Annie Anderson | Blog

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I’ve been blogging for quite some time (technically since about 2002) and yet I’ve never really introduced my family. Mostly because I didn’t want to call everyone by their real names on the internet and thus, I had no idea what to the call them. But, in order to become a tad more transparent on this site - and as this site evolves - I thought perhaps now was the time to introduce everyone.

So . . .

First . . . My husband. Unlike other women/mommy bloggers, I don’t have a cute name for him like Ree over at The Pioneer Woman has for her “Marlboro Man” nor like one of those gals who calls their hubby Mr. Whatever-the-blogs-name-is (like Mrs. Flinger or OMSH). Nope. And I don’t particularly like the word “hubby” either. So, I’ll just call him my husband for now. He’s a goofy Asian Dude who was raised by an adoptive family on a farm in Minnesota, although he was born in Korea.

The kids . . .

1. Big Girl aka The Teenager. She’s 14 and a pretty darn good kid although she can have a bit of a temper now and then. She’s taller than me by at least 2 inches (so thankfully, she made it over the 5′ mark). And boy does she like to rub it in sometimes! She loves music and art, hates having her picture taken and is excited to be starting high school this fall. Her favorite colors are usually blue or red and she says she hates pink but . . . she has a surprising amount of pinkish colored things.

2. Big Boy or The Taller Dude aka G-Man. He’s 10, pretty shy, loves computer games, Lego’s, Indiana Jones, Spiderwyck Chronicles and is left-handed. His feet are nearly as big as my husbands but he’s not quite 5′ tall yet. Soon, though. Maybe even next week. I swear this kid grows an inch every stinkin’ day. Him and The Teenager do not always get along well. He likes the color orange and has always been pretty partial to green as well.

3. Little Girl. She’s 7, loves horses, animals, coloring, and watching horse related moves (like Spirit, Black Beauty, etc). Her favorite colors change regularly but usually it’s either pink or purple and sometimes yellow.

4. Little Man aka The Short Dude. He’s going to be 4 next Friday, is finally (nearly 100%) potty trained and loves trains, especially Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. His favorite train from the series is Gordon although he really like Henry, too. He still takes naps, loves popsicles - which he calls “posscabulls” -and kitties and loves playing ponies with Little Girl. He seems to like orange best, too, though he does like brown and green as well.

Gramma . . .

And then there’s The Lady aka Gramma. She’s my mom. When I was growing up (and even still), she would NOT let me call her by her first name. If I couldn’t get her attention, I better find something else to call her so I started calling her “Hey Lady!” And it stuck. I still call her that when she’s being obstinate or isn’t fully paying attention. She’s a little thing - barely 5′ tall and weighs less a 100 lbs soaking wet with clothes on. And no, I am not exaggerating. But she’s a firecracker when necessary and yet, she’s very sweet, too. A remarkable woman who beat the odds more than once and whom I love dearly. In fact, when I grow up, I want to be just like her. She lives at The Farm I grew up on about 3 miles from us with her two cows and sometimes, the neighbors orange cat.

Furry pals . . .

• Maximillion aka Max Man. He’s a long-haired black cat with Amber/Green eyes. He loves to play, is rather whiney, a bit picky and sleeps on my legs every night. Sometimes he thinks my hands and arms are chew toys. It’s not always fun.
• Stardust aka Star or Star-D. She’s a short-haired dark gray cat and Max’s sister. She has a tiny little voice, is very, very sweet and is a great fly catcher. She likes to sleep on the porch. And like Max, has Amber/Green eyes.
• Annie aka Annie Potts or Miss Potts. (No, she isn’t named after me. Annie was her name when we got her and it seemed to fit her well. We couldn’t think of another name, so it stuck.) She’s Max and Star’s sister and like Max, she’s a long-haired black ball of fur with mostly Amber eyes. She loves to purr, is afraid of nearly everything and is a bit loony. We think she must have been dropped on her head as a youngin’. She likes to sleep in my cupboard in the mixing bowl. In fact, that’s how she got the name of Potts.

I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know everyone. The picture was taken in August of 2007 when we went to Seattle and rode the Ducks.

In the arena,

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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I had planned to take lots of pictures yesterday but unfortunately, they would not allow cameras into the venue so I didn’t get any (other than 2 I snuck of Wayman Tisdale with my mom’s phone) so I grabbed a couple pics from the artists’ websites for you. Enjoy!

Pictures are property of their respective websites (listed below in my previous post).

By the way, you may have to go the website to see the slide if you’re reading this from an RSS reader. They don’t always show up in the feed for some reason. Not sure why.

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

Share

The KWJZ Smooth Jazz Festival yesterday was AWE.SOME! I cannot even begin to tell you how cool it was. I’ve never been to a concert at the Chateau Ste. Michelle so that was an experience as well. (I have been to the Chateau numerous times for other things, though. It’s a gorgeous place. If you’re anywhere in the Seattle area, you owe it to yourself to check out the wineries in Woodinville.)

