Musings of a Loquacious Mind

A Life Well Lived

My mom forwarded me an obituary from the local paper. That's kind of weird, right? But this eulogy, written by the deceased before his passing, is such an incredible testiment of faith and love, that it moved me to tears. And laugh, too. And I thought it was worthy to share a few snips, but encourage you to read the whole thing at the Winston-Salem Journal webpage.

I voted for a Democrat twice, and I think it's time to apologize for that. Neither won, so I guess there's some consolation; nonetheless, I'm sorry.

I believe in God Almighty, His Son, Jesus Christ, and I publicly witness my love for them above all others, and ask forgiveness of my sins. I wish you would, too. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, and because of that, I have no fear of my death. If you can imagine a place better than Clemmons, I'm going there!

I believe my purpose in life was to help friends cope with a bad moment - to brighten your day with my silliness, boundless charm and uncanny wit - if I ever made you laugh or smile, that was no accident. I always tried to make everyone a little happier, often at my own expense, and if I did it for you, I was successful. Actually it was a great run! I wanted to live long enough to be considered as one who has wisdom, or to be on Willard Scott's TV show, or just own a Buick, but I didn't make it.

Labels: faith

Nectar - of the gods

My poor sister-in-law. She get's to hear me go off on "pet peeve" rants even when something is said that tangentially relates to a pet peeve and is not actually upsetting. I just get worked up. We were at Bo*Jangles the other day (whoot!), and she commented on how their sweet tea was like nectar.

That is, by all accounts, a proper use of the word nectar. Not only that, but sweet tea from Bo*Jangles might actually be the long lost recipe for nectar.

But what it set off for me was how much it tweaks my monkey when people refer to something being like "nectar of the gods". Nectar, by definition, is of the gods. Nectar is "the drink of the gods". To say "nectar of the gods" is to say "the drink of the gods of the gods". Who would say that? Not even dumb people say that.

NECTAR (NEK-tur) Beverage of the gods, which conferred immortality on any mortal lucky enough to partake of it.

Kris determined that I have very exacting pet peeves; perhaps I am just more aware of what my peeves are than most people, she suggested.

But there is one person who knows my pet peeves as well - if not better - than I do. And that is my dear husband. And if Kris can find it mildly amusing when I get worked up, my husband seems to find it like his own personal "On Demand" entertainment.

So he brought up another one of my pet peeves - mano a mano.

This does NOT mean man to man! People tend to almost accidentally use this correctly, at first, and then really screw it up by "translating" themselves and saying man to man. Mano a mano - literally, hand to hand; one on one; even playing field; head to head. Not man to man. Come on, people.

Labels: pet peeve

I'm trying Google AdSense

So if you are also a follower of my crochet blog (can't post the link - some of you simply aren't allowed to know what the link is because there is stuff about you!), you may have noticed I've gotten crazy awesome traffic in the past week.

Actually, I just moved the stat counter so it counted people that came to any page of the blog, not just the main or archive page. What this did is tell me I was getting about 70-90 hits a day from CrochetPatternCentral for a pattern I had posted. Wow.

Yesterday two things happened:

1. I had more than 400 hits in one day
2. I found out about Google AdSense

I'm not going to shill for them, I don't know it it's worth my time. BUT, that being said, I'm trying it out. If it works out that it makes some money, then I can get a "real" site, which you know is a big goal for me this year. I'm not looking to quit my job or anything; I want to have a really cool crochet site, but I need my own domain and server space.

So we'll see.

In related news, I'm really thinking doing some freelance web design - on a very small scale. If you are a BlogSpot user or have a small-medium (pages, not traffic) domain website that needs a makeover and you would be willing to be a "test subject", I'm looking for a few people for gratis customization to build a better portfolio. I'll even throw in some ASP coding and web forms if that's your server (heck, maybe even some PHP, to brush up).

Labels: job, resolutions

I'm totally losing weight this time

I found a link that lets you make a personalized model of yourself at different weights. What an extra-inspiration for weight loss! Of course, I'm convinced. I 've been convinced. Convincing my husband to spend more money on fresh greens (let alone actually eating the fresh greens is another matter) is not easy. But too bad for him now!

If you want to make your own model, it's at http://preventionweightloss.mvm.com/

Labels: resolutions

New Format

Well, after more hours than I care to admit of tweaking rewriting a page layout for use on this site, I still feel like I forgot a few things...

