Testing

Hey, I'm testing the email to blog function to see if it will work.

:)
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Junking

I spend my Saturday mornings with a friend of mine, out "JUNKING".

What is JUNKING?? We go to Yard Sales.

Not only do we go to yard sales, we have lists of things we are looking for, then we prioritize the yard sales that we want to go to.

This summer has been pretty successful:
Tiller
16' house ladder
car roof carrier for Jake
stihl chainsaw
warner iron skillet (replaces the one I sold a few years ago)
warner soup pots
beautiful wicker furniture with pads for my SUN room (my latest acquisition)
lots of jewelry
an entire autumn wardrobe
spring form pan for my honey (looking forward to homemade cheesecakes)
lots of small flower pots & home decor
a beautiful runner for my front hallway
a door stop
a box of butterfly surprises for my baby girl
Christmas gift sets, brand new in the box still
Tommy Hilfiger bedding
designer purses/bags
dog bowl
set of antique glasses
meat grinder
pictures for the house
yard torches
and lots more

Total spent on all of this over the course of the summer: Approx $250-$300. I could have spent that much on the wicker furniture alone!!

Totally cool - what a great way to save money and RECYCLE!! Support your local yard sales!!

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

Surgery Update

Yep, the long awaited left-foot surgery was this past Thursday. You may recall that in December 2006 I had reconstructive surgery on my right foot and the recovery was horrible, long, drawn out, painful, and I think I never even wore a regular shoe until April or May of the following year! This is NOTHING like that!! THANK GOD!!

The procedure included breaking the halex (big toe) bone about halfway between my toe and foot joints. Then he secured it with titanium brace, screwed it down to hold it in place. That will help to straighten out the bone thus the toe. Then my second toe bone and toe are too long, which is the source of these problems. He shortened my toe. He's counting on my foot readjusting itself. The procedure was less than 1 hr. I was home a little more than 2 hrs after the surgery started. Very Cool!

My honey is here taking good care of me. I'm so relieved, I couldn't have done any of these without his support and help. He's cooking for me, giving me moral support, helping me around the house, driving me crazy (but in a good way). He's sweet. The dogs have been really good too. Charlie, the wiener dog, is steering clear of me - maybe it's the surgical shoe, maybe it's the cane - but whatever it is, he's not getting in my way at all. Snicker has been great, he follows me around, makes sure I get where I'm going, sits and waits for me to get done or get in bed or get into the chair - it's more than cute. Then, he just hangs out and watches me.

Thursday was a breeze, in fact, they sent me home walking on my heel into the house. Instructions pretty simple: elevate foot, intermittent ice packs, only walk to go to the bathroom and wear the surgical shoe and walk on my heel. That all sounds pretty simple. Until Friday!!!! OMG! It was painful! My strategy for Friday was to stay in bed (close to the bathroom) and take enough drugs to sleep all day. It was a good strategy and I only came into the living room Friday night to watch the Presidential Debate.

Saturday, I saw a marked improvement, so I came into the living room and camped out all day. Stayed off the phone, took lots of drugs, ice packs, and just recouped all day. The best part, I really got good sleep when I went to bed - I actually slept from 11pm - 4am before I took more pain killers. The cool part, I woke up and listened to 2 hoot owls in my back yard calling to each other. It was sooooo sweet! I loved it. The dogs were quiet, and didn't react to them hooting out there.

And today, I'm feeling even better. Wow, I've been up since 7 and only taken 1 pain pill about an hr ago. But I'm still keeping it elevated, iced and only going to the bathroom and walking on the heel. I'm very hopeful that the rest of the week I will feel better and better. I think I'll take Monday and Tuesday off - but by Wednesday, I should be able to get involved some - just check in and read emails. Maybe I can have friends over by Wednesday night for wine night! Wouldn't that be good!

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

John McCain & Sarah Palin

Wow! What a BIG surprise, Sarah Palin for VP! I, for one, am very pleased with the announcement.

To be honest, I didn't care for either candidate - I don't care for Obama and especially NOT Joe Biden. If this is touted as "change" then - wow - I don't want it. If Obama would have ask Hillary to run with him - now that was the winning ticket - no one could have stopped him. Whether I liked Obama or not, he would have been my new president on Nov 4th. But picking Joe Biden - yea, like that's really "change". To me, it's politics as usual.

