Generation gap

Remember me?

 

(This would technically be a “my kid says funny stuff” post but she doesn’t do it often enough for me to make it a regular thing. Enjoy!)

I’ve known my whole life my daughter would never know how awesome it was to grow up in the ’80s (please insert all appropriate sarcasm here). She doesn’t know what Atari is. She doesn’t know that we used to have to get up to change the channel. She doesn’t know what vinyl is (or how AWESOME it sounds…and yes, I know you can still buy vinyl and record players, but have you seen how expensive it is?) She knows how to work my computer and phone better than I do and I’ve been on computers since DOS was a thing and we had to use floppy disks and nothing printed out on normal paper!

But one thing I thought she would know is what a dial tone sounds like because my mom still has a land line phone for her alarm system.

I was teaching Morgan how to set the house alarm because she is getting old enough to be alone in the house for a little bit by herself. We are starting to practice this so she gets comfortable being alone. Then I told her she could call me anytime she was home alone and she told me she couldn’t because “Granny’s phone is broken. It makes this weird noise.”

WHAT?!?!

So that was a bizarre moment when I had to explain to my daughter why the dial tone is there and that it’s a good thing. Wish I still had a rotary phone to show her how painful it used to be to dial!

A runner’s Christmas

I saw this photo on the Runner’s World Facebook page and think this tree is awesome. Merry Christmas to all the other runners here on WordPress!

Words are my enemy tonight

There are things I want to say that only make sense in the jumbled, incoherent thoughts of my brain. Blah, I don’t like when i can’t take the thoughts out of my head and put them down in words.

How about some videos instead?

Here’s some Train because it’s my blog and I love Train. Hey, Soul Sister 50 Ways to Say Goodbye 

And Kelly Clarkson Stronger

And Seether ft. Amy Lee (Evanescence) Broken (My absolute favorite song from when the two of them were dating)

And now you know a little bit how crazy my music tastes are.

Pumpkin Cats

This is my first post EVER with photos!

My mom gets one of those women’s magazines. I couldn’t tell you which one and something like this was in the mag as something fun to do for Halloween. The cats in the mag actually had ears but ours don’t, at least not right now. I used tempera paint which didn’t do quite as well as I hoped it would but Morgan had fun getting dirty! We just painted and painted and painted. The “whiskers” are paper clips that I unfolded and stuck in the “cheeks.” Feel free to steal this idea and make yours even cuter! so without further ado…..Pumpkin Cats!

I’m still alive…I think…

College is rough this semester. Each class individually isn’t really that hard, except Econ. Someone save me from crappy Econ professors.  Is that part of the job description for Econ professors? You must have zero personality and be completely unable to connect with your students at their level? If it is, someone from HR needs to re-do the job description. And this really isn’t at all what I wanted to talk about but I guess I needed to vent.

Anywho…I’m alive, just buried under homework and textbooks and projects that don’t make any sense and trying to pass Econ with a B and not a C so I can keep my GPA up. I have put time in my schedule to write on Wednesdays because that is usually the night when I actually have some free time to myself. I seem to get caught up in the middle of the week. Yay me!

I’ve got a 5k run on Saturday that I’m really looking forward to.

Oh and I got this spiffy new laptop. A Lenovo G570, in case you were wondering. LOVE IT!!! It has ooVoo pre-loaded. Has anyone used it? Is it cool? Does it work well? I haven’t used the webcam yet but  it’s built into the laptop. This is the best purchase I’ve made in a long time.

And you are now up to date on why I haven’t been writing and what is going on in my life. Really exciting, huh? And here you thought I was out discovering new planets or curing cancer or something. Sorry to let you down.

Be the change you want to see!

Some new goals

Now that I’m thisclose to being done with school (for a while anyway), I’ve been thinking about what my next goals should be. I’ve accomplished so much in my education and I want to take that feeling of accomplishment further in my life.

So, here are some of my new short-term goals, in no particular order…

I will finish my Bachelor’s by December 2013.

I will work out every other day to get my muscles back and tone down those 15 pounds that came back from being lazy. I will lose those 15 pounds by October 15, 2012. (I’m pretty sure this one will happen sooner. Power 90 kicks my butt and makes the weight fall off so fast!)

I will write most or all of a book during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month. I found out about this wonder last year after NaNo, which happens in November and decided to give it a shot this year.)

Some long-term goals…

I will own a 4 bedroom house with at least 5 acres of land to make my own mountain bike/running/hiking trail. I’m giving myself 5 years on this one, so by June 2017.

I will own dogs, huskies or labs, and will be a rescue shelter for dogs and cats. Since I need the house and land to do this one, this is also a 5 year goal, June 2017.

The Mother of All Cat Fights

Reblogged from Snide Reply:

There’s a really ugly battle going on, one that I witness every single day. It’s a battle that’s been going on for years, but seems to have gotten particularly evil recently. It’s not in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Syria. It’s right here in the United States. It’s the one between the least likely set of combatants: American moms.

Every single day lately, I hear something hateful come from the mouths (or computers) of moms.

Read more… 1,125 more words

If you're not following Snide Reply, start following her now! Ha ha! She writes like I will one day. Honest, in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is writing that always makes me think. This blog is one of the best I've read yet. Enjoy!

bandia17 is now TwentyFiveEight

Never fear, loyal readers! You are still in the right place! I’m very pleased to welcome you to my newly named and updated blog. Take a look around and have fun. It’s still a work in progress, too, so expect a few new pages to pop up over the next few days or weeks.

I will get back to real blogging in a few days. Right now I’m having way too much fun getting this site just the way I want it.

Change is coming!!!

As promised in my last post, here are some of my ideas on what to re-name this blog. In no particular order….drum roll, please….

• Butterfly Effect–One small voice changing the world
• 25/8–The blog where there are 25 hours in a day and 8 days in a week
• Revolution–(no tag line yet)
• Figment of Your Imagination–Ideas so revolutionary, they may not be real

I like Butterfly Effect and Figment of Your Imagination the best right now. What about you guys?

The Balance Journey (Day 21)

In my Management class right now, we are discussing leadership and what makes a good leader and what organizations need from their leaders. One of the most important elements of being a good leader is the ability to create change; to challenge the broken systems and find better solutions to problems.

Our teacher made the comment that most people fear change and don’t ever want things to change, even if change is inevitable. My response to that is since change is inevitable, why not be the one making the change and then you are in more control of the situation. Of course, not everyone can do that.

Some people are too scared of being the first to do something. They want someone else to take that control and clear-cut a path through the forest. They want all the wild animals put in cages and a paved road. They want air-conditioned buildings. They want other people to kill their food.

Now, these are metaphors, not a critique of modern society. Although I do think we are very spoiled here in America and take it for granted. I think it speaks volumes that with all our technological advances, we still are dumbfounded about how the Egyptians built the pyramids.

So, long story short of that is, my next challenge will be to search for areas to change on top of continuing to find balance. Finding balance requires change anyway. Obviously, something was wrong if I felt out of balance in the first place. I will consciously search for areas to change and find new, creative ways to change. Whether those ideas work or not, I’ll try them. Every wrong way leads me closer to the right way.

Change number one is finding a better name for this blog. Just naming it after my favorite Irish word was okay when I was a new blogger and didn’t really know where this would end up but it’s time to grow and change. I’ll post some ideas in the next few days after I spend some time thinking about it but if you have any suggestions, I’m open to them.

Until next time, be the change you wish to see in your world.