Oceandirt's Blog

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Art and comics by Rebecca Clements

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Post and peruse Polaroid photos

Once we got the tenant in, and life would start getting back to normal, I hoped that THIS would be the month that life would, well, really get back to normal. April was supposed to be that month, and that didn't happen. I think May is starting to prove that it will be that way, and that perhaps, slowly but surely, things are starting to pick up. I'm not hedging any bets yet, of course.

It's been pretty busy. We were planning on participating in the neighborhood garage sale on Saturday, but tonight JC mentioned that there really wasn't a lot of traffic that day when it happened last year, so perhaps if we really want to get rid of that stuff in the basement, we should put it on Craigslist. Works for me! It takes some of the pressure off for the weekend. So that's good.

I also started back to TKD last night. I really thought it would be tough, but considering that I've been out of the game for so long, I thought I did alright. The highlight of the night (if you don't want to read the details on my TKD blog), was that not too long into the first class, I split my pants. Not just a little bit. A LOT. From the crotch to within a couple inches from the waistband. HOW EMBARASSING! I excuse myself and get a lightweight replacement pair. And no, I don't think I can fix them, even with my emerging mad skillz on the sewing machine. I don't know if it's that the fabric finally gave way, or that I'm too fat, or both. I don't think I want to know. I brushed it off as quickly as I could, and just persevered. Welcome back to TKD.

We're finishing up Cub Scouts for the season. Tomorrow is the last Den meeting, and I'm doing a summer/sun safety theme. I ran to the Michaels craft place, and got water bottle, visors and sunglasses to decorate. Hopefully that'll be fun. Drew thought the stuff would be cool, at least, and it won't be like the birdhouse disaster. Next week, the kids graduate/promote, and that will be the end of the meetings until next school year. Hooray! I have time to PLAN a little more now, and I'll have a few helpers now.

I'm continuing with the sewing too. Yes, details are on my sewing blog. (I know, I'm turning into a blogging geek.) All the pieces are cut, interfacing fused, so now it's just a matter of sewing everything together. We'll see if I can pull it off! I hope so. I'm nervous about the collar and armband parts, but it's all a learning process, right? (Or so I have to convince myself?)

And somehow, in all of this, I got totally fed up with my hair and brows, and squeezed out a haircut and waxing. I wanted to go to my normal place, but in the time crunch of when I get home to when Drew gets home from school, I couldn't do that. So, I went to one of the local places I was pretty sure wouldn't be busy at that time. The same woman was there, a little Asian woman who is very pushy. You just tell her that you want a cut and brows done, and she starts asking about waxing other parts of your face that don't need it, "you want highlights? Dye job?". Oh, it's annoying. And you know at the end, she's going to bother you about buying product that you don't even need. Today, it was that PLUS this stuff she says that will help me grow my hair back. Now, I know I have thinning hair, but PUHLEEZE. Lay off! But, I look and feel better, even though it wasn't perfect. It's an improvement. I'll highlight my own hair, thank you.

And on that note, I'm going to go upstairs to go highlight my hair before I go to bed!

This month is Mental Health Awareness Month, so the LiveJournal team is offering users a chance to support the Depression and Bipolar Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping improve the lives of those suffering from mood disorders. Proceeds from purchases of the Emerging Sun v-gift during May will be donated to the DBSA, so feel free to buy one. Or, if you really want to rack up some good karma points, get a bunch!

And don't forget: Mother's Day is this Sunday. Be a dear and check out the v-gifts shop. Send something that'll make her smile.


L to R: Emerging Sun, #1 Mom, Gift Basket, Chocolates, A Dozen Red Roses


We know how you salivate over the prospect of new themes, especially when they're designed by users with a unique handle on both form and function.


L to R: Shiny, River at Night, Live and Learn, Vector Drips.

( Winners of the HP 'What Do You Have to Say?' Theme Design Contest )


We'd like to remind you that the nomination process for LiveJournal Advisory Board user-representatives has begun. If you think you're fit for the job, now's the time to nominate yourself! After all, you're the only who can do it. In two weeks, on the 22nd, the voting process will begin; we'll remind you about it again here.

If you're interested in keeping up with the nominations, watch lj_election_en. We'll post the results and announce the winner by the end of the day on May 30th. The new user-representatives will be seated on June 1st. Further details can also be found in lj_2008.

Happy Fifth of May day, otherwise known as Cinco de Mayo, Mexico's version of the 4th of July! We had our own little celebration here, making my tacos (half pound ground sirloin, about 1-1 1/2 cups of finely minced baby carrots, taco powder/mix, and a can of tomato sauce--healthy and delicious!), and drinking limeade, which is always a favorite around here, since it tastes like margartita sans tequila. But I'm sure that JC and I will have some later-- the REAL stuff-- once Drew is in bed. I don't know, it's like an unwritten code that that we never discussed, but just do, which is that if we are going to have any alcohol, generally we wait until Drew is asleep. Don't know why that is. Anyhow, we had a good dinner, with some corn too, and ate out on the deck al fresco. It was an enjoyable family dinner, especially since this is the first Monday in a LOOOOOONG time that JC didn't have to run out and attend to the apartment. The tenant is in! She moved in over the weekend, and he's done over there unless there's a repair of some sort. Drew is happy and was playing "laser tag" with his dad after dinner.

We are all wiped out after yesterday. It was Founders Day here in town, and we were over there for at least 3 hours. It was fun, but we did a LOT of walking, and both Drew and I got sunburn, and I think even JC was saying tonight that being in the sun so much yesterday wiped him out as well. Drew was very excited, and one thing was that we saw a lot of friends. As I commented to JC, one of the things I like about sending Drew to a good public school and doing Cub Scouts is that Drew is able to get a better sense of community than either he or I ever had. We saw kids from his school and from Scouts that he knew, and I think he liked being able to say "Hi" to people he knew. I didn't have that much as a kid, and I doubt JC did either. I would like Drew to have a sense of hometown pride for where we live, and I think he's starting to have that.

