Woohoo!

Took Chris to get the usb drive to connect to broadband and found out that's all I needed for my pc at home too. Everything's is so much faster! I'm going to really enjoy the internet now. AOL is screwy on it but I can use it for email just now browsing so I gotta get used to internet explorer. I don't want to use www.aol.com because then I can't have my pretties in my email signatures and ya'll know how I am about my pretties. LOL.

New Blog Background

I found a tutorial at http://gardengnomeathome.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-make-your-own-scrolling-blog.html that helps you make your own blog background. Thank you so much. I sort of did my own thing on parts of it. It's not bad for a first try. I can't wait to play more and to use some digital scrapbook stuff I have too. Woohoo!!

Grab It Graphics

I've decided to move the graphics I make to their own blog. You can find them at



There's nothing posted there yet but it should have something new this week. I did this so that my regular blog wouldn't be so loaded down and take forever to load. Oh the joys of dial up. LOL.

Reading is Art is Reading

I know there are a lot of bookaholics, readers or whatever word we like to call ourselves on Blogger so please take whichever icons you like and share with your friends. Individual icons are below this one.

Grab It Graphics - Emotions

Take it if you want it. Just don't claim to have made it. If you want a name on it just leave me a comment saying which one and what name. I'll post it in another blog to pick up.

Thanks Kathy. :)

You can find Kathy at http://bagsbooksandbonjovi.blogspot.com/.

FIRST LINE FRIDAY...First lines have always intrigued me since I heard an author say that writing the first sentence is, by far, the most difficult part of writing a novel. The reasoning was that a first sentence can make the reader continue reading or cause the book to be tossed aside.So, go to your To Be Read Pile, choose as many books as you want and share the first line. Be sure to include the title and author so that if your reader also finds it intriguing, they can find the book.Also, share your thoughts about the first line. Does it draw you in? Is it...exciting...thought provoking...scary...funny?

I love finding books at Dollar Tree. They're usually unusual books. Things you really don't expect to find. I call them my dollar treasures. I found one yesterday that is about the Mexican-American war of 1846. It's told by two soldiers each from opposing sides. I love reading fictionalized history where the characters are involved in the actual historic events but were never part of the real history. Does that last sentence make sense? LOL. Anyway this book is called Saint Patrick's Battalion by James Alexander Thom. Here's the first line.

New Mexico City - April 1861

On a sun-heated road to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a freckled young man with red hair and long legs hurries up a hill, carrying a wooden writing portfolio under his left arm and a knapsack slung over his right shoulder, squinting ahead, stepping around the black-clad pentitentes who are crawling toward the cathedral on their knees.

I'm wondering why the guy is in such a hurry and why he's carrying so much with him. Who's he off to meet?

Family Trees

I have my extended family tree online at Ancestry.com. Well a distant cousin sent a question about who was who in a picture of my paternal great grandmother with my Dad as a little boy with his sister. I sent back the reply about who was who and she mentioned that my paternal great grandfather was the son of his grandparents. Boy, you'd think family would have the right info. I guess it was hidden from the children that Grandpa was actually a nephew and not a brother like they thought huh? I told the distant cousin that he should have been a H*****s instead of a M****y and she told me that she thought we had his Mom wrong. Well, I just spent a few hours going through census and voter registrations from the 1800's and finally figured out his Mom was Sarah and not Elizabeth like we thought. That makes me feel so much better because Elizabeth would have been maybe 12 years old when she had him whereas Sarah was almost 16. My Mom will be glad to know that I figured out who his Mom was too. I have my Mom's handwritten notes and his half siblings are what she had listed and match with Sarah as their Mother instead of Elizabeth. When my Mom first started looking into the genealogy of my Granny's side of the family my Granny was so ashamed that her Dad was born on the wrong side of the blanket. She finally told my Mom though because her Dad is listed as living with his maternal Grandparents as a grandson on all the Census records and it would have come out when she wouldn't have been able to find his Dad anywhere. My Great Grandfather was never raised with his half siblings and always lived with the Grandparents. In fact, his Grandmother was listed on the Census records as living with him and his family during her last year of life. I find all this family genealogy fascinating. You never know who you'll be related to also. So far I've found one 2nd cousin, 1 3rd cousin and I don't know how many times removed this cousin that just contacted me would be but like she said she doesn't like using the word removed because then it sounds like you've been disowned for one reason or another. LOL. She sounds like my kind of cousin.

First Line Friday

Thanks Kathy. :) You can find Kathy at http://bagsbooksandbonjovi.blogspot.com/.
FIRST LINE FRIDAY...First lines have always intrigued me since I heard an author say that writing the first sentence is, by far, the most difficult part of writing a novel. The reasoning was that a first sentence can make the reader continue reading or cause the book to be tossed aside.So, go to your To Be Read Pile, choose as many books as you want and share the first line. Be sure to include the title and author so that if your reader also finds it intriguing, they can find the book.Also, share your thoughts about the first line. Does it draw you in? Is it...exciting...thought provoking...scary...funny?

