Noodles

There are a few controlling people who hate the fact that I have a blog (dare I mention inlaws?).  
You know, the type of people who think that if they're scared to death to do something, everybody should be scared.  One of them recently had a conversation with Cliff about my "problem".  (Chuckle)
I'm sorry, I won't live my life letting fear keep me from doing what I love.  You go shopping, if that's what you want to do.  I will blog.   
Do you realize how much I would miss out on, if it weren't for my blog?  I don't meet a lot of new people in person.  I don't drive, and Cliff and I don't travel much.  But I have "met" so many wonderful people through blogs!  
In fact, the Internet in general has been one of the biggest blessings in my life.  For one thing, it got me back in touch with one of my favorite former coworkers, Jessica.  The one born in Arkansas to hippie parents.  
Last Saturday the local grandchildren, plus a couple of other people, came here for noodles (a family tradition in this house).  The only other food I fixed was mashed potatoes, because most of us like to put our noodles on mashed potatoes.  No green vegetable.  No dessert.  Just noodles and mashed potatoes, because that's really all my grandchildren cared about.  As I was making the noodles, I posted this picture on Facebook:

Among the people who asked for the recipe was my little buddy, Jessica. 
I mentioned that when you make noodles this way, you really need a child unrolling them.  I remember unrolling my grandma's noodles for her.  
Yesterday Jessica tried my noodle recipe for the first time, and posted a picture of her daughter unrolling the noodles.

 I knew by the picture that those noodles were perfect, and Jessica confirmed that.  I think this makes us relatives.  We are more than blood sisters; we are NOODLE sisters!  Noodles are a family tradition.  


Here's a picture of my real-life sister making noodles with her great-granddaughter at Christmas:

Don't you just love family traditions?  And don't you love the Internet, where those of you who aren't scared of your own shadow can keep in touch?  


Speaking of family traditions, I think Noodle Day may become a monthly event.  

Just checking in

First of all, I want to thank my anonymous commenter for suggesting that I buy Dr. Scholl's shoes at Walmart.  They are very comfortable shoes, and they only cost me $30 plus tax.  
Please, anonymous commenters, give a first name when you leave a comment (like Karen, Pat, Lindie and others do), so I can get to know you.  I realize many bloggers don't like to allow anonymous comments, but if you have the word verification in place, it won't get you a lot of spam; and it will allow you to make more Internet friends.  Some of my favorite regular readers comment anonymously and simply sign a first name.     
While I'm on the subject of blogs and bloggers, I do wish the people whose blogs I read would list an email address on their profiles; sometimes I'd like to say something to them that isn't appropriate to leave in a comment.  
If you look over on the left side of this blog and scroll all the way down, just above my mother's picture you'll see "Rachel" and "Donna" listed as contributors.  Rachel is my daughter; she's only listed so that in case I croak, she can get on my blog and tell you.  I'm Donna; click on my name.  On the left-hand side of my profile you will see "contact me" followed by my email address.  This way, if you'll like to tell me something but don't want to comment publicly, you can do it.  Just put something in the subject line so I'll know it's from a reader.  
Here's an interesting item:  The last entry I did here about the logging has been shared on Facebook eighteen times.  I guess folks find the fact that we got paid for our logs an item of interest worth sharing!  
Oh, here's something:  Notice the picture at the top of my blog is smaller now?  That's because Picasa, the site that hosts pictures for Blogger, says I've reached my limit for free pictures.  However, I can use pictures smaller than a certain megapixel limit and they are allowed; hence the shrunken header picture.  For five dollars per year, I could add bigger pictures, and Cliff says to do that... I owe it to "my people", he says.  So far I'm balking because I already have a paid flickr account; Blogger should let me use that for my headers photos but it doesn't.  I can use flickr for any pictures in my blog entries, though.  

Publish your blog to Kindle

I did not get it done, for some reason.  I used an approved browser (Firefox for Mac); I got my account set up and the blog verified.  I took the screen shots required and made them GIF files, as told to do.  But when I clicked to upload the pictures, nothing happened.   
Maybe it's because I'm using an Apple computer.  No biggie, anyhow, but I wanted to pass the word along so others could do this if they so desire.   


Click HERE to go to Leigh Ann Little's blog; she'll explain the process.

