Slow Internet Connection caused by Taiwan earthquake driving bloggers crazy.

I don't know about you but this sloooooow internet connection is driving me crazy! Its absolutely infuriating! The access to overseas sites is oh so sloooooooow. The pages are taking forever to load! Forget about streaming video and audio. Those are totally out.

Cannot blog, cannot listen to music, listen to news, accept payments, etc......

Its just amazing how our lives has changed in just a few short years with the advent of the internet. With no online connection, I really feel like something is missing from my daily routine. I use the pc for everything! Its my recipe book, my diary, my dictionary, my tv, my radio and I even use it to socialise. (I need to get a life!)

When its slooooooow like this. I really feel it! Aaarrrgh! Its just as well, I'm rather busy this few days so I don't have very much time to be in front of the PC anyway. Phew!

What about you? Has your internet connection been affected too by damage underground cables due to the Taiwan earthquake? Would you feel that something is missing too when you cannot get online?

Welcome to "Parenting Times"

In case you're wondering if you are in the right place, yes you are! I've changed my blog title from "Mumsgather" to "Parenting Times"..... just in time for the new year.

I've changed it because I was getting confused myself each time I log in to check my site traffic etc because I have two blogs with the same heading. Eventually, I decided to change the heading of this one to reflect the renewed theme for this blog. I mentioned renewed because it is a renewal of my old blog theme. It is just the same blog minus my personal rantings. I have moved my personal rantings to my new mumsgather blog. All other postings on this blog will remain the same ie. I will mostly be posting about parenting issues and my children's favourite crafts, online sites etc.

There may however be some overlap. I may sometimes post those cherish moments with my children either here or on my personal blog depending on the relevance or my mood. Lol! With several blogs online now, I find there are bits and pieces of me all over the web. So if you only follow one of my blogs, you will get to know only one aspect of me which is fine with me since it sometimes feels weird to reveal too much online. Spreading it out over blogs makes me feel that I'm being less personal which is what I prefer. Silly I know, but this is just one of my idiosyncrasies.

Changing the name required some blog housekeeping work though ie...... having to update my various blog listings in various directories etc. Boring! I'm also dreading the blog housekeeping I have to do when I have to switch to the new Blogger eventually. I've changed the template of my Mothering Times blog in a step towards preparing for that eventuality. Wish me luck!

BTW, Paula Neal Mooney mentioned in her comment on my previous post that my blog is "Blog Of The Day" on PPP today. I just couldn't resist taking a screenshot. LOL! Thanks Paula for letting me know. :)

Switching to the New Blogger

Can anyone who has switched to the new blogger (previously known as Blogger beta) share with me their experience?

• Was it easy or difficult?
• Did it take up a lot of your time?
• Did you lose your customisation? (My greatest fear! I hate to lose time over having to recustomise my entire blog.)
• Did you have to adjust your layout?
• Did it take you long to categorise your postings?
• Were you able to make use of the current template you were using or did you have to change to one of blogger's customized templates?
• Can you describe your switching experience?
• Which do you prefer? The new Blogger or the old.

Thank you for sharing. I have not been able to switch my blogs yet because when I tried to I got this message "Thanks for your interest in the new Blogger. Unfortunately, we cannot switch your Blogger account at this time, because one or more of your blogs cannot be moved. Please see our help article for more information." Thats annoying because I was hoping to do the switch during this quiet holiday week.

Christmas Blog Break

Credit for Christmas Turkey Image: http://www.golden-promise.co.uk/default.asp

Christmas Day falls on a Monday this year. That means a long weekend for all. And as usual, for those of you who know me, I don't blog on Weekends or Public Holidays so that will mean a looooooooong 3-day blogging break for me too. Lol! So have a good weekend you all and you better not be naughty, be nice, cos' Santa Claus is coming to town!

My personal rantings is now located here: http://mumsgather.com/

Christmas Craft for Kids - Pop-up Christmas Tree Card

Just like seasonal toys, I like to do seasonal crafts with the kids. Here is one Christmas craft idea which is fun and easy to do with the kids. Its a homemade Pop-Up Christmas tree card.

Here's what you need:

1. Scissors
2. Tape
3. Stickers
4. Coloured Pen
5. Green Origami Paper
6. Hard Cardboard Paper for the card base (I used the back of an old magazine cover or you can use an old recycled Christmas card. A red one would be nice. Just pull off the middle portion.)

Instructions:

View the pictures below for step-by-step instructions to make the pop-up Christmas Tree Card.

1. Supplies

2. Cut your origami into this shape then make a small cut about one inch in the middle as shown

3. Fold back and forth along the lines like folding a fan

4. Separate the bottom halves along the cut

5. Paste your Origami Christmas tree on your card and have your child decorate the card with stickers.Optional:

You can ask your child to "decorate" the tree by drawing baubles and other decorations that you normally hang on a Christmas tree before you start folding. My girl drew in baubles as well as a gingerbread man but you can't see it in the picture. She was also excited to learn how to spell "Christmas" and "New Year". I find that doing crafts with the kids help them learn new words in a fun and exciting way. It also helps in their hand eye coordination as they learn to cut, fold and paste.

Tadaaa! You have yourself a nice homemade Christmas Card.

Merry Christmas everyone!