Share Your Blog 2!

I haven't made a post about any of the blog swaps I have been in lately. Yep, I'm still doing those fabulous blog swaps on Swap-bot. So far, I have done three in the past month or two. After completing my last blog swap on April 18th, I decided to create a blog group - Blogaholics. My hopes for this group is for members to gain exposure for their blogs as well as find topics to post about. Maybe this group will help me blog more consistently. No more going two years without a post! 

The swap I'm about to do reviews for is titled: Share Your Blog 2! This post is so overdue, sorry guys! The deal is we are required to write a review about our five partners blogs using 100 words or more. Ugh.....yeah I can do that, I always have a lot to say :)

First up: Swap-bot user: Mag                Blog: Maggiemark

I was drawn in by her post Beautiful Surprises. There are gorgeous pictures of samples she has received from this company called Vanity Trove Beautiful Surprises. Unfortunately, I can't receive these boxes in the United States they are only available in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The boxes are sure worth the $25 a month to a someone like me that loves the pampering type items. However, I probably could just put together my own box an be just as happy. The next item that grabbed my attention on her blog was a post titled Normal No More. Listed within this post are 10 ways to expand your perspective on life. Mag is challenging herself to broaden her horizons and look at life differently. Mag feels if these are done she will make a life worth living, a life she will love, and not a life she will regret. She is using her blog as a platform to document her thoughts, words and feelings. This is a blog that I will keep my eye on being that I too am trying to create a life I can be proud of. Interested In Mag's blog? Visit her, leave a comment, and maybe follow her at: Maggiemark

Second: Swap-bot user: Bandeau              Blog: FireLight Gleam's Blog

This blog talks about and reveals some of Bandeau's work of art. I must say I was very impressed with her work and how detailed it is. I would love to have her draw a piece for me to hang inside of my dream house one day. Maybe a Shera / Wonderwoman type character ;) My I mean, her name would be MiMi because that's what my son calls me. She would be a homemaker by day with a Catwoman type personae by night! Hey - a girl can dream can't she... I'm would love to see Bandeau's art work displayed in a comic book fashion. I bet it would be so popular. She also talks about crosplaying, which I had to look up. She shares another talent she has by displaying pictures of stuffies she make to go along with the characters she is portraying. There are a few recipes posted and that is a definite plus for me! This picture was also displayed in a post. For some reason it reminds me of the movie "Indian in the cupboard."
 Do I need to repeat again that Bandeau is talented. If you would like to check out her work for yourself click on the link that follows, don't forget to leave a comment, and maybe follow her too: FireLight Gleam's Blog!

My third review is for Swap-bot user: Lefroggy         Blog: Lefroggy
The first thing that grabs your attention on this blog is the gorgeous colors!!! I love colors and flowers so I was instantly drawn in to read something. Next would be the beautiful pictures. She doesn't just post pictures but words and stories about them. I hate it when I'm looking at only pictures, it always leave me wondering where was the picture taken, why was it taken, and/or if there is a meaning behind it.

This picture is from a post titled Comic. Lefroggy drew this picture for a friend that is working on a comic book or strip. Hopefully, there will be a link to view the comic or even purchase when the two are done. Lefroggy states she will be drawing the pictures for the comic. I love the detail in this picture it's so life like. Kind of like a 3d cartoon. There is a post - Brave within this blog that really touched me. In this post Lefroggy talks about her hopes and expectations for her daughter. I really loved it because I feel the same way about my son. Every mother wants the best for their child but the most important thing we can do is allow them to be themselves without judgement. As that child's mother we should be proud of them no matter what, offer advice, accept their mistakes and hope they learn from them, and be there for that child no matter what. If you would like to read a few posts from Lefroggy you may view her blog here: Lefroggy .

