Thursday, January 30, 2014

Back to the drawing board.....

Image courtesy of EHOW


Well, I am afraid it is back to the drawing board again with my comments widget here.  Please forgive me if I have confused you to the point of no return.  I am hoping to find a simple solution so that no one has to jump through so many hoops just to give me a piece of their mind.  Good, bad or ugly…..I want them all, and I am going to work really really hard to get this better for all of you.
In the meantime, you can still read my posts.  I would love it if you would.



Thank You!

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Comments conundrum...

Ok, you all know how much I love to blog....I've told you a hundred times...I've tried to get you to come on over and read all my posts...I've convinced a handful to subscribe via email to get notified when I do write a new post.  A million thank you's to you all for that.  I sincerely appreciate you putting up with all my trial and error here.  I do.  That being said......I would like to help you in the comments conundrum you all seem to be in.  Understandably so!  It is too cumbersome to attempt to "simply" leave your comment.  Well, hopefully, if you are reading this, you will want to learn how to leave a comment...."simply".

Here's how it goes.....
  • At the end of each one of my posts (like this one) you will see the words, "POST A COMMENT:"  (you know you want to!) and just under that you'll see a nice white space with the words, "enter  your comment"....this is where you tell me how much you love what I post and can't wait to read more and more and how you look forward to every story.....ok, I'll stop here.
  • Then comes the tricky "do I select this or that?" part....that scary phrase; "Comment as".... fear not....you have options.  Choosing your option will work best if you are sitting in front of your computer, and not walking in the mall trying to comment on your smart phone.  Please don't do that!!  You may trip and fall into an indoor gold fish pond and all the other mall goers will be using their smart phones to video your moment to post it on YouTube as soon as they can hit the share button.
  • To see your options, open the drop down menu just to the right of these two words "Comment as".....(the little square button with an arrow pointing downward is the drop down menu).  Here is where you need to make your choice of who you want to comment as..................(stop biting your nails!)
  • Options are as follows:
  1. LiveJournal
  2. WordPress
  3. TypePad
  4. AIM
  5. Open ID
  6. Name/URL
  7. Anonymous 
Now, unless you are a blogger yourself, you probably won't be choosing 1,2,3 or 6.  These are for you if you have websites built on each particular platform shown.   #4 is AIM....if you have an AOL Instant Messenger account, enter it as they show you in the example: http://openid.aol.com/username.  I tried this one, but it spit back an "edit" on me, so...not sure what I did wrong there.
If I were you, the commenter, and didn't have a website or a webpage, I would choose the Open ID option (#5).  Here, you can simply put your first name in the first box and then your email address in the second box.  I recently tried this with my cousin as my guinea pig and it worked.  "Thanks Debbie".  The last one (#7) is "Anonymous".....and that just sounds lonely....so, try not to have to use that one.  If you must use it, please leave your name in the comment so I know it is you.  Good luck, and I hope to see many comments from everyone. :) 

 Thank you, and goodnight.
  

Sunday, January 26, 2014

cake balls 101...

I'm no expert, but I have made cake balls a few times now and it seems I am getting better with each attempt...if I do say so myself.  As simple as they are to make, albeit time consuming, they are not so easy to explain to someone who has never made them before.  Better to do a hands on instructional.











 You can bake your cake the night before to cut down on preparation time.  Box mix is fine for this, although I am sure a made from scratch cake would be even better.

I did go by a recipe, so if you are reading this try not to make them by this instructional.  It's simply more of a story than a recipe.


The icing and the cream cheese are blended together to create the "glue" for the cake balls.  After mixing this glue up with the finely crumbled cake, you will end up with the  close consistency of play dough.  That's my description.

 Once you get it all mixed together real good, you just make a ball with your hands and place on cookie sheet to chill while you melt your chocolate coating.


To keep the melted chocolate (almond bark) at a constant temperature, I put the chocolate in a glass which is submerged in a water filled warmer.  It's easy to work with this rather than a two pan double boiler.  Dipping cake balls is something you will have to get the hang of just by doing it.  I used two forks and transfer the ball from one fork to the other to let the excess chocolate fall back into the melting pot.

Once the balls are dipped in the chocolate, you place them on the cookie sheet to harden or set.  We decided to top some of them with coconut before they started to set up.  Mmm good!





Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Cabin fever spawns springtime to-do's....

It is only January, but lately the weather has been very mild in temperature which causes my mind to reel about the hundreds of things I'd rather be doing other than waiting for winter to leave and spring to arrive.  I want to get back into digging in the dirt...to building things and fixing things.  

My mental "to do" list is growing at a rapid pace and if I don't start logging my ideas down on paper, a hundred different other things will pop up and take their place.

What comes to mind first is the last unfinished thing in my camper...the dining area ceiling.  I am so unhappy with the fact that I can't make it how I want it...perfect.  No, not exactly..just nice and pretty.  Once I roll my sleeves up to start on that, I am certain it will lead me to some sort of replacement for the wall attached table.  I have a friend who does marine survey/yacht recycling and he salvaged a really nice table which has a map underlay.  I think it is beautiful!  



I am hoping he can get one for my camper.  I need to take measurements.  I'd really like to make it some sort of portable artwork when not in use as the bed support and do away with the wall mount all together.  Space limitation is my concern with the art idea.  The dining area is rarely used as such anymore, and I seem to stuff too much "stuff" under the table anyway.  Renovation with purpose.   I've got a cute vintage occasional table that would be the perfect spot for a cup of coffee and a magazine.  Turn it into a reading and sitting area by day, then when needed as sleeping by night.  We shall see.  For now, I have to wait for nicer weather while keeping my pen and paper at the ready for any more ideas that pop in.

Until then...