Spider Webs and Spiderman

My friend let me use his computer to update my blog. We went to see Charlotte's Web and it's really cute. You should go see it if you get a chance.

Then we came home and watched Spiderman. I noticed some things that they had in common. Spiderman's intro has words on webs and they are both about spider's saving the day.

Quote:

The means to gain happiness is to throw out from oneself like a spider in all directions an adhesive web of love, and to catch in it all that comes

- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

This Weekend

I'm going to visit a friend of mine and not going to be back until sometime Tuesday. Probably in the afternoon or evening.

It's a 6 hour drive, but I usually feel rested when I get back. I went for a lot of years not realizing that I needed to get away once in a while. I know it seems like I need to get away a lot.

I also know that the sun will probably not be out early in the morning. It's raining today and will probably be cloudy tomorrow.

Quote: The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I'm trying for a new look for the New Year

I got a little darker color to put on my hair and I bought a new outfit. It's a bright skirt, a white shirt and a red over shirt. I also got some lipstick, but it's not really that dark, it hardly shows that I'm wearing it.

I really don't spend a lot of time thinking about how I look, or what I will eat. I will probably go back to my normal Moggy attire. It's easy to draw. ;-)

Quote: Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Matthew 6:25

Today I start a journal

I will not have my journal on my blog, so now I have two things to do every day and when New Years starts, I'm going to start reading through the Bible daily and so I will have three things to do everyday. I guess we will just see how it goes.

The Cat really got me today, he was wanting attention and more food. He is still on a diet, and not really happy about it.

Quote: Be yourself, above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish. - John Jakes

There is going to be a learning curve

It's going to take a while to get used to my new Cyber Tablet. My mouse was really bad, but I was used to it.

We will see if my cartoons change much.

Quote: That's the risk you take if you change: that people you've been involved with won't like the new you. But other people who do will come along. - Lisa Alther

Sugar Free Fudge

Our Christmas meal turned out really good. We didn't have a huge variety, but we did have steak with mushrooms, fried okra, green beans, brown rice, biscuits and gravy.

And of course....

Sugar Free Fudge

Is it as good as real fudge? Not quite, but it's quite good.

Quote: There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate - Charles Dickens

Here is the recipe

16 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 C Splenda® sugar substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 C chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, waxed paper or parchment paper.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, melted, cooled chocolate, sweetener and vanilla until smooth. Stir in nuts (if using) and pour into Pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Cut into squares. Serve chilled.

Merry Christmas Everyone

Santa brought me a CyberTablet 12000. I don't know how he knew because I didn't tell him. I should be able to do better drawings with that.

What I have been using is a mouse that doesn't work very well and jumps around a lot.

We have Christmas Crackers (little wrapped things that pop when you pull them apart). When you open them, they have a little saying inside like...
Q. What did the pencil say to the paper? A. I dot my I's on you.
A little plastic toy (very little) and a paper crown.

Quote: You will think me very pedantic, gentlemen, but holiday though it may be, I have not the smallest interest in any holiday, except as it celebrates real and not pretended joys.

It wont be long now

I am going to have to go to the store, but first I have to decide what I want to cook for Christmas. I bet you already know what your going to do, but I have not decided yet. I'm going to try not to cook too much, but to have a nice little family Christmas.

Quote: Meanness inherits a set of silverware and keeps it in the bank. Economy uses it only on important occasions, for fear of loss. Thrift sets the table with it every night for pure pleasure, but counts the butter spreaders before they are put away. - Phyllis McGinley

Christmas will be here Monday ;-)

I hope the tree lasts that long. The Cat has really been enjoying it. He has knocked a limb off the bottom and some of the decorations off. He spends most of his time under the tree. Maybe he is waiting for a present. I just hope he doesn't try to scratch or bite Santa ;-)

We did get bulbs that look like glass, but are not breakable, so we were ready. He is so cute that it's hard to scold him for getting after the tree.


Quote: The reason cats climb
is so that they can look down
on almost every other animal
- it's also the reason
--------------they hate birds.
- K.C. Buffington

2 days till Christmas

I remember one year I wanted and got a ventriloquist doll for Christmas.

I don't know if it was before or after they had the scary TV show about a ventriloquist, but my little brother was afraid of it.

I did try, but I never got really good at it, so I gave it up.

Quote - Politicians employ speech writers as ventriloquists.
- George F. Will (maybe I just needed a good speech writer)

3 days till Christmas

One Christmas we went to my Grandparents and Santa Clause came while we were there.

I got a bicycle, but I didn't know how to ride it yet. So I let my cousin, who was also there ride it.

Quote: The hardest part of raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles. A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom. The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard. - Sloan Wilson

I't s only about 4 days till Christmas

Another Christmas memory. When I was in first grade I was sick with the Chicken Pox at Christmas and I remember getting a paper doll with real hair on it. (Well it may have been fake hair)

My Mom had put a perminent in my hair and cut my bangs straight accross. I also had glasses in the first grade. So this is sort of what I looked like with my paper doll. I know it's not the only gift I got, but it's the one I remember.

I always especially liked paperdolls. Maybe because you could store them in a small box under the bed and take them places. They were great for making up stories.

Quote: This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ.--Frank McKibben

Christmas Memories

I remember when I was in about 3rd grade, I got to be Mary in the school play. I think the only thing I needed for a costume was a blue towel.

I don't think I had a speaking part, still I memorized Luke 2:2 and never forgot it.

Quote: Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning...They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play. - Fred Rogers

Thank goodness for large favors

When the water was first turned on at the house, there was a huge leak under the house. It got capped off and it turned out to be just the hot water. I know that's not good, but at least all the cold water could work. It's good to have a plumber around.


Quote: The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy...neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water. (not sure of author)

What to Paint

The cabinets look promising as a painting surface and there are a lot of them. I'm going to look at a few different ideas. My Mom doesn't want folk art, so it will have to be something kind of realistic. I'm thinking maybe flowerpots because she likes plants.



I really don't like painting flowers, I prefer painting people. I just can't see her with a bunch of kitchen cabinets of people's faces.

I'm sure that inspiration will hit me.

Quote: Good taste is better than bad taste but bad taste is better than no taste - Arnold Bennett

Saturday Travels

I'm leaving really early and will not be back until early Sunday. I'm hoping to make it back in time for Sunday School. This time I"m camping out at an empty house. My Parents just bought a house that they are going to fix up and move into. My Mom is going to let me paint on her cabinets, but I probably won't do it this weekend. I'm going to try to sketch out some ideas to run past her first.

Quote: It is important to express oneself...provided the feelings are real and are taken from your own experience. - Berthe Morisot

Today at the store

We didn't get off to the store until late and I was really getting tired. The Girl felt sorry for me and said "smoochies", but as I responded to her still looking where I was going some man came around the corner.

I guess at least it did entertain him and any Angels that may have been watching.

Quote: Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. [Hebrews 13:2]

Be Proactive

I need to be more driven by my values, and not by feelings or circumstances.

Being Proactive is recognizing what you are responsible for and taking care of that responsibility.

Where do you focus your time and energy?

If I focus my time and efforts on things that I can actually do, I can do a lot. Things like my own behavior, habits, attitude, keeping commitments and promises.

Quote: Stay busy and take care of your own business. - Eddy Arnold

The Nativity Movie

A group from my Sunday School Class went to see the Nativity Movie last friday. It was great, you shouldn't miss it while it's out. They did a really good job of capturing the time period and following the story.

I could feel chills through a lot of it, and that doesn't happen that often. All the actors really were good at their parts. I especially liked the wise men.


Quote: Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something. - Benjamin Franklin

You may be old.....

If your advent calendar looks like mine does and doesn't have candy inside. Or if your tree decorations consist of old pill bottles ;-)

I went to the Doctor today thinking I had a lot of stuff wrong with me and she said I dont have any new problems like I thought.

It reminded me of when I first started driving. My friends Dad had a gas station and every time I would go by he would tell me there was something wrong with my car. I could hardly make it home. Then when I got home my dad would check it out and say "there's nothing wrong with your car" and like a miracle it would drive fine - that is until the next time I went to get gas from my friends father.

Quote: I believe the second half of one's life is meant to be better than the first half. The first half is finding out how you do it. And the second half is enjoying it.--Frances Lear

Meet your neighbors

Sometimes UPS brings packages. Sometimes it brings you the chance to meet one of your neighbors. I heard a knock on the door today and it was UPS dropping off a package. I opened the door and scooped it up. It was from someone in Germany.

I looked at who it was to, and it was the right house number, but the wrong street. So I looked them up and called. They were only a block or so away and at home. So we just walked to meet each other. It's a beautiful day out there too.

It was from her sister and I'm so glad I didn't just open it without looking at who it was addressed to. It was like being able to give someone a gift without having to do anything, but step out the door.

Quote: Flatter not thyself in thy faith in God if thou hast not charity for thy neighbor. - Francis Quarles

My Christmas Party at Work

I decided to ask a date this year.
The first problem that I ran into was that I had bought a dress to wear and not really tried it on much before hand and it was way too low. I ended up having to wear something over the top of it.

We ran into a couple more people we knew and he asked the wrong one about her age. She reacted to that, accidently knocking a drink out of the other girl's hand. So a lot of wine got on the floor and a little on a couple of our clothes. Not mine.

