Our Favorite Books We Read In January 2010

Gerard's Favorite:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

A Wonderful Book!
There are only a handful of books you read that your are going to remember years later and this is one of them. I LOVED this book! It goes fast and is almost impossible to put down! It tells the story of Liesel Meminger, who loved to read books, but that is just one part of the story. There are so many story lines in The Book Thief that keep your interest. Just read this book, enjoy the story. It captures the human spirit that I hope is in all of us!

Thank you, Jenny Mac at "Let's Have A Cocktail" for recommending this book to us. Karen is reading it now.

Karen's Favorite:

The Hope Chest by Wanda E. Brunstetter

I enjoyed The Hope Chest by Wanda E. Brunstetter about an Amish family whose eldest daughter left the faith to marry an Amish man who chose to leave the Amish community because he liked the modern things. An Amish man wanted to court her but she kept putting him off and encouraged him to court her younger sister instead who she felt was a better match for him. Her younger sister, Rachel, a tomboy who climbed trees and liked bird watching, actually did hope to marry him some day. Of the three books in the "Brides of Lancaster" series, I liked this one best. It wasn't as depressing as the others I liked the main characters better in this one too. It's a light, quick read.

Read more: What We've Just Read

Tweet This

8 Things I Learned This Week-#56

Selling Your Blog

At Daily Blog Tips I found an informative post: "Where and How I Can Sell My Blog." One place is flippa.com and another is digital point. I suggest you go read the article first so you can get the "how" part.

Cost of Femara

I got my new prescription filled for that pill I have to take for five years to keep the Cancer from returning and it costs $412 per month! This is TERRIBLE! I'm bumming out over this-AARRRGH! The good news is once I reach my $2400 deductible which at this rate will be (July), the rest of the year will be covered all by my insurance. Next year I can change to a plan where I just pay $35 a month for it. This is one instance where it would have been nice to have seen the future in advance!

Psychopaths

After reading Columbine by Dave Cullen, I learned what psychopaths are like:

Psychopaths are capable of behavior that normal people find not only horrific but baffling. They lie for amusement and take great personal pride in their deceptions and extract tremendous joy from them. They are distinguished by two characteristics: The first is a ruthless disregard for others: they will defraud, maim, or kill for the most trivial personal gain. The second is an astonishing gift for disguising the first--it‘s the deception that makes them so dangerous. The fundamental nature of a psychopath is a failure to feel. Their brain processes emotional responses differently.

Pet Poisons

Playing my cat & dog trivia game this week, I learned that the top poison for dogs in 2009 were human medications. We always keep ours in a high cupboard and never leave them out on the counter. Here's the Link to the article Top 10 Pet Poisons of 2009.

Poor Passwords

I read one of the Yahoo news articles from THE NEW YORK TIMES this week about poor passwords people use and was relieved when mine were not on the list. Check to see if yours are listed at "If Your Password Is 123456, Just Make It Hack Me." I got a tip from a Webroot email for coming up with a strong passwork that I thought is pretty good:

To create strong passwords, try thinking of a sentence that includes a number. Then, use the first letter of each word as your password. For example: "My favorite TV show is 24" would give you the password: MfTVsi24.

Bar Soap

At Seven Clown Circus I learned that if you open your new bars of soap and allow the air to make them hard, they last much longer that way.

Dogs & Owners

Our Friday Fragment hostess left me the following comment on last week's post:

Mrs. 4444: The info on dog walkers is great. What do they say about people (like me!) who just put their dog on the treadmill?! (I thought she was kidding so exchanged the following emails):

me: No, you don't put your dog on the treadmill! LOL

Mrs. 4444: Yes, we do, and he loves it! The vet loves it, too; it's easier on the joints! He does get regular walks, too, but hardly ever in the winter.

me: This is funny--you should definitely do a post with a video or picture of your dog on his treadmill walk!

Mrs 4444 dog really does use the treadmill! Here is a link to the short video she posted of her dog, Cooper: When Dogs Feel Fat.

Firefox Seminar

Kathy at the Junk Drawer kindly left a link in the comments on my Friday Fragment post last week to a www.lehigh.edu/computing/docs/firefox/seminar.html she did. It's a comprehensive look at Firefox and you may learn something you didn't know and get more use out of it. Thanks, Kathy!

Click here for more "Friday Fragments."
Tweet This

10 Things That Bug Me

Coupons/rebates: Why can't things just be priced down to begin with instead of making us feel we get a bargain with a coupon or rebate. It's a fuss to bother with those things.

Cold, cloudy days: Enough with winter! I would like to be warm and not have to run the furnace. I'd like to see some sun and be able to go outside again without a coat.

Solicitations: I give generously to many causes but do not like to get these solicitations in the mail constantly. The most annoying one was for Cancer Research immediately after I paid a big medical bill. They sure didn't waste any time hitting me up for a donation.

Estimated Utility Bills: These really rile me up! They are always higher than our usual actual bills. If the utility company doesn't want to bother reading the meter, then they shouldn't expect payment that month and just wait until they can make a reading. This month we had both our gas and electric bills estimated! They can charge whatever they want that way and I resent it.

Outrageously High Costs For Prescription Drugs: I love the fact that two of my prescriptions I can get for just $4 a month at WalMart and Giant Eagle so I assumed my new Femara pill would be like that too, but boy was I wrong! It costs me $412 a month and I have to take this stupid pill for five years! I am so upset about this, I hope I don't go into shock or have a heart attack!

Litterbugs: How hard is it to throw paper and junk into a trash can instead of on the ground, especially at a neighborhood park that has trash cans conveniently located all around it? Sometimes when Gerard and I go to play tennis at the Forestwood courts, we actually go around picking up empty bottles and stuff that people just leave laying on the courts.

2-hour TV Shows: The three I specifically am referring to are Survivor specials, The Biggest Loser and The Bachelor. All three of these keep repeating things we've already seen before which really annoys me along with the lengthy commercials that seam to go on forever. My favorite show which is just an hour long and at the end I say, "It's over already!" is Friday Night Lights. This one my husband and I both watch together and the best part is that it is commercial free. I'm not sure everyone gets this show though. We get it on DirectTV.

Anonymous spam comments: I'm sure all bloggers will agree with me on this one! Why can't anonymous people get a life and quit wasting my time with spam comments. It's really annoying and I just delete them so they don't really get anything out of them. I don't understand why they waste their time leaving them. I don't like wasting my time but don't want to block out legitimate commenters who wish to remain anonymous.

Long Lines At Giant Eagle: I refuse to use the self-checkout lines because I want people to keep their jobs. It really bugs me though when I have to wait longer in line to check out than it took me to do my shopping. On a few occasions, I just needed to pick up two or three items and although express lanes were there, no cashier was at them. They only have two or three cashiers at a time but many lanes. I wish they would get more cashiers working at the same time so lines would move faster.

Getting work to do just before it's time to go home: My boss is good about not doing this to me. He knows I have to get out on time to catch my bus or else it's a 40 minute wait for the next one. I start at 8:30 a.m. and leave at 5:00 p.m. Often when I back up for certain other attorneys I'll get work to do right up to the last minute. Then I have to scurry around getting my things and often forget something and have to run for the bus. This is the thing on this list that bugs me the most. The only thing worse is when I miss my bus!

Do these things bother you too or am I the only one? What else bugs you?

Tweet This

Gerard's Thoughts On "The Bachelor" Show

Here are my notes as I took as I watched the show:

The RV date was a good idea! Gia got the first date. None of the girls thought Gia could handle the outdoor date. "Spin the Bottle"--that's a date? Thought that was a kissing game. Glad Gia got a rose. That's good! Now that I know Gia better, she's okay. Maybe lose the giggle laugh though.

The dune buggy cars are way cool! Jake a "hero" for getting the car unstuck? Give me a break!

Enough wine already--every date!

The girls clean up very nice--looking real good!

I don't think Ashleigh is the one--Jake knows it!

Tenley gets a rose--I guessed that! Kathryn is bitter on Jake and with good reason!
Ella goes home--too bad. When was the last time a woman with a kid won? I think never! Kathryn goes home too! She should have known, even she said he hasn't paid her much attention!

Why is Jessie so worried about Vienna? Shouldn't she be worried about herself?

Ali gets a rose--yea! (I see she's wearing yellow again but she looks good in that dress!)

Corrie gets a rose--good!

Jake takes forever to give out the roses--he wanted to be the bachelor so get on with it already! At the beginning he says how hard it is to send one home, and then he decides to send two home--duh! I would have sent all the last three home--Vienna too!

Not surprised Ashley and Jessie are going home. Hello Jessie--you're going home, not Vienna!

Other than Vienna, is anybody happy?

For more posts about "The Bachelor" head over to Mama's Losin' It

Tweet This

What Does Your Name Mean?

Once a year when we have a Sunday School lesson that includes names of people or places and what they mean I like to look up the names of everyone in my class to see what their names mean and share that with them. They seem to like that and it’s fun to do. Last Sunday I had a lesson like this. It was about Jacob (“heal grabber”) having his named changed to Israel (“wrestles with God”) and his special place, Bethel (“House of God”) that he went back to with his family to build an altar and worship God.

Here is the list of the boys names I have in my class:

two Jacobs (heal grabber/trickster; Jewish origin)

Ian (God is gracious; Jewish origin)

Nicholas (Victorious People; Greek origin)

Kyle (narrow piece of land; Scottish origin) He wasn’t too pleased with his but he said it also means generous.

Timmy (To honor God; Greek origin)

Jesse (God’s gift; Jewish origin)

Steven (crown; Greek origin)

two Matthews (gift of God; Jewish origin)

Ryan (Little King; Irish origin)

Unfortunately, I forgot to look up Ryan’s name and felt bad that we didn’t know his. I looked it up as soon as I got home on www.parents.com/baby-names/search. I sent his dad a message on Facebook asking him to let Ryan know what his name meant.

At this site you can put in a name and get the meaning and origin or you can even put in a meaning and it gives you names. If you had the opportunity to choose a name for someone, what meaning would you like them to have? This is harder to do. I tried animal lover, kind to animals, competitor, athletic and no names popped up for any of these.

My name, "Karen", means pure and is from Greek origin. I looked up "Gerard" and his means brave spearman and is from English origin. I think that is a more interesting meaning than mine. Being the animal lover that I am, I also checked our pets names: “Manny” means God with us and is a variation on Emmanuel, “Abby” means a father’s joy, which she certainly is (both are Jewish origin) and “Spunky” wasn’t listed but it means spirited and courageous according to the dictionary which indeed she is! I knew what that name meant when I gave it to her because of her personality. If I had been a boy, I would have been named Keith which means wood.

You may want to check into what a name means before giving it to a child in case they get a teacher like me one day that does this.

This was one of the prompts from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop (that I did a little late) but that's okay.

Tweet This

Benefits Of Using My Balance Ball

I got the balance ball for my birthday and have been using it every day! I want to be able to workout at home because I don't want to have to pay for gym memberships when I feel I don't go enough to make it worthwhile. Also, I use the balance ball when I'm at my computer so I can be a little more active by rolling on it, twisting on it and doing sit-ups and use the dumbells on it while waiting for things to load.

I just push the computer chair off to the side and my cats make use of it. I love it because they are closer and easier to reach now and I just love petting them. They seem to generally like it too and they patiently wait their turn to blog but enjoy watching me. Normally, just one comes at a time but over the weekend, both of them shared the chair! So this is the added benefit of my Balance ball.

I have also used it while watching a fitness show on FitTV that was a real workout. That is a good station for fitness because they have different trainers and a wide variety of exercises so I don't get bored doing the same things all the time, which really isn't good anyhow. With my balance ball also came a big poster with exercises targeting different areas. I did the legs and hips. I think I will get a lot of use out of this so it was worth the money. Those sessions with a live trainers are expensive and so are gym memberships if you don't go at least three times a week!

