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Love come softly, brush against my heart
Yearning for its closeness, not ever to depart
In God’s Infinite Wisdom, I place my life,
And trust for tomorrow, what be, what might
Whatever path this love may go
It carries with it the willingness,
to let it go
And hope that one day, it will again, brush against my heart ....
To stay forever.
Karen A. 05/30/06 
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ME, MYSELF AND I ONCE AGAIN
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Nov 7, 2006 10:59 pm
552 Views
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For the most part, I do just fine living with me, myself, and I. We get along pretty well.
However, sometimes I don't like myself, but we talk it over and get it straightened out. Sometimes me cries and I say "why me?" Why are you crying? Usually, after a little self talk, me is better, and I feel better too.
Sometimes I talk to myself, and laugh silly over what I say. I have to be careful not to let me get in the way too much. When that happens, I lose my focus.
Sometimes though, me, myself and I just isn't enough. It's late in the evenings when all is quiet, and I picture everyone else tucked away in their homes, family around ... room mates to talk to, lovers embracing. That's when this little threesome wishes there was a fourth.
Not sad, just expressing myself.
~Karen
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18
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A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS
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Nov 7, 2006 1:44 pm
491 Views
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Question #1: I told my neice I would ask my friends here. She has 100's of digital pictures on her computer that she wants to print out and is considering an online company. She would download her pictures on their site, then order prints. She figures this will be a cheaper way to go then buying the kodak paper and printing them out herself, or taking them to a local business, i.e. Walmart to have them do it. Her question is ... has anyone used an online company, and if so, were you satisfied with going that route. Were the quality of the pictures good?
Question #2: The strangest thing. I did a blog recently titled "I Need to Apologize" to apologize to some if I had offended them by making light of their concern for the handle name of one of our bloggers. I just noticed that I now have a note from SFF on that blog that says:
"Your post has been denied due to the following reason: Banned Topics (hate/weapons/under age). Please update your post to get it re-reviewed."
For the life of me, I cannot figure out what was hateful in the context. I certainly didn't have any weapons and... I am not under age. 
Just seemed odd.
Cheers,
Karen
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13
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RECIPE FOR CHOW CHOW ~ for Kora and anyone else who is interested
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Nov 6, 2006 10:54 am
527 Views
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I got the recipe from Mom ~ she got it from a Kerr recipe book.
CHOW CHOW
12 1/2 lb (apprx 2 doz) green tomatoes
8 large onions
10 green bell peppers
3 Tbsp salt
Chop tomatoes, onions and green peppers, place in bowel, add salt, and let stand covered overnight. (what she gave me was finely chopped)
Next day: drain, and add chopped hot peppers. The recipe calls for 6 peppers, Mom used 4 ... and it had just the right amount of tang to it. The peppers are optional.
Add:
1 quart of vinegar
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp Mustard (powder)
few bay leaves
1 3/4 c sugar (Mom used just a cup)
Allow to come to a slow boil until tender and cook for about 15 minutes.
Pack tightly into sterilized jars, and seal.
I hope I got it all correct. I would imagine you could do a search on the web under chow chow and get all kinds of stuff ... (including chow chow dogs  )
This is a condiment. Someone mentioned eating it with cornbread and beans. I mentioned that to Mom and she said "oh yes, always"
Abelle2 commented that she had a friend who made "end of the garden" chow chow, and chopped up everything left over in her garden ... so I suppose one could put just about whatever they wanted into it.
That Bill Guy mentioned having both sweet and sour chow chow.
Cheers,
~Karen
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9
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Chow Chow and other things
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Nov 5, 2006 11:27 pm
518 Views
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Here it is, time for me to go to bed and I'm eating crackers and chow chow. My Mom and Uncle Dad came by the other day and she brought me a jar of some chow chow she had just made. Its pretty good. I'm not sure of all that is in it, but I guess its used as a condiment. At least that is how my family uses it. Taste good on crackers, that's all I can say
I finally got my new computer up and running and all my old files transferred over. My studies were set on the "back burner" all this past week. Now, come bright and early tomorrow morning, I'll put on a pot of coffee ... probably a 12 cup perk instead of my usual eight.
I'm looking forward to getting back into my study routine.
