Also, I’ve been working on another book, but with a totally different theme.  I had an idea to do something with monsters, and it just sorta evolved into a color theory book.  So, just a little peek…

• It is small
• It is animal, vegetable, and mineral
• It is not an alive animal
• It may be a dead animal
• It may resemble an animal
• It may be from a country that doesn’t follow the Geneva convention
• It is not jewelry
• It is handmade/custom
• It is not the word Amber carved out of amber
• It is not a dead mouse finger glove, thankfully
• It is not jewelry
• It may have something to do with amber, the petrified substance, not me.  He was trying to convince me that amber was animal, mineral, and vegetable…but its animal if something was petrified inside of it.
• and it is not a sock monkey with diamond eye balls

So here’s three geeky forces that I combined to get a daunting task done and actually have fun doing it.  I may actually find that we may have healthy, easy and cheap meals too.  If only I could save money so it can go to buying more tech toys (or just pay for the kids’ braces).

Force #1: Pinterest

Yep, Pinterest.  I love it.  I think women have this need to collect and organize stuff, in this case information and cute junk.  Whoever came up with Pintrest is genius and filled a need women didn’t really know they had… to pin.  Yeah, that includes the geeky ones too.

So with Pinterest, I found popular recipes, healthy recipes, budget friendly-recipes, freezer-recipes, and recipes that will cause me to gain 50 pounds.   The great thing is that I could pin them so I can easily find them in the future and not have to wade through a gazillion open tabs to find recipes that looked interesting or risk browser death and restore all 58 tabs in Firefox.

Force #2: Blogs

Those Pins took me to blogs and I got to poke around and ended up falling in love with a few sites in-particular…

Cook Like a Diva
Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body
Budget Bytes

I’m especially interested in cramming as many vegetables into our meals, Deceptively Delicious style.  It’s my newest obsession.  It’s all possible because someone else is a far better cook and blogger than myself.

Force #3: Evernote

I will say up front, the iPhone app is buggy and won’t sync, but I love their elephant icon and so will wait until they straighten up their code.  Now with all this info from Pinterest and the blogs, I started making lists and those lists filled a “notebook” or a grouping of lists that you can create with Evernote.  All these recipes are pasted in and if I’m ever at the store, I can grab my phone and look up the ingredients.  Also, I have  created a food list and a shopping list with Evernote on my laptop, which will sync to my phone or tablet.  I now don’t have to worry about a piece of paper that I loose 90% of the time…  For the most part I keep an eye on my phone as if it is my 4th child, but sorta like Stuart Little, because children aren’t pocket-sized.  List on phone without any additional work, WIN.

So that is just a few ways I’m figuring out how tech can compliment domestic duties, or maybe, that was that all just a ploy to spend a few hours on Pinterest. 

Toilet water isn’t just for the dogs

Wash…

…then tumble dry!

This is the cat drawer

Ignorance is bliss cat.

Dump Truck Kitty, now available at a store near you.

No narwals or unicorns were harmed during the making of the candy car, however the same can’t be said for the candy

The proof came in today and it was great to see it for real and not just on my screen.  Then there it was, the page that I didn’t put any shadow and all that good stuff on.  How awful would it have been if I sent it out in the world with that one mistake.  Yikes!  SO, another week and another proof to be ordered.

First off, my friend Julie kept telling me and telling me that I need to put my books on etsy.  I wasn’t sure if it qualified as “handmade” and so I sent an e-mail one day.  I got word back that it certainly is okay as long as I’m the one fulfilling the orders. So I have set up shop and am waiting for a batch of books to arrive so I can get them listed.

In other news I have been messaging people and unlike the last time I did that, I actually got some responses!  So as soon as my order of G is for Geek comes in, I will be taking a stack up to Science Museum Oklahoma’s gift shop.  This will be the first retail location that my book will be sold in!

The other exciting news is that I’m talking with a local bookstore about a book signing.  When I have a little more information I will post details on my Facebook page and Twitter (be sure to like and follow those to be in the loop).

One thing I’m still waiting on is my approval from Apple to sell the ebook versions of G is for Geek and S is for Spork through iBook.  G is for Geek is already converted and ready, but I’m just waiting now and hoping I did the application correctly.

It is exciting to see the books make it out of my little circle of friends and family and out into the world.  If you want to help give a little push, you can share updates on Facebook and Twitter and add the books to your Pinterest.  If you have a little time and nerves of steel, send Think Geek an e-mail!  Who knows what will happen with a little bit of momentum. 

I have worked hard to change our menu so that we are eating healthier. It doesn’t always happen, but I try.  I had noticed a friend had the same tub of cheeseballs at her house and thought, well, if she’s doing it, can’t be that bad.  I knew if I did it, my kids would be happy not to mention the hubby.

I personally hate them, Cheetos too, always have.  The smell of that florescent orange powder, the grimy fingers, and the texture that sticks to your teeth…. ick.  There have been times that I’ve had the Cheeto sticks, but anymore the smell takes the desire to eat them far, far away.  So the bonus is a snack my family can eat and I won’t touch them, literally, and that was certainly a selling point.

So stuffing all guilty thoughts aside, I purchased the highly sought after tub.  The family is happy despite my threats that it had better last a week.  Realistically it will probably last 3 days now that the hubby started eating them… in fact, he stuck the tub on the top of the kitchen cabinets to keep the kids out of it.

The cheese ball war has begun.

Later that day when the kids went to Grammy’s house, hubby moved said cheese balls to his nightstand. 

When we got our two little kitties, they needed names. The kids were leaning towards Petunia and Rosie, and I suppose we should’ve went with those. There is something about geeks with pet cats that scream, don’t use ordinary names! We tossed around names related to sci-fi and micro-controlers (I still like the possibility of a pet named Arduino, a fish maybe  –eat your heart out Nemo.

My favorite for building websites is WordPress but it just doesn’t make a good name. Concrete may be a good CMS and it would’ve been hilarious to hear, “Kids, stop carrying around Concrete!”

Django is a favorite, especially for a dog, but for a pair of cats we went with Drupal and Joomla, both php-based, and open-source (which is fitting since we were given these two cats).

You can only imagine the opportunities for geeky humor when you hear things coming from your kids like:

• Joomla is evil
• I’m in love with Drupal
• Joomla is stuck in the tree
• Can we take Drupal on a car ride?
• Joomla has a hairball
• Drupal was sleeping on my bed this morning
• Joomla caught a mouse
• Drupal needs a bath

Geeky naming conventions FOR THE WIN!!!  :)

The Phantom of the Opera (although he isn’t really a bad guy in this story, but still creepy)

Pirates of the Caribean, Dead Man’s Chest (Davy Jones who is creepier still)

Just remember, not all organists are sinister. Just to be clear, I am a non-sinister organist.

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