A Classic Housewife, Daily Life

‘Official’ De-Lurker Day

Come on in. The Classic Housewife is currently undergoing some back end changes. In the meantime I'm re-posting some oldies and goodies. You may also want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

‘Official’ De-Lurker Day? Ooh, I like the sound of that… Hellooo? *squeal* Hello, is thing on??

If you’re reading this, raise your hand.

Now your other hand.

Now put them on the keyboard… start typing.. there you go! See how easy it is?? Now leave a comment. ;0)

See? Now doesn’t that feel good?

~~~~~

If you haven’t been around in a while:

1. James challenged me to a 31 Day Fitness Challenge where I have to work out every day in January and blog about it – and since he doesn’t think I can do it, I am SO all over this.
2. I recently spent some time pondering the passage of 2009, as well as setting as “to do” list of sorts for 2010.
3. I also set some bloggy goals for 2010
4. I’ve also decided that I need to start some kind of series on keeping home, cleaning, decluttering–that sort of thing, because Y’ALL. It’s that bad. Coming soon to a blog near you.

So my de-lurking blog-readers, whether you read frequently or pop by occasionally but haven’t ever left a comment (or it’s been a really long time)… leave me a comment and tell me..What has 2010 brought YOU??

Oh, who are we kidding — even if you left me a comment yesterday, comments are always welcome!

Filed under: Just for Fun | |3 Comments

10 Blogging goals for 2010

Thinking about the new year ahead, looking back on the year we’re wrapping up, I’ve mapped out some simple goals for this blog for 2010. You non-bloggers might shake your head and think, “geez, that’s awfully serious, it’s just a blog!” On the contrary, the main focus of most of these goals is to help me “keep it real” so to speak. How am I going to try to do that this year??

Ten Blogging Goals For 2010

1.) Blog more personally, more relationally. I enjoy blogging more when I share funny stories about the kids, pictures of things we’re doing here at home. I like giving tips and how-to’s also, but I felt like I let the personal side of my blog slip a little as I got caught up in trying to participate in certain carnivals, blog more like the pros and try to start making money with my blog. That may be fine for technical blogs and that sort of thing, but hey, let’s face it. This is a personal blog. I seem to get more comments on those sorts of posts, too, so I’m going to go with the hunch that y’all like those things, too.

How: That’s pretty easy. Live life, enjoy it, remember to write it down and take lots of pictures! ; )

2.) Build my community. I miss the “good ol’ days” back when I most of my commenters were repeat visitors, where whole conversations took place in the comments and where we read each other’s blogs. That’s one of the reasons I started (and kept) blogging in the first place. I still have many regular commenters and there are still some comment conversations from time to time, but I feel like that doesn’t happen as often, and I think some of that can be blamed on Twitter. If you use Twitter, you know what I mean. But then, I’ve started noticing the same thing on Twitter, too. I think we all are trying to follow and pay attention to too many people. Sorry bloggy buddies, but that’s the way I see it. =\

How: In addition to following my other nine goals, which will all be key to this one, I plan to use the Classic Housewife fan page on Facebook to help build community amongst my readers. You know, if I can just get y’all to join in from time to time. ; )

3) Read other blogs more frequently (but limitedly.) I have so many blogs in my Google Reader and spend so much of my free time working on my own blog that I rarely have time to read them.  I’ve had conversations with many other bloggers who’ve expressed the same problem. Seems like a by-product of trying to follow too many people and spending too much time on our own stuff.

How: Thin my Google Reader subscriptions a bit. Select 6 blogs to keep up with and read daily. Random read the rest. Selecting 6 specific blogs to keep up with will help me not spend too much time on it, keep my “finger on the pulse of my bloggy corner,” and help build relationships with a handful of other bloggers. One thing I’ve learned this year is that as blogging has grown and become more popular, it’s hard to get things done by yourself. You need to work together.

4.) Comment more, on other blogs and on comments on my own post. Goes hand in hand with building community, developing relationships among other bloggers, etc.

How: Obviously choosing the 6 blogs will make this easier! Otherwise, this one’s pretty straight-forward.

5.) Shorter, faster, briefer blogging. Faster to write, faster to read – it’s a win/win. Break longer posts into segments if necessary. Cutting down on the time spent on one article will also help with being able to write in advance and scheduling posts ahead of time.

