life — Page 334

A Love/Hate Relationship with Social Media

March 8, 2012 at 9:14 am by Claudia

On the road this morning to get my hair cut! Yes, I know this excitement seems a bit over the top but I’ve put it off for months. My hair is baby fine and when it gets too long – which it is – it just doesn’t look good. If I parted my hair down the middle, I’d look exactly like I looked in college. And I’m not in college, if you know what I mean. I’m going to tell Amanda to take 3 1/2 inches off.

I have a love/hate thing with social media. Everyone is tweeting, it seems, or texting, or on Facebook. I have a twitter account. I’ve had it for months. I think I’ve tweeted twice. And I had to force myself to. I can’t help but wonder who the heck cares about the minutia of my life? I don’t even care, so why should I expect someone else to? It just looks like an endless time-waster to me. Rather that tweeting about a moment, how about living in the moment?

I love Facebook for one thing: I have reconnected with former students and friends from theater, high school, college and grad school. That is simply wonderful. That’s what I use Facebook for. To connect to people I care about and who live all over the world.

The thing about Facebook that irritates me is the endless self-promoting that goes on there. Of course, we all want to share good news, it’s only natural. But when post after post is about ‘look at me…I did this or I did that’ – my eyes glaze over. It turns me off. The truth about me is that I’ve never been comfortable bragging about myself or listing my accomplishments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. But I’m not a person who feels the need to tell everyone about it. Nine times out of ten, it’s my husband who will sneak in a post about something I’m involved in. And sometimes I will tell him not to!

I don’t link my blog posts there. I don’t want a Facebook page for this blog. Why do I need another page with fans when I already have you all here? I don’t get it. The time that it would take to maintain a blog Facebook page is time I’d rather devote to…the blog.

Maybe it’s just me? After all, with reality television, social media and YouTube, we have entered a world that is often about ‘me, me, me.’ I’m clearly not of this generation. I wasn’t raised to constantly toot my own horn. Maybe it’s that Midwestern Protestant upbringing?

The irony that I have a blog hasn’t escaped me. I love to chat about things here on this blog. But that seems different to me. I hope it’s different. I’m naturally self-deprecating. Most of the time, I see life through a humorous lens. Observations about life are the basis for most of my posts.

I’m sure I will occasionally share something I’m proud of – something I made or some decorating ideas – after all, I share something or other with you every day. But I promise not to make that the focus of this blog. I think of this blog as a potpourri of observations, ideas, projects, and the occasional heartfelt rant.

What are your thoughts on social media? Mine are clearly conflicted!

I have to get going. I’m closing with another photo of Ms. Smartie Scout:

She’s brilliant, isn’t she? And a bit crazy.

Whoops! It’s Thursday and that means Thrifty Living 2012 and I totally forgot to send you over to Elaine’s blog – where she is going to share about homemade household cleaners. Stop by!

Dissension in the Ranks

March 7, 2012 at 10:53 am by Claudia

I try to keep this quiet, but things are not always rosy with the Jumping Jacks.

At first glance, they appear innocent. Let’s look a little closer.

Apparently there has been yet another argument in a series of arguments with these two. You’ve only to look at the body language. The monkey is completely turned away from the soldier. If that doesn’t scream “I want nothing to do with you” I don’t know what does. And check out the expression on the soldier’s face. He’s not happy at all. I’d go so far as to say he’s pissed off.

Now they’re involving the guy on the right.

This kind of stuff spreads quickly.

Meanwhile, the baker is clearly trying to have some sort of dialogue with the King.

The King doesn’t look very receptive.

Looks like I’m going to have to call a meeting. Once again, I will have to explain that we are all in this together, that we are all one and that we must take responsibility for our actions.

And then I might have to knock some heads together.

If a Tree Falls….

February 29, 2012 at 9:06 am by Claudia

Do you ever post a photo and wonder if you’ve already used it in a previous post? That well might be the case with this one. (I used the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone for this neat, vintage look.) Since we are supposed to have 1 to 3 inches of snow today and freezing rain, I thought some cheery flowers were in order.

The tree is down. I left the house at 9:00 and stayed away until about 3:00. Since I spent the time away from a cottage at a huge mall, I was suffering from mall burnout. I actually dislike malls intensely, but I had to go to the Apple Store and the nearest one to us is….you guessed it….in a mall. By the time I had some lunch and took care of business, my eyes were stinging and the lighting was getting to me. I kept in touch with Don all day.

Call one: The branches are all down and they are meticulous about clean-up.
Call two: They’re on a lunch break.
Call three: They’re back and are taking down the trunk.
Call four: You’d better stall a bit if you don’t want to get upset. Get some lunch.
Call five: Still taking down the tree.
Call six: It’s down, you can come home.

So I drove up the driveway and saw the massive trunk in pieces all over the yard. I cried a bit. It was shocking but, truth be told, I spent a lot of time preparing myself and had reconciled myself to it. The yard looks even more barren, as there is mud everywhere, and the willow tree helped to mask it. I didn’t take any pictures. I recorded Hurricane Irene’s destruction of our trees last fall. I don’t need to do it a second time.

But, what can you do? It had to come down. The tree was easily 90 – 100′ high and it was huge. The 3 guys who took it down worked tirelessly and cheerfully from 9 in the morning until 7 that night. It was a lot of money for us but, in reality, a very good deal considering the size of the tree and the amazing job they did.

And in the glass half-full department, I was doing some work in the guest room/office which looks out on the front yard and noticed that I could see the mountains and creek from the window. We’d never had that view before because of the tree.

Let’s see, what else is positive? I won’t have to clean up endless branches after a wind storm.

And we no longer have to worry about it falling on our house or our neighbor’s house. And we worried about that a lot.

Our neighbors must be sick of hearing the noise of machinery around this place. It’s been a noisy two weeks. And an emotional two weeks.

My plan for today? Laze around. Avoid looking out the front window. Dream about my garden. Crochet. Read.

What’s your plan for the day?

Dissension in the Ranks

If a Tree Falls….

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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