Where in the world

Thanks to the magic of Google Analytics, I can see where in the country my readers are located! I've got 96% of the states - where's the love, South Dakota & Alaska?!

visited by 48 states (96%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Whew, close one! You almost got me, internet!

As you may know, I've started the search for a roommate for the fall. I've been inspired by That Girl's ongoing series, "My Myspace Man," to share some of the ridiculous spam I get in response to my Craigslist post. Here's the latest, titled "Message you left":

Good day. Lonely girl is waiting! :(

My personal email is bourgeois.darla3090@gmail.com

His lawyer calls him "intellectually challenged. Ooh one more night, cos i can't wait forever. in Newburgh where the conspirators gathered, according to a criminal complaint. Give me one more night, give me just one more night. Shiho Fukada for The New York Times.

This string of nonsense is a lot different from past spam messages, which have include a long story written by an ideal-sounding tenant about how he won't be in the country until the move-in date but he needs me to go pick up his big screen TV. All he needs from me is a bank account number he can confirm - for his own security, of course.

Another email came from a woman who described her profession as follows: Am a medical humanitarian nurse, have been doing this for the past 8 years back, our work is to take care of motherless babies, homeless one and all of that...

How could I pass up living with such a compassionate person...and all of that? The weird thing about this one was that it didn't request anything of me. What's the point? I suppose if I had responded they would have my real email address. But is this really the most efficient way to collect information? I highly doubt it. Ah well, internet scammers, who am I to doubt you? Clearly you're getting something from it, or you would have stopped by now!

Lou Makes Things!

Lately I've been getting impatient with my physical limitations. Combined with the nice weather this week, and I'm downright antsy. Prime time for a new project!

Last night I was perusing the DIY section of Design*Sponge when I found this great project! At first I decided it would be a project for another time since I don't need any "key hooks" but then realized they would be perfect for hanging my light-but-bulky necklaces, a challenge I've been trying to solve for some time now!

I found the unfinished wooden squares at Michael's (only $0.59 each!), and the hooks were in the framing section. I always have paint kicking around from past projects. I thought I had some extra silverware I could re-purpose, but decided the handles were just too plain for this. I checked out Recycle North and was surprised to find they had only ONE spoon in the entire kitchen section!! The trip was redeemed, though, when I found a fork that matched the spoon. I picked another fancy fork, and headed home with my treasures.

I set up shop on my sunny porch - with the Little Sir closely supervising - and put a couple coats of paint on the squares. While the paint dried, I tossed the utensils into a pot of boiling water to soften and bend. I had hoped to get more of a curve into the bend, but at last reached results I was happy with.

I finally gave up trying to keep dog hairs out of the paint job (ahem, Roger) and attached the hooks to the back. The hardest part, by far, has been affixing the silverware to the squares! Gorilla Glue stays slippery for a while before it sets, so I had to come up with creative ways to keep the odd shapes firmly weighted in place. Rubber bands, canned goods, rolled-up paper towel, and everything else within arm's length finally yielded results.

So far, I'm very pleased with my efforts! If anyone is interested in a spoon hook of their own, just let me know and I'd be happy to oblige.

World Domination!

He's just a little dog, but he's got big dreams - and big plans.

World Domination Coloring Page courtesy of Cartoon Drum

gone to the birds

Check out my current crafty project in progress! I'm sewing these bird softies to make a mobile either for my bedroom or the living room. A second one is in the works as a baby shower gift for little number seven. It's a free pattern downloaded from the Spool Sewing blog, there's also a flickr group, Spool Bird Softies.



This is the first one I did, so of course it came out the best.

Then came this one, who looks like he has a stuffy nose or something, because the fabric was too thick to turn out nicely.

This one looks okay, I like the way the back came out.







More to come later this fall!

