Ok, so the layout change is pretty much completed. I hope everything is working for you. The only issue I seem to be having on my screen is the fact that it scrolls to the right for no reason. I think there is a percentage issue somewhere. I'll figure it out eventually. The layout was made on a laptop featuring 1280x800 resolution, so if everything is gigantic on what you are using, please let me know and I'll make some changes.

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday, I'll find two photos to do another double dose for you and post that a little bit later. I'm just wanting to make sure everything is working properly and so far it seems to be.

I'm going to make a few changes in the settings here shortly. I may start accepting trackbacks, but they will have to be approved before I allow them to show. I'm sure many of you that blog understand this with all the lovely spam regarding pills and porn.

Alright, well I am going to go dig up two photos right after changing the config a bit. Laters.

Do you see two kitties? I see two kitties. Do the kitties know that each other is there? Most likely. Usually these two stay far away from each other. Velvet really dislikes other cats period. Once in awhile they get close and ignore each other. It's been said they've even slept next to each other but since this was viewed at 3 am by the Little Lady it's skeptical that it is true since there is no photographical evidence of such an occurence happening. As always, click to enlarge!

Here is a photo of the beautiful SF Bay in all it's glory. Somehow the original washed out photo has been replaced, thanks to Photoshop, to what it really looks like! Beautiful, isn't it? I get to return on the 13th! I made the image large enough to be a desktop wallpaper, simply click on the image, then right click to save as background. Copyright is mine since I took the photo, dammit, so back off.

I wanted you to all meet my grandfish, Curious! He had a friend but Kisses committed suicide in the fake underwater plant, but Curious seems to be a happy fish. He is the Little Lady's fish. We thought about getting her more fish but it hasn't happened yet and she'd need a bigger tank if we were to get her another fish.

Here ya go:

There have been a few incidents where the Dusty Kitty wanted to eat him, but otherwise things are happy and communal. Laters!

So I was on kitchen duty today. I hadn't done dishes for about 4 days and we were almost completely out. We were out of cups and silverware but now it's all washed and dried. I have the cake pan soaking along with a bowl.

The kitchen is looking much better. I wiped off the stove and washed the burners and the rings that hold them in place. I wiped off the counters. I didn't use clorox like I had planned, but I will tomorrow while Honey is working. I wanted to sweep and mop the floor but I'm going to wait on that for tomorrow as well. I did four loads of dishes and a load of laundry for the child, who pretty much threw the clothes I had washed her yesterday onto the floor. I had even folded them and put the ones that needed to be right-side out. Note that I am a little peeved. I haven't been doing her laundry because I needed one less thing to do and I figure she's 13, she can do her own laundry. She's been sick, so I volunteered to do it since we don't want her outside much, even though the laundry area is in the greenhouse not more than three steps away, I was kind enough to do her laundry. Now that she's so lovingly thrown it on her floor, I refuse to do anymore. What's in the dryer will stay there. I'm not even going to bring her hamper in as there are still a few things that need to be done.

Next.

I started picking up the living room. Honey was a huge help with that because he picked up all the magic cards. There are still some on the dining table but I am waiting to see where they get put. I still need to run the sweeper and finish washing the stuff that is soaking in the sink. I will be getting to that here in a minute or two.

My neck has been bothering me a lot lately. I don't know why. And I've been having major issues typing. I've been having to correct myself a lot more often lately. I think all that crocheting screwed with my rhythm, heh. Alright, well I am going to finish the dishes and perhaps sweep the kitchen floor so I have one less thing to do tomorrow. Laters.

So remember the baby afghan I had decided to make for Honey's Cousin's Baby? Yep, this is it. It was completed on Saturday morning about 3 hours before the baby shower. That's right, three hours before the shower. I worked 5 days, two of those days included finding patterns and testing them, then the one I found had something terribly wrong with it so I tore it out and started the one I completed it in. The original pattern called for multiples of 3 chain plus 2 - the maker of this pattern used 62 chain - and stupidly I decided to do 92. Remind me never to do that again, ok people?

Because not only did I do 92 chain, I wanted to make it square. I was using an I hook, so my stitches weren't as large as they normally are (I use a K hook for everything usually) and then of course, I wanted a border. Not just any border though, a border made of Shells!

Anyway, my hard work paid off. The afghan was quite well received and it ended up being the correct colors, too. Which really helped me out a lot.

Here's the photo, as always click to enlarge.

