I was looking for something else and came across this old post of mine, and I have to say it is my all time favorite random post. It’s like a Seinfeld episode, really – a post about nothing. And to make it uber-nostalgic, I even linked to the ORIGINAL post in my old Blogger account.
Wee!
Here it is…
I’m so excited I could pee! I have butterflies in my chest and my head is going to explode! I have finally discovered how to do EXACTLY what I’ve wanted to do with music on this blog!
Last night I went to a Gnomedex networking party and met a guy named Matt. We were talking about my wish to post song lists or mp3’s in my sidebar, and I told him I’d found Rhapsody, but that it had certain limitations I wasn’t happy about. Rhapsody is good for linking to an album I like so you, the reader, can see what it is or even listen to it if you download the player. But I still have to actually LINK to it. Also, it links to the page for an entire album, and I often listen to music mixes with songs off many albums.
Well, three cheers for Matt, because he told me about Last.fm and I am FONDLY AND OBSESSIVELY IN LOVE with it. Check out these very cool features:
1. I don’t have to download another freakin’ player unless I want to (though you will, if you want to listen), but can continue to listen to all my mp3’s on my computer in ITunes as usual.
2. The plug-in I downloaded automatically uploads EVERY SONG I PLAY into my profile on Last.fm, whether it’s a whole album or a mixed song list.
3. [And here’s what really made me hot and breathless] I copied some simple html code into the sidebar of my website that includes an RSS feed, so every song I play displays on my track list!
4. If you click on my track list, it will dump you into my Last.fm profile page, and you can poke around to see what I’ve been listening to. Also, you can download the player if you actually want to listen to my song.
This is way more use-able for me than Rhapsody was because after a few simple downloads and text copying, it’s completely automatic and I don’t have to think about it. I just play music as I always do, and it eventually channels it’s way onto my website.
I highly recommend it. And if you sign up for it, too, we can be ‘neighbors’ as they call it, and share each others’ track lists like we share Flickr photos. Won’t you be my neighbor?
I used to read Secret Agent Josephine back when she was pregnant, and somehow I lost track of her blog until now, when she has a four month old baby! I read back on several of her entries to try and catch up with her, and discovered that she’s been making monthly movies of her little Baby Bug!
I was so inspired because ever since I discovered Windows Movie Maker (which comes with Windows XP) I’ve wanted to compile video footage of my kids for the grandparents – video scrapbooking, if you will. It was fun to see some examples of this in action.
My first attempt at movie making was a little too ambitious for Movie Maker, so I ended up having Bryan help me create The Year of Melodic Shouting using the robust Adobe Premiere program. But for simple video scrapbooking, I look forward to the standard Movie Maker program.
Tonight Bryan and I had tickets to see Over the Rhine at Neumo’s on Capital Hill. This band is probably responsible for our marriage, because as soon as Bryan heard that I even KNEW about them, he was in love.
They opened with Latter Days, which makes me cry whenever I hear it, so of course I had that big lump in my throat to keep swallowing down. Then, because they REALLY wanted to make me fall apart, they followed it up with I Want You to Be My Love (which I have written about before on this blog).
We had a great time, and had the added benefit of getting home early because this time around they actually opened the evening.
I spent some time updating my sidebar to reflect what I’m currently reading. I thought I would sneak in The DaVinci Code before I get to the next reading for my book club since the movie is or about to be released. I’m also curious about all the hype in the church world and the flack I hear Tom Hanks is getting for being a part of the movie project. Nothing burns me more than Christians objecting to art they know nothing about because they haven’t even seen/read/heard it. So I’m reading it before I offer any opinions, if I even have any.
And as usual I have a non-fiction I’m working through as well. The Cry of the Soul has been a great book for clarifying some of the things that trigger my anger. I’m not very far into it because the first 70 pages have already given me way too much to chew on. I’m a little overwhelmed. But good things are coming of it, and I can already see changes in the way I interact with Ruthie because of it. More later.
I think I may have stumbled upon a revolutionary new tool to aid me in Getting Things Done. Recently my watch broke, and while I was in Minnesota I bought a new one at Target. Today I discovered that, among many other cool features, it has a TIMER function, which makes Ruthie’s Time-Outs so much more portable and spontaneous because I don’t have to march from room to room looking for where I last set the kitchen timer.
But ALSO, since I am the Queen of Distraction when it comes to staying on task, I set the timer for 15 minutes today while I raced around the living room picking up all the clutter from our return home yesterday. Then, since I was on such a roll, I set the timer for another 15 minutes and cleaned off the front porch which was beginning to look more like a storage closet than a welcoming extension of my house.
And now I am rewarding myself by taking a break to put my feet up and surf my blog reads… with my timer set.
