Blogging

I don't know how it is with the rest of you, but it takes me FOREVER just to get a post up on the blog. It's really a bugbear in me blogging. There is no lack of ideas, quite a number of pictures to work on, but it takes so long to do them all. I just did a post on my other blog (I maintain at least 2 working blog, more about that some other time) and the whole sequence of choosing pictures, writing the post, adjusting the layout and some final editing took me well over 2 hours! I need to do this better. I am not too sure if this is a problem with the tool I am using (the Blogger features; I am convinced they used to have a better tool for the text and picture layout), or simply my own unorganized nature.

Whatever it is, I am determined to get this post up before my time ran out. I suppose it's going to be a short one, though, just a few things that made me happy (and 1 that made me slightly unhappy).

Spotted this flower during my walkies. I suppose it's a hibiscus of a kind, but it's quite different from the common hibiscus that I usually see. In fact, this is the first time I see such a pretty twist to the hibiscus. Usually they don't face down, and look at the petals! Aren't they cute? All the flowers on the tree are hanging in the same way as the one shown on the picture. The effect is very much light a very pretty lantern of a flower. I really WANT this one in my own garden. I wonder if they grow if I just cut a branch and plant it in my garden. Quite a few of the plants here do reproduce that way. I really should try, now if I only be thick skinned enough to go for walkies carrying a pair of gardening shears, cut a branch and walk all the way back home with my 'trophy'. Hahaha.....

I really should do it. I really want that flower. I covet!

My fridge door has the Little One's drawing on it!
Can't believe my excitement about this one. I mean, my fridge surface had always been empty. I don't even collect magnets!
I was cleaning up the other day and... I just don't feel like throwing away these pieces of paper, you know? Abstract art by the Little One. Hmmm hmm... just can't wait to have more of those. These are the best so far, although the big one did have some Mummy's hand in it. (I started first, then she added her 'additions'). The small one was purely hers, though.

Aw, just look at those colours! Scrummy, I think that's what Lucy from Attic24 would say.
I wanted to do a hexagon blanket for myself as a companion to the blanket I'm still currently crochetting for the Husband. I saw these colours and they were sooooooo lovely, slightly pastel, not quite so... harsh. I am thinking of some flowery hexagons. I think I spied some lovely African flower pattern while trawling through crochetty flickr galleries the other day. I will let you know how they work out once I tried them.
These are still in trial, so I only bought these 3 balls so far. These are cotton cos I just wanted a light blanket. I was thinking of doing the flowers alternating between yellow center, red petals and red center, yellow petals, with the green as edging for the flowers. Hmmm......
Can't quite wait to see the result. Still have to find a good pattern though. Not quite ready to design my own pattern yet. Haha....

I know it's really BAD to leave WIPs around, but I'm kind of stuck with this one.
Hmm... put it this way, given the constraint in our monthly budget, I don't quite buy my yarn in bulk, and currently they ran out of WHITE! AAaaaaa!
How can they run out of White! I mean, I really prefer to have white to lighten the colours of the blanket, you know.
As one first huge project, this is my first, so... let's just say it's kind of haphazard in design. But I still would like to finish it.
Hhh.... I wish they would stock up soon.

Jump-breaks

I suppose people blog to have an outlet for their creativity, as a personal expression.
I also suppose that there are many of us who are essentially teachers, even if we don't quite teach in the classroom.
There are so many blogs out there that provide with with all kinds of instructions, if you just but look for them.

I am not a teacher, but as a person who is currently enjoying what I do, I can understand that 'want' to share.
Or should I say need?

Well, whatever it is, you have been warned.
For today, I am sharing with you about 'how to use jump-breaks'.
I am pretty sure that, since it's a Blogger feature, Blogger would have its own tutorial or something about it.
But hey, it's all about personal expression, OK?
Besides, some people might never bother with instructions anyway.
So.
If you are interested, scroll on.
If not, I'm sure there are other things that can occupy your attention.

For Blogger user, the partial screenshot above should be quite familiar.
The circled icon is the one I shall refer to as the jump-break icon.
What it will do is basically cut your post at some point, like soon below, AND..... (click on the link to read more, ya)

Place the rest of the post in some other mysterious place which can be reached by clicking on the link that you just clicked.
Isn't that cool?

The usage should be pretty obvious. Basically you write to a certain point (usually to get the main point of  the post across), and then you click on the jump-break icon.
A mysterious line would appear on your editing screen, with your cursor suddenly below the line.
Whatever you write below the line would then be hidden in that mysterious place instead of the main page of your blog. This is usually where you write the rest of your post, with all the detailed explanation, and whatever embellishments that you want to provide.

Should you post pictures in the post, you might want to put some, if not all, before the break so that your reader would be able to see them and be interested in reading more. But that's really up to you as the editor of the blog.

As for me, I do find this feature COOL as it does reduce the amount that I need to scroll down in order to read the blog. After all, I may or may not find the whole content interesting. Maybe I am only interested in one or two posts, but scrolling down miles of ..... uninteresting (to me) content is quite... putting off. I love those blogs that use this feature. They made for a more economical use of my time online, which is important for me in managing my me-time. I am sure it's important to you too.

All jesting aside, I am posting this also as part of my 'learning something new everyday' motto.
I do hope that bloggers would always try to learn something new, or even come up with something new in order to improve the whole blogging experience.

So, do you like jump-breaks in the blogs you read? Would you use them yourself?

Learning something new everyday...

