montanaliving

I just signed up with Facebook only about two weeks ago, and had I known it was such a grand way to waste time I would have done it a long time ago!  I am now a member of organized crime in Mob Wars, I own and manage a farm in My Farm, and I am building a castle in another game.  Plus, there are many other standard games in which you try to best your own high score, or the scores of your friends.

I have “friended” many of my actual friends, and I have found some people I haven’t talked to in years. 

With all the hype about “phishing” sites, or security breaches because of places like Facebook and MySpace, I was a bit leery of joining.  I don’t put anything private in my profiles and I never would have at any rate.  That is just plain dumb if someone did!  I am surprised at some of the information that others HAVE posted, though.  Don’t they realize that Facebook is just a very large bulletin board?  Anything you post can be seen by just about anyone.  If you wouldn’t put the information on the bulletin at the local grocery store or coin laundry, then DON’T POST IT ONLINE!!! Duh!!

Anyway, now that I have started to figure out the workings of Facebook, I am actually having some fun there.  I have traded virtual lapel pins (called Flair, think of the movie Office Space); I have traded goats, horses, and trees; I have been gifted many items, as well… then I have help up liquor stores and performed muggings!  All in a days work.  AND, to top it off, I get to see what all my friends are up to, and see any photos they have posted, and even chat with any that are online.

Yep, I am having some fun with this.  Now back to see if my crops are ready to harvest.  I really need to get a chicken coop…. then off to see if the Godfather has granted me any new favors….so much to do, so little time!

WhooHoo!  I am back in business with the whole wireless thing.  About time! 

It is the beginning of February, so an update on the whole dieting thing.  After loosing five pounds during the first 15 days of January, I kinda tanked on the whole eat good part of the diet– haha–  Yeah, I know, that is what dieting IS!  I attended a pizza party in Missoula put on by the Missoula Geocachers group, I went out to eat way too many times and although I try to pick healthy, sometimes I don’t.  The worst one was going to Pizza Hut Wing Street and eating wings, pasta, and then being tempted by the waitress with a huge slice of cheesecake drizzled with caramel sauce.  Oh, it was DEVINE!  I think I was on a sugar high for two days after that.  Then there was the Superbowl party I went to.  I didn’t eat too badly, but there were these awesome bbq’d Little Smokies, and this cracker/veggie dip that was very good, too.  The ingredients to the dip?  Cream Cheese (ouch!), shredded cheddar cheese (ouch!), chopped green olives w/pimentos, and chopped jalapenos.  There may have been more stuff, but that is what I could tell from eating it.  It was really good, and I am sure I ate more than I should have!  Plus, there were chips, nacho fixin’s, and fruit (good) with caramel dipping sauce (bad).  BUT– the company was good and the Cardinals put up a very good fight against the Steelers.

OK, back to the diet… over the last 15 days, I ended up gaining one pound.  So, over January I lost a total of four pounds.  At least I lost SOMETHING! February is a new month, so lets see if I can do any better.

I really have not been neglecting this blog, its just that my laptop is no longer connecting to the wireless signal.  It is not like it just happened, but I didn’t do anything to cause it to act up in this way.  I use an older laptop that does not have a wireless card installed inside, so I use a Belkin USB wireless card.  I have not have had any trouble with it, but since it gets moved and bumped quite a bit the piece was a little bent at the USB connection.  I decided to purchase a new card before the current one decided to break.  I bought another Belkin card, and since it has been a few years, it was an updated model.  I attached the card, the computer told me I needed new drivers, so with the tiny little bit of computer knowledge I posses, I removed the card… went into add/remove programs and deleted the old Belkin program, then inserted the new CD, followed the directions to install… attached the wireless card…then….Pretty Much Nothing!! ARRGH!  The card and computer were “seeing” the wireless network with full bars of signal.  Click on connect… nothing… NADA!  Won’t connect.

Since the wireless network I use is in Great Falls, and home is in Helena…and of course I left all of the old Belkin equipment at home… I have been unable to see if it will work if I re-install the old program and use the old card.  I plan on doing that tonight, or just bring all the crap here to work and re-install tomorrow.  If I am back to regular postings, you will know it worked.  If you don’t see me for awhile, then it is obvious it didn’t!– Wish me luck!

