Category Archives: Memes and Link-Ups

Five Favorites: Blogging Hacks

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Five Favorites

These are some of the things that I do that help me with blogging every week.

One

Text files with the codes for memes. I have a folder on my desktop that has all the HTML for the memes in which I take part weekly. Some bloggers will provide code, others might provide an image, and others let you figure it out. If you participate in the Quick Takes at ConversionDiary.Com every week, Jen gives you the necessary code and you just have to save it as a text file. I run WordPress on my domain so I can generate necessary code even though I know enough HTML to write my own. It’s not pretty but it works. 🙂

Two

Bookmark folders.I mostly run Chrome so I usually don’t do this one in exactly this form, but I would if I did almost everything in Firefox. In Chrome, I bookmark anything that looks interesting and then just look at any bookmarks from the last few days when I’m writing my Quick Takes or doing my Five Favorites.

Three

Create drafts for the week ahead of time. On Sunday night, I do my Simple Woman’s Daybook entry and then create drafts for the other memes I take part in during the week. I tend to be up late so I do get some quiet while working on them. 🙂 Having the drafts allows me to just plug content into the correct draft. If something happens like the Pope’s interview last week and I want to respond to it, I just cut and paste the text for the drafts into EditPad and move some stuff around. I wouldn’t worry about it except that my URL’s are generated when I save something as a draft.

Four

Read other blogs. Sometimes, someone will write something that needs to be shared. If I wasn’t in the habit of reading probably 50+ blogs, I’d definitely have some problems finding content. Thankfully, not all of them blog daily and I have a feed reader (Bloglovin) that creates a list of posts for me. The other benefit of reading other blogs: if you leave comments, the other bloggers might visit you and you’ll find some interesting people.

Five

Join memes and link-ups. This kind of goes back to #1 (where I tell you to store the codes in *.txt files) but many times, these give you a topic or a framework for something about which you can write. The Simple Woman’s Daybook and Blogging with a Purpose are two that I enjoy. There are scores of others. They also help you find other like-minded bloggers and expose your blog to people you might not otherwise get to know.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

{Virtual} Coffee Date (vol. 8)

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{Virtual Coffee Date}

Once you’re done here, go visit Karianna and the other coffee drinkers.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m pondering the idea of doing NaNoWriMo again this year though I’m not sure if it would be a murder mystery or just chick lit. I’m also going to offer to kill people off for a charity donation again.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I kind of wish the NCIS sitch was resolved in one episode instead of two. I’m glad that NCIS: Los Angeles resolved themselves in one episode tonight.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I have to go yell at Social Security tomorrow though my appointment is supposed to be with someone who has a brain. Hopefully, this gets them off my back and lets me know what I need to do in the future to keep them happy.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you how much I loved the rain, the hail, the thunder, and the lightning on Saturday. I don’t think we’d seen decent moisture since maybe March or April.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I’m happy that Thomas’ boys have made it to 22 weeks and how I’m praying that they’ll make it to at least 24 weeks in utero to give them the best shot at life.

Thanks for having coffee with me. I, like Karianna, am burning the midnight oil. See you next week!

52 Weeks of Blogging with a Purpose: A Letter to My 16 Year Old Self

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Today’s topic: a letter to my 16 year old self.

Dear 16 year old self,

I have good news: it gets better — SO SO SO MUCH BETTER. Here are a couple tips:

1.) Junior Honors English Wench is dead wrong. You might get B’s in her class but you will have straight A’s in AP English. Her drama queens won’t even get past the first week of AP English where they regurgitate whatever they read over the summer. This class will prove to you that you have no desire to do anything with literary criticism. Screw what JHEW thinks — she might take perverse pleasure in screaming at you in front of the class but that’s because she is so insecure that she needs her pets to prop her up.

2.) You will get a B+ in USH AP. You’ll live. You probably should have done more on Project A and actually gone through the magazines in the library but you’ll live. Project B will rock your world. You will find that the paper you write on the Scopes Trial will get you out of a few assignments when you hit college. Enjoy it.

3.) Your Walk-A-Day experience will show you what you truly want to do in life. You might start out being pre-med and change to religion but what you really want is to be an ER nurse or a respiratory therapist. It’s OK though — everything you learn in college and seminary will prepare you for the rest of your life and you’ll find a way to go back to school eventually.

4.) ECA will become your home and the choir will become your new family. You will find a church community who will love you because you’re Jen — not for any other reason.

Just hang in there for now. Once you graduate, you can leave high school behind and find your true self in college.

Snuggles,
Your 33 year old self

Now go see Becky and what wisdom everyone else shared with their 16 year old selves..

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 23, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 23, 2013

Outside my window… dark. It’s 2:15 a.m.

I am thinking… about my next move on Words With Friends. (I’m writing this in between ads.)

I am thankful… that Thomas’ sons have been able to stay in utero for another week and am praying they can stay in utero for longer.

In the kitchen… dishes to do.

I am wearing… my black “Governator” shirt (I am Californian after all!) and black running shorts.

I am creating… the bare bones of blog posts.

I am going… to hope I can get myself organized for the week tomorrow morning (well… technically today).

I am wondering… when Daniel’s hitting and head-butting will stop. I’m still surprised he didn’t knock out one of my front teeth on Saturday.

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea. I’m hoping to finish it this week so I can move on to Pastorix by Nadia Bolz-Weber.

I am hoping… for a quieter week.

I am looking forward to… all premieres of all my favorite shows.

I am pondering… waaaaaaay too many things.

