2009-07-17

Laughter is the Best Medicine!

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Responses: 1 comments



Hi Everyone,
I hope you are doing well, I am doing better today. Laughter always
brings me back to a happy state of mind. My mom also had a great
sense of humor and I think I appreciated comedy a little more because
of her. I know she got that sense of humor from her Father who I called
Grampy. He was straight off the boat from Italy and he spoke broken
English, his children and grandchildren always had a hard time understanding
him, but we knew when he laughed, we would just follow suite and laugh as
well. The best part of visiting him was eating his spaghetti sauce, OMG
it was true Italian cuisine at it's best. I got this in a email and it made me
LMAO so I looked at it again today, Did Phillip or not, I think you will know
what the question is by looking at the picture. Then I thought some you
might need a good laugh today! No offense to my English friend Donna LOL!!!
Take Care,
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Janet :)
2009-07-16

A Poem for Josephine

Responses: 2 comments


Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well, I am doing good, except for today. My mother
struggled with mental illness after giving birth to her 4th child in 5 years
at the age of 26 which was expected of women back in the fifties. I can see
why she had a breakdown, God knows I would have, 3 children in cloth diapers
without all of today's luxuries, and family support. It was probably post partum

psychosis that came upon her, but back then everyone was schizophrenic,so from
that point on she was damaged from shock therapy and Thorazine, until 1989
when she got a new doctor and treatment, and like a dying rose, she bloomed
once again, I am so grateful for the 19 years of getting to know her all over again
and spending so much time with her that I never thought I would have. During her
last 5 years of life she lived right around the corner from me. We spent even more

time together and I would bring her her favorite sandwich and we would talk and
then go shopping, memories I treasure today. Today I had to go out to do something,
and on my way home I had to pass her street, I always pray for a green light so I

do not have to stop and look at the road I can no longer go down to see her. Yet of
course today I got the red light. Instantly tears started to roll down my face,and
when I got home, somehow this poem came to me. She never came out and
spoke these words to me but I always knew what she was thinking and feeling,

so I want to share them with you, so if you know anyone who suffers from a
mental illness although they cannot express it, my instincts tell me this is how they feel.
The one thing in this poem my mother shared with me was once while being in an institution
she heard a women screaming and immediately went to her room and got on

her knee's and prayed for her, while she was suffering herself. She will forever
be my inspiration as I don't think I could have been as brave as her.
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care
Janet :)

As I awoke one day,
my mind had changed
As shadows and darkness
surrounded me,
I tried to hold onto the
light, but it was not meant
to be.

After a shock has been
sent through my brain,
I sit with people around
me who hug and kiss me
Yet I don't know their names.
I try to get up and walk,
but around my ankles
it feels like a giant ball

I sit with a group of people
I don't know, speaking
words that are to me a
blur. Yet when they cry
I go to my room and pray for
them and hide

Today I returned home
everything is the same
except for me. I hope they
will still love me even though
I have changed


We did Mom, and I know
you felt the love without
shame.


Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care,
Janet :)
2009-07-14

Entrecard droppers part 2 Please Read!!!!

Responses: 3 comments
Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well, I am doing good, Thank you to all of you who left
a comment on my last post. I just noticed one thing that alot of you mentioned
the paid add, I read this blog post from ec when it came in my email and I
interpreted it that they listened to us, and there are no longer paid adds, I
personally have not gotten any request for paid adds only other ec droppers
who use therir credits. I still had old paid add request on my dashboard
but I deleted them all and I never have recieved a paid request since.
Maybe some of you missed that or maybe I am misunderstanding this post,
but I believe the addmaster is using his own ec credits all over the place.
If any of you know different and Iam wrong please let me know.
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care,
Janet :)
From the ec blog
We’re listening to you, and growing (again)
Very recently, you might remember us launching a paid ad system which let outside advertisers advertise across Entrecard widgets. Across the board, everyone was very clear and vocal that you didn’t like it one bit. So, after trying it out for a while and listening carefully to your feedback, we disabled the advertising system for all outside advertisers (though Entrecard members can still buy exposure for their “Entrecard” across the network).

It was pretty interesting to observe the communities reaction. At first when we announced the system, a number of people started leaving Entrecard. And it wasn’t really until we made the change, and disallowed all outside advertisers, that our growth numbers swung back to positive. And then it was like flipping a switch.

Overall, the experience was very humbling: for the first month ever, more people left Entrecard than joined. So, you can imagine how quickly I realized that we had made a mistake by letting outside advetisers in, and that the special, close-knit community we have here at Entrecard doesn’t want to let your run of the mill Internet advertiser into the building.

But now we’re back on track to add a few thousand bloggers this month, and continue growing, and with the new revenue that the Gambit system is generating, we’re cooking up some great stuff.
That’s all for me.
Cheers,
Graham

comment to this blog post on EC
SG Entrepreneur Says:
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:59 am

I think the new system where people can earn EC using the gambit system is great.

Btw, I don’t think the problem was necessarily just with the outsiders being advertisers but the fact that the space for EC paid ads was also suddenly cut in half. The advertiser lost out and the publisher also lost out (no one got paid for running those ads unlike in this gambit system). The system also had way too many bugs where paid ads would run regardless of whether someone had approved them or not and then seeing the same ad over and over again across the network made dropping impossible.

So I think you learned your lesson well- but hopefully, not just the one lesson you mentioned above. There were many other lessons … the main one being you don’t surprise your community with:

(1) Sudden changes
(2) Unstable changes (so many people gave up, myself included at one point, because things were not working as advertised)
(3) Changes that then kept changing (e.g.- all blogs had to move up their EC widget or risk termination, and then oh, it’s ok …)
(4) Moving deadlines

At the end of the day though, I’m glad that you brought it back to what EC should be.

Entrecard Droppers

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Responses: 7 comments


Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all doing well, to all my fellow Entrecard droppers who I
appreciate so much, I just wanted to share with you about my visits to
your blog. Every time I come by most of your blogs I keep seeing the same
add on your Entrecard, the more I see it, the less I want to advertise
on your blog, this person is taking over too many blogs, and it is
overkill, I wish Entrecard would only allow so many of our adds to run
at once. Until then could some of you decline their ad and make room
for the rest of us??
Take Care,
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Janet :)
2009-07-13

Music Monday!

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Responses: 4 comments



Hi Everyone, I hope you are all doing well, I am doing good, On Saturday where I live everything was perfect, the sun was out, the air was warm. I decided for the first time in a long time to sit out on my deck in my bathing suit!!! Although I tan easy just by sitting out there for no reason, I had nothing to do, my hubby and son were doing their own thing. While I basked in the sun rays I listened to 100.7 classic rock. This song came on and brought me back to my teenage years, and as I listened to it I thought to myself, this song should be the theme for life, because it is so ture!
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care,
Janet :)


Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.





2009-07-11

Welcome Home Kat, and Thank You Friends

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Responses: 4 comments
welcome home





Photobucket

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are doing well, I am doing good, I am watching a great game of baseball between the Red Sox's and the Kansas City! Pete is an early riser and I am a night owl and Scott is in his room as he is so often now that he is a teenage, I am glad when he gets hungry so I I can see and talk to him!! I wanted to take the time to say Welcome Home to my friend Kat from http://candlesandcrafts.blogspot.com/ who is also the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director at http://www.angelsezine.com/ the ezine I write weekly as Dolly Loving, my mothers nickname was Dolly. Kat invited me to write there and I am so happy she did, I love the ezine it inspires me and helps me to grow as a writer. I met Kat through my blog and luckily she lives a couple of towns over, one day I had the pleasure of hanging out with her and she is a riot, I felt like I knew her all my life. Kat I am glad you took a well deserved vacation in Ohio, you work tirelessly for all the writers and make the ezine what it is today. On top of that Kat you are one the few true friends I have ever had and I thank you for that, so welcome back and I look forward to catching up with you. As I started writing this to you Kat it also got me thinking about the other true friends I have been blessed with in my life. As the years have passed, now I know I am showing my age LOL! I have one hand full of true friends and I want to take the time to say THANK YOU! These past couple of years has also taught me gratitude in a way I never knew it before. You a true friends in my book because even when I was not at my best through some difficult times and may have lashed out without meaning to, you still forgave me and stayed my friend. You don't know what that meant to me and I believe you have all helped me to stay strong when I wanted to just not deal with the grief anymore and hide away. So here is a shout out to you! Hope I don't get to mushy

