The Natural Habitat

When I first started writing for a living, I made a lot of mistakes. One is the same one lots of rookies make. In fact, one of the telltale signs of a young writer is someone who starts an article, story, paper, etc. off by citing a definition. I’m sure you’ve seen it done. Heck, you may have even done it. It would go something like this.

Wikipedia (which, by the way, you should never use as a reference) defines “habitat” as “an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds (influences and is utilized by) a species population.”

That’s not to say you can’t use definitions in your work, you just don’t start off that way. It’s lazy. Uninspired. If that’s as exciting as your opening, which is really supposed to pull your reader in, gets, imagine how boring the rest of the thing will be.

I just thought I would share that little tidbit since it popped into my brain as I started to write this post. Which, by the way, has nothing to do with rules of writing, it has to do with observing animals in their natural habitat. Actually, it’s about the habitat of one particular animal.

Wanna guess which animal?

You’ll never guess, so I’ll just save you some time and pain and tell you.

That animal is me.

K Visiting Me in My Natural Habitat (aka OFFICE, ignore the wet head)

Yep, Hubby was in the spotlight yesterday. Now it’s my turn.

I have finally redecorated my office. There are still a few things left to do, like add more pictures to the walls, but the big stuff is finished.

Before, it was BLAND. Seriously. Everything was either white or off-white. It was quite depressing.

Not only was it lacking color, it was quite disorganized. I never completely unpacked stuff. There were boxes sitting around, and stacks of paper to be sorted. It actually looks rather neat in these before shots. Because I didn’t remember to capture before images until I had already started preparing to paint. It’s hard to paint with crap scattered all about the place.

Just trust me, it was bad. Completely uninspiring. I hated spending time in there. So, during my period of unemployment earlier this year, I decided to change things. I wanted to add COLOR. I wanted the room to be interesting.

Some people go for the chic office look. I was going for fun. I wanted COLOR.

And that’s what I got. When describing my paint scheme to a friend, she said, “That sounds like a child’s room.” It might even look like a child’s room. But that’s okay. I like it and that’s what matters, right? I mean, I spend an awful lot of time in here every day, I might as well like what surrounds me.

So, are you ready for the AFTER pictures?

It’s hard photographing an entire room, so you have to see it in pieces.

View from Door

 

View from Behind My Chair

 

View from Bathroom Door

I have to pause here and explain that my office and Hubby’s office share an adjoining bathroom. It’s quite convenient, but sort of limits how far one moves during any given day.

Looking from My Chair Toward Hall and Bathroom Doorways

 

A Peek into the Bathroom

 

Cloud-covered Ceiling (gives the room a more outdoorsy feel)

 

Even the Dogs Have a Place

And, yes, they use it all the time. Hubby says it looks like I said something like, “Okay, I have to put the dogs away now so I can go to work.” Because, really, they’re there pretty much all day long. We come into the room, I sit at my chair, they climb into their beds.

Dogs in Their Place

 

Miscellaneous Bits of Color

 

More Color

 

There's Even a Spot for Hubby!

 

Miscellaneous Bits of Color and Interestingness

 

Switchplate Cover

 

More Color (and rocks!)

 

Favorite New Sticker

I would show you more frog pictures (yes, I found my frogs!), but I do realize that not many folks appreciate frogs like I do. Take Hubby as an example. He doesn’t get the frog thing. Recently, I ordered the switchplate cover, crazy frog lady sticker, and window sticker (you can see that in the picture above with the “More Color” caption). When they arrived, Hubby, who gets the mail every day, saw the return address on the package and said, “Really? The Frog Store?” As in, “I cannot buh-lieve you are now shopping at The FROG Store.” That sort of conversation happens in my habitat frequently.

That’s it for the tour. I hope you like my new office as much as I do. If you don’t, that’s okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, no matter how wrong or silly that opinion may be. 🙂

Now I have to get to work in my nice, new office.

Wordle Revisited

Last week, when trying to think of colorful stuff to take pictures of for the You Capture project, I REALLY wanted to create my own poster featuring “colorful” words to hang on my wall. Not colorful as in red, blue, green, etc., but colorful as in $%#@*&^!#*. But that wouldn’t have been very PC and probably would have actually offended some of my readers. So I quelled that particular urge.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And then I remembered Wordle.

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

That text was lifted right from the Wordle web site.

If you don’t have a big block of your own text to plop in, or aren’t feeling inspired enough to type out a bunch of random words, you can use the URL (aka address) of your favorite blog.

The first image below resulted when I entered http://www.toadmama.com.

Make your own Wordle word cloud.

So, once I did that, I had to try a custom block of text. I just HAD to.

It was like being alone in a room all by yourself with a little red button and sign that says, “Don’t push that button.”

If you are offended by colorful text, don’t click on either one of the two images below.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

 

 

It isn’t immature. It’s ART, people.

Immature would be going to sites like the Merriam-Webster online dictionary and typing in colorful words then hitting the little speaker button so you can hear the pronunciation.

What, you’ve never done that? You haven’t lived, my friend.

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary is my favorite online dictionary. It can actually be quite useful for real stuff like looking up the meaning and/or correct spelling of a word. And, yes, the pronunciation feature is helpful, too. Especially when you encounter words like “slough” that you just don’t use in everyday conversation.

I’ll never forget being on vacation in Oregon. Hubby was driving and Eric, who was around 10, was in the back seat. We were driving along the coast and I kept seeing signs for SLOUGH. I thought it was pronounced like SLOFF. So I said something to the effect of, “What’s with all these SLOFFS everywhere?” Eric piped up immediately and very excitedly with, “Where? In the trees?” I turned to look at him, saying, “What?” His face was plastered against the window looking at the trees as they flashed by. (Remember, Hubby was driving.) That’s when I realized Eric thought I said sloths.

I have no idea where sloths live, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t the Oregon coast.

Anyhow… if you have some time to kill, make your own Wordle word cloud. And if you post it to the public gallery to share with folks, be sure to send me the link(s). Colorful or not.

Grumble, Grumble, Bleh

I woke up ungodly early this morning. Really. It was 5:15. I thought about rolling over and going back to sleep. I mean, the dogs were even still all sleeping. But I had to pee. Plus, I knew if I did go back to sleep, I probably wouldn’t wake back up until about 8:00 and then most of the morning would be GONE.

Isn’t it odd how the older you get, the more you hate to waste your mornings in bed?

Anyway, I got up.

First thing I noticed was that our thermometer appeared to be broken. It had been registering the same temperature since yesterday afternoon. Or so it seemed. Every time I looked at it, the darn thing said 31. Until I told Hubby about it. He looked and, of course, the thing said 32. Of course. It’s Monday. A rainy Monday at that.

At least I had some good coffee.

It wasn’t Maui Grown Coffee. That just happened to be my mug of choice this morning.

With my coffee, I had some yummy strawberries.

How is it that the strawberries I have purchased in December and January taste better than the strawberries purchased during the summer? That’s just wrong. They’re from California, too. I think. (I’ll check the label later and if I am wrong, I’ll let you know.)

That’s a very unflattering picture of Meg. It looks like something you’d see on some crazy paranormal show. Although, she was pissed. Either because I wouldn’t give her a bite of strawberry or because K was hogging my lap.

Whatever…

On another note, Amy, our middle child, thinks she found me the perfect frog.

Click on the image and you’ll get views from different angles. She’s even wearing assless leather chaps.

I have to admit, that’s pretty funny. But I have ditched the assless leather chaps for real riding gear. So she won’t work. But thanks for thinking of me, Amy!

And now, since it’s Monday, I have to get to work.

Ugh.

Identifying a Successor

Some of you may remember the tragedy that struck back in September while on vacation in Utah. One of my traveling companions went missing. It didn’t take long for me to realize that not only was he missing, he was LOST. As in gone for good.

It was sad. Really. But I took comfort in knowing that at least he was lost in a warm, beautiful place.

Near Moab, Utah

And before he was lost, he got to see some really cool stuff.

Sprague Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park
Overlooking a Canyon at Colorado National Monument
Rocky Mountain National Park

Yes, I am talking about my frog.  At first, I didn’t let on that he was missing. Only because I knew my human traveling companions would make fun of me. But then I realized I would have to let them know, since I needed to find a new frog to take his place.

