Blogging

Remember Chuck?

Yes, Chuck is here to visit again. With less chupachups this time, and instead, pins and thimbles. Actually, I should have asked what on earth I was meant to do with pins and thimbles. I didn’t poke myself in the fingers with them, so that’s always a bonus, right? Right?

Anyway, Chuck is on tour and at the moment, he is visiting Tasmania. Not the fun bits of Tasmania mind, just my part of it. I’ll all broken and stuff, so leaving the house to take Chuck sightseeing is a bit beyond me.

ANYWAY!

Tasmania.

First we took Chuck over to see the ducks. They weren’t impressed with him.

We decided that swimming at this time of year probably wasn’t a good idea. And the ducks didn’t like the idea of someone swimming in their water.

Chuck climbed a tree and, like a cat, managed to get himself firmly stuck. It’s the wrong time of year for cherries anyway and I did try and tell him that.

Even naughtier, he tried to climb the fence and get into the cow pasture.

I probably should have warned him that it’s an electric fence. He soon found out anyway. Poor Chuck.

The cows weren’t impressed either, although they were curious.

Having utterly failed to impress any of the Tasmanian animals he had met, he stomped back over towards the house. Only to find himself stuck in a patch of long grass. Being 8 inches tall isn’t fun for anyone involved.

We had a look around the garden, before Chuck got himself stuck AGAIN.

It’s true though, broad beans and cauliflower are almost like a jungle. An edible jungle. Without too many poisonous creatures.

Chuck did discover a few things while he was here though.

1) Animals don’t like him much.

2) Small children delight in trying to steal his t-shirt.

3) Australia Post is great at losing all your bags containing the chupachups. Unfortunately, he was dropped into a chupachup free zone here and it was torture. Apparently. So I hear. Over the crunching of my …. oh my, I’m not eating chupacups. Ahem. Never mind. He wasn’t eating them anyway.

If you’re interested, you can follow chuck on tour via his facebook page! Who knows, you might even see this post there.

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This post is part of a competition that I am hoping to win.

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Or, do them now if you haven’t already.

I’ve noticed I’ve got some new bloggers following Sleepless Nights now (hello!) and thought that I’d repost this. Originally I posted it in the forum at Aussie Mummy Bloggers (where you don’t have to be a mummy blogger, or an Aussie to join) but thought someone out there might benefit from the info too. It’s handy info and if you enjoy it, I might occasionally post more blogging stuff here.

Seven things you should do while your blog is new.

#1 – Sign up for Technorati and add your blog. Technorati used to hold more weight, as it was the only blog ranking system, but even though less attention is paid to it, it’s invaluable to have your blog listed and gaining authority. Most blog ranking engines (Top 100 Aussie Women Bloggers for one) will still use Technorati to work out rank.

#2 Submit your blog to Google. Google is fantastic for driving search engine traffic to your blog.

#3 Sign up for Feedburner. Absolutely necessary for obsessive stat checking.

#4 Get a dedicated email address solely for blog related things and display it openly on your website. I’m not sure how many times I’ve gone to email someone, only to discover I can’t find an email for them. Very annoying. People need to be able to contact you. I’d advise NOT using hotmail, as eventually, they will impose a send/receive email limit and it will drive you batty. It’s apparently to combat spammers, but if you’re trying to email someone and can’t, spammers will be the last people you want to throw stones at.

#5 Sign up for a stat tracking service. Statcounter offers a good free service that I use and adore.

#6 Use Google Reader or Bloglines to keep track of all your bloggy friends updating. So much easier than clicking a link every single day to see if someone has updated.

#7 and finally, subscribe to someone who knows blogging like a business and can tell you how to do it better. Sometimes the advice won’t be relevant, but other times, you will wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. I recommend Problogger for one.

What would you suggest that I’ve missed?

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So, I’ve been watching all my friends strip their makeup off and show themselves bare for everyone to see.

And I wanted to do it, but I canNOT take photos of my face with my DSLR, I end up photographing the curtain behind me or focusing on the lightbulb. Not great. So I thought some more and wondered what I could photograph instead.

But you know, no one wants to see my post baby belly, nor a photo of my naked feet. Promise, you don’t.

AND THEN!

I realised, you know my avatar photo? Guess what? That was taken after dinner on a day when we’d not left the house, so not only have I not got any makeup on, but I probably haven’t brushed my hair either. (I do run my fingers through it and tie it back, but meh)

So, here I am, naked of makeup. Thanks to Nathan for the photo, taken while I was sitting at this very computer.

Obviously I was having a ‘good skin day’.

So that’s me, naked of makeup.

Thanks to Mummy Mayhem for coming up with the idea! (and yes, I know I’m a day late. Shush in the back)

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Remember waaaay back on April Fools Day, I mentioned that Sleepless Nights had gotten a sponsorship from Ferrero Rocher? April fools joke, definitely.

However, a knock on the door yesterday morning revealed my postman, trying desperately to not get licked to death by Susie. It seems, SOMEONE heard my plea for a ferrero sponsorship and sent me a box full of them.

So, like I promised, her button is now up on my sidebar and she is an official sponsor.

As for me, I’ll just be here, like normal, only now, I’ll be filled with velvety chocolate goodness.

Thankyou Kristin, the internet is an awesome place to live nowadays.

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Kristin’s button goes up and joins Warsaw Mommy who is also sponsoring me. If you’d like to be a sponsor and get random shoutouts here, then send me an email and we’ll talk. Write. Whatever. Something. Prices are good, promise.

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