Chronicles of Nani - Things Change

The world itself is in a constant state of change. So I don't know why I ever thought things would be different for me!

I took a few weeks off to catch up on some important things at home thinking to myself but three weeks later I have a good amount of things done and underway. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that are underway. They just aren't done. I'm really not that uncommon in wanting, or at least hoping for, instant gratification.

I guess the hardest part is expecting things to be done in a certain order and "things changing" makes up my mind in what order I'm going to get things changed.

One of the big changes I had to live with this week is my editing time got cut really short. But I'm here! But if some of the things look choppy, please forgive me. If it's really that hard to look at just listen because the vocal sounds pretty good. LOL

*What construction sounds you hear from time to time during today's program are not house reclaiming it’s the cats trying to organize for me. They're not very good at it.

Weekend Playlist February 24

The weekend ends when I go to bed on Sunday night. I have pills that I take at 1 AM so no day ends until after one anyway. I guess you could say my body clock is stuck in the central time zone. It's okay because I LOVE Chicago! anyway. ;)

So these were the last five songs from my library on shuffle before David left this morning at 8 AM. It's just been a crazy Sunday, so I'm just a little behind.

This weekend’s selections are courtesy of iTunes via Joey II, my current main computer, last year’s birthday gift I gave to myself. As usual, enjoy, be confused, be surprised, but please don't judge too hard.

Let Me Love You, DJ Snake featuring Justin Bieber

Devil At The Door, The Skeleton Club

When We Make Love, Ginuwine

Walk Right Back, The Everly Brothers

No Diggity, Blackstreet

There are a lot of people that seem to have a certain genre of music or certain band that is the music that just defines educational portions of their life. I know in high school I was definitely the confusing combination of loving classical music and being a heavy metal chick. I would have never made it through trade school without my country music and in the 90s R&B is what finished my bachelors degree full timewhile juggling three part-time jobs.

I liked No Diggity the first time I heard it in the car. I love the whole feel of the music but what I totally fell in love with the first time I heard the song was the term “eargasm” to describe basically a sound that will blow you away. I love the nuances and incredible ways you can use the English language to say the same thing so many different ways, but I also love being able to use that language to create words to add even more color to it. Trust me, I could put together a mini dictionary of words and phrases I use on a regular basis that if you hear anyone else use them it's because they've been hanging out with me too long. LOL. So, work with me here, keeping in mind the eclectic taste thing. First thing that came to mind when I heard that word was Ravel’s Bolero. In it's day Bolero was frowned upon by many in society because the piece was so risqué. Seriously it builds up to and finishes with a GIANT eargasm!

Every time I hear the song it brings me back to a time where a normal Wednesday was often, wake up in the morning, put together my schoolbag, make sure I have my ID badge and head to good old Tiger Stadium to be there plenty early before 1:05PM gametime on getaway day, work the jumbotron graphics and praying we didn't go into extra innings so I’d have enough time to stop at Cracker Barrel and have that meal that comes between work and school because my three hour direct marketing class was in Monroe at 7 PM. I think it reminds me most of Wednesdays because it was still bigon the radio and staple at the ballpark too.

I'll be honest. MS notwithstanding, I'm still not sure I could do what I did for two years to finish my degree now. I will tell you though, having the degree, and my three jobs that included being in major league baseball games and getting a check for it, working with Fortune 1000 executives and editing and studying the “baby picture” segments as an assistant editor for a wedding videographer which eventually inspired some of the work I did years later in my own business was an exhausting time in my life but I wouldn't trade for anything as part of my past.

I have a separate playlist that's just 90s R&B, that includes No Diggity by Blackstreet, that brings me back for a little while to the two years that were consumed by baseball, company executives public speaking education, wedding videos and that beautiful piece of paper that said I finally earned my DEGREE in broadcast communications. It truly says it's never too late to go back to school and finish. But I really do think the way that I did it, you probably should still be a younger older to do it that way.

The lyrics and the song really don't match what I was doing at the time, and yet maybe they kind of do too.. “Ain't nothing going on but the rent." Note to all women: whatever you choose to do or need to do just make sure you are the one who calls the shots. Don't ever put up with anyone standing in the way of you having the control over you.

As usual video services seemed to have really clamped down on the ability to embed videos. I can probably figure out what I need to do to make that happen, but when I'm still playing the Chicago body clock card, it's really not a project I have time to take on just now. If you’d like to see the video, click on the link below the photo.

https://youtu.be/3KL9mRus19o

Behind Dark Eyes: I’m A Graduate!

Happy June to everyone especially ME! I’m officially a Acme Feline Obedience School Class of 2014 grad! Woo Hoo! Cat treats for Carla!

Now I didn’t graduate a valecatorian like Kaline did but I did get the highest grade ever on my final school project! At home I’m known as “The Good One.” I took a tough situation and made it good for me. I mean what bad luck that Mommy and Daddy brought a kitten in the house when I was halfway through school. How does a 5-year old even get noticed let alone make the staff obey?? Well, you let the kitten be obnoxious, like kittens are, and let him pick fights with the queen. When they don’t see what you knock over because the other cats are louder, they’ll do anything for you! Total obedience and I didn’t have to work for it!

Now that school is done I can do some of the fun stuff that Kaline and Marco do but I hada study. They like to go on the porch because it’s warmer and kinda like going outside. I go sometimes but I don’t play and sleep out there like they do. It’s not really outside, but I get nervous and scared they’ll shut the door. I don’t really remember why it scares me, but I like being inside with Mommy and Daddy, not outside with a door between me and them. I’ll stay in and let them remind me I’m the good one with extra scritches!

I gotta go tell Mommy to put kibble in our bowls now.

Meow,
Carla

Where’s The Mug?/Monday Quiz

Indianapolis Indians

Photo NOT in Indiana

I’ll give you a hint; David and I went on our second date to see the Indianapolis Indians at the Mud Hens. It was a school day game and this is where he went after the date.

The plan had been to do the mug I bought yesterday at the Indianapolis Indians game and tell about the game and the whole long weekend in Indianapolis, but the mug is still in David’s car. He sent me a picture of it from his phone this morning.

 Honors cords on both of them!

This was such a huge week! Notice the picture of me with my graduated nieces; Tori and Rina BOTH graduated with honors cords, something I just missed when I graduated, and I was beyond proud! We got in later than panned and the girls had already left with their grandparents to the Convention Center where the commencement ceremonies were. I didn’t see them until after the ceremony. We were all gathered waiting for them and when they came out they rushed in with hugs and hellos. Then it was picture time with everyone. When they were both standing in front of me, I grabbed the cords in both hands and held them up to them and said, “THIS is what makes me SO proud; I just missed having them. You both topped me!” I couldn’t hide the cracking in my voice.

They both told me separately that it meant a lot to them that I cried. I was told that I used the word proud right because I wasn’t just proud because they graduated. I was proud because of what those cords mean. They both worked hard to earn them and I heard many comments over the last few years about how much work and frustration the AP classes were, how much it wasn’t worth it, how it was killing their GPAs. But they both fought hard and protected those GPAs; totally worth it!

