Hummie's World Nature Color Palette Book

Open publication - Free publishing - More color

Click above to view our Nature Palette Color Book.

In the alternative, you can view it here where you can also get the embed code to put this book on your own blog. I do hope you will share with others.

For information on downloading the .pdf, read this blog post.

I want to take the opportunity again to thank everyone!  There was such a huge response to this project that I am sure to do another one soon with colors, only a different theme than nature.  I had so much fun and I hope that you enjoy it too.

June Collab

Subscribers at Hummie's World have gotten together to create this fabulous collab for you to download!  I think they get better with each month of this program.

Any subscriber is welcome to join in the fun of creating and sharing.

The downloads are available in the forum here.

Coffee Klatch Scrappers Design Team

We have a pretty big announcement for you today. Hummie's World now has our very own design team!! They will be working hard to create products exclusively to Hummie's World! Subscribers can find their products that are available to you here. Be sure to read the newsletter or the blog for announcements when new products are available.  Be sure to read the newsletter or the blog for announcements when new products are available.  Products will be available to Subscribers only for a limited time and then moved into their store.

We are excited about this new venture, and look forward to working with these ladies!
Help us welcome them and ask questions about our new program for subscribers in the forum here.
 
Coffee Klatch Scrappers was started in September 2010 as a way to form a community based on digital, hybrid and paper scrapping, as well as card making and paper crafting. In the store you can find products by Sherry Davis, Angela Drummond and Gina Hubbard.

My name is Sherry and I live in Central Maine with my husband Kevin, we have one son and two furbabies (dogs) that we call "the boys." We have a family owned business that the 3 of us run - I'm usually there between 7:30ish until.......... well until my work is done LOL! I started digital scrapping about 4 years ago AND have dabbled in hybrid thanks to Gina & Angela. I was on a team for a scrapping site for over 2 years --- I did lots of chats, challenges AND helped in the planning of Big Events i.e. NSD, Birthdays, Anniversaries, etc. Also, I am currently on the Creative Team for Ready, Set Create Magazine. I began doing digital design in June 2009 and I love doing it.

My name is Gina and I live in Southeast Missouri. I work from home, so I am at the computer from 12 to 18 hours a day, off and on. I'm completely self-taught as far as design goes, I started teaching myself Coreldraw and vector art about 15 years ago and spent 10 years in the sign industry. I started digital scrapping back before there was a name for it. I was already a paper scrapper and I started making partial layouts, printing them and combining them with traditional paper scrapping. I learned to make my own elements and papers and as I got more involved with digital scrapping online, I began to share what I made with other scrappers. I began selling my products online in 2007.

I'm Angela, live in N E Scotland with my Hubby Roddie and two boys Grant (7) and Phillip (6). I started scrapping around 6 years ago, mainly to make albums for the boys. I have always been into crafting of some sort. I enjoy cardmaking, hybrid crafting and digiscrapping (of course). I started designing in March 2009, mainly because I wanted stuff to match things and couldn't find that embellishment or the paper wasn't QUITE what I wanted.

The Grand Rapids LipDub

We had great fun watching the above video. We even started dancing along! This video made a new world's record for the size and scope of the production which cost $40,000 financed by the generosity of local sponsors.

"The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date. This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a "dying city." We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean's "American Pie," a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope." - Rob Bliss, Director & Executive Producer

Twitter Round-up

There's a lot here, so happy clicking!

****

I just called someone a nincompoop - goodness, is that an 80's term? That hasn't come out of my mouth in a while.
Goodness! This is inspiring -- even if you don't download - it gives you graphic ideas!

Such a cool resource for photoshop brushes

Download Kaisercraft's newest newsletter full of ideas.

Obsidian Dawn has new painted flower brushes out.

How to find neutral-gray in a photo-This is so useful with the levels tool!

Google Wallet to come out on Android phones this summer (of course) - coupons on phone

Paypal is suing Google. Wow! Didn't they have Bedier sign a Noncompete agreement?

Filling shapes with text in Photoshop using the shape tool

232 people missing in Joplin

Custom Drop Shadow tutorial

Trying to read about "Gulf Coast Syndrome"

"It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding." Kahlil Gibran #quote

ave you ever noticed that when you run into a spiderweb you instantly turn into a Ninja?

I can't believe it's 10 pm! Wow! How did it get to be so late! (May 21)

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” -Martin Luther (May 21)

Okay, I must be living under a rock, but why do I see all this hype about the world may end today, May 21, 2011? Enlighten me please. (May 21)

Check out this cool video about Cape Girardeau

Hey HW regulars! I have some exciting news I'm so excited to share! (May 21) 

Digital scrapbookers call it "hybrid" @scrapbooksetc trend known as “Craft Fusion”? Read about it here!

Best of the Road: Vote for your town by May 23

Thanks for sharing @semissourianbiz Standing at the site of Birds Point Levee breach 1.

I like this freebie template by Simply Tiffany

Hubby's laptop installed Internet Explorer 9 for XP last night -- so it must be available for those computers too now. (May 20)

Cute hybrid recipe box tutorial!

Tutorial - using shapes creatively in your layouts

New beta site for "social" sharing of tutorials - great , will it take off?

outline a font (simple tutorial for beginners)

gradient mask photo tutorial

video tutorial - make image in photoshop similar to the instagram phone ap

Cute hybrid gift for baby shower- the box just makes it

Hybrid corner bookmarks. A gift you could easily mail!

Create album from plain envelopes!

Hybrid flower (yes, everyone has one tutorial/inspiration)

Garden stone kitchen backsplash tutorial -- if only I were brave

Paper Daffodil Flowers tutorial -- looks easy!

Wedding shadow box (hybrid tutorial) great gift !

Create a kissing ball (hybrid project) for a wedding (or just because!)

Creating a stand-up chipboard back for mini layouts

freebie .psd files with retro gradient map

Changing skin tones video tutorial -- give someone a tan!

Filling in a digital stamp video tutorial by SuzieQScraps - yeah for digitutorial!

In a rush to make a gift? Try making a simple photoshop image in frame.

Love the way KikiCreates makes bday invitation to hold treats!

Fixing damaged photo video tutorial seems a good one. I have similar in subscriber area.

Why don't I have time to do anything! Make room for vacation planning and everything else gets behind! Any good stuff out there to share? (May 19)

If you stop to think, don't forget to start again. Otherwise you'll never get anything done.

Examples of the visual triangle by @dorissander

Check out the new fonts from @kevinandamanda !

Make a tiny planet with a panorama photo. It's easier than it looks!

I've never seen Blogger down this long before. Has anyone else been experiencing the same? (May 13)

What follows flooding? Mosquitoes of course! They are getting bad already! (May 11)

Luv that! RT @kdgrhonda Wednesday is God's way of giving us hope. We survived the beginning of the week, and can hope to make it to the end

RT @ScrapbookGd A trip to the craft store will give you inspiration for different layouts

Did you hear that Microsoft agreed to buy Skype for $8.5 billion yesterday; and then Microsoft stock fell? (May 11)

FROM THE OLDER ARCHIVES

250 Texture Related Tutorials

Proof ... you don't have to be eloquent with your words.

I still don't trust 4shared. It just locked up my browser. Who knows what was downloading. I had to kill it with the task manager

Searching for happiness now: "Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road." Not sure what I think about that quote.

I think I'm gonna quit social media!

RT @digivickie: Free word art - Be who you are | digivic

A great idea for digital scrapbookers too! Make and print your own paper for this bucket idea!

35 banana bread recipes!

Tutorial on masking at twopeas

My youngest son went off this morning to his very last "first day" of school -- he's a high school senior. Time to get sentimental sappy.

Happiness is great love and much serving. ~Olive Schreiner

Seriously, what will they think up next? This guy catches a laptop with his behind!

What's up with this? Giggle. The Fantasy Blog Stock Market for Hummie's World - Crack me up!

How to Stream iTunes Music Wirelessly to Your Stereo- I love it!

I'm wondering about this Scrapbooking Kit book


I'm thinking about getting this e-book: Art Journaling from Stampington. Could be inspiration there for digiscrap layouts

Enjoy our own life without comparing it with that of another ~Marquis De Condorcet

Line em up tutorial

Hybrid Digital Gift Bags

Lovinlifegurl shared these bags she made (you can leave her comments in the gallery or forum) and I just had to share them with the readers here for inspiration.  She used the pattern from Gem's Cottage found here.

My friends know me too well . . .

I've received an e-mail every day for the last week reminding me of our lunch date.

My friend knows I'm likely to forget 5 minutes before I walk out the door, so what do you bet I get another e-mail at 11:45 today?

I just love my friends who accept me for who I am!

EDIT:

Okay, I was wrong.  The e-mail came at 11:06 instead of 11:45! 
I was literally laughing out loud.  Gotta love my friends.

The rainbow after the storms

Yesterday was a crazy weather day here! 

There were several things that caught my attention to scare me that I had never seen before.  Normally, I'm the last one to head to the basement, but yesterday seemed a day I wanted to take seriously.

When I arrived at the office, they were preparing a "tornado kit" because of the impeding storms.  I thought they were being ridiculous because there really is no such thing as a "tornado kit" and they were confusing it with an "earthquake kit."  I tried to tell them how silly they were being, but I don't think they liked that!  Seriously, if I can get out of the building, I'm going to get the patooty away!  Why do I need food and water and other supplies when just a few blocks (okay, maybe a mile) there will be undisturbed places with help available for me.  However, if I am stuck in the rubble waiting for help to get me out, how in the world would I be able to reach the "tornado kit" anyway?  In addition, if a tornado hits, do you think a kit would still be in tact or strewn all over great distances away?  What good would that be to me?  I was told "but we are supposed to be able to survive 4 or more days on our own!"  Um.  Yeah, in an earthquake when every street for miles upon miles may be buckled and broke and emergency help cannot get to you.  In a tornado, streets may have trees on them, but help can get to you.  Yes, living in the "heartland" can be scary and being prepared is important.  So now we have a nice earthquake kit.  It's not all a bad thing.

Around 11 a.m., my husband texted me to say that their business was closing down at noon due to the impeding weather?  What!!!?  Now this I've never heard of before and my attention was immediately alert.

He also told me that storm chasers were in the area and I researched the same and found it to be true.  So, if the storm chaser go where they think the storms will be, isn't it a little scary?

Next, I began hearing of other businesses that were closing.  One co-worker received a call that an appointment was canceled because they were closing.  Courthouses began to close.  Schools (what ones that were still in session) were closing at noon.

Oh my!  I've never heard of such a thing as business and schools closing because of the threat of impeding weather!  This must certainly be serious!

I learned that we were an 8 out of 10 probability, and southern Illinois where it meets Kentucky was a 9 out of 10 probability for tornadoes.  That sounded serious!

Then I began seeing reports of storm shelters opening up?  What!!?  I've never heard of such a thing!  I suppose those without basements or other safe areas to go could head to a shelter for the evening. 

I began contacting my boys to see where they were at and their schedules and telling them "this time mom is serious -- when I text for you to go, you'd better go!"

I ran out of breath over my lunch hour taking priceless items to the basement, such as photos, my mother's doll when she was a girl, and handmade items of my grandmother, so they would be safe.  Even my laptop went to the basement because of all the photos on it that were not backed up yet (yes, shame on me-- I need to get a backup done).

I learned that there was a 90% chance that a tornado would strike within 50 miles of us.  Yikes!  90%!

When it was all done, our city actually had such a short blow-through of a storm that it made all the hype feel false.  Of course, there was damage in areas close to us and there were tornadoes on the ground near us, so the potential was still there.

As we watch television, we spied this really eery color outside that peeked our worry.  However, when we went outside, we saw this most beautiful rainbow!  I cannot remember the last time I saw a rainbow!  What a great way to end the day.  Then, as we stood there longer, the rainbow turned into a double rainbow!  I'm not sure I've ever seen one of those. 

But the best part was when my oldest son called me to make sure I was alright.  We had a nice conversation.

