Quotable Thursday #36

“I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace an interlude during war.” – Georges Clemenceau.

Way Back Whenesday: JTT

There were several boys who adorned the walls of my bedroom when I was growing up and JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) was definitely one of them.

He started out in Home Improvement and then started into movies such as The Lion King and Wild America. Such a good, boy-next door kind of guy who eventually started acting less to concentrate on his academics. Seriously, if your young daughter was going to get into teen-heart-throbs then this is the one you want her to like the most.

Green Ideas: Electricity #1

When cooking smaller meals, try using the toaster oven rather than your conventional oven. Not only will this reduce electrical use from your kitchen appliances but also reduce your electricity bill.

Green Ideas

I know I am not always the greatest at staying on top of my feature

s, but I really do enjoy them. I have made a new one recently and decided to call it Green Ideas. As the name implies, it will be quick tips and suggestions for greening up your life. T

opics from electricity and water saving to dispelling common myths will be discussed and I am working on a few longer discussion like posts as well. As always, comments and suggestions  are always appreciated.

Quotable Thursday #35

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” – Robert Frost.

Happy Birthday Jess

Today is Dave’s sister’s birthday. I hope you have a wonderful day Jess!!
The above photo was taken when she and her parents came to visit Dave and I for a day in Ottawa. We went for a really nice walk around Hogs Back Park and since part of the riverbed was dried up, we ended up getting to some areas I hadn’t had a chance to walk along yet. It was a really nice day and resulted in some really nice photos too.

Quotable Thursday #34

“Strong people don’t need strong leaders.” – Ella Baker.

Way Back Whenesday: Glitter Pencils

Even though they covered everything in glitter, everything in my pencil case and my desk, all of my clothes and anything I touched with my hands, I loved glitter pencils – well for a time. I remember when they were the coolest thing and having them was a big deal. I even had to buy them with my own money because my mom said that they weren’t essential school items to have and not very practical either. In hindsight, I agree with her. The actually quality of the pencil was quite poor as was the eraser. But I still had to have them in grade school.
The above photo, found through Google, is actually of glitter pencil crayons rather than pencils and since I do not believe these were available when I was in grade school, I think these impractical school items are still available and probably just as desired now as they were several years ago.

2 Years

Today is my brother and sister-in-law’s second wedding anniversary.

Two years ago today Lynn walked down the aisle of the Wilno church and married my wonderful brother. It was a beautiful ceremony and I was very honoured to be a member of the bridal party.

Quotable Thursday #33

“All people like us are We, and everyone else is They.” – Rudyard Kipling.

My Sins

A while back, Dave and I watched the movie Se7en starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. It is a good movie, but incredibly graphic and quite gorey. But still a pretty good movie with a couple twists and an interesting plot. This post however, is not a review of the movie.

The Seven Deadly Sins (hereafter called the 7) are also known as the Capital Vices and are 'a classification of the most objectionable vices that has been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning immoral fallen humanity's tendencies to sin'.

Every time I hear about the 7 I think about how they relate to me (is that pride?). In other words, which of them am I the most guilty of. So I decided to rank them and give some kind of justification as to the ranking...

1. Gluttony - I think my explanation to this one is pretty self-explanatory. I have a love-affair with food and eat way too much of it.


2. Envy - I am quite a jealous person. I know envy and jealousy are not exactly the same as jealousy normally has to do with materials goods, but whether you call it envious or jealous both can describe me.


3. Sloth - defined as the spiritual or emotional apathy, Sloth can also have to do with waste of talent or ability. It is the second part of this that I feel is relevant to me. I am good at many things, some of which I use on a daily basis but the greatest of which I neglect or overlook completely.


4. Pride - This is considered the original sin - the source from which the others arise. Though I do not feel it as relevant to me as other sins. It is identified as the desire to be more important or desired than others. I often think others are better than me at most things (in terms of appearances or abilities) though I suppose I do desire to be better, though I do not think I want to be the best. Either way, I have ranked it mid way in my list.


5. Greed - Also a sin of excess, greed is mid to low ranked for me as I feel that though I can tend to be a greedy person, I am capable of overcoming this tendency much easier than others.


6. Wrath - This sin has to do with anger (though I am sure few needed this explained to them). I am not a very angry person usually. I can get angry of course, but have become much better at dealing with and portraying this anger to those around me and I therefore have ranked this sin rather low.


7. Lust - I have ranked this rather low as I do not find myself to be a lustful person. I do not rank sex or sexual thoughts/feelings above people or other emotions.

As a sidenote, one of my favourite images depecting the seven deadly sins is below. It is from the show America's Next Top Model and I think it was done really well (though Gluttony looks like she hates that food rather than loves it and eats lots of it).

(image found through Google - originally taken on America's Next Top Model, Cycle Four)

Blog of Note: September

So I have been slacking with my Blogs of Note so I spent a few hours surfing the net finding some really interesting sites…this is one of them.

LoopyBoopy is a blog showcasing Art Dolls created by Colleen Downs. They are slightly creepy and very odd and actually remind me of Tim Burton characters…perhaps that is why I like them and find them very interesting.

Scheduled Posts

I have said it before and I will say it again – I love Scheduled Posts!!! I think it was the best thing Blogger introduced to its users and has enabled me to do so much with my blog. It is actually very likely that I would have stopped blogging by now if it wasn’t for this feature. My day-to-day life is too busy with work and night courses and entertainment that I think I would only post at best once a week without scheduled posts.
I spent several hours this long weekend getting the next two months worth of posts scheduled (features at least – the remaining posts are done more or less on the fly). I created a new feature to be introduced on the 24th of this month. I had been working on it for two weeks now but wanted a little emoticon graphic for at the end and finally got the time and motivation to sit down and create it (it’s not that impressive and wasn’t time consuming, I just enjoy procrastinating).
Now it is off to cross a few more items off my to do list…though I do have two more feature posts to write for September and October.

One Minute Writer #56

Write about a food that gives you a specific emotional response.

Most foods give me an emotional response because I am an emotional eater. I am trying to work on that. I am able to identify when I am eating because of my emotions and am doing my best to find something else to make myself feel better rather than eating or at least trying to find a healthier alternative to my normal comfort foods.

The Horde

 

 

Okay, I know I geeked out recently about WoW but give me another second okay. Xanara is my first Horde character. I am going to be honest and tell you that I avoided Horde characters as they were not pretty. Trolls, undead, taurens and orcs tend to be less attractive than the Alliance alternatives. But ever since the Burning Crusades expansions, Blood Elves have been available and though they look spacey and ditzy they are pretty. Their ditziness was confirmed when using the /silly macro and all of their jokes were about getting facials or other superficial things. Oh well.

Xanara is a paladin and a tank at that. I am enjoying it so far and levelling her pretty quickly.

Guest Post XVII

The final guest post is up today. Not a very long post – in fact it is really just an altered photo to interpret Chris’ trip to Iceland. Check it out.

Quotable Thursday #32

“The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Dorothy Nevill.

Way Back Whenesday: Popples

Anyone remember these toys? Not only are Popples adorable, but they are also neat. They could be adorable toys with hearts for ears or you could roll them into themselves and toss them around.