Now I can tell you about the big project I mentioned at the beginning of the year. Friends who know me in the scrapbook forums have seen the pages and now they are finished projects. I started working on books for the girls for graduation/18th Birthday girls in January 2008. I presented the finished books, one custom made for each of them with some pages the same and lots of them unique to them. They both loved the books, but they didn’t cry. They looked through them, but planned to read them when they were alone. Uh huh!

Before they opened the memory books, I gave them each their own copy of The Seven Habits of Hghly Effective People. That is a book they grew up knowing because I used it a lot and quoted it when we worked on projects; “Begin with the end in mind,” “Sharpen the saw” and always having a backup plan were a big part of my habits for effective Aunting! It was also a source of valuable tools for critical thinking and “big picture” decision making. Tori recognized the book right away as the book they were “raised on” and Rina thinks maybe it would be a good book to read before college. And here I was didn’t sign the books in case they didn’t want to read them so they could sell them for part of a text book.


Monday Mug Shot

Indianapolis Indians

My Sweeties are off to college in the fall! It’s not like I saw them all that much during the school year after they moved to Indianapolis, but occasionally they all went to Michigan on a weekend and there won’t be those anymore. But I do have bait to get them to visit me every now and then; I have Ya Halla, the Middle Eastern restaurant we all love in Toledo.

But yesterday was the day for kidnapping them, probably for the last time it would be kidnapping. The next time we spend a day together without their Dad around, it will probably just be adults getting together for coffee.

I had asked the girls before we left the Open House Saturday if they wanted to go to the game with David and me on Sunday. They were both quite enthusiastic with their “yes.” We picked them up at 11:30 for a 1:15 game. We dropped off luggage form the back seat to make room for the girls to switch it back before we went home. When we got to the park, early, as we walked in we were happily surprised to find out it was bobblehead give away day and we were early enough to get them! The Indians are the Pirates’ AAA team and we all got an Andrew McCutchen bobblehead, very cool. McCutchen is my favorite MLB player to hate. Okay, maybe hate is strong; I think he’s an awesome player, this coming from watching him beat up on the Reds and this year the Tigers in Interleague play. So the McCutchen bobblehead will go nicely next to Mike Piazza in our living room.

After getting the bobbleheads, we were then handed Chili’s bingo cards. The bingo cards were very cool! Each card had the free space and 24 possible things that could happen during the game. Tori and Rina both had “Pitch hits batter” on one of their spaces, but Tori was most vocal with “Aw, come on hit somebody!” The cards are actually pretty cool because it really makes you focus on the game to try and check all the boxes. In the end none of us got all of the spaces filled, but the “combined 20 hits” and even “total runs 8 or more” got checked off as the Indians beat the Syracuse Chiefs by a score of 14-6 with 19 hits for the home team and 10 hits for the Chiefs. If you like high-scoring games, that was one to see. Since there were so many high hit and run numbers on our cards, the high score was a good thing for sure!

The girls enjoyed a bit of their childhood, eating their way through the game. Tori proclaimed teat ballpark food has always been the best and she and Rina were both ready for Dippin Dots late in the game. All right, on the Dippin Dots, all four of us were ready! After the game we went to Chili’s with the coupons from the bingo cards, except that we didn’t order the things in the coupons. Still, eating at Chili’s was a thank you for the fun bingo game cards.

Tori posted from the game on Facebook that it was a great time and Rina said it was the “best day in a long time.” And no schmoozing; they had their graduation cards but hadn’t opened them yet at the time! David and I agreed that we were glad the day turned out just as it did! I don’t care if I’m biased; they truly are incredible young women. Onward and upward, girls!

1. Finish this sentence - The first thing I do in the morning is...

Take meds/vitamins


2. What is your favorite kind of pie?

Depends on my mood; Chocolate silk or Key Lime, t I’ll never turn down a nice ice cream pie.


3. Do you have pets? 

No, but Kaline and Carla do; they call them Mommy and Daddy.

4. What is your favorite chair in your house?

I want to someday get a “World Series chair;” one I can sprawl in with my knees draped over the side. Right now, there is no favorite chair.


And don't forget to add a 5th Question on your own blog so we can answer as we hop around!

Was your high school graduation in May or June?

I graduated in January, but the commencement ceremony for our class was in June.

My Grandfather Was a Very Smart Man, Really!

Sn** - YUCK!

David wondered this morning if we weren’t in for our first appreciable snowfall of this winter today. I said “Shuh!” I always shush him when he uses language like that. I have a thick skin. I can handle hearing profanity without it burning my ears. But I find that four-letter-“s”-word beyond offensive. They use it on TV, I mute it and ignore it when it’s written and I still see it on the ground outside, practically sideways when the wind gusts. –Sigh- it brings other 4-letter-words to mind.

“Dan the Bug Man” as he calls himself with a chuckle, just left. He was in to do our bi-monthly anti-bug update. Orkin sprays around the house and in the house to keep pests out. The biggest and most important things are that it doesn’t deter our outdoor friends from enjoying our oak tree and yard, the squirrels and chipmunks are safe and most important, there’s been a DRASTIC reduction of spiders in the house. Dan said there were just a few spiders in the basement today but no mice. That makes me happy and Kaline notsomuch. But she’d get bored with the mice if we had lots of them, right?

Dan made me happy when he asked how I was doing. I told him the meds I was on for my MS were doing well and I felt great. He said I don’t look as tired as last time he saw me and I look like I have lots of energy now. I love that it’s apparent to others, not just me. I told Dan to “be safe” as he was leaving because the sn** was picking up and he’d already mentioned slick roads and “bumper cars” on the highway this morning.


About the title. When I found this treasure I was excited to brag for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Papa’s Senior Year Report Card

It’s my grandfather’s high school report card from his senior year, 1940/41. He Went to high school in California, PA.

My grandfather was an incredibly intelligent man. He had an impeccable memory and wonderful logic. I was told that when he was in the Navy, he had to pass a sort of IQ test because the standard was higher for the Navy. I don’t really know all the details, but that he was in the Navy was a big deal at the time. I also always knew that Papa had fantastic grades all through school. Mom said that Papa was where the Mensa quality IQs came from, genetics.

I never doubted any of that. I always considered my Grandfather and my Mother the smartest people I knew. So I fully expected to see straight As, maybe a B in there since it was senior year. What I didn’t expect was this:

Huh? There were Bs and Cs!! One A final in science. Well, that one was okay, but how could this man, a genius in my eyes, have Cs, even a couple of Ds for card makings? Yes, I had a couple of Ds in freshman year. but that was freshman year, I wasn’t mature enough yet. This was his senior year!

Then, I looked at the “grade code.” Hmmm… It really was about the lessons and not the “self-esteem” then.

Papa’s average as a senior was pretty much a straight B. Only 15-27 students in 100 got a B. That A in science was something on 3-10 percent of students got. My high school grades were higher because I got the ”cost of living allowance.” A coke after school cost more for me too!

After realizing there was a huge grade adjustment, we don’t fail students now and we don’t have them do a grade over, we just give more As, I was pretty pleased with my Grandfather’s totals.

The other very cool thing about this treasure is on the back:

That’s my great-grandfather’s signature verifying that Papa’s parents indeed saw his report card. My grandfather was the baby of the family. I never got to meet my maternal-paternal great-grandfather. There’s something about things that are written or made by hand that is a very real connection to the past. My grandfather’s achievements and my great grandfather’s signature make this a very special treasure to me.


See more great vintage things at Suzanne’s blog, The Coloradolady!

More Hodge Podge

1.  A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be? 

Didn’t watch. Didn’t even know it was on. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever watched it.

Is it really still Miss and not Ms. America?

If I was in the “Ms. Middle Age Plus Size Disabled America” contest my talent would be either the handful of really funny jokes I’ve come up with over the years or as a motivational speaker. But really as stage talent, I’d have to do an over the top funny motivational speaker and it would be a gag, so, I guess any way you slice it, comedy.

2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?

I have 3 living houseplants.

The gorgeous and aromatic rosemary bush Sheri gave me at Christmas went from beautiful and great smelling plant through the holidays to should have looked it up online for care instructions dry and brown by the second week in January. The card says after the holidays it makes great potpourri and that’s what I’m going to do, but in order for it to live, it needed sunlight that it wasn’t getting in my kitchen.

We managed to kill off the Christmas Cactus I had and there was a peace lily that dried out. But our home is NOT a houseplant graveyard! I have the “pumpkin plant,” Kalanchoe in a pumpkin shaped pot and 2 baby rubber tree plants. Spire was named before I realized baby rubber tree plants grow out and down, not up. I grew her son, Sprout, in water until there were roots and then planted him. He was a broken branch from Spire a few years ago and I’m so proud that I was able to help her procreate. :)

3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?

I wad totally the speak up one! In a high school American literature class I was in, I freely debated with the teacher when we disagreed on an interpretation. When I raised my hand, everyone else put theirs down because they wanted to watch! I got my A and was asked “please don’t take one of my lit classes again.” Mom was proud – an instructor didn’t ask her not to take any of his classes after giving her an A until college.

4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests Chinese food?

I have a few that I really like, but Kung Pao Chicken is my favorite!

5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?

I’ve really never thought about definition a miracle. I’ll take the cop out on this one and say mere mortals aren't qualified to define or recognize miracles.

6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here.

“Everybody Wants To Be A Cat.” or “Bella Notte”

7. I should have _____________ yesterday.

Taken a Benadryl and vegged on the couch

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I just found out that, as an Amazon Prime customer, I can watch every single episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer streamed on my computer for free!! Where’s the popcorn?

Break Time

It’s lunch break before getting back to my case questions for this week. While I was using the other half of the capicola I bought yesterday at Sofo Foods, our Italian market and the best source for soup-making prosciutto ends in three states, well, the best source known between my Dad, Brother and me, I came up with the hypothetical company for my final paper. Remember that left brain/right brain stuff a couple weeks ago? I accept that I’m totally left brained. I was struggling with trying to figure out what I’d need to research and how the heck will I do it and how will I write 15 pages about setting up a service desk?? When I came up with a hypothetical company and why it needed a new service desk, BAM! What I’d need and where to look for information became clear in my head. I create just fine when there is a reason to create. I even have a layout in my head of what the service desk office will look like.

My Italian Soul Food
sweet capicola and sliced asiago on Italian

I also got really great news about that capicola sandwich. 2 ounces of capicola, an ounce of asiago and a 2 ounce Italian roll is well within my calorie and fat allowance for lunch and well within my Weight Watchers point allowance. Add a sliced bell pepper and some organic carrots and it was tasty, really tasty, and filling. Fat and calorie-wise I could have a capicola sandwich for lunch every day. Of course, the salt from lunch every day will have me in blood pressure trouble and while I love it, capicola and asiago are not cheap! Think I’ll stick to it as a treat!


Barn Charm

One more new meme this week, then I’m going to enjoy the ones I do and not add more. But this one is very me. I take photos of barns all the time when we railfan. Bluff Area Daily hosts Barn Charm. The blog is based in Missouri and Barn Charm welcomes a look at barns from all over! Pretty cool! So this week, I’m going to start with my very favorite local barn.

Perrysburg, Ohio

I took this one a few years ago, back when I could still walk out into the field by the barn to get this shot. It was to take a picture of the water tower, but I just love the barn! Maybe it’s because it’s green, or the composition with the water tower. Semesters when I have on-campus classes, I drive by this barn every class day.

Thanks for looking at my barn! To see more barns, click the Barn Charm icon!

Help a School Girl Out?

I’m taking a Customer Service/Service Desk class this semester. There have been a lot of group projects, which is a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy group projects and I’ve often done well on them. When I was fresh out of high school and in community college, my money fit better with community college than a university, group –projects were often me doing a lot of the work. That was partially because I was young and not experienced with taking a leadership role and delegating, but it was also part because many of the community college students, that were my age at the time, weren’t as much serious about their studies as they were not serious about the working world. Serious 18-year-old students were in a 4-year college. Yes, this is something Rina and Tori have heard about often. Still, I enjoyed the group projects, even if it was 2 or 3 classmates taking credit for work I did most of, we all got an A!

When I returned to finish my degree as an adult, in an accelerated program with a lot of other adults too, group projects and discussions got even better. I often ended up the group leader by election because I had some management experience by then and knew how to assess the strong points of the group members and delegate. We still got As, but the results were much better!

Now, I have group projects again only this time, it’s an online class! I posted on our class message board, inquiring how we were supposed to do the group projects, expecting to be told to do it via chat or email. We were instructed to work with friends and family! Eek!

It’s not all bad, really. I’ve learned in past jobs and various seminars that the best way to learn something new is to teach it to someone else. If you can explain a new concept in a way that someone who is unfamiliar with it can understand, then you truly have learned it. Fortunately, this is not the brain surgery class!

So, I’m asking anyone that has a couple of minutes that they can spare to be part of my group, if you could give your opinion on one or both topics, I’d really appreciate it!


Project 1

Discuss experiences using technology for help.

By technologies, I mean, a time when you’ve called a help desk or customer service and used a phone menu to route your call, filled out a web form to request assistance with a question, used a Company’s website for information (hyperlinks, FAQs etc.) or an instant message or chat with a service rep.

Choose one instance and tell me about it.

How do you feel about interacting with support technology either before or instead of speaking with an actual person?

Were there any positive things you recall from the experience?

Were there negatives from the experience?



Project 2

Situations that cause frustration or anger.

Here are some situations that can cause frustration or anger for customers that were discussed in this week’s reading: waiting a long time on hold, continued problems that resurface when they have already been fixed, perceive their complaint is not being taken seriously or that the service rep isn’t listening, a helplink on the company’s site is broken, a long wait to get into a help chat room, forms that don’t include the problem you’re having as a choice when you must check a button or box, forms that don’t give adequate space to describe a problem

What other situations have caused you frustration with customer service/help desk reps?

