New Lifestyle - NEWEST Update!

I went for my 6th weigh-in today and lost another 2.4 pounds. A total of 14.8 pounds since i started Weight Watchers in April. And a total of 26.8 pounds since November....which means I have met my first 25-pound goal and got myself some new socks today! I am very excited and feel very good about my progress so far. I am aiming to reach my 50 pound mark by the end of July, and hope to be down another 12.8 pounds by the 4th of July.

I can do this. I know God is helping me get through this. He is with me and I praise Him every day!

45 Minutes on the Treadmill

I don't have much of an update. My weight is about the same today, but I finally FORCED myself to go to the gym last night with JC and we both walked on the Treadmill for 45 minutes (48 if you count the cool down period). The fact that I even went is a miracle in my mind since I had gotten a migraine mid-afternoon. After we were done and ate dinner, we cleaned the pool. By that time it was almost bed time. The days seem to keep passing faster and faster.



Until next time...........

New Lifestyle - UPDATE! :-)

Well - I have been "trying" to lose weight since November. I started Weight Watchers 3 weeks ago and up until that point, I had lost about 15 pounds give or take a few depending on which day I weighed. Saturday was my 4th weigh-in (so 3 weeks I have been at this) and I have lost a total of 10.6 pounds. When added to what I had all ready lost, I am now down about 23 pounds. Which means 2 more pounds to my first 25-pound milestone. I was VERY excited to see those numbers. I think my doctor will be when I go back to him as well. Eating healthier is much more expensive, but I think it is definitely worth it to save my life.

Yesterday we walked about 20-25 minutes around our neighborhood with the dog. Then before I went to bed, I rode my stationary bike for 15 minutes and rode 8 miles and burned about 380 calories. I did a few sit-ups and stretched a little too. I feel good. Most of the house is clean. Everything that is except the kitchen and my office, but I am doing a little at a time. And the 15-minute plan I have implemented with the boys is doing great. The house has actually stayed clean for 2 days, which has to be a record. Hopefully I can get the kitchen done this week and my office COMPLETELY done by next weekend. It's a goal...I won't get upset if it doesn't pan out...I have to start writing both of my papers that are due in 3 weeks, plus do all of my normal WORK and SCHOOL WORK plus try to get in a class or two for my job. My TO DO list seems to continue to grow, but I am not letting it win over me. One or two things are getting done each day, so that is good.

We are going to have a yard sale next Saturday to try and raise a few dollars for spending money for the boys when we go to Florida. Originally I wanted to donate all of these clothes to the orphanage, but she said they didn't need anymore, so I am going to try to sell them and whatever is left, I am going to box them up and take them to goodwill. Hopefully I can get the garage cleaned out some. I am in a lets throw everything out type of mood. Really....we won't be able to take it with us when we go to meet the Good Lord, so why keep it. I like FlyLady's advice on this one...if you don't like it, if it don't fit, or if it doesn't make you happy - throw it out. At this point, I would be happy to just keep my kids, my husband, my pets, my clothes, and my scrapbooking supplies. I would love to get rid of all of the dolphins in my room, but JC won't hear of it...well at least the room is clean now, and doesn't feel so overwhelming.

The boys went on a 10- mile hike this weekend with JC and the scout troop. They did so good and both actually completed the walk. I couldn't be more proud of them!! OK - so back to work I go. I will try to post my workout information and my weight loss (or gain) more frequently.

Weight Watchers Update, Security, and my boys are home!

Well - I went back for my weigh in on Saturday...and I had lost 5.4 pounds. What a great way to start off this journey I am taking. I am very excited for the choices I am making. Jeremy wanted to go to Friendly's on Friday night (he had a free meal coupon for his birthday and the other boys had left to go to Ft. Bragg). I pulled the Nutrional Information off the Internet and was shocked at how fattening the foods are there. Definitely not a Weight Watchers place to go. I planned my points during the day so that I had 22 points left when we went. I planned my meal from the menu and NI and decided I would get a side salad with no dressing and a cup of broccoli cheddar soup. That would leave me plenty of points to get a dessert...not the one I usually get, but it was almost as good. When I got there, there was no broccoli cheddar soup, so instead of even looking at the menu...that would have been worthless since I all ready knew how many points all of the rest of the junk was....I took just the salad and the icecream, stayed within my points value AND was pleasantly surpsied at how fulfilled I felt when we were done. I am very proud of myself and look forward to meeting my short and long term goals. So I have something to look forward to, I am listing my goals here...if you are reading this, please do get overwhelmed at the HIGH amount that I need to lose. I tend to get overwhelmed when I think long-term, but the short term goals keep my mind set:

