Happy New Years Eve

Well, our house if full of snacks and pizza to settle in for a peaceful evening watching television (whether it has x-box on it or regular programming).

I wanted to take a moment to journal and reflect.

Every year I am amazed at how blessed we are, although we often feel poor. Here is my list of ten blessings, although there are immeasurably more.

1) We are all five healthy.

2) Our van is still pushing along and being good to us. We want it to hold out another year and a half until the last one gets his driver's license, but we've already had it eight years.

3) We have the same jobs that we had at the end of last year. Stability is always a blessing.

4) Both of the younger boys attained the rank of Eagle this year, so we have three Eagle Scouts. Having that off our shoulders is a great blessing.

5) We had yet another wonderful year of busy activities, from basketball, to soccer reffing, to marching band, to rock bands and recording, to scout camping and canoeing, to VBS and Bible studies. Our middle child turned 16 and got his driver's license the next day, relieving me of a lot of transportation duties.

6) We made up for last year's non-vacation year by taking two vacations this year, one to Hannibel for our 20th anniversary and one to the Smokies. The younger boys also went to Florida with the marching band.

7) We have been married 20 years and it was only by God's grace.

8) The braces are all "almost" off which will be another load off our busy schedules.

9) I've been blessed to have begun the Big Brother, Big Sister program and to have someone new in my life to love.

10) We finally got a new couch which was long overdue and I got my first laptop.

What will the new year hold for us. It is good to take a moment and pause and dream. With three growing teens, it can only hold many changes.

Here is my website I built a long time ago on New Year's. I hope you enjoy it and are inspired by it. I like the recommendations for making resolutions.
I also like the prayer on that page and I think that is a good focus to be thinking on as we bring in the new year.

That is, to simply ask God to be our guide and to be able to do those things that please Him.

Destination X-Box

The boys are home! The boys are home! Well, two out of three of them.

My hubby and I were so excited.

But what did they do? They went straight for the bedroom to play with their new X-box, even before they unpacked or took showers.

That's okay. I was just happy to have them home. To hear them occassionally from the other room was good enough for me.

I threw together this quick layout using one of Tina Williams templates that she gave out free on her blog before Christmas. I did alter the template some to fit my layout size. The rest of the stuff on the page is also from her freebies, including the motorcycle madness kit. Check out her site here. She is such a sweet lady. Not only that, but her stuff is really great and she's a fellow Missourian!

Watching The Flower Grow

Sigh, my husband and I were sitting in the living room this afternoon totally lonely, together. How ironic is that?

So, this is what it is going to be like when all the boys move out," we discussed. We had undecoracted, watched a few tivo'd shows, and then all was quiet.

My husband said, "I guess we'll just watch the flower grow."

At least that made me laugh. I had received this flower in this really cute felt bag for Christmas and it is growing so fast you can almost see it growing. This photo is even different from when we were watching it this afternoon.

So, we sat there, pondering about how we would love to have some dishes to wash and really missing the boys.

I've often heard that we are to take care of our relationships with our spouse while the children are growing up because after they are gone, we will only have each other. We got a taste of that today.

By the way, the background I used above is a freebie from the Nitwits. Just love it.

Anyway, we can only pray that we have taught the boys right and that they will adopt what we've taught as their own. 1 John 2:28 "And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming."

Nitwit Collections Petition

We, the ladies of Digital Simple Scrapbook Yahoo Group, do hereby petition Nitwit Collections to pretty please share more freebies with us. Find their shop here.

To sign the Petition, please leave a comment.

I try so hard not to spend money on digiscrapping kits, but I finally gave in to the temptation to get a Nitwit kit (or two). It seemed especially appropriate, first, because I am so attracted to the stuff when I see their ads and, second, after the conversation I had with my Grandpa. These Nitwit kits just seem to be meant for me.

This layout was made using the Yesteryear Book kit and the brown background is from the Kickin It kit. Also, I did clone out the numbers on their tag and inserted my own letters. I used Virtual Photographer on the photos. Good thing I wrote a tutorial, I had to go read it myself to remember how to install things in PSE on my new laptop. [giggle].

Grandpa is on my mind often. He's not doing too well. Prayers are appreciated. Scrapping is theraputic, isn't it?

Happy New Years Eve Eve

The end of the year is closing in on us and, therefore, it is time to start thinking about the new year and making resolutions. Most often I try to stay away from them because they are more often broken, but I do try to reflect on the blessing from the past year and dream of what the new year may hold. I need to think on this more and may post about it tomorrow.

Many people make diet resolutions. I certainly could use a resolution like that. It made me remember this hilarious video at YouTube. I wonder how long it took these guys to come up with this idea and to choreography it.




I found this blog page about curves in Photoshop and shared with with the Yahoo digitial scrapbooking group. It has some ugly words in it, but it does also have some good information on it if you can look aside the bad stuff. I plan on learning more about curves soon.

It was hilarious how the ladies turned the topic into the weight loss and exercise place called "curves." What an appropriate topic for this time of year with everyone making resolutions. They had me giggling so hard yesterday. I only have the last comment saved, but Sally said, "Sadly, my curves need the Warp Brush more than anything else." Hee hee, maybe my new year's resolution will be just to "photoshop myself thinner in 2007."

Of course, if you really just wanted to exercise in your living room, you could become a YouTubeAholic and just find things on there to move to.

What about standing in your living room trying to follow along to the pengiuns in the Gangsta Happy Feet Remix?



Why not search YouTube for your favorite song? Then dance to the video with them over and over? Of course, you can search for workout videos too. Be careful, some of them come up with mature content, but you can find some good ones like this one.



Or this one for a workout at the office.Great for your lunch hour, although I'm not sure how a skirt would stay down while gliding up and down the wall.


The end of the year is also for reflecting on the past year and in these next two days, we will see a ton of this on the television and radio. Here's some sites I found with Year in Review topics.

Time has a page on the 50 Coolest Websites of the year. Careful, you could get stuck on the internet a long time clicking on that page.

My sons would love reading about the Video Game Review of the Year.

I will edit this post and add more as I find them.



Of course, you could make a goal to take a photo of yourself every day in 2007 and make a video like this one. This is Noah Kalina, famous for having the same expression on his face every day for over 6 years. Here's a FAQ page on him.




Or, if you travel a lot, you could create a video like this silly guy in 2007.

Mood: Lonely

My oldest son left at noon today. He wouldn't give me a hug. He won't be back until January 5th. I worry about his being safe traveling such long distances by himself. He is gone to two different church gatherings. The second is the Passion 07 Conference in Atlanta which is probably a 10 hour drive for him. I am glad that he wants to attend such events, but it is too long for him to be gone for me. I don't care if he's 19 1/2. I am glad, though, that he will be staying the nights with some close friends of ours, so at least someone will be checking on him once a day. It's the traveling that mostly has me worried.

With the other two still in Florida, I'm a bit down right now. No children in the house is a very rare thing. I believe it has only happened a few other times in the past 19 1/2 years. I'm sure many people would be happy to have a quite house, but not me. I miss them terribly. I love them so much. My sons, you are my world.

I found this poem in my inbox, so I did a search and found it on the internet as I always try to be careful in giving credit. I found it posted here. I've highlights some lines in red that are touching me right now.

To My Children
Where have all the years gone --
How did I let them slip by me?
I thought I had all the time in the world, but I didn't I see.

My son is soon to be a man --
My daughters are planning to be wives.
But it seems like only yesterday,
It was I who was planning their lives.
I blew their little noses --
I kissed away their tears.
I told them pretty stories -- What happened to all the years?

You have your babies around you,
And you turn to other things as they play --
But don't turn around for too long,
Or they'll be grown up, and on their way.

You will have missed the homemadeboats,
and the smudgy Valentines --
There will be nothing left of their childhood--
How you'll miss "Will you be mine?"

For there's nothing any dearer
Than a little hand holding tight--
Or standing there waving,
As you drive out of sight.

But soon you'll be standing waving,
As they go on their way.
To live their lives the way they want,
Leaving behind just memories of yesterday.

