Glowing Girl

I was on MadeBig.com today and found this question. There were some really good answers that I realized I could use. I decided to blog about this because I figured that some other people out there could also use some of these suggestions on what to do for the 4th of July.

• We have a huge family reunion I really enjoy it every year.
• Some friends of ours invite us over every year to have a BBQ and to watch fireworks at their home. We go every year and there is sooo much food. It is fun because there are people of all ages. It feels like family:)
• We always get together with family and friends, usually have a bar-b-q and often attend a rodeo in the evening with some of the family. It is a great American tradition to celebrate this country and patriotism with those near and dear to us. We have so much to be grateful for! I always get a lump in my throat when we stand at the arena for the National Anthem. We do live in the greatest land in the world and I hope we teach our children and remember what the 4th of July is all about. Thanks to all you families of our military who may not be together this holiday. Know that we appreciate you and your willingness to stand and serve for freedom so the rest of us can sleep well at night. We remember you. Be blessed!
• I will go see the fireworks with my family at night.
• We usually go visit my husbands grandmother, she lives near a huge lake. Its a little mini reunion with some of his family. The kids love to swim there and one of his cousins has a wave runner that they all take turns on. We all bring food to share, and later they have fireworks. Hopefully the weather will be good. Its always a lot of fun.

I really liked those answers just because they all pertain to spending time on the 4th with Family and Friends.

If you would like to add any ideas that either you have or that you do on the 4th of July feel free to comment and I will add it in for others to see.

Because the 4th of July is in 6 days I decided to get myself in the mood for the 4th of July, I thought that one way I could do that would be to do some research on our nations flag.  Some of the information that I found was quite interesting to me.

 Congress first authorized the United States Flag on June 14, 1777, the day we currently celebrate Flag Day in America. This date is also significant in that it qualifies our flag as the third oldest of the National Standards of the world, even older than Britain’s Union Jack.

The flag was First flown from Fort Stanwix, on the site of the present city of Rome, New York, on August 3, 1777, the flag had a tumultuous beginning, going through the Battle of Oriskany when it was only three days old on August 6, 1777.

The flag’s original design called for a star and a stripe for each state, making thirteen of each, to correspond to the original thirteen colonies. In 1791, Vermont was admitted to the union, followed by Kentucky in 1792. The number of stars and stripes was accordingly raised to fifteen. As other states joined, it was clear something would have to be done about the ever-expanding flag. An act of Congress in 1818 reduced and restricted the number of stripes on the flag to thirteen. A star would be added for each new state.

The individual stars depicting the states represent the power of our Federal Constitution, which reserves to the States their individual sovereignty, except as to rights delegated by them to the Federal Government.

George Washington said of the flag’s symbolism, “We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty.”

Independence Day

Independence Day is the national holiday of the United States of America commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

At the time of the signing the US consisted of 13 colonies under the rule of England’s King George III. Leading up to the signing, there had been growing unrest in the colonies surrounding the taxes that colonists were required to pay to England. The major objection was “Taxation without Representation” — the colonists had no say in the decisions of English Parliament.

Rather than negotiating, King George sent extra troops to the colonies to help control any rebellion that might be arising. The following timeline will give you a crash course in the history that lead to the signing of the Declaration of Independence and America’s break from British rule.

1774 – The 13 colonies send delegates to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to form the First Continental Congress. While unrest was brewing, the colonies were far from ready to declare war.

April 1775 — King George’s troops advance on Concord, Massachusetts, prompting Paul Revere’s midnight ride that sounded the alarm “The British are coming, the British are coming.”

The subsequent battle of Concord, famous for being the “shot heard round the world,” would mark the unofficial beginning of the American Revolution.

May 1776 — After nearly a year of trying to work our their differences with England, the colonies again send delegates to the Second Continental Congress.

June 1776 — Admitting that their efforts were hopeless, a committee was formed to compose the formal Declaration of Iindependence. Headed by Thomas Jefferson, the committee also included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston and Roger Sherman.

June 28, 1776 — Jefferson presents the first draft of the declaration to congress.

