In the conference that I attended last week, there was a media panel. Three media professionals who answered questions. The three individuals were from Patch, an online blogging community broken into regions, The St. Louis Beacon, an online-only news source, and KDHX, a local radio station. All three stated that the best way to send them any sort of press release was to email them. AND they all use SM (social media) heavily.

I guess in today’s world, it’s not cool to say, “Oh, that thing that everyone’s using? I have no idea how to use it. Can you show me?” Instead, people decide that they looked at a site for a few minutes and, because the instructions weren’t delivered to their lap, they just give up.

Believe me- when I first joined Twitter, I had no idea what to do. However, I didn’t shy away from it. I hung on. I searched for what the hell RT meant. Luckily, if you don’t understand what something means these days, you can just type it into that search bar above this page. Or, there are plenty of tutorials that can walk you through pretty much anything.

The great thing about social media for me is that people use it for so many reasons. Moms use Facebook to post really cute pictures of their kiddos and connect with other moms. You can describe your day in 140 characters, or link to an article that speaks to you. Most employers are looking at your Linked In page instead of your resume. Whatever you use SM for, well, it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that you’re connecting faster to those you want to connect with and sharing more of yourself to a larger audience than you ever could before.

Information overload?

Maybe.

Or, maybe it’s important to know that you don’t have to read it all. I’m connected to a lot of people via SM. I’ll admit that I spend a lot of time checking my site daily. I read a lot of interesting things, and a whole lot of stupid things. The greatest benefit of it is that I create relationships. Let’s be real for a second. You’ve seen those commercials that say that one out of four relationships begin online. They’re talking about romantic connections. Not friendships, not business partnerships. I wonder how that number might change if we included all types of relationships…

Of course, I’m sure you’re thinking about the negatives that all of this use of social media may produce. We all probably spend too much time checking on what’s up on Facebook. (I’ve done that twice since I started writing this blog, and have written a few emails as well.) And then, the site makes a change. And then, EVERYBODY GETS PISSED. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. The site is free. It connects you to all of the people from your past that you lost contact with, those you kept in contact with, and family members. You spend enough minutes a day on the site, so spend the first few seconds learning your way around. If you can’t figure it out, Google it.

I guess overall what I’m saying is, don’t expect that when something new comes along, the keys to figuring it out will be dropped into your lap with a manual on procedure. Life isn’t like that. Can you recall that in second grade, when you saw a multiplication problem for the first time, you were utterly confused? You learned it eventually. You had help from your teacher, maybe your parents or siblings. That’s how life works. Even when technology is moving way too fast and you can’t keep up, that’s okay. Ask somebody. Don’t ask somebody and do an online search. Don’t act like a tool and say that you “just don’t get it” and move on. (At least, if it’s part of your job. Or part of what your company does.) I completely understand if you try it and don’t like it. Everything moves fast enough that something new will come out soon that will be easier/faster/more user friendly/etc.

How do you use social media? Or do you shy away?

On Tuesday, I was sent (for work) to the CSPRC conference for the year, called Spectrum 2012. It. Was. Awesome. It was also a very long day. The conference started with breakfast and registration at 7:30AM. (Which means, of course, I was there at 7:15 because I hate being late… That translates into being about an hour early to a conference, if you’re wondering.) The president of the Missouri History Museum spoke, then we broke out into mini sessions. There were four sessions with four different topics to choose from throughout the day. To break up the sessions, we had lunch in between and got to hear Chris Reimer talk about social media. If you’ve never heard of him, Google the name. He’s a good dude.  The only real downfall of the day was that they ran out of knives and I had to spread my cream cheese onto my bagel with a fork. See? A winner! Here are some photos from the day.

Tripp Frolichstein, who did a session on message mapping. This concept is awesome!

This is Chris Ward, who does marketing and communications for KDHX. He was on a panel discussing media.

This is a slide from Chris Reimer’s presentation on social media. When CSPRC sends me the slide presentations, I’m happy to share more if it. Quite entertaining.

I also worked a TON this week. 40+ hours at my “regular” job, fifteen(ish) hours doing my work-from-home stuff, and a few extra hours getting to know more about my newly-acquired very part-time job. I’m just trying to attribute to paying off our debt as fast as possible and getting a new house.

I also enjoyed some wine at my kitchen table with laptop in hand, and tried to take a picture. While doing so, our not-so-well-behaved dog tried to jump through the glass screen door (again). This made me jump, which actually made the picture look pretty rad.

Of course, this is made a little prettier with the trendy Instagram app.

