Archive for October 2005

I’ve been wanting a Straw Bale house for a while. I think the earliest we could do this is spring 2007. Maybe next year we could buy the land for it, which is the major cost. Some interesting info: http://www.solarhaven.org/StrawBaleHouseBudget.htm
Even cheaper ‘starter’ straw bale home:http://www.solarhaven.org/StarterStrawBale.htm
For our house I am thinking of a one floor structure [...]

I love the song ‘White Flag’ by Dido, it reminds me of how I feel about Brian and this marriage of ours. I won’t ever give up on our love. I will always love him so.
That said, the man gets on my nerves sometimes.

He opened up to me about some issues he’s having [...]

Things I need to do this month to improve my business:
-get caught up on all orders-prepare for holiday orders (make sure I have everything in stock, enough packaging, etc)-update website-finish new press kit and send out press releases-mail out promo/marketing stuff-finish CD-wrap up filming exercise video-update Quickbooks-open new checking account
See more progress on: Improve my [...]

This is so awesome. Preach!http://www.arnoldsneighborhood.com/

I had early morning coffee with one of my Amy friends (I have like 5 friends named Amy) this morning. It was great! She is so cool. She had her little boy with her, and he is such a treasure. I adore her so much, she is so down to earth and so easy to [...]

I have a list of 31 bookstores/places to contact about me coming to do a nook signing. I’ve been ambivalent about traveling much during the winter, but since I plan to not let this winter defeat me/give in to winter depression I’m going to get myself out there. At any rate they are all relatively [...]

November is packed with lots of family activities, this month we have 2 birthdays and 2 parties, going to 2 movies, the art museum, a few events for my biz, a trip to Cincinnati, and an art show for a friend of mine, and all the holiday thanksgiving dinners with both sides of the family. [...]

I figure if I can save 15% for myself, I can give away 15%. I am really trying not to be a selfish person. This is really hard to do living in the states, where the whole culture is focused on making as much money as you can so you can buy a lot of [...]

I have been doing so great about keeping my house clean but I still have a few 5 areas of clutter. They are:
1) The front porch. WAY TOO MANY TOYS. Many of them are broken or the missing pieces or whatever, or just plain outgrown. See the baby stroller? Um, my youngest is almost 8 [...]

My daughter is giving me my first guitar lesson next week! She’s been playing for just 8 months but has picked it up really fast. Her note books are all tattered so I guess I’ll get some new ones this weekend. I am psyched!
See more progress on: learn to play guitar

Since I am primarily self-employed (I will occassionaly work a part-time job if funds get low but the bulk of my income comes from my business) I needed to find info on retirement plans for the self-employed. Here’s what I found so far:
What To Do If You Are Self-Employed
Many people today work for themselves, either [...]

The hardest part to me was setting my songs to music. Most of my songs I had already made as they are songs I made up for my children throughout the years, so I didn’t have to spend much time fleshing them out. But I am not very music/instrument-oriented so that was hard. My daughter, [...]

I have heard and read that the best way to improve your marriage is to try each day to make life easier and better for your spouse. I am going to try implementing this.
See more progress on: Improve my marriage

I have no words for the grief I feel. This woman means so much to me. My mother had to ride in the backs of buses. I am one generation from this level of racism and hatred by white people towards black americans. RIP sister. The struggle continues.
I have no words for the grief I [...]

I. Am. A. Dork. I am going over my records and just realized I did not pay my reneweal fee for my post office box!! It was due September 30th. I last picked up mail on October 15th and they didn’t say anything to me. I can’t get to the Cleveland post office until this [...]

So I’m slowly moving entries from my old blog over to here. I kept this blog from 2002 to 2004. I kept it in sections themed Children, Marriage, Causes, Spirituality, Friends & Family, Books, Work, Miscellaneous, & Writing. On the entry page of the old journal I had these goofy pics of me:

[...]

This is circa early ‘03/late ‘02. The kids are on the fridge cracking up. My kids play what is probably the oldest game in humanity: The Fart Touch. Whenever one of them farts they quickly touch the nearest person and then say ‘Contact’ and twist their pointer finger and index finger together. This gives them [...]

My husband likes to keep stuff stirred up between me and my mother-in-law. It was suggested to me that he’s just being thoughtless. I can understand his being a little thoughtless for a year or so, but we’ve been together since 1996. 9 frigging years!! He should have caught on by now, eh? He has [...]

My heart is in pieces over this. I have been following this case for some time. Tamika Houston, RIP and know that you touched so many people. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9652329/
Hampton led police to Tamika’s remains, in a remote, wooded area where he had buried her. He confessed to killing Tamika, but said it was an accident— something [...]

We have one car. Which is fine because I am home during the day and if I need to go into town (Cleveland proper) I can call my brother or one of my cousins or friends to come get me. Or I can get up early and catch the bus, we are on the major [...]

I love reading Midlife Crisis’s blog but I totally adore her for this:
34. Summer Or Winter?Summer. I have no fucking idea why I am in a state that borders the Great Lakes. There are only nine places on the planet that have lake effects snow and Cleveland happens to be one of them. If you [...]

My house is a mess. I’ve been so busy getting my biz together, I have neglected my housecleaning. I have piles of papers and books and zines all over my dining room/office, and piles of cut up clothes for the quilts I’m working on. I can deal with that, it’s the dirtiness that creeps me [...]

Here are links to all the posts I have made about Sewing, Quilting, etc:
My Calm Mama & Making Kids’ ClothesDIY SkirtDIY Summer shirtHoliday QuiltsSewing ProjectsHoliday Quilt Pics Finally

I love this site: Freeway Blogger.It got my kids all fired up a while back to do some protesting, we made a sign and everything. Unfortunately we got busted trying to put it up and they acted the fool; it was at a transit train stop because I didn’t want to take them on an [...]

This is great, I love it! This Response to Bill Bennet was written by a white guy and makes great points, including:
One can find a plethora of deadly and pathological behaviors uniquely prevalent among whites who look just as ordinary as you and me. Most notable among them are spree killing, serial murder, and cannibalism. [...]

My mother…is a saint! She was such a patient and calm and understanding mother, it rocks my world now because I am *just* beginning to understand how much she had to deal with. I have 8 sisters and 5 brothers and was raised with 7 sisters and 3 brothers (the others were long grown; my [...]

This is so neat. I could watch this hours:http://www.zoomquilt.org/

I was walking with my daughter Iyende yesterday, she walked with me to the store. We had a nice time, just talking and laughing and hanging out. Or so I thought. On the way home I was talking about something, and she seemed to be listening; she was talking back and nodding her head and [...]

On my family: Iyende needs a bunch of driving hours to get her license, so I wil help her with that. I’m also gonna volunteer at all their schools, which really isn’t much, just an hour or 2 here and there but I have 3 kids at 3 different schools so the time adds up. [...]