Whooopeee! Able to log in! I'm in the process of creating a new blog.......don't know if it will REPLACE this one or just be another one......I must be crazy. This other place I've been working in; pitas.com, unless you know how to work magic, you can't have a comment feature on your blog. I put tagboard but I think people tend to comment in the "comments" place more. I'm not telling you where this place is yet; haven't decided if I'm keeping it or going with enjoydiary. I already set up a photo blog there. I kind of like it; plus it automatically has comments there and you can upload images right to it! I'll keep ya updated!!! P.S. I gotta thank granni for checking these places out before I even bothered with them. She did a check on a whole list of places I emailed to her.........thanks GRANNI!!!!!

I'm wondering if my sidebar over there is getting too filled up. Is that possible? I have lots of links, thoughts, a few lists, and other stuff there. Personally, I like to visit a site that has lots of stuff to see and lots of places to go visit. I've found some pretty neat stuff from my blog-surfing! I guess I'll keep everything the way it is. What I MIGHT do one day is change the colors, etc. on this blog. We'll just see about that. Lots of work for me; none for you! I just had that thought as I was adding yet another link to the left-hand column..........just had to share.

Here is a new meme: Explorer.........I just did a link exchange with the site owner and Monday Madness........thanks! One problem though; I can't edit my template for MM! I've had more problems with that template than any other one I use! Anyway, here is the latest question.........
Prompt #5 - What would you explore?
What, or where, would you most like to explore, for no reason other than simply to learn about it? Would you want to visit a specific place? Or is the subject of your exploration something more academic? Assume that money is no object and that you have absolute freedom to travel where you wish, if travel is involved.
Hmmmmmmm........my mind is not in the "thinking mode" right now, but I will attempt to come up with something. If I could explore some place, I would like to explore some great big mountain; no, not mountain climbing........don't want to attempt that. I would have to get up on top of that mountain a different way. I just want to be ON a mountain some day and maybe explore the whole world around it. Wouldn't that be a great view???

Bright and early, I decided to answer today's Random Questions.......Hey, anytime you feel like just popping over to this place, there's a new question just about every day! You don't have to answer them all; but check it out and see if it's something you may want to blog about. OR, short and sweet answers are allowed too! Three of us help run that place and not only can you find questions to blog about, you can find all kinds of links to places there. And if you click on "bloggerseeds friends," you can add your own link! We're not asking for money like some people do; just a quick 'hello' or some mark of your's so we know you were there. There's even a place to add your favorite recipes! That's my *plug* for the day; well, at least this morning.......on to today's question:
With summer fast approaching, how about sharing some of your favorite summer time activities?
Some of my favorite summertime activities include visiting any place that we can take a nice stroll, for instance Dow Gardens is one of them. We would have gone last weekend but the weather was just not cooperating! I like to visit my parents' cabin on occasion, and just go outdoors and enjoy the beautiful OUTDOORS! Last year we went to the Binder Zoo in Battle Creek. That was nice; lots of animals and a good place to take a walk. I love walking. If I could walk wherever I go, I would. (Ok, maybe not. I suppose I could walk to work every day in the summer but I don't. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that I get up just in time to get ready to go to work and drive there!) To sum it all up; any outdoors thing in the summer is my idea of a great summer activity.

I have a complaint..........I understand that we are allowed to exercise our "freedom of speech" right, and I think that's 'all good.' Matter of fact, I think it's great!! BUT, what bothers me is when I see the "f" word in every other sentence! Why?? Why do people feel the need to use that word so openly; I saw it used as an adjective for GOD!!! I'm sure the writer did not mean to use it that way, but if you know the rules, you know that in the following phrase, "Oh my __________ God." that the word we would put where the underline is, is an adjective. It appalls me! I don't like books, movies, or songs with that word used excessively; I've now added blogs to that list. Sorry! On second thought, no I'm not sorry. I don't think that word needs to be used so freely. Let's try to expand our vocabulary and use a different word in its place, eh? I may sound like a prude or not; I don't care. My father used to tell us that people who use swear words a lot have a limited vocabulary. I agree! Some of the blogs I've visited have been very attractive; nice design, good content; but with the use of that word, it really takes from my desire to go visit it again. There are SO many words we could use instead of that one. AND keep in mind, kids read this stuff!! Enough said.............

Oh my gosh! Did you ever fall asleep for a bit in the evening and wake up thinking it was morning???? I just did that. I just woke up to the phone ringing and answered it thinking, "Who is callling me at 7:15 a.m.????" I'm rushing this person off the phone, looking at the clock, and saying to her, "I gotta get ready!" The funny thing is she never asked me why I had to get ready. It wasn't until I was off the phone that I realized it was 7:15 P.M!!!! Duh! It's pretty funny though cuz it's just about as light out at 7:15 a.m. as it is at 7:15 p.m. right now and it's really dreary and raining so how was I supposed to know??

