Word Processing Software: SoftMaker TextMaker

SoftMaker's TextMaker is actually part of a whole office suite. The 2006 version can be downloaded for free, but you do have to give them some personal information, including your email address.

I see TextMaker as more of a word processing/desktop publishing hibrid, because if you use their file format, you can easily place pictures in the text as well as apply some text art and other nice extras (although you can save and work with .rtf files in the program, when I tried to do add pictures into a .rtf, things slowed down considerably whereas the native file format kept buzzing along).

I have used TextMaker for one 20 page booklet and am working on a longer document.

By the way, after I downloaded the free version, they sent me a deal on an upgrade to the new version.

If you are wondering why you haven't heard of the program before, it is probably because it is from Germany -- but everything in the versions linked to above is in English. The company also often offers free fonts, and sells CDs with thousands of fonts (for those that need 12,000 choices!).

Word Processing Software: Atlantis

I've been trying out various office/basic publishing software recently. (I have not been paid to review any of the software -- in fact, I've purchased the software myself unless it was free.)

I really, really like the Atlantis Word Processor. I've already used it for dozens of shorter (40 pages and under) booklets and documents. You can try it for free yourself for 30 days -- or you can even get it totally for free through some new deal that didn't exist when I purchased it.

The program has been very stable for me; works both on my Vista computer and on other earlier machines; and the staff has been very nice about answering emails promptly when I can't figure out things (also, posting on the forum on their website produces quick answers).

It also can handle hundreds of endnotes in one document, and files converted from WordPerfect to .rtf files using AbiWord come over to Atlantis fairly well (still need a lot of reformatting, but not horrible).

The one downside is that it doesn't seem to handle insertion of illustrations too well.

CPSIA - things I'll miss

Whimsical Walney suggested that we list five things that we'll miss if the CPSIA goes into effect in the current form. Here's my list:

1. Old children's books (I collect Victorian and Edwardian children's works)
2. Handmade toys at local fairs
3. Old dolls (I know someone who restores them, or at least she used to)
4. Handmade dolls (I have some really cute ones from Louisiana)
5. Beginner's craft kits for cross-stitching, etc. (I learned to cross-stitch from a kit my Grandmother gave me)

Cleaning the House (and Senate)

Considering the interesting (I could use much stronger words) plans and legislation coming out of Washington these days, I'm wondering if it would be a good plan to vote EVERYBODY out of the House and Senate -- a COMPLETE turnover.

It obviously would take years to remove everybody from the Senate (and, in the meantime, the old members could infect the new ones with the same-old ways of doing things), but the House could be wiped clean in less than two years.

Of course, the bad side to this would be that some really good people would be voted out too. But, honestly, I'm so sick of what is going on that I'm tempted to think that almost anybody would be better than the folks up there now.

I'm willing to vote out my current "representatives" (who don't really represent me); is anybody else willing to do so as well?

CPSIA

I contacted my Senator about this law (which will have awful consequences to small businesses
around the nation and even the world), and got this response:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the impact of the Consumer
Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (H.R.4040) on certain
industries. I appreciate the benefit of your views on this important issue.


On August 14, 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
(CPSIA) was signed into law (P.L. 110-314). The testing and
certification requirements included in CPSIA now fall under the purview
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). I've taken the liberty
of contacting CPSC officials on your behalf asking that they review your
concerns and get back to you directly.


Again, thank you for contacting me. As we move forward in the 111th
Congress, please continue to be in touch with your opinions and
concerns.


Well, if the Senator or his staff had bothered to actually READ my note,
he/they would have learned that Congress could do something about the
CPSIA: either support Jim DeMint's bill to reform the law, or come up
with legislation to revoke the CPSIA law.

The Senator's pass-the-buck attitude is not appreciated.

First Book Read in 2009!

The first book I finished was Al Capp's The Hardhat's Bedtime Story Book. I picked it up at a library sale awhile back.

