Well, here I am again...

Well, this just feels foolish.  Had such high hopes with the blog at the other site, but I'm having awful issues with that blog loading up (very slow Internet speed at our house) and so, here I am again.  ::shrugs::  Much ado about nothing.  Rather than beat myself up about it, though, will move along, and stay put.

The thing is, we have Internet through our cell phone account since we cancelled Comc*ast, and for the money we're paying with our re-worked budget, our fast speed service runs through very quickly with 3-4 users.  Then it's gone.  Afterwards we're stuck with a slower speed, that is, until the T-Mob*ile resets each month.  Can't load movies or videos unless you're very patient.  And I mean, VERY patient.  With the Weebly site, I'm waiting for about fifteen minutes or more for pages to load so I can post.  On Blogger, it's much quicker.  Like a couple of minutes.  I don't have time to wait for Weebly to load.  It's just ridiculous.

Sorry for making you run over there, just to run over here again.  Sort of embarrassing, which is where my life is at present.  Or not embarrassing, as much as maddening.  Yeah, maddening.  Sons.  Not even talking about those two of the three who've moved out.  The two at home are my present frustration.

~ ~ ~

I think one thing is valid.  My boys, for the most part, are seeing women out in the world who are professionals, or striving for that goal.  I stay at home, though I'm well-educated.  They see the opposite of what I'm striving to achieve here, which puts creating a life at home on the back burner for many women, or not even making it to the stove.  I took one son to the orthopaedic doctor last week, and I made an idle comment about how it's often hard for me to be out and about, preferring to be at the house.  The noise and busyness of folks distracts me.  Everyone's so serious.  He said something about how I couldn't manage outside the home, and couldn't relate to the business world.  I meant I can live without the drama and rushing around.  He thinks I don't have a clue.  Oh brother.  I've not been living under a rock all this time.  Give me some credit.  Please.

Thankfully one son is very supportive of our lifestyle here, and seeking a girlfriend/wife who has the goals my husband I have been working so hard on.  Our girls are the same.  Sometimes feel like I was handed the wrong script.

Is it because the younger generation has misplaced their values and goals?  Is achievement the main objective here?  Money and stuff?  There's a disconnect I'm sensing and it's not an advantage.  From my seat here, I see the trend of pulling away from their roots as being a very definite negative.  Thoughts?

Moving day...

I've not moved my blog house in awhile, and maybe it's time to keep up the trend---not disappoint folks. ;)  Found a site called Weebly, which is free (unless you upgrade), and very easy to manage.  Beautiful templates and artwork.  Pretty much a no brainer.

As I've said there, this will be my book review blog.  I have work to do here to tidy up, but in time it'll be done.  

That said, please join me at Cracked China.

Internet stuff

First off I apologize for not being a faithful blog neighbor the past few days.  Gary's been in the thick of cancelling Comc*ast and has been boxing up the gadgets that needed returning.  Did that today.  Then went to T-Mob*ile, who we have our phones with and got a hotspot set up in the house for our Internet connection, to replace the one from Comc*ast.  

Now here's the cool thing about our television connection since the cable was disconnected along with the Internet.  Gary researched online and found out how to build a homemade antenna (though you can get them at Best*Buy). Our reception is better and while you don't get all the cable channels, and besides, who needs them, there's a decent amount of stations coming through.  He said he scanned 19 channels the other night.  He even gets better reception.  I say 'he' because he tends to watch in the evenings, and I only do on Sunday nights.  The kids are sporadic in watching, since we're pretty strict about their tv watching.

So, with canceling Comc*ast, that bill is gone.  And oddly enough, our phone bill is less, partly because we got a deal, and because we've been with T-Mob*ile for 17 years (even before they had that name), and they love us.  Pays to stick with companies sometimes.

But what blows my mind is using an antenna and getting more than local stations, and for free.  I never knew that was even possible, so maybe partly that's my steep learning curve.  And while it looks like we're becoming more archaic, we're happier.  Spending less really is amazing.  One son commented that with our re-doing our housenote and having that less, and doing this stuff, he's afraid the electricity and water is next.  

Not a pretty blogging post, but an informative one.  May you learn from it.  :)

What she said...

