• Some unwelcome snow requires a cheery addition to the kitchen. I made a garland to hang on the cupboard. (I have the same garland in my shop.) I think I will make some more and change out the colors according to my whim of the moment. Right now, as I write this, the morning sun is shining on the cupboard and it’s as if a spotlight has been aimed right at the garland. Ahhhh.
• ‘Chatty’ reminds me of a doll from my childhood – Chatty Cathy. Remember her? I never owned a Chatty Cathy, but I had friends who did. It was a kick pulling that string and hearing her talk. Did any of you own one?
• Scout thanks you for all your kind comments on her post. She knew you would understand. At the moment, she’s in the tunnel having her ‘I just got up after a long night’s sleep, went outside to take care of business and now I’m sleepy’ morning nap. Writing a blog post leaves her physically and emotionally spent.
• Don thanks you for your kind words, too. We managed to fax all the necessary paperwork yesterday – not easy with our slightly wonky fax machine. But it’s done and now he’s waiting for the script to arrive. Since this is for American Experience, the script will be part narration, part documentary, part re-enactment. We’ve seen a photo of the man Don is portraying and he looks a lot like him. The producers must have loved seeing Don walk in the door for his audition!
Yes, I wish I could tag along. But, as you know, we freelance and to say our budget is tight would be a huge understatement. A round-trip flight to Prague? No. Have to pay the mortgage. It’s okay. I’m so excited for Don that it doesn’t matter.
• Blogkeeping: I wrote about the demise of Google Reader last week. I set up Google Reader quite a long time ago but I didn’t really use it. I tend to follow blogs in a variety of ways. I have my blog roll, which can be accessed in the menu under my header. I also bookmark lots of different blogs. There’s the blog update through Google Friend Connect (Blogs I’m Following) that can be accessed when I sign into Blogger. And then there are the blogs I discover through other bloggers’ blog rolls. Yikes. It works for me.
So, a couple of things: The blogs that you follow through Google Friend Connect are different from those you follow in Google Reader, though you can also opt to read them via Reader. I don’t know what plans Google has for GFC. As far as I know, they haven’t announced any plans to discontinue it. So don’t panic about that. If I find out differently, I’ll let you know.
I have never really liked Google Reader except as a way to see what blogs have recently posted – that’s why I hardly ever used it. For me, the blog reading experience is about seeing the whole blog. I’m a very visual person. I want to see the design, the header, the sidebar. Most bloggers work very hard to create the look of their blog and I want to honor that. Also, as I have said before, if a blogger depends on ad income, she will need me to click on her blog directly – not through a reader. And then there are stats – how many visitors, etc. Visiting a blog directly can matter a great deal to that blogger.
It’s the same reason I don’t subscribe to blogs via email subscriptions. To me, a post loses all its life when it’s transformed to an email. But, that’s just what works for me. I know that many of you subscribe to this blog via an email subscription or a reader and I’m grateful that you do! I know that lots of you prefer the convenience of those options. And it’s important to offer those options to our readers, as everyone has their own particular preference as to blog reading. We’re all busy and a reader can be a convenient way to get all the updates from your favorite blogs. The same for emails.
There are other RSS Readers out there that are ready and willing to help you transfer your Google Reader feed. I remembered this week that I had set up an account at Bloglovin several months ago and then promptly forgot about it. I decided to see if I could transfer my Google Reader feed easily to Bloglovin. Short answer: yes. It couldn’t be easier. Bloglovin does it for you. You get this message:
Basically you click on import reader and it’s done. What I like about Bloglovin is that the interface is very user friendly and when you click on a particular post, you get the whole blog, design and all. Plus, if you are interested in discovering new blogs, you can search in a particular category.
I’ve added a Follow This Blog with Bloglovin widget to my sidebar, so if you are interested, click away!
Ah. More egg cups. More bunny rabbits.
Left: A cute little bunny peeking around the corner of an egg house.
Center: Another bunny hanging around outside of his little house.
Right: One of my favorite bunny rabbits – because she reminds me of Scout. Same huge pink ears, same facial expression. She’s my Scoutie Egg Cup.
More to come.
Happy Friday.
