Dingbats and Wingdings: Part 3 of Fun Things You Never Knew You Could Do With Your Computer

Today I'm sharing 3 different posts, each highlighting some "Fun Thing You Can Do With Your Computer."  Instead of putting them all together in one post, I've posted each one separately so if you wish to refer back to any of these later, you won't have to scroll through lots of info to get to what you need.

This is Part 3.  (You'll find Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.)

I'm adding each one of these posts to a category called Blogging Tips and Tutorials.  You'll find all the Blogging posts (as well as past tutorials) linked at the bottom of the BNOTP home page.  You'll also find them under the category heading "Renovations/Tuts" at the top of this blog.

Have fun!

Character Maps:  Dingbats and Wingdings:  

Have you ever heard of Dingbats and Wingdings.  They are little symbols, shapes, and fonts you may wish to use occasionally in your writing.  You can read more about what they are  HERE and HERE.  

Windows has a FAQ about character maps HERE.  It explains all about how to use them and how to search for particular characters.  I think these may only be available on computers with the Windows operating system.  Not positive about that.

Here's the definition of what a character and character map is from the Windows site:

What is a special character?

A special character is a character that cannot be found on your keyboard. You can insert special characters by using Character Map or by pressing a combination of keys on your keyboard.

What is Character Map?

Character Map enables you to view the characters that are available in a selected font. Using Character Map, you can copy individual characters or a group of characters to the Clipboard and paste them into any program that can display them.

If you have a computer with a Windows operating system, character maps are already available on your computer.  

Here's a tiny example of just some of the fun dingbat/wingding symbols you'll find.  There are zillions!

Click HERE to continue reading...

Create Your Own Color Values and Hex Codes: Part 2 of Fun Things You Never Knew You Could Do With Your Computer

Today I'll be sharing 3 different posts, each highlighting a "Fun Thing You Can Do With Your Computer."  Instead of putting them all together in one post, I'll be posting each one separately so if you wish to refer back to any of these, you won't have to scroll through lots of info to get to what you need.

This is Part 2.  (Part 1 posted this morning and you'll find it, HERE.  Part 3 can be found HERE.)

I'm adding each one of these posts to a category called Blogging Tips and Tutorials.  You'll find all the Blogging posts (as well as past tutorials) linked at the bottom of the BNOTP home page.  You'll also find them under the category heading "Renovations/Tuts" at the top of this blog.  

Have fun!

Create your own color values:


Did you know that colors have their own hex code?  Yup.  For example, the hex code for the color black is #000000.  When I was using Pixlr recently to make labels for some tutorial posts, I didn't see the color red I wanted to use for my font color.  I was making a label for this picture below...a Christmas tutorial showing how to make garland (Pottery Barn Garland Hack.)  I looked up red hex codes and typed in the one I liked for my font. (Note the hex code showing in photo below.)

Click HERE to continue reading...

Accent Marks, Currency & Math Symbols, Unique Punctuation: Part 1 of Fun Things You Never Knew You Could Do With Your Computer

Today I'll be sharing 3 different posts, each highlighting a "Fun Thing You Can Do With Your Computer" that you may not already know about.  Instead of putting them all together in one post, I'll be posting each one separately so if you wish to refer back to any of these, you won't have to scroll through lots of info to get to what you need.

I'm adding each of these posts to a category called Blogging Tips and Tutorials.  You'll find links to all the Blogging posts (as well as past tutorials) at the bottom of the BNOTP home page.  You'll also find them under the category heading "Renovations/Tuts" at the top of this blog.  

Hope you enjoy!  

How to Type Accent Marks, Currency Symbols and other Fun Stuff:

Do you sometimes find you need to type a word with an accent mark?  What about the occasional currency mark or degree symbol?  I discovered a while back that the "alt" key has a lot of hidden capabilities, so I thought I'd share this info with you today in case you weren't aware.  The way I discovered it was Googling "how to type an accent mark on a keyboard."  I was amazed at all the things you can type/create with the "alt" key.

Here's a brief list of some of the accent marks you can type.  To type any of these shown below, you simply hold down the "alt" key, type the numbers you see beneath the letter, then release the alt key.

For example, if you wish to type the word "macramé" in the correct form with the accent showing over the e, you would type the letters macram, and when you get to the é, hold the alt key on your keyboard, and with the alt key depressed, type the number 0233 on the numeric keypad.  Then release the alt key and the e with an accent mark above it should miraculously appear.   It's like magic!

