Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

I’ve been working on my Adventures In Parenting website and learning more about how to increase online traffic.

There is so much material out there for SEO training. The hardest part is to incorporate what everyone tells you to do. A type of coaching system for us noobs would be nice. Especially for the technologically challenged, having a computer person who can do EVERYTHING right next to me would be really nice!

Better search engine rankings will help my site reach more audience. But I know there are so many sites out there about parenting and I rank really low in practically the non-existent realm. Some sites I’ve found to be very good.

However, I haven’t found any sites where a parent shares personal stories and give advice for raising kids with conservative values.

So my goal for my parenting site is to share my experiences – the good, bad and the ugly – and hope it will help parents raise good and decent kids in today’s world.

Please forward my site to parents you know who my find my site useful.

I was thinking today whether I am living a “successful” life and whether our church is a “successful” church.

Success can be easily defined if we were doing well financially, or if our church has thousands in attendance. You look at that and automatically think, “They are a success.”

Read more of “Success”

I dreaded the trip to the Social Security office to get a replacement Social Security card for Audrey.

I couldn’t navigate their phone system to get an appointment (“please press or say 1” ugghh!) so we decided to just go to the office and either get in line or get an appointment.

Two things impressed me:

1. The security guard at the door asked, “How can I help you?” We told him and he told us exactly what we needed to do – get a number from the machine and where the proper forms were. The security guard doubling as the information receptionist, that’s great savings for the tax payer (Although why they would need a security guard there I don’t know. I don’t think he was armed.)

2. The lady at the window who helped us was very courteous and efficient. She had a nice smile even though it was close to lunch time.

We waited less than 1/2 hour and were out of there. However, I noted that proof of citizenship was not asked for. I brought Audrey’s birth certificate along, but the lady only asked to see her driver’s license.

When we had the daily newspaper delivered, they stack up in the corner unopened (except for the comics) until Friday when we had time to read them.

We cut down to the Sunday paper only and read that for a week (except for the comics and the Fry’s ad we read on that Sunday).

Now we canceled the newspaper altogether and don’t miss it. Everything we want to know we get on the internet. I use my Google Reader to read my favorite sites and blogs.

We are also saving $65 a year, cut our support of the liberal media, save myself the aggravation of complaining about nonsense news they print in the paper, and maybe even saved a couple of trees along the way.

The only thing we miss about the paper is not having any to line our bunny’s cage. But I can get some from my neighbor.

I finally made it to WinCo, and it was fun! The place is huge and there were many good buys.

Best buys:

Oatmeal – 51 cents a pound compared to 69 cents a pound at Costco

Cooked roast beef – $3.99 a pound

Cauliflower – 48 cents each (not per pound)

Brown onions – 10 cents a pound

Warnings –

* they do not take credit cards, only debit cards, cash, or check. I thought I would have to put everything back but lo and behold, it was a miracle that I had a $50-bill in my wallet. It was my husband’s early birthday present from his mom, and he put it in my wallet. 🙂

* you end up buying what you don’t need. I bought a bag of Bugles (I love to put those on each finger), and 1/2 a pound of macadamia nuts.

* do not go there hungry. You’ll be tempted to sample the items in the bins and there is a big sign that says “DO NOT SAMPLE.”

* I bought a pound of raisins, but it’s cheaper and better at Costco.

After over 30+ years of being a Christian, many aspects of prayer remains a mystery to me.

And here is something new I learned about prayer this week.

I notice I was feeling a lack of motivation in life. I wondered what I am living for. I was losing focus on projects that I was really excited about. I was irritable. I was feeling discontent. Is it PMS? Is it mid-life crisis?

Read more of “There is something about prayer”

For those who are mystery book fans like me:

Q: How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: Two, one to screw it almost all the way in and the other to give it a surprising twist at the end.
:) 
 
Thanks for that one, Pete. 

Warning: Spoiler ahead.

This is the weirdest rendition of Sherlock Holmes I’ve read. I thought Holmes having a female partner and then marrying her was off the wall. In this book, Exit Sherlock Holmes by Robert Lee Hall, everything about Holmes’ mysterious background is explained. Where did he acquire his many skills as an actor, violinist, fencer, scientist, and detective? What is his actual relationship with arch enemy Moriarty? How come he never talks about his family, but somehow a brother Mycroft is smarter than him?

Exit Sherlock Holmes explains everything. Sit down for this one.

Sherlock Holmes came to England from the future on a Time Machine…

There’s more…He and Moriarty were test tube babies where all babies in the futures were genetically engineered with certain desired traits. Moriarty used his skills and turned to the dark side…

There’s more…Mycroft is not really his brother…

There’s a lot more about Sherlock Holmes that is limited only by your imagination.

The book was a fun read, but when I read Sherlock Holmes, I am not expecting to read science fiction.

Our pastor told a great story today.

A little girl was saddened by the death of her cat. Her mother tried to comfort her and told her, “Don’t worry dear. Your cat is in heaven with God.”

The little girl looked at her mother and said, “What does God want with a dead cat!”  🙂

In his sermon our pastor mentioned my blog post about pets going to heaven. In case you are wondering, I wrote that in my parenting blog. Â