Friday, August 31, 2007

I need a bed under my desk

I had an early closing this morning, so I was up earlier (way) than usual. I stayed up late finishing my gift to my buyers, which I didn't end up giving them. I am working on 5.5 hours of sleep, which means I feel like crap. I will feel better after I have lunch with Duane today.

I have messed around with my website today and have concluded that I will be ending my contract with this company. The customer support is non-existent. There was a class on the websites back in April while I was gone, but there was no hard copy information on the class. You cannot edit the template at all. There is an "easy" editor, which is buggy (so you have to go in and change the code anyway). You can never get a picture to upload. I like our company website (which is done by these guys), but for $50/month the individual websites suck.

I could write my own website (although I need to seriously brush up on my coding skills), but I would need to do some research on setting up the MLS search function (anyone know anything about IDX function?)

I will definitely take all the comments into consideration on the new site, and I will change the profile section for now.

BTW, I found the receipt for the broken MP3 player the day AFTER the warranty expired. It seems I was really smart and put the receipt in the box. Duane doesn't seem to care, but it was a $200 MP3 player.

At least the weather is beautiful!!

Sew, sew, sew your boat

I managed to put together a baby blanket, but I still have 2 more to do. Plus some cloth diaper wipes I have been planning on getting together for 2 weeks now.

One of my goals this weekend is to make some onesies and t-shirts. I need items to take pictures of for my application for the craft show. The neatest ideas come to me at weird times. I wish I had a device where I could mentally transfer my thoughts. It is difficult to write things down while you are in the shower, driving, or drifting off to sleep.

I bought some probiotic pills to start taking. My stomach has not been right for a least a few weeks now, no matter what I eat. One of my first jobs involved a lot of research on probiotic bacteria. It is nice to know that something I did had an impact. I should remind myself of that when I am feeling down.

I am going to go work on my website now, more witty content later.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Help Me Out

I could use some help from all you readers out there. I have a website for work and I could use comments/suggestions/criticism on it. I pay a monthly fee for it and I need to make sure it works effectively.

www.careypiersonc21.com

Also, the majority of hits I get are from people using the house search function. I could require a login to use this function, but I am afraid that people will go elsewhere instead of creating a login id. Anyone have any thoughts on that?

The internet is painfully slow at the office today, so I may check out early. I have some shopping to do! (well actually I need new sheers for the living room window because it is 14 feet wide and right now everyone can see right in!)

Weird feeling

I had this weird feeling when I came into work today and was talking to one of my friends here. It bothered me because I couldn't figure it out and I felt like I was being too sensitive.

I think I figured it out. They had been talking about me before I got there. Or I am paranoid. I do definitely get a weird vibe when I haven't been into the office for a few days. Like maybe a, gee look who decided to show up today, vibe.

Or I am crazy.

Duane's cool MP3 player (well cool before this point) has crapped out. Apparantly this is very common for this model. If you are within the 1 year warranty period, they give you a new one. If not, oh well sucks to be you. I stayed up too late last night researching this and then looking for the receipt. I keep every other important receipt, but I can't find this one!

The laptop has also stopped recognizing that the battery is plugged into it. WTF?

Monday, August 27, 2007

The beat goes on.....

I have lots to report on and lots to say, but I have a headache right now. I will be in the office all day tomorrow, so I will have time to write.

I am thinking of applying to have a table at a local craft show. It is a small venue and wouldn't be too overwhelming. It makes me nervous just thinking about it!

Monday, August 20, 2007

New

I added a new picture and a new blog link today. Ikea Hacker is an awesome blog which shows how creative people can be with items from IKEA. The new picture is something to make me laugh on this gloomy day!

designstar

Designstar is a show on HGTV. The selected 11 people this season with all different levels of experience.

Adriana- She was very sweet and had good ideas. She couldn't pull it together during the first individual challenge (show 3) and was eliminated.

Christine- Cute Southern gal. She was great with color and did well at the individual challenge.

Josh (sparkle)- They played him up to be an outrageous character (all faux fur and sequins). He was really more down to earth. He excelled in all 3 of the first challenges.

Josh- Talked a lot about "green" design, but didn't seem to practice what he preached. He said he had carpentry skills but failed at this in the first challenge (there is a great scene of him using the table saw and having a piece of wood shoot across the room). He was eliminated at the 2nd challenge.

Kim- She is a hair stylist, not an interior designer. She stepped up at the individual challenge, where she was definitely on the chopping block. She seems nice, but hasn't shown a whole lot of personality.

Lisa- She was spunky and the sacrificial lamb of the season. She was the punk artist, but couldn't follow through on the first design challenge.

Nerraja- An older candidate with a career as a photo stylist. They played her up to be the bitch, but she didn't turn out to be such a big one after all. She was the team lead on the 2nd challenge and was eliminated.

