Back to Basics

Instagram collage 

A new blog layout...again.

I have reverted back to basics with my blog. Simple and no nonsense.

This blogging caper has reaffirmed what I always knew about myself..I like to keep it simple.

Simple doesn't hurt my head!

Annie xx

Issues

Hello everyone.
Well it's almost lunchtime in my neck of the woods and I've just wasted most of the morning sorting out social media stuff.
My twitter account was hacked and after some consideration I have deactivated that account. Will I return to twitter...frankly I'm not sure.
Then I needed to change passwords etc on other social media accounts and boy it is tedious. This first world social media drama has me thinking seriously just what social media I really need in my life. Over the last several months I have been contemplating which aspects of my on line life need simplifying so my rambling today is just me finally thinking out loud and I suppose this mornings effort has triggered this post. And no! I'm not caving in to the imbeciles out there, on the contrary.
Even though the dilemma I faced this morning is not the end of the world I feel rather cross how certain characters use peoples accounts to be nothing more than vexatious and annoying.

I have decided to keep posing here before I venture on holidays and use the time away to contemplate the direction I need to settle on regards my involvement in social media. One thing I do know is that above all else Instagram is the ants pants and my favourite medium.
I started a FB page to be a sister to this blog and I am feeling my way, I needed to try that medium to decide the direction Red Roses and Crystal would veer.

So on that note.....Have a lovely day friends. A little bit of  retail therapy sounds good to me right now!!

Annie xx

Braving New Territory

New trainers, new walking routine, which just happens to involve rising early (I'm so not a natural early riser type personality) and renewed focus on getting fit and strong.

Plus, and this is big new territory for me...ta da drum roll please...I have conceded defeat and signed up for Facebook, with the help of my daughter otherwise I wouldn't be past first base!
I had made a declaration to never venture into the realms of FB but decided I was scared of taking the plunge and I should just try it out and then form an opinion. The thought is not lost on me that being involved with several forms of social media there is inevitably overlapping of news and photos but I'll feel my way and see where it leads.

A link is installed over on the sidebar and I have to tell you this was set up just this morning and I basically have little idea what I'm doing! Hilarious..kind of.

Never say Never..my new mantra.

Annie xx

Time for a little Colour Change

Yes you're right...I've changed bits and pieces of my blog design.
Again.
Simplicity is always my aim and a lot of peripheral stuff on my own blog distresses me no end. Don't laugh it's true!
The fact I have an ancient qualification in Showcard and Ticketwriting (a form of signwriting/calligraphy using nibs, inks, sable brushes and paint before computer graphics came on the scene) causes me to be rather picky about my layout hence I'm never happy.

I get bored very quickly and like change. Will this layout stay?
Well I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Probably not!

Do you get bored with your blog colours, themes, layouts and want to change them up constantly or am I on my lonesome?

Annie xx

Pink Slippers and Rumination

Rumination

1. To turn a matter over and over in the mind.

2. To chew cud.

How in the devil's name is this word and it's meaning associated with a photo of pretty pink slippers you ask?

My gorgeous new slippers are the perfect foot attire when sitting in my rocking chair to Ruminate. Mr red roses informs me I ruminate a lot. Maybe chewing some cud might be beneficial although I'll keep that up my sleeve for desperate times.

For several weeks (probably more) I have toyed with the direction of this blog and how I need to proceed. Often I have wavered with throwing in the towel like all bloggers who are finding their own unique path and not because I run dry of ideas but dithering over HOW often do I want/need to post. The direction I'm journeying along has become apparent to me and herein lies a dilemma. My creative side is nudging me to be more prolific with posting with emphasis on a photo to convey my thoughts because I'm no wordsmith. Sure I can string a sentence together but if I'm honest I find composing time consuming and laborious and I truly admire bloggers who write so eloquently (and probably don't do a gazillion drafts with endless checks in the process).

Changing to a different format like Tumblr was considered but my kids and a couple of wise fellow blog friends advised I can still mould my blogger blog into what I desire and I ran the risk of losing my connection with my blog readers which didn't appeal.

