December 28, 2010

I wasn't GONNA post today...

I've been trying to do really well at posting every Monday...  if for no other reason than to have a current "image of the week". And I was going to skip it this week, partially because Monday didn't feel like Monday, and partially because just posting image of the week posts is boring. My "excuse" was going to be that I've been working SO HARD on Mr. Website. (In fact, I used it in a comment on a friend's blog :-P) But, with the 15 minutes I have right now where there's not much else going on (not enough time to do a load of laundry - probably enough to fold the last one though, not time for lunch yet - just ate breakfast, not quite time to get ready for errands - hence the 15 minutes) I figured I'd write a post for you.

I HAVE been making some major progress on Mr. Website. All 300+ images have been titled, each one has it's own little boiler-plate description for the enlarged view, and everything has been loaded to the server. Now it's a matter of the details (read: writing the REST of the website, so you can SEE the pretty pictures). I had hoped to get a LITTLE more done during our Christmas Week Adventure, but... it didn't really happen, lol. It IS coming along. And, of course, with everything I check off the website to-do list, I think of some other cool feature/page that I "NEED" to put in. Still shooting for a mid-January launch... *crosses fingers*

For you excitable ones (and you know who you are ;-P)... here's a sneak peek of the home-page!

...and while we're at it, since this is my "Monday" post... the main image there will be this week's 10% Photo. It's called - Winter Getaway -

Not sure how my 10% Photo thing works? Shoot me an e-mail at somethingbetsy at gmail dot com and let me know what medium you'd like it in, and you'll get 10% off my regular prices. What are the options/prices? Check out my Etsy Shop :)

-Betsy

December 20, 2010

throwin it out there

Have I finished my Christmas cards yet? 
No... but I sent all but 10? of them out.

Have I finished my Christmas shopping yet? 
No... but I only have 1 more item to buy, and have till the 7th to do so.

Have I got my website all done? 
No... but I HAVE made a little progress.

I'll get ONE thing accomplished now though: this week's 10% photo. 
100% random, just like last week :)

- Glacial Waterfall -

You know the drill ;)


December 13, 2010

It's Monday!

Today was spent doing a bunch of things. 

First, I woke up to snow on the rooftops!!
 So I turned on the Christmas lights and took a snapshot. 
For posterity, ya know? :-P

Later on, I finally got to the local library to become a member and take out the first public library book since high school. Now, just to find time to read it before Friday for my new book club 0:-)

(You can't really click to see inside... I totally stole the photo from Amazon)

Then there was a trip to Walmart for "things I need until 'Christmas' starts on Saturday."  Followed by a visit to the Post Office to mail out a Christmas package and pick up stamps for the Christmas Cards. Then home again to wrap Christmas presents for hubby. The tree is looking REALLY festive now!
(too lazy at the moment to throw a picture up here. Sorry)

Needless to say hubby JUST said "looks like Christmas down there!" in reference to presents under the tree.

And, as it's Monday, it's time to reveal this week's special. This will work much better when my site is officially up and running, instead of pointing to Etsy, but Christmas has taken over for now, so not much progress has been made in the past week :-P. 

This week, I'm pulling a photo at random, and it is...

- Wedding Whites -

If you're interested, check out the Etsy site for prices and mediums, 
but shoot me an e-mail at somethingbetsy @ gmail {dot} com
and get 10% off!

December 7, 2010

Almost Famous

So hubby's being really supportive with the prospect of this new website business (Still coming soon, some major progress has been made in the past few days). And he has started google-ing www.somethingbetsy.com every day so that my "hit count" goes up. Well today, he googled somethingbetsy.com, and THIS is the first thing that popped up. I'm almost famous!

Domain name quality of somethingbetsy.com

-Betsy

December 6, 2010

Have I got a SUPER project for you!!

Every year, we've tried to figure out some fabulous way to keep the live Christmas tree, well... live. And every year, we inevitably fail to keep it watered 100% of the time. When I was little, it was because we had a HUGE tree, and it would need to be watered 2-3 times a day... so dad would tie soda bottles filled with water to the bottom of the tree. You always knew when he was changing them though, because there would be this muffled "grunna nuh humfp, ugh! pbthhh, dang needles, ugh *grunt*" type sound coming from the living room. Things would get messy, water would get spilled, and you generally just steered clear.

