I am having a bitch of a time trying to balance blogging and working outside of the house. It sucks because I was so regular with posting...now I just feel like a failure who can't manage her time. But the thing is, I'm doing laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. with whatever free time that is not taken up by sleeping and watching the few highly necessary television programs we like to watch each week. Ugh! In addition, I have a freelance website job going on -- for a certain Pilates studio in New York -- which I am very excited about -- but again, less free time for me and me-blog when I get home each day. Ah, well.

The other thing that has made me actually avoid blogging is my ongoing frustration with Blogger mistreating me and my post publishing process. I know that the best solution is to migrate to dynamic blogging (i.e. Wordpress) -- and I WILL do this! But, F*CK! I just don't have the time right now...so I avoid...because Blogger can't piss me off if I don't blog!

One thing that we have been having fun with is KITTY CAM. I got a web cam for Christmas (which works independently from a computer -- just hooks up to our home network) that allows us to watch our cats when we are not home...or when we have our backs turned and we want to see what those little f*ckers are doing when we are not looking. Plus, their Grandma really likes to check in on them from Connecticut -- just to see how fat they are or to watch them playing. I don't know why I enjoy this so much, but I do. It's like I'm producing my own Feline reality tv show! Here are some still shots from the KITTY CAM as an animated GIF -- of Noodle the Cat.

Labels: annoying, blogging, cats, family, friends, fun, funny, gifs, lizzard, noodle, pets, video, web

I have missed my poor blog. I didn't realize how close we had become...until I couldn't spend time with it? (Do blogs have gender identities? Hmmmmm. Perhaps that could be a future post topic...) Anyway, in pondering my remorse for being such a bad blogger -- a great song popped into my head about friends -- by Joan Armatrading.

Now, before you go and think I am in my late 40's or early 50's, I'm not. Of course, I have had grey hair since I was 19 years old -- so perhaps I have an old soul? That aside, I got into Joan as a kid because my mom used to listen to her all the time...as well as Maria Muldaur, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, et al. Her "Me Myself I" album has long been one of my favorite selections to listen to when I am feeling moody and introspective. So, in honor of my good friend-blog, I'd like to share this great song, "Friends", with you all. Might I suggest a nice glass of wine -- or your favorite smooth spirit of choice -- before you listen? Joan's voice is deep, rich and strong -- I find that it kind of sinks into you like the heat of swallowing a luscious gulp of red wine...I find Amaretto di Saronno works well, too. Anyway, I've included the lyrics here for your enhanced enjoyment. I'll be back soon...thanks for hanging in there with me, everybody!

[ Sidenote: Congrats to the GIANTS!! Woohoo! You can take the Butterfly out of New York, but you can't take the New Yorker out of the Butterfly! ;-D ]

FOR THOSE WHO ARE EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTY LISTENING TO THE SONG -- YOU CAN HEAR IT HERE: http://www.vanessaleehamlen.com/blog/joan/

[It seems as though the closing embed tag keeps getting dropped when publishing -- which makes the song player not want to work in Mozilla -- probably cock-sucking-Blogger's fault...What else is new?]




Friends by Joan Armatrading

It's been so long
Since I've seen you
My old friend
I remember your eyes
How they would shine
Those crazy times
When you and I
Fooled around
I remember the time
You fell in love
Didn't know how
To say goodbye
To your baby
And you made me take
The goodbye note
Around
And that little girl
She cried and cried
And she asked me if
I knew exactly why
You'd gone
I told a lie
I said you felt
She'd be much happier
With someone else
But then you'd do
The same for me
Remember when
We stayed out late
We'd cause a fight
But we would never stay
To the end
I loved you then
I love you still
You know I think
I always will
You're a good friend
A good friend
To me
Who was it
Who came for me when I was
Stranded in the bad man's land
Who was it
Who put up bail for me when I was
So desperate to get out
Who believed with me
That I was not guilty
Who gave me beer when I was thirsty
And who gave me twenty-five dollars to hold

Labels: beauty, blogging, butterfly, childhood, favorites, friends, hobbies, lizzard, memories, mom, music, newyork

I got some great loot...here's a sampling of it on our NEW table...Well, not actually new, but a great hand-me-down from my mom and her boyfriend! It just needs a little bit of repair to some of the tiles and grout, but it is perfect for our little dining area. I love it.

I got to play with this little dude (N.J.) on Monday night thanks to my friends, Lori and Michael, who made him!

On Christmas Day, we had a great time opening gifts and laughing...Here's the man saying, "Please, no paparazzi!"

And finally, I leave you with this absolutely hilarious video of my mom enjoying the free Venom mask that was included with the Spider-Man 3 DVD package. None of us could stop laughing -- she is quite a character, isn't she?

Labels: babies, butterfly, connecticut, friends, funny, gifts, holidays, lizzard, mom, newyork, njbaby, towhead, toys, video, Virginia

Apparently, I am not the only abuser of Vicks VapoRub out there. However, unlike Aunt Jackie (see yesterday's comment section), I have never eaten Vicks -- I am strictly a "sebaceous nasal abuser" of the substance. As part of my recovery program, I am required to do this Public Service Announcement on the proper usage of Vicks VapoRub...



According to my jar (and the Vicks website), the DIRECTIONS FOR USE are as follows:

See important warnings under "When using this product."

* Adults and children 2 years and over:

• Rub a thick layer on chest and throat or rub on sore, aching muscles.
• Cover with a warm, dry cloth if desired.
• Keep clothing loose about throat/chest to help vapors reach the nose/mouth.
• Repeat up to three times per 24 hours or as directed by doctor.

* Children under 2 years of age: Ask a doctor.


Other Information

* Store at room temperature.

Questions? Call 1-800-873-8276.

Okay, that's all fine and good, but I still fail to see how a child under 2 years of age can:

1. Read these directions.
2. Call a doctor.
3. Assuming the fucking receptionist will ever actually put the doctor on the phone, is a baby really articulate enough to ask the doctor any questions about the use of this product by someone his/her age?

Hmmmmm? Moving on.


The WARNINGS are as follows (I have made bold the particular sections of interest that relate to the forms of product-abuse engaged in by Jackie and me ):

For external use only; avoid contact with eyes.

Do not use:

• By mouth
• With tight bandages
• In nostrils
• On wounds or damaged skin

Ask a doctor before use if you have:

• Cough that occurs with too much phlegm (mucus)
• Persistent or chronic cough such as occurs with smoking, asthma, or emphysema

When using this product, do not:

• Heat
• Microwave
• Add to hot water or any container where heating water. May cause splattering and result in burns.

Stop use and ask a doctor if:

• Muscle aches and pains persist more than 7 days or come back
• Cough lasts more than 7 days, comes back, or occurs with fever, rash, or persistent headache

These could be signs of a serious condition.

If pregnant or breast-feeding, ask a health professional before use.

Keep out of reach of children. If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.


©2007 Procter & Gamble. All Rights Reserved. All copy and claims valid only in the U.S.

I must say, I had never considered microwaving my Vicks before, but...

And, I love the fact that "All copy and claims valid only in the U.S." So, if I am in say, France, I could do ANYTHING with Vicks VapoRub (including putting some on my pooper, for freshness) because none of these warnings would apply there! Awesome.

Of course, it does not surprise me at all that I am an abuser of Vicks VapoRub -- considering Jackie's history of eating it until the age of 30 -- we come from the same maladjusted, Vicks-abusing family. I am quite sure that her older sister, aka my Mommie Dearest, was probably the one who fed it to her for the first time, as their mother probably did to her...Yes, my own mother started me on the path to my greasy-nosed nightmare.

But, there is help out there. Pick up the phone and call the 1-800-number. You'll be glad you did.


/end P.S.A.



