Found Not Lost

One site that I have been subscribed to for a while because it has been tremendously helpful in my blogging attempts is Kikolani.com. Whether you’ve been blogging a while or just getting started, Kikolani.com has a ton of useful information for you. One series that I look forward to from Kikolani.com is her weekly Fetching Friday post. Every Friday, she posts about other blogs that she finds interesting that week. Kristi, the author of Kikolani.com, is an avid stumbler and Fetching Friday is a roundup of all the blogs she stumbled on.

I like Fetching Fridays because she organizes the posts she finds into categories that range from blogging, photography, to free seo tools. Here are how she breaks down some of the articles she stumbles on:

Blogging & Writing
Business & Finance
Graphic & Web Design
Make Money Online
Personal Development, Self Improvement & Health
Photography & Digital Art
Seach Engines/SEO
Social Media
Tech Security
Wordpress

Once in a while she would also post about weird and bizarre things she finds online. I don’t always have time to read all the links, but of the ones that I have followed, I was never disappointed in the content and always found something new and interesting.

Oh, and if you’re interested, Kristi also hosts the Do-Follow Blog Directory. If you don’t know what do-follow means, get on over there and learn more about it.

This is a site I just stumbled on recently, it’s called URDIW, short for You Are Doing It Wrong. It’s a website where people can submit a sentence about something, anything that people are doing the wrong way. Some of them are quite funny.

If you’re on Twitter, you can follow their updates at http://twitter.com/urdiw.

Here’s a few examples of the wrongs that people submit on the site:

Peeing in the kiddie pool URDIW

Using WD40 as a sexual lubricant URDIW

Washing your cell phone in the sink after spilling soda on it URDIW

Thinking the US health care system is fine the way it is URDIW

Using the nordictrac to hang your clothes on URDIW

Complaining to the cop at a DUI checkpoint that he’s killing your buzz URDIW

Grabbing a knife by the blade URDIW

Pretty funny, yes? Check it out. Maybe you can submit something. Done anything wrong lately?

“We’ve listened to thousands of our readers and we know that the Southern woman is changing,” said editor in chief Eleanor Griffin, former editor-in-chief of Cottage Living. “She is embracing the future as much as she values the traditions of the past. She is busier than ever and wants to cultivate her own Southern style in a new, modern way.”

With that thought in mind, Southern Living, one of the country’s largest monthly consumer magazine, has undergone a major makeover to bring it more inline with the new Southern way of living.

As always, the magazine retains the features that has always made it special. It is loaded with new editorial franchises on home, interior decorating, gardening, food, travel and more. For instance, this new issue includes a section called “Made by Southern Hands” featuring local artists and craftsmen who make various items like jewelry, bird houses, all-natural soaps and one with design furniture from N.C. For those who are into doing things themselves, there’s even an article on how to build an outdoor fireplace.

I for one am always attracted to the food section and in this issue, staying true to its theme of honoring the old and celebrating the new South, there is a whole sections on how to make Southern favorites the old way and the new way. You know that the classic mac and cheese has got to be in the list, right? I’ll be among those complaining if this southern favorite was not included.

Check out the new issue next time you’re waiting at the checkstand at the grocery store. I’m sure you’re going to want to take the copy home. Southern Living is also online with even more bonus articles not included in the hard copy. If you’d like to subscribe and gain access to all the extras, just click here to subscribe to the new Southern Living.

I need to cut down on coffee. I could drink coffee from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. I like my coffee black and I like it strong. And because of that, I usually try to stop drinking coffee by noon. Just don’t tempt me late in the afternoon because I don’t have very strong will power and will surely succumb.

I ran across these cool looking espresso machines by Nespresso the other day. Now our coffee/espresso/cappuccino machine is on its last leg and I don’t want us caught in between machines so we’ve been shopping for our next brewer. I really liked the looks of this red machine. The only thing that I am hesitant about is that when you buy these machines, I think you also have to use the coffee capsules that are made to work with them. Now they are cute and all, but they are not exactly the kind of thing that you can pick up at the grocery store at 9 pm on a Saturday night when you run out of coffee. Having to order coffee ahead of time would be just wishing too much for a disorganized person like me.

Which reminds me, I have to call our insurance carrier!

I first heard of this book this morning when a friend emailed me the link to the interview with William Kamkwamba on ABC.

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Author: William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Release Date: 9/29/2009
ISBN: 9780061730320; ISBN10: 0061730327
Pages: 288

SUMMARY:

“William Kamkwamba was born in Malawi, Africa, a country plagued by AIDS and poverty. Like most people in his village, his family subsisted on the meager crops they could grow, living without the luxuries—consider necessities in the West—of electricity or running water. Already living on the edge, the situation became dire when, in 2002, Malawi experienced the worst famine in 50 years. Struggling to survive, 14-year-old William was forced to drop out of school because his family could not afford the $80-a-year tuition.

Though he was not in a classroom, William continued to think, learn—and dream. Armed with curiosity, determination, and a library book he discovered in a nearby library, he embarked on a daring plan—to build a windmill that could bring his family the electricity only two percent of Malawians could afford. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and blue-gum trees, William forged a crude yet working windmill, an unlikely hand-built contraption that would successfully power four light bulbs and two radios in his family’s compound. Soon, news of his invention spread, attracting interest and offers of help from around the world. Not only did William return to school but he and was offered the opportunity to visit wind farms in the United States, much like the ones he hopes to build across Africa.

A moving tale of one boy’s struggle to create a better life, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is William’s amazing story—a journey that offers hope for the lives of other Africans—and the whole world, irrefutably demonstrating that one individual can make a difference.”

What an inspiring story! When most people moan and groan about not having the means to do something, a person like William comes along to prove the old phrase, “You can do anything you set your mind to”.

I haven’t had a chance to read this book yet since I just found out about it this morning, but it is definitely in my ‘to-be-read’ list now. I wanted to share this with just because it made me feel so good just hearing about this story and how one determined person can persevere and make a difference. It’s not just some random story about a person making a fortune from opening a cigar store or something like that; he learned to build an electricity generating windmill, for God’s sake! And he did it by reading books written in a language that he wasn’t even that good at! I am definitely buying this book for me and my daughters to read.

Learn more about the author, William Kamkwamba, from his website and follow him on Twitter. What an interesting person!

We had just dozed off to sleep when my daughter bursts into our room, in a panic. The washer and dryer, located just by her bedroom, she claimed had sprung a leak and water has spilled onto the floor. My husband jumps out of bed in a frenzy. This is all we need, another problem with the plumbing after we just fixed a thousand dollar problem with the main line.

He comes back to bed after a few minutes and exclaimed, “Girls! It’s always a drama.” Luckily, he says the pipes didn’t bust as we initially assumed. What happened was, someone (don’t know who it could be ) fiddled with the handles on the faucet leading to the washer and didn’t sufficiently tighten them shut. He swore he’ll get one of those industrial handles to replace the flimsy one that’s on there now. I went to sleep.