SPARKLE SWIRL ELEMENTS

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Thank you all for your encouraging comments and your prayers and my chat with my sister Nina, and the quick hello from my sister in law Judy - you all made me feel ok to be grumpy once in a while. Its good we uplift one another and lend our ears, shoulders. It confirms my blog works both ways - I count on YOU to feed me too! Thanks for you for giving me 'good counsel' when I needed this, and for holding me accountable too. I've recieved some great advice from you - great critique, which I take to heart. I appreciate and welcome your wise advice - and your delivery of it.

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy.

"Reckless words pierce like a sword,

but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Proverbs 12:18

I played 'ketchup' yesterday. (nonslang: catchup) - did all the laundry, made sure the house is in order and spent 1/2 the day working outside. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I managed to get a bit of welcome color back in my skin. Its been a long winter this year and I made it through without having to 'fake and bake'... This was the first year for a long time, but I wanted to give my skin a break. I get SAD in the winter, and when I get grumpy Miles knew if all the other bases were covered (eg: the neccesities - food, companionship, money, fun, etc) then he would ship me off to the tanning bed. It worked 99.9 % of the time. So the sun is back and I am good.

LAYOUT BY LUCY - my next-town neighbor

Credits: all papers and elements by Barb Derksen

fonts - mariah and mystic

Thanks Lucy - I love sharing your layouts - keep them coming!

Won't YOU all send me your layouts using my 'stuff'', please? I would love to feature you!

I hope you might find a moment or two to slip over to Amy W's blog today. Firstly, its a great place to visit. Amy spends her own time assembling links to good freebies on the net for al l of us! Today, she's featuring an add-on for her pretty Amy's Birthday Bash kit - you just gotta have it!

Amy posted a pic today, of her sweet 'lil dd . Emma, her darling, got into some mischief! ( those of you who are mom's to little ones probably have tales to tell too...) Apparently, Emma got her fingers into some Spackle - you know, the stuff they stick on your cieling, and she got it smeared EVERYWHERE... LOL... poor Amers - but she finally got Emma cleaned up and taking a nap, with all her variety of stuffed animals. Amy, did you get a picture of the SPACKLE SMEARING incident?

Do you have a funny story of the mischief your own darling child got into? How did you deal with it? Do you have pics? And, speaking of this, reminds me of Rebecca from New York.... I MISS YOU? Don't you have inernet any more? If you do, please connect - let us know you're doing well!

LOCAL WINERY AND B&B

I did promise to share some photos from our hike last saturday - so I'm posting a few today. It seems like the hike was a month ago, the days slip by so fast! We live in a stunningly beautiful area. If you are new to my blog, we live in Paradise, really. The Okanagan Valley of British Columbia is a firtile one, with orchards and vineyards and lakes, stretching from one end to the other. At our end, we boast Canada's only Pocket Desert - and this gives us a very unique landscape, filled with exotic plants and animals you may not see anywhere else in this Province.

OUR FRIEND, ROMAN, OVERLOOKING OSOYOOS LAKE

Our friend Roman, invited us to go for a hike up a mountain. There is no 'formal' trail here, and its a VERY steep hike to the top! Roman is in good condition from farming, and he had us gasping for breath by the top! Imagine - some people go to the gym when they could work a farm... At any rate, our burning lungs and legs were rewarded by a tremendous vista - and we spent a quiet hour enjoying the beauty. We saw a plethora of flora and birds as well. Quiet little dells and craggy rock faces. I'm so glad we captured it all on 'chip' (guess its not 'film' anymore!)

MILES OVERLOOKING THE VALLEY

I'm still working my way slooooooooooooooooowly through the Colour book by Victoria Finlay - I try to get a few pages in at night... right now I'm working my way through Orange - and how important it was to get that special colour on the famous Stradivarius violins. The unique finish has kept people searching for the recipe ever since, as it was a secret! So many people have tried to figure it out - but no one has been successful.

I found it interesting that one ingredient which people from Cremona, Italy, tried was propolis - the sticky substance which bees collect from tree resins. The bees use this resin to protect their hives from invasion. If a mouse entered the bee's city, they killed it! Because the body of the mouse is too large for them to move, and because they don't want it laying around stinking up the place, they mummified it in propolis! Remember I mentioned people using honey to mummify? People use propolis an an antiseptic - or in an ingredient in varnish. It has the added bonus of scaring the woodworm away. Apperently, every propolis is varies according to place - and the one from Cremona was said to be very fine for varnish!

