Please respond

I had someone try to post comments on my blog from Brazil. I deleted the comment but they mentioned they were adding me to their blog list. That alarms me. So in an effort to try to keep my loved ones safe, I will be making my blog private.

Those I have email addresses for may have already received an email inviting you to read my blog. If you have not received an invite from me please add a comment to this with your email address so that I can add you to my list of approved readers. (Since I have it set up to moderate my comments anyway, your comment will go to my personal email account and your email will not appear on my blog at all.)

Since there are a few friends who read my blog and I don't have their email address, I'm going to wait until April 1 to change it over to private to give them time to contact me. After that, I'll be making the switch as others have done.

Yes, I might be panicking a bit but some of you know I've had a profile off and on on a couple of the LDS dating websites and it's unnerving to me when I'm at a singles activity and some guy keeps staring at me with the look like he's seen me before....sometimes they do introduce themselves which eases things but it's still a bit odd and uncomfortable when it happens.

I believe once I make the switch to approved readers only you'll have to log in to read my updates (as frequent as they are...hee hee). Sorry to make it a bit more challenging but it's best to do all we can to keep ourselves and others as safe as possible.

Thanks for your support and understanding.

PS-some of you might receive an email at different addresses, I sent the invite to every address I had for you, I wasn't sure which was the most frequently used/best one so I covered my bases to be sure you got the message.

Spring Has Finally Sprung! (Hopefully)

I was heading out to meet some former co-workers for lunch today. As I left the building I noticed a magpie flying through the parking lot carrying a stick in its mouth. That's got to mean that spring is here to stay (no more crazy snow storms or cold temps) if the bird is gathering sticks for a nest....It's about time if you ask me!

Update On A Frequent Question...

...No, I haven't heard from any schools yet about graduate school next year. 5 of 6 applications are submitted and the last one should be done by the end of the week. Thanks for asking.

A First Kiss!

Tonight I ran out to get come dinner (yes, I succumbed and did fast food). I came in and picked up a glass of water that was by the couch. Without looking I just put the glass to my lips to take a drink. As I did so, something tickled/bothered my lip. I pulled the glass away and brushed off what I figured was a hair on my top lip. Then I put the glass back to my lip and felt it again. So, I pulled the glass away and to remove the hair and found the problem...there was a box elder bug crawling along the rim of the glass! ICK!!!!! It was all I could to not drop the glass as I raced into the kitchen to drown the bug in the sink. It’s been awhile and yet I still cringe at the thought of this first kiss. YIKES!!!!!!! That's one first kiss I hope to never ever remember!!!! Time to call the exterminator!

Vest Buttons Popping

Yesterday I would have made my Grandpa B proud of me....I don't have lots of memories of my dad's dad (aka Grandpa B). He was still working as a doctor when I was young and then when he retired, I was about 11, he had 2 strokes so he wasn't as active as he might have been. Plus he and Grandma lived in Cedar City and Salt Lake City, Utah and later Palm Springs, California when I was growing up so visits from Chicago were somewhat infrequent.

Anyway...my most vivid memory of Grandpa B was from when I was probably between 3 and 5. We were walking down the street I think in California (we were living there at the time) and I remember that I was walking ahead of Mom, Dad, Grandpa B and Grandma B. There were some puddles along the sidewalk. Being a typical child I would come to a puddle and stomp through it, stomp, stomp, stomp....After doing this a couple times, Grandpa came up and took my hand then showed and taught me how to carefully walk through a puddle without splashing water all over myself and those around me; "Heal toe, heal toe." “Gently.” “No, don’t splash.” “Careful.” “There you go.” “That’s right, good job.” It took me a few tries to figure out how to do it correctly while Grandpa patiently held my hand and reminded me, "Heal toe, Heal toe..." While holding his hand and doing it without splashing a couple times, he let me walk through a puddle alone again. On my own again…wanting to impress...showing what’d I’d learned…so proudly…STOMP, STOMP, STOMP….of course the adults all giggled at me. Back then puddles equaled splashing, that’s why they were on the sidewalks, wasn’t it? To this day, I think of that lesson whenever I walk through puddles and it always makes me smile.

Yesterday between work and school I stopped to fill my car. I pulled up to the pump, turned off the car, opened the door and discovered I was in a HUGE puddle. This wasn’t your average sized puddle…it was big enough to surround most of my car and I was worried that my car might sink into the depths of this puddle. Rather than restart the car and move to another pump (call me lazy or a conservationist either’s fine with me) I just carefully got out and walked through the puddle. However, thanks to Grandpa’s expert teaching the cuffs of my extra long jeans didn’t even get damp! A life lesson I’m grateful to have learned and eventually mastered…Grandpa, thanks for the memory and thanks for teaching me!

Thought to sleep on...

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie

This quote was shared in church on Sunday, February 3, 2008 as part of a lesson in Relief Society on gratitude. Since that lesson, I've been following the recommendation of the presidency to be more grateful and I've noticed a HUGE difference! There is real power in being grateful, I felt it almost instantly. I'll be posting this quote where I can see it frequently. Eventually I think it needs to be committed to memory but that's for when school's not in session.

What's in a name?

I saw this on my cousin Janette's blog and thought I'd see what they said about my name, as unique as it is....Here are the results regardless of whether or not I agree (please don't hold this against me):

What JaNae Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?