What Algebra Does to Me

This is what I felt like after spending over three hours on Saturday, helping my oldest review for an algebra unit exam...

The Potluck Post

Weird title, huh? Well, the reason being, is that I have a few unrelated topics to cover. So, without further ado...

Firstly, let me begin by explaining why I haven't been around much lately. The short version is: my computer is slowly dying. I never know from day to day whether it will work or not. Mostly, it takes forever to get onto the internet and after a few minutes, the computer will freeze and I'll have to reboot. I have done several virus and malware scans, but the computer is clean. Next, in case it was a browser problem, I reinstalled them. When that didn't work, I used a restore point in hopes that it would solve my problems, but to no avail. Next, I saved all my data onto a zip drive, just in case the computer decides to give up the ghost. Finally, I started finding what my drivers were and updating them. So far, it seems to be working, but I won't know for sure for a few days.

Cool Thoughts for Hot Days

It's hot and humid here, so I figured I'd share something to help cool us down...



Now, aren't you cooler??

Nope. Sorry, doesn't work for me. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

So, what do you do to try and stay cool?

FlatBread Pizza

I am in the process of researching Biga, which is an Italian bread starter. I'm planning on trying my hand at baking some rustic breads. So, while I delve into the wonderful world of rustic breads (and clean the BBQ, so we can actually use it this summer), let me share something The Boss did this weekend...

My wife met-up with some of her friends this weekend and had lunch at the FlatBread Community Oven. They are the only Neapolitan pizzeria in Idaho to be certified by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, and one of only 28 restaurants in the United States to carry the certification. They bake their pizzas in a 900 degree wood-fired oven.

She ordered the CAPRICCIOSA, which has: Fior di Latte (type of mozzarella), Artichoke Hearts, Herbed Portabello, Olives, Prosciutto, Fresh Basil, and Pomodoro (sauce).
Here's a shot of the pizza she ordered...

Some Points to Ponder

I would like to say Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! As a dad myself, I want to take a little break, so let me unleash on you something I published over a year ago. I hope you enjoy it...


As you can tell, my mind is in a weird mood. This happens from time-to-time, so I felt I might as well share these ramblings.

It's for the Birds

Since I have the house to myself this week, I've been concentrating on completing the third rewrite on my story. There's a deadline of 30 June to get it submitted so I can get my ONE printed copy of it. Because of that and doing the yard work I've been putting off since May, I haven't been posting a lot lately.

With that said, here is one of our daily visitors to our backyard. This guy and his MANY friends have taken it upon themselves to eat us out of house and home.

School's Out for Summer

Yes, now I have Alice Cooper's song playing in my head.


This about sums it up...

Love Those Wacky Packages

Most days after school, my friend Jeff and I would mount our bikes and make the trek to Dells, a local hardware store. We would leave our bikes out front and rush inside, heading directly to where the gum and candy were on display. Our ultimate goal: Wacky Packages. You see, you had to be quick, because they sold out very fast. I remember on more than one occasion, we were too late and had made the journey for nothing.

I loved collecting those things and sticking them on my binders. The packages came with several stickers (I don't remember exactly how many) and a stick of bubble gum. I would put the gum in a plastic bag and keep it out in the tool shed, because I wasn't allowed to have gum with sugar in it. For some Wacky reason, I came across this website and just couldn't resist this quick trek down memory lane.

Does anyone remember these...

Writing Roundup

I'm looking for ideas...

Yes, I am once again searching for something new to write about. Although, I have been doing a few articles on frugality, I'm bored and want to write on something else (look a squirrel). I plan to go back and continue this series a little later, but since this is Spring Break and I'm going to have a little extra time to do research, I want to try something new.

So, to help give my brain a much-needed workout, I would like you to suggest some topics that you would like to have me write about. It can be on just about anything: Bigfoot, home repair and maintenance, landscaping, cooking, product comparisons, or even zombies. In short, try and stump me.

My New Frugal Ways

I was inspired by Ann over at Ann's Snap Edit & Scrap for sharing some of her frugal ways and it gave me an idea to do something similar. As you all know, we are living in some very tough times and the saying, "a penny saved is a penny earned," has begun to mean something once again. For us, the days of impulse buying are over and the days of frugal living are beginning. So, to start things off, let me share with you my first step down the road of frugal living: making our own bread.

Before I began making our bread, we were paying close to $4.00 a loaf for the sourdough bread we like and just under $2.00 for regular bread. Over a period of a month, we would be shelling-out close to $25.00 on just bread. Now, let's do the numbers: we get a twenty pound bag of flour for $8.00, which lasts a little over a month. The recipe I use requires, in addition to about five cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of oil (I use Crisco) and four teaspoons of sugar. I make about two loaves of bread each week: the regular sandwich bread and a loaf of french bread. I figure that each loaf costs just under $1.00 to make (this includes the flour (about $0.55), salt (one to two pennies), sugar (about $0.05), and oil (about $0.10-$0.20) (optional).