I highly recommend the balance ball! What exercise equipment do you especially like?

Tweet This

8 Things I Learned This Week #55

Book Recommendations

For book lovers, I found a site of book reviews with links to other book bloggers who just post book reviews at "Here Be Reviews".

HTML

I found a cute post over at The Bumbles Blog explaining HTML in a fun way using a gator analogy.

How To Help When Disaster Strikes

You can donate at The American Red Cross site to help people hit by disasters to recover from the destruction and devastation. You don't have to fee helpless. This past week I went there to donate to help the relief effort in Haiti.

Exercise

In the PLAIN DEALER "Parade" insert, I learned of a study the average gym goer works out less than two hours a week, but the average dog owner spends eight hours a week walking. When pressed for time, dog owners still walk their dogs but gym goers often blow off working out. I know I enjoy walking more since we got our dog. I can't remember ever going to the park in the winter just to walk through the snow before we got a dog. Read about the fun we had at the park: We Went Squirrel Chasing

Infoplease.com

At infopleaase.com/year you can click on a year to get a summary of highlights. Want to find out what happened the year you were born? Go on, give it a try! There is just tons of information at this site. I thought it was very interesting.

Prayer Request

Over at Cheaper By The Half Dozen Rene Morris' cousin, James, has colon cancer and she is asking the blogging community to pray for his healing. This blogger was the first one to read my book, (My Funny Dad, Harry) and her blog was one of the first I found. She is also an young adult fiction author of Sonshine Girls--Summer Secret which I read and enjoyed.

Computer Virus Protection

At Comedy Plus I learned that Norton is not very good at protecting computers from viruses and Malware, but that AVG free version 9.0 is much better. Instructions included that you should go to wwww.download.com first which takes you to cnet where you then type in what you want to download such as "AVG free version 9.0." Also, it confirmed to me that IE is not a good browser to use and the Firefox is the better choice. I wish I knew a computer guru who could take care of this kind of thing for me. UPDATED: Sandy informed me that "Lavasoft Ad-Aware is the program that catches the malware/adware. It's free too."

Crafts

I learned over at Make and Takes post Edible Playdoh That You Will Want To Eat that you can actually make playdoh that you want to eat! It's made with peanut butter, honey and powdered sugar. What a great craft for kids--as long as they aren't allergic to peanuts.

Click here for more Friday Fragments.

Tweet This

10 Things We Do To Fight Off Boredom (Writer's Workshop)

Here is a list of ten things that both Gerard and I do to fight off boredom:

10. Rearrange furniture, our drawers, or a closet.

9. Pull some weeds in the warm seasons or knock down icicles from the gutters in the winter.

8. Watch a good movie (Hallmark and Lifetime channels), show (Friday Night Lights, The Bachelor, Survivor, The Biggest Loser) or sporting event on TV (football, basketball, hockey, baseball).

7. Read comments and participate in on-line forums at Cleveland.com, Shelfari, Book Blogs, Readers & Authors and My Space.

6. Go to the zoo.

5. Read a book (What have you read lately?).

4. Blog: Explore new blogs, write a blog post or make an entertaining video.

3. Exercise.

2. Go play tennis.

and, of course,

1. Play with our cats or take the dog for a walk or to the park.

Which of these do you do? Any other suggestions? For a laugh, check out the list of things my dad used to do to keep from being bored at my other blog: "My Funny Dad, Harry." I bet that will give you some new ideas of things to do.

This post has been brought to you by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. Head over there to find more or join in yourself.

Tweet This

Gerard's Thoughts On The Bachelor: Yay, Michelle Is gone!

Here are my random thoughts on the show:

1 on 1 date with Vienna went well. I wouldn't bungee jump for anybody--glad Karen will not do that! Vienna got a rose, okay by me.

So tired of Michelle whining ALL THE TIME!

"Cloud Jake"? Give me a break-LOL! I forget who said that. Anyone remember?

Ella got 1 on 1 date--good for her! Sea World is a GREAT DATE and was an AWESOME SURPRISE when Ella's son showed up.