At any rate, I think I like it. And I like that I now know Blogger code. I am so awesome .

What do you think?

Things I Heard on the Radio

Today's post's theme is:

After my doctor's appointment this morning, I hit up Wawa for a soda before work. Ya'll, I had to. I was supposed to fast the night before which was not a problem; I don't generally eat after midnight, and I am basically never up before 8 am when my appointment was. The thing that made a Diet Coke/Caffeine-Free Diet Coke/Cherry Coke fountain bucket of soda a true necessity was that I had to give blood.

:-(

I hate giving blood. And if I am "giving", why do they have to stab me? They took my blood. That's what it is.

But I digress...

While at Wawa, their soundtrack was piping out Rupert Holmes' "Escape". You know, "Escape"? I don't want to spell it out... OK, fine, "The Pina Colada Song". You do know that's not even the title, right? Oh, but if that was my only beef with that song.

Here's the deal - I hate songs that are beloved without knowing anything about them. I hate songs that people completely overlook what the song is about. It's not about freaking Pina Coladas.

Also, I detest Pina Coladas. It's like drinking a Banana Tropics (as in the sunscreen) smoothie. Yuck.

This song is about a guy that is bored with his... wife? girlfriend? He refers to her as "my lady", as in "I was tired of my lady." So he's cruising the personal ads in the newspaper and sees an ad (I feel the need to point out that he is checking out the ads while lying in bed with her while she's still asleep). OK, go ahead, sing in your head:

If you like Pina Coladas, getting caught in the rain, if you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain, if you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape, I'm the lady you've looked for - write to me, and escape

So he apparently thinks to himself: "gross vehicles of alcohol for weenies; public fornication; not to mention adultery... wow, sounds great!" Now, we knew he was stupid when he thought "Yum! Pina Coladas!", so maybe the whole rest of the song really shouldn't be a surprise to me.

So he admits he doesn't even think about his "lady" (who is lying right there in bed), and places an ad (by the way, what is up with all of this "Desperately Seeking Susan" newspaper communiqué?) that is the second chorus, saying that he does like Sunscreen Smoothies, and he doesn't like tofu, and he likes champagne, and he's ready without any further thoughts to jump off the deep-end and leave his lady clueless in the dust, and so meet him at a bar tomorrow.

And so he goes to the bar, waiting for his salacious rendezvous, and in walks his "lady". He's caught! Nooooo... SHE was the one looking to cheat on him that placed the ad. So neither of them are mad at each other for looking to abandon their relationship (which would be hypocritical, I guess, but would make me feel better); no, they just crack up at how silly the whole situation is, and say "Wow, you're into Banana Tropic Milkshakes, too? Crazy. "

Drives me nuts.

Speaking of hypocritical, I do realize that I just recently posted about how the song "Hallelujah" gets stuck in my head. Yes, I know the lyrics from all three major versions. Yes, I know the themes. No, I don't care.

Look, this is my pet peeve. That means it doesn't have to make too much sense. It's like how I think people that carry around Toy Class dogs in purses with little sweaters on are ridiculous, and that chihuahuas even at full sized just look like bug-eyed, twitchy rats, and are ugly as sin. But if I got a miniature chihuahua (which I do not plan to do; if anything it would be a miniature pinscher)(and by if anything I mean I'm not getting a dog and don't want one), I would probably make it little sweaters and carry it around, and I would STILL think other people are ridiculous. It's my prerogative.

And this has been a really long bit about the two quick things on the theme of "What I Heard on the Radio" and I didn't even tell you the other one. On NPR news at nine am the newscaster was reading a list of Academy Award nominees and called Leonardo DiCaprio "Leonard DiCaprio". And it was funny. Oh, never mind.

Labels: music, pet peeve, ruminitions

I heard there was a secret chord...

Everytime I hear this song - or even think of this song - it burrows into my brain. It plays and my thoughts flow around it and it seems to make everything seem so much more important. Or trivial. I prefer the Cale version. I tend to mentally edit out any verses I don't really like. This reminds me of how my mom liked the song Under the Bridge before she really listened to the lyrics.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Labels: music

I'm not so sure this is right...

Yet another quiz. I think this might be a true reflection of me at this moment, but not me in general. What do you think? Seriously. I mean, I don't think I'm quite at the Woody Allen/Monk level of neurosis that they're projecting! I think I need to check some other quizzes from them...