So the AIO sent me an email saying I should take this visual creative quiz. Obviously I'm not going to pass it up. I hate quizzes of any kind, even if it is something like this, I feel like I have to choose the 'right' answers! I'm pleased with the results and I thought that I'd not only share the results I received, but I'd share the quiz as well. This isn't any form of endorsement, I really like the school for the most part. Their online classes are small and - though sometimes hard when it comes to participation - I do learn quite a lot.

Here's the link to the quiz: Creative Quiz

When you're done, feel free to compare your results to mine.

Then go over to imagini.net and take some more interesting quizzes. These are much more than the normal silly quizzes people take. There's a more psychological and serious approach. I really liked the creative profile quiz and I'm glad I took it.

I know, I post a zillion photos of my Honey's cat, but he does the silliest things. Velvet I love dearly, she is my best pet friend, but she doesn't seem to do much other than fall off things while she's sleeping - and yes, she can fall of lots of things.

So Dusty is going to have lots of pics here because of his crazy personality. He enjoys bothering my daughter in the middle of the night when she's sleeping by pawing at her while she turns over. He enjoys chasing Velvet if she gives him a reason to do so and he loves looking so cute and innocent that you want to pick him up and snuggle him close so that he can attack you.

So here it is... For Sale: One Dusty in the Hamper Original:

When you're worried about being a burden on your loved ones or if you're worried that you can't give them the time they need in order to make sure they are taken care of properly, it's time to look into BetterCaring.com. When you have questions regarding whether or not it is time to consider looking at nursing homes they can help you decide. There are discussion forums on different health care concerns which can help you decide what's right for you.

The website offers information regarding care at home and finance along with a location search by zip code. So if you live in the UK and you have a family member that needs cared for, or if you feel that you are beginning to require personal care, please look into BetterCaring.Com for your health needs. They are there to help you and your loved ones live happily with the health services they need.

I love my daughter but she is still sick! Her coughing is driving me insane. She has daytime and nighttime medicine and they are both supposed to work on her coughing but it seems that it takes forever for them to kick in. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't have any honey, but I have Green Tea that has honey in it. I don't find it very flavorful, but I am not much of a honey person.

My father (bless his soul) used to call this 'barking at the moon' because I, like my daughter, would cough all night long, no matter the medicine. I remember once I had a fever that my parents couldn't get to go down and my father said forget this and started chopping up onions. My mom looked at him funny when he asked her to go get him a pair of his long socks. He shoved the chopped onions into his socks, put them on my feet and somehow, I have no clue, this brought down the fever.

Any home remedies for barking at the moon? Please?

When I first started blogging it was years ago, I think perhaps the first one was at Diaryland. I thought previously that it had been at Diary-x, but I believe I was wrong. I can't remember why I had started blogging. I didn't think it was all that great of a thing to do, spilling your life all over the internet is what it seemed to me that people were doing.

I have been thinking about this as I try, once again, to build this blog back up to mean something. It seems that every time I was on track and doing well, something would happen. A server would die and everything was lost because I was too naive to back things up. Something would happen and I didn't have the money to pay for the hosting, this happened twice with this domain and another. I was on my own and had completely forgot about having the expense. Although, I do blame the people I have my domain name with, not the people I have the site hosted at, they are great, just the domain name. They don't send any notification that you have a bill due or what the details of how they got the amount that you owe them. They send a bill and expect you to pay within FOUR days. Unless I live in the same county, there's noway that a check is going to get there in four days. Anyway, on to the original topic of this post.

When the site was gone, I missed blogging horribly and I understood more about why people blog. It's a way to get all that creativity out that's just waiting to burst. I have two blogs that I currently use regularly. I have Disillusioned and then I have a blog at LiveJournal, no I won't post the link here (if you find it, you find it) that I use for the privacy options they have. I had a blog over at WordPress while the site was down and it has fallen into ruins. I have thought about bringing it back recently as I brought another blog back over at BlogSpot.

I'm not sure exactly why I brought the one back over at BlogSpot other than the simple fact that I can use it to earn more money from PayPerPost once I get three months worth of posts and they approve it. This is the only thing I can think of why I had brought it back, but I think I may use it as a televsion show blog. I wouldn't mind having another blog to review books, either.

See, this is how I think. But this is my main blog, my one true blog. I always post here unless there is some form of technical difficulty that prevents me from doing so. The name disillusioned came to me when I couldn't figure out a name for the blog in the first place. The name of the domain itself - Sweetly-Evil.Org, came from my AIM screen name. Disillusioned is my way of tearing away the veils I suppose, or it used to be anyway. I always complained about work, family and general stupidity here. I kept losing the blog though and a lot of those posts are completely gone.

