I've Moved to WordPress

For the past year I've had my own domain at nancyslife.com. That's were this blog has been pointing too for the past year. Now I've made the move to WordPress. You can still see me through nancyslife.com, but if you've been getting here through my blogspot address, I'll no longer be updating here. So, come on over to nancyslife.com and say Hi and if you are linking to me with my old address still, please update. Thanks.

Let's Try Agian

Okay, so I decided that I wasn't going to go through the hassle with the web host I was trying to get set up at. After that email I posted below, they called me at a completely different number while I was at work. Then they sent an email today saying that my order was flagged for fraud and that they couldn't verify me and to please try again. Whatever. And this was supposed to be one of the good ones. They really need to get their stuff together. So, off I go through the internet again to hunt down a reliable web host for myself. Like I have time to be doing this! I don't have a day off of work until Wednesday and I have a paper due Monday. Ugh.

Update

I finally got an email from the sales department of the host I signed up with asking me to verify my order. The email stated that I could verify through live chat, so I tried that. The live chat agent directed me to a phone number; gee thanks for your help. Below is my response to the sales email (my phone number removed of course):

I can be reached at (phone number removed).

I have to say I am not too happy with your services so far and am rethinking going through with my order. I have waited for more than 72 hours for any type of communication from your company and your email below states that I can confirm my order through live chat, but your live chat agent directed me to your phone number instead of helping me. If I have any more problems, I will be canceling my order and trying another web host.

Sincerely,
Nancy
*****************

We'll see what happens.

Impatience

I signed up with a web host on Sunday, as I said I would. I haven't heard anything yet. I don't think a web host has ever taken this long to get back to me when I've signed up before, ugh. Not looking good guys. Well, once everything is up then I will be downloading WordPress and getting to work. I'm excited and want to get started already. I'm tired of looking at this mess here.

Opening Up to New Possibilities

Possibilities. I'm looking at that word, and it seems like a complicated word. You know how when you look at a word too often it starts to look like it can't be spelled right? Up until a couple of days ago that word just didn't seem right to me. On Friday I received my tax return, and when I received it I felt such a flood of relief. I paid off both of my credit cards right then, and right then a whole new world of possibilities opened up. I am finally free from debt and my finances are finally in the positive, if I don't count my student loans; I think Motley Fool would call it positive debt, ha. The freedom I feel now, while not whole, is a lot bigger than it was and feels so great.

So, 2008 is going to be the year of possibilities for me. School is almost over and some of the changes I have for my blog are coming together. Dates are getting set and plans are being formulated.

To begin, I am making the move to WordPress. As soon as I finish this post I am going to sign up with a host I've researched, and as soon as that is complete I'll be doing the download and moving everything over.

The rest of my plans I will post about later, and I have some that I think you will enjoy. School is almost over and my free time to explore and try new things will be opening up to new possibilities.

I Think I May Just Be Losing It

After being away from the computer all day and then just now looking at my blog...ugh. I hate it. I'll have to try something else.


[Update] Having even worse luck now...I've completely wiped out my widgets. Welcome to my mess. I think the best Ill be able to accomplish at this point is getting a basic template up and reworking the whole thing.

Maybe I'll just have to move to WordPress after all. I miss being able to work on my website and have just the way I like before I upload it. I can do that with WordPress right?

For the Life of Me...

I can not figure out a color scheme! I have always been great with colors; it's one of those things I have always been proud of, but lately my color sense just sucks. It's way too late, and I've been at this for hours...gotta get some sleep at some point. It's another long weekend of work and school.

Don't Mind Me

I'm just playing with some new looks for my blog. :)

Crazy Days

This week, and the past weekend, has been nuts. On Friday I came down with a bad case of bronchitis. I had to call in sick on Saturday which made my boss have to work an entire day; from open to close. I felt horrible.

On Saturday night we noticed a red bump on Baby G's leg in the same spot where he had had his most recent vaccination just the week before. It looked like a bug bite, but we didn't really think anything of it - his vaccination had been over a week ago. The next day though the bump was twice the size as the night before and there was a lump under his skin.

So, on Monday morning I had to get the both of us to the doctor. Baby G's pediatrician has drop in hours between 9am and 9:30am. I called my doctor's office at 8:30am to find out if I could get seen that morning. Lucky me, they had an opening at 10am. So we got to the pediatricians at 9am. The doctor said it could be a staph infection and prescribed some antibiotics. We were out of there at 9:45am. I had to be at my doctors office in 15 minutes! I made it there at 9:57am exactly. Got my prescription for antibiotics and we were on our way to the drug store.

Now, I hate taking medication, and one of the things I love about my doctor is that she doesn't hand out prescriptions willy nilly. She will try to find other ways, if possible to fix the problem. For my migraines, which I get once a month, instead of writing out a prescription for the latest migraine medicine she advised me to keep track of my schedule and take a dose of Tylenol or ibuprofen that day. And you know what? It's working.

