Good news!...

In case you haven't heard yet, there is some special, joyous news over at Krissy's journal.  WOW!!!  Go see!!  WOW!!

 

Tags: what are you waiting for... go!!!!!

Special Subject for Photo Hunt!...

       


Photo Scavenger Hunt #107 will be due on Sunday, April 1, at 11:00 PM EST.

Our subject this week will be:  anything SPRING!!

I wanted this week to be a special Hunt.  Krissy and John are very busy this week.  They won't be able to get out and see the sunshine.  They are cooped up most of the week.  Can we give them a lot of Spring pictures?!!  I am going to link up this week's Hunt to The Gazette so they will be able to see all of the entries.  They love the Spring!  I hope you all enjoy the sunshine, fresh air and flowers while you are taking your pictures!! xox

                     

Tags: Photo Scavenger Hunt with Krissy, photo scavenger hunt, photo hunt, photography, Spring, go play in the flowers!

Photo Scavenger Hunt #106 Participants...

Photo Scavenger Hunt #106

subject:  groups of three

We only had a couple of takers this week on the Hunt.  These two entries are really great and they put a lot of thought into them.  Please go visit and see how they interpreted this subject!  Thank you!  Thanks to the two participating journals below:

     Footprints in the Sand
     My Hugs Journal

I will return later on this morning or this afternoon with a subject for you this week!  I think it will be a fun and special one!

Tags: Photo Scavenger Hunt with Krissy, photo scavenger hunt, photo hunt, photography, get your camera out!!

On Blood Donation, etc...

      
                        

Good morning all my journal pals!   I am so proud of the outpouring of support for the blood donation cause!!  WOW!!  Many of you who can not give blood, and many of you who can, have written me and Tammy asking what else you can do.  I have thought about this and have come up with some ideas.  I think the first thing to do is go to the American Red Cross Site and familiarize yourself with it.  There is a page that lists restrictions for blood donation.  I thought that I could not give blood because of medication and health issues.  I was wrong!  Here are some other ideas:


   1.  Read Tammy's Fun Facts on Blood Donation and familiarize yourself with them.
   2.  Ask family and friends to donate.
   3.  Send an email out to those in your address book that  do not get the Gazette
        mailings.  Ask them to donate.  Include links to the American Red Cross and
        The Gazette and the restrictions page.
   4.  View volunteer opportunities with your local Red Cross by going to the
        American Red Cross Home Page and putting in your zip code in the search box.
   5.  Consider sponsoring a blood drive.  They work with you every step of the way
        bringing equipment and scheduling or helping to schedule volunteers.  Call
        1-800-GIVE-LIFE or register online.
   6.  Consider donating to the American Red Cross's Blood Services Campaign.


I am in the process of figuring out how to sponsor a blood drive in my area.  I am very excited about this!  I hope that some of you all  will take up the cause in your area as well!  I hope that this entry helped some of you that were asking me what else you could do.  If you have any questions please email me at valphish@aol.com.  If you have any information for me, too, please email!  Thanks, and blessings to you all! xox

Oh, one more thing, if you do donate, or know anyone who does, try to donate in John's name!  Let me or Tammy know the number of donations.  We don't need to know names just the numbers.  Email me or Tammy the amount!  Thanks!  If you haven't figured it out already, Tammy has a tally for blood donations in John's honor over at the Gazette!  Thanks, Tammy!

Addendum:  If you are in the U.K. and want to help with this cause, please visit this entry in Northern Trip, thoughtfully written by Guido.  Thanks, Guido!!

                                        

Tags: American Red Cross, blood donation, blood drive, John's number is going UP!, J-Land is AWESOME!, blogplugs

Happy St. Patrick's Day!... On shamrocks...

                           

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!!  Are you wearing green?  I am about an eighth Irish on my mom's side, with ancestors originating in County Cork, Ireland.

You know, I have often been confused what a real shamrock is.  I know that it has three leaves, not the four that we sometimes show as being lucky around St. Patrick's Day in this country.  I was reading about St. Patrick and found that he used the shamrock to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity.  I had a shamrock plant once.  It would open and shut about four times a day.  It seemed to do this independent of sun or darkness.  It was awesome!  It looked like it was praying.  It had small whitish flowers on it.  The leaves were a lot larger than the clovers we see in our grass.  Webster defines a shamrock as:  1.) a trifoliate plant used as an emblem by the Irish; 2.) a yellow-flowered clover often regarded as the true shamrock (Is this what I owned?); 3.) wood sorrel (I looked this up.  It looks like our clover in the U.S.); and, 4.) white clover.  Hmmm... what IS a shamrock?  I guess our clover in the U.S. is a type of shamrock.  I am assuming.  I am not sure.  Or is shamrock a type of clover?  Maybe it is the latter.  I used to love to sit in clover patches when I was a child.  Actually, I still do.  I have found over a thousand four-leaf clovers, hundreds of five, dozens of six, and a seven.  I am looking for the elusive eight.  I hope everyone is having a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!!  Erin Go Bragh!!  

                         
                              This is what my shamrock plant looked like.

Addendum: my ancestors are from County West Meath, not County Cork, as I had thought.  To read more, my sister did an entry on our heritage here.

Tags: St. Patrick's Day, St. Patrick, Ireland, County Cork, shamrock, clover, are you wearing green?

Photo Scavenger Hunt #106 subject...

  
      


Photo Scavenger Hunt #106 will be due on Sunday, Mach 25, at 11:00 PM EST.

Our subject this week will be:  "groups of three"

Please note the extended This week's Hunt will run for eleven days until Sunday, March 25 because the subject was announced so late in the week.  Please put your full entry URL in the comments section by the deadline.  Have fun!!

Tags: Photo Scavenger Hunt with Krissy, photo scavenger hunt, photo hunt, photography

Photo Scavenger Hunt #105 participants...

Krissy is having another very busy week and has asked me to post the submissions for last week's Photo Scavenger Hunt subject, "blue".  I will also be posting next week's subject a little later this morning.  This week's Hunt will run for eleven days until Sunday, March 25 because the subject was announced so late in the week.  I would like to welcome Carol from Gypsy Paths who has submitted for the first time this week!

Photo Scavenger Hunt #105

subject: blue

Please take the time to view the following submissions from these journals.  They are outstanding!  The following journals participated this week:

     Confessions of an Angel Waitress
     Footprints in the Sand
     My Photo Journey
     My Hugs Journal
     Gypsy Paths
     Ye Olde English Posy
     Gina's Space

Thanks for participating!  I will be back shortly with the Photo Scavenger Hunt subject for next week!

Tags: Photo Scavenger Hunt with Krissy, photo scavenger hunt, photo hunt, photography, blue, what- no smurfs?

An Interview with John...

For those of you who don't know, John, my brother-in-law was just diagnosed with his third cancer.  He needs a second bone marrow transplant.  I found this journal entry so inspiring and incredible...  An Interview With John

By the way, John really IS like this.  He is the gentlest, most humble, and most inspirational man I know!

                                                         

Tags: bone marrow cancer, MDS, bone marrow transplant, John is the bomb!

Ooops... A did a dilly...

Wow, I just did something really stupid.  I got an email from another journaler to take a test on movies that I liked.  It seemed innocent enough.  It pulled up my AOL address book to send to other people.  I unchecked all the boxes, not realizing that there were four more pages of addresses.  Now, I have sent this poor email to about 200 other people.  I am so, so sorry.  Unfortunately, my doctors and the Pope (yes, I have the Pope's address in my address book) have received this email!  LOL  So, disregard this email, everyone and I am so, so sorry. 

Krissy and John are hanging in there as well as can be expected for all who are asking, thank you.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  For those of you who haven't heard about there new news, please visit here and lend them your support. 

Have a good rest of the week and stop laughing at me!  LOL

Tags: don't send me anymore email quizzes!