Bonnie's Journal

bonbonjm @ 2008-07-02T22:36:00

2008-07-03T02:44:59Z

Hey, guys. Not an update exactly. First of all, just wanted to say that I have two new blogs that I'm going to be doing most if not all of my posting on:

http://vondohre.blogspot.com
http://improvedimagefarm.blogspot.com

Also, I've become a Pet Consultant with a company called Shure Pets. They carry health & beauty aids, treats & toys, and pet lover apparel. Everything is really good quality. If you get a chance, check out my website: http://shurelovemypets.shopshurepets.com

I'm Back

2008-06-08T16:43:24Z

Hey guys, in case anyone noticed I've been a bit absent lately. Thanks to my disfunctional body, I was blessed with a two week long stay in Brooksville Regional Hospital. With no internet access. Diagnosis: Gall Stones and Pancreantitis Fun stuff. Almost two weeks without food later, they finally released me Friday night. I'm less a Gall Bladder and on an exciting diet of low fat meat (aka chicken and fish) and veggies only until my pancreas returns to normal. No sugar, corn syrup, carbs, or fruit. I've lost a little over 10 lbs so far. I still have the Pancreantitis and have to go in for follow ups with my doctors until the numbers return to normal. I don't have any pain which is good. Well other than my incisions being a little sore. So, yeah, that's what's going on here. I'm taking it easy until I'm released to go back to work. Money's a little tight since disability isn't what I was hoping it would be. But at least I don't have to pay for gas to Tampa. At least until Matt goes back to work. He's been working from the hospital while I've been sick. My mom also flew into town. She's heading back out Monday, but she's been helping me with my gardening which is great. After two weeks in bed, I get light headed very easily. Well, lunch is ready. Time to go.

bonbonjm @ 2008-05-07T14:25:00

2008-05-07T18:29:10Z

Holy crap. Talk about one of those things you never think will happen to you. I got a new card from my bank a couple weeks ago with a note saying that my card number may have been compromised. I'm guessing from the whole Sweet Bay/Hannaford grocery store hack. I activated the new card and didn't think anything else of it. Until yesterday when I check my bank account and I'm $200 short. Someone had charged two $100 transactions to Exxon. I called my bank to report the transactions and the girl tells me they occured in Conneticut! Someone actually took my card number and made a counterfeit card with it. She said this is what they're typically seeing where someone makes $100 charges to gas stations around the 1st of the month right before they old cards are shut off. I will get the money back, but it could take 2 weeks. Glad I'm a little financially ahead at the moment. Not much, but a little. I can't believe it. I'm just glad I caught it. If it had been a $40-50 charge, I may not have thought anything or it, but I know it doesn't take $100 to fill up my Altima.

Folks please keep an eye on your bank accounts. These people are professionals. Now I'm going to have to check my credit card statement and make sure there's not anything on there either.

My New Book

2008-05-02T22:57:22Z

So far, so good. This woman cracks me up. She really knows her stuff and I love her writing style. Although, I will admit that she's slightly over my head on many things. Hopefully the book will clear the fog a little. For instance, today on her blog she was talking about button hole sizes and placement. Simple enough topic, right? Yeah, every time I look down at my shirt now I'm trying to figure out what she was talking about.

Funny exert from the book:

This isn't a generic how-to-start-an business book. Others have done a fine job of writing on basic business topics; but I won't cheat you out of any basic business advice so here's mine (in its entirety):

1) Taxes: Pay them (the IRS is easily annoyed)
2) Bookkeeping: Do it.
3) Accountants: Hire one.
4) Marketing and Advertising: A good idea!
5) Employees: Hire some when you're ready.
6) Wages: Pay them (otherwise they'll be disgruntled and annoyed)
7) Insurance: Get some.
8) Attorneys: Have one, just in case.
9) Business plans: Overdone lately, but write one.
10) Work space: You do need a place to work.
11) Telephone and utilities: You need those too.
12) Office supplies and postage: Supplies are handy, I'd recommend some of those.
13) Letterhead & business cards: A good idea too.
14) Financial planning: Yeah, do that too.

