I Should Have Brought My Camera!

I only recently have started blogging here again and when we went to Snow Road Park to walk through the woods, I thought about bringing alone my camera.  Unfortunately, I didn't.  When we saw this owl sitting on a tree so close to the trail, I really wished I had brought my camera along.  All I had was my little tracfone so I did the best I could with what I had (sorry for the poor quality).  My husband's phone takes better pictures than mine, but he is out of data time or whatever.

We enjoyed our walk and saw some friendly little dogs along the way too who let us pet them.  Oh well, lesson learned.  From now on I will be carrying along my digital camera wherever I go!

Have you ever wished you had your camera with you?

I'm joining Saturday Critters

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It's Been A While--Summary of What We've Been Up To

Wow, last time I posted anything here was January.  Well, I decided that other things are more important . . . and I've been playing video games on the AARP website trying to beat my high score and trying to make the leaderboard (which are addictive).  It has word games including crossword puzzles which I feel good that I can actually complete now.  It also has some brain games, matching games and strategy games, and more.  I have no idea how other people get such high scores though!

So, here's what I've been up to the last few months:

•  Still teaching 5th and 6th graders in Sunday School and doing a class newsletter to keep parents informed.   

•  We had a wellness visit to the vet for Abby, our dog (getting that pee sample was not easy, sorry no picture) and cat including Spunky's dental cleaning that I put off for three years--big bucks there but they are both doing fine.  Abby had some parasites to get cleared up but wasn't a big deal.

•  I've been eating lots at work with the first Friday free breakfast feasts, secretary's day with a special luncheon catered by Mission BBQ that was really yummy, and cookies, bakery and candy that people bring in as treats.  No wonder I've gained 10 lbs that I do not want! 

•  Our accountant forgot to actually file our return.  I called him after about 4 weeks waiting for our refund and then he finally filed it. 

•  Our youth group at church had their annual dessert auction/spaghetti dinner fundraiser and this year I got the item I wanted most in the first round of bidding for $60.  It was pecan/chocolate chip bars that were absolutely delicious and pre-cut!  I also was high bidder at $45 (by accident) on a cute bowling assortment of candy, cookies and cake which was also really good.  (again with the extra pounds!)  The money raised goes to help pay for the teens going on mission trips.

• Last Saturday I got a 4-drawer file cabinet for just $15 including delivery from the Parma Heights Christian Academy's annual garage sale!

•  We just had our dead bush removed from the front yard and a couple small trees removed from the back yard.  We never planted these trees, but when the stuff falls in our yard off the neighbors tree, it apparently takes root and starts growing!  It's crazy.

•  I participated in a free health screening at work which resulted in getting some gift cards:  Amazon, iHop and Walmart.  It's also good to know my numbers were pretty good.  Even though I've put on the extra 10 lbs., my BMI is still in normal range.  Still fighting to keep my blood pressure down.  It's higher than I'd like but then it's always fluctuating within minutes.  The nurse said it's really probably lower than what it showed since doing it during work does not make for a relaxed reading.

•  We are still reading and posting reviews at Grab a Book From Our Stack blog.  I just finished the Clover Springs Mail Order Brides box set of 5 on my Kindle and loved them!  Rachel Wesson is the author and writes clean historical fiction western romance.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find her books at the library, but have went back to Amazon and loaded a whole bunch more to my Kindle.

The sock says "A Good Day Starts With a Good Dog

• For Mother's Day,  my sweet husband got me my favorite candy, chocolate covered cherries--both dark chocolate and light (yes more lbs. coming).  From my cat and dog, I got some special socks.

•  Finally, I am bummed out.  For a week now, my left hip has been sore and I can't raise my leg high like I used to without pain.  Fortunately, it doesn't hurt all the time, just when I get in and out of the car, or if I'm laying down and get up, or a little when I walk.  Now the weather has finally turned good enough to play Pickleball and I have this nutty hip problem.  Advil helps, but only temporarily.  Boo.
  
  So, sorry this is so long, and probably boring.  Anyhow, I'm really going to try to get rid of my extra fat right after I finish those cherries!  What have you been up to?

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How Do You Like Our New Blog Header?

I just realized it was long overdue to change our blog header from the winter pics.  Ooops.  I finally played around with PicMonkey to create a new header.  I only spent about 10 minutes doing it.  I see PicMonkey has added a text option which is great!  

I suppose the title of the blog could have been bigger and maybe I should have put Abby between Gerard and me with the cats on either end, but I thought of these things too late after it was already up and didn't want to spend any more time on this.  I still have to play some brain games, complete my Giant Eagle surveys, and organize some more of my digital pictures into folders.  Oh, and it's supper time already!  Time goes so fast on Saturdays!

