Vintage Victorian Era Purse-2 Necklace by towandavintage

The announcement email arrived

Yesterday was a very exciting day at the Squidoo community.  It was the announcement of the new giant and giant 100.   The deadline for being considered was June 30, 2010.   I had a grand total of 52 lenses so I put my bid in the ring among hundreds of others.

To say that there was some nervousness and biting of nails and perhaps pulling on the hair is an understatement.  All the contenders were on pins and needles waiting for the verdict.   I can't say that I wasn't counted among the anxiously waiting group.

I thought for sure that in a week we would all know who the new giants were. The other giants who went before us never seemed to take that long.   Yesterday, after much concern we heard from Bonnie (one of the "judges") that they were still going through the applications.   There was a huge turn out for this sessions.   Hundreds of us.    Not too long after that update I received my congratulation announcement saying that I was a new giant squid.

I stopped everything and went to my sites and sure enough there was that most beautiful purple shield that said giant.   Today my little gold star appeared next to the badge.   The gold star is another perk of being a giant. 

The next group of new giants deadline will be September 2010.   Although, I have only 48 more lenses to create to meet that deadline;  I am going to take a deep breath relax and enjoy my giant status and of course create more lenses.  If I make it in time who knows if I will throw my bidding for giant 100.  If not September  then the next group.   Oh, it's wonderful to be a giant squid.

Hope all had a good 4th holiday

For those of us in United States we just celebrated our Nation's 234th birthday.

It has been rainy and cloudy in my part of the state. I enjoyed several rain showers and just watching and listening as the rain fell to the ground. My house has a tile roof and it is hard to "hear" the rain hitting it.

I could hear the fireworks off in the distance but they were too far off to see from my porch or yard. A lot of local communities have been doing away with the annual fireworks due to varies reasons. Some towns that didn't have the display last year did have them this year.

I spent most of the weekend getting caught up on things that I needed to get done. My next task is to get re-organized. I have stuff everywhere. I know where everything is but it's starting to get a bit messy.

I am a big fan of lists.  I create them all the time.  There is just something about being able to mark through an item on a list that is done.  I now have so many lists that I need to organize them too.  Now don't laugh I do get my lists completed but I start a list and forget to add it to an existing one.   So I will take a few hours to reorganize my lists so I will be ready to start out the second half of this year. 

Enjoy rest of the long weekend and I will catch up with you later this week.

It wasn't that hard

The treadmill arrived in good shape.  But the box wasn't.  In fact it was falling apart when it was brought into the house.   I was praying, "Please God, let it be ok."   It did take two people to set it up.  The motor was already assembled thank goodness.   All that was left to be done was to add the rolling wheel and the display unit.

It a small unit because it's a walking treadmill.  The runway is just right for my stride. I have become accustomed to the machine and ready to start building up my times and speeds.

So if you haven't joined "us" on walking across America for fitness then come on and get aboard.   This is the person who started it all  Walk Across America.

I will be reporting my progress here and also on Squidoo.

My road to fitness, will it be yours?

When this lens was first published I thought what a wonderful idea. I couldn't at that time "join" her due to some health issues that I was facing myself. My health issues have been resolved and now I find myself back on my road of not only recovery but fitness.

I have been following her path since June 15th and haven't made too much of a stride. But today the treadmill arrived. So I am ready to continue where I left off yesterday and finish my walk across America no matter how long it may take me. My question to you is will you be going with us?

How many of you have found yourself in the undesirable predicament of being out of shape, needing to shed some real poundage, and wished you could get yourself motivated to do something about it? I had to take some time off from my fitness routine due to circumstances beyond my control. Now I am struggling with getting back to being active, shedding some extra weight, and finding the motivation to get with the program...any program. I'm off to a rather sluggish start and heaven knows I need a big-time jolt of motivation, inspiration, or whatever it's going to take to get me off the couch and back in gear again. Then it hit me!

Visit the Lens

It's Graduation Day for Rocket Moms

Friday was a big day for Rocket Moms who accepted the Session 7 Challenge. It was an eight week long challenge that produced at least eight new lenses. Some of us produced more than eight lenses. I myself created a total of 14 new lenses. It was my first session with Rocket Moms.

I couldn't wait till Sunday evening rolled around to get our new assignment. Then I couldn't sleep because I was thinking or creating the lens for that week. This session I was introduced to the co-brand template of Hey Monkey Brain. It's based on a duel format. I will be making more of these lenses for sure. I was honored to be selected for the SuperLens of the day what a blessing. I also received my first purple star.

Purple stars are only reserved for giant squid so it was great that non-giant squids were allowed in the contest for our chance to receive a purple star.

Stop by and see the graduate's work for Session 7

You can see the lenses that I created at Towanda Showers: Lensography of a three-career woman just look for the sections that it titled Rocket Moms Session 7

Session 8 starts July 1, 2010.