Tuesday, December 30, 2008

An Opening Prayer for a New Year's Party

Dear Father in heaven,

As we gather here together to celebrate this new year,

May your bountiful blessings come upon our loved ones
and everyone present here in this gathering.

We pray also for those who are not present in our midst.

May you bless them all with peace and happiness.

May all those who suffer in hospital beds feel the soothing balm of your presence.

Photo by Wyscan


May all those in jail houses discern your saving grace.

May all those who are at war, learn your forgiving ways.

May all those who suffer in poverty see the richness of your blessings.

Give them the strength and grace to endure and persevere.

We also pray for "peace on earth and goodwill to all men."

As we celebrate this new year, we thank you for all blessings.

May we continue meeting our daily challenges with faith in your goodness.

May our lives serve as witnesses to your all-abounding generosity and love.

All these, we ask through Christ , our Lord, Amen.

(You're free to copy this and use it)

Free Blog Hosting and My Plans

Since I started blogging , I have always wished for a free blog hosting , my own URL , a blogging community which could critique my blogs, and one place where I can download large amounts of pictures, videos, and files without living the site. I have planned to categorize all my articles into poetry, short stories, quotations, lyrics and novels.

I also had plans of using wordpress with one of my blogs to see if I could be more comfortable with it. All of these seem now to be fulfilled with this amazing free blog that is available over the net. It has all the features I have mentioned above, and many more innovative features.

In the future, I would like also to buy a domain name. What better way to continue blogging than to have your own name? I am sure this would enhance my blogging experience.

The Inspirational Book is progressing slowly. I need more 12 articles to make it 20 articles all in all. I am hoping by July, I would be having my 2o articles, so that the target date of August 31, 2009, would be met.

In the meantime, I would have to contend with this great blogging opportunity available in the Internet, because blogging would always be special to me.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A Metaphor? I'm Not Sure. Merry Christmas!




Kindly replay, to listen to the uninterrupted version. It's a great song!

Here's a metaphor from Aerosmith from their album entitled:
"A Little South of Sanity"

"Life's a journey not a destination
And I just can't tell just what tomorrow brings."


Monday, December 22, 2008

A CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

I have an on-going call for comments at my blog: "A Campaign for Non-Violence on Children's TV Programs" ,


Wouldn't it be wonderful to know your thoughts on this? (pros or cons)

Kindly click on the link and contribute your thoughts and win great prizes.

A CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

I have an on-going call for comments at my blog: "A Campaign for Non-Violence on Children's TV Programs" ,


Wouldn't it be wonderful to know your thoughts on this? (pros or cons)

Kindly click on the link and contribute your thoughts and win great prizes.


Saturday, December 20, 2008

A Christmas Post, For a Change

Since it's Christmas, let me digress from the normal posts in this blog. Here's something for you to read:

How to Plan a Memorable Christmas Party

Christmas will always be one of those memorable times in our lives. This is because it could represent several things for us: family reunion, get-together with friends, long vacation, forgiveness, love, gifts and of course partying till the wee hours of dawn.



Christmas parties; however, are sometimes all the same that we tend to forget about them afterwards. If you are planning to host a Christmas party, then you must plan to make it memorable for all the participants. How could this be done? Below-mentioned are several ways to make your Christmas party apart from all the rest:

1.
Let everyone participate.

If you take active participation in an activity, you would not forget it. Encourage everyone to dance, take part in the games, sing, etc. But do not force anyone who does not want to participate.

Read the rest of the article at Helium.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Photo by KB35

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Recycling Your Christmas Tree

Christmas trees become a significant part of your yuletide celebration that oftentimes, after the season, putting it away together with the other decorations, leaves a certain sadness in your heart. You wish you could hold on to the joyful Christmas moments forever, by holding on to the tangible symbols that you have placed around you. Just like any mundane thing however, everything comes to pass and so does your Christmas tree's role for the season.

The usefulness of your Christmas tree however, need not end in the garbage bin; you can maximize its use by recycling through the following methods:

1. Use as firewood

Trim the tree and cut the twigs, branches and trunk into 1 foot pieces and dry under the sun. After they have thoroughly dried, store them in a dry clean place. You could use them now as firewood for your camping trips, for backyard barbecues, in your fireplace or in your bonfires. You would be surprised at how it catches up fire so easily.

In fact in most countries, they are widely used to start fires and not as plain firewood. This is because they are very combustible and easy to ignite.

2. Use as food trays

You could convert them into small food trays for your kitchen. Select the good branches and smooth them with sand paper. Construct a tray by making use of a hammer and some nails. You don't need to be a carpenter to be able to do this. Just be sure that you have equal sides by measuring with a ruler.

If the tree has cones nail them to the corners of the
tray to add style. Spray with varnish to give a polished touch. Presto! You have your own kitchen tray!

3. Use as plant trellis/rails for your garden

Cut the branches into sizes big enough for your plants. Use them as trellis by arranging 3-4 branches around the plant. You could also utilize them also as garden rails by cutting them into equal sizes. You could paint them to give more visual attraction to your garden.

4. Use as permanent decors

Use your creative mind to devise attractive wall decors.
Rub the branches and twigs first with sand paper until they are smooth. With the use of a hammer and some nails, construct designs like picture frames, miniature toys, houses or whatever your creative mind leads you. Finish your work by spraying with varnish to give shine or you could paint them to add attractive color.

5. Use as foot bridges for your garden

The tiny branches could be used as foot bridges in your garden by arranging them tightly together to form a sturdy bundle. Place them in uneven or soft spots in your garden to prevent mud formation. They would lend uniqueness to the landscape.

6. Use as composite for your plants

The leaves could be placed in a damp portion of the soil or buried, to form a composite fertilizer for your other plants. Allow the leaves to rot and then be converted into rich soil before using it with your plant cultivation.

There are still several ways to utilize your used Christmas tree. Look around your house and backyard. What do you need? Could the tree be converted to supply that need? For sure, you would find it to be useful in one way or another; but for the meantime, bask in the beauty of your Christmas tree!

This has been published at Helium.com
Photo by: by scottfeldstein