It was written in 1971 (well, I think parts were written earlier) and has a very conservative/libertarian slant. I found it interesting that so many people that Capp talked about are still on the national stage (Ted Kennedy, Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark, and until recently Paul Newman). On the other hand, some of the characters feel like ancient history.

One of my favorite quotes that still seems very timely is:

"You'd think our institutions --- from the New York Times down to David Frost's interview show --- which can exist only under our system, would be sane enough not to encourage their announced demolishers.

"But they don't seem to get the message. Not until it's too late.

"You feel like saying, 'To he-- with them --- they deserve what they get.'

"But you can't.

"Because when they get it, we get it too."

[from p. 79. And Capp didn't say he double hockey sticks, he used the real word.]

Feeling Crafty

In the last several weeks, I have made my first buttonhole, my first garment (I decided to make a slip with a zipper, without using a pattern -- the slip is wearable, but not perfect), a pair of cuffs, and an inspired-by-Colonial-design pocket (a pocket with ribbons that tie around one's waist -- it works with pocket-less skirts).

And, I sewed back together a wicker wastebasket. (I had to do it, so I could blog about it!) I was commenting to a family member that my wastebasket was about ready to head to the garbage because the bottom was falling out. The family member suggested that I sew it back together with dental floss (dental floss is the substitute for white thread around our house). I had a better idea! Years ago, I bought 200 yards of cream-colored suture thread from American Science and Surplus. Well, I didn't realize how thick suture thread is -- evidently people have thick skins! It is too thick to use for most projects, but it worked well for sewing back together a trash can.

I am thinking about taking some old shirts and sweaters and getting crafty with them, but we will see how my time goes.

The search for naturally-flavored egg nog

I generally prefer natural flavors, since the artificial flavors often taste so fake-y (and I've had the misfortune to get sick a couple of times after ingesting artificial flavors -- although I do not know if the flavors were to blame). But finding natural egg nog around where we live is really hard (I know I could make it myself, but I'm afraid that I'll make myself sick with the raw eggs). Last year I found some all-natural organic and around Thanksgiving I found some pumpkin egg nog that had no artificial flavors.

But last time I was at the store all I could find was artificially flavored (including a kind that had artificial molasses - why did the company go to that trouble?). I finally settled on some boiled custard that was on special because it was about to expire -- it was artificially flavored, but at least it cost 1/2 to 1/3 as much as the egg nog!

At the same store, they were having a special on frozen sherbet and low-fat frozen yogurt (a $1 a box!). The peach low-fat frozen yogurt, unlike the sherbet, was naturally flavored and I picked that.

I have not had frozen yogurt much since the late 80's or early 90's when a relative went through a low-fat, low-cholesterol spell and would only serve low-fat ice cream or yogurt.

I should have remembered I wasn't a big fan. The peach yogurt was OK but not splendid.

And, as it turned out, the boiled custard was also OK, but not great.

But, take some of the peach frozen yogurt and pour the boiled custard over it? That's really, really good!

Since the boiled custard was about to expire, I also tried taking some of the boiled custard and mixing it with a spoon with the peach yogurt and freezing it. It won't freeze hard and I couldn't get it to fully mix together, but it tastes excellent. I also tried making a smoothie with non-fat milk made from dry milk powder, boiled custard, and the peach yogurt. I still couldn't get it smooth, but it tasted really good that way too!

I'm sure that if I had a blender I could mix it much better. (If I let the yogurt melt more, I could have mixed it better too, but I know that sherbet will not refreeze well and was not sure that the yogurt would either).

I don't know that I would go out of my way to purchase frozen yogurt and boiled custard to mix, but if it ever happened that I ended up with the ingredients, I would be happy to try the experiment again!

And, by the way, I will go on searching for natural egg nog!

Update: Eventually the custard/yogurt mix got really hard -- so hard the spoon would bend as I'd try to get it out!