Oh, where have all the years gone--
What happened to those babies of mine?
I turned around a moment too long--
And now they've crossed the grownup line.

(c) 1997 Martha Benton All Rights Reserved

Winter Sickness

With my family just getting over some sickness, I read this "forward" in an e-mail and it made me smile, so I thought I would share. There are so many people around me really sick. It's that time of year. I hope all is well with you and yours.

***
I shall seek and find you...
I shall take you to bed and control you...
I will make you ache, shake and sweat until you grunt and groan...
I will make you beg for mercy...
I will exhaust you to the point that you will be relieved when I leave you...
And you will be weak for days.
All my love, ...................
The Flu


Author Unknown

Listen to the song!

It's up! You can listen to the song my son and his friend wrote.

You can find it in the sidebar ----------------------------------------------------->

It's a .wma file.

Feel free to leave the guys some kudos. :)

Helping my friends with RSS

I love RSS feeds! If you haven't gotten hooked on them, you need to!

What is RSS? How do I use it? This is so new to so many of us!

RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication

How simple is it, really? Well, once you get the hang of it, it is easy.

The quick basics: Once you put the "url" to a site into a "feeder," you can view the feeder to quickly see all new posts at all the various sites all handy in one place. It is a one stop place to be informed of new posts.

URL
So, first learn how to get the "url." You will see them everywhere once you become aware of them.

Most of them look similar to this little box:

To get the url, simply (yes, simply!) right click with your mouse and choose "copy shortcut" and it will put the url into your clipboard. Then simply (yes, simply!) paste [control v] the url into the feeder you have chosen.

Each feeder has different methods of installing the url's into their feeders, so you will need to read their instructions. But getting the url is the basic knowledge you will need to get started. To utilize many of the readers, you do not even need to know how to find the url.

Sometimes you will see icons that will directly add to a specific feeder. In that case, you can simply (yes, simply!) click on the button.

FEEDER

Now, you need to choose a feeder that you want to utilize. You may need to test out several of them before you choose one as your own.

There are MANY feeders available for your to use. Here is list of them. Or try these listings. Here is a list of some of them. Here is another list of them.

Try MyYahoo. If you use Yahoo e-mail, you may enjoy having everything in one place.
To use it, after logged into "MyYahoo," click on "add content" and then click on "Add RSS by URL."

Also, the Yahoo Alerts will except the url's and send notifications directly to your inbox.

I previously used Blogbot for Outlook. It is right there with all my other e-mail and very easy to use. In fact, if you right click on an RSS link, at the bottom of the list is "add to blogbot for outlook" and it adds it for you from any site. However, as I began increasing the number of feeds I subscribed to, this seemed to bog down my computer while it was reading the feeds. I would still recommend it if you do not subscribe to too many feeds.

Blogbot also will sync with Bloglines, another feeder I find easy to use and easy to read. You can add a button to your favorite links for ease in adding feeds to your account. Then, once you set it up with Blogbot, it will appear (presto!) right there in Outlook with your e-mail folders. If you use this system, you can enjoy the feeds in Outlook as well as online through Bloglines from anywhere. Also, you only need to add it through the convenience and organization of groups through Bloglines and it automatically organizes it the same way in our Outlook. I just love this setup!

Bloglines has become my favorite to use. I love how it is so much faster than reading e-mails as you do not have to delete anything. Once you read the feed, it recognizes it. Only non-read feeds are in bold. However, if you want to go back and re-read, you can still do so. I have a link to add feeds in my "links" of my "favorites." It's so easy to just click on that when I want to add a feed. Unsubscribing from a feeds or editing it is so easy too.

However, I have read that some people feel the new Google Reader has more capabilities than Bloglines and that people are preferring it. When I get an opportunity to review it, I will edit this post.

The new Internet Explorer 7 has a feature for feeds. To back up your feeds in IE7, click on the icon with the plus sign in front of the star and choose "import and export." What I love about the new IE7 is the feed icon that changes from grey to orange whenever it recognizes that a site has a feed. I'm getting in the habit of watching it. When I see it turn orange, I know that the site contains an RSS (but then I sub to my Bloglines).

I did install and uninstall, register and test, several other feeds, but I found some of them difficult to use or hard to read (small type).

What are the URL's for this blog?

The feed for this blog is:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/HummiesWorld

Check out the buttons in the sidebar and try using one of them.

In the old blogger, my feed was:

http://lifeanalyzed.blogspot.com/atom.xml

In the new Blogger, all blogs at blogger.com (aka blogspot.com) have two RSS choices.

http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/full http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

I have redirected all Feeds to the Feedburner RSS.

Internet Finds for Today

Gas Prices

I can see this site at Gas Prices - MSN Auto being very handy whenever gas prices begin to rise again. The gas prices are updated every night. Just punch in your zip code to see the prices of all the gas stations in your area. Be sure to scroll down past the map. GasBuddy also lists the lowest gas prices in your area, but does not seem to be a comprehensive list. Mapgasprices has a great map with its lists of lowest and highest gas prices. I did note in viewing all three places that the gas prices at the stations seemed to be consistent.


Social News/Memetracker

As I am reading more and more about these new places arising on the internet for finding the best postings on the internet, I continue to see the words "social news." What in the world is that? I am guessing that it is news that might be discussed socially. That would be news that people would chat about over dinner together or in the break room at work or at parties. It can cover a broad range of news, from a death of someone to a new gadget coming out. Whatever makes good conversation would be "social news." Someone can tell me if my understanding is wrong, but that's what I am gathering.

Another new term I keep seeing is "memetracker." Where in the world do people come up with these new terms? It amazes me how our language continues to expand. So, I did a search for the term and found this page that explains the term. Imagine that, it's such an odd new term that it needs its own url just to explain it. The bottom of the page says it is still in beta. Obviously that might not true since many of these other sites I've been sharing with you claim to be memetracker sites. I'm confused.

From what I gather, it is similar to how all the search engines attempt to index every single page on the internet, with the difference being that memetrackers also index what is most noteworthy. Memetrackers take note of how many times a page, video, or whatever is linked to another page, making it more popular and noteworthy. The more noteworthy pages are at the top of the lists. Come along now and learn with me!

So, go ahead and blog and use lots of links! It appears that these new memetrackers are picking up the links that you post. It kind of gives me the creeps too, just thinking about how what I write is being crawled over by bots and merged together with other blogs of similar importance.

I wonder when we will see digiscrapping at the top of memetrackers?

Okay, someone link to my blog so the memetrackers will pick it up? {giggle}

Of course, since I analyze, I am wondering what "meme" means. Dictionary.com's listing is of no help to me. I need laymen's terms. But it does show memetracker is spelled with a space (meme tracker) and searches the web for results for you.

So, I think it is pronounced "meem" and not the short vowel sound. Am I correct?

I am wondering if del.icio.us, digg.com, and reddit.com are really considered memetracker sites. Those sites seem to glean their information from subscribers posting, rather than bots scanning pages.

Let's move on to review these places that seem popular.

Megite - What's happening right now.... is really an interesting site to cruise about. They even have a new feature to include videos that are hot. Less searching for great videos on YouTube and other video sites. I actually kind of really like this site.

Tailrank also seems to be another popular memetracker. According to its blog, it is also now ranking videos. It appears that megite and tailrank are competing against each other for popularity. It has this great explanation page which I believe helps us to understand how memetracker works.

Here's another one! I haven't time to check them all out now. This one is called Memeorandum. And yet another one called Findory. And yet another one called TechMeme. How could these things be everywhere and I'm just now learning about them? I can see more of these sites opening up and a grand competition going on until one of them comes out in the forefront as the most used.

Another Techy Find

I have one other techy find to share with you. ProcessLibrary has a free process scanner. If you are familiar with control-alt-delete and viewing the processes running on your computer, that is what this program does. It will tell you which ones are harmful for your computer so that you can take care to remove them. If you do not want to run the program, you can cruise your own processes manually and then check what the processes are for at their directory. I did download and run this program and it brought up an internet page with a lot of great details.

