I am a foodie, travel junkie, SEO expert, social networking mommy and former cops - government - investigative - biz - CAR print journalist turned web publisher - writer - mommy blogger. Here are my musings on all of the topics above.
You’re planning your first trip to France, and it’s something you’ve dreamed of for years. But there are several rookie France travel mistakes that could make your visit less enjoyable, or even downright unpleasant. Hey, you don’t have to look like a rookie. Here are some tips about mistakes to avoid on your first vacation in France.
Don’t do this: Worst Rookie France Travel Mistakes
Tags: first trip, france travel Subscribe in a reader |
Babies and toddlers love to go camping. Still, there are issues related to weather, bugs and sleep. Here are tips on fun and happy camping with babies and toddlers.
It is fairly amazing to go camping with babies and toddlers, and they certainly enjoy the change of scenery. Many times parents think babies are too young to go camping, but that is entirely untrue. You do, however, need to consider and address a variety of issues before camping with a baby or toddlers. Here’s a rundown.
Find out what you need to know first: Camping with Babies and Toddlers
Photo of tent, © Fred Green
Tags: camping tips, camping with babies, camping with kids, camping with toddlers| Subscribe in a reader |
So to truly have a sustainable kitchen as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project, I really need to be, like, producing some of my own food or something. I so love the idea of growing my own vegetables, fruit and herbs. There’s just one problem. I have the world’s blackest black thumb. So for me, starting an organic vegetable garden is a bit like my own version of the Odyssey. But I am pretty determined.
Also, over the years, the blackness of my thumb seems to be getting slightly less overbearing. It used to be, I would walk past a plant and it would die on sight. Then I could count on maybe 5 percent of plants in my presence to survive.
I keep trying. Plants keep giving their lives for the cause. I keep getting just a little bit better.
A big part of the problem is that planting and growing things requires a couple traits I just don’t have. One, you need to take time to study how to do it right. Umm, yeah. If I buy something and I can’t figure it out without consulting the instructions, it’s going back to the store. (Actually, it’s going to sit on a shelf forever because who the hell has time to return things? Seriously). It also takes following directions very closely. Oh, and a third trait. It takes patience.
Well, I’m more a wing it, figure it out, and eyeball it type of person.
Yet the miraculous has happened. My husband got involved. See he’s good at all those icky things like concentration. (Shudder). He set up a cool shelf system with lights (he even said something about the lights being the right something or other. I don’t know. I lost interest).
Anyway, it worked. I have so many seedlings I don’t know what to do with them.
So it was time to start my garden. I went outside with shovel in hand to dig me up a garden. I figured that would take, say, 5 minutes of digging and ta-da, a garden plot. I inserted shovel into grass. And pushed. Um, it didn’t even go into the ground. WTF? Raised bed. That was my decision.
So thus started the Google search. One of my Type-A Mom editors had this perfect article for me on her About.com Organic Gardening site, “ How to Make a Raised Bed Garden.”
I’ll save you the grueling details, but we decided to use stones around the edges and created this nice-looking, fine-looking, totally-kick-ass raised organic vegetable garden (that cost about $100 for rocks and organic dirt. yep.):
We planted a couple of early girl tomatoes that came in these cool biodegradable pots that you can plant right with the tomato:
And check this out! We already have the tiniest, cutest little tomatoes. How freakin’ adorable are these? Yeah, you will probably have to squint:
Now, the next problem. What the hell do I do with all these other veggie seedlings? Seriously?
I’m thinking I need, oh, about 10 more raised beds. Anyone care to send a donation to my Paypal account? I’m kidding. Sort of.
Tags: garden plot, herbs, organic vegetable garden, raised garden bed, seedlings, sustainable kitchen project, vegetables| Subscribe in a reader |
Social networking is personal. This should be obvious, correct? Well, that doesn’t mean everyone gets it. There are plenty of companies trying to figure out how on earth to connect with all us cool social networking people. We’re the online version of the in crowd back in school. (Of course, in real life, well not necessarily! heheh).
And then there are companies and corporations. They so want to hang with us (especially we mommy bloggers who, they’ve suddenly noticed, spend a shitload of money to feed and entertain ourselves and our spoiled children, and we influence other moms who spend a shitload of money). They so want to be our friends.
But we don’t want to be their friends. For one thing, they are too obvious. They scream, “Be my friend!!!! Please!” Or, translated, “Buy my crap! Please!” They’re just, well, I have to say it. They’re just annoying.
And here’s the funniest thing. They do all this, but they don’t want to get too personal. Oh, no. That makes them very uncomfortable.
So they do things like have profiles that have no face, just a logo. Or they have social web accounts that are named for the company, and not a person. They join social bookmarking sites, and then just submit their own site. What a spaz!
And it’s understandable. For decades, maybe centuries, the concept that is normally accepted is that business and personal are separate. We’re programmed with that.
Those days are over. It’s all mingled together, and it overlaps. If you want business, you’d better get personal.
I can’t be friends with a company. Sorry. I can be friends with someone who WORKS FOR a company. I was pretty impressed when I spotted a couple of Graco company bloggers on Twitter. You can follow Lindsay Lebresco and Melissa Parlaman. Initially, when I saw they were official Graco bloggers, I actually cringed.
