Last Week's Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Homework

Day 4: {Intermediate} Use a Magazine to Improve Your Blog: 
I did this with only magazine I have at home~ Family Circle and I actually got a few ideas for blog post and FONT ideas.  Also let me read my magazine which I do maybe 1 or 2 months down the road.  I will be using this tip from now on when I need some blog ideas! 

Day 5: {Intermediate}: Monitor Statistics on Your Blog Need to start tracking : 
I need to keep track of: Overall Visitors, Most Popular Posts, Referral Stats, Bounce Rates, Daily/Weekly Trends, and Exit Pages. I set up a Google Spreadsheet. 
How to make at Stat Book: http://www.kludgymom.com/creating-a-statbook-tutorial-b2sb2b-week-5/  this how I set up my Goggle Spreadsheet.

Day 6: {Intermediate} Make Your Blog Mobile Friendly 

I have to work on Apple Icons and  Meta Viewpoint Tag  Go to http://marketing.grader.com/ and it will let you know what you need to work on!  LOVE IT!

Day 7: {Intermediate} Create/Update a Sneeze Page for Your Blog


This one was hard but I did a couple: http://pinkmamasplace.blogspot.com/p/about.html and http://pinkmamasplace.blogspot.com/p/giveaways.html.  
Down the road I plan to do a sneeze page for:
*Market Mondays
*Tip Tuesdays
*Win It Wednesday


Day 8: Hunt for Dead Links Day 9: {Intermediate} Interlinking Blog Posts

This post helped me a lot!   I took out some old buttons, widgets, and just silly stuff that wasn't needed on the sidebar:  http://www.kludgymom.com/the-11-point-blog-inspection/


I'm working on my labels/categories and will go in and add to posts I never added the labels too.  If I do one a day I will get caught up soon.  I have a lot of categories and I need to narrow them down.

Guest Giveaway: Love with Food Giveaway/Review

Love With Food Giveaway 

and Review

by Brae Craig at

I am NOT a VOLCANO (and other such stories) Blog

Love With Food is an amazing group of foodies, putting together adventurous tastes for all kinds of chefs, from beginners to the extremely talented! Their website is full of delicious recipes and amazing products. The coolest thing of all are the subscriptions. I received a free subscription for this review, which is a box full of samples to try. If you sign up for the monthly subscription, for a mere 14.00, you get a box, like the one shown below, filled with delicious, healthy samples! 

The absolute best part of this is, when you buy a box, they will donate a meal to No Kid Hungry!!! 

Of course, I was waiting for my sample box, and when I got it, I eagerly opened it to find all these delicious goodies waiting for me! Of course, my children gathered round, ready to sample with me. 

We'll start with my FAVORITE!  Spicy Apple Ginger Cider Chews by The Ginger People. I didn't let my kids try this...because they were too delicious. LOL. Also, it was very hot, but very flavorful. I will be buying some of these on my own! From the same company, The Ginger People, were Original Ginger Chews. I didn't care for these too much, because they were really really strong, and hot, and quite overwhelming. My husband, though, thought they were SUPER good. I'm also very curious about their affect on morning sickness. I have read that ginger can calm the stomach. I think, though, that these would be best cut into 4-5 pieces. A smaller bite might make it less overwhelming.

Sahale Snacks- Almonds with  cranberries, honey and sea salt. - EVERYONE in our family loved these. It was the perfect mix of sweet, tangy and salty.

It's also a given that my whole family thoroughly enjoyed the Plain Jane peanut Butter Granola from Nuts About Granola. It was, mostly, as one might expect, but with a delicious peanut butter flavor. My kids were very disappointed when it was all gone.

Somersault Snacks- Pacific Sea salt. As per the pamphlet I got in the box: These crunchy nuggets are made with sunflower seeds and toasted grains, making them rich in protein and vitamin E. I really REALLY wanted to like these. I like sunflower seeds a lot, and so do my kids. Plus, it had a really super cute package. Alas, it wasn't in the cards. I did not like them at all, and two of my kids actually spit them out. Even my husband didn't care for them, and he likes everything.

