13 Random Thoughts in my Mind this Morning

Make Time for Small Reflections

Wordless Watery Outdoor Wednesday
is in the next post ...

13 Random Thoughts

1. At last! I planted the flat of pansies (purchased mid-January) on Tuesday when the rains didn't arrive as predicted this week because the dirt was finally dry enough (after the previous series of storms) to work with. I sprinkled the 'coyote urine' granules around each plant and so far, the cats next door haven't dug anything up. Perhaps this unique 'fix' will keep the cats away indefinitely? The rain is supposed to begin this afternoon and continue throughout the weekend and hopefully the pansies won't get drowned out.

2. Yesterday I spent an hour or so deleting a few photos from previous posts (and from Picasa) to free up space to upload more. It seems that posting so many photographs and mosaics (in the LARGE format without resizing them) for the past two years wasn't the wisest choice. Who knew? Live & learn, right?

3. It's a 'short-term' fix, but it's the best I can do at the moment. I appreciate Carver suggesting Photobucket as an alternative and I plan to check into that when time permits. For now, I've discovered I can upload pictures to my WordPress account then copy & paste them here ... and that makes me wonder if I could do something similar with Blogger using a different email account? Methinks I'll explore that possibility too ...

4. Apparently Monday's Digital Media class won't meet due to Lincoln's birthday so we only have one more session. Note to self: Avoid M-W classes in January & February from now on. In addition to Monday holidays, there was a rain cancellation and two Staff Development days. Out of 12 scheduled classes, we met 7 times ... yet paid the same fee that T-Th classes paid. It hardly seems fair does it? Such is life ...

5. Yesterday afternoon I met a friend from High School for a late lunch at Mimi's Cafe in Long Beach and enjoyed 'catching up' with her. We commiserated about turning 65 this month and all the Medicare 'sign-up' challenges ... and we've both got our fingers crossed that there will be no unforseen glitches before our 'cards' arrive in the mail. Her birthday is the 12th and mine is the 23rd.

6. When I turned on my cell phone this morning I discovered a message from my sister (left last night while I was in class) suggesting we get together today ... and since she & her husband plan to hit the road mid-March, methinks I'll do that because maximizing our time together makes sense.

7. Does anyone but me think it's strange that Starbucks doesn't keep 'decaf' brewed in the afternoon? They'll MAKE a pot if you ask ... and they say it only takes 4 minutes ... but somehow it strikes me as odd. I make 'half-cafe' in the morning at home, but switch to decaf after 11:00 or so because I like sleeping at night.

8. While I'm on the subject of Starbucks, I'm frustrated about the changes to their 'Gold Card' system. I liked getting 10% off all purchases ... especially when buying coffee beans and/or gifts. Now they want to provide free internet access (something I'm not likely to use ever) instead and award customers a 'star' each time a purchase is made (not based on what you spend, but on the number of visits). In addition (according to the gal at my local store), unless I 'load' the card with money in advance, the 'swipes' don't register at all! These changes seem wrong ... and methinks I may switch to Peet's in protest.

9. I just called my sister to see what she has in mind for today ... and she's going to call me back around 9-ish after they return from her husband's appointment with the doctor ... so that will give me time to finish & publish this post (if I can keep myself focused), take Molly for a walk, and get myself ready to connect ... possibly for breakfast and whatever comes next. Guess blog visits (and photo upload research) will have to wait until tonight (or tomorrow). Perhaps I'll drop my camera & lens off at the shop on the way home this afternoon?

10. I suppose it may rain today so doing something indoors makes sense ... though the weather forecast was 'off' for Monday through Wednesday so there are no guarantees about the rest of the week's predictions, right?

11. The gardener finally cut back the rose bushes last week (they had already begun to show new growth so this was overdue obviously), irises have sprouted, the Nastursiums are going crazy (as they usually do this time of year) though there are no yellow or orange blossoms yet ...

