Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Need Help Adding RSS To My Blog

I have been trying to figure out how to add an rss feed button to my blog so people can subscribe but I just cannot figure out how to do it. There is SO much information out there and most of it is over my head. My question to you today is: "Do you think I really could benefit from adding this"? And if so could anyone lead me to a good site that explains it in layman's terms.
As you can see I found the icon or button I want to use but I need to know how to add the feed. I'm not even sure I am explaining that right. I just need to be able to add this so people can click it to subscribe to my blog or articles. PLEASE HELP!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Faces In Nature & Other Oddities

I have been collecting odd things I have found in nature for several years now. You might remember my little red heart rock from another post or maybe my potato shaped like a heart but I have even more to share with you today. My granddaughter found a conjoined leaf this weekend. She saw it hanging on the tree and plucked it right off. I have never seen such a sight before. And a few years ago, I found a giant acorn just lying on the ground where I was walking in Texas. I actually submitted it to Genius Book Of World Records but they turned it down because all nuts are in one category and of course some "nuts" are really big, like the coconut. It stays in my special collection as one of my top finds.
I have updated one of my previous posts from November 2008 please take a peek to see some more of my collection,here. Take a quiet walk and observe your surroundings and see what you can find. Happy Hunting!!!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

The Natural State

The beauty of Arkansas is all around me...


Thursday, April 23, 2009

Have You Considered Growing A Garden?

(#11 - tip on how to be more adventurous - to see #1-10 click here.
My son & his fiancee recently planted a container garden. She had grown up with a father who gardened & he never had an interest. They decided they needed a hobby & with her experience & his love to build things, they combined the two & made their little garden. Living in the Phoenix area, they decided not to put it in the backyard for fear it wouldn't last long in the desert heat. A typical summer there reaches 100+ on a daily basis so you could water in the morning only to return in the evening to find scorched plants. To avoid this problem they chose inside containers with grow lights. He made a stand to hold the pots with a tall frame to support the lights. Then he drilled holes in the sides of this and strung cable for the peas & other plants that need to climb. She did all the potting & planting. They plan on rotating some of the plants outside as needed & are very excited to know they will be able to eat something they actually grew themselves.
Started the first of April.



I grew up with grandparents who always had 2 very large gardens. Every kind of vegetable they ate-they grew. They NEVER bought vegetables! I grew up "in their garden" & it was an experience I will never forget. However, just because you have some experience with plants doesn't necessarily mean you know how to grow anything. When my grandmother would tell me how to plant something, she would usually say "Just push it into the ground with your thumb and it will grow". I found that was not true for me. She had a Green Thumb but I found out I have a Brown Thumb. I have always had to work to get anything to grow. I think people with Green Thumbs have an energy vibe that is emitted into the plants that acts as a growing agent. So, i think this time around I will talk to my plants & spend quality time with them. Couldn't hurt!

My seeds were planted April 16th along with my sweet banana pepper & tomatoes which were planted from plants. I also chose a container garden this year. It only took a couple of days for the radishes & lettuce to sprout.




No picture of the green beans & cucumbers yet, it should be a few more days before they sprout. I was going to go in with my daughter & have a plot in her backyard but we got such a late start & could never find enough time, plus we have had a very wet spring. I've been telling her she doesn't have to have a whole plot prepared, just plant a few things in the flower bed. This method has become quite popular with people actually replacing their whole front yards with vegetable gardens instead of the typical green lawn & flower beds.

Check back around May 15th for an update on how things are coming along & good luck!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

ENLIGHTENMENT EXPLAINED

Free your mind from yourself…you might say, “What do you mean, my mind is who I am.” But what if that wasn’t true; let’s just say that each and every one of us has two parts, our inner self & our worldly self. Our worldly self being our physical body, our experiences, knowledge and thoughts, remembrances and inner demons that want to tear us down. If you’ve ever stayed awake at night for hours on end, worrying about something that has happened or might happen then you know what I mean by inner demons. Our inner self is what you might call your soul. But I’m not referring to the soul as an unreachable part of ones self, something that is an incorporated part of your mind & body. I’m speaking of a part that is totally separate and unconnected to every part of yourself that you normally think about as being who you are…
I’m speaking to you not only from what I have learned but also from personal experience. I’ve only recently been able to put two & two together. Some years ago I was experiencing a lot of inner demons. After several years of torment that I felt I could not shake off, suddenly one morning after another night of practically NO sleep, I felt what I called, “The hand of God” touch me, an epiphany of pure love. I felt a wave of wonderful inner peace pass through my body. It was like my inner voice said “I have forgiven, I can forgive all the wrong that has been dealt me and just love who I am and forget. I can go on from this point and never look back at what happened, because I have forgiven.” Before I knew it I was out of bed at 5:00 a.m. calling everyone to tell them what had happened. I could barely speak because I was crying from the pure love that I had inside of me. It was truly the most emotional experience of my life, one experience that I thought I had to share with everyone. The only problem, then, was I couldn’t explain it, so for lack of knowing I could just say “It was the hand of God that came down and touched me and wiped away all of my pain and gave me the ability to forgive the transgressions against me and go forward without looking back.” Now almost 7 years later, after much reading, research & knowing, I have placed all the pieces of this 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle together for the whole picture. It’s really quite complicated but yet so simple now that I know what happened. In meditation, you don’t think about or concentrate on anything in particular; you clear you mind of all thought of all clutter, while still being aware. If you are having trouble doing this, you can ‘go to your happy place’. A place that relaxes you so you can clear your mind of your usually thoughts. After you have been doing this for a while it gets easier to clear your mind totally. Only then can you experience your true inner self, the pure light deep inside where all the knowledge of the universe exists. This is what happened to me that morning. I had been awake most of the night and in the early morning I was in a state of mind where my body needed sleep but my mind was awake. In that moment when my mind was clearing, getting ready to go to sleep but not asleep, that is when there was a moment of openness of clarity just enough for that light to escape into my consciousness. I believe we have the power to grasp this knowledge now. Maybe bits & pieces at a time but we do have the ability inside of ourselves. That wave of pure love that came to me that morning, I believe, was this energy breaking into my worldly mind. We all have God inside of us in this form. We just have to clear our worldly mind clutter away and reach out for it. Know you have the power to experience this for yourself. If I could have one wish, it would be that each and every person on this Earth experience this at least once. Then they would know that anything is possible, that we have the ability to live happily together in harmony with each other and truly love one another. What I can’t imagine is a group of people with this pure light of energy surrounding them, holding hands, growing the light…OH, what they could accomplish…ANYTHING I THINK!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Live For Today, Don't Dwell On The Past

