Tuesday Tootsies

In honor of the Superbowl this past week, Darc suggested I do something on football shoes.  I thought that was an excellent idea.  So I went here –>>NFL Footwear to do a search.  I found that right now, Colts and Saints fans can pretty much only get their feet into some way cool socks, and some slippers, although if you are a guy you can get some golf shoes too. 

So, here’s some nifty keeno socks for fans of the reigning Superbowl champs.  I like the pink ones. 

 

And here’s some for the other team that also went to the Superbowl this year.

 

Now, if you’re a Patriots fan, and a woman, you can get these awesome sneakers, with the cool Flying Elvis logo on the back with the sparkly silver stripes on the side.  What?  You didn’t think I was going to let a post having to do with football go without mentioning the Patriots, did you?

 

And Patriots sneakers for the men. 

If you would like some football love for your feet, click the pics (or the link above) for more info. 

And have an awesome Tuesday!

Monday Mayhem

I was still reading by my little book light when she came in.  She never said why, bad dream or whatever, she just snuggled in and pressed herself into my back.  Eventually I turned out my little light and tried to go to sleep myself, but her little arms stretched out across my face and throat, her little foot draped over my hip.  I don’t  know what she was dreaming, but she yelled out in her sleep … in my ear. 

She has a wonderful alphabet impersonation that she does when she’s sleeping in mommy and daddy’s bed.  Her best ones are T and X, and she loves to be the horizontal part of the H, with mommy and daddy being the vertical parts.  She’s really good at that one.  Of course, it was easier when she was a tiny baby and was less than 2’ long.  Nowadays, it’s a bit more difficult with her head on daddy’s back and her feet in mine. 

Eventually daddy carried her back to her own bed, and I missed her warm little self pressed up next to me.  She’s my living teddy bear and I seem to always sleep better when she’s there, even if it is a bit more painful. 

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Will they connect or won’t they?  It has been pretty much impossible to get an Internet connection this weekend.  We may have to hoof it to the library if things don’t improve, so we can get to our email and do what we need to do.  Whenever we do get a connection, it lasts for all of 2 minutes and then dies again, so I don’t know if it’s a weather related thing, or if the people we’re borrowing from have discovered us and are turning off their service if they see us online.  Ah well.  Nothing lasts forever, right?  So, please forgive me if I haven’t responded to comments or blogs yet.  As soon as I’m able, I will. 

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How ‘bout them Saints?  Was that a great game or what?  I am soooo happy for them!

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Have an awesome Monday!

Psychic Fair

Wow!  Unforeseen circumstances!  I wonder why the psychics didn’t see that one coming?

What Color Is Your Name?

Well … now I know.  I always wondered.  Is this the same as “pure as the driven snow”?  *snicker*

Your Name is White

Your name tells people that you have good intentions and a pure heart. You try to always speak the truth. You are happy to step back and let other people shine. You don’t seek attention or acclaim. People see you as someone who is generous and ethical. You can be counted on to do the right thing. You are bright and clear headed. You can offer a fresh perspective, especially when other people are in a rut.

What Color Is Your Name?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren’t Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Friday Fragments

I have some funnies for you this week.  Woo! 

New greeter at Walmart

Charley, a new ‘retiree greeter’ at Walmart, just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day he was 5, 10, sometimes 15 minutes late. But he was a good worker, really tidy, clean shaven, sharp minded and a real credit to the company and obviously demonstrating their "Older Person Friendly" policies.

One day the boss was in a real quandary about how to deal with it. Finally, he called him into the office for a talk.
"Charley, I have to tell you, I like your work ethic. You do a bang-up job, but your being late so often is quite bothersome."
"Yes, I know boss, and I am working on it."

"Well good. You are a team player. That’s what I like to hear. It’s odd though, your coming in late. I know you’re retired from the Armed Forces. What did they say if you came in late there?"

"They said, ‘Good morning, General. Will you have tea or coffee this morning, Sir?’"

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I spent so much time trying to get online Wed, that I didn’t get a chance to catch up with anyone at all.  The connection kept flickering in and out until I was practically screaming in frustration.  So my apologies for not commenting on anyone’s site.  Believe me, it wasn’t for lack of trying!  Other than that, we are doing okay, hanging in there, all of that sort of thing.  No real exciting things happen for us, not really.  Which is why I enjoy catching up with all of you, so I can live vicariously through you.   