I’ve been spending my lunches at work actually NOT working, but instead walking. On Thursday, I walked two miles. And my iPod died on me, but I had my phone as backup. Note to self- add more songs to phone. It’s really boring to walk to an entire Queens of the Stone Age album and the song “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jelly.

Some of scenery on my walk. Not so bad.

On Friday, I didn’t have to be anywhere until 9AM, but I’m almost always awake by 5 or 6, no matter what I do. I decided to embrace it and find something great to do with my time. It was the best morning I’ve had in so long. I went down to Panera (breaking the rules) and had a breakfast sandwich and a latte. I also brought this super awesome book that my buddy Jeremy loaned to me.

There was a note inside the book with the sentiment “GRUNGE!” Jeremy knows what I enjoy, for sure.

After my Friday morning appointment, I headed to Goodwill in south county to browse. I was glad I did. When we redecorate in a few months, I will be using this at the foot our the guest bed. Super excited.

Only $50! And a very small tear on one of the corners.

That night (or maybe Thursday night- I cannot remember), Ben brought home SIX cupcakes. Ridiculous. We will have to split them when we enjoy them. Way too much for one person.

De. Freaking. Licious.

Even though I’m eating cupcakes every once in a while, I’m still not over my plateau weight! I had Ben take a picture of how big my pants are becoming, but I’ll spare you that picture, as you really don’t need to see my undies. You’re welcome.

About three years ago, I had a friend that knit beautiful things. She was so talented, and I think I just was in the right point in my life to learn a new craft. She was a great teacher, and then moved back to her home state. (I still had a scarf on the needle.) Putting down the yarn at that time was a really good thing for me, as I had little time to do it. Eventually I finished the first project I started. It was a blacked ribbed scarf that was about 7 1/2 feet long. The feeling of finishing things and working with my hands was really fulfilling. I taught myself a few new tricks and while burning through jobs I hated, I did a LOT of knitting. I had so many scarves and hats that I opened at Etsy shop. And sold nothing in that arena.

But something cool did happen- I started getting a ton of custom orders. Just from friends. How great is it that individuals I know trust me to make something really great for someone they love? A lot of people gave me freedom in what I made, and that made me feel wonderful.

A grand plan came into my head this last fall while working part-time. I’d use my days off to start writing patterns and picking up fibers to create a collection for the next fall. It gave me plenty of time to dream up plans and start knitting. But things just hit the fan. I started working a few more hours per week. Then I was asked to work full-time. I love to knit, but working 40+ hours weekly and having a job where I wrote the description myself is really tough to beat.

I guess the bottom line is that I’m still knitting. I love to craft little things to make for people I know and just gift it to them. Custom orders are definitely something I can still do with enough of a head’s up. I’ve also been asked a few times to donate my goods to raise money for various non-profits. Those types of things always make me feel good. But, my energy is just going to something bigger than that. A field that I never really thought I’d end up in, but is really interesting. Not to mention, I have other small companies that I am on payroll for, and I love to help out when I can.

Ben has been helping me develop a website for Grey Owl for sometime now, we just have not had the time to tidy it up and customize it. My goal is that once it gets to a spot that I like, I’ll integrate this blog and my Etsy shop into one spot. But then again, this blog has to take a back seat sometimes, too, so don’t hold me to that in the near future.

Thanks to all of my friends who ask for donations or custom orders. And keep them coming. I love dreaming up new things.

I will assume that it’s obvious who I like more. But, I’ll tell you why. And I think you really have to look at the song writing here.

For this post, I did some research (on Wikipedia- judge away) and discovered that most VH songs were attributed to the whole band- whoever was in it at the time. And, I’m sorry for this, but have you HEARD the songs Diamond Dave sings? ”Panama”? “Jump”? “Hot for Teacher”? Let me explain what I believe happened when they were working on these beauties.

(In the studio. Eddie is strumming a sweet guitar, and David Lee Roth is drunk, trying on dresses.)

Eddie- “Dave, we have got to get to writing some new lyrics. What have you been working on?”
Dave- mumbles things like ‘pretty dresses’
Eddie- “Seriously, Dave. As the frontman of this awesomely named band, you have to do some lyrical work.”
Dave- “Eddie, have you SEEN this dress? It is bitchin’!”
Eddie- “Yes, it’s bitchin’, or something. Now, let’s talk lyrics.”
Dave- “Do you know what I like?”
Eddie- “Yeah, okay Dave. What do you like?”
Dave- “I like jumpin’.”

