Blogger Problem--Again?

Once again, comments seem to be disappearing from this blog.  And now I'm wondering if they might not even be showing up at all?  Is anyone having problems with commenting?  Let me know at chrkos@gmail.com if there have been any problems lately.  Thank you.

Read More

Hello Blogger!!!! (updated)

I'm having problems with Blogger and I don't know what to do about correcting them.  First, I'm not able to put every link that I want in my posts.  I'm doing everything the way I always have done them--and never had problems before.  These last few days/weeks I find that only SOME of the links actually make it into my posts.  Very frustrating!  And the other thing that has been going on is that 'anonymous' comments don't show up in my comment section.  Okay, so most 'anonymous' comments ARE unwelcome, but I have had a few that are legitimate.  The only way I even KNOW that there are comments is that I get a copy sent to my email.  And yes, I do allow 'anonymous' comments and have the settings set properly. ;)



****Okay, now the link I couldn't get to work in my last post seems to BE working.  This is getting beyond ridiculous!  I HATE computer/interweb problems!!!

Read More

The End of Blogging?

When I look back on my life, I seem to have cycles of 5-10 years where I am gung-ho about something and then my interest wanes.  Right now, my interest in blogging is getting smaller by the day--and it seems to be that way across the blogosphere.  Along with Facebook, it seems as if people I follow are less and less inclined to do many posts or status updates.  The only thing that is going strong right now is Twitter and some of the Red Wing blogs.  (I am one of the 3,967,542 Wing fans with a blog and I am seriously thinking about closing up shop.  With so many people talking about the same thing, I have next to nothing new or interesting to add to the conversation.)  I think blogging and Facebook have reached their peak and are on the downslide.  And, to a great extent, it makes me sad.  I very much enjoy the people I have gotten to 'know' online and really am interested in what is going on with them.  I would hate to lose touch with a lot of the 'imaginary, fake' friends I have come to know.  Through the years, I have lost several regular readers and often wonder what has happened to them.  And when you don't know real names, it is impossible to contact them.

I haven't decided to close this blog--I will continue on.  I'm still not sure whether I will just blog when the spirit moves me or if I will force myself to post more frequently.  Forcing myself might bring the fire back, but it also may make me hate this whole thing.  The whole thing is a dilemma that I have to work through.  Hopefully it will work out quickly.  :)

(And watch, starting tomorrow the thoughts will start pouring out of me like diarrhea and I will post multiple times per day for the next six years.  That's just the way things seem to happen, at times.  :D)

Read More

A Milestone

I just checked my Site Meter account and it told me that there have been more than 20,000 visits to this blog--my tiny little piece of The Gore.  Obviously, there haven't been 20,000 PEOPLE, as I DO have about three regular readers who come here regularly.  :)  But, no matter how many people find themselves here, I want to say THANK YOU to each and every one.  I truly appreciate the time--no matter how long or short--that you spend reading what I have written.  And I know that it isn't always very easy to read my oftentimes boring ramblings.  ;)

Read More

A Tiny Rant!

Why in the world do I have problems with the formatting on this blog?  There are some bugs that crop up now and then--NOT always, so you can't duplicate them and complain--just sometimes.  It is rather annoying.

Read More

Trolls

I MUST be moving up in the world because I got myself my very own spammer troll today.  A lot of 'comments' were left on some of my older posts--all in some Oriental characters.  (NOT sure if it is Chinese or something else.)  And here I thought someone else had found all of my writing inspiring enough to comment on, only to find out it was nothing but spam.  :D

Read More

Changing

I get caught up in not changing. It usually is because I'm comfortable with the way things are, so I stay the same. Thankfully, I get dragged kicking and screaming--but rarely do I go voluntarily--into new things. And that is the same with my blogs: I get stuck in a rut and 'leave well enough alone.' But, as you can see, I didn't leave well enough alone. Blogger has introduced a new feature called 'Blogger in Draft' and you can change things around quite easily--and so I have. This is what I came up with for the time being. I'll leave it like this for a while and then reevaluate how I feel. If you find these changes hard to navigate, or if this is hard to read, let me know. Any suggestions will be considered.

Read More

Over 15,000

At some point during the last couple of days, the 15,000th visitor came to this blog. And I'm sure, once they read a little while, MOST of them never came back. ;D

Read More

A Lot Of Nothing Much

On 29 May 2004, I began this blog. This is now my 1500 post. I thought long and hard--okay, it was only about five minutes--as to what I should write and I decided on only a slight recap of these five+ years.

During these five years, I haven't done anything earth shattering. I haven't been a hero, I haven't helped save anyone's life, I haven't become famous. I have, however, become a grandmother three more times and a mother-in-law again. I have renewed my love for hockey and seen it become an obsession. I have become closer to my girls than I ever would have thought possible ten years ago. And I have distanced myself from The Family and found it is the best thing I have ever done for myself. I have lived my life without any fanfare whatsoever.

