By His Design

These girls

2012-01-09T09:03:00.001-06:00

This one

And even this one

Yeah, these girls

Right here

I love them.

Yes, yes I do!

Untitled: Because I’m just too tired

2011-11-02T21:27:00.001-05:00

Wow! What a week, and it is only Wednesday! I have been to the funeral home 5 times, attempted (unsuccessfully) to clean my house 4 times, went to school (college) 3 times, washed my dishes twice, experienced devastation 1 time and worked a total of 1 half day. Yep, so far this has not been my week. And did I mention that it is only Wednesday?

Here’s the skinny on the funeral home:

Grandmother Laney (my great grandmother) passed away on Sunday resulting in 3 trips…

This is her and Laney from a few months back when she was hospitalized due to pneumonia . She always knew who Laney was even way past her point of recognizing me—She suffered from dementia. I always assumed that had something to do with the namesake but I can’t be certain of course.

I cried with my entire family as we listened to the eulogy. But we were not crying for her. Instead we cried for ourselves. I am always aware of the selfishness that seems to engulf situations like this one. And understandably so. The selfishness I mean, not my awareness.

I also made two extra trips this afternoon. One time to drop Kait off and one more time to pick her up. She hung out there tonight while I went to school. Not sure if I have mentioned the fact that my aunt and uncle own the locale funeral home and reside in an enormous apartment overhead. Yes, that is a little creepy, I know

On my attempts at housework:

There is really nothing to say except that I failed miserably.

School:

I went, I listened, I came home. I have not had time to do any homework whatsoever. I really should be doing that now as apposed to this.

Same goes for the never ending mountain of dishes in my sink.

I'm not even going to touch on my devastation except to say that it is superficial and I will eventually get over it.

My half day of work:

Oy, I have not even sat down at my computer since Sunday night save the hours of 8-1 on Tuesday when I worked and a phone call that came in this morning that I had to take because the fellow wasn’t in on Tuesday and I ~~was just going to die if we went through one more round of phone tag~~ really needed to get him scheduled as quickly as possible.

How has your week been so far?

Kids

2011-08-10T19:05:00.001-05:00

I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t do for my children. Lie? Cheat? Steal? You bet. Pick them up in the middle of the night due to a sudden onset of homesickness? Absolutely.

Take off work a little early to accommodate her need for me to repair a network she ~~screwed up~~ modified? Apparently.

It was almost time to quit working for the day when my cell phone rang and the following conversation pursued:

__________________________________________________________________________

Me: Hello

Girl one: Mom, I kind of messed up the internet here and now it doesn’t work, could you just hack into my computer and fix it for me?

Me: Huh? You did what?

Girl one: Somehow I changed their internet name and added a password and I can’t fix it.

Me: Oh, well that makes more sense…

__________________________________________________________________________

So I headed out there, to her friend’s house, to fix their ‘internet’. I got there to find that she had somehow logged into their router, renamed it and added an access code. A code she didn’t remember or take a notion to write down. I didn’t think I was going to be able to fix it. But eventually I did and all is well. I just wonder how many mothers can say they did what I did today.

New

2011-07-01T13:54:00.001-05:00

There are so many things going on in my life that are new right now. For instance, I have a new header on my new blog…

And a new footer…

We have a new house. I’m still un packing so no pictures yet, but I’ll get around to that.

We have several new additions to the family…

Above is B, my aunt’s newest baby. My step sister also just had a brand new baby boy J. Sorry, no picture of him—I’m not sure if its ok to post him, but trust me, he’s a cutie too.

Plus plus also and we have a new kitten that Laney found last week! I have been trying to catch the little fellow for the last ten minutes so that I could show her to you but she is still a little afraid of me. This is all I got…

And Laney took this with her webcam for facebook. Hopefully, eventually I will get a better picture. Simone (our old cat) does not like her very much. Hopefully they will grow on each other.

Both girls also have new hair color. Don’t worry it’s temporary. Here is Laney…

That is her newly purple hair. Oh, but wait, she had a new permanent color put in about a month ago that I never showed you, here it is…

It has very subtle red highlights. Very cute.

And let’s not forget Kait. She has a temporary color and a permanent one before also. Here is her temporary red hair…

And here is her permanent brown with a blond chunk…

Also very cute, if I do say so myself.

blog designing with the new blogger…

2011-01-25T10:28:00.001-06:00

I’m sure you have noticed that blogger now comes equipped with its very own, built in design options. I for one, really like this. And you should too. It allows you to design your blog all by yourself.

I’m creating a new blog and I thought I would use this opportunity to show you how to create your design from scratch.

Here’s what you need:

A blogger blog account
Image editing software (I’ll be using Phot0shop CS3)
Digital scrapbook kit (you can download these for free)

If you don’t have Photoshop, gimp is a good alternative. You can download it for free by clicking on the link.

First things first. Open your image editing software and open up your scrapbooking kit to the backgrounds and decide what you want to use for your background.

I’m going to use Vintage Florals from Shabby Princess. So I open CS3 and click File and then Open from the top left of my screen. I select the image I want to use for my background and click Open…

Which should look something like this…

We need to resize this image, otherwise the circles (or whatever design you choose) you will be too big. To do this click Image, and then Image size…

Change the width and height to 1600 pixels…

Click Ok. Then go back to File and Save As…

Name it, and click Save. I named mine background but the name isn’t really important. What is important is that your Format (located right under Filename) says jpeg…

You also want to make sure your file isn’t too big. Blogger will only let you upload an image for your background that is 300k or smaller. After you click save, you should see this…

The size of your image is listed under the Ok and Cancel buttons on the right. To decrease the size, you need to decrease the Quality. Don’t worry, I had to bring my quality down to Medium so that I was under 300k, but it will still look great.

Uploading your image

Now that gives us our background so lets move on to getting our template ready to upload.

Go to your dashboard and click design…

Then click template designer….

You should now be looking at this…

Select the template you want to start with from the options to your left. I chose simple because I am modifying it anyway. But you can pick whichever one you want.

After you have your template, click on background to your left….

Click the little down arrow on the right of the current background image…

Select Upload Image on your left, then click Browse and select the image we just saved. When you have it, click Done.

Make sure you have it set to Don’t tile and that Scroll with page is checked…

Click APPLY TO BLOG at the top right of your page…

Now you could stop here, your background is there. But let’s go ahead and modify the center portion of your blog and decide how we want it laid out.

Layout

Click Layout to your left. Select how you want your columns and footer to your right and again click APPLY TO BLOG…

Colors and text

Now let’s get everything else in prospective. Click your Advanced tab on the left. You should see a preview of your blog so far at the bottom of your screen. Here we want to get the post area a matching color (of course you can opt to leave it white) and your text matching.

It’s pretty self explanatory. So you can just play around with it until you like it. Here is a little description of what your options do:

Page Text	The font on your blog
Backgrounds	The colors on your blog
Links	Color of text for your links
Blog Title	Font and color of blog title
Blog Description	Font and color of blog description
Tabs Text	Font and color of tabs text
Tabs Background	Background color on your tab pages
Post Title	Font for post titles
Date Header	Font color and background of date
Post Footer	Text, background and shadow color
Gadgets	Font text and color
Images	Background, border & caption colors
Accents	Color for dividing lines
Add CSS	Allows you to add CSS code

Here is a more detailed look at what I modified…

Backgrounds

I changed the Outer Background and Main Background to match the image we previously created. I made the Header Background transparent because I intend on creating a header image later on.

Links

I made the Link color and Visited Link Color the same, but I made the Hover Color a little darker.

Blog Title

I made the blog title color to match my blog design.

Everything else

I just basically made everything else match. And anything that I could make transparent, I did.

Here’s how it turned out for me:

I’d love to see how yours turned out so leave me a link in the comments! And keep checking back, it won’t be long until I create my header image! Peace out suckers!

Like this? Vote for me!

Snow days

2011-01-12T16:22:00.001-06:00

School has been out all week here in the not so deep south due to all the snow we got late Sunday night. We got quite a bit for our neck of the woods.

So much, in fact, we decided to try sledding.

Yes, I know, that’s technically not really a sled.

Obviously, it didn’t work so well.

Probably due to our lack of hills. So we resorted to…

Falling down. A lot.

And throwing snow balls.

And playing with the kitties.

And of course, just plain posing for the camera.

Recapping

2011-01-05T23:34:00.001-06:00

I wasn’t sure if recapping was (or is, or whatever) a word, but my spell check didn’t catch it so we should be good. I’m freshly showered and ready for bed but I just had to tell y’all about my day. It was a doozy.

I’m pretty sure I broke some sort of record at work today. I closed 7 tickets by 2 o’clock. That’s a lot in case you’re wondering.

I left work, picked up the kids from school and made it to Beta practice, which coincidentally was at the school. Then I dropped friend two’s daughter off at her house and made it to drama practice just in time. The time being 5 o’clock.

From there I ran girl two and myself to grab a candy bar from the store and headed back to the church to wait on drama practice to be over and church to start at 6:30.

I left there, swung by Sonic and the Taco Bell, because we can never all want the same thing when it’s take out for dinner. Not forgetting to run in the grocery store to pick my granddaddy (who had surgery this morning on his rotator cup—or is it rotator cuff, I’m really not sure at this point) up some grapes (which I paid $8.77 for) and my sister some pickles.

We ate in the car on the way to my moms where I learned that my great uncle had died around the time I was at Sonic, which was around 8:15 ish. It’s pretty sad. He taught me how to ride my bicycle way back in the day.

Then, I picked up the boys from my moms, dropped my girls off at home with the husband, and took the boys home. I drove in fog so thick I could not tell that there was even a road in front of me. It was pretty scary, but we made it. Obviously.

Finally making it home around 9:30. I’m pooped. How was your day?

Logic?

2011-01-05T13:01:00.001-06:00

Yesterday girl one got in some trouble due to her less than appealing attitude. And since nothing else seems to work, I decided a day without her cell phone might help her control herself.

Her response:

‘But mom! I charged it all night!’

Now how can you argue with that logic?

*photo credit: Girl one

Word Redundancies

2011-01-04T10:31:00.001-06:00

The word redundant is defined as: excess, more than is needed, desired, or required.

The best definition I can come up with for word redundancies (via wikipeda) is: an unnecessary or unessential (and sometimes unintentional) repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing twice (often originally from different languages). While that definition is technically one for Redundancy (language) which may refer to Tautology (rhetoric), I think it applies.

This sort of thing cracks me up. So I thought I would share some with you. Your welcome.

ATM machine
armed gunman
basic fundamentals
cameo appearance
cash money
drop down
during the course of
estimated at about
end result
exact same
gather together
joint collaboration
LCD display
old adage
originally created
pick and choose
postpone until later
refer back
sum total
surrounded on all sides
truly sincere
verbatim word for word

I always laugh silently to myself when I here someone say these things. Another one that gets me is irregardless. Now technically that is not even a word, but I hear it often. It must be a southern thing. But let’s face it, the prefix ir is a negative and if you add that to something that is already negative (for instance regardless, meaning without regard) then that my friends is redundant. And I am sure of that, mainly because I looked it up some time back.

Now one I’m not so sure of is apathy. Well, I guess I kind of am sure of it, but it cracks me up to wonder so here goes. If apathy is defined by being without emotion, dare we say empty on the inside, is it correct to say someone is full of apathy? Not sure that qualifies as redundancy but it is funny.

adventures in christmas shopping

2010-12-20T13:53:00.001-06:00

Alternately titled: a flat tire, a police officer, a drug deal and a marshall

the (almost) flat tire

On our way back from Christmas shopping on Friday night we noticed that we had a very low tire. So we did the only logical thing. We stopped at a gas station and aired it up. But while we were airing it up, it came to our attention that the tire had what looked like a nail in it and it was leaking air. Which was scary because it was just us 3 girls and a two hour drive home on the interstate. The fact that it was 11 pm didn’t help either. I mean, no one wants to be stranded on the interstate that late at night. Or at any time for that matter. But especially not in the middle of the night.

So we drove a couple of miles and stopped to check it. Low again. We got more air. Drove a little further. Stopped again. Put in more air and went on.

The next time we stopped, we decided we had to do something more efficient. So there we were, sitting at some run down old gas station at midnight, with an almost flat tire.

To our left, at the gas pumps, there was a very nice Tahoe and your average smaller size SUV (not sure what kind it was). To our right was a beat up old Cadillac or something full of what looked like a bunch of crack heads, but I couldn’t be sure. And behind us in the distance we saw the blue light of what looked to be a cop car in pursuit of a sedan.

