Presents wrapped, check. Tree up, not yet. Next up: Blog updates!

Well, I have most of my presents wrapped, but everything is not yet done. But I'm getting there!

I hope things are going well for you too.

Lights photo by Dave Parker on Flickr.

Something I like to do this season is drive around and look at all the beautiful light displays around town. We have some good ones!

There is just something so fun about seeing those lights every year.
 
I hope everyone has a GREAT holiday.

Betsyanne

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all my readers have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving.

Betsyanne

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Edwin and Linda got married! I took some photos too.

I went to this wedding on Sunday, November 18, 2013, and I'm glad I did. 

They had it at Chaney's Dairy Barn, a famous venue for ice cream and dairy tours.

They also had a veil over a cow statue there. And what a nice band they had. I could not hear all of the wedding, but I did hear some of the beautiful vows and the fun music and got to take a few pictures too.

I think they had a LOT more people than they thought they would. Just saying. It was standing room only. I tried to give up my seat, but somebody else gave the person a seat in the FRONT, which was the area for VIP's.

Here are some of the photos (I'll post the rest on Facebook and post a link after that here.)

Our view of the wedding. Note the pillar and people. (haha)

Edwin offers Linda some of Chaney's famous Ice Cream.

Linda and Romanza talk.

Here is that cow I told you about...

And here is Edwin and Linda's Engagement Announcement in the Daily News. 

We got a FREE cup of delicious ice cream at the wedding. What a great idea.

Congratulations, and many happy returns, Linda and Edwin.

Well that's it for now. Off I go to post on Facebook, then post a link here.

Betsyanne

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Here is a view of the Willow Tree, plus a Krampus Carol. Love it.

A view of the Willow Tree...

The Willow Tree in the front yard looks much like this today. There are a few more leaves on the ground though.

Today was a good day on Facebook and for doing my blog postings.

I also found  this great video on YouTube I think you will like. Who doesn't know someone who could maybe benefit from a visit from Krampus? I knew some high schoolers that I would have told Krampus about 5 years ago.

But to be fair, a few of these young people deserved great presents from Santa. It's the other ones that could have benefited from a Krampus visit.

But maybe not a visit as serious as this one. Maybe just a good scare!

So... here it is. A Krampus Karol - - - by Anthony Bourdain.



Here is hoping you have a GREAT week.

Betsyanne

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About happiness... living one day at a time...

I like this. It talks about living in the moment, not dwelling on the past, or worrying about the future. And being happy with the journey.

This beautiful saing is from Flickr.

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/landrovermena/7108714367

More love quotes and sayings: lovequotes.symphonyoflove.net

I agree.... Happiness is a journey...

I hope your journey is going well today.

Betsyanne

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Do you get little people at your house at Halloween?

Halloween Cuties. Via D'Arcy Norman on Wikimedia Commons.

We usually don't. Our house is on a busy street, and there aren't many kids around either.

But we are prepared just in case, with some goodies.

True, we have "Trunk" events in the area, and also Halloween events where kids can go elsewhere and get candy, but to me Halloween isn't Halloween without having that kind of scary element of going door to door.

I used to go with my daughter... and when I was a kid we got those good popcorn balls and homemade fudge sometimes. Good stuff.

This is an interesting time of year. Weather reports show a "scary" weather front coming in for Halloween. We'll see.

Have a SCARY but good time on Halloween, everyone.

Betsyanne

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The Moon... and the Willow Tree. Updates on today.

The Moon
The moon is almost full. The Current Moon Phase app on this page shows 94% of full. That is good.

More
I wrote about the rain we are having today already on my other blog today, From the Garden Spot. I called it "Rain.. mowing.. and other good thoughts".

I have three Fairy Doors on the table beside me. I must price them today and put a sheet under each. This is the one that goes with each. It says, "Congratulations! You are now the owner of a Genuine Fairy Door, handcrafted by Betsy Sheppard... etc. etc."

I have these printed, but not yet cut out.

The Willow Tree
I had a chance to mow closer to the Willow Tree a couple of weeks ago. I didn't see a Mother of All Poison Ivy Vine again, so maybe we are keeping even with its growth this year.

A couple of branches fell from it, but not on my or anyone's head, so that is good.

I have a photo of a full moon through this tree. I will post it later when I find it.

A Photo for Today
For now, here is last year's Halloween decoration I did with a magic marker.