... and the Johnny Jump Ups (spread by visiting birds) have begun to bloom. Soon they'll be everywhere ;-)

12. I downloaded a 'Vista compatible clone' of Microsoft's 'Power Toy Resizer' for XP and used it to make these last two photos 'small' yet I imported them at the large setting. I don't see any 'visual' difference but suspect there's a huge 'memory' difference ... so methinks I'll experiment with 'resizing' images before uploading them from now on and perhaps (as time permits) go back to resize some of the memory intensive mosaics I've posted in the past to see how much space this frees up.

13. I wonder if we'll still be able to 'click to embiggen' these images? Guess I'll need to check THAT out too. So ... I've come to the end of the lollipop (so to speak) and it's time to wish you all a wonderful Thursday!

Click for others participating in Thursday Thirteen

Friday Addendum - Check out my Haiku Friday Sky Watch post at Sacred Ruminations for additional info about the Blogger Photo Update issue.

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Blogger seems to be having trouble this afternoon

I'm a little surprised I got 'access' to 'the editor for a new post' because I've been unable to leave comments on anyone's Blogger site (or access 'Profile' pages to get email addresses) for a couple of hours. Clearly's something's up, but there's no 'scheduled outage' for today. I did notice yesterday that the way comments come up has been changed on two of my blogs. As of 1:44pm, my Blog Rolls & Bling site still has the old format, but I suspect it will change eventually.

Many folks had already changed to this 'in line' comment format once it became available through 'Blogger in Draft' ... but since it takes away the possibility of 'checking the little box to receive follow up comments in email' ... I hadn't made the change. I have mixed feelings about the new format ... but am not likely to complain because I'm just too busy with other things right now.

I appreciate all the comments & well-wishes on yesterday's 1st Blogoversary post here at Small Reflections ... and those left on today's 1st Blogoversary post at Sacred Ruminations. I ran out of time last night before creating at T-13 here ... (and had no time before leaving for my PSE6 class this morning) ... so I'm making this a 'quickie' to keep my Blog 365 streak going ... though it's possible Blogger isn't going to let that happen. I guess I won't know until I try to publish.

I hope you've all had a delightful day!

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Spend the afternoon. You can't take it with you." Annie Dillard

HF#73 ... continual changes and another AWARD

this time from Hootin' Anni who sez she loves my poetry & Haiku.

Make Time for Small Reflections
My 11th SkyWatch/72nd Haiku Friday is at Sacred Ruminations.
Happy 1st Anniversary to the Haiku Friday meme!

Friday already?
Where did the week go? When will
I catch up? It seems

every time I cross
something off my 'to do' list ...
3-5 new things

rise to the surface
and require me to pay
attention to them.

I did add the new
Blogger 'Followers Widget'
to my sidebar and

discovered how to
import blogs to 'follow' from
Google Reader so

they 'show up' in my
Dashboard. One day ... I hope I'll
catch up on the rest

of new changes to
Blogger, but for now I shall
simply 'invite' you

to 'follow' as well
if you so desire ... just click
my sidebar widget.

Next, I want to thank
Hootin' Anni for this new
beautiful award!

After receiving this award from Kristine Kate at Life and Love ... Hootin' Anni bestowed it upon me and 8 other blogging friends yesterday. She wrote: "I love storyteller's style ... her poetry and haiku." Translating the gift from Portuguese to English, it means: "This blog invests and believe the proximity' (meaning that blogging makes us 'close' -- being close through proxy) ... a LOVELY sentiment! I feel honored to receive this award ... especially from a talented & creative friend like Hootin' Anni ... and now it's MY turn to share with the following friends I've met in this virtual world known as the Blogosphere. I look forward to seeing who they share the award with next.