Sometimes I wonder if all the technology we have these days is really worth the headaches it all gives us! 

I added my other blog to a blog-roll site, so I thought I would add this one, too.  I had quite a number of new visitors to my blogspot page, so may as well try to up my visitor stats here, too.

The site is http://condron.us/
It is pretty cool to check out.  Condron.net shows a random blog from their collection for a few minutes.  You can change the speed, or stop the random generator when you see something you like.  it is a good way to kill some free time.  There are writers out there covering all subjects!  I was flashed blogs about “the perfect ladies dress shoe”,  a diamond ring up for auction, someone going through a divorce, someone else found a new love, a trip to Disneyland, a homemaker, and various others.  You should go and check it out. 

Did you ever have one of those nights when you just can’t sleep?  I had one of those last night.  I tossed and turned, then read a it, tossed and turned some more, read a bit more, tossed and turned… I saw 5am arrive and I should have just got out of bed, showered, and started my day.  Instead, I managed to fall asleep only to have my alarm wake me up at 7am.  Needless to say, I didn’t want to wake up!  I finally got myself out of bed about 8.  Good thing I didn’t have to be to work until 10 (but I did show up 10 minutes late).  Remember, I did have to drive 83 miles from home to work though.

The drive this morning was beautiful.  We have had two days of very nice (40’s) weather and it is melting away all the snow we received last week.  The roads were clear, the sun was shining, and I was even buzzed by a bald eagle.  It is now almost 5:30 pm, dark, and the evening has chilled quite a bit.  The weather service is saying we should expect lower temperatures tonight and tomorrow, with a pretty good chance of snow.  Hey!  It’s winter!  What else should we expect?

I have a half hour left of work, then I am heading to my hidey-hole here in Great Falls and fall into a warm, comfy bed.  Oh yeah, I guess I should eat something… maybe a bowl of chili or cereal?  Maybe just a cereal bar, quick and easy… then off to catch those 40 winks I missed out on last night.

There isn’t much to talk about today.  Work has been pretty busy, but we have had mostly decent folks in so I can’t complain there.  The weather leaves no complaints…. highs in the upper 40’s, lows will be in the high 30’s, so no freezing roads.  No phone calls from… hmm… from anyone, so there is no anger to vent, nor love to share.  Today has been one of those mediocar days that blend into oblivion.

I guess the only reason I am posting here is to prove today even existed!  We all have days like this, where nothing at all of any consequence happened.  I do still have to drive to Helena tonight, but I hope my evening continues to be uneventful in that regard!  The deer can stay in the fields and forests, the bad drivers can be either ahead of me or pulled over by a cop behind me, and the highways are hopefully dry (ok, wet is alright, too.  Just no ice or slush!).

The diet is going good, too.  Had a Clementine and vitamin water for breakfast, tuna salad on crackers for lunch, and a 100 calorie pack of Twinkies for a snack.  I’m dying for a Blizzard from Dairy Queen… good thing they are closed in Helena until mid Feb. 

It’s a strange, strange world out there! I was surfing the news and realized that there are some very odd people. Case in point– In one story, an Australian woman doused her sleeping husbands genitals in a flammable alcohol substance because he had been caught looking at another woman. She then set him on fire, claiming his penis belonged “Only to her”. Unfortunately, the man has died from his injuries. BUT STILL!! What was this woman thinking?? If she burned his family pride, what use would it be to her later (had he lived)? With third degree burns in that area, would he even be able to have functioned in a normal husband-ry way? Would he ever had wanted it to work in that way with her?? I know I wouldn’t want to have relations with someone who burned my private area….
And another one, in Ohio… a six year old shot his teenaged babysitter because the babysitter stepped on the child’s foot. What parent in their right mind would leave a loaded shotgun within reach of a six year old?? And the fact that the child knew enough of the workings of that gun to be able to shoot someone with it! I think the parents should be brought up on child endangerment charges. What if the kid had had a disagreement with his best friend? Another child who may not have known the danger of the loaded gun. At least the teen was aware of the danger and escaped with minor injuries. That is one story that could have ended up much, much worse.
Ok, my rant will be complete with this one… Another six year old missed his school bus, took the family car keys and tried to drive himself to school. The account said his mother was asleep at the time and didn’t know he had taken the car. How does a six year old get up for school, eat breakfast, get dressed, and make it to the bus when mama is sleeping through it all? What the Hell?? There are some people who really shouldn’t be allowed to have children. That is all I have to say about that.

