Author Archives: Sunshine

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves

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Sara Rosso on Curves: “I bet you can find curves wherever you are. Show me!”

Oh, the slow winding S-curves
slithers, smooth, cold
Is it easy to be snake smitten?
When the charmer curves into a choke hold?

serpent curves

you gotta love my curves…RIGHT?

Find inspiration and more on Curves over at the Daily Post: Weekly Photo Challenge.

More on Curves:

Damn Disease

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Photo Copyright -John Nixon

“You sure, Mr. Flynn? The director said you felt a bit under the weather and I don’t mind standing in.”

“Listen, Kid. All my life I just wanted to make people laugh. Soon I’ll have scores of laughs once this damn disease* turns me into a real human mutant! Come on, there’s my cue,” winked Mr. Flynn to his assistant, “prop me into place. I’ll let you know when this live dummy mannequin is too stiff to work an audience.”

Backstage, the stage director cued for the show to begin and Mr. Flynn, the live mannequin clown, worked his magic.

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*damn disease: Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP)
-Rare disabling genetic disease where bone forms in muscles and other soft tissue areas. It is as if a second skeleton develops over the bones causing a “human mannequin” condition.

There are no none cure yet.

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THE CHALLENGE: Friday Fictioneers

Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and end. (No one will be ostracized for going over or under the word count.)

THE KEY: Make every word count.

THE LIBRARY: 

Summer Time Blog Upkeep: #1 Redesign the Floor Plan

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Time is a Tickin'

Time…need more time!  ~Photo credit: im elsewhere via flickr

As far as time management goes, the ability to quickly find on-line resources is vitally important from a busy blogger’s viewpoint.

Have you visited blog sites that feature items you would love to include in your blog; or, you discover a great challenge they are participating in, but somehow, link information seems obscurely hidden?

It may not happen too often for you, but when it does, spending time hunting for information within a blog site does burn up precious time and is highly frustrating as well.

Well, then again, perhaps my impatience to search for things is showing. Moreover, maybe I should stop my complaining, and instead, make sure I have a page featuring all the super handy reference resources I find valuable and worth sharing with other bloggers.

Now many of you may know of blogger extraordinaire, Sonel, over at Sonel’s Corner. (If not, you’re missing greatness!) ☺

Her post, Online Fun Photo Effects features her photographs altered in different editing on-line sites. Sonel shares her creative editing skills, as well as, include the link sites she uses and lists them in a separate Links and Resources blog page.

You have to agree, sharing your on-line resources is not only helpful, but a kind “gesture gift” to give graciously to fellow bloggers–especially because  it saves them precious time.

In the past, to give a kindly “gesture gift” to blog friends, I created a page called, Charming Featured Blog/Post Crushes. It started as a blogroll then later became a spot to highlight blog sites and or posts I thought  interesting enough to share with my readers.

Unfortunately, the traffic to the page was minimal; it took incredible amounts of time to prepare every post; link sites were often ignored and worse, broken links popped up because featured bloggers occasionally decided to shut down their blog site.

While pondering what to do about this problem, I remembered my experience while working in a profitable retail fashion business.

The obsessed retail management team constantly monitored sales per square inch (or so it seemed). If an area of the store did not produce to projected sales quota, they would brainstorm and alter, in a crazy whirlwind sort of way, everything in that area to boost sales to meet the quota.

Well, like my past retail training example, since my old page lacked interest for whatever reasons, it is now time to:

REDESIGN THE FLOOR PLAN!

As I Strip away the old, and lay down the new…here is the latest floor design:

☼sunROOM: reference resources

I hope this work in progress room can be useful for those looking for some of  the blog resources used here. I also hope it helps you be inspired and be a real time-saver.

Here is the preview for the new, ☼sunROOM! 

Stay Inspired & Stay Happy, Blog friends! ☺

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Blog Challenges:

These are a few general type blog challenges. General to mean, you meet the challenge in your unique style. The links to each challenge is found when you click on the image for more information.