Internet Finds

As always, I seem to find new interesting things on the internet, especially now that I am using the RSS feeds more regularly. I enjoy sharing my finds with everyone.

Sites to Find the Best Sites

First, I've seen this site referenced many times, but never understood what it was or how cool it is. It is del.icio.us. I always thought it was something from another language and igorned it. However, from this site, it appears that it was purchased by Yahoo for 15 to 30 million dollars. So, hey, it must be something really cool if it was purchased for that much, huh? From what I understand, the site is similar to keeping a list of Favorites in IE. The only difference is that your Favorites are tagged and grouped with everyone else's Favorites. Therefore, you can search through the tags to see the most popular websites to visit. There is also several RSS's you can subscribed to. Check it out.

Another similar website is digg.com. This made me smile as the phrase "digg it" is an 80's term. In the same way as del.icio.us works, members submit pages, podcasts, etc. that they like and others respond by adding a digg to the post. The posts with the most diggs are the more popular. A great way to find interesting things on the internet. There is also an RSS feed.

And yet another website that rates by vote is reddit.com. I have not subscribed to any of these above sites as I'm only now becoming familiar with them. So I cannot recommend one over the other.

Other Fun Stuff

Here's another similar site where people can vote for favorites, only it is for quotes only. It is called Board of Wisdom. I thought this site would be great for digital scrapbookers. The "quotes by subject" section can lead you to some great finds. I enjoyed reading the "geek" subject. There is also a search feature and a RSS feed. Wouldn't it be great if they had a subject section for digiscrappers? We could all submit our favorite quotes and then vote to rate them.

Once again, I am finding that I do not even need my t.v. as I can just watch things for free online. It is amazing to me and something I never dreamed would be possible. Peekvid is another site where you can watch television and movies.

And I am most excited about this find for making pdf files for free. I've been waiting for this for a long time! I did test it and it worked beautifully. What a great find for designers of digiscrapping. For me, I will utilize it for my website. I need to convert my tutorials into pdf to make them printable.

Will it ever get easier?

Well, the two younger boys are off to Disney World with the marching band and will not return until December 31st. Will it ever get easier saying goodbye to them when they leave for extended periods of time? At least I got myself a hug from each of them.

I'm excited for them though; to be able to march at Disney World in a parade sounds like a lot of fun. But I am glad I don't have to sit on the very long bus ride. They are leaving this evening and traveling all night. I am assuming that it is easier to travel with 100+ students sleeping.

You'd think I would be excited to have some down time and quite time for myself at home, but it is not so. I'll take them being noisy and me having to run them places over me missing them any day.

On another note, my dog Abbie Rae is happy. We took down the tree today and she got her dog bed put back in its place (where the tree was). She looks so relaxed and thankful in her bed. I guess she just did not like it at the end of the hallway where we all appeared to be ready to step on her and where she could not see the hub of activity in the house. Where her bed sets now, she can relax and see the living room, kitchen, and hallway all at the same time. It must be like watching t.v. from bed for her.

With the boys being gone and the tree taking up so much of our very small living room, I just could not leave it up. I'll take my time taking down other holiday decorations.

Sigh. Christmas is over

Men and women everywhere sigh on December 26 and say they're glad Christmas is all over for another year. But it isn't over. "Unto you is born...a savior." It's just a beginning! And it will go on forever.

**************************
Signs You are Sick of the Holidays

You've got red and green bags under your eyes.

You're serving reindeer pot pie.

When you hear, "Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'?" You scream, "No! I'm not listening!"

You climb on your roof and start shooting carolers with your air gun.

You think you hear your Christmas tree taunting you.

Instead of spending time with family, you're watching some guy make photo copies.

You've got eggnog coming out of your ears.

Tinsel rash.

Perfect Man

Oh my, wouldn't this be fun to give to your favorite man in your life?



Perfect Man (gingerbread man)

Gingerbread man
Is the perfect man,
He is no trouble at all.
He is very sweet
And never talks back,
And he always comes when you call.
If he gives you any trouble, any trouble at all,
Here's what you do ya'll.
Give him one warning, just one warning I said,
If he doesn't listen, bite off his head.

Think on that cough drop.....

Santa did not come to our house last night and Mrs. Claus is waking up tired, as usual, because she was trying to catch a time when four men were all asleep at the same time.

Men.

It gets worse as they get older. The night owl son was up until 1:30 a.m. and later; the early owl son was awake before 7:00 a.m. Mrs. Claus had to sleep some time, right?

Men. My four men.

Last week my husband was wrapping a gift and I said, "Why are you using birthday wrapping paper when I just told you how anxious I was for us to use up the Christmas wrapping paper." He said, "This is birthday paper?"

Men.

This morning I wake up and see new gifts under the tree wrapped in, none other, than birthday wrapping paper. Oh, my night owl son is just like his father.

Life with four men.

It's Christmas morning, I'm gonna think on that cough drop....

The Christmas Eve Cough Drop

The Christmas Eve Cough Drop

I wanted to leave a little Christmas message on my blog for this special day, the day we celebrate Christ’s birth, the day we spend giving and receiving. I had been thinking of what to say, but was not sure what I would do. Then...

Here I lay on Christmas Eve, at the end of a long day, at the end of a long week of no sleep due to excessive coughing, laying in my bed, trying to make myself go to sleep, not wanting to because I know that once again, I probably won’t be able to sleep, when in walks my youngest son. I look up, trying to make out who it is in the darkness. “What?” “Here,” he says. “What’s that?” A cough drop,” he says. And with that he turns around and walks out of the room, leaving me there with a feeling of wonderment.

Every once in a while, my sons take me for a loop and do the most unexpected, wonderful things. So, he was listening to me complain that morning of my lack of sleep due to coughing and how I finally fell asleep because of the cough drop in my mouth. So, he does care whether or not I will sleep tonight.

Of all the Christmas gifts I may get tomorrow, this Christmas Eve Cough Drop is the best gift I could have received. A son giving from his heart because he cares about mom, being thoughtful, just about tops any tangible gift.

Every year I reflect on how it seems odd that we all are getting the birthday gifts, not the birthday boy, Jesus. But then I am reminded that whatever I do to others, I do unto Jesus; and so, He really is receiving a ton of gifts on Christmas day.

I am reminded that God, who has everything, gave everything:

Isaiah 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I am reminded that Christian giving is worship. What a great way to worship Jesus on his birthday than by giving to others.

One of my all time favorite song lyrics is “We are the World” by USA for Africa. The lyrics remind me that we are God’s children with the power to make a better day for someone else. A small thoughtful cough drop can make a better day for someone else. It’s a daily choice we make. A better world starts with you and me and the small things we do and give every day for other people. If we all join together doing the small things, everything will become great.

I wish for you a Christmas Eve Cough Drop kind of day, today, and every day. I thank God for giving his Son.


Luke 6:38 Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.

Matthew 6:21 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

II Corinthians 9:6-8 6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

New Living Translation






WE ARE THE WORLD
Sung By USA For Africa
Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie

There comes a time when we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it's time to lend a hand to life,
The greatest gift of all
We can go on pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of God's great big family
And the truth you know love is all we need

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart so they'll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stones to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own livesI
t's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

When you're down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe there's no way we can fall
Let us realize that a change can only come
When we stand together as one

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
It's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me

After we took the drive through the park display of lights tonight, we drove to see this awesome display at a home.

We tuned our radio into 88.7 and the music that was playing on the radio matched the light display on the home. The music was coming from within the home. I have a few videos here for you, although they do not do it justice. My camera was confused trying to focus on the random on and off lights. Santa and his elf where there waving at everyone.

I wish everyone a blessed Christmas.

Lights at the Park

You will hear me say it again and again exclaiming what a great city we live in. Every year there is a grand display of lights at the park for the public to drive through. I understand many cities charge to drive through light displays, but ours is totally open.

The above photo is of my son's Eagle project, one of the many, many displays at the park.

I really enjoy seeing the lights reflecting across the lake that we travel around. I'm not a good enough photographer to get a good photo of it, although I tried.

When are you coming home

Goodness, this song brings tears to my eyes on Christmas Eve.
Heather Martin's song is about her older brother in Iraq. Her mother wrote the song from her perspective.

Gift Giving & Men

Ahh...here it is, 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and we are actually all home. Now one is working? Amazing! So we have plans to go out for dinner as a family and, what happens?

Men, that's what happens.

My four men have been bouncing in and out all day, pairing up in different pairs, doing what? You guessed it. They are Christmas shopping. Of course, they cannot get everything in one trip. They have to go out in pairs, not with the person they intend to purchase a gift for. Sigh.

So, it's 4 p.m. and I'm standing in the kitchen trying this interesting recipe for cake balls that has me intrigued-- squishing baked, crumpled cake into balls, when they head out again.

"Mom, what do you want for Christmas." I just laughed. "Nothing, I don't want anything."

"We cannot do that."

"Then make me a coupon that says you'll mop my kitchen floor once a week for an entire year."

You can imagine the face I got as they turned around and headed out the door.

Life with four men is sure interesting, isn't it? No matter how hard I've tried to raise them into the men their future wives will love, they turn out to be men anyway.

God has his own plans. A family dinner may not be in His plans.

Life with four men. I just smile inside.

Creating Internet Shortcuts

Believe it or not, I've got New Year's resolutions on my mind before Christmas is even over. I was motivated to begin organizing my digital scrapbooking kits yesterday. Finally, after 1 1/2 years, I have decided what method I want to personally use for organizing my kits. I've decided it is important to organize by designer. Here is my tutorial on organizing kits.

However, while organizing yesterday, a light-bulb idea popped into my head. That seems to happen often and then I am determined to find the way to do it.

I was so frustrated in trying to figure out where the designer of each kit I had purchased was located on the internet. Unfortunately, even the TOU files of some of them were of no help.

I wanted to be able to put an internet shortcut into each folder linking directly to that designer's shop and blog. First, I stumbled about and figured that I could, of course, create a shortcut by adding the site to my favorites, then going to my favorites on my hard drive and cutting and pasting the shortcut into the designer's folder. Whew, must be a fast way than that, right? Yep, there is!

I have written a new tutorial to show you how simple it is. Here is the tutorial for creating internet shortcuts.

Now, if I could just get the designers to begin creating these themselves and putting them in the downloads, we'd all have it made.

Official Santa Sock

Take one of your husband's old work socks (complete with holes!) and put it in a zip-lock, and then attach this poem

"Official Santa Sock"
My puppy must have stolen it
On last year's Christmas Eve.
I hope that Santa's toes weren't froze
When he had to leave.
I'm passing it along to you
As quiet as a mouse!
And THIS year if he's lookin' for it
IT WON'T BE AT MY HOUSE!!!!

Magic Weight Loss Beans

MAGIC WEIGHT LOSS BEANS
1 Remove beans from bag.
2 Throw them on the floor.
3 Bend down and pick up each bean.
4 Repeat hourly as needed.

M & M Menopause Relief

M & M MENOPAUSE RELIEF

To temporarily calm your craving for chocolate, eat the BROWN one.
At the first sign of hot flashes eat the RED one.
Eat the ORANGE one to minimize depression.
The GREEN one calms your frustrations, when you wantto be left alone.
If you feel a headache coming on eat the YELLOW one.
The BLUE one reduces bloating.
If all symptoms occur at the same time, eat the WHOLE bag.

Variety of Fun Gifts

Take a large wisk and fill it with Hershey Kisses. Wrap all in cello and tie with fancy ribbon. Make a cute little holiday gift tag that says: "We WISK you a Merry Christmas".

Take two AA batteries, put them in a box with a note saying "Gift not included"

Get a Christmas "bucket/pail/ box" and put two bags of microwave popcorn and two cans of soda nestled in shredded red/green paper and wrapped in cello. On at ag write, "Pop, pop, fizz, fizz, oh what a great friend (teacher, cousin, in-law, etc) you is!"

The home exerciser is a block of wood with this saying printed on paper glued to it. HOME EXERCISER 1. Place in middle of the floor 2. Walk around it two times3 . Rest, you've just walked around the block two times.

Unfinished furniture - A big box with the label "Unfinished furniture". Inside the box is a branch, leaves and all!.

Put some straw in a zip-loc bag and attach a tag that reads "Straw Hat -- Assembly Required"

Hillbilly Flashlight - a block of wood with one wooden kitchen match in the end of it.

Sawdust in a small zip lockbag. Labeled "Expert Jigsaw Puzzle."

Take pieces of straw and put in cellophane bags witha tootsie roll and a tag that says "roll in the hay."

Pet Dust Bunnies = Dryer lint in a bag with googleeyes.

The three step diet program = Three plastic forks, for 20-30 lbs weight loss, 1 has only one tine removed and numbered 1, for 30-50 lbs weight to lose, 2 has two tines removed and numbered 2, 50 lbs + has all tines removed and labeled number three, all three are putinto a bag together so they can diet in a 3 step program.

Fanny Floss = crochet thread or heavy cotton cording, label reads for those hard to reach areas.

Dodge, Ford, Chevy motor repair kit = duct tape and a rubber band in a baggie.

Emergency rope for when you're at the end of yours =small piece of rope in a baggie.

Over the hill instant face lift=a small roll of duct tape

Also, over the hill make-up brush=a cheap paint brush for painting walls.

Poor women's boob job--take 2 flesh or clear balloons and a straw and put on a topper that reads: Poor Women's Boob Job- Directions: insert balloon into bra pocket, insert straw into balloon and blow to desired size, add clipo r knot to prevent shifting of size or air escape. Repeat for other side. Caution: stay away from sharp objects and over squeezing!

Do-It-Yourself Ted.E.Bear = six small brown pompoms in a bag with the small google eyes

How about A melted snow man. Take a mason jar or some sort of clear jar and put water in it. Put in a carrot, a button and two small pieces of coal. Put a label on the jar that reads: Melted snow man.

Worry Wart. It is made out a nylon stocking. A roundball stuffed with cotton about 1 - 1 1/2 inches across and gathered at top and tied with small bit of ribbon. Two tiny eyes glued onto it. Poem attached: This worry wart will be your friend, And when your day is at it's end, Just relax, worry no more, Cuz that's what this little wart is for.

Fish Seeds

Put this topper on a little baggie of goldfishcrackers. It makes a cute little gag gift for thefishermen in your life.

It's known you like to fish alot, your line dropped in the water. But sometimes they aren't biting, so you can't catch what you oughter! When these times come, just grab this pack of ready-to-grow fish seed, then raise them til they fit the size your best "fish stories" need!

A great gift for those to who hate to cook. Photocopy a cookbook cover, you'll need two of them on glossy paper, or plain paper with clear adhesive paperover it. Fill it with paper and on the first page list all the phone numbers of the fast food restaurants in the area. "I made you this recipe book Just open it wide And you can decide to let someone else be the cook."

Washer & Dryer (*Wrap a dishcloth and dish towel in a large and pretty box with this note attached*)

This Christmas our ship has finally come in

We're feeling so wealthy and rich.

Instead of some small remembrance

This year will be quite a switch

We're giving a gift of high quality

No more cheap presents for us.

It's time we really went all out

But don't worry, its really no fuss.

We considered giving you a sports car

Or maybe a tropical cruise ---

But we decided to be more practical

And give something you really could use.

So, open the box and you may be surprised,

To find not only ONE gift, but two --

We hope you will put your presents to work

It's a WASHER & DRYER, too!!!!

St. Nicholas' Shoe

St. Nicholas' Shoe
(*go to a craft or party store for a plastic shoe or boot....or use a small stocking*)

When St. Nicholas comes
to fill up each shoe,
He leaves gifts inside,and a shiny coin, too!
So here's a small token
that's just meant to say~
Best wishes to you
as you go on your way!

Spare Reindeer Nose's

Spare Reindeer Nose's
(Red Hots or Red M&Ms, hard candy, etc.)

#1
Rudolph has a job to do
Every Christmas Eve, it's true.
His nose will always light the way
For Santa and his tiny sleigh,
But if his nose should ever go out
Don't cry or whine or yell or pout.
Take out this bag and use a bit.
From Rudolph's Red Nose repair kit.

#2
Rudolph's nose is very bright
He helps guide Santa's sleigh
Without it in the dark night sky
They might not find their way.
So just in case dear Rudy's nose
Is kaput and goes on the blink
We have these spare "red nose seeds"
To repair him in a wink!

Snowman Soup

Snowman soup

(*1 individual packet of cocoa mix, 10-15 littlemarshmallows, several Hershey's kisses and a small candy cane put into a Christmas cup, with this poem added to it.*)

or

(*Recipe: 1-3/4 cups instant mashed potatoes, 1-1/2 cup non-fat dry milk powder, 2 Tablespoons instant chicken bouillon powder, 2 teaspoons dried minced onions, 1-1/2 teaspoons seasoned, salt, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, 1/4 teaspoon dried whole thyme, 1/4 group white pepper, 1/8 teaspoon tumeric. Makes 3 cups soup mix.
Instructions to attach to jar: To serve: Place ½ cup of mixture in a mixing bowl and add 1 cup boiling water. Stir until smooth.*)

#1
Was told you've been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near,
You'll need to warm the spirit.
So here's a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow.
It's sure to do the trick!

#2
When it's so cold that
you holler and whoop,
It's time to bring out
the Snowman Soup!
Pour the packet in a mug.
Add marshmallows too.
And throw in these kisses
that are special just for you.
Now add some hot water
and use the cane to stir it.
Sip slowly and soon you'll
feel the warm winter spirit!

#3
When the weather outside is frightful,
Snowman Soup can be delightful.
May it warm your spirit and your soul.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!
When you feel a chill or 'burrrrrr',
Use the peppermint stick to stir.
Add hot water and sip it slow.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.

#4
This snowman looks frosty, but he has a warm heart
He's brimming with soup mix just for you--
This isn't a snow job ...
I think you're great
Your friendship warms me through and through.

Recipe:1-3/4 cups instant mashed potatoes1-1/2 cup non-fat dry milk powder2 Tablespoons instant chicken bouillon powder2 teaspoons dried minced onions1-1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt1 teaspoon dried parsley1/4 teaspoon dried whole thyme1/4 group white pepper1/8 teaspoon tumericMake 3 cups soup mix.Instructions to attach to jar: To serve: Place ½ cupof mixture in amixing bowl and add 1 cup boiling water. Stir untilsmooth.

Song in the Making

Psstt....I know how I hate the songs that automatically start when I enter a page, so I embedded a player in the sidebar instead. Don't you love me? Click on it to start it.

My son and his friend are recording a song they wrote. The music is recorded, but they have a volunteer singer and some other things they will be doing to tweak it, but you get the first peak!

Short Ramblings in Life

Well, I'm finally beginning to recover from this head cold, just in time for Christmas. Hopefully, everyone else will too or will not get what we've had. I'm really getting tired of coughing and peeing in my pants. You all know I have a hard enough time keeping my underwear washed without going through them all the more quicker. Sigh. Thank God for whoever evented panyliners. And why don't guys have this trouble?

The gifts are all wrapped. We've begun our annual tease-the-boys game. Yep, we write clues on the outside of the boxes and set them under the tree. Yep, it's torture for them to guess; fun for the parents to watch them guess. I think it helps all get in the holiday spirit.

The two younger boys were all ready to get their braces off on Thursday. I had a stress fest driving in the rain trying to get there in time. We were 25 minutes late anyway. The youngest son got his braces off. Yeah for him! Now the parental push to wear the retainer is on and I'm not looking forward to it.

The middle son only got his lower ones off. What a huge disappointment for the orthodontist to change his mind after all these months of anticipation of getting them off. And what a huge let down to have your younger brother get them off before you, especially when you have had them on longer. He is such a great kid though, always taking things in stride. I think I feel worse for him than he does.

I've been working on some CD calendars as a gift and finally got to printing some of them and testing them. I'm excited about doing this new craft. I will share a photo of them when I have time.

Well, there's more I could ramble about, but I'll save you from the reading and just end with how happy I am for a four day weekend to begin today.

Actions in PSE5

It appears that to install plug-ins in PSE5, it is a bit more difficult to do that manually than in previous versions, but do-able.

I am thankful to About.com for always being on top of things and providing instructions. Here are two pages.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/freegoodies.htm

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselements/qt/actions.htm


The add-o-matic was created as an easy tool for plug-ins.
Has anyone seen this inexpensive program? Right now the cost is $8.09.

It will install/add plug-ins to PSE5 (version 5 only). It seems to me a very creative and useful idea.

One of the most asked questions is how to install plug-ins. That's why I have a tutorial on it that I will be teaching in my classes. Because of PSE5, I will need to be updating it now.

I rather like knowing exactly how my plug-ins are installed because if you have too many installed at one time, it will bog down your computer. I'm really curious how this one works. Are they permenantly installed? If so, that might not be good.

Add-O-Matic

Digiscrapper Sites

Here it is in the early a.m. and I"m up because this coughing won't let me sleep.

So, I went through my blog subscriptions and I found two places I'd like to share with digiscrappers.

First, this is a great page with 16 digital photography suggestions for the holidays.

Second, I found this new free place for sharing files called DivShare. With all the freebie sharing that goes on on blogs, I'm anxious to see how this one catches on. I think there is one drawback though, if I read it right, once your stuff is uploaded, it appears to be there forever. I have not tested it though, so maybe once registered and logged in, there is a way to delete your own things. However, it does appear you can upload without logging in, so I cannot imagine how those would be deleted.

Snowman Kisses

SNOWMAN KISSES

(mini-marshmallows or other white candy)

Snowflakes from Heaven as white as can be!

Can build a Snowman for all to see!

He's cute and cuddly and full of good wishes!

And wants to give you a bunch of his kisses!

Psst...once again...I want to thank Dale Anne who sent these out in an e-mail and made it possible for me to share.

Smells of Christmas

SMELLS OF CHRISTMAS

(*It's a cute little idea that could be given to agreat friend during the Holidays. It could be given ina nice coffee mug or whatever you can think of*)

3 cinnamon sticks
3 bay leaves
2 orange slices
2 lemon slices
1/3 cup loves - whole

Combine ingredients in a mesh bag and tie with astring-not ribbon.
Place in a ziplock plastic bag, and put in fridge until ready to use.
Place 1 quart of water in a saucepan , and remove the mesh from the ziplock bag and place in the saucepan.
Add water as needed and heat on low.
If giving as a gift, dry the lemons and orangeslices first. Then put them in a pretty glass jar with ribbon tiedaround it.

Santa Kisses

#1

Santa's been busy

Granting our wishes

So he dropped off this bag

of Santa Kisses

#2

A bag of Hugs & Kisses

to wish you Merry Christmas

Make Your Own Treat

Make Your Own Treat

(*use frozen or dried cookie mix*)

Poinsettia's are red
Cookies are sweet
I've been really busy
So make your own treat!

Grinch Pills

GRINCH PILLS

(*use green M&M's*)

#1
Feeling kinda' grouchy?
Holiday spirit can't be found?
Just try these little "Grinch Pills."
They're the best medicine around.
Whether eating a whole handful,
Or munching one or two,
These tasty little "pills"
Take the "Grinch" right out of you!

#2
So the Grinch stole your Christmas,
Well this should help you out.
Little green Grinch pills
Will take out the pout.
You can eat a handful or just one or two,
And before you know it, you'll be a smiling fool.

Grinch Candy Canes Poems

Grinch Candy Canes Poems

(*Just buy the green colored candy canes and attach
the following poem:*)

#1
When the Grinch discovered
There was no way,
To Keep Christmas from coming
On Christmas day,
He devised a new plan...
Though not quite as mean.
He licked all the candy canes,
Til he turned them all green.

