While I was searching for the meaning of my name; which, by the way, means "Born on Christmas Day" I came upon a very interesting site: dumb laws. You can find laws from any state at this site. I was laughing when I read one law in Michigan: "It is illegal for a woman to cut her own hair without her husband's permission." Is that funny or what??? They even have city laws listed there and one I thought was particularly interesting was, "It is illegal in Detroit for a husband to scowl at his wife on Sunday." Ya just gotta check that site out. It's pretty funny. Just wanted to share.......

  I made my own mood indicator................no really; I was just playing around with PSP and thought I'd draw some of my own faces............not really my talent.............but kind of fun anyway! And I was planning on getting a good night's rest too. Tomorrow we are going out to lunch to celebrate Secretary's Day because our office was closed last week (that was gift enough, believe me!) My boss called Damon's today to find out about the winner of the contest she submitted me for and they told her they haven't picked yet. I was kind of excited because that means I still have a chance! Yeah!

Last blog entry............3 days ago! (technically 4 days) What HAVE I been doing???? Had a great weekend at my sister's house scrapbooking.............ended my Easter break with a lazy, do-nothing Sunday. Back to work today...........but I had a great break! Actually, going back to work today was quite nice (aside from having to wake up at 6:15 a.m.) The day just breezed by; probably because I had plenty of work to do........and that's a good thing! I've been searching the internet for 'blog extras' and found a couple of cool things.............check out Blogger Seeds for all the links! One of the things I am considering participating in is the MayDay Project. I'm not sure if they actually want you to submit the photos that you take that day, but it would still be interesting to look back through your photos for the day just to see what an average day "in the life of _____________(you)" looks like! I'm going to post that link here as well. Take a look over to the left.............Click on it and check it out! ta, ta for now!!!

I'm in the middle of a major photo project but I just had to blog about tonight's Survivor episode. So if you didn't watch it yet and you have it on tape for later, stop reading NOW! Cuz you're going to know who got kicked off by the time you read the end of this.....................................................(all content here is the opinion of me and none of this is quoted from the show.) Still there? Well, I guess you've seen the show then. On to my feelings about this week's episode. First of all, let me tell you that I think Jenna is a royal 'you-know-what' and I'm not quite sure why she's still on. Oh, that's right; she uses her 'sex appeal' to get what she wants (translation: she's a 'ho'). I must say, at the beginning of the show when the four of them (Rob, Alex, Heidi and Jenna) were "basking in the sun" while the other three people were working, I was ticked. How arrogant! Then they show Matthew (who I wasn't a big fan of) and Butch (who I had no opinion about really) fishing. They're talking about getting Rob on their side so they can knock off the 'fearsome foursome' one by one (which would become the 'gruesome threesome' if their plan worked. Wait, it would become the ho'some twosome!) But let's not forget the reward challenge....I am so glad Christy won the bid for the letter cuz I think out of all the people on that particular Survivor show, she is the most sincere. AND she was kind enough to allow another letter to be auctioned (which Jenna ended up winning.) She was crying so hard and ended up getting what she wanted thanks to the kind heart of a person she wouldn't give the time of day to. Isn't that amazing? So next thing ya know, Rob takes Matthew aside and tells him he has to have a talk with him. He wants to confide in him about what's going on on the 'greener side of the pasture.' At this point, I'm going "Whoo hoo! Yeah for Rob!" I would like nothing better than to see Jenna, Heidi and Alex kicked off first (and in that order.) Let's skip to the immunity challenge: First of all, I'm sure Jenna won't go home with a complex about being the most popular vote for "who uses their sex appeal to get what they want?" and "who could never survive on their own?" because I think she's flattered by it............well, Rob wins immunity and is now wondering if he should vote for Alex (what's in his heart to do, I think) or to vote for Matthew (because the other three people who thought were on the same side, will eventually end up in the jury and not vote for him if he ends up to be one of the last two people left.) I was really thinking he'd vote for Matthew cuz he didn't want those other people to know that he betrayed them. But he voted for Alex; oh, what a shock (to Heidi, Jenna, and Alex!) You go Rob! Now it's 4 against 2! Oooh, how the tables can turn so quickly. I hope the final four will be Christy, Rob, Butch and Matthew..............we shall see..........

