So Much

Lots going on now. Tuesday my new class started; Creative Writing. I've always wanted to take a creative writing class, I could sure use the help in learning to write better, and I needed to take some electives to finish up my degree, so I decided to finally take the plunge. It should be interesting and I hope that I will be able to share some writing here.

I joined a book club. JennyH., Princess of Quite a Lot, started a book club after she participated in the book meme. We are reading A Confederacy of Dunces, which is by the way, quite funny so far. She's calling for more people to join...head on over and check it out.

I'm working on a completely new look for my blog. I'm tired of the clutter and need something new. So keep your eye here for something new soon. I've got my other blog, Nancy Kay Creations to work on as well. I need to post more projects over there and give it a new look as well.

Baby G (who's full name I almost typed out, eeek.I don't know why I won't use his full name. I'd love to share it as its a very cool name with an interesting story behind it. Maybe one day.) turned 10 months yesterday. I don't have pictures loaded yet, so I'll get to that post later.

Right now, I need to get working on all this stuff I have to do....

Nancy Kay Creations

I wasn't sure when to post this. I'm hoping that I don't jinx myself by posting this now. You all know how often I come in here apologizing for not posting for soooooo long. How will I ever keep up? I just decided, "what the heck!" I've created a new blog that showcases my creative endeavors. I make jewelry, knit, take pictures, paint, and many other things, but I'm not an expert in anything and sometimes feel that what I create just isn't good enough. I need to get over that big time!. But regardless of my expertise, or non expertise, I love to create. So here it is Nancy Kay Creations. I hope that this will be a way for me to put myself out there, to take a leap outside my comfort zone a little and share a part of myself that I get really self-conscience about. Maybe it will lead to my sharing more here. Who knows? I hope that you will enjoy it.

Headers

So I've been toying with the idea of putting up a new header each month.
I decided to start this month with a header that is dedicated to my daughter, who turns 18 in just a week. OMG, 18! Am I really old enough to have an 18 year old child?!
Next time I'll be sure to size the header correctly, *slaps forehead*.

Playing Around With Template

Just playing around with my template today...so if it keeps changing on you, that's why :)

[Update]: 10 am: Yay! I finally found a three column template. How does it look? I'll probably play around some more, but I think I like it. I also got rid of a lot of extra side bar stuff, but only because I can't remember half of what was there (so why re-add it if I don't even remember it?)

10:15am: Now to figure out how to add my own header.

11:37am: Yay! I did it. Thanks to Tech Trouble! Now...I have to make a new header. (I was trying to make one while holding a squirmy baby, ugh.)

2pm: New header in place. Yay Me! Just need to tweak a few things and I'll be all done. We've got a nice storm coming through now so I may have to turn off the computer, fun.

Google Reader

Well, Google has now made it really easy to put my Google Reader widget on my blog, so...I've gotten rid of all my links in the side bar and have added my Google Reader box. Thanks for the advice Jay! If you were listed in my links, I still have you in my Google Reader and you'll see yourself listed in my little box every so often. I still love you all!

Yet Another Template Change

Yes, I did it again. I have a neurotic need for change, I guess. While I hate the Blogger templates, this works for me function wise. I have the page elements I want. I'll be playing with the colors though.

hmmmm....

While I love my new layout and background, the functionality of my blog is kinda sucky. I may need to trash it and start over with one of the Blogger layouts. I hate, hate, hate the Blogger templates! I really should just get a new domain just for my blog, but I don't know if I can afford the added expense right now.

In other news...I haven't been feeling real great the past few days. We've been going through hell with Baby G. He's on the Zantac now, and starting to sleep better; hopefully his new sleeping patterns are a trend towards him sleeping LONGER than one hour at a time. Thanks to the medication (I think) we have been able to start him on a schedule.
On Tuesday I was up for 24 HOURS! I had been up for about 18 to 20 hours the day before and then I had about 3 or 4 hours of sleep just before the 24 hour thing and had only gotten about a 30 minute nap 3 hours into the 24 hour thing. (Does any of that makes sense?) By the end of the day Tuesday I was a wreck. I had had almost no sleep for 24 hours and for at least 12 of those hours I had to deal with a screaming baby. By the time Aaron got home from work I was a mess, my eyes were red from crying and I could barely speak. After that I got 5 hours of sleep and had to go back to baby care so Aaron could get some sleep before work. When I got up yesterday morning I started crying again, I was just so darn tired! I can totally understand why sleep deprivation is used as a means of controlling someone's mind. UGH! Luckily Baby G was an angel yesterday. He stuck to his new schedule and when he was awake he giggled and smiled and had fun. *Sigh*. Hopefully today goes just as well, because I am totally stressing over financial issues and the disorganized mess my home has become; I thought it was bad before I had a baby.
Smoking? Exercise? Hahahaha. Um, yea. I may need to see the doctor about getting back on Welbutrin.

New Look

I did it! I spent a lot of time yesterday with this, so I got it done quickly today. I had given up on it yesterday because I was having some trouble with some of the elements. I decided to give it one more try...I'm glad I did. The background is one I made about 3 years ago to use elsewhere. I just need to add a couple things from my previous template and I'll be good to go.

Pimpzilla Browsing

Pimpzilla Browsing
Originally uploaded by ladyrhowan.

