Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Wednesday Musings- On Being a Good Neighbour

I was raised with two very strong beleifs. One is that lying is wrong and two that a good neighbour is worth more than a good friend. I did not understand what was meant by the second one until I was 22 years old.

My mother was hurt in an accident when I was 21 and she needed some special equipment to help her get out of bed and stuff. We could not afford it so our community held a benefit dance to help us. During the dance I looked around the hall and noticed two things I didn't know most of these people and only a handful were friends to my parents. When I asked dad about it, he said, "These are good neighbours".

So what is a good neighbour? My definition is quite simple...Someone who helps others out of the goodness of their heart not because they want something in return but because that person is in need. These days about the only time you see this is when there is a disaster like the Haiti thing or around Christmas time. I suppose in this day and age that is to be expected. We have all become a bit narcissistic in our approach to life and living it. A bit too much me, me, me and not nearly enough us or we.

Does that sound harsh? It is a bit. I am no exception to this by the way but I do try to do my bit for good causes all the time not just some of the time. I am not crowing or expecting any praise for what follows. It is just what I do.

I contribute to Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy and Canadian Diabetes Association every month with gifts of clothing, household goods and other stuff. During the summer I help my husband with his work with the  Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario (SCAGO) by attending events and helping out with raffles and such. I don't often give to beggars but will if I have an extra toonie or three on me and if I see the ones selling the paper I almost always buy one. Most of the jobs I like were for charities or community agencies. This year I'm planning on joining a visitors program and maybe a shopping program for seniors.

This is what I do and I don't need or want any recognition for it. What I would like is for more people to follow my example!

That being said I am a bit peeved at 13 Division here in Toronto because they have decided that I deserve an award and are giving both my husband and I one on the 28th of this month. Its called a good citizen award but they would be better to call it the good neighbour award I think. Anyway I'm peeved for two reasons: One I have to get dressed up and two I don't think I've done anything special just what was needed at the time.




Tuesday, February 9, 2010

More Interesting links from Stumble-Upon

Birthday #1 Cool site. Find out the title and artist of the song that was number 1 on the day or any other day of interest

Pizza Pretzels- YUM! These are definitely on my list to try and yes I did add her to my list of web-sites to follow.

Write it Sideways
- I haven't had much time to look over this site but as an aspiring author wanna-be I collect writing sites.

TypeNavigator
- Find a font using their engine and the image in your head even if you don't know what it's called

The FATFREE Recipe Collection - Last one for the day. SOmething we all can use.

Food Diary-Day 2

Let me start this entry by saying today was a bad food day. One of those days when I just didn't have the gumption to do it right. These happen. In my case quite often.

I was up at 8:30 this morning but didn't eat until 12:30. Thankfully I didn't exercise either so the deficit isn't that much but the choices were poor. I drank one cup of chai tea between 9:00 and 12:30 with milk & sweetner of course.


Lunch consisted of some chinese noodles, sausage rounds & mixed veggies and another cup of chai.



followed by 5 butter cookies



I drank a cup of Earl Grey tea but then started getting tired of tea so I made a pitcher of Kool-Ade without sugar. When I poured myself a glass I mixed in 2 packets of sweetener.


Dinner was Hamburger helper Lasagne made with a half pound of hamburger instead of the whole pound.



Followed by a shake from D Q made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries



Tomorrow I pick up my first Good Food Box. I'll take a photo of it and let you see what I'm talking about.


Sapore Di Mare- Scrapbook art

See previous message for the terms of use and a preview of the kit.





A quick page. both the PSP version & the png version have been uploaded to 4-shared

 
A lovely Valentines Avatar. Size is 2400 x 2400 here but the one at 4-shared is 300x 300 or approx 1" x 1"








Tuesday Topic- Scrapbooking

Ok so I have all of these scrap-book kits that I never used and I was wondering what to do with them. Then I got to thinking I can do a few quick pages and maybe an avatar  from them fairly easily. Then I thought if I find a photo I really want to use with the kit or series of photos I could do that too. Finally I thought if I'm going to do that I might as well put them here and maybe someone will be interested in downloading them. But where to store them since I gave up my 4-shared account. Maybe I can still use 4-shared I'll have to go check. One small thing though some of the kits came from sites where you have to buy them so while the quick pages will be available the kits themselves won't. I will however list what owners/creators info I have for each kit.

