Bread and Salad

November 3rd, 2011

Lunch today is bread and saladNormally I don’t eat bread.  Not by the slice anyway.  Today I was reminded why a nice homemade slice of buttered bread is perfect with a bowl of salad.

I eat a lot of salad and so that I don’t feel like a rabbit I also like to put yummy stuff on my salad.  You know: bacon, salsa, craisins, etc. And since I eat my salad out of a bowl there is always the inevitable yummy piece that resists being forked out of the bowl, usually a delectable piece of bacon.  This is where the yummy hunk of fresh homemade (slathered in butter, of course) bread comes in. My parents always taught me to clean my plate. With that delicious piece of bread, I sure can!

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Drawing of our Backyard Fort

October 15th, 2011

Sketch of Backyard FortThis morning while I was drinking my coffee in my comfy chair in our backyard I took some time to do some sketching.  My 7 year old happened upon me and asked me to sketch the fort that stands in our backyard sandbox.

I am posting it here to remind myself to put down my computer and pick up a pencil and paper more often.  It’s so satisfying to just draw, for no real purpose, just for me, for fun.

Posted in Art & Creativity, Family, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Handy References for horizontal list, colors, and moving WP to a new server

September 27th, 2011

I always tell my kids that the most important thing to know is how to find answers to the stuff you don’t know.  I would add that it is also helpful to know where to find references to the things you know, but don’t need to memorize.

Here are some of my handy references:

For how to make a horizontal list (I can never keep this nugget in my brain)

http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/horizontal01.htm

For color help:

http://colorschemedesigner.com/

For MySQL help when moving a site to a new domain/server:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/how-to-move-wordpress-blog-to-new-domain-or-location/

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WordPress MultiSite Global Navigation Menu Synchronization

September 27th, 2011

Is it kosher to copy someone else’s post title? I need to post this here so I remember it. Worst problem: finding a solution and then never being able to find it gain when I need it.

I did this a long time ago and simply put the following in my header.php:

<div id="access" role="navigation">
			  <?php switch_to_blog(1); ?>
<?php wp_nav_menu( array( 'container_class' => 'menu-header', 'theme_location' => 'primary' ) ); ?>
<?php restore_current_blog(); ?>
			</div><!-- #access -->


I just ran across Oste Design which says, I think, approximately the same thing.  This goes in the theme file.


//store the current blog_id being viewed
global $blog_id;
$current_blog_id = $blog_id;

//switch to the main blog which will have an id of 1
switch_to_blog(1);

//output the WordPress navigation menu
wp_nav_menu(
   //add your arguments here
);

//switch back to the current blog being viewed
switch_to_blog($current_blog_id);

				


				
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Whistling Through a Blade of Grass

				September 20th, 2011 

				

					
 

When I was a little girl we spent our summers in Madison, Wisconsin.  A necessary ingredient of those summer trips was a visit to the Madison Zoo.  I have no idea what the zoo is like today, but to my 6 year old self it was a magical place. Even as I type, countless visuals are streaming through my head.


My brothers would whistle through a blade of grass between their thumbs at the rhino exhibit and make the rhinos  go nuts from the sound.  I, of course, thought it was the coolest and scariest thing ever.  I tried and tried, but could never get it to work.


Why do I bring this up?  I just heard an elephant in my backyard: my twelve year old has figured out the trick to whistling through a blade of grass.



				


				
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WordCamp Albuquerque for Kids

				September 18th, 2011 

				

					
 

WordCamp AlbuquerqueThere is nothing quite so amazing, fun, and inspiring (I could think of more adjectives, but I will leave it at that for now) as watching a classroom of children get excited about WordPress.  The two hours that Sean Wells and I spent with our group of young students at the WordCamp kid’s session flew by.


For those who are wondering:


WordCamp is a conference that focuses on everything WordPress. WordCamps are informal, community-organized events that are put together by WordPress users like you. Everyone from casual users to core developers participate, share ideas, and get to know each other. WordCamps are open to WordPress.com and WordPress.org users alike.


When we first visualized a WordCamp in Albuquerque it was an absolute no-brainer that we would have a kid session.  WordCamp Phoenix had just had a very successful session for kids and as a homeschool mom, it didn’t make any sense to not include it in our event.   I didn’t know what to expect going into the session except for the couple of email conversations I had with Abbie Sanderson about the session she taught in Phoenix.  We were prepared for pretty much anything, open to whatever the kids had to go over.


We started out the session with a few questions for the kids, asking them to tell us their names and what they wanted to do with a website or how they were going to use their website.   I was surprised at how entrepreneurial the group was, a boy who is going to rent his toys out on his website and a girl who is making fancy cakes and selling them.


Here is a list of what we covered:


    

  • The layout of the Dashboard
    • 

  • How to set privacy settings (this was more for the parents than the kids)
    • 

  • How to search for a theme and activate it
    • 

  • How to customize Twenty Eleven (background and headers)
    • 

  • How to add widgets, move them, and how to find them when you theme loses them from the sidebar
    • 

  • How to add a new post and the difference between posts and pages
    • 



After each topic we paused to help everyone with any issues and to give the kids time to work with the new concept.