Robb- The "jerk" of the season. He failed miserably in the first challenge by teaming himself up with Josh. He did an excellent job at the individual challenge. He seems to have potential, but all the other contestants hate him.

Scott- A sweet guy, but he didn't seem to have much design in him. He was eliminated at the individual challenge.

Todd- A surfer dude with a brain. They made him out to be very egotistical before the show started, but seems to have been a team player so far. He has outstanding graphic design skills, but we have yet to see him design a "real" room. He has carpentry skills as well, and reminds me the most of last season's winner.

Will- He hasn't shown too much personality so far, other than complaining about Robb. He excelled in the first challenge and the individual challenge.


The Challenges

The first challenge was to design the penthouse space they are living in. Some people did individual spaces and some paired up. Christine and Ariana fought the whole time about the space they did, and it turned out rather mediocre. Sparkle Josh and Will got along really well and did an awesome job on their space. Scott, Kim, and Todd worked together and did well (Todd built a quarter-pipe skate ramp). Robb and Josh paired up and ended up with something horrible. Lisa did her own space and fell flat. The panel said that she took a functional space (the entrance from the work space to the living space) and made it non-functional.

The second challenge was to renovate 2 kitchen spaces. Neeraja was the lead and decided to tile the counter tops. This would have been fine if they had started tiling on the first day. In the end they couldn't afford the tile they wanted and chose cheap black ceramic tile. They also hadn't measured (!) and didn't buy enough tile. Sparkle Josh did the dining room and it turned out really well. Josh was the leader of the other team. They did a Tuscany style kitchen which the homeowners had asked for and loved. They were criticized by the panel as being very faux Tuscany. Josh and Neeraja were eliminated. Josh was eliminated for not stepping up to lead his team (he was already on the chopping block) and Neeraja was eliminated for the tile fiasco.

The third challenge was to individually design a space that had a couch, end table, and bookcase. The only place they could shop was the 99 cent store! (last year's challenge had them shopping at a pet store) Quite a few people excelled at this challenge. Ariana and Scott were eliminated. Their rooms weren't too bad, but not on par with what the other challengers had done. Ariania's looked rather cheap (while the premise had been to take cheap stuff and make it look awesome) and Scott had overdone his room. He had so many things in there you could hardly see the furniture.

I haven't watched last night's episode yet.

Who do I want to win? I like Todd and Robb. They have a couple of manly men shows now (one with the carpenter from Clean Sweep and one with the host from Monster House), but something that incorporates design AND building could be cool.

Money Saving

Work hasn't been so awesome for me this year. I have a closing at the end of the month, but my last closing was in March. This means that I have made no money for 4 months, but I have been paying my office costs (so I am in the red). Instead of digging ourselves out of debt, we have been getting further in. One thing keeping us from baby making is the debt. I could take a part-time job, but I would need to make a decent wage to make it worth my while. How many $12/hr part time jobs are out there?

We need to cut costs. I will be reading The Hot Librarian's blog for money saving tips and probably purchasing the Tightwad Gazette. We eat out way too much and part of that is Duane's eating out at lunchtime. He has a hard time saying no when his friends at work ask him to go to lunch. I don't think it is fair to say that (we) shouldn't eat dinner out as much, but he can eat lunch out as much as he wants. I already clip coupons to save money, but I don't shop the sales at grocery stores very diligently.

I am hoping that the staging class I am taking this week will help out business. The only way it will help out my business is if I promote it. I came into the office early this morning to do some calling, but I haven't done any.

Duane and I also need to take advantage of the gym membership we pay for. We have a great gym and we like going there when we go. I am going to check into the times for different classes. I think Duane will love step aerobics and yoga don't you? :)

Or I might not post until Monday

Hello from the rainy land of mushrooms. We have had thunderstorms and heavy rain here all weekend and predicted for the next 4 days (it is dark and rainy now). The pumpkins are loving it, but it makes for a pretty depressing Monday. I got up earlier than usual this morning and all I can think about is crawling back into bed.

The company picnic was pretty lame. The actual location had been confused so many times (there are 2 parks that are close to each other and it was at the furthest park) that I think many people gave up on coming. The food was cold when I got there, so how many people are going to eat cold hamburgers and hotdogs that have been sitting there for 2 hours? There were few desserts, so my snickerdoodles got eaten quickly. I got bored after awhile and starting filling water balloons. I didn't actually throw any, but filling them was enough to entertain me.

We did go see Alice Cooper and he and his band were great. What was not so great were the people bumping into me for 2 hours. It was the first time I had ever seen Alice Cooper. The show started off a little slow, but once they got into a groove it was great. There was a song with a vampire baby and Alice stakes the baby. Then they brought out a gallows and hung him! There were intervals where just the band played that were awesome as well. We had the best funnel cake ever!

