librarygrrrl.net

With this post, I complete my NaBloPoMo experiment. Thirty days of posts in a row. I’m sure there are a lot of navel-gazing posts today about this - you’ll find no exceptions here. Some things I noticed this month:

• it’s easier to blog when something funny happens
• for the most part, memes are an easy out and should be avoided
• BWT (blogging when tired) isn’t a good idea
• blog before late hockey practice/games
• posts with photos are much more fun
• I like it when people comment.

So while I may not post this much until next November, I will probably post more often than I have. I’ll go back and read the posts of this November in a few days to find out what seems most interesting to folks and will try to learn some lessons from that. And heck, you’re going to keep on getting photos of the dogs because I love them.

With that, I’m BWT again, so I’m off to watch a little more television before I crawl into bed for a good night’s sleep.

I had a photo essay all arranged, and then Flickr died.

In words: Maggie with stuffed bone. Maggie begins to destuff stuffed bone. Maggie really gets into the destuffing and ears appear as though flying. Maggie bring bone to me to throw. She grabs it away from me. I throw it behind the television stand. The heating vent gets in the way. Hesitation, hesitation, hesitation. Maggie finally grabs the now-destuffed bone and life is good.

Trust me, the photos are better. Damn.

Edited the next morning

Success! Start the series here (to move from photo to photo, look for my photostream on the right side of the page and click “next”.)

I should also mention that in this entire series, Maggie’s saying, “Thanks Liberace, Libbossy, Libby, and of course, Comet!”

Thanks goodness Flickr came back up. I’d be sad if it didn’t.

There are a few things in my life that I’m really grooving on lately. Rather than hoard that information, it seems only fair to share it with all of you, my numerous readers!

Tivoli Audio Fashion PAL Portable Audio Laboratory AM/FM Radio in sky blue

This small, battery-operated, rechargeable radio is just the right thing for my bathroom. I love the sound, the reception is AMAZING (seriously - I pick up stations from Providence, RI), and it’s so darn cute I could die. Yes, it’s expensive. I splurged on it, because the bathroom is the one place where I need to have peace and calm in the morning. I wanted no cords draped all over the place. This fits perfectly on the bathroom cabinet. I love it!

Kiss My Face fragrance free moisture shave cream

I can’t begin to express how much I love this shave cream. It doesn’t smell (a plus in my book, ymmv), you only need a small amount of it, and it lathers up really nicely. My legs (when I do take the time to deal with them) are always happiest when I use this shave cream over soap or other body washes/shave creams.

No One Cares What You Had For Lunch

Blogger and mightygoods.com writer Margaret Mason offers up the blogger’s version of writing prompts. NaBloPoMo made me realize how stinky some of my posts are (who CARES about all those memes anyway?) and this book gives me lots of ideas to make this blog a wee bit better.

Google Reader

I love how Google Reader has changed my blog-reading habits. It’s so much easier for me to navigate through all the chaff and get to the wheat. And no annoying Bloglines plumber for me!

J. Crew factory store corduroys

You can’t get them online, from the catalogs, or in the regular stores. I know because I tried (no way I’m paying more than $50 for a pair of cord, which always wear out faster than other pants for me). But they have these cords in the outlets which are the Perfect Cords for Me. I’m in the smallest size I’ve worn in literally years - and this is because I’m at my lowest BMI in years too. Hockey plus some dedicated work after last winter’s moving/moping/new job/eatingfest has paid off. But these cords - I got one pair and loved them so much that I braved the Wrentham Outlets outside of Boston a few weeks ago to pick up three more pair. I now own them in: light sage green, dark sage green, grey, and a warm honey-brown.

Milky Way mini candy bars (leftover from Halloween)

Apparently I like candy bars with caramel in them. How do I know this? The Twix mini candy bars are gone from the jumbohumongousgigantic bag of candy we got from Costco. And tonight I think I finally found the last Milky Way in the bag. Granted, I’ve thought that before, and always another one surfaces. We’ll see if my luck holds out beyond tonight.
Timex Easy Reader watch with expansion band

It’s been a looooong time since I owned a watch I liked. Normally I agonize over watch purchases, going for something that is exactly perfectly right. On Monday I was in a bunch of meetings where I was supposed to be keeping time, only it was hard to do without a.) a computer (my normal timepiece) or b.) my cell phone (my backup timepiece). So in a fit of needing a watch now, I headed to Target and found this little dandy piece. And I got it way cheaper than they have it listed for at Times! It’s been on my wrist all day and not once has it annoyed me. That is the sign of a fabulous watch in my world.

On a different note, this is just weird.

When I was at my folks’ place for Thanksgiving, I got to see my dad’s bird-feeding setup. Let me tell you, this man knows his birds and how to feed them.

There are lots of the regular sorts of birds you’d expect to see in the average Minnesota backyard - finches, chickadees, jays, crows, grackles, sparrows, etc. But my folks also get a few other really cool birds in their yard.

The first: there’s some kind of hawk living in the area. Among other things, it eats other birds. A couple of years ago I saw that happen outside of the bathroom. It was gross, but fascinating.

The second: there are 4 types of woodpeckers! The diminutive Downy, the huge Hairy, the Red-Bellied (which really has a red head and not much red on the body at all, but the name Red-Headed was already taken), and the COOLEST of all: the Pileated! The pileated woodpecker that lives in the neighborhood dropped by a few times and I tried to take some photos. Rather than show you those (which aren’t very good) I thought I’d show you some better ones from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds Guide.

The best part of the bird-watching and bird-feeding extravaganza isn’t the birds, though. It’s the squirrel-proofing that goes on. My favorite is the bird feeder that has a battery-operated spinner on the bottom that only gets activated when heavy things (like squirrels and crows) sit on it. The only squirrel who attempted it while we were there got QUITE the ride. Fortunately, he let go on the out-spin, so he didn’t get flung into the deck. He sat on the ground for a bit, staring the way little kids do after they get off their first Tilt-a-Whirl ride. Finally, he staggered away and crawled up a tree. Bad though it may be of us to laugh as hard as we did, we couldn’t help it.

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Cashier at a liquor store
2. Summer camp counselor
3. Librarian (duh!)
4. Bookstore lackey

Four movies I could watch over and over
1. Princess Bride
2. The Cutting Edge (stop laughing)
3. The Matrix
4. Run Lola Run

Four places I have lived:
1. Aitkin, MN
2. Cedar Falls, IA
3. Philly!
4. Baton Rouge, LA

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. Monday Night Football (but not any longer, as hockey practice is Monday night…)
3. The Simpsons
4. What Not To Wear (yes, I’ll go hand in my feminist card now…)

Four (island) places I have been on vacation:
1. St. John, USVI
2. Nova Scotia
3. San Juan Islands, WA
4. Crete

Four websites I visit regularly:
1. www.google.com/reader
2. www.flickr.com
3. www.librarything.com
4. www.librarygrrrl.net

Four of my favorite foods:
1. pearson’s salted nut rolls
2. sushi
3. tortilla chips
4. guacamole

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Italy (anywhere in Italy - really!)
2. Paris
3. In bed
4. Playing hockey