Easter Basket Swap

My basket ready to go, look at the little faces peeping out - excited about their trip to Australia!

This is the beautiful basket Linda sent me:

Linda was assigned as my Easter Basket Swap buddy. This was my very first swap and it was so much fun. I got to meet an international e-friend, but more exciting her basket had an Australian flair that I truly enjoyed.

What fun to have a big box arriving and opening it up. Hubby and me immediately ate the huge chocolate bunny she included. I unpacked everything and would later sit down to truly enjoy the experience she sent me.

Me and my new pals Kanga and Roo sat down together (I love them). I simmered the delicious tea (even had a little sugar cube packed with it) and sipped and read the postcards she sent of her town. Kingaroy in Queensland is where she lives. I looked at her beautiful card she made for me and sorted out the eggs of many varieties she sent. A rose bookmark, a little pillow with my initial, and even some footies were among the things she sent. And paper items for crafting. Thank you Linda!

And I must mention what a doll she is. My basket got to her on Monday the day after Easter. This was our first ever international shipment and she did not get it in time. I felt so bad I sent her a 'sussie' - a little extra gift. She was so nice about it all - she is a great e-friend.

The Morning After...

The morning after…

The fabulous Bling Your Birdhouse Blog Party.

That was a lot of fun, and I did set out the red birdhouse and this morning spied Mr. Cardinal checking it out. He loves it.

Hubby loved hearing I had ‘putered’ (a kid word for computer) all by myself –no long night of picture taking and loading and editing awaited him.

Maybe I am getting the hang of some of this stuff after all.

Ba-da-BLING

Ba-da-Blah
Ba-da-Bling

What a fantastic spring fling!

This birdhouse was a very old faded withering white – and the effect was not even shabby chic. It was as bleak and drab as this lingering winter.

I thought of the phrase ‘riot of color’ and got this. Since this is an actual birdhouse I am going to leave it in my backyard. Already the birds are chirping more merrily in anticipation.

The wonderful Karla and Beth are hosting a Bling your Birdhouse and this is my result. This is so exciting as I have always wanted a red birdhouse. And here I did it. Thanks Karla and Beth for hosting such a fun event to herald in Spring!

Ba-da-Blah

Rules to Blog by

As one journeys further into Blogland and participates in exciting things found in this land you learn a few things. The hard way. Things that leave such an impression that you make some of those lessons into rules.

These are:

1. Never, ever think you have your e-swap buddy’s address in your email folder. Print it out pronto. Have several hard copies. You sure would not want to be ready to mail the package and look at the saved email and realize with complete dismay that you have saved their blog address! No not even in blogland do packages get mailed to blog addresses.

2. Always write down upcoming dates of blog events. Refer to it often.

3. Keep a list handy of the full names of your e-friends so that you don’t comment on their page/blog and/or have numerous correspondences with someone who you refer to by the wrong name. There is no edit button to undo that.

4. Be ready for things ahead of time. Make the item, buy the item, get the item days before it is needed. Then you are truly prepared in time for whatever blog event you have entered.

5. Have passwords written down especially if you have several different ones for different forums/groups/blogs. This should be so obvious. I have run into difficulties not paying attention to this one. Frantic typing in of passwords that don’t work and then having to retry with that number/letter entry thing over and over without results - that’ll get ya worked up.

6. Always study computer-ology even though it is frustrating trying to become techno-savvy when this just is not your forte. It also starts to dawn on you that as you seem to master one skill several more needed skills pop up to be learned. A purchase of Photoshop just nets you yet another instruction manual to read.

7. Try not to ever give in to the great temptation of having a pictureless art blog.

My Chocolate Blob

Yes, there it was. An icon on my screen. "CHOCOLATE BLOB" I had thought the result of an easily made transposition of the keys b and g hastily typed by Hubby so as to quickly find my blog during an all night blog-a-thon.

Hmmm, was that a mistake after all?
If I had any doubts they were quickly dispelled when I cheerfully and full of vigor to face the combined challenge of exhaustive exercise and starting a new blog told my husband that we were doing a blog to document our hours of exercise. He could not contain his flat out disappointment.

I was stunned – what’s this? These nights of toil have not been a fun fling?

I can’t say I blame dear Hubby and his not so easily concealed mockery of my blog name (or blob name). It has been work. All of it. Just the picture taking alone is daunting. You got to set up the object to be photographed – careful to watch for all sorts of errant objects that seem to show up in the picture just as you click. Then there is the effort to get the best light. The actual shooting entails keeping the ‘set’ clear. (this alone can turn one into a screaming tyrant – ‘ let’s move it people!!!’) Then when the photos are finally taken you get to look at all the annoyingly magnified details the digital camera reveals.

Next more work as taking a tip from a photography forum I would shoot hundreds of shots of one item – just to find the best one. I insisted we look at each photo to scrutinize it. For a few blog pictures this would be hundreds of photos we reviewed…for hours and hours. Not fun after all I guess.

And for all the effort my photos have that signature Polaroid picture in a bad light effect.
Any creativity has just flown out the window, I am just still working on the mechanics of photos and photography. We are shopping for photo editing programs. I would like to eventually get back to making things.

URL-Friends or Gurl Friends

Get it? G url friends! I have met so many wonderful ladies. And all are truly so nice and friendly and very helpful.



Blogging is really sort of an easily found, convenient scrapbook. You get this digital record of what you have made, done, taken a picture of right there - it does not get easily lost or have to be hauled out of the back of the closet.

But, to be honest I had not realized the amount of work that goes into a blog! I had a chance to visit some of my favs from when I did not have a blog and you get to reread them with a whole new perspective.

I am still working on the Easter Basket Swap and I just got an order of Amazon books in and I got an invite on Flickr which I need to figure out and I will be checking on the gals at that great forum (those are fantastic people there) the Cottage Etsy group.

These blogging skills will come in handy as just in the nick of time Hubby and me joined the MSN Biggest Loser Online Group as a couple. This requires a blog. Now I am in the Biggest Loser Online and the MSN Biggest Loser Couple Challenge (online). Which means I am definitely in Biggest Loser and results in my whole family knowing about it. Last night we had a birthday party for my Nephew and there I wanted the tiniest piece of cake (I mean tinsy) and No! I was not allowed to have any. Hubby snuck me a scant bite or two but I wanted my own itsy piece. No not even that, Sis took it away from me.

She was particularly adamant: "Don't Let Her Eat Cake!"

Hmmm, is that not an echo from days of yore? And she had it wrong, it should have been "let her eat cake"! Yes let all of us eat as much cake as we like. But, alas, that is not going to happen any time soon. Oh those wondrous days I am wistful for - I could eat and eat cake with no thought of the morrow. Which leads me to my current reading: "A Scented Palace" - it is an intoxicating read about Marie Antoinette's perfumer.