I would like to apologize

to the people who got here via the last search phrase on this list

And wound up with this:

From this post.

What the...I don't even...

Thought I'd look at my blog stats because, um, I was bored or maybe hit the wrong button. Anyway, what the hell?

"Bobcat pooping?" Really?

I think I know why, but I don't remember mentioning pooping.

Logo Idea the Second

I think I like this one better.

Logo

I've been working on a proper logo for the blog and for branding when and if I ever get a shop up and running.
It's intended as a sort of leader image for the blog banner, business cards, blah, blah, etc.
Here's the current draft. 

Thoughts?  It needs a bit more clean-up where the shovel handle lines are in the way. 

Also, Inkscape makes me stabby, but I doubt I'd feel less stabby using Adobe.

Can't Sleep. Don't Think Clowns Will Eat Me

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder plus migraines plus being over-tired and overheated is awesome for turning one into a vampire.  I slept until 6 PM last night.  So, I'm still awake now.
Since I can't sleep, I decided to play with the new "Template Designer" Blogger has put out.  Yeah.  It makes it slightly easier to move around page elements and probably do stuff from scratch, but I decided to try out one of the pre-loaded templates and just fiddle with width and gadgets.

Thoughts?

In other news, I had an interview for a part time job on Wednesday.  It went fairly well.  I would essentially be filling in for other people as needed, which should be doable for me.  The heat index here has been insanely high.  I'm far more sensitive to heat/humidity than I used to be, so this sucks more than usual. 

Belated Blogiversary

I've had this up for a whole year as of the 21st!  And I don't think I've gone more than a week or 10 days without posting.  Yay!

I hope people have enjoyed the random snark etc and I hope the community gets bigger and I can keep being at least mildly entertaining and occasionally useful.

Also - random Chinese comment spammers:  Quit with the vaguely insulting spam comments already!
The latest was:

If you can not be kind, at least have the decency to be vague (extra super long ellipses of spammy linkage redacted) 

Hopefully will get some more posts up this week.  Health suckage continues - my neck and head are still creating problems and I'm having an especially annoying run of cognitive weirdness with dropping words, forgetting words, etc.  And my arthritis and Reynaud's are flaring again, along with general hand tremors and muscle spasms.  Have also been having a jolly time trying to get a prescription filled that my insurance doesn't usually cover and trying to get new CPAP supplies while dealing with the above.  Such fun. All that and trying to do basic household chores and have a shower now and then has left me pretty tired.
But at least I have my dignity. ;)

Spreading Love and Awareness

In honor of Invisible Illness Awareness Week The Sick Chick has started a roundup of all us chronically ill peeps who also craft.  Very nice.

I've talked here about how difficult it can be to cope with disability and not just the physical aspects but the social aspects as well.  So I encourage everyone who reads this to take a moment to think about what it's like to live with chronic illness and try to gain some empathy for others.

Shout out!

Some time in the past few days I hit over 1000 visits to this dinky little blog! Not bad for being live for just a few months. Yay! It seems a fair number are return visitors too. Double yay!

So, here's a shout-out to all my readers. I hope you find my ramblings and links fun and I appreciate your taking time to have a peek at my silliness and hope you return.

Some of you are lurkers, I know, and that's fine. Hi!

I know a few of you are grad school buddies! Hi, grad school buddies! Wave!!!!

Some are Ravelry friends - Hi, bitches (you know who you are)! I hoist my cane in your honor!

Some are college friends - 'Sup! Thanks for not linking to photos of me with orange or blue hair!

Some are fellow bloggers - Welcome! I salute you with my keyboard.

Some are peeps from Flickr whose work I featured - Welcome! Your creations have made me gasp, smile, laugh out loud, given me shivers, or all of the above. Keep it up!

I think that covers most the categories, right? Hi to everyone else anyway!

And tail-wags from Oreo - he knows you're really here to see him.

