Just 3 Things | # 10

We've had an busy week! Of course, we had a holiday parked right in the center of things but we have been getting things winterized and spruced up a bit around here as well. I haven't had as much down time to sit around and read as I usually like but all is well and I will be back to lolling around some next week, I'm sure!

- What I've Been Reading - 

I guess I am a worry wart. I know that worry is just borrowing unnecessary trouble. So, maybe I should call myself a thinker instead of a worrier. 

When I learned that the US Department of Education was in an upheaval at the beginning of this year and in jeopardy of being cut out altogether, I was astounded. After all, an open, free, and equitable education has always sort of been one of the strengths of our country. I have been doing a lot of worrying thinking about this. Of course, as an educator, that topic is one that is close to my heart as well. But, I also had concerns about the funding cuts to research that are happening at universities, hospitals, and all over our country. So, this week, when I stumbled across an interesting read, I continued by going down a rabbit hole and reading more related to the topic. 

The article that started off this whole rabbit hole visit and train of thought was this one: A Battle With My Blood by Tatiana Schlossberg. She is the daughter of Caroline Kennedy (granddaughter of JFK) and, ironically, I read the article on November 22. What really spoke to me is her raw honesty. Oh, there's also the fact that here is somebody who is far more wealthy than most and her family could probably buy most anything they desired. Yet, all the riches in the world cannot really buy her health and a long life at this point. All throughout my life, ours has been a country that is cutting edge, most knowledgeable, problem solvers, ahead of the curve. I am concerned that all of this is going away. I am deeply disturbed.

- What I'm Loving -

I absolutely love giving gifts at Christmas. Every year I request a Christmas wish list from each member of the family. Some are better list makers than others. For example, the teenagers are great list makers and hey send their list along shortly after I send out an all-call requesting lists. They have shared Google Docs, Amazon lists, and links. They include little notes telling me which colors or what size. Some of the adults provide pretty good lists as well. They generally are not as punctual as the teens but I mark that down to the fact that they have more responsibilities. Some of the littles generally get me some good lists once they have a chance to work with their parents on them. Then, there are others... So, I have to ask spouses for ideas and Mike and I brainstorm and come up with something for them that fits a general interest that they have. Plus, with 18 family members, having lists just makes things so much easier for me!

The beauty of those who send me a good list is that I have lots of choices that way. I truly do love that. Plus, I know exactly what they like and what size they currently need in the way of wearables. Our gifts tend to follow the following rule: 

• Something they want
• Something they need
• Something to wear
• Something to read

My shopping actually started months ago for some of them. I stumbled across a couple of cool items that I thought the girls would like and added them to my virtual cart. They've been delivered and I even think I know where I hid them away! The stocking stuffers for the girls were delivered Tuesday and I am just loving those. So, I'm already getting excited about Christmas and I'm loving the lists I'm getting from family members.

- What I'm Working On -

Since the crew is coming here for the Thanksgiving feast, I've been working on getting the feast ready for us all to eat. I worked on it a bit on Tuesday - making cornbread for the dressing. That's about all I did on Wednesday. I've done a bit of straightening and tidying up and Mike has been helpful - blowing the leaves away from the porches and chopping the leaves in the yard. Since this is set to be published on Friday, I'm sure I will be resting from all the excitement. 

I've taken on a couple of other projects this week but I will share more about that later. Hope black Friday, Shop Small Saturday, and whatever other things that are going on this weekend go well. Plus, I hope to goodness The University of Tennessee can pull out a win on Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here at our house, we have so many reasons for being thankful. Robert Brault once said, "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." What a statement! I hope you and yours have a day of enjoying all of those little things in your life right now.

The children and grandchildren are coming in tomorrow and we shall share a feast together. It seems that the funny thing about life is that once we begin to take note of the things we are thankful and grateful for, we begin to lose sight of all those other things.

We are ever grateful for our many blessings. 

Today I noticed...Even the unexpected is sometimes welcome.

I recently got a random message from one of the older granddaughters. 

Since I knew she was not in class or at practice or someplace else where it might not be appropriate to accept messages, I sent another response and we had a whole mini conversation!

Even a buttdial can lead to a good conversation and put a smile on this grandmother's face!

I Guess I'm a Pinterest Criminal

One day last week I went into the Pinterest App on my phone and was searching for a recipe that I have used numerous times. All of a sudden, I got an error message and the App closed. So, I opened it back up and the same thing occurred. Now, I've had a Pinterest account since way back in the days when one had to be invited or recommended or whatever in order to join and create an account. I've been saving recipe ideas, decoration inspiration, and such as that for all of these years. So, I had LOADS of Pins and quite the collection of Boards. 

Note that I am not one who creates many pins. I generally just click on the Pin icon that is included into different websites and click the Save button. So, I'm not uploading anything questionable. On the rare occasion that I did create a Pin, I was meticulous about siting the resource. (The English teacher in me comes out.) So, I was pretty confused about what might have been going on.

I noticed that I had an email from The Pinterest Team. So, I read what they had sent me.

That made me wonder if I my account had somehow been hacked and somebody was posting things without my knowledge. How would I know? How does one research such a thing? Again, being the English teacher, I read the Community Guidelines and Could not figure out any way in which I had not been following those. So, I believed that was an error and clicked on the link and filled out the form provided. I immediately got a response.

In about four hours, I got another email:

So, I don't know what sort of criminal activity I committed or what was going on. However, I could not access the account nor salvage any of the ideas and recipes I had saved there throughout all those years. I was pretty bummed. I was pretty mad about being banned when I could think of no reason why I might have been done that way. I accessed the Help Center but that wasn't all that helpful. Basically, the suggestion there was to create a new account. So, I went a few days thinking about the situation. Did I really want to participate in a platform where I had been treated as if I am a criminal when I clearly was not? Would I want to give this company business after I had the door slammed in my face, basically? 

Finally, I decided that I liked the premise of the platform as a way to store digital ideas much like I used to do as a young girl/woman when I cut out magazine photos and taped them to a piece of notebook paper and put them in a binder. It was handy for me. I couldn't think of another platform that did just that in an easy and straightforward way with just a click or two. So, I created a new account with a new email and I started searching and saving some of the same recipes and ideas that I knew I had collected before. 

This new account works and looks a bit differently than the old one. Plus, there is no established data for their logarithms to post for me. So, I'm basically seeing some stuff that I never saw before and some stuff that I care nothing about. It is interesting to me and I am still exploring - almost like I did back when I created my first account. Some things are not as easy - Following has been a bit of a problem for me because that seems more buried within the App. But, I'm working through it and finding some new ideas and saving some of the ones I had collected before.  

Early last week I opened Pinterest while using my laptop and using my Chrome browser. Since I was logged into the browser, it immediately tried to open my old account. There were lots of flashes and different screens showing for a moment or two and then my old account popped up! I have been working a few days to try to salvage and copy some of the recipes that I had collected into my new account. So, I haven't logged out or shut down my laptop for a few days. I can only stand so much surfing at one sitting. So, it is a bit slow going. I have salvaged a bit, though and that is nice. 

I'm still just wondering what was going on with my old account that it was not considered as a 'legal' usage and why I was marked as a Pinterest Criminal? Has anybody ever had that happen to them?

Happy Birthday, Big Al!

 

Hope it is as wonderful as you are!

Just Three Things | #9

I have really become a homebody. I saw this meme the other day and it really sort of sums up how I've been feeling lately.

- What I've Been Watching - 

Mike and I are sports fans. I mostly enjoy watching the grandchildren in whatever sport they are participating in during the various seasons. It is fun for me to see their interactions and their skills with each sport and game. I have been a fan of college sports for several years - football, basketball, baseball, and softball. I particularly like following South Eastern Conference teams and, of course, my alma mater is the fav. Go Big Orange!

Mike, on the other hand, likes to watch all sports and doesn't really care who is playing. He can be channel surfing on the television and land on a random game and just watch for a while. However, he is a rabid fan of The University of Tennessee teams in football, basketball, baseball, and softball. He is one of those who talks to the television and yells at the coaches and referees and gets up and stomps around when things are not going well or shouts, "Yeah!" really loud when something goes really well. So, we have been watching UT football and basketball a lot lately.

- What I've Been Working On - 

I have been doing a bit of winterizing this week. Cleaning out the flower pots outside, covering up the porch cushions, blowing the leaves off the porches. There's also the never-ending chore of sweeping down the spider webs from every nook and corner of the porches. 

Earlier this week I went to the local greenhouse and bought a couple of flats of pansies and some rosemary and poked those into our flower pots. I had almost waited too long and there was slim pickings. I was going to go for cheerful and get some pansies in reds and yellows but they all looked a bit bedraggled. So, I wound up with good old blue and white and I smile each time I look out the window at them.

- What I'm Loving - 

Something happened with my years-old Pinterest account. I'll share more about that another day. So, I have created a new one. It is almost like I'm having to learn a new platform. Evidently I had ignored some updates or had just fallen into a rut because this seems very different from what I had grown accustomed to doing. 

I thought about just not having an account but I really like having a space to store inspiration and ideas for later reference with decor, recipes for cooking, and wise words. So, even though I lost all those treasures that I'd been storing up, I'm loving creating new boards and trying to figure out how to find some of my old favorites.

Update! I had been using the app on my phone and I tried to open my Pinterest account using my laptop. There was lots of flickering and glitchiness, but it finally opened. I have been manically looking at the boards and trying to salvage some recipes that I had saved there at least. I haven't shut down my laptop in a few days because I don't want to lose access completely and I'm trying to salvage what I can!

Just everyday life around here lately and I'm here for that. Ordinary days are really pretty much the best, if you ask me! Hope you have more ordinary days than out-of-the ordinary and things are on an even kilter.

Today I noticed...Little messages make my day.

Today I noticed that I always smile when I see a message from one of my grandchildren. Those little messages sort of make my day. Lots of times the older grands and I just exchange memes. But, even those bring a smile to my face.

Even when they are totally inappropriate!