Category Archives: People I love

Oct12

Bloggers and Friends and Privacy and Worry

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Right, I have enough small things to post every day for weeks at this point! Just little bits of WTF or things I found interesting.

However, I’m not exactly cheerful and not exactly in the mood for playing around. I’m still worried about my friend. You other bloggers know that of the hundreds, maybe thousands! of followers you have, some are just super special and you know you would have a fabulous time with them in real life. Rockin’ the Purple is one of those people I wish I lived next door to. You others know who you are – but do I know what city you live in? Do I have your partner’s email, or even their name? Who can I contact if you go away for months and I miss you, and start to worry?

Yeah I know, I can make up stuff to worry about quite easily. However, this is a real problem, and it will get bigger as our relationships are changed by the Internet.

Perhaps we need to set up some sort of database for this. I sure dislike putting my close details out there for the world, and out of habit I don’t share a lot of personal information of the type that could be used to contact my family, if I went missing. Hubby knows I have a list of my passwords, so he could notify people on my behalf, if needed. He would think of it, too – as he’s a big ol’ geek.

But what about those who don’t have someone like him? Older people, single people? Are we just meant to forget how they touched our lives, because we don’t get an email update about a new blog post for several months? I cannot do that.

So, if any of you wish to send me an email with contact info, for a just in case scenario – I promise that I will never, ever, abuse that trust. And in return if any of you want my hubby’s email, just ask.

I dislike this feeling of helplessness. I wish I would have thought of this before a friend went missing.

Oct4

Oh, jazuz, it’s been two years!

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I knew it was coming – even though it only feels like yesterday to me due to my wonky time-sense – but yes, my wee blog is two years old. Wow, a bit, and ow, a bit.

I’ve changed a lot in two years. I had no job when I started. I used to get songs stuck in my head every day, earworms, and I’d post about that. Yep, I useta post daily – or even more than once a day! I stopped having a song every morning for a good while, but it is back now. I just don’t bother you all with it.

I actually talked about the dog first, as I knew that the cats would take over quite quickly. Yes yes the dog is cool, but the cats are awesome. My good old man, Spot, and his “brother” Lokii who got two separate posts!

I used to draw all the time. I did it a lot until the job sucked the heart art out of me. My first published drawing was a pun cartoon! I’d forgotten that. I thought my first was when in introduced my best friend, Socks. I miss my art, but haven’t yet found a way to bring it back into my life on a daily basis.

I first talked about plants when discussing my indoor garden. What surprised me the most is that iDJ had no idea that my cactus had such heritage. I’m sorry to report that the lantana didn’t come back this year.

I told a lot of good stories and shared some important personal information when I first started blogging. I don’t repeat myself now, as it is all already here. I understand, now, that no one ever goes back to the start and reads the whole blog. I think that’s a shame – but even I don’t have time to do that now. I used to, before I started blogging! I devoured so many, from tales of retail pain to beautifully ugly comics, that I thought everyone did that! Whoops.

I first showed my face on October 29. Sort of.

I first showed iDJ’s face on the 31st – and this is still one of my most popular Google Image searches. I rocked the making of that costume.

I’ve bitched about my bad back and the medical system here, and my bad skin. Lucky you; you haven’t heard about my bad guts. See? I do have some sense of decorum. My back is better now, by the way. The skin only is slightly better, and that only because I’ve had lots of sunshine this year.

I think I’m about done tooting my own horn. I’d like to end with what I still think is the best sentence I’ve ever written on this blog.

“This blog is me upending my cerebellum and splashing around in the puddle.”

I’m so pleased that over 200 of you have come swimming with me.

Sep27

Dinner and a conversation

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Hubby has his Internet radio show every Thursday. It’s from 8 to 10 our time, and then he has some bits n pieces to finish off afterward, so we don’t get to eat until rather late.

Last night I decided I had the time to pick some fresh herbs to put on the pork roast, and he decided he had the time to chop them for me (I dislike chopping them, not sure why as the smell is amazing). I brought in oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme, and added two garlic cloves that were also home-grown. I always pick too much! The pork was nearly crusted in greenery (I also add salt and black pepper, can’t grow them).

I got ambitious then, knowing that we’d have more good green stuff than necessary, and I decided I also had time to make a salad. We’ve not had one in ages, as hubby never seems interested when I say I want one.

I didn’t use the rocket (arugula) I grew, as it has gone all tough and leggy and seedy. And I forgot I had it. So, boring old iceberg lettuce from the supermarket. With my only four ripe cherry tomatoes – one the size of my pinky fingernail – and a sliced carrot from the Stupid Girl raised bed. That carrot was so damn tasty and sweet! For the dressing I added a bit of dried chopped garlic and my leftover cut herbs into a bit of white wine vinegar and let it sit. I didn’t need to add the fresh herbs; the point of putting anything in the vinegar is to rehydrate a dried spice – so if you don’t have fresh spices, toss everything in the vinegar, whatever is to hand. I don’t measure, sorry – eyeball it! I decided this time to add the fresh ones as the cutting board was hogging all my counter space.

The pork cooks for about 2 hours… when the meat is done I let it sit on a plate, and add water (or sometimes flat Pepsi) to the pan and swish it about to turn the yummy caramelisation flavour into a bit of jus. I add olive oil to the vinegar and swish that about a lot too, before pouring over the veggies. Simple and tasty!

Hubby likes to rate our meals out of 10. Usually he just rates his own cooking, the little egotist. I asked him for his rating of my dinner this time, as he kept saying how great it was.

“The salad is a 9.5! But, it was so good that the meat got lost. So the meat is only an 8. I give the overall meal an 8.”

