w3schools.com

Found a good website for writing HTML code. It helped me write the code to open a blog button in a new tab or window. Hooray!

Click here to check out w3schools.com!

Installing CommentLuv (via Intense Debate)

Hooray! I successfully installed CommentLuv via Intense Debate. I am still not sure if I want to use it on my "real" blogs, but at least I understand the process now. Honestly, it wasn't that difficult, but I wish I had more control over the appearance of the Intense Debate features on my blog. You can't have everything, right?

Here are the links I used:

CommentLuv/Intense Debate Installation tutorial

Honestly, I just used it to get me started. Intense Debate's installation process more or less acts as its own tutorial, and it is rather user-friendly.

Intense Debate Home Page

If you are fairly computer-savvy, skip the above tutorial and head to the home page. Click on the big green "sign-up" button and follow the on-screen directions. 

Color Converter

I like to have my color schemes "just so," but that can be difficult if you work in multiple design platforms (e.g. Blogger and Microsoft Publisher). Today, I discovered a color converter which translates RGB color codes to HEX color codes, and visa versa. So helpful!

Here is the Publisher color scheme it just helped me convert:

Red = #FF0000

Green = #92D400

Gold = #FFCC00

Blue = #A1EDFF

Gray = #848484

 

PicMonkey

Note to self: Use PicMonkey to edit pictures for your blog in the future. Thanks, Desi!

Check out Desiree's blog, Your Crafty Friend, here.

Working With: A Small Master Closet

This post comes to you 100% courtesy of my desire to participate in my first link-up party. Thanks to Emily at Emily A. Clark for offering the opportunity!

After many years of wishing and hoping, my husband and I finally bought our first house this summer. Although there are many, many things I simply love about it, one thing I am just "working with" is our tiny master suite, including our envelope-sized master closet.

Read on to find out how I made the best of our 60" wide and 34" deep storage space.

The Problems:

1 very small master bedroom (10' 6" x 10' 6")

1 tiny master closet (60" wide & 34" deep)

featuring:
1 58" long hanging rod
1 60" wide & 12" deep shelf
the only attic access in the house

2 full-grown adults with lots of clothes
& (almost) nowhere to put them

The Solution: A Total Closet Re-Design

What We Did:

1. Strategize The first step to re-designing a closet is analyzing your needs. My father (who did all the shopping & carpentry work) kept pushing a built-in drawer system, but I knew what we really needed was more hanging space. On top of that, I knew we needed more short hanging space (shirts & blouses) than long hanging space (dresses, skirts, & pants) and tons of shoe storage.
2. Maximize hanging space To do this, we divided the right 2/3 of the closet horizontally and installed two hanging rods--one at 40" and one at 80" (D). As a result, the less-essential long hanging space is condensed into the left 1/3 of the closet.
3. Include shoe storage My dad installed a short shelf above the long hanging rod, and then he added a custom-built shoe shelf (B, H, L). The design of the shelf is basic--2 shelves spaced about four or five inches apart--but I love it because it is very flexible. On the right side of the closet,  we hung my shirts on the 80" rod (they're shorter than my husband's), which left plenty of room for additional shoe storage on the shelf beneath (J).
4. Use every cubic inch wisely In the leftover space beside my husband's shirts, we added a three drawer-nightstand for additional storage, and I placed a cloth-lined basket on top to act as a hamper for my hand-washables (G). The floor space beneath my dresses is perfect for my husband's shoes, and on the right-hand side of the closet, we installed an IKEA tie-rack and a peg board in the small space between the hanging clothes and the sliding doors (C, D, F, K). Finally, using tiered skirt & pant hangers helps maximize the long hanging space on the left side of the closet (E).
5. Build it to last All of the brackets we used are metal, and they are supported by wood backer-boards. Backer-boards and shelving were cut from pre-primed engineered wood. Whenever possible, screws were anchored in the studs. (A, I, J)
6. Provide access to the attic To maintain clear access to the attic, we had to keep the top two-three feet of the closet free of any permanent obstructions. Rather than have wasted space, we got creative.
• The 80" high hanging rod spans the width of the closet. My father used a u-shaped bracket to make it removable (A), and since it is metal, it did not require a center bracket.
• The custom-built shoe shelf is a modular unit that can be picked up and moved out of the way when needed (B, H, L).

Make sure to check out all of the other great posts on Emily's link-up party:

A few more storage tips for small bedrooms:

• Drawer dividers help keep tight spaces organized & reduce the tension of sharing your jewelry drawer with hubby's dress socks
• Tall, tests of drawers (a.k.a lingerie chests) have a relatively small footprint but offer great storage
• Rolling sweaters and cardigans makes them more compact and much easier to sift through when you want just the right one
• Make decor (and collections) do double duty (e.g. storing jewelry in my box collection)
• Never overlook the space under the bed or the potential of any box
• Small metal brackets and a flat piece of wood cut to size make it easy to add an after-factory drawer divider
• Use different colored hangers to separate clothing by style or season

As featured in...

Working With What You Have: Adding Moulding to Plain Cabinets

Emily A. Clark: My Favorite "Working What You Have" Projects

Update (3/30/13): Hooray! This post was just featured on Emily's latest post, My Favorite "Working With What You Have" Projects, at Emily A. Clark. Check out the links to see her other fabulous favorites!

P.S.

Swing by my new blogging "home" if you get a chance, My Superbia.

Shortly after participating in Emily's link-up, inspiration struck, and I created a new personal blog. Not only is My Superbia much prettier to look at, but it also better reflects who I am and what I love.

Or follow my organization board, Because I'm a Tad Obsessive Compulsive, on Pinterest to get more great organizing and cleaning tips.

So close!

I have one more page of content, and then my celiac disease blog, GF2: The Everyday Celiac, is ready for unveiling. If you want to get a sneak peek, click here.

Sometimes getting your panties in a bunch is a good thing

As I work on my celiac disease blog, GF2, I am forced to take action on some tasks I have been putting off for quite some time. For example, I just finished writing McDonald's a strongly-worded letter (okay, webpage comment) on the inadequacies of their menu and nutrition information:

Because of a family tradition, I eat at McDonald's once a year on Christmas Eve--and I hate it. While you have many delicious menu options, I can eat none of them with confidence because I have celiac disease and lactose intolerance. Even your fries, which are made from naturally gluten-free potatoes, contain wheat! On top of that, your nutrition and ingredients list is almost impossible to read, and certainly tedious to use. Typically, I eat a hamburger patty (often pulled off of a wheat bun), the fruit from the fruit and walnut salad, and a drink. Do you know how depressing that meal is? 

Because of this experience, I have placed you on the "Places to avoid" list for my celiac disease blog. If you want me (and gluten-free diners everywhere) to consider you with an open mind, give us a nutritional chart we can actually understand and something to eat other than meat, select condiments, and fruit. 

Here is a sample to get you started: http://www.wendys.com/food/pdf/us/gluten_free_list.pdf

Before you call me crazy, compare the online information provided by McDonald's to that of Wendy's.

source

source

The choice is obvious--am I right?

My, oh my!

Wow. I probably shouldn't have, but I just spent some time working on my gluten-free blog, GF2. I cannot wait to start blogging on it.

I am still not ready to share a link, but here is a preview of the custom title I designed and uploaded a few minutes ago:

Kind of snazzy, right?

Blogging breeds ideas

I decided to start tonight's blogging adventure with checking out some enticing links from my reading list. Okay, some enticing links from one of my favorite blogs, Domestic Adventure. Oh, the ideas that flowed in.

one

First, Erin shared this adorable chair.

Which gave me an idea for my son's heirloom wooden rocking chair, which used to be mine. Right now, it looks like this:

 It's got potential, right?

two

Next, I followed one of Erin's links to Pinterest and this lovely project.

"Hmm, wouldn't this be an excellent solution for the ever-multiplying projects Brannon brings home?" I thought to myself. I already know which frame I would use to create it!

three

Now, for the piece de resistance. A few clicks later, I wound up on Erin's adorable Things I Should Make board. (NOTE: If you click that link, you will be inspired.) Despite wanting to repin everything I saw, I was particularly drawn to this image:

Like manna from heaven, I finally saw the perfect quilt for my son's toddler bed: modern, straightforward, innovative, and best of all, stripey. My husband even approved! 

I have been collecting inspiration fabrics for Brannon's room since appoximately June, but I couldn't decide how to use them. Now, I have a decision, an inspiration picture, and even a pattern! All thanks to Erin's posts, links, and this great blog: Bijou Lovely. I love this quilt!

If you have got a minute, swing by Domestic Adventure and Bijou Lovely to check out more great ideas. If you're a quilter, Bijou Lovely sells the above pattern in PDF format for just 8 bucks!

Time? Work? Sleep? I do not know these things...

Well, GF2 is looking better all the time, but I am sure I am looking more and more haggard. I desperately need to establish a system for spending only a reasonable amount of time working on my blog--especially on "school nights," as we teachers refer to the work week.

Whoops! My husband--the night owl--just got out of bed to make sure I was okay. Time to log out!

Progress!

Tonight, I spent a ridiculous amount of time starting a new blog--GF2: Guilt Free Gluten Free. Unlike this blog, it is designed to help others, rather than simply entertain myself. It is born out of my experiences with and former ignorance of celiac disease and a desire to help others that all-too-common feeling of isolation that often accompanies being the only person who can't eat . I think this blog could really make a difference, and I am proud of it. It is nowhere near ready for publication, but there's progress.  

I win!

As I like to tell my students, I just got into a fistfight with the computer, and I won.

After a recent burst of inspiration and a commitment to live a more project-oriented life, I have decided to throw myself head-first into the world of blogging. Unfortunately, that comes with a risk of concussion (figurative, not literal), frustration and all-round complaint-making. 

Tonight, I spent a ridiculously long time screwing around with the  font, colors, and design of my newly-rediscovered blog. This comes after a week of getting hardly any sleep, doing too much grading, and hauling home approximately 90 essays that will needed to be graded this weekend. A responsible choice? No. An understandable choice? I think so. Emily A. Clark's blog is so pretty and inspiring, and I tend just a little bit towards the perfectionist (and obsessive) side.

Long story short, I finally liked the design, I took the time to start planning out the content of my essay, and the page link was broken. And I mean really broken. As is always the case, I figuratively bashed my head against the computer until I found a work-around to solve the problem. Essentially, it involved making a new page, testing its link, and then recreating the original page. Fortunately, I was able to copy and paste all of the content rather than rewriting it. Good ol' ctrl+c followed up by ctrl+v.

The maddening part? I still don't know what was wrong with original link!

Top 10 questions of a blogging novice

As I make my first foray into blogging, these are the questions that nag me:

1. How do I decide what to blog about?

2. What do I do if no one, and I do mean no one, is interested in my blog?

3. What do I do if I am not interested in my blog?

4. Are blogs supposed to be personal, or are they meant to entertain?

5. Was anyone else crazy enough to browse through all of the possible background images before deciding the first one they clicked on "works just fine"?

6. Which is more important--what I say, or how pretty my blog looks?

7.Will I ever get the hang of the design features?

8. I hope getting blog followers is easier than getting friends in high school. I really hated high school.

9. Is it lame/pretentious/uninspired to blog about blogging?

10. Seriously, though. What if NO ONE likes my blog?