Saturday, January 23, 2010

Milemarks for the Blog and Housekeeping

When I first started this blog, it was simply to keep an ongoing journal for my kids.  I'm finding that it is starting to have a life of its own.  I'm so very blessed to have so many new bloggy friends.  To have found so many people that I can sit down and talk with it even if its online.  I can't wait until I can meet some of you in person that would be truly amazing.

I've been blogging since July 2009 now.  I have over 300 posts out there.  WOW that is so amazing to me.  I have over 400 followers.  I don't know why you all are still here.  I love writing.  I never knew how much until I started this blog.  I love reading as well.  Though I don't have as much time as I would like to do so.  I've been through so much since I started this blog.  I've tried to share with you as much as possible.

You were all there when I was depressed after visiting my sister in October.  We still haven't spoken to each other since.  I've tried.  She hasn't responded.  It hurts but when I say I'm back I am.  I've been very scattered every since the visit.  I haven't been around to all my favorite blogs.  Although I have been reading.  I simply haven't been me.  Well I am now.  I'm back.  I have a new reborned energy that I'm so happy about.  I will be coming to your blog soon if I haven't made it there this week.  I'm coming. 

I was literally amazed at how well the Follow Friday blog hop went over last week.  I'm still trying to catch up.  Although I have made it to each person's blog that jumped last week.  That took me 3 days.  I loved finding all the new blogs and catching up on the old ones.  Can you believe that 136 blogs joined?  To me that is simply amazing.  And the blog hop is coming once again.

Ok so some housekeeping that I need to get out of the way:

1.  I think I've been double taxing myself.  I try to respond to every post by email unless of course you have the no-reply blogger dot com that drives me nuts
NO REPLY AT BLOGGER DOT COM
I mean I hate it.. I despise it. I want to respond to you all by email. I love responding by emails. I love talking to you all. I want to know about my readers. So I respond to every email I get. Until I see the hated "no reply at blogger dot com."   To make it easy for you to remove it, I am going to post it here for you. The directions are as follows:
Go to your Dashboard on Blogger dot com.  Hit your edit profile, right next to your picture, avatar or whatever else you have showing.  Scroll down to the line that says : Show my email address and CHECK THE BOX.  Hit save.
Now, for those of you who do not want a regular email address to show, go to Gmail, Yahoo or any other number of places and get a FREE, yes FREE, email account and set it up.
I'm going to start just jumping over to your blog instead of responding by email if I would have just answered it with just "thanks" or something like that.  I do like to respond but unless it's an answer or something.  I'll just hop to your blog.  How do you handle this?
2.  Word verification people.. I hate it.  And as I noticed from my comments so do most of my bloggy friends.  So I'm giving you the heads up here how to fix it.
WORD VERIFICATION
Ok I hate hate this as well. I don't know why but my eyes do not do this well at all. Or I hit save and then close. Guess what happens? You don't get my comment and sometimes I don't realize. So I might have been commenting all along.  Now to turn off this awful thing and to help all of your commenters' eyes, do the following:
Go to your Dashboard at blogger dot com.  Click on Settings, which is under the name of your blog.  Click on Comments, which is on the top of the page.  Scroll down until you see this: Show word verification for comments?  Click the box that says NO.  Click Save settings at the bottom of the page. Please do not leave this page until you have saved settings.
I am begging you to fix these things to help me get to know each of you even better in the future.
3.  Big ANNOUNCEMENT:  I'm moving to Wordpress.  I just set up my Daddy hosting.  So bear with me while I do.
 Hoping you all have a great Saturday.

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29 comments:

Regina said...

Tami..Hi!!! Thank you so much for the info and then how to change it..LOL!! I am not to good with the computer stuff.

Happy Friday Follow..Hugs, Regi

Jules AF said...

I love that blog friends can be there for your when your real life friends can't and vice versa. It's nice having multiple places and/or people to get emotional contact from.

Bibi @ Bibi's Culinary Journey said...

I didn't know you before since I am one of your new and recent followers, but I can't wait to get to know you better.

The Friday Follow was awesome.

Lisa@GardenofMany said...

Great Post, I have only been blogging just over a year and I love it. I have made a great deal of amazing friends.

I found you through Friday Follow this is my first week. And I love the thought of meeting new bloggers.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Missy said...