Now this is the point in the story where Eddie realizes that Dave is just an idiot, and decides to just go with it. Which is how you get things like “Jump” and “Panama”, ie- “You know what place is cool? Panama.” Don’t tell me that you think Dave never said something like, “Oh, that teacher is HOT!” and thought he had the best song idea ever.

On the contrary, Sammy Hagar was (a little) more thoughtful for the most part. “Why Can’t This Be Love”? Awesome. And that’s a question that I’d assume some of us have asked before. While definitely not the deepest any song has gone, it’s a rise above where VH had been. And “Right Now”?! Do you even remember that awesome video? They said a lot of cool things and had great hair. And my favorite line? “Workin’ so hard to make it easier.” Because we all are. Right now, you should just take five minutes and watch this.

So, when you don’t know the answer to your problem, you might as well jump. Off a cliff. Into an ocean. And remember that time that Rolling Stone gave you an F? (I do. Clearly. Because the phrase, “Diamond Dave got an F” will never be forgotten.) If you’ve written a song about jumping, you’re over the age of ten, and you don’t wear your pants backwards and call yourself Kris Kross, I would just like to say that I think you can probably do better. Maybe you need a life coach. But please don’t let it be David Lee Roth. He wrote this mess.

Of course, all of this is coming from a girl who (still) really loves grunge music and will be driving three hours to see Coheed and Cambria next Friday. Take this one with a grain of salt. And laugh your ass off, because you know I at least have a little bit of a point.

(Disclaimer- This is intended to make you laugh. Not make you mad. I hope that point came across.)

I’ve adapted the way I make zucchini cakes from two different recipes I found- one for “crab” cakes, and one for tuna cakes. Also, as I post recipes, remember- I don’t measure all of my ingredients to perfection.

Zucchini Cakes

Ingredients:

2-cups grated zucchini
1-egg, beaten
1-tablespoon soy sauce
1-cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4-cup minced onion
1-teaspoon creole seasoning (we use Tony Chachere’s)

Directions:

Before you begin, you’ll need to release some of the water from the zucchini. To do this, grate the zucchini into a strainer. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 15-30 minutes. With a wooden spoon, press out the water from the zucchini. Transfer zucchini to a mixing bowl.

 Preheat oven to 350*. Mix soy sauce and beaten egg into zucchini until well blended. Next, add bread crumbs, minced onion, and seasoning. Mix until blended. 

Divide mixture into four portions. Form each portion into a cake and place on baking sheet. (If using a pan that does not have non-stick coating, lightly grease.) Bake at 350* for 8 minutes on each side. 

I promise it’s really that easy! One of these days, I’ll actually take a picture of them so that you can see the finished product.
 

Clean laundry is one of my favorite things. Normally I do laundry twice a week- Tuesdays and Saturdays- unless my week is a little off. This one just happens to be the latter. We were pretty busy yesterday, so I put my laundry off until this morning. As long as I have clean laundry on Monday morning, I’m a happy girl.

As some of you know, Ben and I have been trying to pay off debt. When we sat down to make a budget, I started to get ideas running through my head of ways we could cut back on costs in general. One thing that really bugs me is the price of laundry detergent. If I’m buying in-store, I buy the liquid stuff, and here in St. Louis, it can run between $10-20 per bottle, depending on your brand preference. Not to mention, you’re buying it every other month (at least) if you do a lot of laundry. This is why I started the search for a recipe that would cut costs.

At first, I thought I’d make liquid detergent. The recipes I would find just didn’t suit me for one reason or another. After some thought, I opened up to having powder detergent. It took a few tries, but I found a recipe that I didn’t mind. It read like this:

We picked up this huge glass jar at Target for $13.

The lighting in our basement is terrible, but here's a close-up of the detergent.

There you have it! Cheap detergent and a feeling that you’re helping your family.

I’m sure some of you have gotten my email or have seen the flyer that Ben and I have been posting. Unfortunately, we need our two-and-a-half-year-old lab mix, Addaway, to no longer live with us. This is a decision that we’ve been thinking about for two years. Addaway has aggression and anxiety issues that have been popping up for that long. He’s been to two extensive trainings, and our last hope was to work with a behaviorist. That therapy has been going on for about six or seven weeks, and sadly we haven’t seen enough improvement in him. He would need to be homed somewhere with no children, no other animals, and live his life mostly staying in a kennel. He just isn’t trustworthy. We have talked to the best in the area regarding him, and we’ve done all they say to do. In fact, we have our windows covered in poster board so that he cannot see out. (You won’t hear me say this often, but I’m thankful to not live in the best neighborhood right now. We don’t look too out of place.) 

