Sunday, January 31, 2010

UnFollow

Edited, to be "nicer" and less crazy-inducing.

Most of the people I removed (today) were for their abuse of Foursquare, a game of sorts, that when un-customized sends a boring message whenever the enrolled phone encounters the GPS of a site that is listed. I think it's stupid and it's dangerous to tell strangers you are away from home or exactly where you are…and it’s stupid for businesses to put much time or energy into it. It’s kinda like 2 years ago, when everyone was pushing for people to follow their RSS feed—it’s a TOOL, a marketing component, not a business plan. And you wouldn’t use a hammer when you need a screw-driver.

Unfollowing or de-friending is tricky. It is what our friend Cory calls "the new cruelty" because people get offended by your unfollowing or de-friending. I feel it's uncharted territory, all of a sudden we’re inviting all sorts of strangers into our stream of consciousness. Is this a good idea? We don't know them, and yet, we're allowing them to influence us with their moods, their habits, their likes and dislikes. What if they don't have our best interests in mind? What if their addictions or their depression is contagious? Sure, they have potential to be good influences, too, but that's not what this particular blog post is about.

Sometimes the un-follow is for THEIR sake, you know you aren't good for them to be following--like, you cause them to be argumentative, or you just don't see eye to eye, but they won't unfollow you first...it's merciful to let people be free of you, I think. Also, I won’t let certain people follow me in the first place. If you don’t need to know, you don’t need to follow. As the week goes on, I am planning to do more removal of people. If I haven’t met you, you don’t live in-state, and you really actually like following me, please re-follow, and connect. I’m not really interested in having fans, so much as having friends.

Concluding thought, also courtesy of Cory: at the end of the day, you’re just 60x60 pixels to me.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Birthday Party

So, I'm 30, and in honor of this, I'm making a party for my friends, and having them bring donations for The Pet Project Midwest's Pet Pantry. I think about 30 friends are coming, I'm looking forward to introducing my old friends to some newer ones.

Of course the bar in the man cave is stocked and the house is clean....what on earth am I making for food!? This has been plaguing me all week. I want to use ingredients I already own, as our pantry is in a crazy state of over-stock...

1. Cream cheese stuffed mushrooms (hot)
2. Bacon-wrapped pineapple chunks (hot)
3. Spinach-artichoke dip (hot)
4. Crudite and dill dip (cold)
5. Cheezeburger dip (hot)
6. Cheese and 6 kinds of crackers (cold)
7. Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks and marshmallows
8. Cake. Obviously.

What else? Am I missing anything else? Is what I'm making too pedestrian? Do I need something with fruit? Let me know!

30


Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes. I love you!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Clarke County Animal Shelter

Let's HELP Clarke County Animal Shelter. I read the KCCI news story like all of you, and was heartbroken, I immediately called and made an appointment to go to Clarke County to help them with what I can do--which was take pics and videos of all of the remaining animals and post them on a new Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clarke-County-Animal-Shelter-Clarke-County-Iowa/259296843611 also started a Twitter account for them, it is @ClarkeAnimals, and I invite you to follow that feed and tell others about it.

Clarke is a relatively nice shelter, compared to many I've been in, we're starting from a very promising jumping-off point. The shelter director, Sarah is a very nice person. She is young, and she's been shouldering all of this stress with extreme grace. Most importantly: I found her to be completely open to new ideas, new projects, new ways of thinking that SAVE LIVES.

Let's get together, let's create some GREAT new programs and committees to fulfill them: Spay/Neuter, Transport, Fostering and Rescue release/transfer, Adoption Events, Food Bank, Trap-Neuter-Return...I am sure you can think of more! When do you all want to get together, would evening or a weekend day work better to meet up and create these committees? Does anyone have access to a large space where 282+ people can meet? Let's talk!



Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hoar Frost












The frost this morning was amazing to examine up-close.

According to the internet:
Hoar frost forms when water vapor condenses and immediately freezes on the surface of an object that has been chilled below 32°F. If the object's surface temperature is above 32°F, the vapor will condense as dew.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Dirt Lust

Today I went to Home Depot for some CHEAP TUBS. $3.60-ish for peacock blue, chartreuse or brown. I went for a combo of mostly blue, with some green. I thought that stacked on the white melamine shelves in our garage, it would look neat to have the occasional green box in a wall of bright blue. I want the garage to look more uniform, and cheerier, I think this will do the trick!



While I was perusing the plastic, I noted $1.00 plants on the indoor plant clearance table. I felt like having a plant fix--I
have missed the smell of potting soil and dying plant matter and leaves...and I just happened to have two Cocker Spaniel-shaped planters that need small plants!




Question for you all about knick-knacks...what do you do with your tiny treasures? I have a ton of these tiny porcelain figurines, and two ugly brown thimble boxes to house them. I think I'll paint the boxes white this next summer, and put them on display somewhere. Until then, do these go into storage? It's tough getting rid of inherited knick-knacks, but I was there when all of these were purchased...clockwise from the top, the Iowa bird is from the 1983 Rose Bowl, the whale and the dolphin were gifts my Grandma picked up in Hawaii, the raccoon and the skunk are both from run-ins my Grandparents had with wildlife...my Grandma got 3 skunk figurines as gifts from the time that she and her dog startled one in the woods! I still remember the smell of skunk, the phone call when she asked my Mom to get her more cans of tomato juice, the sight of a LOT of tomato juice in a kiddie pool for bathing the dog, and the feeling of sun-warmed, dry grass under my feet, walking over to their house across the street from my childhood home. I can remember all of these things, but I really remember these things when I handle the figurines. One generation away, I feel like I really still have a connection to these items, but what about my kids? There's basically no way I can share these memories with them. Do I try? Or do I not worry about that? Thoughts?

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Wedding Photos--How many is too many?

How many wedding pictures is too many to use in home decor?

I framed this grouping of 5X7 items last night, I feel like this finished product displays some of the most expensive parts of our wedding and reception--the photographer, the dress, the announcements, the invitations--and allows me to get rid of other memento clutter.

But, back to my question--I have a photo collage from our wedding in the family room, a formal picture in the dining room, this in the kitchen, a two-some in the stairwell and Patrick has 3 pictures in his office, one in the man cave and one in his man-cave bathroom. That may be a lot, but we do have a lot of blank wall space! I suppose that once we have a child, pictures of that child will grace the walls. In home-staging, the experts like Sabrina Soto say that personal pictures are a no-no, but our house isn't for sale, so I suppose we display to our heart's content.

Fighting left-over clutter from the wedding is something that everyone needs to do, but the wedding process is so long and your brain is trained to keep and retain anything information that might ward off or help mitigate bad luck on the wedding day. I have left wedding mode and have moved on to other things, so I'm ready to get rid of the stuff I don't need anymore. First, I have these books for sale:

The Knot Book of Wedding Lists by Carly Roney
Wedding Readings by Eleanor Munro
Wedding Blessings by June Cotner
The Knot Guide to wedding vows and traditions by Carly Roney
The Conscious Bride by Nissenen
Wedding Speeches and Toasts by Darren Noel
Here Comes the Bride by Jaclyn Geller

Friday, January 1, 2010

Entryway Decor


So, what do you think?