Love is...

aiding in the fostering of friendships!

I'm cheating because I know hubby is going on a boys weekend away tonight with his university buddies. Knowing this reminded me of how important it is to help the ones we love develop, keep, and strengthen their friendships. And so, instead of wallowing in loneliness (not like our three munchkins will give me much time to do that anyway) I'm sending hubby with Kettle salt and pepper chips, various other snacks, Gatorade, and huge blessings for a fun, relaxing, stress-free weekend without me or his children or his various four-legged dependents, either.

So my challenge for all you out there looking for one this week, is to encourage your spouse to foster their friendships, whether it be a a free hour to shoot the breeze over whacking some golf balls side by side, or helping a friend build a deck, or going to a horror flick with a buddy, whatever, just help them carve a little more time than usual for fostering their friendships this week.


Oh, and returning to last week's challenge: it turns out that assorted boxes of chocolates are seasonal for non-specialty stores--Valentine's and Christmas only. So I had to go to Laura Secords (Canada's big chocolate stores) and purchase a box from there that contains the chart hubby loves to use in selecting his morsel of the moment. I went to Staples and had a collage of photo's photocopied to wrap the cover of the box in for a little uniqueness, since a candy dish really wouldn't be the best for hubby's choice of candy. Here's how it turned out.

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

do do d'doah.

Got the tune yet?

Yes, it is raining outside in the little part of the world in which I live, and for some inexplicable reason, I feel the need to blog about it.

Rain means little outdoor work will get done by me today. Not much different than the last few days, because I got my full of my overgrown gardens last week and needed a break from them. But it also means I won't be needing to hand water my plants that are still settling in. Hurray for steady rain drops!

After starting my morning coffee, I pulled on my daughters yellow raincoat with the lovely plaid lining, and ventured to move my flower pots from the covered front porch out to the stone walk so they could get a fresh drink of unaltered H20. It's amazing what real water from Heaven above will do for plants that the hose water won't. Don't you think?

Anyway, I'm thanking God this morning for the gift of rain and man-invented hydro, of which I'm certain He inspired, because I can write guilt free this morning--no gardens calling me hither--way too muck for anything to get accomplished out there. And while the gardens get their drink of Heaven's blessing, I'll be a good steward and write His answer.

May Our Heavenly Father bestow many answers on me and you today!


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Discovering the Evils of Blog Awards...

Err, I mean, the precious gift that they are.

Yesterday I was awarded the Superior Scribblers Award by blogger friend, Sherrinda, at A Writer Wannabe. I've been awarded one or two other blog awards in the past, but in an attempt to follow all the rules and post about it, they never got posted because...Blog Awards reveal my serious impatience.

This one is no different, other than that I'm determined to use it for today's post, so I'm struggling to make it work. All the cutting, pasting, tracking, is not for the easily frustrated, of which I am one. So, although I'm honoured that Sherrinda passed this award to me--Thank you very much Sherrinda! Really I do love being recognized by my blogging friends!--believe me when I say that I will not be the least disappointed if those I bestow this award upon simply smile, nod a little thank you, then forget all about it.

The blog award rules are as follows (which according to rule #5 I am required to post here.

Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog. (BTW: These rules were supposed to be numbered, but of course, I couldn't get my blogger to do that correctly for me. It numbers everything all wrong, so I had to retract it. Geesh, is this a sign of a difficult day ahead?)


So, the 5 people I'm passing this prestigious award to, and in no particular order are:


Susan Mills, A Walk in My Shoes. Check out Mooch's story!

Jillian Anger, Sleep is Not Required. Jillian is not a novelist, but she writes more than I do some days in her scrapbooks and she creates wonderful layouts. Also, she's my little sister. That deserves an award in itself.

Susan, Notes from Innisfree. Susan has neat things to share on her blog. Like black mice stories and fun in the library.

Stephanie. I just started following Stephanie. Her blog stories make you think and want to be a better person.

Jordan McCollum. The wealth of knowledge shared on this blog is amazing! A must read for writers and networkers!

I would pass this award to everyone I love to visit in the blogosphere, but rules are rules, so I must stop here.

