Sunday, November 19, 2017

Watercolor doodles & Christmas cards

I've been avoiding this space - Not because of writer's block or for a lack of anything to say but for my usual lack of focus - I'd be fine with just getting on here and rambling.  And who'd care?  Since the 2 people who read it don't mind my pointless meanderings and the random victims who happen across this little corner of the web probably got here by mistake anyway.

I also have to admit that I'm kind of scared.  I don't like being judged.  I don't appreciate it much when people take a single part of me (something I've posted) and assume that's who I am. Everyone has so many facets that a single opinion or difference of opinion can't possibly make up the entirety of anyone and personally, I wouldn't enjoy a world with nothing but like-minds.

So, with that in mind, here's a few bits of doodling that have been keeping my hands busy lately. Working on a few Christmas cards that I'll be sending to family. Luckily, they're not too judgemental when it comes to my artwork and I'm hoping they just appreciate the effort. = >









x

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Pinterest!!!

Loving Pinterest for ideas, DIY, cooking, baking, and all things CRAFTY! - It's an ADD overload!


You can follow me here - http://pinterest.com/adcd/
  - I've pinned literally hundreds of great ideas, DIY's, tutorials, How-To's, printables, recipes, parent/teacher stuff and more!

I don't pin ads, weight loss crud, or any other commercial propaganda - Just good stuff!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

The Great Northwest...

Welcome to the Great Amazingly Awesome Northwest! 

 

I am a mountain lady.  A Northwesterner.  Washington, Oregon, Idaho & Montana - (Let's include Alaska, Colorado, the Northwestern part of Wyoming and obviously Western Canada too.)  I've lived around the Greater Northwest U.S. my entire life.  





      

In my younger, carefree days I dreamed of living as an artist in a large city.  And I did the artist thing and the big city thing - but not at the same time. (I also like being able to afford the luxuries like heat and food.)  In years since, I've come to truly appreciate all that the NW has to offer.

 



I've done a little bit of traveling, though not nearly as much as I still intend to do.  I've yet to find anywhere as awesome as here.  I loathe heat & humidity and I'm not a big fan of tornadoes, hurricanes, big, mean bugs or crowds of people. 

 

I love tall trees, clean rivers, deep lakes, snow-capped mountains, being outside all year and finding places where the nearest person is miles away.  I love having four, very defined seasons.  (Sometimes they're so defined that one day it's one season and the next day it's another - And there are a few days here and there where we get all four in one day!) 

 

Everything is right here - Camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, gardening, skiing, sailing, sledding, and riding - horses, bikes, motorcycles, 4-wheelers and snowmobiles.  For the truly adventurous there's paragliding, wind & river surfing, kayaking, kiteboarding, world-class rapids and hot air ballooning if you're so inclined.  

 



For the mellower crowd, there's also attending any one of the festivals or fairs happening on any given weekend throughout the year.

 But let's not forget tasting at any one of a hundred world class wineries or micro-breweries - There's even a few ghost towns still around to explore.  There's no shortage of things to do, see and taste around here if you're so inclined. 


There may come a day when a milder climate might appeal to my worn-out bones, but for now, I can't imagine living anywhere more fun, exciting and awe-inspiring than right here. 


Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Adult ADD: 10 Questions, Expertly Answered

Sharing an article from ivillage by Laura Flynn McCarthy

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is not only for children. About 8 to 9 million American adults, and as many women as men, have ADD. There are three types: hyperactive/impulsive, inattentive and combined hyperactive/impulsive/inattentive. For years, the criterion for diagnosing ADD in adults was the same as for children: at least six symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in two or more settings (work and at home, for example) to a point where those symptoms impair your daily life.
 
But that’s changing. Today, as more adults seek help for ADD symptoms and as more research is done exclusively on adults, doctors are refining their ideas about how ADD differs in adults and children. Here, Thomas E. Brown, Ph.D., associate director of the Yale Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders at Yale University School of Medicine and author of Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults, helps to clarify what adult ADD is -- and is not.


