Cream of the crop

My computer died for the second time in less than a year. Thankfully, I was able to back-up my photographs and files, but I forgot to save my bookmarks. I have no idea how many blog links I had saved and likely many I will never find again, maybe simplifying was a blessing in disguise. These are a few that I like enough to have remembered and was fortunate enough to be able to track down.

Just a Girl She has great decorating ideas of her own, but my favorite thing she does is Feature Friday. She posts about other bloggers with exceptional ideas and I've found some neat blogs through her.

Nesting Place Another great design blog. She lives in a house full of men, but has lots of pretty stuff! For a while after I had Kyle I thought I had to become a boy too and only have blue, masculine things. I got over that.

Eat at Home Probably pretty obvious by the name, but it is a cooking blog. She has a really good white chicken enchilada recipe and butterscotch cookie recipe, those are two that come right to mind that I have made more than once.

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam Great inspiration for saving money, on clothes, cooking, decor, etc. She is currently doing a challenge to spend $100 on groceries for her family of 7 this month.

I've been playing with the idea of challenging myself to not buy anything new this year (or actually it could be new, but it would have to be bought second-hand) other than, of course, things like food and toilet paper. I'm not really taking myself seriously and I know I'd like to try it, but I'm weak and would easily give in to myself if tempted. We'll see.

Psst, Wanna Know Something?

I started another blog. See that link over there? Yep, that one in the sidebar under the title "My Bloggy 2nd Home." You can check out Fourgiven Momma Loves to Read with that link and of course from here on out it'll let you know when I post something new over there. I'm thinking of it as my little vacation home in Blogland. Come on over, I'd love to see you there!

It's Winter at Fourgiven Much!

Okay, here is the wintry blog design! I did stay true to the deal I made with myself; here are the pictures to prove it:


I'm broken out in a semi-cold sweat. I used the same dimensions as before for the background, but for some reason (at least on my screen) the sidebars are encroaching into the middle text area. I know that makes it hard to read, sorry! I'll be working on fixing it, but Cade is bound to wake up any minute and we'll be gone for Bible study tonight so not sure when I'll actually get it fixed. Not knowing what the problem is also complicates things a wee bit. (Update: Still don't know what the problem was/is, but I adjusted it so that it is readable, at least it is on my screen.)

If Walmart Doesn't Wait, Why Should I?

I have a new wintry blog design I’ll be revealing soon. I know, I know, you can hardly stand the suspense; but try, you can do it!

I planned to work on the design a little here, a little there, between now and Thanksgiving.

But, wait a minute, am I new here? I don’t do 'little by little' I do 'begin immediately and obsessively until it’s done'. So I Photoshopped (spell check wants me to say ‘photos hopped’ which sounds entertaining, but I’m sticking with my original spelling) every spare minute yesterday and until I was blinking furiously to keep my eyes focused last night.

I am teaching myself Photoshop and I discovered all of these nifty little features last night that previously I had no idea even existed! I was absolutely giddy. I was trying to convey to Mike how much easier and more exciting this discovery was going to make my life – well, my Photoshop life anyway – and though he didn’t show it on the outside, I’m sure on the inside he was thrilled down to his toenails.

I finished the design, but have made a deal with myself that I won’t reveal it (Okay, reveal sounds a tad more dramatic than the situation calls for, but obviously I can't think of an alternative since I wrote it earlier too. So humor me and pretend for a moment that it actually matters what the background on my blog looks like. And as you're pretending it actually matters, don't set your expectations too high because as I already said I am just learning. And when you come back and see it, say to yourself, "Gee, they say less is more, but in this case I do believe more is more! Indeed!" Because what's the point in learning fun new techniques if you don't use them all at the same time? Exactly. Okay, now what was I saying? Oh yeah, what I'm waiting for to reveal the new design) until after the Christmas decorations are up in the house. Normally that coincides with Thanksgiving weekend, but our next door neighbors decorated last weekend and some other friends put up their outside lights a few days ago so I think decorum obliges us to follow suit. We'll see if I can sell Mike on that one.

Practically speaking early decorating may not be the smartest thing with a newly self-propelled baby. “Cade, the Wiseman is not for eating.” “Cade, we don’t put Christmas lights in our mouth.” “Cade! Baby, hang on! Momma will pull the Christmas tree off of you!” Hmmm.

In addition to his new mobility, Cade is also getting into the spirit of “all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth…” That boy goes all out, I tell ya!

Soon, or not, I'll have a Christmas-y home and a wintry blog-home. Check back!

Ack!

You know that expression, "I know just enough to be dangerous" ? Well, that is me with blogging (and probably several other things I won't go into right now. Okay, focus, focus).

I designed the new header you see and am playing around with the background design and now some of the text is not aligned how I would like it. It is going to drive me crazy until I can figure out how to fix it.

Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon and hopefully it isn't even more messed up on your screen than it is on mine. I can either get the toothpicks out for my eyes and try to fix it now or go climb in bed next to my darling (snoring) husband. Since I have young children who will insist on little rituals like being fed and played with in the morning, I better opt for the latter.

A Little Panic Gets the Heart Pumping

In my new-blogger excitement, I was innocently tweaking the title of a possible future post. I hit 'enter' and to my surprise and horror, a message popped up offering me a chance to view my JUST PUBLISHED POST!

"NO! WAIT! STOP!" I pleaded with my computer, but to no avail. (In the midst of my panic, my darling husband sat mere feet away from the mayhem, completely unfazed by my frantic cries and activity. What can I say? He knows me well.) Hoping I was misunderstanding the phrase "your post has been published," I clicked the button to view my blog and there, in all of its utter non-glory, was my unfinished, very rough draft, staring at me from the top of my homepage.

If, like my darling husband, you aren't given to perfectionism or over-reacting, you may not see how posting an incomplete, unedited story is worthy of panic, so let me attempt to illustrate. Have you ever composed an email complaining about work, hit send, and then all of the sudden you aren't absolutely sure whose name was in the 'To:' box. Was it your best friend or was it your boss?? Still no sense of panic? Teach me.

The quickest remedy I could figure out was to delete the accidental post and pry the 'enter' key off of my keyboard. That post is gone, but now I have a blogging story to share. Anyone else have a share-able embarrassing blog or email moment?

Starting somewhere

This is my first timid step into blog-land. I'm a reluctant blogger. I don't jump on trends, I saunter into them. Today I was surfing for a new cell phone during the boys' naptime, when starting a blog suddenly seemed like a great diversion from the multitude of wireless options.

So here I am. My ease-into-it tendencies and my aversion to too many options has brought me into the world of blogging.

One of the reasons I haven't blogged before now is the issue of whether or not to post personal pictures. I haven't resolved that one yet. I love seeing pictures of friends and family on blogs and presume that would be the main reason for people to read my blog, but we'll just have to see how that sorts itself out.

Another reason I haven't blogged yet, is that as far as with it-ness goes, I am hopelessly BTT (behind the times -- I think I just made that up, maybe I'm cooler than I realize!? Okay, maybe not.). This very morning, I mistakenly referred to text messaging as voice mail. I have no idea what one does with an iPhone. The purpose of FaceBook still eludes me. You see my point. I may never figure out the ins and outs of having a blog, but I'm going to stick my toe in the water and see how it feels. Feel free to stop back by and see if I've made it further into the pool!