Don't try to use the numeric keys at the top of your keyboard—that won't work.  You will need to type the numbers on the numeric keypad that's built into your keyboard.   
Update:  If you have a laptop that doesn't have a separate numeric keypad, try pressing the "Num Lock" down and then try typing these symbols (following the directions above) using the numbers across the top.  You'll find more info for typing symbols on laptops HERE.

Have fun holding down the alt key and pressing numbers to see what you can get.  (Don't forget to release the alt key after you type the number to see what appears.)  Numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 will give you each of the 4 suits you find in a deck of cards: 3 = ♥, 4 = ♦, 5 = ♣, and 6 = ♠.    Numbers 13 and 14 will give you musical notes: 13 = ♪ and 14 = ♫.  Cute!

Below you'll find some charts showing some of the symbols/accents you can type using the alt key.   These work for computers with the Windows operating system.   Have a Mac or Apple computer?  I found THIS article and THIS article showing how to make symbols on a Mac.

Be sure to click on "click to continue reading" to see all the charts.

Alt Code for Currency Symbols:

Click HERE to continue reading...

Labeling Photos for Pinterest

Back in December of last year, I stopped by Nesting Place and found a fascinating post Nester had written about Pinterest.  If you aren't familiar with Pinterest, you'll definitely want to check it out.
Pinterest is a virtual "pin board," a place to pin anything you see online that inspires you or that you love and think you'll want to remember for a future project or just for fun.  You can read more about what Pinterest is in this PINTEREST post I created a few months ago.

How do you join Pinterest?  There are 2 ways to join:
1. One way to join is to request an invite from Pinterst. Apparently, they are way behind in sending those out because folks never seem to get their invite after waiting for months.

2. The other way you can join is by being invited by someone who is already a member.  If you wish to join, drop me an email at betweennapsontheporchatgmaildotcom with the subject line "Pinterest" and be sure to include your email address.  If you don't get your invite within 24 hours, check your spam file to see if it got caught there.  I'm happy to send one your way so you can become addicted have fun pinning, too.


Labeling a Picture for Pinning:
Okay, back to Nester's post.  I loved one of the suggestions Nester made in her Pinterest post.  She suggested bloggers include a photo in their tutorial posts that's labeled with what that post is about.  That way, when the photo is pinned, the Pinner will have a way to remember later why they saved the pin.  Brilliant!

I loved this idea but never got around to following through until recently when Kate at Centsational Girl gave a brief tutorial on how to add wording to a photo with Pixlr, without totally blocking out the photo.  I followed her great directions and it was super easy to do.  I didn't include a tutorial here below...just click over to the link above to read Kate's tutorial.

So here's how my first try at labeling pics turned out using Pixlr.  (Click any link title below for the tutorial.)  I won't be labeling every photo in a post.  I'll only label one photo in each post just in case someone does prefer pinning a photo with a description of what the post is about.
Click HERE to continue reading...

14 Free Photo Editing Sites, Picnik Alternatives

Recently, after learning Picnik was going away or moving to Google+ in mid-April, I went in search of some alternative photo editing sites.

I posted the results of my search  in a previous post, and as I have continued to find additional programs, I've been adding them to that original list.

The list has grown now from 8 to 14 photo editing sites, so today I'm posting the original 8 with my most recent finds added to the end of the list.  If you read that original post and would like to check out a few more alternatives, just skip on down to numbers 9-14 for the latest additions.  (In the comments on this post, Laurie says #13 (iPiccy) is just like Picnik.  I haven't tried it yet, but that sounds promising!)  Update:  PicMonkey is up and running and someone emailed me to tell me it's great...much like Picnik.

I've used Picnik occasionally over the years and had just started playing around with it more recently for the purpose of watermarking photos.  Fortunately, I found another program I like better for watermarking a few weeks ago.  You can read all about the two programs I use for watermarking in THIS post.

Pssst:  The 3 winners of the recent giveaway from Fish Foam have been announced on the Giveaway post.

1. Fotoflexer:

You can do some fun, crazy things with Fotoflexer including retouching photos, adding special effects, fun fonts, layers, etc...  One neat thing...it will link to your photos wherever you have them stored.  You can edit photos from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket or upload them from your website or computer.


2. Picasa:

Picasa lets you share your pics directly with the folks in your circles in Google +.  There are also a lot of "effects" you can apply to photos. This is the program I currently use to create collages.


3. Pixlr:

I dove right into Pixlr and started playing around with their effects.  I found it easy to use.  Of course, you can do the usual stuff...sharpen, crop, adjust contrast and color.  There's even a "teeth white" feature. lol  Don't we wish life was that way. ;)


4. Phixr:

I've found Phixr also very easy to use.  You can adjust the usual things that photo editing software allows.  Some fun things: you can add speech bubbles to your pics of your pets, decorate with objects, like hearts...that could come in handy for Valentine's Day.
Click HERE to continue reading...

Photography Tips for Better Blog Photos

One of these days I'm going to write a post and title it: The 10 Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Began Blogging."  If I ever write that post, "master the manual setting on your camera" will be at the very top of the list.   In fact, it will probably be #1 on that list.  As proof, let me give you exhibit A, this picture of my guest room below.

Not only did I share this photo of my guest room, along with other dark photos of this room, they are THE pictures you'll find if you tour this room under the category Home Tours/My Nest/Guest Room.  Sad.  I'll try to be kind to the Susan of three years ago, but {palm slapped to forehead} what was she thinking?!

When I took that photo above, I actually thought that was a good photo.   Hard to believe, isn't it?

I now know the reason the photo came out this way in the auto setting was:  1. The camera saw all that light pouring in through the windows and created a greatly underexposed picture. 2. Light bulbs give off yellow light and the lack of cyan/blue makes a lot of indoor shots appear yellowish.

Here's how this room REALLY looks in real life.  It's not the dark dungeon previously portrayed, but you would never know that from that first pic.  I can't go back and redo three years worth of photos but I can promise you from here forward, things will look much more realistic and less "dungeony."

How can you improve your blog photos?

In addition to not settling for sub-par photos like I did for so many years, there are some other things you can do to improve your photos.
Click HERE to continue reading...

How to Make a Blog Button With Grab Box Code Underneath for Your Sidebar

Would you like to create a blog button with a grab box underneath, so your blog friends can grab your button to display on their blog?  A blog button with the button code displayed underneath is a quick way for those who read your blog to capture your blog button for their sidebar and a quick link back.

<center><a href="http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPRAQ6xfFS7KbqKVMOZhD9dNRV0R0aoUYleUq1Rebj81MrStfPMYrAht9nnZ1yb9lKvkV1FAr9hS8ID6XfFrjXH_24CkjUpQvqlnU8k1XZsmae4xUTBmHXOiS_Mrfap8aapssgKwKaxIQl/s400/Chair+on+right+like+header.jpg" /></a></center>

Creating a blog button can be a bit tricky.  When I first read how to create a button with the code underneath, it took me several tries before I finally got it to work.  The directions I found back then weren't real clear.  It really isn't hard but it can be a tad confusing when you first attempt it.  I've broken it down into a few easy-to-follow steps, in case you would like to make one for your blog.
Click HERE to continue reading...

Watermark Photos the Fast & Easy Way: Welcome to the 158th Metamorphosis Monday!

Watermarking photos...that's a big metamorphosis I've just recently started making to photos you see here on BNOTP.  In the past I never worried too much about placing a watermark on the photos I post.  I loved it when folks used a photo and linked back to BNOTP.

But recently readers of BNOTP have e-mailed me with links to  tablescapes and other photos showing up on professional websites as their own.  My pics have even turned up in eBay ads.  I think often it's done in error, or at least I'd like to think so, but either way I knew it was time to get busy watermarking the photos I take and post.

There are lots of tools available for watermarking pictures, but today I'm going to share the two I like using.  If you have a system you love, please share it in a comment.  It's so wonderful when we can share and help each other.

Watermark Option #1:  Watermark in Live Writer, Cost: Free
Do you create your posts in Live Writer?  If not, you may want to download Live Writer (LW) and give it a whirl.    LW is a very popular program for creating blog posts and once it's created, you can send the draft to Blogger or publish it to your blog.  LW was really popular before Blogger updated their posting process.  Now that creating a post in Blogger is a lot like creating one in LW, I'm not sure if  LW is still that popular with those who post on the Blogger platform.  A lot of folks who have Word Press blogs do still use LW.

If you use Live Writer for creating your blog posts, you may already know you can watermark your photos in this program.  I knew you could watermark your photos in LW, but I didn't know there was an "automatic" preset option for that.  I had been doing it one photo at the time which took forever.  Ugh.  That's how I came to find my other favorite way to watermark pics...but more on that in a sec.