Today in History:

1571 - Johannes Kepler - by his own calculations - is conceived at 4:37 AM

1770 - Marie Antoinette marries future King Louis XVI of France

1866 - Congress authorizes nickel 5› piece (replaces silver half-dime)

1872 - Metropolitan Gas Company lamps lit for 1st time

1920 - Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome

1929 - 1st Academy Awards (Best film is Wings)

1975 - Japanese Junko Tabei became 1st woman to reach Mt Everest's summit

Birthdays in History:

1763 - Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin, chemist discoverer of chromium beryllium

1801 - William H. Seward, bought Alaska at 2›/acre

1905 - Henry Fonda, actor (Mr. Roberts) Grand Is Nebraska

1919 - Liberace (Wladziu Liberace), candelabrist

1952 - Pierce Brosnan, in Israel

BARB'S HANDY TIP #262

Shine Your Rep!

Well, really, your reputation is priceless. It says in the bible that our reputations are our witness - and we are to work very hard to keep them spotless. We ARE human, though and we all make mistakes. Used to be in the old days, that one could simply wait for a while and it would all 'blow over' - the only ones who knew were where you were from or who knew you. You felt very safe.

Now, I personally believe, there are consequences for our past mistakes - and I think God can use us through those 'mess ups' I also know we are accountable to God, not man. However we also live in the reality of the times, with everything we say and do, especially on the internet, being collected and catalogued all along the way - sometimes without our knowledge or permission. I've been listening to some pretty interesting artlicles on the radio and it's been an eye opener. Did you know Google keeps something like 10 yrs of all internet stored? I don't think its earth moving for me, but I heard them say that some companies 'Google' prospective employees - and hire or not hire on that basis.

Also, peoples lives change, they grow out of teendom (we all do stupid things when teens) and perhaps someones marital status has changed, and so you want all previous info removed... etc.

So, with this, companies are being created with the sole purpose to 'clean up' peoples reputations by removing and deleting information from the net - for a price. This is harder the more famous you are, because if you're really famous there's too much for them to remove. So... if you need to get 'cleaned up' on the net, you can go to the following site:

REPUTATION DEFENDER

APPLIQUE #2

download here (fixed now...sheesh!!)

First of all, I want to say a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Barry and Judy, my brother and sister in law, on the sale of their home. It's official - after an ETERNITY of waiting and preparing for this time of their lives. I know how hard it was for you to wait, Judy and there were times you were on your face in front of our Lord, asking for strength and patience. I am overjoyed He has chosen this time for your dream to be fulfilled.

Well, I missed an entire day blogging! It felt very strange. What happened is that the internet was not working all morning, and by the time Miles restored it at lunchtime I was already into heavy cleaning mode, so I decided to wait till today. Hope you all missed me too! I think I caught a grump-bug from my friend Becky, who struggled to get through last week with a happy attitude - in fact I near took Miles head off on Sunday. Yes, Mrs. Miles was a real winner that day! I could not seem to get a grip on my emotions and I was just awful. I just hate it when the words roll out of my mouth without the permission of my brain, and I have a knack of 'going for broke' once I mess up in the first place. Thank the Lord for giving me a very understanding husband. We are thinking (fishing for a plausible explanation for my unacceptable behavior) that this might be the onset of men-o-pause. It IS the right time of my life - anyone got advice for me? For Miles (besides "run for your LIFE!") I know one thing, I surely welcome your prayers, and I need to be doing more of that as well.

I feel so bad, feeling sorry for myself, when a dear, dear friend of mine is suffering. Many of you know GINA - who lost her young son, Nick, tragically, last fall. Today is Nick's birthday - and this is going to be one horrible day for Gina. Won't you take a moment out of your busy day to leave some consoling words for our Sister? Gina, I love you and both Miles and I are praying for you and the family today. We can't know your pain, today, our friend, but we will lift you to our Lord.

The dead they sleep...
The dead they sleep a long, long sleep;
The dead they rest, and their rest is deep;
The dead have peace, but the living weep.

~Samuel Hoffenstein

TO ALL PARENTS
by Edgar Guest

"I'll lend you for a little time a child of mine," He said.
"For you to love the while he lives and mourn when he is dead,
"It may be six or seven years, or twenty-two or three,
"But will you, till I call him back, take care of him for me?

"He'll bring his charms to gladden you, but should his stay be brief,
"You'll have his lovely memories, as solace for your grief,
"I cannot promise he will stay, since all from earth return,
"But there are lessons taught down there I want this child to learn.

