Friday Fragments + FREE!

* It only took me a year, but I finally landed my first review/giveaway gig.  Please click over to my first ever giveaway post and enter to win a free natural lip balm!

* This morning Screech spilled my coffee on my laptop.  I was horrified.  I've already been having problems with the memory (needed a BIOS update, but not sure that was all as it was acting up again this week), and if I lose my stuff, there goes my business!  Thankfully most of my stuff is accessible via my e-mail.  Note to self: invest in external hard drive.  Now I'm en route to a computer repair shop to get it fixed.  I love my children, love them, love them, love them!

* Parent teacher conferences + President's day = 5 days in a row of all 3 kids, sans break.  Pray for me

* Parent Teacher Conferences revealed that my kids are doing great academically, but Middleton is.... "I wouldn't say de-FIIIIIIIII-ant per se...." said his teacher, "but there's something there."  To which I said, yes, and it has been going on for some time (within weeks of his birthday - which was in July - he began acting like a moody little teenage girl and Mr. Fixit has since been known to say, "That boy needs a Midol!") and it seems like he's taking on a victim mentality where it is Certainly Not My Fault and Life's No Fair all the time.  We're working on it.  And Special K has had some run in with the whole Queen Bee/Wannabe dynamic it would appear. 

Oh Snap!!

Today an old HS friend emailed me with some questions about changing up blog templates, code and what have you...

I told her I knew some, but really just enough to be dangerous.

And then I got a hankering to finish the attempts I'd made at customizing this template's header - which I did and am very pleased with the results.

However....

In doing so, I completely wiped out my blogrolls!

And my memory really fails me when it comes to remembering stuff that is automated (and I'm kind of old fashioned and still click through to people's sites instead of reading a feed :gasp:).

So, if you're not already on here and would like to be, please leave your url in a comment.

Thanks!

© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Testing the jump break tool

Blah blah blah

more blah blah blah

ETA - Ok, Blogger, now I REALLY love you even more!  :swoon:


© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Because I Can't Rearrange My Furniture as Often as I'd Like

I like to change things up.

Often.

I used to be a person who rearranged her furniture fairly frequently just to keep things "new;" however, the dimensions of the rooms in our home prevent me from doing this ever frequently.

So....I rearrange the next best thing VERY frequently:

My blog!

Why not, right?

In December I switched over to WordPress because of some features that looked attractive to me.

But truthfully, I didn't blog nearly as often because I.  Just.  Couldn't.  Figure.  It.  Out!!  Different nuances in text appearance, how to color up my blog with a template I loved, and other such things kept me from feeling completely at home there.

And I couldn't have my Blogher ads on my blog there (am working on getting them reinstated - got motivated after just recently getting another check from them) either.

But most of all, after 4 years of blogging (aack!) I just love Blogger and am happy to be using their platform again - with one major change, though!  I finally bought my own domain! 

www.ramblinred.com

Bookmark it and come back to visit often!



© 2006-present Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

A New Level of Marital Miscommunications

So, Charlie Brown and I are pretty tech savvy, right?

Yesterday, I had a pretty crappy day. I was so stressed about medical bills vs. income we had coming. Compounding this stress was the fact that my hormones were flying high as I [TMI in aboout 3, 2, 1] was on day 2 of my second period since Lil Guy has been born. [Sidenote: I know you're thinking it - she's like what, 3 mos postpartum and she's had not one but two periods already?!? I KNOW!!!] I'd cried most of the night before and several times yesterday as well. Charlie Brown had called me a few times during the day, all of which I ended up crying during.

Later, I received the following texts from him, right in a row before I had a chance to respond. My thought responses are below, however. Prepare to be entertained

CB - Wanna play tonight? Only 2 conditions...

Indignantly, Uhmhm, I have now I have confirmation that the man never listens to a word I say! I told him that I am "otherwise incapacitated" this week.

CB- [I] know you can do all that, you like a challenge

:chuckles: ok, well, let's see just what he has up his sleeve, even if it's all for naught.

CB - 1. hour of 100% positive encouraging words and body language towards everybody on the field, 2. Doing what I tell you if I need to (prolly won't)

At this point I was stymied and automatically sent a text back to him:

RR - ????? Is this meant for me???

But upon further analysis, I had the following thoughts:

1. I know I've been down today, but c'mon don't you think I can pull myself together for your softball game? It's kind of sweet though. And 2. What kind of kinky stuff are you thinking about, anyway? Dang, boy!

