Resuming Womanhood

I have a very dear friend named Stacey who has just started a new blog called Resuming Womanhood. She has been diagnosed with Polycistic ovary syndrome and has just started a new medical regime to counteract the effects of PCOS. Please take a moment to go over and encourage her on her road to recovery.

I'm very proud of you Stacey!

Found Treasure

My girlfriend Kathy is a thrift store and garage sale junkie. Her keen senses and un-erring eyes have led her to many beautiful and valuable items, all of which adorn her home. Like the time she found a KitchenAid mixer, still in it's box, unused, for $50.00. (I offered her $100 for it, but she wouldn't sell.)

But I believe yesterday was the coup de grace as far as bargains go. While shopping at our local Good Will store she came upon what she believed was a diamond ring. The price? Fifty cents. So she bought it and immediately took it to the jewelry store. The real value? Two THOUSAND dollars!!

She said she thought it was worth the $.50 because the band said 14K gold. But when the jeweler appraised it she about lost her cookies. 14K white gold band with a 1/3K beautifully brilliant and clear diamond, size 4-1/2 ring in it's original velvet covered box. Someone screwed up - royally!

So, see people. Treasures are out there - all you have to do is keep your eyes and mind open. Happy hunting!

Why Do I Blog?

(Originally written and published on MySpace, Sunday, March 16, 2008.)

If you’ve read my profile at all, you’ve seen that I have a blog called Tip of the Iceberg and that I mostly just read blogs. Food blogs are some of my favorite reads but I also have gardening blogs, tech blogs, photography blogs and scrapping blogs that I visit every day to discover what new and interesting thing I might learn from these talented and tireless people.

When I started blogging I tended to stay more centered on food, but as summer came on I found myself writing about my garden and yard. Then, when we did some remodeling, I photographed each change and wrote about it. When we went to a party or had a fundraiser in town, I would photograph that as well and write a bit about it.

Then there were the posts about my childhood - growing up in a small town in Iowa. I think, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was writing for my children to understand who I was and where I was coming from. Life experiences shape every one of us and I wanted to tell someone about mine. Or maybe I just want to remind myself who I am.

Now it appears I’m at a crossroads. I’m not certain which direction I want my blog to go. My "voice" has almost been silenced. What do I want to write about? How personal do I want to be? Will I offend anyone if I write something too personal?

Blogging has brought me friends from around the world. People whom I never would have known except through our writing. These people are unique and wonderful in their own way and my life would somehow be less if I couldn’t see and interact with them daily.

I read a site called BlogHer that is a collaboration of many women bloggers writing about women’s issues of today. Jennifer Satterwhite wrote a post called "Blogging Life’s Harsh Family Realities" on Saturday because it was her eighth anniversary of being drug free. She ended her post with the following:

"The bottom line is blogging has power. A mighty strong power. Blogging connects people. We can find others who get where we have been, where we are and where we are going. And that is vital at certain times in our lives. So, bloggers, it is okay to bare your soul. Some of us need it. Most of us admire it. And there are even a few of us who are counting on it."

I hope she’s right.

(Edit: Link to BlogHer fixed. I can't find the Satterwhite post to link to it. Sorry!)

Spite & Malice

No - this is not going to be a rant about shitty neighbors or back-stabbing friends.  Spite & Malice is the name of a 2-4 player cut-throat solitaire game, also called "Cat & Mouse" or "Skip-bo". 

I don't exactly remember how I first became aware (addicted) to the game, but I've been playing it for years now.  But I don't play it with cards - not real ones anyway.  I use a nifty little computer program written by Mari J. (Soderberg) Michaelis.  Here's her site where you can see the program yourself (maybe even buy it).

Another neat thing about the program is that you can actually play on-line against other people from around the world.  Many players (even Mari herself) hold monthly tournaments where players vie for the honor of becoming that month's "World's Best Spite Player".  I don't compete in these any more because...well, because I'm just too competitive.  When I got assigned a person to play against I was all "Come ON, already!  Let's PLAY!"  That doesn't make for lasting friendships.

In 2004 some of the players decided they wanted some face time and put together the first ever Spite & Malice Union.  We met in Delaware and played cards, went sight-seeing, drinking, eating and dancing.  Or just sat around and visited.  It was so wonderful to actually meet and speak with the person who had been soundly beating you in tournaments for years.  And to meet Mari herself. 

I took pictures.  Lots of pictures.  But in an effort to clean out my computer, I uploaded the older pictures onto Google's Web Album.  Sigh!  Now the only way to share them is to give you the link to the album of our First Spite & Malice Union in Delaware.  Feel free to look around at my other albums.  They're public.  Many of them have been published on my blog as well.

Wondering what brought this post on?  I found a couple of the people I met in Delaware on MySpace yesterday.  This is for you Bo and Robyn.  I'm so glad I found you again!