Friday, October 31, 2003

 

Thursday, October 30, 2003

 

I attended a seminar today; "Stress Management for Women." I'll try to condense what I learned into a brief paragraph. First of all, much of our stress is caused by not knowing how to communicate with others. I learned that there are four communication behaviors, and they are: Thinker ~ Director ~ Relator ~ Socializer. If we learn which one of these communication behaviors is dominant in us, and in the people we relate with, and then learn how to communicate with people in each of these categories, we will find that our stress level will decrease. By the age of 6 we have already become dominant in one of the four categories and it is unlikely that we can change. I learned that our self-esteem has a lot to do with our stress level. Low self-esteem = high stress level; high self-esteem = low stress level. Also, here's a formula to think about: E + R = 0 . . . Events (which we have less than 100% control over) + Response (which we have greater than or equal to 100% control over) = Outcome . . . If we learn how to resond to events in a positive way, the outcome will more than likely be a positive one. We were asked to list 10 positive things about ourselves, 15 positive things about ourselves in our career, 20 positive things about ourselves in our social/family circle, and 30 positive things about our health/spiritual/physical beings. This was not easy for me; matter of fact I have to finish my 'homework' and complete my lists. It's all about thinking positive, reacting positive, and striving for happiness. When we are happy is when we can give the best of ourselves to others.............I thought I'd share a little exercise that we agreed to do for the next 10 days. Here it is if you'd like to try it too:

Every night for the next 10 days, set aside 10 minutes for yourself and only yourself. Grab a timer or an alarm clock so you can time yourself. Set your timer for 8 minutes. Spend these 8 minutes talking to yourself about what you liked best about your day and what you liked best about yourself today. These are referred to as the LB's. The next 2 minutes, spend thinking about the NT's, or 'next times.' Instead of dwelling on what we did wrong that day, think about how we will do it differently next time; 'Next time _____________, I will ___________.' At the end of ten days; by focusing on what is positive about ourselves, our self-esteem will go up. If this is true, I will continue to do this activity on a regular basis. We all have 10 minutes to spare for ourselves, don't you think? This was well worth the $39.00 my employer paid for me to attend and I would definitely attend another seminar facilitated by this woman; her name is Rebecca Pace; her website is here. I havent' checked it out yet, but I'm going to do that right now..... I have lots of info to take back to my co-workers when I return to work next week! (Look for a link to all four of the communication behavior traits soon.)

 

This week at Lulu's Lines................
How true..............it is that we must live each day to its fullest. I am still striving to reach this goal. It can be quite difficult at times with all that goes on, but I try to keep everything in perspective; try to keep my priorities straight. It's not all about work; it's not all about money; it's not all about material things...........it's all about health, comfort, knowing our loved ones are safe and healthy; it's about treating others the way you wish to be treated. One of the questions that is often asked of a family mourning the loss of a loved one is 'How do you think so & so would want to be remembered?' I always thought that was a stupid question. How do you THINK they would want to be remembered??? We want to be remembered as one who was there for our family and friends when they needed us, always treated others with kindess, and one who knew how to enjoy life. Look at what's going on in California right now. It's unbelievable to think that thousands of homes have been destroyed and dozens of lives have been lost, possibly due to two people's actions. These peoples' lives have changed in an instant; we really never do know when our lives could change suddenly or even end. So far my sister and friend are safe; I'm very thankful for that. I know they would leave if they were in danger and I know they are prepared to leave if they have to. I pray that these fires are contained soon.........there is so much destruction in the world these days. I still hold onto the belief that the good does outway the bad; I pray that is true....................

(Going to take a pic for this week's theme at Photo Time, which, by the way, is 'crowded' and put it up at my photo blog in a sec!)

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

 

Thanks all you guys for the nice comments! I just finished my second blinkie rack and I wanted to show you how it will look on a light background as well as a dark one. Talk about having no life?? SO here it is....................(I will be offering these as soon as I make a couple more and make a page to put them on!) You can use the little 'connectors' to connect your blinkies, or not. Ok, here it is................(oooh, this is fun!) (Now I gotta go clean a house; bummer!) Then I'm gonna post my picture for Photo Time and answer Lulu's Lines.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

 

Whoo Hooo! I made my first blinkie rack! It's just my first one so be nice! (I drew it pixel-by-pixel; all of it!) Here 'tis.............