Thanks to Kristi who blogs at Addicted 2 Decorating, I recently found out it's possible to set LW where it automatically watermarks every photo you upload to a post.  Yay!  Did you know you could do that?  I had no idea.  I was thrilled to discover this and may go back to creating my posts in LW to take advantage of this feature.

Here's how watermarking in Live Writer works:
To watermark photos in Live Writer, you upload a photo to the post you're creating in LW.  Once the pic is loaded to the post, click on the photo and a "format" menu appears where you'll see the "watermark" option. (Note the yellow arrow below pointing up at the word, "watermark."

Click on the watermark option and a screen will open up where you'll type your "text" watermark, pick a font style and the size you want your watermark to be.  That's it.

Note:  Live Writer will not allow you to upload and save a "custom" watermark that you or a graphic designer has created.  It just lets you add "text" watermarks to your photos.

Now, here's the awesome part...the part I just found out you can do when using Live Writer to watermark photos.
Click HERE to continue reading...

9 Tips for Better Blog Photos

Over the past year I've gotten a lot of emails/comments asking if I would share some information about taking photographs for blogs.  I've been a bit reluctant to write this post because I'm totally an amateur in every sense of the word when it comes to the subject of photography.  But I'm happy to share what I have learned.  Just please keep in mind, I'm still learning, too.

I'm writing this post as if I'm talking to a person who has just started blogging and has never really taken many pictures before, because that's where I was three years ago when I began blogging.  My husband had always been the picture-taker in the family so I was pretty lost when it came to photography.  I still am for the most part, but I am trying to learn more with each passing day.

I hope these basic tips will inspire you and you'll find them helpful as you take pictures for your blog.

1. Photography = Lighting.
If you only learn one thing about photography ever, just remember it's all about the light. Photography begins and ends with lighting.  Lighting will make or break your photographs.  I didn't know this when I first began taking pics to share on the site, Rate My Space, which was several months before I got brave enough to start blogging.

You know when it hit me...when I had my ah-Ha moment about the importance of lighting?  I was taking pictures of this beach themed tablescape with an early digital Olympus camera that had "live view."  I took a photo and the photo looked okay.  Then I tilted the camera the teeniest, tiniest bit, took another photo and the picture was brighter.

Beach table setting: View HERE

The only thing I had done differently was to just ever so slightly shift the angle of the camera.  Why did that matter?  Why did it make the second photo brighter?   That's when it hit me...it was all about the way the light had entered the camera...the way the camera had perceived the lighting on the porch.
Click HERE to continue reading...

Edit Photos with Creative Kit at Google+, Picnik Alternative

I was just reading my Facebook page and found some information you may find helpful if you are looking for an alternative to Picnik now that it's closing. Laurie with Tip Junkie shared that lots of the of the photo-editing features in Picnik can now be used in Google+ through its "Creative Kit." 

Here are the directions for finding the Creative Kit on Google+:

Click HERE to continue reading...

Audible: The Cure for Blogger's Butté

Pssst:  If you're having trouble reading blogs, if they lock up and don't load correctly, try downloading the browser, Google Chrome.  Some browsers don't seem to work well with Blogger.

Did you know Blogging has its occupational hazards?  Yup!  No one really warns you of this when you first become addicted engaged in blogging.

Surprisingly, it doesn't take long before you find yourself coming down with a raging case of Blogger's Butté, (pronounced, Blogger's Boo-tay.)   Have you ever heard of it?  It's quite the serious affliction, you know, having a number of ever-growing (pun intended) and unwanted side effects.

Now, I know you're wondering, what exactly is Blogger's Butté?   Well, the "official" definition is:

Blog·ger's Bu·tté:  (\ˈblŏg·gər's bōō·tāy)
n.
1. An excessive accumulation of  adipose tissue in the lower quadrant of the body (sometimes known as the sitting-down-place) commonly found in one who engages in the creation of a web log on a daily basis.

Go ahead...look it up in Websters.  I'm sure it's there. ;)

In my efforts to ward off (too late for that).  In my efforts to cure, Blogger's Butté, I have begun walking occasionally in a park near my home.  In the not-so-distant past, my very favorite exercise in the whole world was biking 3-4 times a week on The Silver Comet Trail, a "rails to trails" project located about 45 minutes from my home.  My 3-day-a-week routine was, leave work at 5:00 PM, arrive at the trail by 5:20, change into biking clothes, bike 11 miles out to the 22 mile marker, turn around and bike 11 miles back.   All the stress of the day vanished and it was beyond wonderful.
Click HERE to continue reading...

12 Free Photo Editing Sites, Picnik Alternatives

Update:  This list has been expanded and updated.  You'll find the latest list of 14 Free Photo Editing Sites that are great alternatives to Picnik HERE.   I'm hearing good things about iPiccy and PicMonkey.


Are you a long time user and fan of Picnik?  If so, I'm sure you've heard the news that it's going away.  Actually, the Picnik site says it's moving after April 19th to Google +.

I have used Picnik occasionally over the years and had just started playing around with it more recently for the purpose of watermarking photos.  I found another program I like better for watermarking a few weeks ago, though.  I'll explain more about that in an upcoming post I'm working on about how I edit photos before posting them here on BNOTP.

In the meantime, I took a look at some of the free programs available for editing photos and I found 12 free photo editing sites that appear to be pretty popular.  Here they are in no particular order:

Psst: Skip down to #10 and try Be Funky first.  I've heard it's similar to Picnik.

1. Fotoflexer:

You can do some fun, crazy things with Fotoflexer including retouching photos, adding special effects, fun fonts, layers, etc...  One neat thing...it will link to your photos wherever you have them stored.  You can edit photos from Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket or upload them from your website or computer.


2. Picasa:

Picasa lets you share your pics directly with the folks in your circles in Google +.  There are also a lot of "effects" you can apply to photos. This is the program I currently use to create collages.


3. Pixlr:

I dove right into Pixlr and started playing around with their effects.  I found it easy to use.  Of course, you can do the usual stuff...sharpen, crop, adjust contrast and color.  There's even a "teeth white" feature. lol  Don't we wish life was that way. ;)


4. Phixr:

I've found Phixr also very easy to use.  You can adjust the usual things that photo editing software allows.  Some fun things: you can add speech bubbles to your pics of your pets, decorate with objects, like hearts...that could come in handy for Valentine's Day.
Click HERE to continue reading...

Blogger Updates and Dremel Deserves a Crown! Welcome to the 156th Metamorphosis Monday!

Greetings Friends!  I hope you've been having a marvelous weekend!  I have a mini-metamorphosis to share for this Met Monday, but before I let cha see what I've been up to, I want to share a big change Blogger made recently, a change that made this girl very happy.

You may already know, Blogger added one of the most oft requested features to the Blogger platform a few days ago: the threaded comment system.   In the past, when several comments/questions were left on a post, when I moderated and published the comments and tried to answer a question or reply to a comment, my reply/comment always ended up way down below the comment to which I was replying.  Not any more!  Now I can reply directly under the comment, and so can you.  YAY!  This greatly enhances and encourages the flow of conversation.  It should make it much easier for you to find any follow-up replies that are posted.

If you see someone asking a question, feel free to jump in and answer.  I don't have all the answers by a long shot so I welcome your input.  I'd love to see us all pitching in to answer the questions that arise...or just to add something to the conversation.  For example, if someone asks where I purchased a particular item, if you've seen it for sale somewhere, feel free to reply.  This helps everyone.  I'm so excited about this new feature!

BNOTP has the most positive, friendly, caring, uplifting readers around.   Your comments are always so appreciated and I read every single one.  In fact, a recent comment solved a problem I had and you'll be reading about that in today's post.

If you are a blogger and you would like to know how to activate this awesome, new feature on your blog, visit Blogger Buzz and you can read all about it.  Don't ask me how to do it because I just sort of clicked this and clicked that, and then suddenly realized it was working.  I have no idea what I did, but it seemed to work.  I just followed the directions I found in the Blogger Buzz article. It wasn't hard and only took a few seconds to get it working.

Mini-Metamorphosis:
I've been dremeling.  Yep, I'm using that word as a verb today.  You may remember I recently shared a post called "Fun Stuff Worth Sharing" which included, among other things, a wee addition to the office.

Click HERE to continue reading...

Photography Equipment: What I Use and Love

Photography:  That's a subject I never had much interest in until I began blogging.  I think there are a lot of bloggers out there who could say that.   Once you begin blogging and/or reading blogs, you become acutely aware of just how important the pictures you post really are, especially if your blog is about design, decorating or any topic where photographs are critical in conveying the topic and meaning of the post.

Tablescape can be viewed HERE.