But then I visited the Graco Baby Blog. Wow, do they get it. I mean, wow. Go visit that blog. Yes, it is a corporate blog, but it could easily be a multi-author parenting blog. The moms and dads here talk about real life, including an incredibly moving recent post about a Graco employee’s wife giving birth to a NICU baby:
I wanted to share a story about my youngest daughter, Mia Erin Langmaid. I am the development manager for US new car seats at Graco Children’s Products, and I’ve worked with infant car seats and premature babies on and off for the last 3 ½ years. I would never in a million years have thought that my wife and I would have a premature baby. Especially since our two older children, Alex (6) and Kylie (4) were both full term, healthy babies.
Corporations? You listening? This is how you engage your customers. The blog still ties into the product, but not in that annoying in-your-face, TV commercial translated into social networking kind of way. This way is more subtle, but just as effective if not more so.
This is how you use social networking. Get personal.
Tags: corporations, graco baby, mommy, social bookmarking sites, social networking, twitter| Subscribe in a reader |
OK, maybe this is just kind of weird. I blog about Twitter, and now Twitter blogged about me blogging about Twitter. Umm, thanks Twitter. I’m not sure I’m entirely ready for this kind of relationship. It’s not you. You’re great! It’s me.
Seriously, though, I love that Twitter sees that moms are such a force on Twitter (and I totally adore any link love from such a major blog, with a PR7 no less!). We are a force. We are taking over the world. We’re just starting at the Twitter level. Baby steps for moms, 140 characters at a time.
Watch out world!
Tags: Kelby Carr, moms on twitter, social moms, social networking, twitter| Subscribe in a reader |
Wow, I can’t believe the venom unleashed against mommy bloggers in this Toronto Globe and Mail article that questions whether mommy bloggers exploit their children. They really take it to Her Bad Mother, who is featured and interviewed in the piece (and, incidentally, a must-read mommy blogger!). The comments in reaction to the article are pretty shocking, going so far as to equate mommy blogging to neglect, comparing mommy bloggers to zombies who sit in front of a screen all day, and saying children of mommy bloggers will need years of therapy. She writes about it in a beautifully titled post, “ Crazy Narcissistic Exploitative Zombie-Pimp Mom-Bloggers Unite and Take Over.”
Some examples that I swear I am not making up:
Homer - from Canada writes: these bloggers are nut cases.. why would u want to put your personal stuff for millions to read and watch.. and then you worry about all those sicos out there… how crazy can you be..
and…
Eric the Red from Uzbekistan writes: “Writing about your daughter’s toilet-training misadventures could net you $40,000 a month and a legion of fans.”
If you’re a parent and have enough time blogging and wanting to capture and chronicle every stage of your child’s development for the world to see, your priorities as a caregiver and parent are entirely skewed. Get a life.
And if you do blog about your kid’s life for monetary gain, you are truly a cretin.
and…
Gogh Forit from Canada writes: Isn’t this just another form of pimping?
and…
My eyes are open, Are yours? from Canada writes: It was bad enough that my dad carried a picture of 3-year-old me in the bath in his wallet until I was 25.
Whatever money these people make from their kids, they should expect to spend it all on lawyers and psychotherapy for their kids later on. What kind of person tells others about this stuff? What kind of person reads it?
Boy are people bigoted against the mommy blogger. Why can’t a mom write about the amazing, wonderful, frightening, insane, beautiful, ugly experience of being a mom? Sure, moms should be careful about exposing too much information on the off chance some freak is watching. That really isn’t any different than anything else someone does online that presents personal information. People should use some sense about it.
It also ticks me off that moms get criticized for making a buck for their writing. Are you kidding me? How many MEN running corporations make millions of dollars on the backs of regular people? And maybe moms wouldn’t have to blog if a company or two would hire moms to telecommute (this is, ahem, the year 2008… you’ve heard of things like computers and email, right?).
Oh, and here’s a question for you. How is a mom who works a day job better or worse a parent than a mom who spends time blogging (probably almost exclusively during naps and nighttime, losing sleep many of you take for granted)? Both are doing what they can to earn a living and be a mom.
Really, bless Blogger and Wordpress and Google Adsense and BlogHer and every other simple platform that has made it possible for moms to work from home and earn a buck! I only wish there were more options out there. But I am certainly glad there are moms out there making $40K a month blogging about being a mom. That is supreme.
And everyone else had better watch out. Mommy bloggers are taking over the world! Don’t mess with us.
Does this get you incensed, too? Don’t comment here (or at least don’t just do that). Write about this on your mommy blog and hop over and post a pro-mommy blogger comment. I’ve tried a few times, but it keeps telling me to confirm my email. Whatev…
Tags: blogher, criticism of mommy bloggers, ethics of mommy blogging, mom blogs, mommy bloggers, mommy blogging| Subscribe in a reader |
One of the first things I’ve done as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project is to pull out, dust off, clean and actually use this very cool, very nice juicer I received as a gift years ago. Yes, years ago. I’ve thought many times how cool it would be to make juice. I have three kids and two adults, and we consume a lot of juice (even with me diluting the kids’ juices).
