Something Creative » blog http://nil17.com Ruminations on my life... Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:59:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Yep, I’m Still Around http://nil17.com/2011/10/yep-im-still-around/ http://nil17.com/2011/10/yep-im-still-around/#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 19:46:30 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=2132 Oh my goodness! It has been a busy week around here.  Wednesday we made a trip to the clinic for Magnus who was feeling punky & out of sorts.  Sure enough he has an ear infection so we got a ‘scrip called into the pharmacy & off we went.  I decided to reward my little [...]]]> Oh my goodness! It has been a busy week around here.  Wednesday we made a trip to the clinic for Magnus who was feeling punky & out of sorts.  Sure enough he has an ear infection so we got a ‘scrip called into the pharmacy & off we went.  I decided to reward my little guy for being so good at the doctor with a quick trip to Starbucks.  He loves their petite vanilla bean scones…plus mommy wanted some Passion Tea Lemonade.  We were standing at the counter ordering when I felt a warm, wet liquid hit me.  I look at Magnus, who is in my left arm, just in time to get hit with a second wave of him throwing up.  Delightful…nothing like needing a change of clothes for two people & not having them.  Needless to say we did a quick cleanup in the bathroom, grabbed hoodies from the Jeep so we could go home w/o wearing our icky clothes and forgot about the treat.

I did get to go out later that afternoon when Abe got home to finish running my errands.  Abe was wonderful & kept both kids for the hour I was out.  I hit Verizon for a portable wifi device & then Wal-mart for the antibiotics.  There was a lot of standing in line which tested my patience.  Walking to checkout I spied the women’s section & something in bright pink.  A quick detour showed that yoga pants (the nice ones from Danskin) were not only in my size (I was hoping) but a very reasonable $12.  I knew time was running short so into the self-check lane, a quick stop at Subway & off to home.  Everything was well under control when I got home (much to my relief but not to my surprise).  Marit was ready to eat so everybody had dinner & we vegged out on the couch.  I tried on my new pants and after a little LOT of obsessing decided they don’t look awful & I can wear them in public w/o being openly ridiculed.

Wednesday night was not a good night.  Magnus was up a lot with his ear ache & Marit decided she didn’t want to sleep her normal 4 hour cycles.  Thursday dawn found me blearily dealing with diaper changes & finding all the stuff I needed to take along for a day at my sister-in-law’s house.  Her usual daycare helper was gone so I went over to lend a hand with the 5 kids she watches.  Add in my 2, her 1 & the one kid that comes after school is out & it was chaos.  All of us were exhausted when we crashed at home later that night.

In the meantime (great, now that song is gonna be stuck in my head for the rest of the day…) I was listening to Falling Deeper by Anathema & trying to formulate a review for Dante’s Prog Blog Inferno.  I was procrastinating as I much prefer to be the silent editor & gal Friday over there.  However there was much insisting that I get with the program & just write already.

Friday morning I was able to sleep a little later & we had a nicely relaxed start to our day.  Errands & browsing for home decor with my sister-in-law Jilli in the afternoon went fine & the kids were great.  We ended the night with dinner out at Tinner’s (mmmm… egg & cheese burger), dessert at PeachWave (blueberry cheesecake fro-yo is teh nomz) & eventually home to tuck the kids in bed.  I attempted to write my review that night but didn’t get more than the opening paragraph done.

We were out again on Saturday morning & moving considerably more slowly.  Abe helped my brother & sister-in-law pick out doors for their basement which is slowly being finished.  Then the guys went to unload the doors & do “man stuff” while we girls (Marit included) went to the giant craft show at the convention center.  I popped Marit into her sling & into the hoard we went.  There was a lot of nice stuff but I was mainly there to browse.  I did find a very cute dress, knit hat & headband w/flowers for Marit in one of the doll clothes booths.  I looked in some of the other booths for a Halloween costume but didn’t get anything.  I may have to look again & get one of the fairy dresses…they are too cute for words.

After all our roaming about was done we spent the night in & relaxed.  I finally managed to write my review & then it was bed where we all got a pretty decent night sleep.  Today is football day & the Vikings haven’t totally fallen apart….yet.  This week should be a quiet one though we are hoping for a visit from Grandma B.  Hope you all have restful weekends & can face the week ready to tuck & roll as each day comes.