Mighty Leaf Tea- Chocolate Mint Truffle.  I let my husband test this, as he is the tea drinker in our house, and, as it's a Rooibos tea, and he LOVES Rooibos, I felt he was a better judge than I. He said that he really liked it, though, it was more of a mint tea than a chocolate mint tea. It didn't taste like chocolate at all, though, there was a hearty, earthy flavor to it, which he suspected to be the "chocolate" flavor. 

Stretch Island Fruit Co- I actually buy these all the time, but i've never had the Mango Sunrise flavor. It was delicious. And I didn't share.

(The Somersault Snacks we didn't like)

(the Delicious almonds and cranberries with sea salt.) 

Now it's your turn! I have been given the ability to award FIVE WINNERS with a sample box similar to mine!!!  Enter to win on the rafflecopter below!

***DISCLAIMER:  I received one or more products for free using Mom Blog Society. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally, and believe will be good for my readers. ***

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Getting Ready for my 21 Day Mom Blogger Weightloss Challenge

Today I'm going FOCUS on what I need to do to get ready for this challenge and not be the spoiled brat who wants to eat and eat.  I need to work on a Food Plan, Exercise Plan, and what I'm going to blog about.  


This is the challenge I'm taking: http://mommybloggerweightlosschallenge.com/ I will be posting 3 times a week about my progress plus I might do a video post too! This is going to be a life changer!


Rules:

MUST BE COMMITTED!

MUST HELP PROMOTE!

MUST EITHER WRITE A PROGRESS POST AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK TO EVERY OTHER DAY OR DO A VIDEO DIARY ONE A WEEK OR EVERY OTHER DAY!

MUST POST YOUR POST TO TWITTER AND FACEBOOK!

I will be posting a GIVEAWAY for his book "FIT MOMS FOR LIFE" by Dustin Maher on Feb 1st!  Come back to enter.  BTW the way its an AWESOME book that every mom who wants a healthier life needs to read.  Look for a REVIEW of the book with my giveaway. 


ALSO WHY DO I DO THIS:  OMG I have been eating and eating like this food won't ever be around again.  My excuse to myself  is I'm starting a diet on Feb 1st so I should eat all the CANDY, CHIPS, and SODA, I can until Feb 1st! What am I doing!  Sabotage comes to mind for sure!  Stop it Pam!!

 I/We are using Dustin Maher's Fit Mom's For Life Program. To learn more please visit Fit Mom's For Life.

CLOSED: FLASH GIVEAWAY- 1 Winner Takes ALL~ Jan 28th-Jan 29th

Mom Blog Society, Mom Does Reviews and many other great bloggers have joined together to bring you a fabulous MBS Daily Flash Giveaway. ONE winner takes all prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!!!

Funny Friday- Favorite Pinterest Pic of the Week

Now we (bloggers) all know we have said this to ourselves when we say/do/see things that are blog worthy!  


My kids will do something these days and ask "are you going to put this on your blog?" or if they get in trouble its "mom, please don't put this on your blog!" so it sounds like my family knows- I'M GOING TO BLOG ABOUT YOU!  I try not to blog too much about my hubby- that can get a bit messy and of course I don't want him mad at me- don't bite the hand that feeds you kind of thing of going on!!! 


Well of tho work I go but of course I would rather be here BLOGGING!!  


Also FOLLOW me on Pinterest~ http://pinterest.com/pamallen68/


What is Pinterest~ Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.




If you need a Pinterest Invite~ email me at pamallen68@gmail.com and I'll send one :)

Win It Wednesday- Link Up Giveaways

Link up your Giveaways

Enter the Giveaways

OPEN ALL WEEK!

Have Fun and GOOD LUCK!!! 

PS EMAIL WONT SHOW!  Also try to enter the giveaway above yours! Let's share the fun and lets WIN!

School Bullying- What Can Be Done???