25 pounds (since I started trying to lose weight back in November, I am down 18 pounds) - buying new "girlie" socks
50 pounds - buying new "girlie" underwear
75 pounds - buying new "girlie" bras
100 pounds - donating my hair to locks of love (I have always wanted to do this)
125 pounds - buying a whole new wardrobe
150 pounds - JC and I (and probably the boys) are going on a cruise.

I believe these goals are attainable and I am going to do my best to ensure my success this time. I need to be healthy for my kids. I want to be around to watch them grow into young men. I need to do this for myself. I hope you will come along for my journey. I believe my faith in God is going to make this happen for me this time. I feel like having him on my side is the greatest blessing I could ever receive.

OK - on to more scary stuff...I got a bulletin post on Myspace last week that kind of made me nervous. It was a letter from a predator that showed how much information they could obtain from a simple Myspace page. I have changed all of my settings for this blog and for Myspace. I don't want to put my family, especially my children, at risk, so I am trying to give myself a little protection from eyes that shouldn't be focused on my page. I almost thought of deleting this entirely, but I love posting my thoughts and feelings here. It is helping me get rid of some of the emotional baggage that I tend to let build up inside of me. So....hopefully this is more secure and I can continue to post with no ill feelings.

Finally....MY BOYS ARE HOME. They got back around 1pm yesterday afternoon from Ft. Bragg. It was so good to see them. They did so well and I am very proud of them. They are growing up fast and I hope I have done enough to make them grow into men that Jesus can be proud of. I praise God for their health and happiness and returning them safely to me.

OOPs....one more thing...I had a chance to go with our church to the local orphanage to help paint a cottage of a group of boys. What a fulfilling experience. I am going to try to gather up stuff that doesn't fit anymore and take it there to donate. I am also going to volunteer my time, I feel it in my heart...this is something I need to do for them and for me! I am also going to fill out some paperwork so Jeremy can go back and play with Dylan...a boy his age that has been in this home for almost a year. OOOOOHHHH...what a heartbreaking experience!

Love and Blessings to everyone this week.

Bobbie

Weight Watchers and Billy Graham...

Well....Saturday morning, I finally took the plunge and have decided to start going to Weight Watchers again. I am very excited and have set small goals for myself which I believe I will be able to accomplish.

Saturday afternoon, JC and the boys and I went to Charlotte to see the Billy Graham Library. What a wonderful place! So peaceful....and serene! Here are a few pictures:

The boys listening to Betsy the Cow

My family in front of the library

Copied BLOG from Myspace Page

Well I wrote this blog on Myspace earlier mainly because there are many of my Myspace friends who don't believe in God. You find this out when you read their survey answers. Last week at church our Pastor talked about us proclaiming our love for God to tell people what He is doing in my life. He is doing great things in my life and maybe one day soon He will finally enable me to talk in front of a crowd, but for now this is a start. I want to start proclaiming my love for Him in BLOG form. Sure maybe some people will read it and some won't...but even if it helps just one person come to know Him....that is the point...RIGHT? So here it is, I have copied it on the off chance that anybody actually is reading my Blogger Blog.

I got this great book from the library last night written by Billy Graham and absolutely love this paragraph so I thought I would share it with everybody. I have been let down so many times in my life that hearing this really put things into perspective for me.

"Human friends my fail us, but God never will. He wants to be our friend, and for us to be His friends as well. Once you understand this, your life will never be the same." - Billy Graham

And one more....I like this too because I think this is what I have experience throughout my life. I have cut some of the sentences out, to say what stood out for me:

"Why are we so restless? Why are we constantly searching for lasting peace and contentment, andyet never fully satisfied? The Bible says this happens to us for a very good reason: We are incomplete without God. If we leave Him out of our lives, we have an empty place in our souls, a yearning deep inside us that God can satisfy. No matter how hard we try, if we ignore God that hollow place stays with us, and our search for lasting peace and happiness will be futile." - Billy Graham

That sums it up for me. I grew during my childhood in faith and although I never lost my faith for Jesus Christ, I didn't grow with it anymore after 5th grade. I let a seperation come between me and my faith and have felt lost since then. I have tried occasionally to bring it back into my life and into the lives of my children and never could seem to do it. Finally, finally....we have seen what truly happens when we allow Him into our world. The best word to describe it is PEACE.
I know there are alot of you that may read this that are sceptical and don't know God and that is why I am writing this. I want to proclaim my love for Him, I want to tell the world that I know him and what He has done for me, and I want other people to come to know Him like I have. I know if you are not sure about Him, a few words from me may not affect your life, so I only want to say this and then I will leave it alone:

I have no question that Jesus died for my sins and that God created me. I know that I have been blessed in ways that many can't see or understand. I have this belief that is hard for some people to fathom, but to those people I want you to think about this, "I would rather live my life believing there is a God and find out after I die that there isn't, then to live my life believing there is not a God and find out that there is." God promises many great things for those that believe in Him. Eternal life is the biggest blessing that I have received. Knowing that I won't be going to hell is just as big.

I love you all - God Bless You!

Bobbie

Money.....

Well, it was definitely PMS that had me acting like a fool the other day. I figured it was. I am USUALLY pretty calm and collected, until that week before my friend comes (why do people say that anyway....never once have I felt like it was a friend - especially now with all the problems I have with it). I become a different person when it comes. This time wasn't so bad, just lasted one day and I was more sad and teary. USUALLY, I am mean for several days. I won't lie...I know it is an issue that I am trying to work out, and I can only say I believe it is the love of God that has gotten me from several days of MEANNESS to one day of SADNESS. What progress! Amazing Grace......you know it was bad when your son says (upon finding out that you are starting) "Oh no, mean mom" or something like that....LOL. Well since I am on this subject...let me just tell you that my 4 year old thinks tampons are called "TOPONS". I guess it is a cross between the tampon and a coupon....LOLOL

So anyway, on to the money issue. I dislike money. I dislike living from one paycheck to another. I dislike worrying about where the grocery money will come from and I dislike people who try to hold me back. I wanted to get a personal loan from the bank that I have been with for 2 years so I can pay off these high interest rate credit cards and throw them out....but my credit score wasn't high enough. The woman turned "witchy" when I questioned her about not telling me how HIGH the scores had to be BEFORE she ran my credit. Worse she acted like I had told a fib, when in fact I GUESSTIMATED only 4 points LESS than my actual credit score. The bank is not willing to take a risk even though my completely paid off van would have been used as collateral. We areworking hard to try to get these cards paid off so that in 2 years when I have to start paying my student loans back, I will be able to afford them.

Here are a few pictures from the Wine Family reunion that I hosted back at the end of March!

My dad and our family (a rare moment that we are all together)

The cousins - Robbie, Chris, Earvin, Madison, Randall, James, Becca, and Sarah

The horse that bit me on my finger (that still hurts mind you)

Roller Coaster Ride...

...that's what I feel I am on most of the time. My life seems to have so many ups and downs. I try to believe that the ups are more than the downs, but today I am feeling down. I am 32 and blessed with a good marriage, 3 great kids, and an awesome job, so I should be counting my blessings now, not allowing some little person at a bank make feel infurior. Sure, I haven't always made the best decisions where money comes into play and for sure we are a little over-indulged, but sometimes people make you feel so small. I thought I had a great plan to get us over this little hump that we seem to be stuck on, but I guess the bank had a different plan. I am waiting on the final word, but it doesn't look so good right now. I am going to try to stop thinking about it.

Anyway, another downer or upper I guess, depending on how you look at it, is how old all of my boys are getting. On Monday, I signed Jeremy up for Kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN!!! I can't believe my baby is almost 5 and will be in school next fall. I want to be happy for the freedom to do my work with no interruptions, but my heart hurts for I know all too soon, he won't be a baby anymore. To make matters worse, last night, I went to a 6th grade orientation at the MIDDLE SCHOOL for James and Randall. MIDDLE SCHOOL - it's unbelievable. It seems like just yesterday, JC and I cried as they were leaving for their first day of Kindergarten. Where does the time go? I want to put the brakes on and make them all small again.

Hopefully, my downward spirals will start to head back up. I will blame this on PMS and pray that I can stop thinking about them getting older...I wasn't really thinking about me getting older, but I just realized that I said I was 32....good grief...I haven't even turned 32 yet and I am all ready saying it....before long, I will be 50, 60, 70. I wonder if my parents felt this way when I was getting older....which makes me even more sad, as I wonder if they truly ever cared.

Well enough of these tears. Got to finish my work day and make something good happen today. Life is so good, so beautiful, and so God-made....to feel sad about anything is so unfair to him. So for Jesus, for God....I will smile and thank Him for my many blessings!

Bobbie

Random Thoughts

Jeremy has played two games this week and he seems to like it well enough. The boys attended their first Court of Honor for Boy Scouts and got their very first merit badge for Disability Awareness. They seem very excited and go tomorrow to an Advancement Mania to work on their Tenderfoot Rank. Then next week they will work on a Service Project and the first week of May a trip to Ft. Bragg. On the 17th of May they want to participate in a 10-mile hike. I am so glad they like to get involved in this stuff and I am so proud of all of my boys.

My weight loss isn't going so well. I know I need to stop eating sweets, but I do it anyway. It's my biggest downfall. I wish there was something I could do to tell my brain that I don't need it. It is very frustrating. I need to get healthy. I don't want to be skinny, just healthy!

I thought I had alot of thoughts this morning, but I guess not....lol. I will write more next time!

It's official - my boys are growing up!

I went and picked James and Randall up from Camp Barnhardt this morning. They camped from Friday night until this morning with their Boy Scout troop. I am amazed at how well they did without me. I guess they are growing up, and it is me who is trying to keep them little. I was petrified on Friday night because of the thunder storms and tornado warnings in the area. After a few phone calls, I was reassured that they were being well taken care of. Didn't help me not to worry, but I did feel better and was able to sleep. I know they had have been miserable, it rained all night Friday and all day Saturday, but they came back in pretty good moods and the leaders said they did a great job. I couldn't be more proud of them!

Jeremy's game and Bat-a-Thon got cancelled yesterday because of the rain, but he did have his pictures taken. JC, Jeremy, and I walked around Lowe's Motor Speedway for the Spring Car Show. Are we crazy? I would say YES, since it was pouring, but they had such a great time, so I am glad we went. Jeremy cried harder than I did on Friday night when his 'bro-bros' left on Friday night, so we wanted to do something special with him. His first 3 games have been cancelled. Hopefully they will play on Tuesday.

Update on us

Well, I tend to spend more time updating Myspace as many of my friends are there and it is easy to share pictures with friends. I like to come back here from time to time to revisit where we have been and where we are going. So here I am with another update from Concord, NC!