Right about then, he called me. He says, "Our friend sent those to me, as conditions for subbing on their team tonight. It didn't show that it was a forwarded msg?"

Nope.

So I told him what had been going through my mind as I'd gotten each text, and he got a good laugh out of it.

© 2009 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Testing the Facebook Connection

Just trying to see if my facebook profile will show my blogposts automatically now.



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

"So, You're Saying my Computer Has an Autoimmune Disease?"

"Sort of...ahh, yup, pretty much," said DSW's techie husband.

Basically, the "nerves" of the computer fail to recognize my wireless card anymore.

The result is kind of like a man rendered impotent by an accident - the desire to connect is there, but the mechanism in which to do so is not.

The fix?

This little gizmo here. It works, I'm writing on my lappy as I speak. And that makes me very happy!




© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Tech SOS

Ok, so I'm pretty tech savvy when it comes to computer Microsoft applications.

Heck, I'm even starting to gel with CSS and HTML.

But today my lappy lost her internet mojo. The little HP Wireless Assistant icon has left the friggin' building (normally I just click it and say, "On, mother..." and everything works...in case you couldn't tell, that is the way I like things to roll...predictably) and the troubleshoot feature had me going to the Start/Run route which is friggin' Compu-Greek to me.

It won't let me do ipconfig because it says the ethernet blah de blah is disconnected. My question is twofold:

• how did it do that, because I sure as heck didn't tell it to, and
• how do I get it back to connected?

Anyone? I hate having to use the desktop to get on the net, 'specially on a day like today when it is nice to laze outside.

Edited to add: Looks like this is a common experience. What's a girl to do?



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Still Tinkering

Well, folks we have a header!

Thanks so much to Jen and the help she gave me on it.

And to Charlie Brown for entertaining my hobby the past few days as I:

1. Asked him to play photo-shoot with me
2. Stayed on the computer for obscene amounts of time trying to get just the right look

Thank you....it means a lot.

Now....I just need to figure out how to:

1. Make my "paneling" the same length as the whole blog
2. Fix the paint splatters

And focus my energy on the things begging for my attention...

This little project has been a perfect excuse for me to ignore the elephant in the room....

© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Temporary New Digs

This is a quick template download....but I have bigger plans.

Jen, look for an e-mail from me...I have a favor coming up :D



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Decluttering and Other Bloggy Miscellany....

So the Google ads are gone.

Three of the four ads on the banner were pornographic, when I specifically stated I would not host those kinds of ads. Also, is "lesbianity" a real word? Seriously, ya'll it was bad.

I'm going to be playing around with the colors and all that jazz, cuz I want something a little more 3-dimensional and real looking - and will continue to declutter in my blog roll, bling, etc.

In other bloggy areas....

I had someone specifically query for my site from UC-Davis today....

I kept thinking, who do I know there that would be looking for me? I don't know, but it's kind of unsettling. I mean I know who most of my regulars are on statcounter, and most random googlers are looking for a topic, but not ME.

(Side note: I had someone with the ISP ID'd as The Denver Broncos reading fairly consistently a month or so ago - that was kinda cool, but alas, I haven't seen them around lately)

Then again tonight, some one in Longmont (or at least in CO - Comcast ISP's are screwy) Googled just for my site:

I *think* I know who this one is. I have two guesses: 1.) a former colleague whose e-mail announcing she would be graduating from law school I replied to today, or 2.) a certain local someone who crossed my mind today...and whom I miss frequently. It's kind of wishful thinking for the latter, just to prove that connection we have, but no matter....

Again it's just weird when it is not a "regular" but not someone who just stumbled onto me either....

So give a shout out, if you're here again, will ya?

© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

No more anonymous comments

Sorry ya'll...

I just got a ton of anonymous spam. The irony is though, that I can't read a lick of it because it's in Asian characters.

Know your audience, spammers, duh.

For my commenters w/o a blogger account, you may still leave comments thru the open ID system.



© 2008 Ramblings of a Red-Headed Step-Child. All Rights Reserved

Why I hate AOL

I use StatCounter, mainly to track my visitors so that I can know if BlogHer will be sending me a coffee habit check (seriously, with my traffic, I have netted an entire $28 since August). It also is entertaining to see what urls referred people to my site, i.e. what kind of crazy Google searches landed people here. Finally, I like having StatCounter, as I can see who's visiting - even when they don't comment - knowing where this reader and that hails from, and/or who their employer is (busted!) it's fairly easy to deduce.

