Hello, I've just been reading a story in the Daily Wail, you know the one I mean, the Daily Fail. A thrifty mum is feeding her family on a small budget, and getting a lot of sarcastic, and nasty comments from the sad keyboard warriors who have nothing else to do all day. The same thing happened to me. Show the world that you are doing just fine and jealousy rears it's ugly head.
Thrifty mother of three. Read here.
Amy has a blog, Hard up and Happy, and it's quite good, nice ideas for thrifty food. She is a happy mum with happy kids. Let's support another thrifty blogger and give Amy a boost, and post a comment on there. It will make her smile and show her that we are on her side. Stuff the nasty people.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks for popping in, and your nice comments on Bugsy. He has eaten a little and is now sleeping.
We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Don't get lost in Blogland
Hello. Virginia asked a question a few posts back, so I'll answer it now. She is thinking of starting a blog and asks how do people find me. Well Virginia, it is a bit of a mystery isn't it, when I started no one knew me, and now I get 6,000 page views a day. Where do they all come from? I never expected this when I started my online diary.
I'll start by asking you a question, how did you find me? There's a clue in your answer. I started looking at other people's blogs, and if I felt I could add anything to the topic I left a comment. That then left my footprint (link) which other people could click on to have a nosy about me on my blog. They in turn left me a comment and put me on their sidebar reading list. It's like a snowball getting bigger and bigger and gathering momentum as you roll it down a hill. The more you read other peoples blogs and leave comments the more you get back.
Blog hopping from one to the next is normal, everyone does it. I do it, I see a post title on someone's side bar which catches my eye I think, I'll go and have a look at that. I might make a comment, or I might not. If you click on any of the followers little pictures it will take you to their profile so you can see if they have a blog or not. When you follow a blog your picture will appear on their sidebar.
It used to be that some bloggers asked for an exchange in links, you read mine and I'll read yours. They don't do that so much now. Those that asked were usually those who were starting a blog as a business and wanted to increase their page views, thus enabling them to get sponsorship.
Some bloggers do make a lot of money, but they spend a lot of time promoting their blog on other social networking sites. They need people to follow them and ask them to sign up, it makes the numbers look good. Someone could sign up to follow and never read the blog again, or on the other hand a blog can be open for anyone to read without them having to join anything.
Of course, you could ask all your friends and family to read your blog if you start one. I did at first, and they did read, but now most of them don't bother. My sister and my best friend very rarely read unless I tell them of a post they might be interested in.
If you do start one, Virginia, do it for you. Don't write for an audience because that is a different style of writing. I would much rather read a chatty, humorous blog than one from someone who has spent time writing a word perfect, grammatically correct, with perfect punctuation, article. I think it''s easy to tell the difference. I can read a magazine or newspaper if I want to read an article.
Are you going to give it a go, let me know and I'll have a read.
Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip
I'll start by asking you a question, how did you find me? There's a clue in your answer. I started looking at other people's blogs, and if I felt I could add anything to the topic I left a comment. That then left my footprint (link) which other people could click on to have a nosy about me on my blog. They in turn left me a comment and put me on their sidebar reading list. It's like a snowball getting bigger and bigger and gathering momentum as you roll it down a hill. The more you read other peoples blogs and leave comments the more you get back.
Blog hopping from one to the next is normal, everyone does it. I do it, I see a post title on someone's side bar which catches my eye I think, I'll go and have a look at that. I might make a comment, or I might not. If you click on any of the followers little pictures it will take you to their profile so you can see if they have a blog or not. When you follow a blog your picture will appear on their sidebar.
It used to be that some bloggers asked for an exchange in links, you read mine and I'll read yours. They don't do that so much now. Those that asked were usually those who were starting a blog as a business and wanted to increase their page views, thus enabling them to get sponsorship.
Some bloggers do make a lot of money, but they spend a lot of time promoting their blog on other social networking sites. They need people to follow them and ask them to sign up, it makes the numbers look good. Someone could sign up to follow and never read the blog again, or on the other hand a blog can be open for anyone to read without them having to join anything.
