decisions | The Angel Forever

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Being married to a webmaster has perks

Posted on December 7, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

For my one year Blogoversary, I celebrated with a new blog design. I was sick of my old header/theme, so TechyDad quickly made something up. This was only supposed to be a temporary fix. Fast forward almost two years later (my 3rd Blogoversary is in February). The old design was functional, clean, easy to read and I liked it. See below for a reference.

Over the past few months, both of us were not thrilled with my blog. To be honest, I never really liked the hearts and had asked for those to be changed to something else (honey do list = never done). Hubby wanted to change the theme, but I had different thoughts. My thought was something crisp and more "professional" looking. I also really wanted a blog button. One day, hubby talked with a very talented friend who happens to do graphic design. He quickly did a sample of something for a header and sent it our way. I was in love. It was perfect! Look at the top, it is there now.

Friday, I was surprised with the latest addition, a brand new TheAngelForever.com button for my blog. Here it is:

TheAngelForever button

After I saw the button, I finally made a list of items I wanted changed and asked my favorite webmaster about them. He said all of them were not too difficult and doable. The best part was by the end of the weekend it was set and live.

Of course, all of these items meant we TechyDad had to fix/tidy up areas of my blog.

Put an area on the right designated to website/networks/organizations that I am part of
Blogroll was moved from right side to separate page because it was too overwhelming
Categories is now an area you can click on to open up. This takes up much less space
Flickr photo feed moved up top and different style
Heading for "Buttons from Blogosphere" added
Last 10 posts on left is gone. No need with archives/search/categories
New area on the right for "Special Event Bloggy Buttons" to keep easier track of seasonal/timed events
My shiny new blog button has a code box to make it easy for people to place on their websites
Added a contact page/form for people to get in touch with me easier

At this point, I am keeping the theme because it is easy to view and I have not found anything else for WordPress that I like enough to alter it now.

To continue with the changes, I also updated my Twitter avatar. I made it festive for Chanukah since that begins this coming Friday at sundown. Check me out:

Welcome to my renovated home on the web (launched Saturday night for those in a reader). Pull up a chair, read about my world, enter a giveaway or two and please take time to drop me a line in the comments. I love seeing my in-box fill up with comment love from everyone.

P.S. An extra special thank you to my hubby. TechyDad you are the best – I love you with all of my heart. Kuddos for a fun new web design for my blog.

Categories:
decisions jl looking back me moments TechyDad web fun

To chop or not to chop

Posted on November 20, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It’s confession time here. I do not get my hair cut very often. Part of the reason is I have done hair donations several times over the years. Other reasons are that I am too cheap and never seem to have time to get it done. When I do decide to do something to my hair, it happens quickly and I just do it.

Before we went to Disney World in May, I went for a major chopping. I had 7+ inches cut off and felt fabulous. My hair was light, curly, and easy to care for. My only request when it was cut was to make sure I could still pull it back into a pony tail. This was crucial with the hot and humid temperatures in Orlando and summer coming here. The stylist was able to do just this.

Here is a photo of TechyDad and me in May. Please note when this photo was taken, it was already 90 degrees and humid that morning as we made our way into the Animal Kingdom.

I am getting antsy with my hair again. This weekend we are taking the boys to get their hair cut (I think) and I may just get mine done at the same time. Here is a photo that was just taken.

Oy! It was a no makeup kind of day here and out of control frizz issues with the hair, not a great combo. As you can see, my hair has gotten a lot longer over the last six months and could really use ~~another trip to Disney World~~ some freshening up.

So my question to you this week:

How often do you have your hair cut and do you usually go in with a plan?

BTW – Be sure to check out three giveaways that are going on right now: Softlips Winter collection, Movie Moments Prize Pack (4 movie tickets and cereal), and Sweet Ones Prize Pack.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #75

Categories:
Aloha Friday decisions Disney jl looking back me moments photos

New MADD website – The Power of Parents

Posted on November 1, 2009 7:34 pm by TheAngelForever

My boys are still young right now. Still, I know my oldest (6), is very impressionable. When I fast forward to the future, I can not help but worry some. This is especially true when I think about having my boys out driving and being pressured by their peers to drink alcohol. The reality is that I need to start talking with my elementary age son about these items soon. I want to be the person he trusts and is able to have open communication with. I do not want either of my boys to learn information from a friend that is incorrect.