"I've looked the wide world over in my search for teachers true,
"And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes I have selected you.
"Now will you give him all your love, nor think the labor vain,
"Nor hate me when I come to call to take him back again?

I fancied that I heard them say: "Dear Lord, Thy will be done!
"For all the joy Thy child shall bring, the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness; we'll love him while we may,
And for happiness we've known forever grateful stay.

"But should the angels call for him much sooner than we'd planned,
"We'll brave the bitter grief that comes and try to understand."

THE DESK - BEFORE

THE DESK - AFTER!

Ok, so it proved to be a busy weekend for us. Miles has a talented student at his school - Roger, who you may remember from past blog posts, as he and his wife, Marie have the highly photogenic Alpacas. Roger, besides being a terrific video buff, also builds things out of wood. He builds things, I say, because he can size up a project just like that, and make it come to life! He and Miles have been collaborating on some office furniture - and instead of going to somewhere like Staples and getting something which we would have to try to fit to the room, he had Roger create something that is tailored! I've been amused watching the flurries of emails going back and forth. Miles drew up his plans in the free Sketchup program (available from Google) and he emailed them to Roger, Roger built! Roger built in like one single day - beautifully. He is so humble, won't allow us to compliment him in person, so we are doing it here. Can't thank you enough, Roger, you do amazing work.

Course, once the furniture came home, it had to be painted, right away... So, Miles stocked up on paints - black melamine, and we both worked away over a day. It turned out pretty spiffy in the end!

I did mention we went on our hike over the weekend - more photos of that to follow this week.

I also meant to post a link to another blog - Cisero Sings, she has a beatufil picture of a Fairy Slipper Orchid on her blog - they are amazingly beautiful, delicate and rare - getting rarer all the time. You can check it out by clicking HERE and the photo is on May 12ths entry.

YAXIN AND FAMILY

We had a lovely visit last night from our friend Yaxin and her family. I apologize profusely for this Yaxin, but I do not know how to spell your husband's name, so I won't even try. Forgive me and teach me how! Yaxin is a student at the Learning Center, working through some accounting courses. She's a warm, friendly and knowledgeable lady and we enjoy her company. Yaxin and her family came here from Bejing, China!

We invited her family to come for dessert and a visit. Her daughters Joy and Alice had fun swinging and hiking on the trails and eating the homemade ice cream sandwich cookies I made for a snack. We even were fortunate to see a deer on the trail! Thanks for a pleasant time, Yaxin and family - we look forward to more in the future!

LAYOUT BY SENATI
Credit: Superhero Kit by Barb Derksen

Thanks for sharing your layout, Senati! I love to post reader's layouts, so send a small version to me at lalalime@hotmail.com, along with credits if you would like to have your own layout (using any of my elements) featured here!

Today in History:

1602 - Cape Cod discovered by English navigator Batholomew Gosnold

1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers his harmonics law

1836 - Francis Baily observes "Baily's Beads" during annular solar eclipse

1886 - American poet Emily Dickinson died

1930 - Ellen Church 1st airline stewardess United flight SF to Cheyenne

1972 - George C Wallace shot & left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 261

Become a PHENOLOGIST

NPR, NPR... I know, I DO go on about it, but this radio station has the most interesting articles on it. For example, over the weekend they talked about something called Project Budburst... something you and I can take part in, to collect data about native plants so the scientists can track global warming by tracking how early/late the plants are. The plants blooming earlier and earlier may be indicators of our earth warming up. Sounds like it could be fun, and informative and be helping. You can actually listen to the entire article in AUDIO, or read the article, by clicking HERE.

Heads up, you backyard botanists. Take a look at your region's native plants. Are the bloodroots budding? The saguaro cactus blooming?

If so, Project Budburst needs you. The online "citizen science" campaign collects data about native plants. All you have to do to play is observe. Whether it's the first leaf of an aspen or the first bloom of an evening primrose, note the date, head for the Web site, and presto! You're an instant phenologist.

YOU CAN ALSO GO STRAIGHT TO THE BUDBURST WEBSITE - THIS IS A GREAT WEBSITE FOR TEACHERS, TOO - GOOD ACTIVITIES!

BUDBURST

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY APPLIQUE ELEMENT

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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY ALL! I hope, like me, you are being pampered... thus today's SHORT entry as I am just finished enjoying fresh strawberries IN BED - I'm being c.a.r.e.f.u.l. alright? My sweet husband wants to spoil me today and take me for a walk before church so I must run. Just wanted to wish you all a wonderful, blessed day!

