I was good. I cleaned up my room. Don't believe me? Go look.  And I...bought insurance for my scooter, purchased batting for the quilt, photographed and posted five vintage items on etsy, talked with two of my sisters (one twice), talked with JP, talked with friend J, left messages, walked + fed Goody, had coffee once and now that it's 3pm, now I get to make a new cup of coffee and work on my quilt project, then make dinner (Pork Fried Rice - homemade), maybe watch a movie or sew, then read (A Few Thousand Words About Love - I got it at Goodwill last weekend, it's a lovely book, I highly recommend it), then sleep. Tomorrow I'll scooter over to Practical Art and see J after I go to the DMV and Lux.

The wall is slowly rising. What a painstakingly precise and labor intensive process. And Matt has been going at this entirely by himself. Stack Block. Fill holes with gravel. Shovel drain rock backfill. One. Scoop. At. A. Time. Shovel down backfill. Rake. Level. Compact- back and forth. Lay out Geogrid. Next layer. And it looks really darn good.

There is a long way to go. Today he has two guys out there helping him. We need to catch up so we can get the Brian's back in to excavate the next level of terracing for the second block wall and dig out the creek bed. Hope to report even more progress tomorrow!

But before I go, I'd like to share my card for the Sketch This blog this week.

Used some of my absolute favorite Creative Imaginations journaling frames as the starting point for my card. Love the elegant, script wording on those pieces, and decided to use that as the greeting for the project. I then paired that with soft and subtle papers from Making Memories' Chelsea Place line, a botanical cardstock sticker from Wordsworth, and a touch of bold black for a punch. Love the overall serene and classic feel.

Be sure to check out the Sketch This blog for lots more inspiration with this week's sketch!

I'm off to finish up my packing! See you all when I get back!

Like you, my time is limited. I have a wife, two teenagers, and a full-time job. So I have very little time each day to devote to blogging. But it can be done. And the first step in the process is learning how to pick a domain name, sign up for web hosting, and set up your blog. All of this can be done in under 20 minutes once you get the hang of it. In this article I'll walk you through the basics of how to set up a site. If this is new to you, trust me, it's much easier than it may seem. So let's get started.

Picking a domain name

The name of your site is one of the most important decisions you'll make when setting up a blog or website. And generally, you want to consider two important factors. The first factor is branding. You want the name to be memorable. If you are promoting an off line business, for example, a domain name that matches the name of your company is obviously critical. But even if your business is entirely online, a memorable domain name can help you build reader loyalty and trust. This is the approach I took with my site on blogging. Exactly how well I accomplished that goal I'll leave to you, but the people I talk to say its catchy and memorable. That's the goal if your focus is branding.

The second factor to consider are keywords. Keywords are the word phrases we all type into Google, Yahoo! or other search engines to find information on the Internet. When selecting a domain name, consider what keywords are relevant to your site and include theme in the domain name. There are at least two separate SEO benefits for having a keyword rich domain name.

First, the URL of a page is one factor Google's search engine algorithm considers when ranking pages. If your site is about mortgage loans, having those keywords in your domain name will help your site rank well for those and related keywords. Second, you will find that most sites that link to your homepage will use your site's name as the anchor text of the link. Having links to your site that use keyword rich anchor text can mean a huge boost in the search engine rankings for your site.

Web Hosting

Having selected your domain name, you now need to get your new site hosted. There are many, many web hosting services available. And if you ask two bloggers which one is the best, you are likely to get at least three different answers. No matter what web hosting service you consider, there will be those who absolutely hate the web host, and those that love it. I've used three different web hosting services over the past year, and for me, Hostgator is hands down the best. Bluehost just plain sucks as far as I am concerned.

The reason I like HostGator is because I can get technical support on the phone usually in under 60 seconds. Bluehost on the other hand has had many nightmares and seems to be down a lot.  Regardless of which web hosting service you choose, getting your new domain hosted is the second step. Most services can easily walk you through the process, and you can always phone technical support. I've put a separate article together that visually walks through setting up hosting and installing WordPress with HostGator.

Setting Up WordPress

I use WordPress for all of my sites for several reasons. First, it's free. Second, it is widely used and many developers have made free themes and plugins to use with WordPress. Three, search engines, particularly Google, seem to rank WordPress blogs well in the search enging rankings. And fourth, it's easy to use.