I am saying these things because this is something that has been weighing on our hearts for so long. And now that the most extensive treatment isn’t helping, it weighs even more heavily. We have given of ourself and our marriage through this. It’s hard to be comfortable in your own home when you have to walk on eggshells to make sure your dog doesn’t freak out and attack you. 

Part of me just really had to get this out. If any of you know someone who works with troubled dogs and is willing to take him in, you can contact me here. 

I’ve been overly consumed with helping to build a website for work that I haven’t thought about much else. I guess I should say- I haven’t thought about many things not work-related. Our website should be launched soon, and my supervisor and I will be very happy when it’s released out onto the web and we’re not scrambling to make things happen.

We have high hopes for things at work sometimes. I found this on my desk when I came in last Monday morning.

Who doesn't like a cat in a onesie and a cape?

This is a piece of mail that invited us to attend a seminar on gearing social media towards donors- it’s in Florida in June. Alas, I work for a non-profit company, so that ain’t happenin’. Instead, I’ll probably just dress Oshie up in some sort of outfit and throw him in the air, then direct Ben to take a photo. (Okay, I’m really not doing that. Although, I think Oshie wouldn’t mind that much. I’d rather not piss off my husband.)

Pet-wise, we’ve had a busy few weeks. Adda’s appointment with the behaviorist went well, but our actions regarding his way of life had to change. We are trying to keep his environment more “vanilla” to lessen his anxiety. It seems to be working. Now, I must find a way for this to be integrated into my life so that when my ears pull back into a worried position that everyone just throws their hands up and leaves me alone. (Reality check- that ain’t happenin’ either.)

Addaway learning to just chill out.

This is what I see when I'm working from home- One of these dogs is a disturber. Can you guess which one?

I’ve also tried some really good (and, cheap!) recipes lately that make my mouth drool. I’ll post those some time soon.

Losing pounds is happening slowly, but surely. My weight this morning showed that I’m down again, and I hope that tomorrow (when weigh-in counts), that I’m still down. That means behaving myself at a function we have tonight. I shouldn’t have too many problems, as my sinus/allergy issue I’m  having currently take away some of my appetite. If that weight holds, it means I’m down about four pounds in the last month, and about eleven pounds since I started using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone. (Don’t ask me when I started that. I certainly cannot remember.) More soon!

Work is really busy, but great. We had a meeting this morning that talked about trying to get Andy McDonald to be a sort of emcee. Score.

I saw a picture today of Hines Ward hugging Jerome Bettis. I wanna blow it up and put it on my wall. Love those two.

Co-op pickup is tonight, which is both good and bad- a ton of food for cheap, but a lot of prep to make it accessible to eat.

Tomorrow Ben and I start the Biggest Loser competition through Pelopidas. I’m excited and ready for it, but also worried that I won’t be able to stay on track as far as eating healthy is concerned. I’m preparing by drinking a ton of water today (72oz so far) and stuffing my face tonight.

Tomorrow is a big day for Addaway. He goes to the behaviorist to see what they can do to help him. Last month he bit Ben twice in two days, and we just need to get him under control. Poor guy has fear-based aggression, and we just can’t seem to calm that in him. Ax has to stay home by herself while we head to the appointment, which is said to last between 2-4 hours. She will hate it. Prayers for all appreciated.

We have had something going on pretty much every weekend day or night in March. I think I hit a wall yesterday, and I’m desperately looking forward to a break to do nothing.

Last Wednesday we picked up our co-op. Here’s a list of what we got, all for $23.50:

One pineapple, a bunch of asparagus, three pounds of red potatoes, one bunch of celery, six bananas, one cantolope, one cabbage, nine pears, seven apples, five oranges, a bag of brussel sprouts, one head of lettuce, three gigantic carrots, two red onions, and four tomatoes.

So far, we’ve cut up the pineapple and cantelope and taken them in our lunches, cooked the asparagus with dinner, ate all but two bananas that we’re saving for banana bread this weekend, used some of the pears and apples, and  used the lettuce and tomatoes for salads for lunch. So, we still have a bunch of stuff left, and it’s already time to order again. Fortunately, the more people that order, the more stuff we get in our baskets.

We use a program called Community Helpings, which is volunteer based. When you’re on the homepage, click the “find a group” link. There are locations in both IL and MO. Pick the one closest to you, order the produce basket for $21.50, pay $2 in services charges, check out and pay with your credit card, then simply pick up on the date specified. Seriously, this couldn’t be easier.

This really helps us stretch our grocery budget, especially in months like this. Last month, we overspent on our groceries, so we’ve got to make up the difference this month. Adulthood really is… um, something.