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 |  My journal. Rated GC for an occaisonal four-letter word or two. |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hmm...one day I'll write a newer introduction. Maybe I should make a static item of all my different introductions.  New Introduction, October 31, 2005 It's time to update this introduction. Since June 2005, I've packed up and moved from Armenia to the US, found a house, waited a month for settlement, moved in, found a preschool for my son, got settled in, and maybe found my sanity. Maybe. I'm just now getting back to writing. Read on for more about me and life in the US. Original Introduction: I live in the former Soviet Republic of Armenia nine months out of the year. The rest of the time you can find me living out of a suitcase in the US or on one of our travels somewhere. This journal started out as a description of my life in Armenia, but I've amended it since I've realized that life there is very similar to life everywhere. I don't have a car, clothes dryer, microwave, or dishwasher but I've learned one doesn't really need those things to have a fulfilling life. Some days I'm just estatic over a slow trickle of hot water which can mean the difference between being smelly for another twenty-four hours or being clean. By the way, DH=dear husband; DS=darling son; MIL=mother-in-law. You get the picture. |
| I renewed for another year. You stuck with me, peeps! |
| But it's all my fault. I've been busy elsewhere. Check out my Reiki business: http://www.SusanSmithThompson.com I'm sure there is a writingML tag for the link but I don't remember it and don't feel like finding it. Too lazy. I've started teaching and seeing clients. Business is starting to slowly pick up. People are finding me from Faceboook and google and another site I advertise on. I really enjoy teaching and doing Reiki, so I'm very excited about the new business. I sort of started in January, but it's taken this long to gain some momentum. I've been working at it less than part-time. Gotta get into the groove of things, like getting the marketing automated, etc. I still have my book reviews and green hippie mama stuff on the site too, and havent' been adding to them. I keep meaning to split the site into three different ones so I haven't been adding content that's not related to Reiki. Who am I kidding, though. I haven't been writing much either. Lots of time spent messing around on Facebook and Twitter. This is the only place I've got left now that I can really let it all hang out. The general public doesn't know about my hidey hole here and my family has forgotten about it, I hope. Except my hubby  He's welcome to read anything anywhere! Love ya!Kiddo starts second grade this year. Hard to believe. I'm still teaching preschool two days a week and subbing at kiddo's school when I can. Gearing up for a busy school year. I'm sorry to see the summer end. It feels like I'm just getting into the swing of things, if that makes sense. Finally starting to relax and get into the projects around here, and now it's time to start getting up early and be on a super regulated schedule. I hate that. I'm a go to bed late, get up late kinda person and during the school year, can't have that! Totally sucks. This summer we went camping once, and are going again soon, went to MD for a little more than a week, and I taught preschool camp for two weeks, plus a few day trips up to Boone, NC, with another one tomorrow. Oh, plus a 4-day migraine in there in the last week or so. There wasn't much down time to get bored enough to want to clean or get into the garage mess, etc. Now I'm getting motivated and I've got less than a week before school starts. Oh well... So, I need to go get out of these pj's, make some lunch, and get moving on the day. I hope to be back more often. I miss it here. And I hope to make enough from my new business to afford a premium membership again. I miss it more than I thought I would. How funny is that? I didn't use a lot of the features, but the ones I did use I sorely miss. Might have to go super duper review crazy to earn enough GPS before December, LOL. My reviewing numbers, while always low, are now in the tank because of people leaving or deleting items. Soon to be negative. How embarrasing is that for someone who has been on site for as long as I have been? |
| Is this what darkin is up to when not on WDC? http://www.sugarbushsquirrel.com/ Inquiring minds want to know. |
| *pulls out duster* *sneezes* sheesh, it sure is dusty in here. *gets to work cleaning* |
| I need a portable CPAP machine for naps on my couch, LOL. I can't always nap on my bed, life don't always work that way. But with sleep apnea, napping without the CPAP sometimes ain't worth the time or effort. Like it takes effort to nap. Cause ya just don't feel refreshed. We spent several long hours this weekend working in our backyard cutting down dead or rotting trees and ones that are less than four inches in diameter. Half of our backyard was pretty wooded with little suckers, poison ivy, fallen trees, limbs, crap, etc. Couldn't do anything back there, which is fine for some people but we got a kid who likes to play back there and who is highly sensitive to poison ivy. So we're clearing it out and planting a shade garden and some strawberries and mulching some paths and maybe some other stuff. It's looking nice. We're leaving the mature trees alone. They'll be happier without the competition. I'll be happier without having to worry about a tree falling down on our house since one seems to come down on a regular basis during a storm. We're only 2/3 done with the tree clearing, then we've got to rake, and get a stump grinder, plan, get the mulch from the city.... Plus, we've got to do the front!!!!! LOL. Cheap easy entertainment, right? Plus the rest of the gardening stuff, planting more veggies this year. Yummy. I've yet to do the major website rewrite on my to do list for this weekend and it's now dinnertime. Toodles |
| Take Two! Doh, accidently navigate from the page and you have to start all over again. Things are good. Preschool is fun. Kiddos are great. I've got the 2 year old class this year. Starting a new business, Reiki related of course. I'll let you know when it's up and running-major website retool is in my future this weekend. Yippee! I'm reading this book and it's so freakin' cool. I see a book review in my future!
