Two posts today, this one and a book review. Just scroll down for the review – a terrific book, Our Man in the Dark.
I didn’t post yesterday because I was working in New Haven, CT for the day. I’m ‘consulting’ on a production of Macbeth that has been adapted to take place in 1969 at the end of the war in Vietnam. Consulting is always a bit problematic because I am invariably called in after the play is well into rehearsal – it’s always a struggle to change things at that point. Nevertheless, I do my best. I’ll be working there for the next two Wednesdays.
The bad: I had to rent a car (we only have one car at the moment) and it ended up being more expensive than we thought it would be. Since I have to pay for everything first (I’ll get reimbursed later) I wasn’t too happy about it. Two hours there and back, plus 6 hours of rehearsal = a long day.
And I spilled coffee all over my books. It’s my own fault. I was trying to carry everything with me as I made my way to the car rental counter. Instead of dumping the coffee immediately, I carried it with me while looking for a trash can. I was so tired that I had no idea it was sloshing over everything. Not happy.
The good: the cast is very nice (including an actress I’ve worked with before) and the theater is right next to an Ikea.
After not visiting an Ikea in over a year, I’ve been there twice lately. I actually ate dinner there last night before hitting the road for the trip home. I bought a new Ektorp slipcover for my blogging chair. The white slipcovers are only $29, so when the current slipcover becomes too stained and washing it no longer does the trick, I buy a new one. It doesn’t fit the chair exactly, but it works.
And I bought hangers to use in my ongoing purge and clean-up of the house.
I’ve also been creating a new website for my coaching business. A simple, and most importantly, free site.
On another note, I’m glad I decided to bite the bullet and redesign my blog a few months back. If you remember, I discovered my designer was no longer in business and feared that I might wake up one day to discover her Photobucket account was gone, along with my designs. By the way, she never bothered to tell any of us that she was out of the business and stopped all communication with her previous clients.
Several bloggers woke up yesterday to discover elements of their blog designs were missing, replaced by the dreaded “Bandwidth Exceeded, Upgrade to Photobucket Pro today” message. I hope the problem is easily remedied, but I fear it might not be.
My advice? Take control of your blog. It’s made an enormous difference to me. I am no longer dependent on another’s work. It’s so easy now to make your own header and background. I found that googling a question like, “how to make your own blog background” or “how to design your own header” brought forth a wealth of information. It involves playing with your html code a bit, but there are tutorials everywhere. The great thing about Blogger is that you can go in and play with your code, hit preview to see what the changes look like and if you don’t like them, nothing is permanent and you can revert back to the original code.
And thank you, thank you for all the tips about the old desk. I sure got some great ideas from everyone! I’ll keep you posted.
MacBeth is one of my favourites. And Ikea, that’s a bonus. You spilled coffee on your book, I hate it when my books get accidently wet. Along the same lines, at Christmas, I was having a cup of tea while blogging and out of the blue the handle snapped off and the teas went all over my desk. I grabbed my keyboard and thought it was okay until I discovered I no longer had the letter between the W and the Z. At least it wasn’t the A.
Have a lovely day Claudia,
Sue
You obviously had a very busy and hectic day yesterday. Sorry about the coffee on your books. I hope that today you will be able to relax a little. It’s nice though that you have a small job. Good luck with the little table that Don brought home. Have a nice day!
Spilling coffee has become a hobby of mine it seems. Isn’t it amazing how expensive renting a car is now? Ugh!
Blessings, Joanne
Ikea is great–I live here on this island also without an Ikea,-and when in Copenhagen it is situated far away from my destination—so not often I go there.Spilling coffe in books- not so good–here it happens with tea!
Hope next wednesday will be great for you Claudia.
xo,Dorthe
Yikes, I hate it when I spill stuff on my papers! Hopefully your day went smoother today. Thanks for the blogging tip!
~Sandy
OUR SNOW IS ALL GONE….VERY VERY COLD OUT THERE……HOPE YOU HAVE GOOD WEATHER TRAVELING BACK AND FORTH TO CT……..DON’T WORK TO HARD…..
AND WATCH THAT COFFEE….. :) RIZZI
I am such a non-techy person that I don’t have the GUTS to try new layouts and stuff. I’m so scared I’ll lose what I have.
Have you ever tried making a year of blog posts into a book format? I would like to do it but don’t know a good website for such a thing. Any tips?
I’m sure glad you got your blog all changed up before this happened. I’m sorry about the others. I like your design much, much better than the designers.
Brenda
Thank you so much for the info on changing our blogs. I want an update SO bad. I’m clueless. I tried to leave a comment about the desk yesterday but it didn’t work out. I love the desk. It’s definitely a “keeper”. Don’t give up on the “face holes” in the back of it. YOu will love running power cords through them I think. xo rachel
Thanks for that info. I have redesigning my blog on my winter to do list and I’m completely clueless about it but I just know I can figure it out. I’m encouraged now. Sorry about your coffee accident. That was a bummer but I think a trip to Ikea can make up for a lot. I’m itching to go myself but the closest one is 2 hours away.
Good luck on your new assignment! I was sorry to hear about the other bloggers. I suppose it’s a lesson to us all to have control over our own work. Keeping you in my thoughts …
Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
I’m always telling Brenda that she needs to market her blog design skills. Some of us are scared to mess with the HTML (like me), but would gladly pay another person to help us. You are right, you should maintain control, with your own photos, banners, etc… and your own photobucket account.
Ikea! Love love Ikea and the best part it is right here in my back yard!
Oye! A long day indeed–but the light at the end is IKEA! I have never been able to go to an actual store, but have seen pics and would love to get to one. Online is great but I am sure the store is awesome! You can eat there? Really?