Thursday Helpful Sites

Feedly keeps me up to date on my favorite blogs.  This week, the last of this kind for a while, is under the heading "Inspiration", for me. I appreciate the authors and their topics.

1. I love Life by Kal Barteski has wonderful inspiration for the eyes and the mind. I appreciate her point of view tremendously.
2. I found this blog, Keeping Tabs, through someone who knows the author. She suggested her friends read about this Ohio girl who has/is traveling the world. She often posts wonderful pictures, too.
3. I began following Lisa Leonard when some women in the scrapbook community suggested it. First, her jewelry was beautiful and connected with the one little word concept. But her faith and life story keep me reading.
4. I'm not sure how I stumbled across Lisa Russo, but once I did, I fell in love with her art. Her photographs speak to my heart and style. I have been changing some of the design, here at my house, cleaning out spaces in our home, as well as extraneous decor and am dreaming of the day when I can add her work to our home. I haven't, yet, but I will. Once I fell for her art, I continued to read her blog and appreciate how similar we are. 
5. Vicky and Jen: "What Really Matters"-I originally found them via their podcasts. I appreciated their home/mom advice as I listened. Then I began to follow their blog. There is some overlap, but not always, with the podcast. Two down-to-earth moms who work at bettering life.
6. The next two blogs don't have posts too often, as they are busy people, so I can relate, but I appreciate glimpses into their family lives-their real life. They inspire me, both in different ways. The first is It Matters by Darci Dowdle, a mom of 5 kids and a woman journeying with her faith.
7. Jenny Meyerson: Learn with Jenny-I first saw a video of her through a scrapbooker's blog-dancing. An amazing lady on a journey through life as a mom and wife.

Do you have blogs that you read because they inspire you? Hope you are well, Reader.

Thursday's Helpful Apps

Today's Thursday Apps are under the heading Organization for me. They help me organize my data, my schedule,  and my thoughts and ideas. Do you use any of these apps, Reader? Which do you like best? Or do you use something different altogether?

1. I have some apps to organize my to-do list, and notes. I previously noted the Notes app that comes on the iphone. It used to look like a yellow legal pad of paper but since the iOS7 update, it looks a white lined pad of paper. It is just a place to jot down things. I have put addresses in there, foods to look up a recipe for, lyrics to songs to look up or even t-shirt sayings I liked from cross country meets. Again, it's not a fancy app, just a place to jot things down to remember or some people to use it as a to-do list and jot down plans for the day.
2. I also use the Reminders app quite frequently-actually more since the operating system update. On this site, they mentioned these notes below about the app: With Reminders, you can: Create and organize multiple lists, Use Date/Time or location-based notifications, Search for specific reminders, Reorder to-dos, View your reminders by list or scheduled view, and Automatically update all your devices and calendars using Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud.
3. I have a wonderful journaling app, DayOne, also. I had heard about it on someone's blog where they touted its wonderful qualities, but I didn't want to pay the price. Then, I saw where they had a try-it-free promotion, which is when I downloaded it and have been using it ever since. You can add tags to things, for example I have my daughters' names as tags so if I'm looking for a journal note about them I can search by tag. You can also put in pictures, places, links. You can also set reminders. I have one set at 8:00am each day. It reminds me to journal each day then. You can also sync between devices. 
4. Another favorite is GoodReads. I have the app and I use it frequently. I'm pretty sure I've blogged about it before, but I was just telling a friend about it recently and was surprised she'd never come across it before. It is worthy of blogging again. ;) It you are on it and would like to share book information, let me know, Reader! :) I often like to look for books I like at the bookstore, scan their bar code into my app and then I can look them up at the library. It's a nice way to see what I have read, what I want to read and books I have liked so I can look up similar books. Here is itune's description: Keep track of what you want to read, review the books you've read, and organize your reading history by adding books to your shelves. Find new and interesting books by looking at what your friends are reading, and comment on their reviews. No other app combines the power and depth of the Goodreads community with an enormous catalog of books and reviews. Use our barcode scanner the next time you are in a bookstore. Add the book in your hands to your "to-read" shelf and easily view its reviews before buying.
5. I have also mentioned Pinterest, here, as well, I think. I love it. It is also a website, but I think the iphone app is even easier to use than the site. Such a good place to organize ideas for all areas of my life, like organization, gardening, teaching, Bible verses, and so much more. I can get lost on it before realizing how much time has passed. :) It is also nice to use the app from my phone sometimes to send a funny meme to my daughters. A nice, quick, simple way to share our interests and sometimes a laugh. Here is itune's description:Pinterest is a tool to find your inspiration and share it with others. Use it to collect things you love, organize and plan important projects, and more.
   Features
   • Pin images from around the web
   • Explore pins and boards you’re interested in
   • Get inspiration from DIY, Travel, Food and other categories
   • Pin with your camera
6. I used to use Google Reader until it was no longer up and running. I loved having blog posts I read from several different blogs and websites in one place. I chose Feedly as my replacement. I like the website better than the iphone app, but they are making nice changes to it over time, as their user base continues to grow.  "Feedly is a better way to organize, read and share the content of your favorite sites."
7. Last, an app I have and go in phases with. Some phases I love this app, Evernote, and some phases I don't open it for days. I'm sure it could be a wonderful tool to organize so many things, but I haven't gotten into the habit of using it. I could probably use this app for all 6 of the items above, or at least 4 of them. I may, still, but not today. Their theme is "remember everything". Here is the description from itunes:Evernote is an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Stay organized, save your ideas and improve productivity. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders--and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go. 
   
