I Attempt to Answer a Reader's Question

A reader of mine(I LOVE saying that!lol) named Free!~ asked a question the other day in the comments.
I thought it was a great question and worthy of a blog post.

She is a newish blogger and wondered how to find readers.

So I went over and checked her blog out to see what she was doing already or not.

One thing you need to do is 'enable' the "Follow" feature if you have a Blogger blog.
This lets folks who want to follow you do so with Google Friend Connect and/or put your blog into their Google Reader so they can find your new blog posts in their reader each day and not to go have to search through all the blogs they read.  Personally, I throw every blog I like to read into my "Favorites" on my computer, so I have the URLs bookmarked.

While you don't have to have your "Follow" feature abled, it's nice to see all those icons and your number of followers on your blog's home page. 8-)

So how to gain readers?
*  Well you could do giveaways and/or contests to get readers.  Either find a company to sponsor a prize or if you are independently weather, supply a prize yourself. ;-)
Make people become followers as a way to get an entry to your giveaway.
Make people blog about your contest to get an entry.
Make people post on facebook and/or twitter to get an entry.
Make people have a friend enter your giveaway(and when they say XX friend told them to enter, give both an entry).
Post your Giveaway/Contest on one of the Blogs that sponsor a Giveaway Post(this is a post were you can link to your Giveaway from their blog).  Do a search for Giveaway Memes or Giveaway Blogs.
Do a joint Giveaway with another Blog.  Connect with another blogger(or more than 1 other)to do a joint giveaway.  That way you get to cross advertise your giveaways on that other blogger's site.

*  Find another Blogger who is looking for "Guest Posts".  In your travels reading around the Blogisphere you will come across other bloggers who want other bloggers to write a post for their blog.
Either they want fresh ideas or they will be unable to blog for some time and need new posts to fill in rather than rerunning old material.


* If you have a blog you enjoy and read, write to that blogger and see if you can do a link exchange.  Most bloggers will put you on their Blogroll as a courtesy.  Some not so much but it doesn't hurt to ask.
I personally follow different types of blogs.  I have gotten onto some of their blogrolls, but the ones who limit their blogroll to one type of blogs(personal finance, deals, humor, etc.)often won't exchange links with me since I am all over the places with topics.  If you are strictly say a frugality blog, it's easier to find other strictly frugality blogs to exchange links with.

You've got a nice Blogroll already Free!~ so contact all those blog owners about a link exchange.

*  Some bloggers run "Carnivals".  This is a special post of a collection of blog posts from many different blogs, usually on a certain theme or POV.  You can submit particular posts and they choose which ones they want to include and the resulting Carnival Post will contain Links to all the selected posts.  Carnivals can have many different themes and topics.....frugality, single moms, personal finance, retirement,  homesteading, working moms, Christian moms, etc.

Often times bloggers will reach out and showcase other blogs they find with some "Linky Love" and point their readers in the direction of a new or new-to-them blog.

*  You need to actively get your blog out there.  If you read someone's blog that you enjoy, say something.  The more you comment of other blogs, the more other bloggers will notice you......then they will go check out your blog and if they like what they read, they will stick around and keep reading you.
If you have family and/or friends in 'real life' then tell them about your blog.....er, unless you are dishing those family and/or friends on your blog.lol

*  If you are desperate and rich enough, you could also buy ads on popular blogs to advertise yourself.   I haven't gotten to either desperate or rich enough yet!
Or you could write an actual book and advertise your blog on your book tour.  Yah, that's my plan!lolol

It might help if you have a Blogger blog to go into your dashboard, into the Analytics or STATS pages of your blog.  There you can look up how many page views you have, how many readers and how they are getting to your blog....through a search engine or a certain other blog, etc.....and where they live and what type of browser they are using.  This information might be informative in going forward or it could just be fun and a time waster, depending on what you do with it.


So who out there has some other great ideas to help readers find your blog? 
I have some great brilliant readers so let's hear some ideas!

Oh, and it never hurts to butter up your readers and stroke their egos......!

And before I forget, this great question came from Free!~ over at Pay The Bills or Feed The Kids.  Go check her out if you get a chance.


