You're designing your own charm bracelet, something kind of old fashioned but you might give it a modern style or stick to the traditional.

The bracelet is in front of you so is the charm catalogue with thousands of little charms to choose from. Think of your life, things you have experienced, things that you wish for, things that describe and interest you. Some things you are looking forward to ahead in your life as well.

You can pick 7 charms to fill the bracelet or 16 to fill it and look somewhat cluttered, heavy and clunky. The clutteredness doesn't matter as much as getting it right and making it fit you personally. After all, you can always create charm bracelet earrings, long and dangly, with those extra charms.

What charms do you pick to have added to the bracelet (or earrings) to make your own charm bracelet?

I used to have a recipe for buttermilk pancakes that were made the night before. It was from my Aunt Emma in Kelowna, BC. But I don't know where it ended up, too much moving around. So tonight I am looking for something like it I can make and add blueberries too.

Overnight Refrigerator Pancakes

• 1 T. active dry yeast
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 4 c. all purpose flour (we prefer Prairie Gold) (it's whole grain)
• 2T. baking powder
• 2T. baking soda
• 1t. salt
• 1T. honey
• 4c. buttermilk
• 6 large eggs
• 1/4 c. veg. oil

Directions

1. Combine yeast and water in small bowl
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix eggs, oil, buttermilk, and honey in seperate bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, add yeast mixture, stir till moistened.
5. Let batter set in fridge for at least 8 hours before using.
6. Batter will keep in fridge for up to one week.
7. Preheat griddle to 350.
8. Cook pancakes till they bubble on one side then flip.
9. I like to add chopped nuts to the batter and serve with chopped fresh fruit and pure maple syrup.

This one (below) sounds more like my old recipe. But everything was put together the night before.

OVERNIGHT PANCAKES

NIGHT BEFORE:

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 c. buttermilk

NEXT MORNING:

1 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. hot water

Mix all ingredients in first list and let stand at room temperature overnight. Next morning, add remaining ingredients and cook on greased griddle.

There's a weird looking toad in the park. You see it as you are walking along, it catches your eye cause you're sure you have never seen a sparkling silver toad before. Not one that is actually alive anyway. At first you wonder if some kid is pulling a prank or has spray painted the poor thing. But, no, it seems to be a perfectly healthy, alive and real, toad.

What an amazing find. You could be rich and famous for this discovery. Just think of all the places that would like to see such a creature as a sparkling silver toad.

All you have to do is pick it up and take it. But, you're not all that fond of toads and creepy crawlies in general. Still, this could change your life, for the better. You steel your nerves and the ick factor and pick up the toad. It's not so bad. The toad isn't even squirming or trying to jump out of your hands. Which is a good thing cause it is still creepy even if it's not currently crawlie.

Walking along to the park exit you start to feel the toad really isn't all that bad. Not so different from holding a cat really. Just different skin and really, it's about the size of a kitten. Not cute, you wouldn't go that far. But, not as yucky as you had expected. In fact, thinking about the fame and fortune to come... all that stuff you could pay off, buy or do... You raise your hands and look at the toad, face to face. That big mouth looks like a big smile. His toad eyes are kind of unblinking but there is a calmness about him, not pretty but kind of nice. You lean in and impulsively kiss the toad.

With a flash of light.... the toad turns into a man. He isn't still in your hands but standing on his own two feet right in front of you. That's a little bizarre.

He introduces himself and gives that old fairy tale about being a handsome Prince turned into a toad by a so called Wicked Witch after he ran over her cat with his sports car. He still doesn't sound very sorry about the whole cat thing. The only real addition to the usual fairy tale is that you have the power to turn him back into a silvery toad again. Interesting... he just kind of glosses over that, assuming you will be all too glad to have found a handsome Prince for yourself.

He talks about how he will marry you and give you access to his castle, cars, and let you have some cash to spend each month. You can pay off your stuff, take some trips and all of that. But, with him and from what he chooses to give you.

So, now comes the big question... Do you keep your handsome Prince, get married and wander off into his sunset? Or, do you turn him back into a silver, sparkling toad and get your own fame and fortune leaving him as a toad for the rest of his life?

People talk about having a successful blog. Most of those people are the money making, SEO, business bloggers. That's fine for them to measure success in terms of number, scores, ranks and ads (sometimes even revenue). It's not for me.

I don't blog for those reasons so my success isn't measured that way. I blog for personal reasons and success isn't really what I'm looking for from this blog. Often I write to hear myself think. I draw to keep myself working on understanding how to draw, learning by doing. I wished I could draw for a long time and suddenly, once I actually started doing it, I realized I could. A personal achievement. That's a successful blog for me.

I love exploring, decorating, and meeting people through my blog. Posting my photos of flowers, abandoned farm houses. Making changes to my template, taking a risk on them totally bombing and then fixing them again. Having new people comment on what I have done here and visiting them in return for more ideas of what I can do and in some cases making a personal connection that I want to keep and grow. Those are things that make a successful blog for me.

Success isn't really the right word though.

I joined up Entrecard as an experiment, something new to try. I like joining new sites and networks and learning a bit about how they work. Seeing if there is something that will interest me about it. Entrecard has become partnered with SezWho. I don't think it is a site I would have joined if it wasn't for the partnership with Entrecard. I really don't like the idea of rating/ scoring comments given to my blog posts. That seems very arrogant. I don't want to do it. If I can automatically set it to score every comment at 100% I will do that. I moderate my comments and filter out any junk. Every other comment I fully appreciate and don't feel I have the right to sit and judge them. A comment is freely given and should not be something that falls to the "successful" blogging scheme.

I've set up SezWho for those who want to score big with this. It seems like a get points quick scheme and little of real value to me. But, I am giving it a try, for now.

Fragile Heart passed this along.

1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

7 Facts…

I was an illegal alien.

I can touch type really well now, I failed miserably at Typing in High School.

If I won the lottery I'd use most of it for travel.

I actually like those new vanilla, orange and etc toothpastes.

I love to sing when I'm alone.

My husband (when we were still married) used to call me Dark Side, the Evil One and I liked it.

I don't like going to bed. Sleeping is such a waste of so much time.

Passing this along to...

Amber, Mike, Robin, Valerie, Leigh, Winona, and Bettle.