On to this week's What's On .......... Right Now?
What's on your favorite magazine cover right now?
Cameras, cameras and more cameras; digital of course! Oh, and there's a picture of a printer and a couple of photos someone took with their digital. The featured article is "Finally Affordable!" It's talking about D-SLR's. I just love my "PC Photo" magazine!!!

I just HAVE to tell you about last night. (I may even entertain you with the details leading up to it!) Yes, first chance to do this........believe it or not. My daughter just finished her 8th grade year at a Catholic school and last night was the Mass and dinner. First of all, we knew about this since the first day of school so there was really no excuse for last minute stuff. BUT being the "mother of the year" that I am (and the fact that I must have missed out on the 'shopping gene' when they were handing them out to almost every other woman out there), and a bit of a procrastinator (did I say a BIT??), it all came together pretty much last minute. Anyway, I knew she wanted her hair done and her nails done. No, not a big nail thing; just a manicure. The hair? She's got very long hair; thick, curly, basically unmanagable. Well, I put a lot of thought into who we would call for the hair and as far as the nails, I was going to tell her to just file them and put nail polish on them. We wake up Monday morning and I started making phone calls. I called a girl that goes to the same church as we do (she's been doing nails for 15 years) and asked her if she had any time to do my kid's nails. She didn't even hesitate. "Yes, just let me know what time works for you best." Yeah!! One down, one to go! Oh, I'd like you to know that we went shopping last Friday and finally found a dress. I told her we weren't stopping until we found one. We went down to a neighbor's house Sunday night to have her hem it up. Done at 11:30 p.m!! The nails were done by 2:00 p.m. Monday. About 3:15 we went to a friend's daughter's house, and HER friend (who is a licensed beautician) was there and did her hair. Home by 4:00! Talk about luck! Anyway, the Mass was nice, the dinner could have had a little more flavoring, the speeches could have been cut in half (or more) but overall it was a good evening. Her grandma and grandpa were there to celebrate with us. (Thank you Grandpa and Grandma!) After the Mass, they handed out certificates stating that the kid completed 8th grade at XXXXX School and we all knew she was getting one of those. What we didn't know was that she received a "President's Education Awards Program" certificate for outstanding academic achievement as well; signed by our president!! (Yes, THE president!) This means she maintained a 3.5 cumulative gpa from 4th grade all the way through 8th grade!! I'm SO proud!!! I've bragged; I'm happy. Goodnight.

Ok, I admit it.....I'm crazy!! I started a new blog (well, I will probably use it for all my photos and photo memes I plan on participating in). It's at a place called enjoydiary. Oops! Are we supposed to plug other blog places here? Anyhow, you can visit me here. Leave me a comment if you have a minute! P.S. I'll probably change the title to "Otto's Photo Blog." (just to let you know.) Later!

Random Questions; Random Days............another great question!
What if your mirror could talk? What are 3 questions you might like to ask your mirror? What might your mirror say to you first thing in the morning?
First of all, if my mirror could talk, I'd be buying a new mirror! 3 questions I might ask my mirror? Let's see.........
*Why are you looking at me like that?
*What? You think I YOU got problems???
*Just how do you do it day after day?
What my mirror might say to me first thing in the morning?
Uh, do you think you could come back when you have your make-up on? Oh, and by the way, do something with that hair while you're at it.

I've been LOOKING for places that have nice icons to use on my blinkies; and thanks to annie, who has listed the places she's used for icons/smilies for her blinkies, I now have a few more places to grab them from. I've made some of my own icons, etc. in PSP, but I'm not talented enough to create everything from scratch, so I search for them and as long as they're not copyrighted, I know I can use them. Ok, now I have a new plan for today; work on my new blog AND make some blinkies.

"Heads up. Over the next couple weeks, we will be moving people over to a new version of Blogger. It's basically the same as the old one but should work better. So if things look different one day, don't be too surprised." Well, I'm here to tell you that the 'new' version of blogger is not "better" than the old one. Because I'm thinking of changing my look, I signed up for a new blog (I have a plan) and they only have about 6 templates to choose from (versus a dozen and a half or so from the old version) and you have to click more things in order to publish your blog; then when you want to view your page, it comes up in the bottom half of your screen. So to view your page the way it really looks, you have to open a new window and just type in the url. My opinion? NOT better! Maybe for them! On to some brighter thoughts: If you've been reading my blog recently, you know that my stepson, who is a Marine and was overseas just a couple of weeks ago, is now done with his duty. Then I blogged about the whole party thing..........which, by the way, my daughter and I did NOT show up for. (My stepson knew why; that's all that matters.) He came over to visit us last night. We had a really nice chat (about 3 hours.) He's got to go back to N.C. for a week, he'll be back home for 10 days, back to N.C. for about 3 weeks, then back home for good. He'll be moving out of this area though, to attend college somewhere else. That's ok too. I think he needs to do that in order to get out from under his sister's possessive, controlling ways. Not to mention that the girl he is with (AND plans on marrying) could not put up with that crap for very long. I'm happy for him and I hope he does go to college; just coming out of the service, most of it will be paid for I guess. He's got no reason NOT to go! Have a great Sunday! My plans for today? Working on my new project..........and probably going out to get some sunshine! It's actually sunny out today! Yeah!

I have been putting some serious thought into changing my blog look. I've been to a few blogs lately that have inspired this idea: granni, connie, annie, la diosa, windy, and allie; just to name a few. I'm just ITCHING to change my look! But that means changing a whole lot of other stuff too. Do I want to take the time to do it? I think I'm ready for a change so I think the answer to that question is yes. It's worth the time. What inspires people to change the look of their site?? Maybe the same thing that inspires people to rearrange furniture in their homes? (I hope you stick around to see what I come up with.........it may be a while but I am working on it.) Meanwhile, all you bloggers out there; keep inspiring me!!!!

I got me a lil draggy........ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Maybe I should go to bed! Anyway, I found this place thanks to grumbleeze. I saw she had one on her site and I wanted one; so I got one. Aren't they cute? Oh, it's over there to the left in case you were wondering..........

WELL! Good news! My mood has changed already. I did some blog-surfing and look what I found! If you like cats, you just have to see this video. I found it at Karen's blog. Go take a look! Goodnight! (I always like to retire for the night in a GOOD mood.)

I just haven't felt like blogging today......don't know why really. I found out that my stepson is coming home tonight for the weekend and has to be back to North Carolina by Monday. I don't know how long he'll be there, but he's basically done; no more obligation to go overseas. The 'family' is having a big shindig for him; of course the big sister is involved in that one. She's the one making the phone calls (to everyone he's ever met once in his life) and even rented a sign to put out by the road; you know, one of those big signs that lights up? From what I understand, she's invited EVERYONE in the family. Oh, I think she forgot to include her little sister again; an oversight? I doubt it. (what a good subject for last week's photo friday challenge: 'overlooked.') It's not that I wanted to drag my kid out there; it's just the point that her own sister can never include her in anything. THAT'S why my daughter did not invite her big "sister" to her graduation dinner. And it was from no influence on my part either. My kid has a mind of her own and the only sibling she wanted to invite to her graduation dinner can't make it because he'll be on his way back to North Carolina that day. Yeah, I know it's a step-family thing but these people are actually blood-related! I guess that brings a quote I blogged about a while ago to mind: "Treat your friends like family, and your family like friends." Some people don't even know what the true meaning of a friend is! (Well, I thought I didn't feel like blogging; I lied.) Anyway, I'm going to try to see my stepson this weekend at some point, at least so he can see his little sister. A lot of people have been getting on my nerves lately it seems. I guess the older I get, the more I see people for who they are. It's not always a pretty sight. I DO try to see the good in people; I really do. But when that good is buried so deep under the bad, I just don't feel like wasting my time searching for it. It's just sad that a young lady my daughter's age can't even look up to her older sister as a role model. That's ok too because she's got all kinds of role models on my side of the family. Enough, enough............on to some memes.

Random Questions; Random Days
The rainforests are important to the earth's ecological balance. What are some things we can do to help preserve the rainforest?
The first thing that came to mind when I read this question was that I bought t-shirts from "Human-I-Tees" a few years ago. I guess a percentage of the profit from the t-shirt sales goes to helping save the rainforests. I'm not sure exactly what's all involved in preserving our rainforests, but I think recycling helps. I do recycle. So, please don't think I'm less than intelligent after reading my answer. Hey, at least I answered it!

QOTD
1. What's your favourite animal?
I guess I would have to say cats. I have two and I enjoy it most of the time. They're cute and for the most part, low maintenance.

2. What's your favourite boy's name?
Hmmmm. Never really thought of it much. But I can tell you that if I would have had a boy, his name would have been Alexander. But we only picked that name after realizing that there was a possibility that I wouldn't have a girl and we better come up with a name just in case. And that takes me to the next question.

3. What's your favourite girl's name?
Alexandria.

Enjoy your weekend! Travellers; travel safe!!

Random Questions; Random Days....
Todays idea comes from a calendar called "Bright Ideas, 365 Creative Thinking Activities"
We've all heard the saying, "You are what you eat." What if that saying suddenly came true! What possible problems might be created, or on another note, what might be some humorous changes that might occur?
I would be scaring people off the street! I can't decide if I would be a big dorito or a big ol' round bagel........actually I do eat salads on a regular basis so maybe I'd be a chef salad! Can you imagine a bunch of food items walking the streets? We sure wouldn't be able to lie about what we had for dinner.......hey, that would be kind of interesting; you change into whatever it is you ate last. I bet we'd be a bit more careful of what we put into our mouths! The problems that could occur? You would not know what you friiends would look like from day to day. But you sure would know what they ate!
Very interesting question today.