”


Blog Goals:

Blog more regularly?? I did the consolidation in the fall putting all my blogs on The Chronicles of Nani so I have plenty of material for a healthy blog, I just need to get my head in the right place. Counseling is helping; I’m getting g better. I also think that if I can get the help to get the house up to safer and more comfortable it will help too. I can’t let my mental health depend on that right now though since I don’t know for sure that I can get or afford that help! Still, I’ve set some 2014 goals with my counselor and I feel good about my prospects. I want it and I believe it will work, 75% of the battle.

So, with my head and heart in a better place, and getting better day by day, I should be able to commit myself to The Chronicles better. I want to blog a minimum of twice a week. I’m also going to post at least one Tweet a day.


Reading Goals:

This is one place I am very pleased with my numbers for 2013. My goal was to read 2 books a month with a short book review on The Chronicles of Nani. I read 27 books with reviews here in 2013! Waiting in doctors' offices gets a nod for help with that one, but so does reading before bed or an afternoon nap.

For 2014, I’m keeping that goal of 2 books a month with book reviews here.


Health and Wellness:

Of course the January Detox starts January 2, or whichever day I can get out of the house after the snow to stock up on some better groceries. With decreased mobility and depression came some bad eating habits and less movement! I don’t try to lose in December; I just try to not gain any weight or at least very little. This November and December was a fail! An emotional eater in distress, I gained enough to feel uncomfortable emotionally and physically. I do start January with a bunch of containers of my own homemade vegetable soup in the freezer, a very recent Lean Cuisine sale where David stocked me up and a week’s worth of Greek yogurt in the fridge. I need to get out to the produce market.

I want to lose at least 20 pounds by June.

In physical health and wellness goals, I will have my first round of epidural steroids for my lower back next week. I’m not going to hide that I’m as nervous as can be. I remember the worst part of spinal taps I got when I was 18 was feeling those needles when I couldn’t see what was going on. Numb or not it was agonizing. For this procedure I can’t take the bus because I can’t go home alone, David has to be there because I get IV funny juice. Continued pain is the only prospect I like less! Hopefully the injections will help me get up from a sitting position better and give me a little light exercise ability.


Scrapbooking:

The idea of scrapping the current month instead of trying to catchup a year at a time went brilliantly! Every folder for January and February was completed during these months in 2013! Now those are the months I take fewer pictures, but I’ll be catching up some of the December and November during those months this year while I’m keeping 2014 up to date.

I did keep a tally of the pages I completed each month with my goal of averaging a layout a day. In 2013 I finished 484 scrapbook pages with my record month being July (When the ramp was still new for discovering all the places I could go and it was hot anyway) I did 66 layouts in July!

In this too my goal shall remain the same; average a page a day with a tally kept.


Project 365:

Now here was a fail this year. I figured out that where I completed 2012 but fell behind and dropped 2013 was in the randomness. 2012 was just a line or two written about the day and a layout with those thoughts each week. 2013 was a structured “writing assignment” that had to be written and scrapped every week with pre-assigned topics for each week. I like a challenge, but hobbies are supposed to be fun and as challenging as I want them to be on any day. This year my Project 52 will be “2014: That’s So Random!” I’m going to do a page a week. It might be a journaling page, or a quote every day, a picture a day, a mix of ideas each day or just a layout of a highlight event for the week. I won’t know until the week is under way what it’ll be.

We’ll see how that works!


Employment Goal:

Part of working toward working for me in 2013 was volunteering. Volunteering means networking and earning some current references who have worked with me in a professional setting. As the year was winding down I had some wonderful ego-building surprises as a result of volunteer work that have pushed me into leadership and more detailed work. That means that I not only feel like I have a lot to offer even with wheels, but I’m perceived as having a lot to offer by other professionals. I can’t even express how good that feels and how much it does for my confidence!

So my goals for employment this year are to keep doing what I’ve been doing, shoring up my resume presentation and add at least a few professional items to my wardrobe. Ideally it would be great to land something part time and either have that go full time or move on to a full time placement from there. I know it’d be best to build my stamina rather than jump into 40+ hours a week right off the bat. I want, no need, to feel I’m making a valuable contribution at work and to the home income too.

And there is my plan for 2014. 

 Of course, this or something better!

2013 projects and goals

I did some refining and completing on the original goals post I’d written on New Year’s Eve. I guess I’d like to make my first goal to stay out of the hospital except for lab work! That could also be something out of my control, so I’m not making it a goal. One thing I was sad to learn when I was in “the joint” was that there are some bad levels showing on my liver panel. What that means is it may be a side effect of Gilenya, what I call my miracle drug that I’d knock off a liquor store to keep taking. I’ll be getting full blood work, including liver panel, done at the end of this week or beginning of next and my regular doctor and my neurologist in Cleveland will get the results, They said if the abnormalities weren’t just caused by the virus I had, I’ll need to switch my MS meds. I’ll deal, but it’ll mean I have to take shots instead of pills and pray it makes me feel as good. Shoot me a good thought or prayer that it was just the virus!

But let’s get on to things I can control.


Projects and Goals for 2013

"There is no happiness except in the realization 

that we have accomplished something."
Henry Ford

Organizing project:

One thing that blue end of 2012 taught me is that I need to redefine realistic in my planning! My biggest failure was the White Tornado Project. I accept that the project failed, not me. I am just not capable of doing the physical moving to reclaim storage areas in the house as livable rooms. And the truth is we weren’t using them as rooms so we weren’t missing anything.

For 2013 I am NOT putting that project back in the plan. David and I agreed that we need to reorganize some space in the kitchen/annex areas to make it more usable and free up space and that is the only organizing and fix-up project I have planned for the year. We have 2 very full and unused storage rooms and we’ll continue to have 2 storage rooms. I’m okay with that; I’m giving up one idea to help insure the success of a better one!


Blog goals:

I did well in committing myself to comments on other blogs and not having too many long stretches of time that I didn’t blog on Chronicles of Nani. I did not do so well with my desire to offer a scrapbook freebie every month and because I have a growing backlog of scrapbooking to catch up, I won't repeat that goal for this year either. I’ll offer a freebie when I can and I am inspired to do so. I am planning on offering a small non-scrapbook giveaway when I reach 100 blogger followers. I’m not going to make a huge deal about that until it happens. I want “my regulars” to visit because they enjoy my content and style, not just to try to win a prize. Besides, if I reach a number and then people unfollow me, well, what was I celebrating anyway, right?

I’m also going to commit some time early in the year to restoring Davlicious Recipes. I haven’t replaced the lost photos from the great Google Plus error and I want to bring it back to life and start adding new recipes. In keeping up with the “January Detox” that will include some simple and healthy recipes that offer great flavor, a good nutritional balance and fit in comfortable with Weight Watchers points system.

I also want to be more disciplined in keeping up content, even if it’s a short entry, on my MS bog and the cats’ blogs.