Over the course of a month, I figure that we spend roughly $10.00 on bread, so we're saving close to $15.00 a month by making it ourselves. Now, I know that's not a huge savings, but it is fifteen extra dollars that can be allocated elsewhere.

If you would like to begin making your own sourdough bread, here are the recipes for the starter and for the actual baking:

Sourdough Starter

Baking your Sourdough Bread

A Muse Takes a Holiday

Well, I've been trying like crazy to come up with something to write about, but I just can't think of anything. I thought about writing an article about my weight loss, but I've already written so many articles on that topic, it would just be beating a very dead horse (just don't hold me to this, because I may just end up pulling a Doctor Frankenstein on that poor horse). I also thought about posting some cute pictures of our cats playing and sleeping together, but I think I may leave that for the next time I can't think of anything to say (which, by all calculations, should be fairly soon). I would just like to find out what is causing this writing-drought?

Could it be that since I am rewriting my novel, that I'm using all my creative prowess on that? Could it be that this all-elusive creative prowess is just a figment of my imagination? Could it be that my muse has left on an extended holiday and just forgot to let me know? Whatever it is that may be causing this drought, I must say that it's not fun to have to stare at a white screen and see a stupid cursor blinking back at me.

When I look around the room for any hint of inspiration, the first thing that catches my eye is kitchen counter top. It seems as if the gnomes have been very busy, because everything seems to be stacked on it, except food. I look over and notice that the cats are sleeping...well, there's a shocker. So, I can only think of one thing I can do: coffee! Yup, I think that's the ticket.

The NeverEnding Story

You may remember that I mentioned a writing contest I was going to enter. The only problem was that I needed to rewrite my story, so it would sound somewhat decent. Well, I tried, but I missed the deadline by a mere six minutes. Yup, I would be able to work on it after the girls got done with school and I spent about ten hours a day over the weekend, but it just wasn't enough time. Even though I didn't make the deadline, I'm glad that I went through the story again. It was something I had been putting off for a while and this contest was just the motivation I needed to get it done.

Now that I've gone through and fixed the most glaring mistakes, I am currently in the process of going back through it again and trying to tighten-up the storyline. Since I will be working at a more leisurely pace, I'll be able to add some additional details and polish-up my transitions. One of the other things I am going to work on is the dialog. Before I wrote this thing last November, I had very little experience (try none) with writing dialog, so this is a huge learning curve for me. I need to be able to make the conversations flow much easier, so this is where a majority of my work will be centered.

Anyway, besides the old writing, I'm keeping busy by trying to learn Geometry. Yup, the battle rages on...Equations of Planes in Space. Although this sounds like a weird Science Fiction movie, it's actually working with 3-dimensional figures. So, instead of having just the X and Y coordinates, you now have X, Y, and Z coordinates. Here's a little sample of what I'm talking about...

Hope you have fun with it, I know I am...NOT!


photo courtesy of...wikipedia.org (Edited to remove dead link)

Yet Another Writing Contest

I just received an Email today that informed me that there is a writing contest through Amazon. All I have to do is submit a novel and if I win, I get a publishing contract and a $15,000 advance. Yes, I know I don't stand a snowball's chance to win, but I figure that I might as well enter and see what happens. However, there's just a very small problem: you see, I haven't even looked at my novel since I finished it and the deadline to enter this contest is Sunday.

So, I opened the file and began the arduous task of trying to rewrite the thing. I'm currently on page 7 of 105 and I can't believe how many mistakes I made. So far, I've discovered one relationship error (a grandson instead of a nephew) and numerous other errors. I have already had to make a few serious revisions and I know that there will be many more down the road. Frankly, I think that I'll be lucky to get through one complete re-write before the deadline.

Anyway, I've bored you enough, so I guess the break is over and I need to get back to work.

My New Year's Resolution

I am still desperately trying to find my muse. I have a suspicion that she (hey, I'm a guy) is on vacation somewhere; most likely a beach in the Bahamas. So, since I am still currently muse-less, I have come up with some holiday-style drivel for your amusement...


It is now the time of year for everyone to make their New Year's resolutions. So, in keeping with that spirit, I feel that it would be appropriate to share mine with all of you. So, without further adieu: in 2010 I resolve to not make any resolutions this year.

There, now I don't have anything to remember and absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. I know that if I make a resolution, I will just end up breaking it in a few weeks, so why bother making it in the first place? I mean, I have enough things to think about without having to worry about some silly resolution. So, by resolving not to make a resolution, I can actually rid myself of that unwanted guilt.