Have I said it enough yet?  This rain and flooding and tornadoes can end now.  I'm done with it.  I've had enough -- a long time ago!

****
I wanted to preserve my weather tweets as part of my personal history for this day, so here they are blogged!

MAY 26
Yeah! My cousin that lives real close to Joplin finally contacted me! What a relief!

MAY 25

@Myheartsathome My rainbow wish is that there be no more tornadoes or floods!

We saw the most beautiful rainbow!!!! capegirardeau

#capestorm back upstairs, but watching second line of storms right behind the first.

We are in basement, came down when electricity went out. But it's back on.

I hear the tornado sirens in Cape Girardeau.

Tornado sirens sounding in Jackson.


Tornado Warning for Cape Girardeau and Perry County in MO until 6:45pm CDT. http://bit.ly/9raRbH

http://www.kmov.com/home/Watch-live-streaming-video--122464549.html listening to St. Louis tv live for weather/ family there

Praying for my best friend Jackie! @johndissauer If you are in Fredericktown, Mo, SEEK SHELTER NOW!!!! #mowx

@digiscrapfun The rains you have now were in St. Louis this morning; but look at the rotation of storms in Missouri on radar...crazy!

RT @kmoxnews Funnel cloud spotted at the South County mall, St. Louis

Wow! RT @iWitnessWeather Storm clouds in the St. Louis area http://yfrog.com/gy33nxnoj

Let's just point that arrow a little closer to me! NOT! / increased risk of strong, violent tornadoes next 2-4 hrs. http://wxch.nl/ilBPAp

My immediate family south county St. Louis, but I have family and friends all over St. Louis; praying for God's protection now.

RT @WSILNews According to St Louis Police, 3 tornadoes on the ground headed towards St Louis. Scott AFB now evacuating.

RT @TWCBreaking Small supercells with #tornado warnings south of St. Louis, Mo. heading for metro area. Radar: http://wxch.nl/hMHMkf

Most severe weather to be between 4 and 6 p.m. -- great -- right when one son goes to work and the other comes home-don't want them in car.

@living4him2 Kirksville is getting it now, but not high risk like us; my family in St. Louis-south county- I'm watching the radar there too

http://www.kfvs12.com/category/206147/track-storm-chasers or here for storm chasers http://www.tornadoalleylive.com/subindex/weather/maps

Mississippi County Courthouse closing too.

#capegirardeau -- getting more and more reports of business shutting down; healthpoint jackson; scott county courthouse

RT @fearless_photog @lkenner I think everyone in Missouri today needs to just have one huge basement party together.

http://ht.ly/52U5N I've never seen "storm shelter" set up for here. Another indication this is serious.

For those that pray, please pray regarding safety of those in the tornado high risk today (that would be me);

RT @AngiePedersen TornadoAlleyLive.com | Severe Weather Coverage http://t.co/inPorkq

#capegirardeau I am currently working up a sweet taking priceless photos, etc to the basement. #tornado preparation

Jim Cantore from Weather Channel is headed to Poplar Bluff day. Other storm chasers are in the area. #mowx

@kfvsnews Is it true that the downtown is closing? Is it true weather channel is in town?

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/torcon-daily-forecast_2011-05-19 Southeast Missouri (8) high probability tornado

People in the heartland are over-anxious today with the threat of tornadoes. Remember, worry only about what you can control - be prepared.

Let me know if you see names of those dead listed online please (my cous still is not responding via phone) #worried

MAY 24

The news just gets worse. MO woman dies of heart attack after hearing her dad died in Joplin tornado. http://is.gd/tqZ9FL

More storms heading toward Joplin, MO. Praying it is not too bad and praying for the people of Joplin.

Two die today in Oklahoma tornadoes -- when does tornado season end? Please get here!

There is nothing in your life that cannot be overcome; whatever the situation or problem, there is always a solution.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/Parents-learn-teenage-son-is-safe-but-they-still-dont-know-where-he-is Joplin story

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joplin-MO-People-Lost-Found-Tornado-5222011/100197703405845 Another Facebook page to find Joplin lost

How many are still missing in Joplin? I think this 1,500 number might be false. Any trustworthy source?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Skyular-Logsdon-home/218457884839786?sk=wall Family using Facebook to find their child #Joplin

http://tinyurl.com/TORNADOMWALMAP Cape needs to get on this map!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joplin-Mo-Tornado-Survivors/212837822082340?ref=ts&sk=wall Joplin's newspaper fanpage is reuniting people.

http://www.news-leader.com/interactive/article/20110523/MISC/110523058/Interactive-Map-Joplin-Tornado-Damage Click on markers-see photo

http://www.news-leader.com/ I found the photos and information on Joplin informative here.

"Joplin, it's like Katrina on land" -- how can they compare disasters?

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1730039.html I love my city! (how many times do I say that) -- sending help to Joplin -- :) (May 24)

http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/weather/entry/41626/ Whose sick of rain? Look at the forecast for the next 5 days (May 23)

Template #73

Download here (for a limited time then always available, along with other templates, video lessons, and downloads in the Subscriber Area for only $5.50 per month).
Download contains both SQUARE and RECTANGLE.

What is WX

(source) I cannot believe I did not know this!  I tried to search on the internet for "what does wx mean" or "what is wx," but could not easily find results, so I am passing this onto others who may not know.

I read today that we are under a "potential significant severe wx outbreak in the region" and wondered to myself what wx means.

WX represents the abbreviation for "weather."

The origins are from morse code and telepgraph many years ago, but now they are being used as a Twitter hashtag.  It makes me wonder what other morse codes are resurfacing for use on Twitter.  Do you know of any?

What is Your Destination?

A speed boat set out from one region of the country to another. The sea was turbulent, the storm raging. Those on board the boat were afraid but only the captain was calm. One man being a Christian wondered why,in the midst of all the turbulence, the captain was calm so he went ahead and asked him. "We are all troubled, but you are calm, why is this?"

The captain answered "My destination is the port we are going, not the troubled sea". That was what he was looking forward to. What are you looking at? Are you looking up to Jesus or at the storms of life? Are you looking forward to your prize in heaven or looking at the everyday turbulence of life?

