Instagram Story life hack

I'm really getting into the Instagram "stories" these days. One thing I didn't know was that it would record sound--meaning background noise, conversation, music, and wind. I wanted to turn off the sound, but couldn't figure out how to do it.

After Googling a bunch of websites, I clicked on somebody's you tube video because the tagline said it would show you the solution. Ended up being this little doohickey that you plug in and leave hanging off the side of your camera. I guess you're not supposed to care about how dumb that looks or what a PITA it will be.

Then I found this in the comments section of the guy's video:

Go to settings > privacy > microphone > turn off on Instagram*

Me: *took 7 seconds to change* 📱
Me: *mind blown* 🎇


*posted by youtube.com/user/iFirirahman about 3 years ago +

Minutiae Musings Vol. 7 w/ unrelated photo

Vol. 6 was on 12/12/2014. Yes, twenty fourteen. Or, if you prefer, two thousand fourteen. I'm certain there have been one heck of a lot of musings since then, but I didn't blog about them.

Usually Thursday is my best day of the week. Today.......not so much:

SSDD at work. *It'd be almost comical if it wasn't pissing me off.*
I-4 Traffic. *My road rage is at Defcon 1 level. Next stop: machine gun behind the dash.*
Glimmer Train. *Thanks but no thanks. Again. Distinct sobbing.*
The Dishes Fairly is either (a) on strike or (b) stalling so I'll do them. *Wait, what?!*
Weight. *Last time I was this size was when I was 7-1/2 months P.G.*

</end.of.whining.>


Positive musings--

The little cold snap is most welcome. Hope it lasts or if not, that another one comes back sooner rather than later.

I'm going to send ANOTHER story to Glimmer Train before their next deadline of October 31. I'll submit every piece I ever wrote until they publish me. If they don't publish any of those, I'll write some new ones and send them until they publish me.

Time to start walking again.

I love this drawing of the moon phases. Another way to mark the passage of time. 💓

The header excuse

I've tried to get the header photo changed from the sunlight trees in the park to the kids underneath the trees at Dickson Azalea Park. I couldn't get it to change no matter what I did, so I got mad and wouldn't try anymore.

Tonight I was committed to fixing it. Finally figured out that I was signed into the wrong Google email account and Blogger couldn't "find" my blog. #invisibleme

I fixed the header photo after I got the right email connected. Easy as pie, just like it used to be.

I'm sure nobody saw this coming (lmao), but I'm blaming my lack of blogging on the fact that I was annoyed that I couldn't change the photo.

Let's see how long it is before I post again. HA!

P.S. I added a Rune of the Day widget to the main page. It's fun to play with. Enjoy!

Pulse: After One Year

It's now been a year since the terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub. I live only a few blocks from there, but until this past Saturday, I'd never gone to the actual place. I wasn't prepared for how emotional I would be. I looked at the art that's been created. I scrutinized the individual memorials and noticed that most of the candles were burning despite the wind from an impending thunderstorm. Nearly everything on the grounds displayed powerful words: significant, disturbing, inspiring, heartbreaking. I wanted to sit down on the concrete and just be there, but I was afraid people would think it was weird or scary. Instead, I did what I do and took photos. Most of them are from the Pulse site, but a few are from around town.

The original sign--still standing strong.

Yes, ALL of your neighbors.

Street art

This sign is in a neighbor's yard. I asked her where she

got it, and she said that her whole subdivision put their
money together and had these specially made.
Her house is for sale, and when she sells it,
she promised to give it to me.

While I was driving around looking for signs, I saw this

memorial. A little brass plaque said it was dedicated to 

the 49 people of Pulse. I can't wait to swap books
with people. Books bring us together.

This is the CVS Pharmacy at Orange Ave. and Michgan St. in 

downtown Orlando. They've displayed this sign since the 

day the tragedy happened. It's never come down even

if the tree branches block it a little bit. I shop there 

as often as I can specifically because of that.

--Gardening is life--

So many places to donate blood! Big Red Buses are

out and ready to accept the gift of life.

I felt differently when I left than when I arrived. This place is definitely sacred ground.


#Pulse #orlando #rainbow #love #hearts #words #united #hatewillneverwin #bigredbus #whodoyoudonatefor #littlefreelibrary #dedicatedtoPulse49 #neverforgotten #doves #angels #family #lovedones #friends #faith #community #tolerance #evolve #orlandostrong #orlandounited #togetherasone #loveisloveislove #weareallthesame #rememberthis

Suicide Awareness

I've seen this all over social media and wanted to share it everywhere I can.

National Suicide Prevention 800 273 8255 It's ok to not be ok. It's ok to call. PLEASE call. Know this: you are worth it.

Caroline is 14.  As in FOURTEEN.  Catorce.  Quatorze. Vierzehn. Ceathair déag.  Kat òz.  ʻUmikumāhā.  Feljätoista.  Quattuordecim.  Fjorten.  Ceithir-deug.  Erbatax.  Czternaście.  Eziyishumi Nane. Ondört.

Yes, of course, 14 translations of 14.  Hoping that'll enable me to wrap my head around 'dat.

Pictures of my precious girl:

My favorite because it's SO her:


Wish I could speak fourteen different languages to tell her how much she is loved! She is scary smart, beautiful, funny, and sassy. I'm proud of the person she's becoming. 🌟😍

Languages represented above:
English
Italian and Portuguese (same word)
German
Irish
Haitian Creole
Hawaiian
Finnish
Latin
Norweigan
Scottish Gaelic
Maltese
Polish
Zulu
Turkish

[Yes, this was backdated. Apologies for the necessary cheating.]

Sixteen

My firstborn is having his 16th birthday today. Christ, I feel old.

I love him so much! He is handsome, smart, funny, healthy, and STILL has the most tender heart of anybody I've ever known.

I posted the best shots on Facebook and some of these might be repeats, but as always, the bloopers go on the blog.

These came out better than I thought. 

 

I trust all angels are sleeping with my birthday boy tonight.

xoxo

Vintage Paper Arts

I love finding vintage and/or historical postcards when I visit places. Here are two that I found intriguing.

Wenn jeder Wechsel den Glücklichen schreckt,

Mit solch einem Wechsel da ging es;

Denn immer noch macht einem schönen effect

Solch ein liebender Wechsel des Ringes.

LITERAL TRANSLATION IS:

If any change scares lucky

With such a change as it went;

For still makes a nice effect

Such a loving exchange of rings.

Principauté de Monaco

Le Palais du Prince

LITERAL TRANSLATION IS:

Monaco Principality

The Prince's Palace

I don't have a lot of confidence in Google Translate after putting together this post. At least on the first one. Also, I don't like editing my post 30 times to get the spacing right. At first post it was triple spaced, and the words underneath the pictures keeps typing off into the right till it drops off the edge of the blog. I'm not exaggerating. Thirty (30) times.

I'm off to find out if Mercury is in retrograde. Ha. 

Politics and the Post Office

One of the bummers about moving is changing my voting address. This leads to an inordinate amount of political post cards and flyers, as well as typical junk mail.  I feel bad for mail carriers who are required to deliver items that are junk mail and they know that a lot of it gets thrown away with disdain. I'd love it if they'd ditch mine, but then everybody would want special services.

One mailman in particular gets ultra offended that Zing barks incessantly at him.  I told him it was the mail truck, not the person, because he barks at every mail truck.  Postal worker was unconvinced.

I wonder if anybody has ever actually read the flyers and cards. I haven't, and I don't. Into the recycle bin they go.....

Flowers by other names

This plant isn't an African violet. It's an Episcia, also known as the flame violet, trailing violet, or chocolate soldier plant. The grower calls it Daphne's Choice.

I didn't even know there was such a plant as "trailing" violets. I searched for yellow violet, this one came up, I saw the bloom from the front, and added that bad boy to the cart. When I got it, I thought one of bloom stalks was broken during shipping. I Googled images of Episcia and realized the stalk was not broken--it's a runner that will branch out and attach to the soil. Because that's what they do! This is one of the few times that skipping over the full product description has worked out well for me.

The pink and white one is a chimera, and the adorable miniature one’s name is Blue Blazes. It looked blue on the website, but in real life and in my pics, it has beautiful blooms that are purple.

I also bought a pink bromeliad.

Hope you enjoy my flowers!