I can understand why though. Perhaps letting my negativity spew out into the world wide web isn't the best way to go. That's why I have the LiveJournal, so I can keep all that negativity from affecting others I care about and people who really don't want to see someone who's whining and crying about how unfair life, work, or whatever happens to be plaguing me that day is.

So through all the years that I really have been around, most of that is all gone. But I have evolved into something more since then. Someone who is more conscious of those around her. Yes, I still get urges to kill people. I still want to TMK those who agitate the living heck out of me but I simply don't see much of a need to put that on all of my readers. I want to help people who have the issues I do, if I can.

I tend to hold a lot of rage and anger deep down inside. I don't let it stay there as much and I try very hard not to pour it on others. I keep it tightly locked up in LiveJournal where only I have to see it. And I seem to be seeing less of that anger, that rage. Perhaps I am evolving into a better person. People always seem to think I'm sweet and innocent and they'll even tell me that. I know better. I am mean and I will always be mean, but I will do my damnedest not to let you see or hear just how mean and uncaring I can be. I want to change. I want to be a better person who simply enjoys the people and places around her.

Sorry about not posting the photo yesterday, by the time I figured out what I wanted to do we didn't have internet access and when we got it back all I wanted to do was read a little and go to bed. I ended up starting the beanie that I am going to make for my Honey. It doesn't look like a beanie to me, but shhh don't tell him that. Hopefully it'll turn out right and if it doesn't, then I will try the Little Lady's crocheting needle because I think hers is the right size for the project. Anyway, no photos of the beanie yet, but I do have some plant love for you!

This is the aloe plant that my Honey's mom bought for me. She thought it would be better than taking a cutting of her own, which I much appreciate since I can kill anything that is considered a plant within 2 weeks. The last aloe plant I received was a cutting from the Father Figure's own aloe plant. My mother and my Ex decided to put it in the basement. At this time I was watering it every two days and putting it outside for fresh air and sunshine and bringing it back in after a few hours. I realized I hadn't done it for three or four days and asked where it was. Unfortunately, due to how cold it gets in the basement I couldn't save the aloe plant. It basically turned to mush. This aloe plant is doing amazingly well. I need to get it a new pot. (Click to enlarge.)

Here is a photo of Velvet (I know - Yay!) sitting in the window not looking at me. I got another one of her looking at me after some coaxing but you can't tell she's looking at me let alone that it is her. I love these kinds of 'sillouette' pictures, they are kind of cool. (Click to Enlarge.)

I got some more great photos for the days coming that everyone will enjoy, I'm sure. Anyway, I am off for the moment. Laters!

So my three goals for today are to do just that, clean, blog and learn. I have to sign in to AIO and check out what's due today and I haven't done that yet. What I have done is thrown in a load of laundry and washed, dried and put away almost all of the dishes. I'm waiting for my towel to dry out a bit before I finish drying the last of them up.

I've thought of moving a blog that is off-site (on-site being Sweetly-Evil.Org) to being on-site. I enjoy making layouts and so forth and with some places that host free blogs you can't. I haven't been blogging on it either in weeks and I really need to fix that. I also think it would be so much easier to blog all in one place than in three or four different places. I will be keeping the LiveJournal though, that will stay as is, where it is, and private. Sorry, I know you all miss my crazy-off-the-hook rants and raves about work, family and stupid people in general. I really don't think it helps society at all to spread the negativity, do you?

Everyone needs a release, LiveJournal is nice enough to keep mine.

So other than logging in to AIO, the blogging thing will be getting taken care of as well. I will create a new blog and layout, hopefully to be displayed later (depending on how much homework I have) and what the rest of the day brings me. I want to vacuum today, too. I really need to do that and there are circumstances (Honey is not feeling well and is sleeping) keeping me from doing so. Anyway, off I go to the world of education!

I loved this site as soon as I figured out what it was they meant by 'photo blankets' because this would be a gift my friends would be interested in! I mean think about it, who wouldn't love a gift with a photograph of their pets or children? You can take a photograph and have Vision Bedding put it on a blanket or pillow. Ok, re-read that.

As I was looking through the images for the comforters I saw them with photos of sunsets on the beach, a soccer ball, the word Love and a flower, different designs and more. These are so amazing. I would love to get a blanket with a photo of Velvet on it! Personalized Baby Shower Gifts - Check this out! They even do baby showers! I could have used that a week ago but that doesn't mean I can't use it in the future.

