pinterest-friendly changes // diy

Raise your hand if you love Pinterest? 

*me me me me me me!*

Some bloggers have issues with Pinterest, but it's helped drive up traffic on all of the tutorials I post, and that's always a plus in my book! If you love Pinterest too, then I've got some great news! I've made my blog 1000x more pinterest-friendly {Whoo hoo, right?}.

You may have noticed the Pinterest button that pops up when you hover over any image on this blog. Isn't that neat? This means that you can pin an image directly from my blog to pinterest {even from the main blog feed--it will pin the actual post!}. The pin description will be the title of the post, but that's easy to change to whatever you please. :)

If this is something that you would like to do to YOUR blogger-hosted blog, Blogger Sentral has a great and simple html tutorial here.

Happy Pinning!

When being AntiSocial isn't a bad thing.

I discovered a really handy computer program last week, and I thought I would share what I've found.

Facebook can be a serious productivity problem. I usually don't go on FB when I'm at work (I am usually pretty good about keeping it to my lunch and 10 min breaks), but I remember those times in college when I would be "studying" and wind up surfing facebook or my other preferred time-wasting websites for hours and hours on end. Productivity shot.  My "study breaks" would wind up being hours and hours long and I would have to start taking breaks TO study. 

{I feel like I can't be the only one with that problem here.}

Enter AntiSocial. Blocks Facebook, Twitter, and any other sites you tell it to. (ColdTurkey does the same thing for PCs. They make me use a Mac at work)

WHOO HOO! via Comic Vine

I first heard about it on a blog I stumbled on, and I figured what the heck, why not? Even though I don't really waste much time on facebook, it could come in handy when I'm finding myself losing focus.

I wish I had known about it sooner. At this point, I'm using the trial version (they haven't forced me to register yet, haha!). But it's changed my life.

This little gem makes you REBOOT your computer if you want to check the blocked sites before the time limit has been met. And that's major shame if I restart just to check recent newsfeed updates. :)

You can set it to block sites for any length of time between 1 minute and 8 hours, and you can access ANY other internet site except for the ones you indicate (Twitter and Facebook are automatically blocked).

There are just a couple weird things about it that I've discovered when using it {although I could just be non tech-savvy}:

1. You have to force-quit the program if you need to shut down your computer before your allotted time is up. Why, I'm not sure, but it's bizarre. So if you decide to use the program, make sure to give you some time at the end of the day of "unblocked" time.
2. It won't let you download email attachments while the program is running? That's another weird one. I need this capability every day at work, so I have to REALLY want to isolate myself if I want to use this.

Because of these things (especially the second one!), I can't use it at work all the time, but I thought someone else might find it helpful! Do you think you'd use something like this?

75 in 12 {A Year with the Kindle}

If you don't know me all that well, here's a little-known fact:

via Tumblr

Seriously. I was one of those read-under-your-covers-with-a-flashlight kind of kids, and things haven't really changed that much over time.

Boxes of to-be-donated books. Buy at Goodwill, read, then donate back: my M.O.

So,  when I think about it, Husband was dead-on with his Valentine's day gift last year.

Working through Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy series.

I've talked about my love for my Kindle before, but I've had it for exactly one year today, and I wanted to commemorate that moment. It's a slow-news day.

Like I said before, I was really skeptical if I would like it or not. Would it be as satisfying to finish a book on the Kindle? "Exit" doesn't have the same effect resolutely closing a book after finishing it. And what about the lack of page numbers?

Answer: It's only slightly less-satisfying than hard-copy.

I'm accident-prone, so would I be able to keep it un-damaged?

Answer: Kinda... Lasted about eight months, then I damaged a few pixels.