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7 Friday Fragments (blogging, life, death, sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:

Broken Cell Phone

Hubby's cell phone broke, but had replacement coverage on it which we paid $4.00 a month for. It still cost us $25 to replace it (just a basic phone--no texting, no pictures, no internet access). I asked how much an upgrade would be and the service rep at Great Call said $75. So, I'm thinking we should have just not did the replacement coverage and put that money towards an upgrade instead. The next day I canceled the monthly "replacement coverage." They said without that it would have cost $50 to replace it. At least they are waiving the shipping and handling fee. In the meantime, hubby is borrowing my phone--I miss it.

Travis Benjamin

This Browns wide receiver/punt returner is very fast! He had 179 yards on punt returns in Last week's game which broke the Browns record formerly held by Metcalf. Said he learned to run fast by chasing rabbits in Florida and now that he shared his rabbit story, his teammates nicknamed him "the Rabbit"! Read more about it: Benjamin Built Speed by Chasing Rabbits.

Funeral

Glad I happened to look at Facebook yesterday morning because my cousin posted that my Aunt Jolene died with a link to her obituary. The funeral is tomorrow so I am planning on going. Funerals are like family reunions for my family--it's the only time we get together. She was 78 and died of Lymphoma.

Blogger Trouble

Don't know what's up with Blogger, but I tried changing my weekly quote on my blog but it wouldn't save it. Finally, I just deleted it and tried adding it from scratch instead of editing it, but that didn't save either. The verse I was going to change it to is "Our God is in heaven. He does what he wants."--Psalm 115:3 (ICB)

Skunk

On my way to work, walking to the bus stop, I saw a skunk! It was little but I didn't stop to take its picture. I warned a dog walker not to go that way because a skunk was in one of the front yards so she thanked me and kept going straight.

Quiet Time

I am enjoying Beth Moore's "David--Seeking a Heart Like His" so much! I am learning a lot and every day finding new verses to mark in my Bible that pop out at me. Starting off my day with an hour with my Lord which seems like 15 minutes is so precious and wonderful. I highly recommend this Bible study and encourage you to check out my Sunday Sharing posts from this starting in September. (Just use the search box or the archive list at the left of my blog to find them.)

New Place

Gerard gets to see his new work place today which I seem more excited about than him. He's a bit nervous about going a different route than usual--he is a creature of habit but I know he'll be fine! It's actually much easier to get to than where he works now!

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6 Friday Fragments (New things, food, bruise)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:

Camera Size Settings

I thought I'd use the VGA (email) setting on my camera for blog pics to save space and help them to load faster but found out that size doesn't work for our blog header at Grab a Book From Our Stack. It didn't go all the way across so had to up it to 2M.

Free Food

At work Monday I ate well. First, I had two pieces delicious chocolate cake brought in by a co-worker (thanks, Cher) leftover from her clam bake on the weekend. One was a ho ho cake--it had HoHos cut up on top. Then, because I rode the bus to work, I got a free lunch given by our green committee--Rascal House pizza, salad, and cookies. With eating all that (4 slices of pizza and two cookies), I didn't even need any supper!

Google Maps

I just discovered Googlemaps.com this week and really like it! I was impressed that as soon as I went to the site, I saw my location with a picture of my house! I looked up a location that was listed on the E-check notice we received that would be much closer for us to make sure it was the Lube Stop I thought it was. Then I looked up our favorite pizza place, Casamels in Parma, and did a review of it. Last Sunday when we had a missions emphasis at church, the youth pastor used Google Maps to show us where Haiti was. That's how I found out about it.

New Shows

We both liked watching Hostages, a new show. Did you like it?  Did you watch any other new shows you thought were good?  We also watched the sitcom about the Little League baseball family, but I was disappointed in that.  I didn't care for the mother's potty mouth or the grandfather's manner with his grandson.  My husband enjoyed The Michael J. Fox show too but I haven't watched that one yet.

Name Poems

Thanks to Mary-andering Creatively, I discovered a Name Poem Generator. You can choose a motivational poem or a funny poem. If you don't like it, you can click "generate poem" again and you will get something different.  I plan to post our name poems on Wednesday.

Strange Bruise

I discovered this bruise on my inside left thigh on Monday morning and it is still there! It never hurt or itched and I have no idea how I got it. It doesn't seem to be spreading either. It's a little tiny red dot on a very slight bump (like a mosquito bite) with a black and blue ring around it. Should I be concerned? Anyone have a clue as to what may have caused this?

GO TRIBE!  MAKE THE PLAYOFFS!