How: One of my hardest goals for 2010… I can make notes and pay attention to possible stopping points on larger articles to break it into two or more segments. I can also set a timer, not multi-task and turn off Twitter!

6.) Link to more blogs in more posts. A part of building community and blog relationships… it would be particularly helpful to link more often to certain blogs that are similar to the goals of this one and that have written articles that would enhance the topics and discussions being held here.

How: On “how-to” posts, hot topic articles, homeschooling posts, etc.. link to other related articles from blog friends. On “week in review” posts, link to other blogs and posts as points of interest.

7.) Purge ad clutter & monetization junk. In attempts to figure out what does and doesn’t work for me here at this blog, I feel like I’ve got a little clutter and junk here and there. Maybe you don’t notice it, maybe you do.. but I’d hate for it to be a turn off to my readers. I’ve decided to back of those approaches anyhow and streamline down to a few main sources of revenue, as I’ve outlined in my new Disclosure statement.

How: I just need to go digging around the ol blog and purge any unsightly debris. I’m still debating on the mysavings.com ads in the right sidebar — what say you??

8.) Write and sell my first e-book (and maybe more!) I have several things I’ve started in the past but never finished. I have several ideas floating around in my head. I’d like to get them down and make them available to the world wide web. Holiday stuff, homeschooling stuff. That sort of thing.

How: Get busy! That requires it’s own set of goals and steps. When I get to that point, I think I’ll be using Payloadz.com. Any other suggestions?

9.) Start my own meme or challenge. Why? To have my own thing. I’ve already tried this a couple of times. That goes back to the “it’s hard to do anything by yourself these days.” After talking to another blogger about this, I need to partner up with some bloggy friends who will help by participating and talking about it with me.

How: I’d originally tossed a couple of other ideas around in my head, but then my husband challenged me to exercise every single day in January and blog about it, which is going to take a lot of work. I’m trying to get others to join in with me, and doing all that foot work right now (though I don’t know how well.) After that I’ll begin working on a regular weekly or monthly feature that will hopefully be around for a long while.

10.) Have fun! (And spend less time on line.) To be more specific, don’t get so caught up in any of these things so much that blogging ceases to be fun and don’t spend so much time online that I don’t have fun in real life. 2009 started off fine, but it almost became UN-fun enough for me to throw in the towel a few times. Can I blame that on my affiliate marketing husband who was trying to spoil blogging with his affiliate marketing ways? Maybe. =P This one is the main reason for many of the other goals.

How: The main thing to remember here is that there is more fun to be had OFFline than ONline- Something I’ve been working on the whole second half of 2009 and something I want to continue to remember in 2010. I’ve already taken one step by cutting back A LOT on the number of people I follow on Twitter. It’s amazing, the flow of chatter through my twitter stream is much slower now, and I find, is less addicting and has less of a pull when there’s less stuff flying through. Another thing I’ve already done is setting up and utilizing my blogging notebook. Making this list of goals will also help, as well cutting back on my Google Reader. One more thing that will help though will be to take steps in the rest of my day to get back onto a better schedule and to set certain times for blogging and getting online.

I know these goals seem a little non-specific and not so goal-oriented to some of my more ‘professional blogging’ friends. But honestly, that’s part of the point. I didn’t like where it was going when I tried to move from hobby to job. I don’t have time for a job, I lost the hobby, and that was the UN-fun part. For now, I have to stick with very low-key and low-time intensive goals. That’s my goal for 2010.

What are your blogging goals for 2010? Do we share some, and if so, what will you be doing to reach those goals? Do tell!!

Filed under: Just for Fun | |9 Comments

Tackling Blog Stuff

Oh yes, I may have been a little quiet on the blog over the past two holiday weeks, but I have busy behind the scenes whenever I get a spare moment. I’ve been tackling some long overdue blog issues and “stuff.”

The main thing you’ll notice is The Disclosure page, which after many revisions and tweaks I’m finally very happy with. I’ve also finally settled some wordpress upgrade issues and installed Google Analytics on all the separate domains but that’s boring stuff. ; )

I still have a few other boring things to tackle before the new year, I’m trying to get things cleaned up around here to start the new year fresh and clean and to better serve my new 2010 blog goals. In the meantime, here’s my final official disclosure policy:

Disclosure

If you don’t know by now that I am a stay-home mom, homeschooling three children and surviving on one income in a two income world,..then you haven’t been reading my blog. *wink*

If you haven’t heard me talk about how my husband would loooove for me to turn my blog into a second income, then you haven’t been following me on Twitter, either.

