The Chronicles Is Brewing Fresh Coffee Again!

Last week Wayne at Acting Balanced wrote a post pondering some of the things I’ve been thinking about lately. It seems to me that a lot of bloggers take blogging vacation in the summer. This might be because kids are home from school, personal vacations or that it’s just too nice outside to stay inside. Wayne suggested that a lot of formerly personal blogs have “gone pro” and have become more geared toward advertising. In commenting I suggested maybe a lot of personal blogs have jumped ship to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or some simpler less committed form of communication.

I have a Facebook account and I do check it every day because I have friends and relatives who don’t blog and don’t use email anymore. I visit Facebook a couplafew times day to check messages and run through a few the timeline headlines but I still get my occasional “I posted on Facebook, why don’t you know?” I honestly don’t have any problem using whatever means are necessary for communication. I will call if you won’t use any other media but phone calls. I email people who stick to email over social media and I use my Facebook account for people who don’t communicate any other way.

I don’t like to post a lot of things going on in my life on Facebook. To me Facebook “feels” like I’m standing in a warehouse full of people and when I post my status it’s basically yelling information about myself in the hopes that the person across the room will hear it. I’m more comfortable on my blog. That “feels” like I’m sitting in the cushy chair sharing coffee and stories with friends from around the web. Maybe I just have an old-school attitude but I think that’s okay. As long as blogs are still alive I’ll keep blogging.

I think that has a lot to do with my recent bloggers block. I feel like I’ve been going through the motions and not really putting any of me in my blog. There are weeks where the only thing I’ve posted has been memes. That’s taking the easy way out. Maybe I had bloggers block a lot longer than I thought I did. Taking a month off was inevitable.

I’m going to blog more short posts. There will be my formerly usual longer posts too, but I want to recreate my cyber presence. By recreate, I mean redo it like it was when it was more of me. I’m going to limit the number of memes I do and put Nani back into The Chronicles of Nani

I hope my regulars will still stop in for a cup of coffee!

Happy Spring 1st

Good morning Cyberpals! Happy Spring!

The high temperature yesterday was 81 degrees here, blowing the old record away by 3 degrees. We’re forecasted for two more days in the low to mid 80s…in MARCH! I’m over the flower sadness now and ready to just enjoy the warmth! Mid 80’s is the temperature in my fantasy paradise.


Global Climate Change. Hmm… I’m still not sold on cars and aerosol cans being to blame for the weather, not yet. Climate goes in cycles and just 2 years of bizarre weather doesn’t mean a permanent change. Even if warmer weather and more violent storms become the norm, I’m not so sure it’s all our fault. True that we haven’t done much to slow it down and we really need to be more ecologically conscious, but we weren’t here with our pollutants during the time of the great glaciers. Where I’m sitting right now used to be a solid piece of ice all year round. The climate does naturally change in big ways, always has. I suppose it would have been an alarming thing to be sitting happily on my glacier and suddenly the cable goes out because there is water in my modem from the glacier melting. I’m just sayin’. It could be the process of major global climate change that’s happened before. Still, like I said, we haven’t helped it slow down the process and conservation is a great idea. Major climate change is slow. The glaciers didn’t melt overnight and I doubt any of us will be fried to a crisp. But we need to do what we can to slow the process so there will be more future generations before they all have to swelter in parkas on an average Ohio 110 degree day in January because the hole in the ozone has made sunscreen ineffective.

Just suggesting to use reusable shopping bags and save the water in a jug while it’s heating up to make spaghetti in the kitchen, water the house plants or make coffee. We love our eco-ghetti! And recycle, recycle, recycle!

I have a really cool barn to share with you and liking to Tricia’s Barn Charm at Bluff Area Daily.

I saw this farm when David and I took a day trip last Sunday, March 11. It’s a beautiful farm, even with the dry remains of the corn field and look at the barn!

It’s on Ohio 423 between Marion and Waldo. I love the unusual color and the fact that the barn and house match!

This week’s prompt from Suzanne at The Coloradolady for Tell Me Tuesday at first glance should be easy for me.