GENERAL:

aFrankAngle's Challenge

Bloggers for peace
B4Peace Monthly Challenge
Sunday Post 2013
Sunday Post| Jakesprinters
Island Traveler
This Man’s Journey| Weekly Images of Life

PHOTOGRAPHY Challenge:

The Daily Post| Weekly Challenges

WRITING Challenges:

100 word challenge
Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Writing Challenge
220 word haibun and haiku writing challenge
Ligo Haibun Weekly Challenge

On-line Resources:

Flag Counter

Photo Editor| PicMonkey

Tagxedo: Word Cloud Maker

On WordPress Resources:

Lorelle on WordPress

One Cool Site

WordPress Support

Boredom Buster List

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I am bored with you

“I’m so bored today.”
Photo credit: Wikipedia

If someone you know says, “I’m so bored today,” I may have a simple remedy.

Simply flash your beautiful smile, gently take their hands and sit them in front of your blog site. As you dazzle them with your WordPress home, take hold of their chin, move their head slowly to make eye contact and firmly say:

“Boredom is a choice and life is too short to waste on frivolous nothings!”

“When you are born again into the blog-o-sphere world, (preferably WordPress) your boredom will instantly disappear.”

Simple remedy.

Most avid bloggers know, once a blog is up and running, there is basically, as the old cliché goes, “Never a dull moment.” 

Maddie Cochere, from Breezy Books, aptly wrote recently in a comment thread, “…Sometimes putting up a blog post and reading blogs is like a full-time job.”

You and I both know how true Maddie’s words are. Choosing a blogger’s life, for most bloggers, is like having a full-time, “labor-of-love,” type of  job.

There is always something to do. Work starts from post preparation involving research and editing, to keeping on top of blog sites you follow, to your own blog site comment responses, and least we forget, overall general blog housekeeping to keep your home blog site refreshed and updated.

For example, where I live, summer means taking breaks from normal routine. I decided, since it’s summer, to set aside a few days for some blog site upkeep. Like housekeeping chores, if I don’t prioritize to make time to clean and reorganize, it does not get done. Ever.

Same goes with my blog. I am not finished reorganizing my blogroll page yet and what got completed took a more than a few days to complete.

So, as a blogger, who has time to be bored?

If someone ever utters, “I’m so bored today,” the only suggestion I can make as a blogger is:

“Get yourself a free blog site. It can cure, pronto, the dreaded boredom disease. Once you get started, however, you may even wish you could add more time to your day.”

Here is a  Boredom Buster list I plan to hand over to any friend stricken with the dreaded, “I’m so bored today” disease. Check it:

Boredom Buster List:

#1: Visit the Fitting Room 

Bored person: With 216  WordPress Themes to try for a perfect blog site fit, you can spend hours (and hours) lost in the theme fitting room.

It can become addicting as well.

Boredom, busted.

#2: Visit and Hangout at the Playground

Photo credit: juanpol via flickr

“Wow, I’m not bored anymore!”
photo source: juanpol via flickr

Bored person: You  may not want to create a single post and instead, follow blogs in your WordPress Reader. You will find an infinite source of entertainment by reading all the variety of blog post constantly streaming 24/7.

Boredom, busted.

#3. Take Educational Visits

Bored person: Every theme comes loaded with many blog options to spruce up a blog site. Take for instance, my wanting to know how to create a drop down list feature to give my readers an easier navigation process within my blog home.

You may be a very smart bored person and figure this feature out snappy, but, unfortunately, I sat in the dark awhile trying to figure it all out. Finally I visited Custom Menus–WordPress Support and the video instruction easily got me back into the light of things.

Just know, bored person, it takes time to build your blog home just as you envision it. Use your time getting WordPress educated.

Boredom, busted!

#4. Stay in Shape: Visit the Gym

Bored person: I like to think of blog challenges as gym work. Nothing gets you in shape quicker than frequent and consistent visits to an exercise gym. Weekly blog Challenges and Daily Prompts can help you stay on target with blog goals, challenging exercises, inspiration and definitely keep your boredom disease at bay.

Boredom, busted!

Did I miss anything on the Boredom Buster list?

Please, share…and if you hear the, “I’m so bored today,” words slipping from a friend’s mouth, you know the secret:

Be a good friend, get them a free WordPress blog site and hand them the Boredom Buster list. :)