Ashleigh crying at a comedy club, why? No. 1 drama queen. Did not like the comedy club date--was stupid.

Only connection Michelle has is with herself--too much!

Elizabeth says Michelle needs a therapist--spot on!

Jake wants to go home and doesn't give a rose out to anyone on the group date? Then why are you the bachelor????

Glad Michelle got kicked out by Jake--good for him and for us!

Jake should kiss Elizabeth off the show!!! Glad she did not get a rose! Whacky!

Vienna, you have a rose--why are you pushing in on Elizabeth's time??????? Not a good move! Even though Elizabeth was talking too much. Maybe Vienna was just trying to "rescue" Jake from her.

Jake says "Thank you guys." Enough with the "guys" already, Jake. In case you haven't noticed, these are WOMEN!

No yellow dress for Ali tonight--that's my girl! Looking good!

Have a good day everyone! What did you think of the show?

For more show summaries and opinions, go to Mama's Losin' It.

Tweet This

My Prayer Box Is Full--Praise The Lord!

See that picture filled with all those little scraps of paper? Those are all my answered prayers! It is so encouraging to see how God has come through in the past. I started using this system a few years ago and now I will make the first dump into a bigger box. The box next to it has my current prayer requests. As I pray about something new, I write it on a small slip of paper and put it into this box. Then when I get an answer, I jot down the date on the paper, fold it up and drop it into my answered prayer box.

My latest answer is for Yaya to be able to adopt Alex and according to her blog, it looks like it will happen. I'm still praying that the details will all be worked out without and further complications.

I like this better than a prayer list because I don't have to keep going back to hunt for the current requests. Plus, I think it makes for a more visual record. I came across this idea when reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I also share this idea with my Sunday School classes. Maybe you would like to use it too--feel free.

I first shared this idea on my other blog in March of 2008: Pray Without Ceasing

Tweet This

We Went Squirrel Chasing While Those In Haiti Struggle

Abby's favorite activity is chasing squirrels plus she loves the snow so Saturday, we took her to Snow Road park and just let her lead wherever she wanted to go. It finally warmed up to upper 30s and there was still plenty of snow on the ground so I thought it would be fun to take Abby to the park.

She bounded right into the snow and started sniffing around. There were quite a few squirrels at the park on the ground and we would run after them with Abby leading and Gerard or me following along running as fast as we could to try to keep up with her. We had fun tromping through the snow too and of course, I bundled up so wasn't cold. We did manage to take a few pictures.

I sat on the swing for a little bit but then was up and running again when Abby spotted another squirrel. It's so fun to watch her run and enjoy herself outdoors! There were a couple other dogs there too which Abby had to sniff but she didn't bark at them. She did bark at the squirrels when they ran up the trees to safety.

It seems so unfair that we get to enjoy our days while over in Haiti, people are struggling to survive the earthquake and find their loved ones, hoping they are still alive. We need to pray for these people, their country, and the rescue workers that they will be able to get the help distributed to the people in need in a timely fashion. You can also help by donating to the effort through The American Red Cross site.

Life's Most Urgent Question: What are you doing for others?
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tweet This

Meet Us On Monday

Here's the questions from last week's meme hosted by Never Growing Old to help our readers get to know us better so sometimes we'll post it on this blog, and sometimes on our book blog.


1.  Have you (only you..not a group) ever won first place in anything?
2.  Are your toes always painted (sorry guys...this question for girls only)?
3.  What color eyes do you have?
4.  Look to your left....what do you see?
5.  Soft cookies or crunchy cookies?

1.  Karen won first place for her green peppers she grew in her garden at her elementary school.  Gerard never won first place in anything as an individual but we did as a team both in bowling and volleyball.

2.  Never paint my toenails because I always wear socks and shoes.

3.  We both have big brown eyes.

4.  To the left is our cat, Manny, right is our cat Spunky Doodle.  They always come when I'm on the computer.

5.  Karen prefers the soft, Gerard prefers the crunchy.  Speaking of cookies, I order four boxes of Girl Scout cookies.  Have you ordered yours yet?
 
