seen around the web

I wanted to try something a bit different this week with my link round up. I was struck by the thought that reading something useful first thing on a Monday morning can change the course of your whole week. Of course, just because I think something is useful doesn't mean you will, but I'm hoping you'll enjoy reading these links anyway.

Cornflake Choc Chip cookies  |  taste  |  these were a favourite of Chloe's when she was little, but I haven't made them for years. It's time to change that.

Writing Your Way To Happiness  |  nytimes  |  the therapeutic benefits of journalling are well documented. I've solved many a bad mood by writing it out.

52 Things Ideas for Writers in 2015  |  huffpo  |  whether you consider yourself a writer or blogger, there are some great ideas here to keep your writing.

Meeting in the Middle  |  coffee and crumbs  |  parenting is hard. Parenting with a partner is always a fine balance of sharing.

two self-care myths sabotagingyour ME time  |  abundant mama  |  "when we love ourselves enough to nourish ourselves in a way that leaves us feeling more relaxed, we can be more kind, more loving, more playful and more healthy"

just start blogging  |  bloggers and bacon  |  even without the awesome URL, Vanessa knows her stuff, and serves it up first thing in the morning, in bite size chunks.

What have you been reading this week?

linking up with Calm to Conniption for the Ultimate Rabbit Hole link up.

Digital Parents Australia Blog Carnival {May 2014}

Welcome to the Digital Parents Australia Blog Carnival for May 2014! I've been a member of DPA for a very long time (but not very active), so I was beside myself with excitement when I snagged the opportunity to host this month! Happy Sunday reading!

{In no particular order, except the order I see them on the form}

Health the greatest gift you can give! 21 ways to encourage your kids to love being active! from Happy Parenting  twitter  |  facebook

How we can change the way we view and promote our health & our children's health by getting active with our kids.

Why Miss 8 ate up her dinner even though she said she didn't like it from Brenda Janschek Health & Lifestyle  twitter  |  facebook

An exploration about how dinnertime is not always smooth sailing and how we deal with it.

"Find My Phone" Worked! from Denyse Whelan Blogs  twitter  |  facebook

Recently I attended Sydney Writers Festival at Walsh Bay.I had a great time until I got home and realised "I've LOST my phone!" Here's how I got it back. 

Where have all the Good Guys Gone? from Where The Wild Things Are  twitter 

Dismay at the 2014 Budget as a reflection of the change in Australian values. What made us great appears to be no more.

Paleo Almond Satay Chicken from Food, Glorious Friendly Food  twitter  |  facebook

Grain free and dairy free - a scrumptious alternative to 'normal' Satay that the whole family will love!

 A Letter to my Son About Elliot Rodgers from Dadinating the Countryside  twitter  |  facebook

The recent mass shooting in the US made me think about how to talk to my kids about such tragedies. My son is 2, so I wrote a letter to him for when he is older. 

Wanderlust from My Brown Paper Packages  twitter  |  facebook

I am a self diagnosed sufferer and started a group therapy session #wednesdaywanderlust for others who have a strong desire to travel

From the cradle from Talking Frankly  twitter  |  facebook

We make decisions for our children based on what we as individuals believe.... and that's kind of the point

Life on the spectrum ~ In pictures. from The Hesitant Housewife  twitter  |  facebook

A collection of photos capturing everyday life with a child on the autism spectrum. 

Thyroid Brain Training from Thyroid Living  twitter  |  facebook

One of the many frustrating symptoms of a problematic thyroid is the brain fog or forgetfulness. Here are some ideas to help with your memory. 

Tucker Tuesday: Recipe ~ Homemade French Onion Soup Mix from Becci's Domestic Bliss  facebook

In an effort to reduce the amount of premade foods we consume regularly, I decided to make my own French Onion Soup mix and it was awesome!

Returning: The Official Book Launch from Francesca Writes Here  twitter  |  facebook

This post describes the official launch of my debut novel, Returning! 

10 Lessons I Learned About Blogging in the Past Year from Denise Mooney  twitter  |  facebook

Just a few of the lessons I've learned about blogging in the past 12 months: Don't be a lone ranger; it doesn't have to be perfect and develop your own style.

Razor Review Video from Fast Lane Dad  twitter  |  facebook

My first video review of anything! I tried to make it funny but that's down to you guys to decide.
It's good for faces, legs and any other part of your anatomy you'd care to use it.

My career from You Learn Something New Every Day  twitter  |  facebook

My career means a lot to me. Despite what some people think. Ranty pants are on for a discussion of parental judgy judgersoning.

My First Job Interview from Two Little Humans and Me  twitter  |  facebook

What do you do when you very first job interview isn't quite what you thought? 

Life And Its Lemons from The Mother Load Australia  twitter  |  facebook

A little post about facing challenges and how they can hit when you least expect it.  