This weekend we’re looking forward to the Superbowl – the last football of the season until August.  It’s always such a long 6 months.  Which reminds me, I need to get get my pick up.  Just one.  That feels so weird.  A single solitary pick.  I hope it doesn’t get lonely, over there all by itself.  Any Superbowl parties you guys have planned?

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Thankfulness

Cold and I don’t mix.  We never have gotten along, ever since I moved here.  I grew up with green Christmases, where seeing the temperature drop below 40° was a cause to freak out.   I remember one time it snowed, and you had to scrape together all the snow in like a 4 ft square area to make a single snowball.  And since it was so precious and rare, you stuck it in your freezer instead of throwing it at someone. 

I didn’t even see my first real life snow until I was around 12, and went on a vacation to another state. 

So you can imagine that sub-zero temperatures remain a thing of fear and horror, something to be avoided at all costs. 

But, lucky me, I live in the Northern Great Lakes area now and cold is a relative term.  20° can seem like a heat wave after a brutal cold snap, and it isn’t uncommon to see people walking around in shorts when that occurs.  Shorts and sweatshirts.  With socks and sandals.    I know, it’s like they couldn’t make up their mind which season to dress for, so they dressed for all of them.  I swear I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Anyway, it gets cold here, and I hate cold, and I hate sleeping with clothing that gets all twisted up in the sheets, so that means I either have to sleep and freeze, or sleep in extreme discomfort. 

Then a few years ago, Darc stumbled across these long underwear items made of silk knit.  The price was actually reasonable so we each got a pair.  The neat thing about them is being silk, they’re extremely lightweight – it’s almost like wearing nothing.  But because they’re silk, they’re very warm.  And also, since they’re silk, I can wear them to bed and they don’t get twisted up very much in the sheets while I sleep.  It’s as much of a win-win as I can have without moving to a warmer climate. 

Can you imagine how nice it is to get all snug and toasty warm to go to sleep when it’s below freezing outside?  Ahhh, so thankful for my silky long-janes.    If I could, I’d buy a couple more pairs. 

If you’re interested, I got them at Land’s End. 

Library Adventures

I like the library.  Honest.  I think it’s one of the coolest places.  There’s so much to learn and do – I probably should have been a librarian.  Ah well, missed opportunities. 

Libraries even have computers that can connect you to the Internet, which is pretty awesome when you think about it.  A free connection to something most of us pay for.  Sure, there’s a time limit, and several restrictions to keep computers safe from things like viruses and whatnot, but still, for free, who could complain?  I’m sure not.

What gets a bit on the uncomfortable side is feeling like everyone around you is looking over your shoulder while you type in your screen names and passwords.  You want to look around, make sure no one’s watching.  The paranoia factor can creep up pretty dramatically when you’re using library computers. 

Yesterday we had to use the library Internet connection to upload some things that Darc has been working on.  I have no idea what the problem was, but we pretty much had to upload one file at. a. time.  It may have been the library’s connection, but we took our own laptop in.  Darc said he had to sign on to the library’s web portal so perhaps that had something to do with it, I don’t know.  What I do know is that it took over 2 hours to upload some files that should ordinarily have taken only a few minutes.  And my kids were so well behaved the entire time.  Can you see the proud mama smile beaming out over the horizon there?  One lady had a toddler who was having scream fits that she wasn’t allowed to climb up on a checkout table. I was nearby scanning the book roulette shelf at the time, and my daughter just stood there staring at this screaming kid.  I felt bad for the mom.  That’s still too young to smack, but a quick pat on the hand and a stern “NO” might have worked.  Then when I was using the library computer my kids sat on the floor by my feet and played quietly with another little girl who’s mom was also using a computer.  Well behaved children.  What a nice feeling!   

Now I have some new stuff to read and try to update on my little Shelfari page.  That should be fun.  I am off to attempt that, and to think about all the things I’m thankful for that I can post about for tomorrow.    You have a wonderful Wednesday.  Halfway through the week now! 