And if you haven’t heard about the new FTC guidelines for bloggers then you haven’t been reading much of anything online, have you?? Not that it would affect my blogging much anyway, since I already strive for transparency and honesty. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Back to the part about living on one income… yeah, that… My main goal with this blog is blogging well and enjoying it. My secondary goal is finding a way to bring home some pennies for dentist visits. Or shoes for my kids. Or for coffee. Whatever I can do to get my husband off my back, to stop complaining about how much time I spend online, to fully embrace my blogging habit.

From time to time I link to items and websites using affiliate links –links that will earn me a small commission after you make a purchase, become a member, or complete an offer.

When I do so I:

1. Make sure that the information I’m offering is true, correct, and my own opinion
2. Post links to items and websites I feel positively about/think my readers will genuinely be interested in
3. Speak truthfully. If I say I bought, used, tried, or ordered something, I did.
4. Welcome any feedback on items, offers and websites I link to – good or bad
5. Use an affiliate link for something I am already going to blog about if I have one.
6. Indicate at the bottom of the post whether I was compensated in some way other than through an affiliate link, such as a being given a free product to try or being given a book to review.

At this time, I am regularly affiliated with the following:

1. Amazon.com – If l link to Amazon, I use an affiliate link. By doing so, I earn a small commission on any purchase you make within a certain period of time. It doesn’t cost you any more money, or make you buy something that you weren’t going to already, it just leaves me a little tip in the tip jar for pointing you to their site. Yay me!
2. Google – I have google ads and a google search bar on some of my pages. Google ads aren’t big money makers, but pennies add up dude! I’ve tried to tailor the ads and my posts so that they provide relevant links to something you may be searching for. If not, oh well.
   
3. MySavings – I’m a partner with mysavings.com – a freebie and sample site I was using LONG before I knew they had an affiliate program. In my attempt to share my freebie addiction with my readers, I’ll probably pass on a really good offer now and then (and when I do you can bet it will be an affiliate link, most of which don’t make me any money unless you actually request the freebie or service.) However, if you’d like to sign up as an affiliate also, you can do so here. (<—-And yeah, that’s an affiliate link, too.)
4. Currclick.com – If you buy any Currclick item with my affiliate link, I get a credit to use on their site or cash out. Affiliate links to Currclick help make my children smarter. ; )
   

I also use links to the above in my sidebars, and may at some point consider selling ad space again.

Additionally, I reserve the right to like things you don’t like, recommend products that work for me and have my own opinion. Likewise, I reserve your right to not like things I like. Hey – we can’t all be alike can we? But feel free to leave a comment on such posts and share your own personal experience with any product, link or website that I link to or promote. Discussion is always welcome.

And of course, if you haven’t already, you can get my full feed in your favorite reader or inbox. That part doesn’t make me any money, but it sure is nice.

And now if you’d like to help get my husband off my back – maybe you have some shopping you need to do?

Tackle It Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom

Filed under: Just for Fun | |5 Comments

Come, Shoot the Breeze With Me

Happy one year to Classic Housewife – yay!

Sorry, that’s pretty much all that I’ve had time to blog about this week – it’s kinda stuck on the brain. =)

That being said, I do have all kinds of good links to share with you, but I don’t have it in me to get them written out right now. =\ It’s been a rough day, I have company coming tomorrow and I will be celebrating my little boy’s 4th birthday (tomorrow!!) on Sunday. My weekend is pretty packed.

Of course the kids and I are also in the middle of trying to get some Thanksgiving type crafts and such done before the holiday. (Blog posts and pics to come soon, our Indian necklaces are already finished.)

Sorry to weasel out on y’all like this,… but hey,… I’ve posted ALL. KINDS. of good links on my bloggiversary/Thanksgiving posts – and there’s a Thanksgiving crafts and resources post scheduled for Sunday. So that totally makes up for it, right? (See them all here.)

