Jump over to my Active Blog

Hi y'all and thanks for stopping by! Please enjoy navigating around this blog...but I haven't updated in awhile because I've created another blog to use in my new life in Mississippi! Come on over, if you'd like to see my further ramblings...

Life at Hilltop

Smile whenever possible ;-)

Elizabeth

Wordless Wednesday ~ Mardi Gras

(I think I can never post a totally Wordless Wednesday...I MUST explain a few things...!)


Here's daughter 6 years ago at the French Quarter in...Disneyland! These guys were great and had her singing and dancing and then threw the beads...As close to the "real" thing as we've gotten!




and this is a few years later... today! :))

Thanks to Miss Dixie at French Lique, Texas for creating and having fun with Wordless Wednesday! Visit her blog and find out who's joining in. And you join in, too!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Books

It's time for Wordless Wednesday, hosted by the delightful Dixie at French Lique. Please join in!

















Our word for today is BOOKS, and even though this should be Wordless, it seems I cannot keep from commenting just a teensy bit! You see, (*heartfelt sigh*) my books have not all been unpacked yet, so all I can offer is:





Well, this is as close as I can get: a comforter...held up by my daughter (wearing white socks!)


I need some bookcases!

Welcome to MY Birthday!

In the United States, tomorrow, February 16, is a Federal Holiday...the official reason is that it celebrates the birthdays of two past Presidents, Washington and Lincoln...however, it is a bit of a sham because neither man was born on this date! It is a government decree, a combined day always occuring on a Monday to assure a 3-day weekend to celebrate every year. And back in my working life, I was glad for it.

However, that's all well and good, but THIS YEAR I am claiming the day as my very own because this is my exact birthday (February 16, mark it down), no kidding around and moving target dates! Yes, my birthday is a National Holiday where the banks and government offices are closed, and no mail is delivered. All in MY honor (this year on February 16, are you catching this? *smile*). How cool is that???!!!

And to top it off, I was ALMOST a Valentine Baby!! (I try to look for the best in every situation LOL.)

Thank you dear friends for sharing my blog and now my Birthday...hope this day for you is special and fun!

Oh and my mom tells me that 49 years ago was a VERY snowy, icy night in Chicago!

Valentine Surprise for Me and You

My dear friend in Arizona sent me this beautiful Rose Chest...

Inside was filled with heart chocolates!

But while I was admiring this and my mind drifted away thinking about myriad chocolates...

Someone came by and began to take them!! This was not my hand, but the hand of my daughter...What was she up to???

When I looked around, my daughter was standing by me with a look of complete innocence, but there were no more chocolates!!

Oh, but of course she hadn't removed them to EAT, but to create this...

A wish to me, to my wonderful friends and family, and to my dear readers for a Happy, Sweet Valentine's Day !!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Love

Sorry I couldn't sharpen this up, but it's one of my favorites: You will always hold my heart, sweetie-pie.
luv, mom


Please visit Dixie at French Lique so you can visit the other lovely bloggers!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Children

From my mother's bookshelf




Thank you for visiting...if you'd like to join the fun of Wordless Wednesday visit Dixie at French Lique, Texas.

Shadows

Happy Groundhog Day!! I have always enjoyed the Bill Murray movie, where he has to live a day without sneering at everyone in his world, in order to stay with his true love...and he's SUCH a pain in the rear guy at the beginning, that it takes a l-o-n-g time to become a member of society that no one wants to punch in the face the instant he says something!

Well, so did Punxsatawney (I spelled it right!) Phil see his shadow and will there be 6 more weeks of winter...??

If the answer is driving you mad, go to his website: Punxsatawney Phil

According to Wikipedia, the groundhog is a large rodent. He's also called a "woodchuck" which brings to mind the famous question ditty:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Do you know the answer??? Of course it's:

A woodchuck chucks WHAT a woodchuck chucks if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

So, he chucks whatever he wants. A strong minded individual.

So, six more weeks of winter....OOOOPPPPS, I gave it away! Guess it was a sunny day in Pennsylvania. Sorry Phil. But congratulations on your 15 minutes of fame!

Have a great day, dear readers! We've got clouds so NO shadows...does that mean WE WON'T have 6 more weeks of winter HERE??!! What's your weather report?

Answering a delicate question...

"Mommy, where do mini M&Ms come from?"

"Well, honey, Mr.& Mrs. M & M meet at the juke box candy dispenser, link their hands and together push the silver button on the top. Surprise, surprise, out drops their very own mini M&M! This one they named GreenEm, but it could have been a RedEm, or even YellowEm. They stay at the juke box until they have enough little ones to fill a candy sack. Now you go tell your friends that there is no such thing as a chocolate stork delivering baby candies. That's just plain ridiculous!"

Well, dear reader, I'll just bet YOU didn't know how they were made either??!!

Have a wonderful weekend and smile, smile, smile!

Google Earth is scaring me...

I've always enjoyed visiting the Google Earth site...originally I was able to get an aerial view of my house, or a friend's house or a house that I once lived in. It's all a bird's eye view, maybe a low flying bird, but it feels non-personal and uninvasive to me. HOWEVER, I have recently found an astonishing and rather creepy feature (is it new or did I just accidentally find it?)...maybe you've already discovered it, but it really did make me feel, well, stalked!


If you haven't downloaded Google Earth, it's easy. Just go here:


http://earth.google.com/ and download the free version. It really is an absolutely remarkable way to view the world.



That said, now for the interesting, spooky part...on the lower left under LAYERS, make sure the first 5 are checked: Geographic Web, Roads, 3D Buildings, Street View, Borders and Labels. It's the street view item that will give the effect I'm talking about. Now at the top of the page at FLY TO, type in your destination....make it your own home address. You will be virtually wisked to the area and be in the sky looking down on your rooftop. You will see little camera icons on the street; double click on one of them close to your house. You will then be whisked down to street level and in a matter of moments you will be standing on your street and can use the mouse to navigate around 360 degrees and can see the very front of your house AS IF YOU WERE STANDING RIGHT THERE!


I don't know the astonishing technology behind this...it's as if someone has been driving up to my house and spinning around taking photos. But I don't know who it is and I never see this....uh...stalker!!

There are probably other camera icons along your street. Double Click on them and then press the left button on your mouse to make the hand icon grab the photo and move around on it.

I thought this might only work on my home back in Tucson, a BIG city, but it also works in the "sticks" where I live now in Mississippi.

It's cool, creepy, scary, fabulous technology at its very best! But it does have a spooky big-brother-is-watching kind of feeling.

If you try it, let me know...if you have trouble, ask me and I'll try to help. It's worth a look-see!!