So here is a little peek behind-the scenes around here. You might have noticed that you haven’t been able to see my blog in your feed reader, on account of how someone hacked it. I don’t even know, y’all. What I do know is that talking about how much money I spent to have it fixed and yet still not have it be fixed some six weeks laters makes me want to cry. Please hold while I eat some more of this leftover Halloween candy. Halloween candy is a balm to my soul.
Anyhow, eventually I decided to just do the same thing that I do when I start feeling really overwhelmed about how messy my house is. Which is yank open all the junk drawers (plural) and start frantically tossing stuff. So basically I started over with a new site, which is why the archives no longer go back quite so far. Because it took a LOT of time and space to transfer all the nonsensical posts that I have been writing since 2005. I mean, I have been blogging for nearly a decade, y’all. My server was like WHOA. (It is very fond of Blossom.)
Don’t worry, I have hard copies of all those years of writing, because I have my blog printed each year so they are still here for my family to enjoy. And the new site offered some really cool features, like how I could put all of my free printables in one place, so you can just scroll through and download them all at a glance rather than paging through tons of old posts to find them all. So convenient!
Plus it allows me to separate my posts by category on the home page, so you can easily filter through and choose what you want to see or you can just bookmark the BLOG link and see the new post each day! I am hoping some of this tweaks and changes will make my site more user-friendly for you, because I appreciate that you spend time here each day!
During the month of November I tend to run a lot of giveaways in addition to my regular content to celebrate my favorite time of the year and give back to those of you who spend time reading here. I used to just ask companies to give stuff away but this year many will be sponsored to help offset the cost of running this site, which has seen a good bit of growth this year, probably thanks to that time The TODAY Show showed up at my house with like, 48 hours notice. And that is really awesome except how then my web hosting company was all “Yeah, you are going to have to upgrade your server” and I was all “Did not see that coming. And ouch.” I mean, a decade ago it was free for me to blog and now it costs me almost as much as my first car payment to maintain the site each month.
(Related: I still have that car, which I bought used when I was seventeen years old and it is still my daily driver. I am very loyal.)
November is also a month where I have the opportunity to partner with some amazing brands to develop fun DIY projects and recipes to share here. And since I mostly write about awkward encounters that I have whenever I go in public (like how apparently I have no idea how to appropriately cover myself for a massage) or cute stuff my kid says, fun giveaways and craft projects are my favorite way to collaborate with brands to keep the site running, so that I can keep my personal storytelling frequent and ad-free. This might be totally boring information but I just wanted to be totally transparent about the growing pains I’m having with the site right now. I love this space and the community here so I am trying my best to do it well.
Also Scarlette turns four this week so I am very sentimental and feeling all the feels and really love everyone so much right now for serious.
So pardon my dust as I move some things around and work out all the glitches! And check back later today for a really fun post in partnership with OREO!
And I seriously hope this showed up in your feed reader today. If it did, please tell me so that I can celebrate with even more Halloween candy. My three year old didn’t need all those Twix bars anyhow. And also, click through to browse around on the new site a bit! I think it’s really lovely, and that is a word I do not use often due to the fact that I feel like I can not really pull it off unless I am dressed in some sort of Downton Abbey attire. Which is something that I do not own nearly enough of, by the way.
