Quote Of The Day

(Or maybe the title should be, "Tongue Twister Of The Day")

If you think you know what you thought I meant when I said what you think you thought you heard, then tell me what you think you thought I meant when I said what you thought you heard me say and then I can know what you think you thought I meant and you can know for sure what I meant when I said what you think you heard.

Readers Unite

The other day I had over 1,000 page views on my blog. Either somebody really likes me or somebody really hates me and is trying to find everything they can about me on my blog. Or, there were several new visitors to my blog that day. No matter what the case was, I got some interesting comments.

Some of you gave constructive criticism. Others had nothing nice to say. And some just plain did not understand my blog. Then there were some that were compliments. But of course, the rest of you just silently read and went on to whatever you were going to do next.

By breaking up my readers into 5 categories, I have a customized message for each one of you. Please read and be informed....

The Constructive Critics: I love you guys! You are what my blog needs and what I appreciate. Criticism usually hurts but when done constructively, it is vital to the survival of communication and especially blogging. I don't want to sound like a broken record (you can tell me to change the topic if I keep talking about DST or some other much-noted-upon topic) or if I let my mispelings go un-noticed (be my spell-check when blogger's spell-checker refuses to work -- which is more often than not) or when I fail to appreciate proper grammar (there ain't no way I'm gonna let my proper grammer just because we was careless). But, I don't understand the anonymity you often hide behind. If it makes you feel better, fine, select "anonymous" when you comment but really, I don't mind seeing your face once in awhile. I promise I won't bite!

Unfriendly Commenter's: Let me just tell you a little tip on etiquette my mother once taught me... "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all." That has been a piece of advice that I have used over and over. And am using right now actually.

Unintentionally Uninformed Commenter's: (Shared both in blogger's comments and sometimes in person) You are the people that visit once and take everything I write seriously and then comment that I made no sense at all and that you think I need to re-think my thoughts on certain matters. You are the people that lack a sense of humor. So, because of you dear folks, I have been inspired. I am invoking change on my blog: the birth of a new disclaimer. Hopefully that will set you at ease and help you know that really, I am not seeking marriage counseling because of my husband's radio.

Friendly Commenter's: You guys are great and keep me informed as to who exactly my audience is. Thanks for all the contributions to the Q and A posts.

Silent Readers: You guys are great too. You keep my stat counter ticking and shocking me unexpectedly when it shoots up toward 1,000 in one day. Thanks for your contributions to my stat counter.

If you are a rare person and find yourself in none of the above categories, send me an email or comment here so I can better understand your breed of blog readers and can hopefully compose a customized message for you as well.

Knock, knock... Who's there?

There is no special reason to do this again except for the fact that we did it a year ago. So I guess that would be one special reason. (We could make this National Blog Delurking Month.)

I am shy to do this though. The proof is in the fact that I've had this post in my drafts bin since last week. I hate pressuring people but here goes...

I am not a "comment on every post" kind of blog reader so I won't make you feel obligated to do that either. I understand your hesitency to even comment now incase you feel pressured to make a steady habit of doing so. I'm not asking for your allegiance. I'm not asking for money either. Or for a donation. Or for your commenting habit.

All I want is just a tinsy winsy tiny comment. That's all. Just one little comment on this post that you are reading now. Don't leave your bank number or your credit card number or even social security number. I don't need that (I can hardly keep track of my own the way it is.) Just a name and blog address (where applicable) would be nice.

And I promise, you won't have to do this again until the next time I ask. Seriously.

The Man I Thought I Knew

When a man gets married, he is relieved to give up many tasks to his new, lovely bride. And that bride is so happy to take on these new tasks.

Those tasks include:

• restocking clothing when it is worn (she buys his socks, underwear, t-shirts, patches his pants, sews buttons back on to Sunday shirts, keeps track of his belt, finds good bargains for shoes and other out-door wear, keeps his dresser stocked with in-season clothing, etc.)
• washes and dries and folds and puts away ALL his laundry.
• irons his church clothes.
• makes his bed every day.
• packs his lunch for work.
• makes his meals.
• cares for his children.
• cleans his house.
• mows his yard sometimes.
• cleans his vehicles.
• scratches his back.
• finds his lost book.
• keeps track of his wallet.
• gives gifts to all his relatives.
• keeps inventory on his hygiene care... deodorant, toothbrushes, shaving equipment, soap, shower gel, shampoo, etc.
• cuts his hair.
• and the list goes on.

Overall, she cares how he looks. Her concern is for his well being, his health, his image, his cleanliness. She takes pride in his personal upkeep. She helps him and enjoys every minute of it.

And when it's time to pick out new glasses for the next two years, she embraces that challenge and makes it a very important priority and spends her own personal time considering the best style, frame, size and nose bridge.

Until he goes to Walmart by himself to purchase the week's groceries and she finds out later he got his glasses picked out so that item on his to-do list could be considered taken care of.

If only he knew that this project wasn't just a thing to cross off HER list: this was a matter of important priority and one she was putting valuable thinking time towards.

Apparently even after four years of marriage, he's still getting to know her and... vice versa. There's nothing so sweet as being in the "newly weds" category even after this many years and children. But still, those glasses better be classy.

Proper Room Lighting

A light turned on in my head when I read the information below. I found it interesting, especially since I do this already in our home but never really knew it was correct -- even to a New York City Interior Decorator.

Wow, we're pretty upscale in our trailer home and didn't even know it. (!)

Before I entered the state of bliss that one enters when they become married, I had always dreamed of having a cozy living room with several dim lights accented evenly around the room. Now that I live in bliss and also have my own living room, I've become acquainted with the fact that I indeed share the room (and the marriage bliss) with another person.

And that certain person has at times expressed curiosity as to why there are so many lamps on but the room is still dim. Thinking they were doing our home and electric bill a favor, they bought a value package of florescent bulbs for the cozy ceiling fan in the living room and proceeded to change several light fixtures in our home.

I don't think the electric company was as disappointed in our lowered bills as I was with the drastic change of lighting.

Vital marriage communication played into the role as to what lights should sufficiently accommodate the money saving lighting. Toby had never known I didn't care for the lighting caused by fluorescent lights and I had never known there was concern with our electric bill. Now you see why communication is always important.

According to statistics, florescent lights are only efficient if they are left on for several hours. They use the bulk of their energy when you first flick the switch on. After that, they just seemingly glow and use very little power for the number of watts being burned. Turn them on and off several times and you won't be as impressed with your money saving bulbs as you would be if you just left them alone.

Until now, I never had someone to back my lighting decor philosophy up. Thanks to Scott Salvator, I have proof that dimly lit rooms aren't always bad.

To me, lighting makes or breaks your household ambiance. If you have a well decorated room with cozy couches and soft, inviting chairs and even have a candle burning and music playing, the entire atmosphere can be shattered by a bright, overhead light, or a florescent bulb glowing it's cold, yellow glow from a table lamp. Equally so, if you have to squint your eyes in order to see where the couch is, you just might need to turn your lights a little brighter or rearrange the lighting in the room.

The following title is key:

Balance, Scale and Variety

by Scott Salvator, featured by Bed Bath and Beyond

"The key to a well lit, glamorous room is to have many types of lighting and in various wattages, including table lamps, uplights, task lighting, spot lighting, etc. This allows you to dim, raise or turn off individual lights to create different scenes. You don't want one halogen floor lamp in the corner lighting your entire room. People also often choose too small a lamp, which looks ditsy and doesn't provide enough light. Formal and period lamps such as porcelain vases converted into lamps usually belong in more formal rooms. Ceramic glazed pottery is more casual and can usually be used anywhere. Other lamps are designed for certain geographic areas, such as white birch floor lamps for the mountains or palm carved lamps for Florida."

• Tip:
  When in doubt, oversize a lamp, but do not oversize the wattage. Use several lamps around the room instead of one or two.
  
• Tip:
  60-watt bulbs are good for most lamps, except reading lamps, which require a higher wattage.

credits taken here.