What are the top five situations that cause frustration for you as a customer?

What could a company do to make your number one frustration easier to deal with?



Thanks to everyone who can lend a helping hand on this!

A Little Bit of This – Spring 2011

Mom with Dave and me, Easter 1970

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there and to all of the Mom helpers. That photo is the one I have as my ID on Facebook right now. I saw a few people using their Mom’s photo as their profile photo for Mother's Day and I thought it was a neat idea for the holiday, so I used that one. It turns out that my photo was such a good idea that my brother snagged it for his profile photo. Now we look like twins, but as I posted on his page, we kinda look like twins in that photo! (But trust me, we really are 14 months apart!) It’s my Mom with my brother and me on Easter Sunday in 1970. I was almost 5 and Dave was 3-1/2. That’s a photo my Dad carried in his wallet for a long time. There is one that goes with it, Dad’s other wallet photo, of us with him on the same day. We were almost adults and we were still under 5 in Dad’s wallet. The staples in Mom’s wallet were a little more up-to-date. She always had the current school picture, then we got to be seniors forever, but the First Communion photos were always there too.

Today is the 8th Mother’s Day that I won’t be at a ball game with my Mom. “Take Mommy Out To The Ball Game” was our Mothers Day tradition. She loved carnations and that was one of the Mothers Day perks. Many ballparks give a carnation to every woman who comes to the game on Mother’s Day. Sometimes it was a Tigers game, sometimes a Minor League game. In 1996, the ball game was the day before when Heather and Tracy were with us in Philadelphia. We saw the Braves and Phillies after a rain delay the night before and the three of us treated Mom to lunch at Old Bookbinder’s before we left for the airport. When I wrote the tribute that was on her memorial website, I mentioned that she’d see Roberto Clemente, one of her heroes as a kid, play again at Heaven’s ballpark. For this year’s Mothers Day game, she’ll get to see Sparky Anderson manage one of the teams.


Speaking of Baseball…


A little tirade of questioning Dusty Baker - why, oh why, would he put Francisco Cordero in to pitch when they were only ONE run ahead in the ninth inning, I don’t care if they call him “closer," which by the way is the most OVERRATED position in baseball, Cordero is more accomplished at throwing a lead away when it really counts than he is at saving games. I listen to the commentators on Fox Sports talk about how closers seem to perform better with men on base. PLEASE! Any other reliever, we’d call that “not able to get the job done,” “Poor performance.” But for a closer, the ulcers for managers and fans are part of their, I don’t know, legend? YEESH! The first batter Cordero faced went yard and tied the game. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a tie does NOT close a game! Oh yeah, but he did close it in the ninth. The Cubs got another run in to beat, Cordero. It just sucks that the Reds and their fans have to take the hit for his inability to do his job. Yes, he has a bunch of saves, but when the game has been tough or the score has see-sawed or just if it’s not easy, Cordero is NOT the man you want on the mound in the ninth. I don’t care how much of a Reds ticket goes to pay his overpriced salary, I’d rather pay him to sit on the bench and record a win.

Okay, that rant ends. If you read it all, thank you for indulging me. It’s just that Cordero really irks me. Congratulations Cubbies on the victory, but we took it easy one you and gave you Cordero and his beach ball pitches in the ninth. You can thank us by not hitting today!

So after watching the sad ending to the Reds game, I tuned in to the Tigers game in the fourth inning. What better way to wipe my emotions clean of that nasty Cordero inning than Justin Verlander! He was phenomenal yesterday, the second no-hitter of his career and just inches shy of a perfect game! In the bottom of the eighth in Toronto, after facing and retiring 22 straight batters, he went to a full count and walked batter 23, then ended the eighth with a double play. So, he did only face 27 hitters, an almost perfect game!

Justin Verlander - 2nd career no-hitter yesterday!

It was very cool to watch the game. As David said when he got home yesterday, we usually only see the last batter or at most the last inning when a network games breaks into it as the no-hitter is completed. I loved watching the game and seeing the pitcher for one of my teams pitch the gem. Verlander is only the second Tiger in history to throw two no-nos and at 28 years old, he has time to do it again in his career. Can he do it? Could he throw five more and match Nolan Ryan’s record seven in his career? Yeah, no one can answer those questions yet, but it’s going to be exciting as a Tiger fan to find out!


School’s Out For Summer

Well, this semester was tough for me. Planning on the medical issues being much simpler, I took two classes. Even in the easier one, Web Imaging, which is basically Photoshop 5, I only got a B+. I say “only got a B” because it’s my first grade since returning to beef up my resume that wasn’t an A! I had some of straight-A semesters through high school, trade school and college, but I was never a 4.0 student when all was said and done. I am proud that my cumulative average has always been in the “A” range, but really, I’ve never been asked what my GPA in school was in a job interview, so in the greater scheme of things, a B, even if it was a C, doesn’t hurt anything but my ego, and even my ego is only slightly bruised.

But the ego bruising fades with some very glowing remarks and the full 250 points for my final project in Photoshop! For the final project, we were to create two original pieces using the tools and methods we’d learned in class. I created the first one to be an in-store promotional poster for home and garden departments in the fall for spring perennial bulbs planting. I used photos of my own flowers and the labels from the bulbs with one of Darlene Haughin’s papers from the Everyday Life collab.


For the second one, I used a paper from Darlene’s portion of On My Knees, we had to secure permission to use anything we didn’t create or photograph ourselves, and photos of my own cane and walker. Remember that I got the walker when I was in aquatic therapy because it took me a little to get my land legs back after getting out of the pool. I positioned this as a motivational poster and one that could be used in a co-op ad or public service ad for a nonprofit like Paralyzed Veterans of America or Special Olympics.


As I mentioned already, I currently have an Incomplete in my XML class, with three chapters and the final to catch up by the beginning of August, I want to redo some of the chapters before that so I have the language down moving forward. As I said before, my instructor is awesome, very compassionate and understanding. I want to excel on the portion of the class that’s left, not just for me, but as a way of saying thanks to him too!


Flowers!

The entire length of the house next to our drive is in bloom!

I’m having so much fun watching the flowers Kelly and I planted in October come up! That photo was taken May 4. The tulips are up now and the colors along the side of our house are just beautiful! But, after the tulips are done, that’s it! I planted spring flowers. I’m still new to this flowers thing! I’ve been doing some looking for summer blooming perennials and next I’ll look for fall blooming ones. I’d love to be able to have continuous blooming plants through to fall on the side.

Here are three I found that are right for the growing zone we’re in and I just think would be beautiful in the summer.