We decided we were going to wait until our environment felt safer before we got out of the car. So we sat for a few minutes and watched…

the police officer

The police car we saw had came to a stop behind the sedan at the edge of the gas station parking lot. He got out of his car and walked up the the window of the sedan. And proceeded to point his finger at the driver.

the drug deal

The man driving the Tahoe walked casually towards the beat up old Cadillac, with the driver in turn exiting the vehicle and meeting the driver of the Tahoe about half ways. Surely they are not making a drug deal deal, right here, right now, with a cop 10 feet away. Surely not. Oh yes, they did. We saw the money exchange hands and everything. Ballsy to say the least.

Then I noticed that the sedan was leaving and the police officer was heading back towards his cruiser. I hopped out of the car and got his attention. The police officer, not the driver of the sedan. I explained our situation and asked for some assistance. He politely agreed and said he’d pull his car closer to ours to have a look.

the marshall

On his way back to his car, the man from the smaller SUV made his way towards the cop. They stood and chatted for a few minutes and then both walked over to us.

As it turns out, the man talking with the officer was a US Marshall. No kidding.

While they proceeded to investigate our tire and eventually put a plug in it, the Marshall explained that he had spent his night arresting a man for murder due to a drug deal gone wrong.

Marshall: Yes, we arrested him, he had shot the guy in the head and the torso. Recovered all kinds of money and marijuana.

Me: No way. Your really a Marshall?

Marshall: Yes. See my gun? I have cuffs too. See? I even have to carry a machine gun with me at all times.

Me: Can I see it? The machine gun, I mean.

Marshall: Well, if this officer here doesn’t mind me getting it out, then sure.

Officer: (Laughing) I don’t mind.

So we all walk over to his car and he pulls out a machine and inserts the clip, which makes us all very nervous, and turns on an attached strobe light.

Me: Why would you need a strobe light on a machine gun?

Marshall: It’s to scare them.

Me: Ahh.

He then puts up his very big gun, and we say our thank yous (or thank you’s, or whatever, my spell check didn’t like either) and all all head our separate ways.

And incase you’re wondering the tire held up nicely and we made it home safe and sound.

Yummy

2010-12-14T00:49:00.001-06:00

Alternatively titled: dessert, or breakfast, or whatever.

Earlier tonight I was asked to share a recipe with a friend, which got me thinking—you guys would love you some German Chocolate Upside Down Cake, too. So here you go.

German Chocolate Upside Down Cake

(Photo credit: please keep your fork)

You will need:

One cup of coconut

One cup of chopped pecans

One box of cake mix (either german chocolate or devils food)

Eight ounces of (softened) cream cheese

One pound of confectioners sugar

Preparation:

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle your coconut over the bottom of your baking dish.

Then, sprinkle your pecans on top of your coconut.

Mix your cake mix accordingly, to the box that is.

Pour into baking dish atop your coconut and pecans.

Mix the cream cheese and confectioners sugar together.

Pour down the middle of your cake mix—which is what I do.

Or drop dollops of all over your cake (because it was the only picture I could find).

(Photo credit: eat at home)

Bake for about 40-45 minutes.

Check your cake (not center filling) with a tooth pick.

It should come out clean.

Cool. And enjoy.

Easy peasy.

Seriously guys, that is one scrumptious dish. Unless your on a diet. In which case it’s still good, but you probably shouldn’t eat it. But I suppose you could still cook it.

Stream of Consciousness

2010-12-10T12:34:00.001-06:00

This week keeps getting worse and worse. I need some medication. My mother would disagree. With good cause I suppose. I recently expressed my intention of finding a drug addiction suitable for my needs. One that allows me to still function in my day to day but still manages to numb all my emotions. So far, I have came up with absolutely nothing. Dang the luck. But if it weren’t for bad luck, I would have no luck at all. At the very least my life is consistent.

My sister in law came in yesterday and talked smack about my Christmas tree. Girl one wasn’t extremely happy with it either. Which really does not do much for my self esteem. I really loved it.

Girl one said it was not colorful enough. The SIL said it could have done without the gold. And that you couldn’t really see the silver on the white. Sigh. I still like it.

I have also come to the realization that I quote I heard recently is true.

A person isn’t who they are during your last conversation you had with them—they’re who they’ve been throughout your whole relationship.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

And yes, that is pretty upsetting to me. But whatever. It’s not like I can change anything. But I am still contemplating my options. So far I got nothing.

On a brighter note: We’re having a baby. Not me and the husband. My aunt is having us a baby. Well, actually she is not having to for us. But she is having a baby and I intend on having it as much as possible. I love babies.

Did you notice my header and lack of navigation bar? I’m sure you did. If you need to email me the address is ohmyblogdesigns@gmail.com. I intend on creating another navigation bar at some point, just not today. Or tomorrow. But eventually.

It is getting dangerously close to an appoint I have so I am going to stop typing and hit publish. Peace out suckers.

The truth behind customer service

2010-12-09T16:22:00.001-06:00

As you may or may not know, I’m a support tech for a public safety software company. I occasionally do some light programming but I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything.

Earlier I was reading the is article; 10 Things Customer Service Reps Want to Tell You and I was amazed at how spot on they were. I mean seriously, that are so right. But don’t take their word for it—take mine.

Below you will find my no holds bar, in your face explanation for each point they made and why they are absolutely right. Remember, you have been warned.

Why Customer Service Reps Want to Tell You The Following 10 Things

(Remember, their points in bold, my reasoning follows)

1.We really do want to help. It’s the truth. It makes me feel smart and feeds my narcissism. I love it.

2. It’s easier for us to help when we have all the pertinent information. There is nothing worse than someone calling and flat out lying to you about what happened before the problem started. People, we don’t care if it’s your fault. It doesn’t matter to us one way or the other. We just want to find your problem and fix it. Period.

3. I’m usually just as helpful as my supervisor would be. Actually, in my case, I am more helpful than my supervisor would be. But, even if that were not the case—why start all over from scratch with someone else.

4. Express what you want in terms of a realistic resolution. There really is a limit to what we can do.

5. We love to hear feedback from you—especially when you were unhappy with your experience. If you are unhappy with my service, tell us so that we can alter our approach. We can’t read your mind.

6. Your not our only call for the day. Ha! If you think your are all tired and fed up with being on the phone with customer service—think how they feel considering as soon as we hang up with you, we have to start with someone else. Keep that in mind.

7. Just like you, we hate when there is nothing we can do to resolve your issue. Nothing irks me more about my job than not being able to get something resolved.

8. We’re people too. It is very hard not to take it personally when someone calls and blames you for their problem.

9. Chances are we didn’t cause your problem. 90% of the issues that come across my desk are operator induced—another 5% are Windows related issues.

10. We really do know what we are doing. My job is different in this aspect in comparison with other service techs, but in any case, we have our jobs for a reason—we know what we are doing.

There you have it folks. That is why customer service reps want to tell you those things. I’m sure that you will all sleep a little easier having read all that. Your welcome.

Dry Bones

2010-12-08T08:51:00.001-06:00

As I was kissing girl two good night earlier she asked me to read her Ezekiel 37. An odd request from a 10 year old for sure, but I obliged her. I went and got my bible and came back and read.

(Isn’t she a cutie? Picture is courtesy of my sister and her new camera.)

And while she asked me to read the story solely due to the fact that she saw a this drama—you should totally watch it after you read this because it is awesome (a little draggy at first but completely awesome after the song starts)— it really spoke to me.

Son of man, can these bones lives?

O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.

Prophecy to these bones so that they may live…

Can these bones live? That is a good question to me. Can these bones, these dry withered bones come to life with flesh, tendons and breath? Can we, God’s own people in our dry, withered and lifeless state live again? Why did God ask Ezekiel if the bones could live? Didn’t he already know?

Do we first have to ponder this ourselves, allowing ourselves to come to the realization for ourselves that the dry bones—we—can live before we are able to prophecy and speak life into them?

Could it be that someone telling me that it can be done is not enough? But I have to know from within myself? Do I have to first ponder the question, gradually forming my conclusion as my faith blossoms?

Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel, prophecy and say to them…

I will bring you back….

Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord…

I will put my Spirit in you and you will live…

Declares the Lord

I can relate to the dry bones. I had to share if for no other reason than my own thought process while ~~penning~~ typing the words. Also, I encourage you to go and read the chapter for yourselves.

Five Questions Friday

2010-11-12T13:41:00.001-06:00

So as far as I can tell I just copy and paste the following questions, add my answers, and link back to My Little Life! Sounds easy enough. Here we go…

1. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you?

First let me say that you should not laugh at my answer because I have been blessed enough to make it my whole life without ever having to endure any real pain. Even when I was in labor (both times) they had to wake me up so I could push. Sorry if that was too much information, or if it just made you insane with jealousy. Ahem. Anyway, I obviously have not had very much physical pain. So my answer is an ovarian cyst. I know. But it did hurt. I ended up having to have one of my ovaries and one tube removed. But don’t ask me which one because I can’t remember.

2. How much sleep do you get at night?

I get on average 7 hours. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I love to sleep. It’s one of my hobbies.

3. How long did you believe in Santa Claus? How did you find out that he does not exist?

I can never remember a time when I believed in Santa. Sad, I know. I can never remember believing in any mythical holiday creatures and what not. We did the Santa thing with our kids. I even played Easter Bunny which is something I had no idea people did until after I was grown. Of course, now the girls are too old for that. Except for girl two when it comes to Santa. She is holding on to that one for dear life. I tell her he is not real and she thinks I’m just messing with her. She seriously cracks me up.

Oh and to the how did I find out part of the question…I just assume I never thought that he did. While I was an only child until I was 15 I had lots of younger cousins that believed but I was always in on the secret. Probably why I tried so hard with Santa and the Easter Bunny for my own kids. And having experience from both prospectives I can say with complete certainty that fictitious characters are vastly over rated. But they are fun.

4. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

I can’t remember if it was The Last Airbender or Eclipse. Which ever was the latter to be released, that was the last one I saw. Don’t judge me, I have adolescent girls. Oh, who am I kidding? I wanted to see The Last Airbender more than girl one. And I was one mad little mama when it just ended right there at Book One. I mean really, what was that?! So now I am biding my time until Book Two comes out.

5. What do you wear to bed?

An eye mask. I absolutely have to sleep in a very dark space. My bedroom lacks that characteristic so I use an eye mask. I do occasionally face the night without it because if I don’t put it up as soon as I get out of bed my cat hides it from me. Seriously I have lost two to the little hussy we call our cat. And other than my eye mask I wear sweats and a tee shirt. Nothing fancy.

So I guess that’s it. My five questions answered. Your welcome. Peace out suckers! Ahem, sorry. I have saw a few too many episodes of Sunny with a Chance.

I want…

2010-11-05T13:16:00.001-05:00

I want to share my life with you. I really do. But every time I start to write a post I lose all motivation to share. Or I am smacked with the realization that someone might actually read it and I don’t publish. It’s sad, I know.

I’m getting excited for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Well all but the extra pounds that will surely come with it. I’m also slowly finding my way back to God. That has been a journey to say the very least. I want to put up my Christmas tree. Now.

I want to go Christmas shopping. I lack the funds. So I will wait.

I want to paint my bedroom. I lack the motivation. I want to remodel my closet but that would require I clean it.

Girl one joined the drama team at church. She is finally old enough. I want to see her perform. I want to see the awesome pictures we took go to good use…

We took these for a drama they have coming up…

The song is The God of This City…..

There will be pictures playing on the screen during the drama…

of all the kids praying in various places throughout our city….

We got the school….

I, for one, can not wait. I want to see it.

birthday

2010-10-10T22:54:00.001-05:00

I recently had a birthday. Yes, I know, I know…but this was a very special birthday for me. It was my very first year turning 29. That’s right, I am not going to turn 30, I’m just going to keep repeating this past birthday. And hopefully the gifts will keep repeating as well.

My aunt got me this while on her recent trip to New York:

Now I should tell you that I never anticipated owning anything from Tiffany’s. Ever. So I ~~was~~ am pretty excited. I was going on and on about it to my girls when the following conversation pursued…

Me: Isn’t it wonderful? Look! I even have the box!

Yes, I know I’m lame.

Girl One: What’s the big deal?

Obviously oblivious to the wonderment of the situation.

Me: Well dear, I can’t even afford to walk in the door of that place.

Girl Two: Well…how much does it cost to get in?

She cracks me up.

Life.

2010-10-04T15:23:00.001-05:00

As you have no doubt figured out, I have had my mind on things other than blog design. Such as: work, family, ~~child~~ adolescent rearing, housekeeping (or the lack there of), picture taking, weight loss (I'm down 7 pounds!), church going, Ramp attending, birthday cake baking, furniture rearranging... you know, things like that. And I am okay with that, as I’m sure y’all are too. However, there are some things in my life that I am struggling with. So, I have decided to change things up a little bit. I apologize in advance if you read my blog solely for design purposes—said as though I have hundreds of followers or something. Yes, I know, I crack myself up.

From now until whenever such time I change my mind; this blog is going to serve purpose to me working some things out with my faith, my beliefs, my family, my way of thinking in general… things of that nature. And quite possibly—hopefully, in fact—it will help some of you, too.

I am learning, quite repetitively, that life happens whether your prepared or not. Whether you are going to know what steps to take or not. And whether you think you can overcome it or not. But I know that there has got to be a peace that you can find in the midst of it all. There has to be. Actually, I already know their is. His name is Jesus. Now if I could just learn how to incorporate that peace.

It’s like I can hear Him say, ‘Come on, you know you are making this harder than it has to be’. To which I generally reply in some form of cynicism.

I guess, it all comes down to me not knowing ~~everything~~ as much as I thought. That is a hard lesson for me to learn. But, I’m learning it all the same. Well, not really all the same because it is hard and not easy. But you know what I mean.

Well, that about sums it all up for now. I will leave you with my newest pictures of girl two.

Your welcome.

The Ramp

2010-06-16T23:59:00.001-05:00

The Ramp is a house of awakening where hundreds from across the world gather to pursue the one true, living God. It began in 1998 when Karen Wheaton followed the Holy Spirit’s drawing back to her hometown, Hamilton, Alabama, and was alarmed by the apathy and sin that infected the youth of the city. A small prayer meeting with seven teenagers quickly grew into the international ministry the Ramp is today.

—Copied from The Ramp

I think I told you that my children were attending the children’s Ramp service this past weekend, but what I didn’t tell you is that I went ahead and went with them. It was really amazing. Seriously. It was like a rock concert for Jesus!

I really wanted to share with you a children’s drama that I saw about Adam and Eve, but I can’t find a video so I guess we are crap out of luck. But I did find one that I wanted to share. They did this one while we were there.

Can y’all tell that I like for my Jesus to rock? Well, I do. Just so you know. And can you believe the drama team? If you want to see more the name of the team is Chosen. You can look them up on youtube.

Since it was a last minute decision for me to go we had a little situation when it came to rooming—to say the least. It was me, my two kids, my mom, my sister, her friend, my aunt, her son, a friend from church and her little boy. Ahem, we stayed in a double room in a ratty hotel with two regular size beds. Which put me and my mom in one bed and my aunt and our friend from church in the other bed. So where did we put all those kids? I’ll show you…

My two kids and cousin slept on an air mattress in the floor…

My sister slept in a sleeping bag between the two beds…

Her friend slept in a sleeping bag under the sink….

And our friends little boy slept in his sleeping bag at the foot of the beds…

It was tight. But we made it. And we all had a really good time. Except for girl two who had a stomach virus the entire time we were there. And then she gave it to our friends little boy the last day. Oh and then there was the blistering heat. But all in all it was nice.

So if you ever have the opportunity to travel to Hamilton, Alabama you should definitely make plans to be at The Ramp. Especially since it’s all free. Guys we attended a 3 day conference, a field day for the kids—complete with free food (hot dogs, chips, cokes, cookies and fruit), free shaved ice and cotton candy (all you and your kids can eat), they even gave you table cloths to put down to picnic on. It was really nice.

I have an irresistible urge to say ‘Peace out suckers!’

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The Blog Diner

2010-06-16T13:19:00.001-05:00

I found the neatest blog today. So neat, in fact, that I just had to share it with you. Your welcome.

At The Blog Diner you will find a list of Blogger designers, Wordpress Designers, Tutorials, Digital Design kits, and even Adobe help (coming soon). No one else (that I can think of) offers Adobe help. Kudos to The Blog Diner!

So y’all head over and say how grateful we all are that someone has our backs when it comes to everything we need to know about our blogs.

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Stream of Consciousness

2010-06-09T23:48:00.001-05:00

Okay guys I just don’t understand. Let me start from the beginning (sort of):

Disclaimer: To guarantee 100% accurate information on the following cases please the links provided.

My neighbor has been brought up on murder charges—don’t think for a minute that she did it because she so didn’t—so she went down and turned herself in so she could bond out and get a lawyer and so forth. To everyone’s surprise she was unable to bond out. They told her she had to stay until a bond hearing was set. Weeks later she went before the judge. Sometime later he gives his decision and she was denied bail. Y’all I thought we were innocent until proven guilty!

Now’s here’s what I don’t understand… A friend that I went to high school with was brutally murdered a few weeks back. They caught her boyfriend with her dead body in a duffle bag, getting ready to dispose of the body. Seriously, that part was in the papers. He had a bail set the next day! What is that? They even had another hearing today to lower his bond. Thankfully he is still on a 1 million dollar bond.

So please keep both of these situations in your prayers. Especially my neighbor. She has two little kids that don’t understand where their mommy is.

Stepping off my soapbox…

I was hurrying up to the mail box today to get my check so I could pay my electric bill ~~so that they don’t cut ‘em off~~ when I found the best surprise ever.

My [step] sister who lives up in Missouri sent me surprise package! It was a book. But not just any book. It’s called The One True God by Paul David Walker. Now I have not heard of the man before, but I have to say that the book seems like it is going to be awesome. The first few pages seem to focus on the core of who God is. Which is great because I have been yearning to learn just who God really is.

My girls are going to The Ramp with my mom Tomorrow. It’s a children's edition. I’m real excited for them. I think they will really learn a lot. Or at least I hope they do. I wanted to go, but it being my anniversary and all I decided to pass. Plus I need to work these days more than ever before.

Sorry this has been so scattered but after all it [has been] a conscious stream. Peace out suckers. And yes, I have been watching Sunny With A Chance with my kids.

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Riding In Cars With ‘GRILS’

2010-06-06T12:16:00.001-05:00

I thought you’d be interested in seeing how ~~old~~ grown up my children are getting. Well, that and the fact that I have been editing some pictures in Photoshop and my narcissism won’t let me not share them with you. Ahem. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Now in all honesty—and fairness—I have to say that the only one of the above pictures that I actually took is the last one with the horses. The girls took the others themselves. And in the car no less. Aren’t they creative, talented, impressive, incredible and even cute? Ya, I thought so too!

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My Facebook Status Is Cooler Than Yours

2010-06-03T23:13:00.001-05:00

Ever wonder how those cool facebook statuses came to be? You know, the ones like these:

snʇɐʇs uʍop ǝpısdn ǝɥʇ

Ⓣⓗⓔ Ⓒⓘⓡⓒⓛⓔ Ⓢⓣⓐⓣⓤⓢ

ναяιøυṡ ṡτÿℓεṡ

(◕‿◕✿)

<((((((((((((((((◕‿◕)⊰

(¯`*•.¸,¤°´`°¤,¸.•*´¯)

✁❢❤ ت ღ

☂☎☮☯☾

And the list could just go on and on. Pretty cool, huh? Ya, I thought so too. That’s why (since I finally figured out how people get these little doodads) I have decided to share the mystery behind them. Your welcome. ッ

Here’s what you do:

-Log into facebook. At the top of your page you should see the little search engine that looks like this…

-Inside said search engine type ‘Status Symbols’. Like this…

-And of course, select the top option that comes up. Allow the application and it will open. It looks like this…

-Make sure your sitting on the ‘Status’ tab…

-Now for upside down text, circles or various styles of text just type in your text and then click the applicable button below…

-And for the symbols select the applicable buttons below and it will insert the corresponding symbols….

-‘Single-line’ will get you what you see in the above image and ‘Symbols’ will get you (obviously) cool little symbols. Like these…

-Then you can either copy and paste your created status into your status manually or you can click the ‘Set Status’ button and it should insert it for you. (Note: Before that will work you have to click the flashy red link at the top of the application page)

That’s it. Now you can feel proud as you astound your friends with cool statuses like these:

scratch here ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ to reveal today’s status.

║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║█║▌│║▌║█║▌║▌││║▌║ *ZAP* *BEEP* Price: $7.95

Loading ████████████ 99%

Have fun❢

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Just saying-

2010-06-03T11:01:00.001-05:00

You know that Pussy Cat Dolls song ‘When I Grow Up’? And how it says:

-When I grow up I want to have groupies?

Well anytime I hear that I blurt out:

-When I grow up I want to have boobies.

Both kids get really upset. I love it. Just saying.

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Ode To My Sister

2010-05-07T17:31:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: Yes, I know that an ode is technically a poem with complex stanzas—and no the following will not be an aforementioned poem with complex stanzas, I just like the word and my sister . Just so you know.

My sister. What can one (ahem, me) say about their (my) sister? That has been the question to plague me for days. I wanted to write up a post about my wonderful sister because ~~she said I had too~~ I love her so much and I just know y’all will too. Not to mention the fact that she’s my favorite sister.

She is the youngest of my mothers children—coming in at 15 years younger than me and 15 months older than girl one. Weird, I know. Although it’s not her fault that I was out having kids at that age—but that’s a whole other post. For now let’s just stick with my sister, shall we? I thought so too. Moving right along…

Oh, before I move too far along I just have to say that it would be really funny to say that she is 15 years younger than me and 15 months older than girl one if she was 15 years old too. I’ll have to remember to make that statement when she turns 15. Okay, I’m over it now and am totally moving on…

She is a 13 year old, boyfriend having, photography loving, Jesus depending, mismatched sock wearing, ugly shoe owning, pickle eating, sometimes obnoxious wonderful little sister. She can often be found annoying her big sister. Not really. But her sister can totally often be found annoying her. I can’t help. It’s just so fun. Probably because I spent my entire child free life as an only child. But, better late than never. I don’t know what I would do without her. I just love her so much!

Also, recently she (apparently) decided to follow in her sister’s footsteps because she created a blog. It’s touching really. So you guys should absolutely head on over to her blog and say hi. I’m sure she’s be tickled. Probably as tickled as she would be if I would hurry up and give her new blog a makeover. Which I am going to do very soon.

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Twisters in Oz?

2010-04-29T00:59:00.001-05:00

I want to share with y’all a story about God’s mighty hand of protection. The video below tells about one of girl ones friends and her dad. This is one amazing story.

During the storms last week, C (a friend of girl one) was staying with her dad. They were home seeking cover in a closet when the tornado went all Wizard of Oz on them and picked up the house and then sat it back down some yards back.

No one was hurt—except for the house, of course. Go on and watch the video. I almost cried when I saw it. I have always known how amazing God is. And His hand is vast. But somehow He seems bigger after seeing something like this, not only so close to home, but to someone I know.

See? I told you God is amazing! And just so it seems as real to you as it does to me, I will leave you with a picture of girl one along with C and the rest of the ‘bunch’ that we hung with in Mobile at the Beta competition:

Yes, that’s girl one in the orange looking all laid back.

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Tornado Alley

2010-04-25T03:22:00.001-05:00

Update: Okay so I just found out that our youth pastor’s house suffered damage from the storms last night. Thankfully they were not hurt. But I just have to share with you what K said on his Facebook last night after it was all over:

We serve an awesome God! As we laid in the hallway, little Livy says "Daddy can we pray?" I said yes and we did. The tornado hit, did damage, but praise God we were spared! It could have been worse but God has a plan for us. Devil you keep brining your weak stuff!

Livy is 3 years old. My heart breaks as I think about them laying in the hall with Livy and the fear that must have came with it. But it touches me to know that in that hour of fear they knew who to turn to. Especially Livy.

I lift my eyes up to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord- the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Original Post: It’s 2:38 am tomorrow as far as I am concerned. It’s still today (to me) until I go to bed and get up. I just got home a little bit ago and sleep continues to elude me.

I have been at my mothers all night waiting out the storm that passed through tonight. I hate tornado season. It seems like it gets worse every year. The picture you see was from the storm last year.

We are not sure how things are going to look once daylight sets in this time. But we did hear reports of two surrounding schools being tore up and some homes. Thankfully all my family is safe and without damage (that I know of). My heart goes out to the families that were effected tonight.

I almost feel guilty. I spent the entire night with my family playing cards while so many of our neighboring communities went through the worst night of their lives. I can only image the fear they must have felt. And the heart ache they must be feeling now. But I praise God for His grace and protection He poured out on us tonight.

Some of our surrounding cities remain without power. But as of right now I am not sure of the total damages.

I would like to ask that all of you remember those effected by the storm when you pray. And I will keep y’all posted.

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What’s in your closet?