Author Unknown

I've had enough of this . . how about you?

Forecast for Cape Girardeau for today and tonight.

This rain and tornado activity over the last few months is getting the best of everyone.  I've had enough.  How about you?

Joplin Tornado (May 22, 2011)

My heart is breaking for Joplin, Missouri, today. I'm sure as you are seeing the photos and videos online, your heart is breaking too.

I want to thank all the digiscrappers who heard about Joplin and immediately thought of me in Missouri to ask if I was okay.

I want to share with you where I am in association so you may better know.

Joplin is a six and a half hour drive west from here, but what happens west of here usually rides across the state and hits us.

 We were in Hermann, Missouri, for a wedding (and a little winery hopping) that day and were leaving Hermann around 6:00 p.m. (our gas receipt said 5:42) when the tornado was hitting Joplin.  We had taken Highway 55 to St. Louis and then out Highway 70 (as highlighted on yellow above) to Herman.  However, the radio in the car and the iPhone weather map showed red cells and tornado warnings along Highway 70, so we did not want to return the same way.  We drove through all the winding back country roads to get home and the 3.5 hour drive (only a half hour longer) was exhausting.  About 10 minutes after we left, we heard the radio say that Hermann was under severe storms.

About that time the bride posted on Facebook that they were hunkered down on their honeymoon night in a closet, but shared this photo.

How we managed to drive all the way home without a drop of rain is amazing to me.

Below are some videos that I found on the internet of Joplin that were the first to come out.  The devastation is scary.  This could happen to any of us in Missouri.

The Joplin tornado is the single deadliest U.S. tornado since Worcester, Mass. 1953 tornado.  Here is a page listing all the deadliest U.S. tornadoes.

Here is a CBS Youtube video (with embedding disabled) of the tornado footage as shot by storm chasers.


This one is the scariest to me and hard to watch. It is a first person cell phone recording during the storm.

The description: The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds.


This CNN video is an interview with Issac Duncan who recorded the above video.




The first helicopter view taken with a cell phone.


The description: This deadly storm went from funnel clouds in Galena, KS to a large tornado just west of Joplin. This video from the KSNF tower camera shows the birth of this deadly tornado. I am only posting this video because the station lost power and more than likely does not have this footage. You can see the storm start to vacuum up the power lines as it moved from west to east. It appears the worst damage in Joplin is from the 10th to 32nd streets across the entire city. Home Depot, St. Johns Regional Hospital, Academy, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, a few of the businesses that are totally destroyed. Total devastation... please pray for the city...


Storm chasers even caught the tornado as it was forming.



The Weather Channel's Mike Bettes and The Great Tornado Hunt crew were one of the first to arrive on the scene after Joplin, Missouri was struck by a violent and large tornado on the evening of May 22, 2011.


No sound on this one.



So horrible.

***
Edit for more videos
***

Here's another one from CBS News (embedding disabled) talking to the Joplin City Manager with shots of the tornado at the end.

ABC News (embedding disabled) storm chasers and first view of aftermath.


Another ABC News  storm chaster video (in awe!)



Dog is pulled out in this one. 20 Minutes long


It's a bit surreal to read how the schools are checking on the safety of staff and students and asking people to post on Facebook Fanpage.


Here is an amazing video of a double rainbow after the tornado.

More vacation planning - the 2011 techy way!

Earlier this week, an awesome idea that I'm excited about came to my head and I just want to pass it on to others who are planning their vacations.  This has been a stress saver!

We were looking through all the many things to do on our Kauai vacation in books and on the internet and all the Hawaiian names seemed to look the same.  It was overwhelming and confusing trying to decide what we wanted to do and plan a general itinerary of what we wanted to do and when.  There are some things that need to be reserved in advance, but how in the world would we do so without some organization?

I began making notes in a Word document when I realized it did us no good if we could not visualize the location of each activity so we could go to them when we were in close proximity.

I recalled that Google Maps allowed you to create your own map and it was a little difficult to figure out how to do it, but once I got the hang of it, it was rather easy.

On Google Maps, click on "My Maps."  Next, click on "Create new map."  You can see in this image that I even created one for Dawn and I when she travels here.  You can "collaborate" with other Google accounts and allow them to see and help create the maps.  The maps can be public or private.

Markers can be chosen with icons to fit the type of activity.  We have water icons for waterfalls, swimming icons for beaches, hiking icons for activities, and flag icons for places to eat.

The best part is that in the description area you can put whatever information you want!  When we saw something mentioned online (ie. TripAdvisor), such as directions or tips, it was easily copied and pasted into the description.  Notes and tips from books are easily typed into the description.  It immediately became easier to compare opinions and tips.

At first, it was difficult for me to edit some of the markers to add information until I discovered the "edit" button.  Unless you are in edit mode, you cannot edit markers.  Instead, they merely pop up to read.  It makes sense, so I do not know why that was so hard for me.

Once the "edit" button is clicked, the icons to edit appear.  I had trouble finding them before I realized that fact!  To add a new marker, click on the blue balloon icon to activate it.  Thereafter, drag it to a location.

In the alternative, just search for where you want to go and let Google find it.  Hover over the marker Google shares and choose "add to my map."  At the top of the screen you will have the option to "go to my map."  Once there, click the "edit" button and edit the marker to fit your own map.

It is rather easy once you get the system down, but confusing without any directions from others to get you started.  Even the Google help video left me struggling to learn, so I hope my instructions here help you.

Now we can easily see on our map the location of each activity to choose which one is best for what time.

I began to wonder if I would be able to access this from my iPhone.



I searched for an ap on my iPhone for Google Maps to no avail.  I think it is because Google ownes android phones, so Apple is not keen on a competitors aps.

However, I decided to go to www.maps.google.com on Safari and an "ap" popped right up for me!  As indicated in the screen shot above, you can click on the arrow icon in the middle and choose to "add to home screen" which gives you an icon to utilize. 

It's really cool!  Now I can just click on the icon to be taken to My Maps at any time from my phone through any 3G or internet connection!  Now we can be on the island and still find our notes!