   New York Times ‘Top 10 Must-Have App’, Winner: TechCrunch Crunchies, Mashable Awards and the Webbys. 
   
   Key Features:
   • Sync all of your notes across the computers and devices you use
   • Create and edit text notes, to-dos and task lists 
   • Save, sync and share files 
   • Record voice and audio notes
   • Search for text inside images
   • Organize notes by notebooks and tags
   • Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
   • Connect Evernote to other apps and products you use
   • Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter
   • Works with Evernote Business: Capture, browse, search, and share Business Notes and Business Notebooks from your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
   ◦ Premium feature: take notebooks offline to access them anytime 
   ◦ Premium feature: allow others to edit your notebooks
   ◦ Premium feature: add a PIN lock to your Evernote app
   
   Evernote is free to download and use. Evernote Premium adds the great features above and is available through an auto-renewing subscription.
   
   Two subscription options: 
   ◦ Evernote Premium monthly for $5 
   ◦ Evernote Premium annually for $45 
   
   Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless cancelled at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel a subscription during the active period. Manage your subscriptions in the Account Settings after purchase.
   
   Here are some ways to use Evernote for your personal and professional life:
   • Research smarter: snap photos of whiteboards and books
   • Take meeting and class notes, draft agendas and research notes
   • Plan a trip: keep track of travel plans, plane tickets and passports
   • Organize and save recipes; search by ingredients later
   • Create a grocery list or task list and check things off as you go
   • View web pages saved in Evernote on your desktop
   • Capture ideas and inspiration on the go
   • Access files and notes you create on your phone from your desktop
   • Keep track of products and prices for comparison shopping purposes
   • Keep finances in order: save receipts, bills and contracts
   • Reduce paper clutter by taking snapshots of restaurant menus, business cards and labels
   • Use Evernote as part of your GTD system to help you stay organized
   • To get the most out of your Evernote experience, download it on all of the computers and phones that you use.
   
   Evernote is available for: Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Web
   Web clippers available for: Evernote for Web; Web Clippers for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer
   
   Learn more: http://www.evernote.com/about/getting_started/

Thursday's Helpful Apps

Today I will be listing my favorite/most used photography apps from my phone. I love to take pictures of my family, my yard/flora/fauna, my pets, many things, actually. I primarily use my iphone5, now. I have a nice Canon camera that I used to love-it has a wonderful zoom! However, it's large and to take it in my purse to capture everyday moments is just too much. I only bring it to special occasions, now. Granted, my iphone can't capture everything as well as a regular camera, but it does a pretty good job. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the new iOS7 update for the camera has some nice features.

