And then I ran over my baby.

I have mentioned here before that I *may* be just the teensiest bit ungraceful. And if you believe I truly mean "teensiest" then you may have never read my blog before.

Most of the time my lack of ability to control my long-limbed body results only in a minor bruise, the source of which I cannot remember by the time it appears. Sometimes, though, my lack of coordination affects those I love.

Source: ohmyfreakingstars.blogspot.com via Colleen on Pinterest

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, I took my boys to a park after dinner to play a little baseball. The weather was beautiful and it was Labor Day weekend -- we were well aware that our days of beautiful weather were numbered.

I took my place on pitcher's mound and began lobbing pitches over the plate. Typically when we play its just the three of us, my boys and I, so we don't follow the rules of baseball all too closely. At seven, and with more athletic talent than his brother, Nick actually understands the rules and how the game is played. At five, Will plays because his older brother does, and doesn't much care that I tell him you can't just run around the bases every time you bat.

He pretty much laughs and continues to steal bases as soon as my back is turned.

This particular Sunday my Mom was with us, along with a friend and his son. Giggling as he rounded third base and was headed toward home, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try and press the issue with Will by using a little humor.

"Hmmm," I thought, "Maybe he'll learn that he can't keep stealing bases if I pick him up, tickle him and carry him back to third base."

I don't know why this seemed like a good idea.

There went Will, giggling and shrieking as he looked my way, hoping I was distracted and didn't see him trying to steal home. Quickly I turned and ran toward him while hunched over, more at his level. He picked up the pace and laughed louder.

"You can't steal home you little stinker!" I shouted, laughing as I scooped him up in my arms.

It was at that point that I dropped the three baseballs I was holding and Will began wiggling and swinging his feet in an attempt to get free.

Already in an odd posture (I hadn't stood up fully after scooping him up), and with momentum behind me and the awareness that I didn't want to misstep on one of the baseballs now under my feet, all it took was one of his shoes connecting with my shin to tip me off balance.

We were going down.

Together.

Oh my God I might land on top of my kid.

Oh my God I might crush my child.

So as to keep from doing so, I had the crazy idea to push him away.

I basically threw my kid on the ground, then fell next to him, scraping the palms of my hands and my right knee.

Will, despite my efforts, got the worst of it -- scuffed knees, a scraped forehead and a bloody elbow.

My heart broke a little when he, in tears, shouted, "Mom! Why did you do that?!?" I have never before felt more like an asshole.

Luckily, Will is one of those kids you can dust off, clean his wounds with a baby wipe, put on a band-aid or two and he's ready to go back out and play.

Laughing, he later asked his brother, "Did you see that? When Mom ran me over?"

Sorry kid. Momma will help pay for therapy when you need it later!

Colleen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

When your day starts out like this:

its really hard to move on from it and find anything good to say about your day.

So, in no particular order, a few good things I am thankful for this morning:

1) I'm really happy that my Hubby doesn't have to work until later so that he can make the 45 minute trip to come and let me in my car. I'm sure he'll be extra pleased while later making the 45 minute trip back home.

2) I'm super stoked that at least I know where my keys are. Right there, on the passenger seat. Where everyone else can see them, too.

3) I am thankful for coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

4) I'm happy that I have packets of oatmeal in my desk drawer. Because on top of all of that? MY WALLET IS IN THE GLOVE BOX IN MY CAR SO I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY, EITHER. I just...I...ugh.

5) I'm also glad I thought to ask the Hubster to grab my driver's license from the pocket of the sweatshirt I wore to the gym last night. Cuz otherwise I wouldn't have that, either.

At least I look cute today.

Poop and presents

One of the many things I committed myself to lately was hosting the bridal shower for my little brother's bride-to-be. As crazy as it is to think that I thought it a good idea to invite 40+ people into my home all at the same time on a weekend that I barely saw my husband (read: had only one set of hands), let me reassure you: it was a beautiful party and I'm glad I could help my bro and soon-to-be sister-in-law. Besides, most of the heavy lifting was done by her family members and other bridesmaids, who brought food and games and decorations. Most of my work was done long before anyone came through the front door.

Now, my brother and his betrothed are doing things the old fashioned way (a.k.a. not living in sin like the rest of us heathens). So they currently live in two different apartments, though a few months ago they got the cutest witto doggy woggy on da face of da ho pwanet.

I present you with Tank (and Nick):

Anyone need an ad for puppies? DONE.

It just so happened that the party was planned for my brother's birthday weekend, when he'd be out of town visiting friends out of state. This led my sis-in-law-to-be to call, asking if she could bring her witto doggy woggy with her to the party so that the poor little guy wouldn't be kenneled for the entire day. Because of our backyard little boy and dog paradise, I assured her it was no problem and that she need never ask but just bring ol' Tankster along.

When she arrived, she nervously walked down the hallway upstairs shutting doors, explaining, "I'd just hate him to get into something where we couldn't see him, you know?"

I, at the same time, was bopping around like a spaz-tastic lame woman, asking folks if they needed help with anything. After they assured me they did not, or asked for things like, "Do you have a pair of scissors?" I instead busied myself with taking coats and pouring drinks and stopping periodically to make sure my children weren't underfoot or otherwise being obnoxious (yes and yes on both counts).

At one point, just as all the guests were convening downstairs in the family room waiting for festivities to get underway, I checked on Will, who was in his room (finally) playing nicely.

"What's up bud?" I asked.

"I not want Tank in my room," he replied, trying in vain to shoo the dog out of his room the way one might ineffectively swat at fruit flies.

"Why not? You like playing with Tank, right?"

"Yeah, but he smells bad!"

Laughing at this, I replied, "Maybe YOU smell bad, dude."

But then, taking a few steps from the door of his room down the hallway, I smelt it, too.

Poking my head in the only door left standing open in that hallway, I saw it.

On the bathroom floor.

Two piles of steaming poo.

There was no way my little scented candle was going to mask THAT.

Great, I thought. But at the same time, No one needs to stress about this. No one needs to know about this. I'll just clean this up and no one will ever be the wiser and dog poo will not mar this beautiful day for my soon-to-be sister-in-law at all.

So, quickly, without alerting any of the other gals buzzing around my kitchen, I grabbed the paper towels, a plastic grocery bag and lysol wipes and headed toward my covert operation. I closed myself in the bathroom and locked the door for good measure.

As I knelt down to the task at hand, another thought occurred to me: If I carried a bag full of steaming poo and lysol wipes back through the kitchen to the garage, the other gals would see it and surely smell it. The kitchen where the beautiful cake and yummy smelling food were being assembled by lovely ladies prepping for their loved one's special party.

Self? I thought, Why don't you just FLUSH IT?!?

And then, as I contemplated just how much poo might be possibly flushed in one "go", I thought, Careful, self. You don't want to flush too much at one time!

After which? I PROCEEDED TO DO JUST THAT.

Damn. Now I had a house full of guests where everything's pretty and girlie and lovely and smells good and here I am, locked in my own bathroom cleaning up poop and my kids are off doing who knows what and now my toilet is backing up.

I suck.

Self? No big deal. We can handle this. See? The plunger's even right there, in its nice little plunger holder that makes it look just a wee bit less distgusting than it really is. Thank god for boys who make keeping a plunger in the bathroom a necessity, right?

So I grab the handle and lift. Only the entire "ensemble" comes with it. What's supposed to happen is that these little jaw-like things that enclose the plunger and its nastiness open when you lift it. Only I'm not really certain on that, because while I bought the stupid thing and its decorative masking-but-really-who-are-we-kidding-its-a-plunger-sitting-there holder, I've never actually used it. Cuz that's man's work.

So I push down on it. Nothing. I twist the handle. Nada. I pick it up and slam it into the floor. Bupkis. I even stoop down and try to pry the plunger-holder open. It may as well have been a steel trap.

Well now what the hell do I do? I'm trapped in my own bathroom with steaming poo on the floor, a toilet that (mercifully) has stopped backing up with the water just below the rim (complete with dog poo and paper towels swirling around in it), a plunger that is un-usable and what may as well be 56,000 guests putting up with my children's obnoxious "Grandma fed me candy!" antics.

I want to cry. I want wine. I want the blasted plunger thingie to open up!

So I pick it up and smash it into the floor some more. Just when I'm certain someone is going to come knock and ask if I'm communicating via Morse code that I'm stuck on the john without tp, the jaws of life open and release the plunger and I silently thank God.

Now...just how does one do this thing? Because, confession: I've never actually used one successfully. EVER.

Call me lame, I don't care. I've tried, and let me say that is one life skill I thought I might possibly be able to die without having to hone. Nuh-uh.

So, crossing my fingers and promising sacrifices to the potty gods, I stick the plunger in the bowl and pump it up and down.

Its not working.

OHMIGODOHMIGODOHMIGOD.

I pump it some more.

What do I do if this doesn't work? Do I call the Hubster and ask him to swing by, in uniform, in his squad car while on shift to come home and some how stealthily fix the potty? I'm thinkin' that's a big NO.

So I lean on that bad boy for all its worth. Either this bitch will work or its getting shoved down the toilet and through the floor. C'mon dammit WORK!

And then...then...WOOSH...I hear it.

I SUCCESSFULLY PLUNGED THE MOTHER-LOVIN' TOILET!!!!

"I am strong...I am invincible..."

So the toilet flushes, I return the plunger to the holder where it will now NOT CLOSE, clean up the rest of the poo in commode-pleasing increments, and wipe down the affected area with disinfecting wipes. I wrestle with that blasted plunger-holder-thingie until it finally closes (probably never to open again) and then wash my hands. Like five times.

And return to the party, just in time for games and cake.

GTL, baby! (Minus the T and the L.)

For those of you who don't know me, I'm pretty much a big freakin' spaz. I often laugh at things that others may not find funny, and always laugh at myself. Cuz I'm tall. And lanky. And a really big klutz.

Somehow, to me, work-out classes at the gym are always hilarious. Either I'm laughing at the instructor's choice of music, how clichéd I feel being a chick in a workout class, or just how inept I feel not knowing what's going on in Zumba. (Or just how much the well-bootily-endowed woman next to me likes to shake what her Momma gave her. It was like an industrial paint mixer, I swear.)

I figure the laughing makes for an extra good workout, right? Like, my abs are doing extra work, which is saying a lot, given the core-strengthening class I take on Thursday nights can really make you feel like you've been hit by a truck. Which is, I guess, what you're going for. The class? Is called "Hard Core". C'mon, say that and not giggle. I dare ya.

ANYWAY, this week's class just had to go and be all "extra difficult" for us gracefully-challenged folk. It involved one of those great big giant exercise balls. You know the kind. Let me illustrate for you:

Go ahead. Laugh at my drawrings. I don't mind.

Anyway, the instructor had us put together one of those step aerobic steps, with an extra "leg piece" on top. The pieces that make up the legs are these open square thingies, and putting one on top made a nice little nest for the great big giant exercise ball. Here, let me show you another angle:

Hey - are you making fun of the way I drew crappy illustrations and then took
crappy photographs of them?

One series of exercises we did with the great big giant exercise balls (heh heh) went a little something like this:

See my swell pony tail? I look so happy!

Step 1: Lie on your back with your butt just in front of your step. Bend your knees and grab the ball between your feet. Lift your head and shoulders off the floor. Try not to have flashbacks to being in labor, most certainly the last time you were anywhere near one of these great big giant bouncy balls.

I know, I know. If I were really this skinny I wouldn't need the stupid class.

Step 2: Keeping your head and shoulders off the floor, extend your legs until they're straight. Don't let go of the great big giant ball (hee hee!) with your feet, or accidentally fling it over your head.

Really, I wasn't still smiling by this point. But I was too lazy to re-draw my head.

Step 3: Go all out whack-job crazy and lift your arse up off the floor. Somehow do this while your head and shoulders are still, also, up off the floor. Notice that you and your great big giant exercise ball make a great big giant J.

What? Your knees aren't disjointed like that?

Step 4: Lower your butt and silently thank GOD that you're still breathing.

I was definitely not smiling at this point.

Step 5: Bend your knees and touch the little nest thing on top of the step with your ball.

It is imperative at this step that you do NOT lose control of the ball or bring it down too quickly. For some odd reason, this sort of scene flashed through my mind:

Those are WORRY LINES around my eyes and mouth. Like Charlie Brown.

If you can't control your great big giant ball (heh) it might just hit the top of your step and kareen out of control, bouncing and skipping across the room. Which would be funny, but probably only to you.

Now, this didn't actually happen to me (for a change), but you know darn well that I thought this out in my head, and while laughing about it, realized that out of the 15 or so people in the class that I was the only person to have grabbed a blue ball - everyone else had red - so that even if I had accidentally lost control of my great big giant exercise ball, everyone would have instantly known it was the giggly chick in the back who dun it.

Who's joining me for Zumba next week?

