Podcast 2 is up!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Podcast
I’ve just posted the second episode of the Fibrant Living podcast, with much help from Sam.
Stitching
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Needlework
Katie wanted to go by Nease’s Needlework a couple of weeks ago, and you know I really resisted fiercely 😉
While there, I saw a shop sample of Dragon Dreams’ Fairy Tale Sampler, and could not leave the shop without it. It’s getting most of my stitching time now, because I just love it. Of course, the fact that it’s the first thing I’ve really made especially for Sam makes it special, too. And what better to work on while gaming?
Tags: Dragon Dreams, Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Nease's Needlework
Link: Reactive Colors
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Links
Have any of you visited Reactive Colors yet, or tried out the software? It sounds very interesting. From MindHacks:
Innovative autism community software project Reactive Colors had its official launch the other day, and is now sporting a new website and numerous ‘reactivities’ to download and play online.
The project is designed to encourage individuals with autistic spectrum differences and learning disabilities to use computers, through which they can develop mouse, keyboard, programming and screen skills and deliberately emphasise the characteristics of computing that are of potential significance to people on the autism spectrum.
The project is based on open-source principles and intended to be more than just a free download. Interested people are encouraged to contribute their own programming skills to the project.
The input of people with autism and Asperger syndrome is particularly encouraged, as they are likely to have the best insight into what sort of activities will engage those on the autism spectrum.
Tags: autism community software, computing
Link: Mindful parenting and unschooling
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Education, Family, Homeschooling, Links
Today, a post to one of the homeschooling lists I’m on included a link to Connections: ezine of unschooling and mindful parenting. I haven’t read all of it, but there’s definitely lots of good stuff there. Highly recommended!
Namaste,
Cyn
Tags: Connections, Homeschooling, mindfulness, Parenting, unschooling
Further up the curve
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Blogging
Well, I tweaked this theme to make it “mine” but I’m not quite happy yet — we’re trying to remember what fonts were used to make the header graphic years ago so we can re-do it while maintaining some continuity. And I think the Fibrant Living layout them is distinguishable enough from The Beauty Within* that I noted it as modified (although I didn’t rename it. Yet.)
I haven’t customized anything for Cyberstalked.org yet. I need to fix some minor broken links from moving that to a new domain (I didn’t want it on my main one any more), but until I begin the process of really building the new blog on internet safety my energies are better used elsewhere.
There are several obvious things that I immediately thought to search for in blog themes, though, and they just don’t exist as far as I can tell. So I think I may start playing around with Kubrick or one of its derivatives, or something else easily changed, to create some themes based on those ideas. Because, of course, I have so much free time 😉
*Use the theme switcher on the lower left-hand site at that site to choose The Beauty Within from the list of available themes.
Tags: internet safety, lower left-hand site
Announcement: New Podcast and Blog, Fibrant Living
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Announcement, Blogging, Podcast
You are cordially invited to visit the grand opening of Fibrant Living, the only podcast to focus on living a full, joyous life despite fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or other chronic illnesses.
You can find Fibrant Living and its companion blog at http://fibrantliving.com/ . The feed is at http://feeds.feedburner.com/FibrantLiving , or available on LJ as fibrantliving.
Fibrant Living is produced by Sam Chupp of the Bear’s Grove, DragonKin and Bardic Circle podcasts.
Namaste,
Cyn
Tags: Sam Chupp
I’m dangerous now!
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Blogging
I know how to install WordPress on our domains. Muahahaha!
Why register? And where are the articles?
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Blogging
Well, the articles — all the articles that made up the bulk of my old site — are coming back. I just need to update them.
One thing I always regretted was that there wasn’t an easier way for people to comment on those articles, to discuss or critique them.
Well, that’s why you should register. I don’t have to approve your registration — in fact, I’m not involved at all. I just get an email saying you registered. It’s strictly an antispam measure that you’re required to do that and that I or Sam approves your first comment. That’s it. It isn’t like the LiveJournal “friends” thing, so I don’t have to know you or anything like that.
Register and tell me what you think — about anything. A post, a particular article, the layout of the site, what I’ve written about in the past, what you’d like to see me write about, whatever. Interaction is the entire reason for going to this format!
Edited 5/26: I’ve changed settings so that you can comment without registering, but you can register if you like.
What I learned from my past relationships
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Relationships
So I actually heard from someone via Orkut. I can’t remember if that’s ever happened to me before or not.
Anyway, I went to check out this person’s profile, and realized mine was way out of date. Someday, I swear, I’m going to reproduce all the questions all those different places ask right here on my own site, keep that up to date, and refuse to fill out any other profiles.
Anyway, one of the fields was “From my past relationships I learned…” I found the question more interesting that most, so I’m reproducing my answer here, expanded a bit.
from my past relationships i learned: Something different every time 🙂 A few of them:
Honesty is the only way to relate that’s worth bothering with.
Love isn’t enough.
Communication is priceless.
Relationships take lots of work from everyone, and sometimes they just aren’t sustainable.
Sex is often the canary in the relationship mine. Barring health issues that make sex impossible or unlikely, a decrease in sexual intimacy is usually due to a decrease in overall intimacy, which is Bad.
There’s no understanding crazy. Just walk away with as much of your sanity intact as possible.
Nobody deserves abuse.
Staying together is seldom “best for the kids.” In fact, I’ve yet to see a situation in which it was best for anyone.
There’s no way one (sane) person in a couple or other grouping is happy if the other is miserable.
If someone changes in a big way right after you get married, start trying to get an annulment. He isn’t the person you thought you knew.
While an adult can lie to you easily, his kids can’t. Neither can his pets. If either doesn’t behave consistently with what she says, or she doesn’t treat them the way she says she believes in raising kids or pets or whatever, she’s a liar. Leave before you get any closer.
Some things are worth the possibility of a broken heart.
“If you really loved me you’d…” means that the speaker is an abusive asshole trying to get you to do something that’s unhealthy for you.
Playing together is essential. So is working together.
People are not projects.
Knights are notorious for setting up new towers with you inside them. The only safe “rescue” is the DIY version, where you just walk out of the prison
What are yours?
Tags: Love, marriage, Parenting, Relationships, school of hard knocks
A Day in the van
Posted by Cyn | Filed under Education, Family, Homeschooling
And it was, truly. Which is why this looks much the same as it did last night.
Katie and I drove all over metro Atlanta, testing out the new wheels in the process. A medical appointment, a trip to the bank, the post office, our mail drop, a craft store, a school supply place, a couple of book stores, Phoenix & Dragon, and something I know that I’m forgetting.
You wouldn’t believe how much “homeschooling” gets done on the road. Had the dealer had a van in stock with a DVD player installed, I could easily have justified it for purely educational purposes. As it is, I’m glad my laptop has a DVD player, as we find various BBC and PBS series pretty good supplementary materials at times.
No AV materials today, though — just books, paper, calculator, and a lot of discussion. Science, algebra, world history, critical thinking, English, vocabulary, current events…
Oh! We got our Latin texts! Katie and I have decided to start studying Latin together this summer. I’ve always regretted not having had a chance to study it, and it can only help her. So here we go!
The girl got some knitting done in the car while we talked, too. As she gets more confidence in driving, I look forward to getting some stitching done while she drives. On the other hand, she’d get fewer lessons done. Hmmm.
I need to study to try to keep a little bit ahead of her. We’re going to have another blog where she, Sam and I post about our learning adventures. It isn’t quite up yet, unfortunately.
Namaste,
Cyn
Tags: BBC, DVDs, errands, Homeschooling, Katie, PBS, shopping