I have so many other things I should be working on right now (like cleaning my room so the painters that are coming tomorrow morning don't think I'm a slob, eating dinner, or exercising), yet here I am updating my blog.
I've come up with a few ideas for some possible extra income. With gas prices on the rise again, I could really use the dinero. I have intentions to take the necessary steps to take the train to work a few days a week, but that can only help so much. I'd also like to be able to work from home occasionally, but in order to do that, I would need a new laptop (the one I have is at least 6 or 7 years old and is only in one piece because of the bright orange duct tape holding parts together), which requires money that I don't currently have. So here I propose my current ideas:
A few weeks ago, my friend had several friends and acquaintances at her house selling homemade goods. One of the things that someone had made was headbands using ribbon. Normally, I don't bother too much with any kind of headbands as my head is a funny shape and they just end up slipping right off. But these headbands had a handy little addition: small pieces of velcro to keep the ribbon from sliding off one's head. Easy peasy! I'm very tempted to make all sorts of different kinds of similar headbands now, with a few modifications, like using spare fabric. I also want to make fabric watchbands that could be used with the same type of watch face that people use for the beaded watchbands. I just haven't put any together yet as samples. Maybe someday soon...
The other idea is to make diaper cakes. We're throwing a baby shower for a girl at work, and we're using as decorations things she can take home and use for the baby. For example, instead of using tablecloths, you use receiving blankets. Instead of (or in addition to) napkins, baby wipes. We also decided that the centerpiece would be a diaper cake. Shortly after we decided what we were going to do for the shower, I found a super cute picture of a diaper creation: a tricycle! Then I realized, you could make all sorts of fun things out of diapers! I found a few other ideas online...a train, a car, a fire truck, a castle...and a guitar! Who knew??? I'm so excited to play around and see what I can create! And....I've also seen ideas for cakes made out of kitchen or bath towels, used for a wedding or bridal shower gift. So if you know of anyone that's looking for a fun gift, send them my way and we can see what we can come up with!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Who Says You Have To Leave To Have An Adventure?
Two blog posts in one week??? Who are you and what have you done with the real Gina? I know, I know...I'm awful with actually posting here, but I'm hoping to get better. I've even got plans for at least one more post that may or may not be written in the next few days.
Anyway, today I thought I'd share my little adventure this afternoon. Don't worry, it's completely okay to laugh at my stupidity. I flip-flopped between wanting to burst out laughing and feeling like the tears might start flowing. So here goes:
The day started out like pretty much any other day, except for the fact that it had snowed a few inches so the roads had a tendency to be fairly slick. But I managed to arrive at my destination not too long after I was supposed to be there. I pulled into my usual parking spot, but because of some snow that hadn't quite been plowed, I misjudged the location of the curb. Not wanting to be that close, I backed up and tried to straighten myself out. Well, that didn't really work, so I tried again. Unfortunately, this time, my car didn't budge. Oh well, I thought to myself. Hopefully the snow/ice will melt enough that I won't have a problem getting out of my parking spot.
Well, imagine my frustration when, at shortly after 4 pm this afternoon, my car still did not and would not budge. I keep a container of kitty litter in my trunk as I had been told years earlier that it's really good for traction in case you ever get stuck (this is completely false, and when it gets saturated, looks less like kitty litter and more like kitty regurgitation...anyone need half a container of unused kitty litter for Fluffy? It's yours!).
Luckily for me, my coworker (we call her Midge) who had left the same time as me, drove by and saw my unfortunate situation. She stopped her car to watch the circus of me trying to get my unstuck. She even made an effort to try to push my car out of the ice and sludge. And then I had my bright idea: I'll put my car in neutral, and both of us can push it! Neutral: go! And then I closed the door. "No, you have to leave it open, see?" Midge said as she grabbed the door handle...but the door wouldn't open. Apparently, I had forgotten the small detail that when I put my car in gear, the doors lock. So now my car is A. locked, B. stuck, C. running, oh...and D. almost out of gas. Great.
Then I remembered something: (at the risk of undesirable events taking place...) One of my windows is not functioning properly and is cracked open a bit. Perfect! I should be able to pull it down with not much effort, and I can get into my car, and that'll be one less problem. Pull, pull, pull...think, think, think...pull, pull, pull....post on Facebook in case someone has a more brilliant idea than me...pull, pull, pull...crap, that didn't work...pull, pull, pull...at some point, this has to work, right?...pull, pull, pull. In the meantime, Midge called our supervisor to see if someone there had, with any luck, a wire hanger. So we waited and waited, and hopped into Midge's warm car, and waited some more, and then out came another co-worker with two wooden rulers taped together with the taped ends wrapped in paper and a binder clip taped to the end. So I stuck one of the rulers through the slightly open window and...well, one of the rulers is now in my backseat. Someone, remind me to return it to her, please. And that is how one idea, which was great in theory, failed miserably.
Just as co-worker was headed to her car to see if she possibly had anything that might help, she passed three of the guys on the IT team. Great, as if I didn't feel stupid enough for getting stuck in the snow and locking myself out of my running car...Their suggestion? Call campus security. Sigh. Alright, guess we'll give that a try. Now, what's the phone number? Midge and I both went on a search (using our phones, of course) for the number. Finally, I found it and had to swallow my pride as I explained my dilemma to the guy on the other end of the line. Luckily, he didn't ridicule me for my brainless act(s) (let's be honest, they probably encounter this type of thing all the time, year round...maybe not getting stuck in the snow, but...) and let me know that someone should be contacting me within 5-10 minutes. Sure enough, I received a call so that I could give the security officer my exact location.
Within minutes (MINUTES!!!) of the security officer arriving, he had my front driver's side window rolled down. "There you go, have a nice day." No, wait! My car's stuck, too! This was my original problem, and I was NOT letting him get away without fixing this for me, too! I know, I know...sometimes I can be so needy. So he called for backup because this was not going to be remedied without a little extra help, and then I told him why I was not surprised that I was stuck.
It seams like at least once a year for the past five years, I have gotten myself stuck in the snow. Mostly, it was when I was backing out of a driveway and just didn't go fast enough. And then I would learn from that so it was much less likely that I would let that happen again. Until the next year. Well, apparently I have a hard time shutting down illogical thoughts in my brain and figured that since we've had a fairly mild winter this year with only a few snowstorms with a majority of the snow melting within a day or so, this would be the year that I did not get stuck. And I started getting a little confident about that because it's now March. Spring (and warmer weather) should be coming soon, right? Right.
Anyway, I explained to him that without fail, I get stuck in the snow once a year. Then I told him I even tried kitty litter for traction, but obviously, that didn't help. He walked over to his truck and pulled a bag of bright blue rock salt out of the back, and started throwing the stuff both in front of and behind my front tires. Then he started directing me to push on the gas while turning the steering wheel either direction. Well, whaddaya know??? TRACTION!!! Keep going, keep going....Success! All four tires solidly on pavement! And then off I was to make the final rescue of my poor car: fill it with gas before it dies a sad and pathetic death.
Moral of the story: So many options. Don't assume that if something that tends to happen annually hasn't occurred yet, you're home free? Don't pull into the parking spot so close to the curb when snow is involved? Don't leave your keys in the ignition (or anywhere else in the car) when your car is in gear or in neutral and then close the door because you will inevitably be locked out? Never trust a Sicilian when death is on the line? (Points to whomever can tell me what that's from) I don't know, you be the judge.
Thanks again to Midge for chilling out with me and witnessing my manifested stupidity and providing a warm place for both of us while we waited for my rescue. And a huge thanks to the security officer for helping me into my car and out of my rut. And thanks to whomever reads this blog post, for hopefully reading this entire story and enjoying at least a chuckle or two.
Anyway, today I thought I'd share my little adventure this afternoon. Don't worry, it's completely okay to laugh at my stupidity. I flip-flopped between wanting to burst out laughing and feeling like the tears might start flowing. So here goes:
The day started out like pretty much any other day, except for the fact that it had snowed a few inches so the roads had a tendency to be fairly slick. But I managed to arrive at my destination not too long after I was supposed to be there. I pulled into my usual parking spot, but because of some snow that hadn't quite been plowed, I misjudged the location of the curb. Not wanting to be that close, I backed up and tried to straighten myself out. Well, that didn't really work, so I tried again. Unfortunately, this time, my car didn't budge. Oh well, I thought to myself. Hopefully the snow/ice will melt enough that I won't have a problem getting out of my parking spot.
Well, imagine my frustration when, at shortly after 4 pm this afternoon, my car still did not and would not budge. I keep a container of kitty litter in my trunk as I had been told years earlier that it's really good for traction in case you ever get stuck (this is completely false, and when it gets saturated, looks less like kitty litter and more like kitty regurgitation...anyone need half a container of unused kitty litter for Fluffy? It's yours!).
Luckily for me, my coworker (we call her Midge) who had left the same time as me, drove by and saw my unfortunate situation. She stopped her car to watch the circus of me trying to get my unstuck. She even made an effort to try to push my car out of the ice and sludge. And then I had my bright idea: I'll put my car in neutral, and both of us can push it! Neutral: go! And then I closed the door. "No, you have to leave it open, see?" Midge said as she grabbed the door handle...but the door wouldn't open. Apparently, I had forgotten the small detail that when I put my car in gear, the doors lock. So now my car is A. locked, B. stuck, C. running, oh...and D. almost out of gas. Great.
Then I remembered something: (at the risk of undesirable events taking place...) One of my windows is not functioning properly and is cracked open a bit. Perfect! I should be able to pull it down with not much effort, and I can get into my car, and that'll be one less problem. Pull, pull, pull...think, think, think...pull, pull, pull....post on Facebook in case someone has a more brilliant idea than me...pull, pull, pull...crap, that didn't work...pull, pull, pull...at some point, this has to work, right?...pull, pull, pull. In the meantime, Midge called our supervisor to see if someone there had, with any luck, a wire hanger. So we waited and waited, and hopped into Midge's warm car, and waited some more, and then out came another co-worker with two wooden rulers taped together with the taped ends wrapped in paper and a binder clip taped to the end. So I stuck one of the rulers through the slightly open window and...well, one of the rulers is now in my backseat. Someone, remind me to return it to her, please. And that is how one idea, which was great in theory, failed miserably.
Just as co-worker was headed to her car to see if she possibly had anything that might help, she passed three of the guys on the IT team. Great, as if I didn't feel stupid enough for getting stuck in the snow and locking myself out of my running car...Their suggestion? Call campus security. Sigh. Alright, guess we'll give that a try. Now, what's the phone number? Midge and I both went on a search (using our phones, of course) for the number. Finally, I found it and had to swallow my pride as I explained my dilemma to the guy on the other end of the line. Luckily, he didn't ridicule me for my brainless act(s) (let's be honest, they probably encounter this type of thing all the time, year round...maybe not getting stuck in the snow, but...) and let me know that someone should be contacting me within 5-10 minutes. Sure enough, I received a call so that I could give the security officer my exact location.
Within minutes (MINUTES!!!) of the security officer arriving, he had my front driver's side window rolled down. "There you go, have a nice day." No, wait! My car's stuck, too! This was my original problem, and I was NOT letting him get away without fixing this for me, too! I know, I know...sometimes I can be so needy. So he called for backup because this was not going to be remedied without a little extra help, and then I told him why I was not surprised that I was stuck.
It seams like at least once a year for the past five years, I have gotten myself stuck in the snow. Mostly, it was when I was backing out of a driveway and just didn't go fast enough. And then I would learn from that so it was much less likely that I would let that happen again. Until the next year. Well, apparently I have a hard time shutting down illogical thoughts in my brain and figured that since we've had a fairly mild winter this year with only a few snowstorms with a majority of the snow melting within a day or so, this would be the year that I did not get stuck. And I started getting a little confident about that because it's now March. Spring (and warmer weather) should be coming soon, right? Right.
Anyway, I explained to him that without fail, I get stuck in the snow once a year. Then I told him I even tried kitty litter for traction, but obviously, that didn't help. He walked over to his truck and pulled a bag of bright blue rock salt out of the back, and started throwing the stuff both in front of and behind my front tires. Then he started directing me to push on the gas while turning the steering wheel either direction. Well, whaddaya know??? TRACTION!!! Keep going, keep going....Success! All four tires solidly on pavement! And then off I was to make the final rescue of my poor car: fill it with gas before it dies a sad and pathetic death.
Moral of the story: So many options. Don't assume that if something that tends to happen annually hasn't occurred yet, you're home free? Don't pull into the parking spot so close to the curb when snow is involved? Don't leave your keys in the ignition (or anywhere else in the car) when your car is in gear or in neutral and then close the door because you will inevitably be locked out? Never trust a Sicilian when death is on the line? (Points to whomever can tell me what that's from) I don't know, you be the judge.
Thanks again to Midge for chilling out with me and witnessing my manifested stupidity and providing a warm place for both of us while we waited for my rescue. And a huge thanks to the security officer for helping me into my car and out of my rut. And thanks to whomever reads this blog post, for hopefully reading this entire story and enjoying at least a chuckle or two.
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