So, I was armed with a big bag of organic oranges, and this cool new-old kitchen gadget. I was pretty optimistic about the results. Here’s how it all went down:
It started with a bag of oranges…
Then lots and lots and lots of cutting, deseeding, etc. to get the good orange juiciness pieces…
Then stuffing lots of orange juice pieces into the electric juicer. It’s a little time-consuming, but definitely easy…
I’m feeling pretty good. It looks good, it smells good. I’m done. That wasn’t so tough. Now, for the reward for all this time, expense and effort…
Umm…. WTF? Seriously? All that work for 12 ounces of juice? A whole BAG of oranges results in 12 ounces? What a rip! And now look at all this stuff I have to clean up…
In all fairness, that 12 ounces of orange juice tasted very fresh (although a little bitter). But I couldn’t help thinking Tropicana really should start charging more for a carton of OJ. If you figure an hourly rate at $50, or even $25, I spent a good hour between preparation, juicing and clean-up. Plus, the expense of the whole bag of oranges (I think it was around $3).
Still, I am not ready to give up on juicing. But the stars are no longer in my eyes. I have a big book on juicing that came with my juicer. I might skim that or something. I also like the idea of making juices with multiple fruits and vegetables. I also think it probably makes sense to make a huge batch of juice at once to maximize the time spent, particularly cleaning all the little parts. I’ll keep you guys posted next time I play with my juicer to see if I get better return on investment.
Have any of you guys made your own juice? Did I do something wrong here? Let me know any tips you might have, or link to anything you’ve written on juicing!
Next in the Sustainable Kitchen Project, I’ll share some of the details (woes and wonders) of starting my first organic vegetable garden. Who knew creating a basic pile of dirt on a big 1-acre lot could be such a pain in the ass?
Tags: food pictures, homemade food, homemade orange juice, juices, kitchen gadget, organic oranges, sustainable kitchen project| Subscribe in a reader |
Are you one of them? One of those writers who thinks you are too cool for SEO? Or do you just see “SEO,” and think, “what the hell is seee-ohhh?”
Find out if you’re in SEO denial with my latest post on Blogging Tips.com. Here’s an excerpt:
I am often surprised how often I encounter writers and bloggers who don’t know what SEO is, don’t want to know what SEO is, or think they don’t have time to learn about SEO. Yes, the writing of a post should be your first priority, as should writing in a clever and engaging manner to hook readers. But those readers need to find you before they can get hooked.
Read it: 5 Warning Signs You Are in SEO Denial
Tags: seo for journalists, seo for writers| Subscribe in a reader |
When I decided to work at home most days, a major MAJOR factor was having more time to make good food for my family. I wanted to use more fresh ingredients, and make more things from scratch. Oh, in my mind, I would be the uber foodie mom, baking and creating and freezing and canning and doing various fun food things. I should totally have a sustainable kitchen.
In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.
Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.
I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.
So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:
And I made orange juice this week:
Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…
I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.
Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!
Tags: food, food pictures, homemade food, sustainable kitchen project| Subscribe in a reader |
I’ve been social networking for a while, and I think Twitter has nailed the mom demographic. I see moms on there left and right, and there is a wonderful mom conversation happening at Twitter. If you haven’t been listening, check out this ab-fab Ultimate List of Moms on Twitter. (And thanks so much eMom… you rock for taking the time to create this list.)
I’ve stumbled (which, for the record, I still totally love), sphunn (is that a word?), dugg, spaced, facebooked, you name it. I netscaped until it propellered. I have a secondlife (but do I even have a life?). I babblzed until it fizzled.
Some are more enjoyable than others, and some are better for networking than others. Some will bring a torrent of traffic that, I suspect, never returned. Some boosted a site’s PageRank, odds are likely. Some connected me with old and new friends.
MySpace is too filled with spam, pre-pubescents and glittering graphics for my taste. Honestly, I know Facebook is supposed to be so hot, but I just can’t get into it. You know why? I don’t have the time to delve into it. And I don’t really WANT graffiti.
But then I discovered Twitter. Oh, to Twitter. My day consists of not a single stretch to focus on one thing for more than, oh, a millisecond. Then there’s a whine, cry, dog who needs to piss, kid who wants to be fed, blog I need to write, web article that needs editing… Like every mom, this list is endless.
Twitter’s genius lies in the beauty of 140 characters. It lies in the ability to send without even opening a new browser window, without even needing a computer.
I don’t have time for much, but I have time to Tweet. That I can do. Microblogging is social networking for time-deprived, short-attention spanned mom.
Beyond that, it’s also appealing to a mom. It’s more intimate and personal. You see a page full of faces, you see what they’re saying. It’s a real conversation. It’s also very effective. When I see a link posted by one of these moms, women I’ve never met or said more than 140 characters at a time to, I click it.
I can talk to the momosphere, and I can do it quickly. Better yet, I can listen to the momosphere. Very cool.
What do you think? Why do you Twitter (or not)? And hey, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.
Tags: mommy bloggers, social moms, social networking, twitter| Subscribe in a reader |
My StumbleUpon Page