So, Baby G and I are both on antibiotics, he's feeling great, I'm feeling better. Hopefully I'll be back to new soon. In the meantime I am trying to concentrate on school and getting my apartment cleaned up.

I'm a Genius

TV Reviews

Just having some fun tonight going through my Google Reader and saw this gadget posted on Life Lessons of a Military Wife. Of course I had to go check out my blog's readability.

Google Blogroll

A long time ago I removed the blog roll I had in my side bar and replaced it with my Google Reader widget which right now you can see over on the right side of the page (it's called Favorite Reads). Over there I can share my favorite posts from my Google Reader. Today I was going through my Google Reader and I saw a post by GoogleTutor about a cool feature of the Google Reader wherein you can add a blog roll from your reader. So, of course I had to try it out. If you scroll down and look at my left side bar you will see that I made one of my Google Reader Tags, Personal Blogs, public and have shared it as a blog roll. I'm glad to have the blog roll back and be able to share the great blogs all the time.
Now I must go chase after my toddler who seems to have taken a crazy pill....

I Will Never Act My Age

You Act Like You Are 28 Years Old

You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel like an adult, and you're optimistic about life. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. You're still figuring out your place in the world and how you want your life to shape up. The world is full of possibilities, and you can't wait to explore many of them.

What Age Do You Act?

Yodeling

Over the past couple of days Baby G has been practicing new sounds. Right now they sound like yodeling to me. Tonight it sounded very familiar and then I remembered where I'd heard it before. From his favorite movie:

January is Over?

How did that happen? I still have things I want to finish before January is over. Not fair! I just put Baby G down for a nap and sat down to get some things accomplished and realized that it is already February. I never got Baby G's 13 month update done, and after going through the last month of blog posts I realized that I also never posted anything about his One Year birthday party. So, following are some of his birthday pictures (from over a month ago...geez):

Star Wars Birthday Boy


Baby G Padawan


Baby G's birthday party was Star Wars themed. He picked that theme out himself. We took him to Party City and walked the birthday aisle and showed him each theme; he went crazy over Darth Vader, so Star Wars it was.

If it has Cheerios...


Baby G did not understand the cake thing. He stared at it, until we put Cheerios on it, then he got it. "Oh! You want me to eat it! Okay!"

Birthday Gifts


He got lots of gifts and had tons of fun.

G'Kar/ Londo 08

2008 Election Gear

*Disclaimer:
For those of you who love, or have it least watched Babylon 5 you'll get a kick out of the above link. If you haven't seen it, you should. Babylon 5 was one of the best television shows to ever be aired.

A Complaint Free Nancy

A couple of days ago at work I picked up a book to put it away and stopped to look at the title. The book was A Complaint Free World by Will Bowen. I quickly skimmed through the book and thought about the subject. I know that I complain, a lot. I sometimes try to justify it by telling myself that I am just stating a fact; whatever that "fact" is, it's almost always negative. Why do I never state positive "facts"?
The past couple of weeks at work have been hellish again and I am getting into my "fact" stating way too much lately. Today as I was walking around red-faced and stating "facts" to everyone (I caught myself and asked myself "why are you doing this?" "Do something about it!")
So what do I do? I know that right now I can not under any circumstances give up a paycheck, especially one with great medical and vacation benefits. I feel stuck yet again. I have a million ideas rolling around in my head. Too many choices are paralyzing me from making a decision, and then there is the fear of failure. There are also legal constraints like not being able to run a business from my apartment; but does the internet count there? A lawyer would be great help, but how do I pay one? How do I find a niche? Why can't I just do something and not hem and haw? Does anyone else go through this? Am I just over-thinking everything?
I was going to write that there is so much to think about, but really? there is so much to do. I have to stop thinking and start doing.

Some Mother-Daughter Bonding

Right now? I'm sitting on the couch next to my daughter. I'm on my laptop, she's on hers. Guess what we're doing?



S: Yo! We can like, talk and stuff! 10:32 PM
S: Without actually talking! 10:32 PM
S: AMAZING! 10:32 PM
S: Well, maybe not. 10:32 PM
S: I still thought it was cool though. 10:32 PM


ME: LOL 10:40 PM
ME: I just saw you in my browser 10:40 PM
ME: ha ha 10:40 PM


S: Uahaha, sneak attack! 10:40 PM


ME: lol

Ah, Mother - Daughter time.

Mondo Beyondo Part 2

Part 2 of Mondo Beyondo has been a little difficult for me. I'm doing it way late, and I think part of that is because I'm a little scared to really ask for what I want. The other part is that I've really been focused on my school work whenever I have some free time, but there has been some time when I could have done this. So, I want to get it out there before January ends and here it is, my list of what I want for 2008 including the BIG FAT SCARY THING:

* Finish my degree. This one seems easy as I have only two classes to complete to be done, but in my paranoid mind I keep coming up with scenarios that would hinder my progress, like my financial aid not coming through for the last class or something.