I am not sure why the ap indicates I have no maps because directly below there is a link to my Kauai map created by me.

When I click on my Kauai map, I am taken to a screen which is also seen on the left hand side of my screen when I view from Google Maps online.

Once I choose a location, the actual map was show.  However, the only icons on the map were the once from that particular "page" listing as seen on the screen above.  Since I have so many markers, on the screen shot above, scrolling to the bottom, are choices to go to the next page of site listings.  So only the page of listings that I am on are found on the map, which makes since because too much information would be difficult to download onto a phone.

I learned that the order of things were important, so I went back to My Maps online and was able to click and drag on the locations as listed on the left hand side of my page and organize them by location.  That way, when we are on the south shore, we can easily see all the things located on the south shore.  I do suppose I could also alphabetize the order of my Google Map locations, but proximity seemed to make more sense.

I could click on a location and the pop up came up with all of our information!  So we can access it to help us during our vacation!

I am just so super excited about this and now, when I am reading, the names are coming together for me as I am immediately visualizing in my head having put it on the map before. It is all beginning to come together!

I hope you find use for this information!

Charged Up

Most certain, at some time in everyone's life, we come across a time when our car batteries must be jump-started. That pause in life can be quite frustrating. Take that opportunity to reflect and turn something bad into something good.

I like to think that I am full of spiritual power all the time, but sometimes I feel like that drained battery, and what I need is a direct link to the power source (God); Jesus being sort of like my jumper cables, and the Holy Spirit being the power.

You have to start a sitting car once in a while or the battery would go bad. When we get away from our power source for a long period of time, our power can slowly drain. And if we're not careful, Satan will find ways of draining that power even faster (like when we accidentally leave the lights on in our car).

So if you've been at a spiritual stand still for a long time, or Satan has found a way to speed up your draining process, give yourself a chance, don't try the ignition and give up! Hook up, charge up, be patient, and let God's power grow!

Author Unknown
(although I think I might have actually wrote that, but my memory is fuzzy!)

What is that in my inbox!

Article first written 10/23/09.


WHAT IS E-MAIL SPOOFING?

Have you ever had a flurry of e-mails indicating bounced e-mails to e-mail that you did not even send? Thereafter you receive e-mails from people asking what the e-mail was that you sent, right? Especially for those new to computers, this can be very scary.

This happened to me this morning. It has been a long time since it has happened to me, but I recognized it right away.

These messages are due to a worm. It is not a virus or a trojan. It is a worm and the worm, most often, is not even on your own computer! Yep, it is called "e-mail spoofing."

Here's more on spoofing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_spoofing

When someone gets one of these worms, it will scan the entire inbox collecting every e-mail address it can find, whether in other e-mail messages or in the contacts. It chooses one of the collected addresses to be the "spoof" address. It places the spoofed address hidden as the "from" field and proceeds to e-mail the message from the original account to all of the other e-mail address. In other words, the messages go out from someone else's e-mail account with the appearance that it came from your e-mail account because your e-mail was "spoofed" in the headers.

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT?

So there is actually absolutely nothing you can do but to ride it out until the person whose machine is being attacked gets fixed. Most often it only runs its course on you once.


AN EXAMPLE

You forward a message to Aunt Claire and 50 of your other best friends, including Uncle Jake. Aunt Claire and Uncle Jake do not know each other. Aunt Claire likes the message and leaves it in her inbox. Aunt Claire gets this worm and the worm chooses Uncle Jake's address to spoof and sends out spam from Aunt Claire's account, appearing to use Uncle Jake's e-mail address, to 50 of your other best friends and every other e-mail address it can find in Aunt Claire's inbox or contacts.

Uncle Jake will get the original message sent to him by himself, along with bounced messages to accounts no longer active and bounced messages from Yahoo and Google Groups he does not belong to. Thereafter, he will get a flurry of e-mails from angry people he does not know (who happen to be your 50 best friends) wondering what the spam message was that they received.

Therefore, as you can see, Uncle Jake is guilty of nothing and is the victim because his e-mail address was chosen as the one to be spoofed. Aunt Claire is the guilty one, but has no idea any of this is going on in order to clean her machine of the worm. Uncle Jake might be able to put two and two together to realize that it is all of your friends e-mailing him in anger, but all you are guilty of is putting too many people in the "to" field of your forwarded e-mail.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

This is why it is SO important to not forward e-mails to many people at one time. The more e-mail addresses in the "to" field of your message, the more e-mail addresses are sitting in someone else's inbox ready to be gathered, possibly spoofed, and hit with a spam message. Instead, use the blind carbon copy option to forward mass e-mails.

Then consider if the e-mail you send with 50 addresses in the "to" field is forwarded to someone else with all of the addresses still intact. That forward e-mail could end up on who-knows-who's computer that gets a worm. Always delete e-mail addresses from messages you send as best you can.

BLOCKING YOURSELF

Sometimes when you receive one of these e-mails and you mark it as spam, you unintentionally place your own e-mail address in the blocked list. When this happens, if you are in a Yahoo Group and sending messages, you will wonder why you are not receiving your own e-mails back from the group. You will need to go into your spam settings to find the list of blocked e-mail addresses and remove your own address from the list.

This is also another good reason why you may want to clean in total the blocked addresses from time to time. You may be actually blocking someone you know without knowing that you did it should their address be the spoofed one.


OH

.....and so don't open and click on that e-mail you received from me today. Sigh.

The World is Your Playground

I just received a little bit of sports education from my son. Oh, the way lifestyles change over the generations is hard to keep up with! Therefore, just in case your a parent with a teen who doesn't talk to parents because, well, they are parents (yes, I have one of those sons), here's a bit of information. You can go surprise your child with your new knowledge!


Two of my sons have always enjoyed playing ultimate frisbee, but there is a new frisbee golf are at Capaha Park here in Cape Girardeau. It is understood that if enough utilize this park (which it appears should not be a problem), then they will build another one at Arena Park.

Our home now has within its bounds its very first special frisbee golf disc! Woo hooo! It had to be ordered by mail as they are not sold in town, but hopefully with the new course, some stores will begin to carry them.

