mindaTHINK

Will Return after these messages

Turns out that with God inspiring, friends calling, weather stunning, family seeking, scrap happening, work beckoning that blogging loses its place in line.

Hopefully inclement weather will return soon, and I'll be able to post something meaningful for my 600th post!

Sometimes things have to be seen to be believed...

I'm trying to figure out facebook.  My BIGS signed me up over a year ago and then I politely ignored it as just another thing I didn't want to read the manual for.

But then lately more and more I'm finding it useful.  For finding photos of my niece in St. Louis.  And for reconnecting with the past.

Another cool feature is the bookshelf.  I have always wanted to keep a list of all the books I've ever read, an impossibility at this ripe old age, but I spent the better part of last Saturday morning making a dent in the list, and facebook really made it easy.

Because I have a healthy booklist, facebook wanted to tell me the following information:

The most popular books in the Mpls/St. Paul network:

1. Harry Potter

2

The Bible

3. Angels And Demons

4

1984

5. Catcher In The Rye

Seriously.  You can't make this stuff up.  Apparently things DON'T have to be seen to be believed here in the Twin Cities.

Sometimes surfing the web is funny!

Done Been Tagged

I was tagged by Leachy to play along

Here are the rules:
1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name).
3. After you are tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and your answers. 4. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and that they need to read your blog for details.)

K - Kinky hair

E - Eclectic tastes

C - Cooking phobic

I - Independent

A - Artistic

M - Massive reader

E - Energetic

G - God lover

A - Anti big Government

N - nonmaterialistic

I would need to tag so many people and most of my friends have already played, but feel free to post your list on your blog if you haven't been tagged yet!

Life Moving at the Speed of Sound!

So much has happened in the last week and now we are off to the dentist again in an hour, this time to actually have some work done on Andrew and Scott.

Andrew took his 2nd grade CAT test yesterday and kicked it in the butt!  He was giddy with laughter at how much easier it was this year versus last year, and the math section was the biggest surprise.  He's really made amazing progress and I predict we will be taking CAT 3 in May or early June.  I reviewed his answers and I think he only got one wrong...out of 120 questions.  And, it only took him about 45 minutes to take the whole thing!  WHOA!  So proud.

Colder than ever today, -15 below upon wake up, the apartment which is normally toasty is a little nippy.  SO I am dressed for the occasion:

Tons of new layouts going on over at www.tallyscrapper.com.  A beautiful Feb 15 kit is really rocking my world right now!

Internet: Incredible Opportunity to Learn

I was rereading my entire blog for last year, pulling out a single post to highlight for each month in a little minibook of 2007 memories.  While doing that I stumbled across a blog I was highlighting back in March.  While on that site I stumbled on to this.  I have only read a week's worth of posts, but I found a connection I wanted to share.  I have been close to those who have died 20 times or more in my 43 years.  This is not because I am extraordinarily unlucky, but because I used to volunteer in Hospice services as a companion.  There is something that happens often in those about to die, those who are not running from the truth of it, and this guy is talking beautifully about that something.  Go learn from him, let him be your friend in his last days, even though time and space might not allow you to be his friend.  http://ohenrosan.blogspot.com/

So I've been tagged...

So, I'm not sure I've ever been OFFICIALLY tagged in the two plus years of blogging, but here goes...

This tag comes from Shirley, one of my new mates on the design team at TallyScrappers.com.

1-post these rules
2-each person tagged must post 8 random(... hopefully interesting) facts about themselves
3-tags should write a blog post of these facts
4- at the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5-go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged

My ranDoM fActS:

1) DeAtH doesn't scare me...the death of my self, the death of others, the death of pets.  Walking on frozen lakes, on the other hand SUPER SCARY!  Not because I might die, but because I might not!

2) I would rather live in a 2 bedroom apartment in a "renewal" area of an urban center, with no car and no amenities, than live in a $500,000 "perfect" house in the 'burbs.  In fact if I inherited or won a "perfect" house I would immediately sell it, give away most of the money and move back into the 2 bedroom apartment.

3) I despise labels, and all things organized, church, school, ymca, girl scouts, bowling leagues.  I know, how crazy is that.  The word "meeting" can send me into hysterics.  I therefore can only describe what I do on Sunday mornings as hanging out with a small collection of spirit-filled people at various homes and ocassionally agreeing on God related experiences.  Without labels, it sounds kinda flaky, huh?

4) I am irreverent.  I really care about not hurting people's feelings.  OFTEN these two clash, but sometimes they go well together.  I stayed in a homeless shelter in San Diego in order to not insult a Kiwi who was on walkabout and invited me there.  I tried to leave a donation for the place with my American Express card.

5) I was wicked smart in highschool and hated every moment of it.  I did everything wrong, didn't study, didn't listen, didn't show up...still I passed and the teachers liked me.  That seems very wrong to me! 

6) I owned a racing quarterhorse when I was 13 years old.  I raced, I showed, I took lessons from a master to improve my skills.  But by the time I was 15 horses weren't my passion anymore.  Yep, I'm afraid I turned to boys instead.

7) I have spent three days on an island in the Boundary Waters Wilderness with no food, drink or shelter.  I learned how very little one needs to be at peace, to survive and how much inner strength I really had.  It was both frightening and exhilarating to learn this.

8) At the age of 43, I have just admitted to myself for the first time that I am a neat freak.  I have what I am sure is a diagnosable illness that procludes me from enjoying myself when there is dirt to be cleaned up or mess to be organized.  My sis-in-laws (and ALL OF MY FRIENDS) are laughing right now and saying, "No, REALLY!?!?!?"  I really didn't think it was that bad, but now I see it. 

Okay, Nancy, Lisa, Wes, Scott, Katie, Shana, Kate, and Erin, consider yourself tagged!

Dear Scott, Don't Get ANY Ideas!

My dear honey, I know adding this link to my blog may APPEAR to you to be saying I'm now okay with following your heart and moving us all to the middle of flippin' nowhere, but appearances in this case would be deceiving.

Interesting guy though.

No Impact Man

Prescription Medicine

My prescription for a bad day/week/month:

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/confessions_of_a_pioneer_/

Read every day for one week, repeat.

If you aren't chuckling by the end of that week, you aren't paying attention!

Thanks for the Memories Gang!

Before the end of the year sneaks up on me, and since this is post 331, I wanted to thank the following people:

Bonnie Rose, Bofo, Susan, Lisa H, Linda, Phyllis, Joyce, Deanna, Brendan, Vicki, Wes, Marcy, Brenda,  Scott, Kathie, Connie, Tiffany, Colleen H and Nerdgrl for talking back at me in your comments since the inception of my blog.  Although this blog is primarily a place to store my memories and scrapbook page backups, it is always nice to know one is being read.  You all took our friendship into the wooly world of the internet and I appreciate your bravery.

I'd also like to thank Amber, Lisa R, Ethan, Amy, Heidi, T Stormcrowe, Buckeye Sandy, LeAnn, Colleen, Cami, Emily, Adrienne, KelliCrowe, Michele, Regan, Cathy, Josh, Kyle, Thena, and Becky who were a score of the thousands of visitors to my site who took the time to say hello, although we've never met.  Its also nice to make new acquaintances is this way!

And finally, last but far from least I'd like to thank Nancy Clauss.  Nancy has been a reader from the beginning and has posted 106 comments on my blog.  Now that is a friend who wants me to know I'm being heard.  Bless you girlfriend!