5 ways to be more social in 2012

"The problem's plain to see. Too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines de-humanize." -Styx Mr. Roboto

Our lives are oh so convenient. Thanks to the microwave, I can have dinner in 3 minutes. The internet let's me self-diagnose that leg cramp in about 2 minutes. My handy-dandy cell phone allows me to text my fiance and get a response in 30 seconds. We've come a long way.

But don't let technology surpass humanity. Although these devices are convenient, and make our busy lives a little easier, they are driving a huge stake through our social skills. We don't talk to each other anymore and we are losing the ability to interact with each other. When we stop having human interactions, we all become robots. Take a stand today, don't be a robot! Interact with another person today. Texting and e-mail does not count. Here are 5 easy and inexpensive ways you can be more of a human and less of a robot. Try to do all 5 in the next month. Feeling really inspired and ambitious? Try 1 a week for the rest of the year! You can do it!

My Current Day-To-Day

Not working has proven to be quite awesome, especially now that it's cold outside and there are no projects looming over my head to work on. To every thing there is a season, and 'tis the season for rest, rejuvination and laziness.
Here is what my typical day looks like.

The best start to any day is one that does not involve an alarm clock. I have found my natural clock wakes me up at 9:30am. If that happens to fail, Guinness likes to be out of bed by 9:32.

Then it's your normal routine....

After that, my day is pretty wide open. I do have a couple standing lunch dates every week, and some evenings I have Zumba. And sometimes I do really exciting things like grocery shopping, drop off dry cleaning, or make a terrarium. But in general, this is what I do.

Most of the time I pick laundry OR dishes. In my experience, trying to tackle both in one day leads to a domestic goddess melt down and mass consumption of wine.

Yes, I sweep the floors every day...because we seem to be the proud owners of World Champion Shedders.

And because I walk Barney just about every day, whether I like it or not...sometimes I look more like this. He, of course, is the same.

this happens several times. Usually followed up with Advil.

Finally, I like to round out my day with dinner and maybe an episode of Walking Dead. Pretty exciting stuff ; )

Till next time!

Cheers!

Today I made intestines

What did you do today?
Oh nothing really. Just ate lunch, walked the dog, made some intestines.

My neice is turning 16 next month and we are throwing her a themed birthday party. Zombie Prom. It's going to awesome. This is the first of probably a few zombie-themed blogs as I work on her party.

Today I started experimenting (Dr. Frankenstein style) with making some fake intestines. Grabbing things here and there from around the house and seeing what works.

This is not a tried and true method, and I am sure someone out there has a better process. Please invite me to your zombie party so I can check out your work! I am just trying to come up with something using stuff I have around the house and make them as cheaply as possible.

HOW TO MAKE ZOMBIE INTESTINES:
I started off by cutting the legs off old pairs of panty hose. I used nude and black colored. Actually the black turned out to be better, in my opinion, because you don't want any flesh/white colors showing. I stuffed them with old ripped up bedsheets, because thanks to Barney I had a shredded set laying around. You could also use pillow stuffing. I tied off the end, and then twisted/knotted/bunched them up. I ran them thru my sewing machine randomly to give that sectioned look. If you don't have a sewing machine you might be able to use rubber bands?

Next I painted them. The first one I actually used a paint brush, but that became slow moving so I started dunking them in a water-paint mixture and ringing them out. This made it extra gross, and super sloppy. I looked like I had disemboweled someone. Maybe it won't be so sloppy for you. I tend to be messy when I craft, especially if it involves paint. Tip: put down some plastic.



After I had finished dunking them. I went back with a paintbrush to add some red and also blue paint for detail. Just to give the effect of being bloody and having veins.

Then just hang them up to dry and get ready to be the best zombie this side of the Mississippi!!