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Yippee--I Finally Got My Blog Background Changed!

Today I finally discovered the "secret" to saving my HTML code to change the background color of our blog from green to purple!  Hooray!  I was so frustrated but Sandee of Comedy Plus suggested that perhaps there was another place to save it.  So today, instead of just saving my changes to the template on that page, I also clicked on the preview and then saw a save tab there as well so clicked on that one and it worked!  I am relieved that I can finally take this off of the list of little things that bug me. Do you like the purple better than the green?

Thanks for your help, Sandee! What things have been bugging you lately?

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4 Friday Fragments (blogging, vacation, Bible Study, Sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:

Most Frustrating

The most frustrating thing this week was when I went to change my blog color. It showed the changes in the preview but would not save it! GRRRR! I tried saving it four times and it never worked! What's up with that?

Vacation

Last week we were on vacation so I didn't do as much blogging as usual and missed doing Friday Fragments for the first time in ages. In spite of Gerard's hernia operation on Thursday and four other doctor appointments between us, we still had a good time together enjoying our club seats at the Indians game on Monday, walking Abby at West Creek Reservation, going to both the Akron zoo and the Cleveland zoo, and watching TV together (OSU football, Indians, Red Sox, Browns and Patriots).

New Bible Study

I started a new Beth Moore Bible study last week, "David, Seeking a Heart Like His" and am really enjoying it! In my Sunday Sharing post this week, I'll share some things that I learned from it so far.

Sports

We are happy! The Patriots and Browns are both in first place! The Patriots won 2 so far (the only team who has) and the Browns are tie for first in their division even though they lost to Miami last week.

We are still hoping the Indians make the playoffs and are pretty sure the Red Sox will be in it.

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7 Friday Fragments - Feline Friday (cats, church, news, blogging, sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:

Cute Screen Saver

My cousin sent me an email with lots of cute animal pictures so I saved some I especially liked. This is one of them that I am now using as my screen saver picture on my computer:

The big cat looks like my Manny Boy

Vet Visit With Manny Boy

Last Saturday Manny went in for his routine checkup and although he has the beginnings of Gingervitis, we did not have to have him get his teeth cleaned. The new vet said we could give him an antibiotic (Clindacure) just once a day for 3 days--just had to put it on his food. She said it will kill the bacteria that is making his gums red (they looked dark pink to me). Other than that, all is good, even his weight! Wish we had a third person who could have videotaped us getting him into the carrier--that's always fun!

Horrible News

Three teens in Oklahoma shot a college student from Australia because they were bored? Said they did it just for fun! These teens are despicable! Here is the link to the news story I saw on Yahoo News this week: Police Say Teen Shot Australian Student in Oklahoma For Fun. What a sick world we live in!

Good News

I always get a bit nervous when I see mail from the hospital after I had a mammogram, but was relieved to see my latest results are normal! It will be four years now the first week of September since my lumpectomy to remove the cancer.

Bible Study

I signed up for another Beth Moore Bible study at our church starting September--A Heart Like David. I really enjoy her studies so am looking forward to it. Also, our Women of Wonder monthly meetings will start up again. This year they will have a morning one as well as the Thursday night one to hopefully get more ladies involved. It is primarily a fellowship time with good food, short devotional, a craft or other fun type activity and prayer. Are you starting any new Bible Study at your church?

New Blogs To Me

This week I found two new wonderful blogs: Through following up on a commenter I discovered: Mary-andering Creatively and through the Note Card Party blog hop, I found Sue at To Live, Love and Journal Our Days. I am now a new follower of both and have added them to my blogroll. Hope you will pay them a visit too!

Question of the Day

Hope to get to 1 more game this year!

My husband asked me which I am more excited about: the Indians chase to get into the playoffs or the beginning of the Browns season. My answer is, the Indians. I look forward to the Browns starting again, but as long as the Indians are in the race, my focus will be on them.
GO TRIBE! GO TRIBE! GO TRIBE! CATCH THOSE TIGERS! GO TRIBE! GO TRIBE! GO TRIBE! CATCH THOSE TIGERS!

New Design

I like that I can choose from lots of different designs at discover.com for my credit cards. Can you guess what I picked? If you read my blog regularly, I bet you can. One is a tuxedo cat and the other is a tabby. Just got the tabby one this week!

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5 Friday Fragments (news, blogging, books, vacation)

Friday Fragments is hosted by Unknown Mama for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post to give Mrs. 4444 a break for the summer. Here we go:

Iranians

I was surprised when reading Iranian-Americans and Expatriates Vote In Election (Yahoo News) that the U.S. Census figures show about 414,000 Iranians live in the U.S. California has the most. This seems quite high to me and made me wonder how that compares to other nationalities. After reading The Blood of Lambs, I am a lot more interested in the activity of Muslims in our country.

