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Blogging Tips

November 19, 2011 at 1:15 pm by Claudia

Hello fellow bloggers! Thought I’d share a couple of tips today.

1. No Reply Comments – I love, love getting comments. Sometimes those comments include a question I’d like to answer or a particular thought I would like to acknowledge. I have my comments linked to my email address, so they appear in my inbox. If there is a question involved and your email address is part of your Blogger Profile, I usually respond immediately. However, when I receive a comment that has the dreaded ‘No Reply Comment,’ there is no way to answer you directly. In that case, I either have to try to track you down or I have to hope my already overloaded brain retains the question so that I can address it in a future post.

The retention? Doesn’t happen too often these days.

It’s so easy to take care of this problem!

a. Go to your Dashboard and click on Blogger Profile (right by your photo in the upper right hand corner.) Then click ‘Edit Profile.’

b. In the Privacy section, check the boxes next to ‘Show my profile‘ and ‘Show my email address.’

c. Then move on to ‘Identity‘ and enter your email address.

d. Save.

Easy. It just takes a moment. Then, when you ask a question, I can answer you directly. We can actually have a conversation! Isn’t that nice?

2. Photo Resizing. My friend Rita ran out of storage space for her photos yesterday. She had to buy more space. I know that this has happened to several of you in the past. I suppose at some point it will happen to me. However, I’ve been blogging for close to 4 years now. I post a lot of photos. I haven’t run out of space yet. Why? Because I resize my photos in a photo editing program. The one I use is Picnik. You can do the same thing in Photobucket or any number of other editing programs.

When I upload photos to Picnik, like this one of my piano, I usually get a message in the lower right hand corner:

See the large numbers there? That means that my photo is 2640 x 1980 pixels. That takes a lot of storage space. That’s why you see the exclamation point next to the size. If I click on that exclamation point, here is the message I get from Picnik:

It only makes sense that if Picnik thinks this is a large photo which has a large file size, that size photo will take up a lot of storage space in Picasa, which is usually where all your Blogger photos are stored. In Picnik, there is a resize button. Photobucket has one, too. Picnik’s is on the left hand side of the screen. When I click on Resize, the current dimensions of the photo are displayed.

Too big. So I change them. In my case, I usually change the first number to 800. I know others who change it to 600. Either will work. You just want a more manageable file size.

Click apply and you’re done. Same photo but much less storage space. When you use the resized photo in your post, you can still make it small, medium, large or extra large in the body of the post. Resizing it prior to posting just ensures that the file size will take up much less space in storage. Some of you may have another way you resize. That’s fine. If you don’t normally resize or if this has not been on your radar, the next time you are ready to post a photo, quickly check its size. If it’s too large, resize it.

I learned this early on from Connie at Living Beautifully. It’s been invaluable. Thank you, Connie.

I know this will help those of you with storage issues. If Connie hadn’t passed this information on to me, I would have had to buy more storage a long time ago!

In other news, it’s finally sunny here.

And my birthday is Monday. How did another one come around so quickly?

Sing Anyway

November 18, 2011 at 11:27 am by Claudia

Don and I had one of those conversations that happen when you wake in the early morning hours and chat a bit before going back to sleep. It was about music. Remember that song? What were the lyrics? Who sang it? – followed by both of us singing snatches of the song.

Do you know I used to be a singer? I was. I started out in school choir, church choir, vocal ensemble, then went on to perform in musical theater for years and I sang at weddings, too. Yes, I got paid to sing. Music has always been an important part of my life.

When I went on to graduate school to study acting, I moved into classical theater. I didn’t sing as much. Then I started teaching and coaching and, well …. not much singing anymore. The last time I sang in public was at my niece’s wedding. Since she has a 15 year old daughter, you can see just how long it’s been.

But I still sing. Like most people, I sing in the car, I sing around the house, I sing to the dogs, I sing with Don.

Sometimes I play the piano and sing,

I realized this morning that I haven’t sung very much lately. Life has been tough. I haven’t felt there was much to be joyous about. When I feel like that, I pull back, move inward and set up protective walls around myself. I imagine that’s a normal human reaction.

And, apparently, I don’t sing.

That’s not a good thing.

“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.”

Emory Austin

Act ‘as if.’ Whenever I feel down or am scared of trying something new or am unhappy, I try to use these words. Act as if. Act as if I’m joyous. Act as if I’ve got tons of money in the bank. Act as if I’m a published writer. Act as if I have no fear. Act as if I haven’t a care in the world. Act as if all is well.

Soon I start believing it. And then it starts to manifest.

That’s what singing anyway is about. If you sing, even if it’s only in the shower, you can’t help but feel lighter and happier. Your mood changes. It’s transformative.

So I’m going to remind myself to do just that. To sing anyway.

I hope, whatever the trials and tribulations in your lives, you find a moment to ‘sing anyway,’ too.

Trying to Capture the Light

November 17, 2011 at 9:01 am by Claudia

Early evening – and it gets dark so early these days – and I thought I would experiment with the camera. No flash, of course. Just playing with the settings on my camera. Since it is what is called a bridge camera, there is only so much I can do. I think.

Lit by lamps and the ever-present glow from my laptop. The colors become muted in the photos. My eye sees the scene one way, the camera sees it very differently.

Riley’s sleeping in the den. He has no idea I’m taking his picture. Scout’s red toy is on the bench.

She looks pissed off. Is there anything wrong, your highness?

There’s something about a house in the evening. When I lived in Philadelphia and Boston, I would walk for blocks and blocks in the evening. Brownstones, row houses, apartments – all of them lit by lamps, offering a tantalizing peek into the interior. Just a quick glimpse of a corner or two – a snapshot of the world inside that particular home.

I love taking pictures. I love photography. Normally, I wouldn’t post these but I’m experimenting, trying to capture what my eyes see. It’s a challenge.

Before I forget, I want to share a couple of cute things I got in the dollar bin at Michael’s. I bought them just the other day, so I think they might be available in your neck of the woods, as well.

This is a little notebook that I keep on the table next to my blogging chair where I’m very comfortable, indeed. I’m using it to jot down ideas for blog posts.

These drawer pulls were a dollar and change. I bought 4 of them. I have no use for them at the moment, but I will. They look like porcelain. Love them.

I think I’ve contacted everyone personally, but if you’re here for Reality Shot Thursday, I regret to say it is no more. Last week someone posted a very suspicious link which I deleted. Luckily I caught it right away but that was because I was home that day. I don’t want anything on this blog that would be offensive or harmful in any way. Since the title of my meme was Reality Shot, it may have been found by spammers or those with bad intentions. I refuse to give them a platform of any kind.

Thanks so much to everyone who participated. I had fun; I hope you did, as well.

Here’s hoping the sun comes out today! It’s been a rainy week.

Blogging Tips

Sing Anyway

Trying to Capture the Light

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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