Wow. Your blog grew FAST! I'm a new follower, I can't wait to read more on your blog.

Funny....I just posted the same housekeeping notes last week on my blog. LOL

Joyful said...

I like your blog and am a Friday Follower. Good luck on your move to wordpress. I recently moved from wp to blogger. Congrats on your 300 comments. Is there a way that I can see how many comments I've made. Thanks for the bloggy housekeeping ideas.

*Friday Follow*

Anonymous said...

I'm so stoked about how the Friday Follow has been received. I love finding all these amazing new blogs.

Congrats on doing so well with your blog and good luck with WordPress move. When you're done, please can you show me how to do it???

Shell said...

I hate no reply at blogger, too. Drives me nuts.

And word verification. I screwed up on the letters THREE times on someone's blog yesterday- and ended up clicking out of there without commenting because it wasn't worth it.

That said, I actually had word verification on mine for a long time because I didn't realize it was on!

Theta Mom said...

Yay for the move to WP! Good luck with it! And I totally forgot about FF!

Amy said...

really you are moving? Why???

Evonne said...

My blog's direction has changed somewhat, too, but I love it. Follow Friday was fun and I will definitely have to jump in next round. Thanks!

Your housekeeping tips are the same that drive me nuts, too!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Perfect, I am going to star this and send people the link in a post one day. I agree with you 100%

starnes family said...

I'm so tempted to move over to Wordpress. I hear it's fantastic!

Enjoyed this post!

Frugal Vicki said...

I missed the Friday follow, but I won't this week! I wish everyone would follow those bits of advice, would make blogging easier!

Corrie Howe said...

Congrats! We started about the same time, but you are twice as successful as me...twice as many posts and followers. ;-)

Tracie said...

You're moving to wp with the big kids?? Congrats! Keep us posted so we can find you.

Have a great weekend!

Stockpiling Mom said...

I agree so much! Follow Friday Follower...

http://www.stockpilingmom.com

Liz Mays said...

Good luck with your move to wordpress. That's scary! I'm so glad you're back and over the down times!

Shannon K. said...

Why wordpress? What's the hype? Just curious.

Also, I have been wanting to do a post like this! About making it easier to comment. I still may, but maybe after a while.

savingsisters said...

friday follow, love your blog!

Julie said...

I just had to turn on that word box because of the spam that's been going on at my blog. I hate it too but not a choice. I did leave a blog about comments on my blog explaining why I had to do it. I have it so it's all together though so a bit easier then click, click, click. I hope it just deters the spammers and not my blog friends.
Have a great weekend. Take care and God Bless!!

Melissa said...

Thank-you so much! I hate word verification! Don't know if I have the no reply though, didn't know about that, but I'll go check it.

Amy said...

Tami - you've had great success blogging. Just curious as to why you are switching over to wordpress.

MJ said...

It is SO very annoying when you are unable to email back!!

CONGRATS on such wonderful sucess out here in the blog world :o)

ZenMom said...

300 posts. Wow!

I also started my blog over the summer and I'm amazed at all the wonderful friends I've made. Isn't it great?

Word verification off. Check.
email set up. Check.

Helene said...

Gosh, it seems like everyone's moving to WordPress. I'm tempted but I'm too scared of screwing something up. Plus I'm not good with change!

The no reply thingie drives me nuts too. I don't normally reply to someone personally unless they've asked a direct question. Or sometimes if I'm commenting pretty quickly after they've written their comment, I'll just address the question on their blog in my comment.

The other thing that drives me nuts is when people don't link their blog to their profile pic, like on the follow list. I have some followers who I can't find their blog because they're not linked.

It's been fun following along with your blog!

CMash said...

Hi from a new follower. Thank you for stopping by my blog. I definitely can tell I am going to enjoy getting to know you after reading some of your posts. I am a newbie to this world of blogging, meeting the nicest people and enjoying every minute of it. More comments to come.
CMashLovesToRead
Mash1195

Toddler Knows Best said...

I'm a friday follower and I SO agree with you about the word verification thingy!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with your move to Wordpress. I did it over the holidays and it went much smoother than I thought.

Congrats on the Friday Follow going so well. I think I will join this upcoming week. I always love meeting new bloggy friends.

I know what you mean about word verification. Drives me batty too.