EXODUS 20:12

Honor your father and your mother,

so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

MILES AND I ON YESTERDAY'S HIKE

more photos to follow...

I've uploaded a SWEET Mother's Day Powerpoint to share with you - sent to me by my friend Elaine. (thanx E!) I'm also especially thinking of you, VALERIE, today - thanks for your emails, photos and comments... I will try to make Loius semi-famous soon... LOL! And Judy, my sweet, sweet sister in law - extrodiaire... you are a TERRIFIC Mom and Grandma... and I love you more than words can say.

CLICK HERE FOR MOTHER'S DAY POWEPOINT

SUPER HERO KIT

download at the follwing link (bloggers giving me link grief!) :

UPDATE* UPDATE * UPDATE*

SO SO Sorry, I can't seem to upload to putstuff today, and my usendit link got over-exceeded... thanks for letting me know. Such a pain in the Buttons!!! The following NEW link, using Media Fire, HOPEFULLY it will work. If you have problems, just email me - we will get it to you somehow! Thanks for all your kind comments!

http://www.mediafire.com/?4xizw2qn2m0

:D

I would love to see the layouts you make with my kit - send them to me at lalalime@hotmail.com and I will make you (semi) famous LOL!

CARP WITH BIG FAT LIPS!!! ewwwww!

OK, I can't leave you without SOME sort of entertainment - so I'm including a part of an interesting email my brother sent!

Brain Stuff . . . From Cambridge University:

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

ifyou can raed tihs psas it on!!

BARB'S HANDY TIP #260

Funny Money (I used my hunny)

You should have fun with this one! I would have choosed a MUCH higher amount for my sweetie - in fact he's priceless.

Create your own personalized money bill at the click of a mouse button.

There's also a playing card generator as well.

PERSONALIZED MONEY!

HEAVY METAL KIT - alphas

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A blissfully uneventful and satisfying day, yesterday. Simply raked my little heart out down on the bottom level of the property. Its a flat, wide section which used to be a railway bed in the olden, golden days. My rake swept away a great depth of cottonwood leaves, opened up underneath the trunks and combed the grasses into long tresses, like a pale golden horses mane. Raking is very rewarding to me. It's good for my soul. To be in the elements and listen to the lapping waves and little animals scurrying about really relaxes me. I forgot to mention that when Becky and I were on our walk on Wednesday we heard a great scurrying and we stood still for several minutes, to discover THREE squirrels chasing each other in a humourous tag game!

Another thing I saw, was while I was eating my lunch on our patio yesterday - two birds, I assumed a mom and baby, though the baby was strangley bigger and puffier than the female. The female had a red stripe on her head and was kept busy placing food in the other's mouth. Bonnie informed me later that in all liklihood it was a female bird feeding a male - I did not know they did this!

RURAL FARM SCENE

I also saw a 'bird first' for me on Wednesday, when working with Bonnie, too - which I neglected to mention. It was colored grey and orange and had a very cool song. Bonnie and Roman told me it is a Say's Phoebe, and she's a returning bird. Used to be she had a mate and they would make their nest inside the garage. Later on, when they had babies, the babies would hang out in a building next door, spending most of their time perched atop some old stored windows. We did not see any mate along with her this year tho. You can learn more about the Say's Phoebe and hear her song by clicking HERE

CHOKE CHERRIES IN BLOSSOM

Our forth Picasa Photography class last night - and people are just soaking it up. It takes over a good hour just to set all the computers, projector and equiptment up, and print out class notes - but its worth every second. Our 'students' - every one is an adult, none younger than 35 - some seniors... every single one is benefitting from the course and its so rewarding to see their faces light up! Last night's lessons covered creating web albums, emailing pictures and printing. Google makes it so easy, for free!

SASSY STARLING! right in my window!

My heart is moved to speak of hope today. Seems to me that without hope, we simply exist. Simply existing is not living. We all need to believe there's more to life than just breathing and eating and getting through each day. Some days are TOUGH, so if we don't identify our HOPE... we are distracted by the little nigglers that rob us of our JOY.

