Lets Jump Together

Finding a web host can be an intimidating process. There are so many available out there, and each one says they are the best.

If you are brand new to building a website, the search can become overwhelming without some kind of guide to help select the best one.

I was lucky enough to run across a web host rating site when I was searching for a home for this blog.

They helped me choose the best site for the best price. I am very happy with my host - installing the blog software was done painlessly and automatically.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

This poem is on a plaque that was given to my husband many years ago. It has always meant a great deal to him.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man my son!

- By Rudyard Kipling

Many years ago a read about the B-2 Stealth Bomber in a National Geographic Magazine.

I have always loved this side profile photo of this magnificent aircraft, and I was able to find it online.

It was featured in the December 2003 issue, and the photo was taken by Joe McNally.

What a sleek, beautiful piece of modern technology - and what a treat it must have been for the photographer to get that assignment!

The car needs more repairs - again.

The boys work very hard to keep the car in shape and running good - but sometimes the repairs just seem to pile up a little too quickly.

While I am very appreciative that they can repair a car, as it saves us so much money, I hate to see them working so hard.

Fixing cars is not easy when you are doing it in your driveway with manual tools.

We have always ended up buying a used car, which works well for us since the boys can fix them.

They do a lot of researching online before we make any purchase.

Someday a new car will be in our future - they certainly deserve it!

The afternoon was spent making a batch of home made Whoopie Pies.

I remember these as a little girl growing up, and I use the same recipe my Mom used when she made these treats.

We always double the filling part of the recipe.  Don’t like to skimp on the cream - the thicker the better!

I made a batch of these for my cousin’s baby shower years ago, and we used food coloring to make half of the cream, pink, and the other half, blue.

Here is the recipe for these yummy treats:

Blend:

6 TBS Shortening

1 Cup Sugar

1 egg

1 Cup Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla

Add to:

2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt

5 TBS Cocoa

Drop on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.

Cool on wire racks

Cream Filling:

3/4 Cup Shortening

1 Cup Confectioners Sugar

8 TBS Marshmallow Fluff (heaping)

3/4 Tsp Vanilla

I wrap them in individual pieces of plastic wrap.  They tend to stick together if you pile them on a plate and cover them all together.

Have fun making them and Enjoy!!

The days of summer are coming to an end, and the fishing trips will soon have to be saved for the weekends.

The sales fliers are all coming out with the back to school supplies and like millions of other households we are flocking to the deals too.

I am just glad that we are past the elementary stage where the kids need crayons, markers, and an endless supply of glue sticks.

High schoolers only need notebooks - lots of them, and pens, or so I’m told.

But if I was really feeling like I needed to do something more, a DYMO Labelmaker, would make a more organized son, who would excel in all his classes.

Unknown to me, it had caught my son’s eye as soon as he saw it, and he was doing some fancy talking to see if it would make it on the school list.

Since it really was a good deal, and I could also see a use for it around the house once my son completely labeled everything in his room, I gave in after listening to his pleading reasoning a bit longer.

Later that evening it was all worth it though, when I came back to computer to find a message on the top of the monitor that read:

I LOVE YOU

He knows how to get to his mom!

While making dinner, I was listening to the evening news on the TV in the living room.

A story came on that they were covering regarding the upcoming election and how some voters were thinking.

It went into detail about how some of the staunch party voters were switching sides and voting for the opposition.

Obama has already come up with a name for the Republicans who are going to vote for him, he calls them Obamicans.

Nothing was mentioned about the other side, but I asked my husband, what does that make the Democrats who are going to vote for McCain,  McRats?

I bet nobody wants to touch that one!