Reading Goals:

This is an easy goal, but I have to have some balance and I need to make some me time in my goals too. I was originally thinking a book a week, but there are some times and some books that make that rough, I read The Black Dahlia when I was in the hospital, It’s pretty long and actually not a book I enjoyed. I read the very end as fast as I could to get it done with. Now I’m half way through my second book of the year and the second week is almost over. It’s the book club book for the month at Ginger Scraps. So far it’s a cute book. Still, with other things to do now that I’m back to non-hospitalized life, I can’t see me finishing it in 2 days and I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself for something I do strictly for fun. So, my actual goal is 2 books a month. I’m going to make a point of writing a brief, non-spoiler, review for Good Reads as I finish books this year and I’ll repost those reviews here at The Chronicles too.


January Detox/Health and Wellness:

January detox is simply recovering from December. My plan there is to lose the weight I’ve gained through the holidays and really since August when I allowed myself to feel defeated for the year. That in itself is a daunting task, or could be. In the past and going forward I’ve had my best periods of wellness allowing myself to become food obsessed. If I am really concentrating on my food, how to make it balanced and how to make it taste great and look good on my plate, I stay more committed to being balanced and portion controlled. I also know that my chocolate cravings are best controlled if I make a point to include 25-100 calories of chocolate in my diet every day. Sound weird? In keeping track of that I found that there were days I didn’t meet that goal and “had” to have a Hershey’s kiss with my evening tea or decaf coffee. That's why I call Kisses “supplements.” Treating chocolate like a vitamin really has worked in the past.

Of course, any health and wellness plan must be custom-designed for the person living it. Read up and put the right plan together for yourself, or ask a nutritionist to help, but remember to never let someone else put together a “healthy” eating plan for you that you can’t stick with. If you don’t like the food and don’t eat it, it’s not healthy for you. Strive to find the right balance that will taste good and make you feel good; that’s the healthy plan for you! The way of eating that works best for me incudes lots of soup and a big bowl of crunchy veggies to munch on in the afternoon. And a little taste of chocolate every day.


Scrapbooking:

In May I presented Tori and Rina with the scrapbooks I’d been working on since early 2008 as their high school graduation gifts from me. Especially at the end with the editing and preparation for printing process I was pretty much doing nothing but those books. Then I had a smidge of burn out where I took a bit of a scrapping break, a slowdown. Now I look at my “to be scrapped” folders. I have the majority of 2008, from April on, all of 2009 (which includes our wedding reception and honeymoon) September to the end of 2011 and all of 2012. No, 2010 because I met my goal of having all of 2010 done by the end of February 2011.

What I’ve organized my folders to do for this year is that I am sticking to each current month. In January, I can scrap any pages from any year, as long as they are January pages. If in any current month I complete that month for all four years I have folders for, I can go back to work on open fielders from the previous month, but when that month is over, I move to pages for the next month. This way when I look out the window and see snow, I’m not trying to get myself in the groove of beach photos. The pages I’m scrapping fit my current world and surroundings. I think that will get my natural creativity working better.

I’m going to try to have a tally at the end of each month with how many layouts I got done, and how many folders I’ve closed. So far this month I’ve done the last week of Journal 366, the one allowable from last month and the week that just finished will always be okay to do from the last month to keep up with the year’s project. I’ve also done the first week on 20134 52 topix, 5 layouts completing 3 folders from 2009 with 5 to go and 2 layouts completing 2 folders for 2012 with 5 to go. 2008 and 2001 don’t have January folders. I only have one folder for 2013 right now. Since this is a smaller month as far as undone folders go, I might finish January this year!


Project 365/52:

I’m kinda pumped for this year after actually completing last year’s Journal 366! For this year I’m going to have a weekly theme and my layout will include photos and journaling about my week and how it relates to the week’s theme. I already posted my 2-pager for the first week’s theme; “healthy.” I’ll write and scrap this week’s theme tomorrow or Tuesday. The theme is “fresh fruit.” Tuesday starts “scrapbook” week.


Employment Goal:

Perhaps the most disheartening goal I completely blew off last year was the job search goal. I have always been a person whose external area reflects the internal balance. When my rooms were in order in my suite at my parents’ house, I was mentally in order and could tackle anything. I tidied my office before I went to Chamber of Commerce meetings with my business because if the office was straight, I had more power, more confidence at meet and greets. It enabled someone on the shy side to be more professional and aggressive. I’m trying to redirect that concentration to my computer now and it does make sense because so much in the job seeking process is done through online applications and email now. If my hard drive is organized and my desktop is clean, the confidence level should be up, no matter how many dirty dishes are in the sink.

With a change in insurance, the power chair process is on hold. I’m not going to wait for someday when I have a power chair to get to work on this very important part of my world. I’ll use the manual chair to go to appointments at the Vocational Rehabilitation Bureau and get started on evaluating my abilities. I have the determination and resourcefulness that can fit many places. Plus, hey I’m a disabled woman, a double click on the minority scale! I learned in one of my trade school classes some 20+ years ago that it was foolish to be “too proud” to take an opportunity offered to you because an employer needs to fill a quota you fit. It’s your opportunity to prove that there were even better reasons you were a perfect fit! With a decent job I can save up to get the power chair outright, to heck with insurance. I’d love to tell the insurance companies I don’t need them.


So there are my 2013 goals and projects. They are slowed down and toned down a little for me than in years past. I also have a few outs to accept a smaller accomplishment on occasion; as an example, while I have 2 folders that have January pages in them in the scrapbooking project, completing just one of them is a job accomplished As always and especially now, if a preferable goal can be met, I have the right to change a goal to better suit my needs. I feel cautiously optimist about 2013. I have many smaller goals that are parts of larger ideas, but no large goals will go totally unmet. Perhaps that meets the biggest goal of all; keep my own attitude positive and strive to always make meaningful contributions, no matter how small, to the world.

All of this, or something better.

And by the way, that goal to have these posted by midnight tonight? NAILED IT!

It’s My First 2013 Friday!

Part of my plan for 2013 is that I’m going to let myself not be as committed to all 3 memes I usually do on Fridays. I enjoy doing them, but it is also quite time consuming to write all three and then visit other blogs who participate. I enjoy reading others’ responses, but I also feel there is an obligation to read other blogs that do the memes too. I mean, really, how rude is it to expect readers if I’m not reading, right? But the truth is that if I secure employment, which my bank account and the hospitals expecting coinsurance payments for their services really want me to do, I’m, not going to have as much blog time. That doesn’t mean that I’ll quit blogging! It just means some things will be streamlined. Mainly that means I’ll end up cutting down to one meme a week on Fridays. I’m not working yet. It’s just a busy day today.

I’ve had to do lots of updating because our new health insurance kicked in at midnight on January 1…just in time for me to use it in a big way! Since I didn’t get the power chair before the end of the month and my doctor’s office let me know they won’t work with the company I chose for my power chair, I’m back at square one. I have no idea what chair I want and I’m not in any big hurry after a hospital stay to start my relationship with the new insurance to ask for any big ticket items.

So it’ll be next Wednesday that my manual chair and I visit the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation to seek assistance in securing a placement. Maybe I’ll look for a work from home opportunity for now, which I can find legitimate positions in that area with the help of the BVR. If I can make a decent paycheck working at home, I might stay with that, but I really would love a job outside of the house to communicate with other people. We’ll see. Maybe that steady check will mean I can afford to do more, maybe even afford the power chair on my own – then I can have the one I want on my terms. We’ll see what happens. First I need to get the ball rolling.

