Author Archives: Cindy

About Cindy

Married, Female, Empty Nester Love to garden, cook, read.

A new look to my blog

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Hi, everyone!

As you can see, my blog looks a bit different. I worked on it quite a bit over the weekend.

I hope you like the new header. I have been wanting to change it ever since I first started blogging. You see, the theme I use, called Tarski, is free. It comes with several choices to use as a standard header and the one I liked best was the one you used to see every time you visited my site. It was a pretty nice header. My problem with it, is that quite a few other bloggers use that same header, which made my blog look like so many others.  

But, now my blog header is different than everyone else’s in the world, because the pictures used to create this new header are mine! I took the one on the left from our boat while traveling on Folly River on our way to the beach. The middle picture was taken at Beidler Forest, part of Four Holes Swamp. The picture on the right is of Lake Marion.

I had tried several times before to change the default header to one of my own design, but had no luck. I finally forced the time over the weekend to figure out the errors and get it done!

I’ve also changed a few things on my sidebar. Please take the time to navigate down the side there to see those changes. I hope you like the Quote of the day, Word of the day and Pun of the day! Do you see the “Recent Comments” section highlighting the most recent comments to my blog?

I hope you also click on a few of the “Sites I Like.” Let me provide an overview of these. The first site listed is “All Recipes,” http://allrecipes.com/. If you have never checked out this site, please do when you get a chance. There are thousands of recipes available to use, with reviews and ratings! I have found many great recipes on this site that I use all the time. One thing I really like about this site is that I can search for recipes using a specific ingredient. For instance, (not that this has happened to me recently) let’s say I have been inundated with zucchini in the garden and I am sick of the 20 different ways I’ve prepared it in the past three weeks and I have more in my vegetable crisper getting ready to go bad.  I can type zucchini as my key ingredient and find lots of other scrumptious ways to make it!

 Another Site I like is “An Englishman in New Jersey,” http://englishmannj.blogspot.com/, a blog written by my friend, Graham Gudgin. He is an ex-pat Brit living in New Jersey. Sometimes his take on being such a fellow is quite funny!

The Beidler Forest Blog, http://beidlerforest.blogspot.com/ has stories and pictures about life in the swamp! Mark Musselman is an excellent photographer and I never tire of looking at his pictures.

The barbecue website, Blog-B-Que, http://blogbque.com/, is a relatively new site. It was created by a few of my friends, Shelly, Russ and Rick. It has great barbecue/outdoor cooking recipes and tips from regular folks like you and me. As a matter of fact, I have a guest post on their site (click here to see it http://tinyurl.com/mg4ox7) and plan to add a few more.

Frame by Frame, http://framebyframe.godlaughs.net/ is a blog written by my friend Dr. Rus Jeffrey. He and his wife Sandra preview a lot of movies every week and Dr. Rus writes a very thoughtful review. If you like movies, you may want to check out his site before you spend your dollars going to the movie theater!

Well, LolCats, http://icanhascheezburger.com/, is one of those sites that once you get there, it’s hard to leave! You can even create an account yourself and create your own Lolcats!

And finally, A Daily Wag, http://dailywag.marthastewart.com/, is one of Martha Stewart blogs, about the adventures of her two dogs, Francesca and Sharkey. It’s cute! I think my friend, Daneen, would like it, for sure!

I have made other changes to my blog, too. One, is a way for you to get notification when comments are made on a post. When you first make a comment, you will now notice a box at the bottom of your comment  allowing you to check it if you want to get notified when someone else makes a comment. So, when you say something funny or profound and want to know what others think about your comment, you can now get a notification via email. Try it out and let me know how it works for you.

Additionally, I have added a “Share This” button at the bottom of every post. This allows you to send a link to the story you just read to all of your friends! If you are on Facebook, MySpace, Digg, or a ton of other social sites, you can just click on the appropriate button. To send an email, click on the email tab! Send my story to everyone you know!

Also, dear faithful readers (you know who you are),I am always looking for something to write about. Please email me with your story ideas!

Caio!

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Of Dog Days and summer memories

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Did you know that July 3rd was the start of the 40 day period in the summer known as Dog Days?

The term, Dog Days was coined in Ancient Rome. It was named after the Dog Star, also known as Sirius, the brightest star in our sky besides the sun. It was thought that since Sirius rose and set at the same time as the sun during this time of year, that Sirius added its heat to the sun’s heat, thereby making the days hotter, thus the term Dog Days.

Dog Days are hot, slow, lazy, languishing, stagnate times. Yep, that’s what this part of summer is – Dog Days.

So, last Sunday, after I worked up a sweat in the garden, I sat on the screened porch sipping an icy cold glass of tea. I noticed how quiet and still the world was at midday. There were no birds flitting about or singing and no breeze rustling the leaves on the trees. The air was hot, heavy and stagnate. This sound of silence was broken only by the cacophony of the male cicadas vibrating their timbals into a loud crescendo before the silence again.

It made me think of summer memories. Those lazy languid days when we had no set schedule of things to do.

Summer memories are days of butterflies and dragonflies and catching fireflies at night. It is the drive-in movie theater, and water fights and sleeping under the stars. It is Bible school, and picking blackberries and playing in the rain. It is sparklers, fudgesicles and pinwheels. It is swinging as high as you can go and bike riding and climbing trees. It is spending a week at my Cousin Tammy’s house and her coming to spend a week with me at mine.  It is our family picnics at Idlewild and at Shawnee State Park and the big one for all our relatives in our yard on the 4th of July.

When Brian thinks of summer, he thinks of his family’s yearly vacation in Florida to see his grandparents and of spending time with his favorite cousin, Ron.

What are your summer memories?

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Clutter busting

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Some people call me a neat freak! But, I’m not, really. What I am is one of those people that like to keep things organized – a place for everything and everything in its place!

I have found that keeping organized is the key to living simply and stress free. And, it’s not difficult if you make a plan to stay organized and stick to it. Here is my list of eight tips.

1. 15 Minute Rule

This is the most important rule. 

Fifteen minutes is all it takes!

Fifteen minutes is all it takes!

Spend 15 minutes everyday putting things in their appropriate places.  Make it a game for everyone in the family.  Set a timer.  Have everyone straighten one area that is shared by everyone in the family.  Or pick a specific location that needs attention (such as a drawer or closet).  Do not spend more than the allotted time, but have everyone dedicate themselves to their tasks for the full amount of time.  You will be amazed at what can be accomplished in 15 minutes. 

Also, sometimes, if there is a good program on television, you can do your 15 minutes during commercials! This can be great fun, too. Everyone jumps up during the commercial breaks, works on their 15 minute project, then they rush back to the den to watch the show until next break!

2. Use it or lose it Rule (aka The One Year Rule)

Take stock of what is in your drawers and closets.  If you haven’t used something in one year discard it.   Of course, memorabilia and important documents are exempt from this rule.   But, the bottom line is that to live more simply you  must quit being a pack rat.  If you go through four seasons and no longer use something, you don’t need it anymore.   During my daily 15 minute ritual (see number 1 above) I take stock of the items around me.  If I see clutter, I ask myself if I have used that thing in the last year.  And you can guess what I do if my answer is no.   I know this rule sounds harsh and it is.  But it forces you to take a look at those things causing dysfunction in your home and provides you an opportunity to decide to keep, move or discard them. 

 3. Everyone Needs a Junk Drawer

Yes, indeed.  This is the temporary place to put the stuff that you don’t know where else to store and you cannot waste the time right now to find an appropriate place.  And it is the final resting place for those really odd items that just have nowhere else to go.  Limit yourself to just one drawer, though.  And remember to spend a 15 minute day going through it once in awhile to organize it.  It will need it, too.  Also, do not use this drawer as an excuse not to put things in their proper places. 

4. Get a File Cabinet (or expandable folder or something)

Everyone should have one.  You must keep your documents in order.  File things as soon as you are finished with them.  Throw out junk mail right away.   Need I say more?

 5. To-Do List

Make one everyday.  Try to do some of the things on the list.  Cross off the things that get accomplished.  Do any of the things that did not get done need to go on tomorrow’s list?

6. Have On-Going-Donation Box

Put it where everyone can get to it.  After it is filled, drop it off at your favorite charity.

7. Quick and Dirty Cleaning

We have all had days like this where guests are arriving in 30 minutes and the house is a wreck.  Take a quick look at what would make the place look presentable and do only those things.  Pick up dirty clothes and throw them in the hamper. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher or stack in the sink.  Take a cleaning cloth and wipe the bathroom appliances with glass cleaner. Wipe your counters. Make the beds.

8. Take it Easy on Yourself

Life is short.  We are not perfect.  Some days do not go as planned.  So what?

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