Are You a Latte, Bubble Tea, Smoothie, or Espresso?

For my last quiz of the summer... 

Are You a Latte, Bubble Tea, Smoothie, or Espresso?

(School started on Monday. I have a gig. I'll talk about it next week.) 

I got Latte: 

You're calm, comforting, and quietly powerful. People feel at ease around you, and you bring a sense of balance to chaos. You may not shout the loudest, but your energy speaks volumes. Like a latte, you're warm, steady, and low-key luxurious.

Eh, I don't think so. But, there were a lot of things in the quiz that weren't ideal for me to choose, so of course it'd be off. 

Which one did you get? Do you agree with the findings?  

13 Memes/Blog Hops

I've been doing Thursday 13 for a while now. There are a bunch of other blog hops and memes floating around the blogosphere, too. I thought I'd see if I could find 13. I did. Some of these you might be familiar with, some of these you might not. 

1. A to Z Challenge: When April rolls around, the blogosphere seems to wake up (at least for a week or two) while everyone blogs along to the alphabet, a letter a day (excluding Sundays). 

2. Insecure Writer's Support Group: The first Wednesday of every month, writers are encouraged to write about their insecurities so that they can get support from their fellow writers. A monthly question is provided for a launching off point, but it is optional. 

3. Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: On the 15th of the month, gardeners are encouraged to post pictures of the blooms in their gardens, or inside, because winter (hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens).

4. Shadow Shot Sunday: On Sundays, post a picture of a shadow. So many creative ways to see the shadows around us (hosted by Lisa at This and That). 

5. Sunday Stealing: From the blog: "we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions."

6. Sunday Stamps: Weekly themes for those that collect stamps (or just have a large collection). 

7. Music Moves Me: On Mondays bloggers are encouraged to post music on their blogs. The link is to the themes for each Monday, although bloggers aren't required to post to the theme of the day. 

8. Wordless Wednesday: From the blog: "a simple blog post featuring a photo which conveys a message that speaks for itself without using words." 

9. Wednesday Words: For this one, you are given a prompt of a list of words. The challenge is to use them in a story or post of some kind. It was started by one blogger, but now the prompts are farmed out to several bloggers. It appears that Elephant's Child has the current links, although the most recent prompt appears to be here. 

10. Thursday Postcard Hunt: Same link as for Sunday Stamps as the monthly theme for this one is in the same sidebar. Same idea as the stamps--postcards with the theme of the day. 

11. Skywatch Friday: Take a picture of your local skies, share it with people from all over the world. 

12. Friday 5: Five questions each Friday. Answer the questions on your own blog. 

13. Saturday 9: This is similar to Friday 5, only the 9 questions have to do with a song. (It appears that the questions are posted on Thursdays, giving you plenty of time to have the post ready for Saturday.) 

What other blog hops or memes are there? I know there are way more than these. 

Using Pages

For my last blogging tips post of the summer, I'm going to compile all my posts onto a page for ease of finding. 

(Our first day of school was Monday, and I managed to snag an assignment, so next week my posts will return to the substitute teaching of it all.) 

In case you weren't aware, you can create static pages, like a blog post, but filed separately. It's a great way to stash information out of the way of the daily posts, but within easy reach for when it's needed (like a press kit for a writer or a spot where you can keep track of the blog hops you're involved with). 

My pages appear at the top of the blog, just under my title. 

To add pages to your blog, go under "Layout" and then click on "Add a Gadget". 

Then find "Pages". 

Following the instructions, you can place the pages where you'd like. But, in my case, the pages already exist, so I'm going to just add one. 

It's easy. It just looks like the "Posts" page, only it's under "Pages". I clicked on "New Page".

And I got a blank page that looked exactly like a post, only with fewer settings. 

I created a page with links to all the posts I did this summer about various blogging topics. At the moment it's pretty bare bones, but I can go in later and spruce it up. Just like editing a blog post, you can modify the page and "Update" it. But the page is not up and live on the blog yet. I have to put it there. 

First I went into "Pages" from "Layout".

I clicked on "Edit". (It's hard to see with these small images, so click on them to make them bigger.) And I got: 

I clicked on "Add a New Item". You'll notice that I can reposition my pages to the sidebar if I choose. I happen to like them under my header, so they'll stay there. 

Under "Add a New Item", I got a blank form. I clicked on "Page name" and that list popped up. I clicked on "Beyond Blogging Basics", the title I gave the page, and the URL popped up. Then I clicked "Save". 

And now the page is there. As it's configured now, the page is last. Do I want to keep it there? I can use the arrows to move it. 

I think I want my A to Z completion trophies last. And... I played with it a bit, took a look at how things looked on the blog live, and then I decided on: 

I put it third. I think that works. For now, anyway. 

I mean, it's really easy to change. So, if I decide I don't like it there, I can modify it later. 

So, go ahead, scroll back to the top of this post, and click on it. You'll find a list of all my about blogging posts in an easy to reference spot. 

Do you have pages on your blog? If not, have I now given you ideas? 

Protecting the Kids

Yesterday was the first day of school. I managed to snag a long-term assignment for a vacant art class (I'll talk more about this next week), and I asked for and was granted an extra day to get things set up. Of course, this was the big welcome back meeting day, and like last year, I got to attend. 

One of the points that came up during the meeting was what to do if ICE shows up at our campus. And... That this even has to be discussed just sucks big time. 

The school is in a highly "brown" neighborhood. Lots of Latinos. (And there's a large middle eastern population, too.) So, yeah, with the crazy masked kidnappers around, we have to be cautious. 

Someone on social media made the point that what the regime is doing is not due to strength but due to weakness. They're trying to consolidate power. Which is why it's important for us to resist them, even in little ways, so they have to work harder to get less done. 

I just wish more people in power were resisting, rather than rolling over and letting the regime get away with its many atrocities. 

Oh, and by the way, there's a change.org petition for impeachment. In case you're interested. 

Other articles I stumbled across recently: 

• Bessent says new Trump child savings accounts are ‘back door for privatizing Social Security’
• ICE Is Extremely Desperate for You to Work for Them
• Following ICE Raid, Mill Town Fights Back Against Local Police Cooperation

How to Knit Your Water Bottle a Sleeve

About a year ago I had an idea for my next YouTube video. I had knit some covers for my water bottles ages ago, but I love them and use them all the time. 

Once upon a time I wrote it up as a pattern. But it is kind of complicated. It would make an excellent video.

I started filming October 20th (2024). I finished the last clip on June 17th. In between, I had to rip out and redo it a couple times. I made some glaring errors. At one point I had a cold, and you can hear me sniffling on camera. 

It's finally been edited together (by my amazing brother), and I just uploaded it to my channel. Here it is. 

It is over an hour long, so only sit down to watch it if you're interested in knitting yourself one. (They are fun. It's worth the effort.) 

Portmanteau Quiz

Now that Quizly gives me daily quizzes, it's much easier for me to find quizzes for Fridays. It's also much easier to navigate than some of the other sites. 

However, it also has a lot of ads. And pop ups. Which isn't so great. 

This week, I'm linking to a quiz on portmanteau. In case you're unfamiliar, a portmanteau is when they combine two other words to give a word with a new meaning. For example, if you take web, as in world wide web, and combine it with log, as in that book that ship's captains write in, and smash them together, you get blog. Yeah, blog is a portmanteau. 

Portmanteau Quiz 

I did rather well on this one, 18 out of 20. I'm happy with that score. 

Let me know how you did in the comments. 

The Oooh 13

Not sure what to list for today, I went to Pinterest and found the first 13 knit/crochet pins that made me go "oooh". (This is a Thursday 13.) 

So, this wasn't the first 13 as some of the pins didn't lead anywhere. And what usually makes me go "oooh" is something I want to figure out how to make. I followed each pin to a website that had instructions. Most of these pins are to paid patterns, so the links are to Etsy or Ravelry where I could purchase the pattern if I was to do so. (Maybe eventually. When I'm ready to make them.) 

This ended up being a little dragon heavy. I'm okay with that. 

1. Curvy Sleeping Dragon Amigurumi

2. Snail Shell Hat

3. Fairy Queen Coat Pattern

4. Comet

5. Crochet Spiral Square

6. Large Pocket Dragon

7. Cowl Crochet Pattern

8. Crochet Dragon Wrap

9. Stuffed Knit F-Bomb

10. Anton the Armadillo

11. Fable Pixie Hood

12. Triweave Crochet Stitch

13. Knit Net Stitch