Okay and as the pizza in the oven is calling my nose, let’s post already, huh? Joining Hilary at Feeling Beachie for this week’s Friday Fill-Ins.

This week’s statements:
1. When I __ I ___
2. It is pretty funny that ____
3. It may be strange but ___
4. How ______ made me ______.

My Responses:

1. When I don’t get enough sleep I am hungry the whole next day,

2. It is pretty funny that sometimes something very small can cripple something huge.

Years ago I was part of a large live cable TV remote at a major festival. I brought a coffee pot for Saturday morning, for which the crew was quite grateful, but the coffee pot drew enough power from the production truck that it caused a power outage that knocked the entire production off the air for almost a half hour. Needless to say, after that coffee was brought in from the local donut shop and coffee and donuts in the mornings became one of the meals we had brought in for the production in the years that followed!

3. It may be strange but I crave potato chips and French onion dip during the holidays. I don’t eat it or want it at any other time, but I have to have my one bag of potato chips and one tub of French onion dip between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

4. How David made a point of driving to Canada just for dinner for my 39th birthday with my family made me fall in love with him. (I was heading there anyway, but that was the moment of no return!)

2012 Projects and Goals

It’s that time of year again. After a 2011 that saw many goals not obtained and many projects wanting for a slot in 2012, I’m really looking forward to the New Year and the opportunity to get back on track.

Now, in all fairness to 2011, it started with the MS symptoms getting worse and worse and me having no idea that my troubles were anything worse than needing to tweak my diet to improve the fatigue and probable back surgery to fix my mobility. My projects list centered on changing my food balance, recovery from surgery and more exercise. I had no idea that in May I still wouldn’t know what was wrong. I expected to be in recovery by then! As it worked out, the classes I’d planned to do in rehab were taken during the worst of the stress with all of this. I earned my first B and an incomplete that is now a D! It was not at all a time to try to learn a new computer language! I’ll be able to fix the D when I retake XML. It kinda sucks to not be on the Dean’s List for the first time since 1984!

All the medical and school stress had an adverse effect on my weight loss too. I lost 40 pounds in 2010 and felt ambitious about at least that much more in 2011. Humph. Did you know stress causes enzymes in your body to do weird things that actually hold on to fat? Imagine, the stress causes weight to fluctuate and even makes you gain despite a balanced, reduced calorie diet and exercise! Yeah and that causes more stress, which make weight loss even harder and you find yourself thinking seriously about a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s with hot fudge and whipped cream but no cherry on top because you’ve decided that fruits and vegetables are mocking you.

No. I did NOT do that! But, maybe I thought about it once or twice this year!

The point is that while I was totally brain-muddled in a class I thought would be much easier for me, being shoved in an MRI tube three different times and tested for a possible brain tumor, my weight loss goals were not progressing. I lost 6 pounds in 2011, as of mid-December. I’ve probably gained that much back in the last 2 weeks of festiveness, but as is usually true with Januaries, I’ll shed that by the end of the month and start again, this year without the stress of the unknown or even school as I’ve taken the semester off.

So now, after getting myself organized with what’s wrong with me, what medications I need, a good diet and my physical therapy exercises. I’m ready to move forward…starting with looking back. I have some things from last year that were unfinished or left with alterations I have to put in place.


Updates from 2011 Projects and Goals

Medical Project

Last year the medical project was all about getting an MRI, surgery if needed, repairing myself physically. I wanted to get back to aquatic therapy!

Well, we know it wasn’t at all that simple! This year, now that I’m on a medication, checkup pending, that seems to really work for me, I’m medically concentrating on my therapy exercises, learning to use the AFO and shoring up some key places in our home with devices that will assist me. I’m specifically thinking of the hand shower David and I are installing in the shower in January, a wheeled cart for moving things around in the kitchen and boy, I’d love something secure to grab on at the top of the stairs. I know grabbing the window sill on the top stairs and the doorknob on the bottom ones is not really good for those pieces of hardware that aren’t made for lifting a person and if they give out that’s really unsafe for me.

In addition to the assistive devices and keeping up with my medications and vitamins, I want to do some research on other herbal and homeopathic things I can incorporate, like the turmeric and lemon tea, the taste of which I’ve really grown quite fond.



Weight Loss & Exercise Goal

My weight loss goal is pretty much the same as last year, but this year I WILL do it. I don’t blame myself for 2011 not being as successful as planned. I didn’t gain, I just didn’t lose much. Actually that’s okay. Remember I’d accepted that my face would hollow out and I’d look sick for a couple years. Well, losing as little as I did this year, my face has tightened back up from where it had been and I look better. (Score one for seeing the rainbow, not the rain there!)

So, I’m recommitting to my healthy diet after the holidays, just as last year, but knowing what challenges are before me and knowing what stress does helps me a ton! I’m going to incorporate meditation and relaxation time into my day, just a few minutes a day, but I’m going to reclaim essential mental balance. A lot of people will laugh at that because I work really hard to be mentally balanced, have since my early 20s! But the uncertainty prior to diagnosis was a fierce emotional toxin!

Exercise will be my therapy exercises and my stationary bike. It would be nice to think by late spring I’ll be able to either work on my upper body with the wheelchair or strong enough to walk short distance with the walker and AFO at the park. I’m going to let my physical therapist help me decide if and when that’s realistic.



Scrapbook Goals

Okay the goal last year was to keep up 2011 while finishing 2008 and keeping up on the project I was working on. The due date for the 2008 books was December 31, the 2011 books January 31 and I want that project done by February 29. 2008 is now the catch up goal for 2012. I got a good chunk of 2008 done, but only about half. I’m in June 2011. It’s not out of the question that I’ll finish by the end of January with a couple scrapping weekends, but I may realistically move that date back to the end of February. We’ll see where I am in a few weeks. The project is a gift and that is now the number one priority. I really can’t extend the finish date because it needs to be proofread and edited before it can be printed. Full disclosure and details on this MAJOR project will come after it’s given!

So 2012 scrapbook goals:

Priority Project complete and ready for proofreading February 29, 2012
2011 books completed with a flexible deadline of January 31, 2012
2008 books complete and ready to print December 31, 2012
2012 books completed January 31, 2013


House Uncluttered Project

This was an ambitious project to juggle in with classes and probable back surgery for just 2 rooms this year. It also ended up being an epic fail as a 2011 plan. The plan for 2012 is even bigger!

Knowing my limitations and requirements now, I’m a little more capable. That is lots of chairs, walkers and a telescoping feather duster will allow me to do more. Taking the semester off from school is Multigoaling! I’m going to start with the atrium off the kitchen where many of my boxes from Grandma's house are still stacked. I have a vision of at least one shelving unit for easy access of the modern kitchen appliances that were never that abundant in the 1950s. David and I were also discussing baskets for the K-Cups instead of stacked open boxes on top of the bread box.

From that room I’ll move out to finish the main level of the house, including some handicap access updates. I’m hoping that can be completed by the end of February. Remember I can’t do a physical 8 hours a day and anything that includes moving big things or heavy boxes will wait until David comes home.

