Welcome back! Coffee's always on around here. Pull up your favorite chair and a grab a cup. Enjoy your visit today! And don't forget to stop back by again soon.

{Weather}

The weather here in the Seattle area has been just absolutely gorgeous lately! I’m really enjoying it. It’s still cold in the morning and at night – about 30-36?- and warms up to the mid 50’s by noon or so. Quite nice! Things that don’t normally bloom until Spring are starting to blossom already and there are a lot of birds as well.

{Shoulder}

I think I must have inadvertently slept on my shoulder last night because it and my arm are incredibly sore this morning. Not just sore, actually, but downright painful. I hope the referral for my MRI comes very soon. Kinda getting tired of waiting. I want to know what can be done about this pain before it gets any worse.

{Weight}

Now that it’s been almost a whole month since my doctor changed my blood pressure medication, I’m absolutely sure it was what causing the weight gain. Since I began taking the new medication, I’ve lost 10 pounds and I haven’t changed anything else – foods, exercise, etc – so I know for sure that’s what it is. This is very good news! I am so glad it was the answer.

Let me tell you – being “in touch” with your body and what’s going on with it is very important. If I hadn’t been, I’d still be taking the other medication and my weight would still be climbing. Many people don’t understand those subtle things about their bodies and aren’t really in tune with what’s going on. You owe it yourself – and your family – to understand your body and your health. Taking care of yourself is paramount.

{Cane}

My cane arrived last Thursday and I went grocery shopping with my mom Friday. Using the cane was so nice. I was able to take the pressure off my leg a lot and that really helped my endurance. My back didn’t start really complaining until we were nearly finished with our shopping. And I didn’t have that odd grinding feeling in my back every time I took step. I think this is going to turn out to be very helpful indeed! Glad I decided to go with it.

{Projects}

I’ve got two major projects going on right now. Both are for my cousin’s hair and nail salon. The first is designing a website for her home salon and make up line. It’s been fun and challenging! The second is a web-based application I’m building with Ruby on Rails for her to keep track of her client information. I’m having a good time learning RoR as I go along and I think the application is going to turn out well.

{Snow Leopard}

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my MacBook Pro to the latest OS X operating system – Snow Leopard. It’s running great and I like the updates. Lots of new features that I didn’t have in the Tiger edition of the OS. Some of the improvements are just little changes but those are good too. My system is now running faster (although it was never really all that slow) and I gained a few GB of space on my hard drive. That’s pretty cool! Before SL, I had 24gb of hdd space and now I’ve got 30gb, so that’s a bonus.

{The Husband}

My husband has been in college since last Spring, taking the AA degree program in welding. He’s almost finished! Yay! He gets to take a certification test next week and then he’ll actually be qualified to work in the industry in Washington State. Then, he has Spring quarter plus a couple more classes over Summer quarter to complete the full degree. Being that he’s never really finished anything in his entire life, this is a huge milestone for him. Now, hopefully, he will find a good job in the industry and stick with it.

{Miscellaneous}

I think I’ll do an “Around the Web” update this week and maybe even a few other things. Haven’t done those in a while and I know everybody always enjoys those. So look out for that, probably Wednesday or Thursday.

And have a great week!

Until next time -

Be blessed,

Even though I’m not one of those uber organized people, I would like to be exceptionally more organized than I am. And I used to be – way back before I had a house full of kids running around. Not so much anymore. I still try, though.

One of the things I do, is make forms for myself. It helps me keep things on track and pretty much eliminates missed or forgotten things. Plus, I like to write (who knew?). Anyway, I have 3 forms to share with you today that I use regularly and I thought you’d like them as well.

The Menu Planner. It’s fairly colorful, easy to use and simply designed. But anyone from a small child to an adult can follow along and see what food is planned for what meal any day of the week. Even my youngest has learned to tell which color block is which.

Student Assignment Sheet. Even though I no longer homeschool my kids, I kept this form for myself and it’s been nice to have on hand for my college courses. It’s a plain form – no color embellishments or anything here, but it’s still simple and easy to use for most grade levels if you need to keep track of assignments. It’s 2 pages long and has lots of room for all the details you’ll need to know what assignment is due and when.

Mini Character Sheet. This is a form I use for writing fiction stories. It’s a simple sheet where I can put all of the details about a character when I’m sketching out a storyline. It lets me get to know the character and help develop a background for them. There are 2 character sheets per page which I usually cut in half but sometimes, it’s nice to leave them together. Depends on how many characters I’m sketching out.

I hope you enjoy them!

And please, let me know if you use any of them and what you think. Also, if there’s a form you’d like to have, whether for business or school or home, let me know. I’ve made so many different forms, it’s likely I have something similar to what you want.

Be blessed,

{ write * design * blog }

Well, with all of the other housekeeping things for both Christmas and my bog(s), it looks like I’m just NOT going to get to the {W}rite of Passage Challenge this week. Guess I’ll just have to pass this week unless I have some time over the weekend – after Christmas.

I do want to tell you about two things, though.

Way back in 2006, I started a blog about the writing life over on wordpress. At the time, I also owned another domain name but I really had no idea how to install wordpress on my own domain so the blog remained on wp’s own hosting. After I started blogging here, I only blogged over there for about a year or so and eventually stopped altogether. Which is pretty sad, really.

Anyway, I’ve decided to revive that blog so I’ve spent the past few days moving everything from over there to a new subdomain here on AA|Blog. Now that I’ve got some of the tweaks accomplished, I’m going to give you all that link so you can check it out if you’d like.

Visit Margin of Error here.

If you decide to take a peek, let me know what you think.

In the meantime, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas and that you’ve got all of your shopping done. I am – admittedly – a little behind on mine and have a few more things to go finish up. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow during the day.

If it doesn’t snow. Which it better not . . .

And the other thing I wanted to tell you is – well, to ask you, actually. One of my former sister-in-laws, Helen, is having some health issues. She’s had a couple of small strokes in the past week and I’d appreciate it if you could send her and her family (husband, 2 children, their spouses and 2 grandchildren) some healing thoughts and energies. If you could do that for me, it would make my Christmas! Thank you! Helen is a great person and her family needs her.

Be blessed,

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Out of all of life’s little pleasures, the one I had hoped most to impart to my own children was a love of reading. But it seems with the digital age, reverence for the library and a good book have gone by the wayside. That makes me sad a little.

When I was growing up, if I wasn’t outside riding bikes and what-not, I was inside curled up with a book. And a cat. Especially during this time of year when the weather turns wet and cold here in Western Washington. Nowadays, the kids have their noses stuffed in a computer screen or video game or a cell phone all the time. I suppose you could – maybe – loosely define some part of that as “reading.”

When they were little, I read to them every day and we went to the public library at least once a week. And of course, they saw (and still see) me reading often. You know, the whole “be the example” kind of thing.

I’ll admit – I do, do a fair amount of reading on the computer these days but I also still read regular, hold ‘em in your hand, bound, paper books as well. (Although, if the reading gods are listening, I’d really, *really* like a Kindle for Christmas.) (Hey, at least it’s still a book!)

Still, it makes me a little sad and I wonder if any of my children will ever be bitten by the reading bug . . .

Be blessed,

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~Author Unknown

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. ~Charles W. Eliot

If you resist reading what you disagree with, how will you ever acquire deeper insights into what you believe? The things most worth reading are precisely those that challenge our convictions. ~Author Unknown

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

A few months ago, I finally got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I’ve been wanting one for a long time so I’m sure you can imagine I was so thrilled when I got it. And I love it as much as I thought I would but I haven’t used it as much I want to. I’m kind of getting ahead of myself here, though.

Today I went searching for some info on how to keep from getting that dome shape in the middle. See, my youngest daughter’s birthday was on Thanksgiving Day but since we had so many other desserts that day, I didn’t bake her cake until this weekend. And it ended up with quite a rounded top. Since I was making a layer cake, that’s less than desirable and it frustrated me a lot.

I usually only make single layer cakes because the dome doesn’t really matter so much. But I love baking and layered cakes always look so nice when the pros do them. Of course, I want mine to look that way too! Last week I finally got a couple of 9″ round cake pans and I’d been dying to try them out so I was really itching to make a layer cake.

I’m going about this story all upside down, aren’t I? LOL Well, it’s not the first time! I actually often do start from the end of things, much to my mother’s chagrin, I’m sure.

I can hear you all now . . . Gosh, Annie, get to the point!

The point is, I came across this great website/blog by the author of “The Cake Bible” and “Rose’s Heavenly Cakes,” Rose Levy Bernabaum, where I found TONS of great info. And apparently, there are these cool little silicone things, like a headband if you will, that you can put around your cake pan to help distribute the heat more evenly and thus help keep the dome effect down.

As you can see, I am quite excited about this. I also found out a few other tips one can use if there isn’t one of these handy dandy strips laying around the kitchen. So now I’m all excited to try baking more cakes in the coming weeks. Since there are a few more family birthdays soon and the kids will be out of school for Christmas break the end of next week, it’s the perfect time to test some of those theories out.

It looks like my fabulous mixer will be getting much more use very soon!

If I can keep from getting too many weird looks from my family, I may take a few pictures so you can see how things turn out.

In the meantime, do you have any favorite cake and/or frosting recipes you’d like to share? Also, what is your favorite kind of cake?

Be blessed,

If you like music, check out David Garrett. I just watched a PBS special with him in it and the music is wonderful! He’s a violinist but he doesn’t just play classical music and violin standards – he also plays things like Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, AC/DC’s Thunderstruck and many more. Very good stuff!

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Last night was the my oldest daughter’s NJROTC Annual Military Inspection and Parade (AMI) and her younger siblings and I were there to support her. She invited a handful of other friends and family but
none of them were able to make it. I think she was rather bummed about that even though she didn’t say so directly. Her body language showed her disappointment, though.

Even though the little kids thought it was boring and my youngest son had some trouble sitting still – and being quiet in otherwise silent gymnasium – I enjoyed it. The kids did a wonderful job marching and showing their expertise to the higher-ups. And **24** of them got perfect scores during the inspection!

I did get several pictures . . . none of the Teenager – she wouldn’t let me take one. Even though I begged. Pleaded. Bribed. Still, she just wouldn’t let me. The shots I took of her platoon didn’t turn out as clear as I would have liked but there is one where you can mostly see her peeking out from behind the others.

I haven’t uploaded the pictures from my camera yet but I will do that later today and add them to this post. Plan to check back tonight or tomorrow if you’re interested in seeing them.

Until then . . .

Be blessed,

It’s so frosty outside this morning! At first glance, I thought it had snowed! And it was only 23º f outside when I took the kids out to the school bus. It had BETTER NOT be another winter like last year . . . GRRRR

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

I thought I was going to write about something else this morning but frosty mornings have a way changing ones mind. Well, that and the fact that I am participating in a challenge – Write of Passage – this month and today, the challenge is writing something embarrassing.

I really hate embarrassing situations and I try to exclude myself from them when at all possible but I do remember this one time when I was in my early teens, probably around 7th or 8th grade . . .

My grandma worked at the local YMCA as their receptionist, I guess you’d call it, and so she was generally the one who answered the phones. I used to call her when I got home from school to just let her know I’d arrived home safe and sound. Since my parents were usually still at work also (they delivered newspapers at the time because dad was “retired”) and as there were no cell phones back then, I couldn’t just call them. So, grandma it was.

Well, this one day I called the YMCA on my usual after school mission and someone ELSE answered the phone. Now, I knew my grandma’s name. Really, I did. But on this day, for the life of me, I just could not remember it. After I stammered around a bit, the person on the other end of the line – who was not my grandma – asked me who I was looking for . . .

“Well, I’m looking for my grandma, is she there?” I say.

“Honey, there are a lot of grandma’s here. What’s her name?”

“See, that’s the problem, I can’t remember it. You know, I just call her grandma usually.”

“So, is she a patron? Is she here for one of the senior programs this afternoon?”

“No, she works there. She usually answers the phone so I don’t have to worry about it.”

And she begins laughing at me! Not just a little chuckle, either.

“Oh, you want Clarice!” She finally says, still laughing.

“Yes, that’s her.”

“Ok, let me go find her for you, dear.”

I sat there waiting for a few minutes and could hear things going on in the background. Finally, I hear the phone being picked up.

“Hello, this is Clarice,” my grandma says, lightly chuckling.

“Hi, grandma,” I reply.

And she asks me what’s up. So, I told her my little story of not remembering her name and so I just asked for my grandma. She laughs a little more.

“I couldn’t remember your name for the life of me.”

“Well, it’s grandma, of course!”

“That’s what I told them and they didn’t believe me,” I say before hanging up.

My grandma – and my mom – told that story to anyone who would listen, I swear. Of course, it was the first thing my parents heard about when they got home from delivering newspapers later that afternoon, too.

I don’t know why I remember the story so vividly but I do and although there have been other embarrassing moments in my life, this one seems to be the one that stands out in my mind no matter what else happens.

But, you know, even though it is embarrassing, I’m grateful for the memory since my grandma is no longer here to share things with.

And when I get to heaven, I will say . . .

I’m sure they’ll know exactly who she is.

Be blessed,

The song currently stuck in my head . . . Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. There’s really no place to go, so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. (By the way, I hate snow. I hope we do NOT have the snow like last year. We were snowed in with well over 2 feet of snow for 2 weeks. Highly unusual in the Puget Sound area. It better stay in the mountains this time!)

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Other folks participating in this challenge . . .