Earthquake!

I cannot believe it. My boyfriend says he felt the earthquake today, but we're hundreds of miles north of there near the Oregon border. He said he was standing out in the yard and felt the earth tremor just a tiny bit.

I'm happy that Hearst Castle was spared any major damage. Its only 7 miles from the epicenter. That is truly a national treasure.

So Sick

I've had that bad flu for almost a week now and its still no fun. I'm ready for it to go away three days ago!

Willie Dream

Strange, I was dreaming about an old friend, Willie, this morning. I dreamed he'd won a dream house. It was awesome. Then my daughter told me we got a call from the city he lives in - the number is on her Call Wave today - but there's no Caller ID name, just the name of the city. I'm not calling back. I figure if someone wants to talk to me bad enough they can leave a message on the Call Wave to let me know who it is. And if they don't want to do that, maybe there's a reason.

SNOW: We had the first snowfall of the year on November 25 this year. It was just a light dusting - less than an inch - but nice to see. It melted away too quickly - when the snow turned to drizzle.

Diet, Weight, and Exercise ... All That

My diet is not going well. I have taken off and put back on the same five pounds since the middle of September. I think the reason is that I bought a new aerobics video, the four mile version of Walk Away the Pounds, and due to using that a lot, I've been developing muscles. I may feel better, but I'm not losing weight. I'm certain if I keep trying, eventually I will.

I'm considering switching to the Atkins diet plan for a while (low carbs). I've been doing a low-calorie plan since last summer and lost 30 pounds... at one time was down 35 pounds. Well, its time to cut the carbs!

Pre-Elampsia (Toxemia) ... New Research

The Times Online published an article called Clue to Cause of Pre-eclampsia (no longer online) ... I nearly died from pre-eclampsia in 1989 so when I saw this news story listed on google news this morning I just had to click the link.

Its amazing, how many of us wouldn't be here if it were not for the wonders of modern day medical science.

I am one of those people. I would have died in 1989 were it not for life-saving medical help. My pre-eclampsia would have taken me out if it were not for the pitocin-induced birth, and of course my now-14yo daughter would have died at that time too. My 13yo son would never have existed.

After my daughter was born the pre-eclampsia got worse instead of better (unusual complication) and I had specialists working on me. Obviously my life was saved.

Keith would also be dead if it were not for the bounties of modern medical science. He's diabetic.

So here we are, an entire household of people thankful for the amazing advances of medicine within the last century.

Thank you God!

Anyhow, in case they remove the information from the Times Online site I am keeping it here so I don't forget what nearly killed me:

"The cause of a deadly and common complication of pregnancy — pre-eclampsia — may have been found.

The condition causes expectant women’s blood pressure to soar and giving birth is the only solution.

Reading University scientists say it is caused by the placenta trying to improve its blood supply from the mother.

They told the Society for Endocrinology that if the placenta fails to develop, it releases a chemical that makes the mother pump the blood harder into the womb. They hope the breakthrough will lead to earlier treatments."

Diet Success

The diet continues. I've been eating too much this week but last Monday I had a good weigh-in - down 5.5 pounds. That came after weeks of being on a plateau with my weight going up and down by a few pounds. My total lost is now 35 pounds. I'm so relieved to be losing weight. I'm glad I turned it around when I did.

The Dieting is Working

Diet news: I've now lost 30 pounds and passed my second short term goal. My third goal is to be at 196 pounds which I should be able to do by sometime in December. My long term goal is 145 pounds and I hope to get there sometime in the next year.

Diet, Blogger Hoodie, and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Since my diet started on June 2 I've lost 25 pounds. I'm still going strong with that effort! Unfortunately I've got another 75 pounds to lose, but knowing I've done it once sure encourages me to know I can do it three more times!

I had a nice surprise yesterday when I went to my blogger pro account - I found out they cancelled the payment part of the service (though I still get all the pro goodies) and they offered me a free hooded sweatshirt in gratitude for my monetary support of their service! YAY! I am so thrilled and awaiting my blogger.com hoodie with not-so-mild anticipation. Just in time for winter!

Hey, it will look good on me too considering I'm losing so much weight. :)

We had a great vacation to Santa Cruz and the SF Bay Area in August. We saw almost all our family members and spent two days having fun on the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. The kids loved it. Did you know you can take a virtual rollercoaster ride at their website? We went on the Giant Dipper three times. It was wonderful.

And by the way, the safety bar on the roller coaster was so tight on me I theorized that if I hadn't lost so much weight just before going there, I wouldn't have been able to ride. And that would have been so sad....

Birthday, Brookings, Bikes, and the River Run Website

On July 13 I had my 51st birthday. I don't really feel that old, but I'm sure by the end of the year I'll get used to it. I've been dieting since June 2 and have lost 14 lbs. plus have been walking almost every evening lately, up to three miles at a time.

On July 4 I went to the coast (Brookings, Oregon) with my children. They have a wonderful pyrotechnics display and the kids enjoyed playing in the ocean. My daughter wanted to find a boy to flirt with and was very pleased that instead a boy from Grants Pass found her while she was standing out there in the ocean. She's 14.

I'm concerned about bike theft in this small town we live in. This last winter my son rebuilt a number of bikes. He got old bikes and parts from the dump and had quite a few ready to sell this year but a thief took most of them! Others in town have been stolen from as well. Its very frustrating and I can only say I'm so proud of my son that he's not the one doing the stealing. He's a great kid. He still has the Mongoose mountain bike I bought him last year and we've found a place to buy him a new derailleur. He broke his during a bike crash a while back.

I offered to create a website for the River Run (motorcycle run) our community sponsors every July fourth weekend. I'll probably have to wait a few weeks to see what they decide about that.

Life, Money, and the Atkins Diet

Sorry I've neglected this weblog! Here's stuff I've been doing lately:

1. web maintenance work - a lot of it
2. enjoying my kids more now that my daughter's out of school
3. a new diet and exercise program
4. rearranging the house to put all my clutter in the back bedroom
5. enjoying our new used car and taking a few out of town trips

After a tight-money month, Keith and I sat down together yesterday to look at July's budget. We talked about where to cut corners. There won't be room for any extras but we'll get all our bills paid this time. Last month we didn't due to what we spent to take that car out of the car lot. Now we have to catch up...

The good news is that we're going to have plenty of money for food (we always have that, at least)... and for me, food will be on the Atkins diet plan. This drastic measure will be taken because I dieted on a conventional plan all of June and didn't lose even one pound - a real disappointment. I've come to the conclusion that my body's addicted to carbohydrates and must be weaned off them. I'm starting Atkins induction on July 1 and am reading the book now:



The book is well-written and easy to understand with short chapters. I'm enjoying it...

What I've learned so far is that I've been eating so many carbohydrates, my body is running on them and not burning off stored fat. The stored fat comes from eating too many carbs too... because the liver converts carbs into fat if there's too many. The solution is to slow down to 20 grams of carbs daily until the addiction is broken, then add a few more into the diet. Yes, the body does need some carbs, but not in the great quantity we have in the typical American diet. This is a main reason why obesity has become an epidemic in this country.

Aaron's Birthday and Summer

We survived my son's 13th birthday and the graduation. Wonderful. Now how about summer? I've got so many things to write about here. But no time for writing. I'll get back to you.

I'm so glad the school closes in a week. Friday is my daughter's eighth grade graduation ... I'll just be so happy when its all over. School hasn't been good for her this year. She got in trouble. I ended up writing a civil rights complaint because of the way they treat her there. I just heard yesterday, the complaint is going to be investigated.

We got our new used car yesterday... a '91 Ford Tempo. Those of you with better cars probably aren't too impressed, but it feels like 'up' to us and we're very happy with it. Its clean and everything works. It needs a paint job just like most old Fords, but its so much better than my other car, I can't help but be thrilled. Finally we've got a working car radio and air-conditioning. How luxurious can you get? (No need to tell me.) I think this is the first time I've ever had a car with air-conditioning. I drove my daughter to Medford last night so we could spend the gift-cards my other daughter gave us. Wow, it was just a great ride and we had such a good time talking and getting to know each other better on the way home over Grayback. (Yes, the pass to Oregon is open again now - yay! - it closes due to snow every winter.)

