Good News!

It's always a relief to read about something good in the news! In this article: "Neighbors Save Day For Teen In Pool" Exactly the kind of thing that we need to hear more of! Neighbors helping neighbors and it saved a life! Kudos' to the "good samaritan" that heard someone and acted on it! There is still "good" in this world!!! and I for one enjoy reading and hearing about it!!! I know that from a marketing standpoint violence and sex "sell" but so do the good stories! I wonder if we as a general public would pay to read a paper that "only" published "good news!" I would. The problem is finding the good news...there doesn't seem to be enough of it being spread around....*sigh* Maybe tomorrow I will find something "good" to talk about.

On the flip side of news there are tons of articles on the price of gasoline. It was very interesting to read today that the price per barrel of crude has actually decreased and yet our price has yet to drop! Personally, I think that we are being gouged by the oil industry and it is hurting the economy!

DigiSkrapNMomma released a new kit called Retro Funk! I love the colors of the kit...blues and browns, glitter and bling!!! I love it! She has it on sale right now over at Divine Digital for $3.75. It's a great price for the amount of papers and elements that are in this kit! Here is a page that I made from this kit!

Lead is Back in the News

Lead is back in the news but this time it's not in China! This time it's in Ohio, news that is! The Columbus Dispatch reports that the higher the level of lead, the higher the possibility that a child will commit a crime in their article "Lead in Kids, Violent Crime Appear Linked." There was a new study published after a nearly 30 year study from the University of Cincinnati in the PloSMedicine Journal and it is linking violent crimes with children who've had major lead exposure. The report indicates that the exposure shrinks the brain and has a major effect on the frontal lobe which is where we process information about consequences and conscious operates from. You can read the report: Association of Prenatal and Childhood Blood Lead Concentrations with Criminal Arrests in Early Adulthood. It is something that we think about now but it makes me wonder if all of us born to the boomers have diminished capacity because of it? Does that mean that we all could be just a little smarter than we are, or a little more conscientious than we are if we weren't exposed when we were young? Or does it mean that our children are couch potatoes and don't go outside to play as much as we did to entertain ourselves. I for one am going to use the excuse from now on when I slip up that I can't remember or multitask because I was exposed to lead as a child. Sounds like a good excuse to me :)

In an article on Nationwide insurance "American Idol's Sanjaya to be featured in Nationwide ad campaign" has signed Sanjaya, one of last years American Idols to a commercial contract. I'm going to be watching for that! It was always fun watching him on AI even though he didn't have the talent that the others had, he was always entertaining.

Wireless Technology is stepping up to the plate! In an article from the New York Times: "Wireless Broadband Boosts Economy" the technology is reported to generate $860 Billion in Gross Domestic Product. That means that there is no such things as leaving work at work anymore?! Guess it ties right in with the Millenials who are more into socializing that working. They can just take the work home with them. In a way that kind of takes me back to one of the statements that they won't fall into the traps their parents did by pouring their heart and souls into their jobs....guess if they are taking it with them, it kind of does mean that. If there is no separation of the two, then they are going to fall right into the same conditions that their parents have been in it will just be a little less blatant.

Well, I have computer maintenance to get done and a data back up to complete so I guess I am done rambling. If your computer is running slower than it used to check out this article from Microsoft on Maintenance that can speed up your computer.

Here is another QP for you that I made with my kit. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I hope that you enjoy this.

Misc. Ramblings

Sunday I watched 60 Minutes and was in a dejavu moment with their report on the Millinials! Have you heard of them? The article is called "The Millinials are Coming!" It was a very interesting article about the kids born from 1980 to 1995 and are entering the work force out of college right now. They talked about the mindset of these kids being a "me" generation and the implications that it will have in the business world. Having spent the last 12+ years in retail and being responsible for the leadership of young employees as well as having kids in that age group, I found it absolutely fascinating! The implications of this new workforce is mind boggling. What the employers may have to do, modify or sacrifice to hire these kids indicates the "professional" work place may be a dinosaur and a thing of the past. One interesting point that they bring up is how we as parents raise our children...ball games that don't keep score and all the children are winners and various things that we have done to provide our children the self esteem that they needed... The bumps and bruises that we as working adults have endured during our working careers; layoffs, facility closures, etc and the kids attitudes that it won't happen to them because they aren't going to give their souls for their jobs...jobs are secondary. And that their attitude is that if you don't like it; I'll go down the road and get more money doing the same thing...take it or leave it attitude. It's amazing the difference in the work force mindsets that are out there right now. Check out the article, it is definitely worth the read.

