Sunday, November 29, 2009

Christmas has come to 31st Ave.  I have all my exterior lights up and I think it looks charming. So I made some pictures and thought I would share them with you.



This is how I wanted to end my Thanksgiving weekend. All Decked for the holiday fa la la la la la la
Time to put up the Christmas decorations.  I have the 3 trees for the front lawn and my Christmas village ready to go out.  I will send up some pictures when everything is done. I hope to get it taken care of tomorrow, I would like for the weekend to show some amount of productivity.

Today I was car less and for the first time in months I thought about going out. Isn't that the way it always works? When I have the car sitting in the driveway I am reluctant to step outside. When the car is parked 27 miles away all day I get road trip happy.


Question of the day!!!!
When someone calls on the phone and asks to speak to you by name how do you respond?
This is she
It it I
or  do you have one I have not considered.
Just so you know I say "this is she".

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving meaning

Thanksgiving is here.  What does that mean to me? Well it means that I grew up with the best thanksgivings ever known to man.  Grandparents that loved unconditionally and were willing to take on anything or anyone that life handed them. Not just take it on, but take it on with grace and the most wonderful spirit I have still to this day never seen matched in another human.
A family that when they came together greeted each other with genuine love and affection. Uncles and Aunts Cousins and Great Grandmothers alike.
 Family that truly were thankful to be there at the cozy small house in Fairview. Thankful for one day of normalcy and beauty and happiness.  That is what I strive for every year for my family now. Sometimes we get so close that it becomes a reflection of my childhood family Thanksgivings and nothing is nicer than knowing we got that close to perfection. It saddens me only when I realize that some of my children never got to see the original ultimate Thanksgiving. But I am not sad for long because I have a turkey to bake and a ham to cook and pies to get into the oven. Yes  I have one more year to make it the ultimate thanksgiving for my family, and so I need not dawdle. That is what Thanksgiving means to me.   Thankful for all these years of thanksgiving memories and my family to share them with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Sending Happy Thanksgiving wishes early.


As Thanksgiving gets close I just wanted to say how thankful I am for my family and my friends. For the little kindnesses you show and the huge things you do for me. For the large kindnesses you show and for the little  things you do as well.  Mainly I am thankful to have you all in my life.


Sometimes it seems that we have nothing to be thankful for, but that isn't the case and I wanted to say to you all. Happy Thanksgiving and I for one am thankful for you all.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

It is cold here.  I mean 47 degree cold.  The firpit is lovely because it is warm and it is beautiful, but some times it is too chilly to go out and build a fire. Thank goodness for Kenn. He is willing to get a fire going anytime he steps outside. the cats and dogs love the cold. They get all bushy  and go prancing all over the back yard. The one cat is a little run away, she can even open the sliding glass door with her toe nails. She just scratches until it gives up and slides right open. Then the chase is on.  People and dogs racing along the back yard trying to cut her off. Her ears laid back like she is a horse in the Preakness galloping close to the ground and determined to win.
 So we have to be very careful with the doors here, or we are out trying to stop the steeplechase with our bare hands.

Lexi and Jessica head to Birmingham this morning. they are going to be there for 8 days. If you get a chance to see her you will not believe how much she has grown. Very hard to believe she is nine years old now.

Angie is getting close to delivering Miss Sarah Katherine and I know she is ready. I was going to go visit when the baby was born so that I could watch the boys for her, but it looks like I am not able to do that this time. So I will plan all of this as soon as possible,  But just know I will pass along pictures of the little bundle of joy as soon as she arrives.

Stay warm.  I know I  will be trying.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Enjoy some Christmas Music if you wish

Thank you blog

Writing this month has been such a refreshing time for me. I have written my entire life. I have novel after novel started and placed in my box of writings. I never had the nerve to attempt to show my work before. I appreciate everyone that has tolerated my putting these blogs out and allowing me to express myself this way.

Writing was my great love in grade and high school. I wrote my first play in the 3rd grade and I made my first comic book character in the 9th grade.  I have placed small characters on  paper since I could write.

No one knows how or why I lost my confidence when I was a teenager and no one ever will, but now at this age I have found enough to press on and present my own work out for people to see.  You that get the update on these writings are my most trusted friend and family and I do not intend to bore or brag only to share.
Thank you for allowing me to share these little simple writings with you.

I am back to writing and I hope you find the courage to do the one thing you love and do not make time for and make time for it.
I am almost 40,000 words into my book and I am so excited to finally have this story out. It has cleared up a lot of brain space for me
:)
Thank you all again dear family and friends, you have made all the difference in my life.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Christmas Blog

There is a fellow Mahalo writer that has started a Christmas blog. Check it out and see what you think. She is one of the best writers on Mahalo so I am sure it will be an amazing page. When I went over and looked at it she had some good ideas about how to have an economical Christmas.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

FishVille has released on Facebook

November 6,2009 Zynga released FishVille   Their newest game on Facebook.  It was only 1 month after applying for the Trademark.

On November 9,2009 Zynga pulled FishVille due to a third party disagreement. It comes from the pay to play accusations that came to light this week.

It seems that Zynga wasn't letting people know that in order to get the offers you had to sign up for a monthly contract with the vendor. I believe this will start a moving away form the Doubleding and Offerpay companies that are on every application in order to get them more income.
So when you play these games on Facebook remember to read very carefully anything that provides you with an incentive.  Some of them come with monthly contracts and some come with offers that will cost you money through your cell phone.
Be careful with your facebook apps.


Thursday, November 12, 2009

A Thanksgiving contest like no other






There is an amazing contest out at http://jaypeeonline.net/
Jaypee Habaradas of JaypeeOnline.net is giving away $1.500 worth of prizes that ranges from cash, to premium WordPress themes and web hosting.  It is an amazing prize package and totally worth checking out and taking the time to register.  What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving, and as he said in the blog "Thanksgiving is the time to give thanks and express gratitude"  I am thankful someone was able to put an idea  like this together at a time when people are looking for a reason to be thankful. 


 This contest is sponsored by :
1. StudioPress
2. Pro Theme Design
3. Press75
4. WP Zoom
5. WP Now
6. Elegant Themes
7. WP WebHost
8. Jehzeel Laurente 





The Prizes are as follows:
1st Prize
Pro Plus All-Theme Package from StudioPress ($199.95)
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme License from Press75 ($75)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
1 Year Theme Club Membership from Elegant Themes ($19.95)
1 Year Hosting w/ Free Domain from DreamHost courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente
$50 Cash via PayPal from Jehzeel Laurente
2nd Prize
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme License from Press75 ($75)
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
1 Year Freedom Plan Hosting from WP Web Host ($80)
$25 Cash via PayPal from JaypeeOnline
3rd Prize
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
Single Theme Licenses from WP Now ($29)
1 Year Freedom Plan Hosting from WP Web Host ($80)
$10 Cash via PayPal from JaypeeOnline
He is even offering Consolation Prizes
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme Licenses from WP Now ($29)
If you sign up and are from the Philippines he will be rewarding 5 lucky people with a tee shirt.
Check out his site @  http://jaypeeonline.net/contests/thanksgiving-giveaway/ and register for the contest. It is a great prize package. 












Wednesday, November 11, 2009

NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month is here and I am 18000 words into my novel.http://www.nanowrimo.org/  The path has been fun so far, confusing yes of course, but fun and exciting. The first time I started writing I was not sure what the people in my story wanted to do. It seemed as if they wanted to just relax and not steer me in any logical  direction.

Finally one by one the characters started leading me into their private lives and their intentnios and after a bumpy start I was able to get a nice section started. Then lo and behold in walked a new character. I had not been warned that we were going to have such an awesome character drop in and make some changes and bring it all closer to my mind that I have basically 15 days to write until I get to my 50,000 words. Can I do it?  I think I can I think I can and with that I think I need to get back to writing. I have to get to 25000 words before the 15th. Don't worry I know I can do 25000. It is the other 25k I am a bit worried about.
So keep me in your thoughts and I will keep listening to the little quiet voices of the characters in my book and any unknown characters that have not show themselves to me.