2010-04-24T00:42:00.001-05:00

I love clothes. Love ‘em. I consider myself to be very stylish. So when I came across 10 Things Every Woman Must Own I was curious, to say the least. I had to find out if I donned the clothes that ever woman must own. Want to see how I did? I can tell you that I do not own one of everything on the list. But I think I have an appropriate alternative when needed.

The Black Blazer

Very stylish indeed. Do I own one? I do not.

Instead I have…

I think that suffices. Don’t you?

Leopard print scarf

Not bad. I don’t have one of these either.

Instead I have…

And they rock!

Red Flats

Now were talking. I have a pair of these wonder darlings.

Striped shirt

I also have one of these. However I won’t wear it. Horizontal stripes make you look wider and I’m wide enough without any help. Thank. You. Very. Much.

Instead I wear…okay I don’t have an alternative to this one. So lets just move right along, shall we?

Statement Necklace

I completely agree that every woman should have (at least) one of these. I have several. Love ‘em.

Little Black Dress

This is kind of a famous thing to have. Every one has one. Everyone, umm, except me. Strange, I know. And honestly I don’t have a reason for not having one. I really should buy one. Because lets face it—there is no alternative to the little black dress.

Black Opaque Tights

I was a little surprised to see this on the list. Apparently they make your legs look slimmer. And if that is the case—count me in.

Over Sized Watch

Nice. This is one of my favorite accessories. Couldn’t live without it.

Classic Trench

Who doesn’t love this little beauty? Honestly I have been dreaming of this for a while. I just can’t in good conscious pay for it. I’m cheap—what can I say? It just doesn’t stay cold down here long enough. But both of my girls have one.

Flared Jeans

My best friend indeed. When all else fails—go with the flare. I wear these babies year round. I roll one great big cuff in the summer and wear them as capris.

So, what’s in your closet?

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My Husband the Drug Runner?

2010-04-23T11:34:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: We are good people—the husband and me I. We are good parents and we follow the letter of the law. Seriously. No matter what the following post content implies. Just so you know.

Post Content: I woke up this morning in tears due not only to my recent fall but also to the strain of my entire right upper body that my doctor can find no cause for. So I called friend two. Because I needed someone to sympathize with me like only a woman can.

During my whine fest she informs me that she has some recently left over (very mild) prescription pain pills that her eight year daughter got when she broke her leg two weeks ago. I actually think the deal was that her doctor ended up having to give her daughter something stronger.

So the husband met her at the school (when he dropped off our kids and she did the same, except she dropped of her kids—not mine) and picked up my not so legal medication. She handed them to him, he dropped them in the cup holder and headed home. Half way home he realizes that the pills are sitting dangerously close to his drink in the adjoining cup holder. So as he comes up on a stop sign he realizes that there is no one behind and he gets the bright idea to move the pills.

While he is sitting there at the stop sign digging through the glove compartment looking for something to house the drugs he is transporting he hears a horn beeping from behind him. Now, you should know that my husband ~~can be~~ is ~~somewhat of~~ a jerk. The beep aggravates him. He is ready to turn around and give the person beeping the horn ~~the finger~~ a sign of disapproval. You know, because he had every reason in the world to be sitting at a stop sign sorting out medication.

As he turns he realizes that the car behind him showing their rebuke of his prolonged idleness is none other than a city cop. It was at that time that he decided against showing his own disapproval and the continual fiddling of the meds he was transporting and decided to just ~~get the crap out of there~~ pull through the stop sign and continue towards home.

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And we all fall down

2010-04-21T23:06:00.001-05:00

I am not sure that I have told you about my cat. If not—consider yourself informed. Girl two likes to think that the cat belongs belongs to her, but it she doesn’t. Just so you know.

The cat used to be content lounging around the house ~~with girl two~~.

But recently she wants to be outside. So I’m doing my best to oblige her. Whatever. See?

So this afternoon after I got back from picking the kids up at school I thought I would let her in so she could eat, but she wouldn’t come in. She just sat there on the porch looking at me like I was some kind of idiot. You know how cats can be. Stubborn.

I was afraid to feed her outside due to the sudden onslaught of stray dogs wondering around in the neighborhood. So I started thinking of alternatives (cause that’s how I roll). It was then that I saw it.

The garbage can. You know the big ones that you push out to the side of the road for it to be emptied? It was sitting right beside the porch where girl two had left it when she brought it in from the road only moments before. I figured I could feed the cat on top of it leaving her food out of reach if the ~~mangey mutts~~ visitors came by but still accessible to my kiddy.

I’m sure y’all know by now how I get when I think I have figured something out. Yes, I thought surely I was the smartest person ever to come up with such a wonder solution. And it was so close I wouldn’t even have to put shoes on because I could reach it from the porch.

My plan had been to scoot over to the edge of the porch and lean out and set her food on the top. So I scooted. And I leaned. And then I fell. Right off the side of my porch. Needless to say someone else had to feed the cat—after they had to help me up and into the house.

I twisted my ankle and knee. Okay so my knee didn’t exactly twist but it does hurt. Along with my pride, shoulder, wrist and foot.

Moral of the story: One who leans out from the porch might fall off the porch. I’m just saying.

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Thank you for calling customer service, how may I help you today…

2010-04-19T10:54:00.001-05:00

A few minutes ago I was conversing with one of our programmers who had taken a call from a customer complaining of a slow upload speed to our FTP and said programmer was informing me of the call. Below is a snip from our instant message conversation.

Programmer: I just got a call from [insert customer here] and he is upset about speed…

Me: Hmm..

Programmer: I told him we had fat electrons that were slowing down transfers…

Me: Smart. But I have no idea what that means.

Programmer: Electrons… like subatomic particles that make up electricity… it is a joke… and I didn’t really tell him that… though I kind of wish I had…

Y’all I am still laughing out loud! I don’t know what is funnier—me not getting it or our programmer having such a keen sense of humor.

Either way, this has been a very amusing day at work.

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Blog Design Sale

2010-04-18T17:00:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: This sale only applies to Blogger blogs.

Starting today and going through (at least) May 1st I am having a super sale on all things blog design.

As it turns out I need to come up with a significant amount of money before May 1st or I could lose my car. So I am offering my services for whatever amount you deem worthy—in other words: a tip. Plus the cost of any graphic you need for your design, of course.

You heard me right. Pick out any service(s) from me and you won’t owe me anything but a tip. You can chose from any combination of the following:

Custom header
Custom background
Custom navigation bar—text, image or drop down
Custom blog button
Custom sidebar titles
Custom signature
Custom block quotes
Custom post divider
Custom fonts for post title and sidebar titles
Icon by post titles
Favicon
Icon by sidebar titles
Custom sidebar dividers
Personalized edits to your blogger template
Custom Twitter background
Anything else you can think of…

So what are you waiting for? Just email me (via my email button at the top of this page, or use the link provided here) with the details of what you want and I will get started right away. This is too good of a deal to pass up. And please spread the word! It’s a win win situation. I raise money—you get your blog designed at a steal.

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Things I’m not sure should be found in the toy isle or anywhere else

2010-04-18T11:57:00.002-05:00

While accompanying girl two on her shopping spree yesterday I saw something that I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing. Seriously.

Girl one and girl two were strategically planning their afternoon play fest while looking through the pink isle of Big K. You know, looking at each individual toy on the shelf and deciding what they could pretend if they purchased that particular item and then comparing the funness to the previous items they had already investigated. Everything was moving right along and I wasn’t paying them too much attention. Until I heard…

Girl one: You could get this (I can be series) Barbie Dentist. That would be fun. Or what about the Barbie (I can be) Babysitter?

Girl two: Nah, that’s the one where Kelly poops…

Poops? Why would I hear the word poops on the pink isle of ~~Kmart~~ Big K? I mean of all the places one might hear her darling children talk about poop—this just wasn’t one of the places I had in mind.

Mom: Poops!? Who poops? A Barbie? She really poops? She can’t really poop. It’s not possible…

Girl two: Umm, yes she can. See?

Incase you can’t see what that says, it says— Kelly goes potty. Complete with a visual aide. Can we say disturbing?

I was glad that my children found it as distasteful as I did. And yes, I pulled my camera out, in the store, so that I could take a picture to show you guys. Your welcome.

The whole little incident reminds me of the pregnant Barbie. She came (or possibly still comes—I’m not entirely sure) equipped with an actual infant Barbie inside her tummy that could be removed after her pregnancy term was complete.

I didn’t like that one either. Not that I had a problem with my children knowing that a stork doesn’t deliver children. Because I don’t. In fact I think children should be exposed to realness in the world. But it should be their parents who expose them—not Mattel.

Further more I don’t like the idea of children being led to believe that pregnancy is a normal happening at their age. I guess (hopefully) that they were just trying to put children at ease if their mommy has another baby. But I still think it is way disturbing.

Of course I may just be old fashioned. What do you guys think?

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Exhaustion

2010-04-17T23:56:00.001-05:00

Exhaustion—

extreme fatigue
serious weakening and loss of energy

That is how I feel. Maybe even a little worse. Why I am extremely fatigued? What could cause me to be suffering from such loss of energy? I’m so very glad you asked. Let me explain…

My day started out wrapping all these presents…

I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped until there was just nothing left to wrap. Which in all honesty didn’t take very long because most everything is bagged—but I did an awful lot of stuffing and tying ribbons.

Then it was time for girl two’s birthday party…

I love that picture. It was the closest thing to a smile I got all day. Seriously, is my child the only child that refuses to smile once you put a camera in front of her?

I did manage to snap this one, but she never saw it coming…

We had her birthday party at the husbands papa’s house so that he could be at her birthday celebration.

Pay no mind to that horrible cake she is holding. It is no doubt my worst one yet.

I started out trying to make a topsy turvy cake but when it came time to cut and stack it started going south. So far south in fact that it ended up in the garbage.

But back to the story at hand—after the wonderful birthday party we headed to town so that girl one could spend all her birthday cash…

She had us walking back and forth—forth and back—up and down every pink isle in every department store within a fifty mile radius. Okay that’s not true.

We really only went to Wal-Mart and Big K. But we really did have to go up and down and back and forth through every pink isle in both of the aforementioned stores.

It took her way longer than I would have thought to spend 140 bucks. I could have had that gone in ten minutes flat.

After she finally ~~ran out of money~~ found everything her little heart desired we headed home for dinner.

Of course then the cooking and cleaning ensued. I think that was about the time the exhaustion began to creep in.

After dinner and dishes ~~we all sat down for family time~~ the girls headed to their bedrooms, the husband caught up on some TV while I edited birthday pictures.

And that’s it. My day in a nutshell. Or a blog post. Whatever. How was your day?

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Flood of Consciousness

2010-04-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

I started out this morning writing a post about saving money by not paying for TV services and still getting to watch all your favorite shows but right smack dab in the middle of that post I received a call that infuriated me so badly that I had to stop and vent. It’s times like these that I am thankful for blogs and friends living inside my computer.

I am about to lose something very very important to me. And while it is no one persons fault a great deal of blame could be placed on a certain individual’s lack of actions over the last year (or 12). And said person has just about over stepped the last line that I am willing to draw.

I am so flipping tired of working my tail off and not ever moving forward. Ever. I feel like the only time I move it is to go backwards. And everyone just takes and takes and takes. I feel like there is nothing left. I feel like when it is all said and done I am going to regret giving so much.

Now I know that I am suppose to give with a kind heart and be willing to give everything I have. But is there not a line when the taker is simply that—a taker? A taker that doesn’t even attempt to help them self, let alone giving back. I’d be satisfied with said taker just attempting to fend for them self.

I am losing things that I never thought I would have to lose. And for what? All I am getting out of this is resentment. And a whole lot of it.

I would change things if I could. I have asked that things change, but they continue the same. And since I can’t control any actions other than my own I am kind of screwed.

Usually I feel better after I have posted my feeling, but not this time. No fault to y’all of course. I guess there just isn’t anything to feel better about this time.

I mean I am almost 30 years old and I can’t stand the thought of waking up every morning and realizing that this is the way it’s always going to be… Sob.

Hopefully I will suck it up and get the post finished about TV, I think you guys will like it.

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Linking within

2010-04-12T13:47:00.001-05:00

Have you noticed my new handy dandy little widget in between my blog posts? No? Well scroll down and have a quick look, or just look at the image below…

It’s the link within gadget. I think I’m really gonna like it. Want to add it to your blog? Of course you do. Here’s how you can…

Go to the Link Within website.
Add your info in the box to the lower right side of the page

Click Get Widget. You will be directed to a page that looks like this…

Your gonna want to click on the Install Widget button inside of number one…

Which will take you to a page that looks like this…

From there click the Add Widget button.
Then all you need to do is go into your Add Arrange Elements page of your blog and move your new widget under your blog posts…

That’s it. Now you will magically see ‘You Might Also Like’ suggestions in between all of your blog posts!