Of course, you could ask all your friends and family to read your blog if you start one. I did at first, and they did read, but now most of them don't bother. My sister and my best friend very rarely read unless I tell them of a post they might be interested in.
If you do start one, Virginia, do it for you. Don't write for an audience because that is a different style of writing. I would much rather read a chatty, humorous blog than one from someone who has spent time writing a word perfect, grammatically correct, with perfect punctuation, article. I think it''s easy to tell the difference. I can read a magazine or newspaper if I want to read an article.
Are you going to give it a go, let me know and I'll have a read.
Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip
Sunday, September 4, 2016
A walk cut short
Hello and Good Morning. A walk was planned for yesterday, but had to be cut short as it started raining, and didn't stop, so a much shorter distance of 4 miles was achieved. Bit disappointing. I drove over the bridge to Welton, the village where I left Jo Brand to continue with her One Hell of a Walk. It's a nice little village, with a church and a duck pond on the main road through it.
There aren't many pictures, it was difficult to juggle getting the camera out and pointing and shooting while holding the umbrella to try and stay dry. Along the edge of this field are a lot of sunflowers. I have missed the best of the display as they are coming to an end now.
I drove back over the bridge and decided to call in at The Ropewalk, an arts centre in Barton. Two exhibitions, one at each end of the building, I wasn't impressed with hardly any of the exhibits. Two very colourful flowery pictures were nice, but on the whole not my cup of tea. Here is one picture painted in acrylics, it's for sale at £550 if you fancy it. Erm.....no thanks. I'd much rather get out into the countryside and see the real thing, it's cheaper.
Thank you to K for the lovely gift. Pictures to follow next spring when the flowers will be out in full bloom.
Outside calls, the weather looks a bit better today. I am going walking in Yorkshire soon, Youth Hosteling beckons. Enjoy your Sunday. Thanks for popping in.
Toodle pip
PS.
People with email problems might like to have a read of this. Might shed some light on it.
Monday, May 9, 2016
A good arty crafty site to check out.
Good morning. A quick in and out before I go to Crafty Club. It has been brought to my attention, by two people in fact, (thank you both), that Josie Russell is a brilliant artist and has a web site. I've had a look and her textile art is lovely. Worth a look for all you crafty people out there, and non crafty who want to buy greetings cards which are based on her designs.
I'm putting a call out to all bloggers to check their comments for spammers. I am getting a few disguised as real comments. Automated spam is not getting through now since Blogger changed things, but there are still some who will try. They appear to be friendly, and write a few words in connection with the post topic. Their link is embedded in their user name, so check them out before publishing. Another clue is that English is not their first language. Mum has a spam comment on her blog at the moment. If you want to keep your blog clean moderate your comments. Why let all and sundry use your hard work as a platform for their business.
Checking out. Catch ya later.
Toodle pip
I'm putting a call out to all bloggers to check their comments for spammers. I am getting a few disguised as real comments. Automated spam is not getting through now since Blogger changed things, but there are still some who will try. They appear to be friendly, and write a few words in connection with the post topic. Their link is embedded in their user name, so check them out before publishing. Another clue is that English is not their first language. Mum has a spam comment on her blog at the moment. If you want to keep your blog clean moderate your comments. Why let all and sundry use your hard work as a platform for their business.
Checking out. Catch ya later.
Toodle pip
Sunday, May 8, 2016
A warning ;o)
Hello. I'm having a rethink about the way I blog. I'm going to move over to my summer timetable because there is so much more I want to do. Even with the longer days there still isn't enough time to fit everything in. Don't worry, I am not giving up, or even taking a break, blogging will still be part of my day. However, the format will change slightly, to give me time away from the computer.
There won't be as many long, in depth, drawn out posts, these take a long time to compose. I'll save those for the winter months when forced to stay indoors. There will be more, 'Ten good reasons why', posts, I'll slot them in when the ideas come to me, but on the whole the Summer posts will be shorter and more like snippets of what I am up to, and anything that comes to mind as long as it can be written quickly. You may even get two or three a day. A bit like Tweeting but not quite so short.