[Disclaimer: I make no promises that I will not nasally abuse Vicks VapoRub in the future. I'm just sayin', if I have a bad cold, I may use again. I'll let my sponsor deal with it when the time comes...Thank you.]

Labels: adult, aunt jackie, butterfly, childhood, colds, comments, funny, lizzard, mom, products, sickness, VicksVapoRub

For a few months, I had the Last.fm "Music Like..." widget in my sidebar. You all may have actually played some music from it in the past. (??) It was nifty.

Lately, I was noticing that when I clicked play (usually while I am writing a blog post, I will play it to listen to something while I write, etc.) the first song played completely, but then, the songs that followed would play about 4-5 seconds before skipping to another song snippet of 4-5 seconds...over and over...and over. It was like channel surfing against my will. Little "preview" snippets of songs, one after the other.

I don't know if this is a problem with Last.fm -- perhaps it is a glitch? -- I don't remember this happening in the past. Maybe, there was a trial period on Last.fm for the widget, and then, it was meant to stop working? Who knows? [Maybe one of my readers who uses Last.fm knows something about this? Let me know if I missed something.]

Anyway, it was annoying me. I decided to scrap it and substitute in my own player -- because I already have plenty of musical content available from my WBFR radio project that I could use. Now, you will see in the sidebar my own radio player that will play music at random from my personal library. Currently, it is playing from the WBFR_dance and WBFR_winter_2007 mixes. I will keep adding more songs to the XML playlist that pulls the music from my WBFR project, but I also need to add some newer content. Eventually. The point is, my own radio station player will not annoy me and will be more reliable. Hopefully, some of you will enjoy the music. There is some really good stuff in there, if I do say so myself. ;-)

For more information on any of the artists or albums, send me an email (check the sidebar for the address) or leave me a comment. I am always happy to talk music.


[NOTE TO SELF: You'll have to sub-out the Last.fm widget on The Daily Lizzard also...a future task...with uploaded music to suit the Jazz-theme we have going on over there...Fun! Yeah, very future task.]


UPDATE: Put together some fast and dirty content for The Daily Lizzard's radio player yesterday (!Last.fm was really bugging me!) because I had some free time while I was waiting for somebody...And, I am excited to say that not only does she have some really great jazzy music to play over there, but a lot of it is from indie artists who deserve exposure -- so this is really nice all around. Plus, I used a beautiful color-coordinated player for her blog that I love. Take a listen if you have the chance...play it in the background while you surf the web...You'll feel like you are in the Lizzard's personal Jazz Lounge with martinis for everyone! But, I'd like an Amaretto Sour, please! [The more sour, the better...with an orange slice and cherry...K-thx, bai.]

Labels: annoying, bands, blogging, butterfly, code, Last.fm, lizzard, music, templates, WBFR, web, widgets

As you all know, we put Trudy to sleep on August 13, 2007. She was cremated on August 14, 2007...and, we got her ashes back the following weekend in this pretty little box -- which is now on a shelf in our living room. It came with an engraved name plate which we affixed on the inside of the lid. We have been missing her terribly, but we are glad every day that she is no longer suffering.


As a household, we will always have a hole in our hearts for Miss Trudy. The boys were missing their sister...Peanut, especially, was walking around meowing and howling, looking for Trudy for days. We still miss her non-stop purring, her instant appearance whenever you called for her, her love of tuna water, her insatiable need to rub her cat lips on us when she wanted to be pet... We have ALL needed some cheering up...and, we had an available spot in our place to offer someone special a new home! So...


...Meet Nutmeg! It was a difficult choice, but this little bundle stood out from the crowd at PetSmart's Adoption Day as the best candidate to join our little, not-so-little family. She's very outgoing and she has a cool orange spot on her head. The boys accepted her relatively easily -- we only had them segregated for one day!


Jackson offered to give her a bath...to wash off the shelter smells...in a rather untraditional manner!


You can see that Peanut is pretty oblivious to her presence when he is sleeping with his dad...


...And, after a rough start of throwing up whenever he looked at her...from fear(!)...Noodle is now able to take a nap with her on the sacred chair...


Her first major act of mischief??? Eating through the wire on these headphones for her Daddy's XBOX 360! Surprisingly, Daddy was not that upset...probably because it gave him the perfect excuse to buy the better X2 wireless headphones from Turtle Beach...


Vive l' XBOX 360!
Merci beaucoup, ma petite Nutmeg!

Love,
Daddy XOXOXO


We also just got back from Connecticut and visiting Mommie Dearest for a Belated 4th-of-July-Birthday Celebration -- she's a Firecracker Baby! Here we are in the dark making motion trails with our super-long sparklers. You can see some of our other fun with explosives on her blog.

Labels: birthdays, blogging, cats, ChooChoo, current events, cute, daddy, family, fireworks, funny, lizzard, love, memories, mom, noodle, Nutmeg, Nutty, pets, photos, XBOX 360

Some of you may remember this funny video from The Daily Lizzard? -- it was a Mothers' Day surprise for Mommie Dearest posted on her blog. That Trudy sure can dance...

[Don't worry -- we didn't make her dance for the whole song -- we shot a little chunk that she tolerated pretty well and then we looped it to make it longer for the whole song ;-D ]

Labels: cats, ChooChoo, funny, lizzard, mom, music, pets, video

You may have noticed (or not!) that there are now dotted lines underneath the title of each post and above the footer of each post...I was experimenting with this because it seemed to me that it was hard to tell where one post ended and the next began? I had a good amount of space between each post before, but it seemed like it still needed more delineation. So, I have made the change here on TBB for you all to get a feel for it first -- you can compare it with mom's blog at tDL, which is still in the "space only" format. If you like this better, I will make the change on her's too.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Labels: blogging, code, design, lizzard, templates, testing, web

With the most recent upgrades to our area's cable service, we now have VH1 Classic -- which is really great incidentally -- because we get to see all kinds of old music documentaries and vintage videos. Periodically, I will see a Smiths' video and it will make me laugh...I have never gotten over the enormity of Morrissey's head and that extreme-high hair of his. He was like a caricature...or a bobblehead! Whenever I think of The Smiths, I see him in my mind's eye with his big head, high-styled hair, a loose plaid shirt, and drooping Levi's with substantial footwear, dancing around the stage in that lazy-crazy "I don't give a shit" way. Reminds me so much of my NYU days and all of the serious brooding types (gay and straight) that I knew.

[Photo credit: Steven Wright http://www.wrightphoto.co.uk ]


But, it also makes me think of how my mom, her friend Robert and I were all so tickled by the lyrics of one of our favorite Smith's songs:




[Morrissey photo: The uncropped version can be found here.]

Labels: art, bands, favorites, funny, lizzard, mom, music, pictures, TV, VH1, videos, vintage

YUP, she's UP!

WWW.LIZZIESUE.COM --- check it, Bitches!

In other news, a dissatisfyingly low number of my invites signed up for Twitter...it's so easy to use and fun --- works with IM, web, Mobile texting, and MacUsers can use a nifty application called Twitterrific so that they can Tweet (and get tweets) right from their desktop! Not to mention the neato Twittervision where you can watch what people are doing in real-time, all over the world on a GoogleMap/Twitter interface. I mean come on, people...it was on NPR, so you know it has to be cool!!!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10300600

Labels: blogging, current events, cute, lizzard, twitter, web

I am proud to say that the official www.lizziesue.com (main) website is very close to being finished. It should be chock full of very cute graphics when it is done! The hardest part has really been the writing of the content. It's not that I can't write, but when it comes to creating graphics versus writing, I am definitely more comfortable with and motivated to do the art rather than the writing. The idea was to keep it light and fun --- in line with Lizzie Sue's unique personality --- while still being marketed well.