The new year…. 2009……. whoopie!  Yep, there, I said it.  What is the big deal?  The weather is still the same as it was last week.  My arthritic bones still hurt as much as they did last year.  My job is still here (thankfully), but it is still the same.

I am not expecting anything great to happen in the coming year, just like nothing extra-ordinary happened last year.  Just the normal ups and downs of everyday life.  I read on another’s blog where he boiled the expectation of the new year down to people wanting a time to “turn a new leaf”, or a day set aside to “make a change”.   Do we really need a January First to do something to change our lives?  Why can’t it be March Eighth or August Tenth? Can’t we just decide we want to do something different, or better, or whatever no matter what the day?  Of course we can.  Do we?  Not usually.  The magic of the changing year, the flipping of the calendar page, that is a catalyst for many a human.  I am not going to try to explain something I do not understand.  ALSO, I do not expect anyone to try to explain the phenomenon to me. 

With all that said… I did choose to try and live a healthier lifestyle during the coming year.  Why did I choose January to change?  Because of human nature, peer pressure from all the millions of others who chose as I did, and all the great sales on all the healthy stuff!

Christmas is over! I hope everyone had a very happy and warm holiday.

Mine was spent with friends and relatives, some I have not seen for over five years.  My brother and his family live in the Denver area, and although that is only a 12 hour drive south, we have not seen each other since Heathers 16th birthday.  I talked him into coming up for the holidays since this would possibly be the last one in which everyone would be able to make it to mom’s home.   Who knows what Krystle may be doing next year, Heather may want to have the holidays alone with her young family, John is in and out of the country with his work while Mariah tends to their kids, and although we don’t like to dwell on it, mom’s health is not what it once was.

I did get everyone together for a family portrait on Christmas night.  I think the last one was 15 or 16 years ago when John and Mariah got married!  The family dynamics have changed a bit since then…. I am now divorced, all my grandparents are living it up in the Great Beyond, and Heather has married and now has kids of her own.  I guess that is my family’s way of showing that life goes on……

Along with the joy of the holiday, good food, good friends, and good conversation mixed with the music of children’s laughter…. we had another special visitor to mom’s house.  About 3pm a Bald Eagle perched itself onto the power pole right outside of mom’s back door.  Joe took some awesome photos before he flew away.  He hung around the area for most of the afternoon.  We would see him fly by the windows and across the fields of our (and the neighbors) properties.  It was quite the sight.

Tomorrow is New Years Eve.  If you are heading out to a party to ring in 2009, do not drink and drive!  Call a cab, designate a driver, sleep at a friends home…. but stay off the roads if you drink alcoholic beverages.  Here is one idea we have used… If you are having a party at home, or a friends home, employ a teen (legal to drive, of course) to drive people to and from the party.  The teen will be happy to earn some cash while all your friends and family members get home safe!

Happy New Year!

Hello Again!  I may not be online again until after the Christmas Weekend, but then again I may.  My computer guru brother is going to be up to Montana from Denver and he did say it is possible to “shoot the satellite wireless signal across the property from Mom & Dad’s to your house”.  OK.  Then my ex-husband gave me a bunch of thingys (MY techno-speak for anything computer related that I don’t know a thing about) that my brother can use.  I don’t get into the technical aspects of all that!  All I know is if it works, and if it doesn’t!  I know, I know, I should take the time to learn about these things, but it really doesn’t intrigue me so I tend to zone out.

All this is leading to the fact that I may once again have Internet access to my house!  It has been awhile.  I just try to get anything net-related done at work… and to a much lesser extent, on my cell phone.  With the holiday shopping going on, I have been having trouble finding time to do any writing while at work.  I will really enjoy being able to connect at home.

I was able to take tomorrow (Tuesday 12/23) through Sunday off in order to spend the time with my family.  Like I said, my brother and his family are up from Denver, and Heather and her family will be down from Kalispell.  This will be the first time in 13 years we have all been together for Christmas.  I am really looking forward to catching up with everyone. 

SOoooo, If I can’t get online before Thursday….. MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!