It’s all very Flylady.
Speaking of blog reads, I fiddled a little with my template again. I figured out how to add my Bloglines feed list directly into the sidebar, so now you have complete access to the influences in my head. And whenever I update this list in my Bloglines account, it automatically updates the list you see in my side bar! I love html.
Normally vacations with children are not really vacations. They are just transplanted chaos without the chores. But when vacations involve doting Grandmas and Aunties with grown children, the week comes very close to a vacation for me. I have spent hours reading books, catching up on rss feeds, and updating my website.
I’ve brought back the Book Pile section in my side bar. Thanks to the Harambee women’s book club and the Diva’s book club, I’m back into reading again. Being introduced to new books and new genres has been so rewarding for me that the blog posts are piling up in my feed reader.
The next Harambee book club I’ll be attending is May 22nd, and we’ll be discussing Name All the Animals, by Alison Smith. Then on June 19th I’m hosting Harambee’s book club discussion on About Grace, by Anthony Doerv. If you’d like to join us for either of these discussions, send me an email!
Life seems uninteresting these days from a blogging perspective, though it is FANTASTIC from the survival aspect. I’ve said this before, but it’s easier for me to write about things I’m complaining about or struggling with. Depression? Martial strife? This is the stuff great stories are born from – the setup, upset, reset. When was the last time you saw a movie about a really happy guy that led a really happy life and nothing tragic or embarrassing ever happened to him?
Without the torturous confusion swirling around in my head I have to shift gears – I don’t need the introspection so much anymore. Nice things happen to me every day. Funny things happen to me every day. I am surrounded by nice people and good vibes. And the beauty is, I can see that now.
In my recovery group (I have that anger thing, remember?) we were recently talking about things we were thankful for, and things we’ve been ungrateful for in the past, and for many of us the same things were on both lists. How messed up is that? My daughter is amazing, and smart, and tenacious, and I oppressed that in her because of my own selfishness and lack of patience.
When I started this blog my step-dad was dying, I was pregnant with a son that would carry on his name, I didn’t like my husband very much, and life looked a little bleak. Hence, The Pile I’m Standing In.
I still stand by the name and the reason behind it, because this life will always be a pile to trudge through. But lately I have been able to see more of the joy that comes with living this life.
Ruthie is expressing herself more these days. Whenever we leave a friend’s house, she is quick to announce, “I HAD FUN PLAYING WITH KIDS, MOM!†She has a thankful heart. She finds joy in everyday things.
She is a good mentor.
About a month ago I mentioned we gave Ruthie the camera for the evening, but then I never posted the pictures. Here they are!
Last night Bryan and I did some creative exploration (okay, that sounded bad). Over the weekend he took short videos of the kids on our digital camera and I wanted to find a way to post it directly into my website. He discovered YouTube, which is a video sharing site similar to Flickr, and voila! This is what happened!
Fun, huh? You’ll have to let me know if it’s a pain in the neck to download on your end.
Last night we also gave Ruthie the camera to shoot her own pictures, which I’ll try to post later today. She ran around the play room in the basement shooting all her favorite things, declaring, “This is my bear. This is my doll. This is my Scout.” Pretty cute. She had a major melt down when we finally took it away from her.
10. picture of a pile of luggage
9. “found a penny in her†diaper (2nd ranking)
8. wife “at home†(2nd ranking)
7. toddler swallowed a penny (1st ranking!)
6. swallowed penny
5. embossing powder dangers
4. how to cheer up a post partum wife (1st ranking)
3. scary snowman (8th ranking)
2. moms pooping (11th ranking)
1. chubby jen (1st ranking – thanks, thank you so much)
Bryan and I hooted as I read these to him. Then he deadpanned, “You must be really reassuring to mothers everywhere.â€
I’ve been absent from posting again.
It’s a busy time of year, but mostly it’s because I have a lot on my mind that I’m not ready to talk about yet.
My mother gets worried about me when I stop returning phone calls or emails. Now that I’m not posting consistently I bet she’s REALLY in a tizzy.
I’M OKAY MOM, SO DON’T WORRY. AND IF YOU NEED TO CALL MY FRIENDS FOR PROOF, THEN BE MY GUEST.
I’m choosing to ignore my last post. I thought about deleting it altogether, but decided against it. I was in some sort of irrational mood, coupled with writing about something I hadn’t thoroughly processed yet. Chalk it up to an introvert extroverting before the introverting was complete.
I’ve been a crazy-poster tonight!
I cleaned up the navigation column again, and took out the Book Pile section since it seems I am boycotting those paper thingies.
I also posted a new quote in the Quote Pile where it says “daily quote.” DAILY quote. I think I last updated it in October.
Oh well.