With HostGator and most web hosting services, you can install WordPress with just a couple of clicks. Once installed, there are some critical WordPress plugins that need to be installed. The first plugin is called Google XML Sitemaps. Sitemaps tell search engines like Google and Yahoo! what pages are available on your site for crawling. They give search engines a road map to your most important content. With the Google XML Sitemap plugin, generating a XML-compliant sitemap is a snap.

The second critical plugin is called HeadSpace2. The functionality of HeadSpace2 could fill 10 articles. For example, you can set a single page or post to use a WordPress theme other than the one you've selected for your site. You can set global meta keywords that get inserted into all of your site's pages. You can insert your Google Analytics (more on this next week) id into HeadSpace2 to track your site's traffic. I highly recommend this plugin if you have the time to understand how to use it. If you do, you should read the HeadSpace2 plugin page.

Related Posts is the third plugin, which automatically inserts related posts at the end of each post. This gives your readers some additional articles related to the topic if they want to keep reading. But the plugin also has a big SEO benefit. Internal links, that is links from one part of your site to another, are absolutely critical for SEO purposes. I'll even go so far as to say that they are more important than back links. And the related posts plugin ads relevant internal links to all of your posts.

And that's it. As I said at the start, you can get to a point where you can have a new site up and running in under twenty minutes. I've written a more detailed tutorial on how to start a money making blog using WordPress that you can check out if you want a more detailed set of instructions. The tutorial covers other steps such as picking and installing an optimized WordPress theme and configuring WordPress.

This is me and my sweet daughter, Nicole on Mother's Day this year. She had just given me a whole pile of home-made gifts to open, including that crystal necklace that I'm wearing in the picture. Unfortunately, the necklace broke during that first wearing, and sat for a long time without a new cord. But now we've found an old chain for it, and I'm happy to say that the necklace is back in action!

Almost everything I used for this page comes from Making Memories. I had just recently picked up some of the papers from the Passport line and combined them here with their older line, Chelsea Place. I did have a dickens of a time reducing that mini scalloped background paper from a 12x12 format to my chosen 8.5x11 size, but eventually my perseverance paid off. The chipboard letters and the ribbons on the journaling tags are also from Making Memories. I used a Jenni Bowlin die-cut journaling piece from the July Paper-Playground kit for the background of my title, and finished the title and subtitle with stamped letters from Stampin'Up and Hero Arts. The tags on the side pull out to reveal my hidden journaling.

Hope you all feel inspired and join in on the fun. Go check out the Random Chaos site for more great examples. With our new designers playing along this week, there are twice as many ideas to drool over than before. And as always...if you play along, link me up in the comments section. I would love to see what you've done!

Have a great day everyone!

It doesn't take a genius to see that people are making money taking surveys. The fact is that most people are spending their time at the low end take free measure sittes that won't reward you very much. I have foound ended that it is much easier to find the exact places wherre guys and girlss are mmaking the most specie. It's a simple way to tip off a exaggerate up to date decision about which autonomous review sites you sshould spend the most at.

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Adam Woodham is an expertt on Paid Surveys. has extensive experience making well-heeled online with these unique websites and runs the blog Free Survey Sites, which features the Top 5 "free" paid survey sites for you to along moolah, along with a notice of .

There's the way things are and the way things oughta be, and every person has the power to choose which of those they're going to contribute to.  Not necessarily in big, significant ways, but in the smallest choices of our seemingly mundane daily lives.  We have the power to choose whether to get impatient with the person in front of us and start tailgating them, or respond with hostility to the rude person tailgating us, whether to laugh at a cruel joke or a slanderous comment, whether to smile and say "Hello" or "Thank You" or ignore people and brush them off, whether to wait patiently in line or bluster and sigh and make sure everyone around us knows that our time is more important, whether to respond to rudeness with more rudeness or that almost magical response which is more difficult but possible - quiet dignity.