Feeling Discouraged?

Sometimes bloggers get a bit discouraged or at least disappointed when we don't get many comments; however, I suggest that at these times, you take a look at your page view stats. Just because there are only a few comments doesn't mean that those are the only people who took time to read your post. So, cheer up fellow bloggers and blog on! Also, look on the bright side, few comments mean less time for you spent in responding to them. Don't get me wrong here, we love getting comments too, just like anyone else, but I do not base the value of my blog on the number of comments we get.

Our Mayor

Our mayor's favorite genre is nonfiction. His favorite novelists are Tom Clancy and John Grisham; however, his favorite book is Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss. He said "It's fun to read and it's inspirational." He even has a copy in his office! I'm adding this to my "books to read" list.

Book Giveaway

In honor of Father's Day, I am doing a giveaway of the book I wrote in memory of my dad, My Funny Dad, Harry over on our book blog.  Just be the first to comment saying you would like it.

Busy Week

5 gr. boys basketball

I had a great time helping in our Sports Camp this week coaching 5th grade boys basketball and assisting the 1st and 2nd grade boys soccer coaches, but am tired and recuperating today with a relaxing free day. We had the largest attendance ever--over 900 and for the first time had to turn people away because all the sports were filled to capacity, in both the morning and afternoon sessions.  


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6 Things We Learned This Week (animals, contests, Boston Bruins, blogging, funny)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

New Website

Mr. Wonderful discovered a website where you can follow authors and it lets you know when they have a new book out. It's authortracker.com. I tried registering several but soon found that all authors are not included.

My Funny Dad, Harry

I decided to re-post some of my old posts on My Funny Dad, Harry blog because I started it back in 2007 and figure there have been lots of new bloggers since then who haven't seen them. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the share buttons added over there like I have here and on our book blog.

Dog Wants Kitty

This is the funniest video I saw this week and hope you will check out adoptable kittens at a shelter near you if you could give a couple a good home. This is kitten season and shelters get an abundance of kittens in the spring. (Our Spunky Doodle was born in the spring.) Kittens are very entertaining, amusing and grow into nice cats that become great companions! It's nice to get two so they can play with each other.

Favorite Vet Contest

I first heard about this America's Favorite Veterinarian Contest over at The Conscious Cat where you can read all about it. The deadline is June 1 and I intend to enter Dr. Hart (saved our first cat, Moe) and Dr. Busack (saved our sweet dog, Abby).

Blogging Surprise

I happened to look at our blogging stats this week and was surprised we actually had readers overseas so added the translate button widget. I think this is because of the different blog hops I participate in.

Bruins Pregame

The Bruins pregame show is something to see at their first game after the Boston Marathon bombings. The Fans actually sang the National Anthem!  Boston Strong!

One more:

Followers

I just noticed my Google Connect Followers widget is empty! It saws I have no followers! Did y'all quit following me all at once??? I still see it on other blogs. Oh, never mind, now they showed up again. Wonder what's going on!

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5 Friday Fragments (food, humor, heart attack, blogging, computer)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Alternative Cooking

I heard of a new way to make a grilled cheese sandwich: turn the toaster on its side, insert two slices of bread, one with cheese on it and put them together when it pops out. I haven't tried this yet because I would think the cheese would get all over the toaster when it melted, but I may have to update my video: Making a Grilled Cheese Sandwich Without a Stove.

Ambrosia

At my Sunday morning Bible study, I had a delicious treat called ambrosia and the best part is that it's easy enough for even me to make! Yes, I'm going to give it a try and will post about it. The main ingredient is whipped cream and all you do is mix in some pineapple chunks, pistachio pudding mix, marshmallows, chopped nuts, and some cherries if you like.

Heart Attack Symptoms for Women

This is a humorous video with an important message:

Find out how this video may have just saved a life at Go Red For Women.  The symptoms are shortness of breath, nausea, chest pressure, aches, dizziness, and jaw pain.  This video is probably how I would be.  We put off calling 9-1-1 because we think it's nothing and we'll be fine.

Feeling Guilty

I keep telling myself that I do not have to post something every day, but when I don't, I feel a bit guilty. Especially when I have ideas in my mind about things I could do. I just don't always have the time. I could have done a good post with Mama Kat's prompt about a ride in a limo, but just didn't get to it in time. Thursday morning I linked up an old post about an Easter memory from our "My Funny Dad, Harry" blog (Easter was Great Except For the Stupid Hats) and spent some time tweaking the layout. The gadget with the links across the top wasn't letting me delete the one that is no longer working--what a waste of time that was! Then I didn't have time to visit my usual blog buddies.

New Computer

I got a new computer at work--they replace them every three years! My new monitor is huge! At home, I am still using the emachine PC that I got for my dad in 2006. I hesitate getting a new one because I dread reloading all the software and I don't even know if my anti-virus program would be transferable. I feel so ignorant when it comes to technology now.

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Blogger Most Popular Post Gadget Mystery

When I updated my blog colors for spring, I decided to try out the popular post gadget offered by Blogger (located on the left sidebar) just to see if it shows the same ones that I do based on number of comments received (located on the right sidebar).  It does not.  So, that begs the question:  How does Blogger determine the most popular posts?  My next theory was to see if it is based on page views.

But alas, it's apparently not based on page views either because the post it showed with the lowest number of pageviews was "September is for Taking New Classes" which had 324 views.  However, 20 other posts that had more than this!

My all-time most popular post list based on number of pageviews would actually be this:

What's Your Old West Cowboy Name? (1,582)
We Entered the Cato-o-lympics (870)
Craft Time--Making a Baby Blanket Without Sewing (735)
A Sample Taste Makes Sale at GNC (655)
The Fat Stutter (647)
Canine Good Citizen--Congrats Abby!  (594)
Decorative Wooden Match Stick Crosses (544)
Salvaging the Computer Keyboard (524)
A Letter to Mom (524)
Shopping at Three Amish Stores (517)

(If you would like to read any of these, just use the search box above.)

I could just post this list with links like I did for my list based on most comments, but I really like how the gadget shows a thumbnail and a snippet from the post.  It has three options:  all-time, the last 30 days, the last 7 days so I thought perhaps, the all-time was just too big a range to handle properly.  Therefore, I tried again, choosing the 30-day time frame.  This didn't work either even choosing to list just five instead of ten.  It showed posts that were much older than 30 days so finally I chose the last option of just 7 days.  Guess what, it showed two from the last seven days but still included one from a long time ago.   I give up!  It would be a great gadget if it worked right!

So, any ideas on how this gadget determines the most popular posts?  I would really like to know!


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7 Friday Fragments (charities, dogs, fitness, TV, Google, Sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Diabetes Research

You can now help fund Diabetes Research for free just by clicking on The Diabetes Site which is a new tab on the animal rescue site (among others). They also added a tab for Greater Good-your click will help send two girls to school for a year. The whole website has been redesigned and works faster now. Check it out!

Dog Age

Dog age translated to people years is not as simple as 1 dog year = 7 people years according to the Dog Owner's Manual published by Quirk Books posted at Dogster because the size of the dog also factors into it. According to their chart, Abby is 8 in dog years but 54 in people years.

Good Shape

When we had to evacuate our building at work this week, I learned I was in better shape than I thought. I wasn't winded, my knees, legs and hips all worked well without any pain and no stiffness or pain the next day either after walking down 29 flights of stairs! (For more details, see my post: Your Attention Please.)

The Biggest Loser

I am so happy to see Danni in the final 3 because she started out so badly and changed dramatically. She really looks good now and has a great attitude too. She stuck with Jiliian all the way through and developed a bond of friendship with her. For several weeks, she was the only one on her team and kept having big enough losses to beat the other two teams. She was also good in the challenges and I'm pulling for her! The audience can vote this week for the third finalist between Jackson and Joe and nbc.com (I voted for Joe.)

The Bible Mini Series

This week in "The Bible" mini series on the History channel, it was quite an exciting week with the prophets and kings and battles against the Philistines. I think my favorite scene was the battle of Jericho. I liked the actor who played King David but didn't like that Nathan didn't tell David the parable when confronting him about his sin with Bathsheba like it's recorded in the scripture. I liked David's reaction to the parable. What did you think of it?

Google Reader

Thanks to a couple of my Facebook friends, I just saw that the Google Reader RSS feed will be gone as of July 1! Although I do not use this a lot, I do use it some and have it available on my blog. This is what bugs me about technology--it's constantly changing! I already feel like I'm behind the times again, not having a tablet, iphone or even a clue as to how either works or how to use one. Guess there are alternatives according to "8 Google Reader Alternatives That Will Ease Your RSS Pain."   In Transitioning from Google Reader to Feedly, it says if you give Feedly a try before July 1, "you'll be able to migrate seamlesly."  I remember a time when this news would not have bothered me one little bit!

UPDATE 3/16/13:
I just realized, I don't ever use Google reader.  I use the Blogger reader (thought it was the same thing but it's not).  Yea!  I noticed there was a link on the right of my feeds that says "view in Google reader."  That's when I finally got a clue that I don't use Google reader.  Ha, ha.

Sports

I'm really liking the additions the Browns and Indians have made to their teams. I'm actually excited about the Indians this year, so far! The College Basketball March Madness tournament bracket is announced Sunday. Still deciding if I want to enter one at work or not. It's like throwing away $10, but it's fun being in it the first couple days.

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6 Friday Fragments (Blogs, TV, Animals, Sports)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

New Blog

I discovered our youth pastor has begun blogging at Daniel JF Adams--The Life and Times of a Youth Pastor. Having once been a youth director and still having a love for teens, I found his posts interesting. Please visit his blog and welcome him to "Blogland."

Hockey and The Biggest Loser Return

Gerard is really looking forward to hockey starting again. Does anyone else care? He loves the Boston Bruins! Me, I'm glad The Biggest Loser is on again and Jillian is back on the show.  Click the link to see my post about it including some suggestions on how I think the show could be improved. 

Horses

I was surprised to see Mountain Woman's horses enjoying the snow in Vermont when it's so cold there but she said, "Horses love cold weather as long as they are fed and watered. No bugs bothering them."

PJ Party Again

Love you, Abby!

Well, Abby woke us up again last night around 1:30 and would not let me sleep. Even when I went on the couch, she still would not settle down until finally, after about 45 minutes, she hopped up with me and then laid ON me. It was cute but Gerard wasn't eager to take pictures. We had a nice bonding time but I did not get much sleep.

New Coach

The Browns have another new head coach--Rob Chudzinski is back. He was with the Browns in 2007 and 2008 as offensive coordinator and was with the North Carolina Panthers last year. I wish they would have brought Mangini back or offered the job to Jim Tressle (OSU's former coach). Oh well, what do I know? We'll see what
happens.

New Year's Resolutions

I am happy to report I am doing well with my new year's resolutions. How about you?

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6 Friday Fragments (fun facts, GoodReads, blogging, pine cones, exchanges, Question)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

Pine Cones

Our Giant Eagle is selling scented pine cones by the doors. We used some for our puppet show. I'm still considering if I should buy some for our home.

December 13

Not only is December 13 my birthday (see yesterday's post for details), but thanks to Flowers of Quiet Happiness, I discovered that it is also National Cocoa day! I love all the fun things I learn through blogging!

Cookie Exchanges

At our Women of Wonder meeting at church, there was a workshop on "Tips for a Successful Cooke Exchange." Rule no. 2 knocked me out of participating right away, even if I did bake: "No plain chocolate chip cookies, cookie mixes, no-bakes, meringues or bars." I'll be posting the rest of "the rules" this week (hopefully).

Addicted

Clearly, I am addicted to blogging. I really had planned to take a break from it for this month of December, telling myself few people will bother reading it anyway because of the holidays coming but it's half over and I'm still at it. Guess I just can't help myself! I am cutting back on all the link-ups just because they take extra time. I feel obligated to visit others who link up too. Still even doing a few still though as you can see. Old habits die hard.

GoodReads Scared Me

When I went on Goodreads this week, I was shocked to find ALL our books gone as well as our little profile picture and the welcome only for Gerard! I didn't know what to make of that but immediately clicked on "help." This situation was not mentioned in any of the FAQ so I hit "contact us" and described my problem. I check our blog to see if the widget was still showing our books, and to my relief, it was. Then when I got out of the contact box, everything showed up again like normal. Did this ever happen to you?

CD Player Problem

I used my new tunewriter to copy a couple records onto a Fuji CD-R and a Memorex CD-RW and had limited success. They will play on my computer and on the tunewriter but not our CD player and not in the car CD player. Anyone have any suggestions as to what CDs would work?

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Friday Fragments From Me and My Hubby

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Heart Attacks

   According to last Friday's Free Kibble game, cat owners are 40% less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners (yet another good reason to adopt a cat!) I was surprised that percentage was so high. I wonder if you have two cats, if it would go up to 80%?
   

2. Fall Festival

   We donated candy and now we are off today so we can do our Saturday "run-around" so can can help set up and run games at Parma Heights Baptist Church fall festival. Lots of kids come in from our community and I always enjoy seeing their costumes and chatting with the parents. It's a fun day with lost of high energy! If you are in the area, stop in anytime between 12:30 and 3:00. Related post from archives: Church's Fall Festival Brings Back Memories of Dad.
 

3. Gorgeous Day

   
   
   On my day off on Wednesday, we had a perfect weather day here in Cleveland and I debated, should I go to the zoo or take Abby to the park? The zoo won and I had a wonderful time taking pictures of the beauty of fall and I joined Abby and Gerard on the evening walk before going to my Love and Respect class. It was one of those days I hated to see end, in spite of having to take out an hour to go for a bone density test. If it hadn't been for that though, I would have been stuck inside at work most of the day!

