Itty Bitty Hooves

Nature’s Best

I’ve loved YouTube for a long time but I never realized all the great relaxation, meditation, nature videos it’s got on it. Here’s a few to enjoy and see the types of selection that’s on there.

Warm and Toasty

Looking around at possible vacation spots I came up with some listings for a San Diego CA hotel. San Diego would be a great place to go, it’s hot, it has a lot of culture. I think I’d rather go to LA but I could probably do both, I think it’s a short enough drive. San Diego is a nice ocean spot so there’s a lot of beach time and being a Midwestern landluber that’s always a plus for any vacation spot. I am not sure why I’m thinking warm considering summer is right around the corner here, but maybe I could plan it for the winter months when I always want to get as far away from the Illinois weather as I can.

Too Much Time On Their Hands

Some people have too much time on their hands. That’s all I can say about that.

Charge It Moment Coming On

We’re pretty high-tech around here but always seem to be just a step or two behind the times. We have a lot of gadgets but we still haven’t gotten a new HDTV yet. We’re still in ‘low def’ although we have a lot of TVs if that counts for anything. I want a big HD big screen for the living room. I stall a lot because getting rid of the huge entertainment center will be kind of a pain and besides, I still like it and it really isn’t suitable to use for anything else. OOO I just had an idea. I could put doors on the ‘TV’ part of the entertainment center and shelves inside to make more DVD storage (which we always need). That would work, then I can feel good about keeping it and putting a new TV on the wall. I can feel a ‘charge it’ moment coming.

9″ Wonder

Hubby got a little bitty new mini computer today and it is SMALL. Its a Dell 9″ laptop that is so light it can be carried easily and set up anywhere. It takes some getting used to as far as typing is concerned though. I tried it out and once you get used to the hand position it really is okay. It has a limited memory and I could never use it because everything I do requires me to open multiple programs at once. He just wants it for a sort of large palm pilot and for that it’s perfect. It can cruise the Internet and do small applications easily. It’s about the size of two hands side by side and would even fit right in my purse although it has its own carrying case. It will be interesting to see how long the battery lasts on it though.

Finding Sales

Speaking of washers and dryers I was very happy to have been able to pick up our new machines at a great price. I love finding things on Sale and usually do most of my shopping online because you can usually find better deals that way. It ended up saving me almost two hundred dollars which is a huge deal to me. I am really impressed with my new machines too. I have to replace my cook top and my oven next and I hope I can find the same types of deals because appliances are so expensive. I guess when you really think about it they last for 15 - 20 years so spread out over that time it’s not that much money but at the moment you have to pay it the cost is kind of painful.

Easy Peasy

You know the type: projects that should be simple and fast but end up taking days. Had one of those here just recently–the last two days in fact. Needed a new washer and dryer and had them delivered. Installing should have taken a whopping hour maybe right? Wrong. Got the machines in the laundry room, took the new ones out and called the metal recycling unit to pick it up — so far so good. go to install, oops, the existing water hoses are too short for where we want to put the new units ( a little further to the side to avoid the sink splash ) okay, well, no problem, off to the home improvement store to get new hoses (1 hour killed). Back and ready to install new hoses–not. Cold water hose comes off fine but hot water hose is apparently rust welded in place and not coming off. Try for 2 hours to use every method imaginable to release it from its hold on the spigot water turn off joint–nope, not budging no matter how much oil and old fashioned elbow grease applied. Back to home improvement store–what do you mean you’re closed?–back home one hour killed for nothing.

Wake up early yesterday to get started, eat breakfast, run to home improvement store–what do you mean you don’t open until 9?–sit in parking lot fuming for an hour, go in store, pick up new spigot to replace the one the old hose has an iron grip on (2 hours killed), get back home, install new spigot, attach new hose, move washing machine into position, hook up, done. Move dryer into position, attach all cords (yeah you have to buy the electrical connecting cord separate from the machine to be sure it is the right one for your home, hook to dryer exhaust. Done FINALLY. Whew. Well it was worth it, but man talk about taking longer than expected.

Mind Blowing Technology

I still wonder at the marvels of modern technology. My phone, my camera, all digital, all with huge memory capacity thanks to a tiny little sd flash memory card. I remember the days of film in cameras where the most you could cram on one single roll was 48, and then you had to get them developed, buy more film, there was no print, delete, and reuse options. Computers too, although when i was growing up there was no such thing as personal computers. In fact even business computers were kind of a new thing when I reached adulthood and entered the work force. Heck, I learned to type on a manual typewriter! I thought the electric typewriter I got when I was 20 was just the living end. If I could have seen the future with super slim laptops with the operating systems they have now, the monster hard drives, the high speed Internet I think my head would have exploded. It still makes my head swim sometimes.

Flooded again

Poor Watseka is flooded again. They can’t seem to cut a break. Twice last winter and now twice this winter although nowhere near as bad as the times last year when FEMA had to come in and help the people out, and they were being rescued from their homes in row boats. This flood was pretty much confined to an intersection (where it usually starts) that is largely commercial without any homes. I got a picture of it.

Almost the Real Thing

Nothing is more relaxing than the sound of running water and having that in your home is even more enjoyable. I’ve seen some amazing wall fountains, in fact, the house we first looked at before we bought this one had a really cool one in the rocks of the fireplace in the den but we were beaten out by a first bidder so we came here. Since then I’ve seen a lot of wall fountains that can be installed just like a picture and provide the same peaceful sounds of babbling brooks, running water over rocks, or an actual fall.

I would love to get one for my bedroom so I can listen to the soothing water as I go to sleep. That would beat the sounds of the ocean on a tape any day. One of the restaurants we go to regularly has one over the register and I always want to stand there extra long after we’ve paid our bill. Even giving money away is pleasant with a wall fountain. Maybe they should have them in the loan department of banks to make it easier for us poor folks to get money. I have so many other things to do around here it will probably be a long time before I get a fountain but I love to dream about them. Dreaming about the sounds of water falling is almost as good as the real thing–almost.