• Like I said, I use the "camera" app-just the basic app that came on the phone-quite regularly and its new updates like the swipe from regular camera to video or panoramic are much easier to use.
• Instagram, I have also mentioned before, is a good way for me to take pictures and instantly apply an easy filter and post it. I can also have it share that same post to Twitter or Facebook from the instagram app. Via itunes, they mention "Over 150 million users love Instagram! It's a simple way to capture and share the world's moments on your iPhone.
  
  Customize your photos and videos with one of several gorgeous and custom built filter effects. Transform everyday moments into works of art you'll want to share with friends and family.
  
  Share your photos and video in a simple photo stream with friends to see - and follow your friends' photos with the click of a single button. Every day you open up Instagram, you'll see new photos from your closest friends, and creative people from around the world."
• Picstitch is a fun app that will take two or more pictures, and like Instagram, you can apply filters to the photo, but you can also put multiple pictures into one picture. Their info on itunes says, "Quickly combine multiple photos into one beautifully framed picture.
  
  Pic Stitch packs a simple design with a powerful editor to give you everything you could possibly want to make your photo's simply amazing.
  
  Share your masterpiece on your favorite social media networks including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or order prints from your local Walgreens for in-store pickup.
  
  Use Pic Stitch to create a before-and-after sequence, combine great photos of each of your kids, or produce a photographic series."
• Beautiful Mess is a cute app that can put symbols, words, etc. onto the picture you've taken and then it can be shared. It is cute and fun! I have enjoyed playing around with it thus far. Some info from itunes states, "Add new life to your favorite photos with custom filters, fun fonts, and hand-drawn doodles by Elsie and Emma, creators of the award-winning lifestyle blog, "A Beautiful Mess". Then share your creations with friends through email, or by publishing them directly to popular social networks — Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (hashtag: #ABeautifulMess).
  
  Whether you're sharing personalized snapshots with friends and family or broadcasting your life's most beautiful moments through social media, the photo app from A Beautiful Mess makes it fun and easy."
• Ceiva is an app I use to upload pictures to a digital frame. My husband's grandparents have the digital frame in their apartment connected to wifi and it will upload pictures we send them so they can see the latest shots. They both have really enjoyed it! 
• Also, I just recently saw this article from How Stuff Works on the "10 Great iphone Camera Apps"

Do you have any camera/photo apps you love, Reader? I have heard of a few others, but haven't brought myself to purchase them, yet. Do you have any suggestions?

Social Media Monday

I posted on Facebook this link about a large number of bees found dead. The article was connecting the bee deaths with pesticide (which isn't really surprising, is it?) and with an already declining bee population, it made me sad. I wondered what I could do. My initial reaction was to call a local organic lawn company, so I'm not hiring someone to care for our lawn that is just bringing harmful chemicals. Still researching, but might have one I like. I don't spray my apple trees, either. My apples are eaten by bugs each year and we don't get any of their harvest, but we have several bees who come and pollinate. I also noticed, when I went to trim off the growth of my basil plants, that they were full of bees before I could trim the flowers off them. Hoping to help them in my yard, at least. We need them!
Here is an article from PBS about how we can help the bees.
This article is 5 Ways we can help from the Mother Nature Network.
Last, here is the News Tribune's article on how you can help.
Take a look at one or all of these articles, and do what you can to help our bees! Have a great week, Reader!

Pinterest

I, my friends, have discovered a new time-waster, I mean learning tool. ;)
It is www.pinterest.com "Pinterest is a place to catalog the things you love, Pin anything that catches your eye" is what they say about themselves. Previously, here, I mentioned I'd like to "create" or craft more. So, I saw this art piece on Pinterest, pinned it, thought it over and the girls and I created our own version: http://www.cmybacon.com/2011/07/melted-crayon-art/
It is not nearly as neat or beautiful as this artist's, but it was my first try and my daughters enjoyed creating them.

