13 AUG 2015 :: Wow! Finally made some updates to the webpage!

Not too many, but some I have been trying to get to...

• I discovered my ETSY SHOP WIDGET from craftcult.com stopped working so I tried to replace it, but it still didn't work... I don't know why.  I decided to take the coding off until another time.
• I wanted to add my other BLOG LINKS to one place and decided the main webpage would be the best place to have them... I hope to improve my blog posts with all of these topics.
• I changed the small TEXT SIZE in many areas into something more readable.
• I wasn't able to do that with my revision for my booklet, "What If There Is NO Rapture?"  I am using a magnifying glass more often now... so I empathize with these text issues.  :-)  I hope to find the right size for the whole website.
• I noted under the CONTACT US section that I am looking for permanent office space, and that email contacts would be best.  (office@work2gather.us)
• I wanted to do much more.

I hope you will visit the website and check on my blog links.  There is a lot to do as I try to develop them, but I hope that WT will soon be financially able to hire others to do these tasks.



I am still amazed to see my new photo at Etsy and now at my fiverr.com/work2gather site.  I will be adding it to my blogger site, too.  And wherever else a photo is needed.  I still miss my WT cross at all the places the photo shows up.  It was easy to see, and I loved it.




I keep wanting to link my two posting projects, so here are today's entries.  I post the "thankful post" at my Facebook page these days, too.  It is a challenge some days to find the things I am thankful for that day, but if I keep looking, I usually begin to think of something.  Sharing the links will help you discover some of the activities at Etsy that are not in the shops.  :-) 

The thankful post is at one of the Christian teams on Etsy, and the Bible inspiration post is in one of the seller forums.  I will stop talking here, and let my posts end this blog entry.  Enjoy your weekend... I may see you again over the weekend, but not planning on it.  :-)


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https://www.etsy.com/teams/14481/create-in-christ/discuss/15652507/page/34?post_id=288800799

Thursday, 13 AUG 2015
It sure is strange to see my face looking at me from a webpage, but I will have to get use to it.  I am noticing many other new faces appearing all over Etsy, too.  :-)
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Today I am thankful for the food I have to eat.  I am thankful that I am getting ahead of my goals, ever so slowly.  I am thankful that I can hope for a better future.  I am thankful that even in tough times there is an unexplainable comfort in my relationship with GOD, in my faith, in my salvation, in my future.  I am thankful that I am getting better and better and better at what I want to be.  I am thankful for rest, for medicine that helps me get better and see a possibly longer life, and for all the goodness that is around me.  I am glad I am a senior, that I can do different things than I did in the past, that I can still learn, that I can find a new life.  I am thankful for all the days of my life, even the hard ones that taught me so much.  I am thankful I wasn't an abortion.


https://www.etsy.com/teams/21913/chitchat/discuss/15608919/page/34?post_id=288802553&prior_page=33


Thursday, 13 AUG 2015
This is my Friday... and I have been busy with lots of things. It is easy to get away from GOD and His place of leadership in our lives when we become "busy." I know a lot of people struggle with this, but at least we keep trying to get back to where we really need to be. Life is always better when I keep my priorities right.

12 AUG 2015 :: Changes, changes, changes...

It is so true that nothing stays the same... and we have to learn how to flex, to adapt to change, and grow in the process.  Not being able to adapt is what destroys many people.  I don't think we have to like the change, but we have to deal with it.

Today I tackled taking and uploading my first real photo of myself to my Etsy shop.  I wish I looked better than I do, but as I lose weight, I will "update" the photos -- so very important when you are achieving those weight-loss goals!  :-)   This will have to be my "BEFORE" photo.  ---  Hopefully, I will get a better camera soon.

Now everyone knows what I look like.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing...  I'm not sure.  I want it to be a skinny me.  :-)

It seems that Etsy has changed their shop photo system from one photo to two.  One is called an icon photo, like a shop logo, and the other is a profile photo that shows what the seller looks like.  It is a new change, so it may take a little while for all the shops to get both photos figured out.

