Jealousy

Jealousy is an ugly thing. It can also be a crushing thing. It crushes your spirit. It elicits fear. It can make you think ugly thoughts about people.

There is no one particular person that I am jealous of at the moment, but my husband keeps coming to mind. His professional career is really starting to take off. I am so unbelievably proud of him and I will continue to support him every step of the way, but I have to wonder. Why can't that be me?

I want my name to be out there. I want to be known for what I do. I want people to come to me for advice and direction.

I am a mom. I am very proud to be a mom and I love my children dearly. If someone has a parenting question, I will do my best to answer them. But there is more to me than just a mom.

Part of my feelings stem from blogging. You get what you give and while I am making an effort to give, I do have a life outside the computer. Those who are well known around the blogosphere and other social network sites have put a lot of time into getting their name out there. I respect that and they should be proud. I am trying to follow suit, but it is not easy. And I am not a patient person. Patience is a virtue I have yet to learn.

Blogging is not the only aspect of my life that brings out the jealous side of me. I am a crafter. Mostly crochet. I put a lot of work into what I create. A Lot! Someday I would love to be successful at selling what I create. I could go the Etsy route, but that can be a pain in the ass. I make things, I pay to post pictures of my creations, I promote, and wait. If nothing happens, I pay and promote again. I know it's not expensive, but how many time do I have to post before to really starts to feel like I'm losing money and it's no longer worth the effort?


When people ask what I do, I want to say something other than a SAHM. I am very thankful that I am able to be a SAHM, but I also want something that is just me. Something that I can showcase to the world and hope to get more than a "Good job" before they walk away.


I realize this sounds like just another woe is me post, and I suppose that it is. But I do have a plan. I am going to carve out some time for just me.

My midgets start back at school next week (thank god!). I have some major work to do on organizing this house (help!). Some of my time will also be spent volunteering at the school (wine, please?). In between that, I am going to get crafty and find a way to promote myself. I know it will take time, and I need to constantly remind myself of that, but I am going to find a way to make a go of this crafting thing that I am so passionate about.

How to mobilize your blog

The number of people with Smart phones is on the rise. I am one of those people. I still primarily use my computer for internet browsing, but it's nice to have the ability to also use it on my phone.

This especially came in handy last week. Our internet has been, to put it nicely, shitty.

Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter are fun, but not necessities. I love you all, but like you, I do have a life in the real world. I admit it was nice to be unplugged, but I typed out a post Tuesday night that needed linked Wednesday morning. Wednesday is when our internet went out. It took some time to figure out from my phone, but I finally got my Pour Your Heart post linked on Shell's blog.

While I was on Shell's blog from my phone, I realized her blog has a mobile view. I have been trying to figure this out forever, so I finally asked Shell how she did. She sent me a link, but I still couldn't figure it out. I found a similar post on Blogger in Draft, and after reading through the comments, I figured it out.


How to Mobilize Your Blog

These instructions are for Blogger users.

First you should know there are 2 websites you can access your blog from. I didn't realize this and that's why I had problems.


http://www.blogger.com and http://draft.blogger.com


You want to go to http://draft.blogger.com and log-in from there. You have the option to use this as your default dashboard, but it's not necessary.


In order to activate mobile templates, simply go to Dashboard > Settings > Email & Mobile tab, enable the mobile template option and then save settings.

Here is a preview of what your mobile template will look like.

You will see snippets of your most recent posts. Tapping the arrow next to the post will redirect you to the entire post, where you can finish reading and comment. Really puts the pressure on to make sure your first few sentences really draw your readers in, doesn't it?

Gratitude. Or not

I was all prepared to write a gratitude post. But I'm not really sure I'm in the mood for it now.


If there's one thing I've learned it's that people, myself included, love to talk about the weather. This especially holds true when snow is involved. When it is snowing somewhere, I see all kinds of tweets and Facebook statuses about it. I am very thankful that my Facebook/Twitter friends talk about the snow. Why, you ask? Most of you live to the west of me. Your updates give me a heads up as to what's to come my way. I like being prepared.

Monday night I noticed a few updates about snow starting to fall or parents getting phone calls that school has already been cancelled. This led me to check out the forecast for me. Once my computer decides to cooperate and the Weather Channel's page loads, I see a bright orange message plastered on the top of the page.

That right there does not make me happy!

I clicked and it turns out that this possible storm could hit Tuesday, going into Wednesday and give us up to 6 inches of snow. Now compared to Snowmageddon of last February, 6 inches is nothing. It's when it could hit that could screw me. And probably will.

I do NOT want a repeat of this

So to all my Facebook and Twitter friends out there, thanks for the heads up. To Mother Nature, screw you! Just because I finally have snow boots does not mean I actually want to use them in the snow.

Oh, my eyes! Costume fail!

