I thought I’d try my techie hand at creating a blog theme of my own.  So, here you have it. 

I have no design savvy whatsoever, but there were a few things I wanted to make part of this new design:  1) wider pages, thus bigger pictures and 2) a Recent Comments roll in the sidebar to the right that shows the latest post comments.

I would give Singing Sally credit for the second suggestion, except she habitually takes credit for my photos on her Facebook, so hear this:  the comments section idea was ALL MINE.

And, I like the idea, because people say great stuff in the comments all the time, but other’s don’t necessarily see them or have the chance to respond since no one realizes they are there.  For instance, my England-based nephew Jake just commented on the ELVES post from a few days ago.  It says just this:

My wonderful elf sent me an e-mail message with the subject “From Your Elf.”  When I opened it there was a video in which she said, “Bang.  Your Dead.”  And that was it.

Or there was this comment on the same post from stinking FavoriteChild:

Dearest Sister – come next month, and the revealing of the Elfees, be prepared to “be seriously pissed” (see line 7) That’s all I have to say.  – Someone’s elfee

Hilarious (well, Jake’s anyway… Favorite’s is just irritating).  But, comments easily missed if not for the NEW DESIGN that was all my idea, thank you very much.

So, do me a favor, and let me know if you experience any problems with the blog, because there very well might be errors that I haven’t discovered.

So, we went to Tennessee on vacation last week.  It was excellent and I’m anxious to put some pictures up on here.

I thought I would blog while I was there, but it turned out I was too busy.  Very busy.  There were naps to take.  In my usual over-achieving way, sometimes I took more than one nap a day.  There were books to read.  And, there was Rock Band and Mario Kart to play.  Oh, and sitting on the deck staring out at the incredible view absolutely monopolized my day. 

What’s a person to do?

Her Gracefulness even threatened to yank my domain registration again for lack of posting.  But, alas, I couldn’t pull myself away from the lazy boy.  It needed me.

In the next few days, DustMeister, Magoo, and Bud will move out and I will have more free time on my hands than I have experienced, ah, EVER.  Thus, once I get caught up on naps, I will plan on posting again regularly.

Please stay tuned.

… or it seems I risk losing my blog!

I received this email yesterday.  It must be legit, right?  Even though it came to me via Grace’s email account.  Right?

To whom it may concern,

     The blogspot located at http://wonderfultoday.com is in dire need of a new post; it has not been updated in nearly a week and this puts it in danger of domain rejection.  On Monday, June 29, 2009 the International Committee Overseeing the World Wide Web (ICOWWW) enacted a new rule stating that no privately held blog can remain at its domain after three days since its last update.  This bill was ratified by the International Committee of Geeks and Technological Personnel (ICGTP) on Monday, July 6, 2009 and went into effect at midnight on Tuesday, July 7, 2009.  This bill is meant to encourage blog owners to update their information in order to keep their readers informed and engaged and to eliminate excessive blogs cluttering the Internet that have been abandoned by their creators.  Because your last blog post was written before the ratification of this rule your domain has not yet been rejected.  You are being given three days after this notification to update your blog or it will be subject to permanent removal from the Internet.  The ICOWWW is sorry to inconvenience you but your blog must be updated by midnight on Saturday, July 11, 2009.  We here at the ICOWWW wish you a pleasant day and hope to see your blog updated within the allotted time. 

     Best wishes,

          Jane Freeman

Chairwoman of the ICOWWW

Does this count as a post?  I will try to do better.  Believe you me, I don’t want the chairwoman of ICOWWW badgering me.  Frightening thought.