The fourth blog I visited was by Swap-bot user: Diem  Blog: Incoherent ramblings of a distracted artist

Diem is another artist and her blog is full of beautiful artwork!!! Man, you would think that these three I have viewed so far would have a display in an art museum or something. I'm so jealous ;) Diem takes her sketchbook with her the majority of the times and the pictures she create are awesome. This was a sketch of a street performer and look she even captured the crowd. This is from Some images from my "out and about" sketchbook if you wanted to take a look at more. There are lots of other sketches just as good! I must admit what really took my breathe was the video of her first animation. I would like to congratulate Diem on her success!! I have seen the process it takes to create a clay animation and you did a great job. If anyone is interested in viewing the video check out the post A Hard Rains gonna Fall which is also the title of the video. To check out more fantastic work from this artist visit: Incoherent ramblings of a distracted artist remember to leave comments and possibly follow :)

My last Swap-bot partner was: Basykes             Blog: Airy Periflage

Basykes uses this blog as a journal and blogs about her daily life, which is very exciting. I lead a very busy life but exciting.....no! This blog is updated almost everyday. Some of the pictures included are so breath taking like this one for instance 

 I soo want this!!! You all know PURPLE is my favorite color in any shade and on any object. I could see this in my dream house w/o the little blue objects hanging from it of course. The next beautiful picture was a chair from Linde Lane where they attended a party. I have to find a place like this near I love the nice setting, the atmosphere seems calm, and the food looks delicious. If your interested in viewing more pictures and reading more about Linde Lane view Basykes post Five Stars out of Five . Another post I liked was Somai . It is a very heartfelt story about sponsoring kids less fortunate. Baskyes talks about the child that she's a correspondence sponsor for. But what's so touching is the story that was told in the newspaper that she has written about at the beginning of the post. This makes me sad because when I was 18 I began sponsoring two kids through the WorldVision. I listened to my friends as they told me my money was not going to the children. So I stopped because I really didn't know for sure what the deal was. I really enjoyed receiving the letters and the gifts they sent during holidays. The gifts wasn't much but it was the thought that counted. To see the wonderful miracle that was the outcome of a sponsorship head over to Airy Persiflage and read the post Somai .

Well, I really enjoyed reading all of my partners blogs. I will definitely be revisiting all of them again :)

Good Night!

~Bella~

My 101 things in 1,001 Days **Day Zero Project!**

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to give you all an update on what's been going on. I have a couple of posts I need to complete but time hasn't be in excess lately. So I will make them whenever I can. As you can see I have finished the revamp!! I hope you all like the new look. I may make a few more changes, but for now I'm satisfied with my baby :) So here's what been going on with me:

  

Day Zero Project: This is my first shot working towards 101 things in 1,001 days and I am totally siked about it!!! I recently updated my Bucket list last month. I've been working on my Bucket List since 2008 so it's quite long. I try to set realistic goals that I can actually reach within my life time. Completing the Day Zero Project was on my Bucket List. I was so happy when I came across a swap for it on Swap-bot. This swap gave me a chance to mark an item off my Bucket List, while completing 101 or even more goals at the same time. At this present moment in time, I have only completed four items off my 101 things in 1,001 days list. I love the site features at www.dayzeroproject.com. You can create a to do list, someday list, and a done list. This helps you see everything all at once and with the left over items you don't get to during your 1,001 days, you can just use them to start a new list when your days are up.

The first item I completed was Start a Day Zero Project! I completed my list of 101 things on Feb 27, 2012 so my end date will be Nov 25, 2014. Creating my list was harder than I thought. I tried to make sure that all of the items I listed could be completed or at least started before my end date.

The second second item I completed was trying out the binder method for school. I watched a few videos on Youtube that talked about combining all of your class folders and work into one big binder, instead of carrying a binder for each class. This helped me so much!!! I am taking four classes this semester. I have a zipper binder to hold all of my items. For each class I purchased a folder that would fit inside of a binder, inside of each folder I have tabbed dividers to help separate my work. Each class folder is separated using double pocket dividers. Inside the pocket divider I have my syllabus on one side and my assignment sheet for that class on the other. I take two classes at the college and two online. Although, all of my folders and paper work for all classes are inside of my binder, I only take the two books I need to school. My pencils, pens, highlighters, erasers, and flash drive are all inside a zip pocket of my binder. By me cutting out those bulky binders I was taking and placing everything in one binder, I now have more space. I no longer have to lug and pull that large, heavy rolling book bag around. I am able to use a back pack that I carry on my back. I keep my wallet, cell phone, and keys inside another zipper section on my back pack, my lunch also sits in a zipper section of my back pack as well. So my hands are always free unless I'm carrying my laptop or presentation materials. I plan to either upload pictures or do a Youtube video to show off my binder. I LOVE IT!!!! I'm definitely going to stick with using this method :)

The third item completed was watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I completed this goal last week. I'm a huge movie buff and check out movies at the library almost every week. I started checking out movies at the library about a year ago. It's FREE and they have some really great ones that I would have never watched. The librarians that I have come in contact with are wonderful. They are always giving suggestions on other movies I should watch as well. The down side to this is, I really didn't like this movie. I felt like Holly was trying to relive her childhood. She was too carefree and really didn't have any boundaries, she just did whatever. This is just my opinion and I'm sure there are some out there that feels differently.