It's been (mainly) my job to water the tree as a married lady. I still like the tradition of keeping the tree up as long as possible (for my parents, it stays up until Dad's Birthday... in February), but since it's just the two of us, and we live so far from our parents, it doesn't get watered at ALL for at least a week every year. Which means LOTS of needles come off when it's time to take it down.

I found this nifty gadget this year, and really wanted to buy it... but for $40.00 (after shipping) I was denied. :(. So I said "Fine. I'll make one myself!"  A few searches on the internet reminded me of basic principles of science which made me realize... this is WAY easier than we'd been thinking.

SO... here's how you make your budget christmas tree waterer which will keep you from all the pain that is watering a Christmas tree. I spent $9.00 on it... but you can PROBABLY do it for less. (yes, LESS!)



What you'll need:
- Big-ol-bucket: I got a 19 Qt Clear (useful) rubbermaid roughneck that is about 9 inches wide, 12 inches long and 10ish inches tall. I like that mine has a lid, to keep gunk out of it. Not REALLY necessary, unless you have small children/pets/etc. (p.s. How funny would it be if you had a goldfish swimming around in there, ha!)
- Tubing: I got 3/8" tubing with a 1/4" inner diameter, 10 feet long at Lowe's for about $3.00. I could have gotten the 1/4x1/8 inch "by the foot" tubing for $0.14/foot... but I didn't feel like finding an associate, as there were groceries in my trunk at the time. You also don't need 10 feet... 5 is probably good. You need 2 feet more than the radius of your tree basically, so you can place the bucket OUTSIDE the branch radius.
- Zip ties: I used two to make it all the way around the truck of the tree... you can put them together to "grow" the length, but if you have one that's large enough to surround the trunk, you're set.
- Water: Warning - you WILL NOT FILL THE WHOLE BUCKET!!

Ok, so here's what we do: We put our EMPTY bucket next to our tree stand and make a mark with where the TOP of the tree stand's reservoir is. Then we make a more definite mark (line) about 1/2" below (or more, if you want to play it a little safe, that's A-O-K). That will be your "max" line. Also make a mark (the best you can) as to where the BOTTOM of the reservoir is, and then put a line 1" above that mark. That line is the MINIMUM amount of water you should have in your bucket.

So now, we have something that looks like this: (but configured to your tree stand)


THEN, we tie a zip tie LOOSELY  around the trunk of the tree. Insert into that loop your tubing, and push it down to the bottom of the reservoir and tighten the zip tie.


Now fill your bucket up to the max line you made earlier. The bigger the bucket, the more water it will hold, the less often you'll need to fill it, but even small or skinny ones will work.

Now, you'll want to CAREFULLY suck on the tube to pull the water through it. If you have clear tubing... watch where the water is... I didn't have to taste pine water, because I stopped JUST before it got to the end of the tube... and quickly put your finger over the end to seal it off. Now submurge the tube into your bucket, bending the tubing so that the remaining air comes out and fills with water. Voila. You're done. The water in the bucket will slowly "back-flow" to the water in the reservoir until they reach the same level. If you have a water-bubble in the tubing, it won't work, so make sure you get all the air out of the tubing. Also make sure that the end of the tubing always stays under water.

If you want to get fancy, you can drill a hole the same size as your tubing in your bucket's lid, slide the tubing in, and then do your sucking. (Scientifically, it's called siphoning). Then when your done, you can close the lid of the bucket. I just put the lid over the bucket and didn't push down all the way. I might get fancy later, but for now... I have more Christmas shopping to do!


-Betsy

301

301 photos are now "prepped" for said website of last week.
301 titled (although some are most definitely lame)
301 watermarked (although I cheated and did a batch-edit :-P)
301 uploaded to server

Still a long way to go, but I'm excited that I finally started for real :)

-Betsy

December 2, 2010

Interjection:

I follow this blog:

And it HAS NOT let me down yet. 
delicious. Make them. Today. 
With their icing 
(which although it oddly enough involves cooking, 
could be the best icing ever.)

That is all.

-Betsy