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Partway through the second half of the Florida-UCLA game and the Gators are kicking some LA Hiney. They are playing most of the game on their own side of the court and making it look like it’s as easy as tossing paperballs into the trashcan. I’m not a sports fan and I actually pretty much hate watching anything but live games, but this one is a hoot.

UPDATE:
And yeah, they’re done. Kicked butt. Say hello to Ohio again, boys.

I don’t have enough time in the day to tell you all the reasons that living with a small child is fun. I heard Johnny Depp tell David Letterman once that living with toddlers is like living with a drunk. Not so terribly far from the truth, my friend! A fun drunk, though, without the hangover.

My daughter is 4 now, but she still says memorable stuff on a daily basis. Plus, the things she feels are the things that are so important she has to call and tell me about while she is at her dad’s are just alarmingly befuddling. Tonight it was very much important that she call and tell me she was eating pasta with a baby spoon.

Or, how about this toddler-speak story from A Crack ‘n Life? 10 minutes. One word. Over and over. Only a child.

I’m currently happy enough with the theme I’m using, which is Journalized (eggs version with my own header graphic), but I just found a designer that has put out some blank Wordpress themes to get you going on designing your own. Great template starting points. I may work little by little on my own design. Right now he only has 2-colums templates available, but says he is working on a 3-column version.

I’ve been struggling with finding a Wordpress theme I like. I’ve found a variation of the one I was using and added my own header picture. But, even though I design my own regular websites. the coding for blogs just truely escapes me.

I found the most stunning theme tonight. Makes me want to give in and hire someone to pretty mine up.

The internet has opened up a whole new world of additional revenue streams for people. I’ll admit I earn some of my income online. I have websites that generate a little ad revenue, others that bring in commissions for the sale of items related my site content, and I sometimes get compensated to blog about other websites.

Here’s an entire blog dedicated to the endeavor of earning money online. Little America is an informative publication worth some of your reading time, especially if you’re looking to monetize a website.

If you live to geek, you have to check out HardwareGeeks. The site will catch you up daily on the hottest the tech news. Plus they have high-traffic tech forums where you can knock ideas around with fellow geeks on just about anything under the sun. I’m poking around right now and there are over 1800 people on the forums as we speak. That’s a whole lotta geek brain power in one place.

Was reading AlyCat’s Claws and it reminded me of our last move. The process itself was easy since the movers packed, moved and unpacked us. Leaving Gainesville was terrible, but an essential part of said move. The ex’s company paid, so that was painless. And, we used a major moving company. BUT, they subcontracted and that was the nightmare. The guys tried to get us to sign off on the move before they even left our old house, saying they needed to get the money for the move before Christmas. We refused and should have seen a red flag and called the moving company. When we got to our new house they parked the trailer somewhere overnight and it got towed and they did not have the cash to get it back, so my trusting ex LENT them the cash. We never did get that back. Worst of all, they stole my wedding and engagement rings. Of course, their word versus our and nobody from the moving company ever helped us recoup the cost. Somewhere, this trashy chick from Ohio is wearing my rings, I just know it.

I keep hoping I can get my hands on some home gym equipment someone’s giving away, like happened here in this lucky situation.  I’ve been paying monthly for my YMCA membership, but I get so flippin’ bored! If I could be home maybe watching TV while I work out, it would be so much more doable. I don’t have an MP3 player, so I work out at the Y and time just seems to drag. Forever. It’s just not interesting to me. My mind needs to be as occupied as my body.

There is just something about people who really, honestly, deep-down love dogs. You have cat people. You have snake people. And you have dog people. I’m a dog people person. Sadly, with the recent divorce, being back in school and not being entirely sure where I’ll be living in a couple of months, my dogs are in “foster care”.

Echo is a 13-year-old Maltese.  I’ve had her since she was a wee pup. When I say wee, I mean wee. She was 1.5 pounds when I got her. I used to carry her around in the pocket of my winter coat. I should find that old picture and post it. Cuuute. Anyway, she is currently living at my mom’s. I have stairs in this house and I’m often not home and the old lady (Echo, not mom) needs a little more stability. She’s loving life, though. I fed her amazing holistic fish-oil-based food. But my mother cooks for Echo. Cooks. For. Echo. Every day. Spoiled and blissed out, that dog.

Angel is the 14-year-old Greyhound we rescued from the dog tracks. What an amazing seetie. She is now living with a permanent foster family that the Greyhound Pets of America Senior Sanctuary of Florida found for Angel over in ZephyrHills. Almost as soon as the ex left, Angel began suffering emotionally form me not being home in the daytime like I had always been. She is the classic “velcro dog” and needs to be gazing at her beloved owner as often as possible. The Sanctuary found her a family with another Greyhound and a grandma that stays home all day, every day sitting with the dogs. How cool is that. As much as I love Angel and my daughter misses her, I think she is in a better home when it comes down to it.