July 4, 1776 — After various changes to Jefferson’s original draft, a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th. Of the 13 colonies, 9 voted in favor of the Declaration; 2, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted No; Delaware was undecided and New York abstained.

John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he signed his name “with a great flourish” so “King George can read that without spectacles!”

July 6, 1776 — The Pennsylvania Evening Post is the first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence.

July 8, 1776 — The first public reading of the declaration takes place in Philadelphia’s Independence Square. The bell in Independence Hall, then known as the “Province Bell” would later be renamed the “Liberty Bell” after its inscription – “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.”

August 1776 – The task begun on July 4, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was not actually completed until August. Nonetheless, the 4th of July has been accepted as the official anniversary of United States independence from Britain.

July 4, 1777 — The first Independence Day celebration takes place. It’s interesting to speculate what those first 4th festivities were like. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics, and fireworks were firmly established as part of American Independence Day culture.

I was looking on the internet and found more blonde jokes.  I dont mean to offend any blondes out there because I also am a blonde.

#1 I Want to Buy That

A blonde goes into a nearby store and asks a clerk if she can buy the TV in the corner.

The clerk looks at her and says that he doesn’t serve blondes, so she goes back home and dyes her hair black.

The next day she returns to the store and asks the same thing, and again, the clerk said he doesn’t serve blondes.

Frustrated, the blonde goes home and dyes her hair yet again, to a shade of red.

Sure that a clerk would sell her the TV this time, she returns and asks a different clerk this time.

To her astonishment, this clerk also says that she doesn’t serve blondes.

The blonde asks the clerk, “How in the world do you know I am a blonde?”

The clerk looks at her disgustedly and says,”That’s not a TV — it’s a microwave!”

#2 Are You Sure

A blind guy on a bar stool shouts to the bartender, “Wanna hear a blonde joke?”

In a hushed voice, the guy next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, you should know something.”

Our bartender IS blonde, the bouncer is blonde. I’m a 6′ tall, 200 lb black belt. The guy sitting next to me is 6′2″, weighs 225, and he’s a rugby player. The fella to your right is 6′5″ pushing 300 and he’s a wrestler. Each one of US is blonde. Think about it, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?”

The blind guy says, “Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.”

#3  Blonde Car Accident

One day, while a blonde was out driving her car, she ran into a truck.

The truck’s driver made her pull over into a parking lot and get out of the car.

He took a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the pavement. He told her to stand in the middle and not leave the circle.

Furious, he went over to her car and slashed the tires.

The blonde started laughing.

This made the man angrier so he smashed her windshield.

This time the blonde laughed even harder.

Livid, the man broke all her windows and keyed her car.

The blonde is now laughing hysterically, so the truck driver asks her what’s so funny.

The blonde giggles and replies, “When you weren’t looking, I stepped out of the circle three times!”

#4 Rowing Your Boat

Two blondes were driving along a road by a wheat field when they saw a blonde in the middle of the field rowing a row boat.

The driver blonde turned to her friend and said “You know – it’s blondes like that that give us a bad name!”

To this, the other blonde replies “I know it, and if I knew how to swim, I’d go out there and drown her.”

#5  Q&A Blonde Jokes

Q: How do blonde braincells die?
A: Alone.

Q: How do you brainwash a blonde?
A: Give her a douche and shake her upside down.

Q: How do you change a blonde’s mind?
A: Blow in her ear.

Q: How do you measure a blonde’s intelligence?
A: Stick a tire pressure gauge in her ear!

Q: How does a blonde kill a fish?
A: She drowns it.

Q: A blond going to London on a plane, how can you steal her window seat?
A: Tell her the seats that are going to London are all in the middle row.

Q: How do you amuse a blonde for hours?
A: Write ‘Please turn over’ on both sides of a piece of paper

I was searching the vibes on madebig.com, looking for some funny jokes to make me laugh.  I found a lot and decided to share some of them.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.  I found most of them very funny.

#1 Womens Revenge

“Cash, check or charge?” I asked, after folding items the
woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet
I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse.
“So, do you always carry your TV remote?” I asked.
“No,” she replied, “but my husband refused to come shopping with me,
so I figured this was the most legal evil thing I could do to him.”

#2 Wife vs. Husband

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically,
“Relatives of yours?”
“Yep,” the wife replied, “in-laws.”

#3 Words

 A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day… 30,000 to a man’s 15,000.
The wife replied, “The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men…
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, “What?”

#4 Creation

 A man said to his wife one day, “I don’t know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time.
” The wife responded, “Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

#5 Who Does What?

 A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning.
The wife said, “You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don’t have to wait as long to get our coffee.”

The husband said, “You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.”

Wife replies, “No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.”

Husband replies, “I can’t believe that, show me.”
So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says……….
“HEBREWS”

#6 The Silent Treatment

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.
Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper,
“Please wake me at 5:00 AM.” He left it where he knew she would find it.
The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM
and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and
see why his wife hadn’t wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, “It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.”
Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

God may have created man before woman,
but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

I was using stumble over the internet and found this site called joe-ks.com it had a lot of funny stuff on it.  I was looking at the newlywed jokes and found this joke underneath about a blonde newlywed. 

Dear Diary,

Monday: Now home from honeymoon and settled in our new house. It’s fun to cook for Bob. Today I made an angel food cake and the recipe said, “Beat 12 eggs separately.” Well… I didn’t have enough bowls to do that, so I had to borrow bowls to beat the eggs in. The cake turned out fine.

Tuesday: We wanted a fruit salad for supper. The recipe said, “Serve without dressing.” So I didn’t dress. But… Bob happened to bring a friend home for supper. Did they ever look startled when I served the salad.

Wednesday: I decided to serve rice and found a recipe which said, “Wash thoroughly before steaming the rice.” So… I heated some water and took a bath before steaming the rice. Sounded kinda silly in the middle of the week, and I can’t say it improved the rice any.

I’m a blonde and a newlywed, but I’ve never made any of these mistakes before.  So its not applicable to every blonde out there.  Even though I’ve had my blonde moments, I’m still not as bad as the jokes make us blondes out to be.

I was searching on madebig.com for ways on how to get the house clean fast.   I found a vibe that said how to clean your house in 30 minutes.  After reading it I found that the ways to clean the house in 30 minutes were ways that I dont think that I could ever clean my house.

There were a couple of ways that I could clean my house fast, but the best technique that I found that would clean our house, would be to just keep it clean and clean up our messes whenever we make one.

The techniques that I found on the vibe were:

 SECRET TIP 1: DOOR LOCKS
If a room clearly can’t be whipped into shape in 30 days–much less 30 minutes–employ the Locked Door Method of cleaning. Tell anyone who tries to go in the room that the door is intentionally locked.

CAUTION: It is not advisable to use this tip for the bathroom.

Time: 2 seconds

SECRET TIP 2: DUCT TAPE
No home should be without an ample supply. Not only is it handy for plumbing repairs, but it’s a great way to hem drapes, tablecloths, clothes, just about anything. No muss, no fuss.

Time: 2-3 minutes

SECRET TIP 3: OVENS
If you think ovens are just for baking, think again. Ovens represent at least 9 cubic feet of hidden storage space, which means they’re a great place to shove dirty dishes, dirty clothes, or just about anything you want to get out of sight when company’s coming.

Time: 2 minutes

SECRET TIP 4: CLOTHES DRYERS
Like Secret Tip 3, except bigger. CAUTION: Avoid hiding flammable objects here.

Time: 2.5 minutes

SECRET TIP 5: WASHING MACHINES & FREEZERS
Like Secret Tip 4, except even bigger.

Time: 3 minutes

 SECRET TIP 6: DUST RUFFLES
No bed should be without one. Devotees of Martha Stewart believe dust ruffles exist to keep dust out from under a bed or to help coordinate the colorful look of a bedroom. The rest of us know a dust ruffle’s highest and best use is to hide whatever you’ve managed to shove under the bed. (Refer to Secret Tips 3, 4, 5.)

