Blog-keeping

After all my work, I ended up changing the theme – again!  The last one was taking too long to load.  I used an out-of-the-box theme and made no changes to it, this time, because I spent too much time making the last one.

I am not 100% happy with it, but I never am.  I decided to leave it and spend the time blogging!  What is the point of having a nice looking blog, if you never post?

Here I announce that I am making changes to the blog and then I go and get the flu.  Well, I am mostly better now, so today I am making changes to the blog.

Things might look a little funny around here, but I promise it will all be over soon.

Then, I can concentrate on holiday craft blogging.  Yea!!

Changes are coming to All Things Hold Together.

The design of the blog does not really reflect the content, so I am going to update things and refine my focus.

This blog, origionally called “Crafty Mama,” started out as a craft blog.  Then, it morphed into a homeschooling blog, as well as a craft blog.  Then, I added posts about cooking and, eventually, about my life and my faith.

Of late, this blog has returned to its roots, as a crafting (and cooking, too!) blog.  That is where I want it to be.

So, over the next week or so, I will be redesigning the layout and updating the blog rolls with my fav cooking and crafting sites.

I am sure that I will still post cute pics of my kiddos from time to time, but I have another project that I am working on that will be focused on my family life, homeschooling, and the challenges of raising a son with ADHD.  I will share more about that with you when it is ready for the big reveal.

Well, summer is over and fall is here!  Hopefully, that means I will be getting back into the blogging groove.  I have lots of pictures to post of things that I have made during my bloggy break.

I can’t promise when I will start posting again regularly, but if you want to chit chat and see what I am up to in the meantime, you can also friend me on facebook.

Quick personal update.

My hands are doing much better.  It turns out that I have joint hypermobility, with is a fancy way of saying that I am double-jointed.  I tend to hold my hands (and knees) in funky, unnatural positions and at my old age of 33, my tendons are very angry about it and fighting back.  I have to wear wrist braces and re-learn how to position my hands.  My tendons are much happier now, though I do get flare-ups now and then.

I stopped doing Weight Watchers, so there will be no Weight Watchers Wednesday.  (I know!  That was short.)  I am using a holistic – whole body/mind/spirit – approach to overall wellness.  I feel wonderful and have lost 7 pounds.  After I have been doing it for a while, I will tell you all about it.

I am sorry that I stopped blogging (again).  At first it was my hand, but now it is the summer!  We have been out so much.  Blogging will be sparing for the next month or two.  Gotta grab those Vermont summers while they last.  They are quite short!

I am no longer going to be doing my political blog, though, so I will have more time for ATHT and for connecting with you all.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day!

Argh!  I had a set back with my cold and I was in bed half the day today!  This is getting old.

I just wanted to do a quick post to say ‘hi’ and to get the previous post off the top.  I decided not to enter that contest.  I wanted to take on the artistic challenge, which I did, but I decided that that particular contest was not really my style.

I am still going to do the tutorial, but the soaps will be a more traditional Valentine’s Day flavor.

I love Valentine’s Day.  No so much the day itself, but the red and pink and heart-y stuff.  I hope to get at least a few crafts and recipes posted for that.

Almost two weeks ago, I posted that regular blogging would resume soon.  What happened?

I got sick.  Really sick.  Nothing major.  Just a cold.  But this was not just a cold.  This was the worst cold I have ever had – ever.  It was so bad that someone needs to make up a new word for it that sounds more dire than cold.

I am starting to feel better.  My worst day was Wednesday, when Bob actually had to stay home and take care of the kids because I was in bed all day.

I should be all better after the weekend and regular blogging will resume for real this time.  Honestly.

To make up for leaving you hanging like this, here is an awesome recipe.  It is the easiest bread ever.  You just mix the ingredients by hand and put the batter into loaf pans to rise.  Then, bake.  So easy.  The result is a magnificent toasting bread that tastes like English muffins.  Great with jam.   Mmmmm.

Here is the link to the recipe on Better Homes & Gardens: English Muffin Bread.  This recipe is in my favorite cookbook – the red plaid BH&G “New” Cookbook.  They always call it new, but it has been around forever.  That’s so funny.  It is my old standby and it never lets me down.

I even have a picture.  (Note my BH&G recipe box in the background.  Yes, I am that woman.)  Sorry that it is a little blurry.  I can’t find where I put my camera, so I had to use Big E’s.  It is clear enough to see the nooks and crannies, though.

English Muffin Bread

Everything is well with us. I have just been enjoying a wonderful long break from the internet. Bob had lots of vacation days to use up and I was enjoying some long overdue family time.

Things are back to business today. Bob went back to work, we went back to our school schedule, and blogging shall resume soon!

If you have been to my blog more than once in the past couple of days, you might wonder why the header image keeps changing.

This one is here to stay, I promise.

I discovered the open source answer to Photo Shop – GIMP.  And it is awesome and addictive.

I downloaded a bunch of free brushes and spent the past couple of days designing a header image with a festive – but not too festive – design.

If you have always wanted to make cool banners, but could not afford to shell out hundreds of dollars on Photo Shop, I highly recommend GIMP.  It’s free!  (Really.)

I decided that I just didn’t like the new theme that I spent hours customizing.  Go figure.  So, I changed the theme again.

This time I just went for a minimalist look.  Bob said that the busy theme really took away from the pictures I was posting.  I would rather have the focus be the things I am sharing than the theme graphics.

I am going to change it once more when I have the time to make some custom graphics. I already know what I want to do, I just don’t have the time right now.  Basically, it will be another simple theme, but with a custom header image.  I am sticking with the white background.

In the meantime, this design is cute.

On another blog related note, this is my final post in the National Blog Posting Month – NaBloPoMo.  I cannot believe I did it!  It was not as hard as I thought it would be.  It was fun, too.  I am definitely going to keep it up with at least 5 posts a week.