Sunday, October 26, 2003

 

We all have to have 'productive' days once in a while right? I finally decided to move things around in my computer room; just too much clutter, you know? And what happens? My vacuum cleaner starts smoking. Wouldn't ya know it?? So I called my friend who lives down the street and asked her if I could borrow hers. Of course she said yes; she won't be using it. I'll just bring it back Wednesday evening when I go to clean her house.........It's amazing what things we take for granted. Oh, if you're wondering; it doesn't appear to be the belt because when I took it apart, the belt was in one piece and sitting right where it was supposed to be. Maybe I need to get a new one. I couldn't wait to get home to finish cleaning my house. Thank goodness I have a little 'Shark' vacuum. It works wonders for the corners and since I was moving furniture around, it was just what I needed for that part of the cleaning. I stayed up really late last night; I mean REALLY late but I got up at a decent hour this morning and decided to be 'productive.' What is it with us humans? We feel if we haven't accomplished something (usually something resembling WORK), we feel guilt. Or is it just me??? No, I don't think so. I love rearranging furniture; well not the actual work part; the completed project. It makes me feel good to see a new look. I didn't move any of our desks around; they need to stay where they are, but the rest of the room looks quite different and believe me, it is a great improvement. So that was my day. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend! Need something to blog about? Go check out my Monday Madness; new questions posted for this week! Later!

Saturday, October 25, 2003

 

I slept in today........WAY in! It feels good to do that every once in awhile. (Is that two words or one?) My daughter and I will be leaving shortly to go babysit my nephew. My sister and her husband don't go out much by themselves and this is a 'dress-up' affair. I hope they have a great time and I know we won't be bored over at their house; they have lots of movies and games to keep us entertained. I'm going to bring some cross stitch; it's been ages since I've picked up a project and I have some Christmas ornaments I'd like to put on our tree this year. They're actually cross stitched on plastic canvas (very small count) and they're really fun to do. It's a set of 12 and I think I have 7 done. So I'm looking forward to spending the evening over there tonight; I'll do some things I wouldn't do here at home. That's about all that's going on here. SO, I shall go now, but first, let me leave you with a quote.............
"The best place to succeed is where you are with what you have."

Thursday, October 23, 2003

 

WARNING: If you've taped 'Survivor' and haven't viewed the October 23 episode yet, please do not read on..................unless you don't care if you find out who was voted off!

I would have never guessed that Trish would be voted off tonight, but after she pulled what she did, I was hoping they'd get rid of her. Good riddens Trish!!

Lots of stuff happening in the blog-o-sphere; Go visit Mandarin Design Daily and add your snippet about yourself! I found it last week over at Shirl's, who, by the way, enjoyed a well-deserved (I'm sure) day off today! Meanwhile, Bryn is counting down the days to Halloween! Her blog has taken on a real Halloween look this week! Speaking of taking on a new look, two of my 'seeesters' have a new look on their blogs, thanks to Granni! She does a great job; go check Jan's blog and Shar's blog out! You may remember a post I did a couple days ago about men becoming extinct.......well, another of my seeesters, Windy, has posted an entry in response to that statement. Great job, Windy! I never meant to imply that I would hope to live to see that happen by the way........oh, and while we're on the subject of responding to questions, Colleen has created a new blog just for answering memes and the like. Nice job, Colleen! One of the latest projects I've taken on is Puffin's Friendship Wall. It's really fun to create tiles and adopt them from other members. Be sure to check it out. While I'm at it, I'd like to welcome our 3 newest members; Sherle, Bryn, and Lulu. It's a great place; if you're interested in joining, just click here. Enjoy your evening all! Oh it's a great night to make a cup of hot cocoa and curl up with a good book!

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

 

Oh my! I didn't realize I haven't posted an entry since Sunday. No excuse; just not much to say. I've been trying to get caught up on my house and ironing these past two days. I know some people don't iron anymore but I just can't get out of the habit. I usually do it while watching something on television. (Who cares, right?) You should see my desk. It's starting to look like my Dad's desk. (No offense Dad!) I have all these little notes everywhere! And now my cat is walking all over it. She can't sit on my monitor because my desk is one of those corner desks and where the two sides meet is where the monitor sits. There's a shelf above it; no room for a cat! Now she's watching me type. See? Told you I didn't have anything to say. Oh, I finally got my 'PCAnywhere' program to work. I installed it on my home computer and my work computer, hooked up a phone line to each one, had to mess around with some settings, and viola! I can now dial into my work computer from home and access all my files! Why did I do this? I plan to work up to 2 hours from home every day. I have lots of info I still have to enter and I can't seem to find the time to do it at work. Am I getting paid for this time? Yes. I probably wouldn't do it otherwise. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind helping out and going the extra mile. But this is work afterall. I like to separate work and leisure so I will be informally 'punched in' while doing St. John's work at home.

