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Attract traffic using Blog TopSites

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Technorati Widget for Blogger

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    Add to Technorati Favorites


    Technorati.com is a collection of large number of blogs and is visited by people all over the world looking for blogs to browse. Your objective should be to get visitors from Technorati.com to visit your blog.

    The first step in this process would be to join Technorati and go through the "Claiming your Blog" process. You are more likely to attract more visitors, if your blog is ranked high on Technorati. So get the Technorati Widget and request your visitors to vote for your blog.

    Here's how you get your widget. Sign into http://www.technorati.com/signup [Opens in a New Window] with your user id and password.

    In your account area, Click on the link labelled "Favorites" on the Technorati navigation bar. On the next screen, Under the sidebar heading "Ins and Outs", find the link to your favorite button, where it says :

    "Buttons: Help Technorati members favorite your blog with a button."

    If you have added multiple blogs to Technorati, you will have to select a blog from the combo box to generate the code for that blog. The page generates three different code blocks. choose the one that suits your page and copy the code and paste into your template(Classic Templates users). XML blogger users read the post on How to add HTML or JavaScript into blogger.

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Feedjit Widget for Blogger

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    Feedjit.com offers 4 widgets for bloggers and webmasters.






    The most popular feedjit widget(which you may have seen on other blogs already) is the "Live Traffic Feed" Widget.



    If you are a Blogger Layouts(XML Blogger) or TypePad user, the readymade widget on the site will install the code on your blog in a few clicks. Other blogs and websites will have to copy-paste the code from the site into their template.





    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
    Visit So Nice View for daily updated images of art collection

Creative Commons License for Blogger


    Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. You can use CC to change your copyright terms from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved."


    To get the creative commons license for your blog go to http://creativecommons.org [ Opens in a New Window ]. On the top of the page, click "License you work" link to continue. On the next screen you can select the licensing options for your blog.







    After you select your license you can choose a graphic for the license and the HTML code will be generated on the page.







    Classic templates users of blogger can copy-paste the HTML code into their template. XML Blogger users see this post on How to add HTML/JavaScript to Blogger.

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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ShoutBox for Blogger


    What is cooler than a guestbook, chat and bulletin board? It's a Shoutbox from MyShoutBox.com







    This is a feature packed free service for blogs and websites. Here's a list of features that MyShoutBox.com offers




    You can add this shoutbox to your blogger blogs after an easy and fast registration process. After Registration you are given a ID/Password, with which you have to login to access your shoutbox management area. Select the link "Code Generation" and set the options for your shoutbox( or leave the default settings, you can always change that later! ) and click "Generate Code".

    Classic templates users of blogger can copy-paste the HTML code into their template. XML Blogger users see this post on How to add HTML/JavaScript to Blogger.

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
    Visit So Nice View for daily updated images of art collection

Purple Cabbage & Sunbutter Soup

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    Alexander Allrich in New Mexico
    Alex in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico

    The visit with Alex and his girlfriend was thick with conversation, food for the eyes, and dreams for the soul. As always, in the wake of my son's absence I am struck dumb by the restless silence of the desert, finding it difficult to steady my post-maternal footing. It's not the letting go thing. Letting go of your children is the easy part. Their beauty is astonishing and too big to keep for yourself. You miss them, yes.

    But the space between you is precious, too.

    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Hannah Montana Party

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    A girlfriend called this week with a request for cookies for her daughter's Hannah Montana party. Since I have a boy and we are kind of "all-LEGOS-all-the-time" around here, I wasn't quite sure where to start. I took a look at the Hannah Montana website (I must say that I feel much more "with it" now that I know about Hannah), but decided I wasn't going to be able to get her name/logo to look quite right in my handwriting. I didn't have a guitar cutter, so here is what I came up with. The HM is for Hannah Montana, obviously, in Hannah colors. My sister had to set me straight on how to make the treble symbol. :) I like the way the music staff came out on the cookies.

    I hope Penny and her friends like them. Can't you just picture a group of 9-year-old girls dancing around in their pj's? :) Happy Birthday, Penny...have a great party!!!

    For the colors:

    Black: Spectrum Super Black
    Yellow: AmeriColor Gold mixed with AmeriColor Egg Yellow
    Purple: AmeriColor VioletSource URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Sticky Notes (on an anniversary)

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    Misty arroyo, near Abiquiu New Mexico
    Mist on the mesa- toward Abiquiu.

    We choose our partners with a secret eye seeking the twin. Not the twin in the mirror, but the lost twin in shadow. The discarded, smothered twin we poked and twisted and kicked under the bed of childhood. The Other. The Everything We Are Not. The Abandoned One.

    Forgotten in order to please.

    If the stars are kind and align just right, you choose well. And The Chosen shimmers with your own potential, reflecting not what you have found but what you seek. And basking in their soul mate glow you grow- just a little. You stretch and you risk- just a little. With time and fledgling self awareness you notice a glint sparking back at you and you reach to claim it, knowing, This belongs to me. I am this, too.

    And you take it back.

    This unburdens your partner, piece by shining piece- who is, by design, if you have not done the work of reclaiming, either bored or chafing beneath the yoke of your golden-hued projection. Or worse- wandering off in search of eyes that see something new, or more authentic.

    When people ask, What is the secret of a good marriage? I usually answer, Chemistry. And good manners. Especially when it comes to the toilet seat. And then I laugh. Because it's true. But only a slice of the truth. The more complicated truth (and one you don't share at dinner parties) is a messy, juggling, wrestling wrangle with the aspects of two separate selves discovering two mysterious twins in the marriage bed.

    You see, it's not always safe to integrate.

    The squelched and sore parts of you can knock apart your coupled equilibrium. Don't kid yourself. It's not ever easy to bid for wholeness. To grow. Growth means change. And change is challenging. Even in the best of circumstances. So some days it's frighteningly tempting to believe that the dust balled fragments skulking in the shadows are not worth the effort of excavation.

    Denial and distraction can smell pretty good at first.

    But one cloudy day when your mending hip is aching and your desert skin is itching, you glance up from the kitchen counter cluttered with sticky spoons and banana peels, and you meet a clear gaze that sees you for who you really are- not some projected angel in the house, not some idealized muse, or nurturing mother stand-in. But who you really are in all your unadorned, quirky, burnished glory.

    And you thank not the stars, or luck, or even fate. You know better. You've done your homework. So has he. So you smile a slow smile and crack, What are you looking at?

    The love of my life, he says.





    Happy 13th Anniversary, Steve.



    KarinaSource URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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My Favorite Gluten-Free Spring Recipes

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Cranberry-Banana Smoothie

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    cranberry smoothie
    Cranberry banana smoothie - refreshing and dairy-free.


    Here's a quick and simple cranberry infused recipe for breakfast that is refreshing, tart and food allergy friendly (around our humble casita, anyway). It's dairy-free, soy-free, egg, corn and nut free. And naturally, it's you-know-what free.

    Spring is around the corner, Babycakes. Are you ready? Are you feeling a little bloated and pasty? Do you crave something light and refreshing? Something to wake up your winter saturated taste buds? I knew it!

    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Ears or Tails?

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    How do you eat your chocolate bunnies? Notice how one of these is missing part of an ear and the other his heinie? :) I tried to make their little eyeballs look toward the bite marks. The ribbons on their necks are pale pink, but it doesn't really want to show up in the picture.

    I used my scalloped heart cutter to make the "bite mark" on the cookies.

    Some of these faux chocolate bunnies are on their way to La-La Land...hope they make it safe and sound! Happy Trails, little bunnies!

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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More Easter cookie ideas: Cookie Exchange!

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    My cousin, Maura of paper bluebird, made these cookies for Easter last year and I think they are just adorable! I especially love those pink bunnies! :)

    Take a minute (or more!) to check out Maura's blog to see her darling bride and groom felt birds!
    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Easter....NINE days away!!!

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    Wow! Easter is sure sneaking up on me this year. Need to get to the store before the all the good candy (Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs) is gone!

    Here's an idea for your Easter baking:

    These decorated Easter eggs are some of my favorite cookies. I don't know if it's the combination of dots and squiggles, or the colors, or those little scalloped lines across the middle.

    For details on how to make the dots, click here. For the squiggly lines, follow the basic instructions for dots (adding the line color on top of the WET flood icing), but squeeze lines instead of dots across your cookie. Make all of then lines that you want in one section...in the cookies above, I used 3 different colors, then drag a toothpick through your lines alternating up and down.

    To make the little yellow "scalloped" detail, use a #2 tip and pipe across the cookie, changing the pressure while squeezing the piping bag. Don't let up in between bumps, continue in one line. A good way to get a feel for it is to practice on a piece of waxed paper or a plate.
    These are great cookies for personalization also, just wait until the icing is completely dry (overnight) and write with a food coloring pen (AmeriColor Gourmet Writer Pens).

