Tag Archives: blogging

This Business of Blogging

17 May

I’ve been tossing around an idea for a long time, but it’s kind of scary.  It would require me to take a chance, hence the reason I haven’t done it yet; however, it’s been on the brain and I’m wondering if now might be the right time.  Will you help me make an informed decision?

I’m talking about self-hosting my WordPress blog.  You see, The Domestic Fringe doesn’t have sponsors or advertisers because it’s against the WordPress rules.  Now I love WordPress.  I’m one of their biggest fans, but unlike Blogger, they have some pretty strict rules about what you can and cannot do.  I respect that since they provide such great service for FREE.

You can never beat free – a big reason I’m still here blogging.

I’d like to do more though.  Right now WordPress throws an ad on my page.  I never even get to see the ad or video they insert and I would like a bit more control over that.  I’d also enjoy making a buck off the blog if that’s possible, and believe me, I have no grand delusions about getting rich.  I just want to expand a little, take on some sponsors, and maybe sell a little ad space.  Nothing crazy.  Just a start.

Here’s my problem.  FEAR.

I can talk myself out of anything.  ANY-THING!

It will be too much trouble transferring my site to a self-hosted WordPress site.  I don’t have enough facebook followers.  My stats are too low.  My readers won’t be able to find my blog if I move.  I’ll lose everything I’ve ever written.  I’ll have to pay a monthly hosting fee.  I’ll have to maintain my site myself.  Yada, yada, yada, yada…

You see?

That’s exactly why I haven’t done it.  I’m not much of a risk taker.  I haven’t ever jumped out of a plane, gotten a tattoo of my imaginary friend in the first grade, or threw my money into the stock market.

Sometimes I’m too safe for my own good.  Anything worth getting takes hard work and certain measure of risk, faith if you will.

Maybe it’s time to take the plunge.  I am claiming to live on the Fringe here.

Here’s where you can help me out…Do you self-host?  Have you tried to turn your blog into a little more than a hobby?  How many readers are enough?  Will I just be throwing my money away?

Help a confused girl out, will ya?  Tell me your story please.

And for the record, I didn’t have an imaginary friend in the first grace and I have no money to throw into the stock market.  I just didn’t want you to think I’m stuffing my mattress with cash and talking to little people in my head.

Thanks for the help!

Taps For Me

27 Apr

Whip Cream Kids - My Children & My Nieces

Today I’m writing over at An Army of Ermas.

You simply must come visit me.

I’m talking about our road trip and how past sins came back to haunt me.

Have you ever heard Taps played on a kazoo?

 No?  Me either, until recently.  The tune is about as mournful and haunting as a kazoo can be, and believe me, I’ve been haunted by a kazoo for a quite a few years now.

 One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mom, eyes wild with the look young mother’s get when they are torn between selfless love and wanting to eat their young. …continued at An Army of Ermas.

You won’t want to miss it!

Hope you have a happy weekend.  I’ll chat with you in the comments over at the Ermas, but then be sure to come back and check out my baby bat. ;-)

Blogging: It’s In The Stars

20 Apr

I love blogging.  I really do.  It’s like free therapy.  I can lay down on my own couch and spill my guts to a world who really doesn’t care if I’m crazy or not.

I rarely blog about anything important or serious, because this blog is for fun – my fun.  I get to share photos and talk about the silly things my kids do and say.  This blog is the reason I took the time to write our love story and remember the details associated with the birth of my children.  It’s like a giant memory book for me, and I can pull it up on my laptop and let it sit on top of the coffee table if I want.  Originally I thought I’d write for friends and family, but I suspect few of my friends read this and almost none of my family does, but that’s ok.

Because I never kept a diary when I was young, I sometimes think I would not write if no one read; however, not keeping a diary was really an issue of Imightdieathousanddeathsifsomeonereadsmydiary.  I didn’t think I could adequately hide my diary from my mother.  That’s the real reason I didn’t write.  Now I’ve grown old enough to realize I’m not the only crazy woman in this world, so who cares if people glimpse into the abyss that is my mind.

Although I will admit, the idea of writing a lifetime’s worth of delicious diaries filled with silly stories delights me.  My kids would find them when I’m gone and spend the rest of their lives wondering if mom’s stories are “truth” or “fiction”.  How I could mess with them!

But instead, I blog and a few random people read my blog.

The thing is, I love you random people.  I feel like some of you have become friends, people I would invite over on Friday nights for a pizza and burp night.  (Don’t ask about the burping.  Please.)

There’s just one thing that makes me loony about blogging and it’s in the stars.  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star is on auto-play in my mind and I can’t shut it off.  At the end of each post there’s a little strip of stars.  Have you seen it?  It’s right down there at the bottom.

 

Hardly anyone ever notices the stars.  In fact I forget that they’re there until a new post pops up in my right sidebar.  There’s a little widget that keeps track of my posts with the highest ratings.  Apparently they are the posts that you, the reader, likes, because you take the time to click on the stars.

One Star = Very Poor  (this is the MOST pathetic rating)

Two Stars = Poor  (a little less pathetic, but still LOSER)

Three Stars = Average  (it’s like being a “C” student)

Four Stars = Good  (ok, but you could’ve done better)

Five Stars = Excellent  (like very good baby, home run, atta girl, etc.)

These stars are a report card of sorts and I absolutely hate failing.  You should have seen me the time I got a “D” on a Shakespeare test in college.  I was certain I saw Juliet roll over in her grave.

When I made the stars to automatically appear at the end of each post, I didn’t think anything of it.  It was just an option with a little box I could check, so I did.  I mean, why not?  Who cares?  It’s just a few stars, right?

Wrong.  So miserably wrong.  I’m addicted to checking the stars, not for my astrological readings, but for my bloggy report card.  I hate to say it, but I’m a failure more often than I’d like.

Most of the time I get zero stars.  I’m totally good with this, but when I get two or three stars, I put myself on detention and make myself stay late after school so I can practice writing words that make sense.

And then it happened.

The other day, while I was still jet-lagged from my trip, I got one star.  One pathetic shooting star.  It crashed and burned right by my new family photo.

Obviously I’m not making the honor roll anytime soon.  I think I’ll tuck that post into the file with the Shakespeare paper.  Juliet will never rest in peace.

So now I’ll sign off and try to forget the stars, because I love you all, even the person who gave me one lousy star.  Hope you have a delightful weekend!  Remember tonight is pizza-burb night if you want to come.  ;-)

Jet Lag & Family Photos

17 Apr

We are not awake today. I think we are suffering from jet-lag even though we never crossed a time zone and we never set foot in the air.

Why is the trip home always so much longer than the ride to go away?

My favorite photographer, Kelly Ferreira, took some pictures for us on Easter.  We haven’t had a family photo since the kids were babies, so this is a treat.

I have so much to tell you, but I need a nap first.  I’ll be back soon!

I’m going to go ahead and link this to What I Wore Wednesday even though it’s only one outfit.  My dress is from Modcloth and the shoes are Miz Mooz.  My daughter’s lovely dress came from the GAP.  Both the dress and sweater were on the clearance rack.  Can’t beat that!

I know you’re not interested in the boy’s outfits.  Funny thing is that I ran out Saturday night to pick up a new belt for my son.  I also carried his shoes from NY to Atlanta just so he could wear them on Easter.  I didn’t realize he wasn’t fully dressed until after church and after we took pictures.  Oh, well.  At least I tried.  That’s worth something, right?
pleated poppy

Spring: Time for Something New

23 Mar

Spring has sprung!  At least in New York.  I don’t know if winter will show his ugly face again, but I’m not even going to give it a second thought.  I’m too busy with something new.

You see, after a prompting by Stacey, the editor and fearless leader of An Army of Ermas, to try something new this spring, I kind of made it my mission.

First came a new cereal.

