Only two weeks until he's gone for 3 months

My sweetheart is leaving for a training course in two weeks and won't be back until it's nearly August. We've been apart before due to deployment, training and other stuff like that, but it never seems to get easy. This time I'm feeling an especially large raincloud because when he gets back, he's moving to another state and it will be several MORE months before I can follow.

We use Skype and email daily when he's gone to keep in touch, but there's a small chance that the lodging he'll be in might not have internet in his room. Needless to say we'll both be extremely unhappy if that is the case!

Do you have any tips for dealing with long-distance periods in relationships?

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a WootOff!

There's a WootOff going on at woot.com!

What is a WootOff, you ask? Well, woot.com was one of the original daily deal sites. Occasionally, this Texas-based company needs to clear out their warehouse, so instead of doing just one deal they'll do a day or two (or sometimes even three) where they post one item at a time at a sale price, following that item up with another one when it sells out. In the last few years they've added kids.woot.com (toys and kids products) and wine.woot.com (wine, cheeses and other gourmet items), they also run simultaneous wootoffs on these too! It's a great way to snag some deals.

The grand prize, though, is the woot "Bag O' Crap" (or BOC). At some point instead of a regular item a brown paper bag will appear for $3 with $5 shipping. If you're really fast, and I mean really really fast, you might be able to grab one of these fabled items. It's basically a mystery grab-bag with at least 3 items and at least one type of bag. People have gotten TVs, mp3 players, cameras and other awesome goodies - but some have also gotten 33 of the same calendars or a ton (literal about a ton, it was delivered on a truck) of car wax! It's always a mystery and always fun, so for $8 it's totally worth it.

Go check out the wootoff! It started today so it should run at least through tomorrow.

Cute Baby Ducks

Some beautiful baby ducks for you on this gorgeous Spring day!

Found here.

National Geographic only $10 for a year on Amazon.com

It says $15 on the page, but you'll get $5 off in your cart if you order before April 30. If you've ever read National Geographic, you know this is an amazing bargain for the amount of quality content you'll get. We don't subscribe to many magazines, but at this price (cover price is $71, for comparison) it's impossible to pass up.

My guest post at Concert Katie's Blog: Classical Music 101

Go check out my guest post at Concert Katie's Blog!

Have you ever thought about attending a classical concert? Why not? Many people seem to have some apprehension about seeing a professional classical music concert, but there's a lot of reasons why you'll probably enjoy one a lot more than you may think. More



Katie writes about live concerts, scrapbooking, and other music-related topics. She's seen over 200 concerts, including 17 so far this year! She also runs occasional giveaways and posts about her experiences with developing her blog.

Tiny food - very cute!

I love small things. Doesn't this miniature wine and cheese table look amazing? Janet Uyetake makes all kinds of dollhouse-sized foods and accessories.







Do you know of any other good places to check out miniature food?

World's Largest Indoor Picture is 40 Gigapixels and Awesome!

Images by Jeffrey Martin, www.360cities.net


Photographer Jeffery Martin created this record-breaking 360-degree photo inside the Strahov Monastery Library in Prague. It's stitched together out of 3000 photos at a very high resolution. It's so detailed you can easily read book titles on the wall and even study the brush strokes on the ceiling.



If you printed it out, it would be 78 feet long! Go here to check it out in zoom/pan mode.

Day off dilemma - what to do?

My days off are usually Mondays and Tuesdays, but I worked yesterday and have today free instead. For some reason it's really throwing me off! I didn't schedule much because I originally had an event, but that's since been cancelled, so now I'm stuck with my wheels spinning. I think the gloomy weather we've been having is also taking a bit of a toll on me.

My restlessness is your gain - you can use the phrase "Wednesday Weirdness" as a bonus entry into one of my current giveaways.

Pillow Talk - Potential Tool for Long Distance Relationships

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Pillow Talk is a project by interaction designer Joanna Montgomery aimed at helping long-distance couples stay connected. It's still in the prototype phase, but she's gotten enough interest that she's already raised investment funds to help make it a reality.

It works like this: each person has a special pillow and a sensor band for their chest. When they go to bed, the other person's pillow will glow softly. When the other person goes to sleep, they'll actually be able to hear their partner's real-time heartbeat through the pillow.

You can find out more about Pillow Talk and check on how the project is coming along at the creator's website.

Starting to plan a new look - any suggestions?

I want to completely redo my blog's look soon. Any suggestions on who to go to for good layouts and graphics? Also, are there any resources on this subject that you've posted or found particularly helpful? I'd love to read them!