But wait a minute, if I resolve not to make a resolution, didn't I just make a resolution? This seems to be a no-win situation: if I make a resolution, I have to spend my valuable time trying to keep it. If I don't make one, I actually just did. This sounds suspiciously like a government program to me.

Wanted: Motivation

I don't know what's wrong, but for the past several days, I have not had any ambition to do anything productive. Yes, I still exercise and do the cooking and cleaning, but wanting to do anything extra...forget it.

A few years ago, I installed laminate flooring in our living room, dining room and hall way. Now, in order to install the flooring, I needed to remove the base trim from the walls. I was very careful to number each piece and I transferred that number to a corresponding drawing. That way, I would be able to find which piece went where and just install it. Well, those trim pieces are sitting out in the garage and just beckoning me to re-install them. I know it needs to be done, but I just don't have the motivation to do it. Anyway, it looks as if I managed to lose that all-important drawing, so whenever I do get around to re-installing the trim, it's going to be like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

As you can probably tell from the tempo of this little article, I am even having trouble motivating myself to write this. It just seems that lately, I cannot think of anything to write about. Is it the weather or just a lingering feeling of listlessness that has decided to move into my happy household? I have no idea, but hopefully it will not be staying very long.

Well, I think I've done enough damage for one day, so I'm off to watch the news and maybe put in a really stupid movie.

photo courtesy of... lolpix.com

A Novel Experience

Well, I finally did it. On Saturday at around 6:30pm, I finished my novel. I have to say that the experience, although very intense, was also very fulfilling. For me, it was 27 days of total immersion in my book. When I wasn't spending hours writing, I was thinking about how to move the plot along and believe it or not, actually dreaming about it.

There were times, too many to count, where I would literally spend hours in front of the computer, trying to think of what to write. I would know where the story needed to go, I just didn't know how to get it there. Then, there were those magical times when the story would actually write itself. Wonderfully, this happened on Friday and Saturday, because on each of those days, I was able to write over 4,000 words.

When it was finally over and the last word written, I have to admit that I was a little sad. I had lived with these characters for the past 27 days and all at once, it's over. There were times when it was frustrating and other times when it was fun. But overall, it was a very rewarding experience and one I would gladly do again.

Now, since my brain is currently running on empty, I plan to do something a little different this week: I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite holiday movies. I know, you can actually see the affiliate monster rearing its head, and you would be correct. These posts will be mainly for search engine use, but I'm hoping you might get a kick out of looking at my choices. Also, this will allow me a chance to recover from my writing marathon.

I hope you all have a great week and if you have any holiday favorites, please feel free to let me know; I'm always on the lookout for a good movie.

Some Novel Progress

I've sat in front of this blank screen for the past fifteen minutes and I just can't think of anything to say. I guess spewing-out 1800 words a day has started to affect my tiny brain. So, I have decided to just include a short snippet of my novel.
Now, to reiterate, the 50,000 words that are to be written basically constitute a rough draft, so that is what you will be looking at. You will read it as I have first written it: with no proofing or modifications. The only thing I have done is spell-check, so you may even run into some words that don't really belong. As you will be able to see, I am still having difficulty with the dialog thing, but hopefully, I will get the hang of it eventually.

Well, the excerpt you will read takes place just after the main character, Eric, finds out about the weird things that are happening in the house he has just inherited from his uncle. Pam is his girlfriend and Bob is the attorney handling the estate.

Eric caught himself looking up at the ceiling and decided that he wanted to take a walk upstairs. “Let’s go to a look at the upstairs, everybody.” So, they all got up and moved across the room and started for the stairs. “You know, Eric said, “this is actually a really nice house.”
“I agree,” Pam said.
They all walked up the stairs and looked around the room. At the very top of the stairs and to the immediate right was the bathroom, newly enlarged due to the remodel. It had a nice Roman tub, which would be great for taking a leisurely soak, if guys did that sort of thing. There were also two windows that gave-off spectacular views of the farm. The first window looked towards the South side of the property and the other window, which was the newly installed window and directly above my uncle’s old bedroom, looked towards the east.

Looking immediately to the left, you will enter the main living area of the second floor. It was a large, open room that was divided by a chimney going through the center. There were also two banks of windows on either side of the room; one set facing east and the other facing west.

