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You may remember that I’ve been having trouble with weight gain. I was convinced it was due to the prescription I’ve been on since late last spring for high blood pressure. And you may remember that on my last update about this, I finally got the doctor to agree that it was probable.

In fact, the doctor and I determined I’d gained almost 25 pounds since I began taking it! So, he changed the medication on my last visit. I’ve been on the new prescription for about 3 weeks now and I am happy to report . . .

I’ve lost 10 pounds!!! (Note: I have not changed a single thing besides the prescription!)

And it was confirmed at the doctors office this afternoon. I’m so happy about that. I feel better too, of course. Though I am a bit more tired lately. He did say that this particular med could cause some fatigue. I would much rather deal with a little fatigue than a whole lotta weight gain.

I’m also happy to report that my blood pressure was even lower today!! Even on the previous medication, it had still been slightly higher than my normal range. But today it was right in line with what it’s always been. I’m so, so happy about that!

AND . . . I’m also VERY HAPPY TO SAY that my 11 year old DOES NOT HAVE DIABETES!! Yay! He had the testing today and it all came back normal. WooHoo!

The only thing that’s not good news is that xrays on my back confirmed that I have arthritis in my lower spine. So, the doctor ordered an MRI for both my back and my shoulder.

In any case, this is shaping up to be a good month! I am just over the top that my son isn’t diabetic. My dad and sister were both diabetic and I remember all they went through. I didn’t want that for my son. I know diabetes isn’t the end of the world, but remember — he’s the one with autism. So, adding another thing to the mix . . . well, lets just say, it was a very stressful thought.

Hope your week is good one!

Until next time . . .

Be blessed,

I’ve recently gotten a little flak for using disqus and although some intelligent conversation has come out of it, I felt compelled to say exactly WHY I began using it instead of the “works perfectly well built-in WordPress comments” form.

Let me preface this by saying one thing first – I am very selective and conservative with my online information. In fact, I’m probably more cautious than most people out there and those who know me would say I’m cautious to a fault. As my childhood best friend says, “I had no need to be cautious – you’re cautious enough for the both of us! And then some!”

Now, I know not everyone will agree with me and I don’t expect to “convert” anyone with my opinions here. However, do me one little favor, please? Set aside your biases for a moment and just take my thoughts into consideration.

While the built-in comment form is pretty simple and does a good job, the biggest point for me is that the web is moving more and more into a social network and frankly, the WP comment form is sorely lacking in that department. This is not just my opinion – look around the web and you will see countless articles and posts about this very thing – that the web IS a social network. And it’s becoming more so all the time.

If you’re a business owner, this is even more true. Customers and clients want transparency. They want accessibility. They want that social aspect, to be connected. Especially if you’re a business owner with a web presence.

Why? It makes them feel safe.

That’s the bottom line right there. People feel safe when they can connect with you, even if only on a shallow level. They want to know you’re a real person. Aside from that, it helps cure that “curious” nature of us humans. That bit of us that wants to snoop and gossip. It helps make people comfortable.

Additionally, there are several more good things about using disqus:

• Any user who comments is notified via a simple email message when someone replies to their comment. This allows continued discussion and you don’t have to subscribe to the thread or to the comments RSS (**IF** there even is one. Many blogs don’t have that feature). You get a message right in your inbox (unless, of course, you turn that feature off in your settings on the disqus.com control panel).
• You can reply to that comment right from your disqus control panel without the need to go back to that website. Also, if I remember correctly, a new feature allows you to email in a reply. You just hit “reply” to the new comment message you got, type what you want and hit send. So simple and FAST.
• Users can edit their comments any time. Just go to your disqus control panel, select the comment you want to edit and do so! It’ll be updated on whatever blog it’s attached to, pretty much in real time. This is a feature that isn’t generally available on most blogs. And those that do allow it, it’s only in effect for usually less than 5 minutes after you originally post your comment. After that, you’re out of luck.
• Users can also delete their own comments from ANY disqus-enabled blog they’ve commented on. Again, just go to your control panel, select the comment you want to delete and hit the shiny little button! Again, this is a feature that’s not even available on most blog platforms including WP.
• It allows comment nesting (replies to other comments) on a variety of levels that just are not available in the normal WP options. And it’s all customizable as to how deep you want the thread to go.
• Blog owners can also customize a variety of other options including paged comments. Meaning, instead of a huge long page of comments at the end of the post, you can break all those comments up into pages for easier reading. (Yes, I realize WP offers this in newer versions as well.)
• Admin can import all comments from every post on the blog so that each one is still available through disqus. No comments are lost when adding disqus and they are also saved so that should disqus ever be uninstalled, every comment is right there and available just like normal.
• Also on the admin side, using disqus gives a little added security as comments on the blog are stored not only in the blogs WP database, but also on the disqus database. That way, should something ever happen, you have a back up. And if you have a backup plugin installed on WP already, you have a back up of your back up. LOL Plus, if disqus goes down (which does happen every once in a great while), it automatically reverts back to the standard WP commenting which will then sync with disqus once it’s back online.
• Users also don’t have to sign up for disqus or your blog to post comments. You can use your login credentials from another service like Yahoo, Twitter, OpenID, and others.
• Likewise, if you’re logged into disqus, you’re automatically logged in on ANY website that is using the disqus commenting management. That means, if you want to leave a comment, all you need do is type it in and tell it to post. Your info is already filled in for you. Very cool!
• Disqus has a user “like” system wherein if someone posts a really great comment, you can “like” it – very similar to how Facebook’s “like” feature works. This is a very fun idea! It promotes that social aspect.
• Blog owners can manage comments both in their WP admin panel as always as well as through their disqus admin panel. This way, you can manage comments across more than ONE blog at a time. Very, very usual for those of us who have multiple blogs. One of the best features, in my opinion and one of the deciding factors in my decision to install it.
• Your disqus admin panel is separated into 2 sections – comments on blogs you own or moderate, and comments on other blogs. Each section has it’s own features and options. Very easy to use.
• Another feature users seem to appreciate is the “reblog” feature. It’s very similar to Twitter’s “retweet” feature. You can reblog your comments to your tumblr, your WP blog, your twitter stream, your TypePad blog and several others. This allows further discussion on other platforms of your choosing as well as the original blog. It’s another piece of that “social” aspect I was talking about earlier.
• Blog owners can also add “moderators” to their blog without actually giving anyone else access to their blogs back end and thus jeopardizing security. It works very similar to the moderation feature on services like yahoo groups and many forums. If you have a blog with lots of commenters, this is a very useful feature. Especially if you’re really trying to build a community. It makes it more “forum” like.
• When someone talks about your blog post on Twitter, Facebook or another social platform, a trackback is added to the post, just like a comment. Another great social feature! It allows you to keep track of who says what about your blog and open ups whole new avenues of communication.

And the last thing I’m going to say about the benefits of using disqus as a comment system is that it eliminates the need to have several other plugins installed since it effectively does a multitude of other things besides just “comment” things. (Like the back up I mentioned above.)

This is a great thing because the more plugins your blog has, the more loaded and bogged down it becomes. It takes longer to load as plugins take up valuable space in the database. The larger the core WP files and databases become, the more likely something is to break or malfunction. The less plugins you have, the faster your blog loads and the less likely things are to break.

That alone is worth it for me. I eliminated a good 5-6 plugins when I installed disqus and there are even a couple more I could disable and remove as well. That’s a very good thing!

I also like that I have almost no spam now. I use a plugin called Bad Behavior and while it catches 99% of spam, there are a few that do come through regularly. Since installing disqus alongside it, I have only had 2 spam comments TOTAL. I like that a lot. (And I should also mention I have not gotten spam related to using the disqus system. Since I use a different email for disqus than for other things, I know the spam I do get comes from other sources.)

In any case, I do understand the reservations some people have with giving their info to a third-party. I have researched this until I’m blue in the face, it seems, and I have not found anything significant enough to raise flags in my mind. As far as I can tell from that research, my info is safe with disqus and so is the info of those who comment here.

Frankly, I think my info is probably safer with them than on Facebook or Twitter and if you’re using either or both of those, what’s the big deal? Your info is already out there in less secure fashion than it will be with disqus, espcially with Facebook’s recent policy changes.

And further, if you’re THAT paranoid, perhaps you shouldn’t be on the world wide web to begin with. (I mean that with the utmost respect and love. It’s absolutely meant to just engage your thinking a bit and is in no way meant to be mean or harsh.) I think it’s probably more likely that you’ll get a virus or have your computer (or blog, even, maybe) hacked than to have serious issues with a commenting system like this.

In any case, I hope this gives you some food for thought. I hope you seriously consider the good points here and realize that sometimes a little risk is worth it.

Listen – having a blog isn’t really about you anyway, right? Isn’t the whole premise of blogging all about your visitors? To connect with others, gain new insights, have fun? Learn, share, grow? That’s what it is for me, anyway and I’m willing to bet it is for most of you too. That means, sometimes we have to put aside our reservations and do what is best for the community.

Like I said before, if you don’t want to comment but have something to say, by all means, contact me. That’s what the contact form is for. You’ll find a link up there in the navigation bar under the header of any page on this website. I want to hear from you and though I would really love it if you would leave a comment, I won’t be upset if you don’t.

Now, in all fairness, I do have to point out ONE minor gripe and flaw with disqus – it does not yet support CommentLuv. I have emailed disqus about it and their response was that the folks at CommentLuv are working on it. I do hope it’s soon because I seriously miss that and it is, in fact, THE reason I uninstalled disqus last time I tried using it in mid-2009 (and yes, I do know that IntenseDebate works with CommentLuv. I could include why I didn’t choose ID, but I will spare you those details right now This darn post already long enough!).

So, thanks for sticking with me. I hope I’ve given you some things to think about it. And if you want to read more about what others have to say on disqus, I found these immensely helpful in my research for this post:

Fred Wilson, a Venture Capitalist who has actually invested in disqus as a company – “Three Reasons to Use Disqus”

Michael Soriano of Web Designers Edge – “Using the Disqus Comment System”

David Risley, a professional blogger – “Disqus Not So Stupid Anymore”

Matt Langford, blogger at Matt Flies – “Why and How to Use Disqus with WordPress“

Check ‘em out!

One more thing – I promise! Disqus also works with many different platforms – not just WP – including tumblr, posterous, and TypePad among others.

Be blessed,

If you view websites and blogs on a mobile device like your phone, ipod, blackberry or whatever, you may know that sometimes it’s rather difficult to view your favorite places on your device. I know how frustrating it can be myself as I often view my favorites on my iPod when I’m away from my computer.

So, to that end, I have recently added an option on this site that will automatically detect where you’re browsing from, and will then display a mobile-friendly version of this site if you’re in fact on a mobile device!

You also have the option of switching to the regular version from your mobile if you wish AND you can even check out the mobile version on your regular computer – just select that option at the very bottom of the page. (Scroll all the way down and take a look if you’re viewing this on the web. It’s at the very bottom on the left side. Then click it again to switch back when you’re ready.)

Pretty cool!

If you have a website you want to add this option to, simply install the WordPress Mobile Pack and, if you want, a mobile-ready theme (like Carrington Mobile). Or simply use one of the one of the basic themes that come with the plugin.

The other cool thing about the plugin is – if you install it on your blog and YOU have a mobile device, it even makes the admin area a mobile version for you! How cool is that? You can moderate comments, publish new posts, adjust your settings and much more.

With mobile devices getting better and more common all the time – especially with Apple’s newest gadget, the iPad – it really is important to offer these options to your visitors and potential visitors who might find your site via a search or something. Just think about how many people can’t read your blog otherwise. Installing something like this is a smart move. And of course, you can always uninstall it if you end up not liking it.

So far, I like the plugin and I think it’s worth it to use it. You never know when someone is reading your blog via a small screen. And really, isn’t that what blogging is all about – your readers?

Do you use the WP Mobile Pack or something similar? Tell us why or why not in the comments.

Be blessed,

With the close of January coming up very soon, I thought I’d post one more time about my Themes for 2010. Earlier this month, I wrote about my ThemeWord for the year – CREATE. And it’s my single-minded goal for 2010. What that means, is I take that one word and apply it to everything I do – “What can I CREATE with this?” With only one thing to focus on, I find clarity as well as productivity in the things I do every day.

I’ve read several blogs recently that are taking this ThemeWord thing even farther and adding in things like Theme Song, Theme Color, and a variety of other ideas. While I don’t want to take it that far myself, I do like the idea of themes. Like I already said above, it creates clarity and productivity for me plus it also gives me a sense of balance.

(And sometimes a sense of balance is sorely lacking in the world around me! LOL)

Now, having said that, I am going to add a ThemeColor to my ThemeWord for 2010. I don’t know about a song. Maybe I’ll find one that really draws me in and compliments my other theme choices but for now, no song.

So here’s my color . . .

Mind you, I do NOT like pink very well (I’m not a girly-girl!) but I do like the brightness of this color. If I thought I could effectively change my blog design to incorporate this color, I would. But I think it would end up throwing the design off quite a bit and I have yet to find a design I like better than this one. So for now, no design change either but that may come at some point as well.

Have you considered adopting any themes for this year? Why or why not? And if so, which themes have you incorporated into your life and/or business?

(Please don’t be afraid of disqus! It’s a great commenting system. Oh – and speaking of disqus, look out for my post tomorrow about exactly why I decided to implement disqus here. I hope it’s helpful to you!)

Until then . . .

Be blessed,

You may have noticed that I recently went back to using disqus.com as my comment system. I’ve had a few worried emails from folks about this and so this post is to – hopefully – help clear those worries up.