The only way to ensure that you will never make a positive impact in this world is to believe that doing so requires a large visible after effect, to be able to see the ripples of your actions or choices because your original effort was so grand in scale and measure.  There is a place for such things to be sure, but by no means are they the only way.  Remember the small things; the tiny choices of daily living in a society with other people just like you and me.  If only we could all remember how much we impact others, how much we make a difference (for better or worse) simply by living our lives as others look on.

You're all welcome to go visit the site

School is going great. I'm doing just fine. When this summer is over, I should have 9 credits out of the way. WOOHOO! I got A's on my first 2 classes (I just looked!)! I'm so happy!!!!

I've been knitting too! It's a pseudo surprise so I'm not posting pictures 'till Ed gets his scarf. It's pseudo because he bought the yarn and he specifically asked me for a scarf. But he doesn't know what the pattern is, though.

To force myself to take pictures, I took the old digital camera and put it in my backpack. So, no excuses. I want to take some pictures of campus and the summer activities.

Can you tell I'm in a great mood? I'm leaving you with gratuitous pics of cats. (Sorry for the blurriness!)

Went to a fresh and fun doll making performance by Jun Takahashi (my favourite designer).  He is so charming and talent and this is the first time I met with him in person and I am really interested in his doll making work!!  Weird but fun!!

This is the monster he made in the show!!

Finally decorated with antique dress, earrings and pearl necklace, soooo pretty!!

The Simple Kimono Wrap (version 2) is officially updated.

The pattern now includes:

• Expanded sizing up to a Youth 8.
• Measurements in cm as well as inches.
• Added photos & notes of various kimonos, emphasizing the neck area.
• An entire page devoted to the binding.

I hope this makes it easier for everyone. As always, let me know if you have any difficulty with the pattern. Please add your photos to the Simple Kimono Wrap Flickr group.

Work will be improved on when the studio is found and got. Also have to keep on thinking on what work will be. If I can come by the silkscreen bed then I will be happy. Could make the paper on it and that would save me enough money to die. Though would be unable to print many copies of the thing, that might not matter. Oh hell. Will be work to do if I do that. I mean, at least a whole day's worth of printing.

An important thing would be to get the correct inks on the go. I could not use those System 3s; they dry and thicken up too quick. There must be some way they can be made to thin out. ... Not sure I could even make 500 copies in a day. Would need two big screens or possibly one big screen with the two sides of the tabloid spread on it. Would be 1000 pulls, at least a days printing, solid printing that is, then another day of making the screen (layout, proofing, printing, stencil, hell) before-hand.

I could handle all that going on once a month; fair enough, but once a week; no-way. Body would crumble. Would be working three days of the week on 500 copies of a useless thing no-one wants to look at. But 500 copies a month is a pitiful amount and if there were five hundred people to look at it for more than a moment that is nowhere near the numbers required to cause a real havoc.

What a load of balls. Think you ought to give up on printing it yourself and get on with the task of finding some funding of a sort to pay for a good eight or sixteen page paper, coming out once a week at best or once a fortnight/month at worst. Must be someone, a group of people, who is/are prepared to help.

And besides, other work waits behind the settee, waiting to be completed and put up on walls somewhere. And some maps. And all sorts of associated crap. And there is a magazine to get done and out. And all of those other small projects that you could be getting on with, for cash. Oh dear.

There are other papers also, and they might be able to help. The other question is one of money and how you can do it. You have been thinking about selling work and if you can make money that way then you can have that money to pay for the paper. But can you really do enough? Do you think that the work can be a way of generating an income so that you can live and make the newspaper? Is there not better ways of making money that are less compromising, I mean compromising of your work, which you do not seem to have wanted to compromise before now. Are you not using the paper as an excuse to compromise your work. Be honest. You know that Cheltenham is not now a socialist colony and that your work does not work and that the paper is your work, or it is a natural progression of your work and you can continue doing the other things besides.

This is not supposed to be about the work, it is supposed to be about the paper. Make something else for your work.

We have digging. Commencement. Our incredibly long overdue backyard project, which has gone through innumerable phases of redesign, budget constraining, hang-ups, project managing, material selection, ordering, prep-work, phasing, scheming and planning- officially starts Today. The process overall has made the project stronger and far more refined. It is a much better and more effective plan than our first few stabs. In the end, Matt has ended up project managing the entire thing, from coordination to materials, in addition to the normal work he is doing. It's been a lot on our plate, but I can say worth it as by the end of this week, we will be putting the deck back on and the finishing touches on the major infrastructure work. Fast execution for a very drawn out journey to get here.

The kids are plastered to the dining room window, perched on the bench behind the table watching our excavators work as I type. Brian Sr. and Brian Jr. are out there cutting away, pulling our huge cliff face back, recreating our outdoor space with such skilled ease as they maneuver these large machines in an intricate dance around our constrained backyard. And they had to bring everything in through our back-yard neighbor's yard down his driveway from the street above ours. Already I see such change as the simple act of moving dirt results in such a transformation. It is one thing to envision the outcome in my head, which as a designer I have had brewing up there for months and months. And another to plan it out on paper and in our digital model, adding to the visual decision making process. But entirely another to see the actual physical being carved out, to know so intimately every detail which has been mulled over, worked out and emerging into true reality.

Granted, the model is rough, mostly utilized to do take-offs for ordering materials and dimensioning. There are elements which will be worked out as we go, such as our intrinsic garden mounds and the finished shape and size of the creek bed play area. But the ideas are there, worked out and solidified. They are really going to happen to the point we will be using this space by next week. It will be so exciting to see this project come to fruition. For me it means a usable extension of our house that will be integral to how we live out the next few months after the baby comes, providing a place for the older girls to go play in and enjoy as we stick close to home for a while.

Another sundress for the Biscuit! I made kimonos for each of the boys and couldn't possibly send them off without something for Floria....so, I whipped up this little number. The body and tie are from a reissued vintage print. Both are cotton and lightweight.

I'm currently updating the kimono tutorial with expanded sizes (up to Youth 8), CM conversions, and more info on making the binding and attaching it around the neck. But, this is the other tutorial I'm thinking of putting together. It's very simple, basic and quick. Perfect for those without a lot of time on their hands looking to make a thoughtful gift or something for their own daughter.

If it's something you'd like to see in a tutorial, leave me a comment and I will put forth the effort to organize it pattern form (this time in both CM and Inches!). I currently have only made it in a 2T, but can work out the dimensions for other sizes without too much difficulty (I think).

So, I'm still sick with a summer cold. I made myself some lounging pants from Amy Butler's 'In Stitches'. The pattern is very clear and easy, and relatively quick. All good things since I am at about 50% capacity with my head stuffed up and coughing.

I chose a white cotton voile for the pants and a piece of Amy Butler's Ginger Bliss for an accent on the bottom of the legs as well as the drawstring (I like crisp white cotton pajamas, preferably slightly antique or vintage looking). The pants are a little roomy, and were quite long, so I modified the pattern a bit. Overall I'd recommend the pattern, as well as the whole book. Wearing the pants this afternoon, I'm already starting to feel a bit better.

Yesterday ended up having an unplanned lime green theme. Can't really explain why this happens, it's not the first time (or second or even third). Whatever it was that contributed to this undercurrent made for an interesting day, which was a very good thing. The original plan was to go to the beach, but man I am bad at picking beach days- two out of three planned beach days have been canceled because the morning weather randomly turns far too cold and overcast to go frolic at the lake. Due to this pattern maybe I need to learn not to announce the night before we are going to the beach in the morning. Araiya complained all day , repeatedly begging to go to the beach. So we improvised. Sorta. We made little sailboats which we floated around in a few inches of water inside the very bright lime green TubTrug.

This was a fun little craft I stole from my friend, Karin. Very age appropriate for Araiya, but a bit beyond Tallis still, as she simply wanted to take the lid on and off the glue and chew on the corks. Regardless, they were both entertained for the majority of the morning making and sailing their boats. I would caution, however, the synthetic corks are far harder to cut in half with a steak knife and I came very close to slicing off the fleshy pad of a finger. [quick how-to: cut wine corks in half, stab toothpick into center of cut top, draw an equilateral triangle on paper, have kids color in their 'sails', cut out and fold in half, gluing onto toothpick, float in water] The only downside is when the paper gets wet, but good excuse to color new sails and keep craft-time going.