,br>

My hope is in my Lord an Saviour. When the small icks in life overwhelm, I work hard to fix my eyes upon Him - and its' like the old song says:

So turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

My good friend Becky has been periodically publishing some exerpts of Voice of the Martyrs on her blog - and they always bring focus to me. When I get caught up in the minutea of daily life, hearing what some people have to go through, merely to proclaim their faith in public - it humbles me - and gives me new hope that there's something much more profound than today's problems... that what others go through in the name of God, makes my troubles pale in comparison. Won't you pray for these brave, courageous and faithful people? I promise, while you're praying for others, our own problems seem to fade away! Who of us, in the Western Hemisphere can even imagine being BEATEN and TORTURED for merely proclaiming our faith?

Why restless, why cast down, my soul?

Hope still, and thou shalt sing

The praise of Him who is thy God

Thy health's eternal spring.

-Nahum Tate

Trust the past to God's mercy,

the present to His Love,

and the future to His providence.

- St Augustine

IF WE LOVE GOD, OUR DEVOTION WILL NOT REMAIN A SECRET.

"Let your light shine before men in such a way

that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father who is in heaven. "

Matthew 5:16

Today in History:

0330 - Constantinople founded

1752 - 1st US fire insurance policy is issued - in Philadelphia

1792 - Columbia River discovered & named by American Capt Robert Gray

1850 - Work starts on 1st brick building in SF

1858 - Minnesota becomes 32nd state

1871 - John Herschel - cataloguer of southern hemisphere stars - dies at 79

1916 - Einstein's Theory of General Relativity presented

1929 - 1st regularly scheduled TV broadcasts (3 nights per week)

1947 - BF Goodrich manufactures 1st tubeless tire - Akron - Oh

1951 - Jay Forrester patents computer core memory

Birthdays in History:

1722 - Peter Camper, anatomist

1888 - Irving Berlin, dreaming of a white Christmas

1904 - Salvador Dal¡, surrealist

And here's a handy hint which Bonnie told me about when gardening the other day. If you are working in those heavy leather gloves which gap at the wrist - simply snip the tube off of an old pair of socks and slide them up your arms, elimenating the gap! This saves you getting itchy bits in your glove fingers.

BARB'S HANDY TIP #259

Like Jazz?

It's FREE! AccuJazz is the world's first multichannel jazz radio station, featuring nearly a dozen channels of great classic and mainstream jazz, from the earliest Dave Brubeck and John Coltrane to the latest from Joe Sample and Diana Krall.

ACCUJAZZ

HEAVY METAL KIT - frames

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Well, yesterday's request about how you all feel about death, funerals, etc - illicited quite the passionate responses! It appears we are either hot or cold about it - not one person was just casual. It's a very interesting subject and I plan to do some more reading up on it. Thanks so much for your feedback. If you have not read the comments from yesterday, I would suggest them for some interesting reading!

I got the most LOVERLY surprise in the mail... EARLY - a goodie basket from our daughter, Melanie, for Mother's Day. She was thinking my 'love language' with her gift of designer gardening gloves, knee pads, incence, candles and a card that made me all misty-eyed. Thank you sweed Girl! The gardening items arrived right in time for my foray with Bonnie!

THE HEDGE - all wild and wooly

THE HEDGE - neat and trim

Yes, it was my weekly date with Bonnie to learn and help keep this place bee - youtiful! We it was a sunny, hot day and we were soon stripped down to our lightest layers and enjoyed soaking up the sun while working. Bonnie is a good and patient teacher and she invested plenty of time showing me how to prune back the hedge of Oregon Grape and Rabbitbrush. The Rabbit Brush is native to this area - but it wants to grow in great manes which take over. The Oregon Grape get shoots trying to sneak right out of the box! The OG also has very sharp, prickly branches! In the end we managed to tame the hedge nicely.

RABBIT AT THE DESERT CENTER

Becky came for our weekly visit yesterday too. I so look forward to our time together - she's so real, and our time together always flies by! We went for a walk around the trails and took photos. The lake was very still, like glass. On the trails we heard something I've never heard before. There is a hatching of what looks to be mosquitos, but they don't bite. Miles suggested they may be just the males. However, there were clouds and clouds of them... and as we stood in the shade by the shore, the whine from them was incredible. It was nothing I've heard before - in complete unison... and the pitch went up and down. Have you ever heard this?

We also witnessed a 'school' of fat, lazy, brown carp sunning in the reeds at the waters edge. They would slowly raise up to take gulps off the surface, their fat pink mouths breaking the surface. As we watched, a duck flew past, about six feet off the water. Immediately it was like 'submarines down!' as the carps promptly dove under. They waited for several minutes before bobbing up to the top again.