It’s a lot, yet I don’t think I’m setting up any unrealistic ideas for myself. And for the physical work, the psychological rewards will be huge on many levels!


New Goals for 2012

Blog Goals

The big goal for the Chronicles of Nani has already started. I wanted to commit more to my regular blog features and add a few. I wanted to commit some time every day I post a blog to reading blogs and commenting. Call it corporate citizenship. I want to really appreciate those who stop by my cyber coffee shop. I’ve been doing well at keeping The Chronicles up and I’ve really been enjoying making friends and being a bigger part of the cyber community. I guess my blog goal is to continue what I’ve been doing, try to offer at least one digital scrapbook freebie a month and encourage everyone to get me those Friday By Request ideas!


Employment Goal

This is a biggie! I need to get back to work, but it’s still an awful job market and now I am officially physically disabled. It’s without a doubt scary. The New York chapter of the National MS Society is hosting a series of teleconferences in the beginning of 2012 about looking for work and having MS. I’ve registered for all 6 teleconferences/webinars.

I hope to be newly resume-ed and ready to get back to applying by fall. But I truly have a lot to learn. For instance, and this is the scariest question for me, when do I disclose my disability? Should I be upfront about needing assistance or do I walk in “Surprise!” for an interview with the walker when they can’t legally throw me out and try to impress them to the point of forgetting about it? I will attend the conferences with my questions in hand!


So there are my personal projects and goals for 2012. As always, this or something better. Ambitious? Sure, but if I made it through 2011 and I can still smile, I can do ANYTHING!

In The News Editorials

There have been a few notable things in the news lately and of course, I have opinions. I read national news daily through my Google home page and the local news through the Toledo Blade’s website.

Fatal Fall in Texas

Yesterday in the second inning of the game between the Oakland As and Texas Rangers at Texas. Josh Hamilton threw a foul ball up to a father and his young son in the front row. The father reached over the get the ball and lost his balance, falling over the rail, 20 feet down behind a scoreboard.

The 39-year-old man died while paramedics did everything they could to save him. His 6-year old son was in the front seat of the ambulance.

I watched the footage, a few times. So sad. So shocking.

There is talk of changes needing to be made. But what kind of changes?

Players won’t be allowed to throw balls in the stands anymore? I’m sure an understandably distraught Josh Hamilton, who didn’t throw balls into the stands often, won’t be doing it again anytime soon. I suppose hitters will be fined if they hit a home run too.

Raising the already waist-high railings would change the game, put balls back in play that would have been home runs or fouled out of play. That could actually make it dangerous for players, having more opportunity for those leaping catches.

The Rangers have started a fund for the family. My thought would be first to make sure there is counseling available for the son, who witnessed his father’s deadly fall. The first empathetic pain I felt was for “Dad’s catching me a ball…” He’s going to need someone to talk to who can help him understand, and not feel responsible.

After seeing the video, it was an accident, a horrible accident. My skin will crawl if there’s a lawsuit, especially when the Rangers are already taking steps to help the family.

Today, for a while, please keep that little boy, Josh Hamilton, the Rangers organization and soul of that loving dad, in your thoughts and prayers.



Jobs Figures

The job figures are dropping again. That’s bad news, especially personally as I’m hoping to be back in the market in the next year!

Washington Politicos, this isn’t a Republic back scratchers and Democrat back scratchers thing. It’s an US thing. It makes me dizzy how many times a way to get jobs back runs around in my head as I try to articulate one more time to the customer service rep in India what’s wrong with my Japanese made electronics or my Mexican built car. If the item is assembled in another country and the customer service is in another country, then part of the product is foreign and subject to the percentage of it that is in import tax. If the jobs don’t come back, companies that deny the American workforce a livelihood will at least be paying for the extended unemployment or welfare necessary to keep Americans alive.

Henry Ford had the right idea when he planned to pay and price his people and products so that his employees, all of them, could afford to drive a Ford. Now it’s all some CEO’s third wife wants a fourth house. So you raise the prices and cut the staff, but expect the same output. That’s not America. That’s a two-class society with a lower class sweat shop.


Caylee’s Law

I am among the many people who was shocked to find that there are not laws that require a parent or guardian to report a missing or dead child in a set minimum time. A child doesn’t have to be missing long at all to report it to police, but it never occurred to me that there wasn’t a maximum. That Caylee Anthony was missing for a MONTH before it was reported and the defense could even think of using a weak story of, “Oh, it wasn’t like that at all, she died in a pool a month ago,” was just appauling.

Just like it takes a deadly accident to get a traffic light at a dangerous intersection, it takes a suspiciously dead toddler to wake up lawmakers to needed legislation.

From the parts of the trial I watched, what angered me most was the right not to testify as a defendant. Testifying doesn’t incriminate you. It may confirm that your deeds incriminated you, but the deeds are already done. If I’d been on that jury, I’d likely have voted the same way they did. There just wasn’t enough hard evidence for the stronger charges. I suspect, Casey Anthony testifying would have supplied either total reasonable doubt or unquestionably reasonable undoubt.

This was a huge trail that left a lot of people feeling “dirty” about our judicial system. We do have the ability to make right some wrongs in our laws. I’m sure no one ever imagined that it was necessary, I sure didn’t, but there are sick people in this world who would not bother reporting their child missing. It should be a law that if broken, makes your children wards of the court and gives them a better future than a parent or parents that care that little.

It’s not a law to be made because this injustice happened. The injustice happened because the law wasn’t made.



Commercial Break…

Okay, commercial commentary break. Not that I’m a huge fan of Miller anyway, but what’s with the un-delivery guy, the one who steals bad beer from events that are to classy for bad beer, insulting our troops? Iraq is NOT pronounced /EYE-rack/ I would think, I’d hope, that our defenders fighting in a war there have at least heard the name of the country they’re in enough to have heard it pronounced /EE-rock/. Anyway, EE-rock is the closest American English pronunciation to the proper Arabic. EYE-rack is the closest to American Redneck, and not the “LOL Redneck” ala Jeff Foxworthy.

I’m just saying, for the probable paycheck a regular commercial image makes, it’s no wonder the rest of the world thinks were rich, stupid and arrogant.


Toledo Weather:

Boy it was hot today!


In Sports…

Red Sox and Tigers both won their games in the daily “bonus cat treats” qualifier games. With the Reds up 2 by going into the bottom of the ninth, Carla came up on the table and cried her plaintive meow in concern when she realized that Francisco Cordero was on the mound. I tell the TV over and over that anything less than a 4-run lead is not safe to have Cordero pitching.

After walking the leadoff batter, he got usual Reds-killer, Ricky Weeks out. There was hope. Then a wild pitch puts the runner in scoring position, followed by a triple. The second out came on an incredible play by Ryan Hannigan, blocking the plate and taking a hit as the runner from third tried to go through him.

Then there was another walk, then a soft hit. Bases loaded. Mark Kotsay at the plate. All it took was a single with two runners in scoring position to render Hannigan’s heroics non-existent and two of the sweetest baseball kitties running off their frustrated energy on the stairs…and in the kitchen. I need to see what they knocked over.

Cordero is a cat-hater.

That’s the news. Good night and have a better tomorrow!

Monday Mug Shot

Yay! The return of an old favorite! I know from watching the stats that the MMS has always been a popular feature at The Chronicles. It has been since the Yahoo days when it first started. I can't say every Monday for sure, but my promise is that I'm going to try to do it more often than not.

There is a little bit of a prelude to this week’s Mug story. You see, this week is one I need to tell myself as much as I want to share it. It’s been a cloudy Monday, cloudy internally. It started out cloudy outside after the torrential rains last night, but there was some evening sun later in the day. But inside, I’ve been cloudy.

They day started off with a ride in a wheelchair. I seldom enjoy those. David and I went to tour a nursing facility. Whenever it is that whatever work needs done on my back is done, I’ll likely need to spend a month or so in a nursing home to rehabilitate. Looking isn’t deciding and it’s not signing papers. It IS something I can do to feel like I am an active part in all this. I HAVE to be part of it all. Control freak? Yeah, I’ve been called that, but it’s better than being helpless or a victim!

I love my husband dearly and he did what needed to be done for the image sake of us both. Wheelchairs are okay because I power them and I control my movement, which I can’t do so well walking just now. However, in a public situation, especially one where you’re touring a nursing home, your significant other who is helping you check the place out is “supposed” to help by pushing the wheelchair. If he didn’t, the woman giving us the tour would have. ---sigh---

So we took a look around and asked questions, heard the spiel and then went home. They have WiFi and I can use my laptop plugged in to the outlet by the bed or bring it in to a few different places to do my school work. Perfect. That was the reason that this semester had to be online. What’s NOT cool is no private rooms. I kinda LIKE my alone time and my privacy. I like my time I have alone without my husband, so I’m really disappointed that there is not a choice about living with a stranger for a few weeks. The last nursing home I was at was where Grandma was, so I envisioned a private room with a sitting area, a mini fridge and a sink with a private bath. This place is pretty much a hospital with carpet, like the nursing home my great-grandmother was in, but with carpet. When I was envisioning the private room with an almost studio apartment feel, I was thinking, “relax, heal, rebirth.” He hospital feel with a stranger living with me makes me think, “work fast and heal enough to get out.” I was walking better when I got out in the first vision. They do let visitors bring in a cat carrier! That means David can bring one of the kids every now and then when he visits so I miss them a little less and they don’t think I’ve abandoned them. Up until today, missing the cats and them forgetting me was my biggest worry looking ahead. Now the living with a stranger thing is rattling me.

This is where I need to hear the Mug Shot…


Monday Mug Shot

Atlanta Braves
Atlanta, Georgia

On a Friday morning in April, 1998, I got up early to catch a first flight of the day to Atlanta, Georgia. This was the first of several things for me. It was my first time flying alone. I took my first taxi ride alone and it was my first all-day job interview, including having lunch with a couple of the managers. I had my big briefcase packed with resumes, a copy of my demo tape and the one pocket that could have fit the laptop computer I didn’t have at the time, fit an extra pair of nylons, my makeup bag and a change of underwear. Grandma always told me to never go out of town, even for a day without a change of clothes. Well, it wasn’t a big enough pocket for a full change of clothes, so I packed the “essentials.”

I checked in with Northwest and went to my gate. I’m always early, especially with interviews, so I had some time to sit at the gate and be nervous. My Interview was for a news graphics position with WSB, ABC’s affiliate in Atlanta. This was my dream. Oh, to get the job and work my way up starting my network career in Atlanta, it was going to be a day to remember forever. And it was.

The pilot came on the PA to let us know we’d be landing in Atlanta soon. It was raining when the plane landed and pulled into the gate. After deplaning, I went to the front of the airport and called my contact at WSB, as I was instructed, so they could send a cab.

I don’t recall a lot about the conversation, except that I admitted I was a little nervous and the cabbie told me I’d do fine. I also remember him voicing concern about the rain as we passed Turner Field because the Braves were home that weekend. When we got to WSB, I tipped the cabbie and went in. The all day fun had begun.

The rain persisted. My interview day included meeting lot s of people in creative services. The actual interview part was delayed and I “job shadowed” one of the graphics people who told me a little about the software they used and what all the various graphics positions entailed. The delay in the interview part 2 was because I was interviewing for a news position and there was news happening. The big news was the weather. There was thunder and high winds and tornado watch.

At midday, I had the interview part of the day. The creative services manager asked what I’d like from the menu she handed me for lunch. Yanno, in school, they always told us to politely refuse when asked if you’d like something to drink before an interview because that something to drink could sabotage you. They never thought about an all-day interview in school! I mean, you can’t not eat All day and no one expects you to! I ordered a penne with an alfr4do sauce. It was a local restaurant that I knew well and I knew that it was a dish I’d like. I figured that not liking and not eating what was ordered for me would be worse than a glass of water could ever be at an interview. So I had lunch with the creative services director and the news manager with the station manger stopping by to meet me during lunch too. Then the interview part one commenced.

We went back in to the news room later where things were abuzz with breaking news of storm damage and an unconfirmed suburban tornado. It was exciting watching the busy crew and it made me really want to be part of it. During a break, I got a few more questions and met a few more people coming in for afternoon shifts. I enjoyed the people I was talking with that would be my peers if I got the job and knew I could enjoy working with them.

As it was time for me to leave, to return to the airport to catch my plane back to Detroit, a call was made to confirm if there were weather delays. It was hinted that if they needed more time with me, travel could book me a later flight. I was glad they didn’t think that was necessary because honestly, I was getting quite tired. Being under the microscope all day can take the energy out of you! They called me a cab and sent me back to the airport. It was dark and rainy but I remember that the lights inside were on at Turner Field, like they were hoping, maybe… The cabbie dropped me off in front of the main doors at the airport and my time in Atlanta on WSB’s radar was done.

It wasn’t quite 5:30, so I didn’t call home since Mom would be just getting home from work and Pop wouldn’t be home yet. I got a cappuccino and a pastry and walked to my gate and had a seat. The area was getting close to full as it was not long before boarding time. It was still raining pretty hard with lightning and out plane wasn’t in yet. Then a flash, I watched lightening hit the runway with a simultaneous loud crack and for a brief moment the concourse went dark! There was much commotion and surprised exclamations as people wondered out loud what had happened with the power. It seemed to be raining harder, you could hardly see anything on the tarmac.

Then over the loud speaker and on the monitors, flights diverted, flights canceled, including my flight!

Now there’s a special first, I’d never been on a canceled flight before, a delayed one, one that got changed to a different plane, but never canceled. A little while later it gets better! I went to the desk to see about changing my flight, actually to just ask, “so what do I do?” There were no more flight to Detroit with any room that night. That little old bolt of lightning shut down one of the country’s largest hubs for just a half hour or so, but it crippled it for the weekend! The best they could offer me was 8am Saturday morning. So, I guessed I’d be sleeping in the airport.

