'Cause it's my blog, and I'll ramble if I want to.
Okay--finished the final read on the MS. One thing accomplished.
Reformatted all the interview pages for one of my the Web site pages, and got it all uploaded. Two things accomplished.
Four of five contest entries judged. Almost three things...
Now I just got to get through church tonight--dealing with @ 75 three- and four-year-olds and a dozen uncommitted leaders gets trying.
And back to the Web site...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
When it rains it pours...
Not an exact match for what's going on, but three weeks ago, I was bored silly. Didn't have much to keep me busy, everyone was absorbed in their preparation or recovery from the holidays.
Now I'm up to my eye balls in things to keep busy with.
I'm judging my writing chapter's annual contest. I normally enjoy judging. But I have a couple of entries I just don't know what to do with. One is pretty--I don't want to say bad, because we all have to start somewhere--but it's rough. And sometimes it's hard to find anything nice to say except, "Congratulations for that taking that step and entering the contest." But I focused on a couple of issues. And someone else can point out the rest.
I'm the new Web mistress for the chapter as well. And what an undertaking that is--I knew it was going to be, and was one of the reasons I actually ran for the position. I'm probably one of the few people in the chapter who has more than a passing knowledge of the back end of a Web site. And so it is now my job to clean it up. The gal who originally designed it--and we love the original design--had some extensive code *on every single page*. So my task is to clean up all the code and clean up the files. Yikes. When I first took over the updates, it was overwhelming--even for me. And all I had to do was one page. A minor change of information. There was sooooooo much extraneous stuff, I just didn't know where to start. Because I play with the code--I don't look at the design view, the what-it'll-look-like view--I saw all that gobbeldy gook and felt like a three year old told to clean her room. There was no way I could deal it. I had to recreate the page from scratch. Actually, create a template to use for all the pages. It took me two days to get all the pieces-parts to fit together properly. And then I began to systematically re-create each and every page with the cleaner, sleeker, slimmer page. Ahhh... it's so much better now. I've been waiting two years to get my hands on it. And now it's mine, all mine...
I'm also supposed performing a final read on a manuscript for an e-publisher. I made the mistake of reading the whole thing first--and know I don't want to go back through and mark all the errors...but I've got to. Argh...
Started watching The West Wing through Netflix. I can spend several hours in front of the tube there...
But I did get my employees W2s all taken care of. Finally. Whew.
Well, back to the NTRWA Web site...
Now I'm up to my eye balls in things to keep busy with.
I'm judging my writing chapter's annual contest. I normally enjoy judging. But I have a couple of entries I just don't know what to do with. One is pretty--I don't want to say bad, because we all have to start somewhere--but it's rough. And sometimes it's hard to find anything nice to say except, "Congratulations for that taking that step and entering the contest." But I focused on a couple of issues. And someone else can point out the rest.
I'm the new Web mistress for the chapter as well. And what an undertaking that is--I knew it was going to be, and was one of the reasons I actually ran for the position. I'm probably one of the few people in the chapter who has more than a passing knowledge of the back end of a Web site. And so it is now my job to clean it up. The gal who originally designed it--and we love the original design--had some extensive code *on every single page*. So my task is to clean up all the code and clean up the files. Yikes. When I first took over the updates, it was overwhelming--even for me. And all I had to do was one page. A minor change of information. There was sooooooo much extraneous stuff, I just didn't know where to start. Because I play with the code--I don't look at the design view, the what-it'll-look-like view--I saw all that gobbeldy gook and felt like a three year old told to clean her room. There was no way I could deal it. I had to recreate the page from scratch. Actually, create a template to use for all the pages. It took me two days to get all the pieces-parts to fit together properly. And then I began to systematically re-create each and every page with the cleaner, sleeker, slimmer page. Ahhh... it's so much better now. I've been waiting two years to get my hands on it. And now it's mine, all mine...
I'm also supposed performing a final read on a manuscript for an e-publisher. I made the mistake of reading the whole thing first--and know I don't want to go back through and mark all the errors...but I've got to. Argh...
Started watching The West Wing through Netflix. I can spend several hours in front of the tube there...
But I did get my employees W2s all taken care of. Finally. Whew.
Well, back to the NTRWA Web site...
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Schools
My son is almost failing English again. After the hassle we went through during the six weeks previous to the six weeks just ending, why did his teacher not call us as soon as he started faltering again? Did my husband's trips to the school in three successive weeks not indicate to her that he was serious about staying on top of and being informed about our son's performance?
Just from being the PTA ringleader at my son's elementary school and dealing with the teachers at that level, I know that being a teacher is hard work. And it gets harder the older the kids get, but it just seems this particular teacher is taking the easy way out, and I have no clue if my son is really learning anything of value from her.
I realize teachers aren't paid enough for what they do. Aside from parents, teachers play a significant role in the lives of our children. Maybe if it were harder to be a teacher, like becoming a doctor or lawyer, we'd have a better people in place. On the other hand, maybe we'd have a larger shortage. But if the money's there, maybe not. We don't seem to lack for doctors or lawyers in this country.
