Tag: bloggers

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot: Autumn colors and vibes

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam4 Comments


It has been a beautiful week here in my neck of the woods. The temperatures have been perfect. For the last two days the sun has been shining.

Today I walked among the fallen leaves and while I was a bit sad that most of our leaves have already blown off the trees, it was nice to look at the few leaves that are left.

Welcome to this week’s Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot which I host with Marsha in the Middle and Melynda from Scratch Made Food For Hungry People.

Did you get a chance to visit all the links from last week? Or maybe you are new to the traffic jam? If you are new, please feel welcome to leave a link this week to a blog post of your own that was your favorite from this past week. Then please visit and comment on the other links and get to know the other bloggers who participate.

This is a fun way to meet new bloggers.

Our most clicked link from last week was:

Don’t Let Menopause and Body Image Issues Affect How You See Yourself by Women Living Well After 50.

My favorites for this week were:

Wordless Wednesday, Fall in New England by My Slice of Life


Falloween Home Tour by Debbie Dabbleblog

and

Healthy Halloween Snacks by Real Food Blogger

How about all of you? How has your week been? Anything exciting planned for the weekend? Let me know in the comments.





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Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! Add your links!

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Weekend Traffic Jam3 Comments

It is my second week co-hosting the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with Marsha in the Middle and Melynda from Scratch Made Food For Hungry People.

I hope all my blogger friends will add your link to a favorite post from your blog this past week or even from previous weeks (there’s really no time limit). It helps to share your work more and connect with more bloggers, which is why I enjoy it.

I felt a bit numb this week from the news in the world so it was a nice break to wander from blog to blog and read about fashion and tours of photogenic villages and food and anything else not related to heartbreaking topics.

Here are my favorite posts from the week:

My Slices of Life: Our Trip to the Zoo

The Copper Table: Pumpkin Scones With Maple Thyme Butter

Shelbee on the Edge: What In The World Is This Wonderfully Weird Weather?

And the post with the most clicks last week was:

Thrifting Wonderland:  A Little Art Deco In Your Fall

If you have a post you would like to share, do so at the link below:

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Saturday Chat: Zooma is better! Chilly days, playing with the kids, and some old photos

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Saturday Afternoon Tea14 Comments

This Saturday evening (because I couldn’t get this post finished before the afternoon was over) I am drinking chocolate almond beverage milk but then I’m going to drink some peppermint tea because our spring temps are low spring temps. It is cold and raining today. It is perfect weather for reading but I don’t know how much time I’ll have for reading since Little Miss has two little friends over and they can be a bit loud and like to try to get me to play with them.

When you were growing up, did you just play with your friends or try to get your parents to play with you? I don’t remember trying to get my parents to play with me. I just went off with my friends and played. No parents needed.

I think my husband created this trend with them when he started chasing them as a zombie one time when they were over. Now they want to play Zombie every time they come over and that entails one of us parents chasing them around the house while moaning and holding our arms out like we are a zombie that is going to get them.

I don’t mind playing a little with them, of course. It does get my exercise in for the day when I do it. I just don’t want to do it all day.

(Update to this part: I’m late posting this because the girls wanted to go to the neighbors’ trampoline and I need to watch them when they do that and there is no wifi out there on the porch. At least I didn’t have to chase them this time. Hee. Hee.).

This past week our Zooma the Wonder Dog fully recovered from the illness that struck her the week before. We were all so relieved. Zooma was very confused when we celebrated her climbing the stairs and jumping up on the bed, but she hadn’t been able to do those things for about a week, so it was worth celebrating to us.

Seeing her run around the yard the other night at full steam was wonderful too.

We learned our lesson too. We haven’t been slipping her any people food unless we know that it is fairly bland and won’t irritate her stomach. So, she does receive a few bites of chicken deli meat or plain chicken, but nothing else. We can’t go through that worry again. (Right after I wrote this, I literally gave her a bite of chicken that was seasoned without remembering it was seasoned. Oh boy! I hope it doesn’t cause an issue. I was thinking the plain chicken would be okay for her. Pray I didn’t make her sick again!)

Little Miss and I have been working on journals for the last couple of months to sell on Amazon. She designed a bunch of covers when she was recovering from her dental procedure so I thought it would be fun to put them up for sale for her on Amazon. Then I decided we would create a journal company for fun. She named it Rose Dove Journals so that’s what it’s called.

We are still waiting for quite a few to be approved by Amazon and I am designing some more prayer, devotional and sermon notes journals.

I don’t think we will sell a lot of journals, but we are having fun so why not try!

Don’t worry I’m not linking to them here. I don’t want my blog to be a full-time advertisement. That’s not why I started back to blogging. I just wanted to connect with other bloggers and have fun.

I used to blog when my son was young – about 14 years ago or more now. He’s going to be 17 this year. I can’t even believe it. When I blogged back when he was young I was called a “mommy blogger”. I wrote mostly about him and what he did and how he slept (or actually how he didn’t sleep) and what it was like to be a mom.

Then for a while I wrote about photography.

Now I just write about whatever strikes my fancy, so to speak.

Speaking of that saying “so to speak” – I use it often and don’t even know exactly what it means. I mean I guess it means “sort of” in a way? Such as, “I write about whatever strikes my fancy – sort of”? I don’t know what it means but it’s one of those sayings I think I use too often.

I also write “instead” and “of course,” too much in blog posts. Do you  have phrases you overuse?

Do you think I’m asking too many questions in today’s post? *wink*

Well, brace yourselves because I am going to ask another one. What beverages are you drinking this week?

Oh and one more – what’s the weather like where you are?

I hope you had a good week last week and have a better one this week.

Here are a few photos from today four years ago of my dad and the kids and Zooma. I can’t believe how different the kids look now!

A wake-up call about my writing

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings5 Comments

I’ve been writing novels since 2019 or so.

I started it as a fun endeavor to help take my mind off some lost friendships and my loneliness. I was lonely before those lost friendships because they really weren’t good friendships at all, but I didn’t realize how bad they were until they were gone.

A few times during this fiction writing journey, I got wrapped up and sad about not making money from my books. Silly, I know, since they are really stories I wrote for my blog readers more than they are books.

As the journey has continued, I have slipped in and out of those feelings, but have had more moments of simple gratitude – not for making money from selling my books because I’ve barely made any of that, but for the friendships and connections I’ve made through writing, either with the books or the blog.

The connections I’ve made through my blog and my books have meant so much more than money.

Those connections have literally been a lifesaver. I’m not exaggerating when I say that.

The encouraging messages, the offers of prayers, and even beautiful songs sent to me privately have sustained me through some very dark days, most recently, but also over the last three years.

Just a couple of weeks ago a follower/reader and now friend sent me this video that was such an important reminder to me. It literally left me in refreshing, needed tears.

The people I have met online came to me in a time when I had lost “real life” (as the saying goes) friendships and felt so lonely and alone.

I used to take the online connections for granted. These were only people I knew online, not really “knew-knew”. But behind that computer they are real people, like me, some of them also lonely or in dark places, and we are making connections, in many cases, on a heart level, not just a superficial virtual level.

I can’t imagine what I would do without all of your wonderful people who read my blog and my books and send me encouraging messages and are just there when I really need someone to be there.

You are appreciated much more than you could ever imagine.

The 500 subscriber milestone … exciting? A little.

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings20 Comments

I hit 500 subscribers to this blog at the end of last week.

On one hand that is pretty cool. On another hand I have a feeling some of those bloggers subscribe because they are looking for me to reciprocate. The issue is that many of those who subscribe never comment here so I have no idea who they are which means I’d probably never subscribe to their blog. I’m old school and think of blogging as a social activity of sorts. We exchange ideas or share a little bit of ourselves and others do the same in the comments.

I’d like to know who you all are, in other words so, please, feel free to introduce yourself in the comments. I love to get to know the bloggers who follow me. It was really nice to have some of you tell me about yourselves last week on the post where I shared about myself and the blog.

For those who are new to the blog, you may have noticed I blog a little bit a lot of things here. I share some posts about my faith (usually entitled Faithfully Thinking), I share fiction (usually on Fridays and sometimes on Thursdays), I share photographs, and I share what I’m reading/watching/doing on Sundays. In other words, I sort of share whatever comes to my mind at any given moment (scary, I know.).

If you are interested in reading some of my fiction you can find link to excerpts from my book A Story to Tell HERE and A New Beginning HERE. You can also follow my novels in progress, The Farmer’s Daughter (I’ve been publishing new chapters on Fridays) at the link of the top of the page (or HERE) and Fully Alive HERE.

Welcome to the new subscribers and hello to the old. Glad to have you visiting my corner of the world.

Looking back at February, ahead to March, and favorite posts from the blogosphere

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings20 Comments

February was a little bit of a crazy month. Normally it drags on because we are dealing with the winter blahs, but this year it flew by pretty fast because of house showings and then eventually the sale of our house. Now we are knee-deep, somewhat literally, in packing up the house and clearing out, some of which we had already started.

Weather-wise, the temps rose and fell throughout the month, which was wonderful for our sinuses and mood (she said sarcastically). It was like “We’re happy!” “Now we’re sad!” “We’re happy!” “Now we’re sad!” all month long.

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Looking ahead to March, there will be more packing and then the actual moving, with the plan to be in the new house by April 3. There will also be more homeschooling, somehow, in between all the packing and moving. So far, homeschooling is both a blast and completely aggravating. I’ve considered writing a post about homeschooling again, but, sad to say, I had some who looked down their noses at me for doing it so I hate to think they’ll read any posts about the struggles and gloat. I know, very immature of me to worry about what others think, but I’m still working on that.