I'm not an ultra-right-wing conservative, but I am conservative about some issues, more moderate on others. Fortunately for me, many of my views are shared by McCain. By adding Palin to the ticket, it equalizes many of those issues, enhances many of the others. It's perfect! It also breaks down the "good old boys" network!

As for the feminists around, I haven't heard of many reports where they are actually happy or supportive. I don't understand why. I am a feminist, I fought for equal rights since the 60's/70's. I believe in equality. Equal pay for equal work. Sarah Palin is one of many women in political office with a good track record, strong ethics. Gotta love her!!

So, now the left-wing media is accusing McCain of choosing Palin just because Obama made the terrible mistake of choosing Biden instead of Clinton. I think their thinking is hilarious. I think they just can't stand that McCain one-upped Obama.

So let the race begin! 2008 Presidential Campaign read.....set.......start......

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

Bob Dylan

Last weekend we went to see Bob Dylan at Riverbend. I was so excited, I just couldn't wait to see him. You see, a couple of years back when he started on this tour, he was coming to San Diego's Cox Arena. I had KILLER seats, just the best ever and I was soooo happy. But then my son called me to tell me that he and Michelle were moving the wedding up and it would be 3 weeks from then! 3 weeks! Ok, Yeah, Excitement until I realized it was the same weekend.

Sold the tickets on Craigslist to a guy in Anaheim. He told me later how great the concert was and thanked me for the KILLER seats!! So, some time back when I saw that Bob Dylan was coming, we decided to go to make up what we missed out on 2 years ago.

Honestly, I should have kept the money in my pocket. I won't go again. And here's why.....
every song had basically the same arrangement. New or Old, didn't matter, they all sounded alike.
Then they were all dressed alike, in some black suit Amish style with hats and everything. They kept the stage lights down low - probably because it was soooooo hot and humid out. After every song, they turned out the lights and when the applause died down, they started another song and turned the lights back on. Bob Dylan played keyboard all night with a little harmonica. He was faced in the same direction all night away from us. That sort of ticked me off.

But the clincher was - he didn't sound that great, I don't know if it was him or the sound system, but you couldn't understand what he was singing until every once in a while you'd hear a familiar word or two. And he NEVER spoke to the crowd until the encore in which he said 'thank you friends' pointed and mumbled something about his band and that was it.

It was very disappointing for us. We were ready to go and at one point I almost fell asleep!! Never again.....I guess somethings are better left in the past - and for me - that's where Bob Dylan will stay.

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

Another day in project paradise

I haven't complained too much about Sharepoint MOSS 2007 up to this point. My current project is being developed in SP, it's a publishing site. I actually read and believed the MS propaganda about all the cool things SP can do right out of the box. Yes, me, the MS skeptic, actually drank the koolaid. But today, when I watched my team of some of the most intelligent people I've ever worked with struggle with the content web editor, all the steps to publish a page, all the hoops to jump through, I really felt this disdain bubble up for Sharepoint.

It's like they must have sat in a room and decided to make this the absolute WORST publishing tool EVER!! I have been far better off with notepad that SP. And my poor teammates! It's their site, they have to maintain it from now out and it's not intuitive, easy, or even make sense in most cases. The success of this project means so much to our team and I fear that once we've negotiated and compromised over the limitations SP presents that now that the content mgmt portion is so horrid, the up-keep will be dreaded.

I hope they find better ways to accomplish what they want. I hope that as time goes by they can hire an intern or someone to come in an just enter content. But in the meantime, I wish them the best and hope they are happy with the end results.

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts

Charlie

Our poor doggy - Charlie - is sick. He's at the vet's since yesterday evening. They are running tests to see what's wrong with him. X-rays, blood tests, barium study, IV because he was dehydrated, and a few more things. They thought at first it might be Parvo - and even though he's been vaccinated he could still contract it. They checked his blood to see if he ate a small animal that might have been poisoned, thus poisoning himself and luckily it was neither of those. But they still don't know what it is.

They are looking either for something in his stomach that he ate and can't pass OR for something outside of his stomach (like a tumor) that is pushing on his stomach. And unfortunately, it's sooooo expensive that it's hard to know how much cost is too much. I'll keep you posted.

"...And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make."
---The Beatles

Thanks for reading my Heavenly Thoughts