A Project Begun is Half Done

Are you having a good Memorial Day weekend?  I had high hopes to accomplish quite a bit this weekend but I must confess that I started several things but haven't made a lot of progress on anything.  Perhaps one good reason for that is Fresca the Wonder Dog.  You can see what she does to me, can't you?  How can I resist that pleading little face?  She is always following me around the house, trying to distract me from the task at hand.

She's also good at waking us up early.  At 6 a.m. she was outside our bedroom door whining.  I finally gave up and got up so there I was at 6:30 am., making broccoli salad while Miss Fresca cavorted around by my feet.  Yawn!  I wasn't the only one up early as I noticed our neighbor sitting out on his sunporch.  He must like to commune with nature early in the morning.  He was looking away from our house and that's why I know that he isn't inclined to commune with our weeds.

I had high hopes to cut out the prayer quilt this morning but things just weren't coming together.  I was second-guessing my fabric choices and choice of pattern.  So I was pouring over my quilt books but you know how that goes.....then you can't find the fabric in your stash that will go with the patterns that look promising.  Finally I told the Commander to just go ahead and fire up the grill because we might as well have an early supper.  I wasn't getting anything else done.

I found the "Burgermeister" sitting down on the job when I went out to check on him a half hour later but the hamburgers eventually were cooked and we had a simple but nice Memorial Day meal.  I think we might be heading over to Rita's Italian Ice to top off the meal with a little dessert later in the day.
Back to my prayer quilt story.

While we were eating (why is it that I always get good ideas when there is food involved?) I got an idea in my mind of a quilted prayer shawl design.  After I'd done the dishes, I went back upstairs to my cutting table, rummaged through my stash again, and this time I managed to find several more complimentary fabrics to go with some that I had recently purchased.  I did my rudimentary cuts and now everything is down in my sewing room where I'm hopeful that the design will come together in the stitching.  It's nothing fancy but I think it will look nice and be an encouragement to this parishioner who is hurting.  Not surprisingly after all that, my Project 365 picture for the day is related to the prayer quilt shawl.


 Project 365 - May 31, 2010 (Day 4)

The fabric has been cut and brought down to the sewing room and now we'll see if this project in my head will actually come together into a quilted prayer shawl.

A Knitter's Hand

I almost forgot to post my Project 365 picture today.  Since it's bedtime, I figured I'd better not try to do something too complicated so I snapped a picture of something close at hand, so to speak.

 Project 365 - May 30, 2010 (Day 3)

I've been crocheting all afternoon and most of the evening so this hand has been getting quite a workout.  It's also the hand that gets the most workout when I knit and when I spin.  I've knit Continental-style for years and you can see how my index finger has gradually become twisted and slightly deformed from controlling the tension of the yarn.  The middle finger is just arthritic so that's its excuse for being swollen and slightly twisted.  But I thank God that I have hands and that they still work.

Creating Avatars with Storybook Creator

I promised you yesterday that I'd be posting how to make your own customized avatars.  I'm sure that you can do these with just about most any photo editing program but I happen to use a Creative Memories scrapbooking program called Storybook Creator to do most of my avatar creating.  I've put up a mosaic of some recent avatars that I created to give you an idea of some of the things you can do.


Here's what I do.

1.  Go to Storybook Creator and click on "Create a New Project."

2.  In the window that pops up, scroll down and choose on the left-hand side the words "Custom Size" under Local Printer.

3.  It will then ask you to select a template.  Your only choice will be one that is called "Blank."  Choose that one and click the "Next" button.


4.  A small window will pop up labeled Custom Page Size.  "Units" should be defaulted to "inches."  Under that, I want you to enter "3" for width and "3" for height.  Leave everything else just the way it was when the window popped up.  Click on "OK."

5.  At the next pop-up window, you can add photos but I usually just do it when I'm actually working on my project so I click on the "Next" button.


