mamaLove

Fashion Upgrade

I’m trying to slowly build up my wardrobe to a more dressy but casual style, rather than all casual. Basically, more dresses (summer-y type), more blouses and less t-shirts. I don’t have many jeans so that’s not an issue.

But since I had Amelia, my hormones are so screwed up that I’m now hot natured. I used to be cold all the time, so I lived in sweaters. Between basic hormone changes and my cholesterol medication, I’m always hot. So I have half a closet full of sweaters and sweatshirts that I’ll never wear again. I much prefer wearing long sleeved cotton shirts and a cardigan rather than a pullover. Easier to have the layers that are removable for when my body temperature changes.

So I’ll be clearing out my closet of winter clothes that will never be worn again and trying to make room for newer more stylish clothing that I can wear to work or just for hanging out. I also want to get more cuter shoes. Surprisingly, I don’t have that many shoes that I wear. I tend to stick to a few staple shoes that will go with most of my outfits and I’m finding that I like the slightly healed slip-on sandals.

I think for too long, I’ve just let the clothing slide in favor of easier shopping items (yarn and books). Or stuff for Amelia. It’s much easier to buy her clothes (it all fits her usually). Where I go to buy clothes for myself and about 2% of what I try on fits. It’s very frustrating, but I think I need to do it for myself.

A wardrobe upgrade. It’s about time. But I know it can’t happen overnight. I’m going to try to get one or two outfits with each paycheck. I know I can afford it, if I don’t waste the money on other junk (like eating out too much or getting knitting/spinning stuff, which I don’t really need anymore of right now). So we’ll see how it goes. And I’m hoping to not shop the discount stores. All the department stores seem to be having sales all the time (at least every time I go in there), so why not take advantage of it and see what they have to offer.

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Gallery Changes

I’ve been working on some changes to Amelia’s photo gallery. I’m implementing slimbox to the album page, so that the photos load on the same page instead of having to reload a new page for each picture. Should be much nicer.

Another thing I want to do is fix the layout of the album list. It will most likely look the same, but I want to fix the html structure so that it is properly loaded using css instead of using tables. I know I can do it. I just have to figure it out.

I also need to fix the video page, so that all the video clips are fed from YouTube.

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Birth Buddy

Amelia has a birth buddy. There was a lady in my birthing class that ended up having her baby on the same day Amelia was born at the same hospital only 2 hours earlier. I thought that was neat. We didn’t know it. How did we find out? She recognized me, when I went to pick up Amelia at daycare. The girls are in the same class!

Weird that we ended up delivering the same day only a few hours apart, then end up putting our kids in the same daycare! Amelia has a birth buddy.

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Flex Time

For about 7 years my daily work schedule was 8:30am to 5:30pm. Then when we switched Amelia to a toddler bed, she began waking up at 5:15/5:30am, so I decided that since I was already up, I may as well go to work, and get out earlier so I can have a bit more time with Amelia in the evenings. So now, I currently work from 7:30am to 4pm with 30 minutes for lunch instead of an hour. I love getting out at 4pm. It’s daylight for one, no matter what time of year. I can pick Amelia up and be home by 5pm, even when I have to stop and get groceries. This means I can have dinner ready well before 7pm. With her new bedtime of 8pm, it means I’m not super crunched to get dinner on the table and get her a bath before she goes to bed. Getting off work at 4pm gives me plenty of time to do everything I need to do.

But my question is, is flex time really as good as all the hype? I’ve been reading Working Mother magazine, and have been seeing all these corporate women who seem to do everything in a day, but I wonder how well they manage it all. I guess when you are a corporate junkie, you can do your paperwork at home in the evenings after the kids go to sleep, or in the morning while drinking that cup of coffee, but there is some sacrifice, no matter what.

With flextime, sure you control which hours you clock at the office, but you are still required to clock the allotted 8 hours a day, no matter what shift you choose. So you are either sacrificing the morning routine (in which your spouse gets the kid(s) ready long after you have left for work) or you are sacrificing quality time in the afternoon.