But I met another woman, a bit younger than me, traveling on business. Her business was farther south from Atlanta and she didn’t know the city well, but she had a company card for travel. We talked a little, where we were from, why we were in Atlanta, getting to know you things. She wanted to get a room since she couldn’t do better than the same flight I got for the next day and see if her husband could drive up to Detroit to get her since a connecting flight to Indianapolis wouldn’t’ be until much later after that flight got in. Rooms anywhere near the airport were full already and she offered that if I would lend my knowledge of Atlanta, she’d pay for the room if I wanted to share it. After the all-day interview and then how muggy the airport had gotten with the rain and all the stranded people, a shower sounded great. We ended up taking the subway a ways, back into the center of the city. We both showered, then got pizza and talked some more before getting some sleep.

In the morning, the rain had let up and the street was just breathtaking with blooming dogwoods. I’d been to the city I wanted to call home every time of the year but the spring. We went to check-in and were told the flight was delayed until 12:40 because there was no crew! My friend in crisis didn’t want to delay getting home any more than she already had part because she didn’t want to have to keep calling her husband to let him know there was another delay in picking her up and part because it was the end of a 2-week business trip and wanted to see him! She rented a car to drive back to Indy. She offered that if I want to go along she’d give me the car in Indianapolis and let me return it in Detroit, which was generous, but since our fight was eventually going to get to where my car was, I declined When I did officially check-in to the now delayed flight, they bumped me up to first class!

So I got another cappuccino, I knew where all the cappuccino places at Hartsfield were by the end of the two days, and laughed at myself. There I sat in the same suit I had on yesterday, modest, but still 1 3/4'” pumps without nylons thinking that if I had tennis shoes, leggings and a t-shirt, I’d book and evening flight and go to the Braves game. When I told Grandma about that she smiled and said, “told a so! You ALWAYS bring spare clothes when you fly.”

The woman I sat next to in first class and I talked a little about the weather, everyone talked about the weather. We had to laugh, had to crack jokes. The announcement was that due to scheduling and the weather, etcetera, there would be no snacks on coach. BUT in first class, we still got drinks and a meal. It was 2:00PM, but lunch on our originally scheduled for 8AM plane, was cheerios! We got into Detroit as the later afternoon sun was in the sky and I retrieved my car from its overnight $tay in the short term lot and headed home.



So you see, the unexpected, challenges and sharing space with strangers is not like something I haven’t done before.

The Next Semester Starts Soon!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of USC. All opinions are 100% mine.

I got the rough draft of my paper for school done yesterday. Like I said I was going to do, I stepped away and will finalize it today. I have on e set of case studies to finish up tomorrow and then I’m done. I tallied my grades and I know I passed already, but the last two assignments just might earn me my A!

The coolest thing about taking my term online has been the flexibility. I have made dinner while doing class work, taken a break to run to the store in the middle of a review and yesterday I did 2 loads of laundry. I bet I can even fit that multitasking ability in as a plus in an interview. Well, at least for an internship – I can research a problem AND get coffee for the boss!

Now I know not everyone reading is an aspiring change-of-careers computer geek, but in this tough economic time, isn’t it a good idea to make your bottom line worth more, not less? Less is what your job market value is if you are out of work for an extended time and it leaves a hole in your resume. But if you are stagnant jobwise from a bad economy and school is increasing your knowledge and abilities in the workplace, your value increases and it puts you in front of everyone who’s waiting for things to get better when the market starts to open back up.

Okay, maybe you are working now. Ever wonder how much easier the holidays would be if that first number on the paycheck was a couple notches higher? Hmmm? An online class or two that you can wrap around your work and family schedules could open that door for you too!

If you have a teaching degree and are in the teaching field already, you can earn a Masters of Arts in teaching as a USC Trojan without ever leaving your current job, working around your life and choose to do it in as little as 12 months through their accelerated program! As a USC student studying online you’ll have the full status and all the benefits of a regular student in an education program that ranked #22 in the whole United States, with the invitation to walk in the commencement ceremonies and a free lifetime alumni membership.

Now you must be thinking of the prestige of belonging to a student body like that, for life, the convenience of earning your Masters of Arts in Teaching online and the MORE MONEY it will bring you after you complete the degree! I’m on my way to geekdom and I’m excited a out the thought of this degree. I‘d love it if just one of my readers got the program informationand gave this a try. Could you be the one leaving me a comment a year from now with a link to your photo at commencements? Or maybe you'll be telling me about the first paycheck at your new job that’s twice the last one from your previous job? I’d love it if you were!

Computer Hacking for an Honest Buck?

As I’m moving forward in my quest towards certified geekdom, I’m learning more every day about all of the possibilities for someone, anyone, in the IT field. EC-Council trains people in important IT areas. Network Security is something I’ve considered for a “next step” in my career after I get my certification for network administration and EC Council offers security classes including Ethical Hacking.

Hacking? Ethical? Huh?

You hear me, ethical hacking! You can learn what you need to be a Certified Ethical Hacker. Hey, it’s knowing your enemy. The best way to keep up with hackers is to be that one step ahead and catch them before they can do serious damage!

Ethical hacking is one of the more fascinating parts of IT Security. It’s testing the limits of the security in place. That’s kind of being a teenager forever! You can take classes online, so that’s convenient and flexible too.

IT is one of the few career fields that is still growing in this depressed economy and job market. In a hands-on project in the very beginning of my week one homework, we were sent to monster.com to do a basic search for “network technician.” My search popped up 1001 jobs in the US! I tried “network security.” There were over 5000 matches! Network security is even more important as so many breaches are reported all the time. Taking an online class can lead to so many possibilities. It’s certainly worth taking a look!

It’s Official Now

Element from One Step at a Time by Digitalegacies Designs

Nani is back in school! My classes start June 1. I’m taking one at (GROAN) 8 AM 2 days a week and one online. Now if I score a full time job before then, I can switch to taking that morning class in the fall and just keep the online one. Of course, a part time job later in the afternoon or on non school days would work around it.

I need to get cozy with the campus map. I parked in a much further than necessary parking lot from the student services building than I needed to. On one had it was good exercise and surprisingly, my knee doesn’t hurt like it does after I do groceries, but my good leg is sore! I guess quicker steps use different muscles. If I was studying pre-med, I could work on figuring that out, but I’m studying to earn a Network Administration Certificate. My adviser agrees that moving in a new direction and expanding my knowledge looks good on a resume. The job seekers who have the roughest go are the ones who have a narrow scope of knowledge. I sure hope we’re both right!

Anything Is Possible

Anything is possible to a willing heart. That’s one of my personal mantras. But boy, in this job market, my optimism gets tested on a regular basis!

There is a company called LIGHTSHIP RESEARCH that does executive revers searching that looks pretty cool. Now, I’m not executive level. They show a chart on their website that lists amount spent daily on job search firms by salary expectations and their chart starts at $70K. I’m a 30-40K gal, so the service isn’t for me, but I agree with a point that they made about the staggering amount of money spent looking for work. They suggest that even even one day less that you spend looking for work can make a mortgage payment, car payment, hey for me, even just pay my storage bill or buy groceries would make a difference.

In this part of the world everyone knows someone who’s been hit by the car companies woes, that includes execs from many support companies to the auto industry. If Lightship Research can help one displaced executive level person find a placement, maybe that means a shuffle that can represent a job that came become available in the mid-level area. Maybe the kry is shuffling people into the right places to breathe new ideas into the economy. It certainly can’t hurt!

So, does Lightship Research work?