With that in mind the first kit I'll be using is called Sapore Di Mare by Illena. My creations using this kit will be in the next entry.

This is the kit preview:
 

Here are her terms of use (TOU): Terms of Use

I hope you like the freebie that you just downloaded.
If you received this freebie from anywhere other than the link
from my blog (http://elena-ilblogdielena.blogspot.com/),
please notify me immediately.

Please use my kits and designs for YOUR PERSONAL USE ONLY.
If your friends want my designs, please send them to my blog. Do not
send the download link or distribute my freebies in any way.

If you don’t like the color or size of one of my designs feel free to
change it or resize it but do not claim the altered designs as your own.
That is stealing.

Do not use any of my designs to create obscene, defamatory, or immoral works. 

Do not use any of my designs for any commercial projects or any projects that
produce income. Do not re-sell my designs or give them away. That is stealing.

If you have never designed a kit of your own, it does take a lot of time to create one;
so, if you like my work, I only ask that you leave me a comment on my blog. That is
the only compensation I get and it really makes a difference. I get motivated to make
more freebies!

You may use my designs to post layouts on your blogs but please credit me for my
designs. A link back to my blog would be greatly appreciated. I would love to see your
layouts so please let me know when you have posted any.

THANK YOU for following my Terms of Use. If you have any questions regarding these
terms or anything in general regarding my designs then please send me an email to me at
sunflowers4872@yahoo.it

All contents copyrighted 2009 by elena antonelli.

All PSD, JPG, or PNG files included are saved at a high resolution of 300dpi.

FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY, NO COMMERCIAL USE IS ALLOWED!

http://elena-ilblogdielena.blogspot.com/

Stumble Upon Fun

So I use Stumble-Upon. It is a add-in for FireFox which is my browser of choice. I like it because if I'm bored and don't want to do anything in particular I just click the Stumble-Upon button and it takes me to a random web site. Sometimes it's something I'm interested in, sometimes it isn't. But I never know what it will be and since I am an explorer at heart that pleases me. Got to thinking I might share a few of the sites I went to tonight. You might want to check them out yourself.

Practice Random Acts of Kindness: I believe this is something we should all do but sometimes I don't know what I can do so finding this was a great boon

Exercise Training Programs: I am always on the look out for new exercise ideas and this one actually looks like it makes it relatively painless

Native American Flute Evening Prayer: So sweet I love this type of music


Monday, February 8, 2010

Food Diary- First Entry


I start every day with Iron, Vitamin B, and Metamucil. I am required to take 3 iron tablets a day due to a chronic iron deficiency.


Breakfast was 1 cup of oatmeal with 1 cup of 1% milk and a single teaspoon of brown sugar. In the cup is Yerba Mate Sweet Energy tea with one Splenda and a dash of milk. I made a pot so drank 2 cups this size during the morning.


Lunch was 2 slices of Hardo bread and 1/2 cup of Tuna with mayonnaise. In the cup is the Yerba Tea.

I had to go out to do some shopping so while I was out I stopped at McDonalds and grabbed a coffee with 2 milks and a sweetener. I have a picture but this post is already pretty photo heavy.



Dinner was Salmon with lime, onion& olive oil, boxed scalloped potatoes with peas, carrots, corn & a couple of handfuls of cheddar. There was also a green salad with Japanese 5 spice salad dressing. I forgot to take a photo of the salad but otherwise I did pretty good with this today.

I drank a lot of tea. Along with the Yerba Mate I drank Marsala chai & ginger tea with honey. I've not been so good about the water but that will come. At least no coke today and only one coffee. Tomorrow I will do better.