Aloha Friday! #5

Ok, I'm gonna make this quick and to the point! I promise! I just spent most of the day at a plant sale with my parents and the girls. It was long, fun, exciting, and now I'm exhausted. I know this post is super late, but I figure better late than never, it is still Friday after all... just barely! lol

I have 3 blogging questions to ask. I thought about asking each one for the next 3 weeks, but I'm already getting tired of the subject and I just wanna get down and dirty and learn the answers. Don't you? I thought so.

So here's my questions, feel free to answer one or all, whichever you prefer:

1) How do you turn off comments? I've seen on some uber popular blogs when people turn off comments, which makes sense to me because who wants to read 500 comments about something that doesn't need comment. I'm not uber popular, so I haven't had a need to do this, but just in case... I'd like to know how.

2) How do you end up with sample products to review for your blog? Do you just buy them? If you are, I'm assuming you actually make money from you blog... which obviously puts you in a different category than me since I think I've only made $1.32... and google won't send me a check till I've made $100. So really I'm more interested in FREE sample products. I like writing reviews, and even more, I like sharing products that I love with others.

Which leads to my next question...

3) How do you end up with items to giveaway on your blog? As most of you know, I did a cookie contest a while back. I had a LOT of fun doing it! Seriously, I'm gonna do it again really soon. But I guess I just wonder if cookies are enough? Especially since I share the recipes here most of the time so people can make them at home. But maybe there are people who don't cook/bake who really enjoy getting free ones in the mail. Anyhoo... all that to say, I'd love to up the anti and give away more exciting stuff. But how does one finance such ventures? We do ok financially, but I'm thinkin' Hubs would object if I suddenly started making large purchases in the name of my blog. If anyone would care to point me in the right direction for this, or suggest ideas that they would enjoy winning, please let me know!


So I guess that's it! Three Aloha Friday questions. Can ya handle it???

To play along with Aloha Friday visit An Island Life!

How to import your blog to Facebook

Ok, I just found this video, and thought I'd share it with you since I know some of you would LOVE to have this info. The video is for TypePad users, but it would work for anyone who has an RSS feed.

I'm a computer illiterate, and I was still able to do this successfully thanks to this extremely helpful video.

Why I Should Win BlogHer Passes

If you're interested in winning a free pass to the BlogHer Conference then check this out!


I've only been blogging for 2 months, but already it's made a pretty huge impact on my life. After the birth of my twin girls in 2007 my social network became very very small. I spent quite a bit of time playing online games, but after a couple months (ok fine, a few months) of that paired with mothering twins something had to give. And I had to find a new way to connect with the world.

I joined a Mommy Group, which is really amazing for me. But I don't get to talk to those mommies every day.

But I do sit at my computer every day. And I do love to write, and cook, and garden, and I have cute kids. So blogging became a totally natural thing for me to do. It's become a daily task that keeps my mind busy throughout the day, something which I DESPERATELY needed!

As I said, I'm new at this, but I would LOVE to attend BlogHer! A year ago, it wouldn't have been possible. But now that my girls are older and Hubs is confident with baby duty I could totally get away for a weekend alone! It would be a much needed break!

The Week In Review

Yup, I couldn't come up with anything exciting to write about today, so I thought I'd feature some of my favorite blogs this week.

I promise I'll have something more exciting and personal tomorrow!

Keep in mind! We're doing another Mystery Spice Monday this week! I'll post up Mr. Linky tomorrow night, so stay tuned and get cookin'!

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I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again, you should run out and buy the ingredients for these cookies right away! Thank you Bakerella for sharing them with the world, I certainly appreciate a delicious AND easy cookie recipe any day of the week! If you're feeling more ambitious, you could try her beautiful heart shaped cake, but if you're anything like me it won't turn out as pretty as hers.

Wanna good laugh? Click here. It involves a dog, you'll love it.

Looking for a GREAT love story? Then you've gotta check this out at 4 u God. I think it's a 4 part story, but it starts Here.

Got Twins? You'll love this video over at Baby Squared, so cute! Her girls are about 6 months older than mine, so I love to read her blog about all the things I have to look forward to.

There's been some pretty hilarious Cake Wrecks this week. Here you'll find a bunch of feet cakes... I kid you not!

I know absolutely nothing about cycling or endurance races of any sort. I know a couple of people who are really into that sort of thing, and ... I just don't get it. At all. BUT, I'm nontheless fascinated with the idea, so this post by Fat Cyclist really intrigued me.

Kristina over at Pulsifer Predilictions cracks me up. I just discovered her a few weeks ago (heck, I just discovered everyone a few weeks ago!). Have you seen that ShamWow infomercial? Then you'll love This.

Ever have a bunch of leftover eggs that you don't really know what to do with? Then check out Julie's Cream Puff recipe! You'll be glad you did!

In my search for gardening info this past week I came across Annie's Kitchen Garden, and I'm so glad I did! She did an amazing entry this week about her gardening plans, and I am SO IMPRESSED!!! If you're into gardening, you really need to check her out.

I've really been into soup lately, the cold weather just calls for it. So last, but absolutely not least, I thought I'd point you towards Pioneer Woman's French Onion Soup recipe. Oh me oh my oh... it looks GOOD! I'm thinkin' it would be a great thing to make when company comes over.

So those are my favorite blogs this week! Thanks to all of you for enlightening me, humoring me, and staving away my boredom. :)

My First Month of Blogging

Wow! I can't believe it's been a month already!

So how has it been, blogging every day for a month?

Well, it's way more interesting then I thought it would be. I guess I never really realized that there was this whole community aspect of blogging. I thought I would just write my little posts about my kids and recipe experiments, and keep a record for myself about our life. I never thought other people would be interested in it. I don't think of myself as being that interesting. I feel like my life is actually... pretty normal and boring. I'm not a world traveler, I don't have some sort of exciting profession, I'm not super beautiful, or super smart, or super talented in any way. And yes, I have twins. But so do a bunch of other people who are FAR more interesting than me! And I don't claim to be a super awesome mom either. I think I pretty much just barely get by, and my kids spend way too much time in front of the TV while I'm here writing stuff and reading stuff.

Anyway.. enough about me. :P

I just recently joined a network of Mom Bloggers. I'm really not sure what to think about it. I think generally speaking I'm way more interested in other people's blogs than other people are about mine! And I'm ok with that, I'm having a lot of fun filling up my blog reader and becoming a loyal follower. Be sure to check my side bar thingy for all the awesome blogs I've picked up along the way over the past month. There are certainly some good ones!

I also just signed up for Twitter today because somewhere I read that you could connect it with Facebook and enter your status updates on there? I have no idea how to do that, so if anyone does please let me know! lol I'm such a newb. Oh, and if you have Twitter look me up! I have like... no friends. ha ha!

I'm reading up on Mr. Linky and trying to figure out how it works. :) I'd really love to do one of those Carnival thingies! So in the next few weeks look for it, it's gonna happen! I've already decided that it will be a Spice Rack Challenge!!! Where I pull out a spice that I have no idea what to do with, and figure out something to do with it. It's gonna rock! So get ready, look through that ol' dusty spice rack, and start cookin' up new things so that you can join in the fun! It's gonna rock!

So I feel like I've learned a lot about this whole blogging thing over the past month, and I'm looking forward to learning more. My goal as always is to write every day. I think that it's good for my soul. Keeps me focused. Grounded. And overall requires discipline. It also keeps me thinking. Which I've found to be very important in the type of life I live where I often go a whole week without leaving the house and one can only take so much toddler babble before needing intellectual stimuli.

Thank you for joining me on this blogging journey and taking the time to read my ramblings! I do appreciate it! :)