This week's art piece is this "painted wall art for non-artists"
http://twogirlsbeingcrafty.blogspot.com/2011/02/painted-wall-art-for-non-artists.html

And maybe a doily lamp! :) http://www.moredesignplease.com/moredesignplease/2011/3/4/diy-doily-lamp.html

I'm also planning my sister in law's wedding shower and have found lovely ideas like these (she is having mason jars as part of her reception)
http://emmalinebride.com/handmade-wedding/mason-jar-centerpieces-floating-candles/
I'm going ot make invitations to the shower like these http://ohsobeautifulpaper.com/2011/02/rustic-pink-burlap-wedding-invitations/
a possible food idea http://www.ohparty.net/party-recipes-gourmet-smores-table.php with marshmallows the colors of the wedding
and flowers on the tables like this with flowers the color of her wedding http://pinterest.com/pin/71169969/

But, you type something in, you look at the images/articles, you "pin" them and wow, the time flies! :)

I hope you are well and your happy time is passing slowly, while your sad moments are fleeting.
Hope your week starts off wonderfully!

Today

Today was a long day.
I got up and ran this morning before school. This is usually when I have coffee, but today I knew it would be too hot after school to get in day-#4-in-a-row of running. So, no coffee and a run... I am a bit tired. While I was reading blogs, I was thinking how thankful I am to have my good health (knock on wood), my wonderful family and friends, to live in a great town, to teach with fabulous staff and great children, and the list was going on... Then I was thinking I am thankful:
winged things don't fly into my house... he's cute and all, but I would probably scare the poor thing to death!
we don't have these around to run across my feet... interesting to look at, and my daughters would be intrigued, but to be surprised by one doesn't sound fun...
My dog hasn't found my Burt's Bees lip balm... although one eats quite a bit of odd things...
Running's going well. Legs were a little sore today.
School's going pretty good, too. I have tons of papers to grade tonight.
Family is doing fine, although both of the girls are ready to have summer vacation. Their last day is the second week in June. Soccer and track are now both officially over.
I haven't had time to sit and read anything lately... not even book club books. I'm looking forward to reading or scrapbooking over the long weekend.
That's all for now. Hope you are doing well!

Lately

Lately...

• I did get some running in, before the weather got frigid again. Ahh, the sunshine was wonderful. I'm looking forward to more of the bright stuff again tomorrow! Although the temperature will not show that the glorious sun is out, I'm afraid. :)
  
• I got to be a substitute teacher in a kindergarten class. Both morning and afternoon groups of children were wonderful!
• My photo/canvas arrived in the mail today. A dear blog friend took a wonderful photo of the beach (she is extremely talented!) and I asked her if I could have/use it. I had it made into a canvas that arrived today. My original intent was to hang it in the green laundry room, to make me think I was at the beach instead of doing laundry... However, I love the looks and colors of it so much, I wish I could repaint other areas of my house to match. Considering all the painting I've done lately, I'm guessing the husband will say-it should still hang in the laundry room, and no more painting for awhile! :)
• I am feeling terrible about neglecting something that I firmly believe in... Thank You notes. I always write them, but for some reason, the 2008 Christmas thank yous have not been written. How utterly awful of me.
• I have gone over my notes for the Thirteenth Tale, so that I will be ready to post discussions on it next Friday, the first discussion of the Well Read Ladies Online Book Club.
• I have The Hemingses here to start for our next discussion... It's size is daunting... the nonfiction-ness of it is intimidating... but I look forward to the brain-strengthening challenge.
• I have spent too much time on Facebook, even posting photos of high school this week. Some scary photos... :) But they were me, back then. :) I have enjoyed connecting with far-away family, that I probably wouldn't be able to keep in touch with very well, otherwise.
  
