This is the new kind of fish we've added to our aquarium. It's a blind cave tetra, and it has no eyes. In the caves they come from it is so dark that eyes aren't necessary. This is a good thing, since we keep them on a very cluttered countertop these fish have the best chance of not being put off by their surroundings.

Blind cave tetras have relatively simple care instructions, which is always a good thing in our house. They seemed to fit right in with the other fish, and aren't demonstrating any stress in their new environment. Apparently they are egg layers, which we've never had any luck breeding (except for that unfortunate cockroach incident), so we're not expecting anything, but if we have any blind cave babies you'll be the first to know!

.*.*.

  Now my sidebar is visible in Firefox. My blog still looks better in IE, but at least you can see it all!

It's so nice being married to a really smart guy who likes to help out :-) I love you, Davin!

.*.*.

  I don't know if everyone had this same experience, but when I started my blog there were months were I got no comments at all. It was disheartening, and blogging is a lot more fun now that I have a community of bloggers and we check in on each other.

Carol over at A Revision started Friends of the Friendless Marching Band, based on an idea from an episode of "I Love Lucy." Her plan is to find people who've been blogging along with little recognition for a while, and march the FFMB through their site on Friday to give them some encouragement, and pick up band members along the way.

If this sounds like fun to you, stop on over at her site and join up!


.*.*.

  Almost every day, I see that someone has come to my blog by searching for the name "Jen."

Jen? What are the odds they're actually looking for me? I mean, yeah, you found me, me and six batrillion other females named Jennifer.

I looked this information up at the Social Security Administration, just to be all scientific about it. The name Jennifer hasn't been out of the top 50 names in the US since 1961, and it was #1 from 1970 to 1984. And that's not counting the women named "Jenifer," "Jeniffer," "Jenna," and anything else you can shorten to Jen. That adds up to a LOT of "Jen"s out there to surf around looking for with nothing more than a nickname to aid in the search..

To make it even harder to narrow it down, we're not even the only Jen and Davin out there, what are the odds?

So, yep, here you are at "Jen's" page. If I'm not the Jen you're looking for, I wish you godspeed as you continue your search. Do make yourself comfortable while you're here, though, one universal truth about Jens is that you can never have too many of us around...

.*.*.

  Does anyone know what happened to Audra? The last I checked she was planning a wedding, and now her blog is gone...

.*.*.

 

DONATING GRANNY SQUARES 1. I know I normally talk about knitting, but today I want to talk about crocheting, which I have actually done a whole lot more of in my life. 2. Do you know how to crochet? If not there are several tutorial pages on the internet, as well as classes offered at local craft stores. 3. If you live near Denver, email me and I will teach you. 4. If you want to take advantage of #3, you have to be serious about learning to crochet, and not a serial axe-murdering rapist or something. I have enough issues already, thank you. 5. I especially want to talk about Granny Squares today. 6. Granny squares are easy to make. Here's a step-by-step tutorial from Crochet Cabana. I really recommend her site, she has a TON of great information and patterns for folks interested in crochet. 7. One of the things I really love about granny squares, is that they are quick and easy to make, they look good in just about any yarn, so you can use up leftovers, and there are many, many people who accept them and join them to make afghans to donate to various charities and groups. 8. I recently sent a box of squares off to Love Afghans for Pine Ridge Reservation. This group assembles the afghans, and sends them up to Pine Ridge, where many people live in substandard conditions, and a blanket can make a big difference. 9. You might also be interested in Squares for Survivors, a group that is turning donated 12" grannies into afghans for the folks who survived Hurricane Katrina. 10. If neither of those grab you, Bev has a huge list of folks accepting grannies for all different sorts of places, nursing homes, babies, the homeless, etc. She has about a billion other patterns and ideas for places to donate on her site, too, for all kinds of home made items not just crochet. 11. If you're ready to make fancier squares, Stargazer has links to 6", 7", 8", and 12" squares at her site. She really more crochet patterns in one place than any other site I've seen, so if you're looking to make anything, you might want to start at her Crochet and Craft Links. 12. So, if you have the inclination, and an hour or so, why not make a square and send it off to someone? It's not a lot of work, and somewhere down the line it will definitely make a difference in someone's life. Remember, many of these places will take knit squares as well! 13. Happy Hooking! Links to other Thursday Thirteens! I'm using the FABULOUS Mr. Linky again! If you're playing the 13, please link yourself up and leave me a comment. Don't skip the comment part, though, because I get all twitchy when people do that.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Labels: charity crafting, crochet, knitting

.*.*.