I so agree about the visual aspect of seeing the whole page while reading a blog post. It helps me “know” the person behind the words. So far I like bloglovin’ and plan to organize it a little more to make it even more usable – I also follow blogs in many ways :-)
I need to organize my Bloglovin too, Vicki. Haven’t dealt with that yet.
I still have my Chatty Cathy, altho her pull string doesn’t work anymore.
I liked Google Reader because it was easy to see when someone recently posted Then I click on the post and go read it on the blog itself. I just switched to Bloglovin and will do the same thing. It’s just an easy way for me to keep track of all the blogs I follow and quickly see who has posted.
I think it makes sense. I like the look of Bloglovin more than the look of Google Reader.
Say hi to Chatty Cathy for me.
Dear Claudia
Your afghans inspired me to do a wave afghan for my daughter’s birthday.
It is white and blues and ended up huge and lovely. Having never done this
pattern (but I loved yours), I went to youtube for instructions, and after a few
attempts I had the pattern figured out. And, after years of crocheting I learned
how to properly change colors nicely and neatly.
Anyway, thanks for the inspiration! Brenda
Yay for you, Brenda! I’m happy to have been a little inspiration for you.
Never had a Chatty Cathy, just so you know. I love getting your blog via email, I get many this way. Some bloggers though, just give an opening line, then you have to click on the title to finish reading. I actually click on the title of yours, so I can read it as you intended it to be read. I do what’s easiest for me…I’ve only been on the computer since 2010 when I got my first iPad….I’m a newbie! Oh, to be young again! ;)
That’s a good way to do it, Donna – just click on the title.
My crazy, all over the place, way of following blogs probably should be updated, don’t you think? Perhaps I should try to streamline it.
Actually, if the crazy way works for you, why change it? I just try to make things easier for myself! ;)
Love those egg cups, but also the garland on that beautiful hutch! I’m glad Scout is back to her morning routine!
Thank you, Mary Ann!
I do remember Chatty Cathy dolls, Claudia, although I never had one. I was a Ginny Doll girl (the one with dark hair) and I loved getting new outfits for her when we could afford it. Your bunny egg cups are so adorable. (Both today’s and yesterday’s.) I have a few egg cups, mostly floral. A recent birthday present was a little red transferware one that matches my Mason’s Vista china. Do you put things in your eggcups? I like to put violets and buttercups and lily of the valley in them (with very short stems!) in the spring. Wishing you a sunny (and warmer?) weekend.
I mostly keep them on display, Haworth, and don’t take them down from the shelves. I have a Mason’s Vista eggcup in brown transferware – I’ll be showing it in the next few days. Have a wonderful weekend.
I’m using Bloglovin but I make sure to click on the blog itself so they get the stats. I hope others do that!! I never had a Chatty Cathy either but friends did and it was fun to hear her ‘talk’. Can’t wait to see your new garlands, I’m waiting for one that calls my name and I’ll buy it!!
hugs,
Linda
Good for you, Linda. I do the same thing.
Claudia Happy Spring! Love Love your cabinet and the colors make me happy.
Have a beautiful weekend.
Ciao Rita
Thank you, Rita! Have a great weekend, my friend.
Claudia, I have to apologize for yesterday,calling you “Scout” a boy,I’m hoping you didn’t think I mean’t Don!! ha ha ha. Thank-You for your blog! I Love The garlands you are making. I have never bought anything on line before,(aren’t I old fashioned?) Maybe this would be a good time for me to try it? Also Thank-You for the information you provide us. -Judy A-
Oh, don’t worry, Judy – lots of people call her a boy – depends on if you’re used to a boy dog hanging around, I guess!
MORE wonderful bunny egg cups!!! I love them and their wonderful faces, so sweet and simple. Scout deserves a bit of a nap after that blog. She is a very busy girl. I never had a Chatty Cathy doll, but I do remember them. I also remember some of my friends having a giant Barbie head that they put makeup on. Those things freaked me out!! My favorite toy was my lincoln logs. I still have them.
Oh, I remember those heads, Teresa! They were a little bit strange, weren’t they?
Hi Claudia!
For some strange reason you disappeared from my bloglist on my blog for a little while. I’ve put you back again this morning. Now you stay put! You hear me?? HA! HA! Really, I don’t know what happened and I don’t know much about computers. You’re there again now and that’s what matters. :-)
I love your garland. I just made one for my kitchen island and I love the happy smiley flowers on it.