The Top Ten Things I (Really) Plan To Do While At BlogHer

I don't want anyone to think I'm some big whiner after my last post. I'm really not freaking out about what I'm going to wear, rather I'm freaking out at the lack of time and organization in my life right now. I don't seem to have enough of either to do anything. But I have a list of the top 10 things I will be doing while in NYC next week. And I'm more than fairly certain these'll make for a great trip!

1) Meet up with old friends.

2) Meet new friends.

3) Do something I didn't plan to do while in NYC.

4) Go to lunch/dinner outside the hotel at least twice.

5) Laugh until I (almost) pee.

6) Then laugh some more.

7) Drink just a *wee* bit too much.

8) Invite someone who looks shy along on some thing I plan to do.

9) Ditch a conference session because something more awesome came up.

10) Take entirely too many pictures.

A journey of 2,099 miles starts with a single tank of gas.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said we've been busy this summer. This map shows the trips we've made for every wedding, shower, party and family reunion this summer. And somewhere in there, Hubs and I also went to Jamaica, and our boys to another Northwoods location.

Mama's tired.

(Can you even imagine how many packs of fruit snacks we've gone through on all those car rides? And how many kids movies I've had to listen to from the backseat? Note to self: buy two pairs of headphones for car.)

So its not really surprising that I looked at the calendar last week and noticed OhMyGodBlogHerIsNEXTWEEK.

NEW YORK FREAKIN' CITY, Y'ALL.

New York has been on my mental list of "cities I really want to go see". And I get to do it. Next week. With girlfriends.

I am seriously geekin' out, girlie style. And my girlie freak-out is being fueled by emails from some blogger friends that I have plans to meet up with when I get into NEW YORK CITY on Wednesday. They've made abundantly clear my lack of planning and shopping and preparation for this, the holiest of blogging holidays, by simply mentioning all of their planning, shopping and preparation. (I'm also meeting up with Sue, who's written a great post for any BlogHer newbies or anyone nervous about next week.)

Just look for me, folks. I'll be the tall gal wearing a burlap sack.

Really, I'm not obsessing about what I'll be wearing. I mean, kinda. Not really. But sorta. Just a little. Cuz I'm a girl and I can.

Someone HELP.

"So we're standing there, and Jewel says to me..." (a.k.a. That time I almost hit a celebrity with my big bag lady purse.)

You may remember that I mentioned I was going to see Jewel at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee last week.

You may also remember I said I was going to meet her backstage. (SQUEEE!)

Well, the backstage performance was before the concert, in the adjoining InterContinental Hotel. There were swanky drinks and swanky appetizers and a general aura of swankitude. My friend Amie came along with me, and we stood around trying to make it look like we did this sort of thing every day. (Which I don't think for a second we pulled off.)

A few minutes into the soiree, a woman stepped up onto the tiny stage (five FEET from the little chairs they had set out for our private backstage performance!) and announced that while there would be no photography allowed while Jewel was in the room, each of us would have an opportunity to have our picture taken with her. Cool!

So Aims and I got in the photo line and slowly made our way to this curtained off section of the room. Soon, we were hurried inside - together - for our photo with Jewel. And there she was. This cute little blond thing that was smiling and cute in her pretty black pant suit that made me instantly feel tall and huge and oafish and not at all tiny or cute. Amie is as tall as I am, and I can't speak for her level of self-consciousness, but, well, we flanked the star like a pair of bookends.

We walk over to Jewel, and stand close to her. You know, close enough to not look too entirely awkward while posing for a photograph, but not so close so as to seem like weird and stalkerish fans, either. I think I may have murmured "Uh, thanks for doing this!" To which she replied, in her cool, cute-chick way, "Oh, my pleasure!"

*I KNOW.*

So we smile, and face the photographer who basically has the same camera I do mounted to a tri-pod with some digital screen thing mounted below it. Click.

And then he goes, "Oh, wait a minute. I didn't get it."

So we stay put while he swaps out the camera. And fidget. Cuz we don't know what to say to Jewel, and I realize I'm holding my HUGE-ISH knock-off Jimmy Choo bag between Jewel and I, and as I'm waiting patiently with a smile plastered on my face and my teeth drying out from smiling so long, I'm swaying from side to side a bit and I'm almost bashing her ankles with my purse.

So I decide to swing it around behind me, cuz, you know, that's totally a natural way to stand. And I'm standing there, smiling and trying not to blink, because I blink in photos all.the.time and then I look like I'm drunk or deranged or something.

Then the photographer has a helper come from somewhere with a new video screen thingie and they swap that out. Click and "Dang it - wait a minute." They both start messing with the camera again.

Somewhere in here, Jewel chuckles and says, "Well, it could be worse. At least you two smell good!" And we laugh along with her because we really don't know what else to say.

Insert more moments of technical futzing on behalf of the photographer.

By this point, I'm mentally kicking myself in the arse. Think, darnit, think! How many people have a chance to be this close to a celebrity? And for this long! You should totally think of something really cool to ask her so that you can, like, talk about it on your blog. Or at least at parties for the next ten years. Because you really don't get out that often, do you, self?

Entire minutes go by. I glance at Amie and make a goofy "well THIS is awkward!" face at her over Jewel's head. Because we really are that much taller than she is. She makes a goofy "I KNOW, RIGHT?" face back and I'm reminded why she's my friend.

As we're laughing at our extreme nerditude, I turn back around only to hear CLICK! and "We got it! Thanks!" and be quickly pushed out the curtain on the other side.

Later that evening, this is what we were emailed:

Amie, Jewel & Me

GAH, stupid un-photo-genic-ness!

Jewel went on to answer our questions during the backstage performance and prove herself to be a really down to earth gal who's got one heck of a voice. At her show, later, she continued to perform solo, with only a guitar as accompaniment. It was an awesome way to spend an evening!

I'd like to thank Country Financial for sponsoring Jewel's tour, and for sending me to the show. If you haven't checked out their concert series Web site yet, do it! Road Trips & Guitar Picks - go win yourself some free music downloads, and check out when the tour (or the tour of Jason Aldean) may be coming to your area!

Because I know you want to know.

1) Ketchup in Jamaica is sweet.

2) In May, the sun sets in Montego Bay at 6:30 p.m.
(For the dates we were on our trip the sun set in Milwaukee around 8:15 p.m.)

3) Jamaican commercials? Straight out of 1984.

And yes, the audio broadcast through that channel was that bad.
Did you catch the "Say no to drugs" commercial?

I drink alone...*

*OK, don't go gettin' your panties in a wad and calling an intervention or anything. I just love pop culture references and if you aren't singing the song already, I don't know if I can be your Internet-friend. I'm just kidding. No I'm not. Yes I am. I don't drink alone, I drink with my friends. Ha ha, I don't drink with my friends, I don't have any friends. I'm just kidding. Yes I do. Just kidding.** (And yes, that would be ANOTHER pop culture reference. Do you get it? Do ya? Do ya? OK good.)

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah.

I have a lot of good thoughts while lying in bed at night. You know, in those moments before sleep takes over and delivers me to that crazy place called Dream Land where I dream about not just teeth, but half of my lower jaw falling out and then later, being robbed while reading a book in an extremely vast lobby of a bank that is carpeted with a plush off-white pile so thick that when I try and run away it feels like I am running in sand. (No, I swear. I don't do drugs. I always dream like this.)

Yeah, in those moments, I have conversations in my head that make sense of my life like I'm talking to a good friend. Its great - I get my points across, I always make sense and I always agree with myself. And after writing that post the other day, I spent the other night thinking about how fine the line is between being alone and truly being lonely.

My entire life, as long as I can remember, I've been self-sufficient. In the early days of my relationship with the Hubster, I remember declaring that "I don't need a man to take care of me, but I'd like one to want to," which, in my nearly-still-a-teenager-brain made such COMPLETE sense and proved how absolutely DEEP I was. But the point I was trying to make was that wanting someone or something could be so much more powerful than needing them. I mean, I can change my oil by myself, but that doesn't mean I want to. If someone does it for me, well then how sweet is that? (Honestly, let's be real here - I live in cold-ass Wisconsin, where I'd be damned before crawling under a stone-cold automobile to lie on frozen pavement only to get all messy and oily in the winter...I mean, why would I do that when I can pay some 16-year-old kid at the Quickly Lube $20 to do it for me? But I digress...)

I've done a lot of things on my own. I've wandered the shops of Sea Port Village in San Diego and taken walking tours of haunted houses in Georgetown. I've dined alone at sushi bars in Tampa and had a martini by myself at the House of Blues in Chicago. I've flown solo to Nashville to room with people I'd not yet met, and spent a week in Dallas making new friends at a week-long conference. I took a rock climbing class, and a motorcycle riding class and a Pilates class without the support of a friend beside me.

Would I have liked to have done these things with someone else? Someone who could keep me company so as to not feel like a cliche while sitting in a hotel lobby bar? Of course. But I don't think that makes me a loser for heading out solo. I'd like to think I'm brave.

Some people prefer to wait until the timing is perfect - until their six very best girlfriends agree that they're all going to have this really super duper great weekend adventure. But I'd rather...how you say? GET'R DONE.*** (Oh yes. I went there.)

Just the other day I told my Hubby I was going to go to New York City in August. He didn't bother to ask me who I was going with. He just said, "Sounds cool." I know I'll find many folks I know once I get there. But I wasn't going to wait until I found a travel companion to reserve my space. I'll figure that part out later.

I've had lots of people tell me, "Oh, I could never do that kind of thing. No way."

Liars.

They so totally could. If its what they really wanted to do. They don't really need someone to get on that plane with them. The fact that its more important for them to be socially comfortable than participate in something? Just makes us different, and I respect that. I "get" that.

But the fact that I can do these things and not think twice about them doesn't mean I like to be alone. Its the hours in between all of these busy things where people strive for companionship and comfort and peace and love.

I guess I could just do that stuff by myself as well, but I don't really want to.

*George Thorogood
**Judy Grimes
***Larry the Cable Guy

I'm not a cool kid, I just play one on my blog.

Yesterday was the best day I've had in a very long time.

The hubster had the day off from work, so I had scheduled a hair cut and color after work with my beauty operator friend, Emily. (I'd post a pic, but I live in the stone age and my cell phone does nothing but take calls. And I'm at work.)

I didn't have to rush to get home, load the kids in the car and take the sitter home. I leisurely got on the freeway, stopped to grab an iced coffee from Mickey D's and strolled on in to Em's salon.

And I got my hair did. Its purty. (I'll twitpic it later...promise.)

You see, it NEEDED to be cut. Cuz there are some fun things coming up on the calendar. Like, oh, um BlogHer.

My business cards came in the mail the other day - want a sneak peak?

Its design matches nothing.
I just thought it was pretty.

And on impulse I picked up a DRESS while shopping at Kohl's the other day.

I'm just gonna need some massive
tummy-control panties to go with this baby.

Now, if I can steal some time to go find some pretty shoes to go with that dress? I just might look like I have my crap together for this conference after all!

Mama likey these shoes from DSW.

So, yes, I'm totally geekin' out about it. Cuz it'll be the first ADULT getaway I've had in quite some time. Let me know you'll be there, cuz like the true spaz I am, I'm makin' a list!

Win of the Week: Email and your Blogger profile

One of the downfalls to Blogger, if you ask me, is that it doesn't require an email address when you leave a comment. I can't tell you how many times someone has left me a comment that I'd like to reply to (ahem - Weasel Momma - coughcough - LceeL - ahem) but don't have the time to go out to their blog, read their latest post and comment on it. And if I do, sometimes I forget just what it was I was going to say once I read that post.

Recently I've gotten a few emails and a comment or two as to how this all works, so I thought it would be a good topic for my Win of the Week post.

Here's the skinny:

In order to have your email address appear on comments you leave on Blogger blogs, you need to add it to your profile. When you log in to Blogger, you first land on your Dashboard. On the left hand side, you'll see your profile pic and a link to edit your profile. Click that.

You'll then get the screen below. Put a check in the box to display your email address. If you're worried about spammers or fishers or robots finding your email address online and publishing it, don't. I've been blogging for nearly a year and a half and have never had a problem with my email address being in my Blogger profile.

I believe by default the email address you used as your username (when creating your Blogger account) will be filled in the email address box. I changed mine long ago to one that didn't reveal my last name. Make sure whichever email address you want used is in the email address box.

Click save - going forward someone will be able to view this email address from your Blogger profile or if you leave a comment on their blog and they get their comments delivered via email.

So - next step. Get your comments sent via email. (Which will, of course, allow you to reply to them.) Click on the Settings tab, then the Comments page. Scroll all the way down to the bottom until you find a the box below. Type in the email address where you'd like your comments to go.

There's also a box on this page (just above this) labeled "Comment Form Message" where you can put in a little blurb that appears above the comment box when folks are leaving a comment.

I hope this helps you! If it did, you know...leave me a comment. ;-)

Win of the Week: Odds n Ends

When I write these posts, I don't mean to imply that I'm an expert. Techno-geeky-jumbo just comes easily to me, and I seem to have an ability to explain that techie-wechie stuff to other people in a way they can understand.

Just call me the translator. (Heh..heh..huh-huh heh...that was cool, Bevis...)

But I certainly don't know it all. I've gotten some really great bloggy tips from other bloggers - in fact, some of the coolest things I've learned I picked up during conversations on Twitter.

So - you remember my article last week about SEO? Kristen of We Are That Family posted some great links this past week that I didn't know about. One was to a Website grader - you plug in the URL of your blog, and it will process a report, judging the elements of your blog or site.

Go ahead, do it - the report will give you insight as to what you can change on your blog to make it easier to read, navigate and look more professional.

One thing I got out of my report was that using more than 10 keywords in your metadata (the SEO stuff I showed you how to create last week) dilutes the weight of those keywords. So think about the words you chose for your SEO/metadata and select just those that are most important. Keep in mind that posts you write can also be found based on the content in them.

Another bloggy friend, Napwarden, wrote about hiding that Blogger search bar that appears at the top of Blogger blogs. I twittered some time ago to find out how I might do that and someone emailed me the same link that Napwarden links to in her post. Those instructions are pretty simple, but I'd recommend you go and read Napwarden's whole post.

She's got some other suggestions as to how you can make your Blogger blog look just as good as self-hosted or more expensive blogging platforms. She's also a very talented designer, so if you're looking to "up your game" and pay for a custom design, I'd highly recommend her. You can see samples of her work here.

Is there any "bloggy thing" you've always wanted to know about? Leave me a comment or send me an email and let me know what's on your mind. I'll answer your questions in a future post.

Have a great weekend!

Win of the Week: Search Engine Optimization for Beginners

Have you heard the term "SEO" or search engine optimization flying around lately?

It essentially it refers to thinking about the content that makes up your Web site (or blog) and being conscious about the wording you use so that it will be found by search engines when you want it to be found. This pertains to both to what you post as well as the code that makes up your blog.

I'm simplifying this, of course...there are professionals who's full time jobs are to work with mega-big companies so that when someone searches for "IP Litigation Attorney" their client's Web site comes up first and not their competitor's.

But paying attention to even just the basics of SEO can help people find your blog, or decide to click over to your blog once they find it.

I promise you the instructions I'm about to give you are very easy.

First, write up a brief description of your blog. Be brief, but understand that when people search and find your blog this description will show beneath your blog name in the search results. If you search for 'Mommy Always Wins', you'll see the following:

OK, got your description written?

Good. Let's go on to step two.

Make a list of keywords that describe your blog. You may want to use terms like "mommy blogger" or "photography" or "menu planning". You may want to put in the city or state where you live if you write about area-specific things - you get the idea.

Got your list?

Great. Now, in Notepad we're going to "code it up".

Here's a look at sample code - you'll fill in the blog description and keywords (separated by commas and a space) in the areas indicated in red. They're surrounded by single quotes and the rest of the code must be typed out exactly as you see it below.

Then, copy the code and if you use Blogger, go to your Layout tab then click "Edit HTML". Within the code for your blog's template, look for



It will be very near the top. Place your cursor on the line beneath it and paste.

Save your template and you're done!

Another important aspect of SEO is the regularity in which you post. More current items will appear in search results above those that are older, so if you posted last on Monday and another blog with similar keywords posted this morning, their blog will appear in the search results above yours.

Was this helpful to you? Stumble it (click the link below) so that others can more easily find it, too. And subscribe so you don't miss my "wins" every week!

Mommy's got a new boyfriend!

My poor children will now be without baths and dinner until I get him up and running the way Momma likes.

Come back in a few days and remind me to shower, wouldja?

Win of the Week: More on RSS feeds

You asked, I'll comply. I got many emails and comments from people who were confused by this whole RSS thing. Let's take a step back.

We're going to assume that everyone knows what RSS is, and the benefits of viewing subscriptions in a feed reader.

What I think confuses some people is when we introduce something like Feedburner.

"Why would I want to do that?"

Well, in reality, you don't need to. Every blog has an RSS feed URL whether you know it or not. When you use a service such as Feedburner, it essentially assigns your feed a different URL so that you can track stats more easily.

If you don't care about that, well, come back next week. We're going to assume that you do. Because if you know roughly how many readers you have, the better you can communicate that "reach" to any PR folk that may want to work with you. (Plus its just cool to know how many people like you.)

So...where I think some people get stuck is in first finding what their RSS URL is (again, I write these things primarily for people who use Blogger - I believe Wordpress makes this much easier).

First: Add the 'Subscribe via RSS' option to your blog.

Go to Layout, then click 'Add a Gadget'. Look for this one:

Save your blog and view it.

Next: Click the Subscribe button like you're going to subscribe to your own blog's feed. (We all do it - its OK.)

You'll see it give you an option as to which service you want to use to read your feed. I'm not sure on the others, but if you select Google (which is the feedreader I use) it will then ask if you want to subscribe to the feed as part of your Google homepage or your Google Reader. (NOTE: If you have a Blogger account, you'll have free versions of each of these as well. All three will use the same log in and password as the one you use for your Blogger account.)

It doesn't matter if you actually add your own feed at all, but you'll see it shows you your feed's URL. Click and drag to highlight that and copy it.

Then: Go to the Feedburner site.

This is another Google-owned entity. (See how I'm talking all nice about the good Overlord Google? I'd hate to wake up in the morning to find my house has been transplanted to an island at the North Pole.) That means you'll use the same user name and password as Blogger again. In fact, at this point, it may already "know" who you are and not require a log in.

You will see a link at the very top left of the page that says "My Feeds". Click that. You'll then see an option to burn a feed. Paste your blog's feed URL into that box and click Next.

On the next page you'll get an option to create the URL for your blog's feed. You can keep the default or tweak it if you see fit.

Make a note of your new feed URL and click next.

Feedburner will attempt to take you through several other steps to optimize your feed. But if you do nothing else, just make sure the new feed URL makes it back into your Blogger settings.

Go back to your Blogger account and click on the Settings tab. On the Site Feed page, you'll see an option called Post Feed Redirect URL. Paste in the new feed URL you just created and save.

Even if you leave the feed gadget that Blogger uses in place after doing this, you'll be able to log back into your Feedburner account and see how many subscribers you have, how many use which type of readers, how many actually click through to your blog.

