emused

my new blog

2008-05-24T20:07:28Z

hey everybody!

i am writing a blog about all my efforts to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

i don't know how to make my posts appear here, so here's the link:

http://gettingdown2earth.blogspot.com/

feel free to subscribe and send to all your friends!

riotstarrr @ 2008-05-15T15:21:00

2008-05-15T19:26:11Z

i was just flipping through my alumni magazine. i always look to see if anyone i know got married, had a baby, or died. this time, i actually heard news i didn't already know. one of my old friends had a baby. she didn't even tell me! i'm kinda hurt. last year, when i was in town for our 10-year reunion, we were going to get together, but something came up at her work and she couldn't make it. and this was all over text message - she never even called me while i was in town. i've tried so hard to stay in touch with her, writing her cards when her husband has deployed, and emailed her to make sure she's okay. and now i find out she went through nine months of pregnancy and has had a son for the past 3 months and hasn't even bothered to tell me. ouch.

why do people do that?

in other news, i am recovering from my fourth cold since december. that's crazy talk. four colds in six months? everyone says it's because i live with a toddler/germ magnet, but i'm not so sure there's not something wrong with me!

the cure

2008-05-02T02:14:10Z

i am going to see the cure next friday. it's my fav band of all time. problem is, i don't have anyone to go with. my husband will go, because he's obligated, but i'd rather go with someone who's as excited about it as i am. anyone?

my dreads are still coming along. S L O W L Y.

riotstarrr @ 2008-04-14T22:10:00

2008-04-15T02:11:52Z

i took alice to the doctor today. she might have pneumonia! she's coughing like crazy, and the doctor gave her an albuterol breathing treatment. she's still running a fever, too, although sometimes it goes down and then comes back up. if she gets better in the next couple of days, it's not pneumonia. and if she doesn't, well. oh yeah, and she also has an ear infection. yikes!

riotstarrr @ 2008-04-13T21:32:00

2008-04-14T01:35:01Z

oh alice. she's sick. she's had a fever of 100-103 since last night. and she's coughing and snotting, poor thing. all she wanted to do was lay on the couch and/or have me hold her. she actually fell asleep twice. i'm actually thinking about reinstituting naptime, because she's been having tantrums every night around dinner time this week. and she always gets sleepy mid-afternoon. so we'll see if it will take. i guess while she's sick is a good time to do it.

riotstarrr @ 2008-04-07T14:03:00

2008-04-07T18:08:18Z

went to the dentist today. ow. there was lots of bleeding on behalf of my gums. no cavities though, so that's good.

on thursday, i get to visit the gyno! yippee! *insert lots of sarcasm*

my dreads are slowly evolving. slowly. you're not supposed to wash new dreads for a week. can i tell you how nasty my head is? tomorrow it will be a week. i haven't gone this long without washing my hair EVER. in my life. it itches like crazy. but i try not to scratch. i can't WAIT to wash them tomorrow! i just hope they don't come undone. some of the dreads are loose and fuzzy, so i've been rubbing them like crazy trying to lock them up faster.

maybe i'll wash tonight. so i can sleep better. now i know how they must feel on survivor.d

riotstarrr @ 2008-04-04T16:31:00

2008-04-04T20:44:26Z

i have dreads.

no, really.

it took two days to back-comb all of my hair. now i have 48 little dreads on my head.

i haven't told my family yet. that is, my mom and dad, etc. my husband obviously knows. he's the one who encouraged me to do it!

i did it because loose hair annoys me. i hate when it sticks to my lipstick and gets in my eye. Also, my hair never stays up when i try to fix it. and hairstyles only last about 3 weeks before i have to get another cut. besides, i've had every other hairstyle out there.

it doesn't look good yet, so i'm not going to post any pictures. and don't tell my mom. she's gonna hate it.

