Oil change fail

Adam and I stayed in yesterday with the idea that we would go out to run our errands today. (I am off and he was scheduled to fly at night.) I had my doubts about getting Adam up and out of the house relatively early on a Monday morning, but we actually had the car loaded up with Goodwill donations and were on the road just after 10. About a mile away from home, though, we heard this really weird announcement on the radio. The local car dealership group (where we happened to be heading for an oil change in my car), was closed for the day in honor of their founder's death in 1983. It was totally bizarre and completely screwed up our plans. Even covering all the bases of our other errands and grabbing some lunch at Panera, we were home by 12:30. But now I have to go to the dealership after work tomorrow for the oil change, and also find time to vote in the Florida primary. Looks like I'd better tuck in the puggles and get ready for bed pretty soon. I don't really do well with less than 8 full hours of sleep. Adam prefers 10, but he's also extremely lazy. :) Of course, I can't sign off without posting some new pages.





I got these pictures of Adam's mom and Aunt Nancy while they were visiting this past April. I decided to use a ready-made sticker for the title, so it came together nice and easy. :)




This is a repost to see if Blogger is still messing up this picture from a previous post.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Life is good today

I was feeling kind of crappy most of this past week. Not like totally crappy, but definitely a little. Adam was gone Monday throughout Friday. I got some disappointing news on Thursday. The weather was oppressively humid and it rained at least a little bit every day. I had headaches and sneezes and I generally felt on the verge of being sick.

I cant really put my finger on why, but today is better. The weather is still pretty gloomy, and my headache is still pretty much here. Yeah, Adam is here and that's nice, but he's currently ignoring me to get his schoolwork done and posted before dinner.

I think its mostly attitude. Today, I'm looking around at my life, and I just can't complain. There is a lot to be said for time spent watching your little dog play with a tennis ball. Or for comforting your big one when thunderclaps turn him into a shaking mess. In moments like this, it's so clear that life is really good.








You'd think that between this blog and all these scrapbook pages I wouldn't have to keep reminding myself. :)

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iPad pictures

I think I'm ready for an early bedtime. I don't really know why, today wasn't really that long or tiring. I was off from work again, so I did some more cleaning up the house and picked up Adam from the airport at about 4. I LOVE how much nicer the house looks when it's clean and picked up. We'll just see if I can keep it this way while Adam is here. He has an uncanny knack for finding clear spaces and making piles of crap on them. :)

Anyway, I hadn't posted yesterday, so I thought I needed to pop in with a quick update. Here are some pictures from last week when I first got my iPad.








And a picture of Willow, just because I think she's cuter than me. :)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:High School Blvd,Gulf Breeze-Harold,United States

I want to remember

I read an article in Newsweek today about the decline in blogging and other user-generated content (like wikipedia) on the web. It suggested that while contributing to the "greater good" of free online content was fun for awhile, now it just seems like work. It concluded that there needs to be some kind of compensation (special perks and access, if not cold hard cash) to keep the up the rate of publishing we're used to.

It got me started thinking about my own - too often neglected - blog. It doesn't necessarily fit into the context of the Newsweek article because it would be quite a stretch to claim any sort of regular "readership" on this blog. But the concept of compensation does apply. I blog because I am compensated. The problem is that the "compensation" is just for me, and it's delayed. What do get in exchange for the time I spend blogging? I get the opportunity to reflect and remember what my life was like and what was on my mind weeks, months, even a year ago. Since the payoff is some date in the future, I sometimes forget how valuable it is. This blog is a lot different from my scrapbooks, even if they serve a similar purpose sometimes.

The article said that between 75-90% of blogs are abandoned after a year. Basically, it renewed my resolve not to be one of those blogs. I want to remember today. I want to remember waking up early. I want to remember how much I like walking the dogs on trash day because I always have somewhere to dump their poop bags. I want to remember marking down candy 40% off at work. I want to remember using hand sanitizer like crazy and popping vitamin C because I'm starting to feel a little sick. I want to remember mowing the lawn even though I didn't really want to. I want to remember how awesome it is to be covered in puggles (or CIP as we call it in this overly-acronymed household) right now.

