Blog design finished

Well, it was quick because once I started, I couldn't stop until I was done.

I have the new design up on my book blog. Take a look and let me know what you think. I am super happy with it. The only I don't like is that I can't figure out how to make the whole background show all the time. And why the tab colour disappears when I view it from work.

Now I have am thinking about redoing this blog. I think I'd like to keep the same colour scheme (chocolate brown, pink and hearts). I'll have to think about it. Nothing wrong with switching things up now and then.

New blog design

A new blog design. Again. But not for this one, I really like the look right now. I've decided to redo my book blog. It just doesn't have the feel that I want.

I have spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what I want. I'm still not there yet. I went back and forward about whether to get a professional design done. But I decided it was too expensive. Then I looked at premade templates because they usually run about $5 or less. But I couldn't find anything.

So I have decided to try it myself. Probably with my husband's help since he knows how to use Photoshop, and the only graphic software I have figured out is Paint. I looked around to find a cool digital scrapbooking kit to use, and stumbled on an awesome deal.


Stella K Studios is having an amazing deal. She's offering 10 kits for $10! Considering most kits cost #2.50-$5 each, this is quite the savings. I looked through her offerings, and she has over 100 kits available, and had such a hard time narrowing it down. There seems to be a bit of everything. She specializes in flowers, and they are goergous! If you're into digital scrapbooking, you should check her out. Her special only runs until March 30.

Now if I can just figure out how to use the graphic software, and choose the elements I want to use, I should be good. I'll let you know as I go.

New blog coming - some changes here

I have noticed (and so have a few others) that my blog is really 2 blogs in one - I have my personal posts, and my book review posts. I have decided to split these two apart. This blog will remain as it started: my personal blog. I have created a new blog, and am currently copying all my book reviews to it. Once that is finished, I will delete those posts from here.

If you enjoy my reviews, I strongly encourage, and hope, that you will check out the new blog and follow there as well as here.

My new blog info: Workaday Reads

Beauty product giveaway

I have never been a huge makeup person. I wear a little, mostly bronzer and mascara. I don't have the talent or desire to learn how to do crazy, elaborate looks. But I still love beauty products. Even better are free beauty products.

FunnyFace Beauty is a blog written by Alicia, a future makeup artist from Ontario. She has tons of cool looks, and tips for everyone. Right now, she is hosting an international beauty product giveaway. Below is a picture of the products available.

There are several ways to enter, with everyone being able to have a maximum of 20 entries. There are 2 super easy ways to enter, the only stipulation being that you have to follow her blog. Interested? Head over to her giveaway post for all the details, and to enter.

Baby blanket I won

I won a gorgeous baby blanket in a giveaway at Listen to Lena! that arrived on Friday. It is beautiful, and I need to take a picture of it so I can share it here. It is a bamboo blanket with a dragonfly brocade border, personalized with our last name. It is from Bamboo Lily, made right here in Canada.

It's too bad my son is not a blanket kid, or that he wasn't younger, because this is a beautiful baby blanket. We may give it to my husband's sister, who is expecting a child right now. Or we may keep it anyway. Hard to decide. Either way, I'm so thrilled to have won it!

Teaching people to use their computer

Obviously most blog readers are at least a little tech-savvy. But I'm sure most people know at least one person who has a computer, but doesn't really know how to do everything, or even most things.

Google has come out with a new website called Teach Parents Tech which allows you to send someone a video that walks them through a basic instruction. They have everything from adjusting the time to make a blog to getting driving directions.

This seems like a really good way to help spread tech know-how. Provided the recipient knows how to open an email and play a video. Awesome idea though!

Button and Flavicon

Since I've been participating in blog hops, I needed a button. So I made one to match the new look of my blog. Go ahead and add it to your site. Let me know, and then direct me to your button in return.

