Around the House Saturday - A Basket A Birthday An Anniversary and A Podcast

Hi Friends,
The past week and a half has been a busy one.  I'm sure it has been busy for most of you as well.
The basket I'm sharing is one I wove years ago and has traveled with us on all our moves.  I think every house we've lived in has had stairs so this stair step basket has been wonderful and so useful.  What I like about this basket is that the wooden D handle goes clear down to the bottom step or the bottom of the basket.  Some patterns you see will use a smaller D handle that only reaches the first step.  I think with it going to the bottom step it gives it more stability to carry heavier items.

The cross stitch design is the same one I showed you in my Hamburger Bun Basket found HERE.
You can see with all the use this basket has received some of the little "X"s have broken.  Someday I should take them all out and replace them.   The handle is braided and gives it another decorative element.

Onto a Birthday...Emily turned 15.  She has been visiting Grandma and Grandpa this week and is now back home.  She is doing babysitting several times a week and ice skating whenever she gets a chance.  I want to add one more thing.  We took her back to the fibromyalgia specialist.  Once again they changed her medication and she is doing so much better.  Praise God!  Grandma even said she did real good this past week.  Emily was feeling so discouraged a month ago so we are all very happy at this time.

Now for our Anniversary...Mike and I celebrated 22 years.  We were actually apart for our anniversary as he had taken the Venture scouts to San Diego for their summer trip.  We will be going out for a nice dinner sometime this week for our anniversary dinner.  After 22 years, it doesn't matter if we don't celebrate on the actual day ;-)

Finally a podcast...I have episode #9 of Making Our Home a Haven available to listen to.  You can listen to it on the audio player here on my sidebar or you can go to iTunes and subscribe and listen to it from there or download it onto your iPod or MP3 player.  Or if you prefer you can go directly to Talkshoe and listen to it HERE.  The topic in this episode is "Loving Up Your Home."  I give tips on using your 5 senses to refresh and love up the home we live in.

I've had a few questions about the podcast that I'd like to answer.  I use Audacity as my audio mixer.  It is a free download.  I have the bird sounds on one track that I have saved and I record my voice on another track.  It does quite a number of things, but it is simple enough for me to mix just the two tracks.  One episode I had a tickle in my throat and started coughing.  I was able to cut the coughs right out.  You can also increase or decrease the volume of just one track.  Other than these little basics, I don't know much more, but I know Audacity does a lot more.

I use Talkshoe as it is a free hosting service.  Another free service is Blog Talk Radio.  I don't know why I went with Talkshoe.  I just checked into it and it was easy.  I'm all about easy when it comes to the computer.  Talkshoe automatically uploads it into iTunes for me.

The microphone I use is just the one that is built into my laptop.  I've had to buy nothing extra to do the podcast.  Starting at the third or fourth episode I began recording in our closet.  I know that sounds funny, but when I have seen recording studios, they have wavy fabric walls to keep the sound from echoing.  I figured my closet would do the same thing!  We have a walk in closet.  I sit in on a chair in there and face the clothing.  I close the door behind me and make sure the air conditioner is turned off so that it won't start running while I'm recording.  I kind of feel like a little kid in trouble who has to sit in the corner as I record!

As far as using a script.  The first 2 episodes I wrote everything out word for word.  Now I just have an outline that I follow.  My first episode I must have started and restared it a dozen times.  Now I still have to restart the recordings at least once, but it is much better.  Sometimes I just get tongue tied or my thoughts escape me, telling me I need more on my outline.  I just erase my mistakes and start over.  It actually goes pretty quickly and I think making the podcasts is way faster than doing my YouTube videos.

So, I hope that answers everyone's questions.  Have a great week everyone.
Blessings,
Nancy