Chocolate Special K.  I know how ridiculous this seems, but honestly, I couldn’t avoid the temptation.  I needed cereal and Special K is a favorite of mine.  The lure of chocolate got victory over common sense and I bought a box.

I am happily mature enough to say, I like the Special K with strawberries better.  Despite popular opinion, mini-bars of chocolate are not what I crave first thing in the morning.

After I ate my chocolate Special K, I ventured out to the land of literary giants.  I attended a Literary Tea hosted in one of the historic homes in my town.  You may recall, I wrote about my fashion dilemma here.  The tea was stamped “approved” by a local British woman and the scones were lovely; however, I’m not sure I quite fit in with the literary tea drinking crowd.  I’m more of a cream-filled coffee and sweet cereal type of gal myself.

So I pressed on.  My next adventure took me…

You’ll have to visit me at An Army of Ermas!  I’m talking about my latest, greatest “new” over there.  So, come on over.  You know you won’t be able to sleep tonight until you find out what I did.

No clues.  I could have bungee-jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge or learned how to cook/not cook Sushi.  You’ll have to read to find out.  ;-)

Love you all!  Happy weekend to you.  All comments are appreciated over at the Ermas site instead of here.  See you there!

A Dr. Suess Kind of Day

14 Mar

FringeMan just returned after two weeks on the road.  I haven’t said anything, mainly because of all the blog stalking serial killers out there in url land.

What?  You didn’t know about them?

Oh, yes.  They are so real they live in our little blogger brains.  It’s called imaginative overload.  Before long you’ll be susceptible as well.

Before he left, FringeMan installed a new lock on our back door and I carried on as if he were hiding in the attic day after day.  Rumors of a bad guy attempting to break into my neighbor’s house drifted through the neighborhood, but I didn’t give it thought.  It all sounded suspicious to me.

I’m a professional private investigator you know.

What?  You didn’t know that either?

Oh, yes.  It began with Magnum P.I. and a book on picking locks.  Before my parents could worry, I was stalking the neighborhood, convinced the corner house was laundering money.  Turns out I wasn’t completely wrong.  The day the police staked out their house and took it by force may have been one of the proudest moments of my childhood.  I stood in the street, jumping up and down in circles, screaming, “I told you!  I told you!”

I think the laundry was full of drugs and not money, but still, I knew they were up to no good.

That’s why I played smooth these last two weeks.  Nobody would even miss FringeMan’s presence around town.  I was on the job, covering up for my elusive main squeeze.

Until Sunday.

Snow fell fast and furious Friday afternoon.  We didn’t see the sky until late Saturday morning, but then a strange climatic weather condition occurred.  Winter turned into late spring.  By Sunday afternoon the entire town was drawn from their musty homes.  It was sixty-five and sunny.  Traces of snow lurked in the shadows along with serial killers and would-be burglars.  It was a Dr. Seuss kind of day.

Dogs walked their owners

Children squealed while painting themselves with mud.

Geese flew overhead in v-patterns, frantic to get back to Canada.

Chubby women walked.

Hope ruled the world, even if just for one better than usual afternoon.

I sat on my front steps finishing the third book of The Hunger Games.  My son’s former teacher stopped by for a chat, the neighbors brought their puppy over, and every other walker yelled out “When does your husband come home?”

Gracious me.  The serial killers!  Didn’t you see them hiding behind that snow mound?  Or maybe it was behind that url.  I’m so mixed up.  Maybe it’s the snow one day and shorts the next, but I suspect it’s just an affliction I’ll battle the rest of my little life.  Imagination.

A Rustic Stew for March

12 Mar

I shared this recipe a few years ago, but while looking for something to make for dinner, I stumbled on this recipe once again.  It was so good, I thought I’d share it again.

P.S.  How do you like my new blog banner?

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Several weeks ago I tried a great new recipe that included white beans and sausage.  Everyone in my family enjoyed it; however, everyone had an opinion on how I could improve on the dish.  After pooling ideas and tweaking ingredients, I’ve developed a dish that my entire family enjoys, even the FringeKids.

This new dish shares little similarity with the original recipe, but it’s a keeper.

Ingredients

1 tbs. butter, 5 small red potatoes, 3 carrots (chopped),  1 bag spinach, 7 cloves garlic, 3 c. chicken broth, 1/2 c. white wine (optional), 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomato, 1 can small white beans, 1 pack (6 links) hot turkey sausage, 3 tsp. basil, salt & pepper to taste

Preparation Instructions

Precook sausage in water for about 15 minutes.

picture1sausage

While sausage is cooking, chop carrots and slice potatoes.

2choppedcarrots

I suggest a food chopper unless you’re a culinary queen or king and dice by hand without chopping off the tips of your fingers.  I stick to the food chopper.

5-slice-potatoe

In a large non-stick skillet melt your butter.  Add chicken broth, wine, carrots, potatoes.  Mince or press your fresh garlic.

3garlic

With this much garlic in your system, you’ll not only be a germ fighting machine, but you’ll repel mosquitoes.

6inpot

Ok, I don’t know if the mosquito thing is true, but you will repel friends and enemies alike.

Go ahead and add your diced tomatoes.

7sea-salt

Salt and pepper to taste.  I like to use sea salt because it makes me feel worldly, in a cosmopolitan sort of way.

Hey, if you want to be mundane and use table salt, go right ahead!

Add your basil and stir.  Did I mention you need a large skillet?  Because you DO.

8-basil

Slice your sausage into bite-size pieces and add to pot.  Add your rinsed and drained white beans also.

9-beans

Bring to a boil and let simmer, uncovered, until all the veggies are soft and the sausage is fully cooked.  (about 15 minutes)

10-cooking

Some of your liquid will cook off and your entire house will begin to smell delicious.  Dogs, cats, friends, and neighbors will follow the scent to your front door.

Make sure it’s locked!

11-spinach

Add your rinsed spinach slowly.  If you add it all at once, it won’t fit in the pot.  Trust me.  Sprinkle with about a tsp. of flour to thicken the sauce.  Stir and simmer for a 2-3 more minutes.

12-flour

Dish up a healthy portion and enjoy.

13-finished-plate

It’s filling and relatively healthy.  It also tastes better than it looks.

I just noticed that this pictures looks scarily similar to v*m*t…I can’t even bring myself to type the word after I’ve just shared a meal with you.

Sorry for my lack of photographic skills.  You’ll have to take my word on the taste.

It’s good!  Mikey likes it. :-)

feed my family friday

I am Versatile…I Think That’s Good

2 Mar

I am a bad blogger, because sometimes people give me nice awards and I ignore them.  Well, I say “thank you” and then I have every intention of following the award rules, but good intentions get me nowhere.  So if you’ve ever passed an award on to me, please know, I appreciate the thought; however I probably never got around to doing anything with that reward. I’m a bad, bad blogger.  That’s all.

If it makes you feel any better, I lost the bowling trophy I got when I was eleven too.  Never stick me with a blue ribbon, because chances are it will go the way of the lost and never found.

Today is a new day though.  It’s Friday and I’ve decided to bite the bullet and be a good blogger.  You see, JeanDayFriday gave me an award last week, the versatile blogger award.  I was honored, because if there’s one thing I strive for on The Domestic Fringe, it’s versatility.  One day it’s all how I lost my skinny mirror and then next it’s about the church.  One minute I’m talking about going to the pig races and then next day I’m chasing my husband around and leaving steamy letters in his car.  It’s versatility!

For the longest time I thought it was ADD, but nope.  I’m pretty glad it’s not ADD, because as far as I know, there aren’t any awards for having a short attention span.  It’s versatility and there’s an award for it.

According to the rules, I must tell you 7 things about myself.  That’s not as easy as it sounds.  I’ve already made my confessions HERE and HERE.  I’ve told you everything!

