Its pouring rain outside, but the house is so well insulated - I can't hear it sitting here in my office.
Ben is in his office, now painted a DARK brown with dark carpet and black wood desks - his man cave - playing with friends online.
We've managed to get the rooms painted we wanted to change, put in new carpet, get new furniture, set up guest rooms and there is a new hot tub in the enclosed garden room - once potting shed - just waiting for Ben and my brother in law Mark to pull the 150 feet of cable and wire up a new electrical box for it.
Today I finally decided on health insurance and studied for the driver's license test. It will soon be official -
Just talked with both kids. Miss them - but will see them soon at Cas's graduation.
She's graduating UC Davis with 2 majors and a minor. She's applying to law schools.
Aaron was cooking dinner with a friend tonight - steaks in pepper and olive oil.
I can't wait to see them on the 12th!
Soon, maybe this weekend - the rain will turn to snow.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
A neighbor found a kitten in her woodpile, another neighbor thought it might be my cat and got me. Of course it was not mine, but I got to find out what one does here when one finds a cat. AND I got to meet a neighbor who is MY AGE! Nancy, who found the cat is awesome and 55. She and I hit it off. She like me finds animals and helps them to find new owners.
I took the cat to my sis's animal clinic and they checked it out, fed it, gave it shots and tests and have it under observation for the weekend. On monday I'll "drop in" and see if I want this new little girl cat or if I feel she should go to another family. (likely)
There, I snagged Beanie, Barb's dog for a playday with Nym. Beanie and Nym played ALL day and into the night.
My sis and Mark came to dinner and I finally got to cook for them. Mexican was the theme including intense margarita's. We all plan on going for a motorcycle ride tomorrow!
I found the "STATE" store and stocked up on liquor. :-)
It's all good. It really is.
I ordered new carpet today for all the bedrooms and Ben's office.
They will start on Tues. By then I should also have received the guest bedroom furniture and Ben's office furniture!
Once the carpet is in , and furniture put together and in place I'LL BE DONE!
Well, I'll still have things I'll want to add to the house, but we will be waiting till spring to do those since they are all outside!
Photos will follow carpet and furniture - I promise.
- Ben and I rode our motorcycles south and east through a bit of Amish country. Hills and curves OH MY!
- Finished painting front door "wild currant" - but still to tacky to hang back up.
- Finished painting the halls, the guest bedrooms, the offices, the kitchen, the sun room and entry. (thanks to Pat, Carol and Pete)
- Ordered new office furniture for Ben - I'll be pulling pieces from his office to make mine work better.
- Wired more of the house for TV cable and internet (thanks to Andy and Steve).
- Tomorrow I pick up the last of the family room furniture and talk to the carpet folks about new carpet for Ben's office and all the bedrooms (Ben gets brown, bedrooms get beige)
- Put together one of two side tables for our bedroom (they match patty's lights) and have another for living room
- Have an order holding on Overstock for the "couples" guest bedroom - holding out for the bed frame I want.
- Cleaned up the kitchen from the 4 days of painting and home projects
- Fixed the lighting in the entry, sun room
And when all done, I was able to cook dinner and eat with Benny! I have decided to "master" the electric cooktop before pulling it out and replacing it! I did not burn dinner! Hurray!
So you know, I miss
- My kids
- My girlfriends
- Whole Foods (especially the soaps and salad bar)
- Sushi
- Trader Joes (especially the frozen foods)
- San Francisco (in general)
- The beach (even through I did not get there often)
- My kids (again, because I really really wish they could come visit my new home!)
- And all our CA friends - Too many to list y'all - but you know who you are.
Yes, I am taking time to enjoy the new house.
Right now I am in the family room, on the new leather sectional with Abby on my feet watching TV - drinking a fine chardonnay (from CA) and enjoying the peace and quite this space brings me. Ben is with his friend John in his office (next to the family room) but with the doors shut I can't hear them.
It snowed a bit 2 days ago - Ben and I ran into this room and watched the flakes fall. We hugged and kissed and wished for a bit more to fall, but then it warmed up. It's been sunny and warm since. We would go riding, but too much to do to the house.
Today I brought home carpet samples - we picked and they come to measure on Monday.
Ben and his buddy's spent hours under the house rewiring for TV and interent. I hear the crawl spaces are carpeted and well lit!
I think the most amazing part of our being here is having people come to help us . Ben's family was here for 3 days helping us paint. His friends came today to help wire. We are going to an early thanksgiving at Ben's uncle's home. My mom drops in to see what's new and I stop in to her home and take her with for shopping and lunch. My sis and her husband have helped us set up the washer dryer, moved the freezer down stairs etc
We are nesting and I love it.
etc etc etc
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
