Posts from the ‘Just for fun’ Category

2010 in review

Thought this was interesting.  🙂  Got this in the mail yesterday.

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 15,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 3 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 54 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 508 posts. There were 51 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 88mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was June 24th with 143 views. The most popular post that day was All aboard the potty train.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, thejoyofsocks.typepad.com, motherswithcancer.wordpress.com, catwithcats.com, and coffeeandchemo.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for clay aiken, fanny pack, google memes, potty, and silicone muffin cups.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

All aboard the potty train January 2009
14 comments

2

Trauma and the cancer patient June 2008
12 comments

3

Cider Vinegar Fly Pool of Doom October 2007
2 comments

4

Review: Silicone Muffin Cups January 2009
8 comments

5

Fairy Wings October 2008
9 comments

Advertisement

Blogs to read this summer

Now that it’s summer, I have time to catch up on my blog reading.  I’m going to share two today that you must go check out.  You just have to.  Because I said so.

1) Rhythm of the Home is really more an online magazine, but it’s one of the coolest places in the internet.  It has wonderful articles on crafts, recipes, and children, but also some very meditative and thoughtful essays on ways to live our lives.    I am easily caught up in little details and its nice so find a place that reminds me  that little things and simple things are not the same.  I’m going to try and do some of their ideas with my own children this summer.

2) Pioneer Woman  There are so many reasons to go visit her website.  Amazing recipes, the loving chronicle of how she and her husband met, the endearing stories of ranch life.  But right now, if you go for any reason, go see the photo contest she just held for Memorial Day.  See if you can keep from tearing up.  See if you can.

36 Part 2

We ordered Chinese for dinner tonight and were enlightened by our various fortunes.

Mine was very classic:

The boys’ were strangely related:

Then L read hers.  And we asked her to read it again, just to make sure she wasn’t being funny.

Lives in China, Yoda does, apparently.

Top Searches

I’m always amused by what google searches people come by my blog.

For the last few months, it’s been “Clay Aiken”.  And “potty boy”.  It used to be “Wash’s Eulogy”.  The new top is “Fanny Pak” (as in my love of ABDC, which I haven’t been watching as much due to the working thing.)

My other funny thing is my blog now has enough people reading it that it is on the first page of google searches.  I used to be like 4 pages in.   Crazy.  I guess this must be my 15 minutes.  Probably should come up with something witty and poignant.

Maybe tomorrow.

This little light of mine

Last night we made soy candles for the kids’ teachers.  J and I had gone to a ceramic show last month and found these lovely tiny pots (made by a knitting friend of mine).  I had been trying to think of fun things to put in the pot (honey, spices, tiny plants…) when I remembered reading that you could make soy candles in the microwave.  We bought the stuff at Joann’s and on the tip of one of their employees used an old crayon for color instead of the commercial dyes.  We also added apple pie scent to it. I figure, who doesn’t like apple pie?  This was a very easy craft, but I admit I was a little paranoid about the hot wax and the kid’s pouring abilities to let them do much more than affix the wick and peel the crayon.  They still had a good time though and are now making festive bags to wrap them in.

Sawyer Sawyer Locke

I found this while I was cleaning this weekend.  Drawn by the girl.

so now I wonder – if underneath all the junk in her room is a hatch.  Maybe I should start checking her math homework for the number sequence.  Hmmm.

And yes.  I do have the Sawyer Song stuck in my head.  Again.

Zune Shuffle

Two things.

Yes.  I have a Zune.

And I’ve never done the ipod shuffle post. You know, the one where you put the ipod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs.  So here it is.  My musical taste in all it’s weirdness.

1. Gallows Pole – Led Zeppelin.  Reminds me of high school and Laserium Zeppelin.  heh.

2. Goodbye Love – Rent.  Well we all knew I love musicals.

3. Helplessly Hoping – recorded by me and two of my friends actually.  We used my ancient microphones at school.  And yes.  I do have recordings of our trio on my Zune.  I like to listen to us.  Reminds me of fun times.

4.  Missa De Beata Virgine – Josquin Des Prez – I’m a music geek.  What’d you expect?

5. You Oughta Know – Alanis Morissette.  I’m officially old enough to admit publicly that I listen to her in all her angsty bitter greatness.  🙂

6. Hotwax – Beck.  Love Beck.  One of my favorite concerts.  Although my friend and I were probably closer in age to the moms in the audience who brought their jr. high kids. “I’m the enchanted wizard of rhythm.”  How can you not love lyrics like that?

7.  Love’s Recovery – Indigo Girls.  Yeah.  Love them too.

8.  The Lowlands of Holland – The Chieftains and Natalie Merchant.  Pretty song.  But not my favorite on the album.  I actually got this cd from a student.  One of the best presents I ever got.  Love it.

9.  I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Feel Get Over You – Colin Hay.  He’s still got it.  Long after “We come from a land down under…”

10. Sissyneck – Beck.  Again.  See #6.

 

So there you go.  A tiny glimpse into what’s on my Zune.

Back to the drawing board.

Plastic surgeon had to take the whole thing out.  Turns out the expander was infected big time.  The alloderm, on the other hand, did it’s job beautifully and is now incorporated into my own tissue.  This is good.  It might give me some different options down the road for reconstruction.  (I.E. Not just a lat flap.)   And yes.  I said down the road.  I need 4 to 6 months to heal.  4 to 6 months of once again being lopsided (though this time it’s the other direction and I don’t have to wear a bra.  Don’t laugh.  I take my perks where I can get them.)

Frankly, I’m not in the best of moods.  On top of this, we just lost another girl over at YSC.   Too young.  Too soon.  One of too many this summer.

So I’m going to share with you something that made me feel better.

Edited to add: I wish I could take credit for the following funny, but it was one of those viral emails that makes it round and round the internet.  I realize I didn’t label this very well, and don’t want people to think it is mine.  🙂  One of my fellow YSC’ers posted it on the YSC bulliten board.  So I wish I was that funny, but, alas, I am not.

Random thoughts from people our age…

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.

I don’t understand the purpose of the line, “I don’t need to drink to have fun.” Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they’ve invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*** was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text or finish applying my makeup.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

LOL has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.

How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, my peeps!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse) ..ummm… Goonies”

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories.

Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls wear skimpier and skimpier clothing every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their off spring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.

There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

“Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new guy, I’m terrified of mentioning something he hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles.

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.

Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I’d bet my ass that everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…

My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day “What would happen if you ran over a ninja?” How the heck do I respond to that?

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get mad at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fatty before dinner.

Posted over at YSC.
——————–

I didn’t even know there WAS a day for cupcakes.

Happy National Cupcake Day!  I, for one, can get behind a holiday celebrating cupcakes.  So the kids  and I made some and delivered them to their neighborhood friends.  🙂

Grilled Mac and Cheese Contest

It’s been nutty here at Casa de Throws Like a Girl and I completely spaced the mac and cheese thing.

1 and 1/2 hours.  It really took that long.  and no, it was NOT the best mac and cheese ever.  After all that the kids wouldn’t eat it.  Figures, huh?

So that makes our winner Marie of Knitted Gems!

Marie – I was thinking of knitting something for your coming little one as a prize.  Got a favorite color?  Or a specific need, IE soakers if you’re cloth diapering…  Also, if you could pm me your address over at Ravelry.  🙂