Tuesday

Help! This Blogging Thing is not Easy!

You could end up pulling your hair out over this thing called BLOGGING.

AT THE START
 you think it's all about getting a



set up and big query is


Blogger or Wordpress?


My decision was based on
1. My son's blog was on blogger and so he could help me.
2. Our Church Website (which I help with) is on Wordpress and it drove me demented about how when I typed something in and then looked at the page neither the spacing nor size of font ever seemed to be what I had intended and pictures just seemed to go where they wanted to go and not where I tried to place them.

So I chose Blogger.
Then now over a year and a half later my husband tells me that the blogging template in wordpress might be easier to work with than the website template.  Thank you Fred for helping me sooner!!!!

Then my son tells me that there are ads on Wordpress that the blogger will not see on their blogs, so I would not be happy with that.




NEXT
after you have the blog set up you only think you have to think about what content you will put in your posts. When you get settled in to that you have to decide how often you will post to your blog.

But you haven't really got to the main hurdles yet because if you wanted to start a blog you must have had a good idea as to what the content would be and how much inspiration you have leads to how often you post.  Not necessarily!  But let's say yes you know your content and have decided how many posts each week and you have the ideas.


Then you realize there are not very many people reading this blog because even though the "whole world" can get use of the internet not everyone has discovered your blog among the millions of others.

What do you have to do to get it seen out there?


THAT'S WHEN
we start posting on facebook and twitter, provided we already have accounts, if not we have to start learning to use these sites.  Lots will even make a page on facebook to get likes and hopefully blog followers through that as well.

Everyday you need to post and tweet your blog.

So your computer will never look like this!


NEXT
you hear people talking about "oh you need to be in circles and so that means you need to get on Google Plus and it you are like me you have held out for some time because you don't really want to have to learn something new at the moment because you are rather busy with everything else.

But eventually you give in and you are then hooked into gathering people up to be in your circles and getting offended if people do not put you in their circles.


AND THAT'S NOT ALL
you have to be pinning all the time because by now you have heard that everyone should know that Pinterest is the best place to get traffic to your blog.  So your nice little pinterest boards which you had set up for your own interest now have to not only cater to you but be attractive to others so that they will follow lots of your boards and then see the pins linking to your blog and start to visit your blog and then like it because it is as attractive as your pinterest boards and then they will come back often to your blog.



Oh and then you should gather Instagram followers as well - but I definitely drew the line here and Instagram is staying personal for me.


AND THAT IS STILL NOT ALL
there are communities on google plus, groups on facebook, special Pinterest boards for groups of bloggers, and then something called Stumble Upon which I have neither stumbled upon or went looking for (yet).


AND OF COURSE BY NOW
1. you have discovered that your blog post should be full of very good pictures so you need to go take masses of photos

#BigBlackWedding

and adapt them to use on your blog



or find places on the internet to get free pics.



or start learning to create your own pictures





2. you have heard of the words "blog hop" & "linky" and you decide to google this and then your life is never the same because not only do you have to join in with loads of these but you find all these other blog posts on these linkys that you want to read
     



  3. you have realised that you are getting more comments than you thought you would but that takes more of your time because you have to read them and answer them.


BY NOW
you have wondered why you started this in the first place because it looks like it could take over your life and you have to be careful in conversations with others or else you will talk about blogs you have read and what you are doing on your blog too much.




AND THAT IS WHEN
you find out that other blogs with less traffic than yours are making money and everyone in the groups etc. are talking about sponsorship and ads and promotion and you have to take the big decision

DO I MONETIZE MY BLOG?????

I never in all my life thought I would use the word 
MONETIZE







BUT










Sunday

Why We Worship 24





I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"


This is Trinity Sunday

                so there is no doubt as to what we should consider today.






This is often a difficult thing for us to comprehend.


I actually think it is harder to explain the Trinity in words than to believe it in your heart.


We have a Godhead which is:  


3 in 1  and  1 in 3






God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are mentioned often in the Bible.


They have different roles which means that we are never alone, are always under the blood and we can bask in the Father's Love.









I think it is wonderful to be included in the Father's love, be cleansed by the blood of the Son and have the Holy Spirit teach and guide us. 