#2
Every Who Down in Who-ville Liked Christmas a lot...
But the Grinch, Who lived just North of Who-ville, Did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
But, Whatever the reason, His heart or his shoes,
He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos,
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch laughed in his throat.
And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy trick!"
I'll lick all the candy canes, and turn them all green!

Ginger Bread Man - Recipe for Life

Ginger Bread Man - Recipe for Life

1 Heaping cup of encouragement
1 cup of melted compassion
2 cups of hope
1 cup of love
1 tablespoon of faith (it only takes a little)
2 large attitude
Lots of hugs in assorted sizes

Cream encouragement and compassion together. Add hope,
love, and faith. Mix thoroughly until smooth. Slowly
add the unbeaten attitude. Batter should be firm but
not unyielding. knead gently. Roll in hugs and cut out
to the desired shape. Add stars for eyes and a kiss.
Bake in a warm oven. Excellent when shared with a
friend.

Evolution of Dance

Well, how can I resist sharing this any longer. The is my all time favorite YouTube video. Maybe I love it so much because I lived through many of these dances. This guy is great! Try dancing with him. >giggle> I hope you enjoy it. The guy is Judson Laiplly. I searched for him and found some sites. Wikipedia , JudsonTV - coming soon. Do a search yourself to see other sites.

Who needs tv?

Who needs tv when you have the internet? More and more shows are online now for free.

Check out this site which has 101 Christmas movies/shows (lots of Classics), music videos, commercials, etc. Who needs to get anything done?

Talk to Santa - Live!

Yes, your children can talk to Santa on IM...check it out!

Pachelbel's Canon in D

Okay, I'm not much of a person with music knowledge, but this new hot video on Youtube caught my eye. It is said that the Pachebel's Canon in D is played at weddings and incorporated into a ton of songs. There is just a few, yeah--few, of the songs listed on this page.

So, this guy, Rob, teaches us more about it. Now, get to learning!

Fun Stuff Collection

Here is my attempt to share with you some of the links to fun stuff that have been sent to me by e-mail. I rarely forward these things on or spend much time with them, but thought it okay to gather them and post them just in case there are people out there that enjoy them. Please note, I have not tested all these things, they just came recommended to me. Hope you enjoy these time wasters!


Honda video -This one claims no digital editing. If so, it's pretty cool.
The e-mail came with a long explanation. As a sceptic, I always check snopes and, sure enough, it's true. Rather than copying it to the blog, you can read it at Snopes. It's becoming the most downloaded.

Dingo Care2 card to uplift you. It's kind of long.

Interior Computer Moniter Cleaner

Pilot Teddy at UTube



Christmas Fun Stuff


Blastcomm interactive card

Ashland University Interactive card

Desktop Christmas Tree

Frosty with an Attitude - kinda cute!

New Years in the Night Screen Saver

Christmas Jigsaw

And, yes, these e-mails have been sitting in my inbox for a while. How about an interactive Thanksgiving card?

Paint Stick Snowman

Here's another Christmas craft ornament idea for you. This one was done by one of my son's teachers. It is a free paintstick, with a little white and black paint and a ribbon tied arount it. The face and buttons are painted dots with a paint stick. What an inexpesive, yet effective gift.

On the back of the stick are the signatures of all of his classmates.

I hope this gives you ideas!

Cookie Cutter Poem

Cookie Cutter Poem

Instructions: Place a gingerbread man cookie cutter in a baggie.
Put some candied sprinkles in a small ziploc bag and put in baggie with the cutter. Attach a card with the following recipe and poem.

I made a plate of cookies to share with you this year
I thought it was a good way to spread some Christmas cheer
They all looked really tasty, so I thought I'd eat just one
And a little while later, I noticed there were none.
So here's my Christmas greeting,
And a cookie cutter too,
Now you can make your own cookies,
And maybe share a few.

The Christmas Star

The Christmas Star(*give Christmas star cookies*)

May the Light that shone from the Christmas Star
On that night so long ago
Fall on you this Christmas night and set your faceaglow.
May it shine from your eyes.
May it rest in your mind.
May it burn in your Spirit bright.
May the Peace it spoke to a weary world.
Bring joy to your heart tonight.

©m.garren 12-7-96

Christmas Candle

Give someone a Christmas Candle with this note attached. Author unknown.

Here's a Christmas Candle,
A gift for your family to share.
Let it brighten up your season,
And spread gladness in the air.
It is hoped that you'll enjoy
A special season full of fun.
And love will burn more brightly
When your holiday is done.

My week

Just another personal note for my family and friends.

I've been so busy I cannot even remember what I wrote about last.
In the last week, we've had a bit of fever and head colds going about the house. I worry about the boys. For me, it's enough to make my eyes feel tired, but not enough to stop me from doing things. It just makes the days even harder.

We began wrapping gifts the past weekend and discovered we were one short (as we always make sure all three boys have an even amount), so that sent us back out to the stores, only to spend more money than we had intended to.

Sunday we enjoyed a nice family gathering for Christmas with hubbie's family. We received an old photo of my hubbie's grandmother that we've never seen before in a nice frame. What a treasure that was to receive.

At work, it's the Great Food Gift Giving by all the clients, etc. and, therefore, the lounge is full of tempting goodies. I eat a few and then that's enough to make me so full I don't feel like cooking supper, especially with so few people home. They are not hungry either since they come home and eat bowls of cereal right before dinner. I cannot win. I feel like a bad mom for not having round meals ready every day as I always have in the past.

Court of Honor at scouts on Monday night. I my with my Little last night and we went to the high school basketball games. They are such great entertainment at a low cost. My Little has lots of family issues unfolding, so that's a bit of stress.

I was excited the other night to hook up with a family member I'd not heard from in a while on myspace. That place is amazing. I was drug into it by church youth and it is amazing the amount of people that come and find me. I only check in about once a week, but it's always good to leave little love notes to all those wonderful people I know.

Good eyes

I get SO much stuff by e-mail. It's amazing how much time-filler stuff is floating around. I rarely forward anything on. Maybe I will take time to post some of it (rather than forwarding it on). I hope this stuff is not copyright....I will try to be careful what I post.

Here's one for now...maybe I can get a long post going soon.
****

Can you find the C? (Good exercise for the eyes!)

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Once you've found the C.......... Find the 6!


9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999699999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999
9999999999999999999999999999999999

Once you've found the 6... Find the N! (it's hard!!)


MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMNMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMM

Once you've found the N... pat yourself on the back and be grateful for your good eyes.

If you did not find the N, hmmmm…. Know a good eye doc?

Candy Cane Seeds

CANDY CANE SEEDS(*Use round, red and white peppermint candies*)

I once knew a gardner who knew how to grow
Bright tasty candies, right out of the snow
I asked him to share his secret with me
And this is what he replied quite readily
To garden in winter is difficult you see
It takes lots of care and a very special seed
I'll give you a couple to grow your own treats
And you'll soon reap a harvest of candy cane treats.

Techy News

Just thought I'd share some techy news I've been reading.

It appears that Yahoo IM has made a repair to a serious flaw that allowed hackers in, so go and download the new version.

Want to see what the new Vista start menu will look like? There is an emulator that you can install on you XP. Don't want to install? Then just check out the screenshots. I think it's a big change.

Mrs. Miles shared the Holiday Party Excuse Generator and I thought that kind of a funny thing to play with.

While shopping over the weekend, I finally too a look at the Wii promo and was surprised. I was wondering what all the hype was about. It appears that you can move your body parts to make the motions on the game. For instance, if you are fishing, you would hold the controller and move your arms and hands as if you were really throwing a line. I'm assuming for a golf game you would stand as if you were golfing and actually swing the controller. Athough this may be fun in the beginning, I'm wondering how many people want that kind of exercise and how long this fad will actually last. I would get tired of constantly moving my body to play a television game. I'm all for the finger thing. How about you?

Candy Cane Poem

Dale Anne shared these in a yahoo group and I'll be sharing them as I have time. They make great last minute Christmas gifts or small gifts for lots of people.