I learned today that just like golf clubs, frisbee golf discs come in drivers (for that long throw), mid-range, and putter styles. Just as in regular golf, you can purchase a special bag for your discs and gear. Yes, this is a real sport, just like any other, whereby you have to collect the appropriate gear.



Next, as the above video shot in Columbia, Missouri, shares, I got a lesson on parkour and freerunning. I think the videos I share here will give you a good idea about the sport. Here is a wiki article that describes the difference between parkour and freerunning. Parkour is non-competitive and freerunning is competitive. Parkour is more about mental willpower and mental exercises and freerunning is more about a freedom of movement.

Apparently there are those that participate in these sports here in Cape Girardeau, but I want to catch one in action!


Here's another video of some professional talent. There is a young man by the name of Levi Meeuwenberg who is well known in the sport and can be seen in this video. Of course, you can search Youtube for his name or for the sport and find many other videos.

I think I should buy hubby these . . .

I think I should buy hubby these . . .

so he can have fun in Hawaii in style!  (giggle)
Now, to find them in the local stores!

Remember my house rules? Always write it down for men -- still works . . .

I've learned over the years that my men only "hear" me when I put it into written form and post it on a wall.

If you've been a reader her a long time, you will remember my posts long ago on "house rules."
Just in case you are new here, I think they are really a "must read" for a good laugh.
They are actually real rules I really posted around my house when the boys were young!
I'll give you a clickable index to them here:
House Rule #1
House Rule #1 (revisited)
House Rule #2
House Rule #3
House Rule #4
House Rule #5
House Rule #6
House Rule #7
House Rule #8
House Rule #9
House Rule #10

I remember sharing them long ago and how much fun they were hearing the feedback.  I welcome your feedback now too.


So, we have been working hard to clean out the freezer to make sure all of the old food is eaten before we go grocery shopping.  It's been a very long time since we have had to shop and I can say it is a learning experience to realize how much food we usually do keep around and how long it can last!

So, I put up a note on the refrigerator for the men to add their shopping requests.  Do you think it will get filled up?  We shall see.  I'll share in another blog post.



This is our freezer.  I certainly will have to make sure I clean it before I go shopping.  It looks horrible!  There's really only a few pounds of ground beef, some broccoli, and frozen onions left.  Of course, I spy someone's DQ Blizzard that's been put there and forgotten for weeks, so I may have to throw that out.

Have you ever purged your food this way?  I think we are going to do the same with our canned foods and boxed foods too!  I'm not buying any more until what we have are gone!

I would love to hear from you in the comments.  It's fun to share and compare.

Pinterest iPhone Ap -- read all about it!

I previously shared about Pinterest on this blog post.
Here is where you can find me on Pinterest.

Last weekend Pinterest came out with an iPhone ap and many people are excited about it.
The reviews in the store are not good, most indicating that the ap is crashing.
I am happy to report that in my initial play with the ap, it never crashed, so hopefully the bugs of a new ap are worked out now.

One complaint I read was that you could not pin from the internet on the phone.  I must say that I never expected it to do this as I do not read the internet through a browser on the phone very often anyway as it is battery heavy and cumbersome.

The ap does allow you to use your camera to pin.  Does that mean that you can upload your own photos straight to Pinterest?  I'm thinking not.

However, upon a test, I did find that I could upload straight from my camera onto Pinterest either from the camera or from a photo library!  See my upload here and feel free to comment under it to discuss the ap.  To use the "camera," observe in the last image on this post the camera icon at the bottom of the ap.

I wondered if I would be able to delete my image and found the edit link and sure enough, there is a "delete pin" option available.  Does this mean it will be removed from Pinterest hosting all together though?  I would suggest to be careful in putting people up for interest safety reasons.

However, the rest of the ap is working great.  When you are bored, whip out this ap and browse photos and repin or like them.  I was able to easily unfollow a style board (because I'm just not into clothes and styles) easily.

I tried repinning and it was really easy.  Just click the plus sign and then the buttons to repin and like are revealed.  After you click the repin button, you are shown a screen with your boards (labels/groups) to choose.

The "following" tab show a stream of the images from people you are following and the "popular" tab shows a stream of the popular images from all people.  "Activity" show the notifications, such as new followers or when someone repins you. "Profile" access your own pins and personal information.

I am really liking the idea of the ap being available.  Does this mean I should give up on the other photo collecting sites and try to repin my collections all to one place?

The only think Pinterest does not have yet is the ability to put mini thumbnails of my last pins into a widget on my blog or website.  Are they working on that?

How close to a train track can you set up a vegetable market?

How close to a train track can you set up a vegetable market?

Watch the video below.  Is that not bizarre?  I guess you have to do what you have to do.



Another video below as train comes through the Mae Klong market in Thialand. It appears to be something to see for travelers.

How to steal like an artist . . . is it okay?

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9

(original source)

I found the above linked blog post and found it to be very though provoking.  Go ahead, click and read Austin's "truths" which seem to bear a lot of truths.

Is there really nothing new under the sun? The Bible says so.  Is it so when it comes to art?

As digital scrapbookers, we all love to "scraplift."  I often remark how digital scrapbooking is like a big circle of inspiration that comes back to you.

Is there really any brand new ideas for designing digital scrapbooking supplies that hasn't been done before?  Maybe.  But I am going to guess that the new supply was inspired by something.

For instance, I was looking at the wall and observing all the grey grunge and how it looked great on the tan marble and how I could use that idea for a new digital scrapbooking paper with a photo of marble and grunge brushes.

I decided to play with my photo with a new iPhone ap (Fotolr PS) and came up with an idea -- but it isn't really new. It's just inspired.

We all take inspiration and pull just the part that we can work with from it, add it to another bit of inspiration, to create something "new."  Is that stealing?

As Austin asks, are you a mashup artist?
Are you a selective idea collector, not a hoarder?
Do you identify the garbage and throw it out of the inspiration?
Do you jot down ideas as you are inspired and use them collectively later?
When you make things, do you figure out who you are?