I'm about ready to buy my own space.............angelfire is really acting up! Is anyone else having the same problem?? I have to be as quick as possible in editing so I can QUICK save it before IE "encounters a problem" and closes. I'm very frustrated. I haven't been able to do ANY changes on one of the pages. Any suggestions??????

I can't believe I'm finally taking on this project...............one that I should have started a LONG time ago.....................you're probably wondering what I'm talking about, eh? Ok, I'll cut to the chase; I have owned a digital camera for almost 3 years and I have saved every picture I've ever taken to cd's (minus a whole summer lost because of some dumb thing I did.) I have cd's everywhere with pictures on them.....some are logically labeled; others aren't. (I really must give credit to my father for me doing this because he is SO organized that I actually offered to pay him to organize my digital photos; his rates were too high.) :) I've been saying I'm going to do this "one day" but of course there is no day in my life that I really wanted to tackle a job this huge. Today I finally decided that if I didn't do it this week, I would probably not do it for a very long time. So far, I have about 30 folders (labeled by date and subject) on my hard drive and I've only gone through one cd and all the pictures that were already on my hard drive. I have LOTS more to do............but it's a start. I even have pictures saved two or three different places under different names because I was unsure whether I had saved them already. WHEN I get all my pictures saved in folders on my hard drive I will create new cd's. Of course I'll keep the old ones because it's always a good idea to save your photos in more than one place. Anyway, that's what I've been up to today..............how 'bout you?

P.S. The project that I blogged about a few days ago that I was going to try to implement this week; ain't gonna happen. THIS is more important right now.

Word of the day: jericho

Ok. What will I do with this word? I am going to try to use it in another poem............

I was walking to Jericho one cold, winter night.
When suddenly a cat jumped out at me and gave me a fright!

I immediately turned around to look for the strange noise,
But I saw nothing, and felt I must regain my poise.

The cat said to me, "Jericho; do you know where that's at?"
I replied with a start, "Don't really care. I need to get there, you cat!"

I made it to Jericho that night just as planned.
And the cat came along with me; the journey was grand.

I made it to my destination; my journey finally came to an end.
I realized the cat that followed me turned out to be my friend.

So if you find yourself walking to Jericho in the middle of the night,
Don't be afraid of the noises; even though they may give you a fright!

Ok. Not one of my better poems, but certainly a challenging word to use! (I won't make a habit of this; just wanted to see if I could do it.)

The word of the day is.................blighty. I have no idea what it means.........but I can use it in a sentence; maybe a poem.

The other day when I was walking, I started feeling flighty.
But when I returned to my desk at work, my mood quickly changed to blighty.

"Blighty?" my boss asked me as I desperately tried to explain,
"Yes, blighty," I responded and was told to go home again.

So, if you're having a rough day at work and don't know what to do,
Tell your boss you're feeling blighty and she'll let you go home too!

That was fun! (for me!) If you're wondering where I got this 'word of the day' just visit blogger seeds and you will find a different word there each day. One of the suggestions listed there is to try to use the word in a sentence.........or a poem! It's more fun if you don't know what it means. Try it! After all, what's bloggin' all about, if not for fun???

P.S. Here is the meaning of "blighty"
Blighty (BLY-tee) noun, also blighty

1. England as one's home.

2. Military leave.

3. Wounds that secure a soldier return to home.

(I just added this to my entry after Bubba left a comment.)

HAPPY EASTER! Was the Easter Bunny good to you??

I've been trying to update my angelfire site this morning and keep getting kicked off the internet. I wonder if there's a problem with angelfire...........

I'm going to show you the letter I received in my email about a week ago:

We are creating a TV pilot about blogging. We want to bring this
phenomenon of personal expression to television for the very first time,
and have been scouring the web for appropriate sites. Your web site
seems like a potentially great fit for the show.

If you would like to be a part of our pilot, you can do so by submitting
a video that encapsulates you and your blog.

Whatever you want to say and show in your video is fine. The key is to
capture the essence of your blog in video format, and if it's
interesting enough, we'll include it.