Well turns out he doesn't drink which is good, but it also turns out that he likes to pretend that he is drunk to embarase me.

All in all it was a lot of fun and I guess that I will not really know if anyone noticed me with the drunken guy, until I get to work Monday.

Well Mr. B, you said you were trying to make it onto my blog and so you have. I bet you never thought you would make it on as dried fruit. ;-)

Quote: Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. - Aristotle

Bonus Quote: Christmas is a time when everybody wants his past forgotten and his present remembered. What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day. - Phyllis Diller

Paradigm Shift

I will try to come back and clean all this up later, but it's 2 in the morning an the inspiration hit me and woke me up.

Definition - a change from one way of thinking to another.

I will illustrate how this could take place with a pair of dimes ;-)

How can other people not see things the way that I do?

Sometimes we don't want to be proved wrong, We are so sure that we are right.

Next time you run into someone with a vastly different view than yours. Think of the pair of dimes.

What you need to do is to first be quite, let the other person explain what they think. Listen hard and try to understand what they are trying to say. Do this without trying to make them see your side.

It may be
a streach
for you
to see
their side
of things.

Then (and only then) after you fully understand what they think (you don't have to agree) It's your turn.

You can try to explain what things look like from your side.

If you are successful and actually have a Paradigm Shift for one or both of you, you will have expanded your knowledge.

Quote: He that never changes his opinion, never corrects his mistakes, will never be wiser on the morrow that he is today. - Tyron Edwards

Seven Habits

I can see from what I'm learning that I have been spending too much time doing stuff that will not really benifit me. In the class they say stay above the line.

Below the line are things that are "urgent, but not important" and things that are "not urgent and not important". You are susposed to spend most of your time doing things that are Important, but have not yet become Urgent.

Quote: No one can go back and make a brand-new start, my friend; but anyone can start from here and make a brand-new end.

I get to go to a 2 day 16 hour class at work

I didn't sign up for it, but I really need it. One of my co-workers signed up and it was paid for. She had to go out of town. So I'm getting to take her place. I think that's God's way of getting me some training I need.

I have listed to Stephen Covey in a lecture before - He was on a big screen, so I wasn't really in the same room with him. I loved it and thought I would do what he said, but you know how it is. 16 hours should be able to teach even me something.

Quote:

Everything has been said before,
but since nobody listens
we have to keep going back
and beginning all over again.

- Andre Gide

These boots were made for scratching

I bought some new boots to wear to my Christmas party at work. I bought them on Sunday and wore them Monday to break them in. I don't exactly know what happened, but a little wire came out of the top of the left boot and scratched up my right leg while I was walking.

Other than that they were pretty comfortable.

Some people say just bend the wire, but most say take them back. I will have to make some decision soon.

Quote:

A lie can run around the world before the truth can get it's boots on.

- James Watt

I am starting to see how rare and valuable the truth really is.

Bigfoot in Texas?

My friend from San Antonio told me there was something about BigFoot on the News there. So I tried to look it up and I didn't find anything current, but there have been sighting in Texas.

Today's News had this: Giant Gorilla Goes Missing In Carrollton Carrollton police are searching for a giant 35-foot inflatable gorilla stolen from the top of a tire store.

And then eharmony tried to match me with a 7 ft tall guy who didn't post a picture. When I was looking up bigfoot stories a lot of them say he is 7ft tall. Makes you think doesn't it?-------------------------------------------------------------
Do you think there could be a connection between any of this?

Quote: "If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” T.S. Eliot

I had a bad dream about my X

I have been divorced for a very long time and sometimes I wonder how long it will be before the bad dreams stop. I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't happen very often.

And I am very lucky to have gotten away.

Quote: If your dreams turn to dust..... vacuum. - unknown

Tree Lighting

I went to see a tree lighting and fireworks show and Santa came on a fire truck. There was also a puppet show - free cookies and hot chocolate.

It was great and I started not to go because I'm being lazy again today. Some people there were dressed like the old days, hoop skirts and all. There was a tour of an old house and a chance to hang around with some new friends.

There were two people who invited us and so that made 8 in all in our group.

We only lost two people in the crowd, but they were the two who invited us and they knew the way back.

Quote: A good many things go around in the dark besides Santa Claus. - Herbert Hoover

Today one of those things was me ;-)

How I'm spending Saturday

Today I am looking for shoes. I need a new pair, but I also need to find all my other shoes. I only know where one pair is and lucky for me they are comfortable and reasonably generic. I have been wearing them every day for a week.

Quote: Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.
- Jack Handey

We don't see this often

I'm not as brave as I was when I was younger about driving on the roads when we have snow. Before I moved we only had snow once every few years. Actually it's not bad I've got to check the news this morning before I head out, but it looks pretty good from my back window.

Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow - Alice M. Swaim