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birthdays- already?

2010-04-12T11:50:00.001-05:00

I am coming off of a 3 day fast due to doctors orders to stay away from my keyboard for the entire weekend. It was kind of nice but it did not help with the pain that continues to run down my neck, through my shoulder, into my elbow and shoot straight through my fingers. Sigh. But the muscle relaxers are great. I’m just saying. Ahem.

Moving right along. Girl two’s birthday is in 2 days. Yes, you heard me right. Two days. Sigh, again.

I do have somewhat of a plan though… I am going to make a cake similar to this one:

Please note I said similar. I have looked up instructions and I feel semi-comfortable trying this one. But we’ll see.

However I have no earthly idea what I am buying for presents. She has only asked for one thing this entire year. A cell phone. Now girl one has one, and she has had it since she was 10, but now that girl two is 10 she still just doesn’t seem old enough. Maybe it’s just me trying to keep her the baby. So I guess she will get the stupid phone, but I’m not gonna like it.

But what else do I get her? I draw a blank when I try to get my birthday list together. A complete blank. I could get earrings, she loves earrings. Ya, earrings sound good. But I need y’all to leave me some ideas in the comments of this post. Please and thanks you.

I asked girl one what she wanted for her birthday since it’s just 2 weeks away. Of course she said a spider monkey and a English Bulldog. I told her to go down a couple thousand and we could talk. She is suppose to be thinking.

I thought a nice over the ground pool would be great. You know, so they could swim while I work during the day throughout the summer. She turned up her nose at that idea. So she just might not get anything. Bet she’d rethink that pool then, huh?

I figure jewelry is a safe bet for her. And maybe some make-up or accessories for her room. We recently painted it, so she would probably like some matching decor. What do y’all think?

Seriously guys, I’m under so much stress from other things that I’m afraid I am going to completely ruin their birthdays. I need all the help I can get.

And speaking of stress… I have made a very hard decision over the weekend. I am still kind of unsure about it, but deep down I know it’s the right thing to do. The husband agrees. He’s actually been trying to get me to do it for several months now, but when it was his idea it sucked. Now that I have came to the same conclusion it sounds a tad bit better. But I am terrified of what people are going to say.

I’m always more worried about what other people are going to think of my decisions than how they are going to effect me. Stupid I know, but it’s true. But the husband and I both feel it is best for us as a family right now. But I still get all nauseous when I think about other people’s reactions. But whatever. Times are hard right now, not just for us—but for everyone. So I am standing by our decision.

Okay, moving right along away from that depressing subject… Don’t forget to leave me birthday present ideas for both girl one—she’s turning 12. And girl two—she’s turning 10.

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Airport Security

2010-04-07T10:43:00.001-05:00

My [step]sister sent this to me, I loved it so much that I had to share it with y’all.

A solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports:

Have a booth that you can step through that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you!

It would be a win-win for everyone—there would be none of this crap about racial profiling and would eliminate a long and expensive trial. Justice would be quick and swift. Case Closed!

This is so simple that it's brilliant.

I can see it now; you're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention standby passengers we now have a seat available on flight number..."

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Stream of Consciousness

2010-04-05T14:06:00.001-05:00

I am writing this stream of consciousness because I have nothing of interest to post about and I really like the idea of posting every day. So here we are.

That is me having my picture made with the husband’s cousin before he is born. I wanted to be the first to have my picture taken with him. Strange I know, but I never claimed to be normal.

I think he should get here in early July. I am so excited. I have been very baby hungry for some time now.

And since it is now allowed for me to share my kids on here, I give you girl two…

That’s gum in her mouth, incase you couldn’t tell.

I love this picture of her. It was taken some time ago in my car, but I have no clue who actually took the picture.

And here is my most recent favorite picture of girl one, you know since I showed you one of girl two, I now am obligated to show you girl one…

The picture was taken on the USS Alabama in Mobile. And of course I edited them both.

I mean they were pretty good pictures to begin with, but I loved them after Photoshop. It has become my obsession. But I think I have mentioned that a time or two. But, incase you missed it, I wanted to say it one more time.

I laid in the tanning bed this morning. My first time in several years. I’m excited about getting a tan. I also start walking today at five with my fellow Relay for Life partners. It’s getting close and we want to be able to complete to walk so we figured we better start practicing.

Speaking of cancer. I have a cousin that has been battling cancer for almost 10 years. It started with breast cancer and then progressed from there. She was told a few weeks ago that there is nothing more that they can do. It breaks my heart. She has kids the same age as my two. Please keep her in your prayers. It is not over until God says it’s over.

Also, if you have any advice as to what she could do or where she could go to possibly get more treatment, please let me know.

The husband’s grandfather who has been battling cancer for a few years now is feeling pretty good. He even came outside with us on Saturday…

Granted, we had to help him, but I think he enjoyed himself. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

I should also probably mention that we didn’t exclude the children in the above photo… well, actually we did. But we only did because the picture was of Papa and the grandkids. We got another one with the great grandkids. Just so you know. But I left them in when I edited the pictures because I thought it looked more real.

It’s about time to head to the school to pick up the young-ens. Would ‘Peace out suckers!’ be appropriate? Ya, I didn't think so either?

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Arise My Love

2010-04-04T09:55:00.001-05:00

Not a word was heard at the tomb that day. Just shuffling of soldiers feet as they guarded the grave. One day, two fays, three days had past. Could it be that Jesus breathed his last?

Could it be that His Father had forsaken Him? Turned His back on His Son, despising our sin? All hell seemed to whisper, ‘Just forget it, He’s dead.’ Then the Father looked down to his Son and He said…

Arise, My love. Arise My love. The grave no longer has a hold on You. No more death sting, no more suffering. Arise, arise, My love.

The earthed trembled and the tomb began to shake, and like lightening from Heaven the stone was rolled away. And like dead men the guards, they all stood there in fright, as the power of love displayed its might. Then suddenly a melody filled the air. Riding wings of wind, it was everywhere. The words all creation had been longing to hear. The sweet sound of victory so loud and clear.

Arise, My love. Arise My love. The grave no longer has a hold on You. No more death sting, no more suffering. Arise, arise, My love.

Sin, where are your shackles? Death, where is your sting? Hell has been defeated. The grave could not hold the KING!

Arise, My love. Arise My love. . Arise, arise,arise.

That was the words to Newsong’s Arise My Love. If you haven’t had the privilege of hearing it you should take the time today of all days to listen. I’m sure you will be glad you did.

I have yet (ever) been able to listen to or even reads the words of that song without squalling like a baby. Which has been kind of embarrassing since it was the song to last years Beta performance. All the other moms would just kind of look at me like I was crazy. And I guess I am a little crazy. But there is so much truth in that song.

We watched The Passion on Friday night in my efforts to start a new family tradition, and in that movie the man they brought Jesus to (his name escapes me now) asked his wife (Claudia) if she new truth when she heard it and what truth really is. She told him that if he wouldn’t hear the truth when it is spoken then nobody could tell him what truth is. I think that applies here.

Truth, real truth, God’s truth is something that your inner most being hears, not your ears. Your ears listen for logic; your inner most being listens for God.

I think (this would be the gospel of me, meaning this is my own little conclusion that I drew solely on my own thinking) that is because we were created for God, to be His companion. We were created with a soul and that soul yearns for God even if our minds and bodies do not. We think and reason and our souls have no need to; because it already knows truth.

I hope you all have the best Easter ever! Be blessed in Jesus name!

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Finally!

2010-04-03T17:38:00.001-05:00

I am finally able to show you my children. I am so super excited. It took a lot of pleading but he (the husband) finally said yes. So I will start with a few a took today while at the husbands family’s house for an early Easter dinner. Eek.

This is girl one. Isn’t she pretty? Of course, I guess I am a little bias. But still, she is awful cute.

I’m not real sure what she was thinking here, though. If looks could kill, right?

And this is girl two. I caught all kinds of crap trying to get this picture today. Every time she saw me with my camera she would turn her head.

But still, she’s a cutie patootie too. Don’t you think? Ya, me too.

I don’t think there will be a shortage of pictures [on here] of them from now on. I’m just saying.

I edited lots of picture from our dinner today, so I will probably post them all sometime tonight or tomorrow. I downloaded some new actions for Photoshop and I am kind of obsessed with editing images right now.

But for right now, I have to go. They finally added Bones to the Watch Instantly selection on Netflix and it is calling my name.

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Blog Stalking

2010-04-02T11:07:00.001-05:00

I am somewhat of a blog stalker. Yes, you can be sure I have probably stalked you at one time or the other. Or not. Actually probably not, but I do from time to time take the notion to stalk one blog or another. I come by it very honestly. I’m a people stalker too.

Well, not literally. I guess a better word would be watcher. I am a people watcher. I am fascinated by people. I love to watch them in their natural surroundings and see how they interact. For instance, out to dinner with my family I can often be caught looking over at the table next to us instead of being engulfed in our own conversations. I can’t help it. It just draws me in. Kind of like reality TV. But that’s a whole other post.

My point is, in all my ~~stalking~~ watching (and reading), I have learned so much about the person I want to be. I don’t think we are ever the person we are meant to be until the very end. Life is a process.

For instance, by the end of my life I fully intend on being a size 4 with fuller lips and without stretch marks. Like I said, it’s a process.

But more specifically I want to be that mother whom her kids still come to for advice, and comfort, and love. I want to be that friend who is called when prayer is needed and hugs are given. I want to be the lady in that house that you know you could go to if you needed somewhere to stay regardless of why. The daughter who still calls her mother everyday to say I love you—and visits her dad just to sit and chat, the sister that is there no matter what, the wife that still takes care of her empty house (full of grandkids—eventually). The aunt that still plays with you and buys you things, the cousin that you run into at the grocery store and chat with in the isle for way too long. I want to be the child of God who still spends time with her Lord. The neighbor who still brings you cupcakes, and the friend that you go to for advice.

Right now, I am not all of those things, but my race is not over. What do you want to be when it is all said and done?

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Are You Serious?

2010-04-01T20:15:00.001-05:00

I am seriously thinking about changing the name of my blog again. When I chose the name By His Design it was because I thought it appropriate—my life, blog design, everything, by His design. And because Leslie suggested it to me, of course. She rocks! But now every time I think about any aspect of my life all I think is—are you serious, to which God replies, ‘Yes, I’m serious.’ So I may change it. Unless I don’t. I’m just saying.

As it turns out, God allowed for me to have an actual day without filters, kind of. You see, while I was typing up that post it birthed some serious soul searching. Which led to some serious prayer. Which led to the conclusion of me living my life completely for God. Which comes with the consequence of God allowing me to live through Him without any filter at all. Does that make sense? I thought so, too.

Before I prayed I thought I had come to some conclusions, then after I still feel the same but I feel at peace and without rush. I think I can wait on Him and let Him take care of the how and when. Which I hope will be sooner than later but I will do my best to do things in His time, not my own.

And thankfully my girls are not torturing me tonight. I will give God credit for that one too. He’s cool like that.

I am generally hesitant to really let me feeling hang out when I blog. As much I like to tell myself otherwise, it’s true. But I hope to change that. I hope to really let it all hang out (as they say—although I am not sure who they are). I think it’s what I am suppose to do. For a very long time I have felt led to share things on here and have always been too chicken. Hopefully all that stops now—even if it causes all of you to head running to the hills. Which I hope it doesn’t.

Apparently I spoke too soon about the girls because there they go. Grrr. I wish I knew some soothing words to repeat when they start. I will expect to see your soothing words in the comments. Ahem. You know, if you feel like sharing.

Boog (sometimes known as girl two) just came in here and insisted I search her head for lice. She does that at least once a week. As usual, I found nothing. Thankfully, of course.

Okay, well I feel so much at peace that I can’t think of anything else to say. Bring on those soothing words! Or not. Whatever.

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A Day Without Filters

2010-04-01T12:44:00.001-05:00

*This post is stolen from my girl (that lives inside my computer) Modern Mom.

If I could have a day without filters it would go something like this:

I would tell the person calling about my car payment that I am going to put everyone I owe in a hat and draw one name out a month to pay and that if they call me one more time that I will just take their name out of my hat and they will never get any money.

I would tell my family member who is currently on my last nerve that I am not sure who is worse—them or the kids.

I would tell the woman behind the counter at the convenient store I frequent that she is in fact giving all convenient stores a bad name.

I would tell my house hold to get over there selves . Every last one of them. Especially my husband.

I would write a post about how I really feel about the current crap in my life and I would follow through with every terrifying decision made.

