June Journeys – 2020 – The Vincent Ehindero Blogger Award

Well I’m going to try another test here.  I switched my simulcast so that it goes from WordPress to Blogger instead of the other way around.  If things go right, this post will still be on both sites.

My new friend, Becky at Strikeouts + Sprinkles has nominated me for the Vincent Ehindero Blogger Award.   Thanks Becky, I am honored.  I started following Becky because of our shared interest in baseball, although to be honest I don’t even remember how I came across her blog.  Perhaps she commented on someone else’s site.  You know how that goes.

In any event, Becky has given me the following questions to answer:

If you could play a scene in a movie, what would it be and which character would you play?

Maybe Debra Winger when Richard Gere comes and sweeps her off her feet in Officer and a Gentleman.  Or Jo from Little Women when she gets her first story published.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A nurse.  From as early as I can remember, that’s what I wanted to do.  I didn’t make it to actual RN status but I did become a medical assistant and was able to work in a doctor’s office giving injections, taking blood pressures, doing EKGs and things like that.  I did that for about 5 years and then became an office manager for the doctors and that’s what I did for the rest of the 25 years I worked in the office.

How would people describe you?

I would hope they would describe me as friendly, kind, creative, trustworthy and dedicated.

What is your spirit animal?

The wise old owl.   

What is your most treasured possession?

I was going to say the kids, but I don’t own them.  My studio would be my treasured possession.  I love going in there to work on my crafts.

What is your go-to ice cream order?

Mint chocolate chip with hot fudge sauce!

 

Well there you have it.  I’m not one for nominating people for awards so let me just say that you should definitely visit Becky’s blog and if you’d like to answer the questions, I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.  Cross your fingers that this works the way it’s supposed to!  Have a spectacular Monday all.

from WordPress https://scr4pl80.wordpress.com/2020/06/15/june-journeys-2020-the-vincent-ehindero-blogger-award/

June Journeys - 2020 Stream of Consciousness Saturday - Nail

I thought I had this blogging stuff nailed when I took John's advice and used IFTTT (If This Then That) to simulcast my blog posts from Blogger to WordPress.  Things seemed to be working so well until the other day when I wrote a post on Blogger as usual and then checked WordPress to make sure it was there.  

It wasn't so I checked IFTTT to see if the applet was running properly.  It said it was but I accidentally turned it off and then turned it back on again.  Back on WordPress, there was still no post from June 10.  However, there was a notice that said I had reached my maximum storage and it shows that I have almost 2000 posts.  

I didn't catch on right away but then when I looked closer I realized that IFTTT had resent ALL the posts from Blogger to WP going back to 2015!!  Looking at the number of posts for each month showed me that November 2016 for example had 79 posts!  Even during the A to Z my max number of posts is one a day and not even the whole 30 days!  That means that some of those posts have triplicates!

It is going to be an exhausting task to try and fix this.  As if that's not bad enough, on Blogger I notice that a lot of my pictures are not showing up in some posts.  Can't figure that one out either because that same picture will show up in a different post.  I'd say I'm tearing my nails off but I've never been one to do that.  I like my nails. 

At this point I'm wondering if I should just nail the barn door shut and start all over again.  (Using the #SoCS prompt of "nail" from the lovely Linda.) 

Anybody ever have this problem?  Got any quick fixes?  Would you come find me if I started all over?  I'm using this as a test post in a way.  If it doesn't convert to WP then I may just give up on Blogger and only post on WP since that's where my 198 followers are.  I hope my 27 Blogger friends will forgive me.   

  

June Journeys - 2020 - Five things

Hello all!  Thought I'd pop in and share what I've been doing lately.  A fair amount of transcription work has come my way, thankfully, and that is keeping me pretty busy.  

I've been watching what's going on in the world and I have no words.  I said the other day that it feels like I am in some futuristic novel between the coronavirus and the protests.  I never considered myself privileged but I am learning that it doesn't always mean that you have a lot of money.  I've been reading things that shock me and make me mad.  I'm praying that some good will come out of all of this and extremely hopeful that a big change will come in our country this November.  But I can't dwell on these things.  All I can do is do what I can in my little part of the world and listen and try to learn.  

I did get my One Second Every Day in.  That's where you take a one second video of something every day.  Here is my month of May:

I've also been taking a class with Liz Lamoreux called Here:  Five Things.  She gives us a prompt every day this month.  So far:

Five Things outside my window

Five Recipes that bring me comfort.

Five favorite movie/book/TV characters

Five ways I'm taking care of myself.

Five albums to take on a road trip

Five dreams I want to make a reality

Five things I love about where I live

Five things I noticed about today

Five memories that comfort me

Some days I really have to think hard about it to find five things.  Other days I have so many I have to add an honorable mention or two.  Liz is going to be giving us themes all month so click on the link above if you want to join in.  I've taken a few of her e-courses before and always learn something new about myself.     

Okay, that's it for me for now.  I'd love to hear your answers to any or all of the prompts above.  Be careful out there and stay healthy! 

Maybe It's May 2020 - The End is Near

Tomorrow will be the end of the month of May.  I've posted twice, three times if you count the first one but that was about the A to Z in April so...

What's been happening?   Well, since the Shelter-in-Place is still in effect, not much really.  I've gone to the grocery store a few times, driven my son to work and picked up some mail from my mailbox but other than that the only time I go anywhere is walking with Benny twice a day. 

Here's a few pictures from the month:

This was the sky this afternoon.  It looked like snowy mountains to me but it's all just clouds.  We did have a bit of rain today but it didn't last long.

Took a different route with one of the Benny walks and saw these two peeking out from a window.

I had a day of card making and added these to the Etsy site.  They have a more masculine feel to them so could be used for Father's Day and other occasions when you don't really want to send something too flowery.   

I even made a video about how I put them together.  

I did a bunch of coloring in the book my son got me for Christmas, Magical Jungle.  This is one page.

Took a picture of myself.  I'm documenting the weight loss and these help me keep on track.  I don't want to slide into bad habits.  This was a top I got from one of my daughter's friends and I was showing her that it was being put to good use.  Plus, I've been taking a selfie a month for a couple of years now.  It's kinda fun to look back and see the changes.   

People looking out the window are not the only things I've been noticing on the daily walks with Benny.  These spider webs were covered in dew drops and it looked like patches of diamonds in this bush.  

These looked like the rock candy sticks with the dew being the sugar.  It's hard to tell from this picture but really, that's what it reminded me of.  

It was nice to see the shelves at Safeway filling up a bit with paper products.  

After doing all the scrapbook pages for our concerts last month I realized that I need more albums to hold them all.  I got a plain album and decorated it by using some Luster Polish as a background and then using a stencil and metallic marker to detail the front.  Came out pretty good I think. 

This is Benny telling me it's time for a walk.  

Got my full moon shot.  

Loved all the different colors on this rose.  

And one more picture of me.  I really have to get some new clothes I think.  

We also had our anniversary, but I wrote about that in my last post.  I did get some more transcription work too, which is so very helpful right now.  Things are looking up a bit in my world, how about yours?  

Maybe it's May - 36th Anniversary Edition

Yep, 36 years ago yesterday at a Vista Point overlooking Lake Tahoe in Zephyr Cove, Nevada, my husband and I got married.

I say we have a fairy tale story...

Oh, those days before kids when we were kids.

I found this little couple and put them in my fairy garden in front of the studio.  Kinda looks like us, no? 

We recreated the moment at our 25th anniversary.  I didn't think about it or I'd have stood on the other side.   

One of our first "concert selfies."  I love this picture of us.

Six years ago we had this "portrait" done in Reno, one of our favorite places to spend our anniversary.

Benihana has been another of our anniversary go-to spots for many years.  We couldn't eat inside this time but we did get take out and ate at home while watching a movie, "Call of the Wild."  