Here's my favorite:

You can find it on this page: Tropical Bedding but don't stop looking there, find something unique for yourself OR have them make it for you from a photograph. Remember that photo of the moon I took? Wouldn't it be amazing on a blanket if I had been able to hold the camera perfectly steady?

So far today I did dishes, but I have to wipe off the counters and stove. I also did two loads of laundry but there are still a few clothing items that need to be put away. I did homework, but I didn't do the reading, perhaps I'll get to that later. I still need to vacuum (Honey is up, but I don't think he's up to the noise of the vacuum) so I'll wait. Honey is working on his caffiene.. can we say IV Needed STAT!

I love Jack but the crickets we feed him (we bought two dozen and threw them in there yesterday so he can hunt when he wishes) are freaking LOUD. I hate meal worms though, they tend to pretend they are dead, even after you throw them in the tank at him.

It's really cold outside, but nice and toasty in the greenhouse. I don't recommend bending over in the front of the windows wearing black pants/jeans though. It's one way to get a hot tushie, though!

Ok, I am done rambling for now and I'll continue later on with updates because I know you care. Laters!

So I was off and running with a possible layout for the new blog I'm going to make. No, I won't give out any more info than that. I popped around the internet for awhile looking for ideas and I can't remember what triggered the thought about Dusk Angel, but something did.

I knew this lovely woman who has a geocities website and her name on there was Dusk Angel. I was hoping she'd still have a page over there (she always had a paid site = no ads) and I loved going there to visit. She had the greatest artwork and writing and more. I knew she wouldn't have faded into nothingness and so I tried the geocities url, 'lo and behold there she was, with a redirect!

So please check out the art gallery of Maryann Nolan. Please keep your mits (and your right clicks or save as's) off her artwork. She's gone a long way since I last spoke with her and I hope she continues to do amazing things. And if you are looking for a unique christmas card or gift, she's sure to have something you'll like at her Zazzle Gallery: MANolan @ Zazzle.com.

I always loved her layouts. They were always beautiful and she was always helpful.

Lately I've been wanting to do layouts like they have over at Aethereality.net but they don't have tutorials over there on how to do them. I know that the lovely woman that runs the site is also a professional designer so I can understand that while she shares the tools of her trade why she wouldn't give out all of her secrets. I found Celestial Star from Aethereality. I have to say she's got a pretty cool tutorial on how to make a great layout. I made one, albeit not that great. I shouldn't have put something along the side that was going to streak once it was added as a background.

Anyway, I've been perusing the other tutorials that she has and they are all pretty cool. So perhaps I'll find some inspiration in making the layout for the new blog. I like what I have here at disillusioned, but since I am finding new and exciting ways of doing things don't freak if there are changes now and then to enhance what I have.

Ok, go do some tutorials already!

I love having a greenhouse! There are still tomatoes, peppers and hot peppers growing in the greenhouse. There are days that are so sunny that the greenhouse gets really hot and we get to open our windows that go out into it and flood the apartment with the warmth. I just think it's really cool (being originally from Ohio and all) that I have tomatoes in the winter!

Check this out:

I can't wait until they ripen enough for me to pick them and sit them in the window and fight the Little Lady off while they finish ripening.

Today Honey's parents are going to get their christmas tree and we get to help decorate it! I've got my Merry Christmas coffee cup filled with coffee and the kid and I will probably head over there shortly. I'm not sure if they've gotten the tree already yet or not. But we'll find out, we are good at that!

Later today we are going to some form of Christmas Choir. I'm dragging the Little Lady along so that she can get out of the house for a bit. She's still barking at the moon. Anyone have a remedy for that? Cold meds and Cough drops aren't helping much.

Well, I'm off for now. I'll be back later. Have a good one!

Yes, I got really bored with the layout of Disillusioned. And since I've been having issues with something on the site (I believe ad-wise) when loading the site in the first place I've decided to piece it together bit by bit until I figure out what the problem is. Whatever is causing me grief will probably go bye-bye.

If you are reading at this time I apologize for any inconveniences as I'm attempting to get a new layout up and solve the problem with the Operation Error I get. This post will probably vanish when all issues are resolved. Good day.

Everything should be working properly. I'm really starting to hate MT Stylesheets. The ones they made for this version (due to the whole stylecatcher thing) are extremely complicated. They are overcomplicated and that's not a stretch, they actually did a lot of cleaning up (or so I've read) for MT 4.0, but since I can't afford to upgrade the site to include MySql and they've cut out the use of Berkley Database on MT 4.0 I can't use it.

