You can also find the link on the Welcome Page. If you download the document to your computer, it’s easy to click on the active link for each post.
I hope the list will give you some ideas for projects you might like to try yourself. You can email me directly if you have questions or suggestions for future posts at marykisner@comcast.net. Enjoy!
Thanks for your patience! I spent the week trying to figure out what was happening with my website. Many components didn’t work. I couldn’t place pictures or update various things. I was faced with making a decision about how to get tech support…without buying a plan for about $100/year…kind of like Best Buy’s Geek Squad.
Luckily, I have a very patient computer literate son in California who was able to walk me through what to look for and was even able to “share” my computer screen so he could explore things. Turns out I had run out of memory storage and for only an extra $50 or so I could increase the storage…and magically, I can now place more pictures! Yea!!
So, I will continue on with the various articles I had all ready to go to press. Let me know if there are topics you’d like to know more about and I’ll see what I can do! You can email me at marykisner@comcast.net.
I am stymied by issues with WordPress, the program that is the base of my website. I can’t seem to insert pictures and other features of the site just don’t work well. Very frustrating! I will need to communicate with WordPress for technical advice.
Until I can get things back up and running, know that I’m still doing stuff! Sweet potatoes are out of the pot and a retro apron for my granddaughter is finished. Bert heads off for his second cataract surgery tomorrow so I’ll be away from my desk a while. Hopefully, I can get things figured out quickly.
Please let me know if there’s anything I’m doing that you’d like to know more about. I’ll either reply with an email or make a whole post about it…as soon as I figure out these glitches.
I’m headed out of town today to Minneapolis for a Memorial Service for my last Aunt, my Dad’s youngest sister. It will be good to visit with all my cousins who are convening from around the country. Ted and Kathy (and 10 yr. old Anna) will be joining me in this quick trip. We hope to take time to check out the Mall of America, so I may have some pictures of that when we get back next week.
This is just a reminder that you can download a pdf of all my postings at the link below (also found on my Welcome page). That list has hot links to get to each post. Enjoy browsing all the crazy things I’ve written about over the last two years! More next week!
I want to pause for a minute to share that I’ve now reached 250 postings on my website! I started this back in January, 2021, as a way to stay sane during the covid lockdowns. It has turned out to be a great way to keep my brain active and still have a record of the many projects I’ve done. I find I refer back to things I’ve written to find a recipe or see the pictures I’ve taken of how to make something.
I realize that WordPress has a feature that lets me add “tags” to each article, which then makes a kind of index to find things. Unfortunately, when I started this website I didn’t do that, and somehow didn’t think it was so important. Wrong! Oh well. At this point, I try to include links back to previous articles in a current post if I think that information is relevant.
I’ve tried to keep a running list of everything I’ve posted in an Excel spreadsheet, making the links active so I can quickly go to the article I want. I’ll share it here, in case you’ve wanted to explore the whole pile of posts.
If you’d like to download a PDF list of all 250 posts with hot links to go directly to the story, click here and save it to your hard drive. Then you can scroll to the story you’d like to read and click on the hot link.
I will update the PDF frequently, but the most recent 10 posts are always listed on the Welcome Page.
Writing this blog has certainly kept me entertained for almost two years. I’ve written 223 posts so far and have taken hundreds of pictures. I’ve written about random stuff from what I’m making, what I’m baking and memories from the past. Through your comments I’ve met some wonderful people, rekindled friendships and reached out to my extended family.
The program I’m using, WordPress, is pretty simple to use but it still stretches my brain to figure out how to do things, like how to embed a pdf document that lists all 223 of my posts so far so you can download it yourself. I did it once, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to do it again.
Soooo…if you want an updated pdf that lists all 223 of my posts with hotlinks to go directly to articles (which is how I go back and find just the article I want) you’ll need to email me directly (marykisner@comcast.net) and I’ll email it to you. Simple as that.
I realize some of my posts are really just “musings” but many have step-by-step instructions about how to make something. I guess I could make booklets that focus on one subject…like bread recipes or how to work with melt and pour soap…but that seems like more work than necessary. I’m sure I’ve missed an important piece of WordPress that will create an Index but to do that, I’ll have to go back through 223 posts and type in the necessary key words into each post. Oops! I should have figured that out at the beginning!
If you are just enjoying catching up with what I’m doing, great! Thanks for checking in!
If you really want to try that recipe I wrote about several weeks ago and can’t find it, send me an email and I’ll send you the pdf with hot links! Enjoy!
Of course…two seconds after I figured out how to put the PDF into the WordPress Media Library, I realized I had #195 mislabeled!! Geez! The correct hot link for Entry #195 is https://marykisner.com/blog-update-september-5-2022/ Feel free to correct it in the list. It will be fixed when I upload the next revision to the Media Library. I guess this is what “lifelong learner” means! Enjoy!
I just wanted to share this PDF with you. It is a list of all my blog entries from #1 to #195. Each entry in the list has a hot link in the right column so you can click on it and go directly to the entry.
I’m aware that WordPress has another way to create an index to entries, but I’ve never figured out how to that. If I wanted to go back over each entry and create a list of key words or tags, I think the computer would create an index but now that I have 195 entries it seems like a formidable task to go back and do that! I created this PDF along the way for myself so I could easily find a specific article. Now, I’m discovering other folks want a copy too.
So while I’m trying join the 21st century in blogging, this is a lower tech way to index my articles.
I will provide the link to the PDF document below and if you would like to have it, just save it to your computer. After you scroll down the list, if you see something you are interested in, just go to the right-hand column and click on the hot link. If you have any problems, it might be a typing error on my part so let me know if one doesn’t work for you. Just email me any problems at marykisner@comcast.net.