Last month when we went to Medford in our old car, I was so stressed out and worried from the sounds it was making as we went over Mt. Ashland (ka-thwump, ka-thwump...) - we'd just purchased new front tires and it was pretty obvious that was the precursor to the problem. The day after we got back, a grinding noise started and we haven't been using it since. We decided instead of putting more money into it, we'd put a down payment on a newer and better car. So we've got that now. My son is having a great time cleaning and fixing up the old car out in the field. Probably some day we'll get the front end fixed for him to use.

Anyhow, we were thrilled with the smooth and pleasant ride to Medford and back. It takes three hours to get there. I sure like driving this new car.

Wrecked Cars, Weeds, and Web Maintenance

Saturday - my son took me on a tour of the town to see old classic trucks he's scoped out, and one wrecked classic car... we recorded this with photos in our homeschooling weblog.

I'm trying to get some weeds out of the garden. I thought I'd have a nicely landscaped yard this year but the guy who was doing yard work for us got into a silly argument with our son, then our neighbor accused the guy of stealing food. Anyhow, he's disappeared from our section of town and my half-started yard needs help. I'm trying to spend time out there every day to "make progress" and I'm encouraging my boyfriend and son to do the same. They are helping. My son weeded around our front stepping stones this morning. Any little bit helps. So far we've planted sage, periwinkle, iris and rosemary in the front yard. The kids planted the vegetable garden and though there's some seedlings showing, I have no idea what they are.

I got a lot of work done on a web maintenance job tonight and am feeling good about it right now. My to-do list has gotten so long, its scary... and there's several high-priority items I need to get on right away. Guess I'd better get busy.

My neighbor put a good stereo in my old truck! Well, that was nice... the old radio was as old as the truck and when Aaron showed it to me he pointed out the Ford insignia on the bottom. It no longer worked, so the new equipment will be very much appreciated!

I also appreciated that Aaron got to learn how to take out and install one of these. We just gave him our old Ford Escort to tinker around with, to learn about cars. Eventually he'll have to replace that radio too - its in pathetic condition just like the rest of the car, but he can spend the next couple years fixing it up... he's about to have his 13th birthday so it will be a while before he can drive. I'm looking forward to getting our new car in June.

Keith and I drove across the river to get a lot of periwinkle our friends took out of their yard and saved for us. We're planting it in the front yard and in the back near the seasonal stream (which is already dry at this point).

Tuesday... that was the day we had another news staff meeting at the Indian Creek Café. Mainly it was just Pete and me, but Bob chatted with us for a while. Later I went home to get Keith and we went shopping. That night I took my daughter to see a performance of "The Life of an Addict", a play put on by a group of 12-steppers in Yreka. It was pretty good!

Wednesday... I went to the Chamber of Commerce meeting and later in the evening, the Writers Club. In between I went to see Judy's new house on the other side of the river. It is cute, but they're doing a lot of work to fix it up. The foundation and basic construction are good - its just all the painting and floor covering type of stuff that needs to be done. The house sat empty ten years before they bought it this year.

Thursday... that's today... I'm so happy I get to stay home. I'm getting a lot of housework done; mainly kitchen, laundry and the front porch which I just swept and hosed off after a long, messy winter. My daughter wanted me to drive her up Indian Creek to see if her favorite swimming hole was ready to be used again. I refused - I'm sure the water's still too high for now.

Monday was busy. I went down to the post office to distribute copies of Happy Camp News with Judy and Pete. We gave away about 200 copies that way. I left ten in the library. Pete's left them at a lot of local stores and will be taking them to communities upriver and downriver. We'll meet Tuesday at two at the café... staff meeting time.

I'm still trying to get 20 pictures together for my daughter... so far have spent about 4 hours on the project and sure would have appreciated advance warning. First I heard of it was last Thursday when she came home in a hyper, excited, disturbed mood... demanding I have the pictures ready the next day. I said no. The pictures are for her eighth grade graduation. I think the school in this town makes way too much fuss about this graduation from eighth grade. They're having a big ceremony. My daughter bought a formal dress and expensive shoes for the graduation and dance. Ridiculous. I've never owned clothes like that and I'm 50... she's 14 and needs to dress like a movie star? For what? Anyhow... the pictures are to be displayed in a slide show during graduation. They waited 'till the last minute to inform my daughter because she's not in the mainstream class anymore. I'll work on it more tomorrow after I get more feedback from her on which pictures to use.

The kids are taking good care of their vegetable garden. I'm already seeing seedlings sprout. Watermelon, maybe? I need to get some zuchinni plants to set out too.

Sunday - I've got a fire going in the wood stove right now. Its one of those days when its warmer outside than inside. I'm taking the chill out... because I find I can't think, work, or write well when I'm slightly cold.

We got the May print edition of Happy Camp News out - finally! It looks like we're reducing our activity to once monthly until we get better used to it. Then we may decide to go to twice-monthly again. We started with six staff members - now we're down to three active staffers and one advisor.

I liked the Ford Tempo I test drove... it has air-conditioning and a radio, nice upholstery... so I told them I'd take it. I hope it runs a long time. I'm buying from someone I know so I'm guessing they're selling me something good. It needs a paint job but that will have to wait until next year.

Its a nice quiet Sunday.

Friday - I've had such a busy week, working with two others to get the May print edition of Happy Camp News ready for the printer. This is the first month the three of us have done this, so the learning process was intense. I hope next month will be easier and less time-consuming.

Did I mention my car quit running? I think I did. I've been taking long walks and getting used to driving my old truck again. Its not bad, after a while. We're test driving a used Ford Tempo tomorrow. If we get it, I want to drive to the Bay Area to visit my family sometime this summer.

My daughter, Simoné, sent me a nice Mother's Day Card with a gift inside... I'm a lucky mother. :) I got it the day after Mother's Day because my car broke down right before last weekend and I didn't go check my mail for a couple of days.

Its been starting to get hot here recently. Maybe winter is over at last.

Nocturnal on Mother's Day

Sunday - Mother's Day... Well, its like this. I stayed up all night last night... got some web work done. Should have studied more but I'll do that tonight. (DHTML class and CSS2 class)

Today I woke up before noon because my sweet 14-year-old daughter made breakfast for me. Pancakes and eggs, apple juice and coffee. Wasn't that nice? Then I fell asleep again and woke up about 3:30. Where did my day go? But I need to work more tonight and I like doing it when the house is quiet, so that's my life. Also studying that DHTML book is no picnic and doing it while my kids are awake is futile. My desk is between the kitchen and the living room.

I heard from my oldest son, Joshua, age 30... via email he wished me a happy Mother's Day. I didn't hear from my two oldest daughters but my oldest (Simoné) usually remembers me. The other one (Naomi) pretends someone else is her mother and never contacts me at all. I didn't raise her although I desperately wanted to... and that's the result. Sometimes I feel sad about it but more and more I feel jaded about it... not sure I could explain but I feel its her decision and her loss. She's only got one real mother and I've got four other children so who's the loser? Of course I'd always welcome her back just like God welcomes all His children, even the misguided ones. But I'm tired of losing sleep and tears over it. So I don't. She's an adult now and can take responsibility for her decisions or make better ones when she realizes she's been... misguided.

My youngest, a son... AARON... didn't know it was Mother's Day. I reminded him. LOL He's 12, almost 13 (in a few days).

Keith wished me a Happy Mother's Day (my boyfriend) ... he wasn't able to call his mom because he doesn't know where she is right now. She's been in a half-way house in Jacksonville, Florida for years... until recently when she was transferred to some other kind of facility - maybe a convalescent type hospital... we don't really know and he's had trouble getting answers from her other family members. She's bipolar and diabetic. Very sad... she must have it bad because she's been institutionalized for years. I've never met her (have never been to Florida).

