Welcome back! Coffee's always on around here. Pull up your favorite chair and a grab a cup. Enjoy your visit today! And don't forget to stop back by again soon.

{Weather}

The weather here in the Seattle area has been just absolutely gorgeous lately! I’m really enjoying it. It’s still cold in the morning and at night – about 30-36?- and warms up to the mid 50’s by noon or so. Quite nice! Things that don’t normally bloom until Spring are starting to blossom already and there are a lot of birds as well.

{Shoulder}

I think I must have inadvertently slept on my shoulder last night because it and my arm are incredibly sore this morning. Not just sore, actually, but downright painful. I hope the referral for my MRI comes very soon. Kinda getting tired of waiting. I want to know what can be done about this pain before it gets any worse.

{Weight}

Now that it’s been almost a whole month since my doctor changed my blood pressure medication, I’m absolutely sure it was what causing the weight gain. Since I began taking the new medication, I’ve lost 10 pounds and I haven’t changed anything else – foods, exercise, etc – so I know for sure that’s what it is. This is very good news! I am so glad it was the answer.

Let me tell you – being “in touch” with your body and what’s going on with it is very important. If I hadn’t been, I’d still be taking the other medication and my weight would still be climbing. Many people don’t understand those subtle things about their bodies and aren’t really in tune with what’s going on. You owe it yourself – and your family – to understand your body and your health. Taking care of yourself is paramount.

{Cane}

My cane arrived last Thursday and I went grocery shopping with my mom Friday. Using the cane was so nice. I was able to take the pressure off my leg a lot and that really helped my endurance. My back didn’t start really complaining until we were nearly finished with our shopping. And I didn’t have that odd grinding feeling in my back every time I took step. I think this is going to turn out to be very helpful indeed! Glad I decided to go with it.

{Projects}

I’ve got two major projects going on right now. Both are for my cousin’s hair and nail salon. The first is designing a website for her home salon and make up line. It’s been fun and challenging! The second is a web-based application I’m building with Ruby on Rails for her to keep track of her client information. I’m having a good time learning RoR as I go along and I think the application is going to turn out well.

{Snow Leopard}

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my MacBook Pro to the latest OS X operating system – Snow Leopard. It’s running great and I like the updates. Lots of new features that I didn’t have in the Tiger edition of the OS. Some of the improvements are just little changes but those are good too. My system is now running faster (although it was never really all that slow) and I gained a few GB of space on my hard drive. That’s pretty cool! Before SL, I had 24gb of hdd space and now I’ve got 30gb, so that’s a bonus.

{The Husband}

My husband has been in college since last Spring, taking the AA degree program in welding. He’s almost finished! Yay! He gets to take a certification test next week and then he’ll actually be qualified to work in the industry in Washington State. Then, he has Spring quarter plus a couple more classes over Summer quarter to complete the full degree. Being that he’s never really finished anything in his entire life, this is a huge milestone for him. Now, hopefully, he will find a good job in the industry and stick with it.

{Miscellaneous}

I think I’ll do an “Around the Web” update this week and maybe even a few other things. Haven’t done those in a while and I know everybody always enjoys those. So look out for that, probably Wednesday or Thursday.

And have a great week!

Until next time -

Be blessed,

My brain is so full of stuff to write the past few days that I haven’t written anything. And then when I sat down here today to write something, I had no idea what to write because of all of the clatter inside my head. If you’re a writer, you probably know exactly what I’m talking about.

I have ideas for blog posts, ideas for short stories and the ever-present – and increasingly persistent – ideas for novels. Maybe 2010 will be the year I finally get all of them sorted out and put down on paper. Maybe even finish ones I’ve started . . .

And it’s also the kids’ first day of winter break and of course, it’s the Solstice too. As is typical in Washington, it’s pouring rain today. Truly pouring. We’d gotten spoiled these first few weeks of December which were un-typically cold and DRY. Looks like Mother Nature is going to make up for that in short order!

Hopefully we don’t have another snow storm like last year. Once every 20 years or so, is fine but let’s not make it a regular thing, okay, Mother Nature? 2 feet of snow that stuck around for 2 weeks in an area that usually gets 2 inches or less that’s gone by morning was not too fun. Seattle and the surrounding areas were not meant for that much snow.