Tweet This

Review and Preview of Our Favorite Sports Teams

Here is a rundown of our views on our favorite Cleveland, Boston, Detroit teams and Ohio State and Duke:

Baseball:

Cleveland Indians:

What's wrong with my Wahoos? Had a terrible year. Got off to their usual slow start. Then, traded Cliff Lee, a Cy Young Award winner and got nothing back in return. POOF! At least Wedge was fired but then they hired Acta, manager of the worst team in National League. POOF AGAIN! Outlook for 2010: VERY BAD. Sorry, tribe fans! (by Leo the Lion)

Boston Red Sox:

I got to see almost all of the Red Sox games this year and I loved it thanks to DirectTV! Had some very exciting games and were the American League wild card. Outlook for 2010: Have good pitching, now need some offense! (by Gerard)

Football:

Ohio State Buckeyes:

They are in the Rose Bowl! That's good but could have easily went undefeated too. Twice they lost games they had no business losing. Outlook for 2010: VERY GOOD! (by Gerard)

Detroit Lions:

They still stink. Also, did not win football pool once this season! POOF! Only highlight for me was seeing the Lions win on the last play of the game against the Browns even after the time ran out! Ha, ha! At lesat Penn State had a good year. (by Leo the Lion)

Cleveland Browns:

Although their record is poor and they struggled along most of the season, the good news is they beat the Steelers! That is HUGE! It's been a long time since they've done that. They are finishing out the season strong with 3 wins in a row and possibly four if they win tomorrow. Even when they lost, most games were close and they never quit! They certainly have improved along the way. Outlook for 2010: OPTIMISTIC and HOPEFUL! Check out what I think about Josh Cribbs: Ignorance Is Bliss--Better Not to Know How Much Others Make(by Karen)

New England Patriots:

They made it back into the playoffs. Good to see Brady back. Outlook for 2010: BRIGHT! (by Gerard)

Basketball:

Duke:

We all enjoy Duke! The Cameron Crazies are the best fans going. Look for them to go far in March Madness. (by Gerard)

Boston Celtics:

When all the players are healthy, they are a top team. (by Gerard)

Cleveland Cavaliers:

They are looking good and on a roll! Since I got this nice shirt for Christmas, I am more interested in how they are doing and have started following them more. Outlook for 2010: VERY GOOD! (by Karen)

Hockey:

Boston Bruins:

What a way to start the year! The winter classic at Fenway Park, WOW! I love watching the Bruins! Outlook for 2010: ROAR!

Tennis:

Karen and I enjoyed playing a lot of tennis last year and we even got to play one day in November! She was glad to be able to play again after having a lumpectomy in September. It really is good exercise and fun! (by Gerard)

None of our teams won any championships but the drama and suspense make sports so much fun to watch! Always remember to be a good sport!

Tweet This

3 Things I Learned This Week-#54

A Chance to Help A Family In Need

Amanda is 27 years old, disabled and had to have emergency brain surgery. Her family is broke and needs help. If the blogging community could each give at least a little it would add up. Here is the post about it and options for donating: My Family and I Need Your Help Urgently. I discovered this through Freaky Frugalite.

At ESPN.com there's an article about a 14-yr. old boy with Cancer who calls plays for the Baltimore Ravens--the one he called went 83 yards for a touchdown! How cool is that? Read it here: The Ravens (very) Secret Weapon.

Over at Write Brained today I found out there is a product that gets rid of wrinkles so you don't need to iron called Downey Wrinkle Releaser. This is the first I've heard of something like this!

For more Friday Fragments, check out Half Past Kissin' Time.

Tweet This

Get Out Of My Way! (Writer's Workshop)

When I started back to work half days after being off for surgery, I had radiation treatments at 2:15 p.m. in the afternoon. I got home at 1:40 p.m., pet Abby who always greeted me at the front door doing a happy dance and wagging her tail like a windmill (how could I not pet her?), pet the cats as they came got up from napping to greet me and had a quick lunch. By 2:05 p.m. I’d be on my way.