First, disqus.com will allow you to post with OR without a disqus account. Again, you DO NOT have to have a disqus account to post a comment here. Of course, you CAN if you so desire. To do that, just say yes to the pop up box that asks you if you want to sign up. Or login if you already are signed up.

Second, you can also use disqus by “logging in” to a service you ALREADY use like Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter or OpenID. It’s easy – just select that option on the comment box and a pop up will open up for you to enter your credentials into. It will then automatically create a disqus account for you using the service you selected. You can then post a comment.

Third, if you do not want to do either of those, fear not! You can post the “old fashioned” way – with your name, email and (optionally) your website URL. Your name and email are required. Then, if you get a pop up asking about disqus, simply click the “post as guest” button on the lower left hand corner of the box and it will post your comment just like usual! The good thing about this is that if you post a comment again from the same IP address, using the same email you previously used, you won’t get the pop up box. It usually only pops up that one time.

So, please, don’t let this blogs use of disqus (or any other blog that uses it) dissuade you from leaving a comment here. You can do so without having to sign up for it and if you don’t sign up for it, it doesn’t collect your information.

The only part of my system that will collect your info is the WordPress software that runs the blog. If you choose not to sign up for disqus, it isn’t going to grab your info from me and cause you problems.

Additionally, of course, you can rest assured, your info is safe with me.

And in the event you have any trouble with disqus, please – PLEASE – let me know! Don’t just go away in a huff! If it’s broken, let me know so I can fix it. You can contact me via the contact form here.

Lastly, let me just say this – in the event you decide to opt for a disqus account, know that your info is safe there too. Only the info you WANT to be shared, will be shared. If you want to keep your stuff private, you can do that too. There are loads of settings the system gives you when you login that allow you to have full control over your comments. It gives you SO much control over your comments, it’s almost too easy.

Be blessed,

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I thought the blood pressure medicine I take was causing me to gain weight. Since we don’t have a scale at home, I had no idea really how much. But I knew that my clothes just didn’t fit right and I felt different.

Well, last week was my doctors appointment to check how the blood pressure is doing on the meds and see if anything needs to be adjusted. I told the doctor about my suspicions (that the meds were causing weight gain) and at first, he thought I was just being overly sensitive. That is, until he actually went back through my records and realized I was right!

Between May when I began taking the prescription and August, I gained 11 pounds. And between August and now, I gained 13! And the meds were the only change I had made. Everything else is the same – food, exercise, etc didn’t change. Just the stupid medications!

So, he changed the medication and hopefully it will be better. I do feel a little different on these but I’ve only been taking them for 3 days so it’ll be a while before I notice any major changes. With any luck, the weight gain will reverse itself!

Let me just take a moment – again – to implore you to keep on top of your health. You owe your health to your family, especially if you have little kids. Health is not something to be taken lightly. Do your best to keep healthy. I generally don’t condone going to the doctor and using medications – I don’t think they are the “cure” – just a stepping stone, maybe, to get well enough to get off them if possible.

Obviously, there are some things that need constant medication like some forms of diabetes and what-not and I’m certainly not saying to never use prescription drugs. Just do your homework, ask questions, be informed and use your best judgment. And of course, I am not a doctor and I don’t play one on the internet, either. I’m just a mom, a writer and a graphic designer who has a few health issues. Take it or leave it but don’t substitute it for real advice.

Hope you had a great weekend! And thanks for all the birthday wishes! You all are awesome.

Be blessed,

You know, I always imagined that by this time of my life (I’m turning 37 today), I would have things figured out. I would have the life I’d dreamed about since I was young. That I would be well-off, educated, happy, successful. But about a year ago, the reality hit me I was not on target to reach all of those goals by this point in my life.

Frankly, it was a B.I.G. let-down. I’m not going to lie and sugar-coat it. I was unhappy about it. I felt depressed. I felt ashamed. I felt like I’d made a mess of my aspirations. And I was hurting inside. I wanted so much more for myself!

But you know what?

I came to the realization a few months ago that those were my own self-imposed limitations! I had set myself up for the feelings of guilt and shame and powerlessness. I realized sometimes things go a different way than we intend and it’s ok. It doesn’t have to be the end of the world. There’s nothing wrong with that.

So, here’s the deal – I’ve given myself permission to move forward from here and to CREATE new dreams. New intentions. New expectations.

And knowing myself better today than I did all those years ago, I’d say I’m much better prepared to actually become the person I long to be.

There are changes coming. I feel like a I have a second wind, a new beginning. I feel a new strength welling up inside me and I am ready to let everything I have to offer come pouring out to share with the world.

Of course, you know what they say about an overnight success?

It’s years in the making . . .

And now, my years in the making are over.

It all begins today.

Be blessed,