Friday By Request (Sprung Forward)

Did you remember to spring your non digital device clocks ahead? I set my calendar ahead two days. So no we have Friday By Request on Sunday!

As regulars at my Cyber Coffee Shop read on my last post, I’ve had some social and mojo issues as of late. 13 jigsaw puzzles in March so far, what I do to unstress, and a bit of creative bug is back… We’ll see how I did!

Today’s request is from my Facebook page, from Chickie, one of the great wedding gifts my husband gave me. She asked for a poem about eyes, mentioning my own, with a sweet compliment. I had written a poem called Eyes in 2003 and read the poem with a music background myself, in my overnight radio voice. I asked if she’d like me to include the somewhat shocking to some who know me poem and audio after the 2019 poem about eyes. She said, “yeah, please.”

So here are my very different 2019 and 2003 efforts featuring eyes.



Eyes On The Road - Be Brave
2019

Eyes on the road
Ears on the radio

The snow is cold and unforgiving
I should have never left
It started falling too soon
Sticking to the road less than an hour after I left
It’s like the storm is grabbing the car, pulling me back

Eyes on the road
Ears on the radio

The forecast says the snow slows down a half-hour ahead
I’m leaving for the promise of better
When I get there things will be good
It's 4am. 45 minutes ago is was supposed to be better a half hour ahead
They’re still making that same promise

Eyes on the road
Ears on the radio

Maybe I should turn around and give up
The freeway has snow, ice, semis and one little red sports car
I spent too much time with my eyes in he rearview mirror
The little sports car spins and is now facing the trucks
They give me room and I turn to face forward

Eyes on the road
Don’t look back

They keep saying it’s better ahead, but when?
I spin again and again the semis give me space to get back on track
I haven’t hit anything, is that a good sign?
I don’t think I believe the forecasters anymore
Need to make a call, it’s taking too long

Eyes on the road
Be strong, be patient

After a cup of coffee I’m back on the road
As daylight is breaking I can see how much it snowed
I’m tired, still scared, but the snow has finally slowed to gentle flakes
The road is still slick but I can see sunlight ahead
A truck passes and today the little red sports car enjoys the briny shower

Eyes on the road
It’s getting brighter

As I reach the interchange it's bright and the roads have turned to slush
It's still not fun to drive in but better than a few hours ago
Later than expected, but I reach my destination
The first stop of my long journey but things are better
I’m relieved. I’m safe. I’m glad I didn’t turn back

Eyes on the road
No matter how long it takes





Eyes
2003

Eyes peer into the darkness,

looking for a friend.
A lonely heart cries from emptiness,
will my search ever end?

Lips thirst for another's to quench them,
eyes sparkling bright.

A body hungers for passion inside it,
fireworks explode in the night.

A soul warmed by the company beside it,
things are just as they seem.

Fantasies fulfilled fade to quieting moments,
eyes drift off to dream.

Friday By Request 2//15/19

This week I'm sending a big thank you to Lillian and Edna for their requests for today which came in at about the same time. Edna mentioned in comments that she'd love to read some more poetry and Lillian had asked on Facebook for a poem specifically about squirrels. I'm much too happy to oblige! Since there were two requests my furrry friends get two .poems.

A Child's Camping Buddies

Camping with our grandparents in the late off-season

Always caused Papa to require with the own reason

“Better know where the nearest hospital is

‘Cause one of these days they'll bite that kid'

After a summer full of campers they were practically domestic

‘I'd sit alone on a picnic table with my bag full of peanuts

They’d gather around me enjoying their treats

Some right out of my hand, I thought that was neat

When I wasn't at the playground or catching a fish

I was back at the picnic table granting their wish

And all of my grandfather’s fears were for naught

'Cause I never once needed a rabies shot

Squirrely On CAT TV

When there's not the boring "White Show” on CAT TV

"Squirrely" is my favorite show I watch with JD

Having a giant oak tree in our front yard

Guarantees kitty and me will be watching hard

I can't see the nest from the wheelchair when I'm out

But there's one squirrel on that tree constantly happy and stout

And he'll share the tree with some others to play

There seems to be a limit, they only come up half way

On a good day we see four, five or more

Scaling that tree, and looking to explore

JD wags her tail and paces the big front "screen"

I chuckle and call her "Mamas girl" as I watch that scene

When the day gets later and they finish their playing

She can often be found snuggled across my chest laying

JD falls asleep still wiggling it seems

Chasing the squirrels in the yard in her dreams.

Friday By Request (8/4/06)

I was looking through some of my old journals, actually looking for this very poem for David. I actually keep not only my personal journals but copy of everything that I've posted, that I think is worth keeping, as well as everything I posted on a regular basis. David actually was the inspiration for the whole Friday By Request idea. I'd love to do that again.

I have my regular blog readers and I also advertise my blog on my Facebook page so I'm definitely inviting anyone who would like to participate in bringing back the occasional Friday By Request, to send me your challenges! Keeping in mind that this is a family-friendly blog, I don't think I've ever refused a request for Friday's yet.

So after that introduction, here is the very first ever Friday By Request, from 2006!

.

All right bad poetry fans! I was writing poems last night, actually one about the cats, when David challenged me. "Why don’t you write a poem about the groceries?” So I did and it gave me an idea. 

I will do Friday as “Friday By Request.” The first person to make a request before Wednesday will give me my challenge for Friday. It can be a topic for a poem, photo or the script for a TV or Radio ad. Try other ideas - challenge me! It can be for any topic or product, all I ask is that you remember this is a family blog. I have kids on my friends list!

HeySend me your suggestions with the subject “For Friday?” through the Yahoo 360 messages. If I don’t have any requests on any given week, I won’t do the Friday By Request blog. If I have more than one, I’ll  o the first one I get. If I don’t do yours, feel free to resubmit it any time after the Friday blog is posted. It might be serious from time to time, but more often than not it will be bad, funny or both!


Without futher ado, here is David’s request...

A Poem about Groceries

For David

Apples, oranges and plums 

The fruit bowl cries for purpose 

Lettuce, tomatoes and peppers 

The poor crisper has none

Burgers chops and chicken 

The freezer meat shelves empty 

Ice cream, veggies and entrées 

The top shelves barren too

Flour, sugar and coffee


The canisters sound so hollow 

Cereal, soup and pasta


The cupboard shelves collect dust

Dinner rolls, cookies and Pop Tarts 
The bread box, light as a feather 

Cinnamon, chili and garlic


The spice rack bottles are clear

Let’s go to the grocery store!

* send a message with the subject " Friday By Request" to chroniclesofnani@gmail.com, a private message on Facebook or just as a comment here. Out of respect for the writer and all readers, please try to refrain from suggestions about religion or politics.

Friday By Request

Good Friday morning to everybody! I was a good girl and resisted doing any more work on the atrium yesterday, so now, I’m ready to get motoring on it! I’m posting a FBR replay from April 2007. We’re expecting 1-3 inches of snow tonight (boo!), so this repost is nice because it the opposite of snow!

I’ll be back to read blogs and post some more this afternoon with lunch!