And all of this to say that I found a cool new blog called Tip Tail. It’s mostly dog themed, with a dash of other life issue tossed in for good measure. Cynthia has 4 dogs. One is Angel, so we both have a dear Angel in our lives. She has cats, too …so she’s that rare breed who is both a dog and a cat person.

Jennifer’s blog starts right off the top talking “crazy”, but that’s just the title. A little of this, a little of that, and I relate to so many of the things she talks about. In one of her posts, she talks about getting a “wild hair” (I use that term a lot, much to the chagrin of my mother) and cleaning out all of her cabinets and kitchen drawers. Yup, me too, and always in the middle of the night when I have to be up the next morning. But you do it when you get the urge, right sister?

And would you believe that as I am sitting here anguishing about how to get my blogroll to show on this new Wordpress theme, I come across her post about learning how to write a bloggroll on her own. Yeah, baby! I’m right behind you.

It’s a proven fact that scent is one of the most powerful emotional triggers for memories. When I smell spring flowers and that earthy smell that’s in the air at the first thaw, I get the most irrational burst of happiness. It’s probably a trigger for childhood memories of being out in the yard after a long winter, wearing my yellow windbreaker, and hunting crocus flowers and dreaming of tulips and daffodils.

So when I read about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival on Karen’s blog, I actually got a little pang of envy. We have tons of tropical flowers down here all year around, but there is nothing in the world like the bulb flowers of Spring. Holy cow, I miss them!

Ok, seriously, splurfing is not as dirty as it sounds. It’s gross and juvenile, but not dirty. I was sitting in my Classroom Management class tonight and since we meet in the computer lab and I surf the net the entire time the professor is lecturing (though, oddly, I actually maintain a high level of participation in the class nonetheless), I was checking the comments in this new blog o’ mine.

Well, look, a comment by Mr. Fabulous. I’d forgotten that:

1. He makes me feel silly
2. I’m jealous that he lives in Gainesville (please wave at my old house the next time you pass Rock Creek on 34th)
3. I’ll randomly remember that his Lap Bunnies creep people out and then have to deal with the odd looks I get in public for my loud burst of seemingly unprovoked laughter
4. I wonder if it’s weird that I kinda sorta have a crush on him, but only when he’s in drag

So I meandered on over to check out said comment. And I giggled. OK, nobody seemed to notice. Then I found my way over to Fabby’s Pointless Drivel. And I splurfed. Yes, the water I was drinking shot right out of my nose. He’s that funny. I lost all credibility in my class, but I picked up a useful tip I can certainly use when I write my next 5th grade lesson plan for science.

I had to literally force myself to not put on Dancing With the Stars tonight. I even let my daughter stay up late and watch ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, the Rankin & Bass special I DVR’d back in December. Anything to keep me from getting sucked in this season I have way too many shows backed up waiting to be watched on the DVR as it is and…. I…. must….. not…. add ….more!

Leave it to Kat. She filled me in one all I needed to know about the show, anyway. Heather Mills did not go spinning across the stage in one direction while her leg flew through the air in the other direction. So, with that said I figure all of the potential entertainment value of her being on the show has been spent.

Kat’s blog is always good for a few good chortles. Plus, when you leave a comment, you get to be bossed around my Keanu Reeves as he commands you to speak. *sigh* Why does that give me a tingle?

I have a four-year-old. She absolutely doesn’t appreciate my gourmet tendencies. As a one-year-old, she was oddly open to everything, no matter how spicy or exotically spiced. The kid would gobble up the most fire-hot curries and savor my newest creations. These days she is standing her ground in her preference for more traditional flavors. Also, in an instant she can go from ravenously hungry to a little pill that refuses to eat.

So, you might imagine that I’m looking for more ways to make quick meals that will satisfy her desire for traditional flavors as well as my love for savory dishes. Lisa posted her recipe for Bacon and Garlic Chicken. This looks like a winner in my book and now I know exactly what I’m going to do with the chicken in my fridge. Of course, the recipe calls for an entire stick of melted butter, so I’m not doing my cholesterol any favors, but it sure sounds like heaven.

I love growing herbs in my garden for medicinal and cooking purposes, but ever since I moved to Florida I’ve had a hard time of it. I have an alright time of it if I keep them in pots inside the house, but once they go into the ground it’s all downhill.

I’m absolutely grooving on the memories while reading Skeet’s blog about her garden, complete with beautiful pictures of the herbs. She may find it neglected, but I’m blissing out just looking at the shots. It’s so lush and homey. She’s in Hawaii and expounds about her trouble growing mint. I could have written that rant! I cannot get mint to grow here in Florida like I could up in Virginia. We had it by the armfuls each year and I would brew strong mint tea. Also, each time my mother made a pot of iced tea, she sent either me or my sister out to the garden to pull a handful of mint leaves to brew with the teabags. Heaven in a frosty glass, I tell you. The mint spread like wildfire and we were always giving away pants. Down here it just dries up and get devoured by the bugs.

Sigh. If I close my eyes I can almost see my childhood garden.