We laid on a grassy bench, among the fluffy soft dandelion heads and covered many subjects... the time always seems to fly by when we get going. Later, after butterfly cookies (the bakery tries to call them pigs ears, but I like butterfly cookies better) and homemade lemonade with a sweet strawberry on the rim, we looked at the clock to discover it was well after 6. Thanks Becky!

One of the things we talked about how easy it is to allow ourselves to allow the world to make us feel angry, resentful and to rob us of our daily joys. We talked about being FRUSTRATED. With our best intentions of not enabling the world and daily grind to not rub us raw - we still fail at times. Its good to be accountable to each other, and to talk about it. I know it always makes me feel better to share. Its important to not let our resentments build up until they explode somewhere. If you don't share, if you blow up, then you're not of much use to show the grace of God in your life!

I thank God for friends in my life who care enough to take time to listen when I need to 'rant'... and who give me an ear and get me back on track. And, of course, pray for me!

Resentment is racing your emotional motor...

it wastes valuable energy and gets you nowhere.

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God

and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."

HEBREWS 12:15

Today in History

1775 - 2nd Cont Congress convened in Pa issues paper currency for 1st time

1798 - George Vancouver - British explorer dies (birth date unknown)

1869 - Golden Spike driven - Promontory Pt Ut-Transcontinential RR complete

1910 - William Huggins - discoverer of stellar nature of Andromeda - dies

1923 - J Edgar Hoover became head of FBI

1960 - USS Nautilus completes 1st circumnavigation of globe under water

1971 - US Special delivery rates go from 45 cents to 60

Birthdays in History:

1788 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel, pioneer in optics

1850 - Sir Thomas Lipton, tea magnate

1899 - Fred Astaire, tapdancer

BARB'S HANDY TIP # 258

Print in 3d

Did you know there is such a thing as a 3d printer? REALLY - there is such a thing. Ok, wrap your head around this concept. You create a 3d file... you've all played with or are aware of, some 3d modelling programs? Well with this printer, you say upload a 3d file to make a plastic part for something... the printer can actually interpret that file and create the item in a solid form. The printers can do plastic or metal at this time. If your not clear on what I'm saying I will try to use an example. You are missing a small plastic part for your camera. In the future, you could say, phone your camera company, they would send the file to a 3d printer locally, then the printer would 'print' your part and you would simply pick it up. This is, unless, you buy a 3d printer yourself! They have come down to about $20,000 You may enjoy finding out more by clicking on the following link.

Z PRINTER 310 PLUS

METAL KIT "strapped"

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A quick entry today - want to spend some time with my sweet husband before he heads off for a 12 hour day of work, and then its playing in the sun and garden with Bonnie!

I helped at the school last night, tutoring a student, Jan, who's really coming along with the digtital painting... I promise to post something soon! After school (8:00) we went for a 1.5 hour walk along the lakeside - it felt just great. I was hoping for a good 'ol lightening storm (want to see it from house view) - but even though the wind blew fiercely, whipping the trees back and forth, we got no light show.

As we were walking, I was listening to a program on CBC radio, called Ashes and Bones - it was all about death, burial etc. It was actually very, very fascinating and caused me to examine what I think about it all. The hosts talked about how we, as a society - in the west, tend to seperate death, bodies, dying etc from life. We have come to think of a funeral/burial as something which is for us, not for the body - do you know what I'm trying to say? Have you thought about this before? Open casket, closed, cremated, sprinkled, buried? I've never been to an open casket anything - unless I have and have blanked it out (thats a high possiblity!) What do YOU think? I would love your feedback.

You can read a small write-up about the program I heard, along with some resources by clicking HERE.

The truth of the flower is, not the facts about it, but the shining, glowing, gladdening, patient thing throned on its stalk - the compeller of smile and tear... The idea of God is the flower: His idea is not the botany of the flower. Its botany is but a thing of ways and means - of canvas and colour and brush in relation to the picture in the painter's brain.

by George Macdonald

Today in History:

1502 - Columbus left Spain on his 4th & final trip to the New World

1926 - Americans Byrd & Bennett make 1st airplane flight over North Pole

1944 - 1st eye bank opened in NYC

1946 - 1st Variety show - NBC's Hour Glass premiers

BARB'S HANDY TIP #257

Reuse It!

Today's link is specifically for us Okanagan - dwellers!

Serving the Okanagan/Similkameen, this site is a place you can host items you would like to give away. You can also find items you might be looking for too - who knows, you might find what you're looking for, for free!

