Saturday, June 20, 2009

Double Milestones Post

1st birthday cake (2)

Ok……here we are……at the finish line of my blogging goal for today, June 20, 2009. Its my 51st birthday, which is no big deal. More importantly…..this is my 1000th blogpost! The photo above shows me as hostess at my first birthday party, ready to launch the festivities by yanking that cake onto my highchair tray. All right! Bring it on! Actually, my eyes have that glazed-over, ready-for-a-nap look……and, that’s been the theme of my entire life!



I began blogging on February 12, 2007……here’s the first post. Haha, at that time I knew precious little about blogging…..I didn’t even know how to add a link to a blogpost. I’m indebted to kind-hearted fellow bloggers who offered instructions for that and other blogging tricks. I started with Blogger's Mojo Green template, I believe, and didn't post photos for a year, until we switched our internet connection from dial-up to DSL.



Bear with me, please……I enjoy these old photo scenes mainly for the glimpse they give of old linoleum, curtains, wallpaper, furniture……decor from a past era. In this next photo, it appears I’m getting an early start on learning to sort laundry……definitely a necessary life skill.



dresser drawer



One change in my blog’s look came when I learned about using Windows Live Writer a few months ago. Lots of handy options in there. When uploading a video from my own camera, I still use Blogger, though.



Ah, yes…….next we see one-year-old me busily absorbing knowledge from our set of Collier’s Encyclopedias. Please don’t be shocked by my attire……the white towel placed on top of the head helped to hold information in place until it could be fully soaked up by the mind’s memory bank. I’m not sure what that tail-piece towel was for. (As I recall, my mom placed these small towels on armrests of the sofa and easy chairs---to provide protection from dirt and wear. My great-grandma crocheted doily-like pieces to be used for that purpose, too.)

Lj encyclopedias



Another blogging improvement happened when I learned how to increase the size of the blog “wrappers”. Other bloggers directed me to this Norwegian blog which gives instructions for going into the blog’s HTML and increasing the measurements for the wrappers. It allows the blog to use more of the computer screen area and photos can be uploaded in a larger size. If you visit the Norwegian blog, there is a translator widget in the sidebar so you can convert the post to English or whatever language you need.



This last photo is a bit blurry, but I enjoy the scene. I still have that white teddy bear that's lying there on the sofa in the photo, but I've no recollection of the monkey. I attempted to zoom in to see the item in my hands……it looks for all the world like the cell phone I currently use!! (Wow.....dig those well-matched linoleum and wallpaper designs!)



Christmas 59 (2)



Sorry for all this focus on ME, but I had a blast arranging this 51st birthday post to also be the 1000th post on my blog!



Have a pleasant weekend……and a wonderful Father’s Day (which is my son’s birthday……and he was born right on Father’s Day in 1992.)!



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27 comments:

rhymeswithplague said...

Congratulations on the double milestone. You are now closer to your 100th birthday than you are to the day you were born. You are also now the lucky recipient of a do-it-yourself, environmentally-correct birthday greeting (DIY because you must provide your own mental images, perhaps with the help of that nice Norwegian blogger):

Hippo birdy two ewe,
Hippo birdy two ewe,
Hippo birdy deer JEA-NELLLLLLLE,
Hippo birdy two ewe!
(and minnow moo-er...)

Rhymeswithplague, Esq. & Mrs. RWP

Anonymous said...

Happy, Happy Birthday! I wish you all the best on your special day! Love seeing the b/w photos from your early years! Don't we all have some of those in our life! Enjoy your day!!!!!

troutay said...

Happy birthday Jea!

Love the photos.

Nancy said...

Wow 1000 posts, that's amazing. It sounds like you have learned a lot and it's obvious by how great your blog looks. Happy Birthday too!! It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, so enjoy it. Maybe someone in your family can take some newer pictures of you, I'm sure we'd all like to see you doing one of your current activities...fully clothed please. (Ha) It sounds like you'll have a weekend of celebrating, how fun. Our anniversary falls on Father's Day this year, so we will be celebrating too. Cheers!

