RSS Junkie

I have started using google reader to keep up with my blogs and really like it. Instead of checking to see if there is a new post on my favorite blogs, the posts come to me. I wasn’t convinced at first. It makes blogs look like email, which is a bit of of a downer (although there is supposedly a firefox plug in that will take care of that) but I don’t have to see the advertisements anymore which is a major plus. I guess I am less sure of where my information is coming from specifically, but if you read a lot of blogs like I do, you will start to notice the same things popping up so who knows who first posted. I am sure I only know the tip of the iceberg of what there is to know about RSS but to be honest, I have enough going on that I don’t want to have to get a dummies book just to figure it all out.

Lovely Weekend in Jersey

M&I were in NJ this weekend visiting my family. Saturday was a birthday party at my Uncle’s new house. It as really great to see my uncles, aunt’s and cousins. I don’t get to see them often enough. Sunday was spend with Dad, Diane & KB. That was great. We slept late, played in the pool, played some videos games, and had a lovely dinner. So relaxing and unplanned. I need more days like that.

Not a Fantastic Start

Ok. So I was good for one day with my photo a day project. I am not going to let that stop me! I was hoping to use my new little $10 digital camera, but I lost the cable to download the photos! I will get back on track though, I promise.

I Will Have to Call Later

I remember a time when people not only didn’t have a phone/email device strapped permanently to their ear, but a time where you couldn’t even leave a message from someone. Or if they were home and already on the phone, there was something called a busy signal. No caller ID, no answering machines, no call waiting. If you happened to catch someone at home, then you got to talk to them. Otherwise, you had to wait. No texting someone to call you, no leaving a message, no email. You had to wait and try back again. In NY I see a lot of people constantly plugged in. Staring into their phone, frantically emailing and texting. Always plugged in. Not looking up to see the world around them. I find myself getting sucked into this plugged in world and I am not sure I like it. I know I sound like a little old lady right now (back in MY day…) and I think it is because I need a little less technology in my life.

Cufflinks, Robots and Carnage

M’s birthday was last week. We had a very busy week and didn’t really get to celebrate. Also, I got my idea for his gift way too late, as usual. Today all the pieces came together and I was able to give M his gift. Lego cufflinks. I went to the lego site and handpicked all the bricks I thought he would like to create a few fun combinations. Today’s picture is of the day is of one of the variations of cufflinks and as a bonus, a robot with a nuclear missile heading towards him and carnage at his feet. I think he likes the gift.

Fused Plastic

Although I own a decent number of reusable bags, I somehow manage to forget them enough that I am still overrun with evil plastic bags. I reuse them a few times but I still feel guilt throwing them out. There are lots of projects out there that used fused plastic bags for purses or pillows, but nothing has appealed to me enough to actually make it. Until now. Kelly at make:grow:gather made a lunch bag out of her plastic bags. This is something I can get behind. It seems that she used some combination of this post and this post to get the job done. I am going to add it to my ever growing project list. via

New Project

I am considering starting a new project. You are probably wondering if maybe I don’t already have my hands full with all of the other projects I have started lately, and the answer is yes, I currently have plenty of projects keeping me busy. But hey, what is one more. This one fits into my reason for starting a blog in the first place. Over the past two years I have seen a few people slip out of my life rather quickly. Once they were gone I realized that I didn’t know them as well as I would have liked. So, my new project is one I found on Photojojo called Project 365. A picture a day for a year. I am going to be using a little $10 digital camera I bought from a local drugstore, it is really tiny and I will be more likely to carry it. I get 20 chances to get my photo each day since the camera only holds 20 images. It is the digital equivalent of using a holga. I will have to start tomorrow because I just decided this today and don’t have the camera with me. I will post the images to the blog.

What Sound Does a Dog Make?

This is a neat chart of animal noises in different languages.

Newspaper Yarn

I can’t remember if I talked about this beautiful handspun newspaper yarn by Greetje van Tiem in a past post but I was reminded recently and figured it couldn’t hurt to do a google search. I was pleasantly surprised to find that someone posted a tutorial!! Fantastic. I just happen to have a drop spindle at home so thankfully this does not violate my craft diet pledge.

Seeing Double

I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, “don’t I know you from somewhere” or you remind me of someone. In college there was a girl who I would be confused with regularly. We didn’t run in the same circles but I knew of her because people would be walking and call out her name to get my attention all the time. Apparently I am not alone. Francois Brunelle has made it a project to find unrelated people who look alike and photograph them. Amazing. Now I wonder where Marcy is these days…