* Get my apartment cleaned and organized. This one is a tough one and will take quite a lot of work. My apartment is a maze of stuff that just keeps growing no matter how much I get rid of.

* Quit smoking. This is the year I will finally quit for good. I'm going to plan it better this time and start once the BIG stressor is out of the way; school.

*Focus on learning to make good quality jewelry. So far this has been a great hobby and I am having tons of fun with it and would like to learn even more and get better at it.



The Big Scary Thing:

Start a Business. I want to be doing something I love and enjoy, I am tired of working for "the man" and dealing with the corporate mentality all day everyday. This year I will make a big change and make myself happy.

Back to Busy

Has it really been two weeks since I posted?! I swear it seems like it's only been two days. I started back to school on the 8th and have been absorbed in Biology since then. I've made a few visits to some blogs while I was supposed to be doing homework, but for the most part I've been immersed in DNA, RNA, and nucleotides. I'm far behind in blog postings. I still need to post Mondo Beyondo part 2, and I haven't done Baby G's 13 month update. I hate to say that I haven't been taking pictures either *hides head in shame*. Since I am caught up with school work I can try to remedy that tomorrow; I hope. I am beginning to get super excited because after this class? I have only two more to complete and then I will have my degree! WooHoo! I have worked so dang hard for this and am so proud that I have hung in there. Okay, I have to go play and then try to get some sleep, I have another loooong day ahead tomorrow.

Mondo Beyondo

Andrea at Superhero Designs has given us the first part of the Mondo Beyondo challenge for 2008. I'm posting my answers here, and I encourage you to complete this exercise as well. It's a great way to finalize the previous year and prepare yourself for the new.

1. What do you want to acknowledge yourself for in regard to 2007?
(What did you create? What challenges did you face with courage and strength? What promises did you keep to yourself? What brave choices did you make? What are you proud of?)
What I am most proud of from this last year was the step I took in deciding to really get into jewelry making and showing it to the world. I was very scared in the past to show off my arts and crafts and this past year I decided “not anymore.” I just went to work and started posting on my blog about it. Then, I created a blog just for the purpose of sharing my work. Then, a complete stranger emailed me and wanted to buy one of my pieces. I’m very proud of myself for continuing with school while working full-time and caring for a new baby. This past year was tough, but I stuck with it and will now have a degree in just a few short months. I’m proud that I was able to make the majority of my son’s food, and that I was able to let the perfection go when I needed to (Gerber Organics). I’m also proud that I lost almost all of the baby weight.
2. What is there to grieve about 2007?
(What was disappointing? What was scary? What was hard? What can you forgive yourself for?)
I was very disappointed that I could not continue with breastfeeding. I am disappointed that I did not take care of my health. I’m slightly annoyed with myself for letting my son watch so many dvd’s so I could get my schoolwork done. This past year was extremely rough on my and Aaron’s relationship, and I’m sad that we have lost our feeling of togetherness and have created some resentments.
3. What else do you need to say about the year to declare it complete?
2007 was a challenging year and I feel content that I met most of the challenges. I’m looking forward to all the great things that will come my way in 2008 as a result of my hard work this past year.

Storm Update

I turned my computer back on because I had some things I needed to check on, so I figured I'd post an update. Here's an article:
Fierce Arctic storm lashes California

I live in the Bay Area. While my electricity has not gone out yet, I did get a call from work. The San Rafael bridge is out and one of my coworkers can't get to work, so I'll be going in to work tonight. Which works out fine for me because now I have tomorrow off.
Turning the computer back off and going to work on some jewelry until I have to leave for work....

Stormin

We have a nice storm blowing through here today. I think I am going to turn off my computer and go find something else to do.
Right now Baby G and I are enjoying some Old School Sesame Street. Here's one of my favorite sketches:



enjoy!

More Clean

Maggie Mason of Mighty Girl gave her readers a project and in my effort to get my laptop cleaned up I took on the project. I made my desktop nicer to look at, loaded the picture to my Flickr account and tagged the picture “desktopahh." Here's my new clean desktop:



Check out the other beautiful desktops here.

Done

Here it is, a nice clean Google Reader. As you can see I added a subscription while cleaning it out. Now I'm up to 64.

Clean Up

I have to get ready for work in a couple of hours and wanted to get started on some cleaning on my computer. There is a long list of things to clean and organize on this here laptop. I figured I'd start with something easy today; my Google Reader. I have 63 subscriptions at the moment, and that is after deleting some subscriptions I no longer read just a few days ago. I also had over 1000 (Google doesn't give an exact count over that number) of unread items. So right now I am going through and deleting the majority of these items and starring the items I really want to keep and read later. It shouldn't take me too long and then I can start fresh for the New Year and get on to cleaning out one of my email accounts that has 9906 (you read that number correctly) unread emails. Some of that number may be spam, but the majority is newsletters I never read and receipts for items purchased or confirmations for websites I signed up at. I keep two separate email addresses, one for personal mail, and the other for everything else.

Happy 2008!