My Blog = My Life: 
Search results for Blogger

When you start any Blogger blog, it automatically installs a navigation bar or banner running across the top of the screen with the links: "Follow," "Share," "Report Abuse," and "Next Blog." This is called the "navbar" and is a real eye sore to most visitors. The good news is, removing the navigation bar in Blogger is easy.

"But, wait? Don't I want those links?" you may ask... Not generally. The only two links that are really useful to you are first the "Follow" link, but you took care of that in a much sexier way when you installed your classy and sexy follow buttons, right? And the "Share" link, but there are much better ways to setup sharing on your blog (which I'll discuss soon).

The "Next Blog" link takes visitors away from your blog. The "Report Abuse" button let's people report your blog to Google which could lead to Google taking action against you (and, subsequently also leaves internet trolls the easy opportunity to try and sabotage you, though this isn't generally a problem).


But more than anything, it's amateurish and ugly. It screams "I have an out-of-the-box Blogger blog!" So, my advice is to ditch it. Here's how you do it (please note that this doesn't work in the old version of blogger, but you can still do it. Check out this page for more info on that. Be sure to scroll down to the section about Classic Blogger templates).
Read & Comment >>

One of the big differences between the average blogger and an exceptional blogger is that an exceptional blogger always keeps a finger on the pulse of his/her blog.

Thoughts for the average blogger:

What would be good to post today?

Now, take a deep breath...

Thoughts for the exceptional blogger:
Read & Comment >>

Due to the big Blogger fiasco that has been going on the last few days, I wasn't able to do my Single Dad Laughing Lessons Learned post this week.

So, I thought I'd take a moment and talk about this big bad Blogger problem instead!

Now... by raise of hands... who panicked when Blogger went down?

Also by raise of hands... who on WordPress (or any other blogging platform) took a moment to say, "see... proof that WordPress is better!"

I have to laugh about this whole Blogger fiasco. I mean... how often do you see a web Goliath go down, and who slung the rock that made it happen?
Read & Comment >>

The question for almost every blogger is which blogging platform is best? Blogger, WordPress, or TypePad? Today I want to have a "different" kind of discussion about it.

Many people are very passionate about which platform "real bloggers" use. I have been told by many bloggers that I am crazy to use Blogger (which I use for all of my blogs). I have told many other bloggers that they are crazy to use WordPress or TypePad. The debate rages on amongst bloggers young and old alike. I figured I better have this discussion early on since a lot of people will want to start a blog of their own and follow along.

For the sake of this discussion, I am going to focus mainly on WordPress and Blogger. TypePad is its own little beast and to be honest I don't know much about it. Some people love it. Some people hate it.
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Last week we talked about the need to make your blog posts look good. Today, I want to talk specifically about resizing your Blogger images to fit perfectly within your content. This will apply to bloggers on other platforms if they use Picasa to host their images. Making your images look right is key to having blog posts that people will like and will want to share.

If you blog on blogger, you probably are aware that you have five size choices after installing your images. Small, Medium, Large, X-large and Original Size.

Read & Comment >>

You're a stay-at-home Mom.
You treasure the privilege of being able to raise your own children and manage your home, but sometimes you wonder if there's something you could do to contribute to the family income. Something that has the potential to earn a full-time wage without a huge start-up cost or sacrificing hours away from the first responsibilities God gave you.
You love to write and crave an outlet to express yourself while making a positive impact in someone else's life. You're passionate about a particular subject and desire to explore it deeper so you can minister to others, learn, and interact with a community of like-minded women.
If any of these sentiments resonate with you, you need to start a blog , and my brand new eBook, Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home | The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers will show you how to do just that.

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

Since the first edition of this eBook in 2012, Growing Home has grown ten times in size and now generates a five figure income annually. I’ve encountered many new challenges and opportunities not included in the original version and decided it was time to re-write it all.
I started Growing Home with the purpose of encouraging Christian wives, mothers, and homemakers in their noble calling. More recently, homeschooling has been added to the queue since we officially started home educating our oldest child last year.
Writing has always been a favorite pastime of mine and I loved the idea of interacting with like-minded women all across the globe. I began as every blogger does: with one reader, one Facebook fan, one Pinterest follower who pinned my posts.
A few years later, with God’s extraordinary blessing in spite of myself and an exceptionally supportive, tight-knit blogging network, at the time of this writing, Growing Home is a community of 30,000 readers and is a significant contributor to our family income.

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg $7.99
PDF version

KINDLE version

I have nothing to boast about. I couldn’t have imagined it this way, not in my wildest dreams! This is solely the result of the Lord’s blessing on the tools He has given me. He’s responsible for it all and He gets the glory!
The goal of this eBook is to share with you the same principles and techniques that God has used to grow Growing Home, both as a ministry tool and a means of income for our family without taking me away from my first responsibilities as a wife and mother.
What Other People Are Saying: "Jacinda Vandenberg's book is fantastic. Everyone is going to want to read it, even if you already know how to blog and manage your home. Coming soon to a theater near you. Very soon, in fact. January 13th. Don't get popcorn grease on your Kindle." ~ Melinda Martin, Professional Blogger and Virtual Assistant. I hope you find in these pages:

• a vision for purposeful blogging,
• helpful tips to manage both your home and your online presence,
• valuable information that will help supplement your family's income.

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg $7.99 PDF version

KINDLE version

Table of Contents
Introduction Part 1 | Creating a Vision and Maintaining A Schedule
To Blog Or Not To Blog? That Is The Question
Setting Priorities
Time-Saving Home Management Tips
This Is My Schedule, And I’m Sticking To It
Efficiently Managing Your Time Online Part 2 | Content and Design Content Is King

• Originality
• Brevity
• Titles
• Engagement
• Readability
• Hyperlinks
• Photos
• Character
• Professionalism
• Inspiration
• Understanding

• Platform
• Simplicity
• Branding
• Color
• Fancy Fonts
• Whitespace
• Centered Gadgets
• Placement
• Comments
• Image Use
• Navigation
• Call to action
• Browsers
• Recommended Blog Designers

• How to Grow Your Blog
• Link Parties
• Commenting
• Following
• Guest Posting
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Google+
• Twitter
• Email Subscriptions
• Community
• Giveaways
• Posting Frequency
• Advertising

• Make Money as a Seller
• Make Money as an Affiliate

• Deciding Your Options and Setting Your Rates
• Do’s
• Don’ts

• Dealing With The Nay-Sayers
• What To Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• Legal Stuff
• Affiliate Links
• Comment Policies
• Copyrights
• Disclosures
• Disclaimers
• Taxes

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg $7.99 PDF version

KINDLE version

Praise for Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home:
"One of the most important things that caught my attention in this book is that, she admits, she doesn’t try to do it all. Oh, how I loved this! Finally someone who was real about what actually happens during their day." ~ Shari A. Miller"Growing Your Blog is a worthwhile read if you’ve ever felt like your blogging was taking over your life, whether you are seriously considering monetizing or not. There’ve been many times over the past few months that I’ve felt maybe I just need to quit…after reading this book, I know I just need a better plan. My priorities have been out of whack. I knew it, but I needed a “blueprint” for turning them around." ~ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds"Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home offers a great vision of keeping your focus where it should be, without having letting go of your goal to grow your blog." ~ A Diligent Heart"If your dishes have been known to pile high while you aim to type one more blog post, then this ebook is for you... Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. Come on a journey as she shares her own story, schedules, and tips for Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home. You will be encouraged and inspired by her beautiful simplicity." ~ The Homeschool Village"Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home is going to be a resource I turn to time and again. I am thankful to not have to use Google to find answers to my blogging questions anymore!" ~ Thankful Homemaker"Jacinda’s book is a great introduction to the how-to’s of blogging for business. It’s refreshing to read a take that is from a decidedly Christian viewpoint. I found the details for advertising, ebooks, and affiliates especially helpful. She is very transparent and shares her own advertising and reviewing rates, which is also very helpful." ~ The Sunny Patch"{Jacinda}gives a ton of information of how to blog while balancing home life helping women to keep a wise balance and does it from a Christian perspective. This is hard to find and why I recommend it." ~ A Wise Woman Builds Her Home"What kind of blogger are you, or do you want to become? If you merely blog for the sake of keeping a family journal then this eBook probably won’t benefit you. But, if you want to step it up a notch then it’s definitely for you!" ~ Raising Mighty Arrows
***A special thank-you to my dear husband for proofreading the manuscript, Lindsey and Richele from Crisp Apple for their tremendous job on the design, and Melinda from Helply Helper VA Services for the many late nights and early mornings she spent editing and formatting my mess into something that looks professional!