 


 

				


				
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Translate a pdf using Google Translate

				September 18th, 2011 

				

					
 

My Dad just came back from wcabq (WordCamp Albuquerque) and he and I are totally geeking out.  He discovered that you can use Google Translate to translate a PDF.  Now, in all fairness, this is not a new concept, but it is new to me, so I am excited.


I had some great conversations at WordCamp about Spanish/English websites so this is really just one more step toward a completely bilingual site.  Maybe I will get into that in a later post.  In the meantime, here is how you use Google Translate  to translate a pdf:


1.  Upload your pdf to the internet somewhere, I uploaded mine to the Media Library here on my site.


2.  Go to Google Translate


2.  Put the url for your document in the google translate box on the left and it will show up on the translated side on the right as a link.




4.  Click on the link in the right side box and Google will give you the translation.


 


 

				


				
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Border-radius, WordPress, and IE

				July 27th, 2011 

				

					
 

I just spent the last I-won’t-even-tell-you-how-many hours trying to figure out why all the google results on border-radius were not working for me.  Now suddenly it works.  So here is my process for the next time I try to use border-radius.


    

  1. Download the stuff from css3pie.com
    2. 

  2. Upload files to the root.  I saw references all over the place that the PIE.htc needed to be in the theme directory, that didn’t work for me.  It is in the root, hence the php bloginfo(‘url’) bit in the next bullet.
    3. 

  3. Put this code in the header.php.  Replace the elements with yours #whatever or .whatever.  Now here is the thing, there was an indent before #home1 and it was keeping #home1 from getting the rounded corner, even though the rest of them were working.

      

    • 

      <code><style type="text/css">
#home1, #home2, #home3, #home4,
#home4 .widget, #home5 .widget, #home6 .widget,
#home5, #home6, #supplementary.two { behavior:url(<?php bloginfo('url'); ?>/PIE.htc); }</code>
</style>
      

      • 

    

    4. 

  4. Put this in your stylesheet, change the px amount and background to whatever you want:
    

    background: #ccc;
    
-webkit-border-radius: 8px;
    
-moz-border-radius: 8px;
    
border-radius: 8px;
    

    5. 



Seems crazy that the last I-won’t-even-tell-you-how-many-hours comes down to 4 bullet points, but such is the web.

				


				
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Teaching WordPress to my Kids

				July 26th, 2011 

				

					
 

My kids and I had our first WordPress learning session this morning.  I was inspired by a presentation at WordCamp Phoenix lead by Abbie Sanderson.  We’re also having a Kids and WordPress session at our upcoming WordCamp, so what better way to work through the process but with my own pliable children, right?


Fortunately, we’re blessed with many laptops so my two older kids both sat down with a workable laptop and a fresh install of WordPress that I installed for them in advance (no wp.com for my kids, thank you very much, they have their own domain and a mama with server space).


As a side note, and an insight to my kid’s personalities: my 12 year old son loves the default WP 2011 theme, my 10 year old daughter doesn’t.  He thinks it’s cool, she thinks it’s ugly.  Sorry WP, but you aren’t getting the 10 year old demo here :D .


My kids work better if I’m more flexible and they seemed to be more interested in how their site looks, so we started with the Appearance tab on the Dashboard.  I showed them how the custom header works in the new 2011 theme.  They uploaded pictures to be used as their defualt header and played with the customizable background colors.  Working with the built-in theme options was really enjoyable for them.  I could have left it at that, but then I wouldn’t be a self-respecting homeschool mom (or annoying mom, depending on who you ask).


I had my kids head on over to Pages to create an About Me page.  They each uploaded a picture, aligned it however they wanted and used all the fields for images: title, alt, and caption.  Then they typed a few words about themselves.  That was the part they thought was annoying, poor things.


Later on in the day, my kids were dying to get back at it and do some more work on her new blog.  A future WP addict in the making!

				


				
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Assign Facebook Username

				July 25th, 2011 

				

					
 

Once you get 25 likes on your Facebook page you are eligible for a vanity username.  A client just asked me how to do this so I am writing it up for quick reference later.


1.  First, log into your Facebook account and go to the fan page in question.


Just below the fan page title and above the status update box there is  little link that says “Edit Info”  Go ahead and click on that.


2.  After you click on “Edit Info” you will be redirected to a page of Basic Information.  If you don’t land on the Basic Information page, you should be able to click the link on the left side.


Then click on the words “Create a name for this page?  Learn more”


3.  Now, you’ll have the opportunity to try out usernames.  Chances are your name will be available, but if it isn’t you’ll have to play around with it a bit.  Just type names into the field that Facebook Directs you to and if the name is unavailable Facebook will give you the opportunity to try again.


4.  Once you do that, Facebook will give you a success message and you are good to go!


The thumbnails run through a brief visual of the process.


		
		
		

				


				
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