Edit: Judy from Virtual Quilter reminded me that I forgot the people who have me in their Google Reader feed (and other RSS feed readers too). Sorry! Hi to all of you too!!!! That was extra silly of me seeing as how I do most of my blog following via Reader. I blame the little holes in my brains. :P

Good Day

I spent most of the day out visiting today to distract myself from tomorrow's needle-tastic/electrocution fun.  It was really good to catch up with some people I haven't seen lately and even fun to see people that I see all the time (shout-out to the hubby on that one).  It did wear me out a bit though.  The dreadful gray weather isn't helping either - it seems to make my vision/vertigo stuff worse.  Bleh.  Anyway, a good day, though no crafting done.

Now we're waiting for rosemary-dijon crusted pork chops and baked potatoes to get finished up and we got a frozen cherry pie to bake (I've had a weird craving for it lately).  And I scored some Ben and Jerry's Cinnamon Buns ice-cream to try.  And some Cocoa Pebbles.  If I wind up feeling all crappy the next few days, at least I will have had an awesome dinner tonight and I have fun stuff to snack on if I feel like it.  Yay!

I also need to get cracking on Mom's present for Mother's Day.  And when that's done, I need to work on a gift for a friend who is, sadly, probably going away.  And I have wedding presents to work on too.  

Slow Day

Having a slow day today - I'm trying to reset my sleep schedule.  I've slipped back to being awake later and later (or earlier and earlier) and then sleeping later as well.  If I didn't have appointments to keep I suppose it wouldn't be so much of a problem.  Anyway, I'm trying to get back on my stricter schedule of sleeping at night instead of during the day (harder than it sounds, I assure you).  

My allergies are acting up as well (I'm pretty sure it isn't man-bird-pig flu).  Nothing really caught my attention today for posting (yet), possibly because I'm in an allergy fog.  As it is, I'm stretched out on the couch with Oreo trying to distract myself from thinking about the dreaded EMG test on Thursday...

Yay! Craft Fail!

My contribution to the fun new blog, CraftFail, has gone live.  I suspect as time goes on, I will be a regular contributor.  :)

Tada’s Revolution

Tada’s Revolution

I've posted from this blog before and have added it to my feed.  The tableau and creations are always charming and worth a peek when you need a smile.

And what do you know...

In my brain-fogged state, I failed to realize the difference between WordPress free hosting and WordPress the blog client (for which you must obtain a host).  WordPress free hosting does not do what I want it to do and is not nearly sufficiently flexible and I don't see the point in paying for web hosting as this blog has maybe 2 devoted readers at the moment.  Sigh...  

As much as Blogger annoys me, I prefer it to WordPress, primarily because of the integration with various Google services, especially Reader and because of the relative degree of flexibility even if you have no html-fu to speak of.  However, I hate the Blogger web interface, especially when dealing with images.  At the moment, I'm looking for a desktop blogging client for Mac OS X - preferably free, but as time goes on I may be willing to pay a bit.  I've already tried Qumana and find it annoying and not particularly functional - I especially dislike the failure to recognize and download drafts for editing.  Nor am I seeing the ease of "drag and drop" though that might be because I'm slower than usual today.  I tried an extension for Open Office but it cannot seem to connect to Blogger, despite claiming that it could do so, so that did no good, especially as I haven't the patience to fiddle with the blasted thing.  

I'm contemplating trying Flock, but I prefer using Safari as my primary browser, especially because Safari (and Safari alone) integrates so beautifully with Notebook.    I'd rather not run multiple browsers...

So, I need a desktop blogging client that meets the following criteria:

• Mac OS X (native, no running X11 or any of that happy crap...yes Gimp, I'm looking at you and flipping you the bird)
• Integrates well with Blogger, including draft management regardless of where the draft was originally made (in other words, if I started it via web or if I started it in the client)
• Easy to use (seriously, my brain has shiny spots...)
• Better graphic management than the Blogger interface
• Free or inexpensive (under $30)

My innate fickleness...

...has led me to migrate to WordPress in the hopes that it won't annoy me as much as blogger...

Bear with me as I make the shift, undoubtedly it will be painful for all concerned, especially as I seem to be especially brain-foggy this week...

Here is the new blog:  link