I never got any answers as to why MT BlogRoll doesn't work either. And I haven't gotten any answers as to why I have to go to the freaking comment feed in order to remove unwanted and publish wanted comments. I am not thrilled about that at all.

Yes, I checked permissions. I'm afraid of uploading the files having to do with comments because then I think it'll wipe out the ones (the few) I've received. And I like comments, I really do.

I'll probably be changing the little images I have been using for headers, otherwise this layout is Done. Remember Celestial-Star.Net? Thanks to her tutorials I was able to make this. I did not however leave it in slices to load. I just don't feel right doing that for some reason. I made it so the image loads quickly though by optimizing it.

The Operation: Error I've been getting is still there. I removed *everything* from the right hand networking menu. I then added one thing in at a time as I was working on the main index. I added I think the image link to Globe of Blogs and it gave me the error. So I removed it and went on to the next thing. It gave me the error again. I am completely confused as to why I get it. It came up on the Little Lady's computer, too so I know it isn't just me.

If anyone knows of any reason as to why I'd get this error, please contact me either in comments or email. I'd really appreciate it. I want people to be able to view my site.

Other than that, this layout is meant for 1024x768 but should work on resolutions up to 1280x800 (which I am presently on). If you are using 800x600 it will not work properly as I went back to using pixel-width instead of percentage. Sorry, I get agitated because they want us to design for 800x600 resolution when most people have upgraded to 1024x768. This is Honey's laptop and it's best resolution is at 1280x800, anything less and it seriously looks horrible.

I know I haven't done the Daily Photo for two days now but don't worry, I'll Triple-Dose you tomorrow. For now, I am not sure what I am going to do. I am not tired. Perhaps I'll go surfing. Laters.

Ok, so I was taking way too much time and effort by creating this layout (more like fixing this layout) to do any daily photo posts. I was also quite hopped up on chocolate and peanut butter bars... Yes, chocolate peanut butter bars.

We (I got talked into doing it since I wanted the bars and not the muffin pan cookies) made the peanut butter chocolate bars that were on the back of the Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix. To be honest, I think there should have been less chocolate used. Yes, you heard it first from the one who is in love with sweets, less chocolate. The recipe called for 2 cups of chocolate chips melted. I'd prefer one and a half. Two was great, it really was, but you could only eat bite size pieces (might be great for a work party) instead of a two or three inch bar.

Here's a photo:

Delicious, no?

Other things that have been going on is me being smothered in homework today. So I did all of that this evening. We went food shopping earlier and then I made dinner. I've been working (reworking) on Honey's beanie. I restarted it with the hook it's supposed to be made with. It isn't finished yet, so no photo of the beanie yet.

Here's a photo of the wreath on our door:

Isn't it pretty? It's REAL! It is a real wreath. Needles fall off and every year Honey's mom gets a few and shares the love.

So get this, the kitty cats like to eat up high, they like to drink from the faucet (when they are allowed to do so) and apparently I've done a horrible job of spoiling them. This is what happens when you aren't officially working and don't have enough things to do but pamper kitty cats.

Here is Dusty sitting on the counter in front of the food bowl. Doesn't it look like he's asking permission to eat? Well, he wasn't. Enjoy!

Ahh now I feel so much better. Don't you? Am I getting any better at photoshopping the images? Want me to get really fancy and add borders or change colors? Let me know! Laters.

Today we are off to visit San Francisco again. This trip we'll be visiting Chinatown, which means I get a new fan for my collection. Yes, I have a fan collection. I received them from the lovely Chinese woman I worked with at my previous job. She has great taste and let me pick which ones I wanted, some of them were brought back from China on her trips.

Perhaps one of these days they'll get taken out of hiding and photographed. Yes, they are in hiding. The Little Lady didn't even know I had a collection of fans until a few days ago. She was shocked. I said I didn't tell her because I like having nice things and since you don't like me having nice things (ie: if mom has something nice find a way to ruin/break/keep it for self) I kept them hidden away. Perhaps when she is off for college - unless it's local - I'll put them out.

My favorite one is actually a fan that is made of black silky cloth and embroidered with bright colors depicting the Chinese dragon. Perhaps one of these days I'll take a photo. Maybe.

There won't be a photo of the day, or a double dose either. Once I get back I have homework to do - 2 assignments - and I probably will be passing out cold afterwards.

Lots of love, laters.

I loved visiting San Francisco, it's such a beautiful city. For the most part, people seem to be nice. Especially in Chinatown, which is where we were headed yesterday. I got myself a new fan, which will be a stocking stuffer. I bought the Little Lady a few items of interest for her stocking, too. The ladies that worked in the shops we visited were all very helpful, without being nosy or overbearing. I know they want to sell their wares but I'd rather go back to Chinatown than to go into a major store where people follow you around asking to help you and then when you need it they vanish.

