Fabulous February - 2020 - Too Much Time on my Hands

As if!  I have been absent from the blogosphere lately, at least in relation to posting myself.  I've managed to keep up pretty much with what other folks are doing, although sometimes I just "like" instead of commenting.

The reason for my infrequent blog contributions is because I have suddenly found myself in a position of being responsible for my own transcription work!  The short version of the story is that because of a recent new law in California regarding independent contractors (thanks Lyft and Uber), the wonderful woman that has been facilitating a lot of my typing jobs has decided to semi-retire rather than having to go through hiring me on as an employee and paying me benefits.  I don't blame her and really wouldn't want to be considered an employee anyway.  I rather like working for myself. 

As new work comes in, JoAnn has been letting her clients know that there is a reorganization in her business and she is introducing me as a substitute for their typing needs.  It is funny because for a few of these clients, I have actually been doing the work but the company did not know it.  Fortunately for me, the clients have so far been open to allowing me to continue providing them with the transcription duties, but that means that I have to do a lot more preparation and accounting than I did before.  I know I can handle it, it is just a matter of organizing my time and space.  JoAnn has been so generous with her time and knowledge and I really feel encouraged about the future.   

When Jim suggested the prompts of ankles/hands/feet/fingers/toes/wrists, this song popped into my head. 

"Too Much Time on Your Hands," written by Tommy Shaw of Styx.   


"Too Much Time On My Hands"

Sitting on this barstool talking like a damn fool
Got the twelve o'clock news blues
And I've given up hope for the afternoon soaps
And a bottle of cold brew
Is it any wonder I'm not crazy? Is it any wonder I'm sane at all
Well I'm so tired of losing- I got nothing to do and all day to do it
I go out cruisin' but I've no place to go and all night to get there
Is it any wonder I'm not a criminal?
Is it any wonder I'm not in jail?
Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands?
It's ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands
It's hard to believe such a calamity
I've got too much time on my hands
And it's ticking away, ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands
(It's t-t-t-t-ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
(And I don't know what to do with myself)
Too much time on my hands

Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

Now, I'm a jet fuel genius - I can solve the world's problems
Without even trying
I got dozens of friends and the fun never ends
That is, as long as I'm buying
Is it any wonder I'm not the president
Is it any wonder I'm null and void?
Is it any wonder I've got

Too much time on my hands?
It's ticking away with my sanity
I've got too much time on my hands
It's hard to believe such a calamity
I got too much time on my hands
And it's ticking away, ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands
(T-t-t-t-ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
(And I don't know what to do with myself)
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
(T-t-t-t-ticking away)
Too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands
(Too much time on my hands)
(Too much time on my)

And the video:

Wish me luck on my typing.  See you as often as I can.  Gearing up for the A to Z too!  Happy Sunday. 

Fabulous February - 2020 - #SLS - Leave Me Alone

Not really!  Jim asks us to play with come/go/leave/stay and I have chosen Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone."

I like to give a special ringtone for family and friends so I can tell right away who is calling even when I don't see the phone.  My husband, Bill, is "Million Dollar Bill" by Whitney Houston.  Our oldest daughter, Amanda, has the tone "Amanda" by Boston.  Our youngest daughter, Rachel, is "My Girl" by the Temptations.  I even gave one to our home phone, "Back Home Again" by John Denver.  Our son, Jeff, went through a period where he really loved Michael Jackson so I used "Leave Me Alone" as his ringtone.  I thought it was pretty amusing.  Get it?  Leave me alone? 

Leave Me Alone

Michael Jackson

I don't care what you talkin' 'bout baby
I don't care what you say
Don't you come walkin' beggin' back mama
I don't care anyway
Dime after dime, I gave you all of my money
No excuses to make
Ain't no mountain that I can't climb baby
All is going my way

'Cause there's a time when you're right
And you know you must fight
Who's laughing baby, don't you know
And there's the choice that we make
And this choice you will take
Who's laughin' baby?

