Unmitigated

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.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Sailors' Delight

Keely is the unmom...at least she is on Tuesdays.

This is an actual, unedited or retouched photo from my back porch on Monday evening, around 8 p.m. eastern time:

I don't think I've ever seen that color sky before. Magenta? It was amazing.

I worked from home on Monday, scoring applications for a teacher workshop we have in the summer. We have 80 open spots, and 176 applications. Today, I made it through the first 55, alphabetically. That took from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Only 121 more to go...

Our tax refund arrived on Friday last week, enabling me to pay off several bills, and still help finance Ms. Partly Cloudy's upcoming nuptials (still 8 months away). I do not forget how fortunate we are = quite a lot really.

Our departure for Florida is eleven days away. My pedicure is still seven days away. Any chance I'll lose ten pounds in the next eleven days? Probably not. Actually, I'm okay with that. Not the pedicure thing, though. That needs to happen.

I have been enjoying the occasional Tigers' spring training game on the radio. They are typically interspersed with days that feature Red WIngs' games, which means I am in broadcast heaven. Except yesterday. There was a Tigers' game, but no radio or TV for it, and the Wings are off until Wednesday.

I love my Wings like they are my own offspring, but I'd be a poor mother not to recognize that they wouldn't stand a chance against this year's Vancouver Canucks. I feel certain the Cap'n will agree with me, unless he still can't figure out that he last signed in here as Supreme Leader, AKA, SUpreme Crusher of Dreams.

He usually participates in this Random Tuesday Thoughts thing as well. Go check out the links at Keely's place. You won't believe the treasures you can find there...

RTT: Time Warp Edition

Busy, busy, busy around here. Monday has apparently transported all the way to Tuesday. Which means I am writing this on Monday, so the time references are weird. Please ignore.

Keely is the host of Random Tuesdays. I think. It's been a while since I did one of these.

Buddy is off to New York to do some work on something technical there. I don't like the New York people he works with. They are ridiculously rude. It doesn't usually bother Buddy at all, but my Mama Bear hackles go up when I hear what he puts up with from them. I couldn't do it.

Friday and Saturday I was in Grand Rapids, MI for the Michigan Science Teachers Association annual conference. I went to some sessions, some of which were fascinating, all of which I found useful. My friend, Susan, who had done some work consulting for us at The Henry Ford last summer, was presented with an award, and she invited me to be her "date" for the awards luncheon. It was really inspiring to be with these teachers and hear their stories, and their dedication to teaching and learning.

Almost made me want to go back to the classroom. But not really.

While I was gone, Buddy went to see Black Swan, and informed me I would NOT have liked it. I have no trouble believing that at all. It brought his total of Best Picture viewings to 9 out of 10. We both agreed that we didn't want to see 127 Hours. I nearly fainted last night when I saw a tiny clip of James Franco in the movie, the scene where he falls and gets pinned by his arm. I had to put my head between my knees to keep from being sick.

Does anyone else think James Franco looked like he had sparked one up before the show last night? I was very happy for Melissa Leo, whom I have loved since her days on Homicide, and I also correctly predicted Best Picture, Best Actor in a Lead Role, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Big surprise of the night was Randy Newman's win, which was delightful, as we are big fans, but...it's not his best song. Neither was the other one he won for, from Monsters, Inc. The songs from Toy Story, and When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2 were both better, and his BEST film song, That'll Do, from Babe: Pig in the City, should have won, but didn't. It was nice to see him beat Alan Menken, though. And I liked the song from 127 Hours, though I won't see the film!

Hey, guess what? I need another root canal! How exciting is that?

Somebody, please shoot me now. I used the very long Oscar broadcast last night to complete our state and federal taxes. At least the refund we are getting from the IRS will cover the cost of it. And several other things, including our trip to Florida in 25 days! SO excited about that. I really need some sunshine.

Ed: Although I am employed by The Henry Ford, this post, in now way, reflects the opinions of The Henry Ford.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Been a While Edition

How was your Valentines Day? Just a regular day, here, as we both pretty much agree to ignore it...same as Sweetest Day, actually. The only thing I like about Valentine's Day is the conversation hearts, and they are bad for my teeth. They used to be softer...

The hearts, not my teeth.

I'm goin' all retro on ya. Keely is your compere* today...

Yesterday, Gretchen wrote about her TWO dictionaries of the saints, and it flashed my brain back to Catholic school. I used to check these out of the library and look for the most gruesome martyrings. Catherine Wheels were awesome, and St. Lawrence-on-the-Gridiron did NOT play North American football.

I am finding out how many blogs I read are posted with Squarespace because they are currently forced to use the same word verification set up. Bleaargh. Mrs. G. uses Squarespace, and I made the mistake of subscribing to a set of comments there. I had forgotten how many readers Mrs. G has! My Inbox was flashing ALL DAY yesterday.

Keely is the host of this shebang, and Stumble Upon pointed her to an amazing picture...you really have to go to her RTT post to see it. I just want to say, that Bud and I have a deal: If one of us is THAT pissed off at the other, we have agreed to just ask the other party to LEAVE. No weaponry is necessary.

I dropped my boss off at the airport yesterday after work. She'll be in San Francisco for the rest of the week, and was complaining that the weather was "only" going to be in the low 50s for the week. It's a little hard to feel sorry for her, when we are expecting a high of 30 or so for the rest of the week.

Other weather news: It smelled like spring here yesterday. The sun was shining, some of the snow, at least, was melting, and for the last two days, I have heard birds singing in the morning. It's possible I have survived another Michigan winter. If I say that too loud, I'll be smitten with more snow. Bleaargh.

I talked a co-worker into blowing off her afternoon meetings yesterday so that she could accomplish some research and writing that really needed to be done. Not like she was headed to the mall for an afternoon of window-shopping, but it felt good to validate someone's feeling that it was alright to trust herself to prioritize .

How many more days until I leave for Florida? Why, I am very glad you asked. Thirty-eight days until departure. Then ten days of travel, fun, sun, and frugal decadence.

Pitchers report to Training Camp this week. Can I tell uou how happy that makes me? Very happy. Very happy, indeed.

Now go visit Keely, and all the other RTTers.

 

*A word I learned from reading Monty Python scripts. It means master of ceremonies (emcee).

RTT: An Alternative to Real Work

Surely by now, you all know who Keely is...

I could be putting away all the Christmas decorations. Or, I could write a Random Tuesday post...which one will require several trips up-and-down the basement stairs?

I think you know the answer to that question.

I have been selling books on Half.com which is part of eBay. So far, I have sold $100 worth of old books, a few text books, a few otherwise. The campus bookstore generally gives you $5-10 for a used textbook, then re-sells it for $60-70. I have sold texts fro $20-25 meaning BOTH parties get a great deal.

And I fully intend to use the fundage to supply my Kindle habit.

Yesterday, the other departmental part-timer and I showed up for work, not having been informed that Monday was the official holiday for New Year's Day. We released ourselves on our own recognizance around 10:30, having decided that support staff works better when there is someone to support.

On any given day, I find a reason to be on the borderline of a rant about our education system. God forbid someone should actually ask my opinion on the topic. I might explode.

There is a car "parked" in front of a house around the corner from me. It is a POS, and has been parked in the same spot for nearly two months. I suspect it may be a stolen vehicle, but if I call the cops about it and it turns out it belongs to some neighbor kid, I'll feel like a jerk for reporting it. I don't really want a kid to get a ticket just because he can't afford to repair his car...what do I do? Conversely, what if there's a body in the trunk? All suggestions will be entertained.

Oh my God, I am feeling the urge to dust. Send help.