Thursday, January 30, 2014
37 life lessons
Here is an article by Dawn Gluskin on 37 ways to live life to the fullest. I have to say, I love all of it!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Super Bowl Party Do's and Don'ts
Here's a Yahoo! article I wrote discussing how to survive hosting the Super Bowl party if you aren't a raging football fanatic.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
I be jammin'
Some people spent yesterday watching the absolutely EPIC playoffs (where both of my teams won!)
I spent it doing this...
Canning jam! Raspberry, and blackberry-raspberry, to be precise.
And yeah, I made up the last one. From scratch. And it was delicious.
Domesticity for the win, baby!
I love canning. There's something soothing and comforting about it. It's almost Zen-like for me.
Plus, you end up with beautiful jars of homemade food!
(Next up, salsa. Well, soon, anyway.)
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have school work to tend to. Because the soul-crushing stress is beginning to get to me…
Monday, January 13, 2014
How This Carnivore Became a Vegetarian (and like it)
Here is the latest article I published on Yahoo! voices.
Something wicked this way comes...
I mean school, of course.
Winter quarter is officially upon me. Like an elephant sitting on my chest.
It's gonna be hell, ladies and and gents. Utter hell!
My sociology class should be fine. It's the same instructor I had for last quarter's sociology class (who was awesome), only this is a much lower level class. So easy peasy there.
My econ class I'm still unsure of, because we don't have any papers this quarter (hallelujah), but we have "homework assignments" every other week. Now, in classes past, such "homework assignments" ranged anywhere from "no biggie" to pulling my hair out "are you kidding me?!?", depending on the class. So that's the big unknown. But I've tended to like econ classes in the past, so fingers crossed!
My psychology class?
Oh. Dear. God.
My instructor is already an utter nightmare, and the class has barely even started yet. Her instructions for how she wants us to do the discussion questions and class responses? So unbelievably specific. Like, word count, exact time frame, number of sources cited, etc.
Her introduction to the class was like 10 paragraphs long. Most teachers'? Two or three. At most.
The typical class requires you to have submitted your discussion question answers by Wednesday at midnight, then responded to the specified number of other students' answers by Sunday at midnight. You can respond to other students at any point during the week as long as you fulfill the set requirements.
Not so in this class. We are NOT ALLOWED to respond to other students before Wednesday afternoon, but we have to have our initial three responses done by Thursday at noon. Then, and only then, can we proceed with "further discussion". And we are not allowed to end a conversation. Out of things to say? Too bad! Keep it going! And we have to respond to any question she opens up to the class in another student's discussion thread. And we have to include sources to support all of our opinions. And on and on and on.
Suffice it to say, I regret taking psychology already. I thought it would be an interesting class. Not a tedious OCD-fest.
I keep reminding myself that this is only temporary. That it's a means to an end- my degree. That I only have two quarters left before I am done with school forever.
Like my grandma always says, "This, too, shall pass".
I just don't know yet if my sanity will pass with it!
So just a heads up, my blogging may dry up in the coming ten weeks as I try to keep up with my insane school demands.
And that sound you hear?
That's just me having a mental and emotional breakdown along the way.
Pay no attention to the crazy lady sitting in the corner rocking back and forth, muttering to herself and weeping silently. She's just the fool who decided to take on an extra course load!
Winter quarter is officially upon me. Like an elephant sitting on my chest.
It's gonna be hell, ladies and and gents. Utter hell!
My sociology class should be fine. It's the same instructor I had for last quarter's sociology class (who was awesome), only this is a much lower level class. So easy peasy there.
My econ class I'm still unsure of, because we don't have any papers this quarter (hallelujah), but we have "homework assignments" every other week. Now, in classes past, such "homework assignments" ranged anywhere from "no biggie" to pulling my hair out "are you kidding me?!?", depending on the class. So that's the big unknown. But I've tended to like econ classes in the past, so fingers crossed!
My psychology class?
Oh. Dear. God.
My instructor is already an utter nightmare, and the class has barely even started yet. Her instructions for how she wants us to do the discussion questions and class responses? So unbelievably specific. Like, word count, exact time frame, number of sources cited, etc.
Her introduction to the class was like 10 paragraphs long. Most teachers'? Two or three. At most.
The typical class requires you to have submitted your discussion question answers by Wednesday at midnight, then responded to the specified number of other students' answers by Sunday at midnight. You can respond to other students at any point during the week as long as you fulfill the set requirements.