After several long weeks of writing, I'm thrilled to announce that my new eBook, Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home | The Ultimate Guide for Christian Mommy Bloggers is finally here with a special launch week price!

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

Here's what people are saying about it:
"One of the most important things that caught my attention in this book is that, she admits, she doesn’t try to do it all. Oh, how I loved this! Finally someone who was real about what actually happens during their day." ~ Shari A. Miller"Growing Your Blog is a worthwhile read if you’ve ever felt like your blogging was taking over your life, whether you are seriously considering monetizing or not. There’ve been many times over the past few months that I’ve felt maybe I just need to quit…after reading this book, I know I just need a better plan. My priorities have been out of whack. I knew it, but I needed a “blueprint” for turning them around." ~ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds"Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home offers a great vision of keeping your focus where it should be, without having letting go of your goal to grow your blog." ~ A Diligent Heart"If your dishes have been known to pile high while you aim to type one more blog post, then this ebook is for you... Priorities. Priorities. Priorities. Come on a journey as she shares her own story, schedules, and tips for Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home. You will be encouraged and inspired by her beautiful simplicity." ~ The Homeschool Village"Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home is going to be a resource I turn to time and again. I am thankful to not have to use Google to find answers to my blogging questions anymore!" ~ Thankful Homemaker"Jacinda’s book is a great introduction to the how-to’s of blogging for business. It’s refreshing to read a take that is from a decidedly Christian viewpoint. I found the details for advertising, ebooks, and affiliates especially helpful. She is very transparent and shares her own advertising and reviewing rates, which is also very helpful." ~ The Sunny Patch"{Jacinda}gives a ton of information of how to blog while balancing home life helping women to keep a wise balance and does it from a Christian perspective. This is hard to find and why I recommend it." ~ A Wise Woman Builds Her Home"What kind of blogger are you, or do you want to become? If you merely blog for the sake of keeping a family journal then this eBook probably won’t benefit you. But, if you want to step it up a notch then it’s definitely for you!" ~ Raising Mighty ArrowsYou can read more about it and view the Table of Contents here, or sign up as an affiliate here.

LAUNCH WEEK: $7.99 $3.99 ! Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

Welcome to the 129th edition of our weekly homemaking link-up party: Teach Me Tuesdays! Each Tuesday, you're warmly invited to link up anything homemaking related from you own blog and mingle with others who've done the same.

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How have you grown your home this week?
Was it through gardening, preserving, baby-wearing, cooking, crafting, teaching your children, cleaning your house, loving your husband, or perhaps through something else the Lord has been teaching you? Encourage other aspiring Proverbs 31 women by linking up below. Share as many posts as you would like! A link back to Growing Home is greatly appreciated. :-)

If you enjoyed this post, you may wish to follow Growing Home for updates via Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, or have them emailed directly to your inbox.

Before we get too much into the nitty gritty of writing and building big blogs, we need to continue with a few more foundational posts. Today, I want to talk about the five most important goals you should have with your blog, and what you should be doing right now to reach those goals.

Single Dad Laughing is not some phenomenon that came from nothing. Though my original intention wasn't to turn it into a big blog, I certainly made being a big blogger my goal early on. With that goal came serious dedication to making it happen, whether that included time, investment, or picking up dog poop to bring in extra money. To reach my goal, I gave it my everything, I went about it logistically, and I set (and reached) lots, and lots, and lots of small goals all along the way.
Read & Comment >>

You're a stay-at-home Mom.

You treasure the privilege of being able to raise your own children and manage your home, but sometimes you wonder if there's something you could do to contribute to the family income. Something that has the potential to earn a full-time wage without a huge start-up cost or sacrificing hours away from the first responsibilities God gave you.

You love to write and crave an outlet to express yourself while making a positive impact in someone else's life. You're passionate about a particular subject and desire to explore it deeper so you can minister to others, learn, and interact with a community of like-minded women.

If any of these sentiments resonate with you, you need to start a blog , and my brand new eBook, Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home | The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers will show you how to do just that.

Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

Since the first edition of this eBook in 2012, Growing Home has grown ten times in size and now generates a five figure income annually. I’ve encountered many new challenges and opportunities not included in the original version and decided it was time to re-write it all.

