- 07:45 man I feel like someone ran me over and then backed up to do it again. I hate being sick!
- 12:03 Having fun getting thrown around on a train
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For those of you wondering, Where is last weeks Thai Truck photos? Do not be alarmed. I am alive and well. I was in Beijing, China on a business trip last week thus I missed the Wednesday Thai Truck. The trip to Beijing was to attend a 2 day workshop on Nokia's Internet Services. The air was dirty, the sky hazy and dusty, the internet slow and sometimes down, but the workshop was good. If you're curious and want to know more details I posted updates to Jaiku throughout the trip. The Beijing trip Jaiku thread is here, enjoy the read. http://LonelyBob.Jaiku.com/presence/33789898
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05/16/08 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT
Discography
05/22/08 Slims San Francisco, CA 05/24/08 Les Schwab Amp Bend, OR 05/25/08 Sasquatch Festival Quincy, WA 05/28/08 Henry Fonda Theater LA, CA 06/06/08 Wakarusa Festival Lawrence, KS 06/07/08 Slowdown Omaha, NE 06/08/08 Bluebird St. Louis, MO 06/10/08 Bricktown Ballroom Oklahoma, Ok 06/11/08 Granada Theatre Dallas, TX 06/12/08 Warehouse Live Houston, TX 06/13/08 Emo’s Austin, TX 06/14/08 Rev Room Little Rock, AR 06/15/08 Hi-Tone Memphis, TN 06/17/08 Southgate House Newport, KY 06/18/08 Mr. Small’s Theatre Pittsburgh, PA 06/21/08 Popped! Festival Philadelphia, PA 06/25/08 Pemberton Festival Pemberton, BC 08/01/08 Lollapalooza-Grant Park Chicago,IL 08/08/08 All Points West Liberty State, NJ 09/26/08 Austin City Limits Festival TX
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Mates of State are back with Re-Arrange Us, coming out May 20th. Let me tell you that this girl-boy duo knows great pop music.
I first heard about them on a 2003 CMJ compilation with a little song called "Ha Ha", but I didn't think much of it. By 2006, after being signed to Barsuk Records, I remember I started seeing that distinctive "indie cover" artwork with Mates of State's husband and wife team, Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner, in a very strange half embrace.
There's some great pop tunes on Re-Arrange Us, but the song that the record label approved us to use is "My Only Offer", which I already liked so I have no problem with using this particular song. I thought the trumpet, played by Gary Olson, was a very nice addition to the song.
There's a few great songs, including, "Jigsaw", which basically has Jason repeating lyrics sung by Kori (actually, after reading the credits, it lists Ben Gibbard, from Death Cab For Cutie, as backup vocals). It's really easy to sing along, so I think this would be a great live concert pleaser. Also would play great is "Now", which has the simple, but catchy "Now now now now now now. Now now now now now now, who who who?"
I also really dug "The Re-Arranger", which is basically what the album was named after. This song sounds like it's escaped from the 60s and made a stop in the 80s, before resurfacing now.
The duo are currently doing some tour dates to promote Re-Arrange Us, so catch them if you're able. According to their official website, if you pre-order the album, it should arrive in your mailbox on the 20th, but you can usually find Barsuk records at most good record stores.
PS, apparently the band is a fan of the "Little Boxes" song (there is a live rendition on their myspace). I wonder if they got involved with the song because of Death Cab for Cutie's version or because they're also doing a theme song for Weeds?
...is finally getting to bring home your tiny little girl from the hospital.
Of course she wasn't too happy about it.
So when we brought her in the house, I immediately swaddled her and put her in the basinette of her pack and play, which was just a little too big.
But the sleep positioner helped with that.
Welcome home, little girl. We've missed you.
I think I miss my hair a little.
To anyone interested, I highly recommend it.
Fucking kick ass flick!
That is all for now from the girl in in The Burg.
(where it is currently on it's 3rd day of a marathon storm...I swear, I think I'll grow gills at this rate)
Currently reading:
finily got around to rebuilding the 1998 586 ide computer for the other line on the transponder
..it was a rough ride first i had to pull the old 33 ide and put a 66 ide on cable select then fdisk into 2 partitions load windows 98 then load me and not save the system then i loaded the ati tv card stuck in the only slot big enough to fit in
..to avoid takeing it online because of dll.host so i got the directx update from my call of duty cd
..and blam there it is the video of it working but why would i do all this do you ask so i can rebuild the amd with the ati radion agp click the thumb to see it closer
Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.
It was a very good week. I hit the new GoodWill store in town in search of something to use as a hayrack for the cavies and found a shelving unit for the little one's room to replace the changing table that she has seriously outgrown but we were using for storage. It's one of those heavy duty plastic things like Little Tikes makes. She loves it since it is pink and purple and looks like a doll house.
I also got a StepTwo adjustable basketball goal. Yes, they were total impulse buys but check it out, I got them both for under $8!! The shelves were $4.98 and with a wipe down they are as good as new. The basketball goal was only $1.98 (retails for around $30) and has lots of use left in it. Score!
Wal-Mart deals (still good):
Johnsons & Johnsons Little Buddies soaps are $.94 each. With two $1/1 from last Sunday's paper and two of these printables for $2/2 I managed to score 6 soaps for free and earn an overage of $.24!
Live Active cereal is $2.98 and with this printable for $3/1 I got a box for free and earned an overage of $.02.
Zantac 150 Cool Mint 8 pack is $3.98 and with this printable for $5/1 I got it free and earned an overage of $1.02!
Aquafresh Advanced is $2.23 and with printables from here and here for $2/1 I got two tubes for a total of $.46!
Kashi Cereal is on rollback for under $2 per box of selected varieties. Using this printable after registering at the Kashi website you get a box for free with an overage.
How do overages work? The cashier certainly won't give you cash back however, it does lower the cost of your other items that you don't have coupons for or that you aren't getting for free. Overages rock.
CVS deals (last week's sale):
Mother's Day shopping at CVS netted me one 12oz box of Russell Stover's chocolates and one 12 oz. box of Whitman's samplers for $1.99 each. Both were on sale for $3.99 per box and I had $2/1 coupons from the paper. I saved $13 on the chocolates! Just don't tell my mom ;).
Bed, Bath, & Beyond still has their clearance sale going. They have a big section with up to 75% off the lowest marked clearance price. I got three of the kids new quilts (originally marked almost $100 each) for $9 each.
A great free game, Echoes is Asteroids on crack. Binaryzoo.com describes it best,
"Yeah, it's a bit like Asteroids
hyperactive, drug crazed brother displayed in blur-o-vision©
and viewed through psychedelic sunglasses in a cheap nightclub."
The controls do take a little getting used to (mouse & keyboard combination) but the game is a lot of fun.
Originally published at The LC on the DL. You can comment here or there.
We have many projects that are taking up a lot of our time but they have been great family projects. First up is our vegetable garden, while it is small we hope to get enough produce out of it to save some on our grocery bill this season. The kids all picked vegetables they are in charge of and have been diligent in caring for it. Also to their delight we planted some marigolds and sunflowers.
Several weeks ago we constructed a guinea pig home and cat proofed it. We adopted three male guinea pigs that are about a year and a few months old and that have lived together in a 1'x2' cage most of their lives. They were surrendered to a rescue shelter and were not used to being handled (the noted reason for surrendering was because the children wouldn't clean the cage). They are doing smashingly and already are used to their meal schedule and come to our voices. The little one we named Scooby Doo now curls up on my chest and will nap. They have some a long way from the shy and squirmy little guys they were and the children, my husband, and I just love them to pieces.
I have to take a sideline here and rant for a minute. Children should not be the sole responsible party for a pet. Children cannot BE responsible for pets and giving a child a pet does not teach them responsibility. I have seen numerous parents agree to let children have a small pet on the condition that they will take care of it and if they fail the pet will be "gotten rid of". One, this teaches children that parents allow a child to ignore a pet and live in terrible and inhumane conditions (since the parent won't step in) and two, that if they don't want the pet all they have to do is to stop taking care of it and the parents will get rid of it. This is a very tragic and common occurrence and parents who think they are teaching their children lessons of responsibility usually don't realize they are teaching irresponsibility instead. Adults should be in charge of the pet with children assisting parents. Remember, the best way to teach your children is by example. (end rant)
I have been sewing and crocheting quite a bit and trying to get rid of a lot of surplus fabric I have by turning it into rompers and dresses for the littlest girl. My oldest daughter learned to sew recently and has been working on some of her own projects as well. We have even made some cozies for the guinea pigs.
Coupons and shopping trip deals have been taking up several hours every weekend but the money we are saving is worth every penny. It costs enough to feed and care for a family of six as it is and the way grocery and incidental costs are going up it is costing more than ever. Every week we spend time as a family clipping coupons from the Sunday paper, I then organize them and check out the weekly ads. I have found several websites to be invaluable resources in planning my weekly shopping:
Money Saving Mom - (Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart deals as well as a few other good deals)
BeCentsAble - Grocery Gatherings include weekly ads and the coupons that go with them allowing you to either get items free or for pennies on the dollar. They note the best deals for items on sale or with coupons at a long list of stores so you don't have to spend quite so much time keeping track of them on your own when planning your shopping trips.
Those are the two big ones I check. There are many other blogs I am keeping up with and I will share those with you later. I will have a post from my great deals this week to share with you the kinds of things these sites have helped me to accomplish (for example, I got $20 worth of stuff absolutely free yesterday at Wal-Mart). It takes some work, but a penny saved is double that which is earned!
My primary job is to be a great mom and wife and to care for my family and home. While technology is a great passion of mine, it cannot consume my time. I do love teaching people about technology and being an open source evangelist but there are only so many hours in the day and once I have spent 40 hours a week or more away from home my family suffers when I spend another 40 ignoring them at home. I am more than happy to answer questions, share what I know, and link to things I think are truly exceptional, but I don't have time to be a news outlet. ;)Â I am keeping up with as much as I can but can't afford to miss out on my family. Thanks for understanding that.