Q: How does ADD differ between adults and children?
A: Children are more likely to have the hyperactivity symptoms of ADD than adults are. Even adults who were hyper when they were kids usually are not that hyper as adults. Also, the ratio of ADD changes from about three to one boys to girls, to about one to one men to women. That suggests that there are a lot of girls who have these difficulties, but they don’t cause enough trouble for other people when they’re in school, and so often diagnosis waits until adulthood, when they reach a point where they can identify the problem and seek help for themselves.

Q: Can ADD begin in adulthood?
A: The classical notion is that ADD begins in childhood -- that you’re born with it. One of the criteria for diagnosing ADD has always been that symptoms should have been recognizable by age 7, but that’s nonsense. There are no data behind it. In a lot of people, you don’t see any problems until a child starts middle school or high school and has multiple teachers. In some people, the symptoms don’t really appear until they’re living on their own for the first time.
In some women, symptoms may not arise until midlife. I’ve seen doctors, lawyers and other highly successful, well-educated women who have no ADD symptoms most of their lives, and when they hit their mid-40s to early 50s and are in perimenopause, they suddenly experience an unprecedented difficulty with keeping track of things, organizing things, remembering things and a whole syndrome that looks an awful lot like ADD occurring at midlife. Estrogen is one of the chemical modulators for the release of dopamine in the brain, and it happens to be the neurotransmitter that is most important for the functions affected by ADD. When estrogen levels drop in menopause, in some women that causes a substantial drop in their ability to exercise these executive functions that worked very well up until then.

Q: What do neurotransmitters have to do with ADD?
A: People often say, "ADD is a chemical imbalance in the brain," which makes it sound as though there’s not enough salt in the soup. That’s not it at all. ADD is a breakdown in communication in the brain. There are 100 billion tiny neurons (nerve cells) in the human brain, and they have to communicate, to transmit messages from one neuron to another. The brain makes 50 different neurotransmitter chemicals to help carry those messages. The neurotransmitters most affected in people who have ADD are dopamine and norepinephrine. If you have ADD, your brain makes those chemicals the same way everybody else’s brain does. It just does not release and reload them effectively. ADD involves chronic failures in communication from neuron to neuron.

Q: Does that mean people with ADD can’t focus well on anything?
A: No. Two conditions can change the chemistry of the brain instantly: when you’re really interested in something, and when you are really scared. In both cases, there’s an increase in the release of those neurotransmitters -- and people with ADD can function as well as anyone else in those instances. Where people with ADD have trouble is the day-to-day routine stuff of which most of life is made up.

Q: How is thinking about ADD evolving?
A: We have switched from thinking about ADD as primarily a behavior problem to thinking of it as a problem of the development of the management system of the brain, what are called the "executive functions." Those executive functions include your ability to get organized and get started on things; being able to prioritize tasks; being able to focus on something you need to, but then switch focus when you need to; to stay alert and sustain effort on things over a long time; to manage emotions so that you don’t get too flooded with worry or annoyance or other feelings; and being able to utilize working memory so that you can, for example, keep track of conversations and remember something you’ve read or heard.

Q: What are common misconceptions about ADD?
A: People think that to have ADD you have to be hyper and behave badly, or that people with ADD simply aren’t as smart as people who don’t have ADD. There is no truth to those beliefs. I have studied people with very high IQs who have ADD, and there are many people with ADD who have never had behavior problems, but do have problems getting organized, getting started on stuff, being able to stay focused or being able to keep one thing in mind while doing something else.

Q: Are people who have ADD more creative or talented than people who don’t?
A: That’s another myth. There’s a little romanticizing that happens when people talk about ADD. Some people with ADD are amazingly talented and successful, but a lot of them also have a difficult time delivering the goods. What we do see is that every single person with ADD has at least one or two activities in which they can focus very well and have no trouble with these executive functions that they’re having so much trouble with in almost everything else. A patient said to me once, "Having ADD is like having erectile dysfunction of the mind. If the task you’re trying to do is something that turns you on, you can perform. If the task doesn’t turn you on, you can’t get it up, and you can’t perform." It’s not a matter of willpower. When you have ADD, it doesn’t matter how much you say to yourself, "I really ought to," or, "I should." You can’t make it happen.