Donna, I met Donna at work, you are excellent with the disabled and they are lucky to have you. I think you are what they call the salt of the earth. I will never forget how much you supported me by listening, and letting me cry and offering help throughout all those loses. One thing sticks out in my mind Donna, when Christa was giving birth a few days early so their baby could meet her dying grandmother Wendy, you said to me "I can't imagine what you are going through, if you even need me to food shop for you, let me know." No one had ever offered that to me even the friends at the time I thought were there for me and later realized they were not. With all you have on your plate, taking care of your daughter and her busy schedule, working full time it is something I will never forget, and I forget a lot. Donna I think your compassion for me came from the fact that we both lost our parents in similar ways. Both of our Father's left us without a chance to say goodbye. Every time I hear Bob Seager I think of the two of you. Our mothers had to suffer through a long illness and how hard it must of been for you and your family to lose her at the age of 52? sorry if I got that wrong but I know it was around there. Yet throughout the day at work, we always had a good laugh, I miss that it was the best medicine to help me heal, Thanks again :)

Shirley you are an inspirational person who I met at work and like Donna you did all the same things for me. Shirley even though you probably could retire you are the youngest person at heart and you continue to devote your time working with the disabled. Shirley you have insights to their needs that many don't see. They are also so lucky to have you in their lives. The most fun I have with you Shirley is talking about our grandchildren. Your grandson Oliver is so handsome and Even though your daughter is currently living out of state some day we are going to get them together and when they are older maybe we will send them to the alter together LOL! Christa and I loved bringing Briana by to visit with you and everyone at TLC, you were so loving to her and I will never forget that. I am sorry I have not caught up with you yet for coffee, I promise I will. I have been spoiled being out of work, not that I like that, but with Scott being on vacation some mornings I sleep until 8am and don't think I can get to McDonald's in time to meet you, but I am working on that, or I will give you a call to find another time to meet. You and Donna and everyone at TLC are in my thoughts everyday. Thank you for always being supportive and a true friend :)

SoulMerlin from http://soulmerlin.typepad.com/reflections/ I was lucky enough to met you through my blog and even though you live in England I feel I know you as if you lived here next door. You are truly one of the most inspirational and great writers I have ever met. When I read your stories of your journeys for example to like to Stonehenge, you write so well I feel like I am there. You always comment on my blog and it touches my heart more than you'll know. I appreciate that you keep me posted on your blog as well. You were also so supportive of me the past two year and I want you to know I will never forget that. I will be in touch soon. Hope all is well with you :)

Bing of http://pinklady-bing.blogspot.com/ I also met you online and you also live half way across the world, yet you have helped me so much with my grief by reading your story. You continue to share your journey from losing your husband James to finding yourself again. You help and inspire so many people with your honesty and strength. I am so glad our paths crossed. You have helped me in more ways than you know, thanks for always taking the time to be a true friend :)

Wow, I have been typing for about two hours now, but it is something I really wanted to do, Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care,
Janet :)
2009-07-10

Open The Box

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Responses: 0 comments

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are doing well. I am doing good. When I came across this loving kindness meditation I was filled with peace right away. These past couple of years I was consumed with loss. Family members died, some of my friendships turned out to be not what I thought they were. I truly believe in that saying now, when your down and out you find out who your true friends are. This loving kindness meditation put it into perspective for me. Every time I had loss or a change that was not expected it always brought me fear. I now know I can let go without having to fear, and I will still be ok, I will still be connected to the world and to the ones I need to be. I hope this helps you feel the same if you need it. No matter what you have lived through, no matter how scary or difficult your life has been,no matter what harm you have caused others or they have caused you, you are still intrinsically whole. We are all complete and connected to one another. Showing loving kindness means embracing all parts of ourselves and the world around us. Through practice we stop denying different, "unlikeable" parts of our experiences. The goal is to accept what comes into our lives and accept what leaves our lives without fear, desire, or aversion. You can learn to access this natural goodness within you and others simply by doing a formal or informal loving kindness meditation. By repeating these loving kindness phrases, you can access this loveliness, this perfection that rests within all of us. Our original goodness is like a gift in a box just waiting to be opened. Let the loving kindness mantras be the force that pulls open the bows on the box. Let the light in by saying these phrases to yourself.
"May we be filled with loving-kindness"
"May we be healthy and strong"
"May we feel calm and at ease"
"May we be happy"
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Take Care,
Janet :)