  

Fourth item completed on my 101 things in 1,001 days list was creating a flickr account. I finally did it and even uploaded some pictures, only 3 but it's a start lol! Believe me there's more to come!!!


I have a couple of things in progress right now and hope to have them finished soon. My in progress items: Read the Bible (Old and New Testaments); Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the Alphabet; Complete My Diploma Program;Get My CDA License; and Get A Degree!

Welp, that's my status on my 101 in 1,001 Day Zero Project. I will continue to keep you all updated on my list as well as my Bucket List items. Thanks for reading!

~Bella~

MY BLOG SWAP ON SWAP-BOT CONTINUED!

The final numbers rolled in July 22, 2010 for my swap I'm a blogger, follow me. It ended with a total of 109 swap members and was in the # 2 spot in the top swaps on Swap-Bot the last time I saw it. Unfortunately, after weeding out all of the advertising blogs and members with non-working links to their blogs on their page; the swap ended with a total of 104 participants, which in my opinion was a great turn out! As promised I became a follower for all participants and many have returned the favor. I must say it turned out to be a great idea. From this many more ideas have spawn as well. I know for sure I will have many more posts reading others blogs have given me lots of ideas. Specially 104 blogs and yes I read through more than just the first post!!! So many ideas wonder if I can follow through....ONLY TIME WILL TELL :)

~Bella~

BE MY BLOG FOLLOWER ON BLOGGER

I participated in a swap on Swap-bot called Be my blog follower on Blogger.  To sum it up it was a blog swap only for those of us with blogs on Blogger. It was a chance for us to get more blog followers.  There was a total of 29 people to sign-up :) We each got 10 partners that we had to checkout their blogs and follow. Yay, that means 10 more followers for me and 10 more awesome blogs I get to read!! I loved all of the partners I was paired up with.

The first blog I checked out was Kelly's Place. She has lots of crafts on her blog. I'm not sure if I liked the shrink dolls the most or the altered barbies. I mean who would have thought to use drinking straws as hair rollers for dolls? She did! Kudos for that :) Second, I strolled over to Kiwifruit83 page. She had two blogs and I decided to follow both because they were two of my favorite things, food and crafts!! In Search of Exceedingly Good Baked Goods was the first one I looked at. This blog tells about places she has visited and eaten at, things she has cooked, pictures and recipes included (that's always a plus!) and even includes some pictures of some very delicious looking Marzipan Fruits. Her second was a craft blog titled Crafty Carrie. Everyone I would like to say THANK YOU TO CARRIE! I have seen many swaps for stuffies and never knew what they were, because the swaps did not have pictures. There was a blog post on this site entitled Stuffie Swap with cute pictures that you all should see. I make stuffies all of the time I started when my son was a baby. I can now join these swaps thanks to you! Careless in the Care of God was the next blog I visited. She has a great two part list of 101 Things in 1001 Days, reminds me a lot of my post My Bucket List. The list is based on a link that led me to a site called Day Zero. I will have to check it out and write about it in another post :) Next was Emmanem Handmade this site has lots of  handmade goodies. I loved her mail organizer :) She has tutorials and pictures of places she has traveled to. Remember When...Remember Then was the next blog. I love this because it's one of those flash back type blogs. It talks about everything that happened back in the good ole days :) Have Stamps.....Will Craft... was up next! I have to say she's a very crafty lady. She takes the old and makes it into something new, by refurnishing items or turning it into something new with a new purpose altogether! Great creative work June :) Next, was Run Away Maggie May this blog shows all of her fun adventures. All Be To Galore came next I have to say she is a very talented knitter. I hope to become as good as she is one day. However, at this present moment I can somewhat knit. My rows are very neat, they look great, not bunched up at all. The only bad part is if you pull the string everything comes apart and it's NOT suppose to do that. Moving on.....Longanisa Feet. This is a great blog!! More of a journal type in my opinion she talks about her daily adventures, lots of pictures and thoughts. The last blog on my list was *She Scraps* Yep you got it SHE SCRAPS, LOL! Was that cheesy? This blog has lots of pictures and great ideas! My favorite was the altered ribbon tutorial. She has lots of examples of her crop work and scrapbook pages.