What is the best part of your average day?

As an optimist, “the best” should be easy!

But, as an optimist the first thing I thought when I contemplated the question was, “just one?”

I could say “waking up,” and the best part of waking up is that Folders is NOT in my cup. And then I guess I could say the best part of any day is when I can paraphrase advertising and slam Folders in one sentence!

The thing is that right now I don’t have average days. I mean, I’m not employed. I clean and organize, write a sponsored post when there is one available. That’s my working day. The best parts are when I discover treasures in my boxes form relatives’ estates or when I rediscover something we thought we’d lost. There have been a couple of those.

I could also say the best part is lunchtime when I relax, read a few blogs and usually experiment with something in the kitchen, whether it’s the meal or a new drink concoction.


Then there’s later in the afternoon when Kaline visits me wherever in the house I am just for some attention. It's even better just before David comes home when they both visit me although that’s in part because it's “Fresh Kibble” time.

But I think truly the best time of the average day for me is when David comes home. It’s the “Honey I’m home” kiss I starting missing as soon as the warmth of the “goodbye” kiss fades. I like my alone time during my breaks during the day and Heaven knows that it’s hard to accomplish any cleaning or organizing if there’s anyone else with me, but it’s when my partner in life is home again and I can share what I’ve accomplished during the day with him that I can really say it’s been a good day.

Wow…I’ve been totally consumed by Donna Reedishness, huh? I wonder what Donna Reed would have blogged about?

Putting my apron back on…


Join us for Tell Me Tuesday for a prompt that makes you think a little. You might surprise yourself!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Did March come in like a lion or was it something less ferocious in your neck of the woods?

Well, we had snow for a couple of days but it melted, just like all winter. We had some nasty wind that along with the snow tamped down the crocus blooms a little, but they are starting to stand back up. I guess I’d say March made no grand entrance, but we’ve had pretty much lion cubs all winter.


2. Speaking of lions, which one's your film favorite...The Cowardly Lion (Wizard of Oz), Mufasa (The Lion King), Elsa (Born Free), or Alex (Madagascar)? You may notice I left Aslan off the list. Including him would have made this question way too easy for many of you.

I’m going to start by clearing up a misconception about me. Many people seem to expect me to know at least something about The Chronicles of Narnia because of the name of my blog. I don’t. I never read the book, never saw the movie. When I read the end of this question and the “Aslan would make it too easy for some,” I had to Google Aslan because I had no idea who Aslan was.

The first Chronicles of Narnia movie came out in 2005 and the pre-release advertising started early and was a regular staple on the TV channels and programs I watched. I had never heard of The Chronicles of Narnia before early 2005, but when I started my first blog in April of that year, I embraced the movie as just for me but misspelled and fixed the spelling to name my blog.

So, having still never read the books or seen any of the movies, I still don’t know who Aslan is. It would have been no different in choosing if Aslan was a choice.


As a favorite, I think the Cowardly Lion because I love the Wizard of Oz. I think the way they mixed black and white and introduced Oz in Technicolor in the movie was brilliant and they truly used the technology of the day to their creative advantage. I know that’s more liking the movie than the character, but the impressive production of the 1939 classic and the great development of all the characters make the Cowardly Lion stick out amongst movie lions to me.




3. What's your favorite spot from which to view the sunrise or sunset?

When I’m traveling on the eastern side of the country, if I’m near a beach, I want to be on that beach before dawn so I can watch the sunrise. There is nothing more inspiring and powerful that watching the birth of a new day rise up from the horizon over an endless body of water. I’ve seen sunset over the Pacific Ocean and Lake Michigan and they are pretty, but not as much an event as sunrise.



4. To what extent is knowledge power and to what extent is truth power? What's the difference?

Truth is unedited knowledge. I think they work in tandem and are personally very powerful. It is the foundation for understanding and peaceful coexistence with others who seek the same.

I don’t think knowledge or truth have any kind of power in the world. It would be a lot more peaceful place if it did.


5. What's something peculiar you've seen recently?

Me? I guess I’m peculiar in that I don’t really find too many things odd, just interesting. I was recently intrigued by seeing a shed with a large Ohio logo, similar to the Bicentennial Barns.



6. Bottled water...your thoughts?

I conserve water at home by filling a half gallon jug while dish water is warming up. I use that water for cooking or making tea and coffee. I have a 32 ounce water bottle I keep with me during the day and fill it a few times from the tap. We have good city water, so I don’t see a need to filter it or buy bottled water for home. Besides, that would take the fluoride out of my everyday drinking water and the Dentist would up my daily required amount of Fluoride Rin$e!

When I travel, it’s a different story. I like the convenience of bottled water and I’ve stayed in some hotels with hard water that tastes so bad a half a bottle of Mio can’t make it drinkable! So, I do drink bottled water when I travel.



7. What's your strongest sense?

My strongest sense is probably my sixth sense. When I “just have a feeling” about something, I’m often right. If we’re talking one of the five senses, probably taste? I think that helps my baking.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’ve been watching Degrassi for 10 years and I really think it should be required viewing for parents of teens because the situations are so very real. I’ve talked to teens who love the show because it depicts things that really do go on in high school, although maybe not all of them in one group of kids. But even the teens watching say that everything happening to one cast of characters is what makes it riveting to watch, these are real situations, but they are grateful they really don’t ALL happen to the same people.

I love teenagers; I remember from my own teenage years, that they were some of the best and worst times in my life. I admire them because I remember how hard it was socially to exist in high school. I enjoy the show for its realism and because there has always been a character or two who have aspects of their personality that remind me of myself as a teen.

Last week, they introduced the current class president’s Mom, who has MS. I was kinda surprised at myself about how cool I think that character is. It’s a character my age battling the same disease as me. So I have a character who is more like me now. It’s kinda cool. Of course, I covet her power chair and wheel-chair friendly house and the things that are more readily available to patients in Canada where MS is more common and healthcare is better and more affordable, especially if your house is a TV set and you are a member of the supporting cast, so you don’t have “issues” to be addressed. It still makes me feel good that the reality of MS, and kids living with parents who have MS, is part of the story.

Let's Talk About The Weather

I hope everyone in the East has power, or a backup generator, and is successfully digging out today. It may surprise readers, but I’m just not a big fan of snow. If you’re a regular at this cyber-coffee shop, you are wide eyed at my sarcasm there saying, “NO! Nani, really? You don’t like snow?”

My Georgiagander pals, Jeff and Jeanne were snowed in for days. Georgia just doesn’t know what to do with itself when it gets serious cold and then SNOW! Jeanne is a teacher, so work was closed for not a snow day, but more like a snow week! Crazy!

We had a few inches here in Toledo too. Nasty day, Tuesday was! Yes, back to Nani hates winter. Ya know, I’m not much of a hater, just a few things: Snow and spiders. I’d rate them about equal except that snow has one saving grace – snow will freeze a spider to death. Spiders don’t do anything to snow, so since it does do one thing worthwhile, I guess I’d have to admit I don’t hate snow as much as spiders. Okay and every time anyone mentions spiders, including myself, I do a ceiling scan. I don’t apprehensively look out the window at the mention of snow. Self-analysis saves on therapy bills.

Yesterday, in all that snow on the ground, was therapy day for me. Our plow guy, Rapid LLC in Toledo, sent me a text Tuesday night asking if I’d want snow removal on Wednesday. Yes, he wants the business, but he sent the text to set up his schedule and put his regular and return customers first. He asked what time was good for him to come in. It made me really feel like I was getting pick of the day for my convenience. Calling your regular customers first before the people who call after they are snowed in is great business! I told him that David would help uncover my car to get to therapy and the drive would be empty for plowing after 10:30. I got a text as I was leaving therapy letting me know the snow removal was done. If you are local and need affordable, great plowing, shoveling and salting, follow the links at the end of the post!Rapid LLC is simply the BEST!