I miss my cross picture already, but I needed to change the identity of the shop anyway, to make it a personal effort, so this is a good time to take care of that change.  I will be able to focus all my Working Together efforts on my webpage and social media accounts.  Just for the record, here is the latest version... I had to try to get all the shadows out of the first one, and the cross got a bit thicker.  I think I like it better.   One of these days, I want to get this made into stickers to spread around, or business cards, or something.

The design I chose for my new shop photo (my icon) was part of my favorite little picture --  the bee I made awhile back and use as a sample of my artworks.  I noted in my updated shop announcement that Deborah is linked to "bee" in its meaning, so I guess that is a good connection, too.  I chose it because I love it. 

Making it into a small size meant cropping some of the message off, but the color is bright and should be noticeable on a page.  I hope so.   I had to resize the original photo several times to get it to fit in the Etsy frame.  The added space on the left of my sample below doesn't show up in my shop photo space. 

I was going to try to create a new logo that shared what I am about, but that would take too long. This is a great representation of me.  It will be just fine for me.  As I create new things, I may replace it.  I'll have to think about that.

I made my shop banner photo out of a picture I did, too.  It shows my art signature and the year I started my shop.

Next I have to update my ABOUT page photos.  I have changed my room around a zillion times already... and may change it some more.  Finding the subject to photograph is going to be the goal for that page. 

Selling online is a really big learning task...  and a long-term financial investment.  There is a huge list I have of things I need to do this job better.  In the battle for retail dollars, I am much like the small retail stores that are fighting to survive... I just have my marketplace online.

I am working on the sales details for WT's website, and praying desperately for the things GOD needs to provide for it and for me.  I hope to have that all figured out soon.  All the things I am learning at other websites will help me figure out what to do for Working Together.

Nothing is wasted... it all flows toward the future, toward GOD's Will for our lives, to the salvation of lost souls and the preservation and protection of those who already love GOD and are saved by the blood of Christ.  I can only do what GOD provides for me to do each day.  That is all He holds me accountable for.  You have to do what GOD has called you to do...that is what He will judge you on when we reach the Great White Throne.

11 AUG 2015 :: Emergency food

I guess my topic of the day is having emergency food supplies on hand because we never know when we will need them.

I have been working on building up my pantry supplies for a long time...trying to decide what to have, how much to have, and how to store it...and, I suppose, how to make sure I use it before it goes bad and becomes "compost" material. 

In the process of trying to find out what to have on hand, I discovered there are major industries devoted to "emergency preparedness," where you can get LARGE amounts of carefully packaged supplies that are dated, and instructions on how to make sure you rotate your supplies. 

I am not building that kind of emergency supply right now.  I just want to make sure I have enough staple food (beans, rice, canned goods, etc.) to last a decent amount of time if I no longer have food stamps, can't get to the store, or there IS a natural disaster.

This month has become an exercise in discovering my emergency supplies because I didn't want to go shopping until I had a list of what would be the best foods for me to buy.  (Remember, I only have $126 in food stamps to spend for the whole month... it is a real challenge to make sure I have what I need.)  It has taken me longer than I expected to work through all the different eating plans and figure out some foods I want to focus on, or try out.  I expect to go shopping tomorrow, BUT...

TODAY, I am out of fresh veggies and fruits, the can opener isn't working, and I am being forced to get creative for my meals.  Well, I do need to correct that last statement.  I did have about one pound of carrots left.  I made them into ::

• a great simple soup with veggie bouillon and some Asian noodle squares I have;
• a cold salad with some bulgur I am finally trying out (from what I read, bulgur is kind of like couscous, but healthier);
• some buttered carrots; and
• sliced carrots waiting to be used in the next creation.