6.  The next pop-up window is going to ask you to name your project.  Go ahead and name it whatever you want and then click on the "Create" button.  Oh, yes.  This window will also show you where it is going to save this project.  Usually this is wherever you usually save the scrapbooking projects that you create but you don't really have to worry about it because you are going to be doing a different type of "save" later and you can choose where you want the avatar at that point.


7.  Now you are in your work screen.  I'm assuming at this point that you are familiar with working with Storybook Creator.  If not, there are excellent tutorials on the Creative Memories website .  Incidentally, the basic Storybook Creator software is available as a free download and if you go to the above website, you can find the link to the download.  Anyway, back to what I was saying.  In the work screen, you can now access all of your digital scrapbooking packages that you have loaded into Storybook Creator, including all the papers and embellishments.  For example, if you look at the top row of the pictures above, at the one that says "Booklassie", that one was created solely with digital elements that I had loaded into Storybook Creator.  I simply chose a paper background, added some embellishments, inserted some text boxes and that was it.  If you want to use any photographs, just click on the Photos tab on the right side of the work area and then click on the "Get Photos" option.  Then once you've imported photos over to Storybook Creator, you can place them into your avatar project as you wish, adding text boxes if you desire (and there are quite a few examples of that in the avatars displayed above).

8.  When you have your avatar finished, click on the "Home" tab at the top of your screen and then click on the "Save" icon and click on "save" again in the drop down menu.  This will save your avatar to your regular spot where your scrapbook projects are saved.   I like to do this so that I can go back at any time and open it back up to rework it in Storybook Creator if I want to.  But you aren't done yet.  You still need to save it as a .jpg file.  So now click once more on the "Save" icon and now click on "save pages as" from the drop down menu.  A window will pop up and here is where you will be choosing what folder you want to save this .jpg file into.  Also be sure that the "file type" says JPG File.  Resolution should have defaulted to 300 dpi for "best quality" with a page size of 3 x 3 inches.  It also should show that you are saving 1 page and the quality should be set on "Best."   Once you've got this set, click on "Save."


9.  At this point, you can close Storybook Creator.  Now you are going to be resizing your project down to an avatar size with the help of this handy website.  Go here and right at the center of your screen you will see the words "Upload a picture from your computer."  Click on the Browse button and go to the folder where your avatar project is located.  Select your avatar image (I do this in Vista by clicking on it and telling it to "open.") and then you should see the link show up in the little box.  Now click on Upload.  Your picture should show up in a new window.


 10.  Scroll down slightly and you'll see some choices of sizes.  Pick the size that you want your avatar to be.  Most web forums seem to prefer avatars that are 100 x 100.  Now click on an area of your picture and drag your mouse to highlight the area that you want to be the avatar.  Since you have already created the entire image to be an avatar and it's in a square shape, you should be able to just click on the top left corner and drag your mouse down to the bottom right corner and get pretty much the entire image selected.  Now scroll down and just below where you picked the avatar size, you see the word "Save."  Click on Save.

11.  Your avatar has now been created and is shown in the small avatar size.  At this point, click on the words "Open in new window"  which are right under your avatar.  In the new window, right-click on the image and choose "Save image as" and then choose where you want to save your newly created avatar on your computer.


That's it.  You've got an avatar that you can upload wherever you want to use an avatar.  Have fun creating your own unique images!

Project 365 - May 29, 2010  (Day 2)

Describing yarn that I'm listing for sale on Ravelry.  Can't decide if I'm going to use the proceeds toward another spinning wheel or an iPad.

Flitting Through Friday's Fave Fives

Oh, dear!  I said I'd be posting today about making your own customized avatar using Creative Memories' Storybook Creator but I forgot what day of the week it was and so today it is time to post my Friday's Fave Five picks.  So tomorrow I'll be posting about avatars.  Sorry about that.  The weeks just seem to fly by lately and I am constantly losing track of time.  Maybe that is an offshoot of being retired.  It IS rather nice not to be so driven by the clock and calendar though.  But let's get on to my Fave Fives for this past week.