During naptime came Adult Craft time. I made another Kimono Wrap top for baby g.3, this one a very lightweight soft white cotton edged in a small patterned lime. This was a really quick and easy sew, the pattern tutorial came from HERE. It was nice to take a small departure from the usual Ottobre fare to try out something new. This was the 0-6mo size and surely it would be fitting Tallis now, so perhaps I will go back and modify the pattern smaller in anticipation of my typically itty-bitty girls. Beyond this lime green theme, I also have realized I have fallen into a small pattern theme as this green fabric is very akin to the purple I have been using for baby g.3. I dig the small, simple, clean. This green just fits that.

I recognized this sketch as soon as I saw it. If you go check out the blog, you will see that this sketch is the cute, cute page that Janelle Richmond did as a guest designer for us at the Paper-Playground kit site. You all may remember that I posted her adorable page earlier on my blog. I loved that design then, and have loved having the chance to play with it myself now.

I used this vintage clip from Crafty Secrets as the starting block for this card. I have had a whole booklet of these in my stash for a couple of years and have only used a few. I just fell in love with this beachy one immediately. Even though we are in school right now (bleck), I dream of long, blissful days on the beach. It is summertime, after all. All the papers used in this are from My Mind's Eye. The greeting and sub-greeting are cardstock stickers from Making Memories. I also used just a little bit of organdy ribbon and inked all the edges just to further enhance the aged look. Ohhhh.........to be at the beach right now!

Have a wonderful day!

Reference: 1215682462

ERS have a Client who is seeking a Configuration Manager for management of the Configuration process for Threat Reduction Department's operational equipment and capabilities both current and future.

Location

Aldermaston

Salary

Competitive salary depending on qualifications and experience

Job Responsibilities

Team Leader Off-Site Training and Configuration Management.

Group Leader Operations.

To deliver the Configuration process to ensure the availability of emergency response equipment. This will include liaison with key stakeholders to ensure that capability and equipment is adequately defined, approved and documented to satisfy operational requirements. This process will be applied to all existing and future equipment requirements.

To manage a centralised Configuration Management System in support of the Capability Implementation Section.

To manage the preparation of equipment design / registration proforma, certificates of design and equipment approval certificates.

To manage the data capture of new requirements, ensuring that the decision making between the stakeholder, customer and the service provider are formally recorded.

To define and manage the disposal process for all equipment at the end of life.

To manage the section's projects and to produce reports suitable for presentation to stakeholders.

To assist Team Leader Off-Site Training and Configuration Management, in the development and delivery of a costed budget for all configuration activities.

Management of the design review process in accordance with company procedures; chair design reviews and acceptance reviews in the role of configuration manager.

To be a Business Sub Process Owner for Configuration Management.

Manage Configuration Management Documentation Systems.

Implementation of change through continuous improvement, by Identification of best practise through analysis and comparison.

Tel: 01454 203 460

cv@energyrs.co.uk

There are 2 types of scopes. Reflectors and refractors. Reflectors use mirrors, refractors use lens. Also there are 2 types of mountings. Equatorial and Altazimuth. There are some reflector types..Newtonians, Cassegrains (Maksutov-Cassegrain, Ritchey-Chrétien(Hubble telescope) and Dall-Kirkham).

One type of reflector that uses the altazimuth mounting and the Newtonian type tube is the Dobsonian telescope. Taken its name by John Dobson, a former monk of the Ramakrishna Order and amateur astronomer, this scope is built with simplicity in mind, is constructed by cheap materials and is mainly used for deep sky and planetary observing. Unfortunately we live in a world that money leads the way. But the sky is ours and the dobsonian is a very good way to observe it. Most dobsonians are atm (amateur telescope making) projects and have 3 main parts. The tube, mirror box and rocker box (mount). All parts can be easily made using a hammer and a saw. As for the mirror you can grind one by yourself or buy a readily made one. Of course there are commercially made Dobsonians like the Meade Lightbridge and others..

Yesterday in science.nasa.gov there was an article regarding mirror making using moon dust. Its not hard to think that future generations in moon with no special components will start building dobsonians for their observations..

Of course nothing is perfect and there are some tradebacks. For starters its pretty difficult to motorize this kind of mounting if you want to use it for astrophotography. But there are commercial(expensive) products to make your life easier. Or you can make a DIY project ;) Also there are issues regarding heavy finderscopes or uncommon eyepieces that will alter balance. There's a solution to that too by adding counterweight to the rocker box.

This video by truemartian makes a small comparison:

Well.. its not hard to decide which is the most practical enjoyable and easy to transport.

This is considered to be the largest made dobsonian.. A magnification of 1600x has been achieved.. and you can actually make it!!!

Note: There are many good telescopes of any kind type or mounting. The above are just my views of a scope that has some more pros than cons.

1.) Completely relaxing the mind and body while thinking about the unknown factors.

2.) Keeping busy without putting any stressful weight on top… staying in motion.

3.) Taking notes… keywords… photos… saving stuff - collecting the new known factors.

4.) Not thinking about practical action while dreaming. Just listening to the inner voice.

5.) Telling a potential partner that this is ready to get done. Now! Developing and answering important questions together…Envisioning the goal - using powerful words and examples.

Filling the gap? Translating it into a reality? Want to share? I’d love to hear.

How the Gurus did it?

Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory?

These are the thoughts in the minds of most who want to make it big in this business.

Although Affiliate Marketing is know as the easiest and quickest income generating source online, there are still many tricks of the trade. Experienced Affiliate Marketers execute every planned move using the right tools to enhance their Affiliate Marketing Business.

After consulting some of the top Affiliate Marketers in the trade, here are 3 tools to be a successful Affiliate Marketer.

Success Tool #1: A Personalized Website

Having your own personalized website is the most important tool in an Affiliate Marketing Business.

The website should be credible, professional and attractive. As the website is a jumpstart for your marketing efforts, you must build one that is user-friendly, and most importantly one that appeal to new prospects and encourage them to click on products’ links to make a purchase. Therefore, craft a website with the consumer in mind.

One thing you should know is that web-users are information seekers, and not necessarily would go and buy things online. Focus on creating original content that is relevant and helpful as people love articles that are appealing and useful.

Internet content is still the king and fresh content will not only gain you more credibility, it can also assist in getting higher search engine ranking. By posting such content makes you an expert in the field, hence becoming a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote.

Establishing good reputation is the beginning to building your loyal consumer base.

Success Tool #2: Giving Incentives

You are bound to face a lot of competition in the internet marketing world. Hence you must always be one-step ahead of your competitors to land your turf in the market.

Use every available ways to motivate people to not only to visit your site, but to click the products and services that you are promoting.

How?

An Opt-In email list is one of the basis to gather potential prospects. Offer free reports or e-zine as incentives to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can also present other freebies such as software, access to exclusive services or other freebies that would be useful for your prospects.

Success Tool #3: Reciprocal Link Campaign

Driving laser-targeted traffic to your website is on the top of the list and most important entities in the Internet World. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking.

Search engine ranking is mostly determined by your link popularity. One of the secret to enhance your link popularity is to launch an aggressive reciprocal link campaign.

How?

At no cost?

The way is to submit articles, with your website link at the resource box, to free article sites and e-zines. In this case, you can not only advertise for free, you will also get to gain exposure by adding a link to your site.

Submitting more articles will gain you a higher search engine ranking. As mentioned, the articles should be fresh, relevant and helpful so that more sites would extract and post it.

These are 3 of the many tools that successful affiliate marketers use to maximize their opportunity to close a sale. Using your imagination and creativity, you can always explore new ideas and strategies. All these will cumulate to you becoming a Successful Affiliate Marketer.

Jeremy D’Monte

Administrator, Profits Work At Home Division.

Jeremy D'Monte is a home business coach who has helped thousands of people worldwide quite the rat race in a spectacular fashion. Visit Jeremy's website now at: http://www.ProfitsWorkAtHome.com

Kirsten had a brilliant idea: start a Flickr group to collect Kimono photos. I think this is genius, so I did it. The new Flickr group is here and it's public. Send your Simple Kimono Wrap photos on over and start sharing.

Completed, In progress, In Use.....whatever! It will be a great place to share photos and collect inspiration. Also, feel free to start any discussion if you have any trouble with the pattern and always feel free to email me. I am thrilled that people are having fun with the pattern and would love to see what other people come up with!