OKANAGAN RE-USES

HEAVY METAL KIT - tags 'n things

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Yesterday was devoted to creating a biography for a friend and fellow artist - Mina Battagin. I can't say I wasn't nervous to take this project on, but then again creating a biography layout is not much different than making a scrapbooking layout! Mina is very talented, she paints, 'pots', spins and creates unique jewellery pieces (that I am slobbering over!)

MINA'S BIO - I incorporated her own jewellery and paintings into it.

Photo corners: Josie Celio "Gypsy Set"

Mina is a vivid, intense and passionate artist with a great outlook on life. She sent me the following statement about ATTITUDE, penned by Charles Swindoll - and I thought I should share it with you!

ATTITUDE

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past,
Than education, than money,
Than circumstances,
Than failures, than successes,
Than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance,
Giftedness or skill,
It will make or break an organization…
A school…a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice
Everyday regarding the attitude we will
Embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past…
We cannot change the fact that people will
Act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have.

And, that is our attitude…

I am convinced that life is 10%
What happens to me
And 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you.

**********

DO NOT PRAY FOR A LIGHTER LOAD, BUT FOR A STRONGER BACK

"Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his presence continually!"

1 Chronicles 16:11

MINA'S PRETTIES

I'm currently reading a marriage book - its called "Your Time Starved Marriage" by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott. I'm reading it alone at this point because we are sooo busy, tho we began it together at first. The way I figure it is at least if one of us reads it we can share the knowledge. If only I change some things I can help our marriage to be the best it should be. Too often I've had to return books to the library unread, which I had every good intention of reading "when I got time"...

I'm certainly glad I am reading it. Its making me aware of why its good to 'move' on things... not to wait. For example they say:

"It's been said that the saddest word in our language is someday. Why? Because someday eventually turns into "if only." And "if onlys" are the result of time you can't recoup: "If only we would have made more free time." "If only we would have taken that trip." "If only we would have built that porch." "If only..."

It's at that moment - when "someday" becomes "if only" - that your marriage slips quietly into the future, and you wonder how you could have let that happen. How could you have taken time - not to mention your relationship - for granted?"

I would highly recommend this book - you can find it HERE on the Parrott's website. The website itself is a wealth of information, and what better thing to invest in, but your marriage?

LAYOUT BY BLOG READER SHIRLEY (xashee)

thanks for sharing Shirley!

font -anywhere

xashee (Shirley) Memories of Mom kit

dragonflies by Heather Benson

picture by Mrs.Miles

___________

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

There is never enough time, unless you are serving it. - Malcolm Forbes

The great paradox of our time is that many of us are busy and bored at the same time. - Henri Nouwen

PRETTY BALSALM FLOWER

Ok - this is sort of gross... so if you are squeemish or don't like spiders, you won't want to read the story about nine year old Jesse. If you're not, you can click on THIS LINK and read an article about his small misfortune, which ended up alright (if you did not see it splashed on the news already.

Today in History:

1541 - Hernando de Soto discovers Mississippi River

1792 - British Capt George Vancouver sights - names Mt Rainier - Wash

1886 - Atlanta pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents Coca Cola

1926 - 1st flight over North Pole (Bennett & Byrd)

1945 - VE Day - Germany surrendered - WW II ends in Europe

1951 - Dacron men's suits introduced

1970 - Beatles release "Let it Be" album

Birthdays in History:

1786 - Thomas Hancock, founded British rubber industry

1828 - Henri Dunant, of Switzerland founded Red Cross YMCA (Nobel 1901)

1884 - Harry S Truman, 32nd President (1945-1949)

1926 - David Attenborough, Environmentalist

BARB'S HANDY TIP #256

Search for Your Symptoms

Discover possible causes based on the symptoms you enter - FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

HEALTHLINE SYMPTOM SEARCH

HEAVY METAL KIT - papers

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I hope you all had a good weekend - it was a good one for me! I'm glad I took an executive decision to take the weekend off from blogging because I would have never had time to do all the wonderful things I can blog about to you, today.

First of all, I have to tell you about a few humorous/tragic situations I've had in the past few days...

1. Spray in the face - while trying to spray the bathroom with a lovely scent to increase the pleasure of his bath, I did not look which way the nozzle was pointed and I wound up amusing him to no end by spraying myself full in the face.

2. Clothes full of TP - yep, since I've been living at the 'farm'... with all the lovely pollens I've taken to carrying a pocket full of kleenexes with me to wipe my snerty lil nose... and though I've thought I was faithful to hunt them out of my pockets before starting a load of wash... So, I've spent days picking little white bits off of everything, including out back porch, which has carpet that possesses fantastic cling-on capacity.

