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Changes to Google Friend Connect Advise Your Blog Followers


"Recently Google made an announcement on their blog an  Update on Google Friend Connect.  Have you read it?  These two paragraphs are the highlights:

    *  As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow. *

If you're reading this from your blog's dashboard through Google, you should be okay when the change takes place.

Some of our readers may not know of the change, or don't have a Google account.  Tell them to please consider signing up for one so they may follow our blogs.

If a Google account is not an option, there are other options, some in my sidebar. Thanks.
Reminder, the Google Friend Connect change starts during the week of January 11, 2016. "

Keep reading the how to post of a simple install of a GFC gadget, I first published this on February 12, 2012.

The original post follows:

If your Google Friend Connect gadget stops working, you can install this code below to add a Follow Button to your blog.     The button will not have a count or images of  your followers, but it serves to let them follow the blog, a little convenience.  When  the GFC stops working on non-Blogger blogs sometime this Spring,  March was mentioned, you might try this as a substitute, I have no idea if it will work at that time, but here it is if you need it.

Before you copy and paste the code, write  your Blog Id Number down, you will type that number in the space where I've typed in RED, below.  Don't type in "YOURBLOGIDNUMBER."  You can find your Blog Id number by looking at the address bar after you are signed in and have your draft.blogger page loaded.

Sign in to your account and go to your draft.blogger where you choose Layout and Add a Gadget, choose add HTML.  Paste this code in with your id number and give it a title if you want, Save, and move the gadget where you want to place it.  Preview if you like, and Save Arrangement.

<center><a href="http://www.blogger.com/follow-blog.g?blogID=YOURBLOGIDNUMBER" target='_blank'><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lyvoqBODutQ/TagvjM9vDCI/AAAAAAAADsw/2m38l41mVYY/s1600/Blogger_Follow_Button.PNG" /></a></center>

That's it, simple and quick!  You might want to bookmark this post to come back to after the GFC changes are made or try it out now.

Stick around to read the next post about the new Linky Followers tool, which I'll leave at the top of the page for a while.

Second on the 2nd Nearly Free Wall Art the Possibilities

There's bits of garland strands on the carpet and the kitchen counter is covered with piles and bags of Christmas decorations.  Yes, it is the take down decoration day.  Normally I leave the lights and decorations up until the 6th and take them down on the 7th, but this year I said it's going to be today. The front door decor will come down in a day or two.

In between detangling garland from lights, I watched an old Hallmark movie, Mystery Woman, cooked an early dinner and while blog reading came across the series,
"Second on the 2nd" at Altered Book Lover-Bleubeard & Elizabeth.   Thanks, Elizabeth!

If you like being creative without spending bags of money, my post: Your Nearly Free Wall Art may be right up your alley.  Originally published August 2013:



Do you have $1.00 (plus tax) and an empty picture frame?  That's all you need for this look.

This is the follow up to Paint Your Own Wall Art, A Home Seller's Tip.


decal framed wall art

While decluttering to prepare the house for sale, I found several wood picture frames.  The glass was gone as well as the backing, I had been saving frames to make a Vision Board or Inspiration Board.  I'd also thought of making message boards or just framing groups of aceos or other small works with these frames.

Just hang your empty frame and place the vinyl wall decal inside. That's it.  If you want to decorate the frame or put the decal under glass, those are nice additions.  I'm running down the clock, so just framing it was the way to go for me.

I first saw these decals in one of those $1.00 stores, although in this store, most prices were higher.  I didn't get my first choice of decals since I didn't buy it when I first saw it, but this one seems to have an appropriate message.

The decal came as one connected phrase with the little bird, flower, and butterfly separate.  I moved these around until I got the look I liked.  You just easily peel it off the wall, there's no mess or sticky residue.

I made these wall art pieces because I took down the paintings and photos to get my house ready for sale, but the ideas would suit anytime.  Are you saving broken things for those "some day projects?"

The Blog Focus Funnel Move Forward by Looking at Your Past

Do you know where your blog focus is?  It's not lost.  What topics do you gravitate to as a writer, as a reader? This post isn't about marketing or gaining new readers (Okay, it would be nice to have new readers too.)  No, this post is about looking back and gaining a fresh perspective.

The rollover to the brand new year makes for resolutions, but sometimes, looking where you have been instead of where you want to go (not the gym) can also be the way forward, and not just for blogging.





























Some drastic life changes have been thrown at me in the past few years.  I finally could not face blogging as a writer.  I would read my saved blogs from time to time, but couldn't comment, at least for the most part.  I used the time away from blogging to work on healing, physically and otherwise.

As time passed, I wondered why I hadn't recommitted to blogging.  I knew that having a focus on something would help me stand up wherever I needed to stand.  In other words, put the bad stuff to the side and zero in on something to take my mind and therefore, my feelings, off the problem and on to something that would be a healthy distraction.    Sort of a, "Words don't fail me now" mindset.

That's all well and good, but it didn't work.  If you could see the room in my house where all the arts and crafts stuff await, you might think I need no excuse for tucking in to the boxes, paints, papers, beads, and jars.  All that inspiration is overload sometimes.

Some of the problem was that I didn't know if I wanted to start again.  I missed connecting with other bloggers, but didn't have the energy to keep in touch.  On the other hand, I need to finish what I start or bring it to a satisfying last post, not just drift away.



I Miss Her.


Where to start?

I have a stick-to-it-ness that has helped me through the years.  I don't give up unless it is without a doubt, all things tried, not able to work.

Just last month I fixed the bed frame that "couldn't" be fixed and saved more than a hundred dollars by not giving up.  Not bragging, just saying, sometimes where there's a will, there's a way. I have the bruises to prove it.