So I had a lot of fun riding the ferry and visiting with Honey's Mom's coworkers in the other store that we stopped in. Us three girls had such a wonderful time again this trip that we are going back in February to see the Marie Antionette museum. I guess they shut down an entire museum in France for refurnishing (cleaning? - not sure... ) the different sections and one of them was the Marie Antionette area, but they shipped a few things overseas to San Francisco to be shown and we get to see them.

What really sucks is that I can't mention any of the things we bought on chance that Honey or Little Lady happen to stumble upon (ok, so Honey reads the site) the list of items that are going to be in their stockings. I love them way too much to reveal that as they are much more into being happily surprised than I am.

So Christmas is almost here. There are still items to be found, I'm sure. We walked so much yesterday that I thought I'd hurt, but I can't really tell since my neck and shoulders have been hurting most of the week. The only added pain is my calve muscles, which isn't all that bad.

I didn't take many photos, I think I took two or three, while we were wandering around and nothing that would really be of much interest here. I think I will post an image of the photo I took of a sign once I get it off the camera and resized for viewing. Perhaps tomorrow.

I yanked a green tomato off of the vine today and stuck it in the window. It wasn't hard and there was also a tomato in there that was red/orange and half eaten. I'm not sure what took a bite out of it, perhaps one of the dogs. I'll never know. Maybe that's what Velvet was trying to tell me when she was crying while looking into the greenhouse. I'll never know, so it doesn't matter all that much.

Ok, I am off. I have homework to do yet today and I haven't done anything much other than some dishes, some laundry and helped a friend with her computer issues. Laters.

I can't resist taking photos of the cats when they are sitting close to each other. Velvet can't stand other animals, period. She doesn't like them within three feet of her and if they are within that amount of space she'll start hissing and growling. Doesn't matter how docile or gentle the animal is, that's just how she is. She's sort of a bossy scare'dy-cat.

Anyway, in this photo both cats pretty much look quite pissed off. I believe they were attempting to look this way as I cleaned the litterboxes, you know, they must supervise their potty area being cleaned. I think if this were done in many public places (customers should watch employees scrub the bathrooms with pissy looks on their faces) they'd end up being extremely clean. I'll never walk into the local Taco Bell bathroom again and I'll never order food from there either. On to the photo:

This photo, yes I'll do two today, is of Buddy, the sweetest dog in the world. The only damage this dog will do to a person is to knock them over to lick them to near death. He will sit and beg for love and if you don't give him any he'll give you those sad puppy dog eyes that want to know why you won't give him any love. Why on earth would you NOT want to pet him? He's way too cute to ignore. He must be petted. You must pet the Buddy. Ok, enough silliness, here's the photo:

Got animals? Got silly animals? Send me a link, I want to look!

Comments, Comment Preview, Comment related stuff has been fixed. Comment form will now show where it is supposed to be along with the preview of your comment. Comments will still be moderated.

Now if only I can get the comments inside MT working again, that would be great. If anyone knows why they vanished, please leave a comment!

So some guy is suing because of Ladies' Night at the clubs. Yeah. Apparently this guy thinks it's discrimination and he wants Ladies' Night to be judged unconstitutional against all men. That's right, All Men.

Hey guys, you go out the bars to chill with the Ladies' don't you? Um, perhaps you get them to buy YOU drinks since they are cheaper? What are your thoughts on this lawsuit?

Go here for the article: NYC man files discrimination suit over 'ladies' nights' at clubs

Then comment and let me know what you think. Do you want women to stop going out? Think about it. A great night club, great music, hardly any women to dance and flirt with. Just a bunch of sweaty, straight, guys. Yeah.

I don't mention him often because I'm not always looking at him (don't ask me why, he is quite fascinating when he's hunting, jumping, and even just plain basking) constantly and I haven't posted any new photos (if any at all) because it's hard to get a good photo when he's curled up in the corner of his tank passed out cold.

I'm talking about Jack, our Chinese Water Dragon. I'll include a photo at the end of the post, it's an old one, but it's a great one. Anyway, we feed him crickets. He loves hunting crickets and I hate feeding him meal worms even though he loves those, too. I have to dig out the meal worms from sawdust and then hope they really are alive (they like to play dead). Then I have to throw them right to Jack so that when they wiggle he'll see it and snatch them up. I prefer the crickets because as I shake the bag into the tank he'll snatch one right out of the air and then run over and grab another one as soon as he's done with the first.