He’d been with me for years. Since early 2002, I think. It’s odd that I never gave the little guy a name.

You may not realize what a big role he played on this blog until I show you some of the many images in which he appeared. First, some of the blog headers…

An Early Blog Header (Date Unknown)
Wintry Header (January 2008)
Brrr (January 2010)
Here he only looked like a traveler. (June 2009)
May 2009 Header
Hey There, Spring! (April 2009)
Holiday Fun (March 2009)
Mountains of Snow (February 2009)

Those were all back when I had a larger header image. In a way, I sort of miss those days.

There were various holiday images, too.

All Dressed Up
Just One of the Herd
One of Santa's Helpers
A More-natural Setting

I haven’t done much with the frog recently because those things takes time. Not to mention the fact that I now have a much less obnoxious creative blog header.

Though smaller, his image on the blog still made an impact.

Most-recent Header Images

There’s been another frog on my header for a while now, but I am not convinced he is “the one.”

The search for a replacement started soon after the frog went missing. Only because I knew it was very unlikely that we’d ever get him back.

I’ve actually amassed a collection of five viable candidates. But I can’t decide which one I should choose.

The Lineup

There they all are in order, left to right, of procurement.

I gave them names only for the sake of convenience when discussing them during this post. Those names may or may not stick.

Rocky

I actually got Rocky while we were still on vacation. I found him in the gift shop at Utah’s Antelope Island State Park. I like him, but he’s sort of boring color-wise.

Mr. Colorado

This little guy is not only colorful, but fun, too. When you squeeze him, his tongue unfurls. I got him at the Denver airport.

The Gardener

I found that happy-looking guy on Amazon. I like frogs and I like gardening, so he seemed like a good fit.

Tiny Tim

I found Tiny Tim in a bin amid various other critters at the local Tractor Supply store. He’s really little.

Liberace

The latest addition is Liberace. He’s a jeweled enamel frog I purchased at a local jewelry store.  I don’t know what you call those little things that open. Usually, there’s a tiny figurine atop a small box with a clasp that opens to reveal a small compartment. I know they have a name, but it escapes me. Pill boxes, maybe?

Here’s what he looks like when open…

Wide Open

As far as the frogs themselves go, I like Liberace the best. I think he’s way cool. But, if I do decide to get creative with my headers again, there’s only so much I could do with him.

Outdoor Group Shot

The Gardener is probably best-suited for situational photos. He’s the biggest of the group, but that’s okay since I won’t be taking anyone traveling again. I learned my lesson on that score.

Group Shot in the Office

From the colorful and fun perspective, Mr. Colorado is the winner. Rocky just tends to blend in with the scenery. And Tiny Tim is, well, just too little.

This is where YOU come in. I need your opinion. Which one do you like best? Or do you like all of them? Heck, who’s to say I have to pick just one, right? Maybe I could just do guest appearances.

I do have other, older frogs still to consider, too.

Singing in the Rain

This singing frog is sort of fun. A bit tacky, but I like him. He lives in our bathroom and stands about eight inches tall.

Short and Stout

This little guy lives in our bathroom, too. Frogs do like moisture you know. He’s only about two inches tall.

Puppet Frog

As for this guy… he’s one of those little puppets where if you push a button under his pedestal, he collapses. Release the button and, voila, he’s back to normal. Honestly, though, he may have gotten lost in the move.

So, what do you think? Should I pick just one? Or give them all some time in the spotlight?

Please be sure to weigh in. This is important stuff.

Yet Another Another New Beginning

I’m back from Texas.

What? I didn’t tell you I was going to Texas? I’m sneaky like that. Now, I know I mentioned in passing that I was in Texas, but if you didn’t read the blog carefully, you might have missed it.

Anyway… I am back, much to the delight of my dogs who missed me terribly. I think Hubby missed me, too. He hasn’t been following me from room to room, though. Which is a good thing. A very good thing, actually. It would really be weird to have Hubby curled up on the floor of my office while I work. Dancing around when I get back from the store. Sniffing at the bathroom door while I am in there. Or sniffing at… well, you get the picture.