I would tell the man on the other end of the phone to get to work, and do his job.

I would tell my dad where ~~he goes~~ people go for lying.

I would tell that girl to find some dignity and leave everyone alone.

I would not be so vague in my blog posts.

I would tell that man to grow a set and provide for his family no matter what the costs. Period.

I would tell that woman to leave if the man did not, no matter the consequences. Period.

And most importantly, I would do what I know is right regardless of anyone’s feelings.

Man, I should really schedule a day that like.

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Stream of Consciousness

2010-03-30T19:14:00.001-05:00

I am sitting here waiting on a cake to bake. Girl two just wouldn’t have it any other way than for me to bake one. So we are having a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Both girls are playing dress up trying to get their outfits ready for morning.

Usually they would be online or watching TV but they are both grounded per the husband’s request. Go daddy. They really needed to be punished.

I told my mom the other day that child abusers are not bad people—they just have children like mine. Of course, I’m kidding. Except not really. You know what I mean. I was kidding.

I can smell the cake, it’s almost done. I am so flipping mad right now but for some unknown reason I can’t seem to muster up a fit. I am just too tired to pitch one I guess. I am tired of the same old crap. Over and over again.

But I can’t complain because I am making no changes so technically it’s my fault that I am mad, yet again. So I will continue to sit here and boil in my anger. Quietly and alone.

I did pray about it earlier. I feel a little better but I still want to cry. Crying might be just what I need. Sleep would probably do me better. I’m thinking I will probably watch last nights episode of Dancing with the Stars and finish the night off with reruns of Bones until I fall asleep on the sofa. Is it wrong to tell you that is where I have slept for the last few weeks? It probably is, so disregard me saying that. Thanks.

I just grabbed the cakes out of the oven. Not really two cakes but two layers. So I felt good with saying cakes instead of cake.

Remember when I mentioned the girls are both being punished? Well it was for the constant bickering between the two of them. And right now they are running in here telling on the other. I would kind of like to jump up and bop them on the head but since I was only kidding when I said that earlier—I won’t. But it is kind of appealing, just so you know.

I’m temped to keep rambling on and on about my bad mood and awful afternoon. But I figure enough is enough.

On the other hand girl two just threw herself in front of me exclaiming how girl one is being completely unacceptable to her and is threatening to cry if she leaves the room. Now as sad as that is I just don’t know what to tell her except for what I did tell her which was, ‘I don’t care and I do not want to hear it. Get back in yonder’. Aren’t I a good mother? Yep, I thought so too.

And here they both come fighting over a flipping jewelry box. Although it is a very cute one, I think I may spontaneously combust if they say another word to me tonight. It is very possible.

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The Falls

2010-03-29T12:26:00.001-05:00

So the talk was not fruitful. But I do have some pictures to show you—that (sigh) don’t include my kids. This is what we did on Saturday afternoon…

We went to the falls.

It was so pretty.

This was me looking down…

I climbed up on the rock one time. A very long time ago…

Here is the water rushing down—it made my toes tingle being so close.

I just loved the mist.

It was so neat, I had never saw so much of it before.

Here is the water flowing over to the falls, it was sparkling.

What did you do this weekend?

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The Talk

2010-03-18T00:31:00.001-05:00

Y’all it’s time. Time I sit down at my kitchen table and look my loved one square in the face and have the talk. Ahem. Not that talk. I’ve done been there and done that. The talk I’m talking about is one that I will have with the husband. Let me explain…

My husband is probably the most paranoid person you will ever meet, or not meet, or whatever. Hence me not being able to post pictures of my children on my blog. I have been submissive, I have not posted pictures of them—err except that one time, but you couldn’t see their faces—but I can’t take it anymore. I need to show you guys my beautiful children. And no, I’m not just saying that because they are mine.

I have been on a photo editing kick and I really really really want to show y’all. See? I’m doing pretty good…

This is the original:

And this is after I edited it.

That’s girl one on the left.

But let’s face it—there’s only so much I can show y’all without actually showing any faces. And besides, isn’t it my God given right to show off my children? I think so too.

So every one promise not to stalk my children and I will sit the husband down and explain. Fingers crossed.

Girl One Blogs. Respectfully.

2010-03-16T23:23:00.001-05:00

Want to know what I saw in my reading list a few minutes ago? A post from girl one. She is the sweetest little thing ever—and I’m not just saying that because she’s mine. See for yourself…

I’m so proud! Want to tell her how good of a kid she is? Then head on over to her blog and let her know.

Beta Placements

2010-03-15T10:32:00.001-05:00

I returned from Mobile late Friday night—and yes, I am just know getting around to checking my email and the like. I figured I might as well take the entire weekend off. And I am so very glad I did. It was super nice.

Now, for the update I’m sure you have all been waiting for…

At the state Beta convention our placement was as follows.

Group Talent: Third place
Live Literature: First place
Skit Team: First place
Vice Presidential Candidate: Won
We also won several academic categories.

So all in all we did very well. I will do my best to get some pictures up soon. For now my main focus is getting work caught up. It’s always bad when I take off.

My Current Conscious Stream

2010-03-08T20:15:00.001-06:00

Do you know what it’s like to be completely fed up with something but are completely and utterly not able to remove yourself from said something? Well, that is how I feel right now. I am so fed up with so many things all the while I don’t have the means (literally) to do anything about it. And that frustrates me. Severely.

I recently discovered it was Albert Einstein that said insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, but what is it when you can’t do anything but the same thing but you really want different results? Seriously.

I could absolutely scream. I want to scream. But I know better. I am absolutely sick and tired of this bull crap. I want to just start typing what I am so flipping mad about. Bit I know I would regret that later. So I suppose I won’t. But I want to.

Moving right along….

I can’t move along because all I can think of is how blooming mad I am. All the things I do. And all the things I don’t get in return. All the negative things I do get in return. All the things I wish I could change. All the things that I know I can not change. All the bologna that I have to hear all the while knowing I have to retain my composure. Why?

Why do I have to be the one that keeps my cool? Always? Why can’t I just let it out? Even when I do let it out it doesn’t do any good. In fact, sometimes when I lose it, it makes things worse. So I do my best to remain calm. But I don’t like it.

I feel like a fool. I feel like I should do something, but there is nothing I can do. I hate feeling hopeless.

And why can I not seem to stay mad enough long enough to enforce consequences for action deliberately thrust at me? Why do I always seem to calm down and let it go, only to have it happen over and over again?

In I Corinthians chapter 13 verses 4 through 6 it says (I’m paraphrasing, of course) that love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast and it is not proud. It is not rude, self seeking, nor is it easily angered. It keeps no records of wrongs. It doesn’t delight in in evil, instead love rejoices with the truth. It always protects, trusts, hopes and preserves.

That is what came to mind when I asked the above question (why do I always let things go?). But if that is love then I’m not sure I want to give it. I know that is terrible. But it is true. And while were on the subject, I should mention that I have pretty much been able to let go of most everything listed in those verses—except for the keeping no records of wrongs.

It’s a curse, really. I have always been a very forgiving person. Thus I have always been one to be taken advantage of. Now I know that God has my back and He is so taking care of me. So much so that I won’t even stick a but in there. I will just say that sometimes I want to go right around Him and do it my way. Seems like He takes His sweet time to me.

And I also know that His timing is not my timing. And He knows when to give me what I want (and when not to) and He has always given me what I need. I am very thankful for that. But I would be lying if I said I was anything but fed up with the wait.

I want to get past this season in my life—as in yesterday. I want to be able to look back and thank God that I am out of this predicament. Now. Not in 20 years. Now. Yesterday. I would even settle for tomorrow.

I can’t understand why I am still here. Okay, that may not be entirely true. Ahem. Here goes…

If I am being honest, and I guess I have to be sometimes, I am probably still here because of my actions and lack of learning from said predicament. But, I don’t want to learn. Or change. Or anything of that nature. I want God to do for me while I do what I want, apparently.

Wow. I didn’t even realize I felt that way until it just came out. Got to love these streams of consciousness posts.

So maybe I need to change a few things about myself and stop worrying about other people in my life. Hmm. Okay, I can work with that.

But what would I change? How should I go about evaluating myself? Which area of my person should I evaluate first? How will I know when I change what needs to be changed? Am I just crazy in thinking I can do something different thus inspiring God to in turn do something different?

I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. But at least now I know what questions to ask. Right?

I feel so much better. Okay, not so much but definitely some better. I have at least calmed down enough to roll up girl two’s hair. Thanks for listening. Err, reading rather.

One more thing, if you notice errors in my penmanship, just disregard them as I am still not really in the mood to proof read. You understand, I’m sure.

It’s Almost Time

2010-03-08T11:31:00.001-06:00

It’s getting very close to time to pack up and head to the State Beta Convention for another group talent competition. Remember, we won last year at state but lost the national competition?

I was so proud of them. And still am. Even for the performance they haven’t done yet. Is that strange? Didn’t think so.

So, we are leaving Wednesday and won’t be back until Friday. Wish us luck!

I have already videoed a few practices incase I am unable to video the competition this year, but I am waiting until after we perform to upload it. Just incase some of our competitors read my blog.

Unlikely, yes. But knowing how competitive the schools around here are; I could never forgive myself if I turned out to be the cause of someone knowing what we are doing before we get down there and it end up biting us in the rear. You understand, I’m sure.

I will share our hotel with you though. It’s always my favorite part of the trip, because had I made any of the trips myself no way would I have been able to stay in such nice hotels. Sad, I know. Ahem. Here is where we will be staying this time…

And my personal favorite…

This will be our first time not staying in the actual hotel as the convention is being held. We will be across the street. I can handle that.

This will also be the first time I will be rooming with and responsible for children other than my own. Y’all better say a prayer for me. I am so nervous. I am in a room with girl one, anonymous child one, and anonymous child two. I can barely keep up with my own kids. And I image that if I were to lose someone’s child they would never forgive me. Or at least one would think so. So here’s hoping I keep up with all those kids.

I almost forgot the best part. We are touring a battleship before we come home! I am so excited. The name of said ship eludes me for now (sorry). All I can remember is it’s the USS something. But I just know it’s going to be great. I love history and all thing culture so I am extremely pumped.

By the way, I would love to do a few more tutorial posts for your blogs if you wouldn’t mind letting me know what you would like to know how to do.

A New Word

2010-03-01T11:53:00.001-06:00

I generally like to think of myself as smart. And until recently I thought I had a pretty good vocabulary. Until we got a new programmer at work, that is.

Now you might remember from my morning conversations at the office that we use instant messaging to communicate at work because we all work from remote locations.

Just a few minutes ago our newest programmer asked me a question about one of our customers. Now with my job there is a lot of room for error. I have to be careful to be very specific otherwise I end up wasting a lot of time on something irrelevant. With that being said, I asked him to clarify whether he meant [insert more specific question here] or [insert other more specific question here], to which he replied:

I was asking if you could [insert question here]…

Sorry for the ambiguity…

Y’all I’m not kidding. I had to look it up.

Ambiguity

an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from it’s context.
equivocal: open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance

I didn’t even know there was a word to describe that sort of thing!

So Not Me Monday

2010-03-01T10:25:00.001-06:00

Not me! Monday was born out of MckMama wanting to confess a few moments she'd much rather forget. So join her and me (obviously) in doing just that.

I did not lose twenty bucks on Saturday night playing cards with some of our friends. Absolutely not! I have way more important things to do with my money than lose it playing poker.

I am not feeling guilty about the Oreos I had for breakfast this morning. Nope not me. And if I were, it would not be because of my concern for my weight (or appearance for that matter) in comparison to all the other mother’s that will be attending the upcoming Beta convention with girl one and myself in two weeks. I am so not that shallow. I mean, who cares if I out weigh all the other mothers by a good ten pounds? Not me!

Speaking of me not being shallow, I am not growing a rather disturbing issue with skinny people. It is not starting to be something I think about throughout my day. I have way more important things to worry about.

I did not start smoking again after being completely smoke free for a whole week. And I sure am not contemplating lighting another one at the mere mention of those nasty things. Absolutely not.

I also did not enlist the help of friend two yesterday when it came time to clean my house. There is no way that I need someone to come over and help me with my laundry and vacuuming. Sheesh. I have been doing this mother/wife thing long enough to have it well under control.

I did not just light that above mentioned cigarette. I would not put my computer at risk like that.

I did not just acknowledge the risk to my computer from my smoking and completely fail to mention or even consider the risk to my health or the health of my family.

