Let me introduce you to my favorite corner in
"the town that sets on the edge of the prairie"
...Welcome to Stutzman's.
This outdoor market sets on a busy corner in town.
It doesn't always look like this though....
"the town that sets on the edge of the prairie"
...Welcome to Stutzman's.
This outdoor market sets on a busy corner in town.
It doesn't always look like this though....
Just a few short weeks ago my favorite corner was bare---except
for their famous red & white tent...
Yikes!!!
Look at it now! It's gorgeous!! It's abso-fabo-rrefic!!!!
Just driving by makes me happy!!!
It reminds me of a french flower market
...a french flower market in the middle of Kansas!
When Stutzman's swings into high gear we all know that
summer isn't far off!
Oh, lookie there---french flower gardens all ready for Mother's Day!!! (how does one spell lookie? lookey? lookey?)
My new friend, Jane, runs this corner. Here she is the Queen! It's good to be Queen!!!
Their Radio show is the best...it just comes on a little early ---7:30 on Saturday :)
(I took all these photos this morning in 52 degree weather with the wind blowing 90 to nothing. When I got home and checked the pics I had a great big smudge on the right hand corner of my lense. If I wasn't so blind, I might have seen it earlier...but maybe not...what with the wind and the cold I wasn't noticing much!)
Today Doc and I went on a little shopping spree.
I mean, who could blame us?
He bought 2 new rose bushes---"Lady Emma Hamilton" and "About Face". Otherwise known to us novices as a yellow one and a peach colored one.
I bought a magnificent planter for my mom---sh-h-h-h! it's a secret!!! (Mother's Day you know) and a little french garden for myself and then I bought...
...ten more french gardens, one for each of the wonderful, beautiful, patient, kind women in Doc's office. They are so wonderful and make his life run so smoothly.
Thank you, ladies!
Following are just a few of the lovely women in my husband's life:
Sweet, Sweet Mother's Day to all the sweet, sweet mother's in our lives!!!!
Speaking of Mother's Day...
...And thank you to the brood that call me "mom"! All the kids whom we lovingly referred to as our little tax deductions have flown the coop now, but each and every one of them continues to make me look good! How great is that? My only complaint? I bet you can guess...not enough babies are getting "borned" in this family!!!
And finally...(alright now, I heard that sigh of relief!!! But don't skip this part 'cuz I'm fixing to ask for your help.)
I have some questions regarding BLOGGING etiquette or BLOGGING P's and Q's or BLOGGING know-how.
I just want to say thank you to my "Sweet Momma Ruth"
whose love has never failed me. She won't read this 'cuz she doesn't have a computer but that won't be the case for long. Doc and I are getting her an i-Pad so she can follow the blogs! Now remember, this is a secret so...be careful...she can be a very nosey nellie when she wants to be...
(giggle, giggle--chuckle, chuckle--snort, snort..so lady-like ain't I?)
whose love has never failed me. She won't read this 'cuz she doesn't have a computer but that won't be the case for long. Doc and I are getting her an i-Pad so she can follow the blogs! Now remember, this is a secret so...be careful...she can be a very nosey nellie when she wants to be...
(giggle, giggle--chuckle, chuckle--snort, snort..so lady-like ain't I?)
...And thank you to the brood that call me "mom"! All the kids whom we lovingly referred to as our little tax deductions have flown the coop now, but each and every one of them continues to make me look good! How great is that? My only complaint? I bet you can guess...not enough babies are getting "borned" in this family!!!
And finally...(alright now, I heard that sigh of relief!!! But don't skip this part 'cuz I'm fixing to ask for your help.)
I have some questions regarding BLOGGING etiquette or BLOGGING P's and Q's or BLOGGING know-how.
Like...When I want to thank someone for a comment or to answer a question in a comment, should I do it on my blog or go to their blog? or both?
Is it best to have those encrypted code words? Do you like approving your comments first?
and...How do giveaways work?
Does each blogger make up their own rules?
How do you contact the winner to get their mailing address?
How does this whole giveaway/drawing thing work anyway?
and...How do I get those little pictures with the "you might also like" at the bottom of the blogs?
Is there a book or a site for bloggers with all of these answers? So far, I've been stumbling along, slowly... but not so surely...if you get my drift. I think I have finally figured out "linking" thanks to some helpful hints from you guys.
Last question: I am on Blogspot. On this setup, is there a way to move pictures around without doing it step by little painful step? Sometimes I have a picture that I want at the bottom of the posting and it takes forever for me to work it's way down to where I want it! I try to remember to upload in the reverse order that I want them on the post...but please...I have ADD remember? That takes a whole lot of something that I am mighty short on...patience!