Saturday was supposed to be about working around the house. Our friend came to stay overnight, so that disrupted the plan. We decided to play games and watch the Packers on tv instead of going to a movie. A game was chosen without my input. At the start of the game, I said that it wasn't the type of game I enjoyed playing and maybe I shouldn't play. At the end of the game I was accused of cheating and making the game "no fun". You would think that guests in your home would behave better. Duane didn't stick up for me. I went to my bedroom and was pretty upset for the rest of the night. Duane decided to drink more and stayed up till 2. We were having bad thunderstorms and the dog was very restless. I didn't sleep well at all.

More rain on Sunday. I held an open house at a friend's listing. A couple of people came so it wasn't totally boring. We went to Janesville after that to visit with my parents. They had been up late the night before so we were all tired. We watched The Night Listener (totally strange movie with Robin Williams) and had yummy pizza for dinner.

I did take care of my friend's bunny, Floyd, this weekend. He was a cutie! I should have taken a picture of him.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Travel

Duane is going to San Diego for work September 4th. We (he) decided to make it into a mini-vacation. I am flying out on Thursday and I think we are staying until Monday.

I have a hair appointment today. I have gone longer than usual and my hair is bugging me. She likes to schedule Duane's haircuts while my hair is being colored, so that is why I have waited longer than usual. Duane is looking pretty shaggy too.

Next week I will be down in Chicago for 2 nights. I am taking a home staging class and I think it will be great!

Our company picnic is tomorrow. I don't think Duane will be coming. I always wonder why they schedule the picnic on the afternoon of a work day. Most realtors have significant others with 9-5 jobs, so they can't attend the picnic. Duane wants to go to the Dodge County Fair that night to see Alice Cooper. His work friend (+ children) might come along, so I can keep myself entertained with the kiddles.

This weekend is all about home projects (it is supposed to be rainy). I have 2 closet organizers to install and maybe some furniture refinishing. I have sewing projects too!

We definitely have 1 more pumpkin and could have as many as 4!

We watched The Wicker Man last night. Skip this movie unless you would really enjoy watching Nicholas Cage burn up. We watched The Lady in the Water earlier this week. I can see why people were disappointed in the movie. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly had more potential. We also watched Failure to Launch. It was way funny and I could actually recommend it.

I am finally caught up on Design Star, so I might talk about that tomorrow.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Look at those pumpkins

Well the State Fair was pretty darn hot, so it wasn't quite as much fun as usual. We had fried cheese curds, spiral-cut potato chips, a cream puff, and chocolate milk (from the Herb Kohl milk stand). We went to Delafield to check out a newish (1 yr old this month) restaurant that a friend works at. The food was tasty and the place was really nice.


Duane mowed the lawn Sunday morning and we saw Harry Potter in the afternoon. The movie was fine, but this book/movie is kind a "filler". Harry is growing up and Voldemort is growing stronger, but nothing major to the overall plot.


A Super Target just opened up here (they scrambled to get it open before the Super Walmart) and I discovered that they carry the Gerber organic cotton onesies. They didn't have any on the shelf, but they do have them.


It is cooler and with less humidity today. I could hardly believe it when I went outside to walk the dogs. I tried to check out the meteor shower this morning (when Hershey woke me up to go outside), but it was cloudy.


Oh, the kitties went home on Friday night. It has been rather quiet without them.



Friday, August 10, 2007

Craft shopping

Craft shopping kind of blew yesterday. My current JoAnn's coupons stink ($5 off of $35) and nothing that I wanted to buy was on sale. I did get some fabric to do a trial run of cloth baby wipes, so hopefully I will find some time this weekend to sew.

I was looking for some flannel for a baby blanket, but I had to order it online. The store had it in pink but not blue! They also had NC State and Duke fabric, but no Wake Forest (wtf?).

The boarder kitties new home is ready for them. Now we just need to figure out how to get them into the cat carriers. Squeaky won't be any trouble, but the other one runs away when you get close to her. Duane wants to keep Squeaky, but I think her sister would miss her too much.

We are going to the State Fair tomorrow!! They have the best fried cheese curds and many other super yummy food items. I just wish it wasn't so HOT.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Wrinkles

I remembered one of the things I was going to post about yesterday. I think the time has come where I have to pony up and buy some anti-wrinkle cream. I am not as young as I used to be (oh the horror) and I have wrinkles under my eyes (some dark circles too). I think the wrinkles (and the extra weight) are leading people to guess my correct age. I have hit that point (that my mother told me would come) where I don't look younger than my age anymore.

I may also schedule a make-up consultation with the girl that does my hair (and yes I can call her a girl because she is 20). It doesn't seem like anyone is going to nominate me for What Not To Wear anytime soon, and I have always needed help in the make-up area.