....I do suggest you head on over to see what else he has to say.  It's good stuff.

You know. . .I love . . .

You know. . I love. . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . blogging?

Why? Because it's the same thing that drives me to scrap -- preserving memories. It feels like an art to write too -- with that artistic high we get when we digital scrapbook.

I just have to find time to do it. That's the hard part. It's all a choice -- do this or do that with one's time.  Do for me or do for others.  Where is the balance.

(image from iPhone ap)

Two if by sea, two if by land . . .

Okay, so the heading is a play on words, but it seemed to fit!

"One if by land, and two if by sea," comes from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his poem  "Paul Revere's Ride" and the lantern signal that came from the Boston church tower to signal how the British were going to attack. After seeing the signal he rode and delivered a message to the confederates of the attack which began the Revolutionary War.

So, we don't have lights, we have two people traveling first over sea and then by land. So, how would we travel by land once we arrived in Hawaii? It was yet another thing I dreaded researching in order to find the best deal.

Of course, we dreamed of the possibilities of renting a convertible and imagined the cost would be higher than a small sedan.  Apparently, this is wrong!  The convertible was less expensive.

Upon completing the airline reservations, there was a link offered to purchase vehicle rental at 35% off.  I followed through, curious as I was, and found the rental to be only $54 a day!  I thought it would be more, so I was pleased.

However, being one that doesn't want to get duped and being untrusting, I went straight to the rental site and search for the same dates and same vehicles to find the price before 35% savings.

To my surprise, I found that there was an option for the same vehicle and dates at the same price, as long as payment was made immediately in advance.  Wow!

The only difference I found was that booking through the airline allowed for payment upon arrival as well as ease in notifying the rental agency of our flight so they could track the flight and have our car ready for us.  So, I went ahead and booked our CONVERTIBLE through the airline service.

I was offered additional insurance add-on coverage and thought I'd better be safe than sorry!  I had read online that in some areas of Kuaui  break-ins are prominent, so in this case, stress-less and worry-free is worth the cost to me.

I was so glad to have that behind me!  And, yes!  This will be another "first" as it will be the first time I have ever ridden in a convertible, which I am sure is nothing like the sunroof on my own car.  Oh, I can feel the breeze now!

Can you tell I am getting more and more excited about our trip?

Facebook Groups to be Archived

I noticed yesterday when visiting Facebook groups the above message that many Facebook groups would be archived.  Since I am the owner of a few groups, I decided I needed to check this out more closely and felt it was something that needed to be passed onto my readers here.


You can read this page for more information.

The basic details are that inactive groups (which most all I am a member of are inactive!) will be archived and the members will be removed from the group.  You will need to re-invite everyone to the group after it is archived.  If the group is active enough, the owner will see an option to allow them to upgrade the group to the new group format.


The alternative is to create a new group now (in the new Facebook format) and send everyone in your old group a message (email) telling them to join the new group.


A better alternative may be, especially if your group is an organization, is to create a new fanpage and send everyone in your old group a message (email) telling them to join the new fanpage.  This is what I have begun doing with my groups.


In addition, I am moving over the information from the group and will be deleting everything and all members from the group and closing the group down.  To me, the idea of Facebook "archiving" anything is scary to me. 


If my posts are archived and I am removed from a group, then I would have to remember that I was once a member of that group, find it, and rejoin it in order to delete my old posts for privacy reasons.  Any posts you make on Facebook in public areas such as groups and fanpages will show up on interest search results.


In fact, I am removing my own posts from other groups that I do not own and leaving them, unless they are a group that I am solidly interested in remaining.  Many groups were created when it was the popular thing to have a group just for fun with random silly names.  This trend seems to have vanished over the years and so has the use of groups all together, especially since fanpages were introduced.


Did you know that I routinely delete old posts from my fanpage wall?  Why?  Because the idea of Facebook archiving everything does not sit well with me.  Therefore, please know that when you chat with me on my fanpage, I am there protecting your interests by deleting your posts for you after a period of time.


NEW GROUPS

To read more about using new groups and the purposes Facebook is encouraging they be used for, read here and here.

Learning how to travel . . .

So, yesterday I booked my very first airline flight! This vacation is going to be a vacation of "first time I've done it in my life" times. I've got a whole list of firsts I'm going to be doing.

So, this will be my first time to book a flight and my first time to fly!

I want to share what I'm learning, first in case it helps others, and second as a personal memory preservation, and third, just in case someone wants to comment to share other tips.

I learned that a great place to find the best airline flights is Kayak.com.

You can set a price alert which will e-mail you each time the prices of flights changes dramatically.  Apparently, flight prices do change quickly and you have to grab them fast before the price changes again.  It's a little bit like russian roulette.   Just like any gamble, the price could go up instead of down.

I also learned that the best time to buy tickets is midweek -- literally.  Tuesday might be a good day, but one minute after mid-night, if you are up that late, is supposed to be the best time.

I wasn't in the mood for gambling and had been watching the prices for two weeks and they had not varied much, so I decided to just book the tickets and remove the stress of watching for prices to fall (or rise) which is a good cost when considering my health.

My eyes went boogly-eyed after studying all the start and end times to the flight options.  My brain began to hurt too (headache from all that computer time).   I tried oh so many combinations of times, remembering that I will loose 5 hours by the time I land!

There were two main airlines which were the lower cost tickets and I almost bought the lowest cost tickets.  I even had my personal information all keyed in.  The times were even better for us too, but my gut just kept talking to me.  First, all I saw was "non-refundable" all over the website.  What if a relative died the day before and we could not go?  I discovered another airline, although non-refundable was in the fine print, encouraged purchase of special insurance to cover special circumstances such as personal emergencies.  So, we spent $80 more for tickets and $61 extra for insurance which was worth the peace of mind.  I also looked online and found the first company had a 64% approval rating and the one we booked had the highest approval rating, which helped me confirm my decision.  I know that sometimes the cheapest is not always the best.

We were told to use a credit card with this type of insurance, but we spent time calling our cards last weekend only to find that the air travel coverage was only good should we die during flight.  Think about that for a bit.  How much do you think the credits really pay out on that each year and how much do you think that card benefit really costs them?