Tuesday Tootsies

Okay, I have a confession to make.  I don’t like flip-flops.  I hate that fwap-fwap sound that follows them wherever they go. Aarrrggghhh!  Sure, I know they’re cheap and colorful, but the sound!  It’s enough to drive a person nuts.  Go to Walmart in the summertime.  Fwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwapfwap constantly!  And for the record, who changed the name?  They were thongs when I was a kid.  Now “thong” means something else entirely. 

Okay, enough of the rant and I think you get my point now.    Here we go!  This first pair is so cute, I love pansies!  But why do they put the cute little picture on the part of the shoe where no one will ever see it when it’s being worn?  Is it like a secret surprise?  “Ooh, I’m wearing pansies under my feet!  Shhh!” 

These are nothing new.  They are flipless-flopless flip-flops.  I first saw them at an amusement park way back in the 80s.  At first I thought the woman was insanely walking around barefoot, then I realized she had these things stuck to her feet, and then I couldn’t figure out how she got them to stick to her feet.  At least she didn’t fwap. 

Here’s a good reason not to wear flip-flops.  This happened a few years ago.  Walmart was selling shoes made in China, but unbeknownst to Walmart, China used lead and other chemicals in the shoes.  Big surprise, eh?  To my knowledge, it’s all been worked out since then (this was like 2007 or so) but still, it’s enough for me to swear off flip-flops entirely.  Ouch! 

Thus ends my anti-flip-flop crusade.  Any converts?    And Happy Groundhog Day!

As always, click the pics for the rest of the story.

Monday Mayhem

Take a walk down memory lane with me.  You’ll remember these folks –at least, you’ll remember the old them, the ones we grew up with.  Some have improved with age.  Others, no so much.    Then/Now: 1970s All-Stars

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I thought this was kind of fun.  I’ve always loved optical illusions.  Nine Mind-Bending Optical Illusions

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The other day during meal time prayer my daughter said, “Thank you Lord that goliath spiders live in South America.” 

I totally agree!

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Happy February!  I went with chocolate for the color scheme.  Because you know, Valentine’s Day… candy … means chocolate.  See how that works?   

Did you have a good weekend?  Get enough rest?  Smile!  January’s over now, and the Superbowl is coming and February is the shortest month which means Spring is almost here!  Woo!

Have an awesome day!

Wasn’t ready

Don’t feel bad Mittens – it happens to all of us sooner or later.  *sigh*

What Color Do You Need?

Umm, say what now?  Black, with red or orange?  It’s not Halloween!  And I like yellow!

 

 

You Need Some Black in Your Life

Black will make you feel powerful, in control, and not bound to what other people think of you. And with a little black, you will project a aura of mystery, rebellion, and dominance. If you want people to respect you, you’ve got to get a little black in your life! For extra punch: Combine black with orange or red The downside of black: People won’t be able to "read" you – and may perceive you as more aggressive than you actually are The consequences of more black in your life: You’ll become a figure of intrigue and speculation You’ll be better prepared for life’s unknown path You’ll rest better and free yourself of expectations

What Color Do You Need?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren’t Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

Friday Fragments

It’s the last weekend of the month.  You know, I’m just sayin’.  In case you weren’t aware.  I don’t know about you but these things sort of sneak up on me. 

Which means it’s getting close to the changing of the color guard here on the old blog.  Valentine’s Day is in February, and that’s typically red and pink, but I just did red for Christmas and I’m not feeling particularly pink, surprisingly.  These are the things Falcon ponders in her off hours. 

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I came across this article when I was trying to catch up on the news the other day.  It kind of made me sad.  Book stores?  Gah!  Not good when you’re married to an author, or know many people who are also working on their books.  Jewelry stores?  Coffee shops?  Toy stores?  The Blockbuster thing I kind of predicted a few years ago.  Really, who didn’t?  Netflix came on the scene and it was pretty much the writing on the wall for Blockbuster.  Plus, I don’t know about you, but the times I went there (and yeah it’s been a few years) the staff was pretty rude.  They gave the impression they expected me to apologize for interrupting their social hour.  Now, for a business that’s facing intense competition, having rude staff is like the #1 business killer. 

But this is the free market system at work and if these businesses had been meeting the needs of the buying public, they wouldn’t be closing stores like this.  That’s why no one rides Amtrak anymore. 

Who’s Closing Stores in 2010

By Tom Van Riper, Forbes.com

Ritz Camera
2009 Store closures: 365

Waldenbooks/Borders
2009 Store closures: 110 (Q4 2008 to Q3 2009)

Blockbuster
2009 store closures: 300

Zale Corp.
Fiscal 2009 Store closures: 218

Jones Apparel Group
2009 Store closures: 69

Starbucks
2009 Store closures: 566 (fiscal 2009, 12 months ended Sept. 27)

KB Toys
2009 Store closures: 461

See the full list of Who’s Closing Stores In 2010?

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Since I can’t get to my email, I can’t get to my jokes.  I guess we’ll just have to imagine “teh funneh” today. 

“Two frogs walk into a bar …”  My favorite Budweiser commercial.  It’s probably somewhere on YouTube.    Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday Thankfulness

I am thankful today for answered prayers.  And maybe this post should go up on the faith blog as well, since it deals with those kinds of things.  But that’s what I’m thankful for today.  There are moments in life when the Lord just reaches out and touches you, sits down and has a cup of coffee with you, and tells you how things are going to be.  There are moments when He soothes your fears and reassures you that things are going to be okay.  There are moments when He laughs with delight like a schoolboy and cries, “Watch!  Wait ‘til you see what I’m going to do!  This is so cool!” 

For quite some time now I’ve been feeling like the Lord has been saying to me, “My majesty, let Me show you it!”  And let me tell ya, it’s mind boggling to behold.  I have been watching Him work in amazing ways in the lives of Darc and I for the last few weeks – things that I really can’t yet go into detail here – but please believe me when I tell you, God is here.  Right now.  In my house.  He’s been raising valleys and lowering mountains.  Obstacles?  What obstacles?  He’s been soothing, reassuring, comforting, and most of all, smiling.  You have no idea what it feels like to have the Creator of the universe smile at you, especially when there were so many years when it seemed like He didn’t.  There are times I feel like my head is going to explode with all the insights I’m understanding now, things that didn’t make sense before, all of a sudden are crystal clear with that, “OHHH!” sensation. 

So we’ve had a few breathless moments here at the Darc House.  Most times, in the lives of Christians, they have periods where they can look back and see that God had been working in their life at a particular point, but it’s almost always in hindsight.  And I have those moments too.  But right now, I don’t need to look back, because I’m looking around and seeing Him working now, in the moment, day by day.  And I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am for that. 

Posting from the Future!

No doubt you’ve heard me mention “future posting” before on one of my posts and maybe wondered what I was talking about.  Future posting is one of the coolest – in my opinion – features of WordPress.  Blogspot doesn’t have it.  Sure, you can put a different date on your Blogger post, but it will still post immediately.  It’ll just have a different date on it.  WordPress withholds the posting of your post until the date and time you specify.  So, all my nifty keeno weekends posts?  Future posted.  Sometimes months in advance.  I get in a quiz mood, do a dozen or so, and post them all in one sitting.  Same with the LOLCats.  I save those in my Reader, then slam up a dozen or 2 on my blog but future post them all.  So on weekends, my blog is on auto-pilot and I can sit back and catch up on comments, my Reader, other folks’ blogs, whatever.  I set up my holiday posts sometimes months in advance like that too.  I know, I’m a bit on the weird side – but it’s cool and that’s why you love me. 

So here’s how you do it:  See that pic over there?  See where it says “Publish Immediately”?  That’s where you can alter your date and time stamp in WordPress.  You can pick any date you want and any time you want.  You can even “past post” a post, too.  WordPress will simply put up your post and pretend that you really did post it in 2005, or whenever you told it.  WordPress won’t tell.  When you future post, WordPress keeps it in your posts list as “scheduled posts.”

Here’s a secret – I am never up at the crack of dawn to get my post up.  And I never use WordPress to publish my posts either. 

I use an amazing little tool called Windows Live Writer.  I love this program so much and praise it so highly you’d think I worked for Microsoft.  And pretty much anything that WordPress does – as far as posts are concerned, Live Writer does it too.  Now, you can’t do anything pertaining to adjusting – say, your side bar – in Live Writer.  Live Writer is only concerned with posts.  You can add pictures, video, links, photo albums, tables, maps, tons of stuff.  See my little signature down there?  Saved as a text template in Live Writer.  Two clicks and it’s in my post.  Easy peasy.  The table I use on my football blog is saved as a text template in Live Writer too, so I don’t have to make a new one every week. 

Live Writer also has a drafts feature so if you get an idea for a post but can’t finish it in time, you can save the draft.  And since Live Writer is an offline utility, you can create tons and tons of posts while you are offline, and then publish them to your blog once you do get online.  See the method to my madness?  During this time when I don’t have an Internet connection of my own, one that is spotty at best, I can write my posts ahead of time and then when I do finally get a connection, it’s much faster to hit publish than it is to try and type up a whole post when I may lose my connection any moment.  Here’s what the date scheduler looks like in Live Writer.  It sits in the lower right corner.    

Another neat feature that Live Writer has is a saved link directory.  So, you can save a link and then whenever you type that word or phrase, Live Writer will automatically do the linking for you so you don’t have to do it every time. 

You can add multiple blogs – for instance, Darc and I both have multiple blogs set up on this computer’s Live Writer, and either of us can choose which blog we want to post to.  Live Writer saves all our information if we want it to.  Oh, and there is also a spell check, and a word count utility.  Plus, Live Writer has a big gallery online that has lots of plug-ins you can get to add to your Live Writer and make it more personalized to suit your particular needs. 

Also, I like to adjust my blog font.  I can do that in Live Writer, but not on WordPress.  Just an FYI, there. 

Now, say you’re browsing online – using your FireFox browser naturally.  And you come across something that you really want to blog about.  You can highlight some text – if you want, if not that’s okay too – and then click on your handy dandy “I want to blog about this in Live Writer” link that you have in your browser.  If you highlight text, that text will automatically show up in the blog post.  Otherwise, just the link to the article will show up.  Must have FireFox, Grasshopper. 

If you don’t want to use Live Writer though – I have no idea why but I suppose some theoretical reason could possibly exist – but let’s just say for the sake of argument that you can’t or won’t use Live Writer.  You can browse through the FireFox Add-ons and look for ScribeFire.  Well, you don’t need to browse now, since I gave you the link.  ScribeFire has lots of useful features, but it sits exclusively IN your FireFox browser and can’t be used offline.  You can save drafts though, and post to multiple blogs and use pictures and other neat things.  ScribeFire tries really hard to be the online version of Live Writer and while it’s an excellent product, it doesn’t do quite as much as Live Writer does.  Here’s a picture of what the ScribeFire date modifier looks like.  And no, you can’t adjust your blog font in ScribeFire.  You can adjust your view, but not what actually posts, like you can in Live Writer.  

So, there’s some blogging basics for you.  Would you believe that 5 years ago I didn’t even know what a blog was?  Now you know. 

 

Tuesday Tootsies

At this point, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a connection long enough or strong enough to be able to post this.  We were only able to get online briefly over the weekend and I got a post up for Monday, but since then, no dice.  So if you’re reading this on Tuesday, you know we got lucky. 

Since I don’t have any sort of reliable connection right now, I can’t go out and look for pictures of shoes.  So instead I thought I’d focus on feet today, since most of us have them.  Look down.  See them?  Those are feet!  And do you know how important your feet are?  They carry you any place you want to go.  Sure, we use cars mostly now-a-days, but still, your feet get you from car to location and back again – so you get what I’m saying and don’t be a smart-ass here.   

Feet are so important and they really need your love and care.  I’m not necessarily talking about pedicures and things like that, so guys don’t go freaking out on me.  I’m talking about the care of your feet.  Quit abusing them.  Put them up when you can, take the load off.  And even men can enjoy a nice long foot soak in a pan of hot water now and then. 

Feet aren’t as ugly as some people make them out to be.  Yeah, they’re kind of weird looking, but when you think of how hard they work, they have a perfect design for their job.  You take your car in for a tune up, you visit the dentist and the doctor, even the optometrist.  So quit ignoring your feet.  Pamper them from time to time.  You’ll be glad you did.