I started Growing Home with the purpose of encouraging Christian wives, mothers, and homemakers in their noble calling. More recently, homeschooling has been added to the queue since we officially started home educating our oldest child last year.

Writing has always been a favorite pastime of mine and I loved the idea of interacting with like-minded women all across the globe. I began as every blogger does: with one reader, one Facebook fan, one Pinterest follower who pinned my posts.

A few years later, with God’s extraordinary blessing in spite of myself and an exceptionally supportive, tight-knit blogging network, at the time of this writing, Growing Home is a community of 30,000 readers and is a significant contributor to our family income.

LAUNCH WEEK: $7.99 $3.99 ! Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

I have nothing to boast about. I couldn’t have imagined it this way, not in my wildest dreams! This is solely the result of the Lord’s blessing on the tools He has given me. He’s responsible for it all and He gets the glory!
The goal of this eBook is to share with you the same principles and techniques that God has used to grow Growing Home, both as a ministry tool and a means of income for our family without taking me away from my first responsibilities as a wife and mother.
What Other People Are Saying: "Jacinda Vandenberg's book is fantastic. Everyone is going to want to read it, even if you already know how to blog and manage your home. Coming soon to a theater near you. Very soon, in fact. January 13th. Don't get popcorn grease on your Kindle." ~ Melinda Martin, Professional Blogger and Virtual Assistant. I hope you find in these pages:

• a vision for purposeful blogging,
• helpful tips to manage both your home and your online presence,
• valuable information that will help supplement your family's income.

LAUNCH WEEK: $7.99 $3.99 ! Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

Table of Contents
Introduction Part 1 | Creating a Vision and Maintaining A Schedule
To Blog Or Not To Blog? That Is The Question
Setting Priorities
Time-Saving Home Management Tips
This Is My Schedule, And I’m Sticking To It
Efficiently Managing Your Time Online Part 2 | Content and Design Content Is King

• Originality
• Brevity
• Titles
• Engagement
• Readability
• Hyperlinks
• Photos
• Character
• Professionalism
• Inspiration
• Understanding

• Platform
• Simplicity
• Branding
• Color
• Fancy Fonts
• Whitespace
• Centered Gadgets
• Placement
• Comments
• Image Use
• Navigation
• Call to action
• Browsers
• Recommended Blog Designers

• How to Grow Your Blog
• Link Parties
• Commenting
• Following
• Guest Posting
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Google+
• Twitter
• Email Subscriptions
• Community
• Giveaways
• Posting Frequency
• Advertising

• Make Money as a Seller
• Make Money as an Affiliate

• Deciding Your Options and Setting Your Rates
• Do’s
• Don’ts

• Dealing With The Nay-Sayers
• What To Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• Legal Stuff
• Affiliate Links
• Comment Policies
• Copyrights
• Disclosures
• Disclaimers
• Taxes

LAUNCH WEEK: $7.99 $3.99 ! Growing Your Blog While Managing Your Home The Ultimate Guide For Christian Mommy Bloggers by Jacinda Vandenberg
PDF version

KINDLE version

***A special thank-you to my dear husband for proofreading the manuscript, Lindsey and Richele from Crisp Apple for their tremendous job on the design, and Melinda from Helply Helper VA Services for the many late nights and early mornings she spent editing and formatting my mess into something that looks professional!

If you enjoyed this post, you may wish to follow Growing Home for updates via Google Friend Connect, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, or have them emailed directly to your inbox.

The very, very first thing that every blogger needs is a blog that looks good. I refer to amateur, quick template, easy setup type blogs as nerd blogs. Don't ask me why, I just always have. It has nothing to do with the people writing them, and everything to do with the blogs themselves.

To me, a true nerd is somebody who doesn't care what he looks like. He doesn't care what people think of him. He doesn't care that he's socially undesirable. He doesn't care that he wears outdated clothing. Nerd blogs are the same. They are blogs that took advantage of the quick and easy templates, have no special graphics, and when I arrive at those blogs, I don't think anything except, where's the X button on my browser.