For those of you who DID write week-in-review type posts or if you have written something that needs a little more link love, join in our conversation this weekend and share them with us!

Thanks for sitting & shooting the breeze with me. Sorry I couldn’t stay longer.

Filed under: Just for Fun | |Comments off

Come, Shoot the Breeze With Me!

Another weekend here already? The long weekend vacation for us last week made this week FLY by! I haven’t been online as much this week, so this will probably be a short list but I do have some good things to share with you!

In Classic Housewife News:

• Classic Housewife has been nominated for a homeschool blog award, check it out.
• Next Thursday I’ll be celebrating the One Year Bloggiversary of Classic Housewife in conjunction with Thanksgiving – It’s my Give-Thanks-Giving Bloggiversary.
• I have had to re-work the feeds a little bit, so if you subscribe to the “all” feed on the front page – you may or may not have experienced a little bit of feed duplication today. But hopefully there will be no more issues with the feeds not updating. I’m still working on trying to figure out why that feed is set to excerpts instead of full feed – I’ll get that fixed soon.
• Of course you can follow me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Elsewhere in Blogland:

• I love Kimba’s Thankful Tree – we may try a similar version this year, instead of our usual construction paper on the wall variety.
• “You’ve Been Cordially Invited to Break Your Heart” – Molly Piper. Thank you, I did. It was the video of her meeting her compassion child that really did me in.
• Would you like to create your own crossword puzzle? (Or word search or jigsaw puzzle.. they have those too.)
• “Frugal Holiday Cooking & Baking Tips” from Eat at Home. I should start purchasing some of our holiday things now, yes I should.
• Hillbilly Housewife reminds us this is the perfect time to clear out toy clutter. Oh how I need to do this. Before Christmas gets here!
• This Tulsa Homeschool Football Team has one amazing story!
• Free e-book: Paula Deen’s Holiday Hosting Guide – thanks to The Frugal Girls. (Don’t worry mom, it’s an e-book, you don’t have to listen to her accent.)
• Thanks to The Thrifty Mama for the heads up on the Yankee Candle Buy 2 Get 2 Free Printable Coupon!
• Chocolate Milk May Reduce Inflammation – Sign me up!

That’s all I’ve got this week. If you have some kind of week in review, weekend wrap-up, end of the week link love post – won’t you please join in and share it with us? Or if you’ve got something you’ve written this week that needs a little extra link love or you just really want to share, you can join in, too! It’s all about the link love. =)

Filed under: Just for Fun | |2 Comments

Come, Shoot the Breeze With Me

Hello internet! A host of interesting links await. Interesting is open to interpretation of course.

This week has been pretty uneventful around here. Except for the tooth extraction that was anything BUT uneventful. TAKE CARE OF YOUR TEETH PEOPLE! Other than that, I’ve browsed around the net a bit. Here’s what I found for you.

COUPONS:

• My Savings.com*: Free Samples and Coupons
• Print Grocery Coupons at Penny Pinching Gazette*.
  

IN THE NEWS:

• One more reason why teenagers don’t need “smart phones” in my opinion – “8 Sexting Teens Charged With…“
• Parent’s Lie to Their Kids More Often Than They Realize?” Um, yeah, they do. Um, no, they shouldn’t. And by ‘they’ I mean ‘we.’ And by ‘we’ I mean ‘I.’ Though I have to say that this is one reason we’ve never really do the Tooth Fairy. Just sayin’.
• Does President Obama Support Homeschooling?
• Will Longer School Days Help Students Catch up to Homeschoolers?
• Pictures that make you say WOW.Photographers get up close and personal with nature.

COMPUTERS & BLOGGING:

• Free PDF Creator

HOMESCHOOLING:

• Ellen McHenry’s Basement Workshop
• The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wishlist

OTHER:

• Amazing Sand Art from Ukraine’s Got Talent.

What else would you like to share with us? You can share anything, anything at all! Link up to something you’ve written about this week, something you did/learned/saw/baked/sewed/whatever! Come, Shoot the Breeze with Me~

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Come, Shoot the Breeze With Me!

