Timidity.org

…does that mean I have to sit back and just take it when everyone raises their prices on me?  Seriously, the economy is having an effect on our family’s personal finances, too, so if a company or service raises their prices too much I will just stop buying whatever it is they are offering.  I don’t see how that helps them, but what can I do?

I decided to cancel our newspaper because of what I consider to be a ridiculous rate increase.  I’m gutted about it, but at the same time I don’t know why I should put up with being screwed over (as I see it).  When push comes to shove I don’t have to give them money.  Here’s the deal:  I’ve subscribed to the Houston Chronicle for 6+ years.  I get the paper delivered daily and I pay every six months for the service.  Back when I first started as a subscriber it cost about $90 for the every six months.  Every once in a while there were rate increases, which is to be expected and eventually the last time I paid in June it was up to $102.  To me going from $90 to $102 isn’t that bad, it’s only $12 over six years…big deal.  But early in December my bill came again and now they are asking $132 for the same service.  I can’t be the only one who thinks that is ridiculous.  Maybe it’s a good price, but it’s not about the price, it’s about the price increase over such a short period of time (30% more since the last time I paid six months ago).  Anyway, I was totally annoyed and decided keeping it wasn’t worth it.

So, no more newspaper.

When I called to cancel they asked why and I said I didn’t like the price.  They said, “Yes, well there was a rate increase.”  My reply:  “That was some increase!”  They, of course, tried to induce me to keep the paper but they couldn’t give me a better deal so it’s done and over now.

Like I said, I know the economy is bad, but to me that’s just ridiculous.  How do they expect to keep customers and make money if they expect us to just take a rate increase like that?  I’m bummed that there will be no more paper, but we will be saving some money now so it’s not all bad.

Stupid economy makes people do stupid things, I guess…

Despite all rumors I am not dead.  Really.  This blog is though it seems.  Over two months without an update?  Yikes, sorry about that.  I blame Facebook.  If I have anything interesting to say I usually do it there.  Besides, I’m not that exciting of a person so I really haven’t had much to say.  Here’s a breakdown of the events of the last few months:

I’m still selling doll clothing at my Etsy store.  Since that’s a project I work on all by myself it takes up a lot of my free time.  However, I’ve made over 100 sales since I opened so I’d deem it a success.  Or as much of a success as I was hoping for.  It gives me a little extra spending money for my doll hobby which is all I wanted.  AND it’s fun!

The holidays!  We stayed home for Thanksgiving.  We still did the full blown turkey dinner with all the trimmings and it was nice.  We were eating turkey for days, but whatever (isn’t that the point?).  Then I entered the Christmas zone…this can be good or bad for me.  Sometimes the stress is overwhelming for me, other times I handle it okay.  This year was one of the better years.  I planned ahead of time better and got things done faster so I’m not nearly as stressed out.  As we speak I’m pretty much done and ready for the big day (aka: Christmas).  I only have two things left to do:  Get my husband one last gift, which should be easy, and send out the Christmas cards.  Yes, I know that means the cards will probably be late, but I don’t see the sense in worrying about that too much.  I’m not much of a Christmas card person but I try and doing it just falls low on my list of priorities, that’s why I’m a little late with it.  I’m wondering if I should bag this tradition all together?  Hmmmm…

Then last week my sister and her husband came to visit us for a few days.  That was a lot of fun and I loved seeing my sister, it’s been a while.  She lives in Australia so it’s not like we can get together whenever we want.  Anyway, it was a short visit, but I enjoyed it.

This week I will just be finishing up a few more things and baking.  I love baking around Christmas!  I plan to do some peanut butter fudge, my kids have been asking for it.  That’s easy enough.  And we are doing a ham for Christmas dinner so I just need to finish getting the things for our meal.

We aren’t planning on doing any traveling this Christmas and just stay home for once.  I know this bums out certain family members, but travel is stressful and it’s been quite a few years since we just stayed home.  Plus, driving to see family this year probably isn’t the best idea.  Neither of our vehicles are in top working order at the moment.  Since my husband has some time off work his focus will be to get them fixed up and working well again.  I think his truck is done and better now, but my car (or whatever you want to call it, it’s a 4-runner) needs some work.  He tried fixing it yesterday…didn’t help.  I think we are going to have to take it to a mechanic and fork out the bucks to get it right.  *sigh*  Well, that’s just life.  Anyway, it just means driving travel like we do a lot of years for Christmas is out of the question.  Sorry…

So, that’s my life right now.  Told you it wasn’t exciting, heh.  I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  Take care. <3

I’m amused that today there is an article in the newspaper about trying to ease parents’ fears about getting the H1N1/Swine flu vaccine for their children.  This is following the article in yesterday’s newspaper announcing the arrival of the first vaccines arriving in Texas…all 142,400 doses.  Keep in mind that the metro area I live in alone has over four million people living here.  At the rate it took for them to create the vaccine and distribute it, my whole family will probably have already contracted it…so what’s the point in spending a whole lot of my time worrying about if it’s safe or not?

