Day: March 23, 2009

Morning. Er. Afternoon.

It’s Monday. Already. Where did the weekend go again?

From The Simple Woman’s Daybook:

Outside my window… it’s windy. Spring winds are blowing in and I see our Maple trees are starting to bloom. I have mixed feelings about this – one on hand, spring is nearly here and it’ll be nice to hear the soft rustle of the leaves once again. But on the other hand, this means the four huge oak trees in our neighbor’s yard, just across the street, will also be blooming soon. And that means severe allergies for MK. 😦

I am thinking… that I have finally figured out why I’ve been so … brain-dead these past several weeks when it comes to blogging. I’m way too invested in the social networking time wasters. Don’t get me wrong, I ENJOY Twitter and I LOVE Google Reader, but that’s my problem, I love these programs too much. I’m spending way too much time on them and not enough time documenting my thoughts and life here on this blog.

And of course, THAT is way more important than building online friendships. (I’m kidding in case you didn’t catch that note of sarcasm).

I’m also thinking I probably shouldn’t share this video with you, but dang it, it’s funny AND true. In fact, I finally had to unfollow one gal on Twitter because her updates came every five seconds and were the most mundane tweets in the history of mundane tweets.

Tweet in moderation, folks. Please.

From the learning rooms… I’m really excited about this new blog design:

Dale, my buddy and pal over at Write Anything, graciously spent his Friday working on this re-design. Ain’t it da bomb?? LOVE it. I wanted something gender-neutral because we have both men and women writing for the Write Anything blog and I think the orange figures are perfect for that. I also love the orange guy mopping at the very bottom of the template: how fitting!

I’m looking forward to dissecting his code to find out how he configured the sidebar. I’m thinking I might have to use the same WordPress theme (Vigilance) here at Write From Karen in future designs. It’s very clean and easy to read.

I am thankful for… Kevin is finally going to the doctor. He’s a very poor sleeper and is tired all the time as a result. He’s had sleeping problems his entire life and has tried just about everything you can possibly think of to try and get a good night’s sleep.

Nothing has worked.

He’s going to his general doctor today, because the sleep clinic requires a doctor’s referral (don’t you hate all of the health care hoops you have to jump through?), but I’m thinking that when he gets to the crux of the problem, it’ll be sleep apnea. The man stops breathing – it’s so scary.

From the kitchen… Kevin made us BBQ fajitas for dinner last night. Oh. My. Gosh. They were so delicious. My husband is such a fabulous cook. He truly is! I wish I had half his patience when it comes to putting meals together. We’re having crockpot chicken tonight. Making crockpot meals is about as creative as I get when it comes to cooking.

I am reading… Nothing, at the moment. Which is another reason I think I’ve been spending way too much time on Twitter and Google Reader. I miss reading.

I’m getting ready to read a Harlequin romance on my Kindle. I haven’t read anything from Harlequin in quite some time. And the only reason I’m doing so now is because they had a promotion a while back giving free e-books away.

I thought, at one time, I’d like to write for Harlequin, but I think I would get bored with the formulaic approach to that market. I prefer to insert some twists and turns in my story and sometimes, life doesn’t always end happily ever after.

I am hoping… That I have finally figured out my digestive problems.

For those just tuning in, I’ve discovered, in just the past few years, that I’m not able to eat the same foods anymore. They affect me differently and well … let’s just leave it at that because for me to go further would push that information into the “too much information” category.

Suffice it to say, I’ve been taking Digestive Advantage and that stuff seems to really be helping me. I’ve been watching my diet, I’ve been walking on a regular basis and I haven’t had any problems for the past few weeks.

This has been such a huge blessing, and a relief, I can’t even begin to tell you. There are a few … unpleasant side effects from my adjustments, but again, let’s just say I’m dealing with them in the most natural way I know how.

I refuse to go to the doctor. I have no desire to be put on synthetic drugs – not when I can find a more natural alternative. If it gets any worse, I promise I’ll go to the doctor.

*fingers crossed*

I am creating… A week-long story to post for when we go on our cruise. I’d like to post a steamy romance story. My problem? Trying to make it PG-13 and not R-rated. I wouldn’t want to offend anyone, but I hate to put too many restrictions on the story, either.

I am hearing… Kevin mowing our lawn for the first time this season. He’s also flattening mole hills. Our neighborhood moles LOVED us this year. Our yard looks like someone planted landmines all over it. In fact, I just went outside to ask Kevin a question and I nearly twisted my ankle because our yard is so uneven.

Picture the dude from Caddy Shack chasing the gopher – that’s my husband chasing our moles exactly.

Around the house… Kevin put a sump pump under our house last weekend. It’s sort of a pet peeve of his having water under the house. Because then it’s moist and we start breathing mold spores. So he put a sump pump in to help alleviate that problem.

He went back under the house earlier today (he has today and tomorrow off from work), and in the process of plugging any leaks in our duct system, he stumbled across a gas leak.

Yeah. Not good.

He says it’s not very severe and there is enough ventilation under the house to disperse the fumes, but he’s very glad he found it before he sealed it up, that could have been very dangerous.

We’ve got a guy coming at 3:00 to fix it. It’s always something, isn’t it?

One of my favorite things… Dried pancakes.

I know, weird right? But honestly, it’s low-fat and it fills me up. I make a batch about every two days and between me and MK munching on them, they’re usually gone in 24-hours.

If you go that route, don’t dip them in syrup then you’re sort of defeating the whole low-fat portion of this equation. 🙂

A few plans for the rest of the week… The kids are on Spring Break this week. So, we don’t really have any plans, per se – just whatever we feel like doing.

But there are three things I’d like to get done this week:

1. Take GD to the DMV and have him take his learner’s permit test.

2. Find a new, better quality, saxophone for MK.

3. Replenish GD’s t-shirt supply. (They are getting too small and he says he feels “gay” in them. LOL)

I’d also like to get some writing done … but how many times have you heard that one?

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you…

MK is the blonde boy in the front holding his saxophone up over his head like it weighs a 100 pounds. And he’s such a scrawny thing, it probably does! 😀