Thinking Out Loud: May 14, 2009.Disclaimer: This is yet another Randomized Ramble. I'll try to keep the paragraphs brief, and also to close my parentheses for a change - ha, ha. However, I can't vouch for refraining from redundancy. Those of you who've been subjected to my emails, blogs, and web pages over the past ten or so years know that Miss Chris suffers from a terminal case of redundancy. I own a big writer's thesaurus - honest, I do! But I just don't manage to keep it near my computer. For a woman with a pile of books on writing, grammar, etc. I certainly am casual about my blog. Well, in my defense, at least I can spell well. 
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I have been going through this little phase (to the tune of several months worth of my life) of being obsessed with digital imaging, photo editing, computer graphics, learning how to create pretty-but-not-tacky email stationery and tags. I have spent money on this, and ya know what? It's not what I should be doing with my limited time and energy. I feel like I have just wasted a good deal of my free time for the past number of months, and it's leaving me feeling disgruntled and unhappy. It's not a sin or a crime to have barked up the wrong hobby tree, but I'm not happy with myself for having spent so much time on these things when I could have been doing something more fruitful - not to mention fulfilling - something where I would feel more in my "zone". Something(s) which would have been brought more joy to others (and to me) and which would have been more Christocentric and less egocentric. I will stop kicking myself shortly. I need to step back from all of my graphics junk (that's what I feel like it is right now: a costly digital pile of junk, garbage, stuff - whatever) and change gears. Gear changing is not something that I necessarily find comfortable, but it is sometimes (if not often) an exciting time of finding a new zone in which to excel, create, and most of all - hopefully give glory to God and bring joy and gladness to others.
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Last Friday found my dad and me out in the countryside shopping for flowers and other gardening goodies. It was touch and go whether I would be physically up to going shopping for a few hours during a really terrible migraine/allergy week, before all the nicest flowers and plants would be snatched up by the Mother's Day shopping crowd. God is faithful and got me through shopping despite migraine and feeling overly medicated from the migraine medication. 'Twas a lovely Spring day - sunny, blue skies, and not too warm nor too chilly. I came home with absolutely gorgeous annual flowers (I really don't like perennials; as far as I'm concerned, I love big, splashy, colorful flowers - especially ones that smell pretty on the patio and outside of windows). Everything is healthy, beautiful, fragrant, and just begging to be planted. As I plant mostly containers for the patio and close to the house, I feel I can dare to plant some of the pretties before Memorial Day weekend (typical last frost date in our zone here in Wisconsin). I've had a really tough time healthwise and emotionally this week, but I do hope that I will feel up to beginning to pot up some geraniums and such in the next couple of days.
Also went shopping at Mills Fleet Farm in Marshfield and found some brilliantly colored Wave petunias, healthy tomato plants and herbs (I learned last year that Bonnie Plants
http://www.bonnieplants.com are bodacious!), and last but not least, a jumbo six pack of everbearing strawberry plants on sale. It was the very last package of these delectable strawberry plants left in the greenhouse, and I feel confident that God saved it just for me. God does that kind of thing for me often. I love it when that happens. God is good!
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My fairly new Hewlett-Packard four-in-one machine bit the dust a couple of weeks ago. While I wasn't expecting that to happen, it was actually a blessing in disguise, because it guzzled ink to the point of nearly putting me in the poorhouse (and I don't even print that much). So, I bought the first model of Kodak's All-in-One machine (printer/scanner/copier) which is reputed to use less ink. Not to mention, Kodak's ink is much less expensive than the other printer companies: $9.99 for black, and $14.99 for color - and they're not teensy tiny little cartridges, either. While I had a few initial issues with the software drivers balking, I was eventually able to download the updates and now have a really fantastic scanner and printer I'm happy with. It makes noise when it prints, but that's okay. I am very happy with the quality of scans - something I never was content with in any of the HP scanners and all in ones I've owned previously, and I am happy with the quality of the printing, too. I have been scanning up a storm.
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Well, that's all for now, Kiddies. Please know that I keep each of you in my prayers - honest, I do! May the blessing of the Lord be upon each of you; I bless you in the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Please keep on blogging at Xanga! Facebook is nice in many ways, but Xanga blogging contains an essential coolness of its own. God created each of you to be special and unique, and each of you has something wonderful to bring to the blogging community - just exactly who you are. Please keep on blogging! Consider blogging to be Vitamin B1!
Much love to one and all in Christ Jesus,
~ Miss Chris
Comments (1)
A new printer is almost always fun.