Q: How do medicines for ADD work?
A: After those neurotransmitters are released to carry a message from one neuron to another, what hasn’t been used up of the chemical gets sucked back into the sending cell. In people with ADD, their brains suck it back in too fast. The medicine slows down that "suck it back in" function by fractions of a second, but it means you get a better connection. In addition to slowing down the suck-it-back-in function, some medicines also help the brain to release a little more of the chemical in the first place. The medicine does not put more chemicals in the brain; it helps the brain’s chemicals carry the messages from one neuron to another more effectively.

Q: How can adults who think they might have ADD find a doctor who is qualified to evaluate and diagnose them?
A: Some primary care doctors are up to date on ADD in adults. Others are not, but may be able to refer you to an expert in your area. Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder[(www.chadd.org] (CHADD) is a national organization with local chapters around the country, and their meetings and website are a good place to get information about resources and doctors in your area. If you live in or near a city with a teaching hospital, call up and ask, "Is there a clinic for adults with ADHD?" The Attention Deficit Disorder Association also has a physician referral service on their website. Diagnosis should include a physical exam to rule out medical problems, a thorough medical history and initial interview, use of adult ADD screening tests or questionnaires and screening for other mental health issues in addition to ADD.

Q: Can adult ADD be cured?
A: Once diagnosed, most people with ADD can be successfully treated and their symptoms can improve. The medications help about eight out of 10 people who take them. Other strategies, including behavior therapy to improve organization and time-management skills, and good health habits like having a regular sleep schedule, eating well and exercising all can help adults with ADD to function better. Some adults with ADD also have coexisting problems such as anxiety or substance abuse issues. When those problems are addressed and treated, often the ADD symptoms improve, too.







Roosters have nothing to do with this article.

Happy ADD!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Randomness - Eye Candy

More camera photo dumping

Boy in a bubble.



Don't I know it...!



Pilot's Peak lookout - Above Idaho City, ID



Grumpa's great big Phunnie Cat.



Carnk / tilt head to right...



Antique sewing machine display - Las Vegas, NV



Above IdahoCity, ID



You can't get here without a snowmobile...



Happy puppy...



Visitor at my office near North Boise, ID - Fox, Deer and more show up all the time... 
(Please don't feed them.)



Bellagio Display - Las Vegas, NV







South of Elko, NV



Puppy love...



Trans Siberian Orchestra



Jumpin'...



Spring pretties...



Above Halfway, OR



Las Vegas, NV



Attack of the Giant Rooster...!  Nampa, ID

Monday, January 23, 2012

In Celebration of Love and Martyred Saints

Every February 14, across the United States and in other places around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. 
Why? 
Personally, I adopt as many celebrations as possible, be they Catholic, Christian, Pagan, Buddhist or Muppet.  We get one real shot at this life and I like to think that, while I celebrate every day I wake up, there's always room for more reasons to celebrate.  If one or more of those "holidays" can be exploited by consumeristic, profiteering, mass-production businesses, then by golly, they can sure be exploited by me.

To that end, here's a few things you may, or may not have known about Valentine's Day:

  • Many believe the 'X' symbol became synonymous with the kiss in medieval times. People who couldn't write their names signed in front of a witness with an 'X.' The 'X' was then kissed to show their sincerity.
  • Casanova, well known as "The World's Greatest Lover," ate chocolate to make him virile.
  • Physicians of the 1800's commonly advised their patients to eat chocolate to calm their pining for lost love.
  • More than 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine's Day.
  • Over $1 billion worth of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day in the U.S.
  • Every Valentine's Day, the Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet.
  • Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight. (Source: Hallmark research)
  • 112,185 marriages were performed in Nevada during 2008. (My own Vegas elopement was in 2009)
  • So many couples "tie the knot" in the Silver State that it ranked fourth nationally in marriages, even though it's total population that year among states was 35th.
  • 53% of women in America would dump their boyfriends if they did not get them anything for Valentine's Day
  • Approximately one billion Valentines are sent out worldwide each year according to estimates by the U.S. Greeting Card Association. That's second only to Christmas.
  • Women purchase approximately 85 percent of all Valentines.
  • Teachers will receive the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
  • Men spend double what women spend on Valentine's day: $158.71 compared to $75.79
  • 15% of U.S. women send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day
  • 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
  • About 8 billion candy hearts will be produced this year; that’s enough candy to stretch from Rome, Italy to Valentine, Arizona 20 times and back again
  • According to a Durex survey, condom sales are highest around Valentine's Day -- 20 to 30% more than usual
  • More at-home pregnancy tests are sold in March than in any other month

Need some ideas or inspiration?

*   One year I wrote 100 reasons why I love my man - I printed them out and cut them in to little strips and used them to replace the flags of Hershey's kisses.  (Yes, I had to un-wrap and re-wrap them all.)

*   Post-it makes some heart-shaped sticky notes that I use all year to leave spontaneous happy notes for both my husband and son.

*   I use a dry-erase marker to write notes on bathroom mirrors.

*   When my guys go on trips I sneak notes and/or candies in to their bags or coat pockets.  I've also been know to put them in their shoes in the morning.

Here's a few other goodies I've found:









Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Perspectives



I'm reposting this from a tumblr blog post by Lindsey - I was afraid the link might disappear, so I pasted it in it's entirety because the bottom line it this:  How you look and how you feel and how you see both and compare it to others is distorted. 
no shit.
This weekend I was told a story which, although I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, because holy shit is it ever obvious, is kind of blowing my mind.
 
A friend of a friend won a free consultation with Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear, and she was very excited, because she has a plus-size body, and wanted some tips on how to make the most of her wardrobe in a fashion culture which deliberately puts her body at a disadvantage.

Her first question for him was this: how do celebrities make a plain white t-shirt and a pair of weekend jeans look chic?  She always assumed it was because so many celebrities have, by nature or by design, very slender frames, and because they can afford very expensive clothing.  But when she watched What Not To Wear, she noticed that women of all sizes ended up in cute clothes that really fit their bodies and looked great.  She had tried to apply some guidelines from the show into her own wardrobe, but with only mixed success.  So - what gives?

His answer was that everything you will ever see on a celebrity’s body, including their outfits when they’re out and about and they just get caught by a paparazzo, has been tailored, and the same goes for everything on What Not To Wear.  Jeans, blazers, dresses - everything right down to plain t-shirts and camisoles.  He pointed out that historically, up until the last few generations, the vast majority of people either made their own clothing or had their clothing made by tailors and seamstresses.  You had your clothing made to accommodate the measurements of your individual body, and then you moved the fuck on.  Nothing on the show or in People magazine is off the rack and unaltered.  He said that what they do is ignore the actual size numbers on the tags, find something that fits an individual’s widest place, and then have it completely altered to fit.  That’s how celebrities have jeans that magically fit them all over, and the rest of us chumps can’t ever find a pair that doesn’t gape here or ride up or slouch down or have about four yards of extra fabric here and there.

I knew that having dresses and blazers altered was probably something they were doing, but to me, having alterations done generally means having my jeans hemmed and then simply living with the fact that I will always be adjusting my clothing while I’m wearing it because I have curves from here to ya-ya, some things don’t fit right, and the world is just unfair that way.  I didn’t think that having everything tailored was something that people did. 

It’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t know this.  But no one ever told me.  I was told about bikini season and dieting and targeting your “problem areas” and avoiding horizontal stripes.  No one told me that Jennifer Aniston is out there wearing a bigger size of Ralph Lauren t-shirt and having it altered to fit her.

I sat there after I was told this story, and I really thought about how hard I have worked not to care about the number or the letter on the tag of my clothes, how hard I have tried to just love my body the way it is, and where I’ve succeeded and failed.  I thought about all the times I’ve stood in a fitting room and stared up at the lights and bit my lip so hard it bled, just to keep myself from crying about how nothing fits the way it’s supposed to.  No one told me that it wasn’t supposed to.  I guess I just didn’t know.  I was too busy thinking that I was the one that didn’t fit.