1.  I've been spinning away on some very bright, cheery-colored fleece.  This color is called "Ooh-La-La-Tropi-Cal" and it was the February club fiber from Spunky Eclectic, a very talented fiber artist, knit designer, and shop owner up in Maine.  I'm going to try a 3-ply with this so I've been spinning it up on my Victoria and also on my Matchless and it's been fun to work with such cheery colors.

2.  I found this book for quilters who want to make small projects for those who need comforting.  In the past, I've crocheted or knit up prayer shawls but my hands have been pretty arthritic lately and crocheting is really hurting them.  There is still so many who are hurting in our congregation and when I found this book, it gave me the idea that perhaps I could make prayer quilts or quilted prayer shawls for them.  So I've just washed some fabric in preparation for cutting out a small lap quilt for someone in our church and should be starting it this weekend.

3.  Having a friend email me to tell me that she has made a commitment to pray for me and my son and his family daily.  Our pastor just preached a series of sermons on the need to pray for our missionaries.  It was difficult to sit through the sermon last Sunday without getting all emotional.  In fact, I ended up having to leave the sanctuary and going upstairs to hide in the balcony where I could cry without disrupting the service.  I'm still struggling with the fact that my son and family, including precious little Mika, will be heading off overseas in just a few weeks, because I know how very much I will miss them.  So it really means a lot when I know that friends are praying for them and for me.

4.  I got a new watch that fits and that doesn't cause my skin to break out in a rash.  Since I've lost weight, my watch has been hanging on me.  Then my old faithful titanium watch stopped working and the repair folks said they couldn't get it fixed.  The other day, a local department store had a good sale on watches and I found one that wasn't very expensive.  It's a Grenen from Denmark and the watch casing and band are stainless steel.  I have pretty sensitive skin and if the metal is anything other than titanium or stainless, I'll get a rash right where the band goes around my wrist.  But this has been fine and the band is also easily adjustable, as I lose more weight.  Yay!

5.  Finally, I'm going to be a grandmother again.....to a puppy.  My daughter, Laura and her hubby Jason are going to be bringing "Sadie Ann" home June 12.  She's a King Cavalier puppy.  Isn't she cute?  I already told Laura that I was looking forward to knitting up some doggy coats for Sadie for the wintertime.  Laura wasn't too sure that Jason would agree to dressing up the pup unless I could knit something in "camo."  Hey, not a problem.  They make camouflage yarn these days.

Visit Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story to read other Fave Five's for the week.

And NOW for the start of my Project 365 journey:

May 28, 2010  Day 1

Spinning while catching up on all the TV shows we recorded when we were on vacation in Texas.

Project 365 Musings

Have you heard about Project 365?  It started when a fellow decided to take at least one photograph of himself out doing his daily activities each day for one year.  What resulted was a year captured in film that also gave him a chance to reflect on what really was important to him at that point in his life.  Along the way, he also found that he improved as a photographer.

The concept intriques me and I think I will do more research into it.  I believe many who are following Project 365 post their pictures up in Flickr.  Others are scrapbooking their project photos digitally or in regular scrapbooks.  Participants are encouraged to take their cameras with them everywhere.  I stumbled across this little product today (a bottle-top tripod) while reading about the project and thought I'd share it with you.  How ingenious but I would think that you have to be sure to put it on a bottle that is pretty full of liquid.  I also came across some digital scrapbooking resources aimed specifically at "Project 365" folks.  In fact, that's what started me looking into it.

I'll report back with more information soon but I'll leave you with this teaser.  Do you participate in forums online where you use avatars?  Ever wish you could come up with a creative avatar other than a photograph of yourself?  If you enjoy digital scrapbooking and use Creative Memories Storybook Creator, I'll tell you how to make your own avatars in my next post.

Knitting Faith, Hope, and Love

Today I officially finished another square for my Great American Aran Afghan.  This square is the one designed by Vicki Sever.  It's called the "Faith, Hope, and Love" Square and the inspiration for her design was the loss of her sister to breast cancer some years ago.

In her design, her square is knit in the typical off-white Aran yarn with the option of having the ribbon either knit from the same white yarn or done in a pink yarn.  The design also calls for the ribbon to be knit right as you go along, as part of the square.  That seemed a tad too fussy (well, make that complicated) for me so I simplified it some.  I just left off the ribbon and knit a straight moss stitch background in that portion of the square.  Then I knit a simple I-cord in my coordinating color of yarn and sewed it onto the moss background.

Here is a view of the side of the square.  The symbols here also represent things.  The heart stands for "love,"  the anchor stands for "hope," and the cross at the top stands for "faith."

The same symbols run along the bottom.  What a lovely sentiment and even nicer is the chance to knit it up and have it be a part of this afghan that I'm knitting.  Our knitting group that is tackling the Great American Aran Afghan has decided to continue on through the summer, meeting and working on one square a month and I'm certainly glad for this.  It's excellent motivation for me to continue challenging myself as a knitter with things I never would have tried on my own.  I'm certainly going to feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm done with this afghan.  Only 16 more squares to go!

It's Time for Tea Somewhere

This past week I went with two of my girlfriends to the Lady Bug Tea Room in East Berlin, PA.  We went there to celebrate the recent retirement of one of the ladies.  We all love to visit tea rooms and each one we've had the pleasure to visit has been different and delightful.  This one was no exception.  The owner said that her tea room is run in the manner of a Japanese tea room.  Now I'd always thought that this meant geisha girls serving tea in delicate cups according to strict rituals.  But no, according to the Lady Bug owner, her type of Japanese tea room refers to one run by a hostess who lives on the premises and it features fresh, hearty food in addition to tea.  I did a little research on this when I got home and I think she was referring to a "kaiseki" dinner, which can have typically 6-15 different types of food in addition to tea.

The first thing we were asked to do when we arrived was to look around the rooms and pick out a teapot and cup for each of us.  I'm the granddaughter of a dairy farmer and of course, I had to have the cow teapot.  Now when I go to visit Indonesia hopefully within the year, I'm likely to find that the tea served in Central and Eastern Java is served with plenty of sugar, since sugar plantations make this commodity available and cheap.  Yay!  I love sugar in my tea.  But if I head to Western Java, the tea I might be served would still be a green tea but served plain.  In fact, it's often served free at restaurants much as our restaurants set down free glasses of water before guests.

Jamie, our friend who recently retired, couldn't resist this teapot with the butterfly cover.  If she was in China, she'd fit right in with the many students and businessmen who flit like butterflies in and out of the tea houses found in most communities.  These are quite the hub of activity for those who want to socialize or just sit and relax.

Linda grabbed this teapot with the apple cozy.  She might enjoy the tea culture of Myanmar.  There they not only drink their tea, they also eat it.  "Lahpet" is pickled tea and enjoyed widely in that country.  A typical Lahpet might have the pickled tea leaves in the middle of a platter with garnishes arranged around the outer edges such as peanuts, coconut, and garlic.  Throw a little fish sauce in there and yummy!  Well, maybe not for my Midwestern taste buds but perhaps the good folks of Myanmar wouldn't think much of my peanut butter cups either.

If you go to Taiwan, you can have some Bubble tea.  Goodness, if you go to Philadelphia you can even find places that sell it.  I had the misfortune fun of trying some one year when we went out to visit our son in Philly.  Bubble tea, as best I can figure out, is a milky tea concoction with large pearl tapioca balls floating around in it.  I did my best to chew the tapioca as I sucked up the tea from a straw.  After what seemed like hours of chewing with no discernible progress, I gave up on the tapioca and kind of stored it in my cheek while sipping the tea.  I looked like a baseball pitcher chewing a wad.  Let's just say that I haven't ordered any Bubble tea since.

If you happen to travel to Tibet, you might find yourself offered a drink of tea, butter, salt, and milk called "po cha."  You also have to follow some set rules revolving around tea drinking there.  If you get invited to someone's house for tea, there is a ritual you should follow first which involves barley wine and it seems to involve several glasses of it before you even get to the tea, as best I can figure out.  Seems like you'd be in a rather relaxed state of mind by that time (at least I would be) so perhaps I'd best pray I don't get invited to tea in Tibet.

When we lived in Morocco, tea was a combination of green tea and mint leaves, sweetened with honey.  It was delicious.  You rarely ventured into a little shop without being offered a glass of tea and I usually took them up on their offer.   It was certainly an improvement over Greece, where business was conducted over tiny glasses of coffee grounds moistened with just a tad of hot water.  Try knocking a few of those down!

The culture of tea is fascinating.  If I've whet your whistle to learn more, head over to your local library and check out some books on the history of tea or do some sleuthing on the internet.  And while you're at it, you might want to check out what tea rooms are in your area.  It's a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

Fiddle-dee-dee! It's Fave Friday!

My goodness, these weeks are just flying by.  Here it is Friday again and time for another Fave Five listing.  I had to fly out the door this morning to get to our spinning guild meeting on time (actually, I was late) so I didn't get my post up early but I'm back after a glorious time spinning outside on a porch overlooking some lovely Pennsylvania countryside.  I REALLY must learn to take my camera with me because it would have made a great thing to post as one of my faves.  Guess you'll just have to imagine 7 ladies spinning happily and chatting away.  Anyway, here are my fave fives for the week.

1.  A cupholder to go on my Schacht spinning wheel.    These are made by FBN Plastics, a vendor who sells on Etsy.  She makes them to fit all types of spinning wheels and she is wonderful to deal with, too.

2.  I'm destashing (as in "decluttering") again.  I am always thrilled when I get after myself to get rid of some things that I'm not using.  In this case, I've been busy destashing some of the yarn that I have not gotten around to using, which just hasn't been "speaking" to me.  It's a win-win situation.  Some other knitter ends up with some neat yarn and I end up with some extra money which I think will be used to buy another spinning wheel (after I destash one of my wheels).

3.  These Crystal Light Drink Mix On the Go packets are helping me drink more water.  These are the neatest thing for someone who just doesn't drink enough water.  My daughter suggested I try these and they have made all the difference.  I simply can't get plain water down more than a few swallows at a time.  But if I add a little tube of this (they come in individual tubes) into a water bottle, the water is much more palatable and goes down much easier.  They even sell different types of flavors/mixes designed to give you energy or more fiber and there is no caffeine, it's gluten-free, and only adds 5-10 calories a bottle.

4.  This mini-ice cooler for holding sandwiches, snacks or a few canned drinks. I got this from my son and daughter-in-law on my recent trip down to Texas and it is just too cute.  It's perfect for throwing a snack into if I'm heading out in the car and want to have something to munch on later in the morning but want to keep it cool.  It's about the size of a small handbag.  Plus I'm a sucker for that lime green color.

5.  A trip to another local tea room with friends.  Yesterday I went to the Lady Bug Tea Room in East Berlin, PA with two of my friends to celebrate the recent retirement of one of them.  This is a new to us tea room and it was delightful.  Boy, was the food plentiful.  In fact, we got so excited about the wonderful things that kept coming out of the kitchen that I completely forgot that I had brought my camera and didn't remember to take any pictures until we were ready to leave.  The owner and chief cook has a repertoire of about 85 recipes that she rotates for her teas and many are old family recipes.  Let me tell you.....they were delicious.  I have a feeling that the scale is going to be groaning (and me, too) when I weigh in at TOPS next Monday, especially after 2 weeks of vacation eating out every day and now this tea.

Well, that's my Friday's Fave Five.  To read some more, visit Susanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story.  Oh, and a quick report on my coffee mug cleaning experiment with the vinegar and salt.  Forget it!  It didn't work.  All it did was clear my sinuses.  It did NOT make any dent in the stains.  I ended up having to take scouring powder to the darn mug and use plenty of elbow grease to get all the stains off and then wash it down well with soapy water.  Oh well, live and learn.

