Recycled Mini Greenhouses

&Stitches Magazine posted a challenge to crafters to show them our embroidery tool kits. Mine is my Born to Stitch tote bag I stitched up a couple of years ago, tri-fold wallet with elastic to hold pens, stylus, and seam ripper, and my Mason jar pin cushion that doubles as a way to hold the embroidery floss I’m using for each project.

The tote bag holds everything plus whichever embroidery project I’m working on at the time. I would like to find a plastic Mason jar (instead of the plastic I’m currently using). Until I do, I’m just super careful when I carry it around!

What’s in your tool kit?

I’ve had my hot glue gun for 24 years, since 1989. This beauty is the only one I’ve ever owned – how’s that for longevity and utility?!

She’s an Emhart Thermogrip Cordless Glue Gun, model #TG-C. As far as I can see online, you can’t get this particular model anymore. In the throw away society we seem to live in, it’s pretty amazing that an electrical device such as this is still functioning after all these years! I’ll tell you what, she heats up HOT! In fact, I was gluing something right after I shot this picture, and I burned the pad of my index finger!

Have you noticed how I refer to my hot glue gun as a “she”? I’ve always done that, although I don’t have a proper name for her. I think something old fashioned would be perfect.

What name do you think I should call her?

Do you have a crafting tool you’ve had for a long time?

I was surprised to learn that as of July 1st Google Reader will be retired. It’s such a regular part of my life, that it didn’t occur to me that it wasn’t as popular as I thought it was! You can read about this change, and many more, on the Official Google Blog. Lucky for you, I’ve found a fantastic alternative in Feedly!

Feedly makes it easy to connect to your Google Reader – it transfers over all of your feeds, in the folders you have them, and all of your saved posts. And, when Google Reader does shut down, all of your information is saved in Feedly!

Make sure you’re logged in to your Goggle account and click Connect to Google Reader. Click Allow Acccess, and, voila!

I use the Moai theme, set to “Today” in Prefs. This means that the first thing I’m seeing are the newest and most popular blog posts from today. Although this isn’t how I use a blog reader, I’ve kept it that way because I think it’s interesting to see what’s new and popular.

I prefer to read blog posts by category. I think it must be because I’m a librarian, or it could be a little bit of OCD…but I don’t want to read about neat craft projects in one post, then the next is technology tips, followed by a job opening. But that’s okay! All you have to do is click on the bolded folder headings to the left. Once you do that, you can peruse that particular section. After testing out all of the Views (Title Only View, which is how we saw it in Google reader, Magazine View, Cards View, and Full Article View), I’ve discovered that I like the Cards View the best.

When you click on one of the articles, the full post pops up. One thing I don’t like is that once you’ve scrolled to the end of the blog post pop up, you have to go all the way back to the top to close it.

It’s super easy to share posts, and services include: Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Buffer, or email. The Facebook share goes to your personal profile. By using Buffer (it looks like a stack of papers), you’re also able to share to your Page. Additionally, by upgrading your account, you can link the post to multiple social networks at once. This costs $10 a month, which is too costly for me right now with how little I’d probably use it. After signing up for Buffer, I got a nice email from Joel of Buffer, and I thought that was a nice touch.

Adding and discovering new blogs in Feedly is easy. Click the magnifying glass towards the upper right of your feed. You can click on the different categories to see top blogs, or type in a URL. I typed in Random Acts of Amy in the search box, and my blog did not come it, although a whole bunch of other blogs with “random acts of” or “Amy” came up in the results. It appears as though only blogs with at least 1,000 followers will show up. When I typed in my URL http://randomactsofamy.com, I did show up (phew!).

Feedly comes as an app for iOS and Android, too. I have an iPhone 4S, and I’ve been using the app for a few days. Like the website, the app is super easy to use. For blog reading, though, I like to read them in the reader online instead of on my small phone screen.

I give Feedly a big thumbs up. In fact, I like Feedly better than Google Reader! Isn’t it amazing how that happens? I was upset when I hear Google Reader was ending, but I ended up finding an even better service because of it.

What feed reader do you use?
Are you going to give Feedly a try?

Next up, I’ll review Bloglovin. I need to use it for a couple of weeks to get a feel for the pluses and minuses to it. Stay tuned!

Todd and I put an offer on the above house, and it was accepted! This homebuying process is more intense than it was in the last houses I bought. Besides our Realtor, we had to also get an attorney, which I didn’t have to do before.

Our closing date in June 26th, and I’m trying not to worry about every little thing that could go wrong. Our Realtor is confident, our mortgage broker is confident, and Todd is confident. Me? I’m stuck on the 1,001 things that could go wrong! We have to give notice at our rented townhome by May 15th, which is a month and a half before our closing date (chosen by us because of our lease). What if something goes wrong between the time we give notice and the day we’re supposed to close??!!

I’m trying really hard not to worry too much, but’s a struggle for me! I’ve started packing up our place; this is going to be a loooong process. As I’m going through our stuff, I’m also weeding out the things we don’t want to keep enough to move. It will be nice to move less belongings.

Do you have moving tips?

Do you see that handsome fellow?! Doesn’t it look like he’s smiling at me? This is Jojo, a silverback Gorilla at the Brookfield Zoo. Todd and I participated in a Wild Encounter called Great Ape Escape through the Zoo. It was really neat because Todd and I were the only people in the group. Within the first 5 minutes of arriving, I was standing less than a foot away from Jojo and three females! I fed Jojo and Kamba each cups of orange juice…as in, I held the cups up to their mouths and tipped the cup for them to drink (through their pens).

I was in Heaven!

We didn’t get to touch any of the gorillas (darn!), and we weren’t allowed to take pictures while participating (double darn!!). These photos are from afterwards, before the Zoo filled up with people, and we had Jojo’s, Koola’s, Kamba’s, and Binti’s undivided attention. They’re all shot on my iPhone 4S.

Todd & I with Jojo in the Background

It was an amazing experience to be able to get as up close and personal as we were able to! After feeding them their orange juice, we threw vegetables all over their enclosure so that they could forage for it throughout the day.

The Ladies: Binti, Koola, and Kamba

See that picture above? Todd and I were IN there, before the Gorillas. It’s H U G E!

Koola, the highest ranking female

Koola was playing with that stick in her hand, breaking it into smaller pieces, and eating off the bark. She was using her hands, feet, and even her head to break it.

I’d love to be able to do something like this with Chimpanzees. Brookfield Zoo doesn’t have them, but Lincoln Park Zoo does. There’s a good possibility that I’d pass out from excitement if I ever got to be as close to chimps as I was to the gorillas

As you’ve probably figured out, I’m crazy for Great Apes.

What animal is your favorite?
What animal would you want to interact with,
given the chance?

Did you know that my son Logan is a published author? Yep. He sure is! At the end of 2012/beginning of 2013 he wrote three full length novels called The Trifectus Series. They are Beginnings, Homecoming, and Revelations. I am beyond proud of him!

Yesterday he was accepted by Kickstarter! This is a big deal. Currently, the Trifectus series is available only through the Amazon Kindle Marketplace. Logan wants to use the money from his Kickstarter campaign to:

Distribute the books in a paperback format.  He’s going to use Amazon’s Createspace service to make all three books into a paperback format ready for sale and distribution through Amazon.  This will allow him to take the next step and propel the series into a whole new direction.  With this plan though, come fees.  He has it broken thusly, but are not limited to:

• Three ISBNs for each book.  A printed version ISBN, an Amazon Kindle version ISBN, and an ePUB ISBN for other distribution.
• Transforming my existing covers into covers for Createspace.
• Possible re-editing of book one.  A different person did book one than did books two and three, and I would like the editor of the final two to go through the first book and make any necessary changes before creating the paperback.
• Advertisement of the series.  I have been doing extensive advertising, but there are sites with paid promotion and sponsorship opportunities that could get my books and series out to a greater audience.  Anything leftover after the above mentioned needs and paying for rewards would go straight into advertising.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO LOGAN’S KICKSTARTER

Here’s a super cute picture of Logan from my wedding:We would greatly appreciate it if you would share this post and/or Logan’s Kickstarter page with your group of friends!

Filed under: Life, Read Tagged: 30lists, Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, Createspace, Kickstarter ]]> http://randomactsofamy.com/2013/03/13/life-my-causes/feed/ 0 albhenderson Logan Book Covers Logan bw http://randomactsofamy.com/2013/03/12/life-catching-up-on-30-days-of-lists/ http://randomactsofamy.com/2013/03/12/life-catching-up-on-30-days-of-lists/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 02:07:55 +0000 Amy Byrne-Henderson http://randomactsofamy.com/?p=4556 Continue reading »

I’ve missed a few days of 30 Days of Lists because of illness and injury. For the past couple of months, everyone around me, including my husband, has been dropping like flies with this coughing crud that seems to linger. I hadn’t caught it, which really surprised me since I seem to catch everything that comes along! I let a coworker use my pen, and I didn’t sanitize it afterwards. I started to feel lousy Wednesday night, and was down for the count by Thursday. On Friday, I changed the cat’s litter (like I have a thousand times before), and, as I bent over, something happened in my lower back. It’s starting to feel better now, but is still sore.

Needless to say, I’ve been a mess for almost a week! I’ve been living on Aleve, DayQuil, and NyQuil.

Instead of typing up my lists for the challenge, I wrote them out. I even made a few drawings! Check it out…I’m going to practice more with my handwriting, and I’m learning how to draw and doodle. I particularly like my mac and cheese and beach scene.

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Filed under: Life Tagged: 30 Days of Lists, 30lists, Comfort food ]]>

1. I’m really good at solving mysteries. I enjoy watching crime shows (real and made up), and I can usually figure out pretty quickly whodunit. Cozy mysteries, generally featuring crafting or older British ladies, are my favorite kinds of books to read.
2. I know when someone is lying to me. It’s best when the person is in front of me, but I can sometimes tell over the phone, too. Through the years, I’ve noticed that people tend to do a funny movement with their mouths when they lie.
3. I can bring a dying plant back to life. Like my mom, my thumbs and fingers are green.
4. I can put furniture from Ikea together, even when the instructions are in Swedish and sparsely written.
5. In my house, I’m the one who uses the tools. Need something installed? Is the water backing up in the drain? Let me get one of my three tool kits to help you out!
6. I have a fantastical imagination  While this can sometimes be a hinderance to me, it often serves me well, and I am very rarely bored.
7. I dream in color. And, my dreams are vivid, often recurring, and I can recall dreams I had when I was 15.
8. I’m a good embroiderer. I enjoy trying new things and connecting with the embroidery community.
9. I can pat my head and rub my belly.
10. I love so hard that my heart can hurt while my soul sings with joy.

What are your talents?