Chuckle of the Day - Elderly Dog Named Killer

As I get older, aging jokes get funnier. I hope you enjoy this one too.


A wealthy old gentleman decides to go on a hunting safari in Africa, taking his faithful, elderly dog named Killer, along for the company.

One day the old dog starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.


The old dog thinks, "Oh, ho! I'm in deep doo-doo now!" Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the old dog exclaims loudly, "Boy, that was one delicious leopard! I wonder, if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young leopard halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees. "Whew!", says the leopard, "That was close! That old dog nearly had me!"


Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So, off he goes, but the old dog sees him heading after the leopard with great speed, and figures that something must be up.

The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The young leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, monkey, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!

Now, the old dog sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?" Instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old dog says...

"Where's that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another leopard!"

Moral of this story...

Don't mess with the old dogs because age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery! Wisdom and brilliance only come with age and experience.


Have you ever known any monkeys?











Woman Aging With Style and hoping to emulate
an elderly dog named Killer,

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Tell The Truth Thursday - Wedding Day

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Welcome to "Tell The Truth Thursday" where the question that has been posted in my right side bar gets answered by me and you! Did you prepare your post and are you ready to drop your URL into the Linky so that we all can follow? Grab the thumb above linking it back to this blog posting and let's get started...

The question this week is :

Did you have a wonderful wedding day? Would you change anything? If you're not married, describe your ideal wedding day.

Unfortunately, I have been divorced. I think the whole concept and meaning behind divorce is sad, but it happens and because of this, I have now been married twice.

At the young age of 21, I was married to Alyssa's father. During the many months preceding the wedding, I made my wedding dress. Even with all the preparations, on the eve of my wedding day, we were still sewing on the lace appliques on the train. Funny to think of that now.

I felt beautiful, young and happy that day and a little fearful. We didn't have a big wedding or reception. I don't think either of us wanted to bother with a whole lot of details; we just wanted to get married and get on with life.

The pictures were not readily available today, but I found a few snapshots to prove that I actually wore the wedding dress I made for my first wedding. Obviously, the photos don't do justice to a dress that took many hours and had over one hundred pieces of fabric to sew together.

pic 1 I love the point on my sleeve
pic 2 That is my sister hugging me with my hat veil
pic 3 At our wedding reception

Then I pulled out the dress which I still have at the top of my closet and took a few photos up close.

Little heart on my garter belt

The point on my sleeve that went across the back of my hand

Pearls and thick Italian lace all over the dress

A lot of hand sewing

I love the sheen of heavy bridal satin

Buttons went all the way down the back

The hem was lace all the way around and was sewn on by hand

A simple high collar with lace and pearls

Lace, lace and more lace

Pearls, pearls and more pearls with yards and yards of fabric

Twenty-one years later, I guess I still had the same attitude because my second wedding was at the Justice of the Peace. Not a big ceremony, no guests and no celebratory details to figure out.

Would I change anything?

Yes!!!!

I would definitely:

• finish my college education before I got married the first time
  
• wait until I was older the first time
• wait until I knew my second husband better
  
• include my family at the ceremony the second time
• hire a photographer for the weddings
  
• add sequins, jewels and more pearls to my dress
• have extravagant shoes with six inch heels
• ride in a limo with my family to a wonderful meal in a fancy restaurant after the wedding
  
• have a honeymoon both times, once on the beach and once in the mountains

I guess with age, I have changed and would do things differently. That's not such a big surprise.

"Love does not consist
of gazing at each other,
but in looking together
in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery~

Weddings can be such lovely celebrations!

Now it is your turn to answer the Tell The Truth Thursday question. Enter the post URL that answers the question in the Linky below and have fun checking out everyone's answers...

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Books Are For More Than Reading

I have been an avid reader as a student, individual, aunt and mother. Reading helps to develop so many aspects of your personality as well as improve and develop life long skills.

As a small child, I was taught to respect the written word and books that kept them safe and organized. Book Fairs and the library were the most exciting places to spend hours akin to amusement parks.

