Enjoying the bed

I'm testing out a new blog writing software that is compatible with Mac.  I'm really missing LiveWriter, but it is only compatible with Windows.  There is some awesome looking software for Mac for blog writing purposes but they cost upwards of about $40.  I found this add-on for FireFox that works write off of my browser called ScribeFire.  I'm mainly looking for ample writing space, instead of Blogger's tiny little window that takes less than a quarter of your screen, and image manipulation, making pictures larger and such without degrading picture quality.  I know I probably won't get the cool border looking stuff that LiveWriter has without paying for software.

So far, this add-on is promising.  I can adjust the screen to take up all of my browser window or less depending on if I need to browse at the same time. 

Now for the pictures.   Here are pictures of the children enjoying the loft bed.

Well, the picture insertion is somewhat of a pain.  Blogger allows you to upload up to five images at a time.  This add-on only uploads one at a time (and you have to wait for it to fully upload).  Editing of pictures is limited to resizing it and alignment (left, center, right) and text wrap. 


Some cool features:
Post splitter (see line just above)
Add YouTube video
Custom HTML and HTML editing (if you're good at that stuff)
Editing previous entries
Post preview (seeing your entry on your actual blog before posting it)
Adding Technorati tags, TrackBack URLS, Timestamp modification
Editing multiple blogs
Ability to save your post even though this is a browser based application

The flipside:
While the in browser editing is cool, if you're a tab user the editing software will be on every tab.  This reduces your browsing space if you like to keep the editor large. 
The picture editing is very limited and super slow
Limited font styles available (Live Writer pretty much had whatever fonts you had in Word and fonts you installed on your PC I believe)

If you have a Mac and you are looking for free blog writing software, this one may work.  It is only an add-on so it isn't a complete program that you have to install.  You'll need Firefox and you'll need to search for ScribeFire on the add-ons page. 

I'll be testing out another Mac compatible software with another posting as well.

Project Completed

I can't believe how busy I've been lately. I also can't believe that December is here and the year is drawing to a close.

Well, I've been busy, busy, busy with school work, house work, work work, and everything else in between. I don't have much time to just sit and reflect. I don't have much time to just collect my thoughts.

Scott and I have been busy almost every Sunday completing a project. We built a loft bed for Tristan. It has been a long process. It certainly is not perfect. However, it is something we created that will last us a good long time.

I wasn't involved during the first few Sundays. I mostly watched the kiddos while Scott and our friends, Brad and Dani, worked on the bed.

Scott designed the bed using images we found on the internet as a guide. He opted to create a box that holds the mattress that was to be bolted to the frame. Here Scott is drilling the holes for the carriage bolts while Brad holds up the other side.
Once it was all put together, we worked hard at sanding it. Don't be fooled, though. I did a majority of the sanding.
After sanding it, we conditioned the wood with pre-treatment and stained it "gun barrel" On Thanksgiving, we put the polyurethane coat to finish off the bed. Scott took it apart, his mother transported everything in her pick-up, and it was set up in the kids' room.
Here is the final product. It is just tall enough for Tristan to walk underneath without having to duck. At first Tristan freaked out and was too scared to be up in his bed. Less than ten minutes later and he was going up and down with no problems. We've since put up blankets and sheets to turn the bottom area into a "house" or "fort" The kids had a blast. I'll post pictures of the children enjoying the bed at a later time.

For now, I must retire to bed. I worked overtime today so I'm a bit tired.