The past is gone, the future yet to be, the present is all we really have so, stop & enjoy individual moments in each & every day.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

LAUGH FOR THE SOUL

There is an absolutely wonderful site that I would like to share with you. It is Rocky Ridge Refuge. It is a rescue haven for animals in northern Arkansas and it is well worth a visit. I guarantee it will have you laughing and crying at the same time. Here's some of the reasons:
AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

My laps are done-hallelujah!

This spot will do, yeah!

How can I tell them to stop?

It wasn't me!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

WE ARE LIGHT BEINGS...

we come from the light & we will once again return to the light.

Stop reading after each of the following sentences and really think about each phrase individually and what it means to you personally.

Negative thoughts cloud the mind. Positive thoughts clear the mind. The more clouds the less light. The less clouds the more light. Hence the phrase 'a dark cloud of depression.' We all need to push away those dark clouds so we can bring OUT the light from within. Just clear you mind.

Monday, April 13, 2009

DEEP THOUGHTS

While surfing for a particular quote, I ran across a blog that deserves mentioning on, Friday Reflections. It is based on the quote; If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. If you always get what you've always got then you'll always be who you've always been. If you always are who you've always been, then you'll always think what you've always thought. If you always think what you've always thought then you'll always feel what you've always felt. If you always feel what you've always felt then you'll always do what you've always done.
My twist on this would be "If you never see past what you know, you will never know what others see."

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Hurricane River Cave

And speaking of CAVES...This is a perfect time of year to visit one. At smaller caves like Hurricane River, in NW Arkansas you might even get a personal tour if you get there during off-peak times. The entry sign looks like it could use a little TLC but don't let that keep you away. Even the drive-way leading to the office/entry leaves you feeling like maybe it is not open to visitors. But, once you get there you will be pleasantly surprised and greeted by a lovely old Great Pyrenees.


Your tour guide (ours was TOM) will take you through an eerie old iron gate shaped like a giant spider web. We were told it's only one of maybe 2 caves in the USA with a web gate.

The cave was such a great surprise for us, very up close & personal. The walls along the path are RIGHT next to you. You have to be very careful not to touch them. In several areas you have to duck down to continue along the narrow passageway.


You will also see small Pipistrelle bats. They are small cave bats about 3" long that hang singly here & there, not in large groups. Don't be afraid if you see them flying toward you, they WON'T hit you. We could have reached up and picked them off the low hanging ceiling in several spots. But, I opted for pictures instead.

If you are very lucky, like we were, you might even see a Cave Salamander.

Hopefully you will leave with a head full of exciting memories and with a feeling of relaxation and excitement. To experience Mother Nature up close & personal will help you get in touch with your inner energy.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST

My tips on How To Be More Adventurous...
1. Visit a cave or waterfall.
2. Try a sport you think you might not be good at; bowling, golf, tennis.
3. Take a hike without your cell phone or Ipod turned on.
4. Verbally disagree with someone and state your reasons.
5. Cook a dish you've never eaten; eggplant casserole or mincemeat pie.
6. Read the news from a newspaper not from the internet.
7. Go see a relative or friend with a surprise visit.
8. Ride a scary roller coaster.
9. Take a road you never use.
10. Help an elderly person; clean their house, do yard work or cook a meal.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

SOAP & POSTAGE

Several years ago I found a great soap from a specialty spa-like shop in Oxford Mississippi. It was Marseille Olive Oil Soap handmade in Marseille France. It was great and recently I have been thinking about it so, I went online and found their website, Marseille Soap. I put a $12 bar of the soap in my cart and when I went to the checkout, it calculated the UPS ground shipping to be $7.41. I'm sorry but I am not paying that much shipping for a $12 order. I know it is because of the weight, obviously. I am going to try to find this soap at a similar store in the Little Rock area. It is such a wonderful product, I know I will be thinking about it until I get some. If I can't find it anywhere then I might have to resort to paying the postage Gods!