Oh and I almost forgot…

I did not walk into my living room last week and almost (seriously, it was close) step smack dab on a mouse who was sitting just as pretty (except it was not pretty) as you please right in the middle of the floor. I then did not turn the light on in hopes it would run and hide only to see the little nasty creature continue to sit. I did not then decide to jump on the couch and throw a shoe at the disgusting thing—mainly because I would not leave shoes just laying around my living room floor (see above for clarification on my excellent grasp on all things wife and mother)—only to find the little devil to continue sitting in the middle of my floor! I did not end up having to get the husband to come and catch the thing and deliver it to my cat (at which point we realized it was blind). Nope, not me.

Five! I Don’t Like Fives!

2010-02-23T07:14:00.000-06:00

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs (that I follow) and I just had to do it too. Your welcome.

But in the spirit of (one of) my favorite movie, I had to change it a bit. Originally there were five questions, with five answers, and then I would have expected (at least) five of you to do it too so I could read yours. It looked super fun.

Since I recently watched Where The Heart Is with girl one (her 1st time and my 983rd time) and Novalee doesn’t like fives, I figured we’d do Sixes.

Where were you ~~five~~ six years ago?

Mothering my 4 and 6 year olds.
I was 20 pounds lighter. Sigh.
I lived in a house that was so cold in the winter you could literally sit in the dining room and feel the wind blow through the walls on a cold night. Burr.
I was starting the best friendship of my life. Besides the husband, of course.
Seems like I was a pretty regular poker player back then.
Every night at bedtime I could be found checking for spiders in the girl’s room before I tucked them in.

What is (was) on your to do list today?

Make several calls for work.
Go to the funeral home.
Cook dinner.
Laundry, dishes, and so on.
Close the 900 open trouble tickets I have assigned to me.
Finish a blog I’m working on & my uncle’s computer.

What ~~five~~ six snacks do you enjoy?

Home made peanut butter cookies. My favorite.
Vanilla icing straight from the can. I know, I’m bad.
A Dove bar.
Nerds. You know, the candy. I’m eating some now.
Captain Crunch straight out of the box.
Pancakes. I know they aren’t generally a snack, but I like to make ‘em at night before bed. So good.

What ~~five~~ six places have you lived?

In a house with a basement and a big yard with my mom and dad.
In a house with my mom and [step] dad. We had a 72 inch television mounted into the living room wall. It was awesome.
In a really ugly blue house with my brand new husband baby.
I literally used to live in a cow pasture. My dad’s to be exact.
My home now (obviously).
Oh, and lets not forget about the above mentioned house (question 1) with the spiders and gusts of wind.

What ~~five~~ six things would you do if you were a billionaire?

I would go to Rome, Venice, Jerusalem, New York….
I would so buy a bug fancy house with a big basement for my pool table and extra space for my home office.
I would like to think I would donate tons to the Cancer Foundation, and other really good places whose names elude me right now.
I would move to the beach, a really secluded beach.
I would share my wealth and pay off all my family’s bills.
I would have lipo. I might would do that now if I could just get ahead, though. So that might not count.

What are your six favorite movies?

Where The Heart Is
Gone With The Wind
The Notebook
Lord Of The Rings
Mad Money
O Brother Where Art Thou

Now I need six of you to posts this same post, except with answers applied to you. And of course come back here and tell me so I can be sure and read yours.

Oh and for those of you who are still wondering about Novalee and her 5’s—here’s the 411…

In the movie (Where The Heart Is) Novalee is a teenage girl who is pregnant and on her way (with her boyfriend) to California. The movie tells her story over the next five years. During that time she has some terrible experiences with 5’s.

It’s hilarious! And heartwarming and sad and wonderful and… well I think you get it—I like it. So check it out if you haven’t already saw it.

Not me! Monday

2010-02-22T12:59:00.001-06:00

So it is Monday, Not me! Monday to be exact. And as always it comes to us via MckMama. I really do love her. Not not in a disturbing, or creepy sort of way—more like a admirable and copacetic sort of way. Ahem. Here we go…

Not me! Monday is a time when we can openly admit the things that you ( or I, rather) haven’t previously been open about. You know like the time you did that thing that you were glad no one saw, but you felt so guilty that you just really needed to get it out. It’s for times like those. It’s great therapy. I always feel better after getting it all out. Just be sure to head on over the MckMama’s and check out what everyone else didn’t do. In the meantime—here is what I didn’t do…

I did not stay up until 3:00 am this morning watching old episodes of Bones. I have way more important things to do, like um, sleep.

I did not drive all the way to town last night at 7:48 pm with girl two in tow in efforts to buy her a new pair of shoes because I had bought girl one a pair a few days before. Absolutely not!

I am not one of those mothers. You know the ones that think they have to do the same for both children so not to hurt the others feelings or leave them feeling left out. I raise my children to know that life is not fair and someone else getting something is not reason for them to get something too. Ahem.

And just so we’re clear: girl two did not get the cutest little pair of plaid pink high top converses. Nope, never happened.

I also did not stop by McDonald’s at 9:00 (on our way home from town) and purchase dinner for the entire family. No way. I am a good wife and mother and cook daily meals full of nutrition for my family. No fast food for us. Especially not at 9 o’clock at night. We had so already had dinner by then.

Okay, so now its your turn. What didn’t you do this week? Be sure to head over to MckMama’s to link up when your done!

Today

2010-02-22T10:41:00.001-06:00

Whew. This year just keeps getting ~~worse~~ more interesting. My conclusion is that I have to make time for myself. Or I am going to lose it. It being my mind. But for today, I feel really good. Probably from my new enlightenment. Or from finally getting over the stomach bug I had for days and days. In a word? Yuck.

Either way, I think today may be my day. And if I’m right, that is extra good. Because this will be the first day (belonging to me, so to speak) that I have had all year.

I may even have a fool proof plan to accomplish something I have wanted to do for over a year. Of course this would be the first time I have made any effort towards my goal, but better late than never.

I am generally one of those people that do that same things over and over again expecting something to change. Insanity (according to some, although I can’t remember who). And I don’t want to be insane, if I can help it.

So today, I intend to change things up, and I am expecting different results. I’ll keep y’all posted. I have lots to catch y’all up on, so ~~prepare to be bombarded with lots of randomness~~ stay tuned. That was your warning, just so you know.

Ahem. Moving right along to more important matters…

I would like to go on record and welcome my new followers. I am so excited to see you join me. Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things soon. Like today. If in fact today does turn out to be my day. Fingers crossed.

The post that probably should not have been written…

2010-02-09T00:56:00.001-06:00

Just so everyone knows—I totally stayed up until 11:06 pm (I know it’s a little redundant to specify the pm but I just couldn’t resist) so that I could converse with y’all. Your welcome. Ahem.

It’s just that I have been missing you guys terribly. By the way, have you ever noticed how I inadvertently switch between pronouns (and of course by pronouns I mean y’all and you guys)? I’m not sure why I do that. But I always have. Not the point—moving right along….

In order to get the most out of this post I decided a stream of consciousness was best. So here goes, my consciousness stream is starting… wait for it… now!

I’m still working my butt off at work. Seriously guys I haven’t even been able take my mid day nap. I kid. I generally don’t nap until the afternoon.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. It must be the time. I tend to get flighty late at night. That’s something else I have always done. Hmm. Seems to be a pattern here. Generally I’d roll with it but that would interrupt my current streaming consciousness. Not that it’s not already being done by my notorious spell checker— am I the only one that must stop in mid sentence and correct my misspelling before I continue?

Continuing with stream now:

I am so tired. Not really from lack of sleep though. Maybe I am just lazy. Okay, so for sure, I’m lazy.

I still have a blog to do. I still have been too tired to even start. I feel awful about it, too. I also have pictures that need uploading and data that needs transferring, and cloths that need washing, and dishes that need putting away, and an old washer and dryer that needs disposed of. Yes my friends, I have two sets of washing appliances in my kitchen. They have been there for two weeks. We just keep walking around the old ones because nobody has had time to do anything other than that. Sad, I know.

I have started a diet. My first one ever. I hate it. Actually that is a lie. Truth is if I would stick with it I’d hate it. As it is though I really just hate the idea of it. Losing weight sucks. Real bad. I wonder what it’s like to be one of those people that never have to worry about weight? I don’t like skinny people. Okay, so I really don’t have a problem with them because I’m not that shallow but I do (sometimes) consider not liking them. It just seems like the right thing sometimes.

I forgot (almost, obviously) to mention that we (the husband and myself) installed new electric plug ins (like there’s another kind) in the living room, hall way, kitchen (it also got a brand new light fixture), my bedroom, and my bathroom over the course of last weekend. I felt so… um…good being able to change them out myself. The husband did some too. Actually we took turns. He did one, then I did one. I have got to be the only person in the world that would rather do work myself than to let someone else do it simply because I think I can do anything. Sad, I know. And just so you know—I haven’t always been like that.

Okay enough with the stream, I can’t take it anymore. Here is my (currently un-number because I’m not sure how many I will be able to think of) list of things that I have always done that could be described as less than normal…

Number One: As previously stated, I inadvertently swap between pronouns, but I also swap between pronunciations. For instance, sometimes I pronounce St. Louise like saint louise, yet sometimes I say sant louise.

I think it’s because half of my family is from the south (they say saint down here) and the other half is from the north (they say sant up there).

It’s the same with the pronouns. In the north they say you guys and in the south they say y’all. Crazy I know.

I should probably also mention that I do the same thing with my name. My mother (always has) pronounces my name like teen-i (short vowel sound)-ka (as in ka-pow, clever I know). Now being that I was raised being called that I always introduced myself that way. That is until I grew up and noticed that lots of people pronounce my name like tin (as in a tin cup)- i (short vowel sound)- ka (as in ka-pow). Now I find myself introducing myself like that sometimes. I don’t do it on purpose, it just comes out. Sometimes I don’t even notice. I have got to be the strangest person I know.

Number Two: I am absolutely unable to touch a piece of cotton. You know like from a cotton plant, or even a cotton ball. I’m not sure why I am like this, but (obviously, since it’s in the list) I always have been.

I can’t take the cotton out of Tylenol bottles nor could I stand to pick cotton. Good thing I wasn’t alive back in the day—I would have never made it in Alabama.

Number Three: I can not stand the feel of dirt or grit on my feet. I never go bare footed, not even inside. I have to wear house shoes or socks. Preferably house shoes.

So I guess my list is stopping at three. There’s probably more, but like I said, I get a little flighty late at night.

I’m going to bed. And if your still reading this I’m guessing your probably ready for nap after the 12 hours I’m sure it took you to read through all this nonsense. But what can I say, I missed you guys, err y’all, whatever.

Patience Is A Virtue

2010-02-03T10:07:00.001-06:00

I’ve always heard that patience is a virtue. Of course it happens to be one that I do not posses. But still.

Work has been crazy for the last week and a half. Way crazy. I’m talking (sort of) me working 10 and 11 hour days crazy. So this post is really for those that are waiting on me to customize their blogs—to them I say:

‘Sorry for my absence and please bear with me, I have not forgotten about you!’

It’s just that by the time I get done with my day (although becoming my into the night) job I am just too exhausted to even check my email. Again sorry. I am almost caught up. I will be in touch soon.

And before I go back to all this work that is overwhelming ever aspect of my life, I just have to tell y’all about a conversation I had with my boss yesterday—it’s classic! And funny.

A little back story first: I was working from my car because I had to make a trip to the school and (of course) I was too busy to put stuff off until I got back. I finished up a call with a customer and set up an appointment for Thursday morning. Not wanting to forget about said appointment, I called my boss and the follow conversation pursued…

Me: Hey, can you log into my calendar and set an appointment for me so I don’t forget by the time I get back to the office?

The Boss: Sure, when, what time, and with who?

Me: Thursday at 8 am with [insert customer name here].

The Boss: Done.

Me: Thank you very much.

We then chit chatted about various other work related issues and how I was going to find the time to get every thing taken care of without getting behind of other duties when I proclaimed…

Me: I need a secretary! That would fix everything!

The Boss: Umm, let me think about that for a minute…No.

Me: Oh come on….

The Boss: Wait, what are you even talking about, it looks to me like you already have one, calling me from your car instructing me to schedule appointments for you.

And that, my friends, is why I love my boss. I’m just saying.

Wordpress. Blogger. Typepad?

2010-01-27T10:57:00.001-06:00

Question: What blog platforms do you design for?

Answer: Currently only Blogger. But….

I have recently gotten some emails and comments asking about my ability to create blog designs on platforms other than Blogger. And I have got good news! Are you ready?

I am currently learning (trial and error, of course) how to design on Wordpress. Can I get a whoop whoop? Seriously.