How Confident are You? from The Plumbette  twitter  |  facebook

Why are some women able to pursue their dreams and others cower at the thought of taking a risk? I write about how my experiences in my career have helped build my confidence and how you can build yours

What Defines A Sponsored Blog Post? from Easy Peasy Kids  twitter  |  facebook

Discussing the honesty in sponsored blog posts. Should everything be disclosed? 

4 Long Style Tops to Wear with Leggings from Style On V  facebook

I have gone shopping online with 4 different long style tops to wear with leggings.

That Awkward Moment when you can't understand your own kid. from Preschool Mummy  facebook

Something mystical happens when you become a mother. You become somewhat of a “kid-whisperer”. But what happens when they stump you? Embarrassment and confusion ensues!  

10 tips to survive shopping with kids from The Kids Menu  twitter  |  facebook

Here are 10 tips to survive shopping with kids. Make no mistake this is not a guide to make shopping with kids enjoyable, just bearable – good luck


Retirement: It's Like Extended Maternity Leave Minus the Baby, Right? from Seeing the Lighter Side of Parenting  twitter  |  facebook

Retirement seems like a looong way away. Here's help for Mums with bubs to visualise it. 

An easy way to get a photo of your kids together from Mum the Photographer  facebook

A simple tip from Mum the Photographer to get a nice photo of your kids together ... no matter what their ages! 

Salted Nutella and White Chocolate Mug Cake from The Flying Drunken Monkey  twitter  |  facebook

I share my recipe for Salted Nutella and White Chocolate Mug Cake. Yup, yummy, gooey cake that you can make in just 5 minutes!

Black plum and roasted fig frozen yoghurt with maple cones from Sweet Natured Kitchen  twitter  |  facebook

A recipe for homemade maple ice cream cones and instructions on how to turn Rachel's Yoghurt into a lovely frozen yoghurt. 

Getting Mumma's Mojo Back from Tully&Mishka  facebook

Talking about finding my mojo again, as a stay at home mum to two under 3. And whilst having little sleep for the last twelve months!  

Does Anything Test A Woman's Love More Than Man Flu? from My Midlife Mayhem  twitter  |  facebook 

How many women have had to play nurse to a man who think's he's dying from the flu, when it's nothing more than a cold?  

Why Emma Watson is the Perfect Role Model from Barbie, Bieber and Beyond - Raising Girls  twitter  |  facebook

Why do our girls want to emulate such celebrities as the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus, when they should be following the example of actress Emma Watson. Why does the media fill all their entertainment reports with the antics of undesirable celebrities, when they should be reporting the achievements and behaviour that our girls should should strive to achieve themselves.  

Housework and my awesome days from The Windmill Paddock  twitter  |  facebook

Laughing at how silly it is now at home with kids, after 10 years full time work that I judge an awesome day by how much housework I get done.  

The whinge (kitchen remix) from Muwa  

How do YOU cope with a whingy, whiney toddler?  

Thirteen Ways You Can Survive this Budget from Pinky Poinker  twitter  |  facebook

A humorous take on how we can all save money in the household.  

The "Real Woman" Myth from Kylie Purtell - A Study in Contradictions  twitter  |  facebook

Real women have curves.
Real women are fit and healthy.
Real women drink wine and only eat bacon.
For the love of baby cheeses, I call BULLSHIT on the "Real Woman" myth!  

The Upside? of being Coeliac from Gluten Free Hart  twitter  |  facebook

An insight into the Coeliac world  

Arsenal for navigating the baby daze from Nee Sayer  twitter  |  facebook

There are some things money can’t buy when it comes to getting you through the baby daze (aside from a nanny, a personal trainer and a chef, of course!) 

Cobar, NSW from Camper Trailer Travels  facebook

Cobar is a small mining town in outback NSW that has a fascinating history of gold and copper mining and lots to see and do.  

Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcake Recipe from Checks and Spots  twitter  |  facebook

This Sugar-Free Chocolate Cupcake Recipe is so yummy you won't even notice the sweet stuff is missing!  

A Writer's Life from Open Spaces  twitter  |  facebook

Sharing a little insight on what it's like inside a writer's life and what it is that appeal to so many who aspire to calling themselves a writer. 

To my grown up children from Middle Class Mummas  twitter  |  facebook

It's a letter to my children when they first have their children. This is a part of a challenge I have partaken in to better my way of thinking towards my parenting. I hope to encourage other mothers to do the same!  

Dear Chloe | today you are sixteen from me  facebook

Things I'd tell my daughter on her sixteenth birthday 

the lounge | first post

linking up to The Lounge at RoboMum

this week's theme tied in nicely with my blog-birthday yesterday.

my very first blog post can be found all the way over here

for a yummy muffin recipe, and my second post, head over here

for more archive-browsing, check yesterday's post for a great roundup of six years of evolving writing

day 21 | favourite posts

Reading my old posts is something I don't do very often, although the whole purpose of keeping this online space is to capture the memories. But every now and again I'm reminded of something that I know I wrote about, and I set off to hunt it out. I follow the trail of links from one post to another, and soon I'm smiling, laughing, remembering those moments, exactly like I'm supposed to!

