In January the funny, hip gals at 5 Minutes for Mom approached me and asked if I'd like to do a monthly column for them on blogging. I'm all about sharing the wealth of knowledge I keep in my head. (Little do they know it's mostly movie quotes.)
This month I'm answering a few blogging etiquette questions.
Seriously. Have you read this news story about the third graders in GA that planned to attack their teacher?
Hey, have you heard? Shannon’s decided it’s time to step down from Bloggy Giveaways. Never fear, though, I am a pilot fish*. I troll behind Shannon waiting to pounce on whatever scraps she’ll leave me.
When she offered to pass Bloggy Giveaways over to me I practically choked on my Taco Bueno trying to say YES, PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
So that’s what I’ve spent this week doing: transferring files and designs and information to my account. My goal is to have a seamless change-over on Monday, March 3. I hope you’ll continue to visit Bloggy Giveaways and enter to win the fabulous giveaways. I have some great vendors and products lined up! You’re going to love it!
*The pilot fish congregates around sharks, rays, and sea turtles, where it eats ectoparasites on and leftovers around the host species. Definition from Answers.com.
Apparently I took a blogging break last week and didn't even plan it. Therefore, I told no one including myself. I didn't plan to not post anything besides reviews. I simply didn't feel like it. Probably because our days around here are looking like this:
We have entered the February Funk phase of winter. I need some sunlight, y'all. All I want to do is curl up in a ball under the covers with my cat on my legs and sleep. When I'm awake I want to eat then take a nap. I am a bear.
This week I have plans. I want to tell you about the artistic tendencies of my son when he was 18 months old. The party-planning maniac my husband is. The most amazing gift I've ever given. Where leprechauns live. I'm working on something with Shannon.
Must. Keep. Going.
It should be a much better week than last week if I can just take it a step at a time and keep moving.
It still looks the same outside.
I'm thinkin' there aren't too many of you who haven't been checking Shannon's and Sophie's blogs. They've had some amazing encounters. So, instead of my normal YouTube, I'm linking to some phenomenal pictures and video from Compassion's blogging trip (for the one of you have hasn't seen them).
Carlos has a heart-wrenching video of Shannon meeting her adoptee for the first time. Y'all her family has loved this little boy sight-unseen and Shannon finally got to meet him. It was amazing. I'm not a cryer and I teared up. I'm telling you. Amazing.
Keely has a Flickr group of photos that are frameable. These children are simply beautiful. You can't deny the poverty, though. Keely's photo-journalism is worth studying.
Shaun gives you the low-down on just where your money goes when you sponsor a child. Eighty percent of your $32 monthly contribution goes to the child you sponsor. So many charities just take your money and put it directly toward admin costs and you feel like you aren't making a difference at all. I have to say that the more I read, the more I hear, the more I research, Compassion is turning out to be the charity that does what it says.
One or the other of my kids has been sick since last Friday. It's finally catching up to me and I'm taking the easy road today. Enjoy the links!
- Don't forget to check out the winners of last week's giveaways.
- The new podcast with Shannon is up at Blogging Basics 101 today. We're talking about lurking and all things comments.
When y'all host a give away and you need to pick a random comment for the winner, how do you do it? I've used a random number generator and then counted each comment until I landed on that number. Is there a more efficient way? How do you do it?
My virtual buddy, Sonia, lives in Iowa and has written an interesting post at The Soccer Mom Vote about how the Iowa caucus works. Frankly, I didn't know how it worked, but her words yanked a few memories out of storage from my seventh-grade Civics class.
Because she is a fellow Libertarian, she asked her blog readers to help her decide whether to attend the Republican or Democratic vote. Her post outlines what the original purpose of the Iowa caucus and how it works. She even has video!
Go check it out and learn something!
I am under no illusions that anyone who reads me does not also read Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer simply because most of my traffic comes from her. However, there may be a few stragglers out there and for the two of you I'd like to point you to Shannon's new gig.
This amazing blogger (and good friend of mine) has yet another writing gig! At BlogHer no less. She'll be posting every Friday in the Mommy/Parenting section. Y'all? She's awesome at the mommy/parenting thing. Anything she writes, even if it's what brand of toilet paper to buy, is worth reading and considering. So head over to her first post about family organization. True to form, it's about much more than organizing.
My banner artwork is by Larry Jones. His work is copyrighted and for use by permission only. He has no idea how grateful I am to have my juggling girl. I love her.