Not so in this class. We are NOT ALLOWED to respond to other students before Wednesday afternoon, but we have to have our initial three responses done by Thursday at noon. Then, and only then, can we proceed with "further discussion". And we are not allowed to end a conversation. Out of things to say? Too bad! Keep it going! And we have to respond to any question she opens up to the class in another student's discussion thread. And we have to include sources to support all of our opinions. And on and on and on.
Suffice it to say, I regret taking psychology already. I thought it would be an interesting class. Not a tedious OCD-fest.
I keep reminding myself that this is only temporary. That it's a means to an end- my degree. That I only have two quarters left before I am done with school forever.
Like my grandma always says, "This, too, shall pass".
I just don't know yet if my sanity will pass with it!
So just a heads up, my blogging may dry up in the coming ten weeks as I try to keep up with my insane school demands.
And that sound you hear?
That's just me having a mental and emotional breakdown along the way.
Pay no attention to the crazy lady sitting in the corner rocking back and forth, muttering to herself and weeping silently. She's just the fool who decided to take on an extra course load!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Boom
Here's an article written by Doyin Richards, the guy behind the "parenting picture heard 'round the world" (or rather, around the internet, but same dif). He explains the backstory behind the pic, as well as the responses he has received thus far- both positive and negative. He then goes on to discuss his dream for fathers everywhere.
It's powerful, and honest, and awesome.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Fracking winter quarter
I've decided that someone needs to invent a caffeine drip. Something convenient and non-invasive, for the gal on the go!
Because oy vey.
Winter quarter hasn't even started for me and I'm already exhausted.
Whoever thought taking three classes was a good idea needs to be kicked.
Oh wait, that was me?… Well my comment still stands.
So it worked out that none of my classes got cancelled, which was good, because it saved me from having to scramble and find two new electives and get the books ordered in under a week. However, because I held off ordering my books until I had confirmation on my classes, I still won't have any of my texts in time for Monday. The psych book is still backordered, and who knows how long that will take, and the other two said they shipped yesterday, but the tracking number was "undetected". Whatever that means.
Le sigh.
Almost done. That's what I keep telling myself whenever I start getting all bajiggety. Almost done with my degree. The end is nigh.
(Whether that "end" is my degree or my sanity, I'm still unsure)
Besides that, life is good. Well, mostly. We just recently found out that an oil company may be looking to drill on the lot across from us (nestled between three other occupied lots, mind you).
Clearly, I'm unimpressed with this.
Back in November, shortly after we had moved in, our contractor mentioned that they'd stopped building on the lot across from us. A "landman" representing EOG Resources (you know, Enron) showed up on sight, check in hand, and bought the forty acres.
Then nothing happened…
Turns out, they're in the process of going through the necessary channels to gain approval to drill out here.
And there's pretty much nothing we can do about it, 1) because they're not wanting to drill on our actual land, and 2) because we don't own any mineral rights anyway, so we have no say.
Wyoming (and I'm sure a few other states as well) have what is called "split estates". This means you buy a house, but you don't necessarily buy the ground underneath it. You only own the surface unless you negotiate a separate deal to purchase the mineral rights from whoever owns them, and ownership of those rights could go back as far as the 1860s!
If you own mineral rights, you have much more bargaining power, because the oil companies have to lease the minerals from you. Without mineral rights, landowners only have surface use agreements in their favor. But again, they're not drilling on our forty acres, so we basically have no recourse until they poison our well.
We're basically just along for the ride.
Granted, nothing has happened yet. Our HOA president is fighting tooth and nail with what (limited) power he has. I guess the mineral rights to this entire area are owned 51% by Burlington Northern, and 49% by one individual. And ironically, the railroad is actually the easier of the two to deal with!
So we'll see. And they may not end up drilling there at all (they're looking at a 30-square-mile area in total, so they could pick another spot). But if they do, you can bet we are going to be proactive about protecting and monitoring our water supply. And I will sue their pants off if they contaminate it.
And if they decide to frack instead of straight drilling? Oh you better believe they will become very familiar with my face over at the Capitol building!!! Time for this hippie mama to get her activism on!
Because oy vey.
Winter quarter hasn't even started for me and I'm already exhausted.
Whoever thought taking three classes was a good idea needs to be kicked.
