• July 4, 2008 - A Good Friend
Isn't this a great photo? Two women going crazy over ribbon, of all things! I was so giddy with the assortment of ribbons at such cheap prices that we had to get a photo!
Beth is another blogging buddy turned IRL (in real life) buddy! I never thought making friends via blogging would be a reality for me. But I am so blessed to know these ladies! Beth lives in Hong Kong and blogs at Beautiful Feet on the Mountains.
Not only is she a total brainiac who knows Hong Kong like the back of her hand, she's kind and crafty! Like the great hostess that she is, she took us to Spotlight craft store again as well as taking me and Sprite to this fantastic sewing notions market. We reveled shop after shop of beads and ribbon! Here is Sprite in front of one of the shops. She blogged about the craft supplies at her blog.
Thanks, Beth! You're awesome! I look forward to hosting you when you come to China!
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• July 2, 2008 - Only Six Words
Gayle tagged me for this fun meme, and although I'm not fond of memes, I found this one very interesting. The idea is to write a six word memoir of your life (I suppose meaning my life thus far). She posted her meme on May 1. It's taken me two months to figure out what to do for this one, but now I know the answer:
PLEASE HAVE YOUR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS READY.
The last seven months of my life have been a whirlwind of traveling -- Thailand, USA, China, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong, China. Oh, and within China there was quite a bit of traveling from province to province and city to city. Yes, I like traveling. But when I say that I like traveling, I mean that I like to plan a trip, go have fun, and come home within a week or two. These past months have been nothing like that. Instead, much of the time, we've been living out of suitcases and have no real "home." Right now, we're living in a hotel in a new city in China. Our things are in storage in another city (at least that city is only four hours away).
I try hard not to complain on the blog. For one, it's just boring to read about someone's troubles. For another, I realize that I am, in the grand scheme of things very, very blessed. But, to be honest, things have been so hard that I've not felt like blogging. There's not been much homeschooling to blog about either.
So if you are the praying type, could you lift up a prayer for me and my family? We'd love to find a home fast. (We're apartment shopping right now.) Could you please ask for some roots too? I'd love that.
Enough of that. Now to tag five more people for this meme. (If you hate memes, just disregard. Or if you need time to think of an answer, take as long as you like. I took two whole months!)
1. Carisa at 1+1+1=1
2. Dana at School for Us
3. Jamie at Life and Love in Rose Cottage
4. Melissa at Lilliput Station Adventures
5. Keeley at Wanderer in a Strange Land
The rules
1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person that tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs.
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• May 25, 2008 - All is Well
Hi, dear blog readers and friends. We are all fine -- together, healthy, and well fed. We're in the midst of a time when blogging will be at a minimum. Do not worry. It's all good. Very good. There is a season to everything. And this season is probably not one for blogging. I'll be back when the time is right.
And on behalf of China, thank you for praying for those affected by the earthquake. As you know, this kind of catastrophe has far reaching implications -- the economy, for example. So even those not directly hurt by the earthquake are feeling the impact of the disaster.
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• May 12, 2008 - Please Don't Worry
Some of you are hearing about an earthquake in China. Please be assured that we are fine. We are in Hong Kong, far from the earthquake. We will go back to China tomorrow, though. We are not in danger and will not be in the affected areas.
Oh, and in case you were worried about the foot and mouth disease, we are all healthy.
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• May 2, 2008 - RSS Awareness Day
This blog entry is a techie one, not my usual fare. But I hope it's helpful to you.
What is RSS? It's a subscription function for a blog. It's sometimes also called a feed or even an RSS feed. Instead of visiting each of your favorite blogs, you can go to one site and read what's new on all of the blogs you love to read. That is, you read all their feeds or your subscriptions). It's super convenient if you like to read more than just a few blogs.
The site where you read the blog feeds is called a feed reader (or RSS reader). I use Bloglines. But other popular ones are Google Reader and Newsgator.
Sign up for a free account, add in your favorite blogs, and you'll never go back to visiting individual blogs again.
But as a blogger, you also need to know about RSS to make sure that you publish one. In your blog settings, make sure that your RSS feed is ON. That way, readers who like to use a feed reader will have access to your blog.
Many of my readers realize that a great majority of blogging platforms (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.) are blocked in China. But the amazing thing is that I can read RSS feeds of those blogs via Bloglines -- unblocked. So for me, RSS feeds are super wonderful! I can easily access otherwise blocked material. I don't know how many of your readers may be in countries where certain sites are blocked, but it is something to be aware of.
Another issue is what kind of feed to offer. Some people publish only a partial feed. So, in the blog reader, the reader sees only a headline and the first paragraph or so. This forces the reader to visit the original site to read the rest. (For those who are trying to make money through advertising, this is an obvious choice. They want lots of hits to their blogs.) Other feeds are text only, so all your lovely pictures are invisible to those reading via a feed reader.
I publish and love to read a full feed. That way my readers get it all. If the material they see moves them, they can always visit my blog and comment. I've often subscribed to an intriguing blog later to discover that it offers only a partial feed. How disappointing. I don't think I've ever stuck long with a partial feed. I just find it very irritating that I have to click over to read the entry. Why coax me with an exerpt? Give me the whole post!
So bottom line --
sign up for a blog reader and make sure your RSS feed is on.
Along these lines, here are a few blogs about blogging. I subscribe to all of them and find them helpful or interesting.
Blogging Basics 101
This is a great site for the newbie who wants to start a blog or learn about blog functions. (Sadly, this blog offers only a partial feed --a major negative for me.)
Daily Blog Tips
This site has great writing and blogging ideas! It's geared towards those who want to earn money from blogging, but you can disregard those types of posts and just glean from the writing and techie tips. 8 Post Types to Expand and Highlight Your Blog's Content is a good example of the great ideas this blog provides.
Problogger
This is also mainly focused on blogging for profit. The author, Daren, is a Christian, by the way. I appreciate that he is kind and doesn't use profanity or suggestive talk like so many other blogs about blogging. I've learned so much about blogging and online communications from him. Take for example this post on 7 Ways to Make Your Blog Stickier. It could also be called 7 Ways to Make Your Blog BETTER. What he offers are simply great blogging tips -- ways to engage your readers, reach more people, get more comments, provide better content, make an easy to use and navigate site, etc.
Copyblogger
This blog is focused on your writing. Once again, the assumption is that you want to earn money from your writing, but I think the principles of improving your writing can be used simply for the purpose of being a better writer! This is a good example of the good ideas offered on this blog. Oh, and this one too. Just because we're homeschooling moms doesn't mean that our writing has to be a boring grocery list of "Sally did math, Josie did art, Sam lost a tooth."
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• March 7, 2008 - Vote for Carnival of Homeschooling Graphic
If you're like me, you enjoy voting in contests. The Carnival of Homeschooling is having a graphic contest.
Please click over to vote for which graphic you prefer for the Carnival of Homeschooling.
There are two contests.
Medium size
Larger size.
Be sure to click on the small text at the bottom of the graphics that says "Take Our Poll." That's how you vote. The directions aren't crystal clear.
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• February 4, 2008 - Excellent Blog Award
• January 18, 2008 - How to Make Your Very Own Search Box
I had no idea you ladies would just LOVE the search box so very much! Now you all want one. Okay, here is how you can get one.
Yes, you can take mine. An easy way to take anyone's HTML is by looking using the VIEW -- PAGE SOURCE menu on your browser. Look up there at the top -- do you see FILE... EDIT... VIEW? VIEW is what you want. Then PAGE SOURCE. Voila. Now you can see the HTML for any webpage. Find what you want, copy and paste it into your own template.
But since that search box was made specifically for my own blog, you probably want to make your very own. You can customize the search, the color, the size. Go to this LINK -- Yahoo Search Builder. There, Yahoo will walk you through the steps to make your own. Then it will give you the HTML to put on your blog's template. Double Voila! Your very own search engine.
Of course, Google has this feature too. But I'm more of a Yahoo girl. If you're a Google lover, try the Google Custom Search Engine.
Jamin has a Google custom search box for searching just her blog.
Can't wait to see all the new search boxes you ladies add to your blogs! Enjoy!
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