A part of my blog journey has been to answer all comments because I appreciate and value the effort my readers take to do this. There are literally thousands of blogs circulating so to capture the dear folk who stop by RRC astounds me. The rapport I've built up with many of you since commencing the blog last August has brought me untold joy and I certainly don't wish to lose this camaraderie.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if I step up my input into this blog I may not have time to answer comments as frequently, sometimes not at all? Also I want/need to find time to follow and comment on my favourite blogs which is important to moi. Truly there just isn't enough hours in a day and I suppose we each need to discover what works best for ourselves.

Even as I waffle here about this issue I'm feeling overly dramatic but I would be sad if any reader felt I had lost interest in what they had to say. Far from it, I read every comment twice before publishing and again after publishing. Your words make my day!

Finding the quirky angle or beauty in a photograph brings me a silly amount of joy and I'm revelling in this. Who knew! 

The Instagram app on my iPhone has become addictive due to the fact it is quick, easy, followers can easily leave a comment or push the Like button. Instant gratification which has lead me to question the merits of blogging for me personally. So much so I find I'm taking photos that could be displayed to perhaps better effect on this blog. I'm no photographer as such..heck my hand-me-down SLR is still on auto, I don't use any whizz bang features or tricks and I still haven't learnt how to crop. *Note to self...Read the Manual Annie.

Finding something to snap helps me focus on the beauty in my life and surroundings plus it's also a great stress reliever and stress is front and centre in my life at the moment. My husbands workplace is going through very turbulent times and I have a health condition I need to get my head around. 

I do feel like I'm waffling now so I hope you get what I'm saying. Basically I'm going to attempt to bombard you with more frequent succinct posts which hopefully are entertaining.

Well that's the plan! I live in hope.

Now if all this talk of Instagram wets your appetite please don't ask me how to set it up to link to your blog from your smart phone because I took the lazy easy option and asked my incredibly smart son to install it! However you can visit here where Beth has written a post on how to set up the gadget-thingamy-whatsit.

For those not familiar with the workings of my Instagram sidebar just place the cursor over a photo and a brief description appears then click on the picture for an enlarged vision. Each day I usually place a couple of pictures of whatever takes my fancy. 

Fun fun fun!

Righto then I'm off to boil the jug for a cuppa and contemplate reorganising my wardrobe. A far bit of cajoling is happening to get my daughter on board to do the deed for me!

Take care one and all...

Annie xx

Frustration Central

                                                                  Google images

For the time being I have returned to this layout after getting excited about a new Blogger template called Dynamic Views which I set up and used for my previous post.
After spending a good portion of this afternoon with my adult son (who knows his way around a computer) to figure out how to add gadgets, feeds, Follow buttons etc etc and coming up with zilch we entered a Blogger forum to discover that indeed blogger has been promising to fine tune the Dynamic Views template for months and so add these essential tools for successful blogging. Or at least this was the most up-to-date information we found.

In a nutshell that template is virtually useless at this point in time because why have a blog that no-one can follow because you can't add any follow feeds to the blog, unless you practically have a degree in computer software to navigate adding any type of follow options.
Are you following my frustrated waffle so far dear friends?
I wish I had researched this beforehand! If nothing else I am gaining a crash course of the ins and outs of computer vagaries. Which I might add is one of the reasons I delved into this blogging caper!

Along with many others who wish to use this design I look forward to Blogger ironing out the Dynamic templates issues. Blogger..why release a template that is inferior?

So...back to basics for a bit until I calm down and feel enthused to try another layout.

Annie xx

A Change is as Good as a Holiday...or so they say

Today I tweaked and fiddled and foofed and procrastinated with the design of this little blog in the hope of simplifying the layout.

Now I'm not sure if I succeeded other than driving myself just a little bit insane in the process. Blogging has verified an aspect of my personality that I definitely knew existed...I like change.

Is this design permanent? Most definitely probably not.