Check this out:

I got laid off as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing of a new media company in the Bay area. I was recommended by a recruiter to call Lightship Research to help me with my job search, as I wanted to relocate to New York City. I was a little skeptical at first, as I had always used traditional recruiters in the past, but they were not producing any interviews and I needed a job quickly. I spoke with a reference that had used their services and decided to give them a try. Their strategist was very knowledgeable and came up with some good ideas. They really know how to get under the radar and find companies, that you would never have thought of and then find the direct hiring authority. I got four interviews and an offer in 30 days (yes in this economy), which I accepted. Lightship Research http://www.lightshipresearch.com you rock!

D. Manning, SF

If you are one of the many that know someone who’s been laid off from an executive level job or if you are one of them, this one might be worth a click to find out more!

Patch 365 and a Freebie!

I’ve decided that I have a cold. It’s one of those ones that knocks you down, but you get back up and think it was a little one and is gone, but a day later it comes back. You know what I mean, the nasty buggers that just don’t stay gone. That’s what I’ve got. Tuesday afternoon and evening I felt pretty awful, like I was gonna get really sick. Then yesterday I was feeling a lot better. Now I’m doing poorly again.

My biggest problem is drugs. I’m not good at taking them. I took Benadryl Tuesday when I started really feeling bad and one before bed. When I felt good in the morning I didn’t take any more. This morning I had a nasty ache in my knee, which occasionally happens, but by the time I finished doing groceries this afternoon, I was limping bad and my back was sore on the other side. Then part way through dinner I began to stuff up again. Now I have a soreish throat too. I took another Benadryl and if I feel good in the morning, I’ll try to remember to take another one anyway. It’s a cold. We don’t have anything pollenating yet for allergies!

It’s been an okay week though. I met my new dentist and I got an “okay” on the health of my gums and I‘m scheduled for the cleaning and a consultation for the repair and cosmetic work I need/want done. That happened before I got the cold. So, I didn’t give it to the dentist or her assistant, but maybe I got it that way! Hmmm... I still like her. She was awesome about explaining everything I was going to hear her talking about while I could still ask questions instead of while she was prodding around in my mouth! I also had a few decent jobs I sent resumes to and an offer to redistribute my resume for free from I Hire Marketing which I took advantage of. Next week is my eye doc appointment and I meet with an advisor to get ready to enroll for the next semester at the community college. I want to talk to someone about which IT certificate will be the most advantageous for me to earn.

So, there’s the exciting day-world of Nani. The evenings are more interesting! I’ve been doing some scrapping. I got weeks 11 & 12 of my Patch 365 project done!

Credits: Template from Project 365 Template Set by Digitalegacies Designs,
paper and ribbon made by me. Fonts - Comic Sans, Girls are Weird

Week 11 featured that Cherry Chocolate Blossom donut, Our futile attempts at training Kaline to use her new scratching post, thank you cards for wedding gifts and the shot of the kids crowded in Baggle’s carrier at the Vet!

Credits: Template from Project 365 Template Set 2 by Digitalegacies Designs,
kit - Kitten Kaboodle by Enaideel Scraps

The big shots from week 12 are me before and after my donation to Locks of Love and several cat pictures! Enaideel Scraps’ Kitten Kaboodle was a great kit for this one!

I wanted to share one more layout that I just liked the way it turned out. This was actually for a challenge from last month at Scrap Orchard, but I clicked on the most recent challenge this month in that category and didn’t realize until I’d already done the layout that it was already over. The challenge was to use triangles in your layout. I still think it turned out pretty nice!

credits: BOGO blog train kit from the Scrap Orchard Designers,
papers from: Pixel Geek Designs, Amanda Heimann Designs
and Irene V. Alexeeva Fonts JD and Capitals

Fortunately, it also goes with the My SAS-y Self challenge at SAS!


Now a couple of pages with my One Step at a Time that made great quick pages!

Credits: One Step at a Time quick page blog freebie by Digitalegacies Designs

Ten years ago, little 5-year old twins! :)

Credits: One Step at a Time quick page blog freebie by Digitalegacies Designs.

What a difference a decade makes, huh?? They just looked so stunning at Dave's wedding The bride and all, now three, nieces looked gorgeous! Well, okay, so did the guys, even my brother!


Of course, if you read the credits you know what the freebie is! It's two quick pages made with One Step at a Time!


Download them by clicking the preview. The password is still optimism. Personally, I don't care if it's not a hot seller. I love this kit and I'm very proud to say I created it!

Okay, Benadryl is kicking in and I'm still stuffy and sleepy now. I'm going to hope that it does the trick THIS time! Enjoy the quick pages!

Happy Friday!

It’s been an interesting week this week. I’ll be starting next week with a big call list for Monday to follow up a bunch of unsolicited resumes I sent out this week, including a follow-up on that interview. Truth is, I hate those calls. Well, I hate looking for work. After all this time of searching, I just want someone to see my resume and say “I can’t believe she’s still available! When can she start?” Yeah, I know, me and thousands of others who’ve been pounding the pavement for over a year.

That’s the part that gets me - over a year. Earning a degree was supposed to keep this from happening. But I read Q&A boards at job sites that at least give my misery company. There are many, way too many, degreed professionals in the same boat, especially in this area. We are that middle that got sliced out of the corporations across the country. Not experienced enough to move up and “overqualified” to move down, it’s relocate, retail or recareer. Well, for me, I kiboshed the relocate last December. I really don’t want to live in a different part of the country than my husband. Heck, I didn’t even want to move too far away from my boyfriend before we got married! My knee won’t let me do retail, or I’d already be there. So now, I’m looking to recareer.

I’ve been giving some serious thought to going back to school for maybe an IT certificate, with the hope that I can get an entry level techie job and finish a bachelor in the evenings. I’ve also given thought to a marketing degree, I’m really not so many classes shy of that since I had an undeclared business minor with my first degree, but there are so many jobs that call themselves marketing jobs out there right now that are just scams, making it really difficult to tell if that’s a promising field or not anymore. So, I’m really leaning towards learning a little more about networks and Windows and moving in that direction. The reeducation is still in the exploratory stage, but boy, even if it’s just a class a semester, “in School” looks better on a resume than “looking for work” with no new references!


That was a “live-on-screen journal” entry. Suitable for the blog because it’s not too personal, named no names, not too negative and doesn’t have any of that blowing off steam language that occasionally surfaces when no one else is around. That’s some of what was lost in the file corruption of the 2008 Chronicles of Nani compilation. To be true, it hadn’t occurred to me that just one class at a time was a good idea when I was trying to crunch the tuition numbers for the degree programs. I could get some techie classes at the junior college for much less to start. I just need to be able to do the tasks and talk the talk as I make the transition into a new field. I’m feeling better all ready!

Sometimes to see all the trees, you need to really analyze the forest!


Now I feel good enough to stand up at the podium and accept some awards!

Edna has got to be one of my biggest angels in cyberspace! She is awarded for her creativity, upbeat view of things, effort and in general fostering good will on her blog and it’s all so well earned! But she also never hesitates to name me as one of her favorites too! That always makes me feel so good and in a personal world that is often met with frustration during the job-search hours, it’s a huge pick-me-up that just makes all the difference in maintaining my optimism!

