Saturday Suggestion: Be Present.

Many of us keep our phones and cameras at the ready all through the day. When I saw the cute Santa hats on the geese in the Bozeman airport last night, of course, I took a photo.

My daughter was supposed to arrive at the Helena airport last night at midnight on a connecting flight out of Seattle. She had already spent several hours at the airport when she found out her flight to Montana was

Saturday Suggestion: Spend Time to Save Time

Some of you may remember this photo from my blog post on May 19, 2014, An Organized Photo Collection: I WISH! 

When I wrote that post, I committed to getting my photo collection more organized before my son graduates from high school this year. Sadly, in the months that have transpired since the post was published, I have made no progress with this.

This week I spent a considerable amount of time looking for a photo I had hoped to use on this blog. I knew

My List of Fabulous Finds: 12 Helpful Resources!

I mentioned earlier that I have been making some changes to my blog design and organization. 

For my List of Fabulous Finds this week, I am providing links to some of the resources that have been helpful throughout this process.  

All of these services can be used on a Blogger platform, and offer support in addition to the services already provided there.

Whether or not you have a website, if you do any creative work on a computer you may find about the first half of these links helpful.  

If you are a blogger, all the other links may be useful to you, as well. 

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Here are this week's links:

1. How to create a free online signature: My Live Signature

Here's mine: 

2. How to get a darker/lighter shade of any color: HTML Color Picker

3. My preferred online photo editor: Ribbet

4. A huge collection of free fonts that can be added to your computer: Google Fonts

5. A page creation tool useful for creating printable recipes: Google Sites

6. A useful way to search or share recipes: Yummly

I hope you use my Yum button on my posts, to share some of the recipes I publish!

7. “Manage your recipes and add a professional recipe page to your blog... for free!”: ReciPage

8. Create indexes of recipes or posts using photo galleries (I haven't tried this yet): Inlinkz

9. Add custom share buttons to your posts: Shareaholic

Mine look like this:

10. My new email subscription service is now: Powered by MailChimp

11. Generate a disclosure policy for your blog: DisclosurePolicy.org

12. Add a print button to your posts: Print Friendly

13. Code it Pretty and xomisse both offer detailed tutorials for adding a new Related Posts Gallery for Blogger.

14. If your website is on Blogger and you need any website help, I would highly recommend  the Blogger consultant: Kim Six Blogger Support!

She is very helpful and extremely patient, and I don't think there is anything she cannot do! 

At some point in the future, I may provide some more information about some of the services I mentioned here. Until then, however, if I've been able to figure them out, you probably will too!

I hope you find this list helpful - and I can't wait for you to see the rest of the changes we are working on for my blog ! I am pretty excited about them!

Have you ever used ReciPage or InLinkz? 

I'd love to know the pros and cons!

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

In the spirit of full disclosure, this post may contain an affiliate link. If you make a purchase after clicking on one of them, the price you pay will not be affected but I may receive some small compensation. All opinions expressed, however, are entirely honest and my own.

Week #9: My List of Fabulous Finds

I always have mixed feelings about the beginning of August. It makes me sad to realize that so much of the summer has gone by. There is relief too, however, knowing that at least there is still a full month until Labor Day. 

Need  a few ideas of how to make the most of every moment of the rest of summer?

Here are links to some of what I came across this week.

This Week's Fabulous Finds:

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~ ~ Become a better photographer
If you are thinking of buying a camera, or wanting to improve your photography skills, I think this post about photography from the blog Yammie's Noshery is very helpful.

• Photography 101 

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~ ~ All in knots
Having knots in the fine chain of a necklace can really be frustrating! Have you ever tried this technique to unravel them?

• How to untangle a necklace (short video from CrazyRussian Hacker)

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~ ~ De-stress!
They say numbers play tricks. Maybe this expression proves that words do too. This saying seems a good excuse to justify indulging in a piece of cake or ice cream! I might need one of these signs for my kitchen!

Fun Poster Tin Sign - Remember Stressed Spelled Backwards Is Desserts (12 x 5 inches)

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~ ~ It's a matter of perspective
I'm not sure if I am more impressed by the life philosophy, or the literary skill of the teenager who wrote this poem that has "gone viral." Either way, I am going to think of this whenever I feel like I am having a bad day! (Be sure to read from top to bottom; then bottom to top.)

• “Today was the absolute worst day ever ... "

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~ ~ Homemade Mint Marshmallows
Who knew that making homemade marshmallows was so easy?! And so delicious! I love the subtle flavor of mint that was produced when I added  homemade mint extract I made earlier this year using this recipe from Mommypotamus.

