A few weeks ago at a writing conference someone asked me what a blog reader was.  I said it was a way to help you track and manage your blogs.  It's also called an RSS reader.

"Why use it?" she asked.

"Time," I said.

I explained that I can skim through blogs much more quickly when they are all in one place.  I can easily see with the bold formatting in my blog list which blogs have new content and how much.  I can mark content that I've already read.  Plus, I don't have to try and remember the addresses or names of my favorite blogs.  As much as I hate to admit it, I can't remember as much as I used to.

What Kind of Reader Should I Use?

Bloglines

I tried Bloglines years ago when RSS readers were new.  At the time, I traveled for work several times a year and liked the idea that I could check in on my favorite blogs from any computer, rather than relying on my bookmarks.  I abandoned it shortly after because I found that:

1) There were really only a handful of blogs I kept up with.  I could easily do a Google search for them if I wasn't at my home computer. 

2) It meant having yet another login and password to remember.  I can hardly remember a single login and password, let alone a dozen!

Google Reader

Now that I'm regularly reading at least 30 blogs, I'm using Google Reader.  I like it because I have a Gmail account.  This means that when I check my email, I have the option of checking my blogs as well.  (One less login and password to remember!)

How Do I Set It Up?

1.  Go to www.google.com/reader. (If you don't already have a Google account, you'll need to sign up for one.  It's free.)  Log in to your account.

2.  The first time you log in, you'll see a bunch of helpful info about Google Reader on the right, including a quick video tutorial.  (Once you've added your blogs, you'll see those in that space.)

3.  Click on the "Add a Subscription" button to add a blog address.  Alternately, you can start visiting blogs you like and click on the RSS button or link to add them.  You'll then be prompted to choose Google from the list of RSS readers and log in to your account.

That's all there is to it.  Do you use a blog reader?  If so, which one?

When I was a kid, one of my friend's mother's had a pair of pinking shears.  I thought they were the coolest thing ever.  Imagine owning a pair of scissors that did something other than cut in a boring straight line!

Maybe that why I now own a ridiculous number of scissors.  I have at least 6 pairs of those fancy scissors, a sharp pair for fabric only, 3-4 regular pairs for paper, a pair I've pretty much ruined by cutting sticky packing tape, a kid's pair for cutting fishing wire for beadweaving, and the Queen of All Scissors, a red-handled pair by Tim Holtz that I bought a couple of years ago.

Today I used these scissors to cut the ends off these charms so I could use them for a St. Patrick's Day mixed-media project.  The plated metal was very thin and the challenge was cutting off just the loops and not a bit more.

I love these scissors.  You can put your entire hand in the handles (not just the ends of your fingers) and they cut through anything.  Seriously.  I've used them to cut soft balsa wood, thread, metal tape, magnetic tape (for making magnets), Friendly Plastic, fabric, fishing line . . . Once when I couldn't find my wire cutters, I used them to cut wire.

Are you obsessed by scissors, too?  Which pair are your favorite?

To be honest, I thought these Tri-Trays from Beadalon were silly when I first saw them.  I mean, really, special little dishes to hold your beads?  It sounded a little pretentious—like having a special dish that could only hold crème brûlée. (Not that I have anything against crème brûlée.)  But now that I've used them for a year, I have to say that I don't know what I was doing before I had them.  I love them!  Here's what I like:

1.  While I use them mainly for seed beads, I've found that they're also useful for tiny in-progress projects like a pair of earrings.  They work well since I want to see how a bunch of beads look together before I assemble them.

2.  These dishes are so small (each side is just over 3 inches) that I can fit one or two in a small Ziploc bag, along with my needles, thread, and seed bead tubes for an on-the-go beading kit.

3.  They stack!  I can fill them, stack them, and scoot them (carefully) around the table.  They stack nicely when empty and don't take up much room in my storage area.

4. They're white.  This might seem like a silly "feature" but imagine if they were red, for example.  It'd be impossible to see the bead colors.  (That said, speaking as a designer, I'd prefer it if the company logo were on the side rather than in the middle, so that I could see the bead colors without dark blue in the mix.)

5.  And the big reason:  they're triangular.  Once you're finished with your project, you can tip the corner into a seed bead tube and clean up in 30 seconds.  Trust me, for someone who used to dump her Delicas on the arm of the sofa to sort them and then pick them up one by one to put them away, this is a big step up.