Friday By Request
Originally posted on Yahoo 360, April 27, 2007

Welcome back to Friday By Request, a week and half a day late, but here! To make up for waiting, this one is a long one! Chalicat asked for a story, a specific story. “Since you are a kitty mom and a kitty step-mom...what is your favorite story about your cats?”

Well, I have just a ton of cat stories! But this one is kinda special. The blog-novel you’re about to read is a story of a Michigan lady who was living with two lovely feline girls and a story of a man named David who was busy with 2 boys of his own.

Hiding From The Heat – Girls VS Boys!

For Chalicat

Last summer I was still living at my Dad’s house. There were long stretches of record heat and the central air conditioning had died. Dad had no intent on fixing it since not only was he planning to sell the house, but he was working on the west side of Michigan and staying with my brother. I was still living there with 16 year-old Azreal, my furry sister, and Alexis Kaline, the kitten David and I had rescued the fall before who lived with me.

The days were miserable and becoming more so. I would be on the computer job searching and dripping with sweat. The heat didn’t help the computer much either as it seemed to run slow and it threw more heat out it’s fan in the back. Added to my job hunt woes and my own dealing with the heat, the cats wouldn’t stay in the basement or at least on the slate floor on the main level of the house when I was upstairs. They wanted to be with me.

Azzie was medicated twice daily to help the seizures she had from the brain tumor she’d been diagnosed with when she was 10. Getting older, terminally ill and very hot, I worried about her a lot. She pretty much slept on the floor pillow in my office, only occasionally getting up to walk around just a little and then lay back down. Kaline’s water was in my bedroom, but generally she didn’t share well, so I moved water up in the office for Az, but she didn’t seem to drink much. Even Kaline, the spunky kitten wasn’t getting into things as much and her water consumption was way up.

On a Saturday that I had planned to go out with my girlfriends for a dinner and “girls only” games night, I almost didn’t want to go! I showered, a cold shower because I couldn’t bear the thought of being in a steamy room under hot water. When I got out, I instantly started to sweat. I was uncomfortable and really feared that there was no way I could even get a bra on! But, after looking at the thermostat which told me it was 89 degrees in the upstairs hallway, I decided that the entire thought of driving to Royal Oak in Dad’s air-conditioned SUV was too good to pass up. I wasn’t at all forgetting the girls at home. I knew with me not in the house, they’d retreat to the basement where it was cooler and safer for them.

I was worried about the cats, especially Az. They don’t sweat, they have no way to cool off more and that house was trapping the heat and holding it in. I was so afraid that the cooler, but not “cool” basement, extra water and fans wasn’t enough. I was, in addition to heat that was starting to make me loopy, dealing with immense guilt.

I talked to David on the phone at the end of our girls night evening from Heather’s place. He said they were calling for high 90s Sunday and suggested that I might consider staying there. I voiced my concern about the cats and told him I needed to give Azzie her medicine in the morning. He said “Why don’t you stay there tonight then and in the morning, pack up the girls and bring them here?”

“Are you serious?” I asked. “All four cats in one house?”

“Yeah. It’s better for you and the girls.”

So, Sunday morning I packed up my clothes, cat dishes, food, a few toys and Azzie’s medicine and loaded them in the truck. I also took Kaline’s litter box. Baggle and Chester had two in the basement, but I was concerned that Az might have trouble going up and down the stairs because they were steeper than the ones in my Dad’s house. We could leave Kaline’s smaller box in the bathroom on the main level so Az could stay away from doing stairs if she didn’t want to. I pulled out the cat carrier they shared. I had no intention of putting them both in one carrier for the hour and a quarter to Toledo. It wasn’t a big carrier and, beyond comfort, if Azzie had a seizure it could be dangerous for Kaline. Both of the girls had claws on all four paws. So, Azzie traveled in the picnic basket. The wicker basket was large as picnic baskets go and tall. While it was on it’s last legs as a picnic basket, it would work fine to carry a cat that had never been over 7.5 pounds and had lost weight in the last year.

Putting Azzie in the basket was pretty easy, she was a pretty passive old lady and lethargic from the heat. I started Dad’s SUV, which I was driving at the time, to get it cooled off and put the basket on the floor of the passenger’s side. First mistake is loading the easy one first.

Kaline, after seeing Aunt Azzie loaded into the basket and taken outside wanted nothing to do with getting in the carrier. She ran. She ran from me and all over the house. It was already 90 degrees inside. I didn’t want to chase her up and down the levels of Dad’s sprawling quad-level home!

I tried the always works standard, telling her “Goodbye Kaline!” When I’d leave, she’d run as if to say “Catch me if you want to scritch me goodbye,” when I’d say goodbye, like it didn’t matter if I did, she’d run back to me as if to say, “hey! Don’t leave without giving me a scritch!” This time, nothing doin! She knew if she came back, she was going in the carrier. I had caught her once but she squirmed away and made a run for it and disappeared.

At this point I was becoming delirious from the heat and sat on the steps beginning to cry. Then suddenly I remembered that I had left the car running and Azzie in the basket! I went outside and turned off the car. A sniff inside told me that Azzie had used the basket as a littler box!

I took the basket back in and let Az out. She messed on her afghan on the bottom but it hadn’t seeped through to the basket. I took the afghan out and washed it. Then I replaced it with a towel for her to lie on. Then low and behold, Kaline resurfaced!

I grabbed the kitten before she realized that I was reaching for her and stuffed her in the carrier. Whew! Success! This time I took the carrier out and strapped it into the passenger’s seat, Kaline crying all the while. I turned the car back on getting the air pumping back in. Then I went in and repeated the easier task of collecting Azzie and putting the basket back in the car.

The trip wasn’t so eventful. I propped the top of the basket and positioned the carrier so the girls could see each other and me. They calmed down and seemed to just pretty much relax in the air-conditioned car. Kaline complained every now and then because Aunt Azzie could poke her whole head out of the basket and she couldn’t get out of the carrier.

When we got to David’s all three of us refreshed a bit from the air-conditioned trip. David came out to help get the girls in the house so they could meet Chester and Baggle and acclimate a bit. We set the carrier and basket down on the floor so the boys could have a sniff. I opened the basket and took Azzie out. David opened the carrier door.

Baggle is amazed at “Aunt Enigma”

Chester and Baggle seemed amazed at “Aunt Enigma.” Azzie’s medicine changed her body chemistry to the point where she didn’t smell like a cat to other animals. After adjusting to this critter that looked like a cat but couldn’t possibly be a cat, the boys got along well with Az. Kaline was another story!

Kaline stayed in the carrier for a while. As I recall, we finally had to dump her out of it. As Chester neared her for a sniff she hissed and Baggle took off upstairs. Chester hissed back. There was posturing and more hissing. Then they left in opposite directions.

We put Kaline’s box in the downstairs bathroom and showed the girls where that box was and the basement boxes. Azzie seemed to like the basement, maybe too much. I carried her upstairs and she went back down! Every time I carried her back up, she’d end up back downstairs. Actually, I was worried about her. She’d get in to the very open, since the flooding the day before we found Kaline, main room of the unfinished basement and just paced in large circles.

Upstairs. Chester was taking charge of the territory. That was odd because Baggle and Kaline are the alpha cats of their respective houses, but I guess with Baggle hiding from strange cats like he does when there are strange people in his house, Chester had to step up and keep the “bitchy girl” from taking over!

The first night we were all there, David and I went to bed with the boys upstairs. I’d brought Azzie up to the top floor to be near me but she only stayed a while and went back downstairs. I waited for Kaline to come in and curl up on my hip like she usually does, but she wasn’t there. David told me not to worry because she was probably just checking out the new place. He guessed that she’d be upstairs in the morning. So after a few futile attempts at calling “Kitty Kaline! Come to bed!” we went to sleep.

Chester says the kitten interloper is staying down!

In the morning the boys were upstairs, but no girls. I found out they both stayed in the basement. I wasn’t sure why Kaline didn‘t want to sleep with me and thought maybe she thought Aunt Azzie needed company or protection. I came to find out why she didn’t come upstairs on night two.

After a day of continued growling, hissing and posturing, night two came. There was a standoff in the hall in front of the bedroom. Kaline was in the landing before the stairs and Chester and Baggle were in between that landing and the bedroom. There was much staring, leering and light growling. When there was a break in eye contact, Kaline made a mad dash bounding over or past the boys and jumping right onto the bed. She climbed up on my hip and just sat there without purring, glaring at her brothers. In the morning, she was still on the bed. Chester and Baggle had managed to successfully hold the blockade for one night. That’s all it took for Kaline to adjust to her situation and take charge. The first couple weeks were rough trying to convince the kids to get along, but it worked out okay. Kaline made it clear, “I sleep with Mommy and Daddy, got it?” Baggle made his statement too, “The food is mine except for what I let you have.” Chester insisted, “As long as I get my share, whatever, Mom and Dad will take care of me.” And they all seemed to agree that we’ll be nice to the old lady that doesn’t smell like a cat, but acts like a wise old feline.

Friday By Request - What Would You Write?

This is going to be the last month of “best of” FBRs. I figure after the reviews to show what all you can request, it’s up to my readers. I would be the lousiest salesperson. If my existence relied on commissions made from pressure selling anything, I’d be living in a box, hopefully under and overpass with a low crime rate. But for a few weeks, I’ll repost some of the Friday By Requests from 2007.


I’m reading “Soul Intent” by Dennis Batchelder, a follow-up to “Soul Identity.” I loved Soul Identity and the whole concept of the company the story is built around. In the book, your eyes are the key to finding your past, your soul’s past. Think about retina scans for identity, we already use that in places. The theory in Soul Identity is that no two living people have the same iris pattern, like a fingerprint. The company, Soul Identity, is ages and ages old, since a time when qualified artisans drew the eyes to form the identity pictures. After you have gone, your soul will return as another person, but that soul signature will remain the same. Soul Identity members deposit wealth and things they want to pass on to their “next self,” member of their “Soul Line.” If you join Soul Identity in your next life, you can open your Soul Collection and see what you left yourself.

Soul Identity does NOT advertise, but find clients by seeking those who at least have a mild ability to accept that their soul might have walked the earth before. If your beliefs would not possibly let you believe in some sort of reincarnation or you wouldn’t even be interested anyway. It is a company with incredible financial worth. Soul Collections that are worth great financial sums are invested and the amounts grow. Money and artifacts are left untouched for even centuries because soul members never claim them, the company is worth a TON. You can see why they don’t advertise that they exist. If they made it known that they were around, they’d be subject to con artists trying to find out who has left great sums of valuables and attempting to steal their identity. Think about it, identity theft is already a reality in so many forms and the perpetrators are always looking for new ways to steal.

So I love that the concept is so plausible. The story in Soul Identity had action and intrigue and did bring up the question of soul-identity-theft. But it’s a great book and the follow up is equally intriguing with some interesting curve balls. But the company Soul Identity doesn’t exist in reality. Or does it?

This FBR from 2007 fits in with the concept of that book. If I joined Soul Identity, even if I was the first one of my line, I’d leave copies of my journals. Maybe I'd make a single scrapbook highlighting key points of my life, with instructions in my will to have the last one printed and put in my Soul Collection, and I think I’d write something similar to the letter I was asked to write in January, 2007.

Friday By Request
Originally posted on Yahoo 360, January 19, 2007

This week’s request is from Mary, who challenged me to answer the question “What Would You Write?” from her friend Jaymes’ blog. This is the message Mary sent me: What would you write to yourself if you were to be reincarnated; what would your message be? After a little soul and memory searching about all the mistakes and the really right things that have occurred in my life, here is my letter:

What Would You Write?

For Mary

If it's true that we live over and over till we get it right, then this letter is to you, Nani.

I doubt you are called Nani this time and I doubt you’ll ever see this letter. But, I hope that writing it will instill its message in my essence, our essence, that it will manifest itself in your subconscious and influence you somehow. It will have influence on you in a way that you’ll never know it does, but it will make that essence that is you and me and all the versions of our being before us and to come better and closer to the way we should be.

First I’ll tell you life is not easy, for anyone, no matter how things look. The happiest people feel pain. The materially wealthy feel things that are missing within themselves. The most arrogant have great insecurities. The most peaceful and loving people have things they despise. Recognize this and be willing to give emotional charity to everyone.

But, while you’re giving that charity, remember that there are those who

take without giving and expect more. Who those people are will sometimes surprise you too. Know that you can separate from them without hurting them. They will learn more and perhaps improve more from the people they lose in their lives than from your continuing to let them feed off you.

When you are really hurt, telling the truth will do more to make the pain stop than keeping the secret. Know that you can give without having to suffer, that you can be kind and tolerant without having to try to help everyone. Know that the ones who truly love you don’t think they have to and aren’t afraid of what others will think if they don’t. They just do.

Be patient. Education, inspiration and even love are worth the wait to do it right. There is a reason that things happen the way they do, accept that. Some mistakes you have to make first, so you don’t mess up the really good things that come later. Never be afraid to make those mistakes and learn from them.

Don’t lose your faith and don’t give up on yourself, even briefly. That’s when life is the darkest and loneliest, when you give up everything. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Fear is the greatest obstacle in finding your calling. You need other people to get ahead, but ask for the help, don’t just take it. The rewards last longer and you’ll be able to ask for help again.

Find a profession that fulfills you and makes you happy to do it. But don’t work much overtime. What you’ll miss in life, even if you like the job, you’ll never be able to buy back. Your people will be there long after one employer has let you go and another is questioning your ability regardless of your professional successes. Your people will always remember the good things you did and enjoy reminiscing about them. You won’t have to go through anything near the screening process for a new job as you will to make new friends, and the benefits are better. Remember, that what is important you can’t buy with the money from what’s not.