  I was going to come in and post about the irony of having to call my neurologist to get directions to her office (because I forgot the way to my brain doctor's, get it? Har!)

But, then I saw this, and really nothing else seemed worth talking about today.

When Gizela Burg arrived in Israel after making it out of four Nazi concentration camps alive, she thought her problems of survival were behind her. But now, at the age of 83, she can no longer afford to pay her growing medical bills.

Burg is among about 90,000 Holocaust survivors — a third of the total in Israel — who live in poverty, according to official figures. For the childless widow, her inability to fix her television or afford a taxi meant she was spending Israel's annual Holocaust remembrance day on Tuesday alone and in silence.

You can read many other news accounts of today's activities here.

.*.*.

  Did I Tell You About The Time We Bought A Bunch of Cans of Beans?

Do you remember all the hype leading up to the change-over from 1999 to 2000? Yeah, that whole Y2K scare.

We really didn't go overboard, as you'll recall there were people building bunkers and arming themselves in expectation of a total return to the Stone Age. We just bought some extra canned food, stored up some water, and made sure we had plenty of diapers on hand (Maya and Sage had just turned 2 on 12/30.)

At about 5pm, my friend Mark called me from England to wish me a Happy New Year. Since he was 7 hours in the future, I asked him if the British Isles were being plunged into chaos or anything. Nope, it all looked good, he assured me. Then, at around 10pm my family on the East Coast called and said the same. So, I felt pretty confident that things were going to be OK. But, as I said before, I was feeling pretty OK about it anyway.

At midnight, we woke up Anya, who was 4 at the time, to ring in the New Year. We figured she was A. the only kid with any hope of remembering it when she was older, and B. probably actually going to go back to sleep after. She wasn't really impressed...but then nothing really impressive happened.

I know this is probably a horrible thought, but I was a little disappointed. I wanted SOMETHING to happen. Certainly nothing major, I didn't want anyone to get hurt. But these folks had really kind of robbed our joy and excitement over the new millennium (don't even start on the whole new millennium not starting until 2001; as Mulder says, "Nobody likes a math geek, Scully.") Maybe our electricity could have gone out for a few hours, or the internet could have gone all wonky for a day or so. I don't know. Something to make us feel we'd SURVIVED the whole non-event.

As it was, life went on as it will when you have 3 kids age four and under. Which means we didn't really have a lot of room in our schedules for extra excitement anyway, we were making plenty of our own.

How was your Y2K experience?

If you're playing Monday Memory this week, please drop a comment and then link yourself up! Don't forget the comment part, though, I get kinda twitchy when people do that....



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.*.*.

  'W' Gets Its Own Place in Swedish Language

The letter 'W' has entered the mainstream of the Swedish language, getting its own section for the first time in the country's most respected dictionary.

The few Swedish words that use 'W' have generally been borrowed from other languages — such as "watt," "walkie-talkie" and the "World Wide Web" — and have so far always been lumped under the 'V' section in dictionaries.

Wouldn't it be cool if we got a new letter? For one thing, it would keep computer programmers, like my husband, busy for YEARS changing all of the software, etc. Maybe we'd even get a big scare like that Y2K thing, we were eating beans for MONTHS in the beginning of the year 2000 when society didn't collapse.

What would our new letter be? Is there some sound we're spelling with the current 26 letters we have available that would be better served by having its own letter? Maybe something to replace the schwa "uh" sound, which as you can see here can be represented by any of the vowels we currently have in use. No wonder people find English challenging!

.*.*.

  We had the opportunity recently to sit down and watch the movie Tommy. I had remembered seeing it in college and not really "getting" it, but thinking that I didn't get it because I was a little "impaired" at the time, if you KWIM.

Well, I still don't "get" it, and I think it may be because it wasn't a very good movie. Don't get me wrong, it's got some great music, I love The Who, and it started with a really interesting idea. But DANG this was a cheesy film. Any movie that has, as part of its climax, Roger Daltrey hanggliding over fighting motorcycle gangs and making them dance just really wasn't in the running for an Oscar, was it? Not to mention the scene where baked beans and let's-hope-that-was-chocolate-pudding comes out of the TV and Ann-Margret swims in it....

I have to say, though, that I love that Pinball Wizard.



I'm pretty sure Elton John is the only person who could have pulled this character off. If you'd like to see the Pinball Wizard scene from the movie you can download it here (which is also where I found the snazzy picture above.) It will take a few minutes, but it will save you sitting through the whole movie.

That's a pretty cool hat, isn't it? If I had one like that, I'd wear it. I probably wouldn't wear those boots, though. I have enough problems with stuff like high heels...

.*.*.

  (Just so you don't think I can only demonstrate mastery of the haiku form.)

There's no doubt he's the one with the smarts,
and he's got a fine sense of the arts.
He's my better half,
and always makes me laugh,
but he really does stink when he farts.

Davin's response? "Did you take Nyquil tonight?" He's pretty much seen it all....

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Thursday Thirteen News Haikus You Can Use!!! 1. Haiku is a form of poetry from Japan. 2. As kids we were taught that it must be written in three lines, and that instead of rhyming, we were to pay attention to the number of syllables in each line. 3. The number of syllables should be 5 in the first line, 7 in the second, then 5 in the last. 4. Now many other forms are accepted, even among Western haiku writers. 5. Even so, I'm sticking with the 5-7-5, because I'm familiar with it, and I'm just doing this for fun. 6. Hiccups a possible sign of cancer: study I guess I'm OK No sudden weight loss for me Just these damn hiccups 7. US says gas may hit $3 a gallon Three bucks a gallon? What are we going to do? It's beans again, kids. 8. Ahmadinejad: Oil Price Is Lower Than Value Ahmadinejad That's five syllables right there This haiku's a snap! 9. Oklahoma Marks Bombing's 11th Anniversary Eleven years now since that early morning blast Can you believe it? 10. Did Tom eat the placenta? Tasty placenta! Can Tom Cruise get more creepy? I'm scared to find out. 11. Mumps Hits Midwest, More Vaccine Promised Aren't there shots for that? Don't breathe on us, Iowa! Same with L.A.'s plague. 12. Pa. Professor Develops Snake-Like Robots Snake-like robots, why? These are not the droids I want! Where's C3PO? 13. States Omitting Minorities' Test Scores No Child Left Behind Does this ever bring good news? What a load of crap. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! If you've done a Thirteen this week, please do leave me a comment and link yourself up. :-) Don't skip the comment part, though, because I get all crabby, and you wouldn't like me when I'm crabby.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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.*.*.

  How do I love thee, Nyquil? Let me count the ways...

I love you when I'm sniffling.
I love you when I'm sneezing.
I love you when I'm coughing.
I love you when I'm aching.
I love you when I'm stuffy-headed.
I love you when I have a fever.
I love you when I need to rest.

Oh yes.

I love you when I need to rest.

Goodnight, all.

.*.*.

  It looks like it will blow our broken fence down, even though we've tied it to the tree!

We're so white trash.

.*.*.

  Wishes for a Happy and Blessed Easter, from our Horde to yours.

.*.*.

  Earth Day is April 22, and here's a craft you can make to help save the Earth, *and* some money...

Crocheted Reusable Tampons!!!

This is a whole thread from Craftster explaining how they're made, and including the women's discussions of proper materials, washing instructions, safety, and testing procedures.

TMI Warning: I have to say that I've used cloth diapers, and even made and used my own cloth menstrual pads, and I'm OK with them. But, even with all of that, homemade tampons seem a little over the top. I can see why people would make them, and I understand the arguments for them, but it's just not "working" for me...

Let me know if you end up making any and using them!

.*.*.

  Davin heard this story on NPR today, and stopped by our corner drug store to pick up the supplies to try this experiment. Unfortunately, I didn't catch it on my camera (battery problem), although I do have a nice picture of our patio table covered with Diet Coke, oh so exciting.

Anyway, here is actual video for your pleasure. It was pretty much like that here, only outside and I think ours went a little higher with no pesky bathroom ceiling to hinder it.

I really wish I could have been there when this was first discovered. I have no idea what made them decide to try this, but I'm guessing there was some awed silence for at least a couple of seconds after the explosion. My horde actually went into a shocked hush at the sight. It lasted less than a second, but it was still kinda spooky.

.*.*.

 

Nine Books JEN has read recently, and Four Books I'm Reading Now *~*~*Finished*~*~* 1. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire 2. Left For Dead: My Journey Home from Everest, by Beck Weathers 3. Poker: The Real Deal, by Phil Gordon, Jonathan Grotenstein, and Jon Favreau 4. Jennifer Government, by Max Barry 5. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold 6. Revelation Unveiled, by Dr. Tim LaHaye 7. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt 8. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King 9. Cell, by Stephen King *~*~*Reading Now*~*~* 10. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire 11. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon 12. The Glass Castle: A Memoir, by Jeanette Walls 13. Tricky Business, by Dave Barry This, of course, doesn't count the books on knitting that I've been devouring recently, nor did I list my Bible, which I try to read regularly year round. :-) Links to other Thursday Thirteens! I am using the fabulous Mr. Linky again this week! If you are a participating 13'er and you've already left me a comment, please do enter yourself in here. Don't skip the comment part, though, or I'll get all crabby. Thanks!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

.*.*.

  I've had some fabulously high phone bills, but never $218 Trillion!

Yahaya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone line in January after he died and settled the 84-ringgit (U.S. $23) bill, the New Straits Times reported.

But Telekom Malaysia later sent him a 806,400,000,000,000.01-ringgit (U.S. $218 trillion) bill for recent telephone calls along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, the newspaper reported.

Maybe his dad's been making calls from the afterlife? I bet that probably does add up fast...

By the way, this is my 700th post! I just happened to notice that when I signed in this morning, and I thought I'd share.

.*.*.

  I just realized it's Picture Day for our homeschool group. I need to go comb some hair and fold some laundry, it's a pretty relaxed group but I don't think they want us showing up naked...

Labels: homeschooling

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Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about the time I saw the lady in the road? I was in high school, and my mom and I were driving up I-70 in a light rain. I don't remember where we had been, we must have been on our way home from an ordinary errand. We could tell there was a disturbance up ahead, and as we got closer it became obvious that there was a car on its roof on the side of the road. Mom saw and understood what had happened before I did, and I heard her say, "Ohhhhh Jennifer, don't look." There was a choking sound in her voice, and more than anything that caused me to look. It wasn't rebellion, I had just never heard her sound like that before and I acted without thought. We passed quickly, since the accident had just happened traffic hadn't had a chance to slow down yet. It didn't matter, I saw enough. The car was on the right hand side of the highway, and as we passed I was very near their upturned passenger window. The glass had shattered out into the road, and a woman was hanging upside down, caught in her seatbelt, partway out the window. Even though it seems gravity would make this impossible, her face and arm were white, like they were soap instead of skin. Her hair spread across the road, long enough that I worried we would drive on it. Even though everything else about the setting was dreadful, her brown hair was radiant, made beautiful by the rain and the shards of glass strewn through it. There's no way to know if she survived that crash or not. I still think about her, and wonder if the crash is a distant memory for her, or if she's still dealing with the effects of that accident. Maybe she's in a wheelchair? Maybe her back hurts before it rains? Or, maybe that was it for her, and she died hanging out the window of that broken car. Whenever I think about this, I am filled with warmth for my mom, for trying to keep me from seeing this, to keep me safe and protected. Links to other Monday Memories Auto Link yourself *if you're doing the Monday Memory*! Leave a comment, too, or I'll get all crabby!

Click here for the Monday Memories code
Click here for Shelli's blog

Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!

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.*.*.

  Over the past three weeks, Davin has been out of town for two. I bet you couldn't even tell from my blog that I've been a holding down the fort, homeschooling 4 kids all by myself for these weeks! I bet I didn't even seem a little bit crazy, did I? Or, at least no weirder than normal.

Everyone says not to tell on the internet if you're going to be home alone. But, I guess it's safe now! Perverts, you have about an hour to come and break in and kill us (or worse!), because right now as I type, according to Flightview, Davin is over Des Moines and headed west at 511 miles per hour. That's 822 kilometers per hour for you metric perverts. You'll never make it...

I may not be around much this weekend. I plan to be sleeping. A lot.

.*.*.

  It seems to be about the same.

I am wondering if I could call a surgeon and schedule a "radical rump-ectomy," thereby taking care of both my "pain in the ass" and "baby got way too much back" problems at the same time. Do you suppose my HMO will cover that?

.*.*.

 

Thirteen Things about EFFUSIVE JEN 1. Man, 13 seems like a lot, doesn't it? 2. Which is weird, because if you were all here, I'd have no lack of things to say. 3. In fact, I'd probably be dominating the conversation, hopefully in a charming way. 4. But, if I can't do charming, I may just resort to "nervous, never-ending chatter." 5. I am getting better, though. 6. Sometimes I can shut up for whole blocks of time. 7. I mean for real, not when I'm sleeping or anything. 8. 9. Look, I just did it right there! 10. 11. Look, I did it again! 12. Hey, I think I'm really good at this whole "shutting up" thing now. 13. I hope so, I'd hate to think all of my elementary school teachers were right when they said I was a good student but "chatty" and marked me down for it... No matter, I'm done now and need to contain the chattiness for good today and post this. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! I am using the fabulous Mr. Linky again this week! If you are a participating 13 and you've already left me a comment, please do enter yourself in here. Don't skip the comment part, though, or I'll get all crabby. Thanks!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

.*.*.

  That's not really news or anything, it's just at the top of my list of things I'm thinking about right now because IT HURTS! I don't know if this is part of my fibromyalgia, or I did something to it, but it's a real pain in the ass (har!)

That's pretty much it for me today. How's your butt?

.*.*.

 

Call it a coincidental sign of our digital times or a reason to stay up late and stare at the clock. Either way, early Wednesday morning the time and date will be 01-02-03-04-05-06.

Cool.

I remember in my college Latin class (alea jacta est) that I would get excited when it would be 12:34:56 on my digital watch. Not that it wasn't an interesting class, it was actually pretty great. Unlike any of the other languages I ever studied, you never had to learn how to order in a restaurant, or ask directions to the library in Latin. It was all blood and gore and Hercules! And, after studying a vocabulary that has 30 ways to form the word "that," most any other language seemed easy.

But, back to the topic at hand. If you're up tonight at 01-02-03-04-05-06, raise a glass. Or, heck, go shoot guns in the air like my neighbors do on New Years (we live in a classy neighborhood). New Years happens every year, and this is pretty rare. You may want to really pull out the stops and drive drunk around the neighborhood honking your horn and crashing into other cars like the folks around here do when the Broncos win the Superbowl...

Whatever you do, don't hit my house. I plan to be sleeping.

.*.*.

  Thank you for your kind words and prayers. Clarence seems to be doing much better today, and they say they've avoided any damage to the heart so he's in good shape considering.

Whew!

.*.*.

  My stepfather, Clarence, nearly suffered a heart attack today. Fortunately, they read the signs correctly, and he was in the hospital when it started and they were able to prevent it surgically. Right now he's OK, we'll know more tomorrow.

Oh yeah, to add to the drama, they had to evacuate much of the ICU because of tornados today. He couldn't be moved, so they closed his drapes. I'm sure THAT helps a person's heart!

.*.*.

  Surfed into Yarn Boy's blog today, and found a great post, The Knitter's Guide to Mass-Transit Delays. He reasons out several tricks to knitting on subways, etc, with angry people who are already late:

In that shoulder-to-shoulder, sweat-soaked subway car that hasn’t moved in over thirty minutes, anything that unnecessarily touches anyone else is considered a capital offense. The rhythm of your straight needles might be relaxing and hypnotic to you, but they’re tapping that guy next to you on his elbow, and he doesn’t think they’re hypnotic or relaxing. He thinks they’re f%#*ing annoying.

Good to know!

Not that we get a lot of chances to do that here in Denver. Our local system, The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is fairly difficult to use compared to many other cities where people can go completely without cars. For instance, the kids and I could drive to our friend Cheryl's house in 15 minutes and use a small fraction of a tank of gas plus add a little wear and tear to my car. Or, I could use the RTD and get there in 1 hour and 27 minutes, and pay $7.50 each way. And heaven help you if you're trying to leave your own general area, the prices and time factor go way up. This may be why my husband once mused that RTD must stand for "Reason To Drive."

Although, I must say, in an "all roads lead to Rome" kind of way, RTD is pretty good if you're trying to get from where you are straight to downtown. Anywhere else, though, and it's going to be a long haul. So, it's good to know what the best sorts of knitting projects and needles are to take with you. Now, I just need to teach all of the kids to knit and we can sell the car... Yeah.

Editing to Add: Renee reminded me of an RTD horror story from one of our homeschool group moms. This had slipped my mind at the moment, but I'm sure they relive this all the time! (I've taken out all personal details from her message.)

We took a special light-rail ride into LoDo to meet [my husband] for lunch. On the way back I was trying to wrestle two boys and an umbrella stroller out the door when it closed and the train started moving....with [one son] and I INSIDE and [the other son] OUTSIDE!!!! I pushed all the emergency buttons and the intercom button but nothing happened, and there was no way to get between the cars to
get to the driver. When the train stopped at the next station I ran up and told the driver what had happened and he radioed back to the Alameda station to get someone to stay with [my son]. Then he took off and told me to wait for the train back. There was no train in sight so I called 911 to see if they could send someone to drive me back to the station, but the guy who answered was completely unhelpful (and sounded annoyed that I called). Finally the train came and I got off at the Alameda station and found [him] with a wonderful woman who had stayed with him the whole time and an RTD guard.

This is a hyper-responsible mom, she always knows what's going on with her kids. Poor thing!

Labels: homeschooling, knitting

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