Cheers,

Mnemosyne

Daily Cute - Baby Tiger

Awesome Groupon - $7 for $15 credit on eBay!

Today you can get $15 for eBay for only $7 on Groupon.com. You can use this with any PayPal eBay transaction and even use it for shipping costs.



If you don't have Groupon, I'd love it if you used me as a referral (I'll get some credit for it, and it won't cost you a thing):

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4636795




You can find the eBay deal here:

http://www.groupon.com/deals/ebay

New! Weekly Bonus Entry for current giveaways

Want an extra entry for one of my current giveaways? Just post the weekly bonus phrase in the comments section of one giveaway of your choice. It's that easy!


This week's bonus entry phrase:

"I Love Spring Beauty Trends"

If you want, I'd also love to hear your favorite Spring beauty tip, but it's not required.

Current giveaways:

Avon GLAZEWEAR Dimensions (ends 4/03)

Benefit Stay Put Set (Eye Makeup Trio) (ends 4/10)


As always, make sure you've done the main entry first on the giveaway or any bonus won't count!

Monday Music: "Ach, so fromm, ach so traut"

Fritz Wunderlich sings Lionel's aria "Ach, so fromm, ach so traut" from Flotow's Martha. You might know it as "M'appari tutt'amor" in its famous Italian translation since lots of the big Italian tenors recorded it this way. This version is a bit faster than some out there, but Wunderlich nails it with his gorgeous tone and clear-as-a-bell German.

Here's another version I like, with a more modern singer (Jonas Kaufmann) and a very different voice color. This guy definitely has that crazy opera sex appeal:

If Dr. Seuss Made Star Wars

From cartoonist Adam Watson comes a series of illustrations imagining Star Wars in the style of Dr. Seuss.



You can check out more on his blog here.

Awesome Baby Unicorn Sculpture - super cute!

No, we haven't found a mythical creature; this is a baby unicorn sculpture by Indigo-Ocean. If you'd like to catch your own, you might be able to: according to her DeviantART, she does commissions.

Crazy Cute - Stick!

Next (eventual) Stop, San Antonio

We just found out a few weeks ago that we're moving to San Antonio. My husband is in the Air Force, so we go where they tell us. He'll be moving out first some time this Summer; I still have some school left so I'll be in Oklahoma for several months after he leaves. We've been apart before for training and a deployment, so we're not too worried about the distance relationship thing, but it's always hard to be seperated.

This will be our first Permanent Change of Station, or "PCS". I'll be posting bits of our moving adventures here over the next year or so, so stay tuned!

Mr. Popper's Penguins Teaser Trailer Released

I grew up loving Mr. Popper's Penguins and was super-excited to hear that they're making a film. After watching the trailer with Jim Carrey, I'm not really sure what I'll think about the movie. This trailer doesn't have the same "feel" the book did for me, but it does have a lot of cute penguins! I'll probably still try and catch it when it comes out this summer.

Update: the trailer was auto-playing, and that always annoys me! I've taken it off this post, but you can still see it here.

Are you a Comic Sans Criminal? (humor)

Are you or is someone you know addicted to Comic Sans? This site can help:

http://comicsanscriminal.com/

Daily Cute - The Angriest Hummingbird!

The Tortoise is Messier than I Am

If I were a tortoise...

This Galápagos tortoise had me laughing yesterday. It started with whole carrots and only succeeded in actually taking a bite one out of every four or so tries, sometimes missing by several inches. Its friend was much more deliberate and had a much higher success rate. I think ithe tortoise amused me in part because I identified with it - I don't have "normal" depth perception, so there have been plenty of times when I've reached for something and ended up way off the mark. I can occasionally be a little messy when I eat, too, so the bit of carrot that stayed stuck to its face the entire time only added to the effect.

Have you ever seen an animal that reminded you of somebody?

Benefit Stay Put Set (eye makeup trio) Review & Giveaway

I recently purchased the Stay Put Set from Benefit. This eye makeup trio has three different products in slightly smaller packaging so you can try them all out. It includes:

- 0.11 oz Erase Paste in Medium (regular is .15 oz and $26)
- 0.11 oz Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in R.S.V.P. (regular is .16 oz and $19)
- 0.09 oz Stay Don't Stray (regular is .33 oz and $24)

My favorite item has to be the R.S.V.P. Eyeshadow. I've never really used cream shadows a lot, but this one has me hooked. As I've said before, I love natural makeup shades. R.S.V.P. is a pretty champagne color with just a little bit of shimmer. It's subtle but gives some really nice light shading. Like other cream shadows, it can be worn sheer or bold depending on how/how much you apply.