Looking around, Eric stated, “Well, this doesn’t look so bad. Okay, we have footsteps and lights turning on and off, anything else?”
“As I said, that was just the beginning. There are a few additional things that your uncle mentioned. For example, he also mentioned that he heard voices, growls, heard banging, and even saw something, but he never would tell me what he saw.”
“I see,” Eric responded. “And did he ever tell you why he continued to stay here, if he heard and saw all of this?”
“Again, he never did tell me why he continued to live here. I imagine that it could be because it was his house and that it had been in the family for all those years. I just don’t know. Anyway, I figured that you should know about this.”
Eric said, “Well, I do appreciate you letting me know. I must say that if it hadn’t been for those weird dreams and the fact that my uncle has had the exact same ones, I would not have given this a second thought.”
“Well,” Bob said, “I felt that you should know. Now, why don’t you two take a look around the rest of the house and then we’ll take a little hike in the woods; there’s something else that I would like to show you.”

National Novel Writing Month...Update

Official word count 13,590/50,000.

Well, I've been at it for a week now and I must say that this writing thing is not easy. Granted, the first few days were a breeze, it was slow going, because I was in the process of setting the stage for the story, but the words just came to me and I had no problems trying to think of what to say. Over the past few days, I really can't say that anymore.

First off, this is the first time I have attempted writing anything of this magnitude, so I am not used to supplying the amount of detail that is needed in a novel. Another thing that I am trying to get used to is writing dialog. I have VERY limited experience in this, so it is making life difficult, trying to make that part of the story flow somewhat smoothly.

There are times when the story seems to write itself (Oh, I love those times) and there are also times when it's like trying to pull teeth. During those times, I just have to keep pushing the story forward, until I can breakout and run for the end zone (Yes, I'm watching the football game while writing this). The story is coming along and hopefully, over the next week, I will get into a better rhythm.

I realize that this post is somewhat disjointed (you think??), but I just wanted to give a quick update of what it's been like.

November is National Novel Writing Month

I realize that October has only just begun, but I need to use these next few weeks to prepare for an upcoming adventure...

November is typically a very busy month for me. In addition to homeschooling our kids, I also start getting our Christmas decorations up (don't worry, we don't turn the lights on until Thanksgiving night), thoroughly clean the house from top to bottom, plan the Thanksgiving Day menu, and then cook the meal. Well, in my dementia, I have decided to add even more to this busy month: I plan to write a novel.

November is National Novel Writing Month and I plan to participate. You see, starting at midnight on November 1st we have until November 30th to write a 50,000 word novel. What is the purpose of doing this? Well, the thought behind it is to have people write their novel and then, when the contest is over, they would then go back and revise it. Roughly, what you are doing is writing a rough draft.

So, why am I doing this? Although it may look as if I have finally lost what's left of my mind, I have actually always wanted to do this and a deadline is just what I need to motivate myself. Now, the only question is: what to write about? I know that I want the novel to be a ghost story, but what I need are some ideas on where the story will take place; what about an old house, a forest, or a haunted ship? If you can think of a fun place for this story to take place, please let me know.

Wish me luck, this is going to get interesting.

What to Do With the Summer

As I sit here in front of the computer typing the words you are now reading, I am wondering what I am now going to do with my free time? You see, school is out so I have no more lessons to plan; no more math to learn; nothing to teach. There are several things that need to be done around the house, so I guess that is where my focus should lie.

First on the list is the berm. You see, we have an eight-foot tall berm in our backyard that is currently being supported by only a few railroad ties. Not very aesthetically pleasing and definitely not very functional. Since this berm runs the length of our backyard, around sixty feet, I feel it would be a good idea to construct tiers on it. This way we would be able to transfer our garden and the bird feeders to a better location. I have been delaying this chore for some time, because it is going to be an extremely labor-intensive project. Since I don't have ready access to a back hoe, I will need to dig the foundation by hand (a trench for the stones: roughly 16 inches deep by 14 inches wide running the length of the berm). Also, since I am now prone to allergies, I need to keep some toilet paper handy outside, in case of allergy attacks. Not fun.

The other project, that just got dumped on me last night, is to install an attic fan. With this in mind, I have been searching the Internet for a gable-mounted attic fan. I'm pretty sure that I have found one that will work (a Broan), but I still need to compare prices before I actually make the purchase (also, I don't have to do the actual work, until I make the purchase). Since the model I'm looking at pulls just under 4.0 amps, I need to find a circuit that can handle the load. Luckily, about two years ago, I installed a dedicated circuit for the freezer we have out in the garage, so I can tap into that line. Now, I just need to wait for the hottest day of the year to venture into the attic and install it.

Now, for the million dollar question: why should you care what I do with my summer? Well, in addition to giving you something to read while the other Entrecard sites load, I plan to write a few articles about all this. In these articles, I will take you step-by-step through the processes, so if you plan on tackling any of these projects, you won't have to make the same mistakes that I am sure to make. Well, I think I've bored you enough for today, so I'll finish this and continue searching for that fan.