BeccA's Buzz has a new face

Well, I've been playing around with the html (which, btw, I have never been trained in) making some updates to the look of this blog. I'm using it as a sort of way to share myself with you and also record and reflect on things as they come about in order to have a journal of sorts to look back on. The journey is important to me. So I thought making changes to the layout and look will get me going on that path. I plan to begin to incorporate more of my hobbies and activities on here as well as sprinkle in some PayPerPost ads as I can get them.

PayPerPost really has been a great tool for me to earn some extra cash and be creative with my writing. So far, I have done 55 regular posts and 1 PPP Direct post (can you believe that!?). If you've ever been interested in getting paid to talk about websites and services and such, might I suggest PPP. Look in the sidebar towards the bottom for a bright green badge which will take you bloggers directly to the site to get set up. It's free and fun! I've interacted with many new and interesting people in the forums. The people of PPP, fellow bloggers like us, are very helpful when sharing their experience and knowledge. They have lots of suggestions to boost traffic, up your PR and on and on. It has certainly influenced the way I do things around here. :)

For more info on how I can create a post here for your business, review your blog or otherwise work with you to create buzz for your interest, see the blue PPP Direct badge in the sidebar just below the "I disclose" badge. It's very quick and easy to get set up. I would love to work with you, if you feel my blog is fitting to your business, maybe we can work out a post plan!

Some of the topics I plan to cover and/or start posting about regularly in the future are:
-Scrapbooking : pages
-Scrapbooking : tips and tricks
-Travel photos
-Bible study notes
-More movie reviews
-Sewing projects
-TV program comments
-General life moments

So come back and visit, go ahead and click on that bookmark button somewhere up there for easy return. Because I have a lot of very interesting things that you won't want to miss coming your way soon!!

Like a kid in a candy shop

Sometimes life is full of simple joys, you just have to be open to seeing them. As some of you know, I work in an accounting and tax office with my mom who is at the front desk for the office. There's also my boss too, but this isn't about him.

My mom always has a little dish of individually wrapped hard candies on her desk for anyone who would like to partake. She buys these treats out of the kindness of her heart and trust me, she really enjoys little things like this. Just one of the reasons my mom rocks!

Anyway, back to the story. Out of all the clients who come in to the office and dip into the bowl, I'd guess that 95% of the takers are men. Some of them take more than one piece, for the road, you see. Of course that's not a problem at all, in fact, I have often thought it was cute, like the kid inside of them went - Hey, free candy, get some!

Today is Tuesday. We have one particular client who comes in regularly every Tuesday morning to bring his deposits. This man is an older man and he has diabetes. So my mom, bless her heart, buys him special sugar free candy. He really enjoys this. As a matter of fact, my mom will get out a couple of pieces for him and puts it right on her desk for him to get right away when he sets down. Well, today she was busy before he came and she didn't have a chance to get it out for him. After he finished his deposit business, he stood up and said, 'Where's my candy?' Mom said, 'Oh, here, it's in the drawer, I didn't have time to get it out for you.' Right away she jumped up and went to the drawer. I happened to walk past my office door and caught a glimpse of this full grown old man standing there like he was 3 years old in anticipation of the treat! Everything about his body and his stance spoke of his excitement to get this piece of candy. I thought it was adorable I had to snicker and laugh to myself.

Most people would have never noticed it or thought much of it, but I guess it touched me to see him be so joyful over such a tiny piece of candy. It gave me joy to see him that way, look around yourself for those simple joys. They are everywhere, if you look for them!


(random internet photo)

Over or under? That is the question.

Ok, so I saw this photo and couldn't agree more.

I have seen it both ways in other people's houses, but usually each household picks one direction and sticks to it in every application. I believe that is due to the fact that there is usually only one person changing the rolls as they run out or get close (thanks all the moms out there!) So, the question is, do you hang the paper to roll over or under?

I personally feel that if you have the paper rolling under, you have to reach all the way to the wall just to retrieve it. Not that big of a deal you say? Depends on how far you have to reach already! That 2-3 inches more can really make the difference when trying not to fall off! Not to mention the part where you begin to dig your nails into it to get it to spin around and try to catch the flap as it goes by again and again. Uh, no thanks.

If you would just hang the paper so that it rolls over and out, it sorta presents you the end to grab onto. Almost as if to say, "Here you go, have a square ... or 10." :)

So let me hear from you, are you an 'Over' or 'Under'? If you say 'Under' maybe give me some reasons you choose this lifestyle....I probably won't be persuaded to change, but it's good for conversation. Happy rolling!

I love a good sock monkey

I have loved sock monkeys since I was a child. No joke. It all started when my grandmother made one for me by hand. I wish I still had it!

Anyway, the other day I saw a sexy sock monkey on someone's Wordless Wednesday and cracked up! Whilst searching for that photo, I came across this sock monkey website and also found this photo. Patrick's oldest boy would enjoy this one....it's the best of both worlds for me and him! I love giving him monkey stuff and he loves super heros!!!
Go see how many sock monkey options they have. It's funny!! Someone should buy me one :)

Give yourself a treat...limited time ONLY!

My friend Patrick D. over at Patricksays.net is guest DJing over at KMLR Mojo Radio Live
What are you waiting for? His final hour is almost over....

Blogathon 2007

Today is the day for Blogathon 2007!


I just want to send out a 'Kudos' to all those blogging this year in the blogathon. You have chosen worthy charities and have been preparing and I'm sure you will be cranking out those great posts.

If you haven't yet supported a blogger, may I suggest you consider Patrick Says v2.0. This year he has chosen JDRF as his charity. Please see my prior post for all the info on sponsoring him.

Blogathon Posties: Keep on posting and you will make it through! I'll be checking on some of you!!!

UGH!!!

Ok, I just discovered I had the formatting wrong for the Time Zone on this site. I'm not sure what it was on, but I changed it to Central Standard time, now all my time stamps are different than they are supposed to be!!!

Also, I have no idea why, but it's taking forever for my home page to load! What's that all about?? I know it's not my connection because other sites are loading normally. Is anyone else having this issue??

I heart nostalgia

Today I've been listening to a local radio station which also broadcasts live online.
"106.5 The Arch - Plays 70's, 80's & whatever we want"

They just played Micheal Jackson's 'Beat It'....come on, you know it was a snappy little tune back in the day. I couldn't help but sing along and try my darnedest to remember what Michael Jackson looked like with dark skin, curly hair and a human nose. It didn't work. I'll spare you any photos.

Next, they followed up with some 'Animal' by Def Leppard.

Classic. I found myself remenissing about old friends and wondering what has transpired for their lives. There were some great times before jobs and adulthood took over. Life certainly was different then.

At the risk of sounding like our parents, you know, they just don't make music like they used to. Some of you may say - good! But not me, I love music from my era as well as music from say, my mom's era too. I have a strange taste in music which transcends time and genre. I am just as comfortable listening to country music as contemporary Christian or old 70's rock and roll...I love it all! Even some of today's music!


'Stone In Love' by Journey is on now...actually I remember watching Friday Night Videos with my cousin and seeing Journey for the first time. 'Any way you want it' was my introduction to rock and roll....the rest is history!

Friday's Feast #153

Appetizer
Describe a toy you remember from your childhood.

A cube puzzle of twisting colored cubes.

Mine always looked like this too, never finished!

UPDATE:

Someone just reminded me of fashion plates!! I did have these and played and played and played with them. One of my all time faves....thanks, someone!!

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how observant are you?

Everyone thinks they are like 10. But how do we know we aren't? If we knew what we missed, we wouldn't have missed it! LOL

Salad
Where would you rather be at this very moment?

In Heaven!!!

Main Course
When was the last time you learned something new?

Today. We "learn something new every day," right?

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have _____ but I haven’t _____.

I have so much to be thankful for but I haven't even begun to show my gratitude.

This just in:

I just received an email from across the pond: the apartment in Italy has officially been confirmed as reserved!!! Yeah!!!!

I have withheld showing the photos, and my total excitement too, until we had our confirmation. We will be staying here in Souvenir-Cestello in a historic district of Florence, Italy from Thursday, September 20, 2007 to Tuesday, September 25, 2007.


The photos were taken with a strange sort of rounded camera lens, but you get the feel for the spaces. I love that we will have a real kitchen to use, and it has an outdoor dining area, too!

So, "How much?" Well, I'm glad you asked, it's actually quite affordable if you consider the fact that it's an entire apartment vs. just a hotel room with a bathroom. I believe we are paying something like $147 per night total for all 3 of us and that includes cleaning and linens and such.

I'll bring home better pictures and also show you the view, which I have a sneaky feeling is quite great and not shown in the website photos. :D

Merry Christmas - in July

"It's the (2nd) most wonderful time, of the year!!!"


Quickly now, only 5 months left until Christmas.

A mile a day - before England!

Well, I've not talked about this much here because I didn't want to set myself up for failure. I no longer feel like that is a problem for me, so now I'm switching into motivation mode.

For the past couple of months, I have been watching what I'm eating in an effort to lose a little weight before my trip in September. I have had about 10 lbs. worth of success. That's great!! Coming from someone who has done nothing but gain or maintain since I was 10 years old. I'm so tired of feeling plump, exhausted and overall miserable! I knew that simply watching what I ate would be a great way to begin my journey to a healthier - lighter life. It has given me the boost I need to start feeling better and now I have come to the point where I need to add exercises to my life.

I love exercise, believe it or not! I played tennis in high school and still love to play around at racket ball and tennis when I get a chance.

In March, 2007, the Lord blessed me with a treadmill. And I say that because it was free and even down to the 2 cup holders, was exactly what I had envisioned I wanted. I used it every morning for like 5 days. That was the end of that.





Well, no more! I got up this morning and put on my tennis shoes and walked at 2.5 speed for 23.5 minutes for a total distance of 1 mile. I am going to continue to do this each day (if not further/faster!) until I leave for England. I figured there are 52 days until I leave (including today) so I went to Tickerfactory.com and created a mini version of this treadmill on a track and put it over in my sidebar so I (and you!!!) can keep track of my promise and progress. I don't want to focus on the number of lbs. I lose, because for me, it's not about the number of lbs. it's a matter of looking and feeling better which can only mean I'm becoming more healthy, which is my goal!!!

Please, VOTE FOR ME!!!

Hey all, I'm a finalist over at


to win a 'Black Hawk Down' DVD that I'd love to give my dad. He's retired and lives in the country by himself, so he could really use the entertainment. Besides, he's an old Army man and loves these kinds of movies!! If you would, please log in and vote for me. I'm 'Beccagirl' with the monkey face icon. Please and thank you!!!!!!!
I really appreciate it :-)

Wordless Wednesday

(Click to enlarge, it's worth it!)

What lies beneath

I bought some new clothes over the weekend for my upcoming trip to England and Italy. I did really well to hit a sale at Fashion Bug for 'Buy one get one for $1' and Lane Bryant had their strapless bras for 50% off. I have been needing one of those. Cato on the other hand was giving me no love in the sale department. Come to find out, they don't have actual sales, they just mark things down. Of course, my size vs. what I was looking for = nothing on sale. The good news there is, they had EXACTLY what I was looking for!

All in all, even with the sales, I still spent way more than I wanted to but I got a total of:
11 tops
2 pr of pants
1 strapless bra
2 regular bras
5 new pr of underwear

The thing about it though, when I was spending all that time picking things out & trying them on I just kept seeing me wearing everything in Italy. I would search out things and think, yeah, this is great for Tuscany!

So what's the issue you ask? My primary trip is to go to England to visit my friends and Italy is just a fun thing we'll do while I'm there. Italy isn't the main focus of the trip. But my heart keeps bubbling over when I think about landing in Pisa!

I think maybe it's because I have always dreamed of going to Italy. I was interviewed once when I was about 18 for a local newspaper. The question was, "If money was no object, where would you go on vacation?" I said, "Italy. I want to go see where my ancestors came from. I think it would be beautiful to see." Now I'm actually going!!! I still can't believe it. I'm so very excited to be going to England as well but I think for me, Italy will be my favorite part of the trip. I know it will end too quickly. I will just have to tell myself, I can come back again! How do you like that, I haven't even left for my first trip there and I'm already looking forward to going back!


Can you blame me?

Season for change - a time for sharing

Hey, you.

Yeah, you blogspot bloggers, have you found any good websites with templates we can use other than the default templates?

I feel a need for a new look...an upgrade to my facade, if you will. So I'm looking for anyone who has links to sites with free templates for use with blogger.

I guess not just templates. I don't want to narrow my vision to just templates. I'd be interested in other fun items as well. I don't really want to have one of those junky looking blogs - you've seen them: everything's flashing and scrolling or there's so much advertising and other junk, you can't even see the content? I like clean, simple, attractive and interesting. So, what's out there?

Anybody.................anybody??

Leave suggestions in a comment below, then come back later, too. You might find something interesting left here by someone else!!

Glutton for disappointment

So I say glutton for disappointment rather than punishment because we suffered only disappointment so far.


My mom and I were driving in my car when we realized we were hungry. What's close by? Not much. Just then, we passed by Phil's BBQ on Gravois Road, St. Louis, MO.

My mom said she had eaten there one time with my dad years ago and that she remembered not liking it much. I had the exact same story. But being hungry and giving the benefit of the doubt to the passing of time, we assumed it had to have gotten better over the years, since it was still open.

Nope. We were wrong. We walked out and established an new declaration by the time we reached the car, "Trust our original instincts in situations like these." We knew before we went in, we probably wouldn't like it but we went anyway!

Here's a review I left online for it:

The restaurant is tiny, out dated, not very clean. I had the pulled pork plate with 3 sides, fries, beans and corn. It was a big portion of pork, but seemed soupy in some kind of juice (not sauce). The only bbq sauce they had reminded me of a cheap red spaghetti sauce mixed with worcester sauce and vinegar - NOT GOOD. The sides were just ok, nothing to write home about. My mom had the catfish fillet which took 30 min. to cook. No kidding, they even warn you ahead of the wait. She had spaghetti as one of her sides and it was cold. When she told the waitress, she didn't even say, oh sorry. She just cleared the plates. Then as she brought back the credit card receipt, she stood there hovering while my mom completed the tip calculation. I won't be going back nor recommending it to anyone else.

Friday's Feast #152 & UPDATE!

Appetizer:
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how much do enjoy watching sports on television?
Depends on the sport, but I'd say 2 normally, although I'd bump that up a few numbers to watch the St. Louis Blues Hockey team play!

Go blues!!!

Soup:
If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?
Hmmm, I'll have to get back to you on that one...
UPDATE! I choose 'National Lampoon's Vacation' (actually I already have memorized it!!!)

Rusty: Dad, this is not the car you ordered.
Clark: Pipe down Rusty, Uh, this is not the car I ordered!
Salesman: It's not? You didn't order the Family Truckster in Metalic Pea?
Clark: Metalic Pea? No! I ordered the little blue sportswagon!
Salesman: The Family Truckster is a fine automobile. You don't want to take the whole tribe across country in that, it's much too small. Trust me, this is YOUR automobile. You think you hate it now, just wait till you drive it!
Clark: I don't wanna drive it, I want the car I ordered!
Salesman: I know what must have happened, it didn't come in!
Clark: I know what's happening here, I'm not your ordinary everyday fool! Alright? Now I ordered the blue sportswagon. If you don't have it, I'll just take my business elsewhere. Where's my old car at?

Salad:
What is your favorite breakfast food?
Uncle Bill's Pancake House, St. Louis, MO - Pancakes - Mmm Mmm good!

(I swear, I got this pic from the internet, that's not really my car!!!)

Main Course:
Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.
Stand outside on a warm summer's night with a fist full of Ted Drew's Frozen Custard with a group of your friends!


Dessert:
How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?
Usually, it doesn't take long as long as I have my babies with me :)