Sluggy

The Flood of 2011

What do you get when you put 8 inches of rain from Hurricane Irene with 8 inches of rain from Hurricane Lee?

At least in this area, here is what you get.....

Though we are saely high and dry up on the mountain, the clean up has begun for those not so fortunate in the valley.
Pictures of devastation are still coming in on the local news from areas they are just getting access to since the flood.

Only 2 flood related deaths so far from this Flood but the property damage will far outweigh what the Agnes Flood in 1972 caused.  At least we lost fewer lives if you can see that as a bright spot.

Lee  2011 is the new benchmark for disaster in this region.

Hold your family tighter tonight.  Don't sweat the "stuff".

Sluggy

Of Menu Plans & September Food Spending Week 1

I set right to spending on food in September.

It took me all of 2 days to get to the store and go on a $50.56 spending spree.
I bought 8 pizzas(5 small, 3 big), 2 boxes of frozen fruit bars, a 2 lb. block of cheddar cheese, a box of pancake mix, 2 watermelons, 2 bags of salad, 1 container of sour cream, a package of  sweet Italian sausage patties and a bag of brown sugar.
I coupon & sale prices later and I had a savings rate of 31% over reg. retail.

Then on the 6th, I hit another grocery store and bought....1 roasting chicken, a bag of onion rings, another pizza(what can I say?lol) and 2 bags of Doritos for a grand total of $14.62.
Hubs also picked up a gallon of milk for $3.77.

Grand Total for the 1st week of September food spending is $68.95.
My Food Spending Budget is $250 per month so we are sort of on target for the week.

My menu last week ended up being this....

Sunday--Fish, French Fries, Snap Peas(all from freezer or pantry)
Monday--Chinese (take-out on Entertainment budget)
Tuesday--Meatball Subs, Salad(all but salad from freezer or pantry)
Wednesday--Roast Chicken, Roasted Carrots, Onions, Potatoes, Gravy(carrots, potatoes, onions from pantry)
Thursday--Kielbasa on Rolls, leftover Veggies(all from freezer or pantry)
Friday--Subway sammies (take-out on Entertainment budget)
Saturday--Leftovers or Burritos(all from freezer or pantry)

Miscellaneous--#2 son ate 6 pizzas and 1/2 bag of onion rings.  These are his 'snacking foods'.

As of today, I still have 2 of the 9 pizzas, most of 1 watermelon, most of the cheddar cheese, the sugar, the sour cream, 1/2 of a bag of salad, the sausage patties, the pancake mix, 1/2 bag of onion rings, both bags of Doritos(this is shocking that no one has eaten them yet!lol) and a couple of fruit bars(my vice)from last week's shopping.

So far this week my Meal Plan is this....

Sunday--Tacos(using up ground beef in fridge by adding some ground chicken from freezer and some of the huge block of cheddar)
Monday--Ravioli, Salad(using ravioli in freezer)
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches(using garden tomatoes, bacon from freezer)
Wednesday--Mac & Cheese, Broccoli and Cauliflower(using some of that huge block of cheddar)
Thursday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(using meatballs in freezer and making fresh pasta sauce from garden tomatoes)
Friday--??
Saturday--??

I'll have to dig in the freezer and see what proteins I find and get inspired to use for Fri/Sat.  I don't plan on buying any meats this week unless I find a surprise deal.
I need bread badly as we are fresh out, onions(down to my last one), cauliflower, more milk and Hubs bought more lettuce on Sunday so we've spent on food this week already.

How much did you spend last week and how is your food spending shaping up for this week?

Sluggy

The Great Dig Out of 2011

It's finally done.
And I am wiped out.

I began the process of digging out #2 son's bedroom a week ago.  After slowly making progress during the week, this past weekend we did the "big push" to get it finished.

Yah  see, #2 son took over #1 son's bedroom when #1 went away to college in the fall of 2009.
#2 had the smallest bedroom(being the youngest)so he got the upgrade when #1 left home 2 years ago.

I had told #2 to take all of #1's stuff and put it into #2's old bedroom before moving his stuff in.
And I didn't check that he did before he put his stuff in there.
My first mistake.

Then I didn't inspect his room for 2 years.
That was my second mistake. 

Ok, I'd pop my head in and tell him to clean his room now and then(I have a duty as a mother to tell him that, right?),  but if things were off the floor and stuck under his bed or in his closet, I didn't see them.
I have a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to kids' bedrooms.
As long as their mess doesn't extend out into the hallway and doesn't smell like a sink full of month old food and dirty dishes, it doesn't concern me.
I give the kids some leeway on how they want to live in their bedrooms.
They want to live in a pigsty?  Fine.  Just don't expect me to clean it up.


But I really should have kept a closer eye on #2 son's filth.  He is after all, the kid who had a used ball of masking tape.....

I found this when I attempted to clean his room while he was away at camp 4 years ago.

I spent the week, off and on, going through what I had mucked out of the corner of his bedroom.....

And the bulk of the weekend was spent going through all this.....

The last 2 photos are what was under his bed.  Sorry, but I didn't get a shot of what was crammed into his closet.

I also removed a white shelving unit from the room.  Our family is "horizontal surface challenged".  Any flat surface gets crap piled on it.  #2 son would pile stuff on it until it eventually fell off onto the floor.
Then he would leave that where it fell and pile something new on the shelf, repeating the cycle.
No shelf and he has to deal with the stuff(throw it away or put it away).

And here is what under the bed now looks like....

And here is what we are throwing away.....

This doesn't include the dishes, silverware, glasses and soda cans or the items going to Salvation Army that he has outgrown.
8 Bags and 3 Boxes full of unmitigated CRAP.....plus another garbage bag full on the front porch.


And hidden among the normal garbage output that a 15 year old boy is capable of I found this.....

52 plastic spoons.
I dumped the bag I had collected them into on the kitchen table and just looked at him with that motherly "WTF is this??!" look on my face.
He didn't even crack a smile and said like it was the most matter of fact thing, "I was bored in the cafeteria at school so I took spoons."
Yes folks, your school tax dollars at work.....buying overpriced plastic spoons so some angst filled teen can squirrel them away like acorns for winter.

It was all I could do not to whack him upside his head.

I am keeping these spoons and making him use each and every one.
And then I'm washing them and making him use them some more until he gets the message.
You can call me Mommy Dearest if you want.
At least I'll have one clean bedroom in the house when they cart me away to Parent Prison.

Sluggy

Ten Years Have Passed

I had just taken possession of a storage unit down the road from our house on Sept. 10th, 2001.
I was up bright and early(VERY UNLIKE me to be up so early!) the next morning moving my stuff into storage..  It was Sept. 11th.

While I sat going through emails at my computer I had the tv next to me turned on to the CBS Morning Show.  I was half listening to the tv.
I was trying to finish emails so I could get my first load of stuff out to storage by 9 am. 
I was taking a swig of tea as the Morning Show came back from commercial to close out the show at around 8:50.
The camera was trained on the WTC and smoke was billowing out of one of the towers.  Bryant Gumbel was saying that it appeared that a small plane had gone off course and accidentally crashed into the WTC.
The hairs on the back of my neck raised.  Though it looked tiny on my screen because their camera was so far away, no small plane made what I was looking at!
My first thought was to the '93 WTC bombing.  (At our old house we were within the NYC network affiliates coverage area so I saw massive local NYC coverage of that event.  Back in Feb. 1993 I had a newborn baby and a toddler so I was chained to the house with the tv always on.)
I KNEW the plane was big and this was going to be worse than WTC '93(in damage and lives lost) but I had no clue of what was still to come.

As I sat here alone, staring at the CBS camera shot of the towers with Bryant Gumbel blathering on in the background, I saw on live tv the second plane hit.
I remember I sharply sucked air into my lungs and forgot to breath it out.
I sat paralyzed as the seconds ticked by.

Then I remembered to breath again.
And I started saying, "Oh my G*d....Oh my G*d.....Oh my G*d...." softly, over and over again.

I ran to the phone to call Hubs at work.
He already knew what had happened.  There is a large screen tv in the building's lobby and the security guard at the front desk had called upstairs after the the first plane hit was broadcast on tv.
The company had turned on tv sets on each floor and Hubs could see it from his work space.
I told him to come home.
He said he would as soon as he could.

I went back to the den and sat glued to the tv coverage.
As reports came in that a plane was missing and headed for San Francisco I thought of an online friend who lived near there.
Though I've never met her in person or spoken to her other than online, I called her to warn her not to go to work today.
She thought I was daft as it was just after 7 in the morning there and I woke her up.  But she lives near the airport so I was worried.

 I turned my attention back to the tv coverage.  By now they had reporters in the streets around the towers. 

Then the south tower fell. 
The scenes now on the ground were dark and smoky.  Panic stricken people running, paper and ash flying.  There were scads of alarms going off, like a chorus of chirping electronic birds on the audio coming out from my tv.  The news reporters didn't address those sounds but I knew what they were from the coverage of the '93 bombing.
Those were the firefighter signals that they wear on their gear.  It helps locate downed firefighters during a fire.  When you can't see for the smoke and blazes, you can hear that signal.
Tons of signals were going off.
There were no firefighters at that point to locate after the towers fell.
The sound made me sick to my stomach.

A bit later they started talking about other targets after the Pentagon was hit.
I thought about the nuclear reactor nearby.
Then I thought about the elementary school my kids were in....it is between home and that reactor.
I called the school.  The lines were jammed.  I found out later that panicked parents drove to school and were storming the place searching for their kids. 
I figured the kids were safely in the hands of the grownups at the school.

I kept myself from getting hysterical that no one was home yet.  After word came about Flight 93 going down between Pittsburgh and Johnstown I paced the floor and asked G*d to bring my husband and kids home to me.

My youngest was in half day Kindergarten and came home at noon.  The older grades were released and my other 2 were home at 1.
By 1:30 Hubs was home and I could relax a bit.

A call from SIL who's boyfriend lived in Weehawken, NJ confirmed that the BF was ok and hadn't been in Manhattan that day.  He was a freelance writer who often had business in the city.

Days later we got word that a few parents of kids my kids knew at school were missing.  We are an outer bedroom commuter community for the metro NYC area.  Though it's a 3 hour drive each way, people live here and work in the city (or NE NJ).  Some stay in the city during the week and come home on weekends so they can raise their family in a nicer area(with lower crime, lower cost of living, etc.).
We heard that the father of one of my oldest son's classmates in his parochial school(which he had attended the previous year when we lived outside of Port Jervis NY)had perished in the attack.  He was a NYC firefighter who's family lived in Milford, PA and he commuted in for his job.

My BIL lived in West Orange, NJ. There is a park on a cliff there were he said you could watch the smoke rise from Manhattan for days afterwards.

The hardest part for me was how to explain in an age appropriate way what had happened to a 5, 8 and 10 yr old.  2 of them came home very scared because older kids on the bus were saying outlandish lies about what had happened to try to get them upset.
So they were confused and upset once they arrived home.
Having to keep them calm and get things back to normal in their lives helped me to stay in control of myself.

Otherwise, I just remember being sad, very sad.
It was a sad time.
Empathy for all those people who were murdered while just carrying on with their daily lives.
Even more sadness toward the heroes/martyrs....the firefighters, the policemen/women, the passengers on those planes.

A certain amount of remembering and honoring that time/incident is good.  The coming together as a nation was awesome.
But that first year after wards, the media wouldn't let loose of it.  I thought how can people get past this bad thing if they have to hear about it incessantly?
And then every Sept. 11th since(and the weeks before and after)the media gets the "911 bone", drags it out and won't let it go.
Again, to keep flogging people with 911 is not good for anyone.
For those that were personally touched, let them experience their grief privately and no more parading it out in front of the nation.

Though I've been blogging for years now, I've never blogged about "that day" until now.
The 10th anniversary I just did.
And this will be the only time I blog about where I was, what I did and what I experienced personally.

It's time for this country to get past this wallowing in misery phase.
This is not the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of man, nor is it the worst thing that has happened to our country.
It IS the worst tragedy of our generation-dare I say so far?, especially because it involved private citizens and not the military during a time of war.

Previous generations would tell you that Pear Harbor was the worst tragedy of their generation.
And long gone generations would tell you that the Civil War was the worst tragedy of all in the USA.

Let's just hope that it's the last large scale tragedy and that future generation don't have to live through something like this, or worse.

Never forget but keep on truckin'!

Sluggy