Mommy Moment – Housekeeping

Wow – did I learn a lot about WordPress this week! It had been a long time since I really worked “under the covers” and played around with computer code. I’m not terribly familiar with php code, but it’s fairly similar to the Java and JavaScript programming that I’d done in the past so I decided to delve in and see what I could do. Tornado Dad gave me some constructive criticism along the way and I’m fairly pleased with the end result. I still prefer the “look” of the old design, but I think that this design is a lot more user-friendly and flexible. If you’re using a blog reader, please click on over, take a look at the new design and leave me a comment to tell me what you think.

Here are some of the things that I added during the course of the week:

• A calendar archive – you can find posts by date and pictures. This makes it easy to find all of the meme posts since that’s the thumbnail that will be displayed on the calendar. Click the link in the menu underneath the header graphic to see the calendar.
• New tags for my posts. You can now easily find posts by topic by using the rotating cloud in the sidebar to the right. If your browser doesn’t support Flash (bad Apple!) you can use the static version in the site footer.
• There’s a new link to the WorldCat in the sidebar. If you want to find out if your (participating) library carries a book that we’ve featured, just put in the title and WorldCat can tell you what libraries close to you carry the book. If you haven’t used that site before, you’ll be asked to input your zipcode.
• I’ve added more links to blogs that I enjoy and to great learning sites. Look for the blue box labeled “Some Favorite Things” in the sidebar and click the tab that you’re interested in.
• I’ve made it easier to subscribe to my feed. Just click the sidebar link and choose the reader that you’d like to use.
• I’ve made it easier for you to share or save any individual post. There’s a link at the end of each post that will allow you to bookmark, share, or email the post.

I was hoping to add a more attractive date to each post, but I kept stumbling on that piece of functionality. I couldn’t seem to cobble together the parts to make work AND look good. I guess I should do a bit of reading on how to use php. I’ve never been one to want to read the manual, though!

I had two really fun things happen to me this week in the blogosphere. Natalie from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns surprised me with a fun blog award for best blog friends. I was tickled! Natalie has been a great supporter and avid commenter here for the past year and I always enjoy hearing her thoughts. I can always count on her for an intelligent, well thought out response and I really love that. She’s also incredibly good about blogging on a regular basis. I aspire to be more consistent in my posting like she is. Thanks so much, Natalie! Your support and encouragement has meant a ton to me over the past year.

I was also really excited (and more than a little shocked) to find myself on the “Raising Playful Tots” top 100 blogs list. I discovered it last week when I saw a link to my site from there. I really admire a lot of the listed sites on the list and I’ve found some great new sites to enjoy. Definitely check out the list. There may be some great blogs that you just haven’t found yet.