Anyway, later today I’ll be posting my entry for Week 3 of the Write of Passage challenge so look out for that. And if I don’t post anything else before Friday, I hope you all have a Wonderful, Merry Christmas!

May your holiday be bright and joyful!

Be blessed,

It’s time for more Christmas music! What are you favorites?

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.

I don’t know how many posts I’ve started over the past several days and then not finished for one reason or another. Something happens, I get side-tracked, I lose my train of thought and then they end up getting saved to my drafts.

Today there is a lot to talk about so with any luck, this one will make it to the blog!

Earlier this evening, a car went sliding down the hill after hitting a patch of slick ice/snow just shortly after dark (and shortly after freezing began!) and after doing a 180 turn around, managed to land *just* outside our pasture fence. (Not the first time it’s happened . . .)

I think the only reason she didn’t actually go all the way over the fence, is that she hit one of the taller posts. Had it been a shorter post or a spot with no post, she’d have gone into the pasture for sure.

Fortunately the driver and her daughter are fine. Shaken, but fine. The car is mostly fine, just a dent in the front where she hit the post and also some damage to the cowling under the front end where it hit an old post in the ditch. Depending on when they come for it tomorrow, I may get a picture or two of the car.

Here’s a picture from last years big snow so you can see what I’m talking about. The car went into the pasture just beyond the mailbox (on the right side of the frame). There’s a drop-off there and a pretty deep gully before the pasture begins. Fortunately she missed the gully too or it would have been much, much worse.

<--Warning! Short rant ahead -->

I hope she realizes how lucky she is. And I hope next time, she reconsiders the need to go out after it’s gotten dark in this kind of weather. Especially down this hill.

Oh and this accident? Only happened in about an inch, maybe two inches of snow . . .

It really amazes me how many people who don’t know how to drive in bad weather, actually go out and drive in it! Or at least, TRY to drive in it. That’s why I don’t. It’s not me I worry about – it’s everyone else! I can drive in snow just fine. I just choose not to. And especially not after dark when the temps are freezing and it’s turned icy.

Anyway, that’s all of my lecture/rant/soapbox for now. LOL

<--End of rant ;-) -->

This afternoon I was looking for a site to kind of be a central location for all of m social networking and online stuff. Like an online business card, of sorts. I searched for quite some time and was about to give up and just design something myself when I found a site called chi.mp. The cool thing is, it also acts as an openID. So, I set it up! And so far, I really like it.

You can find me at helloannie.mp. Check it out and if you sign up, let me know.

And yesterday, I found a cool thing called blogrollr. Basically, it keeps track of the sites you visit automatically (kinda like google web history – only so far, I think it’s better). I can see where I’ve been, how many times I’ve visited there and can even rearrange things or “blacklist” things so they’re not in my public feed.

And lastly, a really simple and totally cool To-Do list I found yesterday as well. It’s called TeuxDeux.com and though it’s kind of an odd way to spell it, it’s very useful. I’ve tried A LOT (a really lot!!) of to-do lists and this one is cool. Just trust me. Simple. Effective. And just what I wanted.

Hope you had a great weekend! Here’s to a good week! Can’t believe it’s the last week of school before Christmas break. That is just totally unreal.

In the arena,

Oh – one more thing – a toolbar thingy for your website called Wibiya. I have no idea what it means or even how to say it really, but it’s pretty useful. I just installed it on my website today so if you’re reading in a reader, go check out the site and see how it works. Then you can go to wibiya.com and get one of your own. And a little disclaimer – NONE of these links are affiliate links. They’re just stuff I use and enjoy enough to share.

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.

We had record-breaking temps of 102 here in Seattle yesterday. The previous record was set in 1994 at 100 at SeaTac International Airport, where our official Seattle area temp gage is located. My husband said, though, that yesterday when he was downtown where we live (about an hour North of Seattle), the temp thing on one of the buildings read 107!

WOW! That’s all I can say . . . just wow.

Well, that and . . . it was TOO DAMN HOT!

We had all the fans going, the curtains closed, windows open and lots of ice water! I am hoping today is cooler. Of course, at this point, even 95 would be cooler. Right now – at 10:30 am – it is a little cloudy but it’s 82. That’s just not normal. Usually it’s only 70-ish by this hour, if even that.