So, I don't have much to write about. I haven't been waking up in the middle of the night thinking of things to blog like I use to. I guess the honeymoons over, you think?
I want to wish you all a great week ahead. Hardly seems possible that the holidays are looming up in front of us. I love Thanksgiving, its actually my favorite holiday. I think mostly because I love the fall, and the two go good together. A time for my family to get together and to be thankful.
 ~Karen
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12
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I'M GOING NEXT YEAR
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Nov 3, 2006 6:13 pm
522 Views
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I am going to start planning for next years bash. I just finished viewing the pictures fossilefetcher put up, and I lauged so hard! He did a great job with the captions. Those of you who went, it looks like you all had such a great time.
Thanks to all of you who have been sharing your stories about the event, and letting us who were not able to go, a chance to enjoy it through you.
Karen
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11
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I NEED TO APOLOGIZE
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Nov 2, 2006 10:48 am
450 Views
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I owe some of my fellow bloggers and blog readers an apology. Maybe it isn't necessary, but because I am feeling bad about it I know it is necessary for me.
Our good friend ThatBillGuy, otherwise known as Hairpieguy, has recently been blogging about changing his handle because of it being offensive to many.
Below is a portion of the comment I just left on his latest blog.
"...I want to apologize for taking so lightly what others felt was very offensive. I did joke about it, which may give the impression to some that it wasn't offensive to me.
There are a lot of handles I've seen on this website that are very offensive to me, and my reaction to them is that of disgust for the guy behind the handle. I figure if he broadcasts $ e x you al innuendos in his handle, he's most likely not someone I would take an interest in.
Somehow, with you, your handle wasn't an issue. I think it was mostly because I "saw" right away that you were a decent guy, who wrote nice heart warming blogs which told me a lot about your character.
I think it is a very respectful thing you are doing in changing your handle."
If I have offended anyone by my disrespect for your feelings, please forgive me.
~Karen
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7
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THE GOOD OLD DAYS ~ IT JUST ISN'T THE SAME
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Nov 1, 2006 11:26 pm
537 Views
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I currently have dial up and today while on the internet I got a message from my provider that I had been disconnected and needed to reconnect. No problem, its happened before ... so I clicked to reconnect and then got a message telling me that I had no dial tone. I checked my phone, and sure enough, complete silence. At first I thought it might be some glitch in my computer, so I shut it down. Still no dial tone.
I grabbed my cell phone, being thankful for modern technology and the fact that I had a way to call my phone company to let them know of the problem. When the call went through, I got a recording (not a new story) and proceeded to punch a number, listen to a recording, punch another number, listen to another recording, punch ANOTHER number, listen to ANOTHER recording. Needless to say, I was quickly becoming agitated. At the end of it all, a recorded message told me that if I wanted to PUNCH YET ANOTHER NUMBER, they would send a tech out to check my phone lines, and depending on if the problem was outside or inside, I may have to pay a pretty piece of change to get my phone back in working order.
I didn't push ANOTHER NUMBER, but hung up and sat in silence for a bit, trying to decide what my next move would be. I then called my Mom on my cell phone to let her know what was going on. She began to drill me on what I had done, and then realizing that the tone of my voice hinted at a "mild" agitation, slowly building ... she apologized and said she immediately "wanted to fix the problem" and all she was doing was creating more frustration.
We laughed at that point, and I told her I missed the good old days when all you had to do was call up the phone company, talk to a REAL live person, and they could tell you almost immediately if it were an inside or outside problem. Plus, it didn't matter which side of the line the problem existed, they would take care of it.
Mom said, yes ... "that's when we'd talk to Charlie." Ah, yes, Charlie. He was the man who owned and ran the small telephone company in the area we lived. For many of the years I lived at home, we were on a party line. I believe our ring was two shorts and a long … or was it four shorts?  Whenever there was a problem, all we needed to do was contact Charlie and he’d get things in motion and get the problem resolved. Course, sometimes it would take a few days, but at least we got to talk to a real person.
After venting my frustration, I took off for a while. I knew a bit of fresh air would help. When I got back, my phone was working just fine. Frustration dissipated.
So, that was my day.
