BackTweets. Backtweets lets you search for links to your website or blog on Twitter. Simply enter your url and Backtweets will deliver Tweets that mention your blog.

Tweetbeep is sorta like Google Alerts. With TweetBeep, you can be alerted when someone “tweets” about the keywords you have selected.

Twilert is another Twitter alerting service that allows you to receive email alerts of tweets on Twitter.

Twubble recommends new twitters to follow based on the friends of your friends.

Having a hard time keeping track of your newest followers? Twitter Karma shows you who you are just following, and who is just following you. It eliminates the need to scroll through pages. (What a great tool.)

Do you Tweet? What Twitter services would you recommend?

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They put off calling those they love until tomorrow, but tomorrow never does come and then it’s sadly too late. When you look at the word Hello, look at it as a dance. When you pick up the phone or stop by to visit a loved one and let them know you are still around; you are honoring them with that dance.

Let me tell you a story:

Roger was a man who, from the time he was a young teen, he shut out those around him. He put his mind into his work. His mother and father both died before he was 40 and he didn’t talk to either of his teen boys. He never had much of a relationship with them growing up and he had disowned his only sister.

One day Roger looked up from the piles of paper that sat on his desk. He picked up the phone to call his sister. A young woman answered the phone. Roger said, “Hello is Sunetra there?”

The young woman answered, “May I ask who is calling? ”

Roger replied, “Yes this is her brother.”

“Uncle Roger this is Gracie. I’m sorry we tried to get in touch with you, but Mom died a year ago.”

Roger didn’t know what to say. He offered his condolences and hung up the phone.

As Roger sat at his desk he thought to himself, it’s too late. Roger put everything else in life before family and now he would never have the chance to hear his sister’s voice again.

Are you like Roger? Are you married to your career? When was the last time that you called a friend, your parents, maybe even your children?

Why is it that we have funerals? Losing someone that we love is devastating. The funeral is supposed to be the time when we grieve and honor our loved ones, but what if you never honored them when they were living. What if you were just like Roger.

You know I still recall the words the doctor said to me following my mother’s stroke. He told me that my mother would never be the same person she was. My reply was that she would always be my mother. I strongly believed that.

A few weeks prior to my mother’s death, one of the staff at the nursing home called me. She told me that my mother was crying and asked if I would speak with her on the phone. When I asked my Mom what was wrong, she just said she was worried about me, so I went in that evening to see her. She sat in her wheel chair and I sat on the edge of the bed. Mom was stroking my hand softly and crying. I asked her what was wrong and this is what she told me. She said “Rose, I thought nobody cared anymore about me.” I asked her what gave her that impression and her reply was, “Because I’m a cripple.”

My mother sat in a nursing home turning old and Grey. She prayed that just one person would call, send a card, write or visit her that day, but no one ever did. No one had time. Friends and family were always too busy. I know we often put off in our lives many things and it is times like funerals that we gather with tear filled emotion expressing our love for a loved one gone to rest. I want to ask you, why it is that we wait till a love one is has gone to gather at their graveside and weep.

My mother was waiting for my blessing on the evening of December 2nd. I gave my mom my blessing, telling her just to close her eyes. She turned and looked at my brother then looked at me. I could see goodbye, I love you in her eyes. Then she turned, looked at the ceiling, and took her last breath. She was gone, but not forgotten.

I honored my mother every day of her life and she left this world knowing that out of the many family and friends she thought she had, I was the one who asked her to dance.

Don’t wait until your loved one has left this earth to honor them. Don’t be like Roger or don’t let your love ones die alone thinking that they are a burden. Please pick up the phone and call now and let them know that you care. Don’t miss the chance to dance. Honor them today with a simple “Hello.”

Copyright ©2005-2009 Rose DesRochers

I can truly relate to the following poem and I wish I knew who the original author was. If you know, please let me know so that I may properly credit them. I tried searching for the original author, but it comes up unknown so the true origin of which it came could not be verified. I’m guessing that the poem is in the public domain. It is so unfortunate when poems are listed as unknown.

One little Rose

I would rather have one little rose
From the garden of a friend,
Than to have the choicest flowers
When my stay on earth must end.

I would rather have one pleasant word
In Kindness said to me,
Than flattery when the heart is still
And life has ceased to be.

I would rather have a loving smile
From friends I know are true,
Than tears shed round my casket
When this world I’ve bid adieu.

Bring me all your flowers today
Whether pink, or white, or red;
I’d rather have one blossom now
Than a truckload when I’m dead!

~ Author Unknown ~

Have you honored someone today?

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I know a certain individual who lives life wearing rose colored glasses. This person always views the glass as half full. He lives in his own little fantasy world where he refuse to see things as they really are.

He says that he has lived his entire life this way and has never had a problem. Well things are not always as rosie as he would like to think they are and that rose he views as red is actually black.

Life is colored rose by this persons own self denials. I would love to shatter his rose colored glasses and wake him up to reality. He needs to take a good look around.

All his rose colored glasses are doing is hide the truth and let’s face it, some things are true whether you believe them or not. It was Aldous Huxley who said: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”

The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it. -Danish Proverb

Don’t go through life wearing rose colored glasses.

When you put on your rose colored glasses you can’t see the truth that it staring you in the face. You can’t see the unpleasant side of things. While there is nothing wrong with seeing the good in life, sometimes you have to take off your rose-colored glasses and see things as they really are.

It takes courage to confront not just the good in life, but the negative as well. It takes courage to remove your rose colored glasses and see the light.

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Though he’s not here today, so many times I have heard his voice saying, “I told you so.” Why is it we never realize our parents were right until we are adults? I’d love to go back and kick my 18 year old self and most of all to tell my Father, I’m sorry. But there is no going back. You can not change what has been done and time missed.

Now that I’m a grown woman with children of my own, I see my father in a different light then I did when I was a teen.

If there a reason for me to smile today, it is for the memory of a strong man- one who wanted the best for me- the man who gave me life. I love you Dad.

While my Father gave me life- my husband saved my life. If it were not for my husband I don’t think I would be here writing this blog post today. I cannot picture my life without Shawn in it. He’s a wonderful husband and a loving father.

Some women are blessed with the love of one good man- I have been blessed with having the love of two loving men in my life.

To my male readership who are fathers, I wish you a Happy Father’s Day!

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A great way to get more followers on Twitter is to add a “Twitter Follow Me Button” to your sidebar. How do you do this though?

First download the “Twitter follow me image” that you wish to use. Next: Upload it to your server or anywhere else and note its URL. Then go to Appearance, Editor and click on Sidebar. Scroll through the code until you find where you wish to insert the image. Paste in the following code.

<a href=”http://twitter.com/YourLink”><img src=”Link to image” /></a>

Where to find Twitter Icons

Josiah Host of Sia Design offers a nice selection of twitter buttons. ( As you can see I’m using one of his designs on my sidebar.)

Randa Clay also has a nice selection as well.

limeshot.com has a selection of Twitter buttons you can use.

Blog Marketing Web has 31 Icons you can use.

Other plays to find Twitter Icons:

Gopal of Productive Dreams has released a very nice Twitter icon set.

Mark Thoburn has 9 glossy twitter icons for use.

Please do not hotlink to any of the graphics. You can host your images at tinypic.com for free.

Want something different?

Add an auto scrolling twitter badge to your blog using TwitterFollowBadge. ( Note: The scrolling Twitter badge does not appear in IE6.)

Do you Twitter? Follow me on Twitter!

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