But, as StatCounter says:

...The uniqueness in this case is based on your visitors' IP addresses. This method works very well for the majority, but yet again there is an exception. AOL users, and visitors who use what is known as a 'dynamic web proxy' that changes each time they access a webpage. So if a single AOL user visits 7 webpages on your website it will likely come up as 7 different IP addresses!

And I keep getting AOL visits that read a heck of a lot - which is making me feel stalked sorta, because I have not a clue as to who this person is. I mean, it's just so many visits, and calculated searches for my blog that it feels weird. I am not going to censor myself - decided in January that I wouldn't play that way - but still it makes me wonder who this person is, and why are my ramblings of such import to you?

Care to reveal yourself?

Just call me what you like

I promise, I'm not into the whole Puff/Puffy/Puff Daddy/P Diddy/Diddy/Sean John thing, but I changed my profile name again.

I did it because of some recent confusion new readers had with my hamiam name and the name of the blog - so they align more closely now - and hopefully everyone knows it is me.

Also, in the Portland, OR area where I grew up, there was a children's cartoon show on Saturday mornings called "Ramblin' Rod," so it's a little throwback for me too. I like double entendres that way.

Another option

I think I like this one better - what do ya'll think?

Revamping

I've been quiet the past couple of days.

Thinking about why I blog. What I blog. Who I blog.

And thinking about why I should blog. What I should blog. Who I should blog about.

Leave it to "should" to change things up.

Anyway...I'm still pondering this.

In the meantime, I want my blog to illustrate whatever it is that I decide it to be.

What think you of this for a new header?

Go Do This! Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaase?

If you see this picture over on my side bar:

Will you pretty, pretty, please click on it and tell BlogHer what you think about my blog? Or whatever it is that their SHORT little survey is asking?

With sugar on top?

Because I’d really like to grow as a writer, and YOU could all help BlogHer make it happen.

Also?

It would mean, as the sign says, that you LOOOOOOOOOOVE me.

And, awwww, if that isn’t the sweetest!

I love you all too.

Mmmmmuah!

How I found the Bermuda Triangle...in COLORADO

Or, due to my lack of mechanical knowledge and the overabundance of a thick fog, perceived that I was entering the Twilight Zone this morning.

First...

If judged by its cover, my car is a certifiable POS. I contend that it is a 12 year old Subaru with almost 130k miles, that has rarely been garaged, and thus the outer appearance is...well, let's just say the elements have not been kind. But it's PAID for. AND it gets me where I need to go - often when nicer cars cannot perform. So, nyah!

So, I'm driving to work this morning in the groundclouds that made it dark and gloomy when I got to the newly added stop light, replacing a 4 way stop, and cursed the nuisance of this new light.

At green, I began to go again, and my li'l navy blue wonder had to be prodded a bit.

Ok, more gas, that's more like it. Oh, wait...WTH was THAT?

That, was my speedometer needle going up and down like a diving board would after Ralphie May gave a good jump off. And the RPM needle.

Well...hmmm...car's still goin' though, right? But cripes, what next, a full Linda Blair revolution?

As it would turn out, no. It did peak up high and then just die, only to rest at 0mph, despite the car following closely behind the vehicle in front. Then the ABS light came on. Slight shudders could be felt through the gas pedal.

Holy schnikes, I thought, as Maximum Overdrive came to mind. Not that I've watched it recently, or that it was that great of a movie, but it used to scare the hell out of me as a kid.

As I rounded the corner by Horseshoe Lake, the fog got REALLY thick, and the guage needles suddenly revived themselves again - only to plummet back to 0. Then, my airbag light went on. And my heater and radio just went poof!

Creepy...Let's just hope I get to work in one piece.

I get to work, call Charlie Brown - who is a Subaru guru, if you remember - and before I even got all the story out, he says, "It's the alternator. I'll be by there for lunch and put a new one in."

Ok, then - so now I'm left wondering how many Bermuda triangle instances were really fritzing alternators?

Test

Testing, testing, testing…

Making sure that e-mail publishing will work.

Ever Evolving

I know, I know....

This blog update marks the 4th (?) revamp since I started rambling on and on and on...just over a year ago.

Some would call that fickle.

I like to think that it's evidence that I am evolving into a better blogger...

Which must be true, btw, because BlogHer now thinks I'm good enough for them:

Dear Ramblings of a Redheaded Stepchild,
Congratulations! Your blog has been accepted into the BlogHerAds Network.
Here's how to get started......

Now, I must simply get over the techie retard hump and figure out how to get my ads code activated...

Wish me luck.