Thank you to all my readers! Many of you come to my site because you follow my Facebook page. Soon, I would like to stop using Facebook to share links to my Blog…too many ads! Since I don’t post something every day, I’d like to encourage you to “subscribe” to my blog. That means when I do post, my computer sends your computer an email telling you that I’ve posted. You can subscribe by entering your email address at the bottom of the Welcome page. I will never use your email address for anything else, but you don’t have to wonder if I’ve posted.
Benefit 1
To thank you for signing up I’d like to send you a PDF listing of all 100 articles with hot links to each. I realize on the Welcome page there is a drop-down menu of the categories of the articles I’ve written so far. Frankly, I find it a clumsy way to find an article, even for me, and I know what I’ve written! If you have already subscribed, I’ll send out the PDF to you right away! Here is what it looks like:
Benefit 2
Once you’ve received the list, if you would like a PDF of a specific article, send me an email (marykisner@comcast.net) and I’ll email it out to you. Feel free to share the tutorials with others…who knows, you may find ways to adapt them for your own use.
If you have suggestions for projects you think I should try, send me an email anytime! (marykisner@comcast.net)
To celebrate my 100th blog post today, I thought I’d share some of the frequently asked questions I get about my website and the things I make. My first post was on January 18, 2021 about Door Quilts. Since then, I’ve described many of the projects I’ve done over the years…mostly since I retired in 2008. Most of my career in education involved creating instructional materials for all age groups. I can see I haven’t stopped creating instructional materials, I’ve just changed the focus of the materials. My greatest joy comes in being able to explain what I’m making so someone else could try it too. Learning to share these projects in a website has been an adventure in itself.
Here are four Frequently Asked Questions about my website:
What inspired you to start the website? My inspiration for starting the website came from other “lifestyle” blogs that I read online and the isolation from the Covid Virus. The blogs are often written by women as a way to share their activities. You might enjoy their sites too, including Rural-Revolution (https://rural-revolution.com/) authored by Patrice Lewis; and Strategic Living Blog (https://strategiclivingblog.com/) authored by Gaye Levy. They have found a way to share their day-to-day activities in a way that appeals to many women across the country, even if our situations are not exactly the same. Of course, my go-to website when I’m researching how to make something is Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/). Writing is a way to keep my brain active and at the same time, share fun projects with others.
2. Why don’t you just use Facebook? Before January 2021 I did try to share things on Facebook. It is tempting to get excited about how many “likes” a posting generates. However, the Facebook platform does not lend itself to longer explanations of how to make something. Since I don’t have the skills to make YouTube videos, I’m focusing on written instructions with photos. Even now, when I post a paragraph with a few photos, I can’t count on Facebook to show the whole paragraph…sometimes just the photos pop up! Very frustrating. I’ll use Facebook to share that I posted, but I’d love to have you go to my site to see, “the rest of the story!”
3. Why don’t you sell the stuff you make? HaHa!! Have you seen the rules and regulations for home crafted items? The government bureaucracy has incredible reach into all areas of our lives…of course, mostly to protect us from harmful ingredients or untrue claims. I have no problem with the principle…we all care about what we put on or in our bodies…but considering the variety of things I dabble in, I couldn’t possibly keep up and stay within the requirements for each item. If I want to sell a stuffed toy, I must document that the fabric and stuffing is safe for children and be approved by a government agency. A tag must be attached to the toy showing I have filed, and paid for, the proper approvals.
If I want to sell a skin care product or a food product, my kitchen and ingredients must be inspected and approved by a government agency…and documented on the label someplace. All food products are required to have this list of ingredients with the final statement showing if it has any of the 8 most common allergens: Egg, Milk, Wheat, Soy, Tree Nuts, Peanuts, Shellfish or Fish. Obviously, Milk could mean cheese, butter, cream or yogurt!
The rules are pretty loose for items sold at craft shows, but the risk is always there…and the fines are huge! I do try to include a card with every item I give away that has a list of all the ingredients in my soap or skin care product. Instructions about how to use a product, like the lotion bars or salve, are included too.
Anyway, besides the fact that I don’t want to get into retail sales or the shipping business, I’d rather offer a way for you to learn how to do it yourself. So, please feel free to use my posts as tutorials and share with other like-minded folks.
I suppose I could package the “Fabric Projects” into a book or offer workshops to groups, but at the moment I’m having fun just doing, and documenting what I’m doing. It’s keeping me sane!
If you have received something I’ve made, it’s because when I’m learning how to do something, I’ll make more than one, or the batch will make 10+ of something. I do not have room to store all this stuff, so if you are passing by you may receive something from me. If you don’t want it, no problem. Feel free to pass it on to someone else. Thanks!
If you wonder why I’m giving stuff away instead of selling it, please read #3 again!
4. Why don’t you focus on one kind of craft? I would feel limited by having to choose. I guess they are all crafts of one kind or another. I really am NOT ADHD, believe it or not. I just get bored easily. I enjoy the challenge of learning something new and when I’ve tried it and get comfortable, I’m ready to switch to some other project. I am now surrounded with enough raw materials…from fabric and sewing supplies, to melt and pour soaps, to essential oils…that I can easily do something different every day! Joy!
I know I have a variety of readers…from beloved family members…to friends…to friends of friends. You are all interested in something different. Some folks specifically ask me to, “…please mention how you set up your rain barrels;” or, “…how do you make your oatmeal bread?” and even, “Have you tried making perfume yet?” I know each post might be of interest to some folks and not others and that’s fine. The Welcome page lists the last 10 most recent posts, so hopefully something will be of interest to you!
