Confessions of a Photo-Challenged Wanna-Be Pinnable Girl

It's confession time. I'm pretty much lost without my admin, my digital guru, my “would you please when you have some (ha!) free time maybe make me...” go-to guy. I miss you, Jeremy. However, I think this forced “figure it out yourself, Tina” time is really what I needed. Who knew?

For a while, my blogging mentor, Amanda of House Revivals, has been encouraging me to make my posts “pinnable” and adding the Pinterest button to what I write. She's amazingly sweet, and kind, and even made me my first two pinnable images as a gift.

Well, life kinda happened after that, but life (though it's Good!) always happens, and I didn't get to more than opening a Pinterest account. I have no idea where all my followers came from because I had maybe two pictures of nail designs I like and new followers everyday. Probably because jenn of quirky pickings, and one of my Tina's Terrific Team of minions, is doing a give-away, and since I contributed, I could “make” people follow me on Pinterest. Thanks, all of you. I am learning. And I followed you back.

I thought I'd share some of my adventures with you, and Jeremy, please don't laugh at how picture-manipulating challenged I am. Because of course, I wasn't going to go the easy route and just use one of the fabulous images Amanda made for me. No. I had to figure out for myself how to make them so that when I'd used hers, I wouldn't be out of material and all Pinnable-Interest (oh, I think that was a good one...) would die off.

So I google, I help menu, I ask The Transporter about software. “Are you kidding me, Mom? That's like $700 dollars and that's why you can't find it on your Windows 8.” (I'm used to the NOT finding things on W8, so it really wasn't THAT stupid of a question...in my opinion, based on previous experience...) For example, W8 doesn't come with a DVD player.

Here's where I am right now. I can make a pinnable image using PicMonkey. I have learned how to add a non-removable watermark (unless you're a genius – the tutorial promised that it would be really hard for even the most experienced photo guru to remove without a trace.)

I have new, free, Norton approved, photo-editing software. (Oh-please-don't-let-me-lose-the-original while using it...I'm really trying to follow the directions and so far my favorite button on either program is UNDO...)

I even made a pinnable image! It has nothing to do with this post. I just picked a favorite picture that I knew would make a post someday. However, I also learned the painful lesson that the two programs I'm using don't like each other, so you can either have the watermark, or the title of the post, but not both, if you made one with the first and the other with the second. Territorial rights, I guess. So I'm not putting it up.

Despite my (very well known) quest for attention, I will not add it to this post. This is just me whining about learning something new and it being hard to do. But hey! It's a COMPLETELY NEW TOPIC OF WHINING. So be happy for that.

Now all that's left is to get that little pin-thing onto this page...I've really tried following the directions...but for now, I'm leaving it with the ½ finished picture. As in waiting for later.

What have you tried to learn lately that challenged you?

~Tina

Please Blitz Jeremy, and Yeah, I Finally Gave Away My Piano

Before I get to my silly post for today, I want to encourage you to visit the A-Z Challenge Blog.  One of our co-hosts, my buddy Jeremy, broke his ankle, had surgery, and is needing some bloggy love.  As a team of co-hosts, we wrote his "About Me" feature as a surprise.   (There are more coming up in the following weeks leading up to April about the most of the rest of us).  He's also being Blitz Attacked (see Friday's post).  I ask the favor that you visit the A-Z Challenge Blog even if you're not involved just to say, "Get better soon!" or whatever fits your style. I know the encouragement will help him heal.  Thanks.

*****

My piano has a new home, and it’s a good home.  Yet I’m a nostalgic person, and the big hole in my family room reminds me that though something may have sentimental value, I’m in the place where I need to let go of that which no longer serves a purpose for me, and can bless someone else. Then I have more room to get myself and my essential stuff organized.

I can’t play the piano anymore.  I used to sit down to keep in touch with enough frequency that I could still play “Color My World” by Chicago.  The reason I could play it was that it’s the only song that was taught to me without sheet music, so I’d sit and let muscle memory take over, and the song would just flow.  It’s a really neat feeling when that happens.

I’m going to take a little side trip here and explain about the lack of sheet music, which I know you’d expect the math nerd and recipe girl to need.

I had to have a ride to the bus-stop.  We’d moved, but I still got to go to my originally planned junior high.  Therefore it wasn't always a good time for The Nutritionist to pick me up when the bus dropped me off.  I'd just go to PieGirl’s house.  Sometimes for hours.  We sure didn’t mind!

She not only taught me that song, she introduced me to Billy Joel and we’d sing “heartattackackackack” at the top of our lungs while listening to “The Stranger”.  She tutored me, patiently, since I couldn't cook ANYTHING at the time, in how to make a perfect apple pie from scratch.  She was good at so many things, and such a good friend.  (I can still make apple pie, by the way.  Though I'd pick playing Color My World.  I also know how to buy a good pie.)

Here in my present, The Transporter, along with already kicking some serious talent around on electric guitar, wants to learn how to play the keyboard.  My former (practice saying it, Tina) piano can’t hold a tune (oh, that wasn’t on purpose but I like it), was ancient, and was taking up real estate that could be used for a keyboard.  (So could The Transporter’s own room…but any parent of a teenage boy knows that to make the normal laws of physics apply in said space, you need to add to the equation what a guy is willing to do to keep his room clean…)

We've had an ad up on craiglist with full disclosure of my former piano’s pros and cons, and had three calls in a month.  I thought the ad had expired, honestly.  Yesterday a family, with four little girls 9 and under, came to get it.  All four want to learn to play.  Mom is a pianist, and surprisingly, was very happy with what she found.  “It has all its keys.  All its keys make a sound.  We have someplace to start from, and we can put our money into fixing it up.”

They had driven two hours, rented a trailer, bought tie-down straps, and were ready to go.  I had a delightful time with SuperMom while the (now four, due to the strategic arrival of my three) strapping men got that old relic out the door and secured in the trailer.

Good-bye, Grandma Vivian’s piano.  Swissie and I had fun with our lessons, and it was lovely being the caretaker of this family “treasure” all these years.  Good luck to the four little girls whose names all begin with A, and to homeschool mom and super nice dad.  Enjoy.

~Tina, who wonders if you know how much dust accumulates under a piano which has been sitting for thirteen years…And yes, I could actually play that.  (Mine didn't have the little riff at the end though.  This was the closest I could find.)

Life is Sometimes Ugly, but Always Good

Life is many things: good, bad, frustrating, and sometimes plain ugly. So you ready for the ugly? Don't worry, these aren't medically ugly or “not for the squeamish” pictures. They are rotten bathroom from the 70's ugly.

We've had our house checked for mold, because so many people said that maybe that's why I'm so sick all the time. Never found any mold, not even in the dank, dark, dungeon of a used-to-be-crawl space turned aquaponic room. Well, now we found the mold. Accidentally.

The Transporter takes a shower, and The Engineer starts screaming about the flood of water in the laundry room. An argument ensues. “I didn't do anything differently. I didn't splash against the faucet! I didn't splash against the corners!” These are spots that in the past have had leaks that The Engineer-Handy-Man fixed. So like any good engineer would, he investigates. And is able to just flick off some tiles around the soap holder. He keeps going. Finds this. The elusive mold.

Oh goody. A major remodel is just what our budget needs at this time of year and when medical bills are arriving like Harry Potter's acceptance-to-Hogwarts letters. Flying into the house through every possible entrance. Sigh.

We decide that IF we're redoing all the tile, we should take out the 1970's vintage “goldenrod” tub. Good decision. Here's what we found under it. 

The missing floor was so rotted it just sort of fell out, 

and what's left 

will take a bit more effort to remove, but by now The Engineer has been Demo-Man all day and stops.

So yeah, the ugly. Very ugly.

*****

Now for something good, and SWEET.

The wonderful Jo of Jo on Food, My Travels,, and a Scent of Chocolate  has gifted me with The Sweetest Blogger Award. She said some very encouraging stuff about me and it just made my day. I'm to answer the following questions, which is going to be quite fun since I'm hypoglycemic and can't eat sweets...and then pass it on to five sweet bloggers.

Questions: 
    1. Cookies or Cake?

       Pizza. I like artisan, weird pizzas. One of the best was at          Serious Pie in Seattle. It had roasted garlic, mushrooms,            arugula, and something else unusual which I cannot                  recall at this time.

2. Chocolate or Vanilla?  Chocolate. I will sometimes sneak a very dark piece of chocolate with my wine. Then I have to go eat some slices of roast beef or something else to counteract the sugar...

2. Favorite Sweet Treat?
   Another glass of wine. It's what I'll order for dessert in a restaurant.
   
   
3. When do you crave sweet things the most?
   I've really gotten beyond craving them since it's been so many years. I crave shoe string french fries daily though...
   
   
4. Sweet nickname?
   Pizzalatukit. The Engineer IS weird. But you already knew that.

Here are the five Sweet Bloggers that I'm passing this award to. Please go say “hi” from me! (This was almost impossible to narrow down to five...I realized how many truly sweet and wonderful people are part of my world. Love to ALL of you.)

Amanda at House Revivals. She doesn't do awards, but I can still tell you that her sweet friendship of 21 years means a lot to me. We met at church and she moved away, but thanks to blogland and fb, we're still close. 

Gary Pennick of Klahanie. He's the most generous and giving of bloggers, spending most of his “farcebook” time putting up links to other's posts, and of course leaving his witty and heartfelt comments all over blogland. A tireless crusader for the mentally ill, he's a treasure and a “sweet guy” for sure.

Hilary Melton-Butcher of Positive letters...inspirational stories...  I just can't say enough about her.  She's a dear friend, encourages me daily through chatty emails, often sharing hilarious personal stories to cheer me up.  Thanks, Hils.

Jeremy of Being Retro, and so many other places and endeavors. He's like a brother to me, and always cheers me up when I'm feeling down. His digital art is amazing, and his t-shirt shop is not to be missed. 

JoJo of Tahoma Beadworks and Photography. She's just such a fun person to hang out with (we banter on fb) and I love her photography and crafts which she shares on her blog.

~Tina, proving that life may be ugly, but it sure is good and “sweet” too :-)

Super Hero Friends: Jeremy: Being Retro

You know how much I love getting awards! You also know it's been kinda a tough time around here lately, so getting this Super Blogger Award

from Jo of Jo on Food, My Travels, and a Scent of Chocolate really cheered me up. She said some really upliftings things about me which were part of that whole cheering up thing. She's just a sweetheart. Thank you Jo for honoring me with this award.

It's a unique one – you only pass it on to ONE person.  The rules are simple: tell why your friend is super, then reveal one secret about yourself.  I'm blessed with many super friends, but this choice was easy.

I pass this award on to Jeremy of Being Retro. He's probably familiar to most of you for several reasons, and these are also the reasons he's getting this Super Blogger Award.  

Jeremy is truly a superhero - look at all he does!

• he's a co-owner of this blog (see sidebar) because he's my technical guy, he designed this all from scratch, and he's always willing to help, like when I said I needed a button to display at Quirky Pickings because she's highlighting me this month (yeah!) and within hours he gave me this: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• he's been a co-host of the A-Z Challenge with me for the last two years and does all the art, buttons, badges, bling, etc. there, too, and designed that site from scratch also
  
  
• in fact, his digital art is published, and if you visit his site today, you can read all about it.  He'll be here in August on his blog tour.
  
  
• he's a super supportive friend. When you work long, hard hours on a project with someone (I'm referring to the April A-Z Challenge) you can't help but get to know your fellow workers. We became buds. He's like a brother to me and his hysterical emails always cheer me up.

So here's to Jeremy, my Super pal, brother, friend, comrade in the fight. May the flying monkeys leave you alone, or grab that umbrella and watch out for the flying...stuff...

P.S He loves Superman, so this is perfect for that reason, too. Now go visit him and say hi, and oh yeah, he designs t-shirts, too. Buy one. They are super-soft and very unique. Tell him I sent you and if you know him, remind him how wonderful he is.

P.P.S Oh yeah, a secret about me.  Wow, are there any left?  Hmmm, OK.  (Sorry Mom...) One night I told my folks I was spending the night at a friend's house, and she told her mom she was spending the night at my house and we did neither and stayed out all night with her big brother, cruising the streets of Denver.  It was a really fun time, but the guilt about crushed me.  Sigh.  I was 18.