Regardless, Husband convinced me to give it a shot, though, and sure enough, it has CHANGED MY LIFE. While there are definitely some advantages to reading actual books, the Kindle definitely has its perks (Better on my eyes than a book, easier to carry, can have way more than one book at a time, you can change the font and size of the text, etc etc etc)

I noticed that I read a whole lot faster when I would use the Kindle, too, and it got me thinking. How many books could I read in a whole year? So, I kept track, all year long. Whether it was an actual book or a Kindle version, whether I loved/hated/had no opinion on the book, it went on the list. Now, a year later, I can't believe what I've blown through:

Frank Abagnale ~ Catch me if you Can
Douglas Adams ~ Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams ~ The Restaurant at the end of the Universe
Douglas Adams ~ Life, the Universe, and Everything
M.C. Beaton ~ Death of a Witch
Rhys Bowen ~ Her Royal Spyness
Rhys Bowen ~ A Royal Pain
Ray Bradbury ~ Fahrenheit 451
Dan Brown ~ The Lost Symbol
Augusten Burroughs ~ Running with Scissors
Robyn Carr ~ Moonlight Road
Tom Clancy ~ The Sum of all Fears
Suzanne Collins ~ The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins ~ Catching Fire
Suzanne Collins ~ Mockingjay
Michael Crichton ~ Prey
Kim Edwards ~ The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Janet Evanovich ~ One for the Money
Janet Evanovich ~ Two for the Dough
Janet Evanovich ~ Three to Get Deadly
Janet Evanovich ~ Four to Score
Janet Evanovich ~ High Five
Janet Evanovich ~ Hot Six
Janet Evanovich ~ Seven Up
Janet Evanovich ~ Hard Eight
Janet Evanovich ~ Visions of Sugar Plums
Janet Evanovich ~ To the Nines
Janet Evanovich ~ Ten Big Ones
Janet Evanovich ~ Eleven on Top
Janet Evanovich ~ Twelve Sharp
Janet Evanovich ~ Plum Lovin’
Janet Evanovich ~ Lean Mean Thirteen
Janet Evanovich ~ Plum Lucky
Janet Evanovich ~ Fearless Fourteen
Janet Evanovich ~ Plum Spooky
Janet Evanovich ~ Finger Lickin’ Fifteen
Janet Evanovich ~ Sizzling Sixteen
Janet Evanovich ~ Wicked Appetite
Janet Evanovich ~ Foul Play
Janet Evanovich ~ Full Scoop
Janet Evanovich ~ Full Bloom
Janet Evanovich ~ Full Tilt
Craig Ferguson ~ American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot
Monica Ferris ~ Thai Die
Helen Fielding ~ Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
F. Scott Fitzgerald ~ The Great Gatsby
Earlene Fowler ~ State Fair
James Frey ~ A Million Little Pieces
William Golding ~ Lord of the Flies
John Grisham ~ Skipping Christmas
Charlane Harris ~ Dead until Dark
Laura Hillenbrand ~ Seabiscuit
Steig Larsson ~ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Steig Larsson ~The Girl who Played with Fire
Steig Larsson ~  The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Debbie Macomber ~ 44 Cranberry Point
Debbie Macomber ~ Summer on Blossom Street
Mary Jane Maffini ~ Organize your Corpses
Mary Jane Maffini ~ The Cluttered Corpse
Brad Meltzer ~ The Inner Circle
Tamar Meyers ~ The Glass is always Greener
George Orwell ~ 1984
Ben Patterson ~ Muscular Faith
Joanne Pence ~ Cooks Overboard
Emilie Richardson ~ Wedding Ring
Maggie Sefton ~ Knit One, Kill Two
Maggie Sefton ~ A Killer Stitch
Maggie Sefton ~ Needled to Death
Maggie Sefton ~ Dyer Consequences
Maggie Sefton ~  Fleece Navidad
Maggie Sefton ~ A deadly Yarn
Kathryn Stockett ~ The Help
Cecily von Ziegesar ~ Gossip Girl
Rebecca Wells ~ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Seventy-five, people. How I managed to plan my dang wedding in the midst of that is totally beyond me.

Kitchen things I'm convinced were invented JUST for me (and by "me" I mean lazy people)

~one~

 

Those plasticky chopping board things. Don't have to handwash my cuttingboard? I'll take five.

~two~

I have no idea what to call these, but you basically can turn any liquid into a spray this way. No more icky Pam? Yes, Please!

~three~

Silicone baking mats. I had no idea what this was until someone gave it to me as a wedding gift, but I'm convinced it was invented specifically for me. Reason 1: Cookie sheets stay clean. WIN. Reason 2: Everything looks nicer when cooked on one of these. I can pretend to be a better cook than I am. I'm sold. I want MORE OF THEM.

~four~

Crock Pot. Set it and forget about it. Pretty self-explanatory. God's gift to full-time anythings.

~five~

Programmable coffee pots. See #4.