Anyway, not the last time, but the time before we had bought a dozen crickets for him and the Little Lady wanted to throw them into his tank. So we let her. At least two, I'm thinking two anyway, got free. Meaning as she was shaking the bag somehow they made it to the log which is close to the top of the tank or the fountain and jumped out. Remember now, Jack's terrarium is in our bedroom at this time and we are constantly having to sleep to the sound of crickets chirping. It's a pain in the ass, but we can handle it. I'm not twitching yet anyway and I haven't attacked the crickets yet.

So the last three days, I'll get back to the point now, I've been watching this damn cricket wander around the living room. I think it's the same cricket anyway, it's huge and I can't miss it. It crawls along the living room floor and last night it was on the couch, I blew on it to keep it away from me (most insects hate being blown on) and he went behind the couch. Now he's back on the floor in the part of the living room I saw him in yesterday. So this cricket is quite the adventurer. He made it out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, which he still explores as well, but he hasn't made it across the living room and out the door to the front room. I think he knows that Dusty is in there and Dusty will attack him if he notices.

We have had a cricket make it outside before, but that was just from the front room when we were buying 5 or more dozen at a time (we were trying to get them to make little crickets so we wouldn't have to buy crickets all the time, but that didn't go as planned). The cricket that made it outside stayed real close by the door, at least in people terms, he was only a few steps away, off the cement and into a patch of grass.

The cricket that made it outside found cricket friends by singing to them and they came to rescue him from the patch of grass. They took him in and made him part of their family. Ok, so I can only imagine that they would, but we know he wasn't there anymore after two days or so. We were actually quite proud that he made it to a new home, even though he had been told (I tell the crickets what they are when we buy them) that it was food for Jack.

I'm waiting patiently for this cricket that's wandering between the bedroom and living room to try to incite the other crickets still in the tank to revolt and become free. I don't think I would be able to handle almost 2 dozen crickets jumping and crawling around. I wish Dusty would come in and eat this one or pounce on it, or whatever the heck he does to them. It just unnerves me that Jack's food is wandering free.

Anyway, here's a photo of Jack from a few months ago:

There are two new blogs that I have been working on. I can't figure out how I want to do the other one, but I have finally set up Chelle's Reading Corner. I'll be reviewing books starting with the ones on my bookshelves. This includes different authors and genres. There are books that I've read more than once and books I haven't read or haven't been able to get through (for whatever reason - life can get in the way) along with books that are as old as I am.

So feel free to visit, comment, contribute in some form of way. I currently only have one post up regarding my favorite female author, Laurell K. Hamilton. I will be starting the reviews soon, but I am not sure which author to start with. I listed a few that I have on my shelves in the Categories and as I find more the names will be added for reviewing.

Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think. Here is the link: Chelle's Reading Corner. Enjoy.

I know, I haven't been keeping up with this. I am running out of photos so I will have to start taking photos again, soon!

Today's photo features the signage of a realty company we saw in San Francisco. I took the photo for Honey's mom because she found the name quite interesting. Since I had my camera, I had no problem taking the photo and emailing a photoshopped version of it to her when I got a moment.

We were intrigued by the name, but since none of us speak or read Chinese, I didn't know if the name of the business was an exact translation or if it was the last name(s) of the people who ran the business.

If anyone knows, I'd love to. Here's the photo:

The photo is quite large, so I've allowed resizing and scrollbars, which I've been doing on a lot of the photos I know are going to be large when opened. This photo is 1300+ in width when you open the popup.

Today is one of those days where I am feeling absolutely worthless. I find all kinds of jobs that I qualify for and am even overexperienced for but no one calls or emails me to offer me an interview. Is there someone out there in California with my name that has a bad reputation? Did something bad about me make it here before I arrived?

The thing is, I have a good work ethic. I go to work every day, no matter how much I don't want to get out of bed. I have gone to work in pain, unable to move my neck (I don't recommend this by the way) and got yelled at by a doctor when I told him I'd be going the rest of the week because the lady who covers me when I am out just had her last day that day.

I help others who are swamped. I filed their paperwork, folded and stuffed their outgoing mail, put in notes for them if necessary, and more. No, I don't have a BS in Administrative Assistant but what AA does? I want to know an Admin or Office Manager or Receptionist (I know damn well you don't need a BS or AS to be a receptionist when you have 7 years experience) that has a degree for that job.