Always strive to keep life in balance. Give a bona fide effort to anything you do. Don’t ever fail on your commitments to others. Love like there’s no question you’ll be loved back. Most important, don’t feel guilty when you take time for yourself. Doing nice things for yourself will keep you understanding and loving when someone else doesn’t. Don’t create expectations for other people and you’ll always be pleased with what they give and do for you.

signed,

Nani

Your former self

Link: Dennis Batchelder , author of Soul Identity and Soul Intent   

Friday By Request

I’m sad this week. No new Friday By Request again. This week will be the last repost from Yahoo 2006. I had some really deep and some tough requests in 2007, so I’ll repost 2007 requests for February, including a request I’ll repost, but rewrite it. There are 2 reasons for that; it’s a television question for a show with new characters and the request came from a friend on Yahoo 360 who is still a BlogSpot friend! (If you think it’s you, drop me an email and let me know if you remember the request you made in 2007. hehe)

I know if I want to be challenged, I can use blog prompts. Tell Me Tuesdays are great challenges that I participate in but FBR is different. Tell me Tuesdays hone my writing and deepen my thinking, which is so good for my writing and I love doing them. But Friday By Request stretches my creativity. I don’t know what type of thing it will be or the tone. In the past it’s called on me to be funny, outrageous, soul-searching. I’ve been asked to do specific scrapbook layout challenges (No journaling, one photo, must have a hot pink dot, that sort of specific challenge) stories like you’ve seen this month or poetry on certain topics or using particular words. I’ve been asked to do crazy Photoshop photos and even an animation. If I lack the software or the skills that I can develop in a week, I’ll let you know. I’ll even still give you the link in my blog for stumping me.

Okay, my pathetic begging session is done. Let’s get on with the last Best of 2006!

Friday By Request

Originally posted on Yahoo 360, December 1, 2006
(When I lived in Michigan)

Well, now Friday By Request has come full around to “Go,” with a request from the man who started it. (Do I get $200 for landing on go?)

Last night, this request came from David at work via text message. I haven’t done a top ten list in a while. In honor of the forecasted snow coming our way in the MI/OH region, David wants to know my top ten things to do on cold snow days.

The Top 10 Things To Do On Cold Snow Days

for David

1. Sit INSIDE with a fire in the fireplace, sipping hot cocoa and WATCHING the snow fall outside!

2. Bundle up and shovel! - I’m serious! If your health is good, it’s a great total body workout. Of course don’t over do it and if you have any doubts about whether or not you’re in good enough shape, ask your doctor.

3. Crafts with the kids. If you’re snowed in, they are probably home too. Even something as simple as pull out a coloring book and crayons, color with them. It’ll take you back to a “snow day” when you were a kid.

4. Go out for a challenging drive in your 1994 Camaro Snow Mobile! Donuts in the dark on the Turnpike with semi’s coming at you, what an adrenaline rush!

5. Watch an old black and white movie. Snowy days are made for a big bowl of popcorn and a couple of Sonya Hennie movies.

6. Let your honey take you out in the cold to photograph trains. HINT - stop and buy wool socks and boots first. Another hint - you can never have on too many sets of long underwear!

7. Scrapbooking - A perfect day to catch up the pages from last summer!

8. Spend some quiet quality time with your pets. Those furry friends soothe the soul.

9. Bake Cookies. Be sure to play some cheery music while you’re in the kitchen and eat them while they’re still warm!

10. Write an entry in your Yahoo 360 blog so you can tell everyone about the crappy weather in Michigan! :)

Friday By Request – Digital Scrapbooking

Jojo, of My Random Insanities left a comment on 100 things I love post last week asking about advice for someone just looking in to digital scrapbooking. We exchanged some emails and she made it an official request for Friday!

This could be a few weeks of posts, so it will be very link intensive. I want to welcome any of my scrapbooking friends who have any ideas or links to add, to please feel welcome to leave them in the comments!

Digital Scrapbooking – Getting Started

For Jojo

I love digital scrapbooking. My memory-recording started with simple plain photo albums back in my high school years. I progressed to captions, then almost scrapbooking in photo albums, then paper scrapping. Now I am fully a digital scrapbooker. I love that I don’t have to put everything away if I have to leave a page I’m working on, just hit save! There’s also no mess left on the table and no little snips of paper on the floor. There’s also the fact that my typing is much easier to read than my handwriting!

When I became curious about digital scrapbooking in the beginning of 2007, I already had an old copy of Photoshop 5.0 LE which was software in the package on my old Mac and I transferred it to the newer Mac. I’d already had some work experience doing simple graphics. 5.0 LE is a good program to learn and move into Photoshop Elements. You can get Photoshop 5.0 LE for less than $10 at Amazon.

I think Photoshop (PS) and Photoshop Elements (PSE) are the most common programs I see spoken of in the scrapbooking forums; however PaintShop Pro (PSP) is also fairly common. There are software suites made specifically for scrapbooking, but be sure to do your homework. Some software only works with elements offered by their company or only with their templates which is limiting to your variety and creativity.

There are a lot of free software or free trials that you can try out before you settle on which software works the best for you. Since I use Adobe products, I can tell you they do have 30-day free trials for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. This will give you the opportunity to do a few pages as you learn the software before you decide on the software that’s right for you. There are lots of free tutorials for doing different things with the more popular software choices. You can always post questions about how to do things in the forums at the scrapbooking sites.


As for getting started, I’ll share how I got started. One thing to keep in mind about digital scrapbooking is that there are MANY alternatives for every aspect of the hobby, not just software! The first thing I’ll suggest is to check out a good digital scrapbooking community. My favorites are Digital Scrapbooking Studio and Ginger Scraps. The main elements that are useful at a digital scrapbooking site are the forums, challenges and store. Most sites have blogs now too. There are a lot of sites and stores out there. Don’t be afraid to sign up to join a few. They’re free to sign up and offer a lot of information and inspiration.

When I first started I got a lot of tips and encouragement doing challenges in the forums. At that time there were bonuses for participation but now the participation awards are usually a store discount. Many offer bigger discounts the more you participate. Challenges are great for learning new scrapbooking techniques.

Credits: Winter Bliss, Freebie kit by Dreams Fulfilled

Building up your scrapbooking stash so you can participate is not difficult. Many scrapbook designers create freebies that complement their kits and designers that are starting out create full kits for free for practice and you get their name out there.. While you’re getting started in the hobby, you can help them get started too! I will say that I don’t really recommend going to a store and purchasing kits for your first couple of pages if you are on a budget. I had enough in freebies to scrap for about two months as I was getting addicted to it. Then I knew I was going to stick with it and making a purchase was a safe investment. The first kit I purchased was My Wish by Jan Hosford. The colors were just SO me. It ended up being the kit I used for the first pages in the first book I had printed with digi-scrap work. I haven’t printed any of those pages I did the first month. I got better at it and then it was worth printing!


Speaking of printing! What DO you do with all those pages once they are done? I print mine in 11x11” books at Inkubook. I haven’t really talked to a lot of people about what they do with their layouts. I know others get them printed in books as well, but some print the pages individually and slide them into the plastic insert pages in traditional paper scrap books. I like to be able to add ephemera, ticket stubs and such, to my books, but I scan those things and make them part of my layouts. Some people print at home, either with a printer that will print a 12X12 page or they make 8-1/2X11 pages or print the square pages for an 8X8 book. Still others keep their pages as an online book to share with family via a link.

So, there’s the skeleton of the many choices to start a digital scrapbooking hobby. It’s a great opportunity to really be creatively expressive and you’ll meet and share with some great people in the digi-scrap community.