So far I have learned nothing except what’s good to take when one has a stress induced head ache—I kid, because I have known that for a long time. Seriously though, I think before long I will be able to offer minor design services for Wordpress. Just so you know.

Then hopefully it will be on to Typepad. Sheesh, before long I really will know everything.

You guys will be ~~the first~~ the second to know when I get this Wordpress thingy figured out. Because the sweetheart who is letting me trial and error on her blog will be the first, but I promise you will totally be the second to know!

Blog Design

2010-01-25T07:42:00.001-06:00

I just finished up a new blog design (last night) that I just had to share with y’all. Not entirely because I did it and want to show off my awesomeness—ahem—but also because I love this blog! Seriously. And not just because she let me makeover her blog. She really does rock. I promise.

So here it is, the blog…

But what I really wanted to point out is her. She’s so funny. Seriously, she cracks me up. And she cooks, and she mothers, and her crafts are too cute. I hope to one day find time to try some of them.

So by all means, head over to Controlling My Chaos and show Jill some love.

Stress

2010-01-14T10:08:00.001-06:00

Tension: (psychology) a state of mental or emotional strain or suspense. That is what I am going through right now. But, this too shall pass.

Fells like when it rains, it pours. But isn’t that the same for everyone? Of course it is.

God never promised my exemption from the testing times of life. He only said that He’d go with me and give me strength to stand. But, I sure need some light for traveling cause [Lord] it sure looks dark tonight. -Gerald Crabb, paraphrased, of course.

Even now, as I sit typing so many thing are running through my head, but I can’t seem to form a complete thought from any of it. That is the way I have been for quite some time now. Hence my lack of posting.

Light bulb moment: Since I recently learned about a stream of consciousness posts from MckMama, I’ll try one now.

Starting stream: I’m sleepy. Very sleepy. My back hurts. Well my shoulder actually. Hold on—phone. I’m back—that was my mom asking if I needed some pots and pans. Love her.

I’m getting ready to have a jewelry party on Monday night. Real excited about that. Especially the free jewelry that comes with hosting a party.

I’m getting hungry. I skipped breakfast. Always a bad idea. I think I may have lost a few pounds over the past week. I have cut my food intake out by at least half, maybe more. I should be receiving Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred in the mail any day now. Compliments of ebay. I love ebay!

I think I am going to redo my blog again. I’m thinking 2 columns instead of 3. But a really wide column. And I want to clean up my sidebar. I have way too much junk in there I think. Yep. I think I’ll do that today. Unless I hear back from the girl that I am working on a blog for, in that case, of course I will finish hers first.

I really want to find the time to get some premade backgrounds made so I can post them so you guys can use them if you want. But currently time is eluding me. But I think it will be great to have free background to offer. Don’t you? Hit me with some ideas of what type of backgrounds y’all would want.

I need to get to work. Lots to do today. Lots and lots actually. My head is clearing up (thanks for listening). So I’m off to get some of it done.

The Husband

2010-01-05T21:37:00.001-06:00

Earlier today while I was trying to work the husband started in in his ‘child like manner’ pitching a fit over his black pocket knife—not his blue one.

*Please note that the husband was standing by the dresser in our bedroom when this wonderful conversation ensued.

The Husband: I left it right here!

The Wife (me): Umm, no dear. You didn’t. If you had of left it ‘right here’ then it would be ‘right here’.

The Husband: Well, I know that I did. And if you would stop picking things up they would be where I left them.

*Amen to that.

The wife, now having stopped working and gotten up from her desk to look for said black knife looked in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom. Checking all the usual places. Meanwhile the husband continues his rant…

The Husband: I know you picked it up because I used it by the front door last night..

Hmmm, it all makes sense now. The wife walks right up to the front door, bends over to the TV table sitting beside the front door and picks up the black knife and holds it out to her husband…

I’m just saying.

Happy Late Christmas

2009-12-28T11:22:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I totally bombed on my 12 days of Christmas posts. I hate that too. It was so fun. But, sigh, I have been super busy. Maybe next year.

Speaking of years, the new one is right around the corner. Are y’all excited? Me too! The husband and I discussed some big plans for the coming year yesterday and I am more than pumped. I just hope everything works out as planned. Fingers crossed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is still enjoying the spoils of all it’s wonder.

And hopefully we’ll talk before the new year.

On the 8th Day of Christmas

2009-12-18T23:37:00.001-06:00

My true love gave to me…

My 8 Favorite People to See:

The husband
Girl one & two
My mom
My dad
My aunt Rita
Friend two
My grandparents
Baby Aubrey

That was hard to only name 8! I could have went on and on. Be sure to head over to The World According To Leslie to see who her 8 favorite people are, after all this was her idea.

How To Create A Blog Button With Copy Code

2009-12-18T10:51:00.001-06:00

Want to create your very own blog button complete with copy code? Then keep reading cause I’m about to hook you up!

In order to create your very own blog button you need the following 3 things…

The image
Image code
The text box

The image

Create your image (or take one you already have) and upload it to Photobucket. You will need the HTML code from Photobucket to create your button.

Copy and paste your HTML code onto a blank Notepad document.

Here’s mine:

Replace the teal text with the web address of your blog.

Then replace the ~~olive~~ green text with the name of your blog.

Mine looks like this after I follow those steps…

The text box

Okay, now that we have the code for the image, let’s insert it into a text box for easy access.

We will start with the basic code for our text box. Here it is…

<textarea id="code-source" name="code-source">widget_code_goes_here</textarea>

Replace the purple text with the image code we modified first. It should look like this…

Putting it together

Now all we need to do is combine the two sets of code we just modified so you can insert the button and text box into your sidebar.

Take the image code (what we did first)…

And the text box code…

Paste them into your sidebar together via a HTML/JavaScript Gadget. Make sure you have the image code on top of the text box code….

Save it and view your blog. Mine looks like this…

That’s it! I told you it was easy.

*If you want more space between the image and your text box you can insert <p> in between the two sets of code. That will create a space between the image and text box.

Enjoy!

Countdown to Christmas

2009-12-17T12:57:00.001-06:00

I’m joining Leslie, so head over there and check her out as well. I didn’t catch this when she first started, so I am going to play catch up today and then continue with my favorites for each particular day.

On the 12th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

My 12 Favorite Books to Read:

The Book of Psalms (King David)
The Covenant (Beverly Lewis)
The Shack (William P. Young)
God’s Promises (Multiple Authors)
The Source of my Strength (Dr. Charles Stanley)
The Book of God (Walter Wangerin)
The Princess (Can’t remember)
Conflict Free Living (Joyce Meyers)
Domestic Bliss (Rita Konig)
The Shunning (Beverly Lewis)
The Bible Promise Book
The Bible (Multiple Authors)

On the 11th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

My 11 Favorite Movies:

Gone With The Wind
Scarlett
Juno
Save The Last Dance
Where The Heart Is
The Passion Of The Christ
One Night With The King
Step Up—The Streets (part 2)
The Godfather
The Lord Of The Ring
Flicka

On the 10th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

My 10 Favorite Songs to Sing:

Amazing Grace— My Chains Are Gone (Chris Tomlin)
I’m Yours (Jason Marz)
Jackson (Johnny Cash)
I Am (Eddie James)
Doll Parts (Hole)
Somebody Save Me (Intro Song to Smallville)
Everything I Can’t Have (Robin Thick)
Fall For You (Secondhand Serenade)
I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick)
Shake It Like Pompom (Missy Elliot)

Please note that the only singing I do is from the privacy and comfort of my own home.

On the 9th Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…

My 9 Favorite Places To Be:

Home
The beach
With my family
The dinner table
The Smokey Mountains
Vacation
Theatre
The Lake
Red Lobster

This has been fun! Y’all should definitely join in!

Strikethrough Text & Other HTML Tags

2009-12-17T10:33:00.001-06:00

HTML tags are a wonderful thing. They allow you to (among other things, of course):

type in bold face
italicize
underline
~~strike through~~

How neat is that? I Love it!

Now Blogger’s text editor allows you to use the bold and italic…

All you do is click the button and start typing (or you can highlight the text and press Control B for bold or Control I for italics). But how about the others?

Well, if you use Windows Live Writer (which I highly suggest), it’s still real simple…

Just click the button and start typing.

But if you don’t have it, and are not interested in using it you can still use the tags. Here’s how:

Make sure your in the HTML editor and not Compose mode of your Blogger text editor…

All you do is place the text inside the specified tags.

For Underlined text you place your text inside <u> </u>. So for instance if you wanted to under the words Merry Christmas, you would type it like this (from Edit HTML):

<u>Merry Christmas</u>

And it will look like this (from Compose):

Merry Christmas

For Strikethrough text you do the same but replace the <u></u> with <strike></strike>. So Merry Christmas in the strike tag is done like this (from Edit HTML):

<strike>Merry Christmas</strike>

And it will look like this (from Compose):

~~Merry Christmas~~

Although, I'm not sure why you would want to strike through the words Merry Christmas. But whatever.

That’s it, all there is to it. Enjoy!

Apple Has Done It Again

2009-12-16T21:10:00.001-06:00

Apple announced earlier today that they have developed a breast implant that can store and play music.

The iTit will cost between $499-$699 depending on cup and speaker size.

This is considered a major social breakthrough, because woman are always complaining about men string at their breasts and not listening to them.

Ahem. Sorry I couldn’t help myself.

Why Blog Design?

2009-12-16T07:20:00.000-06:00

Thanks everyone for the questions submitted so far! Keep them coming. I think this is going to work out really well.

So how did I get into blog design? I figured it was a good fit since I know everything and all. But seriously (as if that statement wasn’t serious), I started blogging a little over a year ago and soon noticed that everyone’s blog was cute except mine. So I started looking into purchasing a makeover for my blog. And it didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t in my budget.

Being the resourceful person that I am, I decided to do it myself. I am a firm believer that nothing is that hard. A little thing I picked up from my boss. He’s a programmer, so he knows everything too.

When I first started I didn’t have Photoshop, so I spent hours and hours trying to create headers with MS Paint and Word. Don’t laugh. It can be done—it just takes a long time. But if I couldn't afford a blog makeover I sure could afford Photoshop. Have y’all seen the price tag on that baby? It’s not cheap.

Then one day the best thing ever happened. My [step]dad called and said that he had a copy of Adobe CS3 that I could have! The Heavens were shouting hallelujah. And I was too.

I started out with just a header. Playing around with layers and the magic eraser tool in Photoshop. Finally progressing to creating my very own background.

Then I discovered Dreamweaver. It came with my CS3. Oh the joy of editing my template for the very first time. I’m a raging narcissists to begin with, so you can imagine what my family had to endure for the first few months of that.

And finally I decided to offer my services to others. That’s it. That’s how I came to offer my services.

Funny thing is, I would rather tell people how to do it their selves than be paid to do it for them. I suppose since I still couldn’t afford to buy a makeover (even at my super low prices) then most everyone else can’t either. And it’s just not fair. I wouldn’t want anyone to be without. I’m a giver, you know. Not to imply that I don’t want you to purchase your blog design from me, because I totally do.

So with all that being said, please feel free to submit a question of your own (about blog design, blogger, Photoshop, or even me) and I will do my very best to answer you, but at the very least I will point you in the right direction.

Changing Your Blogger URL

2009-12-15T20:02:00.001-06:00

Blogger gives you the option to change your URL at anytime. Which can be pretty tempting. But before you decide to take the plunge there are a few things that you should know.

You will lose your Followers. Yes, that’s right, your followers will be gone once you switch your URL. This was a hard question for me because at first it seemed logical that since you can change the name of your blog and keep your followers then the URL would be the same. But alas, that’s not the case.

Following a blog does so through the URL (so I’m told by the Blogger Help link), so if you change your URL your Followers will need to manually update their reading list. Also, you will lose indexes and ranking. So change at your own risk.

My suggestion would be to change the name of your blog but leave the URL the same, which is what I did. If you’ll notice my URL says …meandyouplus2.blogspot… See?

But the name reads By His Design.

Which is what my Followers see in their reading list, too.

To change (just) the name without changing your URL from your Dashboard click Setting…

On the Basic tab (which is where you should be) change the Title…

Scroll down to the bottom and click Save Settings…

Want to change your URL anyway? Okay we can do that too. Instead of staying on the Basic tab (after you clicked Settings) click on the Publishing tab…

Just change your URL to whatever you want it to be where it says Blog*Spot Address…

Fill in the Word Verification….

And click Save Settings…

That’s it. Your done.

Normally I would suggest that you congratulate yourself with a Dove bar, but I can’t in good conscious contribute anymore. Not after the pounds I have recently packed on. So if your gonna have a Dove make sure you don’t skip out on your exercise. I’m just saying.