Time: 4 minutes

SECRET TIP 7: DUSTING
The 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House method says: Never dust under what you can dust around.

Time: 3 minutes

SECRET TIP 8: DISHES
Don’t use them. Use plastic or paper and you won’t have to.

Time: 1 minute

SECRET TIP 9: CLOTHES WASHING (EEWWW)
This secret tip is brought to you by an inventive teenager. When this teen’s mother went on a housekeeping strike for a month, the teen discovered you can extend the life of your underwear by two …if you turn it wrong side out and, yes, rerun it.

CAUTION: This tip is recommended only for teens and those who don’t care if they get in a car wreck.

Time: 3 seconds

 SECRET TIP 10: IRONING
If an article of clothing doesn’t require a full press and your hair does, a curling iron is the answer. In between curling your hair, use the hot wand to iron minor wrinkles out of your clothes. Yes, it really does work, or so I’m told, by other disciples of the 30-Minutes-To-A-Clean-House philosophy.

Time: 5 minutes (including curling your hair)

SECRET TIP 11: VACUUMING
Stick to the middle of the room, which is the only place people look. Don’t bother vacuuming under furniture. It takes way too long and no one looks there anyway.

Time: 5 minutes, entire house; 2 minutes, living room only

SECRET TIP 12: LIGHTING
The key here is low, low, and lower. It’s not only romantic, but bad lighting can hide a multitude of dirt.

Time: 10 seconds

SECRET TIP 13: BED MAKING
Get an old-fashioned waterbed. No one can tell if those things are made up or not, saving you, oh, hundreds of seconds over the course of a lifetime.

Time: 0

SECRET TIP 14: SHOWERS, TOILETS, AND SINKS
Forget one and two. Concentrate on three.

Time: 1 minute

SECRET TIP 15:
If you already knew at least 10 of these tips, don’t even think about inviting a Martha Stewart type to your home

I found this cartoon while looking for ways to organize my house.  I have a lot of stuff that I need to organize and go through and find what I need to keep and what I can throw away.  I used google and found a site that can help me be more organized without spending a lot of money on storage containers. 

The site is Better Homes and Gardens the part of the site that caught my attention on how to be organized is called Dollar-Store Closets.  In this publication it shows how you can go to the dollar store and pick up different storage containers and put items of the same category in each one, so that it will be easier to find that item when you need it.  It also shows how you can hang containers on the walls of your closet and put little items in those.  It says that you should label the storage containers so that you know what is in each one.

From Personal experience I have learned that if you buy a shoe rack that is material or plastic that hangs on a hanger or on the door, it makes it so that you have more floor room in the closet and organizes the shoes so that you dont have to crawl around in the closet looking for the shoes that you want to wear.

In my new house we are working on our office and I decided that for all of our books we would need a book case to keep them in.  On madebig.com in product review I found a Tempo 4-Shelf Light-Oak Open Bookcase it looks and sounds really nice. It is about 60 inches in height and looks as though it will hold all of my books.

I also looked on the product review for different computer chairs that people have liked and recommended for others.  I think that the majority of the chairs exceed the price that I would like to spend on a chair, so I will have to wait and save money in order to make that purchase.

My husband and I were able to move into the house all the way last night.  We were also able to spend the night there instead of the basement apartment.  I was so happy to be able to have all of my furniture and stuff instead of having a furnished basement apartment.  It felt more like home with all of my stuff there.  I really enjoyed sleeping there though.  We were able to talk a little more loudly because we didnt have to worry about the people upstairs, it felt so nice not having to keep our voices low so that we wouldnt disturb our landlord.

I want to plant some flowers in front of my house that I get to finish moving in tomorrow.  I really want to have a pretty yard, and I love flowers.  I didnt know which kind of flowers I would want so I looked it up on madebig.com and I got a lot of good tips on which kind of flowers I should look for when I go to the store.  I need to make sure that the amount of sunlight in the area will work for each kind of flower.  Because it’s to late for me to put seeds in the ground I am just going to go to the store and purchase the flowers that are or are almost in bloom.