So…here goes…some of this you’ve heard before, but I’ve had a surge (that’s a relative term) of new subscribers, so this may be new to you.  Hopefully.

1.  I went to an extremely small private high school and graduated with one other person.  I was related to him. You can imagine the fight to be named valedictorian.

2.  When FringeMan and I bought our first home in Maine, the realtor wanted us to dance around the closing table.  Naked.  (I wrote about it HERE.)  That’s why we moved.  No, I’m kidding.  We love Maine.  I lived there for six years.  I’ve also lived in Florida for a few, but I was born and raised in New York.

3.  I have a history of unfortunate events.  Some call it bad luck, but I don’t believe it luck.  Take for example – someone spit from the top of the staircase inside the Statue of Liberty and the spit landed right in my hair.  I was also stuck in a very cramped, hot, and smelly elevator in the Empire State Building.  The elevator just kept going up and down, up and down. I’ve also had birds poop on me, snow plows spray me with road grimed precipitation, and once my airplane hit a flock of geese and we had to make an emergency landing.  Trouble follows me.

4.  I have a clumsy side.  I try to keep it secret, but every once in a while, it gets out…like the time I was eating in a restaurant and I lit a bread basket on fire.  They shouldn’t put candles on the table.  Fire is dangerous you know!

5.  For the last 3 months of my second pregnancy, I shared concerns with my doctor over the size of my belly and consequently the baby within.  Each time she assured me there was nothing to worry about.  While lying in a hospital bed about to deliver, my doctor walked in, put her hand on my arm and said, “I want to talk to you about the size of this baby.  I think it may be too big.”

NOW you tell me?

You can read my baby story here.  My daughter was a whopper.

6.  I’ve always wanted to go to Australia.  I like their accent.

7.  Random strangers tell me their problems.  One pre-Christmas season I demonstrated toys in Waly-Mart.  It was a desperate attempt to earn money and it worked.  If counselors need clients, they should stand around retail stores with toys in their hands.  It’s amazing the tales I heard – death, infidelity, parenting problems, health issues, marriage mishaps, motor-vehicle accidents, and on and on.  Just today, the cashier in the grocery store told me her boyfriend lives off her.  I think people are just desperate for someone to listen to their story.  They should try blogging.

Now I am to nominate other bloggers for this prestigious award.

And I nominate:

Loyalist Cottage – go check out her pillows.  They were featured in a magazine and are all the rage.  You need one or maybe three.  I’m sure of it!

Sugar Blossom Boutique – a lovely blog I recently discovered.

Breakfast with Tiffany – I stumbled across her blog and realized we both went to the same college.  There were more than two people in my graduating class.  Just wanted to let you know.

Let it be Lovely -  She just did an amazing job organizing her desk.  You should see her mail solutions – lovely, just like the name of her blog says.

Mamas Minutia - She’s the most amazing cook ever.  I think I’ve gained 10 pounds since reading her blog.  She’s also a fun mom who belly dances.  How cool is she?

Withywindle – her tag line says “finding cheer and art in everyday”.  Nothing better than that.

Keiko Lynn – A fun fashion blog I’ve recently discovered.

The Goat and The Kid – A brand new to me blog that I am enjoying.

Beautifully Rooted - A place of inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul.

Confessions of a Pastor’s Wife – Sara always writes insightful posts.  Go visit her.  Your heart will be full by the time you leave.

Broken Poet – Laura is the best!  She’s a makeup artist, a young wife, and a beautiful woman.  She makes the best tutorial videos ever.  She’ll teach you how to do your hair and makeup and enjoy life.

If you’ll notice, I started this list with a mom and ended this list with her daughter.  I think that’s just perfect.

So, thank you dear blog readers for the awards past and present.  I’ll try to be better about accepting them and passing them along.

Have a great weekend!

Building a Community

29 Feb

FAAACEBOOK!!!!

 

I like blogging.  I know you’d never guess by all the words I use, but I really enjoy making connections with people in Portugal, Canada, Texas and everyplace in between.

