Recently in True Life Category

I know I have been neglecting Disillusioned and once again that is going to change. I’ve also been neglecting my writing elsewhere and other things. I have already updated Exquisite Designs to include signatures that I made for a friend, a layout that I created previously here for Disillusioned (GuildWars) and uploaded a DVD cover for a local buisness called DanceSpace. You can check them all out here: Exquisite Designs. Some images are not safe for work, or will possibly be determined that way. So, use caution when viewing!

I’ve also been contemplating the woes I have with Evony. I neglect chores and my blogs and writing when I am playing it, yet I enjoy chatting with the people I have met there and will miss them if I decide to quit. I know I can give them my info to chat elsewhere, but when everyone is in one place, why bother going elsewhere? These are the issues I deal with. I know, pathetic on some levels. I do get work done and have been doing some work for friends and also people I consider family. Always a good thing to be working.

The issue I was having with Exquisite Designs, where the images would not show up properly when viewing it through the sub-domain, have been corrected and should no longer cause problems.

Soon to follow: Reviews of two books and recent photos! (Photos will be first as I may have to quickly reread the novels I plan to review and yes, that is pathetic!) Laters.

So I’ve finally gotten most things straightened out. There’s a couple of issues with the design site, but that is nothing new. I’ve created a new splash page to celebrate the re-opening of Sweetly-Evil.Org and added the other two sites to it properly. Make sure you check it out. It’s a little large for the screen at 1280x800 right now. I may redo it, shrink it up a bit, but for now it works.

Nothing much has been going on. I got a WiiFitPlus and have been working out with it almost every day. The trainer happily tells me how wonderful my posture is (which is sort of wrong since I have slight scoliosis). That sucker really does work you all over though! I wake up with joints cracking and muscles sore from it. But it’s a good thing. I need to get back into shape so I can climb stairs in order to do laundry (since the washer and dryer are in the basement).

The design site has a new name. Exquisite Designs. I was thinking it needed a new name for the hell of it. I like it and it works. It took longer to restore it than the other sites due to the complications I have been having with MT. Even though it is set up the same as the other blogs located on the site, it will not work properly when going to it as a subdomain. This seems to happen when I get to a certain number of blogs, but according to the information it says MT can handle an unlimited number of blogs. So perhaps it’s the server or the database screwing things up. I wouldn’t know how to fix it from that perspective at this point in time though so I will link to it like I did before.

Otherwise I’ve been working and keeping house. I went to Borders today and spent some money there. I also took the Little Lady over to Pet Supplies Plus and bought her a Betta fish. His name is Tokyo (but pronouced with the emphasis on ‘kyo’ instead of ‘to’ and we call him Kyo for short). Kyo is a beautiful shading of reds and actually seems to pay attention to what’s going on around him. So far Velvet has not cared to acknowlege him (which is a good thing). Alright, for now I am off. Laters.

All kinds of things have been happening in the past few weeks. The Little Lady and I left California behind (we will miss many people and many places) to return to the snowy depths of Northeast Ohio. There are a lot of reasons why we left, which I won’t bother going through. I know, most people air all their dirty laundry on the internet but I got over that stage (other than complaining about schools, drivers and other parents… people in general) a long time ago.

Since arriving I’ve been feeling much better about life in general. I have a job, I have friends I can go and see and meet with and I can pursue new hobbies and interests as they come to me. I am definitely going to pursue photography and graphic design in all it’s glorious ways. While I have been doing these things previously, most photography was kept close to home, or on some occasions I hadn’t thought to bring my camera (shame on me). I am going to start keeping it with me more often, to the point of bringing it on every day trips. You never know when I’ll see something worth taking a photo of.

Here’s a slideshow from my Picasa page of photos that I have taken of the house and backyard:

I hope that will suffice for now. The one titled ‘sunnyday’ is the best backyard photo ever. Enjoy.

This is just a post to let you know that I am still around. Things will be changing. Give me a couple more weeks. I know, I know, it’s a lot to ask. Lots of things going on and all will be revealed in time. Ok ok, that sounds ominus and cliched…. Anyway.

Yes, I said ‘ho ho’ as in those chocolate cake rolls with cream on them and a chocolate coating outside. I learned how to make this dessert from a coworker but have taken a different route with it. She would crush the ho hos and stir everything together. It was good, REAL good. I like my way, too and other ideas that I’ve had this evening regarding it. I don’t like pie (it’s true, I don’t and yes I’ve taken a lot of shit for it over the years and sometimes I provide my own dessert when it comes to pie-based holidays.)

This is stage one. You need 1 box of Jello Chocolate Pudding. Mix it up per directions and stick it in the fridge. Then layer it on the bottom of your container. To slice the hohos so they don’t fall apart I used a chef’s knife. I would lightly draw the knife back and forth in the center of the ho ho and when it broke through the coating I’d push down. Then repeat that to get four slices. Layer them neatly.

This is a layer of regular cool whip. I bought the cheap store brand, if that really makes a difference to you. I layered it on pretty thick. I bought a small container of it and used 3/4 of the container. Anymore than that and I wouldn’t have had much room left in the bowl and I didn’t want to go far over the edge or anything. Now it’s time to get decorative.

Here you can see that I did another layer of ho ho’s but I left a gap. There’s no reason as to why other than to make it pretty. In the center are 4 ends. I had a 5th end that I had no room for and decided to let the Little Lady eat it before she started drooling over the dessert as I made it.

As you can see the final stage is to put a dollop of cool whip on the center and then drizzle chocolate syrup on top. I am sure there are other syrup flavors that would be good here as well, such as caramel. Another idea I had while showing the photos to a friend was to have sliced strawberries in between the center and the outer ring of ho ho slices. I was also asked about the calories regarding this dessert. Being as it’s a holiday they don’t count. You could also use other berries, cherries, blueberries or raspberries would be good as well. You just have to like chocolate with them. Enjoy for all the non-pie lovers out there!

Oh I got up and fed the Little Lady to the bus around 6:45 am like I do every weekday morning accept Wednesday (that’s when I have to take her to school due to the weird schedule and use the ejecto-seat). Then because I was freezing my cute tushie off I went straight back to bed and climbed in under my pillow and pile of blankets. Yes, I am strange. I have 2 king size pillows and I sleep under one to hold in the body heat that I can’t keep inside myself. It works to my advantage.

I got up somewhere around 10 or so and took a hot steamy shower. So hot that I had to open the curtain partially to let some of it out or suffocate. Then I wrapped my hair in a towel got dressed and made coffee. While my coffee was happily dripping away I took out the trash and started in the kitchen. I needed to do the fridge. Something awhile back had leaked from the top shelf all the way down and pooled under the left drawer. It had to get taken care of. Most of the stuff in the fridge went directly into the trash and hot steamy bleach water took care of the mess along with help from some watered down 409. So my fridge is now so clean you could eat off of the shelves and out of the drawers. Please don’t though, it took me forever to clean it.

There’s still a bunch more to do but it’s time for me to take a break and surf the web for a bit. I also want to put some more stuff up over at SEO Designs. Laters!