Deadlines

I have a looming deadline, and as is my habit, I am running around making deodorant (I couldn't find the recipe, which was written on a Talbot's sale postcard, so I had to recreate it with the help of Google and then post it so I wouldn't forget it again), scrubbing a tub, cleaning out my junk email box (and seeing all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals I missed), doing laundry, trying to decide what to order for presents from American Science and Surplus, sewing crafts, working on a project that may need to be finished in 2010, and, oh yeah, blogging.

As you can probably tell, only a little of this has to do with the deadline.

Homemade Deodorant

Here is my variation on Angry Chicken's Homemade Deodorant Recipe:

2 1/2 tbsp. cocoa butter (the original calls for a mix of shea and cocoa butter, but I have cocoa on hand)
1 1/2 tbsp. baking soda
1 tbsp. corn starch

A little bit of some kind of oil

Melt together in the microwave (the first time I made it, I added the oil before melting; the second time after melting the first three ingredients). I didn't have any vitamin E oil, so I used a couple of drops of olive oil the first time I made it. In warm weather, the stick worked fine, but became a little hard to rub on in when winter came. When I made it again earlier today, I used a fairly generous dash -- maybe 1/2 - 3/4 tsp. -- of baby oil (I know that mineral oil is considered evil in some circles, but it was what I had on hand).

After making sure it is not too hot, pour into an old deodorant stick tube. Put in refrigerator or cold room until it hardens.

The original calls for essential oil. The closest thing I had was tuberose perfume made with essential oil, but I was reusing an Old Spice container and I thought that would clash smell wise. (Besides, I have sensitive skin and if I had put in the perfume and had an allergic reaction, I wouldn't have known whether it was to the deodorant or the perfume.) Since I used baby oil that was scented the second time, I once again opted not too use any.

The microwave that I was using doesn't seem to be very accurate with its timer. I watched it and removed it when it looked melty. I would estimate that I melted it about 45 seconds with the first step, then maybe 30 seconds after adding the oil, but I didn't time it with a watch. Just keep an eye on it, because you do not want it to burn.

And, yes, it does work for me (otherwise I wouldn't have made a second batch) and it leaves skin nice and soft.


Update:

The additional oil did make it much easier to rub on (although in summer I may need to make a batch with less oil, as it could be too soft in hot weather).

It occurred to me that I perhaps could substitute baby powder or body powder for the corn starch (the ingredients in Johnson's baby powder are cornstarch plus vitamin E and aloe vera; the body powder that I have has more different ingredients). So, I may try that next time since I do have some powder sitting around and not being used very fast.

In praise of hoarding and procastination (sort of)

I am not a fan of the thought that one should get rid of anything not used or worn in the past year. The past week, I have been reminded of why I dislike that rule:

I own a bunch of small upholstery samples from the mid-1990's. I used a couple of the samples to decorate a t-shirt several years ago. This week, I used one of the samples to make a pin/brooch. And in between all that time, the samples have just sat in a drawer (in space that I did not particularly need for something else).

Last week, I noticed that another pair of my jeans was developing holes, which was bad news because I have the hardest time finding pants (more specifically, modest pants for a person not blessed with long legs -- it seems that they shorten the rise when they shorten the legs). I made a half-joking threat to myself that I would just switch over to skirts, rather than go through the agony of another search for pants.

Now, I wear skirts in the summer, but I have resisted wear skirts in the winter. I have bad childhood memories of being in a cavernous church wearing Mary Janes and kneesocks (that were always falling down) or tights (that were always developing holes as I played before and after service) and how awfully numb my feet were.

I started thinking over how women of the 19th and early 20th century kept warm in their skirts. I also considered how I could use the clothes I already had.

I already own a collection of leggings and long underwear (that I had been wearing under pants), a long poly/cotton slip (purchased several years ago at Goodwill), and some skirts that were a little oversize and came almost to my ankles. Well, you guessed it, the leggings and the slip fit quite well under the skirts.