Who Would Have Thunk It?

Today's post is a bit of lagniappe - a good old word that I first met in a Cajun cookbook.  Its meaning in that book was "a little extra."  It can also mean a little gift thrown in for free to someone or something given over and above, like the Baker's Dozen.  For Hot-Flashed Funk today, it means a bit of this and that thrown together to brighten your day.

My first little "extra" that I found as I was reading the paper this morning was a short article on the most popular baby names in 2009.  Top choices for girls were Olivia and Isabella and for boys were Jacob and Michael.  To see the entire list of the top 10 names for both boys and girls, you can go here.  Strangely, if you look to the right on that page, you'll see a link that takes you to a short video of Chubby Checkers counting down the top 5 boys' and girls' names for the decade 2000 - 2009.  I must say, Chubby is still looking pretty good for someone whose music I used to twist to back in the 60's.

My second "extra" of the day is the news from Great Britain in a recent survey.  The folks there were asked to rank the top 100 inventions in their opinion.  Well, would you believe that they put their iPhones above their flushing toilets?  It kind of boggles my mind.  If you'd like to see how the rankings went, you can do so here.

Do you enjoy free things?  There is a website that lists all sorts of things and services you can get for free and it is sorted by category, which makes it easy to browse through.  It's at thefreesite.com which you can access by clicking here.  They even have a page of listings of free things for bloggers.  Who knew?

Have a favorite coffee travel mug that has gotten stained and grungy-looking inside?  I know that mine looks terrible inside but yet it is shaped in such a way that it is hard to get my whole hand inside to really scrub it.  Well, here is a tip I've read and I think I'll try.  Moisten a sponge with white vinegar and pour some table salt on it.  Then rub the inside of your mug with the sponge.  The stains should come off as the salt will act as an abrasive.  You can rinse everything with warm water and repeat the process as needed to get it clean.  The vinegar should really make the inside sparkle.  I might give this a try this afternoon.  If I do, I'll report back here to let you know how it goes.  You'll definitely need to wash out the mug afterwards, though, to get rid of the vinegar and salt taste.


Well, that's it for today.  I'm off to high tea at a new tea shoppe where a group of us will be celebrating a friend's retirement.  Pictures and a report tomorrow, I hope.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with a graphic from my family collection that you can use for your scrapbooking.  It's a little calling card featuring a dove and roses that someone gave my grandmother when she was a girl.  Enjoy!

A Scrabble Variation

We're a family who likes to play games -- board games and card games, not psychological games.  When we were down in Texas recently, we played a variation of Scrabble that our son taught us and I thought I'd share it with you.  It was fun, quick, and easy to grasp.

For Jason's version of "Take Two", you don't need the Scrabble board.  You only need the Scrabble tiles.  Before the game begins, turn all the tiles face down in the middle of the table and mix them up.  Play begins with each player taking 5 tiles and keeping them face down in front of them until the signal is given to begin playing. (We usually just say "Go!")

At this point, each person plays on their own tiles.  You basically create words with the tiles that you have, building on them in typical crossword fashion until you can't do any more.  Oh, I should also tell you that you can rearrange your tiles at any point in the game.  You don't have to leave them set up the way you had them.  So, if you get stumped, you can undo what you did and try again, creating different words.  Whenever a player uses up all of the tiles he has at that moment, he yells out "Take Two" and everyone stops what they are doing and draws two tiles from the pile in the middle (including the player who ran out of tiles) and then play continues with each player continuing to work out words on their puzzle that they are building.  If  you reach a point where all the players are stumped and there are still tiles in the center, the players will agree to "Take Two" and play recommences.  Play continues as described above until ALL tiles in the center have been drawn and one player uses up all of his tiles OR until all tiles in the center have been drawn and each player has come to a dead end and is unable to use up any more of their tiles.