I always would see the high school students walking home from Parma High School. They came in droves! Of course, I was in kind of a hurry and already had to slow way down going through the school zone. (Why can’t schools be on the 25 mph streets instead of the 35 mph ones?) Anyway, that’s really not my complaint.

What bugged me was that after waiting at the traffic light to pull out onto the main street, I not only had to wait for the light to change but also for the students who often kept coming even though the light had changed to green. They didn’t even look at the light! They just kept on walking across the street like it wasn’t even there. There were bunches all grouped together sauntering along like they were in a parade. They certainly were not in any rush like I was. Eventually, there would be a break because some student did see the light and stopped so the cars could go. Yeah for whoever you are!

The drivers were at the mercy of these students. What could we do? Honk at them? Yeah, that would be real helpful—NOT! It would probably just make them walk even slower. Certainly we can’t go and run into them—that would be too drastic not to mention against the law even though it was a green light. So, I just sucked it up and went on my merry way. I was only late once or twice, but it was annoying.

Here’s your chance to register a complaint in the comments. What annoys you?

I don’t like to complain and really try not to but one of the prompts this week in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop is to write about your latest complaint. Share what annoys you or write your own post and link up to Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

Related Post: See what my dad's last complaint was at "Never Get That Kind Again!"

Tweet This

Gerard's Thoughts About "The Bachelor"

I take notes as the show goes along so following are my thoughts about "The Bachelor" show this week. Just know, I want to hear what you think too!

I liked the host's purple shirt.
Michelle--do not like her at all--sour grapes already.

Do we really need drinking all the time? I think not!

Girls dressed halfway decent on first date.

Rozlyn looked very hot!

Christina sounds very high schoolish gushing about Jake--give me a break!

Ashleigh makes a fool of herself in her bikini.

Rozlyn gets a rose--good choice. (She had me fooled as well.)

Ali gets the 1 on 1 date and a rose--good choice again, awesome. He's 2 for 2 in my book.

Ali looks very good! But, does she own only yellow clothes?

Elizabeth's note sounds stupid but gets a rose which is still ok by me.

Vienna thinks she is a Miss know it all!

Ella goes nuts over a cupcake? Wouldn't a rose be better, Ella? Just asking!

ROZLYN GETS KICKED OUT--WOW!

Ashley does not get a rose--too bad, think she should have!

Chistine goes home too! Sad for her, knew she would cry.

My favorite now is ALI!

Michelle lucks out again--PHOOEY!

Interesting blog post about the show here that Karen read this morning at Mama Kat's Losin' It. If you write about this show, you can link up to it.

Tweet This

Ignorance Is Bliss—Better Not To Know How Much Others Make

Everyone knows it is best not to discuss how much a person makes with anyone right? Wrong! The athletes do not seem to know this and what they make is often public knowledge. No wonder there is so much dissatisfaction over their contracts in spite of making a million dollars a year. All it takes is for them to compare themselves to someone who is making more and they become dissatisfied.

Josh Cribbs is an example of this. In my opinion, which I’m sure I share with many, he is the Cleveland Browns’ most valuable player. He agreed to a three-year contract but wants to get a new contract before next season. Yes, he is an awesome, amazing player with a great attitude who is a leader on the Cleveland Browns team and compared to other NFL players in his position, he certainly does deserve to be paid more. However, I wonder. What if he didn’t know how much others made? Would he still think $1.4 million a year was an “insult”? I sure wouldn’t and I don’t think he would either. I like Josh Cribbs and hope he will still play for the Cleveland Browns next season and many more. It seems though he and his agents are getting impatient.

I think when it comes to professional sports, the salaries are ridiculously high. They justify this by saying it is a high risk job in that they run a risk of injury each time they take the field that could paralyze them for life. I get that; however, if they didn’t get paid those exorbitant salaries, I think there would still be plenty people who would still be willing to be professional athletes. I don’t think professional sports would disappear because I believe most professional athletes play because they are good at it and like the game.

