Adding other blog links...

I just spent over an hour trying to add blog links to my blogs. I did get one on, my sis's, which I've very happy about but I was going for adding several. For now until I get my tutorial, I will put my friend, Mellie's, blog address here: littlemelfie.blogspot.com. Check out her blog, she's great and you can do some great creative surfing from there. This is one of her fab creations to the right here. Enjoy! P.S. I also try to watch Joyce Meyer on Fox each morning. She's a Christian minister and she's a little Dr. Phil-ish (very straight forward and pulls no punches and sometimes even a little right leaning-no one's perfect) but I get so much from her preaching (with a good filtering system). This week, in particular, she's preaching on kind of a "don't worry, be happy" viewpoint that I know I need. Just thought I'd share that before I log off here. Have a blessed life!

Important suggestions that I had overlooked...

My bad. I've been remiss in mentioning earlier in these first few days of blogging some very important suggestions. I am bossy but I'm trying to not be on this blog. But, my opinion is that everyone should watch Oprah every day. Now I can't watch it every day myself but I try to watch it as many days as possible without scheduling my life around it. They show re-runs so don't get discouraged, the best ones come around more than once. She does do some make-over and celebrity days but even then there is usually a socially-justifiable element attached. On normal days she shares, what I believe, quite valuable information, at the least, and many times amazing occurrences, experiences, and information that I probably would not get from any other source with the added element of empowerment for women. Okay, I could go on all day. Let's just say that if Oprah says to do, read, see something, I do it and I feel that I and the world is so blessed to have her. And, okay, I swear this is it about Oprah for now, her XM radio station is brilliant. I only hear it when I'm in the car but the Gayle King and Dr. Robin interviews and shows are very inspirational. I've been lucky enough to catch Gayle's interviews with Andrew Young, Chris Gardiner, and the guests from the girls' school opening ceremonies in South Africa. And Dr. Robin is down-to-earth, common sense-driven, and comforting. Next, I think everyone should read the Sunday edition of The Washington Post. Not to put too fine a point on it but I think it would be helpful for folks outside of the DC area to read about some of the more personal aspects of the compost heap that is our nation's capital. Also, there are two very funny articles, one rather artistically random-The Style Invitational-the other, politically satirical-The Zeitgeist Checklist. They are the balance for the hoards of bad news. It's leanings are liberal for this area but, I believe, reveal a little more inside the heads of those at the helm than most of the overview articles that other out-of-the-area, mainstream papers offer. We get a little more up-close and personal. And the blood that squirts out here leaks out to the rest of the nation and it's a little more than scary. We need even more help than you think! Check it out. The Metro and the Outlook sections are most important for edification. And, until the next installment, you gotta watch Gilmore Girls. Check your t.v. listings and catch the re-runs at two different times each day (tivo or record if needed, but please...) and new ones starting again this week on Tuesday nights on the New CW (your welcome, C Dub). Non-guilty, intelligent, wry humor. Have a blessed life. I mean it, right now!

Thank you and some suggestions...

Thank you, thank you very much (Elvis-channeling) for the nice comments from those women whom I've never heard of before. Just kidding-thank you Sis and Mellie, very sweet. You are already on the "mandatory", ahem, "automatic" club membership list. Okay, here's some not-so-much navel-gazing as sharing great new experiences. We watched Little Miss Sunshine on demand last night and it's GREAT. It is hilarious but also very sweet with wonderful messages. I went to the movie today, by myself (debriefing from the last few days of being quarantined as nurse to some of the world's great whiners), and saw The Queen. Of course, being the Anglophile that I am, they could have said blah, blah, blah with a British accent and I would have sat several hours mesmerized. But, it was a very good movie, really interesting. Good gossip for the high-browed. And last, just for now, I've started reading Saving Fish From Drowning (sorry, I couldn't find an underline option on this thing) by Amy Tan. And so far I can tell you that it's fab. She meanders a lot like Anne Tyler whom I also love. Reading this and Anne Tyler's books is like exercising your mind by keeping up a serpentine-like stream of conscientiousness and being fully entertained in the process. Positive feedback is always welcome. Have a blessed life!

Welcome to Club Doojie

What I'm dreaming of here is channelling my inner-Oprah and share with all y'all I care so much about the things that have enriched my life and I hope will enrich other's lives. This is the least co-dependent forum I could think of. Y'all know how I love a good soap box. But this is not just about preaching, hopefully it will come across as sharing, which is what's in my heart. And, ask me anything. I know a lot of useless information about a lot of useless things. But, I do know things like where the cool places are to visit in Portland (learned personally the hard way) and Fredericksburg, Texas, Jackson, WY, Charleston, SC, and even some in DC and Baltimore. I've lived in Texas, California, Wyoming, and now Maryland so I've seen some stuff in my travels. And I know where and what to eat in almost every state (growing up in Texas my family frequently drove 90 miles round trip from Bryan to Houston just to have great German or Mexican food for lunch and many miles out of the way to eat at any Good Earth restaurant in any state). I've got a wide interest in music and reading. But mostly I hang out with and listen to interesting people and hear good information from them and my desire is to boil down the collected data and pass along the best of the best.

I also want to have a place to share photos of my artwork for which I'm always looking the perfect venue or at least better than I've been doing. It's been quite a challenge since our Historic Oella Mill was closed down two years ago. Commercialism, around here, is not so much for mom and pop as it is for big daddy. Soooooo, I'm always looking. I was supposed to be in Texas today seeing Lucas, friends and family I've not seen in a very long time. The weather interfered and we had to postpone. It worked out (but not really at all) because Matt and Justin both have double ear infections, strep, and are really sick. Yesterday, when we were to fly out, I had to take both of them to urgent care and today I was playing phone tag with both of their doctors to get more serious meds. I've been fetching and stepping all day so I decided this would be the gift that I gave myself for having to play nurse instead of Texas cowgirl. And so, it's begun and now back to my crossword puzzle. Please check on me occasionally, in fact I just finished a great book that I will share with you on my next posting. Yessssss, that's a cliff-hanger, wooooooow...