A favorite quote for today… “The risk in seeking and finding God in all things, then, is the willingness to explain too much, to say with human certainty and arrogance: ??God is here.?? We will find only a god that fits our measure. The correct attitude is that of St. Augustine: seek God to find him, and find God to keep searching for God forever. Often we seek as if we were blind, as one often reads in the Bible. And this is the experience of the great fathers of the faith, who are our models. We have to re-read the Letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11. Abraham leaves his home without knowing where he was going, by faith. All of our ancestors in the faith died seeing the good that was promised, but from a distance…. Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing…. We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God; we must let God search and encounter us.” — Pope Francis in his interview in America Magazine.

One of my favorite things… iced vanilla whole milk lattés.

A few plans for the rest of the week: ABA therapy for Daniel on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, getting Daniel a flu shot on Tuesday, fighting with SSI on Wednesday, and hopefully not much else.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

7 Quick Takes: Jaguars, Prayer Requests, and Twitter Personalities

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Colbert does it again. Stephen Colbert takes on allegations by FOX Noise that the Syria conflict is a sign that the apocalypse is coming. You know, I’d believe the verses they were citing… if they didn’t refer to the fall of Jerusalem in the 6th century BCE.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

— 2 —

Orphans. Do you see these two lovely children?

L-R: Brett and Iris
BrettIris

Brett still needs a mama. Iris finally has a family committed to her and they are compiling their dossier to send to her country.

Click on their names to see their Reece’s Rainbow pages.

— 3 —

Prayer Request. One of the benefits of blogging is that you get to meet interesting people as well as people who you swear live inside your brain. Thomas in both of those categories. He has the strange habit of saying things to me that make total sense after I’ve been struggling with them and I think the two of us could probably solve the problems of the world if we could sit down for an extended period of time.

Right now, Thomas is dealing with some devastating news. His wife is pregnant with their twin boys and having complications at 21.5 weeks that might cause her to lose the babies. We’ve been asked to take part in a novena to St. Gerard on their behalf, ending on September 24th. If novenas aren’t your thing, please just pray HARD.

— 4 —

Another prayer request. Elizabeth of Keep On Spinning got some craptastic news: the cancer is back. She’s been fighting this for 5 years — since just after the birth of her son George. They’re doing a massive amount of testing but it’s looking like this is a fast-growing one. Prayer is needed.

— 5 —

Anonymous Twitter profiles. Christianity Today interviewed Rev. No Respect and Church Curmudgeon in a two-part interview. Part I is here. Part II is here. I recommend both parts.

— 6 —

Forty to Forever. Wanna help out some orphans? I’m part of the Forty to Forever fundraiser and we need prayer warriors. If you’re interested, here’s the sign-up page.

— 7 —

New jaguar. Nope. Not the car. The Sacramento Zoo is getting a new one and the old one is shipping out on Sunday. I might be persuaded to make a trip to the zoo this weekend to say good-bye. Once the new one comes, it will be mentored by the zoo’s female jaguar, Tina.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Five Favorites: Miscellanea (XVI)

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Five Favorites

One

Doctors who suture stuffed animals while they fix their humans. This story is tear-jerking. It took five minutes to suture the hole in the stuffed wolf’s shoulder, bandage the “wound”, and put it in a mask and gloves. However, this is a 5-minute job that a young boy is not going to forget. (Ask me about my stuffed cat “Sam”.)

Two

ABA tutors who use every trick in their arsenal to get children to comply. Daniel has been in an “I-really-don’t-want-to-work” mode this week and EG (his Monday/Wednesday/Friday tutor) has been finding new and creative ways to reinforce him when he complies. (Translation: “he rewards him when he works.”)

Three

Thomas. My blogging buddy Thomas has a really precarious situation on his hands. His wife is pregnant with his twin sons and is experiencing serious complications. We’re being asked to participate in a novena to St. Gerard for them, ending on the 24th. If you’re not Catholic, please just pray.

Four

Iced whole milk vanilla lattés from It’s A Grind. I had one on Monday and it was the best one I’ve had in ages. Peet’s is also good. $tarbux, not so much. (They’re too stingy with their shots and their syrups.)

Five

The Giants’ 19-3 victory over the Dodgers. Yes, they lost to the Mets tonight and that fateful game was almost a week ago but they shut down the freaking Dodgers and set a record for the largest number of points scored by any team at Dodgers Stadium. It’s makes their abysmal record worth it.

Go love up Hallie and the others.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: September 15, 2013

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY September 15, 2013

Outside my window… dark here. It was warm and sunny today.

I am thinking… that it’s going to be a crazy week.

I am thankful… for those praying for Thomas.

In the kitchen… dishes to do.

I am wearing… Jon’s “Red Green” shirt and black sweats.

I am creating… blog post coding for the week.

I am going… to hope I can be productive tomorrow.

I am wondering… what this week holds.

I am reading… Sundays in America by Suzanne Strempek Shea.

I am hoping… our beginning of toilet-training Daniel this week goes well.

I am looking forward to… an iced vanilla latté at some point this week.

I am learning to read labels better so I don’t accidentally buy the wrong thing. (Not that it happened to me…)

Around the house… decluttering and shredding to do.

I am pondering… too many things internally.

A favorite quote for today… ??Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.?? ? C.S. Lewis

One of my favorite things… calm and quiet.

A few plans for the rest of the week: ABA therapy on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, a pediatrics appointment for Daniel on Wednesday, and (I think) a massage for me on Friday.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook