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Here’s to hope
January 4, 2010 by Nicki
2009 was definitely “The Year of the Suck” (personally speaking). I’ve found myself looking forward to the new year in hope of a lot of positive changes coming our way. And I’d have to say that 2010 has had a promising start already. New Year’s Day we visited with friends and family that we haven’t seen in ages. On the 2nd we honored a friend who’s home on leave from Iraq with a LAN party. Yesterday we pretty much vegged and today I’m back at work, but I guess I can’t complain too much about that. I have a job, and know many who are still looking (including my husband).
I’ve spent the last couple months realizing and appreciating the things for which I am truly grateful. I have a husband and daughter who love me. We have a roof over our heads and food on the table. I have wonderful and supportive friends and loved ones. I have a job. I have hope … I hold on to faith that things will work out in the end — even if I can’t see how they will or am desperately afraid that they won’t.
This is the time of year most people make their resolutions, right? I see many things I don’t like about myself or my life that I’d like to change.
The “musts”
- Get it together. I used to be better organized, and I definitely need to work on this — in both my professional and personal lives.
- Continue to control my spending and stick to a budget. Jim’s being out of work initiated this, but it’s something that I need to keep in check more.
- Lose weight and exercise more. Honestly, I don’t feel healthy and the extra weight I’ve gained since the wedding has had some negative effects on my general health and well-being. And, as much as I hate to admit to vanity, I really do think I looked a LOT better back then.
- Implement a better backup solution and upgrade to Windows 7. My backup drive (which was a “backup” in name only) recently went T.U. and I was rightfully scared, thinking I had lost nearly 7 years worth of data, projects, family photos, etc. Luckily for me, my wonderful husband brought it back from the brink of death and recovered everything. I had been putting this off for the better part of a year and since I bought a copy of Windows 7, having a fresh system would be a great time to sit down and better organize my data and get a REAL backup solution in place.
- Spend more time focused on my family. There’s always room for improvement — I want to be a better a wife, and a better mother.
The “might actually get done soon”
- Release another Firefox addon. I’ve been testing a simple Firefox addon for Aion. It’s been tested on several different versions of Windows and the feedback I’ve received has been promising. While I’d like to learn how to advance my programming skills more, actually releasing a working project is a good step in the right direction.
The “would like’s”
- Do more artistic stuff. I haven’t touched my graphics in ages. I have been neglecting my WordPress themes. I never really sit down and WRITE anymore. I need to work more on my creative outlets.
- Blog more. Hopefully if/when things get better, I will have more time/energy/desire to blog more here. There’s so much that I want to talk about sometimes, but lack the time or desire to sit down and type it out.
- Learn more. There are many things I’d love to learn. More cooking. More web design. More programming. Another language or three. I used to read up about anything and everything, and I need to start up again.
So here’s to a new year, and to hope. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.
Humpday Hilarities
December 23, 2009 by Nicki
Today’s funnies start off with this one from I Can Has Cheezburger?:
And these are from my mother-in-law:
Humpday Hilarities
December 16, 2009 by Nicki
Today’s funnies start off with this one from Uncle Monster:
This one is from I Can Has Cheezburger?
And while I’m on the subject of kittehs, if you’re in need of some cute and furry goodness, these are a few of my favorite feline bloggers:
Go now! Clicky clicky!!! 
Humpday Hilarities
October 28, 2009 by Nicki
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With this weekend being Halloween, I thought this might be a fitting funny to pass along to y’all. (courtesy of Cookie)
Happy 4th of July weekend
July 3, 2009 by Nicki
I hope everyone is having a happy and safe holiday weekend. July 4th is without a doubt one of my favorite holidays. It is the birthday of our nation — or, as I see it, the birthday of the greatest nation on earth. To quote President Ronald Reagan:
“There have been revolutions before and since ours, but those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.
Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.
“We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.”
We never should — truer words have never been spoken.
As we all enjoy the festivities, food, and games this weekend, let us all take some time to reflect on the events that precipitated this country’s independence and the freedoms that we enjoy. Let us remember that with freedom comes responsibility — if we don’t like the way things are going in this country, that it is our responsibility to make a change.
Let us also remember those who have given their lives to defend our freedom, and those who are fighting for them still.
Alabama Tea Party
July 2, 2009 by Nicki
It looks like the upcoming tea party will be much larger and accommodating those bringing their families. Nice! So, who all is going?
A Day of Remembrance
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday weekend. May we all remember why this day is so important and never forget those who are serving and have served to protect the freedoms that we hold so dear.
Remember folks, freedom is not free.
Happy Mother’s Day!
May 10, 2009 by Nicki
I hope all you moms out there are having a wonderful day. I’m sitting here enjoying the quiet (and trying my best to stave off the headache that accompanies the rains like we’ve been having so much of lately!). I’ve called my mother and spoke to her a good while. I’ll soon call my mother-in-law and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day as well.
Jim, Jessie, and I had our celebration Friday night, as this was her mother’s weekend to have her. I received beautiful cards from each of them and a new mp3 player from both. A bright shiny red Sony Walkman!
Wow.
I couldn’t help but tear up just a little when Jim later told me that Jessie got her mother a DVD and a card “not as nice” as the one I had received. (I had gotten the “good” gift!)
And yeah, I allowed myself to enjoy that just a little. 
While we were out, I stopped in Books-a-Million and picked up the latest installment of the Sookie Stackhouse series: Dead and Gone. I finished it last night and will say this — it’s an emotional roller coaster!
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and am a little saddened that I’ll have to wait a while before the next one comes out to see what direction the next book takes. There’s no cliff-hanger at the end, but I did pretty much cry all the way through the last chapter. The author killed a character I really liked. Well, actually, several had perished that I liked, but one had been a pretty big supporting character for the last few books. (but I won’t spoil it any further for those of you still reading it!)
I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, and hope the weather is better wherever you are than what it is here! 
Hoppy Easter
April 12, 2009 by Nicki
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Happy Easter everyone! I’ve two cute things to share today:
The cutest little rapper I’ve ever seen:
And by far one of the funniest Easter Eggs I’ve seen:
(H/T: For the Lose)
Humpday Hilarities
December 24, 2008 by Nicki
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This funny bit comes courtesy of my Cotillion sister, Vivian:
11 People on a Rope
Eleven people were hanging on a rope, under a helicopter, 10 men and 1 woman. The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to leave, otherwise they were all going to fall. They weren’t able to choose that person, until the woman gave a very touching speech.
She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids or for men in general, and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return.
As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping …
Not to be out-done, one of my co-workers sent me this one:
And finally, this one from Steve:
Holiday Fruitcake Recipe
Ingredients:
1 C Water
1 C Sugar
4 Large eggs
3 C dried fruit
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 C Brown sugar
Lemon juice, nuts
1 FULL bottle of your favorite whiskeyDirections:
- Sample the whiskey to check for quality.
- Take out a large bowl.
- Check the whiskey again to be sure that it is of the highest quality.
- Pour 1 level cup and drink. Repeat.
- Turn on the electric mixer; beat 1 C of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
- Add 1 tsp. sugar and beat again.
- Make sure the whiskey is still OK.
- Cry another cup. Turn off the mixer.
- Break two geggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
- Mix on the burner.
- If the fried fruit gets stuck in the beaters,
- Pry it loose with a screwdriver.
- Sample the whiskey to check for toxisisticity.
- Next, sift 2 cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the whiskey.
- Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
- Add one tablespoon of sugar or something…whatever you can find.
- Grease the oven. Turn on the cake tin to 350 degrees.
- Don’t forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window.
- Check the whiskey again. Go to bed. Who the hell likes fruit cake anyway???
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