As you can imagine, almost 6 years and over 1000 posts means there's a lot to trawl through when deciding on favourite posts. Including simple posts like this shows where I started from.

And I've obviously been asking why others blog for a long time.

And my kids behaviour has driven me mad for a long time

There's Natalie's first steps

This recipe for chicken filo with spinach and feta is still the.most.clicked.ever. post

There's the post reminder about the day Chloe left.

And the scrapbook page I did when I discovered I was pregnant with Riley.

There's round up posts that make me smile

And round up posts that make me wish things were different

There's the start of a series

And a reminder that I haven't been taking note of changes

There's firsts

And posts that still make me cry

There's the reminder of how close we came to losing it all

And a definition of housework

There's insightfulness

There was a teenager under our roof for a while

And posts about creative growth

There's words to my husband

And to my daughter

There's product reviews

And tutorials

And lots and lots of recipes {milo slice is still a favourite}

There's snippets of life

And changes of plan

And so much of our lives poured into this little space.

How often do you re-read your old posts?

seen around the web

I've pinned lots of stuff about blogging this week, including this one from MomComm, about why bloggers shouldn't fear affiliate links; and this one about how to generate QR codes (I saw somewhere that someone used QR codes in their Project Life binder, to link to blog posts. What a great idea!)

There's a sponsor-introduction-post up at Campfire Chic. And some great reads from other sponsors, including this reminder from Sonya at Brighid's House; and this post about a first time camper from Amanda at City Spirit.

Did you see the new editions of Project Life released this week? I signed up for Project Real Life at BPC, but now that I've seen Elise Blaha's Seafoam edition, I think I'll wait for it to be released, and do the class with freebies from around the web.

And I just found out that Amy Tangerine is in Australia. In fact, she'll be at my local Spotlight next Thursday. But husband has the day off, and we're going camping the next day. Although I do want some of her day books.

Have you seen anything interesting this week?

read | links from the weekend

I love reading weekend roundups on other blogs, and often find things I want to read again and remember. The links from this weekend were some of my favourites.

 {source}

The Creative Mama shared a link to this post from Stacey Woods. I followed the links, and ended up reading this post from Tara Whitney (which summed how I was feeling), and this post from Hayley at Tiny Twig, which reminded me to stop trying to do it all. Hayley's follow-up post reminded me of those words I wrote back in 2009 - the things you love ARE the things that need to get done.

Nat started school a couple of weeks ago. Our school curriculm has changed this year to a national approach - all states teaching the same work to all children. But this doesn't sit well with me at the moment, and reading this post didn't ease my mind. (sorry, I didn't note where the link came from. Maybe Simple Mom, maybe Life... Your Way) I also downloaded the Creativity Matters book, and purchased the Parenting with Positive Guidance book.

Somewhere around the traps, I clicked on an add in a sidebar, and ended up at Simply Add Coffee. I love the idea of just inviting people over to spend time with them (I have never apologised for the mess, so that part I just glossed over). I seemed to always have visitors in the days before kids, but now not so much. (or maybe that is related to the whole lack-of-friends-thing)

You might have noticed I didn't share a layout yesterday. I was feeling a bit stumped for ideas (although I have mountains of inspiration in my cupboard), and exhausted, so I took the day off. This post shares that it is ok to stare at the sky sometimes.

Lastly, I was intrigued by this idea over at Journey to Bliss. I'm working on my post in response

it's all in the numbers

A couple of years ago, I added a sitemeter counter to my blog. It lasted about 6 months before I deleted it, because I became obsessed with checking out my numbers on an almost daily basis... and most of the hits on my blog were from me, cause I had stuffed up adding the code and it counted every visit I made!

About 4 months ago I decided to have a go at tracking numbers again - all the "pro" blogs I read recommend it for business reasons, and I thought "why not", but I couldn't figure out how to add the code to my blog (the way I read the information was that you had to add the code to every blog post - with over 400 posts, that scared me!)

Then Design House Digital shared a blog post via facebook with a step by step tutorial on how to add the analytics code! In less than five minutes I was up and running!

It has been interesting "checking the numbers". I limit myself to no more than once per week, but because I really don't understand the numbers I can go for two weeks or more without checking. The most interesting number to me is the keyword search - the most searched for words that lead people to my blog are "chicken and spinach filo" and variations of, leading people to a post I wrote just over two years ago.

I've had this post in my head for a few weeks, but was prompted to finally write it when I saw this post from Sister Diane at CraftyPod - I'm hoping to learn some new stuff about google analytics.