Besides using up the carrots, I also used up the last of some salsa I had, used some of the dehydrated garlic and onion bits I always try to have on hand and hardly ever use, and I discovered my last package of seaweed snacks so I added some to the soup and (I think) the bulgur salad.  I was able to create 2 meals out of the soup, and at least 2 meals out of the bulgur salad.  I was really happy with the way that turned out.

It has also renewed my enthusiasm for making sure I have better foods on hand for moments like this.

When I get a bigger place to live, I am going to repurpose some of my containers, picnic coolers, or other storage possibilities, into my specific emergency supplies.  If I can make sure the foods are protected and organize the "use by" dates somehow, I will be able to change the contents each month with newer items.  It will be a great effort to make sure I am ready for the big disasters and the smaller ones, like today.

I have already shared some of the web links about disaster supply lists on other blogs with comments on this topic.  You can always start with the Red Cross (redcross.org) and FEMA (fema.gov), but it would be a real good idea to do a search for other websites that are involved in providing the actual supplies.  I remember there is a non-profit group that has everything in one big trunk, including tents.  It provides help to places that are surviving earthquakes, floods, etc.

Think about it... what would you do for food if there were no water, electricity, or gas...  when the can opener stopped working here, I realized how dependent we could be on such a small utensil.

10 AUG 2015 :: WHO really won the Republican debate? My two cents.

I guess I will comment on the Republican debate...  a bit late, but there seems to be some "afterglow" from the moment still.

It is hard to know whether real debate occurred...the lead up to the event was focused on Donald Trump, and the debate was focused on Donald Trump, and the post-debate attention is still including Donald Trump.  Is this good?  I don't know. 

I would rather deal with all the serious problems we are facing as a nation...and find out how others think they can be solved.  The next president will have to deal with all those issues, including the economy that is teetering even though we like to hear only that it is recovering...AND all the other problems we haven't even considered. 

Isn't it important to know how each candidate sees the solutions (they are willing to commit to) for those problems?  It will give us an idea into how they will meet problems they don't know are coming. 

I am amazed that anyone is being declared the "winner" of the debate...  I didn't get to see it because I can't afford cable and the computer link I finally discovered didn't operate very well.  I tried Twitter to see what it meant to follow something on the Twitter-feed, that was not very informative, but it was an experience to remember.  :-)

I hope to find a better way to see any future debates.

At a personal level, I am still working on my food plans ::  food choices, food portions, meal planning, all to help me get healthier and lose some of my unwanted pounds.  I am going through so much reading material and trying to organize it on Excel forms so I can make a plan to live by.  It seems to be coming into some form of success.  (And I am losing some weight, little by little... which is a real celebration after many years of trying to get all this new information to make sense.  :-)

At a craft level, I am a failure.   It is so terrible.  I am trying to find a solution to that part of my life, too.  I have to make time to just create what is in my heart to make... and keep building my supplies from what I have.  Doing that is the challenge.

I have realized that AUGUST of each year will be a primary creation time for me... so I will have to make sure I organize my time and supplies for that.  SEPTEMBER will have to be my month to list all my holiday offerings.

NOTE ::
I was trying to upload a copy of my efforts at meal planning, but wasn't able to find out how to do that with Blogger... I hope to figure it out eventually. 

I did find the photo below again....

I have been wondering who the original owner is -- the one that created it.  I think it would be such a great sticker for using in a lot of places, including mailed letters, etc. -- maybe even a postcard campaign, or a billboard, or magazine.  I suppose it may have already traveled those routes, but I found it on Facebook one day and loved it!  :-)

If you know who has the publishing rights, please let me know. 

Isn't it a great design?!!   I really like it.   :-)

I suppose that is enough for now.  I will be trying to learn more about my options with Blogger so I can slowly improve my blogging topics and information sharing.

I can't believe it is August already... the time goes by way too fast...  I want a replay !!!!   :-)

I am contemplating some serious topics to start sharing...especially as we get deeper into the selection of the next President and other legislators.