Play around in your Feedburner account. You'll see all sorts of options for modifying your feed settings and post settings. The links you see at the foot of each of my posts (for Stumble, Del.icio.us and to subscribe) are added by Feedburner, and if you subscribe to my blog in a reader, you'll also see ads at the bottom of each post that are added by that service as well.

I hope this helps you! There are other feed burning services out there, but I found this one to be the best. As always, find what works for you and stick with it!

If you found this useful, Stumble this post so that others can find it, too.

Next week I'll be writing about miscellaneous HTML goodies, so make sure you subscribe so you won't miss it!

Win of the Week: Viewer questions

Something about me must just give off that "geek vibe" (however could THAT be?!?) because I get quite a few emails from bloggy friends asking me techie questions.

Don't get me wrong -- I have NO problem sharing my tricks.
Just remember I like pomtinis when you see me at BlogHer.

Kidding - kidding! (No I'm not.)

But once I started getting more of the same questions, I thought I might just share with the rest of the class.

So if you have a question, or something you think I should cover, email me!

Ashley and Roger wanted to know where I got those fancy shmancy little Twitter, Flickr and Technorati buttons over in my left sidebar.

Well, to be honest, I asked Maggie the same question a while back. They're from Icon Archive. And looking around, they've got some other really cute ones - round icons, icons wearing Santa hats and ones that look like little chocolates.

You can also download those RSS feed buttons in 50 different colors from Feedicons.com.

Mary had a few questions for me the other day that I know I've been asked before.

First, she wanted to know if she could make her navigation bar a different color.

You can put a color into the styles for your navbar, like this:

#navbar-wrapper {
height: 55px;
width: 1030px;
background-color: blue;
}

You could also use a hexidecimal color here (like #CC9999) to match your blog.

She also wanted to know how you could show a list of a few recent posts instead of ALL the archives.

This one's actually easier than you'd think! Its actually an RSS feed of my last five posts. In blogger, add the "feed" gadget and put in your own blog's RSS feed URL. That's it!

Now, this one I'm sharing this next one with you because I know I'm not doing this the best way and I'm hoping someone'll chime in with a comment and tell me how better to do it. She also wanted to know how I made my sidebar section titles in a font different from my copy.

I totally cheated. I made graphics in those fonts and uploaded them to Photobucket. What you actually see is the embedded image above whatever gadget or other code I wanted there. I know there's a way to use a font that's web-based and have it used for your post and sidebar titles, but I've yet to figure out that trick.

That's all, y'all! See? No secrets...no real mystery.

If you liked this post and found it useful, Stumble it so that others can find it, too! And if you want more blogging tidbits every week, subscribe to my feed.

Win of the Week: Creating a third column on your blog

Well hello again! This week I'll be sharing with you the code needed to create a third column for your blog. Again, this will work for Blogger blogs only (as its XML). This is also useful info if you already have a third column but one gets bumped down below your posts or otherwise doesn't look just right.

Again we're working with your blog template, so you want to make sure you have it backed up first. The instructions for doing that are here - just make sure if you added a navigation bar after backing up that template that you go ahead and do it again so that your backup includes the nav bar code.

Once you've got that squared away, we're ready to work.

As always, I recommend you work on this in Notepad first. Take your template backup and do a "save as" so that you're working on a copy of your backup and have one you can use should something go wrong and you need to restore your blog template to its previous state.

Search for the styles section of your template. You'll see things like #main, #sidebar, etc. Look for something like #outer-wrapper. Its important to note that you may not have this code exactly. Hopefully the designer of the template you're using named it in such a way that you can figure out which is the outer wrapper.

The "outer wrapper" is like a bucket that will hold all of our other elements.

You need to adjust the width of this outer wrapper to be wide enough to hold the other elements. Most computer monitors are at least 1024 px wide. I made my outer wrapper slightly wider than that:

#outer-wrapper { width:1040px; margin:0px; text-align:$startSide; }

Its also important to note that while my blog has 'wrappers' for every element yours may not.That's OK. Just know that instead of looking for #sidebar-wrapper, you'll look for #sidebar, etc.

The column you have existing may be on either the right or left sides. Find the styles for that. Mine looked like this:

#sidebar-wrapper { width:220px; float: $startSide; }

So let's do a little math. If my sidebar (which was on the left to begin with) is 220px, the right-side one should be 220px also. That's 440. If the width of my outer wrapper is set to 1040, then my "main" or body section can be 600. Simple, right?

If you adjust these numbers and the preview of your blog is still off, it could be margins that are throwing you off. The margin is an area around the outside of the element. I made sure mine were set to zero. If you have 'margin' defined anywhere in the styles for each element, you can either delete it or set it to 0px.

I wanted to create a column on the right side that was exactly the same as that on the left. I basically did a copy and then paste of the #sidebar-wrapper and renamed it. So

#sidebar-wrapper { width:220px; float: $startSide; }

became

#right-wrapper { width:220px; float: $startSide; }

You can call this element anything you'd like, but you'll have to stay consistent throughout your code. Obviously if your pre-existing column is on the right, you could name this left-wrapper, etc.

The float:$startSide code is very important here. It tells the element to fall in line after the one before. If you don't put that in, the column will end up below the others instead of beside it.

(At the same time, if the column widths + main section width is greater than the outer wrapper width, this could cause your 3rd column to be bumped down much in the same way.)

If your blog's template does use wrappers, you'll also need to create a style for the sidebar itself. Again, I just did a copy/paste of the existing style for my left-hand sidebar.

So

#sidebar { padding:15px 15px 15px 10px; width:215px; background: #453531; color:#ffffff;
}

becomes

#right { padding:15px 15px 15px 10px; width:215px; background: #453531; color:#ffffff;
}

Next, scroll down until you find an area where the styles for the content of your sidebars is defined. You'll see things such as .main and .sidebar. (Preceded with a . instead of a #.)

Again, because I want them to be the same, I found the .sidebar code, did a copy/paste and renamed it.

.sidebar ul li { margin:0; padding-top: 0; padding-bottom:5px; padding-$startSide:15px; padding-$endSide:0;}

.sidebar p { margin:0 0 .6em; }

became

.right ul li { margin:0; padding-top: 0; padding-bottom:5px; padding-$startSide:15px; padding-$endSide:0;}

.right p { margin:0 0 .6em; }

Don't change anything else about this -- you may or may not have some of the code I show above. That's OK. We just need to add exactly the code that's already there for your new sidebar.

Alright - you still with me? We're almost done, I promise!

Scroll down some more and look for a section like this:

body#layout #sidebar, body#layout #sidebar-wrapper { padding: 0; width: 220px; }

This will appear further toward the bottom of your template. Again, we're just going to do a copy/paste and substitute the name we gave our new column. So in my case, this becomes

body#layout #right, body#layout #right-wrapper { padding: 0; width: 220px; }

(The section bolded is what I changed.)

OK, last thing folks. Next we'll look for the tag. This is the section that actually tells your blog what to look like; what appears where.

Again, you'll see something like this<div id="'outer-wrapper'"><br /><br /><a href="'#main'">skip to main </a><br /><br /><a href="'#sidebar'">skip to sidebar</a></div>

You'll need to add an entry similar to what's there for the sidebar you're creating. Put this immediately below the other tags, inside the /div tag if there is one.
<br /><br /><a href="'#right'">skip to right sidebar</a>

Further down from there, you'll see things like<div id="'sidebar-wrapper'"><b:section class="'sidebar'" id="'sidebar'" preferred="'yes'"><b:widget id="'HTML6'" locked="'false'" title="''" type="'HTML'/"></b:section></div>

You'll probably have a lot more rows that contain 'widget id'. These represent each of the items you have in your sidebar.

Again, we're going to copy/paste this sidebar-wrapper code (or similar if yours doesn't use wrappers) and change it from sidebar-wrapper and sidebar to right-wrapper and right.

<div id="'right-wrapper'"><b:section class="'right'" id="'right'" preferred="'yes'"><b:widget id="'HTML6'" locked="'false'" title="''" type="'HTML'/"></b:section></div>

You can cut out all but ONE of the widget id items. If you choose to put widget id 6 in your new column, then make sure you then delete the line containing widget id 6 from the other sidebar section.

You may find that you don't want whatever widget #6 is in your new column, but once you've completed these steps, your new column will show up on Page Elements screen under Layout and you can drag and drop elements back and forth.

That's it.

When you copy and paste your new blog template code into the 'Edit HTML' box, you'll want to preview it first to make sure it looks right. Code is tricky, in that if you have one small letter or character off the whole thing may not work. (Trust me - I know its infuriating!)

Once it looks good, click 'Save template'. You'll now see your new column under the Page Elements screen under Layout.

If this was helpful to you, please Stumble this post so that others may find it as well! You may want to subscribe to my feed so you don't miss other weekly 'wins'!

Win of the Week: Branding & social networking

Many people will read these "wins" and realize I'm not writing much that's new. Lots of people have written about these topics before, and written about them very well. When I know of it, I'll be linking you to their posts so you can learn more.

Cuz why say again what's already been said?

But I also hope to be adding to these topics by talking about them in a really simplistic way. For beginners. I hope you'll find them useful. (And if you know of sources I miss, please, let me know and I'll amend the post!)

There are many reasons one would partake in social networking, but today I'll be talking about using them how to promote your "brand" as a blogger.

What? You didn't know you were a brand? Well, you are. If you have a blog, the look of it, the name of it, what you call yourself and your kids, what you write about -- is your brand. At McDonald's, you know you'll see the yellow and red arches, you know what you order will most likely be called a "Mc-something" and you know it'll be cheap.

Here, on my blog I tell tongue-in-cheek stories about the battles of parenting and being a working Mom. I try to be funny and keep in mind that I'm thankful for my life. I show off my photos and am always truthful -- even if that means admitting my failures.

Most important above all else, stay true to your brand. Meaning yourself. Don't write about something because its popular, write about something because it moves you, or makes you laugh, or because you like to cook and share recipes. Whatever. Just don't write about Jason jilting Melissa on the Bachelor because you think people will find your blog while doing a Google search. You may get a few hits that way, but its more valuable to find the folks that will like you for you and come back to your blog again and again and again.

(That being said, I feel I should mention that my blog does make the first page of search results for "mom ghetto booty". ahem.)

That being said, let's talk Twitter!
Basically, Twitter is an online chat forum, where users describe what they're doing in 140 characters or less. There's a technical reason as to why only 140, but it doesn't much matter - just know you can't write more than that in a single entry.

Why is it useful to you as a blogger?
Services like Twitterfeed can automatically tweet for you when you publish a new post. (You first need to establish an RSS feed to do this. I'd recommend Google's Feedburner to do that. Those handy dandy links in the footer of each of my posts [where you see Stumble this, etc.] are added as a service of Feedburner.)

Some folks opt to skip the auto generated Tweets in favor or more personalized ones. Either way, you can shorten the length of your URL (so as to stay within the 140 character limit) by using a service like Tiny URL or Bitly. The more people you "know" and that buy into your brand (or, in a less business-like sense - actually know you, whether in person or online) the more that will click over through that link and visit your blog. This blog gets quite a bit of traffic from twitter.

Plus, its fun. You will "meet" new people. You will find other blogs you love, and other people will find yours. (Are you following me yet?)

For more great posts about using Twitter (and all things Bloggy), check out Problogger and follow him on Twitter. I've found Darren's tweets to be some of the most useful - ever.

The next social network I'll talk about is Facebook.
I think we call know what a time suck Facebook can be, but have you set up your blog through Networked Blogs yet? Its a handy dandy little app where you can showcase your blog. (Take a look at mine here. Oh, and, uh, if you're so inclined, follow it!) By using Networked Blogs, your friends will then see your posts included with your other updates. You can opt to publish the just the name of your post, or a bit more and include thumbnails of any images you might have included. The more people who see your posts, the more people who will click over and read them.

And if you're sending them little green plants already anyway, why not invite them to read your real, relevant thoughts? (Heh...*snort*.)

You will need to set up a feed for your blog first - you can use Blogger's widget, but I feel you get a bit more if you use Feedburner or something similar.

If you're concerned about privacy, there's a lot you can do as far as adjusting your settings. This article is really helpful. (I guarantee you'll go "HUH! I did not know that!")

StumbleUpon is one of those social networking sites that require a bit more explanation. My bloggy friend Jennifer, from Playgroups are no place for children wrote a few posts on blog tips that I highly recommend you check out. She knows what she's talkin' bout.

I like to think of StumbleUpon as an online catalog of links to good Web pages. Users can mark pages they've stumbled upon in the vast wilds of the Internet so that others can find them as part of that catalog. SU offers a toolbar you can download to make the process of marking pages you like (or don't like) and browsing pages other people liked easier.

Its important to set up your profile thoroughly, and list your preferences so that when you click the "stumble" button (to be given a random page) you get one you'll actually be interested in. Otherwise you could get pages on dirty jokes when really you'd be more interested in couponing.

This post is a must read for new users - Jennifer describes how to correctly Stumble a post. And when you're done with that? Read this one, too. If you use StumbleUpon correctly, and "friend" people there, its more likely that others will stumble your posts. Having a post "stumbled" can drive lots of traffic to your blog.

That being said, its important to Stumble posts you really like. Not just something a friend wrote and asked you to Stumble. If something's already been Stumbled, you can still give it a thumbs up and include a little explanation as to why its good - this will help more people to decide its really worth visiting. The more "thumbs up" a page has, the more "weight" it has in the realm of SU pages.

There are lots of other sites that work similarly to StumbleUpon, including Kirtsy, Digg and De.icio.us. They're each worth checking out, but pick your favorite one and use it. I don't know that you could successfully use them all.

Ning is an online tool you can use to develop your own, smaller social networks. I used it to create a Wisconsin Blogger's group, and belong to several others (Mom Bloggers Club, Blissfully Domestic Living (don't laugh - I can be domestic) and Grace in Small Things).

I could talk all day about all the different social networks all there (if you really want your head to swim, check out the list of social networking sites on Wikipedia!) but my advice is to pick a few you like and stick with 'em!

If you found this post useful, Stumble it, please, so that others may find it, too! And be sure to subscribe to my feed so that you don't miss anything! Next week, I'll show you how to add another side bar to your blog!

Win-o-the week: Creating a navigation bar for your blog

So I was going to originally post this on Saturday, but then, well, LIFE happened. And darn it, it was fun. Better late than never!

First: these instructions only apply if you use Blogger. Wordpress, Typepad and others use different programming, so the instructions I provide are in XML. Its my intention to word each of these "tidbits" to be useful for those of us {ahem} who may not be the most technically inclined. Even so, if you find that I've gone too fast or missed a point, please email me or otherwise let me know. I'd be happy to help as much as I can.

You've backed up your blog template, right? 'kay. Good.

On we go.

Just so everyone knows what I'm talking about, when I say "navigation bar", I'm talking about what I have up at the top of my blog, under the header graphic and over the place where my posts start. See the "Home", "Meet Mommy", etc?

They're super nice if you're browsing someone's blog and would like to get to know them better. Imagine you've followed a link from a blog carnival and think, "Wow, this gal's really funny/clever/good at making cake. Wonder what else she's written!" Because carnivals request that you include permalinks, having a "Home" button so that folks can easily jump to the most recent post you've written is a good idea.

Think about what other information you'd like to make easily available to your blog buddies. Of course there's your Blogger Profile (see mine here) but you may want to create a more in-depth or unique "about me" page. Wordpress and other blogging programs have dedicated pages for such things, but you can cheat on Blogger by writing a post, changing its date and burying it in your archives.

This is also a good way to clean up your sidebars!

Once you have decided what pages you'll link to in your nav bar, copy their permalinks into Notepad or something similar. (I find it easier to work with.)

We're going to start by modifying the code IN the Notepad document you used to make your template back-up.

Step 1: Save a copy of your blog template backup. Call it whatever you want, so long as you know you aren't modifying the original. I can't tell you how many times I've goofed in my code and had to restore from a backup just like this. Code is picky - if even one . is off, your page may go all "wonky" on you.

Step 2: In that copy of your template backup, find the

/* Page Structure----------------------------------------------- */

section and scroll till past all the entries (#right, #main, etc.) until you see

/* Title & Description----------------------------------------------- */

Just above this 'Title & Description' code, we're going to enter a little section defining the style of your "navbar".

This is the code I have in mine. The sections I've bolded are where you're going to need to get a bit creative and adjust the numbers (leaving the px in place) to account for the size of your header graphic and the height of your nav bar. You'll have a chance to preview this after you copy it into the code section of your template.

#navbar-wrapper { height: 55px; width: 1030px; top:260px; }
#navbar { height: 55px; width: 1030px; }

"Top" here refers to the number of pixels from the top of the browser window you want your nav bar to start. Depending on the size of your header graphic, you may need to bump this number up or down.

Step 3: Find


Just under that, we'll need to put the actual code that defines what should be in the nav bar. I'd allow you to just copy and paste what I have below, but Blogger was having a near heart-attack and kept reformatting the code when I put it into one of those handy dandy little boxes that will let you copy code. You'll just have to be extra super careful to type this out exactly.

You'll obviously replace 'http://www.yoururl.com' with the appropriate corresponding URL for your blog or individual post, and you can change the words (Home, About Me, Awards) to be whatever you want those links to read.

Step 4: Now we'll go paste your new code in over the old. Do a "select all" of the entire document where you've just added the nav bar code, then copy.

Then, from your dashboard, click layout,

then Edit HTML.

You'll see this:

Put your cursor anywhere inside that 'edit template' box, and select all again. Only this time, just delete the code. Then do a paste of the new. Click Preview.

You'll see a preview of your new blog layout that isn't yet made "real" yet. You can then go back and forth, adjusting things as you'd like until you're ready. Then click Save Template.

Congrats! You should then have a pretty navigation bar!

Want some examples of good navigation bars? Check out Sarcastic Mom, Anglophile Football Fanatic and Autumn at Oak Hollow.

*These examples use font only for the nav bar. If you choose to use graphics for your buttons, the code is a bit different. I recomment uploading those graphics to Photobucket, and then the code would look like this:

Was this helpful to you? Stumble it so that it might help other bloggers, too!

Mommy's win of the week: Back up your blog template

Everyone should have a backup of their blog and their blog's template. Even if you have like four subscribers (which was me not so long ago) someone could still hack into your blog and wipe out everything you've ever written.

I won't explain how to back up your blog posts in this post, but backing up the template is easy. (If you feel you're 100% code illiterate, don't worry, I'll hold your hand. Don't be scared.)

From your dashboard, click layout,

then Edit HTML.

You'll see this:

If you click inside that box with all the code and do a CTRL-A, then CTRL-C, you'll have selected all the code and copied it. You can then open Notepad, do a CTRL-V (pasting it) and save the file.

This is the backup of your blog template.

Like I said, this is important. You see that line of buttons just under my pretty little header that say "Home", "Meet Mommy", et cetera? That's a navigation bar. Its purty, and its nice for your readers.

Next Saturday, I'll show you how you can create your own navigation bar, and you'll want to make sure your template is backed up first.

Mommy's Win of the Week is just a little thing I decided to do on Saturdays cuz I typically don't post anything. I figure it may help some of you, and its a way to share all the goodies I learned at some of the blogging conferences I've been to. Cuz, um, I'm waaaay behind on that.