I emailed my mom. Then I tried to phone her but the cell phone number I had for her now belongs to someone else. Last I heard she was leaving Texas to spend a few months in California. That's good, since I'm in California too... and so are all her other kids.

Wherever you are Mom, I love you! Happy Mother's Day and many more!

Saturday - Today our car started making terrible grinding noises. There's been some strange noises associated with the new tires too. Its not been a great day. Keith says we can get another car next month. Until then, I'm either driving the old truck, or walking.

A few days ago the kids decided to grow vegetables this year. They dug up the old garden behind the house and prepared the soil yesterday. Today they planted veggie seeds. I hope they grow well! They've also got flower seeds for the front yard.

My children are so awesome. :)

Today they also decided they need our shed for gardening equipment, so they're trying to clean it out. They were amazed to find toys they'd boxed up three years ago when we moved. Now they're wondering why they kept so many of them. Back then it was a major emotional attachment, and now they don't care. I'm going to toss most of them, except the sentimental items.

From the Friday Five:

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?

Not especially. I keep trying to get my act together and though there's positive changes, there's no perfection.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?

YES.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?

Yes, its organized. I took time earlier today to do that. I still have some filing to do.

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?

No time for alphebetizing!

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize?

My time!

My Blogshares news: Today a nice guy sent me 500 shares in his two blogs: Brewed Fresh Daily, and Cigarettes and Coffee. He's trying to get the value of the two blogs to rise, so I'm helping by placing these links on my weblog. I also put them on three other weblogs.

I'm looking at my fireplace - the logs are still burning but just barely. I hope they don't go out. Its cold in here at night!

I'd better get back to studying DHTML. I'm on a schedule y'know...

I set up yet another weblog over at JournalSpace this week.. you're welcome to go ahead and look at it: http://mountaindweller.journalspace.com. I like their weblog service because of the community... you get to know lots of other people there.

Did I mention I'm taking a DHTML Class at Barnes & Noble University? I'm keeping track of my progress in my new Klamath Design Weblog. As a webdesigner I'm constantly trying to improve my design skills. The DHTML will help me design my own drop-down menu systems rather than having to use someone else's code.

Wednesday - Today my daughter called from school at noon to say, "They won't let me eat any food, just like yesterday. Come and get me." She's had a terrible couple of days there. She's just so unhappy in the program she's assigned to (and she's got all my sympathy on that). I am guessing that if she'd stayed she'd eventually been given the chance to eat. When I arrived she was with the principal in the hallway, holding a plate of food. She still wanted to go home. We talked with her therapist for a few mintues... as she just happened to be there today.

I told the principal to tell the teachers to take my child's disabilities into consideration and not to think she should behave just like other kids. I also requested that they not withhold food or bathroom visits from her (the no-bathroom-access incident was yesterday's news).

On the way home I noticed the Indian Creek Café was open and so we stopped and got some goodies at JavaBob's... chatted with Bob for a while and then the woman I do web maintenance for came in and we chatted with her too. It was fun, my daughter was happy, and we all had a great time. Now my daughter's back in her bedroom enjoying her computer and TV. She brought homework home from school and I'm sure she'll get that done too. She's really dedicated to doing her schoolwork and looking forward to her graduation ceremony and dance in June.

I think a lot of the reason for so much unhappiness at school this week is the standardized "star" testing they're doing right now. I'm surprised I was never notified of the testing in advance. No wonder most parents don't know they have the option of not having their children tested. If I'd known, I would have discussed it with my daughter and asked if she wanted to take the testing or not. It is mandatory for the school, not for individual students! I'd sign the form or write a letter to the school (to have her exempted) in a flash if I knew my daughter didn't want to be tested.

Pretty much, though, I leave it to her to make decisions about her own education. I believe kids are capable of deciding what to do with their lives, to a certain extent. Compulsion (in matters not having to do with safety) is often destructive to a child's emotional well-being and development of independent, analytical thinking. I want my kids to make decisions and learn from mistakes, just like adults do... just as is natural for all human beings.

If people are constantly told what to do (as is common in the schools) they are getting the hidden message they are incompetent to decide what's best for themselves. It damages self-esteem. Ask me, I know.

I like this quote that I found yesterday in The Teenage Liberation Handbook: "Respect the child. Be not too much his parent. Trespass not on his solitude." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I thought you might want to know more about the mysterious Linda Martin..... so I decided to see if Google had any information.

Googlism for: linda martin

linda martin is a real estate
linda martin is a real estate agent in
linda martin is a fine artist/illustrator
linda martin is a freelance artist/illustrator
linda martin is currently vice president of business development for acquisition solutions
linda martin is the admissions director at the holgate center's nursing facility
linda martin is the founder of biomarck and co
linda martin is nog altijd als zangeres actief in ierland
linda martin is the founder of resource associates corporation
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linda martin is a bacp accredited counsellor and a ukcp registered gestalt psychotherapist
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linda martin is a certified llc trainer and has been ontario's provincial training officer to llc for three years
linda martin is board certified in veterinary emergency and critical care by the american college of veterinary emergency and critical care
linda martin is a poet's daughter
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linda martin is a skeptical health care consumer who has a knack for keeping meticulous records chronicling her struggles with medical billing errors
linda martin is one shared by virtually all greens
linda martin is a member of the oklahoma family farm alliance
linda martin is pictured in the background marking down his time along with ruth dickerson and steve from chain
linda martin is a financial adviser
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linda martin is an adult african
linda martin is a realtor in quakertown
linda martin is one of pennsylvania's most experienced and respected realtors in quakertown
linda martin is the only other coach this program has had in its 33 years
linda martin is a former business owner
linda martin is my beon favorite teacher
linda martin is one of the judges on the compelling new tv series 'popstars'
linda martin is the pastor of the three churches
linda martin is pleased to show her just
.....
None of the Linda Martin's referred to above is me!
The bottom line: Linda Martin is a v-e-r-y common name!

Aaron, my 12-year-old son, has been working on creating a garden/picnic area in the backyard. He just gave me a wishlist of things he wants or needs to complete the project. I posted it on our homeschool weblog.

Today my daughter's new TV set was connected to satellite (Direct TV). A few minutes ago Keith came out here and said, "Notice how peaceful the house is with her back there watching TV?" This is a valid comment. My children's #1 argument-starter during the past year has been the TV set in the livingroom. Now Aaron's out here playing with his playstation 2 and she's leaving him alone. Cool!

I went to the Happy Camp News staff meeting today. Judy and I sat there in Indian Creek Café chatting and eating. Bob talked things over with us for a while and helped set a price for distribution of inserts. I need to do some cost projection analysis so we'll know how many ads we need to sell to make this print edition work. After the meeting we went to the Computer Center to look at some of the pages we've developed over the last week.

I was sad to hear that Judy's yellow car quit working yesterday... probably permanently this time.

From the Friday Five

1. Name one song you hate to admit you like.

Anything my teenage daughter listens to. I like a lot of the songs but if I start dancing she has a fit.

2. Name two songs that always make you cry.

Stuff I wrote - I have a bad problem about crying from excess emotion when I sing my own songs. One is called "The Wind is Bringing Change". I wrote it in '87 - inspired by some questions my daughter Naomi asked me. Now Naomi's 22 and won't talk to me. (She's thinks she's too good for me.) Another song that makes me cry is "Through my Tears"... a love song I wrote for my kids' father who really couldn't care less. Its still a good song.

3. Name three songs that turn you on.

um... I don't have an answer for this one.

