Does that make sense?

Who uses AdSense and likes it?

I was like ( _) this close to putting it on my blog, until I started reading all of the agreement terms. Really I'm just curious if it ever pays anything at all, much less if you like the way it ever looks on your blog?

Stitching Frenzy and HNT - Edited

**Edit** I added Christmas Pictures of the Spawn at the bottom.

I haven't blogged in about a week, but my connection is wonky and the space bar on my laptop is being defiant. The past week or so, I have put up the Christmas Tree, wrapped all of the presents, (mostly) and today it snowed. Also, I picked up my stitching that I started over a year ago, and started working furiously on it again. I still have about 6 quilts I have started and not finished completely yet.

I think I do these things in phases. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with Winter, or just that I'm attempting to use that as my reasoning for being a little crazy. I do Spring cleaning in Autumn too. For this HNT, I'm displaying my work on this particular piece. The title of it is called 'Illuminated Manuscript'. It can be found in Candace Bahouth's 'Flowers, Birds, and Unicorns: Medieval Needlepoint'. If you need a recommendation for needlepoint books, I highly recommend Beth Russell's interpretation of William Morris' designs too.

Please don't judge too harshly if you happen to needlepoint yourself, I'm still re-learning my tent stitch. :)

Here is my stitching, and the pattern I'm using.

















You may not know that former happy goth girls enjoy quilting and stitching. Occasionally, we'll bake, but only if really really motivated!

Happy HNT!

Edited to add pictures of the little people who live here..

History Lesson - Tagged - HNT-cheating

Reagan tagged me with a history lesson, so here I go!



Thirty years ago, February 28, 1978 I was born at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA. I was born during a really terrible storm and I was exactly two weeks late. I was born at 12:25pm during Days of Our Lives, which my Mother pointed out to me frequently. I was also the first born grandchild and that made me a spoiled brat, which I loved until my evil cousins were born! GRRR!










Here we have a picture with the interlopers! Look carefully at their shifty cuteness!

Twenty years ago I was in the fourth grade. Ms. Thang was my teacher and she was very nice. I think she ended up having an affair with this other teacher that ended up getting fired. We used to play dodge ball for P.E. and Mr. Amos would actually pit the boys against the girls and then PLAY on the boy's side. The boys, which in number was higher by far than that girls as it was, would win and learn to insult girls for being weak and whiny. I ended up faking a serious injury, and getting a removable cast because the doctor couldn't even be sure if there may be a hairline fracture that he couldn't see. Go HMO! I blamed this injury on Mr. Amos - and then they found out he had been actually curving the grade in favor of the boys for all of his classes. Well and he'd also been doing other malicious things, but I think I helped get him fired!!

Ten years ago I was living in Dallas, TX dating Mr.T and totally goth'd out. I was also a happy goth! I know, it doesn't fit.

Notice, the electric tape, purple lipstick and black nail polish. It's not a flattering picture, but I thought it held the most 'hey look at how weird she was!'

Five years ago we had just moved to San Ramon, CA.
My daughter was just almost 5 months old and she was amazing us on a daily basis. Thankfully, though, we got out of the tiny little house and expensive area.








Here is my favorite little interloper and her cuteness, and standing in her crib at about 5 months old. Four months later she was walking.



I'm not tagging anyone back, but I REALLY loved this one. Thank you Reagan!

However, if anyone would like to do this, I would love it!

Hnt - The 'Eye's' Have It!

My daughter struggles with picture taking, because her eyes, just seem to close. Her eyes are by far her best feature (I think) and it's so sad that they're always closed or half open.

So here we have a few of the 'what normally happens' shots from this morning, and one taken last week wherein her eyes are OPEN!

First, the normal picture. What you don't see is that she is also posing with the 'my fake smile'.


Then we have the - 'my eyes are almost open', and the 'my smile is more of a stop taking my picture mom sneer'.











Then we have the ONE out of a trillion in which she is smiling, and has her eyes open.


Now, this is how I know she didn't get it from me:


In almost EVERY picture, that's exactly how I looked, my eyes were always wide open for that blinding flash. Maybe thats why I need glasses?

The Pumpkins, HNT below

HNT is below, but here are the pumpkins!

Happy Halloween! (HNT!)

Whilst trick-or-treating you can really see the personality differences in my children. My son, less greedy than last year, but still out for the kill got WAY more candy, and huge candy bars. My daughter, picked one thing- and only one thing- out of each bucket she was offered, and ended up with an apple (her choice) and no huge candy bars like her partners in crime.