So just leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone)
Leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone)
Leave me alone (leave me alone) stop it!
Just stop doggin' me around

There was a time I used to say, "Girl I need you"
But who is sorry now?
You really hurt, you used to take and deceive me
Now who is sorry now?
You got a way of making me feel so sorry
I found out right away
Don't you come walkin', beggin', I ain't lovin' you
Don't you get in my way

'Cause there's a time when you're right
And you know you must fight
Who's laughing baby, don't you know
And there's the choice that we make
And this choice you will take
Who's laughin' baby?

So just leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone)
Leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone)
Leave me alone (leave me alone) stop it!
Just stop doggin' me around

'Cause there's a time when you're right
And you know you must fight
Who's laughing baby, don't you know, girl
And there's the choice that we make (that we make, and, that we make, and)
And this choice you will take
Who's laughin' baby?

So just leave me alone, girl
Leave me alone (leave me alone)
Leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone)
Leave me alone (leave me alone) stop it!
Just stop doggin' me

Leave me alone (leave me alone, leave me alone)
Leave me alone
Leave me alone (leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alone)
Leave me alone (leave me alone) stop it!
Just stop doggin' me around

Don't come beggin' me
Don't come beggin'
Don't come lovin' me
Don't come beggin'
I love you
I don't want it
I don't, I don't, I don't, I
Don't
Don't come beggin' me
Don't come beggin'
Don't come lovin' me
Don't come beggin'

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Michael Jackson

Leave Me Alone lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network

The song is a dig at all the sensational news stories that were circulating about him at the time.  According to Song Facts it took eight months to film because each part is made up of still images that had to be photographed individually.

However, as any mother knows, you don't really want your kids to leave you alone and so I changed it to a song by another one of Jeff's favorites, Phil Collins, "I Can't Dance," which actually is not true either, Jeff is a great dancer and dances around all the time.  I may have to find another song for him.

Do you have different ringtones to identify your callers?  Share!


 

Fabulous February - 2020 - Happy Valentine's Day

You can tell that this is February because I haven't posted as often since I don't have a challenge I'm following.  I actually do have some challenges but they are not the blogging type they are the typing type.  I am in the process of taking on some more work -- a good thing -- but it is requiring some extra time to get things organized. 

Since today is Valentine's Day I'll share a little something I made years ago in case you are looking for a last minute idea for your special honey.

I went to the store and got a bunch of different kinds of candy and then I put them on a poster board and wrote a message using the candies as some of the words:

Feel free to use the idea :)  

This year money is tight so he got nothing.  I told him not to get me anything either because I said every day with him is Valentine's Day - LOL  

Happy Valentine's Day.  

 

Fabulous February - 2020 - #SoCS (Un)pack

For our Stream of Consciousness Saturday Linda has given us (un)pack to play with.

By far the biggest thing I have had to unpack is my ScrapBox Workbox.  I was so excited to get it and when it was delivered it was on a pallet which they left in our driveway.  We had to wait until our daughter went away to college for the room to be empty enough for us to assemble it so for a few days all the boxes were in the living room! 

So many parts!

Once Rachel left, we were able to unpack all the pieces and sort them out.

It took two days for my husband and I to put it together, but that is because his back is tricky.  I did most of the down on the ground work and he held pieces together and made sure everything was in the right place.  It was easy to follow the directions and we had everything we needed.  

I was really lucky to get this model on sale.  They don't make them in this style anymore.  They've changed the name from Workbox to Dreambox but I'm perfectly content with mine. 

Almost done.  The last step was to put all the shelves in.

And then to pack it full with all my craft supplies!

But you know, when we built the studio in the backyard, I had to unpack the whole thing, take the doors off and carefully move it, reassemble it and pack it full again!  Here it is in its new home. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
In between the original set up and the move to the studio, I changed bedrooms so actually it has been unpacked twice since we put it together!  I don't think it's going anywhere anytime soon.