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Internet Safety Advice : Deceptive Text Links

    On the Internet, we all come across text links that are linked to other pages/sites. When these links are clicked they take us to a new destination. for example [ http://www.google.com/ ], link takes you to google homepage as expected. However, a harmless looking text link could be a deceptive link that could lead to a site specifically set up for stealing personal information.


    Here's an example of what Iam talking about


    http://www.google.com/.



    The above link takes you to the yahoo homepage instead of google.com. As HTML coders will point out, links are constructed with two pieces of vital information : destination url and anchor text






    Anchor text is displayed to the user as a clickable link and destination url is where the link is intended to go. in the first example both the destination url and anchor text are the same and therefore the link works as expected, however in the next example the destination url has been modified to link to yahoo.com instead of google.com and therefore the user is taken to yahoo.com



    How can this be a threat to me? you might ask. Let us imagine this scenario. You are browsing a random site and you are presented a link to login to your gmail/hotmail/yahoo mail, where you will get the link to download some goodies. the page that opens looks exactly like the regular web mail service you use, but this random site has used a deceptive link to take you to a different site that has been cleverly constructed to match the look and feel of your regular web mail. Once you enter your email address and password on this site, it is logged and the security has been compromised.



    How can you protect your personal information from deceptive links? Firstly, do not blindly trust the links on every site. To get to your regular web mail service, type the URL in the Address Bar to get to Web Mail Service.

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Irish Potato & Cabbage Soup with Soda Bread

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    Irish potato and cabbage soup- rustic comfort in a bowl.

    Put on some Irish music and grab your apron. Here's a recipe pairing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day- whether you're a dyed in the wool Celtic lass, Scott-Irish, or only mostly Irish in spirit. Irish Potato and Cabbage Soup and gluten-free Irish Soda Bread.

    Slainte!

    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Gluten-Free Main Dishes + Comfort Food

Roasted Tomato Soup

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    A tomato soup recipe to cure all ills. Roasting is the secret.

    When cabin fever hits, I am not a pretty sight. My hair has a static-inspired halo decidedly unholy. My chin breaks out (zits? At 53?). I pace and fidget. I am not the serene goddess you think I am.

    I am itchy and creaky and sick to death of pilled winter sweaters- not to mention winter temperatures. You folks in Ohio? My thoughts are with you, Babycakes. Here in northern New Mexico I don't have much to kvetch about. But you? Oy. All that snow? It might crush me. Seriously. I'd be done.

    So to celebrate the return of Daylight Saving (three weeks early, no less) I made a life affirming taste bud tingling pot of soup this weekend. See if this doesn't help quench your cabin fever.

    Just a little.


    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Cheers!

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    I thought I'd post a couple beer cookie pics since St. Patrick's Day is just 11 days away. :) With it falling so close to Easter this year, I'm not sure I'll make Easter AND St. Paddy's Day cookies, but in case your plans call for green beer cookies...here's a tip.

    These top 2 pictures show how I first did them. I thought a star tip would work great for the "foam" at the top. Well, I didn't love the way they turned out and this way used A LOT of icing. Near the end, I was close to praying to St. Patrick to let the icing hold out through the last cookie.

    So, here's what I finally came up with. The foam part is just filled in as normal with flood icing and after it dried, I piped little curlicues for the bubbles. I like this much better.
    Happy green beer drinking and eating!

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Sexy Spring Pasta- with roasted asparagus & tomatoes

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    A simple and romantic roasted vegetable pasta dish for two using gluten-free pasta
    Simple and romantic: pasta with roasted asparagus and tomatoes.

    Today's recipe is a romantic, sexy spring pasta sauce with balsamic roasted asparagus and tomatoes. Because it's snowing. There's a foot of the white stuff. Ridiculous. Our morning appointment with our real estate broker was canceled. Oh, did I mention? We're putting our house on the market. Los Angeles beckons.

    Aside from my husband's screenwriting momentum, these ole bones of mine (not to mention, my spare parts) are too creaky for winters with snow. Two years ago, when we planned our big move west, I was naive enough to imagine kinder temperatures. A January with no snow shovels. February afternoons sunny and warm enough to peel off your apple-green cardigan, roll up your sleeves, and drink in vitamin D old school style. Maybe south, in Las Cruces.

