Let me set the scene for you; I’m curled up in one corner of the loveseat with my computer predictably open and resting across my lap (this is why they call it a laptop, yes?). One of our cats is stretched out fully prone over the other cushion; occasionally twitching his ear or lifting his tail as I rub my bare foot on his belly. My husband is stretched out on the sofa, nodding off during the commercials while I sit here, write, relax and gather my thoughts about the day. We had dinner a few hours ago (homemade Boboli Bread pizzas) and then we made some microwave popcorn to munch on while we kicked back and watched some television. Welcome to my suburban Wonder Bread life.

While this kind of normalcy might be enough to drive some people to drink, I can’t think of anything else that I’d rather be doing right now… well, okay, but that’s for later when we go upstairs to bed, right?

Today was simply lovely. I started the morning like I do on every Saturday; shopping, running errands, driving my son around and then dropping him off at his friend’s house for the night. Then hubby and I spent the afternoon working in the yard. He cut the grass, I weeded and did some transplanting, and now we’re laying around like an old married couple on a Saturday night. What’s better than this?

So, a couple of things to talk about tonight… first, an update on the Butterfly Sisterhood Auction. We did great! Thank you so much to everyone who made yesterday possible! A few items were auctioned off, and many people simply offered to contribute to what we were trying to accomplish; all relatively small amounts, but this was about so much more than just raising money. This was about people coming together for a purpose. I’m deeply grateful to those who not only contributed, but who trusted me to administer this and make this happen. This was such a rare privilege for me because I’ve never put myself out there in such a way to ask people for their help, and I’m humbled that so many of you had enough confidence in me to open your hearts, and your pocketbooks, to help our friend The Butterfly Temptress. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what we accomplished together this past week, and each of you are angels of light in an often very dark and selfish world. We managed to pay for another year of hosting for her website, and we raised enough money to make a small difference in her life. I’m so thankful to have been blessed with such kind friends, and to share that friendship with others is truly what life is all about. You’ve made me very happy and you’ve reminded the Butterfly that there are still good and generous people in this world. I’ll be closing the auction page down in the next few days, but if anyone would like details about the particulars, please just email me. Those of you who will be expecting packages, they should go out by Tuesday at the absolute latest.

It’s kind of silly, but I’m pretty geeky when you get right down to it, and I’m into things like technology and science and other nerdy geek-girl stuff like that, and this week was no exception for geekified glory with Apple unveiling their new line of iPods. My son has already put in his Christmas request for an iPod Touch, tho I’m a little bummed that it only holds 16 gigabytes with flash memory. He’s already got a fifth generation 30gb and a 4gb nano, but the iPod Touch just looks slick and the touch interface is simply killer. I haven’t seen the new iPod Classic or the new nanos yet, but I’m not sure that I like the new split screen interface. It kind of seems to me that Apple is taking an already small screen area and cutting it in half. I mean, sure, coverflow and album art is cool, but I’m not convinced it needs to be on the main menu. The other big splash and ripple is of course the lowering of the sticker price of the iPhone, which has early adopters crying foul. See, I’m not terribly sympathetic for people who stood in line to buy this thing without realizing that Apple was of course going to drop the price. That’s just how it goes with technology! The only reason I wasn’t one of those early buyers was because I didn’t want to be locked into a wireless contract with AT&T, but now that the price is lower? Hmmmm….maybe!

And the last thing tonight, which I think is so totally and completely cool, is this Wiki from Wired which tells you how to save content from YouTube to your hard drive, then convert it into mp4 files (Quicktime format) and then bring them into iTunes to play on your video enabled iPods! This is so slick! Both hubby and son have saved a bunch of music videos from YouTube and transferred them to their iPods, all for free! The only issue we found was that the download site for the format conversion software wouldn’t transfer the program, but I found it at Major Geeks here.

So, that’s my boring yet completely brilliant and satisfying Saturday… and looking at the clock, it’s time to shake hubby and go upstairs, jump on for a quick ride and then fall asleep in his arms, only to wake up tomorrow and enjoy Stay Naked Sunday! Yes, I’m a happy girl!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I’ll answer all of my emails and comments tomorrow! Aishiteru wa!

:kissing: