I have found the new theme for withaZ.net!

I'm a password-book away from installing it and moving this blog aggregation along!

Thank you, so much, for your patience, while we sort through all the red tape!

You'd think I fell off the face of the planet. Not quite.

I just have this not-broken foot interrupting my daily life. It makes me grumpy and over-tired.

I'm working on the 8 million blog posts that are swimming around, in my head, all at once.

I have been reading.

I finished Gap Creek by Robert Morgan.

I pledged to read Islands, by Anne Rivers Siddon. It was on its way, free/swap, from paperbackswap, but I'm just not feeling it. I haven't given it any honest time, though.

The Christmas Sweater, by Glenn Beck, was sitting on the shelf, calling to me.. and it was a "don't put it down" good read.

I thought I was having light issues with my camera. Ian, however, has no problem, taking photos, in the dark, with it, so its just me. Are you surprised? *giggle*

Its all the Palmetto Bugs fault! :P

I learned that Swine Flu didn't come from pigs. With all the hype, who knew? I understand the threat, but really.. I could be a vegetarian, if not for bacon, so I felt compelled to protest/argue with my Egyptian friend, about the pigs. God made pigs, too.

Girlie gave me The Twilight Movie, for my birthday. Jacob looks 12. Just Sayin'!

With all of this brain fog, I'm certain that my tweets can be taken completely out of context, and used against me. Srsly. Don't judge me by my tweets.

Please.

Happy Easter from our Home to Yours.. Click on the photo, for our special Easter Message, for you!

This week is full of Birthdays!

Happy Birthday:

• Ahmed Sayed (12th)
• Les Gordon (12th)
• Astrid (13th)
  
• Jeff Stepp (13th)
• Kris Shimanek (15th)
• Ahmed Massoud (15th)
• Catherine Martin (16th)
• Bret Sherwood (17th)

Alton Brown is my hero. I'm so excited to read blogs about his protein and granola bar recipes. I was able to go find my new protein powder. Now, I hope I can stomach it. It has no sweeteners, natural or artificial.. so I'm feeling hopeful. :)

I was unable to attend April's photo meetup, in North Charleston. I didn't get to hug Liz goodbye! Waah! Best of luck, to you, and your husband, Liz.

I did post a couple "Space" funnies, as per the photo meetup theme.

I, finally, joined Post Crossing.

I went to the Post Office to, specifically, buy a stamp, for my fellow post-crossing friend, and they had ONE. No Joke. They only had one international post card .94 cent stamp.

They referred me to Oakbrook. Ugh. They will get more, but was there a surge of postcard stamps purchased, last week? LOL

My first post card is going to Finland. What do you think of the cards I found? CVS gave me $2.50 EC Bucks for that $.54 post card purchase! Full of win!

Heather and Ivy are hosting a give-away, on Home-Ec 101. Prizes include a cookbook or $100 American Express Card. Just pick the recipe, that you favor, and tell others, for multiple chances to win. Easy. You can do it! :)

My heart aches for Marcus Giles. So young to feel such pain. I hope he spends some time and just heals.. and holds those little girls, of his, close by, his side.. let them teach him how to think smaller.. and to just "be." Or maybe go out, with his brother, and get his mind off the palimony trial.

In the midst of researching and collecting lemon recipes, I had to shut down and reinstall my Vista. My software was not working and the weight had broken this camel's back. I'm back up, enough to blog and tweet. The rest will be installed, over the next week. I hope.

Whole Foods gave me two Meyer Lemons, just because I forgot them, and asked if they had some in, at the check-out.

I have to head back there, for the blueberry return, and to pick up a few things that I forgot.. like veganaisse! I can't seem to get whole buttermilk, right now, either. Must have been a surge run on that product, too. :)

Upcoming:

• New books arriving from paperbackswap
• Sending PostCrossing post card to Finland
• Easier menu, next week.
• Attempt one batch of HM Protein bars
• Research cheaper forms of packaging for books in swap
• Prep two books to set free, with Book Crossing.
• I won a $25 gift card, door prize, for a Friday night twitter party. Yay me.
• Need to figure out next internet deal to pursue.

See you next week, at several different events. :)

Okay, I give up.

I must reinstall my Operating System, on my Laptop.

Again.

I backed up Thunderbird. I've burned 5 DVD of data and photos.

****

Here's all I know.

Last week, I did some search on Google, that took me to a malware "click here" whatever site.. like how I got the malware before. I knew not to open or download anything. I closed the browser.

A few minutes later, though, windows shut down my browser.

Every time I open my Flock browser, now, I get that same immediate windows error and notification lies that Windows will notify me when there is a fix.

Okay. So I hate using Firefox, but what choice do I have? I have been feeling like I'm on vacation, with someone else's settings, and lack of my personal shortcuts.. and I'm more than ready to return home to my comfortable "home keyboard."

Except my comfortable home keyboard doesn't exist.

Then, the other day TweetDeck started messing with me. It opens, but the columns are blank. It updates, chimes its beckoning tease, at me, and still NOTHING. I see TD tweets, coming into twitter, when I can get the browser to function..

So, I check for malware intrusions. Some by specific name. I run a MS finder. Nothing. I update my Windows... reboot..

..and now my chat program won't connect. It says I'm not connected to the internet. I'm, obviously, connected, or I wouldn't be typing this, here..

Of course, I sent The Boy, to retrieve my necessary disks and flash drive to reinstall and I've moved them.. so if I can find them..

I can do this..

Did I mention that my phone won't charge, when you plug it in, again? Yeah.. warranty has passed. I can swap batteries and the desktop charger works. But, I feel like someone popped me into the 1970's and wants me to eat Swanson TV Dinners, on tv trays, with a clicker to change the channels of my tv with 8 channels, that come into view, fuzzy, with snow and hum bars.

yeah electronic non-bliss.. gotta love it..

If you see no blogs or tweets, from me, after 72 hours, send help. :)

The technical difficulties, here, have not avoided radar..

I think we are back, now..

Thanks for your patience!

Every year, at The Flower Town Festival, I try to peek around, and find little nature miracles.

I love Wisteria.

In some areas, of the World, people look for Tulips, Hyacinth, or Daffodils, to naturally speak, "Spring."

In Summerville, I look for Wisteria.

As you drive, around town, the Wisteria peeks out, at you, in the midst of often, ignored, jungle-type areas, of forest.

(This is, also, why my favorite flower is the Morning Glory. It appears, as God's personal miracle, in a dense, ignored, and avoided part of our world.)

Spring is, also, the time, of year, when the Azalea's start to scream, out loud,

"Here I am! See me."

Azalea Park is a beautiful back-drop, to The Flower Town Festival.

The craft booths, set up in the pasture, were a little more pleasant, to walk through. The rain didn't make anything easy, in that section, of the festival, though. I was told, that there was a large flow, of water, like a dam had broken, rushed through that area, late Friday night, and some crafter's were unsure if they'd be able to set up, their booths, on Saturday morning.

As much as I cringed, at the waste of the plywood floors, set down, in the walk ways, I was, also, very grateful to be able to peruse the booths, this year. Last year, I was too worried, that I'd slip, and be sitting in all that swampy mud.

Our Fudge Friends, we brought home, from Ginny's Fudge, include the flavors:

• Cookies N Cream
• Death by Fudge
• Milk Chocolate
• Lemon Meringue
• Snickers
• Heath Bar
• Butterfinger
• Cookie Dough
  

We noshed, well, at "a Taste of Summerville."

We decided that our favorite "eat," at "a Taste of Summerville," was Shrimp Burgers, with Chipotle Mayo, and Hush Puppies, from Gilligan's, of Summerville. Definitely Blue-Ribbon material..

We, also, enjoyed Root Beer, Birch Beer, Sarsaparilla, and Vanilla Cream Soda, from Wild Bill's Old Fashioned Soda Pop Company.

I added some "Believe" items, to my collection, from "By My Hands Mosaics."

We shared the most sinful crepe, from Charleston Crepe Company, with Nutella and Fresh Strawberries. The first flavor, I want to try, from them, at The Charleston Farmer's Market, next Saturday, is Caramel and Banana.

Peculiar Standardz ~ Spiritual Perspective

I am a very spiritual person. I would rather use the word "spiritual" than "religious."

Along with this, though, I'm a very "real" person.

I have been reading many spiritually/religious type books, lately. I prefer authors that do not specify, to a point of preaching their religion, to me, though.

I am a Christian. I would never be so vain, though, as to tell someone that I am forgiven. I do not think that its my judgment, of even myself. I don't feel that I have to carry those types of worries, as burdens, on my own shoulders. I'm glad its not my job. (more...)

Field of Dreamz From the Cheap Seatz ~ Food Storage - Egg Replacer

Last night, I attended a wonderful Food Storage Class.

I have food all over my house, but I know I could not eat, for three months, with what I have..

Yes, some things, there is more than a 3 months supply.. like Peanut Butter..

But, in general, as prepared as I am for any type of emergency, job loss, catastrophe..

I'm not prepared, at all...

My biggest concern, when it comes to food storage, is dairy products. We eat a lot of dairy products.