    But not here north of Santa Fe. And so I find myself once again turning toward the new, welcoming change. Packing away family photos and books to simplify rooms and coax potential buyers into imagining their own conversations and meals and lovemaking in this space.

    This space in the desert that has been my shelter- and my tabla rasa. Where I have shed old skins and birthed a new sense of self- in startling and unexpected ways. Interesting, isn't it? Living here has been so different than I imagined. Difficult, even. And yet. So good for me. It's been all about the process of change.

    And lucky for me- I think change is sexy.

    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Who, ME?!?

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    I just have to start out by saying I am beyond flattered to be tagged again for a meme by Aran of Cannelle et Vanille. My first thought is she reads my blog?!?!? Her blog and creations are absolutely gorgeous...gorgeous! If you didn't click on the first link, here it is again. Check it out!

    Five more things about me, this time about cookies and blogging:
    1. Years ago, I remember reading a book that said you should follow what you loved as a child and you will be happy. I really racked my brain and couldn't think of anything I was really into as a kid. Now, I get it. My most memorable birthday party...we decorated our own mini-cakes and my mom made all of the girls coordinating aprons and chef's hats out of dotted swiss! In a high school Spanish competition, I won a prize for dessert (I made flan, haven't made it since). As a girl, I loved to make these giant, soft chocolate chip cookies from a kids' cookbook (can't find it now), but I always got a secret thrill when people said they were good. I wish I would have noticed this food trend much earlier in life! A major in psychology?!? What was I thinking?
    2. I started making decorated cookies 9 years ago when my son was a baby and I quit work to stay home. I had no idea what I was doing. I wish I had pictures...they are tucked away in a box somewhere. I used to dip the cookies in icing and spread with a spatula. Most had only 2 colors and sprinkles. I made all of them on a stick and put them in clay pots and sold them to mainly family and friends. (Thanks, guys!)
    3. That blossomed into learning all about cookie decorating and finally opening a web store, shipping nationwide and then focusing on local deliveries only. When 2008 came, I decided to hang up my apron, so to speak, and quit selling cookies and just make them for fun. It gives me more time to spend with my son who we are now homeschooling and less late nights decorating.
    4. I was introduced to blogging by my cousin, Maura. Her blog, paper bluebird, was the first one I ever paid attention to and soon became addicted. She is an inspiration, always finding the beauty and joy in life and crafting some amazing things along the way. So, I thought, OK...maybe I'll try combining cookies and blogging.
    5. My sister & I also have a blog, two curlytops, where we share what we are up to. My sister's posts are a combination of quilting, crafts, photography and food...mine, well, just food. She's more multi-faceted than I am. :)

    There you have it...more than you ever wanted to know! Since I tagged 5 bloggers last time, I'll just leave you with 1 more link to Aran's blog...Cannelle et Vanille.

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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    Gluten free chocolate chip cookies made with buckwheat flour
    Gluten-free buckwheat chocolate chip cookies.
      
    I know what you're thinking. Not another cookie recipe. Please. I've had it with melty chocolate chips and crunchy, chewy sweetness. Where are the rutabaga recipes, dagnabbit? And what about beets? Or parsnips? I've got a hankering for kale the size of Wyoming. I yearn for jicama. Cook me up some kohlrabi, already.

    Sorry, Darling. Not today. You'll have to be patient. There are cookies to bake. And these are gluten-free.



    Read >> Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
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Happy March!

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    Here's an easy little cookie for St. Patrick's Day...

    1. Pipe the outline of a shamrock in white icing, using a #2 tip.
    2. In the center of the cookie, pipe an outline of a heart in red, using a #2 tip. (AmeriColor Super Red)
    3. Thin red and green icing to the consistency of syrup and let sit covered with a damp dishtowel for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any air bubbles that have formed on top.
    4. Fill in outlined shamrock in green using a toothpick to guide into corners. Use a squeeze bottle for easy filling. (Spectrum Leaf Green)
    5. Fill in heart with thinned red icing following method above.

    ***a note on green icing: a deep green like these shamrocks is susceptible to humidity. Sometimes, the icing will get a blotchy look and turn slightly darker. Not to worry, eventually the entire cookie will darken to an even shade. Although red and blue will do this as well, I find it happens most with green icing. Just try to keep the cookies in a non-humid environment and never put in the refrigerator.***

    Source URL: http://soniceview.blogspot.com/2008/03/
    Visit So Nice View for daily updated images of art collection
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