So here you go. I haven't got the colours I need to continue with the picture, so I thought, I'll mix those I have got. After looking at it I realized it's not right. At the bottom bit on this picture the colours are too intense, so I took it all off. The green is fine, I'm happy with that, but the wall needs more mixing up, so I pulled the threads apart and re did them. It looks a whole lot better now.
The moral of this story, is, if something is not right, get rid of it, change it, find a better way, and start again.
Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip.
There won't be as many long, in depth, drawn out posts, these take a long time to compose. I'll save those for the winter months when forced to stay indoors. There will be more, 'Ten good reasons why', posts, I'll slot them in when the ideas come to me, but on the whole the Summer posts will be shorter and more like snippets of what I am up to, and anything that comes to mind as long as it can be written quickly. You may even get two or three a day. A bit like Tweeting but not quite so short.
So here you go. I haven't got the colours I need to continue with the picture, so I thought, I'll mix those I have got. After looking at it I realized it's not right. At the bottom bit on this picture the colours are too intense, so I took it all off. The green is fine, I'm happy with that, but the wall needs more mixing up, so I pulled the threads apart and re did them. It looks a whole lot better now.
Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Can the right and left work in creative unison?
Good morning. Please excuse my shorter posts, and total absence yesterday, but I have got my head stuck in artycraft mode. I struggled with this picture, had an idea in my head but got the colours wrong. After a couple of false starts I eventually got going. Getting into arty mode involves wandering around the house aimlessly, searching through bits of fabric, playing with paints and marker pens, cutting out and arranging, then saying, that doesn't look right and starting again.
I've been reading somewhere about the workings of the left and right side of the brain. The left is to do with words, the right, creativity. Well that explains it, I write lousy blog posts when I am stuck in creativity mode. But's that's not strictly true, I need to be creative while writing also, to string a few sentences together, so maybe I am using the whole of my brain for blogging, or maybe not. If it's waffle erupting from my keyboard then my right and left side must be having an almighty battle between my ears.
When I feel a creative surge coming on my brain is in conflict with itself. One side says get on with the tasks you have to do on a daily basis, the other side says oh sod that, it can wait. When creating I have to go with the flow, or else the ideas will stop. I end up stuck in a rut and don't know which way to go next. This is a haphazard way of working, creativity is not a 9 to 5 job, it's a 24 hour process which I find hard to switch off from. By the time the evening comes, if I haven't made much progress, I feel stuck. My body is tired and is telling me to switch off and go to sleep.
I happened to come across this video while I was pondering this topic, and low and behold it is a technique I use in my search for solutions. When I lay my head on my pillow to drift off to slumberland, (it doesn't take long for me to drop off), I am thinking about what to do next with the project. Which way will work best, is there something I haven't thought of? Then I am out like a light. The next morning, as if by magic the answer appears, it is there in my head. I have to get up and see if it might work. The first thing I do is go to the table and take a look, maybe re arranging something, or draw a diagram, or do a few stitches.
I am finding that the respite from continued walking is helping me to focus, it gives me a window to let my mind wander without the need to search for an idea or a solution. I am sure that being out in the open air drives fresh oxygen to the brain, giving a fresh clarity to insurmountable stuckness. Although sometimes I struggle to make the effort, my thoughts are much clearer after a bit of huffing and puffing around a three mile track, and the benefits are definitely worth it.
We are coming up to three months of the 12 month challenge, a quarter of the way through it. How are you all doing? I am on target to make the 250 miles, I am pacing myself so as not to burn myself out in the early stages. If I go hell for leather and push myself too hard I will get fed up with it, and will be more likely not to go the whole distance. Little and often works for me. Hopefully there will be a few splurges through the summer months to boost the miles. Don't forget to check in with your mileages on or around the 1st of April. If you haven't yet got started, why not do the 250 mile/3 month challenge. Nothing to lose having a go, and everything to gain. For those who are plodding on at a steady pace, keep doing what you are doing. Every step is the way to better health.
Well I can waffle on can't I? This is supposed to be a quick post, so now I'll carry on. We are getting intermittent rain and sun here, wish it would make it's mind up. I might make a dash to the tip with some rubbish, or I might say stuff it, and keep on sewing. That's the right and left side of my brain arguing again, ha ha.
Thanks for popping in. We'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Are you still there?