4. Cutest Post of the Week

   I came across this cute photoshoot about cats and pumpkins over at Words, Words, Words called Naughtiness and Non-Cooperation that I hope you will check out after I spent about four hours trying to find it again to share it with you here. Out of desperation, I wrote a post asking for HELP!

5. Browsing History

   Okay, I knew the tab was there but really never used it before.  Kathy over at The Junk Drawer suggested I try it and just 20 minutes later, I found that post mentioned above. What a time-saver when you are trying to find something you read days before! Thanks, Kathy!

Yesterday, Gerard told me he wished he had a blog of his own. The problem is that it would be me doing all the posting for him and it would be another one for me to promote and maintain. That is why I welcome him to contribute here. It also helps me have something to post usually five times a week and provides an activity we can enjoy together. He had a lot on his mind this week so here are some more Fragments from my husband: 

1. No Ice Hockey

   I really miss the Bruins playing hockey! The only bright side to this is that we are saving on our DirectTV bill.

2. 

   Into the Fire--audio book

   Taylor Swift

   Taylor Swift has a new CD out. I love her music!

3. 
   Audio Books

   I am listening to my first audio book in the car on my way to and from work. I love it! Audio books rock! Karen doesn't care for them. Do you use them?

4. Going Digital

   NEWSWEEK magazine has decided to go all digital. Newspapers and magazines will soon be all gone. This is sad.

5. NFL Overtime Rule

   
   
   I hate the new NFL overtime rule where both teams have to get the ball. It takes the excitement of the sudden death out of it.

6. Laser Therapy

   Our vet offers laser therapy for dogs that is supposed to help lessen the pain of arthritis. Has anyone tried it on their dog and do you think it helps?

7. Presidential Debates

   Do you think all these presidential debates are really needed? I think most people will not be swayed by who won or lost the debate. Am I right? I don't bother watching at all, do you?

I chose this as my best post of the week for Monday Meet Up linky party.
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So Frustrating: Hunting With No Success--HELP! (UPDATED)

Source: Stock Photo

Thanks to Kathy's comment, I found it:  It's titled Naughtiness and Non-Cooperation over at Words, Words, Words.  I did have it added to my blogroll and looked over there several times because the background matched what I remembered, but couldn't find the post.  I feel so much better now AND I learned how helpful that history tab can be!  Thank you, Kathy!  (Updated 8:15 p.m. 10/25/12)

Just a few days ago I came across a really cute post about a blogger deciding to do a photoshoot with cats and pumpkins. She had cute pictures up which showed the cats being uncooperative and being distracted by a leaf. One stayed on the porch and wouldn't even come over to the pumpkins. Finally, she resorted to taking a shot of a bunny rabbit with the pumpkins. I thought I linked to it somewhere and thought I added it to my blogroll. I wanted to give it a shout out on my Friday Fragments this week, but when I went back to find it, I couldn't after spending two hours looking for it. ARRGH, where was that? Anyone else know?

I tried all my new blogroll additions, checking out the blogs of new commenters, Googling it, checked my Facebook and Twitter pages for it, looked back through some of the Camera Critters, Monday Mischief and Pet Pride blog hops and came up with zip. I think it had a black background, but I'm not positive. I can't remember the blogger's name or the blog name. By doing this post, I'm showing how desperate I am, I know. It's a long shot, but can anyone tell me where I saw this? I can't remember the title of the post either. surprise! Surprise!

It is such a cute post and so well done that I really wanted to share it.

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6 Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Shakespeare Made Easy

   While reading about Tony Danza's rookie year of teaching 10th grade English, I learned there is a website that actually gives modern English versions of Shakespeare's works. He used it to help him teach that unit. I was curious so checked out No Fear Shakespeare and found it also includes some other literature as well.

2. Note Card Pary

   This week I found just what I need, another blog hop! [sarcasm] This one though is just the third Wed. of the month so I think I may participate next month. All you do is choose for of your own pictures that you think would look good for note cards. This is hosted at A Haven for Vee.

3. Giveaway

   I entered a cat t-shirt giveaway at the Conscious Cat. Hope I win the ADOPT shirt that says "Those who say money can't buy happiness never paid an adoption fee." It was between that one and "Real Men Love Cats."

4. No Easy Day

   No Easy Day is The NEW YORK TIMES No. 1 book: the true story of the soldier who killed Bin Laden. My husband is looking forward to reading it.

