Just stuff…

The digital move continues apace — instead of doing a typelist, my blogroll is available at my About page. i actually dig it way more than before, because it’s my bloglines subscriptions, and as I change my bloglines account, the blogroll changes. Very cool.  So, now you know that I read BOTH The Superficial AND For Better or For Worse, and a little of everything in between. Yay! And, I continue to love flickr/youtube/vox/livejournal for everything else, especially since the only other paid service is flickr. All told, I’m probably only saving $25/year, but, I think it’s the best way to manage all of my digital stuff at this point. I could buy another domain name and host it at dreamhost, but I’m not quite ready to make that leap.

I’m still considering the digital camera, but letting my birthday money earn interest for a bit. How .. boring. Actually, I’m trying to offload some stuff in an internet yard sale, essentially, in exchange for Amazon gift certificates, and would like to recycle a pair of too-big aerosoles, a used breastpump (sounds squickier than it IS, really), some cloth diapers, etc, into cash. The SD1000 is currently running around 200 bucks at Amazon (crazy!!) and I’m $55 in so far.  Whoohoo!

vacation is motoring along… Ingrid went to daycare today so that Dave and I could have a date, which meant watching Shrek3 in the cheap seats theater, eating a late lunch, and coming home for a romantic* afternoon followed by a really great nap.  Tomorrow, MDI, I think. Yay!

*I was well into adulthood before realizing that "romance," as mentioned on talk shows and in magazines (like "keep the romance alive!") means "sex," not "cheesy wine-n-rosepetals shenanigans." Ahem.

New digs

Here they are. I ended up just downgrading and moving to another URL, so my goal of saving money and headaches are both taken care of. Pretty cool, actually, in that typepad changed all of my links internally, as well, to reflect the new location. Good deal.

I probably won’t link video here, but most video is from my YouTube account anyway, which is snappity. And most video is of Ingrid, so loaded into Vox for all to see. All pictures will be at flickr, and all Ingrid pics have been (and will be) archived in monthly sets, in the Ingrid collection. I’ll be updating my bloglist (which was out of date, in a huge way) and not even bothering with books… dudes, I read the Hypocrite book when I was TEACHING. Which isn’t to say I’m not reading! I do read, all the time, and am really enjoying recreational reading now that Ingrid’s older and I’m out of school… but looking up the URLs from Amazon? Eh, whatever. I did see someone posting what they were reading as a separate page, and maybe I should do that… I have always wanted to keep track. Other than that, the only change is the URL, and even that is as simple as an S.

Moving house

Yeah, no Tivo here. Whereas I see Tivo as an appliance,Dave sees it as a subscription, and we don’t pay for tv. And the ability to skip over commercials wouldn’t be good, since commercials pay our mortgage. So, instead, I think I’m going to take bellydancing lessons. (For real!)

Anyway.

I sort of shot myself in the foot by having everything at Typepad, because now I want to simplify to the one blog option, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has the URL for typepad (but not this specific one) so if I nix the other two, this falls into the default slot, and I don’t want this to be visited by everyone. Which  kind of sucks, because I really LIKED having scored MY OWN NAME for typepad, you know? Which is kind of a coup.  So, I’m going to keep typepad, but create a new account, port over the contents of this blog, to keep the backstory, and need help coming up with a new screen name (and NOT the one most everyone knows me by — but something a little less googleable. I don’t like things like "Ingridsmama" and I was considering "geekymama" but one sounding board says that that’s too "ingridsmama2006." Which is exactly what I DON’T want to convey — Ingrid has her own blog, and I am a mama, but I am a lot of other things too. (Geek included…) So, while I puzzle out a new screenname, feel free to make suggestions. . . .

Also, new video of Ingrid’s patented foot clapping at her blog — ingrids.vox.com.

Tivo?!

Still with the birthday money.

tivo?! Sing me its praises. I’m one click away from owning it.

Pros:
*Tivo!
* Can use Amazon unboxed and cancel or reduce netflix, which I have a love/hate relationship with
* Can record shows I want to watch but are on too late for my bones, these days –SNL, Conan, ER
* Can record competing shows (30Rock and Grey’s Anatomy, for instance)
* Can record PBS — for both us and Ingrid
* More efficient tv viewing …. will that equal less tv or more tv?

Cons:
* We don’t have cable, so it’s not a matter of choosing between a TON of shows, it’s more about making the shows I/we want to see more accessible
* Costs money.
* Don’t really want to watch MORE tv, but is that what will happen?
* Dave will moan that "we already have a VCR" (but I’m also certain that after using it, if even to just watch Conan, he’ll be sold)

We’d be using it with a digital tv, with antenna reception, and a wireless adapter. We turn off the wireless when we’re not here, so will that be a problem? I imagine it will just do it’s magic when it finds a signal….right?

Convince me.  I’ve always WANTED tivo, as it made such complete SENSE to me (like cameraphones) and didn’t realize that I could get it without cable or satellite. Yes, we only get 8 channels, but I’m thinking it would still make TV life better.

(It should be noted that the VCR of Love is almost 7 years old, and I haven’t taped SNL on it in *years.* Sigh.)