Gladiolas

We’ve had glads in the side bed all along, but they were dug up when our basement waterproofing was done and we didn’t get them back in the ground soon enough. I want to get some to plant now because I know they’ll grow there and David picked a Glad branch for me a couple times, when rain or wind knocked them down, and I had a glad branch on my desk at work. So, they have sentimental value too.

gaillardias

clematis

These two are one I found that I just think are so pretty! I want to get some each of the gaillardias and clematis. I love the colors and the sunburst of the gaillardias is just SO summer! Kelly did the planting while I was at school in October, but I know how she did it and I figure I can set out the bulbs in the driveway and just move a chair down to each section to do the planting. David said he’d help too. I’ll see about choosing fall flowers and maybe planting them all at the same time.


Okay, I’ll be back with more later!

So, The News

I’ve been a little swamped with life lately. School just ended for the semester and I’m taking the summer off. I was going to take one class, but I have some catch up work for the XML class and was granted another term to complete the class. My instructor for XML was VERY cool! This semester wasn’t what I’d planned at all, because the medical stuff didn’t go as I’d planned at all!

I haven’t blogged about it yet because I’ve been going over in my mind how I’d tell the tale. Then Kelly posted a travel query on Facebook and both Jeff and Jeanne extended the invitation to come to Atlanta. That meant it was time to tell everyone what’s going on with me. Well, that means I’ve found the words I needed. Anyway, I buckled down and really looked for them, and there they were!

Okay, first off, what I’m most concerned about is that the written word doesn’t have the inflection the spoken word does. I am not gloomy, sad or depressed. I hope the normal Nani optimism and smiles are clear in my writing. This is the main body of the letter I sent to friends on Facebook:

The plan at the beginning of the year was that I was getting an MRI of the lower back and then probably surgery. Rehab and all, I’d be good as new by Christmas. Well, the neurosurgeon had me do some tricks which I couldn’t do, like standing with my feet together. It was his opinion that, bad as my lower back is, it isn’t the problem. The lower back doesn’t screw up balance. I had an MRI on the upper spine and neck, looking for a pinched nerve. No pinched nerve. Then a CT Scan, looking for a benign, and the neurosurgeon specified benign, brain tumor. That was the worst for me. Benign or not, brain surgery was a scary thought. I even refrained from coloring my hair while going through testing, if you can imagine me giving up that vanity! I figured if they did have to do bran surgery, why pay to color it and then have it shaved off? Well, good news, it’s auburn again now. No tumor.

What the CT Scan did show was that my cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor function, is too small for my age. The neurosurgeon told me that there was no one in Toledo qualified to diagnose me and sent me to Cleveland Clinic. That’s the number four hospital, not in Ohio, but in the COUNTRY! Talk about a happy Leo ego! Best in the state, fourth best in the US, my brain is pretty important, huh? I met with a neurologist there who was awesome! He looked at my CT scan and MRIs with me and he pointed out exactly what I was seeing. Yep, my cerebellum is too small for the space it’s supposed to fill. He says the symptoms indicate a probable genetic condition and asked all kinds of questions about my family. Yanno, Mom had some balance issues and fell a few times, but she had the heart condition and diabetes so it fit together. Since the first of the year, I’ve been tested for just about everything, including a chest x-ray and EKG last week. My balance issues fit with nothing!

I also had a brain MRI last week. MRIs suck and I really am tired of those! I’ve also had more blood drawn in the last month…I look like a junkie with all the tracks! Anyway, I go back to Cleveland Clinic next month to follow up after the brain MRI and blood work. The doctor seems pretty positive that it’s genetic and he’s trying to narrow it down to exactly what it is, for me, what to call it. He has already brought up a special walker for neurological patients and use of the wheelchair. This is not life-shortening, but it is, unfortunately, life altering. Well, it’s way-of-life altering.

The cool part is that I can now blame my medical issues for being so long between jobs when I get back into the job hunt, plus I’ll have some new computer certifications. I’ll be fully qualified for a sit-down job, like telephone help desk or web design and my end of interview sale can be that they can meet a quota and I have the opportunity to make them know they made the best decision they could. Okay, the job hunt is probably going to be the beginning of 2013, when my diagnosis is official and my trips to Cleveland finished and when I'm finished with enough classes to take the certification tests.

Right now I’m working on getting used to things that won’t be changing and adjusting to them. I’m doing okay for the most part. But hey, go with me and we get good parking, guaranteed seats at most places and while that walking part of my brain appears to have shrunk, the thinking part is still working well for smiling, laughing, joking and in general the stuff I’ve always done. I may have to rent one of those scooters to go apple picking and I’ll have to learn how to dance in a wheelchair. :)

So, there is the current story in my world. It’s a new challenge, but it’s also a new opportunity to seize the rainbow behind the clouds that appears when I shine my sun on them. I’ll keep the Chronicles updated whenever it is that they can give my “thing” a name.

Don’t feel sorry for what I don’t have a choice about. Be inspired by what I am choosing to do about it.

Space Between Classes

My favorites so far - the stripey crocuses

I’m with Edna this morning. Today’s blog at Miss Edna’s Place is titled “One Just Can't Have Too Many Flowers!” So true! As much as I groan when I have to walk or go out right now, I do because, well, slow as the doctors may be, I refuse to give up and I always smile when I see the flowers! Mine are really starting to look nice and we have 2 neighbors that are home and garden enthusiasts that are always the first lawns to green up too! Ours starts to green after the first lawn treatment of the year. It’s not a competition, we all add beauty in our own ways, but with all the crocuses I have now, our house is always the first on the street to announce spring!

I’m uploading my assignments for Imaging class for this week. Having that done, I have no distractions to tackle the XML test. One test, 200 points, 3 problems! There’s too much going on right now. If I thought there’d be such a delay with the whole back issue, I’d have only taken one class. Recuperating in residential physical therapy would have given me much more school time than running around for all these extra tests and appointments. But, if I’d only taken one class, it would have been XML. So, I’d be stressed and distracted with the class I’m struggling with and I wouldn’t have gotten the latest and greatest Photoshop until fall. I like CS5! I think of it as my reward for dealing with everything else!

The XML exam is due Sunday afternoon. I like to have everything for school done on Saturday. I’ve always been that way. If I set my own deadline before the actual deadline, even if something comes up, I’m on time. That gives me 2-1/2 days to take the test with the only distractions being eating, normal stretch breaks and baseball.

The Reds are on at 12:35 for an afternoon game. I’m so “pinch-me” happy so far! The Reds are 5-0, wow, what a start! I was telling David last night that I know they won’t go 173-0…161 regular season games, 3 Division Series and 4 each for the National League Championship and the World Series. That would be crazy, but it would be cool, huh? Nah, in reality, it would be fun, but boring by September. It’s still fun to come out the gate winning. That’s something I haven’t had with one of my teams in a while.

What I’d really like to see right now, with another Reds win because I’m not tired of those at all yet, is a first Red Sox win! I have some dear friends and the man with whom I share a last name and address that are Red Sox fans. Boy, on paper, they have the talent to do better. I don’t know how Yankees fans do it, expecting to win all the time, but I’ve been there with the Reds, Tigers and even the Braes in the 80’s, cheering for a team that just couldn’t pull a win out of a hat with a rabbit and a wand. (Okay, that sounded better in my head than it does in type, but it’s silly enough to be worth publishing!) The thing is, it’s so early in the season, that the Red Sox have plenty of time to fix the start and go on to…lose to the Reds in October! --big innocent smile-- But, I’m still cheering for the Tigers in the AL, as I have done since 1968, when I discovered the wonders of baseball. That’s the Mom dances with toddler, BASEBALL GOOD story. But if it can’t be the Tigers, although it certainly can be right now, the Red Sox are choice number 2 – it was in my wedding vows!