Oh wait, that was me?… Well my comment still stands.
So it worked out that none of my classes got cancelled, which was good, because it saved me from having to scramble and find two new electives and get the books ordered in under a week. However, because I held off ordering my books until I had confirmation on my classes, I still won't have any of my texts in time for Monday. The psych book is still backordered, and who knows how long that will take, and the other two said they shipped yesterday, but the tracking number was "undetected". Whatever that means.
Le sigh.
Almost done. That's what I keep telling myself whenever I start getting all bajiggety. Almost done with my degree. The end is nigh.
(Whether that "end" is my degree or my sanity, I'm still unsure)
Besides that, life is good. Well, mostly. We just recently found out that an oil company may be looking to drill on the lot across from us (nestled between three other occupied lots, mind you).
Clearly, I'm unimpressed with this.
Back in November, shortly after we had moved in, our contractor mentioned that they'd stopped building on the lot across from us. A "landman" representing EOG Resources (you know, Enron) showed up on sight, check in hand, and bought the forty acres.
Then nothing happened…
Turns out, they're in the process of going through the necessary channels to gain approval to drill out here.
And there's pretty much nothing we can do about it, 1) because they're not wanting to drill on our actual land, and 2) because we don't own any mineral rights anyway, so we have no say.
Wyoming (and I'm sure a few other states as well) have what is called "split estates". This means you buy a house, but you don't necessarily buy the ground underneath it. You only own the surface unless you negotiate a separate deal to purchase the mineral rights from whoever owns them, and ownership of those rights could go back as far as the 1860s!
If you own mineral rights, you have much more bargaining power, because the oil companies have to lease the minerals from you. Without mineral rights, landowners only have surface use agreements in their favor. But again, they're not drilling on our forty acres, so we basically have no recourse until they poison our well.
We're basically just along for the ride.
Granted, nothing has happened yet. Our HOA president is fighting tooth and nail with what (limited) power he has. I guess the mineral rights to this entire area are owned 51% by Burlington Northern, and 49% by one individual. And ironically, the railroad is actually the easier of the two to deal with!
So we'll see. And they may not end up drilling there at all (they're looking at a 30-square-mile area in total, so they could pick another spot). But if they do, you can bet we are going to be proactive about protecting and monitoring our water supply. And I will sue their pants off if they contaminate it.
And if they decide to frack instead of straight drilling? Oh you better believe they will become very familiar with my face over at the Capitol building!!! Time for this hippie mama to get her activism on!
 |
| Amen sista |
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Why I'm (mostly) giving up reality TV
Here's a Yahoo! article I published on giving up craptastic reality TV.
Monday, January 6, 2014
We may not have a polar vortex, but it's cold here too!
Here is a Yahoo! article I wrote about the cold snap.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Making a town your home
Part of the difficulty of moving to a new town (and especially to a new town in a whole new state) is having to acquaint yourself with what the area has to offer. I mentioned a few days ago how we went up to Vedauwoo to explore, and how making attachments and memories in a new area helps cement a bond and make it feel like home.
Luckily, it went well, and my hair is back to it's glorious, manageable, no-longer-looking-like-a-homeless-hippie self. After my mini glam session, I met up with The Husband and kids and stopped by the pet store in the mall.
Bad idea.
Terrible.
The worst.
So. Much. Cute.
Like, mind-boggling, heart-bursting, can-I-please-have-all-of-them kind of cute.
See, she gets it!
There was this adorable purebred husky puppy, 16 weeks old. One brown eye, one blue eye. She was gorgeous. She was also $999!
Then there was a purebred German Shepard puppy. He was gorgeous. $1299!!!
There were also purebred Golden Retriever pups. Also $1299.
In the smaller puppy section, there was this itty bitty black Chug (chihuahua-pug). He was only 9 weeks old. Couldn't have been more than two pounds. And I fell in love with him. But he was $800!
I didn't know dogs were so freaking expensive. And I'm not really a dog person either. But I think I've been converted.
Needless to say, I see a puppy in our future!
See?!?! Heart-exploding levels of cuteness. He must be mine. Oh yes, he must be mine.
Anyhoodle, after falling in love with dogs that I can't have right now, we roamed the mall for a bit so the kids could spend some of the Christmas money they got. And all I can say is, why the hell are Hex Bugs so popular?
Because they're a little creepy.
Especially when they go zipping across my kitchen floor and I just catch this glimpse in my peripheral vision and my heart jumps into my throat. I mean, despite the fact that I know that we don't have cockroaches, but there's always this split second where I panic slightly.
Ugh.
But my kids love Hex Bugs, and so as of yesterday they tripled their collection.
Yaaaaaayyyyyy…….
After that, we swung by and picked up my cousin so she could watch the kids while The Husband and I went on a date for our anniversary. We went to this restaurant called Poor Richard's. We've driven by it about a million times, and to be honest, the curb appeal isn't great. I had completely written it off as some skeezy dive. But then we were told time and again what a great place it was, so we decided to be brave and check it out.
And dayum!!!
So delicious!
Husband had a seafood sauté thing, and I had the vegetable primavera penne. Holy crapballs. It was crazy levels of yummy.
Very interesting atmosphere too. It kinda had an old English/pre-revolutionary war tavern vibe to it. Suffice it to say, I think we found our "place".
After that we went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire… which was awesome! Good day, good date night, good times had by all.
All in all, I'm starting to feel more at home here now. And it's nice.
(Of course, there was a concerning thing that happened when we dropped my cousin back off at home, and that put a slight damper on the evening. You know when you know too much, and it makes you worried for someone, but you know you can't get involved? Yeah.)
Well part of that isn't just exploring nature's offerings. It is also getting to know the businesses and locations within the town or city itself. Earlier this summer we visited the Capitol Building a couple of times, but our exploring was limited by the fact that we were living in Colorado, and were only in Cheyenne periodically. Now that we're up here for good, and now that the holiday chaos has subsided, we're beginning to get to know our new home town.
Yesterday, I had an appointment to get my hair cut. Any girl can tell you, getting your hair cut for the first time by a new stylist is one of the scariest things you can do!
 |
| Exactly |
Luckily, it went well, and my hair is back to it's glorious, manageable, no-longer-looking-like-a-homeless-hippie self. After my mini glam session, I met up with The Husband and kids and stopped by the pet store in the mall.
Bad idea.
Terrible.
The worst.
So. Much. Cute.
Like, mind-boggling, heart-bursting, can-I-please-have-all-of-them kind of cute.
There was this adorable purebred husky puppy, 16 weeks old. One brown eye, one blue eye. She was gorgeous. She was also $999!
Then there was a purebred German Shepard puppy. He was gorgeous. $1299!!!
There were also purebred Golden Retriever pups. Also $1299.
In the smaller puppy section, there was this itty bitty black Chug (chihuahua-pug). He was only 9 weeks old. Couldn't have been more than two pounds. And I fell in love with him. But he was $800!
I didn't know dogs were so freaking expensive. And I'm not really a dog person either. But I think I've been converted.
Needless to say, I see a puppy in our future!
Anyhoodle, after falling in love with dogs that I can't have right now, we roamed the mall for a bit so the kids could spend some of the Christmas money they got. And all I can say is, why the hell are Hex Bugs so popular?
Because they're a little creepy.
Especially when they go zipping across my kitchen floor and I just catch this glimpse in my peripheral vision and my heart jumps into my throat. I mean, despite the fact that I know that we don't have cockroaches, but there's always this split second where I panic slightly.
Ugh.
But my kids love Hex Bugs, and so as of yesterday they tripled their collection.
Yaaaaaayyyyyy…….
After that, we swung by and picked up my cousin so she could watch the kids while The Husband and I went on a date for our anniversary. We went to this restaurant called Poor Richard's. We've driven by it about a million times, and to be honest, the curb appeal isn't great. I had completely written it off as some skeezy dive. But then we were told time and again what a great place it was, so we decided to be brave and check it out.
And dayum!!!
So delicious!
Husband had a seafood sauté thing, and I had the vegetable primavera penne. Holy crapballs. It was crazy levels of yummy.
Very interesting atmosphere too. It kinda had an old English/pre-revolutionary war tavern vibe to it. Suffice it to say, I think we found our "place".
After that we went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire… which was awesome! Good day, good date night, good times had by all.
All in all, I'm starting to feel more at home here now. And it's nice.
(Of course, there was a concerning thing that happened when we dropped my cousin back off at home, and that put a slight damper on the evening. You know when you know too much, and it makes you worried for someone, but you know you can't get involved? Yeah.)
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