Looking at the Sky on Friday - 40

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

When we were driving from Lexington to my Mom & Dad’s house, we saw these really interesting clouds in the sky.

Kind of looks like a UFO, don’t you think? 

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

Do Follow and Spam?

When I changed my template on Sunday, I forgot all about changing it so that comments are do follow.  When I went looking for the directions I originally followed, I couldn't find them - the page was missing!  So, I went searching for instructions and found these:

Edit your template HTML with widgets expanded and replace:

<a expr:href='data:comment.authorUrl' rel='nofollow'>

with

<a expr:href='data:comment.authorUrl'>

Basically, just remove the part that says rel='nofollow'.

I did a search (CTRL+F) for comment.authorUrl, deleted the nofollow attribute, and saved my template.

While looking for the directions, I noticed that some people have stopped making their blogs Do Follow because it encouraged spam.  I'm probably asking for it here, but I haven't had a huge problem with spam.  Sure, it happens every once in a while, and I did have one commenter who repeatedly left spammy comments on one post.  I had never used comment moderation until then, but now I have it set so that comments on any posts older than 30 days have to be moderated.  So far that seems to be a decent compromise.

Any comments?  Have you made your blogs Do Follow?  Does it seem to encourage spam, and if so, how do you handle it?

Collect Free Olympic Medallions from Coke and Mac's

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of iCoke.ca. All opinions are 100% mine.

The Olympics are next month!  I'm getting pretty excited.  I may not care about sports regularly, but when the Olympics roll around I love watching them.  My favorites are ice skating and snowboarding, but I will watch whatever is on.  I'm kind of bummed right now that I don't live in Canada, because I can't get a  FREE Coca-Cola Collectible Medallion by buying two (2) Coca-Cola 591mL products at Mac's stores.  That's right, if you buy two Coke products in one transaction, you get one of three Olympic medallions FREE.  This promotion just started Monday and runs through the end of February, but only while supplies last and only at Mac's.  So, visit the iCoke.ca website and find a Mac's store near you, then run out and get your Coke and Olympic medallions before it's too late.  Of course, if you're buying Coke but don't really care about the Olympics (What?  Are you crazy?) you could always collect the medallions and send them to me.  I wouldn't complain.

I don't really buy a lot of Coke, but I definitely like it better than that other brand - and it makes a great mixer, if you know what I mean.  So, if I was going to buy it, I'd get some regular Coke and probably some Sprite, because that makes a good mixer, too.  And if I could get these free Olympic medallions, now would definitely be the time to buy so I could collect them all.  You Canadians are so lucky!

The Olympics are coming to your country!  Next month!

Ignore, Ignore, Ignore

I guess people are doing all kinds of things on Facebook that I'm completely unaware of - or at least paying no attention to.  I got a notification today that someone wanted to tag one of my photos, with a link to follow in order to approve the request.  So, I followed the link but couldn't find anything about a photo tag.  There were plenty of invitations to join groups or causes, gifts to accept from all kinds of various games and apps, hearts and smiles and hugs, drinks and teddy bears and questions about what I was born to do.  My so called friends have been throwing snowballs at me - and facebook wants me to click to find out what kind of snowballs they threw.  Snowballs come in cold and wet - is there really any other kind?

Anyway, I started scrolling through all these gifts, invitations, and attacks, but still didn't find anything about a photo tag.  So, I started hitting the 'Ignore' button - over and over and over.  Before, I really was ignoring all of them - but that just doesn't seem to work.  I ignore them and they still hang around.  So now I'm 'ignoring' all that stuff, and hopefully I will get through the whole list one of these days and find that photo so I can approve the tag.  And then, I guess I'll have to 'Ignore' these things as they come in, instead of actually ignoring them.

Check Out Everything This Phone Can Do

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of LG Chocolate Touch. All opinions are 100% mine.

You've probably seen the commercials about a certain computer operating system where various people claim that it was their idea.  Well, I'm going to claim that the LG Chocolate Touch was my idea.  Of course it's not true, but I did say ages ago that people should be able to carry one device that does it all.  Why should they need to carry a separate phone, music player, and digital camera?  My thinking didn't go quite far enough, though, because the LG Chocolate Touch does more than that.  Besides being a phone, mp3 player and a 3.2MP digital camera, it also lets you connect to the internet, keep up with your social networking on sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, edit the photos you take and use them for picture messaging or upload them to your blogs or social network sites, and so much more.  Check out the Full Specs to see everything you can do with this phone.  There's even Visual Voicemail, as well as top-notch text, picture, video, and voice messaging.

Since I'm home most of the time with access to my computer, I'm not sure how much I would personally use all the features on this phone, but for someone who is out and about a lot, it would be great.  With this phone, you can stay in touch from anywhere with the One-touch Social Network Message Key for easy use of Mobile Blogging (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.), all while enjoying your music, and without lugging a whole lot of different devices.

The sound quality is really good, judging by the example on the website - you can play with it by flipping the switch to experience the difference of Dolby Mobile technology.  It certainly sounds better than the phone I have!  You can also adjust bass, treble, or voice, based on your preferences.  They say the crystal clear sound is the next best thing to a live performance.  I'm sure my husband would really appreciate it, being a sound guy.  You can add up to a 16GB microSD card, so it will handle a lot of music, and pictures and video, and of course manage your phone contacts, too.  There are also some sweet Visual Effects and features, including Rhythmical Beat that vibrates the handset to the beat of the music and the ability to get into the music by adding your own drums, keyboards, or even cowbell to any song.

The only question I have is - why do they call it Chocolate when it's purple and/or black?  That and how do I get my hands on one of these so I can play with it?  It does look like fun, doesn't it?

Heads or Tails - Square

The theme/prompt for THIS week, January 5 , is:


HEADS - "Square"

Make any kind of post about anything "Square"

There are a lot of games available on Facebook.  I know because I see the posts by my friends, but I haven’t tried most of them.  I guess I’m just a little too afraid of being sucked in.  There is one game I play on Facebook, though – Lexulous:


It’s a game full of squares.  Most of those squares are white.  But there are some special squares on there, too – squares that double or triple your letter or word score.  Oh yes, I love those squares!  It’s especially fun to place a letter with a high point value on a triple letter score square, and then use it twice.

Well, enough of that.  I’ve got some letters to place on some squares so I can score me some points!

Except I can’t stop there.  As I was getting ready to hit ‘Publish’ a song popped into my head.  I was thinking of ‘Hip to be Square’ by Huey Lewis and the News, but when I went searching on YouTube, I found this Sesame Street version, and decided to share it instead:


Love it!

Heads or Tails is a fun weekly meme created and hosted by Barb (aka Skittles) – feel free to join in!

Let Alice Do the Shopping

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alice.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

I'm trying to decide if I actually want to get out and go to the store this week.  Is there really anything we need badly enough that it's worth going out in the cold?  I'm strongly leaning toward NO.  I can start making a list of everything we're getting low on and wait at least until next week to go.

Unfortunately the things I'm going to need are things like eggs and carrots, not toilet paper and body lotion.  Otherwise, I could just shop at Alice.com, and I wouldn't even have to go out next week.  If you haven't noticed - some people feel a need to get out of the house, but I'd much rather stay home.  I need a good reason to go out.  Anyway, if you haven't checked out Alice yet, you really should.  It's a really convenient site that lets you manage all your household essentials, like that toilet paper and body lotion I mentioned as well as a whole lot more - like coffee (definitely essential), laundry detergent, household cleaners, and even PopTarts.  For all the products, you can easily compare prices between the Alice.com price and historical pricing data on other sites to see if you're getting the best deal.  In addition, if there's a coupon, Alice automatically applies it, and you don't even have to get out your scissors.  They say that a typical user finds $100’s in annual coupon savings without any extra work or newsprint hands.  And, on Alice.com the shipping is always FREE!

The idea of shopping for household essentials without leaving the comfort of my own home really appeals to me, along with the automatic coupons and the free shipping - all things you know I love.  You can even set Alice up to remind you when you need to buy something, so you'll never run out of something important like toilet paper.

They've got another great thing going on, the Refer-a-Friend program.  For everyone you refer, Alice will track their purchases for an entire year, and give you 3% of those sales.  In addition, when they spend $50 on the site, they'll get a $10 credit.  So, if you haven't signed up for Alice yet, feel free to click on the Alice.com image in my sidebar - and then spend lots of money there so my 3% will add up, OK?  *grin*  It's free to sign up, so you're not out anything, and you just might find that Alice is the best thing since sliced bread, or at least the next best thing to having someone do your shopping for you.

New Year New Look

I've been thinking for a while that I'd like a new look for this blog, but I just kept putting it off because changing everything sounded like a lot of work. Back when we were having our tile put in, I helped my friend Nancy set up a website for their business. Instead of building a traditional website, I had her set up a blog, because it will be a lot easier for her to update. When we picked the template she used for her blog - Eltrich Enterprises - I found one I really liked on the same site - this Wooden Fence template. So I downloaded it. I also noticed after I downloaded it that Misty liked it, too. I think we have pretty good taste. Or at least we must have similar taste, because she didn't end up using this template, but Misty did recently change the template on her blog - and she chose one that I'm using on my recipe blog!

It's been a while since I downloaded the template, but I finally decided to go for it. I went searching for a way to save my widgets first, because I really did not want to have to rebuild my blog lists and things like that. I found this really helpful article on keeping your widgets when changing your template last night and tried it out on my test blog. It worked! So, today when Jeffrey and I decided to just be lazy and hang around at home, I decided today would be the perfect time to update my layout.

I'm liking it! There are some similarities to my old layout, but overall it's a fresh look. It does have me thinking of Spring, and since we're in the middle of a cold winter, I'm wondering at the logic of that - but maybe it's just something to look forward to. Anyway, let me know what you think. Like it? Are there any display issues I may not have noticed? Let me know, OK?

Camera Critters (#91)

My niece Jessica recently got a horse – every young girl’s dream. When we were in Kentucky visiting, she took me to meet her horse Spice.

I’m going to have to go back when it’s a little warmer, and she’ll let me ride Spice, too. You can read more about Jessica's horse Spice on my brother's blog.

Camera Critters is a fun weekend meme hosted by Misty Dawn.Visit the Camera Critters headquarters and join in.

Yearly Dementia Test

I posted this Neurological Test early in 2009 - - so when I got this email, I thought I'd share it too.

It's that time of year for us to take our annual senior citizen test. Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert. If you don't use it, you lose it! Below is a very private way to gauge how your memory compares to the last test. Some may think it is too easy but the ones with memory problems may have difficulty. Take the test presented here to determine if you're losing it or not.

The spaces below are so you don't see the answers until you've made your answer. OK, relax, clear your mind and begin.

1) What do you put in a toaster?









Answer: 'bread.' If you said 'toast' give up now and do something else..
Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, bread, go to Question 2.

2) Say 'silk' five times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink?









Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even overheat. Content yourself with reading a more appropriate literature such as Auto World. However, if you said 'water,' proceed to question 3.

3) If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?









Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said 'green bricks,' why are you still reading these??? If you said 'glass,' go on to Question 4.

4) It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany. (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany). Anyway, during the flight, two engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of 'no man's land' between East Germany ! ! and West Germany ... Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany , West Germany , Or no man's land'?









Answer: You don't bury survivors. If you said ANYTHING else, you're a dunce and you must stop. If you said, 'You don't bury survivors', proceed to the next question.

5) Without using a calculator -
You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on. In Swindon, 2 people get off and 4 get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, 3 people get off and 5 people get on. In Carmathen, 6 people get off and 3 get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven
+++++

Without scrolling back to review, how old is the bus driver?









Answer: Oh, for crying out loud! Don't you remember your own age? It was YOU driving the bus!!
++++

If you pass this along to your friends, pray they do better than you..

PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!!

Note: I am in no way admitting that I am getting old or insinuating that any of you are, either. I just thought this would be fun. Let me know how you do!