When I was working, we often welcome new batches of trainees, and sometimes full time employees, aboard. The onus is, of course, on us 'long-timers' to bring them up to date with how things are done etc etc etc. Other times, there will be on-hand training to introduce new duties or even some new way of doing things.

Not to be boastful, but I think I was usually one of those who manage to catch up quickly. Combined later on with my responsibility as the supervisor in charge, I do get to 'teach' people quite a bit, and I often quote 'learning something new everyday'. I think it's a good motto to live by. Hopefully it will prevent you from becoming stuck in the past, never growing, never improving.

Well, today I learn about watermarking.
I notice that the blogs I love often would put watermark on their photos.
Concerns regarding copyrights issue aside, I think it really make the blogs look professional.
As I might have mention before, I do have hopes for this blog. Also, I do like to think I take pretty good pictures at times, and I do not want them to be used without my permission. So I suppose it's a good idea to watermark my pictures.



I found this free watermarking service from Google, PicMarkr.
Well, I suppose there are more out there, as you can see from the google search page. However, I just happen to choose PicMarkr and find it pretty easy to use as well.
If you happen to have Picasa, Facebook or Flickr, you can even simply connect to your photos via the website and then replace the original photos with the watermarked ones.

I have been using Picasa for sharing my photos, especially the Little Ones', with my family.
I was really happy to see that the free photo editing software Picnik is now integrated in the Picasa photo viewer. It made my life very much easier the other day when I had to tell a story about the Dog (maybe will share it with you one of these days).

Now, I know that I have been dropping names. I am not paid to be an advertiser. You notice that I mainly share about free stuff. The point here is more to share about my progress in getting the hang of good blogging as I see it. As I learn, you can expect more entries in the same vein, on things I learn in order to be a better blogger, and hopefully, a better person. These might or may not be useful to you, but, hey, we need to learn something new everyday, right? Well... so...

This is one of the pics that I watermark today. There are more, but maybe they are more useful for other posts I plan to write in the future.

So, what have learnt today?

This is my own watercolor painting. It was my something new learnt some other day.

Setting up

I realize that the term 'me-time' is mainly used by the women-kind.
Should that be weird? After all, one would think that guys, and not just gals, do need their 'me-time' as well. But I suppose maybe they do not quite juggle their time they way most gals do.
Especially Moms.

Hhh... when I got this opportunity to quite my job and become a stay-at-home Mom, I thought I would have time to do ALL the things I've been wanting but had no opportunity to do. Little did I know that taking care of a house and a little baby (and later one, also a dog), would leave me with not so much energy and time after all. So much so that when I got my share of me-time at the end of the day, I have barely enough energy to check my mails, maybe read my book or blogs that I enjoy, do a bit of craft, or sleep.

When I got a helper (we have one on part time basis, that is she makes 5 visits in 2 weeks), I really 'use' her. I left the baby with her, go out, enjoy my coffee, do some work out (not anymore, though), shop at the market, read, eat out, go for massage... hmmm... that was good. As I mention in the previous entry, however, I feel that I need to show something for my time not working. So... this shall be the plan starting from today, to manage my me-time properly:

- I shall first get the daily blog done (should I have any idea for a post) BEFORE I do my other stuff (like checking my mails, recipe, google reader, facebook etc etc etc)
- keep the notebook with me to jot down any ideas for the post, so that I would not stare at the blank page and drawing a blank as well
- strictly parenting when it's not me-time

Well, that's all for now. Just for your info, though, I was soo serious about this that on the day I first write for this blog (it was the helper's day to come), I got back from my shopping trip, and instead of having lunch downstairs, I simply grab a bread for 'working lunch', to be had while I hide from the Little One upstairs and started setting up.

I do hope it will pay off.

Anyway, there are still a lot of things to learn and do. I would still like to have a proper profile page, with photos and all. It will be slightly complicated as I would like to keep the privacy option, which means that I would have to either choose my pictures carefully or edit them heavily.

I also hope to keep the blog organized with proper labels and links and what nots. And then I will have to take the Dog and the LIttle one for daily walkies, cook dinner, etc etc. OOooo.... running out of me-time soon.

So, what are you going to do with your 'me-time'?

Prelude...

The month of September this year would mark many things
It would mark 1 year that we had stayed here in the Philippines as a family
It would be the Little One's 2nd birthday
It would mark the 1 year period when I decided to quit my full time job to take a break, be a full time Mom for the Little One, and hopefully decide what I want to do with myself.

That last mark is the spurring factor.
I need to look back into the year and see what I have achieved so far.
For a long time now, I had wanted to have a proper blog.
One that I update regularly, one that is really a creative outlet for myself, one that hopefully people would read and enjoy,
And I really thought that being a full time Mom would give me a better chance of doing it as compared to the time when I was still working
But the intention was never realized until now

I have been wondering around the blogosphere (the world of blogs? Is there such a word? Not too sure) and there are SO MANY fantastic blogs out there
I suppose my reading list is kind of skewed by my own interest, so I have been finding (and reading) LOTS of crafting blogs, blogs which are usually written by Moms like me.
I do believe the Husband actually have his own list of blogs and forums he visits according to his interest (WAY different from mine, that I can tell)

But in any case, here goes.
Today I might be bursting with ideas to write and things to do with this blog
But only time would tell if I will really be able to maintain it the way I want it to be maintained.
I would like to thank in advance for all those who had provided the inspiration for this blog.
I would definitely try to add your links as I move along as a tribute
Wish me luck!

Me getting ready to set up