Then I got to thinking about the fact that I had cleaned out my closet a little a few weeks before, but I couldn't remember if we had ever donated the clothes to the shop, which is about 30 miles away. A little digging around located the bag, and yes, there were three skirts in the bag (one of which had lost its elastic, but I think I can repair it; one which probably won't work at all; and one that should work nicely if I remember to take small strides as there is not a lot of leeway for walking).

So, because of keeping things around, I was blessed with new jewelry and a new way to wear old clothes. (There is a time, of course, to bless other people with things and circumstances when one needs to get rid of the old in order to make room for now. Moderation in all things, though.)

Pandora Radio

I'm listening to Pandora Radio right now. Pandora lets you pick a favorite singer or song, and then finds and plays similar music/artists.

I do have to be a little cautious in my picks; if you pick a Christian artist, you will not necessarily keep on having Christian artists. However, I only recall one time that I was offended by something that played (you can always click thumbs down if you don't like what starts playing and it will go on to another song).

It is a nice way to find new artists for free! (Ads do play at times.)

Pixia and PhotoScape

Pixia looks like a promising program, but I can't make it open tif files. Since most of my files are tifs, that's kind of a deal breaker.

PhotoScape has a rather unique interface. Once you get used to it, you can find quite a lot to work with. The page section allows you to combine pictures into collages (even though I am not a scrapbooker, I can see how this would work well for folks who are). The print section gives you the ability to put multiple pictures on one page, which could save money on paper.

The viewer section lets you see thumbnails of the pictures in your folders. The editor section is where things get really interesting, with quite a few special effects under filter. (The "make a box" was a favorite, although I can not think of any practical use for it. Water painting turned out better than most of the painting effects that I have seen.)

The cropping and rotating tools work well. There are quite a few fun possibilities involving text balloons, adding cartoons, etc., but I have not worked to any great extent with these.

I have not found any tools that allow one to erase flaws or retouch (mole removal does some, but not enough for my purposes), so I assume you'll need another program to handle that.

PhotoScape and Pixia are free.

Paint.Net - one thing I've figured out

That the equivalent command to "Free Rotate" on some other programs is under "Levels" then "Rotate/Zoom." You need to set "Twist Angle" and "Twist Rotate" to zero, then change the "Angle" as you need.

Mourning

My very favorite grocery store just closed. Waah!

Computer programs for working on pictures

I have used PaintShopPro 6 for years, but various things made it necessary to look for new ways to work with images.

PhotoFiltre is a French program, which is available in an English version. It is able to read .psp files (the PaintShopPro format), which is a major plus. And, it's free is you are using it for non-commercial purposes. It does have some cool special effects -- engraving, photomasking, embossing, making letters out of patterns, etc. I was able to quickly resize pictures, adjust the brightness and contrast, and save files as tifs, bmps, jpegs, or other types of files (but, as far as I can tell, you can't save them as psp files again).

Paint.net is another free program. It doesn't seem to be able to read .psp files, but it does well with a lot of other formats. I don't find the interface quite as friendly as PhotoFiltre, but it does allow you to work with layers (PhotoFiltre doesn't). It also has interesting special effects, and you can find lots more that can be downloaded from the forums.

PhotoFiltre Studio is the much more expanded version of PhotoFiltre, and it has layers, perspective correction, and lots more nice stuff. You can try it for free for 25 days, but then need to pay. (After watching the dollar gain strength against the euro and the price fall from around $50 to just under $43, I purchased it. The price is now down to $39 and some odd cents. I used Paypal to purchase it because I was concerned that my credit card company would put an extra charge for purchasing overseas.)

I have not used PhotoFiltre Studio enough yet to give a comprehensive review. I will say that some of the plug-ins and tutorials are in French only, which means that I probably need to dust off my high school French and get out a French dictionary!

Against the bailout

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, DESERVE neither Liberty nor Safety.
- credited to The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1768

It seems to me that we are trying to buy (well, actually go in debt for) supposed economic security. In the process, we are giving up a lot of power to Washington, and quite specifically, the Treasury Secretary.

And, worst of all, the bailout has grown to include every politician's favorite piece of the pie.

Where has the past year gone?