]]> http://nil17.com/2011/10/yep-im-still-around/feed/ 1 Reaching A Milemarker http://nil17.com/2011/08/reaching-a-milemarker/ http://nil17.com/2011/08/reaching-a-milemarker/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 21:56:20 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=2050 So I have reached the milemarker of publishing 300 posts here.  It has taken me a long time seemingly…especially since I may not post for months at a time.  However, when I started this blog it was to let out the stuff that swirls around in my brain on a daily basis.  In some ways [...]]]> So I have reached the milemarker of publishing 300 posts here.  It has taken me a long time seemingly…especially since I may not post for months at a time.  However, when I started this blog it was to let out the stuff that swirls around in my brain on a daily basis.  In some ways I have let out way more than I ever intended.  Yet there are parts of me I’m still not willing to leak out onto the page… (Hi Mom!)  However, it is amazing to see what has happened since I wrote my first post on March 27, 2008.

I’ve moved from northern Minnesota to southern South Dakota (forests & beautiful Lake Superior to corn fields & wide open plains).  I’m pregnant with my second child.  I’ve witnessed births, deaths, weddings & divorces.  I’ve made some amazing new friends, reconciled with dear old friends & shed people who weren’t good for me.

So in light of all that I’m going to share some of the favorite, most interesting, posts that amuse me.

In Arsenal of Impossibility I explore my evil genius side & plot my eventual world domination.  Who doesn’t like miniatureized (and easily controllable) natural disasters & ninja midgets?  Then there is of course The Great Rock Magnet Escapade—follow me as I am tasked with spending a ridiculous amount of money on polished rocks attached to magnets…really one of my better pre-parent shenanigans.

No mention of my writing would be complete without a mention of The Bra Rant (Lots of great comments on that one…) and the various poetry I’ve posted.  On the other hand I could be wrong.

Thanks to my readers for sticking with me, for occasionally leaving a comment & for not throwing hard objects at my head.  I hope you stick around & see what comes next.

]]> http://nil17.com/2011/08/reaching-a-milemarker/feed/ 1 My Hacker http://nil17.com/2011/06/my-hacker/ http://nil17.com/2011/06/my-hacker/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 04:39:11 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=1844 Over the weekend I was informed by my sister-in-law that my blog had been hacked. Not the best gtalk message to receive as my pillow was getting fluffed just right on Saturday night.

Off I went to my desktop pc and logged into my webhosting site where I contacted the live support person. They [...]]]>

Over the weekend I was informed by my sister-in-law that my blog had been hacked. Not the best gtalk message to receive as my pillow was getting fluffed just right on Saturday night.

Off I went to my desktop pc and logged into my webhosting site where I contacted the live support person. They immediately directed me to submit a help ticket request to the tech support center.

I submitted the help request, changed my password for the blog site and headed back to bed. Of course my brain was on overload at this point so I was rather wide awake. I went to check my blog from my phone (from whence I am composing this missive) only to find that it had been hijacked yet again. By now I was really pissed off.

Abe was awake and we were talking about what a hassle the whole thing was and how silly that I had gotten hacked. I started to think of all the websites out there on the interwebz my little blog got hacked. I mentioned how it was nearly worthy of a “REALLY?!?!?!?” segment a la Weekend Update. Abe laughed and told me I had my next blog post…so without further ado here it is.

The following text was basically what appeared on my blog. It was white text on a black background & there was a stylized skull and crossbones in the center of the page.

{#} Team [redacted Middle Eastern Country] hacker{#}
{#}The [redacted] hack{#}
This What We Do Hacking all The Time
Just open your eyes you fucked :P
Team [redacted Middle Eastern Country] hacker We Never Play
See ya

Really? That’s the scariest language you’ve got? I mean really…you *never* play? That just sounds boring. And you “do hacking” all the time? Really? So you don’t take time to eat or sleep or go to the bathroom? I suppose that guarantees you don’t shower… And really?? You manage to hack my blog…my teeny little onlyhasonereader (my cousin…okay, two readers since my sis-in-law noticed the hack) blog. Wow, what an accomplishment! I mean really…all the other hackers will be so impressed. You managed to disable what could be the most insignificant site in all the interwebz. Oh wait, was this your “jumping in” to the hacker world? That would make slightly more sense. Seriously though I doubt it would give you much street cred…really, I wish you luck in your quest to be taken seriously in the hacker world. Really. As of now everything is restored (obviously as you’re reading it) and not too badly for wear. We now return you to your regularly scheduled prattle.
]]> http://nil17.com/2011/06/my-hacker/feed/ 3 Giving Up Some Blog Love http://nil17.com/2009/09/giving-up-some-blog-love/ http://nil17.com/2009/09/giving-up-some-blog-love/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:26:33 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=860 Fit This,Girl! who wasn’t sure she wanted to join the blog-set.  She is now at [...]]]> Today I just want to give out some love to a few of the fantastic bloggers that I keep up with. First I’m going to give a shout out to my girl Mary over at Fit This,Girl! who wasn’t sure she wanted to join the blog-set.  She is now at her 100th post & rocking it.  I’ve known Mary for longer than either of us probably care to admit but she still rocks my socks.  For a hot new recipe (I promise they are good for you too) or the newest fitness clothes, shoes & workouts Mary’s got you covered.  Occasionally she even makes me think about working out…Fit This, Girl! is the place to be for inspiration in your battle against sloth. Another great blog that always has something interesting going on is Little Daily Escape.  Now if I’ve known Mary for a long time I know Megan doesn’t want me disclosing all the stuff we’ve gotten into together.  Meg & I have managed to stay close in spite of being cousins & only seeing each other on holidays, special occasions etc.  She’s a busy mom with 2 girls, a career as something engineer-y (yes it’s a real word…), a runner, a musician and a wife. Head on over to Little Daily Escape & keep up with all the adventures.  Guaranteed to make you smile. There are so many more & my humble words don’t really do them justice…check out the giant list of blogs on the right side of your page.  You’ll certainly find something to make you laugh, smile, think & enjoy.
]]> http://nil17.com/2009/09/giving-up-some-blog-love/feed/ 0 Updates/Farewell http://nil17.com/2009/09/updatesfarewell/ http://nil17.com/2009/09/updatesfarewell/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:21:19 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=817 Well it’s time for me to post some updates on a few things so I’m going to pack it all into one post…this means I’m going to really ramble (like you aren’t used to that anyway). First I’ll go way back to the spring & my good intentions for working out & getting more fit. I did well with that until late spring/early summer…then my constant battle with my gallbladder took over. The more I battled with not feeling well the less I was able to use my WiiFit. Not only do I not feel well but I’m exhausted. Just making it through a day of work wipes me out. It was disappointing to feel the the strength & stamina I was building slowly slip away. I did participate in & complete the 5k as was my goal. I didn’t finish any faster than the year before where I didn’t train at all however I did feel better & didn’t limp for a week afterward. I won’t be able to participate in the same 5k next year as I have a wedding to attend. However I am thinking about picking another event & trying that. Of course I also wanted to be ready for a night out on the town with Abe & his brother Pete & Pete’s wife Anne. Alas we have not yet had a night out on the town so I needn’t worry about finding a dress to wear. A brief update on how I’m feeling…I have good & bad days. Mostly I eat as little as possible as bland as possible. Think saltine crackers, applesauce, apple juice & water. Occasionally some toast or Cheerios. That’s about it. Needless to say I’m losing weight but not in the manner I would choose. Speaking of losing weight it’s getting so that I can barely find clothes to wear since mostly everything is too big. Not HUGE on me yet but definitely tricky to wear pants that only stay up because I’ve got hips (and they are smaller too). It is nice that I’ve been able to buy pants about 4 sizes smaller but frustrating because I can’t really go out & replace my whole wardrobe. For now I’m still hanging onto my dress pants (literally) and contemplating learning how to take the clothes apart, recut them to size & sew them back together. Also, we have reached a quick end to the kerfuffle with the bank president over payment for the signs. Two bank employees to whom I’m very grateful (they both spoke up rather vigorously on our behalf) have informed me that we should have the check by Monday. This eases a worry as now we shall be able to pay rent even if it is quite late. Fortunately we won’t be penalized for that since it was far beyond our control. Other than that there isn’t really anything of interest to say. Since I really fail to see the point of writing anymore this is quite possibly my last post. I don’t know if or when I’ll be posting here or anywhere else again. Thanks to those of you who have been reading…I hope you have enjoyed at least some of what I’ve shared. If I ever do decide to write again you shall be the first to know. Adieu.