I am really looking forward to reading all the new blogs I am now following and I am truly THANKFUL for my new blog followers as well. THANK YOU ALL FOR READING :)

~Bella~

WELCOME TO ALL OF MY NEW FOLLOWERS :)

First of all, I would like to say THANK YOU FOR BEING A FOLLOWER! I am so happy to finally have someone to read my work. Now I have to think about the words I say and not just type the first thing that comes to mind, lol! Although I will not let my writing take me out of character. I want you all to get an idea of the type of person I am and the things I like to do. I know that without joining the blog swaps and the blog groups I would still be struggling to find followers. I appreciate all of you and love you dearly for taking the time to read the craziness, vents, look at my art, crafts, my family trips and whatever else I decide to include in this blog of mine. I vow to try to keep you entertained as much as possible, refrain from using ungodly words as much as I can and not talk about people, lol! Well, sometimes those facebook statuses are ridiculous and those pathetic females that have half naked pictures of themselves on their page, but can't figure out why they can't find a man needs to be talked about! For my swapping followers I will always keep you updated on all the new swaps I have doing :) and those that I think are interesting. Don't seem like I am going to be stopping no time soon. I need feed back haha let's see if you guys are really reading the posts. What do you all think of me starting a blog group on Swap- bot? Leave me comment with your thoughts. I will do another post with all of the details comments and links to those that comment as well :)

Thanks again for being a follower!!

~Bella~

JULY BIRTHDAY WISHES!

I recently participated in a swap on Swap-bot called July Birthday wishes email swap. I thought it would be nice to share this little tidbit w/ my blog readers about me and my childhood as well. So to keep the wishes going I would like to wish all of you out there in the blogging world a HAPPY BIRTHDAY OR HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO YOU depending on when your birthday was.

My birthday was July 4th. CANCERS ROCK!!! I spent it in Jacksonville, FL with friends and family as usual :) We went to a friends cookout and had great food, great drinks, the kids played and we saw some fireworks!!

As a kid I use to hate the fact that my birthday was on a holiday. But as my parents figured out how to work it into a schedule it turned out to be great!! We (my cousins and I) would always spend the night with my Grandmother so we could go to the carnival. We would wake up early and leave without eating breakfast. We would spend most of the day at the carnival until it was time to go eat dinner. It's not like we had not filled up on sweets :) We also played games, the one I hated & was the worst that SHOULD have taught us all a life lesson was the JAIL GAME!! The fake police people would actually chase you! You would pay any amount from $.25 up to $3.00 to have someone put in a cage (the jail) and they had to stay there until they basically begged people walking by to pay their way (bail) out if they didn't have money. The bail was double the amount of what was paid to put them in there. People could donate until enough bail was collected. They only could hold you for an hour. I remember one year after I spent all of my money, my cousins got together and paid the full $3.00. I had to sit for the whole hour!! I begged my Grandma and Parents not to give them any cake but they didn't listen :( However they did get fussed at for leaving me in there :) We always waited about an hour before the fireworks displayed before having cake and opening my gifts. We never went back to the rec center to watch the display we could see it from my Grandmother's yard. We would sit there in our lawn chairs too full to move most of the time. Once the display was over at the recreation center, we would start lighting our own fireworks.

We no longer go to the rec center anymore because it was changed into a YMCA a few years back. But I still go watch a firework display somewhere every year. My son loves them :) Maybe we can get a yearly tradition of some kind going again.

Thanks for reading!!