Yesterday started off like most days for me. I took the husband to work, took the midgets to school, and returned home. Like most mornings, I turn on the computer - check my email, read a few blogs, and get on Facebook.

I'm on Facebook, scrolling through my news feed when suddenly...

My eyes! Oh god, my eyes!!

I have never wanted to un-see something so bad in my life.

Let me back up a bit so I can explain something. Say what you will, but I have never been one to watch porn. I honestly have no desire to see another man's goods. My own husband? That's another story. That's what I married him for! Well, that and he's awesome. Other men? They can keep their stuff to themselves, thank you very much!


How is this related to Facebook, you ask? At this point I'm sure you have an idea, but I'll tell you anyway.

There's this guy. We went to school together, from the elementary level up. We were kind of friends when we were young, but as high school came around, we took different paths. I have no idea why he friend requested me on Facebook, but whatever. I accepted. Apparently I have a knack for accepting people when I shouldn't.

In the past, his profile picture has been him laying up in a hospital bed after a night of partying too much. He was nothing short of fucked up in this picture. Personally, I don't think that is something a 30+ year old should be proud of, but whatever.


Anyway, back to scrolling through my news feed. I get maybe halfway down the page when I see that this guy and a few other people have changed their profile pictures. The picture of this guy was small, so dumbass me felt the need to click on it. He was decked out in Halloween gear and I like to see other people's costumes.

Do you remember all the Brett Favre accusations? Not the flirting and similar douchbaggery, but the pictures he was accused of sending out. Yep, that was this guy's costume! From the waist up? A Vikings shirt. From the waist down? Nothing but a pair of panty hose! They were nude in color, and basically, so was he!

Oh god, my eyes!!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the human race as a whole is intelligent, individuals? Not so much!

The human race

Many of these individuals can be found on Facebook.

Don't try to deny it! You know exactly who I'm talking about.


For example, there's the one friend I have who wants to sew her ass together because her gas pains are killing her.

Did the world really need to know that? Come on now! That kind of stuff should be between you and your doctor, not your URL friends.

No, I have never met this woman, but I already know more about her than I care to, thank you very much!



Moving on. URL friends are ones you can sometimes avoid when they post embarrassing or just plain stupid shit. It's the IRL life ones you have to worry about. Some day, when you least expect it you will run in to them. Thus coming to the crossroads of do you correct their mistake if they bring it up or simply play along with their stupidity?

Last Sunday my baby bro turned 21. That right there may have been the hardest thing I have ever had to type!

AnyIfeelold, as with most people I wished him a happy birthday. Some of my friends also did the same. After all, most of them watched him grow up.

Before I go any further, let me just clue you in on my age. I am 10 years older than my brother. Simple math will tell you that I was 10 when he was born.


I posted something on my wall about not wanting to admit that my brother is now of legal drinking age. Not that he drinks, but that's irrelevant. What the hell was my friend thinking when she replied with this...

oh-my-wow! I remember when he was born!!! we were twelve years old!!! :o)

This is the friend who is trying to get a job as a teacher. Lord help our education system if she does!

How I got in the news

I was in the news!

And not for something bad! Or not something I did that was bad.

Like the other day when...



Wait a minute! You can't get me to spill all the beans! This isn't about what I may or may not have done!

It's about this...



That's a little snippet from the article. If you want to see the whole article, complete with a video, to prove I'm not bullshitting you, GO HERE.

Just don't blow my cover and start giving out all my personal info, k?

Public transportation has had some drastic cuts lately. It makes me thankful that I can stay at home with the midgets. Especially now that they're in school. Peace and quiet is truly a blessing!

When I was working, that public transportation is what got me to and from my job. It was absolutely necessary for me to work back then and if those bus routes were cut a few years ago, we would have been up shit creek without a paddle!

So how did I get in the news in the first place? While I was waiting for something I needed to finish drying in the dryer, I decided to do some Facebooking. One of the local news stations is on Facebook like white on rice! One of their recent status updates asked how these recent route cuts are effecting people. They asked that replies be emailed to the station.

I just had to give my 2 cents. If I had to take a bus anywhere now, it would be damn near impossible. But my main reason for emailing was to explain that I see a lot of people I used to ride with waiting at different stops. And cutting these routes overcrowds the buses even more than they already were in the first place.

So I emailed the station. Shortly after I receive a reply asking if I would be interested in a brief interview. After a few back and forth messages and a few phone calls, the news reporter will stop by my house around 2:15.

After the shock of getting myself in the news to begin with, the panic set in. I did a quick clean up in the living room in case he wanted to come in. Thank god for Febreeze and closets! And he could go no further than that room! Then I realized I was still in my sweat pants, hair pulled up in a sloppy mess, and no make-up. I refused to be one of *those* people on the news that looked like they just came from the pages of People of WalMart!

I spent 45 minutes getting myself and the living room prettied up only to have the reporter and his camera man here for 10 minutes. But it was worth it to see myself on tv!