Even the JC Penney catalog was kept in pristine condition until a new one arrived. But when it was ready to be discarded, I would have paper doll heaven. I cut with the little round nosed scissors until the imprint in my finger hurt. The thrill of creating my own paper world fulfilled my creative desires.

Su Blackwell, as Emeril Lagasse would say, "Kicked it up a notch!"

In her own words, "I often work within the realm of fairy-tales and folk-lore. I began making a series of book-sculpture, cutting-out images from old books to create three-dimensional diorama’s, and displaying them inside wooden boxes."

With this collection, you won't even feel a loss at not being able to read the books.

I promise.

The Exstasie

The Woodcutters Hut

Hope (left) and (right) Down The Rabbit Hole

The Snow Queen Video

Margaret and Marjorie

The World of Ice

Out of Narnia

The Secret Garden

The Girl in the Wood

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Did you ever imagine a cut up book could be so creative and beautiful?

I didn't.

Her works of art put my JC Penney based paper dolls to shame, but then again, that comparison isn't even fair even considering the vast age difference. Su obviously has an abundance of patience and a great love of paper because she cuts each piece by hand.

I will always cherish the innocent era of playing in my grandmother's bedroom with paper doll homes spread out from her cedar dresser so shiny and clean, all the way over to the corner of the room next to her side of the bed that always smelled of powder.

Cut out advertisement models and furniture made of paper laying flat on the floor, but in my imagination they were talking, laughing, cooking, sleeping and walking to the neighbors house.

Childhood innocence and creativity is so wonderful.

When we can grow up and let our wildest imaginations bloom from paper dolls to works of cut out book art, it just proves that life can be an exciting adventure!

Don't you agree?





A paper doll pro,

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I Always Wanted To Be Blond

Some of my earliest memories consist of envying blond girls with long hair that looked and moved like golden threads of silk. Of course, I didn't have hair anything close to that description. My hair was a coarse, orange bouffant that wouldn't move even if I stood in a hurricane with sustained 100 m.p.h. winds.

Thus, I envied.

Then my sister was born.

Yes, she had really thick, white blond threads of silky hair that grew to her waist and moved elegantly even as a child.

So I envied and tried to live a vicarious blond life.

Years passed and I had a daughter who, you guessed, had a head full of the most beautiful, silky blond hair. By now my sister's hair had turned into a darker brown shade and I began to live once again as a blond through my daughter.

Alyssa bought a car a few weeks ago. Remember, she a a teenager and she is blond. Two very important facts.

This is our conversation today...

(My phone rings with "Jesus Take The Wheel" by Carrie Underwood as the tone which immediately lets me that the call is from Alyssa)

"Hello."

"Mom, I have a flat tire."

"Oh no, where are you?" I asked worriedly.

"I'm in the school parking lot. When I came out, this other student who is a guy says, 'Hey, did you know you have a flat tire?' and when I looked, it was totally flat. He is changing it for me now with two of his friends," she said without taking a breath.

"That's nice of them," I said while thinking that no one ever has offered to change my tire even when I was young! Another confirmation that being a cute, blond teenager has advantages.

"Mom, the guy said, 'Do you have a spare tire?' and I told him that my car was new to me and I didn't have one. He said, 'If this is a new car, you have a spare tire in the trunk' and I told him that my trunk was empty!"

She stops to take a breath or maybe it was just a half of a breath.

"So he insists on seeing inside my trunk and when I opened it, I said, 'See, it is empty.' Then he reaches down and lifts this thing and there is a tire!!!! By now Mom, all three guys are laughing and poking fun of me."

I started laughing so hard I couldn't hold it in as she continued.

"Then he asked me if I had a crow bar and I told him I was a girl and I didn't know what a crow bar was and didn't carry tools. They just laughed at me and said they were sure I had one. So he looked around my trunk and found a crow bar and said, 'This is a crow bar' and just laughed and teased me."

Laughing my head off, I said, "Alyssa, we have been in my car's trunk hundreds of times and you have even watched my tire being changed so, what happened to all that knowledge?"

"Mo-om! I don't know! Anyway, they were all three really cute!"

Then I really laughed!

Being a cute blond teenage girl definitely has advantages even if a blond moment strikes.

Like I said, I always wanted to be blond!








Mom of a blond...in all respects!

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Rockin' Friends Spotlight - Comfortable Silence

"True friendship comes
when the silence
between two people
is comfortable."
~David Tyson Gentry~


What are some of the ways you can stay in touch with your friends so that they know you care?

Often when I sit down at the computer keyboard, I just stare. I think about all the information that is available with a click of a button or more precisely a mouse. At the other end of this internet connection are people who read my blog and through past interactions, I now call them my friends.

I also have a commitment to my daughter to record our history together... something worth leaving behind. Lately, I'm feeling my mortality and it isn't comfortable.

So I try to balance my journaling with my interests, helping others learn through blogging tips that I enjoy teaching, and promoting my friends. It hasn't been hard thus far and I feel a great accomplishment and satisfaction in my blogging. I have found words for the incessant clamoring in my brain that fight to get out to be recorded while the sentimental side of me just wants to be remembered.

Through all of this blogging with my life's ups and downs, happinesses and dropping to the depths of hellish depression, my blogging friends do what best friends do...they encourage me to continue and not to give up. Some are eloquent and write at length while others leave a simple heartfelt message that simply says, "My thoughts and prayers are with you."

The comfortable silence of friends who love me let me know they are there and will hang back to pass me the tissue to blow my nose when needed. It takes both kinds of friends, the eloquent and those that offer few and powerful words to keep me going during stressful times.

If you are one of those friends with the heartfelt few and powerful words because you can't think of anything else to say to me, that's okay. I feel it. I appreciate it. Your words touch me and in our comfortable silence, you also give me strength.

Never underestimate the power of your comfortable silent support of another. Emotional bonds of caring will always be stronger than the written word.





This is the weekly post where I spotlight my Rockin' Friends who are the Top Nine active participants and loyal followers in my community! If you want to be mentioned here next week, then all it takes is to come in and start chatting with everyone in my community.

With a big thank you for their participation and friendship, here are the Rockin' Friends this week in order of most participation:

• Katlupe at Homesteading on the Internet


• Jamie at Avant Garde Parenting


• Marlene at Marlene's Many Hats


• Lori at Lori's LOLz


• Kristi at The Child Sensitive Communication Grid


• Kim at The Zany Housewife


• Lis at An American Girl In Bristol


• Esther at Laugh With Us Blog


• Paula at Love Is A Journey

This week the special spotlight is shining on Melissa of An American Girl In Bristol. Melissa's "About Me" is as follows:

"I'm an American girl who is just trying to figure out my life before I turn 30. I currently am in college studying Education. I love cooking, literature, 80's movies and music, musical theater, and traveling. I also love sarcasm and laughing. A lot. Especially at myself."

Her nickname is Lis and she has a cute, relaxed profile pic. I couldn't resist highlighting her.



A few posts into her new blog, Lis told of her plans to move to another country in "By nature man hates change...." Needless to say, I would be terrified at the thought of moving that far away and I've never said or thought "I've honestly always longed to be elsewhere."

I have, however, felt a lot like this...

"I want what I do to be noticed and appreciated, and I feel down when I'm not. Yet when I am noticed or complimented, I reject it. I know that I am a perfectionist when it comes to college and my coursework. I feel badly when I don't get everything right, even if I have done really well."

I'm sure we can all find something to relate to in this lovely post about self-examination of our lives and its worth.

Since Lis is in college, she has a different perspective on many aspects of life because she is young and just beginning all the excitement. After reading Top Ten List for Surviving...Most Anything ,I agree that the list can also be applied to our every day life and not just when we are cruising through college...well, everything except for #6 which I do not like at all.

I thought a lot about "What happens to a dream deferred?" because I've had a few dreams of my own that haven't gone as planned. Did I tell you that Lis is getting married?