Ah, I love it when authors put things into simple terms that I can understand.

bonbonjm @ 2008-04-30T22:41:00

2008-05-01T02:48:14Z

This post is long overdue; however, given that my kitten thinks that the camera is going to steal his soul, its tardiness is not unexpected. I present to you Pippen:

Apparently, naming him such is a bit of jinx. He is accident prone, has an apparent death wish, and is mildly psychotic. I'm telling you, the kitten is crazy. But he's just too cute and fluffy. Every time I see him, I just want to squeeze him, much to his dismay. He's like a little boy that doesn't want to be seen getting a hug from his mom. This is the same kitten who had a broken leg not all that long ago. He's great friends with the dog now. They nap together and Pip goes out of his way to terrorize the dog. Karma has not been Greta's friend.

bonbonjm @ 2008-04-29T20:23:00

2008-04-30T01:30:28Z

I've been on a mission lately. I'm afraid to give away too many details for fear of not following through with it and you all holding me accountable. However, it has brought me across a few resources that my wonderful friends here would enjoy as much as I do. Now if you all could just find me wholesale fabric suppliers, we'd be even. ;)

First of all, the following list of blogs are written by some really interesting women who are very passionate about sewing. Pretty comical too. The first is written by a woman whose insight I enjoy so much that I actually bought her book. Plus I'm finding out about conventions and pattern makers that I've never heard of before. And there is some great insight into the fashion world.
http://fashion-incubator.com/mt/
http://gorgeousthings.blogspot.com/
http://thesewingdivas.wordpress.com/
http://behindtheseams.wordpress.com/
http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/index.html

The book I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0966320840

For those who like something sparkly:
http://www.rhinestoneguy.com/ Finding that site was like finding The Ring Lord. I love it!!

bonbonjm @ 2008-03-05T19:42:00

2008-03-06T00:43:25Z

My kitten is a spazz. That is all.

bonbonjm @ 2008-01-12T18:16:00

2008-01-12T23:23:51Z

Go figure, I get home with an hour of daylight to spare and it's raining. And I had promised Matt that I would cover the hay and wheel barrel with tarps and I didn't. I really hope that doesn't turn around to bite me. The hay is going to have to dry out before I can tarp it now. And I'm going to have to clean up the stuff in the wheel barrel after it stops raining so that it doesn't rust.

The goats are apparently smarter than I give them credit for. I get home and they're waiting for me at the back door. Who knows how long they've been loose. So I go and check their fence. It's just a temporary, nylon braid electric fence, maybe three feet tall. It didn't appear to be down and the electric was still on. Well, the goats love to bend over sapplings and stand on them while eating the leaves. I'm guessing that's what they were trying to do this time, except that they bent it toward the fence. Top of the sappling catches the fence, goats jumps off sappling, sappling lifts fence off ground and goats have instant archway. Boy I hope they don't figure out how to repeat that little trick.

bonbonjm @ 2007-12-10T10:46:00

2007-12-10T15:57:05Z

Cats are spayed/neutered, tested, vaccinated, and back home safe and sound. I only acquired a few more scratches. I think Momma is coming around, lol. She'll escape from her cage every chance she gets, but as long as I have one hand on the scruff of her neck she'll let me carry her without scratching the living daylights out of me. She's negative for FIV and FeL, so that's a relief. She's inside for about a week while she heals. They used desolving stitches, so no need to take her back. But boy is she unhappy about being in that cage. Last night she started crying and she just kept getting louder the longer we ignored her. But she'll shut up the moment I walk into the room and will stay quiet as long as I'm in there with her. Pip is keeping her company. He has a little cloth house with yarn strands around the door and sheep wool on the floor. It's across from Momma's cage and he just hangs out in there all day. It's the perfect size for him. Not the case with Montana. The first day I bought it home, Montana stuffed himself into that little house and started rolling around playing with the yarn strands. He took the house and the fabric mat that it's attached to across the room with him. Then he layed there in this tangled heap of cat and fabric, waiting for me to take pity on him and get him out. Pathetic.