I have web design experience as well. 12 years worth, all self-taught. I'm going to school for a certificate in Web Design. Yes, I admit, I should have gone for the AS recommended by the recruiter but I didn't even know if I wanted to take the certificate courses!

I know that my instructors know more than they are teaching, or I hope they do because if they don't, then there are problems. I hate the fact that I have to go through learning Tables and Frames - which are mostly deprecated - to get to anything good. Well, Flash was fun. I have to keep doing tutorials though in order to remember how to use it, so I guess that class wasn't all that great. I graduate in March and the only new things that I have learned are Flash and .... well I got an A in PHP but the only things I know how to use are the includes, which if I can, may start doing sometime here at Disillusioned.

I created an intranet for my job at the agency after cannibilizing the graphic-based one and grew on it. It wasn't pretty and graphical, it was simple, but it worked. The same menu on every page, no frames, no tables, simple CSS and HTML is all I needed.

I am not an amature when it comes to being a receptionist. I do consider myself an amature when it comes to web design only because I don't know PHP, ASP and other languages used to make the sites fantastic. I would really rather focus on Flash though. I love making stuff with it that actually works. I get quite frustrated when I am working on stuff because I can't get it to do what I want, but when I figure out what I'm doing wrong or decide I have to go another direction, then I get thrilled because it's working.

Any recommendations out there? I'm planning to apply at WM when Christmas is over. I don't want to do it now because I'd probably kill people. I hate people. I can get along with anyone, though. I can grin and bear it. I can pitch in. I can work hard.

So I went to WidgetBucks to update my widget. Obviously that is what you do if you're going there. They sent out an email stating that they've updated their system and that the widgets were going to need updated.

I get there and decide to change my widget from being digital to books - which I've been waiting for books to become available, I find them more favorable as gifts because they aren't as expensive and they aren't easy to break and they can be valued and passed along. I know, lots of and's in there.

Anyway, I changed the title of the widget three times and it still says Go Digital. Go figure. I updated the code each time and pasted the new code in, rebuilt the template and refreshed the page. So when it decides to change the title, perhaps it will. Or maybe this is a glitch? Either way, I'm off.

Why I don't know. Oh yeah, money.

So I need to rejoin the working world and I've finally contacted the temp agency in the city close by. I have applied for several jobs from Monster, Careerbuilder, Craigslist and a few other places that aren't even worth mentioning and have only heard back from one. They wanted me to start a little after 4 in the morning and I prefer being able to see my family and have dinner with them rather than come home and eat and go straight to bed.

They said they'd hold on to my resume in case a different time slot became available or if something didn't work out.

Anyway, I contacted the temp agency by emailing my resume and applying for a job that is close by, or I assume it's close by, it said it was in the same town the Little Lady goes to school in. So it better be there and not some sort of lure to make me apply for it.

Yeah it's like 130 in the morning and I've been up since 7 am. Don't ask me why, I don't have a clue and my sleep cycle has been horribly off lately.

Back to the main reason I am here. I am happy to announce that I have a tentative appointment for Friday at 2 pm. Tentative because I had to let Honey know and to make sure he'd be available for the drive in , plus we can kill two birds with one stone by taking the Little Lady and a friend to the mall to do their shopping while I am at my appointment which is supposed to be an hour long.

So I'll be dressed up all snazzy on Friday. No, I probably won't take any photos. I know, you miss photos of me. Well, perhaps there'll be photos of me again, for now, you get the animals and the other crazy things I put up.

The lady I spoke with asked me what I was interested in doing. I know, shock and awe, right? I told her if they could find me entry level web design, that I would be thrilled and if they got me a receptionist position it would do. Either way, I'd have a job (I didn't tell her that). Then she wanted to know if I was interested in Full time, part time or just plain temping. I told her any of those options would be fine. I hope I don't sound desperate for a job or anything. I have to call tomorrow and let them know that I am available.

You'll notice in the right hand networking bar that I've added a new item, if it's working. It's my widget for my profile/portfolio at Coroflot. If you want to see the stuff that AIO is teaching me and some other stuff I've done then feel free to visit there and check it out. Leave comments if you so wish, I'll be happy to check them out.

It's late. Why am I not tired? Perhaps because I have had three cups of coffee today and one of them is still sitting in front of me needing to be finished off? That might be it. Although the first two I made completely myself and I always make them less than regular strength coffee. I like coffee, but I don't like being jittery and since Folgers makes me jittery sometimes, I use less than I would if it were Maxwell House. Honey tossed some of his freshly ground Starbucks Christmas Blend that he got for his birth