In our church one of the things I love the most is the fact that we end each service with the Grace, extending this blessing on each other as we leave.







I think it's wonderful to have the Father's Love, be cleansed by the blood of the Son and to have the Holy Spirit teach and guide us.



Do you think of The Trinity when when you mention God or simply God the Father?







Friday

Organising The Medicine Cabinet & The Smallest Room in the House


My husband Fred had Food Poisoning which we presume he got in Azerbaijan on a business trip or on the plane on the way home.  So because of this and because of some medical type things I discovered in the garage last month it made more sense to do the back toilet first this month as that is where our Medicine Cabinet is.






Yes it is as simple as that; sometimes I need to be flexible.


So I started by creating my TOILET OVERHAUL list
on the iPad Pocket Lists App which now looks rather different to before in both the icon and the content.

Pocket Lists App

Unfortunately this week I had to take that drastic step of updating to ios7 and if you read a certain post from last year you would know that this then was a very sad week for me, but it had to happen as without it I could not update some of my apps.


Isn't the screenshot so bland compared to previous ones and so pale as well?   Rotten update to this app.





Well as you can see above even for such a small room I had 18 items on my list.

No way this room would be done in a couple of hours!

No way this room would be done in one day  -  all my time in any day is not going to be given over to housework and organising.


So armed with my cleaning kit and trusty steamer I got started.

I got the boring bits out of the way (you know the cleaning of the toilet etc.) and then it was time to reorganise the Medicine Cabinet and I just brightened up because those things are far more interesting to me than washing and cleaning and dusting and hoovering.






This is the Funwork part!



While I was rearranging I was of course checking dates of items and throwing out things and making out a list of things I would need to get to replenish my store.






I was pleased with it when I was finished because I took out some of the more bulky things and some other things that didn't sit so well on the narrow shelves and thought of somewhere else to put these plus the face masks that I had found in the garage (brand new provided by Fred's work but he had kept them in a travel bag in the garage).





So what was my idea for storing these things?

Simply to put them in the underused drawers and cupboards of the vanity unit in the same room.

You see this room is really only used for two things

          1.  Medicine Cabinet
          2.  Recycling

It is not really used as a bathroom because we have two ensuites and a bathroom so why need another one and have to always be cleaning a fourth toilet?


Up until now there was hardly anything in the cupboards and the drawers but that was going to change.






The drawers took some of those not too large items but ones that didn't sit so easily on the shelves of the Medicine cabinet






and the cupboard shelves took the larger health items.


There is also still some room for a few things I need to get like gel cooling pads. 


Then I decided to store the extra towels for this room in the vanity unit (brown top right), the toilet rolls went in there too as they had been in a basket but it has got rather grubby and finding out how to clean it is the first item on my ToDo list for this room now.


Of course I hope you have noticed the packet of wipes (green top left) which are very important in each room as you may remember from a previous post  5 Things to Make the Housework Easy  and the vinegar (bottom left).


Well after most of the overhaul list had been done it was





Then back the next day to finish off.

Things like cleaning the window blind and the light shade and the radiator were still to be done and sometimes these are the types of things that we can overlook so make sure you have them on your list and then you won't forget them.

And before I could do my inventory for this room I wanted to do the ToDo list.
It is not very long but does include a rather annoying thing.


 The people who owned the house before us had put up two hooks above the window probably to put up some kind of drape.   The walls are completely tiled (not absolutely ghastly but not as nice as all the rest of the tiles in the house) so this means they put up two sticky backed hooks.





But

why couldn't they have put up two hooks that were the same 

and

 at the same height?






So my main ToDo is to find out the best way to remove these hooks.


Any bright ideas?


If you have had to do something similar and are now an expert in this please leave me a comment to help me.

I you have noticed anything online that might guide me please leave me a comment.

I need help here!












     

Wednesday

Standing not Sitting - A Dose of Encouragement

     
  There is a seaside resort called Portrush on the northern coastline of Northern Ireland, which has a headland jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean.  This area is called Ramore Head and all along the shore are beautiful but rugged rocks.