Links:

Jojo’s blog, My Random Insanities

These are places I enjoy for my scrapbooking needs:

Software:

Photoshop 5.0 LE at Amazon

Adobe, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

Scrapbooking boutiques, forums and challenges:

Digital Scrapbooking Studio

Ginger Scraps

Freebies:

Digitalegacies Design freebies, right here at The Chronicles of Nani

If a freebie you’d like is expired, drop me an email and I’ll make sure you get it!

 

Craft Crave

Click blog next to Digital Scrapbooking Freebies

 

Creative Busy Hands 

Printing:

Inkubook

Friday By Request

For today's FBR, we're going back into the 2006 archives again.  Last week I showed the very first ever Friday by Request on Yahoo 360, Poetry as only Nani can do it, as requested by my then boyfriend, David. Oh, I've go more bad poetry if you want it!  I could also write some bad poetry just for you!


But this week is not poetry.  I want to show you some of the versatility in FBR, that is how many different things readers have asked me to do.  So this week I'll show you one I really had some fun with.  It really was a challenge.  Sheri gave me a "let's see if you can do THIS."


As I recall she enjoyed the read when it was posted!




Friday By Request
Originally posted on Yahoo 360, September 15, 2006

This week’s request was a fun “grab stuff from outside the box and make it all fit it IN the box” challenge. The challenge is from Sheri, and I think it’s better to let her explain it, so here is the cut and paste of the message she left me:

“ What I want you to do is tell a story using song titles in alphabetical order using as many letters of the alphabet as you can. Did that make sense?

An example:


This is a story about AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL. It starts off on a night as dark as BLACK VELVET.


Something along those lines. Yes, you can use those song titles if you need to, that was just an example.


It'll be interesting to see what you come up with! :)”

I used 67 song titles, all the letters A-Z twice and once more up to O. So, here is what I came up with!

A Bad Night for a Good Girl

A story with a musical twist for Sheri

“Well, Another One Bites The Dust,” Barbara Ann thought as she stared into her morning Cup Of Life. “He thought I was Desperate But Not Serious. My heart sunk like the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

She pondered something stronger first thing the morning after. “Something For My Broken Heart. Give It To Me. Something to Help Me Hold On. I Can’t Hold Back the tears.”

Her mind drifted to last night. “Oh, James, Kiss Me Again. Let It Be Me.” she begged him in the back of her mind as their lips met.

“My List of the greatest kissers,” She said to Nobody in her empty breakfast nook, “I was ready to put his name on it Over And Over Again. Passionate Kisses, my Quest For Fire in my heart over. It sent my soul on a Rocket Ride. What a Smooth Operator. I was so Tempted.”

She’d been Up All Night thinking about it. If she wanted a reputation like Valerie has, she could have said “yes” when he suggested ”We’ve Got Tonight,” after they left the Club Xanadu.

“You Know Me Better Than That.” She told him and he closed up like a Zip-Lock. “Are You Sincere?” she asked him on the quiet ride home. Silence.

She could barely Breathe, she was so Caught Up in him, she really thought about saying “yes” on a first date. ”Why Don’t Cha?” she thought to herself. “Enough Is Enough. You give a little Flesh For Fantasy tonight and in the morning when he says ‘Good Morning Girl,’ he’ll be asking ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?’”

“If I Had $1,000,000 for every girl dumb enough to think that.” she scolded herself. “A desperate cry of ‘Just Let Me Be In Love,’ is every decent woman’s Kryptonite.”

She knew if she’d said “Let’s Go,” in the morning he’d be gone.  Miles And Years would pass before she saw him again, if she ever did, No Doubt About It. She didn’t want to be left Out In The Cold to Pick Up The Pieces of her reputation. “It defies the answers to all the Questions Of My Childhood about being respectable and safe,“ she told herself.

She looked out the window at the gray sky. It would be Raining On Sunday. After last night, maybe she just needed a Saturday Night alone and a day to let that rain Turn The Page on another weekend of dating frustration. “Unconditional love. That’s what I really want,” she said to the clouds. “Something that will fill my heart until the Very Last Moment In Time.”

She stirred the last sip in her cup. “Well, right now, I’m just Wishing for a second date, or at least a first one that doesn’t end X-Rated. Yeah, guys like that belong at a petting Zoo or a pig farm!”

She got up and refilled her cup. “I just don’t believe that All Of The Good Ones Are Taken! Today, I’m a Brand New Me,” she said with resolve. "I am my own  Crusader. I will find someone who wants to Dance With Me without groping or looking at another woman Everytime I Close My Eyes.” She smiled “I’m gonna Find Me A Man who will share Good Times and make me a Happy Girl, accepting Infatuation as a wonderful feeling, if taken slow!”

Java Blues sunk in as she tipped the cup, spilling coffee all over the table. Still smiling, she folded up the soaked table cloth and put it in the sink. Her Momma, a strong Kentucky Woman, always told her to be be honorable. ‘There’s no one Like You, don’t let some man with a Mean Streak tell you otherwise.’”

“Momma’s right. I’ll Never Surrender, unless it’s ME making that decision!”

Finis

(Oh Sherrie, I hope you liked the story!)

The Songs Titles:
Another One Bites The Dust, Queen
Barbara Ann, The Beach Boys
(The) Cup Of Life, Ricky Martin
Desperate But Not Serious, Adam Ant
Edmund Fitzgerald, Gordon Lightfoot
For My Broken Heart, Reba McIntyre.
Give It To Me, 112
Help Me Hold On, Travis Tritt
I Can’t Hold Back, Survivor
James, Pat Metheny
Kiss Me Again, Toby Keith
Let It Be Me, The Everly Brothers
My List, Toby Keith
Nobody, Keith Sweat
Over And Over Again, Nelly with Tim McGraw
Passionate Kisses, Mary Chapin Carpenter
Quest For Fire, Iron Maiden
Rocket Ride, Kiss
Smooth Operator, Sade
Tempted, Marty Stuart
Up All Night, Boomtown Rats
Valerie, The Monkees
We’ve Got Tonight, Bob Seger
Xanadu, Rush
You Know Me Better Than That, George Strait
Zip-Lock, Lit
Are You Sincere, Andy Williams
Breathe, Faith Hill
Caught Up, Usher
Don’t Cha, Pussycat Dolls
Enough Is Enough, April Wine
Flesh For Fantasy, Billy Idol
Good Morning Girl, Journey
Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?, Rod Stewart
If I Had $1,000,000 , Barenaked Ladies
Just Let Me Be In Love,Tracy Byrd
Kryptonite, Three Doors Down
Let’s Go,The Cars
Miles And Years , Lionel Cartwright
No Doubt About It, Neil McCoy
Out In The Cold, Judas Priest
Pick Up The Pieces, Alexz Johnson
Questions Of My Childhood , Kansas
Raining On Sunday, Keith Urban
Saturday Night, Bay City Rollers
Turn The Page, Bob Seger
Unconditional, Gary Allan
Very Last Moment In Time, Lindsay Lohan
Wishing, A Flock Of Seagulls
X-Rated (Sub title of several songs - Hey, it’s X, cut me a little slack!)
Yeah, Usher
(The) Zoo, Scorpions
All Of The Good Ones Are Taken, Ian Hunter
Brand New Me, John Michael Montgomery
Crusader, Saxon
Dance With Me, Next
Everytime I Close My Eyes, Babyface
Find Me A Man, Toni Braxton
Good Times, Sam Cooke
Happy Girl, Martina McBride
Infatuation, Rod Stewart
Java Blues, Nazareth
Kentucky Woman, Neil Diamond
Like You, Bow Wow & Ciara
Mean Streak, Y&T
Never Surrender, Corey Hart
Oh Sherrie, Steve Perry

Are you ready to challenge me?  Email your Friday Request to chroniclesofnani@gmail.com.  