I wrote a variety of blog posts on a variety of topics (which is why the word “ramblings” is in my blog name.)

I shared a few weekly round-ups:

 

I also shared several chapters of A New Beginning, and you can find the links to all of those HEREor at the top of the page.

I share a couple posts about faith:

I also wrote about:

 

I also enjoyed many posts by a variety of bloggers in February and I thought I would share them with you today in addition to my February review.

I loved all the photos and daily events with Derrick, but I especially loved this one he called The Horse Whisperer. The photos and story behind it were beautiful.

As always, I have to share one of Pete’s stories from Lunch Break Fiction, but this time I also get to share he has a book out. I just purchased it and I am so excited to read it! I loved this post from February entitled Metrics. If you haven’t read Pete’s short stories, you’re really missing out.

I like pretty much every post shared at My Life with Gracie so it’s hard to highlight just one, but I did like when John shared his copy of Doctor Doolittle with Gracie and the other chickens.

Mama’s Empty Nest shared this throwback post written from the perspective of her cat and it was hilarious and sweet.

Melinda Johnson wrote about Facebook Being a Stalker Boyfriend and she’s completely right. You all know my disdain for Facebook.

Bettie, one of my favorite bloggers, shares so many touching posts butthis one was interesting because it gave me the chance to hear her voice and more of her story. What a blessing!

I enjoyed this post by Heather Dawn about waking up on the wrong side of the bed (even with coffee!) because I could relate to it.

I could also relate to Autumn at Autumn Rain about her worry that she’s too late to blog, to write, to . . . well, whatever. And, no, Autumn, we are not too late. It’s never too late.

There is a lot interesting posts to digest at Our Little Red House, so I picked just one about her garden in the month of February. She gets to have a garden in February since she lives in Arizona.

This post from Becoming HIS Tapestry entitled Love Me; You Don’t have to Trust Me, hit home as there have been people in my life I haven’t fully trusted, but who I have loved.  Honestly, it might tip some of your preconceived notions about love right up on their head.

Some difficult, but important posts from the last month included:

This one on Storied Pathwayswhen she wrote about her grandmother, who is in the hospital, and who has meant to much to her. Get some tissues.

The Whole Truth Laid to Rest on A New Life was such a hard read, but just so necessary in a day and age where so many don’t respect life on the simplest, smallest levels. *trigger warning* This is the personal story of a woman who had an abortion years ago and is now facing the pain from that decision. No matter what you believe about the issue, this is her story and she has the right to that story as much as anyone else.

So, how about all of you? Read any good posts in February? Do some exciting things? Share links or stories in the comments and see you at the end of March for my March update (if I remember to do it or even have time with the move and yes, this post was supposed to be done for the end of February. Oops.).

 

Thank you to the 350 people who follow me and the people from 92 different countries that have visited me

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings13 Comments

I don’t look at my stats too often (she lies, trying not to look as vain as she sometimes, unfortunately, feels), but last week I noticed I had gained a few more followers (I think I’m up to 360, not tons, but a lot for little ole’ me). I’ve also been checking out where my visitors are from and was surprised to find that I have had visits to my blog from 92 different countries in the last year. I find it so interesting that my readers are from so many different countries. I also find it interesting there are this many countries in the world and that there are a few on my list I have never heard of (Maldives and Suriname, I’m looking at you).

The majority of my visitors, of course, come from the United States. In 2019, 8,262 visits were from Americans. I thought the second highest visitor count would be from Canada (I don’t know why since I don’t really post anything that would be exclusively interesting to Canadians) but instead India is in second place with 835 visits. Not that anyone really cares (about the same as about this entire post) but rounding out the top five countries where my visitors came from were Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. Off-topic, but I only know one Australian and I think she’s too busy homeschooling her brood to even check out my blog so I don’t think those Australian hits are from her. I actually met her while blogging 13 years ago on a different blog (a mommy blog). There is some unimportant and unnecessary trivia for you.

I think some of my followers are simply looking for reciprocal follows on their blogs, which is the nature of the social media culture we find ourselves in these days. Many of my followers author blogs about psychology or mental health, which really isn’t a surprise considering my mental health is pretty unstable most days. I’m sure people who know me in real life aren’t surprised I’m being stalked by mental health experts (or self-proclaimed experts).  They are probably expecting to find some business through me. Ha! But maybe some are following because they are actually interested in the ramblings of the girl from the boondocks (no, really, they want business.)

Some people probably follow me based on my posts about faith, some because of the fiction, maybe some for the photography (though those posts have been sporadic at best lately), and maybe some for the ramblings about creativity. Most bloggers say you need a niche for your blog (I heard the same from the photography world) but being random can pay off too.

Sure, I don’t have the following of other, high-profile bloggers, but I really don’t mind that. I like my small little corner of the blog world. If I did start to accumulate a high amount of followers, I’d probably delete this blog/site and start another one. I share for fun, not for attention. I mean, a little attention is okay and nice, but a lot of attention? No thank you!

I have never looked at a social media “influencer” (whatever that is), or someone famous and felt envy, wishing I could have people pay attention to me like they do them. I mean, can you imagine having all that attention on you in this highly political, always offended, always ready for a fight environment? Blogging or sharing wouldn’t be fun anymore. Instead, it would be like walking into a minefield and hoping you don’t set off a row of landmines that destroy your life and your love of writing.

In other non-important stat information from my blog for 2019 and 2020:

I had a total of 11,351 views in 2019 and 6,904 visitors (this doesn’t add up with how many views I received from different countries, but I think that total was 2019 and 2020);

161 blog posts (not many by most standards);

2,067 views from WordPress;

1,870 views from Facebook;

and a handful from other sites.

In 2020 I’ve had:

3, 544 views;

1,986 visitors;

and 49 blog posts (which actually seems like a lot for it only being the end of February).

So, if you are a blogger, do you keep track of your stats? I don’t normally, so if you don’t, that’s good with me. If you do, that’s cool too! Let me know in the comments (if you want to, of course).

Round ‘Em Up. Biweekly blog round-up.

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Weekly Favorites15 Comments

There have been so many good blog posts this week around the blogosphere. I’m excited to share some of them with you, and some of my own, for this week’s Round ‘Em Up.

On the blog here for the last couple of weeks, I focused on a lot of different subjects, including:

As for some other awesome blog posts from other bloggers this week:

How about you? Have you found any interesting blog posts that you would like to share this week? Either from you or someone else? Let me know in the comments and leave me a link!

Round ‘em up! Weekly blog roundup

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Weekly Favorites2 Comments

There were so many good blog posts this week around the blogging community and I’m excited to share them with you on my weekly round up. As usual, I’ll provide a link to my blog posts from the past week or so as well, but this week I want to focus on some cool bloggers I follow or have discovered.

Pete at Lunch Break Fiction does it again with The Gift. Do yourself a big favor. If you aren’t following Pete’s blog yet go over right now and “click” follow. You won’t regret it. It’s full of touching, awesome, engaging short stories.

Manitoba Mom, hanging out up there the frozen Canadian tundra (just kidding about it being frozen. I think.) always gives me a lot to chew on and think about, in a fun and entertaining way, mixed in with some deep thoughts as well. This one about five tips on how she plans to manage the cold winter months coming up in January and February is one I can relate to because I struggle terribly with keeping my sanity in the winter months. We’ve been lucky to have a stretch of warmer days but the darkness is still here and I know the cold will soon make its return.

For His Purpose wrote about developing patience with people who are sometimes difficult to deal with and I could absolutely relate to this, especially since I used to work with people daily when I worked for smalltown newspapers. For this post, she’s been dealing with a particularly challenging person in her personal life, and again, I can completely relate to struggling to show a person like this the love of Christ, when all we really want to do is run screaming away. (I have a feeling I might be that person for other people  . . . hmmmm).

Bettydraper offered this lovely post about the day she became a Christian and how it ties into the real meaning of Christmas so perfectly.

I’m pretty sure I already shared links to some of Our Little Red House’s 12 days of Christmas craft posts, but just in case, here is another one. What ingenious ideas she’s had or gleaned from others over the years to recycle objects and turn them into beautiful Christmas ornaments or decorations. She offers other unique craft ideas throughout the year as well.

The Feet of A Messenger offered this look back at 2019 and how much she’s changed and grown in 2019 and also how far she still has to go. Trust me, I could relate to this (as you know by reading some of my more whiney blog posts earlier this year.)

I’ve also been discovering some new fiction writers who blog serial stories, or short fiction pieces, this week which is exciting for me since I’ve been blogging my own fiction since May.

I bumped into BeetleyPete who is in the midst of a serial story about a murder mystery. I’m heading back to the beginning to catch up on this one since the parts I started to read intrigued me already.

I’m also intrigued by Rachel Smith’s fiction and can’t wait to delve into her stories this week.

As for my blog posts in the last week or so:

So what have you been up to on your blog and otherwise? Read or write any good posts you would like to share? Leave a link in the comment section and I’ll share them in my next Blog Roundup (which I hope to make a bi-weekly post, or weekly if I have enough posts to share each week).

Lisa R. Howeler is a writer and photographer from the “boondocks” who writes a little bit about a lot of things on her blog Boondock Ramblings. She’s published a fiction novel ‘A Story to Tell’ on Kindle and also provides stock images for bloggers and others at Alamy.com and Lightstock.com.