I realized that it had been a year and a day between the last post and the one before. (Blush!) And both were rants! I need to have more good things on here and fewer complaints.

Life has been busy, with ups and downs. I either discovered or rediscovered a love for Wodehouse books (for some reason I do not like the TV series Jeeves & Wooster as much as the books -- I guess I should not find that surprising since I rarely like the movies and TV series as well as the original written source).

I have taken on additional work commitments, and am trying to learn new computer programs. Sometimes I find the new programs quite frustrating, and at other times I am quite happy when I find out new things that I can do with the new programs.

I have become much more of a coupon user. Two of the area grocery stores double coupons that are under 50 cents, even if the item is on manager's special or closeout. Another one will pay you if the coupon is for more than the cost of the item, which is really nice!

I am generally getting to spend less time at libraries, and checking out less when I'm there. Ever so often, though, I end up picking out a dozen or more books. And the last books I read were two of C. S. Lewis' Narnia titles -- good, comfort reading.

Something I don't understand . . .

I recently have seen two offices that have signs that declare them to be Fragrance-Free Zones. That does not make sense to me, because:

1. even if you use no-added fragrance beauty and cleanliness products (soaps, deodorants, etc.), the products will still have some fragrance

2. in the buildings, the soap and other cleaning products have some smell

3. even if the people in the buildings used no products, people naturally produce fragrance (we usually want to use products with smell to cover up what nature provides)

OK, rant over.

Figleaves and FedEx

This is a bit of a rant. You see, twice I have ordered from Figleaves with a desire to receive the package by a certain date, and on the website it says that it only takes three days to ship to my area, plus the time that it takes for them to package my order (about 24 hours). Both times I ordered in more than enough time for the package to arrive according to the website and the package hasn't.

The first time I blamed it on a holiday weekend messing up the shipping, but there's no such excuse this time.

Since I had a free shipping coupon the first time I ordered and a less-than-free shipping coupon the second time, I guess I can't complain too hard. But I'm still not a happy camper.

(Oh, for those who don't know, Figleaves sells undergarments. And they do have a remarkable return policy which they have been nice about honoring.)

Interesting Quote - Are we barbarians yet?

"The mainsprings of human nature must always retain their power --- the majority of men must be brave, and of women chaste, parents must love their children more than themselves, and one man must be able to trust the word of another, or else we should relapse into the worst kind of barbarism."

Mary Cadwaldader Jones, "An Old-Fashioned Virtue," The Delineator, August 1896, p. 230.

Some of the books I read in July

I started quite a few that I did not finish, and finished some that I had started earlier.

Edith Wharton, A Backward Glance Her autobiography, which I had been meaning to read for years and years -- whew, I finally did it! I don't think I've ever read any of her fiction, but thoroughly enjoyed this book. However, I will note from comments that I have seen elsewhere that Edith cleaned up her story quite a bit -- that some of her close male friends were actually more than friends.

J. R. R. Tolkein, The Hobbit I quit this one repeatedly before finally getting to the end (I didn't finish it over a decade ago, started over this year, put it away, got it back out again and completed it). It is generally well written, but not quite my cup of tea.

Emily Whaley, Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden A lovely, fast read. I think someone recommended this one online and so I picked it up.

Lynn Morris, The Balcony An enjoyable novel.

Margaret Holt, Chinqua-Penn Plantation Interesting description of one couple's art collection, but probably of limited interest to the general public. (By the way, the art collection is no more as far as I know.)

Serge Normant, Femme Fatale I had an educational reason for checking this book out from the library. I wouldn't recommend it if you are easily offended by skimpy dress. It is interesting to see the celebrities photographed.

P. G. Wodehouse, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves I actually did not like Wodehouse very much when I tried him a few years ago, but found it quite funny now that I had seen some of the DVDs. Now I can scarcely wait to read more! (Unfortunately, the local libraries have almost culled out their collections of Wodehouse, but I can find some at a farther-off library system.) I recently read that there is an early movie version with David Niven as Bertie Wooster -- I'd be interested to see it as well.

Carolyn Wells, Patty Fairfield, 1901 I prefer Carolyn Well's Dorrance Domain to this novel, but both are nice. The books are meant for teenagers or a little younger. This one can induce guilt for not being good enough of a housekeeper.

This Fabulous Century 1870-1900 Interesting pictures; I read most of the text -- some of it had been torn out.

Frank Getlein, Art Treasures of the World I wasn't familiar with a lot of the objects in this book. The photography looks a little dated, but the text is still quite good.

Daily Lit - Pygmalion

I signed up for Pygmalion during the winter (and two other books that mostly did not get read -- shame on me!). Anyway, Pygmalion was a lot different than I expected it to be, based on my somewhat hazy memories of seeing My Fair Lady.

After finishing Pygmalion, I watched My Fair Lady again (yes, the two are fairly different, particularly the ending). Then I read a short children's version of the ancient Pygmalion story (which may have been cleaner and simpler than the adult version -- I don't know).

All three vary widely; if it wasn't for knowing that the three are based on each other, I don't know that I would have figured it out. I never did figure out exactly how the play version was exactly supposed to be staged, because of the LONG (as in five to ten pages) ending that explained much of the rest of the lives of the individuals. Was there supposed to be a narrator who read all that at the end of the play? I did enjoy how the surroundings for each change of scenery was so perfectly described (there are fewer than half a dozen different "sets" and a much smaller cast of characters than were in the movie).

SPOILER ALERT: The movie version has an ending that leaves you hanging, and there is some violence (mostly imagined). At the end, about all I could say was that the two would probably deserve each other if they ended up together, and I hoped that if they had kids they would change a lot in character.

And the kiddie version of the ancient story? It involved prayers to a goddess (not good), but otherwise was fairly tame. And there were very, very few characters involved in the story.

Daily Lit - Pygmalion

I signed up for Pygmalion during the winter (and two other books that mostly did not get read -- shame on me!). Anyway, Pygmalion was a lot different than I expected it to be, based on my somewhat hazy memories of seeing My Fair Lady.

After finishing Pygmalion, I watched My Fair Lady again (yes, the two are fairly different, particularly the ending). Then I read a short children's version of the ancient Pygmalion story (which may have been cleaner and simpler than the adult version -- I don't know).

All three vary widely; if it wasn't for knowing that the three are based on each other, I don't know that I would have figured it out. I never did figure out exactly how the play version was exactly supposed to be staged, because of the LONG (as in five to ten pages) ending that explained much of the rest of the lives of the individuals. Was there supposed to be a narrator who read all that at the end of the play? I did enjoy how the surroundings for each change of scenery was so perfectly described (there are fewer than half a dozen different "sets" and a much smaller cast of characters than were in the movie).

SPOILER ALERT: The movie version has an ending that leaves you hanging, and there is some violence (mostly imagined). At the end, about all I could say was that the two would probably deserve each other if they ended up together, and I hoped that if they had kids they would change a lot in character.

And the kiddie version of the ancient story? It involved prayers to a goddess (not good), but otherwise was fairly tame. And there were very, very few characters involved in the story.

A Strange Request

A college student emailed me to ask for information on a certain topic because the individual DOES NOT HAVE TIME TO GO TO A LIBRARY. I'm kind of flabbergasted; I'm not sure what to write back.

I understand that college students are busy (actually, who isn't, these days), but still . . . .

Ugh!

Summer must be almost here; I got my first tick of 2007 today!

National TV turn-off week

I kind-of-by-accident participated -- I did not have access to TV that week, which made it easy! BUT, I walked into a couple of businesses that had TVs on. Nowadays, it seems that most banks, furniture stores, and many post offices and gas stations have TVs blaring away. I remember the old days (as in, five years ago in our part of the country) when this was a lot less common.