I've begun reading the specifications for luggage now and suspect we will be buying some new suitcases.  That will be a future blog post!  Yep, another "first"  - - the first time to pack luggage for flying for (yes, another "first") my first long vacation over a 3 nights stay.

Seatguru.com is a great site for finding which seats on your particular flight are the better seats.  The green are good seats, the yellow have some drawbacks, and the red are bad seats.  The red arrows are exits and there are other indications in the icon index on the site, such as where the bathroom is located (which might be important).

I first thought about learning which seats might be the safest on a plane, but decided that God's providence during a crash probably had more to do with safety.

I then read that if you are prone to seasickness that the seats near the wings were the best because they tilted the least.  I do suffer from motion sickness, but it is more related to my eyes and seeing things going by fast and my eyes not focusing fast enough.  I've never really been on a big boat (just canoes), so I'm not sure if I really have seasickness whereby the actual movement hits the tummy.

Apparently the seat I choose on the first flight (there is one lay over during each trip) there does not recline. It does have DC power, so a laptop might help the long trip.

Apparently, per seatguru, the flight has internet service, but "the service will cost $12.95 for flights longer than three hours, and $9.95 for shorter flights. Travelers using handheld devices, such as smartphones and PDAs, will pay $7.95 no matter the length of the flight"  I will have to look into this more, but I am thinking I can live without the internet for an airflight!  Okay, maybe not.

I also see information about food service for snack boxes or sandwiches and wraps.  I am wondering about my first time eating on an airplane!

Oh, I just learned as I'm searching seatguru that our flight across the ocean does not have a power plug-in (it does every other seat). Now, do I just let that go because we are under the wings or do I try to figure out how to change that?

Our return seats across the ocean have no power and are in the back, but there was nothing I can do about it because the flight was almost full.  I'm hoping I can sleep through this one!

Our final flight looks to be good seats all around with power and under the wings.

This investigating and learning how to travel is a lot of work!  Can you imagine learning this without the internet?

Today's Layout Inspiration - Creative Titles

Megan (meggersjm)'s layout focuses on the great title and text that make you smile. You can find her layout here. Megan gives her credits as "I used the May Mix a Kit, portions by Down This Road Designs."

When I am looking through galleries for inspiration, I find the titles often as inspiring as the rest of the layout.  I can see this title, "Spring, where are you?" being adapted to many situations and layout themes.

Little George, were are you?
Motivation, where are you?
Clean dishes, where are you?
Vacation, where are you?
Oh gifts, where are you? (ah...I think I'm going to use that -- I've an idea!)

Is your mind working like mine now?  How can you apply this title?

If you are inspired by this layout, please post your layout in the forum thread here. We welcome anyone (and any products) to participate.

Today's Layout Inspiration - Photos on Top of Frames

I might have cruised right past this layout, but Dawn had a sharp eye and I immediately knew that I wanted to share Pamie's layout as inspiration.  You can find the layout here. Pamie gives the credits as:  Kit: BloomsBerry Kit and Add-ons by Delicious Scraps; Template: Free template by Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs in the May 2011 DSA Enabler;Font: Aquarelle.


Look closely!  The photo is on top of the frame!  Yep, I see this technique from time to time, and this is a wonderful example in action!  Remember that you can always move your photo up a layer above the frame and tilt it in such a way that it rests on the frame.  Pamie has utilized other elements gracefully as if they are keeping the photo in place from blowing away.

Before I could get this blog post up, I applied this inspiration to my most recent layout.  However, I took the idea a step further and placed the top part of the photo under the frame and the bottom part over the frame.


If you are inspired by this layout, please post your layout in the forum thread here. We welcome anyone (and any products) to participate. (I will be putting my layout there!)

Vacation planning is so much work!

For our 25th wedding anniversary, we want to travel to Kauai, Hawaii.

I have never flown before in my life and I have never taken a vacation longer than a Monday and a Friday from work, so I am very excited!

We spent the entire day on Saturday (about 12 hours) until I had a huge headache looking online to choose where we would book accommodations.  I hated taking time away from other things I need to be doing, but if we don't do this, we won't be going anywhere either.  So many things to juggle.  I had no idea it would take us so long, but it did, and it was nice to spend time together on a cloudy day.

We started out by plugging in urls from vacation booklets we had picked up.  Eventually, we realized that you could follow along on Google Maps moving with the mouse, zoomed in, and all the locations were marked.  Hover over each location and a small pop-up appears with a link to the website.

We looked at so many places you cannot imagine!  We wanted a view of the ocean, access to the beach, privacy, and a jacuzzi tub.  Most of the places were more like hotels, especially the resorts.  Even the condos seemed to be all grouped together closely.  Very few had great views to the ocean, especially not without grassy area and beach area in between to distance one from the view ever so slightly.

When we spotted the accommodations we eventually booked, I think we both new right away it was the perfect spot for us.  We have the view and the privacy, but no jacuzzi tub and the access to the beach is rough.  We decided we could always take another vacation later with a jacuzzi tub and could do without it, especially since we saw almost no place with them in the rooms.  We also decided that we would probably be beach hopping anyway, so the relaxing view was more important.

We have SO much planning to do and I never knew it was this much work! 

We bought some books on Nook for PC and went to the bookstore and got a few more.  Two books have the best tips!  I had to laugh when one of the first tips we read was to go to Google Maps and cruise around the outside of the island to find places to stay.  We came across that on our own, but hopefully we can use the book to bypass the learning-the-hard-way for everything else.

One of the good books we bought was the Ultimate Guidebook to Kauai and I found today this great resource with clickable links to places to stay.  We still have some time to cancel part of our reservation.  We need to decide if we will island hop or even stay at another location to save on travel time.  The only reason to island hop for us would be to go to the big island to see a volcano.  It is my understanding that the lava flow is hard to find and otherwise it looks just like a big mountain, so we may just stay on the one island.

I hope to video and blog while we are there and that everyone will enjoy following us.  I love that I can post from my iPhone onto my blog, including photos.