going away

2008-03-13T13:22:50Z

hey, i didn't realize that it had been two weeks since i last updated. and now it will probably be a while before i update again, because i'm leaving for texas tomorrow. alice and i are going to stay with my mom for 12 days and help celebrate her 60th birthday!

off the top of my head, just for fun, here are the things i have to do today:
- take a shower
- get alice dressed
- go to the post office and bank
- pack
- maybe some laundry
- provide an estimate to a client
- finish three commissioned crafts
- email a couple of friends
- water the plants
- make us lunch for the plane ride tomorrow

see ya!

riotstarrr @ 2008-02-26T21:46:00

2008-02-27T02:51:39Z

i'm almost afraid to write this, cuz the universe might take it the wrong way. but my life has hit a boring patch. (i don't really believe that the universe has the power to listen and make decisions. it's just a way of saying, ha, as soon as i say i'm bored, shit will hit the fan).

you guys need to go over to my etsy shop and visit. it's lonely there. jetsy.etsy.com. i've made lots of stuff. now i need it to sell.

we close on the house sell in two days! the buyers have already done their walk-through, so it's almost done. we just have to sign the papers.

i feel a little sad about it. i mean, that was the first house eric and i owned together. we conceived alice there. we became a family in that house. i remember the night i brought her home from the hospital. eric and i lay in our bed with her between us as the rain fell on our roof, and i felt secure.

riotstarrr @ 2008-02-13T20:01:00

2008-02-14T01:06:30Z

i have an appointment tomorrow to have my laptop looked at. it won't stay asleep, and it won't work with my keyboard. plus, the usb ports only work when they want to. and this laptop is only 3 months old!!! dammit.

the house sale is moving along. we're still scheduled to settle on the 29th. they had their home inspection last week, and they found very little to fix. a couple of really minor plumbing items that eric fixed himself, and a final repair on the front steps (which our painter guy did, because he did the original repairs). we got an estimate for some roofing and chimney items they wanted done, and it was less than $1000. we're giving the buyers the money instead of having the repairs done. i'm afraid they'd uncover more problems - that's how it usually goes with an old house.

so. i'm starting to feel much lighter. now if i can just get rid of eric's damn stereo. it's mostly broken, and i've offered it up on freecycle twice now. three people have expressed interest but then never showed up to take it. grrrr. it's taking up space in my living room!

this weekend is my craft show. i'm nervous about how the table will look. and i really hope people buy stuff. i need the money!

riotstarrr @ 2008-02-02T10:08:00

2008-02-02T15:10:17Z

We accepted an offer on the house!!!!!

it's about $30,000 less than the original asking price, but in this market, that's not so bad. and we should still walk away with about $24,000. which we've already spent on getting the house ready for market. but i'm happy with a clean slate.

riotstarrr @ 2008-01-30T15:16:00

2008-01-30T20:19:28Z

okay, so i don't want to jinx anything, but apparently someone is interested in making an offer on the house. they want to know how much we paid in taxes last year.

the answer is $2801.93.

NOW JUST BUY THE FREAKIN' HOUSE!!!!!!!

riotstarrr @ 2008-01-28T13:14:00

2008-01-28T18:16:15Z

man, i must be the luckiest person ever.

"The new report reinforced the view that housing is currently undergoing its worst downturn in more than two decades, with the slump threatening to surpass in some ways the severe housing recession of the early 1980s."

not a great week...

2008-01-18T23:32:00Z

but i did just make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. there's way too much oatmeal in them, though.

so my car radio died. i was driving along, hit a bump, heard a pop, and then no more sound. the radio still shows that it's on, and it will play a CD, but it's like the speakers are no longer hooked up. i took it to saturn to see if they could fix it, and they said it was an "internal failure," meaning i'm screwed. they can't fix it. i just have to replace it. well, that's not gonna happen until we sell the house. so. it is so quiet in the car now. :(

on a good note, the yoga studio has given me some admin work in exchange for getting my other class free each week. i already get one free class a week for babysitting, and now i'm getting two! so i got a refund check today. now i almost have enough money for one plane ticket home in march to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. i'm hoping i'll have enough miles to get alice's ticket free.

