Unmitigated

Blogging 101 Class

This is my first time writing a post on my android tablet. The interface is weird, and I am still getting used to typing on a flat keyboard, so we will see how it goes.

Last Thursday, the item I chose to finish was a PowerPoint presentation that I would need for a class I am teaching today. At the History Attraction where I work, today is the All Staff conference. Back issues prevent me from attending most of the day, since I still can't sit for very long, but a few months ago, I agreed to teach an afternoon session for blogging newbies, which they are calling Blogging 101.

In a little bit I will leave for yoga class, then I will have just enough time to come home, get cleaned up, and go visit my place of employment for a couple hours. It will be nice to see everyone, but I wish I had a shirt that said, "Ask me about ANYTHING ELSE." I am in one of those states where I have disappeared, and I am only a dysfunctional set of vertebrae. Sounds like a first world problem to me, so enough.

While I was making the bed this morning, my mind wandered where it often does during household tasks: The Newlywed Game. If Bob Eubanks were to ask us, "How many pillows are there on your bed?……" How would I answer? There are 8 rergular pillows on our bed, but there is also one little decorative pillow. I always think that we would have planned something out ahead of time, like, 'always use the widest possible definition for objects' or that we would have somehow come up with a secret code...one blink for no, two blinks for yes.

Then I remember...we have bee married for more that 26 years, and nobody is going to invite us to be on the Newlywed Game, and who the hell thinks about this stuff? Probably just me.

And just so you know, the android post thing is not going to work. You can only select a single category, and since there are no directional arrows on an android keyboard (at least none that I was able to find) it's a big pain to try to get the cursor to the bottom of the post if you need to go back and edit, for some reason. Trust me on this one. I have been able to comment pretty well with the tablet, so that makes me happy.

Which is good, because I just had the hot flash from Hades, so I am now a clammy mess. Yeesh, this day is not starting out too well, is it?

All the Things Piling Up in My World

And there are many of them. I haven't posted for weeks, though I have still been happily following all of your blogs.

See that sentence up there? I typed that sentence two days ago, then started downloading and processing some pictures to share. At this point, I do not recall if I even finished processing the photos, but I am afraid to look, because I will get distracted again.

My daughter is getting married in 26 days. That should answer much of WHY I haven't posted in weeks, though laziness does enter into it to a startling degree. I'm just gonna do this like a Random Tuesday, okay?

Summer Things

We spent Labor Day weekend at one of my favorite places in the world: Wiser Times, on Lake Huron, just south of the fingernail on your index finger. 

That dark gray part at the top of the photo is rain over easter Lake Huron/Ontario. I love the silver sheen on the water in this picture. There was a stunning amount of technical things going on while we were there, of which Husband Styro was mostly the cause.

I have entitled this photo, "The Wyatts are Here."

Two computers, a hacked Nook (now an Android tablet), a terrabyte hard drive, a *Rocker* iPad mount with speakers, and all the attendant wires. It would take far too long to explain why we brought all of that with us. I just need to mention that we also brought a large plastic tub with hundreds of CDs with us, also.

Art Things

I have mentioned previously about some really inspired gifts I commissioned for Husband Styro this year for his birthday, Father's Day and our 26th anniversary. I have finally taken pictures so you can see just how amazing I am they are.

First, Michele painted this beauty, but I never shared the final framing:

We had it framed at Michael's, and though I hate to shop there, they did a really beautiful job framing it for us. They also suggested a really gorgeous frame, that I would never have looked twice at, but which really brings out the rich, deep browns in the painting, and echoes the winter branches, too. That was Husband Styro's birthday/Father's Day gift (the dates are two weeks apart).

Our anniversary is in early August, and something I saw on Tera's blog (scroll down to the California Dreamin' piece), and new I had found what I wanted! I commissioned this from her:

The first song we danced to at our wedding was the Talking Heads, "This Must be the Place (Naive Melody). I sent the lyrics to Tera, and together we picked out which we wanted to include, messed with the order a little, and she applied her graphic genius. Husband and I both love it, and it hangs in our newly-redone room.

Tomorrow? Wedding stuff.

1812 Military Encampment

Quick! What do you know about the War of 1812?

I'm betting 'not much.' Me, too! Lucky for both of us, The Henry Ford will be hosting a War of 1812 Military Encampment, August 20 & 21, 2011, in honor of its upcoming bicentennial.

 

Follow that link up above for more information. Want to get in free? Drop me a line!

Disclaimer: Although I am an employee of The Henry Ford, I have not been compensated to write this post, and any opinions expressed on this blog are mine, and not necessarily those of The Henry Ford.

Stolen From an E-mail. Shut Up. I'm Tired.

If I disappear for too long, Captain Dumbass will send me an email checking to see if I am still alive. He sent one early this week, and I sent him a short reply, and claimed there would be more details later. Later turned out to be two days later, but basically, I sent this (after his snarky reminder of my lying lyingness):

In the last four weeks, I have:

• Run two very complex, week-long teachers' workshops
• Volunteered for 3/4 of a day at Maker Faire Detroit
• Learned that the grant that pays 2/3 of my wages is not being renewed for next year
• Gone to Buddy's family reunion, for which we hosted FIVE people, including his mom, who lives 30 minutes away
• Given Buddy two totally awesome gifts, one made by Michele, the other by Tera
• Refrained from strangling my boss, on more than one occasion
• Turned forty-fucking-eight, and celebrated our 26^th wedding anniversary by collapsing at 7 p.m.
• And tried to get the swelling in my leg to go down from the injury I got four WEEKS ago

Later today (Saturday), I have a pedicure scheduled, and we will be going to a party celebrating Handy Jeff's elevation to the level of Sifu in the style of martial arts that he, Buddy, and almost-20-year-old-boy all study (Wing Chun Do).

Then, I still have two more days to recover, since I took Monday off. Theoretically, I will have time to blog again.

 

Narrowly Avoiding Disaster

Starting today, I am running a week-long teacher's workshop with teachers from all over the country. I am not the teacher, I am the organizer. That means I am in charge of all the logistics, all the running around, all the business end of the deal.

So, an injury at this stage of the game would be a very bad thing.

Anybody catch the foreshadowing thing, there?

Yesterday, we drove to China. China, Michigan, that is, for a family member's graduation party. I was looking very cute. A sleeveless eyelet-lace top, denim capris and some really cute, comfy sandals from Naturalizer:

I can walk all day in these. Normally.

When we arrived, I saw a cousin I hadn't seen for awhile, and turned to go give him a hug. Unfortunately, the heel under my right foot landed half-on and half-off the pavement, turning my ankle and I went down HARD.

Luckily, this morning, the ankle is only a little bit sore; no major damage. The left shin took it fairly hard, though. This looks pretty innocent:

 

Just a bit of a scrape? Until you see it from this angle:

Please ignore the fact that this photo makes my leg look like a shank of meat. That part of one's shin, really oughtn't be convexly shaped. I'm glad it will just be unattractive, not debilitating. You can see the shades of purple starting to show. I'll be color-coordinating with it all week!