I was thinking about offering more than one blinkie calendar for each month. Maybe I'll go work on those a bit. It's been awhile. Feel free to grab one for your blog if you like! You can find them here.

Sunday, October 19, 2003

 

I thought I'd do this week's Unconscious Mutterings; so here they are:
Country:: air
G:: H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P
Offer:: good till Tuesday
Connection:: phone
Quest:: search
Lighthouse:: water
Sycamore:: tree
Inhumane:: hurt
Sneer:: grrrr
Weapon:: gun

Oh, I wanted to share something that I found at Karen's blog; it's Online Etch-a-Sketch! Try it out; see what you can create!

 

As you may have read in my previous post, yesterday was our Annual Fall Bazaar. I'll try to keep this short, but I really want to share this with you because if it happened to us, it could happen to you.

We do all we can to bring in traffic to our bazaar and it's not easy. All of our crafters always have a great time, they feel at home, very welcomed there, but they don't make a lot of sales. About a month ago, I received a phone call from a woman claiming to be from "Michigan Community Connection"; a non-profit organization, who works WITH non-profit organizations. She asked if I'd be willing to open our doors to direct sales people; those who sell things such as 'Mary Kay Cosmetics', 'Tupperware', 'Lady Remington', 'Avon', etc. She had a great story to offer, told me all I'd have to do is say yes and she'd do all the work in getting these women to rent a table at our bazaar. Plus, the people she would sign up would agree to give our church 5% of whatever they make that day. Personally, I like a bazaar to BE a bazaar; hand-made crafts only, but I knew we had to do something to increase traffic and increase our table rentals, so I called the co-chairperson and presented this idea to her. She thought the idea would be worth trying, I mean why not? What would we have to lose, right? So I called the woman from "Michigan Community Connection" back and told her we'd give it a try. I got as much information from her as I thought necessary and we set up a date when she could come look at our church to see what kind of space we were talking about. She came in about a week later (to our church), asked me how many tables we'd like her to fill. I told her to go ahead and get as many as she could; up to 20. Again, she said the women she signed up would pay us our regular $15.00 table rental fee and give us 5% of their proceeds for the day. She asked me if I knew anybody who may be interested in doing this and I gave her two names of people I knew. A couple days later, I received a phone call from this woman who sells candles (the one I've bought my candles from for years.) She was very upset; told me that this other woman was asking for $300.00 from her! I was appalled. I asked her what reason she gave for asking for that amount of money and she didn't seem to know for sure. I got right back on the phone, called this other woman and told her what I had heard. None of this was mentioned when I agreed to have her work with us, and she assured me that the $300.00 was NOT required from anyone. It was only if they wanted publicity. She claimed to put an advertising package together for them, and that they'd be mentioned on several radio stations, 10 spots each. I asked her to please make it clear to anyone she contacted that it was not a required fee. We only charge $15.00 per table at our bazaar and I couldn't imagine anyone would be willing to pay $300.00 to be in a small church bazaar, advertising or not! She said she thought she did make it clear, but that she would call this woman back and let her know that all she'd have to pay was $15.00 to us for a table if she didn't want any advertising. I became a bit suspicious, thought about calling this woman from "MCC" to tell her to forget the whole thing, but I trusted that she was trying to do good and I let it go at that.

