#66: Knitting and Crocheting

I have always wanted to knit and crochet, I even checked out several books on both topics (the ones for dummies). I purchased everything that I needed and made several attempts at it, but with little success. I have a friend who has promised to help with getting started, but we have not set up a time for it as yet. I found the About.com:Knitting site very helpful. It has a site that shows knitting for starters, the About.com:crocheting site was not as helpful, but I sure would like to learn how to make the necklace they show on the home page.

My branch library has a Sit -N- Stich that meets every week, I am not sure how much knitting they get done, but they sure have a fabulous time. I enjoy listening to them as they sit and stich, they tell such wonderful stories and laugh and laugh. I can see myself belonging to a group like that some day. AND.............if I still do not know how to knit or crochet by then I am sure they could assist me.

#63 Digital Scrapbooking

I tried creating a small photo layout of 3 photos, the only problem was that only one of them appeared. I thought that I had saved them, but they simply disappeared. I was able to post my 1 photo layout to my blog, but everytime I click on it, it just says that it is loading (20 minutes later still loading). I am not sure if I did something wrong or missed something along the way, but I found it to be enjoyable at first and very frustrating in the end.

As you can see I have my layout listed as "Precious Memories", only you cannot view the photo.
Sorry, I tried and I will try it again later at another time. I am curious as to what went wrong.

Precious Memories

#62: Decoupage

I must admit that I do not have any experience with decoupage. After, checking out some of the different sites on decoupage I was surprise to see so many different items that you could decoupage. I might just give it a try with some of my plain boxes that I use to store different things that I collect in.

After looking at ETSY I found some jewelry that was decoupaged in different scenes from the Wizard of Oz they were made from scrabble tiles. I am a big time fan of that movie and have many different items in my collection. I could not resist and ordered two of the necklaces. I also found that FLICKR had a beautiful jewelry box that was decoupaged in the OZ. That inspired me to give it a try. Hopefully, I too can display my talent on one of the sites (I will have to keep my fingers crossed on that one).

#61 Craftspiration

I checked out a few of the different sites and found the hour craft site to be just my cup of tea. I am not one to sit for long periods of time so I was attracted to the 1 hour craft. I found the tube scarf something that I would enjoy making for myself, family, and friends. What a wonderful craft ..........and great for gifts. I also found milk irrigation system to be very helpful, since I do have a veggie garden and it seems like we are entering a VERY DRY summer. Another, one that is helpful is the water toys for children using kitchen utensils. My grand-daughters will love that one as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Multi-Media section had some wonderful sites. I love the ETSY parchment flowers and hand made portaits: black-eyed suzie. I have been a collector of dolls for over 25 years and found her doll making and her dolls to be captivating. I have checked out her blog and have suscribed to her newsletter. I am also planning on having a custom doll made of myself and my grand-daughters by her. Her dolls are a bit high, but she does have lay-away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#60: Food, Fun,& Frugality

I did watch the video and I also searched for a online recipe through Twitter and I did try to post it to my blog,but was unsuccessful. The recipe that I picked was the Tomato and Mozzarella Salad w/Basil Vinaigrette http://bit.ly/u5NUz I can't wait to try it and I think it will be a wonderful summer salad. My husband and I have planted a small veggie garden to help with the cost of purchasing fresh vegtables and one of the plants that we did plant was the cherry tomato plant. In fact we planted several of them because our grand-daughters love them so much.
Some of the other things we have done during this difficult economic time is clip coupons and buy in bulk. All three of these have helped us save $30 to $50 dollars a month.

#57: TXT U L8R - Texting

I must say I have never sent a text message before, but I have received many and do know how to open them. For the most part I have always been able to translate the lingo. I have to wonder though if all the abbreviations that have to go with a text message effect the young generation with learning the correct spelling of words. I have sent pictures with a short text a few times and found that to be wonderful for special events and vacations.

I found Lingo 2 very helpful and looked up emergency and found the correct text lingo: accident and emergency to be a& e. Knowing that would be helpful in an emergency text. I believe there should be some kind of law in place for texting while driving, especially after reading the New York Times article.

#56: To Tweet Or Not To Tweet...Twitter

After, brousing a few of the different Twitter profiles I choose not to tweet. For me I don't think that it is something that I would use for personal use. Although, I can see the value of it being used for different companies using it to learn from customers on feed back sites. I also found that Twitter Love (Unshelved-Book club) had an interesting way of giving you a small insight of a book by presenting it as a comic strip. Another profile that I found to be somewhat interesting was The Truth About Twitter it was fun reading some of the tweets about celebrities and some of the different TV shows that I tune into (especially Lost).

#55: Getting The Most Out Of Facebook

I must admit I have never been interested in having a Facebook account, but my curiosity was sparked with this module. I did set up an account, but I put the least amount of information about myself. I then went back into my profile and was able to hide some info. I felt a little more comfortable with that. After setting up the account I decided to search for some friends, but did not have any luck finding any of them. I invited a friend that I already new was on Facebook and she was thrilled. She began sending me flairs on things that she knew I was interested in and some that she had made. I found myself actually looking for more and I have to admit it was fun. I also, checked out some of the different applications and did add the music player but did not like the fact that with each application that you add they take all the info from your profile.

Even though the account was very user friendly to sign up, I did not care for all the different pop ups that come up on whatever screen you go into. I also didn't like how they use your first name to make you think that they know you, when all they want you to do is go into their site. For that reason I don't think that it is something that I will continue to use, but I was glad for the oppurtunity to check it out.

I had to come back to this post several days later and add the following: I have a friend that I have know for 37 years and have lost contact with her in the last 9 years. I tried to find her using Facebook and to my surprise and her surprise I was able to locate her. We are now communicating back and forth and are finding that Facebook might be a great way to keep in touch (she now lives in another state) and to share photo's. My biggest thank you for this module, from me and my lost-found friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#54 Social Networking Through Books

I once belonged to a book club that was with several of my friends. Our book club was simply called Friends. We would meet twice a month and for each meeting would rotate to one anothers homes. We all looked forward to it as a chance to stay in touch and share something that we all loved, reading. Unfortunatly, after about a year the group began to get smaller and smaller as friends married, had children, or moved away. I miss those days, but find my schedule not able to start another book club or join a new one. I think that the online book club might be something that I can try to look into and would accommodate my schedule.

After viewing the resources and seeing all the different book clubs available I was unable to find one on the Holocaust. That has always been something of great interest to me because I believe that it is something that generations to come should never forget. After reviewing some of the sources available I was able to find a book from Reading Group Guides. The book is intitled "A Chosen Few" by Mark Kurlansky. It is an inspiring story of people who have rebuilt their lives in the face of incomprehensible horror. It will be a must read for me.

I did search a few of the sites for the book I chose in the first post. It to is about the Holocaust, titled Echoes (only it is fiction). I checked the ratings on Library Thing and it had a three and a half star rating. I also checked on the same source for Member Reviews and it received a two to four star review. The other source checked was goodreads with an average rating of 3.90.

These past modules have been very helpful and enjoyable. I have past on many of the resources to family and friends.

#53 Finding Books Onlline

The three booksellers I found that are the closest to my branch did not have online presence. I checked out a few others and none of them had online presence that I could find. I did enjoy finding all the many different sellers that Houston.com has to offer.

After, searching some of the sites for my previos book from module #52, I was able to locate the book of interest on three different sites: Barnes & Noble, Brazos Bookstore, and Katy Budget Books. I found that all three sites price's where about the same. For a hard cover $27.00 to $29.95, a paper back $7.99, and a CD $29.95. I also, was able to find a ebook as well, on Harris County Public Library.

I did not download and ebook because I have done that before and found that I don't enjoy reading a book from my computer as much as I do the actually book in my hand. There is just something about having a good book in my hand, sitting in front of a fire in my family room or sitting under a shade tree at the park reading that I find to be relaxing. Although, I can see how it would have it's advantages burning it to a CD and have it on a long road trip to listen to in the car.

#52 What to Read

The author that I picked is Danielle Steel I have read many of her books, but one of my favorites was "Echoes". I searched NoveList Plus and found that it was very user friendly, once I found the author and title it gave me a brief description of the story and a read-alike spot to click onto. I was able to find similar read-allikes and found many that I have read in the past and many that I had not known about. After searching two of the other resources I found them to be much harder to navigate and found the results to be very different on both Fiction L Booklist and WhatShould I Read. I was able to find read-alike on Fiction L Booklist thru matchbook, but when I tried to find it a second time I was unable to locate it.

For the second part of the exercise I used NoveList Plus and found the following two books for a fourth grade girl: "Faces In The Forest" by Ron Hirsch and "Forest Bright, Forest Night" by Jennifer Ward. I also found two books for a 13 year old boy: "The William Ghost" by Wilma Alexander and "The Ghost In The Cellar" by Jacques Duquenny.

The sites I used for part three of the exercise are NoveList Plus and What Shall I Read Next. The similar authors I found from the first one are: John Saul, Dan Simmons, and Greg Bear. For the second one they are: Stephen White, Clive Cussler, and W.E.B. Griffin.

The resource used for exercise four, was once again, NoveList Plus. The other three remaining books in the series "Song Of The Lioness" are #2 "In The Hand Of The Goddess", #3 "The Woman Who Rides Like A Man", and #4 "Lioness Rampant.

I found this excercise to be very helpful for any one who works in a library and look forward to the remaining modules.