Have a blessed Wednesday, everyone! And Thank You, Lord, for getting me through this post! I think it's finally done! (I know, enough exclamation points now.)

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

The Proposal

Hubby and I went on a date Friday night to see The Proposal. It's been out for near a month and still, the theatre was full--a good sign.



We, along with the majority of attendees, laughed hysterically through it, and found reprieve to catch our breath a few times, too. Love it when a movie is so balanced.

So guess what I plan to do when this releases in DVD form?

Yup, I'm going to analyse it. I want to write it down in its GMC scene by scene structure and study it. Not just because I never once glanced at my watch during the viewing, or that I came out of the theatre feeling rejuvenated, or that I'm still thinking of the characters and seeing how this relationship could really work because the guy is definitely no wimp, but because I over-internalize in my writing.

Even though no mental bubbles popped up on the screen to tell us what the characters were thinking or feeling, I really felt as though I knew just from their actions and reactions. I'm hoping to discover how to maximize scenes and lesson the internalization in my wips by studying this movie.

Have you ever done that? Studied a movie to gain writing techniques? If so, which one and for what technique?

P.S. On an aside. If anyone knows how I could have the YouTube video show up inside this post, please do tell. I really want to figure out how to do that.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Love is...

a dash of thoughtfulness for life!

Since most of my readers are married, I thought I'd post my weekly challenge in doing something special for my hubby. It'll hold me accountable, and if nothing else, you might find my challenges interesting.

Feel free to tackle them with your own spouse, if you so desire.

This week's challenge:

Find out what is hubby's favorite candy, (I'm hoping it's not candy canes or something else seasonal like that) and create a little candy dish filled with them--be inventive. In a quiet moment, present the package to him and enjoy just one with him alone. Send the rest to work for his enjoyment when you aren't around.

10K Word Day

Devotion, Bible reading and Prayer enjoyed. Downed two boiled eggs, have a bowl of raspberries and cherries cleaned and ready, a pot of coffee on, and water bottles chilling. Hubby's off to work, and the girls are away at horse camp. Canines are behaving nicely.

I'm set, ready, and typing away to attain at least 4,000 words, but aiming for closer to 10,000 words before hubby returns home from work.

Will I make it?

Will you make it? [Check out the challenge here if you care to join me. I'd love the company. A special thanks to Megan for revealing this challenge to me.]

Due to this crazy word challenge, I hope you don't mind me ducking out of cyber hopping today. I'll check in here periodically to drop my progress report into the comment section so I'll have statistics to go by for the next 10K challenge I endeavour.

Have a blessed day everyone, and may God infuse mounds of creativity into the minds and hearts of all facing today's 10K challenge.

Surrendering to Him,

Eileen

Postings

I've been in the gardens way too much. It's messing with my brain. Seriously, I can't even remember my sisters' phone numbers lately. It's like I'm in a fog. I wonder if it's sun stroke? Anyway, I'm going to blame it on that and to show you just how out of it I am, I'm going to attempt to explain what I feel reveals a professional looking post.

The link I had kept to exemplify professional posts was this, but as you can see, that's a website, not a blogger blog, so it doesn't work for what I wanted. But, it does reveal several things that can be applied to postings and making them look professional.

1) Inserting pictures or snapshots of pieces of interest. The more accurate the picture is, the better the effect. I love it when people are able to import a word document that shows graphics, etc. But how do they do that in blogger? Anyone know?

2) Like I'm doing here, creating number lists. Though some have a really cool way of doing it. They indent and make the numbered section look so professional, like a separate entity to the post. Wish I knew how to do that, too.

3) And the number one thing that I feel is the coolest tool for posting like a professional is using that hyperlink icon. You know, the thing that looks a little like a green globe with some black circuit graphic up on top. That links readers to other URL's without having to write out the whole long URL that just looks nasty and uninviting. I'd much rather see the name of the site in a bright color that I can click on, then have to read the whole path to get to the page. And this, thankfully, I have figured out.

So what other tools or aspects of posting do you find give the impression of a professional post? And if you know how to do it, please do tell.


Surrendering to Him,

Eileen