Month: September 2010

Categories
Fulfillment

Feeling Fulfilled Fridays 7 & 8

It’s feeling fulfilled Friday on MamaBlogga! Here’s how it works:

  1. Make a list of things that make you feel accomplished (but aren’t so huge that they take more than a day or a week)
  2. During the week, try to focus on those things that help us feel accomplished
  3. Report on feeling fulfilled Friday

Man. I just realized that I’d worked so hard on last week’s post—but never pushed Publish. Arg!

This week: I’m adding something new to my list of things that feel accomplished. Even though I’m an introvert (or possibly because I’m an introvert), taking the kids out for errands and/or something fun makes me feel accomplished.

Monday, I wanted to pick up some new conditioner and milk and eggs (conveniently forgetting the fact that Ryan bought a fresh dozen on Saturday). There was also a pet store and a book store that often has inexpensive kids’ books and activities, so I added those to our trip. And yesterday, I took the kids to play in one of the play areas of the mall.

Taking the kids out also guarantees that we’ll all get dressed and we’ll get away from the computer and the television. (I swear those things have tractor beams!)

Last week:
This week has had some of my highest recent moments of motherhood—and my lowest moments ever.

This week, a family member took me aside to praise me on how well I’m working with Hayden. He’s a pretty typical four-year-old, I hope. He throws several tantrums a day and the most common response to not getting what he wants the second he wants it is to fly off the handle.

(Ahem. No idea where he gets it.)

And every once in a while, I can look like I’m handling it well. Now that makes me feel accomplished!

What’s made you feel accomplished this week?

Categories
Fulfillment Kids/Parenting

No work at home Mom

My dad saw me in the comics (he does this fairly regularly), and I happened to track down the page. I really loved what the comic strip writer/artist had to say about this:

There were times when I actually sat down and tried to figure out what I actually accomplished during the day. With so many demands on a Mom's time, it was hard to account for the hours. I looked forward to evenings when the kids were in bed, so I could work. I looked forward to holidays and weekends, so I could work. Doing a daily comic strip took an amazing amount of time and I needed to be alone when I was writing. I could draw with life going on around me, but the kids soon learned to ask for cookies and ice cream. When I wasn't able to concentrate. I usually said “yes”!

Isn't it strange that we call an actual paying job “work” and don't consider raising children hard work as well. I confess, being a good mom is one of the most challenging JOBS on the planet!!

via For Better or For Worse Comic Strip by Lynn Johnston..

(Yet another reason to strive for things that make you feel accomplished!)

What did you get done today?

Categories
Kids/Parenting

By popular demand

(And by popular, I mean three out of three of my sisters demand more pictures of) My children:


Hayden was beating something imaginary and wanted me to take a picture.


I set up my old computer and Hayden was SOOO happy. (Then the power supply started having a problem due to Hayden’s obsession with using as many extension cords/”wight fings” (power strips) as possible, so it’s currently not hooked up.)


Still lovin Pinky


Trying on Rachel’s clothes


She really wanted to check out this book from the library. It was a few days before I figured out why she called it “Wobby hoot”:


Peek!


Making her preferences known. (She was fascinated with his shirt and kept pawing it.)


Tummy time!

Categories
Fulfillment

Feeling fulfilled Fridays 6

It’s feeling fulfilled Friday on MamaBlogga! Here’s how it works:

  1. Make a list of things that make you feel accomplished (but aren’t so huge that they take more than a day or a week)
  2. During the week, try to focus on those things that help us feel accomplished
  3. Report on feeling fulfilled Friday

This week I happened to come across my list again and reread it. (The last couple weeks I’ve been working from memory.) I’d forgotten that many of the things I had on my list were so simple.

And I think that’s the bottom line of this exercise: recognizing the simple things in motherhood that make us feel good, like we’ve done something productive, and focusing on those things.

Motherhood isn’t about doing—but most of motherhood is doing. If we can do more of the things that make us feel good about what we’re doing, I hope we can feel better about what we’re doing as a whole.

Edited to add: Lindsey’s feeling fulfilled!

What do you think? What makes you feel accomplished? Are we ready to participate?

Categories
MetaBlogging

Setting up WordPress on Bluehost

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Set up WordPress on BlueHost

For a while I’ve offered a free PDF on how to set up WordPress on BlueHost to people who sign up for BlueHost with my affiliate link. But now I’m going to spread the love: I’m publishing all of the PDF here in a series on setting up a WordPress blog on BlueHost! So if you’ve been waiting to put your blog on BlueHost because you were worried about the technical stuff, this might be the perfect time!

BlueHost is one of WordPress’s recommended hosts and I’ve been with them for years. I definitely recommend BlueHost as a hosting company—and setting up WordPress on BlueHost just got easier. Disclosure: While I am a paying customer of BlueHost, I am also an affiliate for them. I receive a small percentage of any hosting purchase you make after clicking on the links to BlueHost in these articles.

Initial Setup Steps

If you did not register your domain through BlueHost, you will most likely have to set your nameservers. If, for example, you used GoDaddy to register your domain, login to GoDaddy. Click on the domain name you’re using with BlueHost. Once you get to the domain page, there is a button for Nameservers—click on it. A popup window will appear. Select “I host my domains with another provider.” The nameservers are set to something like “NS46.DOMAINCONTROL.COM.” Set the name servers to BlueHost name servers:

NS1.BLUEHOST.COM

NS2.BLUEHOST.COM

Each of these name servers should be on a separate line. There should be no other name servers. If your confirmation email from BlueHost listed other name servers, use those instead. Select “OK” to save your selection.

Once the nameservers have been set, it may take up to 48 hours for these settings to propagate around the web, so you may have to wait until you can access your website.

Login to BlueHost

Once your name servers have taken effect, you’ll be able to login to BlueHost from http://www.yourdomain.com/cpanel using your username and password. If you didn’t set your username to something specific, your user name is usually the first eight characters of your domain. You can also login from BlueHost’s homepage using your domain name and password. (All of this should be included in the information that BlueHost sent you when you signed up.)

This should take you to your website’s control panel or cPanel:

Once you’ve logged in to your cPanel, you will want to complete the Getting Started Wizard that pops up if it’s your first time in your cPanel. This will help you understand many of the ins and outs of BlueHost and the cPanel as well as set up your first e-mail account(s).

Set Up WordPress

Once you’re into the cPanel home, look under Software / Services to find Simple Scripts.

Click on Simple Scripts, which is an auto installer that vastly simplifies using many applications. (You can also use the Find box in the upper left hand corner—just type in “Simple Scripts” and it will show up in the right panel.) On the Simple Scripts page, there’s a list of software that it can install for you. Under Blogs, click on WordPress (circled in red below).

This will take you to a page with information about WordPress. Click on the green Install button to begin your new installation. (Even if you’ll be importing a blog from another platform, you don’t want to use the Import an Existing Installation option.)

Note that the right hand side of the page also has screen shots of a few steps in WordPress.

After you click Install, you’ll go to the first step of the installation.

Under Step 1, select the most recent (highest number) version with (Stable) beside it. For Where would you like your WordPress installed?, if you have more than one domain or subdomain on BlueHost, select from the pull-down menu. The second box is for if you want a your blog to be in a directory. I advise against this if your blog is the main portion of your site. In fact, WordPress has the ability to create pages and subdirectories to maintain the look and feel throughout your site. Unless your blog is truly tangential or not a significant part of your site, I recommend installing your blog in the root directory. To do this, leave the second box empty.

Under Step 2, click on Click here to display>

This will let you set options including the name of your website. Note that these can also be set or changed from inside WordPress.

Under Please give your new site a name, type in the name for your website. The site name is automatically set to “My Blog,” but you’ll probably want to change this. If your blog has a name or general title, or if you’re renaming your blog (especially to match your domain name), put it here. This title will appear in the header (both coded and visual) of every page of your blog.

Leave the next checkbox unchecked. Set the username and password to something you can easily remember. You may use your name or pseudonym as your username. This is what you’ll use to log in to WordPress, so it’s important to keep this information handy.

Leave the checkbox by Automatically create a new database checked.

Under Step 3, read the terms and license and check the checkbox. Then click the green Complete button.

You’ll go to a set up screen, which you can close if you want. If you stick around, you get the success message as well as links to your WordPress login:

Your site URL is what you set it to in Step 1, and your username and password are what you set them to in Step 2. The Login URL is your site URL with wp-admin added to the end (for WordPress administration). If you just barely set your name servers, it may take a while for them to be set; otherwise, you’ll be able to log in to WordPress using the address, username and password listed there. This information is also emailed to you.

Note: WordPress periodically releases updated versions of its software. To update an installation, go back to Simple Scripts. Your installed scripts are listed above the Script List, and you’ll have the option to update them. Click on the Upgrade Available link to update your blog. There is a potential for this to cause some problems with your blog or to reset some settings, so do backup your blog before updating. Because Simple Scripts’ upgrades are incremental, you may have to repeat the process if your installation is very old and you want to update to the latest version. Always deactivate all plugins before updating your WordPress installation.

Your blog is now set up. If you go to your website, you should now see the default template for WordPress. Naturally, you’ll probably want to select or commission a custom theme. (Next week!)

Ready to take the plunge? Sign up for hosting with BlueHost and set up your WordPress blog today!

Categories
Fulfillment

Feeling Fulfilled Fridays (Five)

Or You’re Doing it RIGHT

It’s feeling fulfilled Friday on MamaBlogga! Here’s how it works:

  1. Make a list of things that make you feel accomplished (but aren’t so huge that they take more than a day or a week)
  2. During the week, try to focus on those things that help us feel accomplished
  3. Report on feeling fulfilled Friday

This week has been okay. Honestly, I haven’t made much of an effort to focus on the things on my list, but looking back, I did make an effort to turn off the TV for significant time a few times. In bigger news, I finished my latest round of revisions on my manuscript, so that feels good, and I wrote a first draft of a short story, which felt great!

But the constant bickering that marks motherhood is really starting to wear on me: the kids fighting with each other, the kids fighting with me on every little thing. I can only stand so many decibels per day, and the whining and screaming and the bickering drive me crazy. And it seems like if we were doing a good job of parenting, they would eventually learn that screaming and fighting don’t help anyone (and just make mom mad!).

This morning, however, I caught a moment alone (and got to shower!), and I realized that this is just one example of how we’re doing it right. If we just gave in every time to try to avoid the tantrum, they wouldn’t learn anything, and would probably be more difficult to live with!

So just because motherhood is hard doesn’t mean we’re doing it wrong—in fact, it may mean we’re doing it right!

What have you done to feel accomplished this week? What have you done right this week?