Just an update.  I've deleted some posts here (and a couple of sweet friends have reminded me that they're still available on readers, which is sorta stinky), not because of fear that my kids will read them....they leave my blog alone, if they even know it exists.  It's more that I'm so dreadfully transparent, and got a bit antsy late last night with being too honest about what goes on here.  Part of me thinks it's a good thing to be so open, but another part fears being judged in my honesty.

I mean c'mon, I'm talking about marking doorways, unwelcome spirits that have been in our house, morally wayward children, etc. Heady stuff.  The sorts of things that cause folks to look at you sideways, especially if they've not experienced it.

I've always been distrustful of blogs that only show the pretty parts of life...the eternally tidy house, the well-behaved kids, the husband who's the best husband ever.  Ick.

And it's not shame that I'm talking about.  Sorry our kid is messed up, but I totally expect him to straighten up eventually.  Might take about ten years to get there (that's how long it took my husband---before my time), but will pray expecting it.

While I'm not uncomfortable sharing our family's short-comings, maybe I need to be a bit more cautious.  I'm talking about folks I love, so some restraint might be in order.

Comments are closed on this particular post.  Not expecting anyone to make me feel better.  Just putting a period on my thoughts.

Joy

And sometimes life throws you a curve ball of such wonder that you just have to share.

Today something came by UPS that was a total surprise. Well, the person who sent it warned me something was heading my way, and hinted that she was likely more excited than I was (not so!), yet she didn't hint as to what was coming.

A laptop.  From Canada.  From Aneta who blogs over here.

Can you imagine?

I almost got sick when I realized what was in the box.  It was the pulling out the plastic with the cord in it. Realization hit.  It made my head hurt.  The shock, most likely.  I sat there, the kids smiled silly-like, I read her card, I cried, middle daughter couldn't watch me cry so she left the room. All true.

I continue to be awed by God's love for me, through others.  Totally amazing.

Thanks again, Aneta, for the love you sent.  Awesome for sure, and I never use that word. :)

This will be brief...

...for necessity. Blogging by phone because now Gary's laptop is suffering.  He's got a trick to work the plug, but I don't mess with it.  We need a get one free/get second one free laptop (yeah, you heard me) offer. :)

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say the bill got paid, but not without tears and a meltdown by me.  Daughter stepped in at the last minute, and I'm not kidding.  But funny thing is...Gary got a deposit on a refinishing job minutes afterward, and an accepted bid this morning.  Not my idea of fun, the deadlines and all, but for today and tomorrow, I'm basically worry-free.

And in other news, an older woman at church has asked if I'd help her write her family history. She asked Gary about it first, being she's one of his long term clients, and is a new friend to me...we go to the same church, and it was her husband's funeral reception I helped at recently.  I told Gary I wanted to wear a pencil skirt and black pumps for the gig with her. Think that'd work? :)

Take care...gotta go. Having to backspace way too much.

(total egg count is 36---4 today)

Computer issues

Laptop sorta dead...will have to troubleshoot. Turns on, lights on the keyboard turn on, but it won't boot up. Writing this from my phone using my index finger. Not. fun. Just saying why I might be absent for a bit. Borrowing everyone else's computer doesn't appeal, but at least there's that!  I'll see you when I see you. :)

A busy Saturday

Posted on my Twitter feed and also on Facebook that I'll be shutting those down for the month of August. Temporary and not forever.  Just a change, a lightening of my online traveling.  It's so easy to get caught up in reading, browsing and wasting time.  Fine if you have time to use that way, but with one more month of summer before we begin school Labor Day week, I want to use the month wisely.

One person I follow online via email has a photo thing going on during August.  She doesn't blog with words that month, but just with a set agenda of photographs.  She gives one-word prompts and folks take a picture to line up with the topic that day.  Sounds cool if you're into photography, which I'm not, so am thinking of something along the same lines, but more me-oriented.

Not having much luck figuring it out.  Would like to do something special, though.  Figure I've got until next week to come up with a plan.  Nothing too strenuous, mind.