This past weekend was MDSW. Several of us missed it, including myself. I would've liked to go, but in the end, it wasn't good timing with things the way they've been, and it was just as well. There were some other people who couldn't go this year, so maybe it's just as well for that reason too. I'm sure I'll hear some updates from those who could go, and I'll just see if I can shoot for either some retreat or Rhinebeck or MDSW for next year. No biggie.

In the meantime, I haven't been doing much crafting lately, or not as actively as I should. I am knitting, just not that actively, or as actively as I should. I will say that I am working on a toy for Drew and wristwarmers for myself. And now that the weather is better, I think I need to do some Kool Aid dying soon. I've been stocking up on yarn to do it, and I am ready! I am also working on my first clothing item in sewing. I actually had to make adaptations already, but I think it'll be fine. I just made the thing wider. Well, all I've done thusfar is trace the pattern on the fabric so far for the back piece. I still have to do it for the front, and then the other pieces as well. Y'gotta start somewhere, right? So I'll be working on that tonight, I think.

And on that note, I just noticed the time, and I have to get the boy in to do his homework! It's such a nice day and I had to go food shopping that we put it off until later, and it's now...later!

Advisory Board Nominations Begin

This morning we are opening the nomination process for the user-representative positions on the LiveJournal Advisory Board. A full description of the process can be found here.

To get you started, here are the basic things you should know:

- You may only nominate yourself
- Each nominee will need 100 motions of support in order to be eligible to be a candidate
- We ask that you keep your comments on the nomination posts to "I support this nomination" or something to that effect; be kind to those who will need to count the "supports", please.
- Although the nominations and election poll will take place in lj_election_en, you do not need to watch the community in order to keep up with the election; we'll announce everything here as well.

Everyone here at LiveJournal is looking forward to this first-ever User-Representative election! We'd like to thank everyone who is participating. Some words from our current Advisory Board members:

danah boyd: “LiveJournal is filled with very passionate users. These users have helped shaped LJ's various communities over the last decade and it gives me great joy that LJ is recognizing and incorporating users' voices into the decision-making processes. Having user representatives from different parts of LJ on the Advisory Board will help make sure that the company is meeting the needs of its diverse constituents.”

Esther Dyson: "I'm sure we'll learn a lot from the process, and later on from the two users selected as well. Especially, I hope that the discussions before the voting will be more meaningful and more focused on policy than those in some offline campaigns."

Brad Fitzpatrick: "It's cool that SUP is getting users involved with the LiveJournal decision-making process. I look forward to seeing who the community elects and the results of our efforts working together."

Professor Lawrence Lessig: “The user elections will provide a critical check on LJ's process of maintaining a valuable and trustworthy environment for the LJ community. The mandate of the elections will give the user representatives pride of place among the members of the Advisory Board. Each of us will look to them to guide us in our judgment about how best to make LJ the community we all aspire that it will be. I look forward to welcoming the user representatives, and learning a great deal from them.”


chasethestars has also made some banners for you to use, if you'd like to show your support for the candidate of your choice!

( Banners + code for you to use! )

Today is my 9th wedding anniversary. Not too bad, eh? Many marriages last longer, and some are shorter. Since JC and I have been together longer than that, we often feel like we got married the day we got engaged, so we think of ourselves being together as an official couple for 10 years. ;-) But as we explained it to Drew tonight, our wedding anniversary is when we became a family, as that's when Mom and Dad got married. Somehow, that just sounded right. Even though Drew came 2 years later, it is when we became a legally binding, official family, even if it started out being just the two of us. So today, is the birthday of the birth of our family.

Thus, we went out and had a celebration. Since Drew has declared that he is Italian by way of him liking Italian food (we're not Italian, btw, and if it was determined by that, then I'd be Italian, Mexican, Chinese and Japanese too!), he wanted to go to an Italian restaurant. So we went to the Macaroni Grill. JC met us there, since he's still working on the apartment. (In the home stretch, people!) We had a nice family dinner together, and toasted to the birthday of our family.

I think, to some degree, we have a new tradition, and a way to ensure we celebrate our anniversary for a while. So, Happy Birthday [Windsornot] family!

I was tagged by btpsmom (of ChezClutter fame)

on a SEVEN RANDOM THINGS MEME. Lovely.

The rules:

Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

Let them know they are tagged by leaving comments on their blogs.

Hmm...let's think about this.

1. I've started my new hobby, sewing, because I'm sick of buying clothes that don't fit right and me looking stupid in what is out there.

2. I really need a haircut and my brows waxed. Starting to look like a hippie style-blond Michael Dukakis.

3. Today is my 9th wedding anniversary! Who knew we'd last this long without killing each other? :-P

4. This is one of my non-politically correct vices-- I really love leather. Especially suede. But not patent leather as much. Sorry.

5. I have no idea what I'm going to do at Cub Scouts tomorrow. Well, some idea, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to pull it off with only 24 hours to have it ready. :-P

6. I have a very bad pretzel addiction. Running to the supermarket to get some last night to munch made me realize that.

7. I hope more people start reading my other blogs soon. They are my taekwondo blog, my co-shared knitting blog, my interior design/home remodelling/home stuff blog, and last, but not least, my new sewing blog.

And on that note, I tag (if you so chose to participate), oceandirt, eraflewr,writekathy, z88,kraehe,xiane, and pickleboot. I'd pick two others, but I know both of them are taking LJ breaks. ;-)

So, there you go.