I am off to do some craft shopping!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

I made a few changes

I changed up the blog a little bit, a few colors, a link list, and a travel picture.

My blood giving arm still hurts a bit today, but I didn't get a huge bruise.

I have had an earache all day today as well. Random spikes of pain running down my ear canal, no fun.

I was checking out The Glitter Workshop Dish today and I won a goodie bag! You had to be the first to post about what you had done for the weekend, and I was reading only minutes after she posted. I should really get down to the actual shop sometime.

I swear I had some other things to say, but I have to go make dinner now.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

I survived

I made it through the blood donation ok. It would have been nice if the juice (SunnyD!) and cookies weren't gross. I did have to lie down on the office floor and put my feet up though. I came back to my desk and got hot and clammy all of a sudden. At least I know they vacuum the carpet every night, but still.

I am going to drink a bunch of water and hang out for a bit before I go anywhere. I wouldn't want to get all lightheaded while driving (plus it is Hot and Humid out there).

Oh my hemoglobin is 16, so I am not anemic!

Blood donor

We are having a blood drive at work today. My appointment is in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Can you tell I am a little nervous?

I was going to go home and pull weeds this afternoon, but the blood donation directions say to avoid strenuous activity for a few hours. Does making dinner count? Maybe I will do a little shopping. I am on the hunt for some blue Snoopy flannel so I don't have to order it online.

I should get some water to drink, as you are supposed to be well hydrated. Maybe some sugar too.

Duane split his shorts today, so I had to run a pair of shorts to him at the office. These particular shorts were on their last legs anyway, and Duane is pretty rough on his clothes. Do you think I will be able to get him to look for a new pair of shorts? He has plenty of shirts. I just got him 5 new shirts last week. Sometimes I think he has more clothes than I do.

I made some awesome mashed potatoes last night. I don't usually make mashed potatoes, so I was happy that they turned out so tasty. We had a haddock filet that I fried with a little panko.

I am thinking of making some chocolate stout cupcakes. The Hot Librarian mentioned making them on her blog, and they were awesome the last time I made them. Baking can be very therapeutic for me. I would bring them in to work, because otherwise Duane would eat them all!

Monday, August 06, 2007

Organic Onesies

I received my shipment of organic onesies from American Apparel. I use RIT dye on the non-organic cotton, but I was thinking of using natural dyes on the organic.

Does anyone out there have an opinion? Should I leave the organic cotton white or try natural dyes? (by natural I mean onion skins, berries, etc)

I appreciate the input!

CLARIFICATION-- I wasn't very clear on this, but I ordered WHITE organic onesies this time (not the natural color). This is why I was thinking of dyeing them. If they were natural in color, I would leave them that way. I will try the natural dyeing on muslin first, good idea!

HHH weather

Last Wednesday was my last woodshop class. It was Hot and Humid here, I think around 90. The woodshop doesn't have A/C, nor any really ventilation. I had to go in early and do some work. I had sweat running all over and sawdust stuck to me. It was not a pretty sight. My table is not finished though (but it is close). The snotty girl in the class left without even saying goodbye to the instructor. It was weird!

On Thursday I met with a potential new buyer. He is from my seminar last week. He said he wants to interview other agents. We clicked pretty well though.

I spent about 5 hours cleaning the house on Friday. It gets SO cluttered and full of pet hair. (btw, the boarder kitties have NOT moved on yet) We had guests coming Friday night. We hit the greek place for dinner and had a great meal.

Saturday was up early for golfing. I played really well! My drives and putts were awesome, but I struggled in between. We were playing a scramble (aka best ball) format, so that didn't matter. I wasn't going to go to the non-friend's house afterwards (I was going to sew), but got asked/pressured into going. We took the Wii for some entertainment. Unfortunately Duane packed the Playstation and the Wii in a paper bag (even though the last time we took them somewhere we put them in a backpack). The paper bag failed and the Playstation suffered (at least it wasn't the Wii!). You can get a used Playstation on Ebay for a pretty reasonable price. We stayed out late and drank too much. My sleep was interrupted several times as Duane was searching for his keys. He eventually rode his bike to Walgreens to get some Pepto-Bismal. His keys were in the front door (where he usually leaves them), but our guest thoughtfully moved them somewhere Duane never looked.

Sunday was a late breakfast and goodbye to our guests. We went to see The Bourne Ultimatum in the afternoon (excellent movie!).

I am wiped out today. The cat and dog had me up at 2am and 6am. I am giving blood tomorrow (for the first time other than the doctor) and I really don't think I should be exhausted to start off with. Our weather for the week is predicted to be Hot, Humid, and Hellish.

State Fair this Saturday!! Cream puffs and cheese curds, YUM!