Anyway, had a good time with the least one today.  We went to the nearby thrift store, among other things, which is a 1/2 off one, so it's a nice surprise when we check out.  Already inexpensive things are even more delightful.  We found her a dress and a belt, while I got two books (did I need more books?)---copies of ones I've read and loved.  Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden and Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells. Have read both a couple of times from the library, and for a total price of just over six bucks for all items, I'm happy.

Picked up a book at the library too...one I had on hold, which is Katrina Kenison's Magical Journey--An Apprenticeship in Contentment.  We'll see how that flies.

And while we're on the subject of books, T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets keeps popping up in my line of vision, and it's odd, but the library here has plenty of commentary books about it, but not the actual copy.  Strange, that. Might have to buy it.  Poetry can be a comfort, but as I said earlier, do I need more books?  Along the same lines---not sure where I read about this, but Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited is also a recommendation.  Could be from reading Thomas Howard that they came up.  Just thinking out loud. The Waugh I can get at the library.  I almost enjoy the challenge when a book is hard to find.  Fortunately the Eliot is all over Amazon, and at a penny, so not at all hard to find there.

My goodness, I'm a chatterbox.

Lastly,  proud of the flowers we got for the altar tomorrow.  I caught myself over-thinking the process, being a bit OCD about it, then realized, heck, I'll be doing this EVERY Saturday, best make it fun and not a burden. Buying flowers---probably one of my very favorite things, and with someone else paying the bill, what could be more perfect?

Guess that's it for now.  You know it all. :)

Online thinking

After reading about the guy who's leaked all sorts of information about our personal stuff being tapped, I'm two ways in thinking about public blogging, etc.  On Facebook I try to lesson my personal information and photos, but still, they creep in when I'm tagged, or if I drop my guard.  Hard to remain anonymous.  And really, Facebook is a real trip for nosiness.  If you think about it, all your stuff is willingly handed out.  We just do it.  Freely and without hesitation.  I do as well, and am not criticizing anyone.  I'm just thinking a bit more about being so gullible.  Why do we trust folks so easily?  You almost have to not blog, not play with any online games or even get online at all to remain safe, or what we think is safe.

And here at Blogger, Google reigns.  I have a Gmail account, a Twitter account and one with Pinterest.  They can all connect whether I want them to or not.  I'm traceable.  Find my ISP and you find me.

Just makes me wonder, though, if I'm worthy of a trace.  I'm, pretty much, a nobody. I'm not a threat to anyone, though my conservative views might make me suspect by this administration.

If you think you can disinfect your life enough so as to be invisible, good luck with that. I do wonder, though, if it's worth making some small changes.  Are there blogging platforms that are less vulnerable?  Email accounts that give you more safety?  Ways to safeguard your computers so that you're not such a susceptible target?  I just don't know, but aim to look into it.

Pinterest widget

A sidebar gadget to allow you to link to your Pinterest account.  Mine is nice, yes? Mouse over the Pinterest images in the sidebar and they get bigger.  Wonderful.  And relatively painless to install if you pay attention!  Courtesy of Code It Pretty.

Note:  If you go over to your Pinterest, and pin new photos, they won't immediately be visible at the gadget. It takes awhile.  Just saying that in case you do exactly that and go back to your blog and scratch your head as to why they're not updated yet.

Now, if I could discover a foolproof way to have all my text line up on the left, and not leave me with indentions here and there.  Then I end up having to go back over my posts, backspacing and republishing.  Anyone have a solution for this?  It's a real problem when I change fonts.  Before Blogger offered so many fonts, it wasn't an issue.

Photo copyright information

Just a heads up and not meant to scare anyone.  I've read of one person I *know* of online who's being pursued by a major online photo supplier since she's used one of their photos with an expired license (which makes no sense to me, but that's not the issue).  I understand it was an oversight on her part, but still she got a letter telling her of the copyright infringement, and she was obviously shaken up about it.

Saying that to say this...I try to be careful to use 'free' photos on this site.  There are several places I usually go for photos, and while I've goofed up at times, lately I've stayed on the safe path.

Not sure how these companies actually find the photos that have been borrowed, but as a mild warning, you might want to check your own blogs to see if any photos fall into the 'not so sure' category.