This month is zooming past and I am trying to get as much written as possible so that I can do my final word count before the 30th of November.  this way if there is a discrepancy in the count I can address it.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Saturday was a good day


A very happy Birthday for me today. I received so many birthday wishes cards ( one from my work signed by all my co-workers) and letters (Ray) . It made me feel so loved and supported. I also was given a very wonderful gift from Gerry. I know you will all know how I feel about this gift. He gave me a fire pit. So  I have been out toasting my toes.  It is still hard to wear shoes when it is in this desert. So my toes were a bit nippy.
I did not pick up the logs.  Silly me.  So we burned some limbs I had cut from my shrubs last week that were all nicely dried and ready to be burned. Had a beautiful fire for about 40 minutes and that was just enough to christen the fireplace.
Next time you are in Phoenix come on over and get warm with my outdoor fireplace. I think you will love it as much as I do.

After I warmed my toes I came back in to write on my quest of 50 thousand words by November 30th and today I hit 10,516 and I still have a few more thoughts about my story. The writer of Ella Enchanted gave us our pep talk for the weekend and she is a very clever writer.

Lexi is here tonight and I can already see such an improvement in her teeth. She is really being responsible about the brushing of them and I am proud of her.
Today I wrote a page on Feng Shui and it was accepted on Mahalo and so if you have ever had any interest in  Feng Shui then I hope you will check it out. It turned out quite nicely I think.

I wish I cold have been in Birmingham for the service for Steve. I would have loved to be there to let the family know I love them all and am keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.

I will tell you all about my garden ( one hint is I bought some vegetable seeds today) tomorrow.




Vote here

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Baby hit the buffet


Tonight was Raevyndaun's first visit to a buffet and she has it down cold.  She will take some of the bananas and some fish please. A little Chicken if you don't mind. Please hold the cantaloupe it is a bit yucky to her taste.

I will be remembering Julie in my thoughts and prayers, her Aunt has been given only a few months to live and that is so hard to accept and face.


I saw Darrell's tattoo and it is amazing. The pictures did not do it justice at all.  the blocks look like they are going to pop off the skin.


today it was cloudy and 90 degrees. But the sky was just beautiful. This is when I wish I had a swimming pool for fall days and summer weather. Would be fun to just hop in for Thanksgiving.



I talked with Angie today and she is having a lot of trouble sleeping due to the baby sitting on those leg nerves making rest very hard. At least the baby isn't knoicking the leg out from under her like Jacob liked to do. spealing of Jacob I wanted to share his picture on Halloween when he was Chuckie.  Nathan was Darth Vader and he looked awesome and also had a groovy light saber.  Sometimes it seems that the light saber is enough of a costume. Angie said she believes that was the purpose of the whole outfit lol.
I hope the day is good to everyone. It was an adventure for me. I actually got out of the car and took the baby up to my work and sat on a bench until Gerry came out then we all left. But I did see some of my co-workers.

Being a Grandmother

Being a Grandmother

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Desert drabness can be changed one plant at a time


If you live as I do in the desert, then you have come to accept the little pebbles that they call the desert landscaping. Sometimes it is too dreary for words. Sometimes it makes you lose your sense of style and originality, or maybe that is just the Home owners association.  Sometimes it is just painful to run catch a fleeing cat before she leaves your yard.
So perhaps you remember that a month ago I decided that this year I would have a garden. I would not try to incorporate the plants form the East as I have tried and failed so many times before. No, this time would be the building of a winter friendly, summer surviving garden.

November has arrived and the flowers are surviving except where the pups are dining on the leaves and on one of the portulaca.  But no weather damage and they have survived thus far the strange dip in the temperature we encountered last week. It was into the 40's in the night and back only into the 60's during the day.
The next venture into the garden is adding in a pond for the Water element and a fire pit for the Fire element.  I already have the plants growing in Earth and my wind chimes celebrating the wind. This will give me all the elements that I have been looking to have in my garden area.
I truly believe this will be good for the feng shui chi of the family to have all four represented.