This year I didn't go around with them, choosing instead to pass the candy out. So, I only got to hear the reports of how she really wanted the apple and Mr.T is still confused about how no one else got fruit. This would have been more of a concern had she dressed as Snow White, but I'm still weirded out/proud that she chooses apples, and even when it's okay to be greedy, she never is. Don't get me wrong, she got a good share of candy, it just wasn't the same as what her brother ended up with - and they both went to exactly the same houses.

"Blue hair, that's scary, right Mom?"

This year my son decided to 'create' his own costume, here we have the 'barbarian punk' wielding his club, grrr, blue hair makes it scary, yes, sure.



Here he showed me that he could pull a mean face, and you can see, he used staples. I thought that was genius and his dad thought that was dangerous.







Over to the right we have the Little Mermaid Ariel with the glowing red eyes - What you didn't know Ariel could be evil? Yes, I'm the one who made her wear the undershirt.

Before the trick-or-treating, she did a self-portrait.

Seven Things - Been Tagged..

...by KittieKate!

1. I follow other people's lists more readily than I can follow my own.

2. People who bite their nails or nervously twitch and move all the time frustrate me when I have to sit on the same couch with them.

3. I really do prefer my cotton panties.

4. My elbows need a LOT of lotion because my skin is not naturally smooth and wonderful; though the men I know have perfect soft wonderful skin and I'm SOOOOO jealous.

5. When the mood comes upon me I stitch, needlepoint and quilt. Lately though I've been a little strung out on black and white photography.

6. I'm going back to school!

7. I wish I was more consistent when it comes to keeping up with friends.

With this I'm tagging the following:

~Reagan
~Parabolist
~ListeningTree
~TheMomBomb
~Jen.M
~TrezBizzare

Water Conservation, HNT, and Comment Whoring

That's quite a load!

Lately around our neighborhood there are signs posted saying "Mandatory Water Conservation". Big bold letters on this small sign. Mostly this is supposed to mean, 'Hey you, stop watering your lawn during the day asshat!' I take this to mean, 'Hey woman, stop taking a bath AND a shower every day.'

So what I'm doing is turning the water off in between washing and rinsing my hair and I'm going to cut down on my evening bath's and not fill up the tub all the way when I do. There is no way I'd let anyone in this house not flush the toilet so don't even suggest it!

Moving on, the camera doesn't work right now for some reason, so maybe there will be HNT later and maybe there won't.

~*~*~*

On to comment whoring!

In THIS post you will find a contest. If you would be so kind as to traipse over there and leave a comment and let Sunshine know I sent you, I'd appreciate it! In an effort to compete in the contest here are my links!

Mr.T is my husband. He talks about man-stuff mostly, but has a secret political agenda...can you guess what it is?

CosmoGirl is the most loyal, loving and well-traveled person I know. She's got a heart of gold, a sense of style and fun travel stories, who could ask for more?

The Parabolist is something of an enigma still. Will he actually start to blog more than once a month?- time will tell.

The Listening Tree is one of my oldest friends, and a very talented singer, musician and artist. She knows entirely too much about me and has known me for years.

Pole Hill Sanitarium is the home of my dear Dr. S! An intelligent read and all around good person, I even enjoy reading his blog even if its about sports.

Moving on, we're at the motivating blog here Sunshine! Here at the Pursuit of Happiness, you can find interesting photoshop skillz, fun contests and a sense of humor!

If you're looking for something a bit different and fun stop by Trez Bizarre! There you will find a fun English teacher who likes her art raw and has a love for Jesus too!

My new favorite is the MomBomb. She gets real and doesn't need her hair done to drop her kids off in the morning.

She who doesn't write in her blog anymore but should is here. However, she DID comment for me in Sunshine's blog because she's just that prompt and nice, and picking me up from the airport next week so I can't leave her out.

Looking for something a little deviant? Not Safe for Work folks, but most of the time a steamy read AAG's blog is where to go.

Rhea found me, I think. The BabyBoomerBlog is just fun! Who says Boomers are a drag? Not me! She likes aliens and chocolate, thats just fun.

Men aren't the only people who game. Here you will find Sandie. She is awesome and a lot of fun, gives great reviews on movies and books and is health conscious too!

Again, proving the stereotype wrong, my girl Liz is the D20Blonde! She hasn't blogged much yet, but give her time.

Post Secret is self explanatory, and a guilty pleasure of mine.

Half-Nekkid-Thursday is Osbasso. He's a fun guy who runs HNT and with people who participate who are far more bold than I ever could be.

The Nanny Diaries are about my friend Jan and her life as a nanny on a ranch in Texas.

Dooce is as Dooce does. A fun read and very popular on this thing called the internet.

Okay - there are my links, this is my post about the contest :)

Happy HNT - The Cruise Sun Burnt Edition

Here you will find me enjoying some divine dessert on our Disney Cruise.

- Oh yeah, and the sun burnt area on my chest, which was really nothing compared to the sun burn that is lingering on my legs. *pout*




Happy HNT!

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

Next Tuesday is the first day of school. The kids are very excited.

I am not excited about Kindergarten. I went to orientation, and realized, there won't really be a point to sending my daughter to Kindergarten. I had though that it was supposed to be a social event, but when I realized it would just be play time for 3 hours a day, less than actually, I started to get angry.

She reads, writes, can do math, count by 10's, knows everything almost through the first grade curriculum. She's social with other little girls, but they're all older than her too. So I spoke to the Vice Principal, who said to me, knowing my son, that he understood my concerns and thought we should look at the options and testing within the first few weeks of school.

There are many schools of thought on this. Every kid needs social skills. If my kid is bored, I'm afraid of the behavior, or thinking that she/he doesn't have to try and stops excelling simply because its too easy. We accepted this as a problem for our son, who we knew needed to stay with his peers as his emotional maturity would need to catch up with his brain.

Now, we're going to have to decide, should the assessments prove what the pediatrician observed, if we let her skip Kindergarten. This would also mean, she would graduate when she is 16, almost 17. As it is, if she stays at her level, she will graduate when she is 17 almost 18.

So what does the peanut gallery think of this 'advancement' option as opposed to what we did with my son, which was just advanced programs and let him do 'alternate' work within his class - which led to a few problems - but over all was best for him.

Drastic measures? Not really..

Are you Half Nekkid yet?

So, I swore I was growing it out, but I'm totally cutting it all off again. So this week's HNT (was still in Cleveland and without chess for over a week, but I WILL get back to it... soon) is all about the hair. Tomorrow it will be cut shorter, and will feel 1,000,000 times better! I realize, it's not all that long, but I really enjoy the short and simple hair recently!

So, this is the back, and yes I realize, it's still short..

And here is the top.. with my awful roots!

And from the front lately looks like this.. and is now my profile pic..

Granted, usually I'm not in sepia, but I like playing with the settings..

Happy HNT!! Check in tomorrow afternoon for results, unless they're just awful, then it will be a paper bag!

The Remains of the Day...

There is no actual skin in this HNT. This is a half-naked last glimpse of the 'cleaning up' after the passing of my Mother's husband. He spend most of his time either in his office or in his garage...

~

Obligation.

Responsibility.

Is it conformity when ones perceptions of these words change into satisfaction and peace of mind? I was always thinking that reaching for the stars meant no compromise, and for lack of a better phrasing, 'balls to the walls' gusto. There is also the mind set I had that having to do something always meant I would resent it.

The little rebel in me hasn't had her last hurrah, to be sure, she'll always be there. I just find a sort of gratification in a job well done when helping my Mother through this. All at once, I feel as if I am duty-bound yet completely cheerful about it all. Please don't misunderstand, the situation is nothing to feel joy over, but rather taking the burden does not lend me towards feeling put upon in any way shape or form. I don't believe in selflessness either though, because any satisfaction I derive or good feeling in helping completely ruins any sort of sanctimonious moments I could have. I'm not pious nor am I selfless.

So, here is my HNT this week. A sort of 'before and after' of the sorting of grief.















What you can't see, and will have to imagine, is that this 'before' photo, is actually a lot cleaner than when I started - and the two cabinets where completely packed, along with another wall of shelving with just crap. This doesn't even cover the storage unit, or the garage - which I am also including a picture of what I'm going to start tackling tomorrow. Speaking of which, do you know anyone in the Cleveland area who is interested in purchasing a drill press??

Presenting - the task for tomorrow...





















Happy HNT Everyone!

HHNT..

It was my daughters birthday last Monday, and I haven't been able to play chess, so.. its a kiddo HNT..

One for every year...




Happy HNT Everyone!

Your Clitoris and You! P-S-A

Is the shape of your clitoris breeding insecurities?

Does the size of your clitoris have you worried that maybe you're not measuring up?

Have no doubt--- many, many women suffer the same clitoral apprehension. You don't have to be a slave to the demanding standards of the adult entertainment industry any longer (unless you're into that kind of thing). And here's why...

It’s a strange and maybe personal topic no doubt. Do you (women who watch porn) ever sit around scrutinizing adult films and find yourself looking down thinking ‘um, my clitoris doesn’t look like that’?

After some rather extensive *ahem* research, I discovered that I’m not the only one who thinks about those things while watching porn. I know men compare themselves and have ego issues about the size of their ‘copulation tool’. I think women often wonder about the shape and size of their girly parts too. Maybe not as often, or to the same degree, but it happens.

Just like a penis, every vagina is unique. It does seem though, that all of those women (most adult industry actresses) have some sort of manufactured look to their clitoris. In reading 'The Self Made Man' - which by the way is still excellent so far - the author Norah, as Ned, is in a strip club, and making observations about strippers and their vaginae. She takes note that all of these women have the same doll-like quality, surreal vaginae even.

All together it's been stirring my clitoral insecurities. Other women and I have discussed these 'industry boxes', in comparison with our own packaging. Most of the time I get the same sort of response: 'Yeah, hey why is that? Mine doesn't look anything like that!' Or they assume that it is a well 'used' look.

I don't think it's a well 'used' look, at least not anymore. Now I just think that we're all like special snowflakes and you should know that yours is wonderful too. If you still have doubts, I'm sure I can find someone for you to send a picture to, in order to get that unbiased opinion you crave.

HNT - Pouty about Chess..

Are you half nekkid yet?

If not, get your butt over to Osbasso!

Soooooo, I haven't won. I'm pouty about it, but I'll get over it. Learning chess is still fun, and though I've taken on other projects, I am still playing.

Here is my pouty HNT about chess.

HNT - Fourth of July Edition

Are you half-nekkid yet?


Thanks to Karlan for the idea. Thanks to both Karlan and Ron for participation for my HNT.


Happy Fourth of July! Happy HNT!


Next week we will go back to the 'chess' theme - I didn't win this week at all, so Osbasso's theme for this week totally worked.

HNT - Bruised Ego

I'm really early this week, but only so that I'm not super late like last week..

This is the week of my bruised ego.

On Monday I won a game though, and regardless that he shouldn't have given me his queen and then his rook, I'm still taking it as an actual win. Yesterday I threw out my back pushing myself maybe a little too hard with the exercising - I was told by someone that doing 50 push-ups is more than the Army allows even - whatever. The bruise however, is just due to carelessness about where the plug of the vacuum cord is when the phone starts to ring and the pain in the arch of my foot causes me to fall.


I named this one - bruised ego. and I took it before my actual win on Monday of this week. You'll note that the bruise actually sort of looks like a paw print... or I'm crazy, which I'm okay with. Also, under the white king, you can see part of the scar that I got when I was like 11 or 12.

Happy HNT everyone.

HNT - better late than never...

Well, I can't expose more because I haven't been winning, so instead, here I am clutching the piece that eludes my ever reaching grasp... oh you dark deceptive beauty - you will be mine!


Happy HNT Everyone!

Half Nekkid Chess...

Really I'm working up to a more revealing picture, but for now this will have to suffice. This game was actually the first game I won against Ron who actually used to totally geek out with the community chess club and the like. Oh and had trophies for chess, and has been trying desperately to get me to stop throwing away my Queen just because I think it's fun to do. So okay, he taught me chess, now all I have to do is the picture series.

So maybe for ever game I win, I'll take a more revealing picture???



Happy Half-Nekkid-Thursday!!

HNT - Bedeviled! - A look into HNT past posts

So, here we are taking a look at past HNT posts. I found a theme within it all and thought I'd share with the rest of the class...


First we have the pregnancy warped devil woman tattoo. The lesson that Thursday was to not get tattoos on your stomach and then get knocked up!


Seems simple enough right? If you plan on letting your body expand by about 40 lbs so as to bear a child you don't put pictures on your skin that you'd like to stay in tact.

This lesson was followed by the other seemingly obvious fact that you shouldn't let your belly button piercing become infected then take it out, and then get pregnant. It would be simple, except no, because I also had both issues and of my own volition.

Moving on we have the sunburned back. Which was insulting because I was attempting to create a garden, and got blisters on my hand that day too.

Ahh, and then my favorite. My husbands devilish charm displayed here for your amusement and mine. This was a great post about various sorts of mens undergarments. Its too bad I can't find my archives from the 'other' blog I had.


Either way... a Happy HNT to you all!

HNT.. back on the block..

This HNT picture is brought to you by the life and times of my years gone past... thank you Kristal for posing for this one 10 years ago.. :P