Upcoming Craft Show!

2008-01-12T01:12:16Z

i'm participating in a craft show in february, check it out:

http://savagesnowdrop.blogspot.com/

uh, sorry, i don't know the html tags to make that a link, and i'm too lazy to look it up. but you can jump to my etsy shop from the list. i'm jetsy.

now, i HAVE to make more stuff!

riotstarrr @ 2008-01-11T09:44:00

2008-01-11T14:49:58Z

thanks, lupschada. i looked up strep online, and it sounded like i might have it. so i went to a clinic yesterday. the good news is, i don't have strep. the bad news is, i've had a fever for three days, and they can't do anything for it.

worse is that i told our real estate agent that we'd work on the old house all day tomorrow. that is the last thing i should be doing. plus, who is going to watch alice for like six hours? especially when there's a chance she could come down with what i have? but we need to clean and polish and finish painting for an open house next weekend. the house has been seen more than five times in january already, which is great. now could somebody please just put a contract on it? please?

riotstarrr @ 2008-01-10T09:50:00

2008-01-10T14:56:32Z

there's something bad in my throat. this is the weirdest thing. i feel like i have some sort of infection, because i've been having hot and cold chills and full-body aches. but the main problem is my throat. it hurts to swallow, and i don't mean the inside of my throat. i mean it hurts between the glands and muscles. it's like everything back there is sore and swollen. but i am not sniffly or snotty. what the hell is this?

i'm trying to get in to see our doctor. but they're booked. they're supposed to be calling me back, but i am not confident i'll hear from them.

meanwhile, if i don't keep up a regimen of tylenol, the pain becomes extremely unpleasant and i can hardly swallow at all.

i'm home!

2007-12-30T18:02:08Z

we made it home safe and sound. it's nice to be here, especially now that i have crossed quite a few things off my to-do list. yesterday, i finished my new year's cards and mailed a book someone bought from me online. then i vacuumed two floors of the house and mopped the hardwood floors. they needed it badly. i also cleaned two of the four bathrooms, the ones that get used the most. i listed another necklace on etsy and ordered supplies to make more. and i got my financial affairs in order and deposited a check in my business account.

my mom made my day by sending us some christmas checks. she has never sent this much before! apparently, our family farm had a good year, so she's sharing it with us. good thing, too, because we were just about to take a chunk of cash out of our home equity line of credit to pay bills. not a good thing.

we decided that if the old house doesn't sell in january then we're going to try and rent it. i really don't want to be a landlord, but we may not have a choice. we can't afford the two mortgages any more.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T16:19:07Z

i'm saying merry christmas as an atheist to you, no matter your religion. cuz i hope you all have a good couple of days.

i'm sitting here eating french toast that i made for everyone, but alice is the only one eating with me. it's 9:15, and everyone else is still in bed. eric has been in bed for 14 hours. no, he's not sick. just whatever. his mom is not feeling well, so she's been snapping at his dad every five seconds. luckily, she hasn't turned her nastiness on anyone else yet. i miss my brother and his family, and my mom, even my dad and half-sister. i wonder what they're doing right now.

i better go. eric's mom just got up, and i don't want her to see this.

at least we go home tomorrow.

*hugs*

i am legend

2007-12-23T00:09:33Z

i mean the movie. not me. i am definitely nothing close to legend. whenever i see a post-apocalyptic movie like that, i always think i'd be one of the first to die. i'm not very strong physically or mentally. my reflexes are slow. i don't know how to fight. i can't run worth a crap. i don't really know how to shoot a gun. i would be the worst contestant on survivor, because i have to have my sleep. so yeah. not much of a heroine here.

the movie was good, though. i mean, i liked it. that's how i judge movies. i don't judge them by their acting or camera work or any of that other stuff. as long as it's good enough for me not to think about it, then i can simply judge by how much i liked the movie. there was one scene where i not only jumped, but kept shaking afterwards! crazy.