• My husband and I begin teaching Sunday School this weekend. I am very much looking forward to it! I'm EXCITED! :) Ahem... teaching does that to me, even if it is only an hour. :)
• I ordered my youngest daughter some small, inexpensive cookie cutters, so she can make these valentines for school. (It is our tradition for the kids to make their school valentines instead of buying character valentines. We like to be crafty like that. ;))
• I saw a video that was great. It was a 16 minute short movie, if you will, but worth every minute. It made me smile. I don't know how to post videos on my own blog, so you have to go to this site HERE to see it. The post that the video is on is called You... You are awesome. You should see it. :))

I hope you are having a wonderful day, and week, that is halfway over already! :) I hope, also, that you are smiling as you leave this blog. :))

Fallen off

Seems as if I've fallen off my blog posts. I was doing so well for a while, posting frequently. Not much to say, as of late, I guess.
I am happy to report that it seems our countertop will arrive sooner than expected and is coming this Thursday! Just a few things left to complete the whole transformation: light fixtures and one other wall detail for now, I think.
The laundry room came out as nicely as I'd hoped, although I still have one photo/canvas detail to finish up and hang up. I was thinking this week that I feel blessed to be able to afford these things right now, in a bad economy.
Speaking of economy, looking forward to the inauguration this week. Hopefully wonderful changes ahead.
My family came down for the weekend and it was very nice, as always.
I haven't taught much lately, but I feel like I've gotten a lot done here at home. I rearranged my "office" and cleaned everything out. After painting the kitchen, my husband and I went through all the cupboards and got rid of a lot that we don't use. I also cleaned out the cupboards in the laundry room. We had a charity come on the 12th and pick up things, so we put out about 8 laundry baskets/trash bags full: clothes, kitchen items and more! It was such a nice feeling. Another charity is scheduled for rounds in our neighborhood on the 28th, I think, so I'm hoping to do basement purging and prepare another load! :) Just feeling like we have too much STUFF.
I've also updated my resume, with a few questions remaining, and am taking it to some new schools this week. Scary and exciting all at the same time. :)
I have been working on my one little word, "peace", this month. I looked up "peace" in the concordance of my Bible and have been reading a verse per day, along with the daily devotional and daily Bible reading. I'm still working on the book of Romans, right now, but am 2/3 the way done. I also ordered a peace ring from LizEaton, and a peace charm from Beautiful Soul. I ordered a "faith" charm last year from the same shop. I wore it everyday and really liked it.
I also saw this "butterfly chandelier"
in a pottery barn kids store this weekend, while shopping with my parents. I loved it, but thought 79 dollars was a lot. I thought I could do it myself, but it didn't turn out like I'd hoped. I couldn't find the metal hoops, so I bent metal hangers, which didn't come out large enough to get the full effect. I couldn't find a butterfly punch, so I used flowers, and on one daughter's I lined them up, and on one I didn't, so they look more like a round flower.

Our oldest daughter turns 14 this week! I look at her and she looks so much older these days.
The running had taken a toll on my knees, I think it's the extra weight I have on right now, or the getting older, I'm not sure. :) Anyway, I started walking, fast pace, at an incline, on the treadmill indoors, instead of out on the ice and below 0 temps, and I have felt pretty good. I'm looking forward to getting back outside and running more. I just don't like running on the treadmill.
I am about to start reading the Thirteenth Tale for the online book club I had mentioned previously. We start discussions the second week in February, if anyone is interested in joining.
That's about all the update from here. I hope you are well, and enjoying winter... :))

Just to get the day started

Some sites I'm looking at this morning:

• Advent Conspiracy (Referred here to Stacy Julian's blog, am looking at it for the first time this morning.)
• Running With Cancer (Way to go on finishing the Seattle Marathon, Michael!)
• Addicted to Scrapbooking (sales and giveaways for the holidays)
• Snapfish (Uploading pictures that I took of my nephews and niece when they came and played last night=lots of FUN! :))
• Ali Edward's update on her December Daily (I wish I could be this creative and have it turn out so wonderfully!)
  
• I've also done the usuals: email, Google Reader of my blogs I read daily, comics.com where I read arlo and janice comic, cnn, msnbc, espn, the sites I skim each morning.

The beagle is himself today, completely. I was warned yesterday by hubby (with info from coworkers) that this might be the first of many seizures... I wonder if he's had any before this, but I wasn't here to witness them due to subbing?

Will try to post more later.