~Bella~

MY BLOG SWAP ON SWAP-BOT

I just wanted to share my excitement about my blog swap on Swap-Bot "I’M A BLOGGER, FOLLOW ME!!!" It's going GREAT so far :) Out of all the swaps I have hosted, it's the first to make it into the Top Swaps. Right now we have 33 participants and 27 with the swap on thier watchlist. I promised to follow everyone that joined. Today I had nothing to do so I took my time and started going through some of the participants blogs. I have to say they have some fabulous blogs!!! I have a lot in common with most of them. I am not even half way through the list. I was suppose to just browse to make sure the blogs were not just advertisements and really talking about their hobbies, crafts, life and things. Boy did a few of them catch my interest! I have to admit, I will be following a lot of blogs after the swap is way over. Specially the scrapbook and craft ones. I could get lots of cool ideas from those blogs I never could have thought of trying on my own. Thanks to all that have signed up so far, I can't wait to see what the out come is going to be. TO BE CONTINUED......

~Bella~

My Bucket List

I just completed the Bucket list swap on Swap-Bot and thought I would share my list with you all! Just so you know Kelin (Ke) is my son. I have been working on my Bucket list for about a year now. Of course I could not share all of the items on my list some of them are kind of personal. The items listed are not in any order, I just grab my notebook and write the idea as they come to me. Sometimes I have them wrote on a post it and add them later. I was thrilled to see a swap like this otherwise, I would have never admitted I had a list, lol!

Here is my list:

1. Visit as many states as possible.
2. COMPLETE, not just start a scrapbook (not album).
3. Purchase my own house.
4. Plant a garden (I was a teenager the last time I planted a garden).
5. Get a degree!
6. Have a bake sale.
7. Go to a garage sale.
8. Take Kelin apple picking.
9. Take Ke to Sesame Street Workshop.
10. Take Ke fishing.
11. Take Ke to a Major League Baseball Game.
12. Take Ke to the Okefenokee Swamp.  
13. Go to the Hershey Factory in Hershey, PA.
14. Take Ke to the Crayola Factory.
15. Take Ke to the Jelly Belly Factory.
16. Go on a road trip :)
17. Take Kelin to Carowinds (Theme park). I use to go there every summer w/ my aunt and her family as a teenager, it was so fun! My cousin and I always got to go back the 2nd day by ourselves, it was great!! They add new stuff every year. I bet that place is huge now, it's been 11 years since I been.
18. Get CPR and First Aid Certified.
19. Take Ke to Disney World.
20. Visit the Chocolate Show in New York in November.
21. Go to Sea World.
22. Go to the Candy store in Savannah, GA. (The one Paula's always shopping at, lol!)
23. Eat at the Lady and Sons in Savannah, GA (Paula Deen's Restaurant, make a reservation I hear the wait is forever)
24. Start trying new recipes so I can continue typing and complete my family cookbook (heirloom).
25. Create a great coupon binder!!
26. Learn to SAVE BIG using coupons like the people I read about :)
27. Continue to lose weight 30 lb goal for this year! I CAN DO IT!!!
28. Have a interesting blog with lots of followers that leaves tons of comments and great input :)
29. Write a Living Will & Testament.
30. Learn to knit correctly, lol. My projects are very loose and can be pulled apart....smh!!
31. Live long and die happy :D

 Thanks for reading my bucket list, I hope you enjoyed it :)

~Bella~

Coupons & Swap-Bot.com

I need to sort through my coupons. I have a new way of organizing the coupons I am trading and need to get it completed, I keep starting and stopping. I am hosting like 8 coupon swaps on Swap-bot. So I am sorting them by swap category as well, only for the coupon specific ones. The first two I hosted went well, their on their second round. They have more people this time which is a major plus. I have also added a few specific coupon swaps so I can better my coupon binder! Some examples are BXGX OR JUST FREE COUPON SWAP, $1.00 OFF COUPON SWAP, $1.50 OFF COUPON SWAP, $2.00 OR HIGHER COUPON SWAP AND $4.00 OR HIGHER COUPON SWAP. 

I am hoping that these specific coupon swaps will help me build a better binder by helping me find coupons of higher value. After all that is the real reason we are clipping coupons right?? So far I have members signed up for all of the swaps except for the $4.00 or higher. But there is still time the deadline is not here yet. All participants are asked to create a coupon wishlist section for their profile to help their partner find more of the coupons they can use. I plan to continue with these swaps and do them as a monthly swap on swap-bot, so if your a member look them or me up. I'm QUEENQUISA on Swap-bot!

~Bella~