About David “helping” me uncover the car? When I got in the shower, he said he’d pull the car out for me. What a doll. I’d say I was blessed in marriage just at that, but when I went out to go to therapy, the car was cleaned off, pulled right up to the door and the steps were shoveled and salted with a path shoveled from the steps to my driver’s side door! I posted my “Greatest husband in the world” on facebook yesterday and had a few people asking if David trained other mates. Chuckle-worthy!

Well, now, all that icky snow in both Ohio and Georgia has converged on the East! I know Edna had some pictures of the mounds and mounds of snow at here place yesterday. David’s brother is in Connecticut and we have friends all over the New York/New England area. Crazy this year. I know I’ve made comments about wanting that Global Warming they promised, but seriously, it’s Global Climate Change. I like the idea of “Global little bit warmer in winter” better. I’m not sure if it’s something we’re doing so much as it’s normal ecological cycles. I suspect that we might accelerate it with what we put in the atmosphere. I recycle, try to combine trips when I can and my next car will be a more fuel efficient one and save water in several ways too. It’s just a little, but if we all do just a little, it might help.

Starting today, everyone do just a little something to reduce that carbon footprint. Maybe the snow will stop and we’ll warm up by April. ;)

Okay, my coffee is done and it’s shower time. Then hit the books!

Have a great day!

Links
Rapid LLC
Excellent and affordable snow removal in Toledo!

Miss Edna’s Place
See some pics of the snow in Massachusetts yesterday!

REAL Nightlife

“Earth Hour” will be on the 29th at 8 PM. The tallest towers in Atlanta and Chicago, the Phoenix Suns’ arena and the Golden Gate Bridge will join sites that are turning off the lights for an hour. The amount of reduction in light pollution and the energy saved will be measured.

On March 25, the city of Harmony, Florida will join many other cities around the world as part of the Earth Week activities. The town will hold its 6th annual Dark Sky Festival from 6-11 PM. In Harmony, their event is a family fun event where the town lights will be dimmed for the festival and families are encouraged to bring blankets to sit on the lawn and gaze at the stars to create awareness of not just astrology, but just how much light pollution is really taking from us. If I could be in Florida that weekend, I would definitely be at the festival in Harmony!

I love stargazing and I definitely know that more rural areas are much better for it. Living in the city, we seldom see many stars, even in suburbia when I was in Michigan, I could usually see Orion, sometimes the Big Dipper, but the glow from Detroit was much more pronounced in the night sky.

When I am in a more rural area I can see so much more clearly the stars. I thought the Little Dipper had gone away until one night traveling “up north” in Michigan I found it and Cassiopeia too. When Mars was close enough to see it brightly with the naked eye, I still had to squint to see it in Northville, but in the country, you even got a hint of the red glow!

According to an article at USNews.com, studies have shown that the same light pollution that blinds us to the stars can also cause some health risks to us and wildlife. Darkness enhances the deepness of sleep, rest which is essential for brain function. They’ve also noted that there is documentation that supports safety and security lighting may not be a safe or secure as people think. The lights hitting the human eye cause momentary blindness, let alone a false sense of security. The same lights that can scare off an intruder can also light their way!

In Harmony, they will dim the lights and spend some time actually seeing the stars on the 25th. They’ll save some energy too and for a few hours, get a look at what the world REALLY looks like at night.

Dark Sky Festival in Harmony Florida

Going Green

For the record, as I sip my ecocoffee with pumpkin spice creamer, We have reached the point where we are putting out the gray garbage bin with the landfill bound stuff every other week, with the recycling bin and the recycling bin typically is closer to full! Yay us!

Has anyone else joined me in making an effort to turn off the water when brushing? I’m up to it being less than once a week that I forget!

If you don’t think that it’s wasting that much water, there is a simple example that shows just how much unused water is running down the drain while the brush is in your mouth.

Next time you brush your teeth, put the toothpaste on your brush and stop the drain. Now turn the water on and brush. When you’re done brushing, look at the water in the sink. Now think about the number of times a day you brush your teeth. What about a week, a month, a year? You could start a large tropical fish aquarium with the wasted water in a month! (Show the kids this!)