Through blogging, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with some of the sweetest people.  I even got to know a girl in Spain with whom I attended the same college, but didn’t know her then.  How cool is that?

Blogging opened up a whole new world for me.

I sincerely appreciate each of you who take the time to read my ramblings again and again.  I never assume someone will read or comment, but I appreciate every person who does.

So thank you.

Because I’d like to keep in better touch with all of you, I created a facebook page for The Domestic Fringe.  You may have noticed a box for it in the right sidebar, but maybe you missed it.

I’m asking that you take a second to *Like* The Domestic Fringe on facebook.  I hope this page evolves into a place where I can help promote you, your blog, and your business.  I’d love for it to be a place for my readers to not only connect with me, but to also connect with each other.

Doesn’t that sound corny?

It’s true though.  I think my readers are some of the most amazing people in the world.  You are good at what you do, whether it be writing, sewing,  making jewelry, or sharing your life through blogging.  I’d like for us to become a community where we can encourage, promote, and support one another.

via Pinterest by handmadebyryangosling tumbler

I’m also trying to talk some people into sponsoring a giveaway or two on the facebook page.  So get in early and go *Like* The Domestic Fringe on facebook.

I look forward to getting to know you better.  If you have a business and you’d like a shout-out on the facebook page, send me an email with a link.  I may not get to it tomorrow, but I promise, I will get it.

 

Thanks for being awesome.  Thanks for being you.

Fresh From a Can – Soup You Can Trust

28 Feb

Today I’m joining Soupapalooza, mostly because I like the name; however, I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to a soup that you can trust.

It’s homemade.  From a can.

That might sound curious to you, but let me explain.

Do you ever have those nights where you don’t feel like cooking?  Nights when poisoning your family with canned food seems like a better choice than cooking for them?

Me too!

That’s why I’m so excited about this recipe.  You see, you can shop for the ingredients, stockpile them if you wish, and they’ll last for years.  We can easily call this Post-Apocalyptic Soup, but that might sound too intimidating for some, which is why I went with Soup You Can Trust.  After all, we don’t want to scare the children with dinner.

Some of you do that anyhow, but moving on…

Soup You Can Trust

ingredients:

1 box chicken stock

1 box chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can Mexican corn (regular corn can be substituted)

1 can chicken (drained)

1 can Rotel tomatoes

please ignore the multiples

Spices – this is where it’s subject to taste.  I’m going to offer a guideline, but alter to suit you and your family.

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp roasted ground coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder or use fresh garlic

1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

Top with fresh cilantro (if you have it/can find it, otherwise sprinkle with a little dried cilantro when throwing in the rest of the spices)

Dump everything into a pot and bring to a slight boil.  Simmer until hot.

How easy is that?  It actually tastes good too.

I’ll be honest, when I first made this soup, FringeMan decided he had to work late and miss dinner.  Then he almost fainted when I fed it to him for lunch the next day, but after he tasted it, he loved it!  He wanted more.  Now he walks around with his arms stretched out in front of him, growling the words MORE Post-Apocalyptic Soup.  You should see it.  It’s quite frightening, but the soup is yum.

If you want to get all highfalutin fain-cy on me, you can roast real chicken and simmer your own broth, but I’m a simple girl who really doesn’t love to cook, so I’m good with a few cans.

I found the original recipe here and jazzed it up with a few spices and the cream of chicken soup to thicken the broth.  We also like to top the soup with a little grated cheddar cheese and a few Fritos.  We’re classy like that.  Just make sure the family understands that Fritos are not noodles.  They’re just a garnish, so you only need a few.

If you are brave enough to try this, please let me know what you think.  I promise you, it’s the easiest almost-from-scratch  soup you’ll ever make – it’s the Soup You Can Trust.

So Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine & Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset”.  I’m sure they’ll be lots of great soup recipes.  I can’t wait to click over myself!

P.S.  Wait till you see these soups!  Looks like I forgot to hire a professional photographer to capture my Fritos in their best light.  Silly me.

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