I'm sure you'll want to read about "Happy marriages begin..." and hear the juicy details with lovely photos too. In Bizzare Marriage Laws in America I was very grateful not to live in Connecticut on Sunday. Last but not least Introducing Slow Cooker Saturday sounds and looks absolutely delicious which reminds me that it is nearly ice cream time.

I'm so glad that I've been able to get to know Lis better since she has become active in my community and by reading her blog. Be sure to add An American Girl In Bristol to your blogroll, but also come over and chat with Lis in my community.

The community challenge this week was an effort to become better sales people with a definite plan of action involved. Thank you to all the participants for working so hard at making the community a success and challenging yourself this week. Not only the community benefits, but we all have been able to support and encourage each other which is invaluable.

The winner of the challenge is:

Lori at Lori's LOLz

Congratulations Lori! A warm thank you for being our Rockin' Friend! We all appreciate the effort you have made to get to know us better and the support you have shown in our individual blogging efforts.

For everyone mentioned in the top nine this week, feel free to grab the Rockin' Friend badge below and thank you for your participation!!




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Until the spotlight next week...Happy Chatting Rockin' Friends!

Don't forget to add your blog URL to the Linky at Woo Us To Your Blog and learn blogging tips that will help you have a polished blog and to increase your traffic! This week it is all about Google Alerts!! Do you know that it is kind of like spying on the internet!

Until next week...Kiss your family, hug your friends and don't forget to be the friend you would like to have around.




Hoping to be remembered and doing something worthy of being remembered,

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Woo Us To Your Blog - Google Alerts

Today we are going to chat about something that is fun.

Google Alerts

What is a Google Alert?

Google offers a content monitoring service that automatically notifies users of new content on the web. They call these notification Google Alerts.

What new content?

You set up the alerts that you would like to receive and they are the only notifications you will receive. Any time that your "alert term" is found in news, blogs, web, video and/or discussion groups, you will receive a notification.

What is an alert term?

An alert term can be anything. A few examples might be your Twitter name, blog name, a famous movie star, your real name, the name of your company, child's school, or key words such as coupon, cabin or beach front property.

How will I be notified when the new content is posted?

Notifications are sent the way you want them to be sent to you via email, as a web feed or displayed on your iGoogle page.

Let me show you how this all works...

First, type Google.com to get to the main Google page. On that page in the top right hand corner you will see a place to sign in. If you already have a Google account, sign in using that information. If you do not have a Google account, you will be prompted to create one.





This is my Google account settings page. You can click it to see more detail.








Notice the big red circle. When you click on ALERTS it will take you to the Google Alerts page where you set up your desired alerts.







Start by determining which term you want to choose as an alert. Type it in the "Search Terms" box.

Now choose the type of information on that term that you will find of interest. Your choices are: Everything, News, Blogs, Updates, Videos or Discussions.

So if you choose "Blogs" then you will only be alerted when the term appears in a blog - any blog on the internet. It could appear in a video too, but you will not receive an alert for that because you chose "Blogs" only.








How often do you want to receive alerts? Your choices are: as-it-happens, once a day or once a week.







How many alerts do you want to appear on one email? Your choices are: up to 20 results or up to 50 results.








Where do you want the alert delivered? Your choices are: an email account or a feed.








Double check your choices and click "Create Alert."









To manage your alerts, on the main Google Alert page click the link "click here to manage your alerts."








You will be taken to a page that lists all your alerts with their various criteria.

If you want to create another alert, just click "New Alert" and you can start the whole process over again.









If you choose "email notification," it will appear in your email and look something like this for each term or alert that you have chosen:






That's the whole Google Alert process. They can be fun and helpful, so take your time and thoughtfully create Google Alerts.

The last "Woo Us To Your Blog" post explored buttons and badges to advertise your blog. Do you remember the message or are you totally involved in setting up Google Alerts?

As always, attached is the weekly Linky to enter either the main URL to your site or add each post you publish throughout the week. You don't have to do anything special, just drop your link in and get a little extra exposure to your site.

Until next week's wooing post, have fun creating Google alerts and getting the results in your email all week.




Creating an alert for "ice cream" and feeling better already,

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