I still can't believe that we live here. Sometimes it feels as if it is all a dream. I was just telling JC the other day that sometimes I forget I am here and it isn't until I see a NC license plate that I remember that I am on the roads of NC and not VA. I spent 30 years in VA and to be honest, I sometimes feel that I am still there....it's crazy, I know....I love our house. I love going out in the backyard, it is the place I feel most at peace. Sometimes I think it is my own personal peace of Heaven. I am strong enough to admit that without the help of God I wouldn't own this. And who really ever owns their property....I believe that I am just borrowing from God until it's my time to join him in Heaven. Just as I know my kids don't belong to me. They are God's children and He has blessed me with the task of raising them. In the past year or so, I feel that I am failing in my duties. I wanted to move down here to spend more time with them. I thought by working from home, I would have more quality time with them, but it doesn't seem to happen. Don't get me wrong, I am very grateful to have a job with the ability to work from here, but it is very hard to manage a house and a full time job and 3 kids. I have been struggling and didn't know why. I actually thought about getting medicine to control my emotions (and anger), but I believe I have done something better. I have allowed Jesus back into my life. Don't get me wrong, He has always been here...ALWAYS...but He was knocking and I wouldn't let Him in. I don't know where it will lead me, but I do know I am walking there with more peace in my heart then I had a month ago. I hope to join this church that we found and become a part of the congregation in all aspects and not just as a Sunday member! The one suggestion that my doctor gave me was to limit the sports that I allow the boys to join. They have played Basketball and Baseball every year and do Cub Scouts, this year Jeremy starts Baseball, and the boys chose to not play. As sad as I was to hear that, I allowed them to make that choice, so right now it is just Jeremy's teeball and the boys in Boy Scouts...and guess what, I don't feel so stressed!!

I am trying to work hard on me and my family. We are trying to learn more about God's word and have all ready learned so much in these past 3 weeks and we will be baptised (again for me) in the church. This is a big step for me. Not because of being baptised (I was baptised as a baby in the Lutheran Church), but because I have always let my feelings about myself and how I look, I have always chose to ignore a call to the front because I was worried that people would think I was fat. Well guess what, I know I am fat and now that I have been to the front, it doesn't seem to be as big a deal to me. The only person I need to please is Jesus and He loves everybody for their souls and not what they look like. :-) It sure has taken me awhile to get to this point!

OK, so now that I have shared the best news about our new life as children of God, I will recap a little about what else has gone on in our lives. James and Randall just graduated and crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in a great ceremony where they earned their Arrow of Light. This is the highest rank in Cub Scouts and I am very proud of thekir hard work. I am praying that they are up for the challenge of being a Boy Scout and I can't believe next Fall brings the fact that I will have children in MIDDLE SCHOOL. Jeremy will be turning 5 in May and will be going to Chuck E Cheese for his birthday. This is kind of big for him because we have never done a Chuck E Cheese for a party and he is very excited. He has been asking for this party since we went last October (him and I) while JC and the boys attended the Martinsville Race. He is finally old enough to play sports and loves it. He is doing Teeball right now and said he wants to do Soccer in the Fall. The boys want to try Football this year but Jeremy is still too young. He will do Soccer this year and wants to do Football next year.

I have been in the process of planning two Family Reunions. One for my dad's family - The Wines and one for my Mom's family - the Millers. Last weekend was the Wine Family Reunion in VA. We had a pretty good turnout, with about 60-65 people in attendance. This was very good, considering it was only 50 degrees. The weather held out great for us and I was very excited. There was a small irritant that I really took to heart, and it makes me wonder why anybody whoe doesn't want to be part of our family, would come and bring her daughter who feels the same way. Up until two days ago, it was eating me up, I shouldn't have wasted my feelings on it though. I should have just given it up to the Lord and pray that one day she learns that there is more in this life then what she can do to further herself. I am content in my life and I know not everybody is, and I need to give them a break. That will be my prayer for myself today, to not expect perfection from other people. To not let other people bring me down in their pursuit of UN-Happiness.

Well - I need to get to work, so I will cut this off now. I am going to try to use this more. I am attaching a few pictures of the last couple of months. Love to all. Bobbie

"Jeremy,Randall, Robbie, James, Jack, Earvin, and Madison at Christmas time"

"JC, James and Randall at the Arrow of Light Ceremony"

"Jeremy - the first time he wrote his name"

"Hemi and Krissie getting loved by me"

"The new puppy - Blondie"

I'm back

Well, it certainly has been awhile again. I am now 31 (wow)!!! Jeremy just turned 4 and the boys will be 10 next month. Time is flying, passing me by so quickly. I still work from home and now that it is the summer, the boys are here with me. It's a small challenge to say the least. I try to let them swim at least an hour per day during my lunch time. Don't get me wrong, I love being with them, but I would like just a little break away from them....that is why I am looking for a part-time job right now. To help me "get away" and to earn a little extra play money.