Weekend

Yep. I bought Crocs. Now, I typically don’t like shoes that are Big and will make my feet look BIGGER (I’m a 9.5) and regular crocs have been totally unappealing to me, because they could be used in the event of a water landing, they look that huge. (And, I’m a Dansko fan, so that’s saying something.) But my 10 dollar flips from last summer are starting to stiiiiink, so I’ve been in the market for just some sort of shoe, and there I was, at Dick’s, and the crocs called to me… I didn’t get the regular ones, but instead a pair of black maryjanes, which are actually kind of… cute. I saved the receipt, of course, figuring Dave would be able to help me decide if they were passable or if I was just high, and he thought they were cute, too. (Even cuter were the orange kids’ crocs, but uh, they were huuuuge on Ingrid, who is mostly barefoot these days, but still not even fitting into 6-12 month Robeez/Fauxbeez. And she was known in the hospital as "the one with the [big] feet!")

I also made my first-ever "Oh, I’ll get these on sale in a bigger size for next summer" purchases, 2 sleepers from the children’s place (only place I could find cotton, zippered, footed sleepers in bigger sizes this year) for $4 a piece, and a carter’s sunsuit in turquoise, lime, and brown for 5 bucks at Sears.  Ingrid did well in her stroller, only the second or third time she’s gone shopping with me like that. Mostly because I never go to the mall, and Target has carts (or I wrap her…) either way, she did great, got pretty tired at the end, and was head-lollingly asleep in the car before we even got to Stillwater.

But, that nap apparently was when she dreamed of what it’s like to STAND ALONE, since she started doing that when she woke up! Whoa. At first, it was "I’ll crawl over to mama and pull up and let go with this hand…. and…. this….. hand… holyfuckI’mstandingupholyshit!"  For like, 10 seconds. Then it stretched to more like 30 seconds. And today, I was able to just sort of set her down on her feet, and she stood in place — the last stretch was more like a minute, and she was turning to look at me, and then turning back to wave at herself in the mirror, so. that seems like a rapidly advancing sense of balance, to me. SO CRAZY. She also had an explosion of communication, suddenly totally GETTING the "more" sign, and saying "Muh?" while signing, as well as "all done" (but no words) which is pretty impressive, since the baby sign has been a home thing, and not a daycare one (though, we’re apparently going to get a parent survey thing, and that will be on the TOP of my wishlist. Sort of late for Ing, but I’ve worked in a childcare that did baby sign, and it was AWESOME to watch…) She’s done the "nurse" sign (milk) for a while, but that sometimes morphs into a hi/bye sign, and sometimes I wonder if she sees it as "hi/bye MOM" or "hi/bye, I’m going with my MOM now" because of the context. But she also mimics, and both Dave and I swear we heard her say "more blueberry" ("Muh buhbuhee" and gesturing wildly at the fridge where the blueberries live…) but we couldn’t get her to repeat it. She has Mama and Dada/Daddy down pretty well, already.

Anyway, weird, having this little creature standing in the middle of a room, and telling me when she’s hungry in a way other than "she’s cranky, oh, hey! look at the time…"

We have our vacation week next week, and we have no plans, so we’re making them. One thing we’ve come up with is to take Ingrid to daycare for the day, and have a grownup day — go to the movies, out to lunch, spend some time at home (*cough*) — just take advantage of NOT having to pay for a sitter. Depending on the movies showing that week, we might even do it TWICE. We also plan to take Ingrid to the city pool (which is freakin’ fabulous) and to the coast, and maybe do some house project (though, sadly, at this stage that would be like "unearth dining room table and consider eating at it.")

Work tomorrow. Woot! Wish I could wear my new shoes….

An Idea

Point and shoot camera!

I heart my D70, of course I do, but I’m thinking a point& shoot might be a good addition to my life. I have the 5050, which I’ve loved for years, but now I feel like the D70 is an SUV, and the 5050 is a stationwagon, and I really need a SmartCar instead of a station wagon.  Any recommendations?

Under $250, pref under $200.
At least 5mp
Ability to record video with sound

Those are my big parameters, obviously I want it to be small, too.

Happy Birthday to Me

Yeah, so, I’m all 32 now. My birthday was celebrated with lobster and cake, always a good thing, and I got a check from my parents with express instructions to "not use it on bills" but to treat myself to something. Two years ago, even a year ago, that would be easy, really. But today? I got out of work early, went to several stores, and came home with a baby swing, a baby pool, and seriously contemplated a new baby stroller. Nothing for me. I mean, I did just get the new phone, and the flickr account, so there’s THAT, but still. I can’t believe I don’t know how to shop for ME anymore. I’m not a clotheshorse, or a Shoe Person, and I’ve never had, nor had interest in, manicures or pedicures or massages, all those typical ‘pampered mom’ treats.  I am going to spend 20 bucks on an expansion card for my phone, and I’d considered a Flip, but my phone’s camera quality is about the same, I think (see ingrid’s new blog for samples, including her saying what a monster says) so the expansion card will cover that need.

Anyone want to live vicariously? If you had 50, 100, 200 bucks… what would YOU treat yourself to?