Oh Hai

Yeah, so . . . I had this fantasy that I was going to blog more in 2013. I was going to get back to doing regular Pub Quiz recaps, plus weekly book reports and movie reviews about whatever I've been reading/watching.

But then then the winter blahs kicked in, and for pretty much all of January I didn't feel like doing anything that required actual effort. I still went to Pub Quiz and read books and watched TV/movies, but I didn't feel like taking the extra step of documenting all of that online. I also didn't follow through on my other wacky ideas, like teaching myself the ukulele and learning Italian. It's only February, though, so there's still time.

Anyhow: I did take some crummy iPod Touch photos of some cards I made while I was on winter vacation at my parents' house, so you can enjoy those, I guess. The vague shadows at the bottom are me looming over the cards, because I didn't care enough about proper lighting and whatnot — I just wanted some quick snaps for my project scrapbook (yeah, right —  like I'm actually diligently keeping one of those ... )




These are actually gift tags that I cut up for card decorations

More gift tags that I cut up for card decorations

Yep,  gift tags that I cut up for card decorations

Collage paper with postcard stamps

Learned this technique at a class a few years ago, and I like it a lot.

Floral stickers with a layered paper card kit

Floral stickers with a layered paper card kit

Floral stickers with a layered paper card kit


Fun with masking!  This gnome stamp cracks me up.


This looks better in person -- the silver ink didn't pick up well.

I've had these snowflake embellishments for ages, and finally used them on this set of cards.

Another one that I didn't photograph well, but it's very pretty in person.

Annnd more snowflakes!

You can't have a fancy card without a matching cute envelope... [front]

You can't have a fancy card without a matching cute envelope... [back]









Tuesday Timewaster: Know Your States

I spent most of this morning posting info about an OU alumni event I'm organizing to the walls of a bunch of people I know on Facebook. I should be finishing a manuscript assessment, or finishing proofing an online edition of a social studies unit, or __  or __ or ___  <--- fill in the blanks with any of the sundry tasks on my never-ending to-do list, but instead I'm fiddling around on Know Your States.





Hmm. Maybe geeking around and playing games is why nothing ever gets crossed off of my to-do list? Perhaps I should block certain sites from my work computer? I could  usher in a new era of productivity and inspire everyone else in the office to meet our project deadlines!

Naaaaaahh!






Ambient Noise

I forgot my phone and iPod at home this morning.

Well, I technically remembered once I was in the garage putting my tote bag in the passenger seat, but I decided that I didn't feel like going back inside and disconnecting things from their chargers.

I was super-late already because I didn't go to bed until late (having a multi-hour nap in the middle of the afternoon will throw off your sleep schedule; thank you, Browns-Giants game!) so I didn't feel like getting out of bed.

Then I couldn't remember what I wore last Thursday. I might be wearing the same sweater I wore last week, which I usually try to avoid, but I'm since I'm also avoiding doing laundry, something's gotta give.

By the time I'd gotten out to the car, it was already 8:45ish. It would really have been less than five minutes to double-back and grab my stuff, but I wasn't in the mood. Besides, nobody ever really calls me anyway, so it's not like I'm going to miss anything important.

However, the iPod is nice for blocking out things like the weekly sales team conference call that may as well be happening at my desk since I can essentially hear everything they're talking about down the hall.

I could be rockin' out to awesome tuneage on my iPod (or, more likely, watching Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Hulu) right now, but nooooo.

Although, to be honest, sometimes I have the iPod but neglect to put my headphones on because it's more interesting to eavesdrop.Today's not really one of those days.

Apocalypse Avoided

Well, we didn't win Pub Quiz last night, so the world didn't end. (You're welcome.)

I did, however, show off my knowledge of octothorpes, the words behind the acronym OPEC, and the cast of Dynasty, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

But then again,  I shamefully let down the side with my inability to recall basic Central American geography or tell time: I totally missed the first round because I was geeking around writing yesterday's blog post and because I couldn't remember what time the quiz started. I was a half-hour early for Monday night's quiz, and a half-hour late for last night's because I thought Monday's started at 7 and Wednesday's started at 7:30 — wrong on both counts!

Blogtober?

So, Brave Astronaut has declared this to be Blogtober, and he has announced his goal to blog every day this month. I took issue with this, but mostly only because I feel guilty about not posting over here very much.

As I may or may not have said before, and as you may or may not care, most of the things I used to post about here I now post to Facebook, or I have second thoughts about posting anywhere at all, because it's too much work to craft appropriately snarky/cool commentary that eloquently captures my frame of mind and personal connection to whatever it was I saw online/did in real life and felt a deep and overwhelming connection to, one so massive I had to share it with the world, or at least the roughly 52 people who see my FB posts and/or cruise by here looking for photos of Ryan Gosling naked.

For example, Present & Correct, a UK stationery and sundry shop that I want pretty much one of everything from:





This Dilbert cartoon about editing that is funny because it's true:





This Harry Potter-inspired Butterbeer lip balm that I totally want:





Bert and Ernie in desktop wallpaper form:





This hilarious and great mystery novel I just finished reading, Don't Ever Get Old :








Although, come to think of it, I did post the Butterbeer thing to Facebook. Whatever: The point still stands.

In other news, it's almost time for pub quiz. My team came in first at Monday night trivia, thanks to my intimate knowledge of the finer points of Hoosiers despite never having actually seen the movie. If we win tonight, the world will probably end — we're pretty sure that's what the Mayans predicted.

Although the upside to the world ending is that I won't have to waste time/energy worrying over blogging or not blogging, or eating right and exercising, or cleaning my apartment and doing my laundry. So ... Come on, apocalypse!