JC hurt his back in April and it looked like he was going to be forced to have back surgery, but he tried an epidural shot first and so far it is working ok. We are doing pretty good. I swear I love him more every day. :-) Our gym finally opened, so we have started going the last 2 weeks. It is great fun to have someone to work out with, and he is so motivated so it makes me try even harder.

Well - it's off to work I go. I shall return!

It's Been a Long Time

Hello....WOW - it's been a LONG Time. We moved on June 30th to Concord, NC. We have a great house with an in-ground pool, and love love love being down here.

We have been so busy with school, Cub Scouts, Basketball, now Baseball is coming. I feel like we are on the go all of the time. We aren't doing Weight Watchers anymore, and unfortunately, I have gained my weight back. JC and I joined a gym that is being built and should be ready in April. We are hoping this gets us motivated and back on track.

I am on myspace now and post of my blogs there, but I found this tonight and wanted to get it a little more up to date. I will try to come back sooner next time and write more.

Bobbie

Another Update

Hello - it is now the end of April. I have lost a total of 31 pounds! I love the Saturday morning meetings that we go to with the most awesome leader ever - Tammy!

We have had our house on the market now since March. We have a contract on it and if all goes well, we will be moving on June 30th. Closing for our house is scheduled for May 31st, but we will be renting back for one month. We are leaving this Wednesday to go look for a house in North Carolina!

James and Randall will be getting their tonsils out on June 9th, and Jeremy is turning 3 on May 13th. We are having a Monster Jam party here at our house for him. It will be bittersweet since it will be the last "get-together" while here. We have made a lot of good memories in this house, but I am sure we will make even more in our new one!

Lots of Love to everyone!

Update on Weight Watchers

I've been so busy with school and packing up the house, that I haven't updated this in awhile. Just to get everyone up to date....I changed to another Weight Watchers. This one is closer and on Saturdays instead of Thursdays...but Tammy is such a great leader (motivator). JC has joined with me and the whole family goes every Saturday morning. I have now lost 23.6 pounds.

The house is on the market, my next two classes start on Monday, and I just joined the eTools for Weight Watchers. Hopefully I will have more time to come and update this as the time goes!

House Hunting Information!

It's been a long time since I posted about what has been going on in our lives. It was super busy throughout the Christmas season, so I do apologize. The biggest news that I have is that we are in the processing of House Hunting in North Carolina. This is a big for us, especially me, because I have lived in Virginia my entire life (29 years). It is beautiful down there and we hope to be able to get a little bigger house with a room for each boy so nobody has to share. We are also holding out for a pool. I have made an appointment with a realtor in the Charlotte area to meet during the week of April 10-14, as well as a lender (which has all ready given me a pre-approval - WOOHOO). I have a realtor coming on Saturday to check out this house and to let us know when and what to start doing to get this place ready to sell. We are all very excited, and I will keep you posted on what we find.

Weigh Watchers - Results are In!

Hey everybody. I joined Weight Watchers 5 weeks ago. I feel good about it, and was actually exercising daily (until I hurt myself. I am getting my knee stronger though and will start going back to the exercising real soon. We got weighed in last nigh (every Thursday at 5pm) and I have lost a total of 13.4 pounds. I am very exciting even though I wish it was coming off faster, I know this is the healthiest "life style" change I could make. I will post again in a month to let you know how I have been doing!

Letter to the Editor - Winchester Star 9/8/05

The lady that works for the Red Cross and accepted James & Randall's donation last Sunday, wrote a letter to the editor in the Winchester Star in yesterday's paper - 9/8/05. I couldn't be more proud of my children, so I am sharing the article on here for everybody to see!

Generosity of Spirit

Reporting in for the Sunday shift to man the phones at the Red Cross building in Sunnyside for the disaster relief effort, I expected the time to go quickly, given how busy everyone had been all week.
An hour into my time there, I looked up and greeted a family of two boys, their parents, and an infant son asleep on their father's shoulder. The two boys came into the office proudly holding out a small cash box full of bills and coins.
With the prompting of their parents, James and Randall Beatley of Middletown declared that they had collected this money "to help the people in Louisiana" and had done so the day before in four hours time.
All of us at the Red Cross were so impressed with the young men's efforts and declared to them that we were very proud to accept the cash donation, helped along with the fine baking of their mother and their Dad's contribution of that weekend's beer fund.
It's a privilege to be a Red Cross volunteer, and in times of crises we get to see the very best qualities of our fellow citizens. James and Randall wanted to make sure that their friend, Kyle Koller, also got credit for raising the donation monies.
This Red Cross volunteer wants to make sure that these three young men and their parents are recognized for their generosity of spirit, selflessness and as role models for others (no matter their age or gender) in helping fellow Americans in need.

Helen Lake, Frederick County!

Thank you Helen for acknowledging my children for a deed so small in the scheme of things, but so big in our hearts! I hope your letter of encouragement makes them always remember what they have done and helps them to want to do more like it as they grow older!

Hurricane Katrina Relief

I am so proud of the boys. We cleaned out our vacation fund that we just started saving after we got back from North Carolina and got $30 and then JC gave me his last $5 from his wallet. I also got a donation from my co-worker Patricia of $5, so we had a total of $40 before this morning. The boys had a bake sale at their friend, Kyle's mom's yardsale, and earned $91. We are going to the Winchester/Frederick County American Red Cross tomorrow to donate a little bit more than $131. They did wonderful, set in the hot sun for several hours, and even went door to door knocking and asking for donations. How proud I am!! Also, much thanks to Patricia for her donation and to Jennifer for her donation and also for letting us come and have a great place to sit up the snacks and lemonade. There was also a girl in the neighborhood on skates who skated up and down the road with the sign asking for donations and in some cases even delivering the baked goods after they were purchased! Our hearts and minds are with the good people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama!

HTML Project

1. The name of the original Weblog template was Thisaway (Rose) by the designer Dan Rubin. The URL was www.superfluousbanter.org and was dated Feb 29 2004.

2. The changes that I made:
a. I added the following links to “My Links” in the sidebar – Mothers of preschoolers, National Do Not Call Registry, ING Direct, Anywho.com, Meet you at the Poles and Sesame Place
b. I added new sections in the sidebar – My Goals (and added 5 items in a list of goals that I have for myself) and Quizzes (which includes my results to quizzes from quizzilla and links so people can take the quizzes as well)
c. I changed the color to green for the titles Goals, Links, Previous, Archives and Quizzes in the sidebar.
d. I have added several posts over the past 2 months and updated my profile today to reflect my change in my Bachelors Program.
e. I changed the template design from Thisaway (Rose) to TicTac-Blueberry

3. Templates are used to easily change or update the content without manually changing HTML files. They are embedded characters that are replaced by dynamic content and can sometimes contain snippets of programming. They are used to make changes to content of a web page easy and quickly.
CSS or Cascade Style Sheets enable the web designers to define the “look and feel” of a page in a different format than HTML. The CSS can be embedded or linked to a page and you can have one CSS file for an entire site. Most contemporary sites use CSS for the design elements of a site.
Both CSS and templates, in my opinion, play an important roles in E-commerce and content management because it enables stores to quickly change and update content on their site, for example, retail items, as well as changing the look and the ease of shopping online. Being able to find what they are looking for on a site is most important to a consumer and if the shopping experience is good, they will be back for more. If they aren’t able to find stuff at ease the developers of the site have an easy way to quickly change the design and/or content
The separation of content from design is important for several reasons. By having the style information recorded separately, it allows the information to be presented in different formats, based on the viewing mechanism, rather it be on a computer, mobile phone or printed. It also makes it easier for different web designers, authors or programmers to work on different parts of the site without interference. The bigger the website, the more people who need to work with it. It also helps to ensure if the website needs to be redesigned it is easier to use than straight HTML files. The separation of content from design helps to make the workflow easier and run smoothly.