Where It Began

That was the opening line to my very first favorite grownup song, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline. But for today, Friday, I can totally “begin to know it,” and it not “going strong!” I’m trying to get 2012 started with some real interest in Friday By Request. So here’s what I’ll do for January.

If I don’t have a request for the week, I’ll repost from the first year of Friday By Request, back in the days of Yahoo 360. Today, I’m reposting the very first FBR ever. I hope these will be an example of what you can request and inspire my readers to challenge me!

================

Friday By Request
Originally Posted at Yahoo 360 Chronicles of Nani, August 4, 2006

All right bad poetry fans! I was writing poems last night, actually one about the cats, when David challenged me. "Why don’t you write a poem about the groceries?” So I did and it gave me an idea.

I will do Friday as “Friday By Request.” The first person to make a request before Wednesday will give me my challenge for Friday. It can be a topic for a poem, photo or the script for a TV or Radio ad. Try other ideas - challenge me! It can be for any topic or product, all I ask is that you remember this is a family blog. I have kids on my friends list! Send me your suggestions with the subject “For Friday?” through the Yahoo 360 messages. If I don’t have any requests on any given week, I won’t do the Friday By Request blog. If I have more than one, I’ll do the first one I get. If I don’t do yours, feel free to resubmit it any time after the Friday blog is posted.

It might be serious from time to time, but more often than not it will be bad, funny or both!

Without further ado, here is David’s request…

A Poem about Groceries
For David
Apples, oranges and plums
The fruit bowl cries for purpose
Lettuce, tomatoes and peppers
The poor crisper has none

Burgers chops and chicken
The freezer meat shelves empty
Ice cream, veggies and entrées
The top shelves barren too

Flour, sugar and coffee
The canisters sound so hollow
Cereal, soup and pasta
The cupboard shelves collect dust

Dinner rolls, cookies and Pop Tarts
The bread box, light as a feather
Cinnamon, chili and garlic
The spice rack bottles are clear

Let’s go to the grocery store!

================

There ya go, the very first FBR! Of course now, don’t send a Yahoo private message. These days requests for Friday can be sent to chroniclesofnani@gmail.com. If I have a request for next week, I’ll post it. If not, another repost as will be true for the month of January. Come on! Challenge me!

Friday By Request

This week’s request is from Seamhead Gypsy who sent this challenge:

Where or how does one know specific train schedules?


For about 2 years now I've been gathering ideas and trying to teach myself some of the nuances of model railroading. Thus far my only accomplishment was two years ago when I made a temporary setup under and around one of our Christmas trees. For me the fun was using the glue other materials to make the scenery where my little winter town was set. I tried (wanted) to do a polar express theme last year but never could find enough info to be authentic enough.


FBR is for me to continue to do research. I want to see the trains so I can be sure that I have the right details.


There are actually a few questions in there, but I’ll try to help!

The first thing I did was to ask my railfan guru, David, a few questions to make sure I have my facts right. (Always check your facts, then if you’re wrong, you can blame someone else!)


I sense that you want more the opportunity to see the detail on the trains for modeling as much as how they run, so I have some suggestions.

First off to see the trains in action, I’ll suggest find some local railfans and ask to hang out and observe when they chase trains. It worked for me. No, falling in love with them is NOT a requirement, especially if you are a married dude and most of them are married dudes. The whole romance of the rails thing works best if there are 2 single people who are mutually attracted anyway. But seriously, look for guys hanging out near the railroad crossing, the extra antenna on the car lets you know there’s a good chance it’s a railfan. Let them know you’re an aspiring model railroader and you are looking to learn.

If you don’t want to be so bold, try learning about signals. Get familiar with the railroad and get a feel for when the trains come by. There are great books and online resources for learning what the different signals mean. I’m still working on that. It’s not easy, but it’s easier than figuring out baseball signals!


When David and I got out, we use those things. He’s also on the phone all the time with other railfans, some who work for the railroad or for a shipper who works with the railroad. When a dispatcher has a minute and calls a friend to tell him where the train is, it’s NOT insider trading! The big companion when we chase trains is the scanner. The same way a scanner tuned to police radio can hear what’s going on, a railfan listening to railroad communication can figure out what crossing the train will be at next. Understanding the jargon can be challenging sometimes too!


If you are looking to see some trains up close to really see the detail, I recommend a train zoo! A train zoo is what I call a train museum. Rina started to enjoy trains seeing them up-close at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. There’s SO much to see there, including a few antique locomotives you can walk right up to and take photos. There are some train zoos that also have a train that runs, a tourist train. I know in Ohio there is the Ohio Railway Museum just north of Columbus in Worthington. They have a train that runs there for a reasonable admission, great for getting kids into the trains too! There are lots of train zoos in the US. Google “Railroad Museum” and the state where you’re looking to find one. There’s a good chance you might not have even known there was one near you.

The last thing I’ll suggest is seek out a local model railroad club or train hobby shop. Ask questions. Most railroad club members are passionate about their hobby and won’t take much prying to get them talking about it. I’ve always found that the best thing is, to humble yourself a little. If I say up front that I’m a novice who wants help, I find more often than not, I get help.

I hope that’s some decent information to get you moving in the right direction, Seamhead Gypsy. If you seek more, you can always drop me an email!


Next?

If you’d like to give me the next Friday By Request, send me an email! I’ll write about, photograph, scrap or do poetry or song lyrics. Think the idea is just too crazy? Send it to me. I might still be able to do something for you! The first person to send an email as of now will be next week’s Requester. You get to challenge me and a link to your blog if you want it. I hope you’ll join in!

Links
Ohio Railway Museum

School’s Out!

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My final paper was turned in just before I went to bed Thursday night. Now it’s HOLIDAY TIME!

I always love and have always loved the day after school finishes, be it graduation, the summer or just Christmas break. Yes, for the first four grades there was never talk of it being anything but Christmas break. No winter break, no holiday break, it was CHRISTMAS break. Of course for the first four grades I went to a Catholic school! Hehehe


Last night David and I went to Milan Michigan to wait for the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train. Every year CP runs the holiday train. The Holiday Train stops at different places on its route, live music plays and collections for local food banks are done. It’s very cool. Since CP doesn’t own any track through Michigan and Ohio on the way to Chicago, they run on Norfolk Southern track, so they don’t make stops. But, the train is just incredible to see, especially at night! Picture several neighbors in a row, all with huge and bright Christmas displays on their lawns. Now, put those laws on cars and put them on the rails without pulling the plug on the lights. That’s what we saw!

Canadian Pacific Holiday Train
My first attempt at night time photography

That’s the best one I got. Doesn’t do the train justice, but I took the opportunity to play with the manual settings on my camera. For no tripod night shots of moving light with a camera that’s only semi manual, I think I did pretty well! Still, PLEASE check out the link below to see an outstanding shot of this remarkable holiday train!! For scrapping, I’m going to get the okay to use a better shot and put my first try with it. I can still make it an awesome scrapbook page!



I want to bring back an old regular Chronicles of Nani favorite; well it was a favorite of mine. Friday By Request was something I started back in the Yahoo 360 days. You tell me what to blog! I’ll write about any subject, show a photo, make a scrapbook page, write poetry, anything you ask. The only requirement is that it has to be in the moral spirit of The Chronicles of Nani. This is a family coffee shop on the Information Superhighway.

Click the Friday By Request tag and see some of the ones I’ve done here. If you have a challenge for me, drop me an email at chronicleofnani@gmail.com. I’ll do the first request I receive each week by Monday at 6PM Eastern Time zone. If I don’t have a request, there is no FBR. If I have more than one request in a given week, I’ll do the first one I receive. I always do the first request I receive after the Friday By Request is posted. If I don’t have a request, I’ll do a “leftover" request, but I’ll encourage you to resend your request the next week. I’ve only had more than one request a couple times since I started doing it in 2007, so if you have an idea, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll do it! When you send your email, be sure to let me know what name you’d like used when I post your request and if you have a blog URL, I’ll add that to the post.

I hope you’ll consider giving me a challenge!

Links
Canadian Pacific Holiday Train


Friday By Request Tag
Send me a Request!

Friday By Request

From Talkin Baseball Word Art by Digitalegacies Designs

Let me start by telling everyone that the nature and process of the seven layers of the OSI Model in Networking is essential to understanding, well, everything else in networking. It was also half of the first week of my Intro to Networking class. Our instructor told us we’d need to read the chapter at least twice to fully understand it. Boy was he right! But I think I have a good understanding to take with me as I keep learning now!

Summer semester if half the weeks of the other semesters, so it’s intense and accelerated! I love being challenged like that! Of course, I’m only taking one class right now, but I’m also planning our small, but still detailed, reception, trying to keep up with my responsibilities at Scrap Bird and I’m also in physical therapy for my knee. My plate is full!

So, in that very involved last week, I got a request for Friday in time to do it, but I couldn’t pull my nose out of my text book to do it! This week is connectors and radio signals. I’m learning how they work into the OSI model, but the “new” information is old information for me. I constructed cables in my old cable TV job and I’ve passed the FCC test twice, having to understand waveforms and signal measurements, to become licensed in high school and then again as part of the curriculum in trade school. So this week, I can breathe a little and catch up!

So here was the question I got from Seamhead Gypsy:

“Can you give me a logical reason that makes sense why MLB/Direct TV Extra Innings has said that living in New Bremen, Ohio is a market for the Detroit Tigers?” Last week, when the Red Sox were in Detroit, he couldn’t watch the game on NESN (New England Sports Network).

Logical reason, I can provide that, but it doesn’t makes sense to me either!

America’s Capitalist Pastime
For Seamhead Gypsy

First off, I agree that New Bremen, Ohio is definitely not in the Tigers market at all. David got to watch the Red Sox games because we get the Tigers games on Fox Sports Detroit in Toledo. But if a Red Sox fan is PAYING to see Red Sox games, he or she should be able to watch them from the Red Sox bias too! In our house, at least half of us appreciates the Tigers bias for those games, but if I wasn’t in the picture and David had paid to see the Red Sox games, he shouldn’t have to watch the Tigers broadcast either.

New Bremen, Ohio is closest to Columbus as far as the larger Ohio cities go, that’s about the farthest Ohio city there is from Detroit. Part of the trouble here is satellite TV! I know many people think it’s great and all, but I consider myself a Direct TV survivor. I was in a DTV household for a year and that contract couldn’t end fast enough. Direct TV isn’t local, part of the reason they have no idea what the local market really is. I mean, the Windsor, Ontario channels weren’t considered local to Detroit, but Detroit is local to New Bremen, Ohio? What are those surfer dudes in California smoking before they head to work at Direct TV? Obviously, the same stuff they were smoking in geography class!

But I think the bigger picture here is once again sapping the fans for everything they’re worth. MLB does a lot of “mo money” stuff. Like I said, if you pay to see the games on TV, you should ALWAYS get what you’re paying extra for and you should have it the way YOU want it. David has a paid subscription to listen to games on the radio. Why because MLB wanted the revenue from the local radio stations that were streaming their content on the web. Never mind that now you pay to listen to the radio, advertisements and all. If MLB wants to sell the play by play of the game, they should do it themselves commercial free.

Think about that. If you see a personal website with lots of ads, you know it’s a free site. So, I’m thinking MLB is selling content they get for free. It’s 100% profit for them and 100% rip-off for the fans and the radio stations. If I were selling advertising for the radio station, I could increase my ad sales by coaxing national or regional advertisers with the number of hits during games on the web. Instead, I lose revenue from advertisers who had that idea already, when my listening base decreases because it’s now a premium service sold by MLB.

Is it legal? Probably, but barely. None of us could get away with it. Is it ethical? Absolutely not. If other companies advertising has to be made available to baseball fans at a cost for the league to make ends meet, perhaps the league has outgrown what its market actually thinks its product is worth. They are exploiting fans much in the same way a drug dealer exploits addicts. Once you have a taste and really like it, they’ll charge you more and more for it. Hey, someone has to pay those MILLIONS of dollars a year salaries.

There needs to be a decent system of salary caps. Not on a per team basis, but on a per player basis. It might fix a lot of the problems with major league baseball. I mean, once you reach that ceiling, you don’t need to look at other opportunities that leave the local fans in the dust and you don’t need to increase you performance with drugs to achieve job security or to make more money than the next guy.

But until such a time that fans are no longer victims of owners and players greed, they’ll keep finding ways to charge us for new things that were free before and the obscenely wealthy will keep getting wealthier while it takes a greater portion of a fans salary to enjoy a game that used to be for everybody. But hey, people like teachers, police officers, fire fighters, they can afford that. Such important jobs are equally overpaid, right? Right?

For the average person, Baseball was a saving grace in the last economical depression. This time, for fans, it’s one of the leading causes.

Snippets

Memorial Day Weekend, 2006

It was a nice Tuesday today! I paid some bills and while out doing that, got a a new job lead source! I also, feeling lucky from my errands run, jiggled a little at the connection on the computer for the bike and it powered right up when I plugged it in! YAY!!! Now I can set the resistance to “uphill!” 5 minutes and not just my legs, but even my butt was tingling! And the sensors on everything worked too, when I asked for the results of my 1-mile mini-ride, it gave me high marks for speed, calories burned and heart rate. Aside from the crippling pain in my knee, I’m in pretty good shape for too round! LOL


As you know, I collect “shorts” for my blog and post a variety blog every now and then. Well, except that I just had to put a little stand-alone post about my plans to roast Chuck for dinner after implying that we’d have 6 more weeks of winter. That was topical and needed to be presented first thing...the day after. :) Hey, I live with a newspaper man. It may not be “live” but I take the time to make sure the facts are right.