Oh how I happy I am to be able to say those words in earnest! We have had the best “onset of autumn” breezes these past few days! The weather is gorgeous. Of course, this is Texas, so next week may feel like summer again, but I’m enjoying today while it lasts. Yesterday I added a fall centerpiece to my dining room table and piano. It’s pretty much all I have in the way of decorations, but I started by buying a few things last year and hope to add a few more things this year. (By the way, mom, I put the beautiful red and orange place mats back, I’ll have to buy those another day. Maybe.)

So tv premiere season is upon us!! It’s shallow, I know, but I do enjoy watching tv shows after the kids go to bed. I almost always watch tv online after it comes on. But I do sometimes like to watch premieres and finales live. As it happens, this week I watched a few live. Because I know you want to know what I thought of them, here’s my quick run-down:

I watched last week’s premiere of The Biggest Loser online at Huly and BOY was it emotional! But oh, so, inspiring. I’m looking forward to this season. I watched the premiere of House, MD live and I’m regretting that I did. Screenwriters of House – a love scene? Seriously? WHY? Needless to say I won’t be watching House live while the kids are here and awake anymore. Other than that, I thought it was “a’ight”, but lacking some serious OOMPH I’ve come to expect from season premiere episodes. The premiere of CSI: Miami was also good, but also lacking a little oomph – are they setting it up for that guy in the flashback to “return” to introduce him as a new character? Now, the premiere for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on the other hand – THAT’s what a good premiere is made of! I’m not sure how long Sarah will stick around, but I like her being there. And did I miss Riley quitting at the end of last season, or did I forget, or was that being introduced as new information this season? I felt confused on that point. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it. Also, last week’s premiere’s of Survivor: Samoa and Fringe were both really good. Things promise to be interesting on Survivor for as long as Russell is around and I’m still pretty lost on Fringe, but really enjoying that series. It’s kinda like a modern day X-Files. Pretty cool.

Well…

Grab a warm cup of coffee, or iced tea (whichever you prefer,) pull up a chair and have a look see at what I found this week:

• We made pumpkin waffles this week, using this recipe. I substituted part of the flour with oats and flax and used pumpkin pie spice in lieu of the individual spices. The kids loved them!
• My friend, Kristi @ Run the Earth, Watch the Sky, penned “God’s Big Story” and is inviting anyone to print, share and use this resource with their kids. Also, grab the button and share a link in your blog sidebar.
• I posted 7 photos on the Facebook Fan page in the album “Homeschooling”: http://bit.ly/2MDan2
• Have teens? Have teens online? This article, “What Parents Don’t Know” shares results from parents and teens polled about about their online activities and the the discrepancies between the two.
• Hat tip to my friend Holly for sharing the link to this hilarious news report about a bear sighting that aired on FOX 8 in Cleveland. According to his radio interview, (I tried to find a link) the reporter was disappointed in the lack of video or photographic evidence of the sighting and, forced to do the segment anyway, produced the above piece as a joke. The producer aired it without screening it, so yes, this was actually on the news!
• I don’t know about the music he’s dancing to, but those chubby baby legs dancing and kicking – how adorable is THAT!? That’ll put a smile on your face! =)

• I won a case of Jesus Storybook Bibles!! Hmm, who shall I share them with? With whom shall I share?! Become a fan of JSB on Facebook, and stay on top of future giveways coming soon! (I just need Big Daddy to fix the computer that’s hooked up to the printer so I can print my prize claim form!!!)
• Yes, the government is still working on the health care reform bill but are they voting on it before their working on it?
• Enjoy this music video, one of my favorite worship songs:

• Tylenol has issued a voluntary recall for many of it’s children’s and infants products.
• My design style is Glamorous Classic! Love it, sounds like me – or what I wish my home was like, anyway. What’s yours?
• School children in New Jersey sing songs praising President Obama, one which quotes a line from “Jesus Loves the Little Children” and one which is sung to the tune of “Glory, Glory Hallelujah.”
• And last but not least, I didn’t watch the Emmy’s but I did catch Mashable’s post about Dr.Horrible (Neil Patrick Harrison) hijacking the Emmy awards and mocking the internet.
• I’m glad I did or I wouldn’t have spent the 45 minutes of laughter enjoyment watching Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Love it! Go watch it. Now. No, wait. Link up your posts first, THEN go watch it.

So what kinds of things did you do/find/read/write this week? Join in the conversation and share with us. I promise to read every single one of them!

Filed under: Just for Fun | |1 Comment