What's your biggest pack or unpack project?                                                 

Fabulous February -2020 - I Wish

Up and out of the house early this morning to take my son to an appointment and while I was in the waiting room, I thought I'd check my emails.  I get so many because I have about 4 email addresses to help keep things separate.  Anyway, I saw this:

Now, the ones from DT I would have deleted as spam immediately anyway but after I took this screenshot, Tom Cruise, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and Jacob Marley also stopped by my blog to leave me comments!  These were on my Blogger site and unfortunately Blogger is not as efficient as WordPress at weeding out these crazy people.  It was too hard for me to navigate on my phone so I had to wait until I got home to handle this mess.

I mean, I know I write very insightful and interesting blog posts but I'm pretty sure that Leo, Tom and Bruce have other things to do, not to mention that Burt Lancaster is dead and Winnie the Pooh and Jacob Marley are fictional characters.  Somebody has too much time on their hands and just what do they expect to gain from this?  They have to know that the comments are going to be marked as spam and deleted don't they? 

Does this ever happen to you?  What do you do about it? 

   

Fabulous February - 2020 - #1SEME and Song Lyric Sunday

In 2013 and 2017 I did a 365 day picture project where I took a picture every day for the whole year.  I put those pictures into an album and for the 2017 one I even made a slideshow.  This year I heard about the 1 Second Everyday app where you take a 1 second video everyday so I decided to try it.  Here is my January in 31 seconds.

I have captions underneath the pictures but you may not be able to see them that well.  I have the free app so I don't think there is a way for me to edit each picture to include a bigger caption.  I'm not paying for the pro version so I may just have to figure out something else.  In any case, I think this is going to be a fun experiment and at the end of the year I'll have a 6.1 minute recap.  Talk about how time flies! 

For our Song Lyric Sunday prompt Jim gives us Babe/Cutie/Doll/Honey/Sweetie and I love this song by Styx.  It was written by then Styx member Dennis DeYoung to his wife, Suzanne as a birthday present.  I'll be surprised if I'm the only one who uses it today.  

  "Babe"

Babe, I'm leaving, I must be on my way
The time is drawing near
My train is going, I see it in your eyes
The love, the need, your tears
But I'll be lonely without you
And I'll need your love to see me through
Please believe me, my heart is in your hands
And I'll be missing you

You know it's you Babe
Whenever I get weary and I've had enough
Feel like giving up
You know it's you Babe
Giving me the courage and the strength I need
Please believe that it's true
Babe, I love you

You know it's you Babe
Whenever I get weary and I've had enough
Feel like giving up
You know it's you Babe
Giving me the courage and the strength I need
Please believe that it's true
Babe, I love you

Babe, I'm leaving, I'll say it once again
Somehow try to smile
I know the feeling we're trying to forget
If only for a while
Cause I'll be lonely without you
And I'll need your love to see me through
Please believe me, my heart is in your hands
Cause I'll be missing you
Babe, I love you
Babe, I love you
Oh, Babe

We've seen Styx a couple of times.  They put on a pretty good show.  This was from 2010.  Wow, 10 years ago!  I've gotten a better camera since then!  

Happy February 2! 

Fabulous February --2020 - SoCS Choices

Here we are at February.  Linda's Stream of Consciousness prompt for us today is "Choices" and she tells us to talk about the subject of small, uneventful choices.

Just so happens I finished reading "Pride and Prejudice" last night and so today I have the small, uneventful choice of picking my next book.  I did get to scratch off one of the books on my chart with P & P so I was happy about that. 

I have a lot choices for the next book to read going through the PopSugar Challenge and looking at others to scratch off.  I went with:

My husband got this for me for Christmas.  I'm using it to fill the category of "a book with a character with a vision impairment or enhancement," since one of the really identifiable things about Elton is his glasses.  It's not on the scratch off chart but if I choose a book that is on one or the other, I'll be satisfied.