Random thoughts Archives

A Not at All Complete List of Things That Interest Me for No Logical Reason

January 24, 2020 by Jana 6 Comments

I recently came across this tweet:

Name five things you are incredibly interested in that aren’t like, related necessarily to your job or your hobbies or whatever….just five entirely random things you’re super interested in for no real reason
— Elle Maruska (they/them) (@ellle_em) January 22, 2020

I thought about participating and then promptly forgot until 20 minutes ago when I was in the shower and felt it was too late to answer on Twitter but was completely appropriate to use for a blog post. Because I also still have that random goal of writing 10 things and I’ve only written 2 non-work things.

So, thanks person on Twitter for this prompt and helping me reach an arbitrary goal. It’s also a nice break from editing and writing about personal finance, which, for those who don’t know, is what I do for a living.

Without further ado, my not at all complete list of random things I’m interested in for no logical reason:

True crime and all its related parts: serial killers, bank robbers, kidnappings, etc
The Muppets
Dolly Parton
Cults
Nail art
The concept of Hygge
The Pinkertons
Tiny houses and RVs, with a heavy emphasis on RVs
Penguins
Old, historical towns
The Amish and Mennonites (although not the puppy mills part)
The business part of cheerleading (maybe work-related?)
Sunsets
Soup

Now that it’s all listed in one place, I’m kind of wondering what the hell is wrong with me but also I am clearly very interesting.

via GIPHY

Friday favorites, volume 8

June 20, 2014 by Jana 20 Comments

This has been an odd week. I haven’t done much posting because I spent most of the week in New York at my parents’ house. And for some reason, nothing gets done when I’m at their house. I’m too busy visiting and spending time with the fam and this time, I even went to the movies (saw The Fault In Our Stars. All the cries) and took my daughter into NYC for the first time. The highlight was eating at Ellen’s Stardust Diner and if you even find yourself in Manhattan, GO THERE. Not only is food kick ass but also, the waitstaff sings. Like, really, actually, sings. It’s apparently a really famous place and a breeding ground for Broadway performers.

Definitely my favorite part of the week. But I have other favorite stuff, too, and I’m linking up with Amanda to share them with you.

Favorite song

This week’s song is a two for one deal because it also features one of my favorite singers, Brent Smith. He’s the singer for Shinedown and I would listen to him sing the alphabet. Or even Losing My Religion, which is my least favorite song of all time. I genuinely love all of Shinedown’s music but Amaryllis is probably my favorite song of theirs. It’s a beautiful, beautiful song with some seriously powerful lyrics. I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to share it.

And even though it’s live, Brent’s voice is so amazing it doesn’t matter.

Favorite frugal find

So many this week. The $1 ticket on the LIRR for my daughter. Dyeing my roots myself for a $3 box of hair dye and having it look the same as if I’d gone to my hairdresser. But my absolute favorite is learning I can take a creative writing class–for free–at the college where my husband teaches part time. You can’t beat that.

Favorite internet thing

I thought it was the Brian Williams version of “Baby Got Back”. It’s not. It’s this post, 30 Signs Made By People Who Don’t Know How To Use Quotation Marks. It’s hilarious and filled my grammar nerd humor for the week. We need to stop punctuation abuse. It’s time. (Side note: we once drove behind a truck that said the contractor was “licensed” and “insured”. Yup. That inspires confidence). Here’s a sample from the post:

Favorite thing someone else did

Again, this is a twofer. First, I love Kelli’s new blog. She did a fantastic job! Second, I posted this on Instagram but it’s worth sharing again. Because when you go to lunch and one of the servers sings “Cool Rider” from Grease 2, you share that shit. I should mention that for some reason, the video is uploading sideways and because it’s a video and I’m moderately inept, I can’t fix it so just listen while you read the rest of the post. Also, it’s short because I’m running out of memory on my phone and I’m scared of the cloud and to delete things.

Favorite funnies

Or a spoonful of Nutella

I totally throw things out when she’s not looking.

I’m old and my brain is at maximum capacity.

Math is the worst.

This weekend I’ll be working on merging my two blogs. I’m crazy excited for you guys to see everything!

Enjoy your weekend!

Linking up with Amanda

10 steps to your own pioneer project: part 1

June 16, 2014 by Jana 6 Comments

I’ve been planning this series for awhile but wasn’t really sure what to say or how to say it or when would be the appropriate time to put it up. After last week’s post, Reshaping My Pioneer Project, I thought now would be as good a time as any. So here we go with part 1.

Have you ever been enamored with the concept of pioneer living? If you have, this is the right place for you.

For the last few months, I’ve been working on my version of a pioneer project. I’ve been practicing and learning all the classic pioneer skills: making my own butter, growing my own food, learning (and failing miserably) to crochet. But, as I talked about, my project is shifting focus to also include internalizing pioneer values, slowing down, and practicing contentment yet also working hard and setting goals to improve certain areas of my life.

In other words, I’m pioneering my own life. And my project is so much better because of it. Because being a pioneer is really about doing something new, that hasn’t been done before, and charting new territory. It doesn’t have to be on a global scale. It can just be for you.

That said.