•  Homemade Mint Marshmallows from Friday is Cake Night

Have you ever made homemade marshmallows?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Week # 7: My List of Fabulous Finds

Now that my blog is well over a year old, I find it fun sometimes to look back at articles I published in the past. 

When I looked at my post from 7/24/14, I realized that even though I didn't call it a "List of Fabulous Finds" post at the time, that is exactly what it was.  

Many of my current readers may not have seen that post from a year ago, or (like me!) you may have forgotten about it if you had.

The information I shared in that post from other websites was really helpful - and still pertinent.  So today, I'm reminding you of it all again - and providing
one additional “fabulous find” from this week.

(If you want to see the original post and photos, just click here: Five Tips on Blogging and Life - from Other Websites.)

Here are the links, with a few of my current thoughts for each:

Saturday Spotlight: Father's Day (without kids - already?)

Saturday Spotlight #24

How did this already happen?

We'll celebrate Father's Day this year without our kids.

Father's Day is tomorrow and for the first time since they were born, neither of my kids will be with their dad and I. My son is halfway through his month-long backpacking trip in Wyoming, and my daughter will be back in Seattle after a brief three-day visit to Montana.

I feel like I have joined a club - one to which I'm not sure I am ready to belong.  My mom and my mother-in-law are already “members,” and this has always made me feel both grateful and a little guilty.  

The club to which I am referring is the "Wives Who Try to Make Father's Day Special, Because Their Children Are Not Home club." 

My parents and I, when I visited them earlier this month. My mom will make sure that tomorrow is extra-special for my dad.

Is There Something New on Twitter?

Is there something new on Twitter,  or has it been there all along?

Do you use Twitter? I do, but I am still trying to figure it out. I’m not sure if I’ve just been totally oblivious - or if perhaps a new feature has just been added - but I just made a huge discovery...

... I can now add photos to my tweets on Twitter!

When I first started using Twitter, it was my understanding that a tweet was limited to 140 characters, and did not include images.  I have been using Twitter for a while now this way, tweeting out my blog posts each day, and occasionally sharing other posts that I find interesting.  

Of all the forms of social media that I use, Twitter is the least intuitive for me. I sort of hate to admit it,

Our National Parks are Not Disneyland!

One advantage of living where we do is that we can drive to Yellowstone National Park in about three hours, and Glacier National Park in just under four.

These parks are quite different from each other, and both offer a lot of natural landscape to explore. We purchase an annual National Parks pass each year so we can pop in and out of them as we please, without paying the entrance fee each time.

Yellowstone National Park itself is very diverse, with all sorts of different terrain and topography within its borders. In addition to Old Faithful and numerous other geysers, there are magnificent mountains,

I Asked My Son to Take Good Care of my Heart

I didn't spend much time on my computer during Sunday or Monday.  Instead, I traveled 954 miles in a car. 

It was a bitter-sweet trip.  My husband and I took my son down to Wyoming, and dropped him off for a month of backpacking, as part of a wilderness and leadership program. We will have no contact the entire time he is gone, and it was more than a little hard for this mom to say good-bye!  I am excited for him though, as he has looked forward to this trip for months, and I am very proud of him for being so adventurous.

We had to get a photo together before we set out for Wyoming.

This will be the longest I have ever gone without talking to either of my children.  My daughter is far away at college, but we talk or text as often as either of us desire.  When she was 13, she attended a horse camp - also out in the wilderness. We had no communication then either, and I remember that was hard for me too!

My daughter during her week of horse camp in the wilderness of Montana

Part of good parenting is supporting our children's independence and encouraging them to fulfill their dreams.  My friend Lana, from Two Teens and Their Mama summed it up well when she published this quote on her blog, "To have a child is to decide forever to have your heart go wandering around outside of your body." I did remind my son that a part of my heart would be with him while he is gone, and asked him to please take very good care of it.  

I must admit, I will be counting the days until we are driving those miles again, and picking up instead of dropping off my son!

The weather was perfect and the scenery throughout our entire trip was absolutely stunning!

Have you ever driven through the western mountain states of the USA?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

How to Email Your Videos to Friends and Family.

I am not very technologically savvy.  In fact, it is a challenge for me to keep this website running smoothly.  You may have noticed that for the past few days the background of this blog was black. (!!!) I have been corresponding on the Blogger Help forum to try to figure out how to fix it . . . but I still don't have it repaired quite right yet!

My technological ignorance is not just limited to web pages.  For years, I have wanted to email the videos I've taken at my children’s events to far-away family, but I could never figure out how.  

In the past, whenever I tried to email a video of a sporting event or musical performance, I have met with frustration. It seemed the videos files were too large, and therefore could not be sent.  Does this sound like a familiar problem?

