Because sometimes, I can’t help but be inspired by others who have been inspired by me.

That just tickles me… pink.

(and I’m absolutely grateful for the integrity of the designers who sought my permission to use my photo. Thank you so much, 24/7.)

I, like a gadjillion other bloggers, have a feedreader account. I collect the feeds of the blogs I love and put them there, and I try each morning to read everyone. I try. I even attempt to click through and leave a comment when I’m inclined to do so or I just want to remind that person that I’m still reading them even though I appear to have completely vanished off the face of the blogosphere.

I work here, people. :eyebrows:

So, you can imagine and may even be familiar with the frustration of those [clipped feeds] where you MUST click through if you would like to continue reading. I love you. I do. But I have 100+ blogs in my reader – I know I am not alone when I say if you’ve clipped your feed, you are skipped with intents to return that don’t/can’t follow through. You are losing more readership than you are gaining, in my own humble opinion. Good intentions don’t make for an increase in stats, I say.

Personally, I would rather have you reading my whole post in a reader than skipping what I have to say because I’ve cut it short. I know you have other stuff to do. I can relate! I provide my readers a full feed UNLESS my post is very long and I use the < — read more –> option, those are the only posts that require continued reading on site (for everyone, not just feedreaders).

This is a plea, on behalf of everyone using a feedreader for everyone who has set their feeds to show a short excerpt – please show the full content. Pretty please with splenda on top?

::returns to bloglines with froo froo latte in hand::

For about a week, my page rank has shown a question mark. I’m not sure why, although I do know that Google recently updated page rank across the board. Mine increased (yay!) and now disappeared (boo! not really the fault of Google though, I’m still a 6, it’s just not showing on the little icon thingie, though I got sidetracked at Google.).

In an effort to find a support contact, I went to Google.com. I looked around. I found a support link, and clicked it. No contact form, although I thought that by clicking this cute little text at the bottom that reads “site map” I might just find what I was looking for.

This is Google’s site map.

Pfft….

I just find that amusing. It’s GOOGLE. Google’s site map.

Anyone know how to really get in touch with support at Google?

Seeing as how Halloween is over, I thought I’d better get on the stick with LifeCruisers’ next theme (and there will be yet another one making its debut at the beginning of the new year!).

->frustrated interjection while typing… where on EARTH does the apostrophe go?!?! I never get that right. /end interjection

I launched her new theme lastnight, and it’s really very cool, and sunsetty, and really makes me long for the ocean where you can watch the sun as it appears to slip away from the whole planet. Go on and check out the details, comments, and oh – the footer! Scroll down to the bottom for the full effect of ocean-ness that is her new design.

And also, yes, I’m finally starting to feel better. STARTING to feel better. uuurrgh. Thank you for thinking of me, I love you like you a whole lot, too!

I’ve had the pleasure of designing for Kelsey before, so when she came back to EWebscapes for two designs and asked for me, I was so excited! I was even more excited that she was open for change – she’s moved her old Typepad blog to her very own domain, and made the switch to WordPress! Yay!!

Her project request was to have two designs that coordinate, but don’t look the same. She liked the color scheme she had before – pinks, browns and greens, and she wanted texture and depth. Her blog, the first project, was fun and very feminine, and I incorporated a couple of different patterns with a few solids, and it turned out really fun and very pretty!

Those of you that know Kelsey know that she’s a writer, and she is having her first book published. From her site: “A Love for Larkspur is Kelsey’s debut novel. It won second place in the Lonestar, and will be released by Capstone Fiction.”

She wanted her professional site to be clean, but still incorporate those textures and colors that she loves – presented in a professional and creative way. I designed a clean, contemporary blog for her that coordinates nicely with her personal blog, and now her readers can subscribe to either of her domains to receive updates on her writing and/or her posts.

All in all, both of these designs really fed my creative girly side, and I enjoyed working with Kelsey again. She’s really a lot of fun and a very sweet – so stop by and say hello, and make her a regular read!

AND THE WINNER IS…..

“Fear” by Daniel Rodriguez Age: 37 (click carving to enlarge)

CONGRATULATIONS, DANIEL!!!

Daniel won a $25 Gift Certificate from Amazon and an autographed copy of WordPress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson! Woohoo! Congrats!

I’m not eligible for prizes, of course, but I threw my two carvings into the contest for viewing:

Last Leaves

Crown of Thorns

These are two of the three visions I doodled at Church on Sunday. Mark is going to do the third one.

Updated to add: Mark started the third one lastnight and I finished it up – the Crown of Thorns is another of the visions I had for my Pumpkin Carvings this year. 🙂

I’ve also modified the contest voting information to be more specific:

Deadline for pumpkin carving submissions: Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 5PM CST

Voting Info: The poll will open on Tuesday, October 30th around 6PM CST. Vote through 9PM on Wednesday, October 31st.

Voting starts TONIGHT at 6PM, after the last entries have been uploaded. There are about 45 entries to consider – so have a browse – they’re all so creative! TELL YOUR FRIENDS, because you only get one vote per person/computer. No clearing cookies or cache and voting again from the same computer/IP, that is disallowed automatically in the voting software.

The girls completed 2 of our 6 pumpkins yesterday – Chickeymonkey made hers all by herself (I’m diggin’ the crazy face!) and Catybug entered hers into The Pumpkin Carving Contest.

I have to admit, I have visions of carvings dancing in my head. I shall be carving mine later today!

If you haven’t stopped by to browse the carvings yet – you really should. We’re up to 29 entries now, all of them are SO cool! Just 3 more carving days remaining before the poll opens up and you can vote on your favorite – I’m excited to see who wins this year!