Okay, my imaging assignments are done uploading and having everything turned in for the week for that class, it’s time for exam 2 in XML. Wish me well, wish the Reds and Tigers well and for Heaven’s sake, wish the Red Sox well today! I’ll try to stop by again later in between test problems.

Testing, Testing, Chapters ONE, TWO, three, four...

No mas, NO MAS!!!

(because it seems Mother Nature FORGOT her English!)

I’m going to spend the rest of today and probably tomorrow with my first XML test. I had been going over the review questions in the chapters and getting my recognition of the codes sharp expecting a multiple choice test. All of my online tests for every class have been multiple choice. We even have a bi-weekly review for Imaging that’s multiple choice, knowing the vocabulary and being able to recognize the instruction for using Photoshop CS5. I don’t think that’s silly at all. If I can do well on those reviews, I can intelligently discuss CS5 in a job interview. It’s a good real-life thing. I’ve had multiple choice reviews for online and on campus classes on the networking side too. Again, recognizing the terms and being able to use them is truly important.

Okay, with XML the nice thing about multiple choice is I can’t make the little mistakes in coding and I really do want to test my memory and recognition in XML too. Of course, wouldn’t you know it, the XML exam is three case studies and writing the code for them. Grumble, grumble. Yes, I need to be able to do this, even the chapter that drove me insane, perhaps especially that chapter, but in a cut and dry right or wrong subject, multiple choice would have been easier!

---SIGH--- But I have 3 case studies to do and then another one that’s worth 20 extra credit points. I WILL be doing that one too! Yes it’s open book and honestly, the one thing I really need to do is type carefully and check my work, once I’m sure I’m using the right syntax. I’ve got my corrections from my first assignments. I should be able to do this.

I’ve said over and over that as long as the grades are passing, the important thing is to pass the tests for certification, but, well, right now I’m a 4.0 and the grade that kills that is always the worst. I remember when I was finishing my bachelor’s degree. My purchasing class, one I didn’t need to take and never have used the information from, was my first B. What was most frustrating about that is I worked hard in all my classes and that one was a class I really didn’t enjoy. The other B I got was in a business class that kicked my butt, but I absolutely loved. The instructor was an auto exec and he was tough, but real-world. That B is probably the grade of which I’m the most proud. I worked hard for it and although not an A, it was still high-ranking in the class.

But I’m going to fight for the XML grades. It’s an intro class and it’s memorizing code and using logic to apply it. I’ll be putting that mindset to work the next couple days on those case studies! Then, no XML until after Spring Break. I need a week away from XML, really! After Spring Break I’ll jump into the next tutorial with a fresh brain and new vigor!

Other than my class woes, the insane weather has really been what there is to talk about. It warmed up, way up, for a few days. It melted all the icky snow and the grass was all showing with that shade of green that says it’s coming back to life. David even pointed out the first little wisp of a crocus in the flower bed on the side of the door! I wish I’d have been able to get out and balance well enough to photograph it. Right now, Nani takes pictures of things in front of her and above, if I’m sitting down, but standing and looking down, I start to wobble right away. Before I really had a chance to set up a lawn chair or ask David to take the photo for me, the sweet crocus sprig was gone. I don’t think anything happened to hurt it, I hope not, but the freezing rain, sleet then snow returned. All of our promise of early spring that the Groundhog foretold vanished in such a short time. See? I told you the Groundhog has bogus creds! His early spring is just mid-March, 6 weeks after Groundhog Day. It’s all the same prediction because he has as much of a idea as the Weather Channel! Stupid Groundhog.

But we do know at least one of the flowers we planted with Kelly took! I am SO ready for this white junk to melt away and let the sun shine, the trees bud and the flowers bloom again!

Okay, off to tackle that XML test! Wish me luck!

Happy Thoughts

From Spring 2008.

It makes me feel warm and happier!

When I awoke and started up the laptop that I fondly call Joey, named after the 2010 MVP when I got it in 2009, my Google homepage told me it was 8 degrees in Toledo. I overslept by about an hour, at could have been worse! At 7 am, I’m sure it was colder and still dark. But hey, at least it’s light outside at 8 am now, that’s a sign that spring is closer than the noisy wind would have me believe. Also a BIG sign of spring coming: The Tigers pitchers and catchers will report to Florida in 5 days and the Reds P&C will be in Arizona 3 days after that! Then, the crocuses will bloom and trees will bud and baseball and color will return to the world again!

--sigh-- I can’t wait!


My XML instructor is so cool! I was struggling on the edge of “can I still drop this class?” with the chapter last week. Well, no, I can’t drop the class. I need it for my certificate. SO I turned in the half and messed up part of the assignment I’d done. Expecting maybe a point out of the 20 for effort? I also told him that I just didn’t get it and was going to do the whole chapter over starting at page one and if I turned it in would he give feedback. I don’t expect credit for it. He wrote back giving me a week extension. Now yes, I have 2 chapters to do this week, but in going over the thorn in my foot chapter again, I’m already getting it a bit more. Sometimes going over it again, starting over, does a lot!


My last Physical Therapy session is Thursday. It actually coincides well with my date with the neurosurgeon for consultation next week. I am stronger, but not enough for the therapy I’ve had. I guess it kinda goes with the doc sending me to see a neurosurgeon after the MRI. The shoulder injury from the Turkey Soup Incident is doing much better though. One victory and one challenge moving me towards a different solution.

For now, and David always chuckles when he hears me say this, I need my coffee!

I Need a Break

Yeah, I know, “What? Already?” It’s just that 2011 has started off with so much, so fast!

Of course, there was the sad part, losing Kendal and then hearing about Tom on the same day. Well, you know I was a bit of a wreck. But, my faith is strong. I’ve had my personal periods of mourning, my alone time to meditate and accept. Kendal’s funeral was huge, as can be imagines for someone so young who fought so hard and inspired so many. I have experienced twice what I had long thought was the most gut-wrenching sight at a funeral, a pregnant woman crying. One carried the child of the man being laid to rest and was a good friend of mine, the other was Deanna just a few weeks before Tori and Rina were born at my Grandfather’s funeral. In both cases, my strength faded and the tears came freely. Greater than my own loss or feelings, was the pain of what the future would not have to hold.

I thought that was the most poignant example of human pain I’d ever witness until the night I was at Kendal’s viewing. At the end of the evening, a large group of her friends came two or three at a time and gathered by the casket, holding each other, heads bowed, some tears, some just holding on so tight. THAT was both beautiful and painful to watch. That show of love for Kendal and support for each other by her friends. The way it happened spontaneously. Teens are in their invincible years. When a disease can attack one of them, take her from her family and her own future, take her from her friends’ future, they are all robbed of the joy of those immortal years and forced to accept the sobering reality of mortality. I think that especially stings in me because I love teenagers. I worked with them many years at Omnicom. I think they deserve a few years of careful immortality.