Book club tonight. Yahooey. Time with my peeps. Always a good time. No, we didn't read that cool book. I don't even remember what book we were supposed to read this month. Needless to say, I didn't read it. Again. I go to book club to socialize. I haven't actually read the book in eons. Love ya! Come find me on Facebook. |
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| Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes. If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift. ------------- I didn't write it, OK. But I loved it, like I like all breads. Too funny! What a cut up! |
I'm a stop on a blog book tour for our very own Crys-not really here  's book Angeline Jellybean. It's sure to be a good time.http://www.SusanSmithThompson.com |
| I'm changing to upgraded, effective tomorrow at noon, so don't be surprised when my peace sign goes away. I don't use my premium except for the costumicon and didn't have enough gift points to pay for a full year. So instead of paying for only part of the year and having to worry about it again, I'm dropping down to upgraded. No worries, I'm still around! |
| All clear! No boobie cancer to worry about! Now, to sleep again.  Nighty night! |
| This one is kicking my butt. Got one stripper boob with all the swelling, too bad it's too sore and bandaged to enjoy it. Lovin' the ice packs. After the core needle biopsy, I swole (like that's a word?) so much the steristrip thingies tore my skin.That shouldn't happen this time since they put this big saran wrap patch over the whole kit and kaboodle so I can shower and that's spreading out the swelling. Getting my fuzzy pj's on and watching a little TV and then heading to bed. |
| It's the day after, and I'm on the run, as usual! Nothing stops me, slows me down maybe, but stops me? Not hardly. Surgery, prugery. Hah! All went well yesterday. The post op nurse said I was boringly normal. LOVE THAT! Migraine did start last night, but it's staying in check with the pain killers for my boob. Didn't need any today until I accidentally bopped it on kiddo's booster seat and YOWSA that hurt. I took a pill to see how I'd react to it since it's a narcotic. I had one last night mostly because everything else hurt. I don't think all the lidocaine had worn off yet. I didn't sleep well last night, surprisingly. I thought I would have passed out, but didn't. Even with a sleeping pill I still had issues. I had to sleep propped up since I've got sleep apnea and there is an increased chance of blah blah blah with the anesthetic and apnea, but I wasn't uncomfortable in the least. So, hubby and I are hanging out at the library and in half an hour or so, we'll head over to kiddo's school for his little class play. Then hubby will take me back home, and I'll pick kiddo up from school and we'll be back on normal schedules, with more time for rest and recuperation. I am slowing down, mind you. And if I needed to stop, I would. But this really isn't kicking my butt, or boob. No results on the biopsy until next week. Toodles. I do feel a little high. Gotta love those drugs. |
I'm a bit freaked out. Mostly cause I can't eat and not eating/drinking will trigger a migraine. *sigh* Also 'cause I have to wait a week for the biopsy results. Let's be real here. But the possibility of a nasty migraine is pretty awful too!  So, I'm drinking a protein shake and heading off to bed soon. When I wake, it's only clear fluids for me. Not red ones, they said, in case I puke, so they don't confuse my red gatorade with blood. ewwwwfThank goodness for lunesta. If I sleep, I can't be freaky, right? Though even with the stuff, I woke up early this morning. Toodles! At least I'll lose a few grams. hee hee |
Haven't even set up the tree yet, but we've been working towards that goal for what seems like hours now!  Had to move the furniture around, got out the ladder to replace the bulbs in the light in the ceiling fan (the second story one, of course), vacuum, move furniture again, and again, . It'll be nice once it's all said and done. Boy, this place sure was a trash heap. Lunch break. Turkey salad, of course. |
| Sorry for the link, didn't want to write it twice. http://www.susansmiththompson.com/2008/11/12-or-88-its-all-the-same-to-me/ |
| Though now it's pretty darn dark outside, but before the sun set it was a perfect day. Warm, breezy, not hot, not cold. Sweet. Kiddo had a soccer game, they tied. Not that they keep score in this league but the parents and kids all seem to manage to. I don't. I only care that he had fun.Cleaned the garage a bit. Did some laundry. Stopped at Goodwill on the way home from the soccer game and scored a drying rack and one of those pole things for hanging clothes. It's actually a double pole rack and it folds up! Score one for me! I can now hang up our work clothes outside (we don't have a line) and then move the rack into the garage when not in use. Yippee. I'd prefer not to use the dryer at all, so now we're on our way. Spent a huge chunk of time working on my website. Added an amazon A-store and started populating it with books. Wrote three blog entries, one for today, one for Sunday and one for Monday. Busy computer day. I added a banner for a coupon website and in 4 hours I had earned 14 cents! Soon I'll be able to afford a Cinnamon Melt from McDonald's.  Check it out... http://www.SusanSmithThompson.com Now I'm going to toddle off to bed. |
| I still wander through blogville and check in on scroll, but I'm not writing here as much at the moment. I've been working at the preschool, subbing at kiddo's school, sleeping a bunch (though still tired), and working on my website. Feel free to visit and comment. http://www.SusanSmithThompson.com I'm working on living a more authentic life. To me that means hanging out my clothes to dry (saving $$$), going "no-poo" (see my site for that blog entry), finding a substitute for shower gel crap (found it!), trying out more natural cleaning alternatives at home (also a monetary savings). Actually, all of these allow me to spend my money on things that are more important to me, like working part time and being a stay at home mom, taking my kid camping, etc. I'm writing "The Reiki Pages" for my website, so look for that section to launch soon. I plan to supplement my meager income by teaching and doing Reiki. I've also been researching some craft ideas, such as soap making and glass painting, to give for Christmas presents this year and to possibly sell online. One of hubby's consulting jobs is coming to a natural end this year, so we need to replace that income. Meaning, I need to replace that income since we really can't count on other consulting jobs to take it's place. I'm sure more will come his way, there's no doubt about that, it's just the question of when. So money, saving money, being frugal without feeling deprived are the focus of my life these days. So I don't write much here. I feel sharing the day to day frustrations of parenting to be quite boring to my readers. I have fun at the preschool and subbing, but there's not much to share there. I mean, we changed three poopy diapers yesterday. A record so far for the school year that we attributed to the raisins at snack the day before. Raisins have been banned as snack items. Actually, they have since one of the kids has a sensitivity to them.My aquarium is beautiful, though I've got a problem with the plants starting to die off. I'm guessing that the lighting that came with the tank isn't quite up to snuff and I'll need to be replacing the bulb. I've finally filled out the groupings of fish and added some real plants (instead of silk plants). It's pretty darn cool! So now I've got 6 zebra danios zipping around, 5 otos, and three rosy barbs. I plan to get 2 more rosy barbs since they like to school and that'll be it. The plan is to switch over to a natural planted tank set up so the plants will do all the filtering instead of having a mechanical filter, then all I'd have to do is monitor the water quality (which I do now) and replace the evaporated water. No more water changes! woo hoo! That's it for now. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| My six-year old son is interviewing Trockle, one of the main characters in this children’s book. It’s so freakin’ cute! (The book and the interview.) The blog book tour stops at my blog site Thursday, and everyone who comments will be entered into a drawing to WIN a Trockle canvas bag. Visit: http://www.SusanSmithThompson.com To win, you must: Visit my blog on Thursday Read my son’s interview (proud mama moment, sniff sniff) Post a comment (those of us associated with said blog tour not eligible to win, but you can post anyway) Feel lucky! Hope your name gets pulled outta the dirty gym sock. (Trockle’s blanket-hey, he’s a monster that lives under the bed. Everyone’s got a dirty gym sock under there, don’t they?) From the official Trockle blog: "Between the comforting story written by Holly Jahangiri and the adorable illustrations by Jordan M. Vinyard, children will fall in love with Trockle, the little monster under the bed. Stephen doesn’t like to go to bed because he knows a monster is underneath. Even when told that Monster Repellent was sprayed under the bed, he knows it didn’t work. Under the bed, Trockle doesn’t want to go to sleep because he’s afraid of the huge monster above. Stephen’s parents and Trockle’s mom try to help their children no longer be afraid. The story and pictures will entertain both children and adults." It did. |
| I'm just tired and dissatisfied. Wish I could spell, too. Malaise set in when I got home this morning. Took kiddo to work, did my last home visit, stopped by the preschool to turn in my mileage and to pick some stuff up (saw some of my kids from last year, oh they are still so cute!) got home, and crashed. Couldn't sleep because I had 20 minutes before I had to leave again. Wasted those 20 min. dealing with some person on half.com who ordered a book from me but who says they didn't, that the computer messed up, and they want a refund and the postage to send me my book. Well, now. I contacted half.com to see what they have to say. I don't mind issuing a refund for the BOOK but damn if I'm paying for both the outgoing AND the return postage. Learn how to use your damn computer, would ya? Why wait until the book arrives before complaining? Why not say something when you got TWO confirmation e-mails? Or when you saw TWO purchases in the purchases section of the "my account" section? Why contact me to fix the error and not contact half.com directly? I've been jonesing for fish tacos from On the Border all week, met hubby and his co-workers for lunch, started to enjoy said tacos, and THEN got a hunk of halapeno in my craw. NOW that was a surprise. I HATE spicy food. Can't tolerate it. Didn't have any spicy on it the last time I had some. Started crying. Mouth, throat, esophogas, stomach burning. It was AWFUL! I was so freakin' pissed. Then I wanted to go home and sleep, but couldn't since I had to go get kiddo, go get the other kiddo (our Armenian friend) and take him to his babysitter, then come home, prepare dinner, and take kiddo to soccer. I did have downtime between lunch and my kiddo that I spent at the library and in the carpool line writing (but not in my bed, dammit) and then again when we got home when I passed out on the couch for 20 mins. We were late for soccer 'cause kiddo wouldn't cooperate. Thank godness for zantac 'cause I need it. I think I'm heading off to bed shortly. I start teaching tomorrow and can't afford to leave late to take kiddo to school, which would make me late for work, or to be grumpy at work. Good news, I just beat out bkcompton on two scrol games. Go me! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| but first I'd have to learn how to spell their name right, right? Kiddo is in bed. I'm still in my jammies. My work to-do list is a mile long. But the best part of the day? I've nibbled from three, yes three, count 'em, three different bags of P-Farm cookies today: double chocolate milanos, regular chocolate milanos, and the white chocolate macademia nut ones (can't remember the name.) Tonight's winner: the double chocolate milano. My absolute fav? Orange milanos. I can finish a bag in one sitting, just like Thin Mints. Cookie crack. It's been absolutely crazy around here these past two weeks. And whoever thought I was patient and calm should have seen me screaming at two kids in three languages (English, Armenian, and Russian) and dealing with the frustration of not being listened to in any of 'em. I actually broke down and spanked my kid, more than once. I'm not a spanker, but sheesh, sometimes, sometimes.... We had one of our Armenian friends and her son living here for just shy of two weeks. She is now a grad student at hubby's U and of course, we offered her a place to stay while she got settled. It was far more stressful than we all ever thought possible. Our kids fought like cats and dogs and just instigated ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME. None of us grownups were happy. No one slept well. I spent most of my free time apartment hunting, then moving her, shopping, and registering her child for school. I was happy to do it. Never a complaint from me, never wanted to complain. I just wanted to hog tie the kids so we could actually get something done. So many people helped us when we moved to Armenia, I was thrilled to be able to pay it forward, especially someone who has worked with hubby for like 10 years. She slept in her new apartment last night and peace has reigned in both houses now. She actually had time to study! I had time to nap. Well, I passed out, I was so tired. I've been doing lots of energy work as well. Working with my Reiki guides and again with the Lords of Karma. I need help dealing with all this stress and stuff. I asked the Universe to slow down whatever lesson they were trying to teach me. The cinder block was doing too much damage. Better to resort to the 2X4. Blogged on my other site a few times. My website got hacked, as did my yahoo mail and facebook accounts. The )*(&&^ deleted my other e-mail address (the one associated with my website), so I lost stuff. Then, after resetting all the passwords, I forgot to change my config.php file so my site didn't work. It worked while being hacked, the fix broke it. Took three days to realize it, and then a service ticket to my ISP to help point me in the right direction, and a minute to fix once I knew what was wrong. Total operator error (ME!). So, that's my life. Now it's time to pick up the pieces. The house is a shambles, again. I'm so behind on editing book reviews. I start teaching preschool next week, got the 2 year olds this year. I need to call my parents and arrange home visits before Wednesday night. I was supposed to call today, but didn't do it. Didn't do much of anything, really, except eat, drink, nibble cookies, and sleep. That's enough of this nonsense for now. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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