Of all the neat things I have enjoyed so far in the 25 thing thing (yes, I meant to write thing thing), I must say I am the MOST excited by Bud’s participation.  He’s not a wordy guy, so I did not actually expect him to participate.  But, participate he did.  The overachiever wrote 28 things!!  I am pretty thrilled he did.  Like the DustMeister, I’ve written a few comments in-line in Bud’s favorite color GREEN.  Here you go Bud:

I guess I should join in the fun

1. 1. I never thought Magoo would admit to missing me.  (Me either, that was pretty awesome!)
   2. I have seen nearly every episode of over 25 different animes.
   3. I probably know more about Heroes than everyone else who reads this blog put together.
   4. When I’m quiet, I usually just can’t think of anything worth saying.  (Explain this further please)
   5. I can dislocate 14 different joints.
   6. I have 3 posters and a bunch of pictures in my apartment hiding in a corner that I never got around to putting up.  (You could do it now you know)
   7. I once made a homemade pizza from scratch. It took me 5 and a half hours and tasted horrible. I added a tablespoon of salt when I should have added a teaspoon.  (He is right, it was horrible.  I wanted to like it but I could not)
   8. I would love to have a super power. I’d take any one. I just want one.
   9. I wish I could draw.
   10. I have a lot of obsessions (aka Heroes, animes, super powers, etc), but I don’t talk about them because I assume that whoever I’m talking to doesn’t want to talk about them.
   11. If you ever tell me that you share in one of my obsessions, we will talk about that a lot. You have been warned
   12. I could live off mac and cheese and pizza.  (and you have!)
   13. The reason I’m usually late is because I don’t like arriving early. So I try to arrive at exactly on time. It just usually doesn’t work out.  (I did not know this!)
   14. I’m easily entertained and easily bored. You wouldn’t think those 2 would go together but they somehow do.
   15. It get annoyed by computer screens in movies but the majority of the time, what you see on a computer in a movie would never appear on an actual computer screen.  (The true mark of a geek)
   16. I’m also annoyed when people say in movies, commercials, tv shows, etc that no one would actually say in real life.
   17. I don’t like talking about myself
   18. I have taken 4 years of Spanish and I still can’t speak the language  (mucho grande!!!!)
   19. It’s comforting for me to have a knife in my hands. (I know it’s creepy, but it’s true)
   20. I could never live in a city. Too many people, too much noise.
   21. I have never broken a bone. Although I did break 17 tendons in my ankle once, but no bones.  (17 tendons… I think you pulled that out of thin air.  Do people even have 17 tendons in their feet?  You did do a number on your foot, but 17 tendons?  really?)
   22. I have a lot of patience with people, but not a lot with machines.
   23. I’m very easily distracted…o hey, I’m late for Imago Dei. I need to go.  (Nice transition)Comment by Bud — February 10, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
2. Here’s the rest. No more interruptions, I promise.24. I get nervous going through those scanner things at the entrance of stores that make sure you aren’t stealing anything. I’m always worried that they’ll go off. I think it’s because I carried a “set those scanner things off” circuit in my wallet for a while, not knowing what it did. I just thought it looked cool. Except it kept making those scanner things go off when I walked into stores.

   25. I like not wearing a shirt. I find that it’s very comfortable. I don’t just do it to freak Magoo out (that’s an added bonus)  (it is, isn’t it?)

   26. (bonus) I always have 5-6 writing utensils on my pockets. I’ll say they’re for school, except I only use 1 or 2 of them (the rest are either broken, out of lead, or pens (pens suck but I always have at least one on me)). I’ll also say that they’re for cleaning out my fingernails. But mostly I have them with me because I have busy hands and they always need to be playing with something. So I put them in my pocket and they play with my pencils.

   27. (another bonus (because of the interruption)) I don’t use shaving cream when I shave

   Comment by Bud — February 10, 2009 @ 11:50 pm

3. Last one, I swear28. When I’m doing something I enjoy, I want to be very through about it. I like to watch every episode of a tv show in order. With video games, I want to follow every path and explore every annoyingly minute detail. And so on.

I love you Bud!!

Lots of people on Facebook have been posting 25 random facts about themselves.  I’ve learned some fun facts.  So, since everybody’s doin’ it, I will too.

1. I was born on Jan. 14, 1964.  My great grandfather, a fire and brimstone Baptist preacher, was born one hundred years to the day before me on Jan. 14, 1864.  As a kid, I thought this was fascinating.
2. My mother’s middle name is Joyce, my middle name is Joyce, my daughter’s middle name is Joyce.  I don’t particularly like the name Joyce, but I like that we all share it.
3. I have officially lived in 17 different residences in four different states.
4. I have known Jesus as my Savior since I was 15 and I have attempted to have this fact shape everything in my life since then.  I am a sinner, but I am forgiven.
5. I am convinced I have A.D.D. even though I’ve never been officially screened or diagnosed.
6. Other than grandparents, not a single person I was ever truly close to has died, up until my father this past April.
7. Some believe our treasures in heaven may be inversely proportional to the treasures we have on this earth.  I often think to myself, if this is the case, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a lovely little studio apartment just at the end of the streets of gold while most others are in mansions.  I’m OK with this.
8. SweetGuy and I went to the Homecoming dance when I was 15 and he was 16.  I thought it was a date.  He thought we were just friends.  He is mistaken.
9. If there is such a thing as having a soul mate, then I married mine.  SweetGuy is a lot nicer than his wife.
10. I applied to go into the Peace Corps when I was nineteen.  They turned me down.  I still hope to do it someday.
11. Two of my favorite things to do in order to de-stress are take a bath, or mow my yard.
12. I sometimes wish I’d had more children, but God has a plan, and my life is overflowing with young people I did not give birth to.  I love it this way.
13. Most of said young people call me Mrs. Miller.  I am impressed by their respectfulness, but honestly would just rather be called Andrea.
14. I pretend I don’t like animals, but I really do.  If it wasn’t for SweetGuy, both dogs would be sleeping in my bed.
15. Every single time my son walks into the room, I think to myself “Has he grown?”  I still can’t believe how tall he is.
16. Throughout grade school and high school, I always yearned for a best girl friend.  I have since had a few that have come in and out of my life for different reasons.  I cherish having known them.
17. I have a best friend now.  She is my daughter.
18. I hate loud music.  Unless I am at Miracle Camp.  Then, the louder, the better.
19. I fear the Cubs will not win a World Series in my lifetime.
20. The characteristics I find the least appealing in people are arrogance and self importance.
21. As a teen I worked four or five summers selling elephant ears and cotton candy at local fairs and such for $2/hour.  I met all types. 
22. I worked at the Motherhouse as a nurse’s aide while I was in high school.  I was so impressed by the nuns selflessness and love of Jesus.  They could also be very, very funny.
23. I once ran a live mouse through the hot cycle of my washing machine.  Twice.
24. I shattered my wrist when I was skiing.  I turned this way when I should have turned that way.
25. SweetGuy and I could not agree on what to name our first born.  I was convinced I would have a girl so I made the deal that if it was a boy he could name it, and if it was a girl I could.  I was wrong. 

I’d LOVE to see your 25 things!  Leave them in the comments if you dare and I will re-post them as a full blog post.

Up to this moment, the only people effectively aware of this blog were SweetGuy, Bud, and Magoo.  If you are reading this, then you are probably among those friends and family that I sent an email to outing my blog.  Thanks for stopping by.  It touches me that you did so.

I started reading blogs a few years ago when a co-worker sent a link to his blog.  I’d heard of them before, but had never checked one out.  Since then, blogs have become to me something like reading the comics and sports section of the newspaper is to SweetGuy (or the business section was to my Dad many years ago).  I tend to ease into my mornings by reading a few blogs.  I’ve got a couple I read that are complete strangers, like Pioneer Woman, and some techie ones like LifeHacker.  I read a few of people I know… my bro-in-law Kerfuffle, and a few pastors at church – Jason, Chris, and Nate. 

Oddly enough, ever since I started reading blogs I found myself experiencing something, or contemplating something, and would think to myself “If I had a blog, I’d blog about that.”  Well, I gave up on the “what if’s”  and now have my own blog, and I’ve found that I really enjoy it.

It’s a pseudo journal for me, and just a fun place to write down thoughts.  And, to date, it seems like SweetGuy, Bud, and Magoo have enjoyed it too.  If they didn’t, then I would stop.  I’m no great writer, but I think I’m even less of a speaker, so I appreciate the opportunity to put my complete thoughts down in a semi-cohesive manner that blogs allow me to do.

Thank you for stopping by.  Feel free to come back, but if you don’t, no worries.  This is a journal about those things that are (mostly) wonderful in my life.  I want to write honest things in this journal but never ever hurt another human soul through it.  Not worth it to me.