Cream Eyeshadow in R.S.V.P.



Stay Don't Stray worked well for me. I tried it with some more vibrantly-colored eyeshadow and everything stayed put for the day. I've also tried it as an under-eye concealer after reading some reviews about it and found it works fairly well for that too.

The Erase Paste brightener/concealer works well for me on other parts of my face, but I'm not 100% thrilled with it underneath my eyes. It might be that I need a lighter shade there. A tiny bit definitely goes a long way with this stuff!



Want to win your own Benefit Stay Put Set?

Win: Benefit Stay Put Set (Stay Don't Stray, Erase Paste in medium, Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in "R.S.V.P.")

To Enter:

Like my brand-new Facebook page (Make sure to leave your first name + last initial as they show on Facebook so I can verify)


For bonus entries (leave a comment for each bonus activity completed):

Subscribe to my feedburner emails
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me via Google Friend Connect
Enter my Avon Glazewear Dimensions Lipstick Giveaway (ended 4/03)

The last day to enter the giveaway is Sunday, April 10th (04/10/11). I will use random.org to choose a winner and will contact him or her by email (please leave an email if it is not visible in your profile).


Note: I am not affiliated with Benefit in any way and did not recieve anything for this review/giveaway. All opinions are my own. It's just me, folks!

All tweets ever tweeted can be backed up on 20 terabytes

On March 21st, 2011, Twitter turned 5. Did you know that all tweets, from the very first ("inviting coworkers") until today, can fit in 20 terabytes of data? To put that in perspective, I currently have roughly 3 terabytes of storage within arm's reach. To also put that in perspective, however, some say the estimated storage size of the Library of Congress's print collection (converted into words/characters) is only about half that of the tweets. Have we actually tweeted twice the amount contained in our national research library?

Another Flogging Molly song for you

Build-A-Bear Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to entry #43, Deanna! An email will be on its way to you shortly.

Thank you to everyone who entered! Don't forget to check out our current giveaways on the right side of the page :)

World's Most Expensive Dog - $1.5 million dollar pup

11-month old Hong Dong, a Red Tibetan Mastiff, recently sold for a record $1,500,000.00. The name means "Big Splash", and this 180lb puppy has certainly made one. These dogs have become one of the latest "it" items in China, and the rich and fabulous have gone crazy for these furry status symbols.

Besides their unique appearance (red is considered a lucky color in China) and their intelligence, Red Tibetan Mastiffs are also prized for their history. They are viewed as one of the world's oldest purebreds and have been used as watchdogs in Asia for thousands of years.

No More Hyphen: "e-mail" will now officially be "email"

“Diamonds are forever. E-mail comes close.”

~ June Kronholz






The AP Stylebook has announced that they are officially changing "e-mail" to "email". Since they generally set the style and usage standards for news and other media, this omission of the hyphen will probably become the universally "correct" way.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Music and Videos to put you in the mood

"So, success attend St. Patrick's fist,
For he's a saint so clever;
Oh! he gave the snakes and toads a twist,
And bothered them forever!"

~ Henry Bennett



The Muppets sing "Danny Boy":




Flogging Molly's "Drunken Lullabies" (we caught them live on Tuesday; it was awesome!):




The Dubliners "Wild Rover" (No, Nay, Never!):

March 15th - The Ides of March

"Beware the Ides of March"

~ Soothsayer, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare





Today, March 15th, marks the Ides of March. The concept of the "Iudus Martii" has been immortalized by the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar on this day in 44 BC.

In Roman times and for centuries after, the Ides was a term for the approximate middle day of any month (either the 15th or 13th, depending on the month). Since the original Roman calendar was set up to coincide with the moon, the Ides would theoretically be the day of the full moon, although the actual calendar dates were often completely out of sync with what nature had going on. The Ides in general were considered unlucky days along with several others throughout the month.

"Tanga Trash" - Mnemosyne's Mystery Box Reviews #1

I am a sucker for a good mystery box.



Look what came today! Tanga.com is one of those daily deal sites that will have a few items a day in different categories (t-shirts, games, magazines, jewelry, etc). To clear out old inventory, every now and then they offer "Tanga Trash" mystery boxes for a low price. Ever wonder what's in a Tanga Mystery Box? On March 8, Tanga offered a "Tanga Trash" Game & Toy mystery box and I was able to snag one.

The price: $5.99 + $4.99 shipping (I had $1 credit so I only paid $9.98 total)

The haul:



Sevi Eco-Friendly Mini Pull Along Toy, Horse ($20 on Amazon)



Kid Galaxy My 1st RC GoGo Fire Truck ($18 on Amazon)




and Cromlet ($16 on Amazon)


I was hoping to get at least one new game to try out, but I didn't expect over $50 worth of stuff! I don't have any kids yet, so the toys will probably either be gifted or (possibly) used here for future giveaways. The package arrived less than a week after I ordered and everything is in great shape. Thanks Tanga!

Amazingly Fun - Turn any website into a Katamari Damacy game!

"My Earth really is full of things!"

~ The King of All Cosmos, Katamari Damacy






You can now turn any website into a Katamari Damacy game!

Katamari Damacy is a really addictive series of games where you roll around picking stuff up. As you get more stuff, your Katamari gets bigger and you can pick up even bigger stuff! In the game you start with items as small as thumbtacks and tiny coins and end up being able to grab entire buildings at once.

This code lets you take any website and play a similar game. It makes all the words, pictures, etc into "items" that you can roll around and pick up. Just go to the website you want to play on and paste the code into the address bar! They even have music from the game so you can groove while you roll. I rolled around on my blog for a little while and got a screenshot so you can see what it's like.

Here's the Article on Geekologie where I found out about this.

Avon Glazewear Review & Giveaway

My lips get dry really easily, and when they do it shows. Even with chapstick I don't always have perfectly even coloring, so I like to use tinted lipwear of some sort (lipstick, gloss, etc).

Lip gloss is okay, but I usually prefer a good lipstick if I need to wear it for a long time. It seems to last better and feel better long-term.

Oftentimes I don't want a lot of color, just something to smooth things out and provide some moisture protection. Enter Avon's GLAZEWEAR Dimensions Lipstick. I bought a tube of Nude Gold on sale around Christmas, and wow! It has just a little sparkle and the color is so close to my natural shade my husband didn't even realize I was wearing it at first.

Without anything on:



With Glazewear Nude Gold:





See? A nice, natural color that still adds the final polish on a look. This stuff also lasts well - I wear it to work and usually only reapply after eating something.

It's become my standard nude lipstick and I use it almost daily, so I figured I should probably order some more...and while I'm at it, I'll pick one up for a lucky reader!

Win: GLAZEWEAR Dimensions in "Nude Gold"

To Enter:

Follow me via Google Friend Connect and comment below

For bonus entries (leave a comment for each bonus activity completed):

Like my brand-new facebook page (two entries - comment twice for this one! Make sure to leave your first name + last initial as they show on facebook so I can verify)
Subscribe to my feedburner emails
Follow me on Twitter


The last day to enter the giveaway is Sunday, April 3rd (04/03/11). I will use random.org to choose a winner and will contact him or her by email (please leave an email if it is not visible in your profile).


Note: I am not affiliated with Avon in any way and did not recieve anything for this review/giveaway. It's just me, folks!

Happy Pi Day! 3/14

"Just look at that", Currin said almost crossly as he pointed to the envelope of space under a hand in one of Rembrandt's portraits. "It's exact and indefinite. It's like pi--you can keep figuring it out and always be right and never be done."

-- Peter Schjeldahl, quoting the painter John Currin




Today is Pi Day! March 14th is 3/14, the first few digits in "pi", that most famous of irrational numbers. It's also Einstein's birthday, making Pi Day a nerd holiday extraordinaire!



Pi is what you get when you divide the circumference of any circle by its diameter. It's always the same (a little more than 3), but it's such a finicky number that you can never be 100% exact on its value. It has an inifinite number of decimal points, which means that somewhere along the way you have to round it off to write it down. That's why it's usually represented as a symbol instead of an actual number.

To celebrate (and since I happen to have today off work) I'm thinking about making a "pi pie". Hmmm, the trick is choosing the flavor...

Spring Forward - Don't Forget Daylight Savings!

Sundays are the last day of my work-week. They're also the busiest, so I need all the zzzz's I can get most Saturday nights. Tonight, however, even going to bed an hour early won't help me get extra rest, because it's Daylight Savings Time! At 2 a.m. we "spring forward" an hour, and that means I lose an hour of sleep!

On the bright side, I suppose that means I'll be one hour closer to the start of my "weekend" over Monday/Tuesday.

Have you ever missed anything because you forgot to Spring Forward/Fall Back?

Build-A-Bear Workshop Giveaway ends Tomorrow (Sunday 3/13)

There are only 28 entries so far, so get in on a good chance to win!

$10 Build-A-Bear Gift Card

The last day to enter is tomorrow, Sunday 3/13/11.

Click here to enter on the original giveaway post!