****

Candy Cane poem(*Tie this poem on a candy cane*)

#1Jesus Gentle Shepherd, this cane of red & white,
Proclaims a sweet love story, born on Christmas night.
This cane, you see, when turned around, begins yourname of love,
And now becomes a symbol of peace proclaimed above.
The lively peppermint flavor is the regal gift ofspice.
The white is your purity, the red your sacrifice.
And so this cane reminds us of just how much you care,
And like your Christmas gift to us, it's meant for all to share.

#2
A significant symbol of Christmas
Is the Simple Candy Cane.
It's shape is the crook of the Shepherd
One of the first who came.
The lively peppermint flavor is
The regal gift of spice.
The White is Jesus' purity.
The Red is sacrifice.
The narrow stripes are friendship.
And the nearness of his love.
Eternal, Sweet Compassion
A gift from God above.
The Candy Cane reminds us allof how much God cared.
And like His Christmas gift to use
It's meant to be broken and shared.

My Elfamorphosis

Oh my goodness, this was so much fun. I've Elf-ed Myself!

Enjoy watching me dance and have a wonderful, happy, Merry Christmas.

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Snowflake Tutorial

Here's a wonderful video tutorial for making a snowflake that I'm sure all those aspiring digital scrapbooking designers will enjoy. I had to install some software to view it and then my virus controls wanted me to set, which is a bit scary, but it was harmless. In viewing the site, I believe it is the software he is selling for use in putting movie shows on the internet. The product is expensive, but has my interest peaked as I'm writing tutorials for online.

Snowflake Tutorial

Ding Fries are Done

On my, Bridget shared this with me and I couldn't help but post it in honor of my neice and nephew who have worked at Burger King for many years. Here's to you two! Happy Holidays!

Ding Fries are Done

Infrared Photos

My last post about photography involved Holga style.

I saw a discussion in making photos infrared in Photoshop and wondered what that was. Would this be something to do on a layout? I love trying out new techniques. So I did some research.


From my readings, I understand that infrared light is light that is not visible to the human high, but that certain cameras can capture it to create a great effect on photos. Digital cameras cannot capture infrared light (without a special filter), so digital photos have to be digitally edited to get the effect.

It seems I’ve already seen and played with this effect, but never really knew the term for it.
I am currently using PSE3 and found this site where you can purchase a filter for PSE3 for $8.
This page gives a better explanation of what infrared light is.


But I don’t believe I would need to purchase anything to obtain this technique in my program.
I may be able to do it without a plug-in (I'll have to play), but there are some free plug-ins that will work also. It may be that professionals can tell the difference, but to my inexperienced eye, I think I could create the effect.

I am guessing the popular Virtual Photographer will do this.

Or possibly one of the filters at Cybia

Earthbound Light Channel Mixer

Grant’s Tools Channel Mixer

Shipley’s Tools

Many of these tools can be used in other programs too.

Tutorials with graphics to help you understand infrared:
http://www.peimag.com/pdf/pei00/pei1200/eveningpei1200.pdf

http://www.nature-photography-central.com/infrared_photoshop_tutorial.html

http://www.bythom.com/infrared.htm

And do an internet search yourself.
There are tons of pages to help you learn!
When I have time to play, I will update this blog to share what more I learn.

Do you have knowledge? Please share! Leave a comment.

My Week

Time to post a personal post for my family and friends!

This week is busy and I cannot seem to get anything done! I thought it would be an easy week for me, but that is what I get for thinking.

After we got past the Eagle Board of Review, I finally went Christmas shopping last weekend. I realized that this coming weekend is the last weekend before Christmas and I could not wait until the last minute. Both days I walked until my feet were in big pain. Sigh.

Saturday I met with my Little and we went shopping and bought purses (my gift to her), then I went Christmas shopping with hubby, only to run off to a full evening of his work Christmas party. An exhausting day. Sunday was more shopping.

Monday was the scout auction. It's a great concept! Throughout the year, the scouts are given scout bucks for good behaviour they are caught doing. Then, once a year, a scout auction is held for them to spend their bucks. What a grand selection of stuff they had for the boys. Topped off with a real auctioneer, it was a fun evening.

Tuesday held a basketball game directly after work folllowed directly by the marching band Christmas concert. Did anyone eat supper? No one got home before 9 p.m. I still don't understand why the school schedules things on the same night; it makes it difficult. Here we are with students all decked out in their best, dotted with basketball, cheerleading, and dance team uniforms. Something is wrong with that.

Last night I worked late due to some complications with my Little's life, only to realize upon arriving home that we were supposed to be helping with the supper before Advent services. I had forgotten, so we were late. Then my son asked what he could take for a sore throat, only for me to discover he had a fever. In a rush to get to the dinner we are already late for, I begin looking for the new thermometers we purchased last weekend. Never does my husband put things where they are supposed to go. I believe he thought we were wrapping them up as gifts; sigh. Then, with directions in hand, I eventually figured out one of the new ones did not work, brand new out of the box. So we opened the other one only to have it give us 4 different temperatures. Why does life have to be so hard?

Well, this son has never missed a day of school since the first day of Kindergarten, so he's off to school with a low grade temp today. This kid is never sick and he claims he's not sick, but mom's hand knows better. I hope he's smart enough to not play basketball after school and come home and rest. I get to worry all day about him now. There's my work Christmas party after work for me. It is always an upclass, fine dining experience; something to be curious about what they will have.

I hope your week is less busy than mine and that you are having a blessed December holiday season.

PowerToys (Free from Microsoft!)

I found a new play haven! Microsoft has a plethora of free fun awaiting digital photographers! They are called PowerToys.

To highlight just a few I plan on playing with, I see there is an image resizer. Here is an article with vidcaps on it. Although my PSE resizes easily, sometimes I have to open it up which takes a while just to resize for sharing layouts in galleries or by e-mail. How must easier is this one?

The CD slideshow generator has my interest peaked, especially with the yahoo group's recent discussions of burning layouts to DVD's for television viewing.

The HTML slideshow wizard also has me curious. How will this compare to using slide.com for showing layouts on blogs? Of course, you would have to have your own online storage place probably.

Color Control Panel Applet sounds like it works similar to the Adobe Gamma software that comes with my PSE. I searched for something similar and free for users of other programs, but they all placed cookies on the computer and, if you delete your cashe and cookies regularly, it was not useful. I am curious how this program works.

Which ones interest you? Do we have any volunteers to play (don't we love to play?) and post a comment regarding the tools for others to view?

Grammer and Punctuation

Paula sent this site through the yahoo group and it is a great one to have bookmarked. It is called the Blue Book of Grammer and Punctuation.

Now, I actually have one son that does homework >snicker> I actually had thought about buying him a book for Christmas, but had forgotten the idea. Thanks for reminding me, Paula!

Confusing Words and Homonyms

Punctuation - check out all the drop down menu choices

Buy at Barnes and Noble - only $14.95

I was actually wanting to get me a new version of the textbook that I learned from in college, only it is much more expensive. I learned using How 3. I actually had to bring the book home from work for my son's use and could use newer version. My How 3 has been used so much it is falling apart. Those college professors really drilled it in me!

The newest version is How 10. Does that show my age or what? The new version has e-mail and internet rules on it and that really has me curious. Hmm, how do you site a website? There was no such thing as internet when I was in college. >grin>

Barnes and Noble How 10

This is one item that has been on my personal wish list since 2003 and I still don't have it. Anyone Christmas shopping?

Boxes (A Serious Question)

This is a very serious question. Really, it is.

What do you do with all your empty boxes after you purchase new items?
If you keep your boxes, how long is a good time to keep them?


Recently, we cleaned out of our basement a ton of empty boxes. For some reason, we feel we have to keep them for a while just in case a new purchase does not work correctly and we have to make a return. Unfortunately, we throw ours into the basement and they get forgotten for a very long time.

We were really amazed at how many boxes were in the basement. Just getting rid of them made the basement look a lot less cluttered. Of course, our city recycles boxes and we have to tear them up first, so the box de-cluttering was an all afternoon event.

