It's true.  I'm tired of being www.whosablogwhore.blogspot.com.  I'm tired of the URL being blocked by some message boards and by the filter at my work.  I'm tired of the word 'whore'.  I'm tired of the title being a question...and a poorly worded question at that.

I'm looking for inspiration for a new blog name.  I kind of want something all encompassing.  I don't want to be pegged down as a craft blog or a mommy blog or a money blog or a blog about God.  I just want to be about life and what's happening and my journey on this life.

I'm also looking for guidance on how to change my blog url?  I don't want to pay anything to drop the blogspot.  I may or may not be tired of blogger as well.  I might want to move everything to WordPress...but how do I even do that?

Some names that are floating around in my head....are exactly none.  I'm tapped out.  Empty.  Used up.  There is nothing going on up there.  Everything I have tried is taken.  All the good stuff is taken.

I used to have another blog.  it's URL is/was www.thatnamesalreadytaken.blogspot.com.  I remember being tired of it because it was un-original and was all about weight loss (or lack of weight loss).  I remember not wanting this new blog's posts being attached to the old posts...but in the end I exported all the posts anyways.  I have another 2 blogs registered to my blogger (both from failed weight loss attempts as well)..but nothing seems to fit.

Anyways...I've spent the last hour trying variations on names and trying to think of something.

Best I can come up with is:
dinahsaid
lifeofdinah

And I think both of those suck.

Hello World!  Hello 2011!  Hello Interwebs!  Hello Myself!

I've been pretty much AWOL from blogging over this Christmas Season.  Things have been super busy with work (well, sort of--okay, not really), church,  crafting, preparing for the Holidays, visiting with family/friends, and then recovering from an allergic reaction (HIVES!  HIVES!  Everywhere!  On Me!  2 trips to the ER!  Eleventy!) for the better part of 10 days.  But I am Hive free now (mostly, I can still feel some lurking underneath my skin) and I am finally ready to welcome 2011 into my life.

I remember last year at this time I had so many hopes and plans and dreams for 2010...that all kind of fizzled when bad stuff started happening.  I didn't succeed at any of my goals for 2010...same as from 2009 (oh, heck, lets just say that I have never followed through on any resolutions EVER).  I didn't read 25 books (although I tried...I read more then I've ever read in years).  I didn't read the New Testatment.  Heck, in true Dinah fashion I never even made any goals for half of the areas I wanted to focus on in 2010.

I wrote this January 1st, 2010:

This year, for 2010, I don't want to jump into anything. I don't want to panic and write something just because that's what everyone else is doing. I really need to sit down and examine what I need to work on in 2010 and what I want to work on. I need to have a plan with steps, not just a vague statement. I want to work on what I am passionate about. I want to change myself and the world and my family.


I'm going to hopefully have about a weeks worth of meditative and reflective blog posts detailing what's going to happen in 2010. This might look like a month by month strategy. Or something more open, without any numerical boundaries.


I believe I want to focus on these areas in 2010:


1. Health And Wellness
2. Being Green
3. Money Matters
4. Career And Business
5. God's Call

I'm thinking I should just cross out 2010 in that block quote and replace it with 2011 and try again.  I know I'm on to something here...I know I am dagnabit!

This year, for 2010 2011, I don't want to jump into anything. I don't want to panic and write something just because that's what everyone else is doing. I really need to sit down and examine what I need to work on in 2010 2011 and what I want to work on. I need to have a plan with steps, not just a vague statement. I want to work on what I am passionate about. I want to change myself and the world and my family.


I'm going to hopefully have about a weeks worth of meditative and reflective blog posts detailing what's going to happen in 2010 2011. This might look like a month by month strategy. Or something more open, without any numerical boundaries.


I believe I want to focus on these areas in 2010 2011:


1. Health And Wellness
2. Being Green
3. Money Matters
4. Career And Business
5. God's Call

There.  That feels better.  Hah!  I've got a new(used) plan for 2011. 

Stay tuned!

I recently downloaded Picasa and have been having enormous fun playing around with it.  Picasa is part of Google and didn't turn my computer all wonky or give me a virus or give me the dreaded blue screen of death.  It went rather smoothly, once I figured out that it was on my desktop and not in an internet tab.

I made the banner for my blog in Picasa.  I followed this tutorial and was pleased to learn how simple it really is.

I have also discovered that with the collage feature I can also make these...

I am so thoroughly impressed!  Picassa also imported all my pictures from my blog, so I didn't tediously have to transfer everything over.