My poor little fella, The Short Dude, woke up with a bloody nose early this morning. He is just like his mommy – he doesn’t do well in heat. It’s a good thing The Teenager is over on the Coast camping with her friends family this week where it’s a little cooler. She gets heat stroke very easily and totally would not do well in 100 +/- temps.

Speaking of The Teenager – I talked to her last night on the phone for about 15 minutes. Now, you have to understand it’s RARE for this child to talk on the phone. She just doesn’t – she usually texts people. So she called me and we talked and at the end of our conversation I said “I love you, sweetie pie” and I was totally surprised when she said “I love you, too, mom.” It’s been so L O N G since I’ve heard those words from her and it just made my day!

So, a couple of tips to help you stay cool:

I’ve also found that placing a damp, cool wash cloth on the back of my neck or stomach is helpful. Just get a wash cloth wet, wring it out a little (you just want it to be damp) and place it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.

And recently I heard that you can take damp towels and hang them in open windows (just make sure the curtains are closed) and that helps cool things down. Of course, I suppose it probably works well only when there’s a breeze coming in.

Please stay cool if you’re experiencing high heat in your area like we are here in Seattle. It’s important to keep an eye for heat stroke or heat exhaustion symptoms as well.

Post any tips you have for keeping cool in the comments below. I’d love to hear them!

In the arena,

Use common sense. Schedule your outdoor activities to avoid the hottest parts of the day, and use a buddy system if necessary to keep watch on those at high risk. You can also cool off at the library or the mall if you don’t have air conditioning or fans to cool down. Keep an eye on kids and the elderly especially as well as those with high blood pressure. Call 911 immediately if you suspect someone has heat stroke!

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.

First, let me apologize in advance for the length of this post and it’s ramblingness. So many things have happened in the past several weeks since I last posted, there’s just no way to catch up without going on and on and on.

But I promise I will not be like the energizer bunny and never END.

So, having said that . . .

I’m happy to say the first order of business is to let you know that my former brother in law is doing much, much better! In fact, he is even going to be able to go home this Friday! We’re so glad about that. For the first several days after his stroke, it looked like he may not even make it through the weekend. Fortunately, he has LOTS and LOTS of people who just love him and his family who have never ceased praying for his recovery.

It’s been a very long road for him but he’s surprising his doctors and nurses and therapists with his bravery and his inner strength to get through this, to become whole again. All of that inner drive has certainly paid off. Even though he still has a ways to go, it’s looking better every day. For that, we’re all thankful. Just in time for summer, too!

And speaking of summer . . .

We’ve been so busy lately with school winding down. Lots of activities at the kids’ schools – committee meetings, award ceremonies, family nights, book fairs, concerts and the like – that I’ve barely had time to breathe. In between all of that, I’ve been working on design projects and writing projects, both volunteer and paid.

In fact, one of the committees I was on this year for The Short Dude’s preschool, was the cookbook committee. It was very fun and I met a few other moms and kids. It gave the Short Dude some other friends to play with once in a while during non-school hours as our meetings were usually on Friday’s when the pre-schoolers didn’t have class. He enjoyed the meetings as much as I did.

When everyone on the committee learned that I do graphics, they asked if I would create the cover and inner pages for the cookbook along with the flyers and what-not. I was blessed to be able to say yes even though it was A LOT of work. I enjoyed it.

The group and I came up with a cute cover, if I may say so myself. Honestly, though, I was skeptical about what it would really look like in print. I was afraid the background color would be way too bright and set an obnoxious tone. Since it’s all about kids, the cover features pictures of the kids from the pre-school eating fruits and veggies and it’s all in bright, primary colors. We called it “Children’s Chow of Choice” and I think it fits rather well.

So last week when I found out the cookbooks were in, my heart was pounding! I was both scared and excited to see them. Our group leader (who is a staff member at the school) assured me they turned out fabulous. And when I saw them, I must admit – they did look rather great!

Even though I’ve been doing graphics for almost 20 years, it’s still exciting to see something I’ve created in its final form. Often these days when I design something for a client, I never actually see the finished, physical product, (except for things like business cards). I’ll take a picture of the cookbook later and post it.

