No life...

Proving once again that I have no life and need to leave my house more often, I present my first video of the dog. I just got one of those Flip camcorders and have nothing better to shoot, of course...

Go Vermont!

Wow, first Iowa and now Vermont!  Oh, to live in a state that isn’t stuck in the dark ages…

 

If it's Good 4 Girls, it's Good 4 ALL OF US!

A while back, Crunchy Chicken got the awesome idea of rounding up reusable sanitary napkins to send to girls in developing nations, such as Kenya and Uganda. Well, her awesome idea has blossomed into Good 4 Girls, and is getting a LOT of attention...so much in fact that she can't keep up with the demand.

Crunchy needs help! If you think this is as great of a cause as I do, please consider making a donation. It can be monetary, or in the form of a homemade or purchased pad. There are a number of online stores from which to buy.
If you are in the Omaha area and want to join me for a pad-making party, or just go in on shipping out a package, let me know! No girl's education should suffer for lack of a rag.
I'll put my money where my mouth is - I'm donating $10 right now...
(20 seconds later)
See, that was easy and painless. The hardest part was remembering my PayPal password!

Good for Goodwill!

A while back I talked about the Staples electronics recycling program.  We have an old computer sitting in our garage, and this was one option I was considering for its disposal.  Well, the Goodwill just announced that it will start accepting computers as donations!  They will resell those units that are in decent shape (under 5 years old) and recycle the rest.  Plus it’s free for the donor (many computer recyclers charge for this service).  I guess I know where our old computer is going…

Just me, quirks and all...

~summer~ tagged me for the “Six Quirky Things MEME.” Oh, gee, let's see... this probably a really not-smart thing to do when I'm feeling all under-the-weather, but oh well...
(Update: yeah, this has been sitting in my "Draft" folder for like 2 weeks now...damn cold!)

The rules are:
1. Link to the person that tagged you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. 4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. 5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So, on to the important stuff - me:
1. I don't know what milk tastes like. I haven't had a glass of milk since I was like, 7, and decided that I hated milk. The one time I tried it since then (around 9 or so) I threw up. I do actually use milk in recipes or on cereal, but I have no idea what it tastes like on it's own.
2. I always put my left shoe on first. No real reason I suppose... It drives me nuts when I try on shoes at a store and they hand you the right shoe. Grrr...
3. In spite of being able to distinguish my left foot from my right foot for the purpose above, I constantly mix up the two directions. I'm left-handed (for writing mainly), so for some reason, "right" seems like it should be the direction of my dominant hand! I haven't had too many mishaps due to this (knock on wood). Also, despite writing left-handed, I throw right-handed. Weird.
4. I was student council president of my high school. Me, the girl that freaks out in public speaking situations. There was no vote - the principal asked who was interested, so the captain of the football team and I flipped for it. I won. Yes, it was an extremely small school!
5. I grew up in a rural area, but I'm afraid of horses. My grandfather "bought" me a horse when I was five (well, I asked for one, so he borrowed one for my birthday), but I got on it...and got right back off. Haven't been on one since.
6. I have craft ADD - I start on a new project, get distracted, start something else...and so on. I am currently knitting, and crocheting, and sewing, and stitching...I have so many WIPs that I could take 5 weeks off from work and still never finish all of them.

OK, now to tag some folks...this is only quasi-random, as I searched for new faces based on my interests. :)
SideShowMom, TJ, CV, Susan Faye, L7, and Ashley.

a mad and faithful telling

Mad and faithful pretty much describes my love for Devotchka!  I just purchased two pre-sale tickets to their upcoming May show at the Slowdown here in Omaha.  Words don’t explain my excitement and love for this band.  Their music makes me feel warm and fuzzy, happy and sad, and surrounded by love.  I could listen to nothing else and be perfectly content.  Sometimes I don’t listen to anything else (ask the poor DH).  No matter what my mood, Devotchka fits the bill.

This tour is to promote their new album “A Man and Faithful Telling” due out in March.  The Omaha date unfortunately falls on a night that the DH’s band has a gig potentially, but I bought two tickets just in case that falls through…otherwise I will find another happy soul to drag along to the show…or go alone.  I’m not a fan of buying extra tickets “just in case” or wasting money in general, but I think it’s well worth it for a Devotcka! show…

 

finally!

Nebraska governor signed into law today Legislative Bill 395, a statewide ban on smoking in public buildings and workplaces.  It’s about time!  Nebraska is behind the rest of the country in so many areas, I’m glad to see we are stepping up our efforts to practice the health and safety of our people (as well as ensure that I have a better bar experience).  Yes, I’m one of those whiney ex-smokers who can’t stand to come home from a bar or concert reeking of others’ cigarettes.  So what?  It’s bad for all of us!  Smoking is a filthy deadly habit.  I understand all about infringing on rights and freedom, but smokers are perfectly happy to ignore the freedom of the rest of us to breathe clean air.  They’re still free to smoke all they want…outside!  It’s about what’s best for the majority of us, not just what’s most convenient for a few.  

 

If you smoke, please consider quitting.  I smoked for years and while I enjoyed every cigarette, I know that giving it up was the best thing I ever did for my health, my appearance, and my wallet.  By not smoking, I was able to fund my 401(k) up to the company match!  I can run for miles, dance for hours, and do yoga without gasping for air… and I don’t smell like an ashtrash…unless I spend a night out at the bar with you.  Give it up – it’s worth it.

Happy Holidays

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas.  I know I did!  Not only in the “stuff I got” department, but also because I got to see my family and everyone got along.  Of course, Christmas gifts are always fun and I am incredibly happy with my haul this year.  I must have been pretty specific when I was asked what I wanted from Santa, because I can’t think of one “WTF were YOU thinking?” gift…  J  I received several books from my Amazon wish list, mainly sewing and crafting books, but also the Farmer John seasonal cookbook!  Yea!  I also got enough Christmas cash to combine with a Hancock giftcard from the DH to buy a serger last night!  Whoo-hoo!  Merry Christmas to me! 

Giving gifts is always fun too, of course.   I wrapped up 4 calculators for the dog to give to the DH.  Our last calculator finally died, so I picked up a bunch of replacements…it’s fun to watch someone upwrap the same gift over and over and over…  For my mom, in addition to a massage gift certificate, we gave her an ornament from the Statue of Liberty while I was in NYC for the marathon…  It took her a moment of closer inspection to realize where it came from and then her face just lit up – perfect!  My nephew seemed to like the sock monkey I made him…not as much as the paper and ribbons from all his other gifts, but he’s only 8 months old, so what’d’ya do?  I tried to convince my sister’s fiance that the golf course gift certificate we gave him expired at the end of January, but he caught on…eventually. J 

We didn’t give anyone too much – 1 or 2 gifts apiece – but I think we put a lot of thought into each one and that made them more than enough.  For an entirely mall-free Christmas expirience, I think we did quite well…

 

But Christmas has come and gone and it’s now time to focus on the New Year.  Are you making resolutions?  After cleaning out our pantry last night, and trashing about ¾ of my spice rack, I’m going to focus on being less wasteful with food!  I can’t believe how much I threw away…it was quite disgusting…  From now on, I’m not buying it if I don’t have a plan to eat it within the coming two weeks...which should have been my MO this entire time, I know… J

I’m also going to throw myself back into the the workout world – I’ve been slacking and it’s starting to show!  No sense in outgrowing all the clothes I’ve made lately.  I’m also going to push myself to dance everyday.  This was one of my Best Year Yet goals and I did well for about a week…  I love to belly dance, but practicing has never been something I can make a habit of… this is the year that changes!

Since my braces are going on in just under 2 weeks, my other new habit will be brushing and flossing multiple times a day… 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

Wait...Is that a...???

Yes! That is most certainly a Cadbury Egg! In October??? What's going on? I guess the Cadbury folks came to their senses and decided to market the "world's perfect food" (IMHO) as a Christmas-time treat.


Sure, I know that Cadbury isn't the most ethical of chocolate companies, and these eggs aren't organic or fair-trade, but come on! I could live off of them. My dear, sweet husband picked up two of these little gems for me last night, knowing that I'd had a rough day and needed a little chocolate action. Awwww...nothing soothes the pain like a Cadbury Creme Egg...

Beer goggles for the masses

Found these in a Grist email this morning: Real Beer Goggles! via Urban Spectacles .

Other cool stuff sent out by the fine folks at Grist: 

• Kansas denies a permit to build a new coal plant because of concerns over C02 emissions (via Washington Post).  Where were these guys when OPPD got theirs? :P
• Ever heard of "green un-building" (via New York Times)?  It's the deconstruction of structures in environmentally-responsible ways.  If the DH is reading this, we can benefit from this practice - lots of folks donate their deconstructed-but-still-perfectly-good materials to the Habitat for Humanity Restore (there's one in Omaha!).

Thanks, Grist-y folks - you go well with coffee.

Rubbish!

The Omaha World Herald ran an interview today with the CEO of Firstar Fiber, a local Omaha recycling company.  It’s exciting to hear about all the possibilities they see for recycling in Omaha, from the OWH itself trying to increase it’s already 65-75% recycling rate, to the cellulose insulation company in Norfolk that uses recycles newspapers in its production process.  One of the points that caught my attention was the mention of why the company was happy when the City of Omaha stopped collection of glass in its recycling program – it was a major hazard to Firstar’s employees, who were constantly exposed to shards of broken glass.  
The company still collects glass, but gets it from drop-off locations, who sort the glass before it’s delivered to Firstar, thus protecting the employees from having to physically handle it.  I’m just happy that there is somewhere that still takes glass, and I was especially thrilled to read about the increased demand for recycled plastic – plastic isn’t going away on a large scale, so best to reuse what we already have than to produce new…

 

 

Green Roofs in Omaha

There was an article in the Omaha World Herald today about the city’s first Green Roof.  It’s going to be installed at a local joint library-school building, Saddlebrook.  This project is being backed not only by advocates of the green roof movement, but also city and county officials, which is awesome because that’s the kind of support you need to really get a environmentally-friendly project like this off the ground (in more ways than one in this case!).  This green roof will serve as a learning tool to determine the feasibility of other green roofs in our climate, so this is very potentially the first of many such projects to come. 

The idea behind a green roof is that you replace traditional roofing materials with plants; in this case plants that require little to no maintenance.  The plants absorb heat, aiding temperature control and energy use reduction within the building.  They also absorb rainwater, lessening the amount of runoff that pollutes local water sources after storms.  You can visit Green Roofs for Healthy Cities for more info.  This group will be conducting a symposium in Omaha next month.

I’m really excited about this news – ML pointed out to me that that Omaha is becoming a Cool City.  Surely this will only make things better!

 

 

Real Men Wear Skirts

The local paper today carried a Washington Post article about a new store in Manassas, Virginia, called Kilted Nation. How awesome is that – a whole store dedicated to contemporary kilts for the macho-est of men! The purveyor of this boutique is Brad Hutchins, a former bodybuilder. We’re not talking about traditional plaid Scottish kilts, either; he sells sporty kilts, formal kilts, even “utility” kilts for workmen. All I have to say is that it would take real free-swinging balls to walk around in a man-skirt in public on a regular basis.