Cabbage Patch Kids have returned!

So Team Mom recently informed me that Cabbage Patch Kids is celebrating their 25th Anniversary. Cabbage Patch Kids is releasing a new line of original cabbage patch dolls, meaning that each new ‘Kid will be an exact reproduction of an original. They’re being created using the original sculpts/molds and the same materials they used in the classics. And they’ll each still come with their own name and certificate of adoption. Team Mom was awesome enough to send me my very own 25th Anniversary Doll. It’s still in the box waiting for Angel Girl to open it on Christmas morning.

Obviously they timed this release to coincide with holiday shopping but I’m certain this re-release would have been a huge success at any time of year. How many of us don’t love our beloved ‘originals’, be they Cabbage Patch Kids or other toys. Sometimes we hate to see toys evolve. I know I’m excited for Angel girl to have her very own Cabbage Patch doll (and a doll that doesn’t do creepy stuff like blink her eyes and pee and poo and talk) and hopefully she’ll play with it a little more…gently, than I did.

My only memory of my cabbage patch doll is of an atrocious butch cut and her dingy unclothed body (who knows where doll clothes every disappear to) flung about on the floor or outside in the yard. Suffice it to say I was Tom boy. My Barbies, all 3 of them, faced the same fate. But I digress.

Were you old enough to remember the Cabbage Patch craze? I was but 2 so I don’t. Do you think A 25th Anniversary doll will be on your holiday shopping list? They are a limited time release. Are there other classic toys you’re hoping will someday return? I’m voting for Rainbow Brite. If I could get me an original Rainbow Brite Doll, some sprites and a DVD of all original episodes I would be a happy camper.

September 3, 2008 | Filed Under News | 21 Comments 

My sister must really like me!

Isn’t it wonderful when someone does something absolutely unexpected and nice? My sister did such a thing while I was out in Utah. If you’ve read my blog long you know I’ve been an avid Nintendo gamer for a long time. I remember watching some teenage boys demo Mario Brothers in a store when I was 7 years old. They were debating amongst themselves about whether or not Mario would die if he jumped in the water. I smugly told them he would. I thought I was hot stuff, knowing more than those teenagers. Anyhow, I’ve been very happy with my SNES for a number of years now, but I couldn’t help but greatly desire a Wii. With a Wii I could play all the new games and download the classics. But it has not been within the budget. I think I moaned to my sister once, a long time ago with absolutely no thought that she might want to do something about it. She announced to me one day a few weeks ago that, armed with her employee discount she had purchased a Wii just for me and that I could make small payments to her for it!! Happy happy joy joy!!

So we brought the little beauty home with us on the airplane and have been enjoying it ever since. Everybody usually has something fun they like to do for down time. Gaming is definitely one of mine.

What do you like to do for down time?

August 14, 2008 | Filed Under Gratitude, News | 25 Comments 

Reminded about how short life is

My mom and I were chatting yesterday and she informed me that two husbands, members of her LDS church ward, were killed this week. One of them drowned in a boating accident and the other, a father of three girls ages 8 to 14 was hit while riding his motorcycle.

I taught the oldest daughter of the latter in Sunday school when she was 4 years old. And I was friends with the the younger brother of the former as a teen. I’m so terribly saddened by this news. And what a loss for all the member of my mothers ward family and for their personal families.

Sometimes I feel like procrastinating on self improvement, reading my scriptures, spending more time with my family, etc. because I figure another day will always come. But what if it doesn’t? Am I ready if it doesn’t?

July 14, 2008 | Filed Under News | 7 Comments 

Wordpress.com or Blogger.com?

I’d like to look at what I think are the pros and cons of each hosting service and then talk about why self hosted wordpress trumps both. :D

Customization
Blogger - You can edit templates, styles and colors to your hearts content. There are few boundaries on how you can make your Blogger blog look.
Wordpress.com - You cannot edit your template at all and background and color modification are only available as an upgrade which costs $15 per year.

Image Files
Blogger - There is no image storage in your blogger.com blog. So if you want to post a picture you’ve posted previously, you must either upload it again or find the post it was pasted in and copy the code.
Wordpress.com - Great Image storage with the additional option of uploading .doc and .pdf files

Private Blogs
Blogger - You can make a blog open to invited users only
Wordpress.com - You can make a blog open to invited users only. In addition you can make a single post on a public blog, private and give only users of your choice a password to view it.

Statistics
Blogger - You can add a visitor stastic tracking service if you want.
Wordpress.com Visitor stats are available in your dashboard and include: three most viewed posts, searches which led people to your blog and number of visits per day, week or month.