With the flower beds in bloom, the weeds sprouting up everywhere and the vegetable gardens in need of tending to I have to spend more time reading on the internet because I'm not in the house to watch the TV as much as in the winter so with that being said I want to share another article with you in honor of Memorial Day. The article is called the "Race Against Time To Remember WWI Veterans" This article talks about the last surviving WWI vet and a photographer who is trying to establish monuments to memorialize them. So far he has a permanent monument at the Pentagon and is working on a traveling one and then a National Monument to World War I Veterans. I applaud his efforts.

Did you know that already this year there have been over 800 tornadoes across the country? That is 200 more than the record holding year of 1998 and we haven't even reached "peak" season yet. I can't remember what the death toll is already! My prayers are with all the families that have lost someone to Mother Nature's wrath. Have you ever experienced a tornado? They are incredibly frightening! My stomach is turning into a knot as I write this...

So, here is another QP that I made. I used my own kit for it. You can download it here or click the picture. I hope you enjoy it!

Bird Watching and a Freebie

I spent the three day weekend outside gardening! I love it! Even weeding is fun for me! Of course I have so many trees, flowers and birds that it is very entertaining being outside. I spent a substantial amount of time watching a little wren busy making her home in a gourd bird house that I grew and made. She sure was busy...gathering and then re-arranging the inside after she'd take it in. And her song is so happy! I just love these little birds. She was quite the entertainment for me and I found that it took me 10 times longer to do my chores than it would have ordinarily but watching her was worth it. The kit that I used for this page is called Birdhouses by Sharon's Signature Scraps and can be found at Deco Pages and right now it is on sale for @2.29. The second page is also made with her fabulous kit. Then, I was side tracked watching a pair of cardinals at play, or at least she was at play, he was on guard. It was cute watching her flit around the yard and him follow her staying just a little bit behind her. That is indeed a special love. Kit used for this page was May Club Deco Kit that is free for Club Deco Members. Contribution is created by Kathie Woolery. But birds aren't the only thing wandering around distracting me, lol. I have a white squirrel that nests in my garage and she has been MIA for a couple weeks. I guess she left when her babies did...or she followed them for a while but she decided to return home this weekend. Daisie has missed chasing her too and noticed immediately when she re-appeared...maybe it's because she is white as Daisie doesn't seem to chase the gray ones nearly as much. But either way, I did this page of her using Seeds of Summer by DigiSkrapNMomma of Divine Digital. If you like the page, keep your eyes out as I will be giving away this QP in the "very near" future. In the meantime, Here is another QP that I made. I hope that you like it. You can download it here or just click on the image.

I've Been Tagged

I've been Tagged by Creative Triplet Mom

Here is what I have to do once tagged..

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let's see.....here are my 7 facts...

1. I have 9 flower beds and four vegetable gardens.
2. West Wing was my favorite TV show but now it is all of the CSI's since West Wing has been taken off the air.
3. My favorite dessert is strawberry shortcake in a bowl with milk and whipped cream.
4. I have been married three times and two of those were to the same person. Husband one and two were one in the same.
5. I once colored my hair burgundy.
6. When I was younger, I had Three pet Rats.
7. I used to tease my mom by chasing her around the house with lizards because she was afraid of them...

My 7 tags: Deb; DigiSkrapNMomma; Caroline ; Theta; Marcee; Roxanna; Debbie

Deco Pages CT Challenges & a Freebie

Can you believe it is almost June already? I don't know what happened to May....So, I've been getting ready for the new CT challenges over at Deco Pages! This was the first month for them and boy have they been fun! There is the Gallery Hunt where you scrapalift something you've saved to your fav's and just haven't gotten around to doing something with them, the new Lyrics Challenge and Journaling Challenge! Here is a sample of what you will earn for participating in the journaling challenge in June:
It's not too late to participate in May's Challenges as they are going until the end of the month. You can find the journaling challenge here, the lyrics challenge here and the gallery hunt challenge here. Hope to see you there!

I have created a QP from a kit that I have made for spring. Pastels were the color of choice but it had to be something that I could use for the Men in my life like my son's and grandson so it has lot's of blues and greens. Here is one of the QP's that I made with my kit! I hope you enjoy it!You may click on the page or just click here :)