Carol's random babble

Letter to the Editor ... or something ... To the Editor: Some people spend a few minutes in the morning clearing the frost or ice off their car windows. Other people clear a tiny space and hope the people who are more careful will see them first. I spent the time this morning to clear my car windows so I could drive safely and not be a hazard to others. I was nearly in an accident, however, when someone who clearly could not spend the time to clear their windows pulled out on the street in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and honked, so lady, yes, I'm talking to you . I could see through your back window that you were crouching down, peering through a space at the bottom of your windshield that was, maybe, six inches high and about half of the width of your windshield. You pulled out in front of me because you apparently didn't think you needed to clear your side windows. After all, even though you didn't take the time to clear your windows, other people must, ther...

When I finished that last entry and tried to publish it, I got an error message. It was weird, like the computer problems followed me home. Just what I need...

I meant to go to bed half an hour ago, but thought I might as well get this down before I forget all the exciting details. We had so many computer problems at work tonight (yes, it's really Wednesday morning, but I'm still up,so to me it's still Tuesday night). Dave finally restarted the pagination server, and things worked a little better after that, but the computers were still sluggish. I had a problem which started when I tried to move a file and it didn't quite work, then I had to close the program, and I couldn't log back in. At this same time, I was trying to PDF a page that hadn't gone right when I did it before. My Mac froze and I had to restart. There was about 20 minutes where I couldn't work on my pages at all, and I finished about 10 minutes after deadline. After deadline had passed, and I finished the last page, the computer started working a little better. I did a couple of comics pages for later this week, then started a Sunday Lifestyle page...

Long, boring, ranting, blogging, babbling, stream-of-consciousness, did I mention babbling? Since it is after 2 a.m. Saturday morning, I will just refer to Friday as yesterday, even though I'm still up and it seems like the same day. I skipped my "Exploring the Visual Arts" class yesterday, but made it to my Photoshop class. I had to go to work right after class, because I had put my timesheet in my bag and took it home Thursday night instead of turning it in. Brilliant! Some background information: On January 22, 2003, I was driving Kent's car (the Escort) through the parking lot of Citizens Community Credit Union in Fort Dodge when a young woman (Haley) backed out of a parking space and ran into the car. I called the police, took the report to my insurance company, got two estimates and turned them in to the insurance company that same day. The following week, I got a letter from the young woman's insurance company (which I will name later if things contin...

Warning: long rant ahead I thought I was going to have a stoke today. I was up too late again last night, as usual, so after taking the girls to school, I went home and took a nap. When I got up, I had time to eat, take a shower and get dressed for work, go to the pawn shop to pay interest, and get Kent lunch. Then I went to work. I got there about 12:30, which is normally plenty of time to do the two pages I do for the Sunday Lifestyle section. I do one page with "highlights" from various organizations, a couple of puzzles, and Annie's Mailbox. The other page is the Announcements: Anniversary, Birthday, Engagement, Wedding. Normally, Bill K. scans the photos for these. They are supposed to be done by Tuesday night, but he usually does them Wednesday night. I didn't work Tuesday, and Wednesday I just didn't notice that he wasn't there. I was pretty busy Wednesday night with five pages. So, if I had known that Bill K. was ill, I could have (and would have)...

It's nearly 2 a.m., I haven't started on my project for my Advanced Photoshop class (because apparently I didn't really upload it to my Yahoo briefcase like I thought), and I'm watching "House Hunters" on HGTV . This is a semi-interesting show... you get to see other people look at homes to buy. The couple in this episode (Alicia and Gentry Patrick) have my vote for "most overuse of the word nice " It's starting to get annoying. Tomorrow (actually later today) I have to turn in my days off request for March, my timesheet to the college for note-taking, and my timesheet at work. It's that time already. I was playing on Neopets , but their server is down for maintenance (according to them), so I gave that up for now. Oh well, maybe I can get acquainted with sleep. That's always a good idea. When I was still at work, I had rebooted and took a bathroom break. While I was busy, my Mac came back on, but most of the desktop icons didn't ...

I added a "cast of characters" to my blog so people can figure out who the heck I'm talking about (that is, if anyone is reading this besides me...) I went to Relief Society tonight. Jessica volunteered to help with the nursery again. I feel guilty about relying on her all the time, but it does get her out of the house. I gave her a scrapbooking book and templates that I had. It's nearly new, and the templates were only used once when Jessica was here watching the girls. Anyway, I think she likes it. And I do appreciate all the help she gives me. Enrichment Night was about music - how it can help in many ways - bonding with family, growing spiritually, etc. Sister McCall read from her journal some thoughts about when she was young and her dad would play his guitar and sing her to sleep. It was really well-written. It wasn't the stream of consciousness type of journal like mine is. I didn't speak up during the lesson, but I was thinking of a lullaby I us...

Hey! My sister's blogging now.

I made a blog entry before I left for work, but when I tried to publish it, somehow it got lost in cyberspace...oh well. I have submitted to and been added to two web rings: blogs by women and blogging mommies . I guess this is all my little slice of fame. Somebody, somewhere might read this and think about me. Andy Warhol said that in the future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, and this is my way of getting my 15 minutes. I didn't have any problems going to work or coming home. The roads were still kind of messed up when I went to work, but nearly clear by the time I made it home. Well, the county road from 169 to Otho was pretty much covered, so I drove slowly (about 40-45) for that short distance. The streets in Otho are still pretty much covered in snow, but the drifts are gone. I wonder what Riverside Trail looks like. There's a road leaving Otho that goes zigzagging through trees. It is a pretty drive, but you really have to keep your eyes on the road. With...

We're in the grip of a serious winter storm. It rained a good part of the day Friday before turning to snow. I don't think the snow has stopped. I left work at about 9:45 p.m. and took about 30 minutes to drive the 10 miles home. I was going about 25 mph most of the way. Highway 169 was nearly 100% snow- and ice-covered with drifts up to 1/2 foot, and visibility was less that 100 feet at times. That was nearly 4 hours ago, and it can only have gotten worse. I didn't see a snowplow on the way home. I could tell there had been one, but that it had been quite some time since it was there. Kent is at work. Normally, he works 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, but he went in at midnight tonight in place of a guard who lives farther away than we do. At this point, we're just hoping the guy will be able to work tonight. I called Kent at work - he hasn't seen a snowplow yet. We live in a mobile home and I'm wondering just how sturdy the roof is....

I decided to add a link to my home page on the side and, in the process, thoroughly messed up the fonts. I'll see if I can fix them tonight. Sleep deprivation, while now my normal state, doesn't do me any good in the brain processing department. In other words, I'm stupid without sleep. No comments from the peanut gallery!

Well, I nearly got my wish today. I've been wishing for a snow day. You might think that most moms would be against a snow day, because it can be inconvenient to have the kids home when you have other plans. Well, my wish for a snow day is based on my need for sleep . I've been wanting the opportunity to sleep in. I would have settled for a 2-hour delay, which would allow me an extra 2 hours of sleep, but today I just wanted the whole day free. The brakes in Kent's car are going bad, so for the last week, I've been driving him to work, driving the kids to school, going home for a nap, going to school, going home again, driving back to town to pick the girls up from school, picking Kent up from work, then going to work. This only makes my bad habit of staying up way too late even more tiring. If school had just been cancelled today, I could have let Kent drive my car to work, then wait at home til he gets back, then go to work. Yes, even though it's raining now a...

Something I didn't notice til Wednesday - my car's mileage rolled over to 263,000 miles on Tuesday night. It must have been on my way home. I was so tired that night I wouldn't have noticed if confetti and balloons had dropped down. Some nights I'm so tired that I'm amazed I don't end up in a ditch. It wouldn't be so bad if we still lived in Fort Dodge and I only had a short distance, but Otho is about 10 miles away and it's 55 all the way there. I'm an accident waiting to happen. Okay, I was thinking about what I wanted to say while I was driving home tonight...unfortunately, I have forgotten. Let me think. Oh, yeah... I was thinking about how vindictive I get while driving sometimes. Most of my way home is on Highway 169 as a four-lane, but a mile before the turn-off for Otho, it goes to two lanes. Even so, I expect oncoming drivers to not use their high-beam headlights when approaching, but the concept of courtesy to other drivers seems to be ...

Well, my art class (Exploring the Visual Arts) and other classes had the opportunity to visit the Des Moines Art Center yesterday. We went down in three 15-passenger vans, which Rusty Farrington said have been recalled or received safety warnings about high rollover rates. Great. The art center was interesting. The current exhibit, Magic Markers: Objects of Transformation, will run through April 20. It has a variety of styles and materials used by the various artists. I took notes about some of the things that really seemed interesting, but I'll put them on my web site, in my notes for art class . On the way back, we ran into some rough weather - wind, rain and snow. I recalled what Rusty had said about the vans, and couldn't help feeling nervous, but we made it back okay. I'm glad I went, and I wish I could go on the next trip, but that one is to Minneapolis and will take all day, meeting at 6 a.m. and returning around 10 p.m. I just can't do that - I have kids to get...

Okay, okay, okay... obviously I didn't go right to bed like I said... but this is worth it. Dave Barry's blog!

I don't feel tired, exactly, but I don't feel like taking this little graphic heart blinkie apart right now. I checked it over and it still looks like it has some white outside the heart, which shows up against the black. The only problem is, when I checked each layer separately, I don't see any white. I'm not going to fix it tonight (nearly 3 a.m.). I have class in the middle of the day - 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sometimes I come home after taking the girls to school, then take a nap for a couple of hours. Then I go to class, come back home and play around on the computer. Actually, I will need to update my notes from class. So, I really need to get my sleep. I'm too old for staying up all night. I hate saying that. I don't feel old exactly. I like things that younger people like. I listen to top 40 songs just like I always did. I don't know... I have this theory that there is a defining time of your life... and you get stuck there. You don't progre...

Well, I missed church again. I was up til 3:30 Sunday morning. It's now 2:40 Monday morning. See a trend here? I did some blinkies yesterday afternoon. I think they are fun, but I hadn't done any for weeks. So, I did five. Four are the same shape, just different colors and stuff. One is heart-shaped. Shoot... I just remembered something that showed up when I put them on a black background... Back to the drawing board, so to speak...

Tired, tired, tired. Was up til 3:30 a.m. again. Kent picked a fight with me this morning. The word "unreasonable" comes to mind... again. I'm heading to bed for a nap.

Well, another day of time wasted. The weather was getting bad when I went to class, and when I got out (1 hour later), it was pretty bad. I went to pick the girls up. The schools were releasing early, but I was going to pick them up anyway. I didn't want to make another trip to town in the weather we were having. It was snowing and blowing heavily. Visibility was nearly 1/2 mile. Roads were slick. The scariest thing about all that is what are the other drivers doing. I did slide a couple of times but managed to keep control. I've been playing too much Neopets again. The 3rd of the month is half price day at the shops, so I've been trying to stock up on stuff. Unfortunately, nothing was available for most of the day. I finally got something to show up just before Kent got home. He took over the computer and gave it back around 10. I need to type up my notes for art class. Apparently, I have been doing too much. The person for whom the notes are intended doesn't wa...

I have had problems with my wrists for about 5 years now. It really started when I worked at Burger King and washed lots of trays every night. I had to remember to not hold the tray up in my left hand and scrub with my right, because that caused pressure on my left hand and wrist. It was diagnosed at tendonitis. The problems come and go and usually the pain and weakness is in my right arm now. Sometimes I wear a wrist brace with a metal support piece. These have a tendency to wear out, so when one starts wearing out, I buy a new one. Okay, I also buy new ones when I can't find one. One day last week I knew where 3 of these braces were and today I can't find one of them. If I weren't completely broke, I would buy another one. I work at a newspaper. I get to see a lot of the news, and sometimes I just see too much. I get news overload. Sometimes I don't even read the paper - since I put part of it together the night before, I've already read some of it. I know that...