Half the fun of learning is trial and error and having a bash and along the way I occasionally surprise myself. Considering this morning I thought I'd lost my blog in cyber space. Feeling the meltdown approaching I just had to walk away for several hours and return to the computer and give red roses and crystal her revamp.

Why am I publishing a photo of bright coloured lollies you may ask. No reason other than I feel like eating a whole packet right this minute.

And if you hear me thinking out loud about making more changes in the foreseeable future, please somebody ...STOP ME.

(yes I'm a drama queen)

xx

A Question and My Weekend

It's the start of a new week and so I will jump in boots and all and pose a question before I share snippets of my weekend. 

People I'd love you to share...how and when do you allocate precious time to blog? Actually writing a blog is not my issue (I always have fodder) but of late I'm in a dilemma because I'm not commenting on my fave blogs as often as I used to. Before I commenced this caper I was a devoted commenter but (and I was warned this would happen) since starting RRC and personally following a stack more blogs which seems to come with the territory, nowadays I find while I might tune in and read the blogs I follow I don't always have time to leave a comment. Same goes for replying to the beautiful comments readers leave on RRC, in this blogs infancy I maintained I would answer all but you know, at times there just isn't enough hours in the day!

How do you share the Love?

Do you blog every day but only occasionally comment on blogs?

Do you blog only occasionally but are a devoted commenter?

Do you break the tasks up ie. sit down to thrash out your own post and leave reading and commenting on other bloggers posts till another time/day? 

I fear I'm probably hopeless at time management in this regard. If I log on and attempt a post then catch up and comment on my pals blogs in the morning like I'm doing right now I find the morning disappears quickly and I'm behind for the whole day.

So many questions and so many answers. Be assured I'm not having a whinge this morning but I still regard myself as a novice at this game and helpful tips are appreciated. 

Alrighty that's about as heavy as I want to get this week folks so here are a few snippets from my weekend

These faux suede boots were made for walking... maybe but I've not done much walking in them I'm afraid. One of those silly first purchases in China years ago when everything looked like a bargain and my life would never be the same again if I didn't bring these boots home.
The reason for this photo you may ask....De cluttering Mania.
Had to be done. I was drowning in a sea of shoes and clothes in the walk-in robe. A visit to the Salvos centre this week will be organised

Breakfast with a friend was delightful. We needed sustenance after scouring the sale at Daryl's store and snapping several bargains. Like cushions. Mr red roses comment..'do we really need more cushions in this house'.
Yes!

The pantry also needed a thorough clean out and re-organisation. As it's a large space, food stuffs tend to get thrown in willy nilly but I am determined to keep this area tidy now.
You read it here folks

A big project under way is the installation of insulation under the deck roof. The tin radiates heat and during a Queensland summer it's unbearable to sit here during the day so a plan was devised to counteract this. I will be posting about this installation in the near future.

This pink crystal has no relevance to the past weekend. Just thought I'd share it's prettiness. Snapped this instagram shot recently of this pretty crystal that sits on my dressing table. $10 from Target and is probably a paperweight I think?

So..please fess up and spill, I would love your thoughts on how you manage sharing your time with this blogging caper.
How do you allocate posting, reading and commenting time so that you don't place pressure on yourself to do it all...every day????

Annie xx

Sorting and Sifting...

My friend A-M popped in to help me fine tune this here blog. Who knew there's a ton of info to grasp when one ventures into blogland. Learning never stops, doesn't matter how old we are.

 Well we set to like only women can and created miracles (after tea, cake and chatter of course).

Very nice mani there A-Me and I so want the ring! 

Of course this set off a chain of events for yours truly because I realised my system left a bit to be desired if I was to become an efficient Miss and create posts in a timely fashion without trawling through squillions of pics. Hence over the last two days I've spent, oh about six hours sorting hundreds (felt like thousands) of photos into new folders...click...drag...click...delete...and so on until I had morphed into a robot.

Do you update your photo folders etc on a regular basis to enable easy blogging?
Must say I feel quite chuffed now it's organised, just wish I could be enthused to attack a pile of paperwork that's staring at moi.

But not right now. I need a drink!
xx