It occurred, to me, last night, however, that I don't store egg replacer. I really didn't know that others didn't know that there were things, that I do store, that will replace an egg, in baked goods. (more...)

Carolina Dreamz ~ LowCountry SOG

I made a judgment mistake, yesterday, afternoon.

I didn't consider that it had been raining, steadily, for over 24 hours, when I made plans to head out into the world.

This photo is the remnant of the lake that was my backyard, yesterday, afternoon. (more...)

Carolina Dreamz ~ "I'll Give you a Dollar?"

Little children are still fascinated with dollar bills. I always carry a couple of them, in my pocket, and offer them for various things..

A few weeks ago, I allowed a one dollar bill to melt away shy fear, of a 6 year old, to sing and dance, at a family/friends gathered bon fire. After the parent had asked, begged, and pleaded..

"I'll Give you a Dollar!" worked. And we enjoyed the little skit, with a couple missing front teeth. Very cute, indeed.. and its not that it was inexpensive entertainment.. it gave the skit value, to the boy. (more...)

Carolina Dreamz:

NINE things about yourself:

1. I love sterling silver.
2. I could eat Mexican food every day.
3. I'm a visual learner. I need to see your name in writing.
4. If I need to find something, ask me the day before I need it. I won't find it until tomorrow, when I'm looking for something else. Really. Its bad.
5. I prefer lemon or caramel to chocolate, in desserts.
6. I'm not a "caller." I love to talk on the phone. Call me. Don't give up because I don't call. Its not personal.
7. Music is life, to me. It speaks to my soul.
8. I love things that other people previously loved, more than new things. Vintage FTW!
9. I work better under pressure. Creativity may not begin to flow, until the very last minute. Its like a miracle.

TweetDeck Update:

UPDATE: Apparently, the left click wasn't working.. for grins, I right clicked and "restore" was not an option.. so I clicked maximize! And its back. How ridiculous. :)

I really like the Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans. They have unique flavors, reminiscent of the Jolly Rancher candy..

I'll hide these Jolly Ranch Jelly Beans, on a shelf, near my bed, to grab a few, here and there.. but I'm holding out for some real gourmet beans, in the name of Jelly Belly's.

FromTheCheapSeatz

$100 and a Free Table for a little inconvenience.

Love From the Front Porch

We gift ourselves in the co-op now!

Ephemeral Pursuitz

Finally Acquired Library Cards

They say that deaths come in three's.. but, apparently, that doesn't apply to "Things."

I'm so frustrated because my world around me is making me feel this way..

My phone is a real PAIN. I LOVED the previous model, so much. The only part, of my old phone, that I hated was the .3 mpx camera.

This new phone is hot pink. Okay, pink. Ugly pink. But, pink. (That shiny surface, that I've always hated, is pretty dang cool, now, that Girlie taught me to use it, as a mirror, to apply lip gloss! *giggle*)

So this ugly pink phone has issues. I almost had warranty replacement, last month, but then some magic "master reset" made it able to charge the battery again.

Magic! Yeah.

(Did I mention that Girlie also has this phone, and now her's won't charge, too? Her "master reset" apparently didn't work, because I wasn't on the phone with the warranty tech guy, right?)

We have desktop chargers. We can swap batteries out. That's not the point. These are new phones.

Remember my Bluetooth ear piece nightmare? The Boy found my old bluetooth ear piece.. at least, it doesn't hurt my ear!

---

---

The only thing, on this lappie, that I use, more than that SD Card Reader, is the keyboard. Did I mention that I'm really hard on keyboards? The keys "E" and "N" look as, if, I beat them. And I do. :)

I can handle aesthetic issues, with keyboards.. but the magic tricks, it does, are on my last nerve.

My cursor likes to jump. Usually, right in the midst of typing. So I'm constantly typing in the wrong place.. When you type fast, this can become a real big problem, real fast. :)

---

My TweetDeck has flown the coop.

---

Blogger is possessed. "Schedule" is broken. This is the current post. That's two days from now, Blogger. Two Days. I've tried every date. You just hate me, eh? :)

---

I'm stuffing my face with tons of Vitamins, because my Spawns are sick.

I really do love your children, than my daughter babysits. Children are just virus carrier, runny nose, little people. That's my nice description. :)

I'm a bit concerned, too, that the church has jumped on the flu pandemic bandwagon, with the CDC. I don't feel protected by my flu shot, for non-bird-related flu. As long as those infected birds stay over near Egypt, I'm all good. The required inoculation, against bird flu, will keep me from visiting Egypt, too.

So, anyone have any ideas about how to fix my TweetDeck?? Someone rekindle my love affair with Twitter. Please?