If this is something that you want to participate in, please go to our
web site for more information, and follow the instructions:

http://www.hoffmannetter.com/bloggers.htm

Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Hoffman Netter Entertainment

What do YOU think? I haven't done anything with it and I don't plan to. A very dear friend of mine did some research on these people and wisely advised me to leave it alone. I'm sure they just sent it to random bloggers, hoping someone would bite! Not me!

Guess what? My boss entered me into a "Top 10 Secretary" Contest! Isn't that cool? I'll let you know if I win. I was pretty flattered that she took the time to write a whole page about me and submitted it to Damon's for the contest.

I just had an idea that I think I may try to implement during the Easter break..............to find out more, stay tuned cuz I can't share it with you yet.

My Easter Break has officially begun! Yeah! I went into work today at 7:00 a.m. and worked until 4:30 p.m. The past couple of weeks has been very busy; probably the busiest time of the year for the church. But well worth the extra work for a week off! Yeah! (oh, I already said that.)

Hey, in case you don't visit my blinkies page regularly, take a 'gander' over there. There's some new stuff! I've been hooked lately. That's because I need something fun to do to take a break from working on the computer (which I've been doing a lot of lately at home.) So I went 'blinkie crazy.' I add more quite regularly, and feel free to use them to decorate your site! (a link back is always appreciated.)

I wanted to share some news I received yesterday evening about Miguel. He is 100 miles south of Baghdad; sitting in the middle of the desert (playing cards); waiting; bored; weather is hot and dusty in the daylight hours; cold in the evening. His troop is not involved in any fighting. He's hoping to be back on ship in mid-May and HOPEFULLY home by mid-June. This news was shared with me by his girlfriend, whom he was able to call at 3:00 a.m. yesterday morning. Keep praying for him and all the troops!

"Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow."
I LOVE that quote! (got it at blogger seeds.) Hmmmmmmm............let me reflect on that a bit. I always try to save some of my work for tomorrow because I just don't feel like doing it all in one day. The best days are the days with a good balance of work and play. I have to work on my personal balance some, but for the most part, I do a pretty good job of it. When I have deadlines to meet, I DO meet them. But even then, I tend to put things off until I decide I can put them off no longer. (or is that what we call 'procrastination') Either way, the work rarely gets done all in one day. I'm so glad I have a new way to look at it now. I used to feel BAD because I didn't have all my work done in one day. But you know what? The work will be there tomorrow, and if you DO all your work in one day, there will STILL be more to do tomorrow. blah, blah, blah.......................Moral of the story: Make time in each day to have some fun!

ONE more complaint..................to add to my "happiness" tonight, I just found out that my template for THIS place is outdated! Not one thing I've added in the past month or so is showing on the template and stuff that I've taken off IS on there. My page looks the way I want it to so I'm assuming that my template is SOMEWHERE! I can't worry about it right now............got better things to do.

Hmmmmmmm...........not ONE of my Monday Madness templates are showing up on the server, but both of my OttO ones are.............I wonder why. I've never had this happen to me before and I hope it doesn't last. I'd REALLY hate to have to redo those pages!!!! REALLY hate to!!! P.S. My comments on Ottto once more aren't working.........I'm not feeling upbeat anymore. Who was it who said, "The best things in life are free."?????????????????

I just posted the questions for Monday Madness. If you haven't tried it, check it out. I also have a tagboard on field of dreams so you can post your scores or just leave a comment. You can get your's at tagboard.ca. You can customize it to look any way you want. The only thing I don't like about it is the procedure you have to go through to put a smilie in your message. But you'll see what I mean when you go visit my page. Oh, I also added two more games. I hope to add more in the near future........so keep checking! Hey, if anyone out there has questions they would like to see on Monday Madness, please email them to me. My email address is: otto602002@yahoo.com. I would love to give you credit by making your site the "featured site of the week." If you prefer I didn't give you credit that way, I will just mention your name after the 3 questions. I do respect people's privacy. Well, it's after midnight and I have to wash the color out of my hair..................(before it turns green?)

What goes around comes around:
Let's just say that when you think you might be doing something to deliberately hurt someone else; think again! It just may end up back-firing. We all know people who are constantly manipulating situations in order to hurt someone else and at the same time, they come out 'smelling like a rose.' When I see this happen, I always wonder how it is that they can keep getting away with it and no one ever catches on to what's really going on. Well, I'm here to tell you; there's no need to take matters into your own hands. Eventually, what goes around DOES come around. I know someone who makes a career out of manipulating situations to make herself look good by trying to make others look bad. But this time, she was hurt by her own manipulations. Don't get me wrong; I'm not the type of person that likes to see someone get hurt. What I DO like to see is people getting a 'taste of their own medicine.' I have found that it isn't always the easiest or the most rewarding to be honest and sincere; but never lower yourself to someone else's level to act in a way that goes against your morals; no matter how much it hurts; just to put them in their place. Things will work themselves out..........(I just had to get that out.)

Blogger isn't working right! No, it isn't working at all!

I just realized that I had two links that were going to the wrong place..........hmmmmmm. I fixed them. That's all!

I was just thinking how dumb 'normal' sounds when you look at how I'm feeling (over to the left.) I couldn't find 'so-so' or 'okay' or 'a little bit of this; a little bit of that' so I had to choose 'normal.' I know, you're thinking "Normal? Otto??" I'm beginning to wonder the same thing myself. I just spent the last couple of hours finishing up the guestmap page for Monday Madness and the list of people participating. Of course you're never done building a website. But those two pages need major help! I didn't want to neglect this site because of them, so here I am.........bloggin' away! And I have so much work I should be doing........a resume for someone, a brochure for someone else, a flyer for someone else, and my own work here at home. But that's not as much fun as this, so I (being the procrastinator that I am) just figure, "I'll do that other stuff tomorrow." Why is it that when you're doing something you love to do for free, it's fun. When you start getting requests for stuff that you do (see above) for people that are willing to pay you, it becomes a job. Is it the pressure? I mean, if I were designing a flyer for myself, I wouldn't have to worry if 'so and so' like it. If I liked it, I would go with it. But when you're doing something like that for someone else, you wonder what they're going to think of your work. One of the jobs I have to work on is creating a brochure for a nursing home and I don't feel confident about doing it. I don't know why. Maybe because we don't ever want to let anyone down....?? Well, enough rambling, but first, let me point you once again to another great site that I have bookmarked: Blogger Seeds. This place has so many ideas, you'd have to blog twice a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year to use them all! Go there! While you're at it, leave a comment. You know how exciting it is to check your comments and see what people have to say...............

Just look at this weather! I just took this picture 15 minutes ago............remember it's April 7th!

Siglet of the Moment
"If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something."
Now that's a pessimistic way to look at life! I saw this 'siglet' on Blogger Seeds and just had to comment on it. I don't agree with it and I would change it to read: "If everything seems to be going well, enjoy!" I just woke up from a 'nap' that lasted from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. hmmmmmmmm........Now I'm WIDE awake! I thought I'd blog for a bit and now I'm sitting in front of my computer and can't think of a thing to say.......but I do have some questions in mind for Monday Madness. (They will be posted after midnight. Good thing I'm wide awake.)

Did you remember to turn your clocks forward one hour last night?? I did, and it sure makes for a short sleep! I made myself get up this morning at the usual 'Sunday time' and I can tell that I'm up too early. My clock now says 8:53 a.m. and I can tell it's only 7:53 a.m. And did you ever notice how it takes longer to adjust to losing an hour than it does to gaining an hour? I think it may be all in my head, but it takes a couple of days for me to really believe the time is correct after changing our clocks in the Spring. At least the sun is shining this morning and MOST of the roads are dry (after two days of freezing rain and snow.) Gotta see if I can come up with a nice design for another page of mine....................later!

Siglet of the Moment

"I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with 'Guess' on it. I said, 'Thyroid problem?'"- Arnold Schwarzenegger ....another idea from our good friends at Blogger Seeds. (oh, not the quote; commenting on one of these siglets...)

I am very careful of what words I display on my t-shirts. As I've gotten a little older, I wear less and less words. I think that quote is quite cute, although I wouldn't want anyone 'guessing' what my problem is..............What bothers me is to see these young kids wearing sweatpants with words on their butts! You can bet you would never find anything written on my rear!