I have three new awards courtesy of Edna:


This absolutely sweet friends award.


And this, the Nagrada award.


And finally, The Blogger Oscar...Which means I have been recognized as an entertaining drama queen! YAY! LOL

Seriously, Being recognized as creative, entertaining and a general good friend is a great honor. I love the awards for my little coffee shop here in Cyberspace!

I’m going to get on to deciding to whom these will get passed in a couple days, but I wanted to recognize that Edna had bestowed the honor on me!



Saturday Scrapiday!

Tomorrow I’ll get some scrapping time! David has, what I call an adult play-date. He’s meeting a bunch of guys in the Motherland at Chuck’s house. He’s the owner of a very cool model railroad. They do operating sessions, where everyone is assigned different roles, dispatcher, engineer, etc, and run the railroad for a couple hours.

I was there the first time he went. Chuck’s railroad is awesome! It’s definitely not a kids’ railroad at all. He had a very sophisticated signal system, sound effects, a track layout that’s modeled after a real 80’s system and schedules and procedures mimicking the real deal. It’s heaven for everyone who ever did or wanted to work for the railroad or even still does. This is the type of layout David wants to eventually build a house over. Yeah, I can see me someday baking cookies for a house full of model railroad fans and sitting in myself!

Right now, it’s too much stress on my knee, but yesterday, I did the groceries with a lot less pain afterwards than usual. Maybe it really is starting to repair from the exercises I’ve been doing! That would be nice! But for right now, I’ll be having a scrapbook holiday while he’s out. When it’s your husband’s play-date, you don’t even have to pickup of drop off!


Boy Was I Ever Tagged!

Livia tagged me and tagged me good! Oh, this is really a fun one!

The potential to embarrass oneself is definitely there, but I generally do things to me that would be embarrassing and just laugh at myself, so here I go!

The rules:

•Go to your photo folder in your computer
•Go to the 6th folder of photos
•Go to the sixth picture
•Put the picture on your blog and a description of it
•Invite six friends to join the challenge
•Link them in your blog.

Now, I don’t have a photo folder on my hard drive. There is a pictures file, but it just has code information for iPhoto, not actual pictures. Now there are TWO main folders of pictures as well as several smaller folders on my extended HD, so I chose to use the file of unscrapped and saved project pictures. That one has many subfolders!

So, the sixth folder is “Nani 40 DVD” The photos and tiles I used when I did my DVD for my 40th birthday party, and number 6 is this:


That’s the composite of my high school senior picture and the proof that Mom kept on her dresser mirror because she loved my pouty-face. That was actually a little tame for my 80’s hair, but I wore it a lot bigger after I got out of high school.


And now I tag, because I just have to pass this one on...
Edna, Beth, Linda, Veelana, Rhonda and Darlene


So a bit of the “grrr” job world, a bit of feel good, a bit of happy alone-time to look forward to and a bit of plain fun. It’s been a good blog!

Some New Stuff!!

It’s been a pretty busy last couple weeks! There have been a few decent leads in the job-searching world and even an interview! The interview was for a full-time writing position I’d really love, but they are very early in the process and say they are being choosy because it’s a key position. I can’t say I blame them for being careful. I don’t know if being an early interview is a good or bad thing. If they were pleased with the benchmark I set, it’s good! I feel like I did well. The only way I won’t get the job is if someone else is simply more qualified. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!


I’m so behind on a few important things! I want everyone to know that I am truly grateful when my blog receives recognition, and in that recognition, I receive it for the work I do on it. Yes, The Chronicles of Nani is my hobby and a labor of love, but it’s work too and I SO appreciate my friends, the regulars at my cyber coffee shop, making a fuss about it!

I have a few awards that I haven’t posted yet. But, in my own defense, we JUST got the last of our wedding announcements in the mail this week too!

First, Edna of Miss Edna’s Place gave me this award. It's an award for the neighborhood spirit and friendship our blogs let us all share! (But I would think it might also be the willingness to make lemonade out of the lemons you get in life, and for a while I’ve had a surplus of lemons in the job world!)


Next, I got 2 from Lelanie of Lelanie’s Taggers Kits.




My designer heart and ego are just tingling here! :D

Of course, as you know, the custom is to pass awards along! What I’ve done is taken the numbers of the suggested pass alongs and averaged them out. So, I’m passing all three awards on to six blogs!

First, Lelanie gets the lemonade stand, for her giving nature with her freebies in tagger and full scrapbook size.

If you’ve seen Edna’s layouts and designs you’d know why she gets the two creativity awards.

If you don’t know why it’s so easy to cross pass on these awards, visit these ladies’ blogs and see why!

Now, my 4 additional picks for this award trifecta!

Veelana’s Designs
Kim’s Scrappin'
Livia’s Corner
mITSYBELLE Designs
Ambowife Designs

You’ll find generous freebies and talented art and design work at all four of these blogs! (Yeah, so I can’t count. I’m still cute, right?) ;)


FINALLY A New Kit!

I have a new scrapbook kit that I’ve been working on too. Like I said things have been pretty full and it seems like I’ve been working on this one forever! But, I’m pleased with how it turned out. It’s probably going to be in the store after the weekend, but I’ll show off the previews and tell ya about the freebie opportunity now!

First the unveiling! You’ve been hearing the song on the iPod for a few weeks, Journey’s “Homemade Love.” Now, it’s a new Digitalegacies Designs kit!


“Homemade Love” has patterned or textured 12 papers and 23 elements, which include frames, journal mats, ribbons, bows and some fun baking accessories to show off your photos of “hot jelly rolls and love!”

The kit is also great for recipe pages and recipe cards. your young chef’s baking days or documenting the kitchen remodeling!

“Homemade Love” also has an available full alpha in coordinating colors and patterns. It’s also great for the (eventually) coming warm summer colors and they are bright enough for a feminine layout and strong enough for a masculine one!


The alpha is sold separately in the store. But you can get it without buying it for a couple of weeks!

FREE ALPHA RECRUITING DRIVE!

As I said the last time I did this, our community is more fun when we have more people participating! When I did the “A Kiss For Christmas” freebie for joining Scrap Bird, there were a few people that took me up on the offer, so I’m trying it again!

I have a free “Homemade Love Alpha” for new members at Scrap Bird. All you have to do is join Scrap Bird and send me (Nani) a PM! This freebie offer is for anyone whose join date is after February 13, 2009. Now, if you are already a Scrap Bird member, you’re not counted out! If someone joins and mentions your Scrap Bird ID in their PM to me, I’ll send you both the link for the alpha! So, if you send someone to Scrap Bird, be sure to tell them about the free alpha and to make sure to mention you in their PM to me!

The membership drive is for the rest of February. You must PM me before March 1!


So, that’s it for now. If you haven’t taken advantage of my sale, tomorrow is it! Get the three love kits, “My Blue Heaven,” “Because Of You” and “Your Own Special Way” at 20% off. Get in early and pick them up when you PM me for your free alpha!

I kinda doubt I’ll be around Saturday - It’s my first married Valentines Day! heh, heh, heh....

I hope you all have a wonderful day of love with your special someone or the friends and family you love!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!