Now, how to easily find and delete any questionable photos...if you have the Google toolbar...mine is a black strip that pulls up at the top of the page when I type in Google.com using Chrome.  Can't remember if you have to be logged into Google before it pops up, but nevertheless, here we go.  Under 'More' you find 'Photos', and if you're logged into Google, you'll see the photos you've used on your blog(s).  It's at the Picasa album that everyone has who uses Blogger to store their blogger photos.  Next click on a blog (if you have more than one, do them one at a time).  Then click 'Organize'.  At that page you'll be able to click on a photo, or series of photos and delete the ones that might not need to be there.  Much easier than going through your whole blog and finding them.  You will end up with a big minus sign on the post where that photo has been, but that can be cleaned up later on.

Hope this helps and doesn't end up making anyone scratch their heads too awfully much.  I know I've naively used photos before when I probably shouldn't have.  Thinking this clean-up will prevent any problems in the future.  Take care and just pay attention. :)

Blog woes

I've broken my blog.  Clicked the button to not allow comments, decided I did want comments again (baby, it's lonely out here), and clicked to allow them and Blogger doesn't want to play.  Not sure what's up with that.

Anyway, as it is with my mind, I'm going to monkey around, likely change the design, and if I upload another template, maybe it'll re-boot.  WhatEVER.

We'll see if this works....

(nevermind....it works now...except on the last post....i even re-posted that one, and still, it won't the comment option there.  so odd, but fine that it seems okay elsewhere...blah, blah, blah)

Designer pugs and blog re-decorating

Yowza.  Really liking the look of the Dynamic blog view design. My goodness. Simple to set up, a few options to play with and voila....neat result.

Nice to be able to play with the blog design without driving myself nuts at the same time.  Usually it's an evening's work, and not satisfying at that.  What's nice about this is that you can set it to show whatever you want the default homepage to be, and then folks can pull-down the menu on the left at the header, that displays other options.

Now then, on to other things.  Must needs get the Thanksgiving grocery shopping done, most likely on Monday.  I starve the family on the nights preceding next Thursday, and that always makes them laugh.  Waffles, macaroni and cheese, eggs, and anything that's cheap and filling.  Helps when I need to save money for dinner anyhow.

The weekend will be pleasantly dull, however.  Will pick up some more Thomas Howard books on hold at the library, putter around the house, and we're only doing the church service on Sunday---skipping Sunday School, which is a small, but sometimes pleasant change of pace for the weekend.  Tired of the sameness of our Sundays, so a change is good.

Take care.

Saturday night

Needed to change up the room in here a bit.  While I LOVE the book template I've been using, it'd gotten a bit dull for me. When things look the same for ages and ages, there needs to be a re-do.  Hence, the tidying up.

Hope this gets me in the mood for an uplift in other ways.  Btw, it's been 6 months since my dear friend, Patricia, died in her sleep, so that's sobering in itself.  Now must breathe deeply and move on.  She'd not want me to linger in sadness too awfully long.  But she'd understand if there was a pause from time to time.

Y'all take care.

Email change

My NetZero email account is due for payment (which I choose to ignore), so am switching to GMail for all of my mail from now on.  So what has been herbgardener (at) netzero.net, is going to herbgardener (at) gmail.com.

Just a head's up. :)

On Sunday afternoon

Oh my goodness.  Got caught up in a blog re-vamping situation this afternoon, but I must say, I like it.  Not so sure about the floral background, but will live with it for awhile.  My biggest challenge was that the template was designed by someone from Portugal, and had to change some wording.  See...I don't speak Portuguese!

But it's all in fun.  Nice to do something creative with so much else spinning in my head.  Feels like my skull is pressing against a brain that's grown in capacity.  I know it's stress.  Must develop better coping skills.

Church, however.  My, what a blessing.  The first hymn today was something called 'St. Patrick's Breastplate' and it was truly awesome.  Tried to find a suitable version of it on YouTube, but didn't have any luck.  You go ahead and try, though....really an astounding song.

Must go now.  Sweet Indian boyfriend and oldest daughter are on their way to make us chili.  And I need to take fourth son out for a little errand.  You take care.

Let's do this again...

New digs.  Been here, done this.  Old is good, and Blogger hasn't made me mad lately.  I admit to being a little hot-head at times, but that's okay too.