Ready to turn off the water when brushing now?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Saving The Planet (One Cup of Coffee at a Time)

This one’s a long one so, get a cup of coffee and a piece of that black forest cake!

Who knew saving the planet could taste so good?

That’s right, uh-huh, just call me SOUPER JAVA NANI, defender of Mother Earth!

:::moment of silence with a impish grin on my face:::

Yeah, okay, I’m not really a super hero, even in my own ego, but I do my part where I can to preserve our planet!

David and I were surprised by a fact revealed on The Weather Channel a few weeks back in the segment done by Bill Nye The Science Guy. Bill had posed a question about how many gallons of water could be save annually just by turning off the water when you brush your teeth. I’ll be honest I don’t remember the number, I just remember that it was an astronomical figure that shocked both of us! I’m making a concerted effort to remember to turn off the water between the initial “add a little water to the brush to moisten the toothpaste” phase and the rinse.

But it’s rough to break an old habit. I mean, I’m 42 years old and most of those 42 years I’ve had teeth! I’m a pretty devout brusher. I’m even one of those strange people who actually flosses every day. My oral hygienist back in Michigan said it was a pleasant surprise, most people don’t. But for decades, brushing my teeth has meant, put toothpaste on the brush, run the brush under a little water, brush back and forth, up and down and in little circles and rinse. THEN turn off the water and floss. It never occurred to me to turn off the water while I did the back and forth, up and down and little circles!

So now, how do I remember to try to retrain myself? When I brush my teeth, I think about coffee!

Get that surprised look off your face! I’m not thinking about coffee as mouthwash or anything! Keep reading!

How does coffee make me think about water conservation? Well, I always make my coffee with rescued water! David and I keep a half gallon and a gallon jug on the counter near the sink. When the water is just running, we let it run over a jug. Think about all the times you just let the water run while it’s getting cold enough to drink or hot enough to rinse or wash dishes. It adds up. We fill those gallon and a half worth of jugs in a day easy. Those jugs are “rescued water,” water that didn’t just flow down the drain unused. Cats don’t drink cold water, room temperature is perfect for the kids and I also use the rescued water to make soup, lemonade, cook vegetables and make coffee! So, my coffee could be considered “ecocoffee!”


A New Notch On The Wall

I am proud to announce that The Chronicles of Nani is now a two-time winner of the Proximidade award for fostering friendship and providing special content around the cyber world!


Monika, of Monika Digital Designs bestowed this award this time. I definitely do extend that hand of friendship, but the specialness of content is totally up to my readers. I truly treasure every award you all feel I deserve!

Like I said before, I’m working on ideas of an award of my own to give out. You know I have “a list!” :) But I will be awarding people soon!



It’s Simply Davlicious!

What a way to start the day! This morning I brewed the ecocoffee in my grinder/coffee maker with a cinnamon stick in the grinder half. It ground the fresh cinnamon and added it to the coffee grounds as it was brewing. I used the caramel Splenda that David bought me last weekend for a sweet morning treat! YUM!

And speaking of “yum,” I’ve been tweaking a new recipe for baked apples that I’ll probably be doing a new “Cook Book Page” for, but in the mean time, I’m working on the Davlicious page in The Simply Davine Group to finally get it updated. Davlicious Recipes are all the archived recipes from Simply Davine. Simply Davine was essentially my “life and times of me” before The Chronicles of Nani. A regular blog is much easier to update several times a week than a website. Now that website is the portal to all my web stuff and the Davlicious link is just the archive recipes page. I’m going to be reconstructing that page with all the archived recipes and the original photos from when they were on the website. I’ll also be adding new recipes from time to time. But first, I want to make the archive more user-friendly!

Davlicious Recipes are all original or family recipes that I share with anyone who wants to try them. I did a set of “Cook Book Pages” last month and offered them in full resolution to anyone that wanted them. There were a few requests, which made me smile. I think that’s the “inner Italian grandma” that Noni left with me. So look for “Davlicious Recipes Cook Book Pages” from time to time on The Chronicles of Nani! Hint - when the Davlicious site is ready for the grand re-launch, look for a page or two to celebrate it!



Scrap News

Because I don’t have enough to fill my days...if you haven’t already seen the sarcasm in THAT statement, please apply it liberally and read it again...I suggested and am organizing an event with many of the contestants from the Next SAS-y Designer contest. We’re having a “Cast Party” for our after the scrapping reality show event, which includes cast members from the first week and ALL THREE of the winning new SAS-y Ladies!

So, what makes this something worth telling everyone who was NOT part of our cast?

You’re all invited! This cast party is our opportunity to say “Thanks” to all of you who read our blogs, voted and read almost daily pleas for votes in the contest. Now, we’re saying “thanks” with a whole slew of freebies, no strings attached - no begging, just a gift...a bunch of blog-hopping gifts for all of you as party favors!

The party starts next Wednesday, so make sure you visit here for a link to the party room where you'll find all the previews for your gifts and links to the blogs where the gift-givers have them offered. How cool is this?? I’ve already seen a lot of the previews. Trust me, it’s VERY cool!



Jessica Sprague

While browsing some scrapping blogs this morning, I came across The Digital Life and Times of Meg. Meg’s first blog entry on this blog was in August, but she has some interesting scrapbook ideas, a few freebies and a link to an interesting tutorial and classes site! Jessica Sprague is offering a free class at jessicasprague.com in November!


This is not a personal endorsement of the class, since it’s all totally new to me, but the topic caught my interest and I intend to sign up for it when it’s available for registration on the 20th.

Stories At Hand advertises itself as a class for developing the “missing moments” in between photos and scrapbook pages. The promo suggests it will help capture those untold memories in scrapbook pages when you don’t have photos or in video or blogs. From the promotion, I’m getting that it will help you write better, be a better storyteller.

It just has me intrigued and it’s a free glimpse into her class style. So, I’m going to give it a try! Some of The Chronicles of Nani readers have expressed an interest in being better storytellers and some in journaling better. This might not be a bad idea! Another thing, the post I was reading at jessicaspreague.com also says this class is not just for scrapbookers! (that kinda adds more intrigue to me!)



Links Back Up

I think I’ve decided that I’m just not the type to “go pro” at scrapbook designing. I don't like rules and deadlines put on my creativity all the time unless I’m getting a big paycheck when its done!

Oh, I may try the designer contest thing again because I made great new friends in it and I learned a LOT about designing and really a lot about what to design for other people, what people would be able to enjoy and use in their own layouts. This does not mean that I’m going to shy away from doing kit themes that there just aren’t kits for, on the contrary, I think after comments I received about “I Cross My Heart” and the FBR search I did for cheerleading kits, the Digitalegacies brand of theme kits are sorely needed!

Flowers, fairies and frillies are nice. They make pretty, artsy pages and there are tons of gorgeous kits available for making those works of personal art. But in a market saturated with the scrapbooking supplies that thrill the creative little girls in all female scrappers, there are pages to be done about everyday things, sports, men and there are even men who scrap! This grown-up tomboy will always be looking for the elements that represent those memories too and when I can’t find them, I‘ll design them...and share them!

So, now I’m totally overloaded with stuff on my “to do” list! I have a ton of inspired ideas swirling around in my head, including that “heritage” kit I’m hoping to launch this month. But in the mean time, there are a few things I’ve done.

I’d expired some of the older freebie links in contemplation of what I might want to put in a store someday. Those links have all been reactivated and “Train, Train,” “I’m All In,” “Printmps Classique,” “In Only Seven Days” and “She Said YES!,” are once again available for free download. “In Only Seven Days” is now a link to the directory for all seven downloads from the main page introducing the kit

(click on the previews to go to the original post)

"Train, Train"
password is railfans


"I'm All In"
password is royalflush


"Printemps Classique"
password is itsFrench

"In Only Seven Days"
password is Freddie


"She Said YES!"
password is marry-me

Well, I’ve been adding a new piece to this blog entry every now and then all day, which makes for a LONG blog! But this is my scrapping day, so there is much to still be done with the rest of the evening and my presence is requested downstairs for Red Sox, game 2 on TV!