Over the next several months, we'l be discussing (one item at a time), some of the many things you can do to make your blog look awesome. It doesn't matter if you use Blogger or WordPress or TypePad. It doesn't matter how much computer expertise you have (or don't have). It doesn't matter how much time you have. There's nothing you can't do to your own blog, and there are a bazillion little things you can do to make your blog look better. If you follow along, your blog will start looking superb.
Read & Comment >>

When it comes to personal blogging, I've done a lot of experimenting, and at the end of the day I'm convinced of one thing. Every blog should offer these five ways for their followers to follow along. Facebook, Twitter, Email, RSS Feed, and Blogger. Less than that, you're losing potential followers. More than that is simply unnecessary with the exception of YouTube if you also have a YouTube channel.

I've had a lot of followers write in and ask me how to put the buttons that I use on Single Dad Laughing and Will Work 4 Followers onto their own blogs. And until now, you couldn't because they were buttons that I made custom for my blog. They are by far the most effective subscriber grabbers I've tried (and I've experimented with many methods). And, since I'm not a button hog, I've put together several variations that you can easily put onto your own blog. Doing so is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Read & Comment >>

A free trip to Universal Studios. Another awesome perk of big blogging. When I started Single Dad Laughing, I didn't have any plans to be a big blogger. I was working a highly salaried job as a business executive and the thought of making money through blogging never even crossed my mind. Within weeks of starting the blog, I realized that I could probably make a few bucks here and there. Two months after that, I quit my job and decided to chase my writing dreams.

At that point, I wasn't making much of anything blogging. In fact, I had decided to keep ads off of my site while I grew my blog. I felt that I'd do much better advertising myself and my blog (with my best webpage real estate) than I would making pennies advertising for others. It was all one giant leap of faith, especially considering the traffic I was getting.
Read & Comment >>

This was my first post as a blogger back in 12-4-08. I left blogging for two years and it's nice to be back!
I'm joining Chari at Happy To Design for the second time for her Sunday Favorites

Did I get your attention?
No silly sillys! It's NOT THAT KIND OF POST!!
It IS a post (my first as a blogger) about my passion for collecting!!
I admit, I have OUT OF CONTROL collections! So many in fact that my closets have become dangerous!... OK the cupboards too... And the armoires... Did I mention I collect those too? No?... Sorry I digress... I have a passion for busts! And I thought I would share, on this my first blog post, some of my marble and alabaster busts with you. Lets start with the smaller busts and watch em grow! *winks* These two darling little ladies were found on ebay. Aint they sweet?

Here's a closeup on the smallest. her little face is kind of hard to see in pictures.

This sweet peasant girl fell at one time and her base broke.
Not a problem for me! I love and embrace the imperfections in old things.
She'd spent many years in an antique store. So many that you couldn't read her
price tag any longer, it was so faded.
I got her for a steal, took her home and placed her under the faucet... and VOILA!!
She cleaned up real good! *winks*

I found this lovely 1920's girl at an auction. I left a very low absentee bid.
Didn't think in a million years I would win... But I did!! Yippee!!
She's one of my larger busts *winks*

This little gal was another ebay find

A little slightly shabby cutie found while on vacation.

And this sweet little girl I found in an antique store many years ago. She now lives in my bedroom

And this is my Joannie (Joan of Arc) She's my absolute favorite! She's life size and weighs more than 70 lbs!
She's also a bit of a movie star *winks*
She was chosen to be in the Stephen King movie "Rose Red" about a beautiful haunted castle
Unfortunately for me that meant I had to wait until the filming was over before I could take her home!
So pay a fortune... and wait... and wait... and wait!!!
She was worth it though! She's another one of my favorite things!
You'll hear me say that a lot *winks*

Here is my bust collection all together. I hope you enjoyed them!

This is the ONLY kind of bust enlargement I'll ever be interested in!! Lol!!

Here is an updated picture of my collection. It's grown quite a bit in a few years. I actually couldn't get all of them on the table... Hmmmm maybe you really CAN get too much of a good thing?*winks*

Please stop by Chari's place and check out the other wonderful Sunday Favorites! Thanks for stopping by! Vanna

I'm also joining my dear friend Marty at A Stroll Through Life for the first time for:

As I was getting my Single Dad Laughing post for this coming Wednesday ready, I had to figure out how to embed an.MP3 player and.MP3 file into the blogger post. There are a number of ways you can do it, but there is one way that turned out to be super simple.


After finishing this tutorial, you'll be able to embed an.MP3 file via a player that looks like this:


First, you're going to need to host the audio file online somewhere. If you have your own web hosting account, you can do this via FTP or through your control panel in the "file manager" area. If you don't have a hosting account, I suggest a free online service such as archive.org. After you've uploaded your file to the web, you'll then need the web address (URL) of that file.

