Rischa's Rants, Raves, and Ramblings

Can't Sleep

I can't sleep, so I thought I'd post an entry in my poor, neglected blog. Sooo....what to talk about. Since sleep is what I'm after at the moment, let's start there.

I try every night to get in the bed at the same time as Joel. He decides he's going to bed and 5 minutes later he's snoozing. By the time I take the dogs out, close both computers, wash my face, brush my teeth, check all doors, get into my Pajamas, etc... It's too late. I really wish I could simplify my life so I could just say I'm doing something and DO it right then and there.

Speaking of simplifying my life, I really do need to do that in ALL aspects of Rischa-ville. Did I just say "Rischa-ville". How lame! Must be the sleeping pill. Anyway, first let's start with my email lists; I get about a thousand emails a day from different subscriptions. Most of them I mass delete. Why do I do this? What am I looking for out of these lists? I waste an awful lot of time sorting. I even have folder after folder to help organize them all, but I still waste a ton of time going through them all.

Second; Pets. I love each and every one of my pets. I REALLY do. Just like everything else, though, I go overboard. I take in every stray or sad face I see. I'm like the old lady that lived in a shoe, but with critters. I can't even go on business trips with Joel or visit family with him because I can't leave them behind. I have given serious thought to finding homes for my parrots. I love them so much, though, it makes me cry to even think of it. Let's say I did find a new home for them, though. I could then have my own room to work on my art rather than sweating my ass off out in the garage, where my current studio resides. I could also move my sewing desk and computer desk in there.

Oh, and then there are my treasures; I have various collections that are just stored in boxes in the garage and the attic. Don't get me wrong, Joel has some, too. I can't speak for him, though. Back to the point, I have bird houses (can you tell I have a thing for birds?), Precious Moments figurines, Piggy banks, shot glasses, and other small collections that I don't even display and bring me no use or pleasure at all. Why?! Some of them were given to me, but I did bring it on myself by starting these little collections to begin with. I don't even like these collections any more. They're just fun things to collect for a while and then they begin to collect dust, so I box them up.

I guess the question I should be asking myself right now is, "What is missing in my life that I overdo everything?" Is it a boredom thing? A perfectionist thing? A challenge? What the hell? This is my struggle for the moment. At times I think to myself, "delete everything!" That would include email lists, collections, or anything that complicates my life. The, other times, I think to myself, "What if I regret it later?" What to do, what to do?

Ahhh well, moving on....

I've been thinking of joining a Gym lately. There's one called Anytime Fitness that looks promising. I like going for walks and bike rides, but it always rains in the evening here. I set my alarm for a bit earlier this morning thinking that I could go early before it got hot out, but it stormed!! Grrr! What's a flabby girl to do? I bought an exercise DVD by Jillian Michaels, that Biggest Loser chick, but she had me doing jumping jacks, push ups, squat thrusts, jumping rope, etc... I can't jump up and down on these arthritic knees! I tried it and my knees hurt for a week. I also could feel that the workout was an awesome one, though. My muscles were that good kind of sore that you feel after you've worked out. I wish I COULD do it every day. I just can't, though. My rheumy would fuss at me if I did. On a more productive note, I have started logging everything that I eat and drink. I downloaded an application that helps you track your calories on my iPod Touch. It's really great because you can do a quick search for your food and they have a list from all restaurants and grocery stores to make it easy. It's really a great little weight loss tool.

I think I'll go surf the net a while until I feel like I can catch those illusive "Z's". I can tell that it's getting harder to concentrate on writing so my sleeping pill is surely kickin' in. See ya next time....

Oh and P.S. Don't judge me by the grammar used above. I'm not even gonna proofread this entry. It's too long and I'm too lazy to do it.

Title? What title?

Hmm.....Random thoughts tonight, so no title. I've been on the internet a lot today. Catching up on mail mostly. I was down and out for a while not feeling well. I actually almost passed out yesterday. I have no idea why. I felt sick and then I got that cold sweaty and everything seemed to be fading. But I didn't....I made it to my bed and was fine after a little while. Joel grabbed me a Coca-Cola in case it was a sugar thing. (Speaking of Joel, he's talking in his sleep as I type this...LMBO) I haven't felt faint since then, but I keep wondering when it will happen again. See, I've had fainting spells before with no reasoning behind it and they usually don't stop at once. Maybe this time it IS only the one time, though. So anyway, I've been doing some catch up on emails. Mostly junk from groups that can just be deleted, but I have to read them to see first and that takes a while when you get a thousand emails a day. lol

I also did some fighting with PSP. My PSPX (Paint Shop Pro version 10) just all of a sudden stopped working last week. I hadn't changed anything about it at all. I tried running a repair on it, but it didn't work. So I thought back to some of the things that I had installed recently. After uninstalling everything that I didn't absolutely NEED I come to find out that it was an update from DELL that was conflicting with PSP. I don't even like having that Dell utility on my computer, but DELL seems to think ALL of their computers need it since every one of the ones we've ever bought from them have come with it. I finally uninstalled it from my old computer and now it's gone from the new one, as well. So I finally got my PSP back after way too long without it. I need PSP like a crackhead needs crack. LMBO Okay, so that may be an exaggeration, but I do love to use it on an almost daily basis. Does that make me an addict? What if I told you I was worse when it comes to Photoshop? I'm a nerd...I admit it. That's the first step, right? So I got some PSP time in. I made a simple stat with an old tube I made. I tubed a photo of Rambo (my Alexandrian parrot) a loooooong time ago. It was my first and ONLY tube as I'm just not patient enough to be a tuber. Not that wonderful at it, either. lol It turned out okay I guess. Other than that I received a tube that I just loved so I"m following a tutorial to make something of him. I'm still in the middle of it. I finally deduced that I was too sleep deprived to concentrate on following the directions of the tutorial, so I'll pick it up tomorrow from where I left off. It's looking like a pretty cool tut, though, so far!

I just opened a CafePress.com store. I haven't officially opened it to the public or even uploaded any art to it, but I decided to give it a try, so I've got all of my information added and registered for the store. I'll keep my internet peeps updated, of course. You'll see a link to it soon go up. I thought it might be fun and maybe even a way to make some Christmas dough. lol Yeah, right....we shall see! I have ideas, though, so wish me luck with it!

Here's a little something I made in Photoshop.

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It's just a forum signature. I don't even do the forum thing any more, but it was one of the tutorials I sent to my Photoshop group Sunday. I thought I'd give it a shot. I snagged the images from a site that sells Photoshop and Illustrator CS2. It said to find some images that represent something you dig, so I figured I digged graphic software enough...I'd go find the boxes for 2 of my faves. The images show some of the white around the edge, but that's the way the tutorial writer did it, so I left a little around the boxes. To me it looks like I just didn't take enough time erasing the background, but....I followed the tut. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out overall. The tut writer was good, too. I hate it when I'm trying to do a tutorial only to find that the tut writer can't speak English or skips steps. It's very frustrating to follow those kind!

Okay, I think that's about all I can muster up for tonight. See ya next time!

Too tired, but here's a photo

I'm so tired right now that I couldn't BEGIN to think about typing a real post. So I'll just show a photo. Well, more than a photo, really. I made this creation in Photoshop out of a photo I took of my African Grey, Reno. It makes him look like he's coming out of the photo, eh?

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Here's the tutorial that taught me how to do this:
http://www.freakingnews.com/hosted/tutorials/OOB_Tutorial_Serrator.pdf

It's a wonderful tutorial. I say this because it assumes you know almost nothing about Photoshop and supplies screen shots for every move. My kinda tut there! Easy peasy!

Okay, now I'm off to dream land. Night all!

Fun day with fids

Most of the day I spent with my leg propped up due to being in an RA flare up, but I did have some fun. I'm only gonna talk about good stuff....why dwell on the negative, right? Right!

There's never a dull moment when you have pets. Especially when those "pets" (they think they're human and KNOW they're a part of the family) are parrots! Vegas  amazes me with her intelligence every single day. Today she showed me, Joel, and Kolby that she not only learns from us, but from the other fids (feathered kids) as well. I taught Reno how to say Mama. Well, he picked it up after me only saying it twice. The only thing was, it came out sounding like a robot said it. LOL Vegas said Mama long ago, but now she's also saying it like Reno says it. Maui was pretty hilarious today, too. That's nothing new, though. I can't leave the room for a second without that little stinker hopping down and following me wherever I'm going. LOL Seriously, he does this EVERY time I get out of his sight for even a second...no joke! He sees no reason why he can't go where Mommy goes. And I can't forget about my silliest little feathered child, Rambo. *laughing* I swear this little guy should be called Romeo rather than Rambo. He's such a sweety...but he's a bit of a con artist, too. He'll say anything to get out of his cage. It always works unless I absolutely can't get him out at the time. He will tell me he loves me as I put him up for bed at night, or when I'm about to go somewhere. It's very sweet until you have to turn the light out and leave him behind saying "I love you" over and over in the softest little voice. It breaks my heart to put him in his cage when he's being so darn sweet!

Okay, I've typed long enough for Joel's alarm to go off. Have a great day! I'm off to bed for another nap. (I don't sleep...I nap) :-P