Ok, to make a long story short, yesterday when the women started coming in our door to set up their stuff, one woman had this weirdest look on her face. I asked her if there was a problem adn she said, "Yes, this is not what I expected at all." "May I ask what is it that you expected?" I said. "Well, I paid $300.00 to be in this show and I thought it was going to be much bigger. This is a church bazaar and I was told it was going to be a 'ladies expo' where there would be over 40 vendors selling their wares, job opportunities, high traffic volume, etc." I didn't know what to tell her except that if she didn't want to set up, we would be sure not to charge her the table rental fee. As I talked to her more, I found out that when she spoke with the woman from "MCC" she was told the $300.00 was required and she even had something in writing from this woman stating it was going to be a big event, a ladies expo, where they would have the opportunity to book shows, etc. I couldn't belive what I was hearing, so I decided to talk to the other women who were booked through "MCC." Each and every woman that I talked to told me they paid $300.00 to be in our show, were totally misled as to what they were getting themselves into; one even had a paper stating it was taking place in the Bay City Mall but later had to be moved to SS. Simon and Jude Church. I could have kicked myself for getting them into this and for allowing this woman who I knew nothing about, to take advantage of us the way she did. One of the women that signed up through 'MCC' decided to call the police. The sherrif came in, talked to each and every one of us separately, and then called in the woman who claimed to work for 'MCC' and talked to her as well. First of all, I couldn't believe she actually came in to talk to the sherrif, but she did. She admitted to being a fraud, told the women that she'd already spent their money ($1800.00 total), and that she'd need at least a week to get it all back to them. Our church made nothing, not even the $15.00 per table rented. The women who were victimized by this fraud begged me to let them pay me for the tables they rented. I wouldn't have it. They were already out $300.00 each and how could I ask them for $15.00 more?? They walked out of the room after talking to the sherrif, as a group came down to talk to me, told me that if they do get their money back, they would be sending our church a check for their table rental. I agreed to that; only hoping that they really WOULD get their money. I felt so stupid and so taken advantage of.....

We live and we learn. Our church may just do a "Ladies' Expo" one day, with all these women and more; they all said they'd be willing to be in our show if we ever decided to do it. I'm thankful to the one who persued this incident immediately, called the cops, and got this woman to admit she was a fraud. She does work for "Michigan Community Connection"; it's her personal business. She gets all the money she collects. This is not over. The TV-5 news is going to be contacted tomorrow so we can get this information out there to the public, so it won't happen to someone else. Beware of those fast-talking people who seem to have something to offer for nothing. I have learned a great lesson. Oh, and our bazaar, it was successful despite all this unfortunate crap. We profited more than in any previous year since I've been chairperson. I will never let anyone in to 'help' us again. We are an honest church and honest people; these women know that and I just pray the fraud gets what she deserves.............

Saturday, October 18, 2003

 

Our bazaar is over.......and what a 'bazaar' bazaar it was! I'll share more tomorrow. Stay tuned and be prepared because it will be a long post. And you won't believe what I have to tell you; I still don't believe it and I was there..................got ya curious?

Friday, October 17, 2003

 

Found this quiz at Shirl's first................and since have seen it on a few other of my friends' blogs.


September


Which month are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I heard on the radio while driving to work this morning that in 125,000 years, the male species will be extinct. Interesting, eh? They are the only ones that possess a y chromosome and they say it is 'weak and decrepit.' I thought this may interest you. What would you NOT miss about men? What would you miss? These are the questions people were calling in to answer this morning. Any thoughts? (Thanks to 'dork' for bringing to my attention that the quiz interrupts this thought; I changed the order.........)

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

 

Do you like jigsaw puzzles? I do so I have to share a couple interesting places with you. (Oh, I just love blog surfing!) First of all, I went to Bryn's October, and happened upon this. It took me 19 minutes to finish a 100-piece puzzle. It was great fun. So today I went out blog surfing again and I was at Kim's blog and in one of her recent posts, she mentions this place. SO, I signed up (it's still free) and I proceeded to make a puzzle using a photo that I took and edited in Photo Shop 7. You can find my puzzle here. Have fun!

ONE more thing; I found smores wars at Missives Anonymous. Go check it out!

 

Let's welcome Shar back to the bloggin' world! Her computer was down for a while and it looks lilke she's got everything running smoothly again! Yay! I took the day off yesterday; didn't do much, but that was my desire. One thing I DID do though was play around in Photo Shop 7 for a bit. Here, go take a look at what I came up with for this week's Photo Time theme, which is color. It's off to work I go now.........have a great day!

P.S. Thanks to Sherle for correcting me! (I just changed the theme subject; it is COLORS!!)

Monday, October 13, 2003

 

Late this afternoon, I was visiting some of today's participants of Monday Madness, and one of the blogs I visited, dustyroadz, was using a comment system I've never heard of, so I checked out the link. Here 'tis........you never know when you may have to switch comment systems! wild flow3r, another of today's participants, uses the same comment system. You know, I heard that soon Zonkboard will no longer be free. Hmmm, do I have any of those? Gotta go check. Just wanted to share that with ya!

