What’s the reading level of YOUR blog?  I figured that since I’m a teacher, my blog would be at least college level.  Nope – not even close.   Here’s a cool link where you can input your blog URL, and it will check it out and let you know the reading level.  Here’s mine:

Get a Cash Advance

I’m okay with that.  I’ve heard that the typical reading level of newspapers and magazines for adults is fifth grade.   For fun, I checked the reading level for my English major sister at  Daddy’s Roses –  she’s the one who loves all the quirks and nuances of the English language (using the word “nuances” should bump me up to high school, I would think!) and she came out as college – grad school level!  Oh well….

Tiari-nod to Beth at MVRWC.

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I was just glancing over my blog and saw that sometime in the past few days I’ve gone from a Large Mammal in the TTLB Ecosystem to a Playful Primate! YEA!

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I just glanced at my sitemeter and was astonished to see that I’d had more than a hundred hits the last little while as a result of internet searches with “Kellie Pickler Boob Job” (or some other version of the same theme) as the search words.  What is going on with Kellie Pickler, I wondered?  I’d written a post about her appearance on American Idol last March.  Why the sudden interest in her?  Since March I’ve had at least a few searches for her each day. . . but hundreds?!  Kellie was definitely in the news again.

Then a few minutes ago I turned on the TV and saw that Pickler was up for an award on the Country Music Awards.  She’s also scheduled to sing. 

Mystery solved.  I think. the Country Music Awards are being shown on ABC tonight.  I just caught a glimpse of Kellie when they showed her waiting to see who won in her category (she didn’t).  Maybe earlier she was interviewed and her breast augmentation was obvious and that inspired a lot of people to look her up on the internet

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I’ve been chatting online with some other bloggers. One, in particular, told me about how she is making money via PayPerPost. She is close to $2,000 a month. I want THAT! And more. I think my dream would be to make enough blogging that I could retire. Wouldn’t that be cool? Not to mention, wonderful, too! When I first started my blog two years ago, I put some ads in it, but when I hadn’t made but $8 after a few months, I realized the ads were more trouble than they were worth. Now it seems obvious that PayPerPost is the way to go.

Not just anybody can participate. My blog had to be approved first. So a few weeks ago I applied. Last week THE MEDIAN SIB was approved. I was thrilled to be approved just a couple weeks after applying. I’ve heard that it sometimes takes much longer than that. I’m excited about the possibility of making money by blogging about the things I’m interested in. So much has gone on in my life the past few months that when I see possible blogging topics, I realize that I’ve experienced many things related to those topics. The fact that the operators of PPP are concerned about blog ethics reassures me that this is a good option to go with to make some blogging income.

So this is my first PayPerPost writing. I’m looking forward to seeing a growth in my blogging income. Since I love blogging, it will be nice to make a little extra income from what I love doing.

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I’m so excited!  The Median Sib is one of the ten finalists in the “Diarist” division of the 2007 Weblog Awards!  The finalists were just announced, and voting will begin either late today or tomorrow.  Ruthlace – an exceptionally wonderful blog – is also nominated in the same category.    Once voting starts, please go vote for one of us each day.  YEA!!!!

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I got a note from my mother, Ruthlace, that she had received an email about being Blog of the Day.  In checking to see what she needed to do to note the occasion on her blog, I saw that I also had been nominated for today!  YEA!  So thanks whoever nominated me!

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It’s one week until we move into our new house – just about three months later than we VERY optimistically had hoped.  It took a little over ten months from the time we broke ground until we’re ready to move in – and that’s fairly typical of new houses.  We just got very eager initially but soon settled down to reality.

Here are some pictures I took today:  This first picture is of the front porch.  The rails were added this week.  We still need to clean off the front porch, but I think it still looks really good.

This next picture is of the fireplace and the balcony.  If you notice the shelves on either side of the fireplace – those were some of THE most time-consuming and laborious things in the house.  The cabinets are still not finished, and they began installing them the first of July.  Hint: Don’t ever use Kabinart to make and install your cabinets.  The final product looks good, but there are still things that aren’t right about it.  We’ve spent a lot of time and energy and money undoing some of the mistakes.  The installer’s name is Kevin – so we’ve dubbed all the cabinets with their assorted issues as “KevinArt.”  I love the floors – they’re cherry, and they’re still very shiny from the three coats of polyurethane that were put on them this past week.  Also notice the fireplace – which I’ve shown here before – RT built the fireplace, and it is beautiful.

This next picture is of the kitchen and cabinets.  I tried to get the granite to show up well, but you really can’t tell much about it.  I LOVE the granite we chose for the kitchen.  It is a pattern called “Juperano Gaviota.” Notice that the cabinets are still not completed.  Oh – did I already mention that?

And here’s the final photo for the day – the divider between the kitchen and the great room.  You can see the foyer and front door in the background.  The “radius” is in the center.  The house plans called for a rectangle, but we made the edge curved to match the balcony that is right above it.

Ron and I had a good day.  We installed 25 doorknobs on the inside.  RT got to the point where he could install one in less than four minutes.  Of course that was with me anticipating which tool he needed and having it ready as soon as he needed it and then helping him hold the various pieces of the doorknob still as he drilled holes and put in screws.  Still – that was pretty incredible timing.  One more doorknob to install tomorrow, and we’re done with that particular chore.We really enjoyed our late afternoon.  After finishing the doorknobs (except the one we have to buy tomorrow), we planted over 120 bulbs (tulips, jonquils, dutch iris and others) that we’ll enjoy in early spring.  We also planted two flats of pansies that we’ll enjoy between now and next spring.  It was so nice to do something with no pressure to complete it.  Tomorrow we will plant a lot of irises and lilies that two ladies in our church gave us.

We are really looking forward to moving in next week.

Jobs that will be done this coming week:  Tomorrow RT will cut and install the shoe molding throughout the house.  I will finish up the towel racks, toilet paper racks and door stops.  On Monday, the glass for the shower will be installed, the final work on the alarm system will be completed, the final touch-up painting will be done.

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Last night, I was able to get online briefly, and I checked TMS.  Surprise!  It looked completely different than before.  Beth at Blue Star Chronicles is not only my baby sister, but she is also my blog designer and administrator.  She keeps TMS working – and for the two months that I was without internet access, she also did an occasional post at TMS to try to keep me from losing all my readers.

 So how do you like the new theme?  I love the color pink, and I love the way TMS looks now.  Although I also loved the previous theme, I had grown a little tired of the header, and the color was beginning to wear on me.  So THANKS to Beth for updating it for me.

I still like the collage of my siblings and me.  So maybe Beth will be able to reduce it and put it in the sidebar.  Now if she can just make that eye/flower thing in the header have a green eye, it would be perfect.   

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I finally went to Target, bought a $5.99 telephone cord, came home, unhooked the useless DSL crap, used the telephone cord to join the computer to the phone outlet, logged onto AOL – had to change my free bring-your-own DSL connection plan to a $9.95 per month dial-up plan  . . .  and VOILA! I am online again.  I had forgotten just how SLOW dial-up is.  So I am VERY slowly online, but I’m online.  Here I am – blogging from home for the first time in almost two months.  It’s incredible. 

I haven’t checked my site meter – so I may be down to only a handful of readers, but at least I can write again.  I’ve sure missed it, and I realize what a satisfying activity writing is.  That is part of what I teach children to do – to write to express their ideas and feelings.  And writing isn’t an activity that has universal acceptance.  I’ve been a little disheartened since I started blogging by the people in my life who feel it’s a waste of time.  They just don’t “get” why anyone would want to blog, and they seem to humor my interest in it.  I no longer care.  I’m just thrilled to be able to do it again.

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Ahhh – the joys of actually reading blogs from a computer instead of a Treo.  No reading glasses needed to decipher tiny print.  No scrolling through three or four screens in order to read a brief email. 

So who has satellite internet?  I’m so disgusted with BellSouth/AT&T – I don’t even want to consider continuing that sub-par, ridiculously moronically (is that a word?) staffed service when we move to our new house. 

Does anyone actually blog from a Treo or Blackberry?  I need to learn how to do that.  Maybe a lot of quick and brief posts would be possible.  I’m beginning to gain a little bit of expertise in typing on those tiny keys.

I’m at my mother’s house for a long weekend.  We’ll have a family reunion on Monday.  I think about 50 – 60 people are expected.   Some family bloggers will be there – Daddy’s Roses, Alone on a Limb, Blue Star Chronicles, Cozy Reader, to name a few.  I don’t think Sleepless Juggler is going to be able to be there.

That means that for a couple days, I can actually blog again!  YEA!  I’ve missed it.  Now to go check my sitemeter and see how many readers I’ve lost in the past couple months of near inactivity.  Sigh.

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