Also, it has been slow going because I got caught up in other things and this was less of a priority. But, it is also important to finish it because it is functioning as another example of my "web work." So, stay tuned...I think you will like it :)

Labels: advertising, graphics, illustrations, lizzard, web

For those of you who enjoy XML FEEDS:
I only recently discovered that my "Comments" feeds for Atom and RSS were not working correctly --- they were directed to the regular Post feed, instead of the Comments. This has been rectified! Now you can see what I say in my posts as well as the nasty comments that people leave for me...LOL just kidding :) You are all very nice people!

Wanna Search TBB??
I have added a dandy little Google-powered "Search" field so that you all can search the blog with keywords. As Google continues to crawl the blog pages, this search will get better at finding stuff in the blog (takes time.)

For those of you who enjoy searching by using an INDEX:
I have added a TBB SITE MAP that will provide all my posts in Monthly Archives, Daily Archives with Post Titles and Archives Sorted by Labels....I will try to update this monthly???

Wowsa. And of course, all of these changes have been implemented over at the Daily Lizzard as well. Enjoy! :)

Labels: blogs, code, computers, experiments, learning, lizzard, templates, web

Yeah, we did a ChooChoo-the-Cat music video for theDailyLizzard...as a Mother's Day surprise!

But for those who would like to see the original diva in action...



Sing a long with the lyrics:

At first I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
Without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights
Thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along
And so you're back
From outer space
I just walked in to find you here
With that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
You'd be back to bother me

Go on now go walk out the door
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not i
I will survive
As long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
And I'll survive
I will survive (hey hey)

It took all the strength I had
Not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend
The pieces of my broken heart
And I spent oh so many nights
Just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
But now I hold my head up high
And you see me
Somebody new
I'm not that chained up little person
Still in love with you
And so you felt like dropping in
And just expect me to be free
But now I'm saving all my loving
For someone who's loving me

Go on now go walk out the door
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not i
I will survive
As long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
And I'll survive
I will survive (oh)

Go on now go, walk out the door
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not i
I will survive
As long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
And I'll survive
I will survive
I will survive...!

Labels: lizzard, mom, music, video, YouTube

We took the Lizzard to the range and taught her how to shoot. She did great!!! You can take a look at her targets on her blog...

Here are the targets from my second visit to the range:

Labels: bang bang, lizzard, mom, photos, recreation, scary

Well, another successful lesson was completed by the Lizzard today! She posted some orchid pictures and typed some text. You can take a look at what she did here:

the Daily Lizzard - a blog by lizzie sue

I was teaching her over the phone --- so I posted pictures here on my blog at the same time while walking her through the process --- see them below! oooooooo, pretty.

Labels: blogging, learning, lizzard, mom, orchids

I'm teaching my mom how to blog today...fun!

Labels: blogging, lizzard, mom

Well, I have been working diligently through the night(s) on my Dell laptop to rewrite the html coding for mine and lizzard's blog...And after mucho, mucho experimentation and mucho, mucho, mucho testing...Eureka! I have created a template that displays well in both IE and Mozilla! This is great news, especially for jackie :)

My next step, since the Macs in the house are all older and we can't afford new ones at this time, is to go to CompUSA and test the blogs on the new Macs there...to see if the template works well in Safari...and, of course, while there, I will lust over the latest and greatest Macs, and cool accessories for my iPod and brand-spanking-new PCs of all kinds --- BECAUSE ALL COMPUTERS ARE CANDY TO ME!! I have a greedy greedy heart when it comes to tech-toys :)

Today is the Super Bowl aka Stupid Bowl --- and I will be rooting for the Bears while teaching the Lizzard to blog over the phone...a long overdue lesson! Soon, I won't have to post things as her anymore, but I'm sure I will probably always be playing a supporting role in the cleaning up of her posts...after she accidentally posts 3 copies of the same photo to her blog or whatever...I guess that is my job as the daughter.

In other news, we got a new frog! Not a new Green, but a new Cuban. His name is Paco. We will post some pictures soon...

Labels: aunt jackie, blogging, code, experiments, frogs, lizzard, mom, Mozilla, pets, templates