I'm now browsing in style! Check out this cool Theme for Firefox from http://www.pimpzilla.nl/

In other news:

Baby G is smiling! I got a great big smile this morning when he woke up. As soon as he saw me, he smiled. I melted....
Also, he has a knarly case of baby acne, ugh. It's a good thing he won't remember it, and doesn't need to worry about girls just yet.

Edited to add: This is my 100th post!

Comments

Okay,
I've turned off comment moderation. It's a comment free for all now. If I start getting comment spam again, I'll turn moderation back on, but for now, feel free to comment away. :)

New Template

After much searching I finally found a template I really like. I picked it up from Free Blogger Templates There are some very nice templates there. The templates aren't "busy" as with most other template places I've seen. The instructions are easy to understand if you have any experience with HTML, luckily I used to hand code my old website so it wasn't that difficult. The argyle suits my studious nature. :)

Blog Template

I got a comment a couple days ago that was more a question than comment. I decided not to accept the comment, but instead just post about it so that I can answer as best I can for more than one person. I know from experience how frustrating it is to work with these templates. I'll try my best to answer the question. Essentially she wanted to know how I got my template posted. If I were to try to do the same thing again right now, I would have to start from scratch. I just spent the past 3 hours trying to figure out how to post my own template (as you can see it hasn't worked yet). I am great with the design aspect; put me in front of PhotoShop or PaintShop Pro, and I'll come up with some beautiful designs; I can even make a nice web site, but throw all those Blogger tags in and my brain goes dead. Really what you have to do, once you have your new template code, is to read through your current code to see where to copy and paste the code into. That is how I work it, just reading the code and copy and pasting where appropriate; also lots of previewing until I get it right.
She also wanted to know if putting up a new template would erase pictures and whatnot already on the blog. Well, if the picture is part of a post, in the main area, no; but you will want to save all your links and other postings from the nav bar, this will be erased and you will have to copy and paste what you want there again. The best thing to do is read the help files on the Blogger Dashboard. Hopefully this was helpful in some way.

In other news: My vacation is almost over. It started out great. I got to help my sis move into her new place and got to spend some great quality time with her and my nieces. It was a really nice weekend, and I am so happy to have her living so much closer. I've spent the past few days putting some order into my own place. Aaron and I have so much stuff in our little one bedroom apartment, it feels very congested and stifling. I've managed to keep the livingroom and kitchen clean for two whole days in a row, lol. We'll see what happens when I am back to the daily grind of work and school. I have not done much else. I feel like I need another week or two. I've been watching a lot of Digital Life TV with Aaron; cool show, I love Robert and Patrick. I still miss Tech TV.
What I have gathered from my week off from work is that I really love being at home, a lot. I love having the time to keep the place in order, I love having the time to myself, I love being free to do what I want when I want. If I could figure out how to go back to part-time work while supplementing my income with something online, I'd be a happy camper. First I'll have to figure out that CSS stuff.

Back to Work

Christmas and New Years are over; my daughter is on her way back to her dad's; my sick time off from work is over; and now it's time to go back to work. I am filled with dread. I'm still sick and I didn't get the "time alone" I needed to re-energize. I still hate my job and I just can't figure out how to get over it and move on. Maybe this will be the year I finally make the big changes in my life that I keep putting off; we'll see.

New Template

What do you think?
I think it's a very pretty background. It may take some time for me to get used to, and it will do until I can figure out how to create a template on my own. I had my own web site for years and can design pretty much any background, but with all the coding involved with the blog, I'm feeling a little behind and unsure of how to proceed. I spent the day just being very confused and finally gave up and got a template from somewhere else.
It's back to work tomorrow after having been off due to sickness for the past 5 days. Even though I will not miss the sickness, I will certainly miss the free time. I was really starting to feel better; more relaxed. Oh well.

Better and Better

Things have been getting better. I've started getting my apartment cleaned out. We have so much stuff and no room for anything; it's just created a constant mess. The messiness creates an atmosphere of frustration and anxiety, which in turn makes me tired and cranky and depressed. So I've spent the past week going through things and getting rid of things. I threw out 6 bags of trash, most of it shredded paper, and got about 5 or 6 boxes cleared out of the bedroom. We still have a long way to go, but it's a start. I am feeling lighter today and less frenetic. I'm trying to decide on a posting schedule that I can stick to so I am updating more often. Also, I'm trying to decide if I should just focus on one or two topics here. My passions are video games and the internet and I am really getting into knitting. I am a 30 something year old female who loves video games and knits; are there that many of us out there? I have no clue.
Tonight I'll be eating pizza and watching the new Star Wars DVD that was just released. I'm not overwhelmingly excited about Star Wars, but I get to spend time with Aaron. :)

Time for change

All this stress and burn-out I have been experiencing can only mean one thing....change is needed. When I think about doing something else, like making money some other way, I feel excited and hopeful. I really want, no need, to do something different, I'm just not sure what. So far today I've gone over a few different things I can do right now to get started doing something different, and I feel like I may be on the right track. Also, right now I need to be working on my final for class, which is due today. I need to do a lot of research to see if I can get started doing what I want, right now. Making a living while having time for family and friends, and myself, is what we all want and right now I really need it.