OK It's OK To Fly A Kite!

We were expecting people from out of town for my daughter's 16th birthday. We waited at the park as the temperatures began to rise.

Then we got a call from my daughters friends and they said there was a delay. They had to do some maintenance on the car.

Luckily, one of the gifts was a kite, and a spool of string. As we waited, and time went by we decided to open it.

Even though there wasn't very much wind we did actually get the kite up in the air for a few minutes.

It was fun because afterwards the teens said they hadn't flown a kite since they could even remember. It also gave us a chance to get a little exercize as we waited for our friends from out of town to show up.

 

 Sunday morning my husband took off for a week in Denver CO.
My daughter was not home so the 2 dogs & I had the place to ourselves. I took a bath and headed to bed around 11:00 PM.

 It's very quiet in our part of town and the dogs can hear a cat drop from the fence to the ground 120 feet into the back yard.
Around 4:30 AM they went on a barking spree and dashed into the middle of the house. I went back to sleep.

 When I got up I opened the curtains to the front and to my shock viewed my in-house-in-yard dog standing in the middle of the street in front of the house.
I ran out to bring her in and noticed the garage door had been open.
"Hm, must have been really windy" I thought.
After realizing I could not close it from outside I went in the garage to discover it had been propped open with a board.

 My heart raced as I pulled the board and looked for a latch to lock it shut. Someone had been inside the house last night as I lay sleeping like a stone.
If it hadn't been for the dogs what would have happened then?

 So, everything seemed to be in place except for my purse...must have put it someplace special...the car? No! On the table? My desk? Nope! It was gone and my knees became week.

Now, I don't know about you but I have over 20 credit cards in there, one with a $15,000 limit which I have not ever used- for emergency purposes only. No drivers license now and 2 checking accounts with debit cards missing.

 I Searched the neighborhood for it to no avail and settled in to making all the cancellation calls. About the 3rd from the end was the Discover card. The nice woman advised we have "payment protect" on this account and she will call all the cards for me. I said "go ahead, thanks" in case one or two hadn't closed.

 Thanks to my helpful neighbor I made it to DMV Wednesday to get a temporary Drivers License. By the time I got her paid back, had some dinner Wednesday night a guy came by.
He was the head of the maintenance department who oversees the gardeners across the street at a church.

Guess what he had in his hand? My purse!

Three weeks ago 2 ladies came to our front door around 3:20 PM. The elderly one said she was worried because our next door neighbor usually picks her up at 8:00 AM and she hadn't heard from her.

I went over to the house with them and tried the doorbell, knocking then the doors to no avail. As the frustration and fear levels rose we decided to get my husband and ask him if he would jump the fence to try the back door.

Luckily he was able to enter through the back door. As we waited and worried in the front yard we noticed there were no emergency numbers, keys or contacts available for this woman who lives alone.

A few short minutes later my husband appeared at the door and urgently said to call 911. Apparently she had fallen the night before outside and came in to take a warm bath to help her legs.

After a bath she says she must have been weak, very weak because she could not get out of the bath tub.

But it looked as if she had tried to get out of the tub and took a fall, bumping her head. (Bath tubs are pretty unforgiving).
When we found her she had been in the tub for approximately 18 hours.

She was in shock and cold lying with a bath mat over her which she had pulled atop her.

The medics removed the shower doors to get her out and it took 8 of them to get her onto the stretcher.

As she was rolled out she said she had to be getting home because she has a puppy and a husband to care for. She had no idea she was at home and that everything was being taken care of.

But this was where my troubles began. I needed to find emergency telephone numbers, medical and social security information.

We found a list of family and friends Dr.'s and some of her medications which the medics took with them.

I began calling family out of town, friends...anyone who might know her to tell them about her condition. We gladly took the puppy home with us because it would have broken all of our hearts if it had gone to the animal shelter.

Please, if you have health problems, live alone or are elderly do everyone (mainly yourself) who cares a big favor, follow these instructions:

1. Make a list of emergency contacts including family friends, neighbors and include their names and telephone numbers.
2. Entrust a neighbor who is close with a key to your home.
   
3. List who has keys to your home so they will be able to get to you sooner. This way nobody will have to break a window or call a locksmith (Saving your life may depend on this).
4. Make arrangements for your pets.
5. Make arrangements for the meter-reader.
6. Make a list of your medications.
7. Include your real name and social security number, date of birth.
8. Install a first alert system in your home. You know the commercial that says "I have fallen and I can't get up!" (We installed this the day she returned home. It hooks in to the telephone line and uses a notification button which the person wears around her/his neck. This is pretty slick because it is dual purpose. It not only calls 911 but it serves as a speaker so the person on the telephone can hear what is happening inside the home.)

To wrap this up we love our neighborhood and are blessed with some wonderful neighbors who do care. The beauty of a community that cares is together we can make it safer and a better place to live. We watch out for each other which decreases the worry and fears...that's what community is ALL about!

We're glad to have our wonderful neighbor home again. She has been the block watch captain for several decades and now it's our turn to watch out for her!

We've been having troubles around the house. We live right across the street from the Olive Drive Church.
My daughter thinks our rules are too strict. But every time we give her more 'rope', she seems to put herself in danger or take it to the next level requiring further disciplinary actions.
 Truthfully it has been insane around our home because we've run just about out of ideas for how to get the message across. The message being Follow The Simple Rules. It seems as if she can never simply go by the rules and get un-grounded before she does something continuing it longer.
She was grounded a week ago Sunday for sneaking out of the house and staying gone all night. Just before she arrived Monday morning just in time for school, we discovered her missing. Sunday she became unruly and argumentative and Monday she decided to not come home on time after school and upon arguing about that my husband decided we ought to take away the XTra Bedroom from her until an hour before bedtime, 10:00 PM. (We took away her big bedroom and moved her to the small guest room for the first offense)
 Then, after being grounded a week and one day she skips school and does not return home. We call the Sheriff and report her as a runaway, call or go to any of her friends homes ... then continue to worry.
It is hard to not blame myself. I should have spent more time with her. I ought to have made the punishment different.
We moved around a bit after my divorce in 2000 then moved here from Sacramento which was actually 2+ moves because we had to sell and buy a home in that order which took time.
This was due to a job transfer, not really our fault but still I want to blame myself for this as well.
I can not get my mind off of the bad visions of what might be happening to her as I write this and only hope if you, or anyone you know has seen my daughter call the Kern County Sheriff.

I don't want to gloat here just announce that the 'hearing' went well for us, not so well for the Dean of North High School.
It was a tense moment as we began the hour with the Kern HS Dean and the Board to find out what they would decide about my daughter who was caught, 2nd time passing notes of dark color in French class.
This behavior we all know was wrong and what was written was wrong but I felt strongly that it was not enough for her to be removed from High School.
I was seeing the 5 weeks away from school as enough to remind her what NOT to do.
The Dean saw it another way. She wanted my daughter out of her high school and that was that. We completely understand her point and know it wasnt a personal thing. If she were to allow all students to behave this way it surely would be mayhem...and perhaps a dangerous place at North High School.
 My daughter took things too far but admitted it and that may have been part of the reason she's back at High School.
However after the board read the notes and we embarrassedly squirmed in our seats due to the foul verbage used...and after all the questions were asked about our lives, why we moved around so much, the ex and the situation there concerning a restraining order back in 2000 after our divorce...my girl gets to return for her finals and back to North HS after Winter Vacation.
 I must add here that the Dean of North most graciously accepted my daughter back when we returned her to take the finals. She was most helpful and friendly in assisting us get to know the counseling staff, and helped a ton the day I brought my daughter to participate in her finals.
Thanks for that, it WAS noticed!
Now, as long as we've got it clear in our minds let's just repeat the RULE:
Period and exclamation mark!

 
 From childhood I have been a collector of books. My first real book collection was the Nancy Drew Stories / books. None of my older sisters (or brothers) were interested in Nancy Drew and her super sleuth group of friends so I'm not sure where it all started.
 
 As time passed and after I got out of college I had (literally) enough books to build a small library in my house.
 When my ex & I were divorced in 1999-2000 I temporarily left my boxes and boxes of books there while I got settled elsewhere.
  He was never fond of books but put them in storage. After a few months, 6 to be exact he called me, 2 states away and told me he was "throwing the stupid books in the dumpster"...needless to say we never buillt a library.
 
 Now, when I collected books I collected authors. IN 7th and 8th grade the soul searching had started. I read everything by the Swami's and collected them all. We're talking RamDass Be Here Now, Satchinanda's yoga books and guides...Muktananda's better health and Longevity through diet and exercize/yoga.
Then in High School...Herman Hesse...allo of his books and on and on.
 
 So, now that I have taught myself to build websites, download, upload work graphics programs and can read an eBiz eBook in a matter of minutes I have started collecting here, on my computer.
 
 But wait~ what to do with all these books? Well, the ones that are worth the most are the ones that have helped me in some way. Add to that if they are actual products that are designed by Online Marketers or Netrepreneurs, to resell and make money with online the topic having something to do with ... making money, saving money,how to manage money,money secrets they are certainly worth building a library for.
 So, over the past 2 days I build my library for my favorite Netrepreneur Guruess, Liz Tomey and am pretty proud of it. If want to see view in the left margin at the bottom (-;
Sooz 

Last Tuesday I got a telephone call from the Dean at North High School.

Sadly, my daughter had been called in from her French class for passing notes the 2nd time. Not only had she been suspended, it was worse yet.

Due to the nature of the notes she was caught with the situation became more than just a suspension. We were now looking at 2 choices.

1. My daughter could enroll in the juvenile delinquant school called "Community". (My husband who is in telecommunications says he has done work at this place. He told me the kids go 3 days a week, most have been involved in the juvenile corrections system here in Kern County. He also said they "walk in little lines like in the military between classes") for the rest of High School.
2. We could await a hearing to see what the options are. This hearing I believe is with the school board and maybe Superintendant of Schools. I think this is a better option because my daughter being only a freshman, never in trouble with the law, in a fight at school,never involved with drugs or any unexcused absences.

Then I found out on Friday this hearing is on December 20th...quite a ways into the future! I feel my world crumbling around me right now. Rage, grief and of course failure as a parent set in.

I wrote a little ditty on it in Oildale 08'ers website.

I am worried sick. The dean suggested this was the best choice and suggested we keep her school work up to date and keep in mind she is just a freshman. This is not my idea of a good send off into the Holiday Season.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Your friend on the internet, Sooz

Yesterday as I wrote an article for our newsletter I was listening to an instrumental version of Streets of Bakersfield.

I thought how the music seemed to put me in a "mood" of comfort and, of course reminded me of the Bakersfield 'sound' and the last time I went to the Crystal Palace (to see Clint Black at Remembering Buck Owens benefit concert at 8:00 AM).

Here's the Streets Of Bakersfield. mid URL
which I put at the top of the newsletter front page.

So, I decided to run a test to see if putting a musical link on a front page of a newsletter (commonly referred to as an Ezine, pronounced ee-zeen') got it more hits. Also what kind of hits were these? This of course meaning, where did they come from?
Do more people click on the page from search engines, which ones and what are the key word they typed in to get there.

This is really just basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization) but I find it so interesting because until you go and check to see what others are doing, where they click and what they're looking for on the Internet you never really know.

I have not finished studying the results. I think that a pretty good amount of time for this particular study is 1 month.
I am having fun now!
So far I have some astounding results!

Yay! It's the countdown until school begins again. Not sure who is the most excited about school starting up again. It seems to be a toss up between my daughter & I.

She admits she loves school and vows to try a little harder this year. I admit I add too much into it at least have in the past when she asks for homework help and vow to keep it simple (KISS) when asked for help.

A parenting of teens book I was reading advised that we parents don't realize how much we over-talk. When all they are asking for is help with one math problem that is all they want or need to hear about at that time.

We ought to consider their situation more...maybe they have a lot of homework and want to get through it before talking and relaxing.

Where was I?
Oh, she's excited because oh who wouldn't be! All the kids from other Middle schools will be there, more new friend possibilities will arise, hopefully some closer to home and she absolutely adores the new school.
I like it too!

The school website leaves a little to be desired but it's better than none.
I especially love the pool. Where I grew up (Seattle Washington) we didn't have outdoor pools. So, I think all the way around, we've arrived in Heaven.

This to me is exciting because something so old tells us humankind was way smarter than I thought. Then in the process of possibly destroying it, or covering it with what thought at the time was more important- prayer this document was actually preserved as opposed to being ruined by it!!
The articles explain it better than I can. Also links to a live webcast and Stanford website are below. Sooz

From NPR Website

All Things Considered, July 27, 2006 · Why would anyone pay $2 million for a tattered book of Christian prayers from 1200 A.D.? The anonymous philanthropist who coughed up the sum in 1998 wasn't lured by the holy writings. He was after the faint ink beneath -- mathematical theorems and diagrams from the Greek scholar Archimedes, who lived more than 2,000 years ago. It's the oldest known copy of his work, but the writings were barely legible. But now, a new restoration technique may make it possible to recover all of Archimedes' original text.

Bathtub Brilliance

As the legend goes, Archimedes discovered the principle of buoyancy in his bathtub, prompting him to shout "Eureka!" Regardless of whether this story is true, Archimedes was, without a doubt, a great mathematician. Little of his work has made it down through the ages, but what has survived is startling. He writes about infinity -- different levels of infinity, actually -- which is astounding for a scholar from the second century B.C.

Hidden Text

The prayer book is known as the "Archimedes Palimpsest" -- a palimpsest is a document with hidden writing -- and it resides at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.

"It’s the ugliest thing in the collection," says William Noel, curator of rare books at the Walters. "It is also by far the most important text manuscript in a palimpsest that the world knows."

Noel cannot reveal the owner's name; he'll say only that he has a big heart. And a big agenda. He wants every possible word of Archimedes extracted, even though some pages are at the point of crumbling into dust, and others have fallen victim to the ravages of bookworms.

A parchment shortage is to blame for the overwriting. The original text apparently sat in a library in Constantinople until 1229 A.D. Then a scribe erased it; he needed someplace to write a prayer book. Seven hundred years later, Archimedes expert John Ludwig Heiberg discovered the traces of Archimedes after reading a few lines transcribed by a scholar in 1899. Over the next few decades, the book had a mysterious life, disappearing and reappearing. Eventually, it was sold at auction.

Since then, scholars and scientists have used ultraviolet light to make letters stand out. But the method did not work on every page. Some were too damaged; others were covered with forgeries – paintings created in the 20th century and made to look older to drive up the value of the book.

Of Spinach and X-Rays

Popeye's favorite vegetable holds the key to uncovering the rest. Uwe Bergmann, a Stanford physicist, was attending a conference in Germany when he stumbled upon an article describing the Archimedes Palimpsest. At the Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, a Department of Energy research facility in Stanford, Bergmann studies the physics of photosynthesis -- in particular, photosynthesis in spinach.

"I read that there is still some significant text missing, and that there are forgeries and that there's iron in the ink. When I read the word 'iron,' I said, 'Wait a minute, we are studying iron in spinach.' I thought we should be able to use the same method and just then do imaging with it."

Bergmann proposed his idea in an e-mail to William Noel, suggesting that the Stanford Linear Accelerator in California might be used to provide the necessary X-ray pulses through the document. Although at first concerned about potential harm to the document, Noel and the team conducted tests and decided the technique could be done safely. Bergmann’s idea worked. The first pictures emerged, line by line.

"I wished I could read ancient Greek. Very beautiful looking characters all over the place," Bergmann remembers.

The Man Who Erased History

The museum pressed ahead in its research and, just a few months ago, uncovered new diagrams and text in the original Greek -- as well as the signature of the scribe who erased the Archimedes text and wrote the prayers on top.

"It just popped up," says Noel. "A guy called Johannes Myronas."

Despite the damage done to the ancient text, Noel doesn’t blame Myronas for the present state of the book. In fact, Myronas was most likely responsible for the book's survival.

"What a gift he gave us," Noel points out. "The great advantage of having them wrapped up in a Christian prayer book is that they were treasured and looked after for centuries."

So it was a love of math that preserved Archimedes' work for the first thousand years -- and a love of God that carried it to the present.

 

It's Day 5 and two days into it I went out and bought the usual for the house 2 cases of cola (1 no caffeine 1 with) and 1 of TwistUp. With the weather cooling down it's been easier but towards the end of the day finding it tough to stay within my self-appointed two maximum diet drinks a day.

Bloating has gone down considerably and the water helps. We have a neet ice tea makeer which add 8 tea bags, then ice to the pitcher and water to the tea maker. Within 10 minutes there's iced tea ready.

The other thing is homeade lemonade. Use Real Lemon which can be purchased at FoodCo, mix it with your favorite combination of sweetener (I use fructose, from WinCo) and chill it. This tastes better than mixes and there's less sugar and chemicals in it then the mix , can or ready made lemonade.

Thanks for the comment. I went from drinking large quantities of the bright pink TAB in the 1980's to Pepsi to Diet Pepsi which lasted years...then Shasta then back to Pepsi then over to Sams Club Diet Cola and Sam's Club No Caffeine Cola's.

I reverted back to Diet Pepsi on and off through the years and the bad thing about it is you don't see any of the off brand Pepsi's- it just doesn't exist (or does it?). So even if you wanted to get a bulk price for it you'll have to stick to Pepsi Cola for your product.

People may think it's ridiculous and simplistic at best to be discussing such a thing but when your body and bank account are competing against each other for these things which we really don't need, well it IS important.

I've been feeling kind of bloated, somewhat aching and overall, not my usual energetic fun self lately. I would like to blame it on the heat, but I am thinking more and more it's what I am drinking, and how much.

Read on...today I have switched to no more diet colas and at least 5 full glasses of water a day.

Wish me luck!

Sooz

WATER OR COKE?

Eye Opening Information! I haven't researched it but if any of it is true I
have GOT to change my ways!
We all know that water is important but I've never seen it written down like
this before.
WATER
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often
mistaken for hunger.
3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%.
4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100%
of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.
5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could
significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble
with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a
printed page.
8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by
45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less
likely to develop bladder cancer.
And now for the properties of Coke:
1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of
Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of Coke and it will be gone in two
days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let
the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke
removes stains from vitreous China.
4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a
rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola
over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the
rusted bolt for several minutes.
7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap
the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is
finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for
sumptuous brown gravy.
8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of Coke into a load of greasy
clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will
help loosen grease stains.
9. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

For Your Info:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will
dissolve a nail in about 4 days.
Phosphoric acid also l! leaches calcium from bones and is a major
contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis.
2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use
the Hazardous material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of Coke have been using it to clean the engines of their
trucks for about 20 years!

Now the question is...
Would you like a Coke or a glass of water?