I cringe at the idea of writing a post about photography...I am so totally an amateur.  But since I've received quite a few e-mails and comments with questions asking how I've taken the pics posted here on BNOTP, I'm happy to share what has worked for me.  As I learn more, this process is bound to change.

Tablescape can be viewed HERE.

Today, I'm sharing the "equipment" I use to take my pics.  I think you're going to be surprised (hopefully not disappointed) to find out just how little "equipment" there is.

Click HERE to continue reading...

Yellow Cottages and White Picket Fences

So many amazing Before and Afters have been posted for yesterday's Met Monday! Be sure to scroll on down and check them out once you finish reading today's post. You are going to be amazed at all the talent and creativity!


Yellow Cottages and White Picket Fences:

I've always had a weakness for yellow houses.  When we built our first home in Jacksonville, AL, we chose a soft (exterior) yellow color by Benjamin Moore called "English Ivory."   Looking at this pic below, if I were building this home today it would have 3 or 5 dormer windows across the front.  Wouldn't that be perfect?  Wish we had thought of that at the time, but I guess it's a good thing we didn't.  We were young (23 and 26) and had already upgraded so many features, we really didn't have it in the budget to add anything else to the design.

We did include a screened in porch...you can just barely see it there on the back of the house.  I've had a warm spot in my heart for screened-in porches as long as I can remember.   This house also had a large deck on the back.  I'll have to dig out some of my old pics (interior and exterior) and share more about our first little house some day.

I just realized, you can see the mountains in the background in this pic.  The Jacksonville, Anniston, Oxford area is down in a valley and surrounded by mountains.  It's a beautiful area.  We lived in this house for 4 years while my husband was stationed at Ft. McClellan as a JAG officer.   This is the house we were living in when our son was born.  After that tour, we moved back to our home state of Georgia.  Speaking of our servicemen, Lana, whose husband, Tom, just deployed to  Afghanistan, has written a beautiful tribute for those who serve our country, HERE.

This was the home we bought when we moved back to Georgia.  It had just been built so we were the first owners of this home. The builder had painted it white with bluish/gray shutters and door.  It was a two-color paint scheme and was pretty boring.  When it needed painting after about 6 years, we painted it yellow, too.  We went with Benjamin Moore, English Ivory once again.  The shutters and door were painted a dark green called Essex Green, another Benjamin Moore Color.  And the trim was painted white...don't remember the exact color of white, now.  This house would have looked cute with a red door.  I hadn't discovered red doors, yet.

Click HERE to continue reading...

For The Past Two Years, I've Been Leading a Double Life

Yes, it's true. Shocking as it may sound, for the past two years, I've been leading a double life. While my evenings and weekends blogging have been surrounded in creativity, beauty and truth, my days have been immersed in deception, lies, drug abuse, mental and physical abuse, neglect, and exploitation.



For the last 8 years, between the hours of 7:30 AM and 5:00 PM, I have worked full-time for the State of Georgia as a Case Manager with Adult Protective Services. What does an APS Case Manager do? The "book" definition is: investigate reported cases of neglect, exploitation and abuse against individuals who are elderly or disabled. What an APS CM actually does on a day to day basis pretty much defies description.

Ask any Case Manager and they will most likely tell you they never discuss their work with family or friends. If you do, they don't know what to say. They simply look at you in dumbfounded silence and shake their heads. Anyone who has done casework could write a book and I promise you, it would be a page turner.

You frequent all the neighborhoods people normally avoid. You try to go early in the day, when it tends to be less dangerous. Your cellphone is filled with the phone numbers of detectives, police and county deputies because you call on them from time to time to escort you on visits, that is if you are lucky enough to have been forewarned of the danger that awaits. Mostly, you go alone...and sometimes you wish you hadn't.

As an Adult Protective Services Case Manager you get used to being threatened and cursed...a lot. There's the occasional warning e-mail from your fellow Case Manager saying don't answer the door or open it if a man or woman fitting this description finds the office...threats have been made. It seems family members who are taking Grandma's money or abusing their elderly parent don't always appreciate Case Managers coming around and asking a bunch of questions. Those type cases were sadly frequent and they all too often involved drug abuse. Sometimes the clients are the ones abusing the drugs. They don't like State workers poking around either. Did you know there are more people addicted to prescription drugs now than heroin, cocaine and ecstasy combined?

