Day 19 #31DBBB – It’s my opinion… deal with it!!

Okay, first of all I am waayyy behind! But in my defense I was stuck. Seriously stuck! I had no idea what to write about for this task! What!?!? Really.. stuck on this one… I know, I know. The husband kind of laughed and said that it’s be easy for me since I have an opinion. And he’s mostly true, I do have a lot of opinions but what to write about was the issue. How do I pick something to talk about that’d be some what interesting. So, today I was reading a post by our own Aunt Becky about why she does what she does (I have a post for that too!) and she inspired me! I finally thought of something. It’s nothing life changing and it won’t help the world or anything like that. But it’s something that bugs me and I have thoughts about it. So sit back and listen!

Reality television shows appear to be all the rage now and days. Every single channel on the T.V. has their own reality show…. or two… or three. And why? I have no frickin’ idea! It really is truly annoying.

Now, if you can’t tell I do not like reality T.V. shows at all. I don’t see the point. Honestly, they’re similar to wrestling. They’re both fake. Totally 100%, without a doubt scripted. And you naysayers are sitting there saying, ‘No, it’s all true… come on!’ Nope. Sorry to say it’s not. There is no way that any of that could not be scripted because real life is nothing like that, not at all.

I avoid watching them at all costs. I watch T.V. to escape from reality and to be entertained by some 30 minute comedy that lacks the “reality” drama. I want to watch something that I don’t need to follow on a daily basis, because some of them seem to be on every damn day! I have 4 kids and don’t have that kind of time to devote to some silly “reality” show. 

So there’s my opinion like it or not. 

31 DBBB Blog Hop!

If you hadn’t noticed previously I’m participating in the SITS 31 Days to Building a Better Blog!

Add your link below, visit a new blog or two,  and add the hop to your blog!

The Best Recipe Blogs

I love cooking & baking. Even more than that I love eating and I swear it’s amazing that I’m not as big as a house! I’m no twig by any means though and am constantly working on losing weight and eating healthy.

I’ve been pondering some of the blogs that I visit on a regular basis for recipes and cooking related things. And there are a few that really stand out in my mind.

The first one is 101 Cookbooks and it’s all about Heidi Swanson and her travels, life, and the recipes that come from that. All of her recipes are vegetarian and tend to use all natural, fresh ingredients. They’re amazing recipes and I’ve made so many of them! Now, I should mention that I’m not a vegetarian, but her recipes are easy to add fresh fish, shrimp, chicken, or other meat to.

The next one I’d recommend is Simply Recipes. This food & recipe blog is written by Elise Bauer and has some of the best recipes and some great comfort food! One of my favorites has to be the Banana Bread. It’s made with one bowl, no mixer, and the simplest ingredients that you can almost memorize the recipe. My kids and I have made this at least a dozen times and have added different things (sour cream, cream cheese, applesauce, etc) or just made it the way the recipe as it’s written. I often buy extra bananas just so we can make the bread!

My final blog is a favorite because it’s all about baking. And if nothing else I LOVE to bake! If I could I’d open a bakery and have wonderful cakes, pies, cookies, breads, and everything in between. Not So Humble Pie  is written by Ms. Humble and she creates some yummy looking baked goods! I haven’t been following this blog all that long since I only recently learned about it from a co-worker. My kids have loved going through the blog to point out all the things we need to make and enjoying the cool science cookies and then planning on what kind we’ll decorate and submit!

There are several more blogs that I read that are food related, but these are my favorites. I hope that you enjoy them! 

Now tell me what food blogs do you read?

Day 2 – My List Post

Today’s task is to write a list post and I’ve spent half the day pondering what to write about. It’s a lot harder when you’re given a writing assignment for as opposed to writing about whatever pops into my head at the moment!

I’ve been pondering a post about a ‘Bucket List’. You know, all the items that you want to do before you die, but I was thinking that mine would be more of the things I want to do before my kids move out or before I hit 50 type thing. A short term bucket list. This isn’t going to be that post. I think I want to save that for another time.

I’ve been thinking about the things I want to do short term. The here and now. I have a list but now all I have to do is figure out how to accomplish them.

  • Spend more time with my kids
  • Figure out how to work part time and still keep my insurance and paycheck
  • Plan a weekend away with my husband – and go!
  • Clean and organize my office – I never get to it no matter how hard I try
  • Get better at this blogging thing
  • Brush up on my web programming skills – they’re buried in the closet and kinda dusty!
  • Learn to take better pictures

So there it is, my short term to do list! Now that I have it written out and made public I’ll have to really make an effort to follow through on it, won’t I?

Day 1 – My Elevator Pitch

So today is the first day of the Building a Better Blog Challenge for me and today’s task is to develop a elevator pitch for my blog.

What is an elevator pitch you ask…
An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch should be possible to deliver in the time span of an elevator ride, meaning in a maximum of 30 seconds and in 130 words or fewer.
Wikipedia

You could also think of it as a mission statement or the point of your blog. It gives readers something to think about and prompts them ask questions about your blog.

I’ve been pondering this all day, trying to figure out what I want it to be and how to best write it in as few words as possible. This should be easy for me since I write these often for the projects that I work on everyday at work. But for some reason the work elevator pitches seem so much easier than this one and I have no idea why.

So, here it is.

The short ride to the third floor:
My Kids. Work. New Recipes. My Life.

The ride to the penthouse suite:
Life is full of surprises, twists, and turns! You may as well enjoy the ride! I’m a mom to 4 (14, 10, 8, and 5 months), a wife (to my 5th child sometimes), and I work full time and it takes a bit of magic to keep my sanity & things running at my house. You may find things here about family, kids, work, cooking, or just about anything. It’s my life.

31 Days to a Better Blog

Recently (like today), I joined the ProBlogger’s 31DBBB! You should too if you have a blog!

The first email that I got was a list of 4 things to do to get ready while waiting for the day 1 email with the daily task. So far I’ve got the first 3 things done and they were much easier than I expected!

1. Join the forum – super easy! I mean how hard could this be… fill in a simple form with your name & email address. Log in and post a note about yourself.
2. Install a metrics program – sorta easy…. I installed Google Analytics and there are many sites out there that tell you exactly how to do it. Some even with pictures! My first try didn’t work and I’m not sure why, but the second time was a success! It also told me what I already know…. I have very few readers. I’m going to change that though!
3. Invite friends – Done! And the easiest task by far! I’m hoping that they join too so I have someone to work on this with.
4. SWOT analysis of my blog – this one is going to take some time. Maybe more time than I think and a great deal of thought. I may have to hide somewhere in the house tonight finish it!

Well, wish me luck! I hope to have an amazing blog after this adventure!