About this weather once again!
I just went outside to stand in the freezing rain coming down. I took pictures of the trees this morning and I will take pictures tomorrow morning. It is April 4th and Michigan is getting freezing rain! I guess I should be happy we have power here, huh? (quit complaining otto!)

I just played my games at field of dreams and I couldn't get past 11 on the first game, but I won the second game in just 14 moves! Yeah! I got a little messag: "You win after just 14 moves! Now see if you can do better." Huh. I thought that was good! I don't know if I could do it again but I'll probably try.

This weather! What's up with it??? I don't like it; I don't like it; I don't like it! Make it go away! If I do end up staying home tomorrow (I hope not), I HAVE to do something with my faves page. I don't know why I put a wintry background on it. Now I have to change it. (Actually, today it is appropriate.) My advice: Don't use "seasonal" backgroundd for websites. It'll take me a while to change too because I have a snowflake bar that I used to separate all my links. That's what I get.....(dumb 'ol otto.) But hey, I just made myself cooler, and you can too if you go to flooble. There's all kinds of cool stuff there. (Note: Gotta add that link to Blogger Seeds.) Speaking of Blogger Seeds, have you visited it? It's definitely worth checking. Anyway, back to the "cooler" subject, I had to laugh tonight when I was scrolling down my page and a little past my "I am cooler" banner is a box that tells me I'm a geek! Can you be a cool geek? I think so. Or is that an oxymoron? (Note: Idea for MM.) (Another note: Get a notepad on here from flooble.) Enough babbling for the night.......

I'm going to brag.............I know; we all have kids we're proud of. Well, I think we should make it known (especially to them, but others too) so here I go.

Yesterday when I got home from work, my daughter handed me an award that she received that day at school. It was "Student of the Month." Now, you may think this is 'no big deal.' (I only say that because I wasn't aware of how this school decided who receives 'Student of the Month' awards. Her last school handed them out to everyone who didn't receive behavior tickets for that month. Whooppee.......) Of course I was happy for her and let her know it. I asked her how they decide who gets student of the month awards and she told me only one student from each grade receives one each month. Well, that holds a little more weight! Today I got a letter in the mail from her school stating that my daughter would be receiving an award at their monthly assembly "coming up soon." I asked her when the assembly was; she said it was yesterday. It was then that I noticed the letter was dated March 17; the envelope was postmarked April 1. hmmmmmm........I am very proud of her and I let her know it. One important factor that plays into this whole story is the fact that her teacher has made comments about the "St. J's" kids not knowing how to follow rules; comments that have hurt these kids. And yet somehow, my kid still managed to earn an award that cleary says otherwise......Good going Alex! I'm proud of you and your Christian values and your study habits! Keep up the great work and the great attitude!

Imood...............Did you know when you click on my mood (over there; top left), you can read why I've chosen that mood? I was infomred today about this by a very dear, dear friend, La Diosa del Lago to be exact. Wanna know why I'm feeling "dandy?" Click on my mood to find out.

And still another note: Do you remember those games where you had to move all the little square plastic thingies around to put a picture together? I don't know what they're called...........well, go to field of dreams to play..........and have fun!

I'm pretty excited...........just checked my email and I was invited to a "by invitation only" webring. As some of you know, I started Monday Madness (where you will answer three questions every Monday) and I was really excited about it. I recently started participating in a few of the 'questions blogs' (aka memes) and I thought they were pretty entertaining. I found myself looking forward to the questions for the following week..............weird, eh? Anyway, that's what got me thinking about starting one myself. I even stayed up till all hours of the night (literally) creating a banner for it and finding a counter, etc. Believe me, when I say I was excited, I mean it. So I thought I'd invite a few people that I didn't know, to participate in Monday Madness. I received an email this afternoon from a woman who runs This or That Tuesday inviting me to join a webring exclusively for those types of blogs/sites. Of course, I joined! If you haven't visited Monday Madness yet this week, it's not too late to post your answers. I want to thank everyone who did participate this week and I hope you enjoyed it enough to stop by next week for 3 more questions. P.S. Thanks to Windy; she's the one who got us all into this in the first place! Thanks Windy!