Just a quickie regarding loss of blog followers.
Elaine pointed me in the direction of this blog. Thank you Elaine.
Pleasure in Stitching
Radka has this notice on her blog, which sheds some light on the loss of followers thing. I must say I am still a bit confused, but if any of you notice that your name has disappeared from my list, it might explain what to do if you want to reinstate yourself.
I don't take the number of followers I have as an indication of how popular my blog is, it is open to anyone who wants to read it. It is a bit annoying that my followers have shrunk by 50, but if you are still visiting, I can put up with that. I am still getting anonymous comments, so it makes little difference to me whether people sign up to join or not. I think if you want notifications of when a new post is added, you might have to join something, but as I post most days, you only have to pop in when you feel like it.
Hope this helps, Thank you Radka.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.
Elaine pointed me in the direction of this blog. Thank you Elaine.
Pleasure in Stitching
Radka has this notice on her blog, which sheds some light on the loss of followers thing. I must say I am still a bit confused, but if any of you notice that your name has disappeared from my list, it might explain what to do if you want to reinstate yourself.
I don't take the number of followers I have as an indication of how popular my blog is, it is open to anyone who wants to read it. It is a bit annoying that my followers have shrunk by 50, but if you are still visiting, I can put up with that. I am still getting anonymous comments, so it makes little difference to me whether people sign up to join or not. I think if you want notifications of when a new post is added, you might have to join something, but as I post most days, you only have to pop in when you feel like it.
Hope this helps, Thank you Radka.
Blogger has made some big changes to
how we follow blogs
so read on to see
if these new rules will affect you!
We announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.
As part of the plan starting the week of Jan.11th, 2016 we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.
We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Free Life Coaching
Hello and Good Morning. Every morning when I log onto my Blogger Dashboard to check if any comments have come in overnight, I usually find the odd spammer has been able to sneak into the 'Awaiting Moderation', list. At first glance they appear to be my best friend, they are hoping that I will not notice their comment squeezed in between the genuine blog readers. The foreign spammers are easy to spot by their broken English, and always sign as Anonymous. Their comments are usually rambling gobbldygook. These mainly go into the Spammer Box anyway, so one zap gets rid of those.
But there is a new breed, they have a Google profile which gives the impression that they are genuine fans of the blog, so they are able to hide behind that. If any of these come in and I don't recognize the name, I always click on it, which is often a link to their Google page or web site. I then make my judgement as to whether to allow it or not. If there is no sign of adverts and it appears to be a legitimate reader, I look for buzz words or phrases in the main text of the comment which look odd, and put them into Google search. Quite often it will come up with a web site which is promoting either goods or services for sale. Ha, gotcha, they are trying it on, advertising by the back door. You ain't coming in here matey.
I get requests for link swaps, from people who want to promote their blog or web site. Any requests are denied. I will publish a link only if it is relevant to the post I am writing and will provide additional information to the subject matter. The blog links I have on my sidebar are my own personal choice. If any of them have a few adverts but the content is interesting I will allow it. Any blogs with excessive advertising are a turn off for me.
Anyway, I digress. I zapped a spammy comment this morning, from a Life Coach. If you Google Life Coach you will find they are quite secretive about their fees, a course of sessions could set you back a few hundred pounds.
I've had this leaflet for a few years now. All looks interesting to me, have a read. Would you sign up to this Life Coach? A ten week course perhaps to help you get the most from your life? Would it be worth spending the money?
I don't know everything, I learnt as I went along, picked things up, watched, listened, and took it all in. I'm still learning. Which is exactly what you are doing now. Sometimes the path through life is not always straight forward, you have to look to the sides. Sometimes you go through a fog, sometimes a storm, you need to find your own way back into the sunshine.
You have the answers, not me, or any other life coach. If you need help read library books, read web sites, go to support groups, friendship groups, talk to your family, and talk to your best friends.
I'm off to take the dog out. Thanks for popping in on this cold but dry Sunday.