Rule #2 on How to Catch a Cat

2007-12-07T12:49:18Z

Everything is easier with teamwork. Momma came to the porch for breakfast and was letting me love on her. Either she's the most forgiving female cat I've ever met or she's not real bright. I went inside, let Matt know what I was doing, and grabbed a bath towel. I went back outside and started loving on Momma, towel over my shoulder. I loved on her until I got her right in front of me, then grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. Matt came out about that time with the cat carrier. While struggling with the cat and attempting to wrap her in the towel, I explained to him that trying to stuff her in the carrier was how I lost her last night. She almost got away this morning, but I managed to keep ahold of her. Abandoning the whole towel idea, I grabbed the scruff of her neck with one hand and the excess skin on her butt with the other. Matt opened the front door and I rushed a rather ticked off Momma kitty to the office and into the dog kennel. Well, you'd thought I'd caught an ape. She was throwing herself from one side of the cage to the other and swinging from the wire on the top of the cage. It was pretty funny to watch, but we had to quickly make sure there was nothing near the cage that she could grab onto. She calmed down a bit when we let Pip and Montana in to check her out. Once she was calm I was able to put the water and food dishes in with her and leave her to get over it. When I left, Pip was reaching through the cage, trying to touch her, lol. And for my trouble, I only came away with a two small scratches on my hand and wrist.

Momma 1
Matt & Bonnie 1

Rule #1 on How to Catch a Cat

2007-12-07T01:25:52Z

In the event that you get ahold of said cat, don't try to get creative, just keep ahold of the cat. And the tail is not an option for keeping ahold of the cat.

Momma 1
Bonnie 0

bonbonjm @ 2007-09-20T15:54:00

2007-09-20T19:56:10Z

I now have DVR. It rocks my world.

bonbonjm @ 2007-09-17T14:14:00

2007-09-17T18:14:10Z

Career Thing!
1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results

My Top Ten

1. Operations Research Analyst

2. Oceanographer

3. Actuary

4. Mathematician

5. Materials / Metallurgical Engineer

6. Logistics Specialist

7. Pharmacologist

8. Physicist

9. Research Analyst (Financial)

10. Taxidermist

Yep, I don't see receptionist anywhere on that list. Of course, I don't see emergency manager on their either. Although, taxidermist?

bonbonjm @ 2007-08-30T16:46:00

2007-08-30T20:54:20Z

My female goat is a prima donna. She will literally yell at you if she sees you and you do not stop to pay attention to her. She will yell at you if she knows you're inside and you do not come outside to pay attention to her. Last night, Matt tethered her close enough to the house that she can climb the back steps. I did not realize this until this morning when I hear her directly outside the backdoor, bleating. I glance out the blinds and she is looking straight up at me, like she knew that I was going to look out the blinds at that moment. My first thought is "loose goat." So I throw on clothes and shoes and run outside with treats so that I can try to catch her. Then I discover that she is still tethered. They both got treats anyway because they have me trained. When I left this morning, I saw that female curled up on the top step like she owned the world. She really is cute and sweet though. Almost makes me like goats. At least they're smarter than sheep.

Now what do I name her? Prima Donna is a little long and Diva doesn't sound right. They called her Barbie, but I refuse to own a goat (or any animal for that matter) named Barbie.