During the 8 years I've worked as an Adult Protective Services Case Manager, I've been chased to my car by mentally disturbed clients more than once. Mental Health agencies are overworked and underfunded so many of the referrals APS handles are for mentally ill individuals, alcoholics and drug addicts.

I've been chased by dogs, but that was better than the times I've been chased to my car by family members of clients who were begging for money for drugs. I've been threatened, I've been circled and I've been followed by abusers who only the day before were in jail. It's really inconvenient when the referral source forgets to mention things like prison records and guns.

I once found myself in a room with a highly-intoxicated client who was fighting with his brother over a loaded gun he had just pulled out from under a sofa cushion. I had asked his brother to meet me there to help me convince him to move out of the basement apartment from which he was being evicted. As my client wildly waved his loaded gun around in the air boasting that no one had dare cross him, I pondered throwing myself from my chair onto the filthy, encrusted floor or standing and running for the door.

Once, I was attacked by a mentally disturbed man living in a Personal Care Home where I was visiting my disabled client. He ran from across the room, raised his arms and fists high into the air and brought them down hard across my arm. As my arm began to turn red and swell, the caregiver with whom I had been talking panicked. She began screaming and all but shoved me out the front door. It was surreal. I wasn't the only Case Manager in my office who had been attacked. Another CM who had been doing case work for 25 + years, went to counseling for a while after her attack, then eventually changed to a desk job to finish out her time with the State.

During my 8 years with APS, I visited homes many times that were immediately condemned the day after I was finally able to convince the client to move. Some counties refuse to condemn a home while someone is still living there...no matter how much of the roof is gone and no matter how big the holes in the floor.

I've been in homes, so many homes, where every. square. inch. was crawling in roaches...the walls, the furniture, the lamps, everything. You learn early on to not sit or put your purse down or you will leave with lots of new friends. I once had hundreds of them pour out onto my lap from a book I was handed by a client. Thankfully, I was wearing pants that day. Roaches are bad but not near as scary as rats crawling on rafters in caved-in ceilings overhead.

I've been inside homes where police stood outside and warned me about going in because they had just moments before ran out and vomited due to the conditions of the home. The worst homes were the ones where the clients would not walk their dogs so the floors were soaked in urine and encrusted in either human or animal feces. From the road these homes always looked nice and normal...but they were far from it. The homes where the floors were covered in feces were always the worst...worse than the roaches and rats. And then there were the hoarders...I was not surprised to read recently that there are now 3 shows on television about hoarders. I have definitely seen my share over the years.

There's a huge misconception that Case Managers who do Adult Protective Services work spend their days helping "sweet little old ladies." Those cases are rare and precious. Mostly we find ourselves futilely attempting to assist individuals who due to mental illness, alcoholism or drug abuse (sometimes all three) have burned every imaginable bridge in their life, often alienating everyone they have ever known including their own children.

A couple of months ago I went out on a new referral...it was a caregiver neglect case. I found myself driving my non 4-wheel-drive SUV deep into the woods down a densely wooded gravel and dirt driveway...a driveway which the deputy I had just called for assistance refused to go down.

The driveway, as far as the eye could see, was full of lots of large, deep, water-filled holes. The deputy told me his sheriff's car was brand new and only had 42 miles on it, 16 when he got it that morning and he didn't want to get it damaged. I rode with one set of wheels in the woods and the other set along the top ridge of the center. When the appointment was over, the deputy was still there waiting at the top of the drive...in case he heard screams for help from deep in the woods.

I could go on and on and on with stories of the past 8 years...stories of drug abuse, alcoholism, suicide, physical abuse and mental abuse...so many trips to emergency rooms, behavioral facilities, nursing homes, and jails...hours spent in probate court and in guardianship hearings. But if I do, you'll just stare and shake your head in disbelief. I know, because that's what I would do if I hadn't lived it for the past 8 years.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, because you are my friends and I thought you should know...there's been a huge change in my life, a tremendous metamorphosis! After 14 years with the State of Georgia, and 8 years as an Adult Protective Services Case Manager, I gave my resignation on August 17th..  September 14th was my last day.

As I left for home that last day, the sun was streaming in through the windows of my car. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The radio was off and it was so calm, so quiet. As I drove, I found myself saying aloud, "I made it out of this job alive. I actually made it out alive."

I'm not retired...I'm still very much working. I'm writing and blogging and having the time of my life. It's wonderfully strange and very peaceful being home all day.  And I haven't had to call the police even once.