Oh yeah, and I want to remember these scrapbook pages. :)






I cut out some interior shots of Adam's new car from the brochure he got to make this page. I tried to keep it pretty plain to look manly.







This page was fun to make. I used a bunch of the newest stuff I had (it's hard to tell from the picture, but the background is a subtle, shiny gold), and the picture is a funny outtake in the bright sun this past Easter.

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Location:Ortega St,Gulf Breeze-Harold,United States

Remember when I used to post scrapbook pages?

First of all, I just want to say thank you to the first genius who put together a warm brownie and cold vanilla ice cream. My mouth is very happy because of you tonight. :)

My computer is currently downloading a gigantic software update for my iPad, which means I can't just sit around and play with my new toy like I have for the past week. Instead, I popped in a video (The Italian Job) and am enjoying the aforementioned dessert. I did set up my computer to automatically sync my scrapbook pages with my iPad earlier, so I have a few to share. I know that blog posts are way more fun with pictures.




These pictures of Skelly and Willow were taken in the first few weeks after we adopted her. They were already doing well getting adjusted to each other. We still say that Willow's favorite toy is Skeletor.





I love this picture that my Dad took at Animal Kingdom, but there wasn't really much of a story behind it. (Ooh, look, pretty tiger!) I decided to just keep it simple so the focus was on the photo.

Now, I'd better get back to the movie or it'll get too late to finish it. Over and out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The iPad - Week One

So, in case it wasn't clear from my previous two posts: I got a new iPad! I realize now that in my frustration in not being able to post (or at least to type anything into the actual body of the blog post),I forgot to mention directly what brought me back to blogging. Of course, my Dad's gentle hints about whether or not I had abandoned the blog made their impression, too.

It's really amazing how having the iPad for only a week has changed my computing habits. Because I use it for most of my day-to-day computer stuff (checking email, reading blogs, etc.), I go to my laptop so much less frequently. Actually, I forget about some things I would normally do when I'm on my computer (like upload or edit pictures). Mostly, though, it's been really cool, and generally I think it's a good thing to use my laptop less. That was one of the main ideas: to help my laptop last longer by using it less. I'm still figuring out all of the ins and outs, and it's a fun process. Today, for example, my iPad case finally arrived. With that and our wireless keyboard attached, it's a lot easier to type things like a blog post this long. Overall, I think it was a great purchase. :)

Believe it or not, I have been doing more than just bonding with my new iPad. In fact, today I was a whirlwind of cleaning and organizing. I washed the dogs, cleaned up my bathroom, did dishes, laundry and got waist deep in putting away scrapbook layouts before I hit a wall about an hour ago. At least I have the whole day off of work, so I should have plenty of time to get a second wind and clean up the piles on my floor before bedtime. I also had good intentions of getting on the old laptop to print some pictures tonight, but I may give myself permission to put that off until tomorrow. It all depends on how involved I get in playing iPad games tonight. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New app!

Hooray! It looks like I found my solution for posting from my iPad. I'm a little bit bummed that it took $2.99 just because my blog is hosted by Blogger (there was a free app for WordPress), but I'll take what I can get.

It's not super easy to type long involved posts on the iPad keyboard. It's not too bad, but I feel like i have to "hunt and peck" more to make sure i'm hitting the right keys. Tomorrow I'll connect the Bluetooth keyboard we got and give that a try.

It's kind of early, but it's just about time to hit the sack. We have to leave the house before 6 tomorrow to get Adam to the airport. I can't say that I'm super excited about 5 lonely days coming up. I don't know what I would do without my puggles to keep me company. Thank goodness they are both such good snugglers.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ugh! I finally signed in to update my blog and i can't type in the main text area! I'll be back tomorrow to troubleshoot.