I submitted my blog to a group of uh people for a review and they do what they say: Ask and you shall receive. I asked and I got.

Here are some of the reviewer comments:

It is pretty much sunshine and lollipops over there. Problem is, I’m not entirely sure what “over there” is. Is this a blog or a self-help site? What is the purpose? You’re all over the place.

The writing is… chipper.

It’s very Good Housekeeping-ish, chatty.

There are some chuckles. Chippy, cheerful chuckles. No one’s cackling with glee here.

It seems like she approaches this like a job, like a way to break into something. It’s all marketing and spit-shine and I want to hate it because it’s gutless.

We don’t get to see who Valerie really is. There are no relationships explored, no real memories shared, no meat, no dimension, no sexiness.

But for the love of Shamwow, find some focus, figure out why you’re blogging, what you want to gain, and who your audience is. If it’s a general blog about your life, be that and leave out all the money-saving crap.

Okay, now this is not all that bad, most of it is accurate, to a point. I was hoping they would tell me something I didn’t already know. I do lack focus and I am all over the place, that’s who Valerie is. I don’t get too personal on purpose.

The only thing I really want to change about my blog is the tagline: my rants and ramblings, I know that sucks. Here’s what I came up with: If you want focus, go stare at a dot, cause you won’t find it here.

Suggestions on improvements around here? Just as long as you don’t bash my writing cause I might actually tear up. I always said I wanted to write a column in a newspaper, too bad they didn’t read my post, Why I Blog.

The Good
Good news! I finally upgraded my computer desktop and no I didn’t buy the one I really wanted, the slimline with the wireless LAN on-board, TV tuner to drool over 500g HD. I bought the one my money said I could have, the CPU that runs on hamster wheel power. Dual core? Two hamster wheels. It’s an improvement though, but next time. It should arrive on Friday. W00t!

The Bad
It comes with Windows Vista. I haven’t heard too many good things about this operating system. Most of the reviews I’ve read from users are negative, they hate it. I just hope I don’t experience any compatibility issues with my older programs, other than that, come what may. Any happy Vista users out there?

The Ugly
I’m in a bad mood this week, my sinuses have me by the nose and my neighbors won’t let me sleep. I’m not quite sure if the people renovating the house are the new neighbors or just the workers, but someone had the radio blaring all night and I couldn’t sleep.

Now, I used to sleep with the radio on so I understand rock-a-bye baby music, but this was piss the block off music and it worked. Certain noises arouse me and amazingly I can sleep through thunder, war and shootings, but drop your weapon and I’ll wake up. If you snore, my chance of smothering you with a pillow is 100%. I’m trained in CPR/AED, so I would revive you…just in the morning, after I wake up. I need quiet to sleep, so in case of disturbances, I keep several types of ear plugs in my night stand drawer.

However, two summers ago, the previous neighbors played music all the time until 2 a.m. and one night I was lying in bed plotting how to kill them. I wasn’t going to go through with it, I was just thinking about it. Really my target was to smash the radio. Instead I called the cops and a few minutes later my doorbell rings and two policemen are on my step. I thought they were supposed to protect and serve, not tattle and tell.

“Are you the one who called about the noise.” I gave them my name and address on the phone, they know I’m the one, why are you HERE. (I’m thinking you have got to be kidding me, you #@#! @$$@$, you’re going to get me killed).

“Yes it was me, don’t you hear the music. It’s the house NEXT DOOR!” Get off my step before someone sees you.

“Okay ma’am, we’ll take care of it” and then they left. What? No police protection tonight.

Fast forward, I’m a little nervous about who may be moving in next door. I’ve been enjoying the quieter summers and would hate to bother the police again. I love music, but at that hour they have to be breaking some town ordinance. Yet, I’m the one who gets a warning ticket for “recycling wrong.” Only on Hysteria Lane!

I thought about putting my speakers in the window and waking them up at 5:30 in the morning, but their music was still on. Yep, and I was late for work the next day, I overslept. Maybe I should report them to Rotten Neighbor. Hey, do you have a rotten neighbor story, something that will make my neighbors look like a convent?

By the Way

Just for once, I would actually like to get the advertised picture of food that’s on the outside of the box, inside the box. I bought a Weight Watchers snack a few weeks ago and on the outside of the box, the cake (with icing) said “buy me”, so I did. I opened it and something the length of a miniature sized 3 Musketeer falls out of the box. It was so small I was almost too ashamed to eat it. I guess I shouldn’t expect too much enjoyment and size from something that equals 1 point? I get excited when I see chocolate and snacks like that should come with a warning label: Magnified to show detail. The snack inside you could enjoy, if you don’t swallow it, will be 50% smaller. Don’t get excited!

Same thing with Burger King. The Whopper looks great on TV, all dressed up making ME crave meat, but when I got there it was a different story. My whopper looked like a Super Smash Brother with tire marks.

“Hi welcome to Burger King, may I take your order?”

“Yes, I’d like the Whopper I saw on TV last night.”

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”

Is there anything in your home that you absolutely would not get rid of because it has sentimental value? I’m not talking about irreplaceable family heirlooms, but about stuff that can be replaced with a similar item or not at all. Why am I asking?

I love to watch Clean House, that’s the show that cleans up a cluttered home by getting rid of stuff people don’t use or need. What surprises me about the people on the show is how attached they are to their stuff. Stuff they are not using and that’s buried under more stuff. The clean house crew literally has to pry items from their hands. People cry. I’m thinking what’s the problem, get rid of it! Now it’s possible I could be missing my sentimental gene, so I tested out my theory by walking around my place to see if there was anything I could not part with…….

The result?

I ended up putting mental price tags on everything! I don’t feel any emotional or sentimental attachment to this stuff. I have furniture, possible antiques, given to me from a relative, but if I had to sell it, without a second thought, it would be soooo gone.

So to tap into my sentimental gene, I have my daughter making a patchwork quilt with clothing from me, her dad and some of her old clothing. We’ll be collecting patches of clothing from other family members as well. Maybe when she’s done, I’ll start feeling sentimental about something, but for right now, my sentimental gene is MIA. I probably sold it at a garage sale. Just recently I asked my mother to bequeath her china that belonged to my father’s aunt to me because it’s a beautiful set and I would use it, but everything can’t have sentimental value, can it?

Please tell me I’m not the only one, are you the sentimental type? Is there anything in your home you would not part with because of its sentimental value?