         

When we were living in the State of Delaware in America many years ago we took a trip to visit seven of the north-eastern states; and there in the smallest state of Rhode Island, in the picturesque town of Newport, we found the same type of rugged shoreline as at Ramore Head.  

         We stood on the rocks, sat on the rocks, took photographs, and laughed in the breeze that was blowing in from over the ocean - we felt "at home" on these rocks.


            Perhaps it was because of these memories, that a picture the Lord gave me a few months later in church one Sunday morning, seemed to really touch me deeply.  

I saw a figure of a man, tall and dark, standing on a rock facing out over the ocean. Even though the wind was blowing strongly, this person was standing firm. 

I was sure this man felt secure as he stood on that rock.






              
There is only one rock that we can be secure on and that is the Lord our God.  


Several times in the bible we read that God is our rock. 

I like the personal touch in 2 Samuel 22 v 2 where David started his song of praise to God (after he was delivered from Saul) with the phrase:


                                    “The Lord is my rock”   






and also in Psalm 31 v 3  where he says


                        “Yea Thou art my rock and my fortress”.  (RSV)







          So what type of a rock is our God?  

Well in the picture I saw a large, firmly placed rock that gave a good foothold.  There was no fear of stumbling or sliding off; the rock was good enough for the man to stand steady and at peace in the wind. 

I believe that illustrates the type of rock our God is!  He’s dependable, solid, firm, sure and steadfast; we need have no fear of anything else when we have such a foundation to stand on.

As I considered the picture, I sensed the most important thing was that this man was not sitting, but standing on the rock.    He was standing firm, standing boldly, not being swayed by the wind; not sitting/crouching scared of the wind.  

In Ephesians ch. 6 we read about the armour of God, each part of it is important but Paul stresses three times that we must not only put on the armour but we must also stand

·         We need to be able to stand against the devil’s schemes v.11

·         We need to be able to stand our ground and after we've done everything else to still stand v. 13

·         We must stand firm v. 14             

            We are exhorted to stand not sit, perhaps because sitting might lead us to relax (let our minds wander and not be alert) when God is really saying:


                        “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”
                                                                                                1 Cor. 16 v 13   







           
The man in the picture I saw definitely seemed to feel "at home" on the rock. 








Do you feel "at home" on the rock?

Are you putting all your trust in God?




Sunday

Why We Worship 23





I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"


This is Pentecost Sunday

                so there is no doubt as to what we should consider today.




  

This is probably one of the hardest things for us to comprehend.


We are so used to everybody having a physical being 

but God is not a physical being 

He is a Spirit.



We can't see a spirit, we can't reach out and touch a spirit, 

we cannot fully understand what a spirit is.






But something we do know is God's Word and in the Bible it clearly states that we must

                                             
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth.


We must worship Him in line with these two attributes that belong to Him.










From this we can know that we have a spirit too because if we were only a physical being God could not require this of us.  


              
What a great privilege we have to be like God and be 

invited to worship Him.







Did you worship God today?











Wednesday

In Sickness & In Health - A Dose of Encouragement

My post today is late because

                I have a sick husband.






Monday morning after a long night's sleep of approx 11 hours hubby gets up feeling ok but the hint of a headache which could simply be from him having had a long sleep after such a short sleep the previous night between two flights on his way home to Northern Ireland from Azerbaijan.





He makes the usual breakfast of tea, toast and banana, sits down at the table, takes one bite and a sip of tea and suddenly pushes the chair back and says I feel awful.  After taking an advil for his head and starting to feel shaky he heads back to bed.  About half an hour later he feels extremely hot when I touch his forehead but he claims he is so so cold.  He doesn't even want a drink or some paracetamol because he feels sick.

He just wants to lie flat in bed.

Later  -  No lunch.

The thought of food makes him feel sick and then he vomits and also has diarrhea.

By 2.00pm he has a temperature of 99.86 and then vomits again so I think the temperature will have gone down but no at 2.30pm it is 103.1.

We continue with paracetamol and frequent sips of water but there are several more bouts of this 'double sickness' with his temperature ranging from 101 to 103 all day long.

During the night we seldom get it below 102 and I stay awake checking him every half hour  -  I have never seen him so ill.

In the morning at 8am it is 103 again and I ring the doctor as soon as surgery is open.

By this time our children who are all in different parts of the world (keeping in touch with us via Kakaotalk) have discovered that Malaria is increasing again in Azerbaijan and that dad should get checked for that.


Now we live in a small town


The view from our bedroom window


and the doctors here probably do not have people ringing up often saying


"just back from a country that has a risk of Malaria and I've a temp of 103 
with vomiting and diarrhea"


 but trying to be calm our doctor checks his manual and yes he sees about malaria and Azerbaijan but the symptoms could also be for any infection so he can't prescribe until Fred gets blood tests etc. done.

So he has to get out of bed, washed, dressed, and I drive him to the surgery.

Doctor checks everything about him including his heart and sends him to the treatment room where at least he is allowed to be seen before the 15 or more people already sitting waiting.

During blood tests for a variety of things which they don't even name to him, they are not sure which type of container the blood for the malaria test should go into.


So here is the proof that in Banbridge, Northern Ireland 
they don't take blood for Malaria testing
 every day or week or year.


I am very tired by this stage but don't want to sleep because I still don't like the state of him even if the doctor said his temperature was normal.  And it certainly doesn't stay normal as he goes through more bouts of this awful sickness through the day.

Later that evening Fred tells me they said the results of all the tests should be back by Friday morning - this was Tuesday.  I am not too happy about this as he is so sick and weak and such a bad colour.

He wants to sleep and insists that I sleep during the night so I only check on him every 2 hours and sleep on the couch downstairs where I would hear him if he called.  Temp is around 101 all night.





THEN
Doctor rings the house at 8.30am  to ask how he is and is obviously concerned when he hears the vomiting and diarrhea is not any less frequent but still doesn't want to prescribe anything until the results are through which he hopes might be Thursday instead.

Then at 9.30am the temperature goes to 102 again followed by another bout of sickness.

2 more bouts later and then he asks me when I think he will be able to fly out to Morocco (which is his next business trip and he should have been leaving today) as he sits up in the bed to make a phone call to change his flight.


If that was me in the bed having gone through all of that there is no way I would be asking when I should fly out I would simply be saying I have to cancel that trip altogether.


Sometimes I am so proud of my husband and sometimes I just shake my head at him but on this occasion I didn't know which way to be.


Then at 4pm the doctor rings again  -  some results are back.


Not Malaria

It's Food Poisoning.


Antibiotic to be collected and the Environmental Health authorities will be ringing us
 because it is a notifiable illness.


Off I go to get the antibiotics and get the first dose into him.

A little later as I lie at the foot of the bed and he is sitting up for a few minutes.

He says



And I just smile as I think, yes I suppose it is, 
but I had just done what he needed; 

I didn't consider it a duty.


What do people do in these situations where for a few days or much longer, they are very ill and the doctors don't know what is wrong straight away?

How do they cope when they see temperatures that are high and their loved ones iller than they have ever been before?


I don't know.


I only know what we do.

We pray.

We pray because we trust God to hear us 
and know he cares about us.

We pray because there is no-one else who can do more for us than God can.




I hope you turn to God in all circumstances too.












Sunday

Why We Worship 22




I am taking time each week to ask myself "Why we worship"

A chorus that we sing and a memory verse we learn as children tells us that


  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.



And today I want to think about truth.





Perhaps one way to think about it is to consider the opposite of true which is false. 


So we can say that God is not false.



God has no lies in Him


          God has no deceit in Him


                    God has no evil in Him

                                             
Also it means that God is not a false God.



God is not an imitation God


          God is not an idol or image


                    God is not the wrong God




God is the right God


God is the true, living God.





When Jesus was praying to His Father (in John chapter 17) on behalf of the ones who would trust in Him He described God the Father as the only true God.

The verse above also tells us that knowing God, the only true God is what it means to have Eternal life.







We mostly tend to talk about Eternal life as the life we have after we die and that living forever is the main goal or reward for a Christian but here Jesus is saying that


it is not 


living forever that we should be looking forward to 

but  

instead it is knowing God

and 

surely that must start 
in this life







Do you know this one true living God?

Do you know the right God?