Why was I in Texas? I started a new job. Same job, different company. The last company I worked for grew very big very quickly. From about 500 employees to about 12,000. I am not exaggerating, it happened through acquisitions. I hated it.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some awesome people there. I just don’t like working for such a huge corporation. One sort of gets lost among the masses. I’d never be a good assembly line employee…

I had to go to Austin, Texas for a week of new employee orientation. Don’t worry, I’ll be working remotely from my home office. No moves to Texas in our near future. Although, I must say, Texas was pretty cool. It was way hillier than I expected. And the food was YUM-MO.

Unfortunately, I only took my point-and-shoot camera. So I didn’t get many fabulous pictures. But I did capture a few I thought I’d share here.

The Final Frontier

I took that space shot with the camera on my phone. Yes, I know it’s very geeky to take pictures from the airplane while flying, but I don’t care. The sky looked cool. And I thought the picture made it look as if I were flying in outer space.

Breakfast

The hotel I stayed at — Homewood Suites, which I just loved — had a complimentary breakfast every morning. With a waffle iron that made Texas-shaped waffles. How cool is that?

Yes, I get excited easily.

Them Thar Hills

Since I was supposed to be capturing morning images for last week’s You Capture theme, I snapped a few pics while driving. Actually, I should say “while in the car” since I wasn’t exactly moving. Traffic got a bit congested in spots. You can see how hilly the place is. Austin’s downtown is ahead and to the left, beyond those hills.

View from My Office

This was the view from the office they had me sitting in. Not bad, eh? Several folks commented that I had the best view in the building.

Sky Writing

Not much to say about that shot. I just think it’s cool.

Hello, Betty

When I say this mural of Betty Boop, I immediately thought of my buddy, Ally, who many of you know as ShyBiker. She loves Betty Boop.

Not only was I limited by only having a point-and-shoot and phone camera with me, the space was sort of tight. You see, it was on the wall of a women’s bathroom. A relatively small bathroom, I might add.

I got a slightly wider view with the point-and-shoot.

Betty Boop

I only accomplished that by standing in the hallway outside of the bathroom, propping the self-closing door open with my left foot while balancing precariously on my right foot. It wasn’t easy. But I just HAD to get the shot. Know what I’m saying?

I didn’t make too much of a scene. It was right before closing at Lone Star BMW/Triumph, where I’d gone to buy a shirt for my Hubby. (Yes, Rachael, I thought of you, too, being surrounded by Tigers and all.)

That’s it for my shots.

Next time I am there, I’ll have to go to the downtown area. To the city park specifically. Apparently, there are stray cows/steers (I don’t know how to tell the difference) roaming around.

Cow Power

No, I did not take that last shot. I wish I had, though. I think it’s pretty funny.

Christmas Fun

My girlfriend, Tracey, who is super-talented and makes the coolest stuff, is having a giveaway. If you’d like to participate, you have to visit her blog (Granny Trace Scraps and Squares), become a follower, and leave a comment. You get one entry for commenting every day. I have a feeling her bucket of contest entrants will be quite full by Christmas.

The Prize

Christmas is Tracey’s absolute favorite time of year. And to help kick off the holiday season right, she’s hosting a girlfriend getaway, which I will be attending. It’s tomorrow through Saturday. A sleepover!

I am very excited. I’ve know Tracey for over 30 years. Our friend, Carol, who I’ve know for even longer will be coming, too.

One never gets too old for girlfriend sleepovers. We’re gonna do crafty stuff, and eat, chat, LAUGH, do more crafty stuff, eat, chat, laugh some more, shop…

You know, the stuff girlfriends do!

I’ll be taking my camera along. We need an updated group shot. Plus, Tracey has lots of critters. And she lives in a very picturesque part of Pennsylvania.

Here’s the most-recent picture with the three of us…

We're Still Hot, It Just Comes in Flashes Now

See why I say we need a new one?

I cannot believe it’s December. Sheesh. This crazy, hectic year has flown.

This morning has whizzed right by, too. Time to get to work.

Have a fabulous weekend!