A Valuable Lesson

I learned a valuable lesson today. Actually, an expensive lesson. I learned that you cannot use a different plug in for an electronic device if the voltage is different. I accidently plugged in my external hard drive using the old external hard drive's cord. You would think that two WD drives with the same plug would be the same, but NOT! I don't know why they had to do that to me, but then I don't know why I wasn't more careful. Anyway, the newer drive is dead .... with all my backup info on it. Ouch. We are hoping we can get the data off and onto a new drive when we can buy one. If not ... oh well, it's not the end of the world. I just hate losing the back-up data ... and the $100!
The whole time we were in Germany, I only goofed up with one mismatch plug in and If I remember right it was the external speakers to the computer. And that was complete different voltage system over there than here.
Steve says, "You are telling them?" "Well, Yeah maybe I can help someone else not make the same mistake. Not that any of you would do such a thing!"

I'm back.

My hands do feel better, but I am going to try not to overdo it this time. :) Besides, I need to start spring-cleaning. That should give me computer breaks.
I have also been practicing with the speech recognition software that comes with windows. It is neat and gives me a break from typing. I am not using it right now, because somehow I lost my Internet connection on my laptop and have to wait for hubby to help me figure it out.

Family Geneology

I have been working on our family tree for a couple months. I've had been fun delving into the past, talking with my aunts and uncles for stories, researching online, seeing photos of my g-g-grandparents and finding relatives I have not met yet. Did you know there is a site called findagrave.com? they have taken photos of graves all over the country and you can go there and find photos of headstones of people you know and not have to drive to the grave yard!

It has been fun, but I have overdone the amount of time I know I can sit at the computer without my hands hurting. So.... now I have to take  a break for a while and give my hands a rest. So, I will check back in a couple of weeks from now. Take care, friends.

Christian Wallpaper KJV

We discovered this place yesterday and it is already helping us learn or review Bible verses! It is KJV Christian Wallpaper They are beautiful photos with verses on them. I downloaded several and we have them change every hour, so we see the verses while we are waiting for whatever, then can work on learning them. They say it is ok to download them for personal use!

U.S. Capitol Tour with David Barton

Reusing Items

About 20 years ago, one of my aunts taught me to re-use the liners that cereal comes in inside their boxes. She recommended I use them instead of wax paper. Since then, I have had the same box of wax paper sitting on the shelf in case I need it. But, I have used mostly the inserts. I rinse them, let them dry and then store them for use later.
This year, I discovered that being they put so much glue on them now it is almost impossible to pull them apart, that I have started using them whole as freezer bags! I use the twist ties to close them or put it into already used(clean) plastic bags that I don't want the food to touch, but gives another layer of freshness to the food!
As for plastic bags, I use them again and again ... according to how clean they are. Then when I don't want to use them any more for food, I use them for scraps before throwing the scraps into the trash.
Then, of course, the shopping bags are used for trash cans. I do have all those reusable bags I bought, but I rarely remember to take them into the store!

Virtuous Women

Today, I am going to talk about two sites. Both are two of the most virtuous women I know. One I met recently and is a few years older than I am and a long-time pastor's wife. The other one I knew when she was a child. Check out their pages. Both have a lot to share about living the life God wants us women to live.  Barbara also has another site where women meet and share. Ask her about it!

Authentic Virtue   and   Barbara's Bakin N Bits

My Best Gift

Years ago, when I first started writing seriously, one of my assignments was to write a short article on what my best gift was. Here is what I wrote:  My Best Gift


Hearing my babies’ first words – Helping with their first steps – Enduring the agony as well as enjoying the thrill of them cutting teeth. – Listening to their stories. – Stopping their arguments – Drying their tears and sharing their hugs. – Supporting them during problems ... and victories – Taking time to teach them God’s Word. – Eight and a half years of teaching them at home, both school work and homemaking.

Time with my husband, no matter what schedule he worked. – Taking time for each other as well as the children. – One whole year of him coming home for lunch with us. – Family vacations without the conflict of job schedules.

Serving The Lord through various ministries of our church and helping others in need. – Now, time for fulfilling one of my heart’s desires with my writing; hoping to be a witness and blessing to others.