Yes, I know every school has bullies and it's something every kid will have to deal with at some point in their school life. But as a parent I HATE IT! I don't want to go up to the school and have to hurt some kid- just kidding of course!!!

 My 10 yr old son is being called some HORRIBLE HURTFUL names and wants to go to another school so bad! If he tells on the bullies then of course he gets picked on for that too. He has been at this school since he was in Kindergarten and we have held on because I wanted stability for my kids (something I didn't have). The school has been going through changes the whole time we've been there and now its a whole new school environment- nothing like it was when we started. Different kids/Different parents!

 My 7 yr old daughter has this one kid in her class that disrupts the class, hurts others, and takes the teachers attention away from teaching EVERY DAY! She is tired of dealing with this everyday. She wants to LEARN and not have to battle with others to do that!

 As a parent of course I want to MARCH right in that school and DEMAND CHANGE but of course that's not going to happen just like that. So how do I do this without being that PARENT that admin and teachers hide from because they don't want to deal with you? I'm disappointed that my children have to deal with the bullies everyday.  Every morning it's a challenge to get them out the door- today I lost the fight with Lil Mama- I let her stay home.

I do know I will be asking for some ANTI-BULLYING prevention. Will it help though??? I guess it might be time to move on for my kids sake but then will be it be different at other schools?

 What are ways you deal with bullies in your kids school?  Or how does your school deal with bullies?

CLOSED End of the MONTH BLOWOUT GIVEAWAY~ 1/24- 1/31

 JANUARY'S END OF THE MONTH BLOWOUT!! THIS MONTH 11 BLOGGERS HAVE JOINED TOGETHER TO OFFER YOU $55 IN PAYPAL CASH OR A $55 AMAZON GIFT CARD! a Rafflecopter giveaway

CLOSED Forget The Resolutions Giveaway HOP 1/21-1/26

Forget The Resolutions Giveaway Hop

January 21 - 26, 2012

Hosted by Planet Weidknecht and
Going Crazy!!Wanna Go??

It's been three weeks since you've made all those resolutions.It's said that it takes 21 days to make a new habit, so you've probably already broken your New Year's Resolutions. I say - FORGET THE RESOLUTIONS! Let's have a giveaway hop instead!

The Forget The Resolutions Giveaway Hop runs from January 21 @ 12:01 a.m. EST to January 26 @ 11:59 p.m. EST. Each blogger is hosting their own giveaway of at least $20.00. After you enter my giveaway, be sure to visit the other blogs and enter theirs too!


PinkMama's Place is giving away a PERSONALIZED Custom Airbrush Pillowcase from Mr Airbrush Hands  (value $25.)  You pick colors, simple design, name/nickname.

Examples:

a Rafflecopter giveaway "

Fabulous bloggers hosting amazing giveaways:

Putting on My PTA Hat Tonight

It doesn't FIT!  Just kidding LOL!  I've been fighting being on the PTA (we call ours PTC-explain later) all year because I've been Secretary and Vice Chair for 2 years and this past summer I put myself in retirement. 

Which by the way didn't really work.  I thought I was home safe when in September we had ALL officers positions filled and everything was going great.  I got to sit back and be a PARENT not plan/work at/communicate what was happening at the school- I was LOVING it!  Then BOOM- Secretary left to go to another school and no one wanted to step in so I was asked very nicely by the Chair who is one of my closest friends- and for her I would do it.  Then BAM our Vice Chair had to move- GONE.  We were able to fill that position but that parent was put on the spot so not sure how she feels about it. 

I've been slacking and not really doing my job- kind of like a spoiled brat who doesn't want to do something.  So tonight I will let the parents know I'm sorry and I will do better!  I just need to suck it up and hope next year they can get some parents who can commit and stay at the school, lol! 

I get some great PTA/PTO ideas from: http://www.ptotoday.com/

Maybe I'll takes notes tonight and actually write up minutes for the first time this year!  I keep telling myself its for the KIDS!  My kids love me being so involved with their school and my son says he is proud of me.