This photo of a video is from my phone. Without using Google Drive, I would have no idea how to share this with anyone!

My options for sharing videos long-distance used to be:

• uploading the video to Facebook or Youtube (not something I have always wanted to do!)  
• burning them to a CD and sending it through the mail.
• waiting for an opportunity to show them in person. 

Recently though, I discovered a way to successfully email a video to friends and family! 

Though far from being an expert in these matters, I am sharing what I know here today - with the hope

Busy as a Bee

Sometimes we use a phrase without giving much thought to its meaning. Many expressions that are now a part of our every day language have a rich history, of which we may not always be aware.

Recently, I was weeding around our caragana hedge - and collecting enough scratches from the thorns to make me look like I had been in the middle of a cat fight! While weeding, I observed a big fuzzy, beautiful bumblebee collecting nectar from the flowers of the hedge. Weeding is not a very cerebral task, so my mind was free to wander.  I started thinking about bees, and the phrase, “busy as a bee”

Remember the Travel Question I Asked Last Week?

I apologize, but today's post (My Glimpse at the Empty Nest, Part Two) will be published a little later than normal.

On April 10th, I posted a photo-collage and asked if anyone knew where the photos had been taken. Here's another look: 

Did you make a guess? 

The answer will be revealed in the post I publish later today!

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Saturday Spotlight 14: An Aurora - and I Missed It!

Today my "Saturday Spotlight" is shining on a rare phenomenon that occurred this week in the night sky of Montana.

About 1:30 am on Friday, April 10th, photographer James Ridle captured an amazing photograph of a colorful aurora over the Sleeping Giant mountain north of Helena, Montana.

You can view the photo and read about the solar storm that caused this beautiful light by clicking here.

The very same "Sleeping Giant" mountain that is in Mr. Ridle's photo is visible from our living room window. Had I been awake, I would have seen this incredible light show in the night sky.

A daytime view of the sleeping giant mountain from our house.

I wish so very much that I had seen and captured my own photograph of the aurora. There are many evenings when I am still up that late, writing. Unfortunately, however, Thursday evening was one night when I went to bed quite early.

Today I will be watching my son as he runs in a high school track meet. Later this evening, I will have an opportunity to take photos of him and a bunch of his friends before they set out for prom. While the results of a solar storm would be fun to see, these are the events I am truly grateful not to miss.

Whatever your weekend holds - I hope you don't miss out on a thing, and have the opportunity to make the most of all of it!

Just in case the aurora is visible again this weekend, I will be sleeping with my camera on my bedside table! If it happens again, I hope I wake up to see it! 

Have you ever seen an Aurora or the Northern Lights?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Saturday Spotlight #5: Superbowl Menu: A Seattle-New England Dessert

No matter who wins the Super Bowl, if you are hosting a party, you probably hope your guests will all leave happy.  It is inevitable that someone will be disappointed with the outcome of the game, but I have a dessert suggestion that will leave a great taste in everyone's mouth!

The Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots are the football teams playing in the 2015 Super Bowl. I have created a dessert that could represent both teams. One that practically everyone will love - no matter who they are rooting for!

A Whoopie Pie is a cookie with a fluffy filling sandwiched between two cake-like cookie halves, and has strong ties to New England. The people of Seattle (home of the Starbucks headquarters) have a huge affinity for coffee. A Whoopie Pie with a twist - coffee filling instead of cream or marshmallow flavor - seems like the perfect dessert for fans of both the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks!

My Saturday Spotlight today is shining on a roundup of menu options for the Super Bowl. If you are still planning food for game day tomorrow, perhaps these links will be helpful. Actually, Superbowl party or not - many of the recipes collected in these links look irresistible.

My (Grown-Up) Letter to Santa

Hi Santa,

It has been many, many years since I sent you a letter.  I know that you are busy deciphering the writing of many children, but I hope you don’t mind taking a moment to read a few words from me.

I have tried to be a very good person all year long.  As I child, being good meant trying to please my parents.  Now, I strive to be a good mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and citizen . . . oh, and blogger!  I don’t think I have done too badly this year, but I know there is always room for improvement!

When I was a small girl, there were lots of things that I wanted.  Now, however, it is much harder to come up with a list.  There are some things I'd like to have - but not much I really need.  The things I truly wish for are not items that would be left under the tree to be found on Christmas morning.

