Month: March 2013

Giving thanks…

Aynaria 6 Comments

My this weekend flew by!

Let’s see…Friday my brother was in town and he stayed the entire weekend. I also received a package from far away, I took pictures of the contents and will do a virtual thank you to one of my favorite bloggers in a later post.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”-Psalm 30:5

This past December my aunt (my mothers sister) found out that she had a brain tumor. The family has supported her and her husband during this time through prayer, supplying the meals so she doesn’t have to cook, cleaning the house, etc., It’s a huge change seeing my aunt going from someone who was always on the go (she was involved with a few outreach ministries with her church) to being unable to drive and in bed most of the time.

30-joy-comes

 

A few days ago we learned that she most likely doesn’t have that much longer to live. I haven’t had too many people that are close to me die. I’m forty-two and have only lost two people that I had a close relationship with. And yes, I know that I’m really fortunate to be able to say that when compared to some people. This instance is different in that we know that she most likely won’t make it, the only thing left to do is wait. Sounds a bit morbid, you know? I’m still trying to get used to the fact that she might not be around too much longer.
I do know that she is a Christian and although the statement is overused she truly is an great example of how a Christian should be.

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.”

Matthew 7:13

I always liked that she hasn’t changed the Bible to make it palatable for “today’s society.” After all, who’s she to change Gods word? But yet many of us attempt to do that. I was one of them, and created a mishmash of different religions that suited my “style” to make it more palatable for myself and those around me… even though I knew what I was doing was wrong on so many levels. I firmly put on my blinders. Thankfully I stopped doing that. I do appreciate that my aunt doesn’t make excuses about her faith she does try to be the best Christian she can be… which is how it should be you know? Why some Christians are content to just slip into heaven or make excuses for their faith is something I simply can’t understand.

If she doesn’t have much longer on this earth, I will miss her. But I’m comforted when I realize that I’ll see her again in heaven. The reality is, that our physical life is small compared to the eternal life we will all experience whether our final destination is heaven or hell…

Green Day: Time of Your Life
Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why
It’s not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it’s worth it was worth all the while.

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life

It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right,
I hope you had the time of your life.

Update on trackback and pingback spam

Aynaria 9 Comments

Even though it was enabled for less than a day…

WP-Blackcheck

 

WP-Blackcheck did an excellent job of eliminating the trackback/pingback spam I receive, don’t you think? It blocked 2,309 trackback spam comments. As you can see, seven spam comments actually made it into my spam folder. However that spam was manually entered by a person. Anti-spam plugins won’t stop a real person from leaving a spammy comment. However since a persons first comments are always moderated on this site, they won’t ever make an appearance on Celebrate Life.

WP-Blackcheck-statistics. 382013 81344 AM

 

If I want to check out the Blocked comments this is what I see.

I most likely will test out a few other Plugins that do a similar job and keep the one that I like the most. I could always disable trackbacks completely, but presently I’m unsure if that’s what I want to do.

I hate captcha

 

For non-trackback spam, I could use Captcha to catch the autospammers… but I think Captcha is annoying! Don’t get me started on the illegible Captcha codes! I really dislike seeing it on sites that I follow! So why in the world would I add it to mine? Nope, not happening. Leaving a comment on a Captcha site, means one more thing I have to fill out just to comment on a persons site! Why oh why do some people want others to jump through extra hoops just to comment? Oh my goodness, don’t they know how annoying that can be?

I must say it’s a huge relief not seeing a whole bunch of spam waiting for me when I log into the admin panel.

Updating my theme

I use paid themes for my business sites, but haven’t gotten around to making the switch with this site, but that’s about to change. I’m really impressed with the FlexSqueeze theme. Sire has mentioned it a lot on his blog and I’ve decided to purchase it at the end of this month which will be about the time that I’ll be setting up a small site for my daughter so she can have a place to show her stop motion videos.

Since Sire has done a great job of promoting FlexSqueeze and he actually uses the product, I’ll purchase it through his affiliate link.

 

 

Simple: Tomato Soup

Aynaria 6 Comments

My daughter loves tomato soup, simple to make but oh so flavorful…

Homemade tomato soup
Homemade tomato soup

 

After school, my daughter said she wasn’t that hungry so I made her a light meal. Since I know tomato soup is one of her favorite soups and she hasn’t had it in a while, I surprised her with a flavorful bowl of tomato soup.

The tomatoes were grown in our garden, they’d been harvested and stashed away in the freezer. Freshly juiced carrot juice was added to the soup, along with fresh lemon juice (to taste).  A few cloves of garlic/ginger were ground. I let that simmer for a bit and then added some  seasonings and a few chunks of her favorite cheddar cheese. Since the soup was hot, the cheese melted quickly and it was ready for her to eat. A simple meal but my daughter loves it, and it never lasts.

A drop in spam…

Aynaria 9 Comments

When I started (actively) blogging in late 2003 (or was that early 2004?) I didn’t have too much issue with spam, however as my sites became older and gained traffic I also experienced an increase in spam.

I-hate-spamFast forward to the present and the amount of spam I get is ridiculous. Easily over 800+ spammers daily! I’ve written about my dislike of spam before.

Even though the spam rarely makes it’s way on my site, I still find it annoying to see it in my admin panel!

There are many tools available to combat spam and over the years, I’ve tried many.

Earlier today, I did some behind the scenes maintenance to help me combat spam. I renamed my comments.php file and included a few additional rules in my .htaccess file.

Since trackback and pingbacks are the #1 way I receive spam comments, I also installed the  WordPress plugin WP-BlackCheck.  Even though it’s only been a few hours, I’ve noticed a decrease in the amount of spam I see in my admin panel. The developer is Stargazer, check them out at their site. I’ll keep an eye on the Plugin, but thus far I’m thrilled to see hardly spam in my comments queue.

Are you having issues with my plugins? I’ve logged out and sent some test comments and everything appears to be working properly. But if you run into any issues, send me a note and let me know if you’re experiencing any problems.

Brother PC-420 PRW; sewing through bulky fabrics…

Aynaria 4 Comments

Besides the fun aspects of sewing, like creating and designing clothes, sometimes you have to do a bit of maintenance. Over the past week, I’ve done my fair share with pants alterations for my father. I finished the pant legs using the blind hem stitch on my PC-420 PRW.

About an hour ago, I did some more sewing maintenance… this time for my daughter.

My Brother PC-420 sewed through multiple layers of fabric without issue.
My Brother PC-420 sewed through multiple layers of fabric without issue.

 

The front panels of her uniform had come undone and so I sewed that back into place.

My daughter was pleased that her book bag was repaired.
My daughter was pleased that her book bag was repaired.

 

Additionally, her book bag was coming apart at the top of the bag. It’s been repaired.

At times she likes to yank on the bag to tug it out of tight places. Naturally that puts stress on that area, and over time some of the seams came undone. She’s stopped doing that, since I told her not to do that, but I still needed to repair her book bag. I must say, that this store bought book bag was poorly constructed, but that’s a rant for another day…

I was pleased that my Brother PC420, was able to sew through multiple layers of fabric and padding without an issue. In hindsight, I should have taken “before” pictures to accompany the “after” photos.

Presser foot
Presser foot

Brother PC-420 PRW: How to sew over multiple layers of fabric.

  1. Locate the black button on the presser foot.
  2. If you’re already sewing –  Stop sewing (right before you start to sew over thick or multiple layer fabric stop sewing).
  3. Raise your presser foot. If you’re already sewing and getting ready to sew over multiple thickness make sure the needle is in the down position (needle still inserted into the fabric).
  4. Push in the black button in before you lower the presser foot. This button holds the presser foot level. When the presser foot is supported by the fabric, the black button will pop out again.

Edited to add…

Don’t forget to use the appropriate needle for sewing through thicker fabrics. I use a 90/14 or 100/16 for the fabrics above.

 

Vegetable noodle stir fry; A bit of this and that…

Aynaria 4 Comments

Last evenings dinner was a lazy meal for us. I tossed a few ingredients in the wok and my daughter ate it quickly.

Vegetable noodle stir fry
Vegetable noodle stir fry

 

I’m not sure what I call this dish… perhaps a vegetable noodle stir fry?

I fried an egg in a little bit of olive oil in my wok. After the egg was done,   I added diced garlic, ginger, and chopped broccoli and cauliflower. I let that cook for a few minutes and then added the wheat free pasta. My daughter loved this simple dish and has already put in a request for it again later this week.

I have a picture to share, since I remembered to take a picture before  I served the food.  I usually remember after the food has been eaten by my daughter. She comes back for seconds and sometimes thirds.  Since she’s skinny, I ask her, where are you putting that food? She has a high metabolism, just like me.

 

Mung bean sprouts
Mung bean sprouts

 

Look, the sprouts are coming along nicely. We sprout a variety of seeds, but these are mung beans. Sprouts are a favorite in our household. We mainly eat them raw.

Black Sheep: The Choice is Yours