FIMBY Spring Housekeeping

April 20, 2010

I've noticed a few new names commenting as of late so I'm going to assume I may have new readers, or maybe just folks coming out of lurkdom (I lurk on other blogs also, so I understand). If you are new here, or been reading awhile, I want to show you around a bit and point out areas that have been updated recently.

Categories

Everything I write about falls under five general categories. These headings have evolved over the years and my current list looks like this:

• Mama Speak - family life at home, photography, personal thoughts, growing as a mama
• Homeschool - everything to do with how we homeschool
• Creative Homestead - homemaking, soapmaking, gardening & herbs with an emphasis on creativity and handmade
• Beyond My Back Yard - local life, the farm, being a part of global community, adventuring
• The View - book reviews, giveaways, answer to the questions you ask, blogging related stuff

If you take a look at the sidebar you'll see the categories there and if you click on the category, sub categories appear (or tags if you call them that). At the top of those sub categories is a repeat of the category name. Ie: if you click on Creative Homestead right underneath you'll see Creative Homestead again.

If you click that second title name you are taken to the page dedicated to that category. A page with its own sidebar links and resources that are not visible on the front page. I'm big into resources because I want this blog to have useful information, not just personal random thoughts. The pages with the most information are Creative Homestead (soap making links for example) and Homeschool, a veritable treasure trove of websites and book lists.

So you see there's a lot more than first meets the eye if you haven't looked around much.

Blogroll/Internet Reads

Also, I've just added the new sidebar Internet Reads to replace my blog roll. This list is being updated daily (it's a widget linked to my delicious so this is super easy to do) with great posts I've read that I think you all might enjoy.

I'm currently debating whether to enter the twitter fray again, which I'm still standing on the fence about, but until then I like this solution better. Anytime you read a post or visit my blog mainpage you'll see what inspiring finds I've read recently.

How to Find Content

A reader recently commented:

I also loved reading many of your older links. I'd love to backtrack more, but can't find an archive of your posts. (Help?)

In response to that question I'd like to point out the search function at the top right hand corner of the page (any page). If you type in one or two words from the title or from the post (ie: toothpaste) you'll pull up a list of related posts.

Or, you can use the sidebar to find the categories (as discused above) to look for specific posts. Also, all my most helpful (in terms of content) posts are archived in my resources sidebar on the front page, I'm currently working to make those resource pages more reader friendly. Homeschool Help is one that is done and well organized if I do say so myself.

But, I'd like to know from all of you - if you're still reading this - would a monthly archive be helpful? I don't have that because I never use them when I visit other people's blogs. Please do let me know.

Other places on the blog you might want to explore are the updated About & FAQ.  And please, if you ever have a question just contact me. I respond to each e-mail (sometimes it takes a little time but I will respond) and like to help with whatever I am able.

Thanks for reading this boring blah, blah, blah. Stay tuned because I have an spring sweet stuff post coming your way soon. Full of great links for your homemaking/homeschooling/personal growth/creative/community building pleasure!