Category: It Works! (…or Not)

Things that actually do what they’re supposed to do… or not

Why Is WordPress Life So Hard?

How do bloggers do it? Not only provide content every day or so, but upload photos and other media with seeming ease?

I came to the blog today yesterday with the idea of writing a post, although I had no idea what to write about. Despite having 11 drafts, I’m just not inspired. Chalk it up to mid-winter and pandemic ennui. So I thought I’d spend some time organizing the website. Ha.

When I changed themes (last summer?) I created new stream-themed headers. But I had trouble loading them. Today Yesterday I decided to load one of a winter scene. Of course, the winter pic was one I hadn’t yet made, so I had to create it. That entailed resizing (not hard) and improving its general appearance. I’m not good with seeing optimum results, so I have to create several versions and decide which one is best. This photo entailed improving contrast and sharpness, both of which provide me with nearly infinite options. So it takes a long time for me to find those optimal results—and it eats into my writing time.

Then I screwed up and managed to “hide” all my headers. That required searching for a way to undo my mistake. The WordPress dashboard gave no option to “show” hidden headers. So I searched for an answer on the web, only to come up with nothing. Bummer. Through some trial and error I managed to show the one picture I’ve uploaded. So it will show on every page. I hope.

Eventually I’ll load more headers, but one is enough for now. As part of organizing my blog, I need to update several things. Like the copyright, which I first have to find. And categories and tags. And access to pages, which I’ve now realized isn’t obvious.

Perhaps I need to dedicate an hour or so to blog maintenance in addition to an hour to writing. But… but… it interferes with my game-playing. Yes, retirement is wonderful, with all its extra free time. But it can lead to an unscheduled life. And with above said ennui, that’s a slippery slope—which I have managed to slide down.

At least this stream of consciousness post (hey, it is the title of the blog!) has given me ideas for new posts: writing goals, retirement thoughts, and time-wasting games.

Now, if I could only find a picture to post. Ah, here we go…

Natalie’s dishcloth, which I STILL haven’t mailed.

Oh good God! How do I resize this damn thing? Once again WordPress has modified its dashboard and now I can’t find how to edit and resize this photo. (I finally gave up and resized it in my graphics program, but I still can’t find how to properly edit the photo, so it’s going out as is.) See? WordPress life is hard!

Now, if I can just figure out how to add categories and tags in the new interface…

I Look Good in What I Eat

This buffalo-check shirt is spotless after havng been stained with egg yolk and red wine.
Cute shirt: 97% cotton, 3% spandex

This sweet little shirt has been through the wringer.  A few weeks ago I wore it to IHOP.  I ordered the 2x2x2 combo, eggs over easy, and…  You guessed it.  I spilled egg yolk on it.  I washed the shirt in S2O, a sheet-type laundry detergent I bought from HSN.  I rubbed the spot a little with the sheet, then threw shirt and sheet into the washer (with other clothes).

The shirt came out spotless!  But that didn’t last long.

The next time I wore it, I dribbled red wine all over the front.  Perhaps this shirt just wasn’t meant to be in my wardrobe.  But I washed it with the S2O again, again rubbing the stains a bit before throwing it all in the wash.  This is how it came out of the dryer.  Spotless!  Again!

S2O laundry sheets are available at HSN.
S2O laundry sheets: They work!

I haven’t tried S2O on all stains, but egg yolk and red wine are two particularly difficult stains to get out.  For someone who spills food on herself as often as not, S2O could be an excellent find.

And so, I present It Works!—a new category to laud those products that actually do what they say.

When Good Wine Goes Bad

With six you get a wine tote and a 10% discount.

Heat kills kids, pets, and wine.
Danger ahead!

Last Friday I bought six bottles of wine at the grocery store.  I decided to splurge and buy some of the “quite good” wine, not the mediocre stuff I usually get.  Who knew six bottles of wine could weigh so much?  The wine tote was quite heavy.

Since I had several bags of groceries to carry up 3½ flights of stairs, I brought up only two bottles of wine from the car when I got home.

And I proceeded the forget about the rest.

When I brought the wine tote with the remaining four bottles in Saturday afternoon, the bottles were warm.  I figured the glass would cool down and everything would be ok.  The bottles stayed in the tote until last Monday evening, when I took them out for longer term storage.

The extended cork is due to oxidation caused by heat.
Extended cork=not good

Oi!  One bottle of  red bottle and one of white appeared to have been partially opened, as shown in the photo at right.  My immediate thought was that I’d been sold samples,, although the bottles were full.  Then I noticed another white wine had no cork in it at all! That’s I knew I was the culprit, and that I was in trouble. Or would have been, if I had a more discerning palate.

Could these bottles of wine be saved?  Apparently not, according to several web sites.  However, I am a person who can drink vending machine coffee black, so I wasn’t going to let a little oxidized wine scare me away.  Of course, I won’t be serving the wine to anyone else.

I haven’t tried the Kendall-Jackson pictured yet, but the other white wine (the one with the missing cork), didn’t seem to be discolored (another sign of good wine gone bad).  It did have a rather sharp taste, as did the “partially uncorked” Merlot.  But after the first glass, my taste buds were sufficiently dulled so as not to care.

Lesson learned.

[Top photo credit San Diego Wine Storage]