Now, who is with me here? When you have the first baby, you are all about recording every milestone, every second of the day in the child's baby book. Once your second, third, fourth, and etc baby arrives, the baby book is on the shelf collecting dust unfortunately.
This is one main reason, I started my personal blog when my second child was just one year young. I tried so hard to remember to record all her events, but there was just not much recording going on in the baby book. Instead, I would blog online though about her milestones as she reached them and eventually hope is my personal blog will be made into a hard bound book for the girls to have to cherish once they are grown.
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Eating organically on the cheap
I had started to make small changes in my grocery-shopping habits about a year ago. I found a couple of inexpensive organic brands that I really liked and watched for their sales. I began shopping the perimeter of the supermarket, stocking up on dairy, produce and fresh meats and seafood and trying to skip the chips and pre-packaged snack foods. I don't buy farm-raised salmon anymore, and my milk is hormone-free. But after watching Food, Inc I realized there was still so much more I could do.
For example, I was not great at buying free-range meat. As a concession, I made the commitment to buy only organic meat, which means that while we won't be vegetarian, we simply will be eating less meat. Last month, I bought a really good organic, free-range roast, and we had a great dinner of roast, sweet potatoes and carrots followed by several days of roast beef sandwiches, culminating in the ultimate leftover eliminator, shepherd's pie. The payoff is that the meat we do eat will be of higher a quality and nutrient value.
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Did you know that next to the refrigerator, the appliance that uses the most energy in your home is your dryer? It was interesting to me that having a clothesline was something our new HOA (homeowner’s association) had to approve. Really?! I understand the idea of not “airing your dirty laundry” to the neighbors, but having a clothesline in your backyard could really offend someone? Huh? It was actually one of the things I was most looking forward to about having a backyard, aside from ready access to fresh air for the kiddos!
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Chris Garrett's Guest Posting Workbook
I’ve written about how guest blogging can help increase your traffic. But Chris goes one step further with his Authority Blogger ebook, Guest Posting for Targeted Links and Quality Traffic. Chris explains how guest posting can help you:
Increase traffic
Get more subscribers
Boost your exposure and credibility
Expand your audience reach
Network your niche
Build quality links that Google will love
Even better he gives you a game plan, a step by step procedure on how to effectively guest post. His ebook also comes with:
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#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs conjures a heartwarming holiday tale of two people looking beyond the disappointments of the past to the promise of the future, in Lakeshore Christmas, the latest installment in the author’s Lakeshore Chronicles series. The book can be read as a continuation of this delightful series, or as a stand-alone novel.
Avalon librarian Maureen Davenport loves Christmas. For her, it’s a magical time of year when everyone seems to come together and people can forget their worries—like the fact that the library is going to be shut down. But this Christmas promises to be more special than usual. This year, Maureen has been given the opportunity to direct Avalon’s annual Christmas pageant. But there is one lump of coal in her stocking—and his name is Eddie Haven.
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Provide quality. Write well, use keywords, and write fabulous headlines. Use spell check and check your grammar.
Be authentic, consistent, and transparent.
Do good first. Doing well (blog traffic, review opportunities, money, influence, jobs, etc.) will come later.
Your online reputation is gold.
Influencers respond, they don’t react. Think about what you want to say before posting or tweeting it. Don’t let your emotions take over.
Be modest and humble. Bloggers need to stop having a sense of entitlement. Offer feedback, but stop complaining about every little thing. It makes you seem ungrateful.
Inspire others.
It’s not about the tools (blogs, widgets, plugins, Twitter, Facebook, et al). It's about connecting with people.
Know your equipment. Read your camera manual.
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My husband and I have polar opposite feet. Mine are super long, narrow, completely flat, and my toes are out of order size-wise. Full disclosure - my second toe is as long as some people's pinkie fingers. My husband's feet have high arches, orderly toes, and are candidates for a modeling job.
Almost every day I find myself wondering whose feet will our little lady have? Will we know right from the beginning?
And then I wonder, will our little lady actually be a little lady? We had two ultrasounds and both technicians said girl definitely. But I just don't quite believe it. Over the past few months I've heard more stories of couples told they are *definitely* having girls and then receive the "It's a boy announcement!" in the delivery room. I suppose I'll believe it when I see it.
The baby seems move around a lot starting at 11 p.m. Does that mean she's going to be a night owl like my husband? Back in the day when I could sleep normally I typically hit sack around 9 p.m.
Will she be friendly or shy?
Will she have blue eyes or brown?
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Earlier this week, I covered online problogging classes in the form of mentoring programs and downloadable ebooks. Your local library and bookstore are also great resources on learning how to blog better:
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Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind mentorship program
I took Yaro’s Blog Mastermind blogging class when it was first launched back in 2007, mostly because Darren Rowse recommended it. Also, it was one of the only online problogging classes that allowed you to pay monthly instead of paying the entire fee upfront.
Since I was one of the first members, I paid $47 per month for the six months the program lasted. Currently, the Blog Mastermind mentorship program goes for $97 per month. The membership gives you access to the lessons, videos, a members only forum, access to Yaro’s Social Traffic Club, and audio and video interviews with top bloggers like Brian Clark of Copyblogger.
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