4. Name four songs that always make you feel good.

"What the World Needs Now" - Dion Warwick
"Coal Miner's Daughter" - Loretta Lynn
"Crazy" - Patsy Cline
"To the Moon" - Capercaille

5. Name five songs you couldn't ever do without.

This is getting harder. I don't think there's any songs I couldn't do without. I love songs, but they aren't vital to my life. lol

Sunday - Yesterday I went shopping with my daughter in Medford. I spent so much money in one day, my bank called me this morning to make sure all the charges on my card were mine! Most of that was my daughter's birthday money. She bought a formal dress for her eighth grade graduation and a swimsuit.. and accessories. I also got a tv for her bedroom so the kids will argue with each other less. Most of their arguments are about the television.

My car runs worse all the time - it really worries me, especially on that highway between Yreka and Medford... it goes over Mt. Ashland... very steep on both sides.

I've been busy! We're putting out a print edition of the Happy Camp News bulletin using the facilities at the Community Computer Center. Since the three people doing this work aren't used to using Print Shop (despite our training day) we're going slow, learning to do the job. The good news is that we're actually starting to sell ads, to make the project pay for itself. Any extra funds go to the Happy Camp Writer's Club. I think we've got a good thing going!

I've also been learning more about CSS webdesign and putting shopping carts on websites.

My daughter's in school today. Aaron's project of the week is to build a stone-lined path in the backyard and put in a small garden area. He chose these projects himself. The path leads to an area he's cleared of blackberry bushes over the last month. He's got lots of plans for that section of the yard.

Keith is off getting his blood tests and some new tires for the car. I need to get ready to go help friends get used to their new (used) computer.

After two days of being too involved with Blogshares - which I just joined yesterday - I've decided I need to study time management. I want to keep playing the game without obsessing about it... checking on my shares quickly, once every eight hours or so. I made a weekly schedule chart to keep track of my goals and activities. I hope this helps.

Bears Destroy Hotel Doors, Eat Floor

I'm glad the bears around here aren't that hungry and aggressive! (I hope.) When we first moved into the forest 3+ years ago a bear attacked our garbage outside the back door. Since then I haven't seen a trace of them. Of course, we don't leave our trash out there anymore! My neighbor down the hill at Bear Cove said they had one on the property a few weeks ago.

Since I've lived here, I haven't even seen a bear. Not one. Keith and the kids saw one crossing the road near the landfill. My neighbors at Indian Creek Café say they've seen them across the river from the Sluice Box River Access near Seiad Valley. But I've been there and seen nothing.

Once we had 'something' on our front porch but it was just heard... not seen. It made ominous noises but by the time I turned on the light and ran into the bathroom to look out the window, whatever it was ... was gone.

PromoGuy's Monday Mission 3.17

1. Postmodernism (a popular philosophy of the current day) indicates that there are as many "truths" as there are people; nothing is absolute (however, by its very nature, even the word 'Postmodernism" resists definition). For yourself, what truths are absolute? Are there any absolute truths in the Universe?

I absolutely know there's a God... whatever you choose to call Him. I call Him the Universal One.

2. Do you believe that you are still "teachable?"

Yes, defintely. I'm still learning all the time.

3. To do something well, in most situations, requires study and practice. What's the most recent thing that you have done well as a result of study and practice.

I learned to make webpages using tableless CSS.

4. If you had the time/money, what do you want to lean how to do more than anything?

How to travel cross-country in an RV sightseeing and doing whatever else I want. (Sounds good to me - I think I could handle it.)

5. Those around us may often try to intervene, but ultimately each individual is responsible for the choices they make in life. Tell me about a recent situation where you had a decision to make, and those around you tried to influence or direct you. Were they successful? Was that "help" welcomed?

I earn money and want to keep it in a business account, but Keith says we need it for groceries. I keep telling him, if I save the money in my account I can grow my business with it. Then he asks me why I don't advertise in the newspaper. Well, unfortunately I don't have money - we spent it on food!

6. Things are much easier to accept when they are given by invitation rather than being forced upon us. When was the last time you rejected something because it was forced on you? How did it happen? Did you hold a grudge about it? Was it ever resolved?

I decline to state!

7. Are you the sort of person who questions everything, or are you able to accept things without someone providing you tangible proof?

I am skeptical... about most things... unless proven to me. For example... God. I would not believe so strongly but His existence was proven to me by personal experience. I believe He will be obvious and apparent to anyone who seeks Him with a humble heart and pure spirit.

BONUS: Ooo baby, do you know what that's worth?

Well, on Blogshares all the links to your site from the participants in your meme are worth a lot!

This week I've been studying CSS and practicing on some of my other blogs: 1 2 3. I'm planning to redesign this one too. The goal is tableless CSS... eventually to be done easily without looking at any reference sites or books.

I've been trying to learn what RSS News Feeds are but I admit I find it mind-boggling. If anyone wants to email me to explain RSS in plain English I'd appreciate it! Maybe I could use this for Happy Camp News.

This is my new blogchalk:
United States, California, Happy Camp, English, Spanish, Linda, Female, 46-50, webdesign, writing. :)

I've done 12,541 keystrokes on the computer today, not counting the ones I'm doing right now. I know that for a fact because I've joined Project Orca. There's 4861 people using the system to log keystrokes right now. I rate as number 3072. My new goal... to rate in the 2000's. LOL...

You might be wondering why someone would want to count their keystrokes. Well, this is a motivating force for writers, mainly... people who get a charge out of having a lot of keystrokes, you know? I'm on the Forward Motion team... number 4 on the list with 79 writers and 88,396,481 collective keystrokes. Go team!

My current total: 314,785 keystrokes since I joined a few weeks back.

I've found the freebie version of this password keeper to be very helpful. Maybe you'll like it too.

I just added this link to



- at the bottom of this page, and here. It's an online game for bloggers....

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Slob:: messy
   
2. 60:: minutes
   
3. Personals:: boring
   
4. Famous:: people
   
5. Cancer:: life-threatening
   
6. Internet:: publicity
   
7. Previously:: said
   
8. Moonshine:: liquor
   
9. Ants:: crawlers
   
10. Check:: my work

Over an hour later... the snow continues to fall, heavier than ever. Aaron is trying to save the little bridge he built over the seasonal stream out back. He's been working for weeks to clear that area of berry bushes to make a shady retreat for me during summer heat. I wonder how long this snow storm will last. We've still got only an inch of snow. If it starts to rain, that will melt away quickly.

The picture is of my neighbor's mobile home. That's my truck in their driveway.

We woke up to a dusting of snow on everything - up to about an inch - and it continues to come down. Well. Spring started over a month ago. Good thing I don't have seedlings freezing in the garden. This makes me happy I didn't plant anything yet.

This is the scene outside my window this morning. My neighbor's roof is now covered with white. The tree is a madrone.

Compliments

Compliment #1: (to my 14-yr-old daughter)... "I think that's really neat how you sat down and did your homework this morning right away when you got it. Its great that you love learning so much." Reaction: She shrugged, lifted an eyebrow or two, and then shrugged again. Didn't know what to make of it. lol

Compliment #2: (to my 12-yr-old son)... "Wow, you're cleaning the livingroom again? How nice! I just love the way you move the furniture around and make everything look fresh and beautiful in here." Reaction: Enthusiastic, he grabbed the broom saying, "I just moved the couch out like this so I could sweep behind it!" (Big smile.)

Compliment #3: (to my boyfriend)... "I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you getting all that wood for us and working so hard to make sure we'll be warm tonight. That was really thoughtful of you and we appreciate it." Reaction: He gave me more advice on how to build the fire.

Compliment #4: (to Mairi)... "Good doggie!" Reaction: She wagged her tail and looked at me with luminous, love-filled, brown adoring eyes.

From the Friday Five:

1. What was the last TV show you watched?

Its been a long time. I don't watch much TV. At the end of January I watched a 2-program exposé about CPS on the PBS show, Frontline. The first week was about the tragic death of a five-year-old foster child, Logan Marr - a child unjustly abducted into state fosterincarceration. A social worker became the fosterer who murdered her. The second week was a look inside the department, following caseworkers as they harassed, persecuted, and traumatized parents and children, plus an in-studio group discussion with people directly involved with child welfare. Rose Garland, a former foster child, had this to say about abuse in foster "care": "...every foster kid that I have ever talked to, including myself, have been abused in foster homes. And I'm talking physically, emotionally and sexually. That may not be the case for every child, but it was the case for me."

2. What was the last thing you complained about?

Keith's cigarette smoke. When we got together just over three years ago, he didn't smoke at all. He relapsed a year ago. We have a family agreement that he'll smoke only outside or in our bedroom, away from the kids. So I went into our bedroom to chat with him and the window wasn't open. Its a rainy day and earlier was snowing so its very cold here, but we usually keep our bedroom window open because I can't tolerate the smoke. Anyhow, that's the only thing I can recall complaining about today, and it was easily resolved - I opened the window and stood next to it breathing in fresh air.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say?

? Judging by the difficulty I'm having coming up with an answer, I must not compliment people quite enough. I remember complimenting one of the Happy Camp News columnists on a good piece of writing, "Compliance"... but that was Wednesday night, and this is Friday. I hereby resolve to find something to compliment each of my family members on within the next 24 hours.

4. What was the last thing you threw away?

An empty Crystal Geyser spring water bottle. Check out the link and take a tour of the bottling plant! Mt. Shasta water tastes sooooo good.

5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited?

Jenn's weblog - where I found the link to the Friday Five!

Now its SNOWING outside and has been for several hours. Keith had to go outside and chop wood in the snow to keep us warm. I had to drive over to my daughter's school to pick up her school books and paperwork. She's already avidly going at it... she loves learning. The picture was taken this morning from the parking lot of our local market, looking at the intersection of Indian Creek Road and Davis St.

Aaron opened the window this morning to find a deer grazing in the meadow just south of our home.

Thursday - my daughter was sick all day... and will be staying home tomorrow again. She asked me to contact her school to get books and assignments to do at home. She really cares about getting her schoolwork done.

I just found out my 12-year-old son has been lucid dreaming. I am so shocked. He was telling his sister that when he wakes up in his dreams he can do whatever he wants. He told me he doesn't have to worry about getting hurt because he knows its just a dream so he beats people up, jumps off buildings and walks on the ceiling - things like that. Apparently he has the gift to do this a lot. Lucky kid! He had a deja vu experience during his sister's birthday party. He'd seen it before-hand, in a dream!

I've only lucid dreamed twice that I know of and both times woke up right away so I didn't get to do anything I wanted.

Its raining outside but I have a nice fire going in the woodstove. I've got my online timer set to remind me every fifteen minutes to go put another log on the fire... or at least check to see if it needs one.

Wednesday - nice quiet day though my daughter stayed home from school, claiming to have a sore throat. She did manage to sleep last night thank goodness. Keith says sore throats are "going around".

I woke up at five this morning and made a fire... Keith was surprised that I managed to do that without any fire starter (which he guards, God knows where). Hmmm... I just used newspaper, a cereal box, a lot of kindling... and that's all. Either I have good luck or am more patient than he is. Then we ran out of wood but Keith and three other guys went into the forest to get wood today so we're in business again.

I just went into my daughter's room to give her the regular medication she takes and a bottle of cold Arrowhead spring water. She does have a slight fever. Now I wonder if 'coming down' with a cold contributed to her inability to stay awake in class yesterday.... she slept last night but is sleepy again today.

Keith and Bear (one of our dogs) are sitting here next to me. Bear adores Keith... a faithful and loyal companion. Yesterday Keith was visiting with our neighbor and Bear kept going into our bedroom and getting on the bed so he could look out the window and see Keith. I chased him off the bed several times but he kept going back. Bear cares about nothing but Keith... and food.

Tuesday - Well, as expected, my daughter fell asleep at school. A therapist I have looking in on her on Tuesdays called me. "It was kind of hard to talk to her today, she kept falling asleep!" As expected. I hope she'll have her sleeping schedule back on track in a day or two. This is what happens to some kids on Spring break. ::sigh::

I'm also back to working on my webdesign business and spent a lot of time today updating Happy Camp News. I was correcting the page footers and adding our new advertising policy and page with pricing. We have to get some money flowing through the project or it will fail soon. One member of our writing club already spent over 300 dollars on printing costs in the last few months, and I've been paying for the website hosting and domain name. Other club members have put money into this too. Besides setting advertising prices, we decided to put a donation link on the website. So if you're reading this and in a generous mood... check out Happy Camp News! ((Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask!)) Our writer's club will be ever-grateful...

I've had a headache all day. Aspirin isn't helping. Time for something stronger.... I'll try Ibuprofen...

My daughter also got a gift certificate from her *uncle* for her birthday (Thanks, Kyle!)... she just bought some CD's and a teenager magazine.

I just heard from my friend, Katrina, through Call Wave. I haven't heard from her in a couple of years... I was doing my filing a few days ago and found a paper with her other last name on it... and decided to google it. Amazing - it came up with a website she'd recently been added to so I was able to email her employer. What a wonderful invention this internet is!

:: Later :: I called Katrina back and got good news - she's doing just fine! I'm so happy because last time I saw her she was homeless living in El Cerrito/Richmond at that same bay-side park where Laci Peterson's body was just found. Well, three years ago I walked through that park looking for Katrina and couldn't find her. I looked for her all day and finally just before sunset found her walking down the street with her two kids near where they were living with their grandmother. Then she stayed overnight at my motel room.. that was in late 1999. We've been friends since about '94... met at a parent-participation preschool in Berkeley. Anyhow, the good news is that now she's working full time and living in an apartment in El Cerrito not far from where her two oldest kids are. She got her two youngest kids back (when I last talked to her one was with CPS and one was with her sister) and as we talked all four of the kids were in the apartment there with her. I was so happy about that. I've always thought she was the best of moms from the time I met her - its a real shame so many people wanted to take her kids away.... anyhow, I love hearing good news and am so glad my friend is doing well. Her next goal is to buy a house.

Monday, April 21 - I fell asleep at about 10 last night, listening to Barbara Simpson on Coast To Coast AM. When I woke up Keith had tuned the radio to Ray Taliaferro on KGO and he was going on and on about his anti-war views... it was kinda annoying. Maybe I was unimpressed because I'd just watched this flash about 911 earlier in the evening. Anyhow, I woke up and it was around 2 am... and both kids were still awake. Good thing my daughter doesn't have to go to school until Tuesday, but I think she's going to have a hard time adjusting to getting up at 6 am again.

Sunday, April 20 - Today was my daughter's 14th birthday. Hard to believe she's that old! We had a great day... yeah, I know it was Easter too... but other than the traditional egg hunt we didn't do anything special to celebrate. Nothing against Jesus - I respect Him - but I don't like to go to Easter sunrise services (or any other church services) and I don't cook big meaty traditional holiday feasts, so that didn't happen. We had pizza, sodas, chips and dip, and the two cakes my kids made yesterday... and the ice cream of course. My daughter got some interesting books in the mail from her aunt and will be getting (from us) a new tv and satellite setup for her room, plus $150 to spend on clothes at the mall. That, of course, is her favorite kind of gift... no matter what, she loves to get money and new clothes.

In other good news... my oldest son, Joshua, just wrote to me so I now know where he is and that he and his new wife, Rosa, are surviving the first year of marriage. She's from Peru and they speak only Spanish at home. I think that would be so challenging... but Joshua has self-taught himself several languages, Spanish being one of them. I speak Spanish too... but I have a hard time understanding it when someone else speaks to me. I say, "no puedo comprender" a lot... but not to Rosa as I haven't had the opportunity to meet her yet. (I don't travel much these days, and last I heard Josh has no car.)

I decided this was the night to go into my daughter's room and fix the computer. She was still having trouble with the musicsearch virus. I researched it and realized it doesn't register as a virus except on AVG and none of the virus sites are talking about it... so I downloaded Ad Aware and ran that... when I saw that she had about 250 spyware-type files on her computer I literally started choking. She was laughing. As I recall the first time I ran Ad Aware on my computer it came up with about 50 files, maybe less... and I was not expecting my daughter to have such a large number.

Besides the musicsearch virus problem and massive spyware, she'd downloaded a program that came up at a mp3 website she'd been to... very annoying!... it put an unwanted toolbar on the top and bottom of her browser and hijacked the browser screen forcing her to lop.com where she got an unwanted search engine and a lot of ads. She couldn't get rid of it by de-activating the unwanted toolbar. I took care of that by downloading a "fix" from the lop.com site. It seemed to do nothing. I deleted it... then went to the install/uninstall link on the settings menu and saw that "lop-uninstall" was there. I was put through a lot of steps to get that uninstalled but the end result of all the work I did:

No more musicsearch virus when she runs AVG.
No more unwanted annoying toolbars and screen-hijacks.
No more spyware.

It took several hours but was well worth the work... I felt like I was giving her something really great for her birthday too. We're also getting her a small tv and satellite link for her bedroom and she'll be getting 150 dollars to spend on clothes at the mall in Medford. She's going to have to buy her graduation dress out of that money.

And.. she had a great time at her friend's house this evening.

Aaron helped bake two birthday cakes. For some reason I thought I was going to get to eat one today but no... they want to save both of them until tomorrow. Don't ask why two... I still haven't figured that out myself.

Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday. She got a great gift today when her friend's mom phoned to invite her over for dinner. This is the best gift because she's been moping around the house being friendless for weeks now... feeling lonely. I'm glad she's going back over there today.

Aaron wants to bake a pre-birthday cake... I was going to do my daughter's cake tomorrow!

I've been looking around the house for my three Course In Miracles books for two days. Today I finally found the teacher's manual. Now Keith has run off with it and when last seen was about seven pages into it. I wonder what he's thinking. He told me he already learned something from it. This I've gotta see (what he'll say)...

Friday..... I've spent hours today doing my filing. I still have boxes of unfiled papers I brought with me from the Bay Area when I moved north over three years ago. In my dreams... I will someday get all these boxes emptied, or at the very least, organized. Today I asked Keith to bring in some large storage boxes from the shed... we're talking about the 20-gal. plastic rubbermaid containers... I bought about thirty of them before I moved. Anyhow, I have six of them in the hallway now and plan to work on emptying them during the next week.

Today I found my friend, Katrina, listed on a website in the Bay Area. I haven't heard from her in a couple of years so I hope she'll phone me. I sent a message to her employer... asking that she phone me.

Writing of the boxes reminded me of a site I saw a few days ago. The columns page editor for Happy Camp News wrote a new advice column with his wife called Angelic Advice... and mentioned this site: Intenders of the Highest Good. I would like to try intending something now... I intend that all my filing be done soon.

Wouldn't that be a miracle!?

Basketball and Community Meetings

Wednesday - Today I went to my daughter's basketball game... last game of the season. Normally I have no interest in sports but when my daughter's one of the players it really keeps me interested. Her team won: 29-20 and we were especially thrilled that she made two baskets for her team. The other team was challenging... maybe if they'd had more than four players show up they could have won. My daughter's team had seven girls show so two were sidelined (they took turns).

Monday was memorable too because I got Keith to go with me to a Happy Camp News staff meeting. He usually declines to go anywhere where my co-workers or friends are meeting. I know a lot of people around here are like that. Anyhow, its great that he went and met a few of the people I hang out with and I don't know about the rest of them, but I appreciated Keith's company.

Guess I've had enough of blogging for now...

Sunday - my observations on life. We have a very good life here in the Klamath River Valley even though we're barely making it financially. Money isn't everything. We have a lot of love in our family. It took me 49 years to meet this kind man who lives with me now. He's not perfect but the bottom line is we get along with each other and love each other a lot! What else is important? I've found someone I rarely argue with and whose company I adore. He's a musician and I'm a writer and web artist. When he starts playing his guitar, I put on my headphones and play soothing subliminal-message recordings. Right now I'm using one for self-esteem. He built a fire for me (in the fireplace) and I made dinner for him tonight. We're happy together, in case you wanted to know.

I'm glad to report the kids are getting along with each other this evening... watching TV together instead of arguing over it. They were working, cleaning the yard outside earlier, and appreciated coming in to find dinner ready and waiting in the microwave. Aaron really did a great job cleaning the livingroom last night. It sure is nice for them. I never use the livingroom unless there's some show I just have to see (usually a segment exposing CPS injustices)... otherwise I stay at my desk in the dining room or in my kitchen.. or I'm sleeping. Speaking of sleeping - I'm almost ready for my evening nap, so I'll be going. I always take a nap before I start my night-time webdesign jobs so that my mind will be wide awake and ready for action.

Saturday. Not a bad day. Aaron is still cleaning up the dining room and living room and doing such a good job of it... I won't say a word to discourage him. I cleaned the kitchen and made dinner. My daughter wants me to work on her website and I'm trying to get her to download the programs to learn to work on it herself. Mairi (our dog) just came in from barking at raccoons. Very annoying. I wish she'd leave the cute little critters alone. I spent a lot of time today working on my Klamath Design business plan and updating Happy Camp News and the Chamber of Commerce's River Run page.

Murder trial halted as 'victim' is found alive

Teenagers! The girl in this article let her parents believe she was dead for five years, but finally confessed to being alive during the trial of her accused murderer. I don't know if her re-appearance was voluntary. If so it would appear she cared more about the accused man (who confessed to her murder and three others) than she did about her parents (who were grief-stricken for years and already had a memorial service for her).

As a parent, I know very well how it is to have my daughters turn their backs on me and appear not to care about me. It really hurts. I wonder how they'll deal with having their teenage daughters turn against them, should they ever be lucky enough to have any. My older son didn't turn away from me like my daughters did. I don't expect my younger son will either. I wonder if that's a common difference between girls and boys. I don't know - I've only got five examples (my own kids).

Friday - First thing in the morning I went to my daughter's school for an award ceremony. She got an award for making Honor Roll. We were happy; this was the first time for her this school year and for the past five years she was homeschooled.

Later in the day we drove to Yreka for a doctor's appointment (for my daughter). Everything went well. The doctor looked a little more frazzled .. more than last time we saw him. I guess they're keeping him busy there.

We didn't do much - just a few errands and a short tour of Walmart. This is typically what we do in that town. Though Yreka is two hours from where we live, its the closest Walmart (or any other kind of discount store) so we take advantage of the low prices while there. Also the fast food... gotta have it. We have no fast food here in the forest other than what we can warm up at the liquor store.

Today I concentrated on buying what I needed for the accounting aspect of my new business. I wish me luck in setting up these books. I took a bookkeeping class about 30 years ago but I'm no expert when it comes to money matters.

I've decided to keep office hours at Klamath Design - Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 1pm to 8pm. I'm also using a calendar now to plan my time better and it seems to help a lot. At least now I know where my time went rather than wondering what I did with all my time. It also helps me keep on track with the jobs I'm doing. I need Monday and Wednesday off. On Mondays I've got the Happy Camp News staff meeting. On Wednesdays I've got Chamber of Commerce meetings... and both those meetings take place in mid-afternoon.

Next week is Spring break... I'll have my daughter home all week. Now, that's something to look forward to! I'd like to take the kids someplace but now I've got to stay and work.

Tuesday - what a nice quiet day. The kids had one brief argument over the TV but it blew over soon. Keith made dinner. Aaron is taking responsibility for cleaning the livingroom and building the fire tonight. He did a good job with the firebuilding last night too. I spent the day doing housework... mainly the kitchen, laundry and cleaning off my computer desk.

I'd better go start work - I have some webdesign to do, a news site to update, and then some writing to revise.

Not much happening here on Monday. I mainly did housework and laundry. I worked on Parent News for a while... realized I hadn't touched it since the day before the war began. I guess I've been distracted!

I washed my new purple sheets today and put them back on the bed. I left for a while and when I walked back into the bedroom my dog was lying there on my bed. I might not have been so irate except that I don't have a dryer and it was sunset by the time this happened. No, I don't like to sleep with my dog. In fact, he's Keith's dog. He was supposed to be my daughter's dog but he follows Keith everywhere. He sleeps on the floor right beside my side of the bed, under the sewing machine table that used to be my mom's.

Keith was out in the woods getting firewood all morning with friends. We decided to cut corners by not buying fuel oil this month, then it suddenly got cold again. Now we're back to using the wood stove for heating. I kind of like it but its a lot more work for Keith.

Speaking of Sunday, April 6: Today was a wonderful day. I stayed home with the kids all day and everyone was happy. The kids played video games together and I wrote another 5000 words on my new story and reached my goal of 10K words for the monthly writing marathon. Aaron's feeling better already. Not much else happening! I could use more quiet, peaceful days like this one!

This has been a good day so far. I joined a writing marathon for the weekend, and so far wrote 4200+ words. My goal is 10,000 words. I'm writing a new children's story... so far seven chapters.

Last night I got to talk to my sister. She was going to visit us this week but unfortunately can't due to medical proceedures. We had a nice phone conversation anyway. At least she hasn't encountered SARS yet. We discussed that and she's got plenty of plans on how to handle it. I'm glad she's planning ahead. For those reading this it might help to know she's a nurse-practitioner... that's why I'm concerned about her. Many of the SARS victims are health care workers.

Aaron is sick. Maybe he caught something in Yreka while we were there this week. The kids are getting along good tonight, watching a movie together.

Today was busy! My son and I made the trip to Yreka again to exchange the Play Station 2 at Walmart. They were so nice about it! They just checked the warranty by phoning in the serial number on the back of our broken Play Station. We bought it on Feb. 11, 2003 so the warranty allowed us to get an exchange. Now Aaron is back home happily playing his new game again.

My daughter had a virus on her computer! It was called "MusicSearch". She ran the AVG virus scanner as always and got a message saying the virus couldn't be removed... so I went in there (her bedroom) to fix it. I was shocked to discover she'd actually had 29 viruses in the last month! On one day alone it was 14 virus files! Compare that to my ONE virus that was healed by AVG without me even knowing about it. Anyhow, I did the research and discovered that MusicSearch is a trojan horse virus that can be difficult to remove. From DOS I could see the file but couldn't delete it. AVG couldn't delete it either. Finally I discovered a fix for it. The fix is to get a program called Anti-Trojan - you can download a trial version to use for 14 days. After finding out the virus file name from AVG, you can go to options on Anti-Trojan, click on 'process viewer' and then on 'start plugin'. Scroll to the bottom of the list, find the virus file name, and 'terminate'. I tried it thanks to Lauryn at The-Protagonist.Com... and it worked for me! Now my daughter's computer is virus-free again. ((I wonder how long that will last. I suggested she change her internet habits!))

I'm so happy to be home after that long drive. Once again I had to stop and sleep on the way home. Aaron didn't have much patience for this, but I did get enough rest to get us home safely. Now I'm listening to George Noory on Coast to Coast AM, my favorite talk radio show as anyone who reads my blog by the same name surely knows.

Well, back to work. I have a job to do tonight before I sleep.

I got up early to make sure my daughter got to her blood test. She's 13, so we tried something new. I let her walk there by herself from school (which is next-door to the clinic). The premise was that my daughter might take the experience better if she was trying to be mature and doing it on her own. So about 9:45 the nurse practitioner phoned me to say it wasn't working perfectly... but I talked to my daughter on the phone and encouraged her to just look the other way and relax and she'd be through it in no time. It worked! Later she said it didn't hurt so much after all.

After that I got back into my nice purple bed and went back to sleep. I didn't want to get out of those new sheets today!

My son's playstation two is already toasted. We got it less than 2 months ago so its still under warranty and we can get it replaced. As you can imagine this vital equipment failure caused a big stir in the house. He was playing a new game and suddenly it just quit working. Very annoying. I can identify - when my computers fail I go berserk and have to force myself to be calm and patient as I take the steps to repair them. Hmmm.. playstation 2 - 2 hundred bucks - 2 months. Hmmm.

Speaking of vital equipment failure, I sure feel sorry for the people in Baghdad whose electricity is out. We had a three day electricity failure last winter. It was awful. I'll bet those people are in major distress right now. I hope and pray the torment of the Iraqui people will be over soon.

My daughter says she had a great day despite the blood testing. She got third prize on her science fair project, and tonight at the open house got her report card with three A's - and she made honor roll for the first time. Her three A's were in reading, social studies and science. Plus she was happy that she'd done so well at getting along with people. I'm glad she considered that one of the best parts of her day. Tonight she attended the spaghetti dinner at her school and a basketball game, on her own. I'm glad to see her moving into the teenage years and getting more independent.

We just got home from a drive to Yreka. Aaron was with me this time. I paid for my business license for Klamath Design and got some other errands done, plus did some shopping at Walmart.

Finally I got a nice sheet/comforter set. It may not seem like a lot to many of you, but this is the kind of thing I make myself do without until the situation is desperate. I've been using a heavy sleeping bag that I bought 3 years ago (while I was between homes) for a bed spread all this time....However it has shredded and at this time is in such bad condition I was questioning the wisdom of ever washing it again as all the filling will come out. So it was time. I got a nice purple comforter and matching sheet set. Now I feel so much better whenever I look inside my bedroom.

I cannot believe I did this stupid thing. A message board I use has a webdesign forum where one of the regulars recommended a webhosting service that charges only two dollars each month. On a lark I decided I'd sign up for one of their hosting packages to see how it was. Well... after I signed up I got a nice welcome letter saying they're in Istanbul, Turkey! I started getting a queasy feeling about that. Now, I love Middle Eastern people but I happen to know we Americans are really unpopular in that area of the world right now (with good reason).

I went back to the site and checked it out more and saw that the order form wasn't even secure. That's when I was starting to panic. Plus when I uploaded my site the SSI didn't work... anyhow, it was all bad even though the people who own the service may be very sincere and good (I don't know). I decided to cancel the hosting service. They did get their first and only 2 dollar payment - but that's all. I feel sad that I don't feel comfortable doing business out of the country right now, but the lack of a secure server for the credit card processing was the final straw. So now I have no credit card number because I put a hold on it to protect my money - it was my only one... but I'll get a new number in a week or two. All my other site hosting contacts who I owe money to were very nice about it and don't mind me waiting to pay or paying by mail.

I guess I'll put that site at RTS Hosting instead. The lady who runs that has a super-cheap option... and she's very responsive to my emails which is really a good sign. Of course, the guy in Turkey was nice about that too. ::sigh::

Now I'm having a hard time getting these blogspot pages to display. This is utterly weird. The background graphic shows, the ad at the top shows... but all the text on the page is gone! I'm going to move to a hosting service this month... there's no better solution.

Last night I consulted the I-Ching for insight into my free-floating feelings of distress. Not just war distress, but in-general... distress. I realized I'm overextended with projects that are keeping me from the things I really want to do.

What I want to do: develop my creative side. develop my business.

What I don't want to do: advocacy and mailing lists.

So I did it - I deleted almost all my mailing lists except the ones I own and the ones that concern my business or creative interests. I kept only a couple small activism lists (I can't go 100% inactive but for now this is much better!). I also left a message at Fight CPS And Win (my main activism site) that I will no longer be available for consultations. I've got a list of mailing lists people can sign onto for help and support.

So.. now I'm free of that! YAY. Hopefully I'll have no good reason to go back to it though since I've lived here in Siskiyou County the CPS agent has been harassing me and threatening my family. Apparently he's fascinated by my activism. Well I have this to say to him: If you don't like freedom of speech, MOVE TO IRAQ buddy. I lived nearly ten years in the SF Bay Area with no CPS referrals and then FIVE false or totally trivial accusations have been hurled at me by CPS agents in this county in a mere three years. Just an example of why this agency needs to have its wings clipped.