For example: http://extras.danoah.com/SDL-Congrats.mp3
Read & Comment >>

This week and next week, I'll be focusing on a few things you need to have setup if you want to attract as many long-term followers to your blog as possible. In my opinion, there are five major ways that people will subscribe to follow your blog. Neglecting any of these methods will leave a percentage of your potential followers behind since some people only follow via each of these methods. On Monday, we discussed the importance of a Facebook Page for your Blog.

The second "following platform" that every blogger should have setup is a twitter Account for their blog. Signing up is simple. Just go to http://www.twitter.com, type in your name, email address, your password, and click "Sign Up." It really is that easy.
There is no doubt that a lot of the blogging world is connected on twitter. It's a crucial place to network with random people and goof around with other bloggers and your followers. I'll be blogging more about how to build a twitter following and how to even use twitter at all, but for now just make sure you have an account setup. For bonus points, upload a profile picture (gravatar) to make it personal.
Read & Comment >>

We've talked about having a nerd blog, and how that can affect your ability to attract followers. Today I want to talk more specifically about the time you take with each post and what you need to do to make your posts look good.

Too often I visit other blogs and leave before reading anything because the posts themselves are visually unappealing or headache inducing. And I'd be willing to bet a lot of other people leave after landing on those blogs as well. The sad thing is, no matter how good they are, those posts never get read, and so I never know whether the blogger is worth reading or following.
So, today I want to give you my six big rules for making each and every post look awesome.

1. Break your blog post into readable paragraphs. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that will send me away from a blog post (or an email) faster than something that was written with few or no line breaks. Looking at a huge, solid chunk of text will make your blog unfollowable. Even paragraphs that are too large will be an eyesore. My advice, keep your very longest paragraphs to around 125 words and your average paragraphs to 40-60 words.

When is the best time of day to upload and publish new blog posts? This is a question that readers keep asking me, and the answer is simple... it depends.

Each person's blog is different. Each person's content is different. Each person's audience is different. And, each person's best time to post will be just a little bit different. Some bloggers will do far better posting in the evening than they will in the morning. Other bloggers will see a lot more traffic if they post early in the morning.

Over the past ten months, I have heavily experimented on my best times to post, and I can tell you that there is no exact science to it. I believe there are a few different times of day almost anybody can post to get maximum traffic to their blog, and that each blogger needs to pick a time that works best for them, and for their audience.
Read & Comment >>

Did I get your attention?

No silly sillys! It's NOT THAT KIND OF POST!!
It IS a post (my first as a blogger) about my passion for collecting!!
I admit, I have OUT OF CONTROL collections! So many in fact that my closets have become dangerous!... OK the cupboards too... And the armoires... Did I mention I collect those too? No?... Sorry I digress... I have a passion for busts! And I thought I would share, on this my first blog post, some of my marble and alabaster busts with you. Lets start with the smaller busts and watch em grow! *winks* These two darling little ladies were found on ebay. Aint they sweet?

Here's a closeup on the smallest. her little face is kind of hard to see in pictures.

This sweet peasant girl fell at one time and her base broke.
Not a problem for me! I love and embrace the imperfections in old things.
She had spent many years in an antique store. So many that you couldn't read her
price tag any longer, it was so faded.
I got her for a steal, took her home and placed her under the faucet... and VOILA!!
She cleaned up real good! *winks*

I found this lovely 1920's girl at an auction. I left a very low absentee bid.
Didn't think in a million years I would win... But I did!! Yippee!!
She's one of my larger busts *winks*

This little gal was another ebay find

A little slightly shabby cutie found while on vacation.

And this sweet little girl I found in an antique store many years ago. She now lives in my bedroom

And this is my Joannie (Joan of Arc) She's my absolute favorite! She's life size and weighs more than 70 lbs!
She's also a bit of a movie star *winks*
She was chosen to be in the Stephen King movie "Rose Red" about a beautiful haunted castle
Unfortunately for me that meant I had to wait until the filming was over before I could take her home!
So pay a fortune... and wait... and wait... and wait!!!
She was worth it though! She's another one of my favorite things!
You'll hear me say that a lot *winks*

Here is my bust collection all together. I hope you enjoyed them!