Static Pages - These are set pages such as an About me page.
Blogger - No static page option
Wordpress.com - Available and listed in a separate menu for users to click on.

Comments
Blogger - Includes visual confirmation to try to deflect spam and includes comment moderation. Comments open in a pop up window or an entirely new page altogether.
Wordpress.com - Includes comment moderation, Akismet Spam protection (which is awesome) and comment forms appear at the bottom of a post instead of in a new window. The administrator also had the option to edit a comment if needed.

Email
Blogger - Visitors are not required to leave their email address.
Wordpress.com Visitors re required to leave their email address but it will not be made public.

Widgets
Bogger - Offers numerous widgets including - Slideshow, Newsreel, Videos, HTML/Javascript, Text, Link List, Picture, AdSense, Labels, Archives and more
Wordpress.com - Text, Link List, Categories, Archives, HTML, Post Calendar and a few more. Wordpress.com widgets do not allow javascript so you can’t use Adsense, goodreads badges or anything else with javascript in it.

Wordpress.com worked very well for me for quite a while. My personal favorite wordpress.com features:

* I loved that commenters had to leave email addresses because sometimes I really wanted to respond to someone’s comment in a more personal manner. Also, if I have a giveaway I can gather all the entrants email addresses and send out an email announcing the winner.
* I really like static pages
* An image directory is a must for me
* I like having a comment form at the end of a post. Blogger comment pages seem to take a while to load
* Wordpress.com doesn’t go down nearly as much as blogger does. As far as I’ve noticed anyhow.

One thing I really hated about wordpress.com was not being able to modify my look the way I wanted. But the other features were more important to me than that one when I was deciding what platform to use. I went with wordpress.com and I would recommend it above Blogger for anyone who doesn’t have it in their budget to, or is intimidated by self hosting.

Now I’ll just state the fact. If you do have it in your budget and you’re not afraid to learn a little about managing your own blog, Wordpress 2.5 trumps them both! Why? Because it basically offers the best of both platforms and more: Thousands of themes to download, free to modify your theme yourself or with the help of a designer, thousands of widgets/plugins, SEO advantages, easy installation and upgrades via Fantastico (make sure your webhoster of choice has it), search friendly permalinks for your posts and it’s very easy to figure out how to use.

So if you do decide to make the switch, I recommend Wordpress 2.5 and my blog hosting site shown in the ad below. And of course if you do make the switch I’ll be happy to guide you with initial set up if you’re struggling.

Web hosting

May 29, 2008 | Filed Under News | 18 Comments 

Wanna pay for my web hosting service?

This post is partly in response to an email one of my readers sent me.

I haven’t done any advertisements on this site but I’m going to make an exception on this one, because if three of you sign up with SiteGround by clicking the banner below, then I get a free year of hosting. That? Would be very nice for me.

Web hosting

I’ve only been with SiteGround for two days, but really I’m hooked. Here’s why:

1. The price. They have a $5.95 a month package with free wordpress installation. The only downside is that you don’t pay by the month, you pay by the year. But I actually haven’t seen any other web hosting sites that let you do otherwise.
2. They offer SUPER easy Wordpress 2.5 installation. Like, you click twice and it’s installed for you.
3. They seriously offer hundreds of step by step picture guided tutorials for anything you can think of.
Like if you want to change wordpress themes, how to upload and access files, etc.
4. You can also host your own domain name on siteground (additional fee) and pay for id protection so people can’t look up your personal information on WHOIS.

I’ve found it very easy to navigate and very straight forward.
So, I’m just thrilled to finally be on my own server and off of wordpress.com. Now I can really get my design tweaked. Before, I could only change the header and background colors and could only use the theme options provided there. Now I can download free themes from anywhere off the web or even create my own or pay some to make a design for me (3 column here I come). I still have many of the great features wordpress.com provides and now I have access to even more. I can finally add certain badges and widgets I couldn’t before because wordpress.com strips out javascript.
So yeah - sign up by clicking on the banner above. I know you want too. :)

May 28, 2008 | Filed Under News | 11 Comments 

The winner of American Idol is David….

….COOK?

What?!?

WHAT?!?!?!?!?

Sure he’s good but he’s so generic. I am shocked. Absolutely shocked and yes, disappointed. I think Archuleta is infinitely more talented. I know Archuleta will be hugely successful in spite of his loss, but is anyone else in disbelief over this news?

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May 21, 2008 | Filed Under News | 13 Comments 

How neat

This is a neat story.

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April 6, 2008 | Filed Under News | 6 Comments 

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