the annie blog

Had a good day today – it’s been overcast all day long. Raining off and on, not hard, just real lightly – that good sleeping weather kind of rain.

I sat out in the porch and wrote for about two hours today. Then I took a nap with the windows wide open and had to cover up. I made dinner, and watched a cooking show on TV – couldn’t help it, I got sucked in. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do. I really should do a little bit of cleaning. But….I guess if I do it perhaps I can reward myself somehow – maybe a movie? I have the first Spiderman, I haven’t watched it, and since Mark has and he wants to see the second one, I suppose I need to catch up. Maybe I’ll do that. Clean a little, then park it in front of the TV and watch spidey while I knit. I’m movin’ right along on my knitting BTW.

Yeah, I think that’s what I’ll do. I better get off my duff before I change my mind.

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It’s raining and I’m sitting outside anyway. In my screened in porch. It’s a little chilly actually, the rain sounds wonderful though.

Well, I think some of our stress issues may be over. They contacted Mark about the salary for the job and it is just way too low. It’s about a third of what we make now. I just don’t think it’s possible. I mean, there was a time in our lives, when that would’ve looked like a million dollars, but not now. Plus, houses are selling very slowly in our area. There are like 4 houses in our little sub-division that have been for sale for quite a while now. They just aren’t moving for some reason. So, I think we may just stay put for now. Not that there’s anything with that.

I got a new flippy ‘do today. I took pictures, but they didn’t turn out well, I may try and have Mark take some so I can post how cute it looks.

I plan on sitting out here and writing today. I am behind on that, and I need to keep it up.
Adios

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Man oh man has my mind been racing lately. We have so much to figure out. Mark is up for a job he applied for on a whim. I don’t know – it would mean a move, a pay decrease (majorly). But – the plusses are he wouldn’t have the amount of work that he has now. I mean, my God, he broke his neck last summer, and he’s still expected to build sets and do ALL the tech work for the shows because they won’t give him an assistant. Mark’s hours right now are pretty much 7 in the morning till 10 at night during the school year – does that suck?!?!? He needs help, and they cry budget problems and say they can’t help him. But, we have a great home – the best ever, we make great money, I have a job I adore! I would move and not have anything – for awhile anyway. There’s always the possibility of getting adjunct work at the new university, but nothing’s confirmed yet. We would have to sell stuff and move into an apartment and basically start over. Mark is planning on talking to administration and laying it on the line for them – either give him a full time assistant (there isn’t a single other program we’re aware of in the state of KS that doesn’t have at least two on staff for theatre) – or we’re BOTH outta here. It would suck for them because school starts the second week of August, and that would leave very little time to do a proper search. Mark is currently head of the theatre program – and my title is communications instructor and honors program director. I don’t know – we need to make some decisions – soon. This just kind of fell in our laps suddenly. What do you guys have to say????

Hey, is anyone having problems leaving comments? Email me if you are – I checked it out and it seems to be working ok, but let me know if you can’t. Thanks

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Try this!

Here I am:

and here is Mark:

Actually, it’s not that far off base. I’m holding my baby kitty – JD, and Mark is holding his ever-present Diet Coke.

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There was a very good article in the KC Star this morning about blogging – I think it came from the AP. One thing they talked about was that bloggers tend to be younger, urban or suburban, and highly educated. 92.4% of blogs are created by people younger than 30. Half of all bloggers are between 13 and 19! That surprised me. 56% of bloggers are female. 11% of all Internet users read blogs. Between 2 and 7% of Internet users have created a blog. They expect about 10 million total blogs by the end of this calendar year. The two most common blog-hosting sites are blogspot.com and livejournal.com A survey last fall by Perseus Development Company found that the typical blog, “is written by a teenage girl who uses it twice a month to update her friends and classmates on happenings in her life.” Yet, most people still don’t even know what a blog is. Most people start a blog after reading blogs regularly. That’s true for me. I have really grown a lot, learned a lot, and truly feel better as a person because I blog. I feel a sense of camaraderie with other bloggers and refer to these people as friends in during conversations. I look forward to finding out about someone’s day and see how they and their family are doing. Even if it’s silly stuff, like going to the store – I don’t care, it humanizes all of us. Sometimes we tend to feel (or at least I do) like we’re kinda different than people, or that we don’t fit in. Blogging as affirmed my sense of self. I feel a little more normal – there are people just like me out there. One thing I can say about the blog community I’ve encountered, is they’re not judgmental. So often in today’s world, people rush to conclusions about you before you even get a chance to speak. Not here. Everyone is supportive and welcoming. I’ve mentioned to a few people that I have a blog, and a lot of people have no idea what I’m talking about. So I just tell them it’s a website where I “kind of” journal. That seems to satisfy them. I’m proud to be a blogger and feel better about myself. I’m so glad I stumbled across this outlet. Blogging Rules!

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Yesterday was so beautiful outside, but I can tell today will be totally different. It’s already getting hot and sticky. I was able to sit out on the porch yesterday and work on some of my writing. I guess I’ll have to stay inside and work today. Last night we watched this documentary we rented about the making of the soundtrack for the musical “The Producers”. It was good. We adore Mel Brooks, and of course, the movie “The Producers” is a classic on our books. The musiclal is wonderful too! I’m not sure what I’m going to do the rest of the day. I have things that probably should get done, but I don’t know if they will. Slacker. I really would like to cuddle with the kitty for awhile. But, if I do that, I would probably fall asleep. I think I’ll work on Mark’s bathroom first. I need to hang his new shower curtain, wash the floor mat, scrub out his wastebasket, and clean the grout – ick! Oh well, if I have my CD playing while I’m doing it all, it’ll be ok. Tonight we watch the Tony’s! We are huge fans! Anything theatre gets us going! So, we will park it in front of the TV and not answer the phone. I think “Wicked” is going to do very well tonight. I almost bought the book a few weeks ago, I probably should’ve. Ok, I better get going before I procrastinate any longer.

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We saw Harry Potter last night. I like it, and Mark didn’t. I think it followed the book fairly well. I guess I knew I would enjoy the movie no matter what. But I do think Harry Potter fans should definitely go see it. Well worth it! Now I can’t wait till the next movie or the next book to come out! Today is cloudy and cool. The windows are open and I’m out in the screened-in porch relaxing. Actually, I need to do some writing. I’m kind of working on a poetry project right now. It’s getting bigger every time I tackle it. But my tummy is starting to want something for lunch… I’ve got the laundry almost done and the dishes are clean, so it’s MY time now. I really could snooze out here though. Uh-oh. But first – food!

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We had a really enjoyable night last night. We finished watching season one of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” – and we just have more and more respect for it all the time. I love the fact that it’s all improv. That’s what keeps us laughing. Then I watched Woody Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water” – ok, I know that people either love Wood Allen stuff or hate his stuff. I used to be in the latter category. Until I read a biography of him and started to do some Internet research on him. I read the bio because I was mostly interested in how someone can marry their step-daughter??? But, putting that aside, I learned a lot about the movie and his career. I started to see the movies in a different light and relate to some of the humor more than before. So, I’ve been watching as many as I can, when I can. I had never seen this movie before, but I HAVE seen the stage play. This was originally a play before they made it into a movie. I do not care for the play. Either did the critics when it premiered on Broadway. This is definitely more of a movie script – it’s not the best one though. But I can see why it works better as a movie than a play. After that we had major problems going to sleep – we fell asleep at 3 and woke up at 11:30. We had lunch and stopped off at a farmer’s market and got lots of yummies – nectarines, cherries, blackberries, tomatoes, and red onions. So, I promptly came home and made myself a huge strawberry/blackberry shortcake thingy. MMMMMMM. Delicious. I’m probably gonna want that for dinner now! We are going to the late show tonight to see “Harry Potter” – I can’t wait – I’m sure it’ll be crowded. There really are a lot of good summer movies out there this year, so I’m looking forward to seeing them all. Ok, here is my Friday Forum: 1] Name three people, living or dead, who you’d love to invite over for a dinner party. What would you serve? I’ve actually thought of this before – I’d invite Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway and Emily Dickinson. I have so many questions for them all. Food, well, probably something kind of plain – I wouldn’t want to serve anything that Willy wasn’t used to. So, probably some kind rosemary chicken with roasted potatoes and some kind of steamed veggie and for dessert some kind of fruit thingy. 2] What does your all-time favorite meal consist of? Which foods do you like the least? You know, this answer changes from time to time. Right now I’m in an Italian thing – probably chicken Parmesan with a huge salad with blue cheese dressing, some garlic cheesy bread, and tiramisu for dessert. The only food that I’ve tried that I don’t like is calamari. 3] Do you enjoy a food combination that some might consider unusual [for example, barbecue sauce with French fries]? I put potato chips on my lunch meat sandwiches. I like cold anchovies on my hot pizza. I love grape nut cereal and cheerio*s mixed together. I like my fries dipped in mayo with lots of black pepper. I like peanut butter on my pizza crust. And anytime we have frozen pizza for dinner we always have fries with it. 4] Do you have any food weaknesses [i.e., chips, candy, cookies]? Do you usually manage to avoid the temptation or give in? Chocolate stuff – I usually give in. But it really only seems to attack me after dinner. Right now I’m into Oreo*s 5] Which foods/recipes have you never tried but would like to? Lots of seafood stuff – I love seafood, and Mark won’t even try it – and it’s just not economical to buy expensive seafood and prepare something for just me, besides, lots of seafood leftovers aren’t so good. So, that makes me kinda sad. We have my mom’s old fondue pot, and I would really like to make something in there some time. The thing is, Mark is such a picky eater, that I’m kind of limited in what I can and cannot cook 😦

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have this love of getting up having breakfast, reading the papers, and checking email – then going back to bed. Why is that? I think because it’s something that I can’t do during the school year, but on weekends and holidays I can head right back to bed. Without feeling guilty. So, can you guess what I’m going to do now? I’m only gonna nap for an hour or so, because I have to go in the work this afternoon for a meeting, then I have my web design class. Tonight, after class we want to come home and finish watching the DVD of season one of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. So, like a baby, I’m heading for my crib and gonna take a morning nap.

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