Laura ~Peach~ said...

happy 51/1000 how totally cool is that have a wonderful birthday!!!!
hugsssssssss

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday you marvelous blogger! You've come a long way!

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Pat - Arkansas said...

A happy, snappy birthday to you, Jeannelle. You're still a "young thing" relatively speaking.

Congratulations on your 1,000th post. "You did it, you did it."

Visiting your blog is a high-point in my day. I hope to be around for your 2,000th.:)

Leenie said...

And many more birthdays and blogs. Love the black and white photos.

Jeannelle said...

Hi, rhymsie and Mrs. RWP,

Thank you for the birthday rhyme! It provided quite a workout for the imaging muscles of my brain. Enjoy your time in Alabamistan.

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Hi, aspen,

Thank you for the thoughtful wishes! Yeah, aren't old photos a hoot.

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Hi,troutay,

Thank you! Have a great weekend!

*******

Hi, Nancy,

Very happy anniversary wishes to you and your husband! How many years young is your marriage? Have a wonderful celebration!

Thank you for your kind words about the blog.

(I don't like having my picture taken, but someone will probably catch me in a photo sometime today.)

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Hi, Laura,

Thank you for the birthday wishes! Have a good weekend....I hope no more storms come your way.

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Hi, Blue Ridge Gal,

Thank you for the kind words! Its been fun getting acquainted with you and many other bloggers!

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Hi, Pat,

Thank you for the birthday wishes! I hope you are busy working on another post of your fascinating memories. You tell those stories so well!

Jeannelle said...

Hi, Leenie,

Oops....your comment slipped in while I was doing my comment. Thank you for the kind words! (I need to go open emails now...I see there is one from you....thanks!)

Sempringham said...

Hi Jeannelle!

Happy birthday from Sempringham and sjm! We'd have written sooner, but a tree took out the power line in last night's storms, and we had to go to church to get connected to the internet. There's a sermon in there, somewhere.

Kat Mortensen said...

Happy, happy birthday to you, Jeannelle! Congratulations on your 100th post! (I commented on the first one, by the way).
As is so characteristic of your unfailing generosity, you have shared some of your blog-secrets! I love that about you. I bookmarked the Norwegian blog and of course I'm eternally grateful for your turning me onto LiveWriter (and Messenger).

Have a wonderful day (the diapers in that second shot look pretty heavy there.) Oh, and I still have the Teddy bear that my dad's sister, Josie gave me when I was 5 months old! (A couple of old softies, we are, aren't we?)

Kat

Regis said...

Hi Jeannelle,

Happy Birthday from Waterloo (Belgium)!

Regis

Jeannelle said...

Hi, Sempringham,

Thank you for the good wishes! I'm sorry to hear about the storm....there's been alot of that going on in various places lately. Sherry of afeatheradrift got hit with strong winds yesterday morning. I feel fortunate....we've had none such storms here so far.

Hmm....yes, the church being your source of connection with the world is definitely profound in some way.....

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Hi, Poetikat,

Thank you for the kind wishes! And, I'm glad to hear you still have a teddy bear from childhood, too....that's very special!

Thank you for reading the first post. Other bloggers have been very generous with me, and certainly its good to share what we learn along the way.

******

Hi, Regis,

Thank you (from near Waterloo, Iowa!) for the birthday greeting! My daughter sent me birthday wishes from Munich, Germany, this morning. She's going to try and find a Waterloo Belgium Beer mug for me while she's in Europe.

Anonymous said...

Have a great birthday Jeannelle! Lovely pictures as always. You've got staying power for blogging! I just passed 500 posts a couple weeks ago. That's a lot of writing! lol..we should be getting paid for this.

threecollie said...

Happy Birthday and congratulations all rolled into one. Wonderful post!

Reamus said...

Farm Wife,

That is more posts than I will manage in a lifetime...have a Happy Birthday and thanks for all the pictures and wit in the last year.

Girl Tornado said...

Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day, and Happy 1000th post! Wow, what a milestone. :)

I enjoyed all the old timey photos -- I actually kinda remember those curtains, linoleum, furniture, wallpaper, etc. Scary, huh?