Your Daily Dose of Cute - Super Cute Bunny

Adorable Wedding Bouquet

Banks considering possible $50 spending limit on debit cards

“Money often costs too much.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson





I don't know about you, but I've seen some pretty negative shockwaves from the banking reforms. While the new rules were supposed to help the average person by taking away or limiting certain types of fees and charges, banks have responded by using them to justify adding new charges or increasing others that weren't specifically regulated. It's not a question of poor actions on the part of the government; rather, it's the result of banks doing whatever they can to make money off of you and me.

In the latest episode from the banking drama, banks are responding to proposed legislation that would limit the amount they are allowed to charge retailers for debit card transactions. Currently they charge an average of 44 cents per transaction (which is why many smaller, mom-and-pop places have a $5 or so minimum for debit purchases) and the new regulations would cap this at 12 cents.

The banks' response? Limit debit card usage or require retailers to allow (and thus also pay for) multiple transactions by putting a very low limit on how much can be charged at one time.

From cnn.com:

"JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest banks, is considering capping debit card transactions at either $50 or $100, according to a source with knowledge of the proposal."

With a $50 cap, even going out to dinner could be something where you'd have to find a new way to pay. I don't think our bank (USAA) would adopt a policy like this, but if they did I'd be the first one out the door. After all, this isn't even credit - it's my money!

You can read more about the possible changes at money.cnn.com.

How would this limit affect you?

What to do when your phone gets wet - a trick that really worked for me

I once accidentally soaked my iphone overnight.

I had a bowl of water near my bed that I'd been soaking an injury in earlier in the day, and when I went to sleep I was so exhausted I didn't realize that the phone managed to find its way into said bowl of water.

The next morning I freaked out when I discovered the tragedy. I began scouring the internet for something, anything that would help.

I read about taking the phone apart, putting it in the oven, leaving it in the sunshine, and several other home remedies. Eventually I came across one that people were swearing by, and it seemed so crazy I thought "this just might work".

It turns out it did! One week later and my phone was back to normal. There haven't been any problems with it whatsoever.

So how do you fix an iphone that's been soaked in water?

Rice.

Yep, rice. I used instant because it's what I had on hand. After removing the SIM card and putting the phone in the cut-off toe of some panty hose (to make sure no bits of rice got inside) I sealed it in an air-tight bag of rice. I then put the bag of rice + phone in a tin and left it alone for a week.

Seven days later I retrieved it without much hope that things would work. Much to my surprise and delight, when I tried to turn it on a little apple popped up on the screen.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, the most important thing is do not try and turn the wet phone on. Even if the water hasn't done any damage yet, you could wreck the electronics inside by trying to turn the device on. Be patient, do what you can to dry it out, and only then try and push buttons. Again, I left mine in the rice for a whole week to make sure before I tested it. You also want to make sure the bag is as air-tight as possible so that the rice will absorb moisture from the device and not from the air.

I hope you'll never need this piece of advice, but if you do I hope it helps! It won't work for everyone, but it worked extremely well for me.

Your Daily Dose of Cute

"There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face."

~Ben Williams




Ball?

This puppy was found on CuteOverload.com

It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth....

"It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall, the major lift..."

~ lyrics from "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen



A great version of the song that immortalized the C, F, G, A minor, F chord progression.

Leonard Cohen first released the song back in 1984 and since then it has been recorded by many, many musicians. This version by Rufus Wainwright was featured on the Shrek movie album even though it was John Cale's cover used in the actual film.

$5 Amazon.com code giveaway at itsThoughtful.com - 200 Winners

www.itsThoughtful.com is hosting a giveaway for St. Patrick's Day where 200 winners will recieve $5 Amazon.com Gift Codes. It's free and quick to enter - click here to go to the form.

Cats quote Charlie Sheen

"Winning!"
~ You-Know-Who





All of these quotes are taken directly from interviews Charlie Sheen has given lately.











These cats and more can be found here, here and here at Medium Large.

Regretsy also has a new funny picture site inspired by Charlie's "winning at everything" attitude at http://winningateverything.com/.

$20 Dollar General Gift Card {Giveaway}

Time for another giveaway! This one is for a $20 Gift Card to Dollar General. Good luck and happy entering!



To enter:

Leave a comment letting me know what you like to read about on blogs.

For bonus entries (leave a comment for each bonus activity completed):

Subscribe to my feedburner emails
Follow me via Google Friend Connect
Follow me on Twitter
Enter my $10 Build-a-Bear giveaway (closed)



The last day to enter the giveaway is Sunday, March 20th (03/20/11). I will use random.org to choose a winner and will contact him or her by email (please leave an email if it is not visible in your profile).