Matt named the male Rusty.

bonbonjm @ 2007-08-06T16:10:00

2007-08-06T20:09:54Z

I may have just agreed to acquire two goats. What is the world coming to?

bonbonjm @ 2007-07-24T10:57:00

2007-07-24T14:59:42Z

I uploaded the new pictures from the house and the pictures of Pip. Still no pictures of Momma.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n294/bonbonjm/New%20House/

We still have a lot of painting left to do. Matt's running up there almost every night this week. I don't know how he survives on so little sleep. We don't even have the whole place primed and we still have the colors to do. It's turning out to be a much bigger job than we anticipated. We need to get the painting finished though so we can get the carpet installed and start moving in.

bonbonjm @ 2007-07-21T23:39:00

2007-07-22T03:49:19Z

It's here! It's here! Yes, I finally got home to see my new book sitting on my front porch. Some of my friends who didn't buy a house yesterday are already done reading it. They suck. I've spent all day painting and trying to make 5 acres of jungle look like a nicely manicured horse farm. Yeah right. I am beyond tired. I want to read but toothpicks won't even hold my eyes open any longer. And we have to go back to the new house tomorrow.

I'll try to get pictures up soon. I also need to get pictures of Pip and Momma. They are the two kitties who came with the house, lol. Pip is maybe a month old. He's still at the wobbly-can't-walk-straight kitten stage. And he wants to play with everything. Well, at least for about 5 minutes before he passes out from exhaustion. He was watching me trim trees and was trying to jump onto the pile of branches. Keep in mind, Pip's head barely come above my ankle. Too cute. Momma isn't quite so brave. She spent the day hiding under the house. Night y'all. I'm going to bed now.

Photos of new house

2007-06-28T13:22:18Z

I'm too lazy to post the pictures, so I'll just post the link to the album. Let me know what you think.

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n294/bonbonjm/New%20House/

bonbonjm @ 2007-06-16T16:58:00

2007-06-16T21:01:06Z

We officially have a wedding website:

http://www.mywedding.com/vondohre

Enjoy. Once my internet connection stops being retarded, I'll update with more pictures.

bonbonjm @ 2007-06-08T09:28:00

2007-06-08T13:28:09Z

And we're back online. I have serious doubts that we'll get an explaination, but at least something is being done.

bonbonjm @ 2007-05-31T15:45:00

2007-05-31T19:45:21Z

What breed of horse are you? Find out!

We Are Awesome!!

2007-05-29T15:26:59Z

Marcon Masquerade 2007

bonbonjm @ 2007-05-13T20:06:00

2007-05-14T00:09:23Z

We have chosen our ceremony and reception site. Hope you won't mind all the pictures.

Here's the entrance:

Bride's Dressing Room

Butterfly Garden (ceremony site)

The Oak Pavillion (cocktail hour)

Garden Room (reception)

The whole place is amazing. We're renting the entire garden and garden room, so guests can take evening walks through the garden. This is the Florida landscaping that I love with the big tropical plants and old oak trees. I'm sorry, but palm trees are boring and not even native to Florida. Ours will be the only wedding going on, so we have the whole place to ourselves. Nice, big bathrooms and an elevator up to the garden room. The large windows on the one side over look the butterfly garden where the ceremony is taking place. There is even a waterfall where we can have pictures taken. They are very open minded with our decorating, so we can put Christmas lights everywhere if we want and I can do all my own flowers. As long as it's cleaned up at the end of the reception. Having this place picked out is such a huge weight off of my shoulders. Plus it makes me so excited about the wedding. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect place.

bonbonjm @ 2007-04-27T12:34:00

2007-04-27T16:35:17Z

Interesting. I wonder if you all will agree with this:

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

2007-04-17T14:51:29Z

I'm not usually one to do a book review, but this time I felt compelled.

First of all, if you have never read any of Guy Gavriel Kay's works, you are missing out. This has to be the most intriguing, descriptive, and unique writer that I have ever read. Anyone who knows my love for Tamora Pierce will know that to be a huge compliment to this author. Of course, it was the talented Ms. Pierce who told me to read his books in the first place. While at a book signing, we were discussing other authors, quoting The Princess Bride, and Tammy told me that I should read a book called The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay. If my favorite author tells me to read a book, I read the book. It's the first book in a trilogy called The Fionavar Tapestry. It was unbelievable. The story had real anger, real fear, real disgust, real joy, and real love. Kay doesn't hold back. Real life is full of all the good, bad, and ugly and so why leave any of that out of a story? It was like Tolkien meets Rowlings meets Lewis. He even had some Arthurian legend mixed in, which I adore. I decided that I was going to read every book written by this man.

