mamaLove

RoR

I’ve been a VB developer for 8 years, first in VB6, and now in .NET. I don’t know near as much though because I only know enough to get my job done. Of course, most people are the same way.

But I’m tired of .net development. I’m ready for a change and so far, what I’ve seen of Ruby on Rails (RoR), I like. It’s simple, it’s easy to develop with and it works. It makes sense. It does a lot of the work for you, too, which means no switching from here to there to get an app working and running.

Granted, my web design skills are somewhat lacking, but I need a change. I don’t want to do Windows development anymore.

I’ve been reading books and tutorials on RoR and I’ve decided I need to develop some sort of app as a way to get my feet wet and get familiar with the framework. It would also give me something to show, if I ever decide to try and pursue a career in RoR development. But I’m at a loss as to what to build. I’m not too thrilled with the idea of making my own blogging software.

I’ve thought about a few idea, but none of them really sounds appealing or useful. Maybe because software development, regardless of platform, is just not exciting to me anymore. I think the whole idea has lost its spark. It goes back to the desire to leave the computer industry behind and find a decent paying job where the computer is just possibly a tool to aid in my work, not the main focus. My job currently depends on the computer. If you were to take it away, I couldn’t get my job done. I’d love to find a job where it’s only there to aid me or guide me but I’m not dependant on it, like I am now.

But since all I know is software development, I must stick to what I know. I can’t afford to relearn a new career or new skills needed to switch my field of work. So I thought maybe switching language and framework would at least offer something fresh. So I choose Ruby on Rails. If only I could find some useful, meaningful application to attempt to develop so that I can get familiar with it.

Anyone have any idea? This app most likely isn’t something I would be releasing to the public, but maybe use only personally on my own site or and extension of.

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NKOTB and a Girls’ Night Out

Yes, I went to a NKOTB concert with my sister Wednesday night. It rocked! I’m not ashamed to admit it. I was horriblely obsessed with the band in high school and it was so fun to relive those days. I had such a blast, it seems like a dream now. But I got hoarse and my throat is still a bit sore. The place was so packed and loud!

It was also nice to have a girls night out. I haven’t had one of those in a long time and to be able to leave the husband and the baby at home and just go out and have a good time and be silly and girly felt so good. I wish I had a girlfriend or two close by that I could have nights like that more often. Even if it means going home at the end of the night, it would still be nice.

DH gets far more opportunities to get away for a weekend or a day than I ever do. And it was nice to get away for a night and just forget about it all and let loose.

Sure, I go knitting once a week for about an hour or two, but those girls that I knit with aren’t my best buds.I only see them at knit night and we don’t really know each other all that well. I don’t consider them in my circle of friends because we just aren’t that close. I want someone I can be silly with, that I can really be myself around and won’t be judged or looked down on. Someone I can vent to, and that can relate to my situation (working mom of a toddler, juggling a career and family). I really miss that kind of connection. My husband is great, but it’s no the same as having a girlfriend you can gossip with and be your silly self with.

Technorati Tags: friends, girlfriend, nkotb

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Domestic Mommy

I’m feeling quite domestic this weekend. I baked a blueberry pie. Yes, I cheated and used a ready made crust and pie filling from a can, but hey. It was my first time making a pie and it was delicious. I made it yesterday early afternoon and I’ve just about eaten the whole pie by myself. Gasp! No wonder I’ve gained about 5 pounds this weekend. Yikes!

I also made a small pillow for Amelia. I cut up an old yucky pillow, washed the cover and removed about 1/2 the stuffing, then sewed it back up. Now she has a small rectangular pillow instead of a big standard size pillow.

I finally figured out that it was the big pillow that was giving her a hard time falling asleep. It’s been a week that we’ve been struggling with her going to bed, then getting up several times during the night. So I thought about it and thought maybe it was the pillow. I switched it out last night for one of her small pillows that she used before and it worked. She went to sleep and I never heard a peep out of her again til morning. So I made her a small pillow. I hope she likes it. We’ll be trying it out tonight.

DH was gone for the weekend so it was just Amelia and I. We’ve gone to the grocery store about 4 times this weekend. I made cinnamon rolls yesterday for breakfast. We’ve played outside almost all day today. Yesterday, we played with the play dough. And I’ve just about got the laundry done. Plus I’ve vacuumed the living room twice this weekend also. I did manage to read a bit, knit a bit last night and watched football. Wow!

Oh yeah. As part of my purging, I’ve going through and getting rid of some cookbooks. So I downloaded a recipe software and am entering in some of my favorites out of each book that I’ve either really liked, or want to try but haven’t gotten around to it. I’m then going to take the cookbooks to work and see if anyone wants any of them.

Ha! This is what happens when I get domestic and my SAHM personality kicks in.

Tags: domestic, baking, cleaning, pillows, sewing

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The Cake

Here is the cake that I made for Amelia’s 2nd birthday. I think she liked it. At least everyone thought it tasted great…It was gone by the next day!

It was a small gathering with just family. My parents, my sister, her fiance’s cousin, and DH’s cousin, her husband and their little girl (Amelia’s cousin) were all that were there. But Amelia got to sort of play with 2 little kids. Her cousin and another baby who will be family when sis gets married next year.

So this post is being made by Mars Edit. Trying it out as a possible editor for offline blogging. I’m not sure I like it. I’m trying out a few to see which I like best. So many people rave about this editor though, I figured I’d give it a try.

Technorati Tags: birthday, blog, cake, editors, Family

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Design Work

I’m contemplating trying to do some design work on the side. Not necessarily for pay, but just something to do for fun. I’ve gotten away from web design and scrapbooking and I’m finding I miss it. I miss doing the graphical design work.

The only problem I have is finding the time. When I get home, I want to do nothing but sit and either knit or watch tv. After the baby goes to bed that is. But maybe it’s time to change it up a bit. At least a few nights a week, just get on and play with graphics for a bit.

Things I’m thinking about include digital scrapbooking, blog banners (using scrapbooking techniques), basic web design layouts and maybe just playing with some of my existing photographs. I just think I’ve been doing too much windows programming and it’s burning me out so bad that I need to change it up a bit.

Technorati Tags: design, digital, graphics, photoshop, scrapbooking

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Night Visitor

Since we switched Amelia to a toddler bed, she’s gotten in the habit of getting up around 5am and coming into our room and snuggling with us, sometimes falling right back to sleep in my arms and sometimes trying to play so we end up turning on Disney so she can watch it while we try to get a little more sleep before the alarm goes off.

My husband snores. I’m sure I do too, but since I’m such a light sleeper, it’s hard for me to fall asleep with all his noise. So I tend to go sleep on the couch, if earplugs and/or shoving him doesn’t work. This was the case last night and I ended up bedding down in the living room around 11:30pm. Around 1am I woke up and decided to try going back to bed. When I got there, I saw that he had a visitor. Apparently while I was in the living room, Amelia woke up and wandered into our room. I found her asleep on our bed next to DH. I woke him up and asked him if he knew she was there. He chuckled and said that no, he didn’t realize that she had climbed into our bed. It was so cute. I took her to her own bed and she barely noticed.

Of course, promptly at 5am, she came into the room again and climbed into bed with us. She curled up in my arms and we both fell back asleep til the alarm woke me up around 5:30.

Technorati Tags: morning, sleep, snoring

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