Also, here in Texas, it seems we now teach toward the Benchmarks and TAKs tests.
Hey--What if we actually taught our children the subjects properly? Maybe they'd be able to pass real tests and really learn what they need to know to succeed in college and in life.
Just from being the PTA ringleader at my son's elementary school and dealing with the teachers at that level, I know that being a teacher is hard work. And it gets harder the older the kids get, but it just seems this particular teacher is taking the easy way out, and I have no clue if my son is really learning anything of value from her.
I realize teachers aren't paid enough for what they do. Aside from parents, teachers play a significant role in the lives of our children. Maybe if it were harder to be a teacher, like becoming a doctor or lawyer, we'd have a better people in place. On the other hand, maybe we'd have a larger shortage. But if the money's there, maybe not. We don't seem to lack for doctors or lawyers in this country.
Also, here in Texas, it seems we now teach toward the Benchmarks and TAKs tests.
Hey--What if we actually taught our children the subjects properly? Maybe they'd be able to pass real tests and really learn what they need to know to succeed in college and in life.
Monday, January 5, 2009
A few steps closer...
toward my 2009 goals. (You remember: a clean house/a finished house & a tidy yard)
The staining (& sealing) of my kitchen cabinets is finally done. The last section was completed yesterday. All *I* have left to do is paint the doors to another (built-in) cabinet. The rest is on my dear hubby.
My entertainment center (which is to say, the corner of our living room where all our entertainment devices are stacked, not an elaborate shelving system) is tidied and un-dog-haired. I pulled every cord and cable off and removed every individual component and dusted and swept. Everything went back in an orderly manner, with all excessive cables wire-tied neatly.
My back yard and patio is cardboard box free, but no completely leaf free. There are *a lot* of leaves...once the leaves are gone, the fleas are next. (Yes, my poor dogs are flea bags, but that is also on my goal list: to de-flea my house, dogs, and yard.)
After my busy weekend, I feel old and achy. I'll skip any heavy manual labor today, and rest my weary body, but back to the leaves tomorrow!
Here's to a clean and tidy new year!
The staining (& sealing) of my kitchen cabinets is finally done. The last section was completed yesterday. All *I* have left to do is paint the doors to another (built-in) cabinet. The rest is on my dear hubby.
My entertainment center (which is to say, the corner of our living room where all our entertainment devices are stacked, not an elaborate shelving system) is tidied and un-dog-haired. I pulled every cord and cable off and removed every individual component and dusted and swept. Everything went back in an orderly manner, with all excessive cables wire-tied neatly.
My back yard and patio is cardboard box free, but no completely leaf free. There are *a lot* of leaves...once the leaves are gone, the fleas are next. (Yes, my poor dogs are flea bags, but that is also on my goal list: to de-flea my house, dogs, and yard.)
After my busy weekend, I feel old and achy. I'll skip any heavy manual labor today, and rest my weary body, but back to the leaves tomorrow!
Here's to a clean and tidy new year!
Friday, January 2, 2009
It's a brand new year...
After brunch with a girlfriend, I spent the day alone...a nice little surprise,and I enjoyed it greatly. I generally don't make resolutions anymore, but I wanted to get the new year started with a clean house and yard.
So I alternately read and cleaned my house--I don't have the energy or stamina to go on a full-scale rampage any longer so I have to work then rest, work then rest, etc...
My main bathroom almost as clean as I can get it. It needs a little more scrubbing--I have a green tile floor and the grout is a lot stained and needs some TLC, but that was beyond me yesterday. Not that I didn't scrub and mop the floor, 'cause I did, but the grout needs some extensive elbow grease.
My kitchen, hallway, and living room was swept throughout the day. A (small) section of my backyard was raked and the leaves bagged for pickup today. And the patio, which could have won a Redneck-of-the-year contest, was tidied. I even did a few loads of laundry.
A another week's worth of days like yesterday would be a lovely way to get my new year started on the right foot.
My goals for 2009 include getting my kitchen and living room finished, and getting grass rather than weeds to grow in my backyard. On the writing front, I'd really like to finish another manuscript.
What are your goals for 2009?
So I alternately read and cleaned my house--I don't have the energy or stamina to go on a full-scale rampage any longer so I have to work then rest, work then rest, etc...
My main bathroom almost as clean as I can get it. It needs a little more scrubbing--I have a green tile floor and the grout is a lot stained and needs some TLC, but that was beyond me yesterday. Not that I didn't scrub and mop the floor, 'cause I did, but the grout needs some extensive elbow grease.
My kitchen, hallway, and living room was swept throughout the day. A (small) section of my backyard was raked and the leaves bagged for pickup today. And the patio, which could have won a Redneck-of-the-year contest, was tidied. I even did a few loads of laundry.
A another week's worth of days like yesterday would be a lovely way to get my new year started on the right foot.
My goals for 2009 include getting my kitchen and living room finished, and getting grass rather than weeds to grow in my backyard. On the writing front, I'd really like to finish another manuscript.
What are your goals for 2009?
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