My Personality

Neuroticism	88
Extroversion	20
Openness To Experience	21
Agreeableness	4
Conscientiousness	17

You are introverted, reserved, and quiet with a preference for solitude and solitary activities. Your socializing tends to be restricted to a few close friends. You can be very easily upset, even by what most people consider the normal demands of living. People consider you to be extremely sensitive and emotional. As a practical person you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. People see you as tough, critical, and uncompromising and you have less concern with others' needs than with your own. You like to live for the moment and do what feels good now. Your work tends to be careless and disorganized.

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report

Labels: quiz

Resolved - Sharing them makes them real

I've been inspired by a friend's blog to list a few of my New Year's resolutions. Those of you who have known me for a while... oh, who am I kidding? Mandy. Mandy knows how I do New Year's resolutions. Oh, and Suzanne. I mean, there are more, but you probably aren't reading this blog. If you are, hey! What's up? Shoot me an email, I'd love to talk with you! :-)

What was I saying? Oh, yeah, my resolutions. Each year I make both Positive resolutions and Negative resolutions. That's not to say I make resolutions that are bad, it means that each year I make resolutions of things to DO and things to GIVE UP. I don't try to give things up forever, just for one year. If I can do it for one year, I can start it back up with whatever frequency I want. It's kind of like a 365-day Lent (which, growing up Baptist, was not something I had a great grasp on for many years, but that's another post altogether).

One year I gave up singing Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby for a year. This was 5 years ago. At midnight I belted out. The cd was so ready. One year I gave up cheese fries and bloomin' onion style appetizers for a year. That was really good for me. I get them sometimes now, but not crazy like I did at one point. There have been other things, both that I've been able to drop, and that I've had more problems and not been able to. Generally, I write two list of resolutions. The Positive resolutions I keep, and the Negative resolutions I burn, as a form of giving them up and turning them over.

So here are some of my resolutions for this year (yes, there are actually more. Amazingly, I'm not sharing EVERY thought I have with the world):
Crocheting: I will write at least 6 more patterns, if just for personal edification. I will earn enough truly disposable income to start back my own website (not just a blog) for my *dream site*. I will give up gnawing off my yarn when I finish off (how hard is it really to get some scissors?).
Personal Health: I will make and go to BOTH of my semi-annual dental cleanings/checkups. I will make and go to my yearly checkups with both regular doctors. I will convince Keith to let me/us join a gym, to the best of my ability. I will use cleanser, toner, and moisturizer minimally every evening. I will give up ice cream around the house (I don't really like it that much; why waste calories on it?).
Work: I will diversify my work portfolio (ie, try to pick up a few freelance clients, just as "insurance").
Other: I will find a Bible study group that is welcoming and that will sharpen me. I will make the effort to start a family Bible study curriculum with Kaitlyn, not just random Bible stories (I was worried this would tread on Keith's responsibilities to lead our family, but as the wife our family's Christian education falls squarely in my court!). I will make a concerted effort to beat down anxieties and reconnect with my friends. I miss you guys.

Well, I'm not telling all. There's lots of reasons :-)

Anyway, I write this partially for a bit of accountability. I'm not trying to put monkeys on your backs, buddies, but a wee bit of butt-kicking and encouragement would be appreciated! :-)

Labels: resolutions

Random Thoughts of the Day

Your dog sucks.

Baby I know your eyes see right through my disguise And no one can deny
Baby that I’m the one whose love is no surprise And he can’t tell you no lie
But there’s a secret I’ve been hidin’ I can’t keep it no more There’s this thing about himself he’s never told you before
He needs to tell you something I don’t got a bellybutton
Oh I need to tell you something Have you got it figured out?
He don’t got a bellybutton

One of those email quizzes

1. What time is it?

Labels: survey

Little Women

The internet is grand, isn't it?

Or at least it can be.

I am currently rereading (or am I just reading? did I ever finish reading it when I was young? I quite believe I did, but it was not a book I poured over) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott at Project Gutenberg.

Now, there are some drawbacks to reading a book online. I won't even go into them; they are too obvious. But there are benefits. I can flip between the book and whatever else I'm doing online as pages load and whatnot. I can read from different locations. I don't have to find my book (and seeing as how I'm pretty sure I don't have a copy that's not a "library edition" sort of fake-leather-and-gilded-page version, I couldn't well stick that in my purse and go, anyway).

Labels: books