Then his writings took a totally different direction. He still used the same genre, but where the Fionavar story had wizards, dwarfs, immortal deities, and the like, these new worlds had real people where most of the only magic was held by clerics and priestesses. It was like going from Homer to Virgil. But it was still amazing. Plus he uses his myths to mirror our own histories and cultures. Tamora Pierce does something similar as far as basing her races off of our cultures, but Kay goes one step further in making his stories even closer to real life. He will mirror actual wars and occupations, like the Muslims invading Spain and Spain fighting to get it back or Germany invading France (one of the many times) and France fighting to hold on to their culture and beauty and history. I love other cultures, so it makes these stories very endearing for me. It also shows just to what level Kay will go with his research.

I've gotten used to authors where you know who is good and who is bad. The story is from the viewpoint of the protagonist and you never think anything of it. I still love the stories, but it gives them a sense of predictability. Kay totally turns the story on its head. You may start out thinking that you know what's going on, then all of a sudden the story flips and you're seeing everything from the antagonist's point of view. By the end of the book, you don't really know who you want to "win". Then he throws in a twist at the very end that will absolutely leave you breathless. There have been several books of his that have left me at the last page thinking "that's it!?!". Then I hungrily reached for the next book to read.

I had gotten used to this style, his weaving of lives into one story. I accepted that The Fionavar Tapestry was his earliest work, in large part a tribute to Tolkien after having assisted Chris Tolkien in editing The Silmarillion. So when I started reading Ysabel, I was a little confused to see it taking place in modern day. The Fionavar Tapestry had started in modern day until....well, you'll just have to read the books. So I read it with a cautious curiosity, trying to figure out what Kay was up to this time. Something that you learn with his stories is that nothing is ever coincidence. A theme that he has stuck with since his first works is that fate weaves us into a pattern throughout time, so I knew that what was happening to the main character had to have something to do with either a past life or his heritage. You also find out that his mother's family is Welsh. So the story sets up in the south of France. Kay loves the south of France. I think he writes books set there as an excuse to travel back there for research. The main character is the son of a world famous photographer from Montreal (Kay is from Toronto) taking pictures in France for a new book deal. Kay did his research and used real ruins and real cultures to set up the story. How much of the history is real, I still need to research. The beginnings of the story go back to Europe before the time of Christ, when the Celts migrated into Europe and were destroyed by the Romans. You get flashbacks, bit by bit, that help you to understand more and more of the story. Just as you're beginning to understand the story, but before you've quite figured out what the lead character has to do with any of it, half way through the book (in true Guy Gavriel Kay fashion) you find out it's a damn sequel to The Fionavar Tapestry!!!! I had giggle fits for the next three chapters as two of the lead characters from that series make their way into this book. Of course, it also made me second guess everything that I had read up to that point not to mention curse myself for not remembering the Fionavar books better. They are the next books on my list to be re-read. It really just made the book so much more enjoyable seeing these characters again and reading the hints back to the previous story (which had taken place 25 years prior). And, so as not to disappoint, you find out in the last few pages of the book that this story has everything to do with why the four characters in the original story ended up in Fionavar to begin with, which also leaves you wishing that the book didn't have to end so soon. It makes me wonder how long Kay has had this story in the back of his mind. I love love love love loved this book.

My recommendation, read The Fionavar Tapestry first. They are unbelievable books that will really make you think. Then read Ysabel and see how 20+ years of writing experience can evolve and make a story take on a life of its own. Then, of course, read every other book this man has ever written.