Have a lovely weekend!
Blessings,
Betsy
Who knows why that happened? Feedburner was weird this week – yesterday everyone suddenly had no subscribers – today it’s back to normal. Maybe that had something to do with it? As long as I reappeared that’s all that matters. Or maybe it’s little fairies messing with things!
Congrats to Don on the Prague job. Very exciting! Poor Scout — the things she has to go through each and every day just to keep you two under control over there. ha! Your egg cups and garlands are so sweet. Sending warm wishes your way, Tammy
Thanks so much, Tammy.
Dear sweet friend,
Chatty Cathy lives “out of sight” in the top of my daughter’s closet. Santa brought her to me many Christmases ago. I can’t remember the year. She has lost one shoe and no longer talks. Someone pulled her string out too far. Thank you for reminding me about her. Happy day from cloudy and cold middle TN.
I think that happened to a lot of Chatty Cathys, Carol. The string was pulled too hard and that was it for Cathy’s charming voice!
So cool that Don is going to be in an American Experience- that is one of my favorite TV shows, no matter what the topic.
I’ve imported my Google Reader blogs into Blog Lovin’, and it seems to work just fine. My concern is with Google and its practice of discontinuing support for products. They shut down Piknic, Google Friend connect for Typepad (I lost about 200 subscribers), and now Google Reader. I probably shouldn’t complain about losing free products, but it makes me leary of using anything they put out- I wonder if I should migrate my gmail account in case they decide they don’t want to offer free email addresses.
I agree, Beth. They decide they are going to let something fade away and they stop giving any sort of support – that’s happening with Feedburner right now – that’s why I see the writing on the wall for that. Of course, it was started by another company and then Google bought it and then they stopped offering any support. I won’t do Google+ for that reason.
I guess I need to add bloglovin to my ever growing list of things to do. I access blogs through a variety of ways, but I always go to the blog to read it.
Hugs,
Laura
Me too, Laura.
I never had a Chatty Cathy, but I remember them. I am kind of like you in how I like to see a blog on it’s “home” page with all their different backgrounds and designs. I’m enjoying your egg cup collection. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
Thank you, Teresa. Are you sewing on Minnie Belle yet?
I am just tickled to death for Don. Things are finally going (or coming, which is it?) his way. And he deserves it. And you deserve it. Happy, happy, happy for you all And Scout too.
Brenda
Hey! Stop egging me on bwahhahahhaha! I want you to know that I spent a long time EARLY this morning, perusing the internet in hopes of finding some cuties like yours but none were as cute as yours. Unrequited love. Adore your Scoutie egg cup, looks just like Ms. Smiley.
Let me know what you think about the light pink (and possibly celadon green) garland when you’ve figured it out – no rush if you’re out of time. Do I see some Rose Chintz china in your cabinet? I want some of that too, really bad. Oh good grief I sound pathetic.
I sure do remember Chatty Cathy, I didn’t have one either but my best friend did.
So excited to hear about Don being on American Experience, we’ll be sure and catch it and him!
Happy weekend!
I am the same way you are with reading blogs…I have to see the whole blog in front of my face. I read them via my blog roll on the side of my blog. I am loving your little egg cups. Where have you gotten them all…thrifting/antiquing adventures?
Congrats to Don on his new role. I have moved all my blogs to Thunderbird. I use it for some email and it has a Blog/RSS feed capability and I’m really liking it. It lets me know when I have a new post like email and then I click on the address and it takes me straight to the actual blog. I like being on the blog also. Enjoying your egg cup collection.
Hugs,
Sharon
I am really loving your cupboard and just about everything in it and on it Claudia! The old ice cream maker is such a perfect color! Your colorful garland almost has me convinced that it is spring although the snow outside is saying otherwise.
I visit blogs mostly from my blogroll and from other peoples blogrolls and haven’t used anything so far. I do subscribe to a few through e-mail but for the most part I visit the same ones all the time.
I am so happy for Don and I know you must be thrilled!!!
hugs from here…
That’s a cheery garland to add some colour to your kitchen.
I have used Google Reader for quite some time, but always click into the blog itself, for, as you’ve said, the whole experience. I am currently experimenting with both Bloglovin and Feedly, leaning towards the latter. It’s easier (for me) to click into the blog itself with Feedly.