His Girl Friday at Wellied on Life
Joyce at Mom's Musings
Karen at Journey to Authenticity
Mama Zen at the Zen of Motherhood
Mother of Invention at Spilling Out!
Sandy Carlson at Writing in Faith
Sandy at Momisodes
Tammy at A Little Girl Talk and Mom Knows Everything
Tina at Tina's Odds and Ends

Just to be clear, after finding 'followers' listed in my 'Dashboard' (as indicated in my Haiku above) ... I've added the new 'Follow' widget from Blogger in my sidebar (under my profile) and I've imported some of my daily reads from Google Reader into this new feature to see how that works. I don't fully understand any of it, but I'm willing to give it a go ... just because. If you'd like to 'follow' any (or all) of my blogs, just click on the link to the right (Don't ya love serendipity? I couldn't have planned the placement better if I'd tried ... seriously) above the 'avatars' and add yours. This could be fun ;--)

Click for Sky Watch #11 and Haiku Friday #72 at Sacred Ruminations

For others participating in Haiku Friday this week go to A Mommy Story.

(To see my previous Haikus, click on the Haiku Friday label below this post or in the sidebar under About Me where you'll find a 'directory' of my Haikus on both blogs).

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship." Dorothy Parker

Re: Blog 365 Megafeed (a question from the peanut gallery), Other Updates for Regular Readers, an Invitation and Apology

I'm trying to understand how this Blog 365 Megafeed works. From personal observation, I'm assuming it must be a random generator of some kind that gathers new posts periodically, but not in any orderly way. Sometimes there are 150 new posts ... other times 35 or so. I don't think there have been any where near 900 each day (though I could be wrong ... it certainly wouldn't be the 1st time I've made mistakes in public). Although I've posted on both of my blogs daily thus far, only one of those 12 posts has appeared in the Megafeed. So ... is that what's happening to everyone? Please don't misunderstand. This is not a complaint. I'm just curious because I like to understand how things work.

For those who wondered, the lovely rose I shared on Saturday, (sadly) looked like this late yesterday afternoon. In the background however, the two buds seemed to have survived unscathed ...


so (depending on how severe the next storm is), I may have some new roses soon.

Happily, the Creative Everyday Challenge logo (that I recreated the code for last night after it mysteriously disappeared from my sidebar of both blogs) now contains the "clickable link" I hoped for initially, and hopefully will remain in place. If anyone would like the code, I can send it to you in email, but I have no idea how to share it in comments or a post since it's an executable file.

Smiler assured me she's working on a "fix" for the Blogging 101 button. I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime you can click on the bottom in my previous post to find those posts. I understand she's learned some new things about HTML herself and is in the process of revising those previous posts.

I'm hoping some of you will "tag yourselves" for the Haiku Friday/Chain email Meme Hybrid I created and posted recently. I'd love to see what others do with this. If you post on Friday , January 11th, you have 5 days to think about it and play with possibilities (4 days and several hours longer than me). If you DO play, please link back here at Small Reflections so I can visit. Hmmm ... I'm realizing I should post the meme as I received it, then add modified rules (suggestions), but if I go to all that trouble, I'm going to want to TAG people ... so maybe I should leave well enough alone. Ohmygosh ... I'm so embarrassed! I just realized I neglected to provide LINK-LOVE in that earlier post, and I want to apologize to Sandy of Momisodes and make reparations here by adding links to the meme itself and her blog in general. I'll let you track it back to Sarcastic Mom and Rhonda (who I don't know) if you wish to know it's origins, but I'll also fix the error in the previous post when I finish here.

The 5 meme questions were:
1. How long have you been blogging?
2. What inspired you to start a blog and who are your mentors?
3. Are you trying to make money online, or just doing it for fun?
4. What 3 things do you love about being online?
5. What are 3 things you struggle with online?

My challenge to you
is to answer in Haiku
(for a change of pace).

I you need a "refresher" on the 5-7-5 syllable form, click Haiku Friday or on HF logo in my sidebar. If you decide to put your post off for a week or two, visit some of the bloggers who write Haiku weekly for inspiration as you mull it over and play. It's all fun ... no pressure! Just remember to link to this post or my example so I can read it.