In the scheme of importance, sports is certainly a help to the economy. Many dollars are spent on sporting events and apparel throughout the country; however, the nation could go on just fine without sports. The country would suffer more if there were no doctors, teachers, restaurants, farmers, utility workers, sanitary engineers, architects, construction workers, day care workers, bus drivers, store clerks, truck drivers, political officials, clergy, firemen, policemen, paramedics etc. Just about any other job I can think of is more necessary than a professional athlete when it comes to living.

So, my advice to these highly paid athletes is to be grateful for whatever you get because there are many other people who work every day for much less whose jobs are more important than yours. Here is a little scripture to chew on too:

I Timothy 6:6-11 (KJV):

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things: and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Tweet This

What I'd Like To Change About Myself IF I Could (Writer's Workshop)

I am pretty happy with how I am and can only think of a couple things I would change if I could: the necessity to eat and my hair.

I would like to change my need for food and be able to eat like a snake. I like going for breakfast at Hometown Buffet on Saturdays so I still want to enjoy eating there. It would be great to just have one good meal a week at Hometown Buffet and then not have to eat anything until the next week. Just think all the money and time I could save this way! If I didn’t have to eat every day it would give me more time for other things and I wouldn’t have to go grocery shopping. It would be four less things to think about each day because I wouldn’t have to think “What am I going to eat for breakfast, lunch and supper?" and "Do we have enough milk?” Anyone else think this would be a good idea?

Another thing I would love to change is my hair. Oh, I don’t mean just getting a different style or cutting it because that I can do. What I want is to be able to lock in a good hair day permanently. Once it gets to the right length and falls in place just the way I want it to, with it staying out of my eyes, I would like to somehow lock it in so it wouldn’t grow anymore and I wouldn’t have to ever get it cut again! Plus, it would lock in the color too so I wouldn’t get any more gray hairs! Anyone want to invent something like this for me?

This is part of Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop where you can find other prompts to join in and other participants.
Tweet This

7Things I Learned This Week-#53

Movie: "The Blind Side" about Michael Oher

Saw a fantastic movie New Year's Day: "The Blind Side." It was a movie about Michael Oher ("Big Mike"). Gerard read the book too! Such an interesting story of a boy from the projects that no one seemed to love or care about and how one family's kindness to him turned his life around. I never knew anything about this person until I saw this movie based on his life. One of my co-workers told me she saw this too and heard him do an interview, saying that most of the movie is accurate except that he knew football and didn't really have to have a 12-yr-old kid explain it to him. That was one of my favorite parts of the movie though.

Blog to Book

Through SITS at Scary Mommy I found out how she turned her blog into a book on her own through the website: http://www.blurb.com/. This is awesome! Lots of work, but then what book isn't? The best part is you have total control on layout, content and it's under $100!

Alternative to Wordpress

At Freaky Frugalite: Making More Blogs For The New Year I first heard about HostGater. She has one of those affiliate links for anyone wishing to change over to that and offers her assistance. I like the cute little Gater logo and IF I did choose to leave Blogger, I think I'd go with HostGater over Wordpress. (I think "Wordpress" is a boring name.)

Healthy Challenge

Over at Recipe Girl I found a 10 in 2010 get healthy challenge for anyone who would like to participate and join in this support group. Each Saturday she'll be posting about the challenge and participants can interact and motivate one another through Twitter using the hashmark #10in10. It's just doing basic things like drinking more water, eating fruits and vegetables, avoiding sweets, exercising 3-4 times a week, and getting enough sleep (should get 8 hours).

Toys

When visiting "I'm Living Proof That God Has A Sense Of Humor" I learned that the Barbie doll has a dog now . . . that poops! This post is hilarious--a Must Read!

Cleveland Browns

The good news is that Holgrem is keeping Eric Mangini as the head coach for next season. The bad news is it looks like they will lose Josh Cribbs, the best player EVER because they don't want to pay him what he feels he deserves.

Adding a Watermark to Photos

At Domestic Dork, Holly has a great tutorial video on adding watermarks to your photos: How To Add Watermarks To Photos.

For more Friday Fragments, go to Half Past Kissin' Time.

Tweet This