3. Miles paid for my own sweater - on the pretext of looking for a side table for our spare room (anyone got a nice side table?) I seeded Miles head with the idea we should take in a few yard sales on Saturday morning. He embraced the idea and we decided to combine it with a photography mission. There was an amazing multi-family yard sale in a pricey area of our town... I only made it to two of the multi, before I used up my budget. But this is what happened - I shed my own sweater to try on a shirt over my t-shirt, asking Miles to hold my sweater for me. He did, and I kept piling things into his willing arms as we went along. I even tried a pair of designer jeans on in our van for fit. At the end of my little try-on, fashion show, Miles negotiated a 'lump sum' for all in his arms, which of course, included my own sweater. We realized this as we were pulling away, but since the lady had been more than fair with her prices we did not go back and tell her.

What DID I buy? I bought 1 pr. designer jeans, 2 (amazing) purses, 1 picture frame, a salt and pepper grinder set and a sweet teapot set (yes, one old teapot goes out to the thrift store now!) All this for a mere $10.

TOURISTS FROM TORONTO

enjoying our fantastic Osoyoos Vista

Our Pastor had a terrific message this Sunday - it was a word of encouragement to STAND FIRM, and he used 1 Samuel 14 to illustrate it. He had us imagining the 600 men trying to hide under the pomegranate tree as the Philistines advanced on them - and then Johnathon's decision to step out in Faith to face the Philistine's army, which was HUGE (besides all the chariots, etc, there were foot soldiers - as many as grains of sand on the shores)

Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few."

And he painted the picture in our minds of how the Philistines were brought to confusion and ended up turning on theirselves. Ah, the power of our LORD - if we will simply TRUST and STAND FIRM.

Samuel 14: 20 Then Saul and all his men assembled and went to the battle. They found the Philistines in total confusion, striking each other with their swords.

Won't you TRUST God with your (spiritual) battles today?

PSALM 27

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life—

of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me

to devour my flesh,

when my enemies and my foes attack me,

they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,

my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,

even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,

this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble

he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle

and set me high upon a rock.

BONNIE AND I OUT FOR AN IMPROMTU GARDENING SESSION

The other exciting thing to happen to me this weekend, was that Bonnie and I planted some things in the garden on Friday. It was a chance meeting in the first place - I'd gone down to do some raking around the place and bumped into her as she arrived home from a trip to town. It was a beautiful day, and so Bonnie decided to change into her work clothes and come play in the dirt and the sun with me. She brought out her seed collection and we sewed some lettuce, carrots and beans. I can see this is addictive!

"The exceeding beauty of the earth yeilds a new thought with every petal.

The hours when the mind is absorbed by beauty

are the only hours when we really live"

- Richard Jefferies

OHHH - PRETTY NEW PURSE!

My friend Melanie forwarded this humorous email to me, and I thought I should share them with you - brighten up your Monday:

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. If you are choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of boiling water down our throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself.

2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold while you chop.

3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by using the sink.

4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.

5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.

6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.

7. You only need two tools in life - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

WIND CHIME PRESENT FROM MY MILES (big hug!)

Today in History:

1429 - English siege of Orl‚ans broken by Joan of Arc

1792 - Capt Robert Gray discovers Grays Harbor (Washington)

1824 - Beethoven's 9th Symphony performed for 1st time

1915 - Lusitania sunk by German submarine; 1198 lives lost

1927 - SF Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated

1934 - World's largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan - Philippines

1945 - Nazis surrender to Gen Eisenhower at Reims - France

1947 - Kraft Television Theater premiers

Historical Birthdays:

1774 - Sir Francis Beaufort, naval officer who devised scale of wind force

1812 - Robert Browning, English poet

1833 - Johannes Brahms, enjoys a good lullaby

1840 - Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1812 Overture)

1901 - Gary Cooper, actor (High Noon The Plainsman)

1909 - Edwin Land, founded instant photography (Polaroid)

1919 - Eva Per¢n, Argentine 1st lady

BARB'S HANDY TIP #255

Take Environmental Action

The Natural Resources Defence Council is one of the USA's most effective environmental action groups. Their mission is to safegaurd the earth; its people, plants, animals and the natural systems on which it all depends.

(there's a VERY interesting bit about the mysterious killing of America's honey bees)

NRDP