All for now - and have a great week!

Betsyanne

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Funny! Laconia, Indiana's Liar's Benches at the Laconia General Store

I think you're going to like this.

We went to the Laconia General Store after leaving a fun event at a Girl Scout camp today. And on the front porch, we saw two benches.

One said LIARS BENCH: DEMOCRAT and the other one across from it on the front stoop, said LIARS BENCH: REPUBLICAN.

I imagined that people could come there and sit on whatever bench they fancied, and argue with each other! I like how both main parties are represented.

Here are some photos:

And here they are both together.

It's an equal opportunity front porch for Democratic AND Republican liars.

 Love it.

 -Betsyanne

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A new level of stupid: some thoughts about the Shutdown. I know, we've had government shutdowns before... how can we stop this?

Wah! Wah! I didn't get my way!

I don't like the fact that we have a government shutdown today.
I mean, come on. It's just a terrific WASTE of taxpayer money. At a time when we are just starting to recover from a really bad meltdown recession. Ack.

Today I read about OTHER US government shutdowns. True, it hasn't happened for 17 years, but here are other times:

Closed for Business? Government Shutdown History 

Wikipedia - the US Federal Government Shutdown of 1995 and 1996 (28 days!)
And here comes the Debt Ceiling approaching in a few weeks. ABC News (in theier online Special Report) talked about this today.

They had a live special going on online about it. (Livestream coverage). President Obama talked about his Affordable Health Care Act and the people in this country who would benefit.

I was going to leave a window open to this ABC News channel online for more coverage, it sounded interesting to me, but they just had music going on after President Obama's speech. Perhaps they were not prepared! So I won't share that link here. Who wants to hear music and not have a story going? Not me, and not anyone.

Back to the subject. I for sure will be listening to the news today. To me, it isn't just about two sides squabbling and arguing. It's more an essential failure of our elected officials. My solution? I don't know - - maybe taking the MONEY out of the equation more and electing people who aren't in it just to pontificate.

Having a set amount of money politicians could spend - - and MUCH less available from special interests would help. And stop politicians from making money from special deals after they leave office. And maybe a limit on how long each one serves.

I don't think ALL politicians are selfish or don't care about their country. But I don't think enough of them care as much about the country and all of its people as they do themselves, their retirement plans, and their re-election.

I think the government shutdown is just a new level of stupid. And it's very childish and immature.

Betsyanne

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Writing practice = doing my blogs (ALL of them) this morning.

OK - here I go.

It's about 8 a.m., and I have until 10 or 11 to finish ALL my blogs for the week. Or give it a try anyhow. BECAUSE I have other things I must do too.

I think it's good writing practice, BUT better writing practice would be finishing my books. I will join NaNoWriMo and get them done, for sure. Or write another one.

Here are the rules for my blog writing today: Each blog entry must be semi-interesting. That sounds easy. But it isn't always that way! AND I must add a photo or artistic line art into every blog entry. AND each blog entry must be pinged on at least 3 Ping sites.

Then we'll see how much traffic we get today and tomorrow.

I know, blogs should be updated every week - - or even more often.

But I think I've decided that I have WAY too many blogs. So this will have to do for now.

Do you have too many blogs? Are you a writer or artist? How do you keep getting more projects done each week or two? List your tips for me as a comment. Thanks.

Betsyanne

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The Moon and the Willow Tree - - - about those...

I have more than one personal blog site. And I don't just talk about my yard here... or there.

But I think it's important to talk about the Willow Tree - and the moon -  a few times anyway.

One evening, I think it was wintertime, I saw the full moon through the branches of the willow tree that is in front of this house.

It was beautiful. I did find some photos of the willow tree when I searched my computer today. Here is one:

Here is a logo I made of the tree and it has the moon in it...  I had forgotten about this one.

And here is one I made for a store header:

Somewhere is another one like the last, only bigger.

This was fun!

Thanks for visiting today. Leave a comment!

Betsyanne

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Back to Stumbleupon... it's fun as always...

A Facebook friend asked if people were on Stumbleupon. I said I was - - but I hadn't been there in ages.

I have the Stumbleupon doohicky on my desktop so I hit the button "Stumble!" and it was just as fun as always. These recommended pages that appear when I hit the button are selected because they fit my categories AND are the most popular choices.