I’m still reading my cousin’s posts on Team Kendal. Part to share in the celebration of her life and part to make sure he is doing okay. Love and courage are two things that grow when they are shared. Kendal derived strength from her parents and brother and gave it too. In reading the memorials on Kendal’s Facebook page, she shared that with her friends too. The family and her friends, in time, will all be okay. Guardian Angel Kendal says so!


Of course, everything good and bad all happens at once! School started the week of the funerals. This semester is all online classes, but I added to my class load, so I’m juggling and sorting files to get myself focused correctly. My XML class is assignments due every week and my Imaging class is two weeks of work due every two weeks. I have things pretty well organized now. I have to be honest, the imaging class is a little boring right now. The beginning of the Photoshop CS5 book reads like it was written for someone who’d never even seen an Adobe interface before. If I had bought the software and the book to help me learn the new tricks since Photoshop CS, the most recent one I have on my Mac, I’d have skipped the first few chapters and gotten right in to the good stuff. ::sigh:: But as a student I have to read the chapters, know the vocabulary and do the exercises. My fellows scrapbookers will chuckle at the idea of reading in a book, “layers are a very powerful tool” The thing is that was peeking a couple chapters ahead. I just finished “how to open and save a file!” I need this class for the web design certificate. But I hope the first test is multiple choice so I don’t have to come up with words that don’t start off, “what worked in 1997 and still does today..." hehe

The XML class is pretty cool, all new stuff, well, newish, different code, but similar in many ways to HTML. I just like writing code and opening it a browser to see a cool page. It’s like unwrapping and unveiling a present.

I’m doing better and better in therapy, but sorer and sorer outside of therapy. I try, I really try, to NOT take the super-charged ibuprofen prescription I have, but it doesn’t do any good. I do the therapy stretching exercises at home, they actually can be hard to get started, but then they feel so good! Still, I can’t function well without the anti-inflammatory effect of the ibuprofen and forget about trying to sleep without it. I hate that, feeling like a junkie, gotta have my drugs! Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be going to the hospital for an MRI on my back. About time, huh? It’s really a toss-up with me whether I dislike drugs or health insurance companies more. We’ll see what happens after the MRI If the insurance company okays fixing me, the drugs are worse. The insurance company might even be deemed good if they okay surgery or whatever it takes to make me okay. I don’t know if one can get addicted to ibuprofen, but I’m fearing addiction because it’s something I’ve had to take every day for the last 6 weeks. Too much!

Okay, let’s finish this blog off on a happier note, shall we? I’ve been working hard on scrapbook pages, Lots of templates used, even one quick page. Yes, I do Darlene’s Clutter It challenge at The Studio every month and I have used a couple clutter-it kits, but this one was a freebie page:

Credits: QP by Pixiepics & Scraps, using Snow Princess by Rainamoon Scraps

(Click name in credits to go to blog for QP)

Isn’t it cool? I seldom use quick pages and I always doctor them up. But this one just struck me as perfect for these photos and the only thing I added to the layout was journaling. I had originally done a layout for these photos at the Monday Night Chat with Ambowife at The Studio. It was the “paper-only” layout. I liked my layout from chat, but Pixiepics’ quick page was just better. It was there for me to find. Needed to find it!

I am getting a couple or three done a day. I’ll finish up Kelly’s visit in early October tonight. Then 7 more to finish the month. Yes, I know. Today is January 20. I hope to have all my Imaging homework done by tomorrow night. I’ll be huffing and puffing, but I still think I can get 2010 done by the end of the month.

Okay, now back to school. I’m learning how to find a file using the browse button!

Nani! Where Ya Been??

David pointed out that it’s been over a month since I’ve blogged. He usually just mentions it to me if Kaline’s blog is behind, but it’s very odd that I let The Chronicles of Nani rest almost a month. Non-blogging life has been really full.

First off, school is really stressing me. I just taking Intro to Security this semester, but it’s making me crazy! I don’t get it. That’s an uncomfortable place for me. I’m trying to understand the concepts, but it’s only comng to me in little packets. It’s like my braincompu9ter has a virus – vital parts of the information aren’t getting to me!

Now, being able to use what I’m studying as a metaphor should make me feel a little better, but I just hate being muddled and confused! The part 6that really sucks is that I got my grade for the midterm, which is a huge part of the final grade. I got 210 out of 200 points, an A with extra points and it was an essay test. What’s frustrating is that I could manage that, but I couldn’t talk my way out of a paper bag in an interview! I’m setting myself up to be a lifetime Dean’s List student who can’t get a job!

Next semester, I’m taking a couple of web developing classes and a break from the technical stuff. As much as I want to move into the more lucrative technical area, I may be stuck in the creative area. I’m at least going to have enough of the technical creative knowledge to secure something above minimum wage!

I had a wonderful long weekend at the beginning of the month! Kelly, my platonic soulmate, who lives in Missouri, came to visit while David was on fall vacation. Kel and I keep in touch through email, Facebook and long phone calls, but we don’t see each other nearly enough, not like when we were in the same state! We hadn’t seen each other in the flesh since my 40^th birthday! I probably would have had blog-time then, but it was totally girl-time!

Kelly, Scotty and Nani

We’re both Michigan natives, so a chunk of Kel’s visit was visiting in Michigan. We met up with Scotty on Friday. The first thing we did was get some balloons. We’d planned to do a balloon release for John as soon as we were all three together. It was a gorgeous and clear day without too much wind, so the balloons were visible for a long time as they sailed up and out of site. That contemplative time between release and the disappearance from site is the most emotional part of the balloon release. The weather giving us a long time was a blessing.

John's Balloons

After lunch, we went apple picking. Well, okay, Scotty and Kelly went apple picking. I sat at a picnic table at the cider mill with my Kindle. I start therapy for the disc problem in my back tomorrow and the doctor tells me I can be apple picking again by next year. That’s a good goal to work towards!

My Dad returned from his vacation on Saturday and invited us to dinner at his place on Sunday. We went up to Frankenmuth, to Bronner’s, the Christmas Wonderland store, in the morning. Kelly had been all over Frankenmuth, but never to Bronner’s and I hadn’t been to Bronner’s since Mom died. It was a nice morning! Kelly bought some stuff to take home as souvenirs/Christmas gifts and I found one gift for later and one for now. I brought David back a beautiful Siamese cat ornament and when I told him on the phone I got something for him when he got home, I gave the clue “meow,” he guessed, “You got me a Siamese cat ornament!”

After Bronner’s, we went to Pop’s. He made grilled pork and chicken kebobs with an assortment of grilled veggies and Italian bread. After dinner. We sat and talked for a while, reminiscing and catching up. We had done a portrait with Mom on one of Kelly’s visits home back in, I think 2002, a close up of our faces, Kelly and I both have framed copies. Kelly wanted one with Pop too, so we took advantage of the auto time and screen that flips for self-portraits and got that shot. Now next time I’m in Missouri, I want one with her Dad too!

