Update on the Tech end of Janie’s Place

I am sorry to have offended any of my readers delicate sensibilities with the rude language in my last post.  I am seriously put-out by the changes to WordPress to such and extent that I don’t want to blog here anymore.

The changes have gotten to be so severe that the whole place feels foreign, there is no joy or fun or naturalness to my time here.  It is more than just the irksome necessity of learning a new system, it no longer feels right to be here.  And, as much as I hate moving, I am seriously considering taking my blog elsewhere.

I do have a small but loyal base of readers/friends.  Please leave me a comment and let me know if you will follow me if I move to a new location.  I am currently considering a few options.  It may happen soon or it may take a while depending on my available free time.  But, blogging has been a hugely important piece of my life these last few years, and I find that when I don’t blog, I tend to miss it.  And I miss all of you!

So, I will probably not have much of a presence here on WordPress for a while, until I figure out what I am going to do, but I will let everyone know my new address if I end up moving.

Ugh.  This has been painful to write.

Hope you are well, and hope to see you again soon, where ever that might end up being.

Cheers.

 

 

 

Damn you WordPress

I was going to put up a post this morning. But since my last post, it appears WordPress has found it necessary to fuck with it’s design again. I have no idea where anything is in this new format and I’m just not in the mood for figuring it out.

I am getting so sick of having to relearn how to use WordPress every few months or a year when someone decides, oh, lets take a popular program and make unnecessary changes that confuse and frustrate people.

Maybe this is why fewer and fewer people are blogging these days.

Dammit. Where is the f78ing post button? Oh there. But it looks like the schedule button is gone? What’s with that???

And what a hassle now to add tags and categories. Why did you have to move that??

I just might go back to blogger….

Tuesday Titters: Molecular Biology is the thing this semester

Why are molecular biologists fashionable? They wear designer genes.

A whole pile of cutie

Leif’s dog, Vera, had puppies yesterday/this morning:

So far there are nine puppies.

The proud mum at dinner time.

Oy! Dog-grampy! That’s a bright light!

 

Vera appears to be doing well and the puppies so far seem to be hale and hearty, mewling loudly when hungry and all latching on to eat.

Hope that starts your day with an “Awwwww!”

*Sigh*

Winter break is officially over.  Spring semester begins today.

I don’t wanna go.

I only just started to feel human again.

But, Leif sent me this:

So at least now I have a smile on my face.

Ottoman Upholstery

I actually enjoy giving old stuff a face lift and making it beautiful again.  While I don’t like being called a dumpster diver, some of my favorite furniture pieces were things people were going to throw away just because they had a rip in the fabric or were outdated.

About eight years ago I inherited an ottoman that some people were going to throw away.  It was covered in a beige vinyl faux-leather and had been in a flood so it was discolored and moldy.  But it was sturdy so I peeled off the vinyl and underneath it looked like brand new wood with nary a hint of decay or warping.  I put on new batting, a pillow top and some new beige fabric with a pretty burgundy and gold braided trim.  I even hammered in some decorative upholstery tacks.  It was lovely.  For about two days.  Then the spud, aged 3 and a half, scribbled on it in black magic marker.  I got some of it out.  Then she pulled off the braided trim.  Then I cried, put it in the basement and figured some day I would try again.

When I moved to the Big City in the fall of 2014, I brought it with me to use in my room in town.  But it was ugly.  Last year after Christmas I splurged and bought some new blue velvet foot stools and the ugly ottoman was relegated to the living room with all the ugly, beat up, old furniture left by the owners for common use.  However, I have been meaning ever since I moved to town to fix it up.  First I thought I’d just buy a slip cover.  But they seemed ridiculously expensive, and none were appealing.  So this winter break I determined to reupholster it.  Yesterday, armed with a 40% off coupon I went to the fabric store and found a lovely caramel-color wide wale chenille corduroy fabric.  I got enough to cover the whole ottoman for less than $6 (slip covers tend to run for at least $30, by the way), paid about $3 for a box of staples, and reused the batting, pillow topper, and some of the decorative upholstery tacks from before.  In about an hour the ottoman was transformed.  A decorative throw from Ecuador (a gift from a friend) on top makes it look amazing.

The sad, pathetic ottoman destroyed by the Spud.

Pay no attention to the ugly sofas in the back ground. …

 

Ooohh. Aahhhh. What a lovely ottoman you have, Janie.

And, to think:  Someone was going to throw this ottoman away, when all it took was a little thrifty shopping, an hour or so of time and less than $10 total for supplies to make it beautiful.  Some people….

Because I like to keep all ya’all in the loop…

…and because I can think of nothing else to blog today, I figured I’d inform you that I survived the 10 day old meatloaf consumption with nary a hitch.