And I can't fault myself for traveling over the Internet to different addresses the past two times, though. The blog at my website was hacked after Christmas---that death that was unavoidable.  But this latest with Wordpress, not allowing comments to flow smoothly is too annoying.  I tried and tried to make it work and there were glitches that just failed.  And apparently Wordpress isn't changing the system back to where just anyone can type in a name and email, but they have to be a Wordpress.com and/or Gravatar.com user.  Some folks are sent to a sign-in page, which is very confusing if you've not been versed on what's up.  And I refuse to have a disclaimer on my blog instructing folks how to comment.  That's just ridiculous.  Lots of WP users are up-in-arms, and not just me.

Makes me feisty.  It's too easy to migrate over here, and thankfully, all my buds (with few exceptions) use Blogger.  Let's get on with it.

About leaving comments

For anyone who's been unable to comment here (speaking of recent Wordpress blog) using the regular 'type in your name/email' routine----seems Wordpress changed their commenting policy.  Did they inform users?  Huh.  Now the only way I can get it to work correctly is to change my settings, allowing anyone to comment (which I'd rather not do), so that your name/email address are optional. I'll allow anyone in, but will change it so that I have to approve comments.  That ought to keep out the riff-raff!

Nuts to Wordpress, but after reading bloggers' comments on the WP forums, others are a bit 'up in arms' as well.  They say the issue involves commenters having Gravatar.com and/or Wordpress.com accounts.  Something about both being able to log-in to Wordpress.  Not that their explanation makes sense to me.  But as I wrote on one of the forums...if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Will see how this works.  Just wanted to explain in case anyone else (besides sweet Bonnie) was having troubles.  As it is, just type in your name with your comment, DO NOT add your email address, because if you do, you'll get sent to a log-in page.  Then the vicious cycle whips around again.  Blogger is sounding pretty appealing just now.

Friday evening

Burning mouth.  Western European tastebuds can't seem to handle traditional Indian fare.

We had sweet Indian boyfriend over for dinner---chili that I made, and we put the container of hot pepper flakes (which my husband loves) on the table, but not sure if SIB used them.  He's so polite.  Won't monkey with what's put in front of him, but eats what we prepare like it's presented.  I made jalapeno corn muffins to go along with it, as a hot dish, and those went over well.

Until SIB entered our lives, I totally didn't know that Indians ate such spicy food.  I was clueless.  Now it's a main topic of conversation.

Anyway, oldest daughter and the boyfriend went to an Indian grocery after dinner, so she could see where they liked to shop on occasion.  I gave her some money so that they could get me some of the tea that his mother drinks---Tetley Ginger tea.  Seems the grocery was out of that, and I told them to buy 'whatever' if  there wasn't any, and they bought several bags of Indian snacks.  He said that this is what he grew up enjoying as a child in India.  HOT! But then, I'm a weenie.

Still.  I'm growing to love this boy.  He's so sweet to our daughter, and has such a way about him.

But what are we doing messing around with Indians?  I can see that the Lord has a tremendous sense of humor.

(btw, anyone else having trouble with commenting?  i'm finding that the comment section of this blog sends folks to a wordpress sign-in page....not sure how to fix it, but hoping it's just a temporary glitch)

Beginnings

New place to write.  Hopefully no hacking.  Fresh starts, which is what a new year is all about anyway, right?

I got to thinking about this blog hacking situation and my first impression was to be shocked, then to sigh and say 'oh well' to myself.  See, I've gotten into the habit of playing down certain things, especially if they happen ONLY to me and affect MOSTLY me.  It's sort of like I won't give myself the consideration I sometimes need and possibly deserve.  I set my own needs and feelings on the burner way back at the back of the stove.   And you know...that's not a healthy attitude to take.

Then I thought about it some more and was royally hacked (same word, much better meaning) that some anonymous person/spammer/spider had the ability to take away from me something that was important.  And while it was likely just meant in a mildly malicious way, the end result is still maddening.  That folks are amused by destroying things that don't belong to them.  Frustrating. Sort of like online graffiti, but this time they wrote on my wall...even if only in a figurative way.

There.  Got the angst out of the way and can get on to the writing part. Fresh start.  New blogging home.  No worries.  Thanks for coming.