Sorry for the diatribe. You see why I'm editor of Parent News - this is one subject that really turns on my writing, and THE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD. I truly believe that and I'm proud to be an activist and a writer.

I'm having trouble getting the archives to work on the blogspot site and can't get my pages linked up any time soon... so if you want to see something that doesn't work on this new site please go back to the old site for that.

I heard from my oldest daughter - she's doing just fine... working and all. My oldest son is still a mystery.

I've had problems uploading my blog into my ISP FTP space so I'm moving this blog and a few others to blogspot... so now there's an ad at the top. Oh well... If I ever get hosting for my www.lindajomartin.com website I'll move them there.

I just worked most of the night doing a web maintenance job. It felt good to work so many hours... but I still didn't get it all done. I've got one more page to create, and a flash movie (a simple one). Problem is I realized I've forgotten how to use flash because its been so long since I did it. I can't justify retraining myself on my client's time so I'm going to go through the tutorial again tomorrow, then do her movie. Maybe someday I'll learn this well enough that I won't have to constantly look at the help files.

I think my youngest daughter is getting interested in making graphics so I'm planning on putting a good paint program on her computer. She's also recently discovered AOL (yes I know, how awful..) where she enjoys message boards and a few new IM friends.

I keep telling her about how dangerous predators on the internet are. I put the news article about the Michigan girl on our hallway wall so she'd read it (and she did).. the girl was traisping around Northern California with an aging ex-convict murderer! Fortunately he didn't murder her and she was found a few days ago - in Lassen County, I think... and that's very close to where we live.

Someone noticed him because he had a nice newish white truck that he'd spray-painted black!... it looked like a cheap paint job and who would do that to a nearly new vehicle anyhow?

The war in Iraq has really got me down these days. I was listening to a radio talk show earlier about stress caused by addiction to watching tv war coverage. Strangely - I was listening to this because I realized I was so stressed out I couldn't see straight anymore (thus trying to revise a novel or work on a website was useless) so I went to my bedroom and lay down for a stress break.. that's when Keith (who is addicted to talk radio) put on this radio show that was describing exactly what I was going through!

::Sigh:: War is hell.

This week I discovered a few sites about labrynths. It all started when I was looking at a photograph on the Coast to Coast AM website that shows a fairy. Of course the kids and I were discussing which of us believes its a real fairy... when I noticed the link to the Whispering Grove website. Now I'm hooked. I want a labrynth! I found one site that lists locations of labrynths all over the USA and there's actually one not far from us... just north-east of Weed at the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden. We went there a few times a few years ago but I never noticed a labrynth. Maybe it wasn't there then.

It seems like weeks since I've heard from my oldest daughter and much longer since I've heard from my oldest son. Is it just me or are others having trouble keeping in touch with their adult children? I missed so much of my daughters' childhoods. Being separated from them is the real tragedy of my life. It doesn't get much better just because we're all older, and I don't understand why my children aren't answering my emails. My son's computer has been unstable but still, something doesn't seem right. Maybe part of this is my distress over the war affecting my peace of mind in all areas of life.

I've been working on my new business, Klamath Design, part-time. I'm about to start advertising and making this a regular full-time business. I know there's enough business out there and I've worked hard to make my webdesigns better during the last year. The main reason why I'm keeping this Linda's Life site as-is --- is because I love that Cassat painting. :) Redesigning this page is real low on my list of prioritites.

This last month I worked on a short story for my local writers club and it turned out better than I expected. 1900 words. It is like a fantasy (paranormal?) folk-tale of the miners and Karuks here in the Klamath River Valley 150 years ago... fun to write and read. I read it to the writers club last Wednesday and they liked it!! I'm apparently the only fiction writer there but they put up with me.

Last week Dr. Matthew Johnson of Grant's Pass was on the Coast to Coast AM radio talk show with George Noory. Dr. Johnson is the psychologist who was walking throught the woods near Oregon Caves on July 1, 2000 with his family - and had a bigfoot sighting. You can read all about it on his website: Sasquatch Site. We went to Oregon Caves on my son's birthday that year, exactly one month to the day from the time Dr. Johnson had his sighting... but didn't take a walk in the woods. That's only about 50 miles from where I live.

Guess I'd better get back to work. I've been working at night again lately so I can get more done without distractions from the family.

A study says: Neanderthals, humans didn't mix

Hold the press... this article says there's no evidence. Not that it couldn't have happened.. but that we just don't know whether any of my ancestors were Neanderthal.

There is no convincing evidence, says Richard G. Klein of Stanford University, that Neanderthals and modern humans ever mixed in substantial numbers, which means that when the Neanderthals died out, so did their genes.

NO it doesn't mean that. Just because there's no evidence doesn't mean that they definitely died out taking their genes with them. All it really means is that we just don't know. People should be careful not to read too much into a lack of evidence.

I have no idea why this means so much to me.

After I finished the Parent News webdesign, Leonard asked me to be the editor there! ...So I'm doing that now too. The site is averaging 147 hits daily this week. I'm trying to add one new article each day.

Today my daughter and I went to Yreka - she had a doctor's appointment. It was a great day though I had to pull over and sleep on the way home. Its a two hour drive each way.. and since I got only six hours sleep the night before.. I decided to pull over at Horse Creek, in the big turnout just past the bridge. I've slept there before... don't ask me why, I just feel comfortable there. So my daughter let me sleep for about half an hour. It was sunset when I fell asleep and dark when she woke me up. That really did the trick - I didn't feel sleepy at all the rest of the way home.

I did two more websites this week:

This is Parent News - a publication of the American Family Rights Association. I'm doing a redesign for the owner, Leonard Henderson of Oregon. It isn't finished yet.

The new site for the California Family Rights Association. This one is nearing completion.

I just had to put a picture of my kids on the front of Parent News... not that very many people will recognize them.. they haven't been babies for a long time now!

Sorry I haven't posted here much lately. I've been so busy since mid-January... mostly not stuff I want to mention in this weblog, for the most part. Some things are better when forgotten.

Happy Valentine's Day! As of today Keith and I have been together three years... and we're still hoping for many more.

I was so distressed about everything that's been going on here I haven't been able to continue my normal happy, creative life. During the last three days I made an effort to put aside all other concerns and revive myself creatively and spiritually. It is working. Last night I had a productive webdesign work and writing night again. Also I spent two days working on my coast to coast weblog. Here's the redesign:



I also moved my writing website from happycampnews.com to klamathdesign.com... because I've given the Happy Camp News site to our local writer's club for a club fundraising project. It will be better for everyone, including the readers, when there's more people working on it. My writing website can still be reached at http://www.lindajomartin.com but right now it is terribly out of date due to all the problems I've had in the past couple of weeks. I'll be focusing on updating that soon.

TV = Idiot Box!

"This feels pretty cozy and heartwarming," my son said, 24 hours into a week without the TV.

After months of increasingly distressing fights over the TV, I finally reached the end of my rope last night and even convinced my boyfriend that we should take the damn thing out of the living room and restrict the children from using it for a week.

Let's just say the fights were pretty intense. We already tried setting hours for favorite shows so supposedly everyone's rights were to be respected. It didn't work. The fighting continued.

So anyhow, 24 hours ago the idiot-box went into the master bedroom. Let me tell you what's going on here tonight. The kids are getting along together just fine. My daughter, who as of late keeps telling me how uncool books are, has been sitting here reading her brother's book about yucky stuff (thanks for that Aunt Susan). She reads to herself and to him at times. Meanwhile he's sitting right next to her designing a mechanical dinosaur-shaped weapon. He created one (on paper) last night and is doing another one tonight, trying to figure out how everything could work.

Not one fight tonight. A miracle? Perhaps...

Now my daughter's trying to make a deal with me regarding housework. She wants to cook something for her brother. She wants to help him clean his room!

Down with TV's!!