I know this may sound like a lot of gifts, but my husband and I made a decision more than thirty years ago, (almost 40 now) that I would stay home and be a full time housewife. Now that the children are grown (and now have given us grandkids) and I look back over the years, I know making that choice has been my best gift.

New Garlic Press

I use a lot of garlic in my cooking. I like the flavor and it is supposed to be good for us. Garlic. For years, we thought my husband was allergic to it, so I could not add it to his foods. [he is allergic to citrus and mangoes the same way, so it was confusing to just what made him itch.] After we retired, we decided to give fresh garlic a try and he had no rash. We decided it may be the chemicals added to manufactured garlic. (Powders, vitamins etc). This fall, he even planted a row in our garden. We look forward to not buying it after June!
My old garlic press needed to be replace because I never could get all the garlic to go through it and it hurt my hand to use it. So, I went on a mission to look for another one. They were all made of the same style and I was disappointed until I saw the red one. It was so different I was not sure, but finally made the $13 investment (took a chance) to see if it worked.
It does! I really like it. You twist it to crush the garlic and can get it all done. I still have to be careful how I twist my hands not to hurt them, but I try to remember.

Barefoot in the Kitchen

Barefoot in the Kitchen
This is a special place to me for it is my niece. She is a sweet lady who is in love with her husband she calls 'Handsome' and has 3 children they homeschool. She loves to cook and shares her recipes and hints on this page. She has a family blog, too, but I chose to share this one with you.

Broken Dish

I like to tell the story how when I had an all tile kitchen, I dropped a Corelle bowl. As it went down to the floor, I just watched and waited for it to break, but it did not. It did the little twirl thing (like the people on Ed Sullivan who used to spin dishes on sticks). Some one told me, that when one did break, it would shatter.
Last week, I dropped a can of food out of the cupboard onto one of the bowls. Yes, it shattered! Everywhere. Into many pieces. I was still finding little pieces a few days later, though I thought I cleaned them all up. Saturday, after using the crockpot, I was wiping it down and found another piece inside the 'outside' pot! I was glad it had not got into the pot and into our food.
Thankfully, I have several of them for it is my favorite dish set. My only dish set. :) I had several years back, but with all the moves, I got rid of extras. But, I like these and don't see a need to buy others. When I bought them, I waited until the set came out that I really liked. English Garden. I was so happy I finally got some I liked. Then 2 of my sisters-in law bought the same thing! Well! But, their purchases were just a passing fancy and when they got tired of them, I got their left overs. I'm glad for I just looked at their web site and they no longer have mine. So much for getting more luncheon plates! Except at maybe yard sales. :)

Posting

Today, I had trouble getting into the site because of the password! :) My password post

When I last posted, I had a rare few minutes to sit and surf and look at others' sites. I had every intention of talking about each one of them, one a day. But, .... life goes on.

Hubby and I have had colds and we have gone through a whole can of lyso spray trying to kill each other's germs! But, we are feeling much better.

Lyric Devotions

Last year, when I started my blog, I immediately got busy working for the Census, then went on a long trip to visit our children. After that, my husband decided that now was the time to build our porch (which now I am so ever grateful for), but at the moment, it was... "What? Let me at least take a breath!" But, build the porch we did and are enjoying it!
So, being we were very busy, I did not have much time to write on my blog or to look at other people blogs too often. I have been perusing others' blogs today and find I have missed out on blessings, by reading others posts. One special place is Lyric Devotions. Deborah has written special songs that are truly devotions and has them posted for us to enjoy. I hope to do so more often!

Passwords

What can I say about them? Each year we try to come up with a unique password to use for our accounts. I just finished for this year. It is frustrating. People say, "Well, it's easy. I use the same few and if it is not one, then it is the other." I've tried that. Then one place wants no special characters, another place wants no numbers, another wants .... etc. so each place ends up with its own password and I sure can't remember them all! I've about decided that if I can't get into a place, so what!
Really, this year, I am trying to down size my web experience, by cutting out some places. I was able to cut out a few and we still have more than 80 places we have to log in to!
Happy New Year!