<a href="http://workadayramblings.blogspot.com/" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Link to Workaday Ramblings" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHd-H0UN0yu7k-cJRR67wWVki5DohVhv0gmCXxJ5QKe4jWnm4S_kYTDDLyt5kyFN3cMOkLXQI1ZSUQUNl08YM28fwO9Nc2cfEzHW4BVzt7wKi4eo6ksEvNmktDsiBYVL05MTim8ECmh8/s1600/WRbutton.jpg" ></a>

I learned how to make my button by following the Button tutorial at Oikology 101. While I was there, I also learned how to make and use a flavicon by following the flavicon tutorial of hers. Don't know what I mean? Look at the pretty icon beside my website address in your toolbar, and on the tab heading (if your browser has tabs). Pretty nifty!

Book Review: Post Secret

This is actually a review of 4 books at the same time. I read the Post Secret blog every Monday since it is updated every Sunday. I think it's a really neat idea, and the artwork and secrets are incredible. Everything from the mundate to the unbelievable.

There are several Post Secret books out, and I recently read 4 of the 5. The ones I read were PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, My Secret: A PostSecret Book, The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book and A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book. I read them straight through. Couldn't put them down.

They amaze me, entertain me, and make me very thankful for my life, all at the same time. Definitely worth checking out.

Blog colloboration I'd like to see

I read a lot of blogs. They seem to be split into distinct types: personal finance, kid blogs, or random life blogs.

Three of the personal finance blogs I follow frequently have a reader question/scenario that the author addresses. I think these are great posts. And other followers often have great advice in the comments section. I have found myself wishing that I could see the opinions of all 3 bloggers on the same situation. I think it would really highlight each of their points-of-view, and offer quite a complete picture.

The three personal finance blogs I'm talking about are: Gail Vaz-Oxlade, Get Rich Slowly, and The Simple Dollar. I'd definitely recommend you check them out if you don't already follow.

Scheduling posts

I totally just figured out how to schedule posts! This seems like a great way for me to actually meet my 30 day challenge, especially since I don't usually post on weekends.

After you write your post, before you hit Publish, there is a link above that called "Post Options". Click that and you will see options for Reader Comments, HTML settings, and Post date and time. The Post date and time is set to Automatic by default, which means it publishes right away. Change this to Schedule at and change the date and time to when you want to publish.

Easy-peasy! I'm sure lots of people wonder how to do this, so I went ahead and created a how-to article on wikiHow, which is a great spot to go for instructions. See my article here.

Skinny jeans

So I was reading a post on another blog about skinny jeans on boys (see post here), and it amde me think of Mr Magoo's pajamas. He has a pair of hockey pajamas that are adorable. But they are kind of tight, not tight feeling because they are stretchy, but tight looking. Now Magoo is a chunker, but he still looks so skinny in these pjs. His little legs look like sticks! I can't help but smile and giggle.

Since he is a chunker, I never dress him in skinny pants because his thighs are too big to fit into them. He mostly wears sweatpants. Yes, I am raising a fashion conscience boy alright! I have a second reason: he has short legs. Every pair of jeans I put him in need to rolled up a lot. But the size smaller won't go over his thighs. So pants with elastics around the ankles are his friends because he doesn't trip over the hems.

But it's okay, it's not like I have hundreds of pictures of him in his sweats that I can use to embarass him when he's older... Oh wait, yes I do! Oh the joys of being a mom.

Giving to Charity

I don't donate to charities on a regular basis. It is something I occasionally think I should do, but I never seem to get to it, or have the funds for it.

I do try to help kids who are selling candy for fundraising. Benefits for me and them. I remember trying to sell stuff as a kid, and how hard it was. So I try to find the change, provided I want the product.
I recently "found" $28 in my paypal account that I forgot I had, and decided to donate it instead of buying myself a treat. I am reading a book about micro-lending (Banker To the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, review to come when I finish), and how it has a huge impact on helping poverty-ridden women around the world. I had previously looked into a website about it, but had never gotten around to donating. So I located the website (Kiva - not the same company from the book I am reading. That one is Grameen.), signed up, and donated. What you are doing is really lending the money, provided the recipient repays. Once they have repaid, you can re-lend the money. I like this website especially since you chose the exact person you are lending to. It's not just you giving to a company who disburses the money as needed.

Budget Jars

I am a huge fan of Gail Vaz-Oxlade, who is a Canadian personal finance guru. She used to have a tv show called Til Debt Do Us Part on Slice (it is still showing repeats), and she has a new show Princess on the same network. She has a tough love approach, and really helps couples to take control of their finances and debt.

One concept she employs is budget jars. My SO and I are currently trying this. We seem to be having problem deciding what amount should go into each jar, and definitely differ on what jars are more important. He thinks personal allowance and entertainment should be high, while I prefer to have more in the transportation jar. Right now our transportation amount will barely cover gas for my car, let alone regular maintainence and a possible bus pass for him. We also differ over saving vs debt repayment. I think we should save a little, but concentrate on debt repayment. But he wants to get a house asap, and thinks we should save for a down payment.

This is a process, and hopefully we will be able to get things sailing smoothly. We will see if the budget jars idea works for us.

Milestone that proves I'm a geek

I'm a geek. I admit it. You just have to look at my list of favourite websites to know that. My original time wasting activity at work is wikiHow. It is a website that bills itself as "the how to manual that you can edit". I joined back in May 2008, and have been a faithful contributor every since. I have even become a volunteer administrator. Sounds fancy, but it really just means I can help out even more in the behind-the-scenes areas.

So I bring it up because not only do I love it and spend obscene amounts of time there, but I just reached an amazing milestone today. At least, I think it's amazing. I have patrolled over 50,000 edits! I know you're thinking gee, that's a big number, but what does it mean? Well, every edit that is made on the site is reviewed by someone else. They check that the edit helps improve the site, and either approve or revert it. It is a great opportunity to give feedback to other editors. And really satisifies my love of editting.

So I am very excited about it, and wonder if it will take another 2 years until I reach 100,000 edits patrolled. If you want to see for yourself, head over to my user page and check it out. If you're already an editor, or end up joining, leave me a message!

Free chart

I won a free cross stitch chart! And all because I get the email newsletter from Stitcher's Place in Cambridge. I have never been in the store yet, but this is the perfect opportunity since I need to stop by and pick up my chart. They usually mail it, but since I live right there, I should go in. I just need to co-ordinate myself since they are only open on Saturdays.

This really looks like a sign that I should do some cross stitching! I can't wait to see what my mystery chart is.

Cuddle monkey

Reading blog entries from other blogs, I came across today's entry from one blog that relates to my sleeping through the night story. It is cuddling, and how you can't cuddle a baby too much. I totally agree with that.

My little monkey is a huge cuddler, and always has been. Our mornings usually start with a big hug when I first get him up, and then we cuddle and watch tv for the first little bit. He gets hugs and cuddles all day from daddy, and then more hugs and cuddles from me after I get home from work. When he gets mad, or upset, or hurts himself, hugs are needed. It seems like everything he does needs to be accompanied by a hug.

I have never really considered myself an overly affectionate person, but I love my monkey hugs, and I'm so glad he is a cuddler. I'm not sure how I would handle it if he didn't want hugs all the time. I'm sure I'd have driven him crazy by now, lol.

I just hope he remembers to give his mom a hug every once in a while when he's all grown up and it's no longer cool to show affection to your parents. Because otherwise I will need to embarrass him and drive him crazy by insisting on those hugs.

Canada Post Mailbox locations

I'm not sure why, but I was trying to find a map of mailbox locations one day. I expected to find it on the Canada Post website, but apparently not. But I did find a Google maps that someone created. See it here. It is obviously not complete, but if you know of a mailbox location or two, add it! The creator left it open for everyone to add too. I know it has become a recent obsession of mine to try to find as many locations in my area as possible.