I think the last TV show that I did purposely hang around and watch was part of a re-run of NCIS. (The goth girl thought she made some important discovery, Ducky did some things with awful-looking bodies, the exchange agent from Israel was very pretty, the head guy did something that seemed to be not quite ethical but it was for the greater good, one of the other guys flirted . . . basically, it was a typical NCIS show.) It was probably around Easter. However, most days I am around when Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, and some portion of morning and entertainment shows are on.

Still haven't quite got the hang of this . . . .

I was just on another blog and tried to log in and comment. I used every combination I could think of (email address, user name, name of blog, password) and it would not recognize me. Then I tried to log on to my blog and it was smooth as a whistle! Sigh.

Lesser-known poets

In honor of poetry month, I'd like to mention two poets that I like: Sally Gaines Hardaway and Archibald Rutledge. I've only read a few of Archibald Rutledge's poems, but I'm hoping to read more in the near future!

Sally Gaines Hardaway was a Virginian who lived from the 1830's to the 1870's. She was a Christian. Some of her poems are what today would be considered sappy, I reckon, but I still appreciate them.

Modest is hottest

I saw t-shirts with "modest is hottest" on them in a clothing store in South Carolina. (Modest is hottest seems to be a popular slogan in some circles right now.) Only problem was that the words were written in big letters on the front and that would highlight a certain area, looking not too modest!

Spring skirts

. . . actually, they will be my summer skirts, too!

Last year, I mostly wore knee-length or slightly above skirts. I decided that I wanted to go a little longer this year, in part due to the Brit-Lindsay-whoever else debacles.

I found three (yes, three!!! it was amazing) skirts that were somewhat full and about 27-inches long (or two inches or so below the knee on me). It usually is so hard to find skirts that aren't either really, really short or down to my ankles.

Two of the skirts came from Lands' End. One is blue and the other black; they are a soft cotton/spandex knit. I found them in the overstocks section for $10 each. (I think they have almost sold out of these by now.)

The other one is denim. I found it for around $8 at Walmart (marked down).

And almost the best part? They are all extremely easy care -- machine washable on WARM.

The Book of Easter

I checked out a reprint of the 1911 edition of The Book of Easter a couple of weeks ago, looking for illustrations to use for a project. I did not find any suitable pictures(although there are some lovely, very Art-Nouveau images), but ended up reading the entire book.

My favorite parts were some of the poetry and hymns that I was not familiar with, and a short story by Zona Gale. I was impressed enough with Gale's tale that I plan to look for more by her -- her story reminded me of a mix of O. Henry and Grace Livingstone Hill.

My least favorite parts were the stories about the gods (small g) of antiquity. I did like, though, the poem "Pan is Dead."

This is embarassing to admit

I couldn't figure out how to post on the new Google Blogger until tonight. (Well, actually I tried to figure it out awhile back, was not successful, and put off trying until now.)

More on reading . . . .

I came up with a group of about 60 books that I want to read this year (in addition to the Bible). Much to my suprise, I am already on book 9! I don't expect to be able to keep up this pace, but I am hopeful that I will read more than the books that I had on the list.

Reading

I started on the NIV version of The One Year Bible just before New Year's. I find it a little jumpy -- each day you are reading some of the Old Testament (I'm still in Genesis), some of the New Testament, part or all of a Psalm, and a little bit of Proverbs. However, I wanted to do something that would help me stay disciplined about daily Bible readings, and so far it seems to be working.

Cooking crisis of a small sort

Actually, more of a heating crisis. I decided to heat up a frozen cookie in the microwave. I put it in the microwave, walked out of the room for less than a minute, and returned to billowing clouds of smoke, a ruined cookie, and an awful smell that is still lingering.

My Accent

The funny thing is that a blogger from my same town (but who has lived elsewhere for awhile) took the test as well, and got a totally different result!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The South   That's a Southern accent you've got there. You may love it, you may hate it, you may swear you don't have it, but whatever the case, we can hear it.
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Midland
The Inland North
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

The four or more club

I was looking through my CDs last night (yes, I know that they will probably be quickly passe, but I did buy another one this week), and realized that I had several artists that I had three CDs by, but only a few that I had four or more by. The artists are (in alphabetical order):

Amy Grant
Cindy Morgan
Rich Mullins
Fernando Ortega
Michael W. Smith
Trisha Yearwood

My musical tastes, obviously, run to folk/pop/country. Some of my CDs are less conventional.

Books

Although I haven't had as much time for reading, I have had time for ordering books. I collect nonfiction books that were published by a certain company in the 1970's-early 1980's. These books can sell for significant amounts of money -- but I just won in an auction 5 books published by them, all at about half the price that the books are usually sold for! Squeals of joy!

Sorry for not posting

Life has taken some unexpected turns in the last few weeks. Today I have been cranky, tired of not having my usual schedule and tired of not being able to accomplish everything that I need and want to do. I have a tendency to take a great deal of pleasure and worth from how much I accomplish (I need to try to get away from this). Anyway, I managed by the skin of my teeth (and foregoing something else) to finish one of my pressing projects by the end of October. Other projects are slowly getting done, but my reading of nonfiction has not been happening. I miss that.

I did read Dee Henderson's newest book, Before I Wake. (I was on the waiting list at the local library, and when I got it I decided to read it and return it quickly. I read it in less than one day! [I know. Another accomplishment that I'm talking about!])

I am not totally fasting from DVDs and TV now (of course, as I said before, I wasn't able to fast totally from TV anyway, except for a few days now and then). I watched one and a half shows of 1 VS. 100 with a family member. I watched Aquamarine (which was recommended to me -- I found much of it rather silly, but it was so silly that it became kind of good). The library got in a box set of Groucho Marx's TV show and Jack Benny's TV show; I watched parts, both with family members and on my own. (That sounds like a lot of watching, but that's been over the past month or so. It's still a lot less than I have done at times in the past.)

I've been busy

and obviously haven't been posting much. I've thought of some great topics, and then never gotten around to writing about them. I've seen memes that I thought I should do, and haven't. Sigh . . . .

Update on the Mountain Dew colored mouthwash

I finished both bottles off! I'm now using some blue mouthwash, which I like much better.

I'm trying to use up my toiletries before I get more (I used to work in the hospitality business, which means that I have lots of free samples).

Fewer Movies, Less TV

I'm now about at the six week point, and I said that I might post some on my results. I'm spending a lot more time reading (and reading much more non-fiction, whereas I used to read a lot of fiction). I am also spending more time on housework and hobbies, and probably more time working, too.

One of the most suprising things was that when I cut back on TV and movies, I stopped having music on alot of the time. I didn't even really think about it at the first -- I just didn't automatically turn on the CD player or radio every time I had a chance. I'm not sure whether I stopped needing so much stimulation, or if there is another explanation.

I'm not willing to say that I'll never watch movies again (and I'm still around TV some of the time), but I think I will be a lot more selective in the future. (At the moment, I have such a huge number of books that I want to get around to reading, and other projects to complete, that I am not sure when I will take time to sit down and watch anything.) That's not to say that it is always an easy choice -- I am around the ads for new shows and movies and the interviews with the stars, and some of those shows and movies sound interesting.

It's been the start of the new TV season the last couple of weeks, and there have been times when I'd think oh, that show that I used to watch is coming on . . . . I think it perhaps helped to read reviews of the new season, and really consider whether I want to watch shows that, for instance, feature two of the main characters having an affair. It's easy for me to slip into the "Yes, but" cycle that Blest with Sons talked about when I am in the midst of watching a program (Yes, they use foul language, but the main character helps little old ladies across the street!), but if I read and consider the plot in advance, I hope/I think I may be more discerning.

Women's clothing sizes

At one point*, I owned clothing in every size from Small to 3X. And all those clothing items were wearable.

American clothing sizes are weird.

*I cleaned out my closet some, so I may not have every size now. I do still have one size small item (I'm wearing it right now), and one size 3X item.