I'm really struggling with how I want my main homepage to look, and what kinds of things I should include on it. Maybe I'll work on that a bit later tonight. For now my friends, I offer you another quote........

"Always look for ways to act upon the faith you display in your prayers."

Sunday, October 12, 2003

 

Ok.............on to the NEXT subject! Obviously the last entry was maybe a bit too controversial? Anyway, what's said is said. I respect your thoughts on the subject as I hope you respect mine. I've gotta finish watching "Random Hearts" now. Later!

Update on the movie: On a scale of 1-10, I rate this movie a 5. A bit too long (I fell asleep for a few moments) and a bit too slow. BUT, again, just my opinion. Off to get some necessary rest. Have a great week everyone!

 

I know we don't like talking about religion, but I just can't help myself this time. While sitting at my computer desk this morning, I overheard a portion of the morning show on television. They were talking about the pope and how he feels about married people and women becoming priests. Well, we all know that he is totally against it. We also know that he's not in the best of health and his time here on this earth may not last long.........or maybe it will. I believe he is just hanging around long enough to be sure he has appointed (or whatever the proper term is) the 'appropriate' cardinals to ensure that his beliefs will be enforced for many years to come. I understand the last 20 cardinals that he has installed (or again, correct term?) are very conservative; just like him! Please, I'm not trying to stir up a horrible debate here, but I believe we really need to explore the possibility of married people and women becoming priests. What is it that makes them unqualified in the pope's eyes?? Did the bible say we are to remain alone and celebate? Not to my recollection. I've known some wonderful pastoral administrators (all of these women of course) and the only difference between them and the priests is that they are not allowed to consecrate the bread and wine, they are not allowed to perform weddings, and they are not allowed (officially) to give last rights. They ARE allowed however, to do anything and everything else a priest does, and just between you and me, I think they make better administrators. BUT that is only my opinion. I wonder if the pope is really concerned about the decline of priests. In our diocese, we have 41 priests for 108 parishes. This number will only decrease as the years pass and who is in line to replace them? With this decline, the bishop of our diocese has been forced to allow women to 'lead' parishes, but it doesn't solve the problem as a whole. The pastoral administrator that I currently work for is forced to make phone call after phone call looking for a priest to preside at Christmas Mass, Easter Mass, almost all the holy days of obligation, and even regular liturgies. Our retired priests are working almost as often as they did before they retired. AND most of them don't even retire until they are in their 70's. This concerns me a great deal. What will happen to our Catholic Church if we don't open the doors (and open our minds) to those people who are perfectly qualified and willing to join the priesthood; but don't 'fit the bill' due to their gender or marital status?? I feel we need to stop being so narrow-minded and look at our priorities......... go ahead and share your thoughts (if you so desire.)

Saturday, October 11, 2003

 

Got up early this morning; ooh what a beautiful day it is too! We took off to the Northwood Institute University where they had their 40th annual car show. I haven't been there in a few years but today was an excellent day to go. Of course I had to grab my camera, and what a good thing that I did too! One of the displays was 'Slim Shady's' hummer. Alex sat in it, I got my camera out, she begged me not to take a picture but I did anyway.........now she's glad I did. This is the hummer this guy apparently drove around in for a while. She said it even had a napkin in it and a piece of children's clothing. Could it belong to M. Mathers' daughter?? Who knows. It was a nice walk through the wooded part of the campus and if you're thinking of buying a car, a great way to see all the models in one sweep! Oh and the smell of fall was definitely in the air today. I also got a couple of good shots of the beautiful trees that have already changed color.

I'm just 'putzin' around the house today...cleaning this and that, throwing some stuff out, doing a bit of touch-up painting. We're not going to see weather like this much longer so I may go for another walk this afternoon yet. My friend down the street will have her granddaughter over later; maybe I'll ask if she wants to take the kid for a walk in her wagon. I love fall!! I leave you with another quote..........

"The passing moment is all we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it." ~W. Somerset Maugham

Thursday, October 09, 2003

 

My Mom, aka Granni; aka Sherle, has put together a beautiful photo album and touching tribute to one of our favorite pasttimes; 'Solace,' a 37-foot sailboat that you just GOTTA see! My parents have finally found someone they feel is worthy of buying this grand vessel. They will be saying good-bye to it very soon. It is currently sitting in their yard/driveway and it'll seem very empty there when it's gone. We sure had some great times on that boat! We, being a family of 8, had a 'more than sufficient' crew to sail that beautiful boat, but one by one, we left home to go to college and within only a few years, my parents were left to sail it by themselves. It's a lot of boat for only 2 people! They did it though; for a while. I think it got to be too much and my parents then took a different path and decided to travel on land instead of water. It must have been difficult to put the boat up for an indefinite period of time, but I think they made a good decision. They now own a cabin in the western part of the state and all of us kids know we are welcome to spend a weekend with them anytime. I'm very thankful that my parents were able to retire at an age that would allow them to enjoy many, many years together doing what they enjoy! Go check out this photo album, so beautifully assembled by my mother..............it's really worth taking a look at!

 

Have you ever heard of such an absurd thing??? Here's what happened. I mailed my sister in California something roughly two weeks ago. I put plenty of postage on it and I checked the address twice to be sure it was correct. I placed this envelope in my mailbox one morning before heading off to work. One week later, I ask her if she'd received anything in the mail and she said no. I was puzzled but not too worried yet. The postal service really can be a bit of a pain and often much slower than you'd expect! Days went by; still nothing. I chatted with her and read off the address I had written on the envelope and she confirmed that it was correct. Yesterday (TWO weeks later, mind you!) I receive this piece of mail back in my mailbox!! "Not deliverable. Unable to forward." I am baffled. Tonight I called her house, talked to her roommate and let her know that I got the mail back. "WHY???" I asked. Get this!!! The address was correct; the zip code even had the 4-digit extension included; BUT the name threw the mail carrier off. This mail carrier didn't think this person lived at this address so sent it back to me!! How bazaar is that?? I've never heard of such a thing in my whole life. I will re-send it but this time put it in my sister's roommates' name instead..........I'm disappointed to say the least. What if I wanted to send something to her dog, Bravo??? I wonder if he would get his mail; no, he has to register with the post office first I guess.

On quite another note; I found this test over at Shirl's a few days ago. I just now took it. There are 48 questions but it only took me a few minutes to take. (**update: this is NOT the test Shirl took, but it's one offered at the same site...**) I found my results quite interesting.......here they are:

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 6% of the total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs Personality Test

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

 

I'm posting my photo for this week's Photo Time here; only because I'm cheating and I'm submitting 2 photos! The other one will be here. Oh, the theme this week is: Circles.........

 

My blinkie calendar page is up! I'm not sure if it's going to look this way forever but I really wanted to make them available, so if you're interested, just click here. I have six done so far; October 2003 through March 2004. Go take a look! It's my most least favorite time of the day now; past my bedtime.........goodnight!

Monday, October 06, 2003

 

Time for a little Monday Madness! (Even though it's technically Tuesday.)
"What is your LEAST favorite..........."
1. food: peas *eeewww*
2. type of music: heavy metal
3. subject of discussion: sports
4. time of day:when I realize it's way past my bedtime!
5. time of year:winter; when I have to drive in the snow (I'm a wimp.)
6. fragrance:anything too strong; my how some people love to marinate in their perfumes!
7. actor/actress:Jim Carey
8. commercial:The latest one advertising a femine product - very stupid; sorry, but I'm only being truthful!
9. television sitcom:"Scrubs" (couldn't even get through a whole 1/2 hour of it.)
10. singer:Britney Spears (?) If I don't like them I don't listen to them so I just picked one I don't listen to.

Stay tuned for blinkie calendars if you're interested. I should be posting the link before I go to bed tonight. I only ask for a link back to the site; very much appreciated! I'm off!

Sunday, October 05, 2003

 

October 5; 14 years ago today my daughter was born. Happy Birthday Alex!! (wonder if she'll even read this.......) She used to keep her blog updated regularly; not any more. Kids! She sure knows what she's doing though. I've asked her many times for help on trying to figure out why a code won't work and how to set something up so it will. We help each other. We've played around with PSP 7, PhotoShop 7 and Photoshop Elements 2 and it's great fun - one of the few things we still have in common (as far as a 14-year old is concerned that is.) We still talk; that's what is important. Do you know how hard it can be to get anything out of a teenager?

Bryn is doing some research on memes this week. Go take a look! Shirl has taken an interesting test this morning. I gotta go back and see what my results are! I don't know where she found it, but Karen has posted a picture of the HUGEST cat I have ever seen! This poor thing is so big; I wonder how long it will live! They do make diet cat food! Oh, and Lulu is recovering from a heart cath she had done on Friday. She did receive good news! My Mom had one of those done a couple of months ago and she got an A+!! Speaking of A+'s, Windy has just caught up on a week's worth of Random Questions!! (Reminds me; I should do the same!) Darn! You can't see my links very well unless I make them bold! (Note to self: change the color.) Well I'm off to put the second coat of paint on the walls now. Happy Sunday to all! Oh, one more thing: Please update your links to my blinkie site to: http://oserrato.com/blinkies1.html and http://oserrato.com/blinkies2.html ~ They are finally all moved over!!

Oooh! ONE more thing, then I'll let you be on your way, promise!! Just a bit of trivia for you: According to Anybirthday, there are more people born on October 5th than any other day of the year; in the U.S. Which birth date is the least common? You'll never guess................May 22nd; my birthday! Go figure!

 

What a productive day! I got the first coat of paint on and I started a new project; see that blinkie calendar over to the left? So far I have October, November and December, 2003 done. I hope to have a set of 12 within the next few days. I'll be putting them on a page of their own so you can grab 'em if you want and put them on your blog. Goodnight!

Saturday, October 04, 2003

 

So I changed my background. I'm not too sure how long it will stay; probably not too long considering it already feels like winter here. Plus, I'm not sure how much I like it. I'm not done with it yet; I just have to change some little details. I didn't put too much time into it because I spent most of the first half of my day off creating a Halloween Page (not done yet either) and finishing up the Friendship Wall site. If you would like to join, please click on that link I just gave you. Keep in mind that when creating your own 'friendship wall' page, you may have it look any way you want to. I still have to create my own 'friendship wall' page because I'm going to make it look totally different than my former puffin patch page. The 'members' page needs to be updated as well. But we're ready to go and you are invited to join. It's actually quite fun; not high maintenance at all once you have your page created.

Tomorrow (technically later today) I need to stay away from my computer; it's such a distraction! I HAVE to paint my kid's room, which means moving everything out of it first. My house will be in disarray for quite a while I'm sure. But she really wants her room painted and I told her I would do it before winter comes. It looks like my weekend is planned then. Enjoy YOUR weekend!

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

 

Ok, now my nose is running uncontrollably. I have to keep a tissue very close by. I see that many of our fellow bloggers have the flu; hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. (doo-doo doo-doo, doo-doo doo-doo) (theme to 'Twilight Zone' for those of you who may not know what's in my head.) I just love all the Halloween layouts I've been seeing today! I have little houses that light up, lights that we hang around our pillars inside the house, and lots of decorations; I think we'll decorate this weekend. My kid turns 14 this Sunday; my how time flies! I want her to stay young and innocent forever! (Well, at least innocent.) She's a very mature young lady for her age and I'm very proud of her. She has taught me a lot.

Winter may be visiting us tonight; possible snow flurries! I want to enjoy autumn a while longer; winter, winter, go away!

Whoo Hooo! I have successfully added a file to my other site that prevents people from being able to direct link to my images. No, no, no; don't YOU worry! If you are reading this, you are one of the people who I am not in the least bit worried about direct linking to my stuff. But I understand there a number of people who have done away with their sites due to others direct linking. If they had only investigated further. What a shame. I have never even considered doing something like that and when I read about those who make a habit of it, it makes me sick. It's unfortunate that we should even have to worry about it. To me it's like invading someone's personal property; too bad the rest of the world doesn't see it the same way.........but life is good; to every problem there is a solution!

 

I got carried away with visiting blogs; I visited almost everyone on my blogroll list. I try to keep it somewhat limited only because I really like visiting them on a regular basis. I worked on my new blinkie site tonight; I only have about 60 blinkies there so far. TONS more to add, and I had the urge to make a couple new ones so did that. I'll be changing my links soon; hopefully by this weekend. I'm also working on a 'friendship wall' site; more info to come soon. When I get it done, I'll be posting a link and inviting people to consider joining. I think Granni is doing a WONDERFUL job on her 're-vamped' home! You go, Granni! I just love the banner! Go check it out (click on the link above), plus she participated in Connect 8; beautiful job on that too! I got more to share but it's so late, so I'll have to save it for Wednesday! There isn't enough hours in a day, but 24 is what we get so I always try to make the most of them! Another quote for you all; and then it's goodnight!

"Change your thoughts and you change your world." ~Norman Vincent Peale