Archive for Blog Carnival
January 14, 2007· Filed under Blog Carnival, Working from Home
Bloggers are curious people, and some are even a bit nosy. That’s not all bad - afterall, we are just trying to get a big picture of who the person behind the words and code is. Last week Robyn from Practical Blogging and Vidcast on Gaming and Tech shared photos of her home office. It was a nice glimpse inside her world. It added even more of a human touch to her blog. In her post Robyn challenged others of us to share, too.
When I started working from home 10 years ago we had just moved to our current house. At first my office was in the bonus room above the garage. It was adequate, but I didn’t like it. It was cold. It was far from the center of the house and I felt isolated up there. We are not a formal family and at the time we just had an infant. We decided that the best place in the house to put my office was the formal dining room. I didn’t think it was big enough for a dining room anyway. It is in the center of the first floor. I can see the bus stop at the end of the driveway from its window. I see through the doorway right into the kitchen, down into the playroom and the living room is in earshot. With three kids ages 5-10, this is the best place for my office.
My primary work machine is my Dell desktop with the monster screen, but I get email and do some of my surfing/blogging on my Sony Vaio laptop. You can see the wireless network hubs on top - we have eight computers (yikes! that is a lot) in the house and they are all on the wireless network. My office has three, there are three in the kids play room, and there are two in my husband’s office (you know that one I didn’t want).
In this picture you can see the third computer - my iMac G5 which I use for print projects and some design work. Note the box of Christmas stuff still under the desk - I think I need to get that out of there.
Now it is your turn! Give us a glimpse into the person behind the blog. Show us your office.
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December 15, 2006· Filed under Blog Carnival, Family, Holidays
I’m hosting the Carnival of Red Hot Bloggers today. This week’s topic is “Adventures in Holiday Decorating” and I’m sure we’ll have a few winners! You don’t have to be a part of the group to participate. If you have a post or wish to write a post about your adventures in holiday decorating this year or in years past, leave me a comment and I’ll add you to the list.
This year our 8 year old was on a mission. In years past, we have done a variety of simple outdoor lighting things - like red and green spotlights on the pond, but she made it very clear that this year needed to include more effort. She hounded us for weeks starting with the day after Thanksgiving. She had seen the first Christmas lights on houses in the neighborhood and figured that we were behind schedule.
I bought two big bows for the fence posts at the end of the driveway. Not enough says she. We put one green bulb and one red bulb in the outside entry lights. Still not enough. We placed a Christmas tree in the living room - complete with lights that could be seen from the street and one in the playroom too. Getting closer, but we still don’t have lights on the house.
So, without telling Miss M that he had more planned, my very brave husband scaled the ladder and strung blinking rainbow lights all along the eaves. And for the final touch he made a Christmas tree with lights attached to boards out by the tree in the yard.
As we pulled into the driveway after an evening of sports, the joy on her face (and the other two siblings) was priceless. She was the happiest kid! She got out of the car and ran out calling, “thank you, thank you, thank you Daddy!”
To me, Christmas is truly for kids and I love seeing how it creates a form of magic for them, no matter how old they may be.
- I have another story about my adventures in holiday decorating that involves Christmas trees falling - called “It Just Isn’t Christmas Until.“
- Gayla at MomGadget has a truly touching story of Christmas decorating and second chances. It’s a must read.
Join in! It’s not too late!
December 13, 2006· Filed under Blog Carnival, Blog Tipping, Blogging, Working from Home
Yes, we’ve all heard the expression, “Cat Got Your Tongue?” and know that it has to do with not knowing what to say. I have my own saying, “Mouse Got Your Fingers?”, which must have to do with not knowing what to blog on any given day. Writer’s block be-gone! Here are a few good ideas to help you beat the blogging blues…
Easton provides us with a list of 111 things to blog about. Now, if you can’t find something on the list that gets you going, then check out Liz’s gift of 31 topics January.
Still stumped? Join our Red Hot Bloggers blog carnivals or a group writing project. If you are lucky, you may get tagged with a fun meme. If you aren’t so lucky, start your own.
So, blog away! No more wasting away the day thinking of what to say.
December 11, 2006· Filed under Blog Carnival, Family, Holidays, Reflections
Each year as we start decorating for Christmas I am never prepared for the rush of emotions that overcome me as I open the box of ornaments to hang on the tree. Ornaments have a special place in my heart, and while I have been known to break my fair share each year, they are by far my favorite part of Christmas.
The ornaments serve as a reoccuring history lesson for my kids. Each ornament in our collection has a story - a place in our family history when hung together on the tree, symbolizes all the chapters in our book. There are the “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments, the White House ornaments, ornaments for our hobbies, ornaments from the places we have travelled, and ornaments that remind us of those who have become angels. But there are 6 ornaments on the tree that mean more to me than all the rest. These are my favorite 6 ornaments from a group that my mom made years ago.
These ornaments are so simple and so inexpensive to make, but they are absolutely priceless to me. When I was little, my mom sewed almost all my clothes. She made dresses, tops, matching outfits for us, and she used the scraps to make ornaments for the tree. I doubt that she could have ever imagined the gift she was creating at the time, as she cut out the scraps of material and carefully glued them onto inexpensive styrofoam balls. She carefully picked coordinating trim, rick rack, and pompoms to give each ornament its finishing touch.
It occurred to me the other day that there is a trunk of scraps in her basement still and I know I have some from the dresses for my flowergirls. I immediately went out and bought the styrofoam balls, glue and trim. I think it is time to expand my collection. My girls are old enough now that they can help, too. I hope that 30 years from now, they can enjoy a gift from me - one that they open year after year - one that becomes more precious over time.
This post is part of the Holiday Traditions carnival hosted by Mom! ImBored! as part of the MomGadget Carnival of Red Hot Bloggers.
December 1, 2006· Filed under Blog Carnival, Family, Holidays
It just isn’t Christmas around here until I break an ornament (or 12). For some reason, I have this bad habit of breaking at least one ornament a year. This started the year we moved into this house ten years ago.
The first Christmas we were here, it was such a great year for our little family. My husband, 5 month old son and I were spending our first Christmas in our new house. We spent lots of time picking the right tree, cutting it down, getting it into the living room and getting it all decorated. I love ornaments and if they have a story behind them or were given to me, then I love them even more.
Well, somewhere around 3 a.m., I woke up to a loud crashing noise. Yep, it was the tree. It crashed right onto the stone fireplace hearth and at least a dozen of my cherished ornaments bit the dust. I cried and cried and we tied the tree to a screw in the wall with wire to make sure it never did that again.
Fast forward to last year. My husband, three kids and I (okay, lots has happened in 10 years) carefully set up the tree, hung all the great ornaments on it and called it a night. No, the tree didn’t fall, yet. My husband left to go out of town and silly me decided I didn’t like where we had put the tree. So, in my brilliance, I decided to move the tree by myself, after the kids went to sleep, and guess what happened?
The whole thing went crashing down again! My daughter’s favorite Kit, the American Girl ornament was one that didn’t make it and I was frantic. I couldn’t break this poor kid’s heart. So, what does any quick thinking mom do? I got on Ebay and found her a replacement. When I had to break the news to her in the morning, at least I could tell her a new one was on the way.
I can’t tell you how many ornaments I have dropped on the hearth over the years, but let’s just say, there is something about me and ornaments.
This entry is part of a Blog Carnival hosted by Katelyn at Free Holiday Ideas (she has some really cool ideas over there!).
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