When I was teaching, one of the subjects that I taught was middle school Health. As we got the students ready for high school we often talked about peer pressure, the dangers of drugs and alcohol. To assist me, I often went to get resources from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). On October 27, 2009, MADD launched their new website The Power of Parents: It’s Your Influence.

This website has been designed to help provide parents with key tips, information, and tools to help us at home. Right now, there are a lot of great resources for parents of high school aged children. Coming soon, they will be adding more information for elementary, middle school and college parents. I know that I look forward to seeing what they have to offer for my children in the near future. I hope that you will join in and support MADD in their crusade to save more lives each year.

MADD also has a wealth of information on the MADD Blog, along with their presence on Twitter and Facebook.

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of MADD. A donation was made to MADD in my name to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
Blog Tour charity decisions

Texting time has come

Posted on October 23, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

On Sunday, TechyDad and I took made some major decisions of the technological kind. We finally decided to to ditch our landline (which was with our cable company) in order to save a pretty penny each month. They were able to port our number over and we have an extra cell phone in our house to use for that purpose. In addition to this, we finally upgraded our cell phone plans to include unlimited texting and photo messages. Prior to this, I had probably sent out only a dozen or two text messages. Part of this was the cost, the other the horrible phones that made texting a pain.

We shopped around over the weekend at AT&T and Verizon Wireless. In the end, we stayed with Verizon because for the same price each month, we could keep our home phone number. They also had no hidden fees, no activation costs and the rebates for two of the phones did not require a $20 data plan for the first month (talk about strange catches w/AT&T).

The person that helped us at Verizon Wireless also told us to go online to purchase three of our phones for FREE! So I present you with my new baby. She is really pretty, shiny, new and allows me to text like crazy. . . wow this is addictive (thank you Twitter text). Sorry about the bad glare in the photos.

So my questions for you are inspired by my new fun ~~toy~~ cell phone:

Do you have a cell phone plan that gives you unlimited texting ability? Do you still have a landline phone at home?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #71

Categories:
Aloha Friday decisions jl photos shopping

Portrait conspiracy of the 6 yr old kind

Posted on October 22, 2009 9:39 am by TheAngelForever

Last night, we FINALLY took NHL to get his six year portraits done. Yes, he turned six two months ago, but who’s counting?! Throughout the entire thing, I kept thinking that there has to be a conspiracy. There must be more going on behind the scenes that happens when you go to these studios.

#1 – YESTERDAY, they changed the prices. Just our luck. We wait this long and they do it on the day that we finally go in. *sigh* Had the flu not gotten our house, we probably would have done this 2-3 weeks ago. Oh well, what can you do?

#2 – There has got to be something in the air once you enter the studio zone. The kids are great and cooperative when out in the waiting room. The second they walk into the actual room with the camera all bets are off. This happened in June with JSL for his 2 year portraits (had to do them twice since he would not stay still) and this time it was NHL’s turn. It was like someone was pumping sugar into his veins. He was bouncing off the walls after the first few pictures. NHL would wiggle, dance like he had ants in his pants, and look at the computer monitor instead of the camera.

#3 – Although you never really get the perfect photo, you select the best of the bunch just so you do not have to trudge back again for a second round of "fun" and excitement. I definitely felt this way last night. Even now I am second guessing what was ordered because I sort of like a different one more. Oy!

#4 – The child that is not celebrating their "birthday" is always the better behaved one. That child is the one that will pose, sit quietly and help to make the session work. I swear in May, I am telling NHL it is for him and not for JSL to test this theory.

So, you want to see some of the photos? Here are some thumbnails of the ones taken (sorry they are not the best). First up are the photos with the 6. We took dinosaur and Nintendo/Mario props with us. Two with dinosaurs made the photographers cut and only one with Nintendo.

We went with the first one because it was the best. TechyDad liked that one more than #3 because of the smile on NHL’s face. #2 was never really in the running.

Next, NHL was asked to go onto the floor. The photographer captured this gorgeous shot (this does not do it justice):

From this point on, the session started to go downhill. NHL was wired and did not listen well and could not stay still. He was looking the other way, doing a goofy smile, or something else that a six year old boy would do. Only three from this section made the photographers cut. (Please note the bad cropping was the program I used and not the studio)

Then we decided to be really brave and toss JSL into the photos. We were shocked that it was the little guy that was listening to what the photographer said (unlike at his portrait session in June). The photographer tried a few cute poses, but the little guy had a hard time balancing. Still, she sold us on this one: