Ooh… how meta.
So lately I’ve been trying to update some things on the blog. First, I finally got the recipe archive up to date. Then, I quickly outdated it again by posting new recipes (don’t worry – I’ll periodically update the archive).
After about a year of using (and loving) Disqus for the comment system, I just disabled it. Why? It doesn’t support comment numbering, and if you want to do a giveaway, you pretty much have to have comment numbers.
And boy, do I want to do a giveaway! Or several! I have four product reviews and giveaways “lined up” and I’m thrilled about them. I don’t plan to turn Joyful Abode into a “giveaway blog,” but if the products are relevant to my life and to the topic of domesticity, I don’t see why I shouldn’t review them or why you wouldn’t want to win them. Am I right?
In order to do reviews and giveaways, I had to figure out how to disable BlogHer ads when you go to certain posts. That took a bit of tweaking, but I did it!
And to keep the comments nice… I added plugins so that if someone replies to your comment, you’ll still get an email about it, plus if you have a blog, CommentLuv will pull your last blog entry and put a link to it with your comment (so you may get some more visitors that way!), and you can link your Twitter account to your comments so that I and others can follow you. Comments will still be threaded to keep conversations organized, and of course, they’ll be numbered this time so that I can do giveaways (winners will be chosen by Random.org by number).
I also updated my About page. Woo hoo! But I think it still needs tweaking. Please take a look at it and tell me what you think it needs… I think it needs… something.
Aaaand… I un-linked all of the broken links in my blog. Not that you’ll probably notice, but it’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.
Last night, I also set up a Facebook page for Joyful Abode! I was getting several friend requests on my personal account from you guys, so finally… I give you Joyful Abode on FB! If you like me, I mean… could you please LIKE like me on facebook too? Lots of love to my 67 fans on Facebook already!
All right, so now that you’re caught up, I have a little review post to write. Watch out for that!
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and brand new stay at home mom. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate on a budget, and keep a happy home. I breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
Twitter: babymakingmama
Yay!! Love all the work you’ve done! And I like this comment form better cause 99% of the time I’m reading your blog from my phone and I hate reading an entire post and not being able to tell you how much I love it
So this makes it possible for me to comment from my iphone, horray!
Excited to see more of the new stuff!
Baby Making Mama recently posted..Its Been a Fun Two Months
Twitter: ftjourney
The site looks good. On your About Me page, did you use a plugin to come up with the list of your most popular posts or did you do it manually? It’d be fun to see which of my blog posts of the past has received the most comments. I also like the link to add Twitter accounts.
Dallas recently posted..Road Trip Around the Slovenian Alps
Twitter: JoyfulAbode
I did it manually, looking at my google analytics stats. Sorry!
Twitter: thepaleochild
I am so proud of you (and impressed!) for keeping up with all the blog work when all you wanna do is spend time with your little girl.
Love seeing new posts, but I don’t mind things being a bit outdated in the recipe section. You have a reason! We really don’t mind, but thanks for thinking of your blog followers.
Twitter: thepaleochild
Strangely – my last blog post didn’t show up on this comment?
Whitney recently posted..Never forget
Twitter: JoyfulAbode
weird! but it showed up on this one!
Twitter: prenatalcoach
I just found your site. Looking forward to taking a closer look around and seeing what you have in store for us
Crystal – Prenatal Coach recently posted..Fertility Food Friday- Organic- Grass-Fed Liver