My flex schedule works for now, but once Amelia starts kindergarten and is in school til a mere 2:30pm, I’ll still be sacrificing. I still won’t spending as much time as I want with her, being there when she gets home from school (or being there to see her off to school), so no matter what flex time they offer me, it still means I’m missing out some time with her during the day.

You could argue that’s just the way it is for a working parent, and I agree. But I just wish they wouldn’t hype up flex time to make it sound better than it really is. You still (in most companies) have to put in 8 consecutive hours a day, so really how flexible is it?

I guess they should just change the terminology of it. Don’t call it flex schedule, because it’s not all that flexible. I’m not good at coming up with names. But they could call it something more appropriate. Variable schedule, maybe. Because at most, you have about 3 or 4 different starting/ending times to choose from. Which you choose depends on what you are willing to sacrifice.

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Staying the Same

After searching for a theme, and playing with a few, I just realized I don’t want to mess with what I already have. It works, it’s functional, and it’s done. I don’t feel like fiddling with code to get another one to work. That would require too much time on the computer and I prefer to be spinning or knitting instead.

So this site will stay as is, except I hope to post more frequently. Yeah, I know. I keep saying that. I don’t even have that many followers, so I always wonder why I even bother, but whatever.

Maybe someday I will have enough followers to make it worth posting some thought every day. Who knows.

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A Conversion

I’m merging the knitting content into this blog. It’s a bit much to keep it all separate, since I blog so infrequently now.

I wish I had more motivation and desire to blog, but I just don’t. I’d rather spend my time on Ravelry or Facebook if I’m online. Of course.

So I’m consolidating. I’ve even considered scaling down a bit, making this more journal-like and less blog-like, and just having a few other small details like my twitter feed, ravelry project list, delicious links, etc.

I am considering a layout change. I found one I like, I just need to get it working. I had downloaded a template a few days ago, but for some reason when I try to apply it to my wordpress blog, it doesn’t work, so I get a non-styled site. Very weird, so I’m going to try a different one. I think it will make the site a bit more like I mentioned, a journal entry, a photo, then other little blips. We’ll see how it goes.

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RoR

I’ve been a VB developer for 8 years, first in VB6, and now in .NET. I don’t know near as much though because I only know enough to get my job done. Of course, most people are the same way.

But I’m tired of .net development. I’m ready for a change and so far, what I’ve seen of Ruby on Rails (RoR), I like. It’s simple, it’s easy to develop with and it works. It makes sense. It does a lot of the work for you, too, which means no switching from here to there to get an app working and running.

Granted, my web design skills are somewhat lacking, but I need a change. I don’t want to do Windows development anymore.

I’ve been reading books and tutorials on RoR and I’ve decided I need to develop some sort of app as a way to get my feet wet and get familiar with the framework. It would also give me something to show, if I ever decide to try and pursue a career in RoR development. But I’m at a loss as to what to build. I’m not too thrilled with the idea of making my own blogging software.

I’ve thought about a few idea, but none of them really sounds appealing or useful. Maybe because software development, regardless of platform, is just not exciting to me anymore. I think the whole idea has lost its spark. It goes back to the desire to leave the computer industry behind and find a decent paying job where the computer is just possibly a tool to aid in my work, not the main focus. My job currently depends on the computer. If you were to take it away, I couldn’t get my job done. I’d love to find a job where it’s only there to aid me or guide me but I’m not dependant on it, like I am now.

But since all I know is software development, I must stick to what I know. I can’t afford to relearn a new career or new skills needed to switch my field of work. So I thought maybe switching language and framework would at least offer something fresh. So I choose Ruby on Rails. If only I could find some useful, meaningful application to attempt to develop so that I can get familiar with it.

Anyone have any idea? This app most likely isn’t something I would be releasing to the public, but maybe use only personally on my own site or and extension of.

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