Thursday afternoon run-down of the past couple weeks

It occurred to me that I don't blog as often as I think about blogging, which sort of implies I'm not doing anything interesting. I mean if I didn't find something interesting, why on earth would I be doing it? And since I feel like I am always doing something, I probably have plenty of stuff to be blogging about. Case in point, I made homemade blackberry cobbler two nights ago and it was amazingly good. My "secret" ingredient is to add coarsely chopped sugar cookies to the oats/sugar/butter crumbly topping. Of course I took a photo, because, honestly, I only cook if I think there might be a photo op in there somewhere. Or an eating op.

I crocheted the cutest poncho for the cutest girl. No photo yet, but I'm sure her mama will take one soon. I used these flowers from the ever-ingenious master of color, Sarah London (insert cockney British accent here, as I can't say "Sarah London" without pronouncing it "Seer-ahh Lawn-den".)

I've made velcro-attachable seatbelt strap covers for my office moms with smallish kids who say the seatbelt cuts into their wee little necks. I am making one for me too to punish hubby who threw away my sheepskin one months ago, deigning it not manly enough for when he drives my car. The punishment will come in the form of the luscious Heather Bailey or Anna Maria Horner fabrics I intend to use. He'll be wishing for plain old sheepskin by then!

I have made a boatload (OK, a small boat) of camera strap covers as well. Pics to come of the new ones. They are $20 each + shipping. Oh and the seatbelt straps are $10 each + shipping.

I've made 3 (three!) crocheted, felted bags. One has sold, the other two are just sitting in the living room at the moment.

If you're interested in visuals, check back in a couple days when I can edit this to add photos. I'm blogging from email right now and I'm sure I haven't a clue how to include photos in an email meant for a blog.

Touching base

Things I love: Knowing I got "the photo" and not even feeling a need to double check the viewfinder. Orange soda and french vanilla ice cream floats. Rainier cherries. Long days. Good sleep. Depth of field and bokeh that lasts for days and days. Easy schedules. Knowing I can think of a thousand other GREAT things that make the not-so-great seem insiginificant.

Not-so-great things: People that ask "what are you doing" from about 2 inches behind you. Hello, I don't owe you an explanation. Cavity fillings that turn into root canals with no warning ("you're here now, might as well take care of it.") People so misguided they believe the lies they've even told themselves.

Photos above are: 1. 256 / threesixtyfive, 2. And one meant for me, 3. 245 / threesixtyfive, 4. 248 / threesixtyfive, 5. 244 / like an orange dream in a tall glass, 6. Untitled, 7. 247 / threesixtyfive, 8. 255 / threesixtyfive, 9. Patience

FriendFeed

I think this is pretty cool. We all post so many things in different places now. Flickr, Twitter, Tumbler, blogs, FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube, blahdeeblahdeeblah...that I think we might actually be making it harder to keep in the loop rather than easier. Today I stumbled upon FriendFeed which lets you link all those other things together in one place so that whenever you update them, they show up in one big list. I signed up http://friendfeed.com/tonyadoughty and thought I'd give it a try. It was free and easy. I can think of about 2 dozen people (all the blogs I read) that I would love to be this way. Think of all the time I could save. To read more blogs. LOL

Public Service Announcement

Here's my public service announcement for the day. Many of us have Paypal accounts, right? With Paypal, you often have it tied to bank account, or credit card, as "back up funding" to the account. Well, my tip is never tie your paypal account to your debit card (or a credit card) that has access to (pulls from) your main checking account. I did, and for 8 years, have never had any problem.

Until this weekend. Someone(s) accessed my paypal account and using my information made four purchases. Since I didn't have a paypal balance at the time (I never do), Paypal transfered the funds from my bank account to cover the purchases. So almost $4,000 was taken out of my bank account over the weekend. Since it was the weekend, I couldn't see it "hitting" my account. But this morning, whoa! I am overdrawn, bigtime, in our normal, day-to-day household account, and am having to deal with these unauthorized purchases. Perfect.

And in the background, I am getting angry emails from the people who sold stuff (to the thieves) using my email and bank account wondering why I am trying to reverse the transaction, etc, when they have already handed over the stuff. From what the emails say, it looks like the purchases are for something called "WOW" or "World of Warcraft". I have no idea what it is, but gather it's some kind of computer game? Anyway, I feel bad for all involved, myself included, but most certainly not the scumbags who did it.

Anyway, word to the wise, learn from my mistake and never set up your main bank account as the backup funding of your paypal account. It's a big, hairy mess that I think will be cleared up eventually, but in the mean time (8-10 business days as Paypal says) I am sort of in a bind.

sum-sum-summertime!

Today is the first official day of summer in our house (school got out yesterday.) Today at 9:38 a.m. I got the first phone call: "I'm bored." LOL. The littlest one doesn't start summer day camp until July 7, so the next couple weeks will be tough. With two working parents, and being "baby sat" by an older sister or two, I know it can be rough. Any ideas I can give her would be greatly appreciated!