Thank you dear friends for any and all help. As you can tell I am new to all of this and not really vastly experienced with my computer anyway. I basically started blogging as a way to journal and it is so much fun to meet you other bloggers! That took me by surprise! I had no idea it would be so much fun!!
Anyway--- It took me a whole evening one time, just to change my background. Goodness gracious, how sad is that anyway!?! I probably shouldn't admit to such incompetence...but there you have it...the sad, ugly truth!
Happy Mother's Day to all you sweet, sweet moms and please, kiss your momma for me!!
Hello there, Ms. Jamjar!
ReplyDeleteYou are the second lady I know that goes to Stutzman's! Do you know Linda Stubbs @ Prairie Flower Farm? She goes there, too, and is always showing the lovlies they have.
How sweet of you to buy Mamma an i-pad and all the office ladies the beautiful planters!
I am not so new to blogging but I still don't know the correct answers to many of your questions. But here is what I kinda/sorta know ~
Comments=either way is acceptable I think. I have seen it both ways.
I like to have the code for comments because it filters out automated web crawlers.
Giveaways are whatever you want it to be. Most ask to have the winner email them their mailing address. You make up the rules for your own giveaway.
I had those little pics at the bottom of the post called *link within*. It caused loading problems for me, but I only have dial-up. It was an option offered by blogger but I don't remember how to find that. Sorry!
I think on the bottom of the Blogger sign-in page is a link to *blogger help* that should answer questions.
I have the same problem with putting the pictures on my post. I recently have been playing around with the placement of add photos. Where it says *None*, *Left*, *Center*, *Right*, if you try *None* it seems to help with the moving them around easier.
Well, I am sure I have only added to your befudlement, but be assured, you are not the only one in that boat! It took me a
V ~ E ~ R ~ Y L ~ O ~ N ~ G time to learn to resize my photos before adding them to my post. It would take 15 minutes to load on picture! And, as you can tell, I am quite chatty and that made for a long night of blogging! :~O
Happy Mother's Day to you, my friend.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Hi Sis...
ReplyDeleteAre we "Dumb and Dumber" or what? I need all those exact answers too!! So I will be checking this post regularly to find out all the expert answers. Thanks for being the one to ask! HA! By the time I get a post done...I'm panting!!! HA!
Love you and love Stutzmans...Road trip I hope. You are so sweet to buy all Doc's ladies such a lovely gift. But that's just you!!! Sweet as Marmalade.
Phew! Look at all those questions. :) I'll try to tackle some.
ReplyDeletePersonally, if I want to reply to a comment writer, I would do it on their blog. It breaks the flow of their post, BUT if you respond on your own blog, many will not come back to the post to see it. Some may, but I know I never remember every place I comment.
There was a blogging site I used to use, where at the bottom of every comment was a Reply button. If you used it, the reply would go into their email with a link back to your post. They would also be notified via the Universal Inbox. It was soo handy. I have left feedback at Blogger about this very thing.
Because my blogs are for the most part private, I do not use the Word Verification or moderation. I don't get spam, or rude comments at this point. Only the For Sale blog has moderated comments where I need their email address to contact any potential customers. I do this so their addresses are not made public.
About giveaways, your blog, your rules. :) Do it in a way where you and your readers will have fun with it. I've never held one and only have participated in a handful. It was baad... I hardly do them, but happened to enter two in a short period of time. I won both and felt so guilty. (Don't ask me why) I held off for a long time after that. :)
Most people will announce the winner in a blog entry, so if they do not leave an email, they can see your post. But most do leave email addresses that you can contact.
Aah, the photo moving question. I use the "Old Editor". I heard the New editor allows for easy placement of photos, but I cannot verify this. You would find this option at the bottom of your Settings page. Maybe give that a try. Oh, if you change any of your settings, don't forget to hit Save. I have wasted many moments when I forget.
I don't think I got all your questions, but please ask me if I confused you any. :)
Gorgeous flowers. I think your wind has come our way. We have had w-i-n-d for several days now and it is nuts.
A question has been killing me, but if you do not want to answer for privacy reasons, that is fine. Do you live near Hutchinson? If you are willing to answer, you can use my Moderated link here:
http://thepatchphotographyforsale.blogspot.com/2009/09/contact-me.html
Oh, I wanted to comment about what you said about telemarketers slaughtering your name. We have a very Irish last name, but only a telemarketer can make it Italian. :P
Warning ~ long comment ahead :). First of all, thanks so much for your recent visits and sweet comments. I absolutely loved to hear about your plans to visit you mom and her interest in blogs. How sweet is that. Please give her a hug from this blogger in NC. This will be the first Mother's Day without my mom as she now resides in heaven. I noticed you are in Kansas and that makes me think of my mom because she was born in Liberal, Kansas. She moved from there as a baby and I have never been there, but when I think of Kansas I think of her. Funny, eh?