Sigh! I know there were a couple of other topics I intended to cover when I started, but they can wait. Molly wants to play and then take a walk. I suspect she's hoping for a romp at Dog Beach, but it's a bit chilly and rain is expected ... sot that's not likely.

FeedBurner Links, Photos, and Christmas Stuph

My Head is Pounding,
but I've got a FeedBurner Link
and a picture by my name
so ...

After beginning early this morning with good intentions, I find it's well into the afternoon before I've return to write and publish this. Once again, Kara saved the day by helping me clean up the mess I made and finish the installation. Thanks my friend! :)

I've jumped on the RSS FeedBurner band-wagon. After finding links like this on other blogs useful to me as I've wandered the Blogosphere, I decided to experiment here. I'm not sure exactly how all this works, but since I've used a "reader" for a while now (thanks to Annie), if linking up like this makes it easier for others to keep track of things, I'm willing to give it a go. So ... you'll notice the RSS "Subscribe" logo in my Sidebar. Hopefully this makes it simpler if you use a "reader" and wish to subscribe. If you encounter problems, please let me know so I can make modifications as necessary.

While I had Kara on the phone, I asked her to help me add a picture to my profile (something I've been trying to do for a couple of weeks now without success because I couldn't figure out WHERE to add it) but she directed me to the Bloggers Dashboard. Yes, it was there all along in the upper right hand corner ... clear as day! EDIT PROFILE (duh). I've searched every menu in Settings and Layout multiple times on numerous occasions, but it never occurred to me to check the Dashboard. Sigh! I don't think I've looked at that page since late October when I created my blogs. Doesn't the holiday wreath Mary made for me look festive? I'm happy to add that I've already passed this information on to another blogger seeking help a little while ago, and share it here for anyone else struggling with this challenge.

I'm pleased to report that I've been keeping things under control finally with Google Reader by choosing the "Mark all as read" option every time I add a new blog ... something I could have done all along, but for some reason couldn't make myself do until "rambling" about this dilemma recently at Sacred Ruminations and deciding to take action. MSN is another matter.

And finally (as promised previously) here are the "now you see them, now you don't ... oh there they are again" holiday decorations in my neighbor's yard. It seems these little Christmas Critters scurry to take cover when the rains come, but return to their places when the sun comes out again. Only in Southern California, right?

Last Call!

Christmas Carol lyrics will be posted tomorrow morning, so if you haven't done so already, be sure to email your Christmas Carol Quiz answers to me before you turn off your computer tonight. Remember, it's not necessary to have all ten. Send what you've figured out and celebrate the fun! My e-address is: smallreflections@gmail.com

Where did this day go?

I started writing this post HOURS ago, but LIFE has intervened keeping me busier than I like to be. At the moment, I find myself ready to turn off the computer, fix dinner, and cuddle with Molly a while. Of course, I need to finish this post and publish it before logging off. I promise to do better tomorrow, but for tonight ... I'm taking the "easy" route by suggesting that if you've not checked out the post I left this morning at Sacred Ruminations, you might find it fun to do so now :)

FYI - I've updated both my sites to Blogger's Draft Mode so hopefully everyone will be able to leave "links" to their URLs again. If you use a platform other than Blogger, click to the right of the Blogger/Google sign-in area to reveal a list of platforms. Choose one then enter your information, including your URL.

The last couple of days have been frustrating at best because we received no email notifications of posts, but this morning things seemed back to normal. Today emails have arrived the way they used to and it's been a challenge to keep up.

CONGRATULATIONS to John
for being the 3rd person
to answer the Christmas Carol Quiz correctly!

Reminder: You've got 8 more days to figure out the Christmas Carol Quiz answers and email them to me. Peajay & Joy were the first two Bloggers to get all 10 correct and have the Small Reflections Christmas Carol Quiz Award to post on their Blogs. Who's going to be next?

Happy 4th night of Hannukah
to all those who celebrate
this holiday.