After such a great time working on the cookbook committee, when the director asked me if I’d be willing to work on the end of year celebration (graduation) committee, I agreed. So now I am working on the certificates for the pre-school ‘graduation’ celebration next week. The theme is “stars” so I’ve put a cascading rainbow of stars on the side of the certificate. I don’t want it to be overwhelming – it’s just a very simple design. I designed 3 different styles for the committee to choose from and now I’m just waiting to hear which one is a go.

Also coming up soon are the elementary school concerts. Gman’s class is performing a band concert with their recorders and other instruments they’ve learned to play in music this year. And Little Girls class is doing kind of a spoken word and music play of some sort. Not really sure but she’s says it’s going to be fun.

School is getting out almost a week late, though, because of the snow make up days. They were originally supposed to have half days this week but that changed too. I’m kinda glad, though – they’ll be home all day soon enough!

The highlight of the first week of summer vacation will be spending some time with my husband’s sister and her girlfriend. They are doing a 30-day long road trip around the Western US visiting as many of the National Parks (and friends/family) as they can. They are Zion National Park now, I think, and will be here June 12th for a few days before they head over to the Washington Peninsula to the Olympic National Park.

I’m very excited because this will be the first time I’ve met my sister in law! She lives in New York – almost as far away from Seattle as you can get and still be in the continental US – so getting together is not easy, especially when you throw in jobs and kids and school and those good things.

And the other thing I’m really looking forward to is the sun and BBQ’s and going to the beach! We’ve had such a cold, dreary winter, I’m definitely ready for a change of pace. This week has been quite nice – in the upper 60’s and low 70’s – just about perfect!

What are your summer plans? Has summer vacation started yet in your area? What are you most looking forward to this summer?

I hope whatever you do, you enjoy the time with family and friends.

I’ll be back soon with some pictures and maybe a reading list along with a few new recipes I’m itching to try out. Oh – and look for a new post over at The Weight Loss Papers soon too.

In the arena,

Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you will still land among the stars. ~ Les Brown

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.

I was beginning to think Mother Nature had forgotten what “Spring” meant. But it appears she has finally remembered. And I’m excited about that because snow and rain and cold, icky weather was just getting old and tiring. I can finally see why senior citizens and other retired folks go to Arizona and such for the winter months.

For the past few days here in NW Washington, we’ve had sunny skies in the 60’s. Great weather for this time of year! And it’s what makes me love spring in the first place. Nice, cool (but not cold) mornings and warm afternoons.

Beautiful.

The kids are funny, though. They insist on wearing their winter jackets to school.

Gman – “But mom, what if it gets cold? Or what if it rains?”

Little Girl – “Yeah, mom. He’s right. We should wear them just in case.”

Short Dude – “No, mom. I really want to wear my warm jacket.”

Me – “Ok, fine but trust me, you won’t need it.”

And then when they get home from school,

All of them – “Geez, mom. It’s H-O-T out here!”

Um, yeah, guys. Tried to warn ya.

The bummer of the whole thing, though, is that LAST week – when it was still cold and rainy – was SPRING BREAK. Go figure. So, the kids were cooped up in the house all week with not much to do because it was too nasty outside to do anything or go anywhere. And we all were definitely ready for school to resume this week!

Can’t wait to get outside and ride bikes! Biking is one my favorite pastimes. Another good thing about Spring. I know – there are people out there who ride year-round no matter the weather. But not me. Sorry. Rain, I can deal with – but freezing temps are another thing. And as that’s about all we’ve had since last November, I haven’t ridden in a while.

Not that I have a bike to ride at the moment anyway. I’m looking into getting a new bike as I gave mine to The Teenager because she outgrew her old one. So, I’ve been researching new bikes and drooling over them.

Due to my back and arm issues, the doctor and physical therapist have all recommended I ride a recumbent bike anyway so giving my bike to The Teenager made sense. It’s really a nice bike – 24 speed mountain bike with some extras including a nice seat, top of the line shifters and brakes that were easy on my arm. It’s a smaller frame so it fits people in the 4′8 – 5′4 range quite nicely. If she continues to take care of it as I have, she should have it for many more years.

I am looking forward to getting a recumbent so I’ve whittled my list down to a couple of 3-wheel (trike) versions that I think would really work well for me. Now it’s just a matter of making a final choice and biting the bullet. (Recumbents are typically quite expensive. In fact, some of them are even more expensive than what my CAR is worth! LOL) Too funny.

The models I’m looking at are:

1. TerraTrike Path 8
2. Catrike Pocket
3. Greenspeed GT3
4. Sun EZ Tad

I really like the looks and everything of the TerraTrike, but I’m leaning towards either Catrike or the Sun. They all seem fairly comparable to me though the Catrike Pocket comes in a smaller size to fit shorter folks. Actually, so do the TerraTrike and Sun models. I really like the look and reviews of the Catrike and Sun and I know of 2 of each of those models for sale for a little less than the retail prices.

If you’ve ridden a recumbent – and specifically, one of the models I’ve listed here – let me know what you think and why you like (or don’t like) that model. I’d appreciate any input I can get. Hopefully, I will make a choice and be able to purchase one by the end of the month.

Aside from my back and arm issues, the other reason I want to start riding again is part of my exercise plan for weight loss. I used to ride everywhere as a kid – all over the place, really – and if I wasn’t at home reading, my friends and I were hanging out and riding bikes. I even built my own bikes when I was a pre-teen & teenager because I couldn’t find one exactly like I wanted.

Funny enough – the bike I was riding when I trashed my arm was one I had *just* finished building. It wasn’t even 24 hours old when I had the accident. (No, the accident had nothing to do with the bike – just stupid teenage error on my part; i.e. – riding down a really steep hill going very fast.)

Bike riding has always been one my favorite outdoor activities and I always miss it during the cold winter months. With that and my arm/back injuries, I don’t ride as often as I’d really like to so I think getting a recumbent is the answer I’ve been looking for. Maybe I will even want to venture out when the weather isn’t so cooperative.

Luckily, my kids and my husband also enjoy riding. In fact, that’s we did after our wedding – we packed everything up and went bike riding for the afternoon!

Yes, I’m a funny girl. My kids think I’m downright weird.

But it’s okay . . . it runs in the family. I’m pretty sure I’ll get to laugh at them when they’re my age as much as they laugh at me now.

When I started this post, I had intended to write something about my weight loss achievements over the past few weeks but I think I’ll end here and save that for tomorrow.

Hope you’re enjoying your week!

In the arena,

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
~ Denis Watley

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.

I am so ready for Spring!

Winter here in the Pacific Northwest has been cold, wet, dreary, snowy, icy, freezing. We’ve had more snow than I recall having since I was in high school. And not that we’re counting or anything, but I graduated almost 19 years ago.

(Geez, that makes me sound old!)

So, it’s St. Patrick’s Day today. I am wearing green, yes. And the kids painted their nails a nice bright green last night before they went to bed. Well, I should say – Little Girl and The Short Dude painted their nails. Gman refused. Even though gramma tried really, really hard to let her paint his too.

At least the Gman did wear a green shirt to school today. I think The Teenager forgot, though.

But anyway, the Spring Equinox is officially on March 20th this year. Just a few more days away. I’m so happy for that. I love Spring! It’s my favorite time of year. Everything is growing and renewing.

The days are getting longer, weather warmer. And the birds are chirping everywhere.

One of my favorite sounds of Spring are the wind chimes. There’s just something about Spring breezes that wiggle the chimes just so, sending out sweet tunes all around the house and yard. It’s beautiful. Sometimes I will just turn off the radio, opening the windows a bit to sit and listen.

You can check out more info on the Equinox and all things Spring below:
1. What is the Equinox?
2. Rites of Spring
3. Pagan Celebrations
4. US Navy – Earth Seasons
5. Definition of Spring
6. Easter & other celebrations

Did you see the March Wallpapers I posted a few days ago? You should go look at them if you haven’t seen them yet. They’re bright and green! Two of them have calendars for the month also.

I hope you’re enjoying St. Patrick’s Day and that you have a wonderful week as we head into Spring!

In the arena,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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.

Currently playing in iTunes: Don’t Let Me Stop You by Kelly Clarkson
Currently playing in iTunes: Everloving by Moby