Once the game is over, you count up your score like you would on a Scrabble board with the exception of the fact that you don't have any double, triple, etc. special score blocks.  So you are just counting the values of each word that you have spelled.  Subtract from your total score the points of the tiles you still hadn't played when the game ended.Then we declare the winner of that game as the one with the highest score.  Some play this with a running score and carry the totals from game to game until an agreed-upon high score has been reached and then that player is the overall winner. 

There you have it.  Our son's special version of Scrabble.  It's fast and fun and helps to exercise those brain cells.

Keeping in Touch Long-Distance

Well, we made it to the booksale on Saturday and Mika's mommy found some books for her and we all found books for ourselves.  Was there any doubt? 

While the rest of them continued their sale browsing, I took the opportunity to do some storytime reading to little Mika in the quite attractive children's section of the Friendswood Public Library.  She certainly loves to be read to. 

Although storytime went a lot smoother when Laura stopped by and pointed out the comfy glider rocker across the room.  Mika and I hightailed it over there and it was a much easier set up for snuggling and reading stories.  In fact, if the guys hadn't shown up shortly afterwards ready to go eat, I would have been quite content to stay in that rocker snuggling with Mika and reading to her for hours.

But all good things must come to an end. Thus our time in Texas also ended and we had to say goodbye to Jason, Laura, and little Mika and head for home.  Oh my, that was difficult.  They will soon be moving halfway around the world and I won't be able to just pick up the phone to talk to them or hop on a plane to celebrate special times together.  The challenge is going to be keeping in touch with so many miles separating us. 

I'm not so worried about maintaining a long-distance relationship with Jason and Laura.  They're grown and understand their place in our family and our hearts.  But little Mika is another story.  I worry that she will forget me and will also miss out on so many wonderful times that a child and her grandparents can have together or that she'll develop attachments to strangers living close to her and I'll be the one missing out on those special times.  Frankly, it's heartbreaking to consider either way.  So I find myself wondering what strategies I'll be employing to stay in touch.  Here's what I've come up with so far:

1.  Skype - the free internet-based calling system has been a lifesaver when our kids were living in Vancouver.  We could use the cameras on our computers and even see each other as we spoke.  Of course, half the time, the video was terrible with pixels running amuck but it was better than nothing. 

2.  Email - It's an old standby but I will surely be using it.  I've already told Jason and Laura that I really hope they'll get themselves set up for internet access.  Being able to hear from them via email (since mail service will be pretty spotty where they are going) will be a godsend.

3.  Facebook - The beauty of Facebook is that the status updates and messages can be almost real-time.  Plus you can post pictures and short videos.  I know other grown children who have communicated successfully with their parents via Facebook while living overseas so I'm hoping we can do the same.

4.  YouTube - This might be a bit optimistic but I'm hoping that they can at least upload short video clips of Mika doing cute things onto YouTube via an internet cafe, if they are unable to access a fast enough browser from their home.  We will be able to load short videos for Mika from our end using our Flip movie camera and maybe even squeeze in some short storytimes for her on camera. 

5.  Personalized Books - I do a lot of digital scrapbooking as well as creative writing.  I'm hoping to make little storybooks for Mika featuring members of our family, including Nana, PawPaw, and Aunt Laura and Uncle Jason, as well as Fresca, the Wonder Dog.  I figure I'll try mailing one little book to their new home and see if it makes it there safely.  If it doesn't, I still have the capability via the Creative Memories Photo Center, to upload and store my storybooks on their website so that Mika's parents will be able to go online and view the books there, if need be.  But hopefully, they will be able to receive the books firsthand and read them to Mika again and again so that she can see us all and remember our faces.

6.  Visits - This last option is one that we won't be able to do very often because it involves so much time, distance, and cost but we do want to go to see them at least once while they are living overseas. 

What are some ways that you keep in touch with loved ones who live far from you?

Going on a Book Hunt

Poor little Mika was not a happy girl yesterday.  She had to go in for her next scheduled well-baby check which means another series of shots.  Ouch!  I can't blame her.  Her Nana doesn't like shots either but I tried not to let her know about that little prejudice of mine.

So today we're planning a fun activity to erase the blues from yesterday.  Mika's mommy tells me that the local public library is having their book sale today.  I think it sounds like a perfect way to spend some time with my grandbaby.

She already has shown that she really enjoys books.  After all, she comes from a long line of booklovers including her mommy, daddy, and grandparents.  Plus she has been having marvelous books read to her since she was a newborn.

So I think we're going to have a fun outing today, if only the weather will cooperate.  Houston has been assaulted with heavy rains and more is moving in today.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rain will move on quickly so that little Mika and Nana can go out and do some book hunting, tagging, and bagging.  Happy reading!

Nana's Fave Five

I can't believe that it is Friday yet again.  I kind of wish it weren't because this means that our visit here in Texas with our children and granddaughter is nearing an end.  Phooey!  But like Scarlett O'Hara, I won't think about that just yet.  Instead I'll concentrate on the good things that have been the highlight of this past week.  So let's look back, shall we, over my Fave Fives which, not surprisingly, are pretty much from a Nana's point of view.

1.  Getting to spend more time with our son Jason, daughter-in-law Laura, and granddaughter Mika.  It has been such a blessing to be able to see them every day this week.  With the arrival of the Commander (PawPaw), I've had the joy of watching Mika interact with her PawPaw, too.  That's been a lot of fun.

 2.  Of course, Mika, our little granddaughter has been a highlight of this week.  She is such a cutie pie whether she is fussing or babbling happily.  We are both quite charmed and totally smitten.

 3.  Being able to attend Mika's Texas dedication.  We already had the pleasure of being at Mika's dedication up at our home church.  So I was so happy to be able to be here this past Sunday to see Mika dedicated at Laura's home church.  This time, Mika stayed awake the whole time and didn't fuss at all.  In fact, she gave everyone the once over during the dedication.  Then she promptly fell asleep in her daddy's arms for the rest of the service.

4.  Watching a baby explore the world.  It's been so much fun to see Mika exploring the world around her.  She is discovering new things each day.  It's almost like being a kid again ourselves.  It's amazing how babies use all of their senses (smell, taste, touch, hearing, seeing) to try to make sense of things.

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5.  Spending time in Texas.  We both just love Texas.  It's always a treat to be able to come to the great state of Texas and one of these days, we hope to be able to move here.  In the meantime, we have to content ourselves with visiting relatives and doing all the goofy touristy things.

Incidentally, when we were taking the elevator up to the observation deck of the San Jacinto monument, the elevator operator stopped on the 2nd floor to let off an employee.  I almost jumped off with her as the door opened to reveal floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with marvelous old books.  It was their library and archives.  The Commander laughed and joked with the elevator operator, saying "You almost lost my wife on this floor when she saw that library."

The operator said, "Well, we have a librarian and an archivist and neither one is a native Texan.  Some of us think that's pretty terrible."

Ouch!  I replied, "Maybe they're Texans at heart."  Because believe me, we are out there and we can't all claim to be native Texans.

That's my Fave Five for this week.  If you'd like to see what others are faving this week, visit Susanne's site at Living to tell the Story.

Fascinating Fishies

Yesterday we went over to Kemah and took Mika to the little aquarium exhibit at a local restaurant along the boardwalk.  She was just fascinated by all the fish.  I think they were fascinated by her as well.

We saw a lobster that particularly captivated her.  At least, I think it was a lobster.  It played hide-and-go-seek with Mika and she was really intent on trying to find it.

She REALLY liked the little fish. Maybe it was their bright colors or the way they darted about.  She just got so animated when we'd go past one of those tanks.

Perhaps she was trying to "Find Nemo?"  The little gold fish would dart up to her hand and act as though they were trying to give her little kisses.

 I had fun providing "voices" for the fish and telling her tales about all the aquatic life.  Wonder how much of that she'll remember?

Finally it was time to say goodbye to the last fish and head out back into the sunlight.  Judging by how much Mika fussed on the way back home, I'd say she wanted to go back and spend more time at the aquarium.