The ladies love him - and he loves us back

(Just in case you think I've been spending too much time doting on Rogerdog lately)

I would like to direct your attention to the newly-launched Feminists for Obama site, a project of the Feminist Majority. It features a run-down of the issues, and a side by side comparison of the candidates' platforms. The Feminist Majority fully supports the election of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. They are strong supporters of women’s rights including the right to equal pay for equal work, programs to reduce violence against women, a woman’s right to choose legal and safe abortion. They believe in access to affordable birth control, work/family balance, and the end of the Iraq war.

From Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority -

“Obama/Biden are running on the strongest platform for women’s rights of any major party in U.S. history. But it’s not just platforms. Voting records show the stark difference between the Obama and McCain tickets.

Women simply cannot afford a President McCain. He would stack the Supreme Court and federal judiciary against women’s reproductive and economic rights for future generations; stubbornly pursue a policy of endless war no matter the cost in human lives and dollars; and continue Bush failed economics and political policies.”

Take a spin through the site, and share it with anyone you know who might be unsure what to do on November 4th.

Recommended Reading: Her Dog Has A Blog

From Mutt Gal's blogroll, I found Her Dog Has A Blog!

Maintained by Buzz's Food Lady, it's filled with great photographs and stories about Buzz and all his dogfriends. She offers proof that Buzz is, in fact a supermodel, and even put together a video of his silly puppy antics in celebration of his birthday! The entry that got me hooked was Don't buy a dog!, where the food lady works to explain puppy mills to Buzz:

Lady: Well, Buzzy, imagine if each of your toys was a dog. Now imagine that not only do we have 100 dogs in our house that need to be killed because we don’t have room for them or food to feed them, but also picture that there are 100 extra dogs at Billy’s house. And Milly’s house. And at every house in our city. That would be 9,000,000 dogs.

Buzz: Whoa. Do they deserve it?

Lady: No, Buzz. Those dogs are very nice dogs. Most of them are even better behaved than you.

Buzz: I’m perfect.

Lady: You chase cars. And try to take down joggers. And snap at bicyclists.

Buzz: I would like to revise my earlier statement. I’m mostly perfect.

When Roger's a little older, I'll use her conversation as a guideline to have the talk with him!

I love this method of story-telling, through pictures interspersed with the narrative, it's inspiring me to get more shots of Roger in action. She must have a remote clicker for her camera...maybe I can bribe a friend to come play photog for a day?

Beautiful dog/blog!

Roger and I just found an exciting new dog/blog friend pair!!

Roger is pup pals on Dogster with a pretty little Catahoula mix, Charlotte. (They even have the same colored spots!) In her Dogster profile, Charlotte links to her mom's blog, so I decided to check it out. It's delightful!

On She Wears Socks with Sandals, Mutt Gal posts beautiful photos of her outings and adventures with Char, along with her other dog Wilbur. They look like such a fun pack!! Roger would love to chase her around. I only wish they were closer to us than Washington state!

Recommended Reading

I don't remember how I first stumbled onto the Diggin Food blog, but I love it! The lofted veggie garden entry is what first drew me in, and I stayed because it's all good stuff. Makes me want to turn the whole yard into a vegetable garden.

twitter update!

So I spent some time searching for other twitter users since none of my friends are on it yet! I tried 'Vermont,' 'Burlington,' 'dogs,' and finally 'dogster' - jackpot! (For those of you not in the know, Dogster.com is the social networking site for dogs - yeah, really.)

My profile picture is of Roger, but I'm tweeting as myself. The search results for 'dog' and 'dogster' seemed to be a mix of either that or people actually tweeting from their dog's POV. There were tons of users with their dogster profile listed as their personal website, and Roger and I made friends with a 'houla girl and her mom!

Tweet!

I'm exploring the secret world of Twitter! Are you on it? Find me and 'follow' me, and I'll follow you back. Barack Obama and I are following each other!!
While my use will not be directly work-related, I am interested and just for my own information, will be researching the ways that it has and can be used as a PR/marketing tool.

My New Favorite!

So, pretty soon I'll be publishing some very serious, well-researched and hard-hitting posts about sunblock, Edward Hopper, and the double standards applied to sex in advertising. But right now I would like to draw your attention to my current FAVORITE website,

Pictures of Walls

As the name suggests, it's galleries of pictures of graffiti-ed walls (and other surfaces) - silly, political, personal, nonsensical...this one makes me laugh out loud every time I think about it:

I really like this one, too. Basically, you should go take a look.











If you're still bored after that, try Passive-Aggressive Notes, another favorite.

"A Little Better" is a start

Check out this site - www.ALittleBetterGasStation.com

Quite possibly the most fun site I've found in a while. It's a beautifully made marketing site for BP to promote their new-found environmental conscience. Too bad my phone doesn't support their free ringtones. At least I can have their screen savers, and play Gas Mania. Some of the copy gets a little redundant (we GET it, it's a little better!!), but overall, worth a read-through.

Also check out www.TheGreenCurve.com

There's a ton of information on BP's efforts to be more sustainable. They acknowledge the fact that this station (which really exists in Los Angeles at the corner of Olympic and Robertson) is not a miracle answer from the future, it's a station for today that's a little better than the status quo stations. Check out how each part of the station was constructed, keeping "green" in mind (although they ARE still pumping gasoline...). Solar energy, green roof, Low-VOC paint, 60% post-consumed aluminum to construct the sinks, windows made from post-consumer recycled glass. I guess I can concede that until we stop using cars, we might as well have sustainabily-constructed stations.

As well, they present us with "The Green Curve," a sustainability spectrum that we're all on somewhere. There's a quiz you can take, and several categorized lists (Work, Travel, Car, etc) of pointers to live a more sustainable lifestyle. It's really simple stuff, like using a mug at the office instead of a Styrofoam cup, telecommuting, carpooling, etc. Worth a look, if you're wondering where to start!!

Get rid of it!

I have a confession to make. Those of you who know me at all will find this as no surprise.

I love saving stuff.

I have stuff of all kinds that I've saved for YEARS - fabric, ribbon, school notes, clothes, children's games, concert tickets, magazines - this list could go on forever. You get the idea, I'm a packrat. I mean, you just never know when you're going to need that article in SKI Magazine from 3 years ago, or your junior prom gown, am I right? And to be fair, I have actually worn that dress for multiple occasions all through college. However, that's only one of the several formal gowns I have socked away, that I wore and loved for one night, and haven't touched since. And the odds of needing my busted-up old cell phone any time in the future? Pretty slim.

Enter Martha Stewart.

As a media buyer, I get information all the time from publications wanting a piece of our ad budgets. Were you aware that Martha has a whole family of magazine titles under her belt? The list includeds of course the classic Martha Stewart Living, but also body+soul, Weddings Magazine, Everyday Food, and the newest addition, Blueprint. Somehow, I found myself on the Blueprint website. And somehow, I found the magical list, 100 Reasons To Get Rid of It.

Okay Martha, you crafty genius, I'll bite. Can you REALLY provide me with one hundred reasons to get rid of my prized collections and stock piles? Well I'm here to tell you YES. Yes she can.

This list is pretty fantastic. It's broken up into segments of 5-8 reasons/links with categories such as "Because You Have Too Much Stuff" (ouch...so true), "Because Someone Else Needs It" (that old cell phone? I donated it to Women Helping Battered Women here in VT. The dresses? Operation Fairy Dust. Also check out One Warm Coat and Dress for Success for those outgrown clothes), "Because It Will Make Your Life Better" (Around 23% of people pay late fees on bills they cannot find), "Because It's Old/Expired" (I had more bath products than any one person could ever use up, many of which were past their prime), and finally, "Just Because: What's the worst that can happen if you throw it out?"

These days, I love getting rid of stuff. Every time I visit my folks' house, I comb through and pick out more clothes, childhood games, etc to give away. Last week I posted our entire porcelain doll collection on eBay. These are things that are just cluttering up my space! I need to let go, I need to GET RID OF IT!!

Take a look at this list, when you have a second. I bet there are a few things in your closet that you could stand to get rid of, too.