Customize Your Blog

In trying to design my blog to reflect my creativity, I came across some helpful resources. The first of which is http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ (TCBOTB). That’s where I found my *free* background and banner templates. To customize the banner, I just followed the instructions provided by TCBOTB. Just be careful. Their site is addictive!

I had so much fun perusing their cute templates it almost made me want to try a new one each day! To customize my particular banner I saved the template to my computer as a .jpg file. Then, I opened it in my Paint program (but Photoshop or any other image editing software should work fine). Then, I deleted the original text on the banner and used the text tool to enter my own text using the same color scheme as the banner template. You can set the color palette to the specific color from the banner by using the dropper tool to click on the color on the banner. The primary color on the color palette will change to that color. If you need to fill the color in behind the text, just click on the small paint can and click where you want to fill in the color.

A couple of other great resources for free blog templates are http://www.ipietoon.com/ and http://www.bietemplates.com/.
If you have any questions on how to customize your own banner/blog, please feel free to leave comments on this article. I’ll be happy to help or point you in the right direction. Please feel free to share any resources you know of for better blogging, as well.

Have a great day and happy blogging! Thanks!

Loveys

Evan requests to call and talk to me every weekday while I'm at work. Today when his call came in I was away from my desk and missed the call. When I came back to my desk, the red light was lit up on my phone indicating I had a voicemail. Upon listening to it, my heart melted. Evan left a message and half way through it Puppy interrupted because Puppy wanted to talk. But, then Evan realized that I wasn't there (saying "she's not there") and subsequently hung up. Puppy has his own voice now.

With the voicemail, I could just envision Evan scrunching up his face like he does when he talks in Puppy's voice. His eyes become like little horizontal slits as he uses his highest pitched voice to speak for Puppy.

Puppy has been Evan's constant companion. He was a gift from my older sister when Evan was first born. They became inseparable ever since. The neat thing about that little piece of trivia is that when my nephew was born (he's 14-years-old now...so hard to believe!) I gave him a plush kitten doll which became his lovey "Kitty"! They, too, were inseparable. So, it's been neat to see the loveys come full circle between me and my sister.

Evan is teaching me how to interact with him by interacting with Puppy. For example, one night while getting Evan to sit down for dinner, "Puppy" wanted to play hoops with Evan's new basketball hoop he'd received for Christmas. Instead of addressing Evan directly and telling him to sit down and eat, I played along. I said "Puppy, you have to eat first before you play." Then, Evan mimicked me, telling Puppy the same thing. And, he actually sat down to eat! It's so interesting to see Evan interact with his world through the eyes of "Puppy". And, it's been an eye-opening experience for me, as well. I think Puppy's new voice has been a blessing in disguise in that he has actually given Evan his voice...his way to interact in the world without feeling pressure (how much pressure can a 2 1/2-year-old have, really? Ah, to be young, again.).

Seeing Evan interact with and "talk" for Puppy reminds me so much of myself when I was young. I also had a lovey. His name was Beary...and, yes, he was a bear. He wore a green nightgown with a pink cat on it and a pair of underwear (yes...underwear!) that says on them "I'm a little tax exemption!" Beary was pink when I received him at the tender age of 2-years-old from one of my Dad's girlfriends at the time.

Now, Tyler is the triple threat when it comes to loveys. We call him our little Linus. Not only does he suck his thumb, but, he also requires a blanket to go to sleep. However, he too has converted to a Puppy of his own courtesy of Papa and Grandma (hubby's parents). We took the Linus theme into Tyler's first birthday by getting him a Linus cake. Grandma, of course, got him a Linus shirt just for the occasion, as well!

Weigh-in Thursday

It was not a very big surprise to me to discover during my weigh-in today that I've gained a little weight. Since after Christmas I have not been as diligent with Weight Watchers as I have at the beginning. So, the only thing I need to do is get back on track. In a way, it feels empowering that I know I can lose weight and I know what exact steps it takes to get me there.

Pictured are my adorable boys. Tyler is in the toy bucket. And, Evan is wearing his monkey jammies.

I remind myself that they are one of the best reasons why I need to lose weight and get healthy. I need to be there for them for many years to come! This same focus was how I kept motivated while I was on a diabetic diet while pregnant with each of my boys. I had gestational diabetes with both of them. I know I need to get healthy for myself. But, for some reason, that has never been enough to keep me on track. But, keeping them in mind has always seemed to keep me on track.

Synchronicity

On Sunday, I wrote on my blog about the "Grapefruit" incident. Yesterday, just after I boarded the bus home from work while I was talking to one of my fellow bus "buddies", a man on the bus addresses my bus buddy in a conversation about...you guessed it...grapefruit, of all things! The first thought that came to my mind was how weird it was that this man decided to just start talking to this lady that I was just talking to and he wanted to talk about this great grapefruit they had. That random conversation made me consider serendipity and coincidences. Obviously, that would be considered a coincidence.

But, what is serendipity?

Serendipity is defined in Wikipedia as the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated. Some scientific examples of "serendipity" include Isaac Newton's famed apple falling from a tree, led to his musings about the nature of gravitation. The German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz dreamed about Ourobouros, a snake running around and forming a circle, leading to his solution of the closed chemical structure of cyclic compounds, such as benzene. Archimedes' prototypical cry of Eureka when he realised that his body displacing water in the bathtub allowed him to measure the weight:volume (ratio) of any irregular body, such as a gold crown etc.

I think that when people label occurences as serendipity what they are really referring to is synchronicity.

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner. To count as synchronicity, the events should be unlikely to occur together by chance. This could also be called "meaningful coincidences". See the following Wikipedia link for some famous, documented examples of synchronicity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity#Film.

In my life, I can pinpoint certain circumstances that have "fallen into place" due to synchronicity. For example, in my previous job, I was looking around for a job change. And, while I was perusing online jobs, I came across my current position posted for the company that my sister-in-law works for. I remembered everything she had said about how much she enjoyed working there over the years. So, I called her up immediately and told her about the posting I found. She inquired within and said she'd have to get back to me when she finds out. It was about a month after that when she contacted me to say that the opening had been available. I applied...et voila!

But, it isn't just with my career where I've seen synchronicity in action. I've also seen it in my personal life with relationships.

Now if you want to get really deep and philosophical, you could look at synchronicity as divine providence or "divine interaction". Coming from a Protestant background myself (Presbyterian, Calvin, etc.), synchronicity falls perfectly into that category of divine providence. How do you interpret it, though? How do you know if something is divine providence or just your own mind trying to make something of nothing or attaching meaning in an effort to create your own meaning?

Have you experienced synchronicity in your life and how? Please feel free to leave your comments on this blog. I'd really like to hear your stories!

What are you reading?

A new year calls for a new book, right? What are you currently reading? If you're not reading anything, what are you interested in reading?

Those of you who know me well know that I am an avid reader (yes...an understatement - just ask my husband if he can find my bedside table!). My specific reading interests as of late includes e-business books, online marketing, and generally making money online. A long-held of dream of mine has been to start a craft business. So, I figured why not look into a low-cost way to do so? On that note, I've stumbled upon a very insightful book at the library titled e-Riches 2.0: Next-Generation Marketing Strategies for Making Millions Online by Scott Fox (author of Internet Riches). Rarely do I find a book so enamoring that I actually want to purchase it after borrowing it from the library. However, THIS is one of those books! Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is just some "get-rich-quick guru" who sells a lot of fluff but doesn't give you substance. Scott Fox doesn't make any "get-rich-quick" claims. He is a true authority on the subject of how to use online tools to market your product or service online. He jams so many internet marketing resources into this one book that I plan to purchase it as a regular go-to reference for my bookshelf!

Grapefruit?

So, I did do a little light grocery shopping at Giant Eagle tonight. Evan went with me (to give Daddy a break...lol). I went to the 12 items or less cashier's line. As the cashier picked up the cantaloupe, shook it up and down in her hand a couple of times as if contemplating the weight and asked "Grapefruit?" First, I eyed her up just to be sure she wasn't joking. Then, trying to mask my disbelief that she did not know what it was, I said "cantaloupe". She kind of shook her head as if she already knew that but her eyes gave her away that she still wasn't sure! Seriously?! How can you work in a grocery store and not know what a cantaloupe looks like? Wow.

New Year's resolutions in action!

Back in November I joined Weight Watchers. So far I've lost 8.8 pounds (and counting). I've found that as long as I stick to the points --continue tracking-- and work out on a regular basis that's when I see the most success. The holidays have been a challenge. But, I haven't seen a dramatic gain from them. I do feel that the term "Momentum" is truly applicable in this case! My hubby asks why I decided to join WW before the holidays. I say it's better than if I didn't because during my meetings they announced that the AVERAGE weight gained during the holidays is 12 pounds. And, that's just the AVERAGE! If I hadn't joined Weight Watchers when I did, I would have tipped the scales at over 200 pounds. Now, you can ask my friends and co-workers if I look "that heavy" and they would so "no way". I have the curvy body type that hides the pounds well. It's a blessing and a curse all in one! It's been a curse mainly because it perpetuated my denial of my weight because no one thought I "looked" overweight when the scales were telling me otherwise.

This all brings me to New Year's resolutions. I've been using my gym membership on a regular basis. So, it was interesting to see all the extra people at the gym today no doubt working on their resolutions. I vow not to be one of those people who go gung-ho the first couple months of the year only to drop off in February and give up. Like I said, I've built up enough momentum to get into a good routine. My weightloss goal for 2010 is to lose 36 pounds to get to my BMI weight for my height (5'3"). This is definitely doable. 36 pounds divided by 12 months is only 3 pounds a month loss. If I were truly ambitious, I could try to cut that time in half to lose 6 pounds per month for 6 months! We shall see...

I'm planning on working some strength training into my workout. Cardio is my favorite. I always feel like I have to push myself to try any strength training. We had a family gift exchange for this past Christmas. I asked for Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred. I haven't started it, yet. I do have two of her books. I'm impressed with her go-getting style on The Biggest Loser. I'll let you know how I like the DVD after I try it!