12STRING.ORG

AT TIMES LIKE THESE

Kelly — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:02:05 +0000

It’s hard to make sense of anything. It’s hard to even know what’s up or down anymore. I feel like this last week has been a bad dream. It’s that feeling that you are running around trying to wake up from it, but you can’t find an exit. Things are slowly returning to normal, but my mind and body are exhausted. I cry out to the Lord in anguish and weariness. His peace sustains me amidst all of the insanity.

RE-ARRANGING

Kelly — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:19:23 +0000

BEAR WITH ME! OH THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING.

GOOD MORNING

Kelly — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:59:33 +0000

and HAPPY MONDAY! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was fantastic - relaxing and fun. Saturday was spent lounging and shopping. Yesterday, my sister and I spent the day at the local agricultural fair. Fair food, rigged games that steal your money and rides that make you lose your very greasy fair food - great! No, it really was a lot of fun. My personal favorite ride would have to be the gravitron. The gravitron is this enclosed circular ride with walls that are padded. Basically, everyone stands up against the wall and as the ride starts to spin - gravity attaches you to the wall. The fact that the floor falls out only adds to its greatness.

We got home from the fair around 7:30 or so. I spent the rest of the night finishing this week’s billing. I am now free to spend my Monday and Tuesday working on fun stuff. I have a couple of auctions going at ebay.com. I have a ton of inventory I need to photograph today.

I’m not sure where this came from, but I was walking around running errands last week and it occurred to me how much I detest that society promotes young girls looking like adults. ::steps up on her soap box:: You don’t have to travel far to witness it - 12, 13, 14 year old kids in heavy makeup, skimpy clothes, having conversations that are completely inappropriate for their age. And we wonder why there are so many teenage pregnancies in this world? I was at the mall last week for work and standing in the line at Chik-Fil-A was this little girl. She couldn’t have been any older than 8 or 9 and was wearing this tight fitted tank top that was designed and cut for a woman’s body, super short mini-skirt and high heeled sandals. I suddenly had the urge to take her mother and father by each side of their faces and shake them. What are parents thinking?!!! My can’t little kids be little kids as long as possible? As an adult, I would love to have had a few more years of innocence and childhood. Another thing that bothers me and I know it is innocently done, but it is ridiculous none the same. No child should have a boyfriend of girlfriend. It is like nails on a chalk board to my ears when I hear some parent coo about, “Tommy has this little girl in his class that is just in loooove with him. We tease him about his girlfriend all of the time.” GRRRRRGH!

HAVE A GOOD ONE, Y’ALL!

IN THE STRANGEST PLACES

Kelly — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:44:54 +0000

… you find inspiration. The photo below is a leaf that I found on the tailgate of my car last Thursday. As I was walking out of the hospital where my little sister was, I spotted it. I took the photo with my cell phone, so the quality and lighting isn’t great. Logic states that it was just a random leaf that blew my way, but the fact it was shaped just like a heart made me smile. I don’t know, but I can’t help but think that things like that are put in our path to lift us up. I was feeling worried and weary that night and something as simple as a leaf made me smile.

Election Day is Tuesday folks - prayer changes things. Don’t lose heart, pray, pray and pray. “lean not on your own understanding” and have faith. “Pride goeth before a fall” - get out and vote. Prayer changes things - hold faithful.

IN AN INSTANT

Kelly — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:40:32 +0000

Everything can change. This past week, my little sister was admitted into the hospital and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Her only symptoms were increased thirst and fatigue. Diabetes runs in the family on both side. My dad has Type 1 as well, and was able to spot her symptoms early. She is at home now and feeling much better. She has learned to give herself insulin injections, check her glucose and measure her carb and sugar intake. It has been a very scary and shocking week, but we have made it through to the other side. Upon hearing the news, I couldn’t help but feel angry about it. I thought, “it isn’t fair that she should have to deal with this. She’s too young.” I am reminded that God never leaves us and what we think is meant for bad is really meant for good in his eyes. None of us here understand why, but I take comfort in knowing that she is in his hands and that he has a plan for her life. This disease will be a tough road and present many obstacles in her life, but she has a relationship with her Lord and Savior that will be her rock through all of this. Praise be to God for his mercy and understanding!

I had some issues with the hosting company, but we are all back on track. It feels good to be back. I was missing this place with a fierceness. On my list of things to do today, are billing, applying for my ein and washing my large comforters at the laundry mat. They are so large, they won’t fit in the washer at home. I better get to this list of mine. Heroes tonight - yeah!

A STEP FORWARD

Kelly — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:18:52 +0000

This past weekend, Monday and today were very productive days for me. Yesterday, I filed for my Fictitious Business Name as well as opened up a mailbox at my local UPS Store. I will be using this for my online retail business.

Above is a photo of my mailbox key. I am aware that these are small steps in the journey of success, but all success stories start somewhere. Every great journey began with a single step. I feel as though I have taken huge leaps the past few days. Today, I spent about an hour and a half at the local mall, scouring children’s clothing stores for great deals. MAN! What amazing deals I found. I was able to purchase about $255.00 in retail worth of upscale children’s clothes for about $97.00.

How was everyone’s weekend? The weather is cooling down (for Florida) and it feels great! Tomorrow it is back to Vet Tech daily grind. Things have been a bit slower this past week at the hospital, but then again yesterday was crazy from what my fellow employees said. I have officially started my Christmas shopping.

I was able to get a Pocahontas Barbie doll at the Disney Store for my little niece at a great price. She has a few of the other characters and is in love with collecting them all. I am determined not to wait until the last minute this year. I did much better last year and I plan to do even better this time around.

I have officially upgraded to the latest version of Wordpress and it feels great. I love all of the cool new features and the basic organization of this release. Very cool. Consider upgrading if you haven’t yet done so. Well, I have a huge stack of billing to input into the system and need to get in bed at a decent hour. Colds are surfacing amongst my family and friends. I refuse to catch it! Arrgh! Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone and take care.

JOE THE PLUMBER & UPGRADE

Kelly — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:56:24 +0000

If you watch the news at all, you have heard talk of “Joe The Plumber”. I found this video to be interesting, so I thought I’d post a link. You can check it out at THIS location.

For the past couple of days, I have been attempting to upgrade my Wordpress version to the current one. It is kicking my butt! Arrrgh. Oh well. I will have to sit down tomorrow afternoon and give it another go. The plan for tonight is billing, billing and more billing. I am week behind due to technical difficulties outside of my control. Oh well, I will open up my TV SHOWS folder on my itunes and catch up on my Robin Hood episodes while pecking away at this stack of paperwork before me. Tomorrow will be my free day and I am looking forward to it.

Today started late for me - I woke up at 12:30 - yes, that’s right I was a lazy bum this morning. When I woke up for work early yesterday, my throat was burning and my eyes were feeling scratchy. I didn’t feel overly tired when I went to bed, but my body obviously needed the rest. I always hate waking so late because it makes me feel as though I have wasted the day. Tomorrow will be an early day for me due to the fact that I am filling in for someone at the boarding area of the hospital. The manager has been extremely short staffed and was working every weekend. A group of us signed up to take some of her hours, so she could actually have an off weekend to enjoy. I don’t mind the extra hours due to the pay and giving a friend a chance to have fun weekend is a good feeling.

As you may have already noticed, I have made some subtle changes to 12String.org. Look for continual improvements over the weekend and first of next week. It seems like I always have more ideas than time to devote to one thing. Such is the life of a busy entrepreneur. Well, I leave you tonight with wishes for a great weekend! Take care all.

I INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST

Kelly — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:54:32 +0000

HEHE. Just joking, but I did want to share a YouTube.com channel that I find refreshingly interesting. I have renewed hope in my generation.

Please take a few minutes to check out MachoSauceProduction.