i'm not going to give anything away, so don't worry if you haven't seen it. interesting concept in the movie: that we humans created a virus that ended up killing 95% of the world's population. i can see something like that happening. any day.

lately i've been thinking about what i would do if i knew i only had [fill in the blank] to live. and the thing is, i don't think i would do anything different. i live my life the way i want. i don't want to skydive or bungee or anything like that. i might want to see some other parts of the world, like england and new zealand. except that traveling is stressful to me, and i always wonder if it's worth the anxiety. but i don't have a "things to do before i kick the bucket" list.

do you guys? and if so, what's on it?

by the way

2007-12-20T19:18:59Z

i bought myself a new macbook about a month ago. i'm not all that thrilled with leopard, but whatever. i do have a camera on my laptop now, though, so if anyone wants to do a video chat i am available. even though we're visiting family right now, i'm bo

merry holidays, i'm back

2007-12-19T19:21:36Z

okay. i checked on lj recently to see if i could find someone's address and send their holiday card. i found out that a couple of my peeps are going through some really hard times. so now i'm checking in regularly and while i'm here, i might as well post too. so here's what i've been up to the past couple of months.

1. jetsy.etsy.com
i've been making jewelry! a friend talked me into doing a craft table with her at a sale, and so i had to really build up my inventory. i've been posting it on etsy here and there, and i've sold a couple of things. i am always thinking of new things to make and sell.

2. http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=21212&mnp=24&mxp=24&bd=4&typ=1&sid=e702ccc2db674693951a2fc289b3552f&lid=1083529743&lsn=2&srcnt=9#Detail

yep, still trying to sell our house in baltimore. we need to change the picture on this listing, because this one is bad. but we're having a lot of painting and stuff done to spruce it up. hopefully after december someone will snatch it up. we're running out of money to pay two mortgages. no, let me revise that: we have run out of money. hard times.

3. holidaze
alice turned two on the 13th, and we're now in arizona to visit the in-laws for christmas. luckily, they have a pretty good wireless internet that my laptop can use.

happy solstice, christmas, etc!
jenny

argh!

2007-09-13T02:13:03Z

okay, if you were alice, where the hell would you hide my wallet???

riotstarrr @ 2007-08-29T22:22:00

2007-08-30T02:30:47Z

i feel like being deep tonight. but i'm not sure i can pull it off.

there's this ache. i can't quite put my finger on it. it's like a shoulder knot that you can't quite reach to work out, but it's in the brain.

i want to go back in time. i have everything i want here in the present, but sometimes i miss the old times. the college times. the newly in love times. the adrenaline-induced staying out all night times. the alchohol didn't give me hangover times. the confident times.

if i could go back just for a few nights, i'm sure i'd remember why i'm glad it's over. but you know, the grass is always greener where you came from.

i always want what i can't have. i never seem to relish things when they're happening as i do when they're over.

riotstarrr @ 2007-08-28T20:29:00

2007-08-29T00:33:48Z

there's a program in baltimore that happens twice a year called live baltimore. it's a tour of homes for sale, and if you buy one of the homes, you get cash back. it's happening on september 15, and my old house is going to be part of it. keep your fingers crossed for us: we'll have about 300 people seeing the house that day, and hopefully one of them will want to buy it!

went to yoga again today. it was harder this time! i guess kripalu yoga is more about the movement than alignment or breathing. that's what i've observed so far. i like it, though - i need the workout. alice is already used to the babysitting thing there - she didn't even try to keep me from leaving today.

alice's new word: raspberries. which she pronounces "bapsbee." oh, and yesterday when we were leaving target, i was putting things in the trunk. she kept saying something that sounded like hiney. i was laughing my, well, hiney off, because i could not figure out what the heck she was saying. she just kept going, "hiney...hiney...hiney" very insistently.