New To the Blogging World?

If you are new to the blogging world, you might have no idea what a blog is all about. I'm going to try to explain a bit about what this blog is for and how to interact with it.

What this blog is:

Think of this blog as a journal. I will be posting "entries" as they come up and since this is public, you will get to read them. There is no hiding this journal under the bed!

What this blog is not:

This blog is not a place where anyone can type up blog posts or submit photos. I thought about opening it up to other family members but as I have my side and my husband's side of the family reading this blog, that just didn't seem logical since either side doesn't necessarily want to read about the in-laws family. I may however, open it up for my husband to write (if he wants to) and as my kids get older I will occasionally let them write. I can only imagine what Logan would have to write about! It could be quite entertaining.

What is that stuff on the sidebar?

The sidebar refers to anything to the (in this blog's case) right of the blog post text. The sidebar is an area for all the stuff that I'd like readers to see all the time and have easy access to. At the top of the sidebar, you'll see some "buttons". Currently I have an "About", "Subscribe", "Pinterest", and "Shop" button. You can click on any of these buttons and they will take you to their related sites.
For instance:
"About" takes you to a blog post that I wrote that gives you my family's basic bio.
"Subscribe" is how you can follow the blog via RSS or email. For a tutorial on subscribing click here.
"Pinterest" will take you to my personal Pinterest site because who doesn't love Pinterest.
"Shop" will take you to Amazon.com via my affiliate link. There's nothing special about the amazon link except that if you go to Amazon via my affiliate link (in this case the "Shop" button) I get a commission. I'll write more about my affiliate links later.

Below those buttons there are pictures of my family and then a Blog Archive. You can use the Blog Archive to find old posts if you missed some or are searching for a specific post.

There may eventually be more items added to the side bar but I'll clue you in on those as they are added.

How to interact with this blog:

Unlike a journal, you can comment on a blog. It's a bit like commenting on someones Facebook status; it will notify the writer and will let them know what you think. I am going to show you how to comment on a blog, just in case you've never commented on one before.

First click on the specific blog post (you can click on a specific post by clicking on the post's title). This will make sure that you are commenting on the correct post. At the bottom of the post, after all the text and my signature, you will see "Post a Comment" and under it a big white text box. This is where you get to write your comments. (see the photo to the left)

In order to have your name published with the comment, you will need to choose one of the options in the "Comment as" section. The first 6 selections all have to do with ways people follow blogs. If you already use these services then you will probably know what they are so I won't bother explaining them.

If you have no clue what those first 6 mean, then odds are good that you don't use them and so we won't bother with them. Instead you can choose the bottom 2 options. Name/URL will allow you to comment and leave your name (just click on Name/URL and it will pop up a screen for you to enter your info. I recommend just leaving the URL blank) If for some reason, you would rather be anonymous then just click anonymous and no body will know who you are when you comment.



Does that make sense? Is there anything else you would like to know?