Anyway . . .

My mom picked me up about 10 am so that we could arrive early enough to hang out, look at all the booths (food, food, wine, food, and many others) and enjoy the surroundings. We even got there early enough that we got into the VIP parking on the Chateau grounds.

The weather wasn’t all that warm, in the low 70’s and it was kinda overcast but it was comfortable for an outdoor concert. I’m actually glad it wasn’t hot. I don’t do that well in temps above 80.

Gates opened at noon-ish and we found our seats in the reserved seating area. Even though security had to check everyones bags and coolers, it went surprisingly fast and we were inside within 10 minutes.

Since we both have food allergies, we brought a cooler of stuff (I’ll post my moms killer vegan potato salad recipe maybe later this week) so we didn’t sample any of the great food booths - except an incredibly tasty and delicious Mango Lemonade - but wow! The smells were enough to make ones mouth water and tummy rumble!

First up was Nils, kicking off the concerts at 2pm. He did a mix of old and new stuff that can only be described as incredible. Nils is a great guitar player and a true showman. He even waltzed through the isles a couple of times and it was great. He really knows how to have fun. Nils’ 2007 CD, Ready to Play is beautiful.

Next was Marion Meadows. His set was awesome! Marion is a pretty funny guy, he had us laughing a couple of times - a real character. And his sax skills are spectacular! I wish I could play the sax like that. He also stepped into the isles a couple of times and touched hands with some of the fans. A very personable and instantly likable guy. His show was great. And his band is awesome too. His keyboardist is a little gal with awesome pipes. I don’t remember her name, but he introduced her as the gal who sang the Lion King vocals in the movie. She was great, too. Check out Marion’s 2006 CD “Dressed to Chill.” If you like sax, he’ll blow you away.

Third was - how to describe, because AWESOME just isn’t enough - Wayman Tisdale. I’ll tell you, that guy is one hell of a guitar player. And so nice! He’s incredibly down to earth and humble for being such a huge star, both as a guitarist and in NBA basketball. He played a bunch of songs from several of his CD’s including his most recent, Rebound. Wayman had the crowd up on our feet almost the entire set. It was the by far the best the set of the day. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

And last, was the Crusaders. The lineup included the original members - Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Nils Lundgren and Ray Parker, Jr. - along with Joe’s son, Nick Sample and a guy on drums whose name I didn’t catch. I mentioned Friday that I don’t particularly like the Crusaders, but seeing Joe Sample and Ray Parker, Jr. was cool. Ray even sang a bit of his famous “Ghostbusters” song, except that Joe made him change the words to the Crusaders. It was pretty fun. They sure can rock a crowd still for being “old guys.”

My mom and I bought a wine we hadn’t tried before - Syrah, pronounced like sir-ah - that was delicious. It’s very similar to Merlot (which is my favorite) except that it has a more spicy flavor. We shared it with my husband when we got home last night.

So - there you have it! I’m definitely going to both days next year and hopefully my husband will come with me too. He’s not that into jazz but he’d still have fun. And although I liked sitting in the reserved seating area because it was so close - we were about 12 rows back! - I think next year, I’d rather bring all my stuff and my lawn chairs and sit in the grass.

And if you’re in Seattle, let me know if you go next year. I’d love to meet you.

In the arena,

PS - Just a quick update - our septic is fixed!! YAY! My husband and his buddy put a new line from the house to the tank, fixed the junction box and got it all put back together before noon yesterday.

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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Thank. God. It’s. Friday.

I’m so excited it’s Friday! I always like Fridays as it means the weekend is arriving and my husband will be home. It means he gets to spend time with the kids. During the summer, it also means no worries about kids getting up late for school and it doesn’t matter so much if they can’t find a their shoes or whatever. Of course, it also means *I* don’t have to get up so freakin’ early.

But this weekend is extra cool because my mom and I are going to the Smooth Jazz Festival in Woodinville at Chateau Ste Michelle Winery. My mom usually goes every year and usually her friend goes with her but this year, he can’t make it so she invited me. A day without kids! I am so excited! (I’m sure you totally couldn’t tell, right?)

We are going to see Marion Meadows, Waymon Tisdale, Nils and the Crusaders. I don’t especially like the Crusaders, but everyone else is pretty cool. The lineup for Sunday includes some equally cool musicians like Chris Botti, Boney James, Blake Aaron and Janita. Unfortunately, we’re only going to Saturday’s show which kinda sucks because I really like Chris Botti. Wish we could go to both.

You can bet that I will be posting all about the festival, probably sometime Sunday. I plan to take my camera as well so hopefully I’ll actually remember to use it and take some pictures! Although it’s not supposed to be extremely warm, it should be pleasant weather and with any luck we’ll get some good shots as we’re supposed to be in the VIP seating area. Not sure exactly what that means, but I’m sure it means something really cool. Like maybe front row or something.

Seafair Weekend

I also wanted to share with anyone who happens to be local to the Seattle area, that this weekend is Seafair and I’ve written a listing of Seafair activities going on around the sound over at Beyond Real Estate. Please feel free to check it out. If you know of anything I missed, please do post something about it in the comments there.

Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing this weekend, I hope you have a great weekend! I wish you lots of fun times and safe adventures!

In the arena,

PS - Anyone having a big time delay between when they publish a post and when it shows up in the RSS? Usually it’s pretty fast - I can publish a post here and it’ll post to the RSS feed within just minutes. But lately, unless I schedule the post ahead of time, it takes 2-3 hours before it shows up in the feed. I’d appreciate any clues anyone might have. Thanks!

PPS - I can’t get the formatting on the post to allow the picture to be aligned left with the text wrapping around it. If anyone knows a fix for that, I’d appreciate any tips on that too. Thanks again!

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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It’s almost time for the Thirty Day Challenge again - it begins August 1st. This is the 2nd year I’ve participated during the actual challenge month, although I’ve been doing the challenge for 3 years now. The first year, I began at the very end of August and went through everything on my own. It’s much more fun to do it during the “live” challenge. If you haven’t checked out it yet, I encourage you to do so.

But, you might be wondering just what the challenge is, huh?

Well, it’s put on by 2 internet marketing guys - Ed Dale and Dan Raine - who have been very successful with their own online businesses and they do this every August - for FREE. They teach you how to make your first $10 online with subjects such as:

• Niches
• Keywords
• WordPress and other platforms
• Social Media

And lots, lots more

And they use free tools to teach it so if you don’t have a lot of extra money to throw at a new online biz, this is for you. Or even if you do, this is for you. Lessons are generally posted weekly and there’s a video, sometimes a podcast and sometimes PDF downloads and such. The official website has a forum where everyone can share and learn together as well. There are even prizes to win! I have no idea what’s in store for this year, but Ed and Dan promise it’s going to be awesome!

The tagline this year - “There’s no charge for awesomeness.”

Since June, Ed’s been hosting “pre-season” - this is where he helps you get set up with some of the tools that’ll be used for this years Challenge. For 2008, they include the social web browser, Flock, YouTube, Twitter and Twhirl (a Twitter desktop client), FriendFeed, Google Reader, StumbleUpon and more.

Oh, and you know - half the fun are Ed and Dan themselves. Ed is a crazy Australian dude and Dan is witty guy from the UK.

There’s still time to get in! And yes, you can do it alongside your other activities and commitments. It’s meant to be a fun learning experience, no pressure. You won’t be graded or kicked out if you get behind.

I’ll see you there!

PS - I’m lsandrsn over on the 30dc forum.

PPS - Almost forgot! I have a 30dc blog that I blog the challenge from, too. Come along for the ride!

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

Share

I enjoy cooking - for the most part. Well, no, I love to *cook*. The part I don’t like? My kitchen sucks. It’s old, out of date, not near enough counter space and the poor oven has been better days. We keep thinking we’ll go ahead and get new appliances . . . but then something else happens. Like, the kids need new clothes. Or the plumbing goes berserk. You know, “fun stuff.”

So I have a kitchen I really dislike but I like to cook so when I can clear enough counter space to make it happen, I like to bake bread, cookies, muffins, and other good stuff. We’ve had some really great meals lately - crockpot chicken that the kids loved!, a noodle casserole they all gobbled up and apple muffins among other things. I still have some recipes to try and I’ll try to post the crockpot chicken recipe and the others either here or over at The Weight Loss Papers sometime this weekend.

Right now, there is 10 grain bread (the recipe is at The Weight Loss Papers) rising in the pan on the counter. About 10 more minutes until it goes in the oven. There is also a basic sandwich bread in the bread machine. It’s got about two hours until it’s ready to put in the pans to rise before cooking in the oven.

I know - it’s summer. What am I doing using the oven?? Well, I live in Seattle (that alone should explain it) and it’s only 70 today. Just right for baking bread.

Maybe if I can find the SD card for the camera, I’ll take some pictures when everything is baked and post them.

Do you bake bread? If so, what are your favorite bread recipes?

In the arena,

By the way - if this is your first time here, or you haven’t done so yet, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can use any feed reader you wish.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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As I haven’t gotten many new books recently, my Reading List this week is rather short. Nonetheless, it’s got some great books on it.

• Bragg Back Fitness Program by Patricia Bragg
• What a Great Idea! 2.0 by Chic Thompson
• Notes From the Backseat by Jody Gehrman
• With or Without You by Carole Matthews

Yes, that’s actually some fiction works! You may have noticed that my Reading Lists are usually non-fiction material and though I really do prefer non-fiction books, once in a while it’s good let loose and read something fun and mindless.

And Notes From the Backseat is hilarious, btw. If you like chic lit, get a copy. One of the best fiction books I’ve in a while.

That’s it for now. See you again soon!

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