]]> http://nil17.com/2009/09/updatesfarewell/feed/ 0 Poet? http://nil17.com/2009/04/poet/ http://nil17.com/2009/04/poet/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:05:17 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=279 I’ve decided that not only do I need to keep writing on here but that I also need to work on writing poetry.  Poetry has always been my first love in writing.  During college I wrote a lot of what was most likely terrible poetry.  I stopped writing for years and have only started writing again in the last year.  Now I’m finding that I have more to say than I realized and straight prose is not covering it all. Thanks for letting me indulge my obsession with words by reading all this.  My poetry attempts may be unpolished at best but I intend to keep working, polishing & hopefully getting feedback from some people I’ve come to respect for their own writing.
]]> http://nil17.com/2009/04/poet/feed/ 0 Impatience Thy Name Is…Me http://nil17.com/2009/03/impatience-thy-name-isme/ http://nil17.com/2009/03/impatience-thy-name-isme/#comments Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:39:45 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.com/?p=217 As you are aware I am in the process of getting this new (and maybe improved) blog off the ground. After a promising start {in which I found the theme, learned to upload & use it, and imported all the post (and pics) from the old blog} I have run aground. While trying the seemingly simple task of adding the Blogroll (yes if you ask nice I’ll consider adding you) I managed to put it up in some weird triplicate.  Not to mention that I have zero (nil, zip, zippo, the big goose egg, nada, zilch) idea on how to add plugins…or even what plugins I would/should be using. I have some great people (you know who you are) helping me with this mess of epic proportions.  Of course since they have lives outside of my blog (I know right…who knew?) we haven’t been able to connect.  Not that I’m bothered all that much by this fact.  I figure that it’s just more incentive for me to do some stuff myself & then show off how smart (I’d say and beautiful but I don’t want anybody to die laughing) I am. Of course this all sounds good in my mind.  I’m notorious for deciding I can handle something I’m just learning about on my own so I go off half-cocked & usually manage to make a fine disaster of things.  My mind can’t seem to slow down & wait for results.  I want to do something & I want to have learned all about it, perfected the skill and finished the project last week. I can only assume that this drives everybody completely insane.  Of course if I try to rein myself in then I just go completely bonkers & pick fights with anything around me including the house plants. Tonight was no exception…. I sat down to read (another giant project I won’t begin to discuss here) but ended up staring at the code for this blog again.  After deleting all the blogroll & other links, changing the theme several times (even deleting the one you are looking at only to regret it in 3 seconds & re-upload it) I did manage to do one thing I wanted.  There are no longer 3 completely identical blogroll areas on my blog.  Do not ask me how I did it….I have no freaking clue! Anyway, to the great, fantastic, patient, obliging, kind people (you know who you are—if you don’t try asking me for a favor & see what happens) THANK YOU for tolerating the one track mind I possess when embarking on something new.  I shall continue my attempt to be rational and relax a bit (rather than over-analyze every single aspect of how this thing looks & functions).  I know I (we) will get this done.
]]> http://nil17.com/2009/03/impatience-thy-name-isme/feed/ 0 I’m a finalist http://nil17.com/2009/02/im-a-finalist/ http://nil17.com/2009/02/im-a-finalist/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:38:50 +0000 Nil17 http://nil17.wordpress.com/?p=128 Wow…I had entered a contest a few weeks ago to have a blog bailout.  The excellent folks at DesignPepper.com are having a contest where anybody could explain why they wanted a blog makeover.  I entered.  Tonight I found out that I’m one of the 10 finalists.  Now it’s in your hands.  I need votes.  Go to http://designpepper.com/2009/02/02/10-blog-bailout-finalists-vote-for-your-favorite/#more-491 and click on my name Becci-Something Creative to vote for me.  Feel free to leave a comment here letting me know you voted so I can give you a shout out after voting is done. Thank you in advance!  I’m super excited about this!
]]> http://nil17.com/2009/02/im-a-finalist/feed/ 0