That being said, of course I wouldn’t mind receiving a photo light box and lights, so I could take better food pictures for this blog.  Or, maybe the iPhone 5 / 5S Camera Lens Kit - some of those lenses look pretty cool. There are lots of blogging classes, resources, and subscriptions that look pretty amazing. Kitchen gadgets are always nice, and I wouldn’t say no to a new sewing machine … although I’d probably want some extra hours in my day to use it. But, none of these things are items I need to have. My iPhone and my recently acquired MacBook Pro laptop have me feeling pretty spoiled. As far as possessions go, I really am pretty content.

What I truly desire is good health, happiness, and personal success for all my family members and friends. I’d like humans to learn to all be a little kinder and more tolerant of each other.  I wish that planet Earth could be a little healthier; and that global poverty, illness, and despair would diminish. I doubt that you and your elves can deliver any of this, but these are the things that would make me very happy.

The reason I am writing this letter today Santa, is not to ask for something, but to thank you. I want you to know how much you are appreciated.  

You and your reindeer have spread so much hope, cheer, and love across the world. I remember the wonder and excitement I felt, waiting for your arrival as a child. I experienced that same wonder again with my children, when they were small. The example of love and generosity you set is a wonderful lesson for every child. 

My kids were so excited for Santa to come down the chimney!

I know that many of us give you cookies, milk, and carrots each year.  But those treats just don't seem to adequately express how grateful we are for the positive impact you have on our lives. Today, instead of asking for anything, I just want to say thank you.

Good luck on your trip around the world this year, Santa.  I hope you get a well-deserved rest when you are done.  Please say hello and thanks to Mrs. Claus and the elves, and pat the reindeer for me. 
Happy Holidays!

Gratefully,

Susan

P.S.  Santa - do you remember having this photo taken? I have kept the newspaper clipping all these years, and I even still have the little ceramic bell tree-ornament you gave to each of us! 

The newspaper published a photo of my twin sister (L) and me (R), on Santa's knee!

I wonder what Santa Claus wants for Christmas?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Note: In the spirit of full disclosure, this post contains Amazon affiliate links, for which I may receive compensation if any purchases are made. All opinions expressed, however, are entirely my own.

Roasted Butternut-Apple Soup. Thanksgiving Worthy!

                                                               

Today I made a very rich and delicious soup.  A small bowl of it would be perfect as a starter for a Thanksgiving meal, or for a Black Friday lunch with bread and a salad. This soup is such a pretty color, it would also be a lovely addition to an autumn buffet meal; it would be fun to set out in petite clear “shot” glasses, with little spoons provided for each.

There is a story as to how this soup came to be . . . 

If You Don't Like the Weather, ...

It has been said that the state motto of Montana could be, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." I took some photos which show just how variable our weather can be - even on a mild fall day.  

All except the last three of the photos below were taken from different doorways of my house, within about an hour of each other, one mid-October day. They appear more or less in the same sequence as I took them - looking at them the same way that you would read a page... left to right, from top to bottom. (A page written in English, anyway!)  

It is amazing how sometimes the sky can appear pitch black looking from a window on one side of my house - and almost a cloudless blue when facing a different direction.

The bottom three photos were taken about four hours later than the rest, (just before dusk) as I driving into town. A sheriff frequently parks and and checks people's speeds on that road - so yes, I did pull over and stop to take those photos!

At one point during the day it was really windy and raining quite hard, but as you can see - that didn't last long! Pretty, don't you think?! 

To further illustrate this point, when I did a google search for the "state motto" I mentioned above, I came across an oil painting with that name by a Montana painter named Thomas G. Lewis. I think it is a beautiful piece of art, and really shows how variable our skies can be. 

Some people fall in love with Montana for the mountains. I am addicted to our skies.

What do you like most about where you live?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Favorite Photos ...

Once again, I am participating in the Lifestyle Sistas weekly "Our Top Five” link-up series. This week, the topic of the link-up is “5 Favorite Pictures I've Taken.”  

Like most people - there is no way I could choose my top five favorite photos!  I narrowed it down a bit by selecting ones I like best just from all the photos published on this blog thus far. Even that was daunting. 

I am trying to adopt the philosophy towards life that I mentioned yesterday - so I decided to dive in, and not worry too much as to whether or not my choices are actually my all-time favorites. I just selected five photos that I really love. And here's why ...

1.  This photo is of my husband, kids, and me several years ago - during a very fun vacation in Arizona that involved a lot of horseback riding. This photo reminds me of wonderful memories - and a lot of love. It was published on the “About Me” page of my blog.

Arizona Spring Break Trip 

(I'm not strictly following the linkup rules with this one, as I didn't take this photo myself, but asked someone to use my camera ...it is a favorite, however, so I am including it here!)

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2.   These bull elk sometimes hang out on our property, and I took this photo from my front door.  Elk visitors and sunny blue skies are a few of the reasons why (despite snow and frigid temperatures) I love living in Montana, and blog about it as much as I do!  Don't you just love the snowy muzzle of the guy on the right? 

Three Bull Elk

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3.  Spring skiing, when the weather is warm enough for only a light jacket, is when I like to ski - especially if there is still quite a bit of good snow left of the mountain!  This photo reminds me of a wonderful afternoon last Easter, skiing with my husband and enjoying the beauty of the mountains.  (Plus, it is just fun that I could take a panoramic photo of this gorgeous view and the run we were about to do, with my phone!)

Spring Skiing Under the Big Sky

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4.  I was really happy with how this dessert recipe turned out - and with the quality of the picture I was able to take of it for this blog.  Even the moon cooperated - it was huge, full and in just the right place for this photo!  This photo now reminds me of a warm Montana evening - and a delicious dessert!

Fresh Berry Parfait

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#5.  Watching fireworks set off by near-by communities and our neighbors during the evening of July 4, I attempted to take some photos.  They turned out better than I ever expected - especially this one.  I really wanted a photo of the fireworks exploding behind our flag. Waiting patiently on our lawn, I was rewarded when my neighbors finally set one off that burst just in the right spot.

“Our Flag Was Still There”

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This past Thursday, I posted a photo and said it was one of my favorites. Since I published it so recently, and I have already mentioned five others, I won't include it here!


Be sure to visit the Lifestyle Sistas Linkup by clicking on the link at the top of this post, and see all the favorite photos posted there. Then, consider adding a link of your own!

Which of these photos do you like the best?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!

Back to School ... or Going There For the First Time!

The first day of the school year is always an important milestone.

• Excitement and some fear are common emotions (for students and their parents!) on the first day of preschool - kindergarten - first grade - middle school - high school - and college.  

• The first day of every other grade is significant as well.  It is an opportunity for a fresh start after a summer of growth, with all new classes, new teachers, and possibly even new friends as well.  

• The first day of the last year of college has special significance - the last of these firsts!   My niece recently wrote on Facebook: "Cheers to my last first day of school."  

Image: Alphabet cookies I baked with my kids, after a first morning of preschool

Important milestones should be celebrated and documented.  

Many families have traditions regarding these firsts.  We have some - although if Pinterest had been available when my kids were small, we might have a lot more!  I relied heavily on magazines such as Family Fun and Parents for creative ideas.  The wealth of information on the Internet now makes it easy to be inspired by many good ideas.

Our Family "First Day of School" Traditions - and what I wish I had done differently:

• On the first morning of every school year, we've taken photos of my kids, before they've headed out the door. - I wish now that I had given them a sign to hold, showing the date and the year of school they were entering.

• I've always tried to cook a special dinner on the first day of school. - It would have been even more meaningful, had I always cooked the same special menu.

• I saved special school papers and art work. - I wish instead that I had taken a photo of my child with the art work (which I might have then discarded) and created a scrapbook of photos of their work. This would have created less paper clutter - and I would now have a photo of the child at the age when they produced each piece.

• We occasionally videotaped on the first day of school. - I wish I had done a short videotaping on the first day of every school year. Growth shows in photos - but children's voices change a lot from year to year.

• We go back-to-school shopping for clothes before the first day of school every year. - I didn't always realize how quickly the weather would cool off - and should have bought less warm-weather attire, as it was sometimes outgrown before it saw much wear.

• There is something motivating about new pencils, crayons and school supplies.  - Rather than just shop with my children for their own supplies, I wish I had encouraged them to pick out supplies to donate to others in need.

• With the beginning of school, I always tried to be sure my kids took their daily multi-vitamins and got adequate rest. - In retrospect, I would remember to be sure my kids took their vitamins and got adequate rest. Being back in the classroom means being exposed to lots of germs!

On the first days of preschool, we took before pictures - and these after photos to document the day!

First Day of College - A Surprise for Mom!

Last year my daughter moved to another state for college.  Imagine my delight, when on her first morning of classes, she sent me a text that read "the obligatory first day of school photo." It was accompanied by a photo of her taken by a friend, before heading out to her first class!

My daughter continued our "first day of school photo tradition" on her own in college

Of course, receiving this text and photo made me cry. I realized something though. All those years of making my children pose before they headed out the door meant something to my kids as well.  Family traditions are important.

Our school starts (for 10 - 12th grade) on Thursday.

I wonder if my son, entering his junior year of high school, will remind me to take his picture before he leaves for school? I highly doubt it, but, like years past, he will humor me when I suggest it!

What Are Your First Day of School Traditions?

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog.  Check them out!