So I guess I'll need to "Like" pages I write about there for awhile again, to freshen up my page. And I know it will be fun to visit the best pages out there for a laugh and inspiration.

If you are there on Stumbleupon, come visit. I am here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/betsyanne

Betsyanne

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My new blog: Girl Scout Betsy

A Secret to a Woman's Future Success lies in her Past? A great article.

Photo attribution: WellspringCS on Flickr/CC 2.0 Generic

An article about how women view themselves really touched a chord today with me. It is from Psychology Today.

Here is that link: The Trouble with Bright Girls.

Essentially, the article explains that girls and boys are talked to differently as they grow up. Boys are more active and it's harder for them to focus. They are told that with some more effort, they can succeed. Girls are praised for being docile and quiet, for fitting in. If something is hard for them to grasp, even if they are bright, they give up much easier than boys.

They are not told that "Yes, you can do anything, but sometimes this requires effort and hard work." Instead, they believe that they don't have what it takes if things don't come easily.

Women often undervalue themselves. From the article:

..."in my experience, smart and talented women rarely realize that one of the toughest hurdles they'll have to overcome to be successful lies within.  We judge our own abilities not only more harshly, but fundamentally differently, than men do.   Understanding why we do it is the first step to righting a terrible wrong.  And to do that, we need to take a step back in time.

What a great article. It makes me want to immediately knuckle down! And I can see how explaining the value of hard work and how it doesn't necessarily mean a girl is stupid if she doesn't get something right away... she can work for what she wants. Being intelligent happens in boys AND girls. And girls will succeed more often if they don't quickly give up, as some do - - and I know I have in the past.

Great article, and great for people with girls who need this sort of knowledge about themselves, and about their future and future success.

Betsyanne
 
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This is great - - a short and funny video about Teaching- Said No Teacher EVER!

I was sent this today via Facebook. It is great!

It is called Said No Teacher Ever.

I think you will really like it.



All for now - and have a GREAT rest of the week, readers!

Betsy

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Blogs, blogs, blogs - here's my list of my current blogs. I used to ask: too many? But not now.

I'm listing my blogs today.
 

Red Olympia typewriter from Clker.com.

 Every so often I think, why do I have so many blogs? I even wrote a Squidoo page about that. Right now the title is Lots and lots of my blogs. It used to be a question - Do I have too many blogs? People didn't think so. I do sometimes. But they are fun, and good typing and writing practice for me. I won't go into the websites.... or Facebook pages.... that's a posting for later.

Here is a list of some other ones I write:

#1 (newest) is my Girl Scout Betsy blog. It is for Kentuckiana GS Council and beyond. I added some pages at the top too. It has Journey Helps, Girl Scout Opportunities, events in the Kentuckiana area (selected ones... I could never list them all!), and general Girl Scout talk. Which I like. It's handy for me to have a place I can go to access links I use a lot. So it's a practical blog, really.

#2. The Nontraditional Student blog is one of the Nontrad blogs I started when I went back to school after a LONG break. It was something I wished had been available then - a place to talk about all things Nontraditional - and to help with support with those feelings like not being able to do it, feeling out of place, feeling older than everyone else, and more. I have plans for this blog (which I recently also have a copy of on the website here.) So this is definitely a blog to keep where it is.

#3. From the Garden Spot plus BG events has morphed from an Anything Goes blog to a Calendar of events in and around Bowling Green, Kentucky to another personal blog page. Sometimes I think of morphing it again to combine with this one.

#4.  Find Scholarships and Grants was a natural site to pick after the Nontrad blog, because everyone going to school needs more money. I get to tell people which sites are best, etc. - I may put this one on the Nontrad site and call it good. It would hopefully still have a search feature on it, and be still useful.

#5. Squidoo Liz was a blog I loved when I was more active on Squidoo. Maybe I will be again, though, so I'm keeping this blog for now. The moguls on Squidoo are making a decent income from it. I, however, am making a bit of change from it. But it's still nice to get that.

Do you have a blog or blogs too? List them as a comment. I'd love to see them.

Betsyanne

Did you know about the free Moon Phase Calendar at CalendarCat?

I have always liked this widget.

It tells the phase of the moon for you, and you can use it on your site or blog for free.

Here is what it looks like:

CURRENT MOON

moon phases

Here is that link so you can get one too: http://www.calculatorcat.com/moon_phases/daily_moon_phases.phtml

You get transferred over to an ad page or two, but you can go back once you are registered and get this module and customize it however you want.

Just saying!

Betsyanne

PS Are you a Girl Scout volunteer or leader? Do you know one?

You or your friend can now join a grass roots movement  to "Put the Outing back in Girl Scouting."
Here is the new Facebook page (I will OK you there) and website for the <unofficial> Outdoor Journey.

Come visit!

My new blog: Girl Scout Betsy  - for Kentuckiana and beyond.

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Getting a new website ready... McDonald's Monopoly Game, the cat chooses her spots, more.

It always takes longer than I expect to get a website ready, even a semi-placeholder one.

My new website

The new website I am doing is the Outdoor Journey site. (Don't expect much here.... yet....)

I needed to point the site over to another web host, which I still don't have memorized. I guessed pretty well though.

I will be listing the website many places when it is finally done. Tonight it is running ads for Bravenet.

Hopefully it will transfer over tomorrow.

The cat

The cat has taken to lying down right in our path. Everywhere. I think she wants more attention. Or is just getting more tired all the time.

She is a good cat, and most patient. But she loves to be in the way. She answers us when we talk to her too. I like that in a cat. As some of my readers know, Boss Kitty chose us as her people one winter after (I think) her other people across the way moved.

Other news: I made another to-do list, which focuses me for the week. Now to keep it handy.

Eating at McDonald's
And we have almost won the new McDonald's Monopoly game! I don't have much hope of actually winning much, but we did get a free breakfast sandwich and several other game pieces. Not a car. Yet.

It's fun to play the game though. I'm sorry that the million dollars is on a Big Mac, which is not my favorite. I'm thinking of trying for this once and splitting the Big Mac in half, and maybe tossing one piece of bread out to save on carbs.

Tomorrow I check my Fairy Doors to see how they are doing.  Each one is different this time.

I hope all my wonderful readers have a great week.

Betsyanne

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Five Popular Postings from the Moon and the Willow Tree - plus more.

Well, so much for stopping this blog or combining it with another one.

I just can't bring myself to do that (yet anyway).

I notice that the Moon is almost full. I will have to get outside and take a peek at it tonight. I will also move the Current Moon Phase chart up near the top of this blog. It is fun to look at.

My news: I am coming closer to being able to get the Outdoor Journey site online. I still need some permissions to get everything on there I want. I will keep you posted, awesome readers.

This is really big news for me, because it will help with the problem of Girl Scout camps closing, hopefully, plus point to a better way for Girl Scout troops to get back into the outdoors.

Our Founder, Juliette Low, was big on the outdoors. I believe camping fits right in to the current leadership focus, because it promotes self-reliance. (AND the current leadership focus too...)

I have some popular postings listed next to help me decide what to write about next. I can update the most popular pages for sure.

Here they are:

#1.  The Top 16 Online Sales and Auction Sites - Rated

#2. Civil War Dresses for Sale

#3. Do you make a lot of money with your blog? (more recent)

#4. Free Clipart Sites (for Projects, Etc.)

and

#5. The Wightman Chapel at Scaritt-Bennett (Nashville)

Betsyanne

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Do you make a LOT of money with your blog?

I don't. Well, that's true. BUT some people make really serious money with their blog.

This article (which I plan to read again!) tells about people who make over $1000.00 per month with their blogs. So what is the secret to their success?

Here is the article:

Bloggers Share Income - How Much Money do Bloggers Make?

I make a little money. But I would LOVE to make this amount. Back I go to read this one.

Actually, I have been thinking of things that would make my blog soar with new readership. I could:

1. Give away a trip to Hawaii.

2. Have a contest to win free cable for a year.

3. Post really awesome photos of puppies and kittens. Or videos.

4. Post every day.

5. Put ads on for Las Vegas or Gambling sites.

Well, food for thought. What are your ideas? Do you have some money making secrets for me?

Leave a comment, awesome reader.

Betsyanne
Up and coming Blogger

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This one's too good not to share. Be More Dog.

Have you ever felt like your life was, well - - blah? Or close to it?

Take a lesson from this cat, and Be. More. Dog.



PS: Henri is right - - the beginning reminds me a lot of HIS videos. But it's still good.

PPS: Somebody said that this cat was really a dog... and this video was faked. But I like thinking he's a cat, all the way.

Hey, it could happen!

Betsyanne

Girl Scout Betsy
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