A couple of great entries I've read today

It's true, the best things in life are free.  As I go tripping around the Internet from blog to blog, often I'm absolutely awed by some of the things I read.  I'm going to suggest you visit a couple of mom-bloggers today and see if you can keep the tears from welling up at the simple beauty of what they've written.  
Susan is a mother with cancer who refuses to let cancer define her.  I'd like you to read what she had to say this morning, HERE.  
Blog entries from Antique Mommy are few and far between, but they make up what they lack in quantity with genuine quality.  I'm telling you, some of these people could make a living with their writing.  Check out Antique Mommy's latest real-life tale about her son HERE.

My morning internet experience

When I get up each morning, I turn on the computer before I start making coffee so it's up and running when I sit down at my desk.  
The first thing I do is check my email.  Next, I go to Facebook and do my farming.  Yes, I'm still playing Farmville, and I have some crops ready to harvest first thing in the morning.  I have a winery and a bakery in Farmville, too, and I've often sold some goods overnight.  Plus there's usually some wine and baked goods finished and ready to put up for sale.  Then there are all the gifts Farmville friends have sent me while I slept, and my chickens and cows and horses to tend to.  
Once I've done all that hard work on my farm, I check out my favorite blogs on Google Reader.  This morning I got the sad news that a fellow Missourian's son lost a battle with cancer.  How terrible, to lose a son or daughter you raised to adulthood.  We expect our children to outlive us, but it doesn't always happen.    
One of my first blog-stops in the morning is My Life and Times.  Patsy's politics often aren't in line with mine, but every once in awhile our ideas mesh anyway.  She lives near Harrison, Arkansas, an area Cliff and I love to visit when we have a three-day weekend and want to take a motorcycle trip.  If you haven't visited that part of the country, you've missed some of God's best handiwork.  Patsy has chickens and guineas.  She's feisty and down-to-earth, and I can tell she hasn't had an easy life.  The fact that she retired from a Tyson chicken processing plant tells me she's a tough cookie; that isn't an easy place to work.   I link to her on my sidebar.  
I link to several blogs that aren't necessarily in agreement with me on matters of politics or religion, because I find them interesting; I'm not afraid to hear somebody else's opinions.  I have been known to remove a blog if they spew foul language or hatred that shows up on my sidebar, even though I may still be following that blog.  For instance, I'd love to link to Midtown Miscreant, but you never know what kind of language is going to be in the title of an entry, and that would show up on my blog.  (If you click on that link, you'll find out; I'm just warning you.)  Maybe this makes me some kind of hypocrite, but that's the way it is.      
I still follow Pioneer Woman.  I've seen the hate blogs, people who claim she isn't real, or gripe because she makes too much money from her blog, or seem to have been hurt because she didn't become their BFF or doesn't comment on their blogs.  I don't care how rich she is, she's still funny and entertaining.  And I can still see the real person behind the hype.  I love Ree, and I generally check her blog as soon as I'm done reading what Patsy has to say.    
So that's how I begin my days.

One blog leads to another

I have more blogs on my Google Reader than I can keep up with, so I certainly don't go looking for more.  Somehow, though, I stumble across one after another, and some are just too good to pass up.
I don't know how I ended up reading Milly's Muse, or where I first found the link to her blog.  She teaches at a school in the troubled Kansas City district.  I don't know how she manages to do all she does; it's no wonder she doesn't post entries very often.  
A while back she did an entry similar to what I'm doing now, telling about the blogs she reads.  When I saw one by a farmer in Nebraska, I checked it out.  After all, farmers always interest me, and I have cousins living in Nebraska.  That's enough incentive for me.
Cliff Morrow's blog is one of the best I've stumbled across lately.  You don't necessarily have to be interested in farming to enjoy his downright poetic way with words.  
I don't know if I've ever given a shout-out here to Patsy; her blog, "My Life and Times" is one of those I read daily.  She lives in Arkansas, and she's liable to blog about national politics or local news or her chickens and guineas or her flowers.  You just never know, but I'll guarantee you it will be straight-forward and down-to-earth.
I've read Toni's musings for years on her old blog, but she recently started a new one, "The Wise Woman Builds Her House".  Here's how she describes herself on her profile:  "Grateful to be a stay-at-home wife and mother of four, homeschool educator, former RN and airline customer service rep. For the record, I follow Jesus. Boldly!"  
Toni has an excellent way with words; she could make her living as an author, I do believe.

So many blogs, so little time

Miss Kris posed a question on her blog yesterday: "On the rare occasions I find some time to do any blog browsing out of the circle I regularly visit I am sometimes dazzled by the amount of blogs people will list in their sidebars as the ones they follow. Sometimes those lists scroll down forever. How on earth does anyone find the time to go read so many?!

How much time do we humans spend on these machines?!?"

As a person who links to scores of blogs on my sidebar, I feel very much qualified to answer Miss Kris. I gave her an answer in a comment, but I'm sure some of my readers have wondered about this too; so I'll say it here.

First of all, I do spend far too much time on this "machine". I consider it my hobby. I enjoy it.

Now, about all those blogs on my sidebar.

Many of them are there because they're longtime friends from AOL journals, and I feel I know them. We've been through a lot together.

Some are there because I find them fascinating, and I want my readers to have a chance to discover them. Lord only knows how many people are hooked on Pioneer Woman because of me. Does she need me pimping her blog? Nope, she has thousands of readers. I just want others to have a chance to discover her because she's funny and bright and real.

At this point, I have a confession to make: I do not read every entry on every blog you see on my sidebar. I check in on all of them from time to time, but I probably skip more entries than I read. I go to Google Reader every day, scan over new entries, read a few that strike my fancy, and then choose "mark all as read" and clear the slate.

I do not expect any of you to read every single word I type into the blogosphere, either. This isn't supposed to be a job; it's a fun pastime.

While I'm confessing, I must also tell you that some of my favorite blogs, ones that absolutely make me laugh out loud, are not listed on the right because sometimes they use words and expressions in entry titles that I don't want showing up on my page. A couple of nurses fit in this category. If you'd like to see what I'm talking about, check out Life According to Candice; that is, if you aren't faint of heart. Be sure and read her comment section, too. Just don't come back here griping at me for sending you to an R-rated site; you've been warned!
You see, it isn't that I'm ashamed to be reading that type of blog, it's just that I don't want risque stuff showing on mine!

So that's the scoop on all those blogs you see listed here.

That next-blog button

I really enjoy checking out new blogs. Yesterday was a lazy, rainy day, and I spent most of my time at the computer. I decided to use that next-blog button at the top, on the left, and see if I could meet some interesting bloggers.

I hadn't done this in awhile, but I knew I'd get a lot of foreign-language blogs. I decided that even if I couldn't read the language, I'd leave a comment, if there was a picture that I could relate to. For instance, if there was a baby picture, I'd say, "You have a beautiful baby there." I figured if they couldn't read English, that would throw them for a loop.

When I started out on my blog-jog, I would occasionally get a porn site, and often there was no "next blog" button showing. So I'd hit my back arrow to the last place I'd been, click on "next blog", and get directed to a different site.

After about an hour of this, I realized the porn blogs were coming up on at least half my clicks! Spyware, no doubt. I have a free program downloaded from the Internet called Spybot Search and Destroy (which I highly recommend), and I decided to run that and see who was leaving unwanted cookies on my computer.

Sure enough, when it was finished, among the things it caught were a couple of bits of spyware called "sex-tracker".

As much as I like to find new blogs, I guess I'll stay out of the Blogger "next-blog" option. Wouldn't you think they'd do something about this situation?

From now on, I'll find my new blogs by checking out the ones listed and recommended by other people on their sites. That way they're pre-approved.

And by the way, I'm running my free AVG anti-virus as I type, just in case I picked up a Trojan when I was lured into those unsavory areas of the Internet.

Finding new, interesting blogs

I've found the best way to find interesting blogs on the Net is to find one journal... just ONE... that you love, and visit the links to blogs he or she has listed on the sidebar.

One of my favorite jumping-off places is A Homesteading Neophyte: I have yet to find a bad blog in her list of links (yeah, I'm there too, which is a real honor). Find her HERE, scroll down, and stroll through her favorites on the right-hand side. Of course, many of her links are country-oriented, which may not be your cup of tea. But it certainly is mine!

I was led from there to My Journey to Simplicity, which took me to Hillbilly Housewife, which has lots of suggestions for saving money on your food bill. And check out Living On A Dime, while we're saving money.

Anyway. Homesteading Neophyte is taking me to some wonderful and useful places. And I appreciate that.

By the way, am I the only one having problems leaving comments on blogspot today? On most of them, if I click to leave a comment, I get this message:

"We're sorry, but we were unable to complete your request."

Oh wait, if comments aren't working here, you can't let me know, can you? Oh well.