I finally, finally made it to the library to pick up the sequel to the Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. It seems like I was on the list for it for 3 months. It probably wasn't that long but it seems it. LOL. This one is called Knit Two and I can't wait to start reading it tonight.

Here's the first line.

It was after hours at Walker and Daughter: Knitters, and Dakota stood in the cente of the Manhattan yarn shop and wrestled with the cellophane tape.

It was hard to stop after the first sentence. I can't wait to find out what Dakota and the ladies of the club are up to now.

Keepsakes

I got my first blog award from my friend Cyndy. She can be found at http://luvmydoxies.blogspot.com/. Thanks Cyndy!

I tried to think of something I really, really treasure and I finally realized pictures are my heart treasures. I'm especially fond of the old sepia tone pics from the 20's and 30's that I loved looking at in my grandparents photo albums. PIctures of my kids at Christmas with crazy t-shirts or antlers on their heads are another on going theme in my own albums. I also take pics of my kids in the wildflowers every year, especially the bluebonnets. But my all time favorite photos will always be pics of my kids, family members and just people in general from the backside. I always joke that I'm going to come out with a coffee table photo book called the Backside of Life and have nothing but backs of people for people to look at. I think it puts a different perspective on the more normal angle of pictures that we usually take. Anyway here are some of my favorite pictures that I treasure as keepsakes. Short explanations follow each group of pictures. Enjoy!

This is my all time favorite picture of my kids.
It was taken at the cemetery where my paternal
grandparents are buried in Dallas, TX.



This is a pic of the kids on Halloween 2001. They were
almost 3 and 5. They're dressed as Mimi and Drew Carey
and they won 2nd place at the local mall for the costume
contest.


This was taken after my maternal

grandmothers funeral in March 2006.

My favorite pics combined. Backside and

bluebonnets. Taken last year in 2008.

We missed this years crop.

Easter 2007 we had snow after the bluebonnets

bloomed. Gorgeous in the snow!

I love doing crazy Christmas shots with

my kids. These were each used for

Christmas cards during different years.

My husband Chris with his Grandfather and his

brother Alan. Papaw was almost 100 when this

picture was taken by me.

Papaw passed a few years ago at the age

of 101. I got this shot of my BIL Alan, Nicky

and Chris just by chance. It just seems to

be leading from the pic above into the

next generation.

This is my maternal Grandfather

Ivy and his BIL Shorty at a

Louisiana carnival in the 30's.

My maternal grandparents

Ivy and Ruby. Circa 1937.

My maternal grandfathers

Grandfather.

and my all time favorite

picture of my Dad with his

sister Shirley. Definitely taken

during World War 2. He's in an

army uniform and she's in a red cross

uniform that were both made by

my Grandmother.

Dena!

Hi Dena. I made you a button for your blog. It's just a simple one and I tried to match the colors to your background. Easier said than done sometimes. Hopefully you can figure out how to use it eventually and if not its no biggie that you don't use it. I just enjoy playing around with graphics. Thanks for asking about one the other day. This just popped into my mind earlier today.

We're Home!

We got back last night about 6ish. We were all so tired that we slept well past 9 this morning. It was a nice trip and fun to see everyone but we're so glad to be home. There's just something about sleeping in your own bed. KWIM?

First Line Friday

Thanks Kathy. :) You can find Kathy at http://bagsbooksandbonjovi.blogspot.com/.

FIRST LINE FRIDAY...First lines have always intrigued me since I heard an author say that writing the first sentence is, by far, the most difficult part of writing a novel. The reasoning was that a first sentence can make the reader continue reading or cause the book to be tossed aside.So, go to your To Be Read Pile, choose as many books as you want and share the first line. Be sure to include the title and author so that if your reader also finds it intriguing, they can find the book.Also, share your thoughts about the first line. Does it draw you in? Is it...exciting...thought provoking...scary...funny?

My First Line Friday is from the book Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. Yes, John Grisham apparently wrote a book that doesn't involve a courtroom. LOL. This book is the basis for the movie Christmas with the Kranks. I've seen the movie and loved it so I'm sure the book will be even better. It's a pretty thin book so it should be a quick read. Anyway, here's the first line.

The gate was packed with weary travelers, most of them standing and huddled along the walls because the meager allotment of plastic chairs had long since been taken.

Sounds like somebody is going somewhere from an airport to me. Like I said having the foreknowledge of the movie in my head makes it easy to want to continue reading this book. I'm curious to see what they left out of the movie that was in the book.

Vacation Time!

We'll be going to see MIL, BIL and SIL this weekend. We'll be back on the 7th. Hope everybody has a wonderful and safe 4th of July!!! God bless all our men and women in uniform or retired. Without them where would we be?

Bumping............

this comment up and into a post. I hope you have a great raffle!!!


Wonderful World of Weiners said...
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June 16, 2009 5:08 AM