I have realized that I am just a small cog in a very big world and I will never influence anyone or anything outside of my very little circle. I will not be remembered by the world when I am no longer here. And I am very comfortable with that. My fate was never to be famous or rich--just to live a good life and be a decent person. I hope I have accomplished this and have shown as much through this blog.

I have 'met' some wonderful people these many years. I don't believe I have any of my original readers, but I DO have regulars who have been around for quite a while. I appreciate every person who has visited this little part of my world and, possibly, has enjoyed the visit. I love all of you and hope I will meet more as I continue this journey through my unexciting life. Thank you one and all.

And I hope I will add another 1500 posts--or more--in the coming years. :)

Read More

I Did It

I went and started a second blog. I realize not everyone that comes here--okay, almost NO ONE who comes here--cares one bit about the Wings, or hockey in general. So, I will no longer do hockey posts here--or very few. My new blog is ONLY hockey and that should be good--I can separate my two worlds. Or as much as is possible, seeing as I don't have a life outside of the Red Wings. ;) The name of the new blog is Out Of My Mind Over Hockey. Check it out if you want.

Read More

Some Ramblings

I'm almost done with the Russian novel I have been reading. Now I can get to some brain candy--the next Dresden Files book and the last two Twilight books! While the novel hasn't been a difficult read, it is very different from what I am used to reading. I'm hoping the whole thing will be wrapped up nicely in the epilogue OR the translator notes. I WILL, however, have to wait a week or two and think about what I read--so that I can decide whether I liked the book or not. Hmmmm.

---------

For two days in a row, I have seen a robin in the yard. I guess this means that spring is finally coming. Next week the temps are supposed to be at least 50, so things are looking up.

----------

Today I took a walk around the back yard--at least the parts that weren't still snow-covered--and saw that the chipmunks are excavating again. (At least I THINK they are chipmunks--they might be some other nasty little rodents, actually.) I will have to do SOMETHING this summer to keep the little buggers away from the tomatoes. I think K will have to do some target shooting before the summer is over with.

----------

The youngest daughter has a new kitten to take care of. Now for the story. Someone brought this kitten to the clinic--it had a nasty cut and a broken back leg. And it was only about two weeks old. The vet bandaged the cut and couldn't do anything with the leg because of the kitten's size, so the leg was left. Because the kitten wasn't litter trained--duh!--the bandages wouldn't stay clean, so they were disposed of. Unfortunately, the kitten developed an infection and wouldn't eat. After a few days of watching the poor thing get worse, the vet decided that the best chance for it to get better was to remove the leg, which he did. That night, A took the kitten home and had to deal with it having seizures all night. Tonight I talked to her and the kitten is finally eating and moving around. It just may make it. And I think A will fall in love with the little thing and decide to make it part of her family. Good grief. But, that is my daughter--she just can't turn her back on ANY animal! And I love her to bits and pieces for her kind heart.

----------

My oldest finally bullied me enough and I now am on Facebook. I have to keep this blog and my Facebook separate, as both of my girls and TONS of my nieces, nephews, and cousins kids are also on Facebook. I am not ready--if I ever will be--to have anyone in my family read this blog. Oh, the horrors!

I also have a Twitter account and am not sure if I will continue with it. It is like universal text messaging, seen by the entire world. I suppose I would like Twitter better if more people I know were actually using it.

Now, back to Facebook. To me, Facebook seems to be somewhere between blogging and Twitter--and in many instances, I like Facebook better than either of the others. That might be one of the reasons I'm not on Blogger as much as I used to be. And uploading pictures to Facebook takes a fraction of the time that Blogger does. But it doesn't look as if I will give up ANY of them any time soon. Just more time for me to spend on the computer. :/

So, anyone else on Facebook or Twitter? How do you like it? And how do you think it compares to blogging and/or Twitter?

Read More

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

My dear, sweet, wonderful, online daughter, burg, has presented me with a new award--and I am THRILLED! She so very nicely says: "I enjoy everything she writes, I truly do.. I'm even learning a little more about hockey too.. ;)" How sweet. (By the way, burg, if you keep it up you WILL be discussing the necessity of subscribing to the NHL Center Ice package with your hubby--just so you can REALLY understand what I'm talking about! :))

While I cannot give this award back to burg, I do have five people I want to pass this along to. Here are the rules:


1. Pick five blogs you consider deserving of this award, whether for creativity, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Name each nominee and link to his/her blog.

3. Show the award and include the name (and link to his/her blog) of whoever presented you with this award.

4. Link to the Arte y Pico blog so everyone knows the origin of this award.

5. Post these rules.

And now my five picks:

1. First, as always, is meleah. Not only does she have a very fascinating life story, she is one gifted writer. From laughing out loud to crying real tears, I run the gamut of emotions with her posts. She is a good friend.

2. I have to give this award to janet. I'm sure she doesn't feel as if her deafness defines her--and I hope she doesn't mind that I bring it up--but every time I remember that she is, I am amazed by her all over again. Anyone living well with a 'condition' or 'disability' that would cause the rest of us to curl up in a fetal position and hide in the corner, are my heroes. And, besides, she is a mid-westerner, so she qualifies as 'family.' :)

3. I must, must, must give this award to Olga, the traveling bra. Olga travels the world and blogs about it--as simple as that. It is always a 'trip' to read about her adventures.

4. Kristi is being given this award because she makes some beautiful stained-glass creations. And if that wasn't enough, she, also, is a mid-westerner, so it goes without saying that she gets an award. :)

5. I'm sending this to Virgina Belle, also. She is a single, young female making her way in this world with a job, boyfriend, dog, and house--and she lets us into her life with her blog. As I never was any of these things--well, I WAS young once--I find myself living vicariously through her. Her blog is private, but if you ask her very politely, she just may let you read it, too.


Make sure and visit all of these blogs--they all are great places to visit.

Read More

Sisu Award

'Sisu' is a Finnish word that cannot be translated easily. To have 'sisu,' one has guts, stubbornness, stick-to-it-iveness all rolled into one--but in a positive way. It is perseverance and determination. I once, tongue-in-cheek, described 'sisu' as "giving birth to 11 girls and getting pregnant for the 12th time because THIS one HAS to be a boy." 'Sisu' is what we Finns have in order to live here in the north country--a place where we can have -20 degree temps in the winter (NOT counting wind chills) and 90+ degree temps in the summer (NOT counting the heat index/humidity factor.) (To read the 'official' definition, go to Wikipedia.)

I decided to make my own award after recieving such nice ones from so many people. (See the sidebar under 'My ME, ME, ME Gallery'.) Today I will give the first 'Sisu Award.' The one I will give this to is a very good friend of mine--even though we have never met. I began reading her blog about a year ago and she completely amazes me. She has done a lot in her young life and has gone through a lot. Her health problems are something I don't know if I could live with--and she always tries to keep her sense of humor throughout her relapses/flares. She has completely changed her life and is raising a son as a single mother. Because she has shown true 'sisu,' I am pleased to give the 'Sisu Award' for the first time to meleah! You deserve it, my dear!

Read More

Wow!!!

Today I officially went over 10,000 hits on this blog. I think that is a milestone--at least for something that is so filled with the monotonous minutiae of my life and LOTS of hockey! Thank you to everyone who makes me feel noticed. ;) I appreciate you all.

glitter-graphics.com

Read More

Blogger Problems

Anyone else having Blogger issues today? I have to keep reloading pages before they finally come up. Everything is going so slowly. ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Read More

Giggling and Blushing

If I had any talented whatsoever, I would be an actress. That is because I am an attention whore. Meleah has so kindly fed my addiction, once again, and gave me more awards. YAY!!!



AND:

Awarded by
Meleah Rebeccah
to CMK

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Read More

Book Game--Again

Almost one year to the day, I posted the rules for the Book Game. It went over quite well, so I thought I would revive it again. A very fun and easy meme, I hope everyone gets into this. If you decide to play, let me know in the comments.

Here are the rules to the Book Game:

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences (#5,6,7) on your blog, along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it. Just grab what is closest!

If you decide to play, copy and paste the rules into your blog. Then, follow the rules and put your book passage following. Easy and fun!

--This selection is from Grave Peril, Book Three of The Dresden Files

--"I have your permission to come out?"

"Yep," I said, "for the purposes of this mission only. And don't waste time prowling around in women's locker rooms again."--

(Full disclosure: The nearest book I had was Hockey For Dummies--I thought that was a little TOO much, so I moved a foot over and came up with Grave Peril, instead. I just didn't think I could get away with ANOTHER hockey reference. :))

Read More

ANOTHER Award! {blushes}

This blog has been awarded The Spreader of Love Award created by The Love Blog (http://iamlove.blogspot.com), for an outstanding demonstration of blogging love.

Meleah has been so very kind enough to award me The Spreader of Love Award! Not only am I humbled and thrilled, I LIKE IT! (I HAVE mentioned how much of an attention whore I am, haven't I?) If you haven't ever visited Meleah's blog, do so--she has such a fascinating story to tell.

Now, who to pass this award to?

--burg--Burg is possibly the person who has been reading me the longest. She is the same age as my oldest and if I hadn't ever seen a picture of her, I might think she was one of my kids--we DEFINITELY are related in some way! :) She is a sweetheart who has been so kind and thoughtful throughout our friendship. You deserve this, burg!

--cindi--Cindi and I have 'known' each other for at least a year. She is another one of my readers who has shown concern and compassion whenever I have written one of my depressing posts. Thanks for the love, Cindi.

--sue--Sue is a more recent addition to my daily blog read. She is a 'farm wife' who also works at a job off of the farm. She is a wonderful writer and does it all: humor, introspection, rants... A very good read.

There you have it, three of my favorite people in the 'verse. Visit them and see if you don't agree.

Read More

No Lions Or Tigers, But We Do Have Bears

This is going to be one of my mish-mash posts--a little bit of this, a little bit of that. At the end, you will see what the title means! :)

**********

The Nephew left yesterday--hopefully for good. Why hopefully? He said he isn't too sure how well he did on one of his exams--the one for the class he MUST pass in order to graduate. I'm REALLY, REALLY hoping he is just being hard on himself. Again, as I have said before, he really wasn't any trouble while he was here, but I. DON'T. WANT. ANYONE. LIVING. WITH. US. AGAIN! I like my freedom and privacy a little too much. And there would be no gracious way to say he couldn't stay here again if he had to come back for another semester. :(

**********

The room where The Nephew stayed is all ready for whoever (whomever?) comes for an overnight visit. I couldn't rest until I got the room all cleaned up and squared away, so I spent last night doing it. It feels good to have that done.

**********

The Wings lost to Edmonton in a shoot-out tonight. There went another seven-game winning streak. Z got two goals, so that was a very good thing. Overall, I don't think they played as well as they are able. I guess the injuries are starting to take their toll--tonight there were three players out. The biggest problem is that there really isn't a set timetable as to when any of them are going to be able to come back! Holmstrom's knee is bothering him and he should be out for at least one more game; Draper is just now starting to skate with a brace after hurting his knee on 27 November--and he will be out till Christmas, at least; Maltby got some sort of injection in his back to relieve the pain--they really aren't sure what happened to him and no word on WHEN he might be ready to play. The only good thing: it is still early in the season and far away from playoffs, so they can get the injuries out of the way now and be healthy later on. I certainly hope that's the way this will play out.

**********

I have been getting a sh*tload of hits on this blog recently--today alone I had 34! This is very unusual for here, so I had to investigate. The second biggest number of hits come from people searching for pictures from Body Worlds. The search leads to the pictures I posted when we went to Chicago this spring and saw the exhibition. All of a sudden there was a surge in people searching for pictures, so Body Worlds must be opening in several places.

The most hits I'm getting is from searches about the Geminid meteor shower. I'm surprised so many people come to read my short piece on the shower and don't just go to a scientific site to get info. Interesting.

**********

Here is a list of some upcoming shows/series on TV:

--Clash of the Choirs (reality show)
--Duel (game show)
--The Singing Bee (reality competition/game)
--Power of 10 (game)
--Dance War (reality competition)
--American Gladiators (reality competition)
--Make Me A Supermodel (reality competition)

That list scares me. PLEASE, PLEASE end this strike already! I can't take it anymore! We are being overrun by ridiculous programming! HELP, someone, HELP!

**********

I thought I would post a picture of my new Christmas tree. It doesn't really look ALL that different from last year's tree, but still...

**********

For those of you who have never heard of, or been to, a Build-a-Bear store, here is a little background. These stores allow you to go in and 'build' your own bear--or other stuffed animal/character. They have 'carcasses' in bins and you decide what kind of stuffed character you would want to have. You then take the carcass to the machine where they fill it with stuffing--this is done to your own specification as to how firm or squishy you want your bear. (There are other options to decide at this point, but I won't get into any more specifics.) When you are done building your 'friend,' you get to register it at the computer and then clothe it. As far as the stuffed characters are concerned, the prices aren't too bad--they make their money on the clothing and accessories for these things. (I get a bear for each grandchild as it is born, I put a set of clothes on it as a gift, and then forget about it--I would go broke if I had to try to continue buying clothes for all of the grandkids' bears!) I own two bears, myself. And I buy them clothes. They are part of my decorating scheme all year long--I clothe them according to the holiday or season and they are on display in the dining room. (I know, pretty damn lame!) Considering it is the Christmas season, my bears should be dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, however, since buying my boy bear his last outfit, I couldn't put anything else on him. I now present to you Pikku Bear (this is the girl--'pikku' means 'little' in Finnish) and Iso Bear ('iso' means 'big' in Finnish--and this is the boy bear).

Pikku Bear




Iso Bear

Now, if I could only get that uniform on my cat I would have a really GREAT picture to send in to StuffOnMyCat.com! Like that could EVER happen. :)

Read More

I Knew My Readers Were Special!

Over at mental_floss, they had a link to the blog readability test. I put this blog through the test and it came back as this:

Get a Cash Advance

I KNEW I had a smart bunch of people frequent this place! :)

Read More