“Wait, what? How do I get downgraded from a 9.5 and an 8 to an overall 8? Did you forget how averages work?”

“I’m sticking with an 8. The salad overshadowed the meat, sorry.”

A disappointing result. So much for not showing interest in my salads, eh?

Jul4

Happy Fourth!

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Last year…

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This year! We now have a full-sized flag (made in Taiwan, bought from a dealer in Ireland). No fireworks for us – banned in the whole of the Republic – but hubby’s radio show will be on tonight, as every Thursday, with a Fourth/Americana theme this time.
Radio 23 channel A

Or

Error FM

EDIT: show is over, but available on podcast.

Apr26

A Small Favour to Ask

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Hello, kind friends. I would like to ask a favour of you – just of some of you – just the ones who have been hanging around reading my blog for a year or more.

You stalwart readers know all about my best friend, Socks. I blogged about her pregnancy for … well, about nine months, give or take. It was a helluva ride for all, especially at the end!

Now and again I would mention her husband Bear. Usually to poke fun at him for saying something silly and/or revealing about his fears at becoming a dad.

He survived all that.

But now – he’s about to become something worse: FORTY.

Yes, I know – quite a lot of you (and me) smile at recollections of our 40th. But you know he’s a sensitive guy, and far from his family and friends right now, dealing with being a first-time home owner, business owner, new dad, and now the insult of being “old.”

I’d like to ask you to post a happy birthday wish in the comments, which I will send to Socks. She’s making a compilation of Happy to ease her Big Bear’s difficult transition.

Will you help?

Mar14

Irish Music Celebration!

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Hubby’s got another good show tonight! On in just a couple minutes as we haven’t done our time change yet and all is a panic!

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Again, go to Radio23 channel A to tune in, or I’ll be posting the podcast link later on! Thank you.

Edit: the podcast is here.

Feb21

Birthday Begging, on iDJ’s behalf

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Hi there all you lovely people!

I rarely do this. But tomorrow is my dearest’s 40th, and tonight is his last Internet radio show as a 30-something! Please come and listen? High listener rates will thrill him to bits, and who wouldn’t want to be thrilled to bits?

If you’re on Facebook you can follow his show “Soul Shenanigans“. That’s good fun as he makes a new poster every week! Look at this week’s:

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That’s him, cute and blonde even then.

Otherwise, visit here: Radio23.org or errorfm.com.

He’ll be on Channel A, in just about an hour. He’s interactive, too, so you can send him a happy birthday message or tell him he’s an old, out-of-touch fart and to get off your digital airwaves, if you like.

I’m hoping for the former!

EDIT: show is over but available via podcast!

Jan23

On being a bad housekeeper, definitely

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Hubby’s closing in fast on one of those birthdays that ends in a zero. He’s got over a month to go, but he’s already been shopping for his desired big present. Actually, we already bought it on Sunday. I don’t even want to know how much research he put into this, but he is a very very good technology shopper and looks at reviews, energy consumption, warrantee, and pricing (in at least three countries). This is why he gets to buy his own prezzie. I’m just the one who says if it looks pretty or not. Yes, I’m nothing but a pair of educated and opinionated eyeballs – especially when we’re talking about a new TV.

I wasn’t going to say what we bought – I sure didn’t announce it in Facebook – because it’s kinda dumb to announce to the world you got some new stuff ripe for the stealin’. But I don’t think any of you are so hard up as to drive or fly over here, try to find my house, and then brave the dog just to take a telly you could probably get cheaper where you live. And trust me, with the amount of time it would take to unhook the umpteen things connected to the TV, the dog would have made good progress on removing bits of valuable anatomy. It wasn’t expensive (we are cheap and broke), it’s not huge, or even the newest model or anything, so it’s not worth it. Really. Disclaimer/discouragement ends.

I had one stipulation: that as we removed the old TV, we cleaned the hell out of the components and the corner the whole shebang sits in. This had not been done in the almost eight years we’ve lived here. It was well, well past time. I’m hairy, iDJ is hairy, and over the 8 years the animals have gone like this: 1 cat, 1 big dog; then 2 cats, 1 big dog; then just the 2 cats. Currently, 2 cats, one big dog. And both big dogs would blow their entire thick hairy coats twice a year, yay! So. Bound to be a fur-fest back there, despite my semi-monthly attempts to stick the vacuum hose behind there. Very half-hearted semi-monthly attempts. Probably bi-monthly. Maybe bi-annually. It wasn’t high on my list of stuff to do, in any case. And moving all the gear out of the way was never, ever going to be a job I did alone.

I was quite pleased when he agreed. It had to be hard to wait to play with his new toy until after everything was vacuumed, wiped off and tidied up. It did take over an hour, if not two. Here’s some of the evidence:

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Hahah, Christmas tree needles! No telling what vintage these are.

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I didn’t even know we had an extra Wii-mote battery thingie…

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What’s with all the spiderwebs? And I have no idea what this remote went to, I’d never seen it before. It says DVD on it, but we only had one and that was mine from the US. It’s a mystery-clicker!

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The worst one. This was what was underneath the Sky box, which was underneath my DVD player, which was underneath some stuff I didn’t know how to use. Note the nasty SCART cables: this could not have been good for the electronics. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

There wasn’t as much fur as I expected, and only one sticky spot on the floor under the stand itself (we believe this may have been beer at one point, spilt at an impromptu get-together). One thing I am proud of – yes I can still have some pride after sharing this disgusting mess – is that me and the Dyson kept hubby from having an allergy attack during all this. Usually dust gets him sneezing like a donkey.

Perhaps new television sets are a placebo cure for allergies?