I thought about that, and about all the other girls and women out there whose proportions are “wrong,” who can’t find a good pair of work trousers, who can’t fill a sweater, who feel excluded and freakish and sad and frustrated because they have to go up a size, when really the size doesn’t mean anything and it never, ever did, and this is just another bullshit thing thrown in your path to make you feel shitty about yourself.

I thought about all of that, and then I thought that in elementary school, there should be a class for girls where they sit you down and tell you this stuff before you waste years of your life feeling like someone put you together wrong.

So, I have to take that and sit with it for a while.  But in the meantime, I thought perhaps I should post this, because maybe my friend, her friend, and I are the only clueless people who did not realise this, but maybe we’re not.  Maybe some of you have tried to embrace the arbitrary size you are, but still couldn’t find a cute pair of jeans, and didn’t know why.

About the author

Lindsay, 25, Canadian, hunkered down just west of the 100th meridian. College drop-out. Spinster. I like old things and television, animals and pretty things, food and Friday Night Lights, history and politics. I care about stuff, which means I get angry and wordy sometimes. I like to tell pointless stories which highlight my social incompetence and flaws in a way I pray is charming but is more likely obnoxious. This is an "everything but the kitchen sink" blog. Sometimes there is a kitchen sink, too.

I blog about music at
chainlinklots, and about food at justaddhotsauce

Thursday, January 5, 2012

WOW Deals I'm compelled to share

Hiya!

   Every now and then I come across a great deal and I'm literally compelled to pass it on -

If you're in the Boise, ID area, Groupon has another WOW deal on 5 laser hair removal treatments for $99 to get your underarms done. (This place and most others charge around $500 regularly.) Click here> Boise Groupon


Also, A little site I found called NETAYA has some unbelievable daily deals on jewelry - I gave myself a present of a pair of 1 ct. natural blue topaz earrings and a matching pendant plus a sterling silver chain for $10 each!   They have a an adorable sterling and diamond bow pendant on a sterling box chain for $20 bucks and free shipping!  (USE CODE NYR5 at checkout to get the deal on the bow pendant.)
     
Click here > NETAYA.com  

Overstock had a 1" memory foam mattress topper in a CA King size for $20!  (For that price you could get 2, fold 'em in 4ths, put 'em in a funky print twin sheet sewn around the edges and make an amazing gaming lounge pillow chair for the kids!)

Everyday at 12 ET NoMoreRack will post their deals and some are pretty great (Others are just Meh and some are actually just cheap shtuff)  But it's worth a look in case they happen to post one of those super great deals (like the leather tote I got for $10 or the Green Peridot earrings I bought for only $7) Best of all, shipping is just $2 for each item.

Today they had a 10-pack of lace scraps for only $24 that'd be great for crafting and scrapbooking! 



Click here > NOMORERACK.com 





Alrighty, that's all I've got time for right now, but if you want me to send you some other stuff I get in my DOD emails, let me know.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Cookies are made of butter and love. ~Norwegian Proverb

It's that time - Christmas Treats Everywhere!  At the office - At home - At the parties - At school - You can't avoid them - I don't even try.

Below are some helpful tips and recipes I've twiddled across during my distracted forays into the web:
TipNut.com


From one of my favorite sites - TipNut.com - Bake Cookies Like A Pro and 12 Quick & Easy No-Bake Cookies


Martha's always good for some great tips and recipes - She even has an App for cookies!


Betty Crocker and Pillsbury (Those two are both owned General Mills.) are timeless classics - Check out Betty's Homemade Gift Section too!




Better homes & Gardens (or BHG) even gives you the very basics of baking along with great recipes.

Paula Deen's is also a good resource.

Oh! and if you're looking for some last minute DIY's - You should definitely check out some of my recent Pinterest Pins! for Reinbeers, I-Spy Bottles & Ornaments, Lavender Sachets and Bath Soaks, Sweater Sleeve Wine Bags, A DIY Ice Cream Sundae Kit and Gift Bags to wrap it all up!