Our six, too short, days ended on Tuesday. Kelly does the Children’s Church on Wednesday nights and while her Dad did her adult Bible class on Monday, he wanted nothing to do with the 12-year olds! We had breakfast at iHop and then double checked Kelly’s car packing before a long, long hug goodbye. I missed her by Tuesday afternoon!

I’ll write some more SOON! (and I mean it!)

Final Exam Happy Dance

YAY ME!! I got an “A” on my final for my HTML class. If I totally bombed and missed half the requirements on my project, which I didn’t, I’ll still pass with a high “C.” Now, my main objective in school is to pass my classes, because the bottom line is that perspective employers won’t care what my grades are or where I learned stuff, just did I pass the certification test. Still, I’ve always liked educational life on the Dean’s List! So, yeah, I do know that as long as I get 76% or more on that project, I’ll get my “A.” The last time I had to work as hard as I have in this class, I did NOT get the “A.” I still think that one was one of the best classes I took for my undergrad degree. But I’m almost a decade and a half older now. I want the “A.” **smiles**

If you’d like to see my website, an ad for Journal Camp, it’s posted here: Journal Camp Project. It was never anything more than a few files and code written in notepad! I can see places where I know I lost points because of little things. Every page has a home button at the bottom, but not at the top, I have two extra files in the folder that shouldn’t be there. But considering it’s my first code-only web page, I think I did okay!

Journal Camp is going really well! If you haven’t checked it out, there are links to some really nice benchmark layouts and some very good reasons that “campers” want to journal more or better. I’ve also added the link to the pdf file to the top of the post. That’s where the pdf link will be for the 5 tutorial weeks. This week, everyone who left a comment will get the posting bonus, The Look of Love Quick Pages by Digitalegacies Designs. Starting next week there will be more layouts because a layout will be required to get the prizes!

Oh yeah, if you left a comment without an email, you need to email me to let me know your address so I can send your bonus!

So, today is my scrappin’ journal campin’ day. That means my plans are to scrap a few pages and get the posts ready for the rest of Journal Camp. I figure that’s more like the weekend starts now. I need to make a store run, out of hair conditioner, but it’s a beautiful and sunny, albeit windy, day. The Camaro is in the garage and blocked in and it’s definitely a Camaro day. I’ll have to decide later if I feel like playing musical cars or if I’ll take the Buick for a short run. I’ll think about that for the afternoon.

For now, I’m going to set about enjoying this sunny day and the freedom, from school stuff anyway, I have until June, when I start my dedicated prep for the Network+!

Happy iNSD eve!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Stock photo from laptop

Hi there! I’m not lost, just kinda buried under my final project for my XHTML class! I’m doing a page for Journal Camp. It’s all dolled up to follow the requirements for the project, but I am a creative type that has to be creating for a purpose. It takes a lot longer to “make something up” for a subject than it does to create for something that already exists, so Journal Camp it is! The rough draft and copy is done, now I need to put the code in to, hopefully if done right, go from a text document to a web page! That’s kinds like magic. It’s fun!

Last weekend, my brother, Dave and I took our spouses back up to grandma’s house to work on the cleaning out. I was, not even kidding, shredding tax documents from 1958! Grandma and Papa moved there in 1982. You’re supposed to keep tax documents for 7 years. They didn’t even need to bring 1958 tax forms with them from Detroit!

We went up Friday night and left Monday morning so we’d have 2 full cleaning days. We really have made a good dent. I came home with a car trunk full of more old photos in antique frames. After I get a staging area cleared here, I have a major identifying and scanning project to work on. I started a family tree at ancestry.com and I’m filling in blanks and notes as I can put them together from the photos and notes I have. It is a huge task, but it’s kinda fun too. Ultimately, there will be 2 sets of disks with copies of everything, one for Dave and one for me. They can be copied from there, but initially everything will be duplicated for storing. I now have all the photos from both sets of grandparents, so I’m going to archive both sides of the family. Whew! Big project!

I’ll try to make some time to get the best of Monday Mug Shot up this afternoon for this week. I’m just a little back-logged right now! But I’ll get it all together, I always do!

The pre-camp meeting for Journal Camp is a week from tomorrow! How exciting!! The post for that week is ready; just have to do a little uploading. I have one more layout I’m working on that goes with week one. I want to remain ahead on this! You can see that I put up the sponsors list on the right side bar. The links are all working, I just need to get the blinkie locations up! I have 12 fabulous designers who have agreed to provide the random prizes for Journal Camp! I’m trying to use sponsor kits for the remaining layouts for examples to show off a little bit of what you might win.

Okay, now I have to get back to switching a laundry load, then working on my code for school!

Early

It’s just past midnight and this IS a Friday blog. So, the post tiled “Early” starts early!

I did my catch-up scrapbook page early today, er yesterday. I am complete in 2007 up to September and I’ve imported the last folders for that year onto the laptop. I had already done the Christmas folders, so I have October and November, but that includes a huge folder for our Montana trip! Early Thursday I “fixed” two layouts and added a second page to one. Remember, I started digi-scrapping in late summer 2007 and I was excited to use some of my fabulous Montana photos for a couple of challenges. At that time I was paper scrapping in 8 ½ x 11 too.

Here was the original of the first layout I did. I don’t remember the designer for the paper and ribbon I used 2 ½ years ago. Sorry!

Original 2007 layout

It really only took a few moments this morning to make it a square layout, like I do now, and oh, yeah, shadows! I used the same ribbon on the psd file to make a page two with additional photos from the same day and area.

Here is the new page 1:

And here is page 2!

I like the 2010 version of 2007 better than the original 2007 version!


I got my coffee photo for today early yesterday morning too. David had an early meeting and since I was awake anyway, I stayed that way. It gave me some extra time to scrap a little before school.

I wasn’t sloughing off either! I got back to the books by ten and finished up my case study. Done with the assignment due next Wednesday…early!

It was easy to do that this week. I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I learned how to make drop down menus. I don’t know why, but I was just tickled pink when I coded in the drop down menu for a credit card in a form and hit refresh on my browser to reveal “select a card” and a drop down menu of the four major cards. It was just cool!

Like I said, I don’t know why that particular thing is cool to me, it just is. It made me giddy.

Look what I can do now!

Nani is...

Finish this sentence smart cool wonderful pretty interesting incredibly sweet everything said here and more obviously attention-starved

Don’t worry. I’m not keeping track of anyone’s answers. I don’t even have it coded to go anywhere. It just makes me silly giggly that I can do it!

There’s another test next and then one last chapter and our project before the final. I’m pretty excited about the project. I get to choose the subject, as long as I have the required elements, kinda like internet figure skating. But, I’m NOT grabbing onto the blade of my cyber-skate and sailing around like a mobile peeing dog!

Okay, that’s it for the early morning…now I’m calling it a late night!