5. NFL Tickets

   

   Enjoying Football on DirectTV

   
   The average price of an NFL ticket is $77.36 (for 8 home games and two pre-season games). I'll stick with the Direct TV NFL Sunday ticket where I can see all the games for $300 payable in 6 installments.

6. Soda Pop in NYC

   New York City has put a ban on 20 oz. soda pop drinks. No big deal to us since we live in Ohio and Gerard prefers 12 oz. cans anyway.

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5 Things We Learned This Week (pets, blogging)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Vet Visit

   

   12+ pounds, I ate too much!

   The vet was not happy with Spunky's weight gain of 3 lbs. in 6 months. She won't be eating Manny's food anymore because I won't be leaving it out through the day. 
   
   Abby, our dog who takes hour long walks, has severe arthritis in her knees and hips, in fact, they said if she were younger they'd recommend a total hip replacement! She is now on Metacam and are considering monthly injections of Adequan. It's very expensive though, anyone have any experience with this?

2. Fun Quiz

   I took a fun quiz at BrainFall.com and learned I am like a St. Bernard:

   You are a St. Bernard. You are a diligent worker. You are the one that usually takes on the tougher of jobs. Combined with your courage, you are a remarkably admirable companion.

3. Blog Feed to Email

   I learned from Mama's Losin' It how to control the time of my email feed for my blogs and how to include the name of my latest blog post in the subject line. When making these changes, I found out I only have 8 subscribers to this blog and 6 for my book blog. Subscribing by email is a convenient way to get your absolute favorite blog postings delivered right to your mail box. How about trying it out on mine!

4. Comments For Charity

   For June and July we received 416 comments so donated $208 to the Wounded Warrior Project! Wow! Thanks to all who comment! Our charity for August and September is Best Friends.
 

5. We Get To Vote! (updated 8/4/12)

   You can vote now for who you think is the best entry in Synchronized Snoozing (we voted for Chloe and Moe)

This weekend's Pet Olympic Events:

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3

Would have been Abby's entry but was too late to enter chewing

Digging ~ http://wethreedoxies.blogspot.com/
Marathon Chewing ~ http://murphyandstanley.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4
Best Nippy Faces ~ http://troublintimes.blogspot.com/
Fierceful Yawning ~ http://catboys.paulchens.org/
Keep Away ~ http://savetheboxers.blogspot.com/



SUNDAY, AUGUST 5
Camera Avoidance KaeKwonDo~http://mayziegal.wordpress.com/
Equestrian ~ http://rubieadventures.blogspot.com/

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during August and September to Best Friends, a wonderful no kill animal rescue.

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7 Things We Learned This Week (feet, health, photography, dogs, blogging, safety, tragedy)

Friday Fragments is hosted my Half-Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post. Here we go:

1. Feet

   
   
   
   As we get older, we need a bigger size shoe because our arches tend to fall. I used to be a 6 1/2 for the longest time but now wear a 7 or even in some shoes a 7 1/2. The shoe saleswoman at Lucky Shoes told us this tidbit when Gerard bought a new pair of tennis shoes in a size bigger than what he used to get.

2. Annual Checkup

   Our doctor said Gerard has perfect anatomy and used his collarbone to demonstrate to his intern a procedure for inserting a catheter. He marked up his neck while showing her.  It was also the first time my blood pressure was lower than Gerard's.  In fact, I think I set a record low at 110!

3. Photography Tips

   

   Sunrise on way to my bus stop

   
   I found 8 Tips for Photographing Sunrises and Sunsets by by photographer Rob Sheppard over at National Wildlife (www.nwf.org). A couple that stood out to me were to (1) check your white balance setting and change it too "cloudy" or "sunny" instead; have the horizon at the bottom of your shot or not at all to show the sky; (3) take some shots before, during and after since the colors change, and (4) use your zoom with a wide angle view.

4. Dog of Kings

   When playing Freekibble, I discovered a dog breed I never heard of before--Kuvasz. It's a big, strong, white furry dog called a dog of kings. Check the link to learn more and see the picture.

5. ATM

   Over at Jodi's Journey I learned that if a robber forces you to withdraw money from an ATM, you can notify police by entering your PIN backwards!

6. Scheduling Calendar

   Blogger took my suggestion and revised the calendar for scheduling posts to have the week start with Sunday as most calendars do. (It used to start with Monday.)

7. Tragedy

   Our youth minister's parents and sisters live in Colorado Springs and had to evacuate due to the wildfire there. They most likely will lose their home!

(We are donating 50 cents for each legitimate comment we receive on all our blogs during June and July to The Wounded Warrior Project which helps wounded warriors and their families returning from current conflicts.)

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