I won the smart cookies giveaway that Frugal Dreamer hosted in March on her blog. Yay me! The book arrived in the mail on Monday (the 19th). In the midst of being sick, I just kinda stuck it on the counter and went back to bed.

But on Tuesday (when I could pee without crying) I took a closer look at it, read the back cover, read the forward by Jean Chatzky (which reminds me, I wanted to Google Jean, she sounds like an interesting person), and decided this is going to be a kick ass book. What has drawn me to it so far is that a) these women did it together (how awesome is that?), b) they did it in response to a TV show (& I'm not the biggest Oprah fan, but com'n that is f'in cool), and c) this book not only highlights their successes, but also their failures (cause God knows, I sure don't succeed every time).+

I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this book. I'm hoping that this book will help motivate me about the personal finance situation, cause I have totally fallen off the bandwagon these past few months.

Thanks again FD! I love winning things. :)

It's okay. You can be honest.

There's been a big drop in readership for me (at least it seems) since I started Blogging about God and Church and Christianity more often.

I've been wondering if I should have a separate, more contemplative blog where it would only be about my discernment process or theological reflections. I don't want to scare people away from here, but it has been natural to blog about what I have been learning about myself and what I have been studying.

Or rather blogkeeping, cause there sure as heck isn't any real housekeeping going on today. :P

I widened my coloumns. Got tired of not having my pictures show up properly. & I made a new banner for my title. It's cute. It's not perfect, but a good start. I'm going to work on making a better one now that I've got the hang of it.

This year there is so much to say goodbye too. We're saying goodbye to 2009 and to the 2000's as well. This morning it's a whole new decade. This morning it's a whole new year. This morning is an empty slate. Clean and Fresh.

A new year, a new decade, a new day, a new month, brings us to new beginnings. In blog land the minute there is a new beginning of anything we make goals. In real life we make resolutions. On the interwebz we make lists and lists of what we will achieve and then promptly not follow through with anything. Or at least I do.

I looked at what my goals for 2009 were and in typical dinah fashion I did not follow through on any of them. It's not like they were stupid goals. It's not like they didn't apply to my life. It's not like they were unachievable. I just lost focus--as usual.

This year, for 2010, I don't want to jump into anything. I don't want to panic and write something just because that's what everyone else is doing. I really need to sit down and examine what I need to work on in 2010 and what I want to work on. I need to have a plan with steps, not just a vague statement. I want to work on what I am passionate about. I want to change myself and the world and my family.

I'm going to hopefully have about a weeks worth of meditative and reflective blog posts detailing what's going to happen in 2010. This might look like a month by month strategy. Or something more open, without any numerical boundaries.

I believe I want to focus on these areas in 2010:

1. Health & Wellness
2. Being Green
3. Money Matters
4. Career & Business
5. God's Call

These are basically what I presently blog about, so my first challenge is to learn how to translate my ramblings into something concrete that I can and will follow through with.

I want 2010 to be the year of action for dinah.

I think this is the skin I've decided on.

It makes me feel....different. It feels like fireworks, if that makes any sense.

I'm tired of this skin. It doesn't look so crisp and fresh to me anymore. I'm ready for something different. I'm browsing and googling....Get ready for a change folks.

It was exactly 1 year ago that I resurrected the Blog and started posting on a regular basis again. Time has really flown! In that post I wrote about how there were 3 big things going on in my life...

1. Getting Finances Back on Track. Never should 2 spenders marry. NEVER. It leads to financial disarray. It leads to 80% of our income being spent on dining out, booze, and smokes. The last 3 years have been carefree and fun...but alas the party is over. WE ARE ON A DEBT DIET.

2. All Things Crafty. I'm a crafting machine. I like to think about it. I like to do it. I like to talk about it. I like to write about. I'm feeling the craftiness.

3. Discerning a Call. There's this squiggly, niggly feeling at the back of my head that I should be (need to be) doing something different. Like there's a bigger plan for me.

& it's true. I've mainly focused on those 3 things for the past year and I will probably continue to do so for the next year.

Alrighty folks, time to out yourselves...

I hope everyone has a great day today

My story is up there! Total shameless bragging on my part even though I know Gail posts all the ones she receives, but I still feel special.

I've spent the last few days sick....again. We are simply playing pass the illness at our house. This morning I am playing catch up with all the Blogs I follow. I love catching up on what y'all have been doing while I have been laying in bed having crazy dreams.