Note:  I have my daughter home today with a fever and sore throat.  It could be strep, but a part of me is wondering if it might be swine flu, too…we’ll see.

Speaking of medical stuff, I’m about ready to fire my kids’ pediatricians.  I mean they are good doctors but if I need my kids to be seen for anything other then a run of the mill cold, a physical, or routine vaccinations I get the standard response from the receptionist/nurse, “We don’t do that here.”  The don’t remove warts or treat infected ingrown toe nails…I thought these were pretty basic procedures that any doctor can do…but no, I had to be referred to a dermatologist and a podiatrist for this stuff.  This is more expensive for me, way less convenient, and it takes a lot more time.  Plus, a lot of these specialists are far away.  Annoying.  The next time I call if they say, “We don’t do that here,” I’m tempted to retort, “Do you do anything?”  I see a general practioner and even he removed a mole for me right there in his own office himself.  I’m tempted to just start taking my kids to see him instead. :\

School is started and everything is settling into a routine of sorts, so it’s much better then my last post.  I’m slowly working on cleaning up the house after putting it off for too long to take care of all this back to school junk.  I cleaned out the laundry room today, family room tomorrow…oh yay.

In better news, my mom is coming to visit soon so I’m really happy about that.  Also, my sister just told me last week that she and her husband are going to come see us in December!  I love having really great stuff like this to look forward to.

Yes, I know this blog sucks.  Well, I try to keep up but there is only so much I can do.  Blogging isn’t high on my list of priorities.

Here is my life right now:  My oldest son is about to start high school… :O  He spent the last three weeks at summer band learning how to march, etc…outside for much of that time in 100+ degree weather.  Yes, he’s still alive (and he has a nice tan) but he’s exhausted and school hasn’t even started yet.  He wasn’t feeling well today so I called him in sick.  I think he really is sick, he’s not one to complain usually and his throat is looking red.  No fever so that is good.

My middle son forgot to give me his information about summer band at the end of school last year so he completely missed it all!  Way to go…but his directors don’t mind.  Since it’s Junior High it’s less strict and not required.  Still, it would have been nice if he had been able to go.  Oh well, too late now.   We did make it to the ice cream social last night so that was good.

My daughter, the youngest, is the most excited about starting school (on Monday, by the way).  She is going to a new school, intermediate school for 5th and 6th graders.  They have been renovating the school all summer…but they weren’t quite done when she went for orientation so she didn’t get to find her way around or get her locker or anything.  It was a real let down and now she’s more nervous about school starting because she doesn’t know her way around at all.  I’m just annoyed by it all because going seemed like a waste of time since we only got her schedule but it means nothing since we couldn’t tour the school.

At least at the Junior High my middle son got his schedule and we got to tour the school, find all his classrooms, and locate his locker.  That did not waste my time.

So…on top of three separate school orientations and summer band we are trying to get ready for school and keep up with other stuff.  Also, my daughter’s birthday is Tuesday and I haven’t been able to get anything for her yet.  That is my priority next week.  At this rate I’ll be relieved when school starts just so it will be all done.  The house is also a total mess, don’t even get me started on that.

But it won’t be all done because of marching band which will continue all through the high school football season.  Ugh.  I have to work the concession stand for two games and help water the band for another game.

So…I’m just overwhelmed a little.  Can I cry now?

It’s been a hot summer…even for Southern Texas.  Just really, really hot.  The heat index is over 100 every day for most, if not all, of the past month.  To  make matters worse there hasn’t been much rain so we are in a drought, too.

Because of the drought the city has imposed new water restrictions on lawn watering, which I totally get because a drought just makes people want to water the lawn more so it doesn’t die but it uses a lot of water which exasperates the drought problem.

Anyway, we aren’t anal about our lawn.  If there’s a drought and our lawn gets a little brown, to me it’s just the way it is.  We water enough so it won’t totally die, even if it’s a bit brown it will easily come back.  We have an automatic sprikler system to water three times a week.  Easy enough.

However, our neighborhood, in compliance with the city water restrictions, has asked everyone to voluntarily use an even/odd water rationing technique.  Basically everyone with and even address number waters on even days and odd addresses water on odd days.

That’s all fine and dandy…except for the fact that if we comply with their request we will actually end up watering more often (instead of less, which is what I’m guessing their goal is) then if we just leave our watering schedule the way it is now.

So does it makes sense to do as they ask, or just keep doing it the way we have been doing it?  It’s voluntary and since we are using less water doing it our way we’re just going to keep doing it that way.  I’m not saying water rationing is a bad idea, but perhaps it would have been better if they had just said, “Please don’t water more often then every other day,” which to me would have made way more sense.  The other dumb thing is they don’t specify limits on how long you can water.  So if someone was watering every day and has now moved to doing it every other day but keeping the water on twice as long, the water use is not being reduced at all.

Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to me either…

Okay, so I FINALLY got a Facebook…after many requests from family members.  My goal with using it it to keep in touch with family members and a few of my closer online friends and possibly reconnect with some of my closer friends from the past (from high school, college, etc.).  Truth be told, I find some of Facebook a little weird and I’m not sure what to do about it.

Example:  People send me things like hugs and then want me to return them.  I also got an invite to play some restaurant game (that I honestly have no interest in).  I said “ignore” on that invite, but a few days later the same person sent another invite for the same thing!  Can they not take a hint?  Another person sent me a “banana tree” for a game or something called “Farm Town”…I’m not making this up.  I don’t play this game, or any other type of trading game on Facebook, so I’m not sure why I’m being sent a tree or anything else unless it’s their way to get me to play.

I just don’t really know what happens when I push the button that says “ignore”…and is everyone going to start thinking I’m mean because I ignore all these requests?  My request list is getting all cluttered up with this stuff and I need to clean it out but I’m not sure exactly what to do.

Another problem:  I have one friend request from someone I totally don’t know.  I can’t fathom why they would friend me in the first place unless they think they know me…but for the life of me, I can’t figure out who they are.  Is it rude to messege them and say, “who are you?” because I’d feel bad and stupid if I should know who they are.  Or should I just ignore them, too.  I also have another friend request from someone I do know online but I’m not sure I want to be Facebook friends with them.  All of this makes me feel really mean…

Who knew Facebook could create such guilt trips!

Anyway, on the good side (because there is one, I promise) Facebook is helping me keep in touch with my family so that part I am really liking and makes getting one totally worth it.  I just wish I could do that without all the other distractions that seem to come along with it.  It’s not to say I don’t waste time online, I’m just not interested in doing it the Facebook way.

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On a completely different topic, I’ve done most of my website clean up.  I know it doesn’t look any different really, but I like this design and didn’t want to change it.  Mostly I just deleted several pages that were outdated or useless (I don’t think they will be missed by anyone) and brought some of my other pages up to date.  I also simplified a few things.  I moved all of my pixels to the “Miscellaneous” menu, just FYI.  I still need to fix a few things, design wise, and I need to update a few more pages.  But for the most part, it’s mostly done…yay!

As requested, a link to my Etsy store can be found in the “Webmistress” menu.

Thank you for your comments on my last post.

I am going to keep my blog and most of the existing content on this website, so no worries.  I am going to slim a few things down and move a few things around.  Once I get that done I might do an update to the design…but one thing at a time (if I plan too much I will get overwhelmed and nothing will get done, heh).

Anyway, I started doing a few things by deleting some links from the main menu sidebar.  Most of those links led to nowhere anyway.  However, my Paris Travel Log link has been moved to the “Webmistress” section…can’t get rid of that.

More changes coming soon!  Yes, this is slow, but I need to do it this way.

I’ve had this domain for a long time.  Since 2001 actually.  For the past few years I haven’t really done much with it and as I was taking a look at it today I realized how embarrassingly outdated a lot of it is.  I’ve been meaning to clean things up around here and maybe try to revamp it, but I really don’t know what to do with it.  Several times I have been tempted to do away with this website all together, but in the end I can never bring myself to cast it into internet oblivion.

So…a summer goal:  Refresh my website.  Even if this means I reduce it to only a blog (because I don’t do much else with it) I want to make this better then it has been.

But, before I begin to purge my domain of all its…oldness…can I ask a favor?  What should I keep and what should I get rid of?  Some of this is obvious…like my collection of adopted pixels…those have to go.  But what about my own pixels?  Should I keep them even though I haven’t added new selections to my own offerings in…who knows how long?  Or should I just get rid of them, or just keep my favorites?  I guess I need the suggestions because I’m lost about what to even really “do” with this domain.  If you have any input please share, it might give me some inspiration on what I should do next.  Thanks.

I was at a stop light today waiting to turn left behind another car, also waiting to turn left.  The light for oncoming traffic turned red, ours turned green, and the car in front of me started to move.  She then had to slam on her brakes in order to not get hit by the moron running the red light.  Here’s the irony:  in the adjoining parking light was a police car, watching for speeders.  I thought for sure the red-light-runner was toast…but the police car did not move an inch or do anything.  Talk about disappointment, the police are finally at the right place at the right time and still the morons get away with being morons.  Is there no justice in this world?

I could write about more randomness…but I don’t think anyone wants to know about the girl I saw out in public yesterday with a skirt so short you could see her butt cheeks.  She kept pulling her skirt down…I wonder why?  Note:  if you wear a skirt and feel a constant need to pull it down, it’s a sign–your skirt is too short, duh!  I want to wash my eyeballs out with soap though, I really didn’t want to see her butt cheeks.

Those are my random thoughts for the day.  I should really get some sleep now, don’t you think?