ReplyDeleteI would never know by the looks of your blog that you are a newbie as it looks great. Love your header picture. Also, love that flower market. It looks so pretty and colorful. I am envious of Doc's employees. You both sound like great people to work for.
I see you have gotten answers to a lot of your blogging questions, but I'll throw in my 2 cents for what it's worth.
- I've seen comments handled both ways. I guess I usually answer questions, etc. in their blog comments because I'm not always sure if they will come back and check in mine.
- I just recently started approving comments when spam became a problem. It requires an extra step on my part, but is worth it to keep the spam off my blog. The spammers seem to be good at hiding their messages in old posts and I have better things to do than look through old posts to remove their stuff.
- The "you might also like" is something I added after seeing it on other blogs. I think I clicked on the gray words saying "link within" which shows under the 3 pictures and it led me to the instructions for adding this feature.
- I used to add pictures in the reverse order until I changed to the "updated editor". Now I can add a picture, then type in some text, then add in the next photo, etc.
If you aren't using the updated editor, it is easily changed by going to "dashboard" and then click "settings", scroll down to "select post editor" and choose "updated editor."
I hope this will help. I am far from an expert, but I have learned a few things since I started and most of it has come from asking fellow bloggers.
Sorry for such a long comment. Have a wonderful visit with your mom.
OOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhh I just love an outdoor market!!!! You took such lovely photo's. I went to a nursery today and bought some lovelies myself and do you think I took one single picture NO! why you ask? Well...that would mean I would have to remember the camera was in my purse! I quess I got way to carried away with all those BEAUTIFUL plants and flowers. There is always next time ;)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you asked all those blogging questions! Let us know what you find out.
ENJOY!!! Your Mother's Day.
Hello--
ReplyDeleteLove the flowers. They are soooo pretty.
Looks like a great flower market.
You can alos comment to someone via email if they have it listed. If not--just comment on their blog so they see it.
Giveaways are fun--I've had two of my own.
Happy Mother's Day to you!
Melinda
LOVE STUTZMAN'S! I don't get to shop for their goodies so much anymore since i'm a bit farther away than used to be, and there is a lovely garden center closer... but when I'm in the grandkids' city, I stop and check out all the pretties and buy!
ReplyDeleteWhen someone comments on my blog, I always visit their blog and return the compliments... usually at the end of a normal comment on their current post. For some folks who get hundreds of comments at a time on days they have giveaways and such, this would be extremely hard... or impossible. But I'm lucky to get 2, or 3 or MAYBE 4 visitors... except the ONE time my blog was a featured blog and I got 23 or so comments... and then back to 2, or 3, or 4... and I let them know how much I appreciate that they came by and took the time to comment.
I've done giveaways {although not on my current blog... yet... getting ready to, shhhh,, LOL!}... you do it how you want. I use random.org to choose the number of the comment, then take a screen shot of that generated number and put it on the post announcing the winner. I leave a message in the post asking that person to please email me with their mailing address.
I use Akismet {a plugin} to stop spammers and such. Works like a charm. I rarely have to do anything. Tried the approval thing at first {THAT was a pain}, then did the captcha letters for a while, which was better, but the Akismet works much easier for me and "learns" what I want it to approve. If it is in doubt, it queues the comment in question and lets me know so I can handle it myself. But that's very rare...maybe 1 or 2 times every couple months.
I own my own domain, and my blog goes through it using WordPress blog technology... so my stuff is 99% coded and done by me... yadda yadda yadda. Sorry I can't be more help. I did see that Blogger/Blogspot has its own tutorials. Or you can google questions you have, too.
Personally, I think you're doing an AWESOME job with your blog as is!
And by the way... THANK YOU for visitng me lately! Your comments have really made my days the past week or so! =)
For giveaways a lot of people use www.random.org to generate a winner... you just put in the number of comments (min. and max.) and then the number it gives you is the comment number so just scroll through to the comment and you have a winner!! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope I can remember all I want to comment here about!!! First of all, the flower place is so beautiful!!! I would get lost in there!
ReplyDeleteI think if you want to answer a question someone has asked you on your blog, you should go to their blog and answer it. About the pictures, I upload my pictures in the EDIT HTML part of where you write the new post and then I just copy and paste them to where I want them in my post still in the EDIT HTML part and then I go to compose and write around the pictures. I'm going to read through your comments and see what other people think. I'm probably doing it the wrong way !!!
Hope you had a great Mother's Day!
Oh and I hate the code thing that we have to put in after we write a comment. But I have no clue how to not have it. And I think it's probably safer to have it, even if it is a pain!
ReplyDeleteHi! My e mail is phamilybusiness1@aim.com Send me an e mail so I can get my address to you for the postcard exchange. Send me your address too if you would like a postcard! Thanks bunches! Anne
ReplyDelete