As you are aware, I recently purchased a new laptop and various equipment. Do I dare take those boxes to the basement? How long should I leave them on my kitchen floor?

Of course, if you are looking at the glass as half full (rather than half empty), having lots of empty boxes only means that we have been blessed with new things.

Sigh. Answers please! Leave me a comment!

Holga Style

There is a very interesting thread going on over at DST.

Here's what Frankie had to say about Holga: " First off, a Holga is a toy camera made in China and I think it came out in the 70's or so. It is a plastic, cheap thing and takes what most purists would call "terrible pictures". The lens only focuses right in the center and everything else is out of focus. It usually vignettes around the sides and leaks light something terrible, which can produce some interesting effects. There are groups and forums on the internet for Holga and other toy cameras. Some of the things people are shooting with these things are phenomenal IMO artistically. You can get a Holga for about $20.00--don't pay more than that--I've seen them as high as $60.00. They use 120 film. I am not going to rush out and buy one, because I like the instant gratification of digital. I have everything I need right here in my house to take a pic and have it hanging on my wall in a matter of minutes."

Here's more information about Holga.

Here is a tutorial so you can do it without an action. This tutorial really gives you a good idea on what Holga is.

Here's one place to download the action. Of course, you would have to rig this to work in PSE. I am sure it won't be long before one of the designers creates this action for PSE. Just wait.

I did a search for "Holga Photoshop Action" and there are a lot of interesting sites to read. Go for it!

Annual Smack the Penguin Game

Well, these things are fun for me for about two minutes. I'm just not a game person, but it is fun to see how they work. Just in case there are readers that like this stuff, have fun!

THE ANNUAL SMACK THE PENGUIN GAME IS HERE!

1. Click on the link below.

2. Click once on the snowman.

3. Click once on the snowman to hit the penguin as he descends from the cliff.

4. What's your distance?

http://n.ethz.ch/student/mkos/pinguin.swf

Scrapgirls

Time for another one of my favorite e-mail subscriptions!

This one is a digital scrapbooking one.

Scrapgirls has an awesome newsletter almost daily. I always read it. It is so interesting. There are usually two free downloads to snag every day (although I rarely take them because I have so much stuff, but it's nice stuff).

I remember when I first found Scrapgirls. I was mostly impressed at how they showed people how to do things, rather than keeping their secrets as many sites do. They are all about teaching you to make your own elements and papers and giving you the tools to easily do that. I only wish I had more time to visit their site, I could be a regular participant over there.

The newsletter always has layouts that show you how the things you can purchase at their site are used. Almost every newsletter has some sort of tutorial. It is amazing how they keep coming up with good stuff to talk about.

To subscribe, go to the main page of the site and you will see a popup box.

Lap Desk

So, I've gotten this new laptop and I'm wondering how people sit in bed for long periods using it or even in a chair. The pressure of it on the legs is only good for so long.

I've looked around town and only found lap desks (lap trays/bed desks/bed trays) that have a cushion on the bottom of the tray. This still sets on the legs and would still make my legs fall asleep.

So, I'm shopping the internet.
I found this one that I think I'm leaning towards getting. Someone else suggested it to me and the reviews I've read all talk about using it with a laptop. What I like about this one is the ability to slant the computer on top of the desk while keeping the rest of the desk level.

What I am wondering about it is if it would be useful in a chair as well. I'm thinking that the thick parts on the sides would not fit between my legs and a chair. That's why I am considering this one. The drink older would be more handy to me than the places for magazines. And yet it lacks the tilt-ability. Sigh.

Maybe I need two >giggle> cause this one looks great for chair usage!

I'm also thinking that maybe a desk on movable legs to roll over the bed or chair would be better. I would have an instant storage spot for my laptop too. Here's one at Staples that Elaine suggested. I may have to go check this out! (pst..search for mobile laptop stand)

A place for a mouse would be nice too. Maybe I should invent one and sell it and make a lot of money.

Suggetions welcome please! Leave me a comment

Publication Submission

Well, I've done it. There is a new magazine for digital coming out next year by the popular Simple Scrapbooks and they are having a submission call for layouts. I can submit up to five of them. I'm still considering some others.

I was going to show you which ones I submitted here on my blog, but I understand they are not supposed to be on the internet anywhere. I think I will be able to take them down later if they are submitted, so here goes.


Used Jeri Ingals Old Growth kit (recolored). Clocks made by using things in Jeri's kit and the crayon shape in pse). Overlay made by me.



Jeri's Old Growth kit again!

Everything made by me.

Stuck in the 80's

Whoo hooo! I just got back from an 80's concert.

Got my hips a rock'n, feet a tap'n, arms a flaling, and hands a clapping!

Oh Jeans.....why weren't you there!

Can you guess who it was? Okay, cell phone photos are horrible.

Maybe this will give you a clue. See this photo? He walked all around the chairs of the audience and flung bunches of roses all over the stage until the petals fell out, covering the stage. Some 80's trademarks!

My goodness, he's STILL in good shape. Ooo-la-la! What a show.

Take a guess everyone; leave me a comment!

Bright Ideas

Time for another one of my favorite e-mail subscriptions!

Yeah, I'm gonna run out of these and have nothing interesting left to post to my blog to keep you all coming back. >grin<

This one if from M & M's called Bright Ideas. I thought it appropriate to share at this time of year as everyone is preparing meal plans for the holidays. The folks there provide some fun editable delights year round. It is a low volumn e-mail subscription and even if I don't make any of their suggestions, I always enjoy seeing what new things they come up with.

Photoshop CS3

Think Secret

For those of you that are using Photoshop CS2 (not me!), a new version is due to come out next year. Click on link to read more.

Here is a link to some reviews of the new Photoshop CS3.

Eagle Scout

Just a quick note for family and friends. I'm so relieved. We now have three Eagle scouts! It's a huge burden off my shoulders.

Brrrr...it's cold outside....15 degrees right now.

Weather Watcher Software

For a long time now, I've used our local tv station's weather tool in my system tray. What a great concept! However, the alerts really get annoying and it seems to be a resource hog.

So, a few weeks ago I tried weather.com's weather tool. It's less annoying, but I wasn't totally happy with it either.

I just found this cool new tool and I love it! The reports are easy to read. It includes maps of a wide variety. To find out what it does, you'll just have to go play!

You can find it at download.com: Weather Watcher

PictureCorrect Website

Hey all, I just wanted to share with you a site I found. I'm enjoying it.

There are articles about taking photosgraphs, camera reviews, as well as tutorials for Photoshop. Many other topics of interest too. Enjoy!

PictureCorrect

About my Week

Why is it that it seems I can get nothing done this week?

Just a few notes for my family and friends.

Tonight should be the Eagle Board of Review and, if all goes well, when they come out and shake my hand and tell me my son past, I can breath a huge sigh of relief.

Of course, before tonight, I still need to sew on three patches and get he is going to iron his uniform (cause boys need to learn how to do that!).

Merry Christmas to me! I finally broke down and bought my first laptop! I'm anxious for Spring to come now (and the official start of Winter is not even here yet >smile>) so that I can sit out in my flower garden and work on my scrapping stuff and enjoy both of my hobbies at the same time. Maybe a few more weeds will get pulled.

I've been spending some time setting it up. How do people do these things? My legs went numb from it sitting on them (and varicious veins images popped into my head). My back and butt hurt from sitting with it in bed. I hear I now need a lap tray. A purchase of something always means a purchase of something else. I think I may need a wireless network card too as this transferring of files between desktop and laptop will get old soon.

I also purchased us a new 19 inch screen for the desktop. The screen we were using was the original screen from my original computer. I would say we got our monies worth out of it. When I pulled it out of its hole, wow, was it huge! Small screen, huge box! Of course, now we need to purchase new speakers. The power to the speakers ran through the moniter (how odd!). Why do things always have to be so hard?

With my oldest son recently purchasing his own laptop, we are now a computer happy family. We went from 2 computer for 5 people to 3 computers for 5 people.