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8
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Blah, Blah, Blah
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Oct 31, 2006 9:51 pm
497 Views
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Hi friends,
Well, I'm still on my old pc. They were not able to transfer my email files to my new computer, so I am in the process of cleaning those out and saving what I want to save. I saved so much! My gosh. Well, its like letters you know. You hate to toss them out.
Its a long tedious job, but I am enjoying going through old emails. A lot of history in the past few years. Yes, you read right, I've got about three years worth of saved emails. Mind you, I don't save EVERYTHING but .....
Anyway, I came across an email from my brother. He is always writing something funny to me. Do you ever have a blah day? Well, here is how he handled it:
"Dear Sis,
I have had a "blah" day too. I had to work. I was rather "blahing', much like any other "blah" day where minutes seem to have the characteristics of hours. And it seems that on "blah" days, nobody talks coherently, just "blah, blah, blah", you just wanna say "go stick it in your Blah!" {=< }"
So, if someone is giving you a lot of blah on a blah day, just tell them to stick in in their blah!
Hopefully I'll be back on here full time real soon. I've been coming in and reading a little but there is so much to catch up on!
BIG HUG,
~Karen
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7
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Down Time
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Oct 27, 2006 1:40 pm
552 Views
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Dear Good People,
I went out today and got me a new computer. I'm going to take this one in and have them transfer all my important stuff, and then I should be all set up and ready to go!
Anyway, I'll be without a computer for a short while. Heaven help me if I go through withdrawals... you all pray for me, okay?
Have a wonderful weekend.
Love, Karen
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15
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THE STRANGER WHO RESCUED ME
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Oct 23, 2006 6:46 pm
640 Views
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It was in the late 1970’s. I was doing some catch up work at the office on a Saturday afternoon. No one else was around except the building supervisor, whose name was Jake.
The peace and quiet of the office allowed me to give my full attention to my work and I was enjoying the uninterrupted time. It was getting late in the afternoon when Jake came into the office to check on me and to let me know he was on his way home. Since I did not have a key, he agreed to leave by a side door where he would leave the outer fence unlocked, and I was to lock it when I left. Seemed simple enough to me.
I finished up my work, grabbed my purse, and walked through the other offices to the door I was to exit out of. This door lead out into an outdoor patio area where employees would sit and have their lunch during the warm weather season. A black rod iron fence enclosed the patio from the parking area, and it circled around the side of the building.
As I exited, and closed the door, I turned and made sure it was securely locked, which it was. I then approached the gate to walk out into the parking lot, and was met with a sudden resistance to my pushing the gate open. Now, I don’t know if Jake did it on purpose, he never admitted to any wrong doing, but he was known for playing practical jokes that were not very practical, or funny. The gate was locked.
So, here I was, in between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. Nowadays all I’d have to do is reach in my purse and grab my cell phone and call someone for help. Such was not the case back then. The fence around the patio area was high enough that I couldn’t climb over it, besides the fact that the posts were pointed at the top and I was not willing to risk bodily damage.
Finally, after laughing some and then fuming and getting angry with Jake, I walked around the side of the building, which was adjacent to a side street. As I am standing there trying to figure out what I’m going to do, a car turns down the street. I quickly wave and yell to get the drivers attention. Ah, he sees me. He comes to a stop and rolls his window down. I tell him the predicament I am in and ask him if he would make a call for me to have someone come unlock the gate.
Now, keep in mind, it was late in the day and very quiet around the area. I saw no one else around. This total stranger smiled at me and said that instead of calling someone, he’d just help me get over the fence. I didn’t give it too much thought, and with relief accepted his suggestion.
After pulling into the parking area, he reached into the trunk of his car and pulled out what appeared to be a huge empty paint bucket. He handed it over the fence to me and told me to use it to stand up on next to the fence. He then had me put my arms around his neck, and wrapping his arms around my back, lifted me up over the fence. Once over, he held me for just a nano second longer than I was comfortable with, and newspaper headlines flashed through my brain “woman’s body found dumped in the Columbia River!” He then smiled up at me and gently placed me on my own two feet.
My face bright red, I quickly thanked him for his help, and he went on his merry way.
I then walked around to the back of the parking area where my car was at, and low and behold whom did I see but my good old buddy Jake. He was all apologetic but snickered anyway.
I can look back on it now and laugh about it, but you can be sure I wasn’t laughing then.
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