AND LIFE JUST ROLLS ALONG

Kelly — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:50:10 +0000

I’m not sure what the purpose or meaning behind that title is, but eh you know it works. So how was everyone’s weekend? I know, I know it has been a whole week since my last post. I do hope that some of you guys found the shared links helpful. My weekend was good. Far too short, but good just the same. What did I do you ask? Hmmm, let’s see. Saturday I slept in (shock) and then did a little cleaning, showered, dressed and then headed to the outside mall center with my brother. I did find two cute shirts from American Eagle as well as a couple of goodies from Sephora. One goodie in particular is this stuff called, “Weather Everything” that seals in your eyeliner or shadow. The folks from Bare Escentuals make it and it is GREAT! After my shopping trip, I came home and hung out with the nephew who was visiting for the afternoon. That evening we decided to watch a movie at home. As you can see from my twitter event log to the right —- > , we chose Into The West. Into The West was a TV Mini Series in 2005 and spans several decades. The basis of the story is two families : one white family and one Lakota family and how their lives interceded and conflicted. I have seen it before, but it is one that I never tire of. It is around 9 hours long, so we have split it up into a few days. We should be able to finish it up tonight or tomorrow night.

In the spirit of last Monday, I do have a few links to share with you this morning. I haven’t done much surfing this week, but my bookmarks are always bursting at the seams. The first link is geared more towards the musically inclined.

ChordBook.com - This is the coolest feature! For folks that aren’t all that experienced, but want desperately to learn to play this application is very useful.
WebDesign.org - Shiny Web 2.0 Graphics. This tutorial is pretty darn cool. I don’t use many shiny effects here at 12String.org, but I do use it for various projects away from here.
CurrentCodes.com is excellent for those of us on a budget. Who isn’t on a budget these days? This place is packed pull of codes that can be used as coupons for online shopping. Go check it out - you just might save some money. SWEET!

I hope you guys will have fun with those. Last night, I was up late working on the navigation for this place. The ugly bar was ticking me off, so I had to do something about it. I do love these little fabric strips. They make it look very scrapbook - ish. I was having issues making it look good in FF and IE, so if you are using a different browser and things look funky to you, please let me know. I have left text based navigation for those that do not use images. It is located just above this entry. I will be fixing that up as well, so folks won’t have any issues finding it. I will also be snazzing up the Twitter section - it is just blah right now, but not for long. Well, today is getting older and I have yet to shower and dress. Have a wonderful Monday readers - take care.

MONDAY MADNESS LINKS GALORE!

Kelly — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:30:02 +0000

HAPPY MONDAY! Today is indeed a happy and great day. Today is a day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it! How was everyone’s weekend? Mine was relaxing and productive at the same time. I have completed the billing, which leaves me footloose and fancy free today. YAY! As you may have already noticed, I made some adjustments to my place here. I was up late last night making tweaks and such. My next project is the “MEET THE GIRL” section in the lower left column below this entry. I would also like to fix my rss feed. It is broken, which makes me sad.

Today is a rainy day - typical Florida weather. Although, things have been cooling off here lately - yeah! The heat is my nemesis if you haven’t guessed already. Anywhooooo… moving right along. This weekend amidst the tweaks and frenzy of productivity, I also stumbled across some really cool places. I thought I’d share three with you today.

ColourLovers.com : All 120 CRAYON Names, Colors and Codes. This entire community rocks! I have joined under the screen name TaylorJumbo, so be sure to check it out. If you are a web designer or just love blogging, this place is a GREAT resource and not to mention a fun place to hang out and get inspired.
BlogohBlog.com : 10 Wordpress Hack to Make Your Life Easy. What a nifty little list! I have already used this for my categories drop down list above. I love having little cheat sheets like this. Don’t forget to check out the entire site, you won’t be disappointed.
Pumpkin Loaf Recipe at YAHOO Answers. As I’ve mentioned previously, I am ADDICTED to Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf, but at $1.95 a slice it isn’t something I get to partake of often. Well, I found this great recipe that is darn close to the Starbucks version. I am by no means Miss Betty Crocker and I found this recipe easy, so basically anyone can make this. I actually found this recipe weeks ago, but I couldn’t resist sharing it with you today.

I hope you can find those links useful or entertaining. Oh! Be sure to check out my Scrapbook. I will be adding new pictures today. Well, I will depart from my beloved online home for now and go shower. I plan to go get some coffee and read The Ebay Seller’s Tax and Legal Answer Book. I frequently buy and sell on Ebay, but I am planning on making it a larger portion of my income in the very near future. For anyone that is planning to do the same, that book is an excellent source.

Take care all and have a great Monday!