Category: Blogging

If you are using Blogger (Blogspot) as your blogging platform, who am I to judge. It’s simple to design, easy to maneuver, and integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, Feedburner, Picasa, Google Reader…  Now that I think of it, it’s pretty gosh darn awesome if you ask me.

Google has even updated the Dashboard so that it’s very clean and cool. Unfortunately, what it has gained in style (so to speak), it has lost in functionality.

For instance, you can’t seem to remove the CAPTCHA (word verification) when people leave comments in the new Blogger interface. If you try looking in the Settings > Posts and Comments, there is no longer a section for word verification as there once was. It seems that the only way to make this adjustment is in the “old” Blogger interface. So how does one get around this?

Go to the “Options” icon. It’s looks like a little gear on the right side of the screen. Click on it and find the link to the Old Blogger Interface.

This will take you to the old interface. Click on the Settings and that will take you to Comments menu.

Scroll down, down, down…. even further down… to the options to turn OFF the word verification.

Now, embrace the SPAM!

It’s time again for the Annual Great Bloggy Holiday Card Exchange and here is ours.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Everything to all of my friends! I am so very happy to have all of your in my life (and in my laptop). I am, indeed, very blessed.

As I do every year, I made TWO versions of our holiday card– one to send to family and close friends, and another to send to the people who love us dearly, but probably don’t want a three-fold spread of  ”look how freakin’ cute my kids are. Look! Look!”

To see the other version on my holiday card, read my post on Why I Send Holiday Cards.

Last Sunday, Jennifer Perillo, a fellow blogger, lost her husband suddenly to a heart attack. Just like that. No warning. No signs.

I didn’t know Jennie prior to this week, but that’s not saying much. There are lot of bloggers I don’t know, in spite of being as well-know and much-loved as she is. Yet, grief and sympathy has rippled throughout the blogging community and I could not help but  feel a sense of loss and sadness for her and their two daughters.  My eyes welled with tears as read her blog posts about their final days together, and it took everything I had not to pull my children out of their camp/daycare right then and there and tell them that I love, love, love, love them.

When asked what we could do to help, Jennie simply asked that we make pie and share it with someone you love. So yesterday, bloggers from all around the country, perhaps even all over the world, came together to make a #pieformikey.  Food Network  has compiled all of the posts on their site in a lovely tribute to Jennie and Mikey.

Fresh from a conference attended by over 3600 people who share the same passion for blogging, it’s always so hard to then explain to outsiders how people “who exist in my computer” could matter so much to me that I would travel across the country just to bask in their glow. It unsettles me when people are quick to put down Facebook or Twitter with the insinuation that those relationships ought to matter less than the friendships I could be making in my city or neighborhood.

I don’t know what could be more real than sharing such a tremendous loss and receiving an overwhelming show of support in return. At the end of the day, there’s a person at the other end of that blog post/ Twitter handle/ Facebook “like” and when they grieve, so do you.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie was her husband’s favorite, which she shared on her site, In Jennie’s Kitchen. Make one for someone you love today.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

Serves 10 to 12

8 ounces chocolate cookies

4 tablespoons butter, melted

4 ounces finely chopped chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup creamy-style peanut butter

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Add the cookies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs.  Combine melted butter and cookie crumbs in a small bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well.  Press mixture into the bottom and 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.  Pour over bottom of cookie crust and spread to the edges using an off-set spatula.  Sprinkle chopped peanuts over the melted chocolate. Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.  Transfer to a small bowl and store in refrigerator until ready to use.  Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a deep bowl.  Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar.  Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture (helps lighten the batter, making it easier to fold in the remaining whipped cream).  Fold in the remaining whipped cream.  Pour the filling into the prepared springform pan.  Drizzle the melted chocolate on top, if using, and refrigerate for three hours or overnight before serving.

The time to tell people that you love them is now.

{image credit: Bob.Fornal, Flickr}

My girl has been a “bink baby” since the day she was born, and I make no apologize for it.

Because, like me, she finds something she likes and sticks with it, she’s partial to the one type.  And because I am also lazy, I’ve never tried to break her of the habit.

The bink’s become a regular feature in our family photos and we make no apologize for that either.

Mike and I talked about maybe… when she’s two… perhaps we’ll try to get her to stop with the bink, but with her LOUD willful cries and its magical ability to soothe her instantly, it was easy to put it off. Then, sometimes opportunity presents itself and one simply cannot resist that either.

Earlier this week, I came home from BlogHer’11. Mike took the days off to stay home with the kids, so it was with an appreciative tone that I asked him, “Great googly-moogly! What the frying hash browns happened to the house while I was gone?” (expletives omitted). I had to get past the smell to which my family had scarily become accustomed in order to get to the mess.

Add to that several bags full of dirty laundry and swag.

It’s taken me three days to unpack my bags on to the living room… bedroom… hallway…  The house is very much still a disaster. Then, this afternoon, we lost the bink! 

So Lou went without her nap, and was completely undone by mid-afternoon. “Where bink, Mommy? Where bink?” she kept asking.

In desperation (or perhaps it was in madness), I crafted a fib so bold and so daring. In the most upbeat and effervescent tone that I could muster three-days post-conference, I casually suggested that, “The Bink Fairy must have taken it and given it to another baby.”

Lou paused. “A baby?”

“Yeah, because you’re a big girl! Not a baby anymore… oh, and she probably left you presents! Yeah, presents!”

“Is that really true, Mommy? Or you just making it up?” Scout asked.

My mouth said, “No, it’s very true. Just like the tooth fairy!” but my eyes in the rear view mirror were saying, “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.”

We were in the car and on our way home when I decided to fabricate my little deceit. It was nearing dinner time and there’s no way I could slip out before bedtime to find thoughtful and clever “presents from the bink fairy” that neither of them had seen before.  You would think with the amount of swag I brought home there would be something… but good little blogging fodder that they are, my children were ransacking my bags before we could step out of the airport terminal.

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.

Just as I was pulling into our drive way, I noticed a box by our front door. Is it? Could it be? IT WAS! 

It was the box that I had shipped home from BlogHer, containing all of the swag that did not fit in my bags. Most of it was from the THIRTY pounds of toys, books, and games that I received from The Big Toy Book’s Sweet Suite party at BlogHer. Not all of it came home with me. Some items were shared with my roommates, the Nap Warden and the Five Dollar Shake, who also have adorable girls and one very charming boy waiting at home for them. From what I’ve heard, it’s made for some happy squeals!

As my kids ate dinner in another room, I tore open the box and found the PERFECT items.

Tonight, the “Bink Fairy” will be leaving my daughter the following items by her bedside:

Seen in photo: LadyBug Girl and the Bumble Bee Boy and LadyBug Girl doll and an I Spy Wonder Tube

She was also so kind as to provide a little hush present for Scout, too…

Seen in photo: (clock- wise) HexBugs Glow in the Dark Starter set, KRE-O Transformers Optimus Prime Construction Set, GrowUms “Taco Garden” kit, and Jungle Speed

 Thank you, The Big Toy Book and KidVuz, for the fantastic party at BlogHer 2011 and definitely for helping me save face.

Disclosure: I received an amazing collection of toys from  The Big Toy Book and KidVuz at the The Big Toy Book Sweet Suite party at BlogHer 2011. Not all of them made it home with me. The views and options expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of  the Bink Fairy or anyone else. 

The first time (and last time) I went to BlogHer was 2007.  It was held at Chicago’s Navy Pier. I booked the wrong flight and missed the keynote address, but arrived in time for the “speed dating”… because the conference was small enough that all of the attendees could FIT in one room and exchange business cards.

There were a handful of sponsoring brands. Butterball was offering to send  bloggers home with Thanksgiving turkeys. Cute, except it was July and I really didn’t know what to do with a frozen turkey on a plane. I probably missed something in the communication.

I sat next to The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, during a session. Mayberry Mom was with me when I learned how to change the background color of my (free) Blogger site. I watched Kristen Chase record a podcast during a rooftop cocktail reception.

If there were any other parties, I did not know about them and that was fine by me. I was “just” a mommy blogger after all.

Four years later at  BlogHer’11, my calendar looked like this:

Why yes, I did have FOUR engagements scheduled at the same time ALL. THREE. NIGHTS. This does not even include the last-minute invitations I received  just by being in the right place, right time. Nor does it account for all of the time spent “holding court” with my lovelies on various sofas and other horizontal surfaces.

Here are my seven quick takes on BlogHer’11 and only seven because I am TIRED!

-1-

Four years ago, it was my impression that only a handful of bloggers were making a living at it. I wasn’t exactly sure how, but I was curious to learn more. The conversations around it were heated, but I had no intention of making this anything more than hobby so why did it matter?

This year, I was the one doing the pitching– for the company I work for, for the company some friends of mine created and that I am now a part of, for the company we are planning to create in the future, for my personal blog, the other blog where I write, my brand, and me.

That’s a lot of pitching and I’m exhausted. No wonder it’s taken me so long to write this!

-2-

That “handful of sponsor brands”  morphed into an expo floor taking up its fair share of a entire convention hall. I made a point of stopping by almost every booth. First, I thanked them for sponsoring our conference. Then, I asked how they were working with bloggers.

Some knew exactly what they were looking for. They had a point of contact for acquiring a review item, a call to action, and “oh, hey, meet our “Director of Public Relations. He’s right here!” Right on! 

Some didn’t know how they wanted to work with bloggers, but they were there to find out. Fair enough! I like that answer. 

Others just had pretty men handing out candy bars… Pass! 

-3-

Walking into the sessions as a blogging newbie four years ago, I was faced with a room full of people I did not know. I had the exact same experience walking through the lobby of the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina this past weekend, except this time it was invigorating!

I don’t know what the attendance was for BlogHer’07 but it was tiny by comparison to this year’s 3500 bloggers- mostly women and a few brave men.

I tend to be social, both online and off, so sometimes it feels like I know everyone (or at least of everyone). So it’s always interesting to meet new bloggers. I love hearing what they write about, what interests them, and somehow in this madness, that they too have found “their people”.  It’s like discovering that there’s a whole other world out there… with it’s very own community and drama.

-4-

That being said, I didn’t spend nearly enough time making new friends since it was hard enough to keep up with the people who I already know and love. There are a lot of you!  The whole weekend, I felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions and having to fulfill just as many obligations.

It was draining even for my extroverted self. I spend the last night of BlogHer sick to my stomach. I had had my max capacity for cocktails and my max output of small talk, but went out anyway to support my friends at The Moms’ Fashion File Style Sessions. Love the party and I loved the company, but  man, could I not focus!

At that point, I craved was my bed and/or an uninterrupted conversation. I know that there were about 3500 bloggers who ought to understand completely, so it disappointed me to come home to find a fresh round of “Wah! So-and-so didn’t talk to me?”

That being said, if I ignored you this weekend, it was not intentional. I promise. See above.

-5-

So, what exactly was it that kept me away from BlogHer’08, ’09. and ’10? Moving abroad. Baby #2 born just days before. Sister’s wedding.

-6-

The Wi-Fi failed me, even in spite of having written an entire article on ShePosts about Turning your Mobile Phone into a Wi-Fi Hotspot . The only time I found it troublesome was during my “Geek Bar” sessions where I was supposed to be the tech-in-charge and… oh, all of my slides were trapped in “the cloud”! I was also a panelist for a session about Being the CTO of Your Life .

-7-