Toodle pip
PS, I never did Life Coaching. It was something I thought about and after much research I decided that it wasn't for me.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Bring on winter, I'm still ready for it
Hello and Good Morning. It is exactly three years ago today when I posted this. It is top of the list for the highest page views ever at 8,553, way more than the second highest at 3505. It's a very short post, I don't know why it has had so many views. If you read the comments which I have copied and pasted you will see that some of them weren't very nice, perhaps that's the reason why people came back for updates. Saying that, not all page views are made by humans. The Bots or Spiders which crawl around the web picking up key words could be to blame, in the same way that spam is mostly generated electronically.
The message three years on is still the same, I wrap up when I get a bit cold. Lots of money saved by not putting the heating on until I absolutely have to, and I am still alive and kicking. An updated photo is below.
The message three years on is still the same, I wrap up when I get a bit cold. Lots of money saved by not putting the heating on until I absolutely have to, and I am still alive and kicking. An updated photo is below.
Bring on winter, I'm ready for it.
I am seeing wisps of steam coming from pipes sticking out of houses, a sure sign that the central heating is ticking over nicely filling the place with comforting warm air. I am seeing and smelling smoke coming from chimney pots all around the village as fires are lit to keep the cold at bay. Whatever happened to smokeless zones by the way? Nothing like that going on in this house, I don't think it's that cold just yet.
But when it does get cold, this is me ready for it. The toweling bath robe goes on over the top of my three teeshirts, two sweatshirts, leggins and jog bottoms. My neck warmer and wrist warmers are fab, so snug. A woolly hat keeps my head warm. And look, I have found an old pair of slippers in the wardrobe which I thought I'd thrown out. Repairs have had to be made to the soles with sticky tape to stop them falling apart, but I will get a bit more wear out of them. Doncha think I look comfy :o)
Toodle pipThis is me now. The old slippers had to go, I have some big woolly socks, given to me by a friend. I've taken the covers off the furniture as the cats no longer go on there. I made the cushion covers to brighten it up, and I now use the decorative Christmas lights all the year round instead of the big ceiling light, makes the room look cozy.
I have copied and pasted the comments from three years ago. Please note that you cannot reply to any of the 32 comments, the links don't work. Add your comment to the bottom as normal, if you wish. Have a butchers and see what you think. A few people have moved on, replaced by new readers, but some are still around. Thanks to those who keep coming back.
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We are sitting in front of our wood burner at the moment-in our defence we have never bought wood (all for free) and are trying to dry the washing too (hanging it out on the line made no difference today).
Sft x
x x x
Kim
Have a lovely evening.
I will vote for you.
Dianne - Hereford
Gill in Canada
Jane x
I was at Donna Nook today looking at the seals coming ashore to birth their pups. Missed one birth by minutes. It was absolutely bitter cold so I'm enjoying a cosy evening. Keep warm.
I really don't want to put the heating on for another month at least! You're further North than me though! You're all hard up there! :)
In my opinion you're taking frugality to the point of being (and looking) ridiculous. Do you get many visitors - friends popping round for a cuppa? No I thought not.
When I was a child there was a woman in our street who looked and acted like you, she was known for being odd. When she died aged 66 she had nearly a million pounds in the bank, hadn't left a will, no relatives. You can guess where her money ended up.
There are no pockets in shrouds Ilona! Heat the room you're in and stop being so ridiculous.
Clearly anonymous hasn't read your blog much, and doesn't know your savings enables you to travel and let you stop working a daily, grinding job and pay for your own house. You are an inspiration. I would love to do some of your walks and trips around England. Rug up, I say. (Except it is more do as I say, not do as I do. Sorry, Ilona, I'm A Central Heater Lover. And living in Australis, you'd probably think I'm mad to need it. In my defence, we don't have air conditioning like most do here because I don't mind the heat but can't stand being cold.)
Twiggy x
Anna
Grace: "A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement". Please re-read your post and take time to consider your own advice. To insult someone's home is the height of bad manners in my book.
There's a saying, "Different strokes for different folks." How boring would our world be if God hadn't created all kinds of people with different gifts to share with each other! I say, "little minds suck sour grapes" and make everyone around them miserable. Thank you for sharing your life with us. I see your humor and it encourages me to keep putting one foot in front of the other! Blessing!
Ilona xxxxxxx