A Finished Object

And here it is. 

This one took a while, mainly because my weaving fu took a little vacation.  But I soldiered on and got it done.  It wasn't easy, I tell you.  The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome Select in Old Rose. 

I'm still trying to do the Blogging 101 thing, but I'll admit that I'm struggling with it.  The last few assignments have had to do with the theme and layout.  That part is more for beginning bloggers.  I've had mine the way I want it for a few years now.    I actually tried to start a blog over on Wordpress so I could play around with their templates and stuff, but it just seemed too much trouble to try to keep up with two.  Anyway...

Today's assignment is to leave comments on four blogs you've never commented on before.  The caveat is, you have to remember which blogs and what the comments were.  Dude, I can barely remember my own birthday, much less which blogs I comment on. 

Even worse, you have to write a comment that contributes to the conversation.  "Nice blog" and the like just won't get it.  I'm thinking I may have to just bow out of this one. 

The good news is, tomorrow and Friday I have vacation days. Counting the weekend, I'll have four days off in a row.  Yay!

The plan was to put Jimmy in the shop and try to get my heater fixed before the cold weather sets in.  The reality will most likely be Criminal Minds on Netflix all day. 

Yeah, because I'm such a wild one like that. 

Psycho

Why does line 2 always seem to wind up with the psychos?

There I was, minding my own business, lost in my own little world, singing

Have you been to Jesus for his cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye.  I looked up, and there was someone standing beside me.  I don't even know who she was.  Right away, she began cussing me out, saying I had a "F***ing attitude".

I was like, "Excuse me????"

I hadn't had an attitude before, but when she started cussing me, I got one really quick.  And she backed off really quick, too.  I went back to work, but the more I thought about it, the madder I got, so I went and reported her to my supervisor.  He got with her supervisor -- she's a temp-- and they got on to her pretty good.  I'm not sure what they said to her, but she stayed away from me for the rest of the day. 

For some reason, Line 2 always seems to attract the crazies and for some reason, they always seem to hone in on me.  Long time readers may remember this little gem from a couple of years ago:

You're Not Going To Believe This

Yeah, that guy didn't last much longer after that.  I saw him a few months later in Wal-Mart, and I just walked past him like he wasn't even there.

Then there was "Sunshine".  That's what she called herself.  She cussed me for a good 20 minutes because she walked over and tried to pick up a piece of hot copper with her bare hand.  Somehow, that was my fault.  I was supposed to have warned her that the (blankety blank) was hot.

Duh, I just melted metal onto it.  Common sense should tell you it's hot.  Besides that, if you were wearing your gloves like you were supposed to, you wouldn't have burned yourself.

She ended up getting fired because everywhere they tried to put her, she ended up cussing somebody out.  Now, she was a certifiable looney. 

How's about we talk about something more pleasant?  I finally managed to get my WordPress account activated.  Or, I should say, Yahoo mail finally came back up so I could confirm my e-mail address.  I've still got to figure out the reader and stuff, but I've got time for that.

Today's assignment is:

Write a post to your dream reader, and include a new-to-you element in it.

The first part is easy.  If you are reading this, then you are my dream reader.  The new element will be a bit of a challenge, though.  Admittedly, this entire course is geared towards new bloggers.  After several years of doing it, there isn't much I haven't used.  Animated GIFs, embedded videos, photos, links-- even music tracks have all been a part of this blog. 

So, I'll just leave you with this:

 

Jesse gets very nervous when thunderstorms roll through. This afternoon, he decided to try to hide under my jeans. When I called him, this is how he came to me. 

Silly boy. 

Say Hi To The Neighbors

The good news is, I can participate in the Blogging 101 course, even though I don't have a WordPress blog.  I do have to open a WordPress account if I want to participate in the forums or use the reader.  The bad news is, due to site difficulties, I can't get the e-mail with the links to open right now, and I'm just too lazy to do a search.  Ah, well, it be's that way sometimes.

I knew a chief in the Navy who used to say that.  It's an old colloquialism of which I have yet rid to myself.

Anyway, on to the day's topic.

Today’s assignment: follow five new topics in the Reader and five new blogs.


My blogroll is pretty long already, and the sad part is, I don't usually even have time to keep up with them all. So many of them I've lost interest in also.   I've started following many new ones when I started doing Chats, but I just don't feel like I'm connecting with the authors.  The ones I actually keep up with are listed in my right sidebar.

Once I get into the Wordpress site, though, I'm going to try to find some new blogs that will hold my interest better.  From what I understand, in the Wordpress reader you can follow topics as well as individual blogs.   I do hope that I can find some new friends there. 

Now, how about a little real life?

Monday, I was at work just hanging around, and I realized that here it is the middle of September already, and I've only taken three days off so far this year.  After consulting my calendar, I put in for my remaining 17 days.  Today, I got final approval on all 17.  Yay!

At least one of those days, I want to get up with Christi and go to the range.  We've been talking about going again anyway.  They've opened a new range up in Oxford, but they want $30 a day for lane rental.  That's just a bit out of my budget.

And finally, Fall is finally here!  The first spider lily is poking its wee head above ground. 

 

 

Soon, the yard will once again be a riot of red.  You can bet I will be posting photos. 

Now, let me see if I can go figure out this WordPress thing. 

We're Blogging!

My friend and fellow blogger Jasini clued me in to this Blogging 101 course.   Even though I've been blogging for almost 9 years, I'm always looking for ways to improve the blog.  They also have a Writing 101 course that I may do after this one is over.  I hope that I will be allowed to participate, even though my blog isn't on WordPress. 

The topic of the first post is to introduce myself and to give a brief statement as to why I am blogging.  OK, here goes...

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Becky.  I was born and raised in Texas, and hope to go back there some day.  Soon.  I'm not married -- or I should say, I am no longer married.  I have one son, who will turn 21 next month and is going to college to become a minister.  Myself, I'm going to hit the half century mark in November, and no, I'm not embarrassed to tell you my age.  Growing old is a privilege denied to many. I also have two dogs, a cat, seven snakes, and one fish. 

I started this blog back in November 2005 in order to post my sketches.  I thought if I had to be accountable to readers, I'd be more disciplined with doing them.  It didn't really work out that way.  Then, I was thinking that since my family is so scattered, a blog would be a good way to keep in touch with all of them. That didn't work out either, as most of my family doesn't even read my blog. 


Other topics of interest over the years have been my adventures in the martial arts, photography, football, knitting, and weaving.  I've kept at it, because I really enjoy writing.  I do keep a private journal, but I also chose to blog publicly because I enjoy the interaction I have with my readers.  Being a classic introvert, I've always expressed myself better in writing.  When I sit down to write a post, I imagine myself sitting down with a couple of best friends over coffee and chat about my day.   

Successfully blogging over the next year will bring me not just new readers and new blogs to read, but also new friends. 

Now, since technically, I was supposed to start yesterday, but didn't know about it until today, I'm going to also do today's topic, too.  The assignment for Tuesday is to edit the title and tagline of my blog.  I won't be changing the title, since it was chosen in a contest several years ago.  My first title wasn't all that appealing:  Sketches And More.  I was a bit bumfuzzled at choosing a new one, so I had a contest on the blog looking for suggestions. 

The winner was Fine Martial Fiber, suggested by Sus, who no longer blogs.  She said, "because you're a fine artist, a martial artist, and a fiber artist." 

I was going to try to come up with a better tagline, but on second thought, I think I'll keep it, too.  Chronicling The Arts Of My Life. 

Because it just fits.