Gigi Ann said...

I'm a little late in my congrats to you for reaching your goal of 1000 posts and 51 years of life. The photos are so cute I love them. I think my furniture was similar to your parents, It was the 60s and 70s that was what we had to choose from. haha...

51 that is still a young age, so enjoy your young womanhood while you can. And a 1000 post WhooWeeee!!! I don't even know how many posts I've posted but not 1000. I sometimes delete them and start over fresh, so I will never know.....

Jeannelle said...

Hi, Sherry,

Thanks for the kind words! I may have more posts than you, but you surely have way more words and thoughts posted than I do. You are a writer extraordinaire!

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Hi, threecollie,

Thank you for the kind words and good wishes!

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Hi, Reamus,

But, remember....you write books. You probably have written the equivalent of many thousands of blogposts. Travel safe!

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Hi, Oz Girl,

Thank you for the good wishes! That's good you remember this type of decor.....we must be around the same age.

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Hi, Gramma Ann,

Thank you, too, for the good words and wishes! Wow....I feel younger now! And, do you really delete your blogposts from time to time?

Gigi Ann said...

Jeannelle ~ I have deleted 3 or 4 blogs and started fresh. But now I just clean them up and change their name. My Photo Blog's name is really "Ann's Moody Blues" it was my first one that I didn't delete and just changed it's name. It started out to be one where I wrote about my Mood Disorders when I was reading the book; "Feeling Good The New Mood Therapy" by David D. Burns, M.D. Then it became a blog I wrote on each day because my sister enjoyed reading what I was doing each day. That became very boring since I don't lead a very exciting life, and so I started to post Mr. Beachy's photos. I recently deleted "My Reading Corner" blog, because I was bored with it. And I made some of my blogs private, because I am no longer posting on them, but I want to keep the pictures I posted on them.

Now you see why I needed the Moody Blues Blog. Hahaha.

Jeannelle said...

Hi, Gramma Ann,

You are a prolific blogger! I hope you don't ever delete Mr. Beachy's photos, though.

The mood book sounds interesting. I think blogging is a good mood lifter....do you think so?

By the way, the band, "The Moody Blues" is one of my favorites!

Gigi Ann said...

When I made the "Moody Blues" blog I didn't even know there was a band by that name. Have since learned about it. LOL

betty said...

happy birthday (belated) to you and awesome you reached the milestone of 1000 posts!! that's quite an achievement! I enjoyed looking at your pictures of your younger days; I'm 6 months older than you so looking at those pictures brought back memories that my pictures look similar from that decade.

wishing you many more blogging years ahead

betty

DesertHen said...

Happy Birthday dear Jeannelle and Congratulations on your 1000th post! I loved seeing the photos of you as a little one. My mom has a photo of me on my first birthday and it is almost exactly like your photo....the glazed eye look and the hand holding the table cloth. I have a birthday coming up on the 4th of July.....It's a milestone b-day too! =)

Enjoy your day and happy birthday to your son and also Happy Father's Day to your hubby...=) ((((((((Many HUGS to you)))))))))

Barb said...

Hello Jeannelle,
My birthday wish for your 51st is winging to you from CO. I can't even imagine 1000 posts - what an accomplishment! Thanks for some of the blogging "tips." As a relatively new blogger, I intend to investigate them. I really enjoyed the pictures from your childhood.

Jeannelle said...

Hi, a corgi,

Thank you, fellow 51-year-old, for stopping by and for your good wishes!

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Hi, Deserthen,

Good to see your post today! You've been very busy, that's for sure.

Thank you for your cheery wishes. That's cool you have a similar one-year birthday cake photo!

Take care...don't work TOO hard!

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Hi, Barb,

Thank you for the good wishes from Colorado. What a beautiful state!

Live Writer is handy for doing blogposts and gives great options for sizing the photos and seeing how they look before you publish.

Enlarging the wrappers seemed scary to me at first, but it turned out ok. Her instructions were very good. Happy blogging!