Not gonna lie, the last 10 years have been really hard on a lot of levels.  It has tested me to the limit and sometimes it felt like I was just hanging on by a string.  Sometimes I even considered letting go.  But then I take a breath and realize that it is life and we'll get through it.  Here's to love and another 36 years.

     

Maybe It's May - 2020 - Escapist Coloring Club

It is May, I know because we are no longer doing the April A to Z Challenge but that is about the only way I know. 

Here is my coloring for the Escapist Coloring Club hosted by Linda.  They are all from the Magical Jungle book I got for Christmas.

 

How have you been keeping busy?  I have had some work to do and I got an order on my Etsy shop for a baby book so I've been working on that.  I also did some yard work, pulling weeds out of our backyard.  I'm about to start on some Father's Day cards and albums, also for the Etsy shop, like these:

      

Stop by and check them out!

Actually, life is pretty normal for me, and for that I am grateful.  Everyone is healthy too.  Have a great weekend!

A to Z Challenge - 2020 - Reflections

I finished another A to Z Challenge and I've got the badge to prove it!  This was my fifth year and I had set myself a monumental task of scrapbooking 26 concerts using the band names or song titles for the letters of the alphabet.  While I didn't exactly finish the whole layout for each show, I did manage to get at least the paper collections picked out and the title page done. 

In total I scrapbooked 99 pages and 25 different concerts (Up Where We Belong - Joe Cocker and Tom Petty were in the same show).  I'm pretty pleased with that and if I had been counting all along I would have at least done one more page to make an even 100.   

Here are links to all the posts in case you missed something.  Note that they will open up in my WordPress blog because apparently Blogger is having some technical issues with pictures.  In fact, I may decide to just use WordPress from now on. 

A - ABBA
B - Boston
C - Clapton
D - Daughtry
E - ELO
F - Frampton
G - Get Ready
H - Heart
I - Isaac
J - Jessie's Girl
K - Kiss On My List
L - Lynyrd Skynyrd
M - Miller
N - Nickelback
O - One More Night
P - Petty
Q - Queen
R - Richie
S - Santana
T - Toto
U - Up Where We Belong
V - VIP
W - We Belong
X - StyX
Y - You've Got A Friend
Z - Zoo

Some of the fun bloggers I found during this year's challenge were:

Joy's Book Blog:  Joy wrote about what to pack on your creative journey.  Lots of fun there.

Stepheny Forgue Houghtlin: Stepheny wrote about the glories of tea and showed some beautiful tea cups and different places you can enjoy a good cuppa.'

The DreamGirl Writes:  DreamGirl wrote a great mystery story.  Kept me hanging on to the very end!

A Unique Title For Me: Jim, who is our Song Lyric Sunday coordinator wrote terrific posts on musical groups.  They are long posts but very informative with lots of background information.  Worth the read if you have the time.

Jingle Jangle Jungle:  Mary gave us a word of the day and we were challenged to come up with songs using that word.

No Love for Fatties:  "T" wrote a story a day using the pictures from a children's alphabet.

Curious as A Cathy:  Cathy drew some great pin-up gals.

I was even featured on the A to Z official site as a blogger with 2020 vision by my friend John Holton. John and I met through the A to Z when I first started and have followed each other since.  He is a wealth of interesting information and a fun blog to read.  Thanks again!

It was fun for me to relive these concerts in this way, especially since some of the shows were from 10 years ago!  A few of my favorite layouts were:

A is for Abba

D is for Daughtry

F is for Frampton

H is for Heart

J is for Jessie's Girl

N is for Nickelback

O is for One More Night

T is for Toto

V is for VIP

As always, thanks to Arlee Bird, our A to Z Founder, John, J. Lennie Dorner, Zalka Csenge Virag, Jayden R. Vicente and Jeremy Hawkins for their terrific efforts to keep this challenge going. 

The A to Z Road Trip will be starting soon and I realized that I could do another alphabet with concerts for next year if I want to.  We'll see.  Thanks to all who came along on this journey with me.  I really appreciate all the comments and generous praise for my artistic endeavors.  Stay safe and healthy out there so we can do this again!