Maybe you’ve been following along with my little project and have thought that you’d like to start your own. But maybe you don’t know how. You’re in luck because in this three part series, I’ll be sharing just how you can start your own pioneer project. There’s just one concept that you need to remember: whatever you decide to do, it’s your project. You’re pioneering your own life and, as a result, your project can look however you want it to. It can be similar to mine or maybe you have no interest in developing self-sufficiency skills and instead, you want to take the pioneer work ethic and apply it to marathon training or writing a novel. The what isn’t really as important as the how.

And the how is what we’re talking about. So let’s do that now.

10 Steps to Your Own Pioneer Project, part 1

1. Decide what your project looks like. This is the first, and probably the most important, step because it’s setting the focus of your project. In this step, you’ll figure out what part of your life you’re going to pioneer. It’s your end goal and everything you do going forward will be to achieve it. And, so you don’t forget, write it down somewhere. Put it where you can see it. Make your intention known.

2. Do some research. This is most likely the nerd in me talking but I think it’s important to have some background information on your goal. Knowing what exactly you’re diving into, what’s worked for others (and what didn’t), and having a resource bank for tutorials, data, and general knowledge will keep you focused and, at times of frustration, give you a place to go to figure out how get through that moment.

3. Figure out your methodology. You need to decide exactly how you’re going to do your project. To do that, you need to ask yourself some questions including: when will I work on this? What materials do I need? What do I need to learn? How often will I need to practice? Will I need to involve anyone else? Basically any logistical question (except budget. We’ll talk about that next week, in part 2) that will get you going, and keep you going, throughout your project.

These three steps will provide the map, the foundation if you will, for the rest of your project. It’s important to put in the time and energy to get them as clear as possible. Make sure you write them down, too.

Do you think you’ll start your own project? What will you be pioneering in your own life?

Friday favorites, volume 7

June 13, 2014 by Jana 14 Comments

Seven weeks in a row of favorites! I have never, EVER done anything blog related for seven weeks in a row. Except, you know, post.

Before I get started with my weekly favorites, I just wanted to thank everyone for their input on my blogging identity crisis. I’ve decided to move all content from this site to my dormant one simply because there’s less posts to move (55 as opposed to 400) and the header on the other one is simply lovely. A friend is going to revamp it a bit for me with some fresh categories, and I’m hoping to have it all done by next week. I’ll keep this site up for a bit and just redirect everything to the new/old one. I’ll have an official announcement when the time comes.

Also, I need to get sappy for a minute. I started blogging in the personal finance niche and while I still have a soft spot for it, I never really felt like I fit in. Then I switched to whatever this is and it’s been such a different experience. I liken it to changing schools and, instead of feeling like an outsider, you finally feel like you have a group of friends you can relate to. So I just want to thank everyone who comments, shares, and follows along here. It means more to me than I can say.

Now, having said all that, it’s time for favorites, and linking up as always with Amanda.

Favorite songs

Nadine’s post about summer songs got me thinking about my own summer song memories. Most of mine are from sleepaway camp but occasionally, a summer song memory will slip in that has nothing to do with camp. One of those songs is Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”. Except I love, LOVE The Ataris version as well, and when I think of that song, I think of that version. Which is odd but that’s okay. I also think of Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” when I think of a summer song and it’s hard for me to pick which one I want to share. So I’m sharing both.

Blogging thoughts and other stuff

June 12, 2014 by Jana 23 Comments

Thursday brain dump. Let’s get to it.

I don’t like my blog header anymore. The designer did a great job and it was exactly what I wanted at the time he did it but the blog is going in a completely different direction than I originally planned and now I need a header to match. But my design skills suck and I don’t have the money to pay for a new one. But I did find out you can upload your own fonts into PicMonkey now so maybe that’ll help me create something decent until I have the money. Or I keep this one. Not sure.

While we’re on the subject of blogging, when I shut down my personal finance blog, Daily Money Shot, I transferred the content over to another site where I blogged until I started this one. I can’t manage two blogs so the other one is dormant. But it has some really good content and I love the design. I don’t know if I should merge the two and then do my pioneer stuff as a series on that site. Everything I have is branded for that blog and it gets confusing. I’m having a blogging identity crisis. Any thoughts?

I want to do some guest posting. If you are going on vacation or need a day off from blogging, let me know. I’ll be happy to help you out if you’d like.

Last blogging thing. I think I want to do a one-off link up. Something along the lines of “describe your perfect day” or “what would you do if money didn’t matter” but with a catchier name. Bloggers, would you participate in that? Non-bloggers, would you like to read something like that?

/blogging thoughts.

Moving on.

At one point last year, I tried to force myself to wake up early in an attempt to be more productive. I’m thinking about doing that again but it’s summer and I don’t know that I care for that nonsense. It’s a tough call.

I like hard boiled eggs but for the life of me, I cannot peel them. I think I do it well 1 out of every 198 times I try. I usually lose part of the egg along with the shell and it ends up looking like this:

Appetizing. I know.

I have Essie Mojito Madness on my fingernails and OPI Cajun Shrimp in my toes. It’s like wearing a summer barbecue. I don’t know why I’m attracted to polish named for food. Maybe if they had Cellulite White or Fat Ass Blue, I’d wear that and instead of wanting to eat myself I’d have more motivation to lose weight.

Speaking of losing weight, you guys know I’ve been working on a couch to 5k program. I thought I’d hate it but I don’t. I mean, I don’t love running but it’s easier on my feet and ankles than my beloved Zumba and now, when I run, I’m all

That’s all folks. Thanks for listening.Linking up with Kristin