This is the ONLY kind of bust enlargement I'll ever be interested in!! Lol!!
Vanna

Last week and this week, I'll be focusing on a few things you need to have setup if you want to attract as many long-term followers to your blog as possible. In my opinion, there are five major ways that people will subscribe to follow your blog. Neglecting any of these methods will leave a percentage of your potential followers behind since some people only follow via each of these methods. Last week, we discussed the importance of a Facebook Page for your Blog as well as the importance of Twitter when blogging.
The third "following platform" that every blogger should have setup is Feedburner (or some other similar service) for their blog. Feedburner is a free RSS Feed Management system that gives you much more control over your blog's RSS feed as well as making it easy for your followers to follow. It also has some extra tools which we'll get into more on Wednesday. Read & Comment >>

I don't do a lot of things well that so many bloggers do, like tablescaping or vignetting or refinishing furniture or taking marvelous pictures.
But there's one thing I love more than almost anything and I do it (if not well) at least consistently... and that's hunting for bargain treasures! There's nothing like the thrill of finding something wonderful on the cheap! And I realize that this is completely subjective. One persons "cheap" is another person "holy cow are they smoking crack"...
But here are a few of my most recent (To me) bargains. All were found last week with the exception of two... But I really wanted to brag about ummm share with you my latest finds.
I think this might be one of my most exciting finds. (Seen below) I was reading on another blog about how desirable the book "I Married Adventure" By Osa Johnson is with the decorating community. Not because of it's wonderful story but because if its zebra striped cover. Well... I walked into a local antiques store and stumbled across a copy for $14.99 with 20% off. So for about $12 I have myself a hot decorator book Yippee skippy!! This baby can go upwards of $60 on ebay. The two other books below I found for 27 cents for the pair. And they have such nifty covers! So 1950's glam (which is when they were both published)

Isn't she pretty cool?

Anyone who knows me would understand why I found this one irresistible! Paris... King... Mais oui!! *winks*

And I found this lovely robe at our local Value Village for $1.99! Upon first glance the pattern looked very Ralph Lauren to me? Turned out it wasn't, but still very pretty for the price.

Closeup

And this life size souvenir hand was also at the same Value Village. I've never seen anything quite like it before, but I've been very entranced by hands lately, so it caught my eye. It's made out of some kind of old plaster/resin type stuff meant to look like old ivory. I liked its patina and its reminder of my trips to Pisa. $7.99.

This hat found the previous week was a little more than $20 but I fell in love with its beautiful feather and tattered appliques with old metal thread. Does anyone know what type of feather this is? I think it's from the 20's or 30's. (You can click to enlarge)

Isn't this feather beautiful?

This is a piece from the base of the worlds ugliest lamp (Really no kidding, it was BADDDDD) The lamp had no electrical so I pointed that out to the manager at the VV and asked if I could get a better price? She gave it to me for 99 cents. I love to use the decorative bases of ugly lamps as display risers for different pieces. Do you ever do that? This one worked great for my little french spelter girl!

But these were my Pièces de résistance!! I found this set of crystal sconces a little while ago at a local antique store. I kept coming back to them. This happened at least four times! I finally figured there must be something about them... my little antiquin' sixth sense was whispering to me. And I've learned (The hard way) that it's better to listen to that little voice, so for $110 I took them home.
I was looking on 1st Dibbs to see if they had anything like them? Well they did and didn't... Turns out they're late 19th early 20th century Swedish. I found the perfect matching chandelier there and it was 4.5K!! Now I realize the prices at 1st Dibbs can be fierce but I think I SCORED!! Big-o-time.
So here below are my two sconces. Sorry I couldn't photograph them together. They're on different sides of a large bookcase and no matter how hard I tried with my poor little camera I couldn't fit them both in. So this really doesn't do them justice.

This is the large bookcase... It was a craigslist find.

This is the matching 1st dibbs chandelier. It's the perfect match to my sconces. Same fretwork, same candle holders, same crystals. Isn't it purty?!

Well that's my finds for this week. I'll have some more to show you next week! I'd love to see your treasures too! Happy Bargain Hunting!! Vanna
I'm hooking up with my dear friend Laurie at Bargain Hunting and Chatting With Laurie for:

And with my new friend Dawn from Bohemian Valhalla She is a new blogger and has a wonderful perspective and artists eye!
As well as Linda at A La Carte for: