three day blog

It's that time.. . again!   Christmas knitting time.  In fact, I am a little late in starting.  I have one husband, two kids, a mom and dad, two sisters, a niece and two friends to knit for... Ok now I am tired. Yikes.  I really have no idea what to make for all those people.  It would be easier to offend them and make them go away.   Don't worry... I'd say sorry January first.   Probably not a good idea. Oh well. At least I know what to do for my dad...I will just finish the scarf I started knitting for him last Christmas.  Won't he be surprised.... ....that I finished it.  In my defense it is 21,000 monotonous stitches.  It is a pattern from WWI. The kind of pattern you knitted and then sent to your men at the front.  It was part of that whole " knit your bit " campaign started in WWI and made popular in WWII.  The pattern calls for wool but I am doing superwash merino wool which means that there is no shrinky or ...

So I am doing this whole homeschool thing and I am really thinking... what's the big deal??? This is so easy. I don't get all the stress and complaining that I am hearing from other homeschool moms. This is a piece of cake! So I'll let you know how day two goes.

I am now embarking on year two of irrevocably ruining my son's academic career.  Otherwise known as:  Rachel does homeschool.  The program that I am doing consists of classes three days a week with an actual teacher with actual brains. He is taking creative writing, beginning piano, and beginning drawing. I am not sure...but we may be a little heavy on the creative side.  For academics, we are doing a curriculum called Calvert . I just received the box today and this thing has everything---down to the very pencils....so I guess I could have saved that $0.99 at Walmart. But my favorite thing is that there is a guide that tells me what everything is for. Thank goodness.  I hope it has pictures... ...and an instructional dvd... ....and a real live teacher.  The great thing is that all of t his is for free because we are getting the Calvert through an online academy that is a fully accredited public school. A public school without the evil influen...

Seriously....don't you love how I say I am going to do something (i.e. my last post ) and then I just disappear for nearly 2 weeks? It seems like whenever I tell myself I need to do something, I end up doing everything else but that particular thing. I think I am going through my teenage rebellion---15 years late. I skipped it the first time around. I didn't have any of the fun that all the normal teens have... You know... ...alcohol poisoning, girls gone wild, teen pregnancy... I just really had no fun at all. So now the revo lt from my sheltered teen years is coming out by rebelling against myself. You are welcome mom and dad. I do fully intend to write that book list. I just wished I would have realized that there was actual work involved before I opened my trap. Oh well. And speaking of work...my n ame is being passed around at my husband's workplace for my mad skillz as a web designer. I guess better that than having it passed around for other reasons. ...

I wanted to draw your attention to my navigational tabs below my header. I have added a new tab entitled reading list. If you click on it now, you will be taken to a page that says "this page coming soon" and then goes on to use an immature amount of exclamation points---so really this is just a page of little to no information. Why am I telling you? Because I was asked a very long time ago , by a couple of people to make a recommended reading list. And because I will be adding the information very soon...promise--either the next few hours, or at the latest tonight while all of the normal people sleep.

In addition to keeping you highly entertained with my wit--and maybe a tiny smidgen of sarcasm--I also enjoy playing around with a little HTML, and other web design related stuff. I don't claim to be any great hand at it, or to have any non-pilfered technical knowledge---I pretty much just started experimenting with my blog template one day and when it was successful...I was hooked! If you have any questions or want me to create something, you just need to ask. I really love to do it and everything is a learning experience for me. sotsublehcar (at) gmail (dot) com And now on to the show and tell (what little there is so far). Not including the many incarnations of three day blog my first foray into designing aspects of someone else's site, was for Michelle over at brown eyed girl . I designed her header for her and had a lot of fun doing and since she also loves photography, I was able to use her own pictures for nearly the whole thing. I like the fact that it makes i...

I have been trying to think of the good parts of pneumonia, and the only thing I could come up with was, that the best thing about pneumonia is not having it at all. Too late. One really nice thing that has come out of it was this beautiful and romantic bouquet. Thanks Mom. The other thing that is admittedly nice is guilt-free computer time. Who is going to guilt a sickly woman with a potentially fatal infection, right? Besides when would they ask me to give up my laptop...between the paroxysms of coughing or all the choking? This has been interesting, though. I have found that with a little help from my mom willpower and more help from Edgard some ingenuity, you can pretty much parent completely from the comfort of your soggy week old sheets. Just a note: the sheets in the picture are not the previously discussed week old soggy sheets but a brand new set that Edgard put on when I called him from the doctor's office to tell him of my pneumonia. Hey... I could add tha...

What attracts you to the blogs that you like? John says: Insightful commentary, informed author, a topic I am already interested in, and (if you promise not to tell my wife this) if it is written by a beautiful woman that certainly helps. Hey, it is something that catches my eye and gets my attention. Groovybabe says: …subject matter, writing ability, visual look... that’s initially... Mamacita Chilena says: For me the blog either has to be a subject I'm interested in, or if it's not a subject that interests me, it needs to be very well written, and usually funny. What keeps you coming back? John says: Consistent posts, high quality, some humor. Groovybabe says: interesting content and interaction (someone who comments on my journal as well as me on theirs) Ten Pound Club says: Writing style is important. I also need to feel a connection. I enjoy seeing pictures. And I love your sense of humor--a huge draw! What detracts from one? John says: No consistency in posting! ...

UPDATE: (I need to do a huge shout out to Amanda Fazani at Blogger Buster ---because without her tutorials I would not have been able to do this. You can definitely find template tutorials on the web but they are not always clear or updated. With Blogger Buster, everything you need is in one spot and very easy to understand. However, if you are more interested in the social side of blogging rather than the technical---then I think playgroupsarenoplaceforchildren is a great place to start. Jennifer has some great ideas, backed by experience, along with useful links, all in a neat concise little series ) End of update. ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ So I have finally unveiled my new blog (re)design. What do you think? If you are having trouble remembering exactly what it looked like before... here is a screenshot, taken shortly before I started fiddling with it. You may have to click on it to get a better look. go ahead click... ...you ...

After going through major blog withdrawal , I have decided that the comeback from my "bloggatical from sogging," as shauna calls it, will be sooner rather than later. Just as soon as I wrap my mind around some of these HTML codes and redesign the blog, I will be back to annoy you all further .... ~thanks to all the comments of support...and keep them coming...it gives me something to read while I muddle the design of my blog~

Two weeks ago I had an open house. It was wildly successful. Well... it was successful if you expect no one to actually buy your home... We did get quite a few people, though....and I am not even counting the neighbors or previous owners . We had a Realtor tell us that ours was the best home he had been in all day. My thought at that moment was "good thing he doesn't know that on any given day this house is typically held together by spilled cheerios and dirty laundry ." I also would bet good money that it was the smallest house that he had been in all day, as well. I thought it would be a swell idea to make my mom bake some cookies and brownies and offer coffee to lure in the suck---er I mean possible buyers. It worked like a charm. By the time that my mom and I had finished the last of the goodies--we were both committed to buying the house. So since it was such a blast I am doing it again...this Saturday. Anyone want any cookies? They are free....

Here is why I required corn tor n tillas ....... I don't know which was better...the tacos or the sweet taste of success, cooking an authentic Mexican meal.... it was delicious... One out of 300 ain't bad, right?

Edgard: Hi...so I am getting out of here. I'm on my way home. Me: okay...hey can you stop by the store and get tortillas? I would have picked them up but I thought we had some in the freezer....they must not have made it through the great freezer debacle of '07. * Edgard: Sure, I can get some corn torntillas. Me: What did you say? Edgard: Tor n tillas. Me: I thought so. Edgard: hee hee hee * The great Freezer Debacle of '07: in which Edgard, in a fit of organization, threw out everything that was good in the freezer and left all the bad stuff.

So I have been playing around with the header on my blog since , as everyone knows, there isn't much to do when you are selling your house . I would love some input on my new design. For those of you first timers to three day bloglandia, or the chronically unobservant---like me---here is a picture of the old header: And for those of you who are serially unobservant or the people who are just too lazy to scroll up---like me---here is the new header: So leave me a comment if you like it....or a comment if you don't. If you have any ideas I will take those too. Heck, if you want to talk about great aunt Marge's gout , I am up for that, as well. We take comments of all shapes and sizes...just not the prejudiced ones. We're kind of boring that way.

We have gotten some major things done on our list. For one thing, Edgard is nearly done with the fence. I am definitely a firm believer in the good fences make good neighbors. Especially when your neighbor has decided to completely redo his yard the year before but only got as far as cutting the sod off. The weeds, I kid you not, are as tall as my son. Not the nicest thing to look at. And then, when you add in that we have let our backyard go while concentrating on the front yard and the inside of the house...well it wasn't pretty to look at. So now putting a fence up, we will only see half a horrible yard...ours. Even that is starting to shape up. We bought 3 mature trees to plant in front of the fence so that when the leaves come out we cannot even see over. Are you starting to guess I am a hermit? I am. I like my privacy. The other big development is the muscles in my arms. I have personally rototilled a section of our yard where I plan to plant some mock...

Selling your house sucks. I realize that this is all too obvious and that I am saying this before I have even put the signs up, but I am literally in the middle of a long to-do list of things I need to fix before we put it on the market and am feeling the strain. It is sad really. I won't even fix these things for myself. We will finally have the house just the way we want it---in time to sell it to somebody else. We did that with our last house. We'll probably do that next time, too. Sad. Pathetic. The good thing is that if we don't sell it, then at least we get to enjoy our labor. The other feeling of dread is showing it to people. We are selling it ourselves---no Realtor---translation: no buffer. Last time that we showed our previous house, some jackass, who didn't, of course, didn't end up buying it, had the gall to tell us that our paint scheme was "odd." He also asked if we would repaint it. We told him to go suck eggs. Well not reall...

I have been wanting to create a menu plan for a very long time. When my favorite organizational blog posted about it, I thought, now or never. Of course, as you all could guess, my preference was for never. I should probably name this the "three day' weekly menu plan." Here is the link for their take on the weekly meal plan. I like that they have included an uncluttered--of course--template for you to use.

Tomorrow Edgard is going skiing with a work buddy and his son. And yes, Mexicans ski. They also play tennis, own dogs other than chihuahuas, and take off their sombreros to shower. At least, all that goes for Edgard. I am, of course, worried about him but he promised me he "wouldn't run into a tree like that Sonny and Cher guy." Oh that is good, because I wasn't at all referring to the icy drive up there. I am glad that he is going, since he usually has to work every Saturday. This will be a nice break for him. On the weight loss front, I had a terrible relapse at Christmas and ended up gaining weight. What can I say? I love food and hate exercise. Not exactly a recipe for slimness. But I am back at it and I will start regularly updating you again, very soon. I am not exactly ready at this moment. But rest assured, I am doing well regaining (bad choice of words) ground in the fight against my lardishness. I gave up drinking Pepsi One---I think the as...

I am cheap. I like shopping used stores. I also like making ugly things look nice. Being cheap comes in handy for both of these hobbies. With this particular project I found a plain organizer with drawers. It was made out of cardboard. After making sure that it was durable and that the drawers opened and shut with ease, I bought it at a discounted amount of a buck. I then used some contact paper that I previously bought at target, and spent a lot of time that would have been put to better use doing any number of things that I actually need to do---and this is the result: Next up is this interesting little file folder that looks like Hollywood's idea of Hawaii...in the 1940's...or maybe the 1980's. The "Rachel is stalling so she doesn't have to do the things she should be doing" version: These two make quite the pair, don't they? Transformed....hee hee hee...sorry--I guess I am bragging a bit,but look...they turned out so good...I real...

I am back. Not quite full force, though. I found myself stretched too thin, so I am instituting some changes. I love reading blogs. This is what prompted me to start my own in the first place. Well, that and the fact that I think out my life in written form--I always have. We bloggers are crazy like that. Anyhoo---I love reading blogs but I stopped a few days a go because I felt completely overwhelmed. Not only am I a wife and mother of two , but I am also a homeschool teacher to my son and primary housekeeper here at the ranch . So my computer time is limited. I found that I was spending so much time writing comments on other blogs that I was losing a lot of the time that I had to write my own. So, I am cutting waaaayyy back on my commenting. Please don't feel as if I am disappearing altogether, I am still there reading just the same. If you look at my blogroll, it is a long one. It is not reciprocal---I read every single one. I just ...