Well, and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!


Read Any Good Books Lately?

I’m reading “Slouching Toward Fargo,” by Neal Karlen. David borrowed it from a coworker and let me read it after he was done. Yes, he warned his coworker that I’m a slow reader. This one, even though it’s a baseball story, has started really slow for me. It's not just the dyslexic slow. It’s a “not feeling it" slow. It’s written in first person and the beginning of the book is very much about the writing business. I can so get why David would enjoy that, a combination of “talking shop” and a personal passion second only to trains...well, maybe after trains and poker now. But the “shop talk” for a shop I’m not in was a little drudging for me. David promises it gets better, more baseball and less about writing. I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.

I've left the link for Book Swim on The Chronicles’ bulletin board. The click is still worth 50% off your first month there! I’m thinking I might see if David would want to give it a try. I don’t read quick enough. It’s like someone who watches one movie a month joining NetFlix, but between the two of us, maybe. I know I was avidly searching the house for a new book after the holidays. I wasn’t going out through a foot of snow with a nasty cold to even go to the library at the beginning of the year. It would have been nice to have a book delivered to my mailbox!


Guest CT Spot

Oh, this one isn’t me looking. (although if you’re interested, Digitalegacies Designs still has a couple of openings!) This is about me BEING! I am a guest CT member for Tirza’s Treasures for the month of February. I was originally going to be her guest for January, then I got my own store. It was Linda’s suggestion that I might want to postpone my CT agreement until I got settled at Scrap Bird. I SO appreciate her wise suggestion! It really did take the better part of January to get into a rhythm as a pro designer. But now, I’m so happy to get this CT position!

I made the offer to CT for Tirza’s Treasures during the SAS designer contest. Linda was forced out of two contests thanks to Ike and a power outage that kept her from making the deadlines. Her kits are fabulous and I offered that when, not if, but when, she gets a store, to contact me about CTing. So now I get top play with some really great kits (that I didn’t have to make first!)

The first kit I’m working with is “Soft As Steel.”

Isn’t this a gorgeous kit?? Such perfect colors for a spring weekend combining the awakening greens with the cool steel of the rails and dusty industry of a limestone plant!

This is my first layout with Soft As Steel.

Credits: kit - "Soft As Steel" by Tirza's Treasures
Fonts - Ma Sexy and Chalkboard

I’m using this kit for all of the pages from our railfan trip in Canada Memorial Day of 2006. See? I am making a little headway in catching up!



FBR Anyone?

I’ll finish this entry with a reminder about a feature that hasn’t had any love since Thanksgiving! I guess, it’s kind of okay, since I’ve been so tied up with getting the new settled in my world, but I’m a well-adjusted job seeker by day and newlywed-pro scrapbook designer-Donna Reed by night and I’m ready, willing and wanting to take a Friday challenge again!

If you aren’t familiar with Friday By Request, you can check out the guidelines for making a request here. There is also a link to every request I’ve done since August 2006, 52 entries on Blogspot or Yahoo that have been requested by you the readers of The Chronicles of Nani!

I welcome your new challenges for 2009!

Friday By Request

Credits: Kit - "Falling Into Fall" by Piggyscraps

FBR day after Thanksgiving

Happy Leftovers Day! Is everyone still stuffed from yesterday? Thanksgiving is being especially thankful for good company and GOOD EATS!

I had a request left in the comments earlier this week. “Name 6 things you are thankful for,” from Seamhead Gypsy who said, “this should be an easy one.”

Only six? That’s NOT easy!

I won’t count the number one thing I’m thankful for today. I’m thankful that Black Friday exists to give the economy a little nudge. I am REALLY thankful that participation is not compulsory!

The next big thing I’m thankful for the Friday after Thanksgiving is LEFTOVERS! Especially when my Dad lets me take home the leftover Verona coffee and the Thanksgiving turkey carcass for soup! Today is a day of soup-making and hopefully I can get David to joining me for congee tomorrow!

But now, the six for FBR!

I’m Thankful
for Seamhead Gypsy

1. David

Growing up I was not the typical girl. I never had a dream wedding in mind or for that matter, even that I might be married one day. That idea that a man in my life was nonessential lasted for over 38 years!

Now, I’ve become a total girl and do have those silly thoughts in my head. maybe one day there will be a wedding. While I’d never thought it would be mine, I’ve wanted to do a wedding scrapbook ever since I started paper scrapbooking. Now, yeah, I look at wedding theme kits and my fantasy girlie brain starts purring.

But David to me is so much more than a fantasy man, which is why he makes me a giggly girl at times. He just “gets me” like no one ever has. I’m not a hearts and flowers romantic type, but I am a romantic. He knows how to romance me. He supports me, not just materially because I’m going through rough employment times, but he supports me completely. He makes me strong as a person and as a woman. He makes my inner-teenager swoon and is the perfect playmate for my inner child.

He is why now I can’t imagine living without what I never thought I wanted.

2. My family

The blood relatives and close friends who have made the difference in who I’ve become from who I was and are shaping who I will be. I am so lucky that I can tell you more than five people who have been dear friends and confidantes for over a decade, some of them for over two. I talk to Grandma at least once a week and Dad is never more than a call and a few miles away if I really need him. Tori and Rina have never let me lose my sense of wonder and desire to learn. Sometimes I feel so far away from everyone, but in my heart, they are all always close.

3. My future sister-in-law

My brother falls fast and hard and too many times that’s meant that he becomes a victim. There’s not a soft way to put that. He needs to be with a woman who will love him for the generous heart he has without trampling it, a strong woman who won’t take advantage of him or charge her strength by making him weak.

I think, and I truly hope I’m right, that he’s finally found that in Laura. He’s a great guy when he’s in between women, but he too often sold himself short and changed to be right for women who haven’t been worth it. This time, he’s happy and he is still that great guy.

I always said it would take one heck of a very special woman to be the right one for him. He’s probably more thankful than I am for her, but on behalf of everyone who loves the real Dave, thank you Laura, for loving the same guy we always have!


4. My faith

Plain and simple without my personal religious convictions and the faith and optimism that go with them, I couldn't possibly be making it right now.

5. HR departments that answer the phone, call back or at least send a form letter to acknowledge that a human being in need of a job has expressed an interest in their company.

Even if they have hired someone else to fill the open opportunity or if there is not an opening, the companies that have the respect to at least acknowledge that they were contacted are the best ones to hope to work for. I’ll remember the companies who have treated me like a person and act like